Ricky Gutierrez Becoming Arizona's Youngest Millionaire

Steve Trang: Hey, everybody. Thank you for joining us for today's episode of Disruptors. Today, we've got Ricky Gutierrez, a big time influencer in the Phoenix market, and he's gonna share how he grew his YouTube audience to almost 1,000,000 subscribers as well as building the largest investment investment Facebook group at over 300,000

Ricky Gutierrez: Yep.

Steve: People in the group. If this is your first time tuning in, I am Steve Trang, sales trainer to some of the top investors in the country, and I'm on a mission to create 100 millionaires. Today, if you guys get value out of the show, please tag your friend below or share this episode right now. That way we can all grow together, and just we'll be able to jump right into it.

Ricky: Yeah. Let's do it.

Steve: So, you're still pretty young. Right?

Ricky: 26. Yeah.

Steve: 26. And I see, you know, your stories and, you know, like, one one of the youngest millionaires in Arizona, but obviously you didn't start off as a millionaire.

Ricky: Of course not.

Steve: So let's talk about your journey. What was your first step into entrepreneurship?

Ricky: Yeah. So just like anyone else, I I was always fascinated with the idea of, like, buying and reselling things. So I bought and resell everything from, headphones online. That was, like, one of my, like, really I I I just remember looking back in high school. I remember buying headphones online, trying to resell them on eBay.

That was the most popular platform there. Buying and reselling phones, and then it transitioned into buying and selling cars, and then, you know, now we are where we are today. But,

Steve: So let's start with headphones. Yeah. That was the first thing.

Ricky: Yeah. Okay.

Steve: So where were you sourcing headphones In high school. Through AliExpress.

Ricky: So, on eBay, I was actually my cousin and I became like eBay super seller. So even back then, I You were

Steve: a super seller in high school?

Ricky: Correct. But, so let me explain it. I don't know how eBay works now. Uh-huh. I know Amazon's like top notch.

Right? Right. But back then it was eBay. And one of the things that we we got to the point of where when you open a new eBay account back then, you would have to wait like twenty one days before they would disperse your payment, your payment, after you sell something. We became so popular or just we got enough positive feedback through our online store, that we began buying, you know, selling, not in bulk.

It still wasn't anything crazy. But once you got over, like, I wanna say, like, 500, reviews or something like that, you didn't have to wait for the disbursement. So this really allowed us to be able to utilize the capital that we had Mhmm. Instead of waiting twenty one days and just buying these packages. And there are, like, no branded headphones, which then we ended up selling for, you know, relatively smaller margins.

They're either and then the the market got so saturated that it just wasn't worth it. But I there's just so many things.

Steve: But let's

Ricky: I I

Steve: just wanna just jump into headphones. It's just interesting.

Ricky: I've never

Steve: heard anyone talk about flipping headphones. What were you buying these for in bulk or, like, so what was that per headphone?

Ricky: So it originally started at under $10. So $7.50 per unit. Right? So you would buy them in bulk, so around 50 units at a time. And then as we began to sell a lot more at a time, my first order, I think, was 20.

And then we got to 50 and then we went to a 100. But then the headphones began because the market became so saturated. The headphones became the quality was worse as time went on, which you wouldn't really think, but it's because so many other manufacturers began to try to jump on the trend, and the prices went up as well. So the prices for the headphones, we then had to pay 27, you know, dollars 35 per headphone, which we used to pay less than $10 But it was a very fun phase where

Steve: But you're you're so you're buying it for $7.50

Ricky: Yep.

Steve: Approximately. What were you selling them for?

Ricky: Over $100 originally.

Steve: On eBay? On eBay. Correct. Wow. Yeah.

Okay. So you're in high school.

Ricky: Yep.

Steve: I mean, this is pretty pretty good money. I mean, how much were you making a month?

Ricky: Doing it with my cousin. So my cousin, was one year older than me, and he worked at an electronics store. So they had the same idea where they would buy no branded headphones and then sell it, you know, in the store. So then he was like, hey. I think it'd be really a good idea for us to do the same, but let's try to do it online.

So after the rev splits, we were making even I think that was around $3,000 after expenses, and that's not each. So we would split it, down down the line, and it lasted about, I want to say like eight to nine months before it became so saturated. So we're in the very I was in the phase when I was buying and reselling, the Ubid phase. I don't know if you've ever heard of that website. Yeah.

Or Ubid. Yeah. Yeah. It was just super popular back then and as that website was up and coming, those were the websites that we were always, you know, as AliExpress became a little bit more expensive, we then tried to look for alternatives, we tried to transition to, like, televisions, but it just was never the same after that.

Steve: What were you doing with this money? Because that's a lot of money in high school.

Ricky: Saving everything. You were just saving it?

Steve: Saving everything. You weren't splurging it?

Ricky: No. In in high school, by the time I graduated, one of the things that I love to talk about is I personally came from a nine to five background. I worked, in telecommunication sales. I worked for T Mobile. It provided me with a very stable income.

I was making over 60 k my first year. Mhmm. And ever since then, up until my last job, which when I moved from California to Arizona, I began working for Verizon. This is while I was a full time student at ASU. And I just love the idea of stability and if you work twice as hard.

So if you have your side hustles, I was trading, I was trying to invest in real estate. It just encourages, I think, people that you don't have to try to, like, rush into trying to make the most money right now because you need to depend on that money. I had my stable income, so I was a full time worker. And then with that stable income, it allowed me, if I invested the time, to learn more about the market, to learn more about real estate. And as time went on in saving money, yeah, I bought my first house.

Again, Arizona in 2015, the cost of living was a lot less in comparison to, California, but I bought my first house for $172,000 and I still own that house today.

Steve: You still live in that house? I do not. Alright. Yeah. So, you go from flipping headphones to then flipping phones?

Ricky: Correct. I was doing a number of different things, again, just trying to be proactive. I, one of the things I've talked about before is I had a little, like, tech deck company. They're like little finger boards. Again, I was into skateboarding back then, and a lot of skateboarders that were my age were like literally tech decks, but they're made out of what?

So they're made out of veneer. I started this little company. I, you know, started a YouTube channel even back then. I think I hit like 3,000 subscribers. And you just make little, like, intricate little, you know, veneer pieces, like little skateboards, and Tektex would sell for like $10 for the complete kit.

This veneer board, a very popular site back then, was called flat face fingerboards, and those would sell for $50 a little piece of wood. I would sell mine for $12 sell mine for $20 and that was one of the hobbies that I had back then. I didn't start buying and selling cars until I was 18. My brother, who had a car dealership, used car dealership at the time, was a huge role model for me and a huge influence. And, when I turned 18 on my birthday, I had a couple dollars saved, and he was like, I wanna help you flip your first car.

And that is, what led me to now where one of the youngest people here in Arizona to own and operate a car dealership. And I So what do you

Steve: have a dealership?

Ricky: I've, I'm the investor for two of them. So we have here, one in Mesa, Arizona. It's called Carson and Moore. Two people that I met through Instagram, and we opened up a second location in Arkansas, which is, Weston Moore. Is, again, an individual that I met through just YouTube and Instagram, and I I just loved the hustle that they both had.

They were obsessive about buying and selling cars, and, they were so just eager to open up this dealership. And we opened it during the worst time. It was, 2020, the start of the pandemic.

Steve: Yeah. Okay. So before we get into that, I wanna ask you, you mentioned you went to ASU. Yep. Did you graduate?

Ricky: I did not.

Steve: Okay. So how far did you get into it?

Ricky: So my, the end of my junior year, so almost going into my senior year. Okay. What was your major? Technological entrepreneurship and management. I pretty much had to start a business.

Steve: Okay. Yeah. But you already started a business?

Ricky: Correct. Yeah. So I was I was in class where, I've heard that some one of the, at the Polytechnic campus, which is a much smaller campus, one of the professors says I'm just professor Philly, and I heard he still talks and uses me as an example of like, I just remember going into class, and sometimes I'd have to be a little late because I was working full time, I was, you know, doing my channel full time, I had my group full time, and I had a girlfriend at the time that's a full time job. And then I, went to school full time. So, he really allowed me to work around my schedule, and he just always encouraged me to continue to pursue what it is that I'm doing.

And, it it's it's really great to, like, when there's, like, so many things against you, and the idea of, like, how many things can go wrong, it's just so great to have that, like, positive reinforcement. Like like this podcast Sure. Having people that wanting to pursue real estate and having you as a true example of, you know, a positive reinforcement of what can potentially be that outcome.

Steve: Yeah. Awesome. So alright. So you what was the first thing? So you quit, you were in college, you're you're running a YouTube channel full time.

Yeah. So describe what that means full time for someone that doesn't that's not a YouTube, that's not a YouTuber. Right? What does it mean to have a YouTube channel full time? And your full time back then is different than your full time today.

Ricky: Correct. Yeah. I mean So it

Steve: was full time back then?

Ricky: It is it does not seem fair for me to say full time because at the end of the day I upload one video a day. Back then I used to upload two videos a day, so that was considered like an extreme full time, YouTuber. But you have to understand, like, I don't film vlogs, I don't film entertaining content. I do screen recordings. I would talk about in the beginning, right right when the market opens.

Market opens here in Arizona at 06:30 in the morning. I would talk about, you know, what stocks I'm looking into, and where my focus is for the day. At the end of the day, when the market closes, as of right now, due to daylight savings, it closes at 1PM. So, I would then do a recap, talk about my profit or my loss, and what I did well, what I could have done better if I'd made mistakes, and that's really just it. So it was it wasn't anything special.

It was just I would I think one of the things that I attribute a lot of my success to is I was literally just attentive to the people that would watch my videos, and I would create content based off of their request. It was nothing like I wake up every morning even now. I don't necessarily know what I'm gonna talk about until I see the feedback that I'm receiving from our viewers. So what full time being a full time YouTuber means to me is just uploading consistently or with a schedule. Right?

I've talked to you a little bit about it where, you know, someone like Graham Stephan uploads once every three days. Right? Well, he has a number of channels now, but it didn't start that way. Where like myself, it's one video every single day. We see people sometimes upload, you know, once a month, once a week.

So Or

Steve: some people uploading many times a day.

Ricky: Yeah. Meet Kevin. Meet Kevin's a great example, and he's absolutely killing it. So, one of the things is, like, I began uploading on YouTube consistently, not because I didn't even now, I don't even get that many views. Back then I got even less views.

It wasn't because I wanted to be a YouTuber. I never thought that I would have 976,000 subscribers. I literally just I loved the idea that I could be of value to other people, and I became obsessive of that where, our free Facebook group, our free Discord group, everything that I had was just like, I wanted to be of value for others. I wanted, you know, if people were making similar mistakes to me, like, you know, what I did differently to maybe, you know, manage my risk a little bit better. Yeah.

And those little simple things I found out added, you know, a lot of value to their core foundation of which they can eventually build off of. So

Steve: So let me ask you this, this attentive to your audience, because I think that's something that everyone's like, how do I come with content? How do I come with content? Right? And that's a struggle for a lot of people. And I think what you said is just a really common sense answer.

Ricky: Literally. It's the simple things in life that people tend to overcomplicate. And I don't know if I just had an easy on YouTube. I maybe started at a really good time. And obviously, all those videos are not ones that do extremely, extremely well.

Mhmm. But they're of value and they're of value to But

Steve: they're your core audience.

Ricky: They're our core audience and at the end of the day, that's the audience that I I really wanna attribute my videos to.

Steve: So how do you how are you attentive? What actions or steps are you taking to, be attentive?

Ricky: I trade live every day. I'm one of the only people that trade live every day. I work with them every day. I, you know, respond to messages every day to this either private group, I have a free group as well, free Facebook, free Discord, and to the best of my ability. Obviously, we, you know, miss a few just with the hundreds of messages we get a day.

But I just try to be there every single day. I know that, and, again, I miss videos from time to time, you know, as in, you know, life gets in the way. But I try to the best of my ability to be there every single day. If it's a video about real estate, that's normally what I upload on the weekends. If it's a video about reselling my, you know, cars, I recently just flipped my Ferrari four eight eight.

I made $14,000 profit after eight months. Anything in a way that I can talk about how I did, what I did, if it was good, if it was a mistake, I just try to be there consistently because, you know, I'm I'm never here to say that I'm the best. I'm never here to say that I make the most money, but I feel like I can outwork and outperform a lot of people.

Steve: Tactically though, how do you, like, are you constantly reading the comments? Are you looking at the DMs? What what are you referencing?

Ricky: Comments I use more as like a reference, just because it's it's an abundance of of individuals. Mhmm. It's it's more about the people that message me on Instagram, more of the people that direct message me on Discord. I engage with them in the main chat, so it's just a common chat room. Mhmm.

And if I see a question being requested or being asked multiple times, then I take a note, and I make sure that I create a follow-up video, for it. So there's, you know, notes that I've taken this week that, you know, over this weekend, I recently made a transition to a new trading platform. People continue to ask me, how do I set up that platform? And it's kinda common sense. I'm gonna, you know, follow-up with it And Create a

Steve: video about it.

Ricky: On Saturday and create a video about it. It's that simple.

Steve: So you're so you're doing a live stream in the mornings when market opens.

Ricky: Private live stream. Yep.

Steve: Private live stream when market opens. Private live stream when the market closes?

Ricky: Not anymore. So that no. That was on YouTube. I would create everything was just on YouTube back then where I would make a video So that was back then. When the market opens.

Yeah. And then I would make a video, when the market closes. Now I have a private video every morning at market open. When the market opens, I trade live with my LPP group, and then I create a public video depending on, you know, if it's a topic, if it's, you know, something's trending, or, you know, if there's a common question, then I will create that video anywhere from, you know, nine in the morning to 1PM. I'll upload just one video that day.

Steve: Okay. So right now, how many videos are you uploading a week?

Ricky: Seven. Oh, one video a day. One video every month. One one public video a day.

Steve: Okay.

Ricky: Yeah.

Steve: Alright. And then is there anything else you wanna share? Because, you know, a lot of people looking at 1,000,000 is an outrageous number of subscribers. And you're not quite there yet, but you're just right you're right around the corner. Yeah.

Right? And, I mean, we have other influencers that I'm friends with that were struggling to get to, you know, either a 100,000 or to get to 200,000, whatever. Like, what else what other tips would you give to somebody that's a an aspiring YouTuber?

Ricky: I think one of the things that I mean, it it's definitely a roller coaster. We've had months where we grow at, you know, two to 3,000 subscribers a day. Right? We've had months where, we grow five to 10 thousands of trappers a month. Right?

Mhmm. There's the ups. There's there's the downs. I never started YouTube for the money. I never started it for the attention.

I started it because I enjoyed what it is that it did, and it's a very simple task. It's it's kinda like, people love to ask, like, how is it that I still trade live every day? How is it that, like, I stay so committed? It's just kinda just like I need to eat every day. Right?

It's it's not that I I possibly want to or it's that I should. It's that I I do. It's part of my day to day tasks. It's that I don't consider myself to have a productive day if that's all I do within the day. And, obviously, there's days, you know, that there's not much I I have a great team as of right now, and they uphold a lot of that work.

But one of the things that I, like, look back now versus, you know, when I first got started is, I did everything back then, and now it really allows me to focus my time and attention in the areas that, I'm now starting to try to grow. So my biggest recommendation for everyone that's just wanting to get started is the idea of do it for the right reason, as in, like, do it because you enjoy it. Because at the end of the day, everything has its ups and its downs, and if the monetization is the sole reason on why you're starting something, you are more likely to fail when that instant gratification is not there.

Steve: Gotcha. So what does your activities, right, because you got your team to support you. So what is your focus right now, your main activities?

Ricky: My main focus, my main attention as of right now, is the HQ. So I bought a commercial building in Chandler, and Nice. Congratulations. Yeah. I appreciate it.

So, this building I bought in a way for us to be able to, like, give back to our Learn Plan Profit members, so it's gonna be kind of like a WeWork for local traders and exclusive just to our team. So the idea is I have these dark trading rooms. We set up monitors. We set up a dual monitor set up for every individual, and you just come on in, dock up your computer, and you can trade among other people. There's nothing else like it, other than, you know, you've been able to trade in Wall Street.

There's no common workspace, and now all I want to focus on is being able to create environments that were not available when I first got started. So that's a big focus of mine, but again, I have a great team like Justin, Michael, Jake, all the guys that are part of our team, all make it just a lot easier and a lot more enjoyable. Being able to surround yourself, you know, with that, like, positive work environment, kind of like that incubator effect. I know when I'm down and I'm surrounding myself around a good group of guys, they uplift me. Right?

Yeah. And that's the same environment that we wanna provide within our, you know, HQ, anytime that you're up or that you're down, to be able to be that, like, create that incubator effect where they are to uplift you during your lowest points. So that's a big focus, and then I'm just trying to get at your level, Steve, with the house flipping. Yeah. We're learning more about flipping houses.

We started a new project, this week. One of my direct partners is Nick Palladino, so I'm sure, I think you've probably heard of him. Absolutely. And, Colby, which is one of your guys' agents. He's, one of my partners for the Paradise Valley Flip.

But we started a new project this week. That one was in Goodyear, Arizona. I actually found that property through a follower, so, I I I don't it's so crazy, the the world that we live in today, that we can find deals like that. The second house that we close on, or the next house that we close on on Tuesday, that was also through a mutual follower, and, that one's in Chandler, Arizona. So that one's exciting.

And And then we check out a new property today for a potential flip, also another individual on Instagram, and that one is also in Chandler, but this is like a a condo. Yeah. So this is a little bit different.

Steve: Alright. So I think this is a very interesting topic. So, before we talk about the the your your followers sending you deals, I wanna talk about the car the two car dealerships.

Ricky: Okay.

Steve: Right? It's I mean, we started this show to talk about the the power of influence, and influence has been around forever. Everyone knows the power of influence, but there's different influence today, which is social media influence. Correct. But it still has the same, effect.

You can connect with people and you can impact Yeah. Things in in a different, way. So talk to me about people reaching out to you about partnering up on a car dealership.

Ricky: So it started with I'm I'm big on connections, and I'm big with working with people that it's like complementing partnerships. I've been so blessed to be in a position where almost every, literally every single partnership I've ever established has worked out. These two individuals, I first met Caleb. I met Caleb. I was actually at Topgolf here in Gilbert, and, I was with our team.

And Caleb comes up to me and he was like, hey, man. I, subscribed to your YouTube channel, love your stuff, we'll we'll see you around.

Steve: So he just recognized you

Ricky: at that point. He recognized me and then messaged me. This is when I had about a 100,000 subscribers, and he invited me to golf. I'm, you saw, I'm six foot four, I'm super awkward, I'm super lanky. Even back then I was even more awkward.

I never golfed. I never golfed other than Topgolf.

Steve: Alright.

Ricky: He took me to an actual golf course and he was like, Yeah, let's go. And I just thought it was so different. I was just like, Dude, whatever. I'll do it. I was like, It seems exciting.

And we literally just talked, and he was like, Yeah, I buy and sell cars, and that was our connection, but he did it in a way that I just knew he was so much more well informed, and he was so much more obsessive about it, where the same thing where my day to day task consists of trading, and, that's all I was obsessing about back then. He was obsessing about buying and selling cars. So how it started was I began to fund his flips. Mhmm. So I think I did it with like $10,000 and he was just an absolute machine.

I met Weston through Instagram. He would tag me on Instagram, and I would repost them, and this guy just seemed hilarious. He seemed like a good time, so I flew him out from Arkansas. Oh, nice. Most random place.

He hung out with our team. He stayed with us for over a weekend, and he just resonated so well with our group. He just got along with everyone, and he was like, I love this. He he came to visit one more time for his birthday, and after that second visit, I asked him if he wanted to move in. We just recently bought another house in Gilbert, and it came with a total of eight rooms.

And I was like, you can, you know, have one. Yeah. And he was going to school. He dropped out. In a week, he moved out to Arizona.

And I would say one year after that, so I started funding his deals very similar to Caleb's. And it was Weston's and Caleb's initiative that motivated me to invest in the dealership. If it was not for them, I would not be where it is that I am today with the dealership. Everything that is that, you know, its ups and its downs and its successes within the first six months of during the worst time ever to start a dealership, they sold over a 100 cars. And Wow.

For a used car lot, having no experience running a business, going through the idea of of hiring people, a mechanic, being able to service cars off for warranty, they were working seven days a week. They were there every single day, and what I have to say is the thing that I found so attractive about this partnership is, again, that I knew that they were so obsessive about this market of investing and flipping cars, that I knew that the monetary reward didn't have to be there in the very beginning, and that's what I thought was most important. They enjoyed the process so much.

Steve: Or you're investing into them, not the dealership.

Ricky: 100%.

Steve: Yeah. And I think that's, you know, people look at me like, Steve, Steve, how do you have so many businesses and like, when you sleep? It's like, really? I just have amazing people that I trust and empower. Exactly.

And if I have people that I trust and empower and support them, then everything's gonna be fine. Yep. Right? But if I have to try to run a business with people that I don't trust that I can't rely on Correct. Everything's gonna be a disaster.

Ricky: Accountability. Right? And and making sure that you uphold your responsibilities. So, even today, I woke up with a message that sounds kind of funny, but, Weston just messaged him, and he was, he's not living with us right now because he moved back to Arkansas to run the Arkansas dealership. And he messaged me today.

He's like, hey, bud. Hope you kill it today in the market. And it's just, like, little things like that that it's just, like, it's just so crazy to, like, be so well connected with such amazing people that when I saw that, I was just, like, that's so dope. It's just, like, it's so cool to, like, just have such good people around you that, you know, he doesn't know if I'm having a good day or having a bad day. And it's just, like, it gives you that extra encouragement.

Touch. Yeah. It's just a positive touch to take on the day.

Steve: So So I'm gonna change directions just a little bit. Obviously, we had this thing recently with WallStreetBets. Yep. I'm sure you have your own opinions on it. Yeah.

What are your thoughts on that whole situation?

Ricky: Yeah. I mean, I, actually, today, or yesterday, AMC, which is, like, their new main focus. AMC yesterday was the most traded stock yesterday in the stock market, which outbeat Tesla and Tesla. Like, no one outbeats Tesla. But it's it's something I've never seen before.

Mhmm. I can see people are very invested in it. I I have no issue with it if you approach it with a I mean, at the end of the day, there's so many different ways on how to make money in the market. Is it risky? Of course.

Right? There's no question about that. All we ever like to encourage people to do is that's not necessarily something that I personally partake in. I wouldn't hold one of those positions overnight, but I also wouldn't be someone that would reap the benefit of being up 200% in, you know, two weeks. So you need to understand the the position that you put yourself in.

If you are advantage of those kind of opportunities, just understand that they come at a greater form of risk. And all we ever like to encourage people to do is to approach it with a plan. Do it with a, like, a tolerable position size. Don't do it with all your money that if it drops 10% that you end up wanting to never do this again. It's do it with a dollar amount that you can tolerate, do it effectively with a plan, and know when to get out.

I think with a simple approach, like, again, with the idea that there's so many different ways on how to make money in any market, right now, all the all the altcoins and cryptocurrency, I personally don't do any of those. But if you do your part in getting in, getting out, managing your risk, watching your position size, locking in profits, you know, all power all power to you. I just think where a lot of people are being misled is, the idea of, like, the and maybe I just don't understand the the movement enough, but the diamond hands and and discouraging people, and call them paper hands, those that decide to lock in profits, it's like, at the end of the day, do your part to set your future self up for success. If that's locking in profits because you you you just don't see value in this anymore at the current price point, then so be it. No one should ever discourage you to persuade you to change your plan for their own benefit.

Steve: Right. Don't be influenced. Do it for your your reasons. Correct. Yeah.

I heard about WallStreetBets like a year or two ago, and I just, like, I was in that subreddit for quite some time and it's very fascinating.

Ricky: The way they speak to each other, and I've seen it.

Steve: It's very fascinating and the, you know, YOLO and Huddle. It's crazy. So you mentioned earlier you connected with Graham Stephan

Ricky: Yep.

Steve: Who is someone actually, I've I'm in his coaching program, I'm not on the calls anymore, but I'm in his coaching program. I was like, man, one day I'm gonna pull up my YouTube. So talk about your experience working with him back in the day and I don't know if you guys are still involved.

Ricky: Yeah. So I connected with him. He actually sent me an email. I think he had, like, 80,000 subscribers. I had about 30,000.

Mhmm. And I met up with him for lunch. We filmed a video on his channel back then, and he was just he was my first, like, YouTuber friend, to to say the least. And he was just a great guy that, it was just crazy to see. He was a little bit older than I was, but he was just a great, very humble person to connect with, and it's been so amazing to see how well he's been able to do.

He's we've talked about it right. He's completely blown up. And I think just because he stayed so true to his character, we've he's, like, shared ideas with me of, like, oh, maybe I should, like, you know, run out or he just has such a great following that it's, like, you you don't wanna mess with that. He has such an organic flow, and it's so amazing. I I've met him.

I've, I've visited him and his, girlfriend, and I saw that they just recently moved to Las Vegas. I visited them in when they're, like, in Santa Monica and stuff like that. Yep. And it's been great to kinda see the the progression of his channel, of his the effort he puts into it. You you like, I've never filmed with anyone that's been so meticulous about He's a craftsman.

He is. And rightfully so. I mean, obviously, it's working. He runs the largest investing YouTube channel that I know of. Is he?

I didn't know that. One of the, if I'm not mistaken, and I think he has one of the largest social presence, especially on YouTube Mhmm. For, like, financial advice. Yeah. And then I met Meet Kevin through him.

So Meet Kevin was just, what is it? Meet Kevin, 2021, right? He's running for, governor of California. He's he's also a guy that I I met through Graham and a great guy that I connected with. I actually partied with him in Omnia, believe it or not.

It's it's funny. But just a great group of guys that are just, again, obsessive about what they do, how they do it, and just really wanting to be there and to be a value for their followers. And just being able to, like, be connected with those individuals, I think it puts into perspective for me that I yeah. I think it's great. I'm about to hit a million subscribers.

But seeing how much they're growing, how much they're scaling, it just shows you that you're just getting started.

Steve: Yeah. Well, that's my biggest challenge because I, I'm I'm right here looking at Ryan Penida who, you met with, a couple weeks ago. I'm I'm I'm looking at him. I'm looking at Kong. I'm looking at, my other friends, Pace, Jamil, and, like, it's always this kind of just kinda measuring where you are Yeah.

As this and, what are your thoughts like? Do you think there's a does it affect, maybe not, happiness or whatever, but do you think like it kind of maybe puts, what's the word I'm looking for? A damper? Yeah. You know, like, because like this idea of like trying to keep up with the Joneses, like do you think that happens at all?

Ricky: That used to happen to me, when I was first getting started. It doesn't affect me, like when I pass a million, like it's not something that I remember when I passed the $100,000 that was very, like, it felt very fulfilling and stuff like that. When I passed a million, obviously, I'm super grateful, but the numbers don't necessarily it's just the amount of people that have committed to subscribe to my channel. I know based off of my views and my engagement and stuff like that, I know over 10,000,000 people, I'm sure, are aware of who it is that I am. Right?

Mhmm. And it's never been so much about the, validation from that anymore. And I just feel like because I've been in this territory for a while that it's not something that will, you know the only reason, we actually talked about it today. Today, I hosted a free live trading session, which we tend to do once a month, and, I took a position based off of my follower's request on YouTube. I gave them three options, DraftKings, Carvana, or AT and T, three recent stocks that pulled on back.

They said to invest into DraftKings. I put $10,000, and so far, I've made, 20%. So nearly, or I think I'm up, like, 2,300 on it. So 23% from my initial investment. And, we were like, hey.

Once I hit a million followers, I'll fly one of you guys out, and you guys can stay with us and visit the HQ. And just you know, the only reason that I'm looking forward to the million subscribers is to be able to do something to then, you know, celebrate it. For me to celebrate a million subscribers by myself or with the team, it's like, we already we just enjoy what we do so much every single day. We talk about this all the time, and I'm sure you can agree, it's like, when you take vacations now, it's not so much because you need, like, a break from your work. Mhmm.

I find it so much within myself and within my team that when we come back from vacations, we're just like, dude, finally, like, we gotta go back to work, and I think that's that should be everyone's biggest focus, is do something or partake in something, as a profession or as a career that you don't need a vacation from. That would be my biggest recommendation. It's like, obviously, you know, the monetary reward is great and it's amazing, but it definitely does not trump the fulfillment you gained from enjoying what it is that you do. Right.

Steve: Well, I think it's easy for us to say, right? For you and me, right? Because what we do makes a good amount of

Ricky: money. Correct.

Steve: But, you know, like what if someone, like, really loves, like, I don't know, walking dogs or

Ricky: I did a girl that wanted to be a teacher for kids with special needs and she didn't care about money. She didn't care about anything like that. And it was something that, it was actually my first girlfriend, and, it was something that I found so wholesome and and found so beautiful about a person that, like and I've I've experienced this before in my, high school, journey where, there was a teacher, Miss Miss Fury, and she was just always she was like the light of my day because of how much compassion and joy she had every single day. Yeah. And you just knew that she loved what it is that she did.

Steve: So not necessarily start a business that you do, you love, but a career. And

Ricky: yeah. Any profession that you find you would experience fulfillment on. Yeah. I'd I, I'm big on that. I obviously, again, it's very easy for us to say because of the monetary reward that we gain from what it is that we do, but I think one of the most amazing things to see is from an individual is I get so pumped when I see someone enjoy what it is that they do.

I don't care if it's at a fast food restaurant. I I don't care if it's at a, you know, grocery store. If you just when you just meet that person that's, like, the light and you're, like, at a grocery store, you're checking out, and you just see that they're just, like, like, oh, man, like, super pumped up.

Steve: Super nice. Yeah. They care about you, smile.

Ricky: 100% and it's just like, it brightens up your day and you're like, I value that person and I know that that person values their life and it's just so amazing to see. So Yeah.

Steve: And I have a, no, see, before we transition to this, what would you say to someone right now that's like, alright, I wanna be like Ricky. I wanna be a YouTuber. Right? Yeah. But they're they've got some sort of mental block, you know, like no one wants to watch me.

Some people are, you know, are introverted, which

Ricky: Yeah.

Steve: Get you know, I I am. I get the feeling that you are. What do you tell someone, like, that's putting limiting beliefs on how to get started or on on how to start a YouTube channel?

Ricky: Again, I think the core foundation of enjoying what it is that you do and then putting your own twist to it. If you look back and you see anyone that's done well in any mark in any market, any business or even any YouTuber, they didn't they might have done it by copying, some, you know, qualities and they cherry picked from other YouTubers, but at the end of the day, every successful YouTuber to some degree, has their own twist on how they do things. And I think character has a lot to do with people's success in any platform. Ryan Pineda, right, Graham Stephan, Meet Kevin, even myself, I think one of the things that I attribute a lot of my success to is my character when I was first getting started, is I was 21 years old. I was 21 years old, I was one of the youngest people doing anything on YouTube in the trading, like, world.

And I think that was my edge. That was my character. I was, you know, peppy. I was, I think, easy to relate to, and that was my characteristic that I think a lot of people attached to. Now you see, like, not everyone has to agree with you, but if you can be of value or of entertainment for other individuals and you do it with your own twist, it's so many people are just so obsessive of copying every step of the way.

And I think you can speak from this, like, even in in real estate, to be uber successful or to even maybe potentially one day surpass you is I'm not gonna get there by copying you, Steve. Right? I'm gonna get there by I'm sure I can cherry pick the series of qualities that I find very attractive about how you flip houses. Mhmm. But at the end of the day, I have to put my own twist to it to be able to get to a point to eventually surpass you.

And that's what I've understood that in any business is it's great to cherry pick a series of principles in which you can build a foundation on, but don't stop there and don't be afraid to do it in your own way. That can ultimately lead to your success.

Steve: Yep. And I want to add a follow-up question to this because I think a lot of people will, like, how do I start? It's it's gonna suck. Well, whatever. So let me ask you this, humbly.

How were your first 10 YouTube episodes?

Ricky: Like videos?

Steve: Yeah. Oh man. Would you define them as world class?

Ricky: No. The only reason that they have any views now are because I have nearly a million followers, subscribers and they've gone back. Again, I upload because I used to make car edits. Let's talk about that. So I uploaded my video about how I bought my first house at age 20.

No one cared, right? I filmed it, on Thanksgiving Day. I couldn't fly back home to have Thanksgiving with my family because I worked at Verizon, and the next day is Black Friday, which is a really big sales day, right? So I made this video with my laptop, and then I sat in my dorm room, and I was like, Yo, I'm closing on December 2235 on my first property. No one cared about that.

Started making videos about, again, cars, buying and selling cars, looking for my next, for my new daily driver. No one cared about that. Got 50 views. If I cut 100 views, I'm just like, dope. I would put edits on it, I would watch Casey Neistat back then.

I would try to take his music, add them to mine, and then I would watch, you know, driving videos, and I would try to, like, transition with my little GoPro. They're horrible videos, right? But I gained so much fulfillment by making them. And then I uploaded a couple trading videos, and randomly I made like $113 off of a lower cap stock. I did a recap on it, and that video blew up, and I don't think that video, was anywhere between my 10 videos.

I think it was, like, in the fifties. Because, again, I just I was so obsessive about not a I just enjoyed it so much that I didn't need to do it for the views. Obviously, it added some form of validation, and and it only motivated me to do more.

Steve: Right.

Ricky: But I know that the reason I started it was because I generally just wanted to invest my time in doing things that I enjoyed to do.

Steve: Yep. So, and the reason why I'm asking this question is just want everyone to understand, like, you don't have to be great to start. Yeah. But if you start, eventually you'll find greatness.

Ricky: 100%. And people love to surround themselves with others that express enjoyment through their work. And if you can, create content and express that through your videos, I think it's only a matter of time. Right? It's crazy to see the videos that blow up now.

And there's so many different platforms and and ways that you can do so.

Steve: Yeah. There are.

Ricky: Again, Ryan Pineda is a a great example of someone that blew up within a very short period of time during such an unfortunate time, but he took such unfortunate circumstances and made them.

Steve: And super intentional with it. Yeah. So I have a a buddy I was talking to actually yesterday, and he's kinda like on this fence. He's like, I've got this business. I can teach people how to do it.

But, you know, like, I go back and forth on whether I should have an education business or not.

Ricky: Yeah.

Steve: Right? And I was like, you're you're crazy. Like, obviously, you have something to share. Like Of course. You should you should definitely go down that route.

Yeah. What is something you would wanna share to someone like that that's like, you know, does it make sense to, you know, monetize my audience? Because I think there has, like some people have a negative connotation behind it. But what are your thoughts?

Ricky: My thoughts on it are, you know, YouTube is free. Right? Google is free. Your time should never be free. And one of the things is, like, people love to ask, like, why would you create a course when there's so many free content?

Right? Why would Steve, someone that does extremely well, want to just you know, you create YouTube videos, and, yeah, sure, because you want to. Right? Mhmm. And it reaches an audience, and you do it in a way that's tasteful.

But when it's someone that is requesting your time and they want assistance from you, why do you have to be entitled when you receive nothing back? It's all about, there being some form of complementing partnership. And if that complementing partnership is in that sense, it's either, like, you create something that can be of value for other people, and at the end of the day, as long as you do it in a way that is actually of value, you know, you should never have to convince someone to see value in what it is that they in what you do. And that's something that we've always tried to stay true to where, like, you know, I keep my things very simple. I trade live.

I do recaps on YouTube. I talk about my green days, my red days. And if you see value in that, great. You can work with me. If you don't wanna pay for it, then guess what?

I upload new videos every single day on YouTube. You're more than welcome to check it out. Do you am I gonna be of assistance for you or as attentive as I am to my private group? Of course not. How can you request someone's time and feel entitled that you deserve it when you've done nothing to receive it?

Right. And for this individual that's on the fence, it's you can either create something for the people that are already requesting your time Mhmm. And or they're gonna go somewhere else to find it. Right. So I think that puts into perspective where it's it's very, like, easy to see that if you have and I was on the same fence.

I had, I think, like, nearly a 100,000 subscribers when I decided to, make my LPP course, and I just knew that I wanted to do something differently to be a value. And then that's why I began trading live. So everyone had a course, and, you know, you can learn off of YouTube, and you can. It's just gonna be a little bit more difficult to learn everything along the way, right, and without mistakes being made. But I wanted to provide something that was different, and that would be my recommendation for anyone that wants to get into this field.

Just make sure that you do something that is that really stands out. And I think that's something that really surprised a lot of people, as it provided more value than anyone else at the time.

Steve: Yep. And then you've got one of the biggest Facebook groups. Correct. And any time someone's got over a 100,000, it's already an accomplishment. I think, I get these I hear these guys that own these large groups.

They kinda brag to me, like, hey, you know, like, Facebook's looking at my group. I've got a point of contact and this and that. Right? So it is definitely something that's an accomplishment.

Ricky: Yeah.

Steve: You're at 300,000

Ricky: Yeah.

Steve: Way past where my other friends are at. How did you accomplish that? YouTube.

Ricky: I created videos. I didn't do it in a way that now I understand marketing. Back then, I was a kid going to school, working at Verizon, and people were requesting to for my time back then. And they wanted they're like, you should create a Facebook group so we can ask you questions. And then from I was just like, okay.

I created a free Facebook group. It all everything that I did was based off of the request. I created so many videos that as I grew on YouTube, it it organically flowed into my free Facebook group. And then people are like, we wanna be able to you know, people have Discord groups. We wanna be able to direct message you directly.

Discord is a more appropriate platform for that. Created a Discord, free Discord for everyone else, and then now we have like over 100,000 on Discord. And it it wasn't anything special, it wasn't anything that, like, I I planned or I prepared for, It's everything that I did was simply based off of our followers' requests that then allowed us, now that we understand it a little bit more, on how that is so much of value, to have these different, you know, touch points for our audience, where where I can, you know, blast out a message on Discord and tag everyone that is part of our Discord, and I can reach a 100,000 people. Facebook group, I can post something and, you know, reach 300,000 people. I can post on YouTube, and depending on YouTube's algorithm, they will, showcase it to, you know, 20,000 viewers.

So, yeah. So it

Steve: was a natural byproduct of something you were already doing.

Ricky: Correct. It was an organic flow. It was never something that, like, I didn't run ads to my Facebook group or anything like that. It just everything and it's super boring, I know with my story, but everything just happened, like, organically and over time. And like I said, I mean, people still view me.

Like, you asked if I was 23. I know I look super young. But I'm 26, and I started doing this, full time when I was 21. Oh, it

Steve: was just because I thought I saw something when I was Yeah.

Ricky: Looking you up. So, yeah. It was just I stayed consistent with it. I showed up every day, and over, you know, a long period of time, now we're, you know, at $300,000.

Steve: That's the power of consistency as well. Of course. Tangent here. Are you on I mean, obviously you're on Instagram. Are you on TikTok as well?

Ricky: I am. I just started uploading. I actually what I was working on when we were prepping for this is I uploaded a Tik TikTok. I'm trying to upload one TikTok at least every day. Mhmm.

So I'm trying to get on Ryan Pineda's level.

Steve: I think we all are.

Ricky: Right?

Steve: So let's talk about your strategy here then. You know, obviously, you already got a team behind you with your, YouTube. I imagine supporting your Facebook, supporting supporting your Discord. What what does your organization look like to help you continue to build this this brand?

Ricky: Yeah. So we have we have great structure when it comes down to our rules. When it comes down to content creation, I have a guy that's our full time filmer and editor. Amazing. When it comes down to, like, the messages and stuff like that on depending on different platforms, I have people that, one individual that assists me with that.

And I think as I continue to grow, we haven't reached the point where we, you know, need to hire someone else. Just if we're a little backed up on messages, I'm a little bit more attentive to it, or we'll bring on the different people that maybe have less on their table Mhmm. To to assist with it. But, altogether, as we continue to grow, our my biggest focus is just continuing to scale the businesses that we have as of right now, and to still stay as well connected to our followers regardless of how big we go. I think that's the biggest disconnect from a lot of people is it's great when someone's at 10,000 followers on Instagram because they're very accessible.

Mhmm. But once they reach a million, it's very difficult to get in contact with them. I attribute a majority of my success to the people that I've been able to connect with and the business relationships that I've been able to establish. So if I wanna continue to do so, especially with the with the trading HQ, my goal is to be a value for them, but also any individual that I meet there that I see value in their ideas. I want to make sure that I'm accessible enough that I can be exposed to it, or then I can make the decision to potentially invest in it.

Steve: Gotcha. That's awesome. And then I heard about you last year through another friend Yep. Templeton. Yep.

And so you also fund deals.

Ricky: Yeah. I used to fund a lot of deals back then.

Steve: Yeah. So used to. Something's changed?

Ricky: Yeah. So now I have my, business partner, Nick Polidino. Mhmm. So, he orchestrates. He's pretty much just the the mastermind behind, all the house flips we do

Steve: now.

Ricky: Mhmm. So he is as obsessive with real estate Yeah. As I am with trading, as Caleb and Weston are with cars. Mhmm. And it's again, I'm so fortunate to be in a position where I've been able to connect with someone like that.

Yeah. He was part of my LPP group. He was a model in LA. I met up with him one day, and he came to visit us during COVID for two weeks, and he never moved back. So Gotcha.

Now he's purchased three or four properties himself out here. Mhmm. And, he is a licensed real estate agent. Mhmm. He represented me for the HQ that I purchased, so that was I think he was three days into his, real estate license.

Steve: That was a big transaction for him.

Ricky: Yeah. We it was a cash offer that we made for a million dollars. So Yeah. It was a nice little paycheck for him. And, I think that's what really gave him the push to he was on the MLS every day.

He comps deals every day. Mhmm. And, yeah, the reason I don't do hard hard money loans as much as I did before is because now I'm so much more focused on funding our deals and hard flips as I'm trying to build my own little, Steve team.

Steve: That's awesome. Yeah. So one thing that happens to a lot of us as entrepreneurs is, you know, we have shiny object syndrome. I don't know if you're guilty of this. I am certainly guilty of it.

And so we see things and it's cool and it's like, oh, you know, we should do this, we should do that. How do you filter and figure out, like, this is something I wanna jump into or something that I'll just fund it and leave it alone?

Ricky: Can you give me an example? Is this, like, as a business or is this as a,

Steve: like Well, so you got the car dealerships. Correct. Right? And now you're looking at flipping houses. Correct.

So like how did you decide, like

Ricky: Which businesses to pursue and which ones not to pursue? Yeah,

Steve: because the other part, like last year you were just funding the deals.

Ricky: Correct. So you were putting money in hands.

Steve: You were hands off.

Ricky: But it's because I was shadowing. I was learning, so I was learning from, you know, either mistakes that they made. I I would try to learn from you know, if I were to shadow you, I would try to cherry pick the series of qualities, in your project management and how you orchestrate your construction, how you comp deals. And over a longer period of time, I built this little just understanding of it because I had no understanding. But I knew let let's be honest.

Like, if I'm just someone with, you know, 200 subscribers or followers, and I message you, Steve, and I'm like, hey, man. I wanna learn how to flip, you know, houses. It's just like everyone wants to. Like, everyone wants to be successful. Like, that's not special.

But if I approach the and I think this is where I see a big drawback is when people begin to do well, especially at a young age, they become entitled, and they feel like they should never ask questions on how to do something because they feel like they're at a pedestal. For me, it's like I didn't care. I wanted I found real estate attractive enough where I messaged Lenny Behe, which was a real estate, agent and flipper here in Arizona, and I was like, I don't only want to learn from you, but let me fund your deal so I can be of value for you. And that's where I began to shadow. And at the end of the day, if I and I think this would be huge.

Anyone that's watching this that wants to potentially get started in real estate, I think the biggest thing the biggest thing, if they're not enrolling in your course, then what is it that they can do to be of value or to shadow present you a deal? Mhmm. Right? And if you see that, that would be direct value to you where, like, I wanna work with this person.

Steve: Right.

Ricky: Same thing with the two people that we just connected with in the past month. The flip that we closed on this week and the flip that we closed on last week, these individuals followed me on Instagram. Mhmm. They messaged me. They presented me with a deal.

We purchased them. And I can promise you, like, I will always take them more serious than any other individual because they were simply of value.

Steve: Well, they were more proactive.

Ricky: Exactly. And when it comes down to what businesses that I decide to partake in is our businesses that I see value in and that I want to pursue. Right now, also a big focus is our apparel. I, again, fortunately was able to connect with someone like Jake who manages our apparel, and our apparel started at, you know, it was like drop shipping. We would make, like, $500 every three months.

It was just something that we had on the back burner for those that wanted to, you know, buy a shirt. We just, you know, had it drop shipped. Now we customize everything. Every we work with our manufacturers. We do everything from mouse pads, aluminum arts, flags, hats, shorts, shirts.

The shirt that I'm wearing today, it's just it's a little bit more fitted. And every single time that we have a new shipment, you know, design design or anything like that, we just try to get a little bit better every single time. And they went from $500 every two to three months. Now we're on track for, you know, 2021 to do multiple six figures. So Nice.

Steve: So you got this kind of a Kaizen attitude where every day you just try to get a little bit better, a little bit better, a little bit better.

Ricky: 100%. It's, like, yes. I think that's the best way to put it where, it's hard. It's it's hard to make a lot of progress every single day Mhmm. Within a very long period of time.

And I've learned and and I've heard that in in the very beginning, yeah, you might make a lot of progress, but then you become stagnant. So now my biggest focus is just I just I have simple tasks that I try to take on every day just to get a little bit better because, you know, if I do this consistently over a year, there is gonna be a big difference.

Steve: So what would be some of those tasks I have to do every single day?

Ricky: So right now, a big focus for the h right? Is is the HQ. A big focus is trying to, when it comes down to, flipping houses, I personally wanna understand the idea of comping property. So the house that we're gonna be walking through today is a house that had a flood. I've never dealt with anything like that.

So, you know, I might have to hit up Steve, right, for for questions. But either if I'm challenged with these obstacles to try to, like, learn more to see if it's something that I personally wanna partake in, that task alone of just learning if this is a house that I wanna invest in and or, you know, the pros and the cons about it and why I would or why I wouldn't, is enough of an accomplishment today that I don't need to focus on anything else. I filmed my videos, I did everything else that I have to do, but that is one simple task that as long as I get that done and I learned a little bit more, I can I I feel fulfilled? I feel accomplished for the day.

Steve: That's that's amazing. What, when is the HQ open or is the HQ open now?

Ricky: It's gonna, so the HQ is open just to us and the people that we invite. I can open it, it can be ready in two weeks. We have so many people requesting to visit, that I think we're gonna have, like, a a closed opening first. So I'm probably gonna invite a handful of people to see the the whole idea of the HQ is to be an incubator, in fact, to be a a good work environment. If we have a 100 plus people in a 7,000 square foot facility, I just don't want it to be counterproductive.

Sure. So we're probably gonna get twenty, thirty people to join us for about two weeks, ex you know, ask for feedback, how we can make it better, and then go back to the drawing boards, try to provide that experience, and then we'll open privately just for our LPP group.

Steve: Man, that's something that's exciting. I mean, I think that's something that, you know, when you guys open, I definitely want to check that out.

Ricky: Of course. Be offended if you don't come, Steve.

Steve: What are you excited about right now?

Ricky: Selling this frickin' Paradise Valley house flip. Did you hear about it from Colby?

Steve: I've heard about it. I'm supposed to I'm still supposed to go check it out with Colby, but tell me about it.

Ricky: Yeah. So I came first off, do you know how I met Colby?

Steve: I think it was at a night event.

Ricky: No. No? Okay. I met him through, he messaged me on Instagram, he was a student at GCU. That's how I first met him.

I met up with him at Fired Pie in Gilbert at the San Tan Mall, and he had this idea. I met up with him, and I think my business partner, Justin, came with me as well. It wasn't an idea that I wanna invest in, but I I saw that he was motivated. I reconnected with him because Justin ended up reconnected with him on a a partnership or something that they personally established. And then I saw he became a real estate agent.

Mhmm. He just reached out to me and and one day then just asked. I started funding a couple, like, of his flips, doing hard money lunch for him, and Colby is just like he's a great example of someone that's just so excited to work. He just loves what it is that he does every day, and he does it with a smile, and it's hard not to, he's sometimes too much because he's too happy. But, it's, I love surrounding myself with people like him because, again, he's obsessive about what he does, he presents He knows

Steve: exactly what he wants.

Ricky: Exactly, and he presented me this off market listing. He was like, Hey man, this house is like $2,800,000 I'm like, Dude, I'm just starting to learn how to house flip, right? I was like, I'm funding deals at $200,000 like $2,800,000 like what are you talking about? He's like, Just hear me out. I think we can get it for $2,300,000 I think it will be worth what he said, like, 3.5, something like that.

And I'm like, how much money has to go into it? And he was like, a 100 to a $150,000. And did the quick math, and then we comped it out ourselves, and we're like, dude, this is, like, a good deal. Like, we saw other properties, like, being sold for, like, you know, $34,000,000, and they were much smaller. This one was 8,700 square feet.

Steve: With ridiculous views.

Ricky: Ridiculous views. And, I was like, I'm gonna take this step, and if I make a mistake and I don't make any money off of it, that's fine. Mhmm. But, it it really pushed me to, like, get out of my comfort zone, and I feel like we're set up pretty good for Ada. I don't know if it's gonna sell for the top dollar asking price that we're

Steve: You guys are gonna crush it with that deal.

Ricky: Yeah. I

Steve: mean, when he when he showed it to me, I was like, man, like, I wish I had the risk tolerance. Like, I know the deal is there. Yeah. I just can't afford to be wrong on this deal.

Ricky: Yeah. So that's the thing. It's like if I do take, a loss on it, it's it's gonna be like a, a tough pill to swallow. But like we say with trading, with starting a business, with anything, it's like, even with real estate, don't, try to take on more than you can tolerate. And as of right now, I just I'm so fortunate enough to be in the position where I am today and to be surrounded with the people I am today that I felt comfortable enough to, you know, take it on.

So I guess, hopefully, in a couple months, I can follow-up and share my experience.

Steve: I know for sure you're gonna do really well. But like I said, you know, I love the upside. I just could not deal with the downside.

Ricky: Yeah. Right? I I agree.

Steve: So but, yeah, that's definitely something huge to be excited about. What is your biggest struggle right now?

Ricky: Biggest struggle? Gaining weight. I've been trying to get to the gym. No, I don't know. Yeah, I think,

Steve: I can show you how.

Ricky: Right? No, I mean, I don't know. I don't really feel like I have, there's nothing in my life that I'm doing right now that I don't want to do.

Steve: Okay.

Ricky: Everything it is that I do on my day to day, I surround myself with people that do well with the companies that we've started. Really, the only thing that I'm really trying to work on is I'm trying to stay consistent with going to the gym, feeling better, trying to look better, and just trying to get again, being a little bit more well rounded. And I I have such a great team for that. Nick, which is my real estate partner, dude's a freaking model. He's shredded.

And to see him every day and to go to to see how, like, just structured he is with his meals and his meal plans, and every single day he eats the same thing. I've never met anyone like that. I'm a creature of habit not like that. He eats the same thing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for years.

Steve: Oh my God.

Ricky: And it's just like, he eats like six eggs, three potatoes. I kid you not dude. And you look at him and you're like, what the heck? Three potatoes, turkey bacon, bell peppers, all this stuff. He gets a it's not a plate.

He does not eat on a plate. He eats on a tub. And he puts everything in there, he drowns it with ketchup, and then he just consumes it, and he eats so fast. And being able to have him as an example of like what I could be, it's just great to be like, Yeah, me try to be a little bit more consistent so I can, I'm not going to get there, but, just to feel better about myself. Yeah.

Steve: That's Yeah. That's awesome. So we've talked about a lot of your successes along the way. Yep. Were there any failures, you know, interesting, favorite, something you learned really big from?

Ricky: Not with real estate. One of the things that I'm really looking forward to is, and it sounds weird to say, I have not had any failures thus far in real estate, and I know it's gonna happen. It happens in any market. So I'm excited to make that mistake to really learn from it. We've been so blessed to be in, like, this bull market where every house we post for sale sells for above asking price.

Steve: But outside of real estate, I mean, your entrepreneurial journey.

Ricky: Correct. Trading, of course. Trading always has its drawbacks, especially as we transition from 2020 to 2021. We went from a bull market kinda to a nice little bear market, especially with tech and that pullback. Mhmm.

But nothing that I can't tolerate. I was very careful with my position sizes. As of right now. This week alone was an amazing week for me. You know, I'm pretty heavily invested in the market.

I have over a million, with just one of my accounts, and, it's been really enjoyable, though. I I really I love challenges, and I love how it feels when you come back from failure. Yeah. And the only thing right now is our dealerships. Two things.

On the real estate, one thing that we can work on is we're trying to create structure and being able to bring in more deals without our following. More structure to create an actual business out of it. Right? That's one thing that we're working on. The next thing is on the, car dealership, how important it is, to stay profitable consistently, especially with the ups and the downs of just the pandemic and people wanting to buy cars and how comfortable they are.

We have a nice rush when there's a stimulus check, and then shortly after, we sell, like, everyday cars. So, and then there's there's dry spells. But I grew up with my brother owning a used car dealership, so I'm very familiar with it. I just know I have the right partners for it that anytime there is any uncertainty, they put in the hours to, you know, get us through that rough patch. So nothing on my table that I'm necessarily too worried about as of right now.

Steve: Is there a book that you've gifted more than any other, read a whole bunch of times?

Ricky: No. There's Yeah. I'm probably the worst person to ask, when it comes down to that. Everything of those that I've learned is from experiences or from videos. So I've Yeah.

There's not been one book that I've read about real estate trading.

Steve: Is there a source you'd like to learn from?

Ricky: I

Steve: Like an, an idol mentor?

Ricky: Real estate? I have to say that I learned a lot from Lenny. Right? I was very motivated by the, mentality of Gary Vee. Right?

And one of the things that I was obsessive about when I was first getting started is, it had nothing to do with trading, but I loved hearing, like, Elon Musk's story. I love hearing, Mark Mark Zuckerberg's story, Warren Buffett. I would fall asleep every single night with my laptop in my dorm room, watching, some form of interview of them sharing their story, their successes, their failures, their come ups, how they've still to their certain point. Jeff Bezos, all of those. I just just it it it's great to be able to be someone that's doing well, but to know that there's that level to

Steve: that success. We could be doing.

Ricky: It's it really humbles you that, like, you're really still, you know, a drop in the ocean.

Steve: So the biographies Men Who Built America? No. Got to watch

Ricky: that. Okay.

Steve: You'll get fired up as I mean, there are a lot of things they did were completely horrible.

Ricky: Okay.

Steve: But, I mean, these were the richest men right in history.

Ricky: What what, platform is it on?

Steve: I think Amazon.

Ricky: Amazon? Okay.

Steve: Do you have Amazon or Netflix, but definitely it's not hard to find. But, I mean, when I watched it, I was, like, fired up for, like, a month.

Ricky: And I love those. I absolutely love those. I'll for sure watch it.

Steve: Alright. So think about what what are some last thoughts you wanna leave the listeners with? And I'm gonna make one just quick announcement. Guys, if you got value today, please like, subscribe, share this. It helps us reach more people.

What are some last thoughts you wanna leave the listeners with?

Ricky: Well, the people watching are most likely the people that obviously follow you or that follow me, right, as I after I repost this. And I think one of the biggest things is, if you wanna do well in any market, make sure that you're of value to the people that you're trying to connect with if you want them to act as a positive catalyst for your success. Right? To be there and to be attentive, you need there needs to be some form of, you know, not just give me everything and receive nothing. Right?

So I I'm excited for all the people that message you and that wanna learn more about real estate investing to see how they approach it. It's not just I wanna learn, everyone wants to learn. I wanna be successful, everyone wants to be successful. What is it that you can do that will be actually be of value, and how will they articulate that through that message? So, all the people watching that want to get certain whatever it is that I do, send a message, be effective, and I will, to the best of my ability, try to be of value for you to either help you, assist you, or guide you in the right direction.

If I have people messaging me about wanting to get into real estate, I'm just like, well, I'm still learning. How about you message Steve and, you know, connect with him? That is my biggest focus is, we're so well connected now in the entrepreneurial space Yeah,

Steve: we are.

Ricky: Where I never try to say that trading is the only way or the best way, not at all, right, to make money. And if I have people asking me about forex, should I do forex, should I do crypto, should I do stocks, you know, this is what I do. If you wanna pursue the other markets, all power to you. These are the people that I would suggest. Right?

And as long as you approach it with an open mind, you understand that there's risk to every opportunity in which you choose to take advantage of, but as long as you do it with the proper and right intention of enjoying what it is that you do, that you don't necessarily do it for the monetary aspect right away, I do have to say I do attribute a lot of my success to having that stability of that stable income because it allowed me to approach these different creative markets in a much more relaxed way, which provided me the luxury of time that allowed me to scale to the point of where it is that I am today. I pulled up working at Verizon Wireless as a 22 year old, at a McLaren MP4 12 c. This is before my course, before anything. I had my YouTube channel. I traded, and I was working full time at Verizon, actually part time at Verizon, and I was a full time student at a Corvette Z06 twenty fifteen that I bought and resold for $2,500 profit, and I bought a McLaren MP four twelve c off of a student from ASU, And I did that with another YouTuber, and I sold that one for $15,000 profit.

And I pulled up at my job part time, youngest person to be working there, and I didn't care about how much money I made when I worked at that job. All I cared about was utilizing every moment of my day to be productive. And if I can do, you know, it I didn't replace my job or quit my job until I could do something better with my time. Yeah. And that's, I think, what I would love to express through this podcast is if you actually want to do well in any market, put in the time, put in the effort, and don't be afraid to, you know, be creative to stand out, especially in today's very competitive, like, entrepreneurial market.

Steve: Very competitive, very noisy market.

Ricky: Of course.

Steve: Man, I wish I wish I could see the people's faces when you pulled up in the McLaren. So if someone wants to get a hold of you, send you a message, how do they do that?

Ricky: Just message me on Instagram. There's so many fake, Ricky Gutierrez Instagram accounts. I have one. I don't have I don't trade bitcoin, I don't trade crypto, I don't manage money for you, nothing like that. I have one account.

I have a 187,000 followers on Instagram. You can message me there. And if you're not on Instagram, you can find me on YouTube. I have nearly 1,000,000, subscribers, and from there you can connect to our free Facebook groups, our free Discord groups. Just know that we have so many free alternatives, just like in anything, right, there's so many free ways on how to get started.

There's a thing called paper trading, have you heard of it? Where it's fake money. It allows you to practice. Yes.

Steve: You'll learn, without losing money.

Ricky: Exactly. And with such accessible markets, I think it's the best thing anyone can do because it really allows you to focus on the important part and that's learning as you're going to make mistakes. So if you're someone that really wants to get started, send me a message and I'd love to connect that way.

Steve: Awesome. Thank you very much.

Ricky: Of course, Hen. I appreciate you having me. Thank you so much. Thank you

Steve: guys for watching.