Welcome to the “Making of a DM.” How I’ve raised over nine figures from private investors. I'm going to spill the beans, as my boy, Tim Bratz, would say. So, with that said, let's get started.
Mark: Hey there, it’s your boy, Mark Evans DM. Thank you so much for being here, and if I sound amped up, the truth is it's because I am. Why? I'm glad you asked. Today, as I'm recording this, we actually just helped small-business owners get over … actually, I don't want to say the exact number, but it's eight figures in one hour. Eight figures in one hour. [01:14.5]
I love talking about money. The more I talk about money, the more I earn. The more I talk about money, the more money I get, right? It's an amazing thing. But, today, before I get started, I'm going to share with you some real for-real behind-the-scenes stuff and it just hit me like a ton of bricks that people don't talk about money.
Again, in my world, we talk about money every day, all the time, with my sales guys, my CFOs, and my fiduciaries and my money people. I mean, it's just normal conversations around here over in the Mark Evans DM world. I'm not saying that to sound arrogant or cocky by any means. It's just, genuinely, I’ve been doing this for 25-plus years and sometimes, as you know, what we think is normal may not be so normal, so I want to kind of pull back the curtains today. [02:08.2]
But before I do again, thank you so much for all the five-star reviews. We're touching a lot of people's lives thanks to you. If you've left a five-star review, I appreciate you. Thank you so much. It really is a big deal. If you haven't, I'd ask why not, please tell me. I don't charge anything for the show. I'm sharing real information. I have nothing to sell you except the dream that you can make more and teach you how to go get it. I'm not talking theory. I'm not talking the same B.S. all these other guys talk about. I'm talking real-world, impactful shit. I don't have 30 guests today on the show. I want to share with you. I want to really help you. I want to get in your ear. I want to get in your heart. I want to get in your soul and get in your brain and open up the door. If you've not left a five-star review, please do so over on iTunes. [03:03.2]
If you've gotten the books, Meconomy, The 10-Minute Business Owner, Magician vs. Mule, or any of my other 13 books total I believe now, please go to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc., wherever you bought it, and leave an amazing review. It would mean so much. Not only that, if you may or may not know this, I’ll just share this real quick, but 100 percent of the net profits go to charities through all my books.
We've donated six figures to charities through book sales and I look forward to giving many, many, many millions more away over my lifetime and beyond, so we can help a lot of people that we'll never touch. We talk about this. It’s called Care 360. It's a pretty powerful way to give back at many levels, so don't think, I don't have anything to tell, but I don't have anything to share. One, you can leave a review. It's free.
One, you could go to Amazon and leave a review. It's free. Two, you could go buy a book for 15 bucks. That's only $15, and knowledge up. Not only do you knowledge up, but you're going to change someone's life. You're going to make an impact on someone that you'll probably more likely never meet on the other side of that but through the charities, so we need you. We really do. You are important. You mean something. [04:12.4]
I know sometimes we get beat up, we feel like we're a nobody, unless it's just me feeling like that sometimes like, Oh, man, I'm just a pissant in this grand scheme of things, which we really are. But when we're talking life and business while we're around, it's very important. You're an important person.
I want to share with you about money. I've raised over nine figures from private investors. Interesting point about me, you may or may not know this, but I’ve done many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many real estate transactions and I’ve never personally been to the bank to do a loan. I've always done private loans and/or owner financing of some sort or a mixture of both. I'm not here to say, oh, that's amazing. [04:58.8]
You’ve got to understand, when I started out in real estate, I had negative cash. I had no credit. I didn't even have a credit card. I couldn't get credit cards. I had no credit, so I had to get creative. If you're here listening to the show, you’d better be a fucking resourceful person if you want to stay growing and constantly moving forward, because if you're not resourceful, you’ve got to learn about this.
Money. When I say talk about money, what comes to mind? What hits you? Is it like, ah, that's weird, that's kind of douche, or are you like, yeah, man, fuck, I want to talk about money all the time, too? Where does your brain go, for real? If you see someone with a lot of money, do you get excited or do you talk shit? You might not say shit out loud. You might be talking it internally, like, Oh, yeah, it must be nice for them. Oh, yeah, I wonder who they screwed to get that, right? [05:52.4]
Raising money is very easy to do if you're talking to people that have money. If you have a great product, it doesn't have to be great. I mean, shit, people are getting ripped off every day on shitty products with private money. I'm not recommending that, but, I mean, look around, right? But I think about me. Guys, I grew up small town, hillbilly, Ohio, trailer court until I ws 10, and never met anybody that ever made over, I don't even know, 50,000 let alone 100,000 a year, so I was always intimidated by it, but I'm sharing the story because the story is important for where I'm going.
I grew up watching my mom and dad fight about money every single day of my life. My dad still stresses out like, Jeez, I can't spend $25 on that. I can get it for 14.99 over here. He's the guy sitting in the line three hours to save 2 cents a gallon on gas. I'm not judging him. I'm just sharing a story. It’s his true story, by the way. Everything is about money and it's everything about what they don't have about money, right? They're exhausting all this mental, emotional energy in worrying about saving a couple pennies here and there. [07:09.5]
I'd always watch him as a kid, for real, thinking, If money is the problem, why don't we go make more? And then I'd always say, Oh, Mark, easy for you to say, you're still in school. You don’t know what you're talking about. You don't understand how hard it is, and this and that. I'm like, Okay, I don't think it's hard. Make money. That's the solution.
See, I know a lot of people think there's a money issue, like, Oh, man, I don't have money. I can't do that. I can't do that. The truth is you have a making money issue. Most people don't have a spending issue. They have a money making issue. They get a job making 15 an hour. They don't see through the weeds. They're too busy. Then when they get off after working six hours, but probably only worked two hours, they're like, Man, I deserve to go to the bar and get a beer. Then they fuck off for the next six hours. Then they don't take care of business. They're not knowledging up. They're not learning. [08:01.1]
I see this happen all the time and then repeat process. Man, I wish I could have that. You can, whatever you can fucking think about you having, you can have it. The question is, are you willing to go get it? Are you willing to learn? Are you willing to become someone different to get what you want? Yes, you’ve got to change. You've got to change your stinking thinking. You’ve got to change your conversations. Start talking about the goals, the dreams, the visions, the opportunities. Stop talking about the obstacles, the struggles, how hard it is. No one cares.
First of all, most people who tell me how hard it is fucking don't even do anything. The only thing hard on them is their head. They're hardheaded. I've been called hardheaded many times myself, but it's hardheadedness. I'm focused on my dreams. I don't care. Guys, I get kicked in the nuts 24/7 over here. I'm getting beat up constantly. I’ve got four Mike Tysons in the ring often beating the shit out of me, but I'm going to get back up and I'm going to keep moving, and then I’m going to get six Mike Tysons on me. It's part of the game. [09:12.0]
But raising money will change your life. Having access to capital gives you so many opportunities. You don't even know how many opportunities you have. Again, I'm not saying this to be silly or whatever. I'm just trying to talk real with you as I always do. I turn down more money than most people are trying to get in their life in a day. Not because I'm better than them. I just have people call me like, Evans, you always do the right thing. I’ve got 2 million. Hey, Evans, I’ve got 500,000. Man, I’ve got 200 gees.
I was at an event, true story, and the guy comes up to me and he's like, Man, I’ve got a couple of hundred grand coming due. I'd love to invest with you. First time I’ve ever met this guy. He knows me through a relationship of a guy I've invested a lot of money with over the years together, and he met me at this event randomly. This is a random conversation. [10:02.2]
I was like, Dude, I'd love to take your money. I don't have a need for it. But I'm here with my boy, Mike, he has a need for it. You two should connect. I'm not saying do anything, but if the opportunity exists, you two should do something together and make a lot of money together.
See, that's how money works. Money is a conversation. Money is just whatever. It's just a tool and a lot of people don't talk about money. I talk about money. I swear on my life to everyone I talk to. It's like if someone is like, Yo, man, I made a lot of money. Cool, how much? Most people are like, Oh, my god. They go in there and say, Dude, I talked to someone, made a lot of money. What the fuck does that even mean? What's a lot of money? They'll be like, Man, I made 300 bucks today.
Well, hold on. If I heard a lot of money, my lot of money is way more than $300, FYI. I'm not saying that to be silly, but that's the truth. If I heard it and I'm trying to help you get more, a lot of money, but I'm talking millions and you're talking hundreds, there's a fucking massive disconnect. You're going to be very frustrated and I'm going to be wasting my time and be frustrated as well. [11:14.1]
So, what do you do? Again, that's why you're here. I'm going to give you some real tips on how to gain access to a lot of money. I know a lot of your thinking and maybe not thinking, Dude, I’ll go to my aunt. I'll go to my uncle. I’ll go to my cousin. I'll go to my friend. I'll go to my buddy. They have money.
The truth, God's honest truth, one of my family didn't have money to go after, so I never even approached that subject to borrow or have them lend, be the bank, if you will, on properties I did. But the truth is it's easier from my experience to raise money from a stranger than it is someone in your network when you're beginning. Absolutely easier. [11:56.7]
Why? Because I remember snotty nose, picking your butt, picking your nose, Billy trying to bang his sister's cousin's brother or whatever they're doing, and that's how they've judged you. They've seen you fail. They've seen you be a kid. Maybe they know some people in your family and they're judging on that.
Again, we all come from all walks of life. If you can get access to a lot of money from your direct community. The reason is you guys are talking about money, I promise. Broke people, the only money they talk about is not having it, I swear on my life. I experienced it for 18 years of my life. I saw it happen every single day of my life. Still, when I go to dinner with my dad and mom, I have to tell them to order from the left side of the menu, not the right side. Why? Because every decision they make is about money, of buying cheaper.
“Dad, what do you want?”
“I want the fillet. Jesus, I'm not paying $62. I’ll take the porterhouse. It's only 38.”
‘Dad, what do you want?” Right? First of all, you're not even paying. He's not even paying. I'm paying. What do you want? [13:07.0]
Once you understand, guys, we're such a slave to money. Most people are. But when you realize money is your slave instead of you being a slave to it, this game changes. The game changes. It's a lot more fun and then you start seeing a lot of money.
True story. As I'm talking to you today, like I said, we’ve got people over eight figures in money, small-business owners, eight figures. I’ll put the link in there, because if you're a small-business owner and you haven't got access to this money, it's free. It costs you nothing. You don't have to pay it back and it's a government--
I mean, guys, depending on when you're listening to this, this is insane. If you're a business owner and you have W-2 employees, make sure to check out the show notes and watch the video I did with my buddy, Josh. Watch it. It literally could change your life. We’ve got one person on there. Potentially, they might get eight figures with them themselves. Yes, one company. Actually, they have multiple companies in multiple locations, but they have a lot of employees, 900 employees. They're going to gain access to a lot, a lot of money for free. [14:18.4]
What would an extra 100, 200, 300, 500,000 or a million-plus do for your business? Depending on the size of your employees, how many W-2s you have and your situation, it could be massive. It could be amazing.
What I want you to start doing is start planting seeds daily. Stop force-feeding people. As an investor, I invest money on stuff every day. I'm a private investor. I literally invest every single day, every day of my life, I swear, true. At this point in my life, that's what I'm doing. I'm getting my money working for me everywhere, every day, in all kinds of environments, from the F&B space, food and bev, to the guns space, to the real estate space, to the private -money space, to owning business spaces, to technology, to CR. I mean, it's endless. My biggest problem is making sure I'm not spreading myself too thin across the board. But one thing I'm constantly doing is I’ve always, I’ve always known to plant the seed. [15:16.3]
Let me paint the picture. If you go to an event or you go somewhere and you're talking with someone, don't throw up on them. Stop throwing up on them because this is what people do to me. “Mark, I’ve got the best deal in the world,” blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's like, dude, fucking take a breath and step back. What's your name? Right? Slow down.
This is like dating, right? You don't walk in naked to the bar and say, Yo, what's up? Let's go. No, you walk in. You sit down at the bar. You say, Hi, my name is Mark? What's yours? Hey, can I buy you a drink? Boom. Right? Hey, what do you do for a living? Boom. Hey, why are you here? It's two o'clock. We should all both be at fucking work, right? [15:57.6]
But, at the end of the day, you’ve got to slow stuff down. Your problem is not their problem, and don't make it. When people are approaching, and, by the way, like I said, I’ve raised nine figures. That means over $100 million in private money, way more, over the years, and I'm just sharing positivity, great stories, deals I’m doing, and people naturally raise their hands and say, Yo, man, I want to invest with you.
A great place for this to happen is high-level masterminds. Go to business masterminds, e-commerce masterminds, industry masterminds. Go to places where people have money and just share your story and be helpful. Help people with your knowledge. Share your story. Share like, Yo, here's a deal I’ve got. Can you help me? Don't ask them for the money. Just say, Hey, I'm looking at this house. It's worth 100,000 and I get it for 50. What would you do to finance this deal?
Me, as an investor, I’m like, Yo, first of all, congrats on finding a great deal, 50 cents on the dollar. What's your goal to do with it? [17:06.3]
I just want to flip it real quick and make 25 grand.
Cool. I’ve done it a lot and I know how to do it. What's your biggest hang-up right now?
Then they're like, I need the money.
Okay, cool. I’ve got the money. If I brought the money, you brought the deal, what does it look like if we chop it up? That means a 25 grand profit. How does it look?
In the beginning, it could be 50-50. Someone gives this guy 50 grand and make 12.5 on it. That's a 25 percent return on the money and that deal typically happens within 30 days or less, typically same day sometimes. Is that a good deal or not?
That's how you get your money working for you. Again, this is normal life to me. This happens all the time, all the time, and it can happen all the time for you. [17:57.2]
But I’ve been planting seeds for years, so I'm not trying to say that you're going to have these opportunities flow in tomorrow because you listen to this. But I’ve gone to wine-tasting events. Guess what? I didn't even drink wine and I'm out there hanging out at wine. Why? If they're spending $100 a bottle of wine and they're buying four bottles a night, they might have a couple of dollars. I'm not saying this is douche or that you have to dress up. Just go there and be you. Obviously understand the market you're in and what you're doing and what the goal is.
But I’d just go in and be like, Hey, man, what's going on?
They're like, Oh, you don't drink wine?
I’m like, Yeah, I'm just not good at wine. I don't understand it.
Then they want to share with you and they want to open up, find that middle row, find that connection point. Connect with people, and before you know it, they're asking you, What do you do? and I tell them, I'm an investor. Back in the day, I was like, I'm a real estate investor, buy and sell houses—and my question is always this, guys. This is very interesting. Pay attention, please. I always ask him a question. This is a true story. I do it to this day because I do care and most people don't understand this question and how powerful it is. My question is always every time I'm talking to someone, it's like, What is your biggest problem in your business? What is the biggest problem you face with what you do? Right? [19:21.6]
It might be like, I have a lot of money. I don't know where to place it. I don't trust people. I don't do this, or maybe my employees. Whatever they say, listen and connect, and if you have a solve or solution, or if they say, Man, my problem is I paid $22 million in taxes this year, and you don't have a solution? You say, Damn, that's a good problem to have then? By the way, it means they made a lot of money, right? And if they made a lot of money and they paid a lot of taxes, guess what? They want to make more money.
I've always found that people who have money always want to make more and they allocate differently. Everyone is different. Some people are ultra-risky. Some people are very simple. Some people want hands-off. Some people want to be engaged, etc. You've got to find that out through your conversations. [20:10.0]
But let's say he says, Man, my biggest problem right now in my life and business is that I just paid too much in taxes. Maybe you have a solution for that. Maybe you don't. Either way, you listen and you acknowledge it. Guess what they say next? Mark, what's your biggest problem in your business?
Think about this. Before I go on, think about this. I want you to pay attention next time someone says, Hey, man, nice shirt. Ninety-nine percent of you say, Thank you, nice shirt as well.
Or, Nice shoes, Bill.
Hey, thanks, man. Your shoes look nice, too?
What you're doing is you're planting a question in their brain, listening, and most people don't listen, value-adding, and then naturally they want to reciprocate the question. Why wouldn't they? [21:05.2]
Mark, what's your biggest problem in your business?
Steve, honestly, man, my biggest problem is I have too many deals. I don't have enough money for all these deals coming down the pipe. We're crushing it, but I'm going to get squeezed out by competition because I don't have the capital to keep in front of these deals and make money, make more money.
Then they naturally ask, what kind of money are you typically looking for?
I'm thinking, I'm glad you asked. Typically, I work with a lot of private investors such as yourself and they park money on deals and they act as the bank. You're secured by the real estate and make a return, and blah, blah, blah.
Then they say, Okay, what kind of return?
And I'm like, That all depends. There are a lot of variables to that, and then flip the script. What kind of returns do you typically look for? That's an important question. [22:00.0]
Why is that an important question, Mark? The reason it's an important question is, if they're used to talking to financial advisors and planners, and they're very conventional, they might say, Listen, six percent? Then when you hear that, that's something you should take note of, because my private investors get 10, 12 percent all day long. But if I say 12 percent to someone like that in that moment, they're out. Too good to be true. If it's too good to be true, it must be too good to be true, right? You lose the prospect instantly.
Then the conversation will get awkward. I’ve fucked this up many times. That's why I'm telling you exactly what I do. This is what I’ve done. I've messed us up so many times. It's like those weird, awkward “Okay … I’ve got to go. I’ve got to get another bottle of wine. I'll be back” and they never come back.
But if he says six percent, it's like, Cool, man, have you ever invested in real estate?
No, but I'd love to. I'm actually kind of busy. I'm a doctor. I just don't have time, truthfully, but I’ve always been interested in it. [23:05.4]
What he's really saying is he doesn't have time, but he has money. What I'm saying is I have time. I need more money. Your job, our job, is to connect the dots to conversations. Then slow down at this point. Don't go for the fucking jugular bank account. Say, Hey, man, Steve, dude, I’d love it if there's an opportunity to do deals with you in the future. I know we're here hanging out, having wine and all that, but if you don't mind, I’ll get your number. I'll shoot you a message or if you want to talk about now, whatever.
But now I'm putting the ball back in his court to see how aggressive or unaggressive he really is trying to be and I'm going to listen, and about 50 percent of the time, it's like, Yeah, man, I'd love to connect, right? And then I walk onto the next table. Same thing. Next table. Same thing. In the hallway. Same thing. Taking a piss beside the urinal. Same thing. I'm talking to people about money all the time. [24:07.3]
This is an amazing gift for my kids. They hear Dad talk about money every day, all the time. Think about being a kid, talking about moving monies around. I just did a deal. I gave the guys 650 grand, true story. I gave them 650 grand for two months. He paid me 75 grand back on top of it. That's a fucking massive return for two months. He named the number. I didn't. He did, because he was going to make a whole hell of a lot more money. If that money didn't come in, he was going to lose it all. He was going to get zero.
This is where people get mixed up. They’d say, I would never pay someone 75 grand for two months. That's why you don't have a lot of money. That’s why you don't have people stand by for you to shoot a text and get fucking millions of dollars.
True story, this guy texted me right now and says, “Yo, Evans, I need a mil for XYZ.” [25:01.0]
“Cool, send the paperwork over and we’ll knock it out when you needed close by?”
“Tomorrow.’
“Done.”
Now, I'm not saying you have to be an investor like me on that, but that's the world we live in. Speed. That's why we're able to get big returns.
But back to this guy we're talking to. He says six percent. You say, Hey, listen, we offer our clients, our partners, eight percent yearly, and then they get excited and go, Oh, wow, eight percent. That's amazing. That's two percent more. By the way, it's not two percent more. It's 25 percent more, right? Two points on six points is a 25-percent difference, I believe, somewhere around there. It's a huge, huge difference, you know what I mean? Huge difference, right?
Then you tell him, Hey, man. Maybe he asks you, What's your average-sized deal?
Whatever it is, say it—150 gees, is that something you could do in the future? [26:01.6]
Absolutely, Mark.
Cool, man. You need another glass of wine?
The conversation is going well, right? Just slow down. Connect with people. This isn't a race, dude. This is a marathon. Focus, and what I like to call it, just plant seeds daily. Talking on the phone, planting seeds. This guy meets me at that place and wants to give me 200 gees. I don't have any use for it at all at this time in my life, but maybe I will.
But you know what's cool about that? I know the guy he'll hook up and do deals with is going to serve them both well. I just gained two great friends again. They have access to more money. Maybe one day I need access to 100 million and maybe they’ll put two million of that in it. That's how this game of money works. It's not, how much can I get today? It's, how much can I get long-term? [26:53.4]
I look at this with a very long-term approach. Even when I was 20 years old, raising money, I was literally thinking when I'm 67 years old, how much money were we going to do together? You know what I mean? This is what happens.
But be careful with telling people, I pay 12 percent. That scares the average person. “I pay 10 percent.” That scares the average person. They don't understand it. I've talked about this. My father-in-law, he had his money in a CD at the bank and I didn't know that. He told me about it because we’re talking about money. Every Sunday, when he's over here, I'm talking about money. Why? Because I talk about money every single day. Hopefully, you're getting the point.
But he was kind of telling me and he said, “Oh, I didn't even think about it, Mark. My CD is coming up and I'd like to …”
“What kinds of things?” Obviously, he’s my father-in-law, so I give him 10 percent. Here's the first thing he said. You’ve got to keep mine, old school, not a lot of money, worked really hard to get what he has and he has never knowledged up on money at all. He has put his money in the CD and he was getting $250 a year. Yes, $250 a year in interest. When he moved to me, he gets 10,000 a year, big difference. First thing he asked me, “Mark, how in the hell could you pay me that much money and the bank can’t?” [28:23.0]
I said, “I don't know. You should call your bank and ask them, because your bank is making way more money than that on your money.”
See, the thing is, if you understand risk reward, and understand how money works and how to protect it, some people in their later years are more worried about the return of investment instead of return on investment. They're more worried about trust and making sure it's going to be there tomorrow than, How much can I make next week? Oftentimes, the older people. You've got to find out what their risk tolerance is.
Talk to them about money.
Dude, are you doing anything in crypto right now?
Fuck, no, that's a scam. [29:01.2]
That's probably not a person you want to roll with. They don't understand money because crypto is making lots of wealthy people a lot wealthier, right? It's a qualifier.
Oh, yeah, it's bullshit.
Cool. I'm out. Enjoy your wine.
Right? These are the things we need to be thinking about. If I'm at the bar or restaurant, I like to go sit at the bar by myself and have lunch. I'm not drinking, but I'm having lunch, and if people come rolling up beside me, I'm talking to them. “Hey, what's going on, man? Do you need anything?” Right? I'll buy him a drink. I'll do whatever, buy them a bowl of soup, something, whatever, and then you start talking.
You don't have to do that, but I like to kind of lead like that sometimes, and then you just start talking. Typically, the first thing is like, How is your day going? What do you think about the weather? I like to say, What do you do for a living?
I'm blah, blah, blah, retired, whatever. [30:01.0]
You know, whatever, cool. That's amazing, dude. Are you doing anything in the real estate space? Or they’ll typically ask me what I do, right? Again, toss a question out and they’ll typically ask the same question back. It’s like Pete and Repeat, you know what I mean? That's how this game works.
But, again, on social media, don't ask for money on social media because it's illegal. Most people are doing it illegally, asking on social media. I'm not here to judge that. It is what it is. I mean, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do, I guess, but there are a lot of ways to do it, asking without asking.
How do you do that? Post your success stories. Share your results. Share your journey. Now, notice I didn't say create. I said just share it by documenting. Let's say you bought a house for 100 grand and you sold it for 150, and you used a private investor and they got paid back this and you got paid back that, and this is the timeline it took. Share that fucking story. Show the before and after pic and share the story. That's it. [31:04.1]
You don't have to say, By the way, if you have $100,000, you'd like to do deals like this. Give me a call. No, just you sharing the story consistently will have people say, Hey, man, that's awesome. Great job on the deal. I have access to some money. If you ever have a deal that pops up that you need some money for, let me know. I'd love to be the investor you just talked about.
See, the thing is that when you're not in their face screaming, “I need money. I need money. Babe, please, please,” if you beg for money, you're very rarely going to get it, and if you get it, it's not going to be good money. It's not going to be cheap, that's for sure.
Dig your well before you're thirsty. My buddy, Tim, is amazing at this. He provides amazing value all the time. He supports all the time. He'll share stuff. He's just a good dude. He gets the game of money. He'll text me, “Yo, man, I need a mil tomorrow.” [32:00.3]
“Okay, cool. Done.” He pays real money. He pays on time and he gets the shit done.
See, it's not about the cost of money. It's about the value of the opportunity. You can always go to the bank and get cheaper money. If that's the case, why aren't you going to the bank every day to get money? It's because the banks suck ass. They're hard. They're old school. They limit you on loans. They're not fast at all. Fast as an understatement. Sloth’s speed at best. With private money, it's very quick and easy. Simple.
How many have you seen go by in front of you that you wanted to do that, but the only reason you couldn't do it was because you didn't have access to the money or it would take too long to get the money, right? Because you’ve got to “Oh, shit, I’ve got to go to the bank. I’ve got to go to SBA. I’ve got to do this. I’ve got to do this.” It might take you 60 days to knock out a deal. [32:57.0]
In those 60 days, that deal has come and gone many times over if it's a good deal. Many times. I’ll take that deal down in a nanosecond. I can move faster than the title company, that's for sure. I can have the money sitting there in an escrow account within nanoseconds and then they’ve got to pull the paperwork. They’ve got to get the contract. They’ve got to run that. They’ve got to go to the courthouse. They’ve got to do all the shit they do, and then three to five days later, they'll get back to you and say, Clear to close. Here's the deal. But I'm ready.
The thing is it’s guys at all levels. I don't care if you have 100 million sitting in the bank right now. You're one deal away from being broke, literally, cash poor. That's what I say when I say broke. That's what that means to me, cash poor. Broke is a mentality, right? Mental mentality, cash poor.
Here's what I mean. If a $200 million complex came up online and you could buy it today for 100 million, you don't let that pass. You stroke the check, knock the deal down, and you just made a lot of money, but you're cash poor now. The next day you get another deal, 10 million bucks, but you're like, Dude, it's worth 30. You can't do it. You're out of cash. You're tapped out for a minute. [34:13.0]
So, what do you do? Ideally, you've planted seeds with amazing people and you could contract the deal and get the money very quickly. Very quickly, because you've created relationships. You've laid the groundwork. You've planted seeds. You've harvested the field and now it's time to go pick the crops.
There are many fields and crops I’ve planted and I'm still nurturing them 20 years later. As I speak to you right now, I have guys I’ve met over 20 years ago that have invested tens of millions of dollars with me and still do today. I could text my buddy right now, Doug, and say, Yo, man, here's the deal, 200 gees. You want to do something? He knows I'm going to pay him. He knows I'm going to do the right deal. I always do the right fucking thing even when it sucks. He’d say, Cool, where do you want me to send the money? This is what money does. It gives you opportunities, if you're talking about it, if you're setting it up, if you're organizing it. [35:13.8]
I see so many people over-promising, right? Like I said, slow it down. Ask individuals, what do they want? See, the thing is, it's easy. I get it. When you're in your situation, you're caught up in your own little world, but when you start serving other people and asking them questions, better questions, like, Hey, man, I need help. I’ve got this deal. I don't know how to make it happen. Guys like me want to help you make it happen.
Why? Because everyone else is like, Dude, I’ve got the biggest deal in the world. You will make so much money. Two grand is not much. That's not a lot of money and they're asking for money. They haven't told me their fucking name and they're begging for money. It's like you're better than that. [35:57.4]
I do this everywhere. If I'm hanging out in church, I'm talking about money. Why? First of all, the church wasn't built for free. It cost money. We’ve got to get these guys to understand we've got to put some more money in this pot so we can build something cooler, update the property, update the bathrooms, do something. Money is a tool. It's pointless if you don't do anything with it. It's worthless. If you have 2 million in the bank doing nothing and you don't know how to, it does nothing for you, except create this mental, emotional [attitude where] you wake up in the morning, you check your bank and you're like, Aw, I have 2 million in the bank, yay. Back to work. But why not put a million and a half in the market and make 15 grand a month on nothing? You can do that. You know that, right? There are opportunities like that everywhere, especially now. There always has been, but it's very big now. There are deals I’ve got everywhere. [36:55.5]
I was talking with a banker lady, a super amazing lady doing some cool stuff, and she has access to a decent amount of money, just her personal money. What's even cooler is she's an amazing person who has created amazing relationships and does over-the-top service for them on the banking side. She has access to hundreds of millions of dollars at our fingertips at any given time if she makes a transition out of her job. She has built trust, rapport, relationships, and more importantly, helped them make their life easier. When you do that kind of stuff, you gain access to money.
I want you to do me a favor. I want you to talk to your spouse about money. Pay attention. Talk to your spouse about money. Talk to your parents about money. Talk to people you know about money. Just see. Just start testing on them and play around with this. If you've never done this before, it's going to be very uncomfortable. [37:51.5]
I'm actually uncomfortable not talking about money. Why? Because money can solve fucking problems. When my buddy is telling me he’s getting a divorce and it's like, Cool, man, why are you getting a divorce? Oh, man, we're just in hard times right now, blah, blah, blah, that means money. He probably doesn't know how to manage money, probably doesn't know how to make money, probably hasn't invested the time to learn about money, and now they're getting a divorce. If I can help you get money, I can at least take that off your plate of fighting relationships.
The truth is a lot of times, as you get bigger, you're going to fight about money just in a different way. “Hon, you're spending too much.” That's why money conversations need to happen all the time. I don't ask Deena for permission to buy stuff. I just bought something for $3.5 million yesterday, signed the contract. I don't call Deena and say, Hey, Hon, can I buy this house? What should we do? Dude, I’ve got my shit dialed in? Same thing with her. She can do whatever she wants. She can buy whatever she wants. I don't care. Why? Because I trust her. I understand where her head is at about money. We talk about money. We know how money works. [39:09.0]
The reason I’ve been able to raise so much money and continue to do so is because I'm always talking about money. My guys that I roll with in the DM Fam, we talk about money every single day. You're talking about vendors, about money, talking to employees about money. You're talking to your CFO about money, talking to your accountant about money, talking to your fiduciaries about money. My day is consumed with talking about money. I've got four calls as I'm talking to you right now with guys that want to talk about money, true story. Two of them are about me getting money and the other two are me sending money potentially. This is true. This is real life. [39:52.3]
On your social media, I want you to post about some of your wins. Don't beg or ask for money. Just share your story, share the deal. Talk to them, let them know. Learn how to write a better story. Start extracting. Do the story. More importantly, be consistent with it, because, listen, as a private investor, if you call me and ask me for money, I'm going to go on social media and see what you talk about.
If I see every Monday at 12 noon, you post about a positive deal, positive results, positive people, positive things, and you're sharing this every week, I'm looking for your consistent behaviors because that tells me a lot about you, your consistency, what you're talking about or what you're not talking about.
It's always interesting to me. People are begging for money. I go to their site and everything is negative. “You don't understand, man, it's rough out there.” Man, I wouldn't give this fucker a penny. The truth is I don't even give him time, because they don't care about themselves. They just don't care. All they care about is talking shit. There's nothing positive to it. [41:07.4]
Money is a positive tool if used properly. We built that place in Haiti, raised 300,000, or actually donated $300,000. I think I raised 150 of that and then I brought the rest of myself. That houses 500 people for the rest of their life. Children who were sleeping on the streets now get to sleep in a room with their mom and dad in a safe environment, a fully self-sustained community. You can check it out. It's called the Caring House Project Foundation, the DM Family Village. It's real. Money did that. My conversations that I created over the years did that.
When we did the charity event, we raised 150-something thousand dollars in 45 minutes or less. My buddy, [unclear 41:53.2], the artist had come in. Boom, I bought a bunch of art pieces and I auctioned them off. A lot of people gave money. Money. Auctions are talking about money. Who in here wants to buy this for $25,000? Sold. Money. [42:10.0]
Are you talking about money in a positive way? How to get more, how to give more, how to grow what you’ve got to get more and give more. Don't be counting the fucking pennies 24/7, trying to figure out how to skimp your way to success. Invest in yourself.
I was at a mastermind. Shit, this was probably four or five years ago. I still go to them today, by the way. Masterminds are great if they're the right ones. But I'm sitting in the room and I'm just listening to people and I'm just sharing, dropping a couple of thoughts throughout two days, and one guy had come up to me. His name is Mike. He’s like, Dude, I want to invest with you. You know your shit. Keep in mind, I’d never met this guy my entire life and this is an older guy, very successful, has access to a lot of money because he owns a big CPA firm, and he's like, I like the way you talk. I like what you think. I liked what you said. I know you're the real deal. I’ve been around the block. [43:10.2]
I didn't even need the money, I did the deal to forge a relationship with him at a deeper level. Money was the entry. We connected. We still talk. We actually partner with him in a business now. Money made that happen.
Back to the question. When I say let's talk about money, how does it make you feel? See, the thing is, you can't solve the problems. Most people are trying to solve the wrong problem.
Mark, I'm trying to make more money.
Cool, how much are you making?
I'm not sure.
How the fuck do you know if you're making more or less than?
I don't know. Maybe I'm making more. I don't know, it just doesn't feel like it. [44:01.2]
Feelings don't matter. Data matters. This is why I always have that saying, data, not drama. Guys, to everyone, it means something different. For example, hey, how much does it mean if you're wealthy? If there are 20 people in the room, it means something for all 20 people, something different. Mine might be 10 billion. Yours might be 100 million. I've done this many times where I take surveys and the truth is the average is a million, a million dollars to be wealthy. Just a heads up, newsflash, you're not fucking wealthy if you have a million dollars in the bank at all, not even close, at all, not even remotely close, especially depending on your age.
A million dollars is not what a million dollars used to be 50 years ago. I always say, I think the average person in their forties and fifties should have at least $25 million, bare bones. I would be sweating bullets if I didn't have access to at least 25 mil. [45:10.8]
I'm here to stretch your mind today, not because I don't care, but because I do care. I want you to start thinking about money differently. I want you to start enjoying money. In the last show I did, I talked about these experiences I do with my families. My family. “Families”, my in-laws and my parents and all that, right? My cousins, my nieces. I want to pay for everything. I want to create memories. I want to create moments. They don't have the money to do those things at this point in your life. I do and I enjoy it. It makes me feel really good. It's fun to me.
It's fun for me to think about how to turn, just a foursome going out to go golfing to turn it into a really cool experience, like renting a mountain. I've done this where we rent out a mountain and we all get together and we hang out for two days, disconnect, and then we go golfing with the DM Fam and then we go bowling. [46:09.3]
I mean, I want experiences and I spend a lot of money to do it, but it's just money. The relationships are so much more valuable than money, but money helped make the relationships happen. They create the environment.
I was always raised [to believe] if you had a lot of money, you were a bad person or did something bad to get it. I find it oftentimes to be the opposite. The majority of the people I know, actually a hundred percent of the people I roll with, do the right thing and they're very charitable, very giving, very forward-thinking. They're getting beat up every day. They're in the trenches. They want to win. Money is not a bad thing and I want you to start talking about money more. [46:54.3]
I've raised so much money. I invest a lot of money. Start learning the psychology of money because if you're broke, that's a moment in time. You're going to get wealthy if you do the right steps, and you're going to wake up one day, like, dude, why didn't I push it harder? Why didn't I have more conversations?
If you have a money problem, I would thought-audit on it. What is the problem? Is the problem that you have stinking thinking thoughts about money, that money is always fleeing you, and every time you get it, it's a rainy day because you’ve got a rainy fund? It always seems like it's fucking raining. You're like Charlie Brown over there with a black cloud over your head, 24/7. It's not true. It's made up. We've created this old story, this whole reel in our head. You're stuck in the mud. You're trying to go one way. You just can't. You could push down the gas as hard as you want. You're just going to keep spinning your wheels. You’ve got to stop, let it dry out or hire someone to come and pull you out and get to the next step. [47:58.8]
But the good news is, for you, there are a lot of ways to get money. I'll share this with you. I don't want to go into great detail because it's very high level, but it's very simple actually, but very high level to the world. You can gain access to a lot, a lot of money through self-directed IRAs, self-directed 401(k)s, so I recommend that you knowledge up.
My buddy owns a company called Specialized IRA Services. My other buddy owns TrustETC.com. Again, check them out on the website. These resources would be there in the show notes, but Specialized IRA Services and Trust ETC, we've done many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many more transactions than I could even count with both of those companies and they're both amazing people that own them. You should get to know them. You should learn about it.
Why? Let me paint the picture. Let's say, you're talking to someone. They're 42 years old and they make 100,000 a year, whatever. It's good. It's good money for where they're at, whatever, but they want to get into real estate. They just don't have the liquid cash to do it, or at least they don't think. [49:03.8]
My next question is like, Steve, do you have an IRA?
Absolutely, I do.
Did you know that you can invest your IRA if it's set up properly into a real estate transaction and generate eight, 10, 12 percent on your money, tax-free or tax-deferred, depending what environment it's in?
Their jaw will drop. They won't even know what you just said, but they're getting excited. What's cool about that is, let's say if they're 42, like I said, and they've been putting money in it since their twenties, they might have $30,000, $40,000, $50,000, $100,000, $200,000, or more sitting and doing nothing or very little.
The truth is this is called a retirement account. Therefore, at 42, you're not thinking about what it's making today because you're just planting money in there trying to hope that it's going to be worth more in the future than it is today. But if they could get into real estate through that path, they can't spend the money anyways in their brain because it's retirement money. They're going to park it on a real estate deal. [50:02.7]
Say, if you have a property worth 200 and you borrow 100, they're in a pretty safe position—and, by the way, I know I keep talking about real estate deals because it's just a simple visual, but also this happens. You can do this in businesses. I mean, you could do this with anything, anything that has value. If I'm trying to maybe supply someone's product, like, Yo, man, I'm running short on inventory. I’ll fund your inventory, but I want a piece of the deal, I want 10 percent, 20 percent, whatever. It's not just real estate. I'm just using real estate as an example.
But what's cool about this on a self-directed is now you become a resource. It's like, Steve, you're not ready, but get with Specialized IRA Services or Trust ETC. They're both great companies. Get it set up. When you get it set up or if you need help, let me know, but these companies are great. Within four to six weeks, you'll have a setup, funded, ready to go. There are no tax consequences because you're doing a transfer, not in withdrawal. It's moving over there, blah, blah, blah.
Then, boom, in six weeks they get a text and they're like, Yo, man, my money is ready, what's up? Then you do a deal. Then you change your life because they're making more money than they were in the other environment. You're getting access to more money, making more money. It's a win-win-win-win-win-win-win. [51:14.6]
I’ve never lost in life, by learning more about money, the psychology of money. The great question, like I said earlier, if that's the person that you're talking to, especially a business owner, I say, Dude, what's your biggest struggle right now? Oftentimes, they've never even been asked the question, because guys let in gals like us here listening to the DM Project, you understand, we're just grinders. We have fucking grit. We don't even think we're doing anything, but we know we're working hard. We're pushing.
But the truth is that we've never sat down and said, What is that big thing? We don't know sometimes because we're just so big. We're so busy in it. When you ask that question, coming from a real, real place, people connect with that shit, and they might stutter, they might stumble. [52:03.8]
If they do, let them off the hook for a second and say, Think about it. I can tell you what mine is. They might say, That's a good question. What's yours? Because what they're trying to do is to think about it, to ask them, to tell you what theirs is, and then just to share real. Be real with them. Is it an employee issues? Is it getting money issues, getting product issues? Is it marketing? Do you need help with it? Just share.
A lot of times people think this is a weakness. I find it is a great strength. Sharing rawness and vulnerability is my reality. It's what has allowed me to get to where I'm at today in my life. For the first 12 years of my life, I did okay. I worked really hard, almost went bankrupt twice, but I survived, I should say. I didn't do okay, I just survived, because I was ego-driven, hard-headed, “I can do it on my own. I don't need you. This is the way to do it, no other way,” blah, blah, blah.
Now, today, it's totally the opposite. I don't know anything. I'm here to learn. Here's what I'm dealing with. Can you help me? I need help. You need help. Maybe I can help you. Maybe you can help me. Fuck, I don't know. Here's what I'm dealing with. [53:13.4]
This is the kind of shit you share, and before you know it, you're in a ring of opportunity 24/7. I'm investing in buddies all the time. I want us all to win. I want you to win. I want you to get access to billions of dollars, hundreds of millions of dollars, whatever you're trying to get access to, but you’ve got to start now. You’ve got to start talking about money, start thinking about money differently.
Start reading books. You’ve got to start reading books like A Happy Pocket Full of Money. You're going to start reading books like the trick to having money is having it (The Trick to Money Is Having Some). You’ve got to read books. The opportunities are now. If you don't do it now, when are you going to do it? When? And that's what scares me as a lot of people say they're going to do it, but they never take the actions to do it. [54:02.2]
I would love to see you share with me how much you've raised. What are your struggles in raising money? What's hard about it? Let me know. Again, if you have shitty products and all, don't ever ask for money. But if you have a great product and can help someone change their life, you need to be letting people, the world know.
It's like having a cell phone number, but not telling anybody your cell phone number, expecting a phone call. You're sitting around with your thumb up your ass, looking at your phone all day. Nothing is going to happen no matter how hard you try, because you have to share the number. Get the number out there in regards to the business and the money. You’ve got to talk about the money. If you want more money, talk about money. If you want more problems, talk about problems. That's how it works, guys. That's how it works. [54:57.3]
I hope this show helps you. I hope you raise a shit ton of money. I hope you keep me posted. I’d love to hear. If I need to expand on this more, please let me know on Instagram, @MarkEvansDM. I'm here for you. I'm rooting for you. I'm excited for you and I'd love to talk about money with you, just like I'm doing here. Money, money, money. I'm not money-hungry. I'm time-driven. If I have a solution to your problem and it's about money, we need to make money together. It's not a problem. Money solves problems.
I forget the mentor who had always said, “Mark, if the problem is money and you have money, you don't have a problem. Money solves the problem. Solve it and move on.” Get that money. It's there for the taking. The question is, are you going to go get it? It doesn't just fall from the sky and get you.
Again, really dig deep into the psychology of money. There are a lot of great books about money. Start learning about the Rockefeller house. Learn about how people make money, what their problems are. Your problems and their problems are drastically different. Still with me. [56:04.6]
I meet people who are worth a lot, a lot of money. They don't have the same problems I have. Their biggest problem, people who have money, is trust. They don't trust people. They've been screwed so many times, so stop going for the jugular and build a relationship through value and you'll be so happy you did. I promise you, it will pay off in spades.
Not only that, it's enjoyable as hell, meeting people, helping them, having them help you, learning, and these guys will become your friends, your confidantes. They'll grow with you. They'll be there for the long haul. Treat them right.
By the way, if you take someone's money, you fucking pay him back, period. You do exactly, if not more, than what you said you were going to do. Don't be the guy or gal who goes and gets money and you're fucking slimy, and something bad happens and you bail. I'm dealing with a clown right now who has bailed on me. That's a no-no. Never bail. [57:04.7]
If you're having a situation, you contact the investor and you have a man-to-man, girl-to-girl, girl-to-guy, whatever talk and you get real with them. You tell them, I'm here. I'm fucking scared, but I'm going to be here and we'll figure this shit out with you, and I'm going to take care of you. I'm going to do good. I'm going to do right by you.
When you do that and you really mean it, because a lot of people say that bullshit and they don't mean it, but when you really say that and do that and mean that, the universe is paying attention and it will reward you greatly. Do the right thing always and enjoy the journey.
Hope you have an amazing day. With that said, make today count. Peace. [57:41.7]
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