Ramon Martinez had anything but a straight and smooth path to success. Born in Hermosillo Sonora, Mexico. At 11, he helped his parents sell pillows door to door. As new immigrants to the United States, they did what they could to make ends meet. He attended Phoenix College but dropped out. Over the years, he “did a little bit of everything,” as he told podcast Sasha Talks.
“Everything” included playing in a band that achieved some moderate success and working in various banks. He eventually started consulting, seemingly hunting and pecking for the right opportunity. Then, he got fired.
Set adrift and in need of rent money, Ramon did the unthinkable and sold his newly acquired English Bulldog puppy. Desperate times called for desperate measures and through the sadness of needing to give up his beloved pet, Ramon saw opportunity. He realized the demand for these puppies and started helping a local breeder sell the puppies. In a short amount of time, Ramon was Arizona’s #1 “puppy guy”.
As lucrative as the puppy business was, it wasn’t where Ramon’s heart was. After several years of working what was meant to be a temporary gig to pay the rent, he realized that he needed a change.
Ramon’s brother had gotten into real estate and, noticing Ramon’s amount of hustle, drive, and dedication decided to offer him a chance to get into the lucrative real estate business. Ramon couldn’t afford to get his license, so his brother footed the bill.
Ramon was starting solidly on the bottom of the real estate heap. With no money to put towards his new career, he sought out a way in. The answer, it turns out, was wholesaling. In wholesale real estate, a wholesaler contracts a home with a seller, then finds an interested party to buy it. The contract with the buyer is higher than with the seller, and the wholesaler keeps the difference as profit. Generally, this is done with distressed properties.
Since Ramon didn’t have much money to work with at the beginning of his real estate career, wholesaling was perfect for him. Wholesale real estate investing is touted as one of the top short-term investment strategies available.
Soon after starting his wholesale real estate journey, things began to take off. The “hustle, drive, and dedication” that had served him well with puppies and that his brother had noticed in him began to pay him back in spades.
“Going all-in on this dream, this real estate path, is the most important decision I ever made,” says Ramon.
Ramon truly went “all in.” He founded Ramon Wholesale Sharks and now travels worldwide teaching others about entrepreneurship and wholesale real estate investing. He conducts masterminds with other real estate wholesalers and has built a tribe of power players in the industry.
It’s leaps and bounds away from selling his dog to pay the rent.
Today, Ramon flies in private jets and lives in a mansion with a Lamborghini parked in the garage. Still, to Ramon, money is a tool. One that he’s learned to use expertly.
“As I get into my car, ready to drive home, I like to give it at least a few seconds and look over at our building and be appreciative. Without that feeling, without appreciation, you’re not really thanking what the universe has done for you. As much as it could happen to me, it could easily not happen to me,” Ramon says.
Ramon Martinez has taken a wild, crazy, and unconventional ride to the top with the time he’s been given on this Earth. He’s aware of how precious time is and how that hustle and drive that he’s always had continues to serve him in making the most of it.
“Time is running out. Try to do as much as you can as quickly as you can.