Mayo Clinic

-Developed first-ever Community Health Worker role in oncology pain management research study
-Led team of 5 interventionalists (RNs, PTs, health coaches) to optimize workflows for patient care + replicability
-Selected by team to attend Mayo Clinic Health and Wellness Coach Training to develop behavior change facilitation skills

Health and Wellness Coach/Lead Clinical Research Coordinator

-Lead coordinator on electronic health record-based program facilitating patients'
discharge to their homes instead of to skilled nursing facilities
-Leveraged bedside manner and communication skills to enroll hospitalized patients in electronic questionnaire to determine patients’ activity needs-Communicated with hospital staff to ensure that patients were in appropriate state of mind to participate in intervention
-Maintained patient reports to ensure completeness and traceability of results
-Triaged cancer patients’ symptoms and called them to schedule phone calls with symptom care manager nurses

Clinical Research Coordinator

-Led workflow development for AI-based questionnaire to facilitate expedited discharge of hospitalized patients in the face of COVID-19 staffing shortages
-Worked directly with 1000+ hospitalized patients to calibrate adaptive electronic questionnaire to predict discharge location with 94% accuracy

Associate Clinical Research Coordinator

66.1

Write a weekly newsletter sharing tips for building health and living well.

Author

Lahey Hospital & Medical Center

• Assessed trauma teams’ care for patients using NOTECHS framework, placing a strong emphasis on interpersonal skills
and teamwork in high-stress environment to optimize patient outcomes
• Presented findings at team meetings with trauma surgeons and nurses to facilitate discussion and practice improvements

Clinical Research Intern

Peace Corps Zambia

Mentorship: 
•	Build school’s capacity to offer quality education by participating in daily activities such as teaching English to classes of 25-30 students in Grades 5, 6, 8, and 9
•	Coach 87 students in Grades 6-9 in 12-week sexual health program, including HIV/AIDS prevention, resulting in average increases of over 20% in participants’ content knowledge 
•	Mentor and train staff members to develop skills in areas such as developing alternatives to corporal punishment, time management, and English teaching via monthly all-staff meetings 

Project Management:
•	Negotiate with community development team to establish budget, processes, procedures, and communication plans to construct two staff houses, resulting in 20% increase in staff housing 
•	Allocate United States Government grant funds exceeding $2,500 and manage construction of houses by 25 community members from conception to completion of project 
•	Ensure adherence to project owner’s 4-month completion deadline by leading twice-weekly meetings with team leaders and members to communicate expectations and address challenges such as resource allocation and time constraints

Rural Education Development Agent

•	Enrolled hospitalized patients in 100-question electronic survey study to develop a 10-item questionnaire that assigns appropriate physical therapy treatment plan upon hospitalization
•	Recognized for high enrollment numbers (successfully completed average of seven 30-minute surveys per day)
•	Facilitated communication between project team members and project owner to provide owner with updates and complete study on time
•	Maintained patient reports to ensure traceability of results and diversity of study participants

St. Olaf College

•	Assisted students of all academic backgrounds on a walk-in basis with vocational discernment via discussions of major and career exploration, job and internship searches, and establishing professional connections 
•	Critiqued resumes to emphasize each student’s unique strengths for experiential learning and job searches
•	Chosen to collaborate with a fellow Peer Advisor and a full-time staff member to coordinate Quo Vadis Sophomore Retreat to explore questions concerning vocational exploration for 80+ college sophomores

Career Advisor

CAMP MANITO-WISH YMCA

•	Co-led and supervised groups of 5-10 campers ages 10-12 to foster personal growth and self discovery through activities such as sailing, swimming, and nature exploration in a residential summer camp setting 
•	Solo led five 15-year-old campers on a weeklong overnight canoe camping trip to cultivate campers’ appreciation for nature, self confidence, and effective leadership skills
•	Adapted to trying backcountry situations such as severe weather and physical exhaustion by adjusting schedules and meal plans while maximizing utility of available resources to maintain group safety and morale 
•	Developed leadership skills among 10 potential first-generation college students in ninth grade via  ten-day leadership "boot camp" culminating in a three-night, solo-led canoe camping trip

Leadership Facilitator

Research leader @ Mayo Clinic | Follow me for insights on habits, productivity, and self-actualization | On a mission to normalize health

70% of American adults are overweight or obese. 
40% of cancers are preventable. 
72% of adults report health impacts due to stress.

I've worked with 300+ cancer patients as a health and wellness coach at the Mayo Clinic. 
And I've noticed a few things during this time:

-No one wants to be unhealthy
-Medications and procedures can keep you alive
-But it's lifestyle change that will help you build resilient health

And there's an unfortunate misconception out there that health is difficult to build. 
That "exercise" = self-imposed suffering
That "healthy foods" = kale smoothies
That joint pain is normal. 

But if you've got a demanding professional life, you need to implement low-friction habits and routines to preserve your health. 90 minutes at the gym 5x/week is not an option. 

This is the stuff I help people with. 
Simple health that will last a lifetime. 
So you can back to  your mission. 

Over the course of 12 weeks, we’ll develop habits and routines that will help you lose the weight, dissolve the stress, and reclaim your health. 
Should we talk?
DM me. 

About me

I’m a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Zambia) and Mayo Clinic-certified health and wellness coach.

I’m the author of the twice-weekly email newsletter 66.1 (66point1.com), which merges science and common sense to help you live healthier, for longer.

Marcus Frick

Talked with a gentleman the other day. 96 years old. #1 Rotarian in his state 3 years running. Still works full-time selling insurance. He’s got heart disease, cancer, bad knees. Daughter says, “Dad, you’ve got to slow down or you’re going to die!” He says, “I've got to keep going or I’m going to die!” 

So far, he’s right. 
Doesn’t it make you wonder…

If retirement is overrated?
How many lives he's touched over the course of a 74 year career?
If longevity is correlated with how often you make other people smile?

Building healthy founders, people, and companies

Had a "New Year's Resolution" conversation today. 
Raised a few questions. 

If you're...

Overweight.
Stressed out.
Struggling to sleep.

And looking at the calendar, deciding what kind of resolution you want to make come the New Year.
Wondering if, before the New Year, the holidays are just going to make all these problems even worse...

Is there anything you could do today to set yourself up for success come January 1?
Does improving your life have to wait until the calendar reads "2026"?

Care to have a conversation? 
I'm crowdsourcing some wisdom gathering.
5 minute interview on 1-3 things you can do in the final 6 weeks of 2025 to make sure you hit the ground running in 2026. 
Send a DM and we'll find a time. 

Or maybe you'd prefer to share your thoughts in the comments?

Overdid it on Thanksgiving stuffing?

7 ways to lose 1 pound this week: 

1. Walk additional 7000 steps/day
2. Skip dessert every day for the next week
3. Don’t eat for 1 whole day (ask your doctor)
4. Don’t drink anything for 1 whole day (not recommended!)
5. Replace Coke with Olipop
6. Replace 2 beers after work with a walk
7. Turn every “touchpoint” into a walking meeting

Is there one in here that might work for you?
Or something that didn’t make the list that might be your ticket to 1 pound?

Doctor (or spouse?!) told you you’d do well to lose a pound this week?
Send a DM.

Rules, rules, rules!
Yuck.

Sleep 8 hours/night. 

But why, then, are there nights when you sleep for 5 hours and feel great?
Or others when you sleep for 9 hours and feel like you got hit by a train?

Drink 3 Liters of water/day. 

But what if you’re not thirsty?
Why would you drink water if you’re not thirsty?
If you’re eating a whole foods diet, do you need to drink the same amount of water as if you were eating a diet full of processed foods?

Eat 2,000 calories per day. 

What if you’re a super athlete?
What if you have a sedentary job?
Spent the day traveling?
What foods should make up these 2,000 calories anyway?

Who makes these rules?
Are they working?

Want to figure out what works for you?
DMs are open.

Talked to a CEO + founder client this afternoon. He called to say thanks. His people are losing weight, more productive, happier, less stressed. 

I reminded him that he’s the one who connected his people with their health guy. And he’s good at picking high-potential people. 

His sales guy was expecting to have a down quarter (“Q4 is always slow”). He’s on track to have his second-best month in the 5 years he’s been at the company. What happened?

“I’ve got more energy so I’ve been reaching out to prospects more.”
 
I asked the founder why he invested in this kind of support for his people. What sort of ROI was he hoping to see?

His answer, “Not really worried about ROI. Not everyone has access to this kind of thing and I figured it could help them.”

Can doing the right thing for your people really help your bottom line???

Client texted today to cancel this afternoon’s call. She’s sick, Thanksgiving is coming, the works. 

No sweat. Same day + time next week? 

Yep. 

I went to change the calendar invite immediately. 
Client had already sent a new invitation with updated day and time. 

What if we all operated like this client?
Wouldn’t the world be a better place?

A couple weeks back, a friend sent a piece about his friend who used AI as his health coach. Helped him with some technical stuff like suggesting he ask his doctor about a new medication because the current one was messing up his hormones. Smart.

Another friend told me he wouldn’t hire a health coach because all the information is available online. True. And fine, because he doesn’t need a health coach. 

So, what’s left? Is AI coming for everyone’s job? Are you going to ChatGPT your way to losing 50 pounds? Is knowing what you need to do enough?

Talking to a friend back in June. He’s in his early 70s, got a new hip a couple years ago. 

When it was time for a new hip, his doctor said hold on, not so fast, you’ve gotta lose some weight first. In August, his doctor said he’d schedule the surgery tentatively for February, on the condition that my friend had to be 20 lbs lighter by then. 

He’s a pretty focused guy, plus he was tired of not being able to do the stuff he wanted to, sick of the pain. Had lost the weight in the past, had a plan, was confident he could do it again. 

He got it done. Lost the 20 lbs in 10 weeks. Then, starting in mid-October, he called his doctor every day (focused, remember?).
“Any cancellations?” No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, yes. Got the new hip the day before Thanksgiving. Had a whole new life by February. 

But what if you’re not like my friend?
Don’t have a plan, haven’t lost the weight before?
But still need a new hip/knee/etc.?

Drinking coffee, reading 4,000 Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. There's some stuff in the epilogue about self-help. 

The question, "If telling someone what to do was enough, wouldn't we know it already?" came up. 

Reminded me of a friend who sent a DM a couple weeks ago. Said something like, "I know you charge for this stuff, but maybe you can share a few free tips with a friend? Please? I need to lose weight." 

4,000 weeks. This guy is in his early 30s. 30x52 = 1560 weeks gone, 40% of life is in the rearview. 

Doesn't it make you wonder?

Is another podcast episode, another free tip going to get you from where you are to where you want to be? 
How long has it been this way? 
How long are you going to tolerate it?

3 things I heard this week: 

-"I'm walking 12,000 steps/day."
-"My clothes aren't so tight anymore!"
-"My girlfriend told me she's proud of the progress I'm making."

You have the support you need to get where you want to go?
Going to lone wolf it? 
Got a plan?

Say you lose 10 pounds by 12/31/2025...who's the first person to notice?

Talked to a guy today:

He's lost weight before. That time around, he started 75 Hard and stopped eating at the same time. If it’s all about CICO, he was a model student.

But it sucked!
Energy was low, he was injured a few weeks in.
Made it 25% of the way to his weight loss goal.
3 months later he had gained it all back +20 lbs.

Doing it differently this time around.
More exercise, but not so extreme.
Eating plenty, and it's all real stuff.
Doesn’t count calories, macros, etc.
And? 

He’s down 10 pounds in the last 6 weeks. 
Shooting for 15 by Thanksgiving. 
Family telling him he’s got more energy. 

Can it really be simple, pain-free, maybe even fun?!?!

What's your biggest obstacle to losing weight?

Open article: Why are we doing this? by 66point1.beehiiv.com

Marc Cabrera

Co-Founder

Telluride Regional Medical Center

Elected Board Member of the Telluride Regional Medical Center which operates a Level V Trauma & Emergency Services unit and a Primary Care unit that is a multi-specialty medical practice staffed with full-time primary care physicians, mid-level providers and visiting specialists.

Board Member

Panoramic Health

Panoramic Health was launched to help physicians, practices, patients, and payers navigate and shape the changing healthcare environment while driving improvements in outcomes and reducing total cost of care. We are kidney care’s leading, integrated, provider group, with 750+ providers and 1500+ employees, supporting nephrologists who provide care across 19 states. Panoramic Health is driven by proprietary, predictive data analytics and clinical workflows underpinned by one of the world’s largest clinical chronic kidney disease (“CKD”) data warehouses, enabling nephrologists to deliver better patient outcomes.

Private Investor

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.

Co-led team of 40 healthcare investment banking professionals.  Led healthcare services teams and developed nationally recognized sell-side advisory practice focused on value-based care, physician services and provider models.  Sole sourced more than 75 engagements, closed 52 transactions and generated ~$110 million in revenue.

Co-Head, Healthcare Investment Banking

Managing Director, Healthcare Investment Banking

Pinnacle Family Services

Co-founder and lead investor in a leading CARF-accredited provider of evidence-informed therapeutic foster care and evidence-based home and community based periodic behavioral health services to at-risk youth in North Carolina and Florida. Services provided by 192 incredible colleagues across 19 offices that serve children with high acuity conditions that often include mental, developmental, autism, emotional and/or medical conditions including dually diagnosed. Exited to Health Connect America (a Palladium Equity portfolio company) in 2021.

iCare Health Network

iCare Health Solutions is an organized eye care delivery system that specializes in delivering fully-integrated networks of optometric and ophthalmic professionals. Our solution optimizes quality outcomes, reduces health care cost as well as the overall improvement of patient satisfaction. Our distinguished community of eye care providers share the same philosophy of delivering cost-effective and holistic patient-centered care. Exited to VSP in 2021.

IMA Medical Group

IMA Medical Group provides high quality patient centric primary medical and wellness services focusing on improving patient care and offering convenient services for patients, their families, and caregivers. IMA serves patients in 24 medical centers across Central Florida, where over 70 physicians and nurse practitioners provide comprehensive medical services to almost 22,000 Medicare members in partnership with all leading Medicare Advantage health plans. Exited to TA Associates in 2019.

Community Medical Group

Community Medical Group is one of the largest, most recognized and respected providers of Medicaid and Medicare health services in Miami-Dade County. CMG operates 15 centers from North Miami Beach to Florida City and serves patients of all ages who are enrolled in a managed Medicaid or Medicare Advantage health plan. Exited to Nautic Partners in 2015.

Morgan Joseph & Co

Managed 10 person healthcare services team focused on public company advisory and private company sales.  Generated ~$35 million in revenue.

Group Head, Healthcare Investment Banking

Pinnacle Partners

Co-founder and managing partner of boutique investment banking advisory firm focused on lower middle market healthcare services companies.

Co-Founder of Healthcare Investment Banking Boutique

Bear Stearns Companies

Senior execution banker with extensive experience in public company mergers, divestitures, initial public offerings, debt and preferred stock financings for U.S. and European healthcare companies.

Associate Director, Healthcare Investment Banking

Vice President, Healthcare Investment Banking

Investment Banker | 4x Private Equity Exit | 1x Company Exit | 2x Ironman | Volunteer Firefighter/EMT | Mediocre CrossFit Athlete

By profession, I'm a numbers person;
so, here's me by the numbers:

1: My class ranking when I graduated from college

1: Company that I acquired (2015) and exited (2021)

3.5: Decades I’ve advised CEOs, boards and founders on the most important deals of their careers

5: Direct private equity investments I've made (4 of which exited)

8: Total members in my family (including 4 dogs and cats)

50: My percentile rank in the 2024 CrossFit Games for my age group (yes, mediocre)

81: Percent of my deals that closed since 2012

100: My commitment to continuing to grow as a person

161: Deals I've closed in my career

300: Days that I train for fitness each year

4,500: Population of the mountain town I live in and serve on its non-profit medical center board and as a volunteer firefighter/EMT

9,250:  Feet above sea level at which I typically sleep

Co-Head of Healthcare Investment Banking Group with 35 dedicated professionals.  Lead Health Services Team which focuses on provider services, value-based care models, managed care and behavioral health. Primarily manage private company sales (both founder- and private equity-owned) for companies with EBITDA of $5 - $50 million.

My excuses are strong. My coach is stronger.

8 years — same trainer.
Started in person in Miami,
now we train via Zoom.

Four days a week,
camera on,
EXCUSES OFF.

When he says "get under the bar,"
I get under the bar.

Here's the thing:

I'm a fitness coach.
I could easily coach myself.
But I don't.
Could I do this alone? Sure.
Would I? Absolutely not.

Someone watching changes everything.
Accountability isn't helpful—it's the point.
(Bonus: He also nitpicks my technique).

We all know what we should do.
A good coach makes sure we actually do it.

What's one thing you know you should do
but won't unless someone's holding you accountable?
______________________
I'm Marc Cabrera, a former investment banker. Wall Street taught me the numbers; life taught me what really counts.

Investor, Advisor, Mentor—Follow for real talk on mindset, money, growth, and living fit.

My workouts today look nothing like they did 25 years ago.
And honestly? I’m in way better shape because of it.

At 20, my routine looked like this:
→ Bench press
→ Incline bench
→ Decline bench
→ Dumbbell flies
→ Barbell curls
→ Dumbbell curls
→ Curl bar curls

Yes—basically every possible variation of
“make my chest and biceps pop.”

Today, at 50+, my workouts are way more varied:
→ Hip openers
→ Goblet squats
→ Turkish get-ups
→ Barbell cleans
→ 2k row for time
→ Deficit push-ups
→ And my personal favorite: the deadlift

Two things I never do now?
Bench and biceps.

The difference?
Functionality.

Back then, I left the gym pumped and feeling great.
Today, I often leave questioning my life choices—
and occasionally coughing from how hard
my nervous system just got taxed.

But here’s the truth:

If you want to be fit (and look good),
forget the bench-and-arms obsession.
Work your whole body.
Every single part of it.
______________________
I'm Marc Cabrera, a former investment banker. Wall Street taught me the numbers; life taught me what really counts.

If I had a limited budget and wanted to
level up my life, I’d invest in just two things:

1. My mental health 
2. A mentor or coach

During my first decade on Wall Street,
I quietly battled recurring episodes of depression.
I didn’t even realize that’s what it was—
I just knew I had stretches of low energy,
followed by nights where I couldn’t sleep.

It wasn’t until I picked up a book on depression
that it finally clicked: this might be me.

And honestly:
→ Working 100-hour weeks
→ Neglecting your health
→ Having zero social life...
will push almost anyone in that direction.

So I got help. Counseling changed everything.

And once my mental health leveled out,
I hired a mentor.
No exaggeration—he changed my life too.

How?

He called me out on my BS.
→ Consistently
→Compassionately
→ Relentlessly

Most people won’t do that for you.
It’s “impolite.”
So it's worth hiring someone who will.
But it’s also the fastest path to growth.

So if I only had a few dollars to invest,
they’d go to two people: a counselor and a mentor.

I'm Marc Cabrera, a former investment banker. Wall Street taught me the numbers; life taught me what really counts.

Want to feel more grateful this Thanksgiving?

Compare where you are today to where you were a year ago.

I learned this lesson on the jiu jitsu mats.
On any given day, I could feel great or terrible 
about my progress depending on who I sparred with.
There was always someone who could submit me—always.

One day, I shared this frustration with my professor.

His response changed everything:

"How is your jiu jitsu today compared to one year ago?"

Light bulb moment.
Because the answer was always "better."
Research backs this up.

Comparing yourself now to your past self is far more 
effective for well-being than measuring yourself
against others, whether in your imagination
or on social media.

So, this Thanksgiving, consider:

Are you in a better place:
→ Career-wise?
→ With your important relationships?
→ In your fitness?
→ Financially?

That progress—however small—is worth celebrating.
(Research on gratitude supports this too).

Happy Thanksgiving.
______________________
I'm Marc Cabrera, a former investment banker. Wall Street taught me the numbers; life taught me what really counts.

3 things I wish I knew when I started my career
When I graduated college, I had one goal:

A job on Wall Street.

→I didn’t consider alternatives
→ I didn’t think long-term
→ I just wanted to get in finance

And eventually, I landed the job—an entry-level investment banking role.

But soon after, the cracks showed:
→ I had no life outside the office
→ Some of my colleagues were jerks
→ Many of the problems were…mind-numbing

Most career advice focuses on:
→ Getting ahead
→ Moving up the title ladder
→ Earning more

But here are 3 things almost no one talks about—yet they matter far more.

1. The people you work with

This one gets overlooked, but determines a huge portion of your happiness.
Do you like working solo or in tight-knit teams?
Do you crave collaboration or autonomy?
When you work with people whose values and
working styles align with yours, the experience is completely different.
I was lucky to work with people I admired—
but even that wasn’t enough on its own.

2. The type of problems you actually enjoy solving

It’s easy to chase roles based on what you can do.
But that’s not the same as what energizes you.

Ask yourself:
What challenges do I love sinking my teeth into?
Some people thrive in messy project work.
Others love optimizing systems.
Some prefer having a boss. Others don't.
Job satisfaction isn’t about the title—
it’s about the problems you get to solve every day.

3. The lifestyle you want outside of work

Most people plan their career around the job.
Almost no one plans it around the life they want.
Do you want weekends free?
Predictability or flexibility?
Travel or stability?
A high-paying role can look like a win—
until you realize it consumes your entire life.

Why this matters:

For most people with full-time jobs,
the biggest time allocation in your life is:

Work—do the math.
Decades of your life will be shaped by the choices you’re making now.

Career planning isn’t about climbing faster.
It’s about designing a path that actually works for you.

So next time you’re thinking about your next move, ask yourself:
→ What kind of life do I want?
→ What problems excite me?
→ Who do I want to work with?
Your answers might change everything.

Pic: Living the life I want.
______________________
I'm Marc Cabrera, a former investment banker. Wall Street taught me the numbers; life taught me what really counts.

Know what I'm really bad at?
Anything new I try.

And that's where the growth is.

7 years ago, my deadlift looked like a
question mark trying to pick up an em-dash.
Today, I'm certified to teach the movement.

In the fitness realm, trying the new, challenging,
or things you don't actually enjoy is where the growth is.

In life, it's no different:
→ The side hustle you're tempted to start? Launch it now
→ That promotion you're nervous about? Apply (or ask) anyway
→ That presentation that terrifies you? Volunteer to give it
→ That person you're nervous about asking out? Ask
→ The rope climb, pull-up or clean you'd love to master? Work on it...deliberately, consistently.

We've normalized the highlight reel—
the polished version where we already know what we're doing.
That's easy to flex (I'm guilty myself).

But we've forgotten to celebrate the messy middle,
where we're terrible at something and showing up anyway.

Your willingness to be bad at something today is
what makes you excellent at it tomorrow.

Vid: 9ish months in on the clean
______________________
I'm Marc Cabrera, a former investment banker. Wall Street taught me the numbers; life taught me what really counts.

Why you just bought something you didn't need on Black Friday:

It's not weak willpower.
It's your own psychology being used against you.

Here are the 6 tactics retailers use to hijack your brain:

1. The Scarcity Principle:

"Only 2 left in stock!"
Your rational brain shuts down.
Scarcity makes you panic-buy things you've never wanted before.

2. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out):

Loss aversion is real.
Missing a deal hurts twice as much as
scoring one feels good.
So you buy to avoid the pain.

3. Social Proof:

"17 others are viewing this item."
If hundreds of strangers are doing it,
it must be smart. (Spoiler: it's not.)

4. Reference Price Manipulation:

$299 NOW $199!
Except it was $179 last month.
The inflated "original price" is fake.
The discount? Theater that rivals Netflix.

5. Emotion Over Logic:

Holiday music. Countdown timers. The thrill of "winning."
Retailers engineer dopamine hits that override your prefrontal cortex.

6. The Endowment Effect:

The moment you add it to your cart,
your brain treats it like it's already yours.
Removing it feels like loss—so you don't.

Here’s the punchline:

Roughly 25–30% of everything bought this weekend will be returned.
But the time, stress, and mental clutter? You don’t get any of that back.

A simple hack:
Project yourself to January 18, 2026—the credit-card bill arrives, the holidays are long gone.
Would you still want it?
If not, close the tab and keep your money.

Pic: Stocking up on a few basics but unwilling to pay for the Target bag.
______________________
I'm Marc Cabrera, a former investment banker. Wall Street taught me the numbers; life taught me what really counts.

You’re crushing the work week—
but still feel like you can’t quite level up.

One reason?

You might be treating your weekends like you won the game…
instead of treating them like the pre-game for next week’s big match-up.

For years, weekends were my time to unwind:
→ Celebrate the wins
→ Wallow (just a little) in the losses
→ And recover

But my career performance changed permanently
once I reframed the weekend as the "calm before the storm"—
a reset, a mental warm-up, and a strategic look ahead.

Sure, I still did some catch-up work.
But what really made the difference was 
using those quiet hours to think
through the big things coming next.

That shift didn’t just make Mondays easier.
It created a permanent momentum for my career.

I stopped fighting to keep my balance—
and started leaning into my future success.
______________________
I'm Marc Cabrera, a former investment banker. Wall Street taught me the numbers; life taught me what really counts.

Start-ups…
I don’t invest in them.

This week I posted about how I don’t invest in start-ups—
so naturally, my DMs filled up with founders looking for capital.

At this point I’m wondering if AI is trolling me with
some kind of “capital hunter” algo.

Is the word "start-up" like one of those
bright orange cones on the highway—
the thing you’re absolutely supposed to avoid
but can’t stop staring at until… thump? Yeah. That.

And then someone demanded to know
how much money I’ve invested in start-ups
and the names of those companies.

Confession: I almost deleted the comment
because, well…focus can be a challenge these days.

But hey—I believe in transparency. Especially online.

So here’s my full start-up investment portfolio:

Marc’s Lemonade Stand — $12
DJ Productions by “The Original MC” — $235

To be fair, I was 12 and 15 when I launched those ventures,
and both turned a profit—
something more than 60% of start-ups can't claim.

But if I’m honest, I didn’t have what it takes to scale them.
Like many, I chose college… and then got a job.

So if you DM me about your start-up,
I’ll have to politely pass.
Please don’t take it personally.

The truth?

I’m simply not smart enough to pick the one winner
out of the millions that launch each year.
______________________
I'm Marc Cabrera, a former investment banker. Wall Street taught me the numbers; life taught me what really counts.

How you spend your day is how you spend your life.
Want to change your life?

You have no choice but to change
how you live each day.

Most people wait for motivation to strike:
→ They wait for the "right time" to start that project
→ The perfect moment to launch that business
→ The magical day when they'll finally feel ready

But here's what I've learned:

Motivation doesn't create action—
Action creates motivation.

The person you want to become isn't
built in dramatic moments. They're built in:
→ The 15 minutes before work starts
→ In what you choose to read (or eat) at lunch
→ In whether you scroll or create after dinner

Your future self is watching what you do today.

Every small choice is a vote for who you're becoming:

→ Wake up early or hit snooze = voting for discipline or comfort
→ Read or scroll = voting for growth or distraction
→ Create or consume = voting for contribution or passivity

The compound effect is real.
→ Not glamorous
→ Not Instagram-worthy
→ But real

So ask yourself:
If I lived today on repeat for the next five years,
would I be proud of where I'd end up?

If the answer is no, then today—
→ Not Monday
→ Not January 1st
→ Not "when things calm down"
—is the day to change it.

What's one small thing you're changing about your daily routine?
Drop it in the comments. Let's inspire each other.
______________________
I'm Marc Cabrera, a former investment banker. Wall Street taught me the numbers; life taught me what really counts.

What's in YOUR weekend? (Capital One Voice)

Here's a low-hanging fruit opportunity most people miss:

→ 30 minutes of intentional recharge time
can boost your Monday productivity by 12%.
(Harvard Business Review)

But here's the kicker:
→ People who set ONE concrete Saturday goal
are 28% more likely to crush it than those who just wing it.

Your 3-step weekend formula:
→ Pick ONE goal (personal or professional)
→ Block out 30 focused minutes
→ Repeat next weekend

Stop letting your weekends just "happen" to you,
or using them as an excuse to derail your own progress.

What's your ONE thing this weekend?
______________________
I'm Marc Cabrera, a former investment banker. Wall Street taught me the numbers; life taught me what really counts.

What can you learn 60 feet below the ocean surface without a scuba tank?
That the basics matter—
Like air.

I learned the same lesson in a college finance class—
though I didn’t recognize it at the time.
I spent semesters wrestling with concepts, like:
→ Weighted average cost of capital, or WACC
→ Risk management with derivatives
→ Capital structure theory

Useful, sure… but not what actually keeps businesses alive.

Then, senior year, a finance professor asked us a simple question:

“What’s the number one reason companies go out of business?”

We all guessed wrong.
The answer: “Lack of revenue.”

→ Not strategy lapses
→ Not complex valuation errors
→ Not macroeconomic shifts

Just… not enough money coming in.

It turns out that whether you’re underwater
without a tank or running a company in the real world,
the principle holds.
If you ignore the basics,
nothing else matters.
→ Air
→ Revenue
The fundamentals that keep the whole system alive.
That keep you alive.
Everything else is strategy—important, but secondary.
______________________
I'm Marc Cabrera, a former investment banker. Wall Street taught me the numbers; life taught me what really counts.

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Marcus Frick's LinkedIn Performance

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