IAM299- Top-Selling Author Guides Entrepreneurs to Provides Solutions to Common Problems

Mark Sephton is an international mentor to entrepreneurs, an acclaimed radio and TV show host, and a top-selling author.
Mark is a regular contributor to Entrepreneur Magazine and speaks all around the world.

• CEO Hack: Power of reflection and ability to be teachable 
• CEO Defined: Leading by example and reflecting on your success based on other people

Website: http://www.marksephton.com/

Instagram:  @sephtonmark
Twitter:  @sephtonmark
Facebook: Facebook.com/marksephtonmentor
YouTube: www.youtube.com/markjamsephton
Linkedin: uk.linkedin.com/in/marksephtonbusinessmentor
Entrepreneur magazine: https://www.entrepreneur.com/author/mark-sephton

Book on Amazon- Inside Job:  http://goo.gl/7i72rg

Plot Twist https://goo.gl/9OjBvh

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Full Interview

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Transcription:

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresham from the I AM CEO Podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. Mark Sephton of Marksephton.com. Mark, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Mark Sephton 0:39

It is great to be here. I'm looking forward to it.

Gresham Harkless 0:42

Me too. I'm looking forward to it as well. And what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Mark so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. And Mark is an international mentor to entrepreneurs, an acclaimed radio and TV show host, and a top-selling author. Mark is a regular contributor to Entrepreneur Magazine and speaks all around the world. Mark, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Mark Sephton 1:04

Born ready!

Gresham Harkless 1:05

All right, let's do it. No better way, no better ready to be. So the kick everything off, I wanted to hear what I call your CEO story. And what led you to start your business?

Mark Sephton 1:15

Well, I think you know, I'm a big believer that your gift in makes room for you. So I think some of the keys to success and establishing yourself and this thing called life is really just focusing on I think the natural things that you are given. And then we all have a responsibility to take what we've been given and get the best out of them.

And so a lot of my story is around, I think just the revelation of what I had in my hand. And then being faithful with that, and I guess over circumstance and situation and then a keen eye to develop the gifts that I have within me, I guess in a short kind of storytelling way, that's kind of how it happened. For me, my background was actually retail and hospitality, which is obviously lots of people facing lots of experience memory, creating, creating and, you know, theater experience.

And I think just my love for people and developing my love for problem-solving, thinking outside the box, kind of really frameworks, and my ability to then work, you know, with entrepreneurs through my own understanding of business through my grandparents who were very entrepreneurial, that kind of really shine the light on what that really means.

And really the essence of, of any business or entrepreneurship is as simple as solving a problem. People say to me all the time, you know, how do you make a million pounds or a million dollars? In some ways, it's simple, you just got to find a solution that affects a million people. And there you've got it, you know, but often we create something that provides a solution to a few 100 or a few 1000. But when you crack something that actually provides a solution to uh, that affects a lot of people, that's when you know, scalable.

Gresham Harkless 3:03

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And I love you for, for telling that, you know, part of the story about you know, how you got started, I find, and you might find the exact same thing, especially being a mentor that a lot of times people have, or I guess there's noise around us that doesn't allow us to actually tap into what our innate abilities are, what our gifts are even what that you know, the million-pound opportunity might be. Sometimes we're looking at so many different other things and get distracted.

Mark Sephton 3:32

Yeah, I think I guess I'll share a couple of things of how I guess that it's helped me that would be helpful for the audience. I mean, the first thing is, is that I have this thing called Mark Monday, which is every Monday, I kind of just take time for myself. So I don't schedule client calls or mentoring sessions, I just take this time to read and reflect in a journal to search my heart to take regular readings of what it is that I want my life to represent. So that would be one part, of a thought where people need to take regular time just to be. So that's something that we can all do to varying degrees.

And then the other part which I talk about all the time, which I call my free filters, and I use these I call them my keys to the kingdom. So I use these free filters before I make a choice or a decision. And people can use these three filters themselves or they can create their own. The main thing is to have something that you're conscious about and every opportunity, or friendship connection project you, you push them through your filters, and then you decide on whether they're worth you doing so my free filter is a simple first one does this excite me? So, you know, is it a relationship?

Is it a friendship? Is it a project? Is it a business? Is it working with a client? Does this excite me if it does, then I proceed to my next question my next filter which is Am I good at this? I don't prescribe to the failure to make it yet. I'm a big believer in knowing who you are accepting who you are, what you're good at, and being a master of it, and forgetting the rest. And then the third one is will this take me to where I want to go? So I guess one of the things that I really help clients with is really focusing on what is it that they want their life to represent.

Get that as clear as you can. What is it that you want people to remember you for? And then work backward? And then make decisions based on? You know, does this excite me? Does this play to my strengths? And will this take me to where I want to go? If you do those things, and actually, you're being you know, the driver of your life, rather than, you know, just the passenger? I think that's the greatest opportunity that we all have.

Gresham Harkless 5:47

Yeah, absolutely. And I appreciate you for sharing that with us. Because a lot of times you can get lost in the noise or just as you say, being a passenger, you don't realize that you do have control, if you're able to, first of all, determine what the answers are to a lot of those questions that you have those filters, and then also starting to implement that. So I wanted to ask you, for you, I know you touched on this a little bit for exactly how you serve the clients that you work with. I know you have a couple of things that you're doing. And then also what you feel is kind of like your secret sauce? And what makes you unique?

Mark Sephton 6:17

Yeah, I guess probably will tap into both of those questions with this answer. I believe in the power of reflection. So, you know, after working with entrepreneurs for three years, and I'm reflecting on what are the conversations that I was having, what are the points of pain? What are the opportunities, and what are where is the highest level of energy being manifest, there were some common denominators, and I noticed there were 10 kinds of fundamentals that represented a person's basic DNA doesn't really matter whether you're an entrepreneur or not, it's the same sort of 10 fundamentals that make a person a human being.

And so what I did is I decided to create something that measured the health of each fundamental for every person I worked with, and what this would do is it would reveal blind spots, efficiencies, and deficiencies. It would look at your actions, your behaviors, and your beliefs, and then it's through those findings that I was able to then tailor make sessions in relation to what it is that the client really needs.

So I'm not someone who takes all my clients down the same path, you know because what may be an opportunity for you isn't an opportunity for somebody else will beautifully and fearfully make, we're all unique, we all have our place, we all have a whole set of talents that really are to serve those around us, as well as serve ourselves.

And so for me, in terms of how I work, I'm not interested in making people into Microsoft, and I'm really interested in making people into themselves to really maximize their opportunity, but not just to make a load of money, but also to actually do good with that influence do good with their money. You know, and really, I guess, shine a light forward, you know, in terms of how we should live, you know, where, where are all the influential people?

What are they doing for good, you know, we need more and more men and women to stand up and take their wealth, their experience, their influence, and really educate and help this world. Because, you know, is, it is tough out there. And as much as there's good, there's also bad and we've got to keep doing, keep doing our thing.

Gresham Harkless 8:33

Yeah, absolutely. And I think a lot of times, sometimes we forget, and I'm glad you definitely reminded us of that. Because by being true to yourself and playing to your strengths, and you know, walking in your life, and you know, driving, as we talked about before, you also are empowering people. So by you being you know, and helping support those entrepreneurs and business owners, that definitely helps out a ton, but also just by you doing and being true to yourself. I think that also is kind of like a great reminder for all of us to let our light shine as well.

Mark Sephton 9:02

Yep, absolutely. I mean, I love people, I love business, I love providing, you know, solutions to problems. Everything for me is about how we conduct ourselves and how we are an expression of our beliefs, you know, our beliefs determine our behavior.

So what we believe, then we act out off and I like, you know, to work with people who, who want to be more conscious and more intentional, and not just be all about their own agenda, but about really benefiting the community and the people that are closest to them, as well as you know, creating your own economy, which I think's one of the most exciting things about entrepreneurship.

We live in such a volatile system where most of our governments are shot to pieces, you know, and the economy is, you know, so volatile, you know, and the great thing about entrepreneurship is creating your own economy so it doesn't matter what's going on or who's leaving the country as such, you know because you've created something where you kind of feed you feed yourself, and then what a privilege is to help other people feed from that as well.

Gresham Harkless 10:10

Absolutely, absolutely. So definitely, you know, privileged to be able to do that. And thank you for doing your part in that as well. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this is an app or book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Mark Sephton 10:26

Right? Okay. I mean, I've shared a few things in terms of you know, taking time out like Mark Monday, believe the power of reflection is one of the keys to personal growth, I think it's your ability to be to be teachable to take those regular times to be critiqued as well, I, I always find it interesting, being critiqued, that takes trust. And some people, throw a load of stuff at you because they're jealous, and actually because they want to hurt you. And then the other people actually want to see you grow, you know, and keep you accountable.

Gresham Harkless 11:00

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And I love those kinds of hacks and nuggets because a lot of times you need those certain things and that advice in that environment so that you can be successful. And just like you said, you have people that are on one side of the paradigm where they want to see you not succeed in those that you know, just don't know how maybe to help you to succeed.

So being able to surround yourself with the right people is definitely big. So now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEOs on the show. So, Mark, I want to ask you, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Mark Sephton 11:34

I mean, when you think of CEO, you're thinking of someone who's really like the leader, and the pinnacle of what they're about and what they're leading. So for me, it's very much being a CEO is someone who, you know, is leading by example, who, you know, who doesn't just talk the talk, you know, often, you know, we have this misconception of leadership is, you know, about all the fame, and the spotlight and the prestige.

And while there can be some of that, and we all want that when things are going well, but when things aren't, you know, we probably want to want to hide away. But I think being a CEO, somebody who you know, lives a life of leadership, that it isn't just talking, you know, but it is a way of life, it guides and it navigates others, it pushes other people forward, even to the detriment of our own progression.

Gresham Harkless 12:33

I love that definition. And that definition from the heart was definitely spot on. Because a lot of times your people's success is a reflection of your success as well. So it's like you both kind of were up there on stage when so congratulations to you as well, if nobody said that. But I definitely appreciate your time, what I want to do is pass you the mic just to see if there's anything additional, you want to let our readers and listeners know.

And then of course, how best they can get a hold of you find out about everything you're doing, and of course, get a copy of your book.

Mark Sephton 13:00

Yeah, I mean, I absolutely love what I do. And we all only get one shot at this life. And you know, for me, I define that influence as my driver. So if you look at the things that I do, I write for entrepreneurs, I write books, you know, I speak on stage, I have a TV show called One More Round, which people can see on Apple TV and Roku.

And then I obviously mentor, and if you ask yourself the question, you know, can Mark influence through these mediums? The answer is yes. Which is fundamentally why I'm doing it. I think one of the things that actually isn't even mine, I came across it, but I just it just seemed to come to mind.

And I think it's a really good thing to share. I think I came across it by I think it was Daniel Priestley, in his book Entrepreneur Revolution. And he shares about the Apple model, which I really like because every business should do this. And I think this will be valuable because it's simple, but it is, is really valuable. So he was saying, you know, Apple, they have kind of four kinds of like ways to reach their market, they have iTunes, which is free.

They have an iPod, which is a small amount of money, then they have the iPhone or the iPad, and then they have the MacBook Pro, the Air, the M book, whatever. So in our business, we've got to find four things that represent that model. So the first one is what are we giving away for free?

So in relation to my business, it's my YouTube videos, or it's my quotes, my Instagram posts, whatever that looks like, the equivalent of my iPod is my book, the equivalent of my iPhone, or my iPad is my mastermind and then the equivalent of my MacBook Pro, my air book would be my one to one mentoring.

And so if people can framework their business on those forth and that's a real tight way of doing business because some people won't be prepared to go and spend the Airbook if they've never heard from you, so build up that relationship by You know, offering something that is relatable and affordable, educate people, give people what they want, and then educate them with what they need. I think that's really key. If you go to .marksephton.com, though, I do need to change my whole website, everything serves us for a while, but I don't actually, particularly like it.

So that's something that I've got to focus my energy on. Moving forward. Sometimes we outgrow things, you know, we've got to continue to reinvent ourselves. And I can't just do all the preaching, I've got to do the walk-in as well. So yeah, people can find me on .marksephton.com.

And it's got links to all my social media channels, both inside job and plot twist. My books are on Amazon, and they're available in Kindle paperback. And in so jobs available on Audible as well. Then you have my TV show, done if we can add a link to this. But if we can, then great, but if people just put in one more round, Mark Sephton, they'll find it. Yeah, but I'm open to converse, to engage, and really have enjoyed my time with you.

Gresham Harkless 16:04

Yeah, I definitely appreciate you not just for your influence for this, you know, a short period of time, but all the influence that you're having as well to help out you know, all these creatives, entrepreneurs, and business owners. So, Mark, I appreciate you again, hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Mark Sephton 16:17

You too, it's been awesome.

Outro 16:19

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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