Real Estate Investor and CEO at MAK Capital | Luxury Storage Developer | 200+ CRE units | Financial Freedom Mentor

I’m Marc Kuhn and in 1994 I started my construction career with my Dad. I started at $1 per hour and got a $1 raise every year as I worked for my dads construction company. 

In 2010, I left my hourly job with $2,500 in my bank account. 

I started my entrepreneurial path and opened MAK Construction, my first business. I’ve grown the construction company to over $25 million a year. We develop commercial projects both 3rd party and investment projects for our investors. 

Since 2018, we have added over 200 units in the Midwest. The benefits of real estate have given me the freedom of time. My goal is to help investors reach financial freedom through real estate. 

Today I own and operate three successful companies that do eight figures a year. 

https://linktr.ee/marckuhn?fbclid=PAAabPuGTp9yBQf1LtvPMccAGv2W9DDPWjJCYvxn3mKnV12VKxsr7s0g8Lc18

2010: MAK Construction: Build and Manage Construction Projects. 
www.makconstructiongf.com

2020: MAK Capital: Let’s passive investors invest in real estate projects beside us! 
Unfollow the herd newsletter: 
www.makcapitalgf.com

2020: CK Agency: Manages Multifamily and Storage properties. 
www.ckagencyllc.com

Marc Kuhn

He built 480 hotels. One a month for 40 years.

He's North Dakota’s first billionaire: 

Meet Gary Tharaldson.

His wealth didn't come from chasing trends or hype. Just one simple "boring" business, repeated relentlessly.

In 1982, he bought a single Super 8 in Valley City

His business philosophy was a simple mix of grit, playing the long-term game, and perfecting his process for acquiring and operating profitable hotels.

Over four decades, he scaled small, no-frills hotels across the country.

In 2006, he sold 130 of them to Goldman Sachs for $1.2B.

Then he took that money and doubled down:

→ Land
→ Ethanol
→ Commercial development

Now he’s the richest man in North Dakota.

People ask why I don’t chase 20 deals a year. Because I’m not playing the volume game.

I want 4–5 real estate projects a year that:

→ Fit our model
→ Hit our returns
→ Scale with our playbook

That’s how we’ve built MAK Capital and Mega MAK Storage:

Boring, repeatable, high-demand luxury storage facilities where demand outpaces supply.

Tharaldson proved you don’t need to be exciting to build real wealth.

You just need a boring play you can run with discipline for the next 20 years.

What’s your "boring" game?

--

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I was "dumb" enough to drop out of college at 22.

12 credits short. No backup plan.

Dumb enough to start MAK Construction with $2,500, bidding on jobs I wasn't qualified for.

Everyone around me had an opinion about it.

"You need a degree."
"You need more money saved."
"You need a safer plan."

I ignored all of it.

Instead I built a concrete crew from scratch.
Invested every dollar I made back into the company.
Started multiple businesses along the way.
Started investing and developing real estate.
Asked people smarter than me for help.

And kept betting on myself when nobody else would.

That "dumb" kid built a $65M portfolio, an awesome portfolio of companies with amazing people, and a pretty damn good life.

Reminder for anyone betting on themself:

When people project their fears onto your decisions, don't confuse it for good advice.

Take risks.
Bet on yourself.
Unfollow the Herd.

That's my best advice after 15 years of doing this for myself.

What's a decision you made that people called "dumb" for that ended up paying off?

--

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Here's what you'll learn with me:

- How to invest in real estate
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I'm taking on 3 coaching clients in March.

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CEO @ MAK Capital | CRE Developer | Guiding You to Wealth with Passive Investments in Luxury Storage & Multifamily Real Estate

10 years ago, a $200K job felt massive. Today, we do $500K jobs just to stay busy for the month.

That shift didn't happen because I got better at concrete. It happened because I learned to let go.

At 27, I thought I had it figured out.

I was making over $250K a year, building my own house, and finally "successful."

I truly believed that was the peak.

But I was also stuck at $1M in revenue because I was the bottleneck in everything. I had to:

→ Approve every bid
→ Oversee every pour
→ Warm up the skid steer for 10 minutes every morning

Breaking through that $1M ceiling required me to do things that felt completely wrong:

→ Hire foremen, trust them to run jobs without me
→ Pay people who had more experience than I did
→ Let someone else drive the equipment
→ Take on projects I didn't have the track record for yet

At every level, I had to let go of something that got me there. 

That's how it should be.

The version of you that got you here won't get you to the next level.

You have to let that person go.

Have you gotten to this point in your business yet?

A contractor making $120K with 3 rentals is wealthier than a Doctor making $500K with no assets.

The lesson to learn early:

Income stops when you stop working.
Assets don't.

I learned this the hard way.

For the first 5-6 years of building MAK Construction I earned good money and kept almost none of it.

Every dollar went back into equipment, payroll, and materials.

I was funding a business that needed me to show up every day to survive.

The shift happened when I started buying real estate with construction revenue.

Then storage development with real estate cash flow.
Then a drilling company with storage cash flow.

Each asset funded the next.
Each level required me less.

Today MAK Capital manages a $70M portfolio, builds and operates 100k sq ft luxury storage properties, and earns without linearly trading time for dollars.

That progression took 16 years.

But it started with the decision to stop spending what's left and start buying assets first.

How long did it take you to understand the difference between earning money and building wealth?

--

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A doctor making $500,000 a year can still be broke.

I don't mean cash poor. 
I mean wealth poor.

Here's the difference:

Income is what hits your bank account when you work. Wealth is what hits your bank account when you don't.

The doctor earns $500K.

But if he stops working tomorrow:

- Income stops
- The mortgage still runs
- The car payments still run
- The lifestyle still runs

He's not wealthy. He's leveraged to his own labor.

I grew up without money.

So when I started making real income in construction, the first thing I did was study the people who had actual wealth.

Not high earners. Owners.

What I found:

→ Wealthy people own assets that produce income
→ High earners trade time for money

The gap between the two isn't income level — it's ownership.

You can earn $500K a year and build zero wealth.
You can earn $80K a year and build a $10M portfolio.

The variable isn't the paycheck.
It's what you do with it.

- Are you buying assets or liabilities?
- Are you building equity?
- Does 100% of your income require your time?

Those questions will tell you exactly which path you're on.

I didn't figure this out until my late 20s.

When did it click for you that income and wealth are two completely different games?

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99.9% of millionaires I meet don't have a podcast.

They own "boring" assets.

A plumbing company in Fargo. An HVAC business that's been running for 20 years. A handful of rental properties they bought when nobody else was buying. A gas station off the interstate that prints money while they sleep.

I cross paths with wealthy people as a construction CEO and developer in the Midwest.

They're not on LinkedIn talking about their morning routine.

They got their hands dirty, built something real, and quietly stacked assets that cash flow, appreciate, and run without them.

That's the blueprint nobody talks about because it's not glamorous enough to go viral.

Build a business that solves a real problem in your market. Use the cash flow to buy assets. Use depreciation on those assets to lower your taxes. Build systems until the assets make money without you.

Then you're not trading time for money anymore.

A 9-5 gives you a paycheck until it doesn't.

Boring cashflow businesses and a real estate portfolio gives you your life back.

The wealthiest people I know in the Midwest didn't follow the herd.

They just never stopped building.

What's the most quietly wealthy blue-collar business you've come across?

--

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I write weekly guides on building wealth with real estate, blue-collar businesses, and high net worth strategies.

Join 5,800 readers: marckuhn.substack.com

At 30, I said Yes to every real estate deal I could.

At 36, I say No to 15-20+ deals a month.

Grew MAK Construction to $30M revenue saying Yes.
Grew MAK Capital to a $60M portfolio saying Yes.

Yes to building houses.
Yes to the random real estate deal.
Yes to anything that would pay the bills.

That’s how most people start: Hustle Mode

But what gets you from $0 to $10M won’t get you to $100M.

At some point, saying yes becomes a liability.

You say yes to too many things, and suddenly:

You’re busy, but not growing.
You’re working harder, but not wealthier.
You’re stuck in the weeds, missing the bigger picture.

In 2026, I’m saying No more than ever.

• No to building 10 homes (eats time, doesn’t scale)
• No to chasing small deals and shiny objects
• No to being everywhere, for everyone

Instead, I’m doubling down on:

→ Luxury storage developments in markets we love
→ Large multifamily projects, strategic acquisitions
→ Scaling what’s working—without spreading thin

Saying No to 10 small projects so I can say Yes to the 1- 2 large opportunities that move the needle.

Great things are built by doing less, better.

Are you in the Yes phase of your career? 
Or are you in the "less is more" season?

--
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I ran a $20/mo experiment on one land parcel.

It leased our storage units 40% faster:

50% of self storage units = no heat.
Other half the units = climate-controlled.

Same location, development, and marketing.

The climate-controlled units leased up 40% faster and commanded a rent premium that held every single month.

For the extra operating cost of about $20/month per unit in utilities.

That was it.

That one test became the proof of concept for what is now a 500,000 sq ft self storage portfolio.

Not a spreadsheet model. Not a mentor's advice.

A real experiment, with real numbers, on real dirt.

Most people chase asset classes based on what's trending on YouTube.

We built our Mega MAK Luxury Storage product around what I could physically test in my own backyard of Grand Forks, North Dakota.

→ Climate-controlled leased faster than standard
→ Better tenant profile came with the better product
→ Higher rents with almost no incremental expense

That's still how I operate today.

Build. Test. Look at the numbers. Scale what works.

What small tests have led to massive results in your career or business?

--

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DM me "storage" to learn more about investing in the luxury storage asset class.

Buy cool sh*t with cash flow. Not your paycheck.

"If you can't buy it twice, don't buy it once"

Here’s the old American Dream:

→ Go to college
→ Work 40 years
→ Max out your 401(k)
→ Retire when your knees hurt

Then maybe…enjoy life.

I chose a different path:

• Dropped out with 12 credits left
• Started pouring concrete
• Built a construction company
• Used the profits to buy real estate

Now I’m 36.

After 15 years of building on the "uncommon path", I run a $30M+ business portfolio and own $60M+ in real estate.

Flexing on social media is not my thing. 

My hope is that people see a North Dakota guy who built freedom to inspire others so they do the same.

Here’s what I’ve learned:

1) Job security is a myth.

One boss, bad quarter, or VC can remove your income overnight.

2) Trading time for money is a trap. 

Value your time + ownership > salary.

If your plan is to get 3% inflation raises, buy liabilities, stuff 10% in a 401(k) and that's it...you won't hit freedom until you're 70.

3) Climbing the ladder is a treadmill.

High income ≠ freedom. Especially if you inflate your lifestyle, costs, and buy liabilities like the majority of high-earners who never reach freedom.

If you want REAL freedom, start here:

→ Learn a skill that pays well
→ Live lean and don't buy on credit
→ Buy 1 cash-flowing property
→ Reinvest into another
→ Repeat for 10 years

It’s not sexy.
It’s not fast.
But it works.

In Unfollow the Herd newsletter, I broke down "The Dangers of a 9-5 Career Path" for 5,200 people.

Read it free here:
https://lnkd.in/gXdu2FKZ

I didn't fear losing my paycheck in my 20s.

I feared keeping it for too long.

By the time I was 20, I knew I didn't want to take the “safe path” that I saw ahead of me in life:

• Work 60 hours a week
• Stack liabilities with no assets
• Take a 2% annual raise, maybe a bonus
• Retire when I'm too old to enjoy it

So I made a choice, and it led to starting multiple companies and becoming a commercial developer.

"Do I keep playing the game I was handed? Or learn the game wealthy people actually play?"

Along the way, I figured out that anyone can learn how to build wealth if you knew where to look...

• I found operators. People who owned real businesses. They showed me how to build companies that could run without me grinding 24/7.

• I studied the wealthy. Real estate. Ownership. The tax code. Entity structures. Leverage. The things no one teaches in school, but wealthy families teach at the dinner table.

• I learned by doing. Made mistakes. Lost money. Said yes before I was ready. Every deal, every hire, every tough call made me sharper.

You don’t need to quit tomorrow.
You don’t need the perfect plan.

You just need to start studying the right game.

• Follow the people who own assets
• Learn how they operate, invest in relationships.
• Build or invest for equity—not just a paycheck.

Figuring this out unlocked a whole different part of my brain. When I was a kid, growing up some of the time in a trailer park, you don't think "I can build wealth"

But turns out, it's possible if you reprogram your mind to believe it and put reps over many decades.

What forced you to get serious about building your own path as an entrepreneur or investor?

Fear of being broke is a common one.

Marc Kuhn

Everyone's chasing Austin. Phoenix. Charlotte.

Why are we investing in rural North Dakota?

The numbers make more sense than anything I've seen in a sunbelt market.

Land in the Midwest runs 60-70% cheaper than coastal metros.

Permitting is faster. Local politics are predictable.

And the premium tenant we need for luxury storage are everywhere.

- HVAC contractors who need climate-controlled space
- Electricians and plumbers storing equipment
- Small business owners who can't afford industrial leases
- RV owners who want real security — not a padlock

They're not just in big cities. They're in every mid-sized market in America.

That's where we build.

Not because it's flashy.
Because the math works.

→ Lower land cost means better YOC from day one
→ Less competition means faster lease-up
→ Business-friendly states = fewer regulatory surprises

Everyone piling into the same sunbelt corridors is competing for the same land, the same permits, the same tenants.

We're in markets where we're often the only luxury operator in town.

You stop following the crowd to where the hype is.
And you start going where the numbers are.

What's a market everyone else is ignoring that you think is underrated right now?

--

DM me "storage" to learn more about the Midwest luxury storage opportunity.

A friend called me and asked if I could install a ceiling fan for $300. Saying Yes changed my life.

That night I told my wife: "I think I could actually make some money doing this."

I was 21. Recently fired from my W2.
We'd just sold her car to cover bills.

The next move: ask my future mother-in-law to co-sign a skid steer loan.

She handed me the paperwork and said: "This is the last time you ever ask me."

That was the last time I asked anyone for a handout.

Here's what happened after that $300 fan installation:

- First winter: grinding snow removal
- Chelsie suggested a home show (almost skipped it)
- Walked out with 70+ leads
- Booked out for a full year
- Hit $1M in revenue

Then I started a concrete division.
Then upsells and better clients.
Then real estate investing.
Then luxury storage development.

16 years later, multiple companies, a team of 50+, growing real estate portfolio, and growth ahead for MAK Companies.

→ It all started with a $300 job I wasn't qualified to do
→ The first step was embarrassingly small
→ The compounding took 16 years to show up

You can't build anything great (company, real estate portfolio, wealth) from a standing start.

You build it from wherever you are right now with whatever you have right now.

Even if that's a borrowed truck and a ceiling fan you Googled how to install.

What was your version of the $300 fan installation — the embarrassingly small first step that led to where you are now?

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My first luxury storage build proved the model.

63 units. 56K sq ft. Grand Forks, ND.

• $45,000 gross income every month.
• $13,500 cash flow after debt service.
• 28% expense ratio.
• 90-100% occupancy.

That one facility gave me the confidence to build our next six Mega MAK Luxury Storage properties.

Most people think luxury storage means Porsches and exotic cars.

Our tenants are HVAC contractors, Shopify operators, and small business owners storing $50,000-$75,000 in equipment.

They don't negotiate rent.
They don't default.
They don't leave.

When your equipment is your livelihood, you pay on time every month without being asked.

That insight changed everything.

The right tenant doesn't just improve your collections.

It changes how the asset performs through every part of the cycle — good markets and bad.

We took that same playbook and built it into a $70M portfolio across North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and more U.S. locations to come.

It started with one experiment on one parcel in Grand Forks.

Have you ever had one experiment that lead to one of your biggest long-term wins?

--

DM me "storage" to learn our process for building, operating, and investing in this asset class.

The hard truth about financial freedom:

The world wasn't designed for it.

If you want to pay your bills, build wealth, and step off the 9-5 hamster wheel to buy your time back...

You'll first have to understand it the system you were raised by wasn't designed to make you financially free.

Not grade school.
Not high school or college.
Not most well-meaning life advice.

None of them are focused on teaching you how to become free.

It was designed to get you to:

- Trade your time for income
- Spend that income on a lifestyle
- Save whatever's left (if anything)
- Give your best years to a company
- Retire when you're too tired to enjoy it

It's designed so you help build toward's someone else's goals.

Your labor builds someone else's equity.
Your spending builds someone else's revenue.
Your savings sit in instruments someone else manages for a fee.

I grew up in a house that never talked about assets, equity, or leverage.

But I watched people around me spend 40 years doing everything right by conventional standards...and end up with almost nothing they actually owned.

That was enough.

The one thing that changes the math:

Ownership.

Ownership of something that produces value whether you show up or not.

→ A business with systems that run without you
→ Real estate that generates rent while you sleep
→ Equity in assets that appreciate while you work on the next thing

I'm not special.

I didn't have connections, capital, or a college degree.

I just decided that ownership was my goal and said I'd learn whatever skills I needed to in order to achieve it.

Ownership of my time.
Ownership of my future.
Ownership of my work.

Yes, ownernship in assets that paid me and grew in value. But even moreso the ownership of my life and where I wanted it to go.

Was there a moment you decided you were going to own your future — and changed your actions to get there?

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What if you make all the right moves in life...

And still end up broke by 65?

• You saved diligently.
• Maxed your 401k.
• Never missed a payment.
• Did everything "right."

And 20, 30, 40 years later you're sitting on $800,000 wondering if you can actually retire.

Because inflation ate 40% of your purchasing power.
Because healthcare costs $1,500/month.
Because you still have a mortgage.

This is the "safe path" everyone told you to take.

Meanwhile, the guy who started a boring plumbing business at 30 sold it for $4M at 55 and retired a decade before you.

The woman who bought rental properties in her 20s has $12,000/month in passive income and hasn't worked since 45.

The contractor who went out on his own at 25 built a $20M company and owns the building you're renting.

They all did what everyone said was "risky."

You did what everyone said was "safe."

Who actually took the bigger risk?

I'm not saying quit your job tomorrow.

I'm saying the real risk is betting your entire future on one income stream controlled by someone else.

The real risk is working 40 years and hoping $800,000 is enough. The real risk is never starting because you're afraid of failing.

At 22, I bet on myself and started a company.

→ I had no idea what I was doing
→ I lost money on jobs
→ I made every mistake possible
→ People told me I should get a "real job"

But I kept going.

Because working for someone else my whole life felt riskier than betting on myself.

15 years later:

• Real estate that pays me every month
• Ownership in multiple businesses
• Income from multiple assets
• Time freedom I wouldn't have if I played it safe

None of that happens without taking the "risk" of starting.

The conventional advice is designed to keep you comfortable, not wealthy.

→ Save 10% of your income
→ Invest in index funds
→ Wait 40 years
→ Hope it's enough

That's not a wealth plan. That's a survival plan.

Real wealth is built by:

→ Starting before you're ready
→ Betting on yourself when no one else will
→ Putting skin in the game on deals that scare you
→ Building assets that pay you while you sleep
→ Failing forward and learning from it

You're going to fail at something either way.

Would you rather fail trying to build something?

Or fail by never trying at all?

If you want to play it safe, follow the path that 99% of the herd is on.

The wealthy know safe is the riskiest bet of all.

What's a risk you've taken in life that paid off?

--

♻️ Repost to spread the wealth with your network

Follow me Marc Kuhn for daily posts like this.

What's the difference between making $10,000 in your 9-5 job and $10,000 from real estate?

$10K paycheck:

• Taxed at 40–50%
• Trades hours for dollars
• Stops when you stop working

$10K from a real estate deal:

• Taxed close to zero with depreciation
• Keeps paying you while you sleep
• Grows equity in a real asset

Most people spend 40 years chasing the paycheck.

But freedom is on the otherside of ownership.

I learned this in my early 20s. Started trading my time pouring concrete, building a construction company.

But the smartest thing I ever did was buy my first office building and lease out the unused space.

"Holy sh*t I didn't know you could do this."

The tax benefits in the first year alone were enough to get me hooked and eventually start MAK Capital in 2020, going all in on multifamily and luxury storage.

Since then, we’ve built and acquired $60M in commercial real estate across the Midwest.

And every time we pay out investors from a property we own...

I’m reminded: 
That $10K from a real estate deal is more than money.

It’s time back with my wife and kids.
It’s leverage for creating generational wealth.
It’s doable to go from $0 to millionaire with time.

Don't get caught in the earn a lot, spend a lot game.

Use a paycheck to buy assets and become an owner. 

That's the game.

What was your first “aha” moment that made you realize real estate was the path to real wealth?

--

♻️ Repost if this resonated with you.
📌 Follow me Marc Kuhn for daily content.

Public Storage doesn’t own 100% of its facilities.

Marriott owns less than 6% of its hotels.

These $50b+ companies see the biggest opportunity in:

• Owning the brand.
• Controlling the operations.
• Licensing and franchising.

This is where we’re taking MAK luxury storage inside our development company.

For years, self-storage was a commodity business.

• Cheap facilities
• Little to no branding
• Premium options were hard to find.

But we saw something different in 2019 when we broke ground on our first luxury storage development.

• Business owners needed contractor shops.
• E-commerce sellers needed fulfillment space.
• People need secure, climate-controlled storage for their boats, RV, and assets.

But the crappy tin can storage units didn't serve their needs.

So we built the Mega MAK Storage brand and started talking about it on podcasts, LinkedIn, and with our investors.

We're not just building a business, we're leveraging a brand and blueprint that lasts for generations.

Our goal is to build 5-10 million square feet of luxury storage by 2035.

My biggest lesson so far?

Don't wait for opportunities to come to you.
You're better off creating them for yourself.

What opportunities are you creating for yourself in 2026?

--

Want to learn how we're expanding the luxury storage space in 2026?

Read today's update in Unfollow the Herd: https://lnkd.in/gwSmVgcm

What percentage of 401k accounts have at least $1,000,000? (I'll tell you): 
 
1.6%. 
 
I recently ran across this number in an article that analyzed 401(k)s at Fidelity 
 
I knew the number of "401(k) millionaires" in the U.S. was low — but I didn't realize it was that low. 
 
And the crazy thing? 
 
The article talks about how that number was "surging"...all the way up to 1.6%. 
 
And then the kicker: 
 
Another Fidelity study showed that workers estimate they'll need ~$1.8M to retire comfortably. 
 
So by those numbers, about 98.4% of Americans won't be able to retire comfortably with their 401(k)s. 
 
𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴: 
 
The number of 401(k) millionaires is so low because wealthy people build it through businesses and real estate. 
 
→ 401(k)s won't give you cash flow 
→ 401(k)s won't give you depreciation 
→ 401(k)s won't give you 1031 exchanges 
 
If you're relying on your 401(k) alone... 
let this be a wake-up call. 
 
It's a tool, not the complete plan. 
 
This is why I diversify with real estate 
(using a self-directed IRA). 
 
So should you. 
 
-- 
 
P.S. Are you an accredited investor? 
 
DM me "storage" and I'll share how our LPs diversify with commercial real estate

He turned $400,000 into a $1 trillion empire.

Stephen Schwarzman didn’t wait for perfect timing.

In 1985, he walked away from his Wall Street job with a mentor, a whiteboard, and $400,000 in seed capital from his own pocket.

No AUM.
No name recognition.
Just conviction.

But two years later, his dream of building the best investment firm in the world was almost destroyed.

Black Monday hit on October 19, 1987.

The Dow Jones fell by 22.6% in a single day—the largest one-day percentage drop in its history.

Markets crashed.
Wall Street panicked.

But Schwarzman raised Blackstone’s first $800 million fund during the chaos.

In 2025, Blackstone is now the largest alternative investment firm in the world—owning real estate, private equity and credit across the globe.

If Schwarzman was like the average investor, turning a market crash into an excuse to stay on the sidelines, Blackstone wouldn't exist today.

→ $1 trillion in assets
→ Dozens of billion-dollar deals
→ A personal net worth of around $43 billion

He didn’t build in the boom. He built through the biggest crash in history at the time.

The lessons for all entrepreneurs:

You don’t need perfect timing. You need a playbook and skills that work in any market conditions.

What skills are you building that can outlast any market downturn?

--

♻️ Repost to inspire an entrepreneur in your network
📌 Reach out if I can be a resource Marc Kuhn

I took on debt to grow my company and real estate portfolio in my 20s with a wife and baby.

Some LinkedIn guru would call that reckless.

I call it the best financial decision I ever made.

We've been trained to believe stability comes from employment.

But true stability comes from ownership.

A job is a single point of failure with someone else's finger on the trigger.

Think about what you actually own at a W2:

- Your employer can eliminate your role tomorrow
- Your income stops if your body stops
- Your raises are decided by someone else's budget meeting
- Your retirement depends on a market you don't control

That's not stability. That's outsourced financial control dressed up as a benefits package.

I'm not saying quit your job tomorrow.
I'm saying understand what you're actually trading.

You're trading ownership, upside, and control for the feeling of security.

Meanwhile the people signing the front of your check are compounding equity you'll never see.

→ The risk of building something is real but finite
→ The risk of building nothing compounds forever
→ Playing it safe is the longest path to being broke

I started with $2,500 and a mother-in-law who co-signed one loan and told me never to ask again.

Today MAK Companies and our real estate assets are worth close to 9 figures 16 years later.

The riskiest thing I never did was keep that W2.

At what point did you stop seeing a job as security and start seeing it as a ceiling?

--

♻️ Repost to spread the wealth with your network

Follow Marc Kuhn for daily posts on ownership, real estate, and building real wealth.

Apps, sites, & software for startups and the big companies they strive to become.

You know the Stanford Marshmallow Test?&nbsp;Give a kid a marshmallow. Tell them if they wait 10 minutes, they get two.Researchers followed those kids for decades.The ones who waited earned more, achieved more, outperformed across the board.&nbsp;Self-control, the story goes, predicts success.&nbsp;But what if it was possible to have too much of a good thing?&nbsp;What if instead of a line going up and to the right, it's a curve?At the top is a sweet spot where discipline, focus, and drive produce extraordinary results.&nbsp;On the other side of that peak is suffering.&nbsp;→ Depression that won't lift→ Treatment-resistant anxiety→ Burnout that persists beyond time off→ Chronic pain with no clear physical cause→ Relationships that function but never feel close&nbsp;This other side of the curve is called Over-Control.&nbsp;The founder pulling 80-hour weeks.The person who never misses a deadline.The leader whose team performs but never trusts them.The executive who hasn't felt anything in years and calls it "focus."&nbsp;Society rewards every step of the climb.Praise. Promotions. "Success."&nbsp;So it goes unrecognized for decades,until the body starts keeping score,or the loneliness becomes unbearable,or the thing that defined you suddenly shifts beneath your feet.&nbsp;That's where we come in.&nbsp;The Wise Mind Group is a therapy and coaching practice built for high-achievers.&nbsp;My wife Danielle is an ex-big law litigator turned licensed therapist and our Clinical Director, specializing in evidence-based approaches for this exact population:people whose greatest strength has quietly become their greatest liability.&nbsp;I'm not just the business guy. I'm patient zero.25 years in tech. Five startups. 80-hour weeks.I built a software agency, ran it for over a decade, and optimized every system in my life except the one that mattered most.&nbsp;When I was a kid, my mom said I could have ONE birthday party.I kept postponing it, waiting for the "right" time.I never had one.That's Over-Control in a sentence.&nbsp;Now I work at the intersection of what I know and what I've lived.&nbsp;We specialize in:→ The mental health impact of AI and career disruption→ Burnout and anxiety that "shouldn't" be there→ The quiet suffering of being "the strong one"→ Chronic pain without a clear physical cause→ Leadership transitions and identity shifts&nbsp;We use RO-DBT, IFS, EMDR, and Pain Reprocessing Therapy, approaches built for people who spent a lifetime building walls.&nbsp;If this sounds familiar, you're not broken.You might just have too much of a good thing,and you can let go of the parts that are making you unhappy.&nbsp;→ thewisemindgroup.com

Elijah Szasz

Your growth isn’t measured by pursuit.

It’s measured by restraint.

Early in your career,
you chase everything.

→ The title
→ The funding round
→ The recognition
→ The invite to the table

It feels like ambition.

Sometimes it is.

But often, it’s insecurity
with a productivity app.

Maturity in leadership
isn’t about what you add.

It’s about what you refuse to pursue.

You stop chasing:

1. Every opportunity
↳ If it’s for you, it won’t require desperation

2. Every room you’re not invited into
↳ Not all tables deserve your time

3. Every argument
↳ Being right is overrated

4. Every trend
↳ Relevance fades, principles compound

5. Every client
↳ Revenue without alignment is expensive

The strongest leaders I know
don’t look frantic.

They look focused.

Calm.

Selective.

They’ve learned that energy is finite.
Attention is sacred.
Time is non-renewable.

So they choose carefully
what deserves pursuit.

Refusal is a strategy.

When you stop chasing noise,
you hear your own standards again.

When you stop chasing approval,
you start leading with conviction.

When you stop chasing growth at all costs,
you build something sustainable.

You don’t need everything.

You need the right things.

Say no more often.

Protect your focus.

Let others sprint.

Build at your pace.

♻️ Repost to help your network.
🔔 Follow Elijah Szasz for actionable insights on AI, systems, and strategy.

The most overlooked skill in leadership?
 
Trusting your own signal over the noise.
 
Most high performers have a dirty secret.
They don't trust themselves.
 
They trust the consensus.
They trust frameworks.
They trust mentors.
They trust data.
 
But the moment they're alone
with a decision that has no playbook,
they freeze.
 
Not because they lack intelligence.
Because they've been trained to believe
that certainty must come from the outside.
 
Here's what nobody tells you:
 
Certainty is a feeling, not a fact.
And waiting for it is a trap.
 
The leaders I respect most
didn't have more information than you.
They had less hesitation.
 
They made the call.
They stayed in the room with discomfort.
They let the results teach them.
 
Trust isn't built by getting it right.
It's built by surviving getting it wrong,
and realizing you're still standing.
 
A year from now,
the version of you that took the shot
will have something the cautious version won't:
 
Evidence.
 
Not evidence that you were right.
Evidence that you can handle
whatever comes next.
 
That's the real unlock.
 
Stop waiting for confidence to arrive.
Make the decision that builds it.
 
♻️ Repost to help your network.
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Starting something new can be terrifying. 

And I think that's the point.

Here's what I've learned about fear:

It's a terrible measure of readiness.

Most high performers misread the signal.

They feel uncertainty and conclude:
"I'm not ready."
"I don't have what it takes."
"The timing isn't right."

None of that is true.

Fear doesn't measure your capability.

It measures the distance between
what you know
and what's next.

That distance is supposed to exist.

If you could step into the next chapter
without any discomfort,
it probably wasn't much of a chapter.

The anxiety you feel at the edge
of a new decision isn't a warning.

It's a compass.

It's telling you:
"You care about this."
"This one actually matters."
"You're not just going through the motions."

Here's the reframe that changed how I operate:

Your nervous system wasn't built
to distinguish between danger
and growth.

Both feel like threat.

The job is to get better at telling them apart.

Danger says: "Turn back."

Growth says: "You've never been here before."

One of those is worth listening to.
The other is worth walking through.

The hardest system to debug
is your own perception.

Because when anxiety sits in the analyst chair,
every piece of data looks like a stop sign.

So before you let hesitation
make the decision for you:

→ Ask if this fear is protecting you
  from harm, or from newness.

→ Ask what you'd tell a friend
  who was exactly where you are.

→ Ask what you'd regret more:
  trying, or not trying.

Fear isn't the enemy of good decisions.

Mistaking it for certainty is.

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You think your team has a performance problem.

They have a safety problem.

There's a version of leadership that looks strong
from the outside.

Tight systems.
High standards.
No excuses.

And underneath it all:

A team that's terrified to tell you the truth.

Here's what nobody tells you about scaling:

Your stress is not private.

It leaks into every meeting.
Every Slack message.
Every two-second pause before you respond.

Your team isn't reading your strategy deck.
They're reading you.

And if what they read is:
"This person cannot handle bad news,"

they will stop giving you bad news.

That's not a loyalty problem.
That's not a communication problem.

That's a signal problem.

You trained them, without knowing it,
to protect you from reality.

So the SOPs don't get followed.
The real blockers stay hidden.
And you're making decisions
on information that's been
quietly curated for your comfort.

The fix isn't another system.

It's learning to signal:
"You can bring me the hard thing.
I won't punish the messenger."

Calm is a leadership output.
Not a personality trait.

The leader who stays regulated
when everything is on fire
creates a team that runs toward problems,
not away from them.

That's how you actually scale.

Not by gripping tighter.
By making it safe to be honest.

Ask yourself:

→ When did someone last tell you
  something you didn't want to hear?

→ How did you respond?

→ What did that response teach them?

Your answers tell you everything
about the culture you've actually built.

♻️ Repost to help your network.
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Experience doesn't make you a leader.
 
How you leave people feeling does.
 
I've watched high-performers with decades of experience
miss this completely.
 
Not because they lacked skill.
Because pressure exposed their defaults.
 
When stress arrives,
respect is usually the first thing to exit.
 
It even has a clinical diagnosis:
Maladaptive Overcontrol.
 
The rigidity that looks like high standards
from the outside,
but quietly signals to your team:
"Your safety is conditional here."
 
And conditional safety
is the fastest way to kill honest feedback.
 
People stop bringing the real stuff.
Silence becomes the culture.
 
The cost isn't emotional.
It's operational.
 
Here's what regulated leadership
actually looks like in practice:
 
1. You are predictable
Not in outcomes.
In demeanor.
No one should scan your mood
before deciding to speak.
 
2. You give feedback without cutting
Direct words.
Clear expectations.
No public corrections disguised as standards.
 
3. You share the spotlight
You name the work.
You name the person.
Credit isn't a resource to hoard.
 
4. You protect honest signals
If bad news gets punished,
bad news stops arriving.
By then, it's too late.
 
5. You respect shared time
Prepared. On time. Finished when you said.
Keeping people waiting
is a signal, not a schedule.
 
6. You repair quickly
No speeches.
No spin.
Just ownership.
 
7. You act the same when you need nothing
Your team is always watching for this one.
They will find the answer.
 
The biology is real:
your nervous system is contagious.
 
When you're regulated,
your team can think.
When you're dysregulated,
they're just managing you.
 
That's not leadership.
That's a tax on your organization.
 
People will forgive mistakes.
 
They rarely forgive a leader
who made them feel like a variable.
 
♻️ Repost to help your network.
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The worst leaders I've worked with

had one thing in common.

They confused control with power.

They ran tight ships.
Had every metric dialed.
Never missed a deadline.

And their best people kept leaving.

Here's what took me years to learn:

Control is a grip.
Power is a lift.

The leaders who actually move markets
aren't the ones white-knuckling
every decision and outcome.

They're the ones who make people
feel safe enough to tell the truth,
free enough to take real risks,
and seen enough to stay.

Your team doesn't need a warden.
They need someone who creates
the conditions for them to be dangerous.

Not dangerous to themselves.
Dangerous to the competition.

That requires you to loosen the grip.

→ Stop hoarding information
→ Stop reacting to mistakes with heat
→ Stop confusing compliance with loyalty

The most powerful person in the room
is rarely the loudest.

They're the one who made everyone else
feel safe enough to speak.

Calm is contagious.
So is fear.
You get to choose which one you spread.

P.S. Who was the leader that made you
feel powerful, not small?

♻️ Repost to help your network.
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You don't lose people overnight.
 
You lose them slowly.
 
It starts when effort goes unnoticed.
 
When consistency is expected,
but appreciation is optional.
 
Most leaders focus on replacement math.
 
Hiring speed.
Salary bands.
Ramp time.
 
That's the obvious cost.
 
The real cost shows up earlier.
 
→ When trust erodes quietly
→ When motivation turns into compliance
→ When commitment becomes transactional
→ When people stop bringing their best
 
Once loyalty breaks, everything gets expensive.
 
Time.
Energy.
Focus.
Reputation.
 
Perks don't prevent this.
 
Neither do slogans.
 
What actually works:
 
→ Treating people with baseline respect
↳ Not as a reward, but as a standard
 
→ Paying attention before performance dips
↳ Disengagement is loud if you're listening
 
→ Valuing contribution while it's happening
↳ Not only during exit interviews
 
→ Creating stability people don't want to escape
↳ Safety fuels performance
 
→ Remembering that consistency is earned
↳ Not assumed
 
Most departures aren't caused by better offers.
 
They're caused by accumulated disregard.
 
If you want people to stay,
make staying feel sensible.
 
♻️ Repost to help your network.
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The busiest person on your team shouldn't be you. 

That's not leadership. That's a trap.

That line should make leaders uncomfortable.
Because it exposes a quiet truth.

If progress depends on your presence,
you didn’t build capability.
You built dependency.

Most bottlenecks don’t look like problems.
They look like dedication.

→ Always available
→ Always fixing
→ Always stepping in


It feels responsible.
It feels supportive.
It feels like leadership.

Until you step away.
And things stall.

That’s the signal.

Not of commitment,
but of control.

Managing keeps things moving today.
Leading ensures they move tomorrow.

When everything routes through you:
↳ Decisions slow
↳ Confidence erodes
↳ Initiative fades
↳ Growth caps out

The issue isn’t effort.
It’s architecture.

Leadership is a system,
not a performance.

Three reframes that unlock real leadership:

1. Design for absence
↳ If you vanished for a week, what breaks?

2. Transfer judgment, not tasks
↳ Ownership beats instructions every time

3. Measure outcomes, not activity
↳ Motion hides fragility, results reveal it

If your team can’t move without you,
they’re not empowered.
They’re waiting.

Strong leaders don’t disappear.
They become unnecessary.

That’s not neglect.
That’s success.

Look at your week.
What still needs you there to work?
That’s your next leadership problem to solve.

♻️ Repost to help your network.
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AI is about to break organic content distribution.

And most people don’t see the window yet.

Everyone’s arguing about AI writing posts.

That’s not the shift.

The shift is distribution.

For years, organic growth was simple:
→ Write good content  
→ Stay consistent  
→ Learn the platform  
→ Hope the algorithm cooperates  

Now we’re entering a different phase.

AI can:

→ Analyze what formats are spiking in real time  
→ Generate variations fast enough to test daily  
→ Personalize outbound at scale  
→ Repurpose one idea into 20 native formats  
→ Identify overlooked audience pockets  

That creates arbitrage.

Not forever.

For a window.

Here’s how this usually plays out:

1. Early adopters exploit distribution gaps  
2. Platforms tighten the rails  
3. Loopholes close  
4. New surface area opens  

It’s cat and mouse.

But the cycles are accelerating.

The real opportunity?

Not replacing your voice.

Building systems around it.

→ AI as research analyst  
→ AI as distribution engine  
→ AI as testing machine  
→ You as strategist  

The creators who win won’t be the loudest.

They’ll be the most systematic.

Organic isn’t dying.

It’s becoming a systems game.

♻️ Repost to help your network.
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The harsh truth about growth:
 
It’s painful, but staying stuck hurts more.
 
Staying stuck feels safer,
but it comes at a hidden cost:
 
→ It drains your energy.
→ It steals your potential.
→ It keeps you locked in a cycle of regret.
 
Here’s a framework to escape:
 
Acknowledge the pain
↳ Growth hurts, but it’s temporary
 
Choose a small step
↳ Don’t tackle the mountain; focus on the first hill.
 
Reframe the challenge
↳ Every difficult moment is proof that you’re evolving.
 
Lean into it.
Every step forward compounds.
The discomfort of growth is worth the reward.
 
P.S. Next time fear of change holds you back, ask yourself this:
“Which pain am I choosing, growth or regret?”
 
♻️ Repost this to help someone in your network who might need to hear this.
🔔 Follow Elijah Szasz for the human side of high performance and the AI conversation.

Most leaders I know are chasing wealth.

While quietly ignoring the only 3 assets that matter.

You can stack wins for decades.
Grow revenue.
Build teams.
Expand influence.

And still feel like something’s missing.

Because real wealth was never about the scoreboard.

It’s about three things most people treat as optional.

1. Your health.

→ Do you wake up with energy?
→ Do you protect your sleep like it’s sacred?
→ Can you train your body without breaking it?

If your business is thriving
but your body is deteriorating,

You’re not rich.
You’re renting success.

2. Your peace.

→ Can you sit in silence without anxiety?
→ Do you trust your own judgment?
→ Can you detach from outcomes?

If your mind never turns off,
the money won’t make it quieter.

Peace isn’t soft.
It’s a competitive advantage.

3. Your people.

→ Do you have relationships without performance?
→ Can you be honest without losing status?
→ Do your closest friends make you better?

Influence is public.
Wealth is private.

A small circle of solid humans
beats a large audience of spectators.

Here’s the reframe most leaders resist:

If your health is intact,
your mind is steady,
and your circle is strong,

You are already ahead.

Everything else is a bonus.

The smartest operators I know
don’t optimize for more.

They defend these three at all costs.

Because once they’re gone,
no amount of success can buy them back.

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The most dangerous lie high-achievers tell themselves:

"I need to be more disciplined."

When what we actually need is to be more honest.
High performers do this constantly:
They set the goal. 
They build the plan. 
They white-knuckle their way through execution.

And when it doesn't stick?
They assume the problem is willpower.

But I've noticed something different after watching so many people 
(including myself) try to change:
The issue isn't lack of control.
It's too much of the wrong kind.

We grip harder on strategies that aren't working. 
We force ourselves into identities that don't fit. 
We reject feedback from our own lives because it threatens the story we're protecting.

Here's the shift:
Don't compress what you want to fit who you've been.
Expand who you're becoming to claim what you want.

That expansion requires something most of us avoid:
Loosening your grip on being "right" about who you are.

Getting curious about why your current approach keeps failing.
Being radically honest about the gap between your stated goals and your actual behavior.

The people who transform?
They don't muscle through resistance.
They get interested in it.

They ask: "What if the obstacle isn't my lack of discipline...
but my refusal to question the approach itself?"

Your past shaped you. 
But staying overly loyal to it will limit you.
The identity that got you here won't be the identity that gets you there.
And that's not failure.
it's growth.

♻️ Repost to help your network.
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Many don't fail because they lack discipline.  

They fail because their system is flawed.

Most people optimize for motivation and vibes.  
Goals require structure, feedback, and iteration.

1. Set vague goals without deadlines  
↳ Define clear goals with timelines  
↳ Ambiguity kills follow-through

2. Chase outcomes you can’t control  
↳ Focus on controllable daily actions  
↳ Inputs beat wishes

3. Set goals based on others  
↳ Align goals with personal values  
↳ Borrowed goals rarely stick

4. Create too many goals simultaneously  
↳ Limit goals to one priority  
↳ Focus compounds effort

5. Ignore why the goal matters  
↳ Anchor goals to meaningful reasons  
↳ Purpose sustains momentum

6. Set goals without clear measurement  
↳ Track progress with simple metrics  
↳ What’s visible improves

7. Rely on motivation alone consistently  
↳ Build systems that survive moods  
↳ Systems beat willpower

8. Expect fast results immediately always  
↳ Think long-term and compound progress  
↳ Time is the real leverage

9. Avoid revisiting or adjusting goals  
↳ Review goals regularly and iterate  
↳ Adaptation is strength

10. Tie self-worth to goal outcomes  
↳ Separate identity from performance  
↳ You are not the metric

♻️ Repost to help your network.  
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Your inner circle is your competitive advantage.

Guard it like your most important asset.

Most people treat their network
like a numbers game.

More connections, more reach, more noise.

But the people closest to you
are shaping your ceiling every single day.

The curious ones keep you sharp.

The driven ones raise the bar.

The grateful ones keep you grounded.

The real ones tell you what you need to hear,
not what you want to hear.

The ones still growing
are proof that growth never stops.

That's the tribe worth protecting.

Not the loudest people in the room.
Not the ones with the most followers.
Not the ones who only show up
when things are going well.

Here's the law:

You will become the average
of the five people you protect most.

Choose deliberately.
Audit often.
Prune without guilt.

Your business can survive a bad quarter.

It can't survive the wrong people
in your inner circle.

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Screens are rooms now.

And most founders are ignoring that.

In-person will always matter.

But attention is the real currency.

A screen holds attention.

A podcast.
An Instagram feed.
A blog post.
A YouTube clip.

If someone is spending 10 minutes with you,
that’s a room.

The difference?

You can’t clone yourself for conferences.

But you can replicate yourself on camera.

That’s leverage.

Look at any high-output founder.

They don’t just “post content.”
They build distribution machines.

→ Production
↳ Cameras, editors, studios

→ Distribution
↳ Multi-platform clipping
↳ Team-run accounts
↳ Paid amplification

→ Repetition
↳ You see them everywhere
↳ Because it’s intentional

And here’s the part most people ignore:

Scale costs money.

Serious production isn’t free.
Distribution isn’t free.
Consistency at volume isn’t free.

You can talk in a room for 50 people.

Or invest in systems
that put you in 50,000 feeds.

AI makes this even more interesting.

Because now:

→ Scripts can be drafted faster
→ Clips can be generated automatically
→ Personas can extend your voice
→ Workflows can publish while you sleep

The Renaissance of in-person is coming.

But the founders who win
will understand both rooms.

The physical one.
And the digital one.

Build rapport.

Then build systems.

One scales.
One compounds.

Use both.

I had a great time recording this week's "AI at Work" with Kevin Williams. Listen to the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Link is in the first comment. 

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You don’t need a perfect plan.  

You need a first move.

Progress isn’t built  
in polished moments.

It’s built in messy starts.

Most people delay action  
because they want certainty.

They want the full roadmap.  
The flawless strategy.  
The guarantee it will work.

That’s not leadership.

That’s fear disguised as preparation.

Every meaningful thing I’ve built  
started incomplete.

→ The first version was rough.  
→ The first conversation was awkward.  
→ The first hire was uncertain.  

But action clarified what thinking never could.

Here’s the shift:

1. Clarity follows motion.  
You don’t think your way into confidence.  
You act your way into it.

2. Imperfect reps create real capability.  
You can’t optimize what doesn’t exist.  
Ship first. Refine second.

3. Waiting feels safe.  
But it quietly erodes momentum.  
Small steps compound. Hesitation does too.

Perfection is a moving target.

Progress is a decision.

The first draft.  
The first pitch.  
The first uncomfortable ask.

That’s where momentum lives.

You don’t need everything figured out.

You need enough courage  
to begin.

What’s one step you could take today  
without having it all solved?

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Ever feel like everyone else has it all figured out?
 
Spoiler alert: Nobody really does.
 
Each one of us
 
→ navigate struggles
→ endure suffering
→ keep growing
 
But here’s the thing:
 
Growth doesn’t require perfection.
It only requires showing up.
 
Especially when things feel messy.
 
The next time you catch yourself
comparing your journey to someone else’s,
ask yourself:
 
"Would I be willing to trade my entire life for theirs?"
 
→ Your failures
→ Your triumphs
→ Your great loves
→ Your great losses
 
If you can't answer with an unequivocal "yes"
(and who can honestly agree to this??)
then why compare one piece of it?
 
Your story isn't over until it's over.
 
✅ What’s one small action I can take today to move forward?
✅ What’s one habit I can build to create momentum?
 
Progress doesn’t come from waiting for the perfect moment.
It comes from doing the best you can, right now.
There's nothing to "figure out."
Just a life of growth to live.
 
P.S. We're all in this together. Literally. Enjoy the ride.
 
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The Battle

Marc Kuhn

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The Battle

Marc Kuhn

Elijah Szasz

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Marc Kuhn's LinkedIn Performance

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