When it comes to stair climbing, Mark Ewell is a step above the rest.
The finance and marketing alumnus has competed in stair racing, which is exactly what it sounds like, for several years. Mark was first introduced to the sport in 1998, but didn’t participate again for a decade after that first one, and only competed occasionally in fundraising races between 2008 and 2014.
“When I raced again in 2008 at the Fight for Air Climb in Denver, I actually did very well and placed second or third, which I was super psyched about,” Mark said. “Then in 2014, I did it again and starting recognizing and talking to other competitors. One encouraged me to come to more races, and since 2016, I’ve been ranked in the top 10 in the U.S. and my world ranking has varied from the top 50 to around 14th or 13th place.”
Mark has raced in several of the nation’s tallest buildings and a number of sports stadiums, including the Empire State Building, Willis (Sears) Tower, the Space Needle, One World Trade Center and the STRAT Tower in Las Vegas.
“I’ve done the Empire State Building race for the last several years, and I’d have to say that one is my favorite indoor race because it’s probably the most significant stair race in the U.S.,” said Mark.
Mark originally attended UCCS as an English major after discovering a love of literature in high school, but after a part-time real estate job saw him working in marketing he realized business was a better path for him.
“I switched to a marketing major and then as I was almost done with that, I was taking my required finance classes and had another sort of ‘aha’ moment,” said Mark. “To me, finance was the most critical element of running a business and so I ended up staying in school a little longer to major in that as well.”
“Though I was a business major, one of the things that was the impactful for me was the time I spent volunteering with Theatreworks and some of the great people who helped make it into what it is today,” added Mark. “I particularly remember one show that I did that was a one-hour, one-act play, and it had over sixty lighting cues so it was just nonstop moving. The intensity of being involved in something providing joy to both the audience and the play’s cast and crew was a lot of fun and one of the experiences I remember most.”
Despite working in real estate during school, it was still a few years before it became Mark’s full-time career. He spent several years at communications companies in sales, marketing and management roles before reconnecting with the real estate world for what he expected to be a brief period.
“I told myself, ‘If I get this job, I’ll commit to it for two years and do a good job, and then I’ll get back into the business-to-business sales side,'” Mark recalled. “But I ended up really, really enjoying it and doing very well at it. So since 2013, I’ve been in the real estate business, primarily focused on new homes.”
In that time, Mark has sold over 1,500 homes and has been a leading real estate agent in Colorado Springs several times. He particularly enjoys working with first-time buyers and helping them find their starter home.
“I get to work with a lot of different kinds of folks, but my favorite people to work with are first-time home buyers,” Mark said. “It’s so much fun to bring somebody in that doesn’t know anything except they want a house. Helping them put all the pieces together and seeing the joy of them moving into their first home has been the most rewarding part.”
“I’ve found myself in a position where I’ve aligned what I’m good at and what I know and the people I know and the connections I’ve made to a role that suits me,” Mark continued. “I’m very grateful for it and I truly enjoy it every day. I don’t enjoy all of it every day, but there’s always something to appreciate.”
Like any cyclical industry, real estate comes with fluctuating success. Mark recalled one year that started slow for his sales, but the belief in the work he does and his persistence paid off.
“I sold one house in August and then I wrote myself out an impossible goal to sell 43 houses in the next four months in that year,” said Mark. “There are things that are out of your control. I can’t control the market or interest rates, but I did the things that were in my control and I was ready when the market did make an improvement. I firmly believe that if I hadn’t had that goal I wouldn’t have sold as many, and I ended up selling around 75 houses for that year.”
Mark has kept up that positive mindset and emphasized the benefit of committing to one’s pursuits.
“I’m going to slightly steal from Conan O’Brien,” Mark laughed. “Do not be cynical. It doesn’t lead anywhere. Be positive and enthusiastic and go after whatever it is that you’re doing, and it will always pay off. It’s easy to fall into this attitude of only putting into something what you think you’ll get out of it. But if you approach your business or your personal life and relationships in a positive way, and you go into it full of energy and enthusiasm, then it will always pay dividends.”
Leave a Reply