Start At The Top – Stories To Get You Off Your Ass

“Paying your dues” is for other people. Why spend years toiling away at low-end jobs when it’s possible to start right at the top?With passion and drive, you can go for what you want and achieve it. Mark Simon has done it… many times.

At 12, he had his own line of skateboards. At 14, he was superintendent of a construction company. While studying advertising in college, he drove past two billboards he designed and sold to local companies. With no writing experience, he accidentally sold his first book to a publisher. He went from being an assistant to running a department in three hours.
Mark sold his first training program to Keller Williams Realty, now the largest realty company in the world. It took him just 15 minutes to land his dream job with Steven Spielberg. It took him one call and one meeting to work on The Walking Dead. He landed Disney as his first animation client.

But with big swings, also comes big misses. He fucked up a deal to work with the director of the SpongeBob SquarePants movie. He screwed up an opportunity with animation gods Hanna-Barbera (creators of The Flintstones, Scooby Doo and many others). There are lessons to be learned from failures.

Dozens of stories and photos have been pulled from Mark’s amazing life to prove to you that you can get what you want without “paying your dues”.

Mark was inspired to write this book to guide and motivate his college-aged sons. The lessons he gained from each success and each failure are invaluable. He hopes these same stories will inspire you to start at the top.

Here’s the links to purchase the book:

Kindle Edition:

Print Edition:

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Table of Contents

Forward
Preface
Section 1 – I Did It My Way

• Chapter 1 – My Dream Job with Steven Spielberg In Just 15 Minutes
• Chapter 2 – How I Landed My Job On The Walking Dead
• Chapter 3 – How I Lost and Regained My Book Deal
• Chapter 4 – I’ll Take The Lower Grade, Thanks
• Chapter 5 – Is It Science Or Is It Art?
• Chapter 6 – Is it an English Paper or a Job Interview?
• Chapter 7 – Keller Williams is Calling
• Chapter 8 – Well Hell, I Can Do That!

Section 2 – I am Mark – Hear Me Roar

• Chapter 9 – The Power of Print
• Chapter 10 – Is It Bragging or Self Promotion?
• Chapter 11 – Why Have Lots of Job Interviews When You Can Start At The Top?
• Chapter 12 – Nickelodeon Needs Me
• Chapter 13 – Find a Hole and Fill It
• Chapter 14 – Gave My Left Leg For a Black Belt

Section 3 – Never Too Young

• Chapter 15 – Skateboarding – Public Nuisance or Business Opportunity?
• Chapter 16 – VP at 14 – Why Not?
• Chapter 17 – I Named That Huge Art Center
• Chapter 18 – A Photo is Worth An Unexpected Award
• Chapter 19 – Did I Really Need That Class?

Section 4 – Tell Other People What to Do

• Chapter 20 – Be Your Own Boss
• Chapter 21 – Author or Publisher – Who’s the Boss?
• Chapter 22 – Do Your Fucking Job
• Chapter 23 – Confidence is Everything

Section 5 – Prove It, Don’t Just Say It

• Chapter 24 – Get a Promotion In Hours, Not Years
• Chapter 25 – Late Night Study Leads to NBC
• Chapter 26 – Going Back, Again and Again
• Chapter 27 – I Got Wizard of Id
• Chapter 28 – Tinker Bell

Section 6 – Fuck Ups

• Chapter 29 – Ego Got In The Way
• Chapter 30 – Hanna-Barbera – Not This Time
• Chapter 31 – Self-Taught Failed Me This Time
• Chapter 32 – I Assumed Control and Was Shot Down
• Chapter 33 – Blew A Connection To SpongeBob

Section 7 – Screw It – I’ll Do It Myself

• Chapter 34 – How I Accidentally Sold My First Book
• Chapter 35 – Reinventing Resumes
• Chapter 36 – $3 Million in Publicity

Section 8 – Constructing the Ultimate Attitude

• Chapter 37 – You’ve Been Doing It Wrong For 20 Years
• Chapter 38 – Act Like You Belong
• Chapter 39 – I Get My Kicks
• Chapter 40 – Is It OK To Be Cocky?

 
• Epilogue
• Mark Simon’s Other Books
• Mark Simon’s Live Talks
• Mark Simon’s LinkedIn Learning Courses
• About the Author – Mark Simon

(Mark Simon on the day he interviewed to work on The Walking Dead)

(Mark Simon Working For Spielberg on the NBC Series seaQuest DSV)

(Mark Simon Signing a Deal for the Properties B.C and Wizard of Id)