13. Gabe Estrada: From Humble Beginnings to a Galaxy Far, Far Away

Gabe Estrada’s story is proof that passion and perseverance can take you farther than you ever imagined. After immigrating from Mexico, Gabe built a life rooted in family, drive, and creativity. By day, he’s an attorney and business owner. By night, he’s become one of the world’s most respected Star Wars collectors and creators — channeling his love of the galaxy far, far away into a community that inspires thousands. 

In this episode, we talk about humble beginnings, the hustle it takes to chase big dreams, and how fandom can become a powerful force for connection and purpose. From fatherhood to lightsabers, Gabe shows us what’s possible when you stay true to your passions and just do it. 

Connect with Gabe here: 

• Instagram: ⁠⁠@Gabesempire⁠ 

•TikTok: ⁠@Gabesempire⁠ 

• YouTube: ⁠⁠ @StarWarsReplicas ⁠ 

•Website: ⁠beacons.ai/gabesempire⁠

 1. Intro to Gabe – [00:00:46] 

2. Immigrating, Learning English, and Early Responsibility – [00:03:33] 

3. Growing Up with Scarcity and Discovering Entrepreneurship – [00:08:14] 

4. Teen Years: Near Miss with Gangs and Finding Music – [00:17:16] 

5. Young Adulthood: Early Parenthood and the Grind – [00:28:14] 

6. Starting Over and Building the Tattoo Shop – [01:00:25]

7. Trusting Instincts and Embracing Imperfection – [01:09:39] 

8. Returning to School, Law School Pivot, and Bar Exam – [01:15:17] 

9. Finding His American Dream in Family and Star Wars – [01:34:22]

 Links: 

• Website: ⁠⁠https://www.sickburnpodcast.com⁠⁠ 

• Instagram: ⁠⁠@sickburnpod⁠⁠ 

• Threads: ⁠@thomascraigviii⁠ 

• TikTok: ⁠@thomascraigviii⁠ 

Mahalo for tuning in! If you enjoyed today's episode, please: 

• Subscribe to our podcast to never miss an episode. 

• Follow us on social media for updates and behind-the-scenes moments. We love hearing from you! 

• For feedback or to share your story, email us at ⁠thomas@sickburnpodcast.com⁠ or send a message on Instagram. 

Credits:

Hosted & Executive Produced by Thomas Craig VIII Produced by Voice & Video – Bill Lanzarotta Audio Engineer – Mickey Dixon Edited by Lizi Bronson Graphics by Jeff Lee Special Thanks – Rosie Flores 

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the participants and do not necessarily represent those of The Sick Burn Podcast, its affiliates, or any associated organizations. This podcast is for entertainment purposes only and should not be taken as professional advice.

 #SickBurnPodcast #GabeEstrada #StarWars #AmericanDream #Resilience #ImmigrantStory #FandomCulture #Collecting #PopCulture #immigrants #PodcastEpisode #hope

Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;19;21
Speaker 1
I knew that my family was a little bit different than than others. When they migrated, I was the only child. All of a sudden, there's three other kids. And so now there's six of us in a one bedroom apartment. I started seeing a lot of my friends going through this transition. We went from like, playing outside to get into, like, gangs.

00;00;19;23 - 00;00;37;08
Speaker 1
Again, you don't know any other way. Do I go to law school? Like what is going on? The next day I was like, you know what? I'm going to do it. I just quit my job of 11 years and decided to go to law school. You.

00;00;37;11 - 00;00;46;03
Speaker 1
Just.

00;00;46;08 - 00;00;50;28
Speaker 2
Today's guest is the definition of resilience, creativity and the American dream.

00;00;50;28 - 00;01;05;09
Speaker 2
Many of you may know Gabe Estrada as a world renowned Star Wars collector and creator. But his journey is about so much more than fandom. After immigrating from Mexico, Gabe built a life rooted in passion and perseverance, becoming a father, a husband,

00;01;05;09 - 00;01;07;29
Speaker 2
a business owner, and an attorney.

00;01;08;02 - 00;01;19;12
Speaker 2
In this conversation, we talk about humble beginnings, never ending hustle, fatherhood, and the power of chasing your dreams. Despite all the odds stacked against you. This is Gabe Estrada's story.

00;01;19;12 - 00;01;29;25
Speaker 2
You know, thanks, Gabe. I just feel so lucky that I get to know you on a personal level. I think a lot of people probably know you for the Star Wars of it all.

00;01;29;25 - 00;01;49;13
Speaker 2
Now it's Gabe's empire. You should be Star Wars replicas, and you're this insane creator in the Star Wars community. But you've been a San Diego local. You're an attorney here. But you, when I think about someone who is like a living success and getting to do and follow their dreams like I think of you, Matt. And so it's just an honor to have you.

00;01;49;14 - 00;02;12;19
Speaker 1
Thank you. Man. No, I really appreciate that. You know, and I feel lucky to know you, so. I mean, it is mutual. You know, the feeling is mutual. But. Yeah. And I, I've definitely felt like I've lived a lot of lives. I think that's kind of the best way to explain it. It's like I've done so many things.

00;02;12;25 - 00;02;31;26
Speaker 1
Different career paths. Yeah, throughout my life. And one leads to the next. And of course, there's going to be, you know, adversity and, you know, hardship kind of throughout the whole thing. But I, you know, I embrace it. And I think that's, that's the my, my main thing, you know.

00;02;31;26 - 00;02;49;07
Speaker 2
Yeah, absolutely. Because when I look at your content, everything, it's so positive. It's so upbeat. It's about, you know, escapism and it's about just things that make us happy. You know, I'm a giant movie fan. You know, I'm a giant Star Wars fan. So it's like you're in this place to go where you're always going to get something fun and light out of it.

00;02;49;10 - 00;03;01;17
Speaker 2
But I will say it's like, I know that path to get there and where you are now probably wasn't easy. Yeah, right. So can you take us back to kind of where your story starts and how you get to where you're at?

00;03;01;18 - 00;03;30;22
Speaker 1
Yeah. So I think that the Star Wars thing and the Star Wars collection room kind of almost bookshelves, kind of, my story, that collection room that leads to that content is kind of my American dream, and that really is what I see it as, because as a kid, I could never imagine. I would never imagine being able to have such a space of something that I was truly passionate about.

00;03;30;24 - 00;03;38;27
Speaker 1
I'm an immigrant. I was I was born in Mexico. And, you know, my family migrated to United States when I was young.

00;03;38;29 - 00;03;40;18
Speaker 2
I remember how old?

00;03;40;20 - 00;04;06;08
Speaker 1
About eight years old. So, yeah, I was, you know, I was really little when when my family came to United States. And, you know, it was very strange to me. Right? I didn't speak English. And in fact, my only introduction, really to American culture was Star Wars. You know, in Mexico, I would ask my parents to rent the movies, you know, and, there's two versions of the movie.

00;04;06;08 - 00;04;26;20
Speaker 1
You could either get a indie dub, like, dubbed in Spanish. Okay? Or you can get it in English with subtitles. And I, even as a kid, I remember, you know, being five years old, six years old, and specifically asking them for the subtitled ones because I wanted to know what the character sound like. And I would memorize the lines even though I didn't know what they meant.

00;04;26;22 - 00;04;59;11
Speaker 1
Yeah, I would memorize the lines because I would recreate those scenes playing with my toys, with my action figures. Yeah. So that was Star Wars was my introduction to American culture, and it was kind of my, my gateway into that. So, you know, when we came to United States and, you know, my family migrated, it was definitely kind of my, my attachment right, to American culture, which is kind of cool because, you know, Star Wars is one of those universal movies, right?

00;04;59;11 - 00;05;00;18
Speaker 1
Or a lot of people.

00;05;00;18 - 00;05;22;18
Speaker 2
Yeah. Love I don't know, I think it just speaks to you. It's, you know, the adventure, the opportunity to go on. Yeah. This journey and and the hero's journey. Right. I mean, Luke is that ultimate character. And I can see maybe why that would speak to you as a, as a young kid, you know, and getting maybe, in a sense, whisked off to a faraway land or somebody or something that you, you, you are just imagining.

00;05;22;18 - 00;05;33;12
Speaker 2
Right? And I'm sure it was probably scary to to think, all right, we're leaving where we're comfortable. But then also maybe there is that excitement of like, what's the possibilities here?

00;05;33;12 - 00;05;57;12
Speaker 1
Absolutely. And I think one of the biggest things about, you know, kind of getting thrown into this whole new world, really, was just adapting, right? So early on, you know, I being eight years old, you know, obviously had to learn the language. You know, first of all. And, you know, I was the only one in my household that spoke English at one point.

00;05;57;19 - 00;06;22;01
Speaker 1
You know, I picked it up really quick, you know, as a kid. And so I almost became almost part of the adults, you know, in the family, even though I eight years old, I was almost treated like an adult because I was the one who was translating for my parents when we would go, you know, shopping for something, I'm the one who would go and ask the clerk, you know, to whatever question is.

00;06;22;06 - 00;06;40;04
Speaker 1
I remember my parents buying their first car, and I was the one negotiating with the car salesman because I was the one, you know, explained to him, which worked, you know, it was good and his bad. I used it to my advantage because, of course, anytime I got in trouble at school or something, you know, my mom would be.

00;06;40;05 - 00;06;55;03
Speaker 1
There's a phone call, you know, on the answering machine. My mom's like, what is that? What are they saying? I was like, oh, no, just that some kids were were being bad and that, you know, she wanted to let you know that, you know, now to always like, kind of use it to my advantage where I would, wouldn't tell my parents that, you know.

00;06;55;03 - 00;07;04;11
Speaker 2
Yeah. Like, he gave to skip school for the last three days or whatever. And you answer the call and you're like, oh, they said, I've been doing great, right? No, no.

00;07;04;13 - 00;07;34;11
Speaker 1
So early. So yeah, early on, you know, understanding the power of of communication. Right. And almost kind of translating concepts into ways that people could understand. And I think that that became I didn't know it at the time, but that became kind of part of my, my strengths. Right? My, my traits that, I was I figured out a way to, you know, absorb things and then being able to teach it back to, to someone, you know, in a different way, in a funner way.

00;07;34;11 - 00;07;46;02
Speaker 1
Right? Yeah. And I'll, I'll kind of talk about how that, that connects later down the line. But yeah. So, you know, very typical immigrant kind of family. You know.

00;07;46;04 - 00;08;01;09
Speaker 2
I want to say, though, I mean, I think yeah, but it is still a, it's still a burden. Like it's amazing you took it on and you probably didn't realize it, but I probably did add a little bit more stress on you in the family environment. Like you said, it made you kind of force you in these adult conversations early.

00;08;01;12 - 00;08;13;29
Speaker 2
Tell me a little bit about like at this time, like, like engaging with other people in the world, like being at school. Yeah. It was that hard. Was that an added element that was tough or where you're like, I wasn't too bad.

00;08;14;01 - 00;08;36;17
Speaker 1
It was. I mean, it definitely adds, you know, a different layer because you're as a kid, you know, eight years old, nine years old, ten years old. I'm very aware of financial situations at home. Right. And, you know, as most immigrant families, you know, most of the times there's there's one income coming in or yes, maybe sometimes, you know, double income.

00;08;36;19 - 00;08;57;03
Speaker 1
But as the family starts growing, I definitely was exposed to, you know, a lot of the financial troubles that my parents were going through. So my dad, it was a single income. We lived in this, you know, one bedroom apartment. All of a sudden, there's three other siblings that, you know, that my parents had, you know, when when they migrated.

00;08;57;03 - 00;09;16;13
Speaker 1
I was the only child I've seen. There's three other kids in a one bedroom apartment. So now there's five of us, six of us in a one bedroom apartment. And I knew that my family was a little bit different than than others because I didn't have my own room. My room was the living room. In fact, that was where I slept.

00;09;16;16 - 00;09;49;17
Speaker 1
And, my mom was super cool early on because she would let me decorate however I wanted. And I was big into Star Wars comic book Spider-Man, and should let me put up my posters and set up my figures up in the living room. Okay. Yeah. And, I think that was a big, big again part of now looking back on it again, tying it back to my, my, my Star Wars collection and stuff like that, about that displaying it and that perception of what people would think right when they came over and seen these little toys.

00;09;49;17 - 00;10;30;13
Speaker 1
Like, why are these little toys there? Right? Well, without letting them know that, hey, there's, you know, five people in one bedroom and then me in the living room, right? Not knowing that that's that was my bedroom. So I grew up, like I said, in a situation where you know, I, I kind of was pushed aside, not necessarily pushed aside, but it was that because there was other siblings, younger siblings, I no longer became kind of a priority as far as like, hey, buy them like the toys that I wanted, the collectibles that I wanted, that I was really passionate about so early on at that time, I figured out, and this is, this

00;10;30;13 - 00;10;54;29
Speaker 1
is huge, that, you know, that leads into like kind of what, what makes me and my drive is I had to figure out how to fend for myself. Meaning if I wanted something, I knew I couldn't just go ahead and ask my parents because I was well aware that they didn't weren't. They're financially right to be able to buy a G.I. Joe for me or like a toy for me.

00;10;55;01 - 00;10;56;27
Speaker 1
So I had to figure out a way to do it.

00;10;56;28 - 00;11;16;28
Speaker 2
What do you start telling you? So at what age do you actually start realizing this? Because, I mean, it's that's a lot to take in, you know, I mean, financial troubles I think are scary for anybody. And, you know, maybe you don't have as much as everybody else. You also kind of start collecting. I'm guessing you treasure these things a lot more now too, right?

00;11;17;00 - 00;11;27;21
Speaker 2
Like every toy you get, every comic book. Yeah, right. I mean, yeah. Are you are you trying to save up to get it? How do you start even getting these things to to put up on the wall.

00;11;27;21 - 00;11;54;13
Speaker 1
Yeah. Well that's, that's kind of where my entrepreneur year kind of side came out because I was about ten years old and I discovered there was this little shop down the street from my parents house, and it was like a little antique toy store called Time Tunnel. I would go there, you know, again, it was this is, you know, early 90s, late 80s, you know, so, you know, kids were still kind of running the streets and running around on their bikes and everywhere.

00;11;54;15 - 00;12;03;21
Speaker 1
So I would take my bike or I would walk over to this little store and I would just go and talk to the owner. The owner was just there. He was just some young, you know, guy.

00;12;03;22 - 00;12;08;20
Speaker 2
Yeah, he's probably like us now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, dude, this is it. Yeah. Go for it.

00;12;08;21 - 00;12;24;00
Speaker 1
Yeah. So I would just go there and just learn from him right now. Would bug him and I'd be like, oh, like, how much is this one? How much is that one and how much is this one? And even then, like, I mean, some of those vintage figures were starting to cost like $100, let's say like now they're a couple thousand.

00;12;24;00 - 00;13;04;18
Speaker 1
But back then I was like $100. But to me $100 was like unattainable. There's no way I can get that toy over. So early on, like I said, I, I learned from him that there's value in these collectibles because I saw that he would buy stuff from other collectors. He would sell stuff to other collectors. Yeah. So around ten years old, I figured out that, hey, if I go to the thrift stores and I look through the little baggies of like, just like mixed toys that people donate, I could find vintage toys that he wants to sell, and I could buy them and sell them to him or trade up to get something that

00;13;04;18 - 00;13;24;07
Speaker 1
I want. And so around ten years old, I would do my best to find a dollar because there are 99 cent little baggies that they sold at the thrift store. Yeah. Whether it was like asking my parents for like a quarter here and there or keeping the chains like my parents would send me to the store to, to buy stuff, and I'd come back and, you know, I'd keep a couple quarters or whatever.

00;13;24;07 - 00;13;45;11
Speaker 1
Okay. Yeah. And I would save up a dollar. I'd go to the thrift store and I would look through all the little baggies of, like, mixed toys until I could find one, like a Pez or something that, that, that that store would want right now. I'd go back and sell it to them or trade them up. So that's how I started collecting some of the these things that I couldn't get myself.

00;13;45;11 - 00;13;47;09
Speaker 1
Yeah. And that was ten years old.

00;13;47;13 - 00;14;07;04
Speaker 2
Now that's incredible. Yeah, yeah. So I guess what I, where I'm thinking is like, this was a very tough situation, but you found this opportunity with your parents, these people that were like, you can always do something, you know, like if even if you don't, you know, have all the opportunities like it's going to be up to you.

00;14;07;04 - 00;14;08;29
Speaker 2
Like, what was the encouragement from your parents?

00;14;08;29 - 00;14;35;18
Speaker 1
I guess my mom was very, very encouraging as far as like education. My mom was all about education. She she was a dentist, in Mexico. And she kind of left that, you know, behind when when we came to United States. And, so she was all about encouraging me to get an education. My dad, you know, he was more of like, like, you know, get to work, you know, do your work.

00;14;35;18 - 00;14;36;00
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00;14;36;00 - 00;14;37;28
Speaker 2
I'd show up every day, do the best.

00;14;37;28 - 00;14;58;00
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah. But again, even at ten years old, I was starting to realize that, you know, there's, there's certain paths, you know, in American culture, and there's you could be a business owner and, sure, you can go to school and do something else, or you can work, you know, just like just like my dad was working, you know, just like manual labor.

00;14;58;03 - 00;15;24;29
Speaker 1
And, I think my parents were were instrumental for one, my mom encouraging me to to kind of do. Yeah, whatever I wanted to do. But my dad almost learning kind of like from his lack of knowledge of the American system, the credit system, the the way, you know, early on, my parents would, you know, get in debt with something, car or something.

00;15;25;06 - 00;15;46;23
Speaker 1
And again, I was ten years old, realizing that, oh, wait, my dad can't afford to pay the car bill this month for some reason or another. And knowing that, hey, that car is going to get repaid now, and understanding the responsibility that came, you know, with making sure that the bills are paid, that you know that. Yeah, you were up to date with everything.

00;15;46;23 - 00;15;57;06
Speaker 1
So it was kind of like a merger of both my parents, my parents, my mom encouraged me to to really follow my dreams and understanding that, you know, you had to also be responsible with that money.

00;15;57;06 - 00;16;18;23
Speaker 2
Like there's consequences to your actions and how you live. Yeah, yeah, man, that's what a crazy lesson to learn at such a young age. Yeah. You know, and it's you see where you are now and you're like, oh of course it ends up this way. But also, I think it shouldn't be understated that the burden is put on you and how you had to, like, shoulder this weight, because that's a huge amount of responsibility.

00;16;18;23 - 00;16;50;09
Speaker 2
So young. What do you start telling yourself? Can you consciously remember, you know, how am I going to, to to move through this life because you didn't just take the path of education, right? Like, you eventually go into a band, you started doing all these other businesses like, yeah, take us to this next step because, yeah, I mean, again, I just I think it's amazing that you were able to shoulder this much weight at such a young age and then just keep going and still, like, you never lost the childlike wonder too.

00;16;50;09 - 00;16;56;19
Speaker 2
When I look at you now, you know, how do you manage these things now from like ten to about 18? Yeah.

00;16;56;21 - 00;17;16;14
Speaker 1
Well, I think that that's what happened, right? I kind of almost felt like I had to put my childhood on pause in order in order to kind of really kind of give back to my family. Right. Like being there. Right. Especially my, you know, my siblings were were little. So I became, like I said, like a third adult in the house.

00;17;16;14 - 00;17;27;10
Speaker 1
Even at ten, 11 years old, I really was taking care of my siblings. You know, just again, almost becoming an entrepreneur just to get some of my action figures.

00;17;27;13 - 00;17;37;26
Speaker 2
But which is incredible that, like, props to you. You you hear these stories of, like, you know, crazy billionaires and all this stuff or, and like, they started these super humble beginnings. I'm like, dang, Gabe had that at ten.

00;17;37;26 - 00;17;46;15
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah. No, absolutely. But you got to remember to like where we lived. You know, it was it was a rough area.

00;17;46;15 - 00;17;48;15
Speaker 2
To what part of San Diego was it.

00;17;48;17 - 00;17;50;20
Speaker 1
It was actually nose in San Jose.

00;17;50;21 - 00;17;51;28
Speaker 2
So yeah.

00;17;52;01 - 00;18;15;16
Speaker 1
Yeah. No way. So we lived in a very rough area. So around that time, you know, again, 1112, I started seeing a lot of my friends, you know, kind of going through this transition where we went from, like playing outside and, you know, having fun or whatever to them starting to get into like, gangs, like local gangs.

00;18;15;19 - 00;18;33;03
Speaker 1
Again, you don't know any other way. You know, when you're in that and once you're at an age right where you start getting to middle school age, you start realizing that, hey, wait a second, all my friends are doing this. You know, they're all dressing a certain way. Yeah. You know, hey, maybe I should do the same thing.

00;18;33;06 - 00;19;03;21
Speaker 1
So around that time, because of, you know, the friendships and all that stuff, you know, it was. I was gravitating towards that, that situation as well. And that that really drove a wedge between me and my family because I think my parents saw it. My parents saw me transitioning from, you know, just kind of this like happy, happy kid, you know, that cared about like comics and toys to all of a sudden caring about, like, lowrider cars and, like, Ben Davies pants and ironing my clothes.

00;19;03;21 - 00;19;27;10
Speaker 1
And I'm here, you know, 12 years old, making sure that my creases are like, perfectly crease, a little baby curves. You know, creasing my shirts down. Now, I was like, slicking back my hair, the three flowers, the Cortez's. I remember one one day, even just school shopping and school shopping for for the new year. They would only buy me clothes one time of year right before the school year.

00;19;27;15 - 00;19;47;11
Speaker 1
Yeah, I remember, you know, we would always go to Mervyn's, right? Because Mervin, you know, you could get a lot for your money at Mervyn's. And I remember one of those years asking my parents for for this, like, Ben Davis shirt and Cortez's Nike Cortez. Yeah, yeah. And, that was a big part of the budget already for my school clothes.

00;19;47;11 - 00;19;58;07
Speaker 1
So my dad was like, you're going to spend like half of that, you know? And I think it was like, honestly, they would give me like $100 or something like that to buy all my school clothes. And I was like, most of it right there.

00;19;58;11 - 00;20;02;06
Speaker 2
I know that's like a pair of shoes these days, right? Like, yeah. That's crazy.

00;20;02;06 - 00;20;28;09
Speaker 1
Yeah. So I remember buying that. I bought some some Nike Cortez is and like a Ben Davis shirt. And I just remember going at it with my parents when my dad mostly he's like, oh, like you're chulo, you're a gangster and this and that. And you know, it was one day we were outside my house with some of my friends and this other car full of, like, gang members pulled up on us.

00;20;28;11 - 00;20;35;01
Speaker 1
And, that was kind of the wake up call for me because they got out and of course, me, you know, my friends start you know.

00;20;35;02 - 00;20;37;04
Speaker 2
Yeah. No kind of things like that.

00;20;37;06 - 00;20;55;19
Speaker 1
Yeah. Chirping at each other. So what happens is they start they start beating us up. My friends run, but we're in front of my house. I get beat up because of my friends. And I think that was one of those those lessons in those situations that I was like, wait a second. Like my friends, they just ditched me.

00;20;55;19 - 00;20;57;21
Speaker 2
Yeah. Cool. Quote friend, right? Yeah.

00;20;57;28 - 00;21;15;14
Speaker 1
So, around that time is when I kind of realized, oh, wait a second, like, this is, this is not what I should be doing, you know? And I started getting into skating and, you know, and that culture around that time and music, I discovered kind of music was a big, you know, I mean, moment I.

00;21;15;14 - 00;21;28;29
Speaker 2
Know, I think we that's something we bond over. And I definitely love like hardcore music and like pop punk er and everything, but okay, the, the friends run off, you know, you get in this fight, it's outside. Are your parents home at this moment?

00;21;29;01 - 00;21;31;22
Speaker 1
They are. Yeah. My mom well my mom yeah she is.

00;21;31;22 - 00;21;32;26
Speaker 2
She see this happened.

00;21;32;26 - 00;21;37;27
Speaker 1
She didn't see it I just when I came in, you know. And I didn't want to tell them because of course.

00;21;37;28 - 00;21;38;07
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00;21;38;07 - 00;21;47;09
Speaker 1
They are going to be like I told you, you know, don't you? Stop hanging out with those kids, you know? Yeah. So, you know, I just came in all, all busted up. But again, yeah.

00;21;47;10 - 00;22;10;18
Speaker 2
At this point though, do you like obviously you're you're like, man, these guys aren't really my friends. Are you now trying to find different friends or because like, it's such an easy thing to say like, you know, just leave your friends behind. But it's so hard to do, even if you outgrow them, right? Even if your interests change and you go on a different path, it's very hard to leave people who you think like you get along with.

00;22;10;22 - 00;22;21;15
Speaker 2
They got your back. How do you, besides knowing that you know you shouldn't hang out with them, start changing your life into like, I'm going to skate. I'm going to play music, all that.

00;22;21;17 - 00;22;40;24
Speaker 1
Yeah. I mean, there is always, you know, just like any, like, middle school, right? There's always different groups and like, different crews. And, you know, the school was a K through eight school, so it was the same kids that like we we grew up together. Right. So it was, you know, it was easy to transition between, you know, different groups and different friends.

00;22;40;24 - 00;22;41;04
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00;22;41;04 - 00;22;57;07
Speaker 2
I mean, I think it also speaks to you though, like just you how personal you are, though, you know, because I think one of the biggest things for my life was I went from a Christian private school from like elementary school, and then sixth grade I got moved to like public middle school. And that was a shock. Yeah.

00;22;57;07 - 00;23;15;06
Speaker 2
That was that was really hard for me. I took it, I was like, I didn't have any friends anymore. I knew maybe like two kids, that I was on a travel soccer team with when I was younger. And I was like, and all of a sudden I went from being the super good kid, you know, hair parted down the middle like uniform, everything to like, I don't care about school at all.

00;23;15;06 - 00;23;23;25
Speaker 2
Yeah, I just want friends. I don't want to be, like, lonely. I want to be out. So that was a tough thing. I think that really was kind of foundational for me growing up.

00;23;23;25 - 00;23;44;14
Speaker 1
Yeah. And again, I think it's it's one of those things to like that I learned to adapt right around that time. And that's the again, that's followed me my whole life. Right. Is the adaptation to change and adaptation to to again, different groups, different friends. And so yeah. So around that time that's around when we moved to San Diego.

00;23;44;14 - 00;23;55;08
Speaker 1
So it was kind of it separated me from, from that situation. And we came to came to San Diego. And again, it was different because I had to start over, you know, I had no friends.

00;23;55;11 - 00;23;58;15
Speaker 2
It almost was like a curse and a blessing, probably too. Right?

00;23;58;16 - 00;24;26;09
Speaker 1
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It's amazing. But even then, you know, I really wasn't focusing on school. I was kind of the same way. I was just all about finding friends and now girls and like, just, you know, just being out there. And I almost started becoming this statistic, right? Where they talk about like, oh, like my Hispanic community. Like, you know, they'll go into gangs or the prison system or like, maybe get some girl pregnant early and, you know, and.

00;24;26;12 - 00;24;36;17
Speaker 2
It is of sad, I feel like rhetoric and story that we hear in the news, but also maybe embellished sometimes. Yeah. And so you're living this life. Where do you go from there?

00;24;36;17 - 00;25;02;21
Speaker 1
So. Yeah. So, you know, I'm, you know, here in San Diego, like, you know, I didn't care about school at all failing all my classes. I would just ditch. And it was just you know, I didn't care about school. In fact, when I graduated high school, I think out of, like, 420, I it's funny enough, I actually frame my, high school transcript, and I keep it with all my, like, law school diplomas and stuff.

00;25;02;21 - 00;25;36;09
Speaker 1
Because it does remind me that, like, hey, look, you know, this is what you can do and you put your mind to it. But out of 424 students, I was 421. There's only three worst students under me in my class in high school. But somehow, you know what? I managed to graduate because I was good at talking to the teachers and convincing them to like, hey, let me do this one project to, like, get that D or get, you know, just like a little bit just to pass.

00;25;36;11 - 00;25;40;05
Speaker 1
So I was very personable with the teachers and

00;25;40;07 - 00;25;55;04
Speaker 2
And it probably speaks to the maturity you had to have when you're younger. Yeah. Like now you're like, okay, I know how to talk to adults. I'm like, yeah, all right, come on. Mrs.. Whatever. Yeah. Like, you know, give me one more chance. I do it, I promise. Yeah. I'm sure you know, you you probably did a decent job with those two.

00;25;55;04 - 00;26;01;26
Speaker 2
Yeah. It sounds like whatever you put your mind to, you actually be able to get it done. But you're right. It was like a low bar just to pass.

00;26;01;26 - 00;26;26;04
Speaker 1
Yeah, right. And that was all I cared about. I wanted to pass enough to get my mom off my back because, again, my mom was really about education. Make sure you get your education. Yeah. It was just that by just enough to keep them off, you know, off my my shoulders. Right? Yeah. So I eventually I graduate high school and I email, you know, I'm already working full time, right.

00;26;26;06 - 00;26;28;21
Speaker 1
But since then, I'm working at a movie theater full time.

00;26;28;26 - 00;26;30;28
Speaker 2
Okay, back to the pop culture interest.

00;26;30;28 - 00;26;48;29
Speaker 1
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And what got me interested in there is because one day I went to the movies and I think I went to go watch. I think maybe it's like American Pie or something around that time. And, I saw the Star Wars Episode one poster with Anakin with the shadow.

00;26;48;29 - 00;26;52;03
Speaker 2
Oh, yeah, another Vader movie. Posters of all time. Yeah.

00;26;52;07 - 00;27;09;05
Speaker 1
And I was like, I need that poster. I want that poster. Whatever I have to do, I need that poster. So I go and talk to the the employees and I'm like, hey, like, do you guys sell those posters afterwards? Like, what do you do with them? It's like, no, they usually give them to employees. And I was like, I need to be an employee.

00;27;09;05 - 00;27;26;03
Speaker 1
How do I apply? And, and, and I applied and I got a job literally just so I can try to get that poster. And I did I got, I got that poster. But yeah, it's amazing. So that was my, my first kind of real job. I was working at this movie theater. Once I graduated, I started just working full time.

00;27;26;03 - 00;27;48;29
Speaker 1
I became manager real quick, and that was kind of my full time profession. I literally thought, I'm like, this is what I'm going to do forever. I'm going to be a movie theater manager. This is awesome. Like, I was really, you know, I was good at what I was doing. And so I was there from yeah, probably when I was like 17, 18 through like around 20.

00;27;49;06 - 00;28;14;19
Speaker 1
And around that time I, I met a and you know, I was, I was dating around and all that stuff. And I met a girl there at the, at the movie theater that I actually went to high school with. We started talking and, you know, we we started dating and she got pregnant, and you know, we're we're young, we're I was I was probably 20 when she got pregnant.

00;28;14;19 - 00;28;23;06
Speaker 1
She was probably 19. So we had my oldest daughter. We had her when I was about 21.

00;28;23;08 - 00;28;43;09
Speaker 2
So what's going on in your head at this moment? Right. That that's huge news. Like life seems like it's going in a pretty good way for you now. You're like, all right, I'm making some money. I like this, you know, I'm pretty good at this. And you're still so young at this moment. Is there any future aspirations beyond, like, I'm going to manage a movie theater?

00;28;43;11 - 00;28;44;10
Speaker 2
No, no.

00;28;44;10 - 00;28;45;11
Speaker 1
Okay. I mean.

00;28;45;13 - 00;28;50;00
Speaker 2
With this news gets to you. What do you start thinking? What are you feeling at this moment?

00;28;50;00 - 00;29;07;24
Speaker 1
I and again, look at that point as career wise. And so let me back up around when I was graduating high school, I started a band. I started playing in a band. Okay. So that was that was something in my head that I was like, yeah, like, this is what I'm going to do, but right, I'm going to become a rock star.

00;29;07;27 - 00;29;25;00
Speaker 1
Like, I'm going to be a rock star, and I'm writing all these songs and I'm, you know, doing, you know, just plain music. But yeah. So then that kind of changed everything, because as soon as my oldest daughter was born, I kind of had to just drop all that and I was like, I can't be a musician anymore.

00;29;25;00 - 00;29;42;15
Speaker 1
Like, I can't do that. I have to focus on working to provide for my family. And as soon as, you know, and I was working at the movie theater, then I ended up getting a job at, at the airport, just because it was a little bit higher paying job. The outgoing at three in the morning get off at like 11 in the morning.

00;29;42;15 - 00;30;01;29
Speaker 1
It was brutal. It was just such a brutal day. But it was what my dad did for decades. And it was kind of like almost going into like the family business. And I, I just couldn't do it. It was it was just it was just such a tough, tough thing. But I had to because of my family. I have my my daughter now.

00;30;02;02 - 00;30;15;16
Speaker 2
Do you feel at this moment like, you know, you're doing what your dad does? Do you feel like God, I failed, or are you thinking like now? I mean, I guess this is the best choice, like, I guess just how do you feel about it now that you have to do this job? These all your dad do?

00;30;15;17 - 00;30;33;12
Speaker 1
Yeah, I saw myself getting into that same cycle. Right, I saw myself. Now I've basically I've become my dad now, and it's like I'm working this job that maybe I don't, I don't like, but I need to because I need to provide for my for my growing family. Right.

00;30;33;15 - 00;30;58;00
Speaker 2
Are you are you disappointed in yourself at this moment, though? Are you like. Because I mean, this trophy right here. And I got it for working, you know, in the same company my dad did. And we eventually got in the same team. And for years I was like, I want to prove that his ways. And the only way to do this, like, I want to prove that, you know, I'm smart and like, I can do things my own way and still be successful.

00;30;58;00 - 00;31;18;13
Speaker 2
And then when I got this trophy, I like won salesman of the year in a category for my team. And I was like, oh, that's it. I proved myself like, I don't need to do this anymore. Yeah. And that, I mean, it really was that fast. Like, I grind it out and when you get this job, there's people who my, my dad's been at this job for almost 40 years doing this thing.

00;31;18;15 - 00;31;40;07
Speaker 2
And it's incredible. And it's amazing what he's built in everything. But once I got this and I hit that two year mark, I was like, I'm done. Yeah, I, I don't have anything to prove anymore. I already showed my way. Works. I need to do something that's right for my life. Yeah. So do you have this sense of feeling too, or what are you feeling about doing this job that your dad has been doing?

00;31;40;07 - 00;31;40;20
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00;31;40;26 - 00;31;56;24
Speaker 1
I mean, it was it was almost a sense of, like, acceptance for my dad because, again, I, I was always at odds with my dad. Like, no matter what it was like, he didn't like the way I dressed. He didn't like around in high school, I would I was into the punk scene, so I was dressing like a punk.

00;31;56;24 - 00;32;18;14
Speaker 1
Like I would dye my hair crazy colors and like, you know, just it was. And he just did not like that. And when I even when I was at the movie theater, you'd be like, oh, like, that's just like a little your little job or whatever. Hobby. Yeah, yeah. So like when I started working in the same company, it was the first time that my dad, I felt like I felt that my dad was like, oh, like, he's now becoming like a man, like he's, you.

00;32;18;14 - 00;32;19;15
Speaker 2
Know, respected you for.

00;32;19;15 - 00;32;45;17
Speaker 1
Working. Yeah. Again, it just wasn't wasn't what I wanted to do. And I wanted to talk to people. That was that was the thing I. I'm always all about relationships. I love talking to people. And, around. So. No. So my daughter was born, and she, my she was pregnant. She was in born. And they laid me off three weeks.

00;32;45;25 - 00;33;12;07
Speaker 1
So they leave me off right before Christmas. My daughter was born in January. So literally I think it was like five weeks before my daughter was due. They laid me off. And to me, it was like it was both a like a relief because I didn't like that job. But also just this added stress and especially with like the insurance, because I think that's that's what drove me to get into that.

00;33;12;07 - 00;33;20;00
Speaker 1
It was the insurance because at the movie theater, we didn't get insurance. And at this other job they would provide insurance for me and my family.

00;33;20;00 - 00;33;26;08
Speaker 2
Which is you're probably looking at like the medical bills for the pregnancy. And you're like, holy crap. Like, yeah, we need some insurance.

00;33;26;08 - 00;33;46;07
Speaker 1
Yeah. So then I get laid off and all of a sudden it's like, what do I do? So we had to like apply for like Cobra. And like, you know, just the the gap benefits. Yeah. And luckily, you know, we got that because. Yeah. Like, I was, you know, I didn't work from there, you know, trying to find a job till my daughter was born.

00;33;46;09 - 00;34;04;03
Speaker 1
Yeah. And around that time, I found a job at Best Buy. Okay. And that was kind of another. That was my second career almost. I honestly third, because when I was ten years old, you know. Me. Yeah. Hustling those toys. That was something that first. Yeah. You could.

00;34;04;03 - 00;34;12;27
Speaker 2
While I would count that as a career too, you were you were wheeling, dealing like finding product. You were selling it. So yes. Yeah I think that was definitely part of the career.

00;34;12;27 - 00;34;30;20
Speaker 1
Right. Yeah. So so yeah, that then the movie theater and then obviously, you know, then I got into BestBuy and I quickly realized that I was good, like I was good at sales, and I was really, you know, I was ranking, you know, one of the top salesmen in my store. And again, I quickly moved up. Right.

00;34;30;20 - 00;34;58;06
Speaker 1
I became like, you know, the senior and then supervisor and I quickly became a manager. And, it was it was refreshing because it was fun. It was a younger environment, you know, you're surrounded by like, movies and music and technology and all this stuff that, that I was really passionate about. And around that time again, I had kind of a, a change in, in my mindset that I was like, I also need to to be happy, right?

00;34;58;06 - 00;35;08;09
Speaker 1
I don't want to work and and somewhere I don't want to be, you know, where I'm not happy. And around that time, I started kind of getting back into music again. I wanted to play music again.

00;35;08;11 - 00;35;11;10
Speaker 2
Had you taken a bunch of time off from music at this point?

00;35;11;11 - 00;35;30;21
Speaker 1
Yeah, maybe a couple years just because, you know. Yeah, with my daughter and stuff. I mean, I would, I would play like at home, you know, my acoustic guitar. But yeah, around that time, you know, I went back into and to play music and that's when I was really taking it more serious. Right. As far as, like, all right, best is paying my bills.

00;35;30;21 - 00;35;48;00
Speaker 1
I'm making good money. There, but I'm still I want to be a rockstar. I want to be a musician. Okay. So around that time, you know, yeah, we I started I invest I remember getting a Guitar Center credit card and maxing it out because I needed the equipment and all that stuff. And, yeah, I was like, I'm.

00;35;48;03 - 00;35;51;10
Speaker 2
Doing the dream is there? Yeah. You're like, still invested in this dream.

00;35;51;11 - 00;36;15;29
Speaker 1
100%. I'm doing this. Okay. And I and I did I started, you know, going out and we started playing shows all around, you know, San Diego and. Yeah, that was around 2002 there. You know, we're we met a lot of, like, local bands that were, that were around because we're all playing shows together. And, you know, that was kind of like, a wake up call for me or, man, I mean, I was a wake up call.

00;36;16;00 - 00;36;29;21
Speaker 1
I think it was like, a transition in my life. Yeah. Where I, I realized that, you know, I had this responsibility to, you know, my, you know, my wife and kids where I was married.

00;36;29;21 - 00;36;31;00
Speaker 2
And you got married.

00;36;31;07 - 00;36;37;22
Speaker 1
We had to. Yeah, I had yeah. Because we she needed insurance. So we had to kind of merge the, you know, the.

00;36;37;25 - 00;36;38;13
Speaker 2
The family to.

00;36;38;13 - 00;37;03;16
Speaker 1
Get together to, to get that insurance. But around that time, I was trying to live that that life, you know, the the rock star live getting even though I was just like, you know, local shows. Yeah. It just I decided to, you know, kind of leave, leave the family life and. Really. Yeah. And I, you know, we got divorced and, you know, separated.

00;37;03;18 - 00;37;22;18
Speaker 1
Of course not. You know, with my daughter, you know, she she meant the world to me. And I wanted to make sure that she was taken care of at all points. But. Yeah. So separated, at that point, which was, you know, which was rough. I think that was a hard part. Not necessarily because of the relationship, but because of my daughter.

00;37;22;18 - 00;37;38;02
Speaker 1
Right. Yeah. Just seen her and she was little. But knowing that she wasn't going to grow up kind of with the, you know, two parent dynamic and even because that's what I grew up with that, you know, I grew up with my two parents always being there. That was that was hard for me to.

00;37;38;05 - 00;37;38;22
Speaker 2
Yeah, to.

00;37;38;22 - 00;37;39;04
Speaker 1
Accept.

00;37;39;11 - 00;37;58;06
Speaker 2
I think that would be hard for anybody. But it's so tough because I can also see it from your perspective, like, yes, you know, that those the responsibility of being a parent. But it's also like you didn't necessarily have the childhood that, you know, other kids might have. You were always kind of working. You were always doing something to try to survive.

00;37;58;06 - 00;38;08;11
Speaker 2
And you finally maybe get this spark of an opportunity where you're like, I've always wanted to be a rock star. It seems like it's going that way. It's like, you must have felt like you're getting torn into two different directions.

00;38;08;11 - 00;38;22;19
Speaker 1
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. There's times where, like, you know, it was it was tough. And I would take my daughter and again, she was little shoes I'd put on, you know, the noise canceling, you know, headphones. And she would be sitting there in our band practicing.

00;38;22;19 - 00;38;26;14
Speaker 2
Yeah. It used to be screaming in of my. Yeah. Oh, look over at you.

00;38;26;16 - 00;38;46;09
Speaker 1
Yeah. But at the same time, as as I was getting really serious about the band, I was also again, really moving up in the corporate side of BestBuy and I, you know, again, I became a manager and then I became actually, I was on this council that BestBuy decided to open up like little guitar centers inside their stores.

00;38;46;11 - 00;38;55;00
Speaker 1
And I was on that council, so I'd have to go to Minnesota all the time, talk to the like Fender and, you know, all these all these. Yeah. All these music. Yeah.

00;38;55;01 - 00;39;06;01
Speaker 2
Yeah. So now it's like they're both here. Things are kind of combining in a way. Yeah. You're like, wait, I play these instruments. Now I get to talk to the actual vendor of it. Yeah. It's like, oh my. So yeah. How does what do you. Yeah. What do you.

00;39;06;01 - 00;39;21;25
Speaker 1
Think. So yeah. So at that point I'm like, look it's either going to go two ways. Like either I'm going to become a general manager and then go into corporate and just like be there and make good money on there or I'm going to become a rock star. It's going to be like, it's it's either. All right, and that's it.

00;39;21;25 - 00;39;23;15
Speaker 1
Those are the my two options.

00;39;23;15 - 00;39;36;10
Speaker 2
Are you still in this moment though? Like I'm just going to try to do both and see what takes off. Yeah yeah okay okay. You're like I'm just going to leave one and just focus on this. You just like I'm going to keep doing both as best as I can and then we'll see where it goes from there.

00;39;36;10 - 00;39;36;19
Speaker 2
Yep.

00;39;36;25 - 00;39;56;15
Speaker 1
Okay. 100%. Gotcha. And you know, I was I was living in a, in a house at that point full of, Navy guys. And, I just happened to rent a room there, so, like, we would just throw these parties and my band would play there, and again, it was it was a fun time. And and again, I think your age appropriate.

00;39;56;15 - 00;40;20;10
Speaker 1
Right. Because at that point I was 23, you know, so it was like the first time in my life where I got to like, really just like let loose and just have fun and, you know, kind of almost like be selfish, right? And just be like, I want to do this because it makes me happy, right? But at the same time, Monday morning, I was right back at work, you know, doing my thing, but I enjoyed it.

00;40;20;10 - 00;40;46;26
Speaker 1
I that's the one thing I enjoyed working at Best Buy. And as I became a manager, I enjoyed teaching other people how to sell. And how did the communication skills that they would take. You know, it's funny because I would always when I would do these big presentations and I would be teaching like the new employees, I'd always be like, look, there's two people in this world that the general public doesn't trust one salespeople, two are attorneys.

00;40;46;28 - 00;40;58;13
Speaker 1
I'm going to show you like, how to build the relationship. So you're not a salesman. But it's funny that I would always bring up the attorneys. Yeah, yeah, I would never in my wildest dreams think that I would become an attorney.

00;40;58;19 - 00;41;02;09
Speaker 2
That I was like. And then you became the one thing that worked.

00;41;02;12 - 00;41;19;00
Speaker 1
And here's where my life changed. And this is truly kind of like, you know, there's always like, there's these pivotal moments, right? And if you look back in your life and you're like, yeah, kind of like, yeah, you know, the Marvel Universe, right? Like, where are you now?

00;41;19;05 - 00;41;20;13
Speaker 2
Where's the time line going to go on.

00;41;20;13 - 00;41;44;24
Speaker 1
Line splits, right? Yeah. You know, obviously coming to United States is one of them. For me, getting beat up by those trials was another one for me getting laid off. You know, from from that job it was another one. Well the next one that really was what, you know, obviously my daughter too, you know, being born next one was meeting my wife and that was a human.

00;41;44;24 - 00;41;45;16
Speaker 2
Now life right.

00;41;45;18 - 00;42;09;23
Speaker 1
With. Yes. Yeah. My current wife because that was a pivotal moment in the way I, I viewed education and here's and here's kind of where that led to. So I was working at Best Buy. I was the manager for I want to say that like the cell phones and cameras and that middle section, there's here comes this, this young girl that, you know, she got a job.

00;42;09;23 - 00;42;30;19
Speaker 1
She was a Lexmark rep, you know, Lexmark, the printers. Oh, and, she she got a summer part time job in between her college. She was going to UC Santa Barbara, you know, during that summer of her first year, freshman and sophomore, she got a part time job as a Lexmark rep, which the printers happened to be in my department.

00;42;30;22 - 00;42;39;11
Speaker 1
And, you know, I, I went up to her and, you know, just started just started talking to her. I'm like, oh, I'm the manager of this section, big boy.

00;42;39;12 - 00;42;40;16
Speaker 2
May I spend some game?

00;42;40;16 - 00;43;04;14
Speaker 1
Yeah. And she was putting up some pictures. Right. And yeah, it's like, oh is is that your boyfriend? Is that your buddy? She's like, no, no. Oh you don't have a boyfriend. And you know, and then we started talking and I, I can honestly say that like, honestly like I, I fell in love with this girl like super quick, like within a couple weeks I was already like, oh, my God, I'm so in love with this girl.

00;43;04;16 - 00;43;36;28
Speaker 1
So we started dating and it was a long distance. She had to go back to school, right? She was just there for the summer. Okay. And, we became kind of official, like boyfriend girlfriend. And she went back to Santa Barbara, and that was rough ride. That was rough because I was working at Best Buy. But then on my, you know, I had my daughter so that I was still having to manage that, you know, the time between, you know, the mom and dad, you know, and she, you know, I would have her on my two days off, but then all of a sudden I had a long distance relationship that also was was

00;43;36;28 - 00;44;00;09
Speaker 1
tough because like, it's either on my two days off, you know, I have my daughter or I go drive to Santa Barbara to go be with my girlfriend, right? Right. So that was that was really hard to manage. And it was just like another kind of plate that I had to juggle. And as part of that, you know, as it became harder and harder to to manage that, you know, I would get into little arguments.

00;44;00;09 - 00;44;21;11
Speaker 1
Ray and, my wife, she says this never happened, but this is how I remember it. We got into an argument and I was like, whatever. Like, yeah, long distance, you know, you're over there partying at the Santa Barbara, right? I mean, it's a party school, right? You know? Yeah. They're partying. I'm over here working and like, my kids are nice.

00;44;21;13 - 00;44;34;14
Speaker 1
And then she's like, well, yeah, you wouldn't understand. Like, you didn't go to college. And I was like, oh, like that. Her like that. Like my ego. Like my ego is just like, oh, and by the way, I'm still playing music, but.

00;44;34;19 - 00;44;36;07
Speaker 2
Right, I was going to say, yeah.

00;44;36;09 - 00;44;38;27
Speaker 1
It's there's four things I'm kind of juggling. Right.

00;44;38;27 - 00;44;40;18
Speaker 2
And I'm like, that's a lot of plates you're spending.

00;44;40;18 - 00;44;58;16
Speaker 1
On my days off. Yeah. So she's like, you didn't go to college. And I was like, what? I was like, you know what? I bet you I could have gone to college. And even if I went to college, I would rip up that diploma because it's worthless. Because you know what? I'm going to be a rock star. I was like, I don't need it.

00;44;58;16 - 00;45;19;20
Speaker 1
I'm making tons of money over here. I'm making like six digits over at Best Buy, like, and I'm going to become a rock star, like, I educate, I don't need education. Get out of here. But deep down inside, that's done. And that really did. And I was just like, yo, what? Like I'm going to go to community college and just let me just see what the classes look like.

00;45;19;20 - 00;45;22;10
Speaker 1
And this is just me and my head, like, just my ego was.

00;45;22;10 - 00;45;39;17
Speaker 2
Just to show her or you, or was it more to prove to yourself? Because I understand when one of the fears I think I've had my whole life for some reason, maybe it makes sense. It's like I'm not smart. Yeah. You know, and there's so many times in life where I was like, even after I graduated college, I was like, I don't think I was smart.

00;45;39;17 - 00;45;55;16
Speaker 2
I felt like the way I got through college was just by showing up and then communicating, you know, like, hey, how does this work? How do you do it? How do you study? What does this mean? You know, like communication. I still never felt smart until I went to flight school. So what? Yeah. Why do you is it to prove to yourself?

00;45;55;16 - 00;45;57;06
Speaker 2
Is it to prove to her?

00;45;57;09 - 00;46;18;11
Speaker 1
I, I, I think the part it was both right. It was, it was a little piece of me was still trying to make my mom proud. Right. Because I knew my mom was really into education so that that was part of it. Okay. A big part of it was the ego, right? It was like the hey, wait, it's like, I'm not going to be equal to her, right?

00;46;18;12 - 00;46;37;17
Speaker 1
Because I did. I saw her as like, she got her life together. She was going to college. She knew she was going to law school right after. You know, she came from a good family and and I felt inferior. And I think that was a big part of it. I feel inferior because of my upbringing and like, because of, like, you know, just the economic status and all that stuff.

00;46;37;19 - 00;46;56;19
Speaker 1
There's always that sense of like, I'm poor. I don't have enough money. I don't I can't afford to give you certain things. And she's on her way to do it. So part of it was that it was like, hey, I, I need to show her that I'm worthy, right? That I'm that I'm also going to do that.

00;46;56;21 - 00;47;12;00
Speaker 1
Three my daughter. Right. That was the other thing too. Like I was like, you know, I like I want to do better for my daughter. And if going to school is going to get me a better job, right. Even though I was really happy at Best Buy, I was like, let me, let me do that. So I didn't.

00;47;12;00 - 00;47;33;06
Speaker 1
So I signed up, you know, Southwestern College and I took two classes. I took an African-American studies class, and I took an Asian-American study class, like a history classes. Okay. And because, again, I was like, what do I like? I was like, I love history. I'm like, let me do some history. Okay. So on my two days off.

00;47;33;06 - 00;47;55;18
Speaker 1
So because I was a manager, I was able to schedule myself like, you know, because using college, it's like Mondays and Wednesdays are Tuesdays and Thursdays, right? Right, right. So I was able to schedule myself around my school schedule. So I took those two classes. But think about it, those two days off are critical for me. Yeah. In my life, it's the time where I either have my daughter or it's the time that I go and see my girlfriend.

00;47;55;19 - 00;47;58;11
Speaker 1
Right? Or the times I go and play music.

00;47;58;11 - 00;48;10;17
Speaker 2
My bedroom. Yeah. I'm thinking like, so now you're working five days a week, you're taking two days a week, you're in classes. Where does the girlfriend come in? Where does the daughter come in? Where does music come in? Because that's not a lot of time for those there.

00;48;10;18 - 00;48;35;18
Speaker 1
Yeah, it was strategic scheduling on my part where I knew like, okay, you know, on Sunday I would schedule myself to get off at, like, you know, noon. And then on Monday I'll schedule myself to close. So it would give me a full day, and I would drive up to Santa Barbara and spend you know, even a few hours with her and drive back like I.

00;48;35;25 - 00;48;38;28
Speaker 1
That was insane going back and forth so many times. Yeah.

00;48;38;28 - 00;48;41;04
Speaker 2
Oh, if that's not love, I don't know what it is, man. That's.

00;48;41;04 - 00;49;03;22
Speaker 1
Yeah. Or I learned how to do back to back schedules where I was like, okay, like I would get off or I'd give myself like the days off, you know, at the end of this schedule and the beginning of the next schedule. So then I was able to to manage some of it. But nevertheless, when school came about, I had to take Tuesdays and Thursdays off, or Mondays and Wednesdays, because those are right.

00;49;03;25 - 00;49;32;13
Speaker 1
Or sometimes I when I would make myself close, you know, on those days. But anyways, all of a sudden it's like seven days a week, I have something going on, right? And, and I did that, you know, for, for two years until again and again my wife denies this, but, you know, she was she was finishing up school and, you know, in my mind also, I was just like, I, you know, this associate's degree is not going to do anything.

00;49;32;13 - 00;49;53;11
Speaker 1
I have to transfer to a four year college in order for me to do that. And by then I started getting I was that was good. It was surprising. I was getting straight A's. I was like, this is weird. It was a lot easier for me kind of as an adult, to go back to school, and especially because I was taking history class, I was a history major and I loved it, I enjoyed it, I, I really had a passion for it.

00;49;53;14 - 00;50;13;11
Speaker 1
So I decided to apply to UC San Diego as a history major. And I got in and that was that was one of those things where, you know, I just wanted to kind of go along and follow along. And I figured, like, my, you know, she's almost done a UC Santa Barbara. She'll come back, we'll, you know, we'll move in together.

00;50;13;11 - 00;50;24;27
Speaker 1
I'll finish up school and everything's working out great. Right. So I got into UC San Diego, and around that time my wife got into law school.

00;50;24;29 - 00;50;25;11
Speaker 2
Okay.

00;50;25;11 - 00;50;33;03
Speaker 1
And the problem with that is that. So she did move to San Diego briefly, right? Right after college. Okay. For that summer. So we were living.

00;50;33;03 - 00;50;36;00
Speaker 2
Spend a lot more time together in this moment. Yeah. She graduated.

00;50;36;00 - 00;50;55;25
Speaker 1
So we were living together around that time. And then she drops the news that she got accepted to law school in LA. She went to USC. Oh, wow. And I was just like, oh my God. We just did like three years long distance. So like I just got into UC San Diego. Now you're going to move to L.A. like this is devastating for me.

00;50;55;25 - 00;50;57;05
Speaker 1
Like, what are we going to do?

00;50;57;09 - 00;51;00;08
Speaker 2
Are you guys still dating at this point? You're not, are you not? You're not married.

00;51;00;08 - 00;51;20;00
Speaker 1
Yet, right? We're not married. Yeah, we're still dating, but we're living together. You know, we in that summer, we moved in together. That was tough because again, I, I felt like I ended up anchoring myself even more dates to San Diego because now it's like I'm working full time at best. By now. I got accepted to UC San Diego.

00;51;20;01 - 00;51;41;00
Speaker 1
Yeah, I got my daughter here and it just like anchored me so much more. And then now she's leaving to, you know, to L.A. To go to law school. Yeah. So that was tough. That was really tough. You know, and after the first semester in law school, you know, she was there. I couldn't do it. I was just like, I can't, like, I, I want to be with her.

00;51;41;02 - 00;52;03;23
Speaker 1
I want to be, you know, just I don't want to do a long distance relationship. Yeah. So I made the decision. And this was tough because I had been at Best Buy by then by for like eight years. I, I decided to leave the store that I was in and transfer to L.A. To a Best Buy in LA, but at that point I was already locked in at UC San Diego.

00;52;04;00 - 00;52;21;04
Speaker 1
I couldn't transfer to UCLA or anything like that. I'm stuck at San Diego. Okay, so I made the choice to to go to LA. We moved in together in LA. She was going to law school. I was working at Best Buy in Northridge. So it's a little bit, you know, a little bit north from of L.A..

00;52;21;05 - 00;52;23;25
Speaker 2
Yeah, that's kind of where Christina's from. Yeah, it's kind of from that area. Yeah.

00;52;23;25 - 00;52;52;25
Speaker 1
Yeah yeah, yeah. Right. Right. By season, and I would schedule my two days off and drive to San Diego to go to UC San Diego to finish my classes. So for another two years, on my two days off, I would commute to San Diego just to go to class. I would spend all day at at school, I would try to do everything I could on those two days off as far as like homework or reports or reading whatever I needed to.

00;52;52;27 - 00;53;01;17
Speaker 1
And you send you because it's a tough school, like it's, you know, and it's quarterly system. So it's it's quick. It's ten weeks like boom boom in next quarter.

00;53;01;18 - 00;53;18;28
Speaker 2
Yeah. I mean this is is so much and there's so many things that you love about all these things differently. But where are you finding this drive? I mean I know it's in you, but like, what are you how are you doing it? You know, like, how are you telling yourself, like, you just got to keep going.

00;53;18;28 - 00;53;26;08
Speaker 2
You got to do this. Give give me a little taste of like, you wake up in the morning, you wash your face, brush your teeth. You're looking in the mirror. What's going on in your head?

00;53;26;08 - 00;53;43;13
Speaker 1
I think I learned to value, like, every hour of the day already. From. From when I was going, you know, I was working at Best Buy on my two days off, going to community college, trying to balance my daughter and my girlfriend long distance again. I learned to really value each day. And as far as like time wise, right?

00;53;43;13 - 00;54;04;02
Speaker 1
And I became really good at organizing my time, especially in like in four hour blocks. And I was like, I couldn't just not be still for four, four hours. I had to go do something right. So that's kind of what I just got really good at managing my time, really, you know, and yeah, that's really where it came from.

00;54;04;09 - 00;54;23;09
Speaker 1
And again, at that point it was also just finishing school was now a huge driving motivator for me because I was so close to it and I was getting good grades and I was really proud of myself. I was like, wow, like, I wish I would have known that I could do this even before. I never thought I could go to college because I thought my parents had bad credit.

00;54;23;15 - 00;54;31;28
Speaker 1
My parents don't have money. They can't afford to send me to college, right? I didn't realize, like you didn't need them. You could apply for loans and student.

00;54;32;02 - 00;54;47;04
Speaker 2
So there were other avenues that you could do it to get there and everything. Yeah, yeah. Which I think I mean, you know, I'm sure a lot of kids don't know it, but it probably with immigrant parents too. They probably don't know it. You know, you're like, well, I don't I don't even know what like a student loan is or all that.

00;54;47;04 - 00;55;08;05
Speaker 1
Yeah. And it was because of my wife, you know, she's the one who opened my eyes to like, I saw the pathway. That's crucial. I think for any career, you want to find someone that you can actually see the path. Like you could actually, you know, the steps to to get there. Yeah. And she's the one who opened my eyes to to that path.

00;55;08;11 - 00;55;31;03
Speaker 1
And I saw the path to college, and I saw the path to law school. I didn't know it then, but I saw that path. Right. So I was living in LA, I was finishing up at UCSD, and I was about to get my, my bachelor's degree in history with the emphasis on war, revolution and social change. That's my my degree.

00;55;31;06 - 00;55;32;23
Speaker 2
Yeah, that's right up and or.

00;55;32;25 - 00;55;35;10
Speaker 1
That's it's exactly so. Oh, I can go the.

00;55;35;10 - 00;55;39;00
Speaker 2
Best shows I can imagine. There's a lot to say about socially.

00;55;39;02 - 00;55;56;06
Speaker 1
Oh my God, there's so many parallels. But yeah. So yeah, I, I finished up, I got my, my bachelor's degree and I almost felt like now I have all this time on my hand, even though I really didn't because I was still working full time at best, I still had my daughter. I still was balancing all these things, right?

00;55;56;06 - 00;56;13;21
Speaker 1
But all of a sudden I had these two days off and I was like, what am I going to do? Like, I can't just sit around. Yeah. So I was in LA and I was like, you know what? I'm going to open up a business. And the reason why that came about was because I told my wife I was like, hey, like, maybe I should go to law school.

00;56;13;21 - 00;56;28;09
Speaker 1
Like, maybe you think I should should take the Lsat and apply. She was like, no, you're going to hate it. Like it's not for you. Like it's absolutely horrible. Don't do it right, right. I was like, you're right. Like, I'm not going to do that. Like I got my history. I was like, which.

00;56;28;09 - 00;56;29;23
Speaker 2
Is crazy where you're at now.

00;56;29;23 - 00;56;50;04
Speaker 1
Right? And I was like, so what do I do? Like, I have this history degree, like, what do I do with this history degree? Yeah, it kind of was worthless like it was. I can say again, I was making six figures at Best Buy at that point. I was like, I was still playing music, but again, because I had to move to LA, that band kind of broke up, but I was still really geared into music.

00;56;50;04 - 00;56;51;04
Speaker 1
I was like, we were.

00;56;51;06 - 00;57;01;21
Speaker 2
The band broke up. What are you feeling like at that moment? Because that was a dream, right? Like, I'm going to be a rock star. Yeah. Like that. That seems like a huge thing to also come to grips with. Was or was.

00;57;01;21 - 00;57;17;01
Speaker 1
It? It did. It felt like a breakup and it wasn't, you know. Yeah. Part of it was me moving, but I obviously I was still going down to San Diego for those two days. So like we're trying to make it work at that point. But I think it was just more of like the other members also started growing up, right.

00;57;17;02 - 00;57;34;29
Speaker 1
And they started having the families of their own and stuff like that. So that was that was brutal for me, though. It felt like a breakup. But at that point I geared over to like, oh, like I'm going to write my own music. I'm gonna do like acoustic or I'm going to do like I got really weirdly into, like, drum and bass, like music.

00;57;34;29 - 00;57;50;20
Speaker 1
And I was like, I'm gonna be a DJ. I'm gonna be like a drum and bass DJ. Anyways, music was still always kind of there. Yeah. But yeah. So around that time I was like, what do I do? And she's like, well, why don't you just start a business? Yeah. And I was like, I don't have any money to start a business like.

00;57;50;24 - 00;58;08;28
Speaker 1
Oh. And one of the, the things that I did right before graduating UCSD is my last quarter because I was making good money at Best Buy. I had applied just, you know, for, for student loans, and I ended up pinned off my car with it instead of using it for like, school because I was like, oh, it's less interest.

00;58;08;28 - 00;58;24;05
Speaker 1
Like the payment is going to be lower. I'm just got pay off my car and use that student loan. All right. So anyways, because this this is key for for what's coming up. All right. So I decided to open up a business. Right. And I was like I don't have any money. I don't have any money saved up in the bank.

00;58;24;08 - 00;58;38;08
Speaker 1
I don't have anything. I kind of was still living almost paycheck to paycheck, even though I was making good money at Best Buy. I wasn't managing my money very well, but I was like, so what kind of business? I was like, oh, you know what? I think I want to open up like a little skate shop, like a little skate record shop.

00;58;38;08 - 00;58;57;14
Speaker 1
I was like, that'd be really cool. And around that time, my wife is finishing up law school and we're already planning to move back to to San Diego. Okay. Because she was going to get a job down here. And, I was like, well, maybe I'll open up a little a little business. I got a transfer back to BestBuy in San Diego, but I'll do that.

00;58;57;14 - 00;59;17;05
Speaker 1
That's fine. So around that transition, I we went and visited her sister and, my brother in law, who's really, you know, just he owns all these businesses and all that, you know, I asked him, I was like, you know, I was going to open up this skate shop or record shop. He's like, no, this was around 2012.

00;59;17;07 - 00;59;36;08
Speaker 1
He was like, don't do it. He's like, avoid anything retail. You can't compete with online markets. Everything's going to be cheaper online. Like it's not going to work because like focus on services. If you can find a good service. Yeah the online you can't they can't take it away from you. Right Amazon can't take that away. Yeah.

00;59;36;08 - 00;59;39;15
Speaker 2
And I was against then like an overnight service for you to go do something.

00;59;39;20 - 00;59;57;20
Speaker 1
So I was like well what kind of service would be a cool thing that kind of, you know, merges all my passions. And I was like, oh, you know what? What if I opened up a tattoo shop? I was like, So I called up my buddy who had already had done, like, my my sleeve when I was doing the music thing.

00;59;57;20 - 01;00;14;08
Speaker 1
And I was like, hey, man, like, can I take you out to lunch? I want to know about the tattoo industry. Like, how does that work? Yeah. So I went met up with them. And, you know, he kind of told me how how it works. I was like, all right, cool. Like, that sounds like I should do this right by then.

01;00;14;08 - 01;00;33;28
Speaker 1
In that time, we had already moved back to San Diego. My wife was an attorney already working. I'm at Best Buy, so I have money, which made me feel super inferior, by the way, because she was already, you know, we would go to like these events and these parties and I'm amongst attorneys and it's like, oh, what do you do?

01;00;34;05 - 01;00;41;17
Speaker 1
And I'm like, oh, like I'm a manager at Best Buy, right? Like it made me feel so little. Like, yeah, you know, and I understand.

01;00;41;17 - 01;00;50;25
Speaker 2
But so you were you were making good money. You providing for your daughter and was your wife at this time or is she still you guys still boyfriend. Girlfriend?

01;00;50;27 - 01;01;11;07
Speaker 1
It was so we're engaged at that time. Okay? Okay. And this is. Yeah. And and actually, this is kind of what led to that. That's actually a great way to the into. Because we are planning our wedding and we are trying to like, save up for our wedding. So one day I was like, you know what? Like, we don't have have money to like, get married like that.

01;01;11;07 - 01;01;33;00
Speaker 1
So I was like, I wonder if there's like loans like at banks that you can get for, for weddings or like for events like that. So I went into a little credit union and I made an appointment. I asked, I was like, hey, did you guys do like, you know, loans for this kind of stuff? Yeah. They're like, no, we do personal loans, but or loans that are based off of some collateral.

01;01;33;00 - 01;01;51;05
Speaker 1
Right. Like if you had some, some asset, like do you own a house or a car? And I was like, oh, I do own my car. Yeah. Because I had paid it off with my student loans. I was like, I own my car is a 2005 Mustang. I was like, I own this car. Like, okay, well, I mean, she like, looks it up.

01;01;51;05 - 01;02;18;23
Speaker 1
She's like, oh, like, you qualify for like, I think it was like $10,000 for the car and a $4,000 line of credit, like just separate, like on a credit card. All right. I was like, okay, well, let me let me get back to you. That might be enough to at least get some of the wedding stuff, right? By then, I, I really hadn't been thinking about the business anymore, like it was because we're in this transitional phase where I was, you know, transferring back to Best Buy here, and my wife was starting to work and all that stuff.

01;02;18;26 - 01;02;39;20
Speaker 1
So, I kind of just one day I was just like, you know what? What if I use that money and I open up a tattoo shop? I was like, that would work. And then I could, you know, let's say that I own this tattoo shop and, like, yeah, I'm going to do that. So I started applying all around San Diego and started calling like, real estate agents, like, all in San Diego.

01;02;39;22 - 01;02;40;20
Speaker 1
And nobody would.

01;02;40;20 - 01;02;41;05
Speaker 2
Get.

01;02;41;07 - 01;02;57;14
Speaker 1
Locations that nobody wanted a tattoo shop there. And, naive me like thinking that, like, it was really easy. I'm just going to go in there and rent the shop and I'm going to my buddy that did the tattoos. He was like, Gallagher tattoo at your shop. I was like, great. Like, this is going to be fantastic.

01;02;57;19 - 01;02;58;25
Speaker 2
Yeah, I'll be racking it up.

01;02;58;25 - 01;03;13;02
Speaker 1
Nobody wanted tattoo shops at their at their place because anyone is 2012. Even then I mean tattoos were a little more common. There's more people that are getting tattoos, but still it's still associated with kind of yeah.

01;03;13;04 - 01;03;19;01
Speaker 2
Interpretation that it's going to bring in the wrong crowd. Yeah. Rough people or whatever it is. Yeah.

01;03;19;01 - 01;03;38;04
Speaker 1
So nobody would rent to me. And then finally I had like submitted this application to a mall. And the mall hit me a back up there like, yeah, well, we'll let you open up a tattoo shop. And I was like, whoa, wait a second. And at a mall, right? Yeah. So I went in literally, I think it was like the next day I went to the to the bank.

01;03;38;04 - 01;03;59;05
Speaker 1
I was like, let me get that loan, let me get that line of credit. I went to the mall like a dummy. I signed like a two year agreement, thinking, all right, let's do this. Yeah, I signed the agreement and I'm like, let's go. Didn't even negotiate it. Nothing. I was just like, let's go. Wow. And I walk out of there and I'm like, what's next, Google?

01;03;59;06 - 01;04;05;01
Speaker 1
I'm like, what? How do I open up a tattoo shop? By the way, I already had logged into this like.

01;04;05;01 - 01;04;10;17
Speaker 2
I yeah, you're like, wait, now how do I figure out how to do this business after you had just signed the lease in the contract.

01;04;10;17 - 01;04;15;27
Speaker 1
Right. And by the way, I'm working full time at Best Buy. So this is all happening my two days off. Right?

01;04;16;00 - 01;04;16;18
Speaker 2
Okay.

01;04;16;18 - 01;04;35;21
Speaker 1
So now I'm like, so what's next? Oh well you need a permit. Great. That's easy. I look it up is like $80 or something like that. You know, the city of Chula Vista, go to the city of Chula Vista on my day off. Hello. I like to apply for a tattoo shop permit. They're like, have you checked with zoning first?

01;04;35;23 - 01;04;57;00
Speaker 1
And I was like, know what, zoning. I don't know what zoning is. Right? Then I go across to him, I ask, and they're like, well, tattoo shops are adult entertainment for the city of Chula Vista. So because there's a school, a middle school a couple blocks away, you need a conditional use permit. The conditional use permit application is $3,000.

01;04;57;00 - 01;05;17;28
Speaker 1
Oh, and it takes about 6 to 8 months to to to get. And I'm like like my heart sank because again I was locked into to that that I was already paying rent for it. I had $14,000 that I could use to like, that's the best for. Yeah. And all of a sudden there went $3,000.

01;05;18;05 - 01;05;21;21
Speaker 2
Yeah. An additional. And then who knows when you're gonna actually start making money.

01;05;21;21 - 01;05;27;06
Speaker 1
I had even taken the, like, blue paint off the windows like I didn't, you know.

01;05;27;09 - 01;05;28;06
Speaker 2
It's bare bones.

01;05;28;06 - 01;05;47;24
Speaker 1
It used to be an old jewelry shop. So, you know, I, I hadn't even looked inside like I was just like, this is going to be great. It'll it'll be easy to, to create that. So it's almost like, you know, like in a movie or a show where it's only, you know, it's like half baked. Everybody takes the day and he has like, I forgot how many dollars in.

01;05;47;24 - 01;05;50;23
Speaker 1
It's like chicken. Yeah, yeah. It's getting like.

01;05;50;23 - 01;05;51;26
Speaker 2
Every time you go down you.

01;05;51;26 - 01;06;12;19
Speaker 1
Take something like that. That's kind of how I felt like I went in there and I was just like, oh man, okay, so that's $3,000. And I was like, okay, I have $11,000 kind of at my disposal, right? All right. So after that, I started like building out the the, you know, the shop I spent like maybe $1,000 on furniture at Ikea, you know, just like.

01;06;12;19 - 01;06;13;15
Speaker 2
Whatever you could do, just.

01;06;13;15 - 01;06;25;22
Speaker 1
Basic stuff. So I budgeted I was like, okay, if I spend $2,000 on furniture, $2,000 on like, flooring, $2,000. So like I passed it out, but I also had to pay rent.

01;06;25;29 - 01;06;26;08
Speaker 2
Yeah.

01;06;26;08 - 01;06;46;09
Speaker 1
So like that was part of it that I was starting to, to pay and a months went by. I was doing everything myself. On my two days off, I would get friends to come and help me, like, pay. How do the floor. You know, we went through that on my two days off from Best Buy in and really just started working.

01;06;46;09 - 01;07;02;27
Speaker 1
And there's some great pictures of, like, my daughter, who at that point was like, maybe like ten years old, you know, she's there like, yeah, she's like working on the tattoo shop. 2 or 3 months go by and I still don't have this conditional use permit. So I go back and I'm like, well, like, what do you need?

01;07;02;27 - 01;07;21;15
Speaker 1
Like, is there extra things like, oh, the next step, you need to hire an architect because we need the blueprints, you know, to, to, to do this process. So I, I was like, I'm not going to hire and I don't have enough. I'm going to go on Photoshop and do it myself. So I did I like looked up online how to like how blueprints looked.

01;07;21;17 - 01;07;32;29
Speaker 1
I made my own blueprints. I spent probably like $400 printing, all these sets of, like, these huge blueprints. Right. And I had asked them all and see if they had, like, yeah, their original blueprints.

01;07;32;29 - 01;07;34;04
Speaker 2
That's smart. That's real.

01;07;34;04 - 01;07;50;29
Speaker 1
So all I did is Photoshop, like little squares, like, you know, where I said the boots were going to be? And I take it in and there's this one guy, he was super rude to me, and he was just like, why are you bringing all these? I was like, you told me that you needed all these these blueprints, right?

01;07;51;00 - 01;08;13;07
Speaker 1
He's like, no, you only needed this and that. And, you know, I don't know if you're ever going to get approve it by like, if you don't bring in certain things. And I was just, like, furious the way he treated me. I mean, again, part of it, I think I look younger than I am, I'm all tattooed, you know, I'm going in there kind of just like, almost like loosey goosey, like.

01;08;13;07 - 01;08;29;18
Speaker 1
Yeah, asking questions, being really personable about it. You know. Right. And I got so upset that he was like treating me like that, where I was just like, wait a second. Like, I'm trying to open up a business in my city, right? Like, why are you treating me like that? So I was like, you know what I like?

01;08;29;18 - 01;08;47;10
Speaker 1
Stepped outside, I grabbed my laptop, and I sent an email to the elected representative that is in charge of zoning. And his supervisor. And I said, look, I could have gone to any other city and I wouldn't have to do the zoning permit. I would have been open by now, but I wanted to do it in my city.

01;08;47;10 - 01;08;57;13
Speaker 1
And you know, where where I feel a close connection to that, especially that mall. That's the mall where I worked at. That's the movie theater that I worked at for so many years. Wow. Same exact mall. Wow.

01;08;57;13 - 01;08;58;27
Speaker 2
And I'll circle Mall right?

01;08;58;27 - 01;09;19;22
Speaker 1
Yeah. And I was like, I just don't understand. Is it a form of, like, maybe discrimination that I'm going through? Like, what's going on? Sure enough, the next day I get a call from the the elected official and he's like, I'm so sorry. You know what's going on? We're going to expedite your permit. Let's going on. And so I ended up getting the permit, you know, probably maybe a couple weeks after that.

01;09;19;22 - 01;09;21;22
Speaker 1
So by then I was already maybe three months in.

01;09;21;22 - 01;09;39;23
Speaker 2
Yeah. What's the lesson you think you take away from this? Because you're right. You. It was a little bit preemptive. It was a little bit just on passion and like I'm just going to book it. And you know, now you tell people, hey, make sure you do all the, the legwork and blah blah. But like, what's the lesson that you take away from this now.

01;09;39;23 - 01;09;59;06
Speaker 1
Now the lesson is just do it. The way I've gotten to where I am in life is, I'm I Forest Gump my way through it. I just do it. I just go in and just do it without thinking. And sometimes that's the best way to do it, because I am an overthinker and I can convince myself out of things.

01;09;59;08 - 01;10;24;14
Speaker 1
And sometimes it's better to do it without thinking and just kind of hope for the best, you know? And I think that's been kind of my philosophy now in life is I just like Nike or I just do it. Stop making excuses like, and, you know, I tell that to maybe my siblings and stuff and like, you're we're not victims like just just do it.

01;10;24;17 - 01;10;46;14
Speaker 1
And if I wouldn't have done that, I wouldn't have opened up the shop. But check this out. It doesn't stop there because even after I got the permit, I Google like, what's next after like, oh, the health department. Oh my, that was a nightmare. Long story short, I was out of money. This was November, you know, I started this process probably in June 2012.

01;10;46;17 - 01;11;07;07
Speaker 1
Yeah. November is here. I'm out of money. I'm using my paychecks from Best Buy to pay the rent I had hired. You know, my buddy who's a tattoo artist bailed out on me, so I had no artists. Oh, I get my health permit, I get everything, everything's lined up. I don't have artist. I have to put, like, a Craigslist ad to find artists.

01;11;07;07 - 01;11;28;29
Speaker 1
I finally find three artists. And it was like November 10th, I want to say, or something like that, that I was just like, we're going to open. And if it doesn't hit this month's rent or like next month's rent I have, that's it. I have to close it down. I have and I'm going to be default on my loan, and that's going to just ruin everything, right?

01;11;28;29 - 01;11;29;08
Speaker 1
Yeah.

01;11;29;08 - 01;11;31;00
Speaker 2
What a small runway you had.

01;11;31;00 - 01;11;55;29
Speaker 1
But luckily that month it hit. It hit rent. We hit bills the next month it hit bills and we hit rent. And here we are 13 years later. And today, actually, we're having, you know, Friday the 13th sale. And the lines are backed up like a block around. And that tattoo shop is still up 13 years later.

01;11;56;01 - 01;11;58;01
Speaker 2
But that's insane.

01;11;58;02 - 01;12;10;15
Speaker 1
13 years later, it's still there. And it's such a cool, you know, just to know, hey, I own this tattoo shop. We built it from the ground up and it's it's been there. But, yeah, we're not even how I became an attorney.

01;12;10;20 - 01;12;28;29
Speaker 2
I know, I know, yeah, I know that's the thing to I know we don't have too much time. Yeah. And again like, okay I love that lesson. Just go for it. Just do it, do it. It's amazing. You know, because I think there's so many people in life who don't go for it, right? They have this dream or they have this calling and they're like, they don't do it.

01;12;28;29 - 01;12;42;09
Speaker 2
And it seems like you are always drawn from one passion to the next. And we have even gotten to, like, you become this attorney. And it's amazing. I've seen you in action and my wife got to work with you and and we've even gotten to like, now the other side of.

01;12;42;09 - 01;12;43;00
Speaker 1
Content.

01;12;43;02 - 01;12;46;02
Speaker 2
Have content, you know, and and creating and I'll.

01;12;46;05 - 01;13;05;20
Speaker 1
Speed it up because again, like I said, I, you know, it is a long process and I, I do feel like I've lived multiple lives, right. These multiple like big parts of my life. So yeah. So okay, now I'm at Best Buy full time. I have this tattoo shop, right? That I opened up on my two days off.

01;13;05;23 - 01;13;12;12
Speaker 1
Yeah, I have my bachelor's degree. Got my daughter, you know, my wife. Now we're getting married. Yeah, we decide.

01;13;12;12 - 01;13;16;07
Speaker 2
How did you pay for the wedding? Because you did it. Because you used the 40,000 for the.

01;13;16;14 - 01;13;33;13
Speaker 1
Check this out. So this is another big, big thing. Yeah. So we're we're still saving up money, you know, and we're getting, you know, we're getting money to, to get married. And at that point I was like, you know what? Like we got to buy a house. Like that's the smart investment right now. Let's buy a house. Okay.

01;13;33;13 - 01;13;56;11
Speaker 1
So I convince my wife to take all the money that we saved and put it down for a down payment on a house, okay? And I said, you know what? Like, I'm sorry. Like, I know, like, you know, you you wanted this wedding, but, like, I think right now is smart, too. Let's buy a house. Let's go get married somewhere fun, like, you know, go and do, like, elope and go do something cool and then we'll have a big party at the house.

01;13;56;11 - 01;13;57;01
Speaker 2
Okay.

01;13;57;03 - 01;14;15;26
Speaker 1
My. And which was one of the best decisions I think we made as a couple 100%, especially how the, the market is right now. Sure. We did. We invested in a house, we got a small little house and we got married at Disneyland under the castle, gorilla style.

01;14;16;03 - 01;14;17;04
Speaker 2
Oh, no.

01;14;17;07 - 01;14;38;14
Speaker 1
We went. We got my buddy who's an ordained minister. We set up a camera and we just did it. We just got married under the castle, and then we're just like, let's back up, let's go. So and it was funny because, like, I actually I posted on YouTube and it kind of went viral and they made a new story about us, like, oh, a San Diego couple gets married guerrilla style at Disneyland.

01;14;38;14 - 01;14;39;26
Speaker 1
Wow.

01;14;39;28 - 01;14;43;27
Speaker 2
Okay. That happens. What are you doing? Collecting and content.

01;14;43;27 - 01;14;44;22
Speaker 1
Creating? No.

01;14;44;25 - 01;14;50;04
Speaker 2
No. Is that the first thing you do where you're like, oh my gosh, I can make something that goes viral?

01;14;50;06 - 01;15;08;28
Speaker 1
That kind of did it kind of gave me that. That opened up my eyes to take going viral. It absolutely did. And and again, it was, it was early, early stages of of social media. Right. I don't think YouTube was even I mean, it was already there, but it wasn't like what it is. Right, right now.

01;15;09;02 - 01;15;13;13
Speaker 1
Right. Because this is what, 2013 ish 2012 around there.

01;15;13;15 - 01;15;17;10
Speaker 2
Yeah. So like 13 years ago at this point. Well yeah, it's changed a lot.

01;15;17;10 - 01;15;44;07
Speaker 1
Yeah. Yeah. I don't think they're monetizing it like the way it is now and all that stuff. So but yeah anyways I, I upload that and yeah. So we get married and around that time Best Buy is going through a restructure and let me back up when I was in, in LA right before moving to San Diego, like right before this, I said, you know what, let me study for the Lsat and let me just see how I did.

01;15;44;10 - 01;16;01;16
Speaker 1
Let me just see how I do. Right. So in that summer that we're transitioning back to San Diego, I took an Lsat class at cSUN, actually, and, I took the Lsat and I didn't do very good. And again, I think as I can focus on it, I was working full time. I was we're moving.

01;16;01;16 - 01;16;05;05
Speaker 2
I don't know how you could have like so all the other things you have going on. Yeah.

01;16;05;07 - 01;16;20;15
Speaker 1
So I didn't do that well on, on the Lsat. So it was just one of those things like, whatever, I'm not going to go to law school. And so whatever it was there, but I had already done all the process like I had taken the Lsat, I had gotten my letters rack like I've done all the, like, steps that you needed to apply to law school.

01;16;20;18 - 01;16;36;18
Speaker 1
But I was like, I'm not going to get in. So I scrapped that. So then I, you know, the shop and all that stuff and it's like a year later or maybe like a year or two later after that, BestBuy is going through a restructure. And by then I had been at BestBuy for about 11 years. So again, it was a career for me.

01;16;36;18 - 01;16;59;03
Speaker 1
And I mean, a lot of my close friends were from BestBuy. It was like a family. And one day my general manager pulls me into the office like, hey, like, our store's getting impacted by this restructure. There's two managers. They're going to cut it down to one. I want to let you know that I'm going to keep you, but we're going to get rid of this other manager, this girl who's like a single mom.

01;16;59;03 - 01;17;23;13
Speaker 1
She had like, you know, kids and all that. And she and I was like, well, thank you so much. Like, I appreciate it. Like, that's a relief. You know, like, I get to keep my job probably about maybe four months before that, I had gotten a, an email. Because when you apply, like when you do the Lsat, you start getting spammed with all these, like, random law schools that are just like apply here, apply here, but not the big ones.

01;17;23;13 - 01;17;24;27
Speaker 1
It's use it like, yeah, yeah.

01;17;24;29 - 01;17;28;11
Speaker 2
We were hungry for you. It everything. Yeah, yeah.

01;17;28;13 - 01;17;43;21
Speaker 1
I remember getting one firm Cal Western School of Law here in San Diego and it was like, oh, free. Like apply for free will waive your, your application fee. And I was like, oh, like, all I have to do is literally just like, push two buttons and like apply. And I was like, well, I'm not going to get in.

01;17;43;21 - 01;18;01;15
Speaker 1
So again, this was four months before I applied and just forgot about it. I forgot that I did it. So that day she pulls me in, she tells me about the layoffs. She's like, I'm going to keep you. I've already submitted the paperwork. Like, you know, you're going to stay. And I'm like, oh, thank you so much, I appreciate it.

01;18;01;17 - 01;18;22;00
Speaker 1
I kid you not, man. I get home that night, you know, I'm telling my wife, you know, at that point we have a house, you know, we're we're married. Like. Yeah, like, I got my job. Like I'm secure, right? I open up my email and it's like, congratulations. You've been accepted to Cal Western School of Law.

01;18;22;02 - 01;18;38;02
Speaker 1
Please let us know of your acceptance. You got, you know, and all this. And I'll say that night, I kid you not, it was that night, and I was like, why? I was like, what do I do? And I'm asking my wife. And I was like, do I go to law school? Like, what is going on?

01;18;38;04 - 01;18;41;19
Speaker 2
That would be such a trip, you know, so that you just did on a whim.

01;18;41;19 - 01;19;10;17
Speaker 1
It was. And and she's like, it's up to you. Like, I mean, if you want to. It's a lot of work. It's hard. Like, you can't work like you have to. You have to quit, right? Like you can't do it. Yeah. So you got to figure it out. And that night, it was just so tough just in my mind because I was like, if I go like, I have no job, I mean, I have the tattoo shop, but like, I don't have a job, like I obviously I start my, my daughter has a mortgage.

01;19;10;17 - 01;19;11;11
Speaker 1
I have like so.

01;19;11;11 - 01;19;15;06
Speaker 2
Much you have to wait emptiness and not accepting. Yeah so.

01;19;15;06 - 01;19;35;00
Speaker 1
Much. And the next day I was like you know what? I'm going to do it. I'm just going to do it. Just do it right. Stop thinking about what? So overnight. So think about I only I probably looked at that email maybe 8 p.m.. Yeah. And I told my manager the next day when I went in. So like again, it was one of those decisions where I was just like, I'm just going to do it.

01;19;35;00 - 01;19;49;19
Speaker 1
Like, you know, after this, I, I'm just going to do it. So I go the next day, I tell my manager, hey, can you swap us? Can you swap. Yeah. Keep her and give me the severance package. I got accepted to law school and she's like, oh my God, I'm so proud of you.

01;19;49;19 - 01;19;50;23
Speaker 2
Game like this and that.

01;19;50;28 - 01;20;02;21
Speaker 1
So she did. She swapped us. I ended up getting a severance package because I'd been there for 11 years. That ended up paying for at least my first semester at law school or like or at least.

01;20;02;24 - 01;20;03;09
Speaker 2
Oh hell.

01;20;03;11 - 01;20;31;20
Speaker 1
Yeah. The stability of the household, right? Yeah. My wife's already an attorney. She's already practicing. And, I just quit my job of 11 years and decided to go to law school. And that's where I met my partner. Raves the inflows. The Yellow Library is literally day one. Here's literally my day one, because we took this summer course to like, it's like an intro to into law school, like how to prepare for law school.

01;20;31;23 - 01;20;50;15
Speaker 1
And, he was one of my first friends there that we we kind of you know, knew each other. So, so so I went to law school, man. I left everything and decided to go to law school. And that was that was again, that was scary. That was a huge life decision. Yeah.

01;20;50;15 - 01;21;08;02
Speaker 2
I know you want to like, fast forward through your whole career in law school, but it's like you just keep stepping into bravery right? Like and and it's crazy. I think so much of us ruminate on our choices and we're like, we could do this, or we could do this, or and sometimes thinking about things too long. Yeah.

01;21;08;03 - 01;21;27;04
Speaker 2
Talks us out of us going for it. Right. Hundred percent. And it is incredible though that you, you go for this, but also that you succeed through it too. You know, it's like the tattoo shop could have easily like fell back on your face. You could have easily like moving up to LA with your girlfriend. Time could have easily not worked out.

01;21;27;04 - 01;21;43;27
Speaker 2
And then trying to go to San Diego State could have been like this, you know, waste of money. But like, somehow you keep powering through and, like, succeeding. What is that about you? Yeah, that, that it does work out where you say, I'm just going to do it, but then it works.

01;21;43;27 - 01;22;13;29
Speaker 1
I'm generally optimistic. Like, that's normally I'm optimistic right. Until I'm not right until, like, I convince myself out of it or until I start stressing out so much. But again, I think my wife has been a crucial part of it. Because even at those moments where, like, I'm faced with these like stressful, like decisions and stressful, you know, thoughts, she's the one who grounds me every time, and she's the one who's like, why are you can do this?

01;22;13;29 - 01;22;33;08
Speaker 1
Like, why are you stressing out like this? Like, just do it or don't do it, you know? And like, she's the one who, like, kind of pulls me back in and, like, makes me realize. And yeah, sometimes I have to, like, kind of just blow up in order for me to kind of, like, center myself back down and be like, things aren't as bad as I'm making them seem to be.

01;22;33;08 - 01;22;56;20
Speaker 1
Right? Everything's good. Like we're fine. So I think it's that it's that optimism going into it. I went to law school, went through it my first semester. I had my daughter with, you know, my, my, my middle daughter, which was tough. I mean, anyone who's who's gone to law school could tell you that first year is it was rough because they cut the bottom, like 30% or.

01;22;56;20 - 01;23;00;25
Speaker 2
Something, right? Yeah. So you're Christina, like, so were you about that her first?

01;23;00;25 - 01;23;22;29
Speaker 1
Yeah. So you're competing with everyone, and all of a sudden I had a fresh baby. Three weeks before my first finals, so. But luckily, my wife. Wow. My wife, because she was an attorney, she was very understanding. And she was very like. Even when she was in labor, we're at the hospital, and I had to take this test like this, like grammar test that they make you take.

01;23;23;02 - 01;23;39;16
Speaker 1
Yeah. And core grammar. And I'm like, sitting there stressing out because you could only miss. And it was like at 100 questions you could only miss, like you had to get a 90 or above. Right? I kept on getting like an 88 or 86 and I'm like, oh my. And it takes like it takes like an hour to complete because it's such a long test.

01;23;39;18 - 01;23;40;19
Speaker 1
And, meanwhile.

01;23;40;19 - 01;23;43;21
Speaker 2
Your wife is like, screaming like babies.

01;23;43;23 - 01;24;00;21
Speaker 1
He's in labor, and I'm asking her question. I'm like, hey, like, what do you think? Like this one? I was like, then that. So she ends up helping me through it while she's in labor. And, and I'm like, I have to do it now because if we wait until the baby's here, we're not going. I'm not going to have time to, like, focus on this.

01;24;00;24 - 01;24;07;26
Speaker 1
You're not going to have time to help me, like, kind of get through it. So she's literally giving birth like, well, she's in labor.

01;24;07;29 - 01;24;09;05
Speaker 2
Contractions are happening.

01;24;09;06 - 01;24;28;28
Speaker 1
Yeah. I'm doing this stupid law school test that, you know, which is just. So anyways, I take my finals, I get through it, you know, I, I get through the first year, I get through my second year, you know, we get through my third year and I'm still like, in my mind, it was a vacation, to tell you the truth.

01;24;28;28 - 01;24;52;17
Speaker 1
Like it was kind of weird because a lot of people in law school, like, just are so stressed and all that, but I think it's because they, they went from like high school to college and then law school. So they know this, this, this kind of like similar rhythm, right, that they're getting and all of a sudden they get thrown in with like all this extra stuff because you got to read and you got a brief and you got to do all this stuff extra on top of your classes.

01;24;52;22 - 01;25;10;04
Speaker 1
Right? But for me, I was like, I don't have to go to work at Best Buy. That gives me five extra days to do whatever I want right? The tattoo shops running on its own, like it's doing good. Yeah, my daughter's older, you know, obviously we had the new the new baby. Right? But I was like.

01;25;10;06 - 01;25;12;02
Speaker 2
Dude, you've already done that law school.

01;25;12;02 - 01;25;29;23
Speaker 1
I'm like, this is a vacation for me. All I have to do is focus on school. Like, if I could have done that at UCSD, instead of working and going back and forth on my two days off, I'm like, that would have been amazing. So I used it as a as, all right, treat it as a job. Yeah.

01;25;29;23 - 01;25;42;05
Speaker 1
I said, law school is a job. It's my 9 to 5 job. And how much I can get done in 9 to 5. In my mind I'm like, this is, you know, piece of cake. I mean, I'm not saying that law school is appealing. It's not. It's super hard.

01;25;42;10 - 01;25;58;13
Speaker 2
But I have the relative to what you had to experience most of your life, correct? Yeah. And especially in your adult life. And you had so many people to juggle of responsibilities and facets of life. And you, you had grown up so quickly. No. Yeah. I'm sure it did kind of feel like, wait, this is just one thing.

01;25;58;13 - 01;26;00;06
Speaker 2
Yeah. There's all of these million other things.

01;26;00;06 - 01;26;00;15
Speaker 1
Yeah.

01;26;00;17 - 01;26;07;18
Speaker 2
Do you ever think, like, what you went through maybe was kind of a blessing in a way, because of how it helped you in law school?

01;26;07;18 - 01;26;27;27
Speaker 1
It did. Yeah, it absolutely did. I think having that stress and having, you know, learning how to manage my time and really budget my time was crucial. I don't think I would have been able to do it without that skill and especially like towards the bar. Right. Like once you graduate, that's one thing. But once you start studying for the bar, I mean, you know, I.

01;26;27;27 - 01;26;28;29
Speaker 2
Mean, oh my gosh.

01;26;29;00 - 01;26;31;15
Speaker 1
He's gone. You you sense that sense.

01;26;31;19 - 01;26;33;02
Speaker 2
In the household. Best for chance.

01;26;33;02 - 01;26;46;14
Speaker 1
Because, you know, it's these whatever six months, you know, of your life that are either going to make or break you. Because if you don't pass that bar exam like I have to work, I have to make money to pay my mortgage to pay, you know?

01;26;46;17 - 01;26;48;22
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah, for my college, like all that.

01;26;48;23 - 01;27;06;18
Speaker 1
I'm like, if I don't pass on this first try, I think I'm going to go back to Best Buy. Like, what else can I do? Like, I can't just sit around applying and waiting and all that, like, I need money now to pay my bills, right? That was stressful. So I that I treated also just like a job setting for the bar.

01;27;06;21 - 01;27;12;17
Speaker 1
You know, I would wait and because at that point, you know, I had my kids too. And so like I had to like, you know.

01;27;12;17 - 01;27;13;08
Speaker 2
Buckle down.

01;27;13;09 - 01;27;40;11
Speaker 1
Buckle down. I would wake up at like five inches the morning, make my coffee study from like, you know, 6 to 9, then go to the classes at the school from like 9 to 12, come back, you know, eat lunch, come back home and study from you know, 12 to 5, knowing that as soon as my wife got home, you know, and with my daughter's family time at the end and then at night, right before bed, I would study, you know, maybe another hour or two.

01;27;40;17 - 01;27;48;02
Speaker 1
The other thing, too, I'm, I'm a really slow typer. So for me, you need them. You need to type super fast for the bar exam because it's like it's.

01;27;48;03 - 01;27;50;21
Speaker 2
It's nonstop, you know, four.

01;27;50;21 - 01;28;12;03
Speaker 1
Hours nonstop of just typing time, you know, in the morning for hours in the morning for hours in the afternoon. That's day one because I took the last three day bar. Well, second day, it's four hours of multiple choice, four hours a multiple choice. Third day is four hours of writing and then four hours of writing. So it's a three day test, eight hours a day of just like nonstop.

01;28;12;08 - 01;28;33;07
Speaker 1
So anyway, so I had to get good at typing. So I would spend every day just practicing just typing. But I passed the bar, I passed the bar, I became an attorney. And that was you know, that was a huge accomplishment. I think that was the first time that I saw my dad and, you know, my mom, she was already proud that I was going to school and all that stuff.

01;28;33;09 - 01;28;54;22
Speaker 1
My mom was always super proud, but that was for her, right? They gave up a lot to come to United States, you know, for for me, because that, you know, really what's for me. And to give them that back was huge to say, like, look, you all that sacrifice you made, you know, here it is like, I, I'm an attorney, right?

01;28;54;22 - 01;29;12;28
Speaker 1
Like, I like, did what you wanted mom. Like, yeah, I went to school, I became an attorney. That was the first time that I saw my dad proud in a, you know, different way. Like, he was really proud that I became an attorney. And, you know, is it was always felt like it's like, oh, it's not a real job.

01;29;12;28 - 01;29;29;26
Speaker 1
You just kind of messing around all that. And it was the first time that my dad was just, like, super proud of what I did. So I felt I felt very accomplished in that sense right now. Again. Yeah. Now all of a sudden I got my law degree. I'm an attorney. I passed the bar. I still got the tattoo shop.

01;29;29;26 - 01;29;54;12
Speaker 1
I got my family. So that leaves so much time, as you know, for for other activities. All right. So around that time is when I started, collecting my star Wars stuff. Well, like displaying it and making videos on YouTube about my Star Wars stuff. So that's where the content creation came, because, around that time, you know, I was collecting the star Wars stuff and I was like, oh, you know, I'm gonna make a little video.

01;29;54;12 - 01;29;59;26
Speaker 1
And I made a video I posted on YouTube, and that's where that leads into. Right?

01;29;59;29 - 01;30;17;17
Speaker 2
I just yeah, you're an amazing individual. And it's like, crazy to see all of the life that you had lived before. You get to this point where I think a lot of people know you now for the Star Wars collection and for your incredible room and and all the content you make around Star Wars, the events you get to go to.

01;30;17;19 - 01;30;53;29
Speaker 2
But it's like, that's like one sliver of this journey of your life and you've done so many amazing things from since you were a little kid to what you had to do to grow up to movie, you know, and people who don't know who are listening, you know, for other parts of the country, San Diego to L.A. seemingly sounds close, but we know it could take you 2.5 hours sometimes with traffic and there's tons of sites and just it's not as easy, always just to bounce back and forth, but to two different relationships and to kids and to career and to then becoming a student again.

01;30;54;02 - 01;31;13;14
Speaker 2
You are just this amazing person. And you the way I. What I'm getting kind of just talking to you for this whole time is like the way you look at adversity is you're able to just kind of just look at the goal. I can sense that because I just hearing you talk about it, I feel the stress.

01;31;13;19 - 01;31;29;09
Speaker 2
It's like when you watch Uncut Gems or something, you know, you're just, like, so stressed out and you're tense, but you have this way of just kind of focusing on the goal and what the result is going to be, and then just believing that you can get there. And I think anybody in the entire world can tap into that.

01;31;29;11 - 01;31;47;16
Speaker 2
It seems like it was inherent in you. It seems like it was also a product of how you grew up. And I would love to talk even more about the content creation, but I think one thing and it's something I ask everybody two questions. One question is, what is. No, I'm gonna I'm gonna flip it. This.

01;31;47;17 - 01;32;02;10
Speaker 2
I'm going to go with the second question I usually ask, which is if somebody is going through their moment where they're the most stressed and they're like, I don't know how I'm gonna get through this. I just signed this crazy lease for this business, and I don't even know how it's going to make money or if I can even bring in business with it.

01;32;02;12 - 01;32;11;15
Speaker 2
What's one piece of advice you would give them where they're at their most stressed. They're most like lost, their most scared moment set priorities.

01;32;11;17 - 01;32;38;15
Speaker 1
That's that's always been something that I, I, I do right. You're I'm balancing a lot of a lot of plates. Right. Yeah. Just like everyone else. I mean, my plates were just happened to be those specific ones. But everyone's balancing, you know, different sports abilities, whether it's family, job, whatever it is. Right. You're balancing a lot. You have to prioritize which plate is more important, at all times.

01;32;38;15 - 01;33;03;12
Speaker 1
So there was times where my family was, was the priority, right where that had to take first priority. There's times where work had to take first priority. There's times where school had to take school first priority. Right. So, that definitely prioritize your stress, right. And make sure that you're focusing on the one that you, you know, that's that's more important at that time now might change.

01;33;03;12 - 01;33;06;21
Speaker 1
But right. You know prioritize prioritize okay.

01;33;06;21 - 01;33;20;23
Speaker 2
Focus on one thing at a time. Yeah I love it man. Fantastic. The next question is currently where you're at in life, which it sounds like maybe things are a cakewalk compared to what you had to do before, but what is bringing you the most peace?

01;33;20;25 - 01;33;51;28
Speaker 1
I think it's it's knowing that there's there was this, this search for the American dream. Right. And it kind of brings me back to that collection room that, you know, when I walk into that that Star Wars room, I remember that little eight year old kid, you know, that always wanted these things. And it does remind me of what I went through, you know, my entire life to get to that, like, plane, that room for me is my American dream.

01;33;52;06 - 01;34;22;19
Speaker 1
That represents to me, that I made it in my mind. Right? Because, again, that meant so much to me as a kid. Star Wars meant so much. And to think that that room, that Star Wars collection is almost the same size of the apartment that I grew up in with six family members, to know that I own a house, that I can have that, you know, I mean, that's that's huge for me, right?

01;34;22;19 - 01;34;24;17
Speaker 1
So,

01;34;24;20 - 01;34;25;15
Speaker 2
It's amazing, man.

01;34;25;15 - 01;34;34;26
Speaker 1
It's it is. It's my American dream, man. And that's how I kind of bookshelves, right? Where Star Wars. It's the bookshelves for me, you know? So.

01;34;34;26 - 01;34;57;02
Speaker 2
Yeah, well, a lot of amazing life and experiences in between that gave. Thank you so much for coming today. You're so incredible. I'm so, so fortunate to know you on a personal level. And man, I look up to you on on so many different ways. I gotta ask you a million more questions. I know you got you probably got a bunch of other plates you're sitting right now in the back, but we'll let you go, man.

01;34;57;02 - 01;35;00;19
Speaker 2
But, thank you so much for being here. So you're incredible.

01;35;00;19 - 01;35;04;05
Speaker 1
Yeah, man. I'll let next time. Let let's come back and talk about Inflo.

01;35;04;08 - 01;35;07;21
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah, we'll definitely talk about it. So. All right, all right, man.

01;35;07;24 - 01;35;11;13
Speaker 1
Yeah.

01;35;13;01 - 01;35;22;29
Speaker 2
Mahalo for listening to today's episode of The Burn Podcast. Gabe's journey is a powerful reminder that resilience, hustle, and a determined heart can build more than just a career.

01;35;22;29 - 01;35;27;02
Speaker 2
They can build a life filled with purpose, family, and passion.

01;35;27;02 - 01;35;33;17
Speaker 2
From humble beginnings to a galaxy of creativity, Gabe shows us what's possible when you refuse to give up on your dreams.

01;35;33;20 - 01;35;53;22
Speaker 2
If today's conversation connected with you, don't forget to subscribe, share and stay connected as we explore the bright side of life's darkest moments. And for behind the scenes content, extra inspiration, and highlights from past episodes, be sure to follow us on social media at Sick Burn Pod. Until next time, keep showing up and keep finding the bright side.

01;35;53;24 - 01;36;04;14
Speaker 2
Aloha.