09/16/25 - Wakie Wakie 4:44

Welcome to Your 444 Newsletter!

Where leverage, perspective, and smarter playbooks collide.

Today’s topic?

How $2.50 turned into $900M...

Back in the oil rush days, everyone was racing to drill faster.

Burning time, money, and energy chasing wells.

John D. Rockefeller looked at the chaos and asked a different question:
Not “how do I dig more wells?” but “how do I make the barrel cheaper?”

That shift cut barrel costs from $2.50 to $0.96.

Ten years later, Standard Oil controlled 90% of U.S. refining.

Rockefeller didn’t just chase the gold.

He controlled the game around it.

Lesson? The money isn’t always in working harder.

It’s in seeing what others miss.

4 Thoughts to Reflect On

1. Most business owners default to drilling more wells. 
   They work longer hours, hire more staff, or pile on more projects.

2. The real leverage is in spotting inefficiencies. 
   Tiny changes to process often multiply results faster than “doing more.”

3. Stress blinds you to obvious fixes. 
   When you’re stuck in the weeds, you miss the big moves.

4. Different questions create different results. 
   Ask “how do I eliminate waste?” instead of “how do I grind harder?”

4 Lessons I’ve Learned

1. I used to mistake activity for progress. 
   Until I learned that mules run faster but still never win the race.

2. Systems always beat effort. 
   You can’t outwork a broken process.

3. Clarity comes from stepping back. 
   Some of my biggest breakthroughs happened when I stopped forcing and started observing.

4. The people you learn from matter. 
   Rooms full of grinders keep you stuck. Rooms full of magicians pull you forward.

4 Challenges for You This Week

1. Write down one recurring frustration in your business.
   Instead of working harder on it, ask: “How do I eliminate this problem entirely?”

2. Review your expenses.
   Which ones add efficiency? Which ones just feed the mule?

3. Ask a trusted peer or mentor: “What obvious inefficiency am I not seeing?” Sometimes others see what you can’t.

4. Read Magician vs Mule. 
   It will flip how you view growth, time, and leverage.

Stop drilling harder.
Start seeing smarter.

Grab your copy of Magician vs Mule today.

Mark Evans DM