Liam talks to Mark Wright, the winner of The Apprentice in 2014, who’s here to share his entrepreneurial journey, highlighting his drive to succeed and take his parents’ stress away by becoming a successful businessman.
He discusses the importance of finding one’s passion, turning it into profit, and overcoming challenges in the early years of entrepreneurship. Mark emphasises the significance of mentorship, building great teams, and maintaining a balance between work and personal life. He also delves into the power of visualisation, the impact of mentors like Lord Sugar, and the value of continuous learning and growth.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Find your passion and turning it into profit. This passion will drive you towards success.
- Mark shares his experience of facing challenges in his early years until he found marketing, which he excelled at. He highlights the importance of finding what you’re good at to achieve success.
- It’s vital to surround yourself with the right people who support and inspire you. Building a great team is essential for business success.
- Mark discusses the power of visualisation in achieving success. He attributes his accomplishments to setting goals, creating vision boards, and visualising his future.
BEST MOMENTS
“I say quite often, you have to find your passion and then turn your passion into profit.”
“If you’re just starting, know that it’s not going to happen straight away, but it will happen if you become an expert and you stay in the process long enough.”
“Every single time I’ve met someone who’s done something quote-unquote successful, they talk about how close they were to give up right before they made a million pounds.”
FULL TRANSCRIPT
My goal as a young man was not to go and get girls and do all of this stuff, it was to grow up and be a successful businessman. So I could get rich and take my parents stress away, everyone’s good at something, if you haven’t found success, you’ve not found the thing you’re good at. And I didn’t really crack it and make super money do super well, until I found marketing working in a digital marketing agency, 500 employees 70 offices around the world. And I really disagreed with the way this company operated the way they treated their staff the way they treated their customers. And I was like, I can do this, I can do this better than they’re doing it.
I say quite often, you have to find your passion, and then turn your passion into profit, and your passion is going to drive you. So for people tuning in now, marketing scares a lot of people. And they don’t know how to market themselves as you went into entrepreneurship. What was some of the challenges that you faced in those early years? How did you overcome some of those early challenges? Okay, and welcome to another episode of the dealmaker podcast, and today, I am joined by a very special guest, Mr. Mark Wright, the apprentice winner 2014. It is his 10 year anniversary. And Mark is here to share his journey and also inspire and motivate entrepreneurs just like you and I to get out there and take massive action. So Mark, welcome to the show. I believe you are tuning in from Australia. How are you my friend?
Liam, it’s good to be with you. I’m very, very well. It’s just gone Friday night here in Australia. Most people are out at the pub having a few beers. I’m doing business podcasts. And I bet you I’m happier than they are.
Well that my podcast is called the dealmaker. So I’m gonna hit you up straight away. What does being a deal maker mean to you?
Well, I think I, I am a deal maker in every sense of the word. And I love the name of the podcast. Because making deals creating deals is how you find success. I don’t believe you can have true success in business until you have equity until you run your own deals until you create multiple deals because success comes from experience. And it was creating deals and the deals that I did with Alan Sugar that got me here in Australia living the life that that I’ve got. So doing a deal, I believe is creating something and creating something for yourself.
Fantastic. I love that summary for sure. Now, before you went on to the apprentice, could you take us back to where entrepreneurship business started for you? Was it your childhood? Was it a relationship with someone? When did you know that you wanted to be an entrepreneur and get out there and set up businesses?
That’s a really good question. I think I’ve always wanted as long as I remember, I’ve always wanted to be a businessman. And when I grew up in I’m not too far from where I am right now in Armadale, Australia is a country Outback town, and my mum owned a hairdressing salon and my dad owned car garage mechanics. And so when I was at the dinner table at night, the conversation was not Oh, I hate my boss, or, you know, what jobs are out there? It was how much should we set the salaries? How are we going to pay rent this week? You know, the stress around the dinner table when I was a kid was small business stress. And that’s real stress. So my goal as a young man was not to go and, you know, get girls and do all of this stuff. It was to grow up and be a successful businessman so I could get rich and take my parents stress away because there was so much stress in our household or cause from running businesses. So my goal was I wanted to take my parents stress away, and I knew to do that it was to get financial success through owning my own businesses. Well, you know what I’ve got, I’ve got goose pimples because I grew up on a council estate. My mum and dad separated when I was two. And I listened to my mum choir silver sleep safe to sleep at night, just wanting to get food on the table. And I would spend hours in our local news agents reading magazines and looking at opulent items. And very similar. I think there’s about the age of eight, I made a decision. I don’t know how but I was going to become a multi millionaire and someone really successful. And it was my mom and it was my brother and it was my family that really, really drove me in those early years still does today. But that was the real catalyst for me. So I think that’s incredible. So as you went into entrepreneurship, what was some of the challenges that you faced in those early years? And how did you overcome some of those early challenges? Was there any negativity around you? Was there maybe someone holding you back or Was there some belief issues or what was really going for you in the early days?
Well, it was probably myself holding me back. Initially, I thought, I hated school, I did very poorly at school. But I had this belief that I was going to be successful. I knew deep down, I was going to be successful, I just didn’t know how. So I had this belief that I would leave school, and it would just work out, it would sort of be fine. And I left school and it couldn’t have gone. The opposite. Everything just went wrong. Every job I started, I got fired, or I wasn’t good at or the pay was terrible, or I just simply didn’t enjoy it. You know, I was looking at the clock waiting for five o’clock in every job, I couldn’t wait to get out of there. So I got out in the real world. And I realized that it was much harder than I’d anticipated coming out of school. So there was a lot of issues with one I just probably wasn’t that sharp, I wasn’t that smart. I had some experience to get underneath me. And I needed to find what was the Right Sector. For me, I believe people who haven’t found success in business, everyone’s good at something, if you haven’t found success, you’ve not found the thing you’re good at. And I didn’t really crack it and make super money do super well, until I found marketing. So I guess my advice to anyone that’s either working somewhere where you’re looking at the clock every day, and you can’t wait to get home, or you’re not really finding that level of success, you’re probably not doing what you enjoy, and you’re probably not doing what you’re meant to be doing. And it was when I found marketing, one, I was really bloody good at it. And it didn’t feel like working. And it just, I don’t know, it just clicked the light bulb moment went off. And I was doing it. And I was good at it. I wasn’t watching too, when you know, the weekend was and I was like, this is the thing, this is the thing that’s going to make me who I meant to be.
I say quite often you have to find your passion, and then turn your passion into profit. And your passion is going to drive you. So for people tuning in now, marketing scares a lot of people. And they don’t know how to market themselves. And with artificial intelligence, and click funnels and social media channels. Could you share with us? What does marketing actually mean to you? And if someone’s listening to this, and they haven’t marketed themselves, what could be some of those initial steps in order to start getting their name or company or brand out there? What would you recommend mark?
Well, there’s a reason I’m doing a podcast here on Friday night in you know, in my in my little supposably my leisure time is this is marketing. If anyone’s listening to the pot, this podcast who didn’t know who I was, I now have access to your audience and and they now know who I am. And what it is that I do that is marketing in its simplest form. My job every day or our job as a business owner is to find people who don’t know who we are in what we do. Starbucks do not make the best coffee, McDonald’s do not sell the best burger, but they sell a lot more burgers than you or I do or a lot more coffees because they’re the most well known people buy from brands that they know. And that is really important. There’s no successful companies I know that a super successful without a good marketing and sales strategy. Marketing is essential. And that can be done online. It can be done in print radio, podcast, writing a book speaking on stage making videos, whatever you feel talks to your audience and sells you and your brand the best you need to be doing it because it is our job if your product is really good, it is your responsibility to get it to as many people as possible. And if you don’t believe in your product enough, that’s a problem as well. So if you’re if you have believe in what you’re doing, you have an obligation to market a properly.
Yeah, I’ll tell you what, I come across a lot and they are fantastic, you know, words of wisdom. A lot of people that are starting out, they worry about what other people are going to say, or they worry about being judged. What would you say to those people right now to help them overcome that fear?
You’re gonna be judged. People are gonna hate you. You’re gonna have lovers. Yeah, it is. You know you if you do anything in life, you could drive down the street you probably crossed the line in a way another motorist didn’t like whatever you do in this life is going to some people are going to love you some people are going to hate you and some of the gonna be somewhere in between. And this might shock you, Liam, I know. Not everybody likes me. And what I have found in my journey so far is the more success I’m having. The more stones are being thrown at me the more trolls I have on social media that some negative reviews my companies get that are unjustified. And a lot of the time it’s because I’m doing really well and there’s jealousy creeping into competition people I may have went to school with whatever And it’s more of a reflection of who they are, and their insecurities about themselves that feel, here’s someone doing something that I probably should be doing with my life getting in shape, having a family doing well in business, whatever. And they don’t like me for some reason, a lot of these people have no idea who I am. And it’s fine. That’s just human nature. And we need to accept that, and let success just be our justification and be our revenge. People will hate about you the very thing others love about you. And you can’t have all the upside with an element of the downside. And yeah, I just don’t worry about those types of people, some people just can’t be helped. It’s not even their fault. You know, they may be in a negative environment might might now they see a new, something they don’t like in themselves. So I really, really love that. So let’s go back 10 years mark, because a lot has happened in the last 10 years. Let’s go back 10 years, what really motivated you to get a place on the apprentice?
Well, I guess it’s like all entrepreneurs, I was working in a business, I was working for somebody else. And I felt I could do it better. I was working in a digital marketing agency, 500 employees 70 offices around the world. And I really disagreed with the way this company operated the way they treated their staff the way they treated their customers. And I was like, I can do this. I can do this better than they’re doing it. And I you know, I tried to turn that business around and that they just weren’t listening. So I put together a business plan. And I took it to some banks in the UK. And because I’m a foreigner in the UK, they wouldn’t give me a 25,000 pound loan. So I was really dejected. And I was gonna move back to Australia and a friend of mine said, Hey, bro, why don’t you try out for the apprentice? And I said, What’s the apprentice? He said, It’s a TV show where an old man yells at you. And I was like, I’ve never heard of it, who’s the old man? And he’s like, Oh, it’s a guy called Alan Sugar. He’s a total gangster. He owned a football club and a computer company. And he’s like a billionaire. And it sounds cool. And he’s like, I’m going to try out this Saturday. Do you want to come? So I was like, Yeah, cool. I’ll I’ll come along to that. So I went with my friend Blake, we sent the application through and I went down to Tottenham Court Road in London for the tryouts. And when I arrived, there was 75,000 people that and it was just like, Okay, this is a pretty serious TV show, you know, this is like, no messing about this isn’t like, you know, in channel 503, this is like a proper thing, right. And I just kept getting through each level of the tryouts each week, I got a call back from the production saying, you know, I was in the final 1000, final 100 Final 50 until I got a call from the, you know, the BBC saying I was in the final 20 That went on to series 10. And I was like, wow, and then they, you know, I had to quit my job, I had to give up my flat, or for 1500 pounds for a six month filming window. So, to give up your job to give up your flat to give up your life, it’s a serious commitment. And you know, if you get fired there in week one, you’ve really you’ve laid a lot down to go out in a in a pile of smoke. But you know, there’s no victory without a risk. You know, nothing I’ve ever done, has, as everything I’ve done successful has been on the other side of a big risk. And this was probably one of the biggest and it bloody hell it paid off. Was there any moment leading up to the start of the apprentice that you almost bailed or you were just 100% committed?
I got I got I got was 100% committed. It was one of these things things happen. I believe. I’m a big believer in gut instinct, I do a lot of deals, I do a lot of stuff just based on I don’t like that bloke, I get a weird feeling from that person. I liked that deal. I liked that property. I liked that business. And for some reason, from the moment I put in my application to the moment I won, and he said, You’re gonna be my business partner. It felt like the right opportunity. It felt like I was in the right place at the right time. And that 75,000 Other people were just in my way. I was visualizing myself the whole time as the winner. And I remember when I got to the front counter at the BBC, to give them my, like application number and my CV and stuff on the very first day. I said, Hi, my name is Mark Wright, and I’m the winner of the 2014 apprentice and the lady just laughed at me on the reception. And when the night that I won the show, the receptionist asked if she could come in and see me in the greenroom and she said, Do you remember me? I’m the receptionist from Tottenham Court Road. She said you told me you are going to be the winner and I just I’ve never seen anyone predict their own success like that.
Wow, that’s absolutely incredible. But like you say you took the action right place right I am but took the action believed in yourself. Let’s talk about visualization just for a few moments because I do a lot of visualization work, I call it getting off the grid. I visualize where I’m at in one year and three years and five years. And you know what, almost everything comes true. And how important is visualization to you? Does it really work? Some people say it does. Some people say it doesn’t. Give us your view on visualization and, and what people can do to bring things into their life.
Out of all of the things I’ve learned in my career, it’s the number one thing, writing my goals down having vision boards, just thinking about what I want. If you think about your life, how can you achieve something if you don’t even know you want it? If you just bring it back down to the basics? If you’re a boss of a team? How inspirational Is it working for a company or a person who doesn’t know where they’re going? Or what that where the company is going? Kind of doesn’t make sense if you start thinking about it. And exactly as you said, when I go back and look at my goals from 2011 1213, I can’t one I can’t believe how small they are. But the most staggering thing is I’ve achieved all of them. And my biggest frustration is I didn’t set the bar higher, because just sitting down regularly with your partner or your business partner, whoever and thinking, what are we trying to do here, it makes you more motivated, but I bet you 80% of the things on that list you’ll actually achieve. And then you’ll be furious, you didn’t set the bar higher. So I think out of all the things I’ve learned on my business journey, and you know, working with people like Lord sugar and seeing him set goals and do that, if these guys are doing it at this level, what’s my excuse? Why would I be doing it? And you know, it’s incredibly powerful. I’ve never met anyone successful, that doesn’t do it. Yeah, fantastic. You know, hang around with the great copy what they do implement and guess what, you can get the same results. So the simple right? Within the apprentice, obviously was a huge achievement and well, well deserved and a lot has happened in the last 10 years. What influence has Lord sugar had on you? Obviously, you got your business together climb online, I believe you sold that you’ve been named as the most successful apprentice winner of all time. What are some of the lessons that you’ve learned having Lord sugar as your partner for these years?
Well, I owe him a lot of success of my success. There’s no There’s no doubt about it, not because of the fame or the of the stuff that I got from the show or the 250 Grand or any of that stuff. But having access to him on a daily basis for eight and a half years. Seeing his mindset, seeing how his team’s work, seeing how they structure deals. Someone once told me if you hang around with billionaires, millions falls off them. And it’s so true is you know, just watching how he operates on a daily I was I was like a friggin sponge. What time does he get in? How does he dress? How does he speak to his PA, I have always believed exactly like you just said, Success leaves clues. If you see someone out there getting something and you’ve asked them how to do it. And they tell you when you do it, you should by nature, get the same results. I’ve had at daily access to one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our generation, particularly in the UK. And I was just a sponge, I was just watching how you deal in meetings, how we dealt with staff issues. And I learned so much. I mean, the connections were insane, the the, the, just the way he mentored me and, and my other some of my board it was it was fantastic. And I’ve taken those lessons and I find myself doing things now by second nature, in my own companies, which I which I learned from him and and you know, people get all weird about, you know, mentoring and coaching and all of this stuff. But I don’t think I’d be where I am today. And I wouldn’t have my level of wealth if it wasn’t from you know, the mentoring I received from him.
Yeah, you know, low sugar, you know, surely has got to be one of the best possible mentors anyone could possibly have. And I think the difference is that you absorbed it, and you took the action. And you just put yourself in the firing line. And I really love the way that you just you said daily access, you just absorbed every single possible thing you could relationship and created a win win. Do you have other mentors in your life today? Mark?
Definitely. I mean, I pay for mentors. I have loved mentors. I even you know for my health I have a nutritionist and a personal trainer. Because I believe in living a life on purpose a life by design. So my partner and I talk about grinding every element of our life out every element of our house, our life is all we think about it, and we plan it. And if we need improvement we bring experts in to teach us, I’m not an interior designer helped me make my house better make me make my health and body better. So I have still to business mentors and coaches now. And they help me to know and you know, my goal at the moment is trying to get one of my companies to 100 million pounds. And I haven’t I haven’t achieved that before. I’ve gotten close, but I’m still not there. So I have two mentors, where their businesses are 350 and 200 million respectively, because they’re where I’m trying to go. And mentor is somebody who’s got the results you’re trying to achieve. And they impart that wisdom on you. And, you know, I walk into companies all the time, and they say, I’m trying to get to $100 million. Right? Okay, well, who on your board has sold a company for $100 million? No one? Well, you kind of know, chance and care because the people around you, what are you learning from these people that you’re the smartest person here, which is a huge problem. And you need people who are constantly pulling you in that in that right direction. So that’s, that’s a you know why I’m out here in Australia. That’s some of the mentors that I’m working with. I still go to seminars, I still read books, I still do all of the stuff. Even though in some people’s eyes, I might be a success. In my eyes, I’ve still got a long way to go. Yeah, well, I love that I’m also an absolute course junkie, I look to go on at least four or five advanced training courses a year, I want to be upskilling in every way that I can mind body spirit, I call it the triangle and being connected. I also love the gym and eating well. And, you know, having a good good balance, I invest also heavily myself into many different mentors and, you know, assets for life, my business where the UK is leading property, business and wealth training organization. So we’re also having an impact on other people. And we’re mentoring people. And I love running retreats as well Micah go on retreats every year. And I think I think when you just immerse yourself in education, and immerse yourself with great people that are going to pull you up, but also, you know, give you a stern word, if you need a stern word firm, but fair. I think that is one of the biggest reasons why people become successful. Why do you think it is my people then don’t do this? What stops people I know, I’ll have people listening to this that haven’t got a mentor or they think they know better, what is it in them that stops them from asking for help?
I think the first thing is the people they surround themselves with. You know, when I started listening to audiobooks in my car, I remember all my housemates all my flat flatmates would tease me are, you know, he’s listening to Brian Tracy in the car, or Tony Robbins in the car, or whatever. And they’d have some sort of like Skrillex on in their, in their car, or whatever. And what I found is when I started hanging with the right people, when I started going to seminars, and I was replacing a lot of my friends or circle with people who were like me, they stopped making fun of, I’m going to go and ask if I can buy that property. Now you ask a friend or family member that they’ll tell you, you’re crazy. And they talk you out of it, you ask if I asked you that you told me to go for it. Because we’re of the same cloth were similar people. So I think the first thing is, is just auditing who is putting information into me? Am I taking advice from my, my partner, my mum, my friends, who maybe aren’t the right people to give me information on success? And then what do I want? So sitting down and thinking, what do I want to achieve? Who have I got around me, and then some, a lot of the house starts coming together on its own. I know that sounds crazy. But if you just start auditing your life, opportunities present themselves once you’re ready for them. Right?
Great. Love that. Absolutely fantastic. And one of the things that you are remarkable at doing and really well known for is building great teams. So for anyone that is a one man band, or perhaps they’ve got five people or 10 people in their team now, and they’ve got some fears or challenges about growing, what would be some tips that you would give around building teams? What do you look for in team members or senior management? Be great to explore that for a few moments?
That’s a great question. I think the most important thing to remember that if your business is a small business and it stayed small for a number of years, you are the problem. You are creating a bottleneck in your business, which is not allowing good people to come in and do their job. Every great business leader understands that everyone can do things as good As you can that this oh, people can’t do it as well as me, everything’s got to come through me. Do you think Jeff Bezos is checking the invoices before the payment run at Amazon, or, you know, Elon Musk is in the zero accounts of Tesla, these guys hire great people, they recruit well, and they let people get on with their job. And if you want to really scale up and make proper money, the way to do that is recruiting solid people and allowing them to be great in your business and learning from them. I believe in my businesses in in hiring slow and firing fast, paying people really, really well, and having a great culture. You know, I am a big believer in going into the office to work multiple days a week, you know, okay, yes, work life balance, and coming in and work, having some days at home and all of that stuff. But I find it very hard to believe you can create a great business with a great culture where people understand the values, the brand, where their careers headed, if they don’t know, you know, who the person across the desk from them is, it’s very hard to create an organization like that. So, you know, I want UK culture of the year business code for the year and all of these awards and stuff, just because I really cared for my people. And at my 30th birthday, when I was giving my speech, I looked in the audience and the same as my wedding is coming up, actually, and most of the invitees are employees of my companies. You know, I hate that thing business to say is, we’re a family, because that’s not a family. But I really care for the people that work for me, I really invest in the people that work with me and with my companies, and they can feel that I care about them. My retention rate and our employees is astronomically good. And I train them to be great. If you look at some of my former employer, if you look at how many of my employees are millionaires, I’ve made more millionaires than the lotto. Here. It’s, it’s unbelievable, because success made you feel mark. Amazing. I mean, the when they asked me to come and look at their house, because they bought a house for their family, or they put their kids in private school, or whatever it is, whatever makes them happy. I don’t judge it. I get more from that than I do pretty much any other area of my career. Wow.
Well, I think that’s absolutely incredible. You you spoke about culture, and values and vision and bringing people together. And it’s something which I, which I do in my business, like my company’s 47 people, I really would love it to be 470 people at some point in the future. It’s forever growing for sure. And you know, I’m also a big believer in bringing people together and having fun and being firm, but fair. And I think the values and the vision of an organization is what keeps people together. It’s not necessarily the paycheck, and I do I do pay well also, and I always recommend people to pay well, but it’s about what what do we stand for? And where are we going with this? You know, in creating that type of movement? Now, you spoke there about work life balance? Is there work life balance for entrepreneurs? Do you have a balance? Are you completely obsessed? Do you have someone in your life pulling you back from time to time? How do you do it all?
Is there work life balance? There is and I have a fantastic balance in my life. Now incredible best it’s ever been. When I started my career, there was none. For the first three years I worked like a dog seven days a week, you know really really axe to the grindstone I did what I needed to do to make sure my first company survived and that that that was at the risk of my health and some relationships and all of that sort of stuff. But it got me to where I needed to be and I don’t regret a thing about it not not one thing if you want to if you want to create a business that’s that’s really something you need to forget about work life balance that is for woke people who you know, maybe success isn’t for them and that’s fine. It’s not for everybody, but work life balance doesn’t exist early on. It does once you get over that sort of three year hurdle in my experience, this is my experience. And you know, I look at Alan Sugar, he doesn’t work weekends, he works like an absolute dog Monday to Friday, and once that hits five o’clock on Friday, his email shut his phone shut and it doesn’t open again until nine o’clock on Monday. He’s very strict about that. So he has good time with his kids good time with his wife good time with his grandkids good time in the gym or on his bike. And that was a really powerful lesson for me to learn from some What I really respect and who has serious money in the bank is you do need balance you to be successful, but it’s just certain times in your life, there’s isn’t going to be balanced. And that’s part of obtaining the balance.
Yeah, that’s absolutely true. And it’s about learning how to leverage. And that’s what happens when you build a team, right? You get a great PA, you have senior management, you have people on your board, and then you’re able to focus in on what your individual high income generating tasks are. I say this to myself, every morning, it’s part of my sort of my mantra, my success routine. What can Liam do today? That’s going to make the most amount of money in a short space of time without having to do much work? What can I leverage an hour? I love work, and I will work 24 hours. But what can I leverage? What can I outsource? What can I get off my desk, so I can then focus on the stuff that I enjoy. And look, you do a lot. Now you’re an author, you’re a speaker, you are media personality, you get pulled from pillar to post, you’re a keynote speaker as well. So you have all of these different roles? What do you enjoy the most in your business? And what would you say is are your top two or three high income generating tasks within your organization?
The most important things I do each month is I attend the board meetings for every company that I’m a shareholder in, and they that is where I make the biggest decisions. And I derive the most value because some of these companies I don’t talk to all month, so the only opportunity I get to understand what’s going on if we’re making or losing money, and what the main challenges are, is in that meeting, so I enjoy that. But they’re hard days, some of them, you know, go for two days, the board meeting, and they’re and they’re difficult, and I’ve got in some of the companies, I’ve got a lot of money on the line. So I really need to pay attention, I need to be on the ball. When I’m in that environment. I get the most pleasure from speaking on stage. I love it. I absolutely come up there. I don’t know what it is about speaking on stage, but it is my happy place when I’m on a stage in front of people. Maybe it’s my ego that’s happening, I don’t know. But I love that I love doing this. I love doing podcasts. I I’ve done exactly what you said, you know, what you do in the morning is my what I say to all of the people I work with who own equity and companies is our job as business leaders is to become redundant in our own business. As stupid as that sounds, that is the goal because I had a really big exit in the last sale that I achieve with my business. And the reason I was able to achieve that was because I wasn’t working in the business. So I was able to demonstrate to the buyer that I don’t even go into this business, I turn up, I attend the board meeting, I shake a few hands, and then I’m off till next month, and they’re like, Wow, I could be that person. And that’s what you want the buyer thinking right? I can be the guy that comes in and shake a few hands and attends the board meeting botch and writes you a big check. So that’s how you get in and where you make serious money and business is you’ve got to you get it on the exit or you get it when you go public. And you know, dividends are great. And they they add up and salaries are great, but it gets taxed. The exit or the publicly traded is where you really make proper money, or what Alan calls proper money. So say all this stuff’s rubbing off on me. Oh, it comes out second nature now. So yeah, and that’s how you do it by bringing in great people doing less and asking yourself in each task, do I need to be doing this? Is this buying this plane ticket for my next trip? Is that my job? Or my pas? You know, do you know what I mean? And it’s just doing that in every task that you do.
Fantastic. And I love the way say building relationships and yeah, absolutely fantastic. So what is next for Mark? What is next for Mark hat? How do the next 10 years look? Because you’re a big vision area. You know, the last 10 years have been incredible. You’ve had a fantastic journey. So if we could fast forward this time, 10 years, and for sure. I’ll get you back for a 10 year podcast and where are you going to be in 10 years mark?
Probably right here doing what I’m already doing. I mean, I’ve just started a small airline in Queensland in Australia. We’ve just got our third aircraft coming. And that’s really exciting business. I love that business because it’s so hard. And I always find like the harder a businesses the more intrigued I am the reason I sold my digital marketing and go down to marketing is I didn’t find it hard anymore. That’s plain and simple. Getting on the top of Google ads and getting you to the top of SEO and making content is so easy. For me, it’s like breathing. So I wanted to do something that challenged me and I went into the aviation game and Richard Branson says that the way you become a millionaire in aviation is started as a billionaire. And I can start to see why it’s the cost base is huge. The challenges and regulatory stuff is immense. But I’m loving that journey. So I’d love to see that business really doing well. I own one of the top PR companies in the UK, it’s doing very, very well. And just just helping more people, you know, I was with, I did a lot of speaking with Grant Cardone, I was his warm up gig for the 10x, two. And he bought a G 650 Gulfstream, and 55 million bucks for a plane. And he said to me, come on my plane and have a boost on it. And I was like, Yeah, cool. And before I got on the plane, put his arm over my chest, to stop me going on to the plane. And he said, before you get on my plane, because you’re the first person to get on other than my family, you have to make me a promise. And I said, What’s that, and he said, I know entrepreneurs that are going to be really successful and have their own planes one day, but you have to promise me when you have your own plane, you bring other entrepreneurs on it and inspire them and continue to help people on the journey to success that because that’s what we can do for other people. And it was such a powerful moment, there was no cameras, there was no media, there was no one else there other than me and him and it really stuck with me that you know, yes, making money is important. Really important. That’s the goal of a business is to make a profit. You can’t pay the bills with good luck and good culture and all this stuff. Money’s really important. But helping people once you get there help everyone else get there as well, because there’s plenty to go around. Do you do you mentor people now is that something you do?
Less and less, less and less at one through time constraints to it’s really frustrating? Because a lot of people ask me to mentor them, and they’re not ready for what it actually takes. They don’t want to do the work. They don’t they don’t want it. They want me to sprinkle some millionaire dust on them and become a millionaire. And I keep I’ve had multiple goals at this. And I still mentor some people, but I don’t do it as a as a paid gig or anything anymore. Great. So let people know we are nearing the end. Now. It’s been absolutely fantastic. And you have shared so much wisdom and inspiration. So couple more things. If someone is listening to this now and they are just starting out on their entrepreneurial journey, what would be the last, what would be one or two tips that you’d like to share?
get hungry to get knowledge about what it is you do. No one does better than an expert equal like working with experts. If you’re in digital marketing, become obsessed with learning as much as you can about digital marketing. If you are a speaker, go and do as many free talks as you can until you’re a bloody expert, speaker. Whatever it is that you want to do, be the best at it aim to be the best. And even if you learn somewhere near the top, you’ll make a lot of money from it, and stay in the fight as long as you can. Because every single time I’ve met someone who’s done something, quote unquote successful, they talk about how close they were to giving up right before they made a million pounds right before their biggest deal right before their biggest customer. Because it’s almost like the world is testing to see if you deserve it. So if you’re just starting out, know that it’s not going to happen straight away. But it will happen if you become an expert and you stay in the process long enough.
Wow. That’s absolutely fantastic. Well, I really appreciate you being on the dealmaker podcast. This is gonna go out to a lot of people. Is there anywhere where people can hook you up or maybe get a book of yours or where people can come and you know, get some of your great wisdom?
Ha well as a as a great digital marketeer. I’m on all social media platforms. So if you search for Mark, right, you’ll see the guy from The Only Way Is Essex and just under him, you’ll see me all verified there on social media. And listen, if you’ve enjoyed this and I can answer any questions for you or help you with your business, you’re looking for investment or whatever it might be. Don’t be afraid to ask if you message me on LinkedIn, it comes directly to me. If it goes on any other platform or forms, it goes to my PR team and they’re pretty hot as well. But to say you know again, thank you so much for having your voice and doing this podcast and inviting me on today. I really appreciate it.
Brilliant. That’s absolutely fantastic. So there we have it, Mr. Mark Right. What An incredible journey just 10 years on from the apprentice, and look, here’s the thing. If we can do it, you can do it now. Strategy, belief and action, not just action, but take massive action day to day and you can truly live the life that you deserve and your desire. Thanks for tuning in and make sure you’re dialing in to another episode of the deal maker podcast.
You’re listening to the deal maker podcast hosted by multimillionaire property investor, entrepreneur, and Guinness World Record holder Liam Ryan, discover how to start scale and grow your business become a better negotiator create more opportunity and to make massive profit so you can live the life of your dreams.
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