Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Scafidi
Hi mark, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in Chicago loving sports, and eventually played football at NIU. After college is where my life’s adventure really began. I went to work in Connecticut at ESPN. I was making less money than my part time college job paid, but I didn’t care because I was working in television. I was behind the scenes but always knew I wanted to be on camera. I knew I had to leave ESPN to fulfill my dream. The road to getting on tv in a major market was long and meant going to small towns making even less money. I didn’t care and was excited to go to Montana for my first on air job. I had never even been to Montana before I moved there. Montana was the second of many moves in the life of a sportscaster chasing a dream which eventually led me back to Chicago where I got a chance to be on tv in my hometown and the 3rd largest market.
While working in tv and making just enough to eat I knew I had to figure out a way to buy stuff. I wanted to be able to make my own money. I couldn’t get a loan from a bank because I had no assets so I started a business off a 12 month no interest credit card. I had a 10k dollar limit and knew that I had a year to pay it off so I spent the 10k on it and invested that into a new business. I started the business with no experience running a business of any kind. I spent the 10k and managed to invest the money into products which I was able to sell and earn back the money within just a few months. When the bill was due I was able to pay it all off in full. I had made more money in one year doing my own business than I had made in 2 years combined doing tv. I took my profits and started investing all my money into the stock market. I started my account with only 500 dollars back in Connecticut.
.While I was in Montana my boss sent me over to a movie set one day to let them use our camera and when I got there they asked me to be in the movie and I was like sure that sounds fun. That was where I got my first taste of Hollywood being in a movie by just dumb luck. I loved my time on the set and thought this would be cool to do more of. While in Chicago I ended up going to an audition for a studio produced movie and ended up working on that for 6 weeks which was awesome. After the experience I knew I had to go to LA if I wanted to really try and make it.
The first thing I did in LA was I got an agent which I had to ask my friends in the business how to do it. My first audition in LA I just showed up and was told to do an Australian accent, so I did. It took years but I was finally cast in my first big international show which aired on a cable channel. The show was shown all over the world which I had no idea it was going to be on in so many countries and was the moment I had waited for my whole life, to be on a big massive successful show.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The journey to get where I am at now was incredibly hard. I struggled financially for years because while you are working your way up in the tv business you make just enough to eat. I also had to pack up and move to new places all the time where I didn’t know anyone, and start all over every time. People joke with me now and say you always have coupons and deals for free stuff. They want to know why I am like that? I say because for years I had no other way of getting stuff so I learned how to survive with no money and that mentality has never gone away. I know what its like to have no money and you do what you need to do. Today I am able to go on a 7 day international trip for less then most people can go away for a weekend road trip.
I was told no easily 1k times for all kinds of different jobs. You learn to not take the rejection personally because if you do then you will always be depressed. Not having money was easily the hardest part because I had seen all my friends who had “normal” jobs making money and traveling and buying houses and I was struck making less then I made in college. It also takes determination and sacrifice to get where you want to be. I had to have faith that I was going to eventually get where I wanted to be because if I didn’t have faith who would.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am known for being a sportscaster and tv personality but that is just part of who i am now. I am a travel consultant having been to 56 countries. I am a real estate investor, a business owner, and a wall st investor. I started off with just a 500 dollar account which was my only extra 500 dollars at the time. I don’t think I am just one thing anymore but you can be more then one thing and successful. I had always loved traveling and never thought my way of getting deals could help anyone other then me, till I started getting lots of requests on where to go and how to do it. I also just filmed an episode of an upcoming show where I got to travel to Europe for and the big show I was on was filmed in Africa so I have been able to combine two things I like.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
The television business has has changed so much from when I first go into it. The explosion of social media has totally changed the way people interact and consume information which was not there when I started. The television business is always changing, the next 10 years will look be completely different then the last 10 did. Reality tv was nothing like it is now when I started. The main difference coming to reality tv I think is the future is going to be a union. Networks having been making millions a season off reality tv shows and the people on the shows were getting a few thousand dollars a season with no creative control of how they are portrayed.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mark_scafidi/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@markscafidi
