บทถอดความฉบับเต็มของ Alexander Garcia - From Substitute Teacher to Successful Entrepreneur

you know I made a couple. I got a couple of deals going and stuff and then boom, market crashed, boom, it was just a ghost town. Speaker 1: 2:58 I'm like, okay, where are my clients at? Speaker 2: 3:01 And so, but I stuck to it. I stuck to it. I did make some money and I actually had one client. And this is my story. I'm going to my second source of income. And the story kind of transitioned from real estate to this. But I had a client and I helped him sell some apartment complexes and he made about half a million dollars. His name is Pedro Soto and his daughter is a very good friend of mine. She actually went to high school with me too, and so I was like you know what? These people are really close to me, they're like family, you know, and I had the idea I was like you know, real estate market crashed. I am making money for a while, and so I was like I got to think of some, some type of other business, you know, and my family has always been very business oriented. You know all entrepreneurs, and so I had lost my dad at that point, at 18. But he had left a postal store business for my family, oh wow. And so I knew the ins and outs of that business so well, like he taught me everything. So I was like you know what? I'm going to open up another location, you know, and so so that's what I did. I pitched this idea to my client, pedro Soto, who made about half a million, and set him down. We did a little little PowerPoint presentation. We went out to dinner and they're an awesome family too. I love them. And he was like yeah, let's do it. Speaker 1: 4:21 How much do? Speaker 2: 4:21 you need and I was like, you know, I think it was like 80,000, maybe 100,000. And she's like, yeah, boom. Speaker 1: 4:26 And so I was like, all right, let's do it. Speaker 2: 4:29 And I was like I'll even work there the first year Like like you know and so we made some type of arrangement. I think he paid me like 25 extra 25,000 for just a year. I was like, just pay me 25k, I'll work there for you. I didn't even care, man. You know I got out of college, you know I was like you know, get it going. I didn't care, man, I was like this is a business I get to own, like, and so we went 51, 49% and I got the 51, but that doesn't matter. I was just happy that we got the business and just blessed to work with such an incredible family, and so that took off. It was really hard for the first couple of years but I put my heart, sweat and soul into that and it's been. That was in 2007, 2008. It's been. You know we're going on. You know, whatever I don't know more than 15, almost 15 years now, whatever that is. Wow, it's cool. I was able to hire a couple people and now it's self-sufficient. I got four or five employees there. Runs on its own. God is good man. Cool, and you have one location or more than one, so we have our family location, which we just own, and my location is an Ohtay Mesa. That's the one that I own with my partner, pedro. Speaker 1: 5:38 And then, how did you decide on a location? Does it work that way? Speaker 2: 5:42 Yeah, that's a good question. So I incorporated my real estate skills location, location, location. Everybody knows that. So I said you know I wanted we had already. We have one family location in San Ysidro which is near the San Ysidro border. So we serve, we service the a lot of Mexican residents across the border. They need a US address and so they can't receive, like Amazon, all that stuff, you know, passport or anything, bank statements, all that. And so we opened up. The location I opened up was an Ohtay Mesa, which is the second border. There's only two border, two border entrances. I think there might be a third one coming soon, but so that might be a third location. Hopefully nobody watching stills my idea, man. But yeah, so that was. I said, you know, you just got to tackle that second location and so. I just drove around and I remember, for like two days just looking different shopping centers, and I just found one that was literally when you walk across the border. It's the first one. I said, that's the one I got to get, and there was like like two competitors already in different shopping centers but there's none in that Right, and so I'm taking it, you know. And so I negotiated with the, with the, with the Plaza owner I remember his name was Mitch. That dude was smart man. Older man, just really sharp, super smart guy. He took a liking to me. I said cause I was young, I guess he was just like man, you're a young guy, you know to be, you know. Speaker 1: 7:09 I was like yeah, I'm hungry man. Speaker 2: 7:11 He gave me. He gave me a good deal, and it's just been growing ever since. Man. Speaker 1: 7:16 So when you were trying to work out that deal as far as that was concerned, did you have to trust his expertise or did you have to go to mentorship? Like, how did you decide on a deal for cause, I know, like for commercial renting a spot it's like five to 10 years, right, yes, it's correct. Yeah, five to 10 years, yep, so then was it pretty straightforward, or how? Speaker 2: 7:39 Yeah, you know, I was kind of like in the dark, to be honest, man, because I was barely learning real estate. I mean, I knew the basics and stuff, but again, commercial's a little different. So I did do a five-year lease and I just knew that I was getting a pretty good deal because I had already kind of shopped around, looked at the other prices, the competitors and stuff, and it was just, and I actually negotiated with him. I said I'm thinking about two other spots and a lot of vacancy because it was a new shopping center. So I think he was a little hungry too, and so I made an offer. He said no. I said okay, well, I'm gonna keep looking at other spots. And then he called me a week later. He's all right, fine. So you know how it is, man. So yeah, so I got a good deal and then actually when COVID happened, a

lot of businesses went under in that shopping center, unfortunately, and some of them survived, some of them went pretty well, but we had been wanting to expand because we kind of maximized our mailboxes. So our main source of income at these postal stores. It's a private postal store, kind of like a postal annex, like a store. It's called Correa Internacional. Speaker 1: 8:53 It's in Spanish Wow, okay, okay. Speaker 2: 8:56 Got the rolling Rs in it. But you know, as soon as we serve the Mexican residents you know it's in Spanish Correa Internacional means International Postal Office, and yeah. So when COVID happened, the neighbor shut down their store and so right away I hit the owner up and it's actually a new owner now, he's the previous guy Mitch. He sold it. But right away I put an offer and we got it. So, blessed man, because that note we had wanted to expand but the neighbors had been there forever and we're like man, how are we gonna do this? How are we gonna expand? We have to maybe move the whole store to a different area, and so it's just yeah. So COVID was actually a blessing for us. We finally expanded. We added another 700 PO boxes. Those are already filling up quick. So it's been a blessing, man. Speaker 1: 9:49 God is good brother, and then this is a franchise or this is something you actually made from scratch. Speaker 2: 9:55 So it actually started with my aunt and my father. My aunt looked at it and my father started it, and so they actually started and created it, and then I expanded it with my partner. So do you franchise it out? That is something in the works. We're definitely considering it. You looking for something it's like? Speaker 1: 10:15 the Mexican UPS. There we go, man yup yup. Speaker 2: 10:18 And we, actually, we do. We're actually the largest private postal store in the entire city of San Ysidro which is the last US city before the border, and we, I think, our family store, the family store. We have about 26, 2700 mailboxes that we ran out and we have huge clients. I can't see their names, but we got actually one of the richest men in Mexico. Speaker 1: 10:48 He has a box. Speaker 2: 10:49 That's cool. Can't say his name, you can Google it. Yeah, that's cool we got a couple owners of hotels we have I can't say we have. Well, I can't know if I can't say it, but we have some airline companies in Mexico. We have some of the telephone companies in Mexico. So it's a bit saucy man. Speaker 1: 11:06 So it's something that's a necessity too, so it's kind of a bulletproof business if you think about it. It is yeah, yeah, because you need no matter what's going on. People get bills and mail and important, absolutely yeah. Speaker 2: 11:18 And people are starting to go paperless. But we don't really thrive so much on the mail aspect of it. We thrive more on the necessity, first off, to have an address. People need an address to receive anything

the packages as well and then, second, we actually charge a storage fee for those packages that are there without a ride, and that's not a lot. It's maybe two bucks to maybe five, six bucks, but when you're getting excess of four or 500 packages a day it adds up. And so now that Amazon took off, we actually have done very well too. So when Amazon does good. We also do good, for sure, and Amazon ain't going nowhere. Speaker 1: 11:55 No, I don't oversee that. So then that's the thing. So your father or your family was smart enough to say, hey, we're not gonna go UPS, we're gonna make our own thing. Correct. I wonder what the steps were for that. Like, how do you say, hey, I'm gonna make? I mean, do they have to go through the state or the government? Speaker 2: 12:13 Yeah, good question. You know what it's not. You do have to go through the government. You have to get a contract with the US post office, government post office. I can't remember the form, just some form there we got to fill out, but it's been so long. But, yeah, there are definitely some forms and government keeps tabs. You know how they kind of go and make some of everything. Yeah, of course, absolutely, and even with our clients, they have to fill out a government form. They can show photo IDs and all that stuff. I've had CIA, I've had FBI. Goodbye, really, yeah, I feel sometimes that you know sorry clients, but if they ask for your information, you gotta give it to them. And I do quite often you know, especially when we're working with people from Mexico. Not that you know, but there's a couple of wildcards. Speaker 1: 12:58 Shady things going on. No, fair few, fair few. Speaker 2: 13:01 But you know, there's definitely stuff going on sometimes, and so you know it's an interesting. Speaker 1: 13:06 It's not your thing, you just provide a service whoever comes up. You hope that they're doing right. So absolutely yeah, I appreciate your business Exactly exactly Because, if you think about it, if you need a business, it's smart to have a box like yourself or just a separate address in case you get sued. Yeah, you know, we can't have people serve you, they just come into the box. Speaker 2: 13:29 Well, actually technically they can serve. Speaker 1: 13:31 Oh, really, yeah, yeah, how would it? Speaker 2: 13:33 work. We get people that get served all the time. Yeah. Speaker 1: 13:35 Really at the box. Speaker 2: 13:36 They just waiting for them. Well, they just come, they'll present the documents and they'll say, hey, we know this person Because, again, you know, the client has a fill out of government forms. The government knows that they're there, that they at least not that they're physically there, but they receive their mail there, so they'll serve the forms. We have to make sure that they get those. Oh, okay. Speaker 1: 13:59 I don't know if that's in court, though, because I have to physically

serve you. I can't just say this person who's at your house, they're over 18. Correct, so it. Speaker 2: 14:09 Yeah, that's a good. Yeah, so technically we are the representative of that client as a PO Boxer. So they sign off saying that we now are, in a sense, we physically represent them, Okay. Okay, it's a little loophole that the government uses. Yeah, I didn't know that. Speaker 1: 14:26 Well, either way, it's something that's a necessity, because I have friends. They live in TJ, they work. He's a psychiatrist here, so he moved to TJ because it was cheaper. And then COVID happened. He got stuck there Right, so they got stuck, yeah. So he's like for my taxes and stuff, I need to follow my taxes this year, I don't know what I'm going to do because I don't have an address in the United States. Told him to get a box, like your place, yeah, and that solved his problem. There you go, man. But he was. He was worried. He's like man, I won't be able to find my taxes and I'm stuck here Like because of COVID. And I was like no, you can get a physical box. Yes, you can, and it's a physical address. You can get your passport, whatever you need, yep. So maybe he went to your place. Speaker 2: 15:10 I had to ask you man, Maybe Good friend man you hooked, you hooked him up with some good advice yeah, me. And then it's also good for people like who move a lot. You know, like, if you're constantly moving, you know you just have one address. We ain't going nowhere. We've been around for since. Well, my family, the one my dad opened, it's been around since 1988. My source since 2008. So it's, it's stable, I go nowhere. It's a reliable physical address. Speaker 1: 15:33 I agree, I have one from my place, so I always have stuff sent up to Del Mar. There you go, yeah, so all my stuff's there and I don't really get mail at the house, yeah, and then if there's big packages, they hold it for you too. So that's good, correct, right, right, yeah. So then are you you're saying there may be another location in the works in the future? Speaker 2: 15:55 Yeah, I mean it's, it's, it's an idea, you know, because there's another I from what I've heard there opening up, but maybe a possible third location. So I don't know, I haven't really really looked into it yet, but if they do, you know definitely. You know 100 percent, 100 percent. Speaker 1: 16:13 Yep, and then you were talking about I think we were going to hang out one night and you're like hey man, I don't know if I can make it because one of my employees quit, so I'm here working. Yeah, so, as the owner, everyone loves to be the owner. Until you got to be the owner and it happens. Speaker 2: 16:30 Fortunately it happens in this part of the game and right, right, yeah, you know, sometimes they call in sick and I think that occasion it was actually two employees, because usually I have I have it staffed enough where one calls out, you know we were fine, right, but

if two that's tough and then, yeah, I got to get on there, so I don't mind them. And I like my business, you know and I love seeing my customers and some, most most of my customers, most of them, they love me seeing me too. Speaker 1: 16:56 And you know a lot of them because you see them so often, and I think that's important, you know, I think it's important for owners to swing by some time. Shake, shake some hands, you know make your clients feel happy, you know, feel special you know and then on your Facebook, as I follow your Facebook you do a lot of video. How'd you get into doing that stuff? Speaker 2: 17:15 Yeah, so you know what I have never really wanted to get on video man. But it's natural I'm getting there. I'm getting there, I still get. I still get a little uncomfortable man. But I know, maybe it seems like I'm not, but I do. I think I'm a little bit of a perfectionist, to be honest, or sometimes I'm too hard on myself. Ok, and, but I mean I'm actually starting to enjoy it. I am yeah. That's why you see more videos now. Speaker 1: 17:44 Yeah, the one you did on on IB. I felt like I didn't know any of that stuff. You're like. I felt like I was on the travel channel Like, oh man, it's my way, I'm excited to tell us all about. So you're really good at it. Thank you, man. I appreciate that. I appreciate that that's one of the things I try to tell people nowadays, that the power of video is so strong. We had a thing on Saturday where people were kind of finding out how to start a podcast and Mike, mr Taylor and some of the people from the staff here were the speakers. And what people don't really realize is you could do a podcast and that's cool, nothing wrong with a podcast, but it's limited of what you can do with the content afterwards. Right, your voice, right, but if you take a video, you can chop that up, make it real, you can repurpose it in so many different ways and you can still take the audio from it and put it in the podcast. So it was powerful. So, in fact, you're good at it. That's good man. You got to keep doing it. Speaker 2: 18:45 Thank you, you too, man. You got the personality. Man, you got the voice. You got that. You got that nice voice. I get a little nervous man sometimes but, like I said, I'm getting better. But I am, you know. I just know that there's a shift Everyone's going to video content and you kind of have to. You're going to get left behind. That's just what it is. You know. You're going to get in real estate or lending. You got to get on video guys. So, whether you like it or not, you got to do it. But yeah, I do, I try. What you know, what I'm really gearing towards now is making kind of like city tours, like the one you saw on Peril Beach. To me that's fun. Yeah, you know, and that's probably why maybe I did good, because I love Imperial. Speaker 1: 19:26 Beach. Speaker 2: 19:26 Fantastic, you do, you know when you love when you love what you're doing and

you know it's, it's fun, you know, and so I love Imperial Beach. It's a beautiful city, man. It's one of the most affordable beach cities in California. I think it's number seven most affordable in the state of California right now. Okay, and it's close to my hometown. I grew up in Chula Vista. Yeah, peril Beach is like you know what, 10, 15 minutes from there, and so that's cool. People love, you know, city tours highlighting all the cool spots, and I think I highlight like three breweries Mike Hess, coronado Brewing and Pizza Port, and so those are fun. People are always looking for cool things to do. But what I think really also hits too right now is is even more powerful reels. Yeah, because people also like the short. You know people, we have that short focus, you know we have, I mean, that's everybody. You know. Sometimes, if it's too long, you know you can get a little distracted, you know, and so long we just are for, like you know, special times, you know you got to be having nothing, nothing to do or just really interested in the subject, right, right, but reels is just like quick, get your attention. You know kind of, you know kind of stuff. So I am trying to focus about maybe 75% on the reels and short you know, good, powerful information, and then the other you know the other on on long term videos. Speaker 1: 20:45 With the reels, you have a hook in 30 seconds or less. If you could put some nice music in the background and then be intentional about your the thing you're trying to teach, right, you do those things your reels will be fine. So, and like it, wouldn't that the whole thing you did on IB? If you cut that up, you could make that in the reels too, because each of the places you took could be a real. Speaker 2: 21:12 That's right, absolutely. That's the sick part about video. I gotta do that, damn. Yeah, and it's funny because, like so I've been doing all that myself. I do have somebody that kind of like, you know, cleans it up, you know chop shit up and everything. So I'll do all the script. You know the shots and everything. The aerials I got my drone. Now I got Costco. For like 600 bucks, got a fucking deal there, so you did all that yourself. Yeah, all the video. I did all that, but. Speaker 1: 21:38 But like oh, you got a whole other business now. Speaker 2: 21:42 You know, but I'm also I'm pretty computer savvy too, like I love. I love all the technical side of stuff too, but it is like a process. Speaker 1: 21:51 it was a process definitely a process, oh my God, learning that Once you learn it, you're good. Speaker 2: 21:55 You know what I mean. Speaker 1: 21:56 Yeah, you kind of start to flow a little bit, that's true. Speaker 2: 21:59 That's true. That learning curve is just. You know, it gets a lot better. Speaker 1: 22:03 So yeah, yeah, like I'm at the stage where I want to do the creation and then I want to have systems to help me do all that.

Systems are important, man, yeah, because that's the hard part is trying to figure out. But, like you and I, from doing this stuff and chopping it up ourselves and stuff, we know what it should look like. So then when you get somebody trying to give you a product that isn't sufficient, you go hey, wait a minute. Speaker 2: 22:29 Yeah, yeah exactly man, exactly, yeah, so I'm having fun with it, man. So I really plan to really push hard in 2023 with the video content. Speaker 1: 22:39 Smart. Speaker 2: 22:40 I'm gonna start pushing out some good content next year. Speaker 1: 22:44 And for real estate now, other than like IB, where's some other locations of places people should be looking for home if they want affordability, so to speak. Speaker 2: 22:55 Chula Vista is great. East Chula Vista, eastlake, oti Ranch that's just been expanding and growing. I mean, if you're looking for something new, which I think a lot of people like Eastlake and Chula and a lot of these cities they have a lot of people don't like. They love Eastlake, they love Oti Ranch, but there is Melrose still in most areas Melrose usually knocks off between 25 and 30 years I think, and so the age of that city is getting to that point now where the Melrose is starting to knock off in some of their communities and so now it's becoming a lot more affordable because of that and you're still getting the newness of the city. So I'd definitely say Eastlake Oti Ranch is a great location. Speaker 1: 23:42 For people that don't know what are Melrose. Speaker 2: 23:44 Melrose is a secondary tax and it's a tax on top of your property tax and it goes to Double tax. Speaker 1: 23:52 It's a double tax, california. Is that Gotta love? Speaker 2: 23:55 that tax man and it goes usually to like schools, school districts, fire department, stuff like that. Speaker 1: 24:02 Yeah, and depending on the age of the person, they don't have to pay it Like if they bought the property and they still live there, so they don't get priced out. Speaker 2: 24:10 Correct, right, right, right. Speaker 1: 24:12 And then it housed the stuff with Ironman going. You still training for that. Speaker 2: 24:16 Yeah man, oh man. Gotta be all excited, bro, when you bring up race my triathlons. I'm like a kid at a candy store. Man, that's my happy place, man. Speaker 1: 24:30 Were you training in the morning. Speaker 2: 24:32 So I actually just started my first day of training again today, oh snap. So I took a little bit of a little leave of absence. Sure, I did my first. I've done a couple triathlons, but I did my first Ironman 70.3 last, not this last this 2021 October in Oceanside, and it's a good six months of training. You need at least a good six months of training. And it's rigorous, man. It's rough but it's amazing. The dopamine that you release when you're doing this endurance training is just incredible, man. You feel on Cloud9, man, and it's just. It develops this resilience, man. It develops mental grit. Okay, and you know a lot of people just think, oh, the physical, the physical. No, man, it is like mental. Speaker 1: 25:25 The mental is even greater than the physical, any of the physical stuff. Speaker 2: 25:29 Oh, heck yeah, man, heck, yeah, dude, when you're swimming, you gotta learn to swim in the ocean. Yeah, for a mile and a half, yeah, knowing that there's damn sharks in there and La Jolla shores, what you know there's shark sightings all the time. Man, I'd have to like pray. Speaker 1: 25:46 I'm a little spiritual here. Speaker 2: 25:48 Yeah, yeah, but I'm a Christian man. You know that already. Yes, sir, and you know my relationship with God is very important to me, right? But I had this. I started carrying this chain and it had Joshua 1-8, just Joshua 1-8, or Joshua 1-9, I can't remember. Okay, I'll read it to you All right, but I remember. I remember how you read it. I read it, man. I just I say a little prayer, I say God, if you need to take me. I'll let this shark take you and you when I'm swimming, I will get these images. Man, like, your mind will play with you, like cause, you see shadows all the time. I've had stuff. I've seen sharks. I've seen sharks not near me, but I've seen them in the distance. I've seen dolphins. I've seen sea lions. I saw a sea lion literally like two feet away from me. Just pop his head up. Speaker 1: 26:34 Biggest sea lion I've ever seen. Him out Huge With the dolphins, though there, by you, there's no sharks. What was that? Yeah, oh, they say what, if there's dolphins, there's no sharks. Speaker 2: 26:46 You know, I've heard that they don't like each other. But then I've heard the opposite. I've heard that it's not true either. Speaker 1: 26:51 Was it Jacques Cousteau? I can't remember. No, if there's dolphins, there's no sharks. Speaker 2: 26:55 No, you know what? And if there is, I know that dolphins are smart enough that they'll probably protect you. Speaker 1: 27:02 Oh yeah, yeah, they don't. They're kind, they're loving. They hate sharks, like you said, so you're good. Speaker 2: 27:07 Yeah, and they're tough and they always travel in packs which sharks don't Exactly. Sharks are a little lovers man, see if I can find it, I'll pull it up here in a second, okay. But yeah, man, I've had stuff slap my feet in the ocean like stuff like slap me, like you know, and I'm like, dammit, I'm like, and so of course your mind doesn't think fish, it thinks like the biggest great white shark in the world. Speaker 1: 27:30 Have you seen? Speaker 2: 27:30 Joss, of course, man, I don't like sharks man. Speaker 1: 27:34 Yeah, no, no, no. Speaker 2: 27:36 So, like I said, it definitely develops that you know that mental grit and that toughness and it helps because when you go through you know

anything in life, you know you do all that resilience and so when you go through tough times it's just like it just makes you tougher man. Speaker 1: 27:52 Yeah that's super tough. So Lely has been really cold so you've been getting in the water Hard to be. Speaker 2: 27:59 No, no, no. So I just started my training today. Speaker 1: 28:02 So my next. Speaker 2: 28:03 Ironman race. I just signed up for Ironman Hawaii, yeah, yeah, and that's in June. June 3rd I'll be in Hawaii, so you got plenty of time to train. Yep, yep, a little less than six months, but since I've already developed a lot of the endurance of my body, I probably don't need as much time this time. And you know, the first Ironman I couldn't swim more than like a couple laps, man, and so I had to develop that endurance in the water too. And then it started in the pool and then transitioned to the ocean. Just that's a whole other animal. But I'm gonna read you the scripture, because it popped up here. It says Joshua 1.9,. It says have I not commanded you? This is God speaking. He said be strong and courageous, do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord, your God, will be with you wherever you go. Okay, and so that to me, is just a. Speaker 1: 28:52 So that gives the sharks out your mind. You just started saying that in your head. Speaker 2: 28:55 God's with me, god's with me. Chomp, chomp, chomp, ha ha ha. Speaker 1: 29:01 So were you always a strong swimmer? Like, not a strong swimmer. Have you always knew how to swim, like I wasn't a strong swimmer until high school, right, and then for my school you had to pass swimming to graduate, really. So, oh, you're in Florida, no, to swim, minnesota of all places. Okay, okay. So I tried to get out of swimming. Speaker 2: 29:23 Isn't it like snowy out there? Oh yeah. Speaker 1: 29:25 And then we do everything in the snowman Swimming. I think that they'd have that role like in San Diego? Speaker 2: 29:31 Yeah, no, not in the school. Speaker 1: 29:33 In the school I went to. Hopkins High School required swimming, so ninth grade you're supposed to pass swimming to go to high school is 10th grade. Yeah, yeah, I got out of it. I said I had eczema, wrote a letter, got out of swimming, got to ninth grade. And then the principal my principal was cool too. He's like hey, you know you're not gonna graduate in past swimming. And I'm like that's so weird. I'm like what do you mean? He goes, we can have you be a teacher's assistant to the swimming for the eighth graders because you should have passed it last year and then you're gonna have to take the test with them at the end of the year. So then I had to be a teacher's assistant for the eighth graders and then I had to swim with them to pass, and then I ended up obviously graduating, but if I would have kept going they wouldn't have let me get my papers. Speaker 2: 30:19 That is the weirdest thing

I've ever heard. Man who would ever think they're like oh, you need swimming to prosper in life, people drown. Speaker 1: 30:27 So that's why I made swimming. Speaker 2: 30:29 People drown if you're out in jumping in the ocean. Speaker 1: 30:32 We had to take survival, like we had to tread in the water, we had to grab someone and drink. I get taught it's like serious, like lifeguard swimming lessons. That is the first time I've ever heard that. So can you still swim, yeah, I can swim, but I don't like sharks, so I don't get a nose in and I go. Who does man? Nobody likes sharks, bro. We went in St Lucia once and I was under a water snorkeling. I saw these big old fish like kind of by the wall over there. I got out, got back in the boat and was like I'm good. And they're like what's wrong? And I was like you didn't see them fish over there, barracudas and all that. And they're like, oh, it's fine. I'm like, nah, I'm okay. Barracudas are beasts, man, those teeth bro. Speaker 2: 31:13 Yeah, they're big old teeth. Speaker 1: 31:15 And it was just like you know how I think. Speaker 2: 31:17 I don't think those are fish, I don't think Barracudas, I think those are like some type of dinosaur or something Whatever it was. Speaker 1: 31:22 I was in the boat eating a little coconut drink. I was like I'm good, I'm good, yeah, so June is the race. Speaker 2: 31:31 June's the race man, so then, how does the training work? Speaker 1: 31:34 You start off running first. Speaker 2: 31:36 Yeah, so running has always been my strength. I've always ran for years. I've done a couple of half marathons, quite a few, and so I didn't really know how to swim very well. I didn't know how to swim basic stuff. I took a swimming class when I was like nine. That was the last time I actually swam swam, and so I really went in not knowing anything. But I was just like I'm gonna do this, I just want to be a badass man in every area of my life, and my health and physical is one of them. And I said I just wanna do it, I can do it, I can do it. And so I just, I remember, I just said I just signed up one day, I was just gonna do it, and so I signed up. I signed up for an Olympic triathlon first and I signed up for the Ironman like two months after that. So I said at least I can, you know, feel it out first, make my mistakes, and then be ready for Ironman, cause Ironman is like the real deal, man, that's the holy grail. Right there, man, right. So but yeah, so the. And then the biking. I didn't have any experience at all. I actually I hated bikers, bro, is it hard? for you, guys, I always seen like bikers on, you know, but I'm a biker now so I don't hate you guys, but like seeing them on the road, I was bothered. I was like the guy was like oh my God, there's a biker on the road taking up the damn road. I still don't ride on the roads I have. I go Silver Strand. There's a nice, nice long, like 10 mile ride all the way from Pearl Beach to Coronado Island. Okay, and it's just a bike trail. Speaker 1: 33:09 So you ride on the trail. Is the biking the easiest part of the Ironman? Absolutely, yes, yes, so that's not so bad. Speaker 2: 33:17 Yeah, definitely easiest, I would say, and so running was always the easiest for me. Okay, now it's biking, then swimming. Swimming has actually become my strength. So I'm actually I've developed very good skills in swimming and I love it. Actually now I freaking enjoy it, man, wow. And yeah, I'm not the best on the bike. Okay, I'm a little slow. Yeah, I'm working on that, but swimming has become my strength. And then I'd say secondary's running, and then third, biking. Speaker 1: 33:48 And you train yourself on all these things right. Speaker 2: 33:51 Yep, yep, yep. So you can find like different training schedules on online and stuff like that. There's a couple of big Ironman athletes that put them out there, and so I just follow some of those, yeah. Speaker 1: 34:01 Man, you're one of the most interested in people. Man To do everything real estate, obviously. You got entrepreneurial stuff, and then the Ironman I'm sure there's a way more interesting people than they may be. Man no, not for sure. Thank you, bro. Speaker 2: 34:15 Honestly, man, I just you know, I feel that every man is deep down inside of us. We all aspire to be great and that's just something I'm, I get excited about, Like I really want to just kick ass and like everything man, and that's and maybe you know, I don't know it's you never really get there, but that's the beautiful thing about it, it's like you can always, there's always room for growth. Man, it's a journey, it's a process, and so you know it's the four pillars, you know it's the mental, the emotional, the physical and the spiritual, and so I work really hard on all those. You know, every day, I read up, I wake up, I read my Bible, I meditate, I pray that's how I start my day. I have, I take all kinds of different supplements. You know I train, and you know, with as far as the emotional side, that's, more of the meditation and praying to God, you know just, you know, keep me in check, because you know I used to have a bad temper, man. You know, I just get angry really quickly and it's something that I've had to work really hard on to not be and to be a man of peace and of focus and be able to transfer that energy into something positive. And so you know, being, you know, close to connecting with God, going to church, connecting with other people and reading my Bible every day, man, it's really made the craziest difference in my life and I'm so grateful for God for that man. Speaker 1: 35:47 That's awesome. That's awesome. Where could people find you? If they wanted to? They either have could you help in real estate, or if they wanted to get a post office box. Speaker 2: 35:57 Yeah, yeah, yeah, they can find me on my website, wwwrealtoralexandargarsiacom. Speaker 1: 36:06 Where's Alex Garcia Real talent? Speaker 2: 36:07 no realtor Alex. Well, my real name is Alexander, but everybody calls me Alex, I think. Yeah, the website is realtoralexgarciacom. Okay, and then same thing on Facebook Alexander C for Charles Garcia, and my Instagram is realtor Alexander Garcia on Instagram. Speaker 1: 36:27 Yep, I'll put all this in the bottom of the subtitle, so you guys will know For sure, for sure. Well, our 30 minutes is up. I want to thank you so much for being on our show and you're welcome back anytime. Thank you, nicky, and it's a wrap Peace and love everybody.