He Turned Connections Into Contracts | The Power Move That Changed His Business

Today's guest is Eddie Mendoza. He's the owner of Remodel HTX. Eddie Mendoza has completed over 2,000 work orders for Starbucks, Canes, Five Guys, and you've also completed over 100 home renovations for Active Investors. That's a lot to unpack, man. How the hell did you get here? >> So, pretty much uh I started when I was 14. I became a helper and kind of got in the construction game. A buddy of mine, he said, "Hey, look into

construction management." So, I looked into it. I got my degree in construction management. While I was in college, I worked for Highland Homes Custom Home Builders. So, we built houses from like 250 to 800,000 over there in Sugarland, Aliana, Telare. That's where I got my construction experience. >> You worked there while you were in college. >> Yeah. >> No kidding. Nice. >> I was single. I didn't have any kids. So, I was all like, "Think or

swim. I'm I'm start this business." And it's been 10 years now. And I never looked back. Y'all remember back in the day, like 2015, 2016, it was a nightclub and I did the tile. And on that one, I actually didn't get paid. You know how the nightlife promoters say that they got money at this and that? >> On that one, I kind of had to take an L and I lost $15,000. Some people get discouraged, some

people quit. But I was like, it's part of the game. Just keep on rolling and I'm going to get blessed with some more opportunities. Most people think about day work from 9 to 5, but like there's so much work that happens at night. You could even check out Starbucks. All the milk is delivered at night. All the product is delivered at night. All the pressure washes, everything happens at night when people are sleeping. People are still

making money. Welcome to another episode of Pick Up the Phone Podcast. I am your host, Jose. I'm the CEO of Vancom.io. I specialize in helping companies grow with sales, marketing, and artificial intelligence. Today's guest is Eddie Mendoza. He's the owner of Romano HTX. Um Eddie Mendoza has completed over 2,000 work orders for Starbucks, Canes, Five Guys, and uh other other commercial um places, right? Uh you did this all over Texas. >> Yes, Texas and Louisiana for

the last 5 years. >> Nice. That that's awesome, dude. you've uh you've done general labor for Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, which I think is not an easy thing to do. So, I'm I'm excited to talk about all this and how you got in there, bro, because I think that shows a lot of the story uh of how you got to that place. And you've also completed over 100 home remedi renovations for active investors, >> correct?

Yeah, that's something that keeps us busy and we're excited to do some more. >> Nice. Nice. Well, uh that's a lot to unpack, man. Uh how how the hell did you get here? So, pretty much uh I started when I was 14. Yeah. >> Uh my uncle, he was a painter. He used to do big houses in Memorial, KMA, >> uh five bedrooms, four bathrooms, and uh it was pretty much summertime. >> So, my uncle said,

"Hey, you want to help?" I became a helper and kind of got in the construction game. >> Yeah. >> From there, um whenever I was in high school, I was thinking of kind of going that path, but as an architect, >> Yeah. >> I wanted to study architecture. We did some AutoCAD. We did junior and senior year. pretty much got to design our our own house and kind of got involved with the construction side, but on

the pre-construction. >> Yeah. >> Then I applied to the University of Houston and whenever I was there, at first I thought I was going to do architecture, but it was really demanding. So, I'm like, I don't know if I want to do this cuz I would be going to the rec center after classes and hanging out. And my buddies in architecture, they're like, "Bro, like, it's really hard. We're like sleeping there. It's super hard. You got

to turn in an assignment every week. If you don't do good, you got to redo the one from last week." I was like, "That's kind of demanding." >> Yeah. Yeah, a buddy of mine, he said, "Hey, look into construction management." Construction management, you're still part of the architect side, but now you're kind of the quarterback because you talk to the subs, you talk to the vendors, you talk to the owners. So, you're basically the quarterback and

you lead the show. >> So, I looked into it. I got my degree in construction management, business administration. >> And then uh while I was in um college, I worked for Highland Homes, Custom Home Builders. So, we built houses from like 250 to 800,000 over there in Sugarland, Aliana, Telare. You you worked there while you were in college? >> Yeah. >> No kidding. Nice. >> So, I got a got that's where I got my construction experience.

>> That was one of our courses at the college >> and uh I got to learn how to build a house from the ground up, the schedule, the budget. I got all my subs there and I still talk to a couple of them today. >> No kidding. So, wait, you it was a course that was provided by the by UFH. >> Yes. So, before you graduate from UFH, you have to have construction experience. So, they don't

want you to just know the be book smart, but you got to be out there. You got to know how to put a bid together. You got to know how to do a budget. You got to know how to do a schedule. We would build a house like in 3 months. Everything was sequential. You know, your concrete guy, your roofer, your framer. You build your relationships. And that's kind of how I got good at building relationships

at a young age. >> Wow. I think it's pretty incredible that University of Houston has that, you know, that they demand you have real world experience. >> Yeah. And it's basically at the end of the day, everything is sales. Yeah. >> So, you got to go to uh career fair. You got to go apply. You got to go follow up. You got to send your resume. I was a waiter when I was in college. So, basically

the cool thing about being a waiter, you got really good people skills. You talk to different individuals. >> And uh I got a chance um whenever I think it was the VP of Highland Homes. >> Boyd, his name was Boyd Moore. He's the one that gave me a shot. I was just a waiter and I was trying to get in the construction game. He opened the door and I took off ever since. >> Nice. Nice. Well,

shout out to Boyd. >> Yeah. So, um, that was something that I really enjoyed. And, uh, when I graduated, um, I actually had like two or three offers, >> but I didn't want to stick to residential cuz the next level is commercial. So, whenever I I graduated, I went and worked for Baker Concrete, the biggest concrete company in in the US. >> And at that time, they were building the X on campus project. That's the project

in the Woodlands in 2012. It was the biggest project in the nation. And I was a project engineer on that. There was at least like 5,000 people working there a day. Yeah, >> they were building like a little town for Exxon. >> So, it's five uh 15 office buildings, three parking garages, underground tunnel, like super highprofile event to be my first project out of college. >> So, my team was a pro uh parking garage team. So,

we had three parking garages. We made sure that everything came good. >> Yeah. >> And then after that, well, you know, in construction, they're seniority. >> So, once the project comes to a close, >> all the older guys that have wives and kids that can't really move around, they stay and get relocated to projects in town. And I actually got a project in Connecticut, Danbury, Connecticut. So they told me, "Hey, you want to go?" I was

like, "Not really." But one of my buddies, he was a a superintendent. He's like, "You should go out there because the way we build here in the south is different from up north." >> Yeah. >> So I actually went to Danbury, Connecticut. I was working there for a summer. Yeah. >> I got to go to uh Yankees Red Sox games. I got to go to Gillette Stadium. I would go to New York City every other week.

I'm just one train away. >> Yeah. >> It was really cool. >> But by that time, I really wanted to come back to Houston because my family's in Houston. My friends are in Houston. I know a lot of people in Houston. So, I got plugged in with a friend of mine. His aunt is the CFO for Kirsy Architecture. So, they know all the general contractors in the commercial space. >> Yeah. >> So, she got me an

interview and I applied. It was the quickest interview. Literally like five minute interview. >> Five minutes. >> Five minutes. Like the receptionist in the front said that was the quickest interview I've ever seen. >> Why is that? >> So, I was >> Cuz he knew someone. >> Yeah. I was I was recommended by somebody. Yeah. >> The architect that does a lot of work with them >> and they basically said, "When can you start?" And I

went in there, they saw my uh profile, they saw what projects I've been on and um they offered me a opportunity. >> I worked on a commercial project in um energy center over there on I 10 and Eldridge. They're the KO Phillips buildings. There's three energy center 3, four, and five. >> I was doing that project and it was a corn shell project. So we were basically just building the structure and another team would come do

the interior buildout. And then uh whenever I was on that project, I loved it because I wasn't just doing concrete. I was I got to do uh supervision on all the subs. They kind of give you two or three subs and you got to take care of them, make sure everything's good. If they got any extra change orders, RFIs, I would take care of that. And uh I really enjoyed it. >> Yeah. >> After that, they

pulled me. >> Real quick, Eddie, for the people that don't know what a what a change order is and an RFI, what does that mean? So, in the construction industry, a change order is basically if you and me come to an agreement and we say, "We're going to do the interior paint walls only. We're painting the walls." But then after that, if you say, "You know, Eddie, I need you to paint the doors, too." We're like,

"Well, that's a change order cuz we agreed to doing the walls only." So, now we're doing the walls and the doors. So, the change order would be how many doors is it? 25 doors and how much per door, x amount, and then you give them a change order. If they approve it, we do it. If they don't approve it, we'll stick to the original contract and we'll just do the walls. And RFI is request for information.

So basically an RFI, if there's a problem, we need to ask the architect, for example, on the field, they're like, "Hey, we need an RFI for this door. Is it going to swing inward or outward?" Cuz on the mechanicals, it says this. On the electrical plans, it says that. So the plans are are not really clear. So we basically ask the architect, do you want it to swing inward or you want it to swing outward? You

submit it. the architect answers it and then you put it on the plan. So, anybody that sees that plan knows that doors swinging in more. >> So, it kind of gives clarification. >> Not only that, but also like a track like a um like a paper trail that says correct, hey man, I checked on this >> cuz especially like that, sometimes RFIs have cost implications, some of them don't. So, let's say the door was already ordered

and it's >> sticking out and they're like, "No, no, no. We want it to come in." So, they're like, "Well, now I got to order another door. It cost this much and I got to take out that door." We're putting in a new door. So sometimes those RFIs can make turn into change orders. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Gotcha. Gotcha. >> Cool. So you you're talking about NRG the >> Yeah. Yeah. So basically I was part of

the um the project in energy center 3, four, and 5 >> when uh I got an opportunity. One of the VPs at the company said, "Hey, we got another high-profile project. This one's in downtown uh by Discovery Green. It's for the Super Bowl. They built the Marriott Marquee, the one with the lazy river in the shape of Texas. That one has 1,000 um rooms basically the floor I believe 1 through six. There's conference space and then

they got the lazy river in the shape of Texas right above the the the grand ballroom. So imagine that >> there's ever a leak. Whoever's in the conference downstairs might get a little wet. >> Yeah, that'd be bad. >> So they had to make sure that everything was really good, waterproofed and everything. >> Yeah. >> But uh we got a chance to be a part of that project >> by that time. Uh kind of got some

experience on that project. They put me in charge of the mechanical, electrical, plumbing guys. Anything that's electrical, they would talk to me. Mechanical AC, they would talk to me. And plumbing would talk to me. >> And this was all through a company that you were working for, >> correct? This is uh fresh out of college. I worked for two corporate companies. >> Both of them commercial. One of them was concrete. You're a sub. All you do

is concrete. The other one was a contractor. And they they assigned you subs. So, I got mechanical, electrical, plumbing. The reason I did that because once I graduated, I had some experience. Mhm. >> I knew the residential industry with Highland Homes. Knew how to build a house. I knew how to do repairs and I want to learn the commercial side. Once you learn the residential commercial side, you're kind of pretty wellrounded. >> Yeah. >> But we

keep on learning every day. >> Yeah. >> And uh by that time I was 24 >> and uh at that time I had a pretty good um relationship with my friends that graduated. Everybody's buying houses. So I was a granite guy. Eddie, can you put the granite in? Yeah. Eddie, can you build me a fence? Eddie, can you paint this uh wall? Yeah. So, I got a lot of traction from some of my buddies and especially

social media. Started posting stuff and I was single. I didn't have any kids. So, I was like, think or swim. I'm I'm going start this business and it's been 10 years now and I never looked back. >> No kidding. Wow. That's incredible. So, you started your business in uh right out of college. I mean, I guess maybe a year, two years after. >> Two. Yeah. Around two years after. >> Okay. What year was this? >> Uh

2015. >> 2015. >> So, I graduated 2012 and I started 2015. >> Got it. Got it. >> Okay. Cool. You gradu 2012 from college? Yes. Got it. >> So, it was at the University of Houston and it was uh construction management. Yeah. And business administration. >> Yeah. Got it. How old are you now? >> So, right now I'm 37. >> 37. Got it. Got it. Cool, man. So, two years right after you um you graduated, you

start your business and you have buddies. You're posting on social media. What happens next? How do you grow your company? >> So, pretty much um everything was residential. Most people start their construction projects with residential cuz it's quick and easy. And actually, my neighbor, Mr. Angelo, shout out to him. He was the first one to give me a a chance. We did his granite countertops at his kitchen and he was literally asking for like 3 weeks.

He's like, "Eddie, when are you going to come? Eddie, when are you going to come?" But I never felt like I'm going to start my own business. I said, "Man, let me go. He's going to get someone else." So, I did the countertops. He liked it, posted on Instagram, people shared it. And then after that, I got a um another buddy, Fernando. He gave me a shot at doing apartments. >> So, he said, "Eddie, I saw

you did the countertops. Can you do like the countertops, backsplash, the shower?" "Yeah, I could do He's like, "We got like 10 units in Montros. We're going to do one unit. If we like it, we'll give you the another another two or three and we keep on going." And they kept me pretty busy for the first couple years because they would just keep on acquiring properties >> and I was their tile, countertop, backsplash guy, and little

by little, they'd be giving me more projects. So, they got me into the multif family industry. >> Nice. >> On the commercial side, um, cuz we're we're sharing the wins and the losses. The first commercial project I did was actually I believe it's Laroo nightclub if y'all remember back in the day like 2015 2016. >> It was a nightclub and I did the tile and the countertops and on that one I actually didn't get paid. >>

So I kind of you know how you know how the nightlife promoters say that they got money at this and that. >> On that one I kind of had to take an L and I lost $15,000. >> No kidding. >> So that one I was kind of eager and I really want to do commercial. I want to get in commercial. Like I'm I'm good. I I already did residential. I want to get in with the big

boys. >> But I think on that one, there was little little things that red flags that I should have seen. >> So, for example, for anybody listening that wants to get in commercial, >> as soon as you sign a contract >> and you order the material, you got to ask 50% upfront >> cuz I'm not forking the money. It's it's your material. Yeah. >> So, if they stop, like if they don't want to give the 50%,

don't even do the project cuz >> why are you going to be sponsoring the nightclub and paying for the tile? >> Yeah. >> Then once they pay you that, you do the labor and then they'll pay you the other 50% which is kind of reasonable. >> Yeah. So, this was kind of a, you know, the Shady Club promoters, the they believe they're business owners and they know how to run something. They kind of went out. They

opened the nightclub, but they had a bunch of leans and people were owing them. They were owing the electrician, the tile guy. They were owing a couple people, >> but it never really got shut down because >> once you get to the collections teams, people chase them. They really don't have much money to take. Yeah. >> So, you get like a collections team that says, "Hey, I'll I'll get you your money." But >> some point you

just take the L. So, that's one of the >> At least I started early and it was only $15,000. >> Yeah. Was that your only loss or have you had other losses >> for that loss? It has been, but I've had some other losses where pretty much um some contracts I could have kind of snagged, but maybe I was busy or I didn't >> submit the bid on time >> or like lost opportunity. >> Lost opportunity.

Yeah. But >> just fresh out the gate, that was my first loss. And when you're a business owner, you start and you're already in the hole. Like you have some >> projects coming, but you get a $15,000 loss. Some people get discouraged. Yeah, >> some people quit, but I was like, it's part of the game. Just keep on rolling and I'm going to get blessed with some more opportunities. >> Yeah. I think you need to realize

if you're going into business that you will lose money at times. Correct. That's okay. You know, as long as you keep going, you're going to make it back. >> Yeah. >> But it was something that kind of opened my eyes and and just helping people know that you're going to win some, you're going to lose some, but you just got to keep on being persistent. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. So, um, how did you, you know, it sounds

like you got like a really good contract then with like Starbucks, Canes, Five Guys. Let's, let's fast forward. Like, how did you get this contract? Cuz I think that's pretty pretty sizable, man. It's not something that just happens to just anyone, you know? >> Yeah. So, pretty much I'm really involved with the community. I think you've seen some of my posts with the uh Hispanic Alumni Association, Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Houston Apartment Association, Name Act,

the National Association to to join all these groups, man. >> So, I just like being part of organizations, being part of the community, seeing what kind of impact I could have on them. So, besides working, they do a lot of good things in the community. >> One of them that that's really dear to my heart is the 10-year anniversary. We're going to play u I'm a soccer guy, so it's the uh um Champions League. Mhm. >>

So basically what we do, we get like 10 teams, every team pays for $600 enrollment fee, >> 7 on seven, we have a good day and all the funds, $6,000, it goes to student scholarships. So I don't know if they give a,000 a student or 500 a student, >> but I've been doing that for the last 10 years. >> Got it. >> And one of those, one of my buddies, uh, Edgar, he's also in construction, but

he does more of the apartments nationwide. >> He told me, "What's up, man? How's it going? I just got my house. Can you do my countertops?" "Yeah, cool, cool." We started talking and he said, "Eddie, I got this project. We've been doing this stuff with Starbucks canes, but um to be honest, I'm going to take on some bigger projects in Atlanta, Florida, Ohio." And he basically said, "Hey, this is the game plan. Do you want it?"

I said, "Let's do it." So, he basically gave me a layup. He said, "This is how much you're going to charge." Yeah. >> This is how much you're going to make and this is how much you're going to pay the guys and it's night work. As long as you get the guys to work at night after 9, you're solid. Yeah. >> So, that was my job to make sure that the guys, hey, I got this opportunity

>> really good. We go in, we lock the door, we do our work, we take some pictures, and we're out. And basically, it all started um 2019. >> So, right before CO, we got a chance to to get in there. Nice. >> And then once CO happened, it just exploded because everything was shut down. We moved all the furniture so nobody could sit at Starbucks. We had to move the furniture, take them to the shop. When

Starbucks open, we bring them back. We pressure washed every Starbucks you could think of. all the stripings, anything that was broken, we needed a fix. Yeah. >> We took care of that. And unfortunately, we had to do some store closures. So Starbucks, if it didn't have a drive-thru, Starbucks closed it down because it couldn't produce. >> So the first one that we closed down was in Uptown >> over there by 610 in San Felipe. Okay. >>

That was the first Starbucks store closure. And now it's a um >> it's a wine place. Uh Oitano, I think >> that's what it's called. So that used to be a Starbucks. >> That used to be a Starbucks. >> Yeah. We closed it down. Wow. >> And uh it's it's amazing spot where it's at now. But um that was kind of where it got us going with the store closures. Now we've done over like 50 store

closures. Houston, we've gone to College Station, Austin, >> and uh yeah, we've even gone to um Laredo >> and all over. We've we've we've even made it to Louisiana. >> Yeah. So you you and your team are the ones that actually go out there and close a store. >> Correct. >> What What do you guys do? Just like rip everything up, demo everything. >> So basically, it's like a four or five day process. >> So the

way uh that we do it first um we go out there and we just tape up all the windows. So the customers, the public can't see what's going on. >> Flip it all up. And pretty much that's day one. Day two, uh, every Starbucks from from town, they could come and take whatever they want. I want this table. I want this chair. I want this whatever bar. They could take anything that they want because it's going

to be trash anyways. >> Yeah. >> Day three, that's when we come in. Every table that you see, we got to break it because we don't want nobody selling it on Facebook Marketplace or using it. We got to break all the tables and chairs because Starbucks doesn't want nobody using their merchandise. Toss it out. We patch. We paint. We clean it up and just white box it. So, anybody that wants to come, it's ready to operate.

>> Got it. >> And it's like a less than a week process. And >> very cool. >> We got it down to a tea. And the the guys, we we do Starbucks. We also shut down a couple of five guys. >> And um on Five Guys, we just got to paint everything white because you know how it's white and red. Yeah. >> We'll just paint everything white. white box, clean it up and head out for the

next tenant to take over. >> So your buddy, his name was Edgar, you said? >> Yes. Edgar. >> Edgar. So he owned a construction company. >> Yeah. >> And he got he was about to get this contract. >> No, no, no. Edgar, he has a construction. He was doing this contract, but actually he got a bigger contract where he didn't want to let it go and just >> they could pick anybody else. He recommended me cuz

he saw that we were doing some good work. He said, "Eddie, you know what? I'm going to just give you a layup. This is just don't mess it up." I was like, "All right, man. I got you." And I really appreciate it. And Edgar's a really good guy that looked out for me when >> Yeah. >> whenever I didn't even know about these opportunities cuz most people think about uh day work from 9 to 5. But

like there's so much work that happens at night. >> Yeah. >> You could even check out Starbucks. All the milk is delivered at night. All the product is delivered at night. All the pressure washes. Everything happens at night when people are sleeping. People are still making money. >> Yeah. Wow. And uh I think this goes to show the power of relationships. You know, I think uh I think you're probably one of the best people that I

know when it comes to relationships. I mean, you're always out there. You're networking. You said you were doing like one networking event per week. Um I see you hosting with like the mayor of Houston, like just random people. You're like, you're everywhere, dude. And I'm like, that's that's Eddie, you know? Um but I think people can learn from that and and take advantage of of doing because these opportunities are available to anyone, right? Sure. >> So,

anyone that's listening, hey, go out there, get into the right rooms, meet the right people, and then opportunities like this will fall in your lap. >> For sure. So, that was literally like I guess it was a blessing from God. I'm out there doing good with the community. I'm giving back, student scholarships, playing soccer. I could have just been chilling at home on a Saturday morning watching soccer. I was out there playing, giving back, and then

I kind of just got a little layup that they said, "Hey, this one's for you." So, yeah, just like you said, um I would recommend everybody, one of my my goals is one networking event a week. It could be a networking event, real estate, it could be fashion, it could be medical, anything that you want to do, different industries. There's always good stuff, tech, sports, entertainment, and something's going to come out of it. You're going to

build relationships. You might get a deal out of it. You might get a contract, might even get a girlfriend or something. >> Yeah. >> Whatever it is you're looking for. >> Exactly. >> So, and and so this guy, like, help me understand this because you said Starbucks, Kes, and Five Guys. Those companies are not owned by the same company. >> Correct. So basic. Yes, correct. So basically uh we become vendors. So once we're vendors, we're on

a list. So all these guys, they kind of know these are the go-to guys. These are the guys that use facility maintenance. These could respond. These could >> basically do everything that they need and meet their terms. So just like I was telling you earlier, they don't pay as soon as we finish. We got to float it for 30 days. We get paid net 30. Yeah. >> So these are kind of qualified subs vendors that people

know like, "Hey, try this guy. He he did good for us." So yeah, we kind of got on that list. Like I said, Starbucks, Canes, Five Guys, Exxon, Gel, Chili's, Pluckers, and little by little, we're getting more retail customers. >> Good, good, good. So, you got to be good at, you know, doing some financing there, huh? Like making sure that you handle your finances, right? Um >> be able to pay your guys, be able to >>

float that that cost for 30 days. I mean, that's uh that could be sizable. >> Yeah. Just like, you know, as a business owner, we're the last ones to eat. Yeah. >> So, got our guys get paid every Friday. They get taken care of. They could be at home sleeping and they're outside still grinding at night. Yeah. So, some of our guys, they work during the day and they'll, hey, I need a pressure washer. I'll take

it. So, we give our chances opportunities. Who wants to get a little bit of extra money at night and they they take full advantage? >> Nice. Nice. Do you employ anyone full-time or are they are your people all 1099s? >> I employ some some are 1099 depending on the contracts like some we're super uh busy, overloaded. I don't let a contract go. So, I'm always here to collaborate and uh do some projects together. >> Nice. Nice.

Nice. Nice. Um, you also said that you did some some general label for the Houston Livestock Show Radio. How did you land that gig? >> So, uh, relationships. So, everything's relationships. Uh, I don't really bid on a lot of things to be honest. No. >> So, that one's pretty much a contract that we knew some of the guys that they would be setting up the tents. They introduced to the right people. And, um, >> you've been

to the rodeo before. It's massive. For 30 days. Now, imagine working for 30 days. the biggest biggest rodeo livestock show in the nation. Yeah. >> In the world actually. It's the biggest one. And just to be a part of it, it's like really really special to us. >> Yeah. >> So, we don't take all like I was explaining later, we don't get all the general labor. There's probably like five other companies, but we get a piece

of the pie where we could do anything that they need. If they need us to clean out the horse horse uh stalls, we'll do that. If they need us to get the forklifts and pick up the hoppers, make sure that all the petting zoo is nice. everywhere the where the kids have their livestock and and cows, we keep all that area nice. They need us to move some pallets to the wine garden. If they need us

to do anything at the rodeo, we're kind of part of the team to to do that. And the reason that's kind of special to us, not anybody gets selected for those big contracts. And no, >> especially it's a lot of behind the scenes. So some of the times we work uh 24 hours, we got two crews. So some of them maybe work from 9 to 9, then the next crew comes in from 9 to 9. They're

doing a lot of moving parts at night. Okay. And um it's really special. I was out there and >> another cool thing about it is that some of the guys they they're inside the rodeo. So whenever every artist comes to perform, they have a rehearsal. So some of my guys were taking care of like every all the fences around the rodeo >> and they would call me, hey, this guy um for example, the Chain Smokers, they're

performing at one. So casually Eddie would come by, hey, let me go check out my guy, see how they're doing. >> And I would literally get like a free show. I just watch two or three songs and then >> uh head back. But it was pretty cool. It was it was behind the scenes stuff and I like doing all that stuff. >> Yeah. Yeah. I think that's you know whenever you get like the backstage access. I

think there's something really special about that for sure. >> Yeah. And it's all relationship. So you know the guy they always have one or two guys at the at the gate. So they won't let you in if you don't have your badge. If you don't have your walkie-talkie if they don't know you they're going to be like what's this guy doing? Like all of a sudden he wanted to come when they're doing the rehearsal. >> Yeah.

>> So once you build that relationship they'll be like oh he's probably checking on the guys making sure things are good. Yeah, >> you check on them >> or even then they'll know. They'll know you want to go and check it out, but they're cool with you. So, they're going to let you in. I mean, >> yeah. As long as you're professional and you don't bother the artist, just check out a couple couple songs and hey,

I'm ready. Come out tonight and watch them. >> It's pretty fun. >> Yeah, that's that's pretty neat. >> Um, how do how does a what does a contract look like? Cuz like you said, like it it could be like a 24-hour kind of gig. Do they pay you by hour? Do they pay you? >> Yeah, they would pay you by hour. So basically they give you a proposal and you turn in your your list. I need

to get paid x amount per hour >> and it could be this much and then the overtime would be that much. So kind of gives you a structure and you turn it and if I put in 1,000 hours, 500 hours >> times the number that we agreed to that would pay you that. >> Nice. >> So that's it's something that um it's really really nice to be part of that. Very lucrative. And another thing is like

the rodeo is for 30 days but you got to remember like there's a cookoff 3 days before before that we got to set up some tents. we got to help with this. So, it's all of that before and after. After after the rodeo, it's the demo. We got to put everything down. So, it's not just a 30-day contract. Put like another two weeks before and two weeks after the rodeo. So, it's a lot of massive stuff

that >> Yeah, it's like 45day contract basically. >> Exactly. So, it's pretty big and and we really enjoy it. >> That's awesome, man. Yeah. Congrats. >> How many guys do you have out there working at any time? >> So, when we had the rodeo, we obviously had to man up. So, we almost had like 100 guys working out there. >> You You had 100 guys out there? >> 100 guys? Yeah. Jeez. >> So, it's pretty big.

Think of the rodeo. Imagine >> how many how many guys you think >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, massive. >> It's a hundred of us plus another four or five companies adding a hundred. So, you need like 500 people out there just to make sure everything's operational. >> Yeah. >> On top of that, you have like another thousand volunteers, right? >> So, the Houston Royal is a really big deal and we're just blessed to be a part

of that. >> Yeah. So, how do you how do you organize your people then? If you have 100 guys, like do you put maybe like five people in charge? >> Yeah, we got supervisors. We got >> how many supervisors do you have? >> So like something like that would be five >> five supervisors. >> So for example, if you got 20 guys at the horse horse stalls. Yeah. You got one supervisor there and all they do

is it think of a horse stall like a hotel. So a horse comes in, they sleep, they leave, we take out the hay, we print new hay and we just have everything organized where hey um a horse doll four, five, six and seven need to be cleaned. Cool. You just focus on that. Then you got another team in the petting zoo and also where the livestock is at. We got like four forklift operators and all they

do is just move the hoppers. Like kids are cleaning up all the mess from the cows and we're just picking up the hoppers, making sure that they're clean and making sure that they could operate. >> Also, um different things with the wine garden. Maybe sometimes there's some pallets. They have a lot of wine, but the pallets need to get moved. We'll send our guys. They get that and take it. If anybody needs help, let's say at

the chuck wagon station, they're getting ready. They're they're >> they're getting ready for the artist. They need XY. We'll put people there. So, wherever they need us, it's just general labor. If they need us to set something up for the VIP events, if they need us at the auction, whenever they bring the sheep, I need two guys. One cleaning whenever the sheep comes in, one cleaning when she goes out in case they use a restroom, we

got to keep that area clean. Anywhere they need general labor, we're there to help. >> And it sounds like you I mean, you you clearly went to school for this, right? And so, >> what kind of tools, what kind of systems do you use to keep everything organized, to keep your people on track, on schedule? What what what technology do you use? >> So, uh, currently we don't use the technology. It's more just like being really

organized and people knowing what to do and having someone there >> when they have a question, we have an answer. >> So, a lot of guys that um, >> and they're well trained because they've done facility maintenance and general labor before, they kind of know what to do. We explain the process and if they have a question, we're there. And we also got the supervisors. So if anybody from the rodeo or the volunteer committees need something,

we're pretty responsive and we get right on top of it. >> And the supervisors are probably people that you've done business with already. You have you have a working relationship. >> Yeah. They can manage 20 to 50 people at a time. >> They know what to do and they they know um we put them in certain spots where that's their expertise. >> Got it. Nice. So they they may already have experience in what it is that

that's going to be done. >> Correct. Yeah. They've either, for example, they've worked in the tent industry before where they know how to set up a tent. They know that this tent needs a generator, so they know how to do the wiring or electrical stuff or stuff like that. Everybody's pretty pretty well trained. >> Very very cool, man. Very cool. So, I guess uh kind of like going into we were talking earlier before the podcast about

the World Cup. Um, are you excited about the World Cup? The >> World Cup's amazing, man. Like I was telling telling you, we're going to have seven games. Yeah. >> So, seven games in June and July next summer. >> And just so you know, the World Cup's going to bring $1.5 billion with the B to the city. $1.5 billion. That's going to come to the city. It's going to help the small businesses, the big businesses. It's

going to help you. It's going to help me. It's going to be pretty much seven Super Bowls in 39 days. One Super Bowl, we celebrated for a week. Discovery Agreements packed. Everybody's there. Sports Illustrated parties, ESPN parties. Now, imagine that times seven. Yeah, >> we're gonna have seven Super Bowls in a month. It's going to be so much good time for Houston and I'm really excited and we're planning right now because it's around the corner. >>

Right. Right. Right. Well, you you know that you're plugged into the community, you know, I I'd like to get some more information on this and for anyone that's watching, you know, how can people capitalize on this opportunity that's going to come to Houston? >> So, pretty much there's multiple ways to capitalize. Um, one of them, if you do have a business organization, you could actually bid on some projects. So FIFA, they're coming and they're showing a

couple of uh bid opportunities. Yeah. For example, I bid on one um last year. It was FFN. So FFN is all the furniture. So they were literally needing all the FFN for all the 16 stadiums, which it was in H. It was in Mexico, US, and Canada. I didn't I wasn't awarded the project, but at least I bid on it. And I got to see what the bid process is like. And that's something that you just

kind of take a stab at just to see meet the right people and um stay connected. But there's going to be other opportunities. For example, if you do banners, they're going to have at least a 100 banners in downtown that you need to put up. If you do general labor like myself, someone needs to set up the stage. Someone needs to set up the barricades. Someone needs to >> uh pretty much do all the facility maintenance,

the cleaning during the World Cup. And like I said, it's before and after. You're going to get some work to set up. You're going to operate during the World Cup and after. Yeah. >> So, that's one spot is look for bid opportunities, >> which I try to post a couple on social media and just stay connected with the industry. >> The other opportunity is if you have a house, rent it out. >> All the hotels are

going to get booked. You can literally rent out your house for 20 30,000 and you know how crazy soccer fans are, they'll actually pay it. >> You said you said earlier that, you know, if you're going to post your house online or, you know, don't post it on Airbnb so you can keep all the money. Where would you post it so you can keep all the money? >> So, basically, I'm a relationship guy. So, it would

be relationship based. But pretty much what you would do, you could post on Airbnb, but you know, they take a chunk. Sometimes it's a big chunk. >> So, if you want, like I've made a PDF. I got a PDF I could um show you make a PDF. For example, I have a spot that's close to pretty much IKEA I 10 and Boss Super Central. It's like 8 minutes away from the bars in the Heights, Washington, 15

minutes away from the Dynamo Center. So, pretty much the Dynamo Stadium above it. That's where the FanFest is going to be at. So, there's going to be a lot of people there. I got a forplex in Magnolia, which that's pretty close to it. And all of that is about 20. Both of those properties are 20 minutes away from the stadium. So, think of a fan, three of us. We go check out a game. >> Let's say

it's 500 a night. Cool. Everybody's paying like 150. Yeah. 180 a night. Yeah. >> We'll do that. That's That's affordable. >> Yeah. >> And now you just rent it out for whole 30 days. So 500 >> times 30, you know. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's going to be very profitable. >> You make some good money. And the cool thing about it is like the way that I do it is you kind of meet in with the right

people like the media outlets. For example, Telmundo, um, Fox, everybody's going to bring production teams cuz they're going to have the guys here, but the the World Cup is massive. They're going to need some other outside guys coming in. >> So basically, maybe you rent out your house to production team. >> I got a friend that he rents out his house to um some jockeyies over there by the um Sam Houston Race Park. >> Yeah. >>

Every year he rents out his house. >> So how can how can people get plugged in? I mean, you have a lot of relationships. So, if you wanted to probably rent your house, you you could probably make some calls and right away get a rental. But like for for the regular individual that lives in Houston right now and they want to rent out their house, where can they post it? >> They could post it, I would

say, online and also online Facebook uh marketplace, things like that. But it would also be good to stay connected with the people that are kind of knowing about the World Cup and just pitch your idea. You're like, "Hey, Eddie, I know that you're you're really involved with this. >> They need a house, threebedroom, two bathroom in basically Rice Village. I have this house and I want this much. And there's going to be different opportunities. Maybe my

house is too small. Maybe your house is right. Where you basically share the information. >> Got it. >> And pretty much on all of this is I would just say make like a really quick four to five page flyer where it has all the information and they bas I could literally share your flyer if anybody's looking. I said, "Hey, my house is already booked, but has a house or two and talked to that guy. He's u

he has something available." be a really good idea for you to maybe like create like a maybe like a database or something already, you know, start compiling like some homies homies house. >> Exactly. It'll pretty much be like a Houston Airbnb. And basically the the goal would be is that if they're looking for something, we have a page and if you need something all this guy, if you want a house over there close to downtown, call

Boris. If you want one close to uh I 10 and Boss, call Eddie. If you want close to downtown, call Jose. kind of something like a landing page that people could go to or even an Instagram page that >> would be quick and easy for them to get information. >> Yeah, dude. I can create a landing page super fast. Yeah. >> And besides that, um the >> the other one that >> a new business idea uh

just got created here. >> The the other thing that I was going to tell you is um besides getting bids with FIFA for the World Cup, besides renting out your house, you can still do some small businesses. Like for example, you pretty much, you know, how much money the guys make whenever they're um bike rides by the rodeo? All you got to do is get a bike and get a permit and you could have 10 guys

doing that for 30 days. Yeah, >> you could do that's a business idea. There's a lot of people that do the screen printing. Every time that you go to a World Cup game, I've been to the last three. I went to Brazil Russian guitar. Every game there's going to be a match shirt. So, Mexico, Italy, and you print out a hundred and sell them. There's so many different ideas. And like we were talking earlier, you could

even make a concierge uh system where Jose is the go-to guy. Eddie knows all the spots in Houston. Whenever people come from all over the world, they don't want to figure things out. They want to come and be like, Jose, what are the top five bars that I need to check out? I need to check out XY to take you. >> Where are the top five spots to eat seafood? This one's where's the top five spots

to >> pretty much have a good date night, do this. Where's If I don't get tickets to the game, where can I watch the game? Well, you go to FanFest, it's gonna be outside. You could go to the Post, HTX, they might have some events. There's going to be a lot of activations, not just FIFA, but all their sponsors, Mastercard, um, Coca-Cola, they're all going to have activations. Adidas, Puma, >> what is activation? What does that

mean? >> Activation is pretty much whenever they do a little popup. So, Puma, let's say Puma Football, they're going to be like, "Hey, Puma, we're actually the the the jersey sponsor for Portugal, who plays on Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo, the biggest guy on social media, Instagram, and everything." So, they're going to have a bunch of where we set up our activation. Oh, we need to be close to downtown. Like, Adidas, Nike, everybody's going to be activating because

they don't want to be left out. The World Cup's the biggest event in the in the world. >> In the world. Yeah. >> So, it's going to be massive. It's going to be massive. Like almost every country in the world watches it. Exactly. The ones that have >> the Exactly. And this is the biggest one because there's going to be 104 games. So, 104. It's never been like that. >> What do you mean it's never been

like that? it. There's gonna be three countries. >> So, basically, Mexico, US, and Canada are hosting it. Yeah. So, it's the biggest World Cup ever. >> Yeah. >> And just like I was telling you earlier, we got seven games. Yeah. >> Seven games means that we got 14 countries coming. We're going to have 14 countries. Out of those 14 countries, it could be Ghana, it could be Portugal, it could be Brazil, it could be Spain, just

the culture. Everybody's going to flood and come over here on top of just random passionate fans that come from all over the world. >> Yeah, dude. I wasn't I wasn't that excited about the World Cup, but I now I am. >> I know. I know you guys do. >> How are we going to make money, bro? >> Yeah. But another thing is I know you guys uh do um >> those uh EDC festivals and all. It's

going to be that kind of atmosphere. Just be crazy. Just people from all over the world, really diverse, really enjoying the game. And you don't even got to be a passionate soccer fan. You just got to enjoy the atmosphere. >> And just a little tip, one of the best parts is when it opens. Because when it opens the World Cup, everybody thinks they got a chance. Everybody's happy. >> We all start at zero. Yeah. >> Once

a couple teams start taking some L's, the fans start leaving. >> Yeah. They start getting depressed. >> But then the knockout stages start. So that's when the best of the best start playing. >> So Spain versus Portugal, Argentina versus It could be Italy. So it'll be some really good games. And >> yeah, >> like I said, we got seven games. So hopefully we get some good players. Maybe Messi comes, maybe Ronaldo comes. >> Yeah, >> it's

going to be fun. >> That'd be a lot of fun for sure to watch all that. Um, man, that's incredible. Who do you know anyone right now that is plugged into the World Cup? Maybe anyone in the FIFA. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, actually um there's a Houston um FIFA committee. So, FIFA is actually here in Houston. >> On top of that, every >> city that got the World Cup, >> they have a a host committee. So,

pretty much Chris Kennedy is the president. Chris Kennedy, salute to him because because of Chris Kennedy, he used to be the Dynamo um GM over there at the Dynamo. He gave up his job to work on this host committee. His job was to bring the World Cup to Houston. But Chris Kennedy, he was uh one of the guys that uh spearfronted that. Dr. La Murio, a good friend of mine, she's with the Houston Hispanic Chamber of

Commerce. She's part of the host committee. >> Uh and some other good good guys. It's about 10 to 12 that are part of the host committee. They're the ones that are running the show, making sure that we have a really good economic impact, making sure that we have a lot of opportunities for small businesses. They're the guys that pretty much are really plugged in and like they know step by step. They know what's coming along. Yeah.

>> So, every, like I said, every city has one of those. So, it's FIFA, >> and then there's a Houston host committee. You got the Houston Sports Authority. Houston Sports Authority. They're amazing. They're the ones that bring all the big things, the Super Bowl, the Final Four, Copa, America, uh, Gold Cup, World Cup. >> What What committee is that? >> The Houston Sports Authority. >> Sports Sports Authority. Their job is to just bring the biggest and

best games to Houston to have a really good e economic impact. We're also having the World Series Classic. So, the baseball classic is coming next year, 2026, and they basically they just bring all these opportunities that people um they just really enjoy because every everybody's a sports sports fan, so they help with that. >> Yeah, for sure. >> Well, it sounds like it's going to be uh there's going to be a lot of economical impact coming

up. So, >> and another thing, um especially some people never been to a World Cup. >> So, we're going to have 16 games in Texas. Yeah. >> We got seven in Houston and nine in Dallas. Mhm. >> So if you've never been to World Cup, you can literally go to 16 games >> if you get tickets. >> But besides that, >> how can how can people get tickets? >> So pretty much uh ticket is like Willy

Wonka with the golden ticket. So it's really hard to to get the lottery, but if you do, you get a chance. >> There's different phases. The first phase just passed last um >> I think it was last month. A buddy of mine actually got tickets, and I was able to get tickets through him. So whenever you apply, you go to fifa.com, you make your profile. Every person could make a profile, but you got to be one

person per household. >> So, if it's three people in the same household, they won't let you do that. >> So, if you got rental properties, it works out pretty well because you can make different accounts. >> Oh, good. >> So, I applied, my fiance applied, my two sisters, my mom and dad applied. >> Out of all of us, nobody got it. Yeah. >> But a buddy of mine, um, shout out to my buddy Nathan, he was

actually selected. Yeah. >> Every person that >> applies, if they get selected, they get 40 tickets. He bought 26 tickets. Uh, 24 tickets. He bought six in Houston, four tickets each, 24, and he had a couple leftovers. Yeah. So, some rookie mistakes would just buy it and that's it. Yeah. But he actually knows that I'm really plugged in. I do a lot of content about World Cup, so he thought about me. Hey, Eddie, I got these

tickets. I'm not going to use them. Would you like to buy them? >> And I actually ended up buying five games. >> Nice. >> So, I bought uh four tickets for the Houston. >> I think I bought three Dallas games, two tickets each, and one game in Kansas City. >> Very cool. >> I never been to Kansas. I want to check out Arrowhead Stadium. And it's only like a 10 minute uh 10-hour drive. So, pretty cool

road trip that I want to do. >> Nice. >> And my goal for the World Cup, I want to do 17 games. >> Seven Houston, nine in Dallas, and the final in New York. >> That's the projected plan. The actual plan might be 10 games or five games, but I'm happy with that. I want to document everything. I want to post it and just kind of just have fun with it. >> Yeah. Yeah. That'll be a

blast, man. So for anyone that's watching, go apply for FIFA uh for the golden ticket and when you get it, buy all 40 and Eddie will help you sell them. >> Exactly. Exactly. So that's another opportunity that we were talking about. Um you could even resell tickets. Yeah. >> So the goal is I always apply for four. You use two, sell two. Everybody's going to want to buy tickets. So it's an easy sale. And another fun

fact that some people don't know, if you don't sell them, you could sell them back to FIFA. FIFA will buy them for 90%. >> Really? >> The last World Cup I went to. There was one game that didn't sell for some reason. >> Yeah. >> And I literally, let's say I bought four tickets, 250 each. I spent a thousand. I spent like three months trying to sell it on Instagram. Nobody was really really biting. Hold it

back to FIFA. They gave me 900 bucks. I lost 100 bucks for trying. So yeah, >> I wouldn't mind. >> Not bad. >> And uh that's something that some people don't know. So what you do is you basically apply and if you get the tickets, there's an opportunity to resell and you already got your margins. So you just go check on StubHub, Segeek. If you're selling a ticket at 500, they're selling it at 700. Yeah. >>

You're giving the customer better value and you're not charging them fees. Yeah. And it's somebody you know that you can literally sell me, I got you the day of the ticket, the day of the game, you get a QR code and I would forward that to you. Yeah. >> So, that's kind of how it works because you can't actually get tickets because of counterfeiting and and reasons like that. So, if FIFA waits in the day of

the game, they're going to give you your QR code. You forward that, transfer it to your buddy, and he could get in the game with you. >> Or if you want to make it simple, just go together. >> Just go together. Yeah. >> Go together and you sit down and it's someone you know and trust and I rather give the business to someone here local than random person on StubHub or Segeek. >> Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely, >>

man. That's awesome, dude. I uh I'm really excited about the World Cup now. And I think there's a lot of opportunities. You know, I think I think the biggest issue sometimes in business is that we have too many opportunities. >> Yeah. Correct. >> How do you decide which one to pick? Right. and and and like that's where you have to like kind of sit down, look at the playing field and see like where is the biggest

bang for my buck, right? And that's where you need to go, right? And your opportunity may be different than mine and maybe different than Noah's, you know what I mean? So, I think I think like that's where people need to like look, especially like even in like in just everyday business, what are the opportunities that I have and what should I focus on right now? Right. >> Yeah. No, that's a great question. So, for example, for

the World Cup, I got three opportunities. I could sell tickets because I've done it before. So, that's quick and easy. So, that's kind of on my back burner because if I get selected, I'll get them. I might even use them. I might not even sell tickets. So, that's low priority. >> The second one is would be renting out my house, >> something that I could just post and if I hear something, maybe uh a production team

needs it. Maybe a reporter, a journalist, someone in the media, they might need it. So, that's kind of second priority. But top priority for me would be like getting a World Cup bid, like one of those um uh general labor contracts, setting up the stage. That's my high priority. And the the way that I'm attacking it is pretty much like I told you last year, I submitted a bid and I didn't get the FFN project. >>

Now, I I got the contact to the actual people that do the procurement, the people that actually looking for those bids. Just following up with those guys. Hey guys, just want to let you know done anything with general labor in Houston. Let me know if there's any opportunities. >> Plus, you already have the contacts of the people that are doing it. So following up with them, maybe they'll respond, maybe they won't. Going to there's a lot

of events they're setting up with the Harris County Sports Authority. They're literally educating people like business owners. FIFA's coming. Get ready. And the crazy thing about FIFA, they operate however they want. So they could literally tell you, hey, we need a bid for this um basically banners tomorrow. By this time, you're like 24 hours. Yeah. Well, I need it tomorrow. So they operate on their time. So that's how they run the show. And you just got

to be ready. Yeah. >> So the vendors got to be ready. They got to know um like pretty quick and easy. Like for me, general labor uh all I got to tell FIFA is how many hours you need. Okay, this is how much I charge per hour. Boom. That's your rate. So I could give them a quick and easy bid. Like, man, he's prepared. And why am I prepared? Because I did the Houston Livestock Show and

Rodeo. And then they'll be like, "Okay, man, that sounds good." Obviously, you're going to take like half a day reading the contract because I'm sure FIFA has like 17 pages of contract and throw int. [Laughter] Yeah, that's >> but yeah, that's a that's a opportunity that like you just picked your different priority levels. >> Yeah, >> for mine is the FIFA World Cup bid, general labor opportunities. >> Yeah, I think there uh I I think there

will be a ton of opportunity. I think a lot of people will make a lot of money. You said 1.5 billion dollars come >> just like just like we were talking this for us is a once in a lifetime. The last time the World Cup came was in 1994. It didn't come to Houston. We didn't have a stadium >> because the Texans barely started in 2001. Yeah. So, um, pretty much, um, it came to Dallas. >>

Dallas was there in 94. Let's say like 30 plus years later, it's coming to Houston. >> Yeah. >> 2026. >> So, add 30 years to 2026, you're talking about the next time it comes, it could be like 2056. >> So, it's a once in a lifetime for us to hit a home run and uh, enjoy the game and make some money. >> Yep. So, everyone that's listening to this, make sure you come to the World Cup

in Houston and let's make money together. >> For sure. For sure. and they know to contact you cuz you're the guy that could show them around. >> That's right. Either either one of us, we can definitely show anyone around. Um, cool, Eddie. Dude, really cool speaking about the World Cup, man. I really enjoyed that conversation. Um, I know at the beginning of this we also talked about, you know, you you completed over 100 uh home renovations.

You have an investor that you work with who buys like 40 houses. Let's let's talk about this. >> Correct. Yeah. So, everything that I do is pretty much relationships. It's another one that um they basically they kind of saw my track record. see what I do and they help me on board as a vendor >> and whenever um I became a vendor. >> The cool thing about them that I like is they know their budget. They

know the pricing. So, I'm not shopping around. I'm not sending numbers. They'll literally send you an address. You got 24 hours to accept. And they basically say, "Hey, I need you to renovate this 5,000 bucks and I can knock it out in 3 days. And these are the >> these are the materials that we use. This is the fan that we like. This is the doorork knobs that we like." So, everything has a skew number. Home

Depot. So, you really can't mess up. >> Yeah. So you basically get the number, you take out how much am I going to pay in material, how much is left over in labor and how much is left over in profit. So it makes you make your bids really quick and easy. >> Yeah. >> And at at the beginning, I would go walk the house and make sure everything's good. At this point, I just accept it and

it's my job like a project manager to make the most profit. >> Yeah. >> There's some opportunities that they give you 25,000, you knock it out in two weeks. >> Maybe you use um 8,000 in material, 8,000 in labor, 16, you take home nine. So it's not that bad. No, not bad. >> So, but the cool thing about it's a repeat customer that you're not chasing or looking or door knocking or following up. They're just feeding

you, feeding you and you're just knocking it out the park. Yeah. >> Keeping them happy and being consistent. >> Subscription based kind of, you know. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. And the cool thing about it is um those systems pretty much that they're really structured. So, I like being structured as well. I like when customers we're on the same page. They know which fan we're installing. I know what fan they're installing. My guys know what fan is.

Everybody knows what we're doing. Yeah. >> It's just switching up a couple things for each house. Yeah. >> And uh the rest of it is kind of just a cakewalk. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So you have like um let's let's talk specifically about like how you stay organized during that like do you use like Excel spreadsheets? What do you >> Yeah. So pretty much Excel is kind of my best friend. >> Everyone does. Yeah. >> Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. But I'm pretty or like I said >> any construction like project management kind of tools. >> No, they offered me some but I haven't used them. I would use them if I do bigger commercial projects, but at this place we're doing kind of work orders that we could take care of and the scope of works that the investor gives us is pretty organized. But we kind of work with people that are organized just like

we are and it kind of makes it simple. But at one point if I do go to the construction uh >> project software >> I would implement that but it has to be a bigger project maybe with Harris County maybe with HISD HCC Lonear um college those kind of bigger projects that are bigger and structured and and you got to really keep track of where you got five or six crews working on different uh university projects.

>> Yeah. Did you do you uh is that some some goals of you that you have to to start working with maybe HISD Harris County? >> Yeah. Yeah, that's one of my goals that I'm chasing. So, pretty much we do facility maintenance. Anything for retail guys, Starbucks, Kes. So, the same concept that I got, I'm trying to implement it in two spots. One in all the schools. So, it could be K through 12. So, a bunch

of HISD projects, KDISD, POPD, and we also support like the Harris County Educational Department. M. >> So the cool thing about that, I was introduced to them from a golf tournament cuz I'm a golf guy. >> So they basically support all of the ISDs. So think of like a 100 ISDs and they're the guys that support them. >> So they could open doors to like a 100 ISTDs. Each ISD has about 100 schools. Yeah. >> You

know, they got elementary, middle school, and high school. >> So that would be a goal. Also get in with community colleges, get in with the University of Houston, TSU. There's a lot of opportunities, especially with the minority certifications. We got those opportunities that uh sometimes they um offer us opportunities to bid on projects with the Houston airport systems with Metro. Metro has a lot of projects and uh more than anything just little by little scaling the

business and also having the the funds to fund it. Um having the line of credit having u the right team in place so that when we do get the opportunity we knock it out the park and we don't look uh stupid. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Prevent looking stupid by at all costs. for sure. I think um for anyone that's listening to this, man, I mean, you just keep on talking of opportunity or like after opportunity after

opportunity and it's just like, dude, there's so much money to be made in multiple different industries, you know, and so for anyone that's out there that maybe is unemployed or maybe, you know, is unhappy with their job, like, you know, like there is so much opportunity. What are you doing staying where you're at? All it takes is a little bit of courage, you know, a little bit of faith in yourself and going out there and making

the right relationships, you can change your life. >> Especially, um, just like you were saying, also being consistent. You guys do a great job. Y'all lead by example. Y'all are consistent. Y'all literally put out these podcasts. A lot of knowledge. And people aren't picking up the phone and making the calls. Well, that's on them. >> Yeah. >> There's a lot of opportunities. And what I think you've seen on my Instagram, I post a lot of different

things coming up tomorrow. There's actually an opportunity coming up next Thursday. I want to see if you want to come out. It's gonna be uh high interval training. I know you work out. Yeah. >> He's gonna be on the Dynamo >> stadium. Oh, yeah. We're gonna be playing on the field. >> Oh, come in. >> With my good buddy Mike Chabala. Yeah. >> He's a former Dynamo player. He won a championship twice. Now he has a

new uh soccer community. It's called Sphere. Yeah. >> You don't need to know how to play soccer. You just need to come out. >> He's trying to get 300 people on the field. >> So, it's going to be a couple influencers, couple former players, couple current players, couple of uh different brands going to be out there. Something really nice that um it's just a community outreach. Yeah, >> but things like that. So, it could be working

out. It could be um like uh different projects um with uh HISD. There's so much opportunity and I try to do my best to post. Yeah. >> And it's up to you to come out. So, absolutely. I'll post about it and I'll literally put tomorrow. >> So, if you're interested, DM me, hey, what's the location? What do But most of the times I post the flyers that has a time and has a date. You just got

to show up. >> And most times you could >> I never know. I never knew it was an open invitation, Eddie. that I was waiting for you to text me or something. >> But but I try to make it open ination cuz then imagine I got to invite 100 people. >> 100 people. No, I get it. >> I literally put it out there and if you take the initiative and say, "Eddie, how can I join or

what's the link?" >> Yeah. I mean, I've asked you on some of them before. I think I've asked you about the uh Hispanic >> Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. >> Chamber of Commerce. Yeah, I've asked you about that one. I think that would be really interesting for for us to join. >> Yeah, I'm I'm gonna let you know on the next one that comes and I'll invite you to that one. But anytime I post, just reach out

to me and if you're interested, it goes out to anybody. Reach out to me. I'll make the connection. >> Turn my notifications on for Eddie Mendoza right now. Right after this podcast, make sure I see every one of his posts. So, >> but yeah, there there's a um a lot of different organizations, construction, tech, fitness. Yeah, >> I'm involved in everything. So, I really like to >> I don't like to just stick to real estate or

construction. I really like to branch out >> because at the end of the day, everybody owns a home. >> So, anybody could be a customer. >> Everybody owns a business. Anybody could use an interior buildout. >> Yeah. >> Anybody could be a property manager that they could give me some apartment uh leads. >> So, we're also part of the Houston Apartment Association. >> Which Houston Apartment Association, they do everything that um let's say you want to

do uh new carports, we could do that. You want to paint the exterior fence, we could do that. A lot of makeies, but these are like >> um 200 to 500 units. So, the big Camden >> apartments, we're we're slowly getting into there. But we do work with the smaller 10, 20, 15 unit apartment owners in Montro Heights, we do some stuff for them. City of Houston violation. So every year the city of Houston comes, hey

man, you get you need to update your plumbing. You need to do mechanical, electrical, plumbing, structural. Like if you have a two-story apartment and the railings aren't good, you got to weld them. You got to make sure it's safe that nobody falls over. You got to do gas tests. You got to get a plumber out there with the permit and inspection. Make sure that there's no gas leaks. You got to do all these things. And those

are the type of projects I go after because it's not like you want to do it, it's you need to do it or else the city comes and finds you. >> Right. >> So I like to see what's the problem. The customers know me, they trust me. I'll get it taken care of and they take care of me. >> Yeah. How did you start finding out about all these different things and organizations that are available in

Houston? >> So pretty much whenever I started um I started networking a lot. I would I would be going out a lot to different organizations. Then you start building relationships and they invite you to different ones. Hey, you need to check out NAMAC. NameAC is the National Association of Minority Contractors. I went out there, checked that one out. Hey, you need to come check out the Houston Apartment Association, Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. So, my s

my sister actually nominated me for the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. I was an emerging leader institute. So, that was uh >> pretty much in 2014, Dr. Mo is the president CEO of the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. It's the biggest Hispanic Chamber in the nation. So every year she picks the top 20 25 young professionals that she sees like uh potential in. She invests in us. She invites us to all these events, networking events, lunchons,

expose, gayas, and they put you in with the elected officials. You get to meet the mayor, the senator, the state rep, the city councilmen. You get to meet the owners of Coca-Cola pretty much BP, Exxon, Shell, like all of those guys are there because they're corporate sponsors. You get to meet the small business owners that they're doing different um different things in the community. Mhm. >> And I was just consistent. I always attended and I try

to give as much value as I can. >> Yeah. >> After doing that for 10 years, now I'm actually on the board. Dr. Morio put me on the board. >> You're on the board? >> Yeah. I'm a board board member of the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. >> No kidding. >> Yeah. So, after 10 years putting in my work and >> I became a board member now. So, my goal is to pretty much um let people

know about the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and see how they could get involved. There's a lot of good um >> that's a pretty big deal. There's a lot of good um good people out there, right? So, I've been able to meet good guys out there, elected officials, and really get to know them and see what community efforts are coming along. >> Yeah, man. That's pretty impressive um that you've been able to get to that point.

But, I mean, I think it also shows your work ethic, your dedication, and your ability to show up consistent consistently. Uh that's something that a lot of people don't do. So, good to see you, bro. >> I appreciate it, man. One of the things that I tell everybody, we all work from 9 to5, 8 to 5, right? >> But what are you doing after from 6:00 to 9? What what are you doing in those three hours

that's going to separate you from the rest? Right? >> I know I know you do a lot at the gym. So some people focus on health. Some people focus on networking. Some people focus on different side opportunities. So >> my goal like keep it simple. >> One networking event a week. One a week you're going to go out there, you're going to network for one or two hours and maybe meet someone. If you really want to

go, I do two or three a week. But if you want to go, you do two a week. That's 104. something's going to come out of there. You know, you might get a contract, you might build a relationship, catch up with somebody, you don't know. So, just try to keep that in mind. And I always post it, just as a reminder for people, one a week. >> One a week is the bare minimum. >> Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. >> You just go out there and you have a good time. >> Absolutely, dude. Congrats, man. That's awesome. You also said that you uh you've done some new construction. You've developed them from the ground up or you built them for someone. >> Yeah. So, pretty much I got the background from Highland Homes. We learned how to >> build custom homes and I actually got uh a project. We built a house off Instagram. I did some

uh Instagram post and somebody literally tell me, "Hey, can you build this house?" I said, "Yeah, send me the plans." We gave them a price and we built it over there in Texas City home. We built some other duplexes. We haven't done uh we don't focus like too much on it, but every once in a while, we get customers that they ask, "Hey, I got a piece of land. Can you build for me?" Yeah. >> Yeah.

>> We'll help them with if they have the land, >> we'll get the plans, send them a price, and build. If they need help help with the plans, we got an architect that we put them together with so they could get the plans and permits once they're city approved. We look at them and we give them a price. Yeah. >> So we could do custom homes and spec homes. >> Very cool. >> Yeah. >> Nice, man.

Nice. Are you uh planning on doing any developments or anything like that? >> That's one of the goals. So be a developer is kind of uh one of my goals that I look in the near future >> build some land, build a couple duplexes or single family homes. And um I'm also involved with the Houston Land Bank. The Houston Land Bank, they helped. >> What are you not involved in, Eddie? >> Damn. >> The Houston Land

Bank, they actually help. Right now, uh, you know, there's a shortage for affordable homes. Yeah. >> So, the Houston Land Bank, what they do, they own a bunch of land. >> All the land that like the city takes back, they own it >> and, um, they pretty much get, um, they get the land, they get the builder, and they try to get affordable homes. So, we're actually, um, part of that. We're not on the builder's list

yet, but we do the facility maintenance for them. The cool thing about them, we got like a two-year contract with them. We knock down all the trees. So, it's tree removal and tree trimming. So, if there's a a lot and they have some trees that might fall down. Right now, it's hurricane season. >> They fall down, they hit the neighbor, they get sued. So, they basically give me a list like, "Hey, these are five addresses. Go

look at the land, knock down all the trees, and make sure we don't have any liabilities." >> Yeah. >> So, we get in, we build the relationship, and eventually they could be like, "Hey, Eddie, um, you do you build?" I could be like, "Yeah, I build." Hey, we we need some more builders. Would you like to do this? And basically, as long as the the lot values are affordable, we could get in. So, basically, um the

land long as they're under market, that's good. So, if they're 10 20,000 per lot, it's worth it. Yeah. >> Let's say you get a lot for 20, you build the house for 120, you're in at 140, you could sell it at 200. Affordable is 200 to 220. That's affordable for now a day. >> So, there's a spread. But if they sell you the land at um pretty much 50 and you build it at 120, you're at

170. There's 30,000 then minus the fees and everything, you're taking home like 20 21. You're like, is it really worth my time to do three months for that? So you just got to pick and choose and it's up to the land bank to make the land affordable. Yeah. >> Because construction is construction. If you build >> that's how much it's going to cost, right? >> So the land bank, they help >> make it affordable. Yeah. And

I've seen some some some builders, they get a whole community. They build like at least 50 homes, >> 50 homes. >> I know they're building whole communities for the land bank. There's other guys that they're building 10 houses per year. So, there's a lot of opportunities. And we go to the Houston Land Bank and there's at least 20 builders. We all share ideas, talk, is it worth it? Do you like it? How much are you taking

home? What's a good spot to learn and just help each other grow? >> Nice. Nice. Sounds pretty uh you sound pretty busy, dude. Yeah, but uh just like I told you, I'm pretty busy, but I always find time to play some golf. Uh I'm actually playing today. >> Oh, yeah. >> So, as long as I get my work done, >> what time's your your tea time? >> It's at 1:30. >> 1:30. >> And this one's actually

um the Lakewood Golf Tournament. >> So, as long as I get my work done, if I get up at 5:00 and I'm done by 12, I put in my five 5 7 hours. Yeah. >> Everything's taken care of. I I find time to >> get a little me time. >> Yeah. Yeah. Play some golf. >> Yeah. Play some golf. And I'm I'm going invite you next time cuz I think uh one thing that I would recommend

people is get into golf. >> Yeah. >> Just like one of the things I'm a numbers guy. >> Yeah. >> So basically I posted this a couple weeks ago. >> There's 100 people in the room. Half of them don't play golf. You're the 50 people. Out of those 50, half of them don't have time. >> You're the 25. Out of those 25, half of them don't have money. >> So you're basically the 12%, right? And out

of that 12%, half of them aren't good. So be the 6%. The 6% that's out there in the golf. with the CEO, with the the VP of sales, the directors that are giving out contracts that, for example, the architect that I play with, he's giving me the pipeline. Hey man, I'm building these um interior buildouts. I'm doing these offices for the tenants. They don't have a contractor. I'm going to recommend you. You get a layup right

there or different other uh opportunities that come up because you're on the golf course. What else are you going to talk about for four hours? Hey, how's it going? How's your family doing? Good, good, good. Small chat and then we start talking about the real stuff. So, I would recommend everybody. My goal, I would like to play every week, but for now, I'm playing 26 times a year. So, every other week I'm playing to be consistent.

And I also do a lot of tournaments. So, I do like 10 to 15. >> A lot of them are for charity, nonprofits, schools, organizations. So, it's a way for my company to give back, have fun, and chat with uh some vendors, some owners, or some architects. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> So, it's a great time, and I would say pick it up. You don't have to be the best. Most of the time, uh it's a

fourman scramble. So what that means is if all four of us go, if you hit the best ball, we're playing your ball. Next shot is mine, next shot is his. So whoever hits the best ball, we play off that T. >> Got it. Got it. >> So I really enjoy it. >> So whenever whenever it's a four-man scramble, then the the total points would be like commutative, the best ball for the whole team. >> Yeah. So

if it's a par three, we get it in three, we got three. If we hit it in four, then we we're one over. And then you just keep your score for 18 holes. You could turn it in. It could be a 56, it could be a 110, it could be a 75. Mhm. >> So, whenever everybody turns in their scores, everybody uh they see who's the lowest score and that's the winner. So, we actually got first

place last year in Lakewood and we're going to go uh see if we could repeat today. >> Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, today is the tournament. >> Yeah. Today is the Lakewood uh men's group golf tournament. >> Very cool. >> And it's I think it's over in Oakhurst Golf Club. >> Okay. >> And uh we're going to go play and uh >> you're going to go play golf with Joe Olstein. >> Yeah. Something like that. See See

if you can beat me. >> Yeah. It's a it's a it's a really cool um something like that. I'm not part of Lakewood, but it lets me uh meet some people from Lakewood. It's it's all just guys going out there having a good time and just different organizations that put on those events, and I love helping uh different community events. For example, the next one I'm going to play is the uh uh program for excellence in

sales. >> They have one in the spring and one in the fall. And the cool thing about that is all these college kids, they're studying sales. So, what are they doing? They're doing everything you and me do. They pick up the phone, they make calls. Their goal is to pick up as many teams as they can. >> Last year, the first place, the girl, she picked up 16 teams. >> 16 teams. >> 16. So, she's a

shark, man. She's a killer. >> She's Let's go hire her for for for some sales. >> She had 16. Second place, obviously, another girl. She had 12. And third place, another girl. She had 10. >> So, it's literally three girls that were just outstanding. >> Yeah. And >> And most most importantly, they have the work ethic, you know. >> Exactly. What I love about it is they could call me and I'll sign up. You know, that's

an easy sell, but there's no easy sales in in the real world. No. >> So, they literally I kind of play with them. They'll call them, "Hey, Mr. Mendoza, I saw that you played PS last year. Would you?" Yeah, it sounds good. What day? Like, give them a little spiel. Send me the info. Let me see if my guys are available. >> And I tell them one rule, >> don't follow up with me every day. I

just need one follow-up and that's it. >> Because, you know, the the kids, they don't know. So, they'll call you this week, next week, and kind of gets annoying. So, you got to give them some real feedback. be like, "Hey, let me talk to my guys in one week. Follow up and if they're available, we'll sign up." So, you kind of make sure that they follow up with you, stay stay on top of it. And um

I like I like support of them. We played like the last 5 years. Yeah. >> And it's a we play at the Golf Club of Houston. >> That's over there, I think, up north. >> And the Houston Open used to be there. So, it's a nice professional course and um we have fun. >> What What do the golf tournaments normally cost you? >> So, it depends. Like to keep it simple, a forsome is maybe like 1,000

bucks. >> But just look at it this way. It's 250 a player. >> Let's say a hundred bucks for the golf golf experience. You get food, you get drinks, you get raffle tickets, giveaways, and let's say you give half of it is to have fun and half of it the other 150 for the student scholarships. >> Yeah. >> So you're helping out, you're giving back. It's actually u a write off because you're doing charity and donation.

Yeah. >> So it's really good and it uh keeps you involved with the community. >> Yeah. Well, you heard it here first. Uh or maybe not first, but join golf. >> Yeah, try to get in. If you haven't made your New Year's resolutions, write that one down first. >> Yeah, that's a good one. That's a good one, man. Well, um it sounds like you have a lot going on, Eddie. Um I think that a lot of

people are going to want to hear more about you. Maybe follow you on Instagram, follow you online. Uh I'm pretty sure people are going to want to see your posts. Um me especially, I'm definitely going to turn my notifications on for your to see what kind of networking events you go to. I'll be joining you at at a lot more of those uh in the next coming weeks. But um for anyone that's listening, how can people

find you online, man? >> So, pretty much uh pretty easy. Eddie Mendoza on Facebook, Eddie Mendoza PR on Instagram, >> and uh Remodel HTX is my company. >> Remodel HTX on Instagram, and Remodel HTX on Facebook. >> Yeah. What about any uh any websites or anything like that right now? >> Yeah, my website is uh www.reodelhxlc.com. >> Yeah. But if someone wants to get in touch with you, what's the best way? Maybe Instagram or something? >>

Instagram. But I get all my numbers. So it's 832 6239363. >> So for the most part, if you need got a question, Instagram's the easiest. But if uh any other things uh you want to call or talk, I'm I'm an open book. >> Yeah. If you have some world world cup tickets, make sure you give it a call. >> Yeah. Yeah. But uh no, uh just to reiterate, uh whenever you get tickets, if you do get

selected, you can buy 40. So, don't make a newbie mistake and buy four and you had 36 others to buy. Yeah. Like, uh, pretty much tell your buddies, "Hey, Jose, I got 20. Do you want to buy any? Hey, let your friends know because yeah, >> that golden ticket doesn't come around." So, >> that's something to keep in mind if you're thinking of buying some tickets. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, Eddie, thanks a lot for um being

here today, man. I think you shared a lot of uh actionable value for a lot of people. So, get in the right rooms. Uh join golf. make sure you make money from the World Cup. Um, I think uh there's a lot of jam-packed uh insights in this in this podcast. So, thank you so much for joining me, man. I appreciate your time. >> No, I appreciate it. Thank you for having me and um um I'm really

uh really proud of you guys, man. Y'all are consistent. Y'all are really putting out great videos and uh I really appreciate you adding all that value for the community. >> Absolutely, man. Yeah, that's what we're uh that's the goal, man. really to give back and share people's stories, share where they came from. Uh, show that, you know, a lot of people were not born with a silver spoon in their mouth. You know, I wasn't. I'm sure

you weren't. And so, you know, we're able to make something of ourselves. Um, just by consistent hard work, effort, you know, and, you know, finding the opportunities where other people's don't see them, you know. >> For sure. And I think that, um, there's a lot of opportunities and we bounce ideas. We're always here to help each other. Yeah. Like you said, you have systems in place. People could literally use that because they could expand their business.

There's other organizations you don't know about. People could invite you to that. So, it's just keeping each other in mind, sharing opportunities, passing them along, and just helping each other grow. >> Absolutely, man. Absolutely. Thank you again, Eddie. Appreciate your time, Ryan. >> All right. Thank you, man. Take care. Yes, sir. You, too.