Chiseled - Because We're All A Work In Progress

Mark Victor Hansen is the world's No. 1 author, having sold 500 million copies of a little book series he co-wrote, called Chicken Soup for the Soul. I'm thrilled to say that he is also this week's guest on Chiseled.

As a keynote speaker, author, publisher, and philanthropist, Mark is the guy whose face appears next to the words "determination" and "energy" in the dictionary. He started out being mentored in grad school by architect and inventor R. Buckminster Fuller, but after having gone bankrupt trying to sell geodesic domes in the 1970s, he asked God what he was meant to do. He says God told him to decide, and he came up with the answer.

"I want to talk to people who care about things that matter that would make a life-transformative difference in their life," he said.

Not knowing where to start, Mark went to speak to visionary real estate coach Chip Collins. Collins encouraged Mark to go sell his sales techniques to insurance agencies. So, Mark did. He self-published his first book, Stand Up, Speak Out, and Win, and took the book with him to all his appointments. In his first year, he sold 20,000 books for $10 apiece. Things grew from there.

"I went from being bankrupt, which I was ... and now I'm selling. I'm making money and I'm having fun."

By 1988, Mark was earning $1 million a year selling books on the speaking circuit. Then he met Jack Canfield. Operating in the same circles, Mark says Jack approached him one day and told him he was going to put 65 of Mark's stories in a book. Mark told him that wasn't going to happen unless they worked together. From there, the partnership was born.

"Jack tells the story a little bit different but one of those two stories is somewhere near true," he joked.

It took several years and more than 100 attempts at finding a title before Chicken Soup for the Soul was released. As you know, it went gangbusters. Since then, Mark has authored or co-authored more than 300 books. He has been the most frequent best-selling author on USA Today's books list, and he made the Guinness Book of World Records for his prolific sales. 

"Your imagination creates your reality," he said. "You can set outrageous goals if you really commit and have the courage to commit at a cellular level."

With his limitless energy and dedication to serving others, Mark says he is never going to retire. And that's great for the rest of us because he has many stories to tell, lessons to share, and new authors to publish. You're going to be blown away by this week's episode of Chiseled .

Blane Stewart was a latchkey kid, who turned his freedom into a hustle, often with severe consequences. Raised in his early years on a 100-acre farm, he was devastated by his parents' divorce, his dad's raging alcoholism, and his mom moving him and his two siblings into a two-bedroom apartment in a low-income area of the city.

With his mom forced to work three jobs, Blane was left with little supervision, and he ran with it. By age 16, he owned a townhome and multiple cars, none earned by ordinary industry.

"I was doing bad things and every day I was putting myself in multiple felony-type situations that were dangerous for me," he said. "I was making bad choices from an empty place not knowing where to go."

With millions of dollars in rental properties and earning six figures a year by age 27, Blane was "spiritually bankrupt." At age 30, a SWAT team took him down. The intervention changed his life.

"There is no sense why I'm here," he said. "I put my family and myself in grave danger because all I wanted to do was be loved and accepted but I had no knowledge or base on how to do that."

After what he described as a six-month separation from his family, Blane stopped partying and drinking. He got rid of all his properties in 2006 before the mortgage meltdown and discovered business coaching through an acquaintance who had asked him to attend a Buffini Coaching event. Six months later, he was out of credit card debt and making money.

Now nearly 20 years later, Blane is a top broker for mortgage company NFM Lending. Instead of drinking and doing drugs, he has become an addict to processes, systems, and coaching.

He also found a spiritual practice for addicts that has given him perspective on "how to live life on life's terms." All the tools have empowered him with the principles on how to run a successful — and legitimate — business.

One thing Blane has not overcome since heady days: the highly motivational feeling of the hustle. He says he needs to check his actions everyday, just like any dependency, but he uses that drive to inspire young entrepreneurs to develop the controls and discipline needed to run their own enterprise.

Blane has made helping others his spiritual driver. He says he will never retire because "if you're not taking on the lesson, you ain't growing."

Listening to fast-talking Blane, with his wealth of one-liners, will probably hype you up too. If he motivates you, he is willing to help out anyone who needs it, so give him a call. He shares his phone number at the end of podcast. Enjoy this week's episode of Chiseled.