On this episode of the Michael Valdes Global Podcast, I interview Rico Leon. Rico is the host of the upcoming TV show on the HGTV Network, “Rico to the Rescue.” This show is the culmination of Rico’s experience in real estate. He started in construction, then moved into selling real estate when he figured he could make more money that way. His background in construction gave him a different perspective than most agents, and he was able to more effectively serve his clients. As someone who knows construction, he’s also seen how bad contractors can really screw up a renovation, and his empathy toward his clients has led him to advocate for them. In his new show, Rico to the Rescue, he saves homeowners from bad construction contractors. Watch this episode to hear his background and the lessons he’s learned from building and selling homes.

On this episode of the Michael Valdes Global Podcast, I interview my good friend Lee Lamont. His mother is British, and his father is Jamaican, but he’s lived in Texas for 20 years. Those humble beginnings gave him the drive to outwork the competition. At one point, he had a good corporate job which gave him the means to get married and have children. But when that corporate job was “made redundant,” he took to real estate. His simple principles -  Outwork the competition, always answer the phone, do the right thing - made him successful. Watch this video to see how you can be successful by following the same principles Lee has.

On this episode, live from NAR, I interview Levi Lascsak. Lascsak is a social media superstar. And he approached social media success the way he approached many things in his life: through “hyperlearning.” Hyperlearning, which may be a term he coined, involves studying as much as you can about a subject in 60 days and then executing on what you learn. He modeled success by finding people who are successful and doing what they did, with some minor tweaking for his goals and his personality.

On this episode of the Michael Valdes Global Podcast, I interview Matthieu Arseneault and his translater Donna Dalonzo. Matieu innovated a new way to sell real estate by selling high-end real estate by helicopter. He is a licensed helicopter pilot, and his brilliant idea was to integrate his passion for flying with his real estate business. He gave his clients a unique experience by making them feel like royalty flying above the clouds, and in the process was able to literally give his clients a birds-eye view of the neighborhood and the property. In this interview, with the help of Donna Dalanzo as his translator, I ask him how he got started in this crazy business.

Today, my guest is Dean Graziosi, a multiple New York Times best-selling author, entrepreneur, and investor. Dean has a magnetic personality, and I’ve been happy to call him a friend since the day I met him. Dean is a great example of how you can break the cycle of generational trauma. He loved his parents, as he put it, but he didn’t want to become them. His parents were from families that we would call today “dysfunctional.” They both married and divorced multiple times because they didn’t learn how to have the mental and emotional tools to have a healthy relationship from their own parents. They worked hard, but they were always living paycheck to paycheck. He resolved at a young age to give himself the options that his parents didn’t have, and to one day become a better parent than his own. A large part of why he was able to achieve those dreams successfully was because he didn’t ask “how” he would be successful, he asked “who” he had to become in order to make an impact. And he learned how to let go of the past and focus on the present and the future. This interview is full of lessons that he learned that go beyond real estate and focus on mindset and emotional fitness.

Today’s guest for Episode 16 of the Michael Valdes Global Podcast is Brian Culhane. Culhane got his start in real estate selling real estate by working at an accounting position at a commercial real estate company, and was quickly moved into a sales position. He learned back in the days when you could open up a phone book and cold call prospective clients. He was a younger voice in a field dominated by older, experienced agents, and he was able to successfully convince the people around him to adopt new technologies, which at the time were web pages and electronic communication. He took to real estate and took a job with Glenn Sanford, an early founder of eXp Global, who took him on as a mentor and taught him how to sell real estate as effectively as possible. On this episode, you’ll hear what Brian learned from Glenn and from other mentors, how to grow a brand, and how to set audacious goals and achieve them. This is just the beginning for Brian, and you can hear how he’s doing it.

On Episode 13 of the Michael Valdes Global Podcast, I interview Tristan Ahumada, founder of Lab Coat Agents. Tristan is a podcaster, social media influence, business consultant, public speaker, and oh yeah, he’s a realtor, too. He is one of the top 1% of all real estate agents in the United States, and he did it by adapting new technology to make personal connections. In this episode, he will talk about all the different ways that he uses the internet to connect with people in the real world, and giving customers something that they can feel, (sometimes literally) to make the sales process much easier and more effective. He breaks down these tips into easy-to-remember mnemonics and TLAs. Watch this video to learn how to make more sales in real estate by combining the real and virtual.

This is a special episode of the Michael Valdes Global Podcast. Rather than interview a guest, this episode will give you a basic principle to use in your life and career to be successful: The B.I.D. Principle. B stands for Beliefs. I Is for Integrity. D is for Discretion.   What this means is that if you have absolute conviction that you are capable of being successful (belief), hold yourself to a higher standard (integrity), and put your clients’ privacy first (discretion), you will have an advantage over everyone else in your field. Often, we can make mistakes, miss opportunities, or sabotage your chances without ever knowing it. By living with these principles, people will trust you with information that they only give to a select few. By being one of those few, you will have opportunities to succeed that most people won’t.   These principles may be easy to pronounce, but they aren’t easy to live by. Make these three principles part of your core belief system, to the point where you don’t even think about acting in any other way.

On today’s episode of The Michael Valdes Global Podcast, my special guests are Nate and Austin Cheviron of the Cheviron Group. (No connection with Chevron Corporation), the number one real estate agency in the entire state of Indianapolis. Austin and Nate are cousins but are often mistaken for brothers. They even grew up next door to each other as children. Nate and Austin began real estate in their 20s and worked hard, but always put family first. That commitment to a strong family has helped them in their coaching careers as they passed on many of the folksy lessons from their Grandma Clem to well-heeled businessmen. Nate and Austin take ideas that have worked for thousands of years to grow yourself mentally strong and put that mindset towards a business.    To find out more, watch the entire video.

On this episode of the Podcast, I interview Phil Hahn. Phil Hahn is the best of the best when it comes to selling real estate, and is the number 1 real estate agent in the entire country of Canada. He has made over a billion dollars in sales over the course of his career, and he’s just getting started. Phil has always pushed himself to be the best, to the point where even the people above him in the corporate world would be intimidated by him. It was inevitable that he would start his own real estate business, and it may have been divine intervention that he found eXp Global and began working with them. Watch this interview to hear just how he went from the bottom to the top.