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I’m Mike Dillard!
I’m often asked about my history and career as an entrepreneur, so I thought I share that with you here…
After 20 years as an entrepreneur, the lessons I’ve learned and connections I’ve made along the way are what allow me to help my students and clients grow faster than they ever thought possible, and avoid costly mistakes in the process.
ABOUT MIKE DILLARD
An Entrepreneur’s Journey…
Mike Dillard Media
2015 - Present ($10MM+)
Mike Dillard Media is my umbrella education company that publishes the courses that I’ve produced and offered the past few years including “List-Grow”, “7-Figure Sales Presentations”, and “Mike Dillard Mentoring”.
Mike Dillard Mentoring is a year long mentoring program designed for new entrepreneurs that is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. If you’re brand new and starting your very first business, or making up to $25,000/Mo in revenue, then Mike Dillard Mentoring is for you.
Not only will you learn how to build a successful business from me directly, but you’ll get access to exclusive classes from my colleagues like celebrity photographer Nick Onken on how to take amazing Instagram photos, Andy Frisella on how to build a $100 Million brand, Russell Brunson on how to build a marketing campaign that converts, and MUCH, MUCH more…
The Mike Dillard Podcast
2015 - Present
I started the “Mike Dillard Podcast”, (previously the, “Self Made Man Podcast”), to provide entrepreneurs with the knowledge they need to fulfill their potential in every area of life…
From business, to investing, to health, and relationships, every single week, the podcast gives you the opportunity to learn from leaders like Tony Robbins, Daymond John, Tony Hawk, Mike Rowe, Gene Simmons, Peter Diamandis, Aubrey Marcus, Seth Godin, Simon Sinek, and more… For free.
To date, the podcast has received more than 5 million downloads and has been listed as one of the top 10 “must-listen” personal development podcasts in the world.
5/5
400+ Ratings on ITunes
EverGrow
2015 - 2017
In 2015, I decided to take on a completely new challenge as an entrepreneur… I walked away from online marketing, and I decided to tackle a problem that no one else had… The decentralization of the agriculture industry.
The food system in the US is broken. Unless you’re quite wealthy, the average family is forced to buy and eat genetically modified produce that is covered in pesticides and poison, in a horrifically inefficient process that wastes billions of gallons of water each year, and that destroys our farmland.
So what if we could decentralize farming? What if we could start and end the entire process right in your home with hydroponics? And what if we could create a system that would automate everything and make it effortless for you?
Those were the questions that led me to invent, develop, and patent my very first hardware system… EverGrow. I hired the award-winning design firm Whipsaw, to help me bring my vision to life.
During the next 2.5 years, I personally funded the development of a fully-functional prototype that can grow $4,000 per year in organic produce, for less than $400 in run-cost. The system is completely automated with dynamic PH and nutrient dosing, and was designed to become a piece of living art in your home.
With millions of dollars in development, safety testing, and refinement still left to do, I made a strategic decision to halt the development of EverGrow, and invest in my primary competitor… A company who had the same mission, but tens-of-millions in VC funding… ClickAndGrow.com.
EverGrow did not make it to market, but it is one of my proudest achievements as an entrepreneur.
The Elevation Group
2010 - 2014 ($25MM+)
After building my first 8-Figure business with Magnetic Sponsoring, (below), I realized that I needed to learn about money. There are many people in the world of entrepreneurship who can teach you how to make money, but very few can teach you what to do with that money once it’s made. The Elevation Group was my solution to that problem.
Each month, I personally interviewed an expert in a different area of finance, investing, and asset protection, in order to learn how to invest like the rich. Myself and the rest of the EVG Members learned about cash flow real estate, oil and gas, precious metals, living trusts, Infinite banking, advanced tax reduction strategies, and more…
The response was… Substantial. In fact, over 8,600 members joined in the first 7 days, producing $3.2 million in revenue in our first week. The Elevation Group would soon become a multiple 8-figure company.
In 2014, the company was sold to the current proprietors who carry on its mission.
2005 - 2010. ($25MM+)
Well, this is what started it all… A little 55 page booklet I had printed at Kinkos for $1.50. It was never spell-checked, or edited. I designed the mediocre cover art myself, and I had no idea that it would end up revolutionizing an industry.
After spending more than six years in my early 20’s trying to make it in the network marketing industry, I finally cracked the code when I stopped chasing opportunities, and I started acquiring valuable new skills… Specifically the ability to write copy that sells, and Google Adwords when Adwords was actually a “new thing”.
I quickly realized that “internet marketing” was a brand new concept to the legacy network marketing industry. In essence, I learned how to generate leads and recruit distributors for my business online, instead of chasing people down with cold-calls and meetings.
“There is nothing more powerful than
an idea whose time has come. “
This became the foundation for the modern, “attraction marketing” movement, and I documented what I was doing in a training manual called, “Magnetic Sponsoring”.
I used attraction marketing to quickly become the #1 distributor in my network marketing company.
Within three months, I was selling over $50,000/ Mo of this manual for $40 a piece as leaders from around the world scrambled to figure out what I was doing. The book led to additional courses on internet marketing for that industry, and within 18 months, I went from waiting tables, to millionaire by the age of 27. There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.
Within the next few years, the publishing side of my business would generate over $25MM in revenue. Today, the manual is a “real book” you can find on Amazon. I officially left the networking industry in 2010 for good, and have never looked back.
My Investments And Affiliations
Onnit is a cutting-edge health and fitness company that was started by my friend Aubrey Marcus and Joe Rogan. The human body is our instrument that we play to achieve greatness, and optimizing it for peak performance requires the proper nutrition, fitness, and supplementation. ONNIT provides the tools and products necessary to achieve those goals. I had the privilege of investing in ONNIT in 2018
Click & Grow is on a mission to make fresh, vitamin-packed produce available to everyone on this planet. They offer high-quality indoor gardens and automated food growing systems for your home, and are also developing large, self-sustainable farms at scale. I invested in Click & Grow in 2017.
Bitcoin
I’ve always looked towards the future, which has allowed me to see coming trends in society and disruptive technologies years before most. This foresight led to my first investment in Bitcoin in 2013. I’ve followed the development of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology closely ever since, and currently offer a “Crypto 101” class to help bring new people up to speed on the technology, the opportunities, and the scams to stay away from.
Charity: Water is a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing countries. Founded by Scott Harrison, Charity: Water has single-handedly revolutionized the non-profit industry, with their policy of deploying 100% of donated funds (including merchant processing fees) into the field with complete, verifiable transparency.
To date, Charity: Water has completed 35,281 water projects in 27 countries, providing 10 million people with sustainable, clean water for the very first time in these communities.
Charity: Water is able to deploy 100% of donated funds into the field because their overhead and administration costs are covered by a small group of approximately 150 families known as “The Well”, who make substantial donations to the organization.
I had the honor of becoming a member of The Well in 2017, alongside Tony Hawk, Gary Vaynerchuk, Chris Sacca, and Simon Sinek.
You can learn more about the Charity: Water story in my interview with Scott Harrison here.
Tiger 21
Tiger 21 is an organization that was created to provide high net-worth individuals with a peer learning group that serves as an unofficial board of advisors. Tiger 21’s 600+ Members are from every industry, and collectively manage more than $50 billion in personal assets. Their mission is to help Members improve their investment acumen, tackle common issues of wealth preservation, manage family-related challenges, and understand everything from estate planning options, to philanthropic endeavors. I had the honor of co-founding the Austin Chapter of Tiger 21 in 2014.
Make-A-Wish
Supporting the Make-A-Wish Foundation has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. In 2012, my company was named, “Corporation of The Year” in Texas for our substantial support of their organization, and the amazing kids they help.
My single biggest passion in life is helping other people like you
achieve your full potential…
Whether that’s starting your own business, or achieving financial freedom, nothing is more rewarding than getting messages from those whose lives I’ve helped impact.
But when it comes to enjoying life outside of my work, my biggest passions are spending time with my son, and competing in motor-sports.
I got my first taste of racing when I dove in head-first, and competed in the longest, and most dangerous race in the world, the Baja 1000 in 2008. That experience remains as the single biggest adventure of my life.
In 2015, I started training to receive my professional road-racing license, and completed my first professional track race in 2016.
During the same year, I took 1st Place in America’s biggest off-road competition, the Mint 400.
My ultimate goal is to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
