General Hospital star Maurice Benard seemed a little in awe of the fact that Alex Clark is incredibly intelligent and creative, having created a company that ended up selling for $200 million, so he welcomed him to his video podcast series on YouTube, State Of Mind.
Fascinated with how he got to be the kind of person who could accomplish what he has, it didn’t take long for Benard to dig a little deeper into Clark’s past. What he found out was that his father helped to raise a very independent young man. So independent that when his parents divorced, and his father lost his job and had to move, Clark — at either 16 or 17 years old — decided to stay in California.
He got three jobs in order to stay, including one working at Starbucks, because he knew they got health benefits. But he got his big break, around the age of 22, in customer support for a 3D design software company that did top-secret stuff for companies like Lockheed.
“Sometimes you get classified documents you’re not really able to look at but you’re trying to help the customer,” shared Clark. “I got this one space alien-looking thing, this really cool…oh this must be top, top secret, right? This really futuristic awesome thing. And, the guy was having a hard time modeling it, and I was like, ‘Oh here’s how you go, here’s what you’re going to do,’ and I said, ‘Okay, I just got to ask…’ — like we spent so much time, probably a week worth of customer support, ‘What is this thing? Is it going to space? What are we doing here?’ and he was like, “Oh! That’s a fishing bobber, It’s a brand new fishing bobber I invented,’” he said, laughing.
Clark wanted to program and write software though. He wanted to do more, and while some people were helpful, they liked having him where he was. At this point, he switched his major to computer science. He eventually got to switch to the software testing side of things. His advice to people is to always take what you’re doing seriously — your jobs deserve it. He always studied everything about his job — even back when he was working at Starbucks.
He also spoke about taking things too far, life being off-kilter, and having the balance be off. The two spoke about book smarts vs. street smarts, taking things too far to the point of bordering on obsession, pushing limits, and so much more. There was also the question of what goes by the wayside — what is the cost if you’re super successful in one area? It’s all about priorities — and what’s right for you. They then delved in deeper about how he created his $200 million company. You can watch the whole episode here to find out how he did it.
To learn more about Alex Clark, here is his current website. To follow State Of Mind and subscribe, go to YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. Fans can now purchase inspirational merchandise for Maurice Benard’s State Of Mind. Check it out.
