Episode 2- The Grind

Welcome back to the Way Forward podcast. The host is excited to have a special guest, Mario de los Santos, to discuss the grind and their go-getter mindset. Mario is a sneaker reseller and helps others get the shoes they want. They talk about the challenges of starting a business and the importance of knowing what people want. They emphasize the need to focus on one thing and not try to please everyone. They also discuss the importance of self-acceptance and finding inspiration in family and friends. Welcome everyone back to the way forward podcast. I Am excited to be here with another episode For another episode with you guys. It's been a while. I know I thought that I was gonna come back more often, but Life happens and life definitely happened to me, but I'm excited for this episode because I have a special guest with me today Mario de los Santos so we're gonna be talking about the grind in this episode and what that means for both of us because Both of us are go-getters, you know, that's what we talk about at our jobs right now, you know, we want to Do better we want better for ourselves and we want a Bigger, you know picture of our lives and especially me. I I know I can do more It's just about you know Putting putting myself out there and there's some things that I need to get past and in general That's what that's what we need to do We need to get past certain doubts or fears that we have To be able to get to where we want to so we're gonna we're gonna talk a little bit about that today But first I want Mario to go ahead. I want you to go and introduce yourself a little bit and what you do outside of outside of work All right, first of all Wait, thanks for having me This is awesome. I know that we've been talking about this for a little bit for you to get this started So congrats on that congrats on doing that. Thank you. And you know, I'm always here to support you As far as what I do outside of our current job. I Guess I am a Sneaker reseller, right? All right, and and I help others Get shoes that they feel that they can't You know get on their own. All right, they let me know. Maybe this is what I want and I get from That's that's mainly what I do on the outside and obviously I help individuals like like way here to You know, yeah Yeah, and and pursue his dream, right? You are so encouraging man, like you encouraged me to start this Honestly, you were one of my main Supporters before I even attempted to do this, but you helped me realize that Things won't happen unless you are the one to make them happen and in order to change Your life sometimes you need to change your environment in your mindset, so that's exactly what I had to do going into this but Yeah, so you have a shoe business One to rock right? That's the name of it. It's pretty cool He has some really cool merchandise on his Instagram page You guys should definitely check that out. I'm gonna provide you guys with some With the link to his Instagram and all that man an area where our listeners can find Mario so that you can go and support him But so let's let's get into the deeper questions of What you know starting a business is what it looks like Because it can be challenging right to do you and start put yourself out there and Really kind of build a community for yourself What do you think the biggest challenge was for you that you were facing in your business What's the biggest challenge for you right now, and how are you tackling that? That's a good question I think the biggest challenge of the business right now is just You know knowing what people want and what they need right? I think that's a big thing for any business You know right if you don't have something that somebody Wants then right? Yeah They're not gonna know if they buy anything from you or even ask you for anything, right? So you have to have that that need I guess that that means there has to be a want there, right? What are you selling to people? Yeah? That makes sense yeah, so I mean That's what it is. So you just have to know the market right know what people want right and try to You know get that for them and be that person that that provides that Interesting that service, right? Yeah Like I said, I mean, you know, it's on in all businesses and in any business endeavor That's that's what you need right because you want to reach as wide a Wide of a demographic as you possibly can wide of an audience so you can, you know sell as much product as you can and you know, I can imagine that that's difficult because everyone is a little different and when you when you're trying to appeal to the masses you have to Kind of hone into one thing that a lot of people are gonna resonate with. Yeah. Yeah exactly. Yeah, so The one Difficult part about starting anything is that you want to have The theme or that one thing you can't like you're saying you have that, you know big broad I Guess not just demographic just what people want, right? All right, you can't when you start something you can't really think about everybody You gotta like hone in on on one item or one thing that people like or like near there, right and then be an expert on that and Then try to expand that makes sense Because if you go to you want to do so many things it's just with life, right? if you want to do so many things right at the same time and You don't finish any of them and then you didn't do you didn't do anything Yeah, that's kind of the problem that I'm the main problem that I'm facing yeah, I'm trying to do too much I want some trying to reach too many people. I want some like let me see if I can Change the mindset of everyone deep down. That's kind of what I'm thinking sometimes but it's not efficient. No, it's not I mean if you watch like millionaires billionaires Whatever right? That's what I've seen is that's what they usually say, you know focus on one thing Be the best you can on that one thing, right, whatever could whatever it may be or whatever you like, whatever The area needs just focus on that one thing, right? I like that I like that a lot focus on that one thing. Yeah, and I can remind myself with that a lot like I said because what I try to do is I'm like personally I'm a people pleaser So everyone everyone needs to be helped. I am offering services to everyone Right and a lot of the times it's so bad that You know, I make no room for myself because I'm constantly worried about how I can be of service to other people And it's it's a lot and I'm working on that right now I'm trying to you know, not please as many people because we're only able to do so much right people and especially me because like, you know, I am I am a gay black man, and it's hard because You know, I'm already living, you know a double minority here and how do I get over you know trying to be be like right when I everyone's gonna like me right and so I just had to kind of Realize that and also that helps me to put myself out there and to start things like this because it's like I have an opinion And I don't care if you disagree Cuz I've been the day as long as I'm good with me. We are good All right, I realized that I don't need to reach reach everyone cuz not everyone's going to agree with me Not everyone's supposed to agree with me. That's just not the way life works So, yeah the degree to how much I wanted to be accepted Was was crazy In the past, but now I'm starting to realize how worried I am You know, just just having close support of friends and family like yourself. You got to accept yourself Right, I mean, I know you're a people pleaser But at the end of the day you should be doing what? What it is to please yourself, you know in a sense. I mean you if you're happy then You can be able to spread that happiness that makes a lot of sense if you are happy you can you can spread that happiness Cuz people want to see you They want to see you succeeding because it inspires them truly and that's kind of what I touched on a little bit in the last episode that I did alone kind of that whole idea of You need to step out. You need to do things that you are uncomfortable with doing because that is where people really pull their deepest Senses of inspiration from at least that's how I'm incredibly inspired. I'm incredibly inspired by people who? Put themselves out there and who are not scared to be themselves because that is one thing that I want for myself So when I see other people doing and I'm like dang that is super possible and I can I can really do that for myself Try to keep a positive vibe. Yeah all the time try to keep a positive eye positive mindset Yeah, and yeah, you'll be alright and I think that for me, too It's like I was you know, just doubting myself and doubting my capabilities But doing things like this Just Proves that I can handle certain things that come my way and it really you know it further amplifies my Courage and you know, yes, that's what it's all about. So yeah So speaking of So I just kind of you know introduce things that inspire me people who inspire me but what or who is your biggest inspiration man like currently or like the people that are Inspired me in general in my whole life so I would say What is your inspiration to? Kind of pursue the business endeavors that you're doing right now. So I guess currently so like what's like motivating you to really? Yeah, well, you know, I grew up not having a lot of nice things, right? All right. That's probably one of the reasons why I joined the military It's because I wanted to be able to do something for myself I wanted it to be able to do something for this country, right and then during that time You know got married had kids. So the inspiration for me Doing what I'm doing now is basically Just my family right family my friends The individuals that helped me get to where I am today so if I had to pick people on Who inspires me outside of my family There's just so many people right What kind of people inspire you doesn't really have to be a particular? Yeah, but what are you looking? What are you looking at when you're looking at when you're looking for inspiration? I look for somebody that has a Good work ethic right mostly interest in the same things that I have But also I mean things that probably I'm not interested in and then just how they get it and then maybe In the future, I would be interested in probably doing something with them right doing that, right? No, yeah People did that people that just work hard and that are that are good to people and then the reasons why they're doing it All right, and if it's to create something For people that need it if it's something that They do because they just love it. You know, I think that's why I do what I do because I love sneakers, right? Yeah, I've loved seekers for a very long time. I'm not gonna say how long but Yeah, I just I just wanted to be able to stay in that I Guess culture. Yeah, right and One of the reasons that I got started in reselling was Because it helped me know the individuals that had those particular shoes I wanted and It just became like a big network thing and then on the side of like, oh I can make some money out of you know Helping others get right, you know shoes that they can't get it, right and You can make some money basically from doing things that you naturally like to do. Yeah, and the money is just incentives, right? Yeah, exactly. It wasn't even it wasn't really even about the money. I was just about getting the shoes, right? Right, I couldn't get it. All right. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah. Yeah and Similarly, this is kind of how I feel about this in this podcast It's not about you know, what, you know, how we're gonna take me. I just like to talk to people yeah, I like to reach people on deep levels because You know, I didn't really have that growing up and it's nice to It's nice to be able to You know see how how common see how much in common we all have with one another and do To just have these conversations. It's really nice to me But you know, I noticed that you said that you You didn't have a lot growing up. Was that also like when you see People that are successful or if you look at an idea of success, is it? Measured by people who have who have certain amounts of things or is it by kind of like they're innate happiness to you What does that look like to you like success? success to me is not having to worry about If you can take care of yourself if you can take care of your family, right if you can take care of Your family and friends right just in general and and to enjoy life To me that's success right enjoy life. You're one Your life being happy what you're doing with the people that you're with right all that. Yep. Enjoy the little things Yeah, right no matter what yeah, and both of us like we're both trying to pursue, you know certain things here, but You know, it's always nice to stop and smell the roses You might not be you might not reach the number you want to reach or you know get to exactly where you want to be but you're around friends and family who are supporting you constantly and It's about the journey in that respect right? It's about What you are doing in between You know getting to your goal and that's what right? That's what the story That's what the story is gonna be at the end of the day, right? How did I get from point A to point B? It's not just I started at point A and then now on that point B. No, there was a whole There was a whole thing that you went through right? We were supposed to start by the way folks about About an hour and a half ago before we started but I was getting you know set up and things like that You didn't know that I mean you're only experiencing this right now as it is but before then You know, I was I we were running into audio issues and I was making sure I had my equipment set up, right? So that's all a part of my story and that will be a part of my story because that's a part of the grind It's not easy and that's that's one thing that I want listeners to understand So It's not easy, of course it requires a certain work ethic and It requires certain amounts of time and energy And I think that the most important part of this is building connections pushing social boundaries and growing your community so that you can reach As many people as you want to So so I get inspiration from like a lot of youtubers and things like that like who? Bria Jones Bria Jones is amazing. So is Elijah long you I mean some of you guys probably heard about a couple of these individuals But they just inspire me because what they do is they they just talk to their camera and they talk about all kinds of things Right. They they're inspiring to people they They voice their opinion without you know without care and a You know, they just they're just here to help people and to be a light So I haven't heard of them, but I'm gonna look at that's what I want to do Yeah, I'll definitely send you a link to links to their content because They're a couple of my favorite content creators that I've been following for a while Who in the shoe community do you think inspires you or who do you like to? Tune into as far as YouTube Content creators within the sneaker world is Kai's Omar. I like one of the first Sneaker guys, I watched right now. I also watch Common Hype the sneak city. Okay, and I think Jumper man, Chris my wife loves him and Bo Williams with swapping kicks, I believe Got you, and I've never heard of these. Yeah, you got it. Well, they do a lot of events like sneaker cons and got souls and and and a few local to them, but that's cool. But yeah, I just like seeing where How they buy and sell right? So kind of Helps me with right. Yeah, I like By Seeing how they're doing things and You know, a lot of it is just about courage All right, just have the courage and do it and you got it So speaking of courage I Have a question. I have a question. I have a question. I have a question. I have a question I have a question. I have a question. I have a question. I have a question. I have a question And you got it So speaking of courage I also put here do not delay whatever it is you want to do in life Get started just do it like like this podcast. Yeah I mean not a lot of people Just get up and go do things right? Yeah out of the norm or something that they're not comfortable with yeah, so Most people they'll sit back Do a little bit of research try to figure out what it is that they're going to get themselves into And then they look at oh, it's not just One or two things that I can do that and then i'm starting it. No, it's probably multiple steps multiple. Yeah, so But the thing is that there's going to be a lot of information With everything that you want to do Do the research but don't let it overwhelm you And that's what I think stops people and right It's it they don't they don't you know use that courage That they that they initially had It kind of turns into like fear of oh, can I really do this? Is it good for me? Do I have the time? Is this Important to me right now or is something else more important interesting and then if they keep thinking about all the Negatives, right, right the courage that they had to do it to get smaller and smaller and then it just keeps Getting put in the back burner. Oh, this is more important. Oh, this is more important Well this i'm going to do this because i'm more comfortable doing this And then what they wanted to get into It's not a want anymore. It's more of an idea That's another That's another word that I like to like get on people and be like is are are you sure that you really want this? Yeah, because if you wanted something You would do it. You would do it, right? So if you don't do it, then you really didn't want it. You just yeah, I thought it was a good idea to do this yeah, you're totally right and Um, I think another thing that people need to be aware of is that it's going to require baby steps baby steps like you're not going to Automatically get to wherever you want to be or you know accomplish wherever you want to accomplish off the bat It doesn't work that way. It's like you said research involved with it and then you have to get over that That the doubts in your head with whether or not you actually want to do it You know, this is a perfect example. This is what I like to use. This is what I think of so if somebody that was Or a little a little kid right there like oh, yeah, I want to become a doctor right and then When they get closer and closer to let's say going to college or whatever Or even before that let's say In high school like oh man, I have to be in school for this long I need to I need to put in this amount of hours to be this doctor And then You know most of them are like oh man, it's too much i'm not gonna do that because That's a lot of work but the ones that do and They they won they they they save lives or whatever they do, right? Um, and they get paid for it. All right So there's another one. There's another one. I want to share right and I don't know if I shared this with you Oh, no, I shared this with watson. Okay Shout out to watson It was five years of misery Meaning it's like grinding hard work or whatever. That's what I took out of it And then 50 50 years of fun Right. Oh, wow, or you rather have five years of fun Oh, yeah And 50 years of misery of trying to grind out of how much fun you did or how much you spent or what you didn't Put into yourself, right? So the five years of of misery is putting the time into it the grinding To working on yourself, right? So you're working at your craft Wow, so I I love that one Yeah. Wow, that makes so much sense five years of Misery versus 50 years of fun not versus the good like yeah Yeah, that makes me which I don't you mean like it's gonna happen, right? It just depends on uh, How you use your time, right Are you investing in your time wisely? Are you investing in yourself? Are you investing in? um the areas you can control in the moment or are you just Letting the time pass Because time doesn't stop for anyone and no one's really important that hey what you're doing now is going to It's going to reflect your future and in some kind of way I remember that's what my mom told me the way you Do things today Will show up tomorrow everything has consequences everything whether it's good or bad so what are you doing in your life to To try to have the best life that you can um, and like I said a lot of times it's out of people's control, but that's why I said invest in the things that you can't control Sometimes you can't control Control certain situations, but I really like how you brought that last point up. That was really insightful. Thank you All right, so I said do not delay whatever it is you want to do in life we kind of touched on that and Also Do not care about you know What others others will think because like I said, everyone will have their opinions. I think that those are the two like main things that I think that you need to remember when you're Doing anything just remember that you're doing it for yourself and no one else You have to be your own your own best friend. You're here for you right at the end of the day I mean you can have Friends and family but at the end of the day you are the one who is dictating your life. No one else will do that for you You're not going to make everybody happy Yeah, that's very true And that was like One of the hugest things that I had a problem with and I still have a slight problem with that today, but I am i'm working on myself and I am getting better Better by the day and even just doing this things like this I realized that No, not everyone can do this And that just makes me That makes me proud of myself This time it's about time that you know, I I give myself a pat on the back Because I i'm gonna do it for you. I'm gonna do it for other people, but you know, where where am I in this equation? So it takes it takes a lot of time yeah for me Grinding takes a lot of time But effort but that's why it's called the grind. Yeah right It if it wasn't gonna be hard or a long process Everyone would be called It would be called You know skating or I don't know water Yeah silk ease, I don't know right and everyone would do it if it was it was easy, um But You know, I respect people who Who start from nothing and then manage to? Make something for themselves Um, and when I say make something for themselves, I mean in like financially That's always super inspirational because I mean a lot of times, you know, that's that's just the way it is for people like all right I said you can't control What happens to you but people who manage to? build something financially Build a community build a sense of family from having nothing That is just amazing to me and that really makes me feel like I can do the same thing sometimes Sometimes I feel like I can't do that. I'm like, oh, that's just me doubting myself, you know, you can do Anything? Yeah, you want to do? Yeah, if you want to do it, right Yeah Right, like I said earlier You have to want it You know, that's that's how it is It's it's it's simple But it's hard. It's it's easier said than done to want to do something that you really want to do Yeah, and and do it. Yeah and actually go about doing it um, but every time every time you take a step forward Towards your goal or whatever it is that you're doing You're going to feel so much better and it works like that snowball effect that we've been talking about Right like You just need to you just need to do one thing Oh, you know, you know happen the next thing and then the next thing, you know What's another word that we were talking about was being consistent like consistency. Oh, yeah Consistency, right? That's part of the grind Being consistent. I'm glad you brought that up. I meant to bring that up earlier. Um, that's that's an amazing point Consistency is so important. Yeah, and I actually think that that is The number one thing right? You can have off days you can have off times you will have off, you know You're gonna miss the mark on some occasions, but as long as you did Do you know what I mean? and because at that point you are tapping into Your potential right? You're saying that I kept going I can I beat this mark So I can definitely beat this mark no matter the odds no matter the cause just keep going uh, so It's just like You know with with you're working out, right? Yep Being consistent in the gym. Yeah, that's hard I'm consistently not going to Yeah, well because I don't got to anymore in the sense where No, terry's not making me be in a certain shape or way or So I don't anymore That's wrong. Yeah. No, you're right. You're right consistency is so important like and like I said, I think it's it's The most important thing in my opinion um You you just got to be consistent keep doing it and And then you'll you'll get to where you want to be in life. Was it hard for you? Let me ask you To be consistent in your business because you seem you seem pretty consistent No, like is it hard for you? Is that a challenge for you? It is Big challenge because I am not consistent uh, and when I say not consistent it means let's say I'll go hard for a few months maybe half the year and then You know something happens Where i'm like, you know, this is not important to me right now So i'm not going to do this and i'll be gone for like You know a few Or a week or two And then or maybe even up to like a few months But i'm not what I mean though is of being consistent is the content You know putting myself out there And letting people know that i'm still here. I'm still doing what I do, right? and if I don't do that it could Be negative on you In the sense where you let's say you lost a customer or you lost the You know a supplier or you know what I mean or It you know what's funny is that sometimes it could even go to hey, you know, you lost you know You lost a good friend. Oh, man, let's say you're not a consistently good friend. Yeah Right good point. So I mean like I don't know it goes through good for anything. Yeah, it goes through everything It does be consistent. Yeah, and you have to train yourself to be consistent. Yeah Um It doesn't just happen, right? It's hard Yeah, you have to train yourself and that's just a part of the part of life but that's also just about you know, building better habits and all that so that you can You can be consistent in the way that you need to be consistent with whatever it is you're doing it doesn't have to be about pursuing um A creative endeavor or you know starting a business or anything like that Work you need to be consistent at work. You need to show up on time every day. You need to meet certain metrics you need to Yeah, you need to brush your teeth every day, please Not just to keep you know your teeth, you know strong To make it good for everybody Yeah, yeah so that people can consistently like you um and consistently want to talk Yeah, true good point good point, um Very funny. Um Yeah, we we hit some really hard points and Let's see if we can kind of rehash kind of what we talked about we talked about Kind of some of the the challenges facing you in your business right now We talked about investing in yourself being consistent And you know people that inspire you who who help you To continue to do what you what you're doing and you're doing great things Mario, I just have to say i've been on your instagram page and And I admire how consistent you are and that inspires me to Be consistent with you know the endeavors that I want to that. I want to try to do Because you also have a family that you have to support You know, you have a full you're working a full-time job You're a busy man, but you you keep it going and you keep it moving So respect I try I try you motivate me motivate me. All right Thank you keep it up Thank you. So yeah, i'm very excited to To see where this might be headed in the future And again, i'm just i'm just enjoying this. I'm just enjoying the ride right now. I don't need anything from this I just I just want to have a conversation with you guys and to share this you know some of the beautiful conversations that i'm able to have and i'm i'm blessed to you know have the financial needs to be able to Start something like this so With that being said, this is just another episode of uh podcast for the way forward Um, we had a a really awesome guest on on this episode and we we really hit hard on a lot of topics That uh, hopefully you guys can Remember and take with you in life If you're trying to start a business And even if you're not trying to start a business or anything like that. We definitely talked about some Great things that are great life lessons for you to take take with you Where can we find you mario if people wanted to reach you and Yeah, you can find me on ig Uh one thing rock one e underscore two underscore r-o-c-k Yes, sir. That's the one to rock And I am also uh following him Uh following him So, uh, if you guys have trouble finding finding that just go ahead and also check me out on instagram at marquez that's m-a-r-q-e-z p-s-y And uh, hopefully i'm going to be on tiktok soon one of these days Because i'm gonna need to start He's shaking his head no No, maybe not tiktok but youtube, you know, I don't know Maybe I could start some um visual You know content too So, uh, you can just find me on instagram right now if you want to reach out i'm always down to dm people and talk But uh, yeah, this was an awesome episode, man. Thank you. Yeah. Thanks for having me. Thank you for coming. It's fun Yes, sir. And you know with that said we did it And i'll see you guys in the next one