Entrepreneurial Empire
Learn the fundamentals of where you are in business and how to scale with your host Jacqueline. Your business will go through many stages, and every stage will have it's own set of requirements. Let's unravel the journey ahead together and find strategic solutions that will help you conquer it all.
Entrepreneurial Empire
🚀Transforming $7k into a Million-Dollar Success with Felix Sanchez
Ever dreamt of transitioning from a 9 to 5 job to becoming a millionaire entrepreneur? Our latest podcast episode with Felix Sanchez, a successful general contractor and real estate investor, shares the inspiring journey of how he turned his $7,000 savings into a million-dollar empire. Felix candidly opens up about his highs, lows, and the life-altering decisions that paved his path to success.
Navigating through real estate investment with limited resources, Felix shares how he had to scour different types of loans and investors and manage out-of-state properties. He talks about how he overcame the challenges of bringing together diverse resources in a novel environment. From Googling and contacting various companies to set up property management, Felix shares invaluable lessons and insights from his journey.
But what's the secret sauce to his entrepreneurial success? You guessed it - taking risks. Felix encourages young entrepreneurs not to fear taking the risky path, not to let others' fear limit their ambitions, and the importance of following their passion. He advises the importance of ensuring all paperwork is in order and having professionals to help with the process. With his journey from $7,000 to a million-dollar real estate empire, Felix is a testament to the limitless potential within each of us.
Welcome to the Entrepreneurial Empire Podcast. This is the place where you can find business and career strategies, techniques and real-life success journeys of individuals who have built businesses to the million-dollar revenue mark and beyond. I'm Jaclyn Hernandez, life Coach and Business Development Consultant. I have worked with startups, fortune 100 companies, network marketing, direct sales organizations, churches, nonprofits and government agencies all to become the authority experts in their industry. Lead with people and scale their revenue. Let's get started. Welcome back, entrepreneurs.
Speaker 1:I hope you are ready for today's guest. He is not only a longtime friend, he is a successful general contractor, a real estate investor and a developer in the Bay area. He is brilliant at turning tragic into a magic masterpiece and he is driven ambitious. And he is here with us today to share his journey to the million in revenue mark and beyond, from challenges to triumphs. Please turn up the volume for Felix Sanchez. Let's dive right into it. What was your? You know what was that turning point for you? Because you had worked for a company for like over a decade, right, and you're so young you're barely hitting 40, and you worked for this company for over a decade and this was going to be your long term, like your long term thing, right and what made you decide to say you know what. I'm not doing this anymore. I'm worth more. I'm going to start my own lane.
Speaker 2:I think what made me stop doing that is, I've always known that I had more value and I've always known that I've had, like, my own vision. And what made me keep the job for 12 years was security, because I had a couple of kids on the way and I felt like I needed a safety net. And once I felt like comfortable enough that my kids were going to be safe, then I decided like it's time to do my own thing, because being an employee wasn't necessarily for me, because you know you're controlled by time and you're not really able to. You only can grow so far and my vision for what I want to do is much bigger than just clocking in to a job.
Speaker 1:So tell us a little bit about your background. Did you? Were you like a trust fund baby? Did you have capital to just walk away from your job and say, okay, I'm just going to hang up my shingles from this job that I've had and go start my own business and be an entrepreneur and yay, we're going to ride into the night? Did you have any capital to start with?
Speaker 2:No, I actually technically had like $7,000 in my bank account when I quit my job. Definitely not a trust fund, baby. Definitely don't have a box of rich people, people around me. It was really just like you know. I realized I had to hustle to get it started because there was another option for me.
Speaker 1:So, growing up in Oakland, do you feel like there was a lot of role models that were directing you in this industry of general contracting, because your job that you had for over a decade was definitely a different industry, correct?
Speaker 2:Definitely, yeah, no role models in Oakland. As far as like in real estate, the only role models that I used to really have was like when I was working for the construction company. We used to do lots of work for a lot of building owners and I would have opportunities to meet some of them and these would be people that would own, like you know, 7, 8, 30, 40 unit apartment complexes and you know they were just like. Most of these people were like older, though like much, much older, and you know they. But they've been in the game for a long time and whenever I would get an opportunity to like talk to them or like ask them questions, I would.
Speaker 2:But I've always like known that I wanted to be into real estate and part of what made me want to do it is I've always known that I want to buy a lot of real estate in Oakland because I'm from here and I want I want to make sure that I have a stamp here, and that was kind of like a lot of my motivation. And here in Oakland, obviously, it cost a lot of money to buy stuff by real estate. So I knew I had to start somewhere and you know that's pretty much what made me want to do it here and get started.
Speaker 1:This. You know this is really. It's a really amazing interview Again. I mean, we got the chance to briefly talk. You know about what's been going on and you have about a million dollars pushing a million dollars this year in projects and also in real estate and just like, how do you feel about that from you know, knowing that you quit your job at $7,000 in the bank, didn't really know or have a stake in the game of real estate or you know, general contractor in your own right, you know, how do you feel now looking back about that decision that you made?
Speaker 2:To be honest, like most of the time I don't think about it and it's kind of crazy because I don't know if I'm like in like an autopilot mode where I'm just like I got to just keep going and not really look back.
Speaker 2:But in the situation like this, where it kind of like makes you think about it a little bit, I mean it makes me excited. But I also like appreciate the challenge and, like I'm a I mean as you remember like from kids, like like I like living on the edge a little bit, and I think that living on the edge to some degree has benefited me because it's allowed me to take some chances when most people would be afraid to take some of these chances and and quit your job and with only $7,000 and be like, oh, I'm going to go find something to buy and I'm going to start my own company. I feel like it was just like now are never kind of you know thinking and and I enjoy the excitement, I enjoy the challenge, I enjoy the fact that I don't know everything and that I'm going through this journey, figuring it out.
Speaker 1:So, as a young entrepreneur, to somebody that would be listening right now and maybe they're interested in diversifying their, their streams of income or changing professions, you know, what advice would you give to an entrepreneur right now, that is, you know kind of in your situation, that you were three years ago, because I mean, I do want to highlight really quick here you only started this entrepreneurial journey three years ago, back in 2020, right. Right Okay, so what advice would you give a young entrepreneur, meaning they're just creating this new lane for themselves.
Speaker 2:I would say don't be afraid and don't stop, even when it looks scary, even when, like for me, the way I Think about things is like there's never a failure, like even if something doesn't work out, that's not a fail, like it's just a learning experience, like, so I'll try to do it again and Then just not make that same mistake again. Or, you know, learn from that mistake and then try to go further, and obviously I'm gonna run into something else, and then I'll just learn from that one and do it again. So my advice would be just don't be afraid and, like follow your heart and follow your passion and and and don't allow other people's fear to, you know, influence your future, or hold that would say our hold you back.
Speaker 2:Yeah like I would say do it Like, and there's not a, and I would also say there's not a whole lot of time, so do it now. It's like, why wait?
Speaker 2:Just do it just do it like for yeah, because if you do it, and you do it with like to me, if you do it, and you do it with like good intentions and a good heart and like and you're really Trying to do it like something's gonna give, like it's not gonna, you're gonna be better off than what you are now. You just have to keep doing it and keep believing and keep learning. When you walked away from your job, right.
Speaker 1:You jumped right into purchasing real estate and we talked about like your biggest hurdle and that was that, now that you had no job, you had no basically like employment credit, right?
Speaker 2:So what was your.
Speaker 1:You know how did you overcome those challenges?
Speaker 2:Well, I started researching Alternative ways to get capital besides like normal conventional loans and you know normal, normal loans that people normally get today and found out you know that there's like an investor loans, there's hard money, there's, there's lots of money out there technically that people want to put their money to work. So I was just able to like research and and find that money and once I was able to find it, I was able to use my construction history experience and the people trusted that and and from there they were they loaned. I was able to get hard money from them and from there they were able to get hard money from them. They were they loaned. I was able to get hard money the hard money investor to help me purchase my first property, and From there, the hard money investor was happy that he was paid back within a couple months and Now he's willing to. Can there the bank is willing to. You know, give me what I need to do, what I need to do.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. So you bought your first property out of state. What was that like for you?
Speaker 2:That was rough. Yeah, that was a, that was an experience, just because it it, it sounds, it sounds easy and and I'm not gonna say it's hard, but it's a lot of you know you have to do the work. You know like I'm I was the one who drove out there. You know I was the one who had to go out there and like figured out. So I think the hardest part about it is just like a new environment, a new place. You know people. You don't know no one you don't. You know you don't know nothing, you don't have like the same connections and same resources. So I think that was the most challenging part. But you know, if you go there you'll be able to figure it out. You know, put yourself there, you know, figure it out. And that's kind of what happened with us.
Speaker 1:So I think your story is you're being so super modest with it because you know, just knowing your story, you bought a house out of state and then when you got there, you know you really had to invest the time and have a whole team there. But then you bought a second pro or you bought that first property right, and then you had to find other people to really help you out with it. You have to find, you know, property management, all of this stuff, and bring all those resources together in a whole different state that you don't even have any connections with. So what was that experience like?
Speaker 2:That was definitely an experience as well. Just because you know people, they don't like I'm from. I'm from the Bay Area, from Oakland, and, like you know, our pace out here is a lot faster. You know like People are, like you know, moving and in Arizona the pace is so much more slower, so what that looked like like I literally was back here in Oakland.
Speaker 2:You know just Googling or yelping. You know different kind of companies and like I'm calling so many different companies asking a bunch of different questions and Trying to find people to help out with the situation. So really it was just tons of like internet, tons of phone calls, tons of like people failing and and and really not you know Keeping their words but then just not giving up on that and then just finding someone else and just like continuing to like try to push it forward, because when the, when the place is out of state, it's not like you can just get to it so easily. You know what I mean. You can only get to it through a phone or something like that. And so the most challenging part, which does not Having everything in front of you, like at your disposal, and really just finding new people to help you with that kind of stuff and that was the more challenging part for me. But but we were able to do. It just took longer. Yeah, this is exciting Normal buy and a half.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is normal buying a house, for I bought in in my In my time capacity as a young adult. I bought two houses before I turned 30 and then, you know, obviously my third one now and I can say, just being a homeowner and buying houses, it's very scary. I mean, that's a lot of money that you're dealing with and, you know, did you ever feel like you, did you ever second guess yourself or feel like I got in more than I got in over my head on this one?
Speaker 2:Um, no, but what I? Since the second two houses that I purchased, I purchased them without looking at them. I just looked at pictures on the internet and then, kind of like my realtor looked at one of them for me and kind of gave me his, his observation. So like what I would do different is go look at it or send someone from my team to go look at it. That way we can understand exactly what's wrong with it. So for me, like that's one of the biggest things that I would do differently. I won't just buy it off, just pictures on the internet, because those don't really tell you much.
Speaker 1:That's funny because I bought my health my health. Now I bought it online and I feel like I looked at it. Really good realtor. He like literally went in all the nooks and crannies, got on the roof, like showed us everything, facetime and everything. So I definitely looked out on that one.
Speaker 2:But yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1:It would be scary if we walked in the door like whoa. That wasn't showed to us.
Speaker 2:Right, right, and that's pretty much what happened with me. It's like whoa, I didn't know this floor was going to be wavy, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I mean, I mean I see your movement online and on social media. You know, and you're again, I feel like you are so downplaying, like what you do and your capabilities and your talent and skill and craftsmanship, right, because you're your photos that you post online like the before and after. I'm like is that the same house? How did you do that with that? You know, and you just really turn things into such luxury. You know you can have a house. Take a house in the ghetto and you turn it into like some luxury looking mansion inside you know.
Speaker 2:We want to make sure that whoever lives in there has a good experience, you know, and they feel good about it, right, I mean people. People can go spend, like you know, $50, $60,000 on a car you know, brand new car and only drive it like a few hours a day and and like that car loses value and it's not an investment at all.
Speaker 2:It's. It's not an asset to like a liability and and or and you know. But what people don't realize is that, especially like here in the Bay Area, you know, if you fix up your home, usually that money that you spend to fix it, if you like, you know, reappraise your house, or you know you, you check the value of it. Usually, whatever you put into it, you're going to see it in the value of your home because you know our land out here is worth so much. So if you, if you, you add on to your space, or you know you, you know you, you do some of the things that counts, which is curb appeal, kitchens, bathrooms, you know all that type of stuff. The money, the money, it's there in your property so you're not losing it, it's like it's there. It's just savings.
Speaker 1:I feel like, especially in the Bay Area, you're going to get value. So you know, no matter what you do, you can even make some really good adjustments to your property and, like you said, fix, you know, certain key items up and it's really going to just explode your value in the home. You know you can't go wrong, especially in the Bay.
Speaker 2:Right, right, right. I agree with that.
Speaker 1:Okay. So in this last three years you're coming up. You had to you literally had to make a way for your reputation. You had to prove your reputation, you had to create credibility for yourself and you had to get people to believe in you. Now, in those three years, did you ever feel like quitting?
Speaker 2:Yeah, just once, and that was probably just once. That was probably a little bit last year, like maybe towards the middle of the year. Um, just because you know it's a lot of work, but it already. I didn't, it wasn't like a real thing about quitting you know. It was just like one day. I'm not even really exhausting, it's just you know how it is like as an entrepreneur, like if you don't do it, it doesn't get done. You know what I mean? For the most part, I do have people that work with me you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:But still, like you have to lead the people. You know you got to like point in the direction. So, no matter what, you have to wake up and show up. And I think that just sometimes, you know I'm also a father of two kids, you know I got you know, so I want to be a part of their life, and you know, and and you know they play sports and stuff. So you know like I'm being pulled in so many different directions.
Speaker 2:So for like a brief second, like in it was just like a brief second I'm like man, I could just go get a job and then, you know, make a couple hundred thousand dollars a year, and then I have to worry. And then I was like what? Like nah, that's not an option. I start thinking about my time, my freedom, my just how far I'm able to go on my own or without a job, you know, like being tied down to a physical company and just being tied down to my own, and I was like, no, that's not it. So I just you know that thought quickly went away and just hop back on the computer and start doing what I need to do. And that's pretty much how that happened. You know, I'm never going back.
Speaker 1:I love that. Yes, you are not going to be shackled to a nine to five. I love this.
Speaker 1:I love this what advice would you give to an entrepreneur? Because a lot of people feel like a lot of people tell me like, oh, I can never be an entrepreneur because it's too much time, I'll never have time with my family, you know. But you just said something that was so valuable right there. You said I couldn't think about going back to a nine to five because I liked my time freedom. I liked my freedom of, you know, having my own time to do what? Spend time with my family and stuff. So you know what? What is that like falsity? I guess that people believe that you're not going to ever have time. What can you touch on that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I believe, no matter what, like I work more than I worked then. Then, when I had a job like I definitely work more I work when I had a job I worked four days, 10 hours a day. Now I work minimum six days, minimum 10 hours. Now I can't say that that's just 10 hours from like straight all day, you know, and I'm just locked in. But I'm going to say it's 10 hours between from the time I wake up to the time I go to sleep. You know.
Speaker 2:So within that time, you know you're able to, if you, you know you plan out your, your day or you know you're able to plan time with your family, you're able to. You know you're able to plan out your day, or you know you're able to plan time with your family. You're able to plan time with your family. You're able to, you know, show up to your kids football games, or you know you're able to make time for dinner because you have that control versus, if you have, you know you work for a company or you work for someone, you know you have to be there at this certain time and you have and you have to do this job for this many hours and whatever you have going on really doesn't matter.
Speaker 2:So the cool thing now is that I control my own time, so I could be like oh, I'm gonna wake up, work in the morning till noon, then I'm gonna go work out at the gym at noon till one, and then from there I'm gonna make sure I carve off an hour of just some time just for myself, and then I'm gonna pick it back up at like two and work from like two to six, and then I'll make sure I have enough time to come home and prepare food for my kids and hang out with them for a while, so I'm able to, like, control my own time, move your time around, I mean when you're explaining the nine to five.
Speaker 1:you kind of made it sound very archaic, so like why are we still doing nine to five?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, that's how I feel. But I feel like, you know, there's definitely some people that have to do that. You know, there's some people that are gonna, that have to go to work, and there's some people that are leading it.
Speaker 1:So let me ask you this you started as an entrepreneurial, or entrepreneur, making your own business, creating real estate development opportunities for yourself, three years ago, 2020, you know, so I assume you're around 37 years old 30, yeah, 37?.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So prior to that, once you started working, like right out of high school or whatnot, all the way up to 37, was there anything that like made you feel like you were an entrepreneur and you wanted to do that Like you know, what was that time between 18 and 37?
Speaker 2:Well, from like 18, I've always, I've always like, had, I've always had, I've always known that like that I have I'm not gonna necessarily say talent, but I'm gonna say the ability to learn, talent and to kind of like navigate my own life. And I've always known that, like I want more than what my family and the people around me were able to offer me, are able to show me, and I've always known that I want to find things in life. How's the wrong with that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't think there's anything wrong with that we only have one life here, why not have it the best we can? But so basically, I've always known that I was like an entrepreneur and I just wasn't always as brave to make that leap on my own. So I used to do freelance work when I was 18 to like 25. Like I didn't work for anyone, I was working for myself. I just wasn't doing it in a legit way, you know, I would just like post ads on Craigslist or whatever. I was more like hustling, but it was working Like I had all my needs met.
Speaker 2:And then, once I realized I was having a couple of kids, I was like hmm, since I grew up without a father and, you know, in a pretty dysfunctional family, I'm like I need to make sure that I have some stability for my boys.
Speaker 2:So that made me get the job, just so I can like okay, I'm stable, I have a consistent paycheck coming in, let me go ahead and do this for a while. And did that. But I knew the entire time that the time for me to go do my own thing was gonna come. It's just once I got into that job, I was there for a while and then I'm running the company and then I was able to carve out time for myself and it just got comfortable, like really comfortable, and then I was making good money and I'm like I should go do my own thing. Go do my own thing. And then I was a little bit of afraid because I knew that I would need to go get my contractors license if I really wanted to scale and go to another level. And then I just was like you know what it's time? And then I did it. I started studying for my tests and went to get my contractors license and then just never look back.
Speaker 1:I feel like that's so impressive because I feel like a lot of times as entrepreneurs. There's a lot of things that entrepreneurs can do. They can start a product line or they can do different things, and they don't really necessarily need to go study for a test or go study for a license per se. But the fact that you had to also put your license and the fact that you had to also carve out that time and you had to, you know, in that moment, really make that decision that was like okay, this is what I'm gonna do, and now I need to go study and get educated and pass a test and get a license and be responsible for the work that I'm doing now. Be liable for that work so incredible.
Speaker 2:Thank you, it was hard. It was definitely hard because I had to learn things that I did not know, because I don't know, if you realize, but I dropped out of school at a ninth grade, so like ninth grade, and I'm not necessarily bragging about that, it's just what it is. I encourage everyone to go to school and just learn what you can, because it's free tools. But so I didn't know, like I didn't know algebra, I didn't know decimals, I didn't know so many different things that I had to like, learn, learn. So it was just like come home from work, study, figure this out. You know, even when I took my test the first time, I didn't pass. Second time I passed, you know. But I wasn't gonna let the first time not pass and make me not try again, and I was like, oh, let me just go back, study some more and then go back and go take it again. Then passed, so that's awesome.
Speaker 1:So you're like I don't care if I fail, I'm still passing this thing one way or another.
Speaker 2:Right, you know, because it's not a failure. It's like now that first time I went I was able to like see the test, understand what it really is. You know what I really need to know, what you know like how to understand it. Okay, cool, and that's kind of like how I take everything you know with, like real estate, all of this stuff, even me running my company. I'll go figure it out and then you know once, if something doesn't work out, I'll figure out why and then let's try it again and most of the time that second time it works out. So I think the biggest thing, don't be afraid.
Speaker 2:Don't be afraid is your biggest thing, don't be afraid, don't be afraid of challenges, and nothing's never a failure, even if you lose, even if you lose money. It's so.
Speaker 1:Even if you lose money, so what? Yeah because it's a learning.
Speaker 2:Because you're gonna lose money, yeah, and it's like, if you don't, you're gonna lose People who make money. They lose money. You know you gotta take chances. If you just play safe and like, oh, I'm not gonna invest or I'm not gonna put my time or money into this because this is scary or I could lose everything, then you're just gonna stay like that. At least that's the way I see it. I see it like this If I keep trying, keep trying, keep trying and I fail five times, but then I hit two times, it's a win, it's a win.
Speaker 1:And it's a big win.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's a big win, and there's no way I would ever exchange where I'm at today for where I used to be.
Speaker 1:So my biggest thing is working with so many different entrepreneurs, right, and as a consultant, you see people that get into this very like deer in a headlights kind of mode, like they get frozen because I and what do you think it is? Is it fair they get frozen from? You know, I'm not getting any customers right now. I don't have any clients right now, Like I don't know what to do. Do you think they know what to do and they're just not doing it? I'm doing it.
Speaker 2:No, not necessarily. I think sometimes you don't know what to do. The one thing that I would say that I have done differently, or at least throughout the past three to four years, I've surrounded myself around winners. I'm going to call it. You know around people who want to win and people who know more than I know. So therefore, just kind of like being around them or just having conversation with them, kind of like take your mind out of your own little bubble and kind of like puts it into this bigger perspective. So I think, like you know, if you're around people that are always like, oh, you know this is not going to work or, oh, you know that just have all the negative things to say, that makes it more difficult. So I'm going to say, like, in those situations, if you feel like things may not be working out the way you want it to, I would say get around some people who things are working out you know for you know things are working out for these people. So get around them, because I think it's contagious as well.
Speaker 2:And I would say continue to try to learn. You know, like, if something's not working, kind of like figure out why is it not working. But the biggest thing that I think that people should know is like don't stop, you know, just because it's not working, because when you stop, then you don't give it an opportunity to work. You know, when you stop, it's done. You know it's like, but if you keep going it something will, will, will give you know what I mean. Keep pushing on all the doors, on all everything. Just just keep pushing on them and eventually something's going to move. It's that's the way I see it.
Speaker 1:And that's what I do. Don't give up. Get yourself around when, create your own winner circle if you have to. Yeah, you find your winner circle. Where did you look, or was it? Did it just arrive? Like? How did it happen for you?
Speaker 2:And how it happened for me.
Speaker 2:Actually, I joined a gym in Oakland it's located in Jack London, jack London Square and I joined that gym and when I joined the gym, I happened to find out that there was a whole bunch of like business owners, ceos, like high level people that work there and are that went to work out there.
Speaker 2:And so I just slowly, you know, go to the gym every day, slowly conversate with different people, and then, you know, they conversate back with me and then, before you know it, you know one, one person. He invited me to a, an entrepreneur class, and then I went to that class and then he invited me. Then someone else invited me to a business class, and then I went to that class. And then just really kind of like, once you know, even when these people they see that you're like interested in that, you're actually put in, you're trying, then it, it, it makes them want to continue to believe in you and continue to share their resources with you. And that's kind of how it happened with me. And now these people, literally I swear to you like I had a meeting yesterday and one of them want to open up a business with me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know they want to open up a remodeling company in a, in a in another area you know out, you know like more towards one at Creek, concord area, you know, which is. I'm here in Oakland and I kind of like to stay Oakland, berkeley.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, yeah, I told them like hey, let's do it.
Speaker 1:Collaboration is always good. Do you suggest, as an entrepreneur, now go in at it alone? Well, you didn't really go into the real estate development portion of it alone because you had a partner, but as far as the general contractor portion of your entrepreneurship did, you went out that alone, right, what would you recommend for an entrepreneur? Do you recommend solo pernurship or do you recommend partnership? Is, you know, always a way to go?
Speaker 2:I must say it really depends on on on the person and what they want. You know, like what they want out of the situation. You know, I think, that by myself I can only go so far. You know, like there's only so far I'm going to be able to take my company, because you know there's only so much one person could do. So I think that you know that's one thing, but I also would say that I would do it, get it, get it done on your own, like, go through the process on your own, because what it's going to do for you, like as a person, it's going to build up your confidence, it's going to make you feel like you've accomplished something and that you're able to do it, and it's going to give you a sense of like belonging, that that no one could take away because you've got here.
Speaker 2:And when you, when I think, once you're at that point, and if you want to go to another level and you want to grow, and if you find the right person, that you know that, you know your visions align and your energy aligns and you feel like you can, you can grow with that person, I would say there's nothing wrong with that either, because you know, two is better than one. Yes, you know, that's how I see it. So, like my, my plan is I want to have a whole bunch of different partnerships and a whole lot of different businesses. You know, I'm not I'm not against partnerships.
Speaker 1:I love that. I'm not either, definitely don't want to do it.
Speaker 2:Plus, I like my freedom, you know like so I like to do things that I like to do, and if I, if I have to do everything on my own, you know that limits that as well. So you know, at least, if you have partnerships depending on how it's worked out, you know, you may have more freedom to kind of do some of the things that you want to do personally.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, for sure, I definitely love that. Okay, what was your biggest setback, I guess, in your learning curve of you know, really taking this to another level or challenge your biggest challenge, biggest setback, something that you learned from in this process?
Speaker 2:Probably the biggest, biggest challenge and biggest thing I've learned is just I'm more of like a shooter kind of guy, Like I don't. I mean I'll think, but I'll shoot, you know, like you know shoot first ask questions later.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I'm a lot like that in a lot of ways, but I think that I now have learned a little bit like okay, still still shoot, still shoot, but think about it a little bit, you know. Or at least just like kind of like don't just shoot, kind of like think and then shoot, you know, but don't overthink it, you know, just think it through.
Speaker 1:Yes, oh, I love what you said right there, don't overthink it. I feel like when people overthink things, they overthink themselves out of it.
Speaker 2:Right, exactly. And then sometimes, you know, when you you talk about it with the wrong people, you know they can, they can distract you, you know, or they put their own fears, you know. I would say exactly what was the?
Speaker 1:best advice that you've gotten from a mentor or your inner circle that you have leveled up.
Speaker 2:My mentor always tells me, you know, make sure all of your paperwork and you know all of that type of stuff is always on point, Like, don't, don't, like try to shortcut that stuff, like, basically don't. Like. He tells me, don't do it yourself, hire a professional, you know, like paperwork for like your corporation and you know even, like accountants and stuff like that, like, don't try to do it all on your own, just hire some people that really that that's what they do, because that stuff matters, you know. So for me I'm going to say that part, just like the admin side, like paperwork, you know, that part I've had to like, you know, really it's been a learning curve but at the same time it's been rewarding. And you know, don't take shortcuts when it comes to that and don't be afraid of the paperwork either, because it's really not that big of a deal. It's just some paperwork, right? I mean, that's all it really is. It's just some papers that you have to sign. Yes, they matter, but you know they're not that scary.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So what advice would you give to some? What advice would you give to yourself back in your age of 22 years old?
Speaker 2:And why'd you wait so long? Really, like, why'd you wait so long? I that, you know, I just, I wish that I would have thought like this back then you know. So what advice I would. I would just tell myself when I was 22, like, don't be afraid.
Speaker 2:Because I think fear is what held me back, you know, of not wanting to fail or thinking that I'm not qualified or thinking that I'm not. You know, like that I can't, you know, especially coming from where I come from. You know what I mean. It's not like there's anybody who went before me to show me any of it, you know. So I'm like I am the one going forward and, you know, paving the way so people can see, hey, you can do this, at least in my family or, you know, in my inner, inner circle. So I would just say, like, don't be afraid. Like I think fear to me is the biggest, is the biggest setback. I think that that's what holds, holds us back from reaching our full potential, because we don't want to fail or we're afraid. What failing looks like, you know. But if you don't try, then you kind of already fail.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely so why?
Speaker 2:not, why not try? And that's kind of like how I.
Speaker 1:I was going to say what you know. Was there anybody in your life or in your family or, you know, your friends at that time that were trying to talk you out of doing this?
Speaker 2:Yeah, everyone.
Speaker 1:Everyone, oh my gosh, not one person supported.
Speaker 2:Well, because back when I was in 22, I was involved in church a lot and it was just become a pastor, you know, become a preacher, don't, don't, don't. To me I felt like in that situation at that time I was like don't go after the money, you know, or your, your calling is to do this, not that. So definitely I feel like I was definitely like veered away from that, from like building up myself, but I was able to grow out of that.
Speaker 1:And you made your own path. You made your decisions, enjoying the freedom of it, and enjoying, you know, your time freedom with your family, being able to be a role model to your family, of things that are possible to your kids. Now I know you have two boys, so are they following in your footsteps? Do you have them out there on job sites yet?
Speaker 2:Not yet. Not yet. I'm kind of like letting them, you know, figure out life on their own, and kind of like what they want to do. I feel like you know this, what I do is always going to kind of like be there for them. So you know, they're kind of like well, malachi, my oldest, who definitely wants to get into real estate, definitely he wants to play football and real estate, and I'm like you know he has an expensive taste. So I'm like, boy, you better do something that's going to make you some money. But I don't, I don't really push them into it, you know, because I want them to make their own decisions, but I feel like they're going to come around to it.
Speaker 2:But if they don't, that's okay too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, this is awesome.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:And today, I mean just in wrap up, we talked about betting on yourself, not having fear hold you back, don't, you know, really marinate on your decision, execute it and, you know, really level up the circle of people that you're around so that you can learn more and definitely grow more into the person that you need to become to scale your business and, you know, have that thought process to be able to, you know, really make those educated, sound decisions to grow.
Speaker 1:And then we also talked about, you know, just the time freedom and the ability to show your family that you could do more with your potential and don't just kind of sit on your hands with your talent and your skills and give it away to somebody else for basically peanuts. You know, and that shackled time, that you are shackled to a job, a nine to five for X amount of hours, even though you know you may be working a lot as an entrepreneur, that time is broken up and you're able to insert those working hours wherever you want in your day. So do you have any last words that you want to share with us?
Speaker 2:Say follow your passion and think big of yourself. Don't think little and remember you're much bigger than what you feel like you are right now.
Speaker 1:And don't be afraid.
Speaker 1:Yes, that is awesome. All right, everybody, until next time. We got Felix Sanchez signing out, yay. Thank you so much for listening to the entrepreneurial empire podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, do me two solids subscribe to the show so that you never miss an episode, and leave us a review so that others can find this life changing content that we provide here. This show can be the very difference for someone you might know struggling in their business, and we need your help to bring us together. And thank you again for being a part of our entrepreneurial community and for tuning in each and every single week, until next time. Bye for now.