Hi, my name is Marshall Hatfield.
I’m a strategist, martial artist, and entrepreneur who strives to operate from an unshakable foundation:
My journey begins in small-town Pennsylvania, with transformative experiences across four continents, from studying Mandarin and Chinese Medicine in Kunming, to Safari in Kruger National park, to over a decade of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training (4-stripe brown belt, instructor at Limitless BJJ in my current home of Cincinnati, OH).
I’ve founded two multi-million dollar companies: REVAS and Dealonomy, witnessed hypergrowth to $100M AUM at Equi, and learned that the best systems emerge not from chasing trends, but from anchoring to what never changes.
Everything I do flows from my constantly improving Sovereign Operating System:
A defined set of core values & decision-making principles that help keep me on the right track, focused on my deeper missions in life.
This page is a map of that Operating System… not just who I am, but how I think, decide, and create.
Keep reading for a look inside my mind.
I believe that our actions in this life echo through all eternity.
We have a limited number of moments on this earth, and there’s only one true guarantee in life. I’ve made a commitment, to God and to myself, to focus on building for what survives when everything else fades.
My mission is defined clearly (click one to expand):
To build enduring works that strengthen the good in this world, and empower more people to achieve meaningful and fulfilling lives.
To build enduring works in God’s light that strengthen the faithful and draw the world toward righteous, fulfilling lives.
This isn’t about feel-good platitudes or surface-level impact for me. This is a matter of life & death & beyond, to spend what time I do have in the right way.
To me, that means creating systems, products, and education that actually works:
Helping principled people get stronger, helping confused people find clarity, and helping anyone willing to do the work to build something worth leaving behind.
Everything I create serves this mission. The companies I build, the content I write, the people I train, the systems I develop… they all answer the same question:
“Will this strengthen what’s good and help people live with more meaning?”
If the answer is no, it doesn’t deserve my time.
That’s why I focus on timeless principles over trending tactics, falsifiable frameworks over whimsical theories, and sustainable systems over quick wins.
The goal isn’t to build something impressive today. The goal is to build something that still matters next year, next decade, next century, and beyond.
“Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved object’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.” – C.S. Lewis
Love is an action, to be strived for moment by moment, and means seeking another’s highest good, even when it costs you something.
It’s the choice to act for genuine benefit rather than temporary comfort – yours or theirs. Real love pursues what is truly good for people, not just what feels good in the moment.
Without love, every achievement becomes hollow noise.
“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” – Hebrews, 11:1
Faith means acting on convictions that transcend what you can prove in the moment.
It means moving forward despite uncertainty, trusting that what matters most will hold when everything else fails.
For me, as a Bible-believing Christian, this means putting all my faith on Jesus Christ – the foundation for everything else in my life.
“Truth is the conformity of the mind to reality.” – Thomas Aquinas
“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” – Mark Twain
Truth is the unfiltered Signal from reality, regardless of how we feel about it.
A Core Value of seeking Truth means a commitment to see & say things as they actually are, not as I might wish they were. It means devotion to Truth, even when it costs.
Living truthfully means aligning thoughts, words, and actions with facts – even when facts are inconvenient or unpopular.
To return to the root (歸根) is to find peace. To find peace (得靜) is to fulfill one’s destiny. To fulfill one’s destiny (復命) is to be constant (常). – Laozi – Dao De Jing
Peace is the steady rule of Heart and Mind, unmoved by external chaos. It is not the absence of storms, but the unshakable stability to weather them without compromise.
It works on two levels:
True peace isn’t passive: it’s active stability – holding ground, thinking clearly under pressure, and deciding wisely while others react from emotion.
“Wisdom is knowing what to do next. Skill is knowing how to do it. Virtue is doing it.” – Thomas Jefferson
“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wisdom is the practical application of knowledge – knowing not just what to do, but when and how to do it.
It’s pattern recognition refined by experience and guided by humility.
Wise people learn constantly, act thoughtfully, and understand that doing the right thing matters more than expediency or recognition.
As the only child born to Mickey & Ann Hatfield (in October of 1984), a good way to get insight into my character is by comparing my two Grandfathers:
On my father’s side is Walter Hatfield, a Mingo County, WV coal miner who lied about his age at twelve to get work in the mines. The minimum age was fourteen, but need has its own arithmetic.
On my mother’s side: Robert Elberson, who went from Choate to Princeton to Harvard Business School, eventually rising to President and CEO of Hanes, and later Sara Lee.
Between the coal dust of West Virginia’s backcountry and the conference rooms of Winston-Salem, my bloodline is a strange mix:
Equal parts hillbilly grit and southern corporate sensibilities.
My parents taught me how to treat people right, and the value of hard work.
I was a quiet child, good in school, often lost in my imagination.
As a teen, that stillness gave way to rebellion, ready to test every rule & cross every line.
I was also fortunate in my formative years to travel & experience a wide variety of worldly blessings and tragedies:
From slums in Cape Town & Quito, to Galapagos cruises & some of the finest ryokans in Japan… my developing mind was bombarded with the world’s vastness & humanity’s universal similarities.
After high school, I headed to the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies at the University of Redlands in California. There I designed my own major and received narrative evaluations instead of grades.
As part of this eclectic education, I graduated from massage school as an independent study, created a 50-page research project analyzing parallels between quantum physics and the psychology of consciousness, and took a leave of absence to spend nine months in China studying Mandarin and Chinese Medicine.
My big takeaway?
Breakthroughs happen everywhere – not just in classrooms and conference rooms, but in parks, coffee shops, and late-night conversations with people who care about deep thinking and big ideas.
Back in the States, I dove into entrepreneurship. Built e-commerce businesses. Failed more than I succeeded. But I learned something important:
The best ideas often come from solving your own problems first.
That insight led to REVAS in 2013.
What started as hiring virtual assistants for my own real estate investment business quickly grew into something bigger – a company that’s now fulfilled over 700,000 work hours for real estate professionals nationwide.
Along the way, I explored residential fix & flips, small multifamily investments, hard money lending, and various other “Main Street” deal-making ventures. Each gave me an insider’s view of how different stakeholders play the game. I learned the ruthless marketplace logic and watched it make and break fortunes up close.
In 2021, I took my first W2 job since working at Blimpie’s in high school, joining a startup hedge fund called Equi. As their first full-time employee, I was recruited to deploy the real estate fund’s capital as Head of Deal Sourcing. We built systems for acquisitions, financial modeling, and sponsor evaluation, all from the ground-up. And I got a front-row seat to witness one of the fastest growth curves to $100M AUM ever achieved.
Each venture reinforced the same truth: building wealth comes from solving big problems (while systematically capturing profits along the way).
My martial arts journey started at thirteen with boxing at the Boys & Girls Club in South Tacoma. Since then, I’ve trained in kickboxing, Muay Thai, wrestling, judo, and during my time in China, traditional arts like Taijiquan, Baguazhang, and Shuaijiao.
But in 2014, I committed to what would become my favorite martial art of all, when I walked into my first Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class at Limitless BJJ in Cincinnati. Ten years later, I’m a four-stripe brown belt and instructor at the same gym.
The mats taught me things no boardroom ever could.
Two of my core values came alive on the mats in ways I never expected:
In fully alive martial arts (like sparring or competing, where the opponent is really out to get you):
There’s nowhere to hide.
This is especially true in grappling arts like wrestling & BJJ, where the sparring starts already in close quarters.
Your technique either works or it doesn’t. You’re the stronger one, or your opponent is. Only one person will emerge victorious. You can talk strategy all day, but when someone’s trying to strangle you unconscious, reality cuts through delusion fast.
The art humbles everyone. People who’ve never fought are often overconfident. People who’ve actually been tested know their limits, and know that even seemingly mild violence can turn deadly fast.
BJJ forces you into the worst possible positions – trapped, immobilized, compressed, suffering, and short of breath.
I’ve heard it called involuntary yoga.
And since “immobilization is at the root of most traumas,” (van der Kolk) this taps into something very primal.
On the mats, you have no choice: you learn to stay calm in those situations, breathe through the discomfort, get out of bad positions, and reclaim the initiative. It’s either that, or you quit.
After a decade of getting strangled by people half my age and/or half my size, I’ve accepted that real confidence isn’t about never being afraid. It’s about functioning effectively when you are.
Today, I’m an entrepreneur turned author and armchair philosopher, renewing my focus on what’s truly important in life.
Most people construct their lives from borrowed materials: other people’s definitions of success, social pressures, and fear-based decisions. I know because I’ve been guilty of this myself. But these are identity foundations built on sand: you can lose who you are with the changing tides.
That’s why I’ve returned to my roots, building from timeless principles & deep personal values, not what’s trending. While mimetics are a great way to learn, it’s only a stepping stone to true authenticity.
I’m currently working on a book about asset ownership and wealth optimization, along with other writing projects that examine big ideas through practical frameworks. Between that and consulting with entrepreneurs & working on select deals, my days are full – but focused on work that feels sustainable and meaningful.
I’m still the same system-building entrepreneur, a mix of hillbilly grit & boardroom sensibilities. But now I’m asking different questions:
How can I create that which will outlast me?
How can my life serve something greater than myself?
I wouldn’t say I know the perfect answer, but I’m working on it.
