Intro to Trump the Hustle Podcast & Guest Ed Guerrero

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hustlers, on today's episode of the Turn of the Hustle Podcast, we're joined by the founder of Groero CPA and the trusted CPA who has handled my taxes for more than 10 years personally. What makes him different is he doesn't just prepare tax returns. He teaches proactive tax strategies. And as a real estate investor himself, he understands the unique challenges and opportunities investors face, and he's built his firm around helping business owners and investors gain more of what they earn through education and strategic planning. In this episode, we dive into the tax strategies every entrepreneur and investor should know the biggest mistakes people make with their taxes and how thinking ahead, not just falling on time, can save you thousands of dollars. On today's episode, Ed Guerrero. Let's go. And today, guys, special guest, my personal CPA, Ed Garrow. How are you doing, man? Doing fantastic. Glad to be here. I'm excited you're here. And the reason I'm excited you're here because there's when it comes to money, I love making money. That's the first thing. The second thing is I love saving money. And this guy to my left has saved me lots of money. And we're gonna break down how my CPA actually helped me save money undoing what I do. I want you guys to do the same thing. But Ed, before we get started, my hustle, as always, is real estate wholesaling, real estate flipping, and real estate subject to by taking over people's payments. When people think of Ed Guerrero, what's Ed's hustle?

SPEAKER_02 1:35

My hustle is the keeping the money, saving the money for the people, for what they've made, they've earned, and they should keep it. I like that, man. I like to keep my money.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

He's not only a CPA, he's a local rock star. Local rock

Ed’s Origin Story: Growing up on San Antonio's West Side

SPEAKER_00 1:49

star. You are well, well known in the community, so we're super, super excited for this episode.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

And before we really deep dive into this podcast, man, when I first needed a CPA years ago, it was always go see ed. That's his catchphrase, guys. Go see ed, because this guy knows everything when it comes to real estate. And all you guys are watching, most of you guys are in real estate and and uh doing what we're doing, not from wholesaling, right? Because you go go ask a regular CPA, hey, wholesaling, they're like, what is that? Sub twos and owner financing. So I'm really excited for this podcast, but before all the years, because I think you've been doing this for what, 25 plus years? 25. It started when I was 10. Started when you're 10. I I say you started when you started, but you got extra overtime. That's right. So 25 years of doing this, but before the 25 years of CPA and saving money and all the connections you built and all the trips you've been on, and all the missionary stuff that you've been on, that's something I want to talk about too. Absolutely. Let's talk about little ed, man. What what's what's Ed U story, man? Born and raised San Antonio?

SPEAKER_02 2:41

Born and raised San Antonio. Um grew up in the, I call it the West Side. Uh part of it was the deep west side, and then part of it was that what my family says, it wasn't really the bad west side, uh, but it was in the northwest. Um, and you know, just grew up hustling for dollars as a kid, uh, learn how to make money. When I was a kid, I did the paper route, I did the uh paper route, you know, lawn cutting, all those good things that I've

Instilling the Hustler Mindset to Overcome Poverty

SPEAKER_02 3:08

realized that, hey, you know, it's good to have money. And as a kid, when I didn't have that money, I wasn't gonna ask my parents for it, so I had to learn how to go do it. And started at the age of six, went all the way through all those ages learning how to hustle for money. And um, you know, I i i it's like with people say, You're all about money, and I say, Yeah, I am. And uh, but the difference is I don't use it as my God, I use it to do things with. And so um, you know, you mentioned a little bit uh earlier about uh the mission trips that I've taken and all those things, and we'll chat about more. But that's the fun part for me is uh making money, helping others, and just completing the mission. I really know like this episode, man.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

This guy said he loves making money. So a little ad started at six-year-old, definitely the true characteristics of a hustler. Yeah. We had this conversation multiple times. Why do you think? Why were you such a strong hustler to drive yourself to make money? Was it I don't know what your your upbringing was a poor mind, a poor uh family? I mean, what drives, what do you think that drove you as a six-year-old? Because most six-year-olds aren't thinking about money.

SPEAKER_02 4:10

Right, right, right. Well, poverty does that to you, right? So yeah, we were poor and uh other people gave us things during Christmas. I I always still, you know, I listened to a lot of Tony Robbins today. But um, you know, when I look, reflect back, a lot of it was just uh being poor and looking at other kids who had things and wishing I would had those things. And um instead of doing the bad thing, you know, going around doing what other bad kids were doing, uh my dad, you know, instilled a lot of work and earn. And and

How a High School Crush Led to an Accounting Career

SPEAKER_02 4:44

through my dad and all those uh hustle theories that he had to make money, uh he just put us all all kids to work. And I think starting kids at a younger age at six years old, uh seven, eight, nine, I had a funny story with my son. I started him at 11. And the reason was because I want to when when we got married, my wife and I told him I want him to work at six, and she said, I said, that's the west side way. She goes, we don't live in the west side, we're in the north side. So it's 16 in the north side, right? And so we actually agreed to have him work at 11, and today he manages five of my companies, and he's 27 years old, 28 years old today. Beautiful story.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

That's definitely a cool story. And and like you said, that's a different generation. Yeah, your generation to my generation to the next generation. Yeah, that that mindset, you know. And of course, like you said, you're not in the west side no more. Yeah. But so I could get a better, better understanding what high school did you go to.

SPEAKER_02 5:34

So uh I graduated from Thomas Jefferson, but I always say Jefferson has two sides. One's the poor side, one's the wealthy side. I lived in the poor side.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Poor side. Yeah, yeah. Poor side of Jefferson. Yeah. Now, after Jefferson High School, your thoughts on you wanted to become a CPA, you went to college, what's your how did it come about on becoming a CPA?

SPEAKER_02 5:53

Yeah, you know what's crazy is that uh when I was in the 10th grade, I I had no clue about CPA accounting, none of that. Uh there was a cute girl in the in the in the class, so I did I wanted to meet her. So I went and checked into the class and and uh and the and the teacher said, Hey, you're not in my class. And she I said, Well, how can I get in? And she said, didn't ask what subject, I just said, How can I get in, right? Uh and and and I went down and changed my class uh schedule and got in. And um the girl never dated me, but I look I fell in love with uh accounting, bookkeeping, and that was a class they were teaching at Jefferson and uh counting one and counting two, and then I took computers and the rest is history.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

I've been working for over a decade. Yes. This whole time, and I thought you had a passion for CPA. What love would do or girls would do. Okay, cool. Yep. Okay. A little surprising on my end, but cool.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

What did your dad do? What did your parents do?

SPEAKER_02 6:48

So both of my parents, uh, they are um, you know, they went up to eighth grade. They they uh they got their GED but had only eighth grader education. My dad fixed TVs at the beginning, and then he went into fixing

Leaving the Corporate World to Build Bank Compliance Software

SPEAKER_02 7:01

computers uh eventually. Uh my mom, she was just a homemaker with uh eight other uh I I have a total of eight in our family. Oh my gosh. And I'm at the bottom. I'm the last one, so you understand when you're hungry, you're hungry. The hammy downs to the hammy downs. Yeah, absolutely. So uh yeah, family of eight. And uh uh, you know, uh mom and dad just hustled their way to provide for us.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

That's kind of I don't want to say the standard story, but especially in the generation before, I mean I would say your generation. And I think even with my generation, same thing. Dad, you know, middle school education, my mom uh she went to high school with graduated, but after that, homemaker, a few kids, and it's tough living. And it's crazy to see how just time after time, generation after generation, and that term gets thrown out a lot, generational wealth. And I want to kind of pick your brain on that as we go on this podcast. But okay, so CPA after Jefferson because of a female, it got to where you're at today, right? But after that, how did you get your own business? Because as kid number eight, right with no financial means to where you are today, that's a I'm sure you know, that's a huge milestone. And kudos to everything you've done in in your career when it comes to CPA and everything else that you're doing outside the CPA. But what's that first business as a business mindset? Did you go to college? Absolutely. Yeah, which college? Yes, UTSA.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

UTSA. Yep. Graduate with an accounting degree and uh also a finance degree, dual degrees, and um then got my CPA uh two years later and uh started off as an auditor in Dallas and corporate world. Uh went as an auditor for banks and auditing banks, and then uh went into a smaller bank that I think that's what created the entrepreneur spirit was beyond the whether the professional entrepreneur spirit where I started also, I have an IT background, so uh I have a really big interest in programming. So I do a lot of programming and I was doing a lot of programming slash uh auditing, uh CBA work. And then that spurred onto a building a software package uh back then before Windows became Windows, and uh I decided to build a disaster recovery system for banks. Uh started. You built it. I built it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

What exactly is that? What exactly did you build?

SPEAKER_02 9:11

How do you well, you know, a lot of stuff for banks uh they have to be compliant and regulatory compliance. And so I saw that a lot of people were getting written up for the uh for for not being compliant to the regulations. So I just took the regulations and put it into a program where mainly, you know, at first it was just a

Landing a Software Deal with Frost Bank & Traveling with Microsoft

SPEAKER_02 9:31

checklist and then it became more uh a software package for people to go through and audit themselves so that they wouldn't get written up and get fined at bank levels. So the package at first, when I first went to market that uh as a CBA, it was like $5,000. And I went to a small bank called Frostbank, and a friend of mine was there, and he started laughing. He says, You know, our systems we buy are like $50,000 to $100,000 at that point. You're trying to sell us a $5,000 Mickey Mouse package. And then I went, Well, okay, it's $55,000. And after that, we just made it better, and that $55,000 package took off. And um, you know, uh that's that that actually got

Dallas vs. San Antonio: Choosing Culture and Family

SPEAKER_02 10:14

me to thinking maybe I ought to do it for myself. I was doing it for a company.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

So actually inked to deal with Frostbank?

SPEAKER_02 10:20

So I inked to deal with Frostbank, inked to deal with a lot of big banks that are now bigger banks, and um and so ultimately left that and started my own CPA firm and uh started doing technology at the side. Um and so both hustles were there. So we did both uh I'm uh I'm an ERP CRM, so I used to put in accounting systems for big companies mid to tier, and then uh CRM systems for five million to five hundred million dollar companies. So I got to travel all over uh the US and mostly Latin America with Microsoft. When they found me, they used me for a couple more years, and I decided I wanted to stay home and moved from Dallas. I was living in Dallas for 12 plus years and three years in Miami and ended up back in San Antonio. And I decided, okay, this is where I want to build the CPA firm.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

Hustlers, real estate investing doesn't have to be overwhelming, and you don't have to do it alone. If you've been watching from the sidelines, scrolling past deals on Zillow, or binging YouTube videos, but still not taking action, this is for you. That's why we built Hustle Academy, a community designed for new and experienced real estate investors who want to learn,

Launching the Firm and 15 Years of Educational "Lunch & Learns"

SPEAKER_01 11:31

network, and grow. Inside Hustle Academy, you'll get weekly live calls, QA sessions, and step-by-step classes on fix and flip, wholesaling, creative finance, and my favorite subject who deals. Everything you need to know to build real skills and start closing real deals. You'll join a powerful group of like-minded hustlers who are sharing wins, breaking down deals, and all pushing towards the same goal financial freedom through real estate. If you're ready to level up, no matter what stage you're starting at, join Hustle Academy today, tap the link in the description, or visit hustleacademy.com and let's trump the hustle together.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

More of a personal question outside of CPA from fellow San Antonians. What uh difference between living in Dallas? I hear all the people who live in San Antonio who are like, I gotta get out of the city, I'm gonna go to Dallas, Dallas, Dallas, what's the big difference? Why San Antonio over Dallas?

SPEAKER_02 12:22

Well, I I'll tell you, the uh it it changes, right? So when you're building your career and you're and you want uh exposure from bigger businesses, they're gonna be in Dallas, right? Uh but San Antonio, if you want to build a what I called a career slash uh family and and enjoy the culture and enjoy the the pluses of San Antonio, a little slower environment than Dallas, um then you pick, you know, San Antonio. So at that time I had been racing for 12 plus years in Dallas and then three years in Miami, slash Florida, all that area. Um so I had a lot of fast, fast, fast-paced environments. So I decided, well, maybe I should start focusing on me and and and my career, but building a company here. And this was one of the places that I grew up, so I knew a lot of people here.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Cool. So what year was uh the CPA firm founded?

SPEAKER_02 13:17

So uh year 2000.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

There's a reason why. Okay, we're done a reason.

SPEAKER_02 13:23

Yeah, so so everybody uh so part of the year 2000, we were uh doing really well in technology. So my focus was really I was doing about two to three hundred returns on the side, and I was doing technology full time, and so year 2000 changed the game because if you go back, that's when a lot of the uh companies started folding in the technology, dot com bus and everything. So I had another uh call it leg to stand on was the CPA, and I said, you know, I'm gonna do the CPA full time. So I turned that that on.

The Origin story of the Catchphrase: "Go See Ed"

SPEAKER_02 13:58

And the beauty about it is that what I did in the technology world taught me how to educate people on complex structures. So I thought, well, take what I've learned from the technology world and start educating people on taxes, which was for me it's easy, but for most people it's complex. So I just started educating a bunch of the lunch and learns and dinners, and uh that started right when I started my firm, and after that it just kept blowing up because we we started with one show once a week, two shows uh a week, three shows, four shows, and it went up to about five per week. You did that for years. We did that for almost 15 years straight. And we were just going, and people were exhausted. They were exhausted, and I wasn't I was like, oh, this is fun. I love getting on the stage and and helping people, showing people uh whether they use me or not. That was my my my my whole mission was whether they use me or not, I'm gonna give you value and you know,

Scaling a Business, Adapting Team Structures, and the Impact of AI

SPEAKER_02 15:01

take it and ask your CPA. The only thing I used to tell them is I don't coach other CPAs because that's a difficult uh arena. And I just said, don't call me to tell your CPA. Well, a few people still told me they would call, can you tell them exactly how to do this, right? So those legend learns. Yeah, I learned a lot.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

I've been to a few of them. Yeah, I've been to a few of them uh back in the day, and I remember you had that at that Italian restaurant, nice restaurant, and you teach a lot, yeah. Pericos, all of those. You would teach a lot. And you know, we do the RIA once a month. Yeah, and it's a lot of work. That's a lot of work. Or you to do that for multiple times a week for years. That is true definition of hustler to really grow the brand of go see ed. And going talking about go see ed, where did that come from? Because that's just like your slow, that's your motto. If you guys don't know, anytime you need CPA, go see ed. How did that how did that come about?

SPEAKER_02 15:50

That that's a great story itself, you know. I was at the Chamber of Commerce and I heard uh go see Red, the sh the the commercial, and I looked and I went, Go see Red, go see Ed. And and and there and uh and and Red McCombs is there, and I said, Hey Red, you know, I got a slogan. Let me run it past you. I said, How about go see Ed? And he looks at me and I looked at him and he says, I like it. I said, Do you mind? Have I used it? He goes, Yeah, it's not mine. Yeah, I just have Ghosty Red, but you go see Ghost Yet. That's fine. And year after year I would I would whisper that to him and he would just smile because he loved it, because it was half off his, right? So it was kind of a a connector. Um but that's where it came from. I never knew that. Met him a couple times. Cool dude. Yeah, really cool guy. It was a cool guy.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

Great guy. Okay, so now you guys go see Ed, you're doing these lunch and learns. Now, starting the CPA firm at the year 2000, here we are, fast forward 26 later. 26 years later, how does one grow a business because I know it takes a lot, right? And no one sees, I guess, the internal stuff of a company when it comes to customer service, user-friendly. How do you grow a business? How how was how does the structure of the of GoC Ed CPA firm look like? You know, um, it's a journey.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

It's a journey because uh when you start carving out uh every area that how it should function, uh you know, as you grow your business

The Power of Mentorship and Investing in Your Education

SPEAKER_02 17:21

um and more people come to your business, um that that uh structure needs to change, and it needs to change and adapt and pivot the way the increase in business. And so I didn't know that. I I just had one structure, okay, we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this, and uh and then I found that we were uh growing super fast that uh we needed a a a faster growing structure. So I would hire outside consultants to help and and and educate, but whatever, you know, I just kept finding myself having to change structure at every level, whether it's four employees, now it's eight employees, now it's ten employees, now it's fifteen or twelve to fifteen. So there all those structures just continually to grow uh the business. And it took a lot of, you know, uh third-party education, um, learning, conferences, seminars, all those things. Uh today I'm happy to say I I actually have my mentor who I I go to his events and uh I'm a Tony Robbins guy, so I enjoy Tony Robbins and I listen to him for the last six years every 30 minutes, um, and literally can finish his sentences today because of that. And and because of that, now I can use it in my presentations, which is very valuable. And one of the things that is happening today's world of AI, uh, you know, with Tony Robbins and and in in my mind, uh, there's a lot of changes going on in the CPA world. And there's just so many things that CPAs are going to have to add value beyond the taxation. Um, and you know, some get it, some don't. And and I think those that get it will will survive this era of AI.

SPEAKER_00 19:05

There's a couple things you said in there. I appreciate that you said that as you were growing, you had mentors, you had you paid for education, because that's one thing we try to teach people in real estate is that you can do it on your own. Anybody you could probably could have figured out how to do what you do on your own eventually, right? But how much more would have actually cost you in mistakes and time that you can't get back, right? And then you lose that scalability because then other people are surpassing you. So I appreciate that you said that you did that because many, many, many people, and regardless of what industry in whether it's real estate, taxes, whatever it is, if you actually can find somebody who's doing better than you or doing what you want to do at the level you want to do it at, and you have the opportunity to pay them. Because some people just don't teach, right? But some people who offer that mentorship and people, oh no, it's a scam, oh, they're just trying to get my money. I mean, if somebody is willing to open up their books, willing to open up their wealth of knowledge that they have on the industry and share it with you, and you can implement and scale that much faster, I am the biggest advocate for that of all time. So it's really cool that you did that.

SPEAKER_02 19:59

I think over the all those years, I look back and I think, man, I'm so happy that, you know, lots of different mentors, lots of different seminars that I paid for and I didn't pay for, whatever I did for free. Uh I always looked for the free first, but then I had to pay, right? And and like Tony Robb has always said, after about a year of free stuff, and I exhausted that, I thought, you know, I should pay this guy. Yeah. And it was, it was worth it. And and as you continually grow, you just you just grow a lot more, yeah, faster that way.

SPEAKER_00 20:33

Another thing you said, and we were talking about it before the before the show, was, and I've always admired this about you, because I've been with you for a while on and off, but we're obviously still doing my books now. But you always bring, like you said, that extra piece of not just taxes. Most CPA firms are just let's get you compliant, let's make sure that you pass an audit, and that's it. They don't help you save on taxes, they don't help you think outside the box, they don't help you with different investment strategies, they don't know what you're talking about in real estate. Whereas with you, you would do these lunch and learns and these other education programs that you would do. One, to help get new clients, but at the same time, you're showing them opening up their mindset to different ways of how they can actually not only save on taxes, but build wealth over time. And so that's really been a differentiator between your firm and any other firm in San Antonio. A lot of the other firms in town just want to get you compliant, get the filing fee, and get done with it. You have gone, like you said, out of your way, honestly, for years and years and years to put on these lunch and learns and these different educational seminars and online Zoom calls that you do because

Transitioning from a Tax Strategist to a "Tax Psychologist"

SPEAKER_00 21:30

you want to be known as so much more than that. And I really think that the last 15, 20 years of your career has built up to this moment, so like where you said AI is at a point to where, like what we were talking about earlier, is you're gonna be able to upload your, you can probably scan your W 2s and all your stuff, and AI is gonna do it for you, or they'll have some kind of AI agent that basically files your taxes for free. But for the people who have businesses, the people who have more complex situations and want more than just, okay, I'm compliant, you now offer and have been offering for 20 years. Where other guys are gonna have to figure out what can I offer, what's my differentiator? Well, you've already got this in your back pocket. So speak on that and how that's gonna change the game of the guy going forward.

SPEAKER_02 22:07

Yeah, I mean, you're absolutely right. The differentiator, I always always you know looked at how could I differentiate, but but more importantly, how can I add more value? And that that was just a big deal. How can I add more value to my clients? How can I add more value to San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, any, you know, different folks that I did this show. And so um ultimately the value proposition continually uh helped me progress quickly and differentiate ourselves and add more products to our game.

Life Lessons from Tony Robbins: Why "Strangers Care"

SPEAKER_02 22:40

Uh so again, you know, with our education channel today, uh when I talk to a lot of the national firms, none of them have it. And they go, you have an education channel. Yes, my Philippine crew runs it for me. Uh and and they do it every day, education every day. And um today, you know, I've talked to some national firms and they've they've they've all told me, nobody has it, Ed. You guys are doing something different. But again, I always think, well, everybody needs to be educated, and and they got to pick and choose when they want to be educated. Yeah. Um and I I've developed a channel, don't tell Netflix, I develop Netflix, but you know, Netflix. That's cool. So just so that people get it and it's easier on their mind, because when they hear tax flicks or something tax something, yeah, it shuts down, right? So the psychology of the game has changed so much by learning now. Um I I today announce when I do my shows, I'm a tax psychologist instead of a tax strategist, instead of a tax preparer. And it's because of the growth, right? So because of the growth, the tax psychologist has come out and I help people think beyond the the I'm not sure how to do it, right? And I and I help them think what they should do and start breaking down the fears because when I talk to a lot of my clients through real estate, uh, fear comes up because they run a business. How who's gonna take care of it? What's who's gonna do this? Who's gonna find it? What am I gonna have to do? So uh, you know, a lot of those things um just you know, again, by education, that's the that's the leader, I think. And um that's what our firm is. I always say we

Shifting the Mindset: Thinking Global vs. Local

SPEAKER_02 24:19

educate first before you become a client. So and once you become a client, we still educate you.

SPEAKER_03 24:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

Talking about the education, I kind of want to go back to that mentorship. So you invested a lot of money into education coaches, mentorships, specifically Tony Robbins. A lot of these hustlers watch this podcast or entrepreneurs or hustlers. What's probably like one of the most valuable lessons you learned from Tony Robbins himself that you can share with our audience?

SPEAKER_02 24:41

You know, I I I think that with Tony Robbins, uh, I like Strangers Care. And You like what? I I like the word that he says, Strangers Care. Um and if you heard the story about him and his family and how what he does, why he does it, um, because Strangers Cared for his family in Thanksgiving, there's a door knock, and there's a man with uh with the uncooked chicken, and their whole family is looking at Thanksgiving going, where are we gonna we're we're not gonna have Thanksgiving? And there's somebody at his door really ready to deliver uh Thanksgiving. And why I'm telling you this is because when you think that deeper in your why, in your why, what you do, you have to go beyond you. And if you go beyond you, you're gonna do some major things. And so when I listened to Tony Robbins in his podcast on Strangers Care, uh he just talked about how this man delivered this uh Thanksgiving dinner and his dad didn't want it, and his dad saw

The Brutal Realities of Business: Handling Disappointment, Turnovers, and Lawsuits

SPEAKER_02 25:41

it different than him, and he just looked at this man saying, Thank you, Lord. I got we got Thanksgiving dinner, and his dad was like, We don't take you know charity.

SPEAKER_03 25:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:50

And and so for me, when you think deeper in beyond your business, beyond your purpose, beyond, and you start living that way, um, your your your why is gonna get bigger. And uh so now the mentoring that comes in, is it a bigger why versus hey, I got to make money for myself, for my family. When you start going beyond, so the the the biggest thing I I like is what my mentor has taught me is think global, not local. And so there is the the biggest thing. And when when I've met many different billionaires, they they're thinking global. And I used to think, God, I'm just trying to get Bess San Antonio and Texas, maybe. Yeah. Uh but all of them were thinking global. And I thought, wow, I'm not thinking big enough. And and it's not big enough to where I've got to go do business there. It was maybe global the way I do giving in Africa, giving in Guatemala, giving in Mexico, giving. So now these uh 10 years later of doing all these givings, the purpose has gotten bigger that uh now I'm looking to build a technology center in Guatemala. Oh it's a beautiful thing. So I'm going, okay, we need this much dollars to do that. Well, I'm not looking at myself, I'm looking at my friends and family to go, hey guys, let's go do this together. So that way we all get that uh appreciation or that satisfaction and gratitude of giving.

SPEAKER_01 27:21

It's really cool, man. And we'll talk about the giving at the uh fruits of all your hard work that you've been doing. Absolutely. But going back and talking about Guerrero CPA, growing it, we're now year 26, all the challenges along the way, right? What's one of the, I guess, toughest lessons you might have learned as 26 years, multiple employees? I mean, you got employees here, you got employees in the Philippines, you got your VA team, you got your wife's a lawyer as well, she's part of the team. What's like, man, after growing from yourself in 2000 all the way now 2026, what's some of the hardest lessons you learn as a business owner?

SPEAKER_02 27:53

Well, I think as a business owner, the lessons you'll learn is uh you'll be disappointed. And you've got to get over that disappointment. You'll be disappointed by situations, people, uh, processes, clients, given clients, right? Uh you'll be disappointed because uh you could do everything in your control and your power and everything else, but uh an employee uh decides to leave you, uh, and a major employee, not just one, right? Uh or a group of employees, three, four, five get to leave at one time.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

That happened to you?

SPEAKER_02 28:26

That happened to me. Um or uh, you know, a client that says I love you, and then now they're suing you. You know, and they said I love you 10 years in a row. But the 11th year, something happened to them that they sue you. So, you know, the journey's full of uh uh of uh ups and downs. And and as a business owner, you've got to learn to um to release that. And to me, um you can leave it inside you or you can release it. And I learned to release things because growing up in the West Side, you would keep things in and and and you just didn't let them go. I didn't know that. But as a as I developed these firms, as I developed my firm and invest that I I would always say I am blessed and and and um you know I'm just blessed so much that I would try to flip it to see it on their side why it happened and at least try to acknowledge that, you know, it was gonna happen. Um, you know, key employees leaving, it's gonna happen. Um clients suing you, it's gonna happen. I had a good friend of mine in Austin, I won't say his name, but he was a little down this last or two weeks ago, and I saw him. Hey man, what what's going on? And he said, Oh, I'm getting sued. And he's been in the in the field for about almost 23, 24 years. And I said, Is this your first lawsuit? And he goes, Yeah. I said, Well, congratulations. And he looks at me all like weird because he wants sympathy. I said, No, congratulations. You're an owner. These are the things that happen when you're an owner, and these are the things that happen when you take risk. So a lot of the risk taking, uh, you have to be able to uh digest it, release it, um, and then have massive action. And and and for me, that's the I you know, the number one thing is massive action. I just got back on this on the saddle and just going, let's do it more, let's do it more. Um and and and didn't focus on that when what just happened. I focused on let's go forward and look backwards, right? And I always say, hey, let's look through the rear the the the front windshield versus the rear view mirror, because driving a vehicle through the rear view mirror, how does that work out?

SPEAKER_00 30:34

Not gonna work out.

SPEAKER_02 30:35

Yeah. So ultimately, you know, I just uh I learned massive action, release, and uh uh and move on. And you know, shoulda, could have, woulda, that's gonna be all in their journey. And 25, 26 years, that's been in there. And it's uh and and they're all there. Um and and again, um, yeah, I wish things would have worked out differently with certain, let's say, certain key uh employees, certain key customers, certain key, but you know, I always tell clients when when we mess up, uh, do you fly southwest? And they go, Yeah. They ever leave your bags behind? Uh yeah, you still fly them? Yeah, okay. We're Southwest. And it is true. You have to be light on yourself and you have to get over it because if you beat yourself for mistakes you're gonna make, you're gonna make them. It's gonna happen. You just gotta get over it, and you can't beat yourself down.

SPEAKER_01 31:32

Major changes happen, and when major changes happen, it it it changes your point of view. Possibly, you said something earlier. Uh, example was someone said I love you for 10 years, and they said I'll sue you the 11th year. Yep. What were your thoughts on the previous 10 years? Were those true accurate statements of the I love you? Or you think I'm just curious on uh on that specific you said 10 years I love you, 11 years I'll sue you. Right. What were their first 10

Structuring an Expanding Team to Function Without the Owner

SPEAKER_01 31:56

years' initial thoughts? Was it was it really intentional to love? Is it out of anger, whatever happened? Why would they say that?

SPEAKER_02 32:03

Well, you know, originally um the the I love you for the first ten years was true love. It was it was true love. It was it wasn't fake love, it was true love. I mean, it's uh it's it, you know, when I realized something is that uh you could have 10 years of true love, 11th year, I'm gonna sue you. It can. It can happen. It's happened to me. And so when it when that happens, you know, you you in that moment I'm gonna sue you, you start thinking, you start questioning, was that really true love? But it was. When I look back and as I passed on that moment, um you know, I re I realize, okay, um the reason they're doing the lawsuit is because this is a way they can protect themselves. And the reason I'm in this lawsuit is because I'm the target at this point. Not necessarily uh it was set up that way. And it wasn't I I don't believe they had any intentional saying, I'm gonna work for you 10 years and then I'm gonna see you in the 11th year. I don't think that happens. I think what happens is I love you for 10 years. But if the right situation or something happens in that year and and there's no compassion of forgiveness or anything of that, uh, or they they find themselves that they don't want to own, uh, in my case, they didn't want to own up to their responsibility. Um, if they don't have that in their court, they're gonna they're gonna deflect it and point at you. And and that's what happened. Um and unfortunately, I mean, like I said, the relation was excellent. How do you go to suing somebody after 10 years of of uh uh well that happens, that's part of the journey, right?

SPEAKER_00 33:49

Always good to what's not, right?

SPEAKER_02 33:50

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 33:52

What uh what does a team look like today? I know you've got a really big firm and we've been to your office many times. You got you almost own that whole block over there.

SPEAKER_02 34:01

I should have bought that whole block out, but I could have, right? Uh several of those buildings are there. Uh we're up to about 30 employees, some in the Philippines, and um we just, you know, we've expanded, we're still expanding. We're we're we're just moving into Austin. And uh, we've got clients in Austin, but I just bought a a place in Austin so I can work out of and and enjoy and and uh and have a big write-off. So uh it's it's uh it's a nice uh you know combo. And um, you know, I just think that um, you know, our team has gotten uh bigger and and we're really, you know, we've been teaching Tony Robbins there for five plus years, and every Friday they get the Tony Robbins spill for for a good hour, and we get a lot of links, but the team has uh you know it's grown and uh it's jailed to where um I was telling Melina the other day, uh I want the firm to work without me. And uh and and it is, it's working without me, but it still needs me and I'm still in and out. Uh and it's the intent isn't to be out, it's just for them to have uh a little more ownership of the company and work out their issues and those kind of things.

SPEAKER_00 35:11

I'm glad you brought that up because we talked about this before, but you obviously have gone to different mentors and been mentored and helped uh helped use that to help you grow your business. You've mentored people who've been under you, right? Interns who potentially could be partners in the firm or help run the firm and help you eventually, like you said, scale out of the business and that's gone south a couple times. Speak on that and how to how did what did you learn from those lessons and how do you think you can maybe maybe eventually find that person who is the the face of the brand um you know after you're after you're ready to retire one of these days? How does that look?

SPEAKER_02 35:46

AI I can count on AI. You know what I I uh no. Um it's uh you know, in the past uh I've groomed

Navigating Complex Taxes and Overcoming an IRS Rut

SPEAKER_02 35:56

some really good people that uh been part of my organization and uh they served in the organization three, four, five years. Um and and some of them have opened their own organization, which you know, it you know, from a perspective at the point when they leave, you're not happy. But when they're gone and you're continually prospering, uh you you know, you've got to be happy for them and and for what they are the risk they took, because it's it's a risk. You're taking a risk, a leap of faith that you go out and do the same thing. Uh and and uh so you know, part of the journey I always say it's gonna be up and down as an owner, um, and key employees will leave you. Um and and for me, uh it just gave me more fire to show, hey, look, we can do it without you. And it did. And and and and that's the beautiful thing of the of the game. I call it the game, of uh continually staying positive and and driving as fast as you can drive and and doing massive action, right? Uh and again, um those that leave will leave with a a perspective of I can do it on my own, but they've got a smaller perspective and until they do it on their own, they'll have a full perspective, and that's really the truth. I mean, so for me, it it doesn't um I I I just learned that you know it's a it's a good thing for them to grow. Um it's a tough thing as a business owner to see them leave your firm and go elsewhere.

SPEAKER_01 37:28

I've definitely been in that position a couple of times, so yeah, it's tough. It's tough. But when you see after time goes on, time heals, and you see the whatever the outcome is, it's pretty cool to see that it kind of started from yourself or whatever that example may be. But let's get into taxes, man. Yeah. I mean, let me I've said this to you, Ed personally, and I've said this to you, Skylar, man. I hate taxes. I hate taxes. Uh years ago, I had no understanding. And just as the same story as you, right? Growing up, poor, financial literacy was not nowhere implemented whatsoever. Uh after that, I did my 12 years in the army. I was just a I was getting my paid stubs every every year, and it was easy taxes. But once I started doing business, and once I started doing real estate, man, it's capital gains are tough, right? And you see my books, right, from back then to now, and I kind of want to share my example back then, but you see my books from back then to now, and you see the money that comes in, you see all the flips, all the wholesales, and that's really cool. And as you, when I first started doing what I was doing, I've actually asked around because I didn't know, but I was going to TurboTax, right? As in the military, I don't know, you just put in your numbers, turbo tax, and we're good to go. But as I'm really deep diving into like, man, I'm flipping a lot of houses, and I'm doing this thing called Subject Two years ago, more than a decade ago. And I was like, man, I gotta do my taxes. Who can I look for? And I remember back then years ago, over a decade ago, asking around, and your name popped up a lot, right? Hey, this ad guy, he he's in real estate, he's done owner financing, he definitely knows what wholesaling is, he's done interactions as wholesaling on behind the scenes and he's in multi-family. So I was like, man, this is a real estate guy. I'm sure I'm probably not gonna go up to a CPA and say, hey, I'm doing a subject too, and I'm selling on a wraparound and I'm getting interest, but it's someone else's loan. And that's why I think, man, very highly what you do. Um, but let's talk about my journey in in taxes. Sure. Because I'm when it comes to tax, man, I I man, that's my worst. I've said that literally word for word to both of you

What is a Tax Advisory Report? (Proactive vs. Reactive Accounting)

SPEAKER_01 39:17

guys. That's like my worst subject whatsoever.

SPEAKER_03 39:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:19

And I fell up apart, I fell upon I'm not doing my taxes. Sure. And you were there for the for the hard struggles. And, you know, just to be real, it's been years. It was years, and it just, I don't know, man, just it was just a headache, it was a burden. I pushed it to the side, and you know, you know by my ex-partnership, it it makes things even worse when it comes to taxes and money. But eventually, you called me and you said, Hey man, this is enough. You called me and you said, This is enough. I need you, I need you to come in and I need you to figure out this mess. And you said, Hey, where's your books? And it was rough. It was rough, and yeah, but you motivated me, uh, you and your team and your staff at at Guerrero CPA, just like, all right, I really gotta do this. I don't want no troubles with the IRS. I was years behind on taxes. And after this time went by, and I had to pay a big chunk to the IRS, and I want to talk about the process of your CPA because once I finally caught up, right, and it was kind of tough because again, it was years. Once I finally caught up and paid that big tax bill to the IRS, that next year, I saw a big change from my services from Guerrero CPA. Um, and it wasn't nothing on your end, it was more on mine because I wasn't caught up. But when I was caught up, I was getting phone calls, I was getting strategy calls, and that's really cool to see that hey, your office called me and said, hey, let me look, we're gonna foresee your taxes. And I think you yourself told me personally, hey, Mike, now that you're cut up, we're gonna start doing things the right way. I got a strategy call. I want to break down what exactly is a strategy call. And you were, and it was you personally, looking at my books and saying, hey, this is where we're anticipating your income's gonna be, right? You see my wholesale operation, you see my flip operation. And you told me something along the line, say, I need to do this, I need you to do this. Break down on that strategy call because I'm pretty sure, unless I'm wrong, because I've never been anywhere else besides Grow CPA, break down what is that as a strategy call in your office.

SPEAKER_02 41:10

So that's our today it's called tax advisory report. Okay. So today that's uh that's included in your price of your tax return. So what we've done, we added the value, uh, and most CPA firms charge for that extra, anywhere between two, three, four, five thousand. Um, I decided everybody needs a tax advisory report because that's the that's that's the report that's gonna show you uh where you're gonna land by the end of the year. And then I give you four or five methods of tax strategies with that, and I'll go through them in a minute. Uh but uh for you, you know, the we were really happy because we do we had to help you get out of this hole, the psychology, we had to help you there because of your separation of your partner. And we, you know, we know when th when people are behind on taxes three, five, ten years, it it's not only do they hate taxes or they don't like it, there's a bigger problem, and I already know there's a psychological problem. And and when that gets in the head, in your head, it's hard to even think about that because it's like you know, nobody wants to think of a bad situation that they want to go back to. And and and and we get those cases. I actually got a case today that uh gentleman was back 10 years, and I said, tell me about the the your your psychology about this, uh what has happened. I already know things are happening in your life. So um, and and and there are some relief uh patterns there uh that IRS knows that too. And most people don't know this. There there there is relief of how to um you know get those penalties waived because of depression, how to get penalties waived because uh bad marital control. Uh I had one uh I won't say the the type of a massage fitness center or massage center and pretty big one, and uh her husband controlled her. And ultimately, five CPAs later, I came in and said, Tell me about your marriage, and she's looking at me like, what does that have to do with my taxes? Everything. And and and when you're when you're going through the psychology of taxation and there's something that's pending, or you didn't file, or you didn't do these things, there's a lot more. So when we when we met you, you were going through some serious things, even though it was before the breakup. Um we already know. And so we knew, hey, once it's done, we're gonna have to go through the sticky mess of the the the joint meetings and the and it was sticky. Um but we knew that. You know, and going forward, we know that uh we have the approach and and and with the tax, you know, when we do your taxes, we're

Step 1: Assessing End-of-Year Expenditures

SPEAKER_02 43:55

also doing tax planning, tax advisory. Uh and if if you understand Our products, it's June, July, August is the tax planning season. And we do that over and over and over for hundreds and thousands of clients of ours. And that's the game because if you be if you're proactive into the game of taxes, you're going to win in the game of taxes. And that's what the wealthy have done all their lives. And I didn't know this until I went to go seek a tax lawyer. And that was my mentor when I was when I seeked them and paid that extra $10,000 just to learn proactive tax services. I was shocked that the whole community of CPAs didn't know this. And the reason was it wasn't that we didn't know. It's our focus is for compliance work, primarily. That's what we're taught. Not focusing on how to win in the game of taxes, it was how to do your taxes. So all those years before I learned from that uh tax attorney who told me, hey, if you learn this, but I I did a little bit better than what he did, he he still requires everybody to come in the door and pay him $10,000. I do it for free. Why? Because I want to do this mission. Thousands of clients later, um, because we we we share with people what they do need and what they what they need to do, that advisory report pays dividends and and it could save you anywhere between five, ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty thousand dollars. And I always tell people, if you don't want it, if you're gonna throw money out the door, I always just say this, or out the window. I say, roll down your window, so I'm gonna roll down my window so you can throw it in my car, right? And uh and and seriously, I mean, and this is how the advisory report goes. If you want me to break

Step 2: Evaluating Retirement Needs and Portfolio Diversification

SPEAKER_02 45:41

it down uh for everybody out there, um number one is we need to assess your taxes, where you're gonna be at the end of the year. Magic right there. Where are you gonna be? And once we assess, then number two number the the first option really is is what does your company need before the end of the year? What does that mean? Well, the easiest thing to think about is I'm not talking about the big things, I'm talking about the little things. So if you look at January's expenditures, meaning January of 2026, because we are planning for 2027, right? Or 26 right now. Um and if you look at January's expenditures in 26 at the beginning of the year, most people make a lot of expenditures on their business. Why? Have you figured it out? In January? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:30

I thought it would be in December.

SPEAKER_02 46:31

That's why the No, they are all in January because they're all like excited. Happy New Year! This is it. I'm gonna kill it, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that. And and their mentality, their state of mind changes, right? Because their state of mind changes, they they start investing because this is gonna be a brand new year, this is gonna be a better year, this is gonna

Step 3: Utilizing the Augusta Rule and Home Office Write-offs

SPEAKER_02 46:52

be. Yeah. I'm not looking at you, but I'm looking at you. Uh and the reason I say that is because I've I've seen it and I've told folks don't put all your eggs in one basket. It feels good because that's what we know. It feels great because that's what we do. Um, but I've seen the story of that uh owner who has put all their eggs in one basket and they're driving all the revenue. And it's great, but health kicks in sickness, something unavoidable and kicks in. Now you can't drive that revenue. Yes, you might have those assets still pending, but uh a lot of that revenue isn't diversified, so you don't have what I call uh the traditional retirement funds. Nothing wrong with that. Um uh and again, those should be your 401ks, your CEPs, your IRAs,

Section 179: Legally Tax Writing Off Luxury Business Vehicles

SPEAKER_02 48:25

those kind of things. You should have that. And and again, it's not only for you because you should you go away, how does your family operate? Well, that's another buffer for them, right? Uh another one is uh so the what is your retirement need? The next one we we always give you this one is the Augusta rule and the home office. Um if you don't know the Augusta rule, that's uh using your uh your your company with 14 executive meetings. And uh that's a deduction. So you can rent your your company can rent for your house for five, six hundred dollars for every meeting and pay you, and you don't have to declare the income and the company gets a deduction. Did you hear that? Let me say that again. Yeah, and you have a lot of companies, so each of your companies can do that, but you must document. And if you don't have a documentation, this is where we come in for the implementation. We tell you how to do it, right? And what you need. Uh but that's one big deal where a lot of people just miss out. And and the wealthy already know this. And then also renting your home um to your your company. So one of your companies could rent your home. If you have one office, they could rent one office. You got two offices that can rent another company can rent, but you can't rent the same office over and over, right? Uh but uh if you have a lease agreement, so these are things we do in the strategy session. We give you those answers. Uh if you need us to help you implement, we can do that. And that's what we charge about. But we give you all these steps, right? So, what does your company need? What is your retirement need? Do you have your retirement? Do you have an IRA? Do you have a HSA? We didn't talk about that. Health savings account, lots of people miss that one. Uh and I always tell people just don't take the money out of your HSA, let it keep growing tax-free. Um, you get tax deduction. It's almost like a Roth. People ask me, should I do a Roth? I go, do you have an HSA? That's better. You get a deduction today, right? Roth is good if you want tax-free money later, which is a good thing. But again, we're diversifying. Um, and then we go back to the big things, right? And then the big things come in. A vehicle, 6,000 pounds or more. Let's get you a deduction. If you need the big deduction, we'll give you that. Uh, you know, Section 179. If you need a smaller deduction, we'll do a five-year or three-year and vehicles that you use in the business. Um, and then the big ones are real estate. Um, if you really look at the portfolio of every wealthy person out there, they own lots of real estate. And there's a reason why. They can use real estate uh as rentals, they can use them short-term, long-term, midterm. They can do uh they do some commercial properties, they'll do multifamilies, they do uh flips, they do subject twos, they'll do all these are fashions of uh types of real estate out there that will help your taxes. One, to make money, but two, to to have lots of deductions. Uh and when we talk about real estate, we get into cost segregation. Cost sag, that's a beautiful thing. Uh I I'm ready to print shirts out that cost seg. I do cost eggs, right? Or something like that. Really sexy. Right.

SPEAKER_01 51:39

Let me pause you there before we go into cost eggs. Yeah. So back then, when I was behind all those years, yeah, and I paid multiple six figures to the IRS, yeah. I remember that that viral Donald Trump uh debate went up when he said he paid zero in taxes. He goes, That makes you smart. I was like, that always stuck to my head. I hate taxes, but I know if I go to Gorilla CPA, now that I caught myself up, and I'm proud to say, and I'm sure I'm sure I could say this now that you're my CPA. The past few years I paid zero in taxes. And you've helped me, one, the vehicle thing, right? Let's talk about that real quick. Yeah. Because I was able to write off the G-Wagon, I was able to write off the Cybertruck. How does that work for those who haven't heard that for the first time?

SPEAKER_02 52:17

Yeah, so when you have vehicles you use for your business, uh and and there's a couple of ways you use them, right? There's uh the the the I use it and I drive it, right? And and I use it for transportation. The other is one of your vehicles, you use it, uh well, two of your vehicles you use them for uh what I call promotions. And uh and more from advertising and more from uh uh hey, this is something you can have and get as you do better. Okay? Uh and those aren't literally just transportation. So I I've looked at your uh ways of utilizing the vehicles and and and those type of deductions are are different than Section 179, but we're still using it in so that's where you can use multiplication of vehicles in your business. So uh one, you use them through transportation or use them as uh advertising slash uh rewards, right? And uh I had a gentleman that he used to do training, and I would listen to him and and he would be in his car all the time on Facebook. And I said, uh, do you what

What is Cost Segregation (Cost Seg) for Real Estate?

SPEAKER_02 53:25

kind of vehicle do you have? And he says, Oh, I got this uh Ferrari, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm not I'm not a vehicle person, so I apologize, Mike. But you know, uh, I'm a real estate guy. Uh so he tells me the the the vehicle, and I said, So why don't you rev the engine more often? And he looks at me like I said, when you do your training, why don't you rev it? Because his past CPA told him he couldn't deduct it. I said, if you rev that engine more often and you talk about the vehicle and what it does for your training and what it does for you, then you're incorporating that vehicle, which most CPAs, if they if they're you know luxury vehicles, they're gonna shy away from taking deductions. But if you're utilizing the vehicle for more than transportation, you're gonna win because then and that's what you do. And I think you remember when I said uh you asked me how does that look, and I said, That looks great. You had your nice uh what kind of car is that a Lamborghini? Lamborghini, uh okay. See, I don't know the car. And I said, You're a little off balance. He went and got the truck, and he was now their balance, right? Uh but that's the beauty because uh you're using these vehicles to uh show folks that uh things can be successful, and if you're in the vehicles, these are things that can continually you can reach.

SPEAKER_01 54:48

Let me ask you something. You ever thought about investing in real estate but assuming you needed perfect credit? A huge savings account or a bank willing to say yes? That's exactly why we're excited to partner with our guy Mike Leva at Conventus. Conventus is a real estate lender built specifically for investors and not homeowners. They help people fund deals like fix and flips, buy and hold rentals, and even ground up construction. And here's the part most beginners don't realize Conventus doesn't lend based on your W-2 income or your personal credit score. They focus on the deal itself, the value of the property, and the numbers behind it. That means investors can often access higher loan amounts and more flexible terms than a traditional bank, sometimes with rates that are more competitive than people expect. So instead of asking, do I qualify? The better question becomes, is this a good deal? If you're serious about getting to real estate investing and want a funding partner that truly understands investors, reach out to our go-to guy at Conventus, Mike Leva, today using the link in the show notes and see how real estate investors are actually getting deals funded.

SPEAKER_00 55:54

That's why you saw all these influencers in 2021 and 2022 with their Lamborghinis and their Ferraris,

Overcoming the Fear of Debt to Build a $12M Portfolio

SPEAKER_00 55:59

they had their hashtags, their logos, it was in their videos on their YouTube channels because it's part of the business. It's driving customers, it's driving credibility, it's driving uh marketing.

SPEAKER_02 56:10

Absolutely. And it's beyond what I call transportation. So the beyond transportation. So the IRS has a, you know, what do you mean beyond transportation? I said, look at all this stuff and everything you do, publish, publish, publish, print, you know. What can they say? Do you use your vehicle beyond transportation?

SPEAKER_01 56:26

Yeah, absolutely. So as I had my CPA on this podcast, I was able to ride off my G-Wagon, I was able to ride off the Cybertruck. I use my Lamborghini for marketing purposes and beyond transportation. But let's really break down how I'm really saving my money. And that's by paying zero in taxes, Cossac. When I first heard Cossacks, I was mind-blown because all the houses I have, and I'm sure there's some hustlers out there now that own properties, and like, hey, what exactly is Cossac and how could they save?

SPEAKER_02 56:52

You know, uh, when I found out about Cossac, it was the most beautiful thing because uh it it's the uh, you know, by definition, I'll give you the definition, it's the acceleration of depreciation on real estate. Now, that's the definition, the acceleration of depreciation on real estate. So uh the acceleration, what does that mean? Well, the formula really is uh you know the total cost of your uh of your property minus the land uh times about 40 percent. That's kind of the rule of thumb. Uh so if you bought a million dollar property and and again a million point one and the land's a hundred thousand, you take a million times forty percent, you get a four hundred thousand dollar deduction on a cost site. Uh and and you know, again, if you're gonna have four hundred, five hundred, six hundred, seven hundred thousand in net profit, well that four hundred thousand just just just bid into that tax situation. And typically at that level, you're probably

Does Cost Segregation Apply to Subject-To (Sub-2) Deals?

SPEAKER_02 57:54

at closer to about thirty, thirty some percent. So if we use thirty percent in the rule, you just saved 120,000 in taxes because 400,000 times 30 is 120.

SPEAKER_03 58:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 58:05

And that's what you saved in tax money. So would you rather give it to Uncle Sam or Uncle Yu, right? And I always tell people we all have the same uncle, it just depends on how you're treating them, right? And the wealthy have learned, uh, I'm gonna give it to Uncle Me and take that deduction. And and and the psychology, most people that haven't done the million-dollar property or the half a million or the two hundred thousand, uh, there's a psychology burden in the way. And that's called, I'm not sure, because I you're asking me to buy another house beyond my personal home. Uh and people are stuck. My parents were stuck on that. And I wish they would have bought Lakefront, uh Canyon Lake property when they did have all that water in there. It does have water today. So uh and and again, my when I started real estate and I grew into real estate, my dad was telling me, What are you doing, son? You're gonna go bankrupt. You're gonna go bankrupt. And he was afraid of the debt that was tied to that real estate. Where I was a uh, like I said, a technology guy, so I had a spreadsheet of I had bought one property and I was buying my second property at the age of 21, and I had a spreadsheet of 10 properties, and I would reach million dollar, I would be a millionaire by by the age of 30.

Leaving a Legacy: Endowments and Bottle Schools in Guatemala

SPEAKER_02 59:17

And my dad said, No, you're gonna be bankrupt. And I said, look at my spreadsheet. And at that time, it wasn't Excel. I hate to say this, it was Lotus 123.

SPEAKER_03 59:26

Oh my god, not about that word.

SPEAKER_02 59:30

So I had that, and um ultimately it it just um, you know, I told my dad, you're wrong, I'm right. And he he he he basically, you know, I said, Look, if I have to file bankrupt, I will. And he was just beside himself. But I was I was convinced that I would have 10 properties and in 10 plus years I was snowballing everything. Um so I wasn't even taking that money and and really investing that money. I was just paying off those properties because I was afraid of debt. When I should have probably been investing more or more. But at that time I was just, you know, going through it. So 10 properties later, I just did, okay, that works. So I went to bigger properties, I went to commercial, I went to multifamilies, I went to uh lots of bigger properties, and and little by little the learning curve just kept going and and and and you know, the rest is history. Today, you know, I think we have a portfolio of uh just a little over 10, 12 million somewhere in that area. Um it's still growing, you know. Um I get inquiries and want to go do more because and that's a side hustle, by the way. Side hustle, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:37

That's a side hustle. I hate to say that. That's a side hustle, man. That's really, really cool. That's a fun thing. Now, a lot of these hustlers watch this podcast, they do sub twos. Right. I love sub twos. You know, you know my portfolio. You've seen it. You see my portfolio of all the sub twos. Now, a lot of hustlers watching the sub twos and taking over people's payments cost sake, applies to sub twos? So they can.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:57

If they uh yes, they can if that sub two has not been cost seg. So if they have a sub two rental and they're in charge of it, as long as they have the proper documentation, um, no problem. Because they're making the actual uh payments, their their their activity is is now and their owner on time. They're the owner. So if they're an owner, yes, it equals uh potential cost seg for that.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:20

I mean another CPA that knows about sub twos, that'd be a cost seg that save you guys taxes, a lot of money on taxes. A lot of money. And all this stuff that we're saving, uh like I said, I love making money. Number two, I love saving money in Dexte even. I saved a lot. And that's really how the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Just understanding these tax saving strategies. And your Gorilla uh CPA law firm uh gorilla CPA firm has really implemented that into my business and allowed me to scale even much more than what I'm doing now.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:46

Yeah, absolutely. You know, that's what we're all about. That's what we do. I mean, we we love educating the public and we love uh having people win over and over uh and continually learn. And the game progresses, it doesn't stop, right? Uh we keep progressing about what is what is next, what is next, what can we do for more of our clients?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:06

Well, you keep talking about what is next. You've had obviously really successful firm here in San Antonio, and I'm sure past San Antonio. And I see your stuff, man. You're you talk about your why getting bigger. You know, what's some of the missionary mission stuff that you're doing out there? Um, because I think your why is getting bigger from where you're at now. I see a little less at the office, a little more at different countries doing really cool things, man. Let's talk a little bit about that and what you got going on.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:30

Yeah, so going back to what Tony Robbins said, you know, uh, you know, strangers care, um, you know, we you know, when you when you grow up poor and you uh and and you've been blessed by others and and now you get the blessings and financial blessings and uh you know you start doing for your family, of course. That's kind of the first thing. You do it for you, do it for your family. Uh once you pass those those steps, uh, you know, I you know, the the bigger whys keep growing because you got to get continually grow your whys. And uh and you

Rapid Fire: Ed’s Favorite Movie ("Rudy")

SPEAKER_02 1:03:02

know, you start doing locally at and I do in San Antonio, down in the west side. Uh we do uh big project with the Gora Ministries uh there in Guadalupe and I don't know, the cutover, but again, they're there and they're helping kids um, you know, uh have hope. Um and and then we started doing things at SCISD. Um we're part of their scholarship endowment fund. Uh we're building that to a million dollars, and we're having uh not just us, but um all the alumni who are part of it. So every um organization we're having uh the the big one of the big events tomorrow uh or or Wednesday at Rosario's, we're gonna be uh you know, fundraising more money there. We're doing the endowment and UTSA. So every footprint that has helped me as a kid develop and grow, we're going backwards and making sure we live a footprint in legacy and building that out. So we're doing UTSA's endowment fund. We've we've we've given our first scholarship this past year. Uh really exciting. Good guy, good gal that just got it. She was really excited and and and again, first generation to graduate as I as I was, so that's part of the scholarship. Um and then we're doing things international. Africa, we've got we've done, we we we fund a village uh there in Zambia, uh south of Livingston. Um if you haven't been, it's a beautiful place, uh different. Um and um we we we when we say we fund the village, we we're teaching them how to sustain themselves in the village and through programs at technology programs, through agricultural programs, uh funding more teachers and uh funding kids to go to college or our high school, at least high school. Um in Guatemala is our big project. We love that one. We we've been doing that one for 10 years and building bottle schools uh in the hills of Guatemala, not in the city of Guatemala, in the hills of Guatemala. So we we we're in Tech Pon, we're uh we're uh northwest of Antigua. Um and we really most of the projects I've done are in that area. Um and really just you know trying to surround ourselves with uh promoting and leaving uh a legacy for education. Education, right, is the, I think

Tony Robbins' Cameo in "Shallow Hal" and Doing the Firewalk

SPEAKER_02 1:05:18

it's the winner and breakthrough of of hope. It gives you the hope, and beyond that you can grow in many different directions.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:25

It's really cool to see you are from your start point when we started this podcast as a young kid from the west side, you know, poor beginnings to really coming full circle, now giving back now, and like you said, the way you phrase it perfectly, is you yourself and then your family, and then it's local, and now you're on to these big international things, man. So, real kudos to you, man, for someone kid from the west side really doing big things internationally and changing people's lives out there, man. It's really inspiring to see. So that's kudos you. Well, thank you, man. Appreciate it. Yeah. Now, before we end up this podcast, Ed man, I always gotta figure out the person. I always gotta figure out the individual. And the one way I can relate to this individual is I need To know what's Ed's favorite movie. Favorite movie.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:04

Yeah, you know, when I think about favorite movies, one of them is Rudy. Rudy, I can watch over and over and over. And uh you don't know Rudy? Rudy. Rudy's a good movie. Yeah, Rudy's a good movie. And I had the the ability to meet Rudy. The real Rudy. The real Rudy. And learn his story. It's a cool story. Amazing story. Amazing story. Yeah. And uh and and learn his story.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:29

Notre Dame.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:30

Uh, not only at Notre Dame, but when he the ability to make the movie. Uh, the learn that story. That was it. That was an amazing story. That was a really cool movie. Really cool guy.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:39

So I like Rudy. The little guy that could. The little guy that could talk about hustle, talk about drive, man. Rudy really pushed hard, right? Not only athletic wise, you know, education-wise. I mean, he needed help all over, but that talk about heart, right? Uh biggest heart and the littlest guy. That was a really cool

What "Turn Up the Hustle" Truly Means to Ed

SPEAKER_01 1:06:54

movie.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:54

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:54

And now he's uh he's a speaker, right? So yeah, awesome. Now you want to say something like the accountant. The accountant. Yeah. That's what I thought you probably would.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:04

Not quite.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:04

Really oddity and look at all the numbers.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:06

Well, sports is a big deal for me. I I love sports, and that that's a big joy, and that's how I grew up uh playing sports, and and I I've really embraced sports. So uh that that's part of my joy and deeper as a kid. Pretty good movie, hasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:21

I haven't heard him say that in a long time. That's a good movie. Now, what about uh you ever see Shallow Hell? Shallow Hell?

SPEAKER_02 1:07:26

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've seen it. Tony Robbins in that movie? Tony Robbins comes out. He actually talked about that. Does he? Yeah, yeah. He talked about it how uh they had picked him and they were gonna give him a script, and he was like, no, no, no. I I like to do my own. And they were having a hard time because Tony Robbins, Tony Robbins, right? So he they eventually let him do his own. Uh a lot of his stuff was on his own. Uh it wasn't scripted. And uh he he was like, Yeah, I don't I I when I did it, uh, he was telling us, he goes, I I I just couldn't follow the script and I couldn't do it. And he goes, I don't follow anybody's script, I just kind of do my own thing. If they wanted me

Outro & How to Connect with Go See Ed CPAs

SPEAKER_02 1:08:01

to do it, I'll do it.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:01

But he he was excited to do it. Talking about uh Shah Lau and Tony Robbins, you ever do that firewalk? It did. It's uh it's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:09

Uh it it's just uh it's a uh, you know, it's a one-time, you know, you kind of you have to mentally be prepared for it. Uh because it's really hot. Is it it's super hot, and uh you have to mentally be prepared.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:23

Yeah. What's the process? I mean, what's the thought process behind it? Is it a certain stage you get to his coaching program, or what how does that come about? Like why do you do the the walk across the fire?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:32

Well, you know, it's not a certain stage, it's actually at the beginning.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:34

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:35

And it's actually to break your mindset because your mindset has these all these things that you can't do. And once you accomplish something that you would think you'd never do, what happens? Your mindset is now open. Uh and that's a technique that he opens people's mindset.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:52

Uh because my uh one of my personal trainers, when I was training at the gym at lifetime, he would always say that, and I forgot what the exact number is, either 40 or 60 percent, but he said, basically, when you have made up in your mind that you're done, you're tapped out, you're only 40 or 60, whatever the number is, 40 to 60 percent of your potential, you can still go. And so he would actually push me a lot of times, he'd be like, Okay, we're gonna go till failure, and you'd go, you'd go, you'd go, and you're like, I'm done. He said, Do you like 40% there or whatever the number was? And sure enough, you keep going and going and going and going, you're like, What the heck I thought I was done? You keep going, and he may have to help you and push and whatever, but a lot of times the mind, he said that doesn't just translate into lifting weights. That's in life. If you're in a you feel like you got your back up against the wall in a situation or in your marriage or whatever the situation is, your mind is programmed to think that you are tapped out, and you're only like halfway there, basically. So it's really cool, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:39

That is so true.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:40

Yeah, our minds are very strong.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:43

Well, talk about strong minds, Ed. Uh, now this is the Trump the Hustle podcast. You've known me for more than a decade, man. You see me from my very first flip paperwork-wise to where I'm at now and wholesale, my very first wholesale, my very first up to a decade ago to where I'm at now, man. So, you know, I love hustle. You know, Trump the Hustle to me, it's not a motto, it's not a slogan. It truly is a way of life. When Ed thinks of Turn Up the Hustle, what does it mean to Ed?

SPEAKER_02 1:10:07

You know, it's just uh a mission. For me, yeah, turn up the hustle is how big of a mission, how many people can I reach uh further than what I've done? And continually doing that because to me, if your your mission purpose today, you know, that's where I'm at. Um it wasn't there at the beginning, but that's where I'm at today. Um it's just a mission now. Uh how many more people can we help? How many more people can we serve? How many more people uh again can we um get uh caught up and and get out of depression or even just not even taxes, it's everything, right? Uh so today it's just been a bigger mission today.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:50

Well, it has been a very, very fun conversation. I can guarantee you we're gonna have to have you back really soon because I think we can talk for another three hours about this kind of stuff. You've got such a great story and all the things you've been through, and I know there's a lot of stuff we haven't even touched on. So, but wanted to really thank you uh from both of us for taking the time out. I know CPA's times aren't cheap. Lawyers and CPAs, those are the two that are that are not cheap. So we appreciate you taking the time. And again, we want to commend you for all that you've done from growing up and humble beginnings here in San Antonio and really taking it to heart to impact the city, impact locals, and then even going beyond that to Texas and internationally. So, really, really want to commend you for all the work that you've done. You are a true inspiration to us and you know, wanting us to help uh helping us to want to do things bigger and better, and then also to people that are around you. I know your team really looks up to you. I know people who work on your team who really look look up to you, and uh I know that there's a lot of people here in the city that are gonna enjoy this episode and really take more away than just taxes, it's you know really about the impact you make. So kudos to you and uh we are 100% team ed and want to see you guys succeed.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:48

So awesome. Really appreciate you guys. And the hustle is the game, right? So why not uh just keep doing it, right? That's right.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:55

So and guys, we appreciate you guys for tuning in, huh? What's that? Oh, yes, how does everybody find? So if anybody is in need of uh in tax help and getting out of a bad tax situation and wants to learn about investments with Ed, how do they find Ed?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:08

Sure. Uh they can go see Ed on the uh internet or uh call us 490 uh 7100 210 490 7100 or uh guerrerocpa.com. GuerreroCPA.com.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:22

You can literally just Google go see ed, it'll be all over the place.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:25

Uh yeah, it's on Facebook everywhere. Awesome. Yep, you can find us.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:29

Well, guys, we appreciate you tuning in to another great episode of the Turn Up the Hustle Podcast. As always, as always, make sure you are turning up the hustle. If you like these episodes and you're getting value, we know you got lots of value out of this one. But if you're getting value out of these, make sure you're liking, commenting, subscribing, do all the things. Share this episode with a friend, somebody who needs some help. As always, as always, turn up the hustle, and we will see you guys on the next one. Peace.