Puerto Rico to Profit: The Entrepreneurs Teaching Financial Freedom in Spanish

Summary

Podcast Title: Puerto Rico to Profit: The Entrepreneurs Teaching Financial Freedom in Spanish
Podcast: The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
Host: Paul Alex Espinoza
Guests: Oscar Moises & Jorge Lahara
Release Date: August 10, 2025

---

Introduction

In this enlightening episode of The Level Up Podcast, host Paul Alex Espinoza delves deep into the entrepreneurial journeys of Oscar Moises and Jorge Lahara. Both guests bring a wealth of experience from navigating the challenges of starting businesses from scratch to mastering financial strategies that lead to sustained success. The discussion centers around their transition from traditional careers to entrepreneurship, the hurdles they faced, and the innovative solutions they implemented to achieve financial freedom.

---

Guest Introductions

Oscar Moises introduces himself as half Dominican, half Puerto Rican, with a background from Davenport University. He currently focuses on helping business owners secure 0% capital to scale their ventures.

Jorge Lahara, affectionately known as Joe, shares his Puerto Rican roots and experiences living in Los Angeles' entertainment industry before transitioning into business. Alongside his wife, he assists small to medium-tier businesses in obtaining funding and investing in Section 8 real estate.

---

Transitioning to Entrepreneurship

The guests recount their significant moves and transitions:

• Jorge's Leap of Faith: At 19, Jorge saved $5,000 from a construction job and moved to Los Angeles on December 24, facing challenges like having no friends or family but driven by a big dream.

  "If nobody's willing to give me, like, the huge opportunity in Puerto Rico, then I'm gonna go out. I'm gonna chase in the big leagues."
  (03:59)

• Oscar's Pursuit of Music: Oscar's ambition to become a reggaeton artist led him from the Dominican Republic to California, and eventually to Puerto Rico. However, the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly ended his musical aspirations, pushing him towards entrepreneurship.

  "Covid changed the game for you guys."
  (06:38)

---

Early Entrepreneurial Ventures: Dropshipping and Amazon

Oscar and Jorge delve into their initial business efforts:

• Dropshipping Challenges: Oscar shares his early dropshipping endeavors, from selling sprinkle machines to AirPods replicas and plastic pools. Despite initial setbacks like inventory costs and credit card max-outs, these efforts laid the foundation for their entrepreneurial mindset.

  "The money that I had in my credit card was getting maxed really fast because I had to buy more inventory."
  (07:13)

• Amazon Strategy: Jorge highlights their Amazon ventures, emphasizing the importance of sourcing from reliable suppliers on Alibaba and the strategic advantage of shipping inventory through the mainland U.S. to avoid confiscations in Puerto Rico.

  "Once it comes in the States, then they don't stop it."
  (09:03)

---

Overcoming Financial Hurdles: Credit and Business Funding

The conversation shifts to financial strategies that propelled their businesses forward:

• Credit Optimization: Facing maxed-out credit cards, Oscar sought mentorship to optimize his credit profile, enabling him to secure business funding. This approach was pivotal in sustaining and scaling their operations.

  "I have history. Now they increase my limit."
  (14:23)

• Building Relationships with Banks: Jorge underscores the significance of establishing relationships with business relationship managers rather than relying solely on online applications. Human interactions allowed for higher funding approvals and personalized support.

  "The golden nugget is to always have a business relationship manager involved if you want to get higher limits than what you get online."
  (16:45)

---

Pivot to Section 8 Real Estate

Recognizing a stable income stream, both entrepreneurs pivoted to Section 8 real estate:

• Why Section 8?: Backed by federal funding, Section 8 rentals provide guaranteed monthly income, making them a reliable source of residual income. Jorge shares his father's influence, a former federal agent, which guided his research into this lucrative avenue.

  "If I could say, guarantee money every single month."
  (25:41)

• Due Diligence in Tenant Screening: While Section 8 offers stability, Jorge emphasizes the importance of meticulous tenant screening to avoid issues like illegal activities on the property.

  "The bad side of Section 8, I would say not doing your proper due diligence to screen your tenant."
  (26:42)

---

Business Strategies and Expansion

Oscar and Jorge discuss their tailored strategies to assist clients:

• Customized Funding Solutions: Their company, RichByCredit, offers funding solutions not limited to real estate but also catering to diverse businesses like restaurants and e-commerce stores.

  "We are helping them out with funding so they can scale their business."
  (29:09)

• Dominating the Puerto Rican Market: By addressing a previously untapped market—Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs in Puerto Rico—they successfully established themselves as leaders in business funding and Section 8 real estate.

  "We were the first ones to cover a need that was in Puerto Rico at that time."
  (38:13)

• Future Expansion Plans: Their vision includes expanding into Latin America and educating international investors on leveraging Section 8 in the U.S., thereby broadening their impact and market reach.

  "Anybody in the world can actually just buy a property in the States and put it on there."
  (39:54)

---

Dynamics of Business Partnership

The symbiotic relationship between Oscar and Jorge is a cornerstone of their success:

• Complementary Strengths: Jorge is the analytical planner, while Oscar takes bold risks, creating a balanced and effective partnership.

  "He's more the analytical guy that has to plan for like the worst."
  (32:04)

• Handling Conflicts: They acknowledge that disagreements are natural but resolve them swiftly, reinforcing trust and mutual respect.

  "We fight. Five minutes later, we're hugging each other."
  (32:06)

• Trust as a Pillar: Trust is paramount, ensuring financial integrity and aligned visions. Their shared commitment fosters a resilient and prosperous business environment.

  "The best thing that you can have is like having someone with the same vision."
  (33:26)

---

Facing and Overcoming Challenges

Their journey hasn't been without significant hardships:

• Near Bankruptcy: Jorge recounts a critical moment when their business bank account was on the verge of hitting zero, pushing them to seek mentorship and restructure their operations.

  "When our account was about to hit zero."
  (49:20)

• Legal Troubles: A poorly drafted contract led to a lawsuit, emphasizing the necessity of professional legal counsel for business operations.

  "We should have got a lawyer."
  (59:35)

• Resilience and Adaptability: Despite these setbacks, their unwavering determination and ability to adapt underscored their entrepreneurial spirit.

  "If you quit, like problems are going to come."
  (50:42)

---

Advice and Motivation for Entrepreneurs

Oscar and Jorge offer invaluable advice to aspiring entrepreneurs:

• Take Action: Oscar emphasizes the importance of starting without overthinking, learning and adapting along the way.

  "Just start. Because if you don't start, then nothing is going to happen."
  (60:45)

• Invest in Knowledge: Both stress the significance of paying for education and mentorship to accelerate business growth and avoid common pitfalls.

  "Don't be afraid to pay for knowledge and facts."
  (62:15)

• Build and Leverage Your Network: Jorge highlights that "network is your net worth," encouraging entrepreneurs to cultivate meaningful relationships that can propel their businesses forward.

  "You can have all the capital, but if you don't have the connections, you ain't got nothing."
  (36:43)

---

Future Endeavors and Content Strategy

Looking ahead, Oscar and Jorge are poised to expand their influence and adapt to emerging technologies:

• Leveraging AI for Content: Oscar is integrating AI to streamline content creation, ensuring consistent and engaging communication across platforms.

  "Everything is made by AI."
  (44:10)

• Innovative Technologies: They are exploring platforms like R Link, which offers real-time translation and interactive features, revolutionizing how businesses engage with diverse audiences.

  "It's going to change the game in terms of online sales."
  (47:05)

• Expanding Personal Brands: The duo aims to solidify their presence within the Latin community, aspiring to become household names akin to industry giants like Grant Cardone.

  "With influence, you can do more stuff if you use the right way."
  (43:37)

---

Closing Remarks and Motivational Takeaways

As the episode concludes, Oscar and Jorge leave listeners with powerful insights:

• Consistency and Discipline: Jorge emphasizes that "habits, discipline, consistency" are crucial for sustained success.

  "Habits, discipline, consistency. I love it. It's all you need."
  (64:22)

• Never Give Up: Both guests advocate for perseverance, reminding entrepreneurs that every challenge is an opportunity to find a solution and grow stronger.

  "There's always a solution. Don't quit."
  (50:43)

• Legacy Building: Jorge shares his vision of leaving a lasting legacy for his family, underscoring the importance of creating sustainable wealth for future generations.

  "It's more about leaving a legacy for my family."
  (43:11)

---

Connect with the Guests

For listeners eager to learn more or engage with Oscar and Jorge:

• Oscar Moises: Follow on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook at @officialOscarMoises.
• Jorge Lahara: Find him at @LaharaOfficial across social media platforms and visit richbycredit.com for more information.

---

Final Thoughts

This episode of The Level Up Podcast offers a raw and authentic look into the trials and triumphs of entrepreneurship. Oscar Moises and Jorge Lahara exemplify resilience, strategic thinking, and the power of network-building. Their stories serve as both inspiration and a practical guide for anyone looking to elevate their business and achieve financial independence.

---

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a five-star review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube. Share it with friends and family who are ready to level up their entrepreneurial journey. Visit officialpaulalex.com for more resources and upcoming episodes. Let’s build together and continue to elevate our success!

Transcript

[Oscar Moises]

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[Paul Alex]

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[Oscar Moises]

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[Paul Alex]

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[Oscar Moises]

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[Paul Alex]

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[Jorge Lahara]

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[Paul Alex]

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[Oscar Moises]

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[Paul Alex]

Welcome to the Level up podcast. I'm your host, Paul Alex. I went from being a cop to an eight figure entrepreneur that helps average people like you and me make money every single day. I created this podcast to help you get motivated and to crush your goals. Let's win together. Remember, I have your six. Get ready to level up right now. Hey guys. And welcome back to the Level podcast. This is Paul Alex. Welcome to the number one business show in the United States currently. Guys, I have another special interview right here, right now. Are you guys ready for it? They are going to educate you guys on a ton of different things. But first things first, let's do the intros. Guys, go ahead and do your intros.

[Oscar Moises]

My name is Oscar Moises. I'm half Dominican, half Puerto Rican. I went to Davenport University and now we're helping business owners to get capital at 0% so they can keep scaling.

[Paul Alex]

Fire.

[Oscar Moises]

Fire.

[Paul Alex]

Love it.

[Oscar Moises]

That's my translator right here.

[Paul Alex]

I'm just kidding.

[Jorge Lahara]

So my name is Jorge Lahara. They call Joe. That's. I don't know why. Because it doesn't match. Right?

[Paul Alex]

I mean, that's what it goes.

[Jorge Lahara]

They would tell me Jor, but I don't like Jorjito. So I, I guess I could roll with the Joe. Originally Puerto Rican. All right. Lived over there for 19 years. After that, moved to Los Angeles, California for seven years, worked in the entertainment industry and then long story short, got into business after that, met my wife, so on, so on. But yeah, we are helping small business owners or medium tier business owners get funded, scale. And obviously the extra money that they got, they put it into section eight real estate, which is what I believe in.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, Section eight real estate, that's, that's, that's a unique game, man, that I'm going to want to dig into. But then also. All right, here is the question to start us off with. How was it transitioning from Puerto Rico to the States?

[Jorge Lahara]

Okay, you want me to start? Go ahead, man. Honestly, I grew up watching tv. Like American TV shows, music, all that Sort of stuff. So I guess transitioning over there, I kind of felt like it was, like, easy. It wasn't that hard, obviously. When I went to Los Angeles, California, long story short, I was working on my 9 to 5 job, which was construction, saved up $5,000, moved over there. So it was a harsh move. It was on December 24, and I was 19 years old when I did that. I had no friends, no family, no nothing. I just went over there, and I had to make it happen. That was it. Just chasing the big dream.

[Paul Alex]

So you were like, hey, man, I'm just gonna go over there, see what happens. And it is what it is.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah. Because I was working in the entertainment in Puerto Rico. But at that time, it wasn't as collaborate. How do you say? There was too many collabs going on. You see what I'm saying? Collaboration, collaborations. There you go. So, like. Like it is now. And so that's why I was like. My dad used to say this slang, which is, I'm gonna sing in Spanish, because I don't know how to say it in English, but it's Nadia profeta in su pueblo. Nobody's a prophet in their own town, right. So if you want to make it big, you got to go out. So that's actually what I did. I said, if nobody's willing to give me, like, the huge opportunity in Puerto R, then I'm gonna go out. I'm a chase in the big leagues. And then when I come back, everybody's gonna need me.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Jorge Lahara]

Because I'm gonna have the. The, you know, the tools that nobody does or the connections and all that sort of stuff.

[Paul Alex]

So, yeah, you build the proof, you know, you show them that you're able to go ahead and make it happen for yourself. And then you come back and everybody wants to go ahead and be your friend and do business with you. That's the way it always goes.

[Jorge Lahara]

Right, right, right.

[Paul Alex]

Was your guys, like, family supportive of you guys doing that? Like, going ahead and actually making it happen? And then also, what's the nexus between you two? I gotta ask that question, man. Cause people are like, it's my primo. It's my mano. Like, what's going on?

[Jorge Lahara]

You want the real answer?

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

He tried to date my sister, but she. She didn't like him.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah, I didn't like her either. I didn't like her either.

[Paul Alex]

I love that. So then you guys became homies after. Yeah, it was working out.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah. That was the only positive thing that came out from there.

[Oscar Moises]

And how long ago Was that long time ago. So when he was in California, I was living in. I think I was living in Puerto Rico, but before that I was living in Dominican Republic because I used to play baseball with the dream of getting, like, pro signed and then go to the bigs. So I was in Dominican. I couldn't sign because I was 17 years old. They offered me, like, 65. My dad said, no, you're going to Puerto Rico to go to get a scholarship. And then after that, I moved to California, and then he was there, and we started, like, engaging again. Because last time we engaged was when you went, like, to our home in Dominican.

[Jorge Lahara]

In Dominican Republic. Yeah. From the. Yeah, because we were at a cr. So how I met his sister was at the Christian church. At a Christian church. And so that's how everything started. And then we did, like, let's say, like, you know, a church trip where you help, you know, those in need and all that sort of stuff. So I went to the border with Haiti, which was Monte Christi. Right, Monte Christi. And that's where we last spoke. Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

And that's when. After that was California reconnected. After that, I moved to Texas. I mean, I went to Michigan to finish my school, and then I went to Texas. I was working in a dealership. I had this dream of being an artist.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

Like a reggaeton artist. And he was in the music industry, like, full. Full.

[Jorge Lahara]

Right.

[Oscar Moises]

And I was, like, speaking with him every time. Like, he called me. Me being at the dealership, I mean, bro, I'm going full all in. In this. In this thing on the music industry. Music industry.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

And then I went back home to Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic. Covid came, said, bro, not singing anymore.

[Jorge Lahara]

So the dream ended really fast for him. Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

So Covid changed the game for you guys.

[Jorge Lahara]

Covid was literally that. That.

[Paul Alex]

That was like, the time. What Was that? Like, 2019. 20.

[Jorge Lahara]

20 2019.

[Paul Alex]

Okay. So 2019 happens. Where are you guys at? How old are you guys? And then what was the shift that got you guys to where you guys are at now?

[Oscar Moises]

So how we started after, like, I quitted on the music industry, like, I was, like, thinking, I gotta make money back, because I had. I had left my job over there in Texas, and I had apartment, motorcycle. I have a car that I was, like, drawing.

[Jorge Lahara]

It was eating. It was drying up your bank account.

[Oscar Moises]

It was drying up my bank account. And I was like, I need to make something happen. I started doing E Commerce. Dropshipping.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

Then I started doing dropshipping. I created, like, three stores at the same time. First story was like this sprinkle machine that throws pressure water. Didn't. Didn't do anything. And then I created an AirPods dropshipping store only marketed in Puerto Rico.

[Jorge Lahara]

Replica.

[Oscar Moises]

Replica. And then we started like selling, selling. And then I created another store when it was like plastic pools. Because everyone in Puerto Rico were like, oh, it's hot. We don't have pools in Walmart.

[Jorge Lahara]

Nobody can go out.

[Oscar Moises]

Yeah, nobody can go out. And then I started like doing drop shipping. But the thing was like, to get a pool, it was like $300 each pool. And I sold it into like 500 each one.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

But the, the money that I had in my credit card and the personal credit card that I was using, it was getting max really fast because I was. Had to buy, I needed to buy more inventory. More inventory, More inventory. But it was costing me 300 each pool in order for me to, you know, fulfill the client. And then he was doing dropshipping at the same time over there in Florida. I think you were right.

[Jorge Lahara]

At that time, I was in Tampa, Florida, and I also started doing Amazon. So I was doing Amazon and I wasn't doing drop shipping. What I did was go to Alibaba, find a supplier from China. Boom. They would bring it in, it would, it wouldn't get stopped, obviously. It's, you know, there's patents and all that sort of stuff, but never got stopped. So I would get that inventory and then I would send it over to him and he would sell it in Puerto Rico. Because one, once it comes in the States, then they don't stop it, if you see what I'm saying?

[Paul Alex]

That makes sense. If you directly ship it from the supplier going to Puerto Rico, then it's gonna get confidence all day.

[Jorge Lahara]

Always. Yeah, always.

[Oscar Moises]

200 units confiscated.

[Paul Alex]

Dude. That makes sense because like, you know, I try ordering some stuff ever since I moved to Puerto Rico three months ago, and they're like, they deny me.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

And they're like, nope, we don't ship to Puerto Rico. I was like, what the hell? And then ship it here in Miami. It's like, boom.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah. And I know that because my father in law at that time used to work for cbp. Yeah. So. And they would run the ports and everything like that. So he said like, he was like, you know, it doesn't get stopped if it gets into the States first.

[Paul Alex]

Man, you're over there using the satellite phone, be like, hey, did it get stop or what?

[Jorge Lahara]

But. But we made a ton of money. And then it was funny because he.

[Oscar Moises]

Was nice at home, getting a conditioner, how to drive, like a transit, you know what? A Transit?

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

Like 15 minutes to, like, take those AirPods to, like, people that wanted to buy in bulk.

[Paul Alex]

But that's amazing, dude, because you. When you think about it, that's like. That's good. That's like, good. Humble beginnings.

[Jorge Lahara]

Oh, yeah.

[Paul Alex]

Actually get you to, like, think like a business owner. Not everybody goes through that, you know, you can imagine a lot of people, they think Internet money, and they sit on the computer, they make money while they're on the beach. No, you guys are actually getting it, bro.

[Jorge Lahara]

Let me tell you this. When I was doing that, I was in Tampa. My wife was pregnant, first baby.

[Paul Alex]

Oh, wow.

[Jorge Lahara]

So I was like, how old were you at that time? Probably like 27, 28, something like that. Oh, yeah. And so we were like, I got to make this happen because I have savings, but I know how long is that going to last. Right. So I bought that inventory. And then the funny part of it is I would post it on Facebook. Marketplace.

[Paul Alex]

Yep.

[Jorge Lahara]

And I started getting all these guys from the hood obviously calling me. They thought, like, are they clones? Like, legit? Like, they look exactly like the Apple ones. I was like, yeah, look like the barcode works. If you scan the barcode says it's legit, like Apple and all that sort of stuff. Obviously, I'm not telling anybody to do this disclosure, but that was what I was doing at that time. Right. I was surviving. So the funny part is that all these hood guys that were coming to me, they would say, like, bro, this is better than selling crack. Like, I'm making way more money. Until this day, I still get text messages from the.

[Paul Alex]

You still got it?

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah. You got a box of 60. Yeah. But it's like, yeah, yeah. So that's how. That's how it all started.

[Paul Alex]

Okay, so that. That's. That's the Amazon venture. So how do you guys get into business funding? How do you guys get into, you know, section eight? How do you guys get into helping? Actually, people go ahead and, like, leverage what they got going on as far as credit and business. Like, what was first that came into first?

[Oscar Moises]

So when I was selling the pools, that was getting maxed out with my credit cards, I started buying more, getting into mentorships. Like, people are doing business credit. I got into a guy named Credit and other guys that I don't want to mention here, but I learned a lot from them. And, like, I optimized my credit profile and I got funded and I Used that money into my like drop shipping stores. So that's how it started. And then after that we were like, bro, people in Puerto Rico. Because everything that we learn is in English, right? Everything that we learn in Puerto Rico is kind of like new.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

For them.

[Paul Alex]

So new market.

[Oscar Moises]

Like a new market.

[Jorge Lahara]

There was only one guy in Puerto Rico at that time that was doing like all this like guru type of stuff. Right?

[Paul Alex]

He was in the info space.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah, yeah. So, but, but he was more on, on like Forex and stocks and stuff, like.

[Oscar Moises]

Got it.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah. It's a big thing do like with Forex and trading and stocks. Especially when I came down here to Miami, like I' seeing so many like young people into it, dude, it's insane. Yeah, so just, just for clarity for, for the audience that's listening to this and watching this right now. So essentially you were trying to initially raise more funding for, for your overhead expenses because typically what ends up happening with Amazon stores and why they get shut down is because typically the owners, they end up maxing out their credit cards, they can't afford the supplies and then they're like, oh no, like, I'm screwed.

[Jorge Lahara]

Right?

[Paul Alex]

And that's, that's what they weren't telling people when they were selling all these Amazon Automation stores in the past. Right. You know, I got, I lost a lot of money on that, man.

[Jorge Lahara]

Dude, somebody, I never got it, dude.

[Paul Alex]

I paid like I think 30k back in 2017. Yeah. And, and dude, nothing like the fulfillment was crap and then ended up getting shut down and they were like, hey, you're going to need like max, like a good amount of credit. And I was like, why didn't you tell me that before? Right. So you were able to find solution though?

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

Okay, so you found the solution. So how did you go ahead and actually increase your credit?

[Oscar Moises]

What do you mean?

[Paul Alex]

Did you, did you.

[Jorge Lahara]

How do you scale the credit limits?

[Paul Alex]

How did you scale your credit limits?

[Oscar Moises]

Since I was like purchasing inventory, buying marketing, like paying for marketing. When you rack up your credit card and you pay it down and you rack up again and then you pay it down, the bank sees that and they work there like, oh, this guy needs more money because he, you know, he spent, but he pays it right away because he's, he needs more money to keep spending.

[Paul Alex]

So now you have history.

[Oscar Moises]

Now I have history. Now they increase my limit. Now when I move to the business side, I have comparables to go and be like, hey, I need 50k, 75k at 0%. I'm applying with you okay if you have 500 credit limit on the personal side, guess what happened when you apply in the business side, they give you 500. And as a business owner with $500, there's nothing, there's like not, not a lot to do with $500.

[Jorge Lahara]

So that's when get an ATM machine. It's true.

[Paul Alex]

You can't, you know, you got, you got a 4X.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

So that was the way I was increasing my limits on the personal side. And because of that I was able to get more business funding on the business side.

[Paul Alex]

That makes sense. That makes sense. Did it take you a while to get the business funding?

[Oscar Moises]

Not a lot, like two or three months. Because I wanted to understand how the process works, what the bank sees, like who are. Who he who is important in the bank system in order for us to get approved for high limits. Like for example, banking relationship managers, instead of applying online application which the algorithm gives you whatever limit. But if you apply with a business relationship manager, which is a human dealing with the underwriter. So it's not, it's like if you get approved for 20k, he can be like, hey, can you probably push it more, more money to this guy because he has a good business like projections. Projections.

[Paul Alex]

Dude, that's a great golden nugget. I never knew that.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah. So, so the key part is like people think like, okay, so you got the comparables, right? You got your personal comparables, all that sort of, sort of stuff. That's amazing. But in order to maximize and not go through the robot, remember if you do it online, it's a robot that's reading the information. It's a preset system. Right. So if you go through a business relationship manager, it's totally different because it's a human that's analyzing your application and obviously can go up to a certain extent with the underwriter and say like we'll approve these guys a little bit more just because I know what they do with their business and they're going to do this and this and that. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt. And they got a relationship with our bank. Wow. So the golden nugget is to always have a business relationship manager involved if you want to get higher limits than what you get online.

[Paul Alex]

And then how can someone go ahead that you know it's new to this or doesn't know what they're doing? Dude, like, right. What would be the steps to go ahead and find a good business relationship.

[Jorge Lahara]

Banker rich by credit.

[Paul Alex]

I love that. I love that.

[Oscar Moises]

Yeah. Because the thing is these people, they only work with businesses that have either 100k in their bank account or they generate millions of dollars a year.

[Paul Alex]

Wow.

[Oscar Moises]

And since we have them, like we go walk into the banks, dress nice, be like, hey, I'm important, I want to see what the relationship. And then we start asking questions, building that relationship with him. Hey, you want to go out? Hey, let's go out some, some stuff. I have good stuff to talk to you about. And we go out and then we create that relationship with different type of bankers.

[Jorge Lahara]

Really?

[Paul Alex]

Wow, that's amazing.

[Oscar Moises]

And the best scenario, best example is like for example, in the past, some of the capital that I got approved on the business side for the E Commerce stores, I use it for crypto. I got into like four projects of crypto. Like if this one is fucked, the other one is still alive. Four of them. And then so I got this credit card from Chase that it was. I wasn't able to pay that to pay it. So I got a red mark on that banking specific and at the end of the year I paid it full in full. So after that, like year after, I'll still have those marks on that internal bank. Like they can see it inside. Even though my credit, my personal credit is not, is looking good on the business side of Chase. They can see on the business credit card that I was using is with late payments because of the relationship managers. When I got denied when I apply again with Rich by credit for a credit card, he was like, hey, what was the situation that you got involved to? So I can speak and explain it to the underwriters so they can approve you. So he revoked the application from decline to approve with 30k to start again. So that was like, you know, because of him, it happened. If you apply online with my situation, you would have gotten denied and then.

[Paul Alex]

Nothing to do, man, your network is truly your net worth, man. Knowing who you know in the banking system can really help you leverage credit.

[Jorge Lahara]

Literally.

[Paul Alex]

I, I didn't, I didn't know that. So taking what you guys know now, if you were to let's say paint the scenario here, right? It's called a level up for a reason, guys. We're here to level you guys up. So let's say you're entrepreneur, you have decent credit. Okay, decent. What would you say is decent credit?

[Oscar Moises]

700 plus.

[Paul Alex]

Okay, 700 plus. Right. And they just open a brand new LLC. How can they go ahead and let's do a mini masterclass. What can they do right now to go ahead and get some type of funding.

[Oscar Moises]

The first thing they have to like know and understand is how do you like profile credit profile on the personal side looks like.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

Like you don't want to go apply. And then you have like six inquiries and you are not able to get approved because of the inquiries only. Like if you have your utilization under 30%, then you're good. If you have relationships with the banks that you're going to apply for, then you're good. Because there's banks that they're based on relationship only. Like you can have 800 credit score and be like, I'm apply for the 0% credit card and then you get denied. Oh well, I have good credit. No, it's not about that.

[Jorge Lahara]

You need relationship.

[Oscar Moises]

Every bank works different. And then when it comes to the business side, for example, there's a lot of people that create LLCs their own way high risk industry. They want to invest into real estate, but they create a real estate company and then that's high risk for the banks. For the banks.

[Jorge Lahara]

So if NIC as code.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Jorge Lahara]

So that tells the bank that it's a high risk industry.

[Paul Alex]

Wow.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah. So you would go safe bet. You would go into consulting. You would put your business as consulting smart. That's. That's a low risk. Right.

[Oscar Moises]

Either consulting or for example, for. For real estate management.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah. You would put management. Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

Wow.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

So if you guys are ever starting at LLC for real estate, do not put real estate.

[Jorge Lahara]

Hell no.

[Oscar Moises]

If you want to get funded. Because if you are having that business as a real estate, you need the business for that in a specific.

[Jorge Lahara]

For the property.

[Oscar Moises]

Right, the property.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

But if you make another business with the purpose of getting funding, then a structure the right way low risk. You got to create the relationship with the banks.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

You got to deposit money into that bank account before you apply the comparable on the personal side, the inquiries on the personal side, the utilization on the personal side, the history of payments that you have like the age of the credit profile. All those things matters when you want to get like high amounts of approvals.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah. In basic words, like he's saying is. Is honestly just like you got to take a look at your profile, your credit profile. Right. Not credit karma Go through like there's like companies like my score IQ and all that stuff that gives you a FICO score of the three bureaus. And then look at your history, look at your FICO score. Do you have anything negative? It's your utilization like high in revolving accounts, which is like credit cards. Do you have inquiries like he said, certain amount of inquiries. Okay, everything is clean. Now let's check. Who do I have a relationship with? What bank? Right. Relationship means depositing money into it. It doesn't mean that you just open account or get a credit card and automatically I have a relationship. Yeah, you could understand that. But if you have age towards that and you have good limits and good deposit amounts of money, or you have a credit card, personal credit card, and it's 10k, well that's good for the bank, that's a good relationship. Then from there then you can move on to the business side. But having a good structured llc, it could be a new one. Obviously complying with the four primary accounts at least on your personal side, two of them that at least get to 10k. That's what we tell our clients. It could be 5 and 10, but usually if you have both that are 10k, at least that'd be great. And then that's what the bank is going to look at on the, when you apply on the business side. And as you know by that, they'll approve you high or low. Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

Wow. And guys, how did you guys take this information and now adapt it towards going towards section eight?

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah. Okay, so, so he is more digital. He likes the crypto. Like he said all that we were speaking about, that, the crypto, all that sort of stuff. I was more traditional. Okay. I come originally from the center of the island in Puerto Rico. So the culture that I was raised in, it was way more traditional, conservative, let's say. One thing that I heard, every single person, every single entrepreneur that I would look at was that it doesn't matter if they were like, I don't know, Bill Gates or whoever it was, they all had something in common. It was real estate.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Jorge Lahara]

So that's like the long term wealth game. Okay. So I was like, that's the route that I'm going to take, but I can obviously go and develop apartments right now. Like, I don't know how to do it, first of all. Second of all, I think that's going to take a lot of capital to do so. So that's when I started researching and I heard my dad being a federal agent now, he used to work for Bristol and dupont pharmaceutical companies. He retired because he got in love with my mom. My mom was the employee he couldn't. Yeah. So long story short, he got into the federal agency working for the fda. He retired two months ago. And so basically like he got me into the, the whole federal government and how it's safe up to a certain point and all that sort of stuff. So when I heard this program called Section 8 and it's backed by federal government and pays you the rent, it's not the tenant, it's the Fed government, basically. So I was like, okay, let me look into that. And then just doing research and obviously learning from other people in the Internet and stuff like that, I took a chance. I said, this is where I'm going to put my capital, capital that I get in business funding. And started with one property. One led to two, two led to four, and so on, so on, so on. How? I'm at a 54, so.

[Paul Alex]

54. Section 8 rentals.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

Let me ask you.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

What is the best thing from being a Section 8 owner? Best thing you can say?

[Jorge Lahara]

If I could say, guarantee money every single month.

[Paul Alex]

So residual income.

[Jorge Lahara]

Residual.

[Paul Alex]

That's it.

[Jorge Lahara]

Just like the cash flow. Now I'm going to get into that though.

[Paul Alex]

Now. You know what I'm about to ask you next.

[Jorge Lahara]

Go.

[Paul Alex]

What is the bad side of section 8?

[Jorge Lahara]

Bad side of section 8, I would say not doing your proper due diligence to screen your tenant because, yes, the apartment says, every single housing department says that they screen the people that go into the program in order to get approved so they can get their voucher and all that sort of stuff. Realistically, I've seen all. And I've seen how. Shady stuff. There's shady stuff and there's good stuff. People who do their job the correct way, there's other people who do it the wrong way. Right. So you can't just rely on what they tell you. You gotta also do your due diligence. So I have a very. Scrutiny. That's the right word to use. Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

You have a very strict protocol.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah, exactly. Of how I screen the tenants and make sure that, you know, they're going to be good prospects for long term.

[Paul Alex]

They're going to be good citizens.

[Jorge Lahara]

Exactly. I usually go for it. It's. It's not. It's not, you know, I accept everybody, but usually the best tenants that I've had is like divorced or single moms with like two or three kids.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, makes sense.

[Jorge Lahara]

Those are the ones that have been my best tenants. I've never had a bad situation. Although I know colleagues that have not done the good job of screening the tenants. And the tenants have built meth labs and then, you know, the D A goes through their window and all. It's crazy.

[Paul Alex]

That's some small. Right there.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Paul Alex]

You know.

[Jorge Lahara]

Well, you know, something about that right?

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do it all the time. Research. Not, not make meth. But go ahead and raid those methods.

[Jorge Lahara]

Exactly. Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

No 100 man. So, okay, now section A is growing. What is your plan for the Future with Section 8?

[Jorge Lahara]

Keep building that portfolio. Just because I feel it's a, it's a stable yet easy way of making past semi passive money. Yeah. Okay. Because there's always a little bit of a job involved. But I'm thinking about more by kids right now. I got two kids, my oldest is autistic. And so I'm thinking what can I leave them if the day tomorrow God calls me? Right. You gotta leave this planet. So what am I gonna leave them? That they could operate in a simple way that it's not, it doesn't take master's degrees or nothing like that. That they, they can just like operate on a basic level and make money out of it. And that's literally rentals Section eight.

[Paul Alex]

No, absolutely man. It's such a great idea, dude. I mean I love it. I'm a big fan of residual and passive income. So let me ask you guys. So, so with the clientele that you guys are currently getting right now for your guys company, right. You guys help them out not only with funding but then also that's basically the investment that you lean them towards is a section 8. Or, or are you guys working on anything else right now?

[Oscar Moises]

So there's clients that for example, they want to get capital to get into only real estate. But now we have, I mean we always had business owners that they have restaurants, they have E commerce stores, they have whatever other business type.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

So we are like trying to build or not trying to build. We are building something for them so we can help them scale their business. Even though is a hot dog car.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, doesn't matter what type of business.

[Jorge Lahara]

Doesn't matter basically. So. So the idea right now is like obviously we're pushing towards because I have the results. I'm not, I'm a big fan of not promoting anything that I don't see my results in.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Jorge Lahara]

I will never recommend anybody. I know there's other gurus that try to paint a different thing on the industry, but I'm legit. You know, I, I got a last name that I want to keep proud of which is a Hara. And that's like it has to be pristine. Right. So. So yeah, we try to guide everybody towards when they get capital to get into the section 8 real estate because it's a safe bet to a certain point. Nothing is safe. In real life, obviously, because, you know, anything can happen in the industry. Right. The whole nation falls down or whatever. We ain't got control of that. Right. But it's as safe as you can go with that. Right. So we go through that and we also the people that don't want to get into real estate. But let's say we got one of our good clients. He actually, I'm gonna do a shout out. Palm Exotic Car Rentals. So he has a car rental company here in Miami. Just opened one in Puerto Rico. We're helping him out with that. And that sort of client wants. Okay, I got the capital now I want to scale my. My service company.

[Paul Alex]

Right.

[Jorge Lahara]

Or stuff like that. So that's where we come in with this new offer that we've been doing a test drive, basically, just like certain clients. But it's worked out. Everybody's making good amount of money, so why not reach out a little bit more? But we want to work with people that we already know that have the. The mindset. Right. You know, the mindset to work with that. Because there's people that. That can say, like, oh, yeah, well, Joe and Oscar, I'll pay you 100 grand. Right. For this. Let's say, for example, because we want to make what you're making. Right. But they don't have the mindset. They think we're going to do everything for them. Yeah. It's not that, bro.

[Paul Alex]

Right.

[Jorge Lahara]

No.

[Oscar Moises]

Yeah.

[Jorge Lahara]

I'm give you the key components, the ingredients, but you got to mix it how I tell you to mix it, but I'm not going to mix it for you. Yeah. You see what I'm saying?

[Paul Alex]

So, yeah, they have to do the execution. You guys are basically going ahead and leading them with an actual, proven blueprint.

[Jorge Lahara]

Correct.

[Paul Alex]

Makes a lot of sense.

[Jorge Lahara]

Correct.

[Paul Alex]

That's good, man. So let's talk about your guys's partnership. Okay. And this is good because we talked about this right before the show.

[Jorge Lahara]

Right.

[Paul Alex]

And you know, there's different, you could say, roles when it comes to doing a business.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

Would you guys say, being business partners, that it's always smooth?

[Jorge Lahara]

Hell, no. No, no.

[Paul Alex]

So. So is it normal for business owners to argue and. And to go ahead and get mad at each other and whatnot? How do you guys work that out?

[Oscar Moises]

We fight. We. And then five minutes later, five minutes.

[Jorge Lahara]

Later, we're hugging each other.

[Paul Alex]

That's it.

[Oscar Moises]

You're like.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah. Like. Well, he knows, like, sometimes, like, he gets mad for whatever reason. He just. And so I'm like. I'm like, Dude. But I like, because usually he's more. Okay, so let's say like this. In the business, he takes more risk. Right. More bold risks than I do. I'm more the analytical guy that has to plan for like the worst. So if I plan for the worst and it looks good, then let's go ahead and do it. Sometimes I've learned in our process, Right. As business partners, that sometimes I just got to give them the benefit of the doubt. And I. He's done the same thing. I built a track record with him. When I tell him, like, I want to do this thing with Paul, I want to do this thing with whoever. So he says, like, I trust you. Do it. He doesn't question me. Right. Because I build that track record. And he's built it too. So I guess. Yeah. Going back towards the fighting. Yeah. We fight. Five minutes later, we're hugging each other.

[Paul Alex]

How important is trust in a business partnership?

[Jorge Lahara]

You want to answer to that?

[Oscar Moises]

Trust in a business partnership.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

You better know who you're sleeping with. Like, for example, I know there is a lot of money on the bank account.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

And I can sleep very well because I know this guy wants to. One cent. You guys gonna take one cent. He's gonna be like, hey, Oscar, I'm gonna buy this. Same thing with me. Like, hey, bro, I'm getting this for the business. Like the. The best thing that you can have is like having someone with the same vision, the same like, animal, like, like energy to do whatever you want to go.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

Like if you want to pick your partner, have to be like that. Because otherwise you're gonna have someone going like they want to go somewhere and you want to go the other way and never is going to work out.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

Which is what happened with a lot of business owners.

[Paul Alex]

So you guys got to be on the same vibration, basically. You guys got to have same vision.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

And do you think that's why your guys business partnership worked out so well? Because you guys, like have the same vision, you guys have the same goals, core values and all that.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

It wasn't always like that. Like, we started like increasing the company. We got stuck in some, like in two years. Wasn't a two years after two years.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

Stuck in a number like a 80K monthly.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

And then he was doing his thing, I was doing my thing. We weren't pouring our, like, energy into the business.

[Jorge Lahara]

100%. Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

And then, like, I don't know if it was like a mentorship that we took that like both of us aligned.

[Paul Alex]

You Guys.

[Oscar Moises]

Yeah. After that, like, everything changed.

[Jorge Lahara]

I think it was with Jason Capital. Do you know what Jason?

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Jorge Lahara]

So it was Cool marketer, dude. Yeah, yeah. So I sent him. He was at Dorado at that time, living in Dorado Beach.

[Paul Alex]

Dude. I remember he was like, one of the first marketers that, like, lived over there. Yeah, yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

I remember he was the first one that told me that don't get an office.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah, he was telling us to not get an office.

[Paul Alex]

Now you guys are like, we need an office.

[Jorge Lahara]

We need an office.

[Paul Alex]

No, you don't need an office yet.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah, but. But you. Yeah, so. So. So it started with him. That's how it started. And he opened our minds. I could tell everybody, you get mentors and we are always paying for education. Like, same. Like, we're paying to get access to that issue that we have that we're stuck and, you know, we want to go to the next level. There's people that are so proud that we know right now, friends of ours are here in Miami. I'm not going to do a name drop. But. But that they don't pay for education or for, like, to get a mentorship from this guy in order to scale. Like, there's one guy that was doing the numbers that were. We were doing because we're doing more right now, and he was doing it, like, way before us. He should be, like, way higher than us. Right. His network is, like, bigger.

[Paul Alex]

It's crazy.

[Jorge Lahara]

But even then. But even then, like, we already.

[Oscar Moises]

Only one thing got him, like, stuck on the same numbers.

[Jorge Lahara]

Exactly.

[Oscar Moises]

He don't pay for, like. He don't pay for, like, mentorship. He don't pay for, like, hey, this guy is making this type of number. Let me get into, like, close to him to see what I can get from. To scale my business. So he got stuck over there. And like, in those.

[Jorge Lahara]

He's still.

[Oscar Moises]

Because of that.

[Jorge Lahara]

He's still stuck in that number. But. But. But yeah, it's. It's. That's another thing. There's people that think that when you pay for mentorships. Oh, yeah, because I'm just going to get the same information that they're putting out there in the. In the Instagram and the YouTube and all that sort of stuff. Yo, guys, it's not just about the information. It's about access.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Jorge Lahara]

It's about network. You can have all the capital, the business funding in the world, but if you don't have the connections, you ain't got nothing. Honestly.

[Paul Alex]

No, seriously. Network is everything, man. Like, you know, I'VE met a few key people in my life. I have a pretty decent network now, but a few key people in my life throughout the years that changed my life because they connected me with so many people. And like, one person, let's say, they allowed me to be a keynote speaker or they allowed me to go ahead and have access to their audience, and that could be a dramatic change for anyone. Right, Right. Because that's. That's when you get exposed to the world. Right?

[Jorge Lahara]

Right.

[Paul Alex]

So I think it's powerful, man. You guys got to build your network. You guys got to go know who you're talking to and you know, how you can form that relationship for the future. So. So with that being said, man, like, what would you say is, like, the biggest needle mover when it comes now? Because you guys are multimillionaire entrepreneurs. I see. I'll sell the click Funnel, you know, awards, you guys. Congratulations on that.

[Oscar Moises]

Two more coming that we haven't requested.

[Paul Alex]

That's. That's what I'm talking about, man. That's what I'm talking about. Right? Winners.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

So. So with that being said, what would you guys say is the biggest needle mover in business right now, especially in 2025, you know, especially with these younger guys, you see a lot of, you know, younger, younger folks trying to get into the info space. And, you know, it's hard, right? It's hard. So what would you say was a big, big needle mover for you guys to get you guys up to where you guys are at right now?

[Jorge Lahara]

Supply on where there's a need. So build an offer that covers a need, basically. That was. That was our big break that we were covering. We were the first ones to cover a need that was in Puerto Rico at that time. Right. In the island. Nobody knew about business funding or nothing like that. Or now with Section eight, it's. It surprises me to this day that there's people in the island that don't know what Section 8 is. Like, I. I can show you my DMS right now of people writing like, I've heard of it. I don't know what it is, and I thought everybody knew. So. But at the end of the day, I would say just finding that key component that supplies that, that gives out a result for the need. Right? Yeah. That answers.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah. No, no, you're absolutely right. So finding that void in the market.

[Jorge Lahara]

Right.

[Paul Alex]

Which you guys did, you guys looked at Puerto Rico and you were like, wait a minute. They don't know anything about Section 8.

[Jorge Lahara]

Nothing.

[Paul Alex]

They don't know about, you know, the credit funding. Let's go ahead and converted for, you know, people that speak Spanish, especially in Puerto Rico.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

So it makes a lot of sense. You guys dominated in your guys area.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

So what would you guys say? Are you guys looking to expand into like other countries? Are you guys looking to go ahead and like take over the US market? Like, because I know you guys dominated Puerto Rico. You guys are the biggest in the game over there.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

But how about, how about in the States?

[Oscar Moises]

So for the state we are trying to move, the thing is like all of our team is only Spanish speakers now. We're integrating people that speak English because we can offer funding for people that speak English. There's no science behind, like if you speak English, Japanese, whatever you speak, you're gonna get capital at the end of the day.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah. Right. So.

[Oscar Moises]

What else?

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah, I would say we're trying to. We're expanding towards that, towards the funding in the States. But, but we're also with the Section 8 thing. Not many people know is that anybody that lives outside the country of the US they could buy a property in the States and put it under section 8.

[Paul Alex]

Wow, that is a needle move.

[Jorge Lahara]

So, so, so my thing right now is I, I want to finalize the domination in Puerto Rico for the Section 8 thing. Right. Put everybody to have a secured, let's say side money coming in, let's say like that. And so, so they can retire or just like have a better quality of life. And then after that we're gonna push into like Latin America or stuff like that. Because anybody in the world can actually just buy a property in the States and put it on there.

[Oscar Moises]

The only product that we cannot like promote out of the States is the credit. Credit. Because it's only every, in every country, the credit system is different.

[Paul Alex]

It's different, right? No, that makes total sense, man. Dude, like, I mean, that section 8 for, for everyone else outside the country, that's gonna be huge. Yeah, that's gonna be huge.

[Jorge Lahara]

Huge.

[Paul Alex]

There's so many people that want to buy land. There's so many people that want to invest into real estate. If they're able to do it in the US Especially out of state or out of the United States, man. Be amazing. So let me ask you guys, what does your guys family think about this? What does your family think about entrepreneurship? Do you think they were scared when you guys initially started this?

[Oscar Moises]

When I started, my dad called me a scammer.

[Jorge Lahara]

That is crazy. So.

[Paul Alex]

So he thought you were scammed?

[Oscar Moises]

I don't know. He's always like joking around. And Ade didn't take it seriously. That was his first words. Hey, what's up, scammer?

[Paul Alex]

I mean, what does he think now, man? He sees the awards, he sees the lifestyle, he sees what you've done for your kids.

[Oscar Moises]

Yeah. Now he wants to work with me.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, There you go.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah. Same as me. It was the same situation. I graduated early from high school and I didn't go to college. And that was a deal breaker for my parents and obviously my whole family. Coming from a conservative family. Right. The whole expectation of, of, you know, my uncles and cousins and all that sort of stuff was that I was going to become like a doctor. Engineer. Typical, right?

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Jorge Lahara]

Because my parents were like, you know, cookie cutter. They were conservative. Yeah, yeah. The traditional way, basically.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Jorge Lahara]

And so I was like, no, I'm not going to go, go to college. So I had my ups and downs. Right. Like anybody else, like any entrepreneur. But to this day, he just said his father tells him he wants to work with him. Most of my family members that are lawyers, engineers with bachelor degrees, master's degrees, all that sort of stuff, they want to come and work for me.

[Paul Alex]

That's awesome, man.

[Jorge Lahara]

And I don't take it as an ego type of thing. I take it as like, damn, like, I proved myself. You see what I'm saying? Yeah. But at this point, it's more. It's something bigger right now. It's not just about making money. Yeah, that's great. It's awesome. I got my investments as well, but it's more about leaving a legacy for my family. That's, that's my vision right now. And how I can just like, keep on, like, finding some other projects that entertain me, that ignite a fire and a passion inside me, and then let's make it happen. That's my game right now.

[Paul Alex]

No, I love that. Fulfillment being a bloodline breaker.

[Jorge Lahara]

That's it.

[Paul Alex]

You know, which you guys are especially, you know, doing what you guys are doing right now, helping a lot of people. So with that being said, I mean, are you guys looking to expand more into building your guys personal brand, especially in the, in the, in the Latin community and going ahead and being like a household name. Like, you know how Grant Cardone is in real estate, especially with 10x. Are you guys looking to do that for yourselves in the landing community?

[Oscar Moises]

Yeah, of course. Because I believe with influence, I believe with influence you can do more stuff if you use the right way. But if you don't, if nobody knows you and you Are like in the dark side how you expect to people know you, trust you or trust you. Correct.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

No, it makes a lot of sense, man. Are you guys leveraging heavy, like content like YouTube, Instagram? What is your guys's content strategy right now?

[Oscar Moises]

Right now I'm using AI for my content.

[Jorge Lahara]

No way.

[Oscar Moises]

Everything is made by AI.

[Paul Alex]

That's badass.

[Oscar Moises]

So I haven't been on like if I get content is in a podcast or.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

Because I don't have the time to sit down and you know, go in, hey, I'm gonna say this video, this. No time for that.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

So basically for my content is like giving proof for people like value family, jokes, lifestyle and testimonials.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

On my Instagram or Facebook or YouTube. And so I'm posting like three or two contests every single day.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

Into those platforms. They're growing now I'm getting more into YouTube so I can, you know, grow that platform and generates money from there. I'm not desperate for that because I know it's a long term game, but I'm like, you know, getting into it now.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

Are you guys ever thinking about getting into AI and showing the Latin community how to leverage AI 100%? Yeah.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah, yeah.

[Paul Alex]

Because I know it's going to be big in the next five years and.

[Jorge Lahara]

We were just in a meeting like an hour ago and it's like related to AI and some other stuff. Yeah. And how there's this new situation, let's say like that, where it's gonna change the game as far as like doing zooms. Instead of using like Zoom, Google, Google Meets or stuff like that. Literally you can talk to a person. Let's say you only speak English. I speak Spanish only. Yep. I'm talking to you and when you hear me, you can hear me in English and I'm talking in Spanish.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, I can see that.

[Jorge Lahara]

So that they got it right now. But it's, you know, the key component is they're decentralized.

[Paul Alex]

Wow.

[Jorge Lahara]

So you make money while you use the, the, the platform.

[Oscar Moises]

You got rewards.

[Jorge Lahara]

You get rewards.

[Oscar Moises]

Wow.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah. It's a big conversation.

[Oscar Moises]

It has a lot of like perks. Like if you're presenting, you know, you can share on Zoom. If you share on this platform and you are doing a webinar, you're selling at the end. Like people can scroll the page and like make like a push the button, two actions, whatever they want to do. Like, hey, this is in this part. You, if you click here, you're gonna buy this and this is going to Take you from here to here. People can like scroll down their, their page on their side, even though on their recording, after the video is done too, like they get the video, they can see the page, they can go back, go down. Like you can do a lot of stuff besides like translating me speaking English on this side and this guy listening on the other side in Spanish either with translation. Like subtitles.

[Jorge Lahara]

Subtitles, yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

Like now they're like doing the, the voice, like converting into the language that you want to hear.

[Paul Alex]

So it's equivalent to watching Netflix and then going ahead and changing the language.

[Jorge Lahara]

Exactly, exactly, exactly. It's the same thing. Exactly.

[Oscar Moises]

Way cheaper.

[Jorge Lahara]

And it's way, way cheaper. Way cheaper. And you make money with it. Yeah. You control your data and it's your data.

[Paul Alex]

Wow. Did this come out yet for the general public or.

[Jorge Lahara]

No, it's. It's already out. It's called R Link.

[Oscar Moises]

It's on a better face right now.

[Jorge Lahara]

And it's on a beta and. But in six to eight months they're going to implement. So the official launch is on Thursday. They're going to do it in Fort Lauderdale. I think it is right for Lauderdale. But. But then in six to eight months that's when it's going to have the feature of the translate real time translation of audio, not the subtitles because right now it has the subtitles. But what I see the value in that is that as business owners, right, or whoever's watching us right now, you're. Let's say you have a sales team, right, and you're trying to sell your product into another country or somewhere else. Abercrombie's viral denim sale is back and Spotify listeners get an extra 15% off with code. Spotify AF. Abercrombie is known for their denim with 30 to 50% off all jeans. Find out how denim should fit. Shop the viral denim sale in the Abercrombie app online or in stores. Valid in stores and online through August 11, 2025 in US and Canada. Excludes clearance price, reflects discount code. Valid in US and Canada through August 11, 2025. Exclusions apply. See details online. And you don't know how to speak the language. It doesn't matter now you could do it.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Jorge Lahara]

See what I'm saying? It's all changes the game in terms of like online sales. Changes the game.

[Paul Alex]

Well, yeah, I mean that does change the game because now any entrepreneur that uses like webinars. Exactly, they're going to be able to go ahead and market their product and information to the world.

[Jorge Lahara]

Right.

[Paul Alex]

You know, and they don't have to worry about a translator or anything like that. That's amazing, man.

[Jorge Lahara]

I love that.

[Paul Alex]

So with that being said, guys, so this is the level of podcast. So as you guys know, this has to do a lot with self help mindset, adversity, roadblocks. What would you guys say was the hardest moment in your guys life? And you guys can individually say your guys story, but the hardest moment in your guys life where you guys are like, dude, you know what entrepreneurship man, I'd be for me. What would you guys say?

[Jorge Lahara]

You want to go first?

[Oscar Moises]

Go first.

[Jorge Lahara]

When our account was about to hit zero.

[Paul Alex]

Oh, snap. Your bank account.

[Jorge Lahara]

Our business bank account, which was the only thing that was giving us money at that moment. I was like, we're gonna go bankrupt.

[Paul Alex]

And when was this?

[Jorge Lahara]

This was two or three years ago. Something.

[Oscar Moises]

Three years ago.

[Jorge Lahara]

Three years ago. Yep.

[Oscar Moises]

We, I think we. When we started the company, we weren't taking money out of the bank account to pay ourselves. We like we last three years without paying ourselves one single cent.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah, yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

And I had my job on the side. I had, you know, these casino machines in Puerto Rico that you go to a market.

[Paul Alex]

Oh, I know. For the clients making the residuals.

[Jorge Lahara]

Right.

[Oscar Moises]

So that's how I started at the beginning. Like my dad gave me the. He made me his partner and that's how I started after, like doing rich by credit and doing that at the moment. That's how we paid ourselves. He was doing Section 8. That's how he paid himself. But we didn't take any money out of the bank account. We started investing into mentorship and our bank account going down. But we had now the information.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

Knowledge. Let's apply it. Let's scale it. Let's do it.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yep.

[Oscar Moises]

The good thing about us is like, even though on the bad moments, we don't quit.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

Like, if you quit, like problems are going to come. Even though you have the perfect company. No, not any company is perfect.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

So you start a company and then you don't know how to do X or Y. You are going to. You're going to figure it out.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah. Because there's always a solution. Like y' all entrepreneurs that are watching and hearing us is there's always a solution. Like don't quit. Don't say no. Unless it's like, you know, something illegal or something like that. Well, yeah, that's a different situation. But when it comes to like, you're, you know, confronting problems and you're seeing yourself go down in the account. And just like, whatever dilemma it is, there's always a solution. There's. As a faith believer, right now that I'm going more into God and all that sort of stuff, I believe that God always has a solution for you if you seek him.

[Paul Alex]

Bro, that's so real. Like, I, as I get older, you know, at the age of 37 now, like, I'm a big believer that things always happen for a reason.

[Jorge Lahara]

Correct.

[Paul Alex]

You know, like times like you might miss a flight, I don't even get mad anymore, dude. I'm like, you know what? There's a reason why I missed a flight.

[Jorge Lahara]

Exactly.

[Paul Alex]

Because usually I'm on point. But if it's something like, I learned this the hard way.

[Jorge Lahara]

Right.

[Paul Alex]

I was going to check in a bag two trips ago coming from Puerto Rico to Miami, and they were like, you have to check it in an hour before the flight. And I was just like, but In Miami, it's 30 minutes, right? So they made me wait like five hours. And I was over there like, damn. Like, this sucks. But, hey, things happen for a reason, right?

[Jorge Lahara]

Right.

[Paul Alex]

Who knows?

[Jorge Lahara]

Right?

[Paul Alex]

You know, who knows what would have happened? Who knows who would have happened?

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

Right. It wasn't meant to be.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

So with that being said, what would you guys say? Okay, bank account goes zero. What did you guys do? Like, okay, it was going zero. Like, did you guys took action right away? Would you guys came up with a game plan? Like, what. What was the next step?

[Jorge Lahara]

So I guess that point was. Was it when we went to Albert's thing? Yeah. So. So we were seeking solution. Right. And I was like, looking at YouTube, always studying and this and sort of stuff. And so I was like, hey, I see this guy that's like, he's a mentor or offers mentorships, and he's like, you know, surrounding himself with, like, Patrick David and all these, like, names. Yeah. So I'm like. And then he talks to me. I follow him, and he starts talking to me, obviously. And it's him. It's not a chatter. It's him. And so he goes and sells me for the event. And I was like, well, Oscar, I'm gonna take the risk. This is like, I'm gonna find a solution for us, you know? Yes or yes? Okay. So I'm gonna take the risk. You want to come with me or not? He's like, we already got everything to lose, so let's just go. We went to that event. That event wasn't what saved us. Yeah. It was the person that we met at the Event. Okay. His name is John Pena. Okay. Mike Barron's business partner. We started talking to him, and he. He started, you know, saying stuff about closers and all this sort of, like, online game. And he was in the same industry, and I was like, well, let's reach out to him. Right. So after I met him, a couple of weeks went by. I called him up like, you guys have, like, closers. So Trey sells us, closes us on the deal. And. And then from then, everything just like, boom. Like, we got everything organized as far as, like, business structure. Sops. Everything that needs to be put in place to have a successful business. Right. Because we were doing sacrifices, like he mentioned, like, for three years, he was handling delivery. Like, when clients wanted to speak, they would speak to him and all that sort of stuff. I was the guy making the sales.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Jorge Lahara]

I was a sales guy. Right. Okay. So. And we wouldn't take a dime out of it. A dime. We only took our car payments. That was it. Our car payments. That. That was it. All the rest of the money back into the business. We didn't take a paycheck from that. So. Yeah. So sometimes you got to lose to win.

[Paul Alex]

No, Absolutely. So then going ahead and investing in a program where they allowed you to have closers, which.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

Guys. If you guys don't know what closes are. Sales consult, you know, high ticket closers.

[Jorge Lahara]

High ticket closers.

[Paul Alex]

High ticket closers. And it's dramatic. You know, the three fundamentals I always say in business is client acquisition, sales, and fulfillment.

[Jorge Lahara]

Right.

[Paul Alex]

So it seems like you guys had probably the client acquisition and then the fulfillment, but you were missing the sales portion.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

So we thought. We thought that our problem was closers. It wasn't closers. It was the back end structure the right way. So we can scale.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

Not be like, hey, we fired this guy. There's a new guy. We have to train him again and spend three weeks with him on a zoom to see if he.

[Jorge Lahara]

If he does the job or not. So.

[Paul Alex]

So is the process.

[Jorge Lahara]

So the process was the issue. It was. It was in the sales, because I was making the sales. We were good. We were making good money. But the fact was the. The whole operations, it was all over the place. It was all over the place. And we didn't have any mentors for that for sure. So. So, you know, we were trying to figure it out. Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

And you guys feel like you guys were doing everything on your own.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

Or. Or you had to take everything on your own because other people wouldn't execute. Right?

[Jorge Lahara]

Correct.

[Paul Alex]

I Mean, I feel like that happens to everybody. Happened to me, dude. It took me a very long time to go ahead and start delegating. Yeah, but people have to delegate at a certain point in their business, right? So it makes, it makes a lot of sense, dude.

[Jorge Lahara]

So.

[Paul Alex]

Okay, cool. So you guys would say that almost losing your guys shirt, 00 money in the bank account. So what would you say is, let's paint another picture, a second scenario that happened to you. And the only reason why I'm bringing up asking our guests about these scenarios, guys, because you guys gotta understand entrepreneurship is hard, right?

[Jorge Lahara]

It's really hard.

[Paul Alex]

It is not easy. We're not here to sugarcoat shit. This is the level up for a reason, guys.

[Jorge Lahara]

Okay?

[Paul Alex]

We're here to help you. So we're sharing their experience. So you guys are able to learn not to make number one, the same mistakes. You learn from us. Right, Learn from us. Right, right. Because we really did the mistakes. We're here, we're here to help you guys out. And then second, you guys learn a valuable lesson.

[Jorge Lahara]

Right?

[Paul Alex]

So what would you guys say is the second worst situation you guys ever been in entrepreneurship?

[Oscar Moises]

What do you think?

[Paul Alex]

You guys have any, any bad business deals go wrong? You know, last year I had an executive mine take $200,000 from, from one of the businesses and I was like, wait a minute, come on.

[Jorge Lahara]

Right? I wouldn't say that. I would say honestly that was like the worst one that we've had going almost to zero and oh well, having previous deals that we made that weren't from business credit or, you know, the section eight things. Section eight thing is newer. That still followed us. So we owed money in the street, basically.

[Paul Alex]

Oh, wow.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah, yeah. And so it was falling in our ass.

[Paul Alex]

Oh, wow.

[Jorge Lahara]

So. And we got lost out of here.

[Oscar Moises]

But I didn't want to say.

[Jorge Lahara]

We gotta say the real thing, you know, but, but it's true. It's true. We, we had, you know, people that had bad blood with us and stuff like that and we owed him money and you know, they try to sue us. So I would say that was the worst, the second worst one because it was just. It wasn't one. We got like three or four. Right.

[Oscar Moises]

That was the first one. And the second one was the, the, that was the first one.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

Mistake that we had as a business owners. And then the second one was, was the one we spoke earlier.

[Jorge Lahara]

Oh yeah, yeah. So the first one.

[Oscar Moises]

First.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jorge Lahara]

So. So actually the, the account was going to go to zero because of that too as well. Because we have that old, bad debt that we.

[Paul Alex]

You had to pay it off and all that.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah. The lawyer said another key component as business owners, like, get yourself a lawyer and have a really good contract drafted by a lawyer that works in the state that you have your entity. Why do I say that? Because what we did was we saw a contract here from this company, we saw a contract from this other company, and we made our own from that. We didn't pay a lawyer. Right. So what happened? It was a good contract. It was solid, but it didn't comply with the terms and conditions of the state, so it made it invalid at the moment when we got sued.

[Paul Alex]

That sucks.

[Jorge Lahara]

So that's why we weren't covered. And then we had to, like, find the money to refund everybody.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, yeah. And it happens as, you know, entrepreneurs, guys, you know, you could get in lawsuits for anything. This is America, right?

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

So at the end of the day, people.

[Jorge Lahara]

Favorite sports.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, people. People can see you for anything. And as a business owner, once you get big enough, eventually it's going to happen. I mean, that's what. That's what every. You're not a true business owner unless you get sued first.

[Jorge Lahara]

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, we went through that.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, you guys went through it. You guys got over it. And guess what? Now you're here, now you guys are expanding. You guys are looking to grow your portfolios and make things happen. So with that being said, guys, now since this is the level of podcasts, I need to count them. Two from one from you, one from you, and that's going to be directly to your audience. Now, for the person who is trying to start their business right now, they're trying to figure out life right now, they're trying to go ahead and start getting funding maybe for their business. Maybe they're going through some hardships. Dude, you know, we've all been there. At the end of the day, what. Some words of encouragement from you, from your guys's past.

[Oscar Moises]

I will say just start. Like, don't think about too much of what you're trying to do. Just start. And I'm pretty sure you're gonna figure it out, like, in the way, what you have to do to keep, you know, either scaling or getting the product better. Whatever. Whatever it is, just start. Because if you don't start, then nothing is going to happen. And that's where most of the people get stuck when they have an idea of business. Like, they don't even start because they're scared. Like, what if this happened? What if this Like, I don't have money. Like, you got to learn skills. You got to start. You got to like you're going to learn it in the.

[Jorge Lahara]

In the process.

[Oscar Moises]

In the process. You're going to learn in the process.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah, I would say. I agree with him. It's start. Don't try to have everything set in place because you're not. It's not going to be perfect. You're going to figure it out in the way. Right now one of our key components is, you know, we want to make X Amount. Right. As business owners, we don't have it drafted, but we're figuring it out in the way, you know, on the way. So that's 100%. I agree with that. And the other one, don't be afraid to pay for knowledge, facts. Don't be afraid. Like, he was the one who got me. Okay. Into paying for knowledge. I didn't believe in that stuff. Okay. I thought again, I come from a conservative. Yeah.

[Oscar Moises]

I didn't know that.

[Jorge Lahara]

Well, now you do. So, so, so, yeah, so. So his mindset towards that was what opened my mind. I was like, you know, I could cut corners and basically make this go faster if I just like pay for information.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Jorge Lahara]

For access.

[Paul Alex]

No, absolutely. I mean, your network is your net worth, man.

[Jorge Lahara]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

So that acts.

[Jorge Lahara]

I guess that's the bar for today. Because it is. Said it a couple times.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, no, no, because. But I'm such a big believer in it. Yeah, it is such a big believer. You know, I always say you have nothing in business if you don't have a network.

[Jorge Lahara]

That's right.

[Paul Alex]

It's true. How are you supposed to grow? How are you supposed to go ahead and connect with other people? Right. So with that being said, man, where can they find you? Anybody that's listening to this, anybody's watching the YouTube, where can they go ahead and get more information on your guys's offer, who you guys are, and then your newest content as well.

[Oscar Moises]

So if you want to follow me and look more about what we do, go at official Oscar Moises on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and whatever platform they created to do, you're there and that's your handle. If it's created. My handle is official Oscar Moises. That's where you're going to find me.

[Jorge Lahara]

Awesome. And yeah, so for me, I've been a little bit more off on the social media. Don't have too much content out there. But yeah, you can find me at obviously with our company website, richbycredit.com that's one and then the second one is for all my handles is Lahara. It's a little bit complicated, so I'm gonna spell it out. L, A, J, A, R A. Official. Okay, no, yeah, Lahara official. That's true. Yeah. Yeah. So Lahara official. Every single handle, right?

[Oscar Moises]

Is that the official one already? Because you change it every day.

[Jorge Lahara]

I've changed it a couple times. Official. Yeah, yeah. So. So it's that one. Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

All right. And then what do you want to leave with the audience today, man? What. What is the. The. The last motivational liner you guys want to leave the audience with?

[Oscar Moises]

Got first and put action.

[Jorge Lahara]

Okay, Yeah, I would say habits, discipline, consistency. I love it. It's all you need.

[Paul Alex]

There you guys go. Guys, if you guys love this interview, you guys want to help somebody either obtain funding, get into section 8, get into actually going ahead and learning from these gentlemen from the Latino community. I mean, they're rock stars. They're killing it right now and can't wait for them to expand. You guys got to go ahead and make it happen internationally, bro. Come on.

[Jorge Lahara]

100 success, low speed.

[Paul Alex]

But with that being said, guys, hey, make sure you guys tune in. Leave a five star review on Spotify, Apple, and on YouTube. Guys, we are currently ranked number one in business and top 25 all categories. With that being said, my name is Paul Alex. This is the level of podcast. I'll catch you guys on the next one. Thanks for listening up to the Level up podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, make sure to share with a family, friend and everyone you know who's ready to level up. Leave a five star review on Spotify, Apple, Podcasts and wherever you tune in. It really helps spreading the word. And don't forget to check out officialpaulalex.com for more episodes and resources to kickstart your journey. Let's level up together.