Tackling Shoplifters (Literally) and Journeying Into Entrepreneurship with Eric Estevez

Eric Estevez, shares his journey from working at Target to becoming a successful entrepreneur in the real estate and mortgage industry. Estevez shares how his experience in retail taught him the value of hard work and planning, which he applied to his later career. He also credits his success to his mentors and the leadership skills he learned while managing a team of 400 employees. If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or already own a small business, Eric without a doubt has some of the best tips! Did you know our amazing voices can go beyond just the microphone? Yes, we have video! Subscribe to our YouTube channel here!

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Eric’s Links:

•  LinkedIn | eric-estevez-133b1946

•  Instagram | @theericestevez

•  Website | https://www.ericestevezthelender.com/ 

•  Book | https://tinyurl.com/accordingtochacho 

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GOLD NUGGETS:

(03:50) - Eric’s Bio

(17:19) - Learning to Place People in Your Business

(27:36) - Jumping into Real Estate

(39:14) - Qualifying your Life Coach

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Previous guests on The Small Business Safari include Amy Lyle, Ben Alexander, Joseph Sission, Jonathan Ellis, Brad Dell, Chris Hanks, C.T. Emerson, Chad Brown, Tracy Moore, Wayne Sherger, David Raymond, Paul Redman, Gabby Meteor, Ryan Dement, Barbara Heil Sonneck, Bryan John, Tom Defore, Rusty Clifton, Duane Johns, Beth Miller, Jason Sleeman, Andy Suggs, Chris Michel, Jon Ostenson, Tommy Breedlove, Rocky Lalvani, Amanda Griffey, Spencer Powell, Joe Perrone, David Lupberger, Duane C. Barney, Dave Moerman, Jim Ryerson, Al Mishkoff, Scott Specker, Mike Claudio and more!

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If you loved this episode try these!

• Lessons Learned from the Accidental Entrepreneur: A Business Lawyer's Journey | Mitch Beinhaker

• Back to Basics: Building a Successful Business with the Right People and Processes

• What it Takes to Build an Organization that Scales | Tara Riley

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Have any questions or comments? Connect with me here!

From the Zoo to Wild is a book for entrepreneurs passionate about home services, looking to move away from corporate jobs. Chris Lalomia, a former executive, shares his path, discoveries, and tools to succeed as a small business owner in home improvement retail. The book provides the mindset, habits, leadership style, and customer-oriented processes necessary to succeed as a small business owner in home services.

Chapters

• 3:50 Eric’s Bio
• 18:17 Learning to Place People in Your Business
• 28:34 Jumping into Real Estate
• 40:12 Qualifying your Life Coach

Transcript

00;00;00;08 - 00;00;14;28
Eric Estevez
Well, I mean, the first thing is work ethic, right? You know, retail is is fast, you know, And if you don't work hard, if you don't have that work ethic, you know, you'll fail. And I had to learn that, right? So I remember, you know, getting the that's when I started getting up at five in the morning. Right.

00;00;15;02 - 00;00;33;16
Eric Estevez
I was I used to be at work at six in the morning before everybody else got there, because I wanted to plan my day. And that's one of the really that's one of the things that really transferred into my my later opportunities that I had is just really being organized. Right. And thankfully, you know, Target was really big on leadership and I had some really great mentors.

00;00;33;25 - 00;00;56;25
Eric Estevez
My first boss was amazing writing. I remember him giving me my first planner. It was a Franklin Covey planner. Yeah. How to use it. And and that is to me, to this day, the Bible. I start my day and I plan my week and my months with that. So I started very I started at 21 years old with that, with that mentality of make sure you got a plan right, and then you start looking at quarterly plans.

00;00;56;25 - 00;01;15;18
Eric Estevez
I was really good at planning because I had some really great mentors. Leadership. You had to lead teams. You know, at the height I ran a store with, you know, 400 plus employees. So I had to make sure that I learned how to lead through the levels, right. I had to inspire as a leader. I had to hold people accountable.

00;01;15;18 - 00;01;29;10
Eric Estevez
I had to hold myself accountable. So so many so many great skills learned in that corporate environment. Right. Where I was able to transfer that into the real estate and mortgage industry and into other businesses that I've started since then.

00;01;32;29 - 00;01;55;09
Chris Lalomia
Welcome to the Small Business Safari, where I help guide you to avoid those traps, pitfalls and dangers that lyric. When navigating the wild world of small business ownership, I'll share those gold nuggets of information and invite guests to help accelerate your ascent to that mountain top of success. It's a jungle out there, and I want to help you traverse through the levels of owning your own business that can get you bogged down and distract you from any of your own personal and professional goals.

00;01;55;15 - 00;02;00;02
Chris Lalomia
So strap in, adventure team, and let's take a ride through the safari and get you to the mountaintop.

00;02;09;11 - 00;02;26;02
Chris Lalomia
Welcome back, everybody, to the Small Business Safari. We are ready to rock and roll. Hope you're having a great day. Let's take this time just to flush it out. Clear that headdress. I've been training my sales guys. If you can't tell, clear that headdress. Get ready. Let's try to learn something. Try to have some fun, because we're going to rock this episode.

00;02;26;02 - 00;02;26;25
Chris Lalomia
This is going to be a good one.

00;02;27;09 - 00;02;30;08
Alan Wyatt
I'm excited. Yeah. Last time we saw him, he was in a limo.

00;02;30;20 - 00;02;51;08
Chris Lalomia
So the last time we saw Eric Estevez. Yeah, because he is Emilio Estevez, the more popular cousin. We had the Eric, the lender as he goes by on his social media handles. We see. He said, Hey, guys, I can't do it. I'm in my limo heading down to New York City because, you know, I'm sponsoring just 300 real estate agents.

00;02;51;08 - 00;02;57;18
Chris Lalomia
So they got to see my smiling face at the sponsor like we'll do. That's making money. You don't have time for us. You got to go do that. Yeah, that's kind of.

00;02;57;18 - 00;02;58;07
Alan Wyatt
A power move.

00;02;58;14 - 00;02;59;04
Chris Lalomia
It was nice.

00;02;59;04 - 00;03;02;23
Alan Wyatt
Yeah, I like that. I like it. Offended by it. It was pretty awesome.

00;03;02;23 - 00;03;21;29
Chris Lalomia
Yeah. So who are we talking about? August, Go ahead and introduce some real quick. I love The part is we were talking right before we went on is that he went to the you that's Miami to all of us but then ended up outside of New York City. We did the fortune he calls a Fortune 50. I don't even know if I was in Fortune 100 or 200.

00;03;21;29 - 00;03;40;29
Chris Lalomia
I don't even know. But we were all doing the corporate gig. He did it for 14 years. He steps out. He wrote a children's book. Can't wait to hear about that. There you go. Another author, baby. And then try to target entrepreneurship and then found his niche in doing real estate and then getting into the mortgage lending business where he is rocked the hell out of this stuff.

00;03;40;29 - 00;03;53;06
Chris Lalomia
Man $200 Million in Sales. Can't wait to hear his journey. This is going to be a great episode for you to figure out if you're stuck in that corporate world, in that zoo, is it possible to get out there and run run through that jungle, make it happen? We're about to find out.

00;03;53;06 - 00;03;53;24
Alan Wyatt
Can't wait.

00;03;53;24 - 00;03;55;25
Chris Lalomia
Let's do it. Eric, welcome to the show.

00;03;56;13 - 00;03;58;16
Eric Estevez
Hey, thanks for having us. Thanks for having me.

00;03;58;29 - 00;04;03;27
Chris Lalomia
Yeah, you're the man. You're on it. All right, So I got to go back to the you when were you there?

00;04;04;29 - 00;04;24;05
Eric Estevez
So I was just going back. I was born and raised in Jersey City, which is right across from Manhattan. It's a I used to drive in and watch the Twin Towers pre 2001 every day. Right. I'm going to school. But I went to University of Miami in 99 and and I actually went to school with the 2001 national champs.

00;04;24;12 - 00;04;45;12
Eric Estevez
They still have been 2002 national cheers, but they got robbed by Ohio State. MORRIS Correct. Think that game was rigged. But we should we should have had a we said we should have won 2 to 2 years in a row. I went with school, school with Frank Gore and Jeremy Shockey and Willis McGahee. So a lot of powerhouse people during my time there.

00;04;45;27 - 00;05;03;05
Chris Lalomia
That's awesome. And I love that you just called out rigging the game because I called it out a couple episodes ago, I guess a number of years ago when I was out in Vegas and I lost on the spread because somebody had to kick a field goal at the end of the game. And I that's been the most popular hit thing off our podcast since we started.

00;05;03;27 - 00;05;17;07
Chris Lalomia
We say that the Vegas and the NFL are in cahoots. So now you got your hot take go and I like it. All right. So you grew up in New York, but you went to Miami, but then you decided to go back. All right. But how did you do all that?

00;05;17;27 - 00;05;40;05
Eric Estevez
Yeah, So? So I, I was studying at the university of Miami. I got my degree and, you know, three years and. But but I got a fellowship at at Morgan Stanley in Wall Street and I had to stay an extra couple or next semester just so I can qualify for that fellowship. But it was a great, great time.

00;05;40;05 - 00;06;04;04
Eric Estevez
I actually lived in New York City, stayed in the NYU dorms. That's where I met my my, my wife of now 23 years. So I was I was back in New York, met my wife here and and, you know, on the way back to college, you know, bundle up having a world class, you know, being pregnant. And I was 21 years old at December getting my diploma.

00;06;04;04 - 00;06;21;22
Eric Estevez
And my wife was was expecting and we had a baby. You know, Angeles was not just turned 20, you know, at 21 years old. So I had to figure out life quickly. Right. So I thought I was going to work on Wall Street. I did it for a summer, loved it, didn't have time to look for a job.

00;06;21;22 - 00;06;41;10
Eric Estevez
I needed a job as soon as I actually as soon as I graduated college in December and I got offered jobs with the CIA financing in finance, banking, the finance department, and, you know, some financial firms. And I decided to go work for Target stores as a manager. And everybody looked at me like I was crazy.

00;06;41;20 - 00;06;43;14
Alan Wyatt
But I like we're looking at you right now.

00;06;43;14 - 00;06;52;02
Chris Lalomia
Yeah, I got my eyes are working up because I thought, don't work for Taj. That's what I like to call porn Thursday. But you went to work at this as a store manager? Not like in there in Minneapolis.

00;06;52;02 - 00;07;15;28
Eric Estevez
Oh, well, I started. You don't start off as a store manager, right? I remember you starting off making $35,000 a year as as an assistant manager. But but I saw the growth that it was that was happening and I wanted to ride that wave. And it only took me a couple of years to go from an assistant manager to a store manager earning six figures, you know, and just continue growing, growing through that path.

00;07;15;28 - 00;07;33;19
Eric Estevez
And at that time, you know, Target was a 4050 company and I was there for about 11 years, you know, transferred back to New Jersey because our family is from New Jersey. My wife's family is from New Jersey. We wanted to make sure that we raise our kids around our family. So that's why we left Miami after, you know, we came back in 2008.

00;07;33;27 - 00;07;47;29
Eric Estevez
So I was there for about eight years, nine years total. And yeah, you know, I worked my way up and I was running the the biggest store in in in New Jersey at the time. And I would have to in order for me to move up, I would have to uproot my family and move elsewhere. I just didn't want to do that.

00;07;47;29 - 00;08;10;26
Eric Estevez
Right. So at that point, I moved on to Wal-Mart stores, which at that time was one of the top, you know, companies in the world. You know, this is, you know, before Apple and Google started kind of coming up the ranks. Right. And and yeah, I joined Wal-Mart and same thing. I kind of worked my way up and I was utilizing my bonuses and my stock options, my suit, my shoes.

00;08;11;05 - 00;08;19;16
Eric Estevez
And I saw that's when I started diversifying my money and figuring things out, see what I wanted to do. And I figured out I figured out that I wanted to be an entrepreneur.

00;08;19;21 - 00;08;28;20
Alan Wyatt
All right. I got to I got a back up. So all these opportunities he had, you had the finance department for the CIA, did that not pique your interest?

00;08;29;16 - 00;08;46;29
Eric Estevez
Well, you know what? It was same pay as target, $35,000 a year. This was you know, this was back in 2001. I had to move to Langley, Virginia, which I'm like, Wow, I don't even know. Like, you know, I'm in Miami and some people here had to move to Langley, Virginia. And yeah, it was a six month background check.

00;08;47;04 - 00;08;48;22
Eric Estevez
And I decided not to go that route.

00;08;49;22 - 00;08;57;15
Chris Lalomia
Hey, we're just going to leave that right there. Here's a six month background check, and I decided not to do that. We're not going to ask why. Don't ask questions. Well, all right, let's. Well.

00;08;57;24 - 00;08;59;17
Eric Estevez
Let me let me let me clarify.

00;08;59;26 - 00;09;04;04
Chris Lalomia
You don't have to you know, we don't want to die. I don't.

00;09;04;06 - 00;09;24;21
Eric Estevez
Ahead. What I did a six month background check prior to the job offer. So everything panned out. Well, I think the psychological tests and everything, they talked to my neighbors back in New Jersey. But yeah, I decided not to go that route. You know, I really thought in my gut that, you know, I would learn what I needed to learn and target in leadership and grow as fast as I, I needed to.

00;09;24;21 - 00;09;39;06
Eric Estevez
And I think that, you know, it panned out. You know, it just it just eventually, you know, it was just, you know, I've always been a workhorse. I've always worked hard. And then when I started diversifying and trying to do the things I felt like, you know what, I can make money a little easier elsewhere that.

00;09;39;17 - 00;09;58;00
Chris Lalomia
You know, it reminds me when I was coming out of school in 1992, things weren't so good for engineers, and I was coming out of school, so they were all coming after us and they wanted us to be nuclear submarine engineers. They said, you have to be you have to submit to a background check. I'm like, Oh, I'm a oh, yeah, thank you for the information center.

00;09;58;00 - 00;10;13;24
Chris Lalomia
I've got to go. I can't explain anymore. I'm just calling right there. And I was kid, I so, So you go to work at Target, talk about some of the skills you had to develop, because one of the things I talk about my business is I started a retail business when I left corporate America. I'd never been in retail a day in my life.

00;10;14;04 - 00;10;20;26
Chris Lalomia
So you were clearly in the retail business. Yeah. Skills, things that you learned there that you thought you could you translated into being an entrepreneur?

00;10;21;27 - 00;10;41;05
Eric Estevez
Well, I mean, the first thing is work ethic, right? You know, retail is, is fast, you know, And if you don't work hard, if you don't have that work ethic, you know, you'll fail. And I had to learn that, right? So I remember getting and that's when I started getting up at five in the morning. Right? I was I used to be at work at six in the morning before everybody else got there because I wanted to plan my day.

00;10;41;21 - 00;11;02;10
Eric Estevez
And that's one of the really that's one of the things that really transferred into my my later opportunities that I had is is really being organized. Right. And thankfully, you know, Target was really big on leadership and I had some really great mentors. My first boss was amazing writing. I remember him giving me my first planner was a Franklin Covey planner.

00;11;02;10 - 00;11;18;16
Eric Estevez
Yeah, I use it and and that is to me, to this day, the Bible, right? I start my day and I plan my week and my months with that. So I started very I started at 21 years old with that, with that mentality of make sure you got a plan right, and then you start looking at quality plans.

00;11;18;16 - 00;11;37;07
Eric Estevez
I was really good at planning because I had some really great mentors, leadership. You had to lead teams. You know, at the height I ran a store with, you know, 400 plus employees. So I had to make sure that I learned how to lead through the levels, right. I had to inspire as a leader. I had to hold people accountable.

00;11;37;07 - 00;11;51;00
Eric Estevez
I had to hold myself accountable. So so many so many great skills learn in that corporate environment, Right. Where I was able to transfer that into the real estate and mortgage industry and into other businesses that I've started since then.

00;11;52;05 - 00;12;10;22
Alan Wyatt
I would bet that one of the things that he learned that a lot of people need to know when they run their own business is you're running a huge retail store that open a lot more hours and you're there. And so you have to be comfortable letting go and letting you know, training the people around you to run the thing while you're not there.

00;12;11;04 - 00;12;18;24
Alan Wyatt
And I think most small business owners just have a hard time letting go and they have to have their fingers on everything. Chris But yeah.

00;12;19;19 - 00;12;20;20
Chris Lalomia
I identify with that.

00;12;21;29 - 00;12;31;19
Alan Wyatt
So, you know, what a great place to learn how to, how to, you know, like you said, manage to the levels, but make sure people are doing the right things and and representing the brand whether you're there or not.

00;12;32;06 - 00;12;55;17
Eric Estevez
Yeah yeah. And you know what and that's a that's such a that's so important in anything that you do right because in the beginning you go to those level, there's a learning curve right before you want to do everything on your own and you want to just put a pump in the hours. But you know, there's only a certain amount of hours in a day and you have a wife and a family that you have to take care of and spend time with and you got to focus on.

00;12;55;17 - 00;13;19;19
Eric Estevez
You have there's so many different things. So you realize that is the people, right, That that matter. And if you hire the right people and you you recognize these individuals and you've given them promotion, an opportunity to give them autonomy. Right. They're going to do the right thing. I remember there was a point, I think one of the most my most proudest moments as a leader was when I was able to go on vacation.

00;13;19;19 - 00;13;37;08
Eric Estevez
And I remember having a big, you know, like, you know, next day a corporate visit, and they passed with flying colors. And that was probably the most proud moment that I had because my team was able to to to to do what they needed to do. Right. And that's when I said to myself, wow, I think I made it as a as a manager.

00;13;37;08 - 00;13;44;28
Eric Estevez
Right. And it took years to get there. But you have that. You have to lead through the teams and you have to be able to trust. And I've been able to do the same thing in the mortgage business as well.

00;13;45;09 - 00;13;52;03
Chris Lalomia
I love it. All right. But the biggest question I've got is did you ever tackle a shoplifter before they were coming out the door? I mean, come on, give me one of those stories.

00;13;52;09 - 00;13;55;01
Eric Estevez
Come on. I did. Yeah, I did.

00;13;55;01 - 00;13;56;07
Chris Lalomia
I knew it's secret.

00;13;56;08 - 00;14;13;19
Eric Estevez
You know what? I should have gotten fired for it because I didn't know any better. Right? You know, this was early on in my career, and and, you know, I'm a manager and I'm not you know, we have we have asset protection specialists and all that. Right. And there was someone shoplift and, you know, they were struggling with someone.

00;14;13;19 - 00;14;30;15
Eric Estevez
And the guy kind of gave me and now, like, he needed help. So I just went right in and I played football at high school, so I took the person out and we apprehended the person. And the next day my store manager comes to me and he goes, I was going to do it again. Okay, Yeah. But it's like even with me at that point.

00;14;30;15 - 00;14;31;10
Eric Estevez
So thank goodness.

00;14;31;13 - 00;14;46;24
Chris Lalomia
I love that. All right. See, there you go. Something you probably never shared on another podcast. That's why you listen to this thing. Because if you are willing to tackle a shoplifter, you're not ready to get into business for yourself. But all right, so you take off, you leave Taji. I think for me you went down level to Walmart, but I get a big company.

00;14;47;04 - 00;14;51;12
Chris Lalomia
But I personally it I have a tough time shopping at Walmart. I like to chop a turkey.

00;14;52;08 - 00;14;53;10
Alan Wyatt
You're an elitist.

00;14;53;10 - 00;14;59;22
Chris Lalomia
I am too. Know. So you do the Walmart thing. And so when when did the itch to start your own business start?

00;14;59;24 - 00;15;03;07
Alan Wyatt
What part? What big culture difference don't you think between the two?

00;15;03;09 - 00;15;04;26
Chris Lalomia
Well that's become you.

00;15;05;20 - 00;15;05;26
Eric Estevez
Know.

00;15;05;27 - 00;15;06;26
Chris Lalomia
A dynamic that one.

00;15;07;04 - 00;15;32;05
Eric Estevez
I'm amateur's guide to that that's who made me gee I shop at target to my you know what but but each of them have their own strengths right Huge culture difference you know But but Walmart it's a monster right when it comes to it. I when they talk about sales and I mean everything was about, you know, putting this product next to this product to drive that like it was really like driving the dollar.

00;15;32;06 - 00;15;49;19
Eric Estevez
It was every penny counted right in Walmart. And they try to fit everything into the store, right? Everything in the middle of the And Target is always this clean atmosphere. So, so big, big culture difference. But I guess I learned I learned some great things at Walmart too. But yeah, you know, Target is near and dear to my heart.

00;15;49;19 - 00;15;51;27
Eric Estevez
They made me right. They develop me into the leader that I am today.

00;15;52;04 - 00;16;10;22
Chris Lalomia
I love that, you know, that's funny. So I worked in consulting. I worked at Accenture for a long time. I was in banking and finance, but I knew guys who had to go on the Walmart assignment. So here's the deal. So you're a consultant, right? You're expected. I get to fly first class, I get to fly business class, I get to stay in my own hotel.

00;16;10;22 - 00;16;30;02
Chris Lalomia
That's what we do right now. Not at Walmart, my friends. You go economy, you go coach. And if there's so many hours you have to drive. And when you stay at a hotel, you have to stay to to a room. Oh, really? I was like, oh, boy. But you know what? That's again, back to that culture and, you know, following Sam Walton, what they've done is totally different.

00;16;30;02 - 00;16;35;00
Chris Lalomia
Yeah. And so I'm glad you brought that up because you're right. Completely different culture. That's right. They both win.

00;16;35;00 - 00;16;46;21
Alan Wyatt
When they've got the don't they do they still do the Walmart here and everything before MeToo and they do yeah They talk about the difference between a meeting at Walmart versus a meeting at Target with leadership.

00;16;47;05 - 00;17;11;04
Eric Estevez
You know what? I think, you know, you mentioned Sam Walton. I mean, he was a greatest, right? He was a rah rah rah. He's a he's a, you know, get up on an on tables and speak. So I think that is yeah, I didn't know that either. He was he would gather like I remember stories of people that knew him before he passed when my Walmart days and talked about when he would walk into the stores and the whole entire store will come in, who will give a speech.

00;17;11;21 - 00;17;28;23
Eric Estevez
He was just a fascinating individual. I read his book when I when I worked for Walmart. But you know what I think is in the individual And that's that's the cool thing about it. You have a overall company culture, right? But there's a store, even though there's a general rule, feel, you know, when you're in a Walmart store and when you're in a Target store.

00;17;28;23 - 00;17;49;23
Eric Estevez
But you know, when you're a winning Target store versus maybe a failing Target store right now, honestly, it's the it's the leader and the team. Right. And and and I was towards it towards the latter part of my years. I was known as a culture fixer. Right. I would kind of go in problem stores. I would analyze it for 30 days, what are the issues?

00;17;49;23 - 00;18;05;26
Eric Estevez
And it was usually people, right? It was usually who are the cancer's right. People are at the right place. Are they the right person? The right place at the right time? And I learn how to place people right. And I learn how to really try to maximize the output of people I want to share. So that just last week we talked about target.

00;18;06;15 - 00;18;25;25
Eric Estevez
It really won my heart. I went to, you know, do a quick little drive by store. I dropped my daughter off at a rehearsal for a studio. In a studio. I drove 40 minutes to a to another nice place that one of my realtor referral partners was throwing a birthday party. Just stop by for like 20 minutes. And when I'm at the bar, just to have a shot with the birthday girl.

00;18;26;12 - 00;18;48;27
Eric Estevez
One of the gentlemen that I promoted in Target, Robert Moreno, was hearing this. I haven't seen him in years, and I gave him the opportunity to become a store manager. He was an assistant manager to me. And now the gentleman is a district manager. He has a house overseeing. Right. He just bought I was overseeing the New York City skyline and he came up to me and he said to me, Eric, I just I knew was you just wanted to thank you.

00;18;49;02 - 00;18;59;23
Eric Estevez
You gave me the opportunity. I modeled my leadership after you. And this kid is doing so well for himself and that really well my heart. And that's really what Dwight drove me when I led teams in Target and Walmart.

00;18;59;23 - 00;19;06;13
Chris Lalomia
All right, big guy who tackled somebody. Tell me you didn't do up a little bit, did I? Did. I will, because I would. Come on, man.

00;19;06;26 - 00;19;07;28
Eric Estevez
I did. I did.

00;19;08;08 - 00;19;27;10
Chris Lalomia
I know. That's awesome. And that's something right there. That that's that is you know, what are we here for? We talked about this before. That's called leaving a legacy, right? When somebody comes up to you unsolicited and says, hey, I just want to let you know, you know, you give him a first break or you did this or you you transitioned and gave me this leadership quality.

00;19;27;10 - 00;19;33;17
Chris Lalomia
And now let me tell you what I'm doing. And they're not bragging to you. They're just telling you. I mean, literally, I'm tearing up for them right now.

00;19;34;11 - 00;19;49;01
Eric Estevez
Yeah. He told me. He told me that he's been the district manager of the year for the last six years running. That's awesome. So he's achieved the higher level that I did when I left the target, and he's doing amazingly well. So you just remind me I have to hit him up and schedule lunch. Yeah.

00;19;49;06 - 00;20;02;23
Chris Lalomia
Yeah, you do. That's awesome, man. That's awesome. That's just incredible, right? So you go to Walmart and then you start getting that itch. I got to go do something of my own. I got to do something on my own. And it just keeps it's not you're right. It's just kind of clawing at you. So what was your first idea?

00;20;02;23 - 00;20;16;19
Chris Lalomia
What was the first thing you started to work on and go, Okay, I think I got this. You know, I'm still making my money I can take of my family because now you didn't have just one. Probably. You had a couple, right? Yeah. You're living a lifestyle. Mama said, Hey, that's my lifestyle. You're like, No, no, no, no.

00;20;16;19 - 00;20;19;29
Chris Lalomia
I got another idea. Watch this. So, yeah, tell me how that worked.

00;20;20;23 - 00;20;30;28
Eric Estevez
Yeah. So funny you say that. So my wife, we had a dog. His name is Cha-Cha, right? Just passed the just passed away last year. 15 years ago. Sorry.

00;20;30;28 - 00;20;32;05
Chris Lalomia
That left. Well, Churchill.

00;20;32;05 - 00;20;52;10
Eric Estevez
I love that name. Yeah. And you know what? We got it. He was Miami Dog, right? And and my wife, who was with this dog day in and day out. Right. That's. That's her baby. Always said, I would like to write a book about about Jojo and maybe center our family around that and almost do like a Clifford the big Red Dog series right around Jojo.

00;20;52;12 - 00;20;52;23
Eric Estevez
Right.

00;20;53;03 - 00;20;54;19
Chris Lalomia
A little bit about it.

00;20;54;20 - 00;21;10;14
Eric Estevez
She's talked about it. And then I said to myself, this is let's do it Like this is research it, right? Let's let's just frickin publish a book. And we started looking into it and, you know, we were we got self-published and that was the my first venture. And it was more like a passion project because we didn't. What was the.

00;21;10;14 - 00;21;11;02
Chris Lalomia
Name of the book.

00;21;11;16 - 00;21;13;02
Eric Estevez
Is called According to Jojo.

00;21;13;11 - 00;21;15;08
Chris Lalomia
According to Jojo, Yeah.

00;21;15;09 - 00;21;15;19
Eric Estevez
Of course.

00;21;15;21 - 00;21;19;20
Chris Lalomia
You go find that book, everybody, because as a fellow publish author.

00;21;20;13 - 00;21;21;17
Alan Wyatt
Publication now for now.

00;21;21;19 - 00;21;28;27
Chris Lalomia
Yes. Yeah. And guess what, Eric, you and I share a common bond. We are authors, and Ellen's not in that club, so.

00;21;29;14 - 00;21;30;15
Alan Wyatt
He likes to point it out.

00;21;30;24 - 00;21;42;19
Chris Lalomia
Every very cool. And literally mine is Ben. Ben titled a children's book? No, because I have lots of coloring in there. No, I'd heard, but I love that. So. All right, go out. Check that. That is. Say it one more time.

00;21;42;19 - 00;21;43;15
Alan Wyatt
According to tattoo.

00;21;43;16 - 00;21;44;20
Eric Estevez
According to Jojo.

00;21;45;06 - 00;21;46;12
Chris Lalomia
All right. Let's go to the show notes.

00;21;46;22 - 00;22;03;09
Eric Estevez
That we have and we actually have the second book written ready to go as well. We haven't published yet, but we just learned the self-publishing. We published it through Oscar. It's publishing, you know, And, you know, we had no idea what I wanted to do. And, you know, I didn't make any money off of this book, but but it was just it was just.

00;22;03;09 - 00;22;10;05
Chris Lalomia
Oh, wait a minute, you two. No, I mean, no, I'm a bestselling author. I make a million extra. My last one.

00;22;10;09 - 00;22;10;20
Eric Estevez
They can.

00;22;11;00 - 00;22;23;00
Chris Lalomia
Literally be my last royalty check was this morning, $14.62. Let's go get out there and buy that frickin book. Everybody from the zoo to the wild. It's. And of course, according to Jojo, is it available on Amazon?

00;22;23;01 - 00;22;24;15
Eric Estevez
It is available on Amazon, yes.

00;22;24;15 - 00;22;26;03
Chris Lalomia
Let's go now. Let's put that shit out there.

00;22;26;03 - 00;22;31;10
Eric Estevez
I'm just go I'm going on Amazon. I'm going to holler. Can you repeat the title? Because I'm going to valuable to you need to.

00;22;31;10 - 00;22;50;27
Chris Lalomia
Yes, because I need another 2032. So it's called From the Zoo to the Wild Great Fear Guide to Entrepreneurial Freedom and Wealth. And guess what, Alan? We're actually starting to dynamically put in commercials for my book. So if you're not listening to this now and you want to fast forward to my commercials like I do through Smart, listen, take that and.

00;22;51;18 - 00;22;53;08
Alan Wyatt
Give 10 minutes of commercials. Like Smart.

00;22;53;13 - 00;23;01;16
Chris Lalomia
No, I do not. Because guess why we're not sponsored as much as them. Although, as I've told you, we got some people in the waiting wings ready to go.

00;23;01;16 - 00;23;07;28
Alan Wyatt
So next time somebody is obnoxious and said, I'm an author and I should just respond with I'm making any money.

00;23;08;03 - 00;23;16;04
Chris Lalomia
Yeah, in the end, shut them down. Yeah. Never. Okay. You know, I still got I'm still paying off, so That's all right. So I love it. All right, keep going.

00;23;16;20 - 00;23;31;12
Eric Estevez
Yeah. So, I mean, we didn't make any money, but we learned about it, and we saw how. How happy made us feel. Actually, I read it every year to kids like we had read Across America in March. And I read it to a gym full of kids of a friend of mine. Mine's a principal at an elementary school.

00;23;32;01 - 00;23;34;27
Eric Estevez
So we still we still bring that book out and read it. We love it.

00;23;35;10 - 00;23;41;24
Chris Lalomia
And that one side hustle that was just so. So your wife has bought into this stuff. Well. Well, she was it was.

00;23;41;24 - 00;23;48;18
Eric Estevez
It was her idea. Right. And we did it. And it was just the first step of doing something other than working 9 to 5. Right.

00;23;48;18 - 00;23;52;03
Chris Lalomia
Can I can I introduce her to somebody else? I may know that.

00;23;52;03 - 00;23;54;18
Alan Wyatt
But Chris, that needs some tips on how to get your wife because.

00;23;54;18 - 00;23;55;23
Chris Lalomia
You said 23 years.

00;23;55;25 - 00;23;56;20
Alan Wyatt
I had no.

00;23;56;20 - 00;24;02;02
Chris Lalomia
Idea about 26 and she's still not bought into me doing this. And I've been doing this for 15 years.

00;24;02;15 - 00;24;05;28
Eric Estevez
Oh, she will always she'll come around. Yeah. Yeah.

00;24;08;01 - 00;24;09;01
Chris Lalomia
I like InStyle style.

00;24;09;01 - 00;24;10;03
Eric Estevez
Baby. I just love.

00;24;10;03 - 00;24;13;19
Alan Wyatt
The look on your face. Like, I don't even know what my wife on board means. I don't.

00;24;13;19 - 00;24;24;11
Chris Lalomia
Even that. It's totally foreign. I love that. Okay, good. I'm glad to hear that you guys are cohesive team. I love to hear that. Don't worry about it. I got therapy for that. So. All right, So, Jojo, good idea.

00;24;24;20 - 00;24;48;27
Eric Estevez
So we did Jojo. That was the first thing. And I was like, Okay, this is good. And then I said, Okay, well, what else can I do? And I started flipping some mobile apps, right? So basically what it is was I purchased skins of, of, of, of applications and I was able to hire a developer for a cheap, you know, basically repurpose it, try to get some, some downloads and then just sell that back in the marketplace.

00;24;49;06 - 00;25;00;24
Eric Estevez
Didn't make too much money on that too. Right. Right. But it was something that I said, okay, I'm learning the entrepreneur. I'm learning how to navigate these things. And then and then after that, oh.

00;25;00;24 - 00;25;02;28
Chris Lalomia
Y you had a full time job making money, right?

00;25;03;05 - 00;25;03;22
Eric Estevez
Oh, I think.

00;25;04;04 - 00;25;17;27
Chris Lalomia
That's the golden nugget, right? If you I'm not a big fan and you'll put you'll see this in my book. When I told somebody I was thinking about just doing the handyman thing on the side, he goes, You're either all the way in or you're all the way out. Because if you're going to put yourself halfway in, you're all the way out.

00;25;17;27 - 00;25;27;02
Chris Lalomia
You're done. But I think in this case, right, you get to learn lessons while you're still providing for your family and taking care of business, but you're learning and he's.

00;25;27;02 - 00;25;27;18
Alan Wyatt
Smarter than.

00;25;27;18 - 00;25;33;03
Chris Lalomia
You, of course. And that's why you have a mind, because I'm learning. I'm definitely learning from Eric, the lender.

00;25;33;22 - 00;25;34;10
Eric Estevez
Yes.

00;25;34;29 - 00;25;39;21
Chris Lalomia
The world, according to Jojo. That's the next book I think I've already figured out. Now I'm getting. All right, keep going.

00;25;40;08 - 00;25;40;26
Alan Wyatt
Got pictures.

00;25;40;26 - 00;25;43;24
Chris Lalomia
I'm sure that's the books I read by.

00;25;45;04 - 00;25;52;04
Eric Estevez
Very. Yeah, it has pictures. And in the end, as a as a version of myself when I had hair. So that's the last. Oh.

00;25;52;16 - 00;26;02;14
Chris Lalomia
Yeah. Actually, you know what? Thank you, brother. He is actually in the club with us because we keep getting people on who have more here than us. They're way younger than us now. You're way younger, and.

00;26;02;20 - 00;26;04;23
Alan Wyatt
He's younger and better looking. But he's seven. Exactly.

00;26;04;27 - 00;26;13;26
Chris Lalomia
Yeah. And more eloquent. I tell you what, man, I'm already attracted this guy. And I mean like that. I mean, like, you just want to follow that dude, right? I mean, this guy is awesome.

00;26;13;26 - 00;26;41;21
Alan Wyatt
No, you can see the and I know we want to talk about Eric, the lender, but I keep going back in my mind to your corporate experience and you're talking about leadership. And there's most people who are in leadership positions call themselves leaders. They're not being a leader implies that people are following or they're doing what they're supposed to do when you're not there and you've got any just a huge presence.

00;26;41;21 - 00;26;50;18
Alan Wyatt
And you you know, you couple that with great training, great ethics, great culture. I mean, it's no wonder you were the fixer.

00;26;50;29 - 00;26;58;26
Chris Lalomia
Yeah, Yeah, totally agreed. Doubling down. And here we are. We're praising him. We're supposed to be interviewing him right at screen. Okay, It's our podcast. I do every.

00;26;58;26 - 00;26;59;15
Alan Wyatt
Drop the little.

00;26;59;15 - 00;27;01;16
Eric Estevez
Bit, increasing the power as well as I do. Yeah.

00;27;01;17 - 00;27;01;28
Chris Lalomia
No, it's.

00;27;01;28 - 00;27;02;28
Alan Wyatt
Great. It's obvious.

00;27;03;03 - 00;27;07;11
Chris Lalomia
All right, so you're doing the side hustles, you're learning, you're iterating, you're figuring it out, figure it out, figure it out, and you.

00;27;07;11 - 00;27;08;10
Alan Wyatt
Just learn the word iterate.

00;27;08;23 - 00;27;12;13
Chris Lalomia
You know what I actually I had I Googled that one. Did I want, you know.

00;27;12;14 - 00;27;13;11
Alan Wyatt
What's too many times.

00;27;13;16 - 00;27;18;25
Chris Lalomia
Right? What's a ten cent? What's a 10% safety One that can use over and over and over.

00;27;19;02 - 00;27;20;03
Alan Wyatt
Just once in a while.

00;27;20;23 - 00;27;21;13
Chris Lalomia
I can, I can.

00;27;21;13 - 00;27;23;12
Alan Wyatt
Take you to. Yeah. Just drop it once in a while.

00;27;23;12 - 00;27;28;02
Chris Lalomia
Just once, right? Yeah. All right. So, okay, I'm done with the big words. All right, Back to Eric. Yeah.

00;27;28;11 - 00;27;29;19
Alan Wyatt
Okay. I think that's all right.

00;27;29;22 - 00;27;36;04
Chris Lalomia
So, Eric, when did you. When was that big idea? The one you went? Okay, this is it. I'm leaving. I'm going to take off. This is the one.

00;27;37;00 - 00;28;09;24
Eric Estevez
It was real estate, you know? So, you know, when I started getting some, you know, stock options or other issues vested, I remember my first one from from Target that I brought over to Walmart. I went ahead and I invested with with a flip a friend of mine who was flipping houses, three or four houses a month in Long Island, and I was intrigued about what he was doing and I just took him out to lunch and dinner and just picked his brain, visited the properties and to a point where I wanted to invest.

00;28;09;24 - 00;28;29;26
Eric Estevez
So I remember taking my first, you know, $25,000 RSU, and I gave it to my friend, who's also his name is Eric. And he said, Hey, I'll give you I'm going to give you a 15% rate of return when we saw this house. But the thing is that, you know, I and my wife was extremely worried. She was like, are you going to just have this guy check for $25,000?

00;28;30;07 - 00;28;49;07
Eric Estevez
But to me, that was another college experience where I want to make him back my 15% rate of return, which isn't a life changing thing, but more so than that, it was the education I was. I was an investor. I was able to go and walk his the house. And how do you do this? How to talk to me about, you know, share sales and how do you buy the properties and how many crews do you have?

00;28;49;16 - 00;29;13;01
Eric Estevez
And I was really intrigued and I got my money back and I reinvested it with him three times. Right. And every time it was a bigger, bigger sum. Right. And I kept on learning. And then I was able to after the third time of passively investing, right. I wasn't the one, you know, with the deals. That was just me, you know, giving this guy money, getting a promise or promissory note, getting money returned and learning.

00;29;13;21 - 00;29;33;08
Eric Estevez
Then I went in and I said, You know what? I think we're ready to flip a house. And and I brought in a couple partners and this was a mistake that we did. Right. But this was the this was the big one I was investing in, in, you know, middle class homes, 3 to $400000 properties, which the average American, you know, was able to to afford.

00;29;34;00 - 00;29;52;26
Eric Estevez
And then I went we went big we went with the big house right in a nice neighborhood. We, you know, extended a foundation, you know, added a level. We were completely right out of our comfort zone. And we add, you know, we added hundreds of thousands of dollars in renovations to this thing. And in the end, guess what?

00;29;52;26 - 00;29;59;08
Eric Estevez
We didn't make any money either, right? Because we one of the lessons was I was learning by one model.

00;29;59;20 - 00;30;06;05
Chris Lalomia
Wait a minute. You say you don't make money every time you flip a house. That's not what HGTV says. Oh, my God.

00;30;06;10 - 00;30;08;25
Eric Estevez
News. And you have to give it to her. Right?

00;30;08;29 - 00;30;17;17
Chris Lalomia
Exactly right. Because every there listen to you because we're going to get to the success story in a minute. But you just said it. People go, oh, man, I flip the house or are you okay?

00;30;17;17 - 00;30;19;25
Alan Wyatt
Yeah, good luck and I'll do the renovation in a weekend.

00;30;19;26 - 00;30;37;17
Chris Lalomia
I've been doing remodeling for 15 years and I can tell you how many times somebody got to me and I missed that. The foundation was completely unsettled. I had to redo it. Oh, yeah? Yeah. I didn't have that 25,000. Oh, you didn't? How'd you do? I lost five hard cash. I'm like, Yeah, Welcome to Flip Analysis. That's why I don't do it.

00;30;37;26 - 00;30;51;01
Chris Lalomia
All right, But you did it. You made it through it. But that's one that's a great lesson that you just. You just don't do it. You got to learn. Listen, you actually walk the property even as a passive investor, and you're like, Dude, now I got to figure it out. Now I can do this. And then you couldn't.

00;30;51;08 - 00;30;51;12
Chris Lalomia
How?

00;30;51;21 - 00;30;54;06
Alan Wyatt
Well, so why did you go so big on the first one.

00;30;55;09 - 00;30;57;12
Eric Estevez
Mistake, right? I think I.

00;30;57;12 - 00;30;58;07
Alan Wyatt
Got excited or.

00;30;58;11 - 00;31;17;12
Eric Estevez
We saw I was excited. We thought we got a good deal. We saw the numbers and we were like, we went for the home run, right? Instead of those singles, I was just hitting singles with my friend. And he's all about hitting singles, right? You know, small hot sauce shots, short shots, you know, a little bit of money in each and each flip.

00;31;17;21 - 00;31;35;27
Eric Estevez
And we saw these numbers. Our eyes got all big. And, you know, I brought in a family friend, a family member of mine that wanted to invest. And we just went to big and you know what? That's a big mistake. Stay in your main. I should have stayed in my lane. And, you know, I could have taken some of that money and reinvested it elsewhere.

00;31;35;27 - 00;31;54;07
Eric Estevez
I could have flipped to two or three more houses instead of this big mega house that we have. Right. And, you know, it's and then we wound up having to sell it like we did. Like we were at a point where we kept on holding the property. We were losing money. So so we wound up selling this property, selling it for $780,000.

00;31;54;07 - 00;31;56;15
Eric Estevez
And today is worth 1.5 million.

00;31;57;00 - 00;31;58;00
Alan Wyatt
Maybe you should have held it.

00;31;58;16 - 00;32;05;18
Chris Lalomia
Yeah. So another great question was your cousin was your family member's name Uncle Tony?

00;32;06;22 - 00;32;08;02
Eric Estevez
No, it wasn't Tony.

00;32;08;07 - 00;32;10;09
Alan Wyatt
Okay. That doesn't count as a great question, but nice.

00;32;10;09 - 00;32;11;01
Chris Lalomia
Try, Chris. Right.

00;32;11;09 - 00;32;29;01
Alan Wyatt
So what did your friend I'm assuming your friend had he was going for singles and he was doing multiple ones at the same time. And every once in a while he knew one was going to go upside down, but he was sort of spreading out his risk. And that was a lesson that you didn't pick up just because you weren't that involved, right?

00;32;29;15 - 00;32;29;28
Eric Estevez
Correct.

00;32;31;02 - 00;32;33;09
Chris Lalomia
You're just trying to show off how smart you are.

00;32;33;10 - 00;32;37;07
Eric Estevez
Well, but you're absolutely right, Chris. Right. I think we've got to start small.

00;32;37;11 - 00;32;56;26
Chris Lalomia
Eric, don't do that. It just feeds his ego. I just know he's right. And that's a great point, actually. Oh, my God. Yeah, that's a great point. Okay. You know, you're right, because that's what risk is about. When you're starting your business, you've got to manage your risks for your reward. And we talked about that as we start a business, You see that big shiny object, You go for it.

00;32;57;01 - 00;33;16;12
Chris Lalomia
You're like, Yeah, baby, 780, look at me. I mean, I remember doing my first remodel. Biggest remodeling job we ever did was 84, $80,000. You know how much it cost me? 84, right? I lost $4,000 and the biggest remodeling job we'd ever done. And I was like, That's not going to happen again. Yeah, of course it has. But it's every.

00;33;16;12 - 00;33;27;23
Alan Wyatt
Entrepreneur, though, and I think this is a point to be made, is that they get excited and they think big and they should, but they spend big before they should.

00;33;28;01 - 00;33;44;12
Chris Lalomia
All right. So we're about to talk about the thing that really hit big because we need to do that before we run out of time. But that's the the thing is that we all have this huge optimism about us that we're like, yeah, but look how good I was, right? In Eric's case, I was great at Target. I was the I was the culture leader.

00;33;44;12 - 00;33;58;01
Chris Lalomia
I was the fixer. I went to Wal-Mart. I learned all. And so then I wrote a book, I can do this and we all do it. We all have that. The ego starts to build up. You're like, You know what? I hear you. But you know what? I always listen to self-help books and I'm going to be way better than everybody else on that kick ass.

00;33;58;01 - 00;34;05;18
Alan Wyatt
Baby and his buddies making great money on three or $400,000 houses. How much more can I make on a $700,000 house?

00;34;05;21 - 00;34;18;23
Chris Lalomia
So talk about the big one. We got to get into that because there's a lot to talk about. This one because this one has hit. You've done a great job. So talk about nation lending. Talk about how you got into it and how did you grow this thing to 100 million. That's a big.

00;34;18;23 - 00;34;21;02
Eric Estevez
Well Well, this this so this house.

00;34;21;12 - 00;34;28;24
Chris Lalomia
This limo, Manhattan. Let's go. That's all I have to do is I start at Target and RJ, and then, boom, I'm in a limo.

00;34;29;09 - 00;34;48;13
Eric Estevez
No, not at all. Well, well, well. It was this. This big flip, right? There was this big flip that that caused me to realize because I thought what I did was I was in the middle of doing this property. And and I remember, you know, cashing out of my 41k and I you know what? I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to just be a flipper.

00;34;48;13 - 00;35;10;10
Eric Estevez
Right. And and, you know, the tax implication for the fall and get caught up and kick me in the in the rewrite. But Right, right. So then so that's it But then so I was learning all those things and and I thought I was going to flip homes. Right. And then I got to a point where I was I was thinking about this house and I was thinking about the opportunity.

00;35;10;10 - 00;35;32;19
Eric Estevez
And I was not giving it 100% at my full time job right. I just I, I was I was always thinking about real estate and what am I going to do? And I was excited about that to a point where I wasn't fully myself. Right. And I remember one day my boss, who had a great relationship, came in and I didn't even have this conversation with my wife.

00;35;32;19 - 00;35;45;20
Eric Estevez
And I remember her name is her name was Debra. And I would that up. I think I think I'm going to give my my my, my notice. How much time do you need? I stay as much as you need. As long as you need. I just don't I want to try my something else. He goes, Give me 30 days.

00;35;45;20 - 00;36;01;27
Eric Estevez
I'm like, Done. Right? So I wish you could find somebody else or whatever. So I gave my 30 day notice because I had such a great relationship with everyone. And at that day I came back to my wife and I said, I just I can't do this anymore. I think I think I have another calling. I want to finish this house and I think I'm going to flip houses.

00;36;01;27 - 00;36;18;01
Eric Estevez
Right? And I thought I was going to be flipping houses and making money in real estate that didn't pan out. Right. Because this project I left I left my my job at Walmart Cash Summer for one day I was there. I was okay for a little while, but the money wasn't coming in. And then I was spending more and more money on this property.

00;36;18;01 - 00;36;36;03
Eric Estevez
And then I said to myself, Crap, right? What am I going to do now? Right. I'm very lucky that my father is in the land. My father's a loan originator, right? But my father's was a one man team. He kind of, you know, he he got he always got right got by. In 2008, he started his hand at a brokerage in Florida.

00;36;36;03 - 00;36;56;16
Eric Estevez
And we all know what happened down in in 2008. So he's he's just slowly rebuilding his his his his his business in Jersey. And then I said to him, I'm like, listen, I need to earn. And I go, why don't I just get my license and let's work together? And it's build something. And he was like, this is this is on a Thursday.

00;36;56;28 - 00;37;14;08
Eric Estevez
And he was like, You really? You sure you want to do this? I'm like, I don't know, but I need to do something. And going to, you know, you know, the business. You got to teach me the business. I know how to build teams. I build the teams. This is on a Thursday. That Monday I took my test and the following Wednesday, that Monday I took my course and I follow the ones that took my test.

00;37;14;15 - 00;37;31;29
Eric Estevez
So this was all within a few two weeks that I decided to get into the lender. Well, now here's the thing. I failed my first test. You had to get a 75 to pass and I got to 74. And I remember it was August 11th at the way 30 days. Right. To to do it again. And that.

00;37;31;29 - 00;37;37;06
Chris Lalomia
Sucks. I didn't know that one third of all the failures in the first one, but yeah. Wow. Yep.

00;37;37;06 - 00;37;53;16
Eric Estevez
So I had to wait 30 days. I remember it was September 11th. Obviously that's a significant day, especially in New York. Major. Yeah, when I, when I passed my test and I hit the ground like while I was taking the I was out, I was out meeting people, networking events. And I remember bringing in loans. I wasn't even licensed yet.

00;37;53;17 - 00;38;09;07
Eric Estevez
I don't even know if I'm supposed to say this on this podcast. I was bringing them, I was telling people and I was putting in all my father's names and I said, okay, I can do this. I think I can go out and meet people. And and that's what it was. I started and my first year in sales and I don't know a thing, right?

00;38;09;09 - 00;38;25;10
Eric Estevez
I said to myself, okay, I just want to make six figures because I've been making six figures since I was 24 years old. I just want to break $100,000 in sales my first year and I did it right and it was all math. It was all math. And then I said to myself, okay, I want to triple that next year.

00;38;25;17 - 00;38;52;24
Eric Estevez
And I did that right. So. So it was just all like a formula. What are your goals and how many people I need to talk to? And it was all mathematics Now also, right? Me knowing that I've always been mentored in Target and Walmart and I've done the same. I knew that I needed the same in the mortgage industry and I had my father who who knew how to put a loan together, but I needed to make sure that I got a mentor to help me build the business to where I knew I can build it.

00;38;53;03 - 00;39;08;01
Eric Estevez
And I've paid for coaching since day one, but I wasn't earning anything in this world. But I knew I had to have somebody to guide me and they helped me. I they gave me the formulas and I was out there and then, you know, I met somebody else in the company that we started with.

00;39;08;01 - 00;39;17;08
Alan Wyatt
And quick question, how did you go about finding a coach? I mean, you obviously had a lot of major training. And so how do you find somebody qualified to coach you?

00;39;17;24 - 00;39;35;16
Eric Estevez
Yeah, well, well, first, once you go into the you know, I work for the US workforce more correspondent lender and I said, Hey, I just need you to pay help me pay for my coaching because they believe the me was $400 a month. It was called the Core for great mortgage training program across the country. And I learned some basics there.

00;39;35;16 - 00;39;52;04
Eric Estevez
I did that for a year, but obviously after a year you meet other people, you meet other coaches. And I've been in the same coaching program for the last several years and now that utilize me to coach yesterday I did a training and whether with 30, you know, mortgage originators from across the country where I'm doing a training.

00;39;52;13 - 00;40;10;09
Eric Estevez
So I'm using those same platforms to coach other people as well. And eventually that's going to be part of my repertoire. I want to be able to help and coach originators and also use that as a tactic to recruit and open and open more branches across the country. Because I see myself as a business developer, not necessarily as a loan originator.

00;40;10;09 - 00;40;23;17
Eric Estevez
Right, Right. But after a few years I joined forces and, you know, we were able to do $100 million in sales. And I made the most money that I've ever made in my life. Right. Times are tough right now, Right? Mortgage industry got hit.

00;40;23;29 - 00;40;24;24
Alan Wyatt
It was curious.

00;40;24;24 - 00;40;40;26
Chris Lalomia
All right. So let's talk about that for a minute. So here we are right. Time stamp. I hate to have a podcast, but we're going to timestamp it because the it's 2023, it's relevant and here we go. Right. Interest rates are high. People aren't moving as much very helpful.

00;40;40;26 - 00;40;43;23
Alan Wyatt
They're not historically high. They're just way higher than they were a year ago.

00;40;43;24 - 00;41;06;27
Chris Lalomia
All right. So that's the thing, right? So, Eric, you're a lot younger than us, but, well, you quit looking as funny, All right? But no, my my first house man 6.75. I did a71 by down, and I told my wife, Don't you tell your dad because they remember times were 17% or land contracts. And he said, Don't you ever do one of those exotic things?

00;41;06;27 - 00;41;25;23
Chris Lalomia
And I did a71 by down just to get to six 6.75. And now everybody today is like, well, it's two, two and a half, you know, that I got a mortgage in one house, thank God. And it's at it's 2.75. You're like, No. All right. So you're struggling through this now. How do you sell through this?

00;41;27;05 - 00;41;45;22
Eric Estevez
Yeah. So, you know, luckily, you know, we don't I never lived outside of my means. I think that that's where a lot of people make a mistake. Right? Especially when you come into this business and you make all this money one year, right? It doesn't matter. What you make is what you spend, right? So that's really what matters.

00;41;46;01 - 00;42;11;11
Eric Estevez
So I think I was able to to recoup and save some of the funds that I made and, you know, a couple of years ago. But I also learned how to diversify as well. Right. So, you know, I started another business. I have a virtual assistant company that that kind of grew from this mortgage industry, you know, And I started you know, I manage my daughter, who is a music recording artist.

00;42;11;11 - 00;42;18;11
Eric Estevez
So I have a record company now. Right. And not not much money's coming in more mostly expenditures at this point, but we just our.

00;42;18;11 - 00;42;18;27
Alan Wyatt
Love that.

00;42;19;07 - 00;42;32;12
Eric Estevez
Is so cool. So, so, so so now I'm counting on that. Like, I'm going to I'm going to be one and I'm going to manifest this. I wrote down my vision board. I want to get my daughter a $2 million deal right by the end of this year. And that's what I'm working on. And which you're not.

00;42;32;12 - 00;42;35;06
Chris Lalomia
Going to be that dad, right? The one that we all hear about in the.

00;42;37;02 - 00;42;38;18
Eric Estevez
Now, the Britney Spears that.

00;42;38;27 - 00;42;40;16
Chris Lalomia
Has that. That's right. The Britney Spears one.

00;42;40;23 - 00;42;43;06
Alan Wyatt
Where you said, did you say vision board?

00;42;43;14 - 00;42;43;19
Chris Lalomia
Yes.

00;42;43;25 - 00;42;44;03
Eric Estevez
Yes.

00;42;44;12 - 00;42;45;02
Alan Wyatt
Talk about that.

00;42;45;17 - 00;42;48;02
Chris Lalomia
Yeah. Hit us up with that. Show us the vision where you got it.

00;42;48;21 - 00;42;59;25
Eric Estevez
Yeah, well, I have I have a few things. I have I have this calendar behind me that kind of maps out the year, right? This is called the big ass calendar. So I write my arrivederci.

00;42;59;25 - 00;43;01;09
Chris Lalomia
For from Jesse Sisler.

00;43;01;14 - 00;43;02;08
Eric Estevez
Exactly.

00;43;02;08 - 00;43;03;19
Chris Lalomia
Yeah, man. He's here in Atlanta.

00;43;03;29 - 00;43;20;14
Eric Estevez
Yeah, he's great. So I have my have my vision board on my computer screen. So now, now I have the vision board and I have this goal set right. And I talk about like, you know, ten steps of building a business. And the very first thing is that you have to set goals. You have to be specific, you have to write down numbers.

00;43;20;21 - 00;43;35;23
Eric Estevez
And I do that every year, right? So the thing is that, you know, and I learned that again from my target days, right? Because we have to we talk about what our projections are. We have to look at the numbers every quarter. So corporate help me, you know, transpose that into this business. And at the beginning of this year.

00;43;35;23 - 00;43;58;27
Eric Estevez
Right. I talked about my my what I want my production to be, which I've had to continue to adjust because the mortgage business just continues to not do too well. So then I'm like, okay, well, I wrote down right? My health was my most important thing, right? This year, I'm doubling down. I'm trying to lose weight. I'm trying to go I'm going to the gym because I've always put that like, you know, we talk about life being a wheel, right?

00;43;58;27 - 00;44;06;06
Eric Estevez
And you have to make sure that every spoke of that wheel is healthy, right? Whether it's finances, your health, your marriage, your kids. Right.

00;44;06;06 - 00;44;08;24
Alan Wyatt
So brilliant. Brilliant. Amen. My, my.

00;44;08;24 - 00;44;28;01
Eric Estevez
How was it? I didn't. I didn't I didn't focus on that. And that was one of my number one goals. And I've been hitting my goal so far to this day. And then I wanted to get my daughter to. Molinari Right. And that's where I'm at right now. So the thing is, I'm investing, right? I had to cut back some of my expenditures in the mortgage side of things.

00;44;28;01 - 00;44;31;08
Eric Estevez
I used to have 50 billboards in New Jersey right at one point.

00;44;31;18 - 00;44;32;12
Chris Lalomia
With your face on it.

00;44;33;03 - 00;44;35;10
Eric Estevez
With my face on it, Yeah, I know.

00;44;35;10 - 00;44;48;12
Chris Lalomia
Why? Because we got to know who we're dealing with. And you know what? You guys can't see this on the podcast, but you'll see our YouTube shorts go out and check that out. You'll see his face. You know what you want to buy from the space and see this energy that you're listening to. You want to buy from this guy.

00;44;48;17 - 00;44;56;08
Chris Lalomia
And you know what? Now we want to buy from him because we want to get his girl a deal. Baby, I want to get into recording stars. Let's go.

00;44;56;11 - 00;45;11;15
Eric Estevez
Yeah, you have to. Please. I'm going to drop her Instagram handle, too, at the end because we're actually dropping. We just had our first music video last Sunday was her birthday, and we did a music preview for a family of friends, Well received, and we're going to go ahead and release it on the 4th of May.

00;45;11;15 - 00;45;13;23
Alan Wyatt
Oh, that must have been so much fun shooting that video.

00;45;13;24 - 00;45;14;17
Chris Lalomia
Oh, that's fun.

00;45;14;17 - 00;45;32;19
Eric Estevez
Oh, it was a blast. It was a blast. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So. All right, so now I take I take. I'm investing in this new business where, you know, it's not going. I'm not going to monetize it right away from it, but I believe in it. And as long as we have a plan, just like I had a plan for mortgages, I know that the money is going to come, right?

00;45;32;20 - 00;45;36;11
Eric Estevez
So I have several businesses that I'm focusing on right now, not just mortgages I like.

00;45;36;17 - 00;45;52;15
Chris Lalomia
So two things I want everybody to pick up on. Number one, don't live outside your means. So we started a business and we joke about this all the time on my podcast about how many times I go on vacation. I do all this great stuff. There's 14 years in the making, bro. Right in the beginning. Don't live outside your means.

00;45;53;01 - 00;46;08;09
Chris Lalomia
You got to make sure that's happening, but you've got to take care of yourself. That whole love the wheel thing that he just talked about. Yeah, I haven't thought about it like that, but, you know, people talk about it all the time. It seems very trite, especially when you're first starting your business, you know? Hey, get it. Take your your health, take your.

00;46;08;18 - 00;46;13;21
Chris Lalomia
But listen, bro, if you're not around next year or tomorrow, you can't make your business grow.

00;46;13;22 - 00;46;18;24
Alan Wyatt
Well, we had a guy on a podcast who I mean, he had a tackle heart attack or something right in the middle of.

00;46;19;06 - 00;46;34;08
Chris Lalomia
All this business. Yeah. Hit it. Literally had an attack in the middle of his business. He had a car. Business falls on the ground. They had to take him to the hospital and he wasn't around for a month. Yeah. And so from that he changed his life. Don't make that happen to you. Listen, that. That's a true story.

00;46;34;08 - 00;46;52;09
Chris Lalomia
That's why we're doing this podcast. Because, number one, it's hard to run a business mean it is hard to make that leap, but it's so satisfying I mean, it says it scratches so many itches for me. I know it does for Alan and you can tell it scratch and that it's for Eric because of what's going on, because he's so energized, man, he can't figure out that.

00;46;52;23 - 00;47;00;05
Chris Lalomia
But we're coming to the end of the podcast. We guys are wrapping this stuff up and I hate to do this because man, I'm just so jacked. We got him out of his limo.

00;47;00;12 - 00;47;00;21
Alan Wyatt
Now.

00;47;00;29 - 00;47;07;07
Chris Lalomia
All right, We're going to go with one more question. More question. And because you got to hurry up and get out because probably get go jet set and see J-Lo or, you know.

00;47;08;00 - 00;47;28;11
Alan Wyatt
He's got dinner with the mayor. I'm sure. So what you talked about, because our original question was, you know, the mortgage rates are up. It's going to be tough on this hundred million dollar business. And you talk about how you've pivoted personally, but you're a great leader. We can tell that. What are you saying to your employees in the mortgage business?

00;47;29;16 - 00;47;50;25
Eric Estevez
Yeah. So a great question. I think right now it's about it's about continuing with the activity's right. The dollar amounts aren't going to come in, but there's a lot of people that are following through and doing other things because they have to. So my team is focused on making sure that we measure our results on the activities, not necessarily the dollar amount right now.

00;47;50;25 - 00;48;12;04
Eric Estevez
Right. So what how you prospecting, where are you spending your time? Are you going out a couple of times a week? Are you going to open houses? All those activities that we've always done, we have to continue doing them right. So is about consistency because we're going to take the market share. Even though the volume has dropped drastically, there's going to also be a lot of less loan originators down the road.

00;48;12;04 - 00;48;30;19
Eric Estevez
Right? So the fact is that we're going to go ahead and take that market share. And you know what, guys? We're not too far from it. Inflation number came down at 5.6 last week. Right. Mortgage interest rates follow inflation. Right. So as inflation, because of these high interest rates where we're at. Right. It slows the economy down. So we may see.

00;48;30;19 - 00;48;52;24
Eric Estevez
And Barry Habib, you probably heard of him, right? NBS Highway, right. We might see mortgage rates in the fives again, Right. June, July and know what once we're in the consistently in the fives we talk about inventory and that's one of the big issues and we could talk about for our inventory and how we got here. But there's inventory is an issue and we're in a lockout where the sellers don't want to sell.

00;48;52;24 - 00;49;09;17
Eric Estevez
Why are they going to go from a 3% mortgage to a 7% mortgage? It doesn't make any sense. However, if we're in the fires and you talk about the seven one Biden rate, if we're in the five, then you could buy down and you could get in the fourth. That rate from 3 to 4, maybe a little bit easier to swallow, right, that pill.

00;49;09;23 - 00;49;25;25
Eric Estevez
And now you're upgrading the quality of your life because we're still equity rich. We have a lot of equity in our houses. It just doesn't make any sense because of the rate. So I think once we are settling in the fives, you start seeing some more Casale refinances because he lots are getting expensive, right? Do you know the average car?

00;49;26;08 - 00;49;28;16
Eric Estevez
No. Is $800 right now in the country.

00;49;28;18 - 00;49;30;18
Chris Lalomia
Oh my God, no. I did not know that number.

00;49;30;19 - 00;49;48;12
Eric Estevez
That the average the credit card interest rate right now at 20% compared to 14%. So now people are going to say, you know what, it may make sense for me to do some refinance so I can improve the quality of my life. So we're going to start seeing better movements. Right. And I just want my team stay the course they got.

00;49;48;14 - 00;49;55;07
Eric Estevez
We got to do what we have to do right now. Cut your expenses. Right. But if you stay the course and continue with the activities, you're going to end up winning.

00;49;55;20 - 00;49;56;02
Alan Wyatt
Nice.

00;49;56;02 - 00;50;16;21
Chris Lalomia
I love it. He's broke on that. That's so funny, right? The 800 bucks. I know that here in Atlanta, the average rent right now is 2000 and the average mortgage was two. And now it's creeping up. And that's why people are staying in their place. But I can't see that enough and live within your means. I mean, doing what I'm doing today, I could not do at 23.

00;50;16;21 - 00;50;27;16
Chris Lalomia
Well, you know, I can become an Instagram influencer. I can become this. And you know what? Oh, man, you're 53. I can do this shit at 23. You know what? That's the same shit I said to my dad.

00;50;27;29 - 00;50;33;13
Alan Wyatt
It's maybe on one of your next vacations because he takes about 15 a year. You should think about living with Chris.

00;50;33;20 - 00;50;39;06
Chris Lalomia
I should. Yeah, but it's. It's not going to happen. I can't even tell you what it's just about, But I'm just.

00;50;39;07 - 00;50;40;24
Eric Estevez
I'm free agents.

00;50;41;07 - 00;50;56;16
Chris Lalomia
Yeah, No, I. It's been good. All right, man. We haven't totally enjoyed this thing, and we have. We've got to let you take a time. Let's plug a few things in. So let's get it on the show notes. Let's get it in there. Plug what you want to plug. And then I got to ask you, my famous for questions.

00;50;56;16 - 00;50;58;07
Chris Lalomia
Now there are four questions.

00;50;58;09 - 00;50;59;25
Alan Wyatt
Because he let he let me have one.

00;51;00;04 - 00;51;02;20
Chris Lalomia
Let him have one. All right. So what you want to plug? Let's hit it.

00;51;03;20 - 00;51;24;22
Eric Estevez
Yeah, just follow me on Instagram. The Eric Estevez e r i c sc easy. And there you have a link tree to all my other links and sites and and follow my daughter. I guess I'll follow up and listen to her. She has seven singles on Spotify on all platforms. Angeles is Angel y, S.C. Mariah like Mariah Carey, follow her and take her music up.

00;51;25;18 - 00;51;45;16
Chris Lalomia
Check it out. Go figure it out. I actually follow Eric on Instagram and I really enjoy his follow because on Instagram, what catches your eye? It's not a guy like me. You need to live within your means. You need to work hard. Nobody looks at an old white guy like me. They watch Eric and his rock and videos, man, because they're fun.

00;51;45;16 - 00;51;58;20
Chris Lalomia
And that's what I try to do with our Instagram to keep it up. So let's keep doing that. The Small Business Safari make it happen. But now when jump in to our four questions. Number one, Eric, give us a book that you would recommend to everybody out there so businesses all grow.

00;51;59;10 - 00;52;19;01
Eric Estevez
You know what I'm going to mention, right? Hold on. I'm going to pull it up right now with Title. And I just and I just referenced the book The Wheel of Life Spot, which is a Zig Ziglar book I think is Born to Win. Born to Win is an amazing Zig Ziglar is one of the greatest of all time race or to Win is a great book.

00;52;19;01 - 00;52;23;09
Eric Estevez
And I reread it and I got a lot of great things that I talk about, especially in these kinds of podcast. From it.

00;52;23;25 - 00;52;35;15
Chris Lalomia
Nice. He also referenced the Franklin Covey concept. I put this in my book. You know, I came out of college. I would thought I was a hotshot, too, and I was like, totally smarter than everybody else.

00;52;35;20 - 00;52;36;29
Alan Wyatt
And that that's gone away.

00;52;37;03 - 00;52;59;28
Chris Lalomia
Not yet, but it will soon. No, never. But I had my boss, who I didn't really respect at the time, looked at me and said, Chris, we can all tell that you have way more going on than us. He said, But you have no discipline. You do not know how to plan your day. I recommend you read the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and I read it.

00;53;00;14 - 00;53;16;12
Chris Lalomia
I bought in the same thing. I went, Franklin Covey, just like you, until they stop making the sheets. And I went, But I still to this day you can't see it. But I still use a notebook because I'm a writer. I have to write down what I'm doing it, journaling everything else, I do it.

00;53;16;12 - 00;53;17;13
Alan Wyatt
What's your daughter's name again?

00;53;18;06 - 00;53;32;27
Eric Estevez
Angie. Lisa's angel. Why? You see Mariah like Mariah Carey? It's I'm. I'm the same way I use right now. I use the best of that. The best the best self journal. That's what I use for my every day.

00;53;33;14 - 00;53;49;14
Chris Lalomia
Nice. And we're going to head and tag Jesse Sizzler in that big book the big the big calendar that he talks about because I follow him on Instagram too. He's a great follower. Now he is way more in shape than I am. You know, I'm like you. I'm trying to get back in shape and do the whole thing, but I want to have him on the podcast.

00;53;49;14 - 00;54;07;04
Chris Lalomia
But I'd be embarrassed because I want to drink bourbon. I talk to him and he's not going to dig that, but we're going to definitely tag your daughter, do all that stuff. All right. Number two, question after Ellen Stone. Listen to her music. We'll listen to that despite the microphone. What's going to happen, man? That's awesome. Because you know what?

00;54;08;09 - 00;54;18;05
Chris Lalomia
We would do anything for our kids and you're doing anything for your kid and we're going to pump that shit out there, man. We're going to pump it up, even look at us. We're going to be two white guys making it happen for your daughter.

00;54;18;26 - 00;54;20;14
Alan Wyatt
Just don't make me tick. Tock, Chris, please.

00;54;20;23 - 00;54;27;02
Chris Lalomia
Yeah, I'm going to make you tick. Tock. That's all right. All right, let's go. All right. The number two question is, what's the favorite feature of your house?

00;54;28;26 - 00;54;33;05
Eric Estevez
My favorite feature of my house. I have a bar.

00;54;35;25 - 00;54;42;05
Chris Lalomia
No explanation necessary as I'm drinking. Perhaps a bourbon or perhaps a water. I don't know.

00;54;42;26 - 00;54;46;21
Alan Wyatt
But I imagine that's bar he's got his Jerry Rice uniform behind him.

00;54;47;03 - 00;54;49;18
Chris Lalomia
Yeah. All right. So what's your favorite drink in that bar?

00;54;51;00 - 00;54;59;06
Eric Estevez
You know what I like? Whiskey, Scotch. I like cognac right now. What? What, what? What am I Drink on the balvenie.

00;54;59;22 - 00;55;02;17
Chris Lalomia
Oh, nice. Nice pour. Oh, that's a big one.

00;55;02;28 - 00;55;03;10
Eric Estevez
Yeah.

00;55;03;12 - 00;55;07;23
Chris Lalomia
Back in the day, that was a big. Yeah. So. Yeah, we're. Well, I drink everything across the bar.

00;55;08;03 - 00;55;14;12
Eric Estevez
That's what, that's what I'm currently drinking. And now the weather's getting nicer in Jersey. I can smoke a cigar with it every once in a while.

00;55;14;12 - 00;55;19;11
Chris Lalomia
Oh, nice. All right, Number two, what's a customer service pet peeve of yours?

00;55;20;10 - 00;55;22;13
Alan Wyatt
And this is when you're the customer.

00;55;23;29 - 00;55;29;04
Eric Estevez
When I'm a customer. Hmm. Great question. Not to think about that one seat.

00;55;29;04 - 00;55;30;03
Chris Lalomia
That's why I leave it in there.

00;55;30;25 - 00;55;31;16
Eric Estevez
Yeah. Thank you.

00;55;32;19 - 00;55;34;01
Chris Lalomia
Ellen hates it, but I love it.

00;55;34;01 - 00;55;35;01
Alan Wyatt
Oh, come on.

00;55;35;02 - 00;55;36;10
Chris Lalomia
He has given me such.

00;55;36;10 - 00;55;37;05
Alan Wyatt
A glory whore.

00;55;37;08 - 00;55;38;05
Chris Lalomia
I know. You know.

00;55;38;11 - 00;55;56;17
Eric Estevez
You know what I think? I think when I'm a customer, right? I start with a smile for me. Right? You know, when. When I'm dealing with someone of the person just seem like they don't want to be there, right? Or they don't want to help anyone. Like it's already starting off on the wrong foot. I really enjoy when people smile, right?

00;55;56;17 - 00;56;13;17
Eric Estevez
And I'm able to actually when they smile is soft is me, is a problem and they're smiling. And even with through the phone, you can see if somebody can hear somebody smile through the phone. So I think that that's a pet peeve of mine because now I think the conversation goes a lot better when somebody says, Hey, here, I'm here to help buy the body.

00;56;13;17 - 00;56;30;22
Chris Lalomia
We have often talked about Turkey and Walmart and the difference between when you walk in there and Target, people are looking for you to help. And Wal-Mart, I literally somebody duck me, you know like literally try to run away from me. It was because they had I had that look like I don't know what I need. And I looked at her and she walked away.

00;56;30;22 - 00;56;50;27
Chris Lalomia
I'm like, Oh my God, yeah, why am I here? And so we've talked about this over time, and I know that's going back to your corporate days, but in small businessmen, every interaction matters. And you've got to make this happen. I don't care if it's you, but you, the people you put in your front lines. And I have four people in my call center and they're all in my company, in my office.

00;56;51;10 - 00;56;56;19
Chris Lalomia
And I say the same thing. I'm like, Clear your head. Dress shoes. That call comes in. Smile.

00;56;56;22 - 00;56;56;29
Eric Estevez
Yeah.

00;56;57;23 - 00;57;16;11
Chris Lalomia
Thank you for choosing the trusted toolbox. We didn't say thank you for calling. We say thank you for choosing the big one, right? Yeah. I didn't bring it up. That wasn't my idea. Actually, Coach gave me that, but so. But that's a good one. All right, Number three for wear. Man, I don't even know you're.

00;57;16;17 - 00;57;17;07
Alan Wyatt
You're on three.

00;57;17;07 - 00;57;42;11
Chris Lalomia
I went to my best one in that is give us a DIY nightmare story. I've been doing remodeling now for 15 years for this. For someone you don't want. Ellen, who's one? The think it's one, B three for four. All right, give us a DIY. I don't want to hear about a contractor screws something up because it's more fun when you screw something up and flood the house.

00;57;42;26 - 00;57;55;22
Chris Lalomia
Burned on the house, burn your wife's eyebrows off bodily injury. Hypothetically, of course, just hypothetically. I did not do that. Okay. Okay. Again, back to the yanking. Can't do the background check.

00;57;57;15 - 00;58;16;03
Eric Estevez
Yeah, I try to handle the chandelier on my own. I didn't go to hell, which is you drop it. So they didn't drop it, right? I didn't drop it. But I was also trying to put what do you call those decorative the decorative circle that goes right. Me like.

00;58;16;04 - 00;58;16;29
Chris Lalomia
Dalliance, we call.

00;58;17;00 - 00;58;20;00
Eric Estevez
Them the exact. Exactly. Exactly.

00;58;20;09 - 00;58;21;19
Chris Lalomia
Was that two no at all? No.

00;58;22;26 - 00;58;25;02
Alan Wyatt
That's exactly what you're an expert, Chris, I.

00;58;25;15 - 00;58;40;02
Eric Estevez
I remember putting those and I remember trying to to to fit the the wires through the hole. I remember doing that. And I remember breaking, breaking it. So I had to get another one from Home Depot. And that one.

00;58;40;02 - 00;58;43;25
Alan Wyatt
Which Serif listeners could see is and motions right now, because these are.

00;58;44;01 - 00;58;45;02
Chris Lalomia
They're up they're the ones I.

00;58;45;02 - 00;59;03;10
Eric Estevez
Ran. I remember I remember watching a YouTube channel, right. Because I was like, you know what? I'm going to score this. And I remember doing the wiring right with the electricity. And it just it just didn't come out right. It was it was hanging too low. So at that point, I just I just called my father in auto can't give me a hand because he's a contractor.

00;59;04;02 - 00;59;21;08
Chris Lalomia
And that's what we do because it's easier to fire me, her father in law down. If you're not watching this on YouTube and not seeing what we're doing. If you look behind me, you'll see an opening. In an opening, I'm the one who did that opening. And I will tell you in my opening, one of my DIY nightmare stories is I demoed everything.

00;59;21;08 - 00;59;41;25
Chris Lalomia
I dropped a board, I stepped down. I'm trying to put up two little beams by myself to support this opening, and I step right on a nail. It goes right through my foot. I have a million of them, bro, and look at these hands. These hands. I got all ten, but all ten have got a lot of nails through them and those fingers are going everywhere.

00;59;42;08 - 01;00;04;06
Chris Lalomia
So if you want to know the war stories of working in your own house, give me a call. I'll give you a ton of them. But small business venture team, listen to this. Eric has bring bringing the fire, bringing the heat break. It happened obviously he went from one life. Now he's in his second life. Now he is definitely making it happen and providing for his kids.

01;00;04;14 - 01;00;10;29
Chris Lalomia
That's the kind of life you want to leave. That's the legacy you want to leave. Keep going up that mountain top success and we will see you next time.

01;00;11;03 - 01;00;11;21
Alan Wyatt
Cheers.