← The Rich Somers Report
The Rich Somers Report
He Built A $6M Business Teaching Construction Safety | Rocky Zapata E531
00:50:55
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- [00:00]
A
Hey, guys.
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B
We are closing on our two most exciting boutique hotel opportunities yet. Catalina island and Bodega Bay, which will make a total of eight boutique hotels for summer's capital. For a last chance opportunity to participate with us before we close, go to summerscapital.com invest. Now let's jump into the show. All right, guys, today I got my man Rocky Zapata in the building. Rocky, welcome to the show, brother.
- [00:23]
A
Thank you, Rich. Thank you.
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B
Yeah, appreciate you coming on, man. You got a yacht out in Miami. What kind of yacht do you have?
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A
Uh, we have. We have a boat, right? We have a scout, 33 foot scout out of Miami. So I'm waiting for you in Miami when you come in September. Taking you to Bimini.
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B
I'm coming out, my man. So, Rocky, you went from negative 67 in your bank account to doing north of $6 million a year. What was the number one key to doing that?
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A
The number one key to doing that is discipline. Rich. One of the Rocky Zapata cultures that I drive on is accessibility. Right? I like my clients and my employees to have access to me because I am a firm believer that leadership is three things. One, willing to serve. Right. Two, which is very important, is being present. You have to be present all the time. And my clients and my employees know that they can pick up that phone, call me anytime, and I guarantee you, I will pick up that phone. So being present, being accessible for my clients, for my employees, has always been a key to my success. And the third, obviously, you know, having gratitude. And I think gratitude is one of those things that many people lack. You know, that person that helped you once, right? Giving that person the thank you forever. I have a mentor myself. Okay, Your mentor, John Murphy.
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B
Okay.
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A
John Murphy is my mentor. I remember John Murphy hired me when I was just a kid. I was, like, maybe 22 years old. And I learned a lot from John. I learned a lot from John. Huge, huge mentor of mine. And we took it from there. And I've always been grateful. And everywhere I go, you know, I tell people, John is definitely a man that shape my life in business.
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B
What's the number one thing that you learn from John?
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A
Many things. Right. But the number one thing I learned from John is discipline. John is a very disciplined man. He has a style of leadership where he can be hitting you with a rod, but at the same time making you feel comfortable. I mean, you know, you're getting beat up, right? But you're getting beat up in a good way. So I. I think John was very pivotal right in my life, in my business life, to be able to grow to where I am.
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B
Okay, that's big, man. That's big. And so when you. When you think about, you know, going from. From broke to doing north of $6 million a year, for someone listening to this, that. That is looking to get to that. That level. Talk about the discipline that it takes, because I think a lot of people think they get, again, they're going to get in the game, and they're either going to have a plan that works or they're going to fail. There's no in between. But the truth is, is there's a lot of in between. There's a lot of highs, there's a lot of lows. There's a lot of seasons where it gets really heavy, it gets really lonely. What's the heaviest season you've ever gone through?
- [03:36]
A
Well, and. And you know what, Rich? It's funny you say that, because I always say that entrepreneurs and business people, they spend a lot of time alone, right? I mean, I love my time alone. I spend tons of time alone. I think my alone time is one of my best times.
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B
Why do you say that?
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A
Well, because it allows me to think.
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B
Yes, right.
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A
It allows me to think a lot. Look at the past, look at the future. Get excited about the future, because that's what keeps us alive, right? I'm get excited about tomorrow and. And what's coming. So I would tell those people listening that one of the biggest things in business, and no one's ever going to have the answer to this, right? Because I have a lot of business friends that we talk. And. And if you ask them, everyone feared failure at the beginning, right? Nobody thought you. You were going to make it. I mean, you start a business and the first thing you say to yourself is, what happens if I don't make it? Right? I mean, and then you start telling yourself, well, I'm going to be embarrassed. People are going to think A or B from me, right? What happens if I don't make it? And I think nobody has the answer, because in reality is you have to get that fear out of you, and you have to just move forward with those goals, right? Obviously, you have to have a good plan in place, right? Business is not going in, and they're crazy. But I think one of the key things that has helped me, Rich, is. And I would tell people, is having an alter ego, right? And an alter ego in Latin is other self, right? It's that second Persona you can say is the second you, I would give you A quick example. We are in California, right? Remember the late Kobe Bryant?
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B
Yeah, right, right. The great, great legend.
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A
The great legend. And Kobe Bryant, right, had an other self. He created something that was called the Black Mamba because Kobe Bryant said, I needed something that made me feel fearless. I needed something that made me fight my battles and fight my fears on the court. And that is why he created that alter ego which became the Black Mamba. And the Black Mamba actually helped Kobe achieve the success he actually achieved in court and on the court. So I think it's important that, you know, for those that actually want to start a business, they create, right? They create that alter ego, that fearless person. And listen, don't be scared to fail. I mean, I have businesses that have failed in the past. Okay? We've all had businesses that have failed, failed in the past. It's okay to fail. And there's nothing wrong with failing, Right? It's totally fine. Now. If you stay in the failure and you get stuck in the failure, then that's the problem.
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B
Yeah. I'm curious for you, with these businesses that have failed in the past, how many businesses have you had that you started and you shut down?
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A
Well, one interesting one was I started in apparel. Apparel business, you know, the clothing business. I wanted to get into the clothing business, and that fell very badly. I invested a good chunk of money in the business and didn't go well for me. Right. I actually put a couple stores in Latin America, clothing stores, and it failed. And you know what? It was okay.
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B
Right?
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A
I mean, it failed.
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B
But I'm curious for you, because obviously a lot of businesses, you know, it's tweaking and tweaking and tweaking and tweaking and. And eventually you find the right unlock and you're like, okay, this. This is what works. And there's always an unlaw. But I'm curious, you know, when these businesses that you. You started and you shut down, at what point do you realize you're like. You make the decision. You're like, you know what? Instead of tweaking and tweaking, we're going to just shut it down and we're going to start something completely different. What is. What is that thought process that leads to that?
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A
Well, I think. I mean, I have. I actually had a person call me the other day, and he's like, hey, Rocky, I've poured over a million dollars of capital of four years in a business. I said, guy, that's not a business anymore. That's a hobby. Right? I mean, I think if you are passing the three year mark without being profitable. You have to let it go at that point, right? I mean, you definitely do because now it becomes a hobby. It's not a business anymore. And the problem with people is, you know, they get so like wanting to make it work, but sometimes it just does not work. And you have to learn to let go. And I think the key to business in reality, Rich, is you have to find a niche, right? You have to find something that people need. Okay. And when you find something that people actually need, you capitalize on it. I'll give you an example. My first business that I started in 2014, which is rocky Zapata Safety Consultants, which has been my most successful business growing up in the Miami area and doing safety and being a safety engineer. I notice that with the high immigration flow from Latin America into these big cities like Miami, New York, Louisiana. Right. There was a need for training for the Latino crew. Right. And a lot of these trainers or a lot of my competitors back then, they all spoke English. And I told myself, hey, I'm bilingual. I can actually sell the Spanish and I can sell the English and I can train these people and start a consulting firm, right. Where I can ponder to the Latino community that does not speak English and the American community that does not speak Spanish. So I said, I can become that bridge. And when I became that bridge, Rich, literally I exploded in my consulting firm because I found the niche. I found something that was a huge need. And one of the biggest need was training. We had construction sites, people were dying, people were not being trained properly. People needed someone that can speak their language. And when I found that need and when I found companies and organizations looking for somebody that was bilingual, I capitalize on that. And they asked me the other day, rocky, what has been the secret sauce to that? Rocky Zapata Safety Consulting success? Being bilingual. As basic as that?
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B
Yeah.
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A
And I found that being bilingual was that niche.
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B
Now what are your thoughts on. There's a bunch of different businesses out there, but consulting is very high margin and very low risk. Not a lot of startup cost. And personally I like that. And higher margin. You don't need a big payroll and you don't need a ton of staff. How lean is your staff for the consulting business?
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A
Well, we're right now, we're my staff for Rocky Zapata Safety consultants. We're at 31 people.
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B
31 people.
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A
31.
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B
And it's full time. W2 or some of those are 1099.
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A
Everybody's W2.
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B
Okay.
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A
Rocky Zapata So when I started, I started myself.
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B
Even your sales guys, I'm sorry, even your sales guys are W2.
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A
Yeah. So everybody sells. Iraq is a popular, right. So. Well, one of the things is we,
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B
everyone's bringing in money, we train them,
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A
everybody has to sell. This is like project management, right? You sell, you manage, you execute and you close. So everybody has to sell. When I started in 2014, it was just myself. I was going out, you know, writing the safety programs, doing the inspections. Then I started getting more phone calls. I says, hey, maybe I should hire some somebody, right? And from 1 and from 2 and 4 and for 3, we are 31 safety engineers out there just in the state of Florida. Okay, Rocking and rolling with the safety. Now with the consulting aspect of safety like you say is very, very low risk until you have a high overhead. Right. With 31 employees as a small business, you're looking at a payroll easily from 65 to 80 grand per week. And you know, people need to get paid every week, every Friday they're going
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B
to get paid before you do as the owner, 100%.
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A
And the problem with the consulting arena is you're not getting paid when you consult, right? You're getting paid 60, 90 days out. So you have to keep that cash flow for 60, 90 days out. And those 60, 90 days out you have payroll every Friday, 70, 75k a week. That money has to go in people's bank accounts if now they're not showing up on Friday, on Monday. So I think that it's very low risk if you're, you know, a one man show or at best a second man show. But once you, you know, you have a high overhead, definitely can, can become costly and cash flow has to be healthy.
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B
Yeah, 100 and I think there's a, a couple different approaches. It's like when you're put yourself in a situation where you have payroll and you have all these fixed expenses and office space and all these things, spending money on marketing, it almost forces you to make more money because you don't have the choice. And so for some people that can be a good thing because it forces them to reinvent themselves and to do things a different way and to keep tweaking and tweaking until they have that one unlock versus staying comfortable. Now that, that, that strategy is not great for everyone. But you know, I think for certain people, if you are cut out for it, it can be a good thing.
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A
It is, it is. And you know, one of the success of my business is I am the main salesperson Right.
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B
That's your strongest suit in the business.
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A
It's. And for me, Rich is. It's a very, very good positive.
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B
Yeah.
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A
But at the same time is a huge negative.
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B
Why?
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A
Because since I am the face, I have many clients, they will only request me. Says, hold on, I have 31 inspectors. I can send somebody. No, no, Rocky is that no one's like you. I says, no, they're like me. Right. I've trained them. They know what to do, they know what to look for, they know how to write the report. At the end of the day, I check everything before things go out. We have three filter stations and I'm the last station. But a lot of clients, they just want to see my face. And that is one of the reasons why I named the company and I want to create the Rocky Zapata brand. Because when people think of safety, I want them to think of Rocky. When people think of Rocky. But I wanted them to think of safety. And it has worked. People say, safety, we need safety. Oh, Rocky, man. What about Rocky? Oh, he's the safety, Right. So I think in a marketing, in a marketing world, the name, which is probably catchy, right? And it's my real name, by the way. Rich, everybody's always asking the question.
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B
I like it.
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A
Yeah, it has been great because at least in that business, people think of Rocky and they think of safety and automatically it has made the business grow organically, very organically. You will laugh, but I have never done or spend one dime on marketing. Never. The most marketing I do is our company trucks.
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B
Right.
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A
That's the most marketing I do.
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B
Which, you know, word of mouth, it's
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A
all, it has all been word of mouth, it has all been Rocky, safety, Safety, Rocky. And we've grown very organically.
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B
So, so how do you balance that as you scale if you're the number one sales guy? Because I, I'm that guy in my business, right. And, and so with sales, it's like if I'm going to get on with someone, we're going to, we're going to have the highest close rate. We're going to, we have the highest chance of conversion. Now, you know, with you, how do you grow this, this team if you're the number one sales guy? And how, how do you kind of get past that hurdle?
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A
Well, what I've done or what we have implemented in the organization is every time we get a new client now. So the old clients, when I started, I usually try to take care of them, you know, but the new clientele now, you Know, I show up with the inspector already that I am going to assign to them. So I allow them to see two faces automatically. They're gonna see the Rocky face and per se, they're gonna see Albert's face, right? They're gonna see two faces. So the client automatically starts getting comfortable with both of us. So that's the way I've been able to manage the growth. Because obviously I can be everywhere, right? I mean, I have the business in Florida, I have the Rocky Group in Central America. We have Rocky enterprise that I have to take care of. So I can be everywhere all the time. And I'm a father, right. I have a 14 year old, which I enjoy being a father. I think that's one of the things that I love the most in the world, being a father. I enjoy it to the max and I want to spend lots of time with my daughter.
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B
As you should.
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A
So with, with doing that, I just created where new customers, now they're seeing two faces. And I've been able to rock and roll with that. And it has been working so far.
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B
Yeah, I've been building out a sales team, setters in my DMs and closers, and I've been hiring girls straight out of the Shelby SAP, you know. Shelby SAP. Yes, right out of the Shelby SAP Academy. And it's, it's, it's obviously it took some time to invest into them, give them the proper training, set up the weekly sales meetings and track the right KPIs. And, and this is the first time where I've really took a step back and said, you know what? Because in the past I always say, oh, I might as well just do it. I might as well just do it. I might as well do it. Right? And so now I'm like, no, no, I'm going to build an engine that does it without me, right? A team of people that do it without me. And so it feels, it feels good when you get a sale, but as a business owner, when it's not you involved and a sale comes in, it feels 10 times better.
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A
100.
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B
Yeah. And so it, like today, for example, been podcasting today and, and, and their sales are coming in today and it's like, and I, we're making money and I'm not, I'm not even involved. And I'm like, it feels good to know, hey, it's working. It is, it's working.
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A
You know, one of my tools, Rich, is I lead in a very macro perspective. Okay. I dislike totally the micromanaging perspective. One of My, you know, my key success is I hire the right people, and once in a while, you'll have one or two that slip, but, you know, a great 90% rate. Right. We hire the right people, we make sure they understand that. We empower them, we trust them, and we allow them to execute. They know that I am 24 hours, seven days a week. They can call me anytime, but I give them their space for execution. I'm not on top of my people. I'm not seeing what they're doing, what they're not doing. No. As long as you're bringing in the numbers, as long as you're getting it done and the clients are happy, I will always be that macro perspective leader. And they call me when they need me. But I'm not a believer of, you know, trying to see what people do, you know, where they're at. No. You know, if you want to take an hour lunch, take an hour, two hour. Take a two hour lunch. I care about numbers. I care about execution. It is what it is.
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B
Yeah.
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A
You know, the other, the other day, one of my employees is like, hey, I'm going to take a couple days off because my daughter's starting college. I says, listen, family first. You can. You can take your daughter to college and work from your phone. Take your laptop. Rock and roll, dude.
- [19:52]
B
I got. I give my team members unlimited pto, man. Unlimited pto. I've never denied someone's leave. And, and guess what? When you do that and you bring on good people, they respect you as a leader. They respect the vision, and they're not going to abuse it. And I think when you treat people like that and empower them to act and think as the entrepreneur and give them, you know, bonus structures, alignment of interest, even some equity, you know, it conditions them to think like you.
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A
Definitely, I agree with you. And one of the things with me, Rich, I like, I always tell my employees, my employees are family.
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B
Oh, that's great.
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A
We're all family, right? I mean, ultimately they need me, but I also need them, and we both need each other here. I make it clear to them, right? Yes. I'm the boss. You know, I'm the entrepreneur. Right. I'm the leader. And. But ultimately my success, you know, goes back to them, and their success goes back to me. Right? Because I make it clear to them, we all put bread on the table because of the business, because of the Rocky Zapata brand. We're a family. So let's make sure we take care of it. And they understand that. Right. And I Get very personal with them, right? How are the kids? You know, kids, graduation, make sure you go. So we make sure that everybody understands that we are a family.
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B
For someone listening this right now, they want to. They want to start their first business. What's the biggest mistake that they need to watch out for?
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A
The biggest mistake that people need to watch out for when they start a business is starting a business that people do not need. And that is huge. What we spoke about a minute ago, whatever you want to start, right, you have to find the need. There has to be a need for it, right? I had somebody call me the other day. The guy's 55, and he's like, hey, I want to start a shirt business. I said, listen, guy, there's a sure business on every corner in the world, okay? I'm not saying you're not gonna succeed for your ratio of success in that business at 55. Listen, not everybody can be a Damon John, right? And it's just. It is what it is from the get go. And the guy started young at 55. That type of business, the amount of money it takes to grow that business, which is another thing, right. The amount of capital. Can you even raise this type of capital? Right. What are you going to do differently that it's already not being done out there? There's powerful people in that business already. There's a structure already. You can't come into a business like that at 55 years old. So I think people need to, in reality, you know, not get desperate over it. Just think things through, understand what it's really needed out there and maybe chase after that. Right. Chase after something that's actually needed, something that people need. I mean, let's go to many businesses that have been built. Look at the. The ring camera guy, right? It's incredible. That guy went to Shark Tank. He got denied and then sold the company for $1 billion. Who would have thought.
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B
Yeah.
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A
That having a camera as your doorbell smart in your house was going to be such a huge hit.
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B
People will pay for safety.
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A
It's incredible.
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B
Yeah, but what you said is true with everything business, real estate, everything we do is all supply and demand. And so, like the restaurant industry, like the clothing industry is like. There's. There's restaurants everywhere. It's a very hard industry. Good margins in a restaurant is single digits, you know, and there's a reason why these banks, they don't like to lend on restaurants. But, you know, on the flip side, if you can create something that maybe has a high barrier to entry, a lot of people don't like these barrier to entries. But I'm like, I love barrier to entry because it, it means that I'm not going to have as much competition, you know. And so the harder it is to start that business and the more barriers the entry it is for other people to get into that business. Maybe it's capital intensive, maybe you need more labor, maybe you need all these other things that protects your, your business. Less competition, less.
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A
And protection in the business is huge. Right, Rich. And yeah, if you can find that and you know, find somewhere to wind down the competition. And even when you get the competition right, you have to find a way to overcome and be better at that competition. Like we are number one in safety consulting in the state of Florida, right. We were able to outbeat our competition how being bilingual, we found that need of being able to speak both languages. And know my inspector, that's one of the rules in my company. You know, everybody needs to be bilingual. Even the ones that don't speak Spanish. We teach them Spanish. Right. Our vp, our vp Dennis, he doesn't speak or he didn't speak Spanish. He's not there yet. But we, we've taught him a lot. We give him some cafecito, you know, he understands you need to get on the road with it, buddy. So it's, it's, it's been a key for us because that's how we have been able to beat out our competition.
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B
What's the biggest mistake you've made as a leader?
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A
Many of them. Right. But I think one of the biggest mistakes that many leaders make rich sometimes is believing that people need to do things the way you do things. And that is something that I've had to learn the hard way. Not everybody's going to be a rocky because everybody has their own talents. Everybody has their own gifts. I have my gifts. Albert, my other guy has his gifts. Carlos, my other guy has his gifts. Sylvia has her gifts. We all have different gifts. So one of the things I've had to learn is I've had to allow that, as I told you, that macro perspective and allow them to execute with their gifts. Because we're all going to be different. It's just, it is what it is. And the more you grow and a lot of business or entrepreneurs don't understand is that the more you grow, the more power you give because the more decision making authority other people are going to have that you might not have. So learning early on in the process that not everybody's going to do things like me because they have their own talents, but I have to trust them, trust them to execute. And if, you know, they're executing and I'm happy and the client's happy, then we rock and roll. So I've had to learn that slowly but surely. Right.
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B
You said the more you grow, the more you need to delegate decision making. Elaborate on that. Well, I mean, can you give me an example?
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A
I'll give you an example. Right. I started my business in the South Florida area. We expanded to the west coast of Florida, Naples, Fort Myers. Then we expanded to Orlando, then we expanded Tampa. We opened the Rocky Group headquarter in Nicaragua, we expanded over to Nicaragua. And one of the things of decision making is I have one of my guys now today in Guatemala looking at some potential businesses. And I told him, listen, I can be in Guatemala, I'm with Rich, I can be at every decision. So you have authority to make decisions based on what you think is going to work for the organization. So the more you expand, the more you have to allow people to, to make decision. And when people feel that you give them that authority, they really feel that the company also belongs to them. And one of the things with my employees, I always tell them, okay, when you speak about the company is we our company. We the company. Okay? It's our company. So the more you expand, you know, the more you have to give this decision making authority. I mean, Alejandro is in Guatemala today. I'm making some business deals. I can be in the meetings with Alejandro, right? Just tell them, Alejandro, rock and roll. At the end of the day, we get on a phone call, let me know how things went, let me know how much money you spend, what's the return, where we're at, if you didn't see something that fit it, did it fit or it didn't fit, and we'll take it from there.
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B
That's really good. Obviously, hiring a players is big. And how do you approach hiring a players on your team?
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A
Well, so one of the things that we look for in hiring a players is one, you know, we look at the resume. Obviously everybody lies on their resume, right? Yeah, you can't even trust resumes anymore. Right. One of the things, you know, we ask is how did you leave your last employer? Right. Can we call them? Do you allow us to call them? Right. Do they have good reference about you? Do they not have good reference about you? But one of the things that has worked for us, Rich, is when we hire a players, we want to see that these people, they actually have a purpose. And by having A purpose means they have a family to feed. I found myself through the years that when people have to put a plate of food on the table for somebody else, when they hold that responsibility, they're going to do everything in their power to make sure they do the right job. And being a family oriented person has definitely worked for us in finding the right people for the organization, because people that have a family, they want to succeed for their family, right? I have employees that tell me, hey, Rocky, you know, I want to grow more, right. I want another position, right. I want this, you know, where. Where can I sell more and. And make maybe more profit when it comes to bonuses? What do I need to do? Because, you know, kids are getting older, college is coming around. So you see that when people have a family, and I'm a big believer in family, family is number one. So when people, you know, have spouses, wife, husband, kids, and they actually have a purpose for their kids, I. It just. They're great employees, man. It's just worked out for my organization big time.
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B
Yeah, that's really good. I. I feel like when you hire, especially with the, the leadership positions on a team, the more I bring in better and better talent, the bar always gets raised. And the more I grow in this game, the more I realize it's like I only want a players, especially at those. Those director roles. Ryan Sirhant said something recently, really good. He said when it comes time to hiring director roles on his team, he. He thinks of it as hiring people that have the Skill set to 100, run their own business if they wanted to, and grow and scale their own business. That's how good they are. But they just choose to do it with him. And I thought that was really good.
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A
That's awesome.
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B
Yeah. So you're also doing some speaking in Latin America. You're doing some politics. Where in Latin America are you. Are you getting involved in politics?
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A
I'm not getting involved in politics yet, Rich. I'm from Nicaragua.
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B
Nicaragua originally. Okay.
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A
What we do in Nicaragua, we've gotten involved more in the whole leadership aspect of it. You know, we've created, you know, food drives, toy drives to try to help the country. Nicaragua is where I come from. I love Nicaragua. Beautiful country. You ever been there?
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B
I've never been. One of my. One of my friends is from there. I want to go. I love Latin America.
- [31:23]
A
I'll take you there.
- [31:24]
B
Okay.
- [31:24]
A
Have you had Nicaraguan food?
- [31:26]
B
No. I want to try it.
- [31:27]
A
We got to get this guy some Gallo Pinto.
- [31:29]
B
Yes. I'm down.
- [31:30]
A
We got to get this guy some queso frito.
- [31:32]
B
Okay, that sounds good to me.
- [31:33]
A
But it's a beautiful country, rich and. And is the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere.
- [31:39]
B
Is it really?
- [31:40]
A
Yes. So we've tried to, you know, help Nicaragua and as best as we can, but as you know, we have a political system over there that we can't really do much. So we've had some roadblocks, you can say, on the way, but we're working with Nicaragua.
- [31:59]
B
Do you have a home down there?
- [32:01]
A
I do.
- [32:01]
B
You do?
- [32:02]
A
I do have a home in Nicaragua.
- [32:03]
B
How often are you down there? How many. How many does. Or how many times a year do you go down?
- [32:06]
A
I used to go often a lot. The government restricted my entrance just about last August. They said I was a danger to democracy. I don't know how that is, but such a good guy, you know. How am I a danger to democracy? Nicaraguan democracy. So I haven't been led in the country since last August. The government hasn't let me in the country. So I'm in a little back and forth with the government of Nicaragua over there. But you know what? I used to go often, and I'm expecting, hopefully I can go next, next month. Hopefully they can lift. They can lift my band, you know, and I can definitely go back to my home country.
- [32:49]
B
And you're doing investments down there? What are you doing investment wise down there?
- [32:53]
A
The last project we just finished, Rich, we did a joint venture.
- [32:58]
B
Okay, Real estate?
- [33:00]
A
No, we did a joint venture with a solar panel company. There's an island in the capital city of Managua called the Love Island. To access the Love island is by a ferry. You have to go via ferry. And there was no electricity, no power. So we actually joined forces with a company called KM Inversiones, KM Investments. They were awarded by the Port Authority of Managua the project of installing solar panels in the island. But they didn't have the. The financial arm, the financial power. So that's where we came in. So we joined forces, right? They. We bought the equipment, we helped with some of the labor, some of the management, and we joined forces on that. And we just finished that project in February, which has been a great project, actually. So now the Love island has power throughout thanks to our hard work in the island. So that was the last project we just completed in the capital city of Nicaragua, Managua.
- [34:10]
B
Okay, now when you say Love island, where's that?
- [34:12]
A
It's in Managua. It's in the capital. But it's just maybe. Maybe it's a 20, 25 minute ferry ride. Okay. It's within the.
- [34:20]
B
So Love island. But it's not the Netflix show.
- [34:22]
A
No, no.
- [34:24]
B
That's what I was thinking when you
- [34:25]
A
said not, not in Nicaragua. It's not the Netflix show, but that's what it's called. La Isla de la Mor.
- [34:30]
B
Okay.
- [34:30]
A
Love Island.
- [34:31]
B
Okay. For someone that's looking to get into the business, follow your footsteps, what's the number one piece of advice you could give them?
- [34:38]
A
You know what the number one piece of advice, Rich, is? People have to. Have to think the way they want to. I was at a conference one time, and this girl asked and said, hey, Rocky, they ask the same question, right? But the way she framed the question was like, how can a normal person like me. I said, what's a normal person like me? Right? Describe the term, because I don't understand. I said, never think of yourself as normal. Never think of yourself as average. In reality is when you want to achieve something, you have to think highly of yourself. You have to be your number one fan. It's just. It is what it is. Like me, I am Rocky Zapata's number one fan. I love Rocky Zapata, right? I love myself. So you have to be your number one fan. So I tell people, you have to think differently, you have to talk differently, you have to dress differently, look at yourself in the mirror and talk to yourself and tell yourself, listen. You know, you might not be where you're at, where you want to be today, but you will be tomorrow. And once you start talking to yourself and allowing yourself to, you know, absorb those things, your mind automatically is going to start thinking differently. Your own mind is going to start viewing you differently. That is why I tell people I hate the victim mentality. I. I just can't stand it. Because you know what, Rich? We've all gone through tough times, everybody. It's like in the U.S. right? Race card, right? The race card guy. There's freaking racism everywhere in the world now. Is it wrong? Yes, it is wrong, Rich. A thousand percent is wrong, right? No, it's or buts. But listen, if you're going to allow somebody's words or if you're going to allow somebody's, the way they treat you, if you're going to allow that to dictate who you are, come on. Like, it's just crazy. So when you want to overcome your obstacles, you have to think the way you want to be seen. I'm Latino, right? I mean, I've had racism on me in the US it is what it is. I still love the US I think the US Is the best country in the world. Nothing compares to the United States of America ever. And trust me, I've traveled a lot. And nothing, absolutely nothing compares to the usa. This is by far the best country in the world.
- [37:05]
B
I agree.
- [37:06]
A
By far.
- [37:07]
B
And this is the best time ever to be alive.
- [37:09]
A
A thousand percent. A thousand.
- [37:11]
B
Regardless of all the hoopla out there, you know, we got the Iran war that was going on, the oil prices are spiking, interest rate, environment's been high for five years now. Regardless of all this, this hoopla, I tell people all the time, I'm like, guys, this is the best time ever to be alive ever in the history of America. We have 4.8 billion people, use social media with a B. It's free to post, it's free to promote yourself. And then access to information has never been easier than it is today. You know, we have YouTube, we have podcasts like this, we have social media. I mean, you can learn anything you want in a matter of a couple days. You know, like literally a thousand years thing you want in the ability to get in the right rooms and have access to whatever you want in this world today. And by the way, the greatest transfer of wealth in American history is about to go down. We got, you know, we got 40 million retiring baby boomers in the next six years, and all this wealth is about to change hands. And so I tell people, I'm like, man, if this doesn't get you excited, I don't know what will.
- [38:09]
A
Yeah, definitely. And you know what? And we go back. It's just the way people think, right? I mean, once you start complaining, well, you know, life sucks for me and this and, you know, I live here and I live that. Listen, start talking differently, you know, start thinking that is definitely the best season of your life, right? Better seasons are coming because ultimately we have to be purpose driven human beings. Even when you reach a goal, Rich, you have to have your next goal in place. Because if now you're gonna die, you know, you're definitely gonna die. Listen, I remember when my daughter and I build our first home, right? Because I don't buy homes. I build them. I like building them for some reason. So when my daughter and I, in 2016, we built our first actual home. When I finished building that, Rich, I said to myself, you know what, I'm gonna retire, right? I have the home paid off. I can just work, you know, for light, for food, take it easy. Well, that lasted 24 hours because I felt like I was dying. Like I said, this is boring, right? I said, when's the next house? When's the next project? And that is what actually kept me with purpose, because I'm looking at the next project, right? We sold $6 million. Hey, team, how can we sell 7 million tomorrow, right? And then you keep yourself with that purpose, and you have to maintain yourself with a target where, hey, even when I reach my purpose, I have to have the next one in line. And you have to have a huge goal that it might be unreachable to reach at times, right? It might be very, very far, but you have to set yourself a very, very high goal so you can stick to it and fight for it until the last day you live. And that's how you keep alive. It feels great to be alive.
- [40:09]
B
I didn't realize this until 37 years old, but happiness stems from growth and progress. To your point, the happier we are, the more. Sorry, the. The more we're growing, the more we're progressing, the happier we are as human beings. And the second that I stop growing and the second I stop progressing, that's the second that I'm no longer happy. And if I look back at these seasons throughout my life to where I was not happy, it was because I was not growing. I was not progressing. And that's why you see people like. Like Grant Cardone, you know, he's almost 70 years old, and the guy's just getting warmed up is because he's building a big thing. And so I don't think I'll ever be the whole thought of, like, oh, you know, let's just. Let's just live to retirement. Let's get to retirement, and then everything's going to be all good. When. When people retire, that's when you. You tell yourself it's. It's time to start dying, right? We're either growing or we're dying.
- [40:56]
A
People like you, rich people like me, I don't think we can ever retire because I'm a working machine, rich. And. And I enjoy it, to be honest with you. You know what? If I could work every minute of my life, I promise you I'll do it. The only reason I don't is because I got to take my daughter out. I got to take her on vacation. I got to spend time with her. But other than that, I can work 724. I don't. That's life. And, you know, a lot of people that know me, even family members, are like, how do you do it? You know, how do you. I mean, you look at my phone, rich, I get 130 calls a day, right. It's crazy, but I just enjoy it. I like it, I love it. It's life. It keeps me alive. And I can live to 70, I can live to 90, I can live to 120. And I think I'll keep the same pace, even go a little bit faster as time progresses, you know what I mean?
- [41:51]
B
You're just getting warmed up on that.
- [41:52]
A
If I can do it, I would. I just got to spend some time with my daughter because if not, I get in trouble with her.
- [41:59]
B
I hear you on that. All right, Rocky, we're going to go to the next segment of the show where I'm going to ask you five rapid fire questions I ask every guest. So to start, what is the biggest money obstacle you've ever had to overcome?
- [42:09]
A
I think one of the biggest obstacle in money that I've had, I've had to overcome and probably a lot of small businesses have had to overcome is cash flow, right? Because I mean, sometimes we have high, right. High overhead, material costs, you know, challenges with raising capital. Right. And actually having a healthy cash flow will allow your business to flourish. Once you start dying on cash flow, then that's where a lot of small businesses die. Especially when you have slow paying clients, right? You have clients that actually pay slow.
- [42:54]
B
Now you got to get the paid in full up front, right?
- [42:56]
A
Well, 60 days become 90 days. 90 days become 120 days. 120 days become 150 days. And you have those clients, right, that they, they want everything yesterday, but they pay you in four months. You learn the business, right? You go with it. So I think that has probably been a big obstacle, not only for me, for a lot of businesses, but. And you definitely have to put certain things in place, right, to be able to manage your cash flow and actually raise that capital needed to keep the business afloat.
- [43:29]
B
What are your top three favorite books of all time?
- [43:31]
A
My top three favorite books, Rich. Number one, the Bible. Right? I love the Bible. It has been in history, right. The bestselling book. I think we've. They've sold between 5 to 7 million. They printed and distributed. 5 to 7 billion. I'm sorry, 5 to 7 billion with the B. Right. 5 to 7 billion copies worldwide. So I love the Bible because I think in the Bible you find everything you need to know about life. I'm rich. I mean, we're talking about finances. Even in the Bible, right? They talk about finances. I mean, if you look at the life Jesus lived, there's you know, even Jesus, right, spoke about finances. Finances. I mean, one of the things that, you know, the key, right, of finances within the Bible is they teach you, right, that money is a tool, right? Money is a tool to be a blessing, but it can also be a dangerous master. And that's where I think you have to learn the difference between a blessing and a dangerous master. So the Bible has helped me a lot with my financial goals. So the Bible has been great. The second book has been good. Good to great by Jim Collings. Great book, right? Because it actually teaches you how, you know us as individuals or even organizations, they can actually stay staggered in certain places because maybe it feels comfortable because maybe it's a safe zone, but it actually teaches you, right, how to execute, how to build those relationships into taking yourself and your organization, getting the right people on the bus and going from good to great. And then I think he. He got that other book, great by choice too, right? So great. But Jim Collins has been great. And then the third book that has inspired me is, I don't know if you read it, it's by Donald and Marcus now discover your strengths. So it's a great book because it actually talks about 34 teams. And these 34 teams, it actually goes deep into your talents and it actually tries to discover your talents. And the funny thing or the fun fact at the end of the book, there's an actual test you take. It's not a password fail test. Sure. It's a test where it actually helps you discover the talents that, you know, you carry within. And it's great for organizations because my talents are not your tenants, Rich. And your talents are not my talents. You're stronger in certain area, I'm stronger in another area. Right. So it allow us, right, to actually grab our talents and our strengths and put them together to become. Made the organization more successful. So that's a great book to read as well. And I have many more that I.
- [46:30]
B
What is your favorite quote of all time?
- [46:32]
A
I have two, Rich. Actually, I have two. So one of my favorite quotes is by Abraham Lincoln, okay. People are as happy as they make up their minds to me. So it's great because everything, you know, it's the way you think. As we've spoken in, you know, previously, everything is the way you think of yourself. So Abraham Lincoln says, listen, you're going to be as happy as you tell yourself you are going to be as happy. And then the second quote is by me, right. Which I use it a lot in business, which I tell I always tell myself, thank you, Lord, for not allowing me, right, to get what I think I wanted. And I tell myself that because many times we have unanswered prayers, certain doors that close, and we start fighting ourselves and, and thinking, man, why did that door close, right? Why is my prayer unanswered? But in reality, it's a protection, right? God is protecting you from something. He's saving you from something, right? Why didn't that relationship work? Well, God was protecting you from something, right? So I always say, thank you, Lord, for not giving me what I actually thought I wanted.
- [47:47]
B
What is the. If you could go back and tell your 25 year old self one piece of advice, what would that be?
- [47:53]
A
I would tell myself, Rich, something as basic as guard your heart, right? Be careful of the people you actually let in and the people that actually access you. Because at the end of the day, not everybody that walks with you, not everybody that eats with you, not everybody that sits at the table with you, not everybody that you allow into your life has the best interest for you. And I mean, if you can see and if you analyze your life, because I've done it, probably your biggest enemies are those you probably help the most ones. Okay, Your biggest enemies. If you start analyzing.
- [48:37]
B
Say that again, that your biggest enemies
- [48:39]
A
are what are those you once helped the most, right? You start analyzing your life and says, hey, who are my biggest enemies, right? Is those people that you actually helped, that you actually took them out of somewhere, you made them somebody, right? And then they become your enemies. So I think I would tell myself, guard yourself a little more and be careful who comes into your life, right? Because not everybody has the best, best interest or, you know, the best wishes for you.
- [49:11]
B
Yeah. Why is starting a consulting business one of the best opportunities in 2026?
- [49:16]
A
I think it's one of the best opportunities, Rich. At least it's worked for me, right? Because one of the reasons that starting a consulting business is it's very low investment risk, right? You can actually start yourself, right? You can have some money saved or you can do the hustle on the side. And starting a consulting business like I did, you can start it yourself. You could be your own and only employee until you start growing. And when you are your, when you can actually run something and be your first and only employee, at the moment, overhead is literally almost nothing, right? And you can actually start growing from there and create a strategy to grow more. So I think that's why consulting is one of the, one of the best things to start because it's very low, low risk financially.
- [50:08]
B
Yeah, that's really good, Rocky. Dudes, this has been amazing, man. So much game, so much value. Where can the folks get in touch with you? They want to learn more about your consulting business, your brand, everything that you're doing.
- [50:19]
A
Visit us on the website at www.rocky sapata.org so you can access us there or Instagram, Facebook, everything is Rocky Zapata.
- [50:31]
B
Go, go. Follow my guy on Instagram at Rocky Zapata. Rocky, I appreciate you coming on, man. So much game, so much value. He is Rocky Zapata. And next time I'm coming out to Miami.
- [50:41]
A
Yeah, bring your passport.
- [50:43]
B
I'm down. I've never been. He is Rocky Zapata. I'm Rich Summers, listeners, thanks for tuning in. We'll see you guys on the next one.
- [50:48]
A
Peace.