Hey there, I'm Tals Lotnitsky from Ignite IT Consulting.
You know me from the Braving Business podcast, but when I'm not behind the mic, I'm helping
tech startups and established companies ignite their full potential.
I also help entrepreneurs and businesses in distress reset for success.
With over three decades of entrepreneurial success, I bring hands-on experience to drive
growth, navigate turnarounds, raise capital, and lead to innovation.
Whether it's executive coaching or strategic transformation, I'm here to turn your business
challenges into success stories.
Visit igniteitconsulting.com and let's spark that change together.
That's igniteitconsulting.com.
Your journey to business brilliance starts now.
And one last quick thing.
If you enjoyed this episode, please stay on after the show to learn more about the Braving
Business podcast and other great episodes for you to discover.
And now, let's get the show started.
Well hello there.
Happy 2025.
I know.
As we say in the islands, haole maki iki ho.
That's how you say it?
Mm-hmm.
Happy 25th of July for Merry Christmas and haole maki iki ho for Happy New Year.
So there you go.
If you say so.
How was your New Year, Sara?
It was good.
We went to in between the two holidays, we went down to California and did some traditional
Japanese mochi making, pounding rice with big old wooden hammers.
It was a lot of fun.
What did you do?
I, well, for New Year's I was hung out with friends, but I spent a week in Jamaica, Jamaica
and a solo vacation, which was very nice.
A solo vacation where you're letting your hair down?
Yeah.
You know, I don't have that much hair left, but yeah, I would say it was down.
It was down.
How about you, Marquel?
Did you have a good New Year, Christmas?
I did.
So my family and I, we started a tradition, I think about five years ago, where we bring
in Christmas in a different country.
So we did that for Christmas.
We was in Cancun.
It's way warmer there than here in Atlanta.
And then for New Year's, we just kept it light.
We were here.
We did a watch night service at our church.
So we brought in New Year's at church hanging out.
So that was a lot of fun as well.
That is amazing.
And you know what?
Why don't we just dive into Marquel?
He's got a fantastic story.
And actually, real quick, when I was in California, you started Park Mobile, right?
I started the company that became it, yes.
So you and I have known each other for years.
You're always, you know, you've shared the story about your entrepreneurial journey,
starting that company.
And I was always like, yeah, okay, sure.
But it's not here in Chicago, but it's all over California.
And I was like, there's towel.
There's towel.
It was nuts.
It's all over the world.
Unfortunately, I sold way too early.
I sold 18 months in to Ringo, a company at the time based in the UK, which is now Park
Mobile.
Well, but yes, I was very proud.
I see it too.
I am less proud, more angry, but hey, it's okay.
Hey, hey, hey, hey.
No, I'm joking.
It's all good.
You created something amazing.
So I just want to give you kudos.
You know, you've told me about it.
I understand it.
We don't have it here.
So it was very enjoyable for me to run across it in the wild, so to speak.
It was very cool.
So nicely done, sir.
But let's learn about Mr. Marquel Russell.
Marquel Russell, who is our fantabulous guest today, his journey started, which is, you
know, and ended or currently is particularly inspiring.
He is a ninth grade dropout who transformed his life from humble beginnings into becoming
an exceptionally successful entrepreneur.
His early experiences, including selling network marketing opportunities online, which led
him to discover the power of internet marketing.
And through perseverance and learning from real life challenges, he mastered direct response
marketing and began teaching others how to achieve similar success.
Over the years, Marquel has built a reputation for generating significant revenue for his
clients over a quarter of a billion dollars, with a B, by employing innovative marketing
strategies that attract high ticket clients.
His methodologies include the predictable scale flywheel method, which he pioneered,
and aims to help business owners create sustainable growth while minimizing burnout.
His passion includes helping 1 million service based business owners add an extra $1 million
to their annual revenue as part of what he calls the Trillion Dollar March Initiative.
Beyond his professional endeavors, Marquel values family and community involvement.
He enjoys spending time with his wife and his children and considers that to be his
most important endeavor.
He is also passionate about empowering at risk youth and uses his personal story of
overcoming adversity to serve as a motivational example for others.
Marquel, we are honored that you are spending some time with us here today.
Welcome to the Braving Business Podcast.
I'm honored to be here, fellas.
It's crazy.
Bios, getting a bio read, it still feels weird to me.
I'm still like getting used to it.
So I'm totally honored to be here.
I hear you, Marquel.
It's funny, the very first episode of this podcast, PJ hosted me and he read my bio to
me and it was like, wow, holy, who is this guy?
Right?
I did the same thing to him last episode of season one.
It is pretty amazing.
You know what?
We are so busy in our lives, being in our lives and existing, and we tend to stop appreciating
what we've accomplished.
So thank you for that moment of humility and for recognizing how cool it is to have your
accomplishments read back to you by others.
It's kind of fun.
It's a cool thing to do to people, by the way.
I enjoy reading back to people what they've done.
But in any event, your journey from a ninth grade dropout to a multi-million dollar strategist
is a remarkable journey.
Start me on what was the mindset shift or what was the defining moment that sparked
that transformation for you?
So great questions.
I think one thing that's important to add in there is, so I dropped out of high school
in 10th grade and I actually, my first, one of my first entrepreneurial endeavors was
selling drugs.
Right?
So, so that was my thing early on.
I don't know if it was, this probably wouldn't add it when it was sent over.
I don't know, but I like to like add.
That was not in what was given to us by your people.
That's why I did not make it.
That's okay.
I want to make sure it's in there.
I think it's important for context.
It is.
So that was my, so I started off very young, knocking on the door, hey, can I take your
trash out?
Then we moved into communities and it was like, hey, can I cut your grass?
And then I, the people who I looked up to, like my cousins and so forth in the neighborhood,
the only people who I knew who had money, sold drugs.
So I was, I went that route.
And when I was in 10th grade, I was already making money.
I was driving to school.
I didn't really understand how Algebra 2 was going to make me a millionaire.
And it just got boring to me.
So I stopped going to school.
Because I was dumb, I just got bored.
And then that led me into the streets, which of course did led me to going to jail, which
kind of comes with that.
You either die or go to jail or something like that, kind of in that world.
So when I got out, I was like, I'm going to do this job thing.
The job thing was short lived, but I started an entertainment company while I was doing
artist management and club promotions.
And that actually led me into network marketing.
And I was literally in the club one night and got introduced to network marketing.
So to answer your question, what the biggest shift for me was number one, I had my first
son when I was 19.
And my dad wasn't around when I was growing up.
So I wanted to be around with my son.
I didn't want him to have to come see me like behind the glass.
Right.
And I met my first son.
I had, I like held him in visitation.
Like I was in visitation in jail.
That's when I met him for the first time.
And I was like, the path that I'm going, I feel like I'm going down the path.
My dad went down.
So I was like, I got to do something different.
So I was looking for something.
I didn't really know what it was.
And I was always kind of entrepreneurial.
So then when I got introduced to network marketing, I had never been around people who was talking
so positively and wanting to help other people.
And it just seemed weird to me almost like it wasn't real.
And then I got introduced to personal development.
I didn't make a ton of money in network marketing.
I achieved a lot relatively, but I didn't make a ton of financial, but the personal
development I got introduced to Jim Rahn and these different guys.
And that was the biggest shift for me and took me down a whole path.
I was obsessed with it.
So this network marketing, first of all, you know, so in your early days, like when you're
out of jail and how long were you in jail for?
I think the longest stint I had was like six months.
So nothing crazy, but a day is long.
Yeah.
That's a lot of money.
So, all right.
So from your early days in network marketing, and then you generated over $250 million,
which is remarkable for your clients.
I do have a question about that, but before that, tell us how you got involved in network
marketing in the club.
Like what was that story?
And then also through all this network marketing, what's the biggest lesson that you've learned
about resilience and adaptability?
So, I'll end up in the club because I was on the way to, I went to a friend of mine's
album release party.
And while I was in there hanging out, a guy, he saw me, he thought I was somebody else.
He actually thought I was my brother and I knew his face.
He knew my face.
And he just kind of came over, we was talking.
He was like, Hey, how many people do you know have a cell phone?
And I was like, we just started, of course we started talking before and then he kind
of, he dropped it on me.
I was like, everybody knows I have a cell phone.
And he was like, what if every time they paid their bill, you got paid?
And I was like, that'd be incredible.
So he was like, one of my mentors is going to be in town.
They're millionaires.
They're looking to expand in the area.
You know, it's a lot of opportunity.
We're making money every time people make pay their cell phone bill.
We're making money.
And I was like, well, that sounds pretty cool.
I know a lot of people with cell phones.
So I went to the home party that they had where they do the home presentations, typically
in network marketing.
And it was talking about video phone technology.
We see how big video phone technology is.
And it was talking about it's a growing opportunity, where it was going.
Imagine being in the room when Facebook first started and Skype first started.
When I Skype, but Facebook and Twitter and Amazon, like this is that opportunity.
And I was like, oh, that's cool.
So I jumped in.
It was $500 to get started.
All they said all I had to do is get two and they'll get two and they'll get two and it'll
just blossom and blow up.
So I paid for me and I paid for half of my brother to get in.
So that's what got me into network marketing.
And then the second part of your question was the biggest shift about adaptability.
I think the biggest thing for me was really understanding that everything that I thought
was a disadvantage was actually an unfair advantage for me.
So like when I came into this where everybody was talking about how they had lost money
in real estate in 2008, a lot of people was like, they wasn't corporate American successful
and they got burnt out so they led into network marketing and all these different, like my
story was totally different.
So I was kind of like that, I think it was, I think it's the ugly geese or the ugly something
ugly where it's like all the geese are like white and it's like, you got the ugly one
or whatever.
So I'm like, I'm the guy and there were gold teeth and tattoos and smelling like weed and
like no traditional education.
And it's like, am I like, I feel like a fish out of water, but I realized that everything
I had came through in the streets and jail and all these different types of stuff was
actually an advantage because a lot of stuff I had overcame in my life.
Most people like would never survive and I can actually lean on that to be an advantage
when I come into the legitimate business world.
You know, Marquell, I'll tell you why that resonates for me.
And I think it will resonate for people that listen to this podcast a lot.
What you really are saying is that facing challenges ended up being an advantage because
you are willing to stand in there, stay in the arena and face the challenges.
And what we've consistently heard on this podcast from incredibly successful guests
from all walks of life is that what separates those who have accomplished their goals in
life from those who have not is the refusal to quit.
Not that they had better education, not that they had the best idea, but frankly just that
they wouldn't quit.
And if you're dealing with what you've dealt with and you're able to stay with it and refuse
to be beaten, that is the path that has helped a lot of people achieve success in all walks
of life.
So I find that actually to be, it's a different, I hadn't heard it presented in that way.
And this is why I think we're approaching episode 80, but it makes a lot of sense to
me because it actually fits the narrative of those who refuse to just feel sorry for
themselves and end or quit and just persist, persist, persist, win.
What's your reaction to that?
I agree 100%.
Cause I think, so when I was in network marketing, the biggest fear everybody had was getting
told no, because the network marketing game, it was just a, it was a numbers game, but
the more presentations you can get done, the more money you make.
But a lot of people was just terrified.
So I asked my mentor one day and I was like, wait a minute.
I was like, so you're telling me that the biggest thing that I, the biggest fear or
what the biggest thing to overcome or the worst thing that could happen is somebody
tell me no.
Is that what I'm hearing?
And if I can get through enough of that, I can make millions.
And it was like, well, yeah.
And I was like, I'm gonna kill this because I was like, where I'm from, the stakes are
very high, right?
You could go to jail.
You could, I, every day when I, most days when I left home, when I was in the street,
I had the, and I still got it on my phone just to kind of remember where I came from.
I had the number to the warrant department in my phone.
So I would literally call the warrant department to see if I had a warrant out for me.
So I kind of know, cause like going out and leaving out the house, it could go either
way.
Right?
So I had so much against me and again, odds were so high, chips were so high.
I was like, in this world, I don't have to worry about getting told no, I don't have
to worry about getting robbed or, you know, going to jail or any of that type of stuff.
I'm like, I'm gonna kill this.
And then it was, it was on from there.
It's astonishing.
Yeah.
It's amazing.
So, I mean, it's, it just really tells to, or talks to perception, right?
Like your perception and your attitude and the fact that you have gone through so much
and then being able to take a little step back and see where your feet are and what
path they're telling you is hard and you to be able to assimilate what you've gone through
and everything that you live and you're saying, oh, sorry, someone just telling me no is the
barrier.
You got it.
Got it.
You know, I mean, as someone, I came to this country as a 12 year old and I was an undocumented
immigrant and, and I, on some level, I couldn't possibly understand your experience exactly
the same way, but I do understand the experience of feeling like on some levels, the deck was
stacked against me.
I had it harder on some levels, but what I had that I had in, you know, a whole lot of
and other people didn't was hustle.
I was willing to do practically whatever it took to be successful.
Where did you get that from?
I mean, you have it, it's clear, even talking to you for five minutes, your willingness
to go to just about any length to do what it is that you've set your heart and mind
to is evident.
Where did that come from?
So I think it was, so my mom was super entrepreneurial.
She never taught me entrepreneurship, but I saw her do entrepreneurship.
However, before that, so leading up, I didn't really, I didn't meet my biological mom until
I was in third grade.
So the first part of my life, my aunt raised me and she smoked crack real heavy.
She was a functional crack addict though.
So it wasn't like we lived on the streets or anything, but she smoked crack.
And like so much so like her husband was in the desert storm, the war, I forget when this
was, it was probably like early 90s.
And he used to send home MRE.
So these are, if you're familiar with the military, might be familiar with the military.
They had meals ready to eat.
So we used to eat those for like breakfast, lunch, and even dinner sometimes.
However, coming from that world, I was like, I was so at the bottom.
Now for context, I used to say that I come from poverty, but I've traveled to Nigeria
last year and I went to Ghana as well.
And it's like, it's totally different.
So I'll never say again that I'm from poverty.
However, I came from the bottom in relatively speaking, right?
And I just knew that I wanted, I don't know, it was just something in me.
I guess God put it in me early.
I don't know, but I knew it was just something in me that I wanted more.
And I knew it was way more than the world that I came from.
And I was willing to figure out how to get it.
That's so cool.
You're a fascinating person, Markwell.
Just in like Tal said, we've been recording for what, 17 minutes.
And it's already, we have a whole list of questions about the normal stuff, right?
Like, oh, whatever.
What we try to uncover in these conversations.
And that's already been all thrown out the window.
So just because you're so honest and it is so fascinating.
So we have a lot to get into, right?
I want to learn more about the predictable flywheel.
I want to learn more about the trillion dollar, the trillion dollar-
March.
March, thank you.
That you're endeavoring to do.
But talk about, you've, so you've just said you've been in the bottom, but then you've
gone elsewhere and you've noticed that's really the bottom, right?
Like your bottom and it's not as bad as other people's life experience.
When did you feel like you had an actual separation where you took that step from, I'm Markwell
on the streets and this is my thing and I'm hustling, hustling.
When did you, when did you feel like you actually had control of your environment and your direction
in life and what was that like?
That's such a great question.
So I really, so I think that's a really fascinating question, especially over the year I just
had, right?
So basically, so my year for my, my word for 2024 and even going into this year, my word
is surrender, right?
So it's interesting that you asked about control because I think throughout my entire life,
I had this illusion of control, but I really never had control.
I was just, I was more of a brute force type of guy, if that makes sense.
Well, I was like, I'm a push and figure this thing out.
And I had this illusion of control, but in reality, as I've learned and done deep work
and so forth and so on, I realized that I actually don't have any control, right?
And the more force, I actually almost work against myself thinking I have control by
having force because there is no real power in force.
The power is actually in surrender.
And it took me a really long time to figure that out.
But I've always, even like super young, like even when I was in the streets, it's like,
even when I was getting money in the streets, I was like, yeah, we get money in the streets,
but there's more.
So I was like, I didn't want to just be a corner boy.
I was like, okay, how can I be the guy?
My dream at this time was to be a big drug kingpin, right?
Because that was all I saw.
So I was studying the big drug kingpins and like watching the documentaries and their
DVDs.
I'm like, how do they actually do this?
So I always kind of moved a little bit differently even then, because I was like, it feels stupid
for me to stand on a corner and at some point the police is going to pull up and they're
going to lock everybody up.
So how can I do this differently?
So I did that.
Then we started making money, I was like, how do we take this money?
We start a record label and like do some other things.
So I didn't always know how to go about doing it.
I just always saw things a little bit different.
And then as I got into network marketing, I was like, man, this seems a little bit different.
And I was sharing it with all my guys from where I was from and everybody was like, whoa,
like I'm good, right?
So I always kind of had that enterprise, even some of my clients when I was like in the
streets and it was like, man, you don't, you just seem like you should be doing something
different.
So I always felt like there was some separation at every different phase of my life.
But in terms of control, I probably would have answered this question totally different
two years ago.
However, now I actually realized that I actually don't have control and never did.
I was just more so forced and trying to force things through, which could actually be blocking
something better if I didn't release it and had some sort of, does that make sense?
Oh yeah.
It makes sense actually, it makes a lot of sense.
And it's the fallacy of control is that we can have a whole conversation just on that
topic.
But I want to say a couple of things and I have a question.
So I don't know if you guys are familiar with the work of Steven Levitt.
He's an economist and he wrote the book Freakonomics.
It was a long time ago.
One of the chapters in the book was about why do drug dealers live with their mom?
It's the name of the chapter.
He's kind of funny about that.
But the conclusion that he reached from studying drug dealers, particularly drug dealers who
were the drug dealers that live with their moms are the guys that stay in the corner
and they make minimum wage.
Yeah.
But he also studied the guys that are in China.
I'm not glorifying drug dealing.
So for the record, he did point out though, that the ones that were leaders were exceptionally
sophisticated business people.
Definitely.
And they were just circumstantially found.
I'm also fond of another and it's not in the book, something else that I heard him say
once when I heard him speak.
And he pointed out that rap artists from an IQ standpoint have to be exceptionally elite
because to remember all those words, to remember all those words takes unbelievable recall.
So it's about what you apply your genius to as opposed to whether you are a genius.
We're going to shift.
We're going to leave the streets behind.
We're going to talk about what you've been doing since and you've been helping business
owners scale.
You've been able to do that while working.
I think the number that your team gave us was 50% less.
Help me understand that.
What does that mean?
What are some common mistakes that people make that lead to burnout and how does what
you do help them avoid it?
So great question.
I think this ties back to the question PJ asked a few minutes ago.
It's like a lot of times us as entrepreneurs, because again, something I learned in therapy
is a lot of times as entrepreneurs, we start entrepreneurship as a trauma response.
So sometimes we come from like, man, I've never want to do this or this or whatever
the case may be, whatever our version of that is.
So as entrepreneurs, we come in as this solopreneur type person.
We do everything and we create our identity in doing everything.
We're doing the sales calls.
We're doing the marketing.
We're doing the customer service.
We're doing this.
We're creating the products.
We're doing everything.
And our identity comes into it and it's like, now it's hard to release anything because
we feel like if we keep 100% control of it, it'll go right.
So we have these thoughts like, well, nobody be able to do it as good as I can.
Or we have these thoughts, well, if it's going to take me that long to teach somebody, I
might as well just do it myself.
But in reality, a lot of that is just fear based.
And a lot of it is ego driven because in reality, if I let this thing go and I no longer do
the thing, then who am I?
Because my identity is rooted in doing these things.
So when we do this work with entrepreneurs, we first have to address that.
So a lot of times it's not just like a tactical thing.
Because some people may say, well, just delegate, just delegate, just delegate.
Well, on the surface level, we can easily say just delegate it.
But a lot of times people can't release it to delegate because it's an internal thing
that's going on that's keeping them from even being willing to delegate or hire or train
or create systems and so forth.
So one of the things we do is we start with that work and then we help them come to this
reality that this fallacy of control, like you mentioned, and then how this thing can't
grow any bigger than you.
And I was talking to somebody the other day and I was like, and we was talking about from
a scripture standpoint, and I was like, well, as soon as even Jesus, when he first stepped
into his public ministry, the first thing he did was build a team.
And this was Jesus.
And it's like us entrepreneurs, we feel like we can just do everything.
And it's like, if you really want this thing to grow as big as you want this thing to grow,
we got to figure out how do we put you in the seat where you can operate 100% or at
least 80 to 90% in your zone of genius.
And now you have other individuals who can come operate in their individual zone of geniuses.
And you don't have a big team, but now you can build a lean team where individuals will
operate in their specific zone of geniuses.
And now you can actually serve at your highest level.
And then the business can actually run without you because if the business can't run without
you, you actually don't have a business, right?
You just have a job.
You your own boss.
Yeah.
But you're also your own employee.
And if you hate being an employee, that can go very, very bad.
So that's the first day we're going.
We tackle it internally first, and then we begin to go externally and start talking strategically
about how to build out the systems and the flywheel and all that fun stuff.
Does that make sense?
Oh yeah.
I think you've been spying on me, Mark Valm.
I have had many thoughts and conversations in regards to delegation and the issues of
that within my own company.
Because I have quote unquote newbies, people that don't know my industry very well.
I do a lot in transportation.
So I have people on staff who never came from transportation and that's good and bad.
So when I'm delegating, I feel like I really can't delegate too much because they don't
know as much as I do in how to get things done.
It'll take them twice as long.
But what you're saying really resonates.
So I appreciate you talking about that.
Let me ask you real quick.
You just mentioned that the predictable flywheel, that has helped countless businesses grow
sustainably.
Can you walk us through this method?
What makes it so effective and different from your traditional scaling techniques?
Yeah, definitely.
So just to give you some backstory of how we got there, right?
So the first eight to 10 years of our company, we specifically focused on the client attraction
aspect.
Because it was like, okay, businesses need to figure out how to get clients consistently
and predictably.
So we did that.
However, as we did that, we realized that getting clients is just a small piece of actually
growing a company.
So once we fixed the client issue, now other areas of the business are exposed or they
break because now you got to have fulfillment.
Now you got to have, of course, onboard and you got to have enough salespeople or sales
process to actually handle all these new leads that are coming in.
You got to have financials and financial frameworks because now you're making all this money top
line revenue, which seems to be always exciting in the entrepreneurial world.
But when it comes down to the bottom line, profit and cash flow, none of that stuff has
to exist because we haven't built out the thing right.
So and again, a lot of stuff I've learned just by making a lot of mistakes and then
learning it, fixing it, and then teaching it.
So I always tell them I'm not a guru, right?
I just, I'm a student.
And once I just, I'm a student that's gifted to teach.
So when I figure it out, I like to teach it like in the trenches real time.
So that led us from going from our company, Client Attraction University, to creating
up a new division called Strategic Scale Institute.
And we figured that we need, it's eight pillars that are required to build a business that's
profitable, scalable, sustainable, enjoyable, and potentially sellable if you decide to
sell it.
And then the first part of that eight pillar flywheel is intergame mastering.
So like I talked about earlier, what I found was, it goes back to Omar, like 90% of business
success is like intergame, like our thoughts, our feelings, our wiring.
A lot of times we don't have technically a tactical issue.
A lot of times it boils down to like some intergame that's blocking us.
And then we get into the marketing, which we call multi-dimensional marketing, where
it's not just having a one straight line funnel, but having multi-channels and multi-platforms
and how do you take somebody from complete stranger through an automated process to actually
paying you money, right?
And I don't know if you want me to walk through this whole eight pillars on how you want me
to unpack it.
But maybe give us a chance to jump in with some questions as we go.
But I think it'll be great.
Go for it.
Okay, perfect.
So the second, so that second pillar is multi-dimensional marketing.
So Google did a study where they found that they call it the 7-11-4 rule.
So basically what they found is for a prospect to pay you money, they typically, generally
speaking, it's in the a hundred percent of the time, but generally speaking, they need
about seven hours of content, which is why it's so amazing what y'all are doing in terms
of the podcast, such a powerful platform.
Seven hours of content, generally speaking, 11 different touch points and in four different
locations.
Right?
So it's like if they found you on Google or they found you on a Facebook ad or Instagram
ad, do you have email going out?
Do you have a podcast with like some long form content?
What other assets do you have that's doing that heavy lifting for you when people come
into your ecosystem?
And then thirdly is having irresistible offers.
So basically the irresistible offers is like, what's your product suite?
So like, are you more, are you specifically premium?
Do you have multiple different things you're selling or what does that look like?
And is your offers irresistible?
So we call it having a Godfather offer, like an offer that you can't refuse.
Right?
And it's not necessarily about pricing, but about depending on your audience and how that's
delivered and is it leveraged and is it properly priced?
Because what we found is a lot of entrepreneurs, they just pulled their price points just out
of the air or they'll look at the market and see who's charging the most and who's charging
the least.
And then they'll put themselves like right in the middle or their price based on what
other people are doing.
So that's the irresistible offers part of the predictable scale flywheel.
And then is clients for life.
So there, there was this guy who talks about making offers so good that people feel stupid
not buying.
But a buddy of mine named Gamal, he said something brilliant.
He said, create services and programs so good that clients feel stupid leaving.
Right?
So because from a marketing perspective, it actually is cheaper to keep a client than
to get a new one.
Right?
We all know that.
So if you can keep, if you kept every one of your clients, the ones that you like, of
course, like at what point when you need any more clients.
Right.
So how can you get a client and bring them in and they become a client for life as long
as you can continue to serve.
So that's the clients for life pillar.
It's so interesting.
Everything you're saying, it's, it's, it's almost like you have an MBA, right?
You got like a, you got a streets or a life MBA, but it all, it all just makes sense.
Right?
So what are the, what are the names of the, sorry, without going into like too deep on
each of them, but what are the names of the other pillars?
How does that, how does that flesh out?
So the other ones is we have financial frameworks.
We have world-class team.
And then we have, I'm just going to top my head, world-class team.
You have effortless enrollment.
That's like the sales system.
And then we have harmony.
So like work life harmony.
So how do you build a business where, where you actually still enjoy your life and your
business doesn't swallow you whole and you have the successful business, but you hate
your life.
When, when you're talking with clients and you're, and you're walking them through this
flywheel, what is, what is the, the one pillar that seems to be the most in need of repair?
Typically it's two-fold.
Typically it's the inner game mastery because they're typically on the verge of burnout
or not in the middle of it, or if not right in the middle of it.
And then it's the harmony aspect because a lot of times they've been told so much that
you got to work, work, work, grind, grind, grind that you can't prioritize your life
first and then business, but you got to prioritize business.
And the more work you put in, the better your business will be.
And it just sacrifice life, you know, marriages, kids, health, all that good stuff.
So those are typically the two biggest ones.
That's not the thing they come for, but those are the two biggest things that are in need.
So those are more personal, you know, 100%.
Yeah, they're more personal.
So what do you do for them to, to help them on that, on that aspect?
Like what kind of nuggets do you give them?
So great question.
So one big one, and this may seem super simple, but one big one that we do is we have this
thing called a UOS.
So we tell them, like we show them that a well, a fully optimized business has to be
ran by a fully optimized CEO.
So one of the things that we do is we help them like with a specific morning success
ritual, because most of them are wake up and the first thing they do is start scrolling
social media or they wake up and they start, you know, checking email.
They don't have any like dialed in morning routine, right?
And then in the day routine, so don't have any way to like, how do I end my business
day?
Going to my personal life day.
So it runs right into it.
And now they sleep at night, but they don't rest.
So now when they wake up in the morning, they're actually still tired and exhausted.
And now you're trying to run a company, you're trying to make high level decisions, high
stake decisions, but you're tired.
You haven't slept.
Well, you haven't rested well.
So really helping them dial and create systems to actually operate with the net.
And one of the things which can be crazy is that actually helping them create a calendar,
right?
Because most of them, their calendar is in their head.
And I always tell people like our most valuable, my most valuable tool in our company is Google
calendar is free.
Like everything is on the calendar.
So everything is on the calendar.
Like I got my gym date night, this podcast.
I got WWE Smackdown is a recurring meeting every Friday at 8pm because my boys love wrestling.
So it's on the calendar.
So it's important, right?
So I prioritize it that way and I show them that.
And once they start doing that, they actually, they almost immediately feel lighter because
now they have a ton more clarity.
You know, you would think people reach success and you think they'd have a better appreciation
for systems, but you'd think wrong.
I think what Marquel is sharing has been my experience also coaching, which is that a
lot of people come to me and they believe that their most pressing issue is it's a business
problem.
And the problem is, is they are the problem.
And I don't mean that in a sense of they can't solve the business problem.
They need to get out their own way to solve the business problem.
Most valuable resource I think any entrepreneur has is, is share of mind and clearing space
in your mind so that you're doing the things you, Marquel said are the things that are
your genius.
And I think the more entrepreneurs recognize that trying to do it all and or not resting
is not a badge of courage, is not an indication you're a badass.
It just means you're bad at doing something better.
And if you are not going to fix it, what you're going to do is you will not achieve the levels
of success you could.
And you will all almost certainly also impact other areas of your life that matter to you,
whether it's your health, whether it's your relationship with your spouse, your friends,
your children, your God, all of those things adversely as well.
So in truth, coaching and Marquel, it sounds like you're on some level a coach, is oftentimes
about coaching people how to get out of their own way and not just how to do something.
Get out of your own way.
Then some of these other things become a little bit more self evident.
You like a Jay Z quote, men lie, women lie, but numbers don't.
Yeah.
Tell me how you think data driven decision making is critical in your own success.
But also what advice would you give entrepreneurs about trusting numbers?
Yes.
Such a great question.
I mean, such a great question.
So I think it's everything.
So when we work with clients from a marketing standpoint, even from a sales standpoint, typically
the common thing that we hear is I feel like this isn't working or I feel like I feel like
I feel like I feel like, and we'll say, we came up with this thing where it was like,
hey, don't bring the drama, bring the data.
Right.
And one of our principles as a company is pillars is in data we trust.
So it's like, hey, what do you mean you feel like it?
Let's look at the numbers.
And the beautiful thing about the numbers for entrepreneurs is like, it helps us shift
to a totally different side of our brain.
So we're panicking and we're freaking out.
And we're like, I feel like I feel like I feel like we're operating on one side of our
brain.
But when we zoom out and we look at now we look at data and we breathe, it helps us shift.
Even we're just looking at your bank account and looking at your revenue, like that's data.
Right.
Doesn't speak to you or anything.
It's literally just data.
Right.
So now you can shift and, okay, let me look at these numbers and let's look at this snapshot.
And now we can look at, okay, what were the things that led up to create this specific
snapshot?
And then like, what are the one or two levers that we need to pull to create something different?
Because that's oftentimes what it is.
So we just make it personal.
If we say, okay, if we get on the scale, right, and we're like, okay, this scale doesn't say
what we wanted to say.
Right.
That's a snapshot.
That's some data.
So now we can get in our feelings.
We can freak out.
We can do this in the third.
We can say, okay, what were the leading indicators that led up to the scale saying this?
So if we're like, okay, revenue is down this month.
It's like, okay, great.
That's a snapshot.
Let's look at, okay, was lead generation down?
Was our sales qualified leads down?
Was it something happened with the sales?
Was it something else?
And, but a lot of times once we actually dig into the data, what we found almost 80% of
the time is that the business is actually doing better than they thought they were.
They actually hadn't just taken the time to actually look at the numbers.
It just felt like it wasn't working or things weren't going away because they didn't take
time to look at the numbers.
And again, I get it as a, as a hard pushing entrepreneur, sometimes like slowing down
to actually review the dashboards if they even have them.
Cause most entrepreneurs don't, they just grind it out.
And I've worked with business owners who were doing a million dollars a month.
And we're like, Hey, let's look at some of the data and see what's going on and see some
of the opportunities.
And they're looking at me like, what data?
And I'm like, why are you going to be, you got P and L's or anything?
And they're like, well, I'm getting them, but I haven't looked at them.
Right.
But a lot of times a lot of the insight is like right there.
But again, as just full blown entrepreneurs, full charging, we're only take the time to
look at those things.
And, and I was, I was one of them.
So I get it 100%.
That's a, that's some great stuff.
We're gonna, we're definitely going to be using the, um, don't bring the drama, bring
the data.
But moving forward, um, let's, let's do a quick pivot real fast.
Uh, you have told us that you value family and faith very deeply.
How do these principles influence the way that you approach your work and the clients
that you serve?
So everything.
So I believe so what, so how I started using, how I really fell in love with the quote,
men lie, women lie, numbers don't is because in the world that we exist in from a consultant
standpoint, a lot of people, you know, beat their chest about how much money they're making
and how much success they're having and so forth and so on.
But what we, what we found was nobody was creating as many success stories as us.
So it was like the thing that we brag about is how many success stories were created.
So when we say men lie, women lie, numbers don't, it's like the numbers of success stories
that we created and, and, and how that's rooted is that I believe that we as a company and
anybody who consults or coaches or whatever have a responsibility to other people.
So how I show up, like the advice that I give clients, like they take that and by them taking
that and doing it affects them, it affects their families, it affects their team members.
So it's a high calling, right?
So I got to make sure that I'm in line with God and getting the proper downloads to actually
be able to serve these business owners and these leaders at a high level.
And I'm not just showing up as Markwell full of ego.
I know it all.
I got it all figured out, but I'm actually connected to another level of insight to channel
through me because I always tell my clients is like, this doesn't come from me.
It comes through me.
So I got to make sure I'm connected.
I'm having that solitude time in the morning to really show up fully when I show up, whether
that's on content, whether that's on podcasts, whether that's with a client, because when
the client shows up, they're showing up with their personal life stuff.
They're showing up with their life trauma.
They're showing up with everything, right?
So I got to be able to discern and hold space for these individuals.
And that's a hundred percent spiritual.
To me, entrepreneurship is a hundred percent spiritual.
It's like we're creating something that didn't exist, right?
So that's that on that front, on the spiritual front.
On the family front, I heard this gentleman at Enki Johnson said this years ago, and he
was like, he never wanted to be a public success and a private failure.
So one of the things I never wanted to do is number one, I want to be present in my
kid's life.
And one of the things I learned from my therapist is that he told me one day he was like, he
was like, bro, you grew up and your dad wasn't in the house.
He was like, the flip side of that is children's parents being in the house, but they're not
there.
They're there, but they're not there.
So they're not emotionally present.
They're in the house physically, but they're not emotionally there.
So I wanted to make sure that I'm emotionally present and have a solid relationship with
my kids.
Because at the end of the day, my kids don't care about how much money I make, how many
stages I'm on, how big my...
They don't care about it.
They don't talk about it as cool as bragging rights for their friends or whatever, but
at the end of the day, they want to play.
They want to be able to hang out.
They want to be there when they want to talk.
And I also want to represent that in the marketplace and show other individuals you can have it
all because we can't talk about wealth, building wealth, if we're not talking about building
the family.
Like if I'm out showing a lot of men how to make a son of money, but they're absent fathers,
I've lost the game.
If I'm showing these brothers or even these women how to do these things, but they're
sacrificing all the other stuff that matters, like I lost, right?
And I have a responsibility in that.
So making sure we're showing that you can actually have it all.
You don't got to sacrifice family time and date nights and all that.
You can actually work the business and you can break it out.
You have the business, yes.
And then you also have the family and you can operate within that.
And I don't want to be somebody who just talks about it, but I want to be somebody who live
in, like I said earlier, I'm not somebody who was mastered this and got it figured out.
I'm a student of this and I'm just sharing and teaching what I'm learning throughout
the process.
And I tell my kids every day, like, well, I'm not every day, but most times it's like,
hey, you watching me grow up as well.
I don't have the parenting thing and figured out.
I don't have the husband thing and figured out.
You know, I don't have the business thing and figured out, right?
I'm learning every day and I'm teaching my findings basically like a scientist in every
area.
Marquel, I think, wow, I really admire everything you just said.
And I'm so glad that we are putting that out in the air and hopefully tens of thousands
of people will hear and absorb it.
Oftentimes in business podcasts, the focus is even though even on our own podcast, where
we try very, very hard to focus on the individual, I don't think we even we do enough to make
sure that work life balance or presence in one's life is balanced in whatever way balance
is represented for you is sufficiently considered.
We've had guests on the show that have shared wonderful ideas and advice on how to try to
create some balance for themselves and some that have even said there's no such thing.
But I think that you're right.
I think that in truth to consider yourself a success and not acknowledge that success
absent a life, a personal life where you are present for those who love you, loving them
in return the way that they deserve to be loved, building relationships with the people
that you care about the most that are meaningful and deep.
If you're not doing these things, I don't care how much money you make.
You're not a success.
And it's really about defining success to be inclusive of valuing family and in my case
and yours, they can PJs in the case of many people listening to us also faith.
Now I'm not here to proselytize or get on a soapbox, but I do believe that people are
able to balance those three things, their careers or their business, the family and
their faith tend to be happier and tend to be likelier to overcome the obstacles that
are in all of our way because you have the tool set.
The second thing I want to say is I love your focus on learning.
We've all come into contact with people in our lives professionally and otherwise who
are know it alls who think that to show knowledge is to show strength.
My experience is the strength comes from listening.
I have a quote over my desk.
It says the following wisdom is a reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd
have preferred to talk.
It's by Doug Larson.
We all want to say how much we know.
We all want to talk ourselves up or what have you.
The truth is those of us who are capable of learning that are going to live the most purposeful,
most meaningful lives and those of us who are able to then pay it forward and teach
are the ones doing God's work on this earth and you are and I really admire that.
Let's talk about your passion for empowering at risk youth.
Hopefully you live that life and you understand that there but for the grace of God.
How has your personal story shaped the way that you give back?
Yes.
I love that question.
The way I look at it, because a lot of times people ask me why did you give back?
Why do you give back?
I always tell people I don't really look at it as giving back.
If you ever look at a tree, let's use an apple tree.
If an apple tree is growing, it's going to drop apples and it's going to break off seeds
and it's going to grow other trees or whatever.
As I'm growing, as I'm this tree in the world growing, I look at it as just like I'm dropping
off apples.
I'm dropping off seeds here and there and just seeing what else catches root and grows.
When I go speak at a school or jail or something like that, a lot of times the kids are so
brilliant.
A lot of times, and they know when you're full of it, but they get a lot of people who
come through and they're like these motivational speakers and it's all this different type
of thing.
They come in with their suits on and it's no shade to suit anybody who does motivational
speaking.
The kids are just like, dude, whatever.
We got to deal with real life stuff.
Maybe we leave today, I got to go home and figure out how me and my little sister and
brother are going to eat.
I got to make sure, I got to say my dad or my mom is in the bathroom strung out on heroin.
We got real life stuff.
I only eat when I come to school.
They're dealing with real life stuff.
We don't want your motivational message.
When I go in, I show up like this and I let them know first and foremost.
I did it because sometimes we're like, I used to be you.
I used to be you.
I didn't know, I didn't use to be you.
I am you.
Maybe I'm a little older.
Maybe I've heard a few things.
I've been blessed, been had some exposure, but I am you.
I'd rather actually have a conversation versus come in and just speak at you and tell you
what I think you should do or what I think you should say or I think you should show
up.
I'm going to just share some stuff that's worked for me.
Then let's have a conversation about it.
That's my approach.
Sometimes whether I'm in the hood or I'm on the block or if I'm in a school or a college
or it's the same thing.
Even in I went to a university and I spoke in Vermont last year.
Of course, if you know anything about Vermont, I'm like a fish out of water in Vermont.
However, the message still resonated because what I found is it's not a color thing.
A lot of times it's a classism thing.
A lot of times we're so much alike.
Depending on what we're taught, white people are this or black people are this or Asians
are this or Indians are this.
What I found, traveling the world, working with a lot of different types of people, we're
actually more alike than we think we are.
A lot of times we've just been taught so many things.
When I show up with these youth and I love working with the youth because a lot of times
when you work with adults, they're 30, they're 40, they're 50, they're 60 years old and it's
like they have so much programming.
A lot of times it's just like, man, I just got them a little bit late.
When I can get these young ones and they're eight and they're nine and they're 10 and
they're 13 and they're so young and they're moldable and they're open and they're hungry,
it's a lot more fun.
Now, sometimes I don't love some, some of them still want the prayers and some still
would do things, but I was just blessed to be able to be that tree that was able to drop
some seeds and to drop some fruit, regardless of what, what direction they went.
You know, one of the, Mark, one of the things that I find fascinating about you and actually
Tal and I are just, you know, commenting to each other while you're, while you're talking,
your emotional intelligence is like off the charts.
Like you have a wonderfully fresh perspective on things.
You know, you, you came up with really, with a, with a very far too common, but also hard
beginning.
And, you know, if, you know, like Tal was mentioning, if you were, if, you know, if
you were growing up in Vermont, you could have been in Harvard by now or something,
right?
Like, you know, but you've made the most of it.
And I, I love, I absolutely love your perception on things and how you look at things because
it's very fresh.
Like you, you really don't get lost in the weeds.
You take a step back, you're really assessing things and you're doing it from a, from a,
from a context of, of curiosity and you're, you're doing it from a place of kindness.
And that is really remarkable.
And I am, I'm just personally, I'm very excited and very honored to have met you.
And it's, it's just been, it's been very, very heartwarming.
This entire conversation is really, really great.
I feel the same.
I just want to say Marquell, you know, this is our first episode recorded for the new
year and, you know, I, I hope it's a sign of things to come in 2025.
Because one of our goals, you know, we're already a top 1% in global popularity podcast
and it's like, okay, where do we go from here?
And where we want to go from here is we want to impact people's lives, not just give them
good business ideas.
It's never been about that.
It's always been about how do we help people live more meaningful, more purposeful lives?
And I think, you know, this is going to be the first episode we release in 2025 and good
on us for that.
This is, I agree with PJ a hundred percent.
I mean, your, your EQ is astonishing as is your IQ, by the way.
I mean, if you were, you know, PJ said it, if you were born a different set of parents,
you'd have been a valedictorian at Harvard.
That kind of wisdom is so, you know, it's just jumping out at me.
Let's finish with something light.
You're a self-proclaimed sneaker head for what I understand from your team.
What's the story behind your love for sneakers?
By the way, I have some quirks like that too, so I can relate.
Does it reflect something deeper about your personality or your journey?
Do you think you've got this kind of a sneaker head mentality?
Yeah.
So I think, again, I think a lot of it, I think a lot of it, it comes from, and it's
crazy like how your values change over the years.
Right.
So I think, I think some of it just comes back as a traumatic response.
Right.
So it's like when I was growing up, I could see a lot of shoes, but I couldn't get them.
Right.
So I've had the non-name brand shoes where you go to school and get laughed at.
Right.
So as I got older and I could buy different shoes, it just kind of turned into a thing
where it just turned into a problem.
So now I still like shoes and so forth, but I used to have a crazy Polo Ralph Lauren collection
as well.
But it's like, I used to buy a new pair of shoes every week to go to the club.
But it was just like my environment and it's like what I value.
And now it's like, I appreciate a fresh pair of Air Force 1s, all white Air Force 1s.
I like some nice Air Max, but it's like, I don't even go shopping like that.
I like these jogging suits.
I got these joints from Sam's Club.
Right.
And I think they're like 15 or 20 bucks.
Right.
And I love them.
I got like every color, multiple colors.
My wife is like, she want to buy me these different things.
And I'm like, listen, I just need black t-shirts, jogging suits, a couple of nice, but I don't
go anywhere.
But I'll go speak in one of these Sam's Club joints.
Right.
So it's just like how your values just changed over the years.
And it was like, at one point I felt like I had to wear certain things.
But now I'm like, actually I get so much exposure and so much eyeballs on myself and what I
do.
So I'm almost, why would I promote these other brands and give them free publicity when they
spend money on the type of advertising that I'm going to give them by just wearing it?
So I'm just like, I'm going to wear something plain or my own stuff because it doesn't make
sense for me to do it.
So I still appreciate some fresh shoes and Air Max and so forth.
But I think it was just like growing up, like we didn't, I didn't wear, I didn't have, I
had my first pair of Jordans when I was like in seventh grade and somebody gave them to
me.
Right.
But I didn't grow up like with Jordans and all.
But as I got older and I started seeing some Jordans I wanted, like I'll grab them, I'll
grab them here and there.
But I think, I think to answer your question though, it just kind of came from a traumatic
response.
Right.
So now it's like, okay, now I can get all these shoes.
Let me get all these shoes.
But now as I, you know, growing even more, it's like, I want to keep me some fresh because
you got to have some fresh shoes on your feet.
Right.
But it's like, other than that, it's like, I rather spend money on travel or that's kind
of my biggest splurge travel.
I'm not even like, you're a guy, not like that.
But it's like my biggest splurge is travel, coaches, masterminds, ads, books, like I'm
a nerd when it comes to books.
And yeah, and just making sure my family is good for the most part.
Raquel, I hope, speaking of books, I hope you choose the right one.
You know, it's not a nearby.
Usually we interview business people who also are bestselling authors or bestselling authors
who are former business people.
And I bet your story would be fascinating.
And I would love to have you back on when you do write this book that you should write.
Because you have a lot to say.
I think it would be fantastic.
I actually would like to-
Raquel Russell.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
Go ahead, PK.
Sorry, sorry, bud.
I would love to have them on actually earlier because we didn't even get into the trillion
dollar march.
We didn't, there's so much to go through.
That's the problem with-
Yes, I agree.
When you get someone awesome and you go off the rails in regards to what we want to talk
about, we don't cover everything.
But let's have them back.
Fascinating.
And I'm sorry, you can do your finish.
I just, you know, as I usually do, I just want to make sure that, you know, I call out
Markwell Russell is available to help you if you're an entrepreneur and you're looking
to scale your business.
Markwell, how can people find you?
What's the best and easiest way to find you?
Yeah, the best and easiest way is, I apologize, did I cut you off?
No.
Okay.
So the best and easiest way, for the record, I do have a couple of books, but should have
probably been in there, but like, let's, we'll have another conversation about it.
All right.
Okay.
It's definitely time to release, I feel like it's a lot more of me for sure.
So to answer your question, the best way to find me is like whatever your favorite social
media platform is.
If it's Instagram, it's Markwell Russell, M-A-R-Q-U-E-L, R-U-S-S-E-L-L.
If it's Facebook, same thing, TikTok, same thing, wherever.
Come over, send me a direct message.
Let me know you was on here.
I reply to my messages.
I like to connect with people.
Also I put together a page called scalemadeeasy.com.
So just scalemadeeasy.com, all spelled out.
So that way I can put all types of resources on that page for business owners, whether
you just, you need to get more leads, you need to get more sales, you need to build
a team, you want to scale things out.
You already had a million plus, you're looking to get to a million.
We've got a lot of different resources on there and they're all for free.
So if you go to scalemadeeasy.com, I would probably 95% free.
It's probably some paid stuff on there I'm sure at this point, but you go to scalemadeeasy.com.
It's a ton of free resources on there that you can get and dive into for your business.
That's awesome.
Amazing.
And we will have, we will have that in the show notes.
If you're listening to this on any of our, any on Spotify or Apple or any of the podcast
platforms that we are on, just looking to show notes, we're going to have links to Marquel's
Marquel's social media and to this website.
Marquel Russell, thank you so much, my man.
It's been a huge, huge honor to have you on continued success, continue to do God's good
work and we'll have you back before too long.
Let's do it.
I'm looking forward to it.
And that's a wrap, folks.
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