On today's episode of Gathering the Kings. Every day we wake up, it's a privilege. We have two points of view. You can either look at it in a good light. It can be negative about everything, and that's not gonna get you anywhere. So I could have been growing up in Mexico. I could have not known what direction I wanted to go in life here. I have all the opportunities in the world. What's up, everybody? I'm Chaz Wolfe gathering the king's podcast.
I am smiling ear to ear today because I have not just guest, but a great friend at this point. My my man Armando Orvera. What's up, brother? How are you doing? Oh, man. I'm doing good. It's just been a long time now. How did that do with rolling the r's? That that was that was good. I, yeah, I like that. Really good. You know, the the uniqueness of having you here on the show is that we've gotten to know each other pretty well over the last half 3 quarter a year or so.
You've been part of the gathering the king's peer to peer mastermind group for a little bit. You have incredible energy. You do life with just a big old smile. That's why I'm smiling today because we're gonna have a great conversation. And on top of that, I know I know some things here about you and how you operate in your business. I'm gonna be able to create some amazing value for the listeners as Wolfe. But Armando, tell us what kind of business that you have.
So I I have a pretty niche company here in San Antonio, we do, government contracting. So it's DOD contracting for all the military hospitals in the United States. And then we also do DOD contracting for commissaries on the, the military bases. So it's it's niche. It's all government work. We don't do any commercial work. So on the hospitals, we provide doctors, nurses, TNAs. I mean, we go from the top to the bottom. Anything that has to do with medical. So it's it's pretty intense.
And like I said, it's all throughout the United States. There's civilian people going on to the military bases, and they we staff them through next contracting services, and they work on the military base. So they're civilians. They're not they're not government employees, and then same thing with commsaries. It's an interesting little world. I never knew much about it until about 3 years ago, and it's been been a ride so far.
Yeah. I was just gonna as you were saying that I was reminded that you're in this you know, deep medical space on top of that government, you know, related. And it's like, well, the last 3 years have been really interesting you know, with a pandemic and government regulation and and shutdowns and all kinds of fun stuff, but yet medical. Like, 2 worlds collide, and they that calls calls it your business. You know? Yeah. I think it's it's it's crazy. There's a a lot that you've had to navigate.
Oh, so much navigation. It's It's all guidance regulations that we gotta meet and never ending security regulations we gotta meet. Yeah. We're always always having to stay up to date on everything. You know, it's it's interesting. I wanna point something out for the listener because this is what I know about you. I already mentioned that you're just a really joyful person. I think that you just kinda walk through life, you know, with with, like, an optimistic perspective.
And so I wanna get into some of that because I think it's actually one of your superpowers, but when I think about what you just said, you're like, yeah. There's all this stuff that we gotta figure out and all these regulations. And what you could have said is Yeah. There's all this stuff and regulations and rules and but that that's not at all the tone that you gave to us. And so where do you think that that comes from?
Like, I wanna press into the optimistic perspective that you carry in life, but just that tone, that joy that like, yeah, it's part of it. Yeah. It's a lot. It's it's heavy, but We do it anyway. Where does that come from? I think I've always been that way. Even in high school, going through sports, I always play sports on my lap, but there was always challenges that we had to overcome as a team as a as an individual, you know, you're always going to the white room. You're lifting.
You're you don't wanna go in at 6 o'clock in the morning. And I always woke up happy to do it. You know? It's a privilege for us to be able to do these kinds of things. You don't wake up in the morning. We come to work every day. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not working for somebody. I'm doing it for myself. Wake up early morning and everything we wake up, it's a privilege. And so I I kind of always been that way. I think life is just that way. You know, we we have two points of view.
You can either look at it in a good light. It can be negative about everything, and that's not gonna get you anywhere. Yeah. You're right. It is pretty simple. It's, yeah, it's binary. It's one or the other. The the word privilege is so interesting to me. Because it's been used in a negative sense, I would say, in the last 5 years of, like, oh, you're privileged. But the way you used it is very similar to how I use it. I have a daily visualization.
And some of the things that I talk about to myself every single day are that I have a privilege to and then fill in the blank. One of them, which is to control my health. Health is very it's it's a privilege to have great health. And so what I do inside of that is I get to work out and I get to choose food that serves me and but the angle similar to you is I get to do this. Wow. What a what an opportunity I I'm thankful for this. I get I'm privileged.
Why do you have that perspective on privilege as opposed to, like, it's oh, you're privileged. You were given a silver spoon or fill in the blank of the negative thought. I think, like, I I got that a lot from my parents. You know, they came from Mexico in the late seventies. Being an immigrants, you know, on a 1st generation American here, I feel like I'm privileged. I could have been growing up in Mexico. I could have not known what direction I wanted to go in life here.
I have all the opportunities in the world. You know, I'm, you know, I'm working for the government. I have a company that's truly striving right now, and I thought, well, my parents gave up everything for me to have these tunings. So for to see them struggle and go through live struggling and, you know, they're always coming out ahead. And it's giving me a leg up. I feel like for them doing Chaz. So I take advantage of it. It's it's an opportunity that I get to have. Don't struggle.
You know, so I'm grateful for that kind of thing. Yeah. This mindset is just so strong, and you've come by it maybe more naturally based on your situations, what you're saying. Like, I grew up in a scenario where we didn't have anything anyway. So now that I have something, I'm grateful for it.
What what would you say to the person right now who maybe wasn't in your shoes, right, they grew up in might be not even maybe not even just in America, like, as a with American parents per se, but not immigrants. They grew up in a house where they they got plenty, and there was no struggle whatsoever. That person listening right now is like, well, I'm I I don't know if I feel privileged or maybe they maybe they were. How should they look at that?
I think we should always look at Chaz as, again, having a great opportunity here because what if we looked in another country where you didn't get to go out and start your own business? You didn't get to go to just any school you wanted to. And I'm living here. We we have freedom. We have opportunities Chaz other people don't have in other countries. So we gotta embrace it and enjoy it. Yeah. We're lucky to have this. Yeah. Absolutely. You're you're a 100% right.
And I think that the person that I was kinda describing has either not seen the other side of the track, right, or or they've missed it so far down down the line of what what's possible is that they now have an expectation of life as opposed to a gratefulness. And I think that's what makes, you know, 1st generation Americans or 1st generation wealth builders, 1st generation business owners. Like, that's probably who's mostly listening right Right? 85% of the the world's wealth is 1st generation.
Right? Because we're freaking grateful for what we've got. You know? Yeah. We are. And we wanna keep we wanna keep it. We know it is like to struggle. We know it is like to be 4. You know? And we wanna keep That's right. That's right. We ain't going back to that. Oh, no. Hopefully not. Hell, it could happen, but hopefully not. What do you think? You know, again, for for this perspective of Okay.
1st generation, whether it's 1st generation American, 1st generation, business owner, 1st generation, wealth creator. How should this person be thinking? So that way, their children who aren't going to be like you and me Chaz maybe have some of these same beliefs of, like, privilege and and and being grateful. That's that's kinda tough. You know what? I ran into a guy this weekend when I was in Elito. He sends his kids to Mexico for the summers.
For them to grow up with the culture, to grow up with that that perspective of wanting to use another country. And for them to come back here and not be so entitled to not have the like, just this entitlement that we have here. And I I thought that was a really great Yeah. Perspective that he's given his kids.
You know, and, obviously, they're not gonna send another visual syndicates in Mexico or to another country to live with their grandparents, but to be able to do that, just to tell them and show them that know, even if you go take them around and see the homeless around here, around the cities and stuff, show them that not everything's, you know, peachy all the time, people are struggling here. And I'll even so more so now, people are really struggling right now.
And so if the kids could see that now, think it might give them a different perspective to see what's really going on in the world because we've been people in bubbles sometimes. Yeah. When I was younger in high school, we built some homes. In Juarez, Mexico. I don't think people are allowed to go to Juarez today and build homes. That's not so much. Yeah. I did that with my church group. I know, man.
I was we were we were in there, making it happen, but and then I was also able to go to to Haiti a couple times. And it's like, when you see how life is done different to your exact point that you just made, I have a perspective on how things could be. But they're not. And so that turns me to gratefulness. And it's like, okay. Wow. I had running water today. I chose to take a cold shower, but I could have taking a warm shower if I wanted to. And there was water. It came out when I told it to.
It was crazy. About the people that have to carry their water. Water from, the rivers to their house. They don't have running water. They don't have running plumbing. You know? Yeah. Yeah. When we were building the houses in the summertime, in Juarez, we got we got a bucket. It was a fairly small bucket, and you went behind a little curtain thing and you used that bucket of water, and you weren't gonna get 2. So use it wisely. So it's just it's perspective. Right?
Like, I think that's what picking up here to give to the listener is that if your perspective is different, then then your attitude towards things changes. Would you agree with that? I would agree Chaz a 100%. And I think you can change your perspective. It's hard. You gotta work on it.
You gotta build that mindset of, you know, if you were a negative person, just work on it every day, change a little bit here and there, just like when we work out, we don't automatically get get strong overnight. You know, it takes time. But you can work on a mindset as well. Right. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. You individually working on the mindset. There's a self mastery piece to Chaz. And then you know, obviously, we're both part of gathering the king's peer to peer.
My even as the facilitator, the guy that started it, my perspective has changed by being around guys like you. And I'm sure that you felt the same way, being around other folks in the group, but it's like if someone else with different experiences, different history, they grew up differently like you're talking about. They have a different business. They come they live in a different area of the world. They do life differently.
They're gonna be able to look in on my situation and and give a totally different perspective, which helps me shift my thought. What would you agree? Yeah. I agree. Even this morning, we had a accountability call, and that shipped to my perspective. You know, I was tired, but, man, after I left that call, it was interesting. I was like, yeah. Let's do this. Today's a great day. Let's do this. Let's roll. You know? Yeah. Been around people like that. It should be energizing. That's right.
Well, let's talk about let's talk about your business for half a second here. And and actually, maybe before we go practical, I wanna go just like inside of Armando? Like, what's what's deep inside of you? Why why are you doing government work? Why this line of work? Why are you even in business? Like, What's the deep seated burning desire for you? What are you trying to get out of life? I wouldn't be able to get back, you know, grow my company, but get back to the community.
I've I've always been that way. Ever since I was a little kid, I remember being in Mexico, and there was homeless people when my parents were like, oh, we gotta go. And I had, like, a 2 liter doctor coke. I was like, oh, here. You know what? I'm gonna go get this to them because they don't have anything, but I always been that way. I always try to help people.
And I don't know I don't know where that comes from on It's just like, just do it just to help people volunteer an organization here in San Antonio. It was called Casa. It was for Orphan Kids. You know, trying to help them, and they were going bouncing around from house to house. I I liked the fact that I could guide them and and help them out even if it was just a little bit. And to be able to do that, I wanna be able to go in order this company to be able to get back to people like that.
You know, get backpacks back. Just help wherever I can. And that's honestly why I kinda wanna grow this organization. I don't have kids right now. So for me, that would be my way of giving back maybe contributing somewhat to this to this world. Yeah. You've seen the impact even on a small scale of giving a soda to somebody who didn't have anything, not only for them, but for you. And sounds like that's actually the addiction now. It's like, How can I how can I help? How can I serve?
Cause it it actually is a win win. It feels great to serve. It does. You know? Like, it's I mean, I pretty much I feel like I have what I need. You know, I'm I'm pretty happy, but I feel better when I help somebody. Like, that makes me feel better. Alright, Armando. Obviously, you got a big heart. I know that about you just getting to know you over the last, little bit of time as well. You got a big heart. You love people.
You love being around people too, but for for your business, I wanna know about just a really good decision that you've made. Practical. Something that maybe, the listeners can take away and go implement into their business as well. Yeah. I think for me, really getting down and breaking down my KPIs, So, like, for every site that I have, I KPIs, because without KPIs, I I'll go way over budget. My budget just get blown out of the water.
When having KPIs and looking at those every morning once a week, once every 2 weeks. You know, I mean, I I I'm looking them every day, though. And with KPIs, I I know exactly where I'm at every day, and it truly helps me keep my budget in line. But then at the end of the day, I know where my profits and losses are just off of those KPIs. So it's really helpful. Yeah. Now I know your personality. Well, we do a personality assessment inside of Gathering and the Kings.
And so we we joke about it, but I know that you're not a numbers guy at all. In fact, numbers couldn't be furthest from what you love. But but inside it. Yeah. But inside of your best decision, you're talking about tracking numbers. How has someone like you who's maybe not naturally a numbers person?
You're much more of a people person and you love you know, the conversation and the relationship, how have you been able to dial in to the importance of, like, not only, like, having numbers, tracking the numbers and doing it repeatedly all the time and focusing on it. Yeah. It's it's really been a mindset. Like, when I come into work, that's the first thing I do.
Like, sitting there looking at them and analyzing them, but I have to do it because I've let my budget get out get blown out of the water because I haven't been tracking those. And so now that I'm tracked those, it's it's truly brings everything back into perspective where I need it to be. And now I know, like, okay. Every day.
Yeah. This is where it's at, and this is is where I'm profitable and where I'm losing money or, you know, it it helped me control my profits and laws completely every single day. It has to be managed every day. You've got, obviously, a large team. You know, you've got you've got people, you know, working in bases all over country. You know, you have people that are then managing those people, and and there's just a lot of moving pieces.
It does do the numbers help manage the moving pieces as well, or is it just about, you know, kind of tracking tracking the margin? No. It it helps manage people as well. Because every site has their own budget, I mean, it could be variation from a 1000 hours to 2000 hours depending on the site. So tracking those KPIs helps each manager at the site, manage it. And then, like I said, I break it down today so they know exactly, okay. This day, we ran over 2 hours.
We need to dial back next day, you know, 2 hours to make sure they stay within their budget. But KPIs and numbers all across the board are gonna help track, like, whenever I wanna give them a raise, when I wanna give them a bonus, whenever they're they're not performing correctly, but it gives me numbers to show them. It's not a It's not my opinion. It's a it's an actual fact when they're performing good and they're not performing good. You know, my culture test, I could go off to field.
That'll be good. So Exactly. I was gonna say, give us give us more there because, I mean, what you said is is the truth. Like, we we just we put the the thing that's real in front of them so that way we can just manage the deliverable. But there's obviously still a human on the other side of the table or the other side of the Zoom if you're talking to them across the country.
Because you're so good with people also, how have you been able to, like, bring these two things together where you're like, I know you see the other person. You cared deeply for the other That's who you are. Like, that's your design. But then now you've got this angle of like, well, here's the deliverable. Here's the number. We gotta hit it no matter what, no feelings. But yet you're this amazing person that has great feelings.
Yeah. And and that's really what helped me is that I can take out the emotion of it and just be logical about it. Know, the numbers are gonna tell me exactly what it is, and I I I can't let my emotions be in there. Like, man, I really like you. I do, but these are the numbers, and they're not lying. Chaz we're not performing or we aren't performing, and that's the beauty of numbers is that they don't lie. Yeah. My experience. Tell me if this has been for you as well.
My experience with folks that love people Chaz maybe even have a hard time with confrontation that would maybe get their, you know, feelings kinda in the way their emotions in the way. This approach actually makes it super practical, and it actually makes the the person on their team Chaz are talking with appreciate the clarity. Because a lot of times, my wife is like this as well. Like, where it's like, oh, I don't wanna disappoint them, and I don't wanna bring bad news.
I don't wanna that they're doing wrong. And, like, there's this people pleasing effect with people that are naturally good with people like you. It's like, the other person actually appreciates sometimes, like, just the clarity of, like, hey. This isn't right. Let's fix it. In fact, I'll help you. Right? Absolutely. Yeah. And and with the numbers, that's the best way to do it.
And like I said, I I'm I'm so emotional sometimes that I I could let that get in the way, but the numbers help me kind of have a boundary there for it. Yeah. Yeah. And I guess so in that in that, you know, position for you, then you can still be the joyful people loving person that you are. Outside of that. Like, you can you can tell them how real it is and what the numbers are, and we gotta hold we gotta hold the line.
But, yeah, we can still then have a great working relationship outside of that meeting to help them reach their goals is what I'm understanding that you're saying. Am I right? Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Because then I can call them. I can be like, hey. Look. Your KPIs are perfect. You're you're hitting all your KPIs. Guess what? I'm gonna give you a bonus for Chaz. And then, you know, they're happy. They're sided. Right.
Yeah. But at the on flip side, if they're not doing that, well, then I'm writing them up. We're giving them a a coaching. So it it does help. Yeah. Right. Well, let's flip the coin here, Amanda. Talk about what, decision that you've made that maybe wasn't the best that you've made, but kinda made a mess of things, and we can learn from There was one big one I could really say. I I had a previous company before this. I went into it with a a friend of mine, a really good friend of mine.
We started doing medical logistics. And the mistake I made was not really knowing his business attributes. You know, I just knew him as a friend Chaz a person, but I didn't know his business mindset. And so that kinda led us to, like, eventually Chaz conflict. We had to dissolve the company, and it ultimately ruined the friendship. I learned a lot from that. It sucks that the friendship got ruined, but I learned a lot from it because going into it.
Well, 1, I don't I don't want business partners, but if I did ever have a business partner, I Wolfe, make sure that we're on the same business lately. You know, we we have the same personalities for Yeah. As far as business is concerned, same core values, same same business mindset, honestly, because that really He didn't have the same business mentality, the, say, business goals that I had where it was kinda just winging it. And then Sure. Oh, look. We're already making money, but We're good.
He got he got content there where I always wanna grow. I'm always looking for a role. Hey, Kings and Queens. Chaz Wolf. I wanna talk to you about something that's super important to me. We put a lot of time and effort. We, meaning myself and my team, into this podcast into the content that goes out every single day. And if you have been getting any sort of value or insight from this, we want it to be able to reach other business owners too.
So we would love if you would like, comment, share, leave a review, post, share again, all of the things. On social media, on all the different platforms, or even on the podcast mediums of Apple and Spotify. We would love to be able to get our content into more hands more entrepreneurs so they can grow their business as quick as possible. Together, we are building a community of like minded entrepreneurs who are committed to growing their businesses to new heights. So let's do this.
Let's help each other. Let's help each other grow. For the person that's listening right now, like, considering a partner or they have a partner, and maybe they're wondering if they're not on the same page. What were some of those red flags? You kinda get you started itching on them a little bit there as far as, key was content. You wanted growth. What did that look like in maybe a little bit more detail, or what were some of the other red flags that you could see now they maybe didn't see that.
The first thing is that we jumped in there without, like, really having bylaws and our our structure of the company really set up correctly. So for 1, make sure your bottles are correct. That that'll and set your expectations. Set your expectation of what you expect from the other person. And knowing their their workload and your workload, who's gonna who's gonna do what is gonna be huge.
But some of the red flags was I didn't I didn't really realize that his worth ethic wasn't there to what I thought he should have been there or could have been there. You know? Once he got to Sure. Where he was content. That was it. He really didn't want to want to pursue anymore. His management skills were a little different from on. He it was kind of harder on people.
It was just it it was a lot there, but I should have seen it, you know, going in, but I only looked at it from a from a friendship point of view, not a business point of view. That sounds like you guys would have made great friends being opposite. Yeah. Absolutely. And that's kinda what we've listed up. Yeah. Chaz. Yeah. It was tough. I learned from it. Yeah. That's obviously the healthy approach to, you know, looking for what, you know, what you can get out of it, and I appreciate you sharing.
I think that there's a lot partnerships that have worked, some that haven't. Obviously, that's a great example. The the red flags were great. I appreciate you sharing those. What were some of the things that you could have done during that time to, I don't know, like, find out what those red flags were sooner or be able to recognize them. So you told us what they were, but how does the person now recognize them?
That they don't have a great work ethic or that we think differently when it comes to being content or or keep going or management styles being more rough or more soft. Like, Sometimes those can be complimentary, but what you're saying is that they weren't. How does someone figure those things out maybe a little sooner or maybe even before they get started?
I think right right now, honestly, doing a culture test, that has helped me just figure out myself a little bit better and knowing, like, you know, which things already new, but knowing it kinda puts it into perspective for me, like, not knowing that I wasn't organized. Right. But when I saw it on a piece of paper, I was holy shit. I'm not organized. And I know Chaz. I'm like, okay. If I bring somebody in the mutual aid, it's gonna be organized Chaz they can do that.
You know, I and for me, it's like, Yeah. Just put it into perspective. Just kinda showed me something I already knew, but just blew it up. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And to your point, Culture Index has been not only great for just, you know, guys like me and you to be able to go back and forth and communicate, but inside of a business, oh my goodness.
If I know that, you know, like, what Armando's saying is that, have a tendency to do x, y, and z, well, I I don't need Armando doesn't need another what his profile is a rainmaker. He doesn't need another rainmaker because then they're gonna be yeah. They're another visionary, another person that's gonna just go talk to everybody. Implement no systems in process and and cross no t's and dot no i's.
Obviously, you're doing those things because you have to in order to be successful, you wouldn't you wouldn't have a a a multi sub figure organization like you do and be successful if you weren't doing those things, but naturally, you would rather just kinda, you know, be a little bit more free flowing. And so to find that person that can compliment that is is not only fantastic, but what what I'm hearing you say is that you can find that. That's good.
But, like, be aware of how that matches up in business, not just in friendship. Right? Absolutely. She's a friendship, but it it can work out. But this is this is not gonna work out so well. Yeah. Not if you're not if you're not in alignment. I think alignments the right word because you can be complimentary in characteristic traits, but completely not aligned in targets goals where we want this thing to go. You know? One guy might wanna sell in 3 years.
The other guy wants to hold on to it and give it to his grandkids. That's not gonna work. Unless the guy in 3 years, what Chaz wants to sell wants to sell to the other guy. Chaz would work. Yeah. It could work. Maybe not. Yeah. Anyway, alright. Well, so let's talk about a couple things here. You you're you're you're hungry. That's what I'm picking up. You you you love growth. You love always looking for the next challenge. Let's talk about you going through the pandemic. In the medical space.
Just give us just, I don't know, what was the what was the hardest thing and all Chaz? What was the challenge? What was the growth for you personally and or organization wise? It's just such a unique piece. We all went through it, but you went through it in the medical space. And so I just think that there's clearly something that we'll be able to pull out here for the listener.
Yeah. That going through it in the medical space was a little it was a roller coaster because nurses were jumping, you know, I mean, they were getting traveling between them. Yeah. They were getting paid good money for that. And then to keep them on a military base was, like, even harder because they had to go get vaccines. They had to go through all these regulations.
Honestly, it was a matter about us having a good culture or understanding that once we got through this pandemic, we were gonna take care of them. We didn't lose as many houses as we could have. But we did lose some, obviously, because the pay was just there's no way you could have matched that during the pandemic, but we were able to keep a lot of them. And now we take care of them, you know, now that the prices are going back down for traveling nurses, those nurses stay the same.
They got their vacation packages that they are in. We take care of them. And, man, not but that was a hard time. But, I mean, every morning, we're like, oh, how many reservations do we get? Or, you know, who's putting their notice, and it's like, and then we're trying to recruit it. And recruiting for that was a nightmare during that time, because you're competing with the I'm sure. For sure. The public. So I'm hearing grit. I'm hearing perseverance, but really underneath all that I heard.
You see people take good care of them. Go with them on the long haul, do what you say you're gonna do when you say you're gonna take care of them, how you're gonna take care of them, actually actually do it. Is that is that is that the message here? You gotta follow through. I think a lot of times, you know, I've I've worked with other companies before, and they didn't follow through. They tell you what they're gonna do, and then they don't follow through. I like to fall through.
That's one thing. You know, one of my core values is always staying honest with my team and staying honest with my employees and just Always trying to be there to support them, honestly. We know they're gonna go through tough times, and there's times that they're gonna call in sick, and that's that's part of it. But them supporting me through it too is, and I understand that it's, you know, I gotta support them at the same time. Yeah. It's really a partnership or a dance, actually.
Maybe it's a better way to say it. There's a there's a give and a take. There's a there has to be 2 working with each other in order for a feet not to get stepped on and one person not to do all the work. Right? Yeah. Absolutely. What do you think? I mean, kinda stay on this growth trajectory. Let's talk masterminds for a second, you know, for for a long time I ask ever guess what they thought about masterminds.
Obviously, you've been part of my mastermind, the peer to peer group for Gathering the Kings. What was your thought before joining? And what's been the effect of such of a group since? Oh, man. This is this is a really good question because when I joined, I wasn't really sure what to expect out of it. You know, I I kinda had an idea of what I wanted out of but I wasn't sure what I what I was gonna get out of it. You know what? You know what I'm saying there? So when I joined Yeah.
I was like, oh, I'm just gonna get to talk to people. They're gonna be like minded. You know? But, hopefully, it's just kinda go be more like me just getting out whatever. I'm I'm feeling that day, but I get so much out of it. Talking with the other kings and queens. It's just it's it's been an amazing journey, but to see Chaz other people have the same ambition, the same girl, but also the same struggles.
That was a side that I wasn't expecting to see that people were struggling the same way that I was and then to have that community where we could all talk and share, you know, how we how we pull ourselves out of, you know, ruts and struggling with employees or struggling with anything that's going on. I mean, I mean, you could with family, with your own emotional thoughts and your own emotional day to day feelings. And it's been really good to have teams and queens that feel the same way.
They go through the same battles. And then at the end of the day, it's it's been great to have people that truly support your success while you're going through this with them. Life changing. Life giving, you know, I I always prep every guest here for you, the audience around, I wanna transfer courage. And so every single guest, I say, I wanna transfer courage. We're gonna tell your story. Chaz as Armando, you were just talking there for a second.
I felt like that's exactly what was happening when you got around other players. Obviously, it's people that I've you know, organized into a room so that there's been some strategic thought about who's there, but you're right. Whether it's a win or a loss and we're we're discussing and you get to see someone who maybe online looks like they have it all together. And, look, there's a lot of things that a lot of those folks have going well for them.
They they're they're not so they're not small business owners. You know, they're not they're not fumbling around on a lot of things, but some things they are. And when you see that, you're like, oh, they're just a regular person, and they have struggles or they have difficulties or they're dealing with a employee situation. And what it actually does is it transfers courage. Well, if he can do it, I can do it. If she can overcome that, then I can overcome that. Would you agree with that?
Oh, a 100%. I I think, like, sometimes whenever I'm talking to, you know, within our group And somebody's struggling. I was like, man, I've I've been struggling there too. And then you you everybody else chimes in and says what they did to overcome is like, oh, man, why did I think of that? That was such an easy solution. Right. And it's just amazing to come through with that. I look at it a lot of times.
It's like when I play golf when I play golf with somebody that's not such a good golfer, don't I don't play as good. But when I play golf with somebody that's excels in golf, I it it ups my game tremendously. Like, I Chaz shoot a lot better. And I I look at it that same way with business. Yeah. Exactly. It happens in every single facet. It happens for your employees, your your team members. When when you put 2 a players next to each other, they're going to win better.
That's not like real English, I guess, but they're going to they're going to push each other. Right? Yeah. Yeah. And I have seen it. You know, I I think being around the Kings and Queens has has made me wanna strive where it made me wanna grow faster, made me wanna go harder. Yep. Instead of waking up at 8:8 AM. I wake up at 5 AM just to make sure I hit the gym every day. You know? It's things like that. It's just It's just just works. Being around everybody.
Yeah. Yeah. I want I wanna be in a room of people that are winning, but eventually, what you realize is that, well, dang, if I'm gonna be here, I might as well be I might as well be winning myself. Rather than just watching other people win. And it doesn't mean that people that come into a group setting have to always be broken and not winning.
We've got people that join whether it be gathered in the Kings or there's I'm sure there's plenty of other groups to choose from, but you join a group and you can already be winning, but there's you step into a room of high players. I'm just telling you right now, the the the energy is different and you walk away even if you're winning. You walk away winning at a greater intensity because that's how I feel.
I'm I I'm the one that was like, dude, I gotta I gotta create this thing because I couldn't find something that was what I had envisioned. And so I'm I'm certain putting players like Armando in a room where like, you know, first, like, you guys don't even realize what he's just talking about. Like, 3 years of pandemic medical stuff, like, nurses were in demand more than than food in some instances. Like, oh my gosh. Everybody's dying of COVID, and everybody needs to be in the hospital. Right?
I'm not trying to overplay such a terrible time, but what I'm trying to say is that what Armando dealt with during that time is probably heavier than what you've had to deal within your business or as heavy as some of maybe you bigger guys have had some experience. Like, this guy's a freaking king. And so I was like, dude, I need to get around a guy like you who's made it through a situation like that because I need to know how you think. I need your thoughts to agitate my thoughts.
You know what I mean? Yeah. And, you know, I've been around over the organizations as Wolfe, like the CEO, and I just feel like being in the Kings. It's just it's more intimate. It's more people actually open up, and and we're just all kind of there to support each other. It's it's really a a community. And a community that gives back. Yeah. Everybody in our organization gives back. Alright, Armando. I appreciate all those kind words.
You know, the listener has heard me talk about gathering things many, many times, especially if they've, you know, been listening, to the show repeatedly, but I appreciate the the insights from from somebody truly on the inside experiencing what we're putting together. I got one last question here for you, brother. I wanna know. I know that you're a young guy, so don't don't take the wrong way, but I wanna know if you had a chance to whisper in your younger ear.
Young Armando, you tap him on the shoulder, you whisper in his ear. You tell that guy. I would tell him, don't don't be scared. You know, take those risk because I there was a time where everybody was oh, no. You can't do that. You can't do that. And I and I would listen, but, man, you just gotta take the risk. You know, I I waited until I was 35 to finally take a big risk. And just put all my eggs in one basket and go for it and grow a company. You know, I always kinda played it safe.
I'll do that. Just just take the risk. You're gonna fail. That's fine. But at least you're taking the risk. Yeah. Nothing to nothing to hold on to. Just put it all out there. I mean, if if we all don't take a risk, then we have nothing to gain. So you might as well just go for it. Yeah. It's good stuff, man. You've got a heart of gold, really, is what it is. And I hope that some some of these listeners wanna reach out to you and just get to know you. How can they find you?
And, a, if they're an entrepreneur, they just wanna connect with you, or b, maybe they are in some sort of government contracting space, and they might be able to use your services or maybe collaborate with you somehow. How can they find you? Yeah. They Chaz put me on my website, www.nextgencontracting.com, well, on Facebook, Armandovera, or on Instagram, mondo_nextgen. And rather yep. And they can email me and they could get the email off my my web page. Perfect.
Well, we'll put all that in the show notes as well. I'm I'm not only excited to have shared you with the audience, but I get to look forward to seeing you in person here just in a couple of weeks. We've got our trip coming up to Utah. We're gonna be running UTVs in the sand dunes and doing the community thing that you mentioned earlier. And supporting each other in the business. So I appreciate you, man. Thanks for being here.
Blessings on all of the contracts that you're serving, all the people that you're influencing through your kingship. Thanks for being here, ma'am. Alright. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you for having me on. Thank you for listening to gathering the Kings today. I hope that you were able to pull out a few nuggets to go apply into your business right away.
More importantly, though, I hope that you're realizing that it takes more to be successful than just being by yourself doing it all on your own, carrying the weight all by yourself. What I have realized, not only in my own journey from multiple businesses and multiple different industries and now interviewing over 2 or 300 other very successful 7, 8, and 9 figure business owners is that it's tough to do it alone. And so gathering the Kings exists to bring together successful entrepreneurs.
In fact, we are putting together 1000 Kings specifically who are grateful, but not done. We're intentionally assembling kings who fight tooth and nail for their business, family, communities, and here's what we believe Chaz in the pursuit of excellence in those areas, that it ignites within us the responsibility to govern power and forge a lasting legacy.
So if that relates and and resonates with you and you know that you need people around you sharp qualified other very successful business owners. I want you to go to gathering the king's dot com. I want you to take a look at what we're doing and see if it makes sense you to be part of our pursuit to 1000 kings. Talk soon.