Episode 269: Take Big Risks (Especially in Your 20s) with the Founder and CEO of Knife Aid Marc L...

Welcome to this episode of the Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm Larry Weddell. And before we get started, if you want to know exactly how to win again and again, go to Wydell on winning.com webinar now to watch something I've put together for you. Now let's get going into this episode of Million Dollar Mastermind.

I'm here this afternoon with Mark Lick Fett, and he's punishing himself looking out on the Pacific Ocean out there in Malibu, California. Hello, Mark.

Hi there, Larry. Good to be here.

It's great to have you here. Mark is a, it appears to be a serial entrepreneur, but he has most recently started a company called knife aid in 2019 and within the first year so he's on Shark Tank and he walks away with a $500,000 deal for 20% of the company. It looked like the company's closing in on being the end of last year, closing in on $3 million in valuation, which is incredible. And so Mark, welcome man.

Thanks so much.

And how did talk about a little bit about your background because people need to know that you did not grow up with everything easy for you. You had the hurdles to overcome just like the rest of us. So let people know where you came from and why it's so exciting that you've been able to do what you've been able to do.

Yes. So where I came from, that's actually a tough question because I'm sort of from all over Europe. So my, my dad is a Swede. My mom is German. I spent a long time in Germany, sometime in Finland, Sweden, England, Switzerland. So it's kind of hard to say. I guess I'm from Europe mainly. And my. Yeah. And it's, it's really my dad is very much a corporate man. So for me, going into entrepreneurship was far from obviously. And I've seen kind of how the corporate life has mistreated my dad. And that gave me a sort of an incentive not to go down that route. But I started out in entrepreneurship in corporate anyway. And then in 99, the first kind of.com or 98, the first.com wave, I kind of took the plunge and started my first business with the guy I met in university. So that's kind of set me off on that trajectory of entrepreneurship and especially tech, of tech enabled entrepreneurship.

What were you interested in growing up, Mark? What did you get your degree in? What are things that captivated your interest?

I have an MBA from Stockholm School of Economics and a BA with a focus on business as well. So it was kind of business that I studied and I've always loved business. For a while I thought, because I've also always loved cars and kind of tinkering with things. For a while I thought I'd become an engineer, but then I just saw how much math is involved and I changed my mind and went for business instead. I did spend a little time working in the car industry as well, automotive, which I really enjoyed, but it was actually also the sort of corporate world where it actually kind of made me lose my love for cars. So I got out of that, but I still love my car. So now it's much more of a hobby and I tried to. Quite a few of the businesses I've had, they actually have a manufacturing aspect to it. So that's, I think, the engineering tinkering side of things. I like businesses that actually have a sort of a tangible engineering, factory production kind of part to them.

Now, what did you mean when you say you saw your father, what corporate life did to your father? What was the word you used? How corporate. It abused your father or what?

Yeah, they did those things when. Especially kind of when he was a bit older. And I became more aware where they did this sort of corporate chess games where sort of they took people they wanted to get rid of but they couldn't lay off. They moved them into subsidiary, spun off that company and then closed it down to avoid the rules for having to make them redundant. And it's just this sort of how he was never really in charge of what was going on. And there were always the forces that will be and there was politics and so he could never be. He was never the master of his life. He could never take charge. But other people really decided things he had no impact over or influence over.

It's kind of like being a country inside the European Union, don't you think? I'm just kidding.

I'm not sure I'd agree with that from a European point of view. But to some extent. To some extent it is and you kind of see it. I mean, there are enough things, I think us entrepreneurs, you kind of. They're all the. All the rules and regulations and then the taxes and all that stuff we just have to live with and work with. But then having having a boss that makes stupid decisions and makes you do things or having budgets cut without there being any discussion about why they're being cut and no chance to even argue your case. It was all that where it just. I found it just looking from the outside in, I just found it really Shocking. And I know my, my dad is such a good guy and he could have brought so much more to the table, but they just wouldn't let him.

Well, you know, I'm glad this came up because I don't think I talk about it enough on here. That is the. For some people it's perfect. I've got brother in law and I've got different friends that work for the government or work inside corporations and for some people it's okay. But for a huge majority of really talented, motivated people it is not. Let's just say, well number one is not that fulfilling but it also not that rewarding in terms of being able to exercise your judgment, be creative, move forward. And then like you say, you have, you know, you can work hard for a particular boss in a particular department and then all of a sudden that boss is gone and the person that saw all of your effort for maybe the last 15 years, he's gone. And then maybe they shut down that department like you're talking about with your dad. You know, they, they kind of move it over to the side and then it's like, it was like.

Why was.

I, you know, on my loyalty. I thought this was going to pay off for me. But everybody who would know what price I paid are all gone. Go ahead.

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No, and I so agree. And I did have that experience because in my first company that I started in 99, we did amazingly well. It was a crazy ride. Especially this was I was still in my 20s and sort of 150 staff reporting to me and just a big really exciting journey. But then obviously we had the dot com crash and we managed to save the company and sold it but for hardly any money at all. And I was very burned out. So I actually did go end up working corporate and that's when I joined the majority German car manufacturer and I ended up working corporate. And it was exactly that experience that I saw from my dad. I experienced again and I think what drove Me crazy was that I knew for my career it makes more sense to spend 60% managing my managers and 40% on the customer. So for me, that was the biggest waste, really, is to say that really it's not sensible for me to use more than 40% to understand the market, understand the product, understand the customers, but because really, the only thing that matters is that my bosses are happy. So 60% of my energy went that way. And that, for me, is just so skewed in such a waste of resources. And I think it's in its. Different corporations are very different, and the examples are different. I mean, I think maybe German Germany, there might be a bit more hierarchy and it might be a bit more traditional. So I think it's relative. And much like you say, Larry, for some people it's great. Some corporations are great. But I think my dad's experience in my own, they definitely. I'd much rather do my own thing with all the downsides that brings with it.

And so the point we're talking about here is the fact that, you know how you are, and, you know, if you're the kind of person who can put up with that stuff and just would rather have the security and put up with a lot of being treated casually, you know, and not really appreciated and not really rewarded in that kind of world, you know, the bigger the company, the more impersonal it becomes. And it's not like they single you out. It's just you have this big machinery, and you're just one of the gears inside there. Nobody really is paying attention to you because they're employees, too, and they. They're being treated the same way most of the time, and they're looking out.

For themselves, and you cover each other's asses. I mean, that's very much what happens as well. I mean, you kind of. You all stick in. You're in the same boat, and so you cover for each other. Yeah. So it's a totally different mindset.

Well, the other thing inside there, not, you know, why not beat a dead horse? The thing is that what happens is you see a lack of courage, because the people who will step out and take a bold stand are usually the ones crushed. Because, let's face it, most of the time, you try new ideas. You have to sort through a bunch of them to find the real winner. It's not like nobody's got 100% track record on coming up with great ideas, but if you're not continuing to try and come up with ideas, you're never gonna come up with anything great. And the corporate world really damns you to hell for taking on the responsibility and the leadership of a new program. When it doesn't work out, they don't really say, well, wasn't your fault. You know, a lot of times they're looking for somebody to blame. And usually the guys who are you're working for, you know, they don't want to take them away. And so it's frustrating for someone who can see a thousand ways the company can be more productive, but they can't do anything about it. And I guess what I would say, what you and I are saying here, Mark, is that if we had a message coming out of this little time together would be people need, you need to come to a conclusion. It may be tough for you to be in business for yourself. It may be scary, may be frightening. Living on a commission or living off nothing guaranteed and starting a new thing and everyone looks at you and everyone says, no, that'll never happen. As bad as that is, you've got to come to the conclusion about whether or not you could ever tolerate working inside of a corporation or inside a job job. And if you can't, then you got to make your thing work and not apologize about it. So, Mark, do you have anything to say on that subject?

Yeah, I think there is, I mean, to balance out the discussion in a way on that topic is there is obviously the flip side, which I've also suffered, is really that it is much, much harder to maintain good life work balance, being an entrepreneur. So I think, I mean, that's one of the things as well where I think it's that it's so I think it's a little bit maybe through life and through the different phases of life that one might change their mind and kind of dip in and out of corporate maybe or just making that assessment as well, to say that maybe my hobbies, my family, my health, whatever it might be, is more important to me. And a corporate world might make it easier to balance the two. So that's part of it. And then I think for myself, I really love this idea of taking big risks in the 20s. I think anyone who's thinking about what to do in their 20s, because it's so different for me, if I gamble now with two kids, with a house, with financial obligations, my risk averseness is obviously much, much higher. And in a way, kind of corporate is more tempting now than it's ever been. But in the 20s, I would say when people, you can live off nothing and just have spaghetti and butter all day long and you can take risks and you don't really have that much to lose. So it's, I think it's probably worth trying. I've also learned quite a bit in corporate. You can take all sorts of ideas and it's almost a matter of maybe trying it to find out what it's really like rather than just think about it until the cows come home.

Yeah, and the thing is to realize you always have other options. It's kind of like sign up for the military. You know, you do a two year tour of duty, a four year tour of duty and you'll learn some discipline and learn some things and you know you're going to get your act together. But that doesn't mean you have to be in it for the rest of your life. Working for a corporation, it can be great for a period of time. Maybe you get in a situation that's great long term, but you need to realize you don't have to be a prisoner in that situation if it's not fulfilling for you. And I like what you said about taking big risk in your 20s. One thing about when you take, it's like if you're going to take a risk, take it now. If you're in your 20s, take it now. If you're in your 30s, just say take it now. Because the more you know, the longer you wait past a certain point, the more you're going to hesitate. And you know you can't win in business by hesitating and delaying. You know, you have to check things out a little bit and do some research, but mainly you got to keep moving. And so I like that. Where did that idea of taking big risk in your 20s can't come to you?

I'm trying to think of what the guy is called. It's a quote. It's a quote from, I think one of the guys who started us today where he says sort of in your 20s, risk all you can. In your, what is 30s, learn all you can. In your 40s, earn all you can, in your 50s, lead all you can, and in your 60s, try and get out. So it's a quote I read, I don't know, 30 years ago probably in a business book. And I think I so agree with it. And I try to do quite a bit of mentoring and coaching of younger people. And I really think this whole, much like you say, the sort of hesitation that people have, the older we get, the more we hesitate. So I love talking to younger people about it because they're more willing to just take a plunge and I so agree with you. It's so I think it's much better as half good decision today than a really bad or really good decision three months down the line. It's going to just get moving, keep moving. So I totally agree and I think younger people are better at that and people just get so risk averse with age.

That is a perfect summary of why you want to keep moving. You want to go and until you go you're not going to know. You're always going to doubt. So thanks so much.

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