Markus Rothkranz
When you follow your heart, you might fail. You might lose everything. But that’s part of the growth process. That’s what you need to go through to get to the next level. See it or understand it for what it is. That’s part of going through the different grades, even school. You have to go through 1st grade to get to 2nd grade to go to the 3rd grade. You don’t just go from 1st grade to university. It just doesn’t work that way. You got to go through the steps. And those steps involve learning from failure.
Markus Rothkranz
All the successful people will tell you the best thing that they’ve ever had was failure, because that’s what made them learn and grow. If you’re comfortable, you’re not going to learn and grow. So don’t fear the failures. Don’t look at them as failures. They’re lessons.
Announcer
(Announcer) Welcome to Juice Guru Radio for entrepreneurs. Firestart your own health movement. And now your host, founder of Juice Guru Institute and bestselling author, Steve Prussack.
Steve Prussack
And welcome to another edition of Juicingpreneur radio. I’m your host Steve. I’m so excited to have our friend, Markus Rothkranz. We’ve been working with him for years, but he’s doing incredible work, international bestseller. His books ‘The Prosperity Secret,’ ‘Heal Yourself 101,’ ‘Heal Your Face,’ ‘The Gourmet UnCookbook: Love on a Plate,’ that he wrote with Cara. So many books, so many messages, instructions for a new life. It’s helped me in my entrepreneurial journey. It’s going to help you. Let’s welcome to the show right now, the incredible Markus Rothkranz.
Markus Rothkranz
This is where I do my Kermit the Frog, “Yayyyy.”
Steve Prussack
And I know you officially changed your name to ‘The Incredible Markus Rothkranz.’ Congratulations on that.
Markus Rothkranz
I did not. Stop it.
Steve Prussack
Take us back, Markus. I mean, I know your story because it’s incredible, but you were pretty much a savant as a kid with all the work you were doing. Did you always have that entrepreneurial spirit?
Markus Rothkranz
Yeah, yeah. I was an only child, grew up in the middle of nowhere in Canada. Snowed in all the time in the winter time so, I was stuck with myself. And I grew up in a farm where my, horse farm, and I’m allergic to animals. So really, I couldn’t even hang out with my parents. I just was by myself in a house in the middle of nowhere. So I had to learn to do things to keep myself company, keep myself busy. And I luckily, I had a little bit of talent so I could draw and paint and build things. Glue and scissors were probably my best friends, and I just learned to build things from a very young age.
Steve Prussack
As a big Disney fan, I love your first big project that got you in the papers. Do you want to talk a little about that?
Markus Rothkranz
Yeah. My parents took me to Disney World in Florida in 1971 when it first opened. It was the most magical life-changing experience other than seeing Star Wars. It was like, it changed my life. And it was a big movie set. Everything was – I could do a whole two-hour talk about that. But anyway, I came home and I started building the thing in miniature, and it grew. It just started with a little paper castle that I started building and then it grew out from there, and it ended up being a fully computerized, 180-square foot model of the entire Magic Kingdom.
Markus Rothkranz
It lit up at night. There was the horse’s legs moved as they moved up Main Street. There was food on the tables and the restaurants, the rides worked. It was like and I remember I was 13 years old at the time, and it just became this thing that just kept growing and growing. And it got in the New York Times and then Disney heard about it. They flew me down there and made me a special guest in the Art Department underneath the Main Street. It was just cool. I mean, and that was all just from following my hobby, doing what I like. And that’s kind of – I realized after a while, a secret to a lot of successful people.
Steve Prussack
Right. Which has been part of the journey, right? Looking at some of those things that other people were doing to get successful or what?
Markus Rothkranz
Yeah. What a lot of of people – what most people do is they look at other’s success and I’m talking about normal people who try to be successful but really don’t become successful. What they do is they look at successful people and they try to copy them. They think it’s a formula. They think it’s like, ”Oh that person is selling XYZ, so I’m gonna sell XYZ. Oh, they’re using this type of store or software, or they’re doing on Instagram or whatever. So I’m gonna do that too.’ And any time you copy somebody, you’re never gonna be that person.
Markus Rothkranz
You’re never gonna because the reason that worked for that person is because that was their thing. They’re in their element. They’re resonating with that. Anybody who does something for the purpose of making money, of being successful, you don’t do it because you want to make money, you don’t do it because you want to become successful, you do it because you love it. And nobody makes you better than doing something that you love. That’s what you’re best at. You’re not best at copying someone else because you’re not that person.
Markus Rothkranz
And that’s one of the big secrets that you learn in life is people who copy others’ success never become really that successful. The people who became successful, they just did what they love doing or what they’re good at, and they didn’t necessarily do it for the money. They did it because they love doing it. And they got so good at it and this is another thing that people need to realize – those successful people were not really successful in the beginning. They probably loved doing it so much that they lost their income, they lost their family, their mate, their husband, their wife, their relationships sucked.
Markus Rothkranz
People who really stick by what they love, they usually have a test period, a trial period where they could possibly lose everything. And that’s key. People think that these rich people, they just instantly got rich and it was just easy. Oh, lucky for them. Most of them went through so many hardships. Like if you look at the success stories of all the big success companies out there, they started really rough and rocky. They lost everything, probably 3 times over, and they almost lost everything, and they scratched and clawed their way but they held in there.
Markus Rothkranz
And that’s kind of – so it’s not easy. Following what you love doing is not always easy. There’s always that challenge period, but it makes it easier to stick with it in the long run. If you’re copying someone else’s success, doing something you don’t really love, you’re probably not going to make it for the long haul because you’re just going to give up because you hate doing it. Anyway, I think that’s kind of like part of why following what you love doing is kind of important because it makes it easier to make it through those rough periods which you’re going to have.
Markus Rothkranz
And so for everybody who thinks the successful people had it easy and it was an easy thing. Most of them know they had a really tough time going through it, but that’s kind of the secret. Doing what you love is that’s like the base, that’s where you start.
Steve Prussack
That’s why your story is so fascinating. It could be a movie, really. Talk about, you had success and then doing what you love with art and creating and literally lost everything, right?
Markus Rothkranz
Yep, yep. Many times over. I even almost lost my life 3 times over. It wasn’t just money. I lost my relationships 3 or 4 times over. I lost my money and my health. It’s really bad. I mean, I was bleeding when I went to the bathroom. I mean, it was scary. I mean, I had financial scares, relationship scares, health scares, all areas, major areas of life. But the thing is, if you don’t go through the bad stuff, you’re never gonna go anywhere. The only thing I realize is the thing that keeps you from moving ahead in life is usually comfort.
Markus Rothkranz
If you’re comfortable, if you’re okay where you are and you’re comfortable and you got your comfort food and your comfort lifestyle and the healthy, you know, the comfortable chair – you’re not gonna do anything any different. You’re not going to struggle. You’re not going to try to do something different. It’s usually that when catastrophe happens, something gets terrible happens that forces you to figure out a different way of doing something because you have to, that’s usually when progress happens the most. Look at history. I know it’s terrible, but at times of war is when the most technological and advancements in medicine and technology and everything in life, even just quality of life afterwards.
Markus Rothkranz
There’s so many improvements because we were forced to because of a bad experience, because of necessity, because of the emergency, because it’s life or death. And you know, and the thing is, most people they go after a comfortable lifestyle and they create a lifestyle where most of it is just existing and then sitting in the couch and watching TV at the end of the day and there’s nothing really pushing them and then they complain that they’re not getting anywhere and the rich are rich and it’s all just a conspiracy and all that crap.
Markus Rothkranz
But they’re not really trying. They’re not struggling. They’re not really doing everything they can with every waking minute to further their dream. And that’s the difference between the successful and the unsuccessful. In any area of life, is you have to go through the bad stuff, in a way, to get the kick in the butt to get going into the next step of your evolution.
Steve Prussack
With the state of life right now and the Corona virus and everyone being locked in. There’s a lot of fear. Economically, is one and what do you think? Do you think this is an opportunity for people, or what is your feeling on what’s going on right now?
Markus Rothkranz
It’s a total opportunity. The most millionaires ever created was during the Great Depression. The group – like I said, the most advances that anybody ever made in finances or life in general, is when there was a hard period of life. It forces you to look at your life. I mean, right now, most people are sitting at home and hopefully they’re reconsidering their life, they’re readjusting their values. They’re having a good look at where they come from and where they’re going and what really matters in life.
Markus Rothkranz
And that’s important. That’s the first step is like reevaluating where you’re at and what your priorities and your value system is. And are you happy doing what you’re doing? Do you really want to go back to what you were doing before, or do you want to start pursuing your dream, the reason you’re here? This whole pandemic thing, a few years from now people won’t even remember it. There’s gonna be sick and dying people forever. I mean, yeah, people are unhealthy, a lot of societies are eating junk food and they’re just not healthy and it’s not a surprise that so many people are sick and dying, but that’s gonna happen anyway, when you have society of people that are just eating comfort food and junk food and not doing healthy things.
Markus Rothkranz
So that’s not a surprise. But what you should do is have – use this downtime. I love this downtime. I mean, it’s like the world is less hectic, you’re able to calm down and think about life more and reflect and think about, ‘What do I really want to be doing with my life? When all this starts back up again, do I really want to be just grinding to pay bills, to pay my mortgage? And then I got nothing left at the end of it and I don’t feel satisfied?’
Markus Rothkranz
That’s not life. You know, the people that are really happy in life, it’s not about money – it’s about doing what you love doing. And a lot of them, they don’t make that much money. And some of them do, some of them don’t but the point is they feel free, free to do what they want, free to travel the world, free to experience life, free to do what they love to do. And if they get paid along the way, great.
Markus Rothkranz
And so there’s lessons in all of this. But the point is, this pandemic – I mean, people will tell you the best thing that ever happened to them was getting cancer because it forced them to change their diet and lifestyle. You know, people told them that losing the husband or wife that they had, the husband cheated or whatever and that was the best thing that ever happened, because now they found someone even better. They found like, you know, the bad things in life are usually in a way – gifts, they’re opportunities.
Markus Rothkranz
And any rich person, and when I say rich I don’t necessarily mean money, I mean, people that that are successful and happy will tell you the hardships were the best things that ever happened to them because it forced them to really improve or change what they were doing in the first place. And so, this is a great opportunity for people, for investors this is the best time ever, probably a lifetime to invest. You know, you got to use the negative stuff to your advantage. You got to see it as an opportunity, not a hardship.
Markus Rothkranz
And people who see things like this as an opportunity and not a – what do you call it – a bad thing? Those are the ones that are going to be successful down the road. There’s always opportunity. And I don’t mean take advantage of other people. I mean, there’s people that need help because of this and if you figure out a way to help people and fairly get compensated for that, you could be set for life in a situation like this. So you got to look at life different.
Markus Rothkranz
You got to see things not as a negative, bad thing but as an opportunity. And if nothing else, look at it as some downtime to have a good look at your life and figure out with the time you have left on this world what do you want to really do? And find something that makes you happy and don’t worry about the money. The money is a side effect. Most people go after the money. That’s their main priority, and they’re never going to be happy. The people who see money is just a side effect of doing what you love doing. Those are the ones who end up being happy in life.
Steve Prussack
And you figured that out pretty early on, right? Because…
Markus Rothkranz
No, no, no. It took me like, almost 40 years to figure that out. I mean, I went through all the things they tell you to do. You know, when I was young I mean, I always tried to do the right thing. I never drank. I never smoked, never did drugs. I don’t even to this day. I haven’t even drank coffee. But I was unhappy in my relationships, my money situation sucked, my health situation sucked. And so I figured that, I thought – ‘Why am I so bad off in all these areas when I’m trying to do the right thing?’
Markus Rothkranz
Well, what is the right thing? Well, the right thing back then to me was: ‘get the house with the picket fence, get the wife, eat the American standard diet, go to Denny’s and eat your breakfast, lunch and dinner, eat your bacon or drink the soda pop and whatever. Eat the bread and the cheese and work for a living to pay your mortgage. Don’t do what you want and remember, the rich are bad people and in order to be good, you got to be poor.’ I was following all that programming that was just keeping me down. And I said, ‘This is not life. This isn’t happiness.’
Markus Rothkranz
And so it took me, like almost 40 years to de-program all that garbage that society told me, ‘This is how you should be.’ And I said, ‘This is a joke. This is why so many people are unhappy. The programming is all wrong.’ And it’s all fear-based. Like you said, everybody’s in fear right now. Well, I’m not in fear. I mean, I’m healthy, and I know what to do to protect my body and keep the immune system strong.
Markus Rothkranz
And we are exposed to viruses and bacteria and things all our life. Every moment there’s so much floating in the air. Every time you touch something or breathe something, you’ve got so many things going in and out of you that you just have to have a strong military to defend you and that’s your immune system. But you also need a strong mind. And some of the people that live the longest, they don’t necessarily eat the healthiest diet. Some of them smoke, some of them drink, some of them eat meat, whatever.
Markus Rothkranz
But why do they live to be 110, 120? They don’t let life stress them out. So not being stressed and your state of mind and how you see the world is just as important as what you eat and what you do for a living. It all is just equally important. Are you with somebody that makes you happy or are you with somebody that’s draining your energy? You know, relationships. So all of it, it all contributes to your longevity, your success, your happiness in life.
Steve Prussack
Those are the things you teach. You teach the core things that we can upgrade right now. Relationships, health and prosperity. Really the core things that we can upgrade and go to the next level with right now.
Markus Rothkranz
Right, exactly.
Steve Prussack
Well, I just find that exciting. So what was your initial, what was the goal when you launched the work you’re doing now you’re reaching so many people all over the world. Was that your vision?
Markus Rothkranz
No. My vision and it still is, is just to enjoy life, to be myself and do what I want. And then, as I’m doing what I want I hold a video camera on myself to share it with others. Say, ‘Today, I’m doing this’ and whatever, ‘This is what works for me.’ And you know, even the products I sell, my green formula, protein, formula, night formula, that’s stuff that I created for myself. Cara and I take this. That’s cool, anyway. I mean I just wanted – because I was unhealthy and I try to figure out what do I do to be healthy.
Markus Rothkranz
And it’s not just a matter of taking something, it’s also what you’re stopping. But the point is, everything that I do, I did for myself first. And if I find something that works, I try to share it with people. And if they’re open to it, responsive to it, great. And that’s kind of what I am. I’m not here to have this mega business where you just grow and there’s a whole another – I’m going to do a video on the whole thing about the modern world and think growth is everything. No, it’s not. It’s actually, it’s unsustainable.
Markus Rothkranz
Sustainability means you don’t need to keep growing. You find a sweet spot and something that works for you and you kind of stay there and you just sustain it. So I’m not all about creating new things and more powerful and more expensive and more and more and more, more and more, you know. I just find a thing that works and I stick with it and that’s it. And I share it with people and it’s that simple and that’s where you resonate.
Markus Rothkranz
That’s how you can live a long, happy life – is you find what works and you just resonate with that. And you know, if it helps others along the way, great. My mission is not to lecture and go out there and sell tickets. And you know, I’m not an aggressive business person. I’m just a guy having fun with life.
Steve Prussack
Yeah and you sort of bring your creativity to it, which I love. I mean, it’s obvious in the way you speak, in the way you produce and the creativity that goes into your videos. Is that part of it that you’ve always been creative and it’s part of your work, of course?
Markus Rothkranz
Yeah. Well, I try to stay young. I’m a kid. I don’t want to grow up, you know. And I think that’s why people say, ‘How come you look so young?’ Well, maybe because I feel young and I just don’t want to grow up. That’s a big part of it. I don’t want to age, manfully. I don’t want to become a crabby old man. I want to be a kid. I want to have fun. I never want to stop that youthful looking in life with wonder and figuring out, ‘Gee, what would be like if I did this?’ ‘Yeah, let’s try this and let’s try that.’
Markus Rothkranz
You know, how kids think. They’re always trying and experimenting and playing, and I don’t think that should ever end. I think that’s what keeps us young. And I think, the minute you stop that and you just start hating the world and looking for things to be upset about and blaming others and feeling like a victim. And the crabby old man syndrome, that’s where you start to die. And it’s not necessarily because of what you eat as much as your view on life.
Markus Rothkranz
If your energy starts dying and you think that everyone else has got the upper hand and you’re just stuck behind and there’s nothing you can do about it, you’re a victim – that’s where you’re gonna lose it. But I don’t care. I mean, I’ve lost everything many times over. And so I was naked in the desert. I had nothing. No money, no driver’s license, no identity. I didn’t care. I was so free. I was like an animal in the wild. I was so free. And I realized if I could be like this and be happy, I don’t need material things.
Markus Rothkranz
They’re great. I mean yes, you fly on a Learjet, you go to exotic beaches and live a great life and go to the palaces of Europe and whatever. Those are great experiences and I can say, ‘Yeah I’ve experienced it’s great. Okay, what’s next?’ But I don’t own it to show people, ‘Look what I’ve got.’ You know like, that’s not why I have or do these things is because, okay that was that experience tipped off, bucket list. What’s next? You know, things are not to be owned. You don’t own anything. They’re just experiences that you are given a chance to experience. It’s on loan. Everything’s on loan to you – your husband, wife, even your body, your life is on loan to you. So appreciate it. Take good care of it. Be thankful you’ve had the experience and just always be in appreciation. That’s kind of part of the secret of it.
Steve Prussack
Were there any struggles in building this? Where some days you were maybe, like, ‘You know what, I don’t even know if I want to do this anymore?’ Or any real roadblocks or walls you came up upon?
Markus Rothkranz
Oh, always. I mean, every day you’re given challenges. Every day life throws you a curveball and says, let’s see what happens if we throw this curve ball in there and see what happens, you know. And it’s how you react to those situations.
Markus Rothkranz
You know, one of the interesting things is I even noticed, even Cara said that one of the things that she did to decide which men to go, when she went on dates with stuff – women watch men very closely, not necessarily because of how much money they have or how well they dress. One of the things that they watch is how does this man treat other people? How does he treat the waitress when we go out? How does he – that is a telltale sign for so many things in life. And it’s so important how you look at life determines how life treats you and what kind of a person you’re going to be. What it’s like to be with if you decide to spend some life with that person. So that’s a big part of it, is your personality and how you look at life and treat others. It’s what you put out, comes back. And there’s so many little.. I forget what the question was, I just kind of rambled off of the field there.
Steve Prussack
We were talking about roadblocks along the way, any walls you came up against. But you were pretty much saying, ‘Yeah every day…every day.’
Markus Rothkranz
Right. Right.
Steve Prussack
But, yeah, it’s interesting. It would have been interesting for me to meet that old Markus that was eating the fast food and all that. I can’t imagine who that guy was. What would you do if you were able to go back in time today and give that Markus a message? What would be that message that you’d send right now?
Markus Rothkranz
I’d show him a picture of Cara and say, ‘Look what you got coming.’ Seriously. I look at some of the things in my life that I have now and I go, ‘My God, these are all things I dreamed of when I was a kid.’ You know, and I was fascinated. I was obsessed with it. Like, you know how kids have posters on the wall and you know like and go, ‘Wow, all that stuff, the girl, the lifestyle..’
Markus Rothkranz
Even like, the house that I’m in is white and gold and when I was in the 90s, I made a movie called, ‘To the End of Time,’ which was a fantasy, romance, storybook fairytale movie that had a castle that was white and gold. And I think of all the things that I spend time thinking about, kind of like, what do you call it – when you stick pictures on a board – a vision board. Yeah, well your mind is a vision board. Whatever you think about or obsess about or constantly fantasize about or dream about, that’s a vision board.
Markus Rothkranz
You might not have a physical thing that is stuck on a wallet. Your mind is a vision board. And the more you just dwell on something, it could be negative stuff too. You’re creating that. It’s being formed. It’s being baked in an oven. The heat that comes off your mind thinking about is baking it and it’s coming out, like maybe it might take 30 years, but at some point in your life you’re gonna go, ‘Oh, my God. This is what I’ve been thinking about. I created this.’
Markus Rothkranz
And so make sure that what you think about is good stuff, not bad stuff. Stop being a pessimist. Stop being a negative, whiny person because you’re going to bring more into your life to whine about. I’m a fantasy kid. No matter what happens to me, how much you knock me down, I’m going to keep fantasizing about, you know, wanting about the good stuff. If I’m in a really bad situation, I fantasize about being in a good situation, and that’s always where I end up because I created that.
Markus Rothkranz
And people look at me and go, ‘Oh, sure. It must be nice to have that, that and that.’ I go, ‘Well, that’s because…’ That person is miserable. They’re looking at the negative stuff and they’re gonna just bring more negative things into their life and they’re gonna constantly keep whining and bitching about everything. Whereas I’m there, like ‘You can knock me down all you want. You can take everything away as many times you want but I’m always gonna bounce back and have good stuff in my life because that’s what I’m focusing on, that’s what I dream about.’
Markus Rothkranz
And when it comes into my life, I’m thankful for it. I don’t fear losing it. I don’t fear anything. Everything is from a positive, appreciative point of view. And that’s what makes people lucky and other people unlucky. It’s the Forrest Gump-view of life. I mean, be careful what you think about.
Steve Prussack
Yeah. And putting yourself out there, the haters are always going to be there. Early on, when that started coming at you, was that hard to deal with or how did you deal with people that were opposed to your message? The negative.
Markus Rothkranz
That’s part of life. I mean, you’re always going to have people that don’t get it. They’re so unhappy with their lives that all they see is other things to be unhappy about. And they look for people to blame and they love to see people in misery like them. You know, misery loves company. And when they see somebody that’s kind of well-off or happy, they hate that person because if you’re unhappy, the last thing you want to see is a happy person. And so they want to bring that person down to their level, so they’ll feel better about it.
Markus Rothkranz
But and that’s normal. I mean, life cannot exist without balance. Unfortunately, for everything that’s born, there has to be something that dies. Daytime there has to be night time. You can’t see the stars without the darkness. Balance is what makes life happen. For all the food you eat, you got to poop it out. You know, there has to be balance. And so for all the happy, good stuff in life just expect that there’s going to be something trying to balance it out.
Markus Rothkranz
I mean, think about it – if the world was all ‘happy people, everything’s just wonderful,’ you know, it’s like it’s just that’s fake. That’s something not right about that. You kind of appreciate the good stuff more when you have something to compare it to. Like, thank God the sun is out today. Well, why do you appreciate the sun? Well, because yesterday was raining and cold. If it was sunny all the time, you take it for granted and you wouldn’t appreciate it because there’s nothing to compare it to. The negative people, the haters and stuff, you just got to understand that’s part of the balance of life.
Markus Rothkranz
And for some people they let them, they let it, just that’s the end of the road for them. They kill themselves. That’s the end of it. I can’t deal with this. It’s so depressing, you know. But you have to realize that’s part of the test. If you really want to make it in life, you’re gonna have people try to bring you down all the time. When I was in school and I was a wimpy, little, skinny kid in grade school, in high school, I was beat up all the time. You know, I was with a kid with the buck teeth and the glasses. And you know, I was the teacher’s pet and I was skinny and nerdy. And you know, I didn’t have muscles. I wasn’t like a good looking kid. I mean, I was just scrawny, little kid.
Markus Rothkranz
But I kept my – I bounced back and it was like.. I remember a scene. I forget what scene it was. It was some funny movie where it might have been, I don’t know. It was a funny movie where some kid gets beat up at school and he’s laughing at the bullies and the bullies are going, ‘Why are you laughing?’
Markus Rothkranz
Well, he said something along, the lines of, ‘I’m going to become a successful businessman and you’re going to become a loser.’ And he’s looking into the future and they beat him up even more for that but he was right. I mean, you know, I always look to the – I’m always, when I wake up in the morning, I think of all the great things that I could create that day, all the potential of the day. I don’t wake up and go, ‘Oh, look at all the things, the hardships I have to deal with. Look at all the chores I have to do, oh my God.’
Markus Rothkranz
I don’t look at the bad stuff. I look at like, all the new, exciting things that might happen today because it’s a new day, the sun shining, and I have a new day. I’ve been given another day of life. I’m always looking at the bright side. And when you have something to look forward to, that’s the key. You know, people say how do you get out of depression? Well, one of the things you need to keep you from becoming depressed is to have something to look forward to.
Markus Rothkranz
And for overweight people, unfortunately the thing they look forward to is the next meal. But at least they have that to look forward to. That’s what keeps them going. It gives them a little bit of a rush of serotonin. It’s like, ‘Okay, I just had lunch. Well, I’m getting depressed now. I got my sugar crash. Oh, wait. I got dinner coming up. Wooo.’ You know, but that’s kind of a funny example. But as long as you have something to look forward to, that’s what keeps you from slipping into deeper depression.
Markus Rothkranz
So find a hobby, find something, a business, something that has potential. You might fail but at least there’s that potential. That’s why people get butterflies when they meet somebody and when they’re dating and they’re finding a new person in their life. That’s why you get all excited because of the potential. Because of the ‘What might happen?’ You’re dreaming of the good stuff that might happen. It doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. But the idea that it might is what keeps you going. And that’s what I’m saying is as long as you keep that positive attitude. Always look at the the potential and the positive attitude and try to make the best of it rather than focusing on the glass being half empty.
Steve Prussack
So much wisdom. So much wisdom for a young man. We look at the body of work. You’ve done so much. It’s incredible. And I know how humble you are. So maybe you’re going to hate this question. But what achievement are you most proud of?
Markus Rothkranz
I guess, still being alive. There’s so many times where I almost died. Or I mean, I was in so many car accidents, so many health problems, relationship failures, money failures. The fact that I am where I am is a miracle. I mean, if I could go by the answer your question from before to go back in time and tell myself when I was down and out to say, ‘Your dreams will come true. Just stick with it. Stay true to your beliefs. Stay true to your dreams. It will come true. Just hang in there and keep doing the right thing. Don’t take shortcuts.’
Markus Rothkranz
Because the shortcuts are what slow you down there. What take you backwards, actually, do the extra step. Do things right. It will cost you more financially, timewise, but doing things right in the first place will save you so much in the future of having to fix the problems that are created by taking shortcuts and doing things cheaply or trying to find cheats in life.
Markus Rothkranz
So yeah, it is possible. You just got to stay at it. The only people that can ever make it in life, really everybody gets knocked down, everybody gets knocked down. Even the rich and famous, they get knocked down every day. Even Sylvester Stallone said this, ‘The only way to win is to get back up when you’re punched and and you’re knocked over.’ The only way you could ever win that fight of life is to get back up every time your knocked down. That’s the only way if you stay down, you’re out for the count. And so I mean, no matter what happens just realize every day you’re going to get knocked somehow. They’re going to be punches every day. Even successful people are hit hard. You just got to be like, ‘the Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down.’
(Song)
(Song) Hey, hey look at me. I’m Weeble. The Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down.
Steve Prussack
Especially true in building a business. Especially starting out and trying to reach more people. There’s definitely those days where you feel like, ‘Is my voice even being heard?’
Markus Rothkranz
Right, well. Just realize that there are times where you will lose the business. You will lose your relationship, your money or your health. It’s just a matter of, you know, you stand up, dust yourself off and it’s okay. If that didn’t work, let’s try something that will, you know and that’s how progress is made. Anybody who has a successful invention. Car, airplane, radio, light bulb, whatever it is, they went through 10 different things that didn’t work, ‘Well, that didn’t work. Let’s try something else, you know, like, well, car tires should not be made of wood, let’s try rubber.’
Markus Rothkranz
You know what I mean? It’s like you just gotta keep trying different things until something sticks, something works. There’s gonna be failures. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. It just means that’s not where you were supposed to be. You’re supposed to keep looking. It’s like playing, it’s like a game of where kids ‘warmer, warmer, cold, cold, warmer, warmer.’ You know, keep looking almost there, you know? So all the things you do in life is life telling you – ‘no, no, colder, colder, cold. No, you get it warmer. Keep going that way. Keep going.’
Markus Rothkranz
So each thing you do right or wrong, stop looking at it as a failure. Look at it as okay. I’m going in the cold direction. I got to go in the warm direction. I got to turn around. Let’s try this. And each one, it teaches you what not to do again in the future. Try something different. Anything is progress in life. The reason we have this great lifestyle nowadays with air conditioning and jet planes and cars and insulated homes, everything is because somebody tried something at some point that didn’t work.
Markus Rothkranz
So, somebody else had to try something different until it did work. And most of the things that we have that give us a great life are very complex things. If you try to tell a monkey to create a car engine or a jet engine, it’s going to take quite a while because there are 5000 parts in there that each have to be perfectly working and designed with the right materials. So life is like that, it’s a bunch of different things that have to be all be working in harmony and with the right construction, the right design, the right timing in order for everything to work right.
Markus Rothkranz
So people who think life is easy and that you just flip a switch and that’s it. No, it doesn’t work like that. You have to go through – each little part has to be hand created to function properly. And then over time, you start realizing what works and what doesn’t. And then all these parts work together in harmony to create what you call life a success. And things will wear out, they will break down. They will need to be replaced with something better and newer. But that’s life, that’s evolution, that’s survival. That’s how nature and man and life exists, coexist and continues.
Steve Prussack
That seems to relate to what you said earlier. It’s that fluidity of thought, right? I mean, that’s what keeps us young to imagine new ideas.
Markus Rothkranz
Yeah. And that’s what makes life – that’s why we’re not in the Stone Age still. You know, thank God. I’m so glad I wasn’t born 40 years ago or a hundred years ago. I have a book, ‘The Turn of the Century.’ The good old days were not as good as we think they were. They were terrible. They didn’t have running water – what we call sewage systems in the 1890s. I mean, it was terrible back then, just like just a hundred years ago, people were living in terrible conditions.
Markus Rothkranz
And even 50 years ago, there’s so many luxuries we have nowadays that we take for granted that we don’t even realize that we would have been missing if we lived a while ago. And every year, things just get improved and our life gets more – it’s just easier to have a comfortable lifestyle. So that’s part of progress. That’s part of life. That’s just part of what you know, I guess the thing is, you got to keep in mind. I try to keep it sustainable and healthy and all that but that’s a whole another talk.
Steve Prussack
Along the journey, what’s been the biggest transformation?
Markus Rothkranz
Geez, I don’t even know if there is a transformation. I’m just still existing and I’m still the same kid in my mind. I still feel like a 13-year old, and the only thing that’s different is I have a nicer lifestyle but I think, I guess the biggest transformation is I’m not as stressed. I’m not as worried about the future. Because when I was in my 20s and 30s I had all those angst stuff, like ‘Why am I here? Where’s all this going? Why am I so struggling and unhappy and frustrated and my relationship is a struggle, my health, my money, everything is such a struggle. Is it gonna be like this for the rest of my life?’
Markus Rothkranz
And I’m sure most people are first thinking a lot like that. And I was just so like, ‘Where am I gonna be?’ I mean, even now people are with the pandemic. They’re like, ‘Oh, my God. Am I gonna have a job? What’s life gonna be like 2 months from now? Will will I be out of a home? Will I have any kind of money? Will I die of the virus?’
Markus Rothkranz
It’s all fear-based. The biggest transformation in me is I don’t worry about stuff anymore. I don’t live in fear. I don’t have the negative what-ifs. If there are any what-ifs, they’re positive. Like, ‘Gee, wouldn’t it be cool if…? blah, blah, blah…’ But the biggest transformation in me would be, when you talk about fluidity – energy flows better when there’s no blockage and the biggest blockage for people is fear and negativity. They’re just stubborn. They’re very stiff and they hold on tight to their belief system.
Markus Rothkranz
If you’re with somebody that’s not fun to be with, they’re probably not going very far in life. People that are free, that don’t worry, that are fluid, they surf the wave of life. And life is a wave. And if you’re not good at surfing that wave, you’re gonna be the thrown into the water and you’d be scraped to death on the coral underneath. And that is what happens to a lot of people. They’re not good surfers.
Markus Rothkranz
So come to good, come to bad, come anything that happens – I don’t even look at it as good or bad, I look at it as it’s just another experience that is okay, so the wave suddenly flows to the left instead of the right. Ride it, ride it. Who knows? Maybe there’s something on the left that you’re supposed to discover and change and grow and make something wonderful out of. Most of the things that are successful, the products of life were created out of necessity.
Markus Rothkranz
Toilet bowls are created because well, for obvious reasons why they were created. But if you were a toilet bowl manufacturer, suddenly you’d be rich, right? So you could say, ‘Well it came from adversity. It came from that smelly pile in the corner. And now I’m rich because I created something that efficiently whisks that away.’ You know. So most of the things that are created – shoelaces, toilet paper, cars, airplanes, refrigeration, internet, telephone, all that stuff is created out of necessity. And the things that make life hard is okay, well that’s your opportunity.
Markus Rothkranz
If there’s something that sucks in life that you’re going through, that is terrible, that is a horrible situation, you know. Like, ‘Oh, I just cut myself really bad. There’s blood gushing out.’ Well, get a Band-Aid. Somebody had to create the Band-Aid. And that first person became rich because they’ve developed something out of need. They didn’t sit there and go, ‘Oh my god, I’m bleeding to death. My life sucks.’ They went, ‘No, hey this is an opportunity. I’m gonna create something to stop this because I know other people are cutting themselves also.’
Markus Rothkranz
You know, so anything that’s bad in life, that’s an opportunity. And that’s the difference. Only maybe 1% or 10% of the people see a bad thing as an opportunity. 90% of the people sit there and they feel sorry for themselves and go, ‘Life sucks.’ You know. Well, that’s why 90% of the people, 99% of the people are not doing so well and 1% or 5% are doing fine because they see everything as an opportunity. Jump on it. You got something bad happening in your life? Realize that millions of other people are experiencing the same bad thing. So figure something out that changes that situation and use it. That’s why it’s there. That’s there to learn from, to grow, it’s an opportunity.
Steve Prussack
Right and there is no lack, right? Lack because someone might say, ‘Well, Marcus, they’ve already invented all those things. And what am I going to do?’ But isn’t there sort of a lacking mentality, too?
Markus Rothkranz
Well, of course. I mean, if everything was already created that could possibly be created then our life should theoretically be perfect. There should be no problems in life. Should be like nothing happening that’s wrong, that is bad. I’m sure people are gonna agree that there’s a lot of frustration and bad things that happen in life. Well, there you go. You’ve got an endless list of things. Okay, pick one. Pick any one of those things and figure out something that could help others.
Markus Rothkranz
You don’t necessarily have to find the magic cure but find something that helps people deal with it. Like a band-aid doesn’t necessarily heal your skin. It just protects it while it heals itself. So that’s my point is, you don’t need to kill yourself trying to find something that fixes the problem. Just figure out something that helps. Even if it’s a support group, you know? I mean, we’re all going through this together. You create something that makes people – gives them a little bit of comfort while they’re going through the bad thing, whatever it is.
Markus Rothkranz
There’s different levels of dealing with an issue. And I mean, it’s endless. The possibilities are endless. Just figure out something because whatever it is you’re going through that you think is bad, there’s a lot of other people going through the same thing. So figure out how you can all go through it together and figure out something that makes it easier to go through that situation and monetize it. And I hate saying the word ‘monetize’ cause that it infers money which is ‘evil,’ you know, all that stuff. So okay, well if that’s your thinking, if that’s your programming, that ‘money is evil’ but you’re never gonna make money because you’ve already stopped yourself from going in that direction.
Markus Rothkranz
All right, so what is okay with you? Whatever that is. Well, ‘Okay, bartering or getting food for my stuff.’ Okay, fine. Then make something that helps others and you get food for it or make something that you can barter or whatever. Whatever it is you believe in, that is not ‘evil.’ That be your payment system. There’s always a way to become happy and successful in something. And sitting there and feeling sorry for yourself and thinking there’s nothing you can do, that’s a sure way to a miserable life in a grave. There’s always a way out. There’s always a way out.
Steve Prussack
Well, I’m glad you brought that up because there really does seem to be some weird relationship with money, currency and people don’t like talking about making money. Why is that?
Markus Rothkranz
Because they were programmed from a young age that money is evil and the rich people are evil and bad and that they take from the poor. And I wrote about that in ‘The Prosperity Secret’ and I believe also in ‘Instructions for a New Life’, is that’s one of the things that keeps us from becoming successful. People complain about not having money but then if you look at their belief system of money, they think that money – the people who have lots of money are bad, that they’re evil. So nobody wants to become a bad person. And so they’ve already stopped themselves from becoming that with their subconscious.
Markus Rothkranz
Their subconscious is telling them, ‘Do not get lots of money because that means you’re a bad person. You got to be a poor person. You got to be a person that’s under the foot of others. You got to be like, suppressed and that makes you likable.’ People think that being a victim makes you likable. That you can high five each other and like, ‘Yeah, we’re all victims. We’re all going through this together. The rich suck.’
Markus Rothkranz
Yeah, there are some bad rich people but there’s bad poor people, too. I mean, go into a ghetto and see how many drug dealers and pimps there are, just as many as in the rich part of town. Money has nothing to do with good or bad. There’s good or bad in all walks of life, in all money, whatever, however, it doesn’t matter. There’s a balance in everything. There’s just as many good people that are super rich as there are bad people. And I don’t even like the word ‘good or bad’ because that’s all relative, that’s all perspective-based.
Markus Rothkranz
So my point is, that the programming of money being bad is something that we were taught at a young age by victims, people who are stuck in a stupid victim mentality. And if you really want to become successful financially, you got to get – that’s the first thing you got to get rid of. You got to be okay with having money. You got to be okay with – it’s not a bad thing. It’s just a piece of paper with some ink on it. Like, what’s the big deal? You’re giving it the bad or the good value. You know, you’re the one that is labeling it as good or bad, but it’s really nothing. It’s just a piece of paper or just a piece of gold. It is what it is. It’s just a thing. You give it the connotation. And that comes from programming. So if you really want money in your life, you got to start seeing it as a beneficial thing, as an okay thing to allow into your life.
Markus Rothkranz
And you don’t go after it. You don’t make your decisions in life, ‘I’m gonna become rich. I’m gonna go after money.’ Because money is worthless. It’s just again, paper – stop going after that. Go after what your dream is, go after something that helps others and the money is the side effect. That’s the difference and people don’t realize that. And that is the big difference between becoming successful or being on a mouse on a treadmill, because that’s what everybody is. Everybody’s going after the money and they think that the happy life is the side effect when in reality, the truth of this is going after the happy life is what you should be going after and the money is the side effect.
Markus Rothkranz
And people think, ‘No, it can’t be that.’ You know, it’s not – I didn’t say it was easy but that’s the way to become successful. And people don’t believe that. That’s again, that’s another belief system. They have to get over. It’s all this negative programming that keeps people from becoming free and happy. And to me success – being rich is not how much money you have in the bank, it’s how free are you to travel the world, to see the world, to experience the great things in life without having to worry about stuff, that’s freedom.
Markus Rothkranz
A lot of rich people don’t pay for things. They’re given stuff for free. So it’s not a money issue. It’s what is life – what are you allowing life to give you as an experience?
Steve Prussack
So much good – I mean, I’ve been interviewing Marcus for, I don’t know 15, 16 years now and you really do serve. My last question always is, ‘Any other advice for those just starting out, trying to reach more people?’ but this whole interview is amazing advice. And I’m like, ‘Well, do I even ask that?’ Anything to cap it up or anything you didn’t touch on for those – Markus and you are so generous in helping people. It’s clear from everything you’ve given us today.
Markus Rothkranz
Well, I appreciate that and I like you, Steve. That’s why I love these interviews with you. The one thing that I would suggest to people is follow your heart, not your fear. Fear-based life decisions – it’s a wall and you’ll never break free from that prison. When you follow your heart, you might fail. You might lose everything. But that’s part of the growth process. That’s what you need to go through to get to the next level. See it or understand it for what it is. That’s part of going through the different grades, even school. You have to go through 1st grade to get to 2nd grade to go to the 3rd grade. You don’t just go from 1st grade to university. It just doesn’t work that way. You got to go through the steps. And those steps involve learning from failure.
Markus Rothkranz
All the successful people will tell you the best thing that they’ve ever had was failure, because that’s what made them learn and grow. If you’re comfortable, you’re not going learn and grow. So don’t fear the failures. Don’t look at them as failures. They’re lessons. Don’t fear those. You can lose everything ten times over it’s okay. When you learn that dandelions and weeds are edible, you’ll never starve. I was naked in the desert with nothing. I didn’t have clothes and I survived. So if I can do it, I mean, there is no excuse even if you die. I mean, come on. There are people who came back from the dead and said, ‘Oh, there’s nothing to worry about.’ Come on, seriously, there is nothing to fear, not even life itself or death itself. So enjoy life.
Markus Rothkranz
Make the best of it. Be positive and look at the potential, not the negative stuff. And the more you focus on the good stuff. Being thankful for the few things that you have, the more things you’ll be given. If you focus on the things you don’t have, you’re going to have more things taken away from you. So that’s kind of the secret there is to just be appreciative. Start with the appreciation of having one penny. And if you appreciate that 1penny, you’ll be given 2 and then 3 and then it’s exponential.
Markus Rothkranz
So, be positive and more positive stuff will come to you. No matter how many times you’re knocked down, just get back up, brush yourself off and keep going. That’s what makes you stronger.
Steve Prussack
Incredible advice. It’s Markus Rothkranz. You can’t help smiling when you hear him. The website is thehealthylife.com. Is that the best place for everyone to follow you, Markus, thehealthylife.com?
Markus Rothkranz
Yep.
Steve Prussack
And I would highly recommend ‘Instructions for a New Life’ is a great place to start and they’ve got that right on the website. So check it out. All of his books, I have! I have all those books on my shelf. So do check it out. And well I think, that’s what we’ve got for you today and I think we’ve covered it all. Markus, anything to say in closing or any plans for the future with the work you’re doing? Are you creating new ideas or other visions? Or are you kind of staying where you are?
Markus Rothkranz
Just living day to day, enjoying life and sharing it with people.
Steve Prussack
Markus Rothkranz right here on Juicingpreneur radio. Markus, thank you for all these years of incredible wisdom. Always a few steps ahead of all of us. Thank you for being here.
Markus Rothkranz
Thanks, Steve. It’s a joy to be with you.
Steve Prussack
Much love. Thank you for listening. I’m Steve Prussack and we’ll see you next time.
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