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Real Stories Real People
Dennis Serrao • Cat Marrs • Suzanne Kincaid •
Anita Flegg •
Jieranai T. Maier •
Tamah Nakamura •
Bonnie Vining •
Mark Sincevich •
Rosemary-Martino Rodriguez •
Jan Louthain •
Mark McMahon •
Heather and Murray Rand •
Susan Jennings •
Hank Bochenski •
Serena Williamson•
Miriam Benard•
Kevin McDonald
Dentist follows his passion of travel
and pictures!
For
Mark McMahon it all began with a commitment. A commitment
to take six months off and do what he loved; To travel
and take
pictures. He wanted an adventure. Mark wanted to drive
from his
home in Tucson all the way to the tip of South America.
That commitment led to a shift, PUTTING
IT ALL TOGETHER, into living a life beyond
his dreams.
The commitment was partly motivated by the death of his
father. Mark recalls when it hit him, driving home one
evening. He remembers the exact stretch of road where
he said to himself: "I'M GONNA DIE TOO! I can't worry
about what anyone else thinks. I gotta get on with MY
LIFE and DO WHAT I WANNA DO!"
This was early 1999. Suddenly Mark had a laser focus on
the day he had chosen to depart, November 1, 1999. (Keep
that date in mind.) No matter what it took he was gonna
make it happen.
Mark had a busy dental practice with an associate dentist
working for him at the time. He told him if he wanted
to stay with the office he had to buy a portion of the
practice. Mark wanted to be able to leave with the confidence
that his practice would be taken care of during his six-month
absence.
He told his associate dentist that he could buy a quarter
or a one third interest in the practice. He said he wanted
to buy half. Mark said no, he didn't want a full partner.
Off the top of his head, without really thinking he said,
"You can buy a third or you can buy the whole thing."
Much to Mark's surprise, he said he wanted to buy all
of it! Hmm…this was something Mark had not really
considered.
At the time Mark had recently started a marketing company
for other dentists, built around a successful TV infomercial
he had created for his own practice. The company had had
some success but it was not taking off like he had hoped.
Shortly thereafter Mark got offers to buy some assets
of his young company, specifically the videotape he had
created and the company name, SmileWorks, which Mark had
trademarked. Keep in mind that this was 1999, the craziest
of the Dotcom craze.
One thing led to another and Mark ended up selling all
three items: his dental practice, the videotape, and the
trademark. All three different deals were closed and signed
on the same day, November 1, 1999.
Mark had earned a small fortune and his freedom. Before
long he was on the road and south of the border. He created
a website (www.filmtrips.com) to document his six month
journey. Six months turned into four years and a new way
of life for Mark. He wrote and photographed his way through
16 different countries. He posted over 120 stories and
1000 photographs online.
He pursued his primary passion for photography and discovered
a new one for writing. Mark is currently working on a
novel inspired by his adventures in Latin America. 'On
the Streets & Between the Sheets' will be out October
1, 2004.
What can we learn from Mark?
It all starts with a realization of what you want to do
and then a commitment to follow your dreams!
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