05/08/25 - Wakie Wakie 4:44

Author

Mark Evans DM
May 08, 2025

Welcome to Your 444 Newsletter!

Where ownership, efficiency, and elevation collide.

Today’s topic?
What most entrepreneurs call a business is really just a job with more stress.

Let me ask you something honest...
Are you actually running a business?
Or are you just a glorified employee working 80 hours a week for a boss named You?

If the entire machine breaks when you step away,
you don’t have a business.
You have a bottleneck.
And the bottleneck is staring at you in the mirror.

I break this down even deeper in Magician vs Mule, the book that’s helping real entrepreneurs finally escape the hamster wheel they built for themselves.

4 Thoughts to Reflect On

  1. Doing it all yourself is not noble.
    It is a recipe for burnout and stagnation.

  2. A real business runs without you.
    If you are the only thing holding it together, it is fragile.

  3. Being busy is not the same as being valuable.
    You can fill your day with tasks and still move nowhere.

  4. Systems build freedom.
    When you stop relying on effort and start installing structure, everything changes.

4 Lessons I’ve Learned

  1. You’re not saving money doing everything.
    You’re burning time, missing deals, and robbing your future.

  2. Mules can’t scale.
    Even the hardest working ones collapse eventually. I’ve seen it happen.

  3. Leverage is the real flex.
    Not hustle. Not hours. Leverage is what builds wealth.

  4. Freedom takes intention.
    You have to build for it, or you’ll work forever trying to chase it.

4 Challenges for You This Week

  1. List every task only you can do.
    Then highlight the ones someone else could do with training or a system.

  2. Track your time for three days.
    Be brutally honest. Where are you wasting your hours?

  3. Ask yourself: am I being the magician or the mule?
    Answer with action, not excuses.

  4. Read Magician vs Mule.
    This book is the blueprint to escaping your self-built cage.

"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with a team.”
— John Wooden

If your business can’t run without you, it’s not a business. It’s a trap.
Stop calling it a business if you are doing it all.
The longer you wait to shift, the heavier it gets.

Read Magician vs Mule
Because freedom isn’t given. It’s built.

Let’s stop pulling the cart and start driving it,
Mark Evans DM