Success Through Service

How My Funding Machine Came to Be

By Ty Talbot, Co-Founder of My Funding Machine

If you run a business, you know what worry feels like.

Worry about money. Worry about whether the business will make it. Worry about your family and whether you're actually going to succeed at this.

Some weeks it can pile up until everything feels a little overwhelming.

When I find myself in that place, I come back to a quote attributed to Gordon B. Hinckley that has had a pretty significant impact on my life.

"The best antidote I know for worry is work. The best medicine for despair is service."

-Gordon B. Hinckley

Work keeps you moving. But I think service does something even more powerful. It takes the focus off yourself and puts it on someone else.

Instead of worrying about everything going wrong in your own life, you start asking what you can do to make someone else's life a little better.

And looking back, some of the greatest opportunities and blessings in my life have come from doing exactly that.

Not from some brilliant business strategy or carefully calculated decision.

Just trying to help someone, without expecting anything in return.

It Happened to Shopify First

One of my favorite entrepreneurial stories is how Shopify came to be.

Back in 2004, a guy named Tobias Lütke and his business partners wanted to start an online snowboard store called Snowdevil.

There was just one problem.

The ecommerce software available at the time was expensive, complicated, and didn't really do what they needed it to do.

Tobias happened to be a programmer, so rather than fight with the existing software, he decided to build his own.

He wasn't trying to create the next big technology company. He just wanted a website that would let him sell snowboards.

And he built a pretty good one.

But then something interesting started happening.

Other business owners began noticing the website. They weren't necessarily interested in buying snowboards. They wanted to know how he'd built his online store.

Could they use the same software? Could he help them build something similar for their businesses?

Suddenly, Tobias realized he might have solved a much bigger problem than the one he originally set out to fix.

There were thousands of entrepreneurs who wanted to sell products online but didn't have the technical skills or resources to build their own ecommerce websites.

So instead of continuing to focus on selling snowboards, Tobias and his team decided to make their software available to other business owners.

In 2006, they officially launched Shopify.

Today, millions of businesses around the world use Shopify to sell their products.

And to think, it all started with a guy who just wanted to sell snowboards online.

I love that story because the real business opportunity wasn't what they originally set out to build. It was the solution they created for themselves that turned out to be valuable to everyone else.

And rather than keeping that solution to themselves, they made it available to other entrepreneurs.

I had no idea at the time, but something remarkably similar would eventually happen to us at 7 Figures Funding.

The Competitor Who Kept Showing Up on My Calendar

We'd been running 7 Figures Funding for a few years and had experienced some pretty good success.

Over those years, we'd also built our own CRM and internal software to manage the business because nothing on the market really worked the way we wanted it to.

One day, a guy named Ryan showed up on my calendar.

I recognized his email domain and knew almost immediately that he was a competitor.

I figured I'd jump on the call and see why he'd scheduled.

Well, he spent most of the call picking my brain.

How we handled different types of loans. How we worked with lenders. How we managed different parts of the business.

And for some reason, I just kept telling him.

About a year went by, and one day I noticed Ryan was on my calendar again.

I remember thinking, "Oh great, here we go again."

But this time, he wanted to talk about our systems and processes.

He loved the CRM and software we'd spent years building and wanted to know how we'd done it.

And for some odd reason, I didn't just tell him how we'd built it.

I actually helped him replicate the whole thing.

When we finished, Ryan said something I'll never forget.

"There are thousands of other brokers who would love to use this system. I think you have a business here."

And that's how My Funding Machine began.

Not from some elaborate business plan or a strategy session about launching a software company.

It came from helping a competitor who kept showing up on my calendar.

Funny enough, had I looked at Ryan as nothing more than competition, I probably would have never taken that first call.

And there's a pretty good chance My Funding Machine wouldn't exist today.

An Orange Sticky Note That Changed My Life

This next story has absolutely nothing to do with software, but it's probably my favorite example of all.

Years ago, I worked in a building that we shared with another company.

A girl named Marie worked for that other company.

My buddy and I both thought she was so cute, but neither of us had the courage to go talk to her.

After a few months, we finally decided someone needed to make a move.

And somehow, it was determined that I would be the one to approach her.

Not for myself, though.

I was supposed to introduce her to my buddy.

So I finally worked up the courage, went over, and got her phone number.

She wrote it down on a little orange sticky note, and I handed it straight to my friend.

Mission accomplished.

Except a week went by, and she still hadn't texted him back.

So I looked at my buddy and said, "Hey, give me that sticky note."

Well, the rest is history.

Marie and I were married 15 months later. Today we have three beautiful kids, and I genuinely can't imagine my life without them.

And that little orange sticky note?

I still have it.

In fact, I have that exact sticky note tattooed on my arm.

The sticky note that started it all. I was originally trying to get it to someone else.

It's pretty funny to think that I met my wife and started my future family because I was trying to help a friend.

And yes, I still give him a hard time about it.

The Partnership That Started With Setting Up Chairs

A few years into building 7 Figures Funding, a business leader with a large community gave us an opportunity to present our funding services to his members.

This was a pretty big deal for us at the time.

I showed up about an hour early, and his team was still getting everything ready.

So I started helping set up chairs.

Nothing special. Just helping wherever I could.

We eventually gave our presentation, and when the event was over, I stayed behind and helped clean everything up.

I didn't think much of it.

But that relationship eventually became the biggest partnership we'd ever had at 7 Figures Funding.

It also turned into a lifelong friendship.

A couple of years later, I was even on a cruise with him and his entire community.

With our partner and his community aboard the Norwegian Bliss in April 2019.

At one point, I asked him why he'd chosen to work with us.

He told me he'd worked with dozens of funding companies over the years.

Plenty of them could give a good presentation and talk about all the things they could do for his community.

But what stood out about us was the little things.

Showing up early. Setting up chairs. Staying afterward to clean.

He told me those things made the difference because they showed we genuinely cared.

I've never forgotten that conversation.

We spend so much time and money in business trying to stand out from the competition.

Better marketing. Better offers. Better sales scripts. Better technology.

And all of those things matter.

But sometimes what sets you apart is simply being willing to do the things nobody asked you to do.

The Best Medicine for Despair Is Service

I want to go back to that quote one more time.

"The best antidote I know for worry is work. The best medicine for despair is service."

I think there's a lot of truth in those words.

When things aren't going well in business or life, it's easy to become consumed with our own problems.

How am I going to make more money? How am I going to grow this business? How am I going to get through this?

I've found that one of the best ways to change my perspective is to stop focusing so much on myself and find someone else I can help.

And there's something pretty incredible about what happens when you do.

Your own problems don't necessarily disappear, but they often start to feel a little smaller.

You realize that even when things aren't going perfectly in your own life, you still have something valuable to offer someone else.

And sometimes those small acts of service lead to opportunities and relationships you never could have imagined.

I do want to make one thing clear.

Not every act of service is going to turn into a successful business, a lifelong partnership, or a marriage.

And if you're only helping people because you expect something in return, I think you've missed the entire point.

The service itself is the reward. Anything that comes afterward is simply a bonus.

That's also the kind of company I want My Funding Machine to be.

Not just another software company collecting subscription payments.

I want us to be a company that genuinely helps brokers build better businesses. One that shares what we've learned, helps others avoid the mistakes we've made, and looks for opportunities to make their lives a little easier.

After all, that's how this whole thing started.

And I hope we never forget it.

My Challenge to You

For the next few days, I want to challenge you to change one simple question.

Instead of asking, "What can I get?"

Ask, "How can I serve?"

Maybe it's helping a competitor who reaches out with a question.

Maybe it's showing up early and staying late when someone could use an extra hand.

Maybe it's introducing two people who could benefit from knowing each other.

Or maybe it's something as simple as checking in on someone who's having a rough week.

You probably won't know what will come from it.

And that's okay.

I certainly had no idea that helping a competitor would lead to My Funding Machine.

I had no idea that helping a buddy get a girl's phone number would lead to my wife and three kids.

And I definitely had no idea that setting up a few chairs would help create one of the most important business relationships of my career.

But looking back, I'm awfully glad I did those things.

Success through service isn't just a slogan. It's a principle I've watched play out in my own life over and over again.

And I genuinely believe it can do the same for you.