Why You Haven’t Started Your Business Yet (And How to Fix It)

Hey everyone, welcome to the Finding Home podcast. I'm your host, Caleb Hanshaw with Wild Country. We have a great episode for you today. This is actually part 2 of a 2-part conversation that I've had with my good friend Mark Casto. As we learned before, Mark has a rich history in church ministry and mentorship, from planting churches to speaking to thousands of people in conferences, now transitioning into a new form of, of ministry through digital products and continuing to preach the gospel wherever the door opens. I was excited to talk about how he got his start in digital products and where he's at now, helping mentor others like myself and all those that are sitting on the fence of wanting to start something and build something for the future in the digital product space. We end this with some practical next steps on how to get started. So without further ado, let's jump in. Um, so we left off right before the sun went down, um, and you had to drive off into— I think it was Nashville or something like that. But yeah, we were talking about the transition that, that you were making from, you know, the church plant in Covington to, you know, Yahweh starting to speak this, um, digital marketing and business word into your heart. So I just want to kind of go back to that, that point we left off, um, because I've, I've not heard you talk about if there was a wrestle with that because it's so new. I know that you, you've shared before on previous podcasts that you've always kind of had this interest and desire and passion for, for this field, but I want to know like that moment you're, you're kind of walking out of a a prophetic word that didn't unravel the way that you thought, and now you're wrestling with this new invitation from Yahweh. I'd love to hear more about that.

Yeah, man, I mean, yeah, I think everything— even if you get a word, even if you get, uh, Yahweh speaks to you and, and kind of tells you this is the direction you're going, um, even with that, there's still a wrestling match always, um, because all I have known my entire adult life was preaching ministry. And, um, you know, there is some business involved in ministry. You got to be a good steward of finances and resources that you're entrusted with. So there is a business side of it, but to actually have a business and to actually like do something that you sell, you know, instead of living off of the generosity of the people you pour into, now I have to create something of value and put that out into the market to anybody that would want to purchase that, um, is, is a, is a wrestling match. It's a struggle in general. And so I always tell people that becoming an entrepreneur may be the most spiritually forming thing I've ever done, because to be an entrepreneur and put yourself out there and to put— to do a digital product, which is selling your wisdom, your knowledge, your experience to other people to help them get a similar result. Like, you have to believe in who you are. And so one of the very first things that happens is you get hit with imposter syndrome. Like, who am I to tell people that they can do this? And like, you know, and like, even though I had amazing results, still, you like, the results doesn't deal with the imposter syndrome that you have where you're like, man, could I really? Maybe, maybe I just got lucky. Maybe I threw something together and it just hit. And I don't know if that will actually translate. And, and so you wrestle with, am I enough? Am I good enough? Do I have what it takes to teach this to other people? So man, I, I really do believe being an entrepreneur is one of the most spiritually forming things you can do because you have to believe in who God has called you to be and be able to take that confidence, that belief, and translate it into value for other people. And not only is it a wrestling match on the identity side, it's a wrestling match on the integrity side because you're coming into a world that many people have been taken advantage of. Um, that people like have paid thousands upon thousands of dollars to learn from the quote unquote gurus who tell you if you just do this, you're going to make $5,000 to $10,000. And it's like, there's a lot of work that goes into making $5,000 to $10,000. And so, um, I went into this going, okay, if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this with integrity. And if I'm going to charge prices at this level, like if I'm going to charge high-ticket prices for people to get my wisdom, knowledge, and experience, then I'm not going to just charge them a price and say, I'll walk with you this amount of time. My commitment to everybody that's paid me is I'm going to walk with you until we get the result. And so like, I am hell-bent on, or heaven-bent, however you want to say that, on walking the long path with clients to make sure that they get a result. And man, story after story, I've probably done over 250 sales calls in the past 2 years, which means I've had I've conversated with over 250 people about digital products, like an hour personally talking with them. And the common denominator probably in 80% of the phone calls is they have done this before and it didn't work out. And it's because they got put into a cookie-cutter course that lacked accountability, that lacked real strategy. And, um, you know, they show you what's possible, but they show you a 30,000-foot view. They don't actually walk the path with you. And you know this from living in the mountains. Somebody could tell you how beautiful those mountains are from an airplane in West Virginia, but only the people who have actually walked those mountains can tell you how to navigate it. Um, and so like, I feel like a lot of times in that product space, people share a 30,000-foot view. But they don't walk with you down the actual trails of the mountain. And so for me, I, I made it my aim that I'm going to walk with you on the trails because you are going to find some things on the trails that you're going to have to navigate differently than even I did, because everybody's unique in how they teach and what they're gifted to do. And some people need to follow the writing path, some people need the podcast path, some people need the YouTube path. And it just depends on the person. So the identity part was big. The integrity part is big. And now I'm 2 and a half years past this and I've seen the good, bad, and the ugly of digital products. And I'm thankful. But I do want to say this, that was probably— those two things are the biggest pieces of the wrestling matches. The identity part on my part and the integrity part, knowing that people have been taken advantage of, they have invested a lot of money. They didn't get a result. And so I knew I had an uphill battle because digital products are still fairly new. Like, I know we think everybody's talking about it, but it's still fairly new. Like, a lot of churches, businesses, people, they don't even have a website, let alone a digital product. And so it's still fairly new. And when something's new, people are always funny about new things. And so, yeah, just based on those two things. Identity and integrity. It was a little bit of a wrestling match. And then, then you deal with what are people going to think now that I've, I've stepped away from conventional ministry into the business world? And you think about other people's opinions of you and what are they going to think. I've gotten over that a lot quicker because at the end of the day, nobody's opinions pay my bills. So like, you got to do what God told you to do. You've got to step out and, and show people what's possible. And so, but yeah, dude, it's a wrestling match. And it's like, you think about how you feel about yourself, what other people are going to think. And people think that when you say yes to business, if you've been in ministry prior to that, they almost look at you like you gave up on revival, you gave up on God, you know, like, oh, you're just hungry for money. And I'm like, no, I need my family to eat. I need— I need— I've got bills to pay too. and we literally lost our salary. The church was not functioning, and there were a lot of things going on where it's like, okay, now I'm in a position where God's got to provide through our business. And so like, it's a wrestling match, man. Nobody that— anybody listening to this right now that have made a transition from ministry to business, they're all shaking their head because it's true. you have to walk through it. So yes, it is a wrestling match for sure. Yeah.

I'm glad you expand on that because, you know, hearing your story, some people may think, you know, one week pastor, next week you just jumped into creating digital products. And I just wanted to see that time in between where there is a wrestling match, because when you go to church camp and the Calling of the Lord altar call comes on, nobody is saying, do you feel called to start a business? It's always, do you feel called to preach? Do you feel called to be a missionary? Do you— all that stuff. So this is kind of like a foreign language in terms, especially to the Pentecostal world that I, that I grew up in.

Yeah.

So there's this wrestling match, like you said, with identity. But is God leading me to this, or is this just something that I want to do? Am I now a part of the world outside of the calling of God in my life So I just want to peel back because I feel like, you know, praying over this podcast, I wanted to really talk to people that are on the fence on this thing, that maybe, maybe they've felt a nudge to, you know, maybe they've done it before, like you said, like they took a course, it really backfired, they saw the manipulation. And I was, I was saving that question for a later time, and we'll get back into that. But I'm, I want to really talk to them like this is the get off the fence moment. So I think hearing your story and, and knowing what you went through and knowing that that wrestle is real, and we could, you know, it's an authentic wrestle that you have because we're so used to not answering that altar call to go into business. Yeah. So I just like, really, like, let's say you're talking to someone that's on the fence right now, you know, can you show them like some significant moments in that period between leaving quote unquote what the world says ministry is into what Yahweh's called you into, a ministry that kind of seems foreign to the American church?

Well, I mean, the reality is, uh, 90% of ministry that happens in the kingdom happens outside the four walls of the church. And if you're a kingdom man, there's no such thing as anything that you're doing that's not disconnected from ministry. Ephesians 4 says God gives us the fivefold ministry. It's really fourfold, but you know, it— like, he puts these leaders in your life, church leaders, apostles, pastors, evangelists, prophets. He puts these people in your life, and it says that they are there not to do ministry for you, they are equipping you for your work of ministry. Which that means if you're on a governmental job, you're working a 9 to 5, you're working in the hospital, you're working as a doctor, a lawyer, whatever, you're representing the kingdom. And the people you work with and the people you interact with and the people that you serve is your ministry. So business may be one of the greatest ministries and effective ministries that happens from the church. Like, not everybody's going to come through your door on Sunday, not everybody's coming to youth group, but they will come through a business that's blessed them, provided for their family, You know what I mean? Like, business is powerful. And so like, it's time for us to quit putting church ministry over and making people think that's what real ministry is. No, that's just the equipping place for ministry. And so like, yes, we are ministering to the people of God, but we are ministering to them so they can minister to the culture, to the people, and change things. And so we've got to quit putting business as 'Well, God doesn't really have— like, many are called, few are chosen. I must be called, and all these other people that are serving in the church, they're the chosen ones.' I hate when people interpret the scripture that way because that's not what that actual scripture says. It says many are called, few choose to be chosen. That's how that verse actually translates. And so like, you can be doing signs and wonders in business, you can be healing the sick in business, you can be um, bringing, awakening people to the, the power of Christ on the job as a teacher. So we got to quit with all of that because at the end of the day, the, you know, the Book of Revelation is not an end times book. It's a revelation of Jesus Christ. It's what it literally says, and it's unveiling the gospel. It's unveiling who Jesus is. But I think it's interesting that when Christ tells us who we are the book of Revelation, he says we are kings and priests. And so that tells me that our identity as believers is never just the priesthood. It's— we're, we're also kings and priests. And what do kings do? Kings don't operate just in the temple. The kings primarily operate in the culture, and they do things that impact other people's lives. So we are both kings and priests, right? And so in digital products, talking about people being on the fence, man, like, I don't think people understand that they're already being duped. They think that digital products are the con. They're already being conned. Okay. And I'm gonna explain that to you because people will get upset that somebody's online selling a $5,000 program that could actually teach you the skills to make $100,000 this year. And how does that person know that? Because they've done it. And they're going to show you how to rep it. Most people that have real integrity and can show you this, they will show you everything that it takes for you to get to that place. That's why you invest in people. But people will get online, they've done it to me, and they'll say, this man's just money hungry, blah, blah, blah. You're just out there to get your money. And I'm like, no, I I'm doing what I'm doing because I first, number one, I've got to take care of my family. Secondly, as my business grows, I got to take care of my employees. And to do what we do is not free. That's number one. And that works in church and business. Like none of it's free. The gospel is free, but the ministry is not like, you know, anyways, I won't go down that soapbox here. Like the reality is there, you're, you're making a $5,000 investment, $2,000 investment, whatever it is. And they're going to show you skills and teach you real life skills that is going to make you income for the rest of your life. That's worth investing in. But because you use the words online business or digital products, people go, that's a scam, it's a con. And I want to go, okay, if that's a scam, then why are you still paying $100,000 to go to a school called college to be taught business by a man who's never had a business. And then on top of that, you go to school, pay all this money, stay in college debt for 20 more years after you've graduated, and only 3% of people that graduate in their degree will actually get a job in their degree. So like, who's being conned? We're already being conned by the educational system. They have duped us so strong that they— the first thing they do, Caleb, is they put us in kindergarten. And in kindergarten, they put us in a classroom. And the very first thing they're going to do in 9 weeks is they're going to hand you a report card and they're going to teach you how to be a conformist. And then they begin the process of, of intentionally stealing the entrepreneurial thinking processes inside and the creativity of young people all across the nation. And they do it through a report card. And they go, we're not going to teach you how to think, we're going to teach you what to think. And you better do what we tell you to do. And if you don't do it the way that we want you to, we're going to get you— give you a grade that's going to penalize you from moving forward.

Two separate things they were doing was they were training people how to be a factory worker just by— just the hours And also, if the parents started to have kids, they didn't want to lose them as factory workers. So they created the infrastructure for those kids to do the 9 to 5, to start early.

That's what I was— that's the part I was getting to was like literally going to teach you how to conform. And then also on top of that, put together the bell structure to train you that when the bell rings, it's time to move. And guess where we learned that? Factory work. And it was the Rothschilds that put together, and the Rockefellers, it was these very— I don't know if I said that right. Maybe it wasn't. Is it the Rothschilds or Rockefellers? One of the one big families with an R. I can't think right now. Moving on 4 hours of sleep. Like, those big families put together our current educational system. And guess who— what they owned? Factories. Guess what they were doing? Creating great employees. And they started as early as kindergarten. And so you completely strip the entrepreneurial thought processes, you strip them of their creativity, you put them in an educational system that gets them to be conformist and run by the bell. And then guess what? When they're 18, then we go, oh, you know what? If you want a really good job in our industrial age, then we're gonna, we're gonna educate you deeper, put you in more debt, and you will spend the next 20 years working that job to pay it off. So who's being scammed? So what I love about digital products is a person with actual integrity, they go out and they do it. I've had digital products for many years before I ever started this business. I had digital products that were connected to my books that I wrote. So I had courses that I launched. I had a 12-month men's group that I ran. I've done online learning communities. Like I've done digital products and guess what? They have been very successful for me. And so after having all of that experience with digital products, I'm thinking to myself, man, I know so many people out there that have wisdom, knowledge, experience, whether they were an author, a pastor, an entrepreneur, a business person, and they are still, even though they're an entrepreneur, they're still trading their time for money. And I'm like, man, I could show them what I've done with my books Like, somebody right now is reading one of my books somewhere, or watching a course that's connected to my book, or they're learning about digital products right now while you and I are talking. So I'm getting to do what I'm passionate about. I'm going to spend the rest of the day with my family and doing what I want to do, and money is being made in the background, and my time is no longer connected to my money now through digital products. So I'm like Quit calling it a scam. It actually works. It's a legitimate business. You have to learn sales skills. You have to learn marketing. You have to learn real business sense to be able to do this, and you got to invest the time. But the beautiful thing about digital products is it, it teaches you how to multiply your wisdom and get off the cycle of working 40+ hours a week to get a paycheck. I tell people, this is the beauty of digital products. You want to get off the fence? If you have a real skill that you can teach to somebody else that can make their life better, make them more money, give them a better marriage, give their body more health— if you can do those things and translate that to other people, then why would people not pay you for that knowledge? And here's the beautiful thing: through digital products, you create that thing once and it'll pay you over and over and over again. So the majority of what I'm doing now It's just social media. So like, there are times, Caleb, where I've made $40,000 in a month and only worked 20 hours in that month. Now, I put a lot of work up front, but now that the work is done, it pays me over and over again. But people are still stuck on the trading hours for dollars hamster wheel. And so what happens is they go, okay, I need $1,000 a week. Well, if you go into the system and you work the 9-to-5 job, the only way for you to get $1,000 a week is you got to clock in, do your 40 hours, and at the end they'll give you a paycheck. But how do you get the next thousand? You have to go and do the same thing. I tell people, if you would give me 40 hours in one week, we could build something that would pay you over and over again without you having to put the same investment into it every week. Mm-hmm. So I'm like, man, you're already being scammed by the current educational system. You're, and you're being taught business and all kinds of things by people who've never done what you're actually called to do. Why not come over in the digital product space? And people are, it's starting to happen. People are starting to realize there is real money to be made and real skills to learn. And like, people are starting to see it, but there are some people still on the fence. I'm like, you're already being scammed. Come over here and let people show you how to steward your wisdom and show you what digital products are and show you how to do social media, show you how to do a podcast. And I can teach you 4 pillars right now that can literally set you up for long-term success. And you can, you can do something that you love, passionately talk about it, share it on social, and send people to where the help is. And that thing will pay you over and over again. Why would people not want to do that?

Well, the way that you're describing this is it's, it's more than, hey, if you're a little creative, let's, let's take this route. This is an exit. Like, this is a complete boycott of the system that gives you rules and you subconsciously follow them. Like, yeah, if you're gonna quit, you gotta tell us 2 weeks in advance. And, and then still be productive in those two weeks. Like, it's crazy. So when you have this opportunity, like, this is more than making money, right? This is— you're actually buying your life and exiting this slavery Babylonian mentality and culture into a brand new culture that Yahweh is inviting creation into. I mean, we are creators. If we, if we have the DNA of Yahweh, we are therefore creators.

Dude, I, yeah, first of all, 100%. We are creators. And, and you know what the world, like what the world is calling this economy right now? They're calling it the creator economy. That's what it's called. And the people who are accelerating financially are the people who are stepping into this space. They're learning online business. They're learning marketing and sales. They're learning digital products. They're learning AI. And they're learning how to accelerate with AI into this economy. And here's the part that people don't want to talk about. Like before, we used to tell people, you need a website. And people are like, ah, no, I'm not worried about it or whatever. Well, how'd that go for them? Because the people now that are thriving have a website. But now it's so much further, Caleb. It's moving so fast. I have a friend of mine that works very high up in a major tech company. And in his tech company, they, this is like, if I named who they are, it's a massive company, but I want to protect him and the company and protect his job because I don't know if he'd get in trouble for telling me this, but like their stocks have dropped 80% because AI that's being created by these technological companies are replacing their jobs by the hundreds of thousands. And so it's like we're literally entering into an age that if you don't have these skills that we're talking about, unless you have a trade like a plumber, HVAC, like something that actually requires manual labor, you're about to get replaced. Like, that's how serious this is. It's not a matter of like, should I have a website? And I'm not trying to put fear into people. I'm just trying to say like, you have an opportunity right now to get in before everybody else does, to develop those skills for real business and to think like an entrepreneur. You can buy back your time. Like, what? Like, people are like, man, being an entrepreneur and doing digital products is such a risk. And I'm like, a risk? Do you realize what risk you're already taking right now? You're working a 9-to-5 job and a job that you don't really feel called to. Most— some, some people do. Like, there are nurses and there are bankers and there are people that really feel called to it. But for those who don't feel called and they're like, man, I feel confined in this It's because you're an entrepreneur and you're going to sit there and you're going to hate your job. You're going to have to spend 40 hours a week away from the people you love in a building you don't want to be at while you're also paying off the loan for a school that taught you something that you can't even use now. And so you're frustrated and you believe you can do that for 20, 25, 30 years. And then with all of that crap that you've walked through, you're going to be healthy enough at the end of that time. To enjoy the last 10, 15 years of your life, to now spend time with your grown kids, to now spend, like, spend time with the people you love, and you think you're going to be healthy enough to go to Italy and Japan and wherever else you want? You can't hardly get out of bed in the morning. It's like, dude, that's the risk. And so why not come over here, learn actual skills as an entrepreneur, learn how to package your God-given wisdom into a thing like a digital product, Why not start a passion project and do a podcast? Why not do those things and just see what it does? And get like, even if you're like, man, I can't invest a lot of time, but I could give an hour or two a day, or maybe even just a few hours on the weekend. Dude, you would be shocked at what you could develop in just 90 days with that kind of attitude. And then again, I'm not promising you're gonna make $5,000 to $10,000 a month in 90 days. What I am saying is You can build the system that will eventually replace your salary if you'll be willing to get off the fence and learn these skills now. Because if you don't, people are by the hundreds of thousands, and the more they do it, the less opportunity you have. And literally AI is coming for your jobs. It's just true.

I saw, I think it was between 10 to 15 years, they're looking to replace at least 80%. That may be a far-fetched goal. It may be closer to 20 years, but it's coming. It's—

dude, I had a guy reach out to me the other day and, um, he was, he was like, man, I need some wisdom. And this guy is amazing graphic designer, logos, like he's amazing at what he does. And he's like, man, you know, like he's talking through his whole plan. Like, I really want to launch my, uh, you know, my, my business and I really want to take it seriously. I want to get good clients. And I said, man, I said, you better go get them now because guys like me, we don't need you anymore. I said, I'm not trying to be mean, but I can literally go into AI and tell AI exactly what I want. I can grab pictures of things and go, man, I really like that. And I can grab all my inspiration and my ideas, throw it into AI and get brochures done, logos done, entire websites built in 5 minutes that look like I spent $15,000 on it. So graphic designers and people that are in this world, like, like, dude, we don't— I don't— like, guys like me, I don't even need them anymore. Like, I used to have to pay them for logos. I don't need that anymore. I used to have to pay them for websites. Don't need that anymore. And so it's like, we have to start allowing— especially kingdom people, you need to start partnering with the spirit of wisdom and quit being afraid of every piece of technology thinking it's going to be the mark of the beast. And, and you literally start investing in your skills and learn what's happening, and you could literally make some income to free you up with your time and give you the freedom to do the things that actually bring kingdom impact, which is being a husband, being a father, getting involved in their T-ball teams, getting involved in the school— the stuff you can't do because you're so busy trading your hours for dollars. That's important to me. Hey, is this thing on?

Really quickly, we have an online community focused on helping you find land and start your homestead, and it's free. So if you are overwhelmed with where to start, maybe you don't know how to homestead, maybe you would like to start living a more healthier life, Maybe you want to build an income. This community is for you. We have weekly calls, monthly workshops, direct access to not just me, but to everyone else in the community. Try it. You will not regret it. You'll find the link to the community in the show notes. Click it. I'll see you in there. I want to say this. I was going to not say this, but let's let's go ahead and open up this can of worms. I, I think one of the biggest voices against this is the church in America.

They always are.

And I think it's anything new. I think it's— and you look back even at the Jesus Movement, you look back at when those specific people that were very influential in the digital age, now looking at the Steve Jobs, you're looking at all those guys where we could have had a hand in, we could have influence in, but we're, we're too busy saying the world's going to end, don't have a family, hide in your basement. And now we— I'm seeing a completely new wave of that. So there's this whole new opportunity for the body of Christ to be, just like you said, in Revelation, kings. If you, if you look at that, that's even governmental authority through this, is through, through having the DNA of being a creator, of influencing culture in the business, in the marketplace. But now we're hearing this voice, listen, you better get right with the Lord. You better not have kids in this time. You better flee to the mountains. So I just want to— those, those people that are sitting on the fence, they're hearing, they're hearing that voice, right? Like, you just need to go evangelize, just spend the rest of your time and evangelize. And I'm not against evangelism, not again. But through the lens of fear. I think there's an issue there.

Oh dude, well, first of all, their eschatology sucks. It's wrong. So they live in fear to begin with. Um, it's so sad, man. We, we literally have not taken the time as believers to actually go find out for ourselves what the Bible actually says and what early church fathers actually had to say and what church history actually has to say about the last days. And the reality is most of the stuff that everybody's freaking out about has already happened in our past. And so now we're living in an age where we're supposed to be establishing government of the kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. We're supposed to be creating peace. We're supposed to be putting goodness into the world. And literally, like, somebody asked me, so Mark, what's your eschatology? Well, this is what Peter said in Acts chapter 3, verse 21. He said Jesus Christ will remain in heaven until the restoration of all things. Then Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, he said God's going to remain in heaven, we're going to deal with all these enemies, and then he's going to come back. And enemies being anything that's outside of God's will. I'm not talking about with war, I'm talking about with the kingdom and the power of God, the love of God, healing the sick, casting out devils, like all the things. Like, I'm not talking about war conquering, I'm talking about kingdom, the kingdom of love conquering the world, filling the earth with goodness. 'til the knowledge of the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters do cover the sea. Like, my eschatology is like, we need to be planning for goodness to come. And just like everything, man, I've met the guys that were in the Jesus People Movement that were major leaders in the Jesus People Movement, and they told me, they said, Mark, it's happening again in your day. Everybody thinks we're stepping into the— every generation thinks the return of Christ is right there in front of them. They have poor eschatology. They don't understand the kingdom. And the reality is, even if we were living in the end times, why would you not be pressing into every opportunity you possibly could to make the world a better place, to serve, to spread goodness, to spread kindness? Um, but instead we get in the church, we criticize the culture, get mad at sinners for being sinners, and, um, and try to separate ourselves from the world in our holy huddles waiting for the Rapture. And that makes us of no effect. And now there are people, Caleb, that did that in the Jesus People Movement that don't have grandkids and they're lonely. They don't have any money because they didn't invest in themselves. And like, they're literally living in poverty and they're alone because they got duped by a false interpretation of the scripture. And we're about to make the same mistake again. And I'm like, man, I'm not going to let it happen, man. Not only am I allowing Jesus to take me through a process of repentance. Um, and repentance is not just praying to get out of hell. Repentance is change the way that I think, and it's changing my eschatology, it's changing my view of the world. And I'm going, man, I've been called to the kingdom for such a time as this. And this doomsday stuff, we've seen it in every generation and they were all wrong. And so like, at some point you have to just look at the fruit and go, Jesus said the kingdom of God would be righteousness, peace, and joy. And when I listen to all these jokers over here with the doomsday prophecy, keeping us all focused on the end times, it's not producing peace or joy at all. So I'm going, maybe that means it's not a part of the kingdom. And so don't get me on that whole soapbox. It's like, dude, we've got an amazing opportunity with technology right now. And if you quit freaking out about the end times, you could build something that not only blesses the world, but it would bring deliverance, freedom, and generational legacy to your family.

Yeah, we could probably have a podcast about 4 hours long just on the end times. Like, I'm at the cliff right now and I'm like, should we jump or should we just reel it back in?

I don't care.

Um, what I, what I want to do is Let's talk practically now. Let's talk about like the practical steps that you took. You hear this invitation and it's such— I'm glad you said this, it's partnering with the voice of wisdom, right? Like that is the number one ingredient that we absolutely need to navigate all of these, what would be to some scary changes, but they don't have to be knowing the voice of wisdom. So how, how did you navigate practically? Like what was step one? To begin to form, like maybe I have this product. I know you were already an author at the time.

Yeah.

So it was almost like this Moses thing of what's already in your hands and how can you use it? Uh, but I just want to talk practical steps because I think these last 10, 15 minutes that we have are going to bring so much value to people that are sitting on the fence that they begin to hopefully reach out to you and say, hey, next 90 days, what can we do?

Yeah, well, here's the first thing you do. You find a mentor. You find that, like, step number one for me was I needed to find somebody that I knew and trusted that had done it. And so I did. I went and paid $10,000 for a program, and that, that I now turn around and give to everybody for free. Like, what I paid $10,000 for, you can learn for free in my community right now. But I would find a mentor. I'd find somebody that is doing what I feel called to do. And I would show up for every training they do. I'd watch every course they have. I would invest in coaching as much as I possibly could. And I would learn from them how to do this. That's number 1. Number 2, I wouldn't just learn, I'd put into action. Like you have, you can't, like we're so dumbed down by our current educational system that we think taking the class means we've become that.

It's so good.

And, and, and dude, that's not the truth. You are not something until you've done something. Like, you don't get to call yourself an entrepreneur just because you now have entrepreneurial thinking because you watch my courses. You actually have to put them into practice. And so one of my mentors says, action takers are money makers. Why is that? Because you have to take action. You actually have to not just learn it, but you have to actually do it. So Number 1, I get a mentor. Number 2, I would do what they tell me to do. If that man says launch a podcast, like you need to do this, this, and this, you do that. Because here's the deal, although those people can't guarantee a result, here's what I can tell you. If you will, I don't know one person who has actually put effort into doing what their coach told them that has made $0. Like, if you'll put it into practice, you will make money. Here's the part that most people are not honest about. They just do the parts that they want instead of taking action on everything they're taught. And it's like, no, if you find a mentor that's actually made $10,000 a month— in my case, I had a $40,000 month. That's the highest month I've ever had. Um, when— if you'll listen to me, I can't guarantee a $40,000 month, but I can guarantee you that you won't be broke. I can guarantee you a $5,000 a month. I can even guarantee you $10,000 a month if you're willing to stay on the path and do the things that I'm telling you to do. It will happen. And people just, they get in there and they think that this is another thing that I think too, is people think the reason why they think digital products is a scam is they think they're going to learn the course and get to do bare minimum and get maximum results. It's like, no, digital products is an actual business. You have to treat it like Home Depot treats their business as a business. You have to treat yours as a business. And so you're gonna have to learn sales and you're gonna have to learn marketing. You're gonna have to get some people skills because you're dealing with people like it's a real thing. So that's number one, invest in a coach. Number two, you need to do what they tell you to do. You got to take action. And number three, you need to get, like, this is a part that people hate, but like they want to create something that's going to take care of everybody and be something that everybody's going to want. And the reality is when you try to reach everybody, you end up reaching nobody. When you try to talk to everybody, you talk to nobody. But what I've learned in the digital product space is the more you niche down and go, I want to help this particular person, instead of saying, I wanna help dads lose weight. It would be like, no, I wanna help busy dads, you know, that don't have a lot of time be able to do at-home bodyweight exercises in order to lose weight. If you just say, I wanna help dads lose weight, you might have minimal results, but the moment you go, I wanna help a specific type of dad, get a specific result a specific way, the fact that you niche down is going to help you get so much faster into the process. So like number 3 is not only do you get a coach, not only do you do what the coach tells you to do, but one of the things that people don't listen to their coaches on is they don't niche down. They try to help everybody and they end up missing it and every— they end up missing everybody. And so like the The people who niche down and go, "I want to help a particular person in a particular way to get a particular result," those people get— they grow so much faster and they make money so much faster. I always tell people, "If you're broad, you're broke. But if you're specific, you get sales. You get speed of sales." And so I would tell people like, "Okay, great. You got a coach now and they're telling you how to build these digital products." but you really need to take the time to do the think work first, which is the niche clarity. Who am I going to help and how am I going to help them to produce a specific result? Because there has to be real value or you won't make money. You have to be talking to real people. And what I would say is, and once you niche down, that's number 3. Number 4 is then you get absolutely obsessed in solving that person's problems. Jump into their head. What are they thinking? What are they dealing with? They're busy. They don't have enough time of day. They've got to clear out their schedule. So sometimes, like, I tell people, I'm like, I know that you're a fitness coach and I know you're trying to help dads lose weight online. That's great. But you can't just show them how to work out. You've also got to show them how to unbusy themselves enough so that they'll actually have the time to do the workout. So you're not just a fitness trainer, you're obsessing over all the problems that they have so you can solve that one problem for them. So it's like, hey, if you're a busy dad, let me show you some time management tips so that you can actually get that workout in today. That's, that's what I mean. So like, get a coach, do what they tell you to do, get niche clarity. And then 4, once you know who you're going to serve, then get obsessed about solving their problems. And here's the kick— here's the kicker: people who solve problems don't have money problems.

That's it. I don't— hopefully people understand the value that they just got in the last 10 minutes. I mean, you're talking about thousands of dollars of just that, that you have invested just for your personal education that you've just given to people. I want to go over those last 4, and I think that's where we can land the plane.

Sure.

One is to, to find a mentor.

Yeah.

What led you to do that? Like, what was— was there somebody in your life that was speaking that over you, or was it that, that, that voice of wisdom like you were talking about?

So, so Number 1, I've never seen anybody do anything significant in the earth without a mentor, a father. Like, to have— like, to do something impactful and to have longevity in it, they always had somebody in their life that they got advice or wisdom for. You can see that all throughout scripture. You can see that in the life of successful entrepreneurs. They had a mentor. They had somebody that opened up their limited capacity to think and showed them a bigger picture. Um, so that's number one.

Um, I want to add something to that real quick because, yeah, as the field I'm in, in permaculture, one of the biggest things is noticing patterns and noticing designs. That's right. This is a design. This is a kingdom design that if you're outside of that, it's unnatural and it probably doesn't work the way that you think it's going to work. Yeah, true. I didn't mean to interrupt, but it's just—

it's good.

That is the blueprint in, in scripture as well.

So like, for me, that already made sense. Like, that was carnal sense. Like, that was just common sense. Like, you need somebody. There's somebody doing what you're called to do. There's somebody out there doing it really well, and they're successful, and you should probably ask them. Because dude, at the end of the day, you're going to pay with time or money, and I'd rather pay with money. I'd rather pay to accelerate time. So like, dude, when people, when people purchase coaching from me, I tell them, you're not just paying for information. You're paying for wisdom of over a decade of experience I've had with author, with writing books, digital products. Like, I'm giving you all these years. I've invested over $60,000 in my own personal development in digital products. I've also like had over 12 years experience as an author and a writer. Well, 11 years as an author and a writer. And then all those years too with digital products. So you're not just paying for some knowledge, you're getting the wisdom. And here's the difference, Caleb. Knowledge is knowing information. Wisdom is knowing what to do with that knowledge. And so that's why I say you got to partner with wisdom because there's people out there, they have a knowledge about digital products, but they're not making any money. But wisdom says, I know what to do with all of this knowledge so that it can produce a result. So I know that I need—

you—

I just knew it was common sense, you need a mentor. But also, I will tell you this really cool part. Like, I— dude, the church had just burned down, and I'm like, what in the world? And the Lord had already told me, like, I'm calling you into business and media, and we were already talking about that. So I drove down to Mobile, Alabama. I didn't know what to do. I went down to where my spiritual father's having services, and I'm like, maybe I'll go down there and get a word or just get encouraged. And dude, it was a great service, but I didn't get a word. Nothing happened. And I was like, well, crap, I just drove 5 hours and now I'm about to leave. And this one lady that I've never had a conversation with, she's super quiet. I now have a great relationship with her and her husband. Our families are connected and they're amazing people. But at the time, I didn't know her. And she goes, hey Mark. And she's like, hey, come here real quick. She's like, I've been praying for you all. And she said and she mentioned somebody's name and she said, I really feel like so-and-so's doing this. You should go reach out to them and see what they're doing. Well, I go back and get in the car and I immediately put that person's name in and guess what? They were doing digital products. Incredible. And I was like, man, I like, I can do this. Like, and so I immediately booked a call. They told me it was going to be $10 grand. I said, great. I grabbed money out of 3 different accounts. Like, I put it all together because I, like, at that time I was like thinking, all right, this can help me keep the church afloat, this can help pay for my salary while the church can't, because at the time I'm thinking we're going to get right back onto— I didn't know that eventually we'd close the church down. So I'm like, I'm putting all my resources together so that I can fund all of this and fund the ministry, fund myself, like pay for employees. Like, I'm thinking all of that at the time. Dude, I make that $10,000 investment and it unlocked $30,000 over the next 90 days. And so at that point I was like, oh my gosh, I was like, this is a legitimate way to make money. And thank God for a coach that, and somebody pointing me to a coach who had done what I'm, what I was thinking about doing. And, um, and the result is there. And so I knew I had to get a coach. Like that. So I had a cool encounter like that that led me to it, but it was also just like common sense, at least in my world. Like, I was the type of kid when I was younger, like a young man, I didn't hang out with people my age. I went and looked for the seasoned saints and talked to them because they been through some stuff. They've been through life. They know how things work. I've just been that way.

I've had many conversations with, you know, some older gentlemen locally and I just asked them, you know, what's one regret that you have? And they would say, I wish I spent more time with my family.

Yeah. So I say, well, what would you give to go back?

There's no amount of money that I wouldn't spend to get that time back. Because we're in a culture where let's take dad, let's send him off, let's let him serve Caesar or whoever the culture is. Yeah. So when we're talking about investing, when you're talking about investing $10,000, you're not just saying, yeah, I just want to get knowledge to, to plan a business. You're buying your time back. I mean, you're buying the most valuable resource. You're— that's a steal. That's what I'm saying. That is a good deal.

Yeah. Tell me, tell me somewhere right now in the market, uh, without major risk that you could make a $10,000 investment and get $30,000 in the next 90 days. You're not going to do that in a savings account. You're not going to do that in a money market account. So like, you know, that's number one. Number two, you're right. I didn't make an investment, um, just to learn how to do digital products. I wanted to accelerate the process so that I could get my time back because I knew this person was only working about 10 to 15 hours a week, making $100,000 plus a month. And so I was like, I want to learn how to do that. And so like, I wanted to make, make as much money as I possibly could, but not at the expense of leaving my family, my wife and my marriage and my children behind. Like, I'm doing this because I didn't want to go get a 9 to 5 and spend all that time away from them. I made the investment because I was going to learn how to get my time back. And that's the greatest freedom to me. Like, I don't have to make $40,000 a month. If I can do what I'm doing and just pay my bills, at least I still get to be present with my family. Like, that's my point. Like, the most appealing thing to me about online business, the digital product space, is that you can automate a lot of stuff. You can give away a lot of value without trading your time for it. And like, I'm literally sitting on the beach at times with my family and my phone will ding. Another $3,000, another $5,000. And I'm, I'm not doing anything. I'm spending time with my family. I pick up my phone to see if anybody's texting me or call me. And I got notifications that we just made another sale. I'm drinking coffee with my friends and get a notification. I've just got another sale. And it's like, dude, there's a better way. And again, if you're called to the 9 to 5, I'm not talking to you. Like, go after your purpose, teach, serve. Like, but for those people that are like, I hate the 9 to 5, it doesn't fit me, I feel like I'm called to so much more, there is a more excellent path for you. Hey, is this thing on?

Really quickly, we have an online community focused on helping you find land and start your homestead, and it's free. So if you are overwhelmed with with where to start. Maybe you don't know how to homestead. Maybe you would like to start living a more healthier life. Maybe you want to build an income. Are you smart? This community is for you. We have weekly calls, monthly workshops, direct access to not just me but to everyone else in the community. Try it, you will not regret it. You'll find the link to the community in the show notes. Click it. I'll see you in there. I, I just reiterating, this is possible. Those that are listening that just feel this, this hunch. I know we're limited on time. I just want to hit those last 3 points before we land the plane, cuz I can attest to one of those being super helpful, being, being able to be on one-on-one calls with you, you helping me, um, with my business. The number 2 thing was, you know, you do what your coach tells you. I think there's just a level of accountability when you're a part of just the one-on-one, but also the community of people that you're around. Yeah, you know, like the people that are going after the same stuff, that are keeping you accountable. For me, I would come to you in these calls, I like, I want to do 7,000 different things, and I want to do that, that, that, and that, and you'd be like, ho bro, 'Just calm down just a little bit.' And then you would help refocus my, my view, because I'm, I'm a dreamer at heart, so I naturally, I can go 30 years down the road. I really struggled with what am I doing Monday, what am I doing Tuesday, what am I doing Wednesday. And having that, that group, that community really helped me think that way. So point number 2, and I don't know if you have anything to add, I think it's so important to to get into community groups like the one that you have for the account, because I think if you don't have that accountability, you're not really doing a lot of the things that you're being taught.

Yeah, I'm like, dude, don't, don't do it with me, I don't care, but do it somewhere, because the accountability and the community, dude, what the Bible says, there's wisdom in the multitude of counsel. Like, just off of that, wisdom saying the more people you get around you doing the same thing that you're trying to do, the better off you're going to be. So the coaching and the community are like a one-two combo, and it's the accountability, and it's people being able to cheer you on, or it's people being able to say, hey, I actually did it this way. And, and you get to— instead of you learning the hard way, you learn the lessons your coach has already learned the hard way. Yeah. And you, you learned the lesson that the community that you're with is learning as well. And dude, you can save so much time and money. So you got it. Like, don't— if you don't want to do it with me, that's fine, but it still doesn't mean you don't need a coach in a community. You better find it somewhere because that you're going to pay with time or money. I'd rather pay with money because I don't, I don't want to waste my time.

Right. There was one time when we would meet, we would go over next steps. Okay, these are the things that you need to do before we meet in a couple days. And I remember just having a long work week that, that week, and I didn't get a lot of it done. And I'm staying up almost the whole night before our meeting, and my wife's like, what are you doing? I'm like, Mark will know if I haven't accomplished these next steps. So I can attest it was a healthy thing. I mean, I'm— and it, it created this— not momentum, I really don't like operating in momentum— it created this like godly confidence, like Yeah, you know, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm doing it. I'm starting to see, you know, even my disciplines change on how I— I'm putting in, you know, at least 1 hour a day. That's turning into 2, that's turning into 3 hours a day. And I just— I want to attest, like, number 2 is really, really important. You're getting a lot of value. It's almost like that buy one, get 3 free thing. I mean, you're paying for the knowledge, but you're also getting so much time back from hearing from other people's experiences and being held accountable. So I think that the niche thing, we can kind of sandwich 3 and 4 together and then we'll land the plane. I, I thought it was really, really creative because you've used the term, you've probably heard from other people, was riches are in the niches, right? And the more you can niche down, and that may be the most difficult part for a lot of people.

It is.

So difficult, dude, because one, you just want to do all the things, you want to help so many people. If, if you're in a broad niche, like I want to help dads lose weight, not only are a million other people in that with you, I mean, you have some competition, but you miss the effect of if I niche down to I'm helping dads lose weight by playing tennis. Or something, and that person that wants to lose weight— and there's more than you think that they are— they look at your business like, wow, this was created exactly for me.

Yeah, for sure.

So the importance of niching down, like, how practically, how do people start? I know we don't have time to talk about everything in the next 3 minutes, but step 1 and step 2 in terms of niching down.

Step 1 is you can't give what you don't have. So what, what can you actually help people with? And a lot of times that is you going back and helping the person you were before you knew what you knew.

That's good.

So like, so like that, that, that is like niche clarity for me starts with I can only give what I actually have. And I think some people think that they can just give whatever. And I'm like, people know a fake and a phony from a million miles away. I can't give something. We even know this in ministry. You can tell when somebody's preaching something that they know and when somebody's preaching something that they went through. Like, you know, when somebody's preaching a theory and when somebody has real lived experience, it's the same thing online. So like, you have to really set in your heart, number one, I'm gonna have some integrity to say I can only teach what I actually have. So what have you done that has changed your life and given you the fruit of that change. Like, for some people it may be like, man, I feel really called to help people with marriage. Like, I want to walk— I want to put tools in people's hands to have a historic marriage. So, so maybe their niche is, okay, they're going to look back in their story and go, okay, I already failed once in marriage, so I want to show second-timers how to make sure their second time is the last time. That's a niche. Like, just saying I want to help people with their marriage, well, that's great. Um, but there are people that have already failed once, they're in the second one, and they're going, please God, don't let my second one fail. So guess what? You, you niche down and go, you've already failed once, now I'm gonna make sure that we make the second time the last time. I'm giving gold right here. Like, somebody needs to take that niche right now and run with it. Yeah, so like You niche down. Well, where are you finding that from? Your own story, your own backstory. Like, go back and go, what did I fail at miserably, but then I dusted myself off and I made a commitment to myself to do XYZ, and it produced this result? And we all know the Lord was in it, and we all know the Lord helped, but you had to say yes. So like, go back into your story and tell the person that is in your shoes, that was in your shoes that you were in 5 years ago, go back and give them the stuff you wish you would have known 5, 10 years ago. Like, that's probably—

You know the pain points. You know every pain point.

Exactly. You already know what they're going through. You're already in their mindset. You're already there. And therefore, you know the solutions, the things. And again, sometimes it's not as cookie cutter as that, but that's a great place to start. Um, is to go, what do I actually have wisdom in that could change somebody else's life? Start there with your niche, guys.

Write this down. Those that want to do this, do it now. I mean, I would even turn this off and get a piece of paper, pray, and write it down now, right? So Mark, thank you so much. I know this was part 2 of just a long valuable conversation, man. Uh, where can people find you and get connected to you?

Uh, just go to markcasto.co, or you can find me at Mark Casto underscore on Instagram. Guys, go over there. Um, right now I'm kind of like, I've got ministry and business kind of going side by side. I'm like, the king priest thing is becoming so real to me, so I'm not going to try to compartmentalize everything. It just just being who I am. So again, just go to markcasto.co or @markcasto_ at Instagram and connect with me there. If you want to ask about the community, all you have to do is jump over there and say, hey, just DM me, send me a message. Mark, I want to find out more. I'll send you the link. You can sign up for free. Like, dude, what I used to charge $5,000, $8,000, $10,000 for now is free for people. And dude, listen to this. This is so crazy. So this is what I decided to do. Maybe we can talk about this on another podcast. I learned a very valuable lesson the past few months. I invested $40,000 into a coach and it completely created a goose egg for me. We almost lost everything because of this investment. And I said, okay, Lord, I don't believe I made a $40,000 mistake. You're teaching me a $40,000 lesson. So show me what I need to do. So man, I have taken all these years of my experience and this big $40,000 lesson, and I'm going, let's streamline this process and bring the best of the best that we possibly can to our clients. And so now a person can join our community for free. You can learn on your own, but for a small investment, they can do $147 a month. Or $1,470 for the year. I give them the software to build the entirety of their business. I put what I'm already doing in my business inside of their software. They just have to plug and play their own information. And for $147 a month, they get my coaching and the software to start their business.

And guys, if you're even purchasing CRM It's like $200 a month. I mean, I don't think you understand the deal that, that you're just— you're, you're saying. So that's a no-brainer if you're looking at all the, the tech that you need, all the automation that you need. I mean, you're looking at $3,000 easy.

Yeah, $300 to $500 on the smaller side to just have the, the software to do it at a, at a cheap level. $147 to have like all the tools you need to build this business. It's unreal. So I'm thankful I went through that mess so that I could come through and go, no, there's a better way to do this, and I'm going to help more people than I ever have at a price that most people could not even fathom in this world. So I'm thankful.

Mark, I am forever, uh, thankful for all the things that you've done for me and just the accountability, the I've needed. I've waited to do a business for 10 years, and we're there. We're doing it. Yeah, we're doing the thing. I'm afraid that Mark's gonna show up and I'm gonna be sitting on my butt, and I can't have that. You can't have that, Mark. I appreciate you, man. Uh, and guys, thank you for listening to this, this episode of the Finding Home Podcast. We're gonna let Mark answer this last question and send us away. I ask everybody this: what does it mean to you to find home?

Oh man, I would say probably the find home, you find peace. That's it.

Mic drop. We'll end it on there, guys. Thank you. We'll see you next time. I will speak your name in all the tongues of men to know you. In the darkness of my heart, I still cling to who you are.