SPEAKERS
Samantha Niles, Carl Richards, Thalia Cuadra, Alfonso Cuadra, Toni Cera
Carl Richards 00:05
Welcome to the WealthGenius podcast! The WealthGenius podcast: strategies for multifamily real estate investing, mindset, community, success. The WealthGenius podcast with your host, The Godfather of Real Estate, Alfonso Cuadra, who has extensive experience in business and massive success as a real estate investor. The WealthGenius podcast, let's dive in to today's episode.
Alfonso Cuadra 00:32
And we're here. Wow, what's happening?
Thalia Cuadra 00:35
Hows it going?
Alfonso Cuadra 00:38
I'm so happy not just to have you guys here because, you know, you know, I love you guys. But because I think we want to inspire young people today. Right? Young people are confused. I was talking to someone this weekend they were talking about, you know, "I want to be famous." Right? I didn't say anything. But I'm like, wow, like, it's almost like famous is more important than being wealthy, right? And so I don't- I don't know if young people understand wealth. Thalia, she has been learning about this her whole life.
Of course, for the people that don't know, this is my daughter. And, you know, I've been, I've been trying to, you know, every opportunity that I got was, "let's pull up the flip chart and let me show you how this works." And for the most part, I think it was like, "ehh, this is what my father does. It's kind of boring, you know, real estate, who wants that? You know? And then, you know, I tell people all the time, it wasn't until she came to me, right. And I think it was one of those moments was like "Dad, like, working sucks!" You know? And then all of a sudden, like, you were really interested in real estate.
So I wish that for all young people. And I don't know, sometimes, you know, like people that are older, they just don't understand the struggles, the new struggles that you guys are going through. We have internet, we have social media, we didn't have any of that stuff, right? It was easy to stay focused, because you could just focus on one thing, and you don't have all of these other distractions, you know. So I think these are going to be very important conversations. And I want to get to the story of 6Ten, WealthGenius, coaching, real estate, the empire, right? And so I want to talk about all these things. And I want to start with kind of like how you guys met?
Thalia Cuadra 02:35
Yeah, so I guess I'll tell my side of the story, because we all have like a different, like, reason why we met and kind of gotten to this certain industry. So we actually met through an industry called MLM multi level marketing. I mean not-
Alfonso Cuadra 02:50
Is that how you met? Or did you know each other before?
Thalia Cuadra 02:51
That's how we met?
Samantha Niles 02:53
We'll get there.
Thalia Cuadra 02:53
Yeah, yeah, so- I mean-
Alfonso Cuadra 02:54
Okay, everyone, hey listen, I'm gonna sit, got- got my popcorn here ready. You know what I mean?
Thalia Cuadra 02:59
So, Ottawa's very small. So I mean, at some point, maybe we've crossed paths. But I mean, for what for, as far as we know, we have never met, like, personally. And so we all joined this one company that we all shared a love of beauty, and hair, and all these things that I thought was interesting to me, I thought, like, when I joined, I remembered the person kind of bringing me in and explaining to me what the purpose of this was. And I immediately saw the further vision of it, I immediately saw entrepreneur, I immediately saw what I can do with this, I can maybe quit my job with this. And it was more of a visionary thing for me, as opposed to just like selling beauty products. And so we were all essentially on the same team. She actually started the team.
Alfonso Cuadra 03:45
Oh so it was you?
Thalia Cuadra 03:46
Yeah, she was the upline, right. And she actually wasn't even living in the city, but I'll let her tell you the story. But yeah, so when I joined, I was like, "okay, yeah, we have- we got to do this!" Right? Like, we were, in every call, we were super engaged and super, like passionate about it. And there was a moment for me personally, that I was just like,"ehh, this isn't doing it for me." And the moment I actually realized that was when I actually started talking to people about it. Whereas I'm like, "Hey, you can really build something with this." And then the like, "Okay, well, what is it that you're selling?" "Okay, well, beauty beauty products." And then it just kind of "ehh." The moment just kind of dwindled down because even myself I wasn't super passionate about shampoo. Right? So that's kind of how it started for me. But through that we kind of you know, would have conversations about you know, what, what else can we do with this, but I don't know if I should pass on the mic. That's kind of how it started.
Alfonso Cuadra 04:40
But while you're passing the mic, I just want to make sure that everybody knows that I did support my daughter in these beauty products. And I bought these hair products, and I don't know. I don't know and they kept sending it to me. I said,"Thalia would you tell them I don't have hair anymore?" Like-
Toni Cera 04:57
Number one VIP!
Alfonso Cuadra 05:00
Okay. But you know, I think you asked me, you know "Dad, should I be doing this?" And I said, "Absolutely, absolutely."
Thalia Cuadra 05:07
Yeah.
Alfonso Cuadra 05:07
I think MLM is a perfect way to get started to just get exposed to entrepreneurship, you know, and this different way of thinking. So, Toni.
Toni Cera 05:20
Hey, y'all, I'm Toni. No. So as Thalia was mentioning, we met through this MLM while I was living in Edmonton, and it was during COVID, like the peak of COVID. I'm born and raised in Ottawa. But after my studies, I moved to Edmonton for job opportunity in the legal field. And I also had a side hustle out there as well on evenings and weekends. And when COVID hit, I lost my side hustle. So I was trying to come up with ways on how I can replace that income. And this opportunity came my way. And so I said, "why not?" And it was great while it lasted. Like Thalia mentioned, it's very sales focused. So it wasn't fulfilling. Samantha was the first to join the team. Samantha and I actually go way back. We've known each other since middle school. So she joined. And I'll let her get into her story about that.
Alfonso Cuadra 06:26
Were you always entrepreneurial?
Toni Cera 06:27
Yes and no, like growing up, I would make things, bracelets, sell them. But I was very, like, my parents kind of had the traditional mindset of like, go to school, get a solid career and buy a house. So that's transferred to me. And once we started getting into this entrepreneurship journey, like my mind was just like, "whoa, like, there's so many other things that we could be doing." And it's kind of how we started The 6Ten Project. And before we took a real estate focus, we were we were having business calls with you just about entrepreneurship and business mastery-
Alfonso Cuadra 07:15
Sales!
Toni Cera 07:15
Yeah. And then we took a real estate geared focus, and here we are today. Yeah.
Alfonso Cuadra 07:22
So the question is, like, how in the world did you get involved in all of this?
Samantha Niles 07:27
That is the question. So yeah, Toni being my best friend, she told me about this opportunity. And I was never one to be like, "okay, yeah, let's do this." I always knew about like, I think it was like Aveda, there was other beauty products that they were doing. That was MLM and stuff, right. So Toni was telling me about it. And I was like, "You know what?" Because yeah, it was the beginning of COVID. But mind you, I was working for the government, they, you know, they sent us home, and we were still getting paid. So it was fine for me.
Alfonso Cuadra 07:54
Life was good!
Samantha Niles 07:54
That was good.
Alfonso Cuadra 07:55
Hashtag "living your best life."
Samantha Niles 07:57
Yeah, exactly! But I don't know something in my body just told me "just do it." Right? Just see what like, what's the worst that can happen? Right? And funny enough, within like, halfway through the month, I was like, "No, I don't want to do this anymore." And then Toni, and her leader convinced me to stay on. So I ended up staying on and you know, what, if I never would have stayed on, I never would have met Thalia or have started 6Ten. So I mean, everything happens for a reason. And I'm just thankful for, for this opportunity.
Alfonso Cuadra 08:30
Yeah. So there was another another group that was very community based. I don't know the name of it, or whatever. But you I think you were inspired by it. You're like, we want to be like this group, you know?
Samantha Niles 08:42
WFAB
Alfonso Cuadra 08:42
But you said yeah, like, you start your own group, you can do whatever you want. You know, maybe one day, you could do real estate, you know? And I was coaching Thalia, and she was learning about real estate, she was getting results. Right? And I don't think you believed it until you got the results. Because it was still like, yeah, it was still like, kind of like, yeah, this kind of thing that my dad does, you know, and you didn't really believe it. And so, you know, talk about that. Like what happened? Like what you- cause something, it was a switch inside of you that just kind of like, boom! You just kind of went that- you just kind of like absorbed everything and you just like, trusted the process.
Thalia Cuadra 09:24
Yeah, I can't put my finger on the moment that it clicked. Definitely. It started with me joining this MLM thing. And it's funny, because the conversations we were having in these groups and calls, it was just, I was like, I have these conversations with my dad every day. Right? And it was, it was just inspiring to me to see other people, other women specifically wanting to do more and wanting to have more and do bigger things. And I almost felt like I had a little secret. Like I almost felt like why am I not sharing what I'm learning with everyone here and so I would I would talk about real estate just in terms of my own personal wants and desires in life.
And as people were like, "Yeah, that's like the so, what? Multifamily?" like it was, it was new to them. And it's so funny because me, it's like, not new to me, it's so my entire life, that even I can, I can bring it back to when I was maybe eight or nine years old. And you would bring me to these properties like random, "Hey, hey, this is one of our- Hey this is another one of our properties." And I remember walking into one of the units and just like, I was just amazed that like this is this is our family legacy. And so bring it back to, you know, I'm in this MLM thing. And really just like, at the same time, like kind of asking you for advice and understanding that. To grow in a community, you need to have like, culture, you need to have expertise, you need to have exclusivity and community like really like the the willingness to, you know, be of service to everyone around you. So and I would just see you grow your own community. And just just to see that-
Alfonso Cuadra 11:06
You saw it from the beginning.
Thalia Cuadra 11:07
Yeah, to see that flourish and kind of make the connection that like, Listen, what we're doing is like quite literally the exact same thing that my dad is doing. But I almost found that you what you were doing had a much bigger purpose, and a much more impact on people's lives. So we honestly, like just with the conversations, we were having just transitioned into real estate because of where it can take you right? And it wasn't, it didn't start out like that. We were just like, "Okay, let's, let's be like this other group, like we need to be on Instagram, like, taking pictures." But it was much deeper than that. It was much deeper than social media and Instagram and the look of it, it was really like, we're really trying to help people.
Alfonso Cuadra 11:48
Yeah. And you are you're helping people your age. And, you know, even now, how long? How long? What's the, what's the-
Thalia Cuadra 11:57
Two and some years?
Alfonso Cuadra 11:58
Okay, let's so let's look at this, look at what we've done here. Look, two, three years, and how many members?
Thalia Cuadra 12:05
We have 60 plus members between-
Alfonso Cuadra 12:08
Woooooh! Goodness. And so those are actual human lives, that you guys are impacting, I mean, you're changing the trajectory of these young people's lives. Like how does that feel?
Thalia Cuadra 12:20
It's out of everything that I think entrepreneurs do, I think is the most fulfilling work. It's, it's never anything that I ever saw myself doing. Like I would see you speak and do- and I'm like, "that's good. You can do that. Like, that's all you!" But myself, personally, I never like I never needed to be like in the center of everything or like wanting to be a speaker or like be on any type of attention platform. However, I do think that you- you taught me this is the most important piece of real estate is the stage and to be able to help other people and to whatever you've learned, you have to share it. Like, and I like I said, I felt so blessed growing up with with you, and the knowledge that you've shared. And you know, it's not even just knowledge you transferred action tools to me.
Alfonso Cuadra 13:12
I love it
Thalia Cuadra 13:12
A toolbox that I can take-
Alfonso Cuadra 13:13
I have Goosebumps right now. Like-
Thalia Cuadra 13:19
So yeah, I mean, I think it I felt like I needed to share and honestly these two girls, women, okay, again, I can't even say girls. Women, like we-
Alfonso Cuadra 13:28
Bosses!
Thalia Cuadra 13:28
Yeah, we are bosses and we've come together. And it's like every idea I can be like, you can ask them I have like 10 million ideas a day.
Alfonso Cuadra 13:37
Yeah.
Thalia Cuadra 13:37
And sometimes it's like, okay, let's just relax. Let's start on the one. But they truly supported everything that I've ever said out of my mouth. And they just like, we're like, yeah, we're in like, and so I- yeah.
Alfonso Cuadra 13:51
So, so she, she comes back with all this real estate stuff. Like, what are you guys thinking? You know, like, first of all, 6Ten started as a cosmetic business. But all of a sudden, like, "Let's do real estate, you know, let's pivot and do this real estate." So what are you what are you thinking?
Toni Cera 14:09
So one thing before I get into that, I just want to add that although we are impacting younger people's lives, they are truly impacting our lives, to see them come to us in different phases of their life. You know, we have students who are as young as 18 into their 30s. But to see them transition their mindset and go through the program that they turn into completely different people and it's, it's so fulfilling and so rewarding to see that.
Back to your question. I was more or less on board right away. When Thalia first approached us I was like, "Wait, what? This is a thing? This is possible? How? Because again, I had that traditional mindset of, you buy a single family home and you probably I take your whole life to pay it off. So multifamily, I- It wasn't something I was familiar with. It wasn't something that I knew that was within my reach. So immediately I was like, "Tell me more. I need to know more. How is this possible?" I believed everything she said, I knew it was coming from a good place. So I was on board.
Samantha Niles 15:26
So funny enough, before we even got to that conversation, Thalia and I were talking with this other girl as well, her name was Kay Carlin as well. And we were like, "You know what, like, this is not giving us any drive. Like we need to think of something." And then Thalia just started bringing up real estate. And I'm like, "Okay, sure. Let's do it!" You know, like, I didn't even, I didn't even think twice. I'm like, "You know what, like, I'm I'm at a point now like, just to have joined Monat, that MLM, opened up my mind to so many different things that I never thought was possible."
And again, like Toni's parents, my parents are so traditional, they're like, "No, you gotta go to school and save your money." They didn't even know about investing. So I just said, "okay, yeah, let's do it. Real Estate. Why not?" And then we gave it a shot and Thalia was my coach, and here we are today. And yeah.
Alfonso Cuadra 16:20
This is incredible. So what do we got to do, guys? Let's talk some real talk here. Why aren't young people excited about real estate? What is it? Like, is it the price? Is it- is they do they feel like they don't have a chance? Like, what is it?
Thalia Cuadra 16:35
Yeah, so I think my personal opinion, just, you know, being a coach, and just understanding young- I mean, I'm young too. So I mean, also my generation, but-
Alfonso Cuadra 16:44
But like, you're, you're getting up there. I'm just saying,
Thalia Cuadra 16:47
So are you by the way. But, if I'm getting old, you're getting old.
Alfonso Cuadra 16:54
Yeah I know that sucks, that sucks.
Thalia Cuadra 16:58
Um, so yeah, again, so through my coaching, I find that just in our generation alone, there's a lot of instant gratification, there's a lot of comparison, there's a lot of, I want to look rich, but like not really understand how to be rich, I find that real estate is very hard. Like, it's really not easy for anyone. And not just because you're young. But it's a very difficult, almost industry to I mean, it's the resilience, like we heard this before, this is something that you have to have the gut for, and the grit, right, and it- to keep going because there's just one quote that I really, really like, it's the "consistence versus persistence." Where consistency is just doing the same thing, a task over and over and keeping consistent. But persistence, is doing that consistency, through difficult periods through difficult tasks, the obstacles, the challenges, and young people don't necessarily love to do that. Especially with like I said, social media and everything. So real estate in general has been very difficult for millennials, Gen Z's to buy into anyways, even if they wanted to buy a single family home. No, they can't they don't have the ability to or they don't have the affordability that-
Alfonso Cuadra 18:16
So I like what you're saying about resilience. Are we teaching young people to be resilient? Are we- or are we rewarding average, right? So like, everyone is the same. Everyone gets the same size trophy. Everybody wins. From a young person's perspective, do you think that's allowing to nourish that resilience?
Thalia Cuadra 18:38
No, I don't think so. I think, I mean, there's always exceptions to the rule, right? Like, there's always people that you know, have that they want more, but they just they're not in environments that allow them to be more, or they they get themselves in jobs that maybe they thought were you know, that was what they should do. Again, it's not something that I think anyone tries to do or like, essentially fall into that, right, like the parents and just past mindsets, you get transferred into those things. And mind you like I had, I was lucky with you. But I also have another side of the family like my mom's side of the family. Love my mom, by the way, "hey! What's up? if you're here." But it just, it was a very clear distinction of you know, someone with maybe like, a growth mindset. And I wouldn't say my mom had like, poor mindset, but just like constricted mindset.
Alfonso Cuadra 19:33
Traditional mindset.
Thalia Cuadra 19:34
Traditional. That was the culture.
Alfonso Cuadra 19:35
Go to job- get a- go to school, get a job.
Thalia Cuadra 19:37
Yeah
Alfonso Cuadra 19:38
An uh stay at that job kind of thing.
Thalia Cuadra 19:40
Exactly. So, and I think when you're in an environment that doesn't talk about these things, or doesn't allow you to grow, you don't essentially look for it for yourself, you don't think that it's possible for you. So.
Alfonso Cuadra 19:50
Young people, how to we get them involved. Like what's, what's happening, Toni?
Toni Cera 19:54
Well, just to elaborate on some of what Thalia said, I think the grind mode now is completely different in this day and age with social media and kind of after COVID, we switched into like a virtual world. So people are looking to make money quickly off their phones, off social media, crypto, Bitcoin, not something I'm familiar with. But I think that's really where the the main-
Alfonso Cuadra 20:20
Get the quick, the quick money? Yeah, the "insta life".
Toni Cera 20:25
Exactly- "Insta." Yes. So I think perhaps, I can't speak for everyone, but they're just unaware, it's the the lack of information that they have access to. Like, they may think that this isn't something that is possible or within their reach. And that's what 6Ten Project is trying to do. We're trying to get that information out there to younger people to let them know that there are so many other opportunities available to them.
Alfonso Cuadra 20:56
Love it. What are we doing with young people?
Samantha Niles 21:00
Well, you know what, having a niece who's about to turn 18 Soon, seeing her mindset, and other young people, I don't want to say that maybe they don't know, they just don't know where to get the information. But I know that these young people are willing and ready to go and get the bag. You know what I mean? And I think for the most part, a lot of them know that it's not just get rich quick, you know, it does take time, but also at the same time, they want to show up these clothes, the shoes, you know that they have all this and I think that's part of the reason.
But I think like that both of them, were saying the information needs to be out there because my neice, she was saying, "well don't I have to be 18 to start looking for like real estate?" "No girl, it doesn't have to start that way, right?" So I think it's the lack of information that's getting put out there. Because even for myself, now that I'm 30 you know? I only knew about real estate two years ago, right? Well, yeah, because if it wasn't brought to me, from Thalia, then I would have never really known about investing into real estate. So again, I think it's just the information and for all the young people out there, get into this because this is generational wealth.
Alfonso Cuadra 22:04
So let's talk about tips. Right? Because we want to offer some tangibles. And we- we want to hope that some young people are going to be checking this out, you know, try to get the right hashtags and the proper things to get their attention, right? So let's create an avatar: 21 years old, just got out of school, maybe, maybe they're in school, they're in post secondary school. What do they do to get involved or get excited about real estate?
Thalia Cuadra 22:36
I think number one is for sure. Join some type of community, mentorship, coaching, something that you can get an example of what you're trying to do. I know sometimes it's actually hard to figure out what you want to do, because it's almost like a lot of us fell into real estate, not really knowing that we would ever do real estate for you know, as much as we do. And like it's a passion of ours. Get with the people that have the results that you want. And don't listen to the people that don't have the results that you don't want, right or don't have the results that you have.
Alfonso Cuadra 23:09
You're broke as friend is not gonna be able to give you good advice, you know?
Thalia Cuadra 23:15
Yeah. And you know what, that's exactly what 6Ten is, is- that's what it stands for. Like we all had a job going going into this right? Still do. And we're still working our way and building.
Alfonso Cuadra 23:27
So for the people that don't know what's going on what is 6Ten what is The 6Ten Project?
Thalia Cuadra 23:31
So The 6Ten Project, we're essentially we're also an educational platform for real estate, but 6Ten, the word, comes from a very famous expression "nine to five pays the bills six to 10 builds the empire."
Alfonso Cuadra 23:45
Yeah!
Thalia Cuadra 23:49
So yeah, that's that's exactly what we're doing. And it kind of also speaks to how much resilience you need to have because a lot of people are not willing to spend their six to ten building something else working tirelessly, emails, realtors walkthroughs. It's something that you have to make a decision you have to commit yourself and continue through it. But again, it's not, I don't remember that your- the your question to be honest with you, but-
Alfonso Cuadra 24:16
No, just tips were just doing-
Thalia Cuadra 24:17
Yeah tips, okay!
Alfonso Cuadra 24:17
We're just giving- just like what can you offer young people? 21 year old-
Thalia Cuadra 24:21
Mentorship.
Alfonso Cuadra 24:21
Yeah mentorship.
Thalia Cuadra 24:22
Coaching. Definitely, yeah, get a mentor. I was just at a conference and they were saying one of the things I actually have not heard before, but if you let's say don't have a job yet, or just out of college, why not get a job in real estate or if you're really into real estate and you're not sure where to go next? Maybe you know, find a firm or find find someone who's been doing this for a long time and offer value. What can- what can I do to help you?
Alfonso Cuadra 24:48
And- and you guys are rich with time!
Thalia Cuadra 24:50
Yeah. 100%
Alfonso Cuadra 24:51
Right? Like you have an abundance of time where you know, old folks like me, you know, the time is limited, you know what I mean?
Thalia Cuadra 24:58
We're trying to get like, you!
Toni Cera 25:00
Time is- the time is the most valuable thing. So I think the second tip I would give is go to your Instagram page right now, follow The 6Ten Project, we're powered by WealthGenius, The Godfather himself. Wouldn't be here without y'all. So huge shout out to WealthGenius. But yeah, we're constantly dropping tips and tricks on our social media page. And we're happy to connect with anyone and everyone. You don't have to be a member to reach out to us and ask any questions you may have.
Alfonso Cuadra 25:33
Going back to the resilience, when you have a community that can lift you up, when you're down, that helps you move forward. Regardless of all the ups and downs, you know, because it's true, you need to build that resilience. But if you don't know what it looks like, if you don't know what support and being challenged- you're going to be alone, and you may not try.
Toni Cera 25:53
Exactly, there's so much you can accomplish by yourself. But when you have a team behind you, who's supporting you, throughout your entire journey, you guys don't even know what- your possible, your limit, like it's limitless.
Samantha Niles 26:08
Yeah. So on top of all that, I want to say take action, change your environment, that is the biggest biggest thing. Also, you know, look for it, then it will come to you. Read books, there's lots of real estate books out there, educate yourself on YouTube, and just get into real estate in any way possible. That's what the internet is for. That's why everything is virtual now.
Alfonso Cuadra 26:31
Well, I love it. This was an awesome podcast here for young people. And in front of me, I'm looking at strong, young woman bosses, right? You guys are killing it. So I know you're going to inspire not just the 60 people because that's going to create a ripple effect because those 60 people are going to talk to another 60 People are going to talk to another 300 people, another 500 people and other you know, 1000s of people. And so you guys are doing good work. Good on you. I'm proud of you. But even more you should be proud of yourselves because you've built a great organization. Alfonso loves you. And we're gonna see you all at the top! Wooooh!
Toni Cera 27:13
Thanks for having us!
Alfonso Cuadra 27:17
That's it! That's a wrap!
Carl Richards 27:18
Thanks for listening to the WealthGenius podcast. If you have a question or comment about something you heard today, reach out to The Godfather via social media or email him anytime all that information is in the show notes. And of course don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode of the WealthGenius podcast. The WealthGenius podcast, until next time, see you at the top!
