I actually, I don't have like a traditional business background. Yeah, so I didn't go like to college or in a type of thing. I actually dropped in the high school in 10th grade. And one of I started cutting grass at a very young age in the neighborhood of when I was in the, when we lived in apartments, you know, I'm knocking on doors, asking, can I take out the trash and so forth. And then got into everybody I looked up to earlier in my life, actually sold drugs. Right. So I went that little route. And then again, the high school in 10th grade started getting in trouble. I had my first, so when I was 19 and that kind of helped me have a shift in my life. So to speak, you're listening to Carrie Lutz's financial survival network, where you get valuable information. You just can't find anywhere else to thrive in today's trying times. You need the financial survival network now more than ever. Go to financialsurvivalnetwork.com and get your free newsletter and gift. Financial survival network now more than ever. And welcome. You are listening to and watching the financial survival network on your host, Gary Lutz. Well, got an interesting guest on today. He will help you be in two places or more at once, help you build up your business, scale, scale up your business, get more clients and be more productive. His name is Mark Will Russell. Mark Will, it's a pleasure to have you on the show. So, a productivity is what we're talking about here. How to get more out of your time, how to produce more than you ever thought possible. So I assume we've done that in your own business. Can you just share with us your journey and how you got to this place? Yeah, absolutely. So first of all, thank you for having me on, Carrie. I'm excited to be here. So in short, I mean, obviously, it's been about a decade at this point, but I'll give you the I guess their bridge version. So I actually, I don't have like a traditional business background. Yeah, so I didn't go like to college or in that type of thing. I actually dropped in the high school in 10th grade. And one of us start cutting grass at a very young age in the neighborhood of when I was in the when we lived in apartments, you know, I'm knocking on doors, asking, can I take out the trash and so forth? And then got into everybody who I looked up to earlier in my life, actually sold drugs, right? So I went that little route. And then again, the high school in 10th grade started getting in trouble, had my first time when I was 19. And that kind of helped me have a shift in my life, so to speak temporarily. I went the job route. That didn't really work out. So I kind of went back to what I knew best in the streets, but I used that isn't this funding that I was getting to start an entertainment company. So I did artist management club promotions and so forth. And that actually led to me being in the club every night because we did obviously club promotions. And one night I was approached by somebody who was in a network marketing opportunity. I didn't know what network marketing was, but he was like, who, how many people, you know, who has a cell phone and I was like, everybody, I know, he was like, what if every time I paid the bill, you got paid and I was like, that'd be cool. So he invited me to a home party. Um, if it's me with network marketing, you got to know how those things go. So I went to the meeting, it was breaking down, you know, how I can get two people and they'll get two people and they'll get two people and how people was making all this money. So I signed up and, um, obviously did go the way that I thought it was going to go and the way they explained it was going to go. I would really, you know, however it meant person development, which was really cool. A lot of story, Matt. I really am because, uh, everybody gets where they're going to be taking a different path, a different journey. And you had to go through what you had to go through to get where you are now. So I didn't, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, but I just wanted, like, you know, I'm really enjoying, uh, enjoying what you're saying. Awesome. Yes. Oh, yeah. So yeah. So that, that led me into learning about personal development and then also led me into the online marketing world where I began to learn about direct response marketing and through that I found that I guess my niche, so to speak, was helping businesses, um, generate leads. And I learned that there was a, this industry called the coaching industry. So people started paying me to coach them or how we were marketing and getting leads. We built a company called Kalana Trax University, which was solely focused on helping businesses install automated marketing systems in their business. And, um, that company became an in 5,000, um, fastest growing company. We have thousands of businesses in there. However, within that process, we discovered that getting clients was just part of the process. Um, and as we scale our companies, we found that you need other things, right? Um, team systems, processes, financial infrastructure, all the things that come with that. And, um, but a lot of people wasn't teaching it. So we had to go out and figure it out on our own. And then we create this process called a predictable scale flywheel, which covers eight pillars that helps you build a business that's more profitable, more scalable, more sustainable, more enjoyable and potentially sellable. If you decided to sell it. Um, and that's when we started a company called strategic scale Institute. And that's what it's all about at this particular point of where we are. It's helping businesses install systems and build, well, helping business owners actually create companies that can actually run without them. And that's, that's a remarkable story. Um, my hat's off to you. You know, I definitely had an easier time growing up as far as my socioeconomic position. Uh, but doesn't mean it was easier for me as a person to succeed. But I didn't have the odds, the decks stacked against me like you did. And, you know, that you could accomplish what you have is I'm blown away. Really? I didn't even know what to say because, Hey, it's one thing, uh, one thing. I didn't have a silver spoon in my mouth, but maybe I had a copper one. Yeah, but, uh, but you're the exact opposite. So what do you tell people when you see yourself 20 years ago, when you see kids around you, say, I was just like that kid 20 years ago. What do you tell them? How can you make a difference in that person's life? So that's a great question, Kerry. So I actually do a lot working with you then so forth and so on. And I typically always tell them when I go into schools to speak or organizations or whatever, one of the things I, the approach I like to take is let them know that I didn't used to be them, that I actually am them, right? I may be a little older. Um, I've been blessed to get into some different situations, been exposed to some different mentors and so forth, but I actually am them. Um, the only difference in me and them at that particular moment is some level of exposure and then some mentorship and like me taking advantage of that. So the thing I like to, I attempt to impress upon them is that whatever they desire is actually possible. Um, it's just going to require some adjustments and things of that nature, but it's not far-fetched and I like to kind of be an example of that. Now, of course, like you mentioned earlier, nothing that I've accomplished has been because it's been easy. Um, however, um, it is possible if you decide to, you know, um, persist until you succeed, so to, so to speak. Cause like when people ask me, Mark, how did you go from this? It's really hard for me to explain to be honest with you. It's like, I just tell them, like, first of all, it's a grace of God. Um, that I was blessed to be pulled out of what I was, what I was into. Um, in the survive, because most people who come for why come from, um, definitely don't build what we've been able to build, but mostly don't even make it out. I know, I know they wind up in jail or dead or having a, not living up to their true potential, man. And, you know, I, what you embrace to me is person who has everything against them, but you have potential and then you get a little bit of success, builds your self-esteem and makes you believe that you're, you're capable of even more than you ever thought you were. And I think we all are, regardless how we're born and where we're born to our station in life. I think, uh, we all, with very few exceptions, wind up, uh, only accomplishing a fraction of what we were actually, what you're actually capable of doing. So when I see somebody really, like you realize their potential, you know, it, it's good for me too. I mean, we all have our challenges. We all have our obstacles in life. Mostly they're self-imposed. We just don't even realize that we're, we're putting those obstacles. I mean, I didn't need to get into like a whole success motivational talk with you, but, but you, I don't agree with your story that I felt like that's, that's really where I think people can really profit from this is that all limitations in life are self-imposed, whether you realize it or not. How far you go is how far you allowed yourself to go. I agree. And 100%. So, hey, so, uh, as far as your business goes, which, which came on to discuss, uh, when you get into client, what is the process? What, you have some major questions or, you know, there's an intake form, something like that. What do you want from that client? What do you want to know? So the biggest thing I want to do, biggest thing we want to know. So everything that we do is, um, custom for the most part, depending on the business. So if it's a business week, we work with who are at $250,000 a year and they're looking to get to a million dollars a year up at a million dollars. They're looking to get to five or they have five million to get to 10. Obviously some, uh, there's some nuance with when it comes to strategy. So one of the things that I want to, we want to get in crystal clear on is, um, even if we just start from a revenue standpoint, let's just start with that. Because a lot of times entrepreneurs are revenue driven, right? So one of the things we like to zoom in on is, okay, what do you actually want to make? And they'll throw a big number out, right? Um, and then a lot of times it's just a big arbitrary number. So, and I'll say, well, not necessarily what you want your business to make, but actually what you want to take home, right? Personally, right. And then from there, that'll, and then also what, what are the other things that you prioritize outside of money? What are the things you, your real values of the things you value outside of money? Right. So what are the other things? So some of them are maybe spending more time on my kids, spend more time on my wife or being able to go to the gym or being able to be in church on Sunday or but what like, what are all these other things? So now we can figure out, all right, you want to make this per month take home while still being able to pick your kids up from school every day and have more their homework while still being able to get them up to school and have breakfast with them while still being able to attend all the field trips, while still being able to meet the ball games on Saturdays and on practice on Tuesday and blah, blah, blah. So we get crystal clear on what are those things. So now we know this is the thing we want to get you closer to, right? And how do we do this without the allure of more? Because a lot of times we can get sucked in, especially as entrepreneurs, we can get sucked into this idea of doing more, doing more, doing more, doing more, just to make more and a lot of times it can become meaningless. But it's like, okay, what's the picture really prioritizing you really want? And then how do we create what's the simplest, lowest risk way to actually go about making that happen? Because again, sometimes they come to us and they think they have more, more, more, more and more, but in reality, what we found is actually doing less. It's typically a faster, more efficient path to get to where they're looking to go. So that's pretty, that's a lot of times when we start. That's such a great point. A lot of success is, is not doing things that aren't really helping you accomplish your goal. So one more question, and as far as what you've been doing, what is the, what has given you the most satisfaction in your path? So the thing that's given me the most satisfaction is, I guess I would probably say twofold. When it's my hold off, I probably say it's threefold. One number one, from the business standpoint, if you're able to see the success stories that we've been able to create by helping business owners, because I know if we get hit, if we help this one business owned by default, that helps, that helps to the family. That helps the community that creates jobs. Now the creation of those jobs also impact families. So it's just like the ripple effect. So we, so we never really get to measure the true impact of what we've been able to do. So that's number one, number two, it's been able to be while doing this, being able to be a present husband, our present father was very active with my kids and my wife and being able to build a family while doing all this as well. And then number three, you spoke to it earlier, Carrie, when you, when you said that getting the opportunity to grow and like realize your full potential. And even for me, you hit it nearly hit. I don't even believe I've been able to realize my full potential jet shit. And I feel like I'm really just getting started. So if I was to narrow it down to those three things, that's probably I'd say those would be the most fulfilling. It feels the same way, you know, it's a process. I got a few years on you, obviously. So I'm not talking down to you. I'm talking up to you because, you know, I just respect what you've done immensely. But the struggle gets easier as you come to accept yourself in your failings, my failings and my shortcomings as my strengths rather than my weaknesses. And, you know, it's just like you keep on the path because you can't do anything else, you have no choice. Like you think you have free will, but once you started down the path, you gave up your free will because the path is your will. So, you know, and it's, it's heavy, I know, but, uh, hey, your inspiration then. And, uh, we will definitely have you back on the show, talk about some concrete examples, businesses you worked with, things you've gotten done, things that you wanted to, okay? I think we can all learn. Appreciated. Hey, Mark, well, tell us how do we contact you? How do we find you on the web? How do we connect with you? Yeah. So I put together a page because if you go to scale made easy.com. So S-C-A-L-E made M-A-B-E easy A-E-A-S-Y. So just scale made easy.com. Got tons of resources over there for business owners who are looking to build business in a more predictable, scalable, enjoyable, and potentially sellable. So that is scale made easy.com. Um, I would just say go there, tap in. And if you want Instagram, you can send me a direct message. Mark, well, Russell, more all social media, send me a direct message. But the easiest way is just go to scale made easy.com. You know, grab all those resources. Excellent. And that link you will find in the show notes to this interview on financial survival network.com. When you go there, make sure you sign up for your free newsletter. And if you want to contact Marko through me, just send me an email K-L at carryluts.com. Marko, keep doing what you're doing. We'll talk to you again real soon. Thank you so much, Carrie. Thanks for listening to Carry Luts' Financial Survival Network, your solution to today's trying times. For the latest, go to financialsurvivalnetwork.com. 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