What NO ONE Tells You About Quitting Your Job | Luz Ramirez

Luz Ramirez didn’t just leave her job... she redefined success. We had the pleasure to sit down with Luz, a real estate investor who left her 9–5 nonprofit job to take a risk on herself. This podcast will help you understand the mindset shifts and money moves you need to make to leave your 9-5. We will also have a guide you can download to use as a roadmap to leaving your W2.

This video includes a friendly guacamole making challenge! To watch the full video, please go watch on our YouTube! Either way, sure to listen (or watch) til the end to see who ended up winning the guacamole challenge! 

Link to download guide here: [COMING SOON]

Transcript

Welcome back to the channel. In today's episode, we talk about what it really looks like to leave your nine to five, and we even have a downloadable guide for you to fill out so you can leave your nine to five. In today's episode, we do a guacamole challenge, and you're gonna want to stick to the end to see who wins. It's a fun one, and if you're liking this type of content, hit like, subscribe. Hope you enjoy. 

Welcome to another episode of Latinos in Real Estate. Today's episode, as you can see, it's 

way different. Yeah, we're doing something fun. We brought in an expert, Latina leader from the area. She's from Rockford. She's an amazing person when I've had the pleasure of being in meetings with her. And when Luz speaks,

we listen. 

She's a wealth of knowledge. She's really well invested and really well connected. Luz. Welcome. How are you? Great. Thank you for having me. Yeah, I'm awesome. Well, Luz, before we get started, I, I know I already explained to you the challenge beforehand, but basically what they are doing, they are making ole today the ingredients all here and available. So we're just gonna get started. But as you guys are getting started, the first question that we have for you, Luz, is what are you doing right now? Like, tell us a little bit about who you are and what you're doing right now. Okay, so let's see. I joined the world of real estate about three years ago. My husband and I decided to buy a property, and from there we took that property, we did a D-S-C-R, we took some money out and we took that money. We put down another property. So we've kind of been doing that little by little. So we've just started out with our portfolio about three years ago, and we are currently renting out, I believe, seven doors. So we have total eight. We are house hacking, which is something that again, you know, you kind of joined, get into this industry of the real estate world, and then you start listening to everybody what they're doing, and then you listen, oh, I'll just try that. I should try that. And so we go about house packing. So at the time, my husband wanted to get into house packing, and I'm like, well, I'm not leaving my house, my full house to move into an apartment with my whole, yeah.

And at that point, you know, we have my children, my mother-in-law lives with us. And I said, yeah, but you're gonna have to find me something much bigger where we're actually going to be able to accommodate the entire family. So I saw it as something that was never going to happen. I found a property actually, and I was like, oh, okay, this one might work. And it ended up being a custom milk property that was actually a, a pretty decent size. And overall the two properties together are a little over 6,000 square feet, so it was more than enough space on, on our side. And then the other unit, it was a nice size as well to be able to rent out. So we ended up moving into that property. So at that point, we left to the house that we'd been living in for a while, and he had already bought the other property. So that took us to four units like that. So we took our, our single family home, put that on for rent, and we've been, we were working with just those two, and then we moved it to looking for duplexes. So we picked up an additional two duplexes in that time. So buy-in, what is our model, what we usually try to stick with. And we've only been doing long-term rental, 

but I'm now

moving into multi-family. 

And then the other area that I'm dabbling in,

uh, is the coal living space. So the coal living space, for me, I, I see that we all know that there's a huge affordable, healthy crisis and there's a healthy crisis in general. So that's one of the areas that we're looking exploring right now. And then of course, you know, we're always working on trying to get active income while we're working on our special projects. And so that would be fixing it, you know, flipping. Mm-hmm. And, you know, so yeah. So those are a couple things that I'm doing. You know, you can't do it on your own or, I mean, you can, but it's a lot harder. And so when you're working with others, you bring in experts in the different areas that maybe you're not an expert in. And I do it together. You get there faster. 

Yes.

I love that. And that's why we, that's why we're doing this, is like our community. We're really hard working. We, 

not many people can beat us in math, but we're like long moves. We like to do things on our own. And I mean, that's a platform. So why we're doing something like this. 'cause we wanna bring people together, the Latinos, we wanna bring everybody do business together. 

But I love what you were saying, like everything that you said 

has a purpose behind it. I am buying this type of property for this specific reason. What made you have those thoughts on why you wanna be so particular with some of the properties that you have with the purpose? Yeah. So honestly, a lot of it has to do with learning within the community. So many of these things are many of these methods. Uh, I've been kind of watching what everybody else is doing and the success that they're having with the different models. So, and also the need. So again, we go back to the housing crisis. There's housing crisis. So for me, it's really important that we're trying to find ways to solve the,

solve the problems that exist. I'm a huge problem solver. I love taking something where there's a problem and I love figuring out how to fix it. Okay. It's kind of annoying sometimes. My husband's like, you don't have to try and fix everything. That's like, well, that's my nature. Yeah. I, I, that's what I like to do. It's so I need to figure out how to fix it. So for me, fixing the solve the, the housing crisis, I'm not gonna do it alone. And little by little, I think that the affordable housing, co-living, shared spaces is one way to do it.

Then the other part of it is that I have been in the service industry for a very long time. I just left my W2. Hey let's go. Yeah, I know. I'm excited. And I quickly got into,

I would love to say I'm missing it, 

but I'm not. I got, I've been busy, I have been nonstop busy, so I haven't had time to really sit down and say, oh, I miss my W2. I jumped right into the real estate investing right away. I've been really, really busy. But then in the service tribute work with a lot of underserved families, the underserved populations on all levels. So we had programs where we were working with families. Uber,

we had very low literacy levels. 

They couldn't read or degree very well. And so they had, 

they struggled with finding jobs. They struggled with keeping employment. So that's one area. The other areas we worked with a lot of immigrant families, uh, who maybe they do have legal status in the us but their English is not very strong. And so helping them find employment, helping them find service, you know, access services that was also disabled. And so all you add all those things and we're working with all the different families, a little bit more US families coming from coming from violence, you know, domestic violence.

And all of them have a need for housing in a different way. And all of them have trouble accessing housing for different reasons. So, okay. So when you look at a family who is leaving violence, a family, you know, a situation with violence, they could struggle with not having, you know, the funding. They could struggle with not even having the, the background of, of financial background because maybe everything is kept by the husband or the, you know, the spouse. Or they could find themselves where they have no paperwork, no papers, they don't even have their legal documents. So they don't have a birth certificate, they don't have a, a driver's license or, so there are a lot of things that could impact housing. So for me, the, to be able to be a solution on that side and provide housing and maybe be able to work with service agencies or organizations where we can find the tenants

That for me is what is what we are trying to do.

Right.

Who makes the guacamole at your house? So who makes the guacamole at your house? Carlos or you?

oh boy. Okay. Well, we don't make it. We buy it. Oh, you, yeah, I know. And it's actually so bad, but like, we buy the premade one. Okay. I was just trying to test my competition here, so I thought I was at a disadvantage. Now I'm just like, oh. So we did go to Mexico and we went to, uh,

are you familiar with Xochimilco? 

And he, we had a

guacamole making contest and he won. So I don't know. So he has a little bit of credential. I am a international champion of guacamole 

making. 'cause we had people from,

I'm just kidding. We did. I actually 

had a few competitions of my own, the

in the salsa side. really? just not the salsa making. That's good.

dancing. The dancing. Yes. Really. Oh, dancing yes,

yeah. Salsa dancing. not salsa making

Yeah. All right. Yeah. Yeah. Lemme think,

I love what you're doing though, 'cause you, since you, you worked in the non-profit space, you saw it first and were affected, and now you're trying to put that into your business so that now way you're not just doing what I would say like old landlords were doing, which is just buying a bunch of properties. A lot of people got in the housing market when the crash happened and bought out, these houses were like 20 K, 40 k. Bought them out, rented them out cheap, but they, they never went back and actually up kept the houses. I feel like all those houses has kind of been downhill. Yeah. And then in return, the people that are living there are living in bad conditions. So it's a goose situation for green. The only person that's living is the The landlord. The landlord, exactly. So that's what we're seeing is a lot of absent landlords and poverty's not being kept up to date. And, uh, fortunately, so I'm, you know, I'm in Rockford. Yep. And so what they see is a lot of these landlords that, you know, like they just keep giving violation after violation, asking them to, you know, remedy the violations because the properties are war. But you know, it, it's just, you know, one to the other, here's violation, here's this violation, here's a violation. What do they wanna do? Is they wanna just dump these properties as soon as they can. You know, now they're dumping them, but they're like, so many things need to be fixed on it. So, but they also don't wanna sell 'em for a, a price where you can actually afford to go in and fix what needs to be fixed. 

So it's hard to find properties right now. You know, it really is. That's what we're running into too, where we, we find a house and we go inside and it, it needs a lot of work. But the landlord or the owner, they want so much money. It's not worth what they're selling. It's not worth it. No. Because when you do the math to figure out everything you to put into it, it's not, you're not, it's not going to a RB for what you needed to at least get something out of, to be able to get, make it work for you cash flow and a return on your investment. I mean, all in all real estate to get into and juggle everything that you're doing. It's, it, it takes time. How were you doing it when you were working in your W2? Well, well before that, what was your name? Five. 

Yeah. Yeah. Although my nine to five was more than nine to five. It was usually nine to six, nine, you know. No, but you know, I was a chief administrative officer for a nonprofit, and I've been working in the field of management for a very long time. I love administration, I love management, I love building teams again and creating 

stuff. And so in the creation side of things, what I learned to do was to 

not only build, create programs, but also build the teams, support those programs. So I continued growing the programs for levels that did, I became the department there. So I left it in very good hands. The team that I created, the staff that I developed into directors, they're overseeing everything now. Created some additional programming while I was there. And those ended up being in another department. So I ended up leaving the agency with two new departments, and then lots of additional new programs. When those speaks,

we listened. 'cause not many people have the mindset that you can just have, and I'm buying these properties because of this, for this purpose. I'm buying this because of that. And I think it kind of goes into your nature of what we were doing in your nine five. You were a problem solver, connector. You were deep in the community, and you had that, that executive presence already, right? Like, we were already working with leadership with the CEOs. So now when you're transitioning into real estate, it's like 

the problem solving mindset is still there. That leadership is still there, the communication. 

But on.

So now then, like how were you juggling all of that when you had your nine to five? Well, unfortunately, I was working all day and all night. So I'd come home from work and then I'd start working at home and, and I'd sit there and be 10:00 PM and I was still working. And so it wasn't fair to my, my family, it wasn't fair to my kids. And that was one of the things that I, I did 

see is that

if something has to, you know, I have to hit a point now where I need to make a decision. I need to transition out. And you just have to decide what am I gonna do? Am I gonna stay in this world or am I going to step out and do what we really wanna do? Which was the, you know, build our portfolio of going to the real estate world. And I just finally, it was a two and a half year transition. So I made, we made up the mind, my husband and I talked about this and, and we did agree that this is what we wanted to do, but I also did not wanna leave the agency high end. Right. So I wanted to make sure that I did a very good transition plan, that I developed my staff and my team members to the point that they could take over without me having to be there where they felt comfortable. And so I, I stayed probably a little bit longer than I needed to, more for them than for me. Uh, yeah, we got some over here. Thank you. Mm-hmm. So I left there very, very, very comfortable knowing that 

they can take over,

they could take over everything without me having to be there at all. That's a long time.

It is a long time. Yeah. Um, but, you know, one of the things for me that's extremely important is, um, commitment. I don't like to leave anything half done. For me, the making sure that they were, that everything was solid and was important to me. And so for me, that was important. So yes, it was a long transition, but when I said, okay, you guys, it's, uh, it's official. They were like, what? No, not yet. I'm like, you don't need me. So they didn't need me anymore. They were ready. What was it for your family? Did you have to make any sacrifice?

Were there like challenges that you came across when you were transitioning or during that time that you were doing bowl? Oh, yeah. Obviously they had to make sacrifices. There was a lot of time that I took away from my family. That is a fact, you know, but they understand that it's all for, you know, for a better future. And, and we're moving there. This is a transition year. I've been transition year where I officially left my job where I'm officially now doing fall in, into real estate investing. And I am traveling a lot. Oh my gosh. I've traveled already three times in the last six weeks. And now I leave again this Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday

to go swat up, be there, and I know exciting. So that's changed a little bit the amount of time, but I'm now am able to really factor in like, this is my family time, or I can do it

on a Monday, Tuesday if they, or a Friday, if they don't have spool, then I can take the Friday off and it's not a big deal. I can shift my time that I'm doing with them. So yeah, I mean, there's an adjustment. There's some sacrifice from everybody, but they know, they know why we're doing it. And so I'm That's fine. They've been great actually. They've been absolutely great. And my husband's been really supportive and he helps me out. He does our property management. So this is all to benefit all of us. Yeah, that's good. I feel like you definitely need a, like you need that set expectations, right? We're going through the season right now. We might be a little bit different, but you know, we're doing it for a reason. Yeah. And getting the help from your husband too is, is huge. We're, we're trying to partner, like trying to, obviously she's my wife, right. But we're trying to have like more of the, the business partnership. Working with your spouse is not always the easiest. No, 

no, but it's a beautiful thing. It is. You'll,

he said, he said that was very, 

I call I, I I, I call myself, you know, at first it took us a while and, and even still, we're still not there. I'm very much operations person. I like everything to be clean, detail oriented, organized. Like that's, that's my personality. And my husband is not, 

he is more on the, you know, like contractors and people are out there doing the work and the thing, and she, and they run on a different time. Is he also not in the nine to five new book? Yeah, he left us. He actually left it before, um, I did. And so he started doing the property management. We could've brought on here and talk about everything. Right? You're wealth knowledge, you have a lot of experience. What is your advice or what, like what are like two to three things that you would recommend to people that are listening on how to like, manage their time wisely, get the right things done while still, you know, like being a mom 

and be be being a spouse. Is there anything that you've learned so far? Absolutely. I've always been very much somebody who is guided by my calendar and my, my time has to be blocked out. I block out times. And so I think it can be a little bit 

probably annoying and difficult for my family to understand that it's like, it has to be on the calendar. It has to be blocked in or scheduled out. And then if they come to be less with something, like, okay, let me figure out how to make it work. But if it's not on the can, it doesn't happen. You know, that's, that's really what it comes down to. So why is the calendar so important? Because if we stay focused on what needs to get done and we're following what's on there, then we don't get distracted.

Yeah. Many of us could be, uh, fall into 

the, the problem of following the, you know, the shiny side, you know, the shiny A syndrome. Yeah. You know, many, many of us could suffer from that. But if we are laser focused on what we need to get done and laser focused on our, on our goals and where we're headed, then, then we can stay on track what we need to get done and not get distracted. So one of the things that we do that I do, and my husband and I do every year, right before the end of the year, we'll sit down and we'll talk about what our goals are. So we've already talked about what we want long term. So then we need to revisit that and see if those goals are still the same as they were the year before. I like to revisit my goals from the year and see if I accomplished any of them and how well I did it, and I to accomplish them. Why not?

So that really allows me to, if, if I'm really like, why am I not meeting my goals? Or if I met them, I'm like, okay, good. I met them and then I review, I met them because of this, this, and this. Yeah. Uh, and it was important for me. These were important for me, which is why I accomplished them. Or maybe they were easier to accomplish and maybe that's why those were done. Or if they didn't get a accomplished. So what got in the way of that opinion?

Was it me? Was I, did I, did I, did I get distracted with something else? Did I, which was my attention to something else? Did I not give it the, the attention or the priority that it needed to have? So it's also, it's, it's also assessing myself and what I'm

working on, not working on, and what's working. 

So I kind of just implemented what I've always done with my, my my W2. So 

in my W2,

I have always been very focused on achieving and getting data.

Okay. And I know what my goals are. So you always have goals. You set these goals and or you have, uh, programs that have to be run and there are deliverables that you have to,

yeah, okay. So you take that and you do, you just different for the same thing into your life and you implement it into your goals. So I know that 

this year, well, my goal is to supplement my salary that I used to make in my w too. So how am I gonna do that? I need to buy enough properties that we buy in gold, and then we're getting an income, passive income from, so I can help support that side of things that I no longer have to worry about that in the midst, no longer coming in. So that's one of my goals. Okay. So I need to make extra dollars a month extra. And then from that amount, I break it down. I say, okay, if I need to bring in, let's say an extra $3,000 a month, I need to bring in this amount of money. How am I gonna bring in the $3,000? And I break it down, I say, okay, with $3,000, I need to make a cash flow of $3,000. How many properties do I need to rent out in order to get that cash flow? So now I have my goal of, I need to bring on board this properties that are gonna bring me in this cash flow. So our goals are set that way. What is it I'm trying to get? And then I bring it down and I break it down into 12 months, or I break it down, I break it down to quarters, and then I break it down 10 months. So I know that if I need to make an additional, let's just vault break, let's make say $12,000 a year. I need to make an additional $12,000 a year. 

I'm gonna break it down into quarters. So that three times four, and that's 12. So that's $3,000. I'm striving to make a order, and then I'm gonna break down the 3000 for the one quarter, and it's gonna be a thousand extra a month.

So my extra cashflow that I need to bring in is a thousand a month. And so I'm

gonna focus on what do I have to do with that month to bringing it month. Okay. So it's kinda like just taking large goals, chunking it down, and then I know what I need to work on each one as I work towards sidewalk, that's how I operate. I do all these broken things down that way. And so I do the same thing in our household, and I do the same thing in our business. And that's how we're planning our goals for the, for the whole year. 

When did you decide that you were going to leave? How well was that time that you decided until when you left? So it actually started right around, it's, 

let's say the conversation started right around covid after Covid. 

It was a crazy time in the, in, in the, obviously we know that, but where most people were staying at home and working from their computers or maybe not working at the time, I was working overtime. And that bank paid overtime. The hours that we were working was ridiculous because there was so many funds were coming out, relief funds and funds to help leave that didn't have anything. We had to distribute those funds.

There was a lot of funding that came out from the government. Mm-hmm. And a lot of different organizations and agencies to help people who were, who couldn't go out

were disabled, like for whatever reason. And we had to get those funds and that the food or the gift cards or whatever it was, the assistance out to the families. So we were working overtime, paying utilities, p paying, helping pay for rent, helping pay for, you know,

anything that they needed. And so that was all coming through our agency. And yeah, it was a, it was, it was rough work. And I, 

I was like, look at all this work that you're doing. And I'm like, yeah, I know. And he's like, you know, at some point everything that you're doing is to help grow other agencies, other organizations, other businesses, but none of that is really 

adding to us, to you, to our value and what we need. And I'm like, you're right. And so as the, as we continued talking about it,

we hit a point where he was like, 

I'm like, you know what?

We need to do this for ourselves. You know? He goes, you have, he goes, you're the capacity that you have to grow 

things and you grow businesses and grow programs and grow, row grow. He goes, it's, 

you're helping them. You're not

growing us. Right? And at that point, it's when I'm like,

right, 

you're right. Everything we're doing, I'm doing for others, and here we are. I just getting, collect these paycheck every, every two weeks. It's just a paycheck. It only is just a, 

for us, you know? And so at that point deciding, okay, we're gonna put ourselves to, you know, we're gonna have you work for us, and we're gonna start that transition and figure out how that's gonna work.

And that's what we did. And then at that point, I spoke to the CEO and I told her, I said, so, you know, we started doing some investing. 

And that was, that was actually all, all this has been part of the plan. Like this was our role. Like our, my husband, I talked about like, what is our plan moving forward? And he, we decided that we were gonna go into investing in properties. We started with Juan that we're gonna go two and so on and so forth. And then at some point, I think that's when we said, okay, we're ready to talk to, we're ready to, to, I'm ready to talk to her and tell her that I'm gonna be exiting 

and the plan was gonna be sooner,

but it didn't happen as quickly as I thought. 'cause she asked me to stay on part-time. And then we also were like, not at a point where I felt comfortable that we were making enough cash flow to really say, okay, yeah, ready to leave.

So 

that took a little bit longer for us. But then finally, I feel like we were, we're at a point where we, we all felt like comfortable that okay, we're, we're at that point in time. I, we, we have enough cash flow to get us through. We did do a D-S-C-R on the property that we're like, okay, you know what? We can save cash here that we can set aside and that can help us get through until we get more, more opportunities done and get a little bit more deals built. 

And so that's where we're at. Right?

Yeah. So it, it took a while. It did take a while. Somebody else probably, there were other people, you know, that I'm, I'm not, 

I'm not,

I don't like to take a lot of risk, right? I'll take risk, but not a lot. There are other people that are just like old Turkey. They're like, I put my W2, let's do this 100%. And you know what? That's wonderful for them. And they, and they've done really, really well. And there are so many of those are in our community, they've done really, really well with that. It's just not my style, you know? And so we all have to do it. We, what we're comfortable with, and I have two kids. Exactly. I, I have a family, I have a household. My husband is also self-employed. So we weren't, we weren't in a position to do that. I also, insurance also is one another reason. Well mm-hmm. You know, you think about like, at least I've had benefits to my W2. 

At what point did, did your W2 feel like it's realistic? 

Like it's gonna happen. We're we're gonna do it and it's gonna happen at this time. Yeah. Yeah. So it was from the very be international.

I'm a, I I, I have a lot of willpower and one of the things that I,

I've always, whatever I set my mind to, I get done.

And now in my degrading as I'm learning, that's called manifesting.

Ooh. Let go say, I'm gonna do this. It doesn't matter. You know, blood, sweat, and tears. I had no doubt that it was gonna end. It was just the, the timing. It was, it all came down the timing. I

understand you have two kids, right? Have two kids, your kids. Yeah. Husband is self employed. You're about to being self-employed. How did you figure out what needed financial? Like how was that prep, the financial prep to make the jump mm-hmm. From the paycheck to now you sustain yourself, isn't, yeah, so we started the, I, again, everything was have been, I've been looking at everything from day one and very on top of our budget

and maintaining our budget. And so it was a process that I do constantly. My husband and I both go through it constantly. We'll sit down and we'll review the finances, where we are, where we're going, how much more he needs to contribute a month, how much more I need to contribute a month, you know, where we need to come back or if we need to, you know, this and that. All the different things are leading to the budget. Like what does this look like? Are we reducing our debt? Are we increasing our debt? And where is it at? You know, so after a a point of reviewing all that repeatedly kind of got an idea of, okay, this is where we are. This is what we need to sort of, you know, to manage. Here's what we need to live very well. And also we're not, we're we don't,

I I, I've changed in the way that I do things. I don't spend like I used to. I don't do the things that we, you know, like 

used to just go and go shop for clothes and all.

And I'm, I don't live in that home anymore. It's just different. I don't know. There's a mindset change. 

And I think that over this time, there has been a huge mindset change for me. 

That's one was we were gonna ask like, what's the shift that you needed to make for, to make the, 

so for me it was, I was very focused on what I want, 

but there's, we're raised in the, in the Latino culture, we're not raised with a mindset of abundance. Okay, we, we work, we work today for today, and we don't say for tomorrow because who knows what's gonna happen tomorrow. And we also, we just have to take care of what's, you know, what's happening today. Okay. And so that was a mindset change for me. It was the understanding that I had to live, I had to see 

the, you know, what I have, I have so much. And there was gratitude. I, I learned how to be grateful for absolutely everything. And then look at everything and say, my gosh, I have everything I need. I don't need anything.

I don't need anything more. I really don't. And as soon as I entered into the mindset of having everything I need, 

it's incredible. But I have, I, I mean, I, I don't have need for anything. I have everything I need. I really don't need anything.

And so everything that I, that comes my way, it's extra. It's like, oh my gosh, you know? But what it, what it that did was where I was closed before because, oh, I don't have enough for this, or I can't afford this, or I can't afford that. It, that's a mindset of lack.

And so you don't open yourself up to see opportunities. When you have a mindset of a mindset of abundance, 

you see opportunities, you see things. Yeah. And you go after them because you're like, yeah, I have enough. I can do this. You know, you don't, it's, it's such a, it's so hard to explain it unless you've gone through it and you have, and you've, and you understand that 

just opening yourself up to feeling like you have everything you need and you have abundance opens you up from one.

It, it really kind of comes down to that. And so that shift happened for me in June of last year. I watched a documentary and I really connected with the person who had

created the documentary. I started to listen to him more and more.

What Very well said, well, it's Dr. Joe Dispenza 

and you're familiar with him? Yeah. Okay. And so I saw his source and something happened inside me, then it just kind of like clicked. And so I'm not able to, to do meditation yet. Not I'm working. 

But everything else that he talked about, and I started reading his book Supernatural. And I was like,

I am like, oh my gosh, you know, where has this been my whole life? It's like, and you know what? Things happen for you. Opportunities happen to you. You see things and they come your way when you're ready for you. I 

wasn't ready.

And so in, I, I, for me, the, the, the timestamp was June of 2020. That's, it all happened. And since then, 

everything's different.

It's, 

it's sometimes like learning that now or like learning it a year ago and then fast forwarding it to now, like I'm sure there's times that you don't always feel like 

today's a great day, and like today I'm gonna manifest everything and every life is good, right? It's easy to forget this. Like, it's easy to forget how powerful our mind is and like how 

we, we don't need all these things. And like that abundance mindset, it's, it's difficult, but it's a beautiful thing when you're, when you have that present in that moment. I also read Joe Dispenza, I also read

a book called The Secret. I don't know if you've ever heard. Yeah. Yeah. It is just the Power of the Mind, right? And I, I strongly believe in all of that. I'm for you that where you could like, just talk about that Harper 

was with Luz Velasquez. Yeah. She's like,

so, so it was on that same topic and I thought it was, she's a beautiful thing. She's a very good friend of mine and she is one that is very good about guiding me in that sense. And she always reminds me and says, the language you're using is not what you should be saying. You know? She goes, you're manifesting it the wrong way. And I'm like, oh my gosh, you're right. It, it's just interesting how you learn to, to think of things and see things differently. Question for you, when it's all said and done, like what do you want your legacy to be? It's always a hard question, but for me, I see these generations that are kind of lost and I'm, and I, and I'm really focused on the young generation that they're just stuck. They don't know what to do. They don't know where to go. They're being conditioned by our schools to think as employees and they're conditioned by our parents and families. On the only way out is to go and get a college degree. I believe in college, I believe in education. I have my master's degree, I did a second master's program, so I have a lot of education, but that was before the curtain got pulled back and I was able to see the world of real estate investing. Wow. And now I can see that you can make passive income, that you can actually pay very little on your taxes, if at all. Any, yeah. Because you owe properties. And I can still do what I love. So my legacy is to be able to pull back that curtain for all these kids that don't know how to be successful, ultimately is about helping them see that you can create generational wealth while still pursuing their, their dreams and passion. I feel that

real estate investing is that entry, that it's the one thing that anybody can do if you take action and you know how to take action. Like, you don't have to degree, you don't have to have a degree, you don't have to have a diploma, you don't have to have a certification. You don't have to have any specialization to get in on the really investing side of things. And you can still be successful. You just have to be a go getter and take action. And I think you're already living out your legacy right now. Like when you least expect it. Oh, thank you so much. That actually is, it's, I love hearing that. That's great. Yeah. Um, I am, I, I just, one of my biggest things is I just want to teach people what I know and I want them through my experiences, like able to say, look, this is what I've done. This is what I've gone through. I'm, uh, again, I'm getting better every day and I'm manifesting abundance and lets go gratitude and understanding that, you know, and when things go wrong, it's okay. It's gonna be cool. It's gonna be okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, oh, it's so good. You guys finished the right? I think so. I'm hoping it tastes good. We should take a taste test. Okay. Yeah. We're not ready yet. No. Right, right, right. It is good. You, you can just blindly just, just, okay. 

Let's see. Almost ready. We're not ready. Sorry.

I was, I was fighting so hard not to like, already like scoop one in my mouth. I'm like, oh,

I was trying to, I'm, I dipped, 

but I'm like, yeah,

let's see. I haven't made one in a long time. 

I was gonna to say you can't, you can't see that. You know, you gotta, 

you are gonna scare her a little bit. My sorry, guacamole that I have, I have guacamole every morning, but the one already pre-paid from the stove, 

it's pretty,

it's pretty good. But I had it today. I'm like, I can't be eating this. All the confessions are coming out now. 

Well, I don't have it all the time, but I do make it. I don't buy it. I make my own. So, 

but that doesn't mean it's, it's great.

So we'll see. My husband likes it, so that's, I'm only trying to impress one person in my household with one Molly. 

I think I'm satisfied.

Yeah. Good. Okay. We're gonna give you the survey tray then, so you can kind of prep it up so you could put some chips in there. All right. 

Are you satisfied with you? Yeah.

Confident. 

Now did you put any, um, any Chile in there?

No. Oh, you didn't? Oh, okay. So you could add a little kick. You could have had a little kick in. How long have you been, 

uh, kind of like working on your now for about a few weeks here, right? So January 30th was my last year. The office worked, I leave bass.

No, I took a leave of absence and the plan was to go back in March and April and help them with grants. 

But because of everything that's happening at the federal government right now that they've been putting on hold on a lot of grants, I mean, and funding and whatnot, the state of Illinois hasn't released a lot of their grants, but yeah, officially done in 

March 4th, but really it was January 30th. Is there something now that you didn't expect about like meeting the nine to five? I'm surprised that I'm as busy as I am. I'm surprised that I'm I that I've, I'm literally get up in the morning and I'm like booked solid meeting after meeting, after meeting work that I'm doing. Yeah. I'm booked solid just like at was at my W2. Yeah. Yeah. It really, but guess what? I'm working for me and my husband and my kids. That's the difference. And so for me, there's a joy in that, you know, there's a, there's complete joy in the, this is for us, this is, I'm not doing this work for somebody else. This this for us. So yeah. Our heart testing it and you're going to be able to eat the fruit of year later. Exactly. Yeah. So exciting. Um,

but we're gonna go around, try and find someone. I won't be good judge because I, you know, I'm not gonna be biased, 

but we're gonna let other people decide

be anonymous that way you won't know. Yep. So that way it be anonymous. I should taste my, I'm gonna taste my competition. 

Would you like to try one of these

for a competition? One and two? Yes. 

two, go

two, choose right here 

and one,

one and two, huh. And then you'll give me the answer

so that way they'll won't find out. We're gonna see which one had the most votes. I made that one. 

Option one,

option two. 

Okay.

Thank you both. 

Little taste test. Oh my god,

you got enough in there? you have enough to make a decision? I'm feeling like you didn't really get enough.

that was a little weak.

I said go back in there. 

Alright, now I feel better,

let's do it. But before we get into the results 

rapid fire,

how long did it take you to leave your 9-5? Two and a half years.

What's scarier? Cold calling or quitting your job? Cold calling.

Biggest mistake you made before leaving your nine to five? Maybe assurance, maybe. I probably would've set up insurance, health insurance a little bit differently. If you had to go back to your nine to five, what would you miss the most about real estate? There is no scenario where I will have to go back to my, 

let's go.

Love that answer. 

I can't even answer that.

However, to find a good deal or a good mentor think a good deal because I feel like I found the right mentor already. I think that there are just many more mentors out there now that I'm in a different world seeing things differently. 

I think the mentors are all there. It's how I choose to use nine to five or full-time real estate. Who sleeps more? I think it's more of good sleep, bad sleep. Good sleep. Real estate. Finish the sentence.

Nine to five. I'd probably be, I'd probably be at my nine to five. Thinking about leaving the nine to five, 

wondering like why, what time is it? Is it almost time to go home? So if real estate was off the table, what would you be doing right now? Probably my nine to five. One habit you had to break to be successful in real estate?

Sleeping in. And last two. What's your guac making strategy? Chunky or smooth? I like chunky. Really. Okay. And do you trust yourself or Carlos to win this guac battle? I think it depends. It depends. If we had a lot of lime lovers out there, I think it's me. If you have those who really like seasoning, 

then it's Carlos. I'm a lime lover and I like yours way more. That leads it into the, 

I'll try not to be crushed if I lose. All right.

One, 

one. Oh

it's not looking good for me. 

One. 

One.

Wow. 

Are we, did we accidentally trade the trade at some point. One. We traded 

two.

I got one. 

Okay. 2, 1, 1. Congratulations.

I still like yours more

I would've voted for yours.

Thank you. So we know that you're looking to buy properties, uh, and there's a lot of people out there listening that are finding properties. Say they find one that you're looking for. How can people get in contact with you and just overall, like follow the work that you're doing? Like how can people meet you? Yes. Uh, actually they can go to get a deal with luz.com. The simplest way to do it. Uh, you can also follow me on Instagram. It's Luz Ramirez Consulting and also on YouTube. I'm actually going to be starting my own podcast pretty soon. Hey, let's go. So it will be on transformation. So I'm very excited. So, uh, keep an eye out for that. That's awesome. Thank you so much for spending your Monday afternoon making walk with us when you can, could have been doing anything else. It means a lot to us. So we, we appreciate it that you invited me to come out here and spend some time with you. This was fun. So thank you very much for having me here. Thanks for sticking with us. Big shout out to Luz for dropping some gems during all the

aguacate smashing. 

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