Mike Black of Flexibility: How I Reset My Entire Life To Zero To Build A Million-Dollar Business From Scratch

The COVID19 pandemic has disrupted all of our lives. But sometimes disruptions can be times of opportunity. Many people’s livelihoods have been hurt by the pandemic. But some saw this as an opportune time to take their lives in a new direction.

As a part of this series called “How I Was Able To Pivot To A New Exciting Opportunity Because Of The Pandemic”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mike Black.

Mike Black is on a mission to prove that anyone can reinvent themselves during these challenging times, so he started the Million Dollar Comeback YouTube series. He gave up all of his belongings, his network, his money, and now has 12 months to make $1 million starting with nothing but one pair of clothes and a cell phone. Mike is also the founder and CEO of Told Media, a seven-figure software development agency focused on helping companies build better software for less.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we start, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?

I’ve always loved entrepreneurship. I started my first business at 16 years-old dropshipping products on eBay and selling headphones at flea markets. I grew up watching my dad run his accounting practice out of our home office, and like a lot of kids, I always wanted to be like my dad. Watching him run his business is what I think made me love entrepreneurship so much at an early age.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

I really like the Tony Robbins quote, “It’s not about your resources, it’s about your resourcefulness.” This quote pretty much means no excuses; figure it out, and if you can’t, it’s on you. I like accountability — it’s extremely important.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

I would say no, but the first book I remember reading was Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. I really liked it because he did a decent job of depicting the differences of being an employee versus a business owner to someone with a low level of business acumen like myself at the time. Side note: my favorite movie of all time is Wolf of Wall Street.

Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. Can you tell our readers about your career experience before the Pandemic began?

Before the pandemic began, I started a couple of failed tech companies and some other startups that didn’t work out before, during, and after college. I failed for about eight years until I started a dev agency called Told Media, which was my first business that I was able to scale to seven-figures. Things didn’t start the best with Told Media, though. I had a lot of lessons to learn. I went $50k in debt when I started the company, but I was able to pay it all off in about six months.

What did you do to pivot as a result of the Pandemic?

I didn’t pivot during the pandemic, but I did decide to start a project called the Million Dollar Comeback. I gave up everything, including my apartment. I cut off my network and drained my bank to $0 with the goal to build a new business to $1 million, starting with nothing but a cell phone and one pair of clothes.

Can you tell us about the specific “Aha moment” that gave you the idea to start this new path?

I saw how much my friends were struggling, and I tried to help by giving advice and being there for them, but I didn’t think it was enough. I realized how many people were struggling and figured this would be a great way to do my part and help people realize they can get through tough times and reinvent themselves.

How are things going with this new initiative?

It’s going great! This has been such an amazing experience so far. I just pulled off what I call a “rent hack” where you rent a house and then re-rent the rooms to live rent-free. It’s going really well!

Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

My parents. There’s no way I would be where I am today without their support; they’re amazing. They’ve been there for me through all of my failures and encouraged me to have perspective on what really matters, which is your happiness, the health of your friends and family, and making an impact.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started in this new direction?

On the first day of the Million Dollar Comeback project, I had nowhere to live. It was 11:00 p.m., and I was going to have to sleep on the streets. A random person let me live with him in his RV when I was homeless and took a total stranger off the streets. It was pretty inspiring, and something I’ll never forget. You can tell a lot about someone by how they treat others when they’re down.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me before I started leading my organization” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

Get mentors. This is the only thing I wish I could have done differently if I could go back. Seek out mentorship as much as possible and encourage others that work for you to do the same. You can avoid a lot of mistakes, accelerate your growth, and build amazing relationships with great people.

So many of us have become anxious from the dramatic jolts of the news cycle. Can you share the strategies that you have used to optimize your mental wellness during this stressful period?

It’s crazy to me that I have to write this and more people don’t think like this, but be more grateful. Have a good perspective on what really matters, which is you and your family’s health. Are you healthy? Is your family healthy? Great… nothing else really matters. Money, jobs, the economy, all of that can come and go, but health is a different story. Be more grateful.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

I wish people believed more in themselves and stopped caring so much about the opinions of others. One of the biggest things that hold people back is not realizing how amazing they are and what they’re capable of. I’d love to be responsible for showing more people what they can achieve if they just believed in themselves and embraced “failure” as learning experiences.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!

There’s a lot of people I’d love to have lunch with! At the top of my list would have to be Dave Portnoy. What he’s done with Barstool is pretty incredible.

How can our readers follow you online?

You can keep up with the Million Dollar Comeback series on Youtube here: mikeblack.co/youtube. You can also reach me on Instagram @mikeblack, or at mikeblack.co.

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!