How to become “dirt rich” with Mark Podolsky

Amin Ahmed: 00:00:00

Hello and welcome back to the Be Well, Do Well podcast.

Amin Ahmed: 00:00:02

I'm excited today to have a conversation with another remarkable entrepreneur who discovered passive income by buying his first parcel of land in 2001 with no real estate experience.

Amin Ahmed: 00:00:13

Since then, he's completed over 5,500 land deals and helped others do the same.

Amin Ahmed: 00:00:18

Mark Podolsky is the best selling author of Dirt Rich and the host of the Art of Passive Income podcast.

Amin Ahmed: 00:00:25

And today we're gonna have a conversation about talent, mindset, purpose, and a whole lot more.

Amin Ahmed: 00:00:30

Mark, welcome to the show.

Mark Podolsky: 00:00:32

Amin.

Mark Podolsky: 00:00:32

Thank you so much for having me.

Mark Podolsky: 00:00:34

I'm honored.

Amin Ahmed: 00:00:35

Oh, thank you.

Amin Ahmed: 00:00:35

I appreciate that.

Amin Ahmed: 00:00:37

So, I know you are a land investor now, but that isn't what you were doing prior to 2001.

Amin Ahmed: 00:00:43

Can you give us a little bit of background on what you were doing in your transition to what you're doing now?

Mark Podolsky: 00:00:48

Yeah, if we rewind the tape to 2000, I was a miserable, micromanaged, 45 minute commute to work and back investment banker specializing in mergers and acquisitions with private equity groups, and it got so bad for me.

Mark Podolsky: 00:01:04

I wouldn't get the Sunday Blues, anticipating Monday coming around.

Mark Podolsky: 00:01:09

I'd get the Friday blues, anticipating the weekend going by really fast and having to be at work on Monday.

Mark Podolsky: 00:01:15

So my firm hires this guy.

Mark Podolsky: 00:01:17

He's telling me that as a side hustle, he's buying up raw land, penny's on the dollar, he's flipping them online and he's making a 300% return on his investment.

Mark Podolsky: 00:01:27

And I'm looking at companies all day long at a great company.

Mark Podolsky: 00:01:32

Has 15% EBITDA margins or free cash flow.

Mark Podolsky: 00:01:35

Average companies, 10%.

Mark Podolsky: 00:01:36

I'm looking at companies all day long, less than 10%, so of course I don't believe him.

Mark Podolsky: 00:01:41

I've got three grand saved up for car repairs.

Mark Podolsky: 00:01:44

I go to New Mexico with him.

Mark Podolsky: 00:01:46

I do exactly what he tells me to do.

Mark Podolsky: 00:01:47

I buy 10 half acre parcels and average price of $300 each.

Mark Podolsky: 00:01:51

They all sell.

Mark Podolsky: 00:01:52

The next week for an average price of $1,200 each.

Mark Podolsky: 00:01:55

It worked.

Mark Podolsky: 00:01:56

Took all that money, went to another auction in Arizona, which is where I live, and think there's 2000 owners in the room and I'm buying lots and acreage for nothing.

Mark Podolsky: 00:02:03

And I made over $90,000 on that one auction.

Mark Podolsky: 00:02:06

So I go to my wife and she's pregnant at the time.

Mark Podolsky: 00:02:09

I said, honey, I'm gonna quit my job.

Mark Podolsky: 00:02:12

I become a full-time land investor.

Mark Podolsky: 00:02:15

And she's like, absolutely not.

Mark Podolsky: 00:02:17

So I said, okay, okay.

Mark Podolsky: 00:02:18

Okay.

Mark Podolsky: 00:02:18

So it took 18 months for the land investing income to exceed the investment banking income, and then I quit.

Mark Podolsky: 00:02:24

And I've been doing it full-time ever since.

Amin Ahmed: 00:02:27

That's amazing.

Amin Ahmed: 00:02:27

You and I didn't realize that, but you and I share a similar journey there as well because I started my entrepreneurial journey when my wife was pregnant with our first child.

Amin Ahmed: 00:02:35

And I went to her and I said, honey, I'm going to leave my day job as a professional engineer and I'm gonna start this business.

Amin Ahmed: 00:02:41

Fortunately she said, Okay, let's talk about it rather than not at all.

Mark Podolsky: 00:02:46

Right.

Amin Ahmed: 00:02:46

And that's how it began.

Amin Ahmed: 00:02:47

And for me, mindset was a huge thing.

Amin Ahmed: 00:02:50

When I went into it.

Amin Ahmed: 00:02:51

I knew it was gonna be challenging, and I knew that there was gonna be that overlap of, your income is gonna drop, you're gonna have to catch up and do other things.

Amin Ahmed: 00:02:57

But also the things you do as a employee are very different from what you do as an entrepreneur.

Mark Podolsky: 00:03:03

Yeah, I think that's interesting because what I find is that when you are not working for a company.

Mark Podolsky: 00:03:09

All that energy that you can now just focus for yourself and your business, it really is amazing to watch.

Mark Podolsky: 00:03:21

So, , oftentimes when people are quitting a job, they see everything they're losing.

Mark Podolsky: 00:03:24

They're not seeing all the things they're gaining with the autonomy and the energy and the purpose and the drive that's gonna go towards their thing and not their company's.

Amin Ahmed: 00:03:33

Yeah exactly, and I totally agree with that.

Amin Ahmed: 00:03:35

It's if you can channel that and you can use that effectively and productively, you can really make big gains.

Amin Ahmed: 00:03:42

And mindset for me was a big thing is like, okay, I know that there's huge potential here, like you mentioned, right?

Amin Ahmed: 00:03:46

You're single digit gains versus, multiple digit gains.

Amin Ahmed: 00:03:50

And that potential of doing that is really what drove me.

Amin Ahmed: 00:03:54

Did you find that you were really excited initially and then it kind of faded or have you kind of maintained this energy and enthusiasm since you begun.

Mark Podolsky: 00:04:02

Well, I would say for me, I mean, we're going back so many years now.

Amin Ahmed: 00:04:08

You're right.

Mark Podolsky: 00:04:08

So it's hard to kind of remember I'm the kind of person, I have a lot of focus.

Mark Podolsky: 00:04:16

So if we were gonna look at it from a track and field perspective, I'm the mile runner, not the sprinter, or I'm more geared towards say, a marathon and an endurance.

Amin Ahmed: 00:04:29

Okay.

Mark Podolsky: 00:04:29

Than I am a sprint.

Mark Podolsky: 00:04:30

So for whatever reason, I've never been really distracted with shiny object syndrome.

Mark Podolsky: 00:04:41

I mean, I like looking at other things.

Mark Podolsky: 00:04:43

, but nothing has really gotten me off track.

Mark Podolsky: 00:04:45

So to be able to do the same thing I've been doing for 22 years now, just kinda goes to show it.

Mark Podolsky: 00:04:51

But I had a person the other day asked me, what, what do I hate most about my business?

Mark Podolsky: 00:04:58

I literally couldn't answer the question.

Mark Podolsky: 00:04:59

I'm like, no one's ever asked me that.

Mark Podolsky: 00:05:01

I, I love everything I do.

Amin Ahmed: 00:05:04

That's, amazing.

Amin Ahmed: 00:05:05

And that's rare.

Amin Ahmed: 00:05:06

I think a lot of people go into business, they enjoy it initially, and then all of a sudden they become a slave to their own business.

Amin Ahmed: 00:05:12

So, kudos to you for finding the thing that you really enjoy and that really, feeds you, you somewhere on your website I was reading and, you mentioned work smart, not hard.

Amin Ahmed: 00:05:22

And the other thing I really liked about your website is that you are a self-proclaimed ambitiously lazy geek.

Amin Ahmed: 00:05:28

So let's start with that first ambitiously lazy geek.

Amin Ahmed: 00:05:31

There's a lot in there.

Amin Ahmed: 00:05:33

What does that mean to you?

Mark Podolsky: 00:05:35

So ambitiously, lazy geek means to me that I don't scale.

Mark Podolsky: 00:05:42

So I want to put in the people, the processes, the systems.

Mark Podolsky: 00:05:48

Other people's money.

Mark Podolsky: 00:05:49

So the three levers of, of leverage extensively, right?

Mark Podolsky: 00:05:53

other people's time, software and automation and other people's money so that I can live my best life and the business can grow.

Mark Podolsky: 00:06:03

So that's really what I mean by being ambitiously lazy, where instead of thinking to myself, how am I going to do this?

Mark Podolsky: 00:06:12

I think to myself, who can I get to do this?

Mark Podolsky: 00:06:15

And I take it even one step further.

Mark Podolsky: 00:06:17

I can then just vox my chief problem solver, who can she find to go and do this?

Amin Ahmed: 00:06:25

All right, so you're not the bottleneck then

Mark Podolsky: 00:06:27

Yeah.

Mark Podolsky: 00:06:28

I'm never the bottleneck now and I've really am just thinking like the CEO.

Amin Ahmed: 00:06:34

And when did that happen for you?

Amin Ahmed: 00:06:35

Was that a transition that happened, like right day one, you, got your first land parcel and you're like, this is gonna be a business, I need to think like a CEO Or was there something along the way, like a spectrum, a transition that happened for you?

Mark Podolsky: 00:06:46

So for years and years, it was sort of my biggest mistake.

Mark Podolsky: 00:06:50

I would just flip land for cash,

Amin Ahmed: 00:06:52

Right.

Mark Podolsky: 00:06:52

And I was making a lot of money doing it.

Mark Podolsky: 00:06:57

So I go to meet with my first mentor Ori.

Mark Podolsky: 00:07:01

And Ori sold this company for $360 million, and so we're having coffee and we're talking.

Mark Podolsky: 00:07:07

I'm kind of humble bragging to him, and I mentioned I'm an entrepreneur.

Mark Podolsky: 00:07:11

He's like, stop.

Mark Podolsky: 00:07:13

He's like, don't insult me.

Mark Podolsky: 00:07:14

I'm like, what are you talking about?

Mark Podolsky: 00:07:15

He's like, don't call yourself an entrepreneur.

Mark Podolsky: 00:07:18

I'm like, why?

Mark Podolsky: 00:07:19

He's like, well, You are doing all the the tasks.

Mark Podolsky: 00:07:24

He's like, it feels like you own a business, but you just create another job for yourself.

Mark Podolsky: 00:07:28

He's like, if you die tomorrow, what happens to your so-called business?

Mark Podolsky: 00:07:32

Who's finding the deals?

Mark Podolsky: 00:07:33

Who's selling the deals?

Mark Podolsky: 00:07:35

I'm like, oh, he's like an entrepreneur builds something bigger than themselves.

Mark Podolsky: 00:07:39

And so his example was when Steve Jobs died, apple didn't miss a beat, so he helped me think about the world in that way and start creating the systems and processes.

Mark Podolsky: 00:07:52

And I was terrible.

Mark Podolsky: 00:07:53

I mean, if I didn't have him pushing me to do it, I had Superman syndrome.

Mark Podolsky: 00:07:57

I thought, oh, no one's gonna care as much as me.

Mark Podolsky: 00:07:59

No one's going to do it as well as me.

Mark Podolsky: 00:08:01

No, they all do it better than me.

Mark Podolsky: 00:08:03

They all care just as much as me.

Amin Ahmed: 00:08:06

And when you let go, was that difficult for you or did you start to see that this is actually been working.

Mark Podolsky: 00:08:12

No, I would complain to Ori all the time.

Mark Podolsky: 00:08:14

He's like, we have to let go.

Mark Podolsky: 00:08:16

It's like you're not gonna be able to grow.

Amin Ahmed: 00:08:19

Yeah.

Amin Ahmed: 00:08:20

I, I think that's what holds a lot of businesses back, right?

Amin Ahmed: 00:08:22

Is not being able to let go of that.

Amin Ahmed: 00:08:24

I know in the past, I, myself and many of the businesses that we work with exactly the same problem.

Amin Ahmed: 00:08:30

Now, coming back to the working smart, not hard.

Amin Ahmed: 00:08:33

What does that entail?

Amin Ahmed: 00:08:34

Is that, like you said, other people's time, other people's money, energy, or do you use, you said software as well, I'm more intrigued on the software side of it.

Mark Podolsky: 00:08:42

Yeah, so we created two pieces of software that automate the business.

Mark Podolsky: 00:08:47

90%.

Mark Podolsky: 00:08:48

So there's software on the front end that runs the business, and there's software on the back end that manages the notes.

Amin Ahmed: 00:08:56

Okay.

Amin Ahmed: 00:08:56

Can you talk a little bit about the front end?

Amin Ahmed: 00:08:58

Is that a marketing type software?

Mark Podolsky: 00:09:00

It's not marketing software, it's more automation software.

Amin Ahmed: 00:09:04

Okay.

Mark Podolsky: 00:09:04

Where when you're buying a piece of property or looking for a piece of property, you have to upload a mailing list of property owners and that will automate that piece of it.

Mark Podolsky: 00:09:15

And then you can have a virtual assistant in for your due diligence and then every step of the process, all the way to contracts.

Mark Podolsky: 00:09:21

So it always takes me 20 minutes.

Mark Podolsky: 00:09:24

In contracts and paperwork.

Mark Podolsky: 00:09:26

Now it takes literally less than a second.

Mark Podolsky: 00:09:28

It's like, oh, one button press.

Amin Ahmed: 00:09:31

That's amazing.

Amin Ahmed: 00:09:31

And to get to that point, there was a lot of, I'm assuming manual first.

Amin Ahmed: 00:09:35

And then you learn what can be automated.

Amin Ahmed: 00:09:37

Standardize it first, automate it, and then outsource that.

Mark Podolsky: 00:09:41

Exactly.

Mark Podolsky: 00:09:41

I mean, it's the best time ever to be alive and to be an entrepreneur because there's so much global talent and just about any problem can be solved way more cheaply than we could in the past.

Amin Ahmed: 00:09:55

Interesting.

Amin Ahmed: 00:09:55

Do you, I'm curious, do you have, young kids or kids of your own?

Mark Podolsky: 00:09:59

So I have three kids and I'm an empty nester now.

Mark Podolsky: 00:10:04

My oldest is 22.

Amin Ahmed: 00:10:06

Okay.

Mark Podolsky: 00:10:06

My, and so I've got two in college and one that's a, a senior in high school.

Mark Podolsky: 00:10:10

But yeah, she's with me.

Mark Podolsky: 00:10:13

She's with her friends.

Amin Ahmed: 00:10:14

Yeah.

Mark Podolsky: 00:10:15

Gymnastic.

Mark Podolsky: 00:10:15

Yeah.

Amin Ahmed: 00:10:16

And that entrepreneurship and, the idea that, like you said, we live in such an important and fortunate time right now.

Amin Ahmed: 00:10:22

I have younger kids, they're eight and 10, and they ask me sometimes they're like, oh, how did you do this when you were young?

Amin Ahmed: 00:10:27

And I walked to the library, I opened an encyclopedia, I took notes on paper, and then I went home.

Amin Ahmed: 00:10:31

Hopefully the paper was still legible, right.

Amin Ahmed: 00:10:33

And, They don't understand that.

Amin Ahmed: 00:10:36

They can't fathom that, well, you didn't have the internet, you didn't have a cell phone to call home.

Amin Ahmed: 00:10:40

And like you said, the technology drives your business right now, 90% of that is automated.

Amin Ahmed: 00:10:45

Is that something that you've passed on to your kids so that when they get to a certain point that they're also gonna be thinking like a CEO regardless of what they do in life?

Mark Podolsky: 00:10:55

Yeah.

Mark Podolsky: 00:10:55

I talk to them a lot about this idea of solo economic dependency, which means if they're personally not working , they're not making any.

Mark Podolsky: 00:11:03

And think about somebody with a W2 job, a solopreneur, a freelancer, even rich people.

Mark Podolsky: 00:11:10

, doctors, lawyers.

Mark Podolsky: 00:11:12

Let's just pick on the dentists.

Mark Podolsky: 00:11:13

If the dentist's hands aren't the patient's mouth right, the dentist isn't generating any revenue.

Mark Podolsky: 00:11:19

So I have these conversations with the kids and say to them, if you want to be wealthy, and I'm talking now, traditional, capitalistic, western wealth.

Mark Podolsky: 00:11:32

Where they've solved their money problems and they've solved their time problems.

Mark Podolsky: 00:11:36

Let's just define it by that, because really our wealth assets could be way deeper than just that.

Mark Podolsky: 00:11:44

But we'll just keep it for that for now, is how can you get, how can you find things that people want at scale?

Mark Podolsky: 00:11:51

How can you solve a problem for other people they can't solve for themselves and do it at scale?

Mark Podolsky: 00:11:56

And that's, that's how you build a business.

Amin Ahmed: 00:12:00

Yeah, , that's very simply put.

Amin Ahmed: 00:12:02

Yes, that's exactly how you build a business.

Amin Ahmed: 00:12:04

That's wonderful.

Amin Ahmed: 00:12:05

Now, when it comes to family and kids, especially younger kids, Making time for them versus making time for yourself versus your business.

Amin Ahmed: 00:12:15

Right.

Amin Ahmed: 00:12:15

That idea of work life balance that I constantly say doesn't exist.

Amin Ahmed: 00:12:19

Right.

Amin Ahmed: 00:12:20

Do you have some kind of wellness routine that you have for yourself to kind of bring you back when you find that you're maybe starting to get a little ungrounded?

Mark Podolsky: 00:12:28

Yeah.

Mark Podolsky: 00:12:29

I have a great routine, I think, so I theme my days, so Monday and Friday are what I call my terminal days.

Mark Podolsky: 00:12:37

So I pretend if this is my last day on.

Mark Podolsky: 00:12:39

Because I don't know, my last day is gonna be, and we're not even entitled to the next breath.

Mark Podolsky: 00:12:42

It feels like we are, but we're not.

Amin Ahmed: 00:12:44

Yeah.

Mark Podolsky: 00:12:45

So Monday and Friday, I don't take phone calls.

Mark Podolsky: 00:12:49

I typically won't have podcasts.

Mark Podolsky: 00:12:51

It'll just be a day of I'll meditate, I'll work out, I'll spend time with my loved ones and just think and read and enjoy my life.

Mark Podolsky: 00:13:05

Tuesdays are my podcast days.

Mark Podolsky: 00:13:07

Wednesdays are my team meeting days.

Mark Podolsky: 00:13:10

Thursdays are my client meeting days.

Mark Podolsky: 00:13:11

And Friday again is, another thinking day or terminal day.

Amin Ahmed: 00:13:16

Oh, I love that.

Amin Ahmed: 00:13:16

So three day work week, probably working pretty intensely focused on those three days that you have and then your, your terminal days don't like calling them terminal days.

Amin Ahmed: 00:13:24

It sounds very morbid, but I love the idea that you live it as if it is really your last day.

Mark Podolsky: 00:13:30

Yeah.

Mark Podolsky: 00:13:30

I think it's life enhancing.

Mark Podolsky: 00:13:31

I love the idea.

Amin Ahmed: 00:13:33

Yeah.

Mark Podolsky: 00:13:33

Of, this finite time and this because then every moment becomes more precious and I don't take it anything for granted.

Amin Ahmed: 00:13:43

That's amazing.

Amin Ahmed: 00:13:43

Did something happen, and feel free to be as open as you want to, as you're comfortable with, but did something happen in your life that brought that realization that, I need to live like this?

Mark Podolsky: 00:13:53

Well, through the years I've lost people close to me.

Mark Podolsky: 00:13:56

I remember when I was a teenager, my sister, lost her best friend in a tragic car accident and I can close my eyes and I can still hear the screams from my sister and my mom getting that phone call that my sister's best friend was gone, and I must have been 16 at the time.

Mark Podolsky: 00:14:17

And then speaking of my sister, I lost her to covid.

Mark Podolsky: 00:14:20

And so to not be able to go to the hospital to not be able to say the things to her.

Mark Podolsky: 00:14:30

That you want to say to your loved one and you want to leave nothing unsaid is a great lesson for me now, and I'm one of those people that, if I'm talking to a friend or a family member or team member, I have no problem telling you the things I wanna tell you that I wanna leave nothing unsaid.

Mark Podolsky: 00:14:55

So they always get uncomfortable.

Mark Podolsky: 00:14:57

I'm like, I love you.

Mark Podolsky: 00:14:58

They're like, okay . But yeah, I wanna leave nothing unsaid.

Amin Ahmed: 00:15:03

No, that's beautiful.

Amin Ahmed: 00:15:04

Thank you for sharing that.

Amin Ahmed: 00:15:05

What, do you see as your legacy when you're gone?

Mark Podolsky: 00:15:09

So I think my legacy is really just what are my values and ultimately in three generations, no one's gonna remember me.

Mark Podolsky: 00:15:20

And the wealth that I've accumulated, it's pretty meaningless, but what could live beyond me are my values.

Mark Podolsky: 00:15:29

And so just this idea of what makes for a good life, a flourishing life, and putting that down, memorializing that, talking to my children about that, living that and embodying that.

Mark Podolsky: 00:15:45

I think that's my legacy.

Amin Ahmed: 00:15:49

Amazing.

Amin Ahmed: 00:15:50

I love that you've written books.

Amin Ahmed: 00:15:51

You've, you have your own podcast as well.

Amin Ahmed: 00:15:53

Those are the digital assets that we'll live on.

Amin Ahmed: 00:15:56

And, we don't have, I think about my legacy, or sorry, my heritage.

Amin Ahmed: 00:16:00

I don't have really any documentations, pictures, videos of my great-great-grandparents.

Amin Ahmed: 00:16:04

We may have stories.

Amin Ahmed: 00:16:06

Verbal stories, which probably have been changed along the timeline, but the fact that you've got these books and all that, I think that's a great way to also pass that information on, that your grandkids, great grandkids will look back and be like, Hey, this is family.

Mark Podolsky: 00:16:19

Yeah.

It's so funny because I'm actually, finishing my second book, Dirt Rich 2 00:16:20

The Plot Thickens.

It's so funny because I'm actually, finishing my second book, Dirt Rich 2 00:16:25

And working on a third book, Life Rich, so have this series and Life Rich will actually be more towards what we're discussing, which are, what makes a rich life.

Amin Ahmed: 00:16:36

What does make a rich life for you?

Mark Podolsky: 00:16:38

Well, I think what makes a rich life are the things that transcend money.

Mark Podolsky: 00:16:43

So a fit body, a calm mind, a house full of love are gonna be so those pillars.

Mark Podolsky: 00:16:51

And then from there I think creating a life for yourself where you can work when you want, where you want, with whom you want.

Mark Podolsky: 00:16:58

Total time, location, freedom, as well as psychological freedom.

Mark Podolsky: 00:17:03

, Just this idea of realizing you are not your thoughts and having total equanimity in any moment is I think the goal.

Amin Ahmed: 00:17:14

Yeah, you're the first of all the guests that we've done so far that have you used the word equanimity?

Amin Ahmed: 00:17:19

So that's awesome.

Amin Ahmed: 00:17:20

A hundred points for you on that one.

Mark Podolsky: 00:17:22

All right.

Amin Ahmed: 00:17:23

Yeah, for those that don't know, can you explain equanimity what that means?

Mark Podolsky: 00:17:26

Yeah.

Mark Podolsky: 00:17:26

Equanimity just means staying very peaceful in the moment.

Mark Podolsky: 00:17:30

It doesn't necessarily mean that if you're attacking me, I take the attack.

Mark Podolsky: 00:17:35

It means that I don't have to psychologically be disturbed by it.

Mark Podolsky: 00:17:41

Think of an example where, well, let's not take an attack, but let's just take an example where if you and I were playing football

Mark Podolsky: 00:17:48

and I get tackled, well, that's fun.

Mark Podolsky: 00:17:51

I got tackled playing football where if I was on a walk and someone runs into me and I get knocked to the ground, now I'm disturbed.

Mark Podolsky: 00:18:01

I'm, Hey, hey, I'm all off kilter, but equanimity would be, oh, okay.

Mark Podolsky: 00:18:07

That happen everything's kind of comes and goes.

Mark Podolsky: 00:18:10

It's, a very Buddhist.

Amin Ahmed: 00:18:12

Yes.

Amin Ahmed: 00:18:13

Yeah, absolutely.

Amin Ahmed: 00:18:13

one of my favorite books actually on this topic is called the Diamond Cutter.

Amin Ahmed: 00:18:17

Are you familiar with that book?

Mark Podolsky: 00:18:18

I'm not.

Mark Podolsky: 00:18:19

Tell me.

Amin Ahmed: 00:18:19

Oh, it's amazing.

Amin Ahmed: 00:18:20

It's the Buddhist principles taught by the Buddha, but put into modern context from a business standpoint.

Amin Ahmed: 00:18:26

And so, Geshe Michael Roach, I think his name is.

Amin Ahmed: 00:18:29

he's a westerner, so Caucasian from, North America, New York, and went and became a monk.

Amin Ahmed: 00:18:34

And I think he was the first to get the title of Geshe, which takes, decades.

Amin Ahmed: 00:18:38

I think it ta takes 10 plus years to become that level of, of a monk and his, , I don't know what they call him, but his mentor, his monk mentor, told him, we'll go back and use these principles in a business sense and see how they make a difference.

Amin Ahmed: 00:18:51

So what you described there, getting tackled in football versus on the street, they refer to that as emptiness, that the situation looks the same from an outsider, but it's the meaning you put on it that defines how your respond or react to it

Mark Podolsky: 00:19:05

Yeah, Absolutely.

Mark Podolsky: 00:19:06

So our reactions are what we can't control.

Mark Podolsky: 00:19:09

And it's just the stories we tell ourselves.

Mark Podolsky: 00:19:12

. And so I like the idea of a duck.

Mark Podolsky: 00:19:14

If you watch a duck, they just seem very peaceful and calm.

Mark Podolsky: 00:19:17

, But then they're fiercely paddling under the water.

Mark Podolsky: 00:19:20

And I think of that with my business life.

Mark Podolsky: 00:19:21

Can I be calm in every moment, but really be working hard and intensely and in a focused way to hopefully make an impact.

. Amin Ahmed: 00:19:32

Absolutely.

. Amin Ahmed: 00:19:32

Now that's one of my favorite books.

. Amin Ahmed: 00:19:34

Do you have any favorite books that you have that you either read often or would recommend?

Mark Podolsky: 00:19:38

I really love this book, the Second Mountain, by David Brooks.

Mark Podolsky: 00:19:44

Okay.

Mark Podolsky: 00:19:44

And the first mountain is egoic.

Mark Podolsky: 00:19:48

You get raised by your family and you wanna get a good education, a good job, the house, the cars, the trips, and you go up this mountain and you get to the top.

Mark Podolsky: 00:19:59

And it feels empty.

Mark Podolsky: 00:20:00

you achieved it all.

Mark Podolsky: 00:20:01

And then you go to the second mountain, which is more purpose-driven.

Mark Podolsky: 00:20:05

So it's purpose, it's community, it's faith and spirituality, it's intimacy and love.

Mark Podolsky: 00:20:14

And this is a much harder mountain to climb, but it's other focused and way more meaningful.

Amin Ahmed: 00:20:23

The second mountain.

Mark Podolsky: 00:20:24

The second mountain.

Amin Ahmed: 00:20:25

Okay.

Amin Ahmed: 00:20:25

I'm gonna have to look that up.

Amin Ahmed: 00:20:27

It reminds me of this app that I downloaded.

Amin Ahmed: 00:20:29

It's called, fabulous and the Fabulous Journey.

Amin Ahmed: 00:20:32

So they take you on a journey and part of it is meditation.

Amin Ahmed: 00:20:35

Part of it is just tidying up your home and they, and they use that analogy of a mountain like you, you pass the first mountain and now you've got these other peaks to go through.

Amin Ahmed: 00:20:42

So I love the analogy.

Amin Ahmed: 00:20:43

I'm definitely gonna take a look at that book.

Mark Podolsky: 00:20:45

Yeah.

Mark Podolsky: 00:20:46

You'll love it.

Amin Ahmed: 00:20:47

Are there any, productivity hacks that you have when it comes to helping you get through the day when you're just feeling a little frazzled?

Mark Podolsky: 00:20:55

Well, I think the best productivity happen, hack when I'm frazzled is a walk for sure.

Mark Podolsky: 00:21:00

But, or breathing and, or, taking 20 minutes just to meditate, watch my breath, and, and watch the thoughts and the stories, and ask myself, is this really that important?

Mark Podolsky: 00:21:11

Right.

Mark Podolsky: 00:21:11

it's kind of silly when you think about it, but, so that's what I do.

Mark Podolsky: 00:21:16

But as far as like technology, because I'm very geeky.

Mark Podolsky: 00:21:18

, Every day I look at Zapier and I think, well, if I'm doing something, how can I automate what I'm doing?

Mark Podolsky: 00:21:25

And then there's some things that don't scale.

Mark Podolsky: 00:21:27

So I love actually calling customers and surprising them because no one does that anymore.

Mark Podolsky: 00:21:33

So there are some things I just like to do that are, that personal touch and that personal connection, that wow factor and do that.

Amin Ahmed: 00:21:43

Yeah.

Amin Ahmed: 00:21:43

I think most people are surprised cuz they didn't realize their phones actually take calls still

Amin Ahmed: 00:21:48

.

Amin Ahmed: 00:21:50

I love that.

Amin Ahmed: 00:21:51

I love that.

Amin Ahmed: 00:21:52

One last question for you is there something that your friends would be genuinely surprised to learn about you that they don't already know?

Mark Podolsky: 00:22:00

I'm pretty open with my friends.

Mark Podolsky: 00:22:03

What would they be genuinely surprised to learn about me.

Mark Podolsky: 00:22:09

I probably, that I'm starting to listen to country music now a little bit.

Amin Ahmed: 00:22:17

Okay.

Mark Podolsky: 00:22:17

That would be shocking to them.

Amin Ahmed: 00:22:19

Yeah.

Mark Podolsky: 00:22:19

Because I've always been into rap.

Amin Ahmed: 00:22:23

Okay.

Mark Podolsky: 00:22:23

And then suddenly I got introduced to country and there's this great song by Dirt , and I'm like, oh my gosh, I, this is kind of country and I kind of like it.

Amin Ahmed: 00:22:33

Right.

Mark Podolsky: 00:22:33

So I've got more friends who are telling me, oh, listen to this, listen to that, and sort of listen to kind of liking country music these days.

Amin Ahmed: 00:22:40

They're going from rap to country.

Amin Ahmed: 00:22:42

That's-

Mark Podolsky: 00:22:43

Yeah,

Amin Ahmed: 00:22:43

that's a big change.

Mark Podolsky: 00:22:44

Don't, I'm not letting go of my rap.

Amin Ahmed: 00:22:46

Okay.

Amin Ahmed: 00:22:47

Okay.

Mark Podolsky: 00:22:47

But I'm sort of, embracing country music now and starting to see the value in it.

Amin Ahmed: 00:22:52

I wouldn't have taken you for rap, but is there certain artists that you really like?

Mark Podolsky: 00:22:57

Well, Jay Cole is a favorite, early Kanye.

Amin Ahmed: 00:23:01

Yeah.

Mark Podolsky: 00:23:02

I think is brilliant.

Mark Podolsky: 00:23:04

I even liked his gospel album.

Mark Podolsky: 00:23:06

I wouldn't wanna hang out with the guy, but I think his music is great.

Mark Podolsky: 00:23:10

what other, Chance The Rapper, Coloring Book I think is amazing.

Amin Ahmed: 00:23:16

That's awesome.

Amin Ahmed: 00:23:17

I'm gonna put all these in the show.

Mark Podolsky: 00:23:18

Yeah.

Mark Podolsky: 00:23:18

Kendrick Lamar.

Mark Podolsky: 00:23:20

He's a genius.

Amin Ahmed: 00:23:21

So these are all thinking rappers.

Amin Ahmed: 00:23:22

These are where their lyrics are really thought-provoking, and you can tell they're not just spitting bars and,

Mark Podolsky: 00:23:27

Yeah.

Mark Podolsky: 00:23:27

So you know your rap.

Mark Podolsky: 00:23:28

Exactly.

Amin Ahmed: 00:23:29

Yeah.

Mark Podolsky: 00:23:29

So these rappers have sort of transcended that typical model of money, sex and violence in rap.

Mark Podolsky: 00:23:36

Are talking about deeper issues.

Amin Ahmed: 00:23:38

Yeah.

Amin Ahmed: 00:23:38

Very cool.

Amin Ahmed: 00:23:39

I'm more of an electronic music and I see it the same way.

Amin Ahmed: 00:23:42

There's those DJs that will just play music that's top 40.

Amin Ahmed: 00:23:45

It sounds good.

Amin Ahmed: 00:23:46

And then there's the others that you can tell there taking you through this journey.

Amin Ahmed: 00:23:49

It's like transcendence, like you said, right?

Amin Ahmed: 00:23:51

They, actually think about it and how the feeling evokes in it.

Amin Ahmed: 00:23:54

So that's amazing.

Amin Ahmed: 00:23:55

Totally off script.

Amin Ahmed: 00:23:56

Wasn't planning on talking about music, but rap.

Amin Ahmed: 00:23:58

I think I'm gonna have to look at some of the, recommendations you have there.

Mark Podolsky: 00:24:01

I have to check out your electronic.

Amin Ahmed: 00:24:03

I'll send you some links for sure.

Mark Podolsky: 00:24:04

Okay.

Amin Ahmed: 00:24:05

So what are you working on now that's got you really fired up that you'd like to share with us?

Mark Podolsky: 00:24:09

So I'm finishing Dirt Rich 2 and I'm pretty fired up about, Then starting Life Rich.

Mark Podolsky: 00:24:18

I'm really excited about, the passive income mastermind group that, I'm a board member on with Sheron Svaa that we both are, are friends with.

Mark Podolsky: 00:24:26

. So, I've been able to help people all along the economic spectrum, but now to help rich people become wealthy is exciting to me as well.

Amin Ahmed: 00:24:34

I love that rich people become wealthy.

Amin Ahmed: 00:24:36

That's quotable for sure.

Amin Ahmed: 00:24:37

That's amazing.

Amin Ahmed: 00:24:38

And if somebody wanted to, learn more about you or get ahold of you, where can they do that.

Mark Podolsky: 00:24:42

I think the best place to go is thelandgeek.com, thelandgeek.com.

Amin Ahmed: 00:24:47

Awesome.

Amin Ahmed: 00:24:47

We'll put that in the show link as well.

Amin Ahmed: 00:24:49

And, Mark, I really appreciate your time today, your energy, and it's been really cool getting to know you a little bit more.

Amin Ahmed: 00:24:54

I'm gonna go listen to some rap after this call and, , thanks again.

Amin Ahmed: 00:24:57

I really appreciate it.

Mark Podolsky: 00:24:59

Thanks, Amin.

Mark Podolsky: 00:24:59

I appreciate it.