The Pros and Cons of Giving Up Your Dream to Pursue a Different Career Path with Rolando Sanchez

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You just got into this construction world, right? You've been in it for about a year, and like you're with the what's the I would call Field Verified and the people that I know there like first in-class top tier people, top tier leadership, uh top tier culture, like you you you ain't playing with the scrubs over there. Now that you've been there just over a year, what do you think? Like if you let your imagination run on you, what do you think is ahead of you?

SPEAKER_01 0:32

I think about this from time to time. Honestly, my first few months, I'm just over here trying to eat. I'm just like, yo, I'm just trying to get my feet on the ground. What's caulking? What's that again? That's the ceiling. Okay, yeah, yeah. I'm there, right? But as a fifth month came, the sixth month came, I started feeling a little bit more comfortable, getting my feet down on like the position I was doing. And then I started to see, oh, and we started, we started being able to go without consultants and do some like job shadowing, doing some shadowing with consultant. Um, we call the sneaky consultant where we go out with the consultants, see what they do, and so I started getting like, oh man, I like waterproofing. Like, I think the whole waterproofing thing's cool, like below grade and waterproof, period. But low grade stuff was the first thing I went to see, and I thought, man, this is really cool. I can see how this can be messed up, and I can see how important it is for the whole structure of the building. So now I start to realize things. So just as I started to realize that, I'm like, man, this is cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

That strange voice you heard is Mr. Rolando. Uh, we have an amazing conversation. If you can't tell in that first 90 seconds or so, the energy and the charisma that that man has in his voice, um, I'm here to tell you it's real. And once the YouTube, the video version of this uh interview releases, you can see it on the YouTube. If we don't fry all the interwebs with all the charisma that he and I bring to the conversation, along with the charisma, we talk about relationships or the value in building relationships through treating people respectfully. We also somehow end up on like one of my favorite subjects, which is discovering the way you best serve. And so Rolando dropped out and I hopped all over it. We get, you know, me, I get a little wonky sometimes. Um, also gotta let you guys know that this interview with Rolando is gonna be the last one for 2022. The reason for that is because I've taken on some projects and maybe overestimated my capabilities. I'm working on my first second book, which is going to be titled Learnins and Missteps: My Path to Discovering the Promise I'm Intended to Be. So keep an eye out for some more updates as I go working through that. Uh, because y'all just know how much I love the editing process. And I've got to finish processing the conversations I've had with Thomas LeMay on our collab sessions on the goal. I still have a few episodes to go there. And if you haven't listened to one, you you just need to know those things. There's a lot of content. Almost every single one of them is two hours long and just packed with really deep, meaningful, responsible conversations. So keep an eye out for those. There's three out right now, and there's several more to come. We will be back in 2023. Never fear, we're not giving it up. We're just kind of reprioritizing some things because business is good for me. Uh, so I also got to go out and earn a living. And speaking of earning a living, I want to give a shout out to our patrons for all of their contributions. You're probably listening to this episode right now and appreciate that. But if you jump on the YouTube man, you can see my slick lights in the back, they look like lightsabers. So it's some of the gear, little upgrades that we're able to make, little tweaks to provide a more engaging experience for all of the LM family. So, patrons, I appreciate y'all very much for all your support. And for the rest of the LM family, love y'all. The holidays are coming. Be good to your people, be good to yourself. And here we go, back to Rolando. What's going on, LM family? Here we are with our. I feel like we're like primos, like we've been connected for years. What do you think, Rolando?

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Hey, I felt the same way. Even just connected with you on LinkedIn before I even heard your voice. Heard your voice, then seen your videos and being able to connect in person as if we knew each other from around the way.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Yeah, man. The post I remember you had it was a video or something you created about the L in caulk or caulking. C-A-U-L-K. That's the one, right?

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Yeah, yeah, that's the one. When I first got into construction, I'm relatively new. I've heard of sealant. Like, I've heard of I know what that's though, but it was like caulking. I'm like, what's that? And then when they told me, I was like, oh, sealant. Like, yeah, it's just a word for it. And then I've heard it was like, oh, caulking. So right away when I heard it, I was like, yo, what's that? Oh, it's caulking. What the hell? I was like, oh, and I've heard people say it in different ways. I'm like, what is it? Like, how do people really say caulking, or they say caulking? It just comes out, it just flows out the mouth. And then we decided to make a little thing on that. I put a little spanglish in there that said to make it funny.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

Oh, yeah. Heck yeah, man. So you're in Arizona, correct? Yes, sir. How long have you been in Arizona?

SPEAKER_01 5:29

I moved out here. I was a college baseball coach previously, so I moved around a lot. My first ten in Arizona was back in 2018-2019 school year. Once that school year ended, I ended up getting a different opportunity out in Texas. So I moved there. Yeah. But as far as Arizona, I've been here since Memorial Day weekend of 2020. So what's okay? Over two years now. So yeah, creeping into my third year, kind of consecutive year here.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

I got a little bit of the scoop when you and I were chilling there at the icebreaker event at uh Field Verified. So like I said, I got a little bit of behind the scenes information in terms of your the way you entered the construction industry.

SPEAKER_03 6:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:12

So man, can you like help the people out there understand just the background? You said you're a college baseball coach. Yeah. So that makes me assume that you played baseball maybe in high school. Tell us a little bit more about you, big dog.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

Oh yeah. Uh yeah, I was I was a ball player. I was a ball player, so definitely that was what helped me get my foot into the coaching, coaching at the college level. Played high school ball, grew up playing baseball. I was a baseball family. Come from a mixed Latino background. Mom's Mexican, dad's Puerto Rican and Cuban. Yep, grew up, grew up in grew up in Chula Vista, California, just south of San Diego, right there on the frontera, Tijuana, San Diego. Okay. Yeah, so played baseball on both sides of the border. I was in the States on Saturday, played baseball on Sunday in Tijuana. Nice. So yeah, baseball was a huge, been a huge part of my life, still is. Matter of fact, it was a club ball team I coached. I got practice later on after this. Oh, okay. But uh, but yeah, baseball's been everything. I got to play college baseball in South Dakota and in Iowa, Dakota Wesley University, and then uh Clark University in Dubuque, Iowa. That's where I graduated from. Had a little taste in independent ball, signed a couple kinds a couple contracts. I had some missteps that I took along the way there too. Looking back on, I'm like, man, I could have done X, Y, and Z and I would have progressed in that realm. But so definitely a lot of learning along the way. But baseball has always been a passion of mine. And I come from a bigger city, you can say sometimes there's not as many opportunities to certain uh certain folks. So a lot of times exposure came about. I didn't really have a direction going when I was going to college. Nobody advised me on scholarships, how I can negotiate my scholarships with the kids. I didn't know any of this stuff. I was the first to do it in my family. So for me, the passion for coaching at the college level and helping and getting the coaching world after playing ball was to help kids like me. So I started coaching high school baseball, didn't know after baseball, I didn't know what I wanted to do.

SPEAKER_02 8:14

There was a lot of realms people were like, Oh, you'd be good in this, you'd be good in that. Your personality, you can do this, you can do that. I'm just like, I don't want to do that.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

I don't want to do this, and I don't want to do that. But I knew I wanted to help out, and education was always something that I loved and I had a passion for. So education and coaching go hand in hand. As I realized getting into different industries, it's still the same thing. And in coaching, it's the same thing, it's just on how you it's just how you word it. I guess not getting too far of bouncing back and forth, but even getting the construction industry, it's helped me because I was a coach, because I was an educator, like stuff kind of helps me out a little bit, learning things in the process, yeah, as we go. But uh going back to that, um, yeah. So I got into working in high schools, I was uh substitute teacher, the cool substitute teacher.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

I was just gonna say, come on, tell me you were the cool one.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

But yeah, I did a little subbing and I worked as a paraprofessional as well. Um, I was like a uh I was an instructional aide for classes and special education, had a had a couple different positions, and then I had the opportunity to uh I went to an alumni event back in Iowa at my alma mater. One of my buddies was getting married. I went back there, met a couple people like in the admin realms of uh of Clark University, and one guy was like, Hey, Rolando started talking to me. He said, Man, you ever thought about coming back and working here? And I was never in my life. I told myself, but here I am in my mid-20s, and I'm like, you know what?

SPEAKER_02 10:24

Yeah, he's like, Hey, keep in touch with me, creating relationships, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Yeah, boy. Oh, yeah. And a few months later, I reached out to the guy. He said, Hey, there's an admissions council position opening, I think you'd be perfect for. And when they came up, I applied for it, and I was very involved in my school and college. Um playing being an athlete, being a student athlete, I was involved a lot. So and the lively personality you see me have, make friends with anybody. Right away, people who worked there when they when I got recruited, and then obviously I went there and did what I did. They were like, we'd love to have Rolando back. So it was a no-brainer. And I got extended an offering. I was coaching high school baseball, working back home, helping kids get to college, play college ball, make decisions on where they should go. And I felt myself, you know what, I think I can even do more up here. And I started worked as an admissions counselor, was coaching college ball, my alma mater, and then right away got a coaching opportunity for a really big collegiate summer ball team in Alaska. So two, three months out of the year. But at the time I wasn't really making much, and they're like, hey, we're gonna give you like six grand for like 10 weeks. And I'm like, to coach baseball, let's go. So I was like, I can't be an admissions counselor full-time and coach baseball in summer. So I took that leap. You know what? I'm gonna do this. This is gonna get me some other position. And sure enough, like I went and did that. Went to grad school, went to a grad school in North Carolina. I didn't really do all my research, but I just knew hey, they were paying for school, they were paying for this, they were paying for that. I'm like, they got a room, I got food, and I'm doing baseball, and it's good, and it ended up just not being a really good situation. Uh so one missed step right there was like I didn't do my research. I had a buddy that lived 20 minutes away, one of my best friends of life. He's still my best friend to this day. He lived 20 minutes away. He's like man, you could stay here on the weekends. I'm like, yeah, just because he lived out there and it was an opportunity, I just went. I didn't do anything where I needed to do my research on. And it bit me, but that's when I got my first opportunity back here in Arizona, or here in Arizona the first time. So I bounced around, I lived in Iowa, was in North Carolina for a short time, moved here to Arizona, and then after my second summer coaching in Alaska, one of my ball players, Miyaman Carlos Serrina, he uh he put me on with his coach at the college that he was at, Texas St. M. Kingsville, Coach Gonzalez.

SPEAKER_03 12:42

Yeah, baby.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

And uh yeah, I got the opportunity. I talked to Coach Gonzalez, I was like, hey, I've already been a recruiting coordinator, I've done I've been an assistant coach, and he's looking at me like you're gonna take a step back, right? You're not really gonna have the pool like you used to in your positions. And I'm like, hey, you're a legendary coach, you want to learn. And sure enough, that it was that it ended up being the COVID year. So yeah, season gets started 22 games in. We're on our way to up to, I believe we're going up to Lubbock from Kingsville. We're like two exits away, and we get a phone call from NCAA saying the season's canceled. Turn it around. Eight-hour drive. I'm like, Texas is big. I know why they say you don't need Texas because you can move completely the other side of the state, and you're still in Texas. Yes, sir. Two days away from everybody you knew before. We're still in Texas. But yeah, so I ended up out there, and then I got an opportunity back with the same coach that uh the coach that got me out here the first time at Benedict University Mesa, Coach Brian McCabe. He was one of my college teammates in back in Dubuque, Iowa. Okay. Always kept in touch. He was one of my one of my still one of my good buddies. And when he had the opportunity, got the job, he called me. I was in North Carolina. That's what brought me out here. And coming back around, they got me an admissions job. So I was able to come back, and that's how I started my life here, and then uh was doing that for a couple years. Took a scouting tournament director job for a baseball organization and left my university job and everything I felt comfortable doing to take that leap again. Like, I want to get into scouting now. I did high school, I did college, I want to get into pro baseball. Yeah, and I took this leap because it was gonna be the bridge to the next thing. And two months in, the guy's like, Hey, I'm gonna have to let you off. I I didn't really do my numbers right, X, Y, and Z. I'm gonna I just can't pay you. And I'm like, and at this time, I was already with my my fiance now, but my girlfriend at the time, and we was already like moving that way. And I'm like, I don't got a full-time job no more. Yup. And first thing I thought of was I'm gonna coach club baseball because it makes some money, and there's so much out here in Arizona. Call my buddy Jesse Lopez. Yeah, he was like, Hey man, yeah, come through our facility and uh we'll talk baseball. And I'm like, Yeah, go there, and I'm like, Hey man, I just got laid off. So I was like, Hey, I'm looking to coach, and he's like, Yeah, that's cool. We can talk about that later, man. What do you do for regular work? And I was like, I'm done. It's a college baseball coach, I've done everything landscaping, worked at Pizza Hut, worked at Bo Jangles in North Carolina, like up that hey Bo Jango's is for real, bro. Breakfast, hey, break. I take that breakfast over any fast food journal.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

What are the potato patties or whatever it is? Yeah, biscuit with the chick.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Jesse whipped it up in the morning. Winston Salem, North Carolina. Your boy was whipping the biscuits at 4 a.m. Yeah, that was me. Oh, that's why I like you. Now I know. Yeah, I do anything growing up. That's growing up. My pops did a lot of different side jobs and different work. He we worked for a flooring company, but he was a mechanic. He did this, that, yep. Anything. So he was just a utility man and jack of all trades, you must say. So for me, it was always like, Hey, whatever you gotta do to make the ends meet, you know what I mean? And so for me, I never was without a job. Like anytime I needed some, I was working a job here, two jobs here, three jobs, whatever in college. I had to work three part-time, you know, whatever it was.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

You gotta make it happen. You gotta make it happen. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

So now here I am based. Now I'm laughing. And before it was like, man, it was just me the whole time. Like, I don't have to worry about nobody else. I got a couch to sleep on, whatever, I'm good. Now I'm like, man, I'm they got this life I'm trying to have. And so right away he was like, hey man, I work in construction. We yeah, our company, we do consulting. We're building envelope company, which at the time I was like, I don't know what the hell that is. What does that mean? Yeah, yeah, it's a construction, we do consulting, we have this, we do all these different testing, and I'm like, ah man, I don't know nothing about that. So right away, I'm like, Yeah, I'm good. What else can I do? He's like, No, man, like, really, I think he's just like, hey, you're not an asshole. Excuse me, my bad. I don't know if I can cut something. You're good, you're good. I was like, he's like, let me introduce you, my boss. You're good people, man. He's like, they're good people. He's like, I think you should come and really see what we're about before you, you know, you you you defer me. And I'm like, I'm like, all right, man. And at this point, I'm like, yeah, who am I to be deferring anything? If you're hungry, you give me a piece of bread, I'm gonna get a piece of bread.

SPEAKER_02 17:10

You gonna eat or not?

SPEAKER_01 17:12

But instead, I didn't get like a piece of bread, I got like this just gourmet out the oven type bread when I came here with Phil Verify. I got to come here and meet uh Brian Melcher, my boss, Riley O'Neill, who's who's the director of uh of our testing. Um and I got to meet the whole team. And right away I felt really comfortable and it was really cool. I went up on a I went on a job site with them for six hours, seeing what they did, and I'm like, I'm looking around, yo, this is what we do. Like, I could do this, yeah, I can learn this. And we went to lunch afterwards, and at the end of the day, they're like, they're looking for the right person who's gonna fit with the company. We could teach you everything else. Like, you've got so much to bring to the table, like you don't even know like how well you're gonna pick up. That was it. Next thing you know, a couple weeks later, I get a job offer, and and it was cool because I told my lady too. I said, Hey, babe, I was all brave. I say, Hey, babe, I'm gonna get on my feet. I got this, don't even worry about it. But deep down inside, I'm like, what the hell? What am I gonna do? And like, but it goes back to relationships that I created that we met, yeah, and how I met Jesse was the first tournament I worked for that tournament company I got laid off for. How ironic. I was I worked part-time for them for about for since I got here in Memorial Weekend, that the Memorial Day 2020. So, but I want to say July of 20, the East Valley here in Phoenix, the parks were still open, yeah. So they were still doing whatever. It was almost like COVID didn't exist. We have a tournament, and I see this tall, big man, big a gente, meh gonna, yeah, yeah. I gotta say what's up to this guy. So I went up, hey man, but I'm a site director at XYZ, blase, blase. Oh, yeah, he's from he's from Norwalk, so he's from So Case from LA. Okay, and we start vibing, and that was it. We create a relationship, and he was in a lot of our tournaments, so I would see him over there and just Biespo. And here he is, like already being like, Yo, I know you good people, I see how you move, and I'm like, this is why I don't recommend nobody for jobs. So it really said a lot to okay, I must be doing something right. The relationships I create, yeah, yeah. That's how my journey came about, and that was last October. I remember, I think it was, I believe I it was September, like it was right after my birthday. So I want to say it was like September 22nd or something. I got told I was being laid off after at the end of October, and I was like, okay, and I got a job and I started my first day before the end of October with film verify. So that's how I got into construction. So almost a year in construction, I've been.

SPEAKER_00 19:49

Yeah, yeah, man. So a few things. One of the really interesting things is like all the people I talked to, all the guests that we've had on here, very few of them were like, Yeah, I'm gonna go do construction when I get out of high school or when I get out of college. Most of us have this really awesome, windy road of getting into construction, and then find out like, man, this is this fits, this is gonna be good. Yeah, but one of the well, a couple of the things that you said that I think are really important for people to understand, whether they're choosing a career in the trades or not, relationships and your personality, right? Like you clearly were able to say, Well, let me give this a shot. This can this might be the next step, and then oh well, Alaska and then North Carolina, and then Kingsville, and then Arizona. So when I said talk about personality, I'm talking about like resilience and courage and enthusiasm to go out and do that and to say, baby, it's gonna be good. I got this, and say, like inside it it's not that easy, it's not as easy as you make it look. And then the value of treating people with respect. I mean, just like I said when we opened up, you and I met face to face there at the office. It was like there was nobody else there, you and I were just catching up, like we hadn't seen each other in years, and it's and that's like the currency that only increases in value. But once you use it irresponsibly, you never get it back. And so for those folks out there, the LM family members, like especially the little squinklers, right? The little youngsters, like, no, you ain't gotta be a fool, man. Just be cool, and it can transform your life. Oh man. Okay, so baseball, I'm assuming you always wanted you wanted to be a professional baseball player, just wanted to be in the baseball scene your whole life, and you you went down that path, landed, ended up getting connected with field verified. You're they're testing, building envelopes, inspections of quality, making sure there's no finding leaks, repairing leaks. I'm assuming also.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

We mostly find them. We use usually the trade on site, we'll repair doing any repairs, but we do the investigating. So we yeah, so yeah, most of the testing we do. Uh a lot of the projects we're on, we are the consultants as well.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

So we do we do got it, got it. So y'all are like the CSI of construction, y'all out there doing your forensic investigations to find the mix.

SPEAKER_01 22:19

Yeah, it's fun, it's fun. Granted, uh, we're with them, we want them to pass just as much as they do. We don't want, don't get what I'm about to say twisted. But it's when we see it, it's okay. Where is it coming from? That is where it's fun. Early on, I'm sitting there with a flashlight, but you see that? And I'm like, nah, I. I don't know what we're looking at. Eventually you start seeing this, and you start seeing little things that come about are like all right, it's leaking from this top. And the investigating we do with the 501s, and we have a little hose wand, and so we can start narrowing down areas, tape off areas, things like that. So it's just it's it's sometimes it's uh it's extensive, but it's really cool. It's really cool because at the end of the day, we can help them, and now the installers wow, I've never they dealt with that issue or whatever. So it's just really cool.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

So yeah, like you said, we're the CSI of construction, boy. So thinking about like this, the windy path you had. I mean, granted, it was all in baseball, and that's still a big part of your life. Plotting it out on the map, right? California, North Carolina, Alaska, Kingsville, Arizona, and you've grown, you made some really important relationships along the way that pay uh pay dividends for you in terms of career and earnings. Um, and now you just got into this construction world, right? You've been in it for about a year, and like you're with the what's the I would call Field Verified and the people that I know there, like first in-class top-tier people, top-tier leadership, uh, top-tier culture, like you you ain't playing with the scrubs over there. Now that you've been there just over a year, what do you think? Like, if you let your imagination run on you, what do you think is ahead of you?

SPEAKER_01 24:16

I think about this from time to time. Honestly, my first few months, I'm just over here trying to eat. I'm just like, yo, I'm just trying to get my feet on the ground. What's caulking? What's that again? That's a ceiling. Okay, yeah, yeah. I'm there, right? But as the fifth month came, the sixth month came, I started feeling a little bit more comfortable getting my feet down on like the position I was doing. And then I started to see, oh, and we started, we started being able to go out with consultants and do some like job shadowing, doing some shadowing with consultant. Um, we call the sneaky consultant where we go out with the consultants, see what they do, and so I started getting like, oh man, I like waterproofing. Like, I think the whole waterproofing thing's cool, like but low grade and waterproofing, period. But low grade stuff was the first thing I went to see, and I thought, man, this is really cool. I can see how this can be messed up, and I can see how important it is for the whole structure of the building. So now I start to realize things. So just as I started to realize that, I'm like, man, this is cool, and that's one of the next steps here in our company, like to be a part of, to be in the consultant, and that's it's another pathway. And okay. Like, man, like I think this is what I want to do too. Start learning different things and start meeting different people from different trades and different industries, and being able to be on uh be on different sites all the time. Being a tester, we get to go on. I've been a part of I forgot what we talked about there, they're like 50, 60 different projects or something in a year, and that's just because this is a places we've tested. And so for me, that's like wild because there's a guy that's been working in construction for two years and he's been on the same project the whole time. He might go get he might have to go and do something else somewhere else, but like, yeah, this I spent most of my time here, and it's like, oh, that's crazy. Whereas we get to see different things all the time. So as far as when I close my eyes and see, like I just I'm still starting to understand everything, but I definitely I see myself with feel verified, and I see the growth we we're doing and we're having, and I'm part of it, and I think that's really cool. And we're continuing to evolve as a company, so I've even seen the change we've had in here from the last year. Wow, yeah, it's great. So, as far as like where do I think I will end up? Like, honestly, Jesse, you don't say I just know anyway, you know what I mean? And we're gonna continue moving forward and moving up. Where's that going?

SPEAKER_00 26:41

I don't know, but that's where I see myself continuing to go, though. Oh man, it's and here's the thing like you're surrounding yourself with amazing people, so of course it's gonna be forward and up, right? Like you surround yourself, you show up right, you show out right, you surround yourself with good people, you apply yourself, you learn, and it's not a matter of what you're gonna do, it's what you're gonna choose because you're gonna have a thing of options to choose from. Yeah, but like that's just the way it works. And then again, like your personality, like you got you got all these extra special little gifts that I think that set you up perfectly to serve others just as well. Because I imagine you're coaching select ball, but you're not doing it so you can say you're winning games, you're doing it to pour it into all these other young men and women about what you know about life. Am I right?

SPEAKER_01 27:37

100%, yeah. 100%, man. 100%. That's you I would have thought you've known me for years, Jesse, honestly. But that's exactly why I do it. And till this till now, like I'm out of coaching college baseball, but I have so many different connections, and I still help a lot of kids go there, or guys looking at transfer that I recruited at a school, you know, whatever. Like, I'm here to help them because at the end of the day, I tell them, I say, Hey, it's your career, Poppy. Like, I'm just the page in your book, bro. Like, I'm just trying to make sure that you turn the page to the next chapter. So that's why I got into coaching, why I got into education, and just learning so much about how college works and realizing that you don't have to go to college. That's why I'm glad and I love the route I've taken, but I definitely have a lot more, even getting into this industry. Now I have a whole different not that I had a bad look on construction. Period. I plenty of plenty of my boys from back home. One of my cousins, she's a construction worker. Like, I've had plenty of people work construction. I just never saw myself going that route because I've always been focused on other things, and the fact that I got into this, I'm like, man, it's it's a whole new world. Like, it's so much to this, bro.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

So does it surprise you like how much stuff happens on these big old commercial jobs?

SPEAKER_01 28:59

Yeah, and some of these plants, I'm just like, man, and there's just so many. There's a job for over here, there's a job for this. Like in this room alone, there's seven trades. I'm like, oh, yeah, that's crazy. That's what I thought was like the craziest thing. But yes, going back to the education part, it's continuing to help. And because I started coaching high school baseball back in the school district I grew up in. I moved back home to do that and to do that stuff. And I did that for a few years and then took my took took it to the next level and then realized, you know what, I don't even know if this is the best way I can serve kids. Now coming back coaching club ball, I'm like, now I can navigate. So now I went to the college level. I know how all the college works, I know admissions, I know what you need, all the different scholarships. I wish I applied for my mama. Did tell me you would always be on me about them. She would.

SPEAKER_03 29:50

You didn't listen.

SPEAKER_01 29:52

I didn't listen. Okay. So I'm not gonna sit here and say I had no when it came to that realm. I'm not gonna say I didn't know anything about it. I didn't know anything about it because I I just didn't make that effort. A huge misstep, Jesse. Huge misstep as a teenager, but then because of me, because of my actions, when I went back as a high school coach, I'm on my players' ass to do this. Yes, I don't want to go. Hey, you know what? You're gonna get a full scholarship? You gotta get a full scholarship? I'll keep my mouth shut. A handful of people that have gotten actual full ride scholarships where they didn't pay a dime, and I played with some ballers. I went back and I served the kids that were like me, like try to give them the best. Some listened, some didn't. It's just like knowing all that knowledge, knowing what it takes to get there, and that's why coaching club ball now that hey, I'm in a position, I didn't want to leave baseball at all. Right. But it's hey, I need to move forward, I need to do something that's gonna help me provide for my family and do all that stuff. And I happen to fall into, like I said, I was very hungry and I just needed a piece of bread, but instead they made me this gourmet cake. Have this, please sit in this chair. That's what I got. That's what I got coming to Phil Verify with just a great opportunity here. So for me, it's so many different things to learn along the way that got me here. Yep, missteps, learnings, different things that you gotta learn and uh the lessons, lessons you get out of stuff. And because I've been here, there, and everywhere, I get to tell kids like, hey man, there's so much more than here than here. Like, even giving advice that some of my players would come to me about their little boyfriends or girlfriends, or hey, coach, this and that. Like, hey man, look, there's a whole world out there. Right, don't worry, you're gonna graduate high school one day. And if you decide to go play baseball in Missouri, guess what? It's a whole different group of people you ain't never met before, a whole different life. And like me, I can go almost anywhere in this country and I know somebody. Yeah, so teaching and learning, making sure kids that come from my neighborhood that think they have everything in San Diego, it's just a small little piece of your lives at that point.

SPEAKER_00 31:53

One thing that stands out is what you said was I don't think this is the way I serve best. You said something like that, yeah. And that again, that's something that I asked myself, and I didn't always ask myself the question. Um, but if when I finally was able to say, you know what, this is how I serve best, and I need to figure out how to do that as many hours in a day as I possibly can, that totally shifted the trajectory of my life. It wasn't about how much money I could make or how much promotions I could get, it was about how can I serve best. And you said the same words, and it's like, yeah, like that's like the secret formula. If you can understand how we serve best and then put our energy towards that, you're not gonna get crumbs, you're gonna get cake like you're getting, right? You can get some sweet cake with frosting in service to others. Of course, we got to respect ourselves and take care of our bones, but um the goal is to help, the goal is to serve. I've been blessed with gifts and talents, and it's my responsibility to use them in service to others. If I don't do that, and I want to be greedy and and hide it and keep it and overcharge for it, but guess what's gonna happen? I ain't gonna have a lot of fun doing that sort of stuff. Yeah, so you you've thrown it out there a few times, the missteps and the learnings, and this one's like the backstage pass question, right? You've got a lot of experience. Is there a like a very significant learning you had from one of them big bad stinky missteps?

SPEAKER_01 33:30

Hey, yeah, I would say, well, I had all those things to say, and now they just left my head. But uh I would say the biggest one, which has actually been a strength of mine, but I say it's been a weakness of mine as well. Okay, my strength.

SPEAKER_00 33:46

Oh, yeah, I gotta interrupt the flow just a little bit. Can you hear that music in the background? A little groovy music, anyhow. This little segment of this interview exists and is only available on the YouTube. That's right. We got a YouTube channel, Learnings and Missteps, check it out, or you can go to learnings and missteps.com and find our YouTube channel there. And while you're there, you can also click on become a member uh to contribute some money, like funds, straight up. I'm just gonna say it. 80% of that is going to be donated to the Skilled Trades Alliance because the Skilled Trades Alliance mission is very much in line with the Learnings and Missteps mission. Uh, and we're going to support great things and great people, and you signing up as a patron will contribute to that effort. So we appreciate you deeply for doing that. Also, I don't know if y'all heard or not, just in case you missed it, I'm an author now. Jennifer Lacey and I have co-authored a book. You got to check it out, Lean in Love, Five S Love Letters. It's on the Amazon. The whole goal of that book is to just help one person. And so far, we've gotten several several people from the No BS tribe, from the LM family that have indicated to us that something, at least one little thing in the book has helped them. And so we've kind of exceeded our goals. But to exceed the goal and continue helping people, that is the ultimate privilege in the world. So while you're out there on the Amazon, on the YouTube, on the LinkedIn, all the socials, leave us some reviews, leave us some comments, let us know you're out there. I know you're there, I see the statistics, the data, but I don't get to interact with y'all, and that makes me a little bit sad. Anyhow, I'm gonna stop my whining. Appreciate y'all very much. Go to the YouTube to catch this learning and misstep backstage pass. And here we go, back to the conversation. I'm out there a lot when I go talk to schools and talk to universities and stuff for about careers in the industry or anything. They'll if they'll just give me time, I'm gonna talk that. And I used to always give out my biz cards, right? And people ask, now I just put a QR code on the slide deck or whatever. Uh but people are like, Man, aren't you afraid? Like, you're giving all these. I was like, No, I'm not afraid. Like when I say call me, here's my information, I mean it. Like, what if everybody called? Like, that would be a great problem to deal to have. Yeah, but the fact is, very few people ever do. Very few people, like I'm talking less than one percent will actually get my contact information and move on it in the future. I love the deal. I just I stole your cheat code, bro. Remember how you sent me your contact? I did it, and this week in New Orleans, we're at the conference, and there are a bunch of people like here, give me your number, I'll just shoot you my stuff and super fast, super easy. But the point is, what I've try to practice now, like I like running a whole bunch, I'm out walking, I'm in my head a lot, especially when I'm running. I'll think of man, I need to talk to someone. Oh, I wonder how you're doing. I just and I'll just text them right then and there, hey man, I was thinking about you, what's going on? And hey girl, what's going on? How are the kids? Whatever it is. Because if I don't act on that, for me, it's an act of self-betrayal, and those actions of self-betrayal pile up and pile up and steal joy from my life, and I'm not okay with that anymore.

SPEAKER_01 37:33

Wow, that's wow. You yeah, that's a good way of putting all that right there. Self-betrayal. That's what I've been feeling all these years.

SPEAKER_00 37:40

Like, I did it to me, I betrayed myself by not taking that action, by letting my fear control. Now I'm man, you're getting me fired up, bro.

SPEAKER_01 37:50

It's the fear of rejection, and then one thing that I I almost started seeing was like, Are you like, and I did this with me playing ball? Like, I stopped playing ball probably two years before I should have gave it up. Like, I really had I had the juice, Jesse. I had some juice.

SPEAKER_00 38:06

Man, what position were you? Were you second shortstop catcher? I was a catcher. You're catcher, okay.

SPEAKER_01 38:12

Yeah, defense was my strength. Like, I could hit, but defense was like, hey, this guy's a pro level, you know. So that was my thing, and it's like I just had to keep working because then I would see guys that miss steps. I see dudes that I was I was better than, I was better than, and these dudes kept going for those opportunities and kept making those strides in that realm, and they ended up playing at a decently high level. And there's a couple guys that are still out there doing their thing, and I'm like, man, yeah. But going back, obviously, life has led me in a great direction. I love it. It's like a misstep that I had, like, why my shortcomings as a ball player was just not fully believing that fully believing in myself, almost afraid of success. Am I afraid to be successful or the rejection part? I also it was like the battle, and like, yeah, are you afraid of not be good enough? If that's what it is, it's like it's crazy because it was almost like I never had that mentality, and then somehow it grew into me. It's like a cancer. And if you don't deal with it and you don't over it'll just get worse, and at some point, I think it became when I coached, when I started realizing my shortcomings more, it started being more like it's like you put on that different lens, and you're like, Yes, not to tie in relationships again, but it's almost like once you get out of that toxic relationship, you take a step back. You're like, I allowed this to happen. Yeah, man. This was going on, man. I was blind. So there's certain things that you realize after. So I think it became when I was on the teaching end of things when I started realizing my shortcomings as a ball player, and then started realizing where man, I wish I would have had this help at this age. So I essentially wanted to become the coach that I felt I needed that would have made me that much better. So when it comes to that area, it's just man, like the things, it's just like the little things that if you just take those leaps, and it's crazy because you look back on my life and I talk about my story, you're like, Man, this guy took a bunch of opportunities, but there were so many more that I was just afraid to take. Yes, and so I did find different routes and I bounced back from miss steps, but it's like there's other steps that's like, man, if I didn't miss that step, I wouldn't have missed that step, and I would have missed that one, and I would have been there. I do people would be missing steps on me. Not the not me still missing the steps, yes, oh man. No, but I think that's what it but it goes back to now, and everything that I talked about how I was like, There's dudes out there, probably coach people I know that gave me their numbers, was like, hey man, get in touch with me. And they didn't reach out to me because hey, he must be fine, he never hit me up.

SPEAKER_00 40:56

Yeah, he don't he ain't hungry. That that's exactly what I when I reach out and put myself out there for somebody, and they don't go out and respond or take action. I just grace of God, hey, they ain't that hungry, they got food on the table. That's okay, I'm happy for them, and it's gonna stay like that, right? The hungry people, if you hungry, hell, this is my grandmother. You like menudo? Go on, go on, yeah. So when I was a kid, like I would not eat menudo. I just I never even tasted it, I just didn't like the way it looked because it got all kinds of stuff in there, anyways. I was at my grandma's house, my dad's mom, and like you know how it was like you're not inside the house unless you're eating, taking a shower, ready, go to bed. The rest of the time, get out there, go play with your cousins, right? Yeah, and so we're out there playing, come back in. Grandma, I'm hungry. She said, Okay, here's a bowl, here's everybody, there's menudo. And I looked at said, Oh, I don't want menudo. She said, Okay, mijo, you're not hungry. Go play. Okay, so I went and played, ran around, come two or three rounds of this, and you know how to at the end of the day, you're all red faced, and your hair's all plasty. And she says, Again, third time, she said, All right, Mijo, let me heat up your menudo. And I'm like, Okay, she heats it up, puts on the stove, right? And I start like picking at it, and like, man, that was good. I said, Grandma, why didn't you why didn't you make me something else earlier? She said, Because you weren't hungry. I said, But I was no, if you're hungry, you eat, and you didn't want to eat. And guess what you guess what you learned? You learned that manuders pretty good. Damn it, that lesson, bro, that's stuck with you forever. If you're hungry, you're gonna eat. If you ain't hungry, you go be peaky. That's all there is to it. That's the truth, Ruth, right there.

SPEAKER_01 42:44

Yeah, that's the truth right there. And in this case, in many cases, I was still very hungry, but I was just afraid to ask for food. The food that was already offered to me, right?

SPEAKER_00 42:54

All you gotta do is come up with your plates, like at the barbecue, right? You just go take your plate, hold your space. Hey, just hold your spoon. Hold your spoon. Let me serve you your food. Like, I'm telling you, man, I love it, bro. All right, so I'm excited for the next your response to the next question. Because you have a servant's heart, right? Like, I think you're about building it, breathing life into the community, breathing life into other people. And so, with that in mind, you got a baby on the way. Congratulations. Girl dad in the house. Whoa, watch out. What footprint do you intend to leave on the world, my man? Man, oof, what footprint do I want to leave on the world?

SPEAKER_01 43:38

I just I want to be better than what I am right now. I want to continue to be a better man in all facets of my life. And as well as if I'm a better man for myself, I will be able to help others a lot more than I even help them now. Yep. And that's something that I've also learned along the way, where it's like I was helping so much that I wasn't helping myself. And because I wasn't helping myself, I wasn't fully where I needed to be, where I could really help the next person. As well as I really want to serve them. Just continue to be a better man. Matter of fact, Leon Bridges, one of my favorite artists out there from Texas, all right, has a great song called Better Man, but it's obviously it's a different thing. But when I say better man, that's the song that pops that's what pops in my head. But yeah, I just I want to continue to be a better man for myself, which and continue to be a learner and always learning, never acting like I know everything. That's one thing I tell my players when I coach high school, college, and now that I'm coaching high schoolers again in select ball, is I don't Know everything. I'm never gonna act like I do, but I sure as hell know a lot more than you do. But that's the thing, is I'm always learning. I want to continue to learn. I'm never just satisfied for what I am. I may have to get my feet under my ground, learn what I'm learning, and then finally turn on to learn more. But it's always learning that way you're able to educate. And the more you know, knowledge is power. And as I've gotten older, I really understand that now. Because the more you know, the more you're able to move about things differently. I'm starting to learn stuff about the housing market now. And I'm like, there's so much to it, but it's like once you figure it out, it's it's good. Yeah, so I'm still some time away from that. As far as but learning about it, I'm like, man, there's so much to it on how it's not as sometimes it may not be as certain things may not be as hard as you may think they are once you look into them. Like the new wow, this is really good. I could have done add this six hours ago. I would have been on my second or third bowl right now. But and that's what it is, like just like it is right now. So it's just continuing to learn, and I want to look back. And what I enjoy now is like my former ball players, guys that I've helped, I've been the bridge to them. I always tell kids, I'm like, hey, I don't get you the scholarships, I just point you in the right direction. I just show you where you could have an opportunity. This is what's calling for you. There you go. You're the one that earns it. So I just want I I love when players hit me back and be like, hey coach, I really appreciate you doing that for me. Even a kid that joined the military, he was having his parents were really pushing him for college. He's like, Coach, I've always just wanted to join the military. I'm like, looking at options where you can join the military and go to school while you're in the military. Ah, there you go. Satisfy mom and dad, and at the same time, you're gonna get yourself into a higher level now. Yep. And yeah, matter of fact, he should be being close to graduating. I think coming up actually this year might be his uh graduating for his college, but he's uh he's in the he's in the navy, so he's doing his thing. Uh but it's like having kids come back and like just appreciate like hey, I remember this one. And sometimes I'm now I'm feeling old with like some of my players from what I was coaching eight years ago, nine years ago now. Damn, coach, I remember you told me this and that. I'm like, I'm kind of like, you sure that was me? Yeah, and I'm like, yeah, I guess I did say that. I'm glad I gave you that advice. It's continuing to have that, and it's continuing to build that on because I feel like that's me giving back to the community and and giving back to the people that pretty much like how I say it, it's like showing gratitude to the people that helped me get the places I'm at now, showing them gratitude by helping someone else. And guess what? That guy is gonna remember how I used to help him, and he's gonna help someone else, and that's it. Hopefully, that makes the world a better place. But as far as what I want to be remembered for, and then you know how I won't want to impact, like it's just continue to do what I'm doing now, but just on a way better level than I am now.

SPEAKER_00 47:42

Oh so that's what it is. I heard a guy say, he said, I don't want to be the best, I always want to just be getting better. He said, Because if I'm the best, it means I've arrived and I've reached the end, and I don't want to get there. I gotta keep growing, I gotta keep learning, I gotta keep getting better. But I knew you were gonna bring it, brother. So who you want to give a shout out to? I know you threw some names out there. Who else you want to give a shout-out to?

SPEAKER_01 48:07

Oh, shoot, just uh my family, yeah. My my fiance, Crystal, I love you, girl, Gianna, uh, my daughter, and then my newly my one on the way right now. Her name is gonna be Yaslina, Yaslina, so little Yazzy shot her. Um, my mom's Alma Sanchez, my brothers, Kiki, Ruben. My uh I want to give just a quick shout out. My boy, uh, my boy Sergio Cruz. He came down here and did some work for us. All right, did some copy stuff. He has his own little flooring, he has his own like concrete company he's got out going on, J JL JLC concrete. So um, but yeah, just a shout out to them and just a big shout out to you, Jesse. Thank you for having me on, and of course, a big shout out to my company, Feel Verified, for allowing me the studio space I got right now. Yeah, but uh yeah, just and all my people's here feel verified. Much love that's cool, my man.

SPEAKER_00 49:03

Thank you. Did I not tell you that that man has got one engaging personality? Um I think you got I think maybe back in the day, if he and I got together and maybe we're out and about, we could have got ourselves into some trouble in a good way, good, healthy trouble. He's a he's an amazing dude. I got fired up when I interviewed him and when I was editing, I'm like, man, this dude's just straight up cool. Somehow he even got me to talk about the menudo story, which is one of my favorite stories, but I don't always think I've ever said it on the air. Anyhow, we always want to wrap up the show by showing some love to the LM family members uh that go out of their way to give us some feedback to let us know what they're thinking and how this content is affecting them. And so we got another Amazon review on the Amazon on that other book, my second first book, Lean in Love, 5S Love Letters. Michael says, valuable insights on industry relationships. And yes, sir, 100%. We got to give credit to the no BS tribe who showed up and contributed during the 5S live streams. We were able to harness a lot of experience, a lot of wisdom, uh, a lot of truths, a lot of vulnerability that everybody contributed to the conversation during the live streams, and then transformed that into the book. So, Michael, appreciate you going out of your way, putting in that extra time to go in there, giving us the five stars, and then dropping us a sweet comment. I appreciate that. We're batting a thousand right now on them Amazon reviews with the with all five-star reviews. So thank you all for your support. Uh, the comments, the posts, the pictures that y'all are posting on the LinkedIn and on the Facebook, on the social medias showing uh showing some love for the book. We really appreciate that. Uh be cool, and we'll talk at you next time. Peace. Oh my goodness, you're either driving down the road or just so enthralled with the with this whole podcast that you went all the way down to the very, very, very, very end of it. And we appreciate you. And just we're going to take this as an indication of your dedication. So we got a little special request of you a call to action, because everybody tells us that like you need to have a call to action. So here's the call to action be kind to yourself, go out there and share a smile with someone.