Community Highlights: Meet Brad Hart of Make More Marbles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brad Hart.

Hi Brad, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’ve spent over 20 years as an entrepreneur and 16 years in wealth management, and my mission has always been the same: help entrepreneurs and investors unlock their full potential so they can focus on solving the bigger challenges that matter. Along the way, I’ve written four books (two bestsellers), and my work has been featured in outlets like Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Time.

I’ve built and exited multiple seven-figure companies, including a hedge fund (Hartwood Capital) that delivered a 106% return in a single year. I’ve also run more than 50 masterminds around the world — from China and Hong Kong to Bali, Italy, Greece, and across the U.S. — including one local group that grew to 500 members.

One of the highlights of my journey was helping Tony Robbins and Dean Graziosi launch the Knowledge Business Blueprint. As part of that founding team, I trained thousands of people in self-education, mastermind-building, and scaling. Through my company, Make More Marbles, I became one of their top affiliates (#8 out of 5,000).

Today, I lead the Optimus Mastermind, where I help entrepreneurs add $30K+ in monthly recurring revenue while creating more freedom in their lives. I also run Build A Mastermind (BAM), which helps leaders add six to seven figures in annual revenue with minimal ongoing time.

Outside of business, I’m deeply interested in the future — whether that’s AI, blockchain, or breakthroughs in organ replacement. I’m involved in two stealth startups in those areas. I studied biology at Binghamton University, worked as an EMT, and rowed crew. Now I live in Phoenix with my wife Jasmine and our dog Kona, where I spend my free time hiking, riding motorcycles, and cold plunging at 34°F to start the day.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Definitely not a smooth road.

Early on I believed the answer to everything was more effort. I wore hustle like armor. That worked… until it didn’t. I hit ceilings where every extra dollar cost more time, more people, and more stress. I scaled too fast a few times—added headcount, poured money into campaigns—only to watch the cracks show up in delivery, follow‑up, and quality. It’s humbling when “growth” starts breaking the very machine you’re trying to build.

I’ve also learned a lot of lessons the expensive way. I’ve been underwater before—carrying debt, juggling cash flow, and wondering if I’d built a job instead of a business. I’ve over-hired. I’ve launched offers that looked good on paper and flopped in reality. I ran programs where I overdelivered to the point of burnout. I’ve had months where the calendar was full of sales calls… with the wrong people, because I hadn’t set real filters or consistent follow‑up. That’s a special kind of demoralizing: working harder and feeling further behind.

Partnerships were another teacher. I’ve done the 50/50 thing without clear decision rights and lived through the confusion and friction that creates. Today I’d rather own the core business, do JVs when it makes sense, and make the agreements boringly clear up front. It saves friendships—and businesses.

Personally, I’ve had to confront how I’m wired. Hyper‑vigilance is great for spotting risk; it’s terrible for sleep and recovery. I’ve dealt with stress showing up in my body, learned (slowly) how to downshift, and built little “safe mode” rituals so I’m not always redlining. I still love the cold plunge, boxing, and pushing hard—but I’ve learned nervous system regulation is the real operating system. If I don’t manage that, nothing else works for long.

A big turning point was admitting that my “hard work” problem was really a “leverage” problem. That’s where the frameworks came from—LEAD (Eliminate, Automate, Delegate, Liberate) and A‑T‑O‑M (Assess, Triage, Optimize, Maximize). They weren’t born in a whiteboard session; they came out of getting it wrong enough times to finally see the pattern. I stopped trying to do everything, started removing what didn’t matter, and let systems and (now) AI carry the load. Counterintuitively, the business got better as I did less of the wrong things.

Community changed things too. I used to believe I had to figure it all out alone. Running and joining dozens of masterminds taught me the opposite: the right room collapses time. The best wins in my life came from aligned people, clean agreements, and being willing to share what works instead of hoarding it. That’s why I built Optimus the way I did—implementation over information, results over rhetoric, collaboration over competition.

If there’s a throughline to the struggles, it’s this:
• Confusing motion with progress.
• Trying to scale effort instead of leverage.
• Saying yes to too much, too soon, with the wrong constraints.
• Ignoring the nervous system and calling it “grit.”

What I’m proud of isn’t a headline stat—it’s staying in the arena, telling the truth about what didn’t work, and building tools so other founders don’t have to pay the same “tuition.” These days my work is simple: help entrepreneurs remove bottlenecks, install systems (increasingly AI‑powered), and buy back their time so growth feels lighter—not heavier. If readers take anything from my story, I hope it’s permission to trade brute force for leverage, and to build in a way they won’t have to escape from later.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
At its core, my work is about helping entrepreneurs scale their businesses in a smarter, more sustainable way. Through Optimus Mastermind, we focus on installing AI-powered systems that free founders from being the bottleneck, so they can grow revenue without burning out or adding endless headcount. Most of the people I work with end up adding $30K+ in monthly recurring revenue while getting more of their time back. Some have added millions.

Alongside that, I also run Build A Mastermind (BAM), where I help leaders create high-leverage mastermind groups that can add six to seven figures in annual revenue with very little ongoing time. What sets us apart is that we don’t just share theories — we actually help entrepreneurs implement proven frameworks, tools, and systems that work in the real world.

I’ve been fortunate to build and exit multiple companies, partner with people like Tony Robbins and Dean Graziosi to launch global programs, and lead 50+ masterminds around the world. But honestly, what I’m most proud of is seeing entrepreneurs I’ve worked with create more freedom, impact, and fulfillment — not just more revenue.

If there’s one thing I’d want readers to know, it’s that scaling a business doesn’t have to mean grinding harder or giving up your life. With the right systems and community, growth can actually make things easier. That’s the future we’re building with Optimus.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Resourcefulness. Things rarely go according to plan, so the ability to figure it out, pivot, and still get results has been the biggest driver of my success.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://buildwithoptimus.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makemoremarbles
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bradhart
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/makemoremarbles
• Twitter: https://x.com/makemoremarbles
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@makemoremarbles

Image Credits
Andrew Reed, Korbin Christie