08/05/25 - Wakie Wakie 4:44

Welcome to Your 444 Newsletter!

Where partnerships, sales skills, and ego checks collide.

Today’s topic?

The 3 things I wish I’d known before becoming a founder:

Partnerships will make or break you.

The right ones multiply your time, energy, and results.

The wrong ones drain everything you’ve got.

Learn to sell before you try to scale.

Scaling without sales is like putting a turbo engine in a car with no gas.

You’re not going anywhere.

Your ego is the biggest expense you’ll ever pay.

It will cost you relationships, opportunities, and the chance to fix what isn’t working.

These 3 lessons would have saved me years of headaches, wasted money, and bad decisions.

They’re also the foundation for building a business that doesn’t trap you in the weeds.

4 Thoughts to Reflect On

1. Partnerships are leverage or landmines.
   The right partner takes you further, faster. The wrong one holds you hostage.

2. Sales drive survival.
   If you can’t sell, nothing else matters.

3. Your ego is expensive.
   It will blind you to reality and drain your bank account faster than any bad hire.

4. Scaling without selling is just decorating the mule.
   It still works hard, but it never gets where you want it to go.

4 Lessons I’ve Learned

1. Choose partners like you choose investments.
   Do the due diligence before you sign anything.

2. Sales is the first skill, not the last.
   You can’t delegate it until you’ve mastered it yourself.

3. Ego kills clarity.
   When you care more about being right than winning, you lose.

4. Most business pain is self-inflicted.
   The sooner you own it, the sooner you fix it.

4 Challenges for You This Week

1. Audit your partnerships.
   Which ones are fuel and which ones are friction?

2. Spend 30 minutes a day sharpening your sales skills.
   Calls, scripts, objections — get better.

3. Ask someone you trust where your ego is in the way.
   Listen without defending yourself.

4. Read Magician vs Mule.
   Learn how to step out of the mule work and build the business you actually want.

You can’t scale what you can’t sell.
And you can’t win if your ego is driving.

Pick better partners. Master sales. Check your ego.
Then watch how fast you move.

Get your copy of Magician vs Mule and start running your business like a magician, not a mule.

Mark Evans DM