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Chris, super excited to have you on the show today.

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Thank you again for carving out some time in your schedule and sharing your wild journey
of entrepreneurship, ups and downs, and kind of this ride that we call life.

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Before we dive into some of the experiences that you've had in growing your business and
growing your team.

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I'd love to learn and give our listeners a little bit of insight into who you are and some
of the experiences that have shaped the person that you are today and the business leader

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that you are today.

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Okay, appreciate you having me on the show.

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Thank you very much for your time.

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This is great.

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So let's start.

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What prompted you to start a business?

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Where did you start and why did you start it?

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Heavy.

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Okay, so that's a great question.

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Let's say that I started it, truth be told, out of I had no other opportunity except for
to just jump in and learn how to run my own business.

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I'm somebody who's what's known as I call it un-Igimicated.

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I'm that grade 10 dropout that, you know, my future and there's nothing wrong with this
was supposed to be running restaurants.

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So when I dropped out of high school at grade 10, my parents who are very educated, who
had great careers, were very career minded and job orientated, just let me know that if I

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was not gonna go to finish high school, I'm not gonna get my post-secondary education that
I had a future in restaurants.

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So I was actually very fortunate and very blessed to work at McDonald's restaurants for
about seven years.

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Started as a crew person, worked my way up, became a restaurant manager.

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and really learned what it took to work in a fast paced environment because believe it or
not, working at McDonald's is fricking difficult.

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That is not an easy job.

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You learn really quickly how to have thick skin when you're a 17 year old kid and you have
a lady screaming at you like you just kicked her dog because her french fries are cold.

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You learn that thick skin because you have to give her the smile, right?

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So.

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It was a great experience going from that and then learning what it takes to put in those
40, 50, 60 hour work weeks and to run a team and then to run a restaurant and build a

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business that's already there, successful as McDonald's.

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But then you've got to be a young adult at 19, 20, 21 years old managing 15, 16, 17 year
olds who are getting yelled at by people for cold French fries.

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It teaches you a lot of life skills.

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So I'm very thankful for that.

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never want to speak down to, that experience that I had there, but it quickly realized
when I was working so hard, I realized that I wish I could work hard for myself.

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If I was able to put this type of effort in to running a business for somebody else who
was my franchise, my franchise, you were at the time who's a great person, but I watched

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him working minimal hours.

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doing the things that I wanted to do while I did all of the elbow grace.

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So it really motivated me to start my own business, which had a pulled me into sales, to
be honest with you.

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I left McDonald's abruptly.

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found a straight commission sales job and I failed greatly at it.

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It was an outside sales gig.

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ran around selling

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pictures door to door, framed pictures door to door.

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And I was really bad at it for a long period of time, but I was motivated by the people
who succeeded at it.

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And I saw the, the commissions and the monies that they were earning.

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So I won't bore you with those details, but based upon the fact that I was going
personally bankrupt, I had no choice, but to learn how to, how to sell.

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And it really helped me just to get out of my comfort zone.

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So I broke out of that sales slump that I was in.

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I learned how to sell.

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And once I learned how to sell, then I already had my experience from McDonald's
restaurant, which was teaching and training others people.

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So I learned that in sales, when you teach and train other people to also sell, there's an
opportunity to be a very good sales manager.

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So I just kind of learned how that was.

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From there, if you want me to go to my next quick chapter, it really took me into learning
to import goods from overseas.

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So I understood the basic math, even though was a high school dropout, is if you buy
something for a dollar and you sell it for five that you're making four.

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I didn't need a whole bunch of education to figure that one out.

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So I did just that.

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I ended up eventually

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importing goods from overseas.

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I sold kids books and calculators on the street corner of Toronto, 12 months out of the
year and did that, learned how to do that, did that myself.

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And then I taught and trained other people to do that.

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And in about 18 months of selling kids books and calculators on the street corner, I ended
up having 300 sales reps.

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from every major city from Toronto through to Victoria and offices in between of people
who sold the kids books and calculators on the street corners for me.

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So it was an interesting transition in my life.

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McDonald's, selling pictures, not being very good at it.

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And then into that world of having the 300 sales reps.

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So I was great.

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It was an incredible experience, but

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I learned a lot there because I was very young, was very dumb, I was very naive, I was
making too much money, I was arrogant, and I ended up losing it all.

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Yes, yes.

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I wish it was a valley.

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I would call it more of a cliff than I fell off of.

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Yeah, yeah, cliff, you know.

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I had the house and the three cars and the beamer and the Benz and the Jeep and you know,
and then ended up because I based myself at a Western Canada in that business and ended up

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when I fell off the cliff renting a one-way U-Haul with my life in the back driving to my
sister's house in Northern Ontario, knocking on her door saying, can I live with you?

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And she said, well, I only have an unfinished basement, but you can stay there if you'd
like.

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So I did that.

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I did that and went and got a job and I did what my parents told me to do.

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I got a job in the recruiting industry.

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So I was a headhunter for a little while and somebody tattooed on my forehead that I was
worth a salary and I'm okay, this is it.

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I tried everything else and it was fun and I failed.

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So this is what I'm gonna do now.

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So they caged the animal, had a gasket cubicle and I sold people to jobs.

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then, Sidney's very honest with you and I'm talking a lot, like this is a huge monologue
by the way.

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So when I was that cagey animal selling people, I met my wife.

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I met my wife.

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And I was selling people, let me just understand, selling people into their jobs, okay?

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what you meant.

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Okay, good.

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I met my wife and this is about 2007.

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I my wife, she was working at a car dealership.

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I already told you what I was doing.

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She was in the service advisory and like hopefully any great man will admit she was, she
ignited that fire in me once again.

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She learned who I was, she learned the experiences that I went through, she saw the
potential that I had and she kicked my ass.

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And she said, you're going to do it again.

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And this time the difference is going to be, I'm going to have her with me and I'm to do
it properly this time.

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And, and we did, we absolutely did.

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So it was a calculated move.

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didn't happen overnight.

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She had her career.

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I had my job.

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and, and from there we started what is now the Mark group.

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we're very fortunate and very blessed that we currently have.

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over 50 employees.

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We're in three offices throughout Canada and we have an office in the United States.

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And we've now been in business since 2012.

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And very fortunate because all those life experiences that I had before, as you call them,
the valleys and the successes really translate into how our company is moving forward now.

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Wow.

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I mean, you couldn't, you couldn't script that if you tried.

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You have had a number of experiences and I think that everybody listening can relate to
some part of your journey.

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It's, you know, everybody feels like they're their island, they're alone, they're
experiencing the highs and the lows and the learnings.

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But knowing that you went through all this and look at what you've built and look at the
ways that you've

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you've, as you said, failed, learned from it, got back up, found something else.

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It sounds like you were very quick to act to, okay, get back up, brush myself off.

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What's next?

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What's next?

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Before we move on to my next question for you, I have one very important question that
I've been dying to know.

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Why children's books and calculators?

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Hahaha!

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I use that as an expression because yes, it was definitely children's books and
calculators, but it was everything in between.

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It was small sporting goods.

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was office supplies.

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It was watches.

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was anything that I could buy for a buck, two or five or seven, and I could sell it for
five, 10 or 20 or sometimes 40.

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But that was a very good question.

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Yeah.

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Thanks.

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that is a skill, right?

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And you went out and you learned those skills.

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So as you said, you started in sales, well, restarted in sales when you went out and you
were selling the pictures and you realized you weren't good at it.

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weren't great at it, and so you changed that, you developed the skills, you learned the
skills.

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What was influential for that learning, in that learning I should say, for you?

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Was it a person, was it a course, was it, what resources did you pull on in order to get
better?

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Yeah.

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Survival.

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Survival and fear of failure was huge for me.

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like I alluded to, I was literally on the verge of bankruptcy.

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I was addicted.

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I had vehicle repossessed.

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So things were not going well.

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And sometimes I feel, even today, but especially at that time, I had to take my own
temperature.

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And I had to realize that me laying blame on other people.

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and making excuses for my own failure was on me.

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It wasn't on anybody else.

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It wasn't on what I was selling, where I was selling.

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It was all on me not doing what I was taught to do and just getting off my ass and
executing it and stop being fricking afraid because to be honest with you, I was just so

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fearful.

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At the very beginning, I was so afraid that I was interrupting or disrupting or that
someone would say no to me or

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my goodness, like I hurt my feelings and no, no, none of that matters.

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Absolutely none of that matters.

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So I really just got to the point where I kicked my own ass and I'll tell you there was,
there's a side note to that.

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So while I was, this all happened while I was selling the pictures, there was a tragedy in
the company that I worked for, which I won't get into, but there was a tragedy that didn't

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include me, but it was somebody else in that company.

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that I had never met.

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And the owner of that company said, due to this tragedy, what we're going to do is we're
going to donate $5 off every picture that sold to this family and this tragedy for this

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week.

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And that hit me.

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That hit me hard.

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And normally in that industry, just to bore you with this for a second longer, selling 50
pictures in a week was a big deal.

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And the company record, I remember this, was 61 pictures in a week.

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And I sucked, I was horrible.

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But at that time when that owner was going to do that and did that for that family and
that tragedy, I got off my ass, I got outside, I worked, I hustled, I pushed back, I broke

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my fears, and I broke the company record and I sold 102 pictures that week.

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And it was all because I wanted to help that family go through that tragedy.

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And that's what motivated me.

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So it's interesting that you ask that.

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But finding motivation.

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and breaking down your own fears was absolutely a catalyst in me pushing forward and
realizing that you can be great at anything if you just choose to do it.

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If absolutely choose to do it.

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Wow.

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I am, I just got goosebumps.

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I think that's phenomenal.

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And you know, it's funny because we're obviously at the Vendor Group in the business of
training and developing and a lot of our clients say, how do we motivate our management

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team, our middle managers?

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And you know, what can we do?

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What can we throw at them?

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What are things that we can say?

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It's like, you have to, you have to assess each individual, right?

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That motivated you to go out and help someone else.

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What motivated you might not have motivated everybody else on your team.

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And so in knowing now that you have, you said 50 employees, give or take, how do you
motivate them internally every single day?

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What's that culture?

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What sets you apart and what makes them want to show up every single day?

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Because what you have is enthusiasm and passion and something that I think...

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despite all of your learnings, sounds like it's also very innate to you, that motivation,
that drive, and that ambition.

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For others, it might not be.

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So what do do to motivate your team?

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Well, I gotta tell you, jobs suck.

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Yeah.

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Jobs absolutely suck.

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I think knowing that and then offering people jobs, but knowing that jobs suck because
jobs are typically just over broke.

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That's what, that's my acronym for a job.

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It's just over broke.

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So it's kind of true.

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It's kind of true.

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And then working for a boss, everybody hates bosses because well, we all know what bosses
are.

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They're double SOBs backwards.

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So if I can help people with the just over broke and getting rid of the double SOBs
backwards and not be arrogant and not wave my finger at them, we're all on the same level

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here.

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It doesn't matter if I'm the founder, the president, the vice president, the CEO.

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I answered the phone up front because I'm the janitor and I'll tell people that.

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Like we are all on the same level and I often go to the people that I work with.

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And I ask them for help because I'm far from perfect.

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I'm far from great.

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I just have a different skill set than they do.

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And I can identify other people's skill sets and I want to learn off them.

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So I think to answer your question directly, another thing that we really hone in on is
recognition.

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Because yes, just over broke people want and need, especially in today's environment, they
need financial wherewithal.

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we pride ourselves, my wife and I, to

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Yes, build a profitable business, but we're not greedy.

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We're not greedy.

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And if we can ensure that our staff are really making a strong income to support their
family, that means the world to us.

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And then giving that recognition when recognition is due and just working with people in a
team environment that's fun, that's uplifting, that's bright, the tunes are cranked a

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little bit more, the high fives are going on.

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When there's an accomplishment, we got a big gong in each office that rings and everybody
claps.

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And we're just a big team environment.

213
00:17:17,254 --> 00:17:24,834
And to the point where the most important fact in our business is team.

214
00:17:25,894 --> 00:17:32,974
Of course, I won't attach names to it, but numerous times we've had to let go of our top
producing salespeople.

215
00:17:32,974 --> 00:17:33,494
Top.

216
00:17:33,614 --> 00:17:37,394
Like close to a million dollars in revenue they'll bring in a year.

217
00:17:37,484 --> 00:17:46,043
And we've had to let them go because they're way too arrogant, greedy, and they're
cancerous, negative people.

218
00:17:46,104 --> 00:17:50,468
And we try to work with them and we try to adjust their mindsets.

219
00:17:50,468 --> 00:17:56,795
But if other people just don't get along with them, it's not worth it.

220
00:17:56,795 --> 00:17:58,097
It's not worth it.

221
00:17:58,097 --> 00:17:59,641
So I hope that answered your question.

222
00:17:59,641 --> 00:18:00,581
It sure does.

223
00:18:00,581 --> 00:18:01,843
You know, one, what do they say?

224
00:18:01,843 --> 00:18:07,484
One bad apple can spoil the bunch and it creates, yeah, you can feel it in the air, right?

225
00:18:07,484 --> 00:18:09,725
The tension, the mood, the energy changes.

226
00:18:09,725 --> 00:18:22,169
And when that shifts and that's gone, it's amazing to see how the rest of your team
corrects to, you know, to fill that space and to fill that void.

227
00:18:23,365 --> 00:18:24,207
So that's amazing.

228
00:18:24,207 --> 00:18:26,412
love that, you know, high fives are one of my favorite things.

229
00:18:26,412 --> 00:18:30,880
So I love that you've got those going on and yeah.

230
00:18:32,962 --> 00:18:34,695
We actually give hugs too.

231
00:18:34,695 --> 00:18:36,426
What?

232
00:18:37,227 --> 00:18:38,567
Yeah.

233
00:18:39,549 --> 00:18:40,809
Come on.

234
00:18:41,030 --> 00:18:42,170
Sign me up.

235
00:18:42,170 --> 00:18:43,451
Are you hiring?

236
00:18:44,572 --> 00:18:46,042
Next will be puppies.

237
00:18:46,042 --> 00:18:46,413
Always.

238
00:18:46,413 --> 00:18:51,167
Oh, wait, we have office dogs.

239
00:18:51,167 --> 00:18:52,587
Come on, Kendra.

240
00:18:52,587 --> 00:18:54,470
You got to come to a tour.

241
00:18:54,470 --> 00:18:56,772
We have three here today.

242
00:18:56,772 --> 00:19:00,134
I'm pretty sure there's three kicking around since they were puppies too.

243
00:19:00,134 --> 00:19:02,566
So things like that make a world of a difference.

244
00:19:02,566 --> 00:19:04,519
People are allowed to bring their pets to work.

245
00:19:04,519 --> 00:19:07,873
is what keeps people away from work to begin with, right?

246
00:19:07,873 --> 00:19:09,084
you know, my dog's sick.

247
00:19:09,084 --> 00:19:14,169
I mean, obviously they wouldn't bring their sick dog to work, my dog, I don't like to
leave it alone for so long.

248
00:19:14,169 --> 00:19:15,200
have to go take it out.

249
00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:18,402
Well, no, now your dog gets to be socialized.

250
00:19:18,443 --> 00:19:26,189
I mean, I'm sure if I guarantee that everybody on your team likes dogs, you don't strike
me as that, that we don't allow.

251
00:19:27,711 --> 00:19:28,532
Exactly.

252
00:19:28,532 --> 00:19:29,713
Perfect.

253
00:19:29,767 --> 00:19:35,259
which actually is a perfect segue into one of the things that I am curious about with your
team.

254
00:19:35,259 --> 00:19:45,442
So you've spoken about how you keep your best people and recognizing that top performer
versus attitude, we choose attitude 10 out of 10 times.

255
00:19:46,782 --> 00:19:56,045
When you're searching for these people that are going to be stellar, that are going to gel
with the culture, that are going to vibe and bring their dogs,

256
00:19:57,373 --> 00:19:58,444
What do you look for?

257
00:19:58,444 --> 00:20:05,203
Because I know that credentialing isn't everything, and I don't believe it should be.

258
00:20:05,203 --> 00:20:09,568
So what do you look for, and what's your hiring process to get the best of the best?

259
00:20:12,014 --> 00:20:21,716
So although we are in advertising and marketing, I teach this to our branch managers and
to our HR that we are actually a recruiting business.

260
00:20:22,177 --> 00:20:24,918
We never stop recruiting.

261
00:20:24,918 --> 00:20:26,818
We always have ads.

262
00:20:26,818 --> 00:20:29,339
We are always interviewing.

263
00:20:29,339 --> 00:20:33,660
And that's because we are looking for the next great person.

264
00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:39,582
And we make sure that it's, like you've already said, it's not just what's on a piece of
paper.

265
00:20:39,582 --> 00:20:41,772
It's not just what somebody typeset is.

266
00:20:42,142 --> 00:20:53,429
It's when our HR calls and does a pre-screen on, I would have to say the majority of
applicants, geographically, if they aren't close to the office, then we typically don't

267
00:20:53,429 --> 00:20:54,189
call them.

268
00:20:54,189 --> 00:21:00,493
But if they're geographically close, our HR will contact them and they're going to have a
conversation.

269
00:21:00,493 --> 00:21:04,035
And how does that person engage in the conversation?

270
00:21:04,035 --> 00:21:10,007
Can you actually, and I know it's very cliche, but can you hear their smile over the
phone?

271
00:21:10,007 --> 00:21:10,840
at all.

272
00:21:11,406 --> 00:21:13,467
Are they a great communicator?

273
00:21:13,467 --> 00:21:16,408
that phone call fun?

274
00:21:16,408 --> 00:21:22,631
Was there actually an impression that was positive left after you, after that call ended?

275
00:21:22,631 --> 00:21:32,315
So those are the things from our pre-screen that then emulate over into the face-to-face
interview.

276
00:21:32,435 --> 00:21:37,227
Do we want to see, it would be great if they had some phone sales experience.

277
00:21:37,227 --> 00:21:37,518
Sure.

278
00:21:37,518 --> 00:21:38,584
Do we want to see?

279
00:21:38,584 --> 00:21:53,268
that they've used Salesforce before and sure, do we notice that the university, fact, our
university hires are typically got a different, I don't want to say better, but their

280
00:21:53,268 --> 00:21:57,049
skillset is sometimes more honed for sure.

281
00:21:57,049 --> 00:22:08,322
So we know that there's these other skills, but honestly, look you in the eye, smile, have
a conversation, shake a hand, right?

282
00:22:08,718 --> 00:22:10,818
Let's just see what your confidence is like.

283
00:22:10,818 --> 00:22:12,798
Let's see what your goals are.

284
00:22:13,318 --> 00:22:16,378
And then one more that is true.

285
00:22:16,378 --> 00:22:18,478
We do really check references.

286
00:22:18,758 --> 00:22:30,338
Our reference checks have to be spot on because we want to avoid that bad Apple who is
just that bullshit artist that says whatever they got to say to get in because a lot of

287
00:22:30,338 --> 00:22:32,618
salespeople are bullshit artists.

288
00:22:32,618 --> 00:22:38,158
However, side story, one of our current reps who I would say is one of our top

289
00:22:38,158 --> 00:22:42,258
echelon top earner with us, totally lied in his interview.

290
00:22:43,858 --> 00:22:52,298
Absolutely, wholeheartedly lied and said all about his sales experience that he had and
what he's done and where he's been, et cetera, et cetera.

291
00:22:52,298 --> 00:22:56,558
And we're like, wow, this is great, super, all right.

292
00:22:56,558 --> 00:23:07,406
And then we called and did his reference check and his reference checks like, no, he was
actually laborer and blue collar and, and, and I was baffled.

293
00:23:07,406 --> 00:23:10,686
So I called this guy back and he was just telling the story.

294
00:23:10,686 --> 00:23:13,526
He's like, look, man, I just want to get in sales.

295
00:23:13,526 --> 00:23:18,466
I just figured if I didn't, and I'm like, dude, you're so hired.

296
00:23:18,466 --> 00:23:23,785
Like you have no idea how, I just love what you did and I love your passion.

297
00:23:23,785 --> 00:23:27,526
And he's been with us now for well over a year and he's one of our top earners.

298
00:23:27,706 --> 00:23:33,773
So you just sometimes have to meet with the person and get to know the person.

299
00:23:33,773 --> 00:23:37,693
And I'm sure there was so much respect on the other side, on his side for you.

300
00:23:37,693 --> 00:23:48,053
I mean, to think, to go into a job interview, and I love that, that story, I think it
demonstrates perfectly where there's a miss in hiring these days.

301
00:23:48,053 --> 00:23:59,253
That if you feel like you don't have the skills, you do have the skills, but you don't
have the experience or the piece of paper that, that accurately, again, on paper

302
00:23:59,253 --> 00:24:01,033
demonstrates those skills.

303
00:24:01,473 --> 00:24:02,453
And

304
00:24:02,547 --> 00:24:06,079
telling a little white lie to get in the door to have that conversation.

305
00:24:06,079 --> 00:24:10,820
That tells me that we have a serious hiring problem just in society.

306
00:24:11,261 --> 00:24:19,815
What you are saying is if somebody can walk in, they can make a great impression because
of the person they are, how confident they are, which is ultimately what your clients will

307
00:24:19,815 --> 00:24:20,415
experience.

308
00:24:20,415 --> 00:24:22,926
So that's also a great test.

309
00:24:23,106 --> 00:24:24,447
Then why shouldn't they have a chance?

310
00:24:24,447 --> 00:24:26,107
You can learn Salesforce.

311
00:24:26,568 --> 00:24:29,189
They have tutorials, right?

312
00:24:29,565 --> 00:24:31,166
Those are all things that you can learn.

313
00:24:31,166 --> 00:24:36,349
What you can't learn is that warmth, that human connection.

314
00:24:37,490 --> 00:24:38,250
You can train it.

315
00:24:38,250 --> 00:24:40,572
So I think that's really interesting.

316
00:24:40,572 --> 00:24:42,653
And I love your approach to hiring.

317
00:24:42,653 --> 00:24:44,894
It's the human element, right?

318
00:24:45,455 --> 00:24:46,695
Yeah, it's fantastic.

319
00:24:46,695 --> 00:24:49,657
And I would imagine that it keeps people around for a while too.

320
00:24:51,662 --> 00:24:53,742
Hey, look, we're a small business.

321
00:24:53,742 --> 00:24:54,562
We're in sales.

322
00:24:54,562 --> 00:25:00,562
We're very fortunate that, I'll be honest, our turnover is within the first three months.

323
00:25:00,562 --> 00:25:01,982
Absolutely sucks.

324
00:25:02,142 --> 00:25:05,802
I wish I could crack the code on that.

325
00:25:06,182 --> 00:25:12,402
You hire someone, you think that the next this, that, and what have you, and then all of a
sudden, gone, it happens.

326
00:25:13,182 --> 00:25:21,902
But after the three months, oh yeah, out of our 50 staff, are, I've got one guy who's been
with us since month one.

327
00:25:22,991 --> 00:25:25,042
Many people since year one.

328
00:25:25,042 --> 00:25:29,786
So we're very fortunate to have a very strong nucleus of individuals.

329
00:25:29,786 --> 00:25:32,738
And one other thing too, here's one more thing on hiring.

330
00:25:32,738 --> 00:25:36,640
And this has been hard for me, but this is a tip that I learned and it's not hard for me.

331
00:25:36,850 --> 00:25:38,762
How people who are smarter than you?

332
00:25:41,152 --> 00:25:44,443
I surround myself with people who are smarter than me.

333
00:25:44,643 --> 00:25:46,644
And I'm so thankful for that.

334
00:25:46,644 --> 00:26:00,628
And I find that there's so many people that run businesses or departments that want to be
the smart person and that they hold people down and it just doesn't do them very well.

335
00:26:01,069 --> 00:26:03,337
So just a, just a tip to some people.

336
00:26:03,337 --> 00:26:05,709
If you're the smartest person in the room, what do they say?

337
00:26:05,709 --> 00:26:06,570
You're in the wrong room.

338
00:26:06,570 --> 00:26:09,483
It's true.

339
00:26:10,564 --> 00:26:11,005
Right?

340
00:26:11,005 --> 00:26:16,273
Get out, go somewhere else because that's, that's just ego talking at the end of the day.

341
00:26:16,273 --> 00:26:17,851
Oh, amazing.

342
00:26:17,851 --> 00:26:23,399
And Chris, so you've now you have a team.

343
00:26:23,399 --> 00:26:30,895
that does some of the work, but you still answer calls at the front, you pet the dogs, you
see the team, you do all the things.

344
00:26:31,496 --> 00:26:38,300
For you currently, what does your day look like as, as, you know, as head of the company?

345
00:26:39,912 --> 00:26:51,128
A lot of follow-up, a lot of delegation and a lot of opportunity to create new ventures,
which is what I love doing.

346
00:26:51,128 --> 00:26:59,193
here at the Mark Group, have our core business, which we're very fortunate for, which is
selling advertising on the reusable shopping bags.

347
00:26:59,193 --> 00:27:04,555
And we're now becoming experts in web development and SEO and our traditional marketing.

348
00:27:04,776 --> 00:27:07,777
But my job is to figure out what's next.

349
00:27:07,777 --> 00:27:09,498
So nobody else out there

350
00:27:09,624 --> 00:27:12,136
spells advertising on reusable shopping bags.

351
00:27:12,236 --> 00:27:15,559
Well, the next things that we're doing, nobody else does either.

352
00:27:15,559 --> 00:27:19,742
So I get to sit back and, then be the creator.

353
00:27:20,243 --> 00:27:22,124
But I understand this.

354
00:27:22,124 --> 00:27:30,130
There's been a lot of things that I've created that have, I don't want to talk about it
because I didn't do very well at all.

355
00:27:31,071 --> 00:27:35,344
But, like we're going to, we just keep, we're going to keep trying.

356
00:27:35,344 --> 00:27:36,545
We're going to keep going for it.

357
00:27:36,545 --> 00:27:39,756
We're going to keep working on it to find the next great thing.

358
00:27:39,756 --> 00:27:42,046
wow on the same facet.

359
00:27:42,347 --> 00:27:46,088
We're far from perfect at what we do with our core business.

360
00:27:46,088 --> 00:27:49,188
My wife is wonderful in the operations side.

361
00:27:49,849 --> 00:27:55,760
We're just tightening up and we're becoming better, bigger, and stronger in that area too.

362
00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:59,091
So that's what my day really involves.

363
00:27:59,091 --> 00:28:09,070
And I have to say the nice thing too is now that we're at this position in our business,
I've got a little bit of freedom.

364
00:28:09,070 --> 00:28:20,690
So I've been able to in the morning, just I got two kids, two teenage kids, really
dropping my daughter off at school, grade eight every day, you that's a cool thing.

365
00:28:20,930 --> 00:28:30,930
I have the opportunity to take care of my own health and wellness, get a little workout in
the gym in the morning and then get into the office in the mid mornings.

366
00:28:30,930 --> 00:28:33,690
And it's been nice, it's been good, great people.

367
00:28:33,748 --> 00:28:42,413
The freedom that comes with entrepreneurship or the freedom that comes from doing what you
love as well and eventually comes with.

368
00:28:42,413 --> 00:28:43,403
Yes.

369
00:28:44,644 --> 00:28:45,377
Eventually.

370
00:28:45,377 --> 00:28:45,841
Yes.

371
00:28:45,841 --> 00:28:46,558
comes with.

372
00:28:46,558 --> 00:28:54,787
Because there was many times that I would come home when it was just me and my wonderful,
talented, beautiful wife with babies, she would say, what did you sell today, honey?

373
00:28:54,787 --> 00:28:58,378
At six o'clock in the evening when I've been out in the sales field knocking on doors
since 8 a.m.

374
00:28:58,378 --> 00:28:59,350
And I'd go nothing.

375
00:28:59,350 --> 00:29:02,832
And she'd say, well, nothing doesn't pay the bills.

376
00:29:02,832 --> 00:29:05,245
Get out there and sell more.

377
00:29:05,245 --> 00:29:06,021
Yeah.

378
00:29:07,382 --> 00:29:10,303
and then having to go back out in the...

379
00:29:11,485 --> 00:29:13,165
so, yes.

380
00:29:13,286 --> 00:29:21,119
But eventually, if you stick to your game plan and believe in yourself, there are some
great rewards that can be had for sure.

381
00:29:21,119 --> 00:29:28,453
you have some ideas that fail along the way that of course, you know, you need to.

382
00:29:28,453 --> 00:29:32,780
Not everything's gonna be a home run and it shouldn't because you learn from it.

383
00:29:36,301 --> 00:29:37,342
for you.

384
00:29:37,801 --> 00:29:41,227
I'm trying to Yeah.

385
00:29:43,451 --> 00:29:44,807
Final question.

386
00:29:44,807 --> 00:29:45,888
let's go.

387
00:29:46,534 --> 00:29:48,225
All right, I'm ready for it.

388
00:29:48,225 --> 00:29:51,705
to anybody yet, so yours is very specific.

389
00:29:53,325 --> 00:30:07,845
Think back to young Chris, who was working to make somebody else's franchise possible and
successful, and you had said, I noticed that this person gets all these perks, and they

390
00:30:07,845 --> 00:30:09,785
get to do this, that, and the other thing.

391
00:30:09,785 --> 00:30:12,145
Why can't I do that for myself?

392
00:30:12,615 --> 00:30:21,720
Thinking about that list of things that you admired that that person had on their docket
every single day, how much of that do you get to do now?

393
00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:24,644
What's come to fruition all these years later?

394
00:30:28,374 --> 00:30:32,357
Okay, so great question, never been asked that before.

395
00:30:33,579 --> 00:30:45,171
And I don't want this answer to sound arrogant because one thing that I also try to do is
I try, I'm just, not a fan of arrogant people.

396
00:30:45,171 --> 00:30:47,170
I'm not a fan of, what I got.

397
00:30:47,170 --> 00:30:48,862
You don't have this, but I have it.

398
00:30:48,862 --> 00:30:49,682
look at my car.

399
00:30:49,682 --> 00:30:54,877
Look at my, I'm not a flash and dash guy.

400
00:30:54,877 --> 00:30:56,958
But to answer your question.

401
00:30:59,144 --> 00:31:03,669
That individual would golf often.

402
00:31:04,862 --> 00:31:06,212
So do I.

403
00:31:06,634 --> 00:31:10,318
That individual would come in and then take off and go to his cottage.

404
00:31:12,376 --> 00:31:13,327
So do I.

405
00:31:13,732 --> 00:31:18,760
That individual will get to take vacations with his family while I house sit for him.

406
00:31:20,558 --> 00:31:21,558
So do I.

407
00:31:22,319 --> 00:31:33,883
So there's many parallels that have now been achieved due to that thought process in 1997
dating myself.

408
00:31:33,883 --> 00:31:34,963
Sorry.

409
00:31:36,044 --> 00:31:36,824
Yes.

410
00:31:36,824 --> 00:31:37,685
Yes.

411
00:31:37,685 --> 00:31:38,385
Just a few years.

412
00:31:38,385 --> 00:31:39,075
Just around the corner.

413
00:31:39,075 --> 00:31:39,945
Yes.

414
00:31:40,846 --> 00:31:41,682
Thank you for that.

415
00:31:41,682 --> 00:31:44,084
just want to congratulate you on the journey.

416
00:31:44,084 --> 00:31:47,666
You have worked damn hard to get here.

417
00:31:47,787 --> 00:31:55,463
And to me, what I'm hearing isn't the material things, but you've created freedom for
yourself, like you just said, right?

418
00:31:55,463 --> 00:32:04,280
You've got the freedom to take care of yourself, to spend time with your family, to do the
things that you love, whether that's golf, which I'm very happy to hear, going to the

419
00:32:04,280 --> 00:32:07,322
cottage, driving your daughter to school.

420
00:32:07,322 --> 00:32:11,105
So you've created freedom at the end of the day.

421
00:32:12,834 --> 00:32:13,104
Yeah.

422
00:32:13,104 --> 00:32:28,335
And in my closing to Kendra, one thing that has really motivated my wife and I in building
this business, and it might be the primary driving factor is when we get emails from a

423
00:32:28,335 --> 00:32:41,364
single mother who's worked with us for years, who is uneducated and provides a six figure
income for her and her daughter.

424
00:32:42,616 --> 00:32:55,391
When we get our staff who come up to us and are so grateful because they get to take six
weeks off and go to Mexico with their family because of the income that they've earned and

425
00:32:55,391 --> 00:32:57,592
they have the freedom to travel.

426
00:32:58,252 --> 00:33:07,016
And there's a lot of stories that we are very fortunate to have people that work with us,
not for us, they work with us.

427
00:33:07,396 --> 00:33:12,822
And because of the effort that they put in, they get to enjoy freedoms, I'm telling you.

428
00:33:13,620 --> 00:33:28,247
I'm a man of faith and I thank the Lord for those people and for them being able to
accomplish that under this thing that we started but didn't create it because we created

429
00:33:28,247 --> 00:33:29,578
it altogether.

430
00:33:29,618 --> 00:33:38,281
that's my, if we're closing, that's my closing statement to people is do what you do for
yourself, but equally if not more for others.

431
00:33:38,281 --> 00:33:40,902
Brilliant, brilliant.

432
00:33:41,905 --> 00:33:43,927
That's a perfect closing statement.

433
00:33:43,927 --> 00:33:53,336
And I would love also just one more thing from you, if you can let people know where they
can find you, where they can follow along with your journey, where they can learn more

434
00:33:53,336 --> 00:33:54,296
about you.

435
00:33:57,646 --> 00:33:59,907
Okay, another great question.

436
00:34:00,068 --> 00:34:04,061
Well, we're the Mark Group, the T-H-E, Mark, M-A-R-C.

437
00:34:04,061 --> 00:34:08,360
And there's not like a small little French guy running around here, Mark, just where did
Mark come from?

438
00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:10,055
Because you didn't ask and you should ask that.

439
00:34:10,055 --> 00:34:15,289
It's an acronym for my family, Matthew, Anna, my wife, Rima, myself, Chris.

440
00:34:15,289 --> 00:34:17,780
So that's where Mark, M-A-R-C came from.

441
00:34:18,001 --> 00:34:20,823
So the Mark, M-A-R-C, group, Inc.

442
00:34:20,823 --> 00:34:22,024
Inc.com.

443
00:34:22,024 --> 00:34:23,375
That's our website.

444
00:34:23,375 --> 00:34:24,826
You can check us out there.

445
00:34:24,826 --> 00:34:25,662
I'm not.

446
00:34:25,662 --> 00:34:29,605
Big on social media, I have it, but I don't like know my handles.

447
00:34:29,605 --> 00:34:32,262
I guess when you run a marketing company, you're supposed to.

448
00:34:32,262 --> 00:34:36,709
I don't Don't really know them, but they're there.

449
00:34:37,070 --> 00:34:39,051
And we have a new venture that we're starting.

450
00:34:39,051 --> 00:34:43,674
It's actually, I'm starting a hydrogen water bottle company.

451
00:34:44,155 --> 00:34:46,426
It's called Vita, V-I-T-A.

452
00:34:46,426 --> 00:34:55,382
So you can follow Vita, which is about to launch at the end of this month at Vita,
V-I-T-A, is I-S, aqua.com.

453
00:34:55,382 --> 00:34:59,507
It's an exciting product that we've been developing for the last six to eight months.

454
00:34:59,507 --> 00:35:01,249
has nothing to do with the Mark group.

455
00:35:01,249 --> 00:35:02,771
It's just my little side hustle.

456
00:35:02,771 --> 00:35:08,078
So you can follow along there and yeah, way we go.

457
00:35:08,078 --> 00:35:08,663
Thank you.

458
00:35:08,663 --> 00:35:09,342
so much, Chris.

459
00:35:09,342 --> 00:35:16,528
We'll make sure that we share both of those links so people can check out the new venture,
which is very exciting.

460
00:35:16,528 --> 00:35:18,729
I'm going to do that the second we hang up.

461
00:35:18,969 --> 00:35:21,871
And also follow along with the Mark Group.

462
00:35:21,871 --> 00:35:29,976
Again, thank you so much for sharing your time and wonderful energy with myself and with
all of our listeners.

463
00:35:29,976 --> 00:35:32,517
And I know it won't be the last time we chat.

464
00:35:34,190 --> 00:35:34,723
Thank you, Kendra.

465
00:35:34,723 --> 00:35:35,998
Appreciate your time.