Welcome to the “Making of a DM.” You feel stuck? You feel behind the eight ball? I’ve got a simple but powerful thing to help you get the results you want on today's show. So, with that said, let's get started.
Mark: Hope you guys are having an amazing Monday so far. A lot of cool things going on over here. We're actually getting ready to head back up to Ohio on Thursday around noon-ish as we're getting ready to roll. As I'm sitting here just to kind of take my morning walk, doing the same thing, one of my buddies just moved into the complex actually last night. He just got here, so I got to hang out with him this morning and all that good stuff. [01:03.3]
But I keep thinking about all the people that always message me, Man, I'm stuck, man. I feel behind the eight ball and I'm not getting where I want to go fast enough, and all that stuff. I just thought we'd talk about that today because I think it's something that's holding a lot of people back from accomplishing great success.
Actually, I don't think I know because I'm talking to you guys often one-on-one whereas, in talking environments like this, I see the struggle is real for you guys. For some reason, you're constantly having to struggle. You're bouncing around. You're not at the same place. You're at the same place five years later and we've got to change that. We've got to straighten that up.
I kind of want to talk to you guys about it. I feel the same way sometimes, I mean, and the thing is feelings are liars or feelings lie to us all the time. I feel like I'm doing everything I can, but I'm not getting the result I want, right? Or I feel like I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to do, but the results aren't coming in, right? And you keep looking at this. [02:01.6]
More importantly, guys, what you have to understand right now, too, in the world we live in is you get to see what I'm doing. You get to see what everyone else is doing because we're posting about it and we're talking about it. But the problem with that is sometimes it can inspire you, but oftentimes it's going to derail you, because you're looking to compare against. You're like, I'm not getting closer to my next step. Is it my next step or your next step? Because what my next step might be might not be what works for you or what you should even be doing or thinking about. Your next step is your next step, no more, no less.
With social media, you get to see what everyone's up to. It's feeding your feelings. It's making you emotional. You Instagram, watching, stalking, and Facebook stalking people for an hour, because an hour goes by like that on social. You're literally getting upset. You're getting mad. You're getting frustrated.
There's a couple of things I do. If you follow on social media and they make you feel sad or bad about yourself, unfollow them. And I'm not saying bad like they're kicking you in the teeth, giving you good advice. I'm just talking like they're just kind of like I can't stand looking at their face anymore. I don't even want to hear their voice anymore or whatever and yet you keep them on your roll. [03:18.6]
That's emotional intelligence, by the way. It's going to take away your emotional. It's going to steal some emotions for the day. You only have a certain amount of emotions daily with your battery life and you're going to allow other people to steal that from you by seeing their posts. See, you know what I'm talking about, when you see that post and it makes you a little angry, it makes you feel a little weird. Just go ahead and unfollow them. If you miss them a month later, you can always add them back. But in the meantime, just unfollow them and you’ll forget and move on. Then what's cool about that is it's going to start out, allowing you to open up more to your feelings, your emotions, your direction, and guide you.
Another thing I do, and this was huge, again, stop comparing yourself against other people. What they have or don't have has nothing to do with you. The only thing you can focus on is you. I call it the “me economy.” The me economy. [04:13.4]
As you guys always hear me talk about data, not drama, drama is the feelings, the emotional side of things. I want you to focus on that. If you say, Mark, I need to close 10 deals a month, and you know you need to talk to 20 people to do that per deal, bare bones minimum, you need to talk to 200 people a month. Minimum, bare bones. Bare, bare, bare bones, not counting the money you’ve got to spend on the front end to get the marketing to get those leads to come in, those 20 people per deal, right? You needed 200 leads. Now you need to do 200 leads. What I'm trying to do is build out a KPI formula to know if I'm on track or off track. [05:04.0]
See, this is what I'm saying about the comparison thing. This is what I'm saying about like if you feel overwhelmed. By the way, you're always going to feel overwhelmed and anxious. If you're a real entrepreneur, that's how we feel because we're like, Why can't it be there already? It's kind of like when you go to build a new house, when you see the vision of the house, you just want it to be done now, but it's a process. You’ve got to go get the prints done. You’ve got to get the approvals. You've got to go hire the contractors. You've got to go through the process of building. It's a process, so fall in love with your process.
Look at your data. Your data would give you direction. Your data will tell you if you're on track or off track, if you're getting closer or further away from your goals. When you’re sitting there saying, Mark, I need to do 10 deals a month, and I'm like, Cool. How many people have you talked to? Keep monitoring the 29? You'll say a five. Well, how do you expect to do 10 if you go and talk to five people? Well, five a day. Five a day still doesn't cut it because you need 200 minimum. You're only at 150 if you do it every day at five people. [06:10.5]
That's how my brain thinks about data. That's how, if you want a real company, you’ve got to start focusing on your data. This is going to take away some of that anxiety feeling like you're getting further behind. It feels like you're behind the eight ball and it's like the pressure is building. It’s because you're so focused on things. You're not focused on “the” thing, the action, the data.
What you want is there. Whatever it is, it’s there available to you. If you're willing to do the work to get it, that's a different story. But we know where you're at. We know where the goal is at. We've got to figure out what the bridge is to get there, if that's what one wants. When you do that, if you don't stay in the game, that's why I'm talking about this today. I see so many of you bailing before you get the results because you feel like it's not working. Then I ask you what's not working and you don't have an answer. [07:06.5]
Don't give me the problems. Give me the solutions. If you don't know the answer, say, I don't know the answer, and then we start looking for the answer. You’ve got to reprogram your brain to start seeking answers, not problems. You already know how to find the problems. Now we need to be able to create the solutions. If you want to make a lot of money, create solutions.
So, what is the biggest thing that's holding you back? I'd love for you guys to interact here, not ask, Tell me what that is. What is the biggest thing that makes you feel behind the eight ball? What's the biggest thing holding you back from the next level? What is the next level? Maybe it's to quit your job. Maybe to go bigger in your company. Maybe it's to do whatever.
See, I sit here and it's just working out, right? It's kind of like one of those things. It's like less calories in, more calories burnt, you're going to ultimately lose weight no matter what. It's just by the dynamics, the math, right? [08:12.6]
Same thing with business. It's all data. Data never alive. It doesn't. The truth is most of you are not, one, tracking data in any form. You kind of have it haphazard, which, again, is better than not having it. Then, the second, this is the real second. This is the real magic of data. Interpretation of data for solutions. What's the data telling you? Where's the lagging? Where's the opportunity? Where should you put the levers or you can push or pull?
Lack of sleep. Good question. I don't see lack of sleep as a problem, depending on the situation. I think the truth is most people are over there sleeping too much. I think people like to talk about success, not really do the work to get success. I know I used to. It's a lot easier to talk about it. [09:03.0]
Today, on Instagram—if you guys don't follow me, you should, @MarkEvansDM on Instagram—but I was talking today on my walk and I do a thing in the morning sometimes about waking at 4:44 or a quick talk from the walk. I'm sitting here talking and the biggest thing is I think everyone wants to be the big boss, but no one wants to write the big boss check. Most people are not willing to go invest in themselves. Most people aren’t willing to go invest in marketing. Most people aren’t willing to go invest in other people. Most people aren't willing to go invest in other things and assets to help them grow their production company.
Jlions, 11:00 to 4:30, so it’s five and a half hours. That's not bad. I mean, I get about the same amount of sleep. I get up at 4:30, 4:44 every day. It is what it is, man. Listen, I don't hate it. Not everyone functions on five and a half, six hours of sleep, and I'm saying, if you're saying 11:00 to 4:30, probably if I followed you around, I bet you, that's not a hundred percent accurate because I know mine is not even a hundred percent accurate. I get up at 4:44 pretty much daily, but sometimes you're not productive. [10:09.3]
The truth is you could probably sleep another hour or two and I'd rather see you sleeping another hour or two and be more productive in your hours you've got. If you're not sleeping much, I'd want to know why. Again, my thing is data. Why? Is it kids? Is it work? Is it businesses? What is it?
Then I'd start looking at my efficiencies. Let's see where I'm efficient and deficient, and where I lack efficiency. I'd go in there and penetrate that, either eliminate, delegate or execute. That's all I'm looking to do.
Then I'm going to see if it's serving me. If it's giving me bigger results, it's willing to take the sleep, because right now you're negotiating sleep against effort or sleep against action, so if sleep is the thing and it always is the thing for all of us. I barely sleep. I don't want to go to bed. I'm restless. I was up at 2:30 this morning. I was up at 3:30 this morning. I finally tapped out at 4:30, so let's go. [11:02.7]
There are a lot of variables in all this on. It depends on what you're working on. It depends on your anxiety. It depends on how you're eating. It depends if you're taking a melatonin. I mean, there's a lot of things. Sometimes having confidence in completing tasks, fear rejection or maybe success.
Having confidence in completing tasks. Again, I'm not sure exactly what that means, confidence in completing tasks. Again, you never want to be a quitter, so if you don't accomplish a task, you're quitting on your tasks that you’ve set for yourself. I’ve looked for the common theme of why that's happening. Why are you putting yourself in that position? Is this a task that you should even be doing? Maybe you hand it off. Maybe you're great at starting tasks, which I am and most entrepreneurs are, but we're terrible at execution and long-term follow through.
Depending on where you're at in the journey, what's cool about it is I can start a path and then hand it off and let someone take it to the finish line. Their job is to get it to the finish line. Therefore, I take out the completing the task piece. I just have to start the task. [12:08.3]
The truth is the good news is for any entrepreneur, most people are too afraid of the opposite. They're too afraid of starting a task. We've got to get someone on your team that can actually complete the task for you. That will be a huge help. Again, looking for solutions all the time. That's what it's about, guys.
Again, this is what I do. I look at my data. If you feel behind the eight ball and ask, Why do I feel that way? there's only a couple of things it could be. Lack of effort. Well, there's that. That's pretty much it. The lack of effort. The opportunities there. Your effort is there. If you're willing to do the work, whatever you want is on the other side of that.
So, take a piece of paper. Take a pen that works and start writing down, What do you want? And then ask them, What are you not getting? And then ask, What do you have to do to get it? [13:05.9]
I get stuck overanalyzing and deciding where to start. Mike, you're starting. You get stuck overanalyzing. Does that serve you or hurt you? Overanalyzing is procrastination, by the way. You're afraid of whatever on the other side, fear of rejection or fear of success. You know where to start. It's where you're at.
See, the problem is I always talk about people trying to copy me or whatever. The problem is I'm 24 years deep in the game and I might not even be doing it right, so why copy anybody? That goes for anybody, by the way. I'm not trying to mimic anybody. My goal is to be a better version of Mark Evans DM tomorrow. That's my goal. Every day, try to be 1% better. Every day, learn, grow, push, prod, learn, grow, push, prod. That's all day, every day. [14:05.4]
The biggest secret, though, is you've got to fall in love with the process. I'm not afraid to do the work. I'm not afraid. I am very conscious and clear of what I'm good at and what I suck at. Again, I'm a great starter, [but] a terrible finisher. So, start conversations and hand them off. Start a deal and hand the deal off. Make sure it gets executed.
For you guys, you've got to get the data. Depending on what industry you're in, let's say you're trying to sell 500 units of a product per month, maybe that's a $20 unit, so it's 10 grand a month in revenue, you need to figure out what the cost per lead is—CPL, it’s called—or you’ve got to figure out how many clicks to get to a website to get a CPL. Maybe you need 100 clicks equals one sell, so that equals $20 for a sell. That's assuming there are no upsells, cross sells, etc., and I'm talking to day one only, and so one sale. Now I can spend 20 cents per click on average to get my one sale per day. [15:17.0]
By the way, 500 orders per month does not necessarily mean that's what you make, 20 grand, 10 grand, I mean. It might simply be that's just where your breakeven is. A lot of companies make way more than 10 grand a month that lose money every month. You guys know that, right? They're building loyalty. They're building the game. They're building the system. All we're trying to do in the beginning as you're sitting here telling me, Mark, I need 500 sales in lungs and my average sale is $20, I'm going to say, Okay, great, what's your CPL? What's your CPC? You're going to tell me, My average visitor, what's my visitor value? Are you advertising? Yes or no? If so, how much are you spending? [16:00.8]
We know we need to spend at least 10, maximum 10k a month on ads to make 10k, because once you have 500 customers, there are so many other ways to make more money on top of that. You can sell them other products or other stuff that are congruent with what they came in your funnel, so you can become an affiliate, maybe even create another product line, and/or both. But, again, back to simplicity, you've got to look at data.
Mark, I don't know, it's June 29 and I’ve only got 250 sales. I'm down to 50. Okay, great, how much traffic was sent to your website? Where did you advertise? How much did you spend? Those are the questions I'm asking. It's not like, Oh my God, are you serious? It must be this stuff going on on TV. It must be this coronavirus stuff really killing your sales. No, dude, I need the data.
The truth is you actually might have more website traffic. You might have more cart clicks, etc. Maybe there's something broken. Maybe the copy sucks. Maybe the product is outdated. Maybe the product isn't working. Maybe you have bad reviews online. But until then, none of that stuff matters until I have the data. [17:16.6]
If you need 100 clicks to make one sell, we need what? Fifty thousand clicks? Fifty thousand site visits to get 500 sells, a 1% conversion. I think that's right. Somewhere around there. But very simple, if you don't have 50,000 clicks, what are we talking about? Why do you expect you should have 250 more sales in the pipeline than you do?
See, that's the thing. All you guys are running around. They're emotional. You're running around like emotional teenage kids. It's not serving you. It's not going to help you to grow. You’ve got to start thinking for yourself. [18:05.7]
This is a quote I posted today on my Instagram. Again, if you guys aren't following on Instagram, you should be. It's @MarkEvansDM. I posted this and I'm getting a lot of feedback on it. “No man is free until he learns to do his own thinking and,” more importantly, “gains the courage to act on his personal initiative.” No man is free until he learns to do his own thinking and gains the courage to act on his personal initiative. You’ve got to think. Knowledge up, think. More importantly, you’ve got to act and you’ve got to go do the work.
For all of you guys sitting here feeling stuck, I want you to know that you're so much closer than you think you are. Everyone is out here trying to be the big swinger, the big swinging person out there. It's not the case. Just focus on you. If you're at 10 deals a month and you're trying to get to 20 and that's all you can focus on, don't worry about the guy doing 50. It doesn't matter. Don't worry about the next best CRM. That's not going to get you there. You have to do the effort. You've got to become a different person. [19:15.1]
Another thing, too, is you've got to develop. You’ve got to knowledge up. Invest 35 grand in a mastermind this year. Invest in yourself. You're worth it. If that sounds like a lot of money, your problem is not money. Your problem is making more. You’ve got to make more money. Thirty-five grand is not a lot of money for a mastermind that can help you grow to millions of dollars. Not only that, this is an investment in yourself. Look at it that way. Just flip it and just say, I am worth 35 grand. By the way, you're worth way more than that. But I am worth $35,000. Truth is on the black market, I'm sure we could sell your kidneys, your lungs, all kinds of crazy stuff for it, right? We can make some money over there in Haiti, I'm sure, right? [20:02.9]
Again, you guys are worth that. Invest in yourself. It pays off in spades. I said yesterday, by the way, Friday I shared with you guys how to generate some more revenue. I was hoping you guys came here today to tell me how much more you generated over the weekend. I gave you exactly what to do, so, hopefully, you guys generated some more money. That would make me very happy.
One of our [listeners], I'm actually partners with them, they did $116,000 in fees over the weekend in real estate. That's pretty cool, right? Making 116 gees in fees, their biggest month, the biggest weekend they have ever had. Actually, it would be their biggest month and weekend. Pretty cool stuff. When you have a team and you have people helping you grow and expand and drive, amazing things happen. [21:00.3]
By the way, if you guys are investors, because I talk to a lot of real estate investors, and you’re a wholesaler and you want a plan, someone holding you accountable, someone growing with you, I actually do partner with some people in different parts of the country and I have my team side by side with you. If that's something that interests you, feel free to reach out to me one on one and I’ll introduce you to the guy that can help you on that conversation. Just I can't over simplify. Keep it simple and focused on you.
Beken, what have you got?
Beken: Actually, I don't know if I'm the only one that has this problem, but when you keep saying, if you’re at 10 deals, focus on how you can get from 10 to 20 or just ramp up your own numbers. I don't even know how to explain it. It's weird having someone that is at a higher level than you telling you, Oh, no, you're perfectly good at where you're at because it's where you're supposed to be and just build from where you're at, because everybody's selling you that you're not good where you're at, you need to think bigger, you need to go harder, but go over your numbers and see, reverse engineer what you have on your plate. [22:17.7]
Mark: Yeah.
Beken: Yeah, that’s the biggest thing.
Mark: Beken, at the end of the day, I think everyone…you said something. What did you say? You're at where you're at, right?
Beken: Yes.
Mark: At the end of the day, that's the case no matter what. That's why we're here. We're at where we're at, so we can't get away from that. I think people are trying to be delusional about where they're at. First and foremost, I think probably 99.999% of people watching this think they're bigger than they are, think they're doing more than they are, acting they're doing more than they really are. I see it all the time.
Beken, I think people need to realize that they have to get real with their own personal data first. Sometimes it's easy to think you're bowling because you're watching people around you bowl. That doesn't mean you're successful. That means they're successful possibly. [23:07.5]
Beken: It’s fueling your little petty ego that you already have that's not serving you.
Mark: Nice.
Beken: That’s what it does.
Mark: Yeah, man. The problem is you're feeding the wrong thing. You're feeding a false result. If you're trying to be me, a lot of times people talk about fake it till you make it, there's no need to fake anything. Why are we faking? Just being genuine is the best thing. I think the truth is most people lie. They don't tell the truth.
Again, I talk about this in Magician vs. Mule, the thought on the thought. All this stuff we've been told ourselves, my buddy, Sean, just did a cool a message about this, about a pair of Nike Jordans, about how it's like all the Jordan, no big deal, blah, blah, blah, and then once he unlocked that lie and realized that he's been to himself all these years to protect his ego and protect himself, it is what it is. [24:00.0]
We all have it. Me, you, all of us. The question is how conscious of it are we? And is it serving us or hurting us? Because some of the stuff we lie to ourselves actually will protect us, like I hate snakes, so all snakes must be bad. That's not the truth, but I’m worried about getting bitten by snakes, so that's off my plate. I hate swimming with sharks, so at the end, I'm good. That will serve me. Sharks scare me, blah, blah, blah. I don't need to go see therapy and get that figured out. I'm cool with it. I don't care if I never swam with another shark. I did it in Bora Bora. I'm good.
But in business, if you're not making millions of dollars a year, you're not in business. You have to make millions of dollars a year to be a real business. You have to have real employees to be a real business. You have to have a real product, a real service, a real solution to be in business. And I'm not saying you can't make millions not being in a business, by the way. I know people that have very simple operations, husband-wife teams that generate millions of dollars a year providing a big value, big product. But with that, it's not sellable, it's not scalable, and it's just a money business. It is what it is. It's cool. [25:17.1]
Beken, anything else on that? Because you're in the mix, my man.
Beken: Yeah. I mean, yeah, in the mix. I think what you just said is deep. In the mix. You don't even know you're in the mix.
Mark: You just start believing the brand, DM geared up.
Beken: Yep, yep, yep. I hope guys can go get your merch at the site already. No?
Mark: No, not yet. We haven't released that yet, but you can come on now.
Beken: Okay. Okay. Okay. I'll hold it back. I'll hold it back. But, yeah, guys, I mean, you’ve got to believe that you're …Deals aren't just going to fall on your plate. You're not going to go from 10 deals to 15 deals, just doing the same thing, you know? [26:00.0]
It's just realizing that you're in the mix. How can I reorganize my data that's mixing all together the chaos? Then either if you're going to do it or find someone else to delegate it, so then you can move on to the next five deals on top of the 10 deals that you're doing. It's all personal. Like you said, personal self…what is it? Self-awareness. Self-awareness, just getting more self-aware.
I'm still blind. I can't see past my nose, but every single day I feel like I'm seeing more and more, and that could hinder me because I might have a killer day, and then now my ego is all freaking through the roof, and the next thing you know on the next day I get hit because now I'm not doing the same things that I'm supposed to be doing. You know what I mean?
Mark: I do know what you mean. I hear exactly what you're saying. The problem is we all have to deal with this. We all have to figure out how it helps us or hurts us. [27:07.2]
Number one, what's a good day like? Again, we're talking feelings there. A lot of people feel good when they don't accomplish much, but they're busy as hell. There's a lot of busy poor people, you know what I mean? I think you've got to get very clear on what makes you feel good, because I'm telling you right now, half my day I don't feel good. I’ve just got to work. I’ve got to do the work. I’ve got to get the job done. I signed up for it. No one else. Me. No one can do it for me, but me, and it's not fun. It's like pulling teeth. I don't want to do it. I don't want to show up. I don't want to be there. I don't want to make that conference call.
Saturday I had a call. I had to call a couple of different people that I'm working with and tell them bad news. I don't want to do that. I have to do it, though. It's a job. It's what I signed up for. And that didn't feel good, but it felt right. I had to do it. I had to step up to the plate. I had to have the conversation. I had to show up, Beken, and I think the problem is, again, people are confusing feelings with how things are supposed to be. [28:15.3]
Dude, some of your best relationships with your spouse, most of the times you've become the closest and when you deepen your love and relationship, that's when you have the most resistance, when you fight farther than you've ever fought, when you stand up for what you believe in and they actually believe in it with you eventually, and/or vice versa. That is when the heart is where the good happens.
If everyone's out there telling me everything's easy, dude, I know they're full of shit and/or not doing any work and/or both, so they're just not lying to themselves. Beken, you and I talk about this. I'm like, Yo, man, how many pieces of data? How many pieces of content? And you can tell me any story you want. First of all, we have enough content for the rest of our life - [29:01.1]
Beken: Right.
Mark: - [inaudible] to 10-second clips. Secondly, it's like, dude, if we don't get 10 out a day or three, whatever the number is on this channel, that channel, this channel, that channel, nothing else matters. The big projects are always going to be there. They're always going to be big, clunky, shitty, not fun projects all the time, but the little micro stuff, that's the stuff we hand off. That's the stuff we organize.
That's the stuff we can create a path for, a very clear vision, because there's certain things because you like your artistic touch, and it is like how to participate in it, how to make it better, how to make it more cinematographic, blah, blah, blah, whatever you do, and those are the time you break themes.
Beken: Right.
Mark: Dude, what did I send you yesterday? I sent you yesterday a cool funeral piece I liked. I'm like, Dude, when I die, I want you to shoot my video like this. This is true.
Beken: No, hands down, and it really touched me. It was the rock, yeah, oh my gosh, but I envisioned that. It's funny that you're telling me this because now I know I'm on the same page as you, because every day from the beginning that we started until now, and until we keep going, that's all I'm thinking about. How does the story of Mark Evans, how does the Deal Maker’s story consistently keep developing? [30:20.0]
It's like seasons. I can't just get stuck doing the same type of thing when the seasons change, because now we're onto something new, onto something better, something bigger.
I saw another quote the other day. “What doesn't challenge you doesn't change you.” What we're constantly learning to do and what we're constantly changing is our challenges. I mean, right? We can't have the same problems. If we have the same problems in the same situations, that means we're not getting anywhere. That's what I'm learning. How can I just get past this barrier to move to the next one?
Mark: Yeah, man. Listen, I think, again, you've got to get those data points, man. Take the feelings out. [31:03.4]
That’s my daughter freaking out in there.
But you’ve got to take the data points and focus on that data point to give you direction. The thing is, let's say we're trying to accomplish, how do we get 10,000 more viewers on YouTube? I’m making this up, right, Beken? And you're like, Yo, man, we need at least 10 videos per 1,000. Now in my head and it's like, How do we create 100 videos? A hundred videos. Now we need to come out with them with video every three days to accomplish our goal with the right call to action.
Do you think Q1 will be better or Q4 will be better? Where do you think we'll be better?
Beken: Q4 should be better.
Mark: Q4 should definitely be better because now we have momentum. Now we have data. Now we have a production line. Now we have people. Now we have processes and procedures. The problem is most people never get started on Q1 because they're trying to be Q4.
Beken: Yeah, you just hit the nail on the head. That's literally what it is.
Mark: Yeah, they're trying to act like they have this big, massive team and they're organized and all this Q4 stuff, but, dude, Q1, that's where you start. [32:08.1]
Your call to action is going to be weak. Your video and it is going to be terrible. Your connection with your people is not there yet. But after Q2, you're going to start seeing improvements. Q3, you're definitely going to see massive improvements. By Q4, you're 12 months deep into this thing, nine to 12 months, you're going to see massive differences. You're going to see literally day and night.
The problem is you're going to watch a video. I do that Beken does for me actually, and you're like, Dude, I want to do that, but it took Beken a year to get there. Don't think you’re going to start there. You can try to mimic it and create it, but have your own personality. Have your own pieces. I'll send a video I like to Beken and I'm like, Yo, man, I like this piece or that piece or whatever, so then it's like that's how it's creating a framework of how to keep creating my voice or vision or production and tag with where we're going. [33:00.0]
Again, stop trying to be a Q4. Let's start at Q1. We're day one. Dude, we're like, Put me in, Coach. I just want to get in the game. I don't care if I'm the water boy. Just get me in the game. Let me mess up. Let me trip. Let me squirt water on your face by accident. Let me do whatever. I just want to be at the game. The problem is most people aren't willing to show up than game, man. They're there. They're trying to be the coach or the owner before they actually even understand how to play the game.
Beken: Right, and that's a huge sense of humility that we all have to accept. Me, I'm a very huge perfectionist, so that's all I’ve been battling. It's when you take the feelings out and, it’s simple as you just said, you just do the work.
Mark: Yeah. Let me ask you a question. You're a perfectionist. I know [inaudible].
Beken: Dude, you know me better than that.
Mark: You're a perfectionist on your video?
Beken: Yeah.
Mark: How many shitty videos have you sent me and I hated it?
Beken: In the beginning, it was like every video I sent to you that I thought was like, This is the shit, you were like, Dude, this is not what I'm looking for. This is not good. Simple, simple. [34:09.0]
Then when I just started listening to my clients, listening to Mark, everything else started going smoother. Everything was more effective. People saw more. Like he always tells me, I'm trying to marry and figure out what the flowers are and get the engagement ring, all on the first date. It would be perfect. I'm not leaving any room for growth.
Mark: Dude, no one is perfect. That's where I'm going with that. Number one, your perfectionism might be my arch nemesis. I don't know, I might hate everything about your perfectionism and vice versa. Don't think perfectionism is a real… I think perfection is the biggest form of procrastination disguised as something like, Yo, I'm a perfectionist.
When I hear that, I hear lazy, indecision, not focused, super delusional, massive ego and not down to reality, because there's nothing perfect about anything in life. There's nothing perfect, by the way, nothing, so it's all whatever you think your perfectionism is. [35:17.8]
Not only that, when you send me your perfect piece and I hate it, were you perfect or were you not perfect?
Beken: Not perfect regardless.
Mark: It depends. Maybe to you, you were, but to me, the client, at the end of the day, that's all that really matters. If they hate it, it doesn't matter how perfect it is. They hate it, period. But your feelings will get in the way. Your feelings will get hurt because it's like, Man, I put so much time and energy and effort. No one cares. Seriously, the only person that cares is you, but no one cares really, and if they tell you they do, they're lying to you.
You know that toothpaste that you use. You know that deodorant you use. You know that cologne. Do you know how many hours and hundreds of hours, that car you drive, probably months and months and years and years of testing, tweaking? You don't care. You get to drive the car. You get the convenience of what they have. [36:13.1]
Have you ever been to the store and got a new and improved shampoo, new and approved toothpaste, new and improved cars? If they're so perfect, why is it new and improved? It’s because we evolve.
Beken: Yeah.
Mark: It's because we develop. It’s because our taste changes. It's because we've realized it's a good marketing quote. New and improved might be like a 0.0001 extra ingredient or something, whatever, but it's improved now and it's new, so it's good marketing, but what are you doing?
By the way, just because you're good at doing a video doesn't mean you're good at doing the copy. Just because you're good at the copy doesn't mean you're good at the video. Those are two separate pieces that if you can figure out how to put them both together, you get a bigger bang for the buck for yourself and the client.
All this stuff was very delusional thinking. It's our thoughts. [37:04.3]
But, dude, I’ve got to be a perfectionist before I call the seller.
Why?
Well, what do I say?
Hello?
Like, what's the script?
Beken: That was a huge hiccup I had, too, back when I was doing that.
Mark: Yeah. People are always trying to perfect something that's not meant to be perfect. Why can't you just be you? Why can't you just have a conversation? Why can't you just connect with someone and understand what they want?
Again, Beken, you and I, do you feel like you're getting better by my insights and vice versa, right? We're getting more production out. We're getting more product out, meaning videos, etc. I mean, we're growing. We're evolving. It will never be perfect ever.
Beken: Never.
Mark: No.
Beken: Then once we do get to that million followers and everyone's like, Oh my God, you’ve got it all, and it's the same type of mentality. It's not perfect. We're still evolving. There's so much more to do and so many places to go. [38:13.0]
Mark: Yeah, and back to why we're here today, back to why we're here feeling behind the eight ball. The truth is once we get to a million people on social, we're going to feel like we're behind the eight ball, but we're not going to be focused on that as much as we are on where we're going.
Being behind the eight ball, that's what drives us a little bit. It gets us a little anxious. Makes us want to push a little harder. But the real thing is, it’s like if we see progress, we're at 12,800, then we're at 12.9, through 13,000, 13.8, blah, blah, blah, the more videos we're doing, the more live streams we're doing, the more pieces we're doing, they love start sharing, and you start sharing the love. You start sharing this video.
You start sharing something that makes sense with you that we put out. You start understanding there are two people behind this video that are real people that are just doing the work like you want to and like you are going I hope. We're just here to do the work. [39:07.5]
And when we get to a million, we're already plotting how to get to 5 million, right? We're already plotting how to get to 10 million once we're at five, so it's not like we're ever settled. I think that's another thing, too. We are not settling, Beken, are we?
Beken: Oh, no. That's not even in the book of vocabulary in our book. Like, what?
Mark: Exactly.
Beken: What do you mean? What? Until death. That's how it is.
Mark: Yeah. I mean, we're pushing. We're plodding. We're trying to listen to you guys. Where do you need help? What do you want more of? What can I guide you in? What can I give you? What could we support you with? Because Beken is going to take that information and create snippets or bullet points, maybe create a private back office somewhere.
But at the end of the day, guys, let us know what you want. We're here for you. Make sure to follow me over on Instagram, @MarkEvansDM, and on Facebook here as well and YouTube. We have the podcast show. We have a lot, 20 unique audio is over there, a hundred percent on iTunes, and it's called the Making of a DM. Make sure to get the book, Magician vs. Mule. [40:08.6]
This is not a shameless plug. This is all I ask. If this is helping you, share it. Just share. Share the message. Get involved. Start liking. Start communicating. Start connecting.
There's a lot of people here. If you guys will pay attention—I want you to pay attention. Put this on your calendar today—show up here at a year later, and I bet you, the Nicks, the Mikes and everybody that's asking questions, the Dylans that are interacting and asking questions, they'll be further ahead than the people that are just watching because when you interact and create an emotional push. Then I start seeing you and I start connecting with you differently. We start reaching out one on one and then we're off to the races.
Invest in yourself, not just money and time. You guys are investing in your time here. You're 45 minutes deep in this. I want you to know that I care about you greatly. I want nothing but the best for you. I want you to succeed at a massive level and you're going to see that Beken and I are going to keep pushing. We're going to keep prodding. We're going to keep creating the best, the next best video. [41:08.3]
But I promise you, even if we created the perfect video that day, and literally a nanosecond later, we're talking about the next best video, because now we're just getting started. Now we have a new baseline. Our baseline is constantly changing. What we expect is changing. Our quality is changing. We're evolving, just like we on your calls, just like you on your marketing, just like you on your deals, just like you on everything you're taking action on.
Just get out there and do the work and get the results, and focus on the data, not the drama. That's how you get in front of the eight ball. Let's get in front of this thing. You'll know it's there. It's okay. You'll see the people that are doing more. Use it as inspiration. Don't get scared about it. Get excited about it, because the truth is, if someone is further ahead of where you want to be, you realize that you can do that because one person has done that at least. You know what I mean? It's powerful. Just keep it in the game. Stay focused. Keep it simple and get the results. [42:07.5]
Anything else, Beken?
Beken: Nope. Make sure that you follow Mark on IG. I mean, hey, a lot of people tell you to follow them and they're only sending you memes and nonsense and B.S. A lot of you guys that come to this already are here to do business-building, personal-development building. The only way to do that is consistently surround yourself with likeminded individuals like Mark.
Mark is always posting on IG, always dropping valuable gems. Go check him out. Connect with us. We're always just posting valuable stuff. That's what it's all about, man, staying in the loop.
Mark: Cool, man. I love it, man. I appreciate it.
Guys, I’ve got to bounce. Hope you're doing amazing. A lot of moving parts over here at DM Land over in Parkland, Florida, as we get ready to roll [inaudible] Thursday morning.
Stay tuned. I’ve got a big show for you guys tomorrow. I'm going to share with you about a $20,000 investment I made on Thursday that everyone should be making. I'll keep you guys posted with it. Hope you're doing amazing. Talk to you. [43:06.7]
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