How Real Estate Agents Recession Proof Their Income | Insurance vs. Real Estate Pt 2

You know, there's a saying that you find out about a relationship or in this case, a career or business and the sustainability of it, not during good times, but more specifically during bad times. And that's what we're exactly experiencing right now during this pandemic crisis of coronavirus. I released a video on real estate versus insurance, uh, several months ago. And why, when I was leaving the Marine Corps, I was leaving the military, why I chose the insurance industry versus down the street across the getting involved in real estate and mortgages. And what this crisis has exposed once again, is many of those reasons why. No, there's an old saying is that you never want a crisis to go to waste. There's a lot of things that you can learn during tough times. There's a saying also that tough times create great leaders. And I hope right now that you can say, how do I become a great leader? How to become a wartime leader during tough times like this, because I'm telling you right now, the future heroes of business, the future heroes of enterprise are being birthed this right very second, especially during this crisis. So in this episode of the seven figure squad, I'm going to do a part two of real estate versus insurance with three specific case studies in people that you will get to know about why they chose insurance over the former careers in real estate and why their business is exploding right now, especially during the pandemic crisis starting in three, two, one. All right. Well, welcome back. Listen, I'm fired up. If you haven't done so already, if you haven't subscribed to our YouTube channel, make sure you do so, let me know what you're thinking. What is your thoughts? Before I even get into it, what do you think you're right now is going through this crisis, what's on your mind? And so listen, in this episode, I got three friends. I got Cindy Cobos, who's a high six figure income earner out of Palmdale, California in the Antelope Valley in California. And by the way, it's ironic that the three people that I've chosen are actually people in the real estate industry in California, one of the largest states in the United States, in the country. And, and how even the governor, governor Newsom has deemed that insurance is deemed as an essential business and their former careers are not. And so Cindy Cobos comes from the Antelope Valley in Palmdale, California. So she's going to be one of the people that we're going to learn from. You're going to learn a lot from her, what it means to be a woman in business, what it means to be a woman from real estate into insurance. You can learn a lot about why she started in real estate to begin with and what was her thought process of getting into the insurance industry. And you're going to learn a lot from her. The second person I'm going to bring up to as well is Danny Simpson from the Bay Area in San Mateo, who spent 19 years. He retired as a Millbrae sheriff in Millbrae County, California, and how he transitioned from cop to real estate and then to insurance. And then why in the last 12 months, he's going to be cash flowing over half a million dollars as an insurance professional, building an agency out of San Mateo. You're going to hear from him. And the last person I'm going to bring up is Hector Del Toro, who came from the mortgage industry, also out of San Jose, then relocated back to LA, where he was originally from. And next thing you know, relocates to Bakersfield, California into the insurance industry. And from four or five years ago, I met him. He's making $50,000, $60,000 a year. And today he's a cash flow millionaire in the insurance industry. So if you've done so, grab your notes because we're getting started right now. Here we go. First interview. All right. So we're very excited to bring on from Palmdale, California in the Antelope Valley, which I call the land of no cell phone service. Outside of the mall, we bring to the episode here, Miss Cindy Cobo. Cindy, welcome to the show. Everybody. Hi. Hi, Matt. How are you? I'm so excited to be here. You're we're in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. Stay home. Shut down. You're excited. I mean, really excited. Really excited. Yeah. I mean, uh, right now, literally as we speak, I'm at the office right now. Um, it's a Saturday morning. I think if anything, I get here faster. Normally I take like 20 minutes to get here. And I was like 15 minutes, no traffic, nobody anywhere. Uh, but yeah, it's exciting. It's exciting times. I know this, depending on how you view things, um, you can look at him from a bad side or a good side. And that we're, we're looking at from a good side. We get to help a lot of people and serve a lot of people right now, especially. So I'm excited. So tell everybody, how did you get involved in real estate? What was your first entrance into real estate management? Yeah. Um, long story short, my mom has always been an entrepreneur. We're originally from South America, from Ecuador. She was a seamstress there. So when we came over here to America, my mom obviously wanted to get into business. She started off cleaning actually, uh, houses at night. We didn't even know she was doing that. Um, she would just sneak out, go clean house, then come back home to some make ends meet. You know, um, my dad has always been a mechanic. Um, so anyway, my mom decides one day, like I'm going to get into real estate and we're like, mom, you don't even talk English. You know, she's like, I'm going to get into real estate. And so she always had this desire to like, just have a business. And I just thought to myself, like, okay, I'm going to help you because, you know, she doesn't speak the language. At least I could help her. So that's how it all started was just me wanting to help her out just so she can prove everybody wrong. Cause everybody said, you can't do it. You can't do it. I was like, mom, I got you. So that's literally how it started for me. Beautiful thing. But when I first came on board, the PHP agency, one of the first marketing videos I saw or videos to the field that they saw was you doing a skit with morale. And, uh, and you were apparently in that skit, you were, you're showing them, you know, they're in the property and this, this, that, and, and they come back to you and said, you know what, Cindy? Uh, we just changed your mind. We're going to stick to renting. Yes. Right. So, so let's jump right. Let's go from there. What, what was some of the biggest frustrations that you saw in real estate that you don't see here on the insurance side of it? Yeah. Well, you know, I don't know, you know, how far back you go with this, but back in the day when we were, when we started real estate, um, there was no clause that you had to keep the same agent, so what happened is if you go with the client, you'd show them five, six, seven, eight different homes, 10 different homes. And if all of a sudden they met somebody in the middle of the transition, they would just go with that other agent and you put in all that work and you show them all these properties and all this stuff. It was so frustrating. And then you would get there and they realized what it took, or maybe it was a little time consuming or something happened they didn't like. And then next thing you know, all those months and all that time of driving back and you were picking up people in your car just to make it a little more convenient. So that was the process that I just really, it just hurt my stomach all the time, like I have to go from here to there and this, and obviously you want to help people, but it was just frustrating. And, you know, it's so different here. You maybe spent, you know, 30 minutes with the family. 30 minutes. I mean, I'm talking 30 minutes versus 30 days, like, and you know, when you walk into a house out of yes or no, it's like an instant thing. And then how many houses are really going to give you that desire? Like that's my house. Um, it doesn't happen that fast. You have to go through so many more numbers. Insurance, pretty much like this is what it is. This is the good, this is the benefits of it. This is, you know, pros, cons, whatever it's going to be. Yes or no. And because we're able to work with so many different companies at the same time, you could find the right product or the right home for that person and insurance within a matter of clicks, like on your computer. And that's, I think for me, one of the biggest blessings, really. I mean, I'm sitting in my office, not driving anywhere. Um, they come to us a lot of the times and you just, you know, you're giving them the best thing because you have options. So. From a woman's perspective, I see lots of women involved in real estate. Yeah. Maybe stay at home moms. Maybe them are single, maybe they're married or whatever, but there's a lot of women that's naturally involved in, in real estate, uh, can you speak from a perspective as I know, our company is very different than most insurance companies out there. But what has it been like for you to be in a male dominated industry was mostly older men. And you, as a woman making multiple six figures doing this, what has it been like for you transitioning from as a woman from real estate to now a woman in. Yeah. Well, before, before we go into that, Matt, too, I want to also speak a little bit about like, even as a woman in real estate, like you're doing open houses by yourself, you know, like you're, you're, you're. And that that's a big thing too. And I know that that wasn't the question, but I just remember thinking like my mom is there by herself. I'm here by myself, God forbid, something happens. Nobody would even know. Like, and, and so that was like a big fear that I always had. Like, and I even just get chills thinking about it now, like just the fact that that could happen, you never know, you know, and, um, but that was a big deal now when it comes to this side of it, I really believe that, um, I mean, obviously I'm, I'm a female, I'm a woman, so I really feel like we're so we can multitask so good. And I feel like we're an asset to any industry that we're in because we have the tough side, we have the nurturing side. So when we say something like people like, is she serious to joking? Like, so they take it in a good way, but also like, oh, she's serious. So I feel like in this, in this industry, it's like a, it's such like a plus side to it. It's such like a, it's more of an edge versus anything else. And I've always looked at it like, Hey, I'm a woman, you're a man that, well, how does that make any kind of difference? Like where people, uh, we, it works the same. Uh, we have the same 24 hours. If anything, I feel like we could, I don't know if this is a good thing to say , but we can bring so much more trust right away to people instantly. Almost. It's a natural thing, you know? So I think it's, I think it's a great thing. Yeah. Well, women have a natural way to say the same thing a guy would say, but a guy would not get away with something and a woman could exactly, there we go. That's what it is. You're absolutely right. That's it. We have that little, it's just a little extra. You know, I'm curious, did you have any misconceptions or myths that you dispelled about insurance when you were, where you had your real estate hat on? Did you think about the industry any differently? I'm just kidding. You know what? A lot of, a lot of realtors, um, sometimes, well, at least from my experience, it was where, um, they would almost look down on you a little bit. I don't know if it's what it is because sometimes when you sell one home, you can make like three, four or $5,000. And then sometimes like, let's say they'll say, oh, insurance, or they don't really understand it. Maybe your contracts or the policy that you're selling is not going to be as high, but what people don't understand is how, how, how much longer, how long does it take for you to sell that one house? You need five, six, $7,000. And compared to, I can do 15, 20, 30, 40 policies personal in one month. Like you just can't compare it. But I think that's the misconception is that it's a compensation. Is it high? It's too low. I have to go out there and sell all these policies. And that's not the case at all. Like it's just, but that's a misconception for sure. I think a lot of them know more like more, uh, farmers or state farms. So they're comparing it to that versus really what our concept is. Yeah. Cause they got to go to the farmer's insurance for a property homeowner's insurance policy and they don't get the life insurance side of things or their retirement plan side of things is, is that much more profitable? So, um, so, so if you're talking to a real estate agent right now, or somebody in loans, what, what type of guidance would you give me? If the pandemic, the stay home and it's completely disrupted your world or we face another recession or a setback in our economy, because you know, the, that type of this, this type of industry, the real estate mortgage industry is very sensitive to what goes on directly to the market, but what if guidance would you give them, if you talk to a realtor, what would you tell them about why this is a, a common sense or potentially a wise move for them? Absolutely. So it's very simple. We're in a, we're in a blue ocean and they're in a red ocean. I mean, and if they have not read that book yet, there's definitely a book to read red, blue ocean, because I mean, every, my first question, every time I speak to realtors, what's your edge, what makes you different from the hundreds of thousands of other eight or millions of ages that are out there selling this property? Why should I go with you versus going with my best friend? You know, Bobby that just started, really doesn't know anything. Like what, what's that difference? What's the edge there? So I would definitely speak about that part. I would say demand. It's very simple demand. When the demand is high for what we do, and there's not enough people that are helping or servicing that demand, it's naturally going to be where people don't get that service. I read, I read about a month or two months ago that there was going to be around 44 million people that are looking to buy insurance in the next six months. And out of those 44 million people, only 17% of them are actually going to be seen by the actual agent. And that is such a big deficit of people that need what we do, our services. And I think that that is, that's, that's something we have to lead with. You know, how can you help people? And if you're selling, if you're selling, and as an agent too, if whoever's watching this, you're giving people, you're selling people their biggest asset, but also their biggest liability. And if you don't, if you don't protect that liability and you give them this half a million dollar home, but they don't have any insurance to take care of that, what happens if they're no longer here? What happens if they fought five, six, seven years to buy, get this home and they're not protected on the other side of it. So there's such a need for it. And if they're like, no, I love real estate. I love it. I mean, it is what it is, but what if you have a different edge and you bring this aspect of it and add that edge to you versus being a realtor that just does that, what if you can add this to your portfolio already? And if they're, they're just going whole about staying there for whatever reason, I love it. Don't let your American dream turn into an American nightmare. That's part of the combo. Um, you know, as soon as we wrap up, you know, there's, there's this misconception, uh, your governor in California has deemed you an essential business, right? I found out that you learn more about a career or a relationship during the worst of times, during your big argument, during your big blowout versus the good times. And right now your business is growing. You just mentioned to me before we did this interview, you, you're on fast start, you're doing webinars. Um, I mean, how busy, how in demand are you seeing yourself now, even in the midst of this crisis? Yeah. You know, what's so interesting, Matt, I've gotten so many phone calls about that and my mom's like, are you, how are you doing? My aunt's like, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm hoping that your business is okay. I'm like, Oh my gosh, if you only knew how many zooms I'm on, how many phone calls I'm on, literally I have random numbers, Matt calling me and they're like, Hey Cindy, you don't know me, but this client of yours from five years ago, she, she gave me your number and she said that you could help me with my money. I just lost 30,000. I just lost 10,000. I just lost it. And I don't know who they are, Matt. And I'm just like, hi, what's your name again? And literally me helping them and serving them and seeing what the options could be. Literally we got on the call on Thursday and we called this ladies, you know, 401k company, their retirement. And I said, Hey, listen, you know, we hear that you have a possible option and let her move over her money. Then she's still working there. And she said, well, no, not an option. I said, well, what about this? I'm like, so are you okay with her continuously losing her money? She said, well, that's probably the only option she has right now because we can't move it. So we're busier than ever. We're answering literally. I finished, like you said, a training from nine 30 in the morning. I just finished at like a two 50 to 55. Then after this, I have another training because people are looking at trainings and appointments. People are looking more than ever. Now people are looking for direction. They're looking for an answer and how amazing that we can pick up the phone and say, yes, I can help you. Let, let me help you because that's somebody's mom. That's somebody's dad. That's somebody's family that needs to be serviced. And the fact that we get to do this, that's why we're at the top 16 that could show up to the office and say, yes, because people need us more than ever. So I'm more, I feel like I'm walking around with like a badge on my chest. Like, like I am a hero, right? Like that's who we get to be. Um, and I just love helping people. And the more people we can go out there and help through word of mouth and doing what we do. And the more people, cause you know, obviously realtors, like they're also business people that are there, you know, they're, they're self-employed and they're also hardworking as well doing what they're doing to be able to accomplish that. So if we can get them also on the team and help them and they can help other people, it's just a perfect combination. So final question for you, you know, let me go back to the PHP ladies. Uh, angle here because you, you, you helped lead that part of the company. I mean, you've been on all these trips and you've seen tons of people. You're working side by side with our CEO's wife, Jennifer, but David, um, what bit of guidance advice and encouragement would you give a woman out there? A married woman, single, you know, a stay at home mom. Well, what, what type of guidance would you give them in terms of considering moving and consider this career in the insurance industry? Yeah. You know what, honestly, um, you never know unless you try it. That's the first thing that I'd say. I mean, Matt, I didn't come from money. I was in the medical field because before I was in real estate, you know, I was born in the East coast. My parents migrated literally across the border to come here to America to give us a better opportunity. We 10 of us live in a two bedroom apartment. Um, at one point, uh, you know, just, I had no idea on money or finances. I knew how to spend a lot of money. I knew how to go through my money. I had a $62,000 in student loans before I got into the industry. I had lost my car to me. I've done so many different things. So I didn't come from that pedigree of like, you're going to go and make it. You're going to go do it. As a matter of fact, I'm the first person in my family to make a multiple, multiple six figure income, you know, doing this in my own business, you know, and it's, it's a blessing. So for any ladies out there, I'm going to tell you, listen, and hopefully they're listening. I'm looking straight at them. Right. I hear anything is possible. And Matt just said it specifically, the fact that we have that edge and we can go in and out from, you know, strength to like, you know, also like the nurturing side, it's such an edge, just try it. You know, reach out to whomever it's going to be of Matt or whomever's listening to this, whoever invited you to this or having to watch this, reach out to that person because you never know until you try it. If you love helping people, if you already have the nurturing side inside of you, then this is going to be the easiest transition. You can't give up though. You have to be willing to also learn and navigate through these times as well. But everything is day by day. And I always look at this. I don't have any kids yet, but I look at how moms, you know, they respond when they have kids and they, they never sleep practically. I hear you don't sleep for like 18 years. Okay. You are obsessed with this little beautiful thing. And I feel like your business can also be something like that. When you want something to grow and you give it attention and you want it, you desire that to happen, anything can happen. So some of the biggest CEOs are ladies now, women. So just go try it, go get things done. People need more of us as examples to say, Oh, if she could do it, I could do it. You know, people are look up to JLo. They look up to these ladies doing what they're doing. Why can't you be that person that people look up to? I've always thought about that. So that's what I would say. Just navigate through it. Try it out. Cause you never know until you try it. You've been listening to Cindy Cobos. Appreciate you. Make sure you follow her Instagram. Make sure you connect with her and make sure you send a direct message. Put your drop in the comment section below how impactful this brief interview has done and what you've learned from this conversation. So with that being said, Cindy, appreciate your time. Go back to help. So proud of you. You too, Matt. Thank you for your time as well. Uh, I appreciate you. Say hi to the family. Take care. You got it. All right. Well, many of you saw in my first episode, which was real estate versus insurance, retired sheriff of 19 years of the Millbrae County in the, in the area, we got Danny Singson back here for part two of the video. Danny, welcome back to this episode. What's up, Matt. Pleasure to be on man. I just, uh, it's crazy how part two it's going to be similar message, but in different times. Right. But nothing has changed on my end. So, Oh, I think we're proving those times that, uh, you are considered now by your governor in essential business. Yes. Uh, you know what, let me touch on that real quick. Um, governor, uh, Gavin Newsom announced, you know, just to reiterate, Hey, this is a state, uh, quarantine and only essential, all businesses are to close except for essential businesses. And so since we're governed by the department of finance and insurance, our, uh, insurance commissioner literally put out, uh, a notice statewide yes. Yes. What other financial institutions, financial institutions actually means, and we are considered an essential business for the U S economy. And that feels, um, so in other words, what you're saying, Danny, there's no realtors, even if they could, there's no realtors doing open houses right now and showing property and getting deals done with what, if you're a realtor right now, your, your former life, how would you be feeling right now? Man, I would honestly be, um, I'd be pretty panicked, um, panicked. Maybe, um, you just, just kind of, uh, you know, like what next, you know what I mean? Um, but here's the thing. Most realtors here in the Bay area, San Francisco Bay area, where we, I understand that we live in a bubble, right. We're a million dollar home is a fixer, you know, here. Right. Um, however, you know, most realtors out here in the Bay area, they're averaging one to three sales per year. So, and, you know, I understand, I understand the, the, the mindset of success where you have to attract clients through, you know, the, maybe even the perception of busyness or success. And, you know, these days and people aren't dumb, you know, they can literally just Google your name followed by MLS or Zillow or whatever, and they can see your transactions or lack thereof. So we live in a transparent world right now, Matt. And, uh, it's hard, it's hard to say, Hey, I'm super busy. When you're in real estate right now, meaning real estate sales, also mortgages, even though mortgages are down on as far as interest rates and whatnot, people are climbing out of escrow. Um, you know, buyers are affected as well. Even if they want to buy a house, all the inventories are racing off, just basically drop it out of the marketplace because nobody, and I mean, nobody, no seller wants people to come into their house at this current time, when we have order a state mandate that says, Hey, you need to have a social distancing. You need to have, you know, quarantine, you need to be staying home unless you're buying food or you're doing some essential business, you know? So we're very, very proud. I'm so happy to be not only business with you, but all, but also in our industry, we are absolutely given the green light by us government all the way up to the president. So what a world to be in right now. So, so Dan, what you're saying is as an insurance professional, you tell me your business is booming right now. Like you're more busy now than ever. Yeah, Matt, it is Saturday at 3 40 PM. And, uh, I've been, I've been running and gunning since. Uh, 8 30 AM this morning. You know, to be honest, I haven't even eaten yet. I have literally a jug of water that I haven't even finished yet. So I'm a little dehydrated. Uh, and I will tell you, you know, it's booming and I'm not knocking. I don't come from a condescending or disparaging tone because when I'm talking, if I'm talking to anyone out there, who's in real estate, the license or, you know, the default thing is how am I gonna do something on the side and let me get my real estate license that seems like such a knee jerk default thing to add value to income times have changed. Times have changed. My broker, former brokers is a great friend of mine, Matt. Um, he owns a remax investments. His name is Donald come. I'm going to shout out a great friend of mine. In fact, he's in business with me. He right now is scrambling to take his exam, uh, you know, in an insurance industry, because number one, number one, he's, he knows he's leaving money on the table and number two is he's rampant. He's ramping down as well because he has, he has to vacate his office, you know? So quite honestly, things have changed. And I think that, and I'm not talking disparagingly to anyone in real estate. However, you have to adapt, overcome, and you know, you really have to see how being the business of money, you could talk about real estate, but you can also be very versatile and you can choose. I chose, I just chose that. I like to eat more often than most people when it comes to earning income, Matt. You know, I can't live my life from escrow to escrow. And if you have an escrow right now, I pray for you. I pray for you. What lateral skills does somebody have in real estate that they can easily transition into insurance? Oh, gosh. Um, but with the fact that, um, the fact that, you know, uh, how to hustle, you know, how to grind, you know, how to follow up, you know, how to talk to people, you have the, the skillset of communication, right? Cause really when you're in real estate sales, sales is maybe a bad word for a lot of people, but sales is really just transferring the value that you believe. To somebody else for them to believe the same value, uh, whether it's, you know, selling a particular home, uh, serving the needs of the client, but, you know, all of that, all of that, uh, um, you know, going out there and, and having the mindset of, uh, no ceiling when it comes to income, cause you're commission based, right? I'm simply like, well, I don't like commissions. Well, you, you don't like the limited income, right? So, uh, realtors, they understand that there's always opportunity. There's always opportunity. And I think that the skillset of, you know, even so, so realtors are over prepared when it comes to advertising, when it comes to marketing, in my opinion, because they have to, they have to stand out out of a sea of other realtors that are doing the exact same thing as they are. And quite honestly, you're always trying to prove the point. Why are you better? Why should I do business with you versus the seasoned guy? And, um, you know, we had a live just the other day and someone, uh, typed in the, uh, the, the conversation, uh, text and says, I've never heard of the 90, 10 rule. I think it might even be worse right now. The 90, 10 rule is 90% of the income is earned by only the top 10% of the top producers in real estate, because no matter how, how good you are now, here's the thing, Matt, when I learned that I could parlay the same skillsets from real estate and I didn't have to try as hard because I got no competition. I mean, no competition when I'm talking to people about, Hey, here's the best school district for your kids. Here's a, you know, here's a good neighborhood. You've got a good walking score, you know, because you're close to downtown businesses, the questions that are missed and it doesn't take skill. The questions that are missed is, you know what? I understand that you're putting a down payment for this house right here, but, um, how, how are you putting a down payment for your retirement? Did you figure that cost yet? Did you pay the debt that you have to your retirement, to your future yourself yet? Do you have any clarity on that? Boom. I put that hat on. All of a sudden they're like, boom, I have a hundred percent attention. They don't know anybody that's ever asked those kinds of questions when it comes to how to save more money, how to earn more income, right? How to protect their income. And even, even in the business of real estate, they need to protect their ability to not burden that, that, that financial burden to their loved one. How do they protect themselves financially? If they passed away and they were to burden their family members with a mortgage, well, real estate license doesn't govern that education, nor does it govern the solution to fix that, you know? So a lot of skillsets, a lot of parlayable skillsets. And the cool thing about your, you talk about income, you're about to cross over a half a million dollars of income at the next week at the end of this But you haven't driven all over God's earth traffic in the Bay area, you know? And so that's the crazy part. I think that, uh, you save a lot of wear and tear on your car and your vehicle. So, so, so Danny, as we wrap up brother, um, because we're about to jump on another webinar here in 15 minutes, you're looking at a realtor right now. You're talking to a realtor, you're talking to a fellow brother and sister in a real estate game. What bit of advice would you give them to have them consider taking a look at the insurance issue? Easy, very easy. Um, lower your ego for one second and consider the truth. Consider the facts, keep your license. If you have it, I'm not saying you should get rid of it or you should even dive and jump all in. Some might say you got to go all in. Hey, I didn't go all in. You know what I mean? So I can't even stay that. What I did was I realized that once you understand the language of money and insurance, all the things that we've been talking about, Matt, all of a sudden you create this magnetic, um, attraction to you because no one is speaking the same language that you are, even if you kept your license, even if you kept your license, all of a sudden you're going to be the realtor or the agent that all of a sudden is you can double. And here's some real estate terms. You can double and triple in every single deal that you do. How's that right? Just because, just because you're representing the buyer or the seller, you know, so what it's very rare these days to double end deals. You don't, unless you're some well-known broker. Um, but you can double triple end deals and these deals are literally going to pay you continuously. Think about all the sales that you made over the last five to 10 years, if any, right. How about all those past sales? Do those sales keep paying you? The answer is no, they do not. No, they do not. You know, when we do, when we help a family, all of a sudden that transaction continues to pay you continuously because of just the nature of our industry. We have insurance renewals, but that's a passive income, right? And you have also have the ability to not just be captive to your own personal production. What do I mean by that? If you don't go out and hustle, which you can't right now, you don't make any money. So here's the thing. You can be at 50 places at the same time, holding a license here with our compensation structure, because you can build an agency and eat also through internal consumption. When I was eating through internal consumption, when I was, when I made the transition from real estate to financial services and the money industry, Matt, all of a sudden, my realtor friends and colleagues, they became my clients. Can you imagine that monetizing the world around you when you're in the business of money is by far the most lucrative thing on planet earth, which is why, and we are backed by us government from our state governor to our insurance commissioner, all the way to the United States president. We are backed by, and with a big, big stamp of approval as an essential business relative relevant in the U S economy. So what can I ask? What else can I tell you? Oh, on that note, guys, make sure you follow Danny Singson at Danny Singson one, he leads the extreme one team, the fastest growing financial, the number one financial market organization in the gate area. I'm very proud of you, man. A random million dollar agency, by the way, our good friends, they can cross the line of running a million dollar agency too, as well. So, uh, but very proud of you, man. Very proud of what you're doing. The initiative, the, the, the, the strength, the, uh, uh, there's just, just doing what you're doing out there and giving hope to a lot of people and actually creating hope into tangible, actionable steps. And that's why you're busy every hour of the day since eight 30. Now go, go drink some water, Danny. I appreciate you, Danny. Thanks for showing up on this episode of the seven figures. All right. Welcome to this episode, Mr. Hector del Toro, million dollar cashflow earner, previous career, real estate mortgages. So Hector, welcome to this episode, brother. Thanks for making the time. Thanks for having me, man. How are you? How's everything going? Man, this pandemic crisis is creating tons of opportunity for us. And we're more busy than ever. Uh, let's talk about your, your background, uh, before insurance. Talk to us about your background in real estate and the insurance industry. How'd you get involved? Right. So I got involved in 2002. I started doing telemarketing. So back in the day, which I have a feeling isn't a comeback right now, which is kind of weird to say that. Um, you've noticed a lot of people calling your cell phones nowadays, but I think it's going to come back now. So I started doing telemarketing. I was going to college and my sisters asked me if I wanted to start with them. And I said, you know, I don't, I don't, I'm not much of the outgoing type of guy. So I said, okay, let, let me look into this. So they said they were hiring. It was telemarketing. It was for mortgage loans. So at that point I said, sure, I'll look into it. I went for an interview. I only got hired because of my sisters. I was so embarrassed. And, um, you know, I started doing telemarketing calls at 19 years old. Uh, I was, you know, I was afraid like everybody, you know, something new. You're afraid I will pick up. I will pick up the phone and I will dial and I will say, please don't answer. Please don't answer. So I did that for about the first week, a week later, I'm realizing, man, I'm going to get fired because I haven't booked any appointments. We had a leader's bulletin on the, on the, on the wall. So, and they show your name and how many appointments mine was at zero for the whole week. So I said, okay, one, I'm going to make the phone calls and really make this happen or two. I'm going to get fired. So I started making phone calls. I started booking appointments. I realized people weren't that bad. I was afraid of sales. The guy was, I was afraid of sales, right? So people were nice. People were, you know, they were asking the calls. They were, I was booking appointments. Some hung up on me. I got over it real quick. And I started doing appointments after about two months. My mortgage brokers asked me if I wanted to start doing loans. And I said, sure. So next thing, you know, I'm setting up appointments, doing mortgage loans, helping people refi this is back in 2002 when everything was, was beginning. Actually, I was in the, I was in Los Angeles at the time in valley village. And what I did was I started making appointments and I would drive. They would give me the worst appointments. So three hour drive, four hour drives, go to Santa Barbara, San Diego. I was going to press. So any appointment that was far away, they'll give it to me. I think they wanted me to quit, but either way I made it happen. Imagine driving two, three hours. And if you don't make a sale, you don't get paid. So I had to learn very quickly how to make sales. And it was the best thing that happened to me. After that, my brokers asked me if I wanted to move up north. So I ended up going to San Jose, California. I was, I was 20 at the time. And San Jose was booming. Everybody, everybody, all the loan amounts were 600 and up. So it was a big market. Real estate was, everything was hot. Everybody was out. Everybody was clubbing. Everybody was partying. A lot of money was being made. Everybody had the nice cars. So I was able to get to real estate at the right time. And I did that for about five years. I'm just doing mortgage loans in San Jose. Got it. Awesome. So you had your own thing going. You're what? You're young twenties. I would imagine you're mid twenties, young twenties, mid twenties. Yes. So you, I mean, a lot of success at such a young age. I mean, you had to feel really good about yourself. I did. I remember when I first moved out, I, I went, I came home and I asked my mom and I, I told her, my mom, my broker's asked me to move and she's like, okay, we'll have fun. And I was like, no mom, I'm serious. She didn't believe me. A month later I was in San Jose. So yeah, I was very young. I was making money at a young age, independent. I learned the, what importance of independence was. I remember the first time I go grocery shopping, I call my mom and I say, mom, I want to thank you because now I know what pickup costs, when you're at home with your parents, you don't understand. I didn't, I didn't know what it meant and I'm a big guy. So I will, I will always, you know, mom, can we take this, can we take this? And she never said no. So I appreciate her for that. Uh, so at that point, uh, yeah, young guy making money. I was living on my own. I made friends. I lived, um, across from the HP pavilion. If anybody's watching from San Jose, you were able literally to like, you know, drive two miles to the club or walk if you wanted to a mile away. Um, it was a good time, man. It was a good time. Mortgage loans was picking up. Everybody was doing real estate. Um, it was a good time for everybody. Um, so the whole, the whole financial crash happened. So let's talk about that. So, you know, we're facing something similar to this right now. At least we have a, a beginning events of how this potential recession may be triggered because obviously the Corona virus back then in 0 7 0 8 0 9, we don't, we didn't really have a trigger event. It was just bad, bad, bad, bad, bad over extended period of time. So your younger sister, Marlene started introducing this to you. I mean, I think you guys were like comparing checks or something like that. And what made you pay a little bit more attention to what Marlene was doing in the insurance industry? So you're right. When the mortgage crisis happened, um, it was, it was gradual, right? Everybody real estate, you know, you're making money. You're doing good. You're traveling. You're young, big ego. So 2008, 2009 is happening. And at that point I started jumping around. I started looking for other things to happen. I was waiting for the rebound. It didn't come. Um, a lot of people went out of business and I was one of them. So I started looking around, okay, what do I do next? What do I do next? And, uh, 2009, I get a call from my younger sister saying, Hector, we found a company. It's an insurance. You have to come back to LA. And, and, you know, I asked her the big questions. I'm like, is there money? She said, yeah. Is there real estate money? She said, yes. So at that point I packed up my, my SUV and I went back home. Uh, I show up to LA and I go to the insurance industry. And about a week later, I'm like, you know what? It's not for me. I was big ego. I wasn't paying attention to anything. I just showed up and I thought, okay, it's going to be, it's going to be the same thing. It wasn't, it was a little bit different. I had to learn a few things and I wasn't willing to learn. Um, I had to adapt. I went to an appointment with a Mario Aguilar, actually. And Mark, after the appointment, I'm like, Mario, the client wanted a posse. Why didn't you sell it? He's like, oh, Hector, we have to come back and do a second appointment. And I was like, Mario, I would have just sold it for you. And you would have told me so big ego. I thought I could sell anything at the time. So I was like, you know what? Uh, this is not for me. So I ended up leaving. I ended up going to no modification. A lot of people in real estate ended up doing no modifications. Then we transitioned to credit card settlement. A lot of people are doing credit card loans. So a lot of people were transitioning from one thing to the next. And four years later, 2013 is when my sister and I started comparing for four years, she kept telling me, you have to come do insurance. You have to come do insurance. Yeah. Four years of followup. I will be like that insurance thing again. She's like, Hector, you don't understand. One day you're going to work for me later that morning. I'm not interested. I remember one time, um, we had Thanksgiving and at this point she hasn't, she hadn't come back home for a couple of years, I would say. And, um, one of my nephews was with me and my cousins were all, you know, we're watching TV and then she comes home and we're like, who's that lady? So she kind of disappeared, distance herself from the family for a couple of years, just because we, we didn't want to do an insurance, you know, I just talked about was insurance. And I was like, no, you're annoying with insurance. Nobody wants to do insurance. Well, here's what happened. 2013 comes around, she goes to Europe. And then when she comes back at this point, I was already out where I was at and I started looking around. So I asked her the big question, Morning, how did you have time? And how did you have money? Most people have one or the other. So she said it's, uh, the business is paying me whether I work or not. And when she said that, I was like, how, I didn't understand. I was a loan officer. I had to work to get paid. And when she said, well, I'm there and I'm making money. It was just, it didn't make sense. So I started asking her the question one more time. We had a big meeting and the final question was, show me, show me your deposits as she locked into her iPad. And then she started showing me her deposits and she was making more than me. This is my younger sister. So at that point, even though I had a big ego, I said, okay, well, you know, if my little sister can make money once again, right. My little sister money can make money in insurance. Why can't too? So that was it. I got, I got licensed within a week. Um, I ended up coming to Bakersfield, California from Pasadena. I was going to Pasadena office and then going to Bakersfield, California. And, um, from there, I never looked back. I was all in and I didn't never look back at anything else. Hector, what would you say are some lateral skills that realtors and loan officers already have? It's easily transferable to the insurance. A lot of skills. That's that was the, the best thing that could happen coming into insurance was coming from mortgage and real estate. You're so used to not having a boss. You don't have a boss. So you're used to doing things on your own. Now that's a good thing. And a bad thing, because you don't have a boss. You also don't want people telling you what to do when sometimes you want to listen to a coach as mentoring you, such as yourself that you hate. You know, I'm in the businesses for a while. Let me give you some advice. And somebody's gonna say, Oh, you know what? You're not my boss. It's a good thing and bad thing. Um, so it was a good thing that I didn't have a boss. I didn't have, I didn't have anybody tell me when to get in, when to get out. If you're a mortgage real estate, you're going to get up and do what you gotta do. You're willing to work late. I was, I was working late in mortgage and real estate at the law firm as well. So you're okay with it. You're not used to the eight to five, like most people. And they're like, Oh, it's five o'clock. I gotta go home. When you're a mortgage and real estate, you know, you gotta hustle. You gotta go out there. You gotta put yourself out there and do what you can. If you have to go in on Saturdays and Sundays, you're gonna have to do, especially if you're a realtor, you're going home. So things like that, you're, you're doing it. You're already doing, talking to people. So people person is easy. You're already making sales. So it's literally, you're not doing anything different. Uh, selling a mortgage or either a loan refi or you're doing a mortgage, a real estate sale. It's the same thing as insurance. Literally it's, here's a number. It's in the presentation. And here's what I got to offer. It's very simple stuff for people to be able to learn. So a lot of those skills were, were exactly the same. So it wasn't very hard for me to come in and to understand, well, I saw my sister work hard, so I've got to work hard too. And it may take a while. I saw her transition and it took me a while. And so I understood that she was making more money than I was, but I knew what she had built up to it. Lots of people coming into our industry, they think, well, I've been in real estate for 10 years. So this business should pay me the same as real estate. It's not fair because you get real estate 10 years, but you only give an insurance a couple of months and you want to compare it. So that was a lot of the big skills that, that, that was able to transition. And it was a piece of cake for that. Gotcha. Because I'm looking at the typical frustration right now of a realtor in this recession or not even recession yet. They haven't even called it. We haven't really called it yet, but the crisis, right. People are canceling escrows. People are canceling their contracts. People are rethinking having strangers come to their house. People are rethinking open houses. What were some of the frustrations you saw in real estate that you don't face here anymore on the insurance side of it? Yeah. So there's a lot of things that I saw, actually, I saw an article to it today on MSN that realtors are being told not to do open houses anymore. So I think officially today you're not able to do an open house. It's not an essential business, but they're saying, uh, so some of the things from real estate, it was great. You could make good money in a transaction, but you have to keep chasing the next sale. There's always the next sale. And a lot of times, you know, you make, you make, uh, let's say you make 15,000 in a month. Well, if you don't make a sale for another month or two months, not that 15,000 has to stretch for a month or two into the next sale, and then now you're behind on the, on the book. That's something that I noticed a lot was coming from real estate. One of the things I noticed from real estate is you never had a chance to travel. That's one of the things that, that, that I've never seen people on real estate that can take the seven, 10 day, two week vacation, you know, to Europe and actually to be able to get away because of real estate. If you're the loan officer or the realtor, you have to be there because you're making most of the money. So if, if, uh, an appraiser comes back and screws up your deal, or if escrow makes a mistake and you're not there, nobody cares for that, for that deal. It's your money. So you have to be there. So my trips were on real estate was only to Vegas and Mexico. That was my trip. Um, not because of lack of money. It was because of lack of time. That was one of the big differences that I noticed coming from here. Uh, coming to insurance, I was able to make the money I make now because I was able to build a team in real estate. You don't have the opportunity to build a big team. You could become a broker, but your broker is not going to mentor you and teach you to become a broker. You have to figure out on your own. There's a waiting period for you to be able to do it. You can't just jump into real estate and become a broker. Now they extended that process as well. And the moment you have an agent that's very good and as good as you, they're not going to work under you. They're going to go open up for their own brokerage and then they're going to become your competition. So I know it's a real estate that insurance. I have guys making half a million, $750,000, and I don't have to worry about them becoming my competition because I trained them because our system has a sustainable comp where it's able, everybody's able to make their cut and everybody's able to make their money and everybody's happy with it so they can make as much as I make. I can make as much as my sister makes. Anybody can make as much as anybody else. So that override system that we have, the compensation system, that's what sold me. I have more time now than ever. I'm able to do more. I've traveled around the world. I've been to Dubai with yourself, actually. And most of the trips, man, we've traveled together. So we've been to Spain. We've been to Venice, Italy. We've been to, uh, you know, more Greece, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, um, Croatia. I mean, at this point we've been around the world. We've been to the Coliseum and Italy. So we've done a lot of things, uh, because of the business. So that's one thing that I love about insurance that I didn't have in real estate, apart from the mentorship part of the business, just like yourself. I work with Patrick McDavid and I'm having a mentor that's always there to help you and guide you. It's very big in real estate. You don't have that. At least I didn't have that. And that's a big reason why I make the money I made. Uh, unfortunately, you know, I don't come from a family of wealthy family. So I was used to seeing my parents work two, three jobs and doing labor. My dad was for, you know, for, for restaurants. He was a cook. He became a chef. My mom used to clean houses and then eventually bought her business and lost it as well. So I was always seeing my parents work. So my opinion, my sister will come home and she said, she would tell, she would tell us I'm going to become a manager and I would laugh at her face and say, yo, right. That's not our family. So having around Patrick and him having him mentor me has helped me to think bigger and be able to say, Hey, you know what? We can work for more. Uh, in fact, one of the quick stories, Matt, when I first started, Patrick asked us to do a, uh, a business plan. And I didn't, I'm Mexican. We don't do this. I cheated. I cheated from the guy's school, right? I was, I was always like, yeah, somebody else's note. So there's no business plans for us. You know, it's just kind of, we just go to work and make it happen. And that's a problem though. I think more Latinos should think more business mind. And, um, so what happened was I'm a business plan. He put down, uh, he asked how much do I want to make? And I said, 150, I'll be happy with 150,000. And then he asked me like, Hector, is that it? And I was like, yeah, like, what should I do? That's as big as you think. And I was like, okay, I'll put two 50, right? I'm a big thinker. I didn't believe I could make two 50. I just put it down just so he could be like, okay, Hector's thinking bigger. Um, so a couple of years ago, I thought it was impossible. And six years later, cash for a million dollars last four months. It's, uh, it's something that wouldn't have happened without having a to stretch your vision, to be able to help you. Now I get to mentor others, to be able to help them think big and go through the process that I went through as far as thinking bigger, some people have it in them. I didn't have it in me. I needed someone to be helping me and coaching me and mentor me and teaching me and guiding me along the way. Some people are out there and be like, Oh, you know, you have to have done it too. If you have that gift, that's good for you. I didn't have it. And it was great to have someone like, you know, like Patrick to be able to help me. And then people like yourself and she meant to also lead the company to help us go bigger as well. You know, I like what you said that you're mentoring and coaching other people. And I see you do that. You're giving them everything you've got. Whereas I think you mentioned earlier, if you were in real estate mortgage, you don't want to give them everything you've got because they'll eventually leave you. You lose your best talent. Yeah. Right. And so here you have, you have a couple of brothers, you know, Ricky and Alejandro, one making half a million, one making seven 50 under your guidance and leadership. They're tickled. They're tickled pink, man. They're happy. So what misconceptions do realtors have? What would you say? One or two misconceptions realtors have about insurance that you thought that was demystified. That was not a misconception when you got involved in insurance. So here's the issue that we're facing. A lot of people from real estate have looked into insurance in the past. There's big companies out there. I've been around for many, for many years. And they've been, they've been part of that company or other companies. And then, oh, it's just like one of those companies. What I understand in that PHP isn't like one of those companies. PHP is different. It's improved. It's taken the best from, from everywhere. And we've been able to improve a system where everybody can win. And someone like myself can be able to come in and yourself to be able to make money with me, you know, rather quickly for certain companies that they take, you know, a little bit longer, maybe 10, 15, 20 years to hit the muscles we've hit. So I think for me, the misconception was where people have said, well, I've already tried that because I was part of this company. I will retract. I was part of that company. And I just tell them we're not that company. And when I came through, I thought the same thing because my sister told me, oh, insurance, here we go with insurance. I heard about that thing again. And I came with the same mentality. But when I got here, I realized everything is about the leadership you're under. Everything, everything has to do with leadership. You're under the company, you're under the price you represent. And my first question was, what products represent? Do we have the best out there? Are we helping clients? And I remember when I started, my mom said, make sure you do your research because you're working with people, you're helping them. So I said, you know what, mom, you're right. I'm going to do my best to be able to look up everything I can so I can learn. And when I realized the company represent and what we offer, I was like, you know what, it's a great company. It's a good business model. It's sustainable. That's one of the things that I want to see sustainable. A lot of companies come and go, a lot of people jumping the next thing, the next thing, the next thing, the vitamins or whatever it is or the creams or, you know, and I'm not going to make fun of anybody or say anything, but I was looking for something that was long-term. I was looking for something that I could do and build a business and it'd be able to, you know, transfer to my kids and be able to take care of my family. And I don't have to be jumping around because I did that in real estate. I was jumping around and I hate it. I hate not knowing what's going to happen next. I hate not knowing how long is this lifestyle going to last because it was always something happening. So that was very important for me to be able to look into insurance and insurance has been around for, you know, very long time and it's not going anywhere. And even now during this time, so everybody's looking for life insurance at this moment, we're super busy right now with yourself and people are looking into the industry because they understand that insurance is something that we need. It's an asset. You need insurance. Yeah, right. You're, I mean, you're governor, governor Newsom. You're, I mean, you're talking about being essential. You're deemed essential by your own governor in California services. That's right. It's a, it's a, it's deemed as an essential business. So, um, you know, you talked about so many different things, Hector. Um, as we wrap up, what would you say, uh, any guys, any bit of advice from somebody that's in real estate, but somebody that's a loan officer and the mark is just clobbering him right now and they can't get the transactions done. They can't get their deals done. What bit of advice would you have them say, you know what, this is why you need to consider real estate versus insurance and make an, for some people, they need to make an abrupt move because they got bills to pay. So we got a family to support. What, what guys advice would you give? Yeah, man. So as somebody I've been thinking about today a lot, actually, there's two types of people out there. There's the people that, you know, they, they saw this happening in China and Italy and they prepare ahead of time. There's people that were already prepared from, you know, way before. So we have the people that we call them preppers, right. They were prepared. Then you have the people that are looking for toilet paper right now. And I was that person looking for toilet paper in 2008, uh, financial toilet paper. Right. Something happened to real estate. And at that point I was stuck and I, and I, and I started looking around like, wait, what happened? It was so fast. It was so slow, but so fast the way we bled out. So this time, um, what I tell people in real estate loans is don't be that person looking for toilet paper in, in your finances. You're the person that's prepared and has a, you know, a plan B. This may not be forever. You may not like our industry. Your insurance may not be for you, but at least if it can help you pay for your bills in the meantime, when you jump on your feet, then it's something to have under your belt. And if you're one of the people that says, Hey, it's a great industry. And you happen to, you know, travel with those around the world. Once we're able to travel again and be able to have a lifestyle that, you know, whether you work or not, you're making money, then I think it's a win-win situation, either way, you have nothing to lose. You'd be working with great people and you'll, you'll be able to have something else that you can offer to your clients in real estate. Because either way, once you sell a home, once they buy a house, the first thing that people lose when they pass away is your house. So if you can protect that as well by offering the insurance policy, which by the way, it was very popular before most realtors have their insurance license before, because it was a simple, Hey, by the way, in case something happens to you, you want to have your mortgage protected, they could make an extra thousand, $2,000 just by offering one more thing and make sure that the family's protected in case one of them passed away and the kids don't lose your house. So I think it's a win-win for anybody that's thinking ahead. I think a lot of times people, the ego and I'm one of them. So I'm never going to judge anybody with big ego. It took me four years to get started. So, so I'm one of those people, the ego is going to tell you, no, it's going to be okay. You know, we're busy. Eventually you're going to bleed out. You're going to start looking, then you'll be desperate. And when you're desperate, you don't make right decisions. So if right now business is still okay, and you're still doing all right. And you want to look into another industry that you don't have a boss. You can make your own schedule. You have mentorship that can help you there either in personal or business life, and you have a good product that people want. The insurance industry is the best time to look into it. Because at this point you have nothing to lose. And if you don't use your license, at least you had it. But if something happens and you make extra couple of sales and this helps you pay for your mortgage, maybe it helps you pay for your real estate off because as this is happening in your car, then this is a time for you to be able to say, Hey, I got something extra. Um, and I was able to take care of it. And I wasn't looking for a toilet paper right now. Oh, there you have it, man. Don't find yourself in a financially shitty situation. Dr. Financial toilet paper, because we have a, we have a great career ahead of you, man. So yeah, I appreciate your time. I know you're helping a lot of people. You're building your business here throughout the recession. You're not running away, crying, desperate. Um, uh, like what you were saying earlier, man, but it's great to be in business with you. It's been so cool to see you in 2014, 2015, 2015, when I saw you for the first time at the new Greek convention, you were making about 50,000, $50,000, $60,000 five, you know, four or five years ago. And now you're a cashflow millionaire, bro. Yeah, it's crazy. It's crazy. That's the business we're a part of, man. Thank you so much. And everybody that's watching, thank you guys as well for, for, you know, giving us some of your time. Perfect, bro. Awesome. All right. Well, there you have it. I hope you took some notes, took some copious notes, and I hope that instead of binge watching on Netflix, the latest season special, whatever, that you're actually taking this time of stay home and binge watching the next financial moves. So therefore, when we get through this and eventually we will, it's your five, 10, 15, 20 steps ahead in your finances because you got yourself prepared. If there's another video that you should watch, it is this video right here. It's how to stay ahead of the coronavirus recession. Because think about this. If people can't go back to work, if people are unable to make money, and I know Congress is helping out and the stimulus pack is helping out, but think about this real quick. Even if these things bang out and people can't effectively go back to work and schools don't start and seeds don't start in sports and concerts don't happen and arenas don't open up to employ people and restaurants don't open up to have bartenders and servers making money. Where do you think the economy is going to go? Honestly, where do you think the economy is going to go in the next one, two, three weeks, if not months, about what's going to happen here. So in this video, I want you to check it out because there's some questions that you need to ask yourself. Is that a hit for you to see yourself not get ahead of this thing, learn from this thing and be in a much better financial position when the next big thing hits our country. I would love for you to make sure that you are making sure you're qualified for the seven figure squad, honored to be a millionaire, cashflow millionaire. I'd love to see you get some financial elevation over the next time when this next recession or next bad thing happens to our economy. You're financially a lot more ahead than you were in 2020. In the meantime, I'd love to know your thoughts, your ideas, your comments, the good, the bad, the ugly. Please drop them in the comment section below. I do my very best to get back to you. And if you haven't done so already, if you're not following me on Instagram at MoneySmartGod, I'd love to interact with you there. See you behind the scenes too as well. And if you haven't done so already, if you haven't subscribed to our YouTube channel, seven figure squad, please do so. Make sure you hit the bell and hit notification to be alerted the next time we upload our next episode. Listen, it's been an awesome time to be with you today. Thanks for watching this episode. And I'm your Money Smart guy until we meet again. Continue to live smart, continue to love smart, be money smart today.