Moving Forward: From Mom's Cantina to His Own Company

Some conversations remind you that success isn't built overnight. This is one of them.

Christopher Sales is the owner of Texas Delta Moving, one of North Texas's fastest-growing moving companies built on trust, service, and doing things the right way. But long before the business, there was a story of sacrifice. Christopher shares how his mother's journey to America created opportunities their family never had before, and how her work ethic became the foundation for everything he's built.

From his first jobs to the lessons that shaped his career, Christopher opens up about the setbacks, the risks, and the moments that pushed him toward entrepreneurship. He and Lyndol talk about what it takes to build a business people can truly trust, why culture matters more than shortcuts, and how leading with integrity has become the cornerstone of Texas Delta Moving.

It's a conversation about family, hard work, gratitude, and the belief that the American dream is still worth chasing.

📲 Need a moving company you can trust? Visit texasdeltamoving.com to schedule your next move with the team at Texas Delta Moving.

This episode of Clarity Changes Everything is brought to you by our sponsor partners:

🪟 WOODRUFF WINDOWS — North Texas's #1 window replacement company. Text CLARITY to 214-225-1922 | woodruffwindows.com

🏚️ COOK DFW — Roofing & general contracting you can trust. 833-COOKDFW | cookdfw.com

📦 TEXAS DELTA MOVING — White-glove moving and junk removal with fully vetted employees, so you always know exactly who's in your home. texasdeltamoving.com

#TexasDeltaMoving #Entrepreneur #AmericanDream #SmallBusiness #Leadership #DFWBusiness #NorthTexas #BusinessOwner #MovingCompany #Entrepreneurship #Family #ClarityChangesEverything

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:02

Hey, I'm Linda Woodruff, and welcome to the Clarity Changes Everything podcast. People are like, wait, you sell windows and you're doing a podcast? Yes, I am, because clarity changes everything. Not just in your house with your windows. But in a chaotic culture, when you find clarity, your whole life changes. So I wanted to bring on some cool people. Let's talk to them. Grab some coffee. Let's do this.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

What's up, man? Hey, how's it going, man? How are you, buddy? Excited, excited to be here, man. What all are you excited about? Uh, just to be here. It's the very first podcast I'm in. Oh, is it really? Yeah, yeah. I've been I've been wanting to get into one or try it out, see how it is, you know?

SPEAKER_03 0:42

And well, well, first and foremost, man, like I'm I'm honored um to be here with you for multiple reasons. Like thank you. You are how can I put this? You are one of the most like genuine, kindest, like want to help everybody people I have ever met. Appreciate it. Um and what you've built for yourself and your family with your story. Your story is so inspiring. Thank you. Um, and to have you, you know, officially be a partner of the podcast now and officially a part of the Clarity Changes Everything family. Yes, uh, as a sponsor, and you know, got to be your neighbor for two years, which was probably the coolest, uh one of the biggest blessings. Um you helped me a lot through this whole journey of you know, raising Everly alone. And you know, you've you've been there and meant a lot to me more than you know. Um, so this is really cool, and it's cool how it's come full circle, and now we get to talk about business together and mutually, you know, helping each other grow brands and and networking in the community. And it's uh it's it's really cool to have you here, man. So I got Christopher Salas in the studio with Texas Delta Moving uh today as an official Clarity Changes Everything partner. Uh and you've you've got a crazy story, man, and I know quite a bit about your story, so I I don't really want to say too much. I basically just want to let you kind of run with it uh and and talk, you know, whatever points you want to hit on, and then we'll just kind of roll with that.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

Absolutely, man. So no, and I appreciate you very much for having me over, giving me the opportunity to actually uh present my story to to other people. My testimonial more than that. So I was I was raised, uh born and raised in Mexico City. It's a big city, kind of like New York, you know, everything's fast-paced, everything's out there getting everybody. You either have uh you're either hustling or they hustle you. Yeah, I can imagine. Yeah, and it's it's madness. So I I had the privilege to actually come here to the States. It's a very interesting uh thing that my mom did. So my mom owned cantinas in Mexico, and she was tired of it. She put that decision on me what we're gonna do next in our life chapter. At what age? Uh I was 10 years old. Oh my gosh. And she asked me, we can either go purchase some condos in the uh Gulf of Mexico beaches in a state that is called Oaxaca, in a little city called Huatuco. It's it's a tourist area, really nice. And she said, you know, we can purchase a couple condos over there, rent them out, start a business over there, or would you like to go to the United States? And what a thing to put on a 10-year-old, man.

SPEAKER_03 3:41

Like I was trying to decide between save by the bell or uh, you know, whatever TV shows.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

And I I really just looked at my mom and I was like, I would love to go to the United States, right? And I thought it was I thought we were just gonna hop on the car and just come. That's it. I didn't know I was gonna go through a lot of stuff to get here, but no, it was great. It was great. Uh my mom and my stepdad came here to uh to the US in 1999. And uh I will I was kept in Mexico with my aunt for a year while my parents you know came over here and established a place, you know, where we're gonna live and all that. So I'm very grateful for for my mom to take that courage, you know, yeah to come over here. It wasn't easy. On the process, she broke her leg, she struggled with uh some health issues uh and stuff like that. So a whole year that I was not with her or around her, uh she uh she came to here to uh Louisville and then from Louisville, uh she loved the city of McKinney instantly. Yeah. So she was like, Well, yeah, but wouldn't it? It's awesome here. Yeah, yeah, she felt like that was home and man, it was great. So yeah, when they called me in to come to you know to the US, um I got dropped off at the border by my uncle. And I was in a hostel, I was supposed to be in the hostel for two days, and it'll be in a journey of three months by myself. By yourself, by myself, yeah. This you didn't have chaperones or no, nothing. And this this uh lady that rent out the hostel, she was very kind-hearted. My mom will send her money every week to make sure that I have I had food and obviously pay a little extra to take care of me and stuff like that, which that lady was a great blessing, honestly. Wow, and uh I never felt out of place over there. I mean, it it did get kind of scary a couple the the first days. So obviously I was like, okay, well, where's everybody at? You know, what's going on? I'm 12 years old. Yeah, and but I don't know. Uh I feel like every place that I go to or that I'm at, I'm very easy to accustom to or get it.

SPEAKER_03 5:45

Well, you got a gentle spirit about you, man. Like you're you're very likable. Your your humor is you've always had a great sense of humor, and I think people are attracted to that. Um, people can tell that you're honest. Um you don't really have there's no bone in your body that's like an angle, you know what I mean? And I think the human spirit can pick up on that. You know, yeah. If you have an angle you're trying to manipulate or whatever, like people can usually pick up on that stuff. And I think especially if you have that as an adult, like you're even ultra that as a kid, because kids, we're resilient, right? We're resilient, we don't really have a conscious thought pattern developed yet. We're just kind of just kind of going with it, you know, and we haven't really established meaning to events yet. So we haven't, you know, we haven't been through a whole bunch of stuff and like attached a meaning to what that event meant. Because I think as we go through life and things happen, we kind of start to form an identity based on things that happened to us. Exactly. And that's one of the biggest challenges is figuring out how to break the chains from that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Yeah, yeah, and and one of those deals that I mean, when you're a kid, uh you you cannot really tell what was right from wrong or what's danger from you know, not danger and things like that. So yeah, finally uh the day came. Uh a guy came over and you know, he's like, Hey, we're gonna go see your mom, you know. I was like, all right, cool. And he started asking me like sketchy questions, like, are you okay to walk like a long, like a long distance, like all day or something? I was like, sure, man, I don't care. Like, I want to go see my mom.

SPEAKER_03 7:26

So at this point, you thought you were still going in a car?

SPEAKER_01 7:28

So at this point, I don't know what I was going in, honestly. Yeah, and but that was great. Also, this guy uh did ask me if I know how to swim. And I was like, of course, man. I love how to swim. I love swimming. My dad, my real dad is from Acapulco, Mexico, which is the Pacific. Yeah. Uh in the Pacific uh ocean. And man, great stories about that place too. But you know, we can leave those for another day. And yeah, but that's where that's how I learned how to swim in the in the Pacific Ocean, in the sea, and the beaches of Acapulco. And uh yeah, so I started, you know, got picked up. We walked for like six hours. Uh did ended up, you know, crossing the river. And man, that was that was insane. Like, I don't I don't understood why people were crying. And what town? Uh that was uh Laredo. Oh, you you came over to Lareto. Yeah, Lareto, Lareto, Mexico, and to Lareto, Texas. And man, but just the process of seeing everybody, you know, everybody was praying, crying while we were walking, and I'm like, why is this people crying? Like, so peaceful out here, like we can see the dark and all this crap, you know. Yeah, I mean, it's nice, you know. Yeah, I thought I I thought I was hiking, honestly. You went to San Antonio first, right? Yeah, so we arrived to Laredo, Texas, uh, after the whole deal. And yeah, then from there, uh we we spent three days in Laredo, and then they brought me to San Antonio. And then from San Antonio, that's where uh the next people picked me up and brought me to my mom.

SPEAKER_03 8:57

So you said your mom owned cantinas in in Mexico City. Was she a proprietor of several of them? Did she have many? Like what I'm gonna do.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

She didn't have many. She ended up uh having four cantinas. Wow. And uh that was not in Mexico City, it was in outer state of Mexico City. It's called uh Morelos. Uh that place is also uh very historic for you know the battles of in Mexico when we got independence, uh, our independence and all that. So but yeah, uh the reason that she actually winded up uh she ended up getting rid of them is because over there the cart back in the day cartels were not too big on that on that area. So it was more like it's more Tijuana, yeah. It was more north? Yeah, more north, like Juarez, Tijuana, Monterey, Sonora, like all those upstates of Mexico. But over there what ruled was the um uh gangs. So you either have to pay the fee, you know, to get protected by the gang. Yeah, or yeah, my mom, my mom had um excuse me, but she had big guts. Like my mom, she was like, Ah, I'm not gonna pay you crap. Like, you don't do nothing for me. What should I pay you? Really? Yeah, my mom straight up told me to F off.

SPEAKER_03 10:17

Did you ever have any time where they would like come to the house and like try to try to pull the fast ones or anything like that?

SPEAKER_01 10:23

No, anything scary? Uh no, no, nothing scary. But then at the end, uh she ended up trashing three places at the same time. Uh overnight. Yeah. So that's kind of what my mom was like, you know what? Uh three of the cantinas. Yeah, three of the cantinas. They hit three of the cantinas in the same night.

SPEAKER_03 10:40

So when she came over, when she came to the States, did she continue on with like the entrepreneurial spirit? Is that where you get that from?

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Uh the entrepreneurial spirit, I do get it from her and also my dad. Uh my dad, man, he could honestly sell you anything. I remember you telling me that. Oh, he oh, dude, he will talk to you into just if he has a piece of gum in his pocket, he'll sell it to you for like for a dollar. If he could. Used. Uh yeah. Um, I mean, I don't know about used, right? Yeah, but no, my my dad, he if if you think I'm a good speaking and interact with people, dude. My dad was just like probably like five times more than that. Really? Oh yeah, he'll just like scan you from head to toe, and he was already like talking about like noticing that you got this kind of brand or this thing wearing, or a little bit of chain. Like he knew a lot of everything, and I was just impressive how he was just like you could just create a story based on observational, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:37

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and and kind of paint pictures and create scenarios to pass you his wares. Like I I I guess whatever he wanted you to see. That's a good salesman can get you to agree with anything.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

Oh, and he was a he was great. He was great, he was a great salesman, and uh that's how he got I I guess that's how we picked up even my siblings, my sisters, they have the same thing. I mean, we can we can be employed for so long, and then we need I we feel like we we need the freedom, like we need to develop our own thing. Yeah, and yeah, so when my mom arrived when we arrived with my mom, my stepdad, my stepdad uh he he worked in construction stuff like that. But my mom she worked at uh Blockbuster warehouse here in in McKinney.

SPEAKER_03 12:23

Oh uh Blockbuster Blockbuster Warehouse, the video store, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Oh, that's a throwback. Yeah, yeah, she worked at the warehouse, uh three three-hour, twelve-hour shifts. And she got the rest of the week. So that's how we started with the tamales.

SPEAKER_03 12:39

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

Yeah, so we lived in downtown McKinney, uh, where Tupp's brewery is at on the parking lot. Actually, the parking lot ran right next to the roadroad tracks that used to be called Little Mexico because it was about 32 mobile homes, and just Hispanic guys just lived there, you know. They they would they would go to work and that was it. Is your mom still here? Uh no, she moved back now. Uh to Mexico. To Mexico, yeah. Really? Yeah, she's she's 65, and it was getting that time that you know she wants to be a little more mellow, so she she got a couple houses over there, and she just taking her.

SPEAKER_03 13:18

Were your parents still there? I'm sorry, were her parents still there?

SPEAKER_01 13:21

No, no. My my grandpa, her dad passed away when she was, I believe, six or seven.

SPEAKER_02 13:27

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

Yeah. And my grandma, her mom passed away from diabetes when my mom was 19. Oh yeah, so I I'm I'm sure it was kind of tough. She doesn't really share very much information on that.

SPEAKER_03 13:44

Yeah, I'm I'm sure and you saw my post that I made this morning. Yes, yes. You made a donation, didn't you? I did make a donation, and I didn't like that.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

I can't even imagine like and I I share it. I share it because uh obviously I I lost a sister in 2016, 2017.

SPEAKER_03 14:00

Yeah, she was like your ride or die, huh?

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Yeah, she was my ride or die. Like it didn't matter. So a great, great memory that I have from her. I used to play, I used to love playing um oh man, what is this toy called? Uh tops? No, no, no, no. Jacks? Spinning tops. Oh, the spinning tops. Spinning tops, the one that you wind with the with the cords. And and there's a manual one, so it's it's a little small rope you tie, and then you you know you shoot it. Yeah. So I used to play spinning tops, and uh obviously my dad, uh at that time I was living with my dad and my stepmom, and uh they wouldn't buy me one. They said that those, you know, those things were for kids in the streets, and you know, that's just not gonna get me anywhere, and this and that. So my sister saw it how badly I wanted it because all my all the kids in school had them. All these kids, and I was I was literally almost the only kid that didn't have almost anything because everything was gonna run me to the streets, and I was gonna be a nobody in the streets. I'm like, so my I remember my sister, I was just like crying, just you know, she saw that pain, and she actually went into my stepmom's wallet. She took money out.

SPEAKER_03 15:12

Oh, she jacked the money away from the street.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

She jacked the money and she went and got me one. She's like, do not let them see you with the hiding your patpack every day when you come from school. And yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:22

Were you did you do anything in elementary school? Like, you know, you hear entrepreneurs like they either used to sell blow pops or sell candy or baseball cards or something like that. What was your hustle when you were a kid?

SPEAKER_01 15:34

Um well, my hustle, it was not really my hustle, it was my dad's hustle because we had to turn in all the money. You were working, you were managing your dad's hustle at the moment? Yeah, no, we did it, we did everything. But um, so my dad he taught he taught us how to uh build these little uh tissue uh pouches. You know tissue pouches. So basically what you do, you buy a box of tissues that has like 50 or 100 tissues, you grab five tissues and fold them a certain way, you put them on a plastic bag, and then you seal the bag with a lighter. Right? So we used to man, we used to make like I don't know, hundreds of those. But what does that do? And would you sell them outside in school? Like, hey, anybody need a t-shirt? Like, yeah, you know, give me a peso, which is like 10 cents.

SPEAKER_03 16:18

You know, for the case.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

Wait, so hold on.

SPEAKER_03 16:19

I'm trying to I'm trying to visualize this.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

You take a box of tissue. You take a box of tissues, you put you, you open it up, you grab five tissues, you fold them a certain way. I can't remember the way, right? But and then you put them in a this little small plastic bag, and then you seal it with the lighter. That way it's close. Okay. And then you go around, see anybody needs tissues. Hey, you want to buy tissues for a peso? Back in the day of a peso, I mean, it was probably like Oh, they could buy one tissue. No, no, of the pack of five tissues.

SPEAKER_03 16:47

I'm totally confused right now.

SPEAKER_01 16:49

We should let's make a meme of this and we can figure out what was the purpose of it. It's just to so basically, let's say you buy the box of tissues for two dollars, uh-huh, and you can make I don't know, ten dollars out of that tissue box. Interesting. By selling them individually, because who wants to carry a t sh a box of tissue everywhere they go? Uh-huh. Like you only need one or two tissues a day, maybe on the go. Oh, okay. So things like that.

SPEAKER_03 17:14

You were slaying in individual tissues. Yeah. Okay. I thought you were saying that you would make like a decoration with those five tissues and sell them the box. I'm like, what's the decoration? No, no. Oh, I see what you're saying. You were creating like an on-the-go tissue dispensary. Exactly, pretty much. Yeah. You were creating tissue dispensaries. I need to start explaining myself better. There we go. That's awesome. My hustle was blowpops. Blow pops? That was my first one. Yeah, we get like a big bag of blow pops at at Walmart, and I'd sell them for a quarter apiece. And this was 1990. Like man, a quarter apiece. Yeah, a quarter apiece, man. I was I was balling. Oh my god. And then I was baseball cards. I I sold baseball cards for a while. Okay. Um, I won't go, yeah. I had a couple little hustles when I was a kid. And you said you moved here at McKinney in 99. So I got here in McKinney in 2000. In 2000. Okay. You've seen a lot of change here, man.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Big change, man. Big change in McKinney. Uh we had family in Louisville, and it will take forever to go from McKinney to Louisville because it was one way. It was one way, yeah. It was one way. So it took probably about an hour.

SPEAKER_03 18:15

Yeah. Long before 121 or all those back roads.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

Yeah, but it will take forever. And I was like, dude, I want to go see my and the cool story is that when I got here, so I'm very appreciated. I appreciated my family, uh, besides my my siblings and my mom. Uh, all my uncles and cousins, because they really did a great uh atmosphere for me. You know, everybody was so welcoming, everybody wants to know me, you know, things like that. Cousins I never met before that I was able to meet. Yeah. You know, aunts and uncles, same way. And they were always like, no, come stay at our house. Oh yeah, we can go on the weekend. They'll take me to the movies. So I'm very appreciative because of that.

SPEAKER_03 18:53

Yeah, it's a huge benefit, man, because I think the more that we uh the more that we can feel wanted, like everybody wants to be loved and appreciated, right? It's like it's it's a natural thing. Because if we're not loved on when we're little, we die. You know what I mean? Like uh we have to have that support, and that's that's great whenever people have that, you know. It uh when people that don't have that uh they feel isolated, you know, that can create uh a lot of holes that are very hard to fill. So yeah, uh it's it's good, it makes you feel valuable.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And um, I started going to uh middle school. So I went to Scott Johnson middle school here in McKinney. Uh started seventh grade. That was a big challenge because I mean you couldn't speak English, could you? I did not speak any English. I uh the only things I knew it was colors, numbers from one to ten, that was it. Some colors and just simple things. But um I've always been eager to catch up onto what's what's going on. You know, uh I don't consider myself a shy person. I can be shy in some areas, but uh when it comes to like you know, the curiosity has been a uh a good thing for me that I can be like, okay, so how how does how are they doing that, or what do you say it, you know? I went to school with uh in our ESL class, which is English second language, there was about 17 kids. Out of those 17 kids, uh pretty much probably four of us, we were advancing speaking English because you know, I mean I wanted to, you know. How old were you when that started? I was 12 when I when I started and uh started in seventh grade uh when I was 13 actually. Uh because uh they couldn't get me into school right away when I got here. They needed more documents of you know, uh school documents from Mexico and this and that. So Mama had a send all you know gig uncles and cousins to get all those information for us. But um yeah, uh I think it took me probably eighth grade. In eighth grade, I was already not fluent, but about 30%. I mean, I could go I could I could get around. You know, I could go to the library and ask, you know, a couple questions, you know, teachers will under explain stuff like that, you know, things things to me. Uh the the the topics uh that I had a little trouble with it was science and history. You know, but not math? Not math. You got math figured out. Math, I mean it's numbers, yeah. And as long as you're not paid attention, and I and also I do want to give a big shout out to two really good friends, Felix and Fernando, because I met them, uh one of them I met on with a school bus. We wrote the same bus and he helped me to translate a lot. Oh, really? And then Felix uh did have him in in a couple of their classes, and he helped me out tremendously to to translate. He taught me my first. Which is can I go to the bathroom?

SPEAKER_03 22:03

That's a very important one.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

I wanted to escape the classroom. I was like, man, I don't understand nobody. I'm frustrated. I was like, I'll just take the time to go to the bathroom and I would just stay in the bathroom for like 20 minutes. And I remember him coming out and looking for me, like, hey, that's your same word you had.

SPEAKER_03 22:21

So you know, as English speaking people, right? Yeah, you ask a lot of them, they'll say the only Spanish that know is bad words. Like it's very common in American culture for English speaking people to know Spanish bad words. Is it the same in the Spanish-speaking culture? Like, I don't know any English except bad words. Like, do y'all learn the bad words? Yeah. Yeah. I guess you can express yourself the emotion with bad words.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

Yeah, the one everybody knows is you know, F you. That's pretty much the main one that everybody knows. It's universal. Yeah, pretty much.

SPEAKER_03 22:52

And if you don't know how to say it, there's a a hand gesture for it.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Yeah, of course it is. And that was universal too. So yeah. Now and but yeah, catching up on the language, uh, there was a big barrier. Uh obviously. I I didn't feel like I got bullied that much, but I did get bullied a lot. I got beat up by uh an in eighth grade by uh some African-American kids. And kids are just mean anyway. Well, I don't uh I I was on the bus and I was talking to this kid that he speaks, he spoke, well, he speaks English and Spanish, and we're having a conversation, and I just happened to turn around and look at uh this African-American kid, and he mad dogged me, and then they started talking. I don't know where the conversation was off. But I remember not saying anything.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

And then I'll I I didn't try to defend myself because I'm not very I'm not confrontal uh confront uh confrontational. Confrontational confrontational at all.

SPEAKER_03 23:50

Still working on that word, yeah. And no, you're definitely not confrontational.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

Yeah, no, I'm not at all. And and I so what I did, I was I was I raised my hands to to protect my face, but his buddies thought that I was gonna start throwing hands. So out of the now, where like two more joined in, and uh, and then I got off the bus, man. I actually started some crazy stuff at the bus because my mom was like, No, I'm gonna take you to school now. And now she was taking like five of my friends to school with me because we're all getting beat up. And mama get involved, man. Yeah, mama, smacking with her purse. Yeah, in the classrooms, uh I helped a lot. So obviously, like I explained, you know, Felix and Fernando helped me out to translate to me in the classrooms in seventh and eighth grade. When we when we went to high school in Mikini North High School, um, I was a little bit more fluent. And uh the our algebra teacher, she wanted all the Hispanic class in her, in her classroom. So we were all nothing but Hispanics that bear we either we barely speak English or we speak any English. She was a great teacher. I still remember her, and uh her name is well her last name is uh Shison. Was she bilingual? Uh no, she was not bilingual, no. She was American and yeah, she did not speak any Spanish. And I used to translate, me and another girl, we used to kind of help her to translate what we could. And yeah, she ran a successful class. I remember uh I I had 90s all all year round, about probably a couple 80s here and there. But uh I had pretty much almost all 90s in her class. And you want to hear a funny thing? So I'm I'm learning English, right? This is freshman year. There's this other guy uh named Daniel, uh a good friend of mine as well. He's hoping to translate a couple times. So the science teacher in freshman, which is uh IPC class, I believe. I can I don't know what he stands for, I just know it was IPC. I have no idea. So high school's a blur. Yeah, so, anyways, he was the cross country uh coach for cross country. So he's like, hey Chris, help me translate for this guy's real quick. I was like, yeah, sure. He's like, tell them if they want to join the cross country club. So in my head, I'm translated translating it as it sounds, cross country. So I told the guys, I looked at him and I told him Spanish, hey, coach saying if y'all want to go to another country.

SPEAKER_03 26:30

And you say it instead of him saying it so he didn't get in trouble.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

This one kid looked at me with his eyes wide open, started getting nervous. He's like, you know what he said? Like, I just got here, I just got here, man. How are you gonna send me back over there? I just got here. You haven't crossed another country? So that's hilarious. Daniel heard me overheard me in the bag as he used to sit in the bag, and he corrected me. He's like, he's like, Oh, he's he was cracking up just like we're cracking up right now. He's like, No, no, no, no, no. That's nobody's crossing another country. That's the sport, cross country. You're gonna have to run for a long period of time. No swimming involved. Yeah, that's what so we started laughing. So that joke stuck with me forever. Whenever everybody told me, honey, oh yeah, you want to hear how bad my translation in my brain was. Yeah, because we we try we used to I so for the longest I used to listen in English, translating Spanish in my brain, and same thing, thinking Spanish, and like as quick as I could translate into English. In your head? In my head before it came out. Yeah, interesting.

SPEAKER_03 27:30

Well, I guess that yeah, and I guess it kind of happens when you're speaking multiple languages. I would imagine that kind of happens on autopilot.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

Yeah, anyway. Yeah, so and and that that kind of changed with time. So now I'm able to think in English and speaking English at the same time. Yeah, I don't have to spend extra uh extra 30 seconds to figure it all out before not 30 seconds, but probably you know, extra cells in my brain that I'm killing by thinking too much. Thinking too much, yeah, having to break it all down and yeah, yeah. So I was so out of those 17 kids that we were in the ASL class, only four of us graduated. Oh wow. And uh man, I was I would I uh I I saw many dropouts high school. Oh, yeah. Like, no, screw that, I ain't gonna high school no more. I'm just gonna go to work. And yeah, and I'm kinda glad that my mom kind of pushed me to like no no, you gotta graduate, you gotta graduate, because you know, we get those uh in we get influenced by whenever you're a teenager, you get influenced very easily. Oh, by your friends and whatever.

SPEAKER_03 28:28

So well, friends and just culture in general, and what we see on TV and what we hear in music, and oh yeah, that we keep it.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

And everybody's out there to hustle. Yeah, and I have friends, you know, when I was a sophomore, a few of them already had jobs. Mama didn't wouldn't allow me to get a job. She's like, No, you need to focus on just going to school, come home, do whatever you we gotta do. If you start on focusing into that and just seeing money, you know, you're gonna you're you're gonna end up not you're gonna chase that. Yeah, you're gonna chase that whole money. It's easy to get derailed very quickly. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:59

And if you make that your purpose.

SPEAKER_01 29:01

Yep, exactly. And I'm kind of glad that my mom did that. Uh, but I did end up getting a job at uh when I was 16.

SPEAKER_03 29:08

As you went in the restaurant business, we could kind of pivot there, right? Yeah. Talk about your service experience and how that's kind of translated into how you run your company. Yes, and talk a little bit about that. Because I I mean, uh there's uh just the way because of who you are, right? Because of the spirit that you have, um that in encapsulates everything about your business, the integrity, how you do things, how you show up, the guys that you use to do the work for you, um, they operate the same way. And it's very important. Uh especially in the you know, in the the realm that you're in, um, there's a lot of surprises a lot of the time in that industry. You know, there's movers everywhere, right? Yep. So you started in the restaurant industry. Um, what did that look like?

SPEAKER_01 29:58

Uh I spent 12 years in the restaurant industry. Uh I started off as a dishwasher. So the way that I got into dishwashing, I was just about to say, use that line that you used on how they installed me that position, like if I was gonna become the greatest entrepreneur, you know, the guy called me, I put in my application, I put any position, position any. So he's like, hey, uh, this is Chris. Like, yeah, this is Chris. I, you know, this is I can't remember his name, but yeah, with the Golden Coral, we're home of the holding choice buffet, you know, and uh we uh need help in the back of the kitchen, making the difference, making sure that the quality of the dishes is uh you know up to standard every single time. Also, you're gonna be able to help us out to perfectly have uh you know a line full of just fresh products for our customers. And he was, I mean, I'm 16. And this guy's talking to me like for the dishwasher position. Yeah, for the dishwasher position. Like what a salesman, wasn't your dad? No, I'm kidding. But yeah, he's like, hey, uh, do you have black pants? I was like, actually, you know, I do have black pants. What about what about shoes, black shoes? I was like, man, I don't know, but I can get some. It's like, how fast can you get here? And uh, so I was like, give me a second. I I went out there with my sister, like, hey, you know, can you take me to Walmart? And can you can you I asked, I asked my sister to only about $30 to buy a pair of shoes and to take me to to Golden Crow. So yeah, we went to Walmart. She got me a pair of shoes, and uh yeah, that's how it started. And as soon as I got there, I mean mountains of dishes waiting for me. Bro, mountains of plates. There's nothing pleasant about that position. But they sold it to you. Oh, they sold me to me like if it was a golden ticket.

SPEAKER_03 31:45

Yeah, and but I'm gonna make the biggest difference in this establishment.

SPEAKER_01 31:49

Yeah, and actually, believe it or not, I did. I did make uh a big difference in their kitchen because I mean I got there, I mean I'm 16, energetic, ready to go. Yeah, I'm gonna start earning $525 an hour. And I'm I'm already projecting 40 hours times five. I was like, dude, that's $200 a week, bro. Like, oh my god. I love it, you know? So I'm already thinking ahead of the game, like my money and how it's gonna be and all that. So I was like, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:17

Yeah, so you did a little bit of, I mean, that translated into everything. I mean, waiting tables, uh, bartending, managing. I mean, you did a little bit of everything.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

Yeah, a little bit of everything. Uh, and I didn't I really did not work in the kitchen, but uh, you know, overseeing the guys from from the the expo line or the food line in the restaurant, see how they're chopping, how they're slicing, how they're dipping, how they're doing everything. Yeah, but it just became natural. One day uh I was uh I was already assistant manager. We were slam-packed, and my kitchen guy just was not keeping up. And I was like, dude, we need stuff. So I was like, you know what? I put on an apron, I jumped in, and it was just natural. Yeah, make sure like I was making dishes with them, plates with them, you know, help helping them to get the food faster. Uh I felt the urgency that I had to do something besides just being the assistant manager looking at the guys and screaming out, like, come on, we need the food faster. Right. Well, they only have two hands. Right. Yeah, real quick. It's not like they can pull that third, fourth hand. I don't know. We're in making more dishes, of course, you know. So that's when I started coordinating from from the actually the kitchen out to the waiters. Hey, make sure you get to this customer. I was looking at the tickets, I was looking at the times, I was looking at every single little thing. I was like, hey, you know, let this guy know that his well-done steak is obviously gonna take a little longer. I'm gonna be there. I was just prepping little little bitty snacks for for customers. Well, what with the ones that were waiting a little longer? I was like, hey, make sure you hey take this to the kitchen, you know, just apologize to them, telling, hey, I'm sorry, but we're we're doing our best, you know, to make sure that everybody's food comes out uh perfectly as as as you like. You know, it's gonna take a couple more minutes, but it's gonna be done right.

SPEAKER_03 33:48

So and then you started and you started in the moving industry right after the how did how did this whole transition happen?

SPEAKER_01 33:55

So this whole transition happened because so I was starting the restaurant industry kind of, and I wanted more time. I was doing about 50 to 60 hours a week with the salary, and um it was it was a good salary, I'm not gonna lie. It was uh it was stable. You know, this was before you met your wife, though. This uh I was no, I was already with my wife. Oh, okay. Yeah, and uh at the end of 2016, uh 20 at the end of 2015, that's when I made the decision to, you know, what let's let's look for something else. And a friend of mine, uh, he was doing hotshots with uh a truck and a trailer. And I was like, man, I want to get into that. You know, he looks so freely going all over Texas, and and I'm like, you know what? So I contacted him, I was like, man, uh, you know, I envy you, man. Like, how do you do it? You know, what you do? He's like, dude, it doesn't take much, you know, just save a little bit of money, buy yourself a trailer, go get a uh truck, a dually, a diesel dually truck, you know, from a dealership, and you're you're rolling, you know. You get your LLC, that way you can get insurance, and you're rocking, dude. I mean, it might take, you know, like um, you know, from five to ten grand to get started. But I mean, if you can, you know, kind of pull some money. So we did have a little bit of money saved, and that's how I got started into the hot shots, uh transporting cars from auctions to dealerships, yeah. Yeah, from dealerships to auctions.

SPEAKER_03 35:18

I have a friend that does that between here and Colorado. Yeah, running and stuff back and forth.

SPEAKER_01 35:21

Yeah, not only did it here locally in Dallas, and also I would go to San Antonio, Houston, uh Austin, uh Lobik, like all over Texas. And it was it was good. I learned a lot. So I went from one day being in the restaurant to another day driving a 52 foot footer trailer with a doodley truck. I didn't I didn't know nothing about no diesel trucks.

SPEAKER_03 35:42

There's an art to that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 35:43

Man, it is an art. And I'm gonna tell you why. I went to O'Reilly's and I'm like, man, we need to tune up this truck, you know, let's get some oil, let's get this and that, and then I'll get to the guy. I was like, what else do you need, man? I was like, hey, I was like, the truck is this, you know, it's a uh Ram 3500 with a 6.7 diesel engine on it. I need sparplugs. And he looked at me, he's like, Need what? I was like, sparplugs. Like, so he called two other of his friends to come and make fun of me. Because the trucks don't use sparplugs. Right. And the guy's like, hey, check this guy out. You know, he's trying to buy sparplugs for his diesel truck. And the guy's like, how many you need? I'm like, oh, I don't know. So after they kind of make fun of me, he he he did he did explain to me. It's like, look, they no, it doesn't use sparplugs, it's a different whole engine, it's diesel, it's not gas. You know, the the the combustion chamber is different, and it's a it what it what it does is it's a glow plug. You don't replace that glow plug until actually it is default or it stops working. The truck itself is gonna let you know that it's not it doesn't work anymore. So just do oil change and fill filter. That's all you gotta do.

SPEAKER_03 36:49

Yeah, and how so after how long did you do that before okay? So you did that and then the junk removal uh came right after that?

SPEAKER_01 36:58

So I did no, so I did the hot shot. I stopped the hot shot in 2017 when my sister passed away.

SPEAKER_02 37:03

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 37:04

Uh it just you know, we received a call in the afternoon on a Sunday that she she has passed and on Saturday, and man, it was just devastating. So, you know, it took me about three weeks to get back into like kind of trying to work or stuff like that, you know, because I was I was helping my my mom, my sisters. More than that, my nephew's my two nieces and my nephew, the kids that she left behind. And I mean, I didn't work. I didn't work for like uh three weeks. And I'm just like, man, we need cash. I was telling my wife, like, I don't have any more money, like I'm tapping out my credit cards. So she also was worried that I'll be on the road, you know, by myself, driving a trailer in the truck. And she's like, hey, what if you go into deep depression or something? What you're gonna do? I was like, you know what? I'll go back to the restaurant industry. It's okay.

SPEAKER_03 37:53

I mean, we can start from from that's the beauty about the restaurant industry. If you got a personality and you know how to talk, like you can always fall back on that. Oh, there's plenty, there's always gonna be money in restaurants. Oh, yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 38:04

And I I've looked back and I was like, you know what? If I need to restart from zero, that's exactly where I'm going. I've done that multiple times. Oh shoot, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, so I was gonna sell that truck, that the dooley, the the ram truck. I was gonna sell it. And uh a friend of mine worked at this moving company where they uh subcontract you with your truck. So you you go in with yourself with your truck, that way you can pull their trailer, all their equipment. Okay, and they pay they pay you know a little bit of premium, premium dollar. Then I called him up, I was like, hey man, you know, I'm selling my truck, you want you want it, you know. Uh I'm not gonna have use for it, you know. He's like, dude, you're crazy. Come and make money with the truck. Weekly pay, you know, you get paid more and this and that. I started doing that. I was like, dude, this is great. So yeah, man, but um, I didn't know it was gonna be hell. Hell going going going from the restaurant industry to drive for a year and a half and doing no hard labor ever. And now you're into lifting all this heavy furniture.

SPEAKER_03 39:07

No punk, man.

SPEAKER_01 39:09

Yeah, man, he kicked my butt. That that was that was one of the best uh rock, one of the best rock bottom hits that I've had had in a in a in a long time. You know, thinking that you know you can do so much with little, and then you come over here to a whole new new different world. And man, but I I feel I feel that the pain that I had for my sister's passing, it was greater than my physical pain. And the guy that trained me, I'm very grateful for him. His name is Raul. He's from Belize. Man, that guy was he's a soldier. Like he don't back down. Like he told me from day one. So I was 250 pounds when I joined uh the moving industry in 2017. And he looked at me, he's like, Hey, what's your name? I was like, Chris, like, nah, your name is Fatty. In Spanish, it's panson. Panson. Panson, that means you have a big belly. And yeah, he's like, no, so I was panzon for everything. Hey, Panson this, Panson. I'm like, freaking. So I mean, I was like, whatever, dude. I don't care. I'm just here to work and but he kicked my butt like no other dude. He didn't uh and he told me it's like, look, if you don't like the job, quit. If you don't like this, quit. If you don't do this, quit. Like everything for him was just for me to quit. He's like, I'm explaining to you things, but if you're not gonna be able to pull through, quit. I'm not gonna sit there and cry to the owner and do this and do that. It's just between you and I. You either keep on coming, show up the next day, or you quit. It's like I'm tired of people just coming, coming, going, coming, going. It's like you don't know how many people.

SPEAKER_03 40:39

Oh, I bet the turn, I bet the turnover rate's ridiculous, man. Oh, it is ridiculous. Yeah, for sure. And and I actually I did talk to him on the phone because previously when I was trying to move and you weren't able to get to it, you just instantly turned me over to a great group of guys that helped me get out in uh in a in a pinch. So uh thank you for that. I mean that was it, that was a huge, that was a huge deal. So you know the the guys that uh I want to I want to make sure we highlight this because we're kind of we're kind of running out of time here in the studio. Um I want to make sure we highlight this. Like the the the sense of uh just the way you run the the business. There there's not a lot of accountability around the the moving thing, you know. Uh there's a lot of horror stories in the move moving industry, a lot of horror stories. Just like there is in home improvement in the the world that I come from. So, you know, we're we're grateful that we've got a great group of guys that does the work for us, just like how you've organized your your company. Absolutely. Um, great people that care and all of that. So uh talk a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_01 41:39

Yeah, so I was able to uh I was gonna franchise with one of the moving companies, and that they didn't go anywhere. So uh went to overview my you know subcontracting uh contracts, and I was like, yeah, I don't want to step anybody's toes, you know, because I want to do something. And when I went over with uh these people, I told them I was like, hey, I don't see myself doing nothing else in the next 10 years. Like this is the industry that I'm just gonna stick to, you know. Uh so I don't know, I don't know what it didn't fill through, but it didn't go through. So I was like, fine, I want to talk to business advisors, business lawyers. What are my chance, opportunities? What can I do? They're like, no, start your own. Like you have to. So uh I'm able to have the a good quality uh guys because of who I am and how I am. I'm a very kind-hearted person. I I like to listen a lot. I I I love giving people second, third, four chances if needed to, as long as they deserve them. You know, uh, we're not perfect. I have had the privilege of having those uh opportunities back and I'm very thankful for them, you know. A lot of people think that now, you know, if you fail me once, that's it. Yeah, but why did he fail? Like if he failed because of something or because of me. A lot of his poor leadership, or because of he's just a bad person, you know. So if he fails because he's just a bad person, then you can really tell and be like, okay, well, you know what? Right, yeah, there's there's no there's no second, third, or fourth chance on this one, but something like that. So that's that's what I see on my guys. Uh, besides that we background check them everybody to make sure that you know we're bringing legitimate uh sane people into call uh people's homes more than that. Yeah, because obviously uh we're strangers to everybody until they feel comfortable, and that's what I try to do, you know, I present myself as a legitimate company that we actually do care for customers because it's very easy to uh speak or say, you know, sell your product to a customer by just a bunch of lies. They don't and you don't fall through to any of that at the end of the day. You know? Horror stories, uh the customers always say that there there's the estimate is never right. And yeah, uh I've been in those positions where I have had in the past try to convince people that we're the right company with a lower estimate. Once we hook them, they what is it called? They're already on the clock. So I mean the guys are already working. Right. Like I tell them it's gonna be like I already know it's gonna be a seven hour estimate. But just to get them on the books, I tell them it's gonna be a four and a half or five hour estimate. And obviously the numbers go lower, so they're like, okay, yeah, we can save some money and this and that. But at the end, my crew arrives and they're like, no, this is not gonna be no five five hours. Just to let you know it's gonna be eight, and now they're calling the company, now they're calling me. And and they're like, no, you told me. And I was like, but what do I do? I mean, uh, you know, people upstairs told me to sell you no matter what. So this is what I had to do to sell you, you know, in my head, obviously. And I was like, you know what, I'm tired of all that. Like, no, I want like and and I've lost a lot of jobs because of that. You know, but I'm not gonna sit there and tell you that I underestimated you just to hook you on our books. Right. And later on you ended up paying.

SPEAKER_03 44:58

And I'm sure that's a big thing within the 30, 40% more. Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, just the accountability. I mean, if you're if you're here in the area or anyway, you know, you've moved people from San Antonio up here. I mean, you guys will go uh of course outside of Terry, but uh yeah, if you're in the area and you uh you want to have someone trustworthy in your home uh to protect your stuff, uh they got great equipment, they got great guys, they they cover everything. They will actually come in and if you need everything packed and moved and unpacked and all of that, they they can do all that. And um, our other sponsor partner of the show, Cook DFW, uh you actually got to move them personally just a couple weeks ago, yeah, getting all their stuff moved out of their house and into their new place. Um, so it's cool. Like that's as soon as we kind of started this thing. Uh, you know, I've known Daniel and Carrie for a long time and then kind of merged y'all two together with this podcast platform and the networking group, and next thing you know, you're getting to move their house. Yeah, no, and that's extremely cool. You know, I see stuff like that, and I'm like, that's awesome. Like I I I I love that because they uh they that they had a lot of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 46:03

Yeah, and the cooks they already had uh an estimate kind of, and it was it was almost 30-40 percent higher than what I was quoting them. Yeah, and yeah, she told me, she's like, Man, this thing's crazy. I was like, well, let me go overview it. I was like, I don't like to step anybody's toes. You know, if if that makes more sense than what I'm presenting to you, hey, that's totally fine. There's no pressure into this. I just want to make sure that everybody gets taken care of.

SPEAKER_03 46:24

So are you guys still doing the junk removal stuff or are you just focused on the moving?

SPEAKER_01 46:28

Yeah, we're still doing the junk removal. Uh so it's a combination of both, but we're focusing more on the moving and then the junk removal just follows with it.

SPEAKER_03 46:36

So yeah, uh, you know, if you're listening to this, check these guys out on social media, Texas Delta Moving. Uh, the website is Texas Deltamoving.com. Uh Christopher Salas. It's spelled sales. Sales? S-A-L-E-S. For the longest I thought that was your last name. It's actually French.

SPEAKER_01 46:54

It's a French last name. I don't know how ended up in Mexico.

SPEAKER_03 46:58

Well, it probably had a lot to do with the landings in Louisiana. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:01

Because how everything ended up cajuned down there. Quick quick fun story. Uh Cinco de Mayo. Which is Cinco de Mayo, everybody thinks it's Mexican independence. No, that was the battle that we fought uh versus France to not take over of Mexico.

SPEAKER_03 47:16

Oh, okay.

unknown 47:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:17

I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_03 47:18

Cinco de Drinco. Cinco de Drinco is how we think over here in America.

SPEAKER_01 47:22

Everybody drinks out here while we're battling over there.

SPEAKER_03 47:25

Well, cool, man. Uh you know, I'm I'm really excited once again to have you a part of our uh the networking group that we're putting together or we have put together for home service people here in Collin County. And have you a part of the podcast as a as a sponsor partner? And uh, you know, I'm always here to help in anything you need, just like you've always been there to help me. And I mean, you'd show up on my porch with ribs at random points in time when I needed them most. Like, how'd this guy know I wanted chicken right now? Just showing up with some chicken.

SPEAKER_01 47:53

Ah, dang, I had chicken legs at home today.

SPEAKER_03 47:55

So, what's a phone? What's a phone number? What's a good idea?

SPEAKER_01 47:58

The phone number to uh reach us at is 945-237-3616. Uh, there is a business line. Uh, and uh we have a cool CRM where you can just uh go into our website, put your information in, send it over to us, uh that we can kind of see what we're working on. When I'm calling you, we already have mainly an idea what we're working on. Yeah. Uh once the people put their address, they our CRM directless direct us to Zillow and all these other places where we can actually see your home from uh before actually I called you.

SPEAKER_03 48:30

Cool, yeah. They've got you gotta guess got a lot of that stuff figured out on the front end. So it's a very it's a very simple process, uh quick and painless. And if it's uh if you're in a pinch and you need it done quickly, even if they can't get to it, uh you've got a great network of uh people that are also trusted as well that you can refer people to if you can't get to it immediately. Uh so that's uh that's a big deal. But um glad to have you here, man. I appreciate you.

SPEAKER_01 48:54

Appreciate the opportunity for having me here. Yeah, absolutely. I'm excited and uh I look forward as well, you know, to keep on growing uh in the networking group for sure.

SPEAKER_03 49:02

Yeah, it's a lot of fun. Thank you guys for listening to this episode of Clarity Changes Everything. Um Linda Woodruff, this is Christopher Salas. Thank you. Punch the ones and twos in the background, making this thing all click. Tac-a-tac-a ta-tac-a-cha. What? Uh so hey, uh, remember Clarity Changes Everything, remove the obstacles, change your life, get clear. That's what we're here for.

SPEAKER_00 49:23

This episode is brought to you by Cook DFW Roofing and Restoration and Texas Delta Moving.

SPEAKER_03 49:28

You you guys have a super stellar reputation.

SPEAKER_00 49:31

Only on referrals mostly. We started with Roost and we started with gutters. We've been blessed, man. We got some great partnerships, great people that's been with us for several years. It became a word of mouth. It's not about me and my success anymore, it's about all the people that use CookDFW to feed their families. It's not about what I get out of it, it's about what I can give other people. Great products. We've been doing business for what? Six years. Never had a complaint. 833 CookDFW, uh, cookdfw.com.

SPEAKER_01 50:01

There's a lot of horror stories in the movie industry. I'm not gonna sit there and tell you that I underestimated you just to hook you on our books.

SPEAKER_03 50:09

If you're in the area and you want to have someone trustworthy in your home, uh if you need everything packed and moved and unpacked and all of that, they they can do all that.

SPEAKER_01 50:17

It was almost 30-40% higher than what I was quoting them. They just want to make sure that everybody gets taken care of. We're still doing the junk removal, so it's a combination of both.

SPEAKER_03 50:25

Texas Delta Moving.

SPEAKER_01 50:26

What's a good phone number to uh reach us at is 945-237-3616.

SPEAKER_03 50:32

Uh, the website is TexasDeltamoving.com. Thanks for listening to today's episode of Clarity Changes Everything. If this conversation helped you in any way, it would mean the world if you would subscribe and then make sure you share it with someone that needs to hear it. And if you're here in the DFW Metroplex and you want to talk Windows, all you gotta do is text Clarity to 214-225-1922 to schedule your complimentary in-home consultation with me. If you want updates on the podcast, special offers, and more exciting things coming, just want the news, visit Clarity Changes Everything Podcast.com and join my email list. Until next time, remember Clarity Changes Everything.