Determined Society with Shawn French | Adversity & Mindset - Overcoming the Odds: Edgar Munoz’s Journey to Real Estate Success

Episode Date: April 11, 2025

From overcoming gang life and connections to becoming a successful entrepreneur in real estate, Edgar Munoz shares his incredible journey with Shawn French. In this episode, Edgar opens up about his past struggles, including surviving a brutal fight, his military service, and how determination pushed him to excel in real estate despite the odds. Learn how Edgar’s mindset and resilience shaped his path to success in Iron Valley Real Estate Prestige. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

There was this guy. He knew he couldn't beat me. He hired his homies. 50 bucks. He paid him to jump me. It didn't go well. They come at me. Teeth get knocked out. Oh, yeah. Look at that. I turned around and picked up my tooth. I walked to the hospital. I remember the nurse's face when I walked in the emergency room. She's like, okay. You need anything. Yeah. I'm here. You know, blood's coming out of my mouth. And I was like, yeah, I need you to put this back in my mouth. She's like, you need a dentist. And where's your mom? doing up until it's done i meet for the entirety i'm putting over time i'll be working just know i'm a go for mine because i earned it they watch and i know it's time i confirmed i confirmed it's a whole society determined determined what's up everybody welcome back to another episode of the determined society before i introduce today's amazing guests i want to invite you to hit the subscribe button on youtube spotify and apple podcast leave a written review after i've earned it would love to hear your

feedback on what you enjoy about the show and for something that you want to hear more of, please send me an email, shan.french at the Determined Society. And don't forget, guys, share the episode with someone you know, love and trust, who will get a lot out of this conversation. So today I have with me, Edgar Munoz. He is from Iron Valley Real Estate Prestige here in beautiful Virginia, and we're going to have an amazing conversation and hear about his story. Welcome to show, bud. Sean, thank you for having me. Yeah. It's a pleasure, man. It's been great to get to know you last couple days. Yeah. Been here, you know, you had a, you know, you came after my emotions with with your San Francisco sweatshirt

yesterday, you know. Who do you follow? I'm a Niner fan, dude. Yeah? Yeah, well, I mean, I grew up there. I grew up in the East Bay. Well, we had a brief conversation, right? And, you know, life is life and right?

Yeah, something happened. I think we all walked away. I didn't catch that. Yeah, I said, well, yeah, dude, it was chaotic. It was at the gym, right? Oh, yeah. Was that an Iron Asylum last night? Yes, it was.

What an amazing gym, by the way. Great, Alvin. Alvin and Kyle are stand-up dudes. I love their partnership because they're so different. They just compliment each other so well. Absolutely. You know, and this is the gym. Like, you know, there's big box gyms.

Nothing against them, right? But, you know, these individuals, they have four locations, and they want their people to show up. They price it at such a great price at 39 a month. And it's a trainer's gym, dog. It's like your dream. If you lift weights, free weights, they got the machines there, but plenty of space.

Yeah, dude. Christmas, I mean, New Year's comes around. It doesn't fill up. Of course not. I mean, it's 25,000 square feet. It's kind of really hard to fill up. Massive dog. But no, so that was fun last night.

But, yeah, listen, man, I totally understand. You know, it was chaotic there. We were moving in, I think we've been moving in like 9 million directions since Thursday when we got here. But dude, no, yeah, I'm from. I grew up in Concord, California. Okay. I was born in Walnut Creek. And, yeah, I grew up a Niner fan, man.

Like, as a Joe Montana, Jerry rides, John Taylor, Brent Jones, and Roger Craig era. I'm wearing the enemy's colors today. This looks more like a Dallas jersey, but I mean. You got some bipolar disorder going on. You had nine colors. You have, well, in the 80s, I mean, that's what I grew up watching, was the 49ers were dominant. Raiders were good also. And if you wanted to be a gang member, you were a Raider fan.

Yeah, that's the L.A. rules. Dude, scary shit ever. I'm going to tell you something. So back in junior college baseball, I was at Los Madonnell's college, I was my first juco. And part of the requirement there is you had to fundraise. But one of the ways we fundraise is we didn't go door to door for shit. But we were going to Raider games.

Okay. And being the event staff. Oh, okay. I thought I was going to lose my life one day, dude. So, you know, imagine, you know, we're the old stadium. Bro, in Oakland, right? Gone, yeah. In Oakland, yeah.

And so, you know, we would go and they would brief us and we'd have the stupid ass jacket on that no one respects. The moment someone sees an event staff guest, like, let's fuck with this guy, right? Right. So one day. When it comes to what your family eats and drinks, you know your choices matter. You're the expert because you know what fits your life. And getting it right starts with good information. That's why America's beverage company.

are sharing more information about our ingredients at good to know facts.org. No spin, no judgments, just the facts straight from the experts for more than 140 beverage ingredients. Visit good to know facts.org. I was placed on the third deck. And it was miserable. It's hot up. It was hot.

And you always like, hey, you can't be on the railing. Hey, you can't do this. Hey, you can't do that. And you can't turn around and watch the game. And this is after, you know, everybody's been pre-gaming outside. Oh, dude. Three hours of drink. And like you said, Raider fans are not like 49er fans or cowboy fans or they're like,

you don't want to mess with these people, dude, right? I mean, they could have been just out of San Quentin. You don't know. You don't know about those people. Sorry to profile Oakland Raider fans. Well, they're Las Vegas now. I'll say it for you, man. But, dude, God, man.

It was scary. So this one time, there was this guy. He was just like on the railing and like just spilling his beer. I was like, hey man, can you? I was like, listen, dude, I don't really want to be here, man. And I'm not here to tell you what I get. But I'm going to get kicked out of here if I don't say, hey, can you please remove yourself? Right.

Just feeling beer everywhere, dog. Like, cool, I have a good time. Back up a little bit. Like, whatever. I can't control it. But like, can you help me out? Hey, man, no problem. And he kind of looked at me.

It was like, no problem. But it was like, there's a problem. I'm like, oh, that kind of. Oh, that kind of. Oh, brother fucker, dude, this is not going to be good. So then, like, 20 minutes later, a female was doing the same thing. She had, you know, like, she wasn't fully dressed. And, you know, I didn't see, I looked and I'm like, and I was like, processing through my mind.

I'm like, okay, I tell her to move now. And I went like this to tell her to move. The guy goes, you piece of, oh, because she, because she's hot, because she's a girl, you're not going to tell her to move. I'm going to whip your ass. I'm like, oh my God. I'm like, dude. I'm like, no, man. I was just telling, I'm like, whatever.

And so, like, I had to, like, they literally had to move me spots because this guy was really wanting to fight me. Yeah, yeah, that alcohol gets in. I mean, that pride, right? Bro, it's crazy. And then, and then one time I worked the end zone or the, they call it the black hole. The black hole, yeah. They're out there just spitting at people and throwing crap.

Scary moments, dude. Yeah. I'd go tailgate. We'd have the Battle of the Bay. Mm-hmm. So I'd be there every year. Was the A's and the Giants? No, no, Battle of the Bay.

So I'd be there for the 49er Raider games. And we'd get there three hours prior, tailgate. And I'd always have like a big crew with us. Yeah. We travel well. And you got to be on your P's and Q's. You got to be careful, man. It's like the L.A. Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants.

Remember that guy that got beat up so bad? He's like a vegetable? I don't know if he's still alive or whatnot. But like, he was at the game, I think, with his family. Yeah, it was horrible. I mean, come on. Yeah, over a game. Yeah, over a game.

And, you know, and it's nice to go to the games and just you heckle people, whatever. Raider fans, I'm always like, you literally cross-dressed to come to this game. Yeah, like, relax, bro. Yeah, I mean, come on, what are you doing here? And you're tough? Yeah. I can't take you serious with all that makeup on your face. Dude, seriously, my uncle's a Raider fan.

I'm like, dude, you're pretty vanilla dog. Like, what are you doing, man? Like, really, what the fuck's going on? Yeah. You got some high heels in your freaking closet. Yep. But no, dude. So catch the audience up on who you are.

You know, obviously you're a veteran. Talk about your journey and how it led to real estate. So originally from born in San Diego, raised in Southern California, L.A. area, San Gabriel Valley. This is going to sound weird. But my dad was in the cartels before, you know, the cartels were. popular yeah he was an o g yeah yeah yeah so he he grew up in the area is durango mexico and that's

like sinoloa durango mazalan is the tri-states that how close is it to tijuana far far okay far so when you see the shows sinaloa durango it's the middle of mexico okay got it but they got to get through tijuana sure so he was connected through there all right okay but the reason And real estate sparked my interest because you got to do something with the money. Yeah. Oh. He had hotels. Yeah, he had hotels in Tijuana.

He had commercial real estate and Rosarito and Sonata. Yeah. And properties. So we would go literally and live at different properties depending on the year when I was with him. Wow. So I was old enough and I was lucky enough to watch and make all these moves. And he was like, you need to get into real estate. This will never end.

And because, like, all the stories, right, they're trying to get out of it. Yeah. And that's the seed. Okay. To real estate then. But grew up in L.A., not L.A., but El Monte, California. And then I moved to Sandimis.

Okay. So I go from El Monte, which is. gangs everywhere, all Mexicans, fighting against the Asian gangs. And then I moved to San Dimas. And if you're old enough, you remember, Bill and Ted's excellent adventures, that's San Dimas, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Culture shock for me.

Now I'm around all white business, upper middle class, rich, wealthy. How was that for you? Like, when you say culture shock, though, because I get it, right? It's not a good or a bad thing. It just is. It just is. So like, but what was that experience like and how did you adjust to it?

Well, grow, the adjustment was, I was still the cool kid because it's like, oh shit, there's this gangbanger in our school, right? Yeah. Were you a gangbanger? No. Okay. No, because my family was cartel-related.

Yeah. So we were the suppliers. I didn't, I don't make sense of it until later on. Where I was like, we had enough cousins and family. Sure. where we held our own, we didn't have to join anything. So we supplied and, you know, did everything on our own. But then I moved to Sandemus.

Now we're moving up, leveling up. Yeah. And still got to go to school. Now I'm in Sandemis and different demographics. Different everything. And to be frank, I was out there on my own. selling weed. Like that's what I did.

So I had a friend. He had a backpack, a locker room. I had my backpack and we'd be out there doing whatever we need to do. So, you know, what the cool thing was now, whereas I, in Almonte, I would sell somebody something in San Dimas. They're like, hey, man, well, you want to go smoke with us? And that's how I started making friends in San Dimas. So it was a culture shock because I'm around all these white guys, surfers, this, that, and the other. Just getting blazed with them.

It's fucking awesome. And then it's like, at the time, it was nickels and dimes. Yeah, dimes. Twomp sack, the twomp. So I'd sell them something. They're like, hey, man, you want to go smoke? Sure. Yeah.

Let's go. I just, so now you're selling it, but you're also. Now I'm networking, but now I'm going to these guys' houses and I'm looking at this different lifestyle. Yeah. And I'm learning business. And then I'm still dressed the way I am, but it's like, I don't fit in here. I'm still, it's still awkward. Right, right, right, right.

The identity isn't quite matching where you're at. yet. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. And I had a kid young. I was 16. Okay. So what I did was I got married early. I went to Arizona. I got married to get emancipated. Stratistically, so I could get my own place. Yeah. Yeah. So at an early age, me and my mom didn't have a good relationship. So I never got along, didn't really live in the house. But I was making my own money when I got my own apartment did everything on my own. What was the point of contention with you and your mom if you don't mind me asking? Man, it was rough. She got here at 11, no, she got here at 16 years old from Mexico. Her mom passed away when she was 11. I know this now, so I understand it a little bit more. Yeah, of course.

So all her, all brothers, all males, they live in, you guys have been to Cancun. It's just jungles. They lived out there. So they sent my mom over with my grandma who just passed away. Oh, man. And she was raised here. And similarly to me, I'm an only child, so I didn't have brothers and sisters. So she's here by herself being raised technically by her family, but it's not the same. You know, you can't go talk to your brother or your mom or your dad. So she didn't know how to really be a mom, I would say, as far as nurturing.

Yeah, man. And then my dad was out, so he was never home. He was out doing his trips, doing whatever. So growing up, I remember she was always working, right? So she's not around. What does she do? Man, I remember going back to Almonte. I remember being in the factories.

Well, they're not the sweatshops. Okay. Wow, man. So all the fake Gucci and everything. I was there. I was, I was a little kid, I'd be in the box, giving her a little tag. She's over there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

She worked there. She worked in cleaning. She was always working. Okay. She was never on the welfare system, never collecting. So, you know, mom. Yeah, man. Always working.

So we never had a relationship. Never got hugs. Damn. Even to this day, I don't think it's been fixed. You know, I give her a hug, give her a kiss. So she's still around? I pay for her house. I take care of her, man.

That's amazing, dude. So no matter what we had, I understand her upbringing. I can't hold it against her. Just like myself, I didn't have that real father figure or person to really raise me, like, to be a father. You know, let me ask you a question, man, because, you know, obviously we have different stories, but, you know, my mom's always been around. I didn't have a father figure in my life until I was nine. Okay. And me and my, he's my dad.

Like, that's my dad, right? I mean, we've had our shit. You know, we've gone years without speaking. And in fact, we recently reconnected again in September. And I'm taking it for what it is, man. You know, I still need my dad. I need my daddy. You know, it's like, you know, I've always,

it's been hard, right? Because we've disagreed on a lot of stuff. But I would not be where I am without that, man. Like, you know, I always had the level of determination and discipline deep rooted within me but that dude brought it out in me man he showed me how to work right he showed me and

you know the one thing like you I look at is like I understand it now you know like now I can have a better relationship with him because you don't hold it against them not anymore man it took me years to let it go I swear to you it was like fuck you let me show you yeah

but he was just trying to make me aware like look dude like all you really have right now is baseball what happens when it's done And I always told him, I was like, well, I have a good person out and I could talk to people. I was like, I ain't going to pay you. Yeah. Here we are. But he didn't know. That wasn't a thing back then, right? No, well, my dad, he, again, I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, but, like, he was gone.

You got to think he was a teenager. Forget me. I'm still living in the States. They got my own place at 16. This guy is leaving Durango, Mexico, Tijuana, Mexico. San Diego, San Francisco, doing all this trips before he was 20 or 18. Wild, bro. Wild.

Yeah, he was... Yeah, I just, I guess my question that before I got, you know, emotional there was how has the relationship with your mom, right, for what it is? And the fact that you didn't have your dad around, how has that impacted how you've become a parent and how you operate?

So my dad was a good father. And I'll bring this together. So my dad in his way, he tried to teach me business as far as moving money. And then also he did remarry. I have brothers and sisters. And we went camping. We went to concerts. We went to whatever.

Whatever he was doing, he made time for the family. Whereas my mom was always working all day, every day. And even on the weekend, she did Iron Valley. All the people here know her because she's always cooking, baking, doing things for small events. So she's here. She's here. Oh, man. She's here.

So when my dad died in 03, she, I was already gone in the military or whatever, but. that distance and that time healed a lot of stuff because now I get to think I'm not with her. I'm a grown man now kind of moving on my own. But then that curiosity gets the best thing. You're like, you and my mom, you and my dad meet. You know, why did you come to the States? I didn't even know my grandmother had passed away from cancer when she was 11. Like I didn't know these things.

Wow. So your mom lost her mom when she was 11 due to cancer. Right. Because she didn't have that mother nurturing. Not at all. That's why she didn't know how to give it. Right. So she was raised by men.

Yeah. And so she would just be my ass whenever something. Got masculine energy, man. Right. Yeah. So to the point where at when I was a teenager, we kind of squared up. Like, look, you're not going to hit me again. Yeah.

Like I'm done with this shit, right? Yeah. And I apologize for all those things. Of course. And that's how it kind of started. Once I came back, I was like, Mom, you just have to have that conversation, I understand. Yeah. Yeah.

I have to be the bigger man and say, I get it. Yeah. You know, I'm not going to hold this against you. And although we haven't had those deep conversations because she is just in her ways, just that's what she is now. So she is, man. She can't change it now. No, no.

And then I'm the only child. So what I did was I have the grandkids. I got her a house here. So instead of paying a daycare center or whatever, throwing my money, and throwing my money away over there. I said, how about I get your house? Yeah, I'll pay your mortgage, pay the bills. It's gonna cost me the same.

Yeah, exactly, and you're here. And you're here. And you ain't gonna work if you don't want to. Where do you wanna go every year? I take on trips and whatever. Yeah. And that's how we're kind of making up time right now. Good, man.

And she's all into the kids. And then, well, going back, let me just say, I joined the military at 18. Okay. traveled the world had a great time got to travel before 9-11 good for you different world right yeah 9-11 happens then afghanistan iraq did all those deployments i got out in 07 met my wife who i'm with now but didn't get to get into real estate because i was always moving every two to three years because of the military because of the military right of course we went to japan because my

My wife's also active duty. She's still active duty? She got out. She just retired two years ago. Okay. She went from, we went for Japan, moved to Virginia. This was her last duty station. So now I could really go get my license.

Yeah. Go get into real estate, something I've been yearning and wanting to do. And for six months was shit. I didn't tell the goddamn thing. I bet, dude. So let's talk to the audience. And I want to address the audience really quick because that's a great point. Like when we build something and we start a new career or entrepreneurial journey, like, I don't care what anybody says.

Like, yet real estate agents, do they are entrepreneurs, right? Now, they're not selling their own product, right? But they are, they, they eat what they kill, man. Like that is the true definition of entrepreneurship, right? But, but guys, it's not going to be this quick escalation of success. You know, you cannot expect, you know, I always, I said this to somebody the other day. It's not the easy bake oven, man. It's not the easy bake oven to success.

And he died laughing. He's like, did you make this shit up? I was like, I did. But, like, everybody wants that quick, I'm going to be a realtor. I'm going to sell a house within a month. Like, it just doesn't work like that. No. How did you work through it?

It's far and in between of those people that do make it that first year or like the first year success. What I will say is you hear about the open house strategies, the marketing, the flyers, all that. The guerrilla tactics, if you will. fluff, yeah. That you have to go out and get it versus attracting business. There's two different things. So what I was doing is exactly that.

I was door knocking. I was hosting open houses. Okay. What about the minute things? What if I do get to talk to somebody? Are they qualified to buy? Nobody. So joining the right firm or the right mentor or whatever team is crucial those first two years.

Sure. to learn all those things because even if I did talk to you and you did want to buy a house, what's the lender, what kind of loan program can I assist you with? Yeah, exactly. I have no clue. You've got to be more of a consultant, right?

Like, be able to like, now when you speak to somebody, hey, are you working with a lender? Have you been pre-qualified? Do you know what your budget is? Right? What's the top in? What's the loan? What are you looking for?

Yeah. I mean, in the beginning, it's like, oh, yeah, I got $100k in the account. I could buy a house right? Sure you can. Sure you can. Proof of funds. Exactly, yeah.

You're too embarrassed to ask those type of questions, those probing questions in the beginning when you're new. Yeah, and so I didn't have those skills. Yeah, so now if someone said, hey, I got $200 grand in the bank, I'm ready to buy it. All right, cool. So, hey, so I'm going to go, tell me what you want. I'm going to find it within a day or two.

And then we're going to go buy a house, right? Yeah, yeah. Hey, look. Well, well, are you ready to buy, right? Yeah, what's your criteria? Look, I look this up while I'm doing this, email me your proof of funds. Yeah.

Boom. See you. Let's get this thing going. Yeah. Or, and now it's, send me a screenshot. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, but like, but that's the thing, right?

As you build those skills, you didn't have those first six months. You probably didn't have them the first year. But as you start to elevate your education and your knowledge over the next year or so, year or two, those things start to happen, right? You get in a better cadence. You get in a better, you know, pattern of conversation with people. You know what I mean? And it starts to grow pretty quickly at that point.

Yeah. And my aspirations. were always to own a real estate company, be a broker. So I did have those aspirations early on. And a team, I caught the eyes or what I did was I strategically would host open houses on a vacant house that was staged. And there was a team that was basically had these flips and they would stage them. Coincidentally, I did multiple open houses at their properties.

and they're like, shit, Edgar, you work harder than our team members. Won't you join us? So they recognized my value, my work ethic. Just doing what I do throughout my whole life was just consistently working, which I think my mom. Yep, yep. Your mom was just trying to survive, dude. Yeah. It wasn't a thing where she didn't want to be around you.

No. You know what I'm saying? She was trying to support me. Yeah, she's trying to support you. She, you know, your dad and her split. And, you know, like, that's life. And she had to do what she had to do, man. Yeah.

She didn't get anything for my dad as far as compensation. Now, I did get in trouble every now and then. And then he'd have to pay the fines. He did help there. But, yeah, that's how I initially got into real estate. And then my success came from those teams that I, or that team that I joined. And they taught me how to talk to people over the phone and convert. and get him to a lender or figure out solutions on, you know, just scenarios that are just kind of out of the box.

Yeah, man, specialty loans, like whatever it takes, right? Then they have, like, the USDA loans. They have, like, the VA loans. I mean, we're heavy VA loans, but at the time it was a different market. Somebody owes $4,000 on a car and they got a $400 payment. I could pay that off with the VA loan, you know, if I negotiated. So I could not only get your closing costs, it's like, well, now you could actually afford this house for 350 if we pay off your car. Wow.

Hey, seller, your house has been on the market for 30 days. How about you give us $9,000 and $4,000 and we take this off your hands right now? Pay off the deal and then to qualify. So little things like that would help or our little rehab loan, right? Like, oh, you want to move into this community, but you could only afford $350, but you can only afford $350, what you? you want to get into a $400,000 community, well, we could just buy this crappy home and get you the rehab loan.

That's just crazy, dude. So then the rehab loan, you're able to... There's different types. The 203K loan, I would say, is the most popular. But, yeah, I would utilize that. And one of my first agents was actually my client that when I started a team and we got him a house for $150,000.

He put $80,000 into it through the loan. Oh, wow. He sold a years later for like 510. Not years later. It was like maybe two years later. Wow. So double this money. That's great.

And that's where I take pleasure. Is that your favorite thing about real estate, seeing people win? How? Yes. I mean, in general, seeing people win. I don't get moved by money. If you talk to the guys, I don't wear jewelry. I don't drive the flashiest car or anything like that.

It's the mission. Yeah, man. What do we need to do? And if I believe in it, like, yeah, man, I'm on with it. Let's do this. It's so funny because, like, I'm the same way. I mean, I do have a nice vehicle, right? Right.

I have a TRX. It's my dream car. Oh, dope. I love. Well, I'm into old schools. Yeah, okay. That's cool. Yeah.

You got throwing some hydros on that? Yeah, that's the L.A. thing. Okay. Okay. Not going to throw hydrologics. But no, like, so I drive a nice vehicle, right? We have a nice house. But, like, for me, like, you know, these are my nicest pair of shoes.

you know, I don't wear and people say like, hey dude like, when are you going to get a Rolex? When are you going to get a brightling? I go, never? Because like, dude, like, honestly, like, I just not me. Like, I could have $5 million in the bank account and this is just not me.

I would rather like spend on experiences with my family. Yeah. Or put it back into my show and go on more road trips and interview interesting and amazing people because what I found is a lot of the, you know, the A-list people will, will want to be interviewed, but like, you got to go to them. Like, that's awesome.

Like, that's an experience. Yeah, they're valuing their own time. Yeah. I mean, dude. You were just talking about it. I mean, I'm not going to lie. I mean, Michael Bert did say he rinses jet sometimes. So, like, I might be, I might have to take my team on the jet one time.

Yeah. You know, but like, it just, like, that kind of stuff, like, for me, like, I'm not a big flashy dude. I'm just some dude from Concord, California that grew up in the fucking ghetto that used to run home. So he didn't get his ass kicked by the, by the, by the, by the, bloods. Okay. I mean, I was a dork, dude. Okay. One of the hyper-colored shirt, you know, the one that changed colors or the turlneck made, shitty ass mullet, and then like the vanilla ice lines. Oh, wow. Yeah, bro. I mean, like, I look back, I said to my parents, I'm like, why'd you let me do that? Right. But no, but that's

the thing, man, when you come from humble beginnings, like we, you know, and I didn't realize that I grew up in the ghetto when I was growing up in the ghetto, right? I knew that there were some seriously dangerous people at my middle school, and even that was life. But that was just life, man. That's just how we had to deal with it back then. Well, there was stupid rules that I grew up with. Like, don't touch the shells on the ground. Like, because you don't want your fingerprints on it.

Like, you see random shells. You don't touch them. That's a kid. Like, they teach you that. Like, you're learning this where I'm wrong. That was a rule. Like, it's funny. Like, I remember one time, I got, I, after school, fifth grade, this guy, Ken Kourouvin.

God rest his soul. He passed, I think, probably, I don't know how long ago. but you know he he was he was in that life you know he was he was a fighter man he was the toughest kid and so he could throw hands and he ended up you know spending time in san quentin which is like one of the dangerous persons on the planet and um you know um ended up um i i don't want to say how he how he passed right i think it was self-inflicted but um probably maybe six i don't know how it's like six six years ago and it was sad it was sad but i remember one time i fifth grade i got a fight with my good friend brandon o'shay what's up brandon we got in a fight remember

that shit dude remember that shit and um you know he called my my girlfriend a dog right he's like oh he's like oh he's dog and it turned out like he actually had a crush on her right want me to break up with her name was jacqueline i can't remember her last name my wife coincidentally my first girlfriend name was jacqueline my wife his name is jacklin the damn jackies bro get me so um we ended up squaring up at uh you know in fifth grade and i hit him once and you know his nose blood and it was really cold right so i got blood all over my sweats yeah and i go into my teacher i'm terrified i'm a sweat my sweat my sweat like me and brandon got in a fight i'm sorry like whatever we need to do like i've got blood all over me and um you know that day you know started circling around fifth grade

that king caroubin wanted to beat my ass because he saw he's like he's like oh you knocks now you're a threat now I'm going to show you where you're at and so I remember I was so terrified right waiting for that I ran to my car like my mom my dad I thought my mom was picking me right my dad I ran the car he's like why are you running just go go go go go and King Coruban comes up

he goes that dude trying to fight you I go get the fuck out of the car I go uh-uh he goes get the fuck out of the car I go uh-uh he goes get the fuck out trust me and I got out and Ken's like let's go I'm like why and then it never happened it never happened right it never happened but like I'll never forget that like you know my dad's like get out yeah you're gonna you're gonna face this and I didn't realize then is it's it's a gift right you know yeah I think uh I would say 90% of people cannot match the energy sometimes And I learned that young, to your example right there.

So early on, I started fighting. We would throw on gloves. So I was a good, good fighter. And to the point where, you know, your first fight, if you've ever had a fight young in elementary school or whatever, you kind of black out. You don't remember what you did. By the time I was in high school, I saw every punch, everything.

And I did boxing lessons. at a gym by my house. But there was this guy. He knew he couldn't beat me. He was this gang or whatever. He hired his homies, 50 bucks. He paid him. To jump you.

To jump me. It didn't go well. I got word that were going to wait for me. But again, a little bit different because I told my friend, I was like, no matter what happens, that guy that paid him, just fuck him. Yep. Don't worry about me. I just want him.

him. So it happens. They come at me and again, this is just a different level of mindset that I was in by then, you know, with the type of life I was in. So it's going to happen. It's going to happen. They threw the first punch. Missed me. God got the first guy. And it's only so much you can do with three guys. Yeah. So we we box it out. Teeth get knocked out. Oh yeah. Look at that. So that's where I lost my teeth. Damn, bro. How old were you? 14.

14 at that time. Damn. Lost my teeth. School buses. Everybody's watching. Some of these guys are not from the school. I did not knock me out. They had me against the fence.

I fought as long as I could. But after it was over, people are running, you know, the school guards, whatever. My friend threw me a shirt and I just kind of wiped it off. I just kind of blended into the crowd real quick. I turned around and picked up my tooth. Oh, my. There was one tooth that I found. Yeah.

So it's laying there. You know, have you ever seen a tooth? Yeah, the root. They're long. Yeah, they're big, man. I saw it on the ground. I picked it up. And I just started walking.

This is how young and ignorant I was or just not, didn't know shit. I walked to the hospital. Walk to the hospital. And have you ever seen Martin, like, you see the face also. That's probably what I look like. Because I remember the nurse's face when I walked in the emergency room. She's like, okay. You need anything?

Yeah, I'm here. You know, blood's coming out of my mouth. And I was like, yeah, I need you to put this back in my mouth. Like, that's what I did. But put me to sleep. That's what I did. She's like, you need a dentist. And where's your mom?

Working. Yeah, this is not the cell phone days. You know, this is 94. 994. So, yeah, that's the life I lived. And, like, just taking care of myself, right? Like, I'm going to walk myself to the hospital, and they're going to put this tooth back in my mouth.

And it doesn't cause money, by the way. Like, it's a freaking Lego, right? Like, dude, this is interesting. And so the audience right now is why thinking, like, how does this apply? Well, it applies one billion percent to what he does now and why he's so successful. So tie the two together, right?

That life to what you do now. Yeah, so the fear. Okay. The fear. Although even in the military, I work with weapons. Those things could blow up. I could die. Yeah.

Same thing living that life. I was in fear until I was not. And it's like, what's the worst thing I could happen, right? And we were talking about earlier, all the traveling is like First World Problems. It's like door knocking. What's the worst they could say no? Like that is not in fear of my life. Yeah.

Like I lived a different lifestyle that the fear of somebody hanging up on me telling you no, I'm not interested. Get the fuck out of my family. You know, all those, all those rejections, that is not in me. I've been through a lot worse. Like that, a simple objection, it's just funny to me. It's just like people are so scared. They call it an analysis paralysis.

Yeah, paralysis by analysis. Just to pick up the phone and dial and nobody's going to answer that phone call. Well, because here's the thing, dude. like, I love what you're saying right now because people feel, well, I don't, hold on, they attach an emotion to a task. Yes. It needs to be an emotionless move. Like, you know, if I have something that I think that you would benefit from, I have to remove

the emotion from it. I say, hey, Edgar, look, dude, I can help you with this. Are you interested in talking about it? And you say, no, I go, okay, well, is it not alignment or you just, is this a bad time? Yeah. It's not a good time. When's a better time? Yeah. And it's like just remove the emotion. Yeah. And it's a call. So when I would call you, you, let's just any kind of cold call, it's just like, hey, French. I saw you're looking at our properties. What's up?

Yeah. That's how I called you. Dude, I love it. I love it. That's it. It was not like, hey, I saw you. I'm so-and-so from Iron Valley real estate. Yeah. Are you, no, I'm just like, hey, French. Yeah, I love that. That's how you're looking at a property. Because if you called me, if you called me randomly, hey, French, what's up, man? I just you were looking at some properties, how can I help you? Wait. How do you know my name? That's the first question.

Wait a second. Who is this? Oh, this is so-and-so from Iron Valley Real estate. Why did you call me French? And then you would say, I don't know, man, it's just me. Oh, well, it's the area. Context, hold on a second. So when I was trained, by the time I see your name, I'm going to Facebook to talk you.

I see your prior military. Most of us go by our last name's in the military. Because I'm not going to call you Sean. No, and I wouldn't want you to. But my point is if someone, if one of these people trying to get my business, when I answer the phone, this is Sean, French, what's up? Like, I'd be like, dude, okay. Like, even if I don't know this person, they already know me. Mm-hmm.

Right? So I just think that's a more authentic way to handle something. Now, again, guys, don't be calling your prospect. Like, yo, McGinnis, what's up? But like if you, it has to flow well. It does. And read the room, right? That's what you hear.

So we are here, Virginia Beach, Hampton Roads. Yeah. Heavy military times. Yeah. Yep. More people are going to talk like me. Mm-hmm. And relate to me.

Yep. Because that's the way we talk. I love it, dude. That's great. So that's 90% of the people that I'm researching because all I would do was take your name, social media, nothing is a secret anymore. No. I'll just go to your page.

Oh, prior military or married to a military or not. And then I know which way to carry the conversation. If I was going to be VA loan heavy, I know which way to go. That's one of the things that drives me crazy, though, dude, to be honest with you, is like, is the other end of it, right? Like, we live in a day and age of technology. Like, when these people on Instagram try to, you know, get my business, like, you look at my page, what do I do? Yeah. Podcast, right?

Yeah. They'll send me a message. Hey, man, do you have a podcast? Delete. Like, are you that lazy? Are you that lazy? So we live in a world where you could literally pretty much find almost everything about me, like go in and type in the search engine in Google, Sean French, the Determined Society. It'll give you everything.

So chat GPT me. There you go. Everything. Show me effort. So when me and my partner, so Eric Edwards, who was in California. Shout out to Eric Edwards. Yeah, you're opening up, you're expanding out there. So we opened up Iron Valley Realist.

state prestige, right? So there is the realtor side, non-realtors side. We're on the non-realtors side. Because there was, we're in a unique situation here where the rain MLS system is not privately owned by the realtor. So we have the option to do either or. Okay. Half the agents here are not. So we, we have something they need. Let's open up the brokerage. Yeah. So we opened up Iron Valley real estate prestige. I'm principal broker of the place. And I get calls constantly to be recruited to other firms. I bet. But I mean, I'm the broker. Owner. Broker owner. Like principal broker, dude. My other partner is an owner. You can go to my social media and you'll see us Iron Valley Strong. Yeah. I think Iron Valley Strong. Iron Valley this. That the other owners. We did something.

What anyways, what I'm getting at is exactly what I did before, you could literally go to my page, just scroll down and see that I am the principal broker owner of this company. Yeah. And you're still calling me, which shows me you did nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Why would I leave what I own to go be a number somewhere else and build your rampart?

Yeah. So, I mean, like the last one, it's, I looked at the brokers. I'm literally sitting there and they called me. I got a name and name, but they have 20 agents. I was like, hey, no, serious question. It's the recruiter. Please turn around and talk to your owner, and I will take your company on. Shut it down, get rid of the overhead.

All the headaches will be in a broker. I'll bring the 20 agents, and I'll charge you a flat rate every month. $3.99 for your whole team. What they say? I'll note it. No, don't note it. Yeah, no, ask. Ask.

Yeah. I've had on my calendar to call the guy today. You do. You'll be like, hey, man, look, I know you're out here recruiting. You only got 28. Let's get rid of that over. Yeah. Yeah, come on.

Just come and join us. We got all the systems, all the training. Training, everything. Like family, bro, community. Yeah, bring it on over. Yeah. I don't mind that you called me. That's great, dude.

But to your point with technology, like, you could have just simply just looked on my Facebook page and saw that. Yeah. I'm an owner. Love it, man. With over 100 agents for that firm. 100 agents, dude. Let me ask you a question. man as we kind of you know dive into the end of the show and by the way it's been amazing having this

conversation with you i love real life conversations learning about people but also tying in how that upbringing like your mom your dad you know the fighting how it made you the entrepreneur that you are now i think that's freaking so interesting and i i just hope that people are out there listening right now is like well if he's that if he's done it then why can't i right but the last question i want to ask you is Well, one of the last questions is this is the determined society, right? And I created this platform because my dream and my wish is to wake up in a society that people chase, they were determined to chase their dreams and their goals no matter how they felt emotionally every day. So no matter what, they were going to move just a little bit towards that goal. What does determination mean to you?

It's that obstacle. You're going to hit a wall. No matter what you do, you're going to hit a wall. And that's where that second gear needs to come in. It's in there. It's in everybody. Sure it is, man. It doesn't have to be physical.

It could be just, it's really mental. Sure it is. It's all mental. Yeah. And whatever that is, it's like, it's just one day at a time. That's all it is. The daily task you're doing today is for that future accomplishment you want to get to. So don't focus on the angle.

that you're not gonna make it. No, just focus on finishing that day up. I love it, dude. And that's a great point, man. And for the audience listening, it's like, if you feel like quitting, I heard this somewhere,

I wish I could cite where I heard, it's not my, it's not proprietary. I always preface that because I don't want people, say it like, he took that for me. Right.

Hey, I heard that over there. It's not mine. But like, if you feel like quitting, just finish that one day. That's it. Quit tomorrow. Make that decision tomorrow.

Quit tomorrow. And then the next day, Is to like quitting? Finish that day. Right? Because I cannot tell you, there's been multiple times where I've wanted to stop. Yeah. So yesterday we had the bike.

I forgot the name of the bike. Well, it's called an assault bike. Well. And that's what it looked like it felt like. It was crazy. So Betsy Vega is one of my agents. I love her. Betsy Vega, I wanted her to finish that.

I know. I was, she didn't want to. She didn't want to because she's growing. I'm grooming her and she has an emotional growth that needs to happen. But that was a great challenge for her. She, I think she wanted to quit like eight different times.

Yep. I know. I think we physically kept her on the bike at some point. But you know what it's going to do? That's going to help her business. Yeah. Because she's like, I can do hard things.

I did this salt bike. I can finish this. And as much as people want to think nothing, that's not connected, it is. It is. It's a discipline. It's super.

it's discipline, it's a sense of pride, a goal, like, like, yeah, I finished it. If you would have quit with 20 calories left or whatever it was. You're leaving on the table, man. Like you did all this shit.

You're still in pain. Yeah, you're still in. You're going to hurt anyway. In the military, we say you're in the shit. Like, you're in it. Just keep doing. Yeah. No, I adore her. She reached out to me, you know, prior to me coming and, oh, okay. Tacked me in some stories and I'm like I like this person you know and yeah I just think that she's going to be a star

for you for sure um and she you can tell she's in a growth pattern right now and it's it's a beautiful thing to see man it's a first year in real estate she closed over 20 transactions so not a slouch not and she gets and she gets her own business and there's an emotional growth there that needs to happen where um don't let your emotions get the best of you yeah you know and especially in the real estate world, stick to the contract and the processes. Yeah. And you'll be okay. Yep.

You know, in the military, we say, you know, there's all these rules and everything and everything was rent and blood. A lot of these rules were there because they're written in blood. In real estate, it's the opposite. It's everything was rent because of lawsuits. Yeah, man. So stick to the contract, learn it inside out and stick to your process. You'll be okay.

Love it, man. I love everything you guys are doing here. You guys are movers and shakers. You guys are my people. And this has been such an enriching experience to be up here in Norfolk and Virginia Beach to get to know every one of you guys. Like you guys have it figured out. Like you guys are grinders. You do what you need to do.

Super disciplined. And you guys are taking everything that you learned in the service as far as deadlines and systems. And you're bringing it over here to the community. And I just, I just tell you, man. I just am so freaking impressed by all of you. That's no, like no bullshit. No, no. And thank you.

Like I appreciate that. And honestly, I really appreciate that. appreciate the time you've taken because I've seen you guys I've been watching you guys obviously work that man a.m. to p.m. with us so we went from yesterday I think the first show was at 830 and we didn't wrap until 10 15 last night yeah nine shows in two days yeah crazy and and not it's wild breaking down equipment and moving the equipment and setting up again and my team grip media yeah they're shout out to those guys I my wish for every show is that they have somebody like them.

Yeah, everybody needs to have those people. They remind me to eat. Like they, you know, they're my people, man, their family. And yeah, so get you got someone like them or get them. Yeah, they believe it. Yeah, exactly. They believe in it. Oh, yeah, absolutely.

And it's their business. Nobody is going to care more about your business than yourself. So don't get offended when the people aren't doing what you want to do. Well, do, thank you so much. I appreciate you, Edgar. Listen, guys, I want to remind you. Find you to hit subscribe, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts. We grow the show and we get to do amazing things like this because of you guys

watching and pouring into the show and letting us know what you want to hear. So please share the show with someone you know, love and trust like I asked at the beginning. And don't forget to leave a review. I want to hear what you think. But until next time, guys, stay determined. I'll be working, just know I'm a go for mine, because I earned it. They watch and I know it's time. I confirmed it.

A whole society determined, determine.