Unlock Your Real Estate Success: 7 Mindset Shifts for Entrepreneurs

John Harcar (00:01.2)
All right. Hey guys, welcome back to our show. I’m your host, John Harcar, and I’m here today with Melina. Let me make sure I get this right. Melina Montelongo and Dr. Daniel Murray. And what we’re going to talk about is besides their journey in real estate, the importance of community in both business and in life and how important it is to really have that within, you know, to help you grow.

Remember, guys, at Investor Fuel, we help real estate investors, service providers, really all real estate entrepreneurs, two to five extra business. We do that by providing tools and resources that help you grow the business you want to grow and in turn, you live the life you dreamed of. So, guys, welcome to our show.

Melina And Daniel (00:40.814)
Thank you so much. to be here.

John Harcar (00:43.41)
Yeah, I’m super excited talking about you guys looking over your bios and you know talking before some great experience and probably some great knowledge. But before we get into kind of our topic, tell our folks a little bit about you guys. You know your background, your you know, we’ll catch into real estate kind of will catch a here.

Melina And Daniel (01:00.014)
I’ll go first since I’m the lady in the house. started, I obviously the real estate found me because I bought my first house two years after getting married. I thought that was the way I was supposed to go. I thought that’s what people do. They get married, they buy a house, they have kids.

John Harcar (01:13.479)
Mm-hmm.

Melina And Daniel (01:16.11)
So I bought my first house at 20 years old and then wanted to move to Austin. We didn’t want to sell it. So we’re like, let’s rent it. So we rented it. We lease optioned it. And now I have another investor that took over the property and I still have interest in the property. through that process, I just learned all kinds of different strategies. And our background was in construction. So then we decided, why are we doing this for other people? Why are we remodeling other people’s homes?

do this for ourselves. So we started buying houses and fixing them up and selling them and a TV show producer caught wind of us and our activity in San Antonio, Texas and we did a flip show which was fun, interesting and really uncomfortable personally. It’s just like our life because we weren’t acting. That was our life like we are who we are on a

John Harcar (02:05.776)
Why was it uncomfortable?

John Harcar (02:13.852)
Sure.

Melina And Daniel (02:14.446)
And so it was interesting to find out.

what type of feedback we got in relation to the projects, in relation to our personal relationships and how we did things personally. So I always say that money and a platform will really highlight a person’s character. And so we quickly found out that we were all very different in our family, is, Like you have your chosen community and then you have your given community and that starts with family. And so we were all very different, had different

John Harcar (02:38.522)
huh.

Melina And Daniel (02:47.754)
purposes and visions. So I started in real estate and I just continue to be involved in wholesaling, a little bit of multifamily, small developments, and we actually did a commercial building, we flipped a commercial building. So I have a lot of experience in different types of real estate transactions. The best part of it is people. I love working with people, I love inspiring people. My purpose is to empower others to be the best versions and the fullest expressions of themselves.

John Harcar (02:50.93)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (03:04.172)
cool.

John Harcar (03:10.46)
Yes.

Melina And Daniel (03:18.36)
I that’s what led me to Dr.

John Harcar (03:21.042)
Okay. And you mentioned you were in construction, I think, or maybe you weren’t prior to when you that first house. I love to ask this for everybody. Like, was there a influence in your life prior, a book, something that kind of spurred you to that real estate momentum or that real estate path? No.

Melina And Daniel (03:39.49)
No. Think and Grow Rich was the first business book that I read. I read it every year. But as far as real estate specifically, I think I learned of Rich Dad Poor Dad maybe three years in. initially, this is a really interesting perspective because I’m an entrepreneur at heart. It’s not specifically about real estate. I love business in general. And so Think and Grow Rich really inspired me, set well for me.

John Harcar (03:52.741)
Okay.

John Harcar (04:07.58)
Perfect. All right, Dr. Murray, you’re up.

Melina And Daniel (04:10.04)
Sure, so I was 16 years old and I walked into a buddy’s house from high school and was really impressed with just the way that his family was living. It was the nicest house I’d ever been inside. And I grew up, you know, just kind of an average family, average household. So it was my first exposure to wealth. And I asked him, you know, what does your dad do? You know, they had a, they had.

pool table, had the pool, they had the tennis court, which I’d never, never met anyone that had their own tennis court. Like my mind was blown at 16. So I asked him what his dad did because I had known his dad from football games and baseball practices. And he always showed up in a beat up pickup truck with paint and cock on his jeans and all this stuff. And he said, well, my dad does real estate. And I said, oh, that’s interesting.

John Harcar (04:44.476)
Wow.

Melina And Daniel (05:07.538)
And that’s all he said. Well, Jimbo came home that night from work and again, just looking like a dirty old contractor. I said, Jimbo, good to see you again. Went up and shook his hand. I said, I’m really interested in learning about real estate. And he kind of was taken aback. You know, I was just some punk kid, 16 years old, shooting pool in his house. And he said, well, why don’t you come back in my office and we’ll have a chat.

And it turns out he was was buying homes cash starting back in the 80s or in DFW. So he would pick up a property in Mesquite or Garland, Texas for $20,000, put 10 grand and his own sweat and labor into it, fix it up and then owner finance it.

So by the time I looked him up on DCAD, he had like 56 properties under his belt. And so, yeah, I mean, all cash. He, he did really, really well for himself. And so I got inspired. I actually did an internship with him in high school. Ended up working for him after high school here and there and staying in touch with him. became a mentor and I made my first off market offer.

John Harcar (05:59.452)
Wow, awesome.

Melina And Daniel (06:23.502)
when I was 19 years old, didn’t get it accepted. And back then, let’s see, this was 1996, 97, there wasn’t really internet to speak of. I looked, I found a property that was abandoned in my neighborhood. I tracked them down through DCAD and then the yellow pages are white, I guess.

John Harcar (06:35.91)
Mm-hmm.

John Harcar (06:46.354)
What are those?

Melina And Daniel (06:47.758)
Yeah, yeah, so I found the owner that they live in the neighborhood but in another property went and knocked on their door Didn’t didn’t close the deal but all that to say I started my real estate career in high school Yes, sir went ahead and got busy in college Finished my degree so put all the real estate stuff on the back burner while I was focusing on school As soon as I graduated first thing I did is acquire an off-market property

John Harcar (07:02.342)
That’s awesome.

Melina And Daniel (07:16.952)
flipped it. I was working as a special education teacher at that point. So I would wake up at four in the morning, go work on the house for a couple hours, go teach school, work again a couple hours in the evening, did everything myself, did everything the wrong way. Almost electrocuted myself a couple times, rewiring the house. I learned all the wrong ways to do it.

John Harcar (07:43.878)
best way to learn.

Melina And Daniel (07:44.686)
Yeah, yeah, so I did I did three flips from 2003 to 2006 acquired three more properties and 06 07 08 we all know what happened in 08 I got caught with my pants down in the middle of three three flips But the good news is I I entered into those properties at a really really good price one of them I got for $38,000 Ended up renting it for a thousand dollars a month

I wish I had done that 20 times more. So the 2008 crash, seemed like it was, it was, I was going to be in a very bad position, but I turned into a landlord accidentally because nobody could get a loan after the crash in the sub 100 market. And so I was stuck with these properties, forced to rent them out.

John Harcar (08:16.156)
No brainer.

John Harcar (08:28.687)
Mm-hmm.

Melina And Daniel (08:40.398)
But when I saw like, I can rent these for a thousand a month, they’re cash flowing like crazy. So I learned how to be a landlord accidentally. I learned the value of holding properties long-term. In the meantime, I decided to go back and get my doctorate. I went to chiropractic school from 2012 to 2016. Still had the three properties. They actually allowed me to not have to work full-time while I was in grad school, which was a blessing.

I I sold all three of those properties, used that money to start my own business, my own chiropractic clinic. By 2018, I had a little bit of money in the bank. So I ran all the numbers on stocks, other sorts of investments, and I kept coming back to real estate and running these models and finding 20 % return was achievable, whether I was looking at flipping firm.

John Harcar (09:34.834)
Mm-hmm.

Melina And Daniel (09:35.95)
Any play in real estate I saw that 20 % returns were achievable, which is you know almost double the stock market So I got back into it in 2018 started flipping Did I think 14 deals in 2019 at this point? I knew how to run a business. I was much older much more mature Had built the chiropractic clinic from scratch. So I had a few new tools under my belt We now had internet and cell phones which changed the game a little bit

John Harcar (10:05.125)
Right?

Melina And Daniel (10:05.748)
And so, yeah, ended up flipping over 30 properties, started getting into short term rentals, got really heavy into short term rentals and the run up before COVID and during COVID. Then started having some tax issues because the the act of income from the clinic combined with the flipping and everything else I was doing. Let’s let’s just say I was over six figures in taxes every year.

Met a guy at a chiropractic seminar who was also a real estate investor who started talking to me about multifamily and cost segregation studies as a way to mitigate my tax risk. Really liked him, very knowledgeable gentleman. And we developed a mentor mentee relationship, started getting into multifamily and I found out that that’s the space that I want to be in. So right now I’m targeting between five and 50 doors doing small syndications.

with other car factors, other investors. And we’ve been doing really well and I’ve really been enjoying the bigger value add plays in the mid-size multifamily space.

John Harcar (11:07.888)
awesome.

John Harcar (11:15.76)
Incredible great story. Like you said, he learned hard knocks man. That’s the best way to learn And I think you did what a lot of people don’t you saw it out of mentor mentor whether it was, know consciously or subconsciously You gravitated towards that what you think do you guys think you million? I’ll start with you What do you guys think have been you know before we talk about the community part? What have been some of the keys to your success throughout the years because I mean There I don’t know what your timeline was around that. wait. I know you’d mentioned it

What kind of mindset or keys to success were really crucial for you guys to get to where you are now?

Melina And Daniel (11:53.358)
I would say mindset, would say prayer, would say doing to others as you want done unto you. I would say being the light, waking up knowing that everything’s gonna be okay. The environment is always changing, the deal is always changing. The other thing that I think is important is if it’s to be, it’s up to me. This is one of the things I learned in one of my leadership classes.

If it’s gonna happen, because I show up. When I show up, I’m gonna show up like God fucking sent me, you know? I’m not, excuse me, I fucked up, like. That just, you But I think it’s important for people to show up with confidence and to know that the confidence doesn’t necessarily come from them. I think there’s a higher power that they can tap into that we’re all given that when you show up, you gotta like move in faith. You know, you gotta go for it. You gotta take the leap.

John Harcar (12:26.866)
Yeah.

That’s okay, yeah, we can edit that out, that’s no worries.

Melina And Daniel (12:49.43)
you know, leverage courage, leverage courage of other people that have done it aside from you, you know, know that it’s going to be okay. So I think that this is one of the most important things that has supported me in any success and supported me in all the failures also, because like I failed really big, you know, I made some huge failures and what sets me up for the next success or the next deal or the next opportunity is knowing that it’s going to be okay. And then I’m led by higher power other than myself.

John Harcar (13:19.538)
show me a man that hasn’t failed. I’ll show you a man that’s not successful. What were, and before we get to you, what were some of the tools, specific books, mindset tools, things that you use just throughout that time?

Melina And Daniel (13:22.798)
so sorry.

Melina And Daniel (13:35.864)
You know, I went to Tony Robbins seminar when I was 19. I’m a real people person. like interacting kinesthetically. So I went to Tony Robbins when I was 19 and walked on fire and got up on stage and did that whole interaction. I created some friendships that continued on from there. Continuing to surround myself with others who were like-minded. And then I just continued.

in my self-development. I went to a couple of different leadership programs in Vegas, here in San Antonio, Texas, or in Bandera, Texas. So I’m constantly leveraging. I’m a more, I’m not more, I’m not, I listen to a lot of podcasts and audibles and books, I love people. I love connection. I love interaction.

John Harcar (14:18.375)
Okay.

the interaction.

All right, Dr. Murray, your turn.

Melina And Daniel (14:25.464)
Sure, the number one thing for me I think has been mentorship and coaching, education. And there’s a few people in my life that have really inspired me to grow, have reached back and lent a hand and helped me to pull myself up and to create the life that I’m enjoying now. So.

very early on, you know, I played sports. I was an athlete growing up in high school and I wasn’t very good, but I was coachable. I discovered really quickly that my, my coachability made up for my lack of athleticism and I’ve parlayed that into the business world as well. I’m not the smartest. I’m obviously not the most handsome. But I, I’m, I’m smart enough to know that I need help.

especially in areas that I’ve never, waters that I’ve never navigated before. So I’ve always looked for coaching. I’ve put a lot of time and money into business coaching. It started in chiropractic school. I had a buddy that I went to high school with. Actually, the same guy whose dad was in the real estate is the one that got me into chiropractic. So the the story, it entangles in some really interesting ways.

John Harcar (15:48.277)
wow.

Melina And Daniel (15:52.418)
I watched him, I watched him graduate chiropractic school and almost fail out of practice. And then he got with a practice management group, a chiropractic coaching group. And it turned his entire life around. I mean, it, went into beyond business and into his personal life. The relationship with his wife and his kids got better. So I watched this transformation and I thought, you know what coaching is one of the most underrated.

tools in the tool belt for any industry. Going through all the education for chiropractic and running the business, I realized that a lot of business principles are universal. So it doesn’t matter if you’re doing real estate, chiropractic, dental, landscaping, it really doesn’t matter. There’s universal business principles that can apply to anything that you’re doing. And I think the best investment anybody can make

John Harcar (16:36.23)
Mm-hmm.

Melina And Daniel (16:51.402)
is back into themselves in the form of education and mentorship. I’ve been really blessed to work with Mark Ferguson with the Invest For More group out of Greeley, Colorado, Scott Garber out in the Northeast, Liam Schubel, Steve Hayes, Chad Webster, Hugh Edwards. I mean, my list of coaches and mentors is a mile long and I 100 % attribute my success to those guys sharing their time and their treasure with me.

John Harcar (17:21.596)
Yeah, I had a gentleman on the yesterday. think it was that I was in the room and Warren Buffett was in that room and someone asked Warren Buffett like, you know, what would you invest in today? You know, gold, silver, real estate. He said yourself. Invest in yourself. Let’s talk about community guys. What’s important? Why we share a lot about mentors, coaches, you know, being in that right room. Why is it important to have that community in both your business and your personal life?

Melina And Daniel (17:50.446)
Well, Doc and I actually launched a small business university based off of a book that he is in the process of completing. And you could talk more about that later, right? But I believe that when like minds come together, it creates a different mind. I think that it empowers the thought processes. I think that it calls forth higher ideas that maybe

you wouldn’t have thought of before. think when these energies come together, think that things happen. think that you’re more likely to accomplish things when you have others to leverage. Leverage in a positive way. Leverage when there’s a win-win scenario. I say leverage loosely because I think that people kind of shy away from that. in business, you’re absolutely going to leverage somebody else’s skill set, knowledge base. We’ve talked about it. But I think that when

you can put yourself in the minds or in the room with other higher minds, you you may not have thought things the way that you did, or you may have like these epiphanies, know, epiphanies that come out seemingly miraculously. I think that’s why it’s important. I’ve got two quotes that I think are very relevant. Number one is no man is an island.

John Harcar (19:10.418)
Dr.

Melina And Daniel (19:16.462)
And number two is ego is not the amigo. That just got a shirt.

John Harcar (19:20.85)
Mmm.

I like that second one. I’m about to say it sounds like a shirt or a mug. One of the two.

Melina And Daniel (19:27.91)
Let’s do it. Hey, we’re see here’s the here’s the mastermind This is how it happens so I I see a lot of people that they and these are these two ideas go hand-in-hand a lot of people want to be able to say that they’ve done it all on their own that nobody’s helped them that they’re a self-made man or a self-made woman and when I say no man is an island I mean humanity man

John Harcar (19:32.314)
Here’s a collaboration, yes sir!

John Harcar (19:47.388)
Mm-hmm.

Melina And Daniel (19:55.426)
doesn’t matter. But people let their ego get in the way. want all the credit. They want all the prestige that comes with building this business or this company or whatever it is. But nothing is accomplished with one person. There’s no way. And in real estate, I think that idea multiplies. You can’t be the plumber, the electrician, the real estate agent, the property manager, the landscaper.

John Harcar (20:14.598)
Never.

Melina And Daniel (20:25.066)
to wear all those hats. So if you can let that egotistical idea go and realize that you need help, whether it’s coaching, whether it’s building a team, whether it’s being part of a community, getting off of that island, that’s going to make your business explode in my opinion. So that’s one of the number one things that I see people doing wrong is they think they can do it all by themselves.

John Harcar (20:46.098)
Mm-hmm.

Melina And Daniel (20:53.208)
They think they know everything. And that’s just not the case. has done this by themselves. And I don’t care what business we’re talking about. Everybody successful has a coach, a mentor, and a team around them. And that’s the importance of community.

John Harcar (21:01.892)
No, I mean.

John Harcar (21:08.658)
Well, we’re never, we’re never alone. I’m a god with us at all times anyways, but that’s the thing I hear from people the most. think when I’m asking about their business that, you know, and truly digging in is. Yeah, it’s just, feel like I’m on an island. I don’t feel like there’s other people that are experiencing what I’m experiencing and they are, and as far as from the truth, because I mean, I’ve seen it evident as part of our mastermind folks come in and just that community, that one connection, that one, the proximity to that opportunity. Explodes. So what.

If someone was obviously we talked about joining or right now don’t talk about you know, mentorships and masterminds and all that stuff. Like what do think is the most important tool for someone that is getting into the business, right? Whether it’s real estate, whether it’s whatever. I mean, what is the most important tool step advice, whatever you would give them to set them up for success.

Melina And Daniel (21:58.862)
I would say finding someone who is in your specific industry and preferably even in your local area, doing what you want to do that’s had a track record of success. So if I was going to open up a restaurant, I would meet the most successful restaurants and owners in San Antonio and I would find out which one was open to becoming my mentor. So industry specific, local with a track record of success.

And what I found is that the more successful people are in general the more likely they are willing to give back because somebody probably mentored them and they realized that that was an important part of their growth and their success and so for me personally I love nothing more than getting a phone call from some youngster in high school or college that wants to learn about real estate investing wants to take me to lunch and pick my brain. It’s like hey I will

always make time for that because that’s the next generation. And it’s important to me to give back because again, my mentors and my coaches have directed me to pay it forward and I just think it’s the right thing to do.

John Harcar (23:11.09)
Go giver. You ever read the Go giver? I’m sure you probably read the Go giver.

Melina And Daniel (23:14.41)
I have not actually.

John Harcar (23:16.21)
Oh, my, you got it. You got to go. You got it. Got to go get it. You got to go get the book. It is incredible. And it talks and it talks about it’s kind of about a story where this guy’s looking for it to be connected to a big, you know, to to complete this big deal. And he gets connected with this really powerful dude, and he’s just kind of blown away how the guy would take the time to meet him and spend the time with him. And the guy says, you know, you’ll really find that majority of the really successful people.

Melina And Daniel (23:18.166)
It’s funny, Mitch. Go to bed. Yes, I’ve seen that. I think…

John Harcar (23:45.65)
are more than happy to meet and share their knowledge and share their wealth. that’s kind of like the theme about our mastermind and our folks in this well, our group, it’s all about giving, it’s about sharing, it’s about, you know, lifting all boats, you know what I mean? So let’s talk about you guys as I think it’s a small business university. Is that what it is that you guys have together? Okay, why don’t you tell us our folks a little bit about that?

Melina And Daniel (24:05.474)
Yep.

Melina And Daniel (24:09.646)
Sure, so I realized through this whole process that, and I’ve heard this over and over again as I network with other small business owners, I’m in BNI, Business Networking International, that there’s a lot of industry specific tools, but there’s not a lot of information or resources for someone to start a small business and just go step by step. Like I have a practice management group from Chiropractic.

that has a book that says literally step one, form an LLC, step two. And I don’t know of another resource out there that is similar. And I work with a lot of these youngsters, they don’t know what an LLC is. They don’t know the difference between an S-corp and a C-corp. They don’t know how to network. They don’t know what BNI is. There’s so many different aspects of owning a small business. And I just didn’t see that there was a tool.

that walk people from start to finish on how to be successful. And so I started creating one and, you know, once Melina found out about it, she just got fired up, you know, talk about the sense of community. I’m good at creating stuff. I’m not good at promoting myself like that. I want to like go and toot my own horn and things like that. But she’s willing to do it. So we’ve decided to team up. She’s handling.

John Harcar (25:24.466)
You

Melina And Daniel (25:36.792)
logistics. She’s keeping me on track with my calendar. So we’re trying to trying to bring this thing to the public to help small business owners with a starting place and also to make it affordable. The last thing I’ll say some of these coaching groups, it’s like when you’re trying to start a small business and you’re rubbing two pennies together and someone’s asking for you know $50,000 and nothing nothing wrong with that. The people that can afford it and I’m sure it’s worth it but

From my perspective, I think we can provide an affordable solution for small business owners that just can’t afford to come out of pocket 50 grand. so, filling a lot of different needs with this concept that we’re launching. So I’m excited. Melina’s been amazing. I wouldn’t be this far along without her. So again, you’ve got to find people to create a team. She fills in my weak spots.

and maybe vice versa, I don’t know, hopefully. So yeah, that’s what we’re launching.

John Harcar (26:39.206)
That’s awesome. Melina, any last words, advice, comments that we want to make? We’re kind of pushing time here, but anything you want to share with the audience before we go?

Melina And Daniel (26:47.362)
I just want to say go be great, go do it. I think that that’s the most powerful thing you can do is decide and go in all in, go all in on yourself and your vision and your dreams because that’s what you’re here to do, that’s what you’re here to accomplish, so do it.

John Harcar (27:02.61)
I love it. You are probably an amazing just, mean, pump up the energy. I’m going to call you every morning and be like, Melina, I’m dragging here. Help me. Guys, thank you so much for coming on here, man. I mean, we could probably talk for another 30 minutes. There’s a lot of stuff that I wanted to ask, so I didn’t get a chance to. But guys, if they want to get in touch with you, what’s the best way to reach out?

Melina And Daniel (27:10.58)
I’m sorry.

Melina And Daniel (27:25.294)
I’m on Instagram mainly, malin.montelongo is the best place. And then from there, all links and stuff is there. But DM me, just send me a message. And I’m on Facebook, DanielMurrayDC. That’s kind where I hang out on the interwebs. yeah, send me a friend request, send me a message, and let’s connect. I’m happy to help anyone any way I can.

John Harcar (27:48.924)
Sweet you guys hope you took some great notes. I hope you reach out to these folks and and and let them help you This was a great great podcast. Thank you guys so much again for coming on here I’ve really enjoyed it and I hope everybody in the out there enjoyed it as well. We will see you on the next one Cheers

Melina And Daniel (27:57.314)
reported.

Melina And Daniel (28:06.488)
Bye!