[Arcana]

Mars One intended to broadcast the missions as a reality TV show and hope to fund themselves by selling the rights to said TV show. So maybe SpaceX will look at a similar model?

I think long term ROI is expected from selling and benefiting from the advanced technology developed and possibly the resources obtained from Mars. Possibly commercial flights and space tourism too?

They also have contracts with NASA which wouldn't necessarily dictate the time frame as they seem to be technology development contracts.

I don't think that the Mars colonisation is their main goal, simply something that would advance technology and aid them in their other commercial goals.