0156: HABITS | Strategies for Success Habit Formation with Mark Powers

Ea interviews, episode 156, inspiration, transformation, success stories and the imperfect action round. Seven days a week, join Mario Ficcini for today's expert Authority Effect interview. I don't know about you, but I love learning from friendly, ambitious people who have had success. And I'm very thankful for the show because I get to interview them on a regular basis. And today is no different. I have Mark Powers, an inventor and an author, a speaker and business expert. And we're going to be talking about how to grow your business, what it takes to build relationships, the important things. Have you ever wanted to invent a product? He's done it and I'm going to let him share what he's doing with that right after I bring him up and we thank our sponsor. How would you like to grow your wealth? Easier than you think. With the change you probably don't notice anyhow automatically. That's why I started the compounding interest snowball investing with acorns and advise you do too. Get started simply and easily today@eainterviews.com ACORNS Here he is, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Mark Powers. Mark, how are you feeling today?

Hey, I am feeling fantastic, Mario. Thanks for having me. How about your stuff?

I'm feeling great. I'm excited to have you on because I've seen what you're doing and it's very inspiring.

Thank you. I've been told I move at the speed of now.

I like that. So why entrepreneurship? Why business?

Boy, why entrepreneurship? Why business? I enjoy people. I enjoy exploring the outer limits of possibility. I enjoy just everything I can do to be someone better than I was yesterday. And I found as an entrepreneur you're constantly challenging yourself, you're constantly challenging an industry and you're trying to do things in some cases that no one's ever done before or trying to make things a little bit more efficient and better. I think those are probably the top reasons helping people too.

And I love that you've done it in so many facets because you have your product, you have your clients, you have your multiple businesses. And have you had this knack since an early age just to want to improve things?

Yeah, you know, it's funny.

Actually. I'll share a little story I've never shared with anybody. And I was literally probably about 8 years old when I first wanted to be an entrepreneur. I grew up in an entrepreneur family for the most part. And as an eight year old boy, I just needed to find something that keep me out of trouble. Right. So my brother and I Actually started making or repairing bicycles. We were in the BMX and freestyle and all those tricks kind of riding bikes, and we started fixing bikes around the neighborhoods. And I mean, I think that's kind of how it got started. And then from there, just, you know, over the years, I traveled a lot and saw a lot and met a lot of really good people and had some really good ideas. Now it's time to get to work and try to bring some of those ideas to fruition.

I love that. What age were you when you were.

Doing all that.

Traveling? Most of my 20s and 30s.

The bike repair.

Oh. I was eight years old.

I started my first company at 12.

Wow, nice.

And I remember I had. Do you remember dyno?

I did. In fact, my brother Todd rode a dyno. I had a Haro.

Okay. I had the comp.

Which. Which one?

The dyno comp.

That is exactly what my brother had. Yep, yep. Not going to tell you what color was it, but he had a pink dyno comp.

Oh, no kidding. I got the black with the green splash on it. I could ride it backwards. And.

I rode it two streets backwards.

Did you really? Yep. Look at you go kicking the tire on the back.

What's that?

Riding it back was. While you're kicking the tire as a freestyle bike. Used to do. Freestyle.

Sitting on the handlebars, riding it backwards. Pedaling backwards.

Oh, okay. Yeah, I've done. Yeah. Haven't done that.

There was. It was cool. Just, I mean, even in the engineering, with that, with the gyro on the handlebars and just. I mean, I love the idea of people having ideas and just going, let's make this. I mean, planes, cars, trains, anything and.

Even what you've created. Why don't you talk about your product?

Yeah, it's my current mindset right now.

I invented the step flame back in 2010, and I wanted a better way to enhance my own fire experience. So, literally, on a Friday night, 2010, after a couple bottles of wine.

Started to realize, wow, there's got to be a better way than having to spend most of my time maintaining this fire. I want to start enjoying a fire.

After a couple hours of trying to brainstorm, the very next day, I went down to my home office, opened up Photoshop and Illustrator, and I started just kind of putting together some ideas. And I came up with 17 product designs. I was so excited and so determined. And at this time, I was married. And I brought up that morning. Her name is Melissa. When I got done designing, I said, look, and she goes, oh, you found a product online? I said, no, this is our product. I just invented this, I just designed it. By the way, I might have sent an email to a buddy of mine in the distribution. I wasn't a company yet, I didn't even have a patent yet.

So my buddy got it and he goes, mark, this is a really good idea. If you take this to market, I will carry and distribute your product. I said, give me some time. So literally about six months goes by. I started doing aggressive research and development. Heat test product, the type of metals. And we went through a lot of product. It started out as a three tier. It was too big, literally. I had, my neighbor came over next door, I had a foot flame shooting out my fireplace and I was doing a lot of testing. Come to find out a two tier was the best way to go. Long story short, I go to Orlando to the Hearth Patio Barbecue Expo, largest indoor outdoor patio expo in the world. And I just wanted to see if I can find some retailers and hopefully a manufacturer. So I'm down here for almost four days judging. The day of judging, I find out I'm nominated for a product award. I didn't know what that meant. I honestly just became a new company at this time. I took a risk. I wasn't even, I didn't even have my patent yet. But I needed to see if there was some real substance behind this product, some interest. So the day of the judging, we're all in this big cathedral room, whatever. This big room almost looks like you're at the Emmy awards and it's called the besto award. My name gets called up on the big Jumbotron. They have a picture of me, my product, and I end up winning the most innovative product award in the United States. And it's called the best award for this category. This is the first time in 17 years that the HPVA has awarded a first time entry startup company. I had industry people scratching their head like who is this guy? What is this product products companies like Napoleon Weber, I mean big brands in the industry. So I walked away. I'm like, well it's confirmed. People like the product. Right away, manufacturers started reaching out to me. After a careful selection, I picked hise company out of St. Louis, Missouri. I was very adamant about having a US product at that time still, it still was manufactured in St. Louis and I didn't want to run it as a company though because I was still running my business as other companies that I had my wine publication. I was just getting ready to launch My wine brand, Malmar Wines, so I licensed to them for five years. So we've been in Home Depot, Lowe's, Walmart, Amazon still are, and the product sells. And right now, I was. About a month ago, I get this call from the producers of Shark Tank. We saw your product. We want to learn more. Can you pitch to us in Detroit? That was two weeks ago. No, three weeks ago. And last week, I get the phone call from the producers out of Los Angeles. I made it to the next round. So that's what I was doing.

Congratulations.

Thank you. So I've been busy, you know, I've been busy getting ready for Shark Tank. I've been busy to get this product to the next level. And then obviously. And my other stuff I'm working on. So staying focused.

So I have no doubt where you're going in the future, but let's rewind a little bit because you just so casually mentioned a few things in there, and there's a few things we didn't even. You didn't even mention. And I want to know what kind of mindset does it take to go, I don't have the patent. I don't have this. I don't have this. I don't have that. I'm a do it anyway.

What type of a mindset?

Because there's so many people that go. Even recently, someone said to me, they said something, and it was like they couldn't see what I see, so they kind of downplayed it. And I was. And I just. I just kind of brush it off now. Like, I'm not even gonna explain myself. I'm not speaking to a thousand people in the audience.

Whatever.

I got stuff to do. But it's just. It kind of saddens me because a lot of people don't have it. It's like, I'll believe it when I see an attitude.

Right.

And you have to see. I know. You have to see it in your mind first. How do you. What's your experience with having the mindset of none of this exists and I'm going to make it.

Oh, how do you do that? So one, I think. I mean, hold on a second. I'm so sorry. I'm stubborn. I really am. I am somebody who will. You'll never tell me I can't do something because I will. I'll just do it to spite people in most cases. But, you know, I'm a smart guy. I do a lot of research. I'm not going to chance anything. I'm going to make sure that If I do start up a new venture or a product or have an idea, I'm going to vet it through and do my research. As a marketer for 25 years, I'm used to that. I'm used to understanding product development and doing the necessary research, understanding audiences and audience segmentation and trying to get them to want, you know, desire my product and convert and buy. So my mindset is if as long as I have a few checkpoints, it's a valid idea, there's a market need, I can. There's a problem that I can solve. I don't have to reinvent the wheel. I just need to be able to make it more efficient or, you know, just a little better. Then I'm good to go. So, for example, step flame. I'm not the first person. I didn't invent the fire grade, but I sure did take it to a new level, right? And by adding a second tier to it, by adding a removable ash pan, I made cleaning easy. I made it. I centralized heat. I give you a full, bold fire experience. And I give. I mean, it's beautiful. It's a gorgeous product. It assemble. Assembles in less than 60 seconds. No tools needed. So these are all the kind of things when I'm building a product or coming up with an idea, I'm trying to think of application. Where can it be used? Home retail, mountain resorts, mountain communities. Those are just to name a few. You know, when, When I. So the mindset is you just gotta believe in yourself. You gotta love yourself, believe in yourself, and then do your homework and make sure that you've got the, you know, as much as you can do, like a check and balance as much as you can. But guess what? Doesn't mean it's gonna. It's gonna work. You might fail. And I have failed so many times. Mario and I will continue to fail. But I learn, you know, you gotta be passionate, crazy too.

Little crazy juice. There has to be a part of it.

I think you need a healthy dose of it, not just a little.

Maybe it might.

That's a perfect segue into the second part of what do you do when it doesn't work? How do you pick yourself up and keep going?

So I've had that. Even with a step lane, I've had moments, because when I typically create a product, most of the time I'm two, three. Sometimes I've been told five years ahead of an innovation curve. And in this particular case, step lane was about five years ahead of itself for market readability or market Readiness. And so you get to market, you spend a tremendous amount of time and money and effort. It looks like everything's ready to go. But then sales don't happen. It just took time. It took about a year after we launched to really start getting progress there because manufacturing costs were too high, our wholesale, our retail prices were too high, distribution wasn't as strong, marketing wasn't as strong. So these are things that we were just like, oh my God, I'm failing, this is gonna fail. And.

It just started to and it hasn't yet really taken off, it's still growing, it's consistent. But it hasn't just leaped into the marketplace and just, you know, just at every shelf of every store around you us. So that is something I'm excited for, for this upcoming opportunity. If I do get some, you know, when I do get accepted, I guess on Shark Tank that that's what, that's, that's going to help solve some of those problems. But outside of that, you just got to keep going. You know, failure is part of the successful process. You know, you have to keep going, you have to get up, you have to be tough, you have to be thick skinned, you have to be humble. And you have to know that every single day if you're doing something that better you to make yourself stronger, better, you're going to be a happy person and guess what? It's going to reflect or other people are going to notice that and you're going to make other people happy and wanting to be around you.

Why do you think so many people are afraid of failure?

It's just how it's the fabric in which humans are designed. We are not easy creatures to deal with pain and suffering and it's a lot of pain and suffering when you fail. Some people don't want to take the financial risk. Some people, it may not be a financial risk, it might be, I'm not, you know, maybe they're not good in front of being the face of a company, having to be in front of, you know, cameras like this.

I think people are comfortable following. You know, that's why the majority of humans or people work, right. Nothing against that. But those that have jobs want that security in their mind, that is security. I my best experience jobs were not secure, right. Most of the time I get a job and for whatever reason they have their right and reason to let you go or all the project's done, we don't need you anymore. Well, being self employed I said I'm going to make sure that I always stay Busy. I'm always staying ahead of the curve of that I get the money and everything that I was doing when I was employed. So it's not always easy as you. And, you know, I'm sure, Mario, being an entrepreneur, you, you, you're up and you're, you're going to bed late. You're, you're constantly improving who you are as a person. And it's, it's, it's a battle at times, you know, but, boy, the successors are there. You gotta, you gotta embrace them.

I want to dive deep into your clients that you help. What is one of the biggest success stories you've had for someone you've helped?

Biggest?

Well, I've worked from solopreneurs all the way to some of the biggest brands on the planet. And some of those brands are like, you know, General Motors, Ford, and Adobe.

When I was at gm, for example, I was a global senior web strategist, and I traveled a lot, and I was responsible for how they went to market online and worked with just an amazing group of people around the world. And when I joined that organization back in 2010, sorry, 2006, I left in October 2010. I was tasked to help transform General Motors in terms of how they go to market online. The web strategy, right. For the most part. So their web strategy at the time was pretty fragmented. It was siloed, and they spent millions and millions upon millions of dollars on redundant processes and tools. So at the end of the day, after three years of working closely with my teams across the world and with really good agency partners, we built and implemented a strategy that saved General Mose. When I left over $250 million, when they were spending a tremendous amount more, I mean, it was. There was a lot of money they were spending, so we saved them a lot of money. That was a big. That was a big. And they still follow the strategy to this day, I'm told.

Some smaller companies, I mean, some smaller brands we've launched. You know, I've been involved with other publications and brands in the health and fitness space and taking them from a startup to hitting their first million and making 20, 30% growth year after year, I don't know. I think the biggest reward is when you truly help somebody achieve what they're looking to obtain as a goal, whether it's a revenue goal, launching new product, hiring new people, being a stronger leader in their community, a stronger leader in their home. I mean, that's a sense of accomplishment. Those are levels of success. You know, those are. Some of those are Priceless, honestly.

Yeah, I love hearing these because I get the pleasure of asking people. And, you know, I've had other VIP guests like yourself, and they're going, yeah, I've worked with this celebrity, this, that, the other thing. And, you know, you're just rattling off, you're like, oh, gm, Adobe, some smaller companies, and it's like, these are huge companies. But some of my favorite success stories are all also, you know, the person you were able to go, I don't know if this is possible to. It is possible. And then take them to the next level where you help them grow. That's a huge success story because it's a lot, you know, GM losing $200 million or Adobe losing 100 million, whatever, they don't care. That's like 10 bucks for him. But someone going from 100,000 to a million, that's a huge jump. That's like life changing.

Oh, yeah, yeah. And, you know, I don't always have those kind of stories. Sometimes in my ventures especially, I've. I've lost a lot, you know, but you learn how to. To get back up and go back out there and fight. And every time I've done that, Mario, I'll tell you, I become a better and stronger person. And when I do take on a new client, I am a better.

I guess, resource for them than before because of the learnings that I, you know, embraced. And it's a constant every single day.

Yeah, I would have to agree. The. The experience you can't get back. People are like, oh, don't you wish you were XYZ age? I hear all the time. And it's like, no, because there is nowhere near the confidence in the experience. When you have one client, it's a lot different than 3, 300 plus 1,000 plus, you know, the experience you can't get back. And the confidence, yes, it goes a little bit up and through the roof. And at that point, you're untouchable as far as I'm concerned.

Absolutely. Yeah.

So with everything you've done, tell me a little bit about your show. What made you get into wanting to produce your own show?

Well, that's. So I met. He's a good friend of mine. He's like my brother. His name is Steven Edward, very well known in Detroit. His tagline is I'm Stephen Edward and I sell Detroit. And I met him at one of our favorite little hangouts in Sterling Heights called Partridge creek. It's tower 59, little wine barn. And over some time, you know, met him there and Then I think probably like a couple months later, I started following him on the Internet there and all these different social channels. I really liked what he was doing in a real estate perspective at this time, I hadn't yet gotten my real estate license, and we just connected, and there was a lot of synergy there. So I was like, what if we took my marketing and your real estate and we. We brought something really magical, really powerful together? And then through that process, I went and got my real estate license. And so now I do have my license, but my focus is on the show is more the lifestyle side. Stephen is the expert in real estate. So when we start to talk about the show, we're like, well, we really got to do something unique and different. We want to disrupt real estate in such a positive way. Way. But how do we do that? Oh, we kept saying, well, we got to go beyond the listing, right? Beyond this listing. What is that all about? And literally, Mario, it's about 30 days later, we're sitting there talking about. Every time we talked about, we kept saying, piano listing. And I looked at him, and Stephen looks at me and goes, that's it. That's the name of our company. It's going to be the name of our show beyond the listings. So literally the next day, I secured all the. All the domains and incorporated and all the things that we need to do, start a new production company and our new journey together. So then we said, okay, we need to figure out what this show really means and the value that it's going to bring to those that watch. So we created the four pillars of our show. Real estate, people, community, and lifestyle. And we decided it's going to be about Detroit because Detroit is regaining its presence back on the world stage where it definitely belongs. And Detroit is a mega city, but yet it feels like this, you know, like this. This small little community, these neighborhoods, because the people are so powerful and so excited every day. I tell you, when you go down to Detroit, you talk to anybody, whether it's at a store, restaurant, walking down the street. Mario, you know this. I'm sure you ask anybody, how are you doing today? They greet you with such enjoyment, so much energy. And so we wanted to harness all of that that Detroit has right now and create something special. So our show beyond listing is all about the real estate. So the developers, investors that are coming to Detroit that are or in the greater Detroit that are building this mega city up to make it a connected, walkable community, you know, brings the real estate to life. Then the big companies and those that want to move to the city of Detroit, the people, right. And then the lifestyle in the community. So these are the things that we feel make the show amazing. So it was funny because Steven and I started producing all this content and then we're like, wow, we really got to get better at this. We need to hire a production team. So we invested in some. We own our own production and we started to produce content. And then I didn't even have.

A sizzle reel at this point. But I went to a buddy of mine at Amazon. This is a month and a half, two months ago, I think it was. And I reached out to him in San Francisco and he's head of all new content over the phone Mario, without him seeing anything. Now, I have a past history with this individual, so he knows what I'm capable of and he's seen work I've done. Within three days, Amazon signed us on for year one episode or season one of the unlisting. We actually start airing in a. I think it's now the 1st of May. As long as this virus stuff doesn't keep, you know, delaying things. Right. So as long as we can get production shot, we air on Amazon prime starting in the first week of May. So I mean, that's kind of how it started. And then it just evolved from there. And I'm excited.

Well, you should be. And congratulations on all your continued success. It's impressive and inspiring and I know it didn't come come easy for you.

Oh, no, still does.

Well, I have. I call this the wheel of whatever and we're going to spin the imaginary wheel while the other one's getting painted. But if you could have dinner with any one person, who would it be and why?

Oh my goodness. It would have to be my girlfriend, Amy Hawkins, because she's amazing. She's beautiful, she's intelligent, she's smart and she makes me laugh and she loves wine like I do.

That is a great answer and I think you just got some brownie points with her.

I make her feel that way every day. At least I try.

Well, that is, you should. That's a very good thing and I appreciate you for being honest about it. We are going to thank our sponsor and come back for the imperfect action round. Invest automatically, save for later and spend today. That's why I love acorns. I used to think spare change didn't make a difference and saving and investing was an old fashioned manual process. It's not. And it's a game changer if you're not Leveraging compounding interest in your business and life automatically you're missing out. Acorns not only makes saving and investing easy and automatic, it makes it even more valuable. By investing with diversified portfolios, spare changes, extra cash and rounding up everyday transactions. You can even set recurring monthly investments in the amount you desire to make. Good. Great. There is also a debit card option that will continue to help you save and invest even further when you spend plus no minimum balance and overdraft fees. Now for the cherry on top. They have partnered with 250plus companies and brands and growing with their Found Money program to invest back a percentage in into your account with the everyday purchases when you shop, two of which you're probably listening to this right now through an Amazon or Apple device. Get started profiting from your everyday life and business simply and easily today@eainterviews.com Acorns Once again, that's eainterviews.com Acorns and we are back with the Imperfect Action round. Mark, are you ready to take imperfect action?

Do it.

60 second answers the first one is what is the fastest path to the cash?

Fastest path to the cash. Be persistent and consistent.

I like that. Number two, what is the biggest problem you see your prospects making and the fastest way they can fix it.

Fastest?

You have to repeat that one. So sorry.

What is the biggest problem you see your prospects making in the fastest way they can fix it?

They need to be more consistent on their messaging and more creative instead of looking like everyone else. Creating noise across social streams and inboxes. Take time to create memorable messaging content.

I agree 150% with that one. Number three, what is the best way to maximize customer lifetime value?

Get them to love you. Take amazing care of your clients, show them results and they will show you love.

Again. Agree. And if you could just elaborate real quick, why is it so important to build relationships?

Well you have to have a relationship to get to that cash. You have to have a relationship to get repeated business from those customers. So you want to constantly be in that mode of. You know to me I was telling you about this earlier. It's about that human to human connection, right? Simplify everything we're doing. We're all inundated and busy with the day to day grind of our operations. But if we remember on the other end of that we see receiving message, that ad, that phone call, there's another human. So it's just. You know what I love the most about I think digital? It's our handshake moment in A digital way. And if you can make that trust, that connection with trust, honesty and show them that you truly care.

That makes the difference, all the difference in the world.

I love that. The human to human connection. What is a book that has helped you get through life and business?

Oh, I don't have one. Everyone asked me.

Let me rephrase that. What are a couple books that have helped you get through life and business?

I really like Richard Bryanson a lot. Screw business as usual because I don't know if you've read that, but any Maxwell Powers books. Not, no relation, but you know, I'm a big, I don't know, motivational and positive kind of book, kind of reader. Things that truly do, you know, self help, self development I guess is the category. So anything that helps me become better today than I was yesterday, that's the type of book I want to read. I don't, honestly, I don't have a favorite. I really don't.

Yeah, I mean I do read a lot, but they're mostly those self help improvement type books.

Richard Branson is one of my favorites also, so that's a good one.

Yeah. Well, I like him because as an entrepreneur.

He does what he wants to do and he truly evolves categories and he helps people and it's. You can either go out and, you know, live to work or as an entrepreneur you can say, I want to work to live and that's what I like to try to do. I want to work to live life the best I can. And so these types of books and authors and mentors, you know, that I try to circle myself with. I embrace and dive so deep into those experiences and those types of books and those types of. I get around those types of people.

Well, it definitely shows you've been radiated radiating it the whole time.

Thank you. I appreciate it. I love being on your show, Mario, and you keep up the great work. You are, you're an inspiration. Your show's amazing. You have great content and very impressed with your, your work. And we all have a lot of mutual friends too.

Well, I sincerely appreciate that. It does mean a lot because it was not easy to get to this point. So thank you very much. Where can people check you out more?

Well, my Facebook's probably the best way. I mean I kind of hit all my different products across my personal page. But you can go to Mark Powers or even Mark Allen Powers Inc. On Facebook. Those are the channels. I mean, Facebook is probably my best one. Instagram.

Excellent. I'll make sure that the links are on the show notes page for eainterviews.com and people can click there.

Yeah. And for the show you can, you know, I'll share this with you afterwards. You can put the links in, but it's beyond a listing.com and that's where we're going to start putting some updates and stuff on the show and when we're able to. So that's another resource.

Well, I'm looking forward to that because I know you guys are up to big things. It has been an absolute pleasure and again, congrats on all your continued success. Thank you for sharing with Expert Authority World.

My pleasure. Very, very honored to be a part of the show. Thank you.

All right, Expert Authority World, we have another great episode here today. I'll see you tomorrow. Have a great day and God bless. Why Every Business Needs a Book including yours. Would you like to save five plus hours with every prospect? Generate more leads and profit in your business? Now visit businessbookchecklist.com and learn how you can implement implement this in your business today. Spare change. How's that going to make a difference? I know that's what I thought before I started investing. With Acorns, throwing change in a jar is not very leverage and time consuming. But what about all the transactions you don't use cash for? You know, like majority, Acorns not only invest your spare change automatically with roundups, it also lets you add a preset amount to each transaction. Regardless, it's pretty inspiring to see how quickly and easily you can end up with a pile of cash instead. A pile of receipts. Get started simply and easily today@eainterviews.com Acorns Once again, that's eainterviews.com Acorns hey, thanks for listening to today's episode. I hope you got a lot out of it. I know I sure did. If you haven't done so already, I invite you to subscribe to the show and also be sure to check out eainterviews.com for complete show notes, the full interview video experience, links to the resources we mentioned, and more. Have a blessed day and I'll see you tomorrow.