EP 121: 6 Things I Learned Raising Over $500,000 for Charity in 30 Minutes !

Welcome to the making of a DM.

What I learned by giving away over $500,000 to charity in 30 minutes. Most importantly, how it changed the trajectory of my business and life with this one action. So with that said, let's get started.

Did it. To discover freedom, there ain't no question mark. Kevin's when he stepping the doubt, he's closing deals. Time to tell him what the DM stand for. I'm a deal maker. A deal maker. But I'm not just a deal maker. I'm a dream maker.

Hey there, it's your boy, Mark Evans, dm, coming to you from another beautiful day in Kirtland hills, Ohio, about 20 minutes east of downtown Cleveland. Sitting in the tree house. Windows are open, the birds are chirping. Let's see, we have a raccoon, has three little babies running around here, some turkey, the deer with the babies, the little, the does, right, are out here running around with the little baby deers. And it's awesome. I love being out here. A lot of cool stuff going on. And today's show is sparked by the birthday party we did recently. Before I get started, I just want to say thank you guys so much for spreading the word and sharing the show with your audience. Your email, I know some people are sending out via email to their audiences. Some people are talking on social media, which is absolutely amazing. And we keep the show growing. So I absolutely appreciate you leaving a five star review over on itunes or Stitch or whatever platform you utilize today. I'm sitting here, I just got back yesterday. We took the kids down to Cedar Point for the day. Hung out. That's just not my thing. I'm just not huge into that kind of stuff. But kids love it. Therefore, I make time to do certain things like that because it is not something I can't wait to do. It's more of a, like, it's just weird to me how people stand in lines and do all this crazy stuff. So it's, it's, it's definitely a place where if you want to go, people watch. You will not run out of people to watch. There's a lot going on over there. But back to the topic here. So I've been getting asked a lot. You know, I, I, I was writing down some thought audits this morning and stuff and took my son out. He was walking with me and everything. And we're just talking about, you know, where we're at in our life. You know, he's almost seven. You know, I'm constantly brainwashing them, meaning like teaching them about P Ls and Lois and Rois and Mark, what's your biggest asset? And he always says dad my name right? Because I only have one right. Teaching them that and how important his name is. The truth is I teach my kids a lot about, you know, you can ask them, I always say, you know, you know how hard daddy works and mommy works. You're gonna have to work twice as hard as us when you get older. And the reason is because everyone around you is going to tell you that the only reason you have what you have is because mommy and daddy gave it to you. And you need to be confident enough knowing that that's not the truth. Whatever you get is because of you. Not say we won't help but like that's like someone saying, oh, the only reason you got six pack abs is because your dad gave them to you. Well, money doesn't buy abs. That takes hard work and effort. Right? There's all this stuff takes work and you know, people that don't have always want to blame their excuses as why they can't get it. So anyways, so as I'm sitting here thought auditing and stuff, I was, you know, I'm very proud of what happened in Cleveland, Ohio a couple weeks ago at my birthday event. I started doing this about. I don't even know how long it's been. Shit, since 2008, maybe eight or nine. I had this thought in my brain one day and I was like, I wanna, I had a check in front of my office. I wanted to give a million dollars away in charity donations in my life. Only a million. I say only a million, that's a lot, but it's not a lot for where I'm at now in my life and where I want to give, I want to give 100 plus million away. But I always looked at this check every morning, kind of like if I'm praying or not. Not even praying, just like, you know, just looking at it, it's right in front of me, you know, it's important to me. I want to be a big giver in life. I don't want to just be a consumer of stuff and take. I like to be value added. I like to Give. So in 2006, I came out with my first book and I promised myself 100% of my net proceeds of every book I do. And at that point I thought I was only going to do two or three. Now we're up to 13. I told myself I'd give 100% of the net profits to charity. And on November 21, 2006, the book launched. We sold a lot of copies. I proposed to my wife on that day, and I was able to give the Caring House Project Foundation a decent chunk of money. I can't remember exactly, I want to say 11 or 14 grand, which, if you've ever sold a book, that's a lot. And I was very proud of that, made me feel amazing. And then something kept popping up in my head. It's like, because, to be honest with you, and we're going to talk about this today, but I felt scared. The truth is, I grew my business by giving, right? I give to customers, I give to clients, I give to prospects, I give knowledge. I want to educate them. The more educated our prospects are, the more likely they'll do business with us because we lead with education, not just selling and all that. But I kept thinking and asking myself, I kept saying these words, these kept popping up my brain, like, you cannot out give the world again. Let me say it again. You cannot outgive the world. And I just kept writing that down. And as I'm writing it down, I started getting more excited about it because we can't outgive the world as an individual. But when I'm, as an individual making that donation, I literally feel like I'm getting ready to lose all my money. I'm being reckless, I'm being inappropriate. This is not correct timing. It doesn't feel good right now. Maybe I'll do it next week. And all this other bullshit that we come up with stories to ourself to justify us not by giving. See, everyone says they're big givers until it comes time to giving. So at my birthday bash this year, my goal was to raise $250,000 for Operation Underground Railroad Project Foundation. This is a. A foundation that goes in and rescues children from sex trafficking and such and way beyond that. But that's the basics. And again, you could check out the website. I'll put it on the show notes there or. Or just type in Tim Ballard, Operation Underground. And they've done some cool documentaries and stuff to share with you what's really going on. So I have children now, and I can't even imagine my child being taken and sold ever, let alone taken, let alone sold. But it's going on millions of times a day. So in the beginning, in 2006, I was very. I was a real estate guy. It was me and my girlfriend then, now my wife, Dina. I. I care about real estate. I care about helping people live in houses. That's what I do, real estate. And in those houses, like, you know, the Caring House Project foundation builds single family houses that houses eight people in Haiti, Cap, Haitian and such in the Haiti. And they facilitate that. And then they build like communities where they have the sheep, the pet, you know, whatever, the animals for food, then you have the bathrooms, you have the school and you know, just a self sustained community. I'm very passionate about that. And three years ago, we actually donated an entire village over $300,000 to build an entire village to house over 500 people in Haiti for life. I did that, my team did that, we did that. And I'm very proud of that. And the reason I'm sharing this with you is none of this would have been possible if I didn't get on my own way. Here's what I mean. I remember sitting in Church, giving $20, thinking I was the king ding a ling. I would hold the $20 up. I was very clearly watching people put it in the basket. And I would just sit there and think, man, I'm doing big stuff. And yet deep down inside, I knew I was just doing it for ego and showing off. If $20 is showing off, back then to me I thought it was, which is silly in itself. And I got the bug to give. I really feel like I've been tapped on the shoulders, as my buddy Frank McKinney would say, the tap. So in 2007, ish. I was at a charity event. Frank McKinney, charity event. He's a cool guy. He's built $50 million mansions on the ocean. He's done all these cool things. But the biggest stuff he'll be remembered for is all the charity work he's done over the years. And as I'm sitting there at a table, me, my, my girlfriend now, my wife Dina, my buddy Doug, my buddy Mike. Different people like that and their spouses and friends. An auction happens. Michael Israel does this painting in three minutes. If you've ever seen those artists that do like a. They've turned on a song and within minutes this painting appears. And it's pretty awesome. Rock star painting, if you will, or something like that. And then they start, you know, I had a couple drinks at this time and I just felt like compelled, like I wanted to do. So I knew I was there to give. I just didn't know what I was going to give. And something happened. My hand would not stop going up. And I ended up buying a painting for $25,000. Now, depending who's listening to this, you might think that's a lot or not a lot. To me at that time, that was a lot of money. It's the biggest gift I've ever given in my entire life in a nanosecond, ever. And immediately when I did that, I'm like, oh, my God, I just won that $25,000 I got to give to charity. I got scared. I was looking for the exit door. Not really, but sort of. And I was thinking, oh, my God, Mark, you did it. This is where peer pressure is very powerful. I felt con. I felt peer pressure to do what I said I was going to do. Let me say it again. My peer pressure around me was, mark, you committed to doing this. Now you execute because we're keeping you accountable. I was holding myself accountable, but I also felt pressured to stay accountable because I like these guys and I would not not do that. But again, these are the things, thoughts that was going through my head. So I made the donation, and then something else happened. I gave the painting away to Frank. I didn't want the painting. I wanted to give the gift multiple times. So I made the charity donation, and then I gave the gift to Frank. And there were some of the other people involved in all this. There was a lot of moving parts. But to me, what happened that day and again, when I did my first book, the same things keep happening. Like, man, you need the money. You could use it. It's not good timing right now. The market's soft. This is happening. You got deals falling apart, Deals are growing. You're getting cash short here. You need this, you need that. It's going to feel scary if it didn't. It's not stretching you. I always talk about this tap moment, and today you might be thinking, mark, you know, I'm here to learn how to grow my business and grow my life. I promise you this. I would not be where I'm at today, financially, emotionally, physically, etc. If I didn't give. I truly believe that. I love giving and I can't wait to give more every day. Not just money, but time value. This podcast show. I love doing this because I cannot out give the world. See, money comes in fairly easy at this level. Why? Because I've been given for 26 years of my life. I give, I give, I give. And sometimes in there, people say, hey, man, you've helped me so much. I want to do something with you. So there's tap moments in your life that happen. Like, you know, if you see someone post, you know, something on gofundme or whatever website and they need help. There's a number pops in your mind immediately, I'll give $500. And then you get online and you give $50. What changed? See, the universe is giving you the answers. But most of the people in the world don't execute what they hear because they get scared. They minimize their give because emotions are controlling the action. I've been there. I know it's true. I still sometimes feel that. So when we did that, I started, you know, so I started, I gave 11 or 14 grand, then 25, and then I actually bought another $4,000 painting that same night. So it was actually almost 30 grand that night. And then, you know, because here's the truth is, when I did that 25 grand donation, I was so scared, I had to unscare myself by going, getting more scared. Does that make sense? I was so scared at 25 as I dude, you're a pussy. You can do this. I'm going to do another one. Four grand. Boom. When that, I got unscared. Now I gain power through action and confidence that I'm giving to a bigger cause. Money doesn't control me. I control money. That's what I started thinking about. That's what I wrote down when I got home that night. Money doesn't control me. I control money. Now, listen, everyone can say that, but very few people actually believe it. More importantly, their actions don't align with it. My question to you, my friend, is, are you controlling money or is money controlling you? Because all it is is money. I get it. It's freedom and all these other things. But sometimes when you start giving, you start realizing the power that you have when you make real decisions. To be honest with you, I've made a lot of money, but I want to give a lot more money away. My goal that's on my wall today is $100 million minimum. Why I'm alive, if not way more. My buddy called me Doug. He's like, mark, the truth is it's probably more like going to be a billion dollars or more in your lifetime because of the impact of people like you listening to the show right now. That becomes a bigger giver in your life because this show starts impacting your life. And I know it's true because we're giving way bigger than just me. How do I know it's true? Well, let me share with you. In 2009, I gave started. Actually, 2009, I gave a house away in Atlanta, Georgia to a transitional housing guy to help fully turnkey down to the everything, down to the toothbrush. I did that multiple times. I think eight or nine times. I gave houses away to homeless veterans and transitional housing people to help, you know, help people, help people, give. And then, like I said, I'm in the housing space. So I loved giving that stuff. And now I have kids. Now I want to help kids. So where I'm going with that. It's okay to change direction and course of your give as you evolve. It's okay to have multiple. Right now, I'm very heavy and very big into thinking about giving more to the children's side of things. Operation Underground. At my birthday party this year, the numbers are still coming in, but it looks like we're raised over $500,000 in 30 minutes. Let me say that again, because I got to sit up on this one because I'm very proud of this. We raised over $500,000 in 30 minutes. And what I saw there that night makes me more excited than anything, any business deal I could ever do. It allowed me to see people grow their lives. When I see the guy say, 25 grand, 27 grand, they're evolving. That was me in 2006. They win, they get scared. It's okay to be scared. The guys that won and the gals that won, the people are messaging me like, dude, this changed my life. Yes, the event was awesome. But me giving at this level reset my baseline of what my gives are. Moving forward, I see so much more, so much bigger opportunities than I've ever seen. I'm not trying to get all hokey pokey on you, but the truth is, the universe, when you listen and execute, it tends to open up a little bit bigger for you. You cannot out give the world, but so many people aren't even giving to themselves. Give yourself the gift of giving. I'm not saying go out and give 100% of everything you got, but there's new numbers and new goals you need to reach. If you've been giving the same amount every week, every month, every year, every quarter, push it, stretch it, get uncomfortable again. What was cool about that event is in giving to charity is this. Let me give you some bullet points. Number one, you have to start. When? Today. Today. I challenge you. Find a charity and go give a hundred or a thousand or ten thousand dollars if you don't have one you like, but you want to give. Operation Underground. Check it out. Probably one of the coolest things I realized about giving is we're changing and impacting people's lives. That will more likely Never meet. Ever. Take it a little step deeper. Think of the ripple effect that this has on the world. One person that you changed their life through your generosity and giving. They go out and do something big. They don't know it was even you. You don't even know it's them. But the universe does. I can tell you this for sure. If you do not give, you will never get to the potential you're capable of. And don't get me wrong, you can make money without giving. I did it for years. I didn't understand it. But I can tell you this. I make a whole hell of a lot more money. Many, many hundreds, if not thousands of times more. With less stress, less fear, feeling more like I just feel better. Once you understand the power of the give, things unlock internally. I could talk to you until I'm blue in the face, but you will never experience it until you actually do it. It's like riding a bike. You could read about it, how to ride a bike. But until you get on the bike and skin your knees and bump your elbows and head, nothing is going to happen. Number two, pick it a charity that you love and just execute. Connect with them. Let them know your intentions. Get to know them. That's what I've done always with Frank McKinney's charity. I. I know pretty much everyone in that organization, Operation Underground. I know the main guys and gals. It's a very big operation. I know people, it's went on undercover missions with them. I know the guy that created their documentaries. I know a little bit about them. I don't just wake up and say I'm giving big. I, I do, actually. That's a lie. I do wake up and give randomly. Truth is, my neighbor, I've talked about this on the show last year, my neighbor across the street, Chuck, he helps out the homeless here in Cleveland, Ohio. I want to give more locally as well. By the way, if you have anything big going on in Cleveland, Ohio, or around surroundings, I would love to give. I want to give to my hometown, Ohio. I love Ohio. I love every area, but I love Ohio because I'm from here, right? So he was telling me one day we were having dinner and he's like, man, you know, we're helping homeless and blah, blah, blah. These are great guys. Like, I made a $5,000 donation over dinner. He almost lost it. Biggest donor they've ever had. I'm not bragging. I'm sharing the truth over dinner because he shared his dream and goal. What they're working on A couple lessons in that. One, share your shit because you never know who's on the other side of the conversation and where they're at in their life. And two, maybe it's you about to give to them. Conversate with great people. Great tends to happen. Every time I see him, man, it's, it's. He's just like so thankful. It's. I, like that's the best thing in the world, being able to help people. Like, truth is I'm not, I'm not good going to Haiti myself, that's not where I thrive. I can give money, we can change that country, you know, one location at a time, whatever, change someone's life. But I can't go over there that I, I get very emotional. I was over there once. I get very emotional. By the way, it'll be in the show notes. But it's very tough. I was upset. I was sad. Seeing little kids with their belly blowing up and them eating dirt. I mean, it's absolutely mind boggling Going to the worst part of the city, of the state that you live in, homeless area. And they have it made compared to Haiti. I promise you that. I guarantee it. I know for a fact because I've been there both. But for me giving to a charity that you care about, number three, how I was able to give $500,000 away by raising 500k in 30 minutes. Relationships matter. Oh. What I mean by that is we had 400 people at this party. 400 relationships. Some of them don't count because they're my parents and my in laws and my sisters and brother in law, etc. They do count, but they're not there to give. They're there to hang out and have fun, which is fine. The people I've mentored over all these years and people follow the show here on the podcast. People are part of the DM alliance, people that are part of the DM family. They stepped up so big as a mentor. It made me one of the most proud moments I've ever had. Because they're listening. Not only that, they're paying attention to what I'm doing. I'm leading by example. I do charity all the time. I give every day. Watching them take action, get scared and uncomfortable, but they did it. I saw me 16 years ago in them and that makes me very happy. And what's cool about this, some of these people are way younger than I was at that age in 06. So how powerful, how much impact are we really going to have on the world by Being around great people. Relationships matter. Longevity. Since 2006, I've been giving on purpose. Prior to that, I was just giving very randomly and very small. That moment at the table became purpose, became bigger than just making money. It wasn't how much can I put in the bank account, but go try to outgive the world. It forced me to look at my business differently. It forced me to look at what mattered most as I'm growing as a human being into this world. As I started having children, it forced me to become very aware and conscious of what I'm looking and driving for in my life. At this point, 16 years later, I've given eight or nine houses away. I got to find that exact number. I think it's at least eight. Well, I know it's at least eight, but it might be nine houses away to homeless veterans and transitional housing charities. Fully furnished, purchased. Give it. Literally handed them the keys. 60, 80, 120. Some of these houses are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. That's me. I bought it. I put my own money in it. I did the work on the houses with my teams, and we executed the vision. You don't have to believe me. I used to do bus tours on my birthday to show people and be a part of the experience. See, I don't want gifts for my birthday. I appreciate them. I got a lot of cool gifts, which is awesome, but I want people to get there and give. I want them to get the bug of giving bigger. That's the gift I can give you. That's the gift you can give me. When you text me three years from now and you're like, dude, I just gave a hundred thousand dollars away. I'm still sweating, but it feels amazing. I get those texts often. Often. Number five. You can do more. Whatever number you're giving today, you can do more. You know it. The world knows it. But what are you going to do about it? Set bigger goals. We must set bigger goals. See what's cool about this. Here, check this out. So in business, we get so stressed out, I got to make a million dollars a year. What if you set your goal that you're going to give a million dollars away this year now gets different. Now you focus on solutions, not problems. It's a different approach. I know because I did it. I used to look at that check, every single big check, three foot by five foot check in my office. $1 million. And I would look at it and just think, how to give 1 million. This was my lifetime back then. That's What? I wanted to give away my lifetime. And I was already starting to give. Truth is, I was actually already pretty close to giving that much away with everything I was up to at that point. But I was really starting to pick up momentum. This was 2000 in my office. That was 2008 and 9. We moved out of that house in 2010. I remember it changed the trajectory of my game plan. It forced me to think bigger because that drove me harder than just making more money. My intention of giving was more important than my goal of making money. For the pure sense of making more money. It gave me purpose. It forced me to get out of my own way. I had to grow for that goal to grow. I had to grow to get that goal to become a reality too. Right? Whatever that number is for, you set a number and look at it every fucking day until it becomes true. It will be scary. It will be exciting. It will feel like you're being super, super out of your mind. Pete. You got to be careful the people you tell because they will convince you that you're wacko. Dude. That's a lot of money, man. You know what I could do with that? What? Buy another boat. Get the out of my way. I'm telling you. How many people in your life are giving money away to make the world a better place at a very big level? Saving children that we'll never ever meet in our entire life? You know, one thing that really got me is when Alpha was sharing to the group about how drug dealers. Why drug dealers love children compared to drugs. Let me say it again. Drug dealers love children more than they love drugs. Huh? Why is that? Simple answer is this. And it's disgusting. Because drugs get consumed once. Children you can sell up to 12 times a day, multiple times a year, multiple times a week. Think about that. It's sick, but it's the truth. And that shit's going on around us every single day. Some people are going to sit there and watch it and talk about it and act like it's not and. Or act like it's not going on or someone's going to be like you that's going to get so pissed off like I did and start putting it on your plans and goals to help someone. Anybody listening to this show can give more, can be more. But will you? I hope the answer is yes. Because I want to be rolling with people. I want to have a club one day where everyone's given at least a million dollars away. A million minimum. And dollars. I'm not talking time. Dollars. What do you think that group's like, you think they're talking about the, you know, the person down the street cheating on each other in your hometown? Think they're talking about their winning touchdown they scored 43 years ago? About nothing. Promise you not. They're talking about how to build empires, to be able to give more, to do more, to be more, to. To share more, to help more. There's nothing reckless about giving by being uncomfortable. I want you to set a stretch goal in the next seven days and I would love for you to share it with me. I don't care if the stretch is a hundred. I don't care if the stretch is 5 million. I want the stretch goal. What you're going to give in the next 30 days, I want you to stretch. But Mark, it's kind of an economy collapse. What's going on? That's the fucking problem. You always have an excuse. There's never a good time to do it. The best time is now. Stretch. Stretch. The world needs people to stretch more now than ever. Find the charity. Find the place that you can connect with and help them become bigger, better. My neighbor Chuck across the street, I'm the biggest donor ever. I give him five grand. He's like, oh my God. I want to help his charity get 500 grand where you can go out and focus on bigger communities, bigger helping more people. See, his vision gets bigger with my vision because I'm sharing what I'm up to. Send him a message, Chuck. Because he was at the party, but he had to leave a little early. Chuck, you ain't gonna believe what happened. People stepped the fuck up. We raised over 500 grand in 30 minutes. You know what he said? This is a 72 year old man, an amazing dude I've met here at my home and where I live now, Mark, that's why I'm proud to call you my friend. People like you doing extraordinary things. As an ordinary person, no one would have a clue that this shit's going on unless we talked about it. I don't talk about all the stuff we give. If we did, you'd think I'm bragging about giving money all day long. But this is important. We need to talk about this shit more. See, people talk about cheating on their spouse. They'll talk about, you know, so and so and this and that, but they're not talking about money. They're not talking about giving money. They're all. They're always acting like they got everything, but they're fucking broke as a joke. Acting like they're giving big like I was. $20 here, $5 there. Yeah, I'm a big shot. No, you ain't. You're a fucking micro mouse. We must step up now. If not now, when? If you want to separate yourself from the world. And I can tell you right now, I've met some of the most amazing people at charity events. I've been able to connect with people. I'm talking very ultra high level people that you would all know at private charity events. People you can't even hire for a million dollars an hour. I'm serious at a charity event. Because there will be a point in time in your career, in your journey of life, when you're just fucking making money to make money. And that's it. It's an empty, empty process. But when you start adding the layer of giving and driving towards that goal. And by the way, I'm a capitalist. I'm all about making fucking money. But I want to give and give way more. And I want to be the leader to help you give more too. I promise you, it will never not serve you. I'm not talking give to your sister or brother, cousin or uncle because you've given them handouts. I'm talking to give to real people that you'll probably never meet in your entire fucking life, but change their life. There's someone right now praying. A little kid praying, mommy, Daddy, help me. Their mom and dads pray dead. Their mom and dad's probably the one that sold them. These are innocent children, human beings. And you could change their life if you got out of your own way. Please don't hurt me. Please don't hurt me. And then, boom. Tim's team busts in the fucking door, captures these sickos, saves these children because our dollars go to shit like that. They don't know it's you. If you only. Understood. You got to get online and check this out. It's real and you can do something about it. I don't care if it's just charity or another or whatever. I just want you to give. I know it'll make you more money and make you more proud. To make more money, it make you stronger, give you more confidence. Now is the time. Now is the time. I challenge you. The next seven days, shoot me a message on Instagram at Mark Evans dm. Tell me what you're going to give. I'm watching. I'm listening. I'm here for you. Scared? Good. You should be. That means it's working. That means you're ready. Step up. It's go time so what that said.

I'm here to help and teach him what I know and how I did it to discover freedom There ain't no question mark Kevin's when he stepped in the doubt he's closing deals Time to tell him what the DM stand for I'm a deal maker a deal maker But I'm not just a deal maker I'm a dream maker the journey's where it's at it's all about the process Time to get over to the the DM project from a small town in Ohio so I know how it is can I come from a lot of money I remember as a kid wanted to make a honey rat didn't see no one making more than that Graduated high school with a 1.8 probably should have held me back I hope my principals and teachers are alive just to witness this I'm a own boss I'm out here running two way figure businesses I can walk away from it all and I'll be good But I've been called to help people just like y' all learn the game it's time to ball everybody chasing the money But I'm not chasing the money I'm out here chasing the purpose yo I've been working my whole life Got us where we at is it gonna get us where we wanna go? It's time to push time to learn time to grow I'm more Kevin's team I'm here to help and teach him what I know and how I did it to discover freedom There ain't no question more Kevin's when he stepping to doubt he's closing down Time to tell them what the DM stand for I'm a deal maker a deal maker But I'm not just a deal maker I'm a dream maker the journey's where it's at it's all about the process Time to get over to the DM project I'm more guarantee Deal maker Deal maker Deal maker maker Deal maker.

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