Systems Beat Hustle, Always

Freedom isn’t a finish line—it’s a set of daily choices backed by systems, stewardship, and courage.

In this episode, we sit down with a first-generation American who went from writing code to buying city blocks—proving you don’t need a rich uncle to build generational wealth. We talk through the real playbook: stacking “boring” buy-and-holds, timing refinances like clockwork, and using hard money and DSCR loans as fuel—not crutches. No hype. Just the honest math, the messy parts, and the moves that keep the flywheel turning.

We get practical about bandwidth (people, process, materials), why consistency beats cleverness (same paint, same floors, fewer decisions), and how an abundance mindset changes everything—paying wholesalers with a smile, hiring great crews, and teaching others to do the same. You’ll also hear how faith, marriage, and fatherhood shape our definition of freedom: owning our time, traveling with purpose, and creating options for the next generation.

📌 Key Topics:
 ✅ Choosing buy-and-hold over flashy flips—and why the numbers win
 ✅ Hard money + DSCR loans: how we structure, sequence, and sleep at night
 ✅ Systems that scale: timelines, materials, and keeping crews moving
 ✅ Action > information: the 10% who execute and how to become one of them
 ✅ Serving the community: Hispanic REI meetups, bilingual advantage, paying it forward
 ✅ Freedom defined: time, travel, and values—without checking the price tag
 ✅ Simple rule of thumb: “Buy one a year” as a lifetime wealth plan

If this episode helps you think clearer and act bolder, follow the show, leave a quick review, and share it with someone who needs a nudge to take their first step.

One prompt to take with you: What’s the smallest move you’ll make this week that your future self will call “the turning point”?

Transcript

Jose, appreciate it. Welcome. I get to fly solo without Tanner today, but I wanted to bring you on. You've done a lot in real estate, grown your own business. You help out the community, community, and give back to them. So I you're a good person to bring on, talk about freedom and how you help other people achieve freedom.

you don't mind just kind of start off in your South Omaha roots and how you got here to where you are. Yeah, for sure. ⁓ So quick background on ⁓ me as a little Jose, right? ⁓ So I was born in California. I was raised in Sinaloa, Mexico, in the Pacific of Mexico. And I was there till 12. Right. So

Spanish was my first language. would come over here during the summer. My dad was a truck driver back then. So it was fun to come in the summer and then just spend a month on the truck. was eating sandwiches probably like every day. It was a fun time just seeing all the different states, right? And then eventually when it got to a point where I was gonna start middle school.

⁓ well, not, technically when I was 12, ⁓ that's when they decided to, to bring me over small town of Beamer, Nebraska, 800 people. ⁓ so why there? ⁓ so, ⁓ my dad and my uncle were living in California when they told me they were, that we were coming to move to the U S I thought California, it's going to be great, you know? But then, ⁓ they started working for Warner enterprises, which is headquartered here in Omaha, right?

Uh, but they didn't like Omaha because it was just too big. They're from small town, Sinaloa. Uh, and they lived in California and it was just too hectic, right? So, um, they went to Beamer, Nebraska. Uh, there was another couple of people, uh, in Beamer from Sinaloa. So that's also how they, they arrived in, in Beamer. And we were there for, for a while. I graduated from West Point, um, in 2007, went to Wayne State.

And then transferred over to UNO where me and my wife, we've been through the whole journey together in high school. actually met her that day where they closed the high school in Beamer and then they merged them with West Point. So I met her in West Point. That's where she's from. Well, she's from Mexico too, yeah, it's UNO. I graduated, became a software engineer. I did that for a while.

So I used to work for a contract of the permanent defense contractor. So I would go into base, but, ⁓ quite a few times, ⁓ just to deploy software and stuff like that. Right. ⁓ and that was, that was super interesting to see, to see that side of things. Right. ⁓ from there, ⁓ I had a 30 minute drive, right from home to, ⁓ Bellevue. And I started listening to bigger pockets. ⁓ and that's how.

I got into real estate. Where are you living then? you? I've been in, well, here in Omaha and West Omaha. So, um, ever since we came to college in 2009 to, know, uh, you've been out West the whole time. Yeah. Yeah. I've been out there for, awhile. And yeah, I mean, I just took advantage of those 30 minutes there and 30 minutes back. would listen to a podcast episode every, every day. So this, this is truly beneficial, right?

Yeah, it's, uh, I don't think people realize drive time, how much you can learn in that period of time. Yeah. Yeah. And don't get me wrong. You know, I put some music here and there, then sometimes you just get overwhelmed with a lot of information, right? You need a little bit of music here and there, but I just took advantage of that stuff. And I was doing, um, software, you know, from eight to five or six. And then I started doing real estate from six to midnight, six to one.

And I did that for probably like three years, two years. And you find bigger pockets. So, ⁓ the group that I was in and software, they were super big into professional development, super big. And I was a scrum master back then. It's kind of like you lead a group of engineers. ⁓ and we were kind of like in competition with other groups and, and, and, and I work right.

So whoever read the most books, participated in the most volunteer activities type of stuff would win. And you get to keep like a little trophy in your desk for, you know, a month type of thing. So, ⁓ I started listening to a whole bunch of books and then I got to the four hour work week. Like how, how do people actually make that work? Four hours a week working? That's, that's freedom. Right. and then from there, like that's what triggered the light bulb.

the four-hour work week is like, has to be something, there has to be different revenue streams that I can take a look at, right? I thought about doing like Amazon, like different things and what is it called? Dropshipping type of stuff. And I'm like, I really don't like that. I, I feel a little bit more comfortable with real estate because it was tangible. I had control of it, right? Like I had control of the asset and the value add ⁓ scenario where you're able to like just

Through work, increase the value of an asset and then the bank pays you back. And I felt like if I could make that work, that's, that would be, you know, ⁓ truly what I would want to focus on. Cause I didn't see any ceiling with it, right? In software, ⁓ you clamp the ladder, but the only way to make it big is to like put an app out there or develop something ingenious or, know, there's no thing. ⁓ and that's.

Which pretty much had to pivot to business owner at that point in time. Right, right, right. And you have it. In W2 there's no... You always had some kind of ceiling. Yeah, you do. You do. And here in Omaha, in the Department of Defense, like, it's not that big, you know. You have off it, but to get to the top, top, top, you have to be Washington, D.C., Virginia, some of those areas where heavy into that kind of stuff.

So that's, that's why I transitioned over to real estate. figured like I can, I can make this work. It's interesting. You didn't say rich dad, poor dad. And I didn't know this before you said it, but for our work week was the first book I actually read as well. kind of made the switch for me. And you're the only other person I've ever met that said that book is normally they're like, don't read that book until you've been in the business a little while. I didn't know that when I picked it up, it was just how I found it. But,

That was the first book I read that kind of started me on my journey. So there you go. Yeah. I'm glad it made it for you too. Cause, for me, just the title itself, you know, like that just raise it down into freedom. So I'm like, how can I get to that point? Or, ⁓ if I can have my job and then work those four hours in something else and make it work, then that's great. But then it just turned into this other thing where you just kept evolving. So you were working.

8 hours a day and then working 6 hours at night. Yeah. How was that on your personal life? was it the stress you out? Did you, were you, did you feel free at that time or were you like, I'm just gonna pull my head down and suck it up and go? That's pretty much it. For me, I was like, I know this will work. Like I know, I've seen other people do it, right? And at that point I was attending the local meetups as well. So I seen these guys doing it too, right? I saw their growth.

I mean, everybody, not everybody, but at some point, like most of the people that I know were swinging the hammer at the start and then eventually they got to where they're at. Right. So luckily for me and for my family at that point, like we didn't have any babies, but my wife has started her masters. So she was pretty busy. She was, she's the kind of person that would want to go to the library and just study at the library. So it would work out for us, right? Like we'd be getting home around the same time.

And it wasn't feeling like I was giving up something to do this, right? It was like we were both working on something that we wanted to do. So she was working on her masters and you'd be working on a real estate side by side. So yeah, we're still together just working on two different things, but still spending time together. Right. Right. Right. And, and we are like avid travelers. So we, we try to put something on the calendar and like, Hey, we're going to travel to this place. And that helps out a lot, you know, cause you see, okay, I'm not just work.

And I push as hard as I can to get to the point where, where, know, on a plane traveling to a beach from this nation, that stuff. Do you tie like business, uh, goals or, know, maybe a revenue goal or if I flip somebody houses or whatever to a trip or do you just schedule them? I just scheduled them. I just scheduled them. mean, I, I, I don't try to be like, um, once I sell this, I can go on that because,

You know, real estate like too much pressure. It does. It does. It puts too much pressure and something some most of the time things don't pan out how you expect them to be. Right. Like refinances take sometimes a little bit longer. Houses stay on the market a little bit longer. So I just try to aim for that and then just push to get, you know, either a flip done at the end or before leaving on a trip. I just.

I just scheduled them. When'd you start in real estate? 2018. You started a good time with the run up. I did. you've been through the run up and now the run down. The cycle. These changed a little bit. When'd you leave your job? 2021. And I wasn't in the Department of Defense side the whole time. I switched over to the commercial side of things.

⁓ I started doing, ⁓ software for Proxybait, which is like an auction company. And then I, then I became a consultant, ⁓ software engineer consultant. ⁓ and the thing is because during COVID, like, ⁓ we, it was, it was actually kind of funny how it happened. Like we went on a three month trip to Mexico and I was working remotely, ⁓ doing both, ⁓ real things. During COVID when it shut down? Yeah. Yeah. Well.

It was before, it was like right in it. We left in January and everything shut down in March, right? So we were supposed to be there till like April. And then I got a friend that called me and he used to work for American Airlines and he's like, hey, things are shutting down. You should come back home. And that's when we booked the trip back. But right before we came back, like ⁓ we got let go from Proxy Bed because it was bought out from a company in England or something like that.

And I'm like, ⁓ shoot, like COVID is here. I got let go. ⁓ How does this look like, you know? Luckily, like I put out my resume and I got hired by April. So it was a nice little break there, but yeah, it was crazy. It was also a little bit weird, right, with real estate. Like people were in limbo. Is this gonna go up? Is this gonna go down? And people would have never predicted.

What happened? Did you think about getting out initially whenever it first started? Just like, I'm just gonna, you're still flipping at the time. I assume right now where you are now, but you're flipping one too. Yeah. I, I never really thought about leaving it because I've, my, from my mentality was always like buying gold and hold like generational wealth. Right. ⁓ I do flips here and there just because they make sense to keep the transactional money and coming in and out, you know?

but I've always been a buying hold. You've been buying hold from the beginning? Okay. I just start off more flipping and then transition. No, no. You just flipped a hold. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I basically get paid on the refinances. That's, that's why I never really thought about leaving it during COVID because I'm like, it pays for itself right now. I don't have to worry about it. People stealing a roof over their head during COVID, right? So I feel pretty comfortable just.

pushing forward. We actually had a curfew here at, you know, until like eight or something or 10 here in Omaha. Like you couldn't be out and about on downtown and stuff like that, right? So I was working on a property and you hear like the helicopters and stuff like that because of all the riots and stuff like that going on as well during that time. So yeah, it was, I was fixing up a house. I was doing the flooring and stuff like that.

I just had home ⁓ at night because I was laid off at that point. I had more time. So did you start off doing a lot of the work from 18 to 21 or so? ⁓ So I did not necessarily a lot, but the easy things, Like flooring and that's what I did flooring paint. had my wife paint with me at some point. We were actually just cleaning up the basement and she's like, ⁓ this is my paint.

how they, we don't need that no more. Luckily, but yeah, I did a lot of the easy things just to be able to put in, know, sweat equity into these properties. I'm assuming being Hispanic was easier for you to find contractors as a lot of them here in Omaha or I'm sure most other places. Did that benefit you? It did. know, speak Spanish and being bilingual and helping them.

the, know it's one of my struggles have always been like people that the communication has never been completely perfect. Yeah. And, like, ⁓ I mean, I thought you were gonna do this or what? After you said this type thing, so, well, yeah, it works out at the end, I think. Yeah. Yeah, it does. And it helps out quite a bit. Like most of the people that have been helping me throughout this whole, ⁓ part of it and have been.

Hispanic and Spanish speaking. it does help tremendously to be able to speak the language and then be able to explain what you want. That makes a huge difference. But you know, we try to keep things simple, right? Like the same paint color, the same flooring, the same fixtures. Try to not complicate things, right? Keep it simple, stupid. So do you do that even with flips or do you get a little more fancy with flips? First year, buy and hold.

That's a good question. We do change it up a bit, but I have a list of things for like rentals and things for flips, right? You know, we go higher end faucets, higher end fixture light fixtures and stuff like that. Even the tiles, sometimes I do go into the store, floor and the core and then just pick out, you know, like this is what I would want for something like that. But even for flips, we do try to keep it as well, like the same stuff that we use.

for makes it simple. does. I, uh, my neighbor just got his first investment property and so I was walking with on the wall back and I'm like, Oh, his wife and we're gonna do this and we do that. like, we are keeping this as a rental. And like, yeah, I was like, don't do any of that. Like just, you know, they had those older, so they had the nice cap, like solid old cabinets and all that stuff. Like, Oh Jesus, I don't like, listen, these cabinets are way better than what you're going to buy. I just

paint them, know, reface them, whatever you want to do, but don't, don't go changing everything. So it'll save you a ton of money and renders don't typically care. They might be there for a year or two and then move on. So. Yeah. Yeah. We try to not overcomplicate things, right? Like sometimes the guys call me and they're like, Hey, this and this and this and that. And I'm like, so what would you prefer to do? Like what's the easiest solution that you think will last the longest?

They're like, well, we'll do that. They just want that reassurance sometimes. But yeah, it's just keeping it simple. think that helps out a lot. Like even like the shirts, right? I just bought like 10 shirts. I don't have to think about what I'm going to wear every day. I pretty much, it's funny when I started podcasting, it was like, you should change your shirt in between. I'm like, I wear black shirts every day. I don't even want to think about it.

It's a great point. it's just, make enough decisions throughout the day. I don't want to make another decision on what I need to wear. I have the same blue jeans, the same shirts. So yeah, it makes, it makes life a lot simpler. does man. When you don't have to really, ⁓ like I said, just make a decision on the simple things. Like you have more brain power for the other stuff, right? For the complicated things. Yeah, it's definitely that. So you went from flipping these onesy twosies. ⁓

buying whole onesie, know, onesie twosies to now buying the entire blocks. So that was a big transition. I mean, since you quit your job in three, four years, I mean, how many of you, you had a whole block that you did six months ago or whatever it was. Did you get a second one since then? Yeah, we've been, we've been buying portfolios. Luckily, like people have trusted me with those big decisions. You know, it's like one.

when people decide to sell, when that's not just one, it's 10, 12, like being able to actually come through and execute. It's, it's big, right? Not a lot of people can do that. ⁓ I found out, like I pushed myself, I didn't even know I could do that. Right. So I pushed myself to get there. And when the first one happened, it's, was like 16 properties and then nine and then 20. And then it's been, it's been.

Exponential growth this this last 12 months have been just crazy so I mean that's going from a flipper by a whole person to an actual business like when you're talking about doing that on scale like you have to have systems processes people all that stuff Has that been the hardest part for you? Systematized and I know when you first stepped out on your own we were talking about like

just picking up materials, like you're running around, picking up materials and make sure the guys each and every day and just building systems out. Has that transition kind of been the hardest? It has been because of the, just figuring out ⁓ project timelines, ⁓ the refinance processes. It's just like a snowball, right? Like you have to be able to keep on feeding it or else it just cuts off, right?

⁓ so the, the timing of things is, is pretty, ⁓ imperative that you get that stuff down, right? ⁓ because if you run out of money in the middle of basically, if you're in the middle of 20 properties and you run out of money in the middle of 20, then you're kind of screwed, right? So it's the timing phase of it too. Like, ⁓ I was able to, ⁓ essentially work out some terms where

for the trending property, like we closed on 10 and then we closed on 10 a month later, right? So that gave me a little bit of buffer room to be able to finish, let's say four, start the refinance process and get money back out in three months later, right? But hard money has been imperative as well. I was just gonna ask her, is that how you're taking on these larger portfolios is with hard money? Yeah.

Yeah. And that's expensive, man. I was about to say, is that nerve wreck? we'll just pretend, I don't know exactly what each home price is, but you're talking about taking off hard money on a million dollars. So you buy 10 houses or a hundred thousand dollars a house. Yeah. And then you still have to pay for renovations. Right. So now you're making several numbers. You're buying it for a hundred thousand, you're putting 50,000 in and refinancing it for 200 to get all your money out. That's going to be pretty...

Especially your first time a little nerve-wracking. would think that's a million dollar loan at 20 % interest, know, give or take whatever you're paying. That's a lot of that's a big payment every month. It is man. It is. came when it came time to for that payment to come out. I was like, I was like, oh man, this is gonna hurt. And like I said, it's all about timing, right? Like not all of the properties were empty, vacant, right? So

We served non renewals on like five and we were all month to month. Yeah, that that's the other thing that that made it work out. And luckily, like even the previous landlord, that was a that's actually something that we added to our lease. He had in there that if I sold the properties, the new owner could essentially serve a non renewal notice on that kind of stuff. Right. So we we did take that clause and add it to our leases because it helped us quite a bit. So we would.

sent out renewals on five, we've worked on those five, out renewals on the next five, worked on those. So I wasn't completely like out of pocket, 20, 30K coming out of my bank now for the hard money, right? So it's a lot about timing and like ⁓ putting the pieces together so where they don't just all crumble. As my wife always asks me, like, what do you like about this? She likes puzzles. I'm like, this is my puzzle. Like business is a puzzle. How do you...

fit all these pieces, like all this doesn't quite fit there. Like you can be jamming in or you, you know, you can find the right piece or whatever, it's, that's what it is. It's a big puzzle. do you, how do I take these 10, work on five, work on the next five, refinance these and keep building. It's very interesting. Yeah. And the people around you, man, like I couldn't have done anything like that if I didn't have the right people, like the, the, ⁓

Financial broker type of stuff right that would help me and find the DSCR loans those DSCR loans have been truly helpful, you know because ⁓ Banks right now ⁓ or a year ago weren't so happy or thrilled to be landing ⁓ On real estate, know, like you would see 80 % LTV and now it's rare to see that 8 % LTV, right? So a lot of banks locally are tightening their belts. They don't want to lend out that much ⁓

So the DSCR, if it makes sense for them, they just move and push forward. ⁓ I did one initially and that was very painful and that was somebody else. And I thought it was going to be like super quick, right? Because they don't take a look at your taxes. They don't take a look at anything like that. Right. But these people were asking for like receipts of every single little thing. I literally like sent in like 300 documents to be able to get a DSCR loan. But then I'm like, they can all be this painful. You know, there has to be other.

solutions out there and I started you know talking with people and ⁓ I found other people locally where it is it is so much easier, know, it's just leases Deposits the security deposits showing proof of all that stuff your LLC docs and you just push forward and And they make it happen, you know three and three to four weeks So you you go there you buy the property? nine longer now

They move out, you fix it up. You get a, it could be the same tenant, could be a new tenant in a nicer, cleaner place. Then you go refinance after that. So that's what kind of where you're saying about four months or something like that, food and process. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It does take around four months or something like that. So it's constantly, right? ⁓ I do four, ⁓

a package of four houses that I refinance and then I'm already thinking about the next war. I'm already compiling all documents for that next refinance and stuff like that. I have a mastermind that I go to and they're like, Jose, what number of refinances are you working on? Because I'm always working on a refinance because that's what keeps it all moving. Does that worry you main things right now as far as jobs?

get the refinances done. Now that you kind of have the systems and processes are flipping now. Yeah. Yeah, it is. That's one of the things and as well as like materials and like project timelines, right? I don't necessarily pick up a lot of materials now. I just order online, Menards, you know, they send you a ticket that I send the guys a screenshot off and then they go and pick it up, right? But it's a lot of figuring out what's next.

what's next and staying in front of the guys, like in front of the materials, in front of the things that they need in order for them to be able to accomplish their job. Thanks. Yeah, it sounds more of a headache than I am. Not if I want to do. Yeah. About how many are you, do you have a goal that you try to do every year? I some people are like, want to flip a hundred houses. I want to flip three houses, you know, whatever it is. Do you have a goal there or do you just kind of...

take months to come and like, depending on the bandwidth of your team. It's all about the bandwidth ⁓ of the team, right? Like if sometimes I do get deals sent out and to me through wholesalers and other realtors, and if I've got my hands full and it's not in a desirable location, not that desirable location, right? Then

I don't even take a look at it. I'm just like, I'll pass on this one. I'll pass on this one. ⁓ But it's all like, if it makes sense. ⁓ And my guys, see like a space in the calendar. I'm like, OK, I'll buy that. And I'll just plug it in. Like right now, during the winter, I'm very hesitant to take on large projects. Because it's just very time consuming.

The guys won't have heat for a while. So that's pretty painful. I don't want to put them in that position. So I bought projects where it was interior work. Right. And I essentially lined it up in the calendar so that the guys could move on and from project to project. you know, I'm good probably till like March right now, just on projects. ⁓ so you're already built out through the winery, most of the winery at least. Yeah. Nice.

So not only have you created freedom for yourself, you know, through flipping and all that stuff, but now you're trying to give back to the community, the Hispanic community and help them out with, actually help them out with jobs and stuff like that, but also teaching them how they can become financially free. Kind of break some of that down. What have you done? You have a, or a rehab thing that...

You did it for a while. Now you've kind of done smaller coaching, if you will, one at once, but kind of what have you done? Yeah. So I did set up a Hispanic Ria and we went strong for a year. And it was, I loved it, man. I loved it. Like, I like to just spread ⁓ the love for real estate because I think it's

I think it's a no-brainer, right? I think it's better than putting money in your 401k. You have control of that stuff, right? So I really try to nourish the real estate ⁓ holding aspect of it, right? And tell people about it as much as I can. ⁓ Like even the H1 guy that I worked with consistently, like when ⁓ he started seeing all the different projects and like we were working together consistently, like he started buying, which is nice, know?

and it's good to see that that people are starting to do that kind of stuff, right? And we did that for a year. ⁓ and it kind of like went into the back burner because we had, we had our baby boy. And at that point I made the decision to, you know, spend more time with, with, with my baby boy and my family. ⁓ but it was, I still have those connections. I still, ⁓ you know, people reach out and they're like, Hey, is this a good deal or not? ⁓

What would you do in this scenario? And we still have those conversations and it was nice to see that spark in people, you know, because you see different faces coming in to those meetups and just to spread the knowledge as much as possible. ⁓ because most of the Hispanic community, like you said, like has the talent and has, you know, the knowledge on how to do it. Yeah. Yeah. The value add stuff, right? It's just.

the financing aspect of things and tying it all together because to them it was mostly like I need to have all the cash in order to be able to do this and that's the misconception that I have to break though. I'm like we don't have to have all that stuff. I prefer to have 20,000 on each property and buy five instead of just one 100k right? They're like no but dead, no but dead and I'm like

It's good that, you know, it's leverage and you can't do this big thing without leverage unless you have, know, a rich uncle or something. Is that out of all the people say you you've seen a hundred people through through the real, um, how many of them took action? I'd say, um, probably like 10 or so. 10. Yeah. So out of those 10.

How many, like, what do you think set them apart from others that didn't take action? Um, it's just their hustle, you know, uh, how much do you really want it? Right. And for them, it's like, it's good to see it. Like I don't have any other option, but to do this, right. Because if, if I want to provide to my family, for my family, or I want to have that, uh, generational wealth aspect of things, right. Or the retirement.

them they're like I need that right so once they put that actually into perspective and and really you know appreciate what real estate can do for you the light bulb goes off and then they're able to to actually do it ⁓ and I'm not about like whole hand like hand folding as much because I want people to actually take action right so when people would come to me and just ask like hey real estate sounds pretty awesome what can I do

I'm like, this guy is probably just wants the cliff notes type of thing. like, ⁓ when people came to me with actual specific questions, that's where I'm like, okay, I can spend a little bit more time with this person instead of just, ⁓ trying to paint a picture for this other person. Right. Yeah. I think it's action takers. that's, that's what differentiates people. You know, some people want a hundred percent of the data.

others can do it with 80 or 70. In my case, like I'm shooting from the hip a lot of times, you know? So I take a lot of action, but then I also have ⁓ like a good sounding board with my wife that helps me, you know, be like, are we really, you know, at that point where we can do that? Or does that really make sense? So I always have that little, you know, her voice on the back of my mind that helps out a lot.

You talk about shooting from the hip. Were you more conservative when you started off in 2018? No, no, you were, you were same way. I was the same way. Like, and I, I think I was less conservative back then because I, because I was like, I could do the work. I could make that happen. Like I can stay. No up night, up a night till like three or four a.m. working on this place.

That's why I was a little bit less conservative because I, I put in the sweat equity, right? And now I'm like, I don't want to do the work. I need to pay for someone to do the, for someone to do the work. So it has to make sense. So it was. Yeah. got a guy now. He's that's three or houses a year. And when he does all the work, that's his, he wakes up, he's at the, at the place. That's his whole, his whole job.

You know, that's well doing it, but now he's kind of at that point, he's like, oh, you know, and he started hiring people to do that. I he hired some things like bigger electrical things. So, you know, certain public things, but he'll recite it. He'll change all the windows. He'll do the floorings and he's buffing the floors and all that stuff. I pay somebody $20 and, and, you know,

Let them buff the floors, you know, go read the machine, pay $20 an hour, let them buff the floors for you for a day and do something else. it's a give and take and a lot of times when people start off, that is the only option is to just sweat equity and get started. at what point do you think is it, I've done five of them. So now when do you start, if I want to take this serious or.

Should you just go as long as you can? Do you think there's a tipping point where it makes more sense to hire? If I could, you know, do it again, the start of it, I would just hire everything. I wish, you know, if I did that, because if you buy right, it's like the Japanese, right? And you buy right, then you're set. know, money's made when you buy right.

So that's why I say I was a lot less conservative back then, but now like I buy where it would make sense for me to hire everything out, which it does. And I would say if I was starting, just plan that you're going to hire everything out because you get burnt out pretty quick if you try to do what I did. And luckily I didn't because I'm the kind of guy that just perseveres to

stuff right a lot of resiliency ⁓ but because because i know that the end goal the end result right ⁓ of it but you can get burned out especially working those 14-16 hour days so and and then you get discouraged about real estate too you know if if you do get burned out they're like it's too much work so real estate has a lot to offer it's just pushing through it or doing it

doing it right from the start. So what's next for you? Like you're buying block after block in Omaha, you know, like, and you're kind of in the same area. You're in the South Omaha area, know, are you continuing that area and just help fix things out there? What's your plan? So I have actually started to buy quite a bit stuff in Florence area. So more North. Yeah, more North as well. ⁓ So the plan is just to continue.

to build a portfolio and ⁓ establishing like a right business structure. I want to potentially go into different stuff like what you did. I'm truly impressed with buying the plumbing company and stuff like that. That's amazing. That's buying another business too, right? Like that vertical stack type of thing, right? The integrations between real estate.

plumbing, an electrical company, title company. You see that a lot, right? People buying that vertical stack. So I do want to eventually, once I can put this stuff on autopilot, start experimenting with other things. Yeah, that was my, done a few flips, buying old flips, you like. I was like, this is a lot of work.

I had people, one contractor got arrested. He just disappeared on me and find out he's in jail. Someone took his tools because he just left his tools there and then he wants, know, Hey, where's my tools? I don't know where your tools are. And they do let them laying around. know, people stealing stuff. She's like, this is too much work for. Yeah. For what I was doing. And so I was like, I'm going to spend this cause you're building a business when you're building or flipping and.

I spent this much energy. I want to build it on something that I could sell. Not saying that I'm going to sell, but I want to build a business to a point that I can sell. I was talking to guy who sold his business for $7 million. It's like an insurance business. ⁓ He only sold half of it actually. It was worth $140 He sold half of it for $7 million. Impressive. Yeah, and still almost sold the other half. And still gets a W-8-2 from it.

how do I do something like this? And so that was kind of my biggest thing is potentially where's the biggest payday at the end of the rainbow. So maybe I'm selfish with that. No, I mean, you've got a goal and that's something that's going to help you and your family. So why not work for it? Someone's got to do it. Yeah. Why not me? Right.

So yeah, I like that what you did and I like to have further conversations about that kind of stuff because it's super interesting, right? Buying a business and then putting the right foundation under it and then just kind of like your baby now, you know, let it walk by itself. Yeah, it's not as talked about as I think it's coming more talked about because real estate cashflow is drying up a little bit more. So it's.

It's becoming more talked about, but it's out there and with baby boomers retiring every day and businesses just shutting down. We interviewed a guy Paul and that's what he does is sell businesses. And he was saying like 77 % of small businesses never sell. They just shut down their doors because like they can't, uh, they don't have anybody handed off to. don't, uh, they don't have the means to sell it. They don't know that they can sell it.

They don't know that it's something sellable. it's just, or they want too much for it. I mean, that's another, the other side of it is that they worked in it for 40 years and is their baby and they don't have to shut down their baby. perceive that they're given away for nothing. So a lot of interesting things. That's actually one of reasons I asked you about how many people you see take action because

When I tell people that I buy businesses or I bought a couple of businesses, they're like, Oh, how do you do that? And they want all this information. And then you're like, you'll never do anything. Like I could sit here and give you all that I know. And you still won't do it. Well, what about this or what about debt or, you know, lot of same objections that you heard. So I wish I, I could come up with a way that like,

that one answer and then they were like, ⁓ dude, I'm gonna do those. Because you want to help the people, but they don't want to help themselves. And so it's so frustrating. It is. It is, right? And then you get disappointed when people just like fade off, you know, into the bag. it like, you know that this is a good thing, right? How can you make people do this good thing? You can't really make them do it, right? They have to fight for themselves. ⁓ But yeah, I mean, the...

Action. That's what differentiates a lot of people, right? Massive, massive action sometimes. And it doesn't need to be massive. You know, like I tell people just so that they don't get overwhelmed, like just by one a year, one a year and you're set, you know, 10, you can keep your W2. ⁓ you can have that security on the backend and just buy one a year, you know? ⁓ and then you'll be, you'll be good. You know, you have your retirement plan all set up. You don't need to rely on, ⁓ social security or what else.

is going out in the world, you know, you can just rely on what you have control of. Yeah. I'm a, I'm a big fan of just buying one here. Like just buy something every year. You get a little bit of tax advantage. You'll, um, build wealth like 15, 20 years from now. It'll be double what it was. You can take all that money out interest free. Like I'm a huge fan of my daughter's 18. She's going to UNL and I'm like, buy a house next year.

I was like, can buy it for three and half percent. was like, I'm a real estate office. I'll give you my commission. All you're left to do is come up with 1 % of the value and whatever the fees are for FHA loan. Yeah. She's like, you know, she, did look a little bit, I don't think she, she never read next year. And then maybe the year after I came to the dancer, but like to start off, you know, just buy one. Like you can live there for the rest of your college and then move out and just rent it out. Yeah. Get a four bedroom, but you can rent by the room.

start off there. Yeah, no, it's, it's impressive. Um, just, I see people doing it right now that are 21 years old. I started when I was 29. I'm like, man, I wish I would have been, you know, bright enough back then. Yeah, I think I was 39. So, you know, I was, I feel like I'm behind a curve, but hey, I took the action. And a lot of people come in there at 18, 25 and they're just, I go up with these meetups and what are you doing?

You hear, there's one guy I think of he's there every week or every month. Like, ⁓ what do you think? ⁓ no, no. Why do you show up? Yeah. What's going to really make it for you? You know, what's going to be that little information piece that's going to make you take action. It's just take action. You you learn. ⁓ and sometimes, you know, you pay your tuition through, through some of these things where, ⁓

You you break even on some of those places, but that's that's your tuition that now you'll be able to to not commit the same mistakes, right? But yeah, I mean, like this this guy at 21 about a property from here, you know that he actually bought and he's he mostly does wholesale, but it was impressive to me. You know, he got probably like 40 K out of this property and I bought it. I, you know, gave him those 40 K and.

me and like it didn't hurt to give them those because I know the asset and I know the value ⁓ but you know 21 just making 40k on a single deal and it's it's impressive to me like that's rocket fuel so you talk about paying tuition I know that you paid for coaching you mentioned masterminds other groups stuff like that do you feel that's helped with your mindset and ⁓ kind of been a catalyst to actually

when I mentioned that, that was one of first ones I know you took was called Catalyst. I think that's it's called, but anyhow. Oh, do you do you feel like that's helped you out coaching and masterminds? Yeah, so I mentioned when when I was in software, I got so lucky to be put in that group, you know, Northrop.

that these, these guys, Darren and Josh, those were the project managers. Like they push really hard for professional development. And I just became, you know, super passionate about that kind of stuff. Like I was not the guy that would read a book. You know, I was not the guy that would listen to a book. was, you know, soccer, music, just the fun things, right? Like, ⁓ I did my work, software engineer, I wrote code that that was, that was it. But then I joined their group.

And they were super hard-born to professional development. And that's been like put into my mind that, you know, if you really want to grow, like that's the way, right? Professional development, whether that's books and masterminds, ⁓ meetups. ⁓ like I started going to the Omaha Real Estate Meetup because I had actually presented at other meetups related to software.

So when I got into real estate, I'm like, has to be a meetup related to this. has to be people with a similar interest. And that's what drove me to that meetup. So it's always been professional development, not always. Once I became part of that group, it's been professional development ever since. Like I know I can continue to learn. I know I can continue to grow. So for me, it's exploring that, right? Whether that's through a book or masterminds. And with masterminds, you know, you see people

Doing the stuff that you want to do So that's why it's like it makes sense to be part of this room. Yeah, that's what I uh Just got back from a conference in vegas and nice I paid for the backstage so I was there talking to ed my lead and uh, you know all these big name people and just asking them questions and You just see what they've done like

And my lead was Forbes magazine top 50 under 50 or something like Like Richard Peeble in America. so like you're back there with him. might be like, it just lets you know that it's possible. Before you see these people on Forbes magazine or you see these people like, you know, on stage or something, but when you're actually able to have a one-on-one conversation and ask them questions and get

tactical stuff about your business. Like, if worked for them, it's gotta work for me. I mean, that's at least my mindset. just knowing that you get in their room with, I was talking about the guy that sold his business for $7 million. Like, he was in the military and he got out and, you know, kind of, was all timing and stuff like that, but he worked hard and like, if he can do it, why can't I? And that's just always been my mindset. And that's where I think those rooms help, like getting in the mastermind.

getting into these groups or going to meetups. That's where I started. You were actually, I think one of the first people I talked to had to meet up. I'm sorry. I think it was like my second or third one. Cause when I first went to them, I just ran into the back of room. I didn't know there was like a networking thing to this. I just ran into the back of the room and kind of hid. And I went to like one or two of them and then I met you at Toria. I remember talking to you and.

and Ted walked over or whatever, yeah, was, that's where I started the little meetups and bigger pockets. Yeah. I think that's, that's, that's powerful, man. Like having that mentality where you're like, if that guy can do it, why can't I? And I was that I've always thought like that too. You know, like I, when I see other people doing it, I'm like, they can do it. I can do it. You know? And, and to me, it, it was,

Initially, it was a little bit, um, there was a little bit of fear there or, uh, going to those meetups. Cause, um, like when I got there, I was also the guy on the back, you know, and that I, I do the thing where I look around and you always try to find someone that looks similar to you as well. Right. And I didn't see that like, uh, at the meetups and it was just like me. And I think there's.

Irving was there and he used to work with Colin and then we started bonding too at that point. But you don't see a lot of that, right? But I still have that mentality where they can do it, I can do it. And that has helped me push forward quite a bit, right? Because these people are dealing with $200,000 problems, you know, and you have a $10,000 problem. It can be solved.

Owen mentioned once, like if a problem can be solved with a check, you don't have problem. So that has always stuck with me that you can solve problems. Do you find, Kenna, one of the themes that I've heard through this is finance has always been your biggest problem. Not necessarily in a bad way, but it's always been that.

figuring out process. Is that kind of been your hardest thing as you've grown? Yeah, the financing aspect of it has been hard. You feel that's been the thing that holds a lot of people back. You talked about debt, bad debt versus good debt. I know for me and my wife, that's been one of the biggest things. We started off with the Dave Ramsey camp. Oh, yeah. So I went from Dave Ramsey, no debt to...

Maybe tens of millions of dollars of debt, know, but it was reading books and changing my mindset where she hasn't read those same books and hasn't changed her mindset. So it's always been a point of contention, if you will. Yeah. You find that with other people? Yeah. And I think there's a compromise, right? And that compromise is your leverage percentage. How much leverage? How much are you leveraged? But yeah, a lot of people have that.

mentality where if you're borrowing money, you know, it's not the right way to go about it. But for me, it's like there is no other way. Like I don't have the right chunk. There is no other way. ⁓ The only way for me to build this portfolio or generational wealth and stuff like that is through other people's money. So it's funny, like ⁓ I was just on a phone call with Colin and another person and

They're like, well, people probably think because I'm from Sinaloa, like I got the Sinaloa cartel back to me. And it's not, it's the liquid lending cartel and it's the freaking Allen Strong cartel. Like they're the ones that are funding this stuff, right? And like I tell Allen and I tell Colin and Owen and everybody that lends me money, like I truly do appreciate your trust because it is, there's some trust behind it, right? ⁓

that they, they see that I can execute and they get their money and they get paid and everybody's happy. And I don't get mad about having to pay those, you know, $20,000 a month tickets because they're enabling me. It's, uh, it's, they're just fuel, you know, added to like, so the rocket ship, right? Like a rocket without fuel, it just sits on the ground. But once you add that stuff to it, uh, that money, then

know, the sky is no longer the limit and it's pushed forward. So for me has a just the financial aspect of it has been a little bit hard, but I ⁓ know that there's there's money and people willing to provide that opportunity for. Yeah. You were speaking very much from an abundance mindset, you know, like your 21 year old kid that paid $40,000 finder speed, basically, you know, ⁓

Owen and Colin and liquid landing or Alan strong and strong lending. ⁓

So you're, you're come on hiring people and paying them and all that stuff. So it's very, I think that's what helps is having an abundance mindset and knowing that I'm gonna get behind, but I can help other people. And I think that goes back to you starting the RIA, like the expanded RIA. Like you're, you're giving back to the community, but also you're like, there's plenty of this, plenty of pie left for everybody. Like I don't need to, ⁓ my wife's always like.

Why would you share all this information with other people? Well, for one, only 10 % of them are going to take action. And for two, like there's enough pie for everybody to eat. don't have, not eating table scraps, you know, crumbs off the table. So I think that mindset is what's helped you as you've grown quite a bit. So thank you for that. No, thank you. I appreciate it. Like you said, I mean, I want to see other people doing this, you know, I want to see

Like eventually my goal is to, with the portfolio and the equity of that, like be able to lend out money to those people that don't think it's possible, right? The Hispanic community, and I want to show them, you know, how this is possible. I've already put the proof of concept out there, you know, like I've already done this hundreds of times, you know, so it's possible. ⁓

So yeah, that's the other hopefully in the future type of thing where we'll be able to go into that equity and lend out. So what's your future freedom look like? Like, are you want to go back to the Pacific and sit on the beach and go fishing every day? what's the at least split time? Because it's getting cold here right now. It is. It is. Yeah.

For me, I want to have a place down in Mexico. You should go back quite a bit. We do. We do. We try to travel almost every three months. We try to go out. And the baby hasn't stopped us. We're just learning how to travel with the baby. ⁓ And I want him to explore that, to see that and let that be his normal. Because for me, it wasn't. But that doesn't have to be the case for him.

for my baby as well, right? So we wanna have a place down in Mexico and enjoy that during the winter months. And just enjoy time with my family, know, like with my wife and my baby boy and with other family members, like I wanna provide them experiences. Like that's to me, like when I see somebody experiencing something new and their smile on their face and that's my family member, like that makes me happy, you know, it's like,

Yeah, I mean, happened, you know, when we went to Europe with my wife, like I showed her around and like nice restaurants and stuff like that. ⁓ it's good to see like their smile on their face. Like that's what pays off all this stuff. Like that's what adds to my little fuel tank for pushing through those problems. Right. Yeah. So when you get back, you're like, ready to go. Right. Yeah. Buy another block. Yeah.

Yeah, so what part of Mexico do you talk about moving back? Are you more on the coast? Do you like more of the city? We like the beach. We like the beach quite a bit. My wife is from the central part of Mexico. So like she had never seen the shrimp that I see. know, like my shrimp are freaking in the Pacific and the shrimp that she gets in one of the words like this, bites ice. And she's like, what is that?

So we like Cabo, we like Mazatlán, we like Cancun. So possibly one of those areas. Just have a nice little place down there that we could also, know, Airbnb out. So I wouldn't necessarily be paying for it, know, it's, it'll be paid by itself. We live there four months out of the year and rent is the other eight months. Right. what does freedom mean to you? Obviously you're

search of financial freedom and all that stuff, but ⁓ more holistically outside of finances, what does freedom mean to you, especially being raised mostly overseas or not overseas, but outside of America? What's your goal for your kid and for yourself? Freedom, I'd say to me is being able to do what you want to do when you want to do it. Right? So like being able,

Essentially, my wife just ⁓ quit her W-2, right? Just because we want to be able to have that freedom to pick up and go wherever we want to, you know? Freedom to me is to be able to... Like, my baby can make his decisions of what he wants to do without having to take a look at the price tag, you know? Like, does he want to explore music?

you, you, you're a, whatever he wants to explore. Like I don't want money to be the, to be an issue. You know, I want him to explore it. ⁓ whatever he's passionate about, you know, like he can, he can go on into it and I have to worry about that kind of stuff. and to me it's just, like I said, it is, I, I, I want to own my, my time, you know, and I do that now. I want to be able to just pick up and go.

That's pretty much it. You're here mid-day on a Tuesday, so you got some kind of freedom. There you go. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. know, and to me, like I, I essentially want to be and get to the point where I spend a little bit more time, you know, helping out other people, you know, not necessarily buying homes myself, like, you know, in acquisitions mode all the time. It's just like, no, I want to talk to people because I enjoy it.

I enjoy sitting in front of a room and preaching real estate. I enjoy that part of it as well. You can like real estate always be part of your, what you do. Yeah. Yeah. I'm passionate about it, man. I'm passionate about it. It feels my, ⁓ my heart, my finances and what I, my freedom, you know, it's, part of it all. So I think I will always, ⁓ be involved with that kind of stuff. Cause then at some point like.

I won't necessarily be out there looking for the best deal. At some point, it's just going to be like, yeah, let's just that one, that one, that one. We'll be buying from market. So it'd be fine. But yeah, I like the potential. Awesome. If someone wants to get a hold of you, let's do this. like, oh, those days, my man, I need to reach out to them.

What's up? think Facebook is probably it for me. They can go to the real page and find me. You're on there. I'm out there. We always look for the next block to buy. So yeah, they can they can reach out. Yeah, Facebook, think is the best way. Perfect. Well, Jose, I appreciate you coming and taking time out of your busy schedule to sit down and talk to us. So. Right. I appreciate the space.

Good deal. I appreciate it, sir. Thank you.