Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Welcome to the Journey Podcast,where we showcase some of the
(00:02):
most inspiring stories on theface of the planet.
And today I have a really goodfriend of mine, a gentleman that
I actually met at my men'sbusiness leaders church group
that I meet with every singleweek.
And uh, Chris is not only in thereal estate business, he's a
commercial and business broker.
He is a serial entrepreneur anda car enthusiast.
And today I have the honor andprivilege of introducing to you
(00:24):
my good friend.
Chris Estrada.
Oh, thank you, my man.
Thank you.
The show, brother.
Thank you, man.
Long time coming.
Long time coming.
Yeah.
So good to do this.
Definitely.
And it's interesting becausewe're here, um, at the top of,
uh, Eva Cantina, which is downbelow.
Uh, we had the great privilegeof shooting here, but we were
just downstairs and I know thatyou're a partner with them.
You've done a bunch of businessdeals with them and a phenomenal
(00:47):
business.
And thank you.
Uh, you know, I, I wanted, ifyou don't mind, just to kind of
open up and share a little bitabout.
That journey, like how you evengot into that.
And I know you have a little bitof your real estate background
that kind of tied into that,which is pretty cool.
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, thanks for having me, man.
This is, uh, this is awesome.
I'm so glad to be here.
Yeah.
You know, it's, it's been areally, really fun journey.
(01:08):
I mean, to give you guys alittle background about myself,
I, uh, I like to call myself arecovering consultant.
I was a, uh, I had a.
Uh, marketing consulting companyabout, um, a, a a, a few years
back and everything else.
And then, uh, I said, you know,uh, real estate is kind of where
you need to be.
I, uh, I was consulting withcoworking spaces, people that
wanted open coworking spaces, soI said, you know, I gotta, um.
(01:31):
I was consulting with people,helping'em figure out where they
wanted to go.
And then I did a couple dealsand then I saw how much the
broker was making.
Yeah.
And I saw how much I was making.
I said, man, I'm on the wrongside of the table.
So I pivoted into real estate.
But, uh, you know how I got intoNeva, I mean, I like to say that
relationships are everything inthis world.
Yeah.
And uh, one of my favoritequotes is that relationships
will take you places.
(01:52):
Money can't.
That's right.
And when you're really good atwhat you do and you're genuine
about how you go aroundbusiness.
Then you operate at a, youoperate at a higher level and
you vibrate at a higher level,and you think at a higher level.
Yeah.
And by doing that, I just,people always ask me all the
time, like, how do you work withsuch great people in, in higher
companies?
I tell, I always tell'em, youknow, I just kinda, I just live
(02:14):
my life doing the things that Ienjoy doing and serving people
to the highest degree that I canand, and just showing up how,
how Jesus will want me to showup and.
That is how I really think thatme and, uh, me and Raul, my
business partner, Nueva, reallygot aligned.
Uh, we met a while back ago whenhe was running a couple of
barbecue restaurants back inAtlanta, and, um, we, he, he's,
(02:37):
he moved away, started up, uh,opened a bunch of Popeye's
restaurants.
Um, so he's been, he's, he'sbeen in the game, opened a, a
bunch of restaurants and then,uh, when he moved over here to
Florida.
It, we, we, we connected, helpedhim buy some properties.
Then he said, you know, I thinkI wanna open a Mexican
restaurant.
I said, okay, well let's go.
And then, um, he gave us thecriteria.
(02:57):
We looked at a couple places andman, Tampa Bay, like, I love you
Tampa Bay.
You guys are good.
We had to bring the Mexicangame, man.
Like the, the food was, the foodwas not slamming, but now our
food is slamming.
So.
That's cool.
It's, uh, it's, it's beenreally, really fun.
So we found this awesomerestaurant in, uh, in St.
Pete called Neva Cantina.
It was, um, it had already beenthere, I think for probably like
(03:20):
10, 15 years.
Uh, it's, he'd already beenthrough a couple owners, great
brand, grapefruit, grape people.
The owner was just tired.
Yeah, he was tired.
He had another concept that hewas kind of wanting to really go
kick off and put some more timeand energy into.
So it gave us an opportunity toacquire that location and really
just.
Going, we, we revamped it, werepainted outside.
(03:43):
And you know, when they saythat, um, that you, like, when
you're a business owner, you geta jo.
Yeah.
You get a Josh.
Like when you're in it, you'rein it.
When things gotta get done,things gotta get done.
That's right.
We were out there painting, wewere out there staining, and we
were out there just for thefirst, for the first five, six
months.
I mean, we were there doing thework.
I mean, I was out there stainingthe deck.
(04:03):
So when you guys go to thecreative conference, you'll see
that deck.
It was stained by me and acouple of my guys, so, wow.
I mean, for those that likethat, that think it's easy.
I mean, you really, really gottabe in it.
Yeah.
So true.
So true.
Yeah.
You really, really gotta be init.
Yeah, it, it reminds me of thesaying like, you vibe attracts
your tribe.
And I was just mentioning I hadthe opportunity to speak with
Raul, the owner, and it was justamazing like.
(04:24):
Seeing the vision, the passion,and I could see why you guys
would connect.
Same reason why you and Iconnected.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Real recogniz is real.
Of course I do, man.
They do.
They do.
And I mean, you can tell.
I mean, I could, he was veryexperienced and he says, Hey,
you know, this is what I want todo.
Let's go.
And then, um, the biggest thingabout business owners, you have
to be decisive.
Yeah.
Every time somebody, uh, comesup to me and says, Hey, I wanna
(04:47):
buy a property, or whateverelse, I'll show them a property.
And then next thing you know,later on down the road, they.
They, they just, he and haw andthey analysis paralysis.
Yep.
What I like about Raul is likevery other, other very
successful people, is they canmake decisions.
Mm-hmm.
We don't need to know all theanswers.
We just know, need to know a fewof the answers.
Yeah.
For sure.
Any other person probablywould've passed on that
(05:08):
opportunity.
Yeah, definitely.
But because, I mean, it wasrough.
Yeah.
It needed a lot of love.
The number, it didn't look greaton.
It didn't look great on paper,but we saw it was a really,
really cool opportunity to, torevamp that and then expand the
brand to where we are now inTampa, of course.
And we just opened our thirdlocation.
Yeah.
In Brandon.
Um, it's amazing.
Last, last Wednesday.
Yeah.
(05:28):
So we have three locations inabout.
16, 18 months.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Which is unheard of withrestaurant expansion.
Yeah.
What I love about what you guyshave going on as well, even with
Ro man, like the humility isthere.
Yeah.
And the focus is really on thecustomer experience and the
product.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
I mean, your food's gotta begood.
Your service has to really,really good be on point, and
(05:48):
that's gonna get the what'sthat's wasn't gonna get them
coming back.
Of course.
Course.
'cause what we saw is notknocking.
All the other, other Mexicanrestaurants are out there, but
their food was, their food wasokay, and they're just getting
that first time customer.
We get that first time customer,but we also want to make sure
that first time customer turnsinto a third, fourth or fifth.
They want, we, we have, if youever come to your, come to our
(06:11):
place for your birthday, we gotthe sparklers going.
I mean, we're singing for you.
I mean, it's, it's, it's lit.
It's jamming.
That's cool, man.
It's fun.
And Nueva cant, it's not reallyjust a restaurant.
It's an experience.
Yeah, for sure, for sure.
As you saw with the Halloweenbar.
Oh yeah, definitely.
And everything else, I mean,when do you go in there?
How many, when was the last timeyou saw a Mexican restaurant
decked out with a Halloween barlike that?
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Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, we went all out.
Yeah.
No, that's so cool.
Yeah.
We're looking forward, we'regonna bring our, our creators
conference, uh, tribe and, andcheck out the Nova down, uh, in,
down, uh, St.
Pete, right?
Downtown St.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Downtown St.
Pete on fourth Street.
Yeah.
Nice.
So that's, that's really coolman.
And so you guys have threelocations and still expanding
and what I love about what youdo is you're more on the real
estate side of things.
(06:52):
Yep.
You're like helping to brokerthese deals.
And I, I think about the sayingthat, you know, your gifts will
make room for you.
Yeah.
And it's just really cool thatyou are able to bring your
expertise and be a part of thislike grand vision.
Yeah.
And I wanted.
To kind of go a little bit intohow you ended up in real estate
in the first place.
Sure.
Because I know out here you'reone of the, the real estate
market is super competitive.
(07:12):
Yep.
Mm-hmm.
And it's, it's very rare to comeacross people who are actually
killing it in real estate.
Yeah.
And it's just, you know, awesometo see your journey and how
you've even transitioned and notbeing from Tampa.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Maybe thank, yeah, it's, it'skind of cool, you know?
Um.
I think you're always gonna bedriven by two things, drive
markets, fear and opportunity.
(07:32):
Yeah.
Too many people are living in,in, in, in the world of fear and
they're too, they're too busyholding on to past versions of
themselves that are no longerserving them.
Yeah.
And.
Moving here.
So I've lived in Tampa for aboutthree years now.
Originally from Atlanta.
Built a super, super successfulreal estate career out there
over the past nine years.
(07:52):
Yeah.
Still have it.
Going over there is really,really good.
People ask me all the time,like, why would you leave that?
Mm.
And I said to myself, you know,I was ready for something new.
I was ready for some new change,and I was ready to be reborn,
per se, by the water.
Mm.
And I knew there was a ton ofopportunity over here in Tampa.
It's about five to seven yearsbehind Atlanta in development.
(08:14):
Mm-hmm.
So there's a lot of room to runover here.
So that's what brought me overhere.
But what really got me into realestate is, you know, as a
consultant you can only really,the only path to make more money
is to go build more hours.
Yeah.
And I was tired of billing morehours.
I, I said to myself, I'd rathergo do more, do bigger deals and
work with higher things.
(08:35):
So I've done everything fromapartment investing to office,
leasing to land, landacquisitions, land dispositions.
I mean, I've done the full mixand they, one of the, they
always say that the riches ruinthe niches and then that, you
know, the.
You don't wanna be a generalist?
Well, I like to say I'm a reallygood generalist.
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
And, and I think it makes mevery well versed when, when I'm
(08:57):
speaking with clients, because Ican talk about the housing
market and how that affects whyyou should or shouldn't move
your restaurant or business to acertain part of area course a
certain part of town.
And I would think about thatwith you guys that are out
there, like with your business,like what other factors that
with, with your company thatthat.
Could affect you guys, like inyour industry.
Like what else do you need toknow?
(09:18):
The more you know, it's onlyjust gonna make you more
valuable to serve your client ata higher level and you be able
to be more valuable and andirreplaceable.
That's so true.
That's so true.
So bring me back to like youngChris.
Oh man, man.
Like I'm, I'm curious'cause yourfamily is from the Philippines.
Yeah, yeah.
My parents from the Philippines.
And you, you know what's reallyinteresting is I recently
(09:39):
learned about the journey ofyour grandmother, Lola.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And she's like the OG that Yeah.
Really moved your whole familyto the states.
Mm-hmm.
If I'm not mistaken.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And she has a really amazingbackground.
And, um, if I'm not mistaken,like she, she got her education
and all that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah.
And she went through, she's seensome things.
Dude, man.
My Lola, RIP man, she was, shewas awesome.
(10:01):
She was 94 years old.
She was, um, super, super sharpat 40 years old.
Her, um.
She, she ended up getting a,going through a divorce and, uh,
she's a, she's a survivor.
My, my Lola was a survivor.
She was, uh, she had.
She had a, uh, she had four orfive brothers and sisters that
(10:23):
were, that she lost in the war.
Wow.
In the Philippines.
Wow.
They were, she was gettingpicked up.
She was getting picked up by,uh, by a family member, and they
were going to the house and ontheir way over there, they had
to go pick something up orwhatever.
And because they made thatdetour, they missed the house
getting bombed.
Wow.
So just think about that like weare miracles in and of itself.
(10:46):
I looked this up the other day.
Your chances of being born,yeah, you have a better chance
of winning the lottery That'sright.
A million times than you do ofeven, even being, yeah, it's
like a one 400 trillion.
It's a crazy, and you canimagine that you could win.
You have a better chance ofwinning the lottery a million
times than you do of even born.
Yeah.
So the fact that you're evenhere listening to this podcast
(11:07):
Yeah.
You are already a statisticalanomaly.
That's so true.
But my grandma, so like, she wasa total survivor.
So at the, at, when she was 40,my grandfather, she, he decided
that, uh, he didn't wanna bemarried anymore.
He left her.
So my grandma had to figure itout and fend for herself, and
she went back to school at 40.
Wow.
She went to school, back toschool at 40, got her degree and
(11:28):
then she worked at the bank.
She worked at, um, she worked atthe bank in, uh, California.
I can't remember the name of it,but bro, she worked at the bank
for so long.
She, she, she ended up retiring.
She ended up retiring with herpension, and then she outlived
the bank.
The bank had since been boughtout and closed.
Wow.
And they're still paying herretirement.
(11:49):
That's crazy.
She got paid longer inretirement than she ever did
actually.
Working crazy.
Yeah.
So, but yeah, I'm super, superblessed.
I never take that for granted.
I mean, I, it's uh, you know,being here, it's such a blessing
and for us to be able to.
Carry on the legacy of our, ourancestors and our family.
It's, uh, I don't hold thatlightly.
And it's, it's, it's prettyexciting to be able to do that.
(12:11):
That's beautiful, man.
Yeah, man.
That's really cool.
And what would you say, likewith your grandma, and then
shout out to, uh, you know, missLola of course, and, you know,
just a beautiful soul.
Yeah, she was great.
And what would, would you say94?
Yeah, man, that's a long life.
Yeah.
And what would you say were someof the characteristics that you,
you, you're, you're proud tohave taken from her?
(12:32):
You know, she had a crazymemory.
Mm.
And I always tell people allthis time, like, my memory
scares, even me, I'll rememberthe mo, the dumbest facts that
I, that I just don't remember,but it's played very useful in
my career because I remember alot of details.
But she would remember, shecould tell you the exact date
and time that her washer anddryer was delivered.
(12:52):
25 years ago.
That's incredible.
Yeah.
That's really, and she had a,she had a super hard work ethic
and I think another thing Ireally took from her was she was
always a very positive person.
And in, in today's world, youknow, there's just so much,
there's just so much frumpyenergy and so much bad to look
at.
And I mean, she was 94 and likeshe always lived like.
(13:15):
Like she still had plenty of gasin the tank.
She traded stocks and learnedhow to, like, read charts and
everything else.
Yeah, she'd sit in her bedwatching Jim Kramer.
Not that he is ever right orwrong, but you know what ifs.
But like she would, she wasalways wanting to learn about
new things and how to betterherself.
And, and I really took that withme of, you know, I could have
(13:37):
stayed comfy in Atlanta justbeing like, you know, doing
really, really well.
Closing a couple, closing all mydeals and, and, and.
And driving the Porsche and allthat.
I got all that, but I was like,you know, it's time to level up.
Yeah.
Like I felt like God called mehere to, to do something bigger.
And when I made that choice tomove here three years ago, Nueva
wasn't even remotely in thepicture.
(13:57):
Mm.
I mean, I knew I was, I knew itwas 2023.
The market was gonna, the marketwas slower.
And I told myself if things aregonna be slow and if it's gonna,
if I'm gonna have a slowerseason.
I wanna be at the beach.
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
I wanna be at the beach.
Yeah.
So I said I, I made that, I madethat decision.
I had some, I made some really,really cool friends through the
car community.
I'm a huge car guy.
(14:17):
As Josh had mentioned, I had, Ihad my nine 11.
I'm gonna get another whip soonenough.
So.
Nice.
We'll see.
You'll, you'll get there.
But, uh, one of my really,really good friends has an
amazing car rental company,sharp exotics.
Give her a shout out rightthere.
She's really awesome.
Yeah.
So cool.
Like, I see, you know, youpulled in with the, with the
blue Lambo truck.
Yeah.
You, we got a blue URIs outthere.
You know, the plate is like my.
My Uber.
My Uber.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(14:37):
So yeah, she's got a bunch of,she's got a bunch of lambs.
Uh, she's got all the really,really nice car.
One of my best friends, super,super genuine people.
Um, you know, you just, she,she's really, really cool.
What's the company?
Sharp exotics.
Sharp.
Make sure you guys focus withsharp exotics.
Sharp exotic Tampa.
Yeah.
We'll put the, we'll put thelink down, down below.
Definitely.
Yeah.
She's, she's really, really goodpeople.
But, um, you know, when I moveddown here, like I, I like to
(15:01):
think.
I like to believe this and wecan talk about the church in the
church all the time.
If God showed you the plan, youprobably wouldn't believe it
anyways.
That's right.
Yeah.
So, oh, you may not even moveforward of all the difficulty.
You might, you might, you mightsee that and be like, Hey, this
is, this is what's coming.
Yeah.
You might be like, oh man, Idon't, I don't know about all
that.
Or how long it's gonna take orhow long it's gonna take.
I mean, I had a crazy, crazy,super successful business.
(15:24):
Like a, a good, a good solid midsix figure business in Georgia
that I had built up.
And I was like, you know what?
I'm gonna leave that and I'mgonna go start fresh over here
in, in, in, in Tampa.
And I like to think I didn'tstart from scratch.
I started from experience.
Mm.
Yep.
And it was just, it, it was alot.
It was like God was saying, Hey,look like, go over there.
(15:46):
I'm not gonna tell you whyyou're there, but you're gonna,
you're, you're gonna figure itout soon enough.
Mm-hmm.
And man, bro, I got broke acouple times.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because I, I like to, and wewere talking, we were talking
about this early.
I like to think that you're nota, I like to, I believe this,
that you're not a trueentrepreneur if you've never
really been like, you gottacheck your account and be like,
whoa, man, can I, yeah.
(16:08):
Can I buy this cheeseburger?
That's right.
Can I pick, can I get my drycleaning?
Can I pay for this parking?
Like, that's so true.
It really humbles you.
Yeah, because when you're inthat.
When you're in that state, yourealize what's important.
Mm-hmm.
You realize what's importantbecause is if you're good with
your health and if you're goodwith God.
Yeah.
That's all you really need toreally, really keep going.
(16:28):
Absolutely.
And you, you get forged in thefire.
It really builds your characterand it's, it's a good feeling
getting to the other side, man.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
It really is.
It makes it that much, it makesit that much better and that
much sweeter.
It pushes you.
Yeah.
It pushes you and it makes youbetter.
Yeah.
Be, and I remember, I think itwas Kevin O'Leary that said this
on Shark Tank.
He goes, I will never invest insomebody, in somebody that.
(16:52):
Got it.
Right.
Yeah.
And did well their first timeout.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, I'm sure you've had yourexperiences with the Oh, yeah.
With, with the business andeveryth everything, and
Absolutely.
I mean, it, it humbles you andit makes you realize what's
important.
It makes you realize how muchyou can really live with and,
and, and, and deal with andstill be okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, it's so true.
(17:12):
I wanna talk about like yourdarkest moment Oh yeah.
In entrepreneurship.
Oh, yeah.
Is there a moment you can recallwhere you were just like, man,
I, I I, I want out of this.
Like this is, this is not it.
I, I, I've had those moments,those, those crying in the
closet moments.
It is just so tough, man.
Yeah.
And you don't even see a lightat the end of the tunnel, but
(17:33):
you know that.
In, in a weird way, as aspiritual person, you know that
God's gonna get you through.
Yeah.
But you just, you don't know howit's gonna happen.
Yeah.
And the uncertainty can get thebest of you.
Oh man.
I remember earlier in my years,my, uh, my first business I was
doing with the consultingcompany and, um, did pretty
well, had some clients andeverything else, and then I had
a really awesome business coachand, um, you know, I just, I got
(17:57):
caught up trying to keep theprevious life that I had.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, with the current incomethat I have now.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
And I had ran all the creditcards up, I didn't have a bunch
of clients in and then next, andI had a roommate at the time and
man, next thing you know, like,you know, we're three months
(18:17):
behind the mortgage.
Yep.
Three months behind themortgage.
And I'm like.
Oh shit.
Yeah.
Like, it is, it's not real.
It's going down.
It, it's going down.
And, and I'm, for you guys thatare out, there's real, I'm sure
I'm, I'm, I'm sure you guys havebeen there.
Like you've, you know, you arejust, you are like, you know,
pay your mortgage over payingyour business coach.
(18:39):
I highly recommend that.
Yep.
Yep.
But sometimes that's what ittakes.
And I told myself, I was like,man, like.
This, this is one of my many,come to me, come to Jesus
moments.
But, so one of my real firstones was I remember sitting
there on the couch and, and Iremember telling my mom, I had
to tell my parents, I was like,man, I'm, it's, it's, it's bad
right now.
Like it's.
(18:59):
It's, it's bad.
I had to tell them like, man,I'm broke.
Yeah.
I'm, I'm, I'm broke.
And it's, it's, it's bad.
They're mm-hmm.
They're gonna take my house.
And I remember like, wow.
I remember sitting there on thecouch and then having to get
down on my knees and be like,yeah, Jesus.
Like, I don't know what this isgonna look like.
Mm.
Like, shit.
Yeah.
And then, um.
Yeah.
That's when I really, really hadto give myself the God.
(19:19):
Yeah.
I was like, fuck.
Yeah.
And then, uh, sure enough, Iremember telling my mom, I was
like, man, like, fuck, I don'tknow what's gonna happen.
Yeah.
And then I remember I got theoffer letter the same day as a
foreclosure letter.
Wow.
On the house.
Wow.
And I ended up closing a monthlater.
(19:40):
Wow.
And I almost fucking lost it.
Wow.
Wow, man.
Thank you so much for sharingthat.
You know, I, I, I know what thatvalley feels like, brother.
It's tough.
It's tough.
It's tough, you know, and I, Icommend you, man, because you're
like, you're one of those, thosegenerals that just, you, you
held a line and I, and then Itold myself, I said, you know
(20:01):
what?
That previous business, I builtit.
I was building it for me.
Yeah.
I was not building it with God.
Mm-hmm.
I did not have him on the side.
Mm.
So at 32, I sold everything.
I moved back in my parents and Isaid, you know what?
Like I'm just gonna.
I'm gonna go all in on thebusiness.
I'm gonna figure it out.
(20:21):
And what does every businessowner that's down and out do
when they're, when they're down,they start another business.
That's right.
That's what we do.
So I moved back into, my parentsbroke as hell.
32 minutes.
You humped season.
I sold everything but mymountain bikes, my car, and my
computer and my clothes.
And I said, all right.
Let's, let's go do this.
(20:42):
My parents took me in and, um, Igot, I said, I'm gonna get my
real estate license.
Everybody told me I was anidiot.
And, uh, they were like, go geta job.
Nobody wanted to hire my ass.
Wow.
And I, I, because they said Iwas too entrepreneurial,
whatever else, I was like, allright, I gotta go do my own
shit.
Yeah.
So I went and got my real estatelicense and, um, man, it was
like.
(21:02):
Most people take six months toget the real estate course done
if they even finish it.
And most people don't.
Even a lot of people sign up forit and don't even get it done.
Yeah.
And most people take six months.
I got it done in a month.
Wow.
I basically said, you know what,this is what I want to do.
This is, this is the path.
And I just, I, I, I focused andI'd say that's one thing I'm
(21:24):
really, really good about is I'mgetting good at getting
hyper-focused when shit needsto, shit needs to get done.
Yeah.
Need to be done.
I'm, I'm the guy that peoplecall and say, Hey Chris, this
needs to happen.
Like, can you help?
Yeah.
I'm the guy that can get it donebecause I know I can do it for
myself and I know I can do itfor my people.
For sure.
For sure.
And so I got it done.
I got licensed within.
(21:45):
I basically got through thecourse in about a month and
then, um, yeah, was licensed,uh, two months later and
producing.
That's incredible, man.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it was a lot.
It was, uh, but it, it, it madeit happen and, um, you know, I
didn't know all the answers.
Yeah.
I didn't know all the answersand how it was gonna work out,
but, you know, I stuck with, ittook about a year and a half to,
like, it took about two yearsuntil I really, really started
(22:06):
getting into it.
And, you know, people wantsuccess too easily.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's a microwavementality.
Yeah, it's a microwavementality, man.
And you know, if you don't gothrough those early times, you
don't appreciate it when you're,that's right.
When you're, when you're there.
Like, and that for you guys areout there listening to this,
like you guys, I, I, I challengeyou guys to ask yourself like,
what do you really want?
Yeah.
What do you really want yourlife to look like?
(22:27):
And, you know, and that canevolve.
And too many times we're.
We're repositioning our livestoday for previous versions of
ourselves.
That's right.
That's good.
That's good.
Too many pre, pre, too manypeople are serving previous
versions of themselves that areno longer serving them.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
So true.
So true.
You gotta be willing to be like,you know what?
(22:48):
I don't need that shit anymore.
I'm not that person anymore.
Like I'm willing to go freakingsell everything and go all in
on, start over, whatever thatis.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I'm willing to look like anasshole and an idiot doing it,
but I feel like this is what I'mcalled to do and I'm gonna see
it all the way through.
Yeah.
No, it's so true.
And I, I actually just did atalk on this, on just being
attached to your old identity.
(23:09):
Mm-hmm.
A lot of it is just.
The, the fear of going into theunknown.
Yeah.
And we'd rather settle for thedevil we know than the devil.
We don't.
Yep.
And it's, it's a lot of that,man, that's such an incredible
story, brother.
Like I, I'm, I'm so happy thatwe went there because I, I can
feel, I can feel the heavinessof it and, and I, and I've been
there, so Yeah.
I could really empathize with,with that.
(23:30):
And there's so many lessons,right?
Keeping God in the equation,which is a big thing, being
humble enough mm-hmm.
To say, you know what?
Shit is really bad right now.
Mm-hmm.
And I'm gonna go into my humbleseason.
And the fact that you even hadyour parents Yeah.
Is a blessing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Shout out to your parents, bythe way.
Yeah, they've been great.
My parents are great.
They're, they're wonderfulpeople.
They've, uh, they've, I alwaysjust want to kind of keep on
(23:52):
carrying a tradition and, uh,make them proud and make some
moves, man.
That's incredible.
Yeah.
That's incredible, man.
And, you know, in terms of likeother life lessons from a
business standpoint, like.
What would you say, if there'sany practical advice you could
give on things that you learned?
Maybe how to manage your moneyor how to go about business?
I know for me when you, when youtalk about just consulting, I
(24:14):
know for me not staying in leadgen mode, like constantly
generating new leads, that wasone of my biggest downfalls when
I kind of fell into thatscenario.
But what about for you even justmanaging your money or.
Yeah.
There are a couple things I'velearned.
I mean, with money inparticular, one of the biggest
lessons I learned with money iswhen you respect money, it will
(24:34):
respect you.
Mm-hmm.
If you respect money, it willrespect you.
That's good.
And you can attract way more ofit.
Yeah.
Too many people talk about moneylike it is a.
F that it's a finite source.
Mm.
And we talk about making money.
Like we actually have to go toour house, cut the trees down,
(24:55):
get the dies, put it together,and then make the money the
money's already made.
Yeah.
We need to go.
Scoop up the money.
Yeah.
The money's already made.
That's right.
You don't need, you don't needto make more money.
You need a bigger net.
Mm.
You need a big ass net.
That's good to go.
Swoop the shit up.
Yeah.
You need to go get your unfairshare.
(25:15):
Yeah.
That somebody else is to, is, isneglecting or whatever.
That's right.
I, I'd say that showing up howyou show up is everything.
And the fact that you even showup says everything.
Yeah.
Like I can't tell you how manytimes this has happened.
I'm sure it has happened foryou.
The number of times you've gotan opportunity because somebody
else didn't show up.
That's right.
That's right.
(25:36):
Some other broker didn't showup.
Somebody, some other brokerdidn't.
Didn't keep treat that quiet.
They weren't on top of theirgame.
They weren't on top of their,they weren't.
Yeah.
But even when they're on top ofthe game, they didn't show up
with empathy for their people.
Mm-hmm.
And too many people.
I would say another big pieceis, as I mentioned this to you
earlier, separating yourselffrom the outcome.
Yeah.
(25:56):
Like how can we, I look at everyopportunity in every, every
client that I work with, likehow can I serve them to the
highest level and help themsolve whatever problem that is.
Yeah.
Because.
Whether it's we're buyingapartment complex, there's
leasing spaces, we're solvingproblems.
And my job as a broker is tohelp them, help them solve that
problem.
(26:16):
And in the business brokerageside, like there's a lot of,
there's a lot of, uh, there's alot of people that have these
businesses that have beenrunning them for 20, 30 years
and they could sell it for adecent, for a decent valuation
and get some money for it.
Instead of just closing up thedoors and, and leaving.
Yeah.
So they're leaving a lot ofmoney on the table.
So true.
(26:37):
And there's, there's some goodconversations to have around
there, but like really, reallyshowing up and just, and knowing
your shit.
Mm-hmm.
Knowing your shit.
Like I told, I, I spoke to this,uh, group of young entrepreneurs
that, uh, that my cousin in SanAntonio invited me out to, and I
told them, I said.
Sha GPT will not save your asswhen a client is screaming at
you in your face.
That's right.
(26:57):
That's right.
You really, really gotta knowyour stuff.
Yeah.
You really, really gotta knowyour stuff.
You need to be able to speakknowledgeably about it.
Mm-hmm.
Like I can speak knowledgeablyabout.
Square footage and prices aboutanywhere between here, Tampa,
St.
Pete, Atlanta, of course, andmost diff most different areas
across retail, industrial,multifamily.
(27:17):
Not too many brokers can dothat.
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
So that brings me a really,really cool value add.
But no, that's awesome, man.
That's really awesome.
Yeah.
Now why entrepreneurship?
Why go through the pain?
Why endure?
Like, why not just go atraditional job route?
And I know you've workedtraditional jobs as well.
Oh, yeah.
And like, what was it for youthat was just like, you know
(27:39):
what?
This, this isn't my thing.
I'm, I'm not going down thispath.
It just doesn't feel like it's,yeah.
Yeah.
You know, entrepreneurship isfunny because in the Filipino
culture, you are either a,you're either a nurse.
Doctor, accountant, engineer, orfailure entrepreneur isn't
(27:59):
listed.
Yeah.
Like you, it's not even, it's,it's of course's.
I don't even think there's a,uh, I don't think there's even a
word in tag, gala, uh, forentrepreneur.
So for me it was kind of, it waskind of forced.
So, um, and you know.
College and everything else.
I have my own opinions aboutcollege.
(28:20):
It's changed a lot and I mean, Ihave a, I have a business
degree, I have a freakingmaster's degree.
I have an MBA and all thatstuff.
And I have made more money beingan entrepreneur than I ever did
from being, uh, in corporateAmerica for sure.
And this is the thing aboutcorporate America, man, like you
could be doing.
Everything right.
You could be neglecting yourfamily, neglecting your, your,
(28:42):
your, your own time, neglectingyour health.
And if the company has a badquarter or they just don't like
you anymore, you are gone.
That's right.
And.
No company is going to have yourback and save you.
Yeah.
And that happened to me.
So in um, back in 2000, so myfirst job outta college, I used
to do event marketing for Pepsi.
(29:03):
Mm-hmm.
And, uh, we used to drivearound.
I used to have a, um, a, uh, a aa truck with a trailer and I'd
go to, uh, I'd, I'd go to allthe NASCAR events, the Super
Bowl events.
And I think I told you aboutthis.
I used to go to all the dubshows.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
I used to go on the dub shows,shout out a little scrappy, you
know, scrappy, Jim Jones, boneThugs we're all hanging up,
hanging with him at the dubshows.
(29:24):
And, uh, it was, it was a lot offun.
But in, in 2008 when everythinghit the fan, you know, everybody
was slashing marketing budgetsand slashing sales budgets.
So marketing is the first.
The first thing to go.
So I was let go.
I was let go from, from my dreamjob at that time.
Mm.
Um, I had just bought my houselike a couple months earlier.
(29:44):
Yeah.
And I was like, oh shit.
Like, what are we gonna do?
Yeah.
And, um, yeah man, and then I,uh, I, I I, I did that for a
while and I mean, in 2008, ifyou guys were there, man, put
your comment, which put what youwere doing in 2008.
'cause I was in unemploymentoffice and if I was smart, I
would've buy, been buying somereal.
Estate.
Mm.
And uh, like I think about thatnow, somebody told me this,
(30:05):
like, you know, if you couldbuy, if you could go back 10
years ago, would you buy realestate?
Mm-hmm.
Knowing what you know now.
Yeah.
And that answer is yes.
So why would it be any differentnow?
Yeah, so true.
Like, it's gonna be sodifferent, but yeah, man, like.
I, I did everything, uh, in thesense of, you know, go get that
job, like college and societyteaches you to be employee.
(30:26):
Mm-hmm.
Be an employee.
It doesn't teach you to be anindependent thinker.
Yeah.
And, and build and buildbusinesses that build people.
Yeah.
They just want you to be anemployee.
Yeah, for sure.
And man, I did all that stuffright.
And it, and, and it, you know, Igot, I got laid off after two
layoffs and being unemployed forlike a year.
I was like, man.
Um, this, this, this is notworking.
(30:46):
And then I went back to go, Iwent and got my MBA because
everybody told me I needed anMBA to go get a better job.
Mm-hmm.
And then when I got my MBA,nobody gave a shit.
Wow.
Yeah.
Everybody told me I was tooentrepreneurial, so I was kind
of a forced entrepreneur.
Mm.
I, I said to myself, I was like,you know what, like.
I launched a consulting company.
I didn't have a single client.
And then I said, all right,let's, let's go figure it out.
(31:07):
So that's what I did.
I landed a couple clients and,and, and got rolling and, and it
was, it was good.
And it, it, it kept me afloatfor a, a number of times.
And I think too many people aresitting there just trying to
like, you know, hit all thewebsites and try to, trying to
network and all other stuff andjust, you know, just, just go do
it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Just, just, just, I agree.
Yeah, it was, it was tough.
Now when you were a kid, wereyou like planning on being an
(31:30):
entrepreneur?
I, I, it's interesting becauseyou, you mentioned this and I
remember when.
Entrepreneurship for me when Iwas in college was like, that
was what people who didn't go toschool, that that's what they
had to do for survival.
Right?
Yeah.
It, it wasn't glorious untillike social media came out.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Everybody was like, glorifyingentrepreneurship.
You're like, I don't wanna be anentrepreneur.
I heard they're broke.
(31:50):
Yeah, exactly.
And it's, it's crazy because,uh, I don't think it's for
everyone.
Yeah.
And I, I think though, at a verydeep level, I, I was.
Definitely wired to be anentrepreneur.
I remember being by the firehydrant and running like a car
wash with my friends.
Yeah.
I, I, I remember flipping, uh,just little hustles and, and
(32:12):
selling candies in my school.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Just making money However Icould, when I was in college, I
ran a barbershop out of my dormroom.
Oh, that's dope.
That's cool.
And just to put myself throughschool.
Nice.
So there was always those littlesigns that I would.
At some point in time get intoentrepreneurship, but it wasn't
really glorified during thattime.
Yeah.
It really wasn't.
But for you, like what was itgrowing up?
(32:32):
Do you feel like you were alwayswired to be an entrepreneur?
I think I was, and I just neverreally knew it and I never
really leaned into it.
Yeah.
And I never really knew that itwas a path I could take.
Mm-hmm.
So even when I was a kid, youguys are gonna laugh about this,
like.
I used to, we used to eat these,um, we used to have these
oxtails.
Yeah.
And I'd clean'em up and I'd sell'em to the kids at school and
(32:53):
tell'em there was some Star Warsthing if you guys bought those.
Sorry.
But appreciate it.
And then I, I even, I.
I mean, geez, uh, since I waslike 13 years old, I was always
washing cars or mowing grass or,or cutting grass or whatever
else, or washing people's dogsor hustling.
Yeah.
I was even washing people'splanes.
And uh, I remember at one time Ihad some other friends, they
(33:15):
were like, Hey, um, I mean they,they were good friends of mine
and they had the mowers and.
I would be the one that would godoor to door and knock on the
people, sell the job, and then Iwould sub it out to them.
They would do all the work.
Right.
And I'd make half the, I'd makehalf a little over half the
profit.
I was like, you know, dope.
Yeah.
So I always had it as me, in meas a kid, but nobody ever really
told me like, Hey, you should gopursue this.
(33:36):
Yep.
And make it happen.
I mean.
I probably could have had like abunch of car washes after.
Yeah.
Instead of going to college.
Of course.
I mean, I had a great time incollege.
I had some, made some of myclosest friends and uh, I
learned a lot during the time.
I wouldn't trade it for theworld of course, but now, like,
it just doesn't make sense.
For sure.
And my, my question to you too,on the college,'cause I, I'm
very similar.
I have a business degree and,you know, did all that stuff.
(33:58):
And my question to you is, let'sjust say you do have children.
Are you going to, uh.
Encourage them to go and get adegree?
Or is it just gonna depend?
Like what if they do wanna beentrepreneurs, are you gonna
recommend that they have thedegree as a backup?
Like what are your, your viewson that?
You know, I think college is agood time for them to.
Marinate.
(34:19):
Yeah.
And kind of grow up and mature alittle bit.
I agree.
And if they're gonna go toschool, I want them to go get a
degree in finance or go, go, godo something good.
Like if you're gonna get a, ifyou're gonna get a degree in
whatever random underwaterbasket, re weaving studies or
Yeah.
Or theology or whatever, like,no, we're not gonna do all that.
(34:41):
Yeah, for sure.
Uh, I mean, I think.
I think college has its placefor some people.
Yep.
I mean, and you know, we needemployees.
Yeah.
We need good employees.
That's right.
And so entrepreneurship isn'tfor everybody.
Yeah.
But I think it really justdepends on them and what, what
they really want to do.
But I can tell you right now,man, they're gonna, they're
gonna be hu they're, they'regonna be hustling.
They're not gonna, they're.
(35:02):
I'm not gonna be soft on them.
Yeah.
I mean, our parents were so,were, were really, really hard
on us.
And I, I think that's whatreally made us who on uh mm-hmm.
Who who we are today.
Yeah.
And I mean, and business isn'tsoft.
Yeah.
The world doesn't give a shitabout your feelings.
It's contact sport.
Yeah.
The world does not give a shitabout your feelings.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Very true.
Very true.
And the, the sooner that we canget these kids to just really
(35:22):
think about that and operatelike that, the better off
they'll be.
Yeah.
No, that's so good brother.
And as we get ready to bring itin for a landing, I wanted to
ask as well, uh, what's thevision?
Like you have real estate,you're getting deeper into, uh,
business brokerage and thingslike that.
Yeah.
What would you say is the visionlong term with everything, man,
the vision long term is justreally, we are going to, we're
(35:44):
gonna scale Eva, we are going tohave.
Man by next, this time nextyear, we will have about, we
will have, we will be at fivelocations by this time next
year.
That's go That's awesome.
Five locations probably,actually.
We'll, we will be at fivelocations by Cinco de Bioo next
year.
Mm-hmm.
But man, I wanna, I love it.
I wanna, I'm, I, I'm going to bea, uh, portfolio owner.
(36:05):
Me and my partners, we have someproperties we're taking down.
Um, we are.
We are gonna have some really,really cool things going.
That's so cool.
Acquiring some, uh, investmentproperties, some warehouses, and
then really just, you know,helping people help them, help
people find next steps outsideof themselves when they're
wanting to retire from theirbusinesses.
Yeah.
To really help those people moveon and move on with some, with
(36:27):
some cash in their pocketinstead of just closing the
doors and, and, you know, justbeing a, being a vessel for
people within the radiantcommunity that, uh.
That want to get closer to, um,to some really, really good
people in for sure, in thebusiness world and everything
else.
I mean, it's huge.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
It's everything and just, um,you know, just showing up for
the good people around me and,um, and everything else.
So I'd say that's what thatlooks like, and that's what I
(36:50):
think it's gonna look like.
I mean, God's gonna have his ownplans.
I mean, that's right.
You know what I like to say isGod's plan is always better than
ours.
So true.
And, um, so we'll see.
It could shake out plenty ofdifferent ways.
Yeah, definitely.
When it's all said and done,what would you say you wanna be
remembered for?
You know, I want to beremembered that, uh, I was there
for people.
Yeah.
I was there for people that, uh,that I took care of them and I
(37:13):
serve them in the, to thehighest level, in the same sense
that, that Jesus would.
I want to be remembered forthat.
And I wanna be remembered in thesense that, you know, when
you're with me, you could alwaysjust show up however you are.
Of course.
Of course.
And I would always meet youwhere you were, like you didn't
have to, you didn't have to rollup in a cool whip or a, or a, or
a, or a nine 11.
It'd be cooler if you did.
(37:34):
But yeah, I mean, I think it'sjust all about good people, good
vibes, and um.
That's what I would want for.
I love that brother.
And if there were any departingwords, God forbid, this was your
last interview.
Oh yeah.
Hope, hope not.
What would be, and definitelyknock on wood, right?
But if, if, if it were, whatwould be the, the very last
thing you'd like to share withthe world?
I would say, you know, whereveryou're at, except where you're
(37:58):
at.
Because you're, where you're atis where you're at for a reason.
God's got you are.
You're in the exact place thatyou are supposed to be.
Mm-hmm.
You're not supposed to be fivelevels ahead.
You're not supposed to be fivelevels behind.
Where you are is where you are.
So the sooner that you can cometo accept where you are, the
better off you'll be and thebetter that you can make
(38:18):
decisions to where you want togo and what that looks like for
you.
I would say give your, anotherthing I'd say is give yourself
grace.
This shit isn't easy.
You know, give yourself creditto how far you've, you've come,
not other people around you.
Stop comparing yourself to otherpeople because like we like to
say, you know, comparison is athief of joy.
And, uh, like there's just, youcan't compare.
(38:40):
Only compare yourself to whereyou were this time last year or
last month or whatever else.
And if you're not where you wantto be, what changes do you need
to make to, to get to where youwant to be?
And um, and you know, the otherthing, the last thing I would
say is, you know, whatever yougot, just give it to God, man.
Give it to God.
Get humbled then and give it tohim.
And, and, uh, he'll, he'll makethings better.
(39:00):
That's so good if you're willingto follow him.
Yeah.
So, so good.
Appreciate that, brother.
Yeah, man.
Where can our audience find you?
You can always find me onInstagram, the Chris Esra.
They'll put you, put you on thelinks over here.
Uh, I'm over here in Tampa.
Do some stuff in Atlanta.
But, uh, but yeah, man, Iappreciate you having me on the
podcast and I want to give you ashout out and thank you for
everything that you guys aredoing.
Your camera, your, your, yourcamera guy, Trey.
(39:22):
I mean, he's a, he's a G.
He's a g.
He's the best.
What you guys are doing outhere, you guys are making some
real impact in the world and Iappreciate everything you guys
are doing for yourselves and foryour families and also for the
kingdom man.
You know, this is a.
This is a win at the end of theday.
It's, it's all for him, right?
That's right, that's right.
Nah, it's so good, brother.
Thank you so much man.
And make sure you guys followChris on all his platforms.
(39:44):
If you need any real estateservices, business brokerage
services, anything like that, oryou just wanna come and vibe at
Nova Cantina, let's go in theTampa Bay area.
Come by about, grab you somebites and uh, yes guys, till
next time, make sure you tunein, like, comment, share, tag,
subscribe, all that good stuff.
And, uh, we'll be seeing yousoon for our very next episode.
Take care.
And we, and we're gonna get sometacos.
(40:04):
That's right.
We're gonna get some tacos.
Appreciate you, brother.
Thank you bro.
Appreciate.
Thank you so much, man.
So good.
So, so dope.
Dope.
Thank you.
Yeah, absolutely.
That was great.
Thank you.
Oh no, that was really good,man.
You brought me, you brought meto my spot.
Shit, we're going there.
Welcome to the Journey Podcast,where we showcase some of the
(00:02):
most inspiring stories on theface of the planet.
And today I have a really goodfriend of mine, a gentleman that
I actually met at my men'sbusiness leaders church group
that I meet with every singleweek.
And uh, Chris is not only in thereal estate business, he's a
commercial and business broker.
He is a serial entrepreneur anda car enthusiast.
And today I have the honor andprivilege of introducing to you
(00:24):
my good friend.
Chris Estrada.
Oh, thank you, my man.
Thank you.
The show, brother.
Thank you, man.
Long time coming.
Long time coming.
Yeah.
So good to do this.
Definitely.
And it's interesting becausewe're here, um, at the top of,
uh, Eva Cantina, which is downbelow.
Uh, we had the great privilegeof shooting here, but we were
just downstairs and I know thatyou're a partner with them.
You've done a bunch of businessdeals with them and a phenomenal
(00:47):
business.
And thank you.
Uh, you know, I, I wanted, ifyou don't mind, just to kind of
open up and share a little bitabout.
That journey, like how you evengot into that.
And I know you have a little bitof your real estate background
that kind of tied into that,which is pretty cool.
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, thanks for having me, man.
This is, uh, this is awesome.
I'm so glad to be here.
Yeah.
You know, it's, it's been areally, really fun journey.
(01:08):
I mean, to give you guys alittle background about myself,
I, uh, I like to call myself arecovering consultant.
I was a, uh, I had a.
Uh, marketing consulting companyabout, um, a, a a, a few years
back and everything else.
And then, uh, I said, you know,uh, real estate is kind of where
you need to be.
I, uh, I was consulting withcoworking spaces, people that
wanted open coworking spaces, soI said, you know, I gotta, um.
(01:31):
I was consulting with people,helping'em figure out where they
wanted to go.
And then I did a couple dealsand then I saw how much the
broker was making.
Yeah.
And I saw how much I was making.
I said, man, I'm on the wrongside of the table.
So I pivoted into real estate.
But, uh, you know how I got intoNeva, I mean, I like to say that
relationships are everything inthis world.
Yeah.
And uh, one of my favoritequotes is that relationships
will take you places.
(01:52):
Money can't.
That's right.
And when you're really good atwhat you do and you're genuine
about how you go aroundbusiness.
Then you operate at a, youoperate at a higher level and
you vibrate at a higher level,and you think at a higher level.
Yeah.
And by doing that, I just,people always ask me all the
time, like, how do you work withsuch great people in, in higher
companies?
I tell, I always tell'em, youknow, I just kinda, I just live
(02:14):
my life doing the things that Ienjoy doing and serving people
to the highest degree that I canand, and just showing up how,
how Jesus will want me to showup and.
That is how I really think thatme and, uh, me and Raul, my
business partner, Nueva, reallygot aligned.
Uh, we met a while back ago whenhe was running a couple of
barbecue restaurants back inAtlanta, and, um, we, he, he's,
(02:37):
he moved away, started up, uh,opened a bunch of Popeye's
restaurants.
Um, so he's been, he's, he'sbeen in the game, opened a, a
bunch of restaurants and then,uh, when he moved over here to
Florida.
It, we, we, we connected, helpedhim buy some properties.
Then he said, you know, I thinkI wanna open a Mexican
restaurant.
I said, okay, well let's go.
And then, um, he gave us thecriteria.
(02:57):
We looked at a couple places andman, Tampa Bay, like, I love you
Tampa Bay.
You guys are good.
We had to bring the Mexicangame, man.
Like the, the food was, the foodwas not slamming, but now our
food is slamming.
So.
That's cool.
It's, uh, it's, it's beenreally, really fun.
So we found this awesomerestaurant in, uh, in St.
Pete called Neva Cantina.
It was, um, it had already beenthere, I think for probably like
(03:20):
10, 15 years.
Uh, it's, he'd already beenthrough a couple owners, great
brand, grapefruit, grape people.
The owner was just tired.
Yeah, he was tired.
He had another concept that hewas kind of wanting to really go
kick off and put some more timeand energy into.
So it gave us an opportunity toacquire that location and really
just.
Going, we, we revamped it, werepainted outside.
(03:43):
And you know, when they saythat, um, that you, like, when
you're a business owner, you geta jo.
Yeah.
You get a Josh.
Like when you're in it, you'rein it.
When things gotta get done,things gotta get done.
That's right.
We were out there painting, wewere out there staining, and we
were out there just for thefirst, for the first five, six
months.
I mean, we were there doing thework.
I mean, I was out there stainingthe deck.
(04:03):
So when you guys go to thecreative conference, you'll see
that deck.
It was stained by me and acouple of my guys, so, wow.
I mean, for those that likethat, that think it's easy.
I mean, you really, really gottabe in it.
Yeah.
So true.
So true.
Yeah.
You really, really gotta be init.
Yeah, it, it reminds me of thesaying like, you vibe attracts
your tribe.
And I was just mentioning I hadthe opportunity to speak with
Raul, the owner, and it was justamazing like.
(04:24):
Seeing the vision, the passion,and I could see why you guys
would connect.
Same reason why you and Iconnected.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Real recogniz is real.
Of course I do, man.
They do.
They do.
And I mean, you can tell.
I mean, I could, he was veryexperienced and he says, Hey,
you know, this is what I want todo.
Let's go.
And then, um, the biggest thingabout business owners, you have
to be decisive.
Yeah.
Every time somebody, uh, comesup to me and says, Hey, I wanna
(04:47):
buy a property, or whateverelse, I'll show them a property.
And then next thing you know,later on down the road, they.
They, they just, he and haw andthey analysis paralysis.
Yep.
What I like about Raul is likevery other, other very
successful people, is they canmake decisions.
Mm-hmm.
We don't need to know all theanswers.
We just know, need to know a fewof the answers.
Yeah.
For sure.
Any other person probablywould've passed on that
(05:08):
opportunity.
Yeah, definitely.
But because, I mean, it wasrough.
Yeah.
It needed a lot of love.
The number, it didn't look greaton.
It didn't look great on paper,but we saw it was a really,
really cool opportunity to, torevamp that and then expand the
brand to where we are now inTampa, of course.
And we just opened our thirdlocation.
Yeah.
In Brandon.
Um, it's amazing.
Last, last Wednesday.
Yeah.
(05:28):
So we have three locations inabout.
16, 18 months.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Which is unheard of withrestaurant expansion.
Yeah.
What I love about what you guyshave going on as well, even with
Ro man, like the humility isthere.
Yeah.
And the focus is really on thecustomer experience and the
product.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
I mean, your food's gotta begood.
Your service has to really,really good be on point, and
(05:48):
that's gonna get the what'sthat's wasn't gonna get them
coming back.
Of course.
Course.
'cause what we saw is notknocking.
All the other, other Mexicanrestaurants are out there, but
their food was, their food wasokay, and they're just getting
that first time customer.
We get that first time customer,but we also want to make sure
that first time customer turnsinto a third, fourth or fifth.
They want, we, we have, if youever come to your, come to our
(06:11):
place for your birthday, we gotthe sparklers going.
I mean, we're singing for you.
I mean, it's, it's, it's lit.
It's jamming.
That's cool, man.
It's fun.
And Nueva cant, it's not reallyjust a restaurant.
It's an experience.
Yeah, for sure, for sure.
As you saw with the Halloweenbar.
Oh yeah, definitely.
And everything else, I mean,when do you go in there?
How many, when was the last timeyou saw a Mexican restaurant
decked out with a Halloween barlike that?
(06:31):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, we went all out.
Yeah.
No, that's so cool.
Yeah.
We're looking forward, we'regonna bring our, our creators
conference, uh, tribe and, andcheck out the Nova down, uh, in,
down, uh, St.
Pete, right?
Downtown St.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Downtown St.
Pete on fourth Street.
Yeah.
Nice.
So that's, that's really coolman.
And so you guys have threelocations and still expanding
and what I love about what youdo is you're more on the real
estate side of things.
(06:52):
Yep.
You're like helping to brokerthese deals.
And I, I think about the sayingthat, you know, your gifts will
make room for you.
Yeah.
And it's just really cool thatyou are able to bring your
expertise and be a part of thislike grand vision.
Yeah.
And I wanted.
To kind of go a little bit intohow you ended up in real estate
in the first place.
Sure.
Because I know out here you'reone of the, the real estate
market is super competitive.
(07:12):
Yep.
Mm-hmm.
And it's, it's very rare to comeacross people who are actually
killing it in real estate.
Yeah.
And it's just, you know, awesometo see your journey and how
you've even transitioned and notbeing from Tampa.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Maybe thank, yeah, it's, it'skind of cool, you know?
Um.
I think you're always gonna bedriven by two things, drive
markets, fear and opportunity.
(07:32):
Yeah.
Too many people are living in,in, in, in the world of fear and
they're too, they're too busyholding on to past versions of
themselves that are no longerserving them.
Yeah.
And.
Moving here.
So I've lived in Tampa for aboutthree years now.
Originally from Atlanta.
Built a super, super successfulreal estate career out there
over the past nine years.
(07:52):
Yeah.
Still have it.
Going over there is really,really good.
People ask me all the time,like, why would you leave that?
Mm.
And I said to myself, you know,I was ready for something new.
I was ready for some new change,and I was ready to be reborn,
per se, by the water.
Mm.
And I knew there was a ton ofopportunity over here in Tampa.
It's about five to seven yearsbehind Atlanta in development.
(08:14):
Mm-hmm.
So there's a lot of room to runover here.
So that's what brought me overhere.
But what really got me into realestate is, you know, as a
consultant you can only really,the only path to make more money
is to go build more hours.
Yeah.
And I was tired of billing morehours.
I, I said to myself, I'd rathergo do more, do bigger deals and
work with higher things.
(08:35):
So I've done everything fromapartment investing to office,
leasing to land, landacquisitions, land dispositions.
I mean, I've done the full mixand they, one of the, they
always say that the riches ruinthe niches and then that, you
know, the.
You don't wanna be a generalist?
Well, I like to say I'm a reallygood generalist.
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
And, and I think it makes mevery well versed when, when I'm
(08:57):
speaking with clients, because Ican talk about the housing
market and how that affects whyyou should or shouldn't move
your restaurant or business to acertain part of area course a
certain part of town.
And I would think about thatwith you guys that are out
there, like with your business,like what other factors that
with, with your company thatthat.
Could affect you guys, like inyour industry.
Like what else do you need toknow?
(09:18):
The more you know, it's onlyjust gonna make you more
valuable to serve your client ata higher level and you be able
to be more valuable and andirreplaceable.
That's so true.
That's so true.
So bring me back to like youngChris.
Oh man, man.
Like I'm, I'm curious'cause yourfamily is from the Philippines.
Yeah, yeah.
My parents from the Philippines.
And you, you know what's reallyinteresting is I recently
(09:39):
learned about the journey ofyour grandmother, Lola.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And she's like the OG that Yeah.
Really moved your whole familyto the states.
Mm-hmm.
If I'm not mistaken.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And she has a really amazingbackground.
And, um, if I'm not mistaken,like she, she got her education
and all that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah.
And she went through, she's seensome things.
Dude, man.
My Lola, RIP man, she was, shewas awesome.
(10:01):
She was 94 years old.
She was, um, super, super sharpat 40 years old.
Her, um.
She, she ended up getting a,going through a divorce and, uh,
she's a, she's a survivor.
My, my Lola was a survivor.
She was, uh, she had.
She had a, uh, she had four orfive brothers and sisters that
(10:23):
were, that she lost in the war.
Wow.
In the Philippines.
Wow.
They were, she was gettingpicked up.
She was getting picked up by,uh, by a family member, and they
were going to the house and ontheir way over there, they had
to go pick something up orwhatever.
And because they made thatdetour, they missed the house
getting bombed.
Wow.
So just think about that like weare miracles in and of itself.
(10:46):
I looked this up the other day.
Your chances of being born,yeah, you have a better chance
of winning the lottery That'sright.
A million times than you do ofeven, even being, yeah, it's
like a one 400 trillion.
It's a crazy, and you canimagine that you could win.
You have a better chance ofwinning the lottery a million
times than you do of even born.
Yeah.
So the fact that you're evenhere listening to this podcast
(11:07):
Yeah.
You are already a statisticalanomaly.
That's so true.
But my grandma, so like, she wasa total survivor.
So at the, at, when she was 40,my grandfather, she, he decided
that, uh, he didn't wanna bemarried anymore.
He left her.
So my grandma had to figure itout and fend for herself, and
she went back to school at 40.
Wow.
She went to school, back toschool at 40, got her degree and
(11:28):
then she worked at the bank.
She worked at, um, she worked atthe bank in, uh, California.
I can't remember the name of it,but bro, she worked at the bank
for so long.
She, she, she ended up retiring.
She ended up retiring with herpension, and then she outlived
the bank.
The bank had since been boughtout and closed.
Wow.
And they're still paying herretirement.
(11:49):
That's crazy.
She got paid longer inretirement than she ever did
actually.
Working crazy.
Yeah.
So, but yeah, I'm super, superblessed.
I never take that for granted.
I mean, I, it's uh, you know,being here, it's such a blessing
and for us to be able to.
Carry on the legacy of our, ourancestors and our family.
It's, uh, I don't hold thatlightly.
And it's, it's, it's prettyexciting to be able to do that.
(12:11):
That's beautiful, man.
Yeah, man.
That's really cool.
And what would you say, likewith your grandma, and then
shout out to, uh, you know, missLola of course, and, you know,
just a beautiful soul.
Yeah, she was great.
And what would, would you say94?
Yeah, man, that's a long life.
Yeah.
And what would you say were someof the characteristics that you,
you, you're, you're proud tohave taken from her?
(12:32):
You know, she had a crazymemory.
Mm.
And I always tell people allthis time, like, my memory
scares, even me, I'll rememberthe mo, the dumbest facts that
I, that I just don't remember,but it's played very useful in
my career because I remember alot of details.
But she would remember, shecould tell you the exact date
and time that her washer anddryer was delivered.
(12:52):
25 years ago.
That's incredible.
Yeah.
That's really, and she had a,she had a super hard work ethic
and I think another thing Ireally took from her was she was
always a very positive person.
And in, in today's world, youknow, there's just so much,
there's just so much frumpyenergy and so much bad to look
at.
And I mean, she was 94 and likeshe always lived like.
(13:15):
Like she still had plenty of gasin the tank.
She traded stocks and learnedhow to, like, read charts and
everything else.
Yeah, she'd sit in her bedwatching Jim Kramer.
Not that he is ever right orwrong, but you know what ifs.
But like she would, she wasalways wanting to learn about
new things and how to betterherself.
And, and I really took that withme of, you know, I could have
(13:37):
stayed comfy in Atlanta justbeing like, you know, doing
really, really well.
Closing a couple, closing all mydeals and, and, and.
And driving the Porsche and allthat.
I got all that, but I was like,you know, it's time to level up.
Yeah.
Like I felt like God called mehere to, to do something bigger.
And when I made that choice tomove here three years ago, Nueva
wasn't even remotely in thepicture.
(13:57):
Mm.
I mean, I knew I was, I knew itwas 2023.
The market was gonna, the marketwas slower.
And I told myself if things aregonna be slow and if it's gonna,
if I'm gonna have a slowerseason.
I wanna be at the beach.
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
I wanna be at the beach.
Yeah.
So I said I, I made that, I madethat decision.
I had some, I made some really,really cool friends through the
car community.
I'm a huge car guy.
(14:17):
As Josh had mentioned, I had, Ihad my nine 11.
I'm gonna get another whip soonenough.
So.
Nice.
We'll see.
You'll, you'll get there.
But, uh, one of my really,really good friends has an
amazing car rental company,sharp exotics.
Give her a shout out rightthere.
She's really awesome.
Yeah.
So cool.
Like, I see, you know, youpulled in with the, with the
blue Lambo truck.
Yeah.
You, we got a blue URIs outthere.
You know, the plate is like my.
My Uber.
My Uber.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(14:37):
So yeah, she's got a bunch of,she's got a bunch of lambs.
Uh, she's got all the really,really nice car.
One of my best friends, super,super genuine people.
Um, you know, you just, she,she's really, really cool.
What's the company?
Sharp exotics.
Sharp.
Make sure you guys focus withsharp exotics.
Sharp exotic Tampa.
Yeah.
We'll put the, we'll put thelink down, down below.
Definitely.
Yeah.
She's, she's really, really goodpeople.
But, um, you know, when I moveddown here, like I, I like to
(15:01):
think.
I like to believe this and wecan talk about the church in the
church all the time.
If God showed you the plan, youprobably wouldn't believe it
anyways.
That's right.
Yeah.
So, oh, you may not even moveforward of all the difficulty.
You might, you might, you mightsee that and be like, Hey, this
is, this is what's coming.
Yeah.
You might be like, oh man, Idon't, I don't know about all
that.
Or how long it's gonna take orhow long it's gonna take.
I mean, I had a crazy, crazy,super successful business.
(15:24):
Like a, a good, a good solid midsix figure business in Georgia
that I had built up.
And I was like, you know what?
I'm gonna leave that and I'mgonna go start fresh over here
in, in, in, in Tampa.
And I like to think I didn'tstart from scratch.
I started from experience.
Mm.
Yep.
And it was just, it, it was alot.
It was like God was saying, Hey,look like, go over there.
(15:46):
I'm not gonna tell you whyyou're there, but you're gonna,
you're, you're gonna figure itout soon enough.
Mm-hmm.
And man, bro, I got broke acouple times.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because I, I like to, and wewere talking, we were talking
about this early.
I like to think that you're nota, I like to, I believe this,
that you're not a trueentrepreneur if you've never
really been like, you gottacheck your account and be like,
whoa, man, can I, yeah.
(16:08):
Can I buy this cheeseburger?
That's right.
Can I pick, can I get my drycleaning?
Can I pay for this parking?
Like, that's so true.
It really humbles you.
Yeah, because when you're inthat.
When you're in that state, yourealize what's important.
Mm-hmm.
You realize what's importantbecause is if you're good with
your health and if you're goodwith God.
Yeah.
That's all you really need toreally, really keep going.
(16:28):
Absolutely.
And you, you get forged in thefire.
It really builds your characterand it's, it's a good feeling
getting to the other side, man.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
It really is.
It makes it that much, it makesit that much better and that
much sweeter.
It pushes you.
Yeah.
It pushes you and it makes youbetter.
Yeah.
Be, and I remember, I think itwas Kevin O'Leary that said this
on Shark Tank.
He goes, I will never invest insomebody, in somebody that.
(16:52):
Got it.
Right.
Yeah.
And did well their first timeout.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, I'm sure you've had yourexperiences with the Oh, yeah.
With, with the business andeveryth everything, and
Absolutely.
I mean, it, it humbles you andit makes you realize what's
important.
It makes you realize how muchyou can really live with and,
and, and, and deal with andstill be okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, it's so true.
(17:12):
I wanna talk about like yourdarkest moment Oh yeah.
In entrepreneurship.
Oh, yeah.
Is there a moment you can recallwhere you were just like, man,
I, I I, I want out of this.
Like this is, this is not it.
I, I, I've had those moments,those, those crying in the
closet moments.
It is just so tough, man.
Yeah.
And you don't even see a lightat the end of the tunnel, but
(17:33):
you know that.
In, in a weird way, as aspiritual person, you know that
God's gonna get you through.
Yeah.
But you just, you don't know howit's gonna happen.
Yeah.
And the uncertainty can get thebest of you.
Oh man.
I remember earlier in my years,my, uh, my first business I was
doing with the consultingcompany and, um, did pretty
well, had some clients andeverything else, and then I had
a really awesome business coachand, um, you know, I just, I got
(17:57):
caught up trying to keep theprevious life that I had.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, with the current incomethat I have now.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
And I had ran all the creditcards up, I didn't have a bunch
of clients in and then next, andI had a roommate at the time and
man, next thing you know, like,you know, we're three months
(18:17):
behind the mortgage.
Yep.
Three months behind themortgage.
And I'm like.
Oh shit.
Yeah.
Like, it is, it's not real.
It's going down.
It, it's going down.
And, and I'm, for you guys thatare out, there's real, I'm sure
I'm, I'm, I'm sure you guys havebeen there.
Like you've, you know, you arejust, you are like, you know,
pay your mortgage over payingyour business coach.
(18:39):
I highly recommend that.
Yep.
Yep.
But sometimes that's what ittakes.
And I told myself, I was like,man, like.
This, this is one of my many,come to me, come to Jesus
moments.
But, so one of my real firstones was I remember sitting
there on the couch and, and Iremember telling my mom, I had
to tell my parents, I was like,man, I'm, it's, it's, it's bad
right now.
Like it's.
(18:59):
It's, it's bad.
I had to tell them like, man,I'm broke.
Yeah.
I'm, I'm, I'm broke.
And it's, it's, it's bad.
They're mm-hmm.
They're gonna take my house.
And I remember like, wow.
I remember sitting there on thecouch and then having to get
down on my knees and be like,yeah, Jesus.
Like, I don't know what this isgonna look like.
Mm.
Like, shit.
Yeah.
And then, um.
Yeah.
That's when I really, really hadto give myself the God.
(19:19):
Yeah.
I was like, fuck.
Yeah.
And then, uh, sure enough, Iremember telling my mom, I was
like, man, like, fuck, I don'tknow what's gonna happen.
Yeah.
And then I remember I got theoffer letter the same day as a
foreclosure letter.
Wow.
On the house.
Wow.
And I ended up closing a monthlater.
(19:40):
Wow.
And I almost fucking lost it.
Wow.
Wow, man.
Thank you so much for sharingthat.
You know, I, I, I know what thatvalley feels like, brother.
It's tough.
It's tough.
It's tough, you know, and I, Icommend you, man, because you're
like, you're one of those, thosegenerals that just, you, you
held a line and I, and then Itold myself, I said, you know
(20:01):
what?
That previous business, I builtit.
I was building it for me.
Yeah.
I was not building it with God.
Mm-hmm.
I did not have him on the side.
Mm.
So at 32, I sold everything.
I moved back in my parents and Isaid, you know what?
Like I'm just gonna.
I'm gonna go all in on thebusiness.
I'm gonna figure it out.
(20:21):
And what does every businessowner that's down and out do
when they're, when they're down,they start another business.
That's right.
That's what we do.
So I moved back into, my parentsbroke as hell.
32 minutes.
You humped season.
I sold everything but mymountain bikes, my car, and my
computer and my clothes.
And I said, all right.
Let's, let's go do this.
(20:42):
My parents took me in and, um, Igot, I said, I'm gonna get my
real estate license.
Everybody told me I was anidiot.
And, uh, they were like, go geta job.
Nobody wanted to hire my ass.
Wow.
And I, I, because they said Iwas too entrepreneurial,
whatever else, I was like, allright, I gotta go do my own
shit.
Yeah.
So I went and got my real estatelicense and, um, man, it was
like.
(21:02):
Most people take six months toget the real estate course done
if they even finish it.
And most people don't.
Even a lot of people sign up forit and don't even get it done.
Yeah.
And most people take six months.
I got it done in a month.
Wow.
I basically said, you know what,this is what I want to do.
This is, this is the path.
And I just, I, I, I focused andI'd say that's one thing I'm
(21:24):
really, really good about is I'mgetting good at getting
hyper-focused when shit needsto, shit needs to get done.
Yeah.
Need to be done.
I'm, I'm the guy that peoplecall and say, Hey Chris, this
needs to happen.
Like, can you help?
Yeah.
I'm the guy that can get it donebecause I know I can do it for
myself and I know I can do itfor my people.
For sure.
For sure.
And so I got it done.
I got licensed within.
(21:45):
I basically got through thecourse in about a month and
then, um, yeah, was licensed,uh, two months later and
producing.
That's incredible, man.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it was a lot.
It was, uh, but it, it, it madeit happen and, um, you know, I
didn't know all the answers.
Yeah.
I didn't know all the answersand how it was gonna work out,
but, you know, I stuck with, ittook about a year and a half to,
like, it took about two yearsuntil I really, really started
(22:06):
getting into it.
And, you know, people wantsuccess too easily.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's a microwavementality.
Yeah, it's a microwavementality, man.
And you know, if you don't gothrough those early times, you
don't appreciate it when you're,that's right.
When you're, when you're there.
Like, and that for you guys areout there listening to this,
like you guys, I, I, I challengeyou guys to ask yourself like,
what do you really want?
Yeah.
What do you really want yourlife to look like?
(22:27):
And, you know, and that canevolve.
And too many times we're.
We're repositioning our livestoday for previous versions of
ourselves.
That's right.
That's good.
That's good.
Too many pre, pre, too manypeople are serving previous
versions of themselves that areno longer serving them.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
So true.
So true.
You gotta be willing to be like,you know what?
(22:48):
I don't need that shit anymore.
I'm not that person anymore.
Like I'm willing to go freakingsell everything and go all in
on, start over, whatever thatis.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I'm willing to look like anasshole and an idiot doing it,
but I feel like this is what I'mcalled to do and I'm gonna see
it all the way through.
Yeah.
No, it's so true.
And I, I actually just did atalk on this, on just being
attached to your old identity.
(23:09):
Mm-hmm.
A lot of it is just.
The, the fear of going into theunknown.
Yeah.
And we'd rather settle for thedevil we know than the devil.
We don't.
Yep.
And it's, it's a lot of that,man, that's such an incredible
story, brother.
Like I, I'm, I'm so happy thatwe went there because I, I can
feel, I can feel the heavinessof it and, and I, and I've been
there, so Yeah.
I could really empathize with,with that.
(23:30):
And there's so many lessons,right?
Keeping God in the equation,which is a big thing, being
humble enough mm-hmm.
To say, you know what?
Shit is really bad right now.
Mm-hmm.
And I'm gonna go into my humbleseason.
And the fact that you even hadyour parents Yeah.
Is a blessing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Shout out to your parents, bythe way.
Yeah, they've been great.
My parents are great.
They're, they're wonderfulpeople.
They've, uh, they've, I alwaysjust want to kind of keep on
(23:52):
carrying a tradition and, uh,make them proud and make some
moves, man.
That's incredible.
Yeah.
That's incredible, man.
And, you know, in terms of likeother life lessons from a
business standpoint, like.
What would you say, if there'sany practical advice you could
give on things that you learned?
Maybe how to manage your moneyor how to go about business?
I know for me when you, when youtalk about just consulting, I
(24:14):
know for me not staying in leadgen mode, like constantly
generating new leads, that wasone of my biggest downfalls when
I kind of fell into thatscenario.
But what about for you even justmanaging your money or.
Yeah.
There are a couple things I'velearned.
I mean, with money inparticular, one of the biggest
lessons I learned with money iswhen you respect money, it will
(24:34):
respect you.
Mm-hmm.
If you respect money, it willrespect you.
That's good.
And you can attract way more ofit.
Yeah.
Too many people talk about moneylike it is a.
F that it's a finite source.
Mm.
And we talk about making money.
Like we actually have to go toour house, cut the trees down,
(24:55):
get the dies, put it together,and then make the money the
money's already made.
Yeah.
We need to go.
Scoop up the money.
Yeah.
The money's already made.
That's right.
You don't need, you don't needto make more money.
You need a bigger net.
Mm.
You need a big ass net.
That's good to go.
Swoop the shit up.
Yeah.
You need to go get your unfairshare.
(25:15):
Yeah.
That somebody else is to, is, isneglecting or whatever.
That's right.
I, I'd say that showing up howyou show up is everything.
And the fact that you even showup says everything.
Yeah.
Like I can't tell you how manytimes this has happened.
I'm sure it has happened foryou.
The number of times you've gotan opportunity because somebody
else didn't show up.
That's right.
That's right.
(25:36):
Some other broker didn't showup.
Somebody, some other brokerdidn't.
Didn't keep treat that quiet.
They weren't on top of theirgame.
They weren't on top of their,they weren't.
Yeah.
But even when they're on top ofthe game, they didn't show up
with empathy for their people.
Mm-hmm.
And too many people.
I would say another big pieceis, as I mentioned this to you
earlier, separating yourselffrom the outcome.
Yeah.
(25:56):
Like how can we, I look at everyopportunity in every, every
client that I work with, likehow can I serve them to the
highest level and help themsolve whatever problem that is.
Yeah.
Because.
Whether it's we're buyingapartment complex, there's
leasing spaces, we're solvingproblems.
And my job as a broker is tohelp them, help them solve that
problem.
(26:16):
And in the business brokerageside, like there's a lot of,
there's a lot of, uh, there's alot of people that have these
businesses that have beenrunning them for 20, 30 years
and they could sell it for adecent, for a decent valuation
and get some money for it.
Instead of just closing up thedoors and, and leaving.
Yeah.
So they're leaving a lot ofmoney on the table.
So true.
(26:37):
And there's, there's some goodconversations to have around
there, but like really, reallyshowing up and just, and knowing
your shit.
Mm-hmm.
Knowing your shit.
Like I told, I, I spoke to this,uh, group of young entrepreneurs
that, uh, that my cousin in SanAntonio invited me out to, and I
told them, I said.
Sha GPT will not save your asswhen a client is screaming at
you in your face.
That's right.
(26:57):
That's right.
You really, really gotta knowyour stuff.
Yeah.
You really, really gotta knowyour stuff.
You need to be able to speakknowledgeably about it.
Mm-hmm.
Like I can speak knowledgeablyabout.
Square footage and prices aboutanywhere between here, Tampa,
St.
Pete, Atlanta, of course, andmost diff most different areas
across retail, industrial,multifamily.
(27:17):
Not too many brokers can dothat.
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
So that brings me a really,really cool value add.
But no, that's awesome, man.
That's really awesome.
Yeah.
Now why entrepreneurship?
Why go through the pain?
Why endure?
Like, why not just go atraditional job route?
And I know you've workedtraditional jobs as well.
Oh, yeah.
And like, what was it for youthat was just like, you know
(27:39):
what?
This, this isn't my thing.
I'm, I'm not going down thispath.
It just doesn't feel like it's,yeah.
Yeah.
You know, entrepreneurship isfunny because in the Filipino
culture, you are either a,you're either a nurse.
Doctor, accountant, engineer, orfailure entrepreneur isn't
(27:59):
listed.
Yeah.
Like you, it's not even, it's,it's of course's.
I don't even think there's a,uh, I don't think there's even a
word in tag, gala, uh, forentrepreneur.
So for me it was kind of, it waskind of forced.
So, um, and you know.
College and everything else.
I have my own opinions aboutcollege.
(28:20):
It's changed a lot and I mean, Ihave a, I have a business
degree, I have a freakingmaster's degree.
I have an MBA and all thatstuff.
And I have made more money beingan entrepreneur than I ever did
from being, uh, in corporateAmerica for sure.
And this is the thing aboutcorporate America, man, like you
could be doing.
Everything right.
You could be neglecting yourfamily, neglecting your, your,
(28:42):
your, your own time, neglectingyour health.
And if the company has a badquarter or they just don't like
you anymore, you are gone.
That's right.
And.
No company is going to have yourback and save you.
Yeah.
And that happened to me.
So in um, back in 2000, so myfirst job outta college, I used
to do event marketing for Pepsi.
(29:03):
Mm-hmm.
And, uh, we used to drivearound.
I used to have a, um, a, uh, a aa truck with a trailer and I'd
go to, uh, I'd, I'd go to allthe NASCAR events, the Super
Bowl events.
And I think I told you aboutthis.
I used to go to all the dubshows.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
I used to go on the dub shows,shout out a little scrappy, you
know, scrappy, Jim Jones, boneThugs we're all hanging up,
hanging with him at the dubshows.
(29:24):
And, uh, it was, it was a lot offun.
But in, in 2008 when everythinghit the fan, you know, everybody
was slashing marketing budgetsand slashing sales budgets.
So marketing is the first.
The first thing to go.
So I was let go.
I was let go from, from my dreamjob at that time.
Mm.
Um, I had just bought my houselike a couple months earlier.
(29:44):
Yeah.
And I was like, oh shit.
Like, what are we gonna do?
Yeah.
And, um, yeah man, and then I,uh, I, I I, I did that for a
while and I mean, in 2008, ifyou guys were there, man, put
your comment, which put what youwere doing in 2008.
'cause I was in unemploymentoffice and if I was smart, I
would've buy, been buying somereal.
Estate.
Mm.
And uh, like I think about thatnow, somebody told me this,
(30:05):
like, you know, if you couldbuy, if you could go back 10
years ago, would you buy realestate?
Mm-hmm.
Knowing what you know now.
Yeah.
And that answer is yes.
So why would it be any differentnow?
Yeah, so true.
Like, it's gonna be sodifferent, but yeah, man, like.
I, I did everything, uh, in thesense of, you know, go get that
job, like college and societyteaches you to be employee.
(30:26):
Mm-hmm.
Be an employee.
It doesn't teach you to be anindependent thinker.
Yeah.
And, and build and buildbusinesses that build people.
Yeah.
They just want you to be anemployee.
Yeah, for sure.
And man, I did all that stuffright.
And it, and, and it, you know, Igot, I got laid off after two
layoffs and being unemployed forlike a year.
I was like, man.
Um, this, this, this is notworking.
(30:46):
And then I went back to go, Iwent and got my MBA because
everybody told me I needed anMBA to go get a better job.
Mm-hmm.
And then when I got my MBA,nobody gave a shit.
Wow.
Yeah.
Everybody told me I was tooentrepreneurial, so I was kind
of a forced entrepreneur.
Mm.
I, I said to myself, I was like,you know what, like.
I launched a consulting company.
I didn't have a single client.
And then I said, all right,let's, let's go figure it out.
(31:07):
So that's what I did.
I landed a couple clients and,and, and got rolling and, and it
was, it was good.
And it, it, it kept me afloatfor a, a number of times.
And I think too many people aresitting there just trying to
like, you know, hit all thewebsites and try to, trying to
network and all other stuff andjust, you know, just, just go do
it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Just, just, just, I agree.
Yeah, it was, it was tough.
Now when you were a kid, wereyou like planning on being an
(31:30):
entrepreneur?
I, I, it's interesting becauseyou, you mentioned this and I
remember when.
Entrepreneurship for me when Iwas in college was like, that
was what people who didn't go toschool, that that's what they
had to do for survival.
Right?
Yeah.
It, it wasn't glorious untillike social media came out.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Everybody was like, glorifyingentrepreneurship.
You're like, I don't wanna be anentrepreneur.
I heard they're broke.
(31:50):
Yeah, exactly.
And it's, it's crazy because,uh, I don't think it's for
everyone.
Yeah.
And I, I think though, at a verydeep level, I, I was.
Definitely wired to be anentrepreneur.
I remember being by the firehydrant and running like a car
wash with my friends.
Yeah.
I, I, I remember flipping, uh,just little hustles and, and
(32:12):
selling candies in my school.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Just making money However Icould, when I was in college, I
ran a barbershop out of my dormroom.
Oh, that's dope.
That's cool.
And just to put myself throughschool.
Nice.
So there was always those littlesigns that I would.
At some point in time get intoentrepreneurship, but it wasn't
really glorified during thattime.
Yeah.
It really wasn't.
But for you, like what was itgrowing up?
(32:32):
Do you feel like you were alwayswired to be an entrepreneur?
I think I was, and I just neverreally knew it and I never
really leaned into it.
Yeah.
And I never really knew that itwas a path I could take.
Mm-hmm.
So even when I was a kid, youguys are gonna laugh about this,
like.
I used to, we used to eat these,um, we used to have these
oxtails.
Yeah.
And I'd clean'em up and I'd sell'em to the kids at school and
(32:53):
tell'em there was some Star Warsthing if you guys bought those.
Sorry.
But appreciate it.
And then I, I even, I.
I mean, geez, uh, since I waslike 13 years old, I was always
washing cars or mowing grass or,or cutting grass or whatever
else, or washing people's dogsor hustling.
Yeah.
I was even washing people'splanes.
And uh, I remember at one time Ihad some other friends, they
(33:15):
were like, Hey, um, I mean they,they were good friends of mine
and they had the mowers and.
I would be the one that would godoor to door and knock on the
people, sell the job, and then Iwould sub it out to them.
They would do all the work.
Right.
And I'd make half the, I'd makehalf a little over half the
profit.
I was like, you know, dope.
Yeah.
So I always had it as me, in meas a kid, but nobody ever really
told me like, Hey, you should gopursue this.
(33:36):
Yep.
And make it happen.
I mean.
I probably could have had like abunch of car washes after.
Yeah.
Instead of going to college.
Of course.
I mean, I had a great time incollege.
I had some, made some of myclosest friends and uh, I
learned a lot during the time.
I wouldn't trade it for theworld of course, but now, like,
it just doesn't make sense.
For sure.
And my, my question to you too,on the college,'cause I, I'm
very similar.
I have a business degree and,you know, did all that stuff.
(33:58):
And my question to you is, let'sjust say you do have children.
Are you going to, uh.
Encourage them to go and get adegree?
Or is it just gonna depend?
Like what if they do wanna beentrepreneurs, are you gonna
recommend that they have thedegree as a backup?
Like what are your, your viewson that?
You know, I think college is agood time for them to.
Marinate.
(34:19):
Yeah.
And kind of grow up and mature alittle bit.
I agree.
And if they're gonna go toschool, I want them to go get a
degree in finance or go, go, godo something good.
Like if you're gonna get a, ifyou're gonna get a degree in
whatever random underwaterbasket, re weaving studies or
Yeah.
Or theology or whatever, like,no, we're not gonna do all that.
(34:41):
Yeah, for sure.
Uh, I mean, I think.
I think college has its placefor some people.
Yep.
I mean, and you know, we needemployees.
Yeah.
We need good employees.
That's right.
And so entrepreneurship isn'tfor everybody.
Yeah.
But I think it really justdepends on them and what, what
they really want to do.
But I can tell you right now,man, they're gonna, they're
gonna be hu they're, they'regonna be hustling.
They're not gonna, they're.
(35:02):
I'm not gonna be soft on them.
Yeah.
I mean, our parents were so,were, were really, really hard
on us.
And I, I think that's whatreally made us who on uh mm-hmm.
Who who we are today.
Yeah.
And I mean, and business isn'tsoft.
Yeah.
The world doesn't give a shitabout your feelings.
It's contact sport.
Yeah.
The world does not give a shitabout your feelings.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Very true.
Very true.
And the, the sooner that we canget these kids to just really
(35:22):
think about that and operatelike that, the better off
they'll be.
Yeah.
No, that's so good brother.
And as we get ready to bring itin for a landing, I wanted to
ask as well, uh, what's thevision?
Like you have real estate,you're getting deeper into, uh,
business brokerage and thingslike that.
Yeah.
What would you say is the visionlong term with everything, man,
the vision long term is justreally, we are going to, we're
(35:44):
gonna scale Eva, we are going tohave.
Man by next, this time nextyear, we will have about, we
will have, we will be at fivelocations by this time next
year.
That's go That's awesome.
Five locations probably,actually.
We'll, we will be at fivelocations by Cinco de Bioo next
year.
Mm-hmm.
But man, I wanna, I love it.
I wanna, I'm, I, I'm going to bea, uh, portfolio owner.
(36:05):
Me and my partners, we have someproperties we're taking down.
Um, we are.
We are gonna have some really,really cool things going.
That's so cool.
Acquiring some, uh, investmentproperties, some warehouses, and
then really just, you know,helping people help them, help
people find next steps outsideof themselves when they're
wanting to retire from theirbusinesses.
Yeah.
To really help those people moveon and move on with some, with
(36:27):
some cash in their pocketinstead of just closing the
doors and, and, you know, justbeing a, being a vessel for
people within the radiantcommunity that, uh.
That want to get closer to, um,to some really, really good
people in for sure, in thebusiness world and everything
else.
I mean, it's huge.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
It's everything and just, um,you know, just showing up for
the good people around me and,um, and everything else.
So I'd say that's what thatlooks like, and that's what I
(36:50):
think it's gonna look like.
I mean, God's gonna have his ownplans.
I mean, that's right.
You know what I like to say isGod's plan is always better than
ours.
So true.
And, um, so we'll see.
It could shake out plenty ofdifferent ways.
Yeah, definitely.
When it's all said and done,what would you say you wanna be
remembered for?
You know, I want to beremembered that, uh, I was there
for people.
Yeah.
I was there for people that, uh,that I took care of them and I
(37:13):
serve them in the, to thehighest level, in the same sense
that, that Jesus would.
I want to be remembered forthat.
And I wanna be remembered in thesense that, you know, when
you're with me, you could alwaysjust show up however you are.
Of course.
Of course.
And I would always meet youwhere you were, like you didn't
have to, you didn't have to rollup in a cool whip or a, or a, or
a, or a nine 11.
It'd be cooler if you did.
(37:34):
But yeah, I mean, I think it'sjust all about good people, good
vibes, and um.
That's what I would want for.
I love that brother.
And if there were any departingwords, God forbid, this was your
last interview.
Oh yeah.
Hope, hope not.
What would be, and definitelyknock on wood, right?
But if, if, if it were, whatwould be the, the very last
thing you'd like to share withthe world?
I would say, you know, whereveryou're at, except where you're
(37:58):
at.
Because you're, where you're atis where you're at for a reason.
God's got you are.
You're in the exact place thatyou are supposed to be.
Mm-hmm.
You're not supposed to be fivelevels ahead.
You're not supposed to be fivelevels behind.
Where you are is where you are.
So the sooner that you can cometo accept where you are, the
better off you'll be and thebetter that you can make
(38:18):
decisions to where you want togo and what that looks like for
you.
I would say give your, anotherthing I'd say is give yourself
grace.
This shit isn't easy.
You know, give yourself creditto how far you've, you've come,
not other people around you.
Stop comparing yourself to otherpeople because like we like to
say, you know, comparison is athief of joy.
And, uh, like there's just, youcan't compare.
(38:40):
Only compare yourself to whereyou were this time last year or
last month or whatever else.
And if you're not where you wantto be, what changes do you need
to make to, to get to where youwant to be?
And um, and you know, the otherthing, the last thing I would
say is, you know, whatever yougot, just give it to God, man.
Give it to God.
Get humbled then and give it tohim.
And, and, uh, he'll, he'll makethings better.
(39:00):
That's so good if you're willingto follow him.
Yeah.
So, so good.
Appreciate that, brother.
Yeah, man.
Where can our audience find you?
You can always find me onInstagram, the Chris Esra.
They'll put you, put you on thelinks over here.
Uh, I'm over here in Tampa.
Do some stuff in Atlanta.
But, uh, but yeah, man, Iappreciate you having me on the
podcast and I want to give you ashout out and thank you for
everything that you guys aredoing.
Your camera, your, your, yourcamera guy, Trey.
(39:22):
I mean, he's a, he's a G.
He's a g.
He's the best.
What you guys are doing outhere, you guys are making some
real impact in the world and Iappreciate everything you guys
are doing for yourselves and foryour families and also for the
kingdom man.
You know, this is a.
This is a win at the end of theday.
It's, it's all for him, right?
That's right, that's right.
Nah, it's so good, brother.
Thank you so much man.
And make sure you guys followChris on all his platforms.
(39:44):
If you need any real estateservices, business brokerage
services, anything like that, oryou just wanna come and vibe at
Nova Cantina, let's go in theTampa Bay area.
Come by about, grab you somebites and uh, yes guys, till
next time, make sure you tunein, like, comment, share, tag,
subscribe, all that good stuff.
And, uh, we'll be seeing yousoon for our very next episode.
Take care.
And we, and we're gonna get sometacos.
(40:04):
That's right.
We're gonna get some tacos.
Appreciate you, brother.
Thank you bro.
Appreciate.
Thank you so much, man.
So good.
So, so dope.
Dope.
Thank you.
Yeah, absolutely.
That was great.
Thank you.
Oh no, that was really good,man.
You brought me, you brought meto my spot.
Shit, we're going there.
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