In this episode, Curtis sits down with Mark Tilbury, an entrepreneur from Miami, Florida, to talk about money. Mark has been in the finance industry for a long time and has been a part of some of the biggest financial companies in the world. He has been around for 30 years and has seen a lot of change in the last 30 years. Mark talks about how he got started in finance and how he's been able to make a name for himself in the space, and why he thinks Miami is one of the best places in the country to do business. If you haven't heard of Mark, you're in for a treat! He's been around the finance game for a while and has a ton of experience in the industry, so he's here to share his knowledge and experience with us. We talk about his journey in finance, how he started in this industry, and what it's like to live in Miami, FL and travel around the country. He also talks about what he's seen in the past 30 years, and how Miami has changed since he first moved to Florida and why Miami is a great place to live and work in the South Florida area. I hope you guys enjoy this episode and have a great rest of the week! -Curtis and the gang! Stay tuned for part 2 of this interview with Mark on the Strike It Big channel coming soon. Stay tuned. -Mark and the crew -Mike & the gang. Mike & the crew! -Bryan and the boys! -Mike and the guys! -Drew and the team! -Mark & the team Cheers, Cheers! -Kris ( ) . . . -Chris & the boys , Mike And the gang :D - - Chris AND THE GUY! . CHEERS, Chris & KEVIN & THE CHECK OUT THE STAKES !! -JOSH & THE GANG! AND KEVY AND THE BOOTY -MARKY P. & JOSH ! -SALER AND THE PODCAST AND KELLY AND JOSH AND THE KIDS BABY AND MORE! - AND SO MUCH MORE! , AND MORE!! - THE MONEY CHECKED!
00:02:41.000If you guys want to go ahead and see my other side that I might not be able to do in other places, check me out over there on Unplugged Fidex.
00:03:21.000We've wanted you on the show for a bit, but I know you guys are abroad and it was a little hard to coordinate, but you guys are here in South Florida and we're happy to have you.
00:03:28.000Well, it's 30 years since I've been to Florida.
00:03:33.000Yeah, last time I was here I was flying aerobatic aircraft over Miami Bay and I actually met up with a guy just this week, first time in 30 years, and we were doing aerobatics yesterday and it was great.
00:04:06.000Well, I only really saw sawgrass area, and then we came down and did a bit of flying, but we were really based in Orlando for that particular week, so it was just a drive down for that experience.
00:04:16.000Have you seen an enormous difference in the skyline?
00:05:23.000And I would have liked to have learnt the lessons all you guys are putting out now when I was younger.
00:05:29.000So I think it's sort of partly a duty to do that from my age.
00:05:34.000And to have life experience, unfortunately, you've got to look this sort of age.
00:05:39.000LAUGHTER That's the only way you get it, isn't it?
00:05:42.000So I think passing on that baton to the youngsters is a good way to go, and I really enjoy getting the comments back of how people have improved their lives, levelled up, and started to invest.
00:05:54.000Sort of building the foundations of their kingdom.
00:07:00.000I actually wasn't allowed to go night fishing where you could catch the most fish.
00:07:04.000So I used to get up early and we used to catch a four o'clock train to get down to Dover to be able to do the fishing, which was great fun.
00:07:12.000And then really you could see that as a side hustle nowadays.
00:07:15.000It moved on to buying and selling cars.
00:07:18.000We used to do All sorts of different things.
00:07:36.000I've got people that help us now, particularly with shorts and things like that, and they're earning £30,000, £40,000 a month at least, just from doing shorts editing as a side hustle.
00:07:46.000So, you know, the money's out there for these guys to go and earn, and, you know, they can start building themselves up, can't they?
00:08:26.000But I got very disillusioned with that.
00:08:28.000I did get through with honours in my apprenticeship.
00:08:31.000But I was given a load of really bad jobs, and most people will know my story online.
00:08:37.000I was made to make these wooden trash bins, and I had a big discussion with the boss, and he said, no, look, we're making these for Walmart.
00:08:45.000We're going to be making them for the next five to ten years, depending on how long the contract lasts, and that's your job.
00:09:22.000And I think because he saw that I was absorbing that information, he'd give me even more.
00:09:27.000So I always wanted to have a model shop, radio-controlled models, so aeroplanes, helicopters, radio-controlled cars, all that sort of thing.
00:10:22.000So I think if you can get involved with anything like, I don't know, just caddying at a golf club or anything like that, you get to speak to the older generation, shall we say.
00:10:33.000And, you know, if you're there to absorb information, people want to give information and, you know, absorb it because you'll get even more, you know, and it's priceless, really, just for your confidence as much as anything.
00:10:47.000I mean, because a lot of people struggle to talk.
00:10:50.000Well, certainly youngsters I speak to struggle to talk to the older generation or people maybe in authority, and that comes across particularly in interviews and things like that.
00:11:00.000It's sort of like, would you like to ask me some questions?
00:12:21.000Do they still hold value nowadays as far as these model planes and cars and stuff like that from an antique standpoint?
00:12:26.000Well, still valuing, obviously, designing, manufacturing, as I do, which we'll get onto, no doubt, and selling because my businesses are still involved in all of that sort of thing.
00:12:36.000In fact, I'm going to an event called Miami Jets in about...
00:12:40.000Three days time and that's radio-controlled model jets and they cost upwards of 20-30,000 pounds apiece so you know that's going on locally to here and I shall meet up I certainly know there's four maybe five people that I'll meet that I know and you know it's it's such a global thing so that's smart he joined a club or you could say a hobby that has many people that for example in that area would be successful or have money because that's a very once they're rich or affluent hobby to have yeah Yeah,
00:13:10.000and you're around older individuals as well.
00:15:00.000The manager actually said to me, he said, right, I believe in youngsters, and I believe in what you're going to do, the preparation's great, and I'll be your first customer.
00:15:12.000So the first person you spoke to, was he like a loan officer or something?
00:15:15.000Yeah, he was the manager of, I won't say the branch, or the bank itself, but he was the manager of that bank, and in those days the manager had We're good to go.
00:16:31.000This is 30-plus years ago now at this point, right?
00:16:34.000Looking back, what were the differences between the first discussion, where you got declined, versus the second one where you got approval?
00:16:42.000Obviously, we talked about the confidence factor.
00:16:45.000I wouldn't say there was any difference from itself.
00:16:47.000I would say there was already a predetermined answer from the first one.
00:16:51.000And the second one, I think he had a certain amount that he had to lend out to start-up businesses.
00:16:58.000And remember, back in the day, if you wanted to sell a product, it wasn't like it is today, where you can do it online or all that sort of stuff.
00:17:25.000Because, you know, at the end of the day, you might take an L on it or whatever, but really you're going to win because the lesson you've learned, even from a loss when you're 20 years old, is nothing.
00:17:44.000You mentioned as well having the mentor, but also in this case, did you know back then, because you're a legit millionaire now, did you know back then you were going to be a millionaire when you were younger?
00:18:27.000And I'm sure that is to push you down while you're in the school system.
00:18:32.000Because they don't want you being entrepreneurial.
00:18:34.000They want you to, you know, it doesn't matter what shape you go into school at, you might be triangle or rectangle, whatever shape it is, you've got to come out as a cog to fit in the machine.
00:18:43.000You've got to become a disposable partner.
00:18:45.000Yeah, and the longer you're in the system, in my opinion, the more cog shape you become, and the harder it is for you to actually change that shape going forward.
00:19:23.000I mean, if I'm going to have to work the whole of my life until I get to 66, 68, just because it's a good pension at the end, well, that's not for me.
00:20:59.000Actually, when he stole the plans or the idea, I continued to work for him because I realized straight away that I wasn't ready at the time.
00:22:19.000That he couldn't fail because his income was increasing within that shop.
00:22:25.000Now one of the reasons I think his income was increasing so much within that shop, and it might sound arrogant to say this, but a lot of it was me.
00:22:35.000Yeah, because what I'd done is I'd mastered the skill of flying radio-controlled helicopters back at that time in the 1990s.
00:22:42.000They were a really big thing with Airwolf on the telly and Blue Thunder and various other helicopter-based dramas that everyone wanted a radio-controlled helicopter and they were one of the hardest things to fly.
00:22:53.000Now, once you've mastered how to fly it, you could then teach...
00:22:57.000Not only could you teach, you could say to your customers, oh, look, you know, that model, if you upgraded that and put a better head on it or better tail rotor gearbox, it'll fly so much better.
00:23:12.000Charge for the spares, charge for the labor, and you're guaranteed they're going to turn up the following week for a lesson because they want their model anyway.
00:23:19.000So it was a really good thing, and you were gathering at the time all those customers so that when you got the shop, you could take them away.
00:23:27.000Okay, this is really interesting, and I guess I'm going into a very detailed question here.
00:23:32.000Because you said that he didn't turn a profit before, but he was making money.
00:25:26.000So, you know, when you've got, I suppose, Home Depot and that sort of place, what you could do back then is you could bolt in another store within the store.
00:26:16.000And we had, where we were, it was split by four different directories, literally split all over the place.
00:26:24.000And then you thought, well, if I'm in those four, I need to be in these and these and these.
00:26:27.000And, you know, before you know it, you're in 13 different directories and they were charging an absolute fortune.
00:26:33.000But it definitely was the ticket to get people into the store.
00:26:37.000I also bolted onto that flying all around the world.
00:26:42.000So when I was here 30 years ago, I was competing in a competition called the Tangerine Model Flying, which actually is still taking place during the month of December and early January up in the Orlando area.
00:27:20.000Well, I always describe what I used to do with model helicopters a bit like figure skating.
00:27:25.000Now, it might sound a bit of a tangent, but with figure skating, they actually cut a line in the eyes, and you have to do set figures around them, which is what we have to do.
00:27:35.000And then you have a freestyle element, don't you?
00:27:37.000So we also then had freestyle aerobatic manoeuvres.
00:27:41.000And that's sort of what it's like, and it's judged in front of a bank of five judges.
00:27:44.000You lose the highest and the lowest score, and that's your score.
00:28:08.000So that was every year as well, because the sponsors want you to compete in the U.S. market.
00:28:24.000You clearly have a passion for it and a skill for it.
00:28:27.000Do you think that passion and drive and skill for it is what drove you to beat out the person that originally stole your idea and why you were able to last longer and do better than him in general?
00:28:37.000I think any sporting background of any sort, and I would include what I did as a sport, although people might say it's not.
00:29:51.000Brick and border businesses, I don't know in the UK, but the United States have kind of taken a little bit of a hit.
00:29:56.000How have you been able to adapt and overcome with a more digitalized world?
00:30:02.000Well, if I could have foreseen exactly what was going to happen...
00:30:09.000The best bet for me would have been just to shut all the shops, just shut them overnight, pack everything up, start again from absolute ground zero, but with some money.
00:30:38.000It sort of counterdicts itself in a way because you think, well, you've already got all the gear, you've already got all the contacts, you've already got this and that and so on.
00:30:48.000And while you've got one taking all of your attention, you can't really concentrate on the other properly, even with the right teams in place.
00:30:56.000And that's why you see a lot of these companies going down, and you think, well, they should have gone online.
00:31:51.000Because of our geographical position, it's actually quite a good idea to have two.
00:31:59.000Because the UK is a fair bit smaller than the US, People do tend to still want to visit stores to a certain degree, but they certainly want to phone a shop that they can go to should something go wrong with their internet purchase.
00:32:14.000So for us, it makes sense to have a couple of stores.
00:32:19.000Are they all located in the UK? Yeah, they are.
00:32:22.000I have had a branch in Hamburg, but it didn't really work very well.
00:33:52.000If you woke up as a homeless person with only your acquired knowledge over the years, how would you regain your current position considering the loss of all your connections and possessions?
00:34:02.000If you woke up literally homeless with your knowledge over the years, how would you regain your current position in business?
00:34:11.000Well, I certainly wouldn't be swiping on TikTok.
00:34:15.000I'd be using my mobile phone as a tool for business, and I think that's the advantage you've got now.
00:34:23.000If you stop walking around like a zombie...
00:34:27.000You know, just, you know, like this all the time and decide to use what you've got in the palm of your hand, which is a computer that's far, far, far greater than what got Apollo to the moon.
00:34:38.000You know, use it for what it's, you know, really usable for.
00:34:41.000And with the knowledge, I think you could...
00:35:39.000So without doubt, if I started again, I don't know what digital product I would necessarily choose, but definitely that's the way I would go.
00:36:52.000Now, some people think that just means the best price.
00:36:56.000And I've never, ever subscribed to this idea of being, you know, keep dropping price in all the time.
00:37:04.000What I mean by supplying good value is, you know, you've got your experience, you've got the actual, the niceness of the environment that someone's coming into, but if you always provide good value, regardless of what you're doing,
00:37:20.000you deserve to make a profit, and you will make a profit.
00:37:24.000You shouldn't expect sometimes to make lots of money, and in fact sometimes when you provide something for free, Whatever it happens to be, the karma does bring it back to you.
00:37:37.000If you put it out there, good information, good value to people, the rewards come.
00:37:43.000Do you agree with the sentiment that there's three traits, either low price, quality, speed, pick two?
00:40:09.000Go ahead, did you have something else?
00:40:10.000Do you have any business stories that went bad or that went good?
00:40:15.000To be honest, I always say I have a bit of an issue with things that go bad because I take the L on it and I learn from it and I move on and I sort of forget about it after that because I don't like to dwell on things that go wrong.
00:40:31.000It is actually a problem because when I play golf, if I take a bad shot, I forget about it.
00:40:38.000Now, that's great for the rest of the hole because you're not letting it get into your head.
00:40:42.000But you get to the end of the hole, you're like, that's a five.
00:41:23.000I was watching one of your videos, and you talked about the importance of making sure that you take care of your employees and payroll is always going to be there, even at your detriment to some times where you had to take cuts.
00:41:35.000Can you describe the importance of sacrificing as a leader for the betterment of the team?
00:41:41.000I think your team relies on their job so much.
00:41:48.000As an employer, you are looking at obviously an exit at some point from your business, so you'll get paid even if you don't pay yourself for a period of time.
00:41:59.000And obviously during COVID and various other times, during various crashes that I've been through, several recessions, you're right, I have taken years of not being paid.
00:42:10.000But the thing is, if you've always invested all the way through your adult life, you know, you've always got a safety net.
00:43:44.000It's surreal to have you here now and be talking about it.
00:43:47.000Can you talk to the people about what index funds are, the importance of them, and how people can get started?
00:43:53.000Well, the main thing to remember is that it's a lot of different companies that you're actually investing in.
00:44:00.000Whenever we speak about stocks, be it stocks or be it index funds, we always get in the comments, I don't know which stocks to pick, I don't know what to do, blah, blah, blah, and I've got to check them every day.
00:44:09.000I say, no, look, all you've got to remember...
00:44:13.000If you buy an index fund, it's a basket of lots of different companies.
00:44:17.000All the major companies in the USA are in the S&P 500.
00:44:22.000So you're investing in Apple, you're investing in Amazon, Google, all the main people, plus others.
00:44:29.000And if there's a loss of one of those companies, you don't feel the hit.
00:45:03.000Every month it just takes a certain amount of money from my account and invest it into, I got one that tracks the S&P 500 and one that tracks the total market.
00:45:11.000So, total market's very good, but also emerging markets, I think, is very good as well, and that's the one I'm actually extending my investments on at the moment, because, you know, you've only got to look at China, India, all those sort of places which are the emerging markets.
00:45:27.000I want a piece of that action, you know.
00:45:29.000Can you give us a few that you don't mind revealing?
00:45:31.000I know it's a secret a lot of times, but can you give us a few for the likes?
00:46:27.000And if you don't mind me asking, so during those times where you had to get the payroll, you might have not paid yourself, you got to take care of your in-place first, and luckily you had your investments in place to pay yourself, how were you paying yourself?
00:46:59.000I mean, I've been very lucky with crypto, because I haven't really bought any of the shit coins, shall we say.
00:47:05.000We bought Doge for a while, because obviously we saw it going up, we thought we were going to do that, and we sold it, I think, what was it, an hour before the show?
00:47:15.000Yeah, an hour before the Saturday Night Live thing came on, because everyone's going, it's going to go to a dollar, it's going to go, of course it's not.
00:47:21.000You know, if it gets to 90 cents or 95, everyone's going to sell, aren't they?
00:47:24.000So we bailed an hour before and it was the right thing to do.
00:47:28.000But on Bitcoin and on Ethereum, we've done very well.
00:48:18.000And I know we had a discussion about this last time I was on your guys' podcast and we had a discussion on real estate that the whole real estate process is a bit different in the United Kingdom than it is to the United States.
00:48:28.000And I get a million questions from people.
00:48:30.000Hey, talk about real estate in the UK. Talk about real estate in the UK. You have some real estate there.
00:48:35.000Can you tell the people about maybe some fundamental differences that might be between the United States and the United Kingdom?
00:51:16.000That's public knowledge on my YouTube videos.
00:51:19.000But I did say, when we started the YouTube and the interviews and things like that, my wife asked me, she said, don't disclose those sort of things.
00:51:35.000I'm transparent about it, but no, I can definitely see where that would make sense.
00:51:41.000And then in the United States, we have open laws with searching shit, so I don't know, depending on how you incorporate your business, whatever it may be.
00:51:49.000So you said commercial and residential.
00:51:51.000In the U.K., in the U.S., we go from one to four is residential.
00:51:55.000Is that the same in the U.K.? I don't think so.
00:51:58.000I mean, one of the things you have got in the States, which I think is quite nice, is the buying of duplexes.
00:52:40.000I mean, we have, in some of the towns that we, well, Sittingbourne, where we're based as a business, there's quite a lot of what are called terraced houses, and that would be like 20 houses all in a row.
00:52:51.000Really, it's one building, all divided up, but each one you would buy as an individual house.
00:52:56.000You can't do the same sort of thing, unfortunately.
00:52:58.000Yeah, my brother's in the UK, and my property over there, I checked it out, bro.
00:53:06.000They have more favorable rates, but you have a higher barrier to enter to be able to acquire the property because you've got to put 20% down.
00:53:13.000But it seems to me once you actually have it, because 20% is quite a bit of equity, you're probably going to cash flow very nicely.
00:54:38.000I mean, I think the average UK home is about three, and I'm guessing a little bit of this at the moment, probably about £370, so probably about $450.
00:54:49.000That would be for a three-bedroom, what we call a semi-detached, so what you might call a two-duplex, but obviously you're only on one side of that.
00:54:59.000Do you have any other investments other than real estate and index funds?
00:55:51.000I didn't know that in the UK they're doing that too.
00:55:54.000So I have a friend, Kevin Tobias, he sold his Tesla stock and made millions, but I think holding onto it might be even better because they're going full electric.
00:56:04.000So individual stocks, index funds, you said you have emerging funds, market index, and then I'm assuming also you probably have an S&P 500 one and a total market index.
00:57:41.000I mean, I always say 50% for your bills and your groceries, 30% for your investments, and 20% because you've got to have a little bit of fun, go out on the weekends and things like that.
00:57:50.000And then, obviously, the replies to that are, well, I don't earn enough to be able to put 50, you know, to do those ratios.
00:57:59.000Well, you've just answered your own question.
01:00:11.000Women can definitely be assets, I agree.
01:00:13.000If you've got a good woman behind you that looks after you, makes your dinner, looks after your youngster, makes everything else around you happen...
01:00:22.000That is more helpful than you can believe.
01:00:41.000It's always a difficult thing to say, really.
01:00:43.000I think if you can sit down with a young lady after your first date and talk about the future and your futures align, I think that's quite good.
01:00:56.000I mean, one of the first things I said to my wife when we met was I said, look, One of the things I have a problem with is I'm very selfish with my time.
01:06:26.000And that's the father's job, is to kind of hold you accountable, let you know that there are winners and losers in life, not like, I love you no matter what.
01:06:33.000I mean, of course you let them know that you love them, but it's like, no, bro, you can do better.
01:06:38.000And they're like, damn, okay, I need to go practice.
01:06:40.000That might be the driving force for them to go at 6 o'clock in the morning and shoot some more hoops or work on their magic tricks or whatever.
01:06:45.000And I think also something that's really important that you reinforced in your son is having a hobby, man.
01:06:51.000Kids nowadays don't have fucking hobbies.
01:06:54.000You ask them, what do you do in your free time?
01:06:55.000We don't know what the fuck they're doing.
01:06:57.000And it's just like, what the hell's going on?
01:06:59.000And I think magic is fucking awesome because it's a social thing.
01:09:00.000I think it's like, literally, it's having an anchor, you're throwing it over your back, it's stuck in the ground, you're trying to get through, and if you can get rid of it, get rid of it.
01:09:39.000What amazes me as well is people go and buy a property, and they're all at the point about to sign for it, and then they go and buy a new car because they go, oh, I can get a car.
01:10:45.000And the only credit I could say that doesn't keep me...
01:10:48.000Sorry, the only debt that I have that doesn't keep me up at night is the real estate debt because all those houses cash flow, which means my debt service is done, I don't got to worry about shit, and I'm able to make money at the end of it, even with vacancy, guys.
01:11:01.000So real estate is the only debt that I would say that's...
01:12:45.000If you can bring them clients, you build that partnership with them, they trust you, they believe in you, and they want to do business with you.