August 25, 2025 • 27 mins
What does it take to build a real estate empire from nothing? Tomas Villar knows firsthand, having transformed from a 17-year-old high school dropout to the successful owner of Villar 360 Enterprises over the past 15 years.
Villar's business approach is remarkably straightforward yet powerful: he raises capital from investors, builds custom and semi-custom residential homes, sells the properties, returns the investors' money with interest, and retains the profit. This model has allowed him to expand into cabinetry and even become an investor himself, now owning rental properties that form the backbone of his retirement strategy.
The journey wasn't without challenges. Starting as an electrician with no business background, Villar worked double-duty for years—maintaining his day job Monday through Thursday while building his side business Friday through Sunday. "Taking the right steps every day of my life was key to being successful at some point," he reflects. His success didn't happen overnight, but rather through "countless days without sleeping" and an unwavering commitment to learning.
Perhaps the most powerful insight Villar shares is his perspective on failure and risk: "If you never lose, I think you never win." Coming from a poor family background, he approached entrepreneurship with the mindset that he had nothing to lose—a freedom that allowed him to take necessary risks. He credits much of his knowledge to mentors, particularly a successful businessman he met while doing electrical work, who taught him financial management principles that transformed his approach.
For those starting businesses without family wealth or connections, Villar offers refreshingly honest advice about work-life balance: "There's no balance when you're starting a business." His wife's understanding and support throughout their 20-year marriage proved crucial to his success. His pragmatic philosophy—"Follow the money first, then follow your dreams"—encapsulates his approach to building financial freedom.
Want to follow in Villar's footsteps? His advice is clear: combine trade skills with business education, surround yourself with the right people, treat your team well, and always pay on time. Most importantly, stay committed to your vision, even when exhaustion sets in. As Villar says, "Sometimes I feel like I want to walk away from everything, but the next day I wake up renewed and going at it."
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey there, welcome to this week's episode of Epic
Entrepreneurs.
I am very excited.
Today we have Tomas Villar fromVillar 360 Enterprises, so
welcome to the show.
Tell us a little bit about whatVillar 360 Enterprises is.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Well, I'm glad to be talking to you right now.
Well, our company does a littlebit of everything.
I mean my main business ishandle investors' money through
buying and selling real estate.
So that's the core of mybusiness.
Also, on the side, I mean webuild houses.
(00:46):
We bring money in frominvestors, we build houses and
then sell it and aftereverything is all the process is
done, then we just return theinvestor money, money plus a
plus a earn.
They're making money out ofinvesting in our company.
(01:10):
So on the side, I have acabinetry, custom cabinet
business and nowadays I'minvesting on my own.
I do have rentals and a couplenew houses that I'm building on
my side.
I do have rentals and a couplenew houses that I'm building on
my side, but that's what we do.
Residential, it's mostlyresidential, custom and
(01:33):
semi-custom.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
So residential, custom, semi-custom home, but
you're mostly building it usingsomeone else's money.
Yes, building it using someoneelse's money.
So you have investors thatinvest in a house.
You'll build the house, thenyou sell the house and then you
pay the investor back, whateverthe deal is plus the interest,
(01:57):
and then make a profit over andabove all that.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
That's how we make our money.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
And then also you've grown it to a point where now
you have enough money to be aninvestor yourself yeah, yeah,
that's that, that was, uh,that's been always the goal and
uh, and nowadays, that's whatwe're doing.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yeah, how long you been at it well, you know, I've
been on construction since I was17.
That was a couple years ago.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yeah, a couple, yeah no.
So you've always been inconstruction.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, I've been in construction since I dropped out
from high school.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Well, how long have you been owning your own
business?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Oh yeah, I've been owning my own business for about
, I would say, 14, 15 years.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Yeah.
So I want people to get thefeeling, I want people to
understand that this is a goodbusiness, but to get where you
want to get sometimes anovernight success takes 15 years
.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Like every business, I would think it takes a lot of
years to build somethingsuccessful in a.
I never had any businessbackground or anything.
It was a little bit morechallenging, but at the end I
think taking the right steps inevery day of my life was key to
being successful at some point.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah, I get it.
So let me just ask you a couplequestions about that.
So if you had to start overfrom square one in the business,
what would you do differently?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I mean, I started as an electrician.
Uh, I started in in a electricalcompany and then I started
doing uh side work, uh side workon my side.
So I used to work mondaythrough thursday and then friday
, saturday and sunday do it onmy own.
So till I got to the point onon that I could not handle both.
(04:20):
I either stay on the companyforever or just jump on my own,
which, uh, that's what I decidedwhen I was at that point.
And I mean, if I alwaysencourage people, if you have a
way of being educatedfinancially, I think that will
be the first step that I willtake if I have to do it from the
(04:44):
beginning.
But trade school will beawesome for whoever wants to
start this kind of business.
Take some kind of trade andcombine with a little bit of
business education.
I think that will be awonderful key to succeed in this
(05:04):
, um, on this side of the thebusiness I think trades are a
great place to be.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
I'm aware we're always encouraging more and more
people to go into the tradesbecause, I mean, I was talking
to a guy this morning.
I mean, ai is not going toreplace your electrician, just
not happening yeah, definitelynot, definitely not.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yeah and uh, and I always encourage uh the young
generations to uh to take I meanI always tell people, um, uh,
we have a program.
I mean I have a little programthat I run every now and then
that we meet with uh young, withyoung entrepreneurs, and I just
give them my side of the storyor a little bit of my knowledge
(05:47):
in order to encourage them totake the right steps to succeed
on this type of business.
But I mean, it's challenging,but it takes time, it does not
happen next day.
It takes, it takes a lot ofyears and it takes countless
(06:08):
days without sleeping.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
A hundred percent.
A hundred percent.
What?
What is some of your learningsas an owner and employer?
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Well making mistakes.
I think that was part of myeducation.
And handling money was a verychallenging part of my side,
because I had to learn fromscratch how to manage my
business, how to manage my moneyand how to create a scheme
(06:46):
where I can work with people'smoney.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
I think that was the most challenging part, I mean
how'd you come up with thescheme to use other people's
money?
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Well, you know, taking I have always been
related to.
I have always been related to.
I think the good thing on myside was that I always listened
to people.
I had a couple of friends thatI consider teachers to me.
They teach me a lot offinancing and also how to handle
(07:23):
my money.
There's a guy from England thatI love this guy so much.
He's a nice guy.
He teaches me how to handle mymoney.
He has a successful business.
He's a millionaire.
I got to know him because Iwent to his house and did some
(07:45):
electrical work.
Then I sit on his table.
Then we created goodrelationships and I used to go
visit him every two, three daysa week and talk about business
and he always encouraged meabout business and I always
listened to him and he actuallyteach me a lot of things about
business and that's how I got alot more knowledge about it.
(08:08):
Then, searching throughInternet, google, youtube and
spending time on my own tryingto acquire more knowledge in
order to apply it to my business.
To apply it to my business,that's how I got to start
(08:29):
creating my scheme and mytactics of getting people to
invest in my business and I meanit took me one guy to actually
believe on my own, on myself,and that's how everything came
to life.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah, once you get one, they're like, wow, how'd he
do that?
Let me do it.
Let me do that.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
And the good thing about this was that he spread
the word to his friends.
And then I got another investoron the boat and I got another
one, till the point that rightnow I get to choose who I want
to work with.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
I love that, yeah, I love that, yeah, I love that,
yeah, because you can't do itall.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Oh, definitely not, and right now I'm in the part of
my life that I choose who Iwant to work with, and most of
these investors.
We became good friends and wehave a really good relationship.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Yeah, perfect.
Yeah, you want to take care oftheir money, money and they want
to take care of you, so it'swin-win.
Oh yeah, definitely, definitely.
So what are some misconceptionsabout running a business and
how do you address them?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
well, how did I put uh?
The thing is, is uh failing anduh failing and on this, on this
, uh on on business, some peoplethings uh to, once you have a
business set up, is it waseverything is a, is a winning
(10:00):
every day.
But but it's actually.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Not true right.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Not true, not true at all.
Back then it used to be someweeks, months that we're just
losing money, and that was partof because I didn't understand
exactly how a business needs tobe run or how my numbers are
supposed to come together.
So I think those kind ofmistakes and having a good
(10:29):
funding on my back was a key.
But I mean business is, I thinkif you never lose, I think you
never win.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
That's the way I took it.
Well, I love that.
I'm going to write that down.
If you never lose, I think younever win.
That's the way I took it.
Well, I love that.
I'm gonna write that down.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
If you never lose, you never win, you have to take
a shot, right, yeah, you have totake a shot.
And and I mean from mybackground is we never have
money in the family.
So I I come from a very poorfamily and I think I didn't have
anything else to lose.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Ah interesting.
You love business though, don'tyou?
I can tell.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Oh, definitely, definitely.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Yeah, you love it.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Yeah, it's good to my family, to my daughter and some
other people that always askingme for a little to share my
knowledge.
I always do it.
I always share everything Icould.
(11:34):
I mean I just trying to payback in life whatever I got.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
So I love that.
So what do you attribute yourgrowth to?
Speaker 2 (11:46):
I think dedication I work from, but well, I don't do
it much right now, but I used towork from monday through sunday
, every day, all day, and, andonce I get back to my house I
take a shower.
Then I went, sit on my computersearching and trying to be I
(12:08):
always trying to be ahead of thegame.
Always If I, I, usually if Idon't know any, something about
the, about the, about asituation, I always try to find
the right people and always askthe question that I need to,
that I need to know.
I think looking for orsearching for knowledge.
I think that was the key.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Education.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Asking the right questions and trying to find and
always be around the rightpeople.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
I find and always be around the right people.
Yeah, that's a common theme ismentors and you know, having
people that are on your side andthen getting education, however
you want to get it.
So that brings me to my nextquestion, which is balance.
Like, how do you balancepersonal life and business life?
I mean, it seems like you mighthave it now, but it might have
(13:03):
been tough in previous years.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
You know what?
I've been married for 20 years.
I've been with my wife for 20years.
We got together.
I think I was 21 when we gottogether, 2021.
There's no balance when you'restarting a business.
People tend to tell me that youneed to find a balance, but
(13:29):
right now that I'm 40 and I'vebeen in the business for a while
, I think when you're starting abusiness, unless you have a
background that your family hadmoney, I think that's the way
you can balance it, but when youhave no money, you have no
other background.
(13:49):
I think there's no balance.
I think my wife understandsthat part and I always tell her
well, we need to go and try tofind it, and the help she gave
me is she always understood thatI had to be at it until we find
it.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
I love that.
I love that.
Yeah, you got to have supportat home.
That's more important than Imean.
Balance is, you know, harmonymay be a better word.
What qualities do you look forin employees and how do you
foster a positive, productivework environment?
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Well, you know, right now we subcontract everything,
right.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Well, subs are employees too.
So what do you look for in subs?
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Yeah Well most of my subcontractors are being around
me for so many years.
We rarely change subcontractors.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
And a lot of these people are either in the family
or long-time friends and alwaystrying to be on the on the
family oriented people.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
I have a mentor that always told me that if you want
to find a good, a good partneror a good employee, find someone
who has a stability in life, inhis family he may need to be
single or if he's going to bemarried, find out if he has
(15:32):
actually a good relationship,because having a mental
stability that gives you abetter quality of employee or
subcontractor they don't haveany other problems, but work.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Yeah, I have a client who he loves it when his
employees buy a house, becausethen they know they've got
something to work for andthey're stable.
So I thought that was aninteresting way to look at it.
But, yeah, I love thatstability in the family.
So do you interview theirspouses to see?
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Well, no, not really.
I just really like to sit withpeople before people with a just
nice friendly conversation,always go through the family
part, ask them just softquestions, and then I mean, and
(16:32):
everything else just comes bynature.
I mean I have been on this partfor too long and I think to me
it's just kind of easy, it's aneasy way to find out.
I mean I don't.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
I love that.
I mean, I love you.
Just sit down and ask themquestions about their life and
their family, Because if we'regoing to do business together,
we got to be wide open andeverybody's got to understand
what the rules are.
Right.
Oh, yeah, definitely, yeah,yeah, no, I love that.
I love that.
Well, let me get your thoughtson.
So BEPIC is you know, it's ananagram, it stands for stuff.
(17:05):
So the B is you know I made itinto B energy, you know, bring
the energy, and it seems likeyou bring a lot of energy.
What are your thoughts onbringing energy to the workplace
?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Well, you know our business, since we are mostly on
the bigger homes and on thebigger builds, on the nicer
builds.
I've always been open to ideas.
Like I have one of my foremansI always encourage them to bring
(17:50):
their opinions to the table.
My shop manager I alwaysencourage him to bring new ideas
to the cabinetry because Ialways like to diversify my
ideas, uh, my ideas of of new,of new builds.
And same with the same with mypainter and same with other
people.
Like I always talk to mypainter oh, what's, what's, uh,
(18:14):
what's out there, what newcolors people are trying, and he
always brings his new ideas ohwell, let's try this house, this
color, it might look good.
I've seen a lot of people doingthis and that, and same with
other people.
I mean I'm a really open personon that part.
(18:34):
I let people bring ideas to thetable.
I mean I always try todiversify.
On that part, my word is notfinal.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
I always let's bring everything together oh yeah,
yeah, man, two heads are betterthan one and three are better
than two.
And yeah, I think you're, yeah,I think you're right.
Okay, what about?
I mean you're?
Uh, we've already talked aboutthis a little bit, but you know
your thoughts on I think we'veactually covered it.
The E stands for education.
You got any more thoughts abouteducation?
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Well, like, like I said and this is one thing that
I talk to my daughter every dayis, if you have a real
opportunity of getting educated,just be educated on something
that it will generate a goodincome to you, and I'd be wrong.
But I always tell my daughteris find out if whatever you want
(19:35):
to go for is going to createyou a good income, because if
not, then just do something else.
I always tell her is just dosomething else.
I told her.
I always tell her is justfollow the money Once you have
the money, then you follow yourdreams.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
I love that.
I love that.
How about planning?
What's your thoughts onplanning?
P stands for planning.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Yeah well, my retirement plan and my planning
for the future is rentals Rightnow.
Rentals, I mean have a.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Love it.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Tested in other things and that will be my
retirement plan.
And I don't know, I might neverretire, I might work forever,
who knows?
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah, I don't.
Yeah, I'm not retiring anytimesoon.
What is um?
I stands for inspiration, so,uh, you're definitely an
inspiration.
What are your thoughts oninspiration?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
well, uh, well, I uh, I have a lot of people that
inspire me, uh to, to be on thisside of the story and I'm
always grateful for that and Imean they're always being good
to me and I mean that's what Iam right now and, like I said, I
(20:58):
always try to help people onthe way I can, because right now
we live on a life that peopledon't care about other people
and a lot of selfishness.
I don't like none of that.
(21:18):
I don't either.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
It's not working out, so the C stands for commitment.
I don't like none of that and Ijust think I don't either.
It doesn't.
It does not working out.
So the C stands for commitment.
You obviously been committed to, to this growth.
What are your thoughts oncommitment?
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Well, I, I, I'm always committed to, to, to my
plan.
I, always, I sometimes I gettired, sometimes with my plan,
sometimes I get tired.
Sometimes, in a conversationwith my wife, I always tell her
I'm tired.
Sometimes I feel like I want tojust walk away from everything,
(21:54):
but next day I wake up renewedand going at it.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Yeah, I love it.
Okay, yeah, well, in the earlydays you had to be committed
because you needed to make abusiness grow.
And yeah, now you're just yeah,that's paid off for you, so
you're not going to change it.
So what do you?
I mean, you went into businesspretty early or you've been
working a long time.
What do you wish you had known,or that somebody had told you
(22:24):
before you went into business?
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Well, I think the legal part of all this part, I
think that wouldn't be the bigpart, that I would study or do
something before I ever get intoit, because I mean, back then I
even got scammed by otherpeople and until this day I mean
(22:55):
I still don't understand howpeople can survive making their
money that way.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Having a little bit of a legal education.
That wouldn't have been awesomeback then and it cost me a lot
of money, but I mean I finallygot educated on a lot of this
process.
So I mean I took it as alearning lesson.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Yeah, I guess the positive way to say it is you
win some and you learn some,right, yeah?
So yeah, you're going to learn.
Either way, you're going tolearn.
So what other words of advicewould you offer to other
business owners who are lookingto grow?
Speaker 2 (23:42):
would you offer to other business owners who are
looking to grow?
I think the key of our success,because there is a lot of
people involved in my business Imean either a subcontractor or
full-time employees I thinktreating your people right was
the key of being successful.
Your people right was of beingsuccessful.
(24:05):
I mean, is employees treatingthem right?
Subcontractors pay everyone ontime?
And I mean back then I used toshow a lot to come to the end of
the month.
With all these bills gettingaccumulated every day, I mean be
sure that everyone gets paid.
That was key of success.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Yeah yeah, you got to take care of your team, whether
that's subs or employees likeit.
So if someone wanted to get ahold of you, what's the best way
?
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Well, it could be either by email I usually do it
through my email because I meanif someone gets really
interested to interact with us,then I can just email them back,
or I can give them my phonenumber either or we don't really
advertise anything.
(24:57):
Yeah, yeah, we got out of thatpart of the business.
Now we we don't do it that muchanymore.
It's just mainly throughinvestors, is we?
Just when you see if thefeeling is good, then then we
move to something more formal.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
But if not, yeah, just yeah, we'll put your phone
number in the show, in the shownotes.
If anybody wants to get a holdof you and your I mean your
email, not your phone numberwell, we'll put both, and in
that case so, uh, hey, man, thishas been good.
There's a lot of good knowledgehere and a lot of good uh
education.
Really appreciate you being onthe podcast thanks, thanks for
(25:39):
having me yeah, hey, and untilnext time all the best.
Hey there, welcome to this week's episode of Epic
Entrepreneurs.
I am very excited.
Today we have Tomas Villar fromVillar 360 Enterprises, so
welcome to the show.
Tell us a little bit about whatVillar 360 Enterprises is.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Well, I'm glad to be talking to you right now.
Well, our company does a littlebit of everything.
I mean my main business ishandle investors' money through
buying and selling real estate.
So that's the core of mybusiness.
Also, on the side, I mean webuild houses.
(00:46):
We bring money in frominvestors, we build houses and
then sell it and aftereverything is all the process is
done, then we just return theinvestor money, money plus a
plus a earn.
They're making money out ofinvesting in our company.
(01:10):
So on the side, I have acabinetry, custom cabinet
business and nowadays I'minvesting on my own.
I do have rentals and a couplenew houses that I'm building on
my side.
I do have rentals and a couplenew houses that I'm building on
my side, but that's what we do.
Residential, it's mostlyresidential, custom and
(01:33):
semi-custom.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
So residential, custom, semi-custom home, but
you're mostly building it usingsomeone else's money.
Yes, building it using someoneelse's money.
So you have investors thatinvest in a house.
You'll build the house, thenyou sell the house and then you
pay the investor back, whateverthe deal is plus the interest,
(01:57):
and then make a profit over andabove all that.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
That's how we make our money.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
And then also you've grown it to a point where now
you have enough money to be aninvestor yourself yeah, yeah,
that's that, that was, uh,that's been always the goal and
uh, and nowadays, that's whatwe're doing.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yeah, how long you been at it well, you know, I've
been on construction since I was17.
That was a couple years ago.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yeah, a couple, yeah no.
So you've always been inconstruction.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, I've been in construction since I dropped out
from high school.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Well, how long have you been owning your own
business?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Oh yeah, I've been owning my own business for about
, I would say, 14, 15 years.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Yeah.
So I want people to get thefeeling, I want people to
understand that this is a goodbusiness, but to get where you
want to get sometimes anovernight success takes 15 years
.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Like every business, I would think it takes a lot of
years to build somethingsuccessful in a.
I never had any businessbackground or anything.
It was a little bit morechallenging, but at the end I
think taking the right steps inevery day of my life was key to
being successful at some point.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah, I get it.
So let me just ask you a couplequestions about that.
So if you had to start overfrom square one in the business,
what would you do differently?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I mean, I started as an electrician.
Uh, I started in in a electricalcompany and then I started
doing uh side work, uh side workon my side.
So I used to work mondaythrough thursday and then friday
, saturday and sunday do it onmy own.
So till I got to the point onon that I could not handle both.
(04:20):
I either stay on the companyforever or just jump on my own,
which, uh, that's what I decidedwhen I was at that point.
And I mean, if I alwaysencourage people, if you have a
way of being educatedfinancially, I think that will
be the first step that I willtake if I have to do it from the
(04:44):
beginning.
But trade school will beawesome for whoever wants to
start this kind of business.
Take some kind of trade andcombine with a little bit of
business education.
I think that will be awonderful key to succeed in this
(05:04):
, um, on this side of the thebusiness I think trades are a
great place to be.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
I'm aware we're always encouraging more and more
people to go into the tradesbecause, I mean, I was talking
to a guy this morning.
I mean, ai is not going toreplace your electrician, just
not happening yeah, definitelynot, definitely not.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yeah and uh, and I always encourage uh the young
generations to uh to take I meanI always tell people, um, uh,
we have a program.
I mean I have a little programthat I run every now and then
that we meet with uh young, withyoung entrepreneurs, and I just
give them my side of the storyor a little bit of my knowledge
(05:47):
in order to encourage them totake the right steps to succeed
on this type of business.
But I mean, it's challenging,but it takes time, it does not
happen next day.
It takes, it takes a lot ofyears and it takes countless
(06:08):
days without sleeping.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
A hundred percent.
A hundred percent.
What?
What is some of your learningsas an owner and employer?
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Well making mistakes.
I think that was part of myeducation.
And handling money was a verychallenging part of my side,
because I had to learn fromscratch how to manage my
business, how to manage my moneyand how to create a scheme
(06:46):
where I can work with people'smoney.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
I think that was the most challenging part, I mean
how'd you come up with thescheme to use other people's
money?
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Well, you know, taking I have always been
related to.
I have always been related to.
I think the good thing on myside was that I always listened
to people.
I had a couple of friends thatI consider teachers to me.
They teach me a lot offinancing and also how to handle
(07:23):
my money.
There's a guy from England thatI love this guy so much.
He's a nice guy.
He teaches me how to handle mymoney.
He has a successful business.
He's a millionaire.
I got to know him because Iwent to his house and did some
(07:45):
electrical work.
Then I sit on his table.
Then we created goodrelationships and I used to go
visit him every two, three daysa week and talk about business
and he always encouraged meabout business and I always
listened to him and he actuallyteach me a lot of things about
business and that's how I got alot more knowledge about it.
(08:08):
Then, searching throughInternet, google, youtube and
spending time on my own tryingto acquire more knowledge in
order to apply it to my business.
To apply it to my business,that's how I got to start
(08:29):
creating my scheme and mytactics of getting people to
invest in my business and I meanit took me one guy to actually
believe on my own, on myself,and that's how everything came
to life.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah, once you get one, they're like, wow, how'd he
do that?
Let me do it.
Let me do that.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
And the good thing about this was that he spread
the word to his friends.
And then I got another investoron the boat and I got another
one, till the point that rightnow I get to choose who I want
to work with.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
I love that, yeah, I love that, yeah, I love that,
yeah, because you can't do itall.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Oh, definitely not, and right now I'm in the part of
my life that I choose who Iwant to work with, and most of
these investors.
We became good friends and wehave a really good relationship.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Yeah, perfect.
Yeah, you want to take care oftheir money, money and they want
to take care of you, so it'swin-win.
Oh yeah, definitely, definitely.
So what are some misconceptionsabout running a business and
how do you address them?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
well, how did I put uh?
The thing is, is uh failing anduh failing and on this, on this
, uh on on business, some peoplethings uh to, once you have a
business set up, is it waseverything is a, is a winning
(10:00):
every day.
But but it's actually.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Not true right.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Not true, not true at all.
Back then it used to be someweeks, months that we're just
losing money, and that was partof because I didn't understand
exactly how a business needs tobe run or how my numbers are
supposed to come together.
So I think those kind ofmistakes and having a good
(10:29):
funding on my back was a key.
But I mean business is, I thinkif you never lose, I think you
never win.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
That's the way I took it.
Well, I love that.
I'm going to write that down.
If you never lose, I think younever win.
That's the way I took it.
Well, I love that.
I'm gonna write that down.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
If you never lose, you never win, you have to take
a shot, right, yeah, you have totake a shot.
And and I mean from mybackground is we never have
money in the family.
So I I come from a very poorfamily and I think I didn't have
anything else to lose.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Ah interesting.
You love business though, don'tyou?
I can tell.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Oh, definitely, definitely.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Yeah, you love it.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Yeah, it's good to my family, to my daughter and some
other people that always askingme for a little to share my
knowledge.
I always do it.
I always share everything Icould.
(11:34):
I mean I just trying to payback in life whatever I got.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
So I love that.
So what do you attribute yourgrowth to?
Speaker 2 (11:46):
I think dedication I work from, but well, I don't do
it much right now, but I used towork from monday through sunday
, every day, all day, and, andonce I get back to my house I
take a shower.
Then I went, sit on my computersearching and trying to be I
(12:08):
always trying to be ahead of thegame.
Always If I, I, usually if Idon't know any, something about
the, about the, about asituation, I always try to find
the right people and always askthe question that I need to,
that I need to know.
I think looking for orsearching for knowledge.
I think that was the key.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Education.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Asking the right questions and trying to find and
always be around the rightpeople.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
I find and always be around the right people.
Yeah, that's a common theme ismentors and you know, having
people that are on your side andthen getting education, however
you want to get it.
So that brings me to my nextquestion, which is balance.
Like, how do you balancepersonal life and business life?
I mean, it seems like you mighthave it now, but it might have
(13:03):
been tough in previous years.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
You know what?
I've been married for 20 years.
I've been with my wife for 20years.
We got together.
I think I was 21 when we gottogether, 2021.
There's no balance when you'restarting a business.
People tend to tell me that youneed to find a balance, but
(13:29):
right now that I'm 40 and I'vebeen in the business for a while
, I think when you're starting abusiness, unless you have a
background that your family hadmoney, I think that's the way
you can balance it, but when youhave no money, you have no
other background.
(13:49):
I think there's no balance.
I think my wife understandsthat part and I always tell her
well, we need to go and try tofind it, and the help she gave
me is she always understood thatI had to be at it until we find
it.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
I love that.
I love that.
Yeah, you got to have supportat home.
That's more important than Imean.
Balance is, you know, harmonymay be a better word.
What qualities do you look forin employees and how do you
foster a positive, productivework environment?
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Well, you know, right now we subcontract everything,
right.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Well, subs are employees too.
So what do you look for in subs?
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Yeah Well most of my subcontractors are being around
me for so many years.
We rarely change subcontractors.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
And a lot of these people are either in the family
or long-time friends and alwaystrying to be on the on the
family oriented people.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
I have a mentor that always told me that if you want
to find a good, a good partneror a good employee, find someone
who has a stability in life, inhis family he may need to be
single or if he's going to bemarried, find out if he has
(15:32):
actually a good relationship,because having a mental
stability that gives you abetter quality of employee or
subcontractor they don't haveany other problems, but work.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Yeah, I have a client who he loves it when his
employees buy a house, becausethen they know they've got
something to work for andthey're stable.
So I thought that was aninteresting way to look at it.
But, yeah, I love thatstability in the family.
So do you interview theirspouses to see?
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Well, no, not really.
I just really like to sit withpeople before people with a just
nice friendly conversation,always go through the family
part, ask them just softquestions, and then I mean, and
(16:32):
everything else just comes bynature.
I mean I have been on this partfor too long and I think to me
it's just kind of easy, it's aneasy way to find out.
I mean I don't.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
I love that.
I mean, I love you.
Just sit down and ask themquestions about their life and
their family, Because if we'regoing to do business together,
we got to be wide open andeverybody's got to understand
what the rules are.
Right.
Oh, yeah, definitely, yeah,yeah, no, I love that.
I love that.
Well, let me get your thoughtson.
So BEPIC is you know, it's ananagram, it stands for stuff.
(17:05):
So the B is you know I made itinto B energy, you know, bring
the energy, and it seems likeyou bring a lot of energy.
What are your thoughts onbringing energy to the workplace
?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Well, you know our business, since we are mostly on
the bigger homes and on thebigger builds, on the nicer
builds.
I've always been open to ideas.
Like I have one of my foremansI always encourage them to bring
(17:50):
their opinions to the table.
My shop manager I alwaysencourage him to bring new ideas
to the cabinetry because Ialways like to diversify my
ideas, uh, my ideas of of new,of new builds.
And same with the same with mypainter and same with other
people.
Like I always talk to mypainter oh, what's, what's, uh,
(18:14):
what's out there, what newcolors people are trying, and he
always brings his new ideas ohwell, let's try this house, this
color, it might look good.
I've seen a lot of people doingthis and that, and same with
other people.
I mean I'm a really open personon that part.
(18:34):
I let people bring ideas to thetable.
I mean I always try todiversify.
On that part, my word is notfinal.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
I always let's bring everything together oh yeah,
yeah, man, two heads are betterthan one and three are better
than two.
And yeah, I think you're, yeah,I think you're right.
Okay, what about?
I mean you're?
Uh, we've already talked aboutthis a little bit, but you know
your thoughts on I think we'veactually covered it.
The E stands for education.
You got any more thoughts abouteducation?
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Well, like, like I said and this is one thing that
I talk to my daughter every dayis, if you have a real
opportunity of getting educated,just be educated on something
that it will generate a goodincome to you, and I'd be wrong.
But I always tell my daughteris find out if whatever you want
(19:35):
to go for is going to createyou a good income, because if
not, then just do something else.
I always tell her is just dosomething else.
I told her.
I always tell her is justfollow the money Once you have
the money, then you follow yourdreams.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
I love that.
I love that.
How about planning?
What's your thoughts onplanning?
P stands for planning.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Yeah well, my retirement plan and my planning
for the future is rentals Rightnow.
Rentals, I mean have a.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Love it.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Tested in other things and that will be my
retirement plan.
And I don't know, I might neverretire, I might work forever,
who knows?
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah, I don't.
Yeah, I'm not retiring anytimesoon.
What is um?
I stands for inspiration, so,uh, you're definitely an
inspiration.
What are your thoughts oninspiration?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
well, uh, well, I uh, I have a lot of people that
inspire me, uh to, to be on thisside of the story and I'm
always grateful for that and Imean they're always being good
to me and I mean that's what Iam right now and, like I said, I
(20:58):
always try to help people onthe way I can, because right now
we live on a life that peopledon't care about other people
and a lot of selfishness.
I don't like none of that.
(21:18):
I don't either.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
It's not working out, so the C stands for commitment.
I don't like none of that and Ijust think I don't either.
It doesn't.
It does not working out.
So the C stands for commitment.
You obviously been committed to, to this growth.
What are your thoughts oncommitment?
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Well, I, I, I'm always committed to, to, to my
plan.
I, always, I sometimes I gettired, sometimes with my plan,
sometimes I get tired.
Sometimes, in a conversationwith my wife, I always tell her
I'm tired.
Sometimes I feel like I want tojust walk away from everything,
(21:54):
but next day I wake up renewedand going at it.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Yeah, I love it.
Okay, yeah, well, in the earlydays you had to be committed
because you needed to make abusiness grow.
And yeah, now you're just yeah,that's paid off for you, so
you're not going to change it.
So what do you?
I mean, you went into businesspretty early or you've been
working a long time.
What do you wish you had known,or that somebody had told you
(22:24):
before you went into business?
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Well, I think the legal part of all this part, I
think that wouldn't be the bigpart, that I would study or do
something before I ever get intoit, because I mean, back then I
even got scammed by otherpeople and until this day I mean
(22:55):
I still don't understand howpeople can survive making their
money that way.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Having a little bit of a legal education.
That wouldn't have been awesomeback then and it cost me a lot
of money, but I mean I finallygot educated on a lot of this
process.
So I mean I took it as alearning lesson.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Yeah, I guess the positive way to say it is you
win some and you learn some,right, yeah?
So yeah, you're going to learn.
Either way, you're going tolearn.
So what other words of advicewould you offer to other
business owners who are lookingto grow?
Speaker 2 (23:42):
would you offer to other business owners who are
looking to grow?
I think the key of our success,because there is a lot of
people involved in my business Imean either a subcontractor or
full-time employees I thinktreating your people right was
the key of being successful.
Your people right was of beingsuccessful.
(24:05):
I mean, is employees treatingthem right?
Subcontractors pay everyone ontime?
And I mean back then I used toshow a lot to come to the end of
the month.
With all these bills gettingaccumulated every day, I mean be
sure that everyone gets paid.
That was key of success.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Yeah yeah, you got to take care of your team, whether
that's subs or employees likeit.
So if someone wanted to get ahold of you, what's the best way
?
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Well, it could be either by email I usually do it
through my email because I meanif someone gets really
interested to interact with us,then I can just email them back,
or I can give them my phonenumber either or we don't really
advertise anything.
(24:57):
Yeah, yeah, we got out of thatpart of the business.
Now we we don't do it that muchanymore.
It's just mainly throughinvestors, is we?
Just when you see if thefeeling is good, then then we
move to something more formal.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
But if not, yeah, just yeah, we'll put your phone
number in the show, in the shownotes.
If anybody wants to get a holdof you and your I mean your
email, not your phone numberwell, we'll put both, and in
that case so, uh, hey, man, thishas been good.
There's a lot of good knowledgehere and a lot of good uh
education.
Really appreciate you being onthe podcast thanks, thanks for
(25:39):
having me yeah, hey, and untilnext time all the best.
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