Street Hustler to CEO: How Selling Drugs Prepared Marquel Russell for Big Business

24:53And I'm like, I'm like, let's slow down for a minute. I'm like, has anybody ever actually told you no? And it was like, not really. They just couldn't buy for, you know, they didn't have the money or they didn't speak to a wife or or something like that, but nobody just flat out said no, right? So a lot of times people fear rejection, so they'll take anything other than a yes as rejection, or they'll call it an objection. So one of the things when I teach this, and it's part of our framework, one of the things we teach is that the sales world has called certain things objections that's not objections.

25:32So for example, in their situation, so somebody say they don't have the money, that's not an objection right because i like i like shows like law and order svu and stuff like that me and my wife nerd out on that stuff and one of the things when they're in court if the if the attorney doesn't agree with the with the um the da or whatever it's saying they say objection right because they don't agree with what's being said and i'm like well the person on the phone isn't objecting to what you're offering they're just saying they don't have the money or they just don't believe in themselves and they're coming up with all other type of stories of why they're actually not buying.

26:06So I think a lot of it just comes from us being children in the trauma that we were raised with, right? So for example, some adults are just hesitant about sales because they were told as children to not take money from strangers, right? Or they believe that 5 ,000 or 10 ,000 or whatever is a lot of money and people don't just have that laying around because of what they were taught about money growing up in their relationship with money. So they actually have a legit disdain for large amounts of money based on how they were raised in their relationship with money. So I think a lot of it goes back to like childhood trauma and then just those fears that come with that.

26:47Yeah, I completely agree. I had a couple of guys. They just wrote a book called Start Thinking Rich. It's actually an incredible book. And they're one of the guys is a behavioral psychologist. and they have an entire chapter of the book based on the phrase money doesn't buy happiness and how this particular phrase that is so rooted in so many of the we'll call it lower middle class lower class and and and poor families in our country right though as a way of as a way of making us feel better about our what we believe our current station is we'll say things like money doesn't buy happiness so you shouldn't go after it and they're they just terrorize and tear apart this phrase and how this is like if you're struggling with these things sales if you're struggling with large amount of monies or even being able to visualize the idea of having large amount of monies in your bank account like there's people there's been studies done where people literally can't visualize having a million dollars in the bank account like they can't even put the picture in their mind of what that would look like.

27:53And it comes back to this, you know, they kind of pull it back to this phrase and a few others of money can't buy happiness. And their whole point is that's not true. Cause cause your happiness has nothing to do with money to begin with. So it, but it certainly gets you out of all the negative that comes with not having money, which I think a lot of people on this that are listening to this right now at some point, right? If you've tried anything, thing, you've gone broke at least once. And a lot of us came from situations where we were broke. So like, it certainly solves all the money problems that you got.

28:27So when you were talking about the transition out of the drug game into, you know, a legal business environment, you made kind of an offhanded comment that the people act the same, they just look a little different. And I 100 % agree. I feel one of the things that we completely miss when we when we move, especially when we start to move up the ranks inside of organizations or even just in a community if we're an entrepreneur is we see people who will smile to our face but behind us they either are rooting against us or are actively a competitor or they want what we have and I'm interested like did you find that how did you deal with them what was the difference in say someone who maybe and I could be wrong again I've never been in the drug game how they maybe were open about their I'm coming after your business versus how you dealt with people when maybe you knew that was true but they're going to smile and shake your hand and hang out with you at the party or the networking event or whatever yeah so I think it's it's it's crazy it's crazily um identical right in a lot of ways.

29:36So in this world, I've seen it. I've seen it. I've seen it regularly where I'm like, I'm talking to somebody and they'll be talking about somebody else, like gossiping about them, basically. And I'm like, in my mind, I'm like, I thought that's I thought that was his man. Like because I see them together and it's like, wow. And one thing I've learned is that if somebody will gossip to me they'll gossip about me right uh because that's just that's who they are right so i can't just be like oh no he just does that to them it's like no um and it's also one of the rules that i have is i don't do business with brothers who cheat on their wives because if you cheat on your wife like who am i right so so i've seen that i've also saw um and again it's it's just like down the streets.

30:27It's like guys will come talk to you or women and it'll be like, it's all good. And they'll be talking about somebody else who I'm thinking is their people, but it's like, no, this is just who they are. Right. I think in the legitimate business world, it's fascinating because especially when you're dealing with humans, humans are typically easily manipulated from visual persuasion, right? So people who look like they have money, right? And I always tell people like, looking like money doesn't have a look, right? And the internet is like, so for example, so we'd be like, oh man, well, I see people comment on my videos all the time.

31:09Oh man, how are you going to be on stage, you know, with a backpack? Or how are you going to be on stage with a hoodie on and your hat to the back? Or how are you going to be, if you want people to take you serious, you got to, you know, dress the professional. And I was like, what does dress professional even mean? Right. So it's like, well, will you take me more serious if I had a suit on? Right. And I'm like, a lot of guys know that. That's why they put suits on. And then they embezzle millions of dollars because they knew all they had to do was show up with a suit, with a certain look and they could get you that particular way.

31:45Right. And I'm like, wow, this is, they call it, I think, white collar crime. Right. But it's like, they're just doing it differently. They're doing it through fraud and bank accounts and, you know, Ponzi schemes and all those different things. But it's like, that's no different in a lot of ways than dudes in the hood, you know, selling bricks or weed or pills or whatever. They're just doing it a little bit differently. They just figured out another side of the game. So the games are almost identical. And in both games, it's very rare that you're going to find individuals who are just authentically genuine in who they are.

32:19That's why a lot of these popular events and things of that nature, I like to stay away from. A lot of times people are like, I don't see you here. I don't see you there. I don't ever see you with those guys. I'm like, well, I know of those guys. They know of me. And I'm cordial when I see them. We speak. We don't have a problem. but I'm just not in the, I'm not in the social, I don't play the social game, right? I like to, whoever my allies are, like I run through walls with them, but I'm not trying to play the game where I'm just trying to say the right things or do the right things to get in certain rooms and get in certain tables.

32:49That's exhausting to me. I'd rather be at home with my kids and my wife and my handful of people who I really rock with on a daily basis. Dude, we're completely aligned on that. The deeper that I've gotten into starting with the podcasting game and then moving into coaching and selling some courses, doing that kind of stuff. I want to say this the right way because I don't want a broad stroke, but I found there's two very clear types of people. They're the people who are talking to you because maybe they have a community or they have an offer. They care about what they're doing. They're trying to help.

33:28This is their delivery mechanism, et cetera. That's great. and there is a whole nother group of people that it's like build this list hit them with this automation sequence uh pitch them this then you upsell them and i'm like and i'm listening to it and like yeah i i get it like you you make you make money like no doubt no doubt you do that's awesome except like at the end of the day what are people getting like one they don't have a clue who you actually are because this is all the game the gimmick the look the picture with you perfectly framed in the you know one third you know they got this whole it's a it's a whole equation i get how it works like i i'm i'm i completely understand why the how behaviorally from a psychology standpoint i completely get it but it's like they spend so much time on the tactics and the gimmicks and the automations and all this kind of stuff.

34:25And at the end of the day, I'm like, but what are these people getting? Like, what are they getting on the backside? And that is not to say that there aren't legitimate people also using those tactics. And if you can combine the two, you're an absolute killer. But to me, I just find it to be, I found it to be a little distasteful. Like, I'm with you. I would rather make a little less money but have a little more time to coach my kids baseball team and be home and not have to be on the road and not have to go to this networking event and this mastermind thing just to meet this guy because he's got this list and like i start to get to the point where like i don't care i'll take less i'll take less i'll give more to the people who do do business with me and i'll be happier because then i can go coach my kids baseball team which is what i really want to do at the end of the day i just want to coach my kids you know that's where like my happy place so like if i'm doing all this gimmicky shit and have to be on the road and fly to this thing and that thing.

35:21Like you, you said it, and this is, this is kind of where I want to take this to your, your, um, uh, strategy, uh, strategic scaling Institute, because you said something to me that I think is lost on so many people that are trying to come up, right. That they don't see enough zeros in their bank account. They're feeling that pressure, right? They're, they do, they, they miss the season of transition out of the grind, what you have to do at the beginning into what you're teaching. And I would love for you to go there next. How do these people, and so that season, that early season of grinding, I believe it's 100 % necessary.

35:57If you're going to get something off the ground, you got to go to your kids, go to your wife, go to your partner, whoever, and say, look, for two months, I'm going to be putting in some nights. I'm going to be up early. You know, I got to get this thing off the ground. But then there's a transition period where you're supposed to get your life back from doing that and so many don't so how do you help people make that transition and maybe even get into a little bit where you see some common mistakes in that place yeah for sure so i think i think i think a big thing is this right um even in the earlier season right so i think i like i think a lot of times even even in the grind season that you spoke of right um so i was that guy where it was like um hey man you shouldn't have time well i remember empire first came out the show and I used to be one of the guys posting on social, man, if you're watching Empire, man, you should be focused on building your own empire.

36:48You shouldn't be watching basketball games or football games unless you own the team. I used to be on that type of stuff, right? But in reality, it's like you should have a business that affords you the freedom to do whatever else you want to do, whether that's watch TV or watch the game or whatever the case may be. I think the biggest thing is we spend a lot of time, and I'm saying we because from a community standpoint, working off a scoreboard that somebody else's scoreboard, right? So I read this quote. I forget who it was. But it basically said a life lived based on somebody else's scoreboard is a life not worth living, right?

37:29And how often are we chasing somebody else's scoreboard? So, for example, earlier in my career, I was like, I saw the cars and the Lambos and the Ferraris and stuff like that. And I went to the dealership one day. and I got into one of those Ferraris, and I'm not even a big guy, right? I'm like, you know, I'm like 5 '7", but even for me, it was so tiny. I was like, man, and this ain't no shade to Ferraris or anything, but it was, to me, I was like, man, this is so small, like, how would I be comfortable riding in one of these, right? And then I was like, I wanted all these things, right? And a lot of these things, I just wanted because I saw other people having them, And then as I did deeper work, I learned this thing called mimetic desire.

38:15And mimetic desire is essentially us just wanting things that we see other people with and we want to mimic them. Right. So I think just to bring this all together, when it comes to strategic scale, most people think that scaling a business means bigger, faster. When in reality, scaling is about duplicating and multiplying. Right. And replicating. So you can actually free up more of your time, right? Because at some point, the business should continue to grow without you, right? And without you having to put as much effort into it, right? But we got to figure out how do we strategically do it.

38:51And also, when I say strategic scale, strategic scale actually means moving closer, focus on moving closer versus focusing on more. So here's what I mean by that. So a lot of times we, so let's, I'll give you an example. So I had an event last weekend with some of our clients. We call them CEO camps. and a lot of times we have these revenue numbers so somebody might be like i want to make eight figures and i'm like well what is what's eight figures well you know eight figures i'm like well eight figures is 10 million all the way to 99 million blah blah blah or somebody might say they want to make seven figures and i'm like well what's that that's a million all the way to nine million blah blah blah blah right but a lot of times we just throw these numbers out because other people have said it and then it's like all right the next level of that is why do you want to make that?

39:39Well, it just seems like it'd be good to make, right? And I'm like, well, have you actually sat down and ran the numbers of exactly how much you want to personally take home to afford the lifestyle that you want? Have you actually ran the numbers? Most people haven't. However, when you do, you will realize that here's what I have to make personally take home. And because of that, that's now my business revenue goal because my business has to make that for me to take this. My business has to make this at this particular profit margin for me to take this home. But a lot of people haven't sat down and ran those numbers.

40:16They're just chasing a goal because somebody else said a number and they feel like they got to say that same number to feel cool or fit in. Or they got to say a bigger number to try to impress them. And it sounds good on the internet, right? But we haven't done that. Now, once we do that, we'll say, okay, here's the number. And then also, what else are you prioritizing? So they may say, I want to prioritize family. So I give an example. I was speaking at even in Kentucky. It's 250 leaders there. And I was like, how many of y 'all want to spend more time with your kids? Of course, you know, everybody raised their hand.

40:44And I was like, how many of you have your kids on your calendar? Everybody hand went down but one person. I was like, how many of you want to get in better shape and hit the gym more? Everybody hands went up. I was like, how many of you got the gym on your calendar? Most people hand went down. And I was like, well, if you prioritize family, and let's say success to you is being home when your kids or picking your kids up from school at four o 'clock and doing homework with them. If that's success to you. If somebody calls you and be like, hey, I got this deal for you. I got a contract. Will you accept that if it takes you out of being able to pick your kids up at four?

41:22If you take that deal, then you're a liar because you're incongruent. Because if you said this is why I prioritize, you won't accept money and replace it at because this is what you're doing. So if your goal is moving closer to more time with your family, with your wife, with your husband, whatever that may look like, doing ministry or whatever, but making more money is pulling you away from that, we got to decide what you're going to go after. So with our clients, we focus on moving them closer. So it's like, all right, what's the priority outside of money? Money is a byproduct. Money is just a means to an end, right?

42:00Money is just a tool to afford us the things that we want. So it's like if it's more time with kids. The typical business stuff that people throw around the Internet is they'll say, well, if you want to free up more time, just delegate. Just hire somebody. And it's like, all right, cool, let's do that. Let's say you want to free up 12 hours a week so you can spend time with your family. Cool. Let's say you hire somebody and you say they're going to replace those 12 hours. But guess what? now you got to manage this person because this person now needs a direct report. And if you don't have nobody for the manage, now you've probably added 12 hours to your week, just managing this person.

42:37So that actually moved you further. It didn't move you closer. It actually moved you further away. Now, in reality, you could have probably zoomed out in this thing that you were trying to delegate probably could have just been eliminated. So we want to look at eliminating and then automating and then delegating. So a lot of times we're doing stuff every day, just out of habit, but it can actually be eliminated or we can actually automate it. And then if it is something that's important, then we look at delegating it in a systemized way. So now we're doing the thing with the family. So a guy's flying me out to Dallas to do his podcast.

43:07And he was like, well, what kind of room and stuff like that? And I was like, to be honest with you, man, if I can fly out there after my kids leave the school, we do the show and then I fly back out, you don't got to get me a hotel because my scoreboard is how many days I wake up and help my kids get ready for school. And then how many days am I there when they get home from school? Right. So if I can shoot out there, serve you, serve your community and then get back, that's a win for me. Right. And that'll save you some money at the same time. Two rooms because my videographer would be with me.

43:42And it was like, OK, perfect. So, again, that's me and how that's my philosophy being a recovering addict to faster more big i'm like man if we do an event we got 200 people there we got to double we got to do 400 next time oh we made 500 ,000 last month we need to make 100 ,000 we need to make a million this next month right bigger faster grow and all of that was that and i had my priorities with my family and my kids but that was actually moving me further away from the priorities that i had which in reality i wanted to be closer and spend more time with the family. And that didn't look like growing bigger, growing faster.

44:17It looked like strategically scaling so I can multiply and then I can optimize for profit instead of top line revenue, which is a whole nother conversation. Also optimizing for happiness, client results, and then also creating this life that I want. So I feel like that was a super long answer, but does that make sense? Guys, I know I'm not supposed to say this like in the podcast world or whatever, but I want you to hit pause right now. I want you to take your finger on whatever you're listening to this on, YouTube or Spotify or app or whatever, and slide it back about seven minutes and start and listen to that section again that starts with, are you living by someone else's scorecard?

44:54This is a freaking masterclass that Marquel has given us right now. And I couldn't agree with you more. And my man, I have learned this lesson, made the mistake again, learned the lesson, made the mistake again over and over in my career and I keep level setting and I think the one the only thing that I want to add is if you find yourself in that place that you're doing all the things that Mark Wall is saying don't do right if you're if family is your priority right because I think that's the place that that that we're at with this conversation don't beat yourself up I got buddies who call me and they're like almost in tears they're like I've been on the road three weeks in a row and this and I'm trying to get this here.

45:38And I just am like, dude, take a deep breath. Like, it's OK. You know? Yeah, you may not love that you didn't see your kids or your wife or your spouse or whatever for the last three weeks. I get that. And that sucks. But like, let's just learn from it. Like, let's just let's let's take this and start dialing back. When's the last time you said no to an event? You know, if you're doing good work and you're putting your brand out in the marketplace, you're going to get invited to a ton of stuff. It's just the way that it happens. when's the last time you said no like let's talk through them dude the next and i've said to guys before like the next time you got a thing and you're not sure call me i'll just pepper you with questions and you can make the decision yourself you know i mean like find a buddy find a friend find a mentor find a partner talk to your spouse and just say like is this something i really want to do when i started asking myself that question and putting it through filters like you've described, I took my, I used to do 40 plus keynote speaking events a year, 40 plus.

46:32I basically didn't see my oldest son when he was one years old. I was just gone all the time. And in my mind, it's I'm building this brand. I'm building this business. I'm in demand. I'd be an idiot not to take these events. I got to get my name. All those things in my head, right? We're going, I got, I got, I got, I got, I got, I got. And then I come home and I'd be frigging miserable because I didn't get to see my kid do this, or I just hadn't seen him in days. And it was brutal. And then you wake up and you start to say, well, I'm not leaving unless it's this amount or it's this type of person.

47:09I'm only taking 12 gigs a year, tops. That's one a month. That's not a problem, right? So you start to put these filters in place. And then to your point, and I think this is the hardest part for people, and I'd love to hear if you have a strategy for this. holding themselves accountable to it. Because the number of people that I know, myself included, who've gone through an exercise and come up with a plan, like a filter, like I'm only going to take 12 gigs. And then that 13th gig comes in and it sounds good and it's something you'd like to do and you're like, you know, it's only one more. And then another one comes in, right?

47:44And now we start to break that thing. So do you have a process, an idea, a belief structure for holding yourself accountable to some of these filters that we put in to guide our life by what you're talking about. Yeah, I think, so great, so the relationship you have with your buddy, I think having relationships like that are solid and then letting them know these commitments. Otherwise, Kobe Bryant has this thing where he say, one of the things that helped him become great is he never negotiated with himself, right? So if he says, I'm going to the gym at five, when the alarm goes off, if he says, I need 15 more minutes of sleep, That's him negotiating with himself, right?

48:24If he said, I'm going to go and I'm going to put up 3 ,000 shots. If he says, man, you've been going hard this month. Man, you deserve to just go a little easier today. That's him negotiating with himself. He said once he realized that he couldn't negotiate with himself, that's when things unlock for him. So I think we have to do a better job of not negotiating with ourselves and then having solid people in our circle who are going to shoot us straight and can help us with those filters. because we're going to have our biases, right? And I think another thing for me, and it can be a lot of the stuff is like ego driven, right?

48:58It's like we're doing a lot of stuff for ego. So it's like when growing businesses, a lot of times we're growing based on ego just to be able to go into the mastermind or go in these rooms and shout out your revenue numbers and you're making the most revenue or you're doing this or your team is bigger. So one time we scaled our team up to like 35 people, right? Right. And and I was like, man, we got a lot. I was like, let's get to the point where I don't even know a lot of people on the team. We're paying them, but I don't know a lot of people on the team. And you start realizing you got all this bloat.

49:28It's like, yeah, you got a bigger team. You're generating more revenue, but it's costing you more money to make this revenue. Right. And I'm like, well, who's making less more profit? We're making less revenue with less people. So it's like, OK, how do we begin to cut the grass and like scale this thing back? And then also, even with our coaching company, I want to buy other coaching companies like we was having our conferences. and I remember having our events and I knew the people. I knew the clients, right? Their kids and all those different types of stuff. We got to the point where it was like, we was having the conferences and I was like, I asked my business partner when I was like, dude, he was like, I don't know anybody in here.

50:01This is great. And I was like, I enjoyed the people. I genuinely love the people and love being able to connect. But I was like, I couldn't do that. And we got to the point where events were so big. My team was like, hey, maybe we need to start getting security and stuff like that to make sure y 'all are good. And y 'all need to stay backstage and all this. And I was like, no, I enjoy the people. I like to touch the people. Right. It's exhausting for me after events. I like to go sleep and all that. And I have a I have a limit. My social meter would deplete. But it's like when I do, I like to be in and touch to people.

50:31But we had got so far from that because we were just focusing on scale and grow and distance in the third. And then a lot of it was just ego driven. So I was like, I had to get realigned and be like, okay, Mark, well, why are you really doing this and getting back in alignment with that?

50:51You've kind of tangentially referenced faith or God a couple of times. So I'll share this with you. I believe, and I've written this down many times in my own little journal or whatever. I believe the phrase I deserve or you deserve are the words of the enemy. 100%. Because we don't deserve shit. We deserve nothing, right? Like, we were given everything we could possibly need at birth by God. I agree. When someone tells you, hey, Marquel, you deserve to be making another million bucks a year, right? In your head, you go, oh, shit, I do work hard. I do deserve that. I need to go get that. Like, right?

51:33And then you start breaking all your filters. You start breaking all your, you start negotiating with yourself. Or you say, or the worst is, I deserve. I'm not getting mine. Where's my Ferrari? Where's my McMansion in the suburbs or whatever your dream place? You know what I mean? Like, or I want a beach house someplace where I can take fancy pictures and put them on Instagram. Like, I deserve that. and you want to talk about the worst decisions you're going to make in your life. They're going to come directly after I deserve or you deserve. Those are going to be the worst decisions that you make in your life are going to come after.

52:08Those two phrases. I deserve to be, you know, my wife doesn't appreciate me. I deserve someone that does. I'm going to leave her and go do this. You know, my business partner isn't holding up. I deserve someone better. I'm going to go do. and just the worst possible decisions you can make in your life come after. I deserve or you deserve. And I believe they're absolutely the language of the enemy. Not to get all, I know some of you aren't spiritual on here, but that's my take. That's powerful. That's powerful. Super powerful. Dude, I could continue asking you questions for hours, man. I think what you're doing is phenomenal.

52:42I'm so glad that we've had a chance to connect. And guys, I was dead ass serious around minute 30-ish of this conversation. that the part that starts with someone else's scoreboard, go re-listen to that section. Listen to that section. It's about eight or nine minutes long. I marked it down here. Listen to that section over and over. Your life will get better. It will reframe the way you think about it. That was a masterclass, my friend. I appreciate you showing up for us today. If people want to get to know you more, they want to get into your world, follow you, how do they do that? Yeah, for sure.

53:13So first of all, thank you so much for having me on, man. I'm definitely honored. I never take it lightly to get the opportunity to come on and individuals introduce me to their community. So I'm grateful for that and grateful for you as well. So a couple of different ways. So whatever your favorite social media platform is, like connect with me. If you're on Instagram, connect with me on Instagram. Send me a direct message. Let's connect. I reply to my messages. I like to connect with people. If you're on LinkedIn, connect with me on LinkedIn, Facebook, whatever your platform is. You're on YouTube.

53:38Type in Mark Coyle Russell. You'll see my YouTube channel. And we have a strategic scale show where we sit down with businesses that are making$250 ,000 a year up to$1 million a year or more. And we actually do real-time deep dives. Like if they paid me$10 ,000 an hour for consulting or whatever, you actually get to see behind the scenes of us working on their business. And we're digging in and the cameras are just rolling. So it's super uncut, super powerful. So those are a couple of social media platforms. I also put together a page with just tons of resources, whether it's marketing, sales, scaling your business or whatever.

54:12if you go to scalemadeeasy.com, just scale, S-C-A-L-E, made, M-A-D-E, easy.e-a-s-y.com. Just go over there. We've got tons of resources. Go over there and dive in. Whatever kind of challenges or constraints you have in your business, I guarantee it's a resource over there that'll be a benefit for you. So scalemadeeasy.com. Guys, and I'll have links to all this in the descriptions, whether you're on Apple, Spotify, wherever you're listening and watching, I'll have links as well so just scroll down and you can find everything so you can connect with Marquell my friend I wish you nothing but the best I appreciate the hell out of you and you got a fan for life now so we'll talk again definitely thank you so much let's go yeah make it look thank you for listening to the Ryan Hanley show be sure to subscribe and leave us a comment or review wherever you listen to podcasts.

55:11Came in a thing for me. I never switched to no change in me. The only thing changing is...

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