1 00:00:00,049 --> 00:00:02,629 Amin Ahmed: Hello and welcome to the Be Well, Do Well podcast. 2 00:00:02,719 --> 00:00:06,799 Today is a bonus episode where I'm excited to chat with a remarkable entrepreneur 3 00:00:06,799 --> 00:00:11,029 that's going share his amazing story of struggle, success, and extremes. 4 00:00:11,629 --> 00:00:15,930 At four years old with eight kids, Juan's mother and father left Mexico 5 00:00:15,930 --> 00:00:17,730 to start a new life in America. 6 00:00:18,390 --> 00:00:22,020 By nine, he was getting up at 5:00 AM and working in the garlic fields 7 00:00:22,020 --> 00:00:23,400 with his brothers and sisters. 8 00:00:23,850 --> 00:00:27,660 So as you can tell, hard work is not a stranger to Juan, and I'm so excited 9 00:00:27,660 --> 00:00:31,680 to learn about the mindset that got him to where he is today as the president 10 00:00:31,710 --> 00:00:35,880 of Sage Real Estate, the leading multi-family and commercial real estate 11 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:37,560 brokerage in Long Beach, California. 12 00:00:37,980 --> 00:00:39,050 Welcome to the show, Juan. 13 00:00:39,700 --> 00:00:40,850 Juan Huizar: Thank you so much for having me. 14 00:00:41,370 --> 00:00:43,928 Amin, I'm excited to be here and um, yeah. 15 00:00:43,928 --> 00:00:45,548 Thank you for, for the intro. 16 00:00:45,938 --> 00:00:46,568 Amin Ahmed: Absolutely. 17 00:00:46,928 --> 00:00:50,798 Now, before we get started, I have to ask, I've got one sister, one sibling, 18 00:00:50,918 --> 00:00:54,428 and she's been a big influence in my life, but we don't always get along. 19 00:00:54,818 --> 00:00:56,888 You've got seven siblings. 20 00:00:57,168 --> 00:01:00,193 I'm curious what that looks like in the Huizar household. 21 00:01:01,523 --> 00:01:03,533 Juan Huizar: You know, it's the most interesting thing, 22 00:01:03,593 --> 00:01:06,793 how close we are till this day. 23 00:01:07,593 --> 00:01:11,723 We are like, we are on this massive text thread where all the siblings are on 24 00:01:11,723 --> 00:01:15,833 it, all my sisters, all my brothers, and it's like we're kids like, we're like 25 00:01:15,833 --> 00:01:17,783 high school kids texting left and right. 26 00:01:17,788 --> 00:01:22,468 And people are, you know, sending pictures of their kids, kids graduations, 27 00:01:22,468 --> 00:01:25,438 kids birthday parties, weddings that are coming up within the nieces and 28 00:01:25,438 --> 00:01:27,268 nephews because now there's a lot of us. 29 00:01:27,538 --> 00:01:27,628 Right. 30 00:01:27,658 --> 00:01:32,563 And, people are amazed that there's this much level of love and 31 00:01:32,563 --> 00:01:34,663 communication with all eight siblings. 32 00:01:34,903 --> 00:01:36,523 I guess I'm amazed by it too. 33 00:01:37,783 --> 00:01:40,783 And if anything, you know, sometimes people are like similar to you or you 34 00:01:40,783 --> 00:01:44,443 know, if you have one sibling or two siblings and maybe I think with, there's 35 00:01:44,443 --> 00:01:46,423 so many of us and we're all different. 36 00:01:46,473 --> 00:01:51,738 But I think because there's so many, if someone was gonna be left out, 37 00:01:51,738 --> 00:01:54,678 the, there's someone in that family that would kind of bring 'em along. 38 00:01:54,678 --> 00:01:59,868 And so it's amazing, you know, how close we are still. 39 00:02:00,228 --> 00:02:02,814 And this last weekend I got to see everybody. 40 00:02:02,814 --> 00:02:04,044 We had a nephew get married. 41 00:02:04,404 --> 00:02:07,824 And to get everyone to get everyone together is the best thing. 42 00:02:07,824 --> 00:02:08,874 It's, it's all I could ask for. 43 00:02:09,819 --> 00:02:12,519 Amin Ahmed: Hatch, match, and dispatch, I always say, right, Like when a baby's 44 00:02:12,519 --> 00:02:16,059 born, when you get married and when unfortunately somebody passes away, Right? 45 00:02:16,059 --> 00:02:17,169 The family comes together. 46 00:02:17,349 --> 00:02:18,279 Yeah, definitely. 47 00:02:18,559 --> 00:02:22,117 Family's always a big thing for us, you know, as East Indians, I, I was 48 00:02:22,117 --> 00:02:26,107 born in Africa where heritage is, East Indian family's a big thing, right? 49 00:02:26,107 --> 00:02:30,787 Back in the day that you all live in a small village, all the kids running around 50 00:02:30,787 --> 00:02:32,077 and you know, that was the way it was. 51 00:02:32,497 --> 00:02:36,352 My parents always taught us that education is priority. 52 00:02:36,592 --> 00:02:40,942 And I, and I know that your parents also taught that as well, so correct 53 00:02:40,942 --> 00:02:44,332 me if I'm wrong, but all of the eight siblings all got college degrees. 54 00:02:45,712 --> 00:02:45,952 Juan Huizar: Yeah. 55 00:02:45,957 --> 00:02:46,402 Correct. 56 00:02:46,402 --> 00:02:51,702 So probably my parents' biggest accomplishment in their life is to 57 00:02:51,702 --> 00:02:57,943 be able to get their kids out of Mexico where at that time the highest 58 00:02:57,943 --> 00:03:00,763 education that we could have gotten from the, from the, from the little 59 00:03:01,313 --> 00:03:03,083 town that we lived in was sixth grade. 60 00:03:03,113 --> 00:03:06,113 So my parents only have a sixth grade education. 61 00:03:06,563 --> 00:03:09,983 And because of that, they didn't want us to experience that. 62 00:03:10,253 --> 00:03:12,863 And that's the, that's the reason why they left Mexico. 63 00:03:13,313 --> 00:03:17,813 And so their biggest accomplishment was to bring us to the US, and I'm, I'm super 64 00:03:17,813 --> 00:03:24,413 thankful that, you know, I'm an American citizen and, and that all eight of us had 65 00:03:24,413 --> 00:03:29,170 the opportunity for college education and yeah, all, all eight of us have degrees. 66 00:03:29,237 --> 00:03:32,841 And that, I think that's my parents's biggest accomplishment. 67 00:03:33,051 --> 00:03:33,681 Amin Ahmed: That's amazing. 68 00:03:33,741 --> 00:03:34,221 That's amazing. 69 00:03:34,221 --> 00:03:38,091 Now, in the intro I mentioned about hard work not being a stranger to you. 70 00:03:38,181 --> 00:03:42,176 Tell me a little bit about you being nine years old and getting up early in 71 00:03:42,176 --> 00:03:45,956 the morning at 5:00 AM on a hot summer day going out to the garlic field. 72 00:03:45,956 --> 00:03:49,886 When your friends from school are probably out riding their bicycles 73 00:03:49,886 --> 00:03:52,346 or playing, what, what does that feel like when you're doing that? 74 00:03:52,997 --> 00:03:57,377 Juan Huizar: You know, when I was, when I was eight, Well, listen, 75 00:03:57,377 --> 00:04:03,437 when we came from Mexico, we came here for one goal was education. 76 00:04:04,262 --> 00:04:05,252 For, for us. 77 00:04:05,252 --> 00:04:05,642 Okay. 78 00:04:05,912 --> 00:04:11,042 And so my, my parents, you know, so my dad worked in the field. 79 00:04:11,042 --> 00:04:14,252 My mom worked at a little local Mexican restaurant. 80 00:04:14,372 --> 00:04:15,392 They didn't speak English. 81 00:04:15,392 --> 00:04:19,365 So this was like entry level minimum wage jobs that they were entering. 82 00:04:19,365 --> 00:04:21,645 And so the family needed to contribute. 83 00:04:21,765 --> 00:04:25,395 At that time, like the youngest was three years old and it went all the way up. 84 00:04:25,395 --> 00:04:28,244 And every two years I feel like we, there was another sibling that 85 00:04:28,244 --> 00:04:31,454 we had, so everyone had to work. 86 00:04:31,814 --> 00:04:35,744 By the time I would see them in the summers go to the fields, I 87 00:04:35,744 --> 00:04:39,014 had been asking since I was seven years old to asking my dad and mom 88 00:04:39,014 --> 00:04:43,004 to please send me, because I saw, yeah, it was hard work, but they were 89 00:04:43,004 --> 00:04:44,924 together and I loved my siblings. 90 00:04:44,924 --> 00:04:48,314 And so although they were waking up super early and coming back tired 91 00:04:48,314 --> 00:04:51,914 and fatigued and exhausted from working in the, in the, in the fields 92 00:04:51,914 --> 00:04:53,684 all day, I wanted part of that and. 93 00:04:54,759 --> 00:04:57,789 When I was nine, my dad finally let me go and I got to wake 94 00:04:57,789 --> 00:04:59,109 up early with everybody else. 95 00:04:59,409 --> 00:05:02,169 And this is in the Central Valley, so the Central Valley of 96 00:05:02,169 --> 00:05:03,806 California a hundred plus degrees. 97 00:05:04,796 --> 00:05:05,936 Every single day. 98 00:05:06,236 --> 00:05:10,286 And you know, back then they would clip the garlic by hand. 99 00:05:10,286 --> 00:05:11,756 And that's the work that we did. 100 00:05:11,996 --> 00:05:14,036 And so this, this starts in July. 101 00:05:14,066 --> 00:05:18,356 So from July, all the way through the end of August, you're working in the fields. 102 00:05:18,596 --> 00:05:21,705 That is when, that is, when the crop is being clipped. 103 00:05:21,705 --> 00:05:25,665 And so we were there at the, at the hottest peak in the summer, and that 104 00:05:25,665 --> 00:05:28,268 was what we were doing every single day. 105 00:05:28,298 --> 00:05:29,978 This was Monday through Saturday. 106 00:05:30,623 --> 00:05:30,953 Amin Ahmed: Wow. 107 00:05:31,613 --> 00:05:31,883 Wow. 108 00:05:31,943 --> 00:05:34,283 And that, I mean, that, that sounds like just from what you're saying, 109 00:05:34,283 --> 00:05:36,023 the heat getting up early, right? 110 00:05:36,023 --> 00:05:38,185 Being out there it sounds like hard work. 111 00:05:38,225 --> 00:05:41,225 Juan Huizar: So let me, let me tell you one of my biggest takeaways from 112 00:05:41,225 --> 00:05:45,335 working in the garlic field, when, when we're working in the fields back 113 00:05:45,335 --> 00:05:49,918 then after you clipped the head of the garlic and the bottom of the garlic, 114 00:05:50,098 --> 00:05:51,611 you know, it's kind of a garlic bulb. 115 00:05:51,611 --> 00:05:51,911 Right? 116 00:05:52,121 --> 00:05:55,331 So each one of those goes into a five gallon bucket. 117 00:05:55,361 --> 00:05:57,821 An empty five gallon bucket, something that paint would come in. 118 00:05:57,821 --> 00:05:58,061 Right. 119 00:05:58,061 --> 00:05:59,441 But now it's just been cleared out. 120 00:05:59,711 --> 00:05:59,831 Yeah. 121 00:05:59,891 --> 00:06:05,801 So you do that until you fill it up, and once you fill it up, 122 00:06:06,251 --> 00:06:08,171 you've, you've earned a dollar. 123 00:06:08,411 --> 00:06:11,381 So they give you a card and they punch the card and. 124 00:06:12,461 --> 00:06:16,511 Now, I was nine years old, so like on my, my first week I was filling 125 00:06:16,511 --> 00:06:19,421 up per day, nine buckets a day. 126 00:06:19,571 --> 00:06:24,491 So I was, I was, I was making $9 a day and it wasn't that I was making is 127 00:06:24,496 --> 00:06:25,961 all of us worked together as a family. 128 00:06:25,961 --> 00:06:29,471 So whatever the family made that day all went back to help my mom and dad. 129 00:06:29,903 --> 00:06:35,973 I learned early on that the harder I work, the harder I get rewarded. 130 00:06:36,183 --> 00:06:39,153 And so my brother was a little bit older, so he was making more than nine. 131 00:06:39,393 --> 00:06:42,183 And then by the end of the summer, you know, I was starting to make more and 132 00:06:42,183 --> 00:06:46,803 more and in my head I was like, wait, the faster, the harder that I could 133 00:06:46,803 --> 00:06:49,453 clip this garlic, like the more money I could contribute towards a family. 134 00:06:49,973 --> 00:06:57,468 So taking that, taking that on, and, and applying that through, you 135 00:06:57,468 --> 00:06:59,688 know, elementary and we got middle school when you got high school. 136 00:06:59,808 --> 00:07:01,188 Well, now I'm in college, right? 137 00:07:01,578 --> 00:07:07,383 And so, In college, if you're an accounting student, where I was in school, 138 00:07:07,893 --> 00:07:12,573 every accounting student, like their dream job was to work for one of the big four. 139 00:07:12,813 --> 00:07:17,078 So this is Deloitte and Touche, KPMG, Earnston Younge 140 00:07:17,358 --> 00:07:19,124 and Pricewaterhouse Coopers. 141 00:07:19,154 --> 00:07:21,674 So these are still what they call the big four. 142 00:07:21,734 --> 00:07:24,434 They're the big four accounting firms in the world still to this day. 143 00:07:24,984 --> 00:07:28,304 So when you're an accounting student, they, they tell you, 144 00:07:28,304 --> 00:07:30,224 Hey, you have to have good grades. 145 00:07:30,254 --> 00:07:33,314 You need to be involved and have leadership roles. 146 00:07:33,334 --> 00:07:34,726 You need to interview well. 147 00:07:34,726 --> 00:07:38,656 And so all these things, you know, at the university that I went to, 148 00:07:38,746 --> 00:07:39,796 I didn't know how to interview. 149 00:07:39,796 --> 00:07:42,046 Amin, I didn't even know how to properly handshake. 150 00:07:42,901 --> 00:07:46,921 You know, tying a tie and all these things were things that I was not exposed to. 151 00:07:46,921 --> 00:07:49,531 Like, I didn't have a dad or an uncle or anyone that taught me these things. 152 00:07:49,531 --> 00:07:53,606 So now, so now I'm at the, at the university and I realize that the 153 00:07:54,206 --> 00:07:58,371 university has mock interviews where you could practice interviews. 154 00:07:58,461 --> 00:08:03,241 And so I took advantage of all the resources that they had, and I learned 155 00:08:03,241 --> 00:08:04,411 all these things that I didn't know. 156 00:08:04,411 --> 00:08:08,611 And so by the time, by the time, by the time the accounting companies came 157 00:08:08,611 --> 00:08:13,666 around, I made sure that my grades were, were the best they could be. 158 00:08:13,876 --> 00:08:15,166 You know, I graduated with honors. 159 00:08:15,706 --> 00:08:18,676 I made sure that I was involved at the club levels and that I 160 00:08:18,676 --> 00:08:19,906 would take leadership roles there. 161 00:08:20,416 --> 00:08:22,186 And so, you know, I was bilingual. 162 00:08:22,191 --> 00:08:23,026 That certainly helped. 163 00:08:23,026 --> 00:08:28,186 And by then I, I had practice just to get good mock interviews. 164 00:08:28,186 --> 00:08:30,646 I would, I would attend these clinics, these little courses they 165 00:08:30,646 --> 00:08:33,676 would have, and I would just go until I got better and got comfortable. 166 00:08:34,156 --> 00:08:38,496 And so I was fortunate enough that because I did everything that I was asked of me. 167 00:08:39,301 --> 00:08:42,451 And in my head, in back of my head was like, Hey, the harder you work, 168 00:08:42,451 --> 00:08:44,071 the harder you're gonna get rewarded. 169 00:08:44,071 --> 00:08:47,101 Because I'm bringing these kind of that same work ethic that I 170 00:08:47,101 --> 00:08:51,979 got early on working in the garlic fields that as a junior the first 171 00:08:51,984 --> 00:08:53,732 company to give me a job offer. 172 00:08:53,732 --> 00:08:57,198 This was like a year before I even graduated was Deloitte Touche. 173 00:08:57,628 --> 00:09:01,078 Yeah, so they gave me a job offer and what ends up happening in the accounting 174 00:09:01,078 --> 00:09:05,638 world is once a firm gives you an offer, the others all kind of follow, like, oh, 175 00:09:05,643 --> 00:09:07,498 like, hey, they were vetted by so and so. 176 00:09:07,578 --> 00:09:09,478 And so then, then came all the others. 177 00:09:09,838 --> 00:09:14,728 And so that was gonna be my path, is I, They said I ended up signing with Deloitte 178 00:09:14,728 --> 00:09:20,194 and Tush because they were the first ones I felt that were actively recruiting me. 179 00:09:20,194 --> 00:09:21,454 They were the ones who wanted me. 180 00:09:21,604 --> 00:09:25,264 The others kind of followed along after someone said yes to me. 181 00:09:25,614 --> 00:09:27,604 And so I'm like, you know, like I wanna be loyal to them. 182 00:09:27,604 --> 00:09:29,944 I feel like they saw the talent and maybe potential in me. 183 00:09:29,949 --> 00:09:33,664 And so I had signed on with Deloitte and I'm a junior in college and I 184 00:09:33,664 --> 00:09:37,774 have one more year to finish and I, and they say, Hey, just finish now. 185 00:09:38,014 --> 00:09:41,514 You know, the stress is off of, Like, what are you gonna do for a living? 186 00:09:41,514 --> 00:09:42,504 This is what you're gonna do. 187 00:09:42,564 --> 00:09:45,504 You're gonna do, you're gonna work in the world of audit, right? 188 00:09:45,504 --> 00:09:48,024 It's not a sexy world, but you're gonna work in the world of audit 189 00:09:48,024 --> 00:09:51,354 and within three to five years, you'll, you'll become a cpa. 190 00:09:51,354 --> 00:09:54,114 You'll work your way at management, you're gonna work a lot of hours. 191 00:09:54,173 --> 00:09:57,006 But you're gonna have a lot of connections and, and resources. 192 00:09:57,011 --> 00:10:00,687 And this is, you know, this is a way to to start off as a professional. 193 00:10:00,687 --> 00:10:01,557 So I was excited. 194 00:10:01,617 --> 00:10:04,397 You know, this, this was gonna be my, this was gonna be my career. 195 00:10:05,497 --> 00:10:06,037 Amin Ahmed: That's amazing. 196 00:10:06,037 --> 00:10:09,517 Now, before we get into what happened next, I want to touch a little 197 00:10:09,517 --> 00:10:12,387 bit on the fact that we're both parents, we both have young kids. 198 00:10:12,797 --> 00:10:18,397 So how do you instill that, that drive and hunger in your kids from a young age? 199 00:10:18,402 --> 00:10:19,477 How old are your kids again? 200 00:10:20,272 --> 00:10:23,643 Juan Huizar: So I have two daughters a 12 year old Vivian, and then my 201 00:10:23,702 --> 00:10:27,482 my nine year old Solana, she's, so I got 12 and nine year old daughters, 202 00:10:27,612 --> 00:10:31,482 Amin Ahmed: What advice do you have for the parents listening here, for instilling 203 00:10:31,482 --> 00:10:35,952 that need and that desire to want to do more and not just get distracted by all 204 00:10:35,952 --> 00:10:38,292 the, the digital, the tech, the screens? 205 00:10:39,252 --> 00:10:44,427 Juan Huizar: I mean, I, That is a really tough question because, I did it out 206 00:10:44,427 --> 00:10:47,097 of fear and there was no safety net. 207 00:10:47,277 --> 00:10:47,607 Right? 208 00:10:48,057 --> 00:10:50,777 I did it out of fear and there's no safety net. 209 00:10:50,967 --> 00:10:51,577 Mm-hmm. 210 00:10:52,407 --> 00:10:52,897 well. 211 00:10:53,757 --> 00:10:56,727 Your kids and my kids have a safety net. 212 00:10:56,727 --> 00:10:57,477 They have us. 213 00:10:57,957 --> 00:10:58,497 Okay. 214 00:10:58,707 --> 00:11:00,417 So that, So that's the very tough part. 215 00:11:00,417 --> 00:11:03,717 And so, but as I think about it more, because I do get this question asked 216 00:11:03,747 --> 00:11:06,927 often, Well, Juan, how can you take what you have and now give your kids? 217 00:11:06,927 --> 00:11:10,827 Cuz what you have, you're like, you really want more and you want the best out of 218 00:11:10,827 --> 00:11:12,057 yourself and you're gonna push yourself. 219 00:11:12,597 --> 00:11:16,977 The only way that I could possibly teach that is just through being 220 00:11:16,977 --> 00:11:20,217 who I am, and they get to see it every day being who I am. 221 00:11:20,217 --> 00:11:21,357 And they get to see it every day. 222 00:11:21,597 --> 00:11:24,627 Now teaching the, you know, they're never gonna work in the garlic 223 00:11:24,632 --> 00:11:28,797 fields, but I, but I've done a little miniature documentary on my family. 224 00:11:28,847 --> 00:11:33,226 I took a camera crew up to the Central Valley where I'm from to capture what life 225 00:11:33,226 --> 00:11:37,726 was like, you know, the, the whole waking up early, we caught that all on video. 226 00:11:37,756 --> 00:11:40,606 I actually went back to the garlic fields and I got permission from one of 227 00:11:40,606 --> 00:11:42,946 the farmers to, to record what that is. 228 00:11:43,276 --> 00:11:45,106 And so it's some of those things. 229 00:11:45,106 --> 00:11:49,246 I interviewed my sisters, my brothers, and we talked about what life was like 230 00:11:49,246 --> 00:11:54,571 in Mexico, what it was like coming to the US and actually crossing the border 231 00:11:54,751 --> 00:11:57,691 and, and then what life was like here when we were having to work in the field. 232 00:11:57,691 --> 00:12:01,441 And so these are videos that now we have, these are videos that my daughters get to 233 00:12:01,441 --> 00:12:03,211 watch our nieces and nephews get to watch. 234 00:12:03,211 --> 00:12:07,111 And it's just a constant reminder of where we came from. 235 00:12:07,111 --> 00:12:11,618 Life is much, much different for you now, but we're not gonna forget why we're here. 236 00:12:11,618 --> 00:12:13,958 And still it's why are we here is education. 237 00:12:14,018 --> 00:12:15,998 And I, and that's still the goal with my daughters. 238 00:12:15,998 --> 00:12:16,599 It's educatation. 239 00:12:16,943 --> 00:12:17,573 It's still to them. 240 00:12:17,633 --> 00:12:18,323 Exact same thing. 241 00:12:18,403 --> 00:12:22,073 The, the exact same message my parents had for us, I want them to have as well. 242 00:12:23,533 --> 00:12:23,693 Our 243 00:12:23,693 --> 00:12:26,398 Amin Ahmed: parents when they moved here, you know, mine from 244 00:12:26,398 --> 00:12:28,408 Africa and, and yours from Mexico. 245 00:12:28,798 --> 00:12:30,598 It was, they were working a lot. 246 00:12:30,778 --> 00:12:34,768 They were working hard, you know, they had little, and it's hard to 247 00:12:34,883 --> 00:12:36,233 have a wellness routine, Right. 248 00:12:36,233 --> 00:12:38,453 To, to find that balance, which is so elusive. 249 00:12:38,843 --> 00:12:39,083 Juan Huizar: Yeah. 250 00:12:39,083 --> 00:12:44,363 So one of the, I guess, newest activities is that we picked, I picked up running, I 251 00:12:44,422 --> 00:12:48,562 you know, I think I had mentioned before that I had done 11 years of CrossFit 252 00:12:48,592 --> 00:12:53,197 where like, you know, I got physically fit and CrossFit's like a different type of 253 00:12:53,205 --> 00:12:55,020 quick fast workouts with heavy weights. 254 00:12:55,170 --> 00:12:56,190 And so that was great. 255 00:12:56,190 --> 00:12:57,480 And then I kind of picked up running. 256 00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:01,279 And so for the last three years I've done multiple, multiple trail 257 00:13:01,279 --> 00:13:03,139 runs, marathons, half marathons. 258 00:13:03,409 --> 00:13:05,826 And then most recently I got into a triathlon. 259 00:13:05,826 --> 00:13:07,596 And so I did my first half Ironman. 260 00:13:07,596 --> 00:13:10,836 And so I spent, yeah, I wake up really early and I spend a lot 261 00:13:10,841 --> 00:13:14,018 of time either riding the bike, swimming or running depending on 262 00:13:14,018 --> 00:13:16,448 what the schedule is for the day. 263 00:13:16,658 --> 00:13:18,248 Amin Ahmed: And so what does your morning routine look? 264 00:13:18,263 --> 00:13:19,793 Juan Huizar: So I wake up at five in the morning. 265 00:13:20,573 --> 00:13:23,453 I spend 10 to 15 minutes meditating. 266 00:13:24,833 --> 00:13:27,004 I spend 15 minutes writing. 267 00:13:27,514 --> 00:13:28,924 There's a terrific book. 268 00:13:28,995 --> 00:13:32,285 It's called the artist way morning pages, if you read that book, you'll 269 00:13:32,285 --> 00:13:33,905 see the importance of just writing. 270 00:13:34,215 --> 00:13:37,895 And so I write and a lot of ideas and creativity comes out and you 271 00:13:37,895 --> 00:13:39,075 don't even know where they come from. 272 00:13:39,432 --> 00:13:40,725 And, and it's this beautiful thing. 273 00:13:40,730 --> 00:13:44,055 So meditation, I write, I stretch. 274 00:13:44,115 --> 00:13:45,495 I'm a big believer in stretching. 275 00:13:45,500 --> 00:13:49,315 I stretch every single day because I know I'm gonna push my body and 276 00:13:49,315 --> 00:13:51,075 I don't want my body to break down. 277 00:13:51,075 --> 00:13:51,915 I don't want it to let up. 278 00:13:51,915 --> 00:13:55,575 And then after that is when I start my, my workout of the day, whatever that might. 279 00:13:56,865 --> 00:13:57,405 Amin Ahmed: That's amazing. 280 00:13:57,405 --> 00:13:57,555 Yeah. 281 00:13:57,555 --> 00:13:58,335 Getting up early. 282 00:13:58,335 --> 00:13:59,715 It definitely has benefits. 283 00:14:00,075 --> 00:14:04,290 I get up pretty early and I, I know when I, I was never a early morning 284 00:14:04,295 --> 00:14:07,800 person growing up, and then I started to become one and I saw those benefits 285 00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:09,360 and I've also done the morning pages. 286 00:14:09,870 --> 00:14:12,390 Is there something when you're doing the morning pages, like you have a 287 00:14:12,395 --> 00:14:16,170 column on the side that's like, when I have this inspiration or something, 288 00:14:16,170 --> 00:14:19,320 you know, the spark of genius, you just like jot it down on the side. 289 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:20,650 What's your process for that. 290 00:14:21,210 --> 00:14:24,840 Juan Huizar: So the, the, the way the book reads is you, you just start 291 00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:28,380 writing anything and if you have nothing to write, you write your name. 292 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:32,100 Or if you have nothing to write, write the things you're grateful for. 293 00:14:32,220 --> 00:14:36,208 But this is not a journal, this is once you start writing ideas start coming up. 294 00:14:36,213 --> 00:14:38,603 And I'm not even like trying to like, Bring these ideas up. 295 00:14:38,603 --> 00:14:41,033 I just start writing and things come up, or feelings come 296 00:14:41,033 --> 00:14:44,253 up and it leads to results. 297 00:14:44,253 --> 00:14:47,643 Or it sparks this light, light bulb in my head of like, Aha. 298 00:14:47,643 --> 00:14:50,433 I could use that either towards something for the family, 299 00:14:50,613 --> 00:14:53,283 something personal, something financial, or even for my business. 300 00:14:53,283 --> 00:14:54,933 And I really, really enjoy it. 301 00:14:55,173 --> 00:14:56,853 Something I would've never done in the past. 302 00:14:56,853 --> 00:14:59,193 But you know, I gotta learn from the people that are doing it. 303 00:14:59,193 --> 00:14:59,433 Right. 304 00:14:59,433 --> 00:15:01,403 And a lot of people do do write in the morning. 305 00:15:01,948 --> 00:15:04,528 Amin Ahmed: Do you find that it helps you overcome like blockages 306 00:15:04,528 --> 00:15:06,328 if there's something you're working on and you're stuck? 307 00:15:06,803 --> 00:15:09,413 You may not be going into the morning pages with a looking for a 308 00:15:09,413 --> 00:15:12,203 solution, but do you ever just like find the solution when you're, when 309 00:15:12,203 --> 00:15:13,523 you're letting it flow through you? 310 00:15:14,273 --> 00:15:16,793 Juan Huizar: Sometimes you find solutions to problems you 311 00:15:16,793 --> 00:15:18,443 didn't know you had . Okay. 312 00:15:18,443 --> 00:15:19,973 That is the most amazing part. 313 00:15:20,303 --> 00:15:21,863 That is the most amazing part. 314 00:15:22,133 --> 00:15:24,893 And when you go back and you start reading, there's patterns to what 315 00:15:24,893 --> 00:15:28,853 you're writing and then you get to see like, , I address that concern. 316 00:15:28,853 --> 00:15:29,873 I address that issue. 317 00:15:30,083 --> 00:15:31,163 I actually did that. 318 00:15:31,163 --> 00:15:32,423 Then it feels so good. 319 00:15:32,723 --> 00:15:36,233 And if you didn't, you know what ends up happening is that all of us have all these 320 00:15:36,238 --> 00:15:39,933 ideas and stresses in our, in our head. 321 00:15:40,493 --> 00:15:41,753 You need to get 'em outta your head. 322 00:15:41,753 --> 00:15:44,423 This is the one way that I get them out of my head. 323 00:15:45,643 --> 00:15:48,113 Amin Ahmed: Do you mind sharing something that, like a problem 324 00:15:48,113 --> 00:15:50,253 that came up or a challenge that you didn't even know you had? 325 00:15:50,253 --> 00:15:52,882 Juan Huizar: So typically they're like, work, Well, typically 326 00:15:52,882 --> 00:15:54,262 they're like marketing problems. 327 00:15:54,262 --> 00:15:55,522 Like, who am I gonna hire? 328 00:15:55,642 --> 00:15:57,952 Sometimes it's like, who am I gonna hire next? 329 00:15:57,952 --> 00:15:58,492 Interesting. 330 00:15:58,642 --> 00:16:01,972 You know, like, you know, for anyone who's an entrepreneur, 331 00:16:01,972 --> 00:16:04,072 they're like, We want more leads. 332 00:16:04,077 --> 00:16:06,567 And so, you know, a lot of us who are entrepreneurs, there's like 333 00:16:06,717 --> 00:16:09,027 a hundred different things that are going on through our heads. 334 00:16:09,027 --> 00:16:11,787 And, you know, we're, we're the rainmakers, we're the marketers, 335 00:16:11,787 --> 00:16:13,227 we're everything for our business. 336 00:16:13,227 --> 00:16:17,103 And so more recently I was like, okay, where, where are my pain points in my 337 00:16:17,103 --> 00:16:20,913 business and what are the things that I no longer want to be doing because I want my 338 00:16:20,913 --> 00:16:22,893 productivity to be at a hundred percent. 339 00:16:22,923 --> 00:16:26,163 I want to do the things that, that like my time is. 340 00:16:27,348 --> 00:16:27,888 Best use. 341 00:16:27,888 --> 00:16:28,128 Right? 342 00:16:28,128 --> 00:16:30,678 And so what came up, I made a list of the things I didn't want to 343 00:16:30,678 --> 00:16:35,298 do, and through that I was able to hire someone to handle that list. 344 00:16:35,688 --> 00:16:39,327 And that came directly, directly from morning pages, 345 00:16:39,332 --> 00:16:40,257 just writing in the morning. 346 00:16:40,737 --> 00:16:41,367 Amin Ahmed: That's pretty cool. 347 00:16:41,607 --> 00:16:42,267 That's really cool. 348 00:16:42,567 --> 00:16:46,132 Now I promise that we'd come back to what you do now, and 349 00:16:46,462 --> 00:16:47,782 you could have been an account. 350 00:16:48,557 --> 00:16:49,667 But you're not one now. 351 00:16:49,667 --> 00:16:51,977 So what happened there when you had your offers? 352 00:16:52,847 --> 00:16:53,977 Juan Huizar: You know, it's interesting. 353 00:16:53,977 --> 00:16:58,157 I spent all my, you know, five years in college getting this job 354 00:16:58,157 --> 00:16:59,537 with this accounting firm, right? 355 00:17:00,257 --> 00:17:04,427 And then, so there I am with the, everyone wanted to be in my position, 356 00:17:05,627 --> 00:17:09,467 a junior going into the senior year knowing that you have a full-time job. 357 00:17:09,467 --> 00:17:12,557 Like that is what, this was in 2003. 358 00:17:13,487 --> 00:17:15,527 And so then I had a salary waiting for me. 359 00:17:15,532 --> 00:17:16,307 It was, it was great. 360 00:17:16,337 --> 00:17:21,017 Well, as a senior, I meet someone, and his name's Mark Malan. 361 00:17:21,577 --> 00:17:25,153 And Mark Malan was a real estate investor. 362 00:17:25,153 --> 00:17:27,643 He was a real estate broker, appraiser contractor. 363 00:17:27,648 --> 00:17:30,013 He was all these things surrounding real estate. 364 00:17:30,313 --> 00:17:34,513 I met him as a senior and he offered me a job and I needed a 365 00:17:34,513 --> 00:17:36,213 job during that time as a senior. 366 00:17:36,603 --> 00:17:38,463 And I started working alongside him. 367 00:17:38,763 --> 00:17:43,443 And as I was working with him, I saw him building wealth through real estate. 368 00:17:43,503 --> 00:17:48,318 And so I saw him buy commercial buildings, and he would always figure out, so 369 00:17:48,318 --> 00:17:52,518 he would buy like vacant commercial buildings, downsize them into smaller 370 00:17:52,518 --> 00:17:57,710 commercial spaces, improve the property, and then bring in new tenants, bring 371 00:17:57,710 --> 00:18:01,160 in good income, and then he would refinance and then build wealth. 372 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:02,750 And he and I would see what he was doing. 373 00:18:02,780 --> 00:18:06,530 He did this with commercial buildings, he did it with apartment buildings where 374 00:18:06,530 --> 00:18:08,210 he was always looking to add value. 375 00:18:09,050 --> 00:18:12,170 Sometimes he would simply refinance it and like keep the property. 376 00:18:12,175 --> 00:18:12,580 Mm-hmm. 377 00:18:12,660 --> 00:18:15,080 and other times he would sell it and buy another larger property. 378 00:18:15,350 --> 00:18:18,740 And I saw this with hotels, self storages, commercial buildings, apartment 379 00:18:18,740 --> 00:18:22,310 buildings, houses, whatever he could do to build wealth, he was doing it. 380 00:18:22,610 --> 00:18:26,710 So my entire senior year was, You know, getting through the last of my accounting 381 00:18:26,715 --> 00:18:30,250 courses and working with Mark as his assistant, you know, I was just running 382 00:18:30,250 --> 00:18:31,720 around with whatever he needed of me. 383 00:18:32,050 --> 00:18:35,440 Well, as I got close to graduating, Mark got used to having me around. 384 00:18:35,740 --> 00:18:35,860 Okay? 385 00:18:36,140 --> 00:18:39,970 And so he said, Hey, I know you told me that you wanted to be a 386 00:18:39,970 --> 00:18:41,728 CPA and do this accounting thing. 387 00:18:41,784 --> 00:18:44,064 No pressure, but I would love to keep you. 388 00:18:44,184 --> 00:18:45,864 Like, what is it that they're gonna pay you? 389 00:18:45,870 --> 00:18:49,380 I'll match the salary, but more importantly, I will teach you how 390 00:18:49,380 --> 00:18:51,540 to build wealth through real estate. 391 00:18:52,360 --> 00:18:53,770 And at first I said, No way. 392 00:18:53,830 --> 00:18:55,810 Like, like I'm, I'm set. 393 00:18:55,810 --> 00:18:57,040 I'm gonna be a CPA. 394 00:18:57,160 --> 00:18:59,980 And everyone, I mean, for the most part, if you tell someone you're a 395 00:18:59,980 --> 00:19:06,190 CPA, and granted I was 22 years old, very, I was young and, and to think 396 00:19:06,190 --> 00:19:09,250 that I was gonna be a CPA and, and you know, that was gonna be well respected. 397 00:19:09,255 --> 00:19:12,400 My parents get to tell their, their friends, Hey, you know, 398 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:13,870 Juan is gonna become a CPA. 399 00:19:14,050 --> 00:19:15,640 I thought that was gonna be my path. 400 00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:17,860 And so at first I told Mark, no. 401 00:19:17,860 --> 00:19:19,600 Hey, I'm just gonna stick on this plan. 402 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:23,870 Back then, it was all about your resume and who you had on your resume and who 403 00:19:23,870 --> 00:19:26,200 you work with, and so I told him no. 404 00:19:27,190 --> 00:19:32,590 And then what I realized was the accounting recruiters that were recruiting 405 00:19:32,590 --> 00:19:37,870 me, I told them what I was doing during my senior year as a, as a senior and 406 00:19:37,870 --> 00:19:41,440 who I was working with while they wanted me to set up meetings to meet Mark. 407 00:19:42,115 --> 00:19:45,745 They, they were, the accounting recruiters were more interested 408 00:19:45,745 --> 00:19:48,925 in what I was doing with Mark than what they were doing in accounting. 409 00:19:49,555 --> 00:19:49,615 Hmm. 410 00:19:49,615 --> 00:19:51,775 And so then that kind of got my head scratching, right? 411 00:19:51,985 --> 00:19:52,255 Yeah. 412 00:19:52,525 --> 00:19:55,495 And I was like, Wait, why is it that they're more interested in learning how to 413 00:19:55,500 --> 00:19:58,705 building wealth through real estate when they're, you know, they're all CPAs now. 414 00:19:58,705 --> 00:20:00,115 Like, aren't they happy with that? 415 00:20:00,805 --> 00:20:04,125 And I thought, and well, kind of a small story. 416 00:20:06,275 --> 00:20:08,590 So Mark Mullan is the person who offered me the job. 417 00:20:08,860 --> 00:20:11,050 His mentors a guy named Jeff Chauncey. 418 00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:13,450 And so Jeff Chauncey, I got to meet every now and then. 419 00:20:13,450 --> 00:20:17,770 Well, the day that Jeff Chauncey was set to retire and he was gonna move to 420 00:20:17,770 --> 00:20:20,950 Florida, he, I ran into him at the bank. 421 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:25,090 And so Jeff waited for me to be done with what I had to do, and. 422 00:20:25,525 --> 00:20:28,015 I'm in the middle of, of like my decision making, right? 423 00:20:28,015 --> 00:20:28,885 Like what am I gonna do? 424 00:20:28,885 --> 00:20:31,315 Which direction, you know, fork in the road. 425 00:20:31,315 --> 00:20:32,215 They're both good options. 426 00:20:32,215 --> 00:20:33,085 Where do I go? 427 00:20:33,625 --> 00:20:36,985 And so Jeff waited for me and he's like, Hey Juan, I'm about to catch my flight. 428 00:20:36,985 --> 00:20:37,495 I'm leaving. 429 00:20:37,525 --> 00:20:39,355 I just want to, you know, say it was good to meet you. 430 00:20:39,355 --> 00:20:42,025 He's like, If I could give you some advice, He's like, I know 431 00:20:42,030 --> 00:20:44,815 Mark asked you to stay on with him. 432 00:20:45,235 --> 00:20:49,075 And he said, If I was you, he says, I would go learn how to 433 00:20:49,075 --> 00:20:51,635 build welath in real estate. 434 00:20:51,925 --> 00:20:54,205 He said, because that is unlimited. 435 00:20:54,535 --> 00:20:57,748 He says, If you become a CPA, yes you'll have a good salary, 436 00:20:57,753 --> 00:20:58,768 but you're gonna be capped. 437 00:20:58,798 --> 00:21:01,108 You're gonna be capped in, in, in that profession. 438 00:21:01,528 --> 00:21:04,288 He said, But if you could learn the way that Mark is building wealth, 439 00:21:04,288 --> 00:21:05,908 there's no limit to what you could do. 440 00:21:06,508 --> 00:21:09,268 And kind of hearing it from someone who had already made it 441 00:21:09,448 --> 00:21:13,108 was retiring, you know, he had his yacht waiting for him in Florida. 442 00:21:13,108 --> 00:21:16,318 I was like, Well, And he said, Hey, what's the worst that could happen? 443 00:21:16,318 --> 00:21:17,598 You could always go back to accounting. 444 00:21:17,998 --> 00:21:19,258 You could always go back to accounting. 445 00:21:19,678 --> 00:21:22,638 So I, that day I pick up the phone, I called Deloitte and 446 00:21:22,638 --> 00:21:24,208 Touche and they were so upset. 447 00:21:24,448 --> 00:21:27,448 I called them and I said, I'm sorry, but I decided to go in a different 448 00:21:27,448 --> 00:21:30,058 direction and they were upset, you know, they were waiting for 449 00:21:30,063 --> 00:21:31,498 me to graduate and go that route. 450 00:21:31,498 --> 00:21:34,378 But, you know, as a, you know, by then I was 23. 451 00:21:35,273 --> 00:21:38,993 I, you know, I, I guess I took a leap of faith afterwards. 452 00:21:39,393 --> 00:21:41,964 Everyone, all my friends and all the kids in my accounting 453 00:21:41,993 --> 00:21:43,467 department thought I was an idiot. 454 00:21:43,467 --> 00:21:45,927 They're like, You blew your chance. 455 00:21:45,927 --> 00:21:49,197 You worked so hard for this, and you're just going to go do real estate. 456 00:21:49,197 --> 00:21:50,217 That makes no sense. 457 00:21:50,637 --> 00:21:53,307 And so through the years there was, there was times where I was 458 00:21:53,307 --> 00:21:54,917 like, I may have made a mistake. 459 00:21:55,317 --> 00:21:55,567 Yeah. 460 00:21:55,617 --> 00:21:59,867 And you know, now it's, you know, over 20 years or something that I've have 461 00:21:59,867 --> 00:22:01,877 graduated since, been out of college. 462 00:22:01,877 --> 00:22:04,847 And now looking back, it was the best decision that I could have made. 463 00:22:04,937 --> 00:22:08,657 But early on it's hard to know that, you know, now looking back, I'm so glad that 464 00:22:08,657 --> 00:22:11,052 I, that I made the decision that I made. 465 00:22:11,052 --> 00:22:13,847 Amin Ahmed: You know, hindsight is always 2020, right? 466 00:22:13,877 --> 00:22:16,697 You look back and you're like, I know I made the right decision now. 467 00:22:16,757 --> 00:22:18,707 But when that doubt, crept in. 468 00:22:19,367 --> 00:22:20,297 What did you do? 469 00:22:20,297 --> 00:22:22,367 Did you, did you consider going back? 470 00:22:22,367 --> 00:22:25,807 Did you, were you just like, I'm stubborn, I'm just gonna keep going 471 00:22:25,807 --> 00:22:26,067 ? Juan Huizar: No. 472 00:22:26,067 --> 00:22:29,237 You know, and I don't, and I wouldn't even say that I'm stubborn. 473 00:22:29,257 --> 00:22:32,867 I, I always know that a lot of people know more than me and I'm 474 00:22:32,867 --> 00:22:34,187 open to learning from everybody. 475 00:22:34,307 --> 00:22:34,487 Yeah. 476 00:22:34,577 --> 00:22:37,118 But You know, there was a lot of early success that I had 477 00:22:37,118 --> 00:22:38,318 in real estate thanks to Mark. 478 00:22:38,318 --> 00:22:40,898 You know, he showed me how to get started and how to invest and 479 00:22:40,898 --> 00:22:42,127 how to you know, create wealth. 480 00:22:42,127 --> 00:22:44,047 And so all these things started happening early on. 481 00:22:44,047 --> 00:22:46,018 And so when things got tough I. 482 00:22:46,753 --> 00:22:49,843 I always wondered what if, like, what if I would've become a cpa? 483 00:22:49,843 --> 00:22:52,303 What if, if I would've joined this company that there was always that, 484 00:22:52,303 --> 00:22:55,393 but at no point did I wanna go back and call them and say, Hey, I'm ready. 485 00:22:55,693 --> 00:22:57,043 You know, I'm ready to come back. 486 00:22:57,343 --> 00:22:57,643 Yeah. 487 00:22:58,003 --> 00:22:59,113 And certainly now it does. 488 00:22:59,353 --> 00:23:00,703 Now it doesn't even cross my head at all. 489 00:23:00,973 --> 00:23:01,213 Yeah. 490 00:23:01,603 --> 00:23:02,033 . Amin Ahmed: It's good. 491 00:23:02,033 --> 00:23:03,163 Yeah, that's a good thing. 492 00:23:03,613 --> 00:23:06,264 One of the mantras that we have at home here is that everything 493 00:23:06,264 --> 00:23:07,824 in life is a wonderful journey. 494 00:23:08,144 --> 00:23:11,474 and we tell our kids it's wonder filled because you don't 495 00:23:11,474 --> 00:23:12,554 know what's gonna happen next. 496 00:23:12,554 --> 00:23:16,064 And it's a journey because it's not just the destination that you're going after. 497 00:23:16,184 --> 00:23:16,794 Mm-hmm. 498 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:20,204 . And you know, when I hear your story about moving from Mexico, you 499 00:23:20,204 --> 00:23:21,374 didn't know what was gonna happen. 500 00:23:21,464 --> 00:23:21,704 Right. 501 00:23:21,704 --> 00:23:24,374 Then you go to school, then you go to middle school and 502 00:23:24,379 --> 00:23:25,664 high school and then college. 503 00:23:25,664 --> 00:23:26,054 Right. 504 00:23:26,114 --> 00:23:30,344 And even at the end of that journey where people think that college is, you know, 505 00:23:30,344 --> 00:23:32,234 graduated from college as your end goal. 506 00:23:32,634 --> 00:23:35,574 You still were ready to take that 90 degree turn. 507 00:23:36,304 --> 00:23:40,494 I mean, it is crazy, but I'm, I'm happy that it worked out for you, right? 508 00:23:40,584 --> 00:23:40,764 Yeah. 509 00:23:41,244 --> 00:23:41,604 Yeah. 510 00:23:42,309 --> 00:23:42,969 That's amazing. 511 00:23:43,269 --> 00:23:46,809 Now, are there any, any productivity hacks? 512 00:23:46,809 --> 00:23:49,869 Like you, you're a very efficient person to get all of this stuff done. 513 00:23:49,869 --> 00:23:52,419 You've got kids, you, you know, you're, you're busy in your business 514 00:23:52,419 --> 00:23:55,899 and you take time to, to run crazy, crazy marathons and stuff. 515 00:23:55,904 --> 00:23:56,229 Right. 516 00:23:56,439 --> 00:23:59,379 Do you have some productivity hacks that you'd like to share with our audience? 517 00:23:59,439 --> 00:24:00,879 For, for them to get stuff done? 518 00:24:00,884 --> 00:24:01,229 Yeah. 519 00:24:01,689 --> 00:24:04,200 Juan Huizar: And it's gonna be as simple as filling up your calendar 520 00:24:04,210 --> 00:24:05,330 with the things that are important. 521 00:24:05,995 --> 00:24:06,145 Nice. 522 00:24:06,175 --> 00:24:07,045 Filling up your calendar. 523 00:24:07,045 --> 00:24:11,035 So if you look at my calendar 5am to 7:30am, completely blocked off. 524 00:24:11,305 --> 00:24:11,455 Mm-hmm. 525 00:24:11,695 --> 00:24:15,145 5am to 7:30am, because that's gonna be my morning routine and my workout. 526 00:24:15,145 --> 00:24:16,075 This is every day. 527 00:24:16,435 --> 00:24:16,525 Yeah. 528 00:24:17,095 --> 00:24:20,155 And then, but then, you know, obviously then we schedule out 529 00:24:20,155 --> 00:24:23,285 the day, but then when I get home, six to eight, phone is off. 530 00:24:24,605 --> 00:24:30,575 Phone is off because I do not wanna walk into the house with being on the phone and 531 00:24:30,575 --> 00:24:32,425 then I have to wait to hug my daughters. 532 00:24:32,575 --> 00:24:32,995 No way. 533 00:24:33,205 --> 00:24:33,955 So it's off. 534 00:24:33,955 --> 00:24:37,385 I put it in my briefcase, I zip it up and I just leave it in my car. 535 00:24:37,385 --> 00:24:40,649 Now because I own my own business, I know things are gonna happen between that two 536 00:24:40,649 --> 00:24:44,099 hour window and after we put 'em to bed, then I'm gonna come grab it and there 537 00:24:44,099 --> 00:24:45,539 might be some work that I have to get to. 538 00:24:45,539 --> 00:24:45,629 Right. 539 00:24:46,019 --> 00:24:49,619 But there's a lot of scheduling and so I feel like, you know, when it comes 540 00:24:49,619 --> 00:24:51,989 to working out, cuz people do say, Well, how do you have time to work out? 541 00:24:52,019 --> 00:24:55,299 It's again, early morning is getting that stuff in, in the morning. 542 00:24:56,159 --> 00:24:57,459 Then I don't have to worry about. 543 00:24:57,884 --> 00:25:01,154 You know, I'm the kind of guy where like I have to work out every day. 544 00:25:01,154 --> 00:25:02,384 Like this is like seven days a week. 545 00:25:02,384 --> 00:25:04,694 There's really no recovery, even though they say that's good, right? 546 00:25:05,024 --> 00:25:06,494 It's, I'm just going hard. 547 00:25:06,494 --> 00:25:09,584 And so then I go hard in the morning and then I check that box and like 548 00:25:09,644 --> 00:25:10,784 my body doesn't need that anymore. 549 00:25:11,084 --> 00:25:11,234 Right? 550 00:25:11,234 --> 00:25:14,474 And now, you know, I could go hard at work and then, then I could go hard 551 00:25:14,474 --> 00:25:17,264 in being the best dad and husband that I could be once I get home. 552 00:25:17,326 --> 00:25:17,450 But. 553 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:19,320 Everything has to go on the calendar. 554 00:25:19,530 --> 00:25:21,600 Every little thing has to go on the calendar. 555 00:25:21,810 --> 00:25:25,530 And that's probably, in terms of being productive, that has to be 556 00:25:25,740 --> 00:25:27,750 the number one thing, you know? 557 00:25:27,765 --> 00:25:28,983 But, you know, there's a lot of apps. 558 00:25:28,983 --> 00:25:33,472 I mean, I use, you know, Headspace, I use Headspace for for my meditation. 559 00:25:33,772 --> 00:25:36,082 You know, there's a, there's a certain app that I use for 560 00:25:36,082 --> 00:25:37,582 stretching, and so I let you know. 561 00:25:38,367 --> 00:25:41,817 I'm a consumer of these products because it makes my life easier and 562 00:25:41,817 --> 00:25:45,237 it takes the decision making off of my hands, and I'm like, Okay. 563 00:25:45,237 --> 00:25:47,127 I just follow the script that they have for that day. 564 00:25:48,597 --> 00:25:48,777 Amin Ahmed: Yeah. 565 00:25:48,777 --> 00:25:49,257 I love that. 566 00:25:49,257 --> 00:25:53,757 I love that because when you say take that decision out of your head, right? 567 00:25:53,757 --> 00:25:56,307 Like I said, so many people yesterday I was talking to my son and I said, 568 00:25:56,667 --> 00:26:00,537 When you have too many decisions to make, you go into decision. 569 00:26:00,537 --> 00:26:02,367 In decision, and then you're stuck. 570 00:26:02,367 --> 00:26:03,627 You can't make any decisions. 571 00:26:03,957 --> 00:26:04,137 Right. 572 00:26:04,137 --> 00:26:07,227 And do you, do you sometimes get stuck in there where you're like, 573 00:26:07,287 --> 00:26:10,437 Or does that morning pages and meditation, does that help you not 574 00:26:10,437 --> 00:26:12,177 get stuck in making a decision. 575 00:26:13,017 --> 00:26:14,327 Juan Huizar: Everyone's gonna get stuck. 576 00:26:14,417 --> 00:26:18,287 It's just how long do you get stuck and how frustrated does that make you? 577 00:26:18,557 --> 00:26:21,527 And, and you know, really what ends up happening is that 578 00:26:21,527 --> 00:26:23,237 frustration gets you more stuck. 579 00:26:23,242 --> 00:26:24,047 And there's really right. 580 00:26:24,217 --> 00:26:26,807 There's no productivity in being frustrated. 581 00:26:27,197 --> 00:26:31,037 And so I'm not gonna say that, you know, my morning routine clears everything. 582 00:26:31,067 --> 00:26:32,357 You know, you're still gonna get stuck. 583 00:26:32,407 --> 00:26:32,887 Mm-hmm. 584 00:26:32,967 --> 00:26:35,403 . And that's why like I have a wonderful team in my business and. 585 00:26:35,403 --> 00:26:38,235 Man, I love mastermind and brainstorming with people. 586 00:26:38,265 --> 00:26:38,895 I love it. 587 00:26:38,895 --> 00:26:39,345 I love it. 588 00:26:39,345 --> 00:26:39,705 I love it. 589 00:26:39,705 --> 00:26:41,835 With any issue that I have, I'm like, Can't have this idea or 590 00:26:41,895 --> 00:26:44,085 this thing's bothering me and I'll bring it up to my team. 591 00:26:44,505 --> 00:26:48,285 And just getting ideas on top of ideas and their ideas and leading off of that 592 00:26:48,285 --> 00:26:53,175 and building and building on ideas from a business perspective is my favorite thing. 593 00:26:53,295 --> 00:26:55,845 And typically, you know, to, to your point, I still get stuck, 594 00:26:55,845 --> 00:26:59,145 but I will talk about being stuck with other people, right? 595 00:26:59,145 --> 00:27:01,740 And through that through that collaboration is 596 00:27:01,745 --> 00:27:02,870 where solutions are found. 597 00:27:03,990 --> 00:27:06,865 Amin Ahmed: So we've learned quite a bit about you in terms of, you know, 598 00:27:06,865 --> 00:27:10,525 your backstory, your, your morning routine, your wellness routine. 599 00:27:10,525 --> 00:27:13,585 But is there any one thing that people would be genuinely 600 00:27:13,585 --> 00:27:14,785 surprised to learn about you? 601 00:27:14,826 --> 00:27:18,022 Juan Huizar: Well, it's probably not a good thing, but lifelong severe stutterer. 602 00:27:18,832 --> 00:27:20,782 I am a lifelong severe stutterer. 603 00:27:21,322 --> 00:27:25,581 And, Amin, this is something that for the longest time in my life I wouldn't talk 604 00:27:25,581 --> 00:27:29,401 about because I didn't wanna face the fact that I had this speech impediment. 605 00:27:30,061 --> 00:27:31,891 And so I tried to hide it. 606 00:27:31,891 --> 00:27:35,221 I try, but I mean well into my adulthood. 607 00:27:35,226 --> 00:27:36,721 This is high school, college. 608 00:27:36,726 --> 00:27:40,591 And I realized, Amin that one of the reasons why I chose accounting. 609 00:27:42,201 --> 00:27:45,321 Subconsciously, I chose a profession where I didn't have to speak. 610 00:27:46,611 --> 00:27:50,776 I chose a profession that really you could do auditing and you're really not having, 611 00:27:50,836 --> 00:27:53,146 or this is what I thought, that you didn't have to speak with a lot of people. 612 00:27:53,866 --> 00:28:00,106 And so it wasn't till I was about 35 that I got a little bit of therapy and I joined 613 00:28:00,106 --> 00:28:03,076 Toastmasters and I faced my biggest fear. 614 00:28:03,406 --> 00:28:05,176 It's just regular communication. 615 00:28:05,181 --> 00:28:08,641 So I mean, when I say that I stuttered, I was afraid of picking up the phone 616 00:28:08,641 --> 00:28:10,556 and saying, Hi, can I speak with Amin? 617 00:28:10,576 --> 00:28:12,256 Like that would not come outta my mouth. 618 00:28:12,256 --> 00:28:13,066 There'd be like this. 619 00:28:13,366 --> 00:28:15,076 I would get jammed up with my words. 620 00:28:15,076 --> 00:28:16,486 They wouldn't flow out properly. 621 00:28:17,746 --> 00:28:20,626 I couldn't order at a restaurant like so for the longest time. 622 00:28:21,766 --> 00:28:25,846 Till this day, my wife will still order for me cuz she knew how much 623 00:28:25,846 --> 00:28:27,526 of a struggle it was for me to order. 624 00:28:28,066 --> 00:28:28,486 Wow. 625 00:28:28,936 --> 00:28:34,576 And so now that I said yes to your podcast, it's because through through 626 00:28:34,576 --> 00:28:38,866 Toastmasters and through like facing my fear, through facing my biggest fear, 627 00:28:38,871 --> 00:28:43,666 this is years and years and I've stuttered since I was a kid, since we left Mexico, 628 00:28:43,996 --> 00:28:50,701 I had this massive stuttering problem and at some point a couple years ago, I, I 629 00:28:50,701 --> 00:28:54,721 saw that Toastmasters was actually helping me for some, you know, it's, it's weird. 630 00:28:54,721 --> 00:29:01,051 My, my favorite saying is, working on a weakness reduces the fear of it. 631 00:29:02,191 --> 00:29:04,411 Working on a weakness reduces the fear of it. 632 00:29:04,501 --> 00:29:07,661 I was finally facing this fear and I was going into this group 633 00:29:08,281 --> 00:29:10,431 and I was on stage a small group. 634 00:29:10,431 --> 00:29:10,681 Right. 635 00:29:10,851 --> 00:29:14,261 Toastmasters is this group where we practice, had a public speak, right? 636 00:29:14,686 --> 00:29:17,626 I was there not to public speak, I was there just to speak. 637 00:29:17,836 --> 00:29:19,306 I was there just to talk. 638 00:29:19,816 --> 00:29:24,406 And so that started giving me confidence and I got better. 639 00:29:24,406 --> 00:29:29,416 And so now it's interesting, I tell people and they're like, No, like it was severe. 640 00:29:29,421 --> 00:29:31,734 This was not like, Oh, Juan's you know, when you're little, 641 00:29:31,734 --> 00:29:32,574 it's like, Oh, he's cute. 642 00:29:32,574 --> 00:29:33,444 He stutters, right? 643 00:29:33,444 --> 00:29:34,314 Mine was not cute. 644 00:29:34,314 --> 00:29:34,884 It was like this. 645 00:29:36,039 --> 00:29:40,419 Being, being in college, knowing the answer and not being, being fearful to 646 00:29:40,419 --> 00:29:44,949 raise your hand because you're gonna stumble through your words, was my entire 647 00:29:44,967 --> 00:29:46,451 most of my life I've been a stutterer. 648 00:29:46,781 --> 00:29:51,821 So now the only I bring this up only because it does feel good for me to talk 649 00:29:51,821 --> 00:29:53,291 about it and say, this is what I am. 650 00:29:53,531 --> 00:29:55,922 Because for the longest time I've tried to pretend like, Oh, no, no, no. 651 00:29:56,041 --> 00:29:57,851 I just, I said that wrong. 652 00:29:57,851 --> 00:30:00,851 I was trying to like hide it and now I'm like, Okay, this is who I am. 653 00:30:01,146 --> 00:30:02,106 I still have it. 654 00:30:02,169 --> 00:30:04,239 I'll never get rid of it a hundred percent. 655 00:30:04,749 --> 00:30:09,189 But now that it's gone away, I say yes to every speaking engagement where I'm 656 00:30:09,189 --> 00:30:12,219 asked, because I feel like for the first time ever, I could get my words out and 657 00:30:12,224 --> 00:30:15,309 I'm like just so thankful and blessed that I could, that I could do that. 658 00:30:15,314 --> 00:30:17,499 And I know that's simple for anyone who hears this says, 659 00:30:18,039 --> 00:30:19,299 Man, that's just speaking. 660 00:30:19,299 --> 00:30:20,499 But like, not everyone could do that. 661 00:30:20,739 --> 00:30:22,449 And, and that was my disability. 662 00:30:22,449 --> 00:30:25,539 And so, I don't know, that's not like a fun story, but it's just 663 00:30:25,539 --> 00:30:26,619 a story that I felt like sharing. 664 00:30:27,059 --> 00:30:27,959 Amin Ahmed: Oh, that's amazing. 665 00:30:27,959 --> 00:30:28,979 One, thank you for sharing that. 666 00:30:28,979 --> 00:30:30,509 Thank you for the vulnerability there. 667 00:30:30,540 --> 00:30:33,360 You, you're blowing my mind right now because, you know, I thought, I thought 668 00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:37,950 I, I could contain the extremes, but like, you know, 35 and now I know I 669 00:30:37,950 --> 00:30:40,650 was doing some research on you before our call and you've got a YouTube 670 00:30:40,650 --> 00:30:42,520 channel, dozens of videos there. 671 00:30:42,538 --> 00:30:45,761 Can you talk a little bit about the business and the content that you 672 00:30:45,761 --> 00:30:49,077 create on YouTube and what it is that you hope to do through that for your 673 00:30:49,148 --> 00:30:50,288 for your clients and the audience. 674 00:30:51,208 --> 00:30:51,588 Juan Huizar: Got it. 675 00:30:51,608 --> 00:30:57,593 So what I've done is more from building trust. 676 00:30:57,623 --> 00:31:00,083 You know, like when you're in a business and you know this, is that we, we 677 00:31:00,083 --> 00:31:02,903 try to build trust book appointments and serve our clients, right? 678 00:31:02,903 --> 00:31:05,363 Those are the main three things that we're doing no matter what you're doing, right? 679 00:31:05,903 --> 00:31:11,752 But in order for me to really scale as a business I needed to show people what I'm 680 00:31:11,752 --> 00:31:13,672 about and so what I'm passionate about. 681 00:31:13,972 --> 00:31:16,992 And so, because I've, I learned early. 682 00:31:17,642 --> 00:31:20,282 You know after college how to build wealth through real estate. 683 00:31:20,282 --> 00:31:24,881 And so I, I've been fortunate enough where I own large portfolio of properties and 684 00:31:25,051 --> 00:31:27,175 Mark held up to his end of the bargain. 685 00:31:27,265 --> 00:31:31,075 Juan, I'm gonna teach you how to build wealth, how to, how to, how 686 00:31:31,080 --> 00:31:32,815 to become independent and wealthy. 687 00:31:33,060 --> 00:31:33,900 By owning real estate. 688 00:31:33,900 --> 00:31:34,590 So he did that. 689 00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:38,820 And so now what I do is through my YouTube channels, teach others exactly 690 00:31:38,820 --> 00:31:43,260 what he taught me and now I get to put my experience and my little twist to it and 691 00:31:43,265 --> 00:31:45,900 things that maybe I, I use or I learn. 692 00:31:45,900 --> 00:31:49,710 And so our YouTube channel is dedicated to teaching people how to build 693 00:31:49,710 --> 00:31:51,420 wealth through real estate ownership. 694 00:31:52,245 --> 00:31:55,305 Whether it's apartments, condos, houses, everything. 695 00:31:55,337 --> 00:31:56,780 A lot of people want this information. 696 00:31:56,960 --> 00:32:01,220 And so our YouTube channel has, is growing, it's growing quickly and we 697 00:32:01,220 --> 00:32:02,960 have a lot of subscribers coming into us. 698 00:32:02,965 --> 00:32:06,967 And, and that is really at first, when I got started with this, it was this 699 00:32:06,967 --> 00:32:11,047 was actually part of my therapy is having the camera on me having to speak. 700 00:32:11,047 --> 00:32:13,417 This was not something that I wanted to do, but. 701 00:32:14,407 --> 00:32:17,557 The feedback and the comments and the support and the people sending back 702 00:32:17,557 --> 00:32:20,437 comments saying, Hey, I just did this because of your video, or I would love to 703 00:32:20,437 --> 00:32:24,817 work with you and your team, or Can you refer me to someone in such and such place 704 00:32:24,817 --> 00:32:29,287 because I'm not in your area and now we're ready to do this, Or, We bought our first 705 00:32:29,287 --> 00:32:32,467 investment property because of you, or now we're on our third one because of you. 706 00:32:32,917 --> 00:32:33,847 It's those comments. 707 00:32:33,847 --> 00:32:35,887 I mean, that just keep me wanting to keep doing this. 708 00:32:35,887 --> 00:32:39,277 It's just, it feels good that people care this much about the one, you 709 00:32:39,277 --> 00:32:42,479 know, one of the things that I'm really passionate about and And I'm super, super 710 00:32:42,503 --> 00:32:43,853 happy with the success of the channel. 711 00:32:44,573 --> 00:32:45,263 Amin Ahmed: Oh, that's beautiful. 712 00:32:45,263 --> 00:32:49,628 When you hear people telling you the success that they've had as a result of 713 00:32:49,628 --> 00:32:53,138 something you've spent time, you know, overcoming your challenges with stuttering 714 00:32:53,258 --> 00:32:54,428 and, and getting in front of the camera. 715 00:32:54,698 --> 00:32:57,488 What's the name of the YouTube channel so that our audience can look it up? 716 00:32:57,488 --> 00:33:02,378 Juan Huizar: Yeah, so it's just youtube.com/sagerealestate. 717 00:33:02,798 --> 00:33:06,278 So Sage Real Estate is my company, and the sage is, you know, sometimes 718 00:33:06,278 --> 00:33:07,748 people ask, Why'd you choose that? 719 00:33:08,458 --> 00:33:09,728 Sage is another word for wisdom. 720 00:33:09,728 --> 00:33:09,818 Mm-hmm. 721 00:33:10,378 --> 00:33:13,843 . And I would like to think that like when we're advising our clients and our 722 00:33:13,843 --> 00:33:17,923 friends on, on the next investment step to make that it, that it's, it's backed 723 00:33:17,928 --> 00:33:21,853 with a lot of wisdom and sage advice from what we're telling people to do. 724 00:33:22,693 --> 00:33:25,873 Amin Ahmed: Well throughout our time together here, you've definitely shared 725 00:33:25,878 --> 00:33:29,893 a lot of sage advice for us, and I just wanted to thank you so much for taking 726 00:33:29,893 --> 00:33:33,765 the time, first of all, and coming on and talking about it sharing some 727 00:33:33,765 --> 00:33:35,805 of your feelings and vulnerabilities. 728 00:33:36,309 --> 00:33:39,219 And if our audience wanted to get ahold of you, where can, what's your website 729 00:33:39,219 --> 00:33:40,239 or where can they get ahold of you? 730 00:33:40,329 --> 00:33:43,129 Juan Huizar: Yeah, so check out our YouTube channel, but my, my 731 00:33:43,129 --> 00:33:47,097 website is um, www.sageregroup.com. 732 00:33:47,307 --> 00:33:50,967 So that's sage re for real estate re group.com. 733 00:33:51,237 --> 00:33:55,017 So check it out if, if anyone has any questions or wants to 734 00:33:55,017 --> 00:33:56,697 run something by me, I, you. 735 00:33:57,592 --> 00:34:00,862 Tell, tell me that you heard me on Amin's podcast, and I would 736 00:34:01,102 --> 00:34:02,422 love that, Love to hear from you. 737 00:34:02,602 --> 00:34:03,322 Amin Ahmed: That's awesome. 738 00:34:03,412 --> 00:34:03,682 Okay. 739 00:34:03,682 --> 00:34:05,344 Once again, Juan, thank you so much. 740 00:34:05,344 --> 00:34:08,392 I really appreciate your time and I'm really grateful that you were 741 00:34:08,392 --> 00:34:09,442 able to spend some time with us. 742 00:34:10,062 --> 00:34:10,942 Juan Huizar: Amin, it was a lot of fun. 743 00:34:10,942 --> 00:34:11,692 Thank you for having me. 744 00:34:11,697 --> 00:34:12,952 I, I appreciate you so much.