July 10, 2025 • 62 mins
In this episode of the Learnings and Missteps podcast, host Jesse engages in a deep conversation with Mr. Jose Miguel Berlanga, an international entrepreneur with over 35 years of experience. Jose shares his journey from being a struggling student to becoming a successful real estate magnate and author. They discuss the importance of following one's interests, the harsh realities of entrepreneurship, the significance of continuous learning, and the unexpected link between economics and philosophy. Jose also emphasizes the value of focusing on strengths rather than weaknesses, managing emotional responses in business, and the process of writing books to pass on his knowledge. The episode provides insights and practical advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and emphasizes the importance of perseverance, resilience, and self-awareness.
00:00 Introduction and Guest Background
00:57 Meet Mr. Jose Miguel Berlanga
02:02 The Connection Between Economics and Philosophy
06:16 Learning from Business and Personal Growth
08:53 Advice for Struggling Students
12:58 The Reality of Entrepreneurship
28:03 Managing Emotions in Business
31:21 A Unique Vacation: Seattle Children's Hospital
31:54 The Importance of Self-Care and Celebrating Wins
32:43 Balancing Work and Personal Life
35:42 The Reality of Entrepreneurship
39:07 Writing and Sharing Knowledge
44:21 The Concept of Quantum Entrepreneurship
50:41 Mentorship and Identifying Potential
55:18 Final Thoughts and Reflections
Connect with Jose:
https://joseberlanga.com/books/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jose-berlanga-900a9518/
https://www.instagram.com/authorjoseberlanga/
https://www.facebook.com/authorjoseberlanga
Make yourself a priority and get more done: https://www.depthbuilder.com/do-the-damn-thing
Download a PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be
https://www.depthbuilder.com/books
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I always say that you don't need to be a straight-A
student to achieve things inlife, to become somewhat
successful, because at somepoint, what interests you is
what makes you move forward.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
What is going on?
L&m family family back again,this time with a very seasoned
entrepreneur, internationalentrepreneur with over 35 years
of experience.
Background come from MexicoCity.
He's the co-founder of TriconHomes and he's making a big,
gigantic impact in the Houstonreal estate space.
(00:41):
So something tells me we mighthave some investment nuggets.
I'm not sure, we'll see how itgoes.
And he's an author not just ofone book.
There's one book out andavailable for you now and
there's another book that'sgetting cooked up.
Mr Jose Miguel Medlanga we'regoing to get to know him.
He's in Houston, right down theroad here from San Antonio
(01:05):
Banga we're going to get to knowhim.
He's in Houston, right down theroad here from San Antonio.
But before you get to know him,if this is your first time here
, this is the Learnings andMissteps podcast, where you get
to see how real, amazing peoplejust like you are sharing their
gifts and talents to leave thisworld better than they found it.
I'm Jesse, your selfish servant, and we're about to get to know
(01:28):
Mr Jose.
Mr Jose, how are you?
Sir?
Speaker 1 (01:32):
I'm wonderful.
How are you, Jesse?
Great to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Oh, I'm excited Again .
It's kind of unfair and I'vesaid this a bunch of times, but
it's really unfair that I get tomeet some pretty darn
accomplished people as a resultof this podcast and you, sir,
are extremely accomplished, wayout of my league, and I get a
chance to have a conversationwith you, and so I know you have
(01:56):
multiple degrees and it wasinteresting to me, and so this
question kind of bounced aroundin my head what is the
connection between economics andphilosophy?
Speaker 1 (02:08):
There is none, none there is none in the surface
until you actually dig a littledeeper.
And thank you, by the way, forthe introduction.
I bet it's great to be here.
The honor is all mine.
I love the name of your podcastLearning and Missteps.
I'm it's great to be here.
The honor is all mine.
I love the name of your podcastLearning and Missteps.
I'm full of missteps.
(02:28):
Endless number of missteps.
That's my specialty.
Not much in my life, I haven'tmessed up yet, but it's all a
learning process.
So philosophy happened to me asan accident.
I went to St Thomas Universityhere in Houston.
I was a horrible student.
I always say that you don'tneed to be a straight-A student
(02:52):
to achieve things in life, tobecome somewhat successful,
because at some point whatinterests you, is what makes you
move forward, is what makes youmove forward.
And becoming a scholar booksmart was just not for me.
It wasn't my specialty, itwasn't my area of expertise.
But I knew that I wanted adegree, I wanted to graduate, I
(03:14):
wanted an education.
I thought it was necessary.
I had the opportunity and Ididn't want to waste it.
And I liked the subject ofbusiness.
My major was businessadministration, but I also like
economics.
I just felt that it was a goodcombination.
And then, to wrap things upnicely, the University of St
(03:38):
Thomas is big on philosophy andtheology.
Obviously it's a Catholicuniversity and the core
curriculum operates a lot ofphilosophy classes.
So if I added a few more Icould also get a major.
So I go, wow, why not get anextra major?
And that was wonderful.
(03:58):
But just to wrap up theresponse to that question A lot
of philosophers, scientists,were businessmen, were
mathematicians.
As a matter of fact, it's funnythat you mentioned one of the
first philosophers of the.
Somebody that I studied at somepoint was one of the most
(04:20):
brilliant businessmen.
So the more you learn just notto get in the subject, but the
more you learn about some ofthese philosophers, they were
also businessmen and they weregood at it somehow.
So there is something to belearned about their way of
thinking and the way that theyapproach problem solving, which
ultimately, business is allabout solving problems.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Thales, thales.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Miletus just came to's one of my, my favorite
philosophers, so anyway, okay,we'll look them up and make sure
L&M family you already heardlook them up, cause I know some
of y'all want to be in thebusiness game.
So here's an interesting thingthat you said something I'm like
oh man, the they, theirbackground was in business or
(05:05):
mathematics or they had anexpertise that maybe that was
their livelihood, and then thephilosophy thing was maybe not
primary to begin with and inbusiness.
I just started my business justover three years ago, jose and I
had no idea what the hell I wasdoing.
Now, I've always I still reallydon't know what I'm doing, but
(05:27):
I've always been.
Neither do I, by the way.
Okay, we're on the same page.
So I've always been had aravenous appetite to learn and
grow, and I'm going to.
Since I started my businessthree years ago, the amount that
I've grown in terms ofself-awareness and understanding
(05:50):
, the capability or the depth ofpotential that not only I have,
but the people around me have,is tremendously greater than all
the years preceding that.
And so I wonder, like thesefolks that were experts the
philosophers that were expertsin their particular field then
got into philosophy if it wasbecause of the growth they
(06:14):
experienced in business.
And so maybe the question thenis has being in business helped
you discover or learn anythingabout yourself?
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Every single day, I continue to learn something
about myself in the businessworld the good, the bad and the
ugly.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
What I like.
Believe me when I tell you thatthis is an ongoing process.
At my age, after almost 40years of owning businesses, of
being an entrepreneur, Icontinue to find things that I
don't, not only that I don'tknow and that I don't understand
(06:57):
very well, but that I like andthat I enjoy about the business
world.
I continue to discover myselfand rediscover myself and
perfect my process, learn aboutmy own identity.
Finally, I can begin.
After so many years, I can beginto understand why it is that I
(07:18):
pursued this career, what I likeand dislike about myself and
about the business world and howto properly approach it.
Because in the early stages ofyour career, it is more about
the obligation, theresponsibility, achievements,
getting somewhere, gettingsomething done, no matter what,
(07:41):
no matter how.
And as you become more seasonedover the years in the business
world, it starts coming together.
You start structuring a systemin which you are still
productive and successful, butyou begin to enjoy it a little
more.
So you start molding thebusiness world a little bit
(08:03):
better and I continue to learnthat process.
After so many years, I'mlearning about myself every
single day and you startlearning your limits, you start
pushing yourself, you startunderstanding what you're able
and not able to do and how todeal with the endless number of
(08:25):
setbacks that that you're facedwith yes, yes, okay.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Now, you mentioned at the beginning here that you
weren't the greatest student,but, based on what you've said
so far, you are a rapid learnlike.
You can learn rapidly andadjust, and learning in your own
business is a high stakes game.
It's not like you can study andyou're playing with somebody
(08:51):
else's money.
You're playing with yourlivelihood.
So what do you think?
What would you say to to theyoungster out there that is
struggling with their grades andthat would help them understand
that the grades getting A's inclass is not a definitive marker
(09:12):
of what their potential is?
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Correct your grades in school do not define who you
are, and they certainly don'tdefine your level of success or
your IQ, your ability to learnor your ability to move forward
in life and do well in life.
The reality of the businessworld and in any type of career
(09:38):
is very different.
It's more geared towards yourlevel of interest in whatever it
is that you're doing.
It took me many years torealize that I wasn't dumb.
At some point I thought I waskind of dumb.
I was not very qualified, I wasnot very good at anything.
I was distracted, I was ADD, Istruggled to read, I struggled
(10:01):
to learn.
But many years later and littleby little, I began to realize
that it wasn't necessarily me,but it was the things that I was
trying to learn that weren'tinteresting to me.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Little by little.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
I began to understand what were the things that drew
my attention, what were thethings that captivated me and
that made me a better person andthat made me good at whatever
topic it was.
And when it got to certainthings for example, closing
deals and going after earningmoney doing transactions in a
(10:43):
specific type of activities thatbecame very interesting to me,
all of a sudden, I began torealize that I excelled and that
I was actually doing betterthan most of the top students
that I encounter over mylifetime.
So there is life after school.
It doesn't mean that youshouldn't try your best, but a
(11:09):
huge mistake that all of us makeis to try to become better at
the things that we're not goodat, and we ignore the things
that we are actually good at.
You tend to try to pay moreattention to the classes where
you're doing poorly and ignorethe ones where you're already
doing well, and it should be theother way around.
You should understand whatyou're good at and try to become
(11:31):
excellent at it.
So that, over the years, ittook me a while to understand.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
I want to give the L&M family member shout out, and
this one goes out to MissDonella.
Miss Donella made a post.
She re-shared a post that I puton LinkedIn and said some
beautiful words and of course Iwant to share them so that I
have evidence now that I'm notthat bad.
A guy, ms Donella, says youabsolutely do not need to be in
(12:01):
the construction industry forthe truth bombs of Jesse to
completely change yourperspective.
But if you are in theconstruction industry, you've
got to be keeping up with hisstuff.
If you've ever struggled to getthings done, make decisions or
make progress, and especially ifyou've heard all the advice and
(12:22):
you intellectually know, ifyou've heard all the advice and
you intellectually know, butyou're struggling with it, he
has a way of saying it thathelps you get out of your own
way.
Ms Donella, thank you so much.
Those are super awesomecomments.
I'm going to show it to my mombecause now she can be proud of
me.
And for the rest of you youalready know leave a message,
send me a DM, do some stars,share it with your people,
(12:45):
because that gives me anopportunity to shout you out on
an upcoming episode.
Yeah, no, I got anotherquestion for real.
You've said you've run multiplebusinesses.
How many times has a client ora prospect ever asked you for
(13:07):
your report card?
Never.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Not, yet they do ask for it in a different way.
There are different versions ofa report card.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
They want service.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
They want commitment, they want loyalty.
See, in life's report cardthere are other line items and
other ingredients that are notpart of the education system.
Yes, sir, they are going towant to see my financial
(13:42):
statements.
They're going to want tounderstand if I have been a
responsible citizen and afinancially responsible
businessman.
So those are other forms ofreport cards that you start
building over the years as yourcareer moves on.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Yeah, totally.
I heard somebody say it.
I was like, oh, that'sbrilliant.
We need to shift our focus frombuilding the resume right the
resume list to building ourobituary list.
What is it that people, thehuman beings, are going to
remember about us when we moveon?
Not, I've worked on a 280,000square foot project.
(14:24):
Nobody cares about that.
They care about the otherthings that are indicators of
our character, of our integrity,of our willingness and ability
to serve and deliver.
That's life.
That's what it's about.
Now, you touched on animportant thing around kind of
discovering, exploring,experimenting with your
(14:47):
interests.
Was that something that wasjust intuitive for you?
How did you build theconfidence to go down that path?
Because I know a lot of people.
That's a danger zone, right,the conventional thinking is go
do this path and build theweaknesses or whatever, but what
(15:08):
you seem to have mapped out isa different way that really
helps you find something thatfills you, that fills your cup.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Yes, you're right.
As a matter of fact, it took memany years to become more aware
of what I'm good at and what Ilike doing.
There were years when Ibelieved that I wasn't good at
anything, without reallyunderstanding that
entrepreneurship itself is ascience, is an activity Putting
(15:37):
deals together.
You don't have to be an expertin any specific science.
I felt incompetent because Iwasn't an attorney or a doctor
or an architect or an engineeranything specific that the world
needed and I felt like I wasmissing something.
Also, I grew up I'm a littleolder than new generation, which
(16:00):
has it a lot more clear in therespect of understanding what
their weaknesses and what theirstrengths.
In my generation, that did notexist.
The mission was how can yousupport yourself?
That was the objective, thatwas your responsibility.
Hey, how are you going tosupport yourself?
(16:21):
What you like, what you needand what you want is irrelevant.
Nobody cares.
That was the way that we lived.
That was the way that I grew up.
My wishes were unimportant,were very secondary, so most of
us grew up just beingresponsible and doing what we
had to do.
(16:41):
Many years later, once I did myhomework, paid my dues and
achieved a few things and feltlike I had earned the right to
start thinking a little bitabout myself.
Only then did I begin to thinkabout what were the things that
I enjoy doing and began to tweakmy career, but it took me many
(17:05):
years decades, as a matter offact where it was work, work,
responsibilities, obligationsand things that I had to do not
that I wanted to do.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yeah, now, important point, because I'm sure, or
actually I know, that you investin in the community by
mentoring and so forth, and Iget to go speak to high school
students my favorite thing to doto speak to young adults about
careers in the constructionindustry, because that's kind of
one of my things.
But I got to be extra clear andyou just said it.
(17:37):
Like, you can start a businessand do all kinds of crazy things
and pursue your passion ifyou're funding it, correct.
But if someone else is fundingit, you need to be independent
and carry your own weight.
I mean, I don't know, thatmight be a little harsh nowadays
, but that's just the way it is.
Like it's unreasonable for meto expect anybody to fund my
(18:02):
whims, right, likeentrepreneurship is not, it's
not, it's a high risk game andit's a heavy gamble.
And so if you're going to do itwith your, don't be playing
with somebody else's money.
Play with your own money.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Many young people do not understand that becoming an
entrepreneur and following yourdreams has a price tag, comes
with a price tag, has a lot ofresponsibilities attached to
them.
They want their, what they calltheir.
They want their cake and eat ittoo.
They want somebody.
They want to follow theirdreams and do what they enjoy
(18:37):
and find their passion, and theywant somebody else to fund it
and subsidize it while I stilllive in my parents home or while
they support me and give memoney to go out and have fun
while I pursue my dreams andeventually find the right
opportunities.
But that that's not the reality.
The reality is at first youneed to figure out how to
(18:59):
sustain yourself, how to savesome money, how to build some
wealth, a nest egg, so that thenyou can start understanding
what it is that you like andtake your own risks and, like
you said, gamble your own money,because are much more fun and
easier when somebody's payingfor them than when you're
(19:20):
putting your own money at risk.
Yes, sir, 100% you can be muchmore creative and much more
assertive.
Of course, we're all smarterand we all have much, much
better projections and outcomeson business decisions when we're
(19:41):
using somebody else's cash.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
It sounds like you've been on the receiving end of
that.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Yeah, and I've always treated.
Rarely have I done businesseswith investors.
I dislike it.
I work very hard to save money,to be frugal, to reinvest in my
company so that I could use thecapital to grow and to do other
things, pursue other interests,because I felt that I could
(20:07):
handle other people's money.
I see it as a much biggerresponsibility than most people
understand.
It is not an option for me tolose somebody else's money.
The only few times that I didraise capital and something
didn't go well, I ended upspending years of my life paying
them back.
So, I learned that, hey, if Ihave partners and investors and
(20:30):
it goes wrong, I'm going to paythem anyway, so why have them in
the first place?
Maybe I just figure out how tocome up with the money.
And if you do go the route ofperhaps raising money, I highly
recommend that you learn thescience and become good at
whatever it is that you're doingbefore you risk somebody else's
money.
So learn the business beforeyou raise capital.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Oh yeah, 100% Sound advice, actually expert advice
there.
Now, knowing that building abusiness because you've built
multiple, knowing that startinga business is a whole hell of a
lot of work like way more workthan you can even expect At
least that's been my experiencewhy, what is it about building
(21:17):
businesses that keeps youengaged and continuing to do
that?
Speaker 1 (21:26):
I have a little bit of an obsessive, compulsive
personality.
First of all, I need to bedoing something.
Although I tell myself that Iwant to slow down when I was
younger, that I want to slowdown when I was younger, even
from the beginning of my career,of my entrepreneurship journey,
(21:47):
I never wasted spare time.
This is something I recommendto the younger generations.
I used the reason why I wasable to build things.
I used every waking moment towork on something.
Even when I was at the bar orin a restaurant.
(22:08):
I was with people that I couldrelate with, that were all so
interested in business, inentrepreneurship, in building a
career.
I wasn't just chit-chatting andwasting time.
I didn't believe in that.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Is it right or wrong?
Speaker 1 (22:23):
I don't know, but that was my personality.
I was always interested.
I didn't do anything thatwasn't business related.
Even what appeared to be timeoff, I was doing something
business related and that helpedme.
That gave me time to fail somany times.
Yes, because I was alwaysmoving forward and I started so
young that I had time to failand start all over.
(22:46):
So that was part of the trick,that it was very interesting to
me and I wanted to succeed.
It was important to me, but partof what we don't understand we
all want to succeed.
It's very fun to be successful.
It's fun to have money and tomake money and to enjoy the
benefits of having a successfulcareer, but it's not fun getting
(23:09):
there.
It's far from fun getting there, and that's something that we
all need to understand.
How bad do you want it?
How much pain are you willingto endure to win a gold medal?
This is the secret.
It's not whether I want tosucceed or whether I want to do
(23:31):
well with my life or not.
It's what am I willing to do inexchange?
What am I willing to put upwith in order to get there?
That's the big question andmany people don't answer.
They just want the results, butthey don't sit around and
ponder how painful is this andam I willing to put up with it?
If you answer those questions,if you come up with a little bit
(23:55):
of that information upfront andthe answer is yes, you have
much better chances ofsucceeding because you set
yourself up to a realisticjourney as a fantasy island
where you expect things tohappen quickly and easily.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Deplane, deplane.
I remember that.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Exactly.
That's how most people envisionthis.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Yeah, they think I want to do this.
And then I've got a product ora service and I told people
about it, Like where's everybodyat?
Oh baby, you got some work todo Now in terms of like reality,
the reality of starting abusiness, and you've done it
multiple times.
And so I wonder does it onlyhappen on your first business
(24:44):
and what I'm talking about isdealing with failure and
rejection, Like after your firstbusiness?
Did you figure out the magicsecret to never have to deal
with failure and rejection again, or is that it continues?
Speaker 1 (24:59):
That's an illusion.
Failure never stops Failure, orat least short term failure.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
I've given this definition.
I don't call it failure, I justcall it delayed results.
And as long as you continue, aslong as you don't quit,
whatever it is that you're doing, it's not failure, it's just a
process.
If you quit and never try itagain and just throw the towel
permanently, then it is afailure.
(25:27):
But if things don't go your way, they're just setbacks, they're
just obstacles, because you'regoing to learn from them and
move forward and continue andutilize that information to get
it done right eventually.
So, to answer your question,after decades of being in
business and a very tedious andcomplex journey in the world of
(25:52):
entrepreneurship, as of today Istill fail.
I still face headaches andadversity and setbacks.
I still face headaches andadversity and setbacks.
(26:26):
Today I am dealing withheadaches, with rising interest
rates, with political issues,problems with sales markets that
correct themselves, cyclicalpatterns in our economy,
employees, rising costs,projections that have always
variations, and multipleproblems that I run into every
day, no matter how seasoned youare in business.
The only difference and here'sthe trick, the only difference
is that you become more aware ofhow to address these problems.
You get more experience, moreconfidence to deal with all of
(26:46):
these setbacks and to deal withyour everyday tasks, and you
also become much more familiarwith the emotional and the
mental process.
You prepare yourselffinancially also, so they don't
catch you by surprise.
That's the only difference.
It is the exact same thing.
(27:09):
Nothing changes other than youbecome better at dealing with
all those small, medium andlarge problems, or whatever you
want to call them setbacks.
You're ready for them, that'sit.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Yeah, I love the idea of delayed results, because
that's it Like.
The thing that happened was Ididn't meet the goal, reach the
goal the day I wanted to, but,man, I learned a bunch of stuff
that I'm going to tweak andadjust to hit the damn goal.
It's going to be delayed, butI'm going to hit it unless I
(27:44):
quit.
But to your point also, that'swhere learning happens.
And if you're afraid to fail,if you're afraid to get told no,
you're not going to learn orgrow anything.
That's what I tell myself rightwhen I'm stuck in those loops.
Now you use the word emotional.
What strategies do you have forlike managing or reconciling an
(28:08):
emotional response to anegative outcome in business?
Because, like, making decisionsin an emotional state can be
very expensive?
You got any cheat codes ortricks for that?
Speaker 1 (28:21):
can be very expensive .
You got any cheat codes ortricks for that?
Well, don't make importantdecisions when you don't feel
like you're mentally stable atany particular moment in time,
and when you're in business, youget hit from so many directions
all the time that it is veryeasy to emotionally unstabilize
yourself.
So what I try to do is take amoment pause and breathe,
(28:46):
perhaps walk away from a problemand chew on it, and then come
back and address it.
I try to just deal with all thesmall ones.
Everybody has a differentsystem.
I don't suggest that there isone way to skin the cat.
There are many ways for usentrepreneurs to deal with your
(29:06):
daily routines.
So some just start with the bigissues and then move on to the
smaller ones.
Some people go the other wayaround.
I try first of all.
I try first of all.
(29:35):
When I do better in myactivities is when I tell myself
that things are not going to be, but that I'm a pessimist, that
I'm always thinking and talkingabout the things that are going
wrong.
I don't see it that way.
I feel that things that are notat their optimum level require
more attention.
So I tend to invest much moretime and much more focus and
(29:58):
more attention on the thingsthat are not going the way that
I anticipate them.
And the people around me whoperhaps don't have the same
mentality of fixing and movingand solving, they perceive it as
, hey, this guy's focusing toomuch on all the problems and not
applauding himself enough onall the things that are going
(30:20):
right.
And there are moments for that.
There are moments to celebrateyour victories and your success
and the positive experiences,but I always somewhat get more
consumed and obsessed about theareas that are not doing.
They're not to my liking.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
And that helps me move forward.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, and soI want to put this in there
because I'm an advocate for likeself-care right, I know the
value of it because I totallyabused myself for a lot of years
.
That being said, I got to getstuff done and so, like myself
you said it earlier about yourvacations you were going on
(31:03):
vacations that some peoplewouldn't consider a vacation, or
doing things that were allbusiness centric, that people
would challenge.
I've had that issue before.
I went to visit SeattleChildren's Hospital.
I took a trip to Seattle on myvacation times when I had a real
job and I went to visit theSeattle Children's Hospital
(31:24):
because I wanted.
I connected with somebody whowas running their continuous
improvement department and sheoffered me like a backdoor view
of their whole organ, theirwhole thing, and I said, hell,
yeah, I'm coming down and I wantto see that.
So I got to two days sheescorted, I got to see their
(31:46):
processes, the way they dothings was amazing.
It was like the ultimatevacation for me.
But my friends were like, bro,that's not a vacation, that's
work Well for you, maybe.
Anyways, my point in all of thatI agree that taking care of
ourselves and celebrating winsis healthy and important.
But if you struggle with it,kind of like the point you made
right out of the gate, focus onthe things you're great at,
(32:09):
Because I'm really great atidentifying gaps in performance
and tinkering and experimentingto close the gap, to optimize
the situation, the process andwhat does that mean?
That means there's an endlessnumber of things for me to
obsess and focus on and I'm okaywith that.
I'm okay and that is okay.
(32:30):
So if you're out there L&Mfamily member that's obsessively
focused on working and growing,developing and serving others,
you get a pass.
Mr Jose said no, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
And vacation is good.
Walking away, taking time off,is necessary, it's healthy.
It took me a very long time tounderstand Again.
I come from a different era,different culture era, different
culture, different mentalapproach as to how you follow
(33:04):
your career, where lunch was forwimps and vacation was for the
weak.
That's where I come from.
For many years, I skipped lunchand I never took a vacation
because it was just notacceptable, particularly if you
were a business owner.
When you're employed or in thecorporate world, it is almost
(33:25):
mandatory because you need toclear your thoughts, you need to
regain your health mental,spiritual, emotional health.
As an entrepreneur, I thinkthat you need to fortify that
area and figure out, just likeathletes, just like bodybuilders
or any form of athleticactivity where your body gets
(33:50):
faster at recovering.
Yes, you work out and then a dayor two you're back perfectly
fine, back In entrepreneurship.
You can't really afford to taketoo many days.
There's just too much going on,and I think business owners
develop the ability to recoverand refresh their mind in a
(34:13):
matter of hours.
You become very strong at yourrecovery period, so that is
something that you're eithermade for or that you develop
over time.
But I don't think that I'veever taken a full vacation or
where I've not talked aboutbusiness in decades for more
(34:35):
than a few hours at a time.
That was a form of a break.
Even.
If I'm in a vacation or takingtime off, I have a computer, I
have a phone and I'm overwhelmedwith issues in my brain that I
carry with me, and it's just notoptional.
It is the life that I chose.
I just call it a life choice.
(34:56):
It's not for everyone, yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
Agreed, agreed, and I think, folks, if you're not
catching it like you got to bedamn committed and it is hard to
turn it off and maybe extremelyexpensive or costly to turn it
off.
You work so hard.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Yeah, you work so hard to get to a certain level
that the thought of delegatingcertain activities or walking
away because I need some timeoff and I'll come back to it no,
I'm not going to waste or loseyears and millions of dollars or
whatever the amounts are, butthousands of hours that you put
(35:35):
into something because youdecided to take a needed break.
That's just not an option insome cases.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Agreed and there's a huge well for me, and I think
what you just said I think youwould agree.
When I was working in thecorporate world, you know who
was getting all of the equity ofmy efforts, who was keeping all
the intellectual property ofwhatever I came, contributed,
(36:10):
learned, developed.
The company was Not you, not me, the company was.
And so in that environment, whywould I kill myself?
And I did.
I'm a chronic workaholic.
Whatever my work is, I give toomuch to it.
Now, when I was working forsomebody else, the return or the
exchange was out of balance.
They were getting far more thanI was getting.
(36:38):
Long-term.
Sure, I had a career and Iequity Me.
It's the just the whole airabout it building my business,
learning the things I need to do, making the sacrifices that I
need to make to achieve what itis I'm trying to achieve and
contribute.
What it is I'm trying tocontribute is far more valuable
(37:00):
and reinvigorating than it iswhen I was applying the same
sacrifice and effort in mycorporate job.
What do you think about that?
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Well, you just confirmed the way it works, and
let's clarify how things work toyour audience.
Things work to your audience.
Entrepreneurship is perceivedas the key to wealth, freedom,
(37:32):
flexibility, time off, owningyour life, owning your destiny.
And it's not quite like that inthe short term.
There are things that you giveup in exchange for getting the
ones that you want.
So it's quite the contrary.
You lose your freedom, you haveno more time, you have no more
flexibility.
You think you don't have a boss,but yes, now it's your partners
, your bankers, your financiers,your clients, your employees,
(37:56):
your vendors, your contractors.
Everybody depends on you.
You think you don't have a boss.
You have many new bosses all ofthe sudden, so now you have a
completely new set ofresponsibilities.
Is there freedom in this?
Not in the short term.
Eventually you get that freedom, but the fun part about it is
(38:17):
that you also get the benefits.
Like you said, now what you'redoing is for your own benefit,
for your own future.
You are now creating andbuilding something that you're
going to eventually own andbenefit from, but it's in the
short term.
it's not how they paint it, it'sexactly right yeah, and the
(38:39):
purpose needs to bereconstructed and the definition
needs to be redefined.
I don't go business for freedomand for fun and for relaxation
and for owning my time.
That's incorrect.
You simply choose how to goabout building your own destiny,
(38:59):
but it doesn't make it anyeasier.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's all you, all you, all the
time.
Yeah, now, yeah, so you've beenin business.
What was it that inspired youto write the business of home
building?
Speaker 1 (39:18):
I have been in the construction business for 25
years or so.
Out of my almost 40 years as anentrepreneur, the bulk of my
career the biggest number ofyears I devoted to running a
construction company aresidential construction company
, and I've been wanting to writebooks for a very long time.
(39:39):
I've been wanting to tellstories about how I have ran my
life and managed my career andmanaged my personal life.
So I thought the first step wasto perhaps talk about the
industry that I understood themost and to really validate all
of those years of sacrifice andhard work and starting from
(40:01):
scratch, starting with noexperience, with no money, and
building it into a pretty decentsized company.
So I wanted to talk about itand perhaps allow others to use
some of this very fundamentaland necessary information to
have handy if they are about toembark in this journey of
starting a business, which,incidentally, can be utilized
(40:22):
for just about any type ofbusiness.
It doesn't have to be used onlyfor the construction.
The fundamentals are all verysimilar.
By step sequence of events, Iuse the residential trend and
habit of writing and unloadingideas and thoughts in an
(40:57):
organized manner.
I kept going to the second bookand the third.
I'm finishing my third bookright now, wow, and I think
they're getting better.
The second one is broader inthe real estate world.
And then the third one is.
I think it's so excitingbecause I'm narrating now much
more the entire spectrum of theworld of entrepreneurship, what
(41:21):
it means, how it works, thementality, the sacrifices, the
lifestyle, the choices, the typeof personality.
Everything that I've everlearned about the world of
entrepreneurship I'm putting itdown on this third book.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
So a few things.
Like writing a book.
It's kind of contagious.
I don't know about you, but Ido not like the editing After
getting the content out.
I'm done with it, publish it,edit it.
I don't want to talk about itanymore.
All the other stuff I reallycannot stand.
Anyways.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
Yeah, you wrote one.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
Is it not like way more work than you could ever
have anticipated?
Speaker 1 (42:08):
Yes, and I'm not a writer.
In the literary aspect, aswe've been talking about, I
wasn't the best student, I'mhorrible with grammar, so I have
someone definitely helping mestructuring it, putting it
together, because I'munqualified.
I can write the concept and, uh, and I can tell you a story
that I think somewhat iscoherent and I can organize my
(42:33):
thoughts very well, togetherwith a context very clearly.
But then obviously, if you arenot a professional writer, you
need someone to clean it up andmake it sound right.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
So yeah, too, because what I'm getting is you're
wanting to impart the lessonsyou've learned and transfer
knowledge to help other people.
Yeah, correct.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
Yes, I want that message out there amazing.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
The third book is that the dirt rich or is there a
different?
Speaker 1 (43:06):
no, dirt rich is actually is already uploaded on
amazon, but it's not released uh, to'm going to release it just
because right now it'ssummertime and I'm traveling a
lot, but we're going to releaseit at the end of the summer.
Dirt Rich is about landinvesting, land development and
land speculating.
Understanding the world of realestate from the perspective of
(43:31):
the meaning of land and how landis the commodity, is the
particle that makes the entireindustry work.
Everything that happens in theworld of real estate begins by
the proper selection of a pieceof dirt.
This is how it all starts.
(43:53):
Proper selection of a piece ofdirt.
This is how it all starts andthe logic why do I buy this
piece and how do I appraise thatone this way and another one a
different way?
So I get much deeper in theunderstanding of land as the
important aspect of building thebuilding blocks of everything
that has to do with real estateand that's coming out, and then,
(44:15):
hopefully very soon, the thirdbook, which is called Quantum
Entrepreneurship.
Speaker 2 (44:22):
I like that title.
Speaker 1 (44:24):
It talks a lot about the fact that the mind, the
power of the mind, is truly whatdictates the outcome and the
results of any enterprise, notthe product, not the service, or
at least not just thoseparticular ingredients.
(44:44):
You can have a great productbut poor execution and a poor
mental frame of mind and it goesnowhere.
You can have the most brilliantidea, but if you don't have a
way to execute it and put it outthere and deliver it properly
to the world, it remains a goodidea.
Speaker 2 (45:07):
Yeah, no, I think it's interesting because I talk
to friends about coaches andthere's hell.
You go to YouTube and there's awhole bunch of 18 year olds
that are expert entrepreneurs,right, like they're talking, and
there's a lot of content aboutmindset.
But the way they talk about itas if it's this separate thing,
(45:29):
independent thing, and what Iheard you say, which I agree
with a hundred percent, is it isone of the ingredients, right,
having the service, having thewe'll just say, the operational
experience or Good product, yeah, even a good product to sell.
Yes, all of those things have tocome to they.
(45:53):
Thank you, that's it.
They have to align they, it'snot.
I cannot manifest eightythousand dollars of weekly
revenue just by hoping for it.
Right, I need a product or aservice, I need marketing, I
need operations to delivery.
There's, it's everything.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
Oh, I even talk about the word manifesting and how
it's really overused andunderestimated.
We don't just close our eyes.
Manifesting is not a bendingmachine where you just put a
coin and dreams come true justby thinking about them.
Manifesting works in a verycomplex way.
You have to put your part and Idescribe in a lot of detail how
(46:37):
that works.
In this book I talk a lot aboutenvisioning your dreams and put
them in action and how actionin doing things makes the
difference.
I've seen it over and over Amediocre idea become an
extremely successful enterpriseand vice versa, a brilliant idea
(46:58):
become a horrible failure justbecause all of the stars were
not aligned properly.
There has to be a lot ofingredients that come together
in harmony, that work well insynergy, to this positive
outcome in any business.
Speaker 2 (47:17):
It's interesting.
You started your career as astudent like me, not the most
elitist of students.
Then you got your education.
You got a degree in businessadministration, economics,
philosophy.
You got a degree in businessadministration, economics,
philosophy, went out, builtbusinesses, built a wealth of
experience, and now your book is.
(47:40):
Seems to me this quantumentrepreneurship is meshing all
of those things, what you study.
Where you said economics andphilosophy there's not a
connection, but it sounds likethere's some threads that you're
weaving together to help otherpeople understand the value of
all of those facets.
(48:00):
Correct, I got to get this book, mr Jose.
I got to get this book.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
I do believe, although I'm not writing books
to sell them and to make a bunchof money out of them that's not
my purpose but at some point Ido want them to become an
important tool for youngentrepreneurs, because I do
believe that the content isincredible, Not because I wrote
it, because these are myexperiences, but because I do
(48:27):
believe that talks the reality.
It explains the reality of howthis works and by understanding
how it truly functions, itimproves somebody's
probabilities of doing well inthe business world.
Speaker 2 (48:44):
Nice Well, folks out there, if you're not excited
like me, I don't know what'swrong with you.
But go to the show notes.
I'm going to have the links toMr Berlanga's website and access
his books and all of this stuff.
Because if you haven't beenconvinced by now that Mr
Berlanga has a tremendous amountof experience, like real life
(49:08):
experience, that you can valueor that you can get value from,
there's something wrong with you.
But anyways, go to the thing.
We'll have the links to hissocials LinkedIn, instagram, all
the stuff so you can getconnected and tap into his
knowledge and expertise.
Now, tricon Homes.
I'm assuming that's your latestbiggest venture, the one thing
(49:30):
that you're obsessing about themost in Houston.
Speaker 1 (49:34):
Well, tricon Homes was something that I'm well
known for because I operated itfor years, but we phased out of
that company.
Now I run a group of othercompanies Onyx Land Partners,
onyx Residential, houstonianCapital and a few others.
Some are okay, more commercialreal estate multifamily.
(49:55):
Now we own a company.
I started another company a newtrend which is built to rent.
It's called QCTR.
Yeah, yeah, we also buildresidential communities strictly
for rental purposes.
So, yes, there are severalcompanies that I'm still
participating in and operating.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
You can't help yourself.
Before we hit record, you and Iwere talking about this and
gauging the amount of commitmentthings are going to take, and I
know that you offer mentorshipand probably have been the
(50:37):
recipient of mentorship andcontinue to be Now.
This may be a weird question,but when you find somebody that
you can see like ooh, she's gotall the ingredients, she's got
the resources.
I just need to help her learnhow to be resourceful.
(50:58):
How much time does that take?
Have you ever taken one ofthose on and then?
Did it happen as quickly as youthought it was going to happen,
or did it take way longer?
Speaker 1 (51:09):
Wow, that's a great question and you're hitting a
very, very touchy subject thatI've lived for many years.
Now for me and you're going tolove my answer because it's
coming from the heart Now I ammuch faster and much more
efficient helping someone becomesuccessful because I am better
(51:34):
at selecting people who want tohelp themselves.
Over the years and this iscoming from my heart over the
years, I've helped hundreds ofpeople, hundreds of employees
that I tried so hard to helpthem improve who they were, that
(51:57):
I tried so hard to help themimprove who they were.
But I cannot help people whodon't want to help themselves.
There were many people who Itried to save and help them
become better executives, betteremployees, better team members,
but I wore myself out over theyears trying to help people who
were not giving their best.
So now so here's your I'vebecome better at identifying who
(52:19):
truly wants to give everythingand do their part to become
better.
Those I'm there to help.
But if it's just supporting theones that are wasting your
energy and your time, that firstthey have to find themselves
before they can be helped.
Speaker 2 (52:35):
So oh, beautifully beautiful.
And I got chills because, hell,yeah, I think you nailed it.
First they have to findthemselves.
I'm still not.
I still make bad choices.
But I have kind of figured outoh, some are happy, some people
(52:56):
don't want to solve a problem,they just want attention for the
problem.
And when I figured that out Isaid, okay, why don't I go get
attention from somebody else?
But being more selective, ormaybe having some indicators or
criterion that indicate, yeah,they're ready to do the work,
let's go to work Now.
I don't have all the experienceyou have, but I got a little
(53:19):
bit of experience and I'vehelped some people.
Speaker 1 (53:21):
Yeah, no, and it's horrible Even from the
perspective of having employeesover my lifetime in my different
companies where I invested somuch time trying to train
someone and helping them help mewhen I had hired them to do a
job and to become successful.
A mistake that a lot ofentrepreneurs make is to give
(53:42):
too much time for someone totake on a certain task or take
over responsibility, and we wantto help them do the job and
they want to.
We want to help them do the joband we want to help them
succeed instead of helpingourselves succeed, and I wasted
over the years.
I've lost businesses overtrying so hard to save my
employees instead of saving mycompany.
(54:05):
And eventually you get quicker.
You get faster at identifyingwho's contributing and who's not
and making quicker decisions.
That is another one.
Unfortunately, the businessworld is a little bit cold in
that respect, yeah, where youhave to make those decisions.
If you don't want toparticipate in the mission and
you don't want to be there andyou don't want to learn and grow
(54:27):
, then you have to move on andmake some quick choices.
Speaker 2 (54:31):
And that's okay.
Like they need to find anotherplace that will sustain and
welcome their level of growth orlevel of commitment, because
there are other places out there.
I'm with you, like I agree 100%that we should value the people
, invest in people, developpeople.
I also agree 100% that whenpeople ain't performing, they
(54:53):
just need to go somewhere else.
That's it.
It's not complicated.
But back to the emotion part.
Right, it's difficult.
I want to help them get to apoint that they're not invested
in or care to get to, and that'sthe reality that we have to
come to terms with.
All right, yeah, oh, okay, areyou ready for the grand slam
(55:20):
question?
My gut tells me, with thewealth of experience that you
have and your humility I loveand appreciate your humility
that I have Talk more abouteverything that I do wrong than
what I do.
it's just my nature yes, I loveit, super appreciate it.
My sense is that you're gonnahave a super amazing response to
(55:42):
this question.
You ready, sure?
All right, what is the promiseyou are intended to be?
Speaker 1 (55:54):
The promise?
Yes, of what am I intended tobe?
Yep, I'll answer it in a coupleof different ways just to see
if it meets.
Sometimes, we just work for thesake of working and achieve for
the purpose of achieving.
I'm getting to a point where Iwant to live a life that
(56:16):
outlives me.
I want to create a level ofcommitment to what I do and
influence others around me wherethey can utilize some of my
expertise, some of my good andbad experiences, and help them
(56:38):
become better, and I want tobegin to enjoy that process.
I do not want to engage inactivities for the sake of work,
for the sake of making money,without lacking a purpose.
So that's where I'm becoming alittle bit different nowadays,
(57:01):
increasing the purpose and themission factor in whatever it is
that I'm doing, so that I canleave something behind that is
more meaningful to others.
Wow.
Speaker 2 (57:18):
Wow, live a life that outlives me.
That's powerful, thank you.
Thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (57:27):
It's a difficult statement, but I guess that's
why I'm beginning to do thingsthat are necessarily not giving
me immediate gratification.
I'm not doing something rightnow because I'm getting paid for
or because I am going toimprove my personal life and my
(57:48):
lifestyle style.
I'm already happy with whatI've achieved, and right now I
want to shift gears a little bitinto doing something that can
perhaps influence others tobecome better.
Speaker 2 (58:04):
Oh, my goodness, amazing Mr Berlanga.
You've been so generous withyour wisdom and your insights.
I feel like I'm shortchangingthe listeners.
What did I fail to ask you thatwould have been really
meaningful to you and to thelistener right now?
Speaker 1 (58:22):
Nothing at all.
Nothing at all, because thepurpose of this conversation is
to have fun, to discuss some ofthese entertaining experiences
in the business world.
So having been here talking toyou has been fun and I really
appreciate the invitation.
Speaker 2 (58:40):
Oh, this was amazing.
I feel like when I'm in HoustonI'm going to have to shoot an
email to your people and say,hey, can we have tacos or
something?
Speaker 1 (58:50):
just to shake your hand this was amazing.
We have great tacos here.
Houston is trulyunderappreciated in the culinary
respect.
We have some of the best food.
It's very versatile, it's verydiverse, it's incredible.
It's under most people's radars.
Houston is incredible.
(59:10):
So, yes, I'd love to see youand have you come by and visit
Houston.
Speaker 2 (59:17):
Oh man, that would be great.
Thank you for sticking it outall the way to the end.
I know you got a whole lot ofstuff going on and, in
appreciation for the gift oftime that you have given this
episode, I want to offer you afree PDF of my book Becoming the
Promise You're Intended to Be.
The link for that bad boy isdown in the show notes.
(59:37):
Hit it.
You don't even have to give meyour email address.
There's a link in there.
You just click that and you candownload the PDF.
And if you share it withsomebody that you know who might
feel stuck or be caught up inself-destructive behaviors, that
would be the ultimate yousharing.
That increases the likelihoodthat it's going to help one more
(59:59):
person.
And if it does help one moreperson, then you're contributing
to me becoming the promise I amintended to be Be kind to
yourself, be cool, and we'lltalk at you next time.
I always say that you don't need to be a straight-A
student to achieve things inlife, to become somewhat
successful, because at somepoint, what interests you is
what makes you move forward.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
What is going on?
L&m family family back again,this time with a very seasoned
entrepreneur, internationalentrepreneur with over 35 years
of experience.
Background come from MexicoCity.
He's the co-founder of TriconHomes and he's making a big,
gigantic impact in the Houstonreal estate space.
(00:41):
So something tells me we mighthave some investment nuggets.
I'm not sure, we'll see how itgoes.
And he's an author not just ofone book.
There's one book out andavailable for you now and
there's another book that'sgetting cooked up.
Mr Jose Miguel Medlanga we'regoing to get to know him.
He's in Houston, right down theroad here from San Antonio
(01:05):
Banga we're going to get to knowhim.
He's in Houston, right down theroad here from San Antonio.
But before you get to know him,if this is your first time here
, this is the Learnings andMissteps podcast, where you get
to see how real, amazing peoplejust like you are sharing their
gifts and talents to leave thisworld better than they found it.
I'm Jesse, your selfish servant, and we're about to get to know
(01:28):
Mr Jose.
Mr Jose, how are you?
Sir?
Speaker 1 (01:32):
I'm wonderful.
How are you, Jesse?
Great to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Oh, I'm excited Again .
It's kind of unfair and I'vesaid this a bunch of times, but
it's really unfair that I get tomeet some pretty darn
accomplished people as a resultof this podcast and you, sir,
are extremely accomplished, wayout of my league, and I get a
chance to have a conversationwith you, and so I know you have
(01:56):
multiple degrees and it wasinteresting to me, and so this
question kind of bounced aroundin my head what is the
connection between economics andphilosophy?
Speaker 1 (02:08):
There is none, none there is none in the surface
until you actually dig a littledeeper.
And thank you, by the way, forthe introduction.
I bet it's great to be here.
The honor is all mine.
I love the name of your podcastLearning and Missteps.
I'm it's great to be here.
The honor is all mine.
I love the name of your podcastLearning and Missteps.
I'm full of missteps.
(02:28):
Endless number of missteps.
That's my specialty.
Not much in my life, I haven'tmessed up yet, but it's all a
learning process.
So philosophy happened to me asan accident.
I went to St Thomas Universityhere in Houston.
I was a horrible student.
I always say that you don'tneed to be a straight-A student
(02:52):
to achieve things in life, tobecome somewhat successful,
because at some point whatinterests you, is what makes you
move forward, is what makes youmove forward.
And becoming a scholar booksmart was just not for me.
It wasn't my specialty, itwasn't my area of expertise.
But I knew that I wanted adegree, I wanted to graduate, I
(03:14):
wanted an education.
I thought it was necessary.
I had the opportunity and Ididn't want to waste it.
And I liked the subject ofbusiness.
My major was businessadministration, but I also like
economics.
I just felt that it was a goodcombination.
And then, to wrap things upnicely, the University of St
(03:38):
Thomas is big on philosophy andtheology.
Obviously it's a Catholicuniversity and the core
curriculum operates a lot ofphilosophy classes.
So if I added a few more Icould also get a major.
So I go, wow, why not get anextra major?
And that was wonderful.
(03:58):
But just to wrap up theresponse to that question A lot
of philosophers, scientists,were businessmen, were
mathematicians.
As a matter of fact, it's funnythat you mentioned one of the
first philosophers of the.
Somebody that I studied at somepoint was one of the most
(04:20):
brilliant businessmen.
So the more you learn just notto get in the subject, but the
more you learn about some ofthese philosophers, they were
also businessmen and they weregood at it somehow.
So there is something to belearned about their way of
thinking and the way that theyapproach problem solving, which
ultimately, business is allabout solving problems.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Thales, thales.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Miletus just came to's one of my, my favorite
philosophers, so anyway, okay,we'll look them up and make sure
L&M family you already heardlook them up, cause I know some
of y'all want to be in thebusiness game.
So here's an interesting thingthat you said something I'm like
oh man, the they, theirbackground was in business or
(05:05):
mathematics or they had anexpertise that maybe that was
their livelihood, and then thephilosophy thing was maybe not
primary to begin with and inbusiness.
I just started my business justover three years ago, jose and I
had no idea what the hell I wasdoing.
Now, I've always I still reallydon't know what I'm doing, but
(05:27):
I've always been.
Neither do I, by the way.
Okay, we're on the same page.
So I've always been had aravenous appetite to learn and
grow, and I'm going to.
Since I started my businessthree years ago, the amount that
I've grown in terms ofself-awareness and understanding
(05:50):
, the capability or the depth ofpotential that not only I have,
but the people around me have,is tremendously greater than all
the years preceding that.
And so I wonder, like thesefolks that were experts the
philosophers that were expertsin their particular field then
got into philosophy if it wasbecause of the growth they
(06:14):
experienced in business.
And so maybe the question thenis has being in business helped
you discover or learn anythingabout yourself?
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Every single day, I continue to learn something
about myself in the businessworld the good, the bad and the
ugly.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
What I like.
Believe me when I tell you thatthis is an ongoing process.
At my age, after almost 40years of owning businesses, of
being an entrepreneur, Icontinue to find things that I
don't, not only that I don'tknow and that I don't understand
(06:57):
very well, but that I like andthat I enjoy about the business
world.
I continue to discover myselfand rediscover myself and
perfect my process, learn aboutmy own identity.
Finally, I can begin.
After so many years, I can beginto understand why it is that I
(07:18):
pursued this career, what I likeand dislike about myself and
about the business world and howto properly approach it.
Because in the early stages ofyour career, it is more about
the obligation, theresponsibility, achievements,
getting somewhere, gettingsomething done, no matter what,
(07:41):
no matter how.
And as you become more seasonedover the years in the business
world, it starts coming together.
You start structuring a systemin which you are still
productive and successful, butyou begin to enjoy it a little
more.
So you start molding thebusiness world a little bit
(08:03):
better and I continue to learnthat process.
After so many years, I'mlearning about myself every
single day and you startlearning your limits, you start
pushing yourself, you startunderstanding what you're able
and not able to do and how todeal with the endless number of
(08:25):
setbacks that that you're facedwith yes, yes, okay.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Now, you mentioned at the beginning here that you
weren't the greatest student,but, based on what you've said
so far, you are a rapid learnlike.
You can learn rapidly andadjust, and learning in your own
business is a high stakes game.
It's not like you can study andyou're playing with somebody
(08:51):
else's money.
You're playing with yourlivelihood.
So what do you think?
What would you say to to theyoungster out there that is
struggling with their grades andthat would help them understand
that the grades getting A's inclass is not a definitive marker
(09:12):
of what their potential is?
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Correct your grades in school do not define who you
are, and they certainly don'tdefine your level of success or
your IQ, your ability to learnor your ability to move forward
in life and do well in life.
The reality of the businessworld and in any type of career
(09:38):
is very different.
It's more geared towards yourlevel of interest in whatever it
is that you're doing.
It took me many years torealize that I wasn't dumb.
At some point I thought I waskind of dumb.
I was not very qualified, I wasnot very good at anything.
I was distracted, I was ADD, Istruggled to read, I struggled
(10:01):
to learn.
But many years later and littleby little, I began to realize
that it wasn't necessarily me,but it was the things that I was
trying to learn that weren'tinteresting to me.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Little by little.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
I began to understand what were the things that drew
my attention, what were thethings that captivated me and
that made me a better person andthat made me good at whatever
topic it was.
And when it got to certainthings for example, closing
deals and going after earningmoney doing transactions in a
(10:43):
specific type of activities thatbecame very interesting to me,
all of a sudden, I began torealize that I excelled and that
I was actually doing betterthan most of the top students
that I encounter over mylifetime.
So there is life after school.
It doesn't mean that youshouldn't try your best, but a
(11:09):
huge mistake that all of us makeis to try to become better at
the things that we're not goodat, and we ignore the things
that we are actually good at.
You tend to try to pay moreattention to the classes where
you're doing poorly and ignorethe ones where you're already
doing well, and it should be theother way around.
You should understand whatyou're good at and try to become
(11:31):
excellent at it.
So that, over the years, ittook me a while to understand.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
I want to give the L&M family member shout out, and
this one goes out to MissDonella.
Miss Donella made a post.
She re-shared a post that I puton LinkedIn and said some
beautiful words and of course Iwant to share them so that I
have evidence now that I'm notthat bad.
A guy, ms Donella, says youabsolutely do not need to be in
(12:01):
the construction industry forthe truth bombs of Jesse to
completely change yourperspective.
But if you are in theconstruction industry, you've
got to be keeping up with hisstuff.
If you've ever struggled to getthings done, make decisions or
make progress, and especially ifyou've heard all the advice and
(12:22):
you intellectually know, ifyou've heard all the advice and
you intellectually know, butyou're struggling with it, he
has a way of saying it thathelps you get out of your own
way.
Ms Donella, thank you so much.
Those are super awesomecomments.
I'm going to show it to my mombecause now she can be proud of
me.
And for the rest of you youalready know leave a message,
send me a DM, do some stars,share it with your people,
(12:45):
because that gives me anopportunity to shout you out on
an upcoming episode.
Yeah, no, I got anotherquestion for real.
You've said you've run multiplebusinesses.
How many times has a client ora prospect ever asked you for
(13:07):
your report card?
Never.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Not, yet they do ask for it in a different way.
There are different versions ofa report card.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
They want service.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
They want commitment, they want loyalty.
See, in life's report cardthere are other line items and
other ingredients that are notpart of the education system.
Yes, sir, they are going towant to see my financial
(13:42):
statements.
They're going to want tounderstand if I have been a
responsible citizen and afinancially responsible
businessman.
So those are other forms ofreport cards that you start
building over the years as yourcareer moves on.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Yeah, totally.
I heard somebody say it.
I was like, oh, that'sbrilliant.
We need to shift our focus frombuilding the resume right the
resume list to building ourobituary list.
What is it that people, thehuman beings, are going to
remember about us when we moveon?
Not, I've worked on a 280,000square foot project.
(14:24):
Nobody cares about that.
They care about the otherthings that are indicators of
our character, of our integrity,of our willingness and ability
to serve and deliver.
That's life.
That's what it's about.
Now, you touched on animportant thing around kind of
discovering, exploring,experimenting with your
(14:47):
interests.
Was that something that wasjust intuitive for you?
How did you build theconfidence to go down that path?
Because I know a lot of people.
That's a danger zone, right,the conventional thinking is go
do this path and build theweaknesses or whatever, but what
(15:08):
you seem to have mapped out isa different way that really
helps you find something thatfills you, that fills your cup.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Yes, you're right.
As a matter of fact, it took memany years to become more aware
of what I'm good at and what Ilike doing.
There were years when Ibelieved that I wasn't good at
anything, without reallyunderstanding that
entrepreneurship itself is ascience, is an activity Putting
(15:37):
deals together.
You don't have to be an expertin any specific science.
I felt incompetent because Iwasn't an attorney or a doctor
or an architect or an engineeranything specific that the world
needed and I felt like I wasmissing something.
Also, I grew up I'm a littleolder than new generation, which
(16:00):
has it a lot more clear in therespect of understanding what
their weaknesses and what theirstrengths.
In my generation, that did notexist.
The mission was how can yousupport yourself?
That was the objective, thatwas your responsibility.
Hey, how are you going tosupport yourself?
(16:21):
What you like, what you needand what you want is irrelevant.
Nobody cares.
That was the way that we lived.
That was the way that I grew up.
My wishes were unimportant,were very secondary, so most of
us grew up just beingresponsible and doing what we
had to do.
(16:41):
Many years later, once I did myhomework, paid my dues and
achieved a few things and feltlike I had earned the right to
start thinking a little bitabout myself.
Only then did I begin to thinkabout what were the things that
I enjoy doing and began to tweakmy career, but it took me many
(17:05):
years decades, as a matter offact where it was work, work,
responsibilities, obligationsand things that I had to do not
that I wanted to do.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yeah, now, important point, because I'm sure, or
actually I know, that you investin in the community by
mentoring and so forth, and Iget to go speak to high school
students my favorite thing to doto speak to young adults about
careers in the constructionindustry, because that's kind of
one of my things.
But I got to be extra clear andyou just said it.
(17:37):
Like, you can start a businessand do all kinds of crazy things
and pursue your passion ifyou're funding it, correct.
But if someone else is fundingit, you need to be independent
and carry your own weight.
I mean, I don't know, thatmight be a little harsh nowadays
, but that's just the way it is.
Like it's unreasonable for meto expect anybody to fund my
(18:02):
whims, right, likeentrepreneurship is not, it's
not, it's a high risk game andit's a heavy gamble.
And so if you're going to do itwith your, don't be playing
with somebody else's money.
Play with your own money.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Many young people do not understand that becoming an
entrepreneur and following yourdreams has a price tag, comes
with a price tag, has a lot ofresponsibilities attached to
them.
They want their, what they calltheir.
They want their cake and eat ittoo.
They want somebody.
They want to follow theirdreams and do what they enjoy
(18:37):
and find their passion, and theywant somebody else to fund it
and subsidize it while I stilllive in my parents home or while
they support me and give memoney to go out and have fun
while I pursue my dreams andeventually find the right
opportunities.
But that that's not the reality.
The reality is at first youneed to figure out how to
(18:59):
sustain yourself, how to savesome money, how to build some
wealth, a nest egg, so that thenyou can start understanding
what it is that you like andtake your own risks and, like
you said, gamble your own money,because are much more fun and
easier when somebody's payingfor them than when you're
(19:20):
putting your own money at risk.
Yes, sir, 100% you can be muchmore creative and much more
assertive.
Of course, we're all smarterand we all have much, much
better projections and outcomeson business decisions when we're
(19:41):
using somebody else's cash.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
It sounds like you've been on the receiving end of
that.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Yeah, and I've always treated.
Rarely have I done businesseswith investors.
I dislike it.
I work very hard to save money,to be frugal, to reinvest in my
company so that I could use thecapital to grow and to do other
things, pursue other interests,because I felt that I could
(20:07):
handle other people's money.
I see it as a much biggerresponsibility than most people
understand.
It is not an option for me tolose somebody else's money.
The only few times that I didraise capital and something
didn't go well, I ended upspending years of my life paying
them back.
So, I learned that, hey, if Ihave partners and investors and
(20:30):
it goes wrong, I'm going to paythem anyway, so why have them in
the first place?
Maybe I just figure out how tocome up with the money.
And if you do go the route ofperhaps raising money, I highly
recommend that you learn thescience and become good at
whatever it is that you're doingbefore you risk somebody else's
money.
So learn the business beforeyou raise capital.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Oh yeah, 100% Sound advice, actually expert advice
there.
Now, knowing that building abusiness because you've built
multiple, knowing that startinga business is a whole hell of a
lot of work like way more workthan you can even expect At
least that's been my experiencewhy, what is it about building
(21:17):
businesses that keeps youengaged and continuing to do
that?
Speaker 1 (21:26):
I have a little bit of an obsessive, compulsive
personality.
First of all, I need to bedoing something.
Although I tell myself that Iwant to slow down when I was
younger, that I want to slowdown when I was younger, even
from the beginning of my career,of my entrepreneurship journey,
(21:47):
I never wasted spare time.
This is something I recommendto the younger generations.
I used the reason why I wasable to build things.
I used every waking moment towork on something.
Even when I was at the bar orin a restaurant.
(22:08):
I was with people that I couldrelate with, that were all so
interested in business, inentrepreneurship, in building a
career.
I wasn't just chit-chatting andwasting time.
I didn't believe in that.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Is it right or wrong?
Speaker 1 (22:23):
I don't know, but that was my personality.
I was always interested.
I didn't do anything thatwasn't business related.
Even what appeared to be timeoff, I was doing something
business related and that helpedme.
That gave me time to fail somany times.
Yes, because I was alwaysmoving forward and I started so
young that I had time to failand start all over.
(22:46):
So that was part of the trick,that it was very interesting to
me and I wanted to succeed.
It was important to me, but partof what we don't understand we
all want to succeed.
It's very fun to be successful.
It's fun to have money and tomake money and to enjoy the
benefits of having a successfulcareer, but it's not fun getting
(23:09):
there.
It's far from fun getting there, and that's something that we
all need to understand.
How bad do you want it?
How much pain are you willingto endure to win a gold medal?
This is the secret.
It's not whether I want tosucceed or whether I want to do
(23:31):
well with my life or not.
It's what am I willing to do inexchange?
What am I willing to put upwith in order to get there?
That's the big question andmany people don't answer.
They just want the results, butthey don't sit around and
ponder how painful is this andam I willing to put up with it?
If you answer those questions,if you come up with a little bit
(23:55):
of that information upfront andthe answer is yes, you have
much better chances ofsucceeding because you set
yourself up to a realisticjourney as a fantasy island
where you expect things tohappen quickly and easily.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Deplane, deplane.
I remember that.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Exactly.
That's how most people envisionthis.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Yeah, they think I want to do this.
And then I've got a product ora service and I told people
about it, Like where's everybodyat?
Oh baby, you got some work todo Now in terms of like reality,
the reality of starting abusiness, and you've done it
multiple times.
And so I wonder does it onlyhappen on your first business
(24:44):
and what I'm talking about isdealing with failure and
rejection, Like after your firstbusiness?
Did you figure out the magicsecret to never have to deal
with failure and rejection again, or is that it continues?
Speaker 1 (24:59):
That's an illusion.
Failure never stops Failure, orat least short term failure.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
I've given this definition.
I don't call it failure, I justcall it delayed results.
And as long as you continue, aslong as you don't quit,
whatever it is that you're doing, it's not failure, it's just a
process.
If you quit and never try itagain and just throw the towel
permanently, then it is afailure.
(25:27):
But if things don't go your way, they're just setbacks, they're
just obstacles, because you'regoing to learn from them and
move forward and continue andutilize that information to get
it done right eventually.
So, to answer your question,after decades of being in
business and a very tedious andcomplex journey in the world of
(25:52):
entrepreneurship, as of today Istill fail.
I still face headaches andadversity and setbacks.
I still face headaches andadversity and setbacks.
(26:26):
Today I am dealing withheadaches, with rising interest
rates, with political issues,problems with sales markets that
correct themselves, cyclicalpatterns in our economy,
employees, rising costs,projections that have always
variations, and multipleproblems that I run into every
day, no matter how seasoned youare in business.
The only difference and here'sthe trick, the only difference
is that you become more aware ofhow to address these problems.
You get more experience, moreconfidence to deal with all of
(26:46):
these setbacks and to deal withyour everyday tasks, and you
also become much more familiarwith the emotional and the
mental process.
You prepare yourselffinancially also, so they don't
catch you by surprise.
That's the only difference.
It is the exact same thing.
(27:09):
Nothing changes other than youbecome better at dealing with
all those small, medium andlarge problems, or whatever you
want to call them setbacks.
You're ready for them, that'sit.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Yeah, I love the idea of delayed results, because
that's it Like.
The thing that happened was Ididn't meet the goal, reach the
goal the day I wanted to, but,man, I learned a bunch of stuff
that I'm going to tweak andadjust to hit the damn goal.
It's going to be delayed, butI'm going to hit it unless I
(27:44):
quit.
But to your point also, that'swhere learning happens.
And if you're afraid to fail,if you're afraid to get told no,
you're not going to learn orgrow anything.
That's what I tell myself rightwhen I'm stuck in those loops.
Now you use the word emotional.
What strategies do you have forlike managing or reconciling an
(28:08):
emotional response to anegative outcome in business?
Because, like, making decisionsin an emotional state can be
very expensive?
You got any cheat codes ortricks for that?
Speaker 1 (28:21):
can be very expensive .
You got any cheat codes ortricks for that?
Well, don't make importantdecisions when you don't feel
like you're mentally stable atany particular moment in time,
and when you're in business, youget hit from so many directions
all the time that it is veryeasy to emotionally unstabilize
yourself.
So what I try to do is take amoment pause and breathe,
(28:46):
perhaps walk away from a problemand chew on it, and then come
back and address it.
I try to just deal with all thesmall ones.
Everybody has a differentsystem.
I don't suggest that there isone way to skin the cat.
There are many ways for usentrepreneurs to deal with your
(29:06):
daily routines.
So some just start with the bigissues and then move on to the
smaller ones.
Some people go the other wayaround.
I try first of all.
I try first of all.
(29:35):
When I do better in myactivities is when I tell myself
that things are not going to be, but that I'm a pessimist, that
I'm always thinking and talkingabout the things that are going
wrong.
I don't see it that way.
I feel that things that are notat their optimum level require
more attention.
So I tend to invest much moretime and much more focus and
(29:58):
more attention on the thingsthat are not going the way that
I anticipate them.
And the people around me whoperhaps don't have the same
mentality of fixing and movingand solving, they perceive it as
, hey, this guy's focusing toomuch on all the problems and not
applauding himself enough onall the things that are going
(30:20):
right.
And there are moments for that.
There are moments to celebrateyour victories and your success
and the positive experiences,but I always somewhat get more
consumed and obsessed about theareas that are not doing.
They're not to my liking.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
And that helps me move forward.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, and soI want to put this in there
because I'm an advocate for likeself-care right, I know the
value of it because I totallyabused myself for a lot of years
.
That being said, I got to getstuff done and so, like myself
you said it earlier about yourvacations you were going on
(31:03):
vacations that some peoplewouldn't consider a vacation, or
doing things that were allbusiness centric, that people
would challenge.
I've had that issue before.
I went to visit SeattleChildren's Hospital.
I took a trip to Seattle on myvacation times when I had a real
job and I went to visit theSeattle Children's Hospital
(31:24):
because I wanted.
I connected with somebody whowas running their continuous
improvement department and sheoffered me like a backdoor view
of their whole organ, theirwhole thing, and I said, hell,
yeah, I'm coming down and I wantto see that.
So I got to two days sheescorted, I got to see their
(31:46):
processes, the way they dothings was amazing.
It was like the ultimatevacation for me.
But my friends were like, bro,that's not a vacation, that's
work Well for you, maybe.
Anyways, my point in all of thatI agree that taking care of
ourselves and celebrating winsis healthy and important.
But if you struggle with it,kind of like the point you made
right out of the gate, focus onthe things you're great at,
(32:09):
Because I'm really great atidentifying gaps in performance
and tinkering and experimentingto close the gap, to optimize
the situation, the process andwhat does that mean?
That means there's an endlessnumber of things for me to
obsess and focus on and I'm okaywith that.
I'm okay and that is okay.
(32:30):
So if you're out there L&Mfamily member that's obsessively
focused on working and growing,developing and serving others,
you get a pass.
Mr Jose said no, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
And vacation is good.
Walking away, taking time off,is necessary, it's healthy.
It took me a very long time tounderstand Again.
I come from a different era,different culture era, different
culture, different mentalapproach as to how you follow
(33:04):
your career, where lunch was forwimps and vacation was for the
weak.
That's where I come from.
For many years, I skipped lunchand I never took a vacation
because it was just notacceptable, particularly if you
were a business owner.
When you're employed or in thecorporate world, it is almost
(33:25):
mandatory because you need toclear your thoughts, you need to
regain your health mental,spiritual, emotional health.
As an entrepreneur, I thinkthat you need to fortify that
area and figure out, just likeathletes, just like bodybuilders
or any form of athleticactivity where your body gets
(33:50):
faster at recovering.
Yes, you work out and then a dayor two you're back perfectly
fine, back In entrepreneurship.
You can't really afford to taketoo many days.
There's just too much going on,and I think business owners
develop the ability to recoverand refresh their mind in a
(34:13):
matter of hours.
You become very strong at yourrecovery period, so that is
something that you're eithermade for or that you develop
over time.
But I don't think that I'veever taken a full vacation or
where I've not talked aboutbusiness in decades for more
(34:35):
than a few hours at a time.
That was a form of a break.
Even.
If I'm in a vacation or takingtime off, I have a computer, I
have a phone and I'm overwhelmedwith issues in my brain that I
carry with me, and it's just notoptional.
It is the life that I chose.
I just call it a life choice.
(34:56):
It's not for everyone, yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
Agreed, agreed, and I think, folks, if you're not
catching it like you got to bedamn committed and it is hard to
turn it off and maybe extremelyexpensive or costly to turn it
off.
You work so hard.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Yeah, you work so hard to get to a certain level
that the thought of delegatingcertain activities or walking
away because I need some timeoff and I'll come back to it no,
I'm not going to waste or loseyears and millions of dollars or
whatever the amounts are, butthousands of hours that you put
(35:35):
into something because youdecided to take a needed break.
That's just not an option insome cases.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Agreed and there's a huge well for me, and I think
what you just said I think youwould agree.
When I was working in thecorporate world, you know who
was getting all of the equity ofmy efforts, who was keeping all
the intellectual property ofwhatever I came, contributed,
(36:10):
learned, developed.
The company was Not you, not me, the company was.
And so in that environment, whywould I kill myself?
And I did.
I'm a chronic workaholic.
Whatever my work is, I give toomuch to it.
Now, when I was working forsomebody else, the return or the
exchange was out of balance.
They were getting far more thanI was getting.
(36:38):
Long-term.
Sure, I had a career and Iequity Me.
It's the just the whole airabout it building my business,
learning the things I need to do, making the sacrifices that I
need to make to achieve what itis I'm trying to achieve and
contribute.
What it is I'm trying tocontribute is far more valuable
(37:00):
and reinvigorating than it iswhen I was applying the same
sacrifice and effort in mycorporate job.
What do you think about that?
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Well, you just confirmed the way it works, and
let's clarify how things work toyour audience.
Things work to your audience.
Entrepreneurship is perceivedas the key to wealth, freedom,
(37:32):
flexibility, time off, owningyour life, owning your destiny.
And it's not quite like that inthe short term.
There are things that you giveup in exchange for getting the
ones that you want.
So it's quite the contrary.
You lose your freedom, you haveno more time, you have no more
flexibility.
You think you don't have a boss,but yes, now it's your partners
, your bankers, your financiers,your clients, your employees,
(37:56):
your vendors, your contractors.
Everybody depends on you.
You think you don't have a boss.
You have many new bosses all ofthe sudden, so now you have a
completely new set ofresponsibilities.
Is there freedom in this?
Not in the short term.
Eventually you get that freedom, but the fun part about it is
(38:17):
that you also get the benefits.
Like you said, now what you'redoing is for your own benefit,
for your own future.
You are now creating andbuilding something that you're
going to eventually own andbenefit from, but it's in the
short term.
it's not how they paint it, it'sexactly right yeah, and the
(38:39):
purpose needs to bereconstructed and the definition
needs to be redefined.
I don't go business for freedomand for fun and for relaxation
and for owning my time.
That's incorrect.
You simply choose how to goabout building your own destiny,
(38:59):
but it doesn't make it anyeasier.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's all you, all you, all the
time.
Yeah, now, yeah, so you've beenin business.
What was it that inspired youto write the business of home
building?
Speaker 1 (39:18):
I have been in the construction business for 25
years or so.
Out of my almost 40 years as anentrepreneur, the bulk of my
career the biggest number ofyears I devoted to running a
construction company aresidential construction company
, and I've been wanting to writebooks for a very long time.
(39:39):
I've been wanting to tellstories about how I have ran my
life and managed my career andmanaged my personal life.
So I thought the first step wasto perhaps talk about the
industry that I understood themost and to really validate all
of those years of sacrifice andhard work and starting from
(40:01):
scratch, starting with noexperience, with no money, and
building it into a pretty decentsized company.
So I wanted to talk about itand perhaps allow others to use
some of this very fundamentaland necessary information to
have handy if they are about toembark in this journey of
starting a business, which,incidentally, can be utilized
(40:22):
for just about any type ofbusiness.
It doesn't have to be used onlyfor the construction.
The fundamentals are all verysimilar.
By step sequence of events, Iuse the residential trend and
habit of writing and unloadingideas and thoughts in an
(40:57):
organized manner.
I kept going to the second bookand the third.
I'm finishing my third bookright now, wow, and I think
they're getting better.
The second one is broader inthe real estate world.
And then the third one is.
I think it's so excitingbecause I'm narrating now much
more the entire spectrum of theworld of entrepreneurship, what
(41:21):
it means, how it works, thementality, the sacrifices, the
lifestyle, the choices, the typeof personality.
Everything that I've everlearned about the world of
entrepreneurship I'm putting itdown on this third book.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
So a few things.
Like writing a book.
It's kind of contagious.
I don't know about you, but Ido not like the editing After
getting the content out.
I'm done with it, publish it,edit it.
I don't want to talk about itanymore.
All the other stuff I reallycannot stand.
Anyways.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
Yeah, you wrote one.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
Is it not like way more work than you could ever
have anticipated?
Speaker 1 (42:08):
Yes, and I'm not a writer.
In the literary aspect, aswe've been talking about, I
wasn't the best student, I'mhorrible with grammar, so I have
someone definitely helping mestructuring it, putting it
together, because I'munqualified.
I can write the concept and, uh, and I can tell you a story
that I think somewhat iscoherent and I can organize my
(42:33):
thoughts very well, togetherwith a context very clearly.
But then obviously, if you arenot a professional writer, you
need someone to clean it up andmake it sound right.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
So yeah, too, because what I'm getting is you're
wanting to impart the lessonsyou've learned and transfer
knowledge to help other people.
Yeah, correct.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
Yes, I want that message out there amazing.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
The third book is that the dirt rich or is there a
different?
Speaker 1 (43:06):
no, dirt rich is actually is already uploaded on
amazon, but it's not released uh, to'm going to release it just
because right now it'ssummertime and I'm traveling a
lot, but we're going to releaseit at the end of the summer.
Dirt Rich is about landinvesting, land development and
land speculating.
Understanding the world of realestate from the perspective of
(43:31):
the meaning of land and how landis the commodity, is the
particle that makes the entireindustry work.
Everything that happens in theworld of real estate begins by
the proper selection of a pieceof dirt.
This is how it all starts.
(43:53):
Proper selection of a piece ofdirt.
This is how it all starts andthe logic why do I buy this
piece and how do I appraise thatone this way and another one a
different way?
So I get much deeper in theunderstanding of land as the
important aspect of building thebuilding blocks of everything
that has to do with real estateand that's coming out, and then,
(44:15):
hopefully very soon, the thirdbook, which is called Quantum
Entrepreneurship.
Speaker 2 (44:22):
I like that title.
Speaker 1 (44:24):
It talks a lot about the fact that the mind, the
power of the mind, is truly whatdictates the outcome and the
results of any enterprise, notthe product, not the service, or
at least not just thoseparticular ingredients.
(44:44):
You can have a great productbut poor execution and a poor
mental frame of mind and it goesnowhere.
You can have the most brilliantidea, but if you don't have a
way to execute it and put it outthere and deliver it properly
to the world, it remains a goodidea.
Speaker 2 (45:07):
Yeah, no, I think it's interesting because I talk
to friends about coaches andthere's hell.
You go to YouTube and there's awhole bunch of 18 year olds
that are expert entrepreneurs,right, like they're talking, and
there's a lot of content aboutmindset.
But the way they talk about itas if it's this separate thing,
(45:29):
independent thing, and what Iheard you say, which I agree
with a hundred percent, is it isone of the ingredients, right,
having the service, having thewe'll just say, the operational
experience or Good product, yeah, even a good product to sell.
Yes, all of those things have tocome to they.
(45:53):
Thank you, that's it.
They have to align they, it'snot.
I cannot manifest eightythousand dollars of weekly
revenue just by hoping for it.
Right, I need a product or aservice, I need marketing, I
need operations to delivery.
There's, it's everything.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
Oh, I even talk about the word manifesting and how
it's really overused andunderestimated.
We don't just close our eyes.
Manifesting is not a bendingmachine where you just put a
coin and dreams come true justby thinking about them.
Manifesting works in a verycomplex way.
You have to put your part and Idescribe in a lot of detail how
(46:37):
that works.
In this book I talk a lot aboutenvisioning your dreams and put
them in action and how actionin doing things makes the
difference.
I've seen it over and over Amediocre idea become an
extremely successful enterpriseand vice versa, a brilliant idea
(46:58):
become a horrible failure justbecause all of the stars were
not aligned properly.
There has to be a lot ofingredients that come together
in harmony, that work well insynergy, to this positive
outcome in any business.
Speaker 2 (47:17):
It's interesting.
You started your career as astudent like me, not the most
elitist of students.
Then you got your education.
You got a degree in businessadministration, economics,
philosophy.
You got a degree in businessadministration, economics,
philosophy, went out, builtbusinesses, built a wealth of
experience, and now your book is.
(47:40):
Seems to me this quantumentrepreneurship is meshing all
of those things, what you study.
Where you said economics andphilosophy there's not a
connection, but it sounds likethere's some threads that you're
weaving together to help otherpeople understand the value of
all of those facets.
(48:00):
Correct, I got to get this book, mr Jose.
I got to get this book.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
I do believe, although I'm not writing books
to sell them and to make a bunchof money out of them that's not
my purpose but at some point Ido want them to become an
important tool for youngentrepreneurs, because I do
believe that the content isincredible, Not because I wrote
it, because these are myexperiences, but because I do
(48:27):
believe that talks the reality.
It explains the reality of howthis works and by understanding
how it truly functions, itimproves somebody's
probabilities of doing well inthe business world.
Speaker 2 (48:44):
Nice Well, folks out there, if you're not excited
like me, I don't know what'swrong with you.
But go to the show notes.
I'm going to have the links toMr Berlanga's website and access
his books and all of this stuff.
Because if you haven't beenconvinced by now that Mr
Berlanga has a tremendous amountof experience, like real life
(49:08):
experience, that you can valueor that you can get value from,
there's something wrong with you.
But anyways, go to the thing.
We'll have the links to hissocials LinkedIn, instagram, all
the stuff so you can getconnected and tap into his
knowledge and expertise.
Now, tricon Homes.
I'm assuming that's your latestbiggest venture, the one thing
(49:30):
that you're obsessing about themost in Houston.
Speaker 1 (49:34):
Well, tricon Homes was something that I'm well
known for because I operated itfor years, but we phased out of
that company.
Now I run a group of othercompanies Onyx Land Partners,
onyx Residential, houstonianCapital and a few others.
Some are okay, more commercialreal estate multifamily.
(49:55):
Now we own a company.
I started another company a newtrend which is built to rent.
It's called QCTR.
Yeah, yeah, we also buildresidential communities strictly
for rental purposes.
So, yes, there are severalcompanies that I'm still
participating in and operating.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
You can't help yourself.
Before we hit record, you and Iwere talking about this and
gauging the amount of commitmentthings are going to take, and I
know that you offer mentorshipand probably have been the
(50:37):
recipient of mentorship andcontinue to be Now.
This may be a weird question,but when you find somebody that
you can see like ooh, she's gotall the ingredients, she's got
the resources.
I just need to help her learnhow to be resourceful.
(50:58):
How much time does that take?
Have you ever taken one ofthose on and then?
Did it happen as quickly as youthought it was going to happen,
or did it take way longer?
Speaker 1 (51:09):
Wow, that's a great question and you're hitting a
very, very touchy subject thatI've lived for many years.
Now for me and you're going tolove my answer because it's
coming from the heart Now I ammuch faster and much more
efficient helping someone becomesuccessful because I am better
(51:34):
at selecting people who want tohelp themselves.
Over the years and this iscoming from my heart over the
years, I've helped hundreds ofpeople, hundreds of employees
that I tried so hard to helpthem improve who they were, that
(51:57):
I tried so hard to help themimprove who they were.
But I cannot help people whodon't want to help themselves.
There were many people who Itried to save and help them
become better executives, betteremployees, better team members,
but I wore myself out over theyears trying to help people who
were not giving their best.
So now so here's your I'vebecome better at identifying who
(52:19):
truly wants to give everythingand do their part to become
better.
Those I'm there to help.
But if it's just supporting theones that are wasting your
energy and your time, that firstthey have to find themselves
before they can be helped.
Speaker 2 (52:35):
So oh, beautifully beautiful.
And I got chills because, hell,yeah, I think you nailed it.
First they have to findthemselves.
I'm still not.
I still make bad choices.
But I have kind of figured outoh, some are happy, some people
(52:56):
don't want to solve a problem,they just want attention for the
problem.
And when I figured that out Isaid, okay, why don't I go get
attention from somebody else?
But being more selective, ormaybe having some indicators or
criterion that indicate, yeah,they're ready to do the work,
let's go to work Now.
I don't have all the experienceyou have, but I got a little
(53:19):
bit of experience and I'vehelped some people.
Speaker 1 (53:21):
Yeah, no, and it's horrible Even from the
perspective of having employeesover my lifetime in my different
companies where I invested somuch time trying to train
someone and helping them help mewhen I had hired them to do a
job and to become successful.
A mistake that a lot ofentrepreneurs make is to give
(53:42):
too much time for someone totake on a certain task or take
over responsibility, and we wantto help them do the job and
they want to.
We want to help them do the joband we want to help them
succeed instead of helpingourselves succeed, and I wasted
over the years.
I've lost businesses overtrying so hard to save my
employees instead of saving mycompany.
(54:05):
And eventually you get quicker.
You get faster at identifyingwho's contributing and who's not
and making quicker decisions.
That is another one.
Unfortunately, the businessworld is a little bit cold in
that respect, yeah, where youhave to make those decisions.
If you don't want toparticipate in the mission and
you don't want to be there andyou don't want to learn and grow
(54:27):
, then you have to move on andmake some quick choices.
Speaker 2 (54:31):
And that's okay.
Like they need to find anotherplace that will sustain and
welcome their level of growth orlevel of commitment, because
there are other places out there.
I'm with you, like I agree 100%that we should value the people
, invest in people, developpeople.
I also agree 100% that whenpeople ain't performing, they
(54:53):
just need to go somewhere else.
That's it.
It's not complicated.
But back to the emotion part.
Right, it's difficult.
I want to help them get to apoint that they're not invested
in or care to get to, and that'sthe reality that we have to
come to terms with.
All right, yeah, oh, okay, areyou ready for the grand slam
(55:20):
question?
My gut tells me, with thewealth of experience that you
have and your humility I loveand appreciate your humility
that I have Talk more abouteverything that I do wrong than
what I do.
it's just my nature yes, I loveit, super appreciate it.
My sense is that you're gonnahave a super amazing response to
(55:42):
this question.
You ready, sure?
All right, what is the promiseyou are intended to be?
Speaker 1 (55:54):
The promise?
Yes, of what am I intended tobe?
Yep, I'll answer it in a coupleof different ways just to see
if it meets.
Sometimes, we just work for thesake of working and achieve for
the purpose of achieving.
I'm getting to a point where Iwant to live a life that
(56:16):
outlives me.
I want to create a level ofcommitment to what I do and
influence others around me wherethey can utilize some of my
expertise, some of my good andbad experiences, and help them
(56:38):
become better, and I want tobegin to enjoy that process.
I do not want to engage inactivities for the sake of work,
for the sake of making money,without lacking a purpose.
So that's where I'm becoming alittle bit different nowadays,
(57:01):
increasing the purpose and themission factor in whatever it is
that I'm doing, so that I canleave something behind that is
more meaningful to others.
Wow.
Speaker 2 (57:18):
Wow, live a life that outlives me.
That's powerful, thank you.
Thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (57:27):
It's a difficult statement, but I guess that's
why I'm beginning to do thingsthat are necessarily not giving
me immediate gratification.
I'm not doing something rightnow because I'm getting paid for
or because I am going toimprove my personal life and my
(57:48):
lifestyle style.
I'm already happy with whatI've achieved, and right now I
want to shift gears a little bitinto doing something that can
perhaps influence others tobecome better.
Speaker 2 (58:04):
Oh, my goodness, amazing Mr Berlanga.
You've been so generous withyour wisdom and your insights.
I feel like I'm shortchangingthe listeners.
What did I fail to ask you thatwould have been really
meaningful to you and to thelistener right now?
Speaker 1 (58:22):
Nothing at all.
Nothing at all, because thepurpose of this conversation is
to have fun, to discuss some ofthese entertaining experiences
in the business world.
So having been here talking toyou has been fun and I really
appreciate the invitation.
Speaker 2 (58:40):
Oh, this was amazing.
I feel like when I'm in HoustonI'm going to have to shoot an
email to your people and say,hey, can we have tacos or
something?
Speaker 1 (58:50):
just to shake your hand this was amazing.
We have great tacos here.
Houston is trulyunderappreciated in the culinary
respect.
We have some of the best food.
It's very versatile, it's verydiverse, it's incredible.
It's under most people's radars.
Houston is incredible.
(59:10):
So, yes, I'd love to see youand have you come by and visit
Houston.
Speaker 2 (59:17):
Oh man, that would be great.
Thank you for sticking it outall the way to the end.
I know you got a whole lot ofstuff going on and, in
appreciation for the gift oftime that you have given this
episode, I want to offer you afree PDF of my book Becoming the
Promise You're Intended to Be.
The link for that bad boy isdown in the show notes.
(59:37):
Hit it.
You don't even have to give meyour email address.
There's a link in there.
You just click that and you candownload the PDF.
And if you share it withsomebody that you know who might
feel stuck or be caught up inself-destructive behaviors, that
would be the ultimate yousharing.
That increases the likelihoodthat it's going to help one more
(59:59):
person.
And if it does help one moreperson, then you're contributing
to me becoming the promise I amintended to be Be kind to
yourself, be cool, and we'lltalk at you next time.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.