From Broke to Building Millions The Mindset That Changes Everything

Yeah, all right, sir. Yes, sir. I'm fired up today. Oh, we got to turn that off, right? You got to turn off all devices. We got to turn off. Hold on. Hold on. God dang it. We're live right now, but we got to turn this up. Okay. All right. Let's go. Let's go. We're going to call. We got to put on airplane mode, right? Let's go. All right. I am super excited today. Well, as you know, I'm always like super excited, but I have one of my favorite people in the whole wide world, not just in real estate, but you're one of my favorite people all time. Right. And I got to tell you why, before we get started, you are like Frank Sinatra. Yes, sir. You live your life your way, you know, and unapologetic about it. You know, that is true. I've watched you since you came here through the Rio Grande and just excelled. And to be the person you are today, investor, father, all this stuff. And it's like, yeah, this guy's living his own life. And not, not, but not on our terms, on Rudis' terms. So tell us more about that. Tell us more about your story. And well, I, I have to be honest with you. I do share the same feeling. I truly believe that, um, you have been someone with a lot of influence in my career and, and the things that I've been through with you, uh, directly or indirectly has been something that has been helping me to grow, you know, in my business and, and so many things in life too. It's not all about business. It's about life. It's about life. You know, it's funny you say that we spend a lot of time together in this office. I mean, when did you join this office? 2016, baby. That's when I joined. So we've been together for 10 years. 10 years, man. Holy crap. I had only one child. No, you even have, oh no, you have one, the big girl. Now I got six. That's what really you must have more. You know, it's after a day of work, you're tired. You go home. This is a PG 13 video. Okay. No, but, um, it's funny when you grow up with people, um, and you spend a lot of time with people. Like you said, it's, it's bigger than business. And I remember meeting your daughter for the first time. I remember meeting your son. I remember meeting all the kids, man. And where you are today. I think many of our agents aspire to be there. And what I mean by that is that, uh, again, you live on your terms. It's true. Well, I remember when, when I first joined here and I don't know if you do, you probably do, but 2016, I was sleeping at a basement. Yeah. So how'd you get here? Yeah. Let's talk about that. I was sleeping in this room in a basement. So I had a friend that I told him, look, I take out the garbage for you. I clean up the steps. Just let me sleep in that basement, that room. And I'm going to be there with my daughter because I didn't have a place. I didn't have a job. I was new to the Bronx. I came to United States in 2013. So I didn't even know, I didn't even know the Bronx. How much money did you have in your pocket when you came here? Oh, I had about $13 with 50 cents. But the thing is, the thing is that I remember when I came here and I had the opportunity to talk to you, um. Who, wait, we gotta give props to the gentleman who introduced you to us. The one and only. The one and only, baby. Mr. Lewis Morales. That's right. He was an associate of Brooklyn. We love you, Lewis. Glad to love people, yes. And you know, he, he, he looked great. So I thought he had money. Nah, just kidding. So he was so sued up and I said, can you, can you, can you, can you, can you give me some work? Right, like what do you do? He's like, I don't really say, you know, he's got that hot swag. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I said, this guy must be loaded. And I said, can I work for you? I can do whatever. He said, come to my office. I'm going to introduce you to some friends. You know, and I remember meeting you and I remember like it was yesterday when I came in and you know, my English wasn't that good, but it's funny because we were laughing about it today, but I remember laughing. Your office used to be right there. Used to share. Yes. I remember when you asked me, do you, do you, do you want a car? I said, no. Do you know the Bronx very well? I said, no, sir. I don't. I can see that your English is like more or less. I said, yeah, but you know, and um, do you know how to write in English? I said, not really that good. And uh, there was some other things that I'm sure I asked you some other questions. You're like, you were looking at me. How is this guy going to work? I remember going through a thrift store though with $5 that I had and bought this jacket for three bucks. It was so long. My shoes were and I came here cause I was looking for an opportunity. And the main reason is because I was completely broke financially, a little bit broke emotionally. It's not mentally though. Cause you had to go get an attitude. I had that. And I remember when I asked you, uh, said, uh, I want to make $100,000 my first year in real estate. And you said, well, you know, everybody wants to make $100,000 the first year in real estate. And I remember you saying you want to make $100,000. You go out there and talk to everybody. And, and I remember just like going out there and talking to everybody. I still remember the lady that you talked to at the bus stop. She got two properties to sell. Her daughter wanted to buy a house. Yeah. I think she had money under the mattress. Yeah. I took my, I took my first year at 36 listeners. Remember the one listing that you didn't get is the one I went on with. I can't believe what he did. What did this guy do here? You know what? And for those that are looking at this, I did not make a hundred thousand dollars my first year. I made $99,700 my first year. Am I complaining because of the $3 shot? I was going to play with another $3. Come on. I gave you the plan. So I'm very, very thankful, um, because of the opportunity, but at the end of the day, and I'll be honest with you, and I don't know if this is going to realtors or buyers or sellers, but if it's going to realtors, we all talk about, oh, I want to help people. I want to, I, back then, even now, I, my goal was not really, that wasn't my, and I'll be candid with you. I'll be honest with you. It wasn't about to be a helper. I wanted to make money. I still remember the day you told me this. Cause we used to, we said, we're always talking about our big Y and like, uh, what's your big Y what's your big Y. And everyone would be like my children, my children, my children. And you'd be like, **** those kids. If your life sucks, your kid's life is going to suck. Of course. At the end of the day, my kids are not my wife. I love my kids. Of course. Of course. But there were times that I didn't get up to go to work and I had kids. So it wasn't like, oh my God, I don't get up in the morning. I'm gonna go do this for my kids. No, that's that. I, my kids are my responsibility, man. They're not my wife. They're my responsibility and I owe them what they need. You changed my mindset with that answer when you told me that. And it's kind of like being on the airplane when they say, put your mask on first, they don't say, put your kid's mask on first and then put yours on, sir. You got to take care of me. And that's why when I got into real estate, I said, well, my aim goal, and some people might say, oh, that's not the right attitude is to make money. Yeah. It's, you know, if all you think is about money, you don't even know. I have made a lot of money through real estate and you've done a lot of good with that. Yes. Throughout my career, I met great people. And I remember man, my first two years, yes, you have to fake it until you make it, you know, but it's not what you want to do all the time. What you definitely want to fake it until you make it, but you still got to learn how to do it. I remember going to the closings and, and, and, and, and congratulating people for buying their home while I was taking my car to my apartment rented. Right. And now we'll come here and teach people and say, oh, I'm going to show people how to buy houses, not owning a house. So for me, it was a feeling that I didn't want me to deal with. And I'm not saying it's wrong because you have to deal with whatever you have to deal with in order to get to that level where you need to go. But if it's been two, three years and you still telling people that you teaching them and coaching them, you need to freaking buy a house. And if you don't know how to do it, you haven't figured it out yet. I thought, you know what, I'm okay. Making some money commission. And I, yes, you educate buyers, but you also have to, you know, apply that education. Like you got to know the part, like, how could you teach someone how to walk and you crawl? It's like me writing a book and say that I know how to play golf because I read 10 books. You got to go out there and hit that club and you know, do what you got to do. So I remember two and a half years later, I remember I was able to buy my first home. What was your first house? You know, why don't I landscape? Yeah. But it was like a mansion though. Like it was not a men's, but it was like for a young man who came to what he came to. And I also bought a five, one, six Avenue. Remember that's right. And I bought the house from Louis too. That's right. I was a model and you got me into the business. Now I'm buying you a home. Yo watching you. It's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. It's like I'm blown because I know many people have been in the business longer than you who haven't gone through what you've gone through or haven't. I think also let me rewind. I think it's your mindset about being grateful about the opportunity. Yes. Yes. I think that's where it stems from. Well, I think, you know, it's, it's, and I'm not saying anything negative out of place, but I think that when you do not grow up in a system that you got your, your, your, you know, if you go to the hospital right now, they will take you in. No problem. They give you the medicine. And then if you don't have money, they probably give you a shelter or, or give you a program to help you. They give you this card to buy food, which is great. But I wasn't in a country where I was born and raised in Honduras and I never got any of that stuff. Right. So maybe when you came here though, you didn't, you didn't transcribe to that. Like, like, I remember when you came here, we cook for you. Like you were like, how can I get something for free? You were like, no, I'm going to earn this. And everyone saw how hard you work. And we were just like, we know hard. What we see when people are working hard, you want to reward them. You want them to keep showing up and keep working hard and go and achieve your goals. Taking action, massive action. Well, I remember going to find the beginning one day. Yeah. I think it was 2017, 2018 with you guys. And I remember that day because this guy was like, I was like, man, I had it all. He said, the guy said on stage, he was a young man making a lot of money selling a lot of real estate. He said, you know what? You don't have to be the perfect listing agent. You don't have to have the freaking perfect listing presentation. You don't have to be all knowledgeable about it. You freaking step on that gas, my friend, you drive that, you get on, you get a knockoff, you step on the gas and believe me, you step on it by the end of the day. Even if you make a mess by driving that fast, you're going to have enough money to fix all the problems you need. So all the problems you created by driving fast. You know what? So I did, I stepped on the gas and I made good money and I'm still doing good. I truly believe that real estate is, is for me in this case, it's something that you, it's a stages, right? I was an agent and then I became an associate broker. I'm really my own real estate company. And, and, and I was like, it's, it's gotta be there. It's gotta be more there for me, not only helping people to buy and sell homes. That's why I educated myself on how to invest, how to flip houses. I, what do I get the money from? What do I have to do? I made so many mistakes buying properties. They're properties that I love money, especially one on nine landscape, right? Took me six years to sell a house. And how many violations? Oh my God. I got to get out of here because all the violations, all the ones you're going to arrest, you learned the hard way. And if you don't, and watching you, you never seem to crack. Well, you never was like, Oh, maybe because what happened is the way I believe I should go every day is that every situation has a solution, multiple solutions. But if you focus on the problem, you're just going to create more stress. So the way I do it is like, you know, if I have a problem, I'm going to enjoy the process, trying to find a solution. And if I don't, it's okay because tomorrow I'm going to be able to get up hopefully and try to find a way. You know, I believe that every day above the ground, and I don't care if you're in a shelter right now, or you're living at a best time in your life. Every day above the ground is a great day. You got to be grateful, but that doesn't mean that you got to be lazy. You're right. No, totally. I think about things and then it's going to come. You have to, you have to, you know, honestly, I say, I say to my, I watch you take massive action. Like I, it's funny, like things that like, even with your construction stuff, like I watched your TikToks, you know, but I watch it and like you figured out how to build ----. You're like, I like for $6,000, we could completely renovate this whole apartment. Saturday. Let me ask you a question and be honest. You don't have to, uh, uh, you know, what were you doing Saturday night at 11, 1130 PM this Saturday, last Saturday night, I was probably pouring a glass of bourbon. I was probably home. I was probably home. We had just came back from dinner and, uh, cantinas and white planes with my son. I was freaking cleaning up a freaking second floor of a house that I bought with a machine because my workers were not, they didn't show up. They didn't know they did, but they like, we're not going to work. I was like, I'm getting ready for my open house. Um, this is, and I, I own this property, so I want to have it perfect ready. And when was the open house supposed to be? So I was 1130 at night. I'm cleaning the floor with a machine and making sure that everything's fine. I got home at one o'clock in the morning. My kids were sleeping and I'm not saying, you know, everybody has that driven or crazy desire to, but I wanted that open house to be perfect. I mean, open house showed up only four people went, but out of the right four, he showed up and tell me two offers. There you go. Asking 20% down, there you go. You know what I mean? And at the end of the day for me is what can I do today to add value? Not only the people that are around me, but to myself. Absolutely. So, yeah, I, you know, I remember, remember I used to follow you, uh, in the beginning to put gas in my car. I bought a car, right? And he will go, he was driving a Beamer. Of course he's driving a Beamer, right? Driving a Beamer doing 70 and a 55 and I'm doing 55. I said, call him up. I said, Mike, you're going too fast, man. He said, why are you driving so slow? I said, I don't have a driver. I love that you and I can laugh about all this stuff. Yeah. You know, I think that's what, when you said the stage is a real estate and I think most people want to get in this business, they expect it to be like take off rollercoaster and just up their downs. Like any good roller coaster, you go up, you go down, you go really down, you curve and then you go back up again. A hundred percent out of the same barrel. But you know, maybe I just see life in a different way. Maybe I just see life in a, in a crazy way. I leave and I'm not saying this just for people to look at this video or whatever. They might not, but I live my life, Mike, and you see me as if every day that I'm able to wake up, if it was the last day of my life. So I think in the morning, what can I do today that will give me joy, happiness or whatever, just in case that I don't wake up. And you know what the first thing is? Dropping off my kids to school. You didn't say money, you said joy. Right. Cause what can I do today? That brings me joy. That's it. And I swear, I watch you man. And like you live your life. Like I do like this. Very nice. And one day, and the other day I'm showing up with boots on dirty. You're full of dirt. What the heck? You got two jobs. You work at Home Depot or something. I said, you know, you do what you gotta do. And once you find that spot, would you realize that being happy, being joyful, enjoying every day without thinking, you know, what's going to happen tomorrow? Once you realize, which is very hard, by the way, you will probably appreciate the times with the loved ones more. So this was a learned, the way you are is a learned behavior. You didn't just wake up like joyful. No, you learned that through life. Yeah. And I know you an avid reader. I've been to your house before. Yes. Yes, I do. I do. I do. And main reason is because I believe that if you keep the same information that you have right now, you will end up having the same results every day on Tik TOK. Oh yeah. That was great. So what you created on Tik TOK, like out of nothing, out of nowhere, dude. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was a character. What does that mean? It means the man with the hammer is a superhero, you know, because I do real estate and I got a big hummer. No, it's not that big, but you know, this is PG 13. But again, my real business, as I was saying, it's if you have been in the business for two, three years full time and you have an experience invested in real estate, whether it's a house, I'm not saying you're doing something wrong. What I'm saying is that you haven't learned the real meaning of real estate. It's beautiful. When you go to a closing and you're the one signing documents, even if you get a hundred percent finance, six, seven, six, it doesn't matter. Or maybe you use your cousin, your brother, your mother. It doesn't matter. Once you have a house that you can say, I live here and this is my space. You will awaken something inside of you or most of us it's for stability. Yeah. Cause I know a lot of realtors who are basically homeless. They don't have. So how can you think clearly if your mind isn't clear, if your home is, my mother used to say, take care of home and everything else will fall into place. So make sure that you are invested in real estate, if you're a realtor and if you're not find somebody to help you to coach you, find somebody like Michael Brown. Well, you talk to me about this all the time, but it's not, sometimes we're like, oh, I don't have the money or I don't have the deals. But most of the time that you don't have and I think for you, my first three homes, my credit score was over. I didn't have any money in the bank account. You know, I wasn't, but you found the hoop. I found the hoop. And I remember the day you left the office to go meet that guy. Like they said, you want to, you want to go crazy. I go, go come to the CD. Okay. You come to my office. No, no, you come to me. I'm in the city. If you want to sell it to me, most realtors, 99%. What am I going? But when he said, I'm in times square, I said, uh, let me call him and go see this guy. Right. And I met him. I remember the day you left here and went there 10 years. He became my partner. I have made hundreds of thousands of dollars to profit and commission by meeting this person. I am about to make a quarter of a million dollars in a month, a month and a half. Right. And then they're not bragging again. That's just money that we used to buy something else. Right. But what I'm saying to you is that all you need in real estate in order to buy as an investor is that one or two people that are willing to invest the money because you know what to do, because you're willing to work hard. You wouldn't get what you did. You did the hard work. You didn't have the money. You didn't know what I was doing yesterday after the open house. No, I went to one of his buildings because there was water dripping from the apartment. The boomer wasn't picking up. I said, I got you. Let me go over there. You know what I did? Scrape off the, the, the, after the open house, when my kids were waiting, but I didn't care. Oh, but you make hundreds of thousands. I was like, yeah, I don't care how much I make. I care about the person that I'm with. And I want him to know that I'm willing to go that exit. That partnership was important. You always did the right thing by that partnership. That's it, man. And I think, I think at the end of the day, once you have somebody that trusts, you know that you're not going to screw them and you're very knowledgeable in the subject, the doors are open and there's no limits to it. So at the end of the day, you have to pay a price. You have to consistently keep pushing, keep moving forward. Remember that lady? I cleaned her house. Oh my God. You used to mow her lawn. You used to do all this stuff for free. She would come and I would do it for free. And you know, I've been making six figures ever since I got into real estate. So I could have hired somebody. You could have totally hired a landscaper. But there is no connection. People do business with people they like and trust. So if I send somebody over there and I don't build a rapport with her and I don't make her making me, you know, make her like me and make you dinner. This is PG 13. But at the end of the day, that is how you run this business. It's through relationships. It's about building relationships. People don't buy your product. They buy you, your commitment, your determination. You're, you're, you're, you're the guy on Shark Tank when they say, what do you do? Like, how did you get, so you quit your job and you just do this 89 hours a week and methadone. You're like, yes, this is all I do. I eat and sleep this stuff. That's it, man. It's so genuine. So authentic. Your energy. And you know what? I've been broke and I've been having a lot of money too. Well, maybe not seven figures yet, which is, that's my goal. I want to hit seven figures in a year. You keep doing what you're doing and you will get to it. Two years ago, I was, I was very good. So, and it's not to brag because quite honestly, I live a good life, but it's just to keep on growing. More money, you make more abilities. You have to help more people. And it probably gives you something to push for. That's right. You know, it's not about the money. Cause it's not like you're going to go buy a jet. You're just like, yeah, I can do that. I think you like to challenge mental. I do like to challenge you. And I look, and I, I had a, I had a, I had a conversation with my partner last night and I know we've got to cut off, but he said, Oh, we got two offers in the property, right? I said, yeah, I told you I was going to stage it and get it done right in two weeks. They said, great, man. Great. He said, we're going to make some money. I said, hopefully, but I want you because he's a very successful guy. I said, I want you to help me to write a check of a million dollars out of my bank account to somebody. He said, I'll help you write a check. Why don't you make, he said to me, instead of you writing a check, why not getting a million? I said, no, no, no, no. I want to give a million dollars. We talk about that here at KELOLAND to give a million, giving away a million dollars. You got it like that. Joe, you know, you got that check. I think fat Joe has a frame check that he wrote to someone, a million dollars. Once you give away a million dollars, that means you got it like that. You might be able to make a million dollars if you do what you got to do it. Probably more. It's a real thing to make a lot of money. Absolutely. I want to be able to write a check and give a million. And not sweat it. Will you be when you write in a check of a million dollars? Because you just got it like that. That's a mental state. That's what I want to be. I love the energy. I love you. Thankful what you've done is let's go. And I thank you for the opportunity. I'm very, very excited. You should have been the first person I put in here. And the energy is contagious. You're contagious. Give me what you got. PG 13. Guys, thank you so much. My name is Rudy Rodriguez, Marty, your leader, Marty, your leader and fade out everywhere. But live life, enjoy it every day. Don't give a F about what people say about you. Don't give a F. Nobody cares. 80% don't know. 80% no one cares. You go with me. And 20% is glad it's you. So just live life to the fullest. Enjoy it. But most importantly, take massive action. Don't be freaking massive action. Get up at six o'clock in the morning. If you can't just put the alarm. Go the extra mile work the extra hour. If you have a job, show up early and leave late. Don't be complaining. Complainers will never make it man. You gotta be positive. I've never listened to you. I've never heard you complain. No, man. Why? Why? Never. I mean, seriously, I'm thinking like, no, I don't complain because I mean, you complain once that you didn't have gas and I gave you my car. Yeah, well, you didn't give me your car. You told me to follow you. I said, Mike, I follow me over the gas station. But at the end of the day, push forward. Keep on dreaming, but muscle. They can take an action. That's right. Take an action. Yeah. Yeah. You know, thank you so much for having me. Thank you. I'm part. I'm part. I'm gonna make some every time I say that they get high. Oh, wow.