The Everyday Millionaire Show
Ryan Greenberg and Nick Kalfas are two Maryland based business owners and investors. Ryan and Nick discuss topics such as basics of financial literacy, building businesses, investing, and real estate. This podcast is for people looking to achieve financial freedom.
The Everyday Millionaire Show
Most Builders Compete. We Collaborate. Here’s Why (ft. Richard Amaya)
If you’ve ever felt the grind of race-to-the-bottom bids or the whiplash of constant change-order fights, this conversation will feel like oxygen. We sit down with contractor Richard Amaya to explore why collaboration beats competition, how sharing systems accelerates growth, and when it’s time to pivot from investor work to homeowner projects that value quality over shortcuts.
We get specific about what “doing it right” really costs: permits, inspections, and the sequencing that keeps trades aligned. Culture and communication matter just as much as contracts. We talk bilingual job sites, why speaking Spanish builds trust and speed, and how community dollars strengthen small businesses.
Enjoy the conversation—and if we hit home, follow the show, share it with a builder friend, and leave a review to help more people find it.
Welcome to the Everyday Millionaire Show with Ryan Greenberg and Nick Calvin. What's up guys? We are here just before 6 a.m. We have a new sponsor for the podcast, Stuff Dog Supplements. They just sent us some pre-workout, some creatine. I've been taking this every day before the gym. About to do a about a mile and a quarter swim workout this morning and then chest and chest and biceps. This has always been a great pump for the last couple weeks. Hasn't been too jittery. A lot of pre-workouts I take gives me the jitters. This has been good. It's pretty tasty. I have the blue blue raspberry. It's definitely strong tasting, but it's pretty delicious. And then we have our creatine here as well. So I'm gonna take one scoop of the creatine with my pre-workout. Unflavored creatine. I like it better that way. If you uh looking for new supplements, try something out. Stuff dog, they are local to Maryland, so they hooked us up and look forward to a long-term sponsorship with them. Alright, guys, welcome back to another episode of the Everyday Millionaire Show. We're here with Richard Amaya. How are you doing, Rich?
SPEAKER_01:I'm good, Ryan.
SPEAKER_00:Appreciate you having me on, my man.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, we've been hanging out for the last couple hours now, and um, I figured it would be a good uh little content piece. Good, we're both in the same space. Yeah. So you came over to the office to talk about just shop, talk business. Um, I gave you a little insight. So, Rich, to give you a little background, is a contractor, but has been focusing mainly on investors up until probably up until today. That's a good way to put it, 100%. Um, but yeah, Rich, is uh I I guess we don't really compete at all because you're like North Baltimore, like Hartford, Baltimore. Yep, and I stay mostly down uh Annerundal City and South. Um, but I thought one of the things that I wanted to talk to you about, because we're both in the same industry, we're both you can move that, yeah, wherever you want. Um we're both in the same industry, and technically a lot of people would say we're comp we're competitors, right? Which in a sense, I guess, but in in this world, I feel like collaboration versus competition is like everything.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Like we I would never if somebody said hey, like I had another quote from Rich or and and you know, we were I would call you right away. I'd be like, look, this is what this person hit me up. If you want the job, you you take it. And I I think that the the collaboration is something that you don't really see with a lot of industries.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I uh I'm big on that since the moment I met you, I think, and I presented like, hey Ryan, I'm actually gonna switch from being an investor to a contractor. You've always been open, and I've seen what I've seen as a pattern of the most successful people always looking to help, always open to give information, and always looking for a way to collab. If there's value on both sides, yeah, which I've adopted that that uh philosophy every day in life, let's just say it, because it's not like a switch that I turn on and off. But just like you said, uh that philosophy of together everyone achieves more can also work as a philosophy for profit. You know, it's yeah, it's not like it everything alone, everything doesn't have to be alone. Like together, you really can achieve more, yeah. Even if it is money-wise.
SPEAKER_03:And you know, when you own a business, especially in contracting, I tell people this all the time. It's like, yes, I have an office, but how many people you see here? There's nobody here, they're all in different places, right? It's very little time where you get the whole company together to collaborate. So when you whenever you can collaborate with other owners of other companies, even if they're in the same space, like I think that's invaluable. I'm sure there are things that you saw from my systems today that you might take and use, and that's fucking great. You know, like I think that's a that's an awesome way to help somebody out. And why we, you know, why we're both gonna grow together. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I think what what you share with me today, I think it doesn't happen if you have that mentality of like we're competitors, right? Because you wouldn't have let me in. No way. And in a sense, also uh that mentality sort of limits you because maybe something from my system might be something like, wow, I never looked at it that way. Uh I mean, the stuff I got from your system today, of course, I was like, wow, there's a lot of things I could definitely take from this that will help me in the long run. But looking at as like competitors, that that conversation, this opportunity, or this moment would have never happened because of that that line of thinking.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. And and you know what? There's so much work out there in like construction just in general, that there'll be things that I've actually a couple weeks ago, somebody called me from Harvard County about a job, and I was like, call rich. I said call rich. I was like, I forget who it was at this point, but I was like, just call Rich. I I don't operate up there. And just because we've had a good relationship and I know you're gonna do good work, because that's the other problem, too, is like I hate recommending people typically because if they mess it up, then it's like, oh, you recommended this guy and he messed it up. But you know, when you trust the person, and in in our world, like there's no possible way that one of us can do all the construction work in Maryland.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's not happening.
SPEAKER_03:It's just not happening, right? Like, it's just not gonna, it's not a possibility. So I think the more that you can collaborate, and like why I throw those events, right? Like, I'm not making money off those events, I'm just throwing apart. I'm like, I'm not trying to sell anything, like you know, most of the networking events you go to. You're gonna sit in a chair and they're gonna somebody's gonna talk to you for a while and like they're trying to sell you something. And I feel like just building those relationships is 10x more valuable than being out there and like trying to be competitors and trying to you know cut the next person off.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah. I think I think I just made a post uh this week. There's another event coming on. But every time I tell every time somebody asks me, Hey Rich, what what event should I be at? Everyday Millionaire, of course, is the first one I always tell them. You want to meet people, you want to shake hands, this is where you go. I have one coming up, and I put in there um on my post that uh a lot of the relationships and also jobs I've gotten have come from me shaking hands and being in that room. So you putting together that event, I think a lot of people who aren't there don't see the value in what it is to just have a face-to-face conversation. I mean, our meeting today came from that event, I imagine, that we had. Yeah. Oh, that you had. We had a conversation there, and it was like, let's meet next week. Yeah. And it just grew from there.
SPEAKER_03:That's exactly yeah, that's exactly what happened. Rich and I were talking, we were just like talking shop, and I've I've been in the business a little bit longer than you, and I and I was just like, Look, man, I think you'd be making more doing less. Right. And let me show you how. And came over today, and we went over literally when I say collaboration, like I opened up my books, my system, everything I showed you from start to finish, and hopefully that can help you. And I think helping people, and that's one of the reasons we do this this podcast. Like, I truly love helping people. Like, I was a public school teacher for a while before I realized I would have been broke if I kept that job. Um, I I I truly love helping people. So I think being able to like see some of the light bulbs that went off today when when you saw some of the the pricing and the different stuff, I was like, that's I'm I just made you some money, I hope, this year. Oh, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um I feel out now it's my duty to 3x what I learned today, you know, just because of the belief you have in me or what you saw today.
SPEAKER_03:It's like and and the other thing is like if you help somebody, it's go like when you help people and you truly care about them and like just care about people in general, not even just one specific person, that's gonna like I feel like the the world, like karma, like I do believe that if you do good, you'll get good kind of thing. Um like we just had uh you were with me when I just had a tough conversation with one of our crew leaders, and I was you know, he messed up a bathroom, messed up a couple things, and but at the end of the day, we both left. We he was happy, I was happy. You know, we're we got we got what we got done. Um, we had that that tough conversation. At the end of the day, he's still like family, he's still gonna, you know, he was scared to come in here today.
SPEAKER_00:I I imagine, and it's the conversation I I heard. I mean, it's one of the most delicates in contracting, uh, because in a sense, we're talking about somebody's work, you know. If that was that's the conversation. A lot of people can't handle that conversation. They would be like, you know what, hire somebody else, or you know what, I don't want to do this anymore if you don't like the way I do things. Right. But it was it was handled really well, and it looked like y'all came to an agreement and solution was there.
SPEAKER_03:Solution was there, and and you know what? I think the biggest thing is like if you pay people right, we were talking about this before, you know, you pay people right and you treat people right, most of the time, unless they're a total POS, they're gonna do the right thing back to you. Oh, yeah. And and that that rings true every single day in my life because these guys, like, we have all these crews, these subcrews that are working for us, that they we're like like family. Like, I want to make sure that I'm doing the best job that I can do. And I admit it to him today. I was like, look, it's on me. That project. So, what happened was uh a quick little story. We did the the the shower pan, we messed up a slope. So, as you know, you got some pooling water. Well, told him to demo that section, bring bring it up. We'll go get the tile because we we got it from Home Depot, we'll go get the tile, it's a penny round tile. Well, we got the tile, we brought it in, he installed it in that little patch. Well, the tile that we got is ever so slightly different than the tile that was originally purchased. And the mistake was they didn't look in Builder Trend to see the exact selection that was made. So he just picked because it looked great, but the the color was exactly the same, but the grout line spacing was smaller. So it looked different, so we had to tear it out and we have to redo it. Yeah, special order of the tile and redo it. And I we came to an agreement. I'm like, hey, look, I'll eat the cost of the material because we didn't provide you with the right information, but you also, as the contractor, should have known that you were installing the wrong thing, and you shouldn't have done the slope wrong to begin with from the first place. So you cover the labor. I cover the materials, you cover the labor. Probably both gonna come out of pocket a similar amount of money. But at the end of the day, the problem was solved, the client is happy.
SPEAKER_00:You know what I got from that, um, and that was spontaneous that that that conversation that happened, but what I got from that was that somebody both people were happy working with each other, and instead of going into the blame game, uh that was like the fairest agreement that could have happened, and both because you both came with like a mentality of let's fix this, and we want to continue working with each other, yeah. Versus you know, you you talk to one person or you judge somebody or you have a tough conversation, people are willing to end it right there, whether it's a sub or whether it's the general contractor. But a lot of people just look at it like, no, I can only win, only I can win. Yeah, there you also thinking, like, you know, together, both of you came to a resolution pretty quickly, and it was like, you take material, oh, you take labor, I'm taking material, boom, shake hands, agreement, let's get back to work.
SPEAKER_03:Let's move on, get back to work. And I I think when you said like where everybody's winning, and and that's what we were taught, we had this conversation before, and I stopped working for investors because I felt like I was in I was always in a position where somebody wasn't happy, right? Whereas all the stuff that I do from the homeowner for the homeowners that are like high-end kitchens, bathrooms, and stuff, they're happy at the end of the day, and even if I make some mistakes, like the person that we messed up their bathroom, he's a friend of mine. At the end of the day, I'm fixing it all, I'm covering the cost. Right now, the shower is you he's using the shower, it's fine, I'm waiting for the material to come in. At the end of the day, he's gonna have a really nice bathroom, yeah, and it's guaranteed, like the work is gonna be guaranteed. He's happy, I'm happy. In the investor world, I felt like somebody was always unhappy because it was either me that was eating shit, not making enough money, yeah, or the investor is mad because you had to change order them$400 for a door or something. Oh, yeah. Like every change order, I showed you one job today. I'm not gonna mention which one is it. It's$90,000 in change orders.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, an investor would not have that. Oh no, no, no.
SPEAKER_03:That's just not a thing that an investor would be having.
SPEAKER_00:I think they'd rather pay somebody else to come in and take over.
SPEAKER_03:Right. Which uh, I mean, you know how that can go, but and that, you know what though, is the perfect um the the perfect thing like to to say like investors will never really give you the props that you deserve as the contractor. Yeah, they're taking the they're taking it all. They're they want the profit, they want the the pictures, the before and after pictures because they fucking built a new house or they flipped a house. Yep. And I don't know how many people every day I see just flipped another house, blah blah blah. No th no shout-outs to whoever did the work. I don't know, you didn't do the work, my like somebody did that, like somebody did that for you. Oh, yeah. Um I've done jobs for investors where people, where that investor, I am not gonna name names, has posted the fucking photos of the house, right? And he does this guy does run some separate crews and stuff on the side or whatever, but some of the jobs were just I guess too big. And he had me come in and do it. I did the job, and then he posted it as if he did the job. And I'm like, God, well, whatever, you know, like whatever. You owned it, whatever. But the homeowner, as you saw, I showed you the Facebook, like they're shouting you out, like, thank you so much. Shout out to PE Homer Modeling. That makes me feel good and motivated.
SPEAKER_00:You know, that it's funny you touch on that, and I also am an active investor, right? As am I, too. Yeah, so I am going to share like the truth about it. It's like there's this, I don't want to say popularity contest, but there's like this protection thing where maybe you don't get a shout out because you don't want to hurt a person's feeling that you're working with. And in a homeowner field, from what I've noticed, these people are eager to shout out this person does good work.
SPEAKER_03:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:Which I think to your to your uh what we were talking about just now, like investors and homeowners. I think it's it's really interesting how as investors we can. I I include myself, maybe we can get big headed sometimes and just want all the money and the glory, I guess. But then it is also like, you know, that's where coordination and also collaboration, like this doesn't happen without the collab of whether it was a small-time starting contractor or whether it was PE or whether it was uh you know other big ones, uh what other contracting companies are out there, but uh it is a different mindset as an investor and also working for investors, uh, which is sadly I think uh I personally always wanted to be that middle ground, but it's very tough.
SPEAKER_03:So, one of the things that I think problems with investors and and what what makes it better to be a contractor and an end investor is that you actually understand the true cost of what things what it takes to do things the right way. Yeah. Because anybody can cut corners and not pull permits and do some BS work and get away with it and sell a house. And we both know people that have sold hundreds of houses, flipped hundreds of houses, but have zero clue of what something costs. Yeah. Like they have no because if you do it permitted and the right way, it's gonna cost one thing, and if you do it the investor way, it's gonna cost another thing. Oh, yeah. And I see it time and time again where investors would just have no clue on what shit costs, and they think that you're making all this money on them, and you're not. I mean, the money's just not there.
SPEAKER_00:It's true, and then there is a difference, and like you know, keep going. There is a difference with investor style and then doing it the right way, because a lot of people do not want to pay for the permitted way, the right way, and because that involves everybody that is either subcontracting or is in the trades, or whoever's swinging the hammer is involved, they are also taking in consideration their time now, too. Permits is gonna be a little bit different. Yeah, you gotta pull off the job when the trades are there to get rough ins. Like it is another, a whole nother beast. It is, and it's a respect thing at that point. Outside of money goes up, but it's also, yeah, well, this decision or this this uh doing it the exact the correct way costs money and time for everybody, and it's a respect thing where it trickles down to everybody working on this house, not just don't think it's just me making more more profit because it's not like trades have inspections, trades are gonna pay for their time, trades are also gonna pay for like anything that that they anticipate they're gonna charge for it now, right? Because they know what what an inspector is gonna ask for the right way versus you know investor style, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I think that that for me there was like a huge turning point in my career where I was just like, and I said this before, like the power in saying no. Like, oh my god, that felt so good. Like, you asked me to do this job, and then you asked me to do it for cheaper, and then you asked me to do for cheaper, and I just said no, and I'm like, that felt so good, just being able to say no, because I think so many people just want to take advantage of the next person to make a profit, and investors are like, and and again, as somebody that's an investor, the only investor I'm working for is myself, and sometimes I even hate that because then in my head I'm thinking like an investor, and when when I, you know, the jobs that I showed you, they're not thinking about money, they're thinking about what do I want? Where exactly do I want these four laundry machines that I'm putting in my house? Yeah, like where like that's all they care about. They don't not that they don't care about money, I shouldn't say that, but they're more into getting it done the right way, yeah, and the way that they want it done. And I'd 10 times out of 10 much rather do that kind of work and fix those little stupid mistakes and details that you probably wouldn't have to punch out on a flip or something, or not going to, or not going to or not going to, but I'm I'm happier to just send a guy back and do those little punch outs, yeah, because at the end of the day, that person's happy, I'm happy, and I have a good product.
SPEAKER_00:It and it switches. And I I actually want to give you kudos for like kind of leaving the investor field to a degree, and I say that because you know the pros and the cons with it, but for you to focus and go into this homeowner world or yeah, homeowner world, you have to be on your A game. Yeah, because you're still managing personalities, but to a degree you're at a higher price point, which also comes with more responsibility and expectations, yeah. Versus I am unapologetic about it on my investor style, like you're getting my product and you're paying for the investor quality. Now, I do take pride in being mid-grade. I'm not gonna be known as the cheapest or the lowest quality, right? I I won't have that, but I also am taking into consideration like my man, like you're this is investor style. There are certain things you don't expect me to do because you want to avoid the correct way to do things in the sense of like price point or permits and stuff like that. But at the same time, you're not about to sit here and blue tape this entire flip-up and expect to get homeowner treatment, right? Because you set the expectation that you want investor style, you want to cut as much as you can, nickel and dime me. Then I I can do this, but this is the bottom line that I can do it for. With that being said, you're also gonna get mid-grade, but like bottom line, mid-grade. We're gonna get this thing sold, but that's what you're getting.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and I think what the one thing that I'd really try to drive home today with some bad stories that I've had is like you gotta have a contract, you gotta have a scope of work that's detailed, detailed, detailed, because those people, everybody, all this no matter what, if you don't have a good contract in place, somebody's gonna try to take advantage of that. Oh, yeah. And if you have a good contract in place, you're the one on top. So if you don't, you're the one on the bottom, and it's much easier to be on top than it is on the bottom. Oh, yeah. So I I think you know, for one, for anybody listening that's trying to get into like any kind of home services, we're general contractors, so we do everything. But somebody that wants to just be a roofer, wants to just be uh a tile person or whatever, anybody in home services, HVAC, whatever, you need to have a good contract and a good scope of work.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah. I'm at that point now where uh the the value and the importance of that, oh yeah. As I'm sure a lot of people have said it from the beginning, if I could have started it that way, I would have avoided so much.
SPEAKER_03:But you know what? You also wouldn't have learned the hard way, which again we we talked about this before, and people can comment on their opinions, but typically second generation people, second generation wealth, are lazier, they they look at things differently politically, yeah, and they're not gonna work as hard. We call them like the trust fund babies, like they're the second, the second generation because they didn't have to learn the hard way, nothing they did was hard.
SPEAKER_00:You know, it was funny, and you can tell me, Rich, uh, let's go past this if you want, right? But even like I'm first gen Latino, right? Was born here, all that stuff. Um but parents are not from parents, are not from here. Uh now they came here, they got all the legal stuff done, whatever, right? But they came with a work ethic from over there, yep. Right. So even now, me being a first-gen Latino, there is a division of people who are my age, but aren't from here, right? We call them like uh a foreigner, let's just say foreigner, but in Spanish we say you're undocumented, right? They will draw a line amongst we're different because I come from a work ethic from over there, and you have a work ethic from here, being first gen. So you're saying like second gen, which is the equivalence to me being first gen, because I mean, being honest, my dad is the one who started a lot of what I'm doing. I mean, he owned the roofing company, he was a roofer out the mud or uh from scratch, he he built the business, right? Um, and I learned a lot watching his back, put it that way, right? So I would be considered the second gen as the equivalence of what you're talking about. But in in Latin culture, I'm first gen Latino, born in America, but raised by immigrant parents, right? So that that is a real thing, what you're saying, even on the other side of like the border, put it like that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, 100%. And you know, unfortunately, the whole I feel like the whole next generation of people are lacking the hustle that they need because of multiple things. I think there's too much computer talk, there's too much people on screens all day, and everything is just too easy, was was too easy, I guess. I don't really know how to explain it, but like our parents didn't have it that easy. Oh no, they didn't have computers, they didn't have chat GPT, they didn't have like they didn't have anything, they had a book they had to go look at.
SPEAKER_00:Everything now, too, man. Uh like me just analyzing things and watching the younger generation also come up is like the the critical thinking is gone, the ability to think three, four steps away is gone. I I don't know how to how to explain it like exactly how I want to, but that that's like the best way. No one thinks with like anticipation on from the younger generation too much. I see that gone, but then every advice I would always get from my parents growing up, it was move about moves ahead. Always think about the what's gonna happen after that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, you're playing chess, yeah, exactly. Yeah, I heard uh I was watching a video, it was Elon, Jensen Wang, the guy that owns NVIDIA, and the Saudi Prince, and they were talking, and they were it was like a panel. That's a heavy panel, yeah. It's a heavy panel, there's a lot of money on that panel. And the what what ultimately came out of it, what what Elon said was really interesting is like in a generation or two, money will no longer be a thing. Like we won't have the need for money because everything's gonna be automated and robotic, and you're like he said he was claiming like currency is not a thing. And I I actually see it a little bit with like the next generation under us where they have no regard for money, they don't understand how it works. Yep, they don't really like you're not seeing a ton of real young people investing. You're I have more people in their 50s asking me about real estate investing. I'm like, in my head, I'm like, dog, you're a little late to the game. Like you could do it, you could flip, you could, but like getting into the like, especially in real estate, like it's a time in the market game. Yeah, you want to be in it for long term. So I I I thought that was interesting, and like looking at um the kids now that like they just get everything given to them, yeah. And and part of it's like, well, even if they got a job, they couldn't really pay for anything because like a minimum wage job, you can't really do anything with that money nowadays, which is which is kind of a problem. But I do think that the second generation Americans have or the second generation I shouldn't say that, wealthy Americans, second generation of wealth is a problem.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I would touch on that a bit. I I actually got a really interesting take, and I would consider them working class or at-risk youth. I have a background in recreation and parks. I used to work for Baltimore County and stuff. I actually did like 11 years with them, and I was always considered what would you call middle class because my dad put in the work, right? But I got a very interesting take from a colleague that worked there. He was about 56, let's just say, somewhere around there. And I was maybe 23, 24, before I had a kid, before I had my firstborn. And he told me straight up one day, like, hey, Rich, man, my kids are spoiled. I I messed them up. And he puts the blame on his generation, which is the one before mine. And I asked him, Why do you say that? He's like, Man, we ruined them. I'm like, why is that? He was like, all this time we've been raising our kids, man, all I've thought, all my all his friends thought were I'm gonna give him everything I never had. Right. And I was like, Wait, but what's the problem with that? I would uh I asked him, he was like, Rich, the reason we're able to, you know, go and hustle and find money is because we had to struggle, but we removed the struggle from them, so they don't know how to turn that switch on and off. Right. And I was like, that's actually really interesting. You say that because like you're talking about younger generations don't go out there and like look for the money. It's true.
SPEAKER_01:Because it's there, it's it's it's that there are there are people that give it to them.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. Why would they go look for it? The struggle was removed. That's why I find it so interesting the way you bring it up. It's like, you know what? Even from and I say at-risk youth and working class to be respectful, but it's uh probably considered a poverty area where I used to work in. I mean, I'll be honest, I'll be frank about it. It's like in the woodlawn uh area, like lower class, middle to lower class there. They're they're talking about their kids are spoiled too. So it's like it's a generational thing.
SPEAKER_03:It is. I mean, dude, you think about this way. I I compared it to dogs, right? Yeah, you look at a wolf 200 years ago, they're going out, they're gonna kill, they're gonna find something, they're gonna kill it, they're gonna eat it. Labrador 200 years later, they ain't killing shit. Nah, they're not killing anything.
SPEAKER_01:Whoever got the next meal, that's their new owner.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, exactly. So the wolf is never gonna be a good pet. They're gonna want to go out and kill. But the the the Labrador is the same exact I don't know the science, whatever, family or you know, not breed, but you know what I'm saying. Like they're the same animal. But the Labrador is not gonna go kill. That's why they're gonna go find some trash, maybe, or they're gonna go fucking ask somebody for some money. That's why uh wolves aren't allowed in dog shows. Yeah, yeah, they're not because kills. Yeah, they have that ability, but that's that next generation. And I think you know, parents and and my um my wife and I are are in the process of having kids right now, and one of the things that we talk about is not ruining them like that, because I we are blessed with financially. So I'm like, okay, what can we do to make that not happen? And actually, somebody that was supposed to be on a on the podcast today that canceled, they actually make their kids employees of his company. Oh wow, and I found it really interesting, and I'm gonna actually have him on the podcast next week. He had an eye infection, had to cancel, but he actually has a um a setup where the kids do work, they have tasks, and they get money from the company as W like as an employee, and it's a technically a tax loss on on his part, you know, like because he's paying that, but they have to do it, and they're the ones that are paying for their soccer, their whatever, with the time that they're and this guy's got money, he's got big big money, yeah, and he's making them work for an actual salary. Oh, nice. So I thought that was really interesting. I was like, okay, not an allowance, it's a salary. Yeah, it's not a you just get this, this is the baseline, you do this, and you'll get this. So I thought that was an interesting take, and I'm like, okay, I'll take that parenting advice, and my kids will be employees of the company. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And we'll make them do tasks, wherever it is.
SPEAKER_03:Like they'll come clean up job sites, they'll But just giving and giving and giving, it's it's I think that's gonna be the that's what ruins people. Just if they get too much for free, they're gonna it's like um why they tell you to not send like you know how we send all our Super Bowl shirt that losing Super Bowl shirts away? Yeah, but what it really does is mess up the economy wherever we're sending them. You know, it's like just make people work hard and they will figure it out. Yeah, but if you give them too much, they won't figure it out. Oh, yeah, 100%.
SPEAKER_00:Because they won't have to. No, I actually uh reflected on that, man. Uh that like I can go, and I say this uh because of like the work we've put in. Me and my wife, the business has grown. We're we're definitely way better off than we were the way our parents, you know, did the best that they could and raised us, as far as what we have with material, like things that we don't need, but things that we want. We have it or we have access to it. But man, the other day I got a home cooked meal from mom, and I was like, man, this this right here, and it was I'll be honest, it was it was just uh liver and onions, but she used to make it for me when I was when I was young, and I haven't had it in like seven years. I was like, mom, you don't understand how good I feel right now. And I was I just kept thinking, like, every$200 steak, every$250 plate that I've ordered has never tasted this good, man. And it's just me remembering like, you know what, man, those small wins as a kid. That's nostalgia. Oh yeah, it was it was so good, man. And just some things, but you can't put a you can't put money on some things, and that's knowing the difference in in a value system to compare it. But they this generation coming up, man, who knows nowadays with instant gratification, they have they don't have the opportunity to compare like value systems.
SPEAKER_03:So depending on where you are, like I'm I'm from New York originally, dude. A lot of my friends and you know grew up in the same with the same opportunities that I had are currently living in their parents' basement at 35 years old because they were just living rent-free, it's just easier, whatever it is, they're stuck in they're just stuck there. That's like they never wanted to just like climb their way out. I have a just a quick I want to talk about something else now because I every person in your situation I asked this question to do you speak English or Spanish to your children?
SPEAKER_00:Um we force uh we don't force it, but we did have a talk, my wife and I, before we had kids. Our kids will know Spanish, yes. So there's this like unconscious switch. As soon as I get in the house, I'm talking Spanish to my wife and the kids.
SPEAKER_03:Good, good, okay. Because I have people, I have friends, and even even our compliance officer who speaks perfect English and perfect Spanish, her kids are no sabo kids, they just and uh one of my I don't know if you know this, but I um my Spanish is is pretty good. Yeah, man. I was listening to have a brief combo. So it's because I learned when I was a kid, though. I was my parents had a farm. There was always Spanish workers that were like around the farm all the time, and I grew up on the farm, and my brother and I were both young, we were you know two, three, four years old, and all we heard all day was Spanish. Yeah. Because my mom would drop us off at the farm, they she trained horses and stuff, so people had to ride horses. So I would just be running around the farm all day with the Spanish guys working. And you just as a kid, I never had to be taught it, you just pick it up. So whenever I have a friend that has kids that that that when you know both parents speak Spanish, I'm like, you gotta speak Spanish to your kids when they're young. Yeah, and one of the things that's like a no uh there's there's no argument, my nanny will be Spanish speaking, and they will not allow to be speaking English to my kids at all.
SPEAKER_00:That is that is a really good plan.
SPEAKER_01:I'm not gonna lie. There's not really good plan.
SPEAKER_03:There's no English allowed, and I'm gonna speak Spanish to them like as much as I can to practice for myself and for them, because they're gonna learn English in school. They're gonna learn it's given. But being bilingual, Spanish specifically in this country, is a superpower.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:It is a absolute superpower, especially in our field too, contracting. Oh god, there's not enough to talk about it's crazy, crazy or important, but in in every field, just because there are a lot of Spanish people, like we border with Mexico, regardless if you're here legally or illegally, there's a lot of fucking people here that speak Spanish. A lot of work permits are people crossing the southern border, right? Like, I mean, just in general, Spanish is I think the second most common spoken language in the world, so having that knowledge base when you're a kid is a whole lot easier than learning it as an adult. So I always tell people just drill that in.
SPEAKER_00:Our biggest thing is the reason we we did it that way was uh I have a lot of pride in being a what you consider a first gen American, right? Yeah, but I also see myself amongst uh first gen uh Americans, first gen Latino Americans, and I compare myself to them, and I see a lot of us not know Spanish anymore. And I I take that as sort of disrespectful to our people that came before us. It's like, listen, I know we're not in another country, but I think the bare minimum is being able to communicate to with the people that gave you or that sacrificed everything. So it's a culture, too. Exactly. So I look at it as like, you know, I have it, I have a decision. We care about our grandparents and the involvement of junior's grandparents. I say Junior's my firstborn, his grandparents, but how much involvement are they gonna have if they can't communicate? I would find it very disrespectful for me to task, let's say, Granny, who is at the age of retirement, to ask her to learn English, versus me having a uh a four-year-old, no, no, no. We're gonna make sure you know Spanish so that you can talk to your grandma.
SPEAKER_03:I never even thought of that. Yeah, honestly. I never even thought of that because yeah, you're right. Because when it does get to the third generation of people that are here, yeah, and they can't communicate with their own family members, that's sad.
SPEAKER_00:So, so like my wife is 100% Mexican, um, and they're big on going back to visit family. They have a lot of family over there, and we have always said, okay, great, well, there's only Spanish over there, they're not coming here for whatever legal reasons, they can't come. Great, but we have the ability to go, so Junior will go meet his family. But if if he goes and can't talk to them, they're all gonna have to adapt to him. Like, that's not fair. No, no, he will learn what the grandmen, the grandparents speak, what his what his uh great-grandparents speak. So Junior was has the ability to meet and talk with his great-grandparents, and he could talk to his grandparents who are like 20 minutes away too, and they're only Spanish. So right, so that it was really important for us there, and then also looking at like playing chess. If Junior learns Spanish right now, he's gonna learn English without a doubt through the school system, no matter what. Like he will be guaranteed to learn English through the school system, but there's no guarantees learning Spanish, right?
SPEAKER_03:So and if you wait until the time where they're given Spanish as a class, it's too late. Oh, yeah. Like if you wait till high school or whatever, middle school, even some places offer it, it's just too late. Like you're not when you're naturally just like putting in that like and when I was young, I didn't know what they were saying until I knew what they were saying, and then in my head it just clicked, and then you remember it, you know. What was the problem with that was when I so I went to college to be a Spanish teacher originally? So PE Homer modeling and all that.
SPEAKER_00:You really like Spanish.
SPEAKER_03:That switched. I switched because what I learned was I spoke Spanish and I could read and write well enough to text and you know, write an email or whatever, but I didn't know like the grammar very well, like as much as you need to to be a Spanish teacher. So my like speaking, no problem. But then they started giving me novels, novellas to start reading, and then analyzing that from like I wasn't good at English. That I wasn't good at doing that in English, like reading a fiction book and analyzing it. Like I couldn't barely do that in English, but I could speak it all day long, and I got through Spanish in tenth grade was when I took like AP Spanish, like that was the last Spanish class offered because I got skipped, they skipped me up, yeah. And then I had an independent study where I had a one-on-one teacher for two years for of Spanish in high school, and then I went to Towson and I all my classes, well, not all of them, th three out of the five classes were only Spanish-speaking classes. Like we the teacher didn't speak English to us, no, and I'd only did well in the ver the ones that we were practicing verbally, and the other problem I had was I spoke with mostly Latin Americans growing up, very different than Espana Spanish. Oh, yeah. And when you're in high school, you can get away with it because you just know enough words and the tests are easier, but when you're in like a university learning the language, it's a whole different, it's a whole different world.
SPEAKER_00:And then just because I think this is a good time to throw in this joke, there's also construction Spanish.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, which is a complete yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Some things are not what the book says.
SPEAKER_03:The the one, yeah. I forget the one thing that uh uh that they call it. What what do your guys call a multi-tool?
SPEAKER_00:Uh El Multi. Uh, they they say el multi or um crap, I know this one.
SPEAKER_03:So some of my guys call it the crybaby. The crybaby. It's like it's called in in Spanish, I forget the word that they use, but it means like crybaby because it makes that sound. It's so loud, yeah, yeah, yeah. And and when they said they were using that word, and I was listening, I'm like, what the fuck are they saying? And then I saw them pull out the multi-tool. I'm like, what? And then my guy Eric, who works for me, whose dad also has a crew. Eric's a full-time employee for me, his dad runs a sub crew, and he's like, Yeah, they he said uh it's a it's a crybaby. It's like it's called a crybaby because it's because it's loud. And I'm like, okay, I guess that makes sense.
SPEAKER_01:They probably use the words chirona or or uh llorona or something like that. Something like that. But I'm like, ah, yeah, chirona.
SPEAKER_03:Chirona. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was like, Oh, that's a good, that's a that's a good word. But like you talk, you say that to somebody in Spain, they're like, what the fuck are you talking about? You're talking about a tool? What are you talking about? But so that that was the problem that I had. So then I switched to PE because now I was just like, all right, I I'd maybe not be able to read very well in Spanish, but I know I can play sports. Yeah, something like that. So I'll do that. Uh and then I switched to PE after year one, but I kept the Spanish, luckily, well enough because after year one of college, I didn't really use it that much. Then when I got into real estate investing, I started having to use it again because I started running, you know, running crews and stuff. Yeah, you start using it, and then it came back pretty quick. Now I can have full, pretty much full conversations, and sometimes it's Spanglish and there's some slang, and you know, you could definitely tell that there's some words that are missed and mispronounced or whatever. But for the most part, like I can have a conversation with somebody, and that's what I think is like the baseline, what you should be able to do.
SPEAKER_00:And it's impressive. When I saw those two guys come in and they came in talking Spanish to you, I dude, it was like refreshing, just like, oh man. Oh, yeah, the other guy's a white guy, too. Yeah, I was like, this is this is actually wow. These guys are are dialed in, these guys value really knowing how to speak the other language. I'm like, this this is a full-blown system, and also like they figured it out.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, you gotta you gotta figure it out. And I think honestly, even if I go into a job right now and I start talking Spanish and it sounds like gobbledygook to them, yeah, they respect that more than me coming and just being a no sabo kid, you know, and just you know, uh drywall o or you know, just adding an O, whatever, whatever you know, people do to try to sound like they're speaking Spanish. But they respect me trying to conjugate correctly and use the right tenses, and and I think people will understand more than if I were to just speak English to them. Yeah. So like there's still like a gap, but they're gonna understand more. And I think they respect the fact that that we're trying.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah, 100%. It's a it's a respect, and also just um they they see that there's effort, yeah. Whether whether it's minimal, but there is effort, which is I think counts a lot, especially to them, because dude, you know, they can go to a degree anywhere and work, but they choose to work with you. Yeah, and it that could very well be one of the reasons it's like no no this guy, like he he took the time to learn our language, he he is invested in us, like no, we we like working for this guy, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And and that's you know what, man? That that that's what makes the world go round is people getting along with people from all like this country was not built by Americans, uh you know, like they people had to come together, like being from New York too. I think I understand it even more because it's such a melting pot of of people. Yeah, like it's not just English and Spanish there. There's motherfuckers from all over the world in in New York City. Like, you hear there's people speaking Haitian, there's people speaking Spanish, there's Chinese, there's Chinatown, there's Korea, there's Korean town, you know, like there's a lot of different cultures that come together. And the whole world knows New York, right?
SPEAKER_00:The entire world. If you don't know much about the United States, you know New York.
SPEAKER_03:New York. Oh, yeah, 100%. So, you know, understanding that I think a lot of people too that grew up very um with not like a lot of diversity and stuff, they don't really understand how important it is to understand the other cultures and like what you know why it's disrespectful to um shake hands in certain cultures or why just I think all that stuff is super interesting, like culturally, and then in Spanish culture, it's like family. Like I that's what I love about the Spanish culture. It's it's family, fiesta, and once you're in, you're in. That's it. Like you just you you eat together, you drink together, and and most of the time it's a multi-generational living situation, too. Yeah, which is um really a cool thing, you know. I don't know if I would get along living with my parents, you know, but you see, I see a lot of Spanish families that live, grandma, mom, and kids all live in the same household, and I respect the shit out of that because I would be going nuts.
SPEAKER_00:Dude, I I actually again I like to compare myself to to what's working. So I look at my culture at times and like we've been through it um from starting. We used to have to share uh a basement with another family member. But it's uh it's uh I guess it's a thing of not having the entitlement, man, where it's like, listen, right now maybe we don't have it. This is this is our situation, we're gonna make the most of it. One of us can't afford the payment, uh three of us splitting it might be able to. Yeah, and you know, I heard I heard uh and have seen the the cultures of like let's say Indians or Muslims or in the to a degree Jewish people, their dollars will circle amongst their community, yeah. And and some of them do house hack or build a business together for a long time until or never separate until until they're all financially ready to part ways. But they all have like understood that together we can make it happen, but alone neither of us can.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Until we can separate, like we're gonna ride this out together. And I don't think it's an embarrassing tactic. I think it's one of those like you're just being a you're being real about your situation, yeah, and you're trying to make the best the wisest money decision with the pieces on the board right now.
SPEAKER_03:And it's so I happen to be Jewish as well, and you mentioned the Jewish community, and that's a huge thing in the Jewish community. And I think one of the reasons is there's only 15 million, 14 or 15 million Jewish people left on the planet. We don't realize that here because there's a heavy population here in Maryland where I'm from in New York. But if you go to like the Midwest, yeah, there are no Jews there.
SPEAKER_01:Oh wow.
SPEAKER_03:There's no Jews in like from New York to like California, you'll find very minimal pockets of Jewish people. I know. They are very, very, very concentrated. Wow. We're like why Highland Town is all Latino. Yeah. We're like Pikesville, it's all Jewish. So New York has um communities where my dad grew up, it's called Plain View. It the the joke and the nickname is called Plain Jew because everybody in that community is Jewish. And they will shop at the local grocery store versus going to Safeway because that grocery store is owned by somebody in the Jewish community. And we, I think, have a pride in that because we've been unfortunately on the wrong side of genocide before, and they've killed off a lot of us, right? And we're like, there's only a certain amount left, and that's why unfortunately my dad was a black sheep and didn't marry in the Jewish culture and the Jewish religion, but my like the rest of my family, like you are married, you're gonna marry a Jewish person because we want to make sure the religion keeps living on because there's it's getting so much smaller and so much smaller. And then, of course, I went and married a Christian girl. But but it is a it is a thing, you know. There's 14 million, that's not a lot of people. It's not you think about it, it's like, okay, well, you have Israel, which is basically all Jewish, and then you have any other Jews that left Israel and came to um America or whatever other countries. Very other little countries have Jewish people, not a lot of other countries have Jewish people. We have Jewish people and uh Israel has Jewish people, and there's just not that many, so that's why it, you know, you bring the people together and you you work as a team, and that's why everybody, you know, all the Spanish people they live close to each other so they can go to the little the the little tienda, the little store that that that is owned by somebody in the community, and they're helping that person. They know that it's going circulating within the community, and it's helping that community.
SPEAKER_00:Jalapeno and Dundalk. Are you have you seen that in the supermarket? Um, well, it's a grocery market. Um, I mean, the pricing is maybe a little more than regular, however, there are certain things on there that they just want with certain seasoning or a certain style that isn't offered in other grocery markets, so they are willing to pay the premium, and that goes into dude. Sometimes they just want to spend their money on what they want. It's not about oh, where's the cheapest rare? No, I want we say it, I want carnezada, but I want it to be palomino, like that's a style of cut. I don't want it to be fajita or you know, different styles, and just to get exactly what you want, right? Uh culture-based, like people will uh go to where they feel comfortable shopping at, yeah, and whether that is with your own people within your culture or not, but yeah, and and unfortunately for like that's it's funny because it's that's so great for the Jewish community and for the Spanish community.
SPEAKER_03:But if you did that with white people, if if a white person said that, you know, it would be like fucking World War III. So and I say that as a white guy, I say that, but I could I could always say I'm gonna go to this store because I know it's owned by a Jewish person and I'm Jewish and I relate with them and and I want to support them. But if I said this online saying I'm gonna go to this store only because they're white, right?
SPEAKER_01:That would be right big, big trouble. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_03:But on the contrary, you know, the other cultures can can do that. It's uh so I think that's just funny. Like you, you know, black people can get away with it, Jewish people can get away with it, Spanish people can get away with it, Chinese people, Korean, Korea town, you got Chinatown, they can all do it. Oh yeah, but you can't can't have white town. We got rid of it. No, no, no. Which for good for good reasons. But I I just think it's a funny, you know, it's a funny thing because you you know, talking through it, you're like, oh wow, every other, every other culture has something like that.
SPEAKER_00:You know, and and honestly, uh like coming from Spanish Latin culture, I don't find it offensive when someone says, Oh, I'm gonna go to a Jewish store, I'm gonna go to a black-owned restaurant or something like that. Because uh, I just see it as like you know, friendly competition to a degree. Like it's like you're doing very well, you're gonna go support what you want to support. Yeah, my community is doing well, I'm gonna go support my community that I think is doing well. But it doesn't mean like we're enemies or or I think I'm better than you. I just I guess we're all competing, but to a degree, just spending our dollar where we want to spend it. And there's nothing against you or anything like that, it's just where people feel comfortable spending at, I guess.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and and you know, it's just uh it got so politicized, I think, that really truly mostly people most people are not inherently racist. Right. Like that's just not a thing that comes with people's like that's not a thing, it's taught. That's something that's taught. So I just I hate that it's been politicized like that, but it is a it is a true statement where like every other community can have their community thing except the white people. They can't have why it's only communities, because then they're Nazis.
SPEAKER_00:And then and then it goes into man, people, and I don't want to get too political either, right? It's like every everything you hear nowadays is like be kind and accepting. And I'm like, well, that's actually not freedom, you know, be accepting and be kind. You you should have the ability to make those choices, right? I'm not saying go out and be mean or say anything, but I'm like, we should be emphasizing, and this is just my belief, you know, respect and tolerance. It's like we should respect people, and at times there's gonna be things we don't agree with or like, but you know, we should have some tolerance. Yeah, it's it's it's not just my country, it's everybody's country, right? So it's like some things aren't gonna be what you like, I get it, but that also doesn't mean I have to push what I believe in, and you have to accept it. That's why I was like, I really think people are are are mixing up what be kind and accepting versus respect and tolerance should be.
SPEAKER_03:So yeah, I agree. I'm I'm a hundred percent respect what and and only care about the things that truly really matter to you. Yeah, like I don't really care whether you choose to call yourself a boy or a girl, but don't try to put me in jail for accidentally calling you the wrong thing.
SPEAKER_00:Like at that point, who gets that respect at that point? Like we're just playing tug of war, like right. Well, respect my choice, respect your choice is just okay. Well, we agree to disagree, let's go on with our lives.
SPEAKER_03:That's it. That's it. Well, one thing I want to say before we stop, because I we have a new sponsor, Sup Dog Supplements. I know you work out, I know you lift. Supdog Supplements has been uh a new sponsor for us, so thank you to them. Code Everyday Millionaire Show. Oh no, everyday nope. I lied again. It's Millionaire. Code is Millionaire. I was gonna make it Everyday Millionaire, and then I typed it out, and I was like, this is way too long. Let me just put millionaire 10% off from their website. Type in code millionaire, you get 10% off. The pre-workout and the creatine I've been using every day, and it's been great. They're gonna send me some other products to try out too. So just wanted to throw that in there. Thank you to SUP Dog Supplements. Um, sorry, I was supposed to do that in the beginning. This is a new thing for me, so I need to sneak that in there for for the guys that I've actually tried them, they're really good. Yeah, it's it's good. You know what? What I like, I took them on as a sponsor too. They're Maryland-based. Oh wow. And I, you know, like we just talked about, culture, people, Maryland is where we live. Oh, yeah. I'm gonna support them. They're they're supporting us, they're paying us to be sponsors. So um Sup Dog Supplements, thank you. And Maryland-based products. So all of the listeners that are here in Maryland, if you if you like to get a good little pump in, yeah, this is the stuff. You will feel you'll get that itch too. Yeah, this so this is the non-STEM, and they have the STEM. So every once in a while, I like it when I get that tingle. Yeah, I want to feel like I can run through that wall and be good.
SPEAKER_00:That's actually a coincidence, man. I'm I'm actually happy that like they're one of your sponsors. I got them from my gym and somebody recommended they were like, they're local. Yeah, I tried them out and I was like, these are really good. I get that feeling that I want.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, like they're they're actually really good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sometimes I like that run through the wall feeling, you know.
SPEAKER_00:I use that for leg day. I have to use it for leg day.
SPEAKER_03:I am unfortunately, I was telling you this before, I am unfortunately like kind of dependent on it for my workouts now, which sucks. Like, I I do take it every workout, and I should stop. Like, I know in my head, like health-wise, like I shouldn't be taking pre-workout five days a week, but damn, it's hard to work out like hard without it. Especially the trainings you do. Yeah, some of the stuff I do is a little, I mean, that's some of it's just idiotic, but it's like pushing your your body to the limit, which you do. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's different different than hey, I'm gonna go uh sweat 250 calories and probably try to lift, I don't know, like 550 pounds on deadlifts.
SPEAKER_03:Very different than I'm more trying to break myself mentally now. Like now I'm seeing where I can push myself to like the mental boundaries.
SPEAKER_01:You gotta smile while saying that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, because that's you do I mean you do get like for I'm a very competitive person, right? And I I feel like I am always competing in in everything. And the endurance sports, the long like hype, like real crazy endurance sports, you're really battling with your own mind, you're competing with your own mind to see who's gonna win. But like for the for the full Iron Man, I will tell you like I was hour probably like hour 10 into this race, and now I'm doing cardio for 10 hours at this point, and I'm 10 hours in and saying, I don't want to fucking do this anymore.
SPEAKER_00:Just to clarify, you're not talking about hour and ten minutes into the race, you're talking about you're 10 hours into the race.
SPEAKER_03:10 hours in, yeah. So this race took me 12 hours and 54 minutes to complete, and I am not stopping or resting or anything for the entire time. You get in the water into the fucking bay, and we swam 2.4 miles. You get out, you run out of the water, you get on your bike, you ride 112 miles, and you get off your bike and you run 26 miles.
unknown:Holy crap.
SPEAKER_03:So I was like 10 hours in and I was like halfway done with the with the run, and I was like, I just don't want to be here, I don't want to do this. And I'm like, are you really gonna let yourself like you've been training for a year in your head? I'm talking to myself. I'm like, you can't quit, you're not gonna quit, you're not a quitter. Like that was like I've found my limit. Like I felt like I felt about like I found my limit that day, and now I want to do it again, and I want to do it, do it faster, and I want to do it faster and harder and see if I can find my limit again. And I I I there's something just like in my that makes me feel like I need to do that, like I need to just break myself. I want to break my, I want to find the breaking point. I was talking to Pedro before. I was like, we found your breaking point, we found the the right amount of jobs that you can handle. Yep, I found the right amount of cardio that I can handle. 12 hours and 54 minutes is about all I had that day. But it's one of those things, like entrepreneurial mindset. That's what it is. It's like that's never enough. It's like I want to do it again. I want to do it faster, I want to do it better.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we were we were talking about um uh all the accomplishments. Like you could you could have whatever accomplishment you want, you could achieve it, but then from there, you're setting a new challenge, you're setting a new goal.
SPEAKER_03:You gotta move the goalposts. Oh, yeah. You could kick it, you know, you could score a touchdown, but then move them further. You know, you that's it's so so important for your own growth, like personal growth, because it is too easy when you have all the creature comforts of life handled. It's too easy to just sit around and do nothing. It's it's too easy when you can just do nothing, it's a that's a very like bad place to be, I feel like. So in my head, I'm like, okay, well, I I'm challenging myself in business every day, always trying to grow the business, but I wasn't challenging myself physically anymore because I was I felt like I was so much just growing these businesses and stuff, and I was a I was an athlete growing up, and then you you know you try you go in your 30s, and you're not an athlete anymore. You're a fucking working per like you're you're a working person, you're working every day, and I was missing something. Like I was competing in business for ye for years, and then I finally made some money and had some success in that, and then I was like, okay, what's next? And it's like your body. You're you got fat, I got fat, like stopped playing sports, got fat, got you know, got you get rich and happy. They say, Oh, rich and fat, fat and rich, whatever, however the the saying goes, and then you become complacent and you just stop trying. And then when I found triathlon, I was like, huh, this is something interesting that I could challenge myself with. And that's when I I went balls deep and started just doing crazy races and stuff, and now I'm like, now I'm deep. Now I'm deep. Now I'm deep in it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, 10 hours, hour 10. What did you say? Yeah, that's crazy.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah. I was uh my heart, so my average heart rate, I think, was like 168 BPMs for 12 hours and 54 minutes. Nice, man. So just like just constantly on, and it I like went through every emotion. I was happy, I was sad, I was mad. It's like I had all of those things in my like go through like a I went through like a full cycle of emotions in a day, and I think stuff like that, man, challenging yourself is just is is good. You could be the Jeff Bezos, you could be Elon Musk. I mean, look at Elon Musk, man. The dude's still like starting new companies and trying new things. Like, that's the mindset that you need.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. What do they say? If you're not growing, you're perishing. Yeah, something like that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I I had a guy, this we'll we'll close down on this. I had a guy once told me he was very successful. Well he I was um running a boat I was a captain, a boat captain in in a previous life of mine, and uh he said he's actually the one that engineered the machine that makes the rumble strips on the side of the road. So got some money, yeah, I should say. He sold it to the American government. Yeah. Patent the whole night. And he said, if you're in your 20s, because at the time I was in my 20s when I was I was teaching and running boats in the summertime, he's like, if you're in your 20s and you're not sleeping, you should be working. And I'm like, huh, like no fun? In my head, I'm like, oh, you gotta. He's like, no, no, no. Seriously, like if you work from the time you're 20 to the time you're 30, 10 years, and you don't stop, you will never have to worry about money again. I'm like, that's interesting. And I didn't take that advice fully, but probably by the time from 25 to 35, I I did put in the last 10 years and I did work more than most people work. And now I am pretty much at that point where I could choose to kind of do what I what I want to do now. And I was like, I'm gonna tell that to as many people as I can that are young, that are in their 20s. When they see me or they see somebody else, and they say, Well, how did you do this or how'd you get this? Like, take 10 years and just work.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Just whatever it is, pick something and work at that thing, and I guarantee you'll find success. And it it's I feel like it's rung true in my life, and hopefully it can ring true in other people's lives.
SPEAKER_00:I'm sure you know the saying, yeah, you don't get lucky and get to like where Ryan's at and stuff like that, or where other people are at, but you know, you do get a little luckier the harder you work. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So it's like but there's a good saying, oh god, it's like luck is where hard work meets opportunity, something like that, or opportunity meets hard work, something like that. So you gotta be putting, you gotta put yourself in the position to have luck.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Because if you're just sitting on your couch or doing eating chips, smoking weed or whatever, you're not gonna be put in that opportunity. It's not that opportunity's not presenting itself. So well, Rich, I know we both have people in the field, our phones have been going off this whole time. So I appreciate you coming on the show, and anything that we can do to help you know each other, we'll be uh we'll be in touch.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I appreciate you always being open, Ryan.
SPEAKER_03:So yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:Appreciate you, my man. Thank you, bro.
