The Intersection of Real Estate and Jiu Jitsu: Building Wealth and Self Confidence

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:00:13 to 00:00:30

All right. Live as live can be. Hello, everybody. Mike Mills with Verity mortgage here today. This is my 45th episode of the Texas Real Estate and Finance podcast and and if you guys are needing anybody to pre qualifyers or looking to refinance, please give me a call.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:00:30 to 00:00:53

Other than that, we'll just move right on to it. So today I'm welcoming a good friend of mine, Manny Martinez, and he is a realtor and a jujitsu instructor. So we are definitely going to have a great conversation today. And if you are into self defense and if you're out showing houses by yourself all the time, this is certainly going to be one you're going to want to turn in. Excuse me, I can't talk today.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:00:53 to 00:01:00

This is going to be one you're going to want to tune into. So without further ado, let's welcome Mr. Manny. How you doing, sir? I think I got clapping for you.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:01:00 to 00:01:08

You like that? Yeah, appreciate it. I like how you plug yourself before the intro. Yeah, I got to get that in there first. Yes, that's very important part of it.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:01:08 to 00:01:16

Otherwise, what am I doing this for? Right. Somebody called me with a buyer, so that's what we're looking for. So thanks for coming in, man. I really appreciate it.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:01:16 to 00:02:06

Thanks for having me. So Manny and I have worked together in the past and he just recently opened his own jujitsu studio. And everything I do on the podcast, I try as much as possible to gear it towards things that help realtors out. And especially these days because you're out there showing houses by yourself, you're hosting open houses by yourself, having strangers come in, and you just kind of have to assume that everybody's got your best interest in mind when they show up, and that's not always the case. So I wanted to bring Manny in here, obviously talk a little bit about real estate, but also to talk about what he does as an instructor for Jiu Jitsu and how it can relate to people learning self defense, especially agents, to make sure that they feel safe when they're out there doing all this stuff alone.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:02:06 to 00:02:19

So to start with, you were in the military, right? Yeah, I spent ten years in the army, yes. I think you get to sergeant, is that right? Yeah. Okay, so how'd you get going down that path?

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:02:20 to 00:02:31

I just needed something to do. Well, yeah, I was just basically just working, doing nothing. I was like, man, I really need some direction in my life. I just decided to join up. How old were you when?

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:02:31 to 00:02:42

I was 21, when I joined. Okay. So it was a little bit after high school then? Yeah, it was a little while. I was already like I said, I've been working for a few years and I was just kind of hanging out and my brother was actually in the Marine Corps.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:02:42 to 00:02:56

Okay. He'd done a few tours in Iraq in that initial period. So, like in 2003 in the invasion. And I was like, man, I really need to make my own path as well. And I decided, like, I was going to go and join the military.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:02:56 to 00:03:15

So obviously that experience is going to change you. There's no doubt, right? Absolutely. What do you think are some of the things that you took away from that that have helped you with everything else in your life? Because you develop certain qualities and traits in a situation like that that somebody that hasn't gone through that doesn't necessarily know or understand.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:03:15 to 00:03:44

But I don't think maybe everybody always realizes that there's a lot of things that you develop in the military that carry on to every other aspect of your life. So what's some of the stuff that you think you picked up that's really kind of helped you through everything else? I think most importantly is resilience, because one thing that the military will teach you is like, you could just take your loss and go about your day. I'm just saying because there's a lot of times where you will go through the wringer and then at the end of the day, you're going to be okay, right? You'll be all right.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:03:44 to 00:03:52

Just keep going, keep chugging along right there's. No, poor me. That's not allowed. That's what I'm saying. You can't feel sorry for yourself for a second, right?

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:03:53 to 00:04:03

And so I was able to carry that over. Also discipline, obviously with the discipline, like backwards planning, all of my stuff. So I still do that to this day. That's a skill that I picked up in the military. When you say backwards planning, what do you mean?

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:04:03 to 00:04:14

So let's say if I have something I have to do or somewhere I have to be, I'm like, okay, I got to be there at 101:00. Okay? That means I have to leave by 1230. Okay. If I have to leave at 1230, I get ready.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:04:14 to 00:04:22

Get ready at twelve or whatever. You backwards plan all the way up until, like, the day before. Got you. I do that. I didn't even know that was a thing.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:04:22 to 00:04:27

Backwards planning. I didn't know that had a name for it. Okay. I always do that. Anytime I have to go somewhere, I'm like, all right, I got to be there.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:04:27 to 00:04:44

I'm like mapping out the airport, what time we have to be there. Then I work all the way back to know when I go. You have to give your buffer time in case I get traffic or whatever. Yeah, that's backwards planning and they teach that. That's something that I still use today, everything I do, planning.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:04:44 to 00:05:06

So you're in the military for ten did you actually serve active duty? Yeah, I was active for ten years. Where were you at? Well, I was stationed up in Washington State, Fort Lewis, for about six years. I did both of my deployments out of there, so I did a year in Iraq, and then I did a year in Afghanistan, and then I went down to Fort Hood, Texas, which is now I think it's Fort Cavasso's now.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:05:06 to 00:05:11

They just changed the name. Oh, yeah, I think I did. See? Yeah. So they just changed the name.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:05:11 to 00:05:13

It was like a Confederate thing.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:05:16 to 00:05:18

Everybody gets upset about names and statues.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:05:20 to 00:05:42

How was your deployment? What was that like? Deployments? So it was funny, too, because I was field artillery, so we were shooting like these howitzers. And then my first deployment, we didn't do our job at all just because the howitzers caused too much damage for those smaller iraq is very compact.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:05:42 to 00:06:03

They're cities, so we couldn't use those howitzers. They're like, okay, well, you're rifle platoons now. And so they put us in these up armored trucks, and we're just patrolling. And I primarily worked on the border of Iraq and Iran. We were screening all the people coming over from Iran, making sure they didn't know, looking for people who were on the wanted list or whatnot.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:06:04 to 00:06:36

There's a technology we used to use that would scan the iris of people's eyes. We just scan them and it would pop up if they were like, funny list. Yeah. I'm like, okay, well, this guy we got to detain, or whatever. It's so crazy when you hear about technology stuff because the government and what they have is so far ahead of what the general populace is aware of, because, I mean, you're thinking like, this is 2000 and something, and they're scanning retinas just remotely.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:06:36 to 00:06:57

Well, we would sit them down, we'd pull them out, especially what we say military age males, like 18 to 36. Right. So those guys would have to sit them down and scan their retina or whatever. And I say, yeah, the technology is up there. But I feel like especially with conspiracy theories, people kind of overestimate the government's ability.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:06:57 to 00:07:26

One, they don't talk to each other. There's a lot of incompetence in there and a lot of wasted tax dollars. Yeah, a buddy of mine and I joke about it all the time, about how this because I'm into conspiracy theories, I love them. But more often than not, it's not that there's this cabal of people planning this massive thing. It's more just a series of incompetence that occurs with incentives involved to either get money or control or power or whatever.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:07:26 to 00:07:47

There's always a direction that someone's trying to head, but the end of the day, most of the time, it's still stupid people running stuff. There's a lot of mistakes that happen, and when things go south, that's generally what it is. So you get out of the military, you come back, and then you got to go get a regular job, right? Yeah. So did you go right into real estate after that, or did you do some things in between?

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:07:47 to 00:08:11

No, I was lost for a little bit, which most people are when they get out of the military. They're kind of like because anybody who serves, like, an extended period of time on active duty, they tell you exactly where to be, when to be there. You're extremely structured your day exactly where. You'Re supposed to be and where you lie in the hierarchy, which, in a. Way, I've heard is kind of like a relief, right, to some extent, because you're just like, well, I know what I'm going to do every single day, so I don't ever have to worry about that.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:08:11 to 00:08:31

I'm not picking out my clothes, right? I've just thrown a uniform on. I know where I have to be when I have to be there, what uniform I got to wear. So when you get out, you're like, I have no direction, actually. And I feel like, personally, I think this is why a lot of people kind of get lost and they have mental health issues and stuff because they have no purpose anymore.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:08:31 to 00:08:48

Right. It's really difficult to find that purpose in their life. Absolutely. Well, that's the thing with older folks, right? Whenever you see people retire, right, whatever that means, when they stop working and they don't have a reason to get up every single day, you see their health just fall off a cliff, because it's like you have to have a purpose to get up.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:08:48 to 00:09:00

And so even if you're not working in a traditional job, you've got to have something that you're looking forward to get out of bed and go do every day. And if you don't, it messes with your mental and your physical body, and. It could be anything. Yeah. Garden, whatever.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:09:00 to 00:09:10

Just something. Just not a whole lot of nothing. So you kind of meandered for a little bit and then figured you'd dip your toe into real estate. Why'd you decide that? Well, I was always interested.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:09:10 to 00:09:25

So actually, the story, when I was 19, before I even joined the Army, I went and signed up for my real estate, my fundamentals class. First one. Yeah. And I went, and I think I attended, like, three or four classes, and I never finished it. Right.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:09:25 to 00:09:32

So it was something that I wanted to do. I was very interested. Man, I wish I'd have gotten in that time, 2007. It would have been nice. Yes.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:09:32 to 00:09:55

That was right before the crash. Right before all that, but I never finished it. And then when I got out, I was working, like, a security job overnight at a warehouse, and I remember going around, like, doing a little door check, and I got real depressed, and I was like, this sucks. I was like, I'm doing nothing. This sucks.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:09:55 to 00:10:03

I'm like, Anybody can do this. You can train anybody to do this. Yeah. And I was like, I need to do something. And I was like, Well, I was always interested in real estate.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:10:03 to 00:10:31

And one, I feel it's really beneficial just to understand that world, even if you're not going to work in that area. It's beneficial for normal people, everybody, just to understand what you need to be qualified for a loan, how the industry works, because I don't know. Like I said, it's something the vast. Majority of millionaires in this country are billionaires. Something like 90% of them have most of their wealth in real estate.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:10:34 to 00:10:55

Which. Is why it's depressing these days because home prices have gotten so far out of control as far as, like, the average first time home buyer to be able to afford something. I tell all the time, when I bought my first house was $130,000. This was in 2004. It was in Arlington over Offshorewood Drive 20, kind of 287 over there, right by the lake.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:10:55 to 00:11:15

It's in a really nice neighborhood, about I think it was like 17 or 1800 square feet. I think my rate of time is like six and a half percent. But that same house, I looked at it like, two years ago, sold for, like, over $300,000. It's crazy. I actually feel kind of bad when I work with a first time home buyer, especially, like a younger couple, younger family.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:11:15 to 00:11:41

Sometimes I'm like, dang it, man. I hate having to tell them, you got to wait, or you need to save up some more money, or, I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do, or they qualify for so little that I'm having to show them these little rinky dink houses and not the best areas or whatnot. And I'm like, Dang it, man. I feel terrible that they're having to settle for this. So, yeah, it's really kind of gotten out of control to last.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:11:42 to 00:12:13

Well, the question I always ask people when I'm pre qualifying them is I'll say, okay, we go through the payments and kind of talk about different components of the payment, what you can affect, what you can't. So they understand kind of how the payment is put together. And then I'll ask them, when you were thinking about buying a house, what's kind of your max level, what payment do you not want to exceed? I ask it that way because we can always go down, but it gives me kind of a starting point, and it's like 95% of the people's answer yes. What do you think it is?

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:12:13 to 00:12:19

Don't want to go below no, don't. Want to go above this number. What do you think? Probably 2000, $2,000?

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:12:21 to 00:12:30

Everybody says 2000. Everybody says 2000. That's the what is it? Not the prices, right, but Family Feud, where they're like, we've surveyed 100 people. What's the number one answer?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:12:30 to 00:13:11

Yeah, that's it. And then when they put in the application that they were looking at a $350,000 house, and then I'm like, all right, so this is why we have to understand why that ain't going to happen. But it's hard and it's a sad state of affairs just because homeownership like we were talking about is one of the few paths to wealth for most average Americans, you buy your house, you live in it for several years, you build equity in that home. Then you can either sell it and upgrade to a bigger home or whatever. And then by the time the idea is, like, by the time you're in your 60s or 70s, you've either own your home outright or you have so much equity that it helps you with retirement or whatever the case may be.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:13:11 to 00:13:40

But now, because we're delaying household formations, people aren't even getting married and having kids till much later in life now. Yeah. And the fact that there's so few homes available for sale and every market is different. Real estate is very local in that the market in Chicago is very different from the market in Dallas. But here in this area, because there's so many people moving in and because did you know that in Tarrant County last year, half of the houses bought were bought not by people?

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:13:40 to 00:14:01

I absolutely hate that statistic. I hate that statistic so much. The fact that these huge companies or corporations, whatever, they're buying up these houses just to park their money or just to rent them out their cash flow. Yeah. And so I wish that there was some way we could put a stop to it, definitely put us no more.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:14:01 to 00:14:25

There would have to be some type of legislation they put in. But then it gets into the whole you're infringing on someone's ability to buy, but until they do something about it, that's just the situation that we're going to be in. And I saw something the other day, home builders, they have slowed their building pace on single family residents. There's still a lot of apartment complexes and stuff being built, but they slowed the single family residence. And those their profit margins are huge.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:14:25 to 00:14:38

Like, they are way up. So what they've done is they've shrunk the amount of homes they're building okay. Charged the same amount even though costs of goods and everything has gone down. And now they've expanded their profit margins, and they're loving it. So there's no way they're going back.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:14:38 to 00:14:44

They're building less and making more. Correct? Yeah. Yes. Because there's no incentive for them to build a cheaper home.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:14:44 to 00:15:14

And unfortunately, until things change, I mean, that's just what it is. But that's why it's tough these days, because real estate is such a path to wealth that people can't get to in a starting out stage that unless you have a family member that's willing to help you with cash or you just happen to make a really good income and have a low debt, it's tough. And that's why I tell people all the time, is now a good time to buy? I'm like, yesterday was the best time to buy because it just keeps getting more expensive. It doesn't change.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:15:16 to 00:15:44

All right, so let's get into why I really had you here in this jujitsu piece. So tell me a little bit about how you got into I know you told me before we started you wrestled in high school. And I know from what I understand about the world, a lot of former wrestlers that's kind of their general path is how they get into Jujitsu because very similar, a lot of ways to it. So how did you get started, and then you just opened your own is it called a club? What's the right word for it?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:15:44 to 00:15:55

It's not a dojo, right? It's a gym. Okay. It's crusader combat club. But I just called Combat Club because we have a couple of different oh, you have kickboxing boxing, mixed martial arts.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:15:55 to 00:16:09

We do some wrestling. Got you. So how'd you get going down there? So, yeah, wrestled all through high school, and actually, I feel like that made me a little cocky because I remember I wrestled, and I was now, you. Know, you can take people down good.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:16:10 to 00:16:19

At wrestling, scared of you. And then I fell out of it. I really didn't do anything. I joined the army. I just got into working out, basically to keep myself fit.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:16:19 to 00:16:40

So in the army, they didn't have I guess at that time, there wasn't much because I think nowadays isn't Jiu Jitsu kind of a pretty big role or a pretty big piece of the training that they do, or is am I crazy? So the army has their own hand to hand fighting system. It's called the Army Combatives Program. The modern army Combatives program. And that is very Jujitsu heavy.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:16:40 to 00:17:00

There's a lot of Jujitsu mixed into that. There's some Thai, there's some wrestling, some traditional Western boxing. They encompassed a lot of different martial arts in order to build that. But when they first started it, it actually did derive from the Gracie jiu jitsu. They had some Rangers, some guys from Washington go down into California and train with the Gracies for, like, I think it was a year.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:17:00 to 00:17:07

I'm not sure the timeframe. They spent a lot of time down there just training with them specifically to design the combatants program for the army. Wow. Yeah. Okay.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:17:07 to 00:17:23

And so that's how it started. And Matt Larson is the guy who started the combatants program. Shout out to Matt Larson. And so after I got in the army, like I said, I was just kind of, whatever, working out. And then one day, somebody one of my good friends, and I'm still friends with him now he's a fellow black belt.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:17:23 to 00:17:33

He invited me to a Jiu jitsu class when I got to Fort Hood, which is Fort Cavasso's now. Anyway, he was like, hey, man, come try this out. And I was like, oh, okay, cool. Whatever. And again, I had the little chip on my shoulder.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:17:33 to 00:17:53

I had done the basic combatives program that they offer in the army, and I did okay, though, because I had the wrestling background. So you're feeling pretty good when you walk in the door. I'll go check it out, show these guys what's up. And I did okay. I think the first night out there, there were other white know, other first beginners, right?

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:17:53 to 00:18:03

And I'm doing okay against the other white belts because I'm taking them down. They can't submit me. I'm like, I don't need this. I was thinking like, I'm okay. And I remember there was this real skinny guy.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:18:04 to 00:18:18

I think his name was Chris. And little guy, he's like 140 pounds, real lanky, and he was a blue belt, which is a step above a white belt. And I was like, I'm going to muscle this guy. I was like, okay, cool. He's like, yeah, you want to roll?

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:18:18 to 00:18:32

I'm like, yeah, okay, man, go. This guy choked me like six or seven times in five minutes. I couldn't stop him. And so I was like, I need to do this. If this little skinny dude can work me over that way, this is something I need to learn.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:18:32 to 00:18:54

Okay? So I want you to talk about that a little bit. So talk about the jujitsu as the art form itself, the martial art form itself, and why it's such a because with the advent or the popularity of the UFC and MMA coming to know, it's not like jiu jitsu just started. It's been around for a long time. But its popularity exploded after the and or after the UFC started.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:18:54 to 00:19:23

And from an outsider's point of view, it looked like that the reason that that happened is because it didn't matter what other martial art you did. Kickboxing, regular old fashioned boxing. The winners for UFC in the beginning were all jujitsu guys. Well, yeah, that's how they but there was a little bias in the beginning of the UFC too, because the Gracie family actually started the UFC. And so they kind of got you.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:19:23 to 00:19:34

There's a couple of good little documentaries you can watch where they kind of set it up for their guy to win. Gotcha like they kind of match made him to win at all. It's okay. It exploded. It brought it over to the US.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:19:34 to 00:19:56

The cat was out of the bag. Everybody knew that jiu jitsu was the way to go. I think one of the reasons it became so popular was because it allowed for somebody who's not super athletic that's what I mean, who's not strong or big or whatever. They could use leverage and technique to defeat a larger opponent or to defeat somebody who's a little bit faster, a little bit stronger than them. Right?

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:19:56 to 00:20:19

And so it became once the cat got out of the bag and everybody started training jiu jitsu, now you've got, like, super athletes who are training jiu jitsu. So, like, okay, you're a super athlete, and you have this technique now. It's tough. But now you have to especially fighters who are training to go fight or to compete, they have to train jiu jitsu, right? Only because they need to know the basics or else they're going to lose.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:20:19 to 00:20:41

Because they get taken down. Then you can't get caught in something. Yeah. So what is it about Jiu jitsu specifically that makes it to where a bigger person or a smaller person can take down a bigger person? Or in this case, obviously, I'm trying to relate this to some degree to real estate, and I don't know the exact statistic, but the vast majority of realtors are women, right?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:20:41 to 00:21:16

So you're talking about a woman in a situation or even a smaller guy that would go into, say, an open house by themselves. They're there often alone, and bigger people are coming and going all the time. And there's a sense of, I don't have control in this environment. If anything were to really go down, I'm in a situation, the agent is in that situation where they may not be able to defend themselves. But Jiu Jitsu, for reasons you'll explain, is an art form that you can actually learn and be able to handle yourself in those situations.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:21:16 to 00:21:30

Even when you do have someone that's out that's bigger than you and stronger than you, if they don't have the same type of training, then you can have the upper hand in that situation. Right? Well, I think Jiu Jitsu just allows you to get what we call above the Joe line a little faster. Okay. Above the Joe line.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:21:30 to 00:22:12

So we call the Joe line Average Joe, the Average Joe, and it's the fighting prowess of the Average Joe gotcha. And so about six to eight months of training consistently in Jiu Jitsu, you can get above the Joe line gotcha to where you know a little bit more than the average person, because it doesn't really matter what martial art you're training as long as there's a live sparring component to it, right. So you're actually able to pressure test your techniques because there's a couple of legitimate martial arts and you can really tell the difference between something that's very legitimate and something that's kind of like a little bit of some bullshit, like a little bit of BS. And that's that there's no live sparring component to those BS. Martial arts.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:22:12 to 00:22:31

Right. You don't want to say what the BS martial arts are? No, there are some out there, and it's debatable some people like, well, I. Mean, karate is picked on a lot, right? Because a lot of the karate actually karate, that art is a lot of what do they call it, where you're just kata.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:22:31 to 00:22:56

Yeah. Where they're just doing but there's actually a very tough there's some portions of karate that are very credible where they're doing full contact, they're sparring on a regular basis. And again, that's the difference. If you go to a gym and you're like, I'm looking to really learn to defend myself, or I'm looking to really have confidence walking around to where I could handle myself in a situation, you have to look like? Are they live sparring?

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:22:56 to 00:23:15

Are they pressure testing their techniques? And this is one of the reasons why it's who. Some forms of karate, judo are very popular for those people who are looking for self defense or looking to handle themselves. Because I'm testing this against someone who is 100% resisting me. Right.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:23:15 to 00:23:32

So again, we're learning a technique and like, okay, I'm not just going to learn the technique and then practice it over and over by myself. Yeah, I'm not going to punch a board or whatever. Right? Yeah. No, I'm practicing this combination or this joint lock or this choke or whatever against somebody who is 100% resisting trying.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:23:33 to 00:23:46

And so I'm able to employ that technique against somebody who's so if someone. Came to you and had no idea what jujitsu was, I've never heard of this. What is this thing? How would you describe it to them? Especially in the nature of self defense.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:23:46 to 00:24:16

So if you had an agent that came to you said, hey, Manny, I really want to learn how to defend myself with jiu jitsu, but what is it? I don't like, talk to me like I'm three years old, how would you. Explain and because I work with very young kids every, so the best way I can always describe it is jiu jitsu to me, in my opinion, is the best form of self defense. Because we have to establish what self defense is before we talk about fighting and self defense, there's two different things fighting is you and I both make a conscious decision. We're going to stand here or we're going to engage in mutual combat, right?

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:24:16 to 00:24:29

We're going to fight. Self defense is like the best form of self defense is for me to get out of the situation, correct. To run away. Right. So I have to defend myself when I can no longer run away, when someone is holding me, grabbing me.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:24:29 to 00:24:47

And what's that? That's grappling got you. So if you're not allowing me to run away and I know we just talked about it a few seconds ago, a lot of women have those reservations about training and we say, like, the industry is really dominated by women. Again, if something's going to happen, it's not going to be like from a distance. Yeah.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:24:47 to 00:25:05

It's not going to be like, hey, you over there, stand there, I'm going to come and attack you loads. It's going to be a pretty violent situation. At first, they're going to grab you and you have to know how to work those grips, how to use your underhooks, how to use leverage, how to use your body weight. And you don't have time to think in those situations. Your body just has to react.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:25:05 to 00:25:17

Your body just has to do it. Right. So if you're not consistent, consistency is one of the main things. Whether and you're training muay Thai, boxing, wrestling, jiu jitsu, any of those consistency and then the live. Sparring component.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:25:17 to 00:25:45

I'm practicing every day, making sure my technique works. I'm pressure testing my technique well with. The live sparring, from what I understand, too, again, being an idiot in most of this, but it's a little different than, say, if we were boxing, right. If I'm boxing with you, I got a headgear on, and boxing, I'm still getting knocked around a little bit, but maybe not quite to the extent because you're kind of just sparring a little bit, and maybe you're going 85%. Right.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:25:45 to 00:25:50

Or 75% a little high for boxing. Right, okay. Yeah. Even less than that, you should go about 50, 60. Right.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:25:50 to 00:26:09

So you're trying to keep it low so you're not giving each other concussions and all that kind of stuff. Right. But with jujitsu, you're trying to get submissions, so you're going as hard as you can go for the most part, right. Because you're taking someone to the point of submission, essentially, and then letting them tap out, and then it's over with, as opposed to taking them down. Yes.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:26:09 to 00:26:20

So you can test the technique, and then I can safely tap my opponent or tap my partner and let them know. Okay. The technique works. Right. It happens, too.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:26:20 to 00:26:29

Like, you might tap too late and somebody might go to sleep, or somebody might. But the good thing is you just wake up and you're fine. Okay. I missed the tap. My bad.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:26:29 to 00:26:36

I tried to hold on a little too long. It happens quite a bit. Oh, does it really? Yeah, because everybody, it always feels they. Don'T want to give up.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:26:36 to 00:26:47

Well, it always feels like you're just about to slip out. Because I've been put to sleep a few times. Okay. And so every time you get put to sleep, you always feel like you're just about to escape. I'm just about to slip my head out.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:26:47 to 00:27:06

And then you wake up. Yes. And I remember once actually, somebody had a collar choke on me, and I was turning, turning, and I remember my head, my head's going to pop out any second now. And I turned to them, I escaped. And then I explained, like, hey, you really need to pinch your elbow down when you're putting that choke on.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:27:06 to 00:27:22

It would help out to keep me in there. And then I woke up. I had a whole dream about telling them how to gummy. But, yeah, it's really safe in that we can go, like, 100 full speed. We can go full speed.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:27:22 to 00:27:59

And then once you're caught in a submission or one of the techniques, you can just acknowledge that it works and we start over. Is it true that and again, knowing very little about this, but there are certain techniques, certain holds, grips, whatever you want to call them, that let's call them the basics. There's a few basic ones that you can do. And when you have somebody that's starting off that's brand new, you kind of drill those just over and over and over and over again. Because if it's a self defense situation like we just said a minute ago, you don't have time to think where you can okay, if I do this, your body just has to react to a certain extent, and it can't react unless you drill it over and over and over again.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:27:59 to 00:28:14

Is that a fair statement? So this is one of the misconceptions that normal people have. People who have no idea what martial arts are. They've never know. They have that Dunning Kruger effect where they overestimate their ability.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:28:14 to 00:28:35

They think like, I'm going to rise to the occasion. We never rise to the occasion, we fall to our lowest level of training. Right. So even if now if I got into a situation where I had to use some of my technique or some of the skill that I learned, I would use the very basic stuff. I'd probably just go like basic double leg takedown, go to the mount, do something super simple that I've drilled like a million times.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:28:36 to 00:28:43

Right. It would be the very basics. So again, you're going to fall to your lowest level of training. And for most people that training is zero, right? Yes.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:28:44 to 00:28:56

So they have no idea. Flailing their arms and screaming or whatever, or they're swinging for the fences, throwing big haymakers and throws your balance all off. That's what I'm saying. Lowest level. Well, have you ever read the book?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:28:56 to 00:29:14

There's a book called Atomic Habits. Have you ever read that? No, and I don't think he came up with it came from somebody else. But there's a saying in the book that he references many times that people don't achieve, don't reach to have the success to the level of their goals. They fail to the level of their systems.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:29:14 to 00:29:42

Essentially, that when you put in a process and a system in place that you use on a daily basis, as long as you're good at that system, you'll always maintain that. But to achieve this higher level, it's like you can wish and dream for it, but you have to create systems and planning to build you to that point because you're always going to fail to the level of your systems. Yes. It's the same concept we all think. Like you said, if I was in that situation that's right.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:29:42 to 00:30:04

But your adrenaline gets going. Your brain's not don't. People that have never been I mean, you've been in combat situations for real when you were in Iraq. And so when you have people that have never even heard a gunfire go off or been in a fight in their life and they think in their mind they're going to turn into Jean Claude Van Damme, it ain't gonna work. Out like that's again.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:30:04 to 00:30:15

A lot of people over, they think like, I'm going to have time to think. You're not going to have time to think. Your body either you're trained or you're untrained. Right. So either your body's going to react or it's not.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:30:15 to 00:30:47

And so the only thing that matters and a lot of times and us as agents, we have to go. And I remember going into open houses or whatever by myself, and that's cool, whatever. But also there's been a couple of times where I didn't have to use anything, but it was a little bit my gut told me something was off or there was almost something like, man, I feel something's off or hair stood up on the back of my neck like something's going on. And I remember I met a client one night about 830. It was like in the wintertime, so it was dark.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:30:47 to 00:31:08

It was supposed to be a vacant house. And I remember opening the door and turning the light on, and there's a guy standing in the kitchen looking at me in a wife beater, a muscle shirt, and of course I conceal carry as well. I carry a gun everywhere. I'm and so I'm like we just stood there looking at each other and I'm like, you supposed to be here. And he was like, oh, I'm so and so I'm related to the seller, sure.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:31:09 to 00:31:17

So I called the agent and was like, hey, this guy's here. And they called me back and like, okay, that is okay. But I remember thinking like, but you never know. Oh, yeah. Oh, snap.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:31:17 to 00:31:35

Who's this guy standing there? And he was a big dude because he's just standing there in his boxers and a wife beater in the kitchen looking at me. And I'm like, all right, well, let's get this sorted out again. But I was confident in that situation. My body immediately started.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:31:35 to 00:31:56

I remember thinking, like, I grabbed my jacket. I grabbed the end of my jacket because I was thinking like, okay, well, if I got to draw my gun, then I'm going to have to swing my jacket back or whatever. Luckily, of course, I just said, hey, what's going on, man? What's up with you? Which is usually the best way out of any situation is to verbally like, hey, let's solve this with words.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:31:56 to 00:32:34

Well, I've heard before when it comes to even somebody that's training in say they're trained in jujitsu, there's always somebody better, right? And so you even get, to some extent, you were telling a story earlier about how before we went on air, about how you were or maybe I guess you just said it when you were a white belt, you went into spar and then you went up against a skinny guy as a blue belt, and he kicked your butt. He worked me over, yeah. And so you may have a little bit of training and understanding of what to do, but especially nowadays, you don't know what you're going up against. If someone decides they want to pop off, they might be a black belt and they're about to take you down.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:32:34 to 00:32:50

You have no idea and you never know what anybody is capable of. So I'm not saying that everybody has to go out there and become Jason Bourne. Like, you don't need to go out there, but you need to be capable of escaping. Right. Yeah.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:32:50 to 00:33:00

Of violence. Basically. You have to be capable of committing a little bit of violence in your own defense. Yes. Because those who are capable of violence will always be subject to those who are not.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:33:00 to 00:33:12

Correct. Those who are not capable of violence will always be subject to those who are. There's another? Is it sunzoo? I think it's a book that I read one, and it's The Art of War.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:33:12 to 00:33:32

Yeah. Where you don't want to be a gardener in a war. You want to be a warrior in a garden, essentially saying that I have the ability to do these things, but I don't need to. Right. Versus getting into the situation and not having those tools, even.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:33:32 to 00:33:49

It doesn't matter if you because most people I recommend, like, carry a gun, but don't carry a gun, and then just think like, oh, I'm going to go to my gun if I have to. It's a last resort. Well, most people, that's how they think. If they carry a little gun, they're thinking like, well, I'm going to have my gun. I have my gun.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:33:49 to 00:34:08

We used to have a saying. So I was teaching the combatives program. I was an instructor for like, two years before I got out of the army. I was teaching down at Fort Hood. And one of the sayings, and I remember our head instructor used to always tell us, if there's two people in a room and you have a gun and the other person has training, the person with the training is going to end up with the gun.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:34:08 to 00:34:27

I was like, that's true matter. Yes. So most people will carry like, they'll conceal carry a pistol, and they'll think like, well, if anything happens, I'm just going to pull out my pistol. Well, listen, I'm faster than you, I'm stronger than you, and I know the concept of leverage, and so I'm going to take that gun if I wanted it. So if you're going to carry that's, cool.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:34:27 to 00:34:51

But go to the range every month and go get accurate with that gun or practice drawing from your holster or align your Hobies with your survival. Right. The only thing that's going to matter if you ever put in that situation where you have to defend yourself or you have to defend your family, nothing's going to matter at that moment except for how well prepared you are. Right. How much preparation went into that moment.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:34:51 to 00:34:58

And look, if nothing ever happens, you go to your grave. Awesome. Yeah. Then guess what? I had a cool hobby.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:34:58 to 00:35:21

I spent my life, had a little bit of practice, proficient, something I can pass on. But if that time comes, you're ready, nothing's going to matter. Nothing else. Is going to matter except for how well prepared you are. So when you start training people that come in brand new, whether it be even like, younger kids and women specifically too, where do you kind of start?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:35:21 to 00:35:36

What's the basis for where you start? The basis is learning the positions. So positional grappling, like, what is a dominant position? What is a nondominant position, what is a terrible place to be stuck? So I always normally start with how to escape the mount.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:35:36 to 00:35:53

And so the mount, someone has your back, basically. No, the mount is described like you're laying, let's say you're on the ground and someone's sitting on your chest, okay. With their knees, like, hold you down. They're holding you down. And this is one of the worst positions to be in, of course, because I can throw punches, I can choke you, whatever.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:35:53 to 00:36:12

And so that's normally if somebody's brand new and they're looking to start, like, I want to learn to defend myself, I'll normally teach them how to escape the mount, like, okay, why? Because again, first line of self defense, run away, right? I was like, that's the best self defense we can. And again, we're distinguishing self defense between fighting self defense. I always want to run away, right?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:36:12 to 00:36:34

You're just trying to get away from the situation. I don't want to be there. But again, we get into a tussle, somebody gets on top, I need to know how to get out from underneath them and then run away. So obviously when you're teaching this, you're showing this on the mat, and this is a hard place to do that. But how would you, with words, describe how somebody would get out of that?

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:36:34 to 00:36:56

Well, the concept is to take away a post or to take away posts. So normally when we're going to roll away from somebody, they're going to post out with their arm or their leg to keep you from rolling them. So when you can trap an arm and a leg and then you roll that direction, you take away their ability to post. And then once you can get on top, then it's your ability to press, create distance and get away. Got you.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:36:56 to 00:37:33

And so in teaching combatives, I have that unique experience where I was able to teach that combatives, that modern army combatives, to soldiers and also go take that into jiu jitsu. So a lot of the combatives program is focused on creating distance because in the army and as soldiers, we're taught to use our primary weapon first. So we're using a rifle or our secondary weapon, which could be a pistol, could be a knife, could be whatever. So combatives mainly focuses in the beginning and then those very beginners levels, like the basics, they teach you to create distance to get back, to get to a primary weapon. Got you.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:37:33 to 00:37:53

And so one thing I recommend for especially people who decide to conceal carry is that they learn how to create distance first, because I never want to show my cards until I have to. You don't want them to know that you have a gun until you're enough separation that you can use it. I'm able to use it. Right? You don't want to be in get I'm about to get my gun while you're grabbing me.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:37:53 to 00:38:12

Because like you said, if they're faster, better, or whatever, they're going to take it from you anyway. Yes. And so I know that was one of the concepts that we really drilled into their head was create distance first. So there's a lot of pummeling. We were always using, like and I always used to tell people, and I still say this the other day, I actually said this to my kids class.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:38:12 to 00:38:25

I was like, because for some reason, we as people, as natural, we always grab people's heads. You always see a headlock every time. Just Google any YouTube, any street fight you're going to see someone throw on a headlock. Hey. A big text.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:38:25 to 00:38:46

Nolan Ryan. That's how you beat the crap out. Of I tell I tell people all the time, if I can just use an underhook, if I can just put my arm underneath your armpit as opposed to going to the head, I can almost double my fighting prowess. If I can just learn to do that every time, instead of grabbing the head, I go underneath the armpit because then I can drive your shoulder line. I can get you off balance.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:38:46 to 00:39:11

Then you can almost double your fighting powers. And you're kind of taking away a limb, too. That could be coming at you for whatever reason. I know I've done this a couple of times. I did actually did a seminar with the Cedar Hill Police one time where I was showing them, like, you take that underhook on the same side, not only am I taking your shoulders off your center line, but I'm also protecting my gun side, like where I'm wearing my pistol, right?

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:39:11 to 00:39:27

So I'm here. I'm turning to you so you can no longer reach for my pistol. If I had to create distance from there, I'm just going to push you off. Get your shoulders off center line. Of course, this stuff is not something and another huge misconception is that people take these seminars like, I'm going to take a self defense seminar, right?

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:39:27 to 00:39:52

And you may learn a good technique, one or two good techniques. But if you're not practicing practicing that consistently, you're not going to remember it's going to be a flash. Because the way things happen, the way incidents happen, violence happens very fast, and it ends very fast. It's very quickly or very quick. So in that moment, in that instant, your body has to react because it's going to happen.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:39:52 to 00:40:26

And it's going to end just like that, right? As quickly as a gunshot, it's over. Well, I think the thing about this, too, is we're talking about it from the point of view of self defense, obviously, but it's great exercise as well, because when you put that much effort forth, when you're rolling on a regular basis once or two or three times a week. However often you do it, it's a great way to keep in shape as well. And it's like, if I can develop a skill that's going to keep me healthy, and I'm going to develop a skill that's going to save me in a time of need.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:40:26 to 00:40:37

Well, it seems like a pretty good little marriage of activities to do. Right. But it's also a huge blow to your ego. Yeah. That's one of the things that I've been on a philosophy kick the last couple of years.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:40:37 to 00:40:47

I love it. So one of my favorite things is, like, Miyamotu Masashi, like the guy, and he's the best swordsman, recorded as the best swordsman ever in Japan. Wrote the Book of Five rings. Five Rings. Yep.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:40:47 to 00:41:00

One thing that he says about martial arts is when they're trained, you train martial arts properly, they carry over into. Every other facet of your you once you know the way generally, you see it in all things. Yes. Is that the quote? Yeah.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:41:01 to 00:41:06

And so that practice every day, and then you're showing up, you're training.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:41:09 to 00:41:36

That carries over. So I always say when you're fighting or you're grappling, you're sparring, whatever. It's almost like, and I said this the other day, it's life summed up within three to five minutes. Because in that whole little scuffle, you're going through emotions, you're getting your ego checked. Most people, they overestimate their ability, or they really think they've never been humbled.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:41:36 to 00:41:44

Right. And so they've never been beaten up and be like, Dang, there's nothing I can do. Right. And so that's one of the benefits also of Jiu jitsu is that you're never an expert. Right.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:41:44 to 00:41:58

There's always somebody, even if they just have your number, they just know exactly what you're going to do, or they pair up with you perfectly. Right. There's always going to be somebody who's just a little bit better than you. And you're physically reminded of it when you go in and do it, too, because you get submitted. Yeah.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:41:58 to 00:42:07

It's not just something that it's a fictional thing. Oh, yeah. There's always because we say that all the time with kids. No matter how hard you practice us, there's always going to be somebody better than you. So just know that.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:42:08 to 00:42:21

But they don't always get to experience that. But if you roll on a regular basis and you go to these gyms, wherever that may be, then you're going to experience that because someone is going to submit you when you're in the gym. Be humble or get humbled. Right. That's it.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:42:24 to 00:42:44

We were talking about exercise a second ago, like marrying the two between exercise and learning a skill. One of the things about the exercise portion of that is I always say getting fit is kind of like an after effect. That's just kind of like an added benefit, right? You're trying to survive. Learning the skill is most, like, what is the biggest benefit to it.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:42:45 to 00:43:01

But as you get better, you get less fit. Right? And so I say that because the better you get at controlling somebody, the less I'm having to work. Got you. So there's a stereotype in the Jiu Jitsu community of, like, the fat brown belt, right?

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:43:01 to 00:43:16

Brown belt is like the belt right before you get the black belt, right? So they say the fat brown belt, because brown belts aren't working very hard. They're putting people on their back, and then they're resting, and then they're, like, controlling. They know exactly what you're going to do. They've been training for so long because I think black belt, you're eight to ten years.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:43:16 to 00:43:33

So right around brown belt, you should be training, like six, seven, eight years. So you're very experienced. So you're going with these beginners, and you're putting them on their back, and you're just kind of like you're resting, you're hanging out. You're not working as hard as you were when you were a white belt or a blue belt, because you've done those before. You've been down the road.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:43:33 to 00:44:01

Yeah. So there's a stereotype of that fat brown belt. We're like, okay, well, now the better I get at jiu jitsu, the more I have to work outside of the gym. Now I have to start running or I got to start lifting weights, or I got to start doing something because I'm not working as hard as I was. Well, I've heard it compared to, like, chess, where you're in a situation to where I would guess I don't know, but I would think that somebody that's inexperienced in that kind of hand to hand combat is probably going to do the same.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:44:01 to 00:44:16

Like, people are going to generally do the same type of things. Whatever those things are, they're going to react in a similar way. Not always the same, but in a similar way. So if you expect if I grab them here, they're probably going to do this, and if I grab them here, then they're probably going to do that. You're kind of anticipating moves as you go through.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:44:16 to 00:44:31

You say, well, I'm going to go here, and then they're going to do that, and then I'm going to go here, and then I got them right there's. Kind of like a step by step because you've done it so many times, your body's just like, oh, yeah, I've seen this before. He's going to put his arm there. I'm going to grab him there and turn him over or whatever. Yeah, it's very strategic, right?

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:44:32 to 00:44:51

I always say it's like speed chess. We're moving back and forth, back and forth. I know where you're going to roll, which direction, and also controlling your weight, like understanding where I'm placing my weight. This is one thing I explain, especially I had a smaller female who used to train with me. She was like 110 pounds.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:44:51 to 00:45:10

And I would be like, hey, listen, if I pick up 110 pound dumbbell, that joker is heavy. Like, go pick up 110 pound dumbbell in the gym. I was like, So what you need to do is take all of your weight and focus it in one location. I was like, Because then, even then and there's one guy who trains with me in the morning. He's a huge big guy.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:45:11 to 00:45:39

He's like 300 something pounds. And I always tell him, like, man, once you learn how to focus that weight, you're going to crush people, right? Because right now when you're that big, you're so used to carrying your own weight, you're not trying to lay on people or crush them. I was like, but once you learn how to focus, you put all of your weight in one central location, you can crush people with 120 pounds, 150 pounds, I'm like 165. And I always try to imagine putting all of my weight in one fingertip, right?

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:45:39 to 00:46:05

And that's how I try to grapple, like, put all of my weight down or center it around 1.1 point of their body. So if anybody was starting off training, what do you think it takes? How many days a week? How often? What does the process look like to get to where you could be let's just call it somewhat proficient, not an expert, but just enough in a couple of moves that have just like, okay, I know how to do these two things, so if anybody ever grabbed me.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:46:05 to 00:46:13

I can at least do that above the Joe line. Above the Joe line? Above the Joe line. So I would say three times a week for about six to eight months. Okay?

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:46:13 to 00:46:35

And then you'll start to see I'm not going to say you're going to be above the Joe line, but you'll start to see the difference. You'll see the split. We're like, okay, I'm understanding at that point you understand leverage, right? Like, okay, I understand that I need to put my arm somewhere. And so there's a huge difference between somebody who has no training and somebody who has a little training, eight months to a year of training, right?

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:46:35 to 00:47:12

Because again, at that point, they're starting to understand leverage. They're starting to understand how to manipulate their own body weight or move somebody else's body weight, use momentum to their advantage. Well, similar, I tell realtors all the time that start off brand new because as a new agent, even a new loan officer, some people have what they call imposter syndrome, where you know some stuff, but you don't feel like you're an expert, so you have this insecurity about talking about it. And I always tell them, like, look, you know, even if you've only been doing real estate for six months, you know, a thousand percent more than the average person. You're way above the Joe line.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:47:12 to 00:47:22

You're way above the Joe line. Above the Joe line. So same situation, right? And actually, it's helped me a lot. Jiu Jitsu has helped me a lot in real estate because I was training.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:47:22 to 00:47:45

Let me see, when did I start training? Four years before I started getting before I got my license, before I got out of the army. And so trusting the process is a huge part of real estate, because those who just get into it just get into the business, they understand, like, okay, I'm not receiving a paycheck. There's no guarantee. I'm kind of working through this.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:47:45 to 00:47:58

I'm blind. I'm in the wind. There's not really a whole lot of mentorship unless you find the right people. You got to connect yourself to the right people. And Jujitsu helped me just because I'm like, I trust the process.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:47:58 to 00:48:17

I know that there's like, even if I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel, I trust the process. So I know if I show up every day and I make some phone calls or I know if I try to meet the right people, it works out. Yeah, it's going to work out. Same thing with that when you start jujitsu and you're a white belt and you have no idea what you're doing. I got to trust the process.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:48:17 to 00:48:29

I got to show up to practice. I got to do my little hip escapes, my little drills. I got to practice. I got to find a couple of moves that I like. I got to trust the process and keep practicing, because every day it's going to work out eventually.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:48:29 to 00:48:57

And so that helped me in Jiu Jitsu in real estate, where I was like, okay, got to trust the process. Got to show up to the office, got to make a phone call. I think everybody experiences that to some extent when they're young. And this is the problem with being young, and you realize as you get older, like, I was an idiot back then, but I'd always had this problem of doing things, and I'd see somebody doing a job or see somebody running a business, and I'd be like, oh, I could do that, and I could do that. That doesn't seem that hard.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:48:57 to 00:49:32

You could get in there and do that right away. But the further along in life you get and the more experiences you have with different things, you start to realize that it takes years for anything for you to be really good at it. And if you try to dabble in this and dabble in that and dabble in this, and it's kind of the jack of all trades, master of none. But the idea is, no matter what the activity is, whether it's real estate or Jiu Jitsu or mortgages or whatever, you have to put time and effort into the process and develop a system in order to have success at. It because you're not going to have success at it right out of the gate.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:49:33 to 00:50:05

It just doesn't work that way. Or you may, but it would be limited success, or it's not real and it's not sustained. And anything that you're going to do is going to take time and you can't become an expert at something right away, which is why a lot of times you kind of have to narrow your focus to things that you, if you're in real estate, be in real estate, learn everything there is, know about that. If you're going to run a gym, you can do that as well. But once you start getting to four and five and six other things that you're trying to be the best at, there's just not enough time in the day or hours in the day to do that.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:50:05 to 00:50:18

And actually one of the ways to help with that is to relate everything to some things you already know. You're right. Yeah. Again, Jujitsu helped me in real estate where I was like, okay, got to trust the process. I know I got to drill every day.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:50:18 to 00:50:33

So I was saying, I know I am drilling my positional drills every day, or I'm drilling these submissions every day. So I kind of took that over into real estate. Like, what's my drill? What am I drilling? Like, okay, until today, I'm going to focus on calling Internet prospects.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:50:33 to 00:50:43

Right. And then the next week maybe I'm going to focus on getting the word out, scheduling, doing something, or yeah, go working an open house. What's the process? How does that look like? When I go to the open house, what do I need to do?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:50:43 to 00:50:53

That's the backwards planning, right? Okay, I'm going to be there. People are going to come in. I need to have place to sign in or get their information to be able to talk about this particular house and what the features are. So I need to know what it is.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:50:53 to 00:51:02

So I need to go look at it first, figure all that out, and. Then when you get there that's the live sparring portion. Right now, I'm sparring now. This is live now because people are. Coming in now I got to know.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:51:02 to 00:51:19

What I'm saying in front of somebody. And that impostor syndrome still comes up. I feel like no matter how much of an expert you are, you're always going to suffer or deal with that imposter syndrome well. But I think that's good. I think that the idea that anybody knows everything about anything is crazy.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:51:19 to 00:51:37

Right. I mean, there's always room for improvement. There's always stuff that you can learn at a deeper level. And to ever get to the point I've been doing mortgages for twelve years and I feel like I do pretty well at it, but there are still plenty of things that somebody will call me and ask me a question. And in my head I'm like, yeah, well, this is the answer.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:51:37 to 00:51:55

But then the other part of my head goes, hang on, are you sure? Are you sure that's the answer? Because you thought this other thing was the answer last week, and it wasn't. So I'm like, let me double check on that. And I even tell my kids all the time, if anybody ever says to you, oh, this is absolutely what you got to do, and this is absolutely don't listen to that person.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:51:55 to 00:52:16

Double check, double check, double check. Yeah, that imposter syndrome. It still comes up even after you've had experience. Again, jiu jitsu and real estate are like one in one for me, I'm always thinking, like, how I can carry one over into the other because I learned from both. And to this day, I'll be teaching a class and I'm like, I'm an idiot.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:52:16 to 00:52:21

I don't know what doing, like, what am I doing? What am I doing? Why am I teaching? This is so dumb. I'm so stupid.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:52:22 to 00:52:48

So the other thing so I mentioned Dunning Kruger a little earlier, like the Dunning Krueger effect, and there's two sides to that. I watched this entire video. I get into these rabbit holes sometimes where I watch these psychology videos or whatever. So the Dunning Kruger effect, for those who don't know it's, when somebody, they assume that they're way more competent than they actually are because they've seen a couple of videos. Say, I've seen a couple of videos, or I've watched some UFC fights, I've watched fights.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:52:48 to 00:53:09

I know what they do. My sister's best friend's cousin or whatever bought a house and they told me how it went, so I know exactly how the process works. So they assume that they're very competent in that field. Well, the other side, the flip side to that is that those who are incredibly skilled at something, they underestimate their competence. Yes.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:53:09 to 00:53:22

They always think that, like, oh, man, they think everybody else has the same knowledge that they have. Yes. And so they underestimate their competence. And so there's two sides to that. Dunning kruger effect.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:53:22 to 00:53:39

And so that's where that imposter syndrome comes in. A lot, a lot of times we forget most of the knowledge that we even have because we assume that everybody knows. Know, right? If I know it, then everybody else must understand. Get to for me, if I'm teaching back control, and I'm like, okay, I'm going to back control.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:53:39 to 00:53:49

I'm trapping the hand and I'm going here, I'm attacking the choke. And then I'm pointing my elbows down, whatever. And then I look and people are like, they're staring at me. Slow down. I'm like, oh, you don't know.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:53:50 to 00:54:16

This is my foot. This is where I'm going to I think helping teaching children like your very young children has helped me a whole lot in teaching in general, I always. Advocate to my kids. Like, one of the things I'm trying to get my daughter, she's 15 years old right now, and she's a volleyball player, and she's actually, within the last year or so, has gotten pretty good and is getting maybe an option for her to play in college. We'll see.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:54:16 to 00:54:55

You never know how that goes. But one of the things I'm telling her is, like, you need to go to a gym, to a volleyball club, and you need to figure out how you can coach. How can I find a younger group of kids to coach? Because when you understand the game at a level that you can explain it to a child at their level, then you really got and I think it's always been attributed to Albert Einstein, but I don't know if it actually came from him. Whereas if you can't explain it to a five year old, basically, then you don't really fully understand that's that's I think so critical in know they have those different methods of learning where you listen, you write, you repeat, and then you teach.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:54:55 to 00:55:20

Because if you can teach and you can explain, your depth of knowledge gets so much greater than so far above the Joe line at that point that it's so much easier for you to then retain that knowledge and understand it to your core, to where it's not even something you even have to think about. You just know it right ingrained in you. Yes. So when you teach something, you learn it. And so and that's one thing that I have the benefit of right now is teaching those very young children.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:55:20 to 00:55:37

Like, I have five and six and seven year olds, and I'm like, okay, look, guys, our legs are going to go here, right? I was like, in this look, watch my feet. Look where I put them. And I'm explaining it, and I feel like sometimes I'll be teaching adults, and I'll get back into that kid mode, and I'll be like, I realize, okay, they understand. They got it.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:55:37 to 00:55:59

But then you learn with kids, too, because I taught kids for years. I taught, coached all kinds of sports and ran a swim school for kids. So it's been my whole life, pretty much. But what you find working with kids, too, is that you will tell them something, and you've said the right words, like, I explained this, and they're doing something completely different than what you said. And you're like, wait a minute, how is this not clear?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:55:59 to 00:56:10

I said, here's what I want. And then, so you have to go back to your own mind and break down, okay, what are they thinking about? What did I not say? Right? And then you got to try a bunch of different ways to explain the same thing, right?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:56:10 to 00:56:22

And then you finally get to a point where it's like, okay, he understands it, but then you have this other kid, and you tell him the same way, and then he doesn't understand it either. You're like, Kids learn differently. They all do. All learn differently. And some days you have to pick your battles.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:56:22 to 00:56:29

Yes. You have to just be like, all right, well, look, you put your hand in the right place, we're just going to call that a win for the day. Like dealing with a buyer and seller, right? Yeah.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:56:31 to 00:56:52

Managing expectations, that was also great. Like a carryover for me from jiu Jitsu into real estate, because that's basically your job as an agent. You're trying to so somebody who has no idea how the transaction works. So it's cool. Every once in a while, I'm thankful for a buyer or a seller who knows exactly how the transaction goes.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:56:52 to 00:57:03

Like, oh, yeah, we bought four or five houses. We know how much earnest money we want to put down. We know what kind of loan we're using. We already have a loan officer. We've used for whatever, let's say, or maybe we do this, whatever.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:57:03 to 00:57:17

Okay, cool. That's awesome. I'm grateful for those transactions, but the majority of them are people like, listen, I don't know what I've done anything. I have a 500 credit score, and I have, like, $7 in the bank, and I want to buy a house tomorrow. Right.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:57:17 to 00:57:32

I've been looking on Zillow and, look, this is what I want. Like, okay, well, then let's start at square one. Let's manage our expectations here. That's right. And so I have to do that a lot, especially with those younger fighters or younger people who come in and they're like, I'm going to be a world champion.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:57:32 to 00:57:51

I'm like, why don't we focus on learning how to hip escape down the mat first? Or why don't we let me show you how to tie your belt, put. Your pants on one leg at a time. Let's manage our expectations a little bit. And so that's another great carryover from real estate into jiu jitsu and jiu jitsu into real estate.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:57:51 to 00:58:11

You manage people's expectations, and sometimes you have to tell them the hard truth. Same thing with a buyer. Or I experience it more with buyers than anything, where you got to tell them the hard truth. And I also have to do that sometimes with athletes where I'm like, hey, listen, we're not the most athletic, all right? You're not the most athletic person, okay?

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:58:11 to 00:58:19

I'm just going to give it to you straight, all right? You don't hit very hard, right? So let's work on something to your advantage. Let's try to find another strength. Right?

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:58:19 to 00:58:34

And so the same thing with, like, a buyer. I'd be like, well, listen, you're not in the neighborhood that you want to be, okay? So let's start looking outside of your area. Expand a little bit, see what we could do. Maybe settle for somewhere outside of the city or like a little further out or wherever.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:58:36 to 00:58:56

So tell everybody what your club is called, where it's located, and then what you guys offer there, and how, if you wanted to get started training, what that would look like. Okay, so it's crusader combat club. We are located at the Tyler station in Oak Cliff, which is at 1300 South Polk Street. We are suite two two five. You can find us online.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:58:56 to 00:59:09

Crusadercombatclub.com. In order to start training, I always recommend people just show up for a class. I think that's a little difficult because I know a lot of people have those reservations about just coming in. Right. I've never done this before.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:59:09 to 00:59:26

I'm looking a fool. Yeah, they're scared to look like a fool. We all look like a fool when you first start, we all look dumb. Everybody was a white belt at one point because I get those online inquiries all the time and I call them, they're like, what do I need to do? And I said, well, let me ask, what program then?

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:59:26 to 00:59:41

I said, just show up. And they're like, oh, dang. I thought there was going to be most of the time, once you eliminate the obstacle, people who are not serious about it go, oh, well, I'm busy that day. Yes, my kids are doing that. There's no more obstacles.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:59:41 to 00:59:47

You just come in, it's got to get there. Yeah. Oh, dang. I thought it was going to be tougher. I thought there's going to be like a form.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:59:47 to 00:59:55

I was going to have a reason. Oh, I couldn't because I wasn't ready. My shoulders messed up. There's a built in excuse instead of. I'm just a wuss and I don't want to go.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 00:59:55 to 01:00:06

So, yeah, once you eliminate those, just show up. Just come into a class. You get a free week trial so they can come in for try. All the classes for seven days. We offer Brazilian jiu jitsu twice a day for adults.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 01:00:06 to 01:00:15

We have kids five to twelve years old. Kickboxing. We do kickboxing Monday, Wednesday, Fridays. We have wrestling Friday nights and mixed martial arts on Saturday. So MMA.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:00:16 to 01:00:25

Okay, cool. How long have you been open now? About eight months. Okay. And if someone gets a membership, about how much does that cost?

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:00:25 to 01:00:36

Like if they're doing it? Because I would assume most gyms like, you do like a monthly membership, right? Yeah, it's a monthly membership. It's 120 for the month, and that includes unlimited training. So they can attend all the classes they want for 120.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 01:00:36 to 01:00:52

And if they want to add like a family member, they can do that for an additional 100. They can throw their kids on. Let's say they want to train and they will have a kid they want to train. It'll be like 220 for them and their kid. Do you see people come in by themselves and then the ones that like it, they start showing up with, like bringing their kid and their friend.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 01:00:53 to 01:01:07

Normally what you see is you see a parent has their kid training and the parent is interested, right. And they'll be like, I'm going to come into an adult class. I tell Dads this all the time. I'm like, look, your son's training. In five years he's going to be 15.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 01:01:07 to 01:01:17

You're going to tell him, take the trash out. And he's going to say, or what, dad? I was like, so you better get out the bat. He's going to take you down, bro. You better be ready.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 01:01:17 to 01:01:24

Yeah, you better do those chores and say, or what, dad? What? You are going to do that's, right. I've been paying for these lessons. You're going to kick my ass.

Manuel Martinez (Guest) | 01:01:25 to 01:01:35

I don't know what I'm going to do. You better get trading. That's awesome, man. Well, I really appreciate we're an hour. We already got to the time, so I really appreciate you coming in, man.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:01:35 to 01:02:05

This was great information and I hope anybody that gets all the way through this, the key takeaway from all of this is that any realtor, whatever your position in life is that there could be situations that come up to where your physical presence is threatened, whatever that means. And it's never a bad thing to have knowledge on how to handle yourself should those situations ever arise. Right. Correct. Be the warrior in the garden, not the gardener in the war.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:02:05 to 01:02:36

And the more that you have knowledge of this type of stuff and the benefit that you get, whether it be through mental toughness, through physical, you get your body into shape, but then also just be able to handle yourself when those situations come up. There's really not a downside to this. I'm the biggest what do you want to call it? Not proponent, but I do this stuff all the time. Which is bad, which is I have ideas of things I want to do, but then you never actually do them.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:02:36 to 01:02:46

And so the hard part about all of this stuff is you just got to go try, right? Yeah, just show up. Just show up. And it's easier said than done. But we all say, well, I don't have time.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:02:46 to 01:03:01

Well, everybody has time. We all have the same amount of time. It's just what you prioritize for your time. Absolutely. And you can put it towards that or you can put it towards playing Call of Duty or watching Desperate Housewives, but those aren't going to get you any real benefits in life.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:03:01 to 01:03:07

So I really appreciate you stopping by. Anything else you want to say before we roll off? Nothing? Okay. Hydrated.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:03:07 to 01:03:16

Yes. Drink the gallon of water that Mandy brought with him too. Well, thanks everybody that stuck around. Really appreciate it. We'll be back next week and you all have a good weekend.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:03:16 to 01:03:19

Easter weekend, I guess is coming up, right? We'll see you guys. Bye.