You Won't Get It...Until You get "It": A Guide to Understanding "It" Factor and How You Can Have "It" Too

By Mark A Pellon

Some people are just born with "It"... Right?

Most people can't even define what "It"

• Language: English
• Publisher: New Degree Press
• Release date: May 12, 2023
• ISBN: 9798889269809

Mark A Pellon

Mark Pellon is a US Marine Corps Officer, Musical Director, National-Level K9 Decoy, and passionate Brazilian Jiujitsu practitioner. Upon joining the Marine music program right out of high school, Mark became one of twelve musical directors in the entire Marine Corps. He has performed in nationally televised events and internationally on the radio. He has also given keynote talks at high schools and universities all over the country. Mark defines himself by his relentless desire to thrive in any endeavor he pursues. He also prides himself on thinking outside of the box. This life philosophy earned him and his Marines a Southeast Regional Emmy Nomination, becoming the first fleet Marine band to do so. Today, Mark uses his versatile experience to help teach others how to get the most out of life, and he works with cancer philanthropies to support the fight against cancer.

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You Won’t Get It... Until You Get It

You Won’t Get It... Until You Get It

A Guide to Understanding It Factor

and How You Can Have It Too

Mark A. Pellón

New Degree Press

Copyright © 2023 Mark A. Pellón

All rights reserved.

You Won’t Get It... Until You Get It

A Guide to Understanding It Factor and How You Can Have It Too

ISBN

979-8-88926-937-3 Paperback

979-8-88926-980-9 Ebook

This book is dedicated to everyone who has been impacted by cancer. All profits will be donated to those fighting cancer and the organizations that support them.

The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord cause His face to shine on you, and be gracious to you; The Lord turn His face toward you, and give you peace.

—Numbers 6:24–26

Amen.

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium, and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how valuable, nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours, clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.

—Martha Graham

Contents

Foreword by Zachary Green

Introduction

The Way You Look Matters

Ambition... Go Get It

Pitch Perfect Communication

You Need Both!

You Just Gotta Have Faith

Get Creative

Steel Sharpens Steel

When No One Is Looking

Humility

Do It Intentionally

Confidence and Charisma

Now What?

Acknowledgments

Appendix

Foreword by Zachary Green

I first met Mark on a Zoom call. He was a guest on my podcast, Warrior’s Voice, that I cohosted with another one of our Marine brothers, Colonel Riccoh Player. Even though this meeting was virtual, I could feel something different about this fellow Warrior. His energy, enthusiasm, and confidence literally transcended our digital interaction. I didn’t know what was so different about him, but there was something there. I just couldn’t put my finger on It.

I was so impressed with our conversation that after just twenty to thirty minutes, Mark made an impact on me that is hard to put into words. His enthusiasm inspired me, his determination and focus motivated me, and his personality made me feel as though we had been friends for decades. I couldn’t define what made him stand out and leave such a deep impact on me, but I had to find out. I had to meet him in person.

A few weeks later, we met for coffee at a quaint, outdoor coffee shop in the town of Port Royal, South Carolina. This coffee shop was just a stone’s throw away from the Marine Corps Recruit Depot on Parris Island, home of one of our military’s most talented bands. This band, commanded by Chief Warrant Officer Three Mark Pellón, is a critical component of the weekly graduation ceremonies of our nation’s newest Marines and many other events throughout the community. We sat at an outdoor table under the shade of the majestic live oak trees. The Spanish moss created a natural umbrella that helped provide a break from the hot and humid sun of the South Carolina summer.

As I stood up to shake his hand, I was taken aback by Mark’s towering frame, big smile, and chiseled physique. If there ever was a poster boy for the Marines, I was standing in front of him.

I shared with him how excited I was to finally get to meet him in person. We quickly learned that we had much in common from the Marines, to music, to just our shared zest for life. I come from a very musical family. My brother proudly serves in the Air Force Concert Band and his wife plays violin in the National Symphony Orchestra. My dad is the former principal bassist with the Cincinnati Symphony and my mom was a prima ballerina. Music is in my blood, but the musical talent gene evidently skipped me. My musical talent is limited to knowing how to pick a great song list on Spotify.

From a very early age, I dreamed of becoming a US Marine. While my friends were riding bikes and playing games, I was running through the woods pretending to be a Marine Corps infantryman. My family’s passion is music and the arts, and my passion is the Marine Corps and the honor, courage, and commitment it espouses. Although my time in the Marines was decades ago, I still share a deep love for our beloved Corps. Not a day has gone by that the deep and meaningful impact that I learned from the Marines doesn’t influence me. I have had the honor to reconnect with the Marine Corps as a weekly speaker to the soon-to-graduate Marines of Parris Island.

That combined with having the opportunity to create friendships with active-duty Marines like Mark is one of the great privileges that I now enjoy since my family and I recently have decided to call Parris Island our new home. Mark is the perfect combination of my two passions—music and the Marine Corps—thereby instantly connecting us through several dimensions of brotherhood.

As our conversation developed, we both were fascinated with the similarities of each other’s backgrounds and interests. The more Mark shared with me about his mother’s humble beginnings in communist Cuba, the more I became fascinated with his family’s history. Like his family, my family also immigrated to the US to pursue the happiness and freedom that is available to all Americans. Mark’s mother and grandparents, along with many of their other Cuban countrymen, left the hardships of their home to immigrate to this land of freedom and opportunity. Even though my family immigrated to the US in the 1870s and the 1970s, they came here for the same reasons.

Mark’s mom wanted to give her future family the great gift of allowing them to prosper in a place where freedom and the pursuit of happiness were available. Mark shared with me had she not made that harrowing escape from Cuba, they would never have had the freedom to, as he stated, make yourself into what you want to be. His patriotism and love for our country were foundational principles taught to him by the most important people in his life: his mother and grandparents.

Mark’s mother and grandparents sacrificed so much to give him the opportunities they never had at his age. They instilled in him to never let anyone, or anything, stand in the way of his dreams. His grandfather was not only the man of the house, but he was also Mark’s hero and role model. His grandfather had virtually no formal education growing up poor in Cuba. Regardless of his humble beginnings, he did learn something that no school could have taught him. He had ambition and an intentional determination to always find a solution to any problem.

These It Factors are what drove Mark’s grandfather to build a fully functioning apartment in the garage of their family home. He literally worked his fingers raw as he figured out how to transform four empty walls into a beautiful apartment. Mark was always fascinated by what would motivate someone like his grandfather to learn the complexities of carpentry, plumbing, electrical work, and construction with no formal training or instruction. His grandfather lived the principle of accomplishing your mission no matter what the sacrifice.

Like all Marines, Mark passionately embraces the motto of Semper Fidelis, Always Faithful, as he is deeply devoted to his faith, his family, and his country. He believes in serving a purpose bigger than yourself as he watched his fellow Cuban immigrants live the American dream as they pursued their passions, no matter what challenges they encountered along the way.

However, like most adolescent boys, getting good grades was not one of those passions Mark shared. The pressure from his mom to focus on bringing up his grades became a constant source of friction. As his mom started to exhaust ways to convince a young Mark to start improving his grades, the crescendo of threats finally brought her to lay down an ultimatum. He had to improve his grades, or she was going to ship him off to a military boarding school. Mark knew he had to make a change. He had to honor his mother’s wishes. In addition to focusing more on studying and improving his academics, he also decided that a good way to bump up his grades would be to give the band a try.

Mark thought, Who fails band? Although Mark didn’t grow up with him, his biological father is a famous musician from Puerto Rico, and he figured it would be the easiest grade he would get. However, he had one small problem: He not only didn’t know how to read music, he also barely even knew what different instruments were available for him to play. When instrument selection day started, he picked the only real instrument he was familiar with—the saxophone. Mark’s only real exposure to musical instruments was watching The Simpsons and seeing Lisa play the sax in the opening credits.

As Mark practiced and practiced, the awful screeching of the sax developed into beautiful notes. Music unlocked a passion in him and helped him not only improve his grades but also connect with and inspire others.

In addition to this newfound purpose discovered in music, Mark told me about two other life-changing events that happened during high school. The first of those two events happened on a beautiful fall day in September when terrorists hijacked several airplanes. What seemed like a Hollywood movie was unfolding in real time as the terrorists converted the commercial airliners into missiles. With these hijacked airplanes, they murdered hundreds of people in New York City, Washington DC, and a field in Pennsylvania. They struck at both literal and figurative symbols of our country’s economic and military power by attacking the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

As Mark and his classmates watched the events of 9/11 develop on television, he vividly remembered thinking that these terrorists came to his country and purposely killed his people in his home, the home that provided so much opportunity to his mother and grandfather. This was his home, the land of the free, the home of the brave, the country where people would risk drowning in the rough ocean, rowing makeshift rafts, just to step on this soil and start a new life.

Those who sacrificed so much in their pursuit of freedom were attacked because of their love for that freedom. Mark had to do something. He had to bring justice to those terrorists and all those that supported them. It was then that his future in serving his country in the military came in to focus. Unfortunately, a few years later, Mark would again feel the pain of loss when his grandfather passed away, just three months before high school graduation. The man who was his protector, his role model, and his hero was now gone.

Mark was now the man of the house. He needed to find a way to bridge the gap that the loss of his grandfather created. Shortly after, Mark’s purpose was realized when he saw a performance of a Marine band at his school. Mark told me he realized then that the ambition his grandfather taught him led to two of Mark’s greatest passions—music and service—becoming one. The Marine’s inspiring uniforms, musical perfection, precision movements, and patriotism called to Mark in a way he had never experienced. Every fiber of his being recognized what this elite organization stood for, and Mark needed to be part of it. It was no surprise that, within forty-five seconds of his musical audition, he was offered a position in this prestigious brotherhood.

I remember asking Mark what was it that they saw in him? And what was it that he saw in them? As a smile grew across his face, Mark finally said, When someone has it, they have it.

I asked him to explain what he meant by it.

Mark replied, There’s so much that goes into that answer, you could write a book.

I said, Well maybe you should.

Zachary Green

Founder/Managing Partner

Warrior Enterprises LLC

513-235-6383

www.WarriorLeader.us

Introduction

Have you ever met someone and recognized they had that It Factor? Every hair in the right place, every crease in their clothes just so, every word passionate, inspiring, and wise? That person starts speaking and everyone around wants to listen and absorb what they say. Or better yet, they come into a room and say nothing but still own the room. That person, no matter what they are involved in, always seems to stand out and rise to the top.

You are noticing the It Factor.

I heard the term thrown around for years, but I never heard a detailed explanation of what It was. It Factor was this indescribable thing that was too difficult to explain, but something we all knew when we saw It. Celebrities are often identified this way, usually because of their very visible lives. People like Dwayne The Rock Johnson, Bruno Mars, and, if you’re a Dallas Cowboys fan like me, Dak Prescott and Micah Parsons. (Please keep reading even if you hate the Cowboys!)

There’s an old saying: You’re either born with It or you’re not.

This saying is totally false.

Nobody is born