Adam Torres and Mark Sessions discuss entrepreneurship.
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Show Notes:
What does it take to build a successful business? In this episode, Adam Torres and Mark Sessions, Co Founder at SKS Global, explore SKS Global and horse racing.
About SKS Global
SKS Global helps organizations streamline workflow innovation and reduce costs with tailored solutions. Many companies invest heavily in top-tier software, but SKS Global challenges this approach by identifying wasted capacity and budget. By optimizing processes and improving resource efficiency, SKS Global enables businesses to save significantly while maximizing the value of their capital and talent.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to missionmatters. com and click on be our guest to apply. All right. So did I have Mark Sessions on the line and he is co founder at SKS Global and he is a FinTech Systems Executive.
Mark, welcome to the show. Thank you, Adam. Good to be here. All right. For the audience, I’m telling you, I’ve been trying to get Mark on the show for a long time. Part of it has been my fault and just life getting in the way. Last year, we had something scheduled. Unfortunately, when my mom passed, and Mark was one of those rescheduled interviews, and I brought him back on.
I’m like, Mark, I gotta go. And we and him have had many conversations since. And finally, we finally got him on the show. And just for some context for everybody that’s listening, I got to meet Mark last Year when we were out at Santa Anita Park and I was watching this amazing horse win straight no chaser, which I need some updates on that as well.
And I was getting to know a little bit more about Mark SKS global and really his style of conducting business and the way he values relationships and the way that he goes about, you know doing deals, really. And I thought it was super interesting. So I invited him on the shelf. So Mark, first off, welcome.
Thank you. Thank you very much. I should say second off because I welcomed you twice, but it’s because you’re twice as welcome. Let’s start with this. Cause I don’t actually know the full backstory. Cause when we were at the horse race which , you very graciously taught me how to use machines and how to do things and even picked out a strategy where I took home like 500 bucks.
I was like, thank you, Mark. Let’s start with , you in business. Like, how did you get started in business and really down this path as an entrepreneur? Well, I was in the corporate world for many years. I started my career with American Airlines and worked there for quite a few years, and then just hit a wall and, and started getting into startups and that kind of fed my appetite.
Mm-hmm . You know, I was just learning all different skill sets. And one of my first gigs was with a company called Portable Software, which is now Concur Technologies, which most fortune. 100 companies used for travel expense software and so I was an early employee with them and I would go out to customer sites and I would have to put on several hats, from database administrator to kind of pre-sales guy to sales guy.
Mm-hmm . To consultant to, you know, just being the bridge between it and the business and talking, in the same language and getting those parties to agree on things. Mm-hmm . And manage those projects. And that’s what lit. You know, bulb to say, why aren’t I doing this myself? And so then eventually I migrated and started my own company.
So what did that look like to go from the corporate? And I’ll tell you why I’m asking this is because, you know, there’s many people out there that are, it could have been, you know, they were high earning or other things during before getting laid off, or maybe they’re part of some cuts that are happening or who knows, you know, like there’s just.
People in transition is the main point and, and they, they’re going into that entrepreneurial space. So I’m curious what, if you remember that moment in time when it was like to go out on your own, just period, and you’re like, all right, got, got my shingle hung. Come on business. Come to me. Like, what was that like?
It was pretty crazy because I just had Two kids. Oh, that’s the best time to start a business. You have two kids. You have to go ahead. Please. I love it. And I was, I wanted to be home, you know, their first few years of living. Right? Be around. I didn’t want to be the absent dad. And so I made several sacrifices and, then I was like, well, I just need to do it on my own.
And, That’s what really fired me up. And I can recall taking my oldest daughter, , who’s now 16 to sales calls, meeting with CEO. She’s in a stroller next to me at a coffee shop. And I’ve got a, her in a little covered area and she’s got an iPad and she’s watching a movie. Does she laugh at those stories now?
Oh, yeah, she gets a kick out of it. Is she asking where’s her cut for the marketing? In fact, one of my Excuse me, it’s how close some of those deals, man. Come on. One of my favorite deals, or non deals, with my oldest, Sophia, I was meeting with the CEO, and I had thought we were really close to a deal, and I was, you know, excited about that, and, you know, her movie ended.
And she just turned to me and she’s like, let’s go dad. And I was like, Oh boy. Like, so I just, you know, I packed her up. I said, Hey, I’ll have to reengage with you. And, and it turns out that would have been a horrible deal. This guy was involved with some fraud and stuff that I learned later, so it would have been the worst person to be involved with.
And so in hindsight, it really worked out. So I thank her all the time. I joke with her and she loves when I tell that story. Dang, do you remember what the movie was? It was a Mickey Mouse. Oh, okay. Okay. I got it. I got it. I was about to say, come on. That’s awesome then. Shout out to Mickey. Shout out to Disney.
Come on. I know it was Disney. It was on her right. Thank you for sharing that by the way. And that’s an awesome. story because you know, when you’re first starting, like, for most people, it’s not going to be perfect. There’s different things that you’re going to go through.
Nobody’s going to ever say it’s a little in your line. I’ve done over 6, 000 interviews and I can’t, haven’t had one person that said, Oh yeah, well, it was just all went perfectly from the beginning. Yeah. That ain’t, if they say that, I don’t know where they’re coming from. So nobody’s Thankfully said that, but one of the things that I I found so interesting is, you know, your passion for horse racing how you got involved with it and how you in your own way and dynamic have been able to incorporate horse racing into your day to day business for SKS global.
And I was like, , it was really inspiring to me when I was talking and I’m like. Man, if more people, , kind of thought outside the box of cause you work hard, you’re a worker, like you’re doing things, you’re, you’re, you’re making deals, you’re not stopping, you’re, you’re not, you’re getting it done, but you’ve incorporated other things in your life that you enjoy doing.
Can you talk about that a little bit? Like I want to bring up some of that. Well, I have my CPA to thank for that because one year we were reviewing you know, my finances and doing taxes and stuff. And she goes, boy, you travel a lot. You know, and at the time I was on the road, I think that year, 200 nights.
And so she was like, wow, what are you doing? Well, I have to meet with people. I have to vet vendors for clients. I have to, you know, meet potential new clients. And so you’re constantly, you know, meeting people and you’re going to where they are. And she goes, you need to get them to come to you. And. You know, what do you like to do?
And she, I said, well, I’ve been around the horses, you know, most of my life since I was nine or 10 and I really enjoy it. That’s my sanctuary. That’s my therapy. You know, I love being around the horses and their energy and just the people you meet at the racetrack and everything, it’s just real good energy.
And so she’s like, why don’t you start inviting vendors that want to do business with you to, to where you’re at. That way, if it doesn’t work out, you’re still enjoying the day. Dang, man, that’s so, , shout out to, are we allowed to say CPA’s name? Because we want to send them some business on that one.
Yeah, Teresa and Coral Gables. I won’t give her last name because she’ll be Shout out to, that’s fine, shout out to Teresa and Coral Gables. You can Google her. She’s, you know, she’s got the strategies on how to do this and that. You follow up with Mark later if you want a Teresa intro. He’s guarding her. Go ahead.
Go ahead, Mark. She’s just solid, you know, straight, straight advice. And, and so I tried it. And what was amazing is a third of the people don’t show. So I’m like, okay, well that makes it easy. I’m not doing anything. Dang, so you just eliminated a third of your time right there. Right. And then another third is just chasing transactions.
So while you’re there, they’re not asking about it. You know how when I bet you and you’re asking questions, because it’s kind of a new world to you, right? I’ll get vendors that don’t ask a question at all. They’re just, hey, when can we do the next deal? When, how’s your budget looking? You know, like, nothing to do with what’s going on.
And you know it’s a foreign environment to them. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. There’s another third, you just move out. So now you’re down to a third. And they’re at least showing interest. And the reason I like to be around people that show interest because things don’t always go as planned. And you know that as an entrepreneur.
Your best plan is having a plan when things don’t go well. Because if you don’t have that you’re setting yourself up for failure. Because nothing goes perfectly like you planned. You gotta be able to adapt. And if you, I like to do a lot of worst case scenarios. Many of them. So then when stuff does happen, I’m prepared.
And so I want to work with people like that. So no, I want people to be questioning like, Oh, do the horses race ten races? You know, do the jockeys, you know, how do they get paid? You know, all these kind of questions you should, you know, expect. And so when I’m around Vendors that are asking those questions.
I’m more apt to go. Okay. This is who I want to do business with because when things aren’t going well, they are going to raise a question. They are going to raise their hand and say, Hey, there’s an issue and we can talk through it. We can work through it. So that this all came about just by meeting people.
Somewhere where I enjoy that’s awesome. And I mean, , the closest when you said this, and this may for many people that do business this way, I think it like the golf course. I think a lot of people kind of maybe do that like a similar thing. Cause it’s hard to, I’ve, I’ve had an experience.
It’s hard to fake it for an entire round. Like if you’re a loser, if you’re this, if you’re that, like being on a golf course with people for a while is like, and then I think about it. I’m like, if there was like a personality type for this and for golfers, I’d be like, I would probably be the same way I do podcasts.
I’m running, man. , my claim to fame is I can’t swing a golf club, but I will not. Slow up play. So what that means for me is golfing is more of like a running sport. I’m running from the last place I hit the ball to the next one. And I, and I’m the hardest working man, the people with those low scores. I’m like, man, come on, try harder.
You should have more, you should have more swings at it. Yeah. Right. Right. That’s right. You got to keep going. But I see that I see a similarity there. I’m curious about your concept and thought about like the next step and just that building relationship portion of this. So now you have these clients, you have these individuals that you’ve met with and you, let’s say whether they’re vendors or otherwise, like whom you were introduced.
Do you remember who introduced us? Because I forgot right off the top of my head. I know it was one of my good friends, but I can’t remember which one I went with. Okay. Benjamin Long. There we go. Benjamin Long. I was, I don’t know why I couldn’t remember. And speaking of, that’s my golfing buddy out here.
That’s who it was. I just couldn’t remember for some. Sorry, Benjamin. You don’t listen anyway. So it’s okay. I’ll send this to him. Sorry, Benjamin Long. We’ll have you on later and we’ll, we’ll talk about it. It’s fine. But he’s another great Like just one of those salts of the earth guys that connects, , he follows up and he doesn’t necessarily, doesn’t necessarily even have an ass, but he’s, he’s strong on the relationship side.
And because of that, you know, he knows people for decades. Like, so I’m curious on your end on business or otherwise, like, can you talk about the relationship side of this? Well, that’s a great example, like how I met Benjamin, because I believe it’s all about relationships and I teach my daughters that it’s all about the relationships.
Yes, you want great grades in school and everything and take care of your health and eat right. Yes, all those things, but the relationships you have in your life, business and non business, it’s going to dictate everything that you have. And Benjamin’s a great example. I met him just recently, a couple years ago, two, three years ago in Miami.
And I have this thing where I never dine alone, so I’ll go out to dinner I don’t care if i’m the lone person at the bar having my meal i’ll sit there and eat but I always meet people and and develop relationships and benjamin and and christopher, Oh, I forget Chris, Chris’s last name, he’s gonna kill me.
Mm-hmm . Christopher, you know Chris? Christopher? Christopher? Yeah. Because that’s Miami. Yeah. Christopher. Okay, I got you. Yep. Yep. So I bumped into both of those and I was headed to a business dinner, but I, I sometimes went to dinner and I know I’m gonna be presenting and, and, and talking and walking through specific examples or topics or things like that.
I’ll do a pre meal just to make sure so that I, you know, I’ll still eat when I get to the. With the prospective client, but I don’t want to be spending time eating and, you know, time I could be interacting with the, with them. And so I went to to Fleming’s Steakhouse in Brickell and I was sitting at the bar and Chris and Benjamin came in.
And we just shot, you know, shot the, you know, the talk and, and you know, found out Benjamin was in from Los Angeles and Chris had just recently moved to Miami. And so I offered to show him around, but I had to go to my meeting. I actually left a half a bottle with wine that I opened, that I bought myself.
I said, Hey, you’re welcome to finish this. I’ve got to go, but I’ll come back after. And they were still there when I got back. And then I gave him a little tour of Brickell, walked him around. And that’s how I met Benjamin. And since we’ve become really good friends, yeah, and if I’m not mistaking, the way Chris met Benjamin was that Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills and a very similar story at the bar.
So there’s a theme here and then it was a nice hotel. You had a nice place. You’re a nice hotel. And I know one of the things Chris. teaches is you got to be in the right, you know, got to be in the right room, location for networking and, and things like that. And now with his program. So, wow, look at that.
Come on. And to take it even full circle, when I went out to meet Benjamin because he said, Hey, if you’re ever in LA, let’s connect. So my next trip out to Los Angeles, I met with him at the Beverly Wilshire. And. The bartender remembered me from about 12 years ago. Oh my gosh. And Benjamin looked at me and was like, How is that possible?
And he made my drink without me asking. It was exactly what I wanted. Shout out to JJ. If you’re around. I know JJ at Beverly Wilshire. Shout out to JJ. I agree with that statement. That’s amazing. But it’s all relationships. And for everybody that’s listening, the Beverly Wilshire that most people know it like that aren’t local, know it as the Pretty Women Hotel.
That’s what they remember like from Pretty Pretty Woman, the movie. So there you go. Way back when. Old Circle. Oh, man, that’s great, Mark. So I want to I want to spend a little bit of the time we have left talking about this this. I don’t think that’s the right word to say when you’re talking about a horse, but I don’t know.
, you interject the right word. I’m not claiming I know the lingo, but I just know that every time I see straight no chaser race, I’ve seen him win. So talk a little bit about this horse, man, and just the run that’s been going on. Well, since you saw him win, he’s won twice more. So in November of last year, he won the Breeders Cup Dirt Sprint, which is horse racing.
The Breeders Cup is like the World Series of horse racing. Horses from all over the world. And he had a very dominant effort there. And then just recently, a couple weeks ago, he raced in the Saudi Cup Dirt. Spring in Saudi Arabia and was one of the only U. S. Horses that shipped over and And he actually won by about four, four lengths, just a beautiful, beautiful effort.
And now he’s in Dubai and he’s just came out of quarantine. He’s in Dubai. We’ll probably start training next week for a race on April 5th, where he’s going to be in, in Sprint race there in Dubai. I forget the name, but it’s, it’s after one of the caves and awesome. What’s your favorite part about backing a horse or being part of that?
Like, talk to me about like just that experience and even, even like, cause I forgot how it worked, but you had like ownership in the horse and other things like that. Like, whatever you care to comment on, by the way, I just thought it was awesome. I saw you go down there to the winner’s circle and I’m like, come on, Mark.
That’s awesome, man. It looked fun. Well, it just, it’s a community. It just gets you access to, to a whole different world. And, and for me, I wanted to learn because eventually I want to own horses directly. And, and so I wanted to learn more. And, and know, You know, everything behind the scenes and, and luckily my, my racehorse, which offers you know, fractional shares of horses came around a couple of years ago and I joined and straight new chaser was one of my first horses that I invested in and there’s a big group of us and it just gives you access.
I I’ve met so many owners other trainers and, access to jockeys, John Velasquez, The last time I was out there when I met you the night before, John Vela Velazquez, who was the jockey who rode straight to Chaser in his last victory that was the Hall of Fame one, right? Right. Hall of Fame.
Yeah. Was a legend. Right. And, and I just bought him a drink and just said hello and I didn’t, because he, when he is off the track, he doesn’t like people fucking shop, right? Mm-hmm . That’s how he is. I knew that I bought him a drink and I just said hello to him. gave him his space and he really appreciated that because there was somebody else at the bar who didn’t and they mistook him for somebody else and I was telling the guy, you got the wrong guy, move away, move away, step away from the jockey.
That sounds so terrible. And when John left the bar, he came over and he squeezed my shoulder and just said, thank you and just left. And then the next day he won on Straight to the Chaser. So you get access to people, and that’s what I love about it. And I met so many great people. And case in point, last Friday, a really good friend of mine who I met through horse racing.
He owns a horse. The horse was racing in the last race at Gulfstream Park here. He invited me down to the paddock to see the horse beforehand. And to meet the trainer and meet fellow owners, and I did that. It was a great experience. Shot some video. And then we went to the rail and watched the horse race, and he dominated.
And We got in the Winner’s Circle, got our picture taken, and then he, you know, the next day brought in a photo of me in the Winner’s Circle with the horse. And I was just like, what a great experience. And that’s all from relationships, right? Same. Just connecting with people. I was waiting to get you on the show, man, and you delivered.
I appreciate it. I wanted people to just have a little bit of an inkling of what it was to be at a horse race with you. Just chopping it up, talking shop, hearing your vision on relationships, and also like how you’ve managed to create your version. Of you know, you travel a lot. You got a lot of things to do.
You’re a busy guy. You’re making money, but you’re also enjoying life at the same time and you’ve found a way to incorporate it and everybody listening Maybe you don’t have like, you know, maybe you don’t like horse racing Maybe you don’t like golfing but there’s a version of how you get to achieve your goals and still enjoy life out there So I encourage you to explore And that’s one reason I want to mark on here.
So mark, thank you that being said before I let you go if somebody wants to follow you whether it’s on social media or website Sites or anything else learn about, about SK s global or, or anything else you wanna share? How do people do that? The best way is to follow me on, on ig it’s sessions mark with a KCO sessions.
Awesome. If everybody listening, just so you know, we’ll definitely go ahead. Mm-hmm . I was just saying you get DM me questions and if you’re at the racetrack or you’re headed to the racetrack, definitely. Reach out to me and I can give you some tips or you might even bump into me. Amazing. And for everybody listening, just so you know, I’ll definitely put the links in the show notes and you can just click on it and head right on over.
And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with Mission Matters and you haven’t done it yet, hit that subscribe or follow button. This is a daily show each and every day. We’re bringing you new content, new ideas, and hopefully new inspiration to help you along the way. So again, hit that subscribe or follow button and Mark, thanks again for coming on the show.
You got it take care.