From Marine to Millionaire: Edgar Zavala's Bold Journey | Edgar Zavala DSH #1114

Have you ever seen those windmills?

Yeah, the big ones, right?

The big windmills?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

They're 300, 500 foot towers.

I will climb three of them a day, six days a week.

Like I said, right, you, I like challenges.

You weren't scared.

No, I said, if I can get, if I'm gonna get out the service, I was like, I gotta do something.

I'm not gonna be a bartender, you know, be security.

I said, I'm gonna do something big that's gonna change my life forever.

Man, I don't know if I'm gonna keep doing this after the first one.

Is that quick?

Yeah, exactly.

I was like, my body couldn't really take it at that point, you know.

So, damn

Edgar Zavala here today.

We're going to talk life insurance and Marines and your journey, man.

Thanks for coming on.

I appreciate it.

Thanks so much, Sean, for having me on.

It's a pleasure and it's an honor.

And I feel blessed.

Absolutely.

Being on here.

Long way from Brooklyn streets, huh?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Yeah, you know, I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.

And I mean, the journey that I've had from...

growing up in Brooklyn to now, I mean, it's, I can make a whole movie out of it, you know?

So,

yeah, raised by a single mother and I've seen her work super, super hard.

And I just, I was tired of seeing her work super, super hard.

So I said, I got to do something.

I decided to join the military to get out of Brooklyn.

And I've had a big story since then.

And now I'm here.

So did you join because you were in poverty conditions and you wanted to?

Yeah, well, I saw my mother.

I mean, you know, I grew up with a single mother.

So I saw her just, you know, working constantly, constantly breaking her back and barely putting food on the table.

And, you know, as a kid growing up, I didn't, I couldn't put it together.

Like, why am I, you know, I see my mother always gone and when she comes back that's the only time i can spend time with her after i get out of school but yeah we barely have stuff in the fridge or on the table and i got tired of it i didn't know what i wanted to be growing up you know like most kids you know you don't know what you want to be right i wanted to be growing up but i i told myself i want to be a the first uh baseball playing astronaut i said i would tell myself all the time i said i'm gonna be the first and then obviously right you know that's kind of like out there so But what I would do is I would still apply to colleges.

I was a good student, you know, get good grades from my mom.

And, but I knew right away, I was like, college is not for me.

I got to do something different and give back and create fulfillment in myself.

So the military was like the number one thing that I said, you know what?

I kept seeing the commercials, like the few and the proud.

Yeah.

Those were legendary.

Yeah, those, those commercials.

So, so that's what got me.

And I was like, yeah, I can see myself being a Marine.

Yeah.

Enlisted, went behind my mom's back to enlist.

Oh, you didn't tell her?

No, I didn't tell her.

Why?

Well, I didn't tell her because one, obviously, like, you know, most moms, they, they, they hear the military and they think, oh, my son's going to, you know, go out there to war and it's it's going to die and all this stuff and all this paranoia.

And I didn't want to put her through that stress because she was already working super hard.

So

I said, let me just do what I have to do,

take care of myself because if I take care of myself first,

she's going to be in a better position afterwards.

So I talked to a recruiter

the entire time before I graduated high school.

Went to the recruiting station.

I would tell my mom, I'll be at baseball practice or like hanging out with my friends, but I'd be at the recruiting station working out, getting prepared for boot camp.

And then when I got my high school diploma, boom that's on the recruiter my mom I told the

recruiter told my mom and she was she was upset I should say that she was definitely really upset and uh I was I was on the went to boot camp the following month in July of 2016.

Wow.

So pretty quick after you graduated.

Yep.

One month.

So you didn't have time to like.

No, no.

I was like, look, let's put me on the next bus or the next boat, the next ship, whatever you can do for me to go ahead and go out there and ship out a boot camp.

I want to take over.

I want to do it.

Wow.

Yeah.

How was boot camp?

well boot camp was a whole story that's a whole you ever seen full metal jacket no you ever seen that movie full metal jacket no it's a movie about like you know people going through boot camp and like what people have it's like in the beginning when they're boot camp it's pretty funny it's like comedic of like the things that drill instructors do to uh you know like recruits and stuff like that

and uh afterwards it shows their journey after they get out of boot camp and what they go through like mentally physically and and how they come back and tsd and stuff like that but i would say boot camp was a wild wild adventure.

I mean, I couldn't put it all in one, you know, nutshell.

Yeah.

Crazy, crazy stuff.

Let's just put it like that.

You saw a lot of guys dropping out, right?

Yeah, there was a lot of guys dropping out.

A lot of guys at night would like be crying.

Damn.

Yeah, because, you know, Marine Corps is three months.

You're three months away from your family.

So you're in, you know, I think the Marine Corps is the longest boot camp out of all the branches.

That's what they say, you know, the Marine Corps is the hardest, right?

And that's what I wanted.

I wanted the hardest one.

I said, look, if I'm going to join the military, I don't want Army.

I don't want Navy.

I don't want Air Force.

I give all respect to those guys, but I want the Marine Corps.

Wow.

And guys would cry at night.

And, you know, I was just like, you chose this.

Let's just do it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So there was a lot of dropouts and a lot of people that just couldn't make it.

Damn.

Did you always have that mindset of you want challenging stuff?

Always.

Always.

Since I was a kid, I always wanted to be challenged.

I always wanted bigger things in life.

I just felt like there's just, there's just more to life than just following the constant narrative of like, you know, what they tell you is, hey.

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Just go to school, get good grades, go to college, get good grades, follow the path, get a nine-to-five, get a corporate job, and just cosine by and then work until you're 60-something and hopefully you get to enjoy life.

I was like, no, I'm on this earth.

Life is very, very short.

I need to do something.

I need to make a legacy for myself.

My last name needs to mean something.

You know, earlier you said, hey, you know, there's not a lot of Edgars, right?

I want to get Edgar on the map, but I always want to do something that can push me and

push my character and elevate me to the next level.

I love that, man.

Yeah.

That's baller.

Yeah.

We'll dive into the business shortly.

Did you end up getting deployed um so i got stationed out overseas in japan so i never got deployed but i got stationed out overseas it was pretty funny because um we have a thing called mos school so it's like when it trains you to get into your actual to get into the fleet right to do your to do your job so i was a diesel mechanic um in the military and uh so pretty much it's like infantry and right under infantry in the marine corps is is uh motor t right diesel mechanic so i was with infantry as well but in mos school I remember because it was pretty funny.

They would ask us like, hey, who wants to be at, after the MOS school?

Who wants to go East Coast?

Who wants to go

West Coast?

Who wants to go overseas?

And it's like a big class of us, right?

And they gave us a sheet with three options, East Coast, West Coast, overseas.

And

they're like, pick where you want to go after to get out the MOS school.

And I'm like, well, I mean, I joined the military to do something big, right?

Like.

I want to go do something.

I want to travel the world.

I want to take over.

And I picked overseas.

And I guess come to find out, almost my entire class picked like the states east coast and west coast and they picked where they wanted to be um when it came to like uh what's close to their family

and and then you know a couple like the days later the instructors came back and they said all right we have news for you guys um

everybody's going overseas

we all started laughing i'm like i'm the only one happy right and then um they're like all right and uh we have uh zavala because they call you by last name right we have uh zavala you're gonna go to kent fuji japan which is mainland japan right like say two hours from tokyo so i got the best duty station out of all dudes everybody else got sent out to um okinawa and you know the marine corps when you say oki okinawa is like um it's like an island right outside of japan

and uh there's a lot of military bases but the locals don't like the the military because of the world war yeah big well also because of that but because there's so many bases that um

Marines are constantly everywhere.

So you have Okinawans.

They don't call themselves Japanese.

They call themselves Okinawans.

They're just outside the base, just always protesting.

In mainland Japan, though, they love us.

They call us Gaijing.

Gaijing is foreigners.

They love us out there in Canfuji.

So I got the best duty station.

It was fun.

I was by Mount Fuji.

You ever been to Japan?

No, I've heard great things, though.

Yeah, Mount Fuji is like that big, big mountain.

I've heard of it.

I got to hike it.

I got to hike it.

And so.

Yeah, I heard the food's great there.

The people are nice.

The food's amazing.

I would say that

their diet is way, it's just way better.

Yeah.

Like, it's so clean.

They lived, I think, one of the longest out of all the countries.

Yeah, for sure.

I mean, I could tell because, like, even when I went to go get fast food, when I went to McDonald's, I mean, even their McDonald's

is not even like our McDonald's.

I felt like I was on a diet eating at McDonald's.

And then

they're large as our small.

And I'm like, what?

What is this?

Right.

I thought I came here to eat some greasy food, some McDonald's, right?

You can't even eat unhealthy there.

Yeah, exactly.

So, so, but yeah, their sushi is amazing.

The food's amazing.

The ramen.

I'm a big anime fan, right?

So so i grew up watching naruto oh yeah so we gotta talk about anime real quick i love anime naruto is one of the best shows of all time the first time i ever cried to a show was on naruto

yeah absolutely i agree 100 i mean it's an amazing story and what i love about anime is that it allows you know people who are young and even just adults to understand the the the journey of a hero or the underdog right and that it takes courage it takes bravery it takes determination dedication it takes the fact of not quitting quitting right um to get to your goal and in naruto i mean you know this best out of everybody i mean what was naruto he kept saying like you know believe it or i'll be hokage one day yeah yeah like just that instant what they're instilling that i knew right away i was like yeah if

i i felt like i could i could be naruto right and and and if i look back in my life then i can agree i agree 100 yeah you're right though the subconscious programming of anime the the the hero never starts out the strongest yeah right they're like one of the weakest naruto was pretty ass when he was growing up 100 right He could even do a, what was it, Shadow Clone Jutsu?

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, it was like a little

blob thing.

Yeah.

And he ended up being one of the goats.

Yeah, being the one of the goats.

The strongest.

He was called the, I think, the chosen one or something like that.

Something like that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You think Shippuden was better or Naruto?

Oh, man.

We can get into a whole hour on that.

That's going to be a whole nother debate.

I don't know.

I think the original one has its own class.

It's in its own world because it could kind of end where like Naruto and Sasuke at the end they fought.

It could end there.

But

Shippuden Manage,

that's a whole conglomerate of different things.

I don't know.

I can't really compare or contrast.

I'll say the Shippuden overall, I would put over the original.

It was a lot more emotional for me, and there was a lot of crazy arcs.

But my favorite arc all time is the tuning exams, the first one.

I mean, that arc was goaded.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

So there you go.

So I'll say, like, anime, if you're someone who wants to win in life and you want to do big things, watch some anime.

Absolutely.

Right?

Bleach, Naruto, Dragon Ball Z.

Bleach.

Oh, my God.

Soul Society Arc and Bleach.

Yeah.

I've watched that like six times.

Yeah, exactly.

Right.

So, but that's what I'm saying.

Like, take, take, you know, take inspiration from that kind of stuff.

Absolutely.

It's huge in Japan.

It's huge in Japan.

1,000%.

I mean, when you go to Japan, in one of the actual districts, I think it's Shibuya, I believe.

Shibuya Oshinjuku, there's the whole like anime district.

And they even have Godzilla.

I don't know if you've ever seen it, but they have Godzilla statue of Godzilla over a building.

Like, it seems like Godzilla is crushing that building i didn't even know godzilla was considered anime well yeah but it's like that whole just like the japanese take their like art and they take their characters and they bring them to life nice thousand percent that's cool how long were you out there i was at there for about um

a year okay about a year i could have done i could have done another year but i said you know what i did everything that i possibly could overseas i squeezed most of it I met a lot of amazing piece people, made a lot of great connections.

And I said, oh, let me do something different.

So I left the overseas and went back to the States.

Got it.

And then when did the life insurance start happening?

Yeah.

So pretty much I did my time in the Marine Corps right before I, right before I got out, I had a decision.

I was like, well, am I going to pretty much, you know, do another 20 years in the military, like everybody says, or do I want to get out?

And I had a lot of people who were like in my chain of command where they were saying, hey, you're going to fail.

Don't leave the Marine Corps.

It's not going to work.

You have everything here.

You have all the benefits.

You have all the security.

You have everything paid for you.

And that's when I knew.

I said, wow, like, you know, real leadership is when they want to see you become better than them or become just as good as them, right?

My leadership at the time, I saw that they wanted to keep me down.

That's when I said the military is not for me because all they know is the military.

So, how can they tell me that I'm going to fail outside if all they know is the military?

I got out, became a wind turbine technician, a travel technician.

You ever seen those windmills?

Yeah, the big ones, right?

The big windmills?

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I drive past them sometimes.

Yeah, they're 300, 500 foot towers.

You had to climb that?

Yeah, I had to climb those.

I will climb three of them a day, six days a week.

How scary is it up there?

Well, I mean, I'm an adrenaline junkie.

Like I said, right?

I like challenges, right?

So you weren't scared.

No, I said if I can get, if I'm going to get out the service, I was like, I got to do something.

I'm not going to be a bartender or, you know, be security or

anything like that.

I said, I'm going to do something big that's going to change my life forever and challenge myself.

And I'm going to drill a junkie, you know?

So I got into that.

I was climbing 300, 500 foot towers three times a day, six days a week.

Wow.

And the first time I climbed it, it was fun.

But then the second time I was like, man, I don't know if I'm going to keep doing this after the first one.

That quick?

Yeah, exactly.

I was like, my body couldn't really take it at that point, you know?

So damn.

Yeah, exactly.

But, you know, I put like this, you know, again, it's another challenge for me right at that point in time.

And, but after I saw that, I was making good money.

I was making about $10,000 to $12,000 a month being a wind turbine technician.

Whoa.

But I was always on the road.

And one thing that I'll say right here, Sean, is that we know that why are we trying to get wealthy?

Why are we trying to make more money is to buy back our time?

Because we know time is the the biggest commodity we can ever get back um so even though i found the money i was always on the road i was never with my family so i got tired of it until i got introduced into the financial industry which is life insurance and annuities with one of my good buddies that i serve in the marine corps with in japan he's the one that introduced me and uh at the time i had that nine to five mindset i had that you know just societal mindset like here's a security check just clock in clock out do the bare minimum and you'll be okay and uh i was fighting with myself at that point in time you always come to to a point in life where you say, okay, am I going to continue the same path where I'm not fulfilled?

I'm not happy or am I going to do something different?

And I just took a leap of faith.

I said, you know what?

I trust you, brother.

You're someone who's never let me down and you're obviously, you're showing some success.

So I went after it again.

And that's when everything started, started rolling for me.

You know, I got fully licensed.

I was still working 60 hours a week.

So I was working from 5 a.m.

to like about seven or 8 p.m.

every single night from Monday through Saturday.

Doing the turbines?

Doing the turbines, being greasy and dirty and being in places where I had no connection, right?

Because I have T-Mobile.

So T-Mobile doesn't work in random places.

And I got fully licensed.

And I remember I started conducting business.

I got fully licensed within less than two weeks because I need this.

So I was studying while I was working.

So I'd be greasy and stuff like that.

And I'll pull out my notebook and I'll study, even though my hands are all greasy and things of that nature because I knew what it could do for me.

And then my first check, I remember my first commission, I make 200 bucks.

And, you know, for someone, they're like, wait, you're making $10,000 to $12,000 a month, $200.

You know, someone else would have been like, oh, $200, this ain't it.

This is not worth my time.

But in that moment, when I made $200, I said, whoa, I just made $200

because of me.

I just made $200 because I said I could do it on my own time.

I had control.

And that's when I was like,

my mind blew.

It said, this is crazy.

So I went, I just went ham.

right?

I just kept getting after it, getting after it.

And every time I get off work, I get, because I had to do about an an hour drive to my hotels and hotels that I was at.

I knew that I would put time into business.

I would put about an hour or two every single night and I'd put about five to six hours or eight hours on the weekends when I'm supposed to be resting.

And it was like a snowball effect.

Then I started building my financial agency, being an agency owner.

I started teaching other people, coaching, culturing and mentoring other individuals.

I started helping people with their finances and it was like a snowball effect.

Then I was making a grand, then three grand, then five grand, then six grand, then 10 grand, then 15 grand.

And then the summer of the summer of 2023 i believe it was august i made 30 grand in one hour whoa and when i made 30 grand 30 grand one hour i remember i said wait i'm still showing up to this job i just made 30 grand in one hour that's someone's average like salary working 40 hours a week 120 plus hours a month and here i made it in one hour why am i still at work and i remember that one day that i made 30 grand in one hour i showed up to work and i was still like battling myself i'm like my my my business just

surpassed what i thought society was, because I was the, I was the big fish in the little pond, you know, compared to everybody that I grew up with, I was making the most money.

And that day, and again, this is, this is all, I don't believe in coincidences, that day,

someone at one of my coworkers pretty much just pushed me to the edge, right?

You know that one coworker that thinks that the boss, I think that manager, he just pushed me that one day and I said, you know what?

Why am I here?

I'm a grown man.

And pretty much took a flight on company dime.

Didn't tell nobody.

I left and just quit my job, fired my boss and became my own boss.

Wow.

What a story, dude.

That's legendary.

Yeah.

Yeah, I don't believe in coincidences either.

Yeah, yeah.

No, 1000%.

I mean, look, just being here, Sean, I mean, you know, think about it.

If I didn't elevate myself and if I didn't push myself, I didn't believe in myself.

And if I just stayed that little, if I stayed in the Marine Corps, 20 years in the Marine Corps, or if I would have been a wind turbine technician, 20, 30 years, I was a wind turbine technician traveling, being miserable.

But because I kept challenging myself and tapping into my true potential and just pushing myself, I became the best version of myself in order for someone like you, Sean, to see the potential of me and give me an opportunity here.

Absolutely.

I love what you said about Big Fish Little Pond because if you grow up in a smaller city or like a poor neighborhood and you make 100K a year, you're like the guy.

Yeah, 100%.

I mean, if you like zoom out and like actually look at it, 100K a year compared to some people, not that much.

But now today in America, I mean, you have to make 100K a year to comfortably own a home.

You know, and that's, that's the American dream is owning a a home, you know, being a, being a homeowner, owning property.

But I was like, hold up, hold up.

Like, if, if most of my stuff goes to taxes and bills and this and this and this, when am I going to, when am I going to pay myself?

And that's how I knew I had to change something up.

And, and I'm glad I did.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

We're a renter's nation right now for sure.

It's actually cheaper to rent than own a house.

Yeah, exactly.

And I don't like that because, you know, at the end of the day, like, Owning property is a different thing.

That's when you really, you know, your last name means something, you know?

um not saying that your last name doesn't mean something if you're renting but like you own a property you own a piece of land of america and uh that's i don't think there's anything better than that i'm the same way yeah because with renting there's also that that uneasiness like oh my landlord could kick me out i got kids in the house like where are we gonna go i'll put like this that happened to my mom literally so when i was in japan you know at the time there's a thing called gentrification you ever heard of that gentrification

i've heard of it i don't know what it is it's like when the natives of a certain area are getting pushed out from other people who can afford the rising rent so in Brooklyn at the time, they were raising rent and people were coming in that could afford it.

And they were pushing out the people that are living there for like 20, 30, 40, 50 years.

And they were passing on generation, like property, like generationally.

And when I was in Japan, I'm like, I think it's a 12-hour difference time zone wise.

And I get a phone call from my mom.

She's like, hey, they're pushing me out of the, other, out of the apartment.

I can't afford it anymore.

And I'm like, what do you mean?

We've been there since I was like eight years old.

And she's like, yeah, they're trying to get rid of me.

They want to put someone else in here.

I'm like, but that makes no sense.

Like, you, you know, you have a good, you know, good relationship with our with our landlord and i had a flyback from japan i took a week of leave so i had to ask permission for my chain of command to get uh time off because you got to put a uh kind of like a request and like 15 people need to approve it right damn so now i'm like biting my nails i'm like when are these people going to approve my stuff so i can go back and help my mom i got back i knew i had a week time frame to help my mom move into to get into a better situation And mind you, at the time, I think I was like 19 or 20 or something like that.

I was still young.

And when I got back, I made it my mission to put her in a better position.

And when she would go to work, I would just go to different places around the city, around Brooklyn, knocking on doors, seeing signs like, hey, this for rent, for rent, for rent, for rent, going online.

And then I was two, I had two days left before I had to ship back to Japan.

And I was stressed out.

You know, I had a dinner with my mom.

And, you know, I'd never seen my mom cry, never.

I've only seen her cry maybe once.

And that's like in the back of my mind when I was very young.

That moment, we were eating at a restaurant and I saw her break down.

I saw her cry.

And my mom is my rock, right?

Cause she's the one who raised raised me as a single mother.

I saw her cry.

And at that moment, I knew I need to step up.

I need to step up.

I need to do something.

That's why I moved the way.

I moved the way I moved, right?

Because if it's not for me, who's it going to be?

It's going to take care of her.

And in that moment, I did everything in my power.

I don't know what it is.

You know what it is?

You need to just get something, that urge.

And I just was just going crazy.

And I found this one property right by a train station that allows her to get to her job.

And it was like perfect, fit her budget, was in an area she can get to everything, all commodities like laundry mats grocery stores there's a train station um we signed everything and and you know i helped her with the beginning of paying the rent she moved in and boom i shipped out or i'll go back to japan that's crazy dude and and that's what i'm talking about again like just renting now puts you in a position where like not people not people have control of you yeah and they could just be like you're gone yeah they could kick you out whenever especially with uh everyone moving out of cali now and into these other cities if someone's been there like 10 20 years it doesn't even matter they'll just raise the prices yeah exactly and we we have families especially like in new york city these are people who have generational families like you know their mom and their kids and their kids kids and their kids kids are growing up in the same apartment and the landlord could be like i don't care yeah

wow sounds like you're really tight with your mom man that's dope i'm a single mother uh household also that's awesome yeah my mom shout out to her she watches every episode that's good that's amazing man that's amazing and and look that's what it is like mom have a special power and a special connection that it's kind of like you know a mother and son bond is different than like a father to father right like i didn't grow up with a father but moms are strong, they're resilient, they're powerful, and if they support you, it's over.

There's nothing you can't do.

Did you ever seek out your father?

Was that always in the back of your head?

Oh, yeah.

I mean, I did seek out my father for, because, you know, as a kid, you grow up questioning, like, why don't I have a father?

Or like, you know, because a father brings that extra, you know, kind of wisdom or knowledge, maturity into you.

And,

you know, I kind of seeked it, but I found it in other places, like my baseball coaches.

You know, I was in Taekwondo, my

coaches my principal i would find into other areas and i would grow and i had to teach myself how to be a young man um by myself and i think honestly again everything happens for a certain reason because i had to step up and learn how to be a man i had to step up and get the money i had to step up and be that that you know that strong man figure um that can support my mom whenever she needs it and now you know now if she needs something like i think it was uh for mother's day or valentine's i think i forget which one was just passed by, but I sent my mom five grand.

Like no questions asked.

Like, here's, here's five grand, mom.

There you go.

Do whatever you want with it.

Wow.

Beautiful, man.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It sounds like you put yourself with the right mentorship growing up.

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, I think that, I mean, everybody has choices, right?

You know, your life, the life you're going to have is either a lack, is either a lack of choices or of choices.

That's it.

And you're going to get opportunities in front of you all the time.

Like this, Sean, right?

Again, thank you for the opportunity.

You're going to get opportunities.

It's up to you for you to take them, become a better version of yourself, for then you to be able to support people around you.

I tell people all the time, it's kind of like you ever heard of the napkin theory or the napkin situation?

So a napkin has four corners, right?

And you grab the middle.

If you grab the middle, so let's just say this is the napkin.

There's four corners, and let's say there's four people in your life that you really care about in every corner.

Now, if you grab the middle of the napkin and you pull up, what happens to those four corners?

They bend inside.

Well, they all go up, right?

Even though you're the one going up first, the four corners come up with you.

So guess what?

Maybe the people around you don't support you or know what you're doing or can't really help you in financially or physically or mentally or whatnot.

But if you become a better version of yourself, everybody wins.

So for me, it's like, you know, my mom doesn't have to know everything about finances and business and life insurance, annuities, and sales, commissions.

She doesn't have to know everything.

But if I become a better version of myself, she'll have that house.

Absolutely.

She'll retire.

She'll get that beach house.

I want to get her a big beach house in Honduras.

That's where she's from.

Let's go.

Yeah.

So.

Have you been out there?

No, I haven't.

So I got to get to the beach house.

I told her.

I got to get to that big beach house so I can have an excuse to go out there.

That's cool.

Yeah.

My mom was an immigrant too, dude.

Their mentality was just different, dude.

Exactly, exactly.

But that's the thing is that, you know, I'm first generation.

You're first generation to a restaurant.

Yeah.

So they come here and they work, work, work, work, work.

And that's all they know.

It's just how to work.

And there's nothing wrong with working, but, you know, again, you're going to exhaust yourself, right?

And if you're only working, you can only make so much amount of money in a certain amount of time frame.

And I got my work ethic from my mom.

And that's something that kind of like, it's like a double-edged sword, right?

Because I work so hard that my mom, she'll be like, Hedger, like, relax, like, take it easy, take some rest.

I'm like, mom, you're talking to me about rest.

You got to rest, right?

Like, you're the one that works super hard.

And now you're telling me?

Yeah.

We'll just laugh at you.

No, I got my work ethic from my mom, dude.

She came here with 20 bucks from China.

Scrubbed floors, dishwashing, all the poor jobs, you know, and she worked her way up to,

she's a self-made millionaire, dude.

Wow.

Wow.

That's amazing.

Wow.

That's amazing.

That's the American dream, though.

yeah exactly see same thing my mom my mom came here she came to california a lot of people that were supposed to be there for her weren't there for her and then imagine this she came here for the american dream and she said well i got to do something she went from california took a greyhound all the way up to new york because of the big apple right and uh same thing with little to nothing in her pocket she made something of herself she started as uh working at a in a hotel in the in the laundry um and then cleaning rooms and now she's the manager of that hotel and it's a very luxurious hotel in manhattan nice she's a manager that's a beautiful story yeah that's the power of america man because not many countries you can do that exactly and i know a lot of people talk negatively about being here especially with the election that just happened but if you zoom out if you travel to other countries man we're we got to be in the top that's what i say you know you know what's crazy i'll put like this a lot of people here that are born here are spoon-fed and they're spoiled they have no idea what the outside world looks like i've traveled so i've seen what the outside world looks like so now what you see right not to get too political but a lot of people saying they're oppressed or they're losing rights or, you know, they feel like they're this and this and this.

And I'm like, you have no idea that here, if you put your mind to it, right?

If you can see in her, if you can see it in your mind, you can hold it in your hand.

If you can see it and you can conceive it, you can achieve it.

Literally, it doesn't matter what race, what gender, what religion, background, what ethnicity, it doesn't really matter.

And we're proof of it right here, Sean.

So absolutely.

For me, I thought it was very disrespectful for my mom to come to this country for a better life, give me a better life, right?

Work super, super hard for me to just

spit on this amazing country and become a become a bum.

Like imagine that, right?

Like how disrespectful is that?

Because the journey of my mom to get here is it was tough.

Right.

And she did it when she was like, I think she was like 19 or 20.

You know?

So imagine this, a 19 or a 20 year old cross, like going to a whole nother country.

Like not anybody can just do that.

Like people who are 19, 20 today in America can barely want to go up and go to school or barely want to get up and go to work.

And so I think it's disrespectful.

So I say, you know what?

I told my mom, I said, you know what?

You gave me an amazing life.

I'm not going to take this for granted.

I'm going to, I'm going to run with this and I'm going to make our last name mean something.

I love that.

Yeah, it's easy to have that victim mentality, those limiting beliefs, which we both used to have, right?

100%.

Escaping that mindset.

It's interesting seeing the people I grew up with and where everyone's at now, because it's been 10 years since I graduated high school.

It's like, wow.

A lot of people are still there, dude.

You all grow people.

You will outgrow people.

And I tell people, like, you don't have, you don't have a victim mindset, have a victor mindset.

That's the difference.

And, um, you know, you will outgrow people.

And the hardest part is that you'll be in that phase in life where you outgrow people that you thought were going to be there or around you.

And then you'll be in that lonely phase as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, as someone who's chasing your dreams, because you still haven't become that person just yet to meet those individuals who are also running after success.

Right.

Right.

But it's that one moment right there where either you prove everybody right about you or you prove everybody wrong.

You keep going.

And in that moment, I said, you know what?

There was people in my life that I thought they were going to be there for me.

Even the military, even the service, people that I serve with, that I shot guns with, right?

That I went to boot camp with.

They weren't there for me.

And again, I can have that victim mindset.

Oh, no one believes in me.

No one's listening to me.

But I say, you know what?

These people, they're not paying my bills.

These people are not going to retire my mother.

So guess what?

If it's meant to be, it's up to me.

I say it all the time.

I'm always going to pray like it's up to God, but I'm going to work like it's up to me.

That's what I mean.

That lonely face hit deep with me.

I was super lonely for a few years.

Yeah, it's tough.

It's very, very tough.

And that's the part right there where you get tested.

You get tested the most.

But that's the part.

That's the underdog part we were just talking about, where you bring it back to anime, right?

Yep.

That's the part.

It is.

Man, that was the most mentally challenged I've ever been.

I had terrible anxiety, depression at that time.

100%.

But I'm glad I got through that.

Yeah.

Because if I didn't, you know, like Les, you ever heard of Les Brown?

Les Brown, he's an amazing speaker.

He says you have to be, you know, a flat on butcher, but he says you have to become someone you've never been to get to places you've never gone

so guess what if you're not happy where where you at you have to change something and it starts right here and if you can't get through that phase that lonely phase that's the part that testes everybody why is everybody not successful because again that it's not easy if it was easy everybody would would be doing it and if it was easy it wouldn't be that it wouldn't be that good that's why they call it one percent man that's why they call it one percent yeah exactly so um And that's why that's my mission now.

My mission is to help other people who are in my situation, who had my mindset, coach him, mentor him, and get him to the next level.

Because the only way you can become successful, Sean, is if you help other people become successful as well.

If it's all about me, me, me, me, me, you're going to get nowhere.

But if it's about everybody else, you're going to win.

It's got to be a win-win, right?

It's got to be a win-win.

In my business, imagine this, right?

It's even broken down to numbers.

If I show 10 people in my organization how to make six figures for themselves, right, and become independent, I make seven figures.

So imagine that.

You know, Sean, who's going to, who's going to say, no, I don't want you to show me how to make 100 grand plus passively?

You know what I mean?

So that's why I love organization because I have to become a better version of myself to give to others.

Right.

You don't make money if no one else is.

Exactly.

Exactly.

So I love it.

I love it.

Before business, it's about me, me, me, me, me, right?

Can I get a raise?

How many hours am I working?

Why am I not getting paid this, paid this, paid this, paid this?

It's a lot of like, you know, you just, you feel like the world deserves you a lot.

But again, the market pays those who are valuable.

Facts.

If you're valuable to the market, the market's going to pay you.

If you're not valuable to the market, don't be surprised where your bank account looks the way it looks.

So, I had to become valuable.

Yeah, you can't be at someone's mercy, right?

You can't be at someone's mercy, exactly.

So, yeah, because with inflation and everything, the income levels haven't risen to those inflation numbers.

So, you're actually making way less now than you were 10 years ago.

Exactly.

I tell people, like, you know, when I have conversations with people about finances, I'm like, look, you know, a lot of people, like almost 90% of Americans are putting all their hard-earned money, blood, sweat, and tears, sacrifice, time, worthy, loved ones, and they just put it in the bank, right?

But then how much does the bank typically pay people to keep it there?

not a lot right yeah not a lot exactly but now with inflation well guess what your money is safe in the bank yes but you're safely going broke you can't save your way to wealth so you have to do something right and then nowadays like you said right the the wage is not increasing at the rate of inflation so now you're working hard you're spills you're still spending your time you're never gonna get back Time is important.

We don't have that much of it on this world or on this earth.

And then now after sacrificing away from your kids, your loved one, your spouses, your parents, your grandparents, you go to the store and you're like, wait, now it's $100

minimum to get what I need when before it wasn't.

How many, I think about like this, how many hours did you have to spend of your life to afford that one item?

You know,

like this Rolex right here, you know, if I was working on my nine-to-five, this would take me months to afford this.

Right.

And it's hard.

You, you kind of buy things, but like, what is it?

Like

where buyer's remorse or like you feel guilty for buying things.

So you're like, man, that was months and months of work.

But now I know that the way that I got this is because I provided value and I helped other people become successful.

And I leverage my time for money.

I don't trade my time for money, right?

The rich don't work for money.

The rich make money work for them.

Right.

So that's what I had to realize.

I had to learn.

And not a plug, but Rich Dad Poor Dad was one of the first books to kind of like

me think.

That's a dream guest for me.

I hope to have Robert on one.

Yeah, Robert.

I watch him all the time.

And then also Think and Grow Rich.

Think and Grow Rich.

Yeah, it was my second time

yeah

from arizona yeah

wow i didn't know that robert yeah so you should definitely get him on because that guy right there he's changed he's even changed like you know patrick bed david is you know i i look up to patrick bed david's my favorite show right now yeah yeah value team and i i literally watch him all the time every single day and

even he's been inspired by robert so how many people has robert changed indirectly for just providing value

you know what i mean like that's crazy like sean you and me this conversation we're having right now how many people are going to tune in watch, take something away from me and be like, you know what?

I got to implement.

And that's equal thing with podcasts.

The snowball effect is insane.

Yeah, exactly.

So I love it, man.

Today, the information, we're in the information era.

If you're not trying to become successful, if you're not researching, looking, we literally have a computer, like a supercomputer in our phone or in our pockets.

Like, this is the time.

This is the generation where, like, we have everything in our pocket, yet people aren't doing anything.

We're the most lazy.

So I put like this.

There's no excuse to not be successful today in America.

There's no excuse.

You got Audible in your pocket.

You have Audible.

You have apps.

You have YouTube.

You know, like for me,

the reason why I love speaking is because I just watch people who speak on YouTube.

Think about that.

Back in the day, you would have to go and fly or take a bus or take a car to a seminar and then listen to them at a station, like an arena.

Now you could just press play and listen to them and pick up some stuff.

Yeah.

You know, so I used to watch so many TED talks in college.

Yeah.

When I was in my motivational

stage.

Wow.

Those were game changers.

Yeah, exactly.

So I just put it like there's just no excuse nowadays.

I'm just super excited because if you're not growing, you're dying.

If you're not growing, you're dying.

And

we as people, we're supposed to push ourselves to the limit.

We're supposed to get to the next level.

Right.

When I watch Patrick Ben David, that's all he talks about.

Yep.

It's like, get to that killer mindset.

It's a continuous process.

A lot of people stop learning after college or high school or whatever.

Because I say still learning.

I watch three podcasts a day.

Wow.

Like I gotta be, if I want to be the GOAT of podcasting, I need to study the top shows, see what they're doing and learn.

Absolutely.

And you're on track and you're on track.

And I'm not surprised why.

Obviously, you're putting in the work.

You know, they say that you're going to get rewarded in public for the things that you do in private.

And the things you do in private, that's when people don't clap for you.

That's the part that people don't support you.

But when you make it and you're public and you're getting the prizes, the rewards, the recognition, then people are going to clap for you.

Cool.

Absolutely.

And it's the behind the scenes.

And that's the part no one wants to do.

No one shows it too.

That's the thing with social media.

They don't show that part.

Yeah, they just show the glamour, right?

Like, you know, people might see my page and might be like, wow, this guy, he's, he's on track.

He's, he's successful.

He's doing things.

But they don't see the day-to-day.

The fact that I wake up every single day around 7 a.m.

and I don't go to bed till about two or three in the morning.

Jeez.

Because I have to put in the work now.

This is the time.

This is the best time to do it.

Right.

And time is running out.

Time is the biggest commodity we don't have a lot of.

So I'm like, look, what can I do today to move the needle?

To just move the needle a little bit.

Because if you get 1% better every single day, that means you got 365% better in one whole year.

And that's much more than the average person.

Absolutely.

Dude, I was talking about time last night.

I mean, you sleep a third of your life.

Yeah.

You're in school for 20 years.

Yeah.

So you really only got like 15 years.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's that.

That's what we call it the rat race.

Isn't that crazy?

Right.

The rat race.

You've heard of the rat race, Sean.

Yeah.

The rat race is you go to school.

almost a third of your life, then you get a nine to five a corporate job.

Oh, you go to school, you go to college, right?

You get a six figures worth of debt.

Then you get a corporate job, suddenly that society says, hey, this is a good, steady job.

And now you have to pay off this debt for the rest of your life.

So now you're trapped, right?

And then you get like a 50 cent raise, a dollar raise every year.

Not enough for inflation, right?

Because inflation is outpacing the dollar.

And then after you get out of college, oh, well, after you get your gate your job, you're working, you're working, you're working.

You work for 20, 30, 40 years until you're 60s.

Then people are putting in there to like an average retirement.

Like today, statistically, the average retirement account balance from 60 to 69 is anywhere from 130 000 to 100 to 200k it's not amazing before taxes wow before taxes right before taxes before taxes so imagine let's say you're 65 years old right there sean you have 200 grand you worked all your life now you still got to pay uncle sam how much you think you'll you'll get after uncle sam takes the chunk 125.

let's say 125 okay what is the age that most americans live up to today with modern medicine i believe men are 71 71 let's just say 71 75 okay that's about 10 to 15 years almost right do you think that one check from Uncle Sam saying, hey, Sean, thank you for working for your entire life, sir, sacrificing your time for not really building your last name, for building someone else's last name and building their company?

Thank you.

Here's a check for 125.

Do you think, Sean, you can retire, live the life you want all the way up until 70 without working a single day in your life?

Definitely not.

No.

And I tell people, this is the thing, Sean, I use this analogy.

Let's say, Sean, let's say you're in a long line.

Long, long, long line.

And at the end of the line, it's going to be a little funny, but at the end of the line, it's Chinese food.

And let's say you don't like chinese food what's your favorite food sean chinese actually okay then you'll be the one to wait right

but let's say that you know and this analogy let's say you want some italian food but you're in this long line you look like this and it's vast and it's chinese food you want italian food what would you do in that situation i wouldn't i wouldn't wait in it you would exit right and you go get italian food well guess what on people right now they're not doing that they know statistically it's not it's not like it's made up these are numbers statistics statistically speaking if you follow the route like everybody else, you'll be the 99%.

Why is the 1% the 1% and 99% the 99%?

Right?

So you follow this like a sheep being hurted.

Like, you know, sheep can be hurt off a cliff.

So yeah, sheep can be hurt off.

You know why?

Because they're just like this.

They don't know where they're going.

They can be hurt off a cliff.

So you follow this long line.

You know, you don't want Chinese food.

You want Italian food, but you stay there.

And you just stay there.

And when you get to the end, You get Chinese food.

You never wanted it.

When you had the freedom, you had the choice.

It was up to you to leave and get what you want.

And that's when I said, I said, wait, I don't have to go this route.

This route does not create millionaires.

This route does not create success.

This route does not create a legacy.

Why would I go this route?

Yeah.

And then people are miserable.

People are unfulfilled.

People live in regret.

And then they get to that point where now everything's too late because there's proactive and reactive.

Reactive means, oh, everything happened to me.

Now I got to put things together.

You lost your time.

Proactive means you set yourself up for success.

So I just tell people, like, if you want to go down that, that path, you're going to be unfulfilled.

And then there's a shoulda, would have, could have.

Right.

I should have done this.

I could have done this.

I would have done this.

And for me, and you and me, Sean, we both can agree on this.

We don't want to be in our deathbed and be like, wow,

if we just could have done this, if we just would have done this, if we would have spoken to this person, we would have went to this event.

We would have made this connection.

We would have did this task.

We would have created this business or just jump or take the leap of faith.

If we wouldn't just do that, I couldn't picture myself be in my deathbed and be like, is this it?

Yeah, you know, when I pass away, Sean, this is what I want for myself.

And I tell people, when I pass away at my funeral, I want a thousand plus people, maybe even 10,000 plus people to show up to my funeral.

And no one knows each other.

And at the funeral, they're all talking to each other.

Like, how do you know Edgar?

How do you know Edgar?

How do you know him?

And they're like, wow, Edgar did this for me.

He did this for me.

He coached me.

He helped me with this.

He helped me with this.

That's what I want because that's real legacy.

Legacy is what happens after you're gone.

Everybody else, when you're gone, guess what?

There might be like a handful of people that go to your funeral and remember you.

But what happens when those people pass away?

Then what?

Who's going to remember you?

I tell people all the time:

you know where all the best stories, the best songs, the best businesses, you know where they're all at, Sean?

Where?

They're in the grave.

Because no one went after it.

How many unsung songs, unwritten stories, unbuilt businesses, people didn't chase their dreams are in the grave because of this.

Because they just couldn't say, you know what?

Let me go to that lonely phase.

Why not?

Why not just try?

Take a leap of faith.

And

for you, Michael, that's not part of our path.

It's not.

That path of comfort, it's an easy path to fall into, right?

You know, they say, they say, if you want things easy now, If things are easy now, it will be hard later.

But if you do the hard things now, it will be easy later.

Love that.

That's just, that's what I believe.

Yeah, I definitely love that.

Yeah, because it's, it's easy to just get a paycheck, right?

Yeah, it's super easy.

I mean, you can go a year without making anything.

Boom.

That's what I had to do.

And I, I just, yeah, exactly.

We don't like, I don't like someone holding that check over me, right?

Over us and be like, hey, if you don't show up, you don't get this.

Or, hey, we're going to fire you because we didn't like the way you spoke or the way you act, you carry yourself.

You have to conform.

to a job or to a company or to a culture in order to receive this dollar.

Like you ever seen that commercial with, he's like, oh, yeah, I'd be quicker than that.

Right.

They have the power over the person.

She's like, this.

I never want that.

Never, ever, ever.

And same thing for my mom, for our parents.

We never want that for our parents.

No, that's another grown man or grown woman doing this to our loved ones or to ourselves.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Edgar, it's been amazing, man.

I can't wait to see you bring the Edgar name to the spotlight.

Yeah, absolutely.

And I put like this, you know, anybody who's who's driven, who's ambitious, who's hungry, who's unfulfilled, who's looking for something, who feels like they're made for more.

You're tired of your nine to five.

You're tired of following the path that everybody says you have to follow.

You feel like there's more in you.

There's a lot of potential in you.

You can reach out to me because at the end of the day, I was there at one point in time where I thought that I made it or I was the big fish in the little pond, right?

Because you get comfortable.

But if you want more, get in contact with me because I'm going to show you how to be successful.

I'm going to show you how to push yourself.

I'm going to mentor, coach you.

And if maybe you're like, you know what, I need some guidance.

I don't know what's the thing that I can put my talents to.

If you're someone who's selfless, if you're someone who likes helping people, and if you want to make a great income while doing so, let me know.

Because I want to help other people become successful.

And think about this for me.

You know, I can only help so many individuals, right?

You and me, Sean, we only have 24 hours in a day.

But if we can shift other people's mindset, if we can help other people change their mentality, imagine how much communities, how many cities, how many people that you and me can't reach physically, we can change their lives as well.

Look at Robert Kiyosaki.

Absolutely, man.

We'll link your Instagram below below for people to message you out.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

So, yep, they can, they can message me at Zavala underscore Edgar25 and just DM me.

Let me know that you found me here on Sean Mike Kelly's podcast, his amazing podcast, right?

And we'll go from there.

And I'll just show people, I'll give them a step-by-step literally at A through Z.

It's not like up in the air.

It's not made up.

From A to Z into a business that has a proven system, because I did it.

You know, I've made over a quarter million dollars in less than two years being in the financial industry with no prior experience.

Being less than next year definitely going to make over a million dollars in net profit next year that's less than three years no prior no prior financial experience we'll show you how to do everything we'll train you we'll coach you we'll mentor you we have a system we have amazing leaders and we have a lot of individuals who anybody whoever you are you can find someone in our business and be like wow that's me and that person can do it i can do it as well and uh the financial industry again it creates the most multi-millionaires it's an industry that's not going away everybody needs help with finances we just need more leaders who want to step up up to help those individuals who the big, big companies like Goldman Sachs and, you know, all those big companies can't reach.

Absolutely.

So, guys, message Edgar if you're interested.

Thanks for coming on, brother.

That was fun.

Absolutely.

I appreciate it.

Thank you so much.

See you guys.

Yes.