Mark Santiago

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Mark Santiago The Empowered Man exists to help men overcome a broken marriage and focus on saving the man.

Our goal is to empower you to become a man who leads, is humble, and owns his own s**t. We have lots of free training on how to overcome toxic patterns and communication in your relationship that makes you feel disempowered. For some of you, you will be a fit for our Private Intensive coaching program, called the Empowered Man VIP program. If you would like to book a time to speak to our team about getting you Empowered again go here: https://training.empoweredman.co/application?el=EMPageDescription

I spent my birthday feeling sorry for myself.Surrounded by love. Kids celebrating me. Wife going all out. And I was stil...
10/11/2026

I spent my birthday feeling sorry for myself.

Surrounded by love. Kids celebrating me. Wife going all out. And I was still in a funk.

Then my wife and I watched a show where a man’s wife betrays him, shoots him, and walks out. He survives. But he doesn’t live.

Ten years later he’s still sitting in the same dusty chair. Another man raised his boys.

He went from victim to villain. Not because he was evil. Because he let bitterness take root and never got up.

I see men do this after divorce and betrayal all the time.

You can be angry. You don’t have to be bitter.

The circumstances won’t change on their own. The only thing that changes is you.

So where is your victim turning into a villain right now? Snapping at your kids? Pulling away? Drinking more?

When are you going to get up?

10/11/2026

The more ownership you take, the more freedom you get.

100% ownership equals 100% freedom.

Ownership doesn’t mean fault. It means responsibility.

Fault is shame. Responsibility is leadership.

Where do you need to take more ownership right now?

10/10/2026

You have to accept it first.

I’ve had this conversation with thousands of men. They say the same thing you’re saying right now. Then they get to the other side and can’t believe what they were holding on to.

I was one of them. I remember taking off my ring and thinking, this is my best friend and I’m giving up on it.

Fast forward. I want nothing to do with my old marriage. I have a great wife and we’re about to celebrate five years. Night and day.

This isn’t about finding love again. I know that’s part of the fear.

You have to love you before you can love somebody else. That’s the opportunity in front of you.

10/10/2026

The way you talk to yourself matters.

Beating yourself up is not honoring yourself. It’s why you stay in the loop.

If you can’t give yourself grace to feel what you feel, you’ll never lean into it. You’ll keep pulling yourself out and asking what’s wrong with you.

There’s nothing wrong with you. You were betrayed. You’re hurt. That’s trauma.

The dysfunction comes from where you take it. Shaming yourself. Or drinking.

The way out is to let yourself feel it and be okay with it. Then it loses its strength.

Shame keeps it stuck. That’s ego protecting itself. Humility is the cure. Humility says crying is okay. Sadness is okay.

10/09/2026

Sometimes there’s something deeper going on.

Guilt. Shame. Something tied to how you were raised.

The moment you start comparing your kids to other kids, you’re not just comparing the kids. You’re comparing yourself as a parent to another parent.

That can be dangerous.

Worth asking yourself where it’s coming from.

10/09/2026

Some men live in wishful thinking. Some men say fine, I’ll take my ball and go home.

They look like opposites. They’re two sides of the same coin.

Both come from the immature part of you.

You’re a man. You may be successful in a lot of areas of life. But there can still be a 10-year-old boy inside, living out both of those reactions.

That boy needs to grow up.

Which side do you lean toward?

10/09/2026

There are two ways to look at this.

The first is empathy. This hurts. I get it. This too shall pass. That has a place, especially for men who are newer to this.

The second is harder to hear. When are you going to stop feeling sorry for yourself?

At some point you have to put on your big boy pants. The marriage has been over for a while. This is not new information.

If you're still stuck, it's usually ego. And it's hindering your growth.

Which one do you need to hear today?

10/08/2026

Take an honest look at where you might be helicopter parenting.

Technically we can make our kids do whatever we want. But when it comes to sports and physical activity, they have to want it for themselves.

Setting a boundary around video games is fine. If they're over-relying on it, get them off the game and send them outside.

Sports are different. You don't want to create a kid who feels like he has to be a basketball player or has to be anything.

My son wants to be a quarterback. I was up at 5:45 this morning throwing with him before school. But I tell him he has to initiate. It can't be me telling him to go run.

Some days he doesn't do the work. I tell him he wasted his time. But I'm not going to force him.

He has to want it for him.

10/08/2026

I started Empowered Man out of my own pain. Getting an ROI on my tears.

I love it when men take that pain and turn it into something good. But be careful of busy versus productive. You can stay busy clipping coupons. Busy doesn't produce anything.

During my divorce, I used the time without my kids to build a business. I also used it to fill my own cup. A trip to Seattle. A trip to Florida. Thursday date nights alone with a steak and a book. Some Madden and Call of Duty.

The hard part is not losing the man in the process of being a producer.

And you have to grieve. If you bury it, it comes out later. Six years from now you'll be crying and not know why.

Be productive. Take care of yourself. Let yourself grieve.

10/08/2026

This is a blanket stance, and a lot of men need to hear it.

When kids are old enough, they need their own relationship with their mother. Your job as dad is to facilitate, guide, and give advice. Not to get in the way.

If you're separated, what she does is none of your business. That includes bringing someone new around. You have to trust her as mom. The line is a child being hurt or endangered. Until then, it's not yours to control.

Here's why. It's easy to mix our feelings into it. Especially when we're still bitter about a divorce we didn't want. A lot of times it has nothing to do with protecting the kids. It's about protecting us.

"The kids don't like it." Kids don't like green beans. They don't like brushing their teeth or going to bed on time. You don't let them off the hook for those.

Same thing here.

Address

2200 E Williams Field Road, Suite 200
Gilbert, AZ
85295

Telephone

+16233030344

Website

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