Mark Podolsky Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast
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Introducing Mark Podolsky
Mark Podolsky is our guest today on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots free podcast interview.
He is a a man who is on a mission to help us all.
He has a passion for helping all of us to break free from what he calls “Solo Economic Dependancy”
Now if you have no idea what that means, then Solo Economic Dependency is basically this: If you’re not working, you not making money.
High-paid professionals, doctors, dentists, surgeons, freelance consultants, lawyers, accountants……people from all types of backgrounds find themselves in this predicament.
How The Dots Joined Up For Mark
Lose the job, or be forced to take leave of absence, and you are forced to dip into your savings if you have them.
Well our guest believes that being put into that position is quite simply madness, and works on making money even when he isn’t working……in fact, even while his sleeping.
As he says “That’s real financial freedom, and that’s something worth striving for”
So how has he managed to do this?
And are their strategies that all of us can implement that can start helping us break that one job dependency?
Well lets find out as we bring onto the show, to start joining up dots, with the one and only Mr Mark Podolsky
Show Highlights
During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Mark Podolsky such as:
Why it is such a shame that we all follow our parents lead in some regard, even if it takes us on a path that isn’t ours!
You will find out the three characteristics that make up the perfect business
How he loves the online app “I done this.com”, and why he sits up in bed uses it every-night
And Lastly………
We talk about the amazing documentary “I’m Fine Thanks” which should be something that everyone of us watches
Mark Podolsky Books
How To Connect With Mark Podolsky
Return To The Top Of Mark Podolsky
If you enjoyed this episode with Ian Maxi Jackson why not check out other inspirational chat with Tony Ubertaccio, Hal Elrod, Zachary Babcock and the amazing Steve Sims
You can also check our extensive podcast archive by clicking here – enjoy
Full Transcription Of Mark Podolsky Interview
Intro [0:00]
When we’re young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK, David Ralph.
David Ralph [0:25]
Yes, hello, everybody. How are you bear? This is David Ralph, this is Join Up Dots. And this is Episode 480. And I’ll tell you what, God it’s been a long day to day if you if you think that I’m overdoing the energy. This is the end of it. By the end of the show. I’m going to be a crumpled heap. And my guest who is a professional, he’s a podcasting legend. He will be dragging me through to the finishing line because he is a man who has got the power to help us all. He’s on a mission to help us all. He has a passion for helping all of us to break free from what he calls solo economic dependency. Now if you have no idea what that means, it’s got nothing to do with Star Wars and Harrison Ford van Soto economic dependency is basically this. If you’re not working, you’re not making money. Now high pay professionals, doctors, dentists, surgeons, freelance consultants, lawyers, accountants, and people from all types of backgrounds find themselves in this predicament lose the job or be forced to take leave of absence and you’re forced to dip into your savings, if you have them without guest believes that being put into that position is quite simply madness and works on making money even when he isn’t working. In fact, even while he’s sleeping, as he says that is a real financial freedom and that’s something worth striving for. So how has he managed to do this? And are there strategies that all of us can implement that can start helping us break that one job dependency? Well, let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up the dots with the one and only Mr. Mark Podolsky. How are you
Mark Podolsky [1:57]
David, I am really, really excited, and I’m so thrilled to be here. Thanks so much.
David Ralph [2:02]
It’s lovely to have you on because it’s just after lunchtime at your end, it’s almost time to go to bed at my end. The world doesn’t stop anymore, does it once you get into the online world, I was having a conversation with a guy last night in Sydney, Australia. And when I got up this morning, and he was going to bed and he contacted me again. And he said, When do you sleep? And it seems now but the world doesn’t sleep does it? He just keeps on going. How do you manage to keep your energy?
Mark Podolsky [2:28]
You know, you know, it’s so funny. And I talk about this all the time. We have unlimited energy, right? And here. Here’s a great example, David, in the United States. Yesterday, there was a $500 million Powerball. Do you know what that is like the lottery, right? Yes. And you buy a lottery ticket and get like a one and 85 billion chance of winning, but people do it. And they’re lining up, lining up for $500 million Powerball. Now. No one won yesterday. But David Why is everybody lining up? Why are people so excited about this Powerball this lottery? Right? What Why do you Why do you think?
David Ralph [3:10]
Because I want to get rich more. We have the same thing yesterday was only 50 million. But all the poor people in the world line up, all the rich people don’t care about it. And so they’re actually making themselves poor on that fake risk or chance of actually getting rich.
Mark Podolsky [3:26]
Yeah, I think when people visualise themselves with $500 million, right, they get excited, and people that would never stand in line for anything. Even disney world will stand in line for the smallest sliver of the chance to get wealthy. Well, you don’t need to do that. Right. You can write down a goal right now. I will have $500 million. I will have $500 million. Now David, write that down and tell me how you feel,
David Ralph [3:56]
right? I can’t even write that kind of novel.
Mark Podolsky [3:59]
Yeah, me but you It may seem completely, uh you know unrealistic to write but who cares, it Jazz’s you up, I will have this I will have a Tesla, I will, you know, be the biggest donor to my church or synagogue or whatever it is, you know, I am going to make a difference in the world by doing these things. Now, it doesn’t matter the How to at this point isn’t isn’t important, necessarily, right. It’s the fact that you’re visualising it, and that that’s going to give you the energy that is going to propel you. If you’re I mean, I’m getting out of bed and I can’t wait to get to work. I can’t wait to start my day. And that’s energy. I can’t wait to get home play with my kids and tell them about my day. I can’t wait to tell them about the podcast with David Ralph. So we have unlimited amounts of energy. And here’s another great example. Remember this time are you married David?
David Ralph [4:51]
I am I’ve been married longer than I can remember now.
Mark Podolsky [4:55]
I bet you when you started dating your wife, you had one of those nights or one of those weeks where you didn’t sleep. Right? You guys stayed up all night talking?
David Ralph [5:03]
Oh, I wasn’t thinking about the talking mark. I’ll be honest when you said that.
Mark Podolsky [5:07]
You stayed up all night,
David Ralph [5:08]
right? Yeah. I’m with you. The energy it was kind of it was youthful. It was it was free, wasn’t it? It was youth. It was free love. And it was the excitement of possibility.
Mark Podolsky [5:21]
Right exactly in and we can tap into that at any point in time. We just have to practice it. We just have to do it. You’re having a bad day, practice gratitude. You think about the blessings you have in your life. So these are simple things.
David Ralph [5:35]
Yeah, I can imagine this is and I can’t imagine at a moment everyone’s listening to this buying into your every word, but there’s a journey behind everyone. And have you always felt this even as a small kid? Have you been on the journey of discovery? So many people have where they’ve struggled to find their thing? they’ve struggled to find that energy, but you’re talking about
Mark Podolsky [5:57]
No, I mean, when I was when I was a kid I was first starting out, I was clueless. And, you know, the problem that I had was I had no mentor. Real really, my dad was a workaholic. So that’s really what I saw was a guy going to work every day. And that that was my, my, you know, mentored in a way was my dad. In you know, parents are terrible mentors. What did parents tell you all the time?
David Ralph [6:23]
Right? Yeah, okay, safe. Yeah. play safe. Yeah,
Mark Podolsky [6:27]
right. So what did my parents say? Go to college, get a good job. What did I do? I went to college. I got a good job. Right. None of it was my passion. Right? I wasn’t waking up every day. Absolutely full of passion to help dentists buy and sell their practices. Right. So my my second mentor is the guy named Raj and Raj and I worked in this dental consulting industry after college. And we would help dentists buy and sell practices now. He You know, he was a really smart guy in MBA. A chemical engineering degree. And we would go on these road trips because we worked in the middle United States, Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas, like the armpit of the US, David, come here and don’t you don’t need to visit those places. There’s nothing there. So, but we’ve kind of talked about the perfect business model, right. And so the perfect business model had a few characteristics. Number one, didn’t have any physical inventory, right? We didn’t have to have anything physical. Number two, it was a one time sale and recurring revenue. Right. Number three, it was a niche with high margins, right? And not a lot of competition. And so we kind of thought to ourselves, what what could possibly be the best model, and we would talk about software at that time. You know, Microsoft is really big. We’re like, Well, you know, Microsoft is great, but, you know, it’s technology. It’s constantly changing. There’s, you know, they have to constantly be pouring capital into all of this. So we kind of figured out we thought the video best business model, guess what it was David? something where you can sleep and it works for you. Yeah, we thought of life insurance, right life insurance, everybody needs it. It’s a one time sale, you don’t buy anything. It’s just an idea. And once they buy it, you as the insurance company keeps recurring revenue every single month, right. But now there’s a couple problems with life insurance. Number one, nobody wants to talk about their death, right? people avoid their life insurance salesman is like the plague. And number two, it is competitive. It’s certainly not a niche. So that’s why I talk about my model is the best passive income model, because I buy and sell raw land, and I make a cash flow.
David Ralph [8:42]
So So why didn’t you go one step further. I think the perfect business is actually funerals, isn’t it? Because you know, everyone’s got to face fat, and it’s never gonna end is it? You will never go over that end or the baby’s coming out. That’s where the perfect business is surely.
Mark Podolsky [8:58]
I don’t think so. Because you know, you’ve got Physical, you’ve got to have the land. Right? And it’s a fixed amount of land because at some point, there’s too many people in your cemetery to bury them. Now, that’s the United States. Now, if you get cremated, that’s a very low margin business actually, as well. And it’s still very competitive.
David Ralph [9:17]
Is it out? Do you know this? is there’s turf wars in the grave industry is there?
Mark Podolsky [9:22]
There is there is I you know, and again, it’s physical, you gotta have, you know, you gotta be the pumping that out. So, you know, no one’s you’re not working it at midnight, like when I go to bed at night, there’s still there’s no money coming in every night.
David Ralph [9:39]
And he’s actually you know, does that happen? Do you go to bed and wake up the next morning and your bank account is is bigger, it literally works that way.
Mark Podolsky [9:48]
Yeah, luckily for me, yes.
David Ralph [9:50]
And so when when did this first happen? Can you remember the time when you went to bed because most of the guests that I speak to on the show, we’re coming up to sort of 500 people class will remember, especially if they’re in the online environment, that first payment and it can literally be cents or pennies, but they still remember the first time but they actually effectively wasn’t doing anything and catching it came to them. Can you remember that?
Mark Podolsky [10:16]
Oh my gosh, it was 2001. And I remember my first land deal and putting it out on eBay. I put it I put out a property ad on eBay. And I remember, in the middle of the night, somebody responded, you know, they won the auction, somebody responding to my email, and that, that first payment, they made a credit card payment. I remembered saying something to my wife, like, I can’t believe this. This. This worked.
David Ralph [10:48]
So so your mentor actually taught you about it, you were at moment on a leap of faith, you were putting your trust into something that you didn’t quite buy into?
Mark Podolsky [10:57]
would know Okay, so after Rashi was my second mentor after my dad, my now my third mentor, I really have a mentor is a guy I was just working with as an investment banker. I was doing mergers and acquisitions with private equity groups. And I hated my job, David, I hated it. I had a 45 minute commute to work and back, I was in a cubicle, working long hours, I felt like I had no control. I was really pretty miserable. So I’m talking to the sky. And he’s telling me that he’s going to these tax deed sales in United States and buying up raw land for like nothing, and then flipping them online. And I said, Okay, great. What’s, what’s your return on investment? He said, 300% Well, David, I’m looking at companies all day long. Yeah. And, you know, an average company was 10%, a great company was over 10% and most companies are under 10% in free cash flow or EBIT da, right. This guy’s telling me 300% So of course, I don’t believe him. So I go with him to New Mexico. And I have like that. $3,000 saved, and I bought up 10 parcels of land and average price of 300 bucks. Right?
David Ralph [12:07]
So that must have been scary for you at that time know that it was up here. I said
Mark Podolsky [12:11]
to my wife, I’m doing this. She said, Absolutely not. I said, No, you don’t understand, like worst case, we own land. At least we own an asset. Yeah, I don’t protect anything that can’t can’t be destroyed. I don’t, you know, have to maintain anything. I just have to pay the property taxes each each year. And those aren’t that much anyways, like, the risk is very small. And she said, Fine, just try it. But don’t, you know, don’t go bankrupt.
David Ralph [12:38]
So how did you get past the wife because I think this is fundamental, because so many people in life, get held back unknowingly, really, by their parents, as you’ve already mentioned, or their partners or their colleagues and their friends. Because you you want to put your best foot forward. You want your wife to feel proud of you. So how did you get past that thought of Yeah, maybe He’s right. Maybe we could use the money for an extension or something.
Mark Podolsky [13:05]
Yeah, I mean, it’s, it’s hard to know, isn’t it? And I honestly, I can’t I can’t tell you, because I have, you know, these issues all the time, with with decisions, we make decisions together and sometimes I agree, and sometimes she disagrees. I mean, it’s, it’s, you know, how, how persuasive Are you with your mate. And at that point in time, I was Luckily, you know, she could see the passion, she knew I was upset, this was like a way out for me. So she was like, Okay, I’m going to support you. And it worked right? Now it could have gone the other way. I could have lost all our money and, and she’s like, what the heck happened? But I think, you know, in this loving relationship, there comes a point in time, where you either support each other or you don’t, and you feel it or you don’t and, and luckily, you know, even today, because now I’m you know, I’m doing other businesses and expanding and she kind of just knows, okay, Mark’s going to do what he does in his business and she’s going to do what she does at home with the kids. And I don’t you know, micromanager with with what she does, yeah, she’s not a backhoe, manage me with what I do. But we come together, we have shared values, we have a shared vision for our life. And as long as we can talk about that, like, you know, like a vision board and the things we want to get done in our life together, then, you know, let’s go for it. We only live once, so why not? And that’s what I talked to my wife about all the time. Nobody ever got rich playing it safe.
David Ralph [14:34]
Well, that is absolutely true, isn’t it? You You never get a rich employer you only get to the rich bosses of the companies or whatever. And you you’ve kind of worked that out to find agree with your solo economic dependency, because when I first read that, I thought, what the hell does that mean? But it makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? That you’re putting yourself at a point to critical failure financially over time by working for someone so Easy now, is it the way forward for everyone? Or is it just a certain type of person that can go entrepreneurial and create their own income?
Mark Podolsky [15:09]
Right? I mean, I think I think the term entrepreneur is, you know, you’ve got to be somebody who’s building a system building processes building a machine, and David, Ralph markovski, whomever it is, is irrelevant to that business. Then you have business, right? It’s, you know, what we’re doing right now is so low economic dependency, right now, we may love it. We absolutely may love it. And there’s nothing wrong with it. But we can’t be kidding ourselves and saying to ourselves, oh, you know, when we’re podcasting, we’re making money in our sleep, because we’re not Yeah, right. We’re working right now. And there’s nothing wrong with it, because I love it and it’s marketing. And it’s, it’s something I love to do. But I’m not gonna kid myself and say, This is I’m in the business of podcasting, because it’s not a business. Can’t run without me, right? It’s just something I enjoy to do a dentist, right? If their hands are not in someone’s mouth, they’re not earning any income. Now, when their hygienist is doing the business doing the work, then they are that’s a little bit of passive income for them. But unfortunately, that’s not where the big dollars are. And we can look at, you know, lots of different industries where that occurs. So, to me, I mean, there’s freelancers, they may love graphic design, or they may love doing what they doing, they’re doing or authors, right but they’re not making any money unless they’re working. Now an author actually after they produce it, then they can make some passive income. But do you understand what I’m saying?
David Ralph [16:41]
Well, I do and what I’m thinking of as you’re saying, that is actually when what what do you love? What is the thing that really lights you up? Is it the chase because I noticed on Skype, it said closing deals or something at the beginning I always look at the Skype status because it says a lot about your guest. Is it the closure of deal Is it making money? is it helping people? What really sort of lights you up? And is your core function for your business?
Mark Podolsky [17:06]
I have no passion for raw land. I’ll be honest with you. What really lights me up is building this machine and breaking it and making it bigger. Yeah. Right. So am I, the one personally closing the deals? No, I have an acquisition manager doing that work. Right. I have a team of people doing it. My role and what I love to do is be the leader. Right? I have the vision, can we get on board for this vision? Right. And that’s really what we want to do. Because really, I think that we are offering the greatest asset in the world, for people that may not even know they can afford it. And this asset is phenomenal, right? It’s the only thing that lasts, you can’t destroy land. It’s gonna be an amazing legacy for you and your family. Right? And we’re privileged enough to be able to help people all along On the continuum of that sale, and improve their lives, and then on the other side of it with land geek, I’m teaching people how to become financially free, I get letters, I get gifts. I mean, people are so grateful that just this model alone is moving the needle in their lives, and they’re able to become financially free because once their passive income exceeds their fixed expenses, then they can do whatever they want to do in life. And it’s always talked about the three W’s. I think freedom is working when you want, where you want and with whom you want, right. I have no interest in playing golf. I have no interest in ever retiring. I love working, right. But that being said, I want to have flexibility, right? If I want to take a month off and travel the world, I want that freedom. And that’s what I built.
David Ralph [18:50]
So what part of your business plan because we’ve all of us, there’s parts that light us up and there’s parts that we can’t stand and being on the microphone recording. These episodes, I love it. I love it more than pretty much anything I’ve ever done. But there’s a lot of stuff you’ve got to do behind the scenes that I could take or leave. Have you got to the point now, but you only do the sexy stuff and everything else is outsourced or your team take care of.
Mark Podolsky [19:16]
Yeah, that’s a great question. I wish I could say that. It’s 100%. All sexy all the time. But it’s not. Right. There’s certain things that only I can do as far as some of the some of the financial issues with the business, right? Working with my bookkeeper and my CPA, and doing those things like my team. They don’t care. No one cares as much about the business as me ultimately, and looking at the numbers and understanding the numbers in that function. I could hire a controller. Absolutely. And that would be one part of it. Sure. But at the end of the day, I still have to keep my my pulse on what’s going on with numbers. And you know, I don’t really enjoy that aspect of it. So I want to go go go, Yeah, I don’t want to be analysing all the time but I mean, I’m really I’m really not but that’s that’s a part I don’t like. Ultimately, if there’s a, you know, a customer issue, there’s an employee issue. You know, it comes down to me,
David Ralph [20:18]
because I’m at a moment I’m reading Richard Branson’s biography losing my virginity, and it’s a it’s a fascinating read. If anyone wants to get into a good biography that grips you from the first page, this is the one and I’m laying in bed, finding so much out about the guy and his life is based around running away from things that foamed him as a child defined him as a child. One of the things he hates and when you hear him speak, he is very staccato. He’s very structured with what he says. Because he so nervous about getting up in front of people. He doesn’t like it, but he knows it’s part of his job that he has to do so he kind of loosely embraces it because he knows he has to do that. Now there’s certain skills that you would have grown into. And there’s certain skills that have surprised you, as you’ve sort of grown into them. What ones are you at that point now going? Actually, I really don’t like doing this, but it’s part of the job. And also, God, I never expected to love this. But this is it.
Mark Podolsky [21:19]
Yeah, I think every part of what I’ve done, at some point, I had to embrace the suck. Right? I’m getting to the point now, David, where I’m comfortable being uncomfortable. Yeah. And if I’m not feeling uncomfortable, at some point, my business I feel like I’m just not growing. Right? I never want to go to go to work during the day, and working on my business and feeling comfortable. And I don’t want my team doing that. I want everybody kind of growing and stretching. And, you know, trying to hit these big, really exciting goals, right. not realistic goals, big goals, crazy goals, write things that like the When we’re talking about the beginning of the podcast, Powerball lottery goals, that’s what I want to hit. And so to do that we have to do things outside of our comfort zone. So I would say every single day, I’m doing that, whether it’s a periscope video, and I think I look terrible on Periscope, whether it’s going after, you know, some kind of podcast guests like, like a best selling author, we just had Grant Cardone on and then interviewing them. Like, that’s kind of intimidating for me. I’m not comfortable doing that. And then as far as just, you know, growing the business, bringing on a new team member, will they know? Am I communicating effectively? Am I being a good leader? leaders? You know, we were insecure sometimes right? I mean, we go forward with it. We fight through that fear we just do it anyways.
David Ralph [22:51]
So So how do you how do you communicate those mad goals? It’s alright for you to be laying in bed going basically brilliant. It’s be excellent. But your your employees They might be thinking, Oh, here he goes again. He goes again, why can’t we just do the normal stuff?
Mark Podolsky [23:05]
No, they get excited about it. They do. They Oh, yeah, they get really excited about it. So
if we hit 50% of our goal, right, that’s gonna move the needle everyone’s life in our business.
David Ralph [23:20]
Yeah, but there must be some times when people go Enough is enough. I know I I come from your side of the fence. And every time I managed a team or lead a team through my corporate career in London, I was very much the one was guy. I tell you what we do this, this would be great. It’d be brilliant. And I was aware, but some people just like to plot. Some people just like to do the work and go home. And the last thing that they needed me was to be on my sort of ranting podium sermonising about what is possible and stuff. So have you had to particularly choose people that buy into the big picture or have you trained them within the role to go for that
Mark Podolsky [23:59]
you It’s kind of funny. I mean, I think that you either get, you either get on board with that mission or you don’t. And we find out very quickly. If you’re not loving and you’re not passionate, and it doesn’t come through in your work, if you’re not putting emotional labour into our mission in your work for our, our companies, you’re not gonna last long, right? If you know it’s not going to necessarily be me, it’ll be either other people on the team, like you’re holding us back. So everyone every single day is energised and will know pretty quickly if they’re not and there’s just not a good fit. So do I, you know, deal with negativity? No, I don’t deal with negativity idea. I might have, you know, an argument of ideas of how to grow but we’re always talking about how to grow. Now we might differ in on the idea of that and that I definitely support right I want to fail fast. I want to fail forward and want to fail often. Right? And when all my team members to do that, and I want them taking big chances, big risks. What can we do to make this bigger and better?
David Ralph [25:03]
Well, let’s play some words now. And I always play around about this part of the show because it leads us perfectly to the second stage of the conversation. This is Jim Carrey,
Jim Carrey [25:12]
my father could have been a great comedian, but he didn’t believe that that was possible for him. And so he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant. And when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job. And our family had to do whatever we could to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want. So you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.
David Ralph [25:38]
Now that plays perfectly into your mission, doesn’t it a solo economic dependency. He’s Dad was solo economic dependent, wasn’t he?
Mark Podolsky [25:45]
He was he was if you’ve got a job, you’re still economic dependent. Yeah, even if you have a business, but it’s completely reliant on you doing the work. You’re solely economic dependent. And if you lose a you know some of your customer base, you’re going to feel it.
David Ralph [26:00]
So do you buy into what Jim Carrey was saying that you might as well take a chance on doing what you love? Or would you say to people now just do stuff to create your own economy and then make chances or choices after that?
Mark Podolsky [26:14]
I buy into it. Absolutely. Now, some people who are listening to this don’t know what their passion is. Right? You know, I mean, David, do you know what your passion was in your 20s?
David Ralph [26:25]
Kind of? Yes, I did. But um, it was pretty much doing this. I had a passion to become a radio host. But it took me about 25 years to get to it.
Mark Podolsky [26:34]
Okay, okay. So, I think, you know, people have a lot of interests when they come out of college or in their 20s. I think the 20s is trying to figure out work in a way and figuring out what you are good at what you don’t like who you like, and you may not have a passion right away. You may not be one of those people that are kind of self actualized and just know exactly what they want to be right right away. They Just go for it. And I think that’s okay. But for example, you know, Jim Carrey’s dad, who could have been a stand up comedian, but he thought, oh, I’ve got these responsibilities. I’ve got to take care of these kids. I’m gonna play it safe with my life. Yeah, I mean, I don’t think there’s anything necessarily wrong with that, as long as his dad on the side was going to stand up clubs and going for it and, and really, you know, exploring his passion while still providing for his family. Nothing wrong with providing for your family while you try to figure it out. Now, if you don’t know what it is, I think you’ve got to just be really good at something and the only way we’re gonna get good at something is to do it a lot. Malcolm Gladwell talks about the 10,000 hour rule. Yeah, so you know, analyse something, it doesn’t matter what it is because you’re gonna suck at whatever you start at anyways, right? It does, it doesn’t matter what it is, um, you know, no, no, I
David Ralph [27:55]
agree with that mark, because I think that what we try, I think the mistake that Mike is at the beginning, they suck at something that they are not very good at, where actually, they should focus in on something that they’ve been doing naturally and effortlessly since they were small kids that they can develop into some regard. But because it’s so easy for them, they don’t give it the value.
Mark Podolsky [28:18]
Yeah, exactly. If they don’t give the value, or it’s not something that they think they can make money with. Right, like, yeah, you know, you might be you might love video games. But that doesn’t mean you want to be a video game developer, right?
David Ralph [28:34]
Oh, you know, I mean, get on YouTube. I was looking at that guy today earns 13 million a year playing YouTube games.
Mark Podolsky [28:43]
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So you know, for you to be able to take something you’re naturally inclined with, and then figuring out okay, how can I monetize that? I think that’s a phenomenal strategy. And for everybody listening to that, do that. That’s a great strategy. But if you truly in your heart of hearts, Don’t know what it is, do something that you think will move the needle in your life and embrace the sock because eventually, you’ll get to the other side of it. I guarantee. David, when you first did your first podcast, that first interview is probably cringe worthy when you go back and listen to it, compared to what it is today.
David Ralph [29:18]
Right? Yeah, it’s a journey you’re on. It’s it’s not too bad. And I listened to it every now and again. But where it is, it’s, you could hear the cogs working in my brain where now it’s a natural conversation that flows but there, it was almost like I’d kind of written the questions a week beforehand, and I was waiting for the conversation to get to that point.
Mark Podolsky [29:38]
Yeah, yeah, exactly. So we just get better in the morning when we do something. And if you’re blessed, and you already know what that is, then just do it and do it more and do it big and just figure out okay, how can I really make this a big business so that eventually I have freedom? I can really, you know, I don’t have To do that,
David Ralph [30:01]
because I now I don’t know about you more, but especially if you’ve got kids. I have three kids. Yeah. What age what age
Mark Podolsky [30:09]
1412 and 10. Now, boys, girl,
David Ralph [30:13]
I was talking to my kids today and I was saying to them, you know, I watched a video today. I don’t know if you’ve seen this and it was by a gentleman. It was purchased by a gentleman called Adam Baker called I’m fine. Thanks. Have
Mark Podolsky [30:24]
you seen this video? No, I gotta check this out. Adam Baker. Never heard of him.
David Ralph [30:28]
Yeah, he’s got a thing called man versus debt or something. And one of his mates had a nice job. He had three kids and everything was good in his life. And then one day he realised he was talking to his kids about following your passion and and going for it. And he wasn’t. And he realised that actually everything that he wanted in his life as a small child, being up on stage, being a performer being an actor, he, he just didn’t do it. So he said to his wife, I’ve got to quit my job. And I’ve got to Do something creative. And they they thought he was having a sort of midlife crisis. But he got a small team together. And they went across America to make this documentary in just three months from start to finish. And they recorded it as they go along. And they go to people that you might have heard about the good man project, Jonathan, and Pat Flynn. And all these people they interview and say to them, you know, where did it go right for you? Where did it go wrong? And literally every single person said, once I started almost being selfish and focusing in on the thing that interests me more than the thing that was expected of me, it went, right. And it’s a brilliant little video. And the guy doing it, he said, he realised that he was saying to his kids about taking, you know that the passion, but he wasn’t doing the action, and that’s why he had to do this. And I said to my kids tonight, don’t want to do that. Do I show you action? Because I feel like I do. Because I’ve created this show, and I created other platforms. And I said, Well, yeah, you do. Talk about it all the time. And I said, Yeah, but do you? Are you inspired by my words or my actions? And they couldn’t actually give me a defined answer. And I thought to myself, okay, I’m missing a trick here, with your kids with you doing that. Are they getting the entrepreneurial spirit? are they seeing that they don’t actually have to come out of university? Go and get a job in a bank and sit there being bored for nine hours a day? Do you see a creativity of their mind? Are they inspired by your actions?
Mark Podolsky [32:26]
I don’t know. Honestly, I think because I’m their dad. That they just see me as dad. Yeah. And my role is Dad, I frustrate them a lot. Right? So it’s, you know, it’s it’s not all you know, fun and games, like we got to get stuff done. Have you done your homework? Have you done your chores? And, you know, I don’t think they find me what I’m doing at this age inspiring, especially the 14 and 12 year old because they want to separate from me at this point, right. So no matter what I say they want they need to start the helping their own independence. And so what I do, and because I’m aware of this, I know this is I get guys like you to talk to my children, because they’ll listen to Uncle David. More than they’ll listen to dad. Yeah, right. Dad doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Right? He
David Ralph [33:17]
is weird, isn’t it? How are you? Yeah, leave with them every day and you want them to be inspired. But because it’s you walking around in your underwear. They’re never going to see it in the same way like,
Mark Podolsky [33:28]
yeah, they’re never gonna see in the same way. Like, I mean, I appreciate my parents now more than I ever did when I was a kid. Right? But they’re in it right now with me. So I think I need to get other people outside of myself that are experts and inspiring and have them watch videos but not a video that dad recommended. They watch a video that uncle David recommended they watch and then they’ll watch it. And then I think it’ll start coming through and all those little subtle things that I do through the day and and you know, they can Go and they can watch me. I don’t think they do at this age, because I’m their dad. But I think eventually once they become adults, those actions that will inspire them and when they come to me for advice, you know, I sure hope I’m not the dad that says play it safe. Right? But I might be because they’re my kids. I don’t I don’t think I will. But you know, you’re you don’t you want to see your kids be safe in the world?
David Ralph [34:27]
I guarantee you won’t say play it safe. But I think I did.
Mark Podolsky [34:30]
I do. I’m sure I won’t. But I could see myself, you know, because I love them. I don’t want to I don’t want to I I know how hard it is, right? Because I’ve gone through it. And, you know, I know the pain and the frustration and the hours in the massive action that it takes to really make a dent in this universe. And it’s 10 times more than they probably think. And until they live it until they experience it. There’s there’s no way that Words my actions can even show it to them, they have to do it themselves. And I can only be there to support them and encourage them and, and hopefully what I’m doing now will eventually inspire them.
David Ralph [35:10]
I think of course it will you know, when my kids went to school my son had to choose he’s, he’s we call them options over here is he the lessons you study from the ages of about 13 upwards? And he said, you know, what ones should we do? And all our friends were choosing them for their kids, you’ve got to have biology, you’ve got to have physics, you’ve got to have a science and all that. And I said, choose the ones that you think you’re going to like, because at the end of the day, when you come out is that to hustle, and you’ve got to get out there and hustle your way to whatever you’ve got. Just go and enjoy your schooling and and find out what life is afterwards. Because I want my kids to come out with a certain madness. I want them to believe the big goals that you’re talking about. I want them to watch this documentary. I’m fine. Thanks. I want your son’s your kids to watch. This is an hour and eight minutes. I want them to sit down With a diet and watch fat, and understand that life is what you make it, and I’m a great believer, Mr. Vat, the effort that you’re talking about is bad. And especially when you come from a corporate gig like I did, which was very cosy, you thought it was hard work until you started building your own business, and then it literally killed you. But I think it’s right, but it’s gonna kill you because the rewards are going to be bigger at the end. If it was easy, people would just take all your bits of crumbs or your pieces of the pie. It’s got to be hard for you to really get the dream life otherwise, it’s just, it’s gonna be tarnished, somehow. You see what I’m saying?
Mark Podolsky [36:37]
I absolutely see what you’re saying. And I even think that there’s more. I think you get more people who will support you and be behind you. If you feel big, right? You feel big. There’s gonna be people behind you because they’ll see Holy cow. This guy really went for it and they’re going to be inspired by it. Even if it doesn’t go right. It’s the people that you know, are Kind of just stuck in average, right? That that’s to my heart kind of cries out for, right?
David Ralph [37:06]
is average such a bad word? Or is it something now that we because we’ve got so many opportunities, we’ve got the internet for example, you know, I, I’m reading Branson’s book he had no Google. And it’s amazing how he managed to get anything off the ground but we could quite easily just type in how to do this in YouTube and find 400 videos telling us should we be killing the word average now with the amount of opportunities we’ve got?
Mark Podolsky [37:33]
Yeah, no, I mean, exactly. There’s no more excuses mean you can literally with a computer and smartphone, do amazing things and and make a dent in the universe like Steve Jobs say, so there’s no more excuses that oh, I don’t have the money or I don’t have the time or I don’t have the the tools I don’t have the you know, I can’t learn it like you can learn anything now online for Free. It’s unbelievable. So I think that if you’re playing small ball in your life, you’re really, you’re really doing yourself a huge disservice. And it doesn’t mean that you have to be a billionaire. That’s not what I mean by it’s not money. It’s the fact that you’re not energised, you’re not passionate, you can’t wait to do whatever you’re gonna do. And that’s not coming through in your life, just like we kind of talking about in the beginning of the podcast, is you’ve got to find that passion in even if it’s just in your job, be the best accountant, you can be right? And then you’re so good that people can’t ignore you. You can go out on your own and then you can start hiring other accountants to do all the work and now you become an entrepreneur. And now you’re free. And now you’re making money in your sleep.
David Ralph [38:49]
So So what is the absolute best thing I know we’ve talked about the thing that lights you up? Is that still the best thing is that the thing that you can do better than anyone
Mark Podolsky [39:00]
I don’t know, the very best thing, what can I do better than anyone? Um, I don’t think I don’t think there’s the best thing for me. I think I’d like my ego to think that, you know, I’m, I’m good. But honestly, there’s not one person in this world they couldn’t do what I’m doing, and probably do it better than me if if trained and properly motivated. So as much as I’d like to think I’m the best at something. I don’t think that’s a that’s been an accurate statement. I mean, I mean, do you think you’re the best at something?
David Ralph [39:32]
Yeah, I do. Actually, there’s one thing that I think is a natural talent for me. And it is building connections with people very, very quickly. So we feel like we’re friends. And it’s something that I’ve developed over years and years and years, and it pays big dividends with these conversations, because literally, we start recording two minutes after we first contact and we go into conversations that you wouldn’t get with your closest friends. And I think that is something that naturally I can do. battement anyone else when I choose to? And more often than not, I don’t choose to in the natural world. But when I’m doing this, I turn it on and I think that’s a super talent.
Mark Podolsky [40:09]
That is a super that’s like a superpower. Yeah, I think I think my superpower might be. It’s not going to come over the air. But if you met me in person, I think my superpower might be that you feel like you’re the only person in the room. Yeah, me. Like you feel like the most important person at that time that I can give you my undivided attention and kind of bask in that.
David Ralph [40:34]
I think that is a huge quality. I was listening to a English chat show host talking about Tom Cruise, who obviously is a huge star around the world. And he was saying how he expected Tom Cruise to have a huge ego. And when he came on his show, he couldn’t be nicer. And Tom Cruise went around to everyone and said, you know, the, the receptionist and the Secretary and all the people behind the scenes, you know, how are you and You know, what’s your name? And when he was talking to them, it was like he, everyone else disappeared. He was just laser focused in on them. And three years later, he came back on the show. And he remembered all the names as he went round, which that is such a simple thing. But that is hugely impressive, isn’t it, but somebody like him, can do what you’re doing as well. And just laser focus in on that person without the distractions. I think that’s a big talent.
Mark Podolsky [41:24]
That’s Yeah, that’s amazing. Bill Clinton was said to have that talent as well. I’m sure he still does. Yeah, I mean, it’s, it’s, you know, but like you I don’t turn on all the time. But when I do, it’s, it can be kind of special.
David Ralph [41:40]
Well, let’s play the words of somebody who was very special, and he has left a legacy for all of us. To the point that you’ve mentioned him already on the show. This is Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs [41:50]
Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college, but it was very, very clear, looking backwards. 10 years later, again, You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.
David Ralph [42:25]
Now on either kind of words, but we should play to your sons and my kids. Are they the kind of words that the kids will get somehow?
Mark Podolsky [42:33]
Absolutely. Boy, is that powerful. I’ve heard that before and it gives me chills just hearing it again.
David Ralph [42:40]
I hear it every single day. And sometimes I listen to it totally. And sometimes I’m doing other things at the same time. But it never loses its power of choice. You know, you don’t know what’s going to happen. But unless you take action, nothing’s going to happen. So you’ve got choices and whether it’s a right decision. Wrong, it joins up, the dots will join up, can you see that your life has joined up?
Mark Podolsky [43:06]
You know, it’s so funny is I had this conversation just the other day. And they, you know, asked me about kind of, you know, connecting those dots in my past and in my history. And what’s interesting is that I’m one of those people that that, you know, I in the present moment, or I’m thinking about the future, I rarely think about the past. And I think there’s a lot of value in going back especially this time here when people are doing New Year’s resolutions. And in connecting those dots.
David Ralph [43:42]
I was speaking to a guy who probably about 200 episodes ago, and he was saying about what he does is on a bi yearly basis, he will lock himself in a hotel room and he will plot that year and he will jot everything down the good thing The bad things. And he says and he keeps it and then five years later, he will look back on that. And he will find the things that he marked as a black dot, because it was bad in his life actually turns out to be a white dot because it’s led him off into a way that he couldn’t have perceived if he was on that, that trajectory trajectory.
Mark Podolsky [44:18]
Isn’t that interesting? Yeah, I believe it. I absolutely believe it. And some of my biggest failures in business. When I look back at them, they were the biggest blessings. And they led me into a different path in a different way. That really catapulted me to the next level. People I didn’t like At first, I they tend to be like my best friends. And so, um, it’s very interesting how that how that kind of plays out. So I use a programme called, I done this calm, and so every night before I go to bed, I email myself what I got done for that day. And then what is interesting about that programme is it reminds you what you might have done two weeks ago. It’s kind of random But it does kind of help you connect the dots. And so I do it in that way I’ll do a brain dump before I hit the pillow. But typically, if you’re just like we’re talking now, asking me to connect the dots my life, I don’t think about that often.
David Ralph [45:16]
So if you look back over your life, is there a moment when Mark Podolski become who he was? Was it that first deal you did? Or was that several dots forward?
Mark Podolsky [45:29]
Boy, that’s a tough question. I think it was a process of you know, a little a little success here. A little success there. And then you know, feeling uncomfortable in going a little bit bigger, slowly, slowly, slowly, till I felt like I had that point where like, okay, screw it. Like, give me example. It took me 18 months. To quit my full time job as an investment banker, before I went on my own inland, and that was in 2001. So I’ve been doing this. I’ve been on my own now for 15 years. And I remember that day when I quit, and I still was kind of pulled towards. I remember even asking my boss said, You know, I could still come in and consult maybe an hour a week and keep my benefits. And he was like, absolutely not. You know, so there was there was that little bit of poor like, I don’t want to leave the nest of. But um, yeah, I mean, I think that it was a it was a process and an evolution of just a little success, a little failure, though success, and just, you know, having that leap of faith, that things are gonna turn out,
David Ralph [46:48]
and are you totally unemployable. Now, Mark?
Mark Podolsky [46:52]
Well, I think I am unemployable in a way. It’s been 15 years and I don’t think that I would ever want to work for anybody except myself. And I couldn’t imagine
having a boss, honestly. So yeah, I am unemployable.
David Ralph [47:08]
Yeah, I think I am as well. Now, I think the fact that it’s even tiny little things, it’s the fact that I can go off to the movies in the afternoon if I want to, I just get up and I do my work early so that I can free myself up. It’s just those kind of little things that don’t cost a lot of money. But when you go into an office, and you’ve got to be there a clock and you got to leave at five o’clock, and there’s a certain amount of killing time during the day. I just couldn’t do it anymore.
Mark Podolsky [47:33]
Yeah, no, I work three days a week in my business. The rest of the time, Mondays and Fridays. I work on my business, you can’t get me on the phone. I don’t do interviews. I just kind of think and I meditate and, and I think about Okay, how are we gonna break this? And, you know, God help you on a Monday or Friday. I’ve after I’ve had coffee, you get a call from me. Because you know, it’s gonna be a brainstorming call and I’m thinking about Okay, let’s do this. And Sometimes it’s it’s completely wild. And they’re like, it’s it’s very rare that someone will say no, like, okay, let’s just try it. Right. And we’re having fun in the business.
David Ralph [48:09]
And so it was so important for you to break it, but not just build onto it.
Mark Podolsky [48:15]
Or do you have to break it constantly? Because otherwise you’re, you’re just stat, you’re stagnant. You’re not growing. So, you know, if you’re, if you own a pizza parlour, right, you’ve got one pizza parlour, it’s going very well. And you think, Okay, well, how do I get the two pizza parlours? That’s breaking your system? That’s stretching your system, you’ve got to break something, right?
David Ralph [48:35]
Isn’t that building upon your system now?
Mark Podolsky [48:38]
It could be but at some point, something’s gonna break. So I like call it breaking it. It could be building it. But at some point, you know, your systems get stretched in something breaks.
David Ralph [48:51]
So but just before we bring you to the end of the show, and we send you back in time to have a one on one with your younger self, would you go back and change anything in your life? Has it been a master plan or has it been stumbles and falls but has led you to a very nice place?
Mark Podolsky [49:06]
stumbles and falls for sure. And I remember thinking, I after college, I spent six months backpacking through Australia, and my visa is only for six months and I had an opportunity to take people out on the Great Barrier Reef for and live on this boat and go to hostels and and meet people from all over the world and do something which I absolutely loved, which was snorkelling and scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef. And you know what I did, David, you tell us, I went home, because I was scared that, you know, I was wasting my life. And I thought, Oh, it’s time to get a job. Right. My best friend I was travelling with was going home, and I didn’t stay. And to this day, I regret it.
David Ralph [49:58]
Yeah, but surely. I There’s things in my life, but I look back and I always say, I don’t regret anything. Well, maybe a couple of girlfriends I regret. But everything else I’ve ever done that was just part of the rich tapestry, wasn’t it? You know, you couldn’t have had that drive. Unless you had felt that you’d fallen short. Somehow, I’m a great believer that no experience is wasted. So there should be no regret in life. It was all part of you learning.
Mark Podolsky [50:26]
Well, I, I’m gonna adopt that perspective, because it still kind of haunts me that you know, what could have been if I had stayed in those experiences that I could have encountered. Now, that being said, Yeah, what I might not have met my wife. If I if I didn’t come back.
David Ralph [50:42]
Yeah. And you wouldn’t have been here. And you could have got bitten by a shark. And you know, it could have been dreadful commit.
Mark Podolsky [50:49]
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So I agree. You know, I agree intellectually, I think emotionally, I need to get to a certain point with it.
David Ralph [50:57]
I think you need to let it go. Be just let it go, let it go wake up tomorrow morning and go. That’s the last time I ever think about that. Because it’s just not worth it. It really isn’t. And we we have relationships that we think, oh, we could have done that better. We have situations or could have done that better. But at the end of the day, you do your best, don’t you, you never go into a situation and thing. I’m going to deliberately try to screw this up. It’s just how life lays its carbs down.
Mark Podolsky [51:26]
Exactly. I do my best every single day. I think most people are doing the best that they can with the tools they have. And I think if you’re listening to this podcast, you’re you’re getting you know, more tools, and it’s just gonna help you more.
David Ralph [51:43]
Absolutely. Wow, this is the end of the show. Now, this is the part of when we send you back in time to have a one on one with your younger self. And if you could go back in time and speak to the young mark, what age would you choose and what advice would you give? Well, we’re gonna find out because I’m going to play the theme tune and when it fades, you’re up. This is sermon on the mic
Unknown Speaker [52:10]
with the best bit of the show.
Mark Podolsky [52:26]
Hey young mark, it’s older mark, and you are 18 years old. And here just about ready to enter college and you’re, you’re scared that you’re in, you’re insecure and you’re self conscious. And I’m here to tell you that you need to dream bigger than what you’re dreaming and you need to set goals. Bigger scarier than what you’ve set. And if you’re going to fail, fail big. And if you’re going to succeed, succeed big and do everything in your life with great passion, with great joy. And ultimately, the most important thing in life isn’t going to be business or success or experiences. It’s going to be the quality of the relationships you have with other people. And just stay focused and stay present with that. And it will all work out.
David Ralph [53:39]
Mark what’s the number one best way that our audience can connect with you sir?
Mark Podolsky [53:44]
I would say the land geek comm www dot the land geek.com and everyone in your audience if if they email me and say Hey, I heard you on the you know David Ralph, Join Up Dots podcast show We’ll give them a free gift, a $97 value of the passive income launch kit. And we’ll get that all set up for him.
David Ralph [54:11]
Right very generous indeed. Man, thank you so much for spending time with us today joining up those dots and please come back again when you have more dots to join up cuz I do believe that but joining up the dots and connecting our paths is the best way to build our futures. Mark Podolski. Thank you so much,
Mark Podolsky [54:27]
David, Ralph, I appreciate it. Thank you.
David Ralph [54:32]
Mark Podolski, a man who quite openly said, he found he’s been by stumbles and falls trials and tribulations, but now he loves the vision and he’s getting closer to that, that day of sexiness not with the wife, but the sexiness that he only does the things that he really wants to do. And believe me, everyone, you can do that. You can absolutely do that. And at Join Up Dots, we’re here to help you. You shouldn’t be struggling you should be surrounding yourself with the right People that can take you places. If you want help to sort of move on in your own personal life, then just drop us a line or go over to Join Up Dots and look at get the dream. Look at the testimonials with the other group members. I don’t want to flog it but I’m passionate about we’re here to start things off for you. And the guys already in the group in the community. They are rocking and rolling. And they’re covering so much mileage in their own personal lives because of the support of others. You don’t have to do it on your own. As Mark has done, he surrounded himself with the right people who buy into his vision. And you can do exactly the same. Thank you so much for listening. This is Join Up Dots. This was David Ralph. And I will see you again soon. Cheers. Bye bye.
Outro [55:45]
David doesn’t want you to become a faded version of the brilliant self you or wants to become. So he’s put together an amazing guide for you called the eight pieces of advice that every successful entrepreneur practices, including the two that changed his life. Hello To Join Up dots.com to download this amazing guide for free and we’ll see you tomorrow on Join Up Dots.
