Fly: I want to know, what is your first memory of buying or selling something?

Mark Segalla: In high school, my best friend and I started a lawn care company. We walked around the neighborhood with our push mower because we didn’t have a truck, knocking on doors and waiting for our first “yes.” Eventually, we got it up to about 50 yards and hired my little brother and another friend. We’d just drop them off at different houses with a lawnmower. We made a bit of money for 15- or 16-year-olds.

The craziest experience was when I was by myself cutting a yard. We had a big mower at this point, and it got stuck at the bottom of a hill. I had to push the big mower all the way back up the hill through the mud. That was one of those days when I realized, “I don’t think I want to do this for the rest of my life.” It’s kind of the classic real estate story—someone gave me the book Rich Dad Poor Dad, and it changed my whole perspective on life, money, and real estate. I started networking with people I knew in real estate, got connected to Elifin, and haven’t looked back since.