Who the heck is Mark Kostner, and why should
you listen to him?
Now that's a good question.
Let me tell you a little about myself and why I'm doing this.
Sitting at home in 1997 I never dreamed I would be where I am today - Running and internet based business with an awesome team of people from all over the world.
I was going through a goal setting exercise, writing my mental, physical, financial, relationship, spiritual, social and vocational goals. I had big dreams, with no idea how I would actually achieve them. I sat back and thought, How the heck am I going to achieve that? I'd never earned over $25K per year how could I afford these dreams?
I'd been involved in business since the around the age of 16. I'd start a new business enterprise, get some people together have some fun and make some money. It was usually small backyard type businesses. It wasn't until 1999 though that the things really started to happen.
The company I was working for as a sales representative wasn't doing to well. It had lost money for 5 years in a row and it was coming down to decision time. I'd always felt as though I had a lot of ideas that would get the business going, I just never had the chance to exercise them.
I didn't want to loose my Job so I bought the company!
I approached my my boss (The owner of the company) and put forward a proposal to buy the company. It didn't take long for the answer to come back, and before I knew it I was the proud owner of a failing business!
I can still remember the first day that we took over. I was putting the key in the door to open up and I was shaking like a leaf and had butterflies in my belly. All I kept thinking was "How were we going to pay our bills"?
I knew we had to get the business moving, there were 4 of us all together, myself, my business partner and 2 staff. We doug our heels in and started working.
We Broke even in the first 12 months.
We worked solidly for 12 months, I devoured ever piece of business and personal development material I could get my hands on and tried every tip, idea and strategy I could find. The result? After 12 months we had taken the company from loosing large amounts of money to breaking even.
It only grew from there. We employed more staff, moved to larger premises, employed more staff again, and moved premises again. Before I knew it I had 12 staff working for me around Australia and overseas.
I started to discover the fundamental principles of building a hugely profitable business
- Listen to what our customers wanted
- Provide great products that a value for money, conistently
- Get out there and promote those products
I also uncovered other fundamental principles to creating a successful business.
I was working every spare minute I could find
The business was growing rapidly and making great profits. We were literally turning over millions of dollars. I was working every spare minute I could find. I would work 15 hours per day Monday through Saturday and around 9 hours on Sunday.
Then something profoundly life changing happened for me.
A friend of mine who I had gone to high school with called me on the phone, I thought it was a bit odd since we hadn't seen each other for a few years until he told me that his wife and recently left him and their young son. He was feeling lonely and depressed and wanted a chat.
I had no idea of the impact that call was going to have in my life
We spoke a few times and had dinner together. I didn't have much time for socializing outside of my circle of business associates. He called once and left a message. He told me he wanted to talk to me. As usual I was caught up with work and thought I'll call him back a few days later.
A few days later I got a call from my mother. She asked me how I was and then told me to sit down. Then she hit me with it. My Friend had killed himself in a most horrific way. It completely floored me. My mind was racing at a million miles per hour. I thought of his young son who was now fatherless, I thought of my 2 young boys and how they never saw their father, I realized an awful truth. I hated who I had become. I didn't even have 10 minutes to spare for a friend in need.
I started questioning the life I was living
I started to realize how much of my life I was missing. I had virtually no friends left outside of business, my kids would ask their mother if dad is ever coming back home, all the wealth, success and status I had meant nothing. I was totally unfulfilled. I began questioning the life I was living, and life in general. Surely there had to be more to life than this?
Over the next 12 months I began to loose interest in my business, I was burnt out, stressed and depressed. The years of long hours and mental strain had taken their toll.
Then I made one of the hardest decisions of my life...
I walked away from my business.
I walked away from the money, the excitement, the traveling, the status. My business partner was totally shocked and once he was over the shock, the anger set in. He became very bitter feeling I had just DUMPED all this responsibility on his shoulders.
He had now idea how to run the business since he was basically just working in the warehouse while I run the business. He refused to pay me a single cent for my share of the business.
After months of legal redtape and visits back and forth with lawyers I had 2 choices -
Shut the business down and take my share of the profit (Which meant the everyone who relied on the business would loose their livelihood)
OR
Give up my share of the business and walk away without a cent of profit for my share.
I couldn't do it to the team - They were much more than just workers - we were a team - almost a family. I just couldn't take all that away from them.
I simply gave up my share to my business partner and walked away without a single dollar profit. (in fact I walked away in debt since the company didn't even fully repay money I had loned to it!) - Crazy when you think about how much money the company was making.
But the experience had taken it's toll. So much of my focus had been on my business and breakup that I didn't take the time to notice what was happening at home. The relationship between my wife and I was at breaking point and it wasn't long before that was over too...
The end result? I had gone from living a happy life with a family, house, profitable business, security and certainty to nothing.
I was broke and alone with no home, furniture, money or anything. I was afraid, lonely and depressed. I'd hit rock bottom. I spent months trying to figure out exactly what had happened and how I had gotten to this place.
I got to the point where I couldn't see any purpose with in life. The future seemed empty, dark and lonely and one day I just simply had enough. I jumped in my car, drove up a mountain into the bush and tried to end my life. Luckily for me, I couldn't even get that right!
A friend heard about what had happened and gave me tickets to a seminar. He told me it had deeply impacted his own life and suggested that I go. I went and was blown away. I began to realize there was something much greater going on in my life than I realised.
I spent the next 2 years discovering myself and the world around me. I started to see things in a completely new perspective, and slowly it all started coming together. I read more books, did more courses and took time to learn about myself and the world around me.
Then I discovered a missing piece of the puzzle
I discovered something that the business and personal development books and seminars Didn't tell me. I realized why I had been setting myself up for failure. I discovered the missing piece's that brought purpose to my life and meaning to my work.
I discovered an awareness that something much bigger was going on in my life, that there was an order to things that I just couldn't see - until then.
Taking this new awareness and my previous life experiences I started over again.
I met a wonderful woman - the woman of my dreams you could say. I started a new business selling products online and moved to a new city.
I took on a couple of part-time jobs working here and there while I built my internet business and slowly but surely it grew.
I called on my past business experiences and together with my new awareness of life and this relatively new medium called the internet began to build a new business with a new team.
Today I find myself gratefull for my experiences, gratefull for the lessons I learned and the people who helped me learn them. I live what I believe is a wonderlife, working when I want from where ever I want with a team of grate people from all over the world. I travel overseas on holiday's regularly and enjoy the company of great friends.
My goal is to share what I've discovered about building and running a business online as well as that greater awareness of the real order of things with others so they can also experience the freedom and joys that and internet based business has to offer.
That's my story. If your reading this you're meant to be. That's why your here, that's why this web site is here and that's what my purpose is in life.
Live Life with Passion
Mark Kostner