Entrepreneur. Advocate. Builder.
I built a business from nothing, ran it without borrowing a dollar for twenty-five years, sold it, and spent the years since trying to hand the lessons to anybody willing to use them.
The short version
In 1994 I walked away from a corporate job — briefcase, suit, sack lunch and all — because I wanted to build something I chose, not something I had to do. That became Action Computers, a used-computer business that grew into a chain. I ran it debt-free from day one: no borrowing for inventory, not for the truck, not for the warehouse. When we finally bought a warehouse, we paid cash, because we’d saved the money first.
I sold that company in 2019, twenty-five years after I started it. By then it had outlasted RadioShack, CompUSA, Circuit City, and hundreds of other tech retailers that went under along the way. The people who bought it are still running it today.
Along the way we gave away at least a computer a day, every day, for those twenty-five years — 365 machines a year, minimum. That number is the thing I’m proudest of, not the revenue.
What I do now
These days I invest in real estate, run We Help People Everywhere, Inc. — a 501(c)(3) built to get resources to small businesses and charities in disadvantaged areas — and record The Mark Hope Show. The show exists because the same questions kept coming up in conversations with entrepreneurs, friends, and people trying to figure out a hard decision.
My degree is in business, with computer science courses stacked on top. By the time I graduated, most of what they taught me was already outdated — we learned to program on punch cards. The degree got my foot in enough doors to learn what I actually needed. It was never the destination. If you take one thing from this site, take that: you’re allowed to keep reinventing yourself as many times as it takes.
Action Computers
Founded, grown into a chain, and run entirely without debt. Sold in 2019 and still operating today.
365 a year, for 25 years
Refurbished machines donated to kids and families who didn’t have access — later in partnership with TechForAll.
We Help People Everywhere
A 501(c)(3) that walks small charities and businesses through the paperwork, the grant writing, and the parts nobody teaches you.
Norman, Oklahoma
With chapters, partners, and rental property spread across several states.
The parts that don’t change
You can get good by doing good
If you find a way to help somebody along the way, it comes back around. That isn’t a strategy — it’s just what I’ve watched happen for thirty years.
Debt makes you fragile
Debt makes you fast in good times and fragile in bad ones. If you’re carrying it, the guy at zero is closer to wealthy than you are.
Charity has to be hands-on
You take the skills God gave you and put yourself where the people who want to give can actually reach the people who need it.
Got a question worth asking?
Business, real estate, entrepreneurship, advocacy, or a life decision you’re stuck on. Ask it.