507 Edgar Zavala

[00:00:00]

Introduction to Edgar Zavala's Journey

Jeffrey Feldberg: From a Brooklyn kid raised by a single mother to a Marine Corpse veteran turned multiple six figure entrepreneur Edgar Zavala's journey reads like a blueprint for rewriting your future. The man standing here today, a three time award-winning business coach, wealth strategist, and leader is living proof that your past does not determine your trajectory.

What changed his life was in luck, but discipline, leadership, and refusal to accept the limits handed to him. Edgar built his business from the ground up, going from the structure of military life to the uncertainty of entrepreneurship.

Edgar built his business from the ground up, going from the structure of military life to the uncertainty of entrepreneurship. Ultimately creating a pathway not only to financial freedom for himself, but for thousands. He now mentors, he teaches people how to escape the nine to five grind, build generational Wealth and break cycles that have held the family's back for years.

His signature [00:01:00] frameworks like the 5F Formula: Faith, Family, Finance, Fitness, and Fun remind us that success isn't just about money, but the alignment of your entire life. What makes Edgar compelling isn't the cars, the income or the accolades. It's the mission Underneath it all.

Empowering people to stop playing small, fire their limitations, and build a legacy their children will thank them for his story is raw, disciplined, and deeply human the kind that reminds you that one good year, one courageous decision can change your life forever.

Deep Wealth Mastery Program Overview

Jeffrey Feldberg: And before we start the episode, a quick word from our sponsor, Deep Wealth and the Deep Wealth Mastery Program. Here's Sanjay, a graduate of Deep Wealth Mastery, and he says, the investment I made in the Deep Wealth Mastery Program, it's a rounding error compared to the value created today and the future value I'll receive.

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Now speaking of growth and adding value, check out what Leon says. He says that the Deep Wealth Mastery Program changed how and who we hire. We've now begun to hire talent today that we never would have hired if it weren't for the program. The talent we're hiring today is helping both increase our growth and profits and our future enterprise value. 

Man, I love that kind of feedback because it's that kind of feedback that's what gets me out of bed every day.

Deep Wealth Mastery System, it's the only system based on a nine figure deal. That was my deal. And as you know, I said, no to a seven figure offer, created a system that we now call Deep Wealth Mastery, and that's what helped myself and my business partners all welcome from a different buyer, a different offer, a nine figure deal.

So if you're interested in growing your profits, preparing for a future liquidity event, whether that's two years away or 22 years away, and if you want to optimize your post exit life, Deep Wealth Mastery is for you. Please email success at deepwealth. com. Again, that's [00:03:00] success, S U C C E S S at deepwealth. com. We'll send you all the information about Deep Wealth Mastery, otherwise known as the Scale for Ultimate Sales System. 

That's where you want to be. You want to be with other successful business owners, entrepreneurs, and founders, just like you, who are looking to create market disruptions. Whether you're a startup, whether you've been in business for three or four decades, whether you're manufacturing, whether you're high tech, SaaS, low tech, whatever the case may Come in and network with other business owners, with other businesses, just like you, because they all want to lock in their financial freedom and enjoy both success and fulfillment.

Again, that's the 90 day Deep Wealth Mastery program. It has your name on it. All you need to do is take the next step. Please send an email to success at deepwealth. com. 

Welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast

Jeffrey Feldberg: Deep Wealth Nation welcome to another episode of the Deep Wealth Podcast. Well, Deep Wealth Nation, let me ask you this, where you are in your life journey, your business journey, have you achieved your goals, your outcomes, your aspirations? And you're probably saying, well, Jeffrey, some of them, but not [00:04:00] all of them.

So how do you go from where you are to where you want to be? And as you're asking that question, I have amazing news. We have a very special guest in the House of Deep Wealth. He is an incredible individual. You heard the official introduction. We have a fellow entrepreneur, a thought leader, an award-winning coach, Mr.

Success, written all over. So all that said, Edgar, welcome to the Deep Podcast. It's a pleasure to have you with us. There's always a story behind the story. 

Edgar Zavala's Early Life and Military Service

Jeffrey Feldberg: So, Edgar, what is your story? What got you from where you were to where you are today?

Edgar Zavala: All right. Yeah. Thank you so much, Jeffrey, for having me on today and I'm super blessed, super grateful for where I. At now to where I used to be. So very simple. My story, it starts, when you look at it you think about it. Wow. Okay. Like. His journey to where he is now and where he was.

It's, anybody can do it, so I'm just a guy, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Raised by a single mother my entire life. I'm first generation, in American., And so I saw my mother working super hard, growing up, right? And growing up in the streets of Brooklyn, I just saw everybody doing the same [00:05:00] thing, the same habits, the same lifestyle, the same careers, the same patterns, and.

I was always just driven. I wanted more we always have that thirst, that hunger to just achieve more in life. And so, I took that, I put into sports and I put into my grades to just achieve more and get a challenge. But I saw my mother work super hard. She was a maid in a hotel somewhere in Manhattan, and she did it the right way.

She went up the ladder of the corporate ladder, got her raises. Had the whole nine yards, the pension the health benefits. But yet, even though she did all that, there was still barely any food in the table or in the fridge. And I started saying, okay, why is she's working so hard? She's never home and when she is, she's tired, she wants to go to bed, but you still don't have money food on the table.

So I started growing up. I said, okay, well, hard work doesn't create a success. Hard work doesn't create Wealth. It doesn't create freedom. And so right after, as I was growing up in Brooklyn, I said, well, college is not for me. I did it just to, to get the good grades, but I can't sit in a room and listen to a professor talk about theories and talk about, you know, I said, and [00:06:00] high hypothesis.

I said, no, I gotta do something with my life. I'm the type of person where I'm a hands-on kind of guy, Jeffrey. So I listened to Marines at 17 years old, I went behind my mom's back to recruiter and I started talking to a recruiter, the Marine Corps recruiter. I said, look. If I'm gonna do the military and I'm gonna have my, face in some sand or some dirt, I want it to be the hardest branch of all of 'em, which is the Marine Corps.

And so I did that, you know, I, I showed my mom good grades that I as if I was gonna college. So I was trying to just slow the process for my mom, and so. In the summer of 2016, I enlisted to Marine Corps. I went to bootcamp, did three months of bootcamp. Went, got hit the fleet, traveled the world, went to Japan.

A couple countries, came back to the us, finish my journey in the military. I wanted to do 20 years Jeffrey. 'cause they say, Hey, if you do 20 years. The government's gonna take care of you. And that sounds nice, someone take care of you. But you know, God had the plans for me. 

Transition to Entrepreneurship

Edgar Zavala: I got out the military, I became a wind turbine technician.

So I was a blue collar guy. All I knew how to do, Jeffrey was work with my hands. And for a lot of people listening right now, for a lot of viewers and [00:07:00] those listening to this podcast today, you might be working hard, you might be working with your hands, right? You might be a blue collar guy.

You might be a white collar. But as I was a blue collar guy, I was making about 10,000 to to $12,000 a month in my early twenties traveling all across the us. Everything was paid for, right? I was like, company was paid for, gas was paid for other company, but 60 plus hours a week. I never had freedom.

I had the money and a young guy with all that money. Guess what, Jeffrey? What do you. You don't do anything good with it, and so luckily I got blessed and one of my brothers that I served in Japan with, he was also always entrepreneur minded, business minded, into real estate, into investing. And he introduced me to an opportunity on sales and entrepreneurship and financial services.

And I said, hold up. What is this? He telling me, input equals output over here. You're telling me I can get paid by my value, not by my time. Let me jump all in. Lemme see what this is about. I jumped in, I started part-time and my first three to six months in business. I'm running my own agency right there, Jeffrey.

I was able to more than triple my income, become my [00:08:00] own boss. I fired my boss and I went all in. And ever since then, been running a multiple six figure on track for seven-figure agency and still in my twenties, living the dream.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely love that. And firstly, like we're talking offline, thank you so much for your service for protecting the country and doing what you do. So we can all do what we do. Let me ask you this though. When you went from the Marines and then you went into the entrepreneur life becoming your own business owner, making a difference out there, what did you take from the battlefield into the business field?

Were there some lessons, some strategies, habits or rituals?

Edgar Zavala: Yeah, so very simple. You know, In the Marine Corps we have three main values called honor, courage, and Commitment. And so number one is honor. You need to have honor in anything you do, right? So if you're tracking a certain problem, right? Because we know entrepreneurship and in running a business, you gotta attack a problem.

 You get paid in direct proportion by the difficulties you're willing to solve. And so number one is honor. Have honor what you do, make sure you're proud of what you're doing. That it's just not something, just not just for the money, okay? Do you actually, feel like what you're doing is gonna make an impact to people.

So the next one is courage. You have to have [00:09:00] courage, honor, courage, and commitment. The second one is courage, because in the battlefield you have to have the courage to step outta your comfort zone and go into the front lines. Or take care of your, wounded or go straight into the fire.

And then the last one is commitment. Because to get good at anything, it requires a level of commitment. People say, Hey, I wanna be wealthy, I wanna be rich, I wanna make money. But people want change, but people don't want to change. The two part takes commitment. And so those values right there really took into business.

At the end of the day, in business entrepreneurship, it means you have to lead others. At the end of the day, you can't do anything by yourself. You know what they say? Self-made millionaire, self-made billionaires to a certain extent. But at the end of the day, you need a team. You need to lead others to be able to really be success.

So those are a couple values that I took from the military, the battlefield, and took into business.

Jeffrey Feldberg: So happy to hear you say that because I know every time I hear someone say, oh, I am self-made and I'm a self-made fill in the blank, blankety blank. In my mind, I'm thinking, not a chance. Nobody is self-made. It takes a community, it [00:10:00] takes a team. No one does it on their own. Nobody at all. And so with that said, now that you're in business, not just for yourself, I know you're also helping other entrepreneurs, other business people from a very high level, some people call it Ritos law, some fancy words.

There are some people call it the 80 20 principle, where we see patterns where, Hey, Jeffrey, you know what? 20% of your actions as an example, that's what's creating 80% of your results or your revenue when you're working with others, with other entrepreneurs, as an example, very big picture wise, are you seeing some common patterns that are holding entrepreneurs back that, hey, wave the magic wand?

I wish I could change this for people so they don't have to go through that, but they are. What would be some of those patterns?

Edgar Zavala: Yeah. I would say number one is that, sometimes, unfortunately, when it comes to business owners and entrepreneurs, because we think so big, we forget about the now. And so we're thinking 10 years, 20 years. If you're serious, right? You thinking about legacy for the ones that are serious business owners.

'cause we know that you can't get rich. There's, the people want the get quick rich scheme, and that [00:11:00] doesn't really exist if you wanna build real Wealth. But a lot of people that I see that are ambitious, they're that are super ambitious, right? Ambitious, they're driven, they want more, they're hungry, they're thirsty, they're thinking 10, 20 years out.

But unfortunately, whatever you do today is when it's gonna affect tomorrow. And so I, I see a lot of people just skipping the, right now the small details, the systems, the numbers what you're tracking, some of the goals, maybe quarterly goals. 'cause everybody says, Hey, I want X amount of money.

I want my business to do X amount of revenue. But hey, when you put it in a year out, you get lazy. give yourself that wiggle room for failure, but instead cut it up into quarters. Okay? In the first quarter, we're gonna do this. Second quarter, we're gonna do this third quarter we're doing this. It's smaller chunks to bite to be able to attack that yearly goal.

That's something that's changed my business drastically. I I used to say, Hey, by the end of this year, I wanna have making a million dollars. And so now the year is 12 months. So I could slow down, maybe pick it up this month, slow it down here. But when you do [00:12:00] it in quarters, you're constantly attacking your yearly goal.

So that, that's what I would say. I think people think too big and they forget about the now and then cut up some of your goals or some of your, those milestones into quarters instead of yearly goals. That's what I would say.

Jeffrey Feldberg: So interesting as you say that, and you are spot on as you're saying that so many entrepreneurs, like you're saying, we tend to overestimate what we can do in let's say a year, a longer horizon or more than that, and we tend to underestimate what we can do in shorter time periods. So we're gonna get to.

Legacy, financial freedom, all those wonderful things. 

The 5F Formula for Success

Jeffrey Feldberg: But before we do that, let's start to set the foundation because I know you have a very powerful formula, the five F formula. So for someone in Deep Nation, they haven't heard of the five F Formula. Edgar, what is it? What do you want us to know about that?

Edgar Zavala: The Five S formula is something very powerful. That's been passed on to me by a lot of amazing mentors, a lot of amazing coaches, that not too many people attack, right? Because at the end of the day, it's the fulfillment form. The five F's is the fulfillment formula, [00:13:00] because without one, you can't have the other.

So the first one is faith. You have to believe in something, right? Because if you don't believe in something, you fall for anything. And so what is your accountability? What do you look towards for accountability? And so I would say work on your faith, right? When you're alone, who do you talk to?

When you're alone, who do you pray to? When you're alone? Who's your guiding light? Who's your tip of the spear? Especially in a leadership position. A lot of leaders want to lead, but they don't want to listen. That's the first mistake. So number one is faith. Work on your faith. That's the foundation.

So first is faith. Next is family. why is it that you're even working this hard for? Are you doing it for your parents? Are you doing it for your grandparents? Are you doing it for your kids, your grandkids? It's a legacy thing we were talking about, Jeffrey. And so it's about long term because, sometimes I'll give an example.

When I'm in business and I'm talking to a 21-year-old with no kids and he's doing his own thing versus a 30 5-year-old with. Five kids. I'm like the 30 5-year-old is, he's ready to just do anything he, whatever it takes to succeed. The 21 year old's like, ha, whatever I'll do whenever it comes around.

So first is faith, then is family. Next is finance. Finance [00:14:00] is a big one because unfortunately without money you can't have a good life, right? People say money doesn't buy happiness, and I agree, money cannot buy happiness, but money can buy, Hey, a better diet. Better healthcare, better opportunities, freedom, buy back your time and you need money to have to resources.

So, faith, family, finances, fitness. Fitness is another one. Sometimes we don't take care of our health. We don't take care of our body, we don't take care of our temple. Think about this, Jeffrey. How many people do you know right now they have all the millions, all the billions they've always desired, but in their, they're in the hospital right now with some type of cancer or some type of terminal illness, critical illness, chronic illness.

And if it was up to them, I'm sure they would trade all that money in the world to get their health back. So your health is your Wealth. That's number one because without your health, you can't get Wealth. And the last one is gonna be fun, which we talked about, Jeff. That's the best, that's the most the best F right is the fun part. Have fun while you're doing this. Life is short. Life goes on like this. You know, Think about this. COVID was six years ago and we know [00:15:00] COVID was a big deal and it I feel like it was like last year, but it was six years ago. And that so, faith, family.

 Finance, fitness, and fun. Those are the five F's. If you do all of them and you do them, you're well balanced, you will be fulfilled. You will have everything you need in life.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And as you're saying that, it's so incredible not to dive into the headlines that we see in the news. It's so negative out there. It seems as though there are parties or forces, whatever you like to call 'em. I don't want this to sound ominous, that are attacking that. Attacking faith, attacking the family and having us go in a different direction.

Someone who has served for the country. You've followed in the footsteps of people who gave the ultimate sacrifice for what we have with the freedom, with the democracy. What have you seen, just stepping back for a second from your service, and now just talk about faith and family and eventually financial freedom, being entrepreneurial, not relying on the government.

Would love your thoughts on that.

Edgar Zavala: Yeah. Well, 100%. You are absolutely right, right there, Jeffrey, where there's always an equal and opposite force, right? And so where there's good, there's bad. And [00:16:00] right now there are things happening within our country and just around the world right now that, that are attacking those exact same principles that lead towards life.

And so faith, right? Certain people's faiths are depending what you believe in are being attacked right now as we speak, finances, right? With inflation right now, the dollars losing value. And so a lot of people are working hard. But the dollar has lost almost 94% of its value since the seventies.

Once it got taken off the gold standard, right? I think back then, for every one ounce of gold, it took $38 to buy one ounce of gold. Today it takes $4,000 to buy the same ounce of gold, right? That's how crazy it is. When it comes to fitness, you know, our food is so processed. Our food is just so tampered with that.

Even if you try to be healthy, you look at the back of a label and you just find some crazy stuff in there, you don't even know what it is. So the, your health is actually being attacked because there's a business behind that. As we know, Jeffrey, we want to go into all that. And also. The family nucleus.

There's a lot of people right now that grew up without, in a single parent household or they're in their foster care system or, the way that the [00:17:00] welfare program is set up, it incentivizes for, not to have an actual family just because of you want a family, it's because you want money out of it.

It gets real deep. And so, yes, as we speak right now, Jeffrey, every single principal I just named right now. They're being attacked by forces. And so as business owners, as entrepreneurs, as leaders, we have to be the ones to step up. And we can't let the government take care of us because the purpose of our founding fathers didn't build the country for the government to be big.

it was supposed to be the government's. It's for the people, by the people, not the other way around. And Jeffrey, trust me, seeing this today. We won't even talk about what's happening in Minnesota, right? I'm, I mean, you probably heard some things happening in Minnesota and that alone, when you start looking into stuff like that, you start realizing, man, I'm working super hard.

A portion of my money goes to the government and the government's doing things with my money that it is not going where I want it to go. So that's off topic. But yeah, Jeffrey, trust me, I can go in a rabbit hole all day with that kind of stuff. Yeah.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely. It's not just a rabbit hole. It could be, and not just another episode. It could be an [00:18:00] entire series in terms of what's there.

Edgar Zavala: Absolutely.

Jeffrey Feldberg: It does go back to something you said very interestingly a short while back, and you said, Hey, if you don't have your faith, then. What do you believe in? You'll believe in anything.

And oftentimes if we just go with what people want us to do, it's not the right direction. It's taking us in the wrong areas and having that faith that, again, that's not just an episode. It could be a whole other series. So love what you're putting out there in terms of doing that. 

Challenges and Opportunities in Business

Jeffrey Feldberg: So we have some of the foundation in terms of the values, the rituals, what we should be doing day in, day out, what we could do, where we can aspire to talk to us now about legacy financial freedom, because as entrepreneurs.

Let me help enough people get what they want. Tune into the world's favorite radio station, Wii fm. The what's in it for me? Not for me, but for my customer or my future customer. Let me help enough people get what they want. Eventually I'll get what I want. So when it comes to legacy, when it comes to financial freedom, what do you want us to know?

Edgar Zavala: Yeah. Well that's an amazing question right there, Jeffrey. And I would say that at the end of the day, there's two routes to build legacy, right? Where, you know [00:19:00] the reason why you see the wealthiest people in the world like Jeff Bezos, the Elon Musks, the Mark Zuckerbergs, all these individuals because they provided value to the marketplace.

And the marketplace provides value back. That's just how it works. It's very, very simple, if you're changing lives, if you're making an impact into people's communities, if you're making people's lives easier, you will get paid for it, and so that's why being a business owner and entrepreneurship is the best route to build legacy.

Because at the end of the day, I say like this. There's two types of, of building Wealth and big legacy and providing value. The first one is providing a service, providing a service and providing a product that makes someone's life easier. And then you can get paid for that, whether you get someone their house they're looking for, where you help someone create a financial plan.

Whether you help someone have a self-driving car, they're making humanoid robots now, whatever it is. And the other one is. When you show someone else how to become equipped to gain financial dependence and financial freedom, that's the real legacy right there. I put it like this, Jeffrey, if you show 10 people how to make five figures, you will make six.

If you show 10 people how to make six figures, you will make seven. If you show 10 [00:20:00] people how to make seven figures, you will make eight and and it keeps going on and going on and on, going on. And so I said, wait. Where can I be in a, where can I put myself in a position where not only can I provide a service and provide a product and provide, you know, the ability to help someone make their life easier, whether it's in their finance, in their fitness, in their, in, in their five F's, but also I can coach and mentor other individuals who can become just as cry as me, just be as successful as me.

And when they become successful, I become successful as well. That's what I love about the industry that I'm in, the business that I'm in. And with Legacy right now, we're the biggest Wealth transfer in all of American history right now, Jeffrey, I think it's 80 to $90 trillion exchanging hands as we speak over these next five years.

And so for the leaders that step up right now, for those that want to attack and make a big impact, and you help 1% of that, there's gonna be people walking with $800 million in the next five years just being a part of the biggest Wealth trans in all American history. So pretty much like this, Jeffrey, if we equip the leaders.

And we give 'em the right values and we show 'em how to go into the right [00:21:00] direction and make an impact to the marketplace. These next five years, we're gonna have the most multimillionaires, most billionaires ever in American history. And I'm excited to be part of that process, to equip other people to get a piece of the pie.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so with that said, Edgar, why don't you walk us through some of what you do, your magic sauce, if you will. So I'm coming to you. Okay. Edgar Seen what you've done and heard all these success stories. Yeah. Sign me up. I wanna go through that. And I know what Gura, everyone has their own journey. No two people are gonna be like, no, two businesses are going to be alike.

That said, though, generally speaking, what would I expect in terms of, okay, how long does it typically take? What results am I going to expect? Where would be some, people call them problems. I call them opportunities that I'm gonna be facing along the way. What does that look like? Walk us through that.

Edgar Zavala: Yeah. So I would say in my world, number one the biggest hurdles that people are gonna have to come over overcome is their selves, is their mental blocks on what can be possible and what can not be possible. 

Overcoming Self-Doubt and Taking the Leap

Edgar Zavala: Because a lot of people put too much pressure on themselves.

Can I do this? Can I do [00:22:00] that? Is that for me? Should I do this? And the should've, would've, could've is what's stopped people from even jumping in the first place and taking the leap forward. 

Transforming Income and Achieving Financial Success

Edgar Zavala: And so in my industry, it's funny, I tell people when you get involved with me, number one, worst case scenario, we equip you, we get you certified to do business.

But best case scenario said, those that get involved with me, you learn more about money, learn more about finances, you learn more about legacy. You learn more about business entrepreneurship, and leadership, and you turn your annual income into your monthly income. Here we have people making multiple six figures in a month. We have making people, making multiple six figures in a week.

We even have people making multiple six figures in a day, we have a guy right now, he's 31 years old. He just made almost 400 grand in one day. That's what's happening right now. We have guys right now in our industry. They're veterans and they're getting out the service member, they're getting out the military.

And normally back in the day, you would get out and you would mope around for quite some time. You'd be depressed looking for an opportunity, looking for a job. No one's hiring The job market is terrible right now, but we just had a guy right now, he, after doing a couple years in the Navy, he just got out his first six months.

And [00:23:00] in our business, being coach and mentored by us, he made six figures. He made a hundred grand his first six months in business with us just using his military skills and transferring it over like the same thing that I told you before, Jeffrey. And so I would say with me, it's super simple. Number one, everybody's different.

Everybody's different. Only because not everybody's the same on how they're gonna perform, what they're gonna achieve in our business. But I would say that, if you put your mind to it, if you could see it in your mind, you could hold it in your hand. And so if you feel like you're someone that you're like, Hey, I mean, I'm tired.

I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired, and I wanna double my income. I wanna triple my income. Well, guess what? You just need to find the right circle, the right platform and the right leadership team to make that a possibility for you.

The Meaning of Legacy

Jeffrey Feldberg: Let's talk about two things, and actually you referenced 'em just now and one is leadership, the other is legacy. Why don't we start with legacy first? And I know for Legacy, legacy we can use the same word. It means different things to different people. Let's take money out of legacy and so legacy without money from your world, not just for yourself, you're helping [00:24:00] countless others change your lives.

Change the lives of those around them, make a better life. What does legacy mean for you? 

Edgar Zavala: Legacy means that eventually the right morals, the right values, the right mindset will be passed on to generations and then eventually, it's no longer gonna be about me, for me at least, right? What I want to do is. I want to create a bunch of people who are just as good, if not better than me, and they forget about me.

That's what legacy is, when you know it's not about me. At the end of the day, I want 10 generations from now to be 10 times better than me and don't even know who I am. That's what legacy is for me. That's true legacy. And those are individuals who are really contributing back to society and really making a difference.

And again, they're continuing that cycle of like they just know that they have to pass it on, pass on the torch to somebody else and keep it going. Because you know, we have a thing called generational curse. We have a thing called generational debt. Right now people have generational curses.

They don't have generational legacy. And so that's what legacy is to [00:25:00] me. When eventually I'm outta the picture, it's no longer about me. I say all the time right here, Jeffrey. I say, first I do. Then you watch, then I do, and then you help. Then you do, then I help. Then you do, then I watch, and then you do, and then I'm not even there anymore.

That's my mantra.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And what's interesting about that, before we get to the leadership side, when we're talking about legacy, as you're describing that, it's taking me back to the founding fathers and I would say this is what they had in mind when they created our country. And at the same time, when we fast forward to today, how many people are, well, it's the government's fault.

It's not my fault. It's the government's fault, it's someone else's fault. I'm not gonna take accountability. And the list just goes on and on with that. And hearing you say that it's refreshing, let me have the next generation better than me and five generations, 10 generations down. They are so grounded.

They're so successful in what they're doing. It doesn't matter whether they know me or not. 'cause I started that. It started with me and it went from one to the other.

So when it comes to leadership. 

Understanding True Leadership

Jeffrey Feldberg: I'm asking [00:26:00] you from someone who's been in the services and now in the entrepreneurial world, what does leadership mean for you? And as you're speaking about that, we'll then transition into for deep Deep Wealth Nation, what would be the takeaways from what leadership means for you, from what you saw from the services and how we should aspire to be leaders today, tomorrow, and beyond?

Edgar Zavala: So I would say, Jeffrey, that's a great question. I would say leadership is very simple, for everybody listening right here today, number one, leadership means that you have to become better. To provide value to someone else, you have to constantly be developing in order to, they say you can't fill someone else's cup until you fill your own.

When you look at a cup and you're putting water into it, eventually it overflows. Once it overflows, you can put another cup under it, and that cup starts filling up as well. So. You cannot fill someone else's cup until you fill your own.

And so as a leader, you constantly have to get better. I put like this in numerical value. if your leadership level is a seven, you can only lead six and below. You can't lead a eight or a nine. If you're a six, you can only lead five and below. You can't lead a 7, 8, 9, or a [00:27:00] 10.

Make sense? And so what happens when your leadership level is a four and you come across a nine? And that nine could potentially change a lot of people's lives, but you can't lead that individual. But I also say leadership. All it is all leading is making someone else make a decision that's best for them that they wouldn't have made without your guidance.

That's all leadership is. It's making someone make a decision for themselves that they wouldn't have made on their own that's in their best interests because of you. That's what leadership is. So there's a difference between manipulation and leadership. Manipulation means you're making someone else make a decision that's in your best interest.

Leadership is you're making someone else make a decision that's in their best interest. That's simple. That's just what leadership is.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And for the entrepreneur in Deep Wealth Nation, Edgar, and for so often, and I've been there myself, so many entrepreneurs, they are the business is them. It doesn't run without that entrepreneur. So in other words, if they got abducted by aliens and you came back a day later, a year later, there'd be no business.

So when it comes to leadership. Clearly no judgment here. Clearly there are [00:28:00] some things that particular entrepreneur can be doing to pick up the leadership game. So what would that be? What advice or strategies would you give to that person whose business is completely and entirely dependent on that one entrepreneur, that nothing happens unless the founder is involved in that?

How do they get outta that? 

Delegation and Earning Respect in Business

Edgar Zavala: I would say that's the hardest part. That's the hardest part is for a leader to let go. Key word, let go, and it's called delegation. You have to delegate. You have to delegate. It's hard. Even me, even I've had those issues, I'm not perfect, for all the people listening like, man, this guy seems like he's got it together.

No, I've had a very hard time in my leadership journey in my business ownership in a business and entrepreneurship journey of letting go in the military is a little bit easier, right? 'cause in the military, you have ranks. And so when you can distinguish yourself by a rank, if you're a last corporal, you listen to a corporate.

If you're a corporate, you listen to a sergeant. If you're a sergeant, you listen to a staff sergeant. But once you're an entrepreneur, once you're a business owner, there is no ranks. People are not walking around where ranks on their callers, and you're like, Hey, Jeffrey, you're a corporal. I'm a sergeant.

You have to listen to me. No. In business, the world, you have [00:29:00] to earn someone's respect. The biggest thing is number one is delegate. Let go and have more people shadow you. Invite them to lunch.

Have them hang around you when you are in certain meetings, you're in certain board meetings, you're making certain big decisions. And also follow the 80 20 rule. Take 20% of your time. And invest it into your 80 percenters, meaning the people that you feel like they're just there and you know they're not really involving in your mission, in your company, but then take 80% of your time and invest it into your 20 percenters.

The ones who you know that they're gonna carry the torch and they're all about the mission, they're committed, they're loyal, and they're hungry. So I would say those are the big three takeaways. Delegate more. AKA let go, have people shadow you more, and then follow the 80 20 rule. Invest 20% of your time into your 80 percenters and invest 80% of your time into your 20 percenters.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Edgar, I wanna circle back to something that you said and coming from the services, I've been very fortunate on the podcast. We've had other veterans who have come on and said something very similar to Jeffrey, just because I was a [00:30:00] leader of a particular group. When I was back in the service, they didn't have to respect me.

In fact, they probably didn't. I had to earn the respect I wanted to. I didn't have to. I wanted to earn the respect first so that they would then respect me, not the other way around, just because I had some fancy title and I was technically above them. Everything else, I went out way to earn it. So when we take that now into the business world.

We're saying these worlds, and on paper it sounds easy, I'm sure earn other people's respect, so they'll respect you even though they report into you or they're your team members, otherwise known as employees. Practically speaking though, I see such a disconnect where people just aren't doing that.

Entrepreneurs aren't doing that, they're not earning it. So what could we do based on your experience, both in the services now, you're leading your own teams, you're changing lives out there. How do we earn our team members respect from those around us? They, yes, technically we're perhaps above them, but it's one thing for technically to follow us versus, yeah, I want to, I choose to.

Edgar Zavala: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I would say number one is humility, [00:31:00] You need to have a lot of humility because at the end of the day, we're all people, and so people go off of energy, and so if you're someone who feel like if you carry that energy where you feel like.

People have to listen to you. Well, people are gonna feel it. They're gonna know, Hey, this person thinks they're better. He thinks he's better than us, or thinks that he owns us, right? In a way. And so I would say have a little bit of humility. So in everything you do, humble yourself. And work on a, on an equal playing field with them as well.

Some people might be struggling in a certain field in your business or your company, and so put yourself in their shoes and be like, okay, why are they struggling with this? Let me get in their shoes and see, okay what could we do to make this person better? Or bring them up.

And then, I would also say that be a do it first leader. That's the number one thing in my in, business, in my industry, I have to be a, a do it first leader because if I'm not in the meetings. If I'm not closing deals, if I'm not making money, if I'm not changing people's lives, if I'm not going out there and prospecting and talking and shaking hands doing all that well, how do I have the moral authority to tell my brokers and my mentees and those who I'm coaching, Hey, go out there and go make an [00:32:00] income.

Go close that deal. Go prospect. Go shake that hand. They don't look at that right there. They first, they believe in what they see. And so as a leader, you have to go do it first. I'd say that's the biggest thing. Just be a do it first leader and be humble while you're doing it.

Financial Freedom Beyond Your Business

Jeffrey Feldberg: And while you're talking about that from a leadership side, and we're looking as founders, as business owners. I'm gonna put something out there that for some may be somewhat controversial, and I used to be in this camp where I said to myself, okay, my business, that's my financial freedom. I do my business, right?

I'm gonna get my financial freedom. And yes, that is the case. At the same time though, there's other things that I could be doing that I don't have to be working, quote-unquote, so hard. I can be working smarter, have my money working for me. It's not just gonna be in the business. And so I know from what you're doing from the industry that you're in, how you're also helping others in different industries as well as your own industry.

For that founder who's thinking, yes, my business is my ticket to financial freedom, and yes it is. What would you want them to think about though, to help? I don't know if diversify that risk or have the money or Wealth work for them [00:33:00] instead the other way around. What would you tell that entrepreneur?

Edgar Zavala: I would tell those entrepreneurs, number one, be in a position where well number one, have at least two to six months worth of expenses saved up somewhere. Be liquid just in case something happens with your business. 'cause there's been times in my business where. Things aren't always going right.

And, you're not always gonna be, cashing in or having that income from your business working. , As an entrepreneur, you've been there, we've all been there before, Jeffrey, I'm sure of it. We've had to tap into other sources and other means to just stay afloat, to keep attacking our business.

So number one. If you're a business owner, if you're a founder, or if you're still growing, have at least three to six months is somewhere just in case to back up. But I would say for those who are, have recurring income, who are really generating income in their businesses, and I would tell 'em, number one, diversify your income by number one.

Putting your money where banks put their money. And so for me as an expert, I show people how to put their money where banks put their money. So number one, they can grow without volatility. They grow their money tax free, they can pull loans from themselves. And so they can make, they can use a thing called positive arbitrage where they can pull a loan, invest into their [00:34:00] business makes money, they're still earning interest in these accounts.

And get, again, God forbid something happens to them, everything gets paid off. And so start understanding what other tools or strategies exist. That give you leverage, right? Because I don't believe in locking up your money into a traditional retirement account like a 401k or an IRA because there's a lot of tax liabilities with that sure, you might get some interest, but remember now you gotta wait x amount of years to not avoid that early withdrawal penalty. Makes sense? And so I accept people. If you're a business owner right now and you're have reoccurring income and you're cash flowing, put your money where banks put their money and we call that Infinite banking.

Jeffrey, maybe you've heard of that before, but it's called Infinite Banking, where you get to grow your money tax free. You get to leverage some tax codes, you get to pull loans, you get against your sub, you get to earn interest twice in the same dollar. You avoid volatility and you essentially become your own bank.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Deep Wealth Nation as you're hearing this, you're thinking, oh my goodness, there's so much to learn actually it isn't. when you file your taxes, are you learning the tax code? Are you filling out the tax forms? I'm sure someone in Deep Wealth Nation is probably saying actually, yeah, Jeffrey, I do. But [00:35:00] hey, you heard the exception from most of us.

We're going to the right kind of advisor, and this is where someone like Edgar could help you out, answer those questions, get you on the right path, let Edgar do what he and the team do best so you can do what you do best with your team. And again, it's working smart, not hard in that regard. And you've shared some terrific strategies with us.

So Edgar, before we go into wrap up mode. Let me ask you this. Is there either a question, topic or theme that we haven't yet covered that you'd like to share with Deep Nation?

Steps to Building Wealth and Success

Edgar Zavala: I guess the big question is most people are asking is, okay, I'm getting all this information but what's the first step? Or what's the first thing I should do? Or what's the next thing I should attack? Because everybody wants the why, but once you understand the why, which is making more money, building a business is the how.

Where do I start?

What's the first step?

How do I get involved?

How do I build Wealth?

How do I become successful?

How can I become a first leader? I guess that the question is how, 

Jeffrey Feldberg: What's the, how, what? Very high level what's that? Yeah, you set that up beautifully. So you threw me a softball there.

What's The, how?

Edgar Zavala: I would [00:36:00] say, Jeffrey, the number one, how, at least in my world, number one, is get connected with me, right? For those that are looking for more questions, looking for more answers, get connected with me and start getting the right books. Start changing your mindset, right? Think and Grow Rich.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Outwit The Devil by Napoleon Hill, Elon Musk autobiography things of that nature. And the Four Agreements. Look at all these different books to change your mind. Get connected with me. And then from there, learn how to get equipped, learn how to get licensed, learn how to get certified, learn how to open up a business, learn how to, provide value and in which industry, what market do you wanna get involved in and become an expert in.

Because everybody says millionaires have seven income streams. We heard that saying right, Jeffrey? Everybody says that, but remember, they focus on one and then they divert into the other six. So get good at that one thing. And if you're someone that's listening to right now to this podcast and you haven't found the one thing, or maybe you're building something, you're not finding success there but you want to become wealthy, you want to become successful.[00:37:00]

Get connected with me and I can teach you step by step about how to make that happen and change your mindset, make you a better leader, and you build a five F formula and find real financial freedom.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Deep Wealth Nation doesn't really get any easier, and Ed grew a walk you through step by step what's involved with that. So some great advice there. And so I agree. That said, we're gonna go into wrap up mode. 

Final Thoughts and Reflections

Jeffrey Feldberg: It is a tradition here in the Deep Wealth Podcast. It's both my privilege and my honor where I ask every guest the same question.

So let me set this up for you. Imagine now it's the movie Back to the Future, and in the movie you have that wonderful DeLorean car that will take you to any point in time. And so Edgar, here's the fun part. Tomorrow morning you look outside your window. Not only is the DeLorean car a curbside, the door is open waiting for you to hop on in which you do, and you're now gonna go to any point in time.

Edgar, as a young child, a teenager, whatever point in time it would be. What would you tell your younger self in terms of life lessons or life wisdom or, Hey Edgar, do this, but don't do that. What would it sound like?

Edgar Zavala: Wow. That's an amazing question, man. I'm looking outside my window right now, seeing [00:38:00] what's out there. Like the, seeing the hors out there, that would be such a cool thing, I think number one, the, I would go back to that moment where I was struggling between staying in the military or getting out that point in time I, honestly, Jeffrey, that was my turning point.

That moment where I was in uniform and I'm loyal to the military. I'm loyal to my Marines. I'm loyal to the cause. I'm mission driven, I'm athletic. I'm more of a hands-on kind of guy, and so I'm in that moment where I'm thinking about. Should I put in a RealList package and do another 20 years, or should I get out take what the military taught me and go and be successful somewhere?

And I wish in that moment someone would've came and said, Hey, make this decision, do this, do that. And if I can go back in time, I would tell myself, skip the blue collar part, and go be a business owner. Just skip the blue collar part. All I did for three years, Jeffrey, was honestly just break my joints and just break my back and be full of grease and oil.

it didn't really do anything for me. It just an [00:39:00] adult jungle gym. So I wish I could go back in time in that moment be, Hey, get out the military.

Go become, get into entrepreneurship, put your back against the wall,

Jeffrey Feldberg: So really what I'm hearing you say is just do it. If I can borrow that expression from another very well known company, just do it. Follow your dreams. Don't wait.

Edgar Zavala: Just get into entrepreneurship, just jump in. Because entrepreneurship, it is scary, because it's you and it's, it's, there is no safety net, but also it forces you to become better. And so I wish, 'cause I was, those three years of being blue collar was delaying, I was delaying the net of why I still had that cushion.

The health benefits, the then the retirement plan, the nine to five, the, the consistency. And so I say, just rip the bandaid off guys and jump in. Do it.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah, and you know what? It's human nature. It's just so easy. Yeah, I'll look at it in six months or in a year, but life happens. We get busy, we get caught up in things. Okay. You know what? Another six months and before we know it. Decades. Go back. But hey, you didn't let that happen. You jumped in. You did do it.

Congratulations with that. And Edgar, someone in Nation, they have a question for you. They [00:40:00] wanna speak with you. Where would be the best place online to find you?

Edgar Zavala: I would say the best place right now, number one, is on Instagram. You could follow me at the Edgar Zavala on Instagram, so T-H-E-E-D-G-A-R-Z-A-V-A-L-A. Very simple. And there, there's a link in my body. You can click there, you can see other interviews that I've had. So you can get different, ideas of my personality, different questions, amazing hosts like Jeffrey himself, and also you can learn more about what is it that I'm doing, my industry. The business that I'm in, the steps that it takes to be successful. And you could book, a one-on-one with me, ask me more even personal questions and see if you're a good fit for us and we're a good fit for you to work together to make an impact and create that legacy that me and Jeffrey were talking about.

So it's the easiest way

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Deep Wealth Nation, it doesn't get any easier. Go to the show notes. It's all point and click. We have it there for you. Well, that said, Edgar, congratulations. It's official. This is a wrap and as we love to say here at Deep Wealth, may you continue to thrive and prosper while you remain healthy and safe.

Thank you so much.

So there you have it, Deep Wealth Nation. What did you think? 

So with all that said and as [00:41:00] we wrap it up, I have another question for you.

Actually, it's more of a personal favor. 

Did you find this episode helpful? 

Have you found other episodes of the Deep Wealth Podcast empowering and a game changer for your journey? 

And if you said yes, and I really hope you did, I have a small but really meaningful way that you can actually help us out and keep these episodes coming to you.

Are you ready for it? 

The dramatic pause. I'll just wait a moment. Drumroll, please. Subscribe. Please subscribe to the Deep Wealth Podcast on your favorite podcast channel. When you subscribe to the Deep Wealth Podcast, you're saving yourself time. Every episode automatically comes to you, and I want you to know that we meticulously craft Every one of our episodes to have impactful strategies, stories, expert insights that are designed to help you grow your profits, increase the value of your business, and yes, even optimize your post exit life and your life right now, whatever you want that to look like.

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So all that said. Thank you so much for listening. And remember your wealth isn't just about the money in the bank. It's about the depth of your journey and the impact that you're creating. So let's continue this journey together. And from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for listening to this episode.

And as we love to say here at Deep Wealth, may you continue to thrive and prosper while you [00:43:00] remain healthy and safe. 

Thank you so much. 

God bless.