How The Gentlemen’s Circle Is Redefining Resilient Leadership Through Accountability, Service, and Connection

Leading people well is tough, even in the best of times. But what do we do when it gets really, really tough? How do we, as leaders, respond to adversity in a healthy and productive way? How can we continue to succeed in business and in life through the storms of leading well? You know, when dangerous storms begin to brew over the horizon, most herd animals and even humans have a tendency to take cover or move away from the storm. But not the buffalo. The buffalo, instead of running for cover, will gather its herd, take a few last bites of whatever food is out there, and head directly through the store. As leaders, we have to do the same thing. We're all faced with different storms that come with leading well. Modern day leaders face leadership storms that can cripple an individual, a team, or an entire organization. Our guests are resilient leaders, some of the best resilient leaders our country has to offer. They'll walk us through how they actually got through these storms and how they became better on the other side. So join us on the Through the Storm podcast. Well, good afternoon, good evening, good morning, whatever whatever time of day it is. Thank you so much for joining us on the Through the Storm podcast. We are live and in person. Yes sir. Mark Rodriguez. Yes sir. Fellow marine. Man, love this guy. I love his brother. Serial entrepreneur to the max. Like I was trying to get his bio, and I'm like, man, I'm just gonna let you do it, because all I know is that you made my life miserable in Iraq. You didn't it miserable. You didn't make it miserable, we had a good time. He was just telling me some stories that made my life miserable now that I didn't know what happened in Iraq. Good times. We'll get into all that. But Mark, man, thank you for coming. Yeah, I appreciate for having me. Thank you so much. Yeah, and as you can see, we're in a different location again. Beautiful backdrop of Dallas, and we're here, Through the Storm podcast is all about resilient leaders. We talk to leaders who've been through this stuff and are continuing to go through this stuff and are still keeping their head above water and thriving. So that's the point of the podcast, and Mark, you're one of those people. You are a leader who's been through this stuff and continues to go through this stuff and is still thriving, still moving forward. Yes, sir. And, so again, man, this is an honor, we're gonna have a good time. Yes. But first, you brought me here for a reason. Yes. The Gentleman's Circle. There you go, yeah. So I want you to tell me about the Gentleman's because it's brand new. It is, it's brand So, hey, you get the name wrong this time, you ain't gonna get it wrong again, trust me, it was brand new, but we're good, like, Gentleman's Circle is, it's a beautiful thing, man. To be honest with you, a long time ago I wrote down a bunch of my friends' names on a piece of paper. And I just kept writing, like, my friends' names and their emails and just wrote them all down. I'm talking about my guy friends, right? All my guy friends. And I got up to like, I think it was like seventy. I was like, man, I know a lot of people. Yep. You know, and this had nothing to do with business. It just had just my friends, people that I knew or people that I, you know, had relationships with or whatever. And I said, know, I need to build something where we all come together like once a year, you know? And at that time I thought it was going to be something like a, you know, a get together, hey, like a destination type thing, know, hey, we're all going to Cabo, we're all going to Vegas or whatever the case may be. As time went on, I realized that there was more and I've gone to so many conferences, so many, you know, business conferences, things of that nature. And I realized that I was like, man, I can really educate a lot of people in so many different facets of, you know, anything really, of any industry, but also personally. So, it was something that I just kept thinking about and thinking about. And finally I said, I pulled the plug and I said, you know what, let's do it. Gentlemen's circle is, is what we, we're going to establish here. You know, this is our first annual event. So listen, I want to tell you, because this is, this is interesting. I did no promotion, no marketing prior to July of, you know, couple months ago. Right? So there was nothing established. There was nothing at all established. Right? It was just me thinking this was an idea. And I said, let's do a big event. Yeah. That's the inaugural thing. So there's never there's never been a community, a network thing, nothing. It's just been, let's just do it. Yeah. And so here we are today and, you know, we've got over, yeah, I think between fifty or sixty people showing up, which is great, you know, in my mind, would have been happy if ten showed up. Oh yeah. But it was the fact that I was able to do that, and then I've got people like yourself that's gonna be speaking on stage to all of these, you know, individuals that are coming and it's just, yeah, I couldn't be more excited. Well, dude, cool thing though, what struck me when we first started having conversations about the gentleman's circle is that like, hey, you know a lot of people, I know a lot of people. These sixty people know a lot of people. That's a lot of people. Exactly. So why don't we start talking and sharpening each other and start growing together and start really building a community of men that do hard stuff together and can call each other out on our stuff, hold each other accountable, just build that kind of community. So when you said that, that was one of the things that captured me, is like, let's just blend our communities and start doing this thing together, because we know a lot of pretty badass people. That's the thing, it's like the people that I know that are great don't know the people that I know that are great. And that's what I came up with, I was like, hey, you know what, let's bring all of these people together because I've got doctor Travis Hearn who doesn't know Alex Simon. But Alex Simon is one of the best MCs in the conference world, today, you know, and I've seen him in multi I mean, this guy is, has emceed for some really big names and some really big conferences. And the fact that now I get to introduce him, he's a brother of mine. That's what I call him to a brother of mine over here. And you guys now have a connection who knows what could happen from that point. There's a lot of opportunities that could, and if I could be that middle person, so be it. That is the one main priority that I wanted to have with this event. But secondly, and I'll speak I'll speak from the heart on this one. You know, I feel that in this day and age, there's a lot of misunderstanding, and there's a lot of, neglect on on men being men. And that's not the alpha stuff, I wanna make sure we're clear on this. It's not like the super alpha, I'm better than you and all this stuff. That's coming from a former Marine Corps drill instructor. Absolutely, I am a, know, can give me all that. It's not about the competition, it's not about all that stuff. What it's about is, is just being a better man, being a better leader in all aspects of your life. So, whether it's, you know, your family, being a, you know, I meet men who are okay. And I'm sorry, this is my opinion, but I meet men that are okay with like not being financially responsible for their households. And I'm like, look, my wife makes great money. My wife is a retired Marine. My wife, you know, is an HR director. She's got two master's degrees working on her doctorate. So she ain't, you know, some, you know, somebody that just sits at home and waits for me to bring home the bacon. But if the financial standpoint of my household is in disarray, there's only one person responsible. Yep. That's me. That's at the end of the day. And I see like little things like that where leaders, you know, where men are not being leaders of their households. Men are not being leaders in general. I'll give you another example. I can go on and on on this one, So I'll give you another example. May, twenty twenty three, I'm in my house. I lived on a corner house in California. Big accident. Right? Car came through a a a a t section and t boned a car and split in half. Both people ejected from the vehicle. The passenger, the wife hits a wall, dies immediately. She dies instantly. The guy gets out the, ejects out the vehicles in the middle of the street. Okay. Now, horrific, horrific thing. I heard the boom. I came out my backyard. I see the mushroom cloud go up. Took off running. Yeah. Like, just took off running, went to the accident. Right? Instincts. Yeah. Instantly, you know, got there. My wife had followed me, right? So she's running. And we get there and I'm like, hey. Stop traffic. Make sure traffic is stopped. Just go ahead and stop traffic. And then there was people, of course, watching, and there were only two guys. Two guys, me and another guy that went to the guy that was in the middle of the street to see if he was okay and see if we could and now he was out, right? Completely out. Yeah. But we started administering CPR, right? So we're trading on, you know, doing all the things. My wife's stopping traffic, Couple other people started stopping traffic and everything like that. I look off to the side and there's a bunch of men That's it's going, man. Yeah. With their freaking phones. Yeah. Videoing. Yeah. And that right there is one of the reasons why I built the gentleman's circle, because there needs to be an understanding like, you know, as men, we're warriors, as men, and you don't have to be the strongest person in the world, you don't have to be none of that. Yeah. Right? It's not about that. It's just about doing the right thing for the right reasons at the right times. Yeah. Right? And as men, we should do that. Yeah. You know, could everybody administer CPR? No. But could have been there more help and more things, but you see people just like not even willing to help, not even willing. And that's the type of the stuff that I really wanna put across to the men in my community, like, let's grow this. Let's continue to educate young men on what it means to be a man, what it means to be a leader. You know? And that's just, that's why I'm so passionate about it. And you can tell, dude, like the way you come across and it's insanely important, I have three boys. Yeah. I'm trying to build up future leaders of this country, it's just when I see the same thing, so question to you, and this could be, this is all off script by the way. Yeah, this is good, this conversation. Is why, why are men, why you think Well, those people have sinned beside me. I think at the end of the day, what we try to do is we try to, you know, it's the leniency thing, I'll scale this back to parenting, okay. As we have grown in decades, let's just be real here, right? Parents are not allowed to spank their kids like they was back in the I I I was born in the seventies, by the way. So, It made it look like It made it look like it, but yes, I was. And I mean, some of the butt kickings I used to get from my father was, you know, like, I even my mother, you know, I was afraid of my mother just as much as my father. But I'll never the words, wait till your father gets home, still still makes me kinda, know what I mean? And I love my father to death. Yeah. But there was a discipline factor that was there where there was a standard that was set. And This is the standard, and we're not gonna sway. This is the standard. And I think that as time has gone on through the world, those standards have gotten, you know, muddled and they've gotten kind of, you know, there's there's a lot of different types of standards and and and expectations now that have been too lenient. And as you get too lenient, here's the thing. When you get too lenient, it's very hard to pick it back up to be strict again. You can't you can't. Yeah. And you might lose some folks, you know, through this leniency, and I think that that's that's one of the reasons why we're at where we're at today. Yeah. I have twenty nine, twenty seven, twenty six, and twenty one. Those are my kids. Two boys and two girls. Okay, and two grandkids, right? Five and four. And here's a standard as speak of. My kids know not to curse around me. Do I curse? Absolutely. But they don't curse at me when they're talking to me because we're not friends. I am your father and you are my child. That's a standard, but they respect me. And then I respect them. Yeah. So I respect the fact that they're adults, My son is married. He's been in the air force for eight years. He's deploying here soon. And he's never once asked me for money, never once. You know? It has beautiful lifestyle And the fact is, is that he's always told me, he said, why am I gonna ask you for money when I'm a man who should be taking care of my household. I made a decision to get married. I made a decision to have children. So I will stand by the decisions and be responsible for my decision making. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. That's a standard. It is a standard. So I think that that's, to answer your question in long form, that's why the gentleman circle exists, because I think people have lost their way with all the leniency that's been out in the world, you know? Social media obviously doesn't make anything better. Yeah. I mean, I am a fan of social media. Don't get it wrong. It's a tool. It's It's a resource. Yeah. We wouldn't be doing this if social media didn't exist. So, but I believe that, everything that people put out on social media, the person has a responsibility to dictate whether it's right or wrong. Yeah. Right on the opposite side watching. Yeah. And there's a lot of people who are very good at what they sell and it, it sells that to certain folks and then they realize that it's not actually good for them in the real world. Oh yeah. Yeah, it's good on social media. Yeah. But ain't good in the real world. No, and that's, yeah, and some of the stuff on social media you can see, it's exactly what you said, but I like, I want you to gear that towards, so gear that towards entrepreneur. You listed off all the things that you're running right now as a serial entrepreneur, just like me. How are you seeing other entrepreneurs? What are they struggling Like this, this, I mean, it's something that you and I, like, it's, you were mostly gas, no break. Yeah, you're pulling the cords right There we go. Yeah, well, that's why we're here, dude. Entrepreneurs, like you and me, either, we're cut, there's something different about Marines that start businesses. There is, there is. But what are you seeing and what's, what's, what's going on with entrepreneurs these days? Okay. Number one, they don't embrace technology. Okay. Okay. And what I mean by embracing technology is you need to, you need to be a fan of it because it's the way we're going. Yeah. And you need to embrace it because it ain't going away. Oh, yeah. AI, having software technology, CRM systems, that's the way of the world. And if you're not embracing that, then you're going to be far behind. And there's a lot of people I've seen that are like, what's a CRM? And you're like, you're an entrepreneur and you don't even know that? Wow. And it's like, well, I don't need that. Yes, you do. Yeah. You know? And so I think embracing technology would be the the the one thing. The second thing is is mindset. It's honestly mindset. Dude, come on. You know, you know me, fit foe is my mentality. Yep. Figure it the f out, you know, at all times. Yeah. There's a solution to every problem. Yeah. Problems are gonna come every day. I always sing the song every day. There's something new because that's what keeps me Right? Because at the end of the day, every day, there's something new. Every day as an entrepreneur, every day. Right? And how you get through it, I came in here flustered today, not flustered, but frustrated, I came in here frustrated, but I'm good now. Yeah. Right? My day will move on. Yeah. But I I I That's because you came on the Through the Storm podcast. I did. I Hey, I like that plug, right? But I did. I I I was frustrated with a certain something that happened prior to me even walking up here. And then but the thing is is that there's people that will sit in that and soak in it. Yep. And they they'll soak in it for days. Yeah. Meanwhile, what they don't understand is there's a the lack of productivity as they're soaking in that problem. Where me, I'm like, all right, it's over with, let's move on. Yeah. You know, let's, what's the solution? Yep. Okay. Got the solution in place. Let's move on. Yep. And then it's behind me. Like, now, to be honest, until you said something, I even I wasn't even thinking about it anymore. Because I was too busy worried about this and making sure everything was good. So I think that people wallow in sorrow Yes. Too much. They don't like to figure the f out when the time comes, and that's an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur, you gotta constantly be fitful. Yeah. Constantly. Constantly. The third thing I would say is instant success. Unpack that. Listen. People don't wanna put in the work. Oh, there you go. That's where I was gonna go. They want instant success. Yep. They're like, but wait a minute, I build a business. I got my LLC. I got my business cards. And they look at the door. Yeah. Where are the customers at? How come they're not coming in? They should be coming in. It's like, well, you haven't actually done any marketing, buddy. Yeah. You know? But I built a business, and so therefore they should be coming in. And you're like no no no, you gotta do the work, You know, and you know, nobody cares about you. Yes, so Nobody cares about me. Listen, I'm a funny guy, I'm a cool guy, all that stuff, but nobody cares about me. What they care about is the value I could provide. Exactly, exactly, and I think entrepreneurs get caught up in this, I created this thing that I really love. Why aren't people why doesn't everybody else love it? I love this thing, and then they don't shift, they don't pivot, they get stuck in the mindset of like, okay, what's the market doing? What value do you provide? So like right now, let's be honest, gentlemen circle, I built it. There's a lot of people who are my friends, right? Who are not coming. Didn't even have to make an attempt to come. You know, they got the messages. They got all that stuff. And I mean, ago, but yet couldn't make it happen. Yeah. Right? And so are you gonna be supported by your friends? Yeah. Not all the time. No. You know, but I also know the value I can provide. So I could have stopped and said, no, I'm not going to do the gentleman circle now because my friends are not coming. Yeah. No, because there's a lot of people that are like right now are like, man, I cannot wait for this weekend. Like, you know, and then to have you have Todd Durkin, have Kale Owen, have, you know, Seneca Alma and having Marvin Gilmore, having Joshua Arment, having Alex Simon, I mean, these guys that all of you that are just well established, just great men to be able to grace the stage, that's value, That's value. Well. You know what I'm saying? So, yeah, a lot of my friends are not coming, but it's okay. It is, I think entrepreneurs take it too personal as well. Like you can't take that personal. Stay friends. Yeah. Like, I've got into arguments with you know, coworkers or other business owners or whatever. I never take it person. I never go and I'm like, I hate you now. Like, I'm like, dude, we just didn't, we didn't agree. It's okay. Let's, let's move on. But there's people that will wallow in their shoulder. So I say it's the success. So those are the things, embracing technology. Embracing technology, having a fitful mindset. Yep. And then the instant success problem. Yeah. Where it's like, it's just happened. Yeah. People don't realize that entrepreneurs, business owners actually don't really make the money they need to make and take off for like eight to ten years. You know, how long you've been in the game? One? Yeah. Ninety percent of businesses fail the first year. Ninety percent. And you go to like all these folks. I mean, think about, you know, Alex Hermosy, who's obviously done phenomenal, you know, over the years. I mean, that dude was broke. Yeah. He was sitting at his at his in laws, table of their, I think their grandkids table, I think, trying to figure out how he was gonna pay his bills. Yeah. You know, And and he just but he didn't stop. Yeah. He's he fit fold. Yeah. And look at him now. Yeah. You know, so I mean, it's, I think that's the, to answer your question, Noah. Yeah, let's go to the Marine Corps mindset. Let's do it. Like, you run many, many things. Yep. Many businesses. You do it well. How did your time in the morning say I do it well. I wouldn't say I'd it well. Wouldn't say you do it. Why not? I nah. Because, and maybe I'm my own critic. Yeah. Everybody's their own worst critic. Yeah. I always feel I could do better. Yeah. You know? But I would say that I see higher level individuals and I'm I am actually chasing what they have. Right? Take, for instance, this place. You know? I mean, this is phenomenal. Yeah. And I walked in, I seen this and my wheels already started turning because you're like, Okay. How could I potentially get to a level like this? You know, because this is phenomenal. Yeah. So but I tell you the one place that I am good at. And this is this is the plot that I will toot my own horn, so to speak, toot toot Is, I find people who don't even realize they're talented. And I show them that they're talented. That's Before you go on, the second I walked into your gym I don't know, was that six months ago? Yeah. Walked in a self made training facility and you introduced me, you introduced me to the people first Yes. That were that that were working there. Yes. And you told their story. Yes. You knew their story. Start to finish. Start to finish. And that is a gift that you have. I mean, I'm a little tutor horn for you to go into that. That's it, just like what we were about to dive into, man. Like you knew everybody in their store, whether they were a client or they're a trainer. You knew their story. You knew who they were. Because I it's, look man, money's gonna come. Yeah. You know, money will come with, in all aspects. And, and when you figure that out, right, because some people are chasing the dollar. They that's what they want. They want the dollar. And and and I have no, I'm not talking about them or bad or any negativity towards that. That's people's know, all of the agendas. I don't judge people on that. But I will say for me, I know that if you take care of people, people will take care of you. If you take care of people long enough, the money will come. Yeah. You know, if you're an entrepreneur or business owner, but the people come first. Yeah. You know, and if you don't know the people, if you don't engage with the people. Then the next, you know, fresh, shiny thing or person will come along and those people will leave, you know, because they don't have that connection with you. Yeah. And then people need reassurance. Yeah. You know, so when you have team members, they, they got to know the WIFM. Yeah. What's in it for me? You know, what's in it for me? What do I get out of this? Because that's what they want to know. If I work for you, if I bust my rear end for you, what's in it for me? Yeah. You know, and regardless of like, they may not say it out loud, but you have to understand that it's internally in them. What's in it for me? Yeah. What do I get out of this? Yeah. So if you can explain that and then continue to showcase that, I mean, people well, they'll bust their rear end. They'll go to the stars with you. Absolutely. You know? And you, in the last podcast we did, so this is the second podcast we've done together. Yeah. Last podcast we did, you talked about how that mindset in the Marine Corps, when you brought that mindset into the Marine Corps, when you brought the opposite mindset from the Marine Corps into the business, it didn't work out too well. New, new, new, new. So how has that shifted, And let's just remind, like how has that shifted, that Marine Corps mindset? Because for those of who don't know, Mark and I were in Iraq together, two thousand and eight, two thousand and nine. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Yeah. We'll talk about all that later. Am I allowed to curse? You curse away. Okay, I was a complete dick. Keep it I'll unpack that for I just keep it real. I mean, that that, you know, I learned a lot from that tour. Yeah. And I learned a lot from that unit. Yeah. I was still growing as a leader. Yeah. You know, but I was a I was a complete asshole to everybody, you know, and and I learned that that's not that's not a good way to lead. Yeah. You know, now there's a time and place. Oh, yeah. Because I don't I don't take that away. There's a time and place. I feel like there's a also, understanding and adjusting your leadership to the needs, excuse me, the needs of the people, but then also adjusting to what the mission is As well. You can't have one way of leadership. There has to be a flexibility in your leadership, not a leniency Yeah. But a flexibility for the situations that are there. Now let me give you an example. You know, in Iraq, I was just I was mean. Just mean as hell, and I'm sure you remember. You know, I was mean to and and not a mean, like, insulting or stuff like that. Me, like, I I was very adamant about enforcing rules and regulations. And I enforced them, and I enforced them hard. Yes. And I made sure that you knew that was the wrong thing for you to do ever in your life was to At the very moment. Moment, you're like, I done fucked up. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's that's I mean and I was I was that guy. Yeah. And here's the thing, and this is what I learned from it. When I left LAR and I went on, all those marines wanted nothing to do with me. They didn't call me. They didn't Facebook friend me. Yeah. They didn't nothing. They and still to this day, the marines in my platoon, oh, they they I don't keep in touch with I only keep in touch with one out of them. Only one. Yeah. And that's because he was like, the ass chewing you gave me changed my whole life. Yeah. That was Van Kassler, if you remember. I do. I do. I still keep in touch with him to this day. But Vancaster will tell the story that he told my corporal, he was a Lance corporal, he told corporal Gersom to go fuck himself. And then corporal Grissom came and got me SA staffs aren't Lance Culper VanCastle just told me to go fuck myself. And I said, really? I got up out of my rack and I went over there and he was sitting there. And as soon as I walked in, I said, you said what? And he was like and I said, no. Come here. Come here real quick. And I dragged him into a ISO container, and I gave him wall to wall counseling. Yeah. Wall to wall. Yes. Yes. And, he's like, that day changed my whole life, you know? And it was it was crazy because, he was only eighteen, nineteen nineteen years old, you know, at the time. Damn young kids. And, yeah. And I mean, now, I mean, think about it, he's in his thirties. Man, are we that old? Yeah. We are. Damn. We are. And I actually turned thirty in Iraq. I had my dirty thirty birthday in Iraq in the middle of South Indore. I turned thirty years old. So I'm forty seven here in two months. So that was seventeen years ago. Yeah. That's crazy, man. Yeah. That's crazy. I turned, So, but I, what I'm getting at is that add That type of leadership doesn't work. You know, it doesn't work. And so when you get out into this world Yeah. Yeah, ain't nobody tolerated all that. And not only that, you'd probably go to jail. You'd something like that, so, you know, yeah. You'd never not get into corporate jobs. Yeah, yeah. So I had to learn quick. I had an altercation, one altercation, that's all it took, was one altercation when I was a trainer with another trainer in the facility in Temecula. And I didn't even, I didn't even do anything but raise my voice. But just me raising my voice and the whole gym stopped because you know how loud I am. Oh, yeah. And that gym stopped and everybody was like And it was, I was like, oh man, I'm going get in trouble for this one. So, and sure enough, got, you know, hey, you're going to do that again, you're going to, you're going to have to go. And I was like, okay, I can't do that anymore. I'm going to have to keep my, keep it cool. Yeah. And believe it or not, I've learned a lot. So over years, I'm very patient when it comes to, you know, corrections now. And I don't let people's attitudes get to me anymore because they used to get to me. I don't let that get to me anymore where I'm just like, you know what? We just don't align. Yeah. And it's fine. Yeah. And move on. I love that. So yeah. Yeah, man. So we're gonna wrap up. Is it that time already? Dude, it's that time. We could keep going. Could keep No, man, I had more. Was like But we got more, we still got more. So this part's yours. Okay, ahead. I want you to tell people about what you got going on. Okay. Where they can find you and tell them like the gentleman circle, How do they get involved? What's next? Okay. So do that. Okay. So you can find me in many areas, LinkedIn, obviously, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Just Rod Enterprises, you can J U S T R O D and then enterprises. You can also check out the Gentleman's Circle as well. We have our own website and we also do have the Instagram so you can see what updates. So the next thing for the gentlemen circle is what I want to do is I want to start building chapters. So chapters in different cities, where somebody would be the lead, take over the chapter and build the networking community in those cities, and then hosting a full annual event where everybody comes to one spot. That's what I would love to do. We have a school community. So there's a S K O O L, that school community. We have that, as well for the gentlemen circle where everybody can network together. The big thing is, is that you build connections and you're able to, if you need something, you can just get on the school network and say, hey, fellas. I'm looking for this. So I I wanted to know whose opinion on this. And and then instantly, you're gonna get, you know, request or, know, you know, answers, confirmations, all that good stuff. That's what's next. Obviously Manifest Fitness Institute is one of my businesses. So that's the one that I'm really trying to, take off this year, I'm going to take off this year. And then, you know, all the other businesses as well, Rosen Connect, Exec Wellness, Better Way Maintenance, so. Well, we talked about knowing a CRM, you got your own CRM too. I do, yeah. What you build? So I own my own company, my own marketing system. Yeah. You know, and, I white labeled, go high levels, software. And so we, we, we have that. So if you don't have a CRM, Rosen Connect, ROSA, it's just right here. You can go ahead and, check us out. And, yeah, my team will take care of you, but you know, vertical integration, Finding all the pieces and instead of, getting third party vendors, just do it yourself. Okay, last thing. Give the people three takeaways for step, this is be specific. Okay. Stepping into an entrepreneurial journey. Three takeaways. What do you want people to know about stepping in to becoming an entrepreneur? Okay, the three things. Number one, get you a mentor. I love that. Yeah. That's the first thing above all else. Yep. Find you a mentor. Yep. How do you find a mentor? Go to fit, excuse me, not fitness, business conferences. Start reading books, start looking at your listening to podcasts, listening to podcasts, right? Listen to podcasts. Start doing all of those things. That's the, that's the first thing. Find your mentor. Find you somebody that, and even if they're not the mentor that you actually have them leading you, one on one, you just, you know, it's somebody like Ed Mylett, for instance, I mean, I listen to his podcast and I don't know why, but his podcast always hit me right when it needs to hit me at a certain time. And I I get a lot of information education from him. So he's a mentor of mine without even knowing he's a mentor of mine. And believe it or not, so Cale Owen is gonna be one of the speakers. I would consider him one of my mentors. Now he's gonna tell you I'm not his mentor. Yeah. Right? So Kale and Steve, Steve Kopshaw, they're both coming to an event. Now Kale's speaking, Steve's an actual attendee. I would consider these two my business mentors. Yeah. And they're like, we are not your business mentors. We're we're we're brothers, we're friends. And I said, no. No. No. No. You're mine. So I met Steve first. Right? And Steve is all about metrics. He's all about data analysis. Yeah. Like, he's a numbers guy. Right? And it's so impressive. Right? Because he can spit numbers. Yeah. I can't do that. Yep. I I can, but not to that level. Right? I mean, that guy knows data. Yeah. And I love it. Right? He came to do and this that story is irrelevant, but he came to do an assessment of my other one of the companies I was with, but he brought Kale with him. Right? Now Kale, used to be the CEO of, Jim Launch, which was Alex Hermosy's company. Yeah. Right? So he's an understudy of Alex Hermosy And friends with Alex, right? So I I meet Kale, he was he was also, like, real humble. Yeah. And so we get in this room and, you know, we're we're they're doing an assessment, Steve's doing an assessment and Kale just said, I just wanna be a fly on the wall and just sit in the back and, you know, listen. Yeah. And man, I'm gonna tell you, they asked him, what's what are your thoughts? And this guy broke open this, like, he started talking about lead generation, lead nurture, sales, fulfillment, retention. He started talking about, you know, cost of acquisitions. He started talking about lifetime value. He started talking about all the, all the things and just the way it was coming out, man. And I was like, I I ain't gonna lie to you. I became a fan. And I was like, at that moment, I was like, I need to be like him. Yeah. I wanna be able to have so much knowledge that it just comes out so smooth and it's all on point. Yeah. And let me tell you, man, since that day, I I since that day, I've done nothing but try to study to be like him in that office that day. That's right. Because, I mean, just his level of knowledge was just it was superior. Yeah. It was superior, you know? And so needless to say, I would say get a mentor. So that's that's a that's I know that was long. No, That's good. So get a mentor is one. Get a mentor. Number two, understand systems. Yeah. You wanna be an entrepreneur? You need to understand systems. Yep. So, get yourself systems and the systems can be whether it's SOP, standard operating procedures, whether it's, you know, finding systems for marketing, you know, all those things. You need to have systems in place. Yeah. That's that's overall. Number three is as an entrepreneur, if you're a solopreneur and you're just doing on your own and that's it, and that's all you wanna do and you're good with that, then I would actually say to understand numbers. Yeah. Right? Understand data. Understand growth. Where do you wanna grow your company? Yeah. See, here's the thing. Most entrepreneurs do not have a business plan. Yeah. They don't have a business plan. And it's it's literally taking your ideas that are in your head and putting them on paper. Yeah. Right? Or putting them on a whiteboard or putting them something that's visual, Okay. People don't do that. Yeah. So I would honestly say, make sure you have a business plan and then you can it's a working document. Yeah. So you can literally adjust it as time goes on. Right. As time goes on now, I have my, my business plan, let's say for manifest fitness Institute, my business plan from twenty nineteen. When I thought about the idea, if you read that business plan today, you'd be like, it's the same thing that's happening right now. And it's like, exactly. But there's been minor adjustments, but for the most part, the plan was in place. So I would definitely say, have a plan now that's for the solopreneur that the, the entrepreneur is have a plan still that three, that third, but then understand how you were gonna delegate and build teams under that plan. Yep. Because you can't do it all by yourself. No, hell no. Hell no. No. And then we're gonna talk a little bit about that tomorrow when you have that business plan, that's like your five year goal. Yes. You have to take daily steps to make that happen. Yes. And if it looks like yours, you're five years ago, that's what the plan, in twenty nineteen that plan looked like that, and it looks like it did back then today because you took baby steps to make it happen. Yes. You took daily steps, made daily commitments to be able to make that happen, and we'll talk about that Absolutely. I'm looking forward to that. It's gonna be great. I'll take this final leave it as my final note because I gotta steal it from Dave Ramsey, Entre Leadership. It's one of my favorite things that he said in that in that book is dreams become visions, become goals, become milestones and deadlines. That's sick. I love that. You take your dream, you think about it, you make it a vision, say we can do this. And then you put a goal into place, but just putting the goals isn't enough. You got to put some deadlines and put some milestones in place. If you do that, it's money every time. Heck yeah. Mark, dude, thank you so much. You got it, mister brother. Go check out Mark everywhere that he is. Come on. He's lots of places. Go check out the Gentleman Circle. This is gonna be something, it's gonna be a movement of men, holding men accountable, and really changing the culture of what men should be. Yes, yes, bringing it back, bringing it back to the, to the good old days where, you know, the strength was there in all aspects, mindset, spiritual, emotional, physical. This isn't, this isn't the Alpha Academy type stuff. This is like, let's, let's just grow together and become better. And get a nice suit, dang it. Exactly. I will leave you with that. Y'all, you so much for joining us on the Through the Storm podcast. Subscribe, and we're gonna have a lot more conversations like this. We're kind of all over the board with our conversations, but we bring in leaders like Mark that have been through this stuff and know what they're doing. So tune in, subscribe, and we'll see you next time.