467: Billion-Dollar CEO Reveals: How He Built an Empire From Teaching (7 Steps)

the bossbabe podcast

Natalie Ellis

Education, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Business, Self-improvement

4.9 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 12 June 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What does it really take to build a billion-dollar business - without debt, without outside funding, and without losing your family in the process? In this episode, Natalie sits down with Mark Pentecost, founder of It Works!, Impact Professionals, and author of Life of Your Dreams, to talk about what it means to dream big, take risks, and build a life-changing legacy from nothing. From starting out as a high school teacher to becoming a self-made billionaire, Mark shares the 7 steps he followed to go from stuck and surviving, to building a company that’s generated over $750M a year and impacted lives across 20+ countries. Whether you're just getting started or scaling to your next level, this episode will remind you what's actually possible and why it’s never too late to get in the game. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Meet the man who went from teacher to billionaire entrepreneur 03:00 - How to go from day-to-day survival to building the life of your dreams 06:00 - The power of getting in the game, even before you feel ready 07:40 - Why your environment matters more than your ideas 10:10 - “When is enough, enough?” + how legacy became Mark’s #1 driver 12:00 - Lessons from his cancer diagnosis + how it shaped his purpose 14:30 - What separates those who succeed from those who quit 18:00 - Why saying your dream out loud is a powerful step 20:30 - Building a business with your spouse and raising motivated kids 24:00 - Mark’s philosophy on money, debt, and financial freedom 28:00 - Why “debt-free is the new sexy” 35:00 - You don’t need a big idea, just the courage to take the first step RESOURCES + LINKS Get Mark’s book: Life of Your Dreams Here. Watch Natalie’s Free 90-Minute Training To Learn Her 5-Step Playbook To Start Or Scale A Freedom-Based Business. Sign Up Here. Sign Up For Our Free Weekly Newsletter & Get Insights From Natalie Every Single Week On All Things Strategy, Motherhood, Business Growth + More. Drop Us A Review On The Podcast + Send Us A Screenshot & We’ll Send You Natalie’s 7-Figure Operating System Completely FREE (value $1,997).

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to the Bossway podcast. On today's episode, we have Mark Pentecost. Now, he went from being a high school teacher and a coach to becoming a millionaire to then becoming a billionaire entrepreneur and nationally recognized philanthropist and a world-renowned thought leader. So Mark is the founder of ItWorks, which is a wellness company that has had over 100,000 active paid distributors from more than 20 countries who have generated as much as 750 million in annual revenues.
0:30.6	He's been featured everywhere. Forbes, Success, Time, The Wall Street Journal, Inc and more.
0:36.0	In addition to also financing multiple major movies,
0:40.8	Mark's team recently launched Impact Professionals, which is a TV streaming network that is the Netflix
0:46.7	for entrepreneurs. He also has so much on his plate with charitable work, which includes donating
0:52.4	millions of dollars for cancer research
0:54.5	and social justice causes such as combating sex trafficking and funding addiction centres and so
1:00.7	much more. What I really, really loved about this conversation is how real he gets about what
1:07.5	it takes to build something really successful and the amount of confidence and self-belief
1:13.1	and willingness to dream big that takes. So he talks about the specific steps it takes from
1:19.1	going from maybe being in a cycle of feeling really blocked and lost and trapped to actually
1:25.2	really believing and seeing and acting on what is possible for you.
1:28.9	And it was just one of those really, really powerful conversations.
1:32.4	I took a lot from it.
1:33.9	And I also dove into a lot of tactical things that he has learned becoming a billionaire.
1:38.6	You know, what he has learned about wealth, what he now thinks about how he thinks differently.
1:43.7	You know, anytime I get a chance
1:45.0	to speak to someone further ahead in this journey than me, I always want to ask those questions
1:49.8	that I know they have a very specific insight on that we might not yet. So I really, really
1:55.5	love this episode and I hope you will too. Let's dive in.
2:04.0	Mark, welcome to the podcast. I'm so excited to have you.
2:08.3	Well, thank you. I'm so excited to be here. I've heard so much about you.
	...

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