SLG Meetup E198: Santiago Arana

Ladies and gentlemen welcome back to another SLG meetup your host Alvaro and today I'm super thrilled because we have a very exciting guest and a good friend of mine if you say me Santiago Ana so let's get him here there he is the man the mid legend hey Alvaro how are you I mean you are one of those legends in the world of real estate that everybody's looking up for you've been ranked number six in the country with over four billion dollar worth of real estate sold and not only that but being the partner and principal at the agency which is one of the fastest growing luxury boutique brokerages in the country and in the world you have a very humble beginning so I want you to share a little bit about who Santiago Ana was and how you go to where you are today of course of course well thanks for the compliments thanks for the nice words and it's always nice to get into the conversation where anything that I don't know anything that is part of my life can be of service to the rest whoever is watching as interested to just learn from other people's experiences you know because that's what ultimately it is you know I learned a lot from other people success and other people's stories and you know I did one thing I always think about is like how can I get back to those that were nice enough to share their story with me and you know that's me sharing my story with others you know and I always put a disclaimer in there that I said I'm just going to share my experience you know with you that doesn't mean that that's going to work for you or not it's just me being open and sharing what has worked for me and hopefully you can pick up one thing out of everything that I might come out of my mouth and it's useful to you that will make me very happy that's the way how you feel like energy goes you know around and around this it doesn't get stuck in one place so yes you know originally I'm a Bolivian the guy and I was born in Bolivian race I went to Bolivian until I was 23 and came from a middle-class family went to college study distance administration and marketing when I finished you know the studies I remember the situation in 2002 to 2003 and Bolivia wasn't very stable there was a lot of political conflicts and you know things were a little difficult in there so I remember talking to my dad and telling him hey probably a great idea if I go and do a master degree you know and do things come down a little bit and I can come back and add one more thing to my resume probably get a better job and you know so that that thinking was correct and I applied for a scholarship to do a master degree in finance and I was able to get it and the only problem was it was only thought in English and in and in Hebrew because it was in a kibbutz and yes I was I was I was raised Catholic my dad got back in the day a scholarship in a kibbutz in Israel and I think that he graduated with honor and he contributed to that place in such a way that the the people said you have kid and he said yes I have a one-year-old son he was in 1981 and they offered him so when he's holding up we like to pay to his studies he just apply and go to the process of scholarship and then if he passes then you know he can come and I didn't think they're gonna remember right and I was like I looked at my dad I'm like do you think they're gonna remember like twenty one twenty two years later and sure enough we went in La Pass to the embassy of Israel and he walked in and he gave his name and he came out and checked his hand and you know they did my application and I went on a study and I passed it and when I passed it I came back to basically prefer for everything and they told me so what do you want to take it in Hebrew and English and I was like what you got this Spanish and so that's that's kind of like you know the the motivator to learn English the bromide of the United States you know I they gave me a year to come back and learn a language and you know to understand master's degree in finance and a different language I really need to know that language and I always you know I'm a big Tony Robbins guy right so I'm a believer that to learn something you need to be needs to be done by American right so I decided to you know ask around and I'm talking to my mom I said he's got to be someone in the United States that that I can go and live with or can help me find a place because if I go to classes in here I'm gonna get out to the classes to our intense English and to speak in Spanish my friend's girlfriend family is like you know it's not gonna stick so my mom said I think I have a cousin believes in the United States only called her so she called long story short she told my mom who can come and crash my couch for about eight months that's it I'll give him breakfast lunch dinner and a couch I was like that's enough for me yes I grabbed my bag I had a suitcase I remember and my savings was you know there were about $120 at the time and I just you know got on the plane and came to the US and you know I was lucky enough to have someone that was willing to give me a couch on food you know because at the moment it seemed like oh it's something that you know everybody should offer but then you realize in life that for someone to offer you in a country like United States food you know break-class lunch and dinner and a place to sleep it's actually a big deal you know it's just you can help you a lot so I came and very quickly ran out of my hand putting dollars and I went to my aunt and I said I want to go out tonight do you have you know $20 for a couple of beers and she was like no I tell you I want to give you a break-class lunch and dinner and you want to go drink in a job and it was kind of like a shocking at the moment for me right because in my mind I'm like staying in your house into the carol me but she was taking care of me you know and then also she was teaching lessons right and the way I put it she immediately very quickly like she told me how to survive in America and how to go about it and everything that needs to happen here so I say okay well what am I working with I don't speak English and she's like I'll jump at the camera drop some applications maybe you can you can pass tables it's like that what is that I didn't really know it was right and so she explains to me but boy is a guy clean to people you don't need to communicate a lot so so I start you know going to restaurants and I end up in a restaurant in Montecito in Santa Barbara beautiful place and it was a Spanish tapas gourmet Mexican I believe tenor restaurant hotels very very good restaurant and I remember I went in there and I asked for applications and it was early and awkward actually the general manager was there not even a general manager was there for Brazil and I could feel the accent so I talked to him a little bit and he was like where you're from I said Bolivia yes when you're starting like today and he's like forget application go and get a blue shirt button down and here's an apron and I'll see you at 5 p.m. and that's how I got my first job in America I was passing tables in Santa Barbara and you know what's amazing about talking about life and you know one of the things that I learned very early on when my parents called me is like you never know who is in top and who is in the bottom and like goes around and around and I learned that from my father who was at the time a politician that he would be shaking hands from the guy to clean his shoes in the plaza to the waiter to the minister of you know security and the president of Bolivia right and that's something that I learned very early you know you treat everybody the same and you you're kind to everybody and you you do it you know expecting something but you do it because that's the right thing to do and because life goes around you never know who's in top of who's in the bottom and what's amazing about full circles is that his gentleman Andre who was a general manager for the first one for 20 years gave me this opportunity and now he works for the agency and he's an agent that works close to me wow look at that agent yeah so I started working in this place and it was such a high end place that I remember waiting tables on opera I'm getting caught in on bread Pete I remember all these wealthy wealthy people from Montezillo coming down to Ferraris and having amazing dinners and having a great time so while I was doing that I was going on adult education at night ESL for free so I was working as a buzz boy and I'm going to school at night and I picked up English very quick I think like about four months I was able to communicate and I was able to you know establish a conversation where I went to to add with the manager and I said I'd like to have an opportunity to wait tables not just bad right I can talk to people I think I can do better so he gave me that chance and I started waiting tables right and when I was waiting tables I was talking to you know to all these people and I kind of like had his you know I was never exposed to someone spending four thousand dollars for dinner right that was not just not part of my reality well and that happened uh it kind of like a new reality came into place right so I was like okay so what is this about right and this guy's parking the Ferraris in the front coming spending dropping thousand two thousand dollars for drinks and dinner and I kind of wake in a curiosity and a and a hanger for success and for one morning wanting a piece of that right so I decided to uh to stay in in America but at the same time also I made uh my wife and uh we we started dating and I you know there was a lot of reasons why at the time you decided not to go to to go back to Bolivia you know I was like I want to stay a little longer you know and the a month came up moved out of my aunt's house I actually moved down to LA and well once I came to LA and I decided that I was gonna live here I uh start thinking about like what I'm gonna do now nothing's wrong with waiting tables but if I'm gonna stay here I like to do something more stylish and in potential of growth and all that so I start to translating all my degrees into the equivalent of what will be here in English and it was basically business and education and marketing and I start going to different places insurance companies sales organizations and applying for a job and they were all for me positions that what they were willing to pay was less that I was making in cash in the restaurant waiting tables because as I got here to LA also one of the things that was a pattern from the beginning for me was if I want to be waiting tables in this restaurant and I'm making 80 dollars for the shift what other place I can work and do the same thing where I can make 160 a shift and what I can make 300 dollars a shift so I was always looking what's the best restaurant what's the best restaurant but you got to understand that in LA when you want to be a waiter you're competing with professional waiters right you're completely competing with people that they've been doing that for 20 years so when you go and drop a resume and you're filling up on what restaurants you work out your experience how many places and listen to that you're competing with guys they have a career right so it's a very competitive difficult thing what I used to do because I saw that when someone was dropping a restaurant in a restaurant the person normally they will get a hold of those restaurants those applications was the host is the host in the front and a lot of them will not make it to the manager's office so don't the garbage right so I think you're very quickly that's it right so I remember like knew that once the time that the manager takes in the restaurant you know if he's for the lunch if normally he'll come in an hour later or if he was for the dinner shifts he'll come like around five o'clock so I just go to the restaurant keep the host and walk stay inside the work the office could be and just decide to talk directly to the manager and that's how I started to get better restaurants right so I ended up working the last restaurant I work was called La Rangri it was a restaurant that was open here in Los Angeles for 30 years it was a super super high-end for interest when they closed unfortunately but that was a place where I had the opportunity to wait the table someone to spend $100,000 for dinner with his family right that's ridiculous crazy so when I saw that I said okay what if someone has to do to have the ability to spend $100,000 for dinner with his family no that's something that I want to do right but it was just a curiosity to know if someone can do that they gotta be worth a lot of money so all this curiosity all this stuff got me to want to learn more about success about you know reading and books and this and that I stumbled upon what at the time was this phenomenon the secret I don't remember right so I remember my mother-in-law giving me the DVD and in between shifts of the restaurant going to my house and putting the DVD and watching this movie and crying as I'm watching the movie I'm just literally starting to cry and I started to think about like why not I told me this information before how is it that I don't know about this thing so how is it that why they don't teach this in a school right why they don't teach you in a school that your thoughts are powerful and you have the ability to shape your life and create your life you know and every aspect so that curiosity gave me to you know start to borrow this kind of information you know and going to you know a number of them I mentioned Tony Robbins I don't you know I certain you know the teachings of Abraham Hicks the law of attraction and I stumbled upon Think and Grow Rich which is a book that I sent my YouTube channel and I give courses about it and I give talks about that book because I read it every year and I find it to be an incredible manual not just to become and reach but for life so while I'm applying all this stuff I decided to okay so where can I work that I can you know make a living and my cousin I remember at the time he was doing loans and I was watching him I'm like what do you do like you serve half of the day you see on the computer for three hours make 10-15 thousand dollars I want to do that like you know can you help me and he was like well I do loans I'm a mortgage broker and he says you need to get a license right and with the same license he says I think you will be better than real estate and I was like what's real estate I didn't really know what real estate was right so he explains to me and I'm like okay well and he's like you do better in real estate this is kind of boring I'll do it because it's just easy for me I know he was a lawyer and I just seen a few hours and close a couple of loans but I'm fine right but he's like young personality people you're gonna be born from a computer so with that thought I got my license and I got into real estate and I was 2004 Los Angeles I joined a company called Keller Williams in Berry Hills and I started my journey to real estate and you know little little did I know that that was gonna be a long haul before you start doing really well to spend it right so I embarked myself into this journey where I worked in the restaurant business for four and a half years while I was doing real estate right and the reason being when I talk to people now they ask me you know what should I do and how you start and all this stuff is a lot a lot of people they ask me this question they're from here and they already have you know a head start meaning I didn't go to college here I didn't go to high school here I don't have any relatives here I didn't know anyone right so who do you sell a house to right you gotta literally go out there adding like people they want to buy your sale houses from scratch and how do you do that and there's a lot of basics in real estate that you know real estate agents apply can be co-calling can be a door knocking sitting open houses sending letters I mean there's basics that you follow in real estate to to do uh generally business so we I start doing all of them co-calling very quickly I realized it wasn't for me it became my accent it's just like right now my English wasn't 2004 so that didn't work but door knocking didn't work and sitting open houses work well because I like people you know I I really enjoy meeting people I really enjoy being in front of people and getting to know people and I just try out of the energy of the people and me being in front of others it's always being fun so engage better and people feel attracted to hang out and talk and wanted to learn so I start learning the markets really well we're working with that opportunity and someone will come into my open house and walk in there and have the knowledge to have a conversation with them and also more than anything which I think is the most important thing is you bring value right why someone wants to talk to you why someone wants to engage with you why someone wants to even entertain doing business videos because you bring in value right you know all the houses not on the market across the street you know about dollar to square how to help properties are selling for land value you just kind of know your craft right and that's what I say it's like yes good to have a goal it's good to be motivated it's good to be you know focused on your goals and have this great energy but you also need to put the work and you also need to be pragmatic right you need to understand that you need to know your chat you know so because that that all saying the luck is preparation meets opportunity is this just that right is you need to be in the right place at the right time what does that mean is when that person walks with an opportunity you got to take that opportunity someone walks in and ask yes I like this house or I was looking for something similar with a bigger pool you need to be oh I know something with a bigger pool and take that opportunity right and it's happening hundreds of times you know so that's kind of like how I got into real estate man and I was not working hard I remember in 2007 towards the end I started to do good enough where I decided to quit the restaurant business and do real estate at 100% and when that happened I in about year 2008 Kim and everything went down right I had a big recession and it was challenging time because very quickly the little bit of savings that I had there was gonna be that cushion they helped me you know control the real estate it started to dry and dry and dry and I started to get into this mindset of wariness again right of lack of like I don't want to go back to that place and that's to me no other than a test you know when you're putting those situations where you're doubting yourself with your scare and and you are you know letting the fear and everything that comes with fear all the emotions they start with fear right that's when you need to well that's what you're tested basically right you're tested of what you make up and how persistent you are and what qualities you have to overcome that there's nothing more than a test and I tell you right now for everyone right now that it's that is having a hard time because especially if you're in real estate we'll know right now the time of changing a little bit real estate is cyclical it's all always going up and always going down is is cycles right and and do for many many things that happen in economy and and COVID and everything you know we we kind of skip the cycle right we went from the 2008 back cycle you need to be a good cycle to around 2016 17 and then we need to go down again and then we need to go back and we need to go and down we're not even with COVID and I thought that during COVID everything was gonna go down and the opposite is exactly so we live we live in a time and a reality that has not you know permitted us to go into this normal setting to eight year cycles but now I feel like you know we we're entering into we are in the middle of a little bit of a recession and there's places like Florida that they're holding it really well for different reasons but in LA we definitely feel in it and I think that as a company owner nation when I'm looking at the numbers that our company is doing and I know the numbers of all the companies and this is the time when you need to you know get ready for the opportunities because there's nothing more opportunities so for all those that you're feeling a little bit nervous a little bit concerned about the market about how how's how's gonna help you went from doing X amount of deals to now this amount of deals and you worry right it's normal that's normal behavior human behavior but I think you need to just keep focus and don't let the fear come in and dig in your hills and say this is a test and I'm gonna stay I'm gonna stick to it and no matter what happens I'm just gonna keep going forward and then you can relate to this you know with the things that you do you know like this incredible race that you just finished right it's like when you think that you're you don't have any more you actually have a lot more right because in those moments that they get tested like who really is gonna be you know successful at the end of this test right and we as humans are capable of amazing things you know we're capable of incredible resilience and an ability to to not only go through the challenges that we're going but as we go into the challenge we're going to become something bigger to become that new version of yourself and that's what happened to me in 2008 2009 when things got really really difficult you know I decided that I was gonna go to to pick up applications for restaurants again because I need to have you know I have by now I had two kids and literally that count was down to a thousand dollars and in my mind the only thing that I could do is go to that safety place or the certainty right if I go to a restaurant I'm gonna make two three hundred dollars a night again which is gonna help me bring food to the family but as I was getting out of my car I remember clearly the moment of alkene and bennies about to go into a restaurant to drop an application there was something inside me and I'm just talking about it I get chilled right now something inside me said what are you doing you know and I remember meeting my other self in that moment I remember meeting me that new evolved version of myself saying you're not gonna do that you're gonna move forward and if you fall even a fall forward you're not gonna fall backwards and what you're trying to do right now is to go backwards and I know you're fearful and I know you need to provide your family but the reality is that you're gonna be okay and and you trust that you're gonna be okay and that fate of trust that you're gonna be okay and that's the opportunity the synchronicities the people in your life that would bring those those things because they need to ally with the way how you feel you know so in that moment literally close my door and I went to my favorite neighborhood LA and with the most expensive houses where and I went door knocking for three hours and nobody opened the door again you know at least in that day but that energy that I put out there and that conviction and that decision that I make to this is what I'm going to do he almost makes that the universe the source or anything that you believe and say damn this guy's not gonna give up just give to him you know like he's just on it right so let's just give him right and within a few months in the midst of the recession I actually started to do really well and I started to generate more business and as 2012 came and things started to get better he just you know explanationally got better you know I was the guy sitting in open houses Saturday and Sunday when there was nothing happening so the perception was that I was really busy and so when things started to happen again people remember my signs of my name and said well he was doing great in the bad times they just had to do that right so that's kind of like the short quick version of my journey and real estate and from that point it's been it's been an amazing ride I met incredible partners I partnered up in Mauricio and Billy and the agency partners to to grow this company into something that is turning an incredible international you know work company and we have now over 90 offices all over the world and we're just thrilled to be able to to grow and expand all over the world yet to maintain the boutique family oriented kind of you know business where you know we wanted to be in all the markets all the important looksery markets in the world we wanted to be in all the beautiful markets where we actually like to go and spend time to right yeah but we also wanted to meet I have partners and all these markets they have things in common right because you are as good as your partners and for us one of the most important things not only just the numbers and the money is meeting the right people in the different markets you know because when you partnered up with the right leader not just producer but when you partnered up with the right leaders in the different markets that is basically like you're expanding yourself through those people in different markets and they're able to maintain that culture and they're able to maintain the things that are important for us which is this family you know feel of doing business and being friends with the people that you actually working with and grow and help each other and and the collaboration is what makes us stronger and that's been a great great thing for us so we're very happy to see that growing obviously there is growing pains and there's things here and there but for most part I mean now that we have that many offices we feel that we're able to maintain that and you know agents talk about it and so that's that's that's very cool feeling my friend what a story I get shields just you in your story and I'm so grateful that you're here with us today sharing everything that you've gone through to get to where you are today and so many important lessons that can be taken out of this story so this is something that people will just watch and rewatch again take notes as I was just listening to you I just connecting so many levels and that's why a lot of people say that you and I are so similar because we have a lot of similarities in the way we think in what so we'll go deeper into that conversation at different time for now I just wanted to summarize the concept of the legal faith you've had that leap of faith throughout your journey in so many different stages curiosity is what leads to expand your mind and therefore your life you've stayed curious in moments that you could just stay comfortable with what you were doing and that curiosity was really helpful I also love the concept of knowledge is power once you had that opportunity because of your knowledge you were able to reach the power and right now as you mentioned collaboration is the name of the game surrounding yourself with the right people is what will make you grow in the right direction way faster than if you're just going alone and you're enjoying the journey as well so look we can definitely talk a lot about things but I want to just touch base on something that is very interesting and from the outside that really differentiates you from everyone else that I've seen and met in this luxury real estate industry which is your mindset you've really worked a lot on your mind and you have different routines that you're currently applying that has helped you maintain and continue improving that mindset what are some of those I guess tools that have happened look through the years you just need to try different things right everybody's different so you need to find something that works for you and I'm always trying new stuff and what works I tip it and what doesn't I just let it go and now you know it's been what since 2004 that I got introduced to this concept and I started on this yeah I mean like it's a it's been a while that I that I've been experimenting with different things whether it's books and when now we have you know the advantage to have incredible access to just about anything through through our phones right you can go on YouTube and just type just about anything that you have and you have an immense amount of knowledge out there from the right sources obviously you need to be very careful on where you're getting your information but the information is out there and I think you can you can learn and according to your personality and what you like know everybody's the same right nobody can wake up and do the things that you and I do they put the cold planges and jumping and doing this and all this stuff and the reason what we do this is because I think I mean I believe you know besides all the health benefits and everything is is that constant test to your mind of what your capable of doing or not and what's amazing is like you know I'm being cold plunging out for many years jumping in the collosia and these and that and all the things and it doesn't really change I mean every time you know I'm going to go in the cold plan and I tell you that was happening every this morning when I woke up you don't become a pro I mean yes you know you get used to and it's easy but every time that you're about to dip into this 39 degree water your mind is trying to give you every single excuse that is possible like it's just so crazy the things that come in your mind that you start thinking about it you know like that they want to sabotage you right because that's what the mind that right is it's trying to survive right for for many years basically that's what's been doing it's like you're going survival mode and that's that's how you genetically you know pretty suppose but having the ability to kind of stand up and say no no no no I'm just I'm glad you're and I'm going to tell you what you're going to do and you know these more than anyone it makes the game you know like I know I mean when I go in winter and ocean here in LA which is called it's not a cold plan it's pretty cold and the ocean also adds another challenge right you have big waves that hit you and so I every time I'm walking into the ocean talks that come to my mind like what if there's a shark there because actually there are sharks I surfed you know and I still like sharks a couple times so what are the sharks what are the steam race right stepping one wants to so they're actually there what if you get sick and you have a you know important stuff to do next week you can afford to get sick the water is dirty you know they just all these things coming your mind you know it's like about it thousand per minute you know and you just need to have the ability to go in there to get deep breath instead understand you're trying to survive but I'm gonna get in the water that's what we're gonna do and it's gonna be great and they just jump in the water right and the amazing thing is every time you come out of the cold plunge every time you come out of the cold water in the ocean you have this incredible high for life you feel so good and every time you come out why at least come out and I'm like oh this is what I do it this is amazing how can I doubt every day coming in the ocean knowing that it's gonna be this way right one of the things that helped me is hold on that moment hold on the way how you feel like so good when you get out and that is going to help you to get in the next day it's just knowing that it's just that one second decision that is going to get me to feel a lot better you know and just get it so true so true you know I'm not what you're saying about being out of that comfort zone because this is what in reality is happening to a lot of people what it differentiates you or myself or those that are currently achieving high levels of success is because not something came to us because we're seeking that this comfort and you just explain it very well even with a simple example such as going into the cold ocean or doing a cold plunge it's about seeking whatever you are uncomfortable with and do it regardless because you start building your callus in your mind and this is what makes you push forward that's right that's right yeah absolutely you know and then it can be anything right that nobody needs to jump in a cold punch no exactly no nobody needs to do the same thing is but you need to find that thing that challenges you and like you say like you can grow right if you're comfortable when you're comfortable you get bored and when you're bored the mind does all the things that shouldn't be doing it starts looking and thinking and doing things that you should but when you're occupied and you're challenging yourself you actually are growing that you you cannot grow you know if you're not you know under pressure I mean diamonds get shaped under pressure you know we know all these old things right so so it's just that you know so basically routines I mean I share this in a lot of podcasts and then in my youtube channel and a lot of things so for those that heard already sort of boring you again but this is basically what I do I wake up at 4 45 in the morning as soon as I wake up I drink a tall glass of water with lemon juice and then I go into an hour of meditatium I made it for an hour I get roughly between 40 minutes at an hour 10 normally somewhere in there as soon as I get out from my meditation and I go into my backyard and I jump into the cold punch do cold punch for three four minutes and then I get dressed getting my car and go to the gym and I go to the gym for about an hour and 20 depending what days I have more time or not and by 7 7 30 I'm back I'm ready to go that routine helps me tremendously I mean for me that's been a life-changing you know routine and what it does is it allows me to have my time for myself for Santiago so Santiago cannot show up into a listing presentation Santiago cannot show up into a big meeting 100% of itself if Santiago doesn't take care of itself right so I need to take care of myself and I figure that at that time that day you know because I have you know three kids and one of the way and a very busy business and the phone at seven so that there is such a ring and you just you're just gonna get into this free way of busyness of every day and you just get taken by it if you're not you know controlling but if you wake up and you have those two hours of 30 minutes of your alone time where you can align yourself with your goals you can align yourself with who you are and what you want then you enter the day in a whole different place right if you open your eyes and you look at your cell phone and you read that undesirable email of whatever is happening that it gives you that don't speak and you start your day like that it's just gonna roll into this snowball but experiences or undesirable events or everything because you just in you're starting you know your minds come from from a place where you're like your subconscious mind was creating into a world where like well again you go back to your familiar thoughts and feelings everything that you were feeling the day before because we think I feel 80 or 85 percent of the same thoughts that we thought the day before so we just into this wheel that never stops but if you wake up in the morning and you're not thinking of anything and you go into a quiet place and you set up your goals and you do your routine ocean, cold plunge, run, bike, hiking whatever it is that you do right is that's your time that's your time to align yourself and you know who you are and you know where you're going when you read that email say email after you've done your routine that email will not touch you it won't affect you it won't change the way you feel you'll actually be in a place to handle that email way better you know when you take care of that and when you show up to those meetings I mean it happens to me all the time people just wanting to do business because the energy you're producing you walk into that room and you walk with an energy is very different of the four people they walk before you and that's what people feel and know they feel attracted to and they want to release video right and it's just the energy we talk about it you prepare yourself so you know your market you know your stuff you know your thing but now you bring that energy in in addition to that I'm telling you right now that's a win-win situation 100% and I always say that energy is the current currency for personal and professional success and it's just so important to elevate your energy levels because I always talk about the five different energy levels but again that's a different conversation but I really agree with we can do another we can do another talk about that listen there's so many things that you and I relate with that I will definitely talk to you about more things outside of it because it's so wonderful to hear what you're saying but definitely I agree with the concept of increasing your energy levels and not only that but also creating momentum with whatever you do in the mornings because the same with it you can build a negative momentum you can build a positive one and if you have control over your morning you have control over your day so I don't want to take too much of your time because I know you are in the middle of your morning routine process so the one thing I wanted to ask you is if you had to talk to the early young Santiago from Bolivia arriving in the States or starting with real estate what will you tell that guy? That's amazing I again asked this question a lot right I love interviews that's a very important question which people want to know and the more I think about it and I respond it probably different every time but the more I think about it is you know you are who you are right now because of what happened before right so I think the concept of going back and trying to give yourself a tip knowing the future that might change things you know who you become who you are because you know that's just part of life but but there is something that I can I could have tell myself and I think this is really the most important thing it's not like by the lot of ticket in 2000 and crew that is gonna be the winner it's not that you should do this it's not about that because again that would change the reality that you are right now right but if I had to say something to myself back in the very beginning is everything is gonna be okay you just stay the course keep doing what you're doing you have faith that you can do what you want to do and you work hard and it will be there so remove the anxiety remove the fear out of the equation because it's all going to work out and everything is going to be okay right so that's the one thing because I've gone through years where I was very anxious I'm very stressed and and it's something that is unnecessary right because any amount of stress inside of your life does not change the situation of the experience is what you make out of every situation and experience what makes the difference right so in every situation and experience instead of choosing to be in really really fearful mode and anxiety and all these things that really ultimately break down your body and your health know that everything's gonna be okay everything's gonna work out and and that would put you in a much better place where you are coming from a place of fate I suppose of fear because you can have both at the same time right you can you can say I have faith that everything's gonna be okay but in the back of your mind be like what if it's not it's like trying to mix oil with water you know it doesn't you know they don't hold hands right it's like a you're either t-fold or fearful right and that will be the one advice because you know for me personally it took a few years to understand these right and because we always go into bible mode you can continue to kind of fall into this place but now I fall and I get it a little faster so if I could tell myself that that's how it's gonna be maybe I wouldn't be able to move faster a lot longer yeah I love that advice and it's a great analogy as well and it's something that definitely applies to anybody myself my first job was in a maintenance department picking up trash same way as you humble beginnings and I think that would make some more beautiful story so if you put yourself as the hero of your own story and you're writing this beautiful story of yours take that leap of faith do something that no matter how ashamed you might feel at the moment it's just building who you are and you learn a lot of lessons within that process because the same way that you talked about values those values were raised when you started to do those humble beginnings you didn't get ahead in life by getting a 10 million dollar listing from the very get-go and I climbed the next day and life is good no those humble beginnings what shaped you into the diamond that you are today was that pressure it was that humbleness so I think that everybody can definitely go through that and become successful absolutely and then you know just know that whatever it is that you do it right now it might not be the thing that you ultimately gonna end up doing what you want to do you feel like that's your you're calling in life right and I remember people asking me what you do right and I always remember saying I'm waiting tables right because if you really think about you got to pay attention on the things that come out of your mouth because everything that comes out of your mouth you're hearing it and even though you don't think you're hearing and it sounds something so simple everything that you're hearing yourself saying is going into your subconscious mind your subconscious mind is like the farm and your mind is like the the farmer controls what goes in the land which is a subconscious mind right how much water you put into the crops what kind of crops are you planting what can I you know so that that's just the way I like to explain it is like it's a farm huge farm a lot bigger than the farmer right and that huge farm is your subconscious mind and you are the mind your department controls what I'm gonna plant I'm gonna plant good fruits I'm gonna plant weeds you know I'm gonna water the important stuff I'm gonna water the weed to all that stuff when you're speaking and saying things your subconscious mind is speaking up on that and when you go to sleep is when your subconscious mind is gonna work on those things right so if you say something change it very quickly right instead of saying if I make a million dollars this year I will do this say when I make a million dollars this day and I know it sounds very simple but it's just like golf right when you're golfing and I'm not a golfer but I know you know what it takes to play good well so if you're golfing you don't go out there and make a gigantic change for the ball to land in this place you just need to shift millimeters than in the distance become you know meters so these little changes of how you speak of yourself how you speak everything comes out you might be careful so what is the difference of saying so what do you do for living I'm waiting tables oh I am a waiter right now yeah if you're a waiter because that's your profession and you love it fantastic you know there's nothing wrong with it I love that for me at the moment was just something that I know that was doing temporarily that was going to get me to the next thing and to the next thing but it was very important to make it very clear to myself that it was temporary and the way for me to know that was temporary is I am waiting tables at the moment right you know it is so amazing because self-awareness is one of the most powerful things that you can ever have in life once you are aware of what you're saying and what you're doing and how you're thinking you can make adjustments a lot of things that happen nowadays is that we are going through life so fast we don't even take a moment to have that self-awareness so I think that what you're doing in the morning with meditation is something that is helpful to be present and to really be self-aware and that's when you can start making those changes and as you mentioned I love that analogy because I've never seen that analogy of like the farmer and the thing is like really cool I always say this twice you know everything happens twice first in your mind and then in reality but again different topics but I love the concept of the mind really powerful so just wanted to wrap this up with a quick question that we ask all of our guests and I'm curious to know your answer about what is the true definition of luxury for you the true definition of luxury to me is you know having the ability to enjoy something you know to the maximum potential whether it's an experience whether it's a product luxury is that that allows you to be yourself to enjoy that situation of that product to the point that you don't need anything else right if you're driving a car and you're having that experience in that moment and you just I don't need to drive anything else but this car that looks very and that doesn't have to be a Ferrari it could be just anything that you feel that way right so for me I think that luxury is having the ability to enjoy something without having to think about what's next I love that I don't feel it right is that feeling is that working you know and obviously you know applying to what I do is like when you when you walk into that house right that it has just everything and you walk in that place and you just wow right you feel it you feel it like you feel it like you feel it like anything else you know it's got everything right or when you go to that hotel destination and you just from the moment that you walk in the way how they treat you the way how they talk to you you walk in the room and the water towel to wash your hands to the you know when they know you're the drink that you like it's all about the way how you feel right the luxury is the way how you feel in that moment how how how the hotel years make you feel when you walk in the hotel how the car makers make you feel when you see them that Ferrari and it smells the letter you know it's the way how you feel that delivers you know the ultimate feeling of luxury thank you my friend for your time thank you and thanks again for everybody tuning in today we hope you enjoyed it and remember embrace it's beautiful success in life my name is Alvaro and I'll see you next time