Welcome to the “Making of a DM.” Last show of 2020 and it's a big one. My question to you is, in five years from today, how much will be in your bank account? With that said, let's get started.
Mark: Hey, there. It’s your man, Mark Evans DM. First of all, I hope you had an amazing Christmas holiday. As I’m sitting here outside of Kirtland Hills/Mentor, Ohio, at the estate, about the leave tomorrow. [01:04.8]
On the 31st, I head back down to Florida for the next six and a half, seven months, and hang out with the family and catch some sun, get some Vitamin D. My wife's birthday is coming up, too, January 4, so we've got some cool celebrations in store.
Anyway, as I’m talking to you here today, I was thinking about goals. I run a group called the DM Family, 33 guys that are just crushing business, life and growth, and want to crush it even more. I’m always honored to be a part of that group because I learned so much from them as well.
My boy, Tim, he always talks about watching a history series about how America was built, like the Rockefellers and such. It's a great series they put on and it's inspiring because these guys became billionaires without technology and computers, and all this stuff, right? Not only that, it's how America was built through the rails, railways and the oil, and just the evolution process of getting electricity and all that. [02:05.7]
It really makes you think, Wow, how did they think so big? What did they read? Who did they talk to? And you start thinking about that kind of stuff, because where we're at today in today's day and age, it's very amazing and also very devastating to many. As we have access to anything we could ever think about, later if you want to build a rocket ship, you can go online, how to build a rocket ship. If you want to figure out anything about how to do a heart surgery, I mean, literally anybody can learn something.
And I get it. We’ve all got a lot going on and we all see so-and-so doing this. We want to do that. The next week, the next second we see this, so I want to do that, too. I feel like people get lost. I don't feel like it. I know people get lost inside of their ideas because they have too many options. [02:55.8]
See, when I started out in real estate investing, I was 18 years old, just graduated high school, had no money, had no credit. Clearly, I was 18. Lived with my parents and I was like, I need to get rich. That was making 100 grand a year, right? And I had no options. I wasn't going to college. I wasn't going to get a job ever for W-2, if you will.
I worked. I wasn't afraid of work. I just didn't want to work for someone else. It was always the thing for me. So, I was out of options. My only option was I had to go create what I wanted, and oftentimes that took me working a lot harder at a lot more risk, if you will, from the outside looking in, of going to making money at this project and maybe getting paid or maybe not, doing construction back then, of course.
Anyway, as I’m thinking about this, my buddy, Tim, talks about that like, Let's watch that. Guys, by the way, if you haven't watched how America was built or The Men Who Built America, I’m sorry, it's on the History Channel or on Amazon, or somewhere, I’m sure. Find it and watch the series. They’ve got some cool ones, too, how food was made and blah, blah, blah, all that good stuff, Hershey's and all that. [04:01.8]
But it just makes you think stop and think how one could create so much in a very short lifetime. We only have so many productive years of our life and then we become dust, right? Literally. What I want to do, I’m going to share with you a couple of things I think about, and I share with the DM Family and they do these as well, these exercises, and just talk, talk it out.
My agenda is just to help you and guide you. I might mess up here or there and I’ll reedit that, and stop and say, No, I didn't mean it like this. I didn’t mean it like that. But I don't like to picture or I don't plan out 10 years, 20 years, 30 years in advance. For me, it's fantasy land and I know people will spend 10 years planning it out 10 years and then wake up 10 years later with nothing done. That's always my fear, by the way, for me, too, because I’ve seen it happen many times. [05:00.0]
What I like to do is gamify what gets me excited. What gets me excited is cash, large amounts of a sum of cash in the bank. Yours might be something else, but as a business owner, the more cash I have in the bank, that means I’m making more money.
I’m going to use an easy number for everybody here. In five years, December 30, right, or depending on when you're listening to this, December 30, 2025, you're going to wake up in the morning, hopefully, and you're going to open up your computer or push a microchip on your arm and it's going to pop up on your screen, or ceiling or whatever, how much available cash you have in your bank account today, and that's five years from now. My question to you is what is that number? Is it a million, 5 million, 100 million, 10 billion? Whatever that number is. [05:57.1]
In the DM Family, I use the example of $20 million liquid. You might think, Oh, my God, that's a lot of money, or you might think, Meh, it's not that much. I’m pretty close already, right? Because there are a lot of different people listening to the show. Whatever that number is and, again, I’m using 20 million as an example, which I think is very achievable for a lot of people, and then I questioned why don't more people have access to at least 20 million in their account. The truth is I don't think they ever ask themselves that. That's the truth, because if they did, they would definitely be closer to it.
But 20 million, that's your number. Does it scare you? When I say 20 million, most people's brains instantly go to “That's not possible. It's impossible.” I get it. I get it. I want you to do this. Hopefully, you've done this already. Every morning, I know how much cash I have on hand in all my bank accounts, all of them. Today, whatever is in that bank account today is what you’ve created, maybe a lot or maybe a little. [07:07.7]
I’m not saying don't be thankful and don't be grateful and all that, but I also want you to be conscious of it's not what happened today for that money to end up in that account. It's what happened five years prior, four years prior, three years prior, etc., right? Most people I help on this process, they don't have millions of dollars in their accounts. Millions, you should have millions. If you're over 40, everyone should have over a million dollars in their account, in my opinion, minimum. Minimum. That's bare bones. That's like you're broke if you have a million dollars in the account. I’m just trying to make my point here.
If it's $20 million and, again, a lot of people are real estate people and business people here, I’m not talking equity. Man, if money is sitting in my bank account, I’m not making money. Okay, I get that. Why can't you do both? You can. [08:04.4]
Secondly, I’m not saying it has to all be liquid December 30, 2025, when I’m shooting this, five years exactly. How much could be liquid? You could have 19 million of that in assets and liquidate out on the 29th, so it's available on the 30th. I’m fine with that. But don't use that thinking process to limit your growth process. I was trained that way. As an investor, if money is in your account, you're not making money. Also, you're not losing money either, and I’m not saying be a procrastinator about getting your money to play, but as you get bigger, you have to start getting more strategic. You’ve got to get smarter with your money to have more of it, if you want anyway.
$20 million. Do you get goosebumps? Do you think it's greedy? Do you think it's shallow? Do you think it's like, Mark, I really don't…I don't need $20 million. I don't really have a need for it. That's what a lot of people think. But today, hopefully, and thankfully, you're healthy. Your family is healthy. [09:10.4]
What if, heaven forbid, something bad happens. You need a $20 million cancer treatment that the insurance won't pay, and if you don't pay it, you or the person you love the most in your life will die. It's that serious, for me. See, most people will throw out a number just because they think it's cool and your number might be bigger or smaller than 20 million. I don't care. It's got to be unreachable today in your brain.
By the way, whatever number you write down is already unreachable, because if it was reachable, wouldn't you already be there, right? Whatever is in that account in your bank account today, you’ve created that number. You did. Not mom, not dad, no one else. You. That's your responsibility. That number is your number. [10:07.2]
I want you to stop and think, too, before you write down the number five years from now. I want you to think back five years ago prior to today, so December 30, 2015. How much money did you have then? More or less? Most people would have way less, right? The number you see in your account today, did you ever think that amount would be in there? I hope it's way more than you had five years ago, and if it's not, there are only two times to plant the tree really, right? Two best times, 20 years ago and today. What's that? The Chinese proverb, right? [10:55.0]
How much money do you want in five years, liquid? You wake up, get your coffee, push a couple buttons, call up the bank and say, I want my 20 mil. You don't have to go blow it and spend it all. It's your freedom number. It's your untouchable number, but doable number.
By the way, whatever number you write down is doable. Recently, a guy created a software, and in 12 months, it’s worth 2 billion, yes, with a “B”, dollars. Could you imagine if he only wrote down he only wanted 20 million five years from now? He built one of the fastest technology companies under the moon, literally. Airbnb, 13 years in the making, the guy. They went public. I believe the owner is worth $9, almost $10 or $11 billion. [11:56.0]
See, there's a thing called compounding efforts. Compounding money, right? I love it. But as we get bigger, older, I should say, not just bigger financially, compounding efforts start taking place, which equals more money. More money equals more efforts. Just a lot of neat things can happen in five years.
I have a son. He's five years old. His name is Mark III and he's five years old. He's actually becoming a person. He talks to me. He yells at me. He disrespects me. He gets spanked. All that good stuff, right? But five years ago, he wasn't even thought of. He wasn't even born. We didn't even know what it was, a boy or girl, because we didn't find out. Baby pops out, it's a boy. That's awesome. But we can take him and create a human in five years and we can't create a measly $20 million.
Depending on what vehicle you're in, business that is, 20 million is very achievable or possibly never achievable, doing it the way you're doing it. You have to become someone different than you are today if you want that number. [13:11.9]
I’m not saying change your core values. Be the great husband. Be the great wife. Be the great leader. Be the great teacher. Whatever it is, I’m not saying change all that, because I want to just be super crystal clear. I personally have certain things I will do and not do in business. My first rule is, is it aligned with my lifestyle? I get hit up 10, 20, 30 times a day for the next best business idea, opportunity, deal, blah, blah, blah, whatever. I take only a handful of them a month at best because I, personally, in my companies, I get a hundred percent of all of it, right? And I do have many other investments. But case in point is I want you to understand that we have to evolve. We have to change. We have to become someone different. We have to be talking about different stuff. [14:10.2]
See, as a real estate investor, again, or if you're a shop owner, if you're constantly talking about the same shit 24/7, what is going to change from today as opposed to five years? What are you doing consistently today that could either be eliminated, delegated or systematized? What can you do? These are the things you need to start plotting to get excited about your number. It's the only way your number is going to come into fruition. It's not easy, but it's fun.
If you gamify it, turn it into a fun game, 20 million, five years, 4 million times five, 20 million, but I really need to make double because of taxes, boom, 40 million, and then I need to do this, blah, blah, blah. How do I make that work? Oh, my God, 40 million. That's 8 million a year, blah, blah, blah, right? [15:18.0]
Our brains are the most powerful pieces of equipment on this earth, in this world. We have to call it into action. $20 million. Boom. Oh shit, how am I going to get there? Right? We have to be thinking about who do I need to become or what does it look like to have $20 million in my bank account five years from now? Are you talking to the same people? Are you doing the same job, same activities? Are you in the same niche that you're in today?
See, guys, in business, I had to pivot many, many times. In real estate, I was doing buy and hold, and almost went bankrupt. This was early-2000. I almost went bankrupt because I didn't have other streams of income. I had a lot of single families, but they stopped. [16:14.0]
They stopped paying rent. I got in trouble. I was down at the courthouse every day because I had all these violations. I mean, it was a mess. It was hard. Actually, I was scared. I called my dad. Dad, I’ve got to go to court. I think I’m going to get arrested, just a heads up.
These are things that molded me to get me to where I’m at, but if I kept doing that expecting a different result, I’m going crazy because that is a form of insanity. I see so many great people doing the same things, talking about the same shit and expecting a totally different result. If you don't change, the thing doesn't change and that thing is what you're going after. [17:01.3]
That thing is what you're going after, right? $20 million. Tell me the people you could feed with that. Do you know how many people you could help with that, your church, your schools, your community, yourself, your family, whatever? It's only five short years. My mother always says the years fly by, the days drag on. That’s why we’ve got to get excited about the daily activities, the journey, not the destination.
See, a lot of people are running around. The $20 million, by the way, is my destination in five years from now. It's like if you're booking a trip today, do you just go online and book a trip and say, I’m going to take a flight. Okay, cool, where? I don't know, I’m just taking a flight. We have to have a destination. So many of you are doing life in business without a destination. That's why you get burnt out. That's why you get overwhelmed and frustrated, because you're stuck in the moment, not the big picture. [18:09.2]
On the grand scheme of things, if you're looking, if you have a million in the bank and you're going for 20 million, this shit is petty for what's about to take place as you hit the 20 million. So, you’ve got to suck it up, buttercup, and deal with this shit. More importantly, you’ve got to ask yourself, how do you not have to deal with it? Why did you get yourself in that situation in the first place? And what can I do to minimize it or eliminate this activity in my day, in my life?
See, right now, as I’m talking to you, in some of my companies, we have collections galore, millions of dollars, right? Millions floating around in cyberspace or checks in the mail, if you will, right, or whatever. Then on the other side, back in the day I used to do that. I used to be the guy calling, Hey, where's my money, man? What's going on? Hey, why haven't you paid me, beep-beep-beep, whatever?
Then, secondly, in my real estate companies, same thing. I used to be the manager. I used to be the contractor. I used to be the handyman. I used to be the carpet guy. I used to be the plunger guy. I’ve done all this shit. But I’ve realized me doing, that's not going to get me to my number. [19:13.8]
Well, Mark, someone’s got to do it. Yeah, but does that someone have to be you? Listen, if it is, that's fine, but don't go out there and act like you're trying to build this massive company by doing these dinky actions.
But, Mark, I enjoy it. I do a lot of shit in my businesses I don't enjoy. I have to do them because that's called business. It’s what we do. The truth is, a lot of the things I do today that I love, I hated when I started it. Why? Because I was changing. I was morphing into someone different. My cadence was different. My actions, my conversations, my friend, my circle of influence changed. [20:00.0]
Once you trigger the brain 20 million, five years, just like if you've ever been on a vacation, your destination, let's say you're going to Hawaii, for three months in advance you book this trip and you're excited for the next three months. You're on the countdown. Ninety days, I’m going to be sitting in Hawaii hanging out. It's going to be amazing. Sixty days, closer. Thirty days. Five days, now the real countdown.
In those five days, before you depart to get to your destination, 99 percent of you listening to my voice do more shit in those seven days prior to leaving than you did prior to the 90 days that you booked it out. Why is that? Because you had a constraint. You had a destination. You had an end goal. Your brain figures out how to get to the path. I’m not saying it's always less stressful, but you’ve created the stress yourself, because if you would have prepared and done the stuff properly 60 days prior instead of seven days prior, you'd be less stressed. These are the things we can control. [21:11.0]
I know where I’m at. I know where I’m going. I have no clue how I’m getting there, but I’m going to get there. See, to get to Hawaii from Ohio, I could bike to Cali, swim, boat to Hawaii, or I could just take the simple path and jump in the plane or, an even simpler path, take a jet, or not go. I have choices.
I see a lot of people running their life and business, taking the walking path and swimming path, the hard path. Why does it have to be hard? Why does it have to be hard? What is hard? To me, it's not hard if you're pursuing your dreams and goals. I’m not saying it won't be hard some days, but it's not hard. It's actually very enlightening, rewarding, fun, exciting. [22:08.5]
When I see my cash accounts, I literally start shaking because I’ve never seen this much money in my life, and I’m not saying that to impress but to impress upon that, if the old Mark was here, I was just glad to have 50 grand in the bank with deals in the pipeline because I’m going to make more. I used to use these old words, these old conversations, because I’d met people throughout my life, right, through my mentors and different mastermind groups, and people are like, Dude, if you’ve got money in the bank, it ain't making you money. Keep in mind, the fucker only had 50 grand in his bank, and no assets and no money in play, and barely getting by every single month.
Again, this is all through the journey of learning and I’ve realized something, that everyone ticks differently. If you have a lot of money in the bank that drives you, get more money. If not having money in the bank dries you, figure out how to put it in assets so you don't see it and then you get more money while you're building your asset base, etc., but you’ve got to find out what makes you tick. [23:08.5]
The last thing I would want for you is to go through life in flight or fight mode constantly. You're always fighting for the deal. You're always fighting for the next opportunity. You're always fighting to get the money in the bank because you're fighting the people collecting money from you and it's always a fight. It's always a battle. It's always a struggle. Not only is that not good for your health, but also the people that love you the most around you.
The whole reason you get into business and want to grow and get bigger is to take that burden off and take the conversation out of the subject matter. Even though you'll always be talking about finances by the way, right? Because there will be a point, a tipping point in your relationships where you actually get a lot of money and you guys start talking about different things about money, how to protect it, how to preserve it, how to grow it, how to delegate it, how to hand it off, how to maximize opportunities with why I’m on earth and when I’m gone from planet earth, right? These are things, different conversations, different people, but money is always in our conversations. In my family, I talk about money every single day. I’m not saying you should or shouldn't. It's just I talk about that stuff because it's important. [24:12.2]
Making money feels good, by the way. Having sex feels good, by the way. Why does no one talk about money and sex? It's weird, right? It's almost like a secret, but everyone goes into their bedroom and they're doing it, something, whatever they do, wherever they do their finances, right? Why aren't we talking about this stuff? Money has so much emotion around it.
I grew up in a small town, hillbilly kid, Ohio, great parents, very little money. Not knocking it. It's reality. They busted their ass to help us have food on the table every day, but there are some very, very skimping days. Parents are amazing. The only time I heard them talk about money was when they were fighting about money. “We ain't got any money to pay the cable bill. We ain't got any money to pay the electric. Jesus, Mark, where were you born? In a barn? Shut that damn door. Jesus, shut the lights off, out of your door, blah, blah, blah. You think I own the power company?” I heard all this negative, negative stuff around money. [25:15.8]
That's why I almost went bankrupt twice. Truthfully, it was because I got a lot of money very quickly. A lot of money at that time was not what it is today, but it was hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars and as a 20-year-old, 22-year-old kid, that's a lot of money, that never had a financial mentor. My only thought was to get rid of the money, because if I didn't have it, I didn't have to worry about dealing with it.
I didn't have to change. I didn't have to take responsibility for the money. We do know most people don't take responsibility for their financial future, right? If you give it to hedge fund managers and all these people, that means typically, most of the time, you don't understand finances. You just hand it off to someone, your 401(k), and you hope like hell you wake up and there's more money in there 30 years from now than there's not today. Right? [26:04.6]
But I set rules on this stuff. One of my friends recently was like, Mark, I get it, man, but I just… Keep in mind, he wrote. This is a cool story. This is a true story. I did this exercise with my guys, usually every six months, but in March, one of the guys was like, Dude, how much in 10 years? I was trying to really push a number, a big number, and he wrote it down and he never told anybody, which is cool, whatever. That's fine.
Then we started talking about the five-year number, really like, Dude, five-year number, end of year, we’ve got to push hard. What's the real number? I’ve been using 20 million as an example and he's even thinking that's a lie, and like, Dude, and I know this guy’s situation. It's not a lot for what he's capable of, by far.
What’s cool was he opened up the check that he wrote in March to himself. How much do you think the check was for? How much do you think the check was for when he wrote it out in March for 10 years? What he was saying is in 10 years, how much cash could he go to the bank and get out? [27:06.3]
The answer is pretty wild. It's $2.5 million. He's not far off of that today, but in his brain, he went to the number he knew he was capable of hitting very easily and then he dug deeper, because what we like to do in the DM Family is we do a lot of thought-auditing. Our thoughts drive everything. We know that.
So, where did this thought about money or lack of getting access to money come from? He started talking and he shared some really great insights. He's like, Dude, in the path I'm on, I just don't enjoy it, and if I have to make more in it, I’m going to hate my life even more. Therefore, I just survive—even though he makes a lot of money, a million-plus a year—I just survive and it is what it is. I'm like, Ouch. [28:00.8]
Then he goes on to say, But if I don't want to trade off, there's always a trade-off. If I have 20 million, the trade-off could be maybe I’m not the best husband. Maybe I’m not present. Maybe I’m not the best dad because I’m not home all the time. Maybe I’m not this. Maybe I’m not that. And that's noted, right? Because sometimes there are trade-offs for money depending on what avenue or path you take. What's your vehicle? Car? Bus? Train? Jet? Walking? Bicycle? Crawling? How are you getting to Hawaii? There are multiple paths. There are multiple vehicles to do it. Which one do you want to do?
Reminds me of when I walked the Camino de Santiago. That’s a 42-day walk, over 500 miles. We did it for fun. Walked 500 miles, 42 days, me and my wife, Deena. I could have easily ridden a bike. I could have called a cab. I could have taken a helicopter. There are a lot of ways to do this 500-mile track in a lot quicker time, but I wanted to do it for the experience. [28:58.0]
But, anyway, he's saying this stuff and he's like, I just want to be the best dad. I know a lot of great people that have $20 million that are amazing dads. See, we’ve created really this story that if I have 20 million in cash, I can't be a great dad or I might sacrifice that, or it can't be a great husband or I can't be a great friend or a great buddy or whatever, where I can't just stay at home.
See, in my mind, like I said, I look at this differently, knowing what I know now, and I’m sharing this with you for real and it changed my life. I know what I want and what I don't want is just as important, if not more important, because in business, all these opportunities are coming 24/7. If I said yes to everything, I’d have time to do nothing and I’d probably lose everything, right? Because I spread myself too thin, mentally, emotionally, financially, and just get wiped out. Even if I made a lot of money, I wouldn't be me because I’d just be wiped, be worn out.
Years ago, I’d get asked to public speak often, come to events and show up, whatever. I mean, who doesn't want to see this pretty face, right? That's why I do podcast shows because I’ve got a face for radio. But in all seriousness, I could go to lots of events and get paid to go to them. Lots of money. But I don't like traveling like that. [30:18.7]
I don't like flying really even though I fly often, I only fly if my family goes with me typically. I like to hang out with my wife and my kids. That's my life. I love it. It's enjoyable to me. Even though I still need to get away once in a while, it's fun to me. It's where I’m at in my life. Kids are young. I want to cherish every moment I can. I want to get closer with my wife. I want to bicker with her more. You know how that is, all that good stuff. So, I made a role that I don't do it, unless they're great friends of mine, and my wife and kids can come, and it's easy. [30:53.0]
Again, when opportunities come in, the first thing is does this align with my lifestyle? It's either yes or no, not maybe. It's fucking yes or no. When I get in trouble is when I say maybe because now I’m bending my rules. I see people do this all the time. I’ve been guilty of this many times. But when you put a line in the sand and say, This is it. This is who I am and this is what I’m willing to do or not do for X, magic happens. Amazing things happen.
People would ask me to come to their event and I’m like, Sorry, I don't do that, but I’ll Skype in. I’ll zoom in. Some people like that. Some people don't. Cool. I don't care either way. I just know I’m not showing up in person. Right? Because you’ve got to stop your day. You’ve got to go travel. You’ve got to travel. If it's East Coast or West coast, you lose a day on both sides, and then a day there, three days, four days. It's four days out of my life to make 50 grand or 100 grand. It's not worth it. If that's what you love to do, it's worth it to you then, right? I’m just talking me. [31:57.2]
So, setting these rules and when this guy, when my buddy is talking about this, he has, again, we all have negative rules and positive rules about money and about what success might look like or not look like, and we’ve got to really concentrate on that through our thought-auditing like, Why? Why if I have $20 million in cash, do I think I have to be a bad person or why would I have to sacrifice hanging out with my children to make $20 million?
What I recommend you do is think about this. Ask different questions. For example, the question could be simple as how can I generate $20 million in five years without ever leaving the house? How can I generate $20 million by helping 20 million people? How can I generate $20 million with my God-gifted ability, my unique ability, if you will, my skill? Maybe it's data. Maybe it's technology. Maybe it's sales. Maybe it's… Whatever it is, I don't need to know the answer yet. I’m just asking the question to my brain. I’m triggering. [33:07.5]
Guys, it's a very powerful tool. We've talked about this, but gray Honda Civic, white Chevy truck. If you go out and buy a new car today, you're going to see a car everywhere and you haven't seen it the whole time.
Randomly you'll see it. As soon as you buy it or as soon as you're thinking about buying something, you see it everywhere. It's not like you had a thought and now, all of a sudden, people are messing with you and they're showing up. It has been there the whole time. It's just your brain subconsciously is seeking it.
When you cast out these opportunities or these questions to yourself in a different manner, your brain starts looking for the answer, even though when you ask the question, you have no clue what the answer is, because if you did, you'd already be doing it. The fact is everyone needs to know the answer before they write down the question. [34:00.0]
You'll talk yourself out of the question because you're trying to figure out the answer to the question before you write down the question, because you don't want to be wrong. You don't want to look stupid. You don't want to be laughed at. I get it. But it's your time to understand that you don't know the answer yet, and that's okay. You're not supposed to. You might have an ideal of the answer. Cool. But what I want you to do is I want you to start questioning your questions, your thoughts.
I want $20 million. What pops into your head? Greed. Fear. Rip-Off. Scam Artists. Scared. Happy. Excited. Yes, easily accomplishable. Whatever. I’m not saying get all goofy in the mirror, I’m the best, I’m the greatest. You're the coolest. You're going to be rich. I’m not saying that shit. I’m just saying we have what pops in your brain. These are rules that you've created over the years. [35:01.0]
I’d make more money in a day typically than I thought I could make in a yearb24 years ago. What questions are you asking? Because whatever you have in the bank account, you're finding the answer to make that number happen. If you're a real estate guy, how do I flip one more house a month? That ain't getting you the $20 million, I promise you that. And don't use some bullshit like, Well, Mark, you’ve got to start from somewhere. I get it, you do, and I’m not saying stop what you're doing. I’m just saying be conscious of what you're doing and seeing if it's going to get you to the number where you want to be.
Everyone has a different rule. Everyone has a different number. Everyone has different goals and dreams and all that shit. That's awesome. That's what makes the world go round. But the only person you really should care about is you, the MEconomy, the ME economy. [36:01.5]
What do you want? What is that 20? Is it 20 million? What is that five-year number? Twenty million, 50 million, 10 million, 100 million? What is that number? Does it scare you or does it excite you? I'm excited for you because I believe anybody that does this work, even if you don't hit the number or you supersede the number, at least you had a destination to head to. More money in the bank is the destination. How much more? That's to be determined. Are you worth $20 million?
I grew up with people saying stupid things like I’m worth more dead than alive. My heart would sink because it'd be some of the closest people in my life. They're worth way more than $100,000 or $250,000, whatever their insurance policy was. I know it's a figure of speech, but at the end of the day, what we say out loud we typically believe. [37:14.6]
I want you to understand that you are so close to a whole other level. Most of the time, it never feels like that. Oftentimes you might not even know when you get to the level you were trying to get to anyways. You might not even know that level you're trying to get to, and then you get there and you're like, Oh, shit, okay, well, I’ve got to move on to another level. There's another level here. This is the stuff we need to challenge you.
It’s about to be 2021. Don't be worried about bullshit politics. Don't be worrying about bullshit corona stuff. Worry about you. They don't give a about you anyway, let's be honest. You have to care about yourself, and if you don't, it will show up five years from now, show up 10 years from now, if you're even still in the game of life. [38:07.5]
Some of you listening to my voice are going to be dead. It might even be me. But I’m going to give it my all while I’m here. I’m going to scare myself to death with numbers? I don't even know how it's possible, but I’m going to work on a path to get there. I’m going to team up with amazing people that can help me get there.
By the way, by the way, yes, by the way, you getting to that number on that check, you need to become a leader. You need people that can help you get there. I’m not saying take this journey solo. I actually recommend bringing amazing people on board with you and having them help drive to that number, drive to that goal and your company, which will help your company get to that number for you personally. Then you're going to see, you're going to pay attention from this conversation forward, that over the next five years, watch how you evolve. Watch how you develop. [39:07.7]
See, when people come to me and the DM Family is 35 grand and they think about it, if they even hesitate, I think, What the hell did I do? Where did I go? It's only 35 grand, and if you're trying to have 20 million in the bank, you're making a lot of 50, 200, million-dollar decisions daily. That's the only way you're going to get to that number. You're not going to save yourself to that number. I’m going to save $12.42 cents every single month because I’m only going to get the one double latte, not the triple latte. Yes, winning. Not. I need you to think about this. You need to pay attention to this. You need to invest in yourself and others. It's the best. [39:57.0]
One of my Christmas gifts I’ve got from my team—this makes me very proud, by the way. This has happened in a lot of my companies over the years, which is awesome, and I am bragging right now because I’m proud of my team and I’m proud of what my team has built. It's awesome—so at Christmas, I get a package on the door. We open it up and it's my media company. It’s a picture of them in their families each, big poster, a bunch of employees and team members, and families and their dogs and our kids and all that, saying thank you.
Twenty years ago, Mark Evans was not that guy. I would pay less, work them harder. I’d mule them out. I’d literally work them until they’d either quit or die. That's how I was trained. That's how I was raised. I started realizing that's not how people… Some people like that. I don't like that. It didn't make me feel good. I evolved. But I’m very proud when my team sends me stuff like that because it shows that we're building an amazing culture. I’m not there day to day. I have never been in that company ever in my life day to day, ever. [41:05.6]
The truth is I don't even know how they do the day to day. I know what the company does obviously and I’ve invested the money to get it to where it's at. I pay lots of people in that company, many, many, many people. And we spend huge marketing budgets, millions and millions of dollars a year. We generate millions of leads a year. We have a lot of stuff going on and I get this amazing poster with the teams and their families saying, “Thank you. We're so honored to work with you.” They say “for you”, but it's really “with”, not “for”. I’m honored to work with them, too. I’m proud of them.
I know for a fact I would not be where I’m at today if I’m in hundred percent control of every aspect of the days of my businesses. My team pushes when I wouldn't push. My team starts and quits. I can't wear 80 hats a day and think I could be a hundred percent all the time. [42:04.5]
I talked about this in the book, Magician vs. Mule. But you have to let go. I don't do collection calls. I don't do sales calls. I’m growing a fucking business. I’m talking to the team. I don't mind going in the field, but there's nothing for me in the field. It's one to one. That's cool. That gets you going. It gets you started, but that's not going to get me to where I want to go. I have to be able to relay my message to the top 10 people in the company and let it waterfall down to 100 other people. I could talk for one hour and it gets heard tens of thousands of hours.
That's the difference of who I’ve had to become to get to where I want to go. I had to fire people. I had to hire people. I had to waste money. I had to invest money. I had to lose money. I had to earn money. There are a lot of pieces here.
And I’m not saying anything we're talking about today is going to happen overnight, but we have 2021, baby. It's a fucking new year. Don't use my… What is it? I don't even know what they're called because I literally vanished the word out of my vocabulary. No new year's resolutions. That's procrastinators’ talk. [43:14.9]
You've been talking about getting on New Year’s resolutions for the last six months, three months, two months, 12 days. Argh, I’ve only got 12 more days, I’ll start then. You could have done that shit for all year. But I had to evolve. I had to get scared. I had to get uncomfortable. I had to learn new stuff. I had to hire great people to help me, mentors, go to masterminds, meet people, stay up late, get up early, read books, watch shows, watch YouTube, all this shit.
I’ve got to be honest with you. It's been worth it. It’s been more than I could ever dream of. I have so many options because I have money. I have options because I have teams and I have my time. There's nothing more that fulfills my heart to see my team go out and buy their dream car, their dream house, get married at their dream wedding, dream vacations. That's the shit that drives me. [44:06.0]
I can already do all that. I do it. But then doing it is what gets me excited because we, as a team, created this opportunity for all. See, back in the day I was such a dick. I was so shallow. I wanted 100 percent of 100 percent and I got very little of a hundred percent. A hundred percent of 100 grand is only 100 grand, and I was in control, man. I knew everything. I knew everybody. Everybody knew me. Yeah, but I had no fucking money.
You’ve got to check your ego at the door, dude. I’m doing this for the big picture. My kids are watching me. My wife is watching me. My family is watching me. My mentees are watching me. My team is watching me. More importantly, I’m watching me. [44:56.5]
It's easy to talk this shit. Putting it into action, it's a whole other animal. I’m not saying I’m a hundred percent perfect in any way, shape or form. The goal is to be 80 percent, 80-20 rule, right? If I can just be 80 percent and progress, because my 80 percent gets bigger, my 80 percent gets stronger, my 8 percent it gets more awareness, just compound effect. Compound effect. You're going to wake up in five years and you're going to be laughing at the number you wrote down on that piece of paper. You're going to be laughing.
I actually recommend you get over to the website on this podcast show and get one of those big checks. I'll have a link over there if you want to see it. Just get a big check. It's 50 bucks, 100 bucks, whatever it is. It's 2’x4’. Write your five-year number on it and put it in your office in front of you on your desk, on your wall. Use it as all art. People walking in there are like, Jesus, $20 million. I wish. I’ve had a lot of people, when I talk about this stuff, they're like, Dude, I just want to pay off my house and car, and I’m like, So does everyone else? So, why haven't you? [46:03.0]
See, the problem is people are dreaming too small. Who the fuck doesn't want to pay off their house and cars? I’ve never met someone that said, I do not want to pay off my house. I do not want to pay off my cars. I just want that debt. No shit, Sherlock. See, again, that's a bad rule in his brain. It's not serving him. I’m not knocking it. Pay off your car. Pay off your houses.
But, Mark, I’m an investor. I get money so cheap right now. I’ll just finance my house. Cool. I’m talking about if you want to pay off your house, pay it off, I don't care. If you want to leverage it and understand how money works, and go reinvest, take 3 percent money and go make 10 percent money and collect the 7 percent difference, that's awesome. That's a different level. That's what we do every day. I understand how that works. Now, how I started in the beginning.
Not only that, what drives you? What makes you tick? Do you want to own or do you want to rent? Do you want to travel or do you want to stay home? Do you have a young family or no family? I mean, there are so many variables to all this shit, but the only variable [there isn’t], there's no variable to you. You are the variable. [47:05.0]
If that number, five years from now, doesn't get hit, it's not because 20 million doesn't exist or whatever number you put. It's because you will have not become the person you need to, to make that number exist in your bank account, because it's in someone's fucking bank account. Why isn't it in yours? That's the stuff that we need to be asking ourselves. That's the stuff.
2021 is your awareness year when you’re thought-auditing, when you're plugging away, when you're pushing hard, when you're prodding when everyone else is slacking, when they're talking about, yeah, they can't wait until Friday at 5:00 p.m. and you're like, I can't wait till Friday at 5:00 p.m. because I’m going to get to work. I’m going to work on myself. I’m going to stay in the house. I’m going to work on this project. I’m going to grow this business. I’m going to write this code. I’m going to deploy these emails. I want to make money. I want to make these contacts, whatever, it's your time. What you do with it is up to you. You and I, Bezos, Buffett, Gates, all these people, we all have the same 24 hours in a day. Study successful people. [48:05.7]
I’ve never met someone that has massive amounts of opportunity, money and freedom being a solo person. They always have teams, so I started building teams. I’m not the best at it. I’m very, boom, to the point, matter of fact, let's go, you're fucking up, straight up, let's go, how do we fix it? Look, you're being mean to me. Get the fuck out of here. I’ve got to get this done because I’m not here for emotional warfare. We’ve got shit to get done, right?
You’ve got to learn how to suppress, calm that down, Mark. Pipe it down, buddy. They're trying. You’ve got to remember you're 24 years deep in the game. They're just starting. Have some empathy. Give them some KPIs. If they can't hit KPIs, you kick them out. If they can, keep them in and keep them going, keep them engaged, keep them growing. Maybe it's you, Mark. It's happening a lot right now. You've hired 10 people. You fired nine. It's probably the hiring process and you're the hiring guy. Maybe it's not the person. “No one wants to work.” Maybe you don't know how to hire, right? These are real conversations I’ve had with myself and I still do. [49:09.5]
So, 2021, five years, what's your number? Please share it with me. Go to social media, Instagram, @MarkEvansDM, and follow me, number one, please, and then shoot me a message. Message me and say, “Podcast 202” with your number. I would genuinely love to know your number. I won't share it publicly. I want to know your real number, and you don't have to impress me with a billion dollars or any of that. I don't care about that. What is your number? Maybe you have something I need and I could pay you a lot of money to get it. I don't know. You never know. Reach out. Let me know.
Plus, guys, if this show has been helpful to you, the Making of a DM, please share it with three of your best friends, people that you care about, work associates, business partners, whatever. Let's get on the same track. Let's start talking about positive stuff. Let's start talking about progressive stuff. [50:03.4]
Let's start talking about stuff that we can change, we can control, we can grow, we can push, we can prod, we can develop, we can evolve. Not just me, but you, a community. We're a community. The stronger the community gets, the stronger we get. That's what the Making of a DM is for me, to share my knowledge on a one-to-many level. I wish I could talk to you one on one with everybody. That would be the greatest gift of my life. I just am not willing to do that because I don't have enough time in the day and I want to hang out with my kids and my wife, like I said earlier, but this is my forum to share and give back.
I truly have nothing here to offer you except insight and I would love for you to like share this. I don't charge you anything. I don’t have sponsors or any of that stuff. I’m just trying to share with you, and the more people you share it with, the more excited I get because I pay attention to numbers. I know how many people are watching this or listening. I see if you're sharing it or not sharing it. Even though you go to share it, you're like, Yeah, he's not going to pay attention. Tag me. I’ll definitely see it, I promise you that. @MarkEvansDM. [51:03.2]
Get over to iTunes and leave a five-star review and let me know what's up. Let me know you did that. I’ll send you a gift. Shoot me a message. Hey, Mark, just left a five-star review, man. You rock, blah, blah, blah. Boom, done. Cool gift on the way.
I’m here for you guys. I genuinely am. I know it's tough out there sometimes, but we make it tougher than it really is. Just be grateful that we have this opportunity in front of us. Be thankful we have another year ahead of us and be thankful that you are in 100 percent full control of what's in that account. If you like it or not, it's the facts. No more finger pointing, only doing. Just start doing. Do it. You’ve got this.
Hope you have an amazing 2020. Checking out, signing off. I’ll see you next year, 2021. It's coming up. Send me your five-year number. Hope you have an amazing day. Thank you. Peace. [51:58.0]
This is ThePodcastFactory.com
