Ep Local Players: From College Athlete To Top Real Estate Agent With Erik Gomez

Guest Contact Information 
Instagram: @Erikgomez8
Facebook: Erik Gomez

This episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing one of El Paso Top Real Estate Agents. Erik not only comes with a background in real estate but also has experience being a college athlete & an investor in several different industries. Throughout this conversation, you will get a better look at Erik's mindset and vision. 

Transcript

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I'm extremely excited to be back with you guys for another episode. I hope you all found a lot of Valley and last week's conversation with native Colt. If you haven't had a chance to take a listen to the episode, Native Cul shared his inspirational story provided best practices that we can all easily implement in our lives. But most importantly, showed how a strong mindset can help you overcome even the most difficult obstacles in life. This week I had the chance to sit down with one of passes top real estate agents. This individual goes by the name of Eric Coolness. Eric is ranked as one of the top 250 Latino real estate agents in the nation. He also has a diverse portfolio of experiences ranging from being a college athlete to investing in apartment complexes to now, even investing unwinnable, passing US bars called the Pink Elephant, also known as 915 vibes. It was a lot of fun diving deeper into Eric's way of thinking and getting a closer look at the actions, I guess, taking to be successful in life. He provides great advice on how to sink mentors on how to build a personal brand and had a think past just being rich but and said, aiming to be wealthy so you could make a difference in the world. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Mr Gomez so excited to introduce a new guest. I think he's gonna provide a lot of value because he has a really unique story, Has a background with several industries underneath is about so kind of give you a quick run through this individual played college sports also has currently one of the top real estate agents and a paso number two in the nation. So if the last thing I heard you were ranked number two Latino in the past is that correct? Is that in the nation E S o n The nation last year was 236 and nine, number 36 in Texas. Okay, Perfect. So the reason I wanted to bring this individual is I'm just from short conversations I've had with him, there's been really unique topics and a way of thinking that he has that I think is gonna benefit. A lot of people on this individual goes by the name of Eric Gomez are gonna go ahead and introduce yourself. Yeah, My name's Eric Gomez. I currently live in a pass of Texas, was born and raised here. Real estate agent investor also own a business as well that I think we'll get into a little bit, but really nice Thio sit here and travel you guys. So as the podcast is based open to evolve, I kinda want to go through the progression that you've had, maybe as a younger individual through some of those industries that you've been into now where you are as a person and how that's led you to become an investor and other businesses and kind of branch off to the success that you've had. So that's gonna start with when you were a little bit younger. Who was Eric Gomez when you were maybe in middle school, high school for me, I was always a baseball player. You know that baseball is just my passion. It's what I love to do. And, um, since I was little, I started playing at three years old when I started playing baseball. So I did that for man over 20 years, and and, uh, yeah, that's kind of where it started. Okay, I'm talking about that. That progress. And you actually made it a lot further than a lot of people do and had a chance to play at a college level. Hey, played in Snyder, Texas, which just recently became familiar with that city. Really small city there. How was that experience? Well, going from, You know what we think I'll pass is a small city, but it's actually a big city S o goingto town where population was, I believe was, like, 15,000 or something like that in the Bible belt of Texas. So very, very conservative. It was just a culture shock for me. I think we only had, like, a sonic and McDonald's. There s O, but very, very, very beautiful city. Very beautiful town, very nice people. And that's where I went to play junior college for Western Texas college. Okay. And then from there, how long were you there before you transferred out? To weigh them. So, Junior college, Just two years after that, I went to a workout in San Antonio. And my college coach, he is. When I discovered me at one of the camps and stuff so he right away. After the camp, he approached me and asked me to take a trip out to Texas and in Kingsville and which is about 30 minutes from from Corpus Corpus Christi. And from there I went to tour the campus and just fell in love with the again. It was a small town, but it was bigger than where I was at. Eso corpus was close by. I believe Austin was like or San Antonio was, like, 2.5 hours, so I wasn't too far from from a lot of things. Okay, Perfect. And then from there, you told me you got a bachelor's degree. Correct? In business. Correct? Yes. Business administration on dhe marketing. Okay, so now take me. You're about to graduate from Texas A and M. It seems like baseball Is that baseball coming so already, or do you have a next step plan for him there? So I was playing. Oh, I'm sorry. You're asking about in college at the time, right? Um, yeah, I have No, I had nowhere to go. I had a you know, I didn't have the size to get drafted the power, so I thought, you know my baseball career is over, Actually has had to stay there an extra semester to finish school. So I finished school. I got my degree, came home and a crazy story like I was the in the summer I had went thio. They had open trials for the El Paso Diablos. And so I just I went, tried out, never heard anything. Months flew by and I was on the west side of all paso playing poker, and I get a call, and I think it's like, someone's messing with me. And he's like, Hey, Eric Gomez. Yeah, This is Eric. Uh, this is Butch Henry. I'm the manager for a whole Passel. The albums. How'd you like to play for me? And, you know, I thought it was a joke Is a dream come true, you know, So I was like, Yeah, OK, I'm sure. Yeah. What do I gotta do? He's like, Well, we leave for Dallas in two hours, so get to the stadium. I called my mom, and I'm like, Hey, Mom, you won't believe what happened. I got the call. Pack my bags for me, please. I'm on the west side, so it's gonna take me 45 minutes to get home and then another 30 minutes to get to Cohen Stadium. And so, yeah, my mom packed my bags and and I met the team. The team was already on the bus, were ready to go. And at the time, my friend Jesse, he's still playing ball. Actually, he was drafted by the Cubs and stuff. Well, he was playing with the elbows at the time also, and so he just made me feel like like like I was at home, you know, He's like, Hey, Eric, um uh, sit by me and I will be roommates. And so it was pretty cool. What I find interesting about that story is a lot of individuals at a young age. They want to be something big in sports, right? And I've met a lot of people in the past couple of years that maybe were really successful, had high dreams, maybe being something in basketball and football. So you spent all this time and put all this effort into one sport. It's your career at this point. How do you retool yourself now to take the next step in your life? Once baseball comes on in. Yes. So when I did get the, you know, got sent home or got released is what it's called from from the Diablos. I thought it was the end of the world, you know, I was so sad and heartbroken. And it was It was a rough time to know that that day, what I did for 20 something years ended. You know what I mean? Like, I'm not gonna pay play up at a competitive level anymore. That's it. I'm done. There's nowhere else to go, but it taught me a lot off life lessons, you know, and like my son right now is just turned three. But he's been playing table. He started at two, and the way I want himto approach baseball is use it as a tool to get your school paid for yes, have your dreams, your aspirations. You want to become a professional baseball player, but less than 1% of all baseball players become a professional player. You know what I mean? There's a higher percentage of those kids getting degrees, so I want youto get your education. And then if you become a professional baseball player, awesome is just a plus, you know? So I was one of the lucky ones that came out of college with no debt you have to pay for. Okay, So was that a reality that you already had at that age knowing? But, hey, you know what? I can only make it maybe make it so far. When you were younger, you were blindsided, and you were just like, you know, I'm gonna make it to the big leagues one day. Yeah, I was I was blindsided because, you know, when you're when you're younger, you think that you don't know the reality that it's extremely difficult to become a professional athlete and what these guys are put through day in and day out, you know what I mean? Okay. So just before we close the chapter on that part of your life, what were maybe some lessons that baseball toucher that crossed over as far as maybe, like, self discipline, commitment? What were some things that have translated and you get that you learned through those years? Now it's your old life. So baseball taught me a lot of lessons. It's one of the sport's where if you fail seven times out of 10 you're in the Hall of Fame, you know what I mean? It's it's It's a game of failure, is what it is. So you know, not to knock any other sports, but, I mean, if you're a receiver for football and you catch three out of 10. Football's your pretty bad receiver, right? You make three out of 10 baskets. You're a bad a bad shot. In baseball. You hit three out of 10 baseball's You're up there with the greats. Get the Hall of Fame, you know? So so definitely taught me a lot of life lessons on failure and how to get back up and just keep moving forward. So I'm grateful for that. Baseball. It was at the time. I absolutely loved it. It's what it was, my passion. And now I transferred that passion that I have for the game of baseball to the money. Okay, you know what I mean. So I used that same passion, but in a different sense. I use it towards my business towards money. Okay, Perfect. So I think a lot of people need to take that as a lesson. I'd be able to kind of see what benefit came from the experiences they've had and try to translate them into the further life. So from there, the next part of I'm not mistaking was you started working with Sprint for itself. One says correct. Correct. I was doing sales for spring. How long get that last one? I think I was that spring for like, two years. Yeah. Goes at that sprint for, like, two years, which taught me a lot, too. I learned a lot off of lessons from from Sprint, and and, um, I learned a lot of sales techniques, which I implement in what I do now. You know, I met a lot of people, so it was It was cool. Sometimes I feel like when I ask people, they don't see the full advantage. They might have had one person, something that they don't have to run a business through working at a similar position. So, for example, I worked on the cell phone industry and I got the ability to learn that I was gonna customer service. I was gonna building relations relationship with people. What maybe did you feel that stood out to you when you were in that spirit? 10 years? You're like you know what? I think I'm really good at this. If I continue to pursue it, yes. So sales you. I'm usually a talkative person with people But sales? When I was at sprint, I wanted Maur I and I always I always tell my little brothers and stuff I was tell them this that sometimes you think that a failure is the end of the world, but it's actually a blessing in disguise. So when I was at Sprint, keep in mind I'm the only sales guy with the bachelors in administration to be a manager. You know what I mean? I got passed up twice to be a manager by. I was like, what, 22 23 at the time with my bachelors to an 18 year old kid that just came out of high school a few months ago to take my job. That should have been lying. And so I tell my brothers, like I was devastated At that time, I wanted to be a manager so bad, and it didn't happen for me twice. But if I would have became that manager, I'd probably still be there. You know what I mean? So thank God that I didn't become a manager because I would have got comfortable where I was at, and I probably would have stuck around longer and I would have never explored into real estate. And Andi grew as a person and made more money. And it's wrong because I think in situations like that you hit those roadblocks and sometimes it's hard to see that there might be a brighter future. So you hit that roadblock. You kind of feel like it's coming to an end with Sprint and you start dabbling into real estate, right? Correct. Is that something that you're already familiar with? You have been looking into. It was kind of just the catcher attention, and you wanted to try the industry. So my mom would have been a realtor before she did. She was in the business for over 10 years now, but she stopped doing it for a little while. She's actually started building houses, so my background and known a little bit of real estate. I just didn't know the real estate sale side of it. Okay, so I knew of it. I just didn't know that the sales part of it so It obviously takes some time to get the groove in your industry to get from another. What? They kind of really know that. Hey, I'm zoning. I'm becoming an expert at this craft. So how were the first couple of years for you and real estate? Was it something that you were expecting? Or it sounds like you've always been pretty ambitious about yourself. That it wasn't a reality checks that reality check stepping in. Maybe I don't know everything or that kind of help you dive into it without really having too much of a background. Yes. So what I did was when I was at Sprint, I I had already got my real estate license, and I I waited until I got my first check from real estate before diving into real estate. 100%. I had a buddy of mine that actually mentored me at the time. Convinced me that I needed to take that leap of faith and just go into real estate 100% so I can maximize my potential. And so, yeah, I got my first real estate check, and it was a sizable check. It was You know what I'm making three months at spring. So I said, Hey, man, I'm gonna go out this for three months. I can live off this check for three months. Let's just try it and see what happens. And from then on, every single day I was at the office. Even though I didn't have anything, I was new. I have no clients. I didn't know how to go get listings. I was at the office or around somebody that was doing real estate every single day. Okay? And we come from society that typically house before one k safe jobs jumping into real estate. I mean, you're betting on yourself, right? I mean, it's really 100% commission. That's really how much work you're gonna put in. So what was the difference? I mean, you're going from a job that's secure. You get a monthly, our check. Plus, the commissioner, you're hustling for two cameras. Gonna bet on myself. What made you start thinking that way? Um, I mean, there's there's no one you should know. How can I say there's no one else? I'd rather bet on myself. Okay. You know, so it was a little bit of ah transition because you got to keep in mind. They don't take taxes out of you're out of your trick that they give you. So you're getting this big amount of money, and you're gonna go blow it all versus, you know, putting a little bit to the side for your real estate taxes. And then at the end of the year, they hit you with this large bill Like a man. This is what you owe in taxes. Oh, shit. Really quick on that. Was that maybe one of the lessons that you were like you. I wasn't expecting that. Maybe you weren't prepared for the culture. Of course it did catch me off guard. And so now you can do quarterly. I believe you can send the areas like your payments quarterly for independent contract. There's a lot of people do that, and that's what I have started to do. But then another mentor, another guy that meant toward me told me. Hey, man, why are you letting the government hold all your money? What happens if a short term quick investment comes up? Well, the IRS has your money. You don't have that money to invest in a real quick and make more money off your money. So he just told me that I have to be disciplined and I have to know how to spend my money correctly and not go crazy with it. So I now what I do is I hold my money and I use it to my advantage. I leverage it versus giving it to the I. R s every month or quarterly or whatever. Okay, so far in the stories I've heard you mention two men sores, how crucial have they been so far in your development and becoming who you are now as a person. So, yeah, they made a huge impact on my life. The first guy I was telling you about, Joe, he's hey was a realtor before me, and he would just always have me around him learning. And, uh, he helped me out Bye. Splitting deals with me so he'd get a lead or whatever, and he'd be like hair work this deal with me and we'll split it, which, in reality, he didn't have to do that, you know, he did it out of the goodness in his heart. And he told me, You know, one day you're gonna You're gonna have to do this for someone else to help somebody else out. And so I really appreciated it. Um, he had me all over town taking pictures of houses and yeah, it was crazy. It was. I mean, you give me 2025 bucks for house, I take pictures. So he kind of helped me make a little bit of income on keep moving forward. Do you think a lot of people right now that maybe if there let's talk about the real estate industry there, too, they're not humble enough to maybe ask for help. They're not humble enough to maybe look for advice from women who have already done it. You said one time this last time that we talked them. I rather learn from someone else's failures. So did you think that's a situation that happens right now? Just especially, like with the blue millennials. Everybody feels like they're entitled that there everybody's gonna accomplish something great in life. You see that being an issue. So I'm still a millennium. I still made it, but I made the cut. Um, but yeah, I think that now everybody wants the fast money. They thinkit's just gonna come over tonight. And, you know, I get a lot of friends that tell me like a man. You know, I saw you were out of town. I want to do what you do. Don't go on vacations like you wanna Okay, Cool. So where's the work ethic? Well, how do you want to do it? You know what I mean? A lot of people see the end result vs what built up to it and what would let Thio. Where I'm at right now, which I still in other people's eyes. They might see me as a successful person, but I still don't feel successful, you know, it's it's crazy. So So So what I'm saying is the these friends of mine that they want all the glory, the no, the nice cars, whatever they they think it just came over night. They didn't see me every single day at that office. You know, wake up. Go to the office late at night, go to the office. They didn't see that part, so yes, some people think they're just entitled toe making a lot of money, but they don't put in the work actual work. So but you have a really unique way of thinking about it. So you just said people might see me successful, but I'm still not satisfied. And I think when you look at people that are highly successful, when you look at your Michael Jordan's Tom Brady's all those people that are really special in the world, they have that drive right. It's not about proving anybody else right or about showing anybody else what they can accomplish. It's about proving something to themselves. Was that something you've had since you were young as well? Are just the older you got in And maybe some of the mistakes that you made kind of lead you to start thinking that way? Yes. So I mean my my biggest critic, I I always feel like I can do more, you know, And, uh, at a baseball one of my coaches for Kingsville. He gave me a great example. He was, like a year raise your hand high in the air as high as you can. So I looked at him all weird, and so I raised my hand, and he's like, Okay, now, raise it higher. And so I raised my hand even higher and he's like, There's my point. You think that that's the highest you can go. But then I told you to go higher and you went higher. So there's always more. You can always push yourself some more. Those those lessons that are really easy to comprehend go a long way, don't you think? Oh, definitely me being a coach to my son's team. Now I have all these little kids running around. I know that I'm gonna mold them in some way or help them in their future. The lessons that I'm giving them now, just like my coaches did for me. You know, when I was playing stuff. So fixer paying it forward, right? Of course. Yeah. And it's crazy because it'll come full circle. It'll come back to it, really Will. You know that my first mentor, Joe hey, run into a rough patch, you know, is his. But his real estate business went down, left California came back and he was going through a rough time, and at that time my career had just blossomed. And so he came back and he's like a man, you know, this is what's going on. I said, Hey, Joe, Here's a lead that I just got, Let's split this deal and so he was able to get that money from that deal. Move forward, comes full circle. That's great to hear. And I think that's a lesson. So everybody is. Take the help when you need the help. And also make sure that you can give the help of you having the situation to pass it down to someone in need. Definitely, definitely. And you know, a lot of people have this, uh, this month's misconception that people with money are greedy and there unethical, and they just have a bad way of looking at people that are successful. They think that they're greedy. But in reality my my more successful friends that I have give way more than my broke friends, you know what I mean? They give so much. It's crazy people with money, they give a lot. They give, give, give, it's crazy. I'm a big believer in the more you give them where you're gonna get back. So one of the things that I find really unique about shoes So when you talked about were talking last time and you mentioned to me that you're next thing that you want, accomplish it by some apartments for to set your son up. And I think about that as generation of wealth. Right? You're trying to pass. Set up your son for success. Try to set up the future family they have coming. So a lot of people are just so focused on what they're trying to accomplish right now. How have you expanded your visions to see, like a long term? This is what I need to make sure set up. So when you ask people like, hey, where your goals or what do you want out of life? They always say, I want to be rich. You ask me. I say I want to be wealthy because when you're rich, you can go broke. When you're wealthy, you can't go broke. If that makes sense, you know what I mean? So I want to build wells. I don't want to be rich. And in I did own apartments before. One of my goals was to own apartments. Before I was 30 years old, which I bottom when I was 31. I was a year late, but I still accomplished that goal. You know eso me and my partner bought 13 units for retail spaces in front and the rest were little studio apartments. And we picked him up for a really, really good price. Ended up flipping them and selling them after a year, year and 1/2 and making some good money off of it. Okay, It's funny because that building it was a piece of crap. It just looked like shit. It was it was ugly and people were laughing at me, you know, like, Why did you buy that? But you don't. Don't look at the building. Look at the money. It was still bringing in money every month. Someone we sold it. We made, like, a $98,000 profit on it within a year and 1/2 you know, some not many people can say they can make a profit like that off off off of an ugly building. And that 98,000 we owner financed it to the new buyer for at a 6% interest rate, so that 98 turned into 130,000 after the three years. And what's interesting about that is the mindset that you have just to generate more wealth and kind of How is this investment gonna help me? Long term, compared to a lot of people spend more money than what they make. You've been able to switch some mindset. Now, how am I gonna make my money work for me? Putting a big investment cause I'm surviving apartments is a lot of money going into the investment. How was the feeling of trying to sign off that check and kind of knowing that your money was going into that project? It was incredible. It was a great feeling, you know, Don't get me wrong. I like Thio. I'd like to spend a lot of money to, you know, but at the same time Now I know that as I get older Yes, I like buying my stuff, but I don't have to anymore. Like I know I got it now. You know what I mean? Yeah. Before it was like, Oh, I need the $1000 suit. You know, I need this. I need that. Feel the part played the part. Now I'm fine with a $200 suit from Burlington. And I have a lot more money now than I did back then. you know. So the mindset, I guess I matured a lot more. Um, that makes it just changes. And that's how people with money are. They don't They don't need to go out and buy the most expensive thing. Some of my friends that have a lot of money. They'll drive a regular car. They know nothing fancy. But don't get me wrong. I do have the friends that have the Ferraris and you know, so yeah, it's crazy. The mindset is just it changes on you mature through life. You hear a lot of people say that you get to a certain point of wealth that the materialistic things don't really motivate you anymore. You may be bought everything that you wanted to buy, and that's where the bigger picture of your purpose and what are you genuinely trying to provide value to the people around you to kind of keep keep motivating yourself. So what's become your purpose now that you that money? Because it sounded like money was your driver at the beginning, an ounce of developed into something bigger. So what's that purpose switched over to? I mean, I don't get me wrong. I still I still love money, but I think now I have ah, better platform Thio help people. So you know, I e started getting involved One of my cousins I want to introduce, But it was really their instagram to one of her friends that does a lot of work in Cambodia, and they they make school or they build schools. They put a clean water facilities out there. And so now I want to get into helping others. Um, like that project. It's called Project Cambodia. 100%. They're all volunteers. 100% goes to the cause. And so that's what I started getting involved in now. Okay, so let's talk about some of the failures may be coming from real estate and anybody that does sales. It's a lot of rejection, right? Somewhere till we talked about in baseball, you're not always gonna get a Yes, the percentages are pretty low. So it was their days. Maybe that you just haven't closed the deal that you like this. It might not be for me. You know, I might be in the wrong industry. And what did you do to try and kind of re motivate yourself? Locked back into what you need accomplished. Yeah, most definitely. There is a lot of those days. And, you know, I When I started real estate, I had a really good months. Excuse me, That's a really good months. And then I had some zero ones where I didn't make any money, so I had to figure out a way to pay my bills. You know, um, and there was a point in time where I was like, shit, man like this. Maybe this isn't for me, you know? And then, uh, I'll just stick through it, and then a week later, I get a phone call in a big deal. You don't know shit on back. You know, um, in real estate, it's always Ah, I get a big rush because I never know when I'm gonna get that phone call that somebody wants to buy a $1,000,000 property and, you know, make a $30,000 commission. It's You just never know when you're gonna get that phone call. It's It's just, uh it's a thrill that gets me going because I would assume real estate has a really high turnover. Right? You must see a lot of people come in and out industry will definitely. So what? Maybe Have you noticed, what advice would you give to someone? What's kind of been the skill set that you've seen that makes some of your yourself in some of the real estate agency, you know, successful. They're just being around people that that are successful, that are generally genuinely good people that want to help you out. A big reason why I have had some success is because of the people around me and the people that I've introduced been introduced to my network. You know, I'm a big believer in your network. Is your network that I'm a huge believer in that. And I think that I was just blessed to be surrounded by friends, that our business owners that own their own businesses, that make a lot of money, that you are good people that are giving, um, and when I say giving not just money sense, I mean knowledge as well. You know, I always tell my little brother's I came and, um, hang around. You're the average of the five people you hang around. If you hang around five million years, guess what You're an average millionaire. If you hang around by people that are broke. People guess what? You're probably broke too, you know? So I always tell him, Hang around with people that have a lot to offer. Not just money, but but knowledge is well, because he can learn from everybody. But don't get me wrong. I still have my friends that are in the hood. You know what I mean? Like, it's still a one thing that I was taught by my dad is to never forget where you came from. So, you know, I'll always take that advice with me and yeah, I mean, I still still hang around my same friends. I still it's just that when I'm dealing with my business friends, friends with money, I like being around them because that's all they do is they talk about money? Yeah, you know, they talk about it. So I learned about it, and that's really cool, E get a lot off good info from them. And I think at different levels when you're maybe at the starting level, some people might see you as greedy, especially really ambitious. They will try to shrink that kind of put you back in their level, and that keeps you from growing. So I think putting yourself in people that are that much higher than you will gradually gravitate towards them to try to make sure that you get to the next level. Yeah, and I think it's a big culture thing with us Hispanics. Well, I don't respect you. They want you to do good, but not better than them. You know what I mean? I see it all the time When when I have ah, young couple that's coming in to buy a house. And it's beautiful and perfect for them and their parents are with them. And all they keep saying is Oh, no, I don't like this. Oh, no, Look at their zone instead of being happy for, you know, for their kids that are about to get a really nice house. But like with other races, I don't see that, you know, a white person comes in and they have their mom and dad, and they're just so happy for them. Oh, this is beautiful. This is awesome. You should do it now and then. Us, Hispanics. And what the hell was They want to knock you a little bit you know, you're like, Oh, no, I don't buy it because of this. So I think we just got a change. That mentality, that old school mentality. Yeah, I think you got to be aware of it. And if you are in that situation trying to making sure that there's your respectful course, right, Because you're always gonna be close to your family. But I'm surrounding yourself with people that are gonna push you to be better. I'm gonna push you to want to want something better in life. PM was definitely cool, man. So is there a failure that you could think about that has taught you a lesson, But at the moment, maybe it that man this Why is this happening to me? You know, I don't deserve for this to be happening. And then maybe looking back at you saw that it was a blessing that that happened. Yeah, Going back Thio getting overlooked. That sprint for the managerial job. You know, it was a blessing in disguise, Andi. I just felt really crappy about it. But it turned out to be, you know, the best thing that happened to me, You know, I wouldn't be where I'm at today. If, uh, if I would have got that promotion now, we're looking back at that situation. Would you think there was signs? Maybe that you could have looked that to be like, You know what? It is time for me to move on instead of continue to put yourself through that same cycle. Yeah, I always wanted more, but, um, at that time, we're having some like my family were going through a difficult time. So I needed to have that that steady pay, you know, t get us out of where we were at. So, yeah, I had to stay there, work there, and and once we kind of got out of that little funk or whatever. There was just no looking back after that. And I always promised myself, you know, that I'll never go through that same situation again, or I'll never have my son go to that situation. So, uh, I found a lot of motivation in that in that failure. That's right. Perfect. So then fast forward. You've got some success. You're doing your thing and real estate. A really well known name now in the past, Larry. And I know you you do business outside of a person, I do a little bit. Yeah, All right, so then you become an expert. But I would say an expert, I think after I mean definitely the way that you talk. And I'm kind of the way you want to educate customers. I can show you generally, Caroline, about the customer. So becoming an expert at real estate now, trying to invest your most recent investment has been the bar scene. Is that difficult for you to kind of start from where you know, everything that's happening in real estate? You know the process. You know what your your agents are going through to now. You're going into a brand new business. Maybe we're not as educated. Yeah, it's, um it was definitely, uh, I had thio weigh the pros and cons on that one. You know, because a bar is a very risky business to get into, and you can lose a lot of money, but you can also make a lot of money. I think that I just put the right people in place, um, to help me succeed, you know, with my partners, they're each one of them. Bring something different to the table that benefits us all. So I think just putting the right people in the right situation is what's making our bar successful? Have your yourself or maybe someone around you ever been, has it sent to bring someone that's highly talented to the team I've seen in the past where someone being, maybe where they feel there's some competition to them or they might overshadow them? They're hesitant to bring that person on the team. Is your mind set to build the strongest impossible or just try to feel maybe the areas where you're not a strong person yourself? The way I look at it is you need to build your team or you gotta have the strongest team as possible. I see where you're coming from, where some people might feel like they don't want to lose their job to that person that you know that that's good at what they do. But the way I see it is E. Had this realtor that used to work for me, probably one of the best real estate sales guys I've ever met, you know, maybe a better salesperson than me. Um and he was really good at what he did. And so I told him, You know, one day you're gonna out Rome, and and that's fine. I showed you how to be this awesome badass agent. And that day you leave, I'm gonna have a room full of 10 people that want to be you. So, yes, I'm gonna lose you. But I'm gonna make 10 more of you, you know? So I always wanted him to do good, and he's still doing good, But that's the way I approach it now. Okay, help them as much as possible. One day, they're gonna outgrow me. But that's fine. I'm gonna make 10 more of you. And then one thing in sales is your sales person, and then you become the leader. And now you're dealing with a bunch of people that think like you that are extremely ambitious. I think they know everything. So how's the transition from you being a real estate agent now, where you're at leading a team of real estate agents of people that you know that they're ambitious. Everybody thinks that they want to be the best. How do you control all those personalities? I just try toe bringing the most value that I can t o to my team. I take like a baseball approach. I have todo They shouldn't have to cater to me. I have to cater to them if that makes sense. You know, as a coach, you can't force a hitter toe to swing the way you swing. You have to adjust yourself to the way that kid swings. You know what I mean? So I have to justify myself to every single agent that I have on my team. I can talk to one a certain way. I can be hard on the other one. I have to be soft. Another one. You know what I mean? I have to adjust myself toe so their needs and and figure out a way to bring out the most from them. Would you say you have the skills at the beginning, when you started real estate, it was something that had to teach yourself to genuinely learn how to connect, cause I think a lot of times you try to leave people in the same direction. And like you said, not everybody is gonna be the same or you try to lead in a way that doesn't come genuine and they don't buy it because I kind of the day they need You're buying, right? They need to believe the message that you're putting. So how did you develop those traits to kind of get that by S. O. I learned a lot from the other guys that you know, the other listing agents for my builder for Edwards Homes. I learned a lot from each one of them. They all have different styles on howto run their teams and how to manage them. And so I just took a little bit from each and kind of put it into my own. Thio have a little bit of success, Thio to run my team more efficiently. I just took a little bit from each one of them. Okay, cool. So one of the big ones that I really wanted to know, man, like coming from the line of industry that you're in, how important is the network and, like, how do you go about creating that? So, I mean, you run a across a lot of people throughout your life that can help you out in some way or form. Maybe not in that moment, but down the line. So how do you keep that network so close? And how you ever to keep the communication open with them?

spk_1:   37:16
So your network is It's probably your most important aspect of, ah, of industry that I'm in because a lot of the realtors just like to do business with people. They know people they can relate to people they trust. And so, like in our mark in El Paso, about 20% of the Realtors do 90% of the real estate, no paso. So it's 20% of us that are doing 90% of all the real estate will pass. Oh, the rest are just, you know, part timers or retired folks that want to do it part time. Um, so the network's extremely, extremely important and those people that you network with and and that you have in your circle, we'll introduce you to other that are successful in others that are spending money on real estate and investing. So to me, that's probably the number one most important part about this business is toe. Make sure that your network is on point, that you're taking care of him, and so, like what I like to do is, um You know, I I do it a lot. I take him out to lunch a lot. Ah, I reach out to them on a weekly basis, sometimes a daily basis, just to see how everything's going. And we keep that that circle very tight

spk_0:   38:24
for someone that you would be giving advice to. What? What is it? Normally is it just at the beginning asking for, like, a contact, And then maybe later on building the relationship, or you try to make the most of that first action that you have with him.

spk_1:   38:35
So So you know, I always get people that call me and ask me. Hey, man, I want your business. Hey, one your business. Hey, send me some lead tastes and me. You know, you're I'm a lender sent me this, but it's very rare when I get somebody to tell me. Hey, how can I help you grow your business? You know what I mean. And I think that's the most important way to attack It is Hey, how can I help you now asking them, um for youto help for me to help them? It's them asking me. Hey, how can I help grow your business? What can I do? Tow to improve you? And that's when you know I started to notice like, Oh, man, this guy's, you know, not asking me for things he's trying to help me and help me build. So in return, I'm gonna send him the business or her the business and help them build their network or build their business as well.

spk_0:   39:23
So you would say, probably flipping it around. And like the person providing value to the person they're trying to connect with

spk_1:   39:29
instead of asking, give and you'll be surprised how much you'll get back.

spk_0:   39:34
Okay, sweet man. So I like that. Then also, like you said in the industry that you're in your brand has been huge, right? I mean, when someone thinks of Eric Oh, miss, um, e think they automatically think of real estate agent. So when someone that's up and coming in the real estate game or in any industry like, how have you gone about building that brand and making sure that people understand you have a national and know what you're gonna bring to the table when you do business with you?

spk_1:   39:57
Well, about I want to say 80% of my business is referral based. So it takes a while to build yourself up in tow, gain some trust of buyers and sellers and builders. So for the first you know, two years, year a year, two years you're trying to build yourself to where people have confidence in you and and to where they can, Um, they can trust you. And then once you have that, that 12 year where everybody sees that, you know, you're starting to push some real estate. They start believing in you as a brand, and they start calling you more, sending their friends to you or their uncles to you or their family. You know what I mean? So, um, building that brand, it does take a while, but it's like a snowball effect. It starts small, and then it gets bigger and bigger and bigger once you hit. You know, your four year five. Those first people that you sold in your one, they're ready to sell again in your five. So it's like a constant circle, you know what I mean? They're they're gonna and and then those people in year 10 are gonna be, um, you know that their kids are gonna be ready to buy houses, so it's It's just a circle. It's just it just continues like it. Like a snowball just keeps growing and growing and growing,

spk_0:   41:11
So I definitely agree with the brand. So maybe if we have someone listening that's really starting in industry, what would you recommend for them that don't have the brand behind their name? Like, what would you suggest for them to try to get? Those clients are for them to build the trust and wherever they're trying to work

spk_1:   41:24
with. So I think putting a bunch of educational videos out there and a lot of, ah, a lot of education would be, Yeah, because a lot of the new agents come in and they already have their own logo. They have their, you know, signature down. They have the nice suit. Nobody cares about you. They they care about how you can help someone else, You know? How can you help me get into out? I don't care about how how nice your cars or how pretty your your signature is or your logo or whatnot. How can you help me as a buyer is what's important.

spk_0:   41:54
Do you think sometimes these people get lost in someone that's coming into industry? Gets lost too much in those beginning aspects of like, I really need that that logo. I need to make sure that I have a proper attire to going to do you think a lot of the time that prevents him from taking the action they need to because they're so focused on trying to get it every, get everything right to start up.

spk_1:   42:13
I think they're caught up in the glamorous lifestyle, the you know, they want to be that that that show that I was telling you about that, Ah, New York's $1,000,000 listing. They want the you know, the nice BMW they want. I don't know the real nice nice suit, which don't get me wrong, you know, suits. Suits are great. I worked for him all the time, but I think the focus not needs to be on the consumer. Births is yourself. Nobody cares about what you know until you know how much you care. That makes sense,

spk_0:   42:45
all right, definitely, definitely agree, man. And coming in your industry, there's a lot of competition out there and we have had a conversation previously about a lot of the tech advancements that are happening right. We talked about three D printers we talked about. You mentioned someone like a Zillo some of the stuff that's happening online. So now not only are you competing with real estate agents, which also competing with a lot of technology advancements, what would you advise someone on how to stay relevant are how to go above and beyond. What would you say? It's providing Natalie like your center. It's a different technique that you

spk_1:   43:13
would

spk_0:   43:14
approach it with,

spk_1:   43:15
So So I think you know, this industry is getting very getting destructive a lot. You know, you've got a villa, that keen interest gonna be a ah powerhouse. Take over the real estate industry. You've got other other forms of online marketing sources that are tryingto connect buyers and sellers together without the use of a realtor. But I think having a relationship with someone and someone physically being able to, um, to see you, to touch you tow for youto build that relationship with. I think that's very important. But of course you got to stay relevant and keep changing with the Times because those that don't change, you're gonna get left behind in the old school ways. You know what I mean? Like, I still got some old realtor that are You need to fax them stuff, and I'm like, I don't even know what a fax is, you know? And those are the realtors that we're back in their prime. There were some of the best realtors, but now they haven't adapted to change or to technology. And they fell behind. And, you know, they're not doing very many deals anymore. So I think being able to adapt and change is is extremely important.

spk_0:   44:20
Do I mean, come on. I feel like buying a home is something that not a lot of people would do just through the internet. So do you think that's a benefit that you guys have Is that it is something that I mean, it's a huge purchase. A lot of the times the person wants a human interaction.

spk_1:   44:36
Yeah, well, you'll be surprised. I mean, you know, being in a military town out here. No, paso. We do get a lot of military folks that they purchase without being inside the home. So they go, You know, based on that realtor face timing them or sending them videos or taking pictures of the backyard, there was not gonna do that for you. Call the villa ripped and see if they'll go out there and make a video or face time with you for them. You know what I mean?

spk_0:   45:05
Okay, Perfect, man. Completely understand that. So then the next thing that would move me into man is coming in your profession and then now, also being in the investments and some of this, um, experience you've got in. So how do you go about making a big business decision or a life decision in, like what? We do have a specific process on making that are, um how do you go about deciding what you're what you're gonna do?

spk_1:   45:29
Yes. Oh, really? What I what I do a lot is I consult with a lot of my mentors and I ask, you know what? They think on the situation and the business, and I take all their information and I take it into consideration. And where I'm at at at that point in life, with my risk tolerance, if I can and I can be a little more risk. He or you know, if I've got enough, um, reserves where I'll be okay. You know, this last investment that I made when I when I bought the bar? Um, it's very risky, but it's very high return. And my train of thought, you know, I had a 50% of my mentors were telling me No, 50% were saying yes. So I have to make a decision myself, and, um, I, uh the way I did it was I said, Hey, look, this money that I'm investing if it disappears tomorrow, which it probably could, um am I still gonna be able to live the way I live? Um, am I still gonna be ableto afford my lifestyle? It And, you know, before I made that decision, I said, Hey, look, don't get me wrong. It's a lot of money. I don't want to lose this money, but if I do, it's not gonna affect my day to day or, you know, my kids still gonna eat or you know he's gonna get to go to his school. I'm gonna be able to pay the tuition. Um, so I guess when I when I make decisions like that. I consult with my, um, with with people that are very important to me, and and I make sure that my risk tolerance is is their toe where it won't affect me in life. If it doesn't work out the way I wanted to

spk_0:   47:03
normally, would you say you have, like, a set ah, group of people that you always go to our like There's a change depending on the decision you're gonna make, because I hear a lot that sometimes there's too many people giving you advice, and it can kind of blur what you're trying to decide and put put you in a situation where you're overthinking instead of just taking action, You would just say you go to the same people every single time.

spk_1:   47:23
So for the most part, ay dio, you know, Big Big One is my mother. That's you know she she's opened a lot of businesses. She's she's been a real estate for a long time, so she's She's the one that I I goto first and then and I start going toe my business friends that are in different industries. Then I'll go to my some of my other friends that are successful. But then I'll figure out whatever business it is, and I'll ask somebody that successful in that business because they know what it takes. They know how it works. And and, um, you always want to consult with someone that knows more about the business. You know, I'm not gonna go ask. I don't know some random person about a real estate deal, and I think they've never done real estate in their life.

spk_0:   48:06
Do you think that happens quite a bit right now Because especially like family members try to give you advice. And sometimes they might not have, um, the knowledge or the experience to be really be given you guidance and whatever decision you're trying to make. And it seems I feel like a lot of people do get influence. Yeah,

spk_1:   48:20
for the most part, I mean, people always want you to do good, but never better than them. You know what I mean? So ah, you definitely got to be aware of who your ass scan and, um, you know, not Not that your family Ah, they're bad people or anything, but sometimes they're, um how can I say their vision isn't aligned with yours. And sometimes you just gotta You gotta take that risk and see what happens. You know, um, people won't get well, Thea, by being conservative. If if you want to be conservative, go put your money in AA Bond. You know,

spk_0:   49:01
we completely understand that I agree with that. And I think the last question that I just really wanted to ask in everything that we do, I mean, it's sales comes down. So if you're not selling, you're not getting the profit that you need so specifically in your industry, what would you advise? Someone in there? They're in a slump. They're not closing anything, what, or maybe some practices that you have done in the past to try to get you out of that rhythm and get you back in the track of closing some deals.

spk_1:   49:26
So I think they need to just grind through it, you know, and don't give up. It's It's kind of like, uh, like baseball when when you know it happens to every player, even even the best players in the world. They go through what? You know what's called a slump and they're not hitting. They're not producing but they keep grinding through it and they keep, you know, waking up every day, taking batting practice, um, and just grind through it. And that's what you gotta do is just keep going through it, cause I've had some really, really good month, you know, 40 $50,000 months, and I've had zero months to, you know where we have made zero money, so you just gotta grind through it. And the great thing about real estate is that you never know when that next big deal is gonna come up. You know, you can get a phone call from a friend tomorrow. That's telling you. Hey, my rich uncle wants to buy a $5 million out. You know what I mean? You never know. You just gotta grind through it. And, uh, you know, you're you're only as good as your last your last week, your last sale. But, um, all of us go through those slums and and all of us go through those tough times. You just gotta grind through it and keep pushing and don't stop. Don't give up.

spk_0:   50:33
I think that's what a lot of people don't see in the sales industry. I mean, coming from my background, the month started brand you were at a clean slate every month, which could be a good thing or could be a bad thing. It was a good thing you if you were had a bad month and every set. But it was a bad thing when you were having a killer month. And now you're back. It's evil starting your situation. I mean, after you close every deal, it seems like the clock we sense in your back

spk_1:   50:53
at

spk_0:   50:53
zero.

spk_1:   50:54
Yeah. So that's why your pipeline is huge. You know, you gotta build Ah, strong pipeline, because in my industry, in real estate industry or you're being a realtor Ah, you have to take into consideration about 30% bomb ratio. So, you know, for every 10 deals right up three, we're gonna fall through. No. So you gotta take that into consideration, and then go ahead.

spk_0:   51:12
Do you think early or I guess when people are really starting, they put mother eggs in one basket, and that's what ends up putting him in a hole. Sometimes

spk_1:   51:20
realtors put all their eggs in the basket.

spk_0:   51:22
Yes. So, like as far as like a deal. Like maybe thinking like, you know what? I got that one deal, and they don't focus on and continue to build that pipeline, and then the deal falls off another in a bad boat. Kind of scrambling, trying to get everything together.

spk_1:   51:34
Yeah, exactly. You can't. You can't just rely on one deal to get you through. You've gotta have multiple deals coming in. You've got to keep You gotta write as many contrasts in fact as you can and doing any deal that you can cause real estate crazy. They can. They can fall through the day of, you know, for an hour before closing. You know, the seller to just say hey or the buyer to say, You know what? I'm not I can't do it anymore. I don't by anymore. And that paycheck you were expecting to make your mortgage, you know, it's not gonna happen. And then what do you do? You know, a real estate deal. The quickest you're gonna get paid is, you know, three weeks, 30 45 days to get paid. So you gotta You gotta have multiple deals coming in. You gotta You gotta be writing contracts and selling from Rose State. If you if you really wanna be successful and and make some money because I mean, the reason you get into real estate is to make some money. You know what I mean? Your ah, I get it. Some people love to help people and make dreams come true. But you wanna you wanna volunteer? Go go ahead and go to Goodwill. You know what I mean? You're you're in the business to make money toe, make your family better in tow, help support your family and help you help your current situation. So you need to be out there grinding every single day.

spk_0:   52:42
Sweet man, I think this last part of it is gonna go really well with kind of the background that we had a chance to talk about, because, I mean, with the baseball references that you had in all that, I think it's all gonna time pretty good. And I think this is really gonna benefit people that are in the sales industry or specifically in the real estate industry on what it looks like when I mean as seasoned as you are on how the mentality should be and the some of the best practices Asian but its place man. And one last thing that I was curious about man, is just I admire you for the work ethic that you have and just a success that you've had. And I know how hard sales can be. So who some some of the businesspeople may be that you admire someone that you look up to. You try to like, um, learn from in your current situation.

spk_1:   53:21
Ah, yeah. I mean, one of the, you know, the big ones. I mentioned her before with my mom, but also based on on some others. Um, you know, right now, my one of my partners, you know what The guy that ah, about the apartments with he's a year older than me. But he does have a lot of knowledge and look up to him in business. And and he also runs the building that I represent, which is Edward's home. Then, you know, after Gallardo. And he's one of the ones that I I try to learn from as much possible cause he gets his that builder, which so our builder men towards him. And then he meant towards me. You know what I mean? It's like a trickle down effect. I learned a lot from him, so he's definitely one of them. And then another one would be, Ah, Mr Domingos, which he owns. Uh, he's still in the largest farmer's, an insurance agency in West Texas, and he, you know, he just sold. But, um, he's got he does practice real estate as well. We're buying real estate, and he's been a definitely a big one. And I think there's a lot of other ones that just give me a little advice here and there that that, um, that have helped pave the way for a lot of the stuff that I've done, you know? And there's like I said, the the people that are that are that have some money that are wealthy, They're always willing to give advice. It's crazy. You just gotta ask, um, you know, a lot of people are scared to ask, um and, ah, the people that are making money. They're the ones that that high things and I don't want to give you their secrets, but they're not making money, you know? So if there's any little bit of advice you can give anybody always, always be willing to give it because it's gonna come back around when you need some advice from somebody that that's a little higher up on the on the totem pole than you are.

spk_0:   55:07
If you're trying like, let's say I was trying to get one of those individuals that you mentioned as my mentor, Um, how would you approach that? Or how would you ask them to see if you could? You could get advice from them or they could mention you throughout the process would take the same approach. Is finding a client like giving value or would you take another approach?

spk_1:   55:24
No, I would, uh, I would compliment them. That's how you do it. Hey. Ah, hey, John. I heard you're the best sale guy you know in the industry and heard your real go getter. Maybe I could shadow you are just learned from you because I would be just like you. You know what I mean? Something some sort of compliment goes a long way. Makes him feel good about themselves. And that's how you kind of open it up. And and once they see that you're genuine and that you really want to learn you really want work and improve your life. Um, there will be up for helping you out,

spk_0:   55:54
Sweet man. Cool. So coming pretty close to the end. I just want to go over some last minute topics and then see how important they are to you. And then at the end, we'll finish off with one last question. So the first topic is how reported it self awareness, too. Um, it's it's definitely important. You always have to, um, measure yourself on a daily basis. You know that I wake up every day like the rent's due. There was a rapper that said that and it just stuck into my head, you know, wake up every day like the rent's due. So yeah, you gotta be aware for sure. Okay. Self development. Um, definitely important you need. I like to learn from from different people. I used to watch a lot of Netflix movies, but now I just watched documentaries and I tryto try to learn a lot from the documentaries vs Binge watching you or whatever that you show his power making the most of your time. Correct? Yeah. Alright. Perfect mentors. How important are they? Extremely important. Extremely important. Yeah, that one was a huge, huge one for me. Uh, definitely paved the way to where? To where? I'm at today. And I've had a lot of mentors. And when you think of the word mentor, you think older people. But some of them are my age, you know, are a little younger than here. So I get value from everybody, and I take mentorship from a lot of people. Interesting. They talked about that. So this age, I feel like a lot of people maybe have a good message at a young age, but are so scared to show just cause they feel they're not gonna be looked at based on you. Have you been able to see that age doesn't necessarily correspond with how much value that person could provide? You can learn from everybody, you know, if they're hot shot, 18 year old kid or, you know, 75 year old millionaire, you can learn from everybody. So, yeah, I always respect what info people have toe offer for me. Okay. And then what is real estate mean to you? Real estate. It's, uh it's my passion, but it is a platform for me to become wealthy. So that's what I'm using this real estate platform for, perfect man. And then just to finish it off, who is there? Gomez now on Who have you planned on him being? Maybe in 10 years Now, uh, Dad, for sure. You know, my son changed my life. He is the most important thing to me. So that's why I wanna I found more. Drive through him. I want to make sure he set up his kids or set up now, Before when I was seeing going on No kids, I was a little less cautious than I am now. Now I've got amounts of feeding on dhe. He's a lot. So So I gotta make sure wake up every day, ready to go. Ready to go, Okay. And who do you expect to be in 10 years? 10 years? A man on the golf course relaxing not having to work, but working because I want to. Okay. Yeah. So, like, one of my friends tells me, Hey, man, I don't I don't want to drive the yacht room. I just want to sit in the back and chill. That's man. So I want to say thank you. I hope everybody kind of got to see the progression. And I think you were a prime example on how someone involves throughout the years and how you re branded yourself how you re purposed yourself. And now you're successful in your industry kind of taking the lessons and the failures that you've gone through and putting them in simply putting a implement in them in your life to get to where you're at now. So is there anything that you want to finish off with my one life lesson or what would you say was the biggest takeaway from today Stock. I appreciate you having me on the show. Really cool thing you got going on here. And I wish you the best of luck should should be good. Appreciate it on for anybody that wants to check out as mentioned, Eric is a real estate agent, an impassable. Gonna talk about what you represent. Yes, I, uh my brokerages, IRA Sellers buyers and I represent Edward Holmes. So if you guys need anything or if you have any questions or, you know, look me up and I'm always willing to give advice, toe anybody that's willing to listen really So the best way to reach you? Is that the phone social media Facebook. Anyway, is it possible? All right, so just search our Gomez and you'll be able to get in contact with him. Will be able to provide a lot of value when it comes to you researching by home.