Welcome to the “Making of a DM.” We did it. Yes, we hit an internal goal for one week. We generated $1,018,000 in seven days, and I'm going to share with you behind the scenes of how it came about. So, with that said, let's get started.
Mark: Hey, there, it’s your boy, Mark Evans DM. Man, what a day? I have something special to share with you. I just got done doing the notes on it, thinking about it, just kind of timelining it out to share something with you, pretty interesting. [01:05.8]
I hope that you're getting a lot of value out of this show, this and all of the shows here. This for you guys. I’m just trying to share real, insightful stuff of business and life and everything in between. Again, I appreciate all the great replies and responses, and I still need some help over there on iTunes, getting over there and giving us a five-star review if you feel like this show is helping. It definitely gets a lot more visibility every time you guys do share a five-star review, so thank you guys for that, for the ones that are doing it. For the ones that are not, there's probably a reason most people aren't successful. They just don't do the little stuff, but that's a whole nother story. [01:43.4]
Today is kind of a cool day. I’m sitting here reminiscing. Last week, my team, they hit in one of our companies, the first time they've hit this number, $1,018,000, so over $1,000,000 in one week of revenue. I share that with you not to impress, but to impress upon, and I’ll share a little bit of backstory on how that business came about. It was a business I actually didn't want to do. It's a business that, really, I don't even know how the day-to-days work and all that, but I’ll share that more in a second.
But as I’m sitting here, thinking back to 1996, June 21, 1996, that's when I started my whole entrepreneurial as an adult, getting out of high school and ready to tear it up. I was laying at my mom and dad's. I was at my mom and dad's house, small town, Ohio, in the bed, dreaming, actually scheming. I was always the guy trying to put dollar numbers down on paper to see how I’m going to get there. I started thinking about “How much money do I want to make?” and, back then, I genuinely had no clue. [03:02.4]
I’d never met a person that made over $100,000 a year. I’d never met them in my life up to 18 years old, never, right? Your school teachers are making 25, 30, 5, 40, whatever they make. My parents were making probably 25,000 to 30,000 a year each. Then they hang out with my aunts and uncles and their friends at the bowling alley that are all making-- Oftentimes, it's their friends through work. My mom's boss might be making 48,000. She's making 35,000 and whatever.
I’d never really met people like that that made $100,000 a year, so it was always a fleeting thing to me, like, dude, if you're going to make a hundred grand a year, Mark, you're never going to college clearly. You just acquired the seamless gutter company for a thousand bucks down, literally my life savings down 200-and-something dollars a month because the owner financed me. I had no clue how to do it, but I knew I had to make money and the phone was ringing. [04:00.0]
So, $100,000, I started sketching out. I could work 16 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Yes, on Thanksgiving. Yes, on Christmas. I was 18. I had no family at that time, kids or anything like that, obviously, but that's what my mind went to.
That's interesting to note just in itself because I went to “How do I work and how much am I worth per hour to make my goal reality?” I can tell you right now, I make a whole hell of a lot more money. I make more money in a day often than I did what my dream was in a year, for an entire year in ’96.
As I’m sitting there sketching this out on yellow pad and paper, a pad, paper and pen, I think it came up to 20-something dollars an hour, 16 hours a day, to accomplish the goal of 100 grand a month. What was interesting? I could see myself doing construction work, making $25 an hour. I’m willing to show up. I’m willing to do the work. [05:01.5]
All the entrepreneurs I work with, their problem is not laziness. They're not lazy pieces of shit like most people. They're hustlers. They want to help. They want to work. The problem is oftentimes they're working on the wrong things and I know it's true because I did it for a long time myself, at least 10 years, still catch myself doing it.
But I’m sitting there and that was my goal. In my first year, I barely survived. Thank God, I still lived with my parents. I was up at 4:00 AM every day. I was going to bed at 11:00 PM every night. I wasn't complaining. All my buddies were going out, hanging out, drinking, boozing, and smoking dope probably or whatever they were up to, and I never felt like I was missing out. I was so focused on my goal of 100,000 a year that I could taste it.
The problem was what I didn't realize was, when I’d make 100,000 a year as an entrepreneur, that was billable jobs, right? There are material costs in that and then you have staff. I had teams. I had three or four of my buddies and cousins and stuff working with me back then, because you're hanging gutters, right? You can't really do that by yourself. You're two stories up in the air with an 80-foot run of gutter, trying to hang it on the fascia. That's a little tough by yourself, so I had to hire help out of the gate. [06:17.5]
Now, I’m not saying I hired right, but I had to hire someone. I just needed a body there to help me and, again, looking back, when I was in the moment, I wasn't mad. I was just excited to have a fighting chance that day to be able to wake up and live my dream. I don't give a hell about your dream, the guy's dream down the street or whatever. I was living my dream and my dream was limited. Again, like I said, it was $100,000 a year, and I’ve had many companies in between.
I sold that company. It was a gutter company. I had a siding, a window. I had a roofing, and pretty much anything construction I did, rehabbed thousands of houses. I bought and sold many, many, many, many thousands of houses, and you've always heard that statement, the less I work, the more I make. It is true, but it's a different type of work. I’m still working. It's just that I’m working on a different solution. [07:17.3]
See, you might be working on an addition problem. One plus one equals two. I’m going to be trying to work on a multiplier problem where it's like and oftentimes it might be two times 80. Your efforts get you to one plus one equals two. My same exact effort, my mental effort, my dream, my goals, my understanding of things now might get a 160-times return. Again, this evolves and the goal is that it gets bigger for me, right? You don't even know it's a thing until it's a thing, until you start thinking about it and seeing it and putting it into action.
But I’ve had many failed companies. I don't even know how many companies I’ve started because I get excited one night, and then, two days later, I’m like, Yeah, that was stupid, right? If you're in that boat, I wouldn't say you're stupid. You're just excited. You're eager. You're trying to find what works for you. [08:10.5]
A lot of times, I got into businesses, and I call them businesses, but I started something because I saw someone that had what I wanted or at least I thought they did. I would get excited, like, Dude, I want that Range Rover they have. If they’ve got the Range Rover doing that, that must be what I’ve got to do, so I’m going to do that. Then, three days later, I have cards at the office and I’m in business. I have another business card.
I would never take anything back, but I wish I had the insight. See, I was going to seminars and stuff like that. I always knew that was valuable at 18. That's how I learned real estate. But, seminars, I didn't understand the model of a seminar. Seminars are there to teach you, but they also teach you enough just to keep you excited. You're dealing with people like us, you and I, that are definitely shiny object syndromes galore. They know it, so they lean into that and that's how they're able to extract more money. [09:02.0]
It's called an upsell. You come into the free training. Then you go to the $2,500 two-day, three-day event, and then they sell you the big $50,000 package. It's a cool model. I’m not knocking it. I think the right companies do produce amazing value. They've created many success stories, but also it's not for everybody.
As I’m sitting here today, I’m very fortunate to be in the position I’m in because I put myself in the position, by the way. I’ve been piss-poor broke, probably even almost went bankrupt, number two. That's when I was in an efficiency apartment, no one knew. I had no electric, no gas, no furniture. I was sitting on the floor, true story. The only thing I had was a bed and, like I said, I had no hot water, nothing, so little did I know, I was creating a plan for weight loss, right, and healthy living, fasting, i.e. no food, and cold showers, which is good for the body. But when you're broke, you're not thinking like that. You're just like, jump in and jump out, let's go. [10:05.8]
But now I own many companies. I’m involved in many. I might not own them all, but I’m involved in many and I own a handful of companies as well. Some are better than others. I own a data company, for example. It does very well and we do data and my guy that runs that, Peter. By the way, if you're in the real estate space and you're not buying data from him and us, you're missing the boat because I know what data can do to your business, because that's how I had my real estate company. That's how I grew it, through data.
See, a lot of people thought I was just a real estate investor. I understood real estate is just the product of the activity, and if you don't have good data, you can't do good deals. You can, but you can't do great deals. If you're a marketer and you're in the real estate space, you should be buying data from us. Hit me up on Instagram and let me know, “Mark, I want to buy data.” It's very affordable. Actually, it's competitive and it's the best. [11:01.2]
I’ve put a lot into it. I’ve put millions of dollars into it. I know what the goal is of that company. It's to provide the best data to help you guys make more money in your business. And guess what? The more money you make, the more data you want to buy, and the more money we make and the more money you make, it's kind of a cool business model for all of us.
But I don't understand data. I understand what it does, but if you said, Mark, sit down. Pull up a Google sheet. Let's manipulate the data to do X, Y, and Z, I would say, What's my other option? Like a gun to head, I’m like, Just pull the trigger. Take the pain away, because I literally have no clue. I’m a business owner. I understand the importance of data and understand the importance of the team, and I’m good at understanding how to put these pieces together. Right?
When we brought this concept and idea to the team, Peter and I were talking and he loves data. He's an engineer by trade. He's a coder. He loves that stuff. Put him, give him a Red Bull and a Blow Pop and leave him alone for 10 days and he's going to create something amazing. But you start having him interact with human beings on a human level, it gets a little squirrely. Peter has been with me 10-ish, 10-plus years now. [12:17.0]
But as I’m sitting here talking to you, that company, like I said, produces millions of dollars a year in gross revenue. It has an amazing team. I’ve actually moved other people around in different companies I own into that team because my job is to find where they're best suited for them and us, for all of us, because we're all evolving. I have a lady over there that's awesome. She has been with me about 14 years. She's helping grow that company. They're cranking. There are challenges in every business, in everything in life in general, right? It's interesting to me, people say, What guarantees? Man, I wish I could do that, but what's the guarantee? If you're thinking about guarantees, you're in trouble out of the gate. [13:00.6]
I can guarantee, there's going to be a lot of fuckups in the system, the process. You're going to get smacked in the head when you're cranking. Something big is going to wipe you out for a minute when you're least expecting it, right? It's called life. It's called business. To me, it's just the challenge. It’s a test. Actually, I know it's a thing, so I just lean into it. I know they're coming. It's just a matter of when. I don't act like it's not a thing.
That company is cranking and what's cool about that is people ask me, Mark, what do about data? Like I said, I understand data. It's powerful. It changed my business. But how do you use it? How does it work? What does it do? And blah, blah, blah. Great question. Hire someone that knows what it does and how it works, and tell them what you want and they'll go do it.
That's where I see a lot of people failing. They're trying to do everything themselves. See, like, Mark, build a house. I know how to build a house. I don't build houses anymore. I hire people to build them for myself. I don't even build them for other people. I build them for myself, right? Just because how to do it doesn't mean you should do it, even if you don't just-- [14:02.2]
By the way, I’m not saying you can't get become crazy, stupid, wealthy, because I’ve done it and I know it's real, by owning things that I don't know how they actually work on the day-to-day level. I hire great people to run them and, not to say I’m oblivious to it or stupid, but I have a media company, a very big media company. We send out 500 to a billion emails a month in a newsletter format and we have many writers. We have many deployers. We have sales guys. I mean, it's a pretty cool business. But if you said, Mark, you’ve got to manage the calendar, get in the day-to-days, I mean, there are a lot of moving parts and my brain doesn't think like that.
I’m not good at organization. I’m not good at day-to-day stuff. I’m good at big picture thought-provoking, here's what I’m thinking. More importantly, I’m not afraid to put my money where my mouth is. There are a lot of big talkers until they’ve got to pull out the big wallet, the big wires, and the big wire, right? I’m comfortable with that because I know the ups and downs, and I just execute very quickly, so that company is cool. [15:12.5]
Then, I’m involved in some other companies, solar, if you will, and different things like that. I understand solar, but I don't understand the day-to-day economics. I understand how it works. I understand what it makes. I understand the cogs and all this stuff. But if you had to give me in the day-to-days, I’m not that guy.
I guess what I’m saying is you don't have to do everything to get what you want. You have to start understanding and what I really did was, and this is an actionable plan, I sat down and started asking myself, “What the hell does Mark Evans want? What does Mark Evans’ day look like, a dream day?” Right?
I love working. I’m talking with a guy right now. He's a buddy of mine. He's in the DM fam, a high-level guy, and he's going through an identity crisis, which many people and we all do. He’s like, Dude, I want 100k passive. Cool, what does passive mean to you? Because passive income to you and I could be drastically different. [16:05.5]
Then, Hey, Mark, I don't mind working hard. I get it. Everyone I roll with doesn't mind working hard. The question is what does hard work mean to you? And, secondly, what things are you working on? Just because you're working hard on trying to figure out how to do a Google doc better doesn't mean that's work you should be doing or hard work that you should be focusing on. Maybe that's something you could hire out for 30 bucks an hour and go focus on the $5,000-an-hour stuff.
That's how my brain thinks about business and I’m just trying to give you context to what I’m about to share with you here.
About a year and a half ago, I started getting very interested in bigger e-comm stuff in the e-comm space, very interested, and I put my money where my mouth is. I hired seven different companies. I had terrible experiences with six of the seven, terrible. As soon as they got my money, they kind of went MIA, right? And/or they just gave you the runaround. [17:04.0]
I kind of wrote it off because I’m busy. I’ve got some other stuff going on, redoing the house here in Ohio, working on a new house in Florida and all that good stuff, plus, two kids and whatever. One day, I got tapped on the shoulder. It was like, Dude, these guys are ripping people off. You know you could do a better job and I think you’ve got to tackle this venture.
That's kind of the self-talk I have. I don't know about you guys, but I talk with myself a lot, every single day, often out loud, or if people think I might be staring at them like a weirdo, I probably don't even know they exist in front of me and I’m thinking about something else, especially if they're not talking about anything in particular.
But in that business, I said, “Okay, I don't know how the day-to-days work, nor do I want to spend the time to learn it. So, I want to hire.” I went and hired two guys at five figures a month each and just for a test. I said, “Hey, I’m going to pay you for the next 12 months and I want you to find the best operators we could partner with, we can join forces with. I’ll be at the front end. They’ll be the operations and manage it. [18:13.8]
This is team-building. This is infrastructure-building, right? In the beginning, let's say, you're doing a supplement company, you don't go and buy a facility and buy all the products and buy all the machinery to start a supplement company because it'd be not cost-effective. You're not even sure if it's going to work yet, blah, blah, blah. It’s like be careful what you focus on. I could do it. I have the time. I have the means. I have the people. But that's not where we would shine. That's not where we excel. It will slow down everything drastically.
Anyways, fast forward, three and a half, four months, these guys end up finding three or four people. I talked to them. I’m a pretty straight shooter, like, Hey, dude, I don’t know what we can produce. I think we can do well, but who knows? They do the same thing, right? Sometimes people talk big.
By the way, oftentimes if people are talking big, I’m running from them because very few people talk big, do big, very few. Guys like me and different people that you would know that are big-name people, when we're hanging out privately, dude, we're like, Dude, we haven’t even fucking scratched the surface yet. [19:15.5]
But then if you go in the old rooms I used to hang out in, “Man, I’m the biggest real estate investor in town, man. I know everybody.” I'm like, Cool, I’m going to call fucking four title companies right now and see if they know who you are. I’m not bullshitting. I called four title companies. Guess how many knew him? Zero. Again, very delusional, right?
Anyway, we ended up going with a guy, an amazing guy, by the way, and to say his life has changed is an understatement. He has made more money with us in three months than he has in probably five years, and that's not a knock. That's a good thing. I’m proud of that, by the way. Maybe it's three years or five, whatever it is. It's many years condensed into three months, millions of dollars. Over a million, I should say. [20:01.5]
What's neat about this is we’ve generated $1,000,000 in a week. We've come close many weeks, but that was the goal for the team. How do we generate a million dollars in? And, by the way, when we say generate a million dollars, it's not sell the shit out of everything and don't take care of anybody. It's all the metrics have to stay in line. Plus, we have to hit that number. Let's just get that out of the way. It's not like how do we go rape and pillage the town to get money? It's how do we keep all intact? How do we become better marketers, better listeners, better communicators, better closing, better result-oriented? And then, boom.
That company is on pace to do 36 million in the first 12 months, if not more, at this rate, out of the gate, and it's not bad. Going from zero to $36 million in gross rev, it's not too shabby and there are a lot of residual opportunities inside of that. There are a lot of cool things. It gets me excited because not only are we changing clients' lives that do this with us, because it does change our life. It's a great investment. I believe in it. I’m in it myself, all my friends, everyone I know, so I know it's real, and I’m leading it behind the scenes with the team. [21:13.0]
I’m very fortunate to get to talk to amazing people daily. The guys that are in the team, we have a lot of people now. It's building up every day. We're hiring new people weekly at this point. But what's neat about it is the people on the team see the vision and they're getting involved as well.
I got a pretty cool message last night via email where one of the guys that joined the team, he was one of the guys that I paid five figures to come in and help us find this and structure it, he literally is debt-free of all his personal debt and he's going to generate seven figures in 12 months with me.
See, he always thought he was the go-to guy. What's cool about this—and, again, I’m not talking shit, if you're below this or above it, I’m just sharing real stories, so what you interpret is up to you, but for me—I’m proud of that, because he sent a letter. He was like, Dude, I paid everyone off and I still have over 50,000. He sent me a screenshot. I still have over $50,000 in my bank account and I haven't had over 50 grand in my bank account in 23 years. [22:14.8]
As an owner of a company that makes me emotional because that's what this is about for me. See, the young Mark was all about “How the fuck do I go out there and get the money?” What's interesting is I got money, but a little bit of it compared to what I’ve got today. My focus is on my team. Of course, the company has got to make money, so don't be oblivious that I’m not focused on that either. But I put a lot of time and energy into these guys.
Not only do I show them how to make a lot of money with what we do, I don't hold them back. I don't hide shit from them. I share real numbers with them. Listen, if you want to go out and do this on your own, go fucking do it. It's hard. But, listen, I don't want to hold you back. If that's your dream and goal to do that, go do it, because no one held me back. Actually, people tried to, but it wasn't happening, right? [23:01.5]
But what's cool about this is he always thought he was a number one and—again, I’m not being a dick about it—he's not a number one. I know because I’ve hired them to do other stuff for me prior to him coming into the five-figure-a-month role to step up to get in the game with us. What's interesting about that is, in that message last night, he said, “Hey, man, I’ve realized I’m better suited in the second-level position. I’m more valuable to me, my family. I’m more valuable to the people I’m working with. It's just a win-win for all.”
I see these people online all the time, talking shit about trying to figure out how to get a VA to save 12 cents an hour in this shit. It's like, dude, if you start asking yourself different questions, like, How do I hire the best? the money, it's funny because you guys say you're not about the money, but every action you take, every action you don't take is about the money. You're cheaping out on stuff where you shouldn't be cheaping out and you're overspending where you shouldn't be overspending. It's very interesting to me. You're bragging about buying a Ferrari, but you're not bragging about hiring the best COO. Huh. That’s interesting to me. [24:15.0]
See, a lot of times people are like, Dude, I want passive income. Hire great people to help build a passive business. It's active right now, but it could become a passive business for you in three years. See, what are you focused on? What questions are you asking? Who are you hanging out with?
But what's neat about this business, actually, I think we're going to have 40 million. I know I said 36, but I’m just downplaying it. I think we'll be over 40 million in the first 12 months, not counting other revenues. I’m just talking about the front-end side. Just do the basic math. I mean, pretty much all businesses ideally should be running at 20% net, which would make out an $8 million net a year business, which is not too bad. It's actually more than that. But go on these numbers 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, whatever. [24:56.7]
The reason I’m sharing this so candidly and openly is not all businesses are created equal. As I’m talking with people daily, it's cool that that guy sent me an email—he's my number one guy over there—literally seven figures in 12 months with me, has no debt. So, what do I teach him? I teach him how to invest. I teach him like, Listen, I’m showing you how to get money. Now you've realized you can get it. Let me show you how to keep it, preserve it and grow it, and it's not to put it in a savings account. I’m leading by example and I’m leading as a leader.
The old me would hide numbers, not talk to them about anything but what their job at hand was, and leave me alone, I’m busy. In essence, you're below me. That's how I used to be. I was a dick, I know. But, again, I created this story in my head that I was busy. But why would I be too busy for the people helping me build my revenue? Makes zero sense. But that's how I was. I didn't have anybody telling me that was stupid. [26:03.0]
But, anyway, everyone on that team is making more money today than they've ever made in their life. That's a fact, ever, at a very rapid pace and it's not slowing down anytime soon. If anything, actually, we're kind of worried it's getting big quicker, too quickly. We're, actually, as a company, one, putting people in place upfront, hiring way in advance, many, many months, maybe even a year-plus in advance because you’ve got them trained, acclimated, understand the language. That takes cash to do that in the company and you've got to float that out. It's a business. It's real business. It's neat to see and that's just one of the companies.
I know when I’m talking to different people, they're trying to, like, Oh, I want to do that company and that sounds cool, 20%, 8 million a year, huh? I want 8 million a year. Fuck, doesn't everybody? Right? I’ve never met someone that says, No, I don't want an extra 8 million a year. It's not about that. It's about what we're creating. [27:00.0]
The truth is most people wouldn't be able to make $800 in that business a year because they're too focused on the wrong thing. I see it everywhere, and again, I hired seven companies and six of them totally dropped the ball. They'll be out of business. They're in it for the money grab, not the longevity play.
What's cool about that business, I picture it, let's say, we have 1,000 clients, which would be awesome, which we will have sooner than later. They're amazing people. They're generating amazing amounts of money with us. Out of those 1,000 people, there's a percentage of people that I want to work with longer term in other ventures. I mean, they're not just one-trick ponies. They have a lot of cool stuff going on.
One thing I’ve learned in life is everyone has a story. Everyone has things going on, me included, and I want to work with great people. I don't want great people out of my life. I want to bring them closer in my life, and I kick the bad ones out, fire clients, bad clients. You can fire them. Fuck them. They ain't serving you. “Mark, I need the money.” No, you don't. You think you do, and if you want the money, now you're a whore for the money because you'll do anything for it, and that's not what I stand for. [28:08.2]
You can ask my team. It's like if we have a problem client, address it. If we can’t solve it because they're hard-headed or they think they're better than everybody, or whatever the reason is that's within our guidelines, we'll send them their money back and tell them good luck. We win. We win. Giving money back, we win.
Some of the best clients I have are the ones I don't have. Let me say it again. Some of the best clients I have are the ones I do not have. Again, 15 years ago, no one ever told me this. No one ever said, “Mark, you know you can fire people and tell them to get the fuck lost, give them all their money back and tell them good luck.” It's like, but they gave me 12 grand. Yeah, 12 grand, is that worth all the misery they're putting you through? Is that worth all the shit-talking they talk about you? Is that worth them blowing you up and your team up seven times a day? Nope? Send the money back.
What's interesting is you send the money back, the team sees that. They know you're leading by example. They actually get excited because they don't take all the shitty emails and calls anymore, and now they can focus on the ones that are winning. [29:06.7]
Do you think you make more money focusing on the losers or the winners? Do you think you can help accomplish more goals with losers or winners? See, it’s just the nature of the beast in life with volume. You're always going to run across dickheads. There are people like, Dude, the customer is always right. No, they're not. No, they're not. That's a lie. Customers aren't always right. They might think they're right, but what about courtesy? What about the way they talk to people, too?
I had an experience recently with Chase Bank. I have a lot of money with them and they're having some challenges with their wire and this and that, and they call me and I’m like, Hey, listen, I’m not angry at you. I'm angry at the system, and so it's like if I say words that may upset and this is my disclaimer before we start talking. She's like, I totally understand. I’m a consumer as well. I’ll do my best to get you through this as quickly as possible. She was very good at listening, defusing, and getting the goal that she needed to get done and approval real quickly. [30:08.3]
But in other things, I mean, she might get the other guy on the phone and I used to be this guy, “I said this is how this is fucking going to be, no other way, blah, blah, blah. Don't call me you piece of shit,” talk down to them, degrade them and all this, because that was me, my insecurities, me being immature, me just being a dick. I genuinely was busy and I was moving a hundred miles per hour. I just didn't want to deal with it. The way to not deal with it was just to scream around and it was silly. I try not to do that ever, even though I still get caught up in it sometimes, I get very passionate, but I try to shoot out a disclosure first.
But I guess where I’m going with this is you’ve got to keep your feet moving in the game. I don't care if you're an electrical contractor, a landscaper, a tree tremor, or an admin, and you have big dreams and big goals. Know that there are opportunities everywhere. Everywhere. You’ve got to start questioning. [31:01.2]
I’ve got a lot of different people here that follow me here on the DM podcast and I’m trying to talk to you guys all to help anybody here, but do know that there are a lot of multimillionaires that listen to this podcast show. There are guys and gals that have created real companies and can vouch for what I’m saying, and you're probably shaking your head. Yes or no? But you know, as we're evolving, us connecting and going deeper in our relationships is so much more valuable.
I know a lot of guys have bigger podcast shows to me, but I don't think they have the connection to the audience like I do. That's me. That's what I should be saying, too, by the way, not just because I’m saying it out loud, but because I truly believe it, and if you've ever tried to communicate or connect with me via Instagram or Facebook, I typically respond fairly quickly. I pretty much respond almost all the time unless I don't see it. I know if it takes you to send an email or text or message or whatever, I should be respectful enough to just at least reply, even if it's not what you want to hear, but I’m replying. [32:02.2]
All businesses aren't created equal. The longer you're in the game, the easier it is, if you're working on yourself. It's easy for me to create a multimillion-dollar-a-year company. Again, I’m not saying that to brag. The truth is it actually might be holding me back from creating billion-dollar companies saying that, right?
And I’m aware of the conversations I’m having with myself as well as you. It's easy. Once you know how to create a multimillion-dollar-a-year company, that's cool, but, okay, Mr. Evans, you're so fucking smart. Why don't you have a multi-billion-dollar company? It's a great question.
Some of the simple answers I have for that is, one, it is a different cadence. It's different. I’d have to change my lifestyle drastically I believe—this is my limited belief, by the way. I believe—to do that at this moment in my life. I’ve got young kids and a family and I want to hang out with them as much as humanly possible. That's more important than a multi-billion-dollar business to me. The good news is I’m not eating ramen noodles, I’m not suffering, but is it holding me back from a bigger future? Hmm, I don't know, maybe. Maybe it's actually a setup for a bigger future, who knows? [33:08.0]
But, again, these are the thoughts and conversations I have. First and foremost, I’m trying to build teams and companies that serve me. I serve them and then ultimately the company serves me. In my first 15 years in business, I served the company. I was the bitch. I was the whore. I did everything for the company. I never even took a salary. I just used the business checking account as a personal piggy bank, if you will. If there was money in it, I was doing good. If there wasn't, I was having a bad week, bad day, bad month, bad year.
That's a whole nother story for a different time. Everyone should be taking a salary from their company, no matter what. If it's 1,000 a month or 100,000 a month, whatever the business is paying for that position, it should definitely be paying you. I think Michael … What's his last name? [Mike Michalowicz] Anyway, Profit First, great book. If you've never read that, you should read that book. He talks a lot about that. [33:57.2]
But I want you to know my real estate company generated many millions of dollars a week in sales, but as you know, these are sales. It's like you might get an eight to 12% net profit on that because you sell a $100,000 a house and you make 12 grand, just like a realtor, right? They're like, I’m a $100 million seller. Yeah, but you only made 6 million in gross commission, so you really just did 6 million and you only got half of that maybe depending on what your pastry infrastructure looks like. Cool, 3 million over the last 10 years is only $300,000. It's nothing to write home about. Listen, if you're proud about it and you're happy, cool, but that's a whole nother ego thing people have. I’m trying to give you real insight on real numbers.
But my real estate company did well. This company did. The longer I’m in the game of businesses, I’ve realized real estate was a great stepping stone to learn the things where I’m at in my life now, so I would never take that back and I’m not talking about real estate, but the real estate has a barrier to entry of negative, no cash, no credit. You see it everywhere, so that attracts a lot of dipshits. I was one of those dipshits at one time in the career, so I know it's true. [35:05.4]
Then other businesses have a higher barrier of entry. Maybe it costs 500 grand to start. That's a barrier to entry. Maybe it takes a little bit of insider knowledge, barrier to entry. Maybe it takes someone that understands what's going on in the day-to-days that you don't know how to that you’ve got a hire you pay six figures a year for, barrier to entry.
There are different things as we evolve and as we grow, and depending on what your cash position is, depending on what your risk tolerance is, depending on what your age is and where you're going with today's time and next year and 10 years, there are so many variables in this and there's no one size shoe fits all. Don't go down that path thinking that this is the only way.
But rest assured, the company hit $1,018,000 in one week. I’m very proud of that. It means a lot to me. The money is a cool goal, but what the money is doing for people is what really matters to me. It is my driver. Genuinely, I don't care about money. I want it. I have a lot of it. I’m going to get more of it. But it's not what wakes me up in the morning. If it was the case, when I get up in the morning, I have money, right? [36:09.4]
It's this weird, stupid shit we talk to ourselves about and don't be afraid to pivot. That's where I was going with it. In real estate, I’m known as a real estate investor. I’ve written books, eight books, I think. Virtual Real Estate Investing Made Easy. Before virtual investing was even a fucking thing, I was writing. I was living it. I wasn’t even writing about it.
I wrote it about three years after I lived it. I knew the kinks and I started writing a book on my walk of Camino de Santiago, that 42-day walk across Spain, because I was getting bored fucking walking, so I’m like, dude, I’ve got to share my knowledge. I’m sitting here in whatever part of Spain and I just made $87,000 on a deal virtually that I have no clue about. I didn't talk to anybody. I didn't talk to a seller. Didn't talk to a buyer.
That's another cool thing, too. Every one of the companies I’m talking about now, I don't talk to buyers, sellers, investors, title companies, lawyers, any of that shit. I talk with the team and the team has those conversations. Now, not to say if they need me, they couldn't pull me in, but the team is pretty fucking amazing and they're getting shit done. There are checks and balances and there's business-building stuff that goes on behind the scenes to make sure things are being done correctly, but don't be afraid to pivot. [37:18.2]
If you think you're a real estate person and you're crushing life doing two deals a month and you know there's more out there, it's okay to pivot. Real estate is a difficult situation. Not all businesses are created equal and all businesses change often, and I’m not saying bounce around, by the way, so I’m not saying to listen to this and go do something different tomorrow. I’m just saying don't be afraid to raise your hand and say, Hey, man, it ran its course. It served me well. I’m off to bigger and better things, and maybe not even kill the moneymaker. I built my real estate company to start making me money while I was out building other companies. I didn't abandon it. I had to become a different person to see it differently and this is what really fucks you up. [38:00.0]
For easy math, let's say that company is making 100 grand a month to me, right, to my take and I look at it and I’m like, Dude, but I’ve got to work. I’ve got to show up. I’ve got to deal with sales guys or gals or whoever or whatever, and I don't want to do that anymore, so I start hiring people. I’d rather make 50 grand a month, hire great people, and sit back and do less, if not anything, and that's what I did.
A lot of times people don't do that because they're like, Dude, that takes money out of my money. Maybe. It depends on how you look at it. But if you can't live on 50 grand a month, you probably live in above your means anyways, probably living a little extravagantly. But that's what happened. I changed my rhythm and changed my thought process to get what I wanted, not what I thought I wanted, but the vision of where I wanted to be.
By the way, it's really hard to paint this picture when you're trying to-- That's why I always say, don't build a company out of your bank account because you're always limiting it, because there's no money in the fucking account, right, when you're building. It's like you’ve got to start thinking bigger. Who can I go to? Who has money? Who has connections? Who has relationships? How can I build this? I'm not saying, bring in partners and dilute your equity and all this shit. I’m just saying, you’ve got to start thinking differently if you want different results. [39:05.8]
And that's what I had to do. I had to start thinking this ain't taking 50 grand out of my pocket. It's adding millions to my pocket. How? I’m buying back my time for 50 grand a month and I’m going to take all this time and energy and emotional effort, and I’m going to put this into something bigger, better, stronger. Then I started buying time and I had time to think about other components, other businesses, find and meet other great people—and we'll talk about that again because relationship capital was a real thing, and if you're not maximizing that, you're missing out.
But I’m proud of our team. It's kind of, like I said, the Making of a DM. It's cool to share stories with you guys, but what's cool about it, too, is my son and my daughter, and my wife and people that care for and know me, may listen to these shows one day and they're listening to Dad's journey on becoming who he is when he passes. We're all going to die. It could be today, heaven forbid, or it could be 100 years from now. That would be the goal, as long as it's healthy. [40:00.8]
But they could listen to Dad's struggles, to his thoughts, to his conversations he's having with himself and others, to the evolution process. He's hired this guy, boom. John had come into his life at this time. Here's what happened with Ryan. Here's what happened with Nick. Here's what happened with all these people. And it's not all rainbows and unicorns. My goal is never to share just the good, but also the bad. There are bad things that happen. It's called life and business.
But I know I’ll keep my feet moving until they're planted in the ground and I know I’m going to keep building. I love building. I love building people. I love knowing that I can walk. Let me just kind of digress for another second here. Sorry, I’m getting long-winded because this is important. But a lot of people dream. I dream about cool stuff, cars, houses, boats, fun stuff like that, legacy, future income.
What I really dream about, too, a lot is the people on my teams, what conversations are they having around dinner with their spouse? Because I’ve been watching them beat their head against the wall, seeing their bank account have zero or negative in it consistently for years, and they're like, Honey, I promise this is the break. This is the break. This is the break. It's coming. Just keep with me. Stay with me. I love you. You know it. I’m doing everything I can. I’m busting my ass. I’m doing the work. [41:15.6]
Then, one day they meet someone like me or I meet them or whatever, however it happens, and then we come together and we form something big, life-changing big. When I say “life-changing”, it doesn't have to be millions or billions or trillions. To them, it could be 20, 30, 40, 50 grand a month, 100 grand, whatever it is, but it also creates stability. The kids see Mom and Dad happier. The kids see that there's a future of opportunity, if you keep doing the right things, even if it sucks.
There's going to be bad people you meet and on that journey, but you're never going to quit. Don't change who you are. If you're a good person, keep being a great person. Lean into that. Don't let anybody tell you, like, oftentimes people are like, Man, I get screwed all the time. Dude, I’d rather get screwed all the time and be a great person than to be a dick and not have any friends, you know what I mean? That's just me, by the way. [42:05.8]
But life is short and I dream about the conversations they have today and what they're going to have 10 years from now. More importantly, when our kids get out of school, when they start their careers, they're going to be like, Man … Keep in mind, half of these people I’m talking about I’ve never met in person, my team members, at least half, maybe more, maybe way more. But I talk to them, chat with them via text, cellphone, Zoom, etc. You guys, your words are so powerful. You can change people's lives with your words, more importantly, with your actions.
I know I talk a lot here, but when I’m with them, I’m listening a lot more, for sure. I could assure you that. Yesterday, I had a call for a half-hour. I might have talked for a minute out of the half-hour and not a minute at one time, probably in 20-second increments, and it wasn't talking. It was asking questions to understand what they were really saying. [43:00.0]
Understand where you're at, where you want to go, and who you want to be on the journey, because it's fucking epic. I wouldn't take it back. I wouldn't take it away. I’ve had some really bad times. There's still more bad times coming. I don't know what they look like. I don't know what they are, but that's called life and I’m not afraid to avoid them. I’m just going to lean into it. I’m going to build. I’m going to grow.
But what I’m doing in that process is I’m building a tribe. I’m building people. I’m building great relationships with people that would go to war for me and I’d go to war for them. Dig your well before you're thirsty, that's what I’m saying, and invest. Get your time back. Get your time back. Invest your time on growth for yourself and your team and businesses. It's literally unlimited.
I’m just honored that you guys are here. Today is definitely a different show, a little bit less effing this, effing that. But I’ve got to go. I’m thinking about you guys. I’m rooting for you. I’m proud if you guys are a part of our ventures and businesses that we do. I thank you for that. [44:02.0]
If you're not, get over and shoot me a message. Let me know if you're a real estate investor, if you're interested in e-comm, if you're a business owner trying to expand, because I do have the Dealmaker Family. It's five 50 grand a year and we have about 36 or 38 guys in there, I can't remember now, but amazing people doing amazing shit, and that's what gets me excited. I love that stuff. I love that piece and I’m very honored to be a part of that with some great human beings and I’d love to get you involved in that if that's something that interests you, so shoot me a message. Hit me up on Instagram, @MarkEvansDM.
If you haven't read MEconomy, get it. If you haven't read Magician vs. Mule, get it. They're both on Amazon, of course, and if you have read it, please leave a five-star review over on Amazon as well. If this podcast show has meant anything to you, give me a shout out, let me know what's up, and I’ll probably more than likely share it and hopefully get you some eyeballs to your stuff.
Appreciate you guys being here. With that said, make today count. Peace.
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