Productive Flourishing
Productive Flourishing Podcast
Mark Drager: The Gift of Not Knowing (Episode #253)
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Mark Drager: The Gift of Not Knowing (Episode #253)

Topics We Explored:

  • Mark Drager, successful serial entrepreneur and host of We Do Hard Things joined to talk about why entrepreneurs (but also, anyone) need to ask for help.

  • The gifts and opportunities that open up in your career and business when you accept that you don’t have to know everything.

  • Mark narrated his career journey from film school to a corporate franchise, and facing a low point in his own business, which forced him to ask for help, and find a better path to using his intelligence, talent, and energy to serve himself and others.

  • Why there’s not one right way for everything to unfold, and often doing our best work requires us to center ourselves on our dreams and our passions — and the unknown.

  • Why we ought to be asking ourselves not just the next smartest thing we can do, but the most courageous thing, which likely involves being vulnerable.

Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

About Mark Drager:

Mark is a branding & positioning expert with twenty odd years of experience. He’s also an entrepreneur, strategiest, podcaster and storyteller. He’s the host of the We Do Hard Things podcast and CEO of SalesLoop.

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Episode Timestamps

[3:24] Charlie’s background and why he decided to become an entrepreneur.

[9:16] It typically takes 18 months to 36 months just to figure out what you're doing as an entrepreneur.

[13:13] Mark talks about his career journey from going to film school to going to a corporate company at a franchise company making videos. There, he started to look at which projects he enjoyed the most and which ones had the highest profit margins that he could deliver.

[14:01] The lowest point in Mark’s business and how it changed.

[16:13] Mark’s story of using his high intelligence, talent, and energy in a way that served himself and others.

[23:47] Asking for help is one of the greatest things we could do.

[24:15] When you accept the gift of not knowing, it opens up all these possibilities.

[24:20] It’s okay that you don’t know, and you don’t have to fight that.

[31:42] What path will get your message in front of the people you want to speak to, and then once you are there, how do you build an experience better than your competitors?

[33:16] The principles of marketing and sales haven’t really changed since 2000 years ago. We’ve just gotten better at implementing those principles.

[45:28] Mark’s decision to stop running his business.

[1:04:11] Doing our best work requires us to center ourselves on our dreams and our passions.

[1:11:05] Ask yourself: what’s the smartest thing you can do next, and then, what’s the most courageous next step you can take on that project?

[1:19:38] Mark’s Challenge: Let him help you.

Discussion about this podcast

Productive Flourishing
Productive Flourishing Podcast
Productive Flourishing (formerly the Creative Giant Show) explores how to do the work that matters to become your best self in the world. Host Charlie Gilkey and occasional co-host Angela Wheeler take listeners on a deep dive into the lives of leaders, changemakers, creatives, and entrepreneurs who are thriving in life and business by doing work that matters. Listen in to see how they cultivate meaning, success, and happiness as well as their approach to productivity, business, health, and the challenges (yes, even the deep, dark ones) that show up in their lives.