The Gold Coast Podcast
Hosted by Eric Winegard, this show dives deep into the stories behind South Florida’s most driven entrepreneurs, business owners, and community leaders.
Each episode uncovers the real challenges, lessons, and victories that define the Gold Coast business landscape. Whether you’re a startup founder, established CEO, or simply passionate about growth, you’ll gain valuable insights, strategies, and inspiration from those shaping the region’s economy and culture.
The Gold Coast Podcast
From Chaos to CEO: His Life-Changing Turning Point | Jorge Gutierrez
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From the streets of Chicago to building multiple successful construction companies in Florida, this is a story of discipline, reinvention, and legacy.
In this episode of The Gold Coast Podcast, host Eric Winegard sits down with Jorge Gutierrez, President of Insight Construction & Management, to break down what it really takes to transform your life. Jorge shares his journey from a chaotic upbringing, an absent father, and destructive habits… to becoming a focused entrepreneur, family man, and leader.
They dive deep into:
The moment that forced Jorge to change everything
Why discipline is harder—but necessary for success
Entrepreneurship, pressure, and what most people aren’t built for
Balancing family vs. building a future
Why most people stay stuck (and how to break out)
The truth about money, legacy, and providing for your kids
This episode isn’t just about business—it’s about becoming the man you’re supposed to be.
If you’re an entrepreneur, father, or someone trying to level up in life… this is a must-watch.
Connect with Jorge:
Website: https://insightconstructionfl.com/
Call us at (407) 258-3282
👉 Make sure to LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and SHARE with someone who needs to hear this.
Thank you all for listening in on today's episode of The Gold Coast Podcast!
Hey guys, welcome to another episode of the Gold Coast Podcast. I am your host, Eric Weingard, and today I'm excited to uh talk with Jorge Gutierrez. I probably destroyed his name like you just told me, but uh all jokes aside, Jorge's a friend, Jorge's a client, and Jorge has an incredible success story from you know growing up on the streets of Chicago to moving down to Florida, um, being in the military and reinventing himself over and over as a as a man, as a family man, and as a businessman. And today he runs very many successful businesses, and I'm proud to call him a friend and client. Welcome to the show, Jorge. I um I love lifting weights. Yeah. No, I love it. Don't get me wrong, I I probably lift weights three or four days a week. I'm definitely not trying to, I have plenty of muscle. You know, I'm not trying to gain, like I'm not trying to get yoked anymore. Yeah. But um, but God, it's such a hot, such a high lifting weights, you know. Like you get in that groove, you get that pump going, there's yeah, yeah. Feel great afterwards. But that's why I do it. Yeah. You know, it's for No, it's great.
SPEAKER_01It's great. It's good discipline. For sure. It's one of those things is like the more pain you go through, like the more satisfied you have after.
SPEAKER_00So what was let me ask you this. What muscle, no matter how often you trained it, would be the most sore or healed the slowest for you? Probably back. Interesting. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I got very addicted to training my legs. I was doing legs three times a week. Um so at first it sucked. But you know, then your body gets used to it. For sure. Back for some reason, you get a good pump on back and stay sore for a while.
SPEAKER_00My back always recovered really quick. Yeah. Yeah. I'd I'd say the one muscle for me that was I would feel the I enjoyed the soreness the most were my traps. Yeah. Yeah, something about just having really tight just soreness in the traps. I don't know. Um, but my legs, like I used to, I really damaged my body because you know, I was always about 250. Sometimes I was a leaner 250. Like I was in shape around 238. And there were times I got up to like 260, but you know, but I was pretty in shape, you know, in my thirty 230s, and uh, but I played basketball a lot, dude. And I don't care, you know, on a 5'11, six-foot frame at 238, dude. Like I just if you're there's not many basketball players and bodybuilders, right? They're not complementary workouts. No, you know what I'm saying? Doesn't mix well, doesn't mix well at all. Yeah, so I was always fucking sore, man. Yeah, so sore.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, especially my legs, because I, you know, I would try to do legs and deadlifts. Like I knew I couldn't do legs, basketball, and then deadlifts in the same week. So I tried to do squats and deadlifts in the same day, and then I I couldn't play basketball now for the next fucking three days. Yeah. So I was always it was always a tough balance for me, you know.
SPEAKER_01But it's a lot, it's a lot, and now that we're getting older, man, it's like it's just like drinking, the hangovers last longer, you know. So uh I gotta I gotta be smart on my workouts. I can't I can't condense them as like I used to.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So even four years ago, when I was 39, so I'll be 44 this year. It's a huge difference.
SPEAKER_00No doubt.
SPEAKER_01Huge difference. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So are you taking any peptides or anything?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I take peptides. I have a bad shoulder. So I take peptides for my shoulder, um, and I take peptides to sleep.
SPEAKER_00Okay, interesting.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So what are you taking? What peptides are you taking for your shoulder?
SPEAKER_01Uh they call it's named Glow. It's uh TB500 BBC157 mixed with CHK, I think.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01And then the sleep one. I I just started it. I think it's called Selenex. Okay. Yeah. You could do shots or or nasal. I'm doing nasal. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Um has it been helping the sleep at all? Yeah. Really? Yeah. So describe how it's been helping the sleep. Do you get to sleep faster or are you sleeping? So I never had an issue falling asleep.
SPEAKER_01I have an issue staying asleep. I'll wake up at 2, 3 in the morning and just stare at the ceiling. Um and I I I wake up at 4 30. So waking up at 2 when you're already limited to your sleep where you're only sleeping five, six hours, um really sucks. So now I'm I'm waking up naturally around four, which is not too bad. But it feels like it's deeper sleep also.
SPEAKER_00Um, so this is a fascinating thing to talk about. Like, dude, my uh my sleep sucks. And one so this is coffee. This will be my last cup today. I've been trying to not have it past noon. That's been helping my sleep a lot. Yeah. But I'm just like you, I really struggle, you know, because I I can fall asleep and I take a little sleep aid, but dude, like this morning, bro, I was up at 3.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, 3:30.
SPEAKER_00And then I'm like, well, if I go back to sleep, I'm just gonna feel even worse. Yeah. So I might as well stay up. And then I'm exhausted throughout the day pushing through. Yeah. And then so, but the next night I'll get a good night's sleep because I'm so exhausted. It's just, it's an awful routine I'm in. Yeah. So I am addressing it with I I am adjusting my diet, I'm adjusting my caffeine consumption, and I'm really open to to peptides if you if it sounds like it's I'll send it to you.
SPEAKER_01Okay, it's great. Um, and that's another thing. I did cut off caffeine. Um, just like you, noon is unless I know I have like a really long day where I'm gonna be up to 10, 11 o'clock, then I might take one no later than two. Um, and I cut off energy drinks. Now it's just coffee.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, and then eventually I'll reduce the coffee a little bit more. Um, and try and if I could get one or two a day, I'm happy. Yeah. Sometimes I'm like chugging out like it's almost 12 o'clock. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh, trust me, right around noon, I'm like, my fix in, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, get two of them in the half hour just because it's almost 12 o'clock.
SPEAKER_00So me and my wife, we have we've had this funny like ongoing caffeine joke in battle for five or six years. So when we when we take when we when we're on flights, I I'll always nap. So let's say it's a 2 p.m. flight and I sleep for an hour and it's 3 p.m. When I wake up, I'm it's almost like I'm re-waking up. So I would always need a little caffeine boost then, right? So what I would do is sneak a little five-hour energy in my pocket, and my wife hates when I have energy drinks and stuff. I've gotten rid of them, but um, she would hate it when I would do it. So I would always like hide this little five-hour energy drink in my pocket. And like when you open them, you actually you can hear the sound. So I got to the point to where I was going to the bathroom, opening them and drinking them in there, and drinking them in there and like hiding them from her. But but um, yeah, no, caffeine is uh, you know, it's it's crazy, dude, because I didn't start drinking caffeine until I was 23. You know, dude, I I went through high school. I went to the military. I went through the military without caffeine. You know what I mean? And then I started a landscaping job, and they basically made me do all the grunt work. There what you know, I wasn't doing, you know, I wasn't mowing the lawns, bro. I was like, you know, this was like that's what broke you. You know what I'm saying? And I was living with my mom for a few months, and I asked her, I said, Mom, I can't wake up. She goes, It's time, son. It's time to have a cup of coffee. And I've been hooked ever since.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. I do like the taste of coffee, so it's it's difficult. Um, but I don't know, man. I think for me, it's once I started taking pre-workouts. I think once I started taking pre-workouts, I got addicted to like the jitters and the caffeine and uh like woo, let's go, right? Um, but your body gets used to it, and then you start taking more dosage and more and more, and then you turn like us where we're zombies and junkies, yeah. Can't can't sleep, and you're like, oh, I know what will fix it. Another drink.
SPEAKER_00Bro, yes, thank you. I I I you're making me feel not alone here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's a tough battle, bro. And your diet has a lot to do with it. Your diet has a lot to do. My we just went through IVF. Um, as a matter of fact, when I met you at Mar-a-Lago, we just had our our baby. Uh he turned one last week. Wow. Um going through IVF, I don't know why, man. Every pregnancy, every kid I had, I will gain easily 20 pounds. My hormones will just go off. But IVF, it was so stressful, and her hormones were all over the place. I just became an emotional eater. So my diet went all over the place, and now it's like I'm fighting to bring it back. Yeah. Um, because your diet has a lot to do with it. Your energy levels has a lot to do with your diet.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah. So yeah. I so so what so I caught myself. So I was we found out Alexis is pregnant.
unknownProbably.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, by the way, congrats. Thank you. We're doing the gender reveal next weekend. Nice. So we're very excited about that. So, yeah, I thought that um, you know, she we knew she got pregnant in December and it was around holiday time, and I went into total fuck it mode, right? So she's her cravings totally, I mean, she does not eat fast food, she doesn't eat bad. Don't get me wrong, every now and then, you know, if she had a drink or something, she'll have a bad meal, blah, blah, blah. But she's a healthy girl, right? And she has been her whole life. You know, her family was always shopping, you know, they didn't have potato chips and soda in the house, right? Yeah. So she's been healthy for her whole life. So all of a sudden, she's eating fast food. That's all she wants. She wants Dunkin' Donuts or McDonald's in the morning. Then she wants five guys for lunch, and then she wants pizza and something else for dinner. And it's just Uber Eats is like just breaking our financial statements, you know, like like we're have personal relationships with the the Uber Eats. Hey Steve, how you doing? How's Alexis? You know, she's got a pizza craving. But um, but I fell into that trap for a little bit, right? And in early January, I felt I looked at myself and I go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I go, I'm recognizing right now that I have an opportunity to really fall off here. Yeah. So I told her, I'm like, babe, I got I can't go along this ride with you. And I've really pulled it back. And in the past, you know, 12 weeks, like if you look at me in January versus now, I look like a completely different person, you know. So I'm so I've just got control of it again. But I saw myself going down a bad path.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, yeah. In a blink of an eye, yeah, in a blink of eye. It takes you so long to get to some peak of physical satisfaction, right? Of fitness, and then uh so quick to lose it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And we're rolling, by the way. Yeah, yeah. Oh, cool, cool, cool. Yeah, um, you know, one of the strategies, you know, it's interesting. What what I've been doing is just getting into the conversation because it just happens organically, and the conversation sounds so much better. Right. Versus like putting all this pressure on everybody, like, hey, welcome to the Gold Ghost podcast. I was recording my podcast.
SPEAKER_01I think I stopped roughly two years ago. And I did it the same way. Just rolled right. Because if you really pay attention to like Joe Rogan's podcast, they kind of start like in the middle of a conversation, and I'm like, man, maybe that's what I need to do. Because it's so weird to do your introduction. And as soon as you put your introduction, it kind of puts your guess at they're not a pro like you are, they haven't done it as many times. So they get nervous and then they start acting different, and then halfway through the podcast, they start loosening up, and then it can't be. And then you're done.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01You know, so it's like I I do it the same way. Just roll into it, be natural, and yeah.
SPEAKER_00No, it's it's and I've only been doing it for a few months, dude. We we we had a couple videos actually really hit on YouTube, you know. So we got over 5,000 subscribers now, which is awesome. Yeah, well, the cool thing is is I have cool business people like you that I can in my network. So I'm I'm interviewing all these different business people, right? So, you know, one of my buddies was a UFC fighter, you know, one of my buddies built a eight-figure paving business, but was addicted to crack 15 years ago, you know, spent six years in jail. Uh, you know, his father died in jail, and that inspired him to find a god and wow, and you know, not uh destroy the family name. And now he has a$10 million year paving business. So it's like I have all these amazing stories, you know, and that that's really why I I wanted to start it. Was honestly my motivation, Jorge, is is like when I was 20, when I was 19, 20, 21, like I didn't have mentorship, you know, and like you know, I was doing a lot of drugs and selling drugs and you know being very promiscuous. You know, you think you're cool because you're you're sleeping with other women all the time. Yeah. Actually, what you are is insecure, it just takes you a long time to realize that. Figure it out. To figure it out that you're just looking for validation over and over. But um, but I kind of wish, you know, I kind of wish somebody talked to me, a business owner, an entrepreneur, and said, Hey kid, like you're you're good enough to to start your own business. You actually don't even have to work for anybody. You you could do this, this, and this, and this, and you can live this great life. I I think I think I kind of was reckless because I think I didn't forecast my life to be blissful. I think I was kind of like, eh, if I die, you know, doing cocaine all night long, so what? Who cares? I don't got anything to look forward to anyway. But if someone said, hey, you don't have to be the smartest, you don't need a business degree, you know, if you have a little bit of work ethic and and learn, you know, money a little bit and learn money in, money out, sales, marketing, uh, you know, running a business a little bit, you know, with in a few few years you can build a nice life for yourself. And uh, you know, so I think my reason for wanting to do the the podcast is to is to talk to a wide variety of business people, whether you had it made as a young man with a good mommy and good daddy, God bless you. But most of the stories are not that. Most of the stories are oh man, I I was in a heap of trouble at this one point. Here's how I overcame it. That's really my goal for this, you know, is like to find out that point with you, because you have very successful businesses today, but like getting down to the nitty-gritty, like like where was that fork in the road for you? Because it came at some point, you know.
SPEAKER_01Man, for me, I think is when I had my first daughter, and it wasn't like instantly, it was just something nudging me, saying, Hey, if your version came into the house today, your daughter, will you be okay with it? And it was always no. And then little by little, then I had my second daughter, and then I went through my divorce, and then I caught myself doing the same thing I was doing that caused my divorce. Um and then I met my I I didn't grow up with my father. He left when I was about six or seven. Uh he passed away, and we're still not sure, but it's 13 or 15 siblings that I have. Yeah. And I met one of them. Um, he came, flew out to Orlando, I had dinner with him, and I never did cocaine because I knew my dad was a coke head. I never left my kids because that's what my dad did. So in my eyes, I'm not gonna be that dude. Um, and then he's like, Yeah, uh, dad was raising your family, my family, and then he had a third family that he he was about to start raising. Oh and when he said that, I'm like, I became that dude. That for me was like instant. And about a couple days later, uh, I went through hell because I had to tell everyone what I was doing. Yeah. So um that turned my life upside down. Um but it was for the better. You know, now I'm married, happy, faithful, have another kid, planning to have one more, you know, um clear-minded for my business, uh more concentrated on my legacy and what I'm gonna what experiences and lessons I'm gonna leave to my kids instead of temporary satisfaction. Now I'm looking more for permanent satisfaction, you know.
SPEAKER_00Let me let me ask you a question. Like um, how does why why does a young man like you didn't have a father, so you you didn't have a good example, right, set, and you found yourself being the same bad example setter, right? Why is it that we tend to go the dark path?
SPEAKER_01It's easier. It's easier to go through negative energy, it's easier to be depressed, it's easier to go with the flow, and uh it's really hard to be positive 24-7, it's really hard to uh be uplifting, it's really hard to do the right thing. It's not as easy as you know going with the with the masses.
SPEAKER_00That's that's fascinating. So being I agree with you, it's it's almost like it's harder, like, because I talk about you know, people talk about being successful is harder, is hard. I'm like, actually being unsuccessful is way harder, right? Because you're dealing with bills, you're dealing with yeah, yeah, your quality of life. Your quality of life, yeah. I think being unsuccessful is harder, so or is uh is is easy, right? So it's it's interesting to hear you say that because yeah, no, you're right.
SPEAKER_01Sometimes and a lot of it has to do with acknowledging it and accepting it. Like you don't think you're unhappy when you're out there sleeping around and doing all this stuff, but as soon as you really accept it and start like being honest with yourself, that's when it's harder to stay in that route, right? Um but when you're hiding it and masking it, it's it's easy just to go with it.
SPEAKER_00Now how are you hiding it and masking it? Um because you said you didn't use drugs. No, no.
SPEAKER_01Never I never did. I was never heavy on drugs. I was a alcoholic at one point.
SPEAKER_00Okay, that was the mask.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that I masked it with with alcohol and and women. Right? And it was not even that I was like trying to fall in love with them. It was just I want to accomplish something. The more difficult the girl was, uh the bigger wall that she put, like the more challenging it was for me.
SPEAKER_00Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, like I didn't care about the physical attraction as much. I didn't care about uh what could she provide 10 years from now. It's like, oh, I have a challenge. I could break this wall down. I have something to do now. So and that has a lot to do with my personality. You know, once you start figuring that out, you know, I I I brought it to work. I started doing the same thing at work where a six-month project should flow pretty smoothly. Yeah. Mine was it will it will go rapid and then it'll go halt. And then the last month is like, hey, let me put my cape on and watch me do this. Right? And last minute I'll pull it out, and everyone's like, Oh my god, George is the man, and but I was creating my own chaos. Just something challenging for me to resolve.
SPEAKER_00You like cortisol and pressure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. I work great on. I work great under I work great under pressure, but that's unhealthy when you're creating it. I want natural pressure. Like the world and being an entrepreneur brings enough. I don't need to add more to it.
SPEAKER_00So you know, and I'm I'm interested in digging digging this in with you because I because I'm thinking about somebody listening here. There's somebody listening that's not doing right by their lady. And my when I when I hear these things, like I understand these things happen. You know, we're human. My usual response to that is, well, if you love her and you're committed to her, stay committed.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00If you don't love her, move on. Move on. Yeah. That's so that's kind of, and I'm not telling you I'm like a psych psychologist, but but I think sometimes, you know, because my wife today, you know, I'm so in love with her. I'm so head over heels with for her. That I don't my my eyes don't even look. That I have a wandering eye with other women, yes, but I wasn't head over heels in love with them. So sometimes I'm not giving us uh an out for infidelity, but a lot of times it's are we even with the right partner in the first place?
SPEAKER_01No, and for me, I can't speak for anyone else, but for me, it was like it was so dumb, bro, because you want this challenge, but in the same time you don't want to be alone. Right? And you know what you're doing, you could lose her, but I got B C D E lined up. I'm sure I could talk my way into one of them and I won't be alone. So you go from one relationship to another, knowing you're none of this belongs to you. Like this is not meant for you, but I I'm not alone.
SPEAKER_00So how how did your how your success, let's talk about like the financial part of your life. Do you find that since you've had a an awakening? Spirit like a mo in an emotional awakening, maybe, right? Like in a maybe a spiritual awakening, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01I I I always believed in Jesus since I was young. My mom did a very good job planting that seed, always. Um, I was heavily into church during high school. Um I would go through a Christian radio station and talk and preach. So I was always heavy into God. Um I I wouldn't be here without Him for a fact.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um so you know, but and even more knowing that that guilty and conscience eats you alive, man. Because you know the truth. You're just hiding it, you're pushing it away, and you you'll tell yourself whatever lie. Like I'm like the best salesman because I could convince myself that a lie is the truth.
SPEAKER_00Right. Now, how was your business success prior to you behaving like this? And then how is your business operating with this awakening or new version of yourself?
SPEAKER_01Uh before, as soon as it gets hard, I would quit. Go find a nine to five, then get tired of that, start another company, quit when it gets hard. So I was never consistent, I was never committed. I would do the same thing like I would do with girls. Like, oh, this is boring. Let me go look for something else. Now it's like I'm plugging away, I'm building a brand, and I could see my vision come into life, and uh and good things are happening because I'm a hundred percent committed to it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's that's that's pretty honest. Yeah. Uh it's I've always kind of felt like commitment is commitment, right? It's like, you know, commitment to yourself, commitment to your future, right? It's commitment is commitment, correct?
SPEAKER_01Uh especially when it gets hard. It's easy to stay committed to something when it's making you happy and money's coming in, and you know, it's the perfect life. But as soon as it gets hard, that's when we usually all give up. But it's still the perfect life. You were praying about this opportunity, you know, 15, 20 years ago. And you know, when we were kids, I want to be like that dude. He has the nice truck, he has the nice car, he has the beautiful wife. Okay, I'm there. But no one said it was gonna be easy. I I painted that picture. I painted the picture that it was gonna be easy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's interesting. I I wonder, I wonder, trying to think of how to coin this. So I see a lot of salespeople. Sales is a hard gig. Yes. And when they start at a new company, day one, bro. It's woo, I'm excited. Boy, this is gonna be fun, you know? And uh and and I hear it all the time. They're like, oh, I'm gonna kill it. I'm gonna, I love this, I'm gonna be great. And I always tell everybody, I see better than I hear. And sometimes even when a salesperson's talking to me, I'll just go like this. Right? Because I know sooner than later, once you're out of the honeymoon phase of working, eat whether it's with us or any company anywhere or being an entrepreneur, that honeymoon phase fades quick. Oh, yeah. And once you once you're tested, that's I feel like that's when hard work finally starts. Exactly. Right? It's like because it was kind of like fun and easy, and and and it, and it's easy to be motivated before conflict or before an obstacle. But now, once the conflict is hitting you right in your face, now let's see what you're made of. Who are you really?
SPEAKER_01It's I I just got back from Chicago. I I grew up there. Well, I left when I was 13, and it reminded me of the hustle. It reminded me of the grind. Um, and I was talking to my wife. I'm like, man, like when things get hard, Chicago reminds you to just go move, move. Like you're gonna get through it, right? But it's only to get through today. Like I the streets never taught me how to get through in 10 years. It's always, hey, we gotta survive today. Only today, survive today, today. You know, so when things get hard and you don't have the skills to get through, and then you really have to hone your skills, it's even harder. And you gotta be honest with yourself, and you think you're the man because you own a business and you're top of the world, and then you gotta tell yourself, hey, you ain't shit. You ain't shit, you gotta, you gotta slow down. You gotta f my biggest issue is slowing down, focusing, and organizing yourself. Do the prep work, present it, and then you could build something nice. Um, so when I had to hold down that skill and really control myself, that's that's way harder.
SPEAKER_00I always, I always I love this quote. I don't know who said this quote. I I wish I could give credit to him, whoever it is. And I say this to people, but they don't understand it unless they've gone through it. But the work works on you more than you work on the work. Right? Yeah, because the work actually is what develops you. Yeah. Yeah. Right? The the battle-tested times, the learning to, oh, it's not just about today, it's also about tomorrow and next week. And, you know, it's not just a short-sighted decision. I have to have long-term decision making. But yeah, I believe that sometimes what I do intentionally with with team members in my company is I want to force a little pressure on them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, appropriate pressure. You know, not if you don't do this today, you're fired. I think that's that's disproportionate pressure and and unfair pressure. But, you know, I'll give you 90 days. You got to figure this out. And I think they should feel a little pressure. I don't think they should be scared, but I intentionally put pressure on people because I I need to see, you know, who's because I'm going on a ride and I need to I need to know um when things are because we're gonna be hit with conflict, we're gonna be hit with challenges. There's gonna be times where like, oh crap, I need to know who's who's gonna be battle tested with me because I'm battle tested, I'm ready to go.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, and I told I've told my people, like, I'm not, I can't mentor you today. I can't talk about your feelings. I go, I'm here to lead you to the promised land, but you you gotta work on the feelings and stuff. I can't be having emotional talks with you. I'm past mentorship. Have somebody else in the company do it. I don't have time for that. The company doesn't have time for that. We gotta go. You know, I I look at it like a battalion, bro. Like you, you know, you can't You have to. You know?
SPEAKER_01You have to. You have to. Um, being an entrepreneur is like the best therapy. Like, uh if you really want to make it, like you said, you have to work on yourself because you're gonna be the weakest link. And you're the one guiding. So if you're if you're weak, imagine everyone behind you is even weaker. You guys ain't gonna go anywhere.
SPEAKER_00No doubt. Uh unpack that. Like, do you think that um do you think everyone should be an entrepreneur? No.
SPEAKER_01A lot of people have characteristics of an entrepreneur, but not everyone's meant for it. Not everyone's meant for it. It took me a long time to go home and not worry about money and how we're gonna pay bills, because that's that goes with entrepreneurship, right? Like uh, I had five days to come up with 200,000. Like, how are you gonna do that? Like, but you go home and you forget all about it, and you just spend time with your family. Not everyone could do that, not everyone could do that, and everyone's asleep, and then I start stressing again. Like, okay, come up with a strategy. Okay, I could get an equity from here, I could pull a line from here, I could max out this credit card, whatever, right? Um, and you figure it out, and then the family never knew about it. But some people would take that home and let their family feel all that stress as if they signed up for it. You know, so and you gotta be a leader too. Some people could carry themselves very, very well, but as soon as you put in someone else's responsibility, they fold. So being in the military, you seen it.
SPEAKER_00No, for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you seen it. You've seen people that have the rank. Um, I was in the air force, so you see people with the rank, and they were horrible leaders. And they were they were well present presenting themselves, but they were not good in building, you know, their squad with them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think that's why I think this is why we like watching sport so much. Because like at the core of Kobe Bryant's popularity, a guy like that is is he is a soldier. He was a soldier, you know. It's like in the highest pressure of moments, you know, Kobe would, and I wasn't even a fan of him. He was my nemesis. I was a Spurs, I'm a Spurs fan. But in the highest pressure of moments with Kobe, man, you just felt he would, you know, he just had that look like, I am gonna kill you. Yeah, and he knew there was fear on the court, he could smell it. You know, that that's a leader, that's a winner.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, yeah, and that's that's an entrepreneur, and carries his whole team, even though they name call him. He's an asshole, he makes us do this, makes us do that, he makes us look bad. But every game, they followed him.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So tell me, um, so tell me about your upbringing a little bit in Chicago.
SPEAKER_01Uh grew up in an area called Homebook Park. Uh, so my dad's Mexican, my mom's Guatemalan. Homebo Park is all Puerto Ricans. Okay. Uh you were Puerto Rican. So I get that a lot. Um it was a rough area. Um, my dad left when I was about six. My mom decided to leave Chicago when I was 13. And then we grew up in Daltona. Uh, so hard to like just when I was starting to figure out where I fit in Chicago and then come over here, and it's night and day difference, bro. Like, you know, there was a grocery store 20 minutes away. Like, you know, like so it was so hard for me to just figure who I am, where I belong. I became very socially awkward during middle school, during high school. Um, and then after high school, um I just got caught up with uh attention I was getting. You know, I was fit, good looking, right? I started making good money. I think I was 22 making 140,000.
SPEAKER_00Wow.
SPEAKER_01So I just got caught up in it, you know.
SPEAKER_00Went to your head. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I got my ego got really, really big. Um and I allowed it to control me. So, and that took I think I was 37 when I'm like, I gotta change. So, you know, fifteen fifteen years of just living a lifestyle that you're just destroying yourself little by little, you know, and destroying the reputation I was giving my kids, which I had it took a while for me to repair that, you know, and I have two beautiful girls, they love me, um, but it took a while for them to trust me again.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um, you know, I I I love what you're saying because it sounds like you knew you had to reinvent yourself. And I tell everybody this that I I've gone through two or three major reinventions in my life, and I remember I reinvented myself around 19. You know, there was a version of me that was, you know, I was getting into fights all the time. And um, you know, well, actually, the the reinvention really occurred after the military, I would say. Like, like the reinvention occurred during the military, right? So from 19 to 23, I was a completely different person. Far from perfect, but at least if you were to forecast my future at 23 versus 19, you definitely would have put your money on the 23-year-old version of me. Yeah. Okay, right. Um, so that was a big phase of my life. And I think I was always, you know, you said 22 to 37. I think I was under kind of that same timeline where maybe I got caught up in thinking I don't have to reinvent again.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Right. I got caught up thinking, oh, I'm not shooting people, I'm not uh using drugs that much, I'm not um, you know, doing these bad things to people. I'm I'm just you know making my money and I'm having fun and you know I'm good to society. But but the truth was I still wasn't the I was far from the best version of myself. And then COVID hit, and three things happened to me. Number one, I went through a divorce, and there's always financial pain there. Number two, I had a company furlough me that I was there for 17 years, and I made, you know, on average three, four hundred thousand dollars a year. So I wasn't making any money, and I made too much money for the government to give me any assistance. So all those checks people were getting, I wasn't getting nothing. So divorced, fired, wasn't getting any government help. And what it did to me though is it forced me to reinvent. So we talk about the pressure and the mental toughness and the conflict and and the composure necessary to get through it. Oh, I went through it. Yeah, didn't tell anybody, yeah. Nobody knew. I was like, but I'm I'm gonna do this. I met a beautiful girl named Alexis, and I said, I'm falling in love with you, but I'm moving to Florida and I'm starting my own business. I'm gonna be the CEO of my future. And we moved down here, so I got a new girl who I fell in love with, who I'm now about to have a kid with, uh, got a new job, which was my own company, and a new zip code. And I couldn't be living a more blissful life today. But I'll tell you what, at 38, 39, I was, you know, fat, unhappy, uh, wrong marriage, wrong company, wrong zip code. Um, but it took that reinvention to get what I want.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Yeah, you're right. I I joined the military late. I joined it at 28. Did my six years in the guard in the Air Force Guard. Um, out of the six years, I think I was active, man, close to four. Um and then I started recouping from my do my divorce uh financially. Because between the guard and then I was a PM for another builder, I'm recouping and I found myself going back to my bad habits, you know. Um I'm like, I need to challenge myself. That's when I started really learning about I life is not hard, I'm making it hard and I'm creating these obstacles, right? I need to focus on something that's gonna be hard. That's when I decided to do bodybuilding. And I'm like, I'm gonna do something drastically different, you know. I weighed, I think when I met my coach, I was roughly 220 pounds. When I went on stage, I was 1763 body fat um my for my first show. Wow, and it was the hardest thing. Um, it took me about a year.
SPEAKER_00Um to get that shredded, you're saying, yeah, yeah, wow.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. But during the process, um not knowing what's going on, uh he was the first male figure that I looked up to and like a father. You know, um, he had a great wife, he had good kids, he was respectful. Never seen that. Never seen it, never seen it around me. Even growing up in church, because you know, a typical Spanish Pentecostal church, you're in there for three, four hours. By the time you're done with church, you're like exhausted, everyone goes home, and then the chaos at home. So I was never in the household where I would see what how a male is supposed to treat his his wife. So that was the first time I saw it. Um and that's really that's really what started creating like little seeds. God knew what he was doing. Then I have two great friends that let me closer to them and I saw how they treated their wives. And then that's when I found out about my dad. So it was uh like all those seeds little by little, and then when I heard the news about my father, it was like the last bit for me. Um and then recreated myself all over again and said, Okay, this is my version. This is what I this is what I have to do. If I want to be happy, I want to be proud of my last name, and I want to, you know, um be able to walk down the street and not worry, this is what I need to do. So yeah, and once I decided, but now I have a like you said, now I have a beautiful wife, I have a kid, um multiple construction businesses, and you know, uh when things get hard, it doesn't matter because what you created around you, you're happy. What you created around you, you're proud of.
SPEAKER_00So how do you you know I struggle with articulating this? Um and I'm and I might sound cold here, but understand this isn't coming from a cold, cold-hearted answer. But how do you handle the decision between spending time with your family or providing for your family? Because I know that, like you said, I know sometimes business and duty calls. You know, how do you how do you balance that? Because I I know it is a decision that I'm already realizing that I'm going to have to face here and there. I want to be as present as possible, but I also understand that I have a real window of opportunity here in these next five years to really set my for my family up for generations. How do you how do you handle that?
SPEAKER_01Uh for me, and you know, my wife understands, my kids understand that I'm not available seven days a week, right? But one, as soon as I do get home, I give them all my attention. Um, you you are present. It might be, I think last night I was only home an hour before we had to put the baby asleep. So I I was only able to give them an hour, but I gave them all uh the whole hour, right? Uh I was present, and then as soon as everyone went back. To sleep, I got on the computer and did whatever work I needed to do. Um it's just you have to be okay with it. You gotta be present as much as possible. But when you gotta work, you gotta work. Like you said, like it's your company, no one cares about it as much as you do. None of these employees care about it as much as you do.
SPEAKER_00Um I don't expect them to.
SPEAKER_01Correct, correct. It's not their sacrifice, they didn't sign up for it. So um you have to you have to put in your time, you know.
SPEAKER_00So how would you so I have a friend, right? Um, and he's he's ascended a lot, you know, pretty, you know, he went from making 80 grand a year to 150 grand a year, and and he has this window of opportunity to really, you know, he he could he could make a million a year, right? Uh he's at he's our age, he has a uh 10-year-old son, and I feel like his tendency is to be he's like, you know, I don't want to miss any of these moments with my child. And uh, you know, putting him on the bus or you know, watching the the game and you know, his baseball game, or whatever it may be. And and I'm this is where I'm telling you, I'm not trying to be cold-hearted. I'm not saying you should miss those. The way I feel is you fucked around so much prior to having him, and you're not in the position where you want to be in. Part of me feels like this is me. Go nuts from age 10 to 15 and put your child up into position to where your son goes, Oh, your son is proud of you because you're paying for his college. Now he has you're teaching him business, you're gonna help him set up a business. So it's like, am I cold and thinking that? Because I feel like when this child is 18, this child's gonna pay for his own college, and and and you know, this child's gonna just not he's gonna be one of many versus one of a few. And I feel like my friend has this window of opportunity to make his son one of a few. Yeah. Do you do do you follow me here? Yeah. Am I being cold hearted and saying that? Because I'm not in that position either. So I I I respect that.
SPEAKER_01And that's what you want. If that's what he wants, if and you're and you're absolutely right with there's consequences to your decisions, right? If the consequences are that you're gonna miss two years of baseball because you fucked around and made the wrong decisions, then you either eat that, right, or you take a nine to five and take the consequences of a nine to five. Like life is not perfect. You have to make a decision. So it's either go balls to the wall, like you said, be it there as much as you can, and accept that it might only be twenty-five percent instead of the hundred percent, um, and and and leave something for your kid and teach them something, or be there a hundred percent of the time and take a nine of five.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01What what's more important to him, right? Yeah, and it is an individual choice. I agree. It's totally tell you what my decision would be, and I think it's the same as yours. Yeah, but if that's not what he wants, okay, that's fine. There's no right or wrong, just there's gonna be a consequence to whatever decision you pick.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I like this. I this is I I you get you're getting me emotional here, like revved up emotional. Because I the way I look at it is is dude, homeownership is already damn near unattainable for these kids coming out of college. Already unattainable. So forecasting eight to ten years from now, no. We do I think it's gonna get better. No, I think it's gonna get worse. I think the wealthy are gonna continue to get wealthy. There's obviously a d a squeezing of the middle class, and then there's an expansion of the lower class. And on if you're to be in that upper class, you have to be elite. You you you if you're 22 years old, you know, you have to come up with an AI product, or you have to be an elite salesperson. Maybe like maybe you ascend up the company ranks and you're making hundreds of like you gotta be elite, I feel like. Yeah, you gotta be elite. And and real the way I think about it is nothing against my future kid or your kids or or my friend's kid. The chances of him being elite are one in a million, but you have the opportunity to help him catapult him.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, get a head start, you know.
SPEAKER_00So that's that's what I think. I go, what do I care more about? That baseball game for two hours for two years? Or my son's life from 18 to 80.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, right?
SPEAKER_00It kills me not to spend time, and it sucks that this has to be a decision, but what's actually better for the child? That's where my brain goes, and I feel like that's where your go, yours goes.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Absolutely. If anything, I'll be mad at myself. Why why did I wait so long to take a hold of my financial situation, right? Like, but he's not gonna miss all of them, right? It sucks that you're gonna miss a lot of them. You're not gonna miss all of them. Just be as present as you can and supportive as you can throughout it. He might not understand it today. He you know, he might not understand it when he's 18. He's gonna understand it soon, right? And he'll thank you for it.
SPEAKER_00So we we're in alignment for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and you know, my daughters, uh, I wasn't there. I was deployed a lot, so I wasn't there. And now, as you know, one is 18, one's 20. Now they're starting to grasp what life is and how expensive it is and how hard it is. Um, and they're talking about opening up their own businesses and figuring life out. So they lean on me for a lot of advice. Um and I have helped a lot, and I'm still planning on helping them, you know. Um, I'm not gonna get them through school if that's what they want to do. Um, that's on their own. Um, my youngest one decided not to go to school. My oldest one wants to be a doctor, so I'll help her, but I want to help her in a way where I think it's more effective. Like let's get you a house. I'll help you with that, right? Um, if you're smart enough, if you're disciplined enough, you could get enough grants and scholarships that will get you through school. Um you can't get grants to buy a house. No, not that I know of. No. You know, so I'll help you with that. I'll help you s get set up.
SPEAKER_00Um, so yeah, no, I and I'm not the biggest believer in college either. Um, I I just you know, I don't know what it'll be like in 10 years for his son. You know, the idea of a university is is gonna change, it has to.
SPEAKER_01It already is. Yeah. It already is. It drastically changed from when you and me were in our 20s 20 years ago. The idea of college is it has changed drastically. You know, if they would do college where, hey, take these courses and this will help you in your career, cool. But you want me to take two years of I don't know what to even start two or three classes for what I need in my career. And then no one's gonna really want to hire me because I don't have experience. Like, and what they pay me is not gonna be enough to pay just a loan alone.
SPEAKER_00I still remember this conversation I had. So I was I was a VP at this other company and uh that I worked for for years, and so I was I had the ability to hire people. I wasn't the HR person, but sure. If I found a decent salesperson or marketing person, I could hire them, right? Um, so my my girlfriend at the time, her uh good friend had just graduated from college. And uh she was like, Oh, you know, I'm interested in interviewing with you and your company. And I said, Oh, I said, that's cool. I said, uh, I said, uh, you know, I don't know you very well. I said, can you tell me a little bit about you know your career? And I didn't know she goes, oh, I just graduated from college. She's like, I got a degree in marketing, and I go, okay, I go, cool. She goes, well, what what kind of what do you think the starting salaries are there? And I go, well, I go, um, at the time, I go, it's not a whole lot. I go, entry level, probably like$35,000 or something. And and she was like, oh, oh, no, no, no, no. She goes, I have a degree. Oh, she goes, I think, let me just I go, and I go, oh, I have to be the bearer of bad news. Right. But I but that I the reason I tell that story is because I still believe that's kind of what colleges are promoting. Correct. And and and then these kids that are 22, 23 years old, they get out and they're just like, you know, uh-oh.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And you know, some some like my daughter that wants to be a doctor, you have to go. There's no way around it. You have to go. Cool. But I forgot what degree my wife has. I don't even remember. I don't even remember what it is. She doesn't use it, you know. So, you know, if you want to go and pay for having the experience of going to school for four more years, okay, cool. But don't expect it to drastically change your financial situation the day you get that piece of paper.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no doubt.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's just not gonna happen. It's not it's not reality.
SPEAKER_00Man, I if if you're a troubled teen, 18-year-old man, dude, go learn a trade, go go to the military.
SPEAKER_01If you don't know what you want to do, have no idea, join the military. Yeah, I agree. Sign up for four years. You'll you'll find out what you don't want to do real quick. Yeah, no doubt. Join for four years. It was even joining at 28, it was the best thing I ever did. It humbled me. It humbled me. Um, and you get to meet so many people. I still talk to a lot of people. I made a lot of friends. Um, so and you know, whatever skills you have, it sharpens them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no doubt. I uh um how did how did the military humble you?
SPEAKER_01Um well being in like different countries, you see how lucky we are, how lucky the United States is, how we take granted what what this country brings or gives us. We really do. Let's say uh whatever country they have with the ocean, they have the sand, they have the palm trees, and it's beautiful, right? There's the people, the food, it's all beautiful, but they don't have opportunity. United States has opportunity. You're gonna have to work for it, you're gonna have to bleed, you're gonna have to grind, you're gonna have to, you know, cry, you're gonna have to do all of that, but there's opportunity here. Over there, they do all of that. They cry, they bleed, they grind every single day, and it's just to live. There's no opportunity in other countries. Um here there's a lot of opportunity, we're just not willing to work for it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's almost like it's almost like media, food, quality of life here has gotten so good or accessible, is what I'm saying, that it it's it's all turned into poison. Correct. You know, but you'll see an African tribe with swollen bellies, you know, that are singing and dancing like it's yeah, you know, happy. And they're happy, and you could see you could see the smile on their face. They're happy, you know. But we're but we're you know uh the most depressed society in the world, you know. I don't even know how we're functioning, I have no idea.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we're depressed because we don't have enough, but we have the most opportunity of any other country. You're just not willing to work for it. At the end of the day, everything that I blame God for that he didn't give me, or you want to blame that I grew up in a bad area of Chicago, right? And it's not meant for me. I'm darker than everyone else, it's not meant for me. It's all excuses because I didn't want to work hard enough. That's that's what it boils down to. I'm behind on where I want to be because I didn't want to work hard enough. There was something I didn't want to sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00Well, at least you're you're you're you have broken the family chain. Yeah. Which I think is your responsibility to do mine too.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, eventually someone in the family chain has to say enough is enough. I'm gonna be the one that provides common sense, leadership, mental strength, and com and you know, uh financial well-being. You know, so so your next generation is gonna be better off. The next generation is gonna be better off.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And I'm hoping that none of those generations fuck it up, right? Where yes, you might have more money, you might have it easier, but figure out a challenge. Make you know, make yourself struggle. Because I I believe if we don't struggle, if there's not a challenge, we'll just fall into that unhappy stage where nothing's enough.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, if you don't have a struggle or a challenge, if you win the lottery, it's not gonna feel as good. No. Right? Like like winning. But life will be easier. Your life will be easier, yeah. But it won't feel you won't feel the same way that you and I do when we have a big win in business. Yeah, you won't feel the same way at all. Yeah. You know, so it is that struggle, it is that challenge that does make it, that makes it all worth it, too. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. You know, and it's hard because your siblings and people, your friends that grew up with you, they grew up in the same area as you, and they automatically put you in this picture of you think that you're better than that, right? Because you're doing this and you're you're trying. I man, I mess up daily. Like, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just figuring it out, just like everyone else. Hey, I heard Eric is doing this, let's try it. Doesn't work for us, right? Like, okay, what's next? Okay, let's try this. We're just figuring it out. I'm not perfect. We make mistakes every single day. Uh, we're trying to grow every single day, uh, financially, personally, spiritually, you know. Um, but they put you in this box of you're an asshole, you're rich, and you don't want to talk to anyone. And uh that's probably the hardest part on growing, um, and people around you don't want to grow.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no doubt. Yeah. I remember I was trying to lose weight at one point, and I I was doing a keto diet or whatever, and I was just trying to shed some weight, and I remember I went to my buddy's house back home, and his wife was cooking us a meal, and I just said, Oh, I'm just gonna have the meat and broccoli or whatever. He's like, Well, you're not gonna, you know, you're not gonna have the rice and potatoes. I go, no, I'm just trying to lose a little weight, you know, on this diet. And he kind of started mocking me about it, like, how dare you! Yeah, right? And I'm like, dude, I'm like 285. I'm like, give me a break. I'm yeah, but but that's just a a small analogy of how you know. I don't sometimes I wonder who's rooting for me, who's rooting against me, you know, because I've been the underdog my whole life. You're supposed to root for me, dude.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, how you know how they say is lonely? Being an entrepreneur is lonely. You fight it for so long. I've been fighting it so long. Like, yes, I have my wife with me, but she doesn't go through what I go through, right? She goes through her set of struggles that I would never understand, and I go through mine that she'll never understand. It's lonely. I'm getting to the point actually driving over here, I started like smirking a little because I'm getting to the point where I'm very comfortable being alone. I'm very comfortable talking to myself, I'm very comfortable understanding myself and brainstorming with myself. Um and I started smirking because I'm like, maybe this is another reinvention of yourself where this whole time where you're like struggling on I don't want to be alone and you hire people, right? Just so you can have someone next to you, right? You know they're not qualified for the job. Yeah, like just come follow me, right? Yeah, um, but now I'm to the point where like I'm good with this. I'm good with myself, I'm happy with myself. I I know my strengths, I know my weaknesses. Um, and most importantly, I know my vision. Like I'm very my vision is more clear today than it ever has been.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so let's talk a little business.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, let's talk good business. So, so tell me, you got a lot of irons in the fire, like you have a lot of businesses, projects. Kind of unpack it.
SPEAKER_01Um so I started with inside construction and management, and we were doing everything. Yeah. Anything that I could get my hands on. Um a lot has to do with my personality, man. I get bored very easily. So I want to like, what's the next challenge? You know, I want I want I don't want an easy project, right? Like, yes, we'll take it. At the end of the day, we're a business, we gotta make money. But I was looking for projects that really excited me. Um, but it's very hard to brand at, bro. Like people think you're a handyman. Like, you know, it's very hard to grow it. So then I started separating them. Then we created Insight Marine, which all we do is docks and seawalls. Um, we work on the water, it's completely different, it's challenging. So I liked it. And then uh we started inside homes. We do custom homes, Orlando area, two to four million is like that's like the perfect niche for us. Um and now we're starting Inside Homes of Illinois. So I'm going back to my my roots and and build custom homes out there.
SPEAKER_00Cool. Now now Chicago land or the state of Illinois?
SPEAKER_01So we named it in uh Illinois just because we have a vision to go into the suburbs eventually. But right now it's in Chicago.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. It's not I would say probably about 20 to 30 minutes from downtown. That's gonna be like our our main area where we building north or uh I don't know, bro. Okay, so you know where Lincoln Park is?
SPEAKER_00Of course I do.
SPEAKER_01Lincoln Park, okay, that area Logan Square, beautiful uh Bucktown, Wicker Park.
SPEAKER_00It's a little north technically, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So those areas. Okay, yeah, those areas are where we're gonna be advertising and you know, uh trying to plant our feet.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, no, it's a great area.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, fun, people are cool, yeah. You got close to Wrigleyville, Lakeview, I think it's technically called Wrigleyville area.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So that's you know, and creating all these companies, I kind of feel like I know a little bit about what you do and what you need. So, you know, we this trip, I really wanted to set my bearings of where I was at. Because I kind of remember, even though I left at 13, I kind of remember the areas, but it's changed so much. Um I started creating our story. So when, you know, when we get you to do our website, our about us page, what I want to what I want to say. Um, and I learned with any website that you're building, uh the more information I could give you, the better.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01No one knows me or my business better than me. Um, and just because I'm paying you, that doesn't mean that magically you're gonna know what to write. No, people gotta participate in it. Yeah, correct. They gotta participate. So I'm taking my I took my time to prep and get everything ready. So when I hand it off to you, it's like a home run instead of you pulling teeth. Yeah, it's okay.
SPEAKER_00It's all right. We go through it all the time. I think I don't know. Um I think in any business that you're in, the customer expectation beforehand, you know, and then the realization of how intricate things are probably changes a little bit, and that's probably always the source of any client or customer frustration and any. Business, you know, like uh, you know, like uh I had this doctor say, Oh, I can do these laser things on your on your face, it'll make you look younger. She just did it for me as a freebie, and I was like, Yeah, sure. I was like, All right, cool, because I was doing a bunch of social media work for her. She started doing all these lasers, dude. It felt like she had fire on my face, you know. I didn't know that. She didn't she didn't tell me going in, and then my eyes were swollen for like four days. Everybody thought I was crying for four days, you know. So it's just kind of there's a hundred things she probably could have told me, but but if somebody hasn't gone down the path of designing a website or doing a custom home, like they they don't know, they're not gonna really understand the process until they go through it. So I think any good company, it's about just being prepared to manage the unknown, yeah. And just know that the unknown is gonna happen and and just continue. It's okay. No, no, I get it. Yeah, no, it's a lot. But here we're we got you here, just like you do with a custom home. They're probably like, ew, that doesn't look like what I thought it was gonna look like. You're like, whoa, dude.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. That's a good point. That's a good point. Um, and you know, now that the market is shifting, is giving us time to refine our procedures, you know. Uh tell them a story. You gotta tell them a good enough story where they can envision it, right? So whatever I need to do, pictures, uh samples, uh, because the last thing I want to do is install something and rip it out. Like I don't want to do that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So the more vision that I could give you, the better job I do giving you that vision, the least amount of headaches I'll have.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah, and in any line of work, you gotta kind of trust the professional because now I'll give you another example. Uh, I have to take a lot of photographs and do get photography done for my social media. I feel very awkward taking photos. I feel even more awkward doing a pose. And I went to go take photographs with this photographer that my wife uses, and I texted my wife right in the middle. I'm like, she's got me in all these, you know, I look gay in these poses. I'm like, I'm a man, I'm a masculine man. I'm like, you know, and uh, but the final work was incredible. I was like, oh, I look kind of cool there, you know. But during it, I felt I was like, oh, I don't like this, you know, and I could have said, oh, she's a bad photographer and all these sorts of things. But I was, I'm the unknowledgeable one going through the process.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, it's it was my discomfort, not hers, and and it's not her responsibility to deal with my insecurities of like holding a pair of shades like this or looking at my like she's making me like look at my watch like this. You know, all these things I felt weird doing, but the final product was amazing. And uh, so I just you know, in in business, and I'm really trying to help the entrepreneur or somebody listening to this, it's it's kind of like, no, dude, people are gonna people are difficult to deal with. They are, they're difficult, and it's that's it's not an if if people are gonna be difficult, it's just when and how much. And your job is just to try to, you know, try to kind of hold their hand through it, through the process, and you know, you gotta be a little therapy worker sometimes, too.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. You know, absolutely, and then one as you're growing, you you'll have the luxury of picking what personalities you want to work with. Um, but in the beginning, you gotta you gotta figure that out. You gotta you gotta go through it, you gotta, you know, learn how to deal with different personalities. Um and like you said, be a therapist. Um, they think it's a big deal, something goes wrong. To us, it's just another day, and don't worry, we'll we'll get it right. Um, but in their eyes, the world is falling apart and their life savings is going away, you know. So um it teaches us to do a better job on telling them the stories, telling them the vision, showing them, giving them realistic expectations up front. Hey, we we are gonna mess up. Like I'm just telling you, every job we have a mess up. Sometimes it's small, sometimes they're big, you know, but we do our best not to do it. Um we work with humans.
SPEAKER_00Give me an example. I don't like I don't know construction really well. Give me an example of uh a mistake that's a common mistake. Um or are they all different?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, when you're dealing with custom homes, man, they're everything is different. Um give me an example of example whatever.
SPEAKER_00Give me a good mistake that happened that doesn't make you look bad.
SPEAKER_01No, it's like so we're building a house right now, um, very modern, clean, no curves, no angles, just all clean straight lines. And the exterior shows the last four feet sticking out four inches when the framer was framing it, he did it all flush.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Just because that's what they normally do.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um and the trusses were made to be flush, he had to pat everything out four inches. So, you know, thank God I caught it the second day and it was an easy fix. But just stuff like that, that they see it one way, and I I see it the way we drew it up, right? Um that's just I say it's a simple mistake, but it was probably three, four thousand dollars of material that the framer didn't adjust. So yeah, he had to eat that, but um it could have been worse, I guess. Yeah, for sure. Not catch it until it was covered up.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um, yeah, we have we have mistakes all the time. Um, it's you know, usually it's uh like I remember there was this town in Texas we were working with somebody and it was spelled it's called like Stump Texas, and it was S-T-U-M P-H and we spelled it S-T-U-M-F. But we always have the client look it over, but they freaked out about the spelling. And and we said, hey, you know, we this isn't live, like nobody's like, like that's kind of the cool thing about our work, is you know, you know, if I take a social if we do a social media video of you or we may build a website, like we can always keep working on it before anybody sees it, you know. Yeah, dealing with people, so this is like you know this con why this conversation is so cool is you know, going back to like college and and learning entrepreneurship, dude, this is not something people are coached coached on or talked about.
SPEAKER_01No, and especially at a university, and I give credit to me growing up and playing around in the streets. Um one of the pros about it is you get to learn really quick how to read people because uh you sense danger really quick even though you don't see it. Um so you in business you have to you have to read someone very quickly. Um A is gonna cost you a lot of money, if you don't, or B is gonna cost you a lot of headache, which in return might cost you a lot of money also. So uh I think I do a really good job at reading people, um, subcontractors, customers. Um, and now we're at the point where thank God if something feels off, I'm just gonna say no to a job. Yeah, I don't need a paycheck. You know, we want it, and we're not trying to avoid work, but I just learned through experiences some customers are not for me, and that's okay.
SPEAKER_00How do you how do you um how do you answer this? Because what I've observed over the years is that there's something about when people spend money, they feel it puts them in the position of authority, for good or for worse. Uh, I used to I knew this company, and the CEO would take employees onto cruises. And and he would buy, you know, he'd pay for the cruise, and he would pay for you know the dinner, etc. I think there was like an additional bill for the 50 employees that run the cruise, right? I don't know what it is, 20 bucks that it's probably a thousand bucks. I don't know, it can't be that much. But anyway, but because he paid for the cruise, and because he was buying that dinner, he probably was adding it all up, going, I'm spending a lot of money here. But I I remember I watched him really belittle the weight staff, you know, and was really nasty, and it was just this kind of like sense of these are all my people, I'm paying for all them, I'm in charge, I'm spending money. It gives me the right to be incredibly rude.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And we all know it doesn't. No. Right? And it and it really made me look at him like, that's who you are. I got it. But and I but I've witnessed this with people and and even clients that I deal with. It's like the second they do a financial transaction, you know, they um they get in this weird, like authoritative state. Yeah, and when that happens to me, I take their money and I go, here you go. You know what I mean? It's just kind of like, wait, how much? You gave me three thousand? Like, here you go. Yeah, take your three thousand back. That's not gonna work like this. Yeah. Do you deal with that too? It's the weirdest.
SPEAKER_01It's taken me, man. I I've been in construction since I was 17. Um, and starting to deal with clients by the time I was 20, 21. Um, so it's taken me a long time to figure out where most of those clients stay at. Right? We build custom homes, yes, because it's Calankin, yes, because it's a lot of eye candy, and I love it, right? The dollar is higher. But when you go to a certain price point in houses, you and I'm not saying that they don't deserve quality, but you know, it if you're paying 30 grand for a car, you're not getting a brand new Mercedes. Right? So some of those clients, most of them, feel entitled and they act that way. And for me, it was like, no, I can't, I can't be in that area. Like I can't, I'm gonna lose, I'm gonna lose, I'm gonna be unprofessional, it's gonna burn me out. Um so for me, I just learned where my niche is. I I fit better here. The clients treat me, and we still get some clients, right? I'm not saying it's bulletproof. We still get some clients that want to treat you that way.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um you just ha have to be okay with losing that job if you know that's your that's your line. And and for us, it's okay. There's there's another one, you know, might not be tomorrow, might not be three months from now, but there's another one. It's it's alright.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And I don't want the easiest clients either, too, because sometimes the easiest clients aren't they're not involved, or right? Like I want them to be involved too, right? So because I want them to be happy with the final product, just like you do, too, right? So you know, I want you to you probably need them to, hey, do you like the way this is looking? You like the way this here's the process, and you know, you want them to be happy with with You want them to be excited, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like you're not building something just for you know, you want some kind of emotion tied to it. For me for me anyways, that's what gets me excited. If I'm building something for you, I want to see it change your life, right? Like that's what gets me motivated, that's what gets me going. Um, you excited about you know, whatever room, whatever man cave that we're building for you and how you're gonna use it. In fact, when we're done, I want you to invite me and I want to be part of your family. Um, that's what gets us going. Um so the clients that you know are building something for like a flip, yeah, we'll do it. But it doesn't get us excited as you know, if we're building it for your family and you're gonna spend time there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. One of one of the cheat codes that I've been using for difficult people in general is on all of our Zooms. We we haven't recorded. And anytime I have a conversation with somebody that's important, I always make sure we get it into email. So it's like we had a conversation over the phone. It's like, okay, let me send you documentation just confirming what we just talked about. So you want it to be red and you want it to be blue here, correct? Okay, awesome. I'm gonna email that to you because I can't tell you how many times, six months down the road, I forgot what the conversation was, correct? Right, and they said, You told me it was gonna be green. You I remember you, and I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Like, let me just scoop that up real quick, you know, yeah, and send it back to them. And and we actually had we have this one group that has been chain flip-flopping on us a lot, and you know, and we actually actually recently just sent them a bunch of transcripts. You know, we said, hey, this, we just want to make sure this was, you know, you're we're accurate with what we're talking about here. And now they've gone silent, yeah. But it's like, but it but unfortunately we're in a world today where you have to.
SPEAKER_01I try my best, and I teach my guys try and use three points of contact. I talk to you, I'm gonna email you a follow-up, then I'm gonna text you that I emailed you. Okay, I did my three.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You and you have to. And and then if we have a relationship, then I'll get to know you. Okay, maybe I only have to do two. But yeah, if we're just starting to work, I'm gonna send you three. Because I I have to protect myself, I have to make sure that I'm understanding what you said also.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You know, because if I misheard, there's three opportunities that it could have been corrected.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no doubt. Um, I I don't we we've gone a little longer than normal, but uh it's fine. I love talking with you. Uh, do me a favor, Jorge, look into that camera with that handsome face of yours. And uh if somebody's interested in learning about your business, uh tell them a little bit about your business and and where they can find you.
SPEAKER_01Um we specialize in commercial tenant buildouts in the Orlando area. We specialize in custom homes in the Orlando area. Uh and we do docks and seawalls, boat lifts. Uh that we go pretty much any part of the East Coast from Daytona all the way to Coco Beach. Uh, you can find us at insideconstructionfl.com.
SPEAKER_00Hey guys, thanks again for tuning into the Gold Coast Podcast. Make sure you give us a like and subscribe and forward this on to someone who you think might find some value. We'll see you again.