0419 | Mark LaChance

Hi, my name is Mark Lachance and My website is marklachance.com and you're listening to EA interviews.

EA interviews episode 419, inspiration, transformation, success stories and the imperfect action round. Seven days a week. Join Mario Ficcini for today's expert authority effect interview. Have you ever wanted to grow your business? Do you think it's just a form of luck? You see people with ads out, you see people cold calling, you see people doing a myriad of different things. I know I do. And I've always wondered how come some people make it and some people don't. Well, that's why I'm excited to have Mark Lachance on today's episode. And he's going to be talking about the lucky formula. Do you think you have it in your business? I'm going to bring him up right after we thank our sponsor. Every business needs a book, including yours. And that's why I'm launching my new book to help you regardless of where you think your current writing abilities are. Visit eapublishingmethodbook.com today to learn the seven steps to publish and promote your nonfiction, lead and profit generating business book in eight weeks. Once again, that's eapublishingmethodbook.com.

Here he is, ladies and gentlemen, Mark Lachance. Mark, how are you feeling today?

I'm doing phenomenal. Thank you for having me, Mario.

Oh, I'm excited to dove right in. I once I saw your qualifications and all the people you help and I was just so intrigued because people think I'm going to start a business. It's going to, you know, we all seen that picture where it says the line of success and it's just like you start here and magically everything happens overnight. And I don't know about you, but my experience has been not that. And when I saw that you have broken it down and you help people overcome all of this, I mean, it's like what a great gift you can give to anyone because would you agree that there's a wide variety of entrepreneurs out there?

Well, I think yes, there's probably 8.5 billion entrepreneurs out there. Or potentially, yes, there's a wide variety.

So what do you think the dilemma is that some people succeed and some people don't?

Well, I mean, there's a lot of reasons, right, for success and failure. But let's talk success. I think it's huge, hugely about mindset. It's about, you know, sort of a knowing. Wayne Dyer said this word. It's a knowing do you know you're going to be successful? Do you know, you know that you're going to make it? And if you know it, you can succeed. But you know, fear is. Actually I was with a group of pretty high level entrepreneurs this weekend. We went to a Dallas Cowboy game, was phenomenal. I was on the field, Mario. I actually threw a football and caught a football in the end zone on the field after.

Oh, how fun is that?

It was pretty cool. Anyway, so we were, I was with Dr. Ben, Ben Hardy. Benjamin Hardy. He's written several books.

I had him on, I had him on the show.

Oh, you did? Cool. Yeah, he was a great, great guy to chat with. And we were talking about, you know, success and failure and fear. You know, we came to the sort of the realization or, you know, the conversation steered towards fear being the biggest factor in, you know, failure. So I'd have to say it is fear and I know it's fear because there were times in my life when I was, you know, living in fear and not successful whatsoever. And then once you figure out and learn how to, to flip that on its, on its head and flip fear into, into confidence, then, you know, everything changes.

So let's talk about fear for a second because I know people, oh, false evidence appearing real and you know, inspirational quote over here and all, just don't worry about the fear, do it anyway. But the reality is we all have it, we all experience it. Where does it stem from?

I think a lot stems from your past, from your childhood. I mean, how many people are told that they're worthless? How many people. Parents say you'll never amount to anything. So if you're told something over and over and over, eventually you're going to believe it. I mean, Mari, we're both in media, right? And what's media all about? Media is all about telling people what to believe. And so if you listen to the media and you listen to your parents and you listen to your circle of influence, then you're probably not going to make it. So. So you need to understand all that and use a formula to get you out of that.

So let's talk about your. Let me go a little bit deeper there because I, I've. It was, it's been one of my biggest struggles because I've always been optimistic, want to help people. And you know, you hear this stuff like, what if you don't make it? What if that. But I just knew even, you know, when you're playing that mental game back and forth, it's like, this might not Work. But I absolutely despise and hate this other option for me. But it's like, which one do you believe in? Do you think there's a way to ever just fully get rid of it? So it's like you're completely immersed over here or there's always going to be back and forth?

No, no, I do. I absolutely, I mean, and I, if you read my book, which I think you did, Mario, you, you probably remember my, my secret weapon. And I didn't learn this one until about 10 years ago, but the secret weapon is actually meditation. And I can remember. I'll give you a story around that I can remember WA. At three in the morning after I launched my company in 2009, a payments company. So we grew from one employee to over 215 within about six to eight months. Really quick growth hypergrowth. And in that business, it takes anywhere between 24 and 26 months to break even. Typically a cash flow break even and then all of a sudden you're up from there. But, you know, month 12, 13, 14, 15, so on and so forth. I was waking up in the middle of the night having nightmares that I was going to get fired by the board, replaced and blah, blah, blah. But it was just fictitious, right? It was a crazy story I was telling myself. And it wasn't until meditation that I learned to block out that fictitious voice. And you know, amongst other things that I talk about in the book. But, you know, like, for example, changing the narrative, changing the story you tell yourself, changing, changing the people you hang around with, changing, you know, the narrative that you're, the conversations you have on a regular basis. So there's all tips and tricks on how to get out of, you know, fear and get into confidence.

That's so encouraging because I know, you know, we both have books and audiobooks and I know those are a good thing. But let's talk about the info going in versus the people you're around.

Explain the, the question again, the info going in. What do you mean by that?

So I know some people go, you know, if you read the Secrets, if you read one book a week, no, you need to be reading a book a day and you need to be doing this like it's like you, how do you balance the, so much going in? And I know, I agree it should be positive without a doubt in my mind. But you can, I, I, I do feel you can be doing all the positive stuff in the world and you're around the wrong people. And it's like I, I feel like I Need a bath.

Like, I don't know another way to splay it. I've been at some highs. Get off stage, help a room of people. And then it's like, blah. It's like, what is going on?

Well, but it's also not so much how much information you put in, it's. It's what you do with that information. You can read a thousand books a week and go nowhere if you're not putting in the action.

Yeah, you gotta.

Exactly. You have to. You have to implement. So let's say, for example, you know, I'm looking at a book on my bookshelf over there. I'm looking at net worth. Tell to Win. So Tell to Win, for example, is a great one. So that's by Peter Guber. He's one of the best storytellers I've ever heard on stage and met. So I bought his book, obviously. But if I don't learn how to tell a story properly, if I don't learn how to get emotion, evoke emotion, then it's not gonna work. I read about it, but what if I don't practice? Right? If I don't put it into practice, it's not gonna work. I could have wasted $10,000 on a conference to hear Peter speak. But if I don't do anything about it, I mean.

Exactly. Here's an amazing example. I'm definitely not going to give you any names, but I was in one of the high level, we'll call it Masterminds, and I was in it for a couple years and there was this group of people that go year after year after year after year and they don't move up financially, mentally, physically or whatever. And you're just like, what are you here for? Why? But they don't implement. They just don't implement. So you have to, if you're going to read something, actually put it to work. So.

Yeah, I agree. I was going to tease you and be like, why can't you say the name?

But.

Don'T worry, we're just live.

Exactly.

So let's talk about your formula specifically. And I love what you did and I want you to share it with people. So I think there's a lot of people who want to know how to get lucky. So what's your take on it?

Well, in this sense, luck can be interchanged with success. So let's just put that right on the table. So getting lucky is also interchangeable with getting successful.

So basically the premise of the book is it's a formula, it's stacking the odds in your favor, and you can cash in on success. So the formula itself is I plus E plus A equals luck, which means internal mastery, which is the I plus E, which is external mastery, plus A, which is taking action, equals luck. So I'll give you a few examples about internal mastery. So, like I said before, narrative. What do you tell yourself when you wake up? What do you do? Do you tell yourself, oh, it's going to be a bad day or, I'm going to own this day? What do you tell yourself? What stories do you tell yourself? And then if you're telling yourself how bad the day is going to be, well, I teach you in the book, if you. If you want to implement.

On how to change the story and change the narrative of the voice in your head, the constant voice in your head. So that's internal. I mean, there's 10 points of internal. I don't want to get into all of them, but. And then you have to do three of them. So one of them is meditation, like I spoke about earlier, right? So that, that teaches you how to focus, Number one, how to get that crazy little voice out of your head. Number two is affirmations. So, you know, what do you. Again, what do you tell yourself in the morning when you get up? Well, I tell myself how great I am and how great the day is going to be and how awesome my family is and how excited I am and how awesome my company is and things like that. Right away. Right away. And then if you're ever in a lull, there's something called acknowledgement. There's a trick or a tip called acknowledgement. So write down 20 things in your past that you've done amazing, right? So there are 20 things everybody has done amazing. Everybody. So did you win a jiu jitsu tournament? Did you win a spelling bee? Did you, you know, did you get a gold star, whatever it may be? Did your, you know, your father tell you how great you are? So those are 20 things that, that, you know, you can always revert back to when you're going down a negative spiral. And it can get you out of it, right? So those are. Those are examples of internal mastery. And there's again, like, there's seven others. And now external mastery. And I'll give you a story around that, please. So when I first. When I first moved, I moved to Montreal from Boston in 2001, and myself and the CEO of the company that we launched, we would go to lunch every single day, right? And we'd have a massive lunch and then dessert. Dessert every single lunch. But guess what would happen after that big, you know, plate of pasta with a chocolate cake. You felt good, you felt good for about five minutes. And then when I got to my desk, I was literally comatose for about an hour. Right. So are you in luck catching mode if you're comatose on your desk? And the answer is obviously no question.

Is it Thanksgiving?

No, it was every day.

So the point is. So an external mastery is the nutrition you put in your body. So if you're a 2 on 10 in energy, your chances of getting, you know, getting lucky in business are probably 2 on 10. But if you're a 10 on 10 every day. So for example, I think Mario, you saw me have this, this shake, which is, you know, blueberries and strawberries and protein, blah, blah, blah. So my energy is 10 on 10 all day long. It's just after lunch, you know, 20 years ago, I would have been comatose. Right now, Right now, I'm on my game. So if you're a 10 on 10 all day long, you will catch luck. You will have the opportunity to get serendipitous. Actually, myself and Mr. Hardy were talking about serendipity this weekend as well. So nutrition is one of them. Supplementation goes along with that. Working out, moving your body again increases your energy and increases your vibration. I can go on and on, but those are some key factors. And one key, as we mentioned it earlier, is your circle of influence. So if the conversations you're having are wrapped around how, oh my God, the economy's terrible and inflation's through the roof and blah, blah, not once this weekend did we talk about inflation. Not once this weekend did we talk about the economy being bad. We only spoke about opportunity. So I was with three, four high end CEOs of their companies and kind of titans of industry, and we spoke about opportunity only. So your circle of influence is a critical factor on how successful you'll be in the future.

And I don't think I've ever asked anyone this. I've heard the circle of influence, you know, that you're the equal of five people. And you know, everyone's heard that. Maybe not everyone, but I'd say everyone like us that's done this for any length of time. Like, we, we know the, what are the books you're supposed to say how to win friends and influence people and all this. And. But would you say, what do you think the core reason is? Would you say it's because the people you're having those conversations, they're influencing you 8 to 10 to 12 hours of the day. Like they're the biggest influence versus the book you might read for 2 to 3 hours or audiobook for 4 to 5 or whatever the case is.

That's part of it, but one. Another part is I used to work with a gentleman, Dr. Srini Pillay, and he wrote the Science behind the Law of Attraction. And one of the things that he wrote in the book and he taught me is that the mind is susceptible or ventures towards negativity or low vibrations. So that's why you want to get as many low vibrations away from you and out of your life as possible, because you will always be attracted to the low vibration or to the negativity.

Just by nature of being alive in.

The world, by nature of being a human. That's what it is. So you want to cut out all negativity.

It kind of reminds me of like planning in soil and stuff. Like, you don't really need to do much for weeds to appear, but you do need to work to get rid of them.

Absolutely. Absolutely. You have to work to get rid of them. And you have to work to cultivate your brain and keep your brain. I'll call it pure pristine.

Wow. Is there anything more you want to say about the external area?

Yeah, I mean, I know you could.

Do an hour on each one of these, but.

I feel like you had a little bit more and you were just being aware of time. But we, we got enough.

Well, external. And I'm looking at my bookshelf right there. So what are you. What are you consistently feeding your brain? We spoke about, you know, reading a thousand books a week, but are you reading the right books? Right. Are you reading, you know, I'll just read a few off the Blue Ocean Strategy or Extreme Ownership or the Art of the Deal or, you know, Phil Knight, you know, the Shoe Dog or Elon Musk, or are you reading those types of books and Tell to win and net Worth and blah, blah, blah. So are you reading these types of books and are you implementing? Right. Are you going to conferences and not just being like those people I referred to earlier, but are you actually implementing? Are you. So, for example, this weekend was a spin off from my strategic coach group. So I'm part of the. It's called Free Zone now. So it's the top group, but in this group you have movers and shakers. So are you taking advantage of all the people that you meet? Right. Are you using, you know, your narrative and your mindset and your. And your Ability to cast vision, to influence the people in the group and to get to the next level. So it's taking action is the critical factor here. Total critical factor. Personal development. And then what you do with that, personal development. So again, like I mentioned, going to events, going. I'm sure, Mario, you go to events all the time, and I'm pretty sure with the, with the way you dress, you're dressed a heck of a lot nicer than I am right now. You're, you know, you get people attracted to you because you have the beautiful hair and the tie. Look at the tie, Mario.

I appreciate the compliments. I. Yeah, I remember starting off years ago, just going to stuff and then putting on some of my own, and it's like, you know, both sides of it. You know, I want to create those environments that do attract the right people that they do want to be around and go, wow, this is someone I want to know and introduce people to. Because I commented earlier today on someone asking about, you know, should you be professional on camera or should you be outside? Inside? I go, if you are making me a priority and we're having a good conversation, I frankly don't care where you're at. I know people that are in the most professional setup in the world and they're texting on their phone, looking around, doing all kinds of stuff. If you're sitting in a hot tub or a mud pit and you're focused and you're sharing good information, like, what does it matter? I. I like being around the right people as well and creating those environments. So.

Well, it's. It's how they vibrate, right. Are you. Are you drawn to them? Do they vibrate at your level? Right. So if they do and they're not arrogant and they provide value to you, then, you know, I mean, the group this weekend was phenomenal. Everybody looked you in the eye when they spoke to you. Nobody was, you know, buried in their phone. And, you know, I don't think the group, anybody would have been there that was like that anyway. So, yeah, it's. I like to put myself in situations where the people provide you value. Provide them value. And it's just a positive feedback loop.

Yeah, same here. So I want to, since we're on a roll here with the taking action and everything, I want to do a. Go a little bit deeper with taking that, because I think people know take action. And, you know, obviously we talked about, you have to implement it, and I'm in full agreement, but, okay, you have the business, you're around the right People reading the books, you want to take action. Is there better action? Is there worse action? And what have you found with all your successful companies that. How do you know? Like you said with the books, this is what I should be focusing on something versus maybe my team. Should you have a team?

Well, I can answer that question by telling you another story from 2010 this time. So it was. It's actually that period is, I think, when I had the most growth of my life. It was from 2007 to about 2012. I had, like, tremendous, meteoric growth. But anyway, 2010, in 2009, I launched the company, and again, like I told you earlier, we grew it to about 215 employees.

But I was a year and a half into this thing and sitting at my desk and just. I wanted to literally throw my computer out the window and probably jump after the computer as well, because it was. I just. I didn't understand how to run a business. I mean, I was way in over my head. I had a thousand unopened emails, and I was like, I can't do this. I just don't even want to do this. And it's funny, because I had just about two years earlier, gone through a traumatic, almost depression, anxiety. You know, I had almost gone bankrupt. Like, this close to bankruptcy. And I dug myself out, and I was financially capable and financially back on my feet, but I wanted to quit the business. That actually got me out of that, only because I didn't know how to run a business, right? So then. So then what I did was I said I needed a coach. I never had a business coach before, Never. And I said, all right, I have to swallow my pride, drop my ego, and get somebody. I'm not the smartest guy in the world. I have to realize that, right? And that's the problem. I call it the entrepreneur's dilemma. I don't know if I coined it, but I'll say I did. But the entrepreneur's dilemma is the fact that every entrepreneur thinks they need to be the smartest person in the room. They think they need to know everything that's going on in their business. They think they need to be involved in every decision, which is ridiculous, right? And I learned that was ridiculous after I went to. So it was right around my birthday, which is in December 2010. I was looking for a coach, business mentor. And Tony Robbins kept on coming up, you know, business mastery. Business mastery. And it was 10 grand. And I'm like, 10 grand for an event sounds or seems or feels expensive, but I needed it, right? So I signed up and it was like a hit in the face. I'm like, wow, I'm the problem. My ego is the problem. I have to know everything. Like, I shouldn't have been on any distribution lists. I shouldn't have, you know. So anyway, so after that, I found out I was the issue. I found out, you know, I was hiring only yes men and women. And I was. I was hiring people that, you know, that. That couldn't think for themselves or couldn't make decisions on their own. And I realized that I was the problem. So I came back. I literally had to fire three of my senior managers, replace them with people who have, you know, have a. An opinion or strong leaders and strong, you know, had capable work. Very, very capable. And it was unbelievable. It was like a complete transformation. I went from a thousand emails to like 20 a day.

Nice.

Crazy. And so basically, I mean, you probably read the same story and think and grow rich about Henry Ford. You're in Detroit, right? So Ford had the same thing. He was like, you know, the reporters interviewed him and they all asked him, they said, well, I don't think you're very smart. Something I'm paraphrasing, obviously, but something to the effect that, you know, we don't believe you're the smartest person in the world. You might be the richest, but we don't think you're very smart. He's like, ask me any question. And they asked him a question, and he'd pick up his phone and call his chief marketing officer and get the answer, or call his chief financial officer or call his head of operations or call. That's what you have. You have to be the marionette. You have to be, you know, sort of the puppet master. Putting the right place, the right people in the right place and getting out of their way. And it makes your life easier, their life easier, and you hyper grow. So that's if I can give any tips. It's put people around you that are smarter than you, that are. That are better than you, that are faster than you, and your company's gonna mega grow and you're gonna have a heck of a lot less stress.

That is a huge tip. And I remember one of the first times I was like, I had some people in place and I was like, they're helping, but I feel like I'm still having to exert a ton of energy just to get productivity. And the second I let them go and swapped them with other people that were bringing stuff to me, like, hey, have you considered this? This this, I'm like, no, absolutely. I didn't even know this existed. But thank you. Let's run with these two.

Absolutely. I mean, and so I'll give you a great example. Right now I'm running a digital marketing company and TikTok is our biggest revenue source. About 62% of our revenue is generated from TikTok. Do you think I've ever created one TikTok in my life? Not one. Do you think, you know, do you think I do any of the media buying? Do you think I do, you know, any of the, the content creation? None of that. So you have to put people in place. Like, I'm literally slow on my phone, I mean with technology, but I have 20 somethings that are unbelievably fast and incredibly smart, incredibly capable that, you know, and I don't have an ego about it. It's like, good, that's your skill set. You do it. And then I'll just, you know, when, when you have questions, you come back and we'll talk about it. So that you've got to drop your ego. I mean, the worst thing again is that entrepreneur's dilemma. If you want to be stuck, then try to do everything yourself. That's, that's going to be anyway.

Too many people doing that, huh?

Well, I mean, we spoke about this weekend, so interesting. We said, what's the percentage of entrepreneurs that you think actually can make it and make it big? And I think it's a very, very small percentage because that ego gets in the way. Fear gets in the way. And a lot of that is what I write about in the book is how to get rid of the ego and how to get rid of that fear. Because that's, you know, again, getting back to fear. Fear is debilitating. Deer in headlights. You're not making any decisions, you're not going anywhere. And then once. So imagine if you have fear and ego, that's even worse. Right?

So cement block one foot, chain the other.

Exactly, exactly. So you, you know, look, you need to understand how to conquer both of those things and both those things are your enemy.

I wanted to ask you about the TikTok ads in your agency because clearly that's going well for you too. And do you think TikTok ads are a strategy for all businesses or is it only certain ones you're finding are having success?

Look, if you're a personality, I think it could work for anybody, right? So I'll just give you a great example. So another guy in My group is Dr. Steven Palter. He's the, he's the probably the world leading fertility doctor in the world. Right. He's an older gentleman. He's, he's, he's. How can I say this and be nice to Doc because he's a good friend of mine. He's not in the best shape of his life, let's put it that way. But he's a rock star on TikTok. And why? Right, because he's intelligent, he's creative, he's generating a ton of traffic. He's generating, Right. So anybody that's, that's creative, that wants to learn and be consistent can use TikTok to be successful. Yes. So anybody can, can make something happen. And if you look at the, the demographics, right, it's not only Gen Z and it's not only women. It's. Everybody's on, I mean it's skewing high. Older and older every day. So the demographics are, you know, I find that, that you know, most of the people are move switching from Facebook, Instagram to TikTok. So the demographics, yeah, we're, yeah, we're seeing that a lot.

And if you look at the earnings, right, I mean Facebook, their stock, I want to say cut in half this year.

So yeah, it's been dropping since Q4 21.

Exactly, exactly. And you know, there's many reasons for that. I don't know if you ever try to buy ads on Facebook, it's quite a challenge, let's just put it that way. They're not the best at customer service. So if you want to talk about arrogance hurting a company, I think that probably you can point the finger at that right now. So.

Yeah, I've in Instagram, Facebook, they're both the same company. So I've been hearing people switching over, but that's one thing I think people overlook is what if this platform goes away? What about this one? What if this changes? It's always changing. But at the end of the day the activities for you to be successful are very similar. You know, 20 years ago, maybe it was the email. While it's that diligent is a good, good content or you know, are you putting something worth reading or watching out, whether it's on Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, whatever. You know, I live stream to five or six different platforms. Some people are on one or the other, some are on both. I don't care. I just want to be able to reach them and bring them.

You, there you go. So look, are you bringing value and are you doing it consistently? That's it, that's really, it doesn't matter what platform. You said it right. Are you bringing in. But are you speaking the language of that platform? Right, so you can't speak the same language on Facebook as you do on TikTok, as you do on Instagram. It's, it's, you just have to understand how you deliver to that medium. But the point is, yes, as long as you're intelligent and you can, you know, sort of shift your strategy, you'll do, you'll do, you'll be successful.

Yeah, I think that's something people don't understand and I admittingly could be doing a better job with it. But if you think you're going to talk to the same people, if you think you can use the same message on LinkedIn as TikTok, they're, I think it's safe to say they're different audiences.

It's a bit different. A bit.

Maybe Instagram you could get away with both, but who knows?

I actually think you're right about that, but certainly not on, on LinkedIn. You can't be the same.

Here's my dance of the week.

So as far as, is there anything else that you think most people don't talk about? That really was a turning point and I wanted to clarify, would you say the coaching in 07-2012 was the turning point for you? That you had the huge, hugest growth, Biggest growth?

Yeah, absolutely. Because from, so from Business Masteries, which was a week long event, you literally had your business torn apart and told, you know, taught how, how poorly you're doing it and how to do it properly. And then from there I went to, you know, strategic coach, which Dan Sullivan. He's one of the, I think you know him. Yeah, he's one of the, the you know, premier entrepreneur coaches that I've, that I've ever heard of or, or met with and, and he was coached by. So those two were definitely a eternal, were a turning point in my life. I mean so from there I learned that it was funny. So the first event as I paid how much was it? 25,000 to go to a Dan's event which again was a big pill to swallow and I didn't know if it was going to be worth it, blah blah, blah. And the first minute I walked in he wrote on the board S T U F F. I'm like stuff. This guy, I just paid 25 grand to learn about stuff. But then when he talks about if you're concerned with stuff and you're doing minutiae and you're doing things that are not important and not in your, let's say, wheelhouse or not where you're. Then you're wasting your time. So that I was like, wow. And I was doing a ton. And that's when you know, why was I on every single distribution list? Why did I care about what one customer. We had 10,000 clients. How can I care what one customer said? I've got to step back and focus on the drop call ratio versus individual conversations. Right. I've got to take a bigger picture. And it was crazy. So I learned again.

How to get out of the day to day and how to focus on the big picture and do what I do best. Right. So coaching is a necessity. I think that was your question. So coaching, reading, implementing, taking action are all keys to your success? For sure.

And have you been doing coach since you started in 079 or was it I did I?

Yeah, 2011, I started coach. I did that for two years and then jumped to a bunch of different ones. Went back to Tony Robbins and went to a bunch of others and I started coach again two years ago. Okay. And it's interesting that because some of the, some of the, the techniques that, that dan was teaching 10 years ago, I was fighting them internally. And then when I, when I went back, I'm like, I see the wisdom. My brain is 10 years older, 10 years more intelligent, and I see the wisdom.

So yeah, there's always that. Yeah, I was just telling a new hire I'm super excited about. I was like, yeah, you know, he was complimenting on me, me on things and I go, I, I honestly wish I had some more of your aggressiveness. And like when you're starting off, some people are like, oh, it's the hardest thing. It's the funnest time, I think because you can't do anything wrong, you don't know any better. I think the more you go down the road, it's like, well, now I know how to do email. Right. And this. Right. And it's like you're so at least for me for a period, it's like you can get more particular because you think you know more when really it's all the stuff that you did the first year or two that got you to where you are now.

True. But I think you're always reinventing, right? So yeah, I mean, right now we're reinventing our business, so I think it always can be startup mode. I mean, right now. So, you know, just to give you a quick story, so we had A pretty big offer for our company. And if I told you a number, you'd be like, you rejected that. It was a huge number. And I'm like, yeah, I rejected it because I believe our company's worth a heck of a lot more. And now, good for you. I can go out and start acquiring. So we're in a new chapter, right? We can start going out to buy other companies, to acquire other companies. And I think that's. That'll be interesting and fun and, you know, putting all the, the, the egos together and seeing how that works out. That's going to be fun.

Well, I appreciate everything you shared. I got one question before we thank our sponsor, but.

You want yellow or black? That's not the question, but yellow or black?

Let's go yellow.

Heck, yeah. This is the wheel of whatever. I don't think I said that, but yellow. Look at that question. See that right there? You landed on yellow.

Yes, sir. I can't see what the question is, but there are none.

When I was making it, I'm like, oh, what category should I do? And then, like, I thought about it, I go, I'll give it a day or two. I go, oh, my gosh, leave it blank. You can make up literally whatever you want.

So my question for you is, with. It's literally. I had a few things lined up from the earlier, but with what you just said about acquiring other companies, what type of companies would you be looking to acquire over the next five, ten years?

Well, we're going to look. We're going to look to acquire companies that obviously add to our ebitda, but that can complement us because we're. Our strategy right now is we're pretty heavily.

Focused on one strategy. So I want to diversify out of that one particular strategy. So, you know, we want to get into. We want to go direct into different verticals. So, for example, you know, digital marketing in education or digital marketing in financial services, digital marketing in insurance. So I want to acquire different verticals and people that are different. We're not. Right. So I think diversification of, you know, verticals, skill sets, platforms. We're heavy on TikTok, Facebook and Instagram, but we don't do anything in email. Right.

We don't do anything on YouTube.

We don't do a lot in YouTube, so if we can acquire somebody, you know, that, that understands YouTube, that'd be great. So digital marketing that are not in verticals that we're in and that are not on platforms that we're in as well, that's the key and the goal.

Fantastic.

Well, thank you for sharing that. We're going to thank our sponsor and come back for the Imperfect Action round. You've heard me say every business needs a book, including yours, and it's true. And that's why I'm launching my new book@eapublishingmethodbook.com so you can learn the seven steps to publish and promote promote your nonfiction lead and profit generating business book in eight weeks. But you know what, don't take my word for it. Take it from a few of my authors like Lori, I went from having an idea and a possibility to actually.

Getting my book published. Or Catherine, thank you for making my mom number one best selling author.

Or Mary Alice what he got done for me in three days. Regardless, my book launch.

Unmanageable. John Cody I've worked with Mario over the phone and online and he's been very helpful in getting me where I.

Needed to go with promoting my books. Rocio there's no way in the world I would have been able to do this with somebody else again. I've attempted it in the past. It didn't serve me. As a matter of fact, I ended up more frustrated than anything. So this has been a very seamless process. Adele if you're looking for an amazing business coach, I highly recommend Mario Ficcini or Bill Benner. I can't make a higher recommendation than to work with Mario Ficini. He has been great for me and right now I won't work with anybody else except for Mario.

Hey, their words, not mine. Visit eapublishingmethodbook.com to get your copy and I look forward to hearing your transformation as our next video success story. Once again, that's eapublishingmethodbook.com and we are back with the Imperfect Action round. Are you ready to take imperfect action?

I am ready.

First question for you. What is the fastest path to the cash?

Fastest path to the cash is. That's interesting. That's interesting. Is learning.

Look at my bookshelf and take every one of those books and start with Think and Grow Rich. That's the one. There you go. Think and Grow Rich is your first book. Fastest Path.

Okay. Second, what is the biggest problem you see your prospects making in the fastest way they can fix it?

A huge problem again is what I alluded to earlier is trying to do everything by yourself and not outsourcing and not bringing in professionals because you think you're smarter. So that's a huge. That's probably the biggest Problem.

I like when you said I was hanging out with Ben Harding. You were talking about the who, not the how.

There you go.

Number three.

What'S the best way to maximize customer lifetime value?

I would have to say, you know I'm looking at a Hermosi book right now, right? Alex Hermosi. Probably know who he is.

You can actually take a customer that's paying X and expand that just by thinking in grandiose ways. So thinking about the grand slam offer or niching down, it's actually interesting because he talks about riches are in the niches which you heard about. But if you really think about it, you're selling something for XYZ to.

The masses. But if you niche it down to a particular.

Minute or finite niche, then you could actually create a product specifically for that person. So I think that's, you know, niching it down is a key factor.

Excellent. You've mentioned probably half a dozen already. But as a publisher, I always like asking people what books they would recommend.

Number one, think and grow rich. I like 10x rule. I like, you know, I like Gary Vaynerchuk, a lot of his stuff. I mean, that's a lot of motivation stuff. But strategy. I mean, Tony Robbins is one of my favorites about strategy. Things like Blue Ocean strategy.

I was just gonna say. I know you mentioned that earlier. Have you read Built to Sell?

Built to Sell. I have not. Built to Last. Yes, I have read but not Built a Girl one. Okay. I have not.

It's about how to structure your company so whether you want to sell it or not, it's. It's desirable and acquirable.

You know what? Actually that would be good because we just went through this whole thing. We went through six months of due diligence. And I found in the beginning I wasn't ready. I was not ready. We weren't buttoned up on documentation. Wasn't buttoned up on some of the financial documentation, technology, blah, blah, blah. So that would be a great one. So I will. Built to Sell. Who's it written by? The same as Built the Last. Collins.

I put you on the spot. Sorry about that.

No, that's totally fine. It reminds me of the Einstein quote when it's like, why would I waste my time studying stuff? I can look, and I love it because he says, look up in less than two minutes on a standard almanac.

Oh, there you go.

I got him. Two seconds.

There you go.

Jim Collins is my guess.

Let's get it so built.

John Warloo.

Okay, there you go.

It was on the tip of my tongue. But can I have you do one more thing?

One more. You got it.

Can you take your right hand and point this way?

My right hand and point this way?

Yeah, just like at your bookshelf. Because I know you, you've mentioned a few times. You have it right in front of you. Just point at one over that way. What's that? What are you pointing at? What's the book?

I'm pointing at Russell Brunson.

Ah, another good one.

Expert Secrets.

A lot of times people have it behind them, but when you were like, oh, it's in front of me, I'm like, we got to do this.

Mine's literally right across.

That's a smart move though, for interviewing because you're like, yeah. Oh, yeah. This one and this one. I'm like, wow, killer. Where would you like people to learn more?

They can go to my website, marklachance.com and I've got a gift, actually. On the website there's a quiz, it's called the lucky quiz where you can get your luck score. So if you go to marklachance.com, scroll down, you can take my quiz. It's a scale from 0 to 100, gives you your score and tips and tricks on how to get luckier, get better, a better score. So it's pretty cool. It's pretty fun. And Mario, I expect to see yours in my email box later this afternoon.

It sounds interesting and I do want to take it. I noticed it earlier when I was getting ready for this. Cool.

So that's where you can find me. Or on Instagram, Mr. Lucky Official. So that's M I S T E r Lucky official on Instagram.

LinkedIn as well. But I won't be doing any dances on LinkedIn, that's for sure.

All right, well, I appreciate everything you've shared in your time. It's been wonderful. So thank you very much, Mario.

Thank you for having me. It was awesome.

All right, extra 30 world. We have another great episode today. I'll see you on the next one. Have a great day and God bless. You're already the expert, but have you transformed your expertise into a tangible asset that will generate qualified leads while increasing profit for you 24, 7? And if so, how well are you promoting it? With my new book, the Expert Authority Effect publishing Method, I take you through my process step by step. Visit eapublishingmethodbook.com today to learn the seven steps to publish and promote your nonfiction lead and profit generating business book in eight weeks. Visit eapublishingmethodbook.com to get started. Now. Once again, that's eapublishingmethodbook.Com thanks for listening to today's episode. I would love to know what you enjoyed most from it. If you haven't done so already. I invite you to connect with me on my new LinkedIn. You can go to it directly at eainterviews.com LinkedIn Once again, that's eainterviews.com LinkedIn. Lastly, check out the full eainterviews.com site 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 on the next one.