The Self-Made Millionaire: Why Struggle Was His Greatest Advantage

I've never done any drugs in my life, but to me, winning is a high. You have to be obsessed. I'm obsessed with winning. I'm obsessed with making deals happen. And not only winning for our company, but winning for both sides. It has to be fair. You also have to make sure that your business associate who you're doing service for is also winning because then it won't be a fair deal or fair trial.

You don't win by following the playbook. You win by rewriting it. 700 episodes deep with the people who actually built something real. No theory, no fluff, no shortcuts. This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford. Right About Now with Ryan Alford. What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now, your number one marketing and business show on Apple Podcasts. We thank you for that. It's not lost on us. And if you want this belt, you got to come take it out of my cold, dead hands because you made us number one and I'm keeping it. And my 6'5", 250 body ain't giving it up lightly. But you know what? I like fighters. I'm a fighter. I like people that work in the dirt all the way from the fields to fortune.

And damn, pretty damn successful, brother. Getting after it, aren't you? Yeah, it really boils down to my mother. God rest her soul. She's not with me, but we come from humble beginnings. I remember I never had a babysitter in my life. She never pawned me on anyone. My mom was an immigrant from Mexico. I was raised in the fields, man, and I did a lot of chopped cotton. I did the peanuts, the cucumber, the bell pepper, the pecan. So I was raised out there. Some of my colleagues asked me, hey, how old were you when you started working? I was like, when I was a child being there, that was my playground. And then I just started working. So I helped my mother out and she taught me a lot of discipline, dedication and determination.

And that's where it really came from. And all of our siblings, we work hard and just do the right thing. And that's what was taught. Now, my mom didn't come from wealth, obviously. She never cared about her skin color. She never cared about her education. And she was an immigrant. She would always teach me about faith. So that's what the book is about. It's about God, faith. and going all in. And that's what I did. And I've done that throughout my history with just a high school education. I was going to go into law enforcement. I got a little degree on that. It was in my DNA just to be an entrepreneur. At the young age, I was just out of high school and I started searching.

Back in those days, I mean, the internet wasn't What it is today is you would go to the unemployment office and look at the bulletin board, what's offerings for any employment. So I remember seeing fast food environments and I remember seeing something that said telemarketing for a banking system. Right. And I'm like, you know what? That's something professional that I'd like to do because coming from the fields, I remember as a child, I was like, man, I'm never going to work in the heat. I'm never going to work in the soil. son, I learned the hard way, which was good. It was a good upbringing that my mother had taught me. The rest was history. So I got hired at a telemarketing department, which is still in the same industry I'm in today for credit card processing.

Is it nature or nurture? You said DNA. What is the success like? Is it just innate or is it just a combination of variables that if we could formulate, we'd all be using it? It's a combination of a lot to make a full circle. So definitely discipline, dedication, and determination for me. And of course the DNA. But I even preach this to my staff every day. It's like be positive, productive, and proactive. It doesn't matter where you're at in life at this moment. We all have a backpack and that's all our problems. Leave that outside the office because once you leave, they're still going to be there. Come in here and transform yourself and hit it hard. One of the things outside of my DNA and family and being defensively,

discipline dedicated was the competition. I always seen my associates as a sales agent because I was top sales in 94, 95, 96 and quarter 97 is when I got promoted. But what I would do is my colleagues were the ones that would motivate me because I couldn't have them beat me on in sales every month. And being on commission only, we would look at the board and see who was leading the board. And I'm like, oh man, I got to go get a couple more deals because Mario's up ahead of me. It's really your colleagues and your people who you surround with. One of the things that's out there a lot, and I am a true believer in this, you are who you hang around with.

And in my book, it teaches that value core. When I was a kid, I was not an angel. I was a great athlete, but I could tell you that my grades started going down and south because I was hanging around my group of friends who would, after school, we would out and get some alcohol and have someone buy it for us. And then I'd go home and do my homework. And that's when God gave me the wisdom and the choice like, hey, you're going to the long path. But it has to do a lot, your influence of who you're around with. Yeah, you have a certain pedigree and DNA, and that's great. I see a lot of great athletes, brother, that have the pedigree, have just the stamina.

But guess what? They are not surrounding themselves with the good core people, and they get in trouble, and they get set back. There's a lot of that out there that are great athletes that have that. Unfortunately, they lose, they throw their career away. So just like in sales or an entrepreneur, you can easily go the wrong path having bad traits and habits. So it's a combination of everything and you have to just stay on the grind and make sure that you have what I like to call the four G's, of course. But, you know, just stay disciplined, stay true to yourself and make sure you're very careful who you surround yourself with.

I hang up that Zoom call or even that phone call and I have the agreement and they say yes to everything. It's so emotional that I get tears in my eyes because the competitive spirit comes in. And to me, thank God I've never done any drugs in my life. But to me, winning is a high. You have to be upset. I'm obsessed with winning, I'm obsessed with making deals happen. And not only winning for our company, but winning for both sides. It has to be fair. You also have to make sure that your business associate who you're doing service for is also winning because then it won't be a fair deal or fair trial. I get emotional, especially when I'm working on a project. Some projects take months, but when there's a signed document and we make shake hands and we say, hey, we're going to use your services.

We're going to ride together. That's just such a great high and a competitive spirit that I've had that since I was a kid, bro. I remember I was driving a 1979 Honda Accord and I was 19 years old. I would leave the customer's location and the customer gave me the agreement and I signed the dotted line and I would just drive in my car. Tears would come down my eyes and I'd just be so happy and thanking God, first of all, and just say, man, this is awesome. And just tears would come down my eyes because I was on commission only out there hustling, just surviving. It has to be a combination of stuff, but you have to be obsessed with winning. It's just an obsession with winning.

So your poor wife, you know. Oh, she kicks our ass, man. She shoots a D1 basketball player. Oh, that's cool. There you go. She's competitive, man. Yeah. National champion. Oh, there you go. OK. So it's right up your alley, man. So you're safe. She's kicking their ass, too. They can't beat her in pig or horse yet, either.

So she must have seen that trait because she would always pull me aside or call me even when I came to California. It's like, hey, make sure you're taking care of your brother. So I had a conversation with one of my older brothers about this one time, and he's like, what? Mom never told me to take care of you or anything. I'm like, well, there you go, man. She obviously seen something that you were out there still being wild. Family is everything to me. If it wasn't for my mother, I wouldn't be where I'm at. And of course, God, number one. And then my father still resides where I was born and raised with my sister and cousins, uncles. I got everybody back home. It was a small town where I grew up.

I mean, I used to drive a tractor back then and work in the field. So it's super cool though. I love going back, Ryan. Because you get so stuck on the day-to-day, the grind, the day-to-day. And when I go back home, it's just a different environment. It's just different type of people. They stop. They say hi to you. They open doors. It's just the whole world just changes, man. Because I'm not even a quarter of a mile from Texas. So that's Texas where I was raised. So every time I shopped, I went to Texas. Every time I worked, I went to Texas. So Texas was really where, but it was New Mexico of the corner where I was born and raised and went to school there, man.

Then I made an appointment one time and the gentleman on the phone was here in Southern California. And he said, you know what, my language barrier, I would feel more comfortable if it's someone in Spanish. And I'm like, oh, I speak Spanish. So then I started talking to him in Spanish and then wrote up the appointment. I gave it to my manager at the time. And he said, well, throw it away. We don't have any Spanish speaking sales agents here. Yeah. I'm like, okay, because the corporate office was in Louisville, Kentucky. And it was kind of like, what I said, I'm like, I'll take it. And he's like, no, you're better suited for me because you handle the office. You open the office. You close the office.

You handle the 10 telemarketer. I'm like, listen, I need to go. I made the appointment and I feel comfortable going. So he said, yeah. I said, well, you better close it. So long story short, I went there. And for an hour that I was there at his location, I think I made close to $800 in 30 minutes. And I was like, there's no turning back. I came back in the office and I resigned as a telemarketing manager. And I went to 100% sales. I was a top salesperson in 94, backed it up with 95, backed it up with 96. And then in quarter of 97 is when I got promoted to territory manager. I did so well, Ryan, with that. They promoted me to district manager and then regional manager.

And then finally, I was going to get promoted and they all made an offer to be vice president of sales for second largest process in the world at that time, National Processing Company. And that was to Louisville, Kentucky. And I was just a California guy by that time. And then that's when I decided, you know what? God's blessed me so much. So many different offices, so many employees that I'm doing it already for someone. Why don't I just do it for myself? It was like from one day to the next, I just like resigned and walked out. I didn't have an office. I didn't have anything. I mean, I was working out of a pickup truck. I mean, I was working out of a pickup truck.

Ford F-150 at that time and meeting my sales agents off the freeway. I would have meetings at Marie Callender's or Coco's at a restaurant in the morning and nothing could stop me because I had been through the worst before those times. So I had already been through the worst. I'm leaving out a part of the story where I was in sales in 94, six months into it, I got in a car accident. I got rear-ended really, really bad, brother. It was like a seven, eight car, car collision on the lost conscience. And I woke up and I was facing incoming traffic. I had blood on my face, my chin, and the car was totaled. I just walked out like, what's going on? Long story short, so I didn't have enough funds and I was on commission only.

So I couldn't collect unemployment per se. What did I do? I buckled down, brother. I didn't have electricity. I didn't have water to take showers because I couldn't afford the gas bill. I couldn't afford the trash bill. At the end of the day, I couldn't call back home to get financial aid from my mom or my dad because I made a decision to leave so that way I can help them out. So, I remember borrowing bikes. I would take a bike to my customers, the Metrolink cars. So I had a struggle. I remember even going to the fast food where I would take their napkins, their toilet paper, because I couldn't afford that. I really, really struggled. So for me to walk out and open a business was a cakewalk to me.

I had been through the worst. I was blessed enough that I already had learned a lot through the drenches, man. And nothing scared me. I couldn't fail. And with the grace of God and the faith, brothers, like, hey, man, I'm moving forward. Like, nothing's going to stop me. I would just host meetings, like I said, at the restaurants and meet my agents off the freeway. And finally, after I think two months... of looking for an office, I got an office. And then the rest is history. My company has been in business now 22 years. Some of our clients are well-known KFC, Domino's, mobile gas stations. We have Subway. We have the national brands, but that's not where I really focus on. That's a feather in our cap that we have the national brands, right?

But we really focus and tier on the small mom and pop businesses. Let's say there's a one man shop that works at his house and he's a plumber per se. or does garage door fixes or opens or whatever, right? So we cater to the smaller guys and the smaller clientele, whether it's one location to 10, 20 location. We really tend to help with less educated business owners because that's the last thing they need to worry is how's the financial institutions going to take advantage of the situation? Because the only thing that separates us from the financial institution is that they're more interested in your checking account. They're more interested in your CD. They're more interested in your refinance or getting the car loan. We don't do any of that.

We're just laser focused on credit card processing. That's it. So we have the state-of-the-art technology and we're out there every day looking for better ways to make their lives a lot simpler and easier. So that's what separates us from the other big financial institutions. We have agents throughout the country, brother, just representing the organization. And our corporate office, there's over 50 employees day in, day out. Is it in L.A.? Yeah, it's in La Verne, California. So we don't do anything third party. Everything is here based. So we have our own customer service. We have our own fulfillment house. We have our own technical support, our sales support, our agent support. Everything is in house where we could just go tap on that office on their shoulder or walk to that building wherever they're at in the location.

So I don't farm anything out third party or different countries. Everything is here. When you call our office, you get a live person on the phone. And that's huge because when I was old school, someone answers the phone, how can I help you and transfer you to what department? You call a financial institution or you call any other of our competitors and that's what separates us as well is that you'll get a live person. The last thing I hate when I have an issue with anything, credit card bill, whatever it is, that you call and you get push this button, push that button, and then sometimes it's after hours, oh, we'll get ahold of you tomorrow. So anyway, at the end of the day, what I built is old-fashioned customer service, one brick layer at a time, and it's making relationship and shaking hands and making it happen.

And we've got really honored with the largest processors, and awarded for having a lot of clientele and also being in business as long as we have, even through the COVID, even through the times of the stock market went down back in the mortgage era, which was 2008, 9, 10. We stayed low. One of the things that really happened, Ryan, in that era, 2008, 9, 10, and around that time, I took the hit first, brother. I went ahead and cut my salary. As a CEO and as a leader of the company, I took mine out and I was not able to move forward with Christmas parties, functions, raises. So I sharp in the pencil. As a leader, I've always been the first one to take the hit.

What did that do? I did not let one person go during that time. Not one person left my company because I did not change or fire anyone because of the compensation. I re-strategized and pivoted and figured out how can I make more money for the organization? How can I keep my staff? And that's what I did. We've just been blessed as a company because a lot of them, businesses and competitors like myself went out of business in that era. And also in 2020, a lot of them went out. I mean, I had to close my office and we were not able to come into the physical office for 14 months. That drove me nuts, bro, because I'm just like a people kind of guy. So I go into every department.

I walk the floor. I'm everywhere. We were blessed there again, not to go out of business and to maintain and re-pivot again. We had to readjust. And then one of the happiest days of my life was coming back to the office after 14 months being closed. That's some of the highlights where we had some up and downs. Every entrepreneur has struggles, man. It's how you deal with them. You're going to hit a bump that's a natural disaster or something that's out of your hands. COVID was out of my hands. The stock market was out of my hands. There was nothing I could do. But what we do as business owners out there is you grind down, you stay down, you buckle back, you look and you observe what can you do different?

Let me just give you a couple of stories that'll probably shine some light on what happened. So when I was a child and a kid, my mom seen me work alongside of her as I grew up with her in the field. At the age of 12, 13, 14, back in the country, parents don't care if you have a license or not. So what she seen in me, brother, is I would have the immigrant, the crew, I would have a bunch of crew with me and I would take them to the job sites. And in those job sites, we would have lunch together. Someone's birthday, we would have a cake together. It was team building. And these people were a lot older than I was and a lot less fortunate.

And my mom, what she would do is she helped thousands of people become residents and American citizens on how their performance were with the growth, with paying their taxes. So she was a big influence in that and was well known back where I was born and raised. But to answer your question, no, I didn't grow up just like, hey, you're going to go ahead and take over this company or you're going to do well. It started as a child and seeing my mom open a restaurant and helping her in the business, seeing her in the field lands with the immigrants and team building. So I would be in charge of a crew and take them to different job sites. She would do also rental properties, brother.

And I used to see her, how she would handle the business and how she would talk. So one of the things that I... just give credit to. And to answer your question is, I was always alongside of her. She didn't have education and she didn't have much to work with. But at the end of the day, she had people that respected her because she would not lie, cheat or steal. And she was always fair with everyone. And she was just a hard worker. So I learned a lot of those traits along as I was going through my industry. And for me, team building, I had already done that as a kid. And my mom taught me just be compassionate with people, offer them the respect that you deserve and never lie, cheater still, just work with people and just have that common sense.

Absolutely, Ryan. That's huge. And you know, I have staff that have been with me since the birth of the company for over 20 something years, and that's outside sales and inside the corporate office. They're here not because they love their furniture or they love the things or the coffee here. They're here for a certain reason. And it's the same thing that I preach is like, don't lie, cheater still, and you and I will go all the way till the wheels fall off. And people have retired here. People are still moving forward. I've seen a lot of people flourish from here. They bought homes. They bought a second home. Now they're investors. It's just beautiful. That's success to me. When I see my staff come from nothing and I give opportunities to people and they can become something, that brings tears to my eyes more than anything.

And to me, that's success. seeing someone grow. Now they have a family. Now they're moving forward. It just speaks volume to have a staff that's been with you since the birth of the company. And I'm not talking about one or two. I'm talking about probably 15, 18 people that are still with me in respects to that. It just speaks volume because of the culture that we carry and how we conduct business. So you always have to really just be a leader and go first. Preach what you say. Whenever I do a board and I'm having meetings with my management team and even all my staff, As I do the pyramid upside down, the first person that is important is obviously our customer because without our customer, we don't have a company or a business.

And then I'm always at the end. That last person that matters is me. And I turn that pyramid upside down. It's like the CEO is the first one that gets hit. And that's me. And I've done that. And I've proven that two different occasions when we hit the bad market and had to re-pivot. So it's really having a foundation and really caring about your people. A lot of people talk shit. And a lot of people say, yeah, I do this. Listen, actions speak louder than words. I just got on social media, brother. So to me, all this is new, podcasting and social media. So I found my company and built my company way before social media. Social media didn't make me. So God made me and I just hustled my ass off and didn't really give a shit what other people thought or my competition.

Don't allow me to always fix your problem. So they come in there with a little solution. But one of the things to this day, I won't tolerate because my mother was the same way. It's like, don't come up here with some bullshit, you know, and trying to dance around it. Give it to me straight and let's fix it. So... At the end of the day, entrepreneurs need to carry themselves the same way with their clients. Even a client, per se. Let's say that they make an order, a purchase order, right? And you can't deliver. Hey, tell the client, listen, you know what? This product will not be delivered until a certain time. We hire a high volume of sales on it. It's a very popular product.

And be truthful. Instead of telling them one thing and then coming up with another bullshit, your customers will respect you a lot more. And you're just straightforward with them. And be honest. And if they're my customer and we screwed up, I tell my staff, admit it. Admit that you screwed up and how you're going to do it better and it won't happen again. Just be honest. If we were just honest with one another, brother, I think things would be a lot better. And I hope some of the young entrepreneurs out there or even existing entrepreneurs are listening that they can take that pedigree and ingredient. And it takes a lot of ingredients to make that good loaf of bread, right? Right. Not just one ingredient.

But at the end of the day is take piece by piece, man, and make a masterpiece out of it and carry it on and push that forward. And don't do it just because it sounds good or don't do it because you want a pat on the back. Do it because you really mean it and you really care for your staff and the client, because without the client, no one here will have a business that's in business. Period. Right.

I still want some work, baby. What about you, Moses? Hey, man. I'm following right behind you, brother. You lead the way I'm right behind you. So, yeah, that's the pathway that we got to respect and take because that's the cold-hearted truth out there. We need to make sure that they're happy. Even some of my clients, I tell my staff, listen, yes, they're wrong, but at the end of the day, they're right. Listen, they're our clients. Let's make them happy. What is it that they need and how can we fulfill the requirements that we can move forward and get past this? So, at the end of the day, you know. Oh, he's middle ground. Yeah. Always, brother. Always. Absolutely. 100%. Yeah, exactly. Moses, a guy like you, been successful.

Buying a house in California is giving one of your sons away, man. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. No small feat. And then to me, they bought another house, an investor, because they're renting that one. And they bought a new car. They're having a baby. So successful, two things, right? Number one is I don't think I'll ever retire. It's just in my blood. I love to do what I do and helping people. And I'm always just out there, whether it's in the politics, whether it's giving wheelchairs away or helping the needy or paying the laelways, or even staying here in the office. I come to the office on Monday through Friday, brother, unless I'm traveling. So success to me, it was never looking into my bank account. It was never about the money.

Some people get greedy and it's all about the money. And my philosophy and the way I have been blessed is I never looked at that. I've always looked at what can I do? What can I do better? How can I improve myself? How can I get more clients? How can I make more awareness and just move forward? And guess what? When I would look back, I'm like, oh my gosh, bank accounts growing. But you know what? I did that even working for the second largest processor when I was an employee, when I was W-2ber. other. I never really did it for the bank account or the money. I just did it because of the passion. I love to help people. So success to me is not money.

Success to me is helping people around you, helping people grow, even giving back, giving back in general. And our company gives back in different countries of the world and the United States as well. And the homeless, like we do a lot, but it's really that to me, the key thing is success because helping them. is success because I remember where I came from. I came from very humble beginnings where we didn't have too much of anything growing up, but I never forgot where I came from and staying humble. One person told me this, and I remember hearing this, and it never left my mind, is some people say, hey, money changed that guy. And I'm like, nah, bullshit. Money never changes a person. The person is really who they are, but money just shows who they really are.

Because some people get money, Ryan, and then all of a sudden they turn into assholes. But guess what? They weren't always an asshole, man. It's just money amplified that and just ignited that shit. So me, thank God that I remember where I came from. I still carry myself like I'm poor, bro. I never look at my bank account. I don't thrive. It's not about the money for me. It's always about the love and helping and growing, whether it's my church or whether it's a nonprofit or with even my staff that they have something going on and they're doing a walk-a-thon for a certain disease or whatever it is. It's just reuniting and helping one another. And our country would be in so much better freaking hands instead of just pointing fingers at each other like, here, we're in a freaking country, man.

And that the American dream is still alive and well for those that want to take advantage of it. I'd love for you to sort of close out this episode with just your perspective on that. We live in a country that we're free. Sky's the limit. You want to open up a business tomorrow? Go for it. You want to go ahead and just like help and open a nonprofit and do church or missionaries? You go help. Go do that. We live in a country where there's no communism. You can't live on this side of the world or you can't live on this side of the country. Like, hey, listen, we're all free. You know, one of the things that I am blessed that my mother took me to Mexico when I was a child and she left me out there for a couple of months.

I'll tell you what, it was rough. And looking back as an adult, I'm like, I thank her for that now. And I'm glad she did that. I was out there playing with other kids, soccer out in the dirt roads. That's where the roads, it was dirt. It was no street, no pavements, right? But they had no shoes on. They had no TV. They had no electricity. They had no running water. I was like, this is crazy. But it made me who I am today. Fast forward to now, I help a nonprofit that's a wheelchair company. And what they do is I heard this story, brother, and just broke my heart. This mother, ah, shit. It just hits me every time, man. This mother would walk a couple of miles to take her child to school.

And it's in another country. She would tie her kid on the back and take him to school and then go home and look after the other ones and do the chores. And then she would pick him up again and bring him back. We donated so many wheelchairs. So that way they can be mobile and just do a little more things. And this is a child, bro. I think the child was like seven years old, man. So getting back to what you're saying, Ryan, we live in a country that people don't realize. Sometimes when I get in a discussion like that, I'm like, you know what? Why don't you go move to a third world country and then come back and let me know how you feel about our country?

Because at the end of the day, these people are just born with a spoon in their mouth or they come from different environments where they've never suffered. And I suffered. I've seen it. I witnessed it. And maybe it's just a different environment from living that life. But to answer your question, man, I am so proud to be an American citizen. I'm so proud to have a president who believes in our country and wants to make it better. And going to other countries and saying, you know what? You've been taking advantage of my country for so long. Now it's time to pay back. And that's what we need. We need more fighters out there. We need more advocates. We need more people doing the right thing for our country.

They can always reach me. I have a good team. I have a great social media team. They can DM me, and then my staff will get in contact with me. It's at MosesHeredia underscore, or they can even inquire on my website, which is www.MosesHeredia.com. We're always out there, man, and making things happen positive for people. At the end of the day, it's all about the positive world and staying focused with one another. Moses, I appreciate you so much for coming on the show and sharing your story and for being a great representation of America. Thank you, Ryan. I appreciate you having me on here, brother. And if you're ever out in California, definitely look me up and then would love to have lunch or dinner with you.

Make the call. Launch the thing. Fix the problem. Build what you keep talking about building. For more, follow Ryan Alford on Instagram, at Ryan Alford. And watch or listen to every episode at ryanisright.com. This is Right About Now. Now quit waiting. Go win.