Ramon Martinez wasn’t always a millionaire. After losing his job in corporate America, he took an unconventional route to wild success with wholesale real estate.
Ramon Martinez never intended on becoming the “puppy guy” of Arizona. But, after a corporate America job loss, his options seemed limited. After selling his beloved English Bulldog to make rent, Ramon’s scrappy business sense kicked in. People wanted these puppies, and Ramon knew how to sell them.
It was grit and determination that has served Ramon Martinez well his entire life. Born in Hermosillo Sonora, Mexico, Ramon moved to the United States at 11 and helped his parents get by selling pillows door to door. It was a “learn by doing” experience that taught Ramon salesmanship and tenacity and how to deal with rejection.
After dropping out of Phoenix College, Ramon had his hands in various roles: musician, banking, and business consulting, to name a few. He experienced moderate success with all of his ventures. Then, he was fired.
It was an unexpected event and one that Ramon struggled to overcome initially. This is where the puppies come into the story. The sale of his puppy for rent money led to a chance encounter with an English Bulldog breeder, who brought Ramon on to market and sell his puppies. The “Puppy Man of Arizona” was born, but it wasn’t his ultimate destiny.
“No matter what, we’ve always been able to see the silver lining in things,” Ramon said on the podcast Moving Mountains with Sasha, “But we knew we were in a transitional period.”
Ramon’s foray into the puppy market made him successful, but it didn’t necessarily scratch the entrepreneurial itch he had. Ramon’s brother had recently gotten into real estate. He recognized Ramon’s uncommon drive and determination and urged him to apply that grit to the real estate business. But, not having any money, Ramon was hesitant to get into a historically financially risky venture. He couldn’t even afford to get his real estate license, so his brother fronted him the money.
“If you don’t have the right relationships around you, people who believe in what you’re doing, eventually you’re not going to believe in what you’re doing either,” says Ramon.
He took his newly acquired real estate license and the support of his family and set off to make a go at the real estate industry, right at the bottom rung of the success ladder. With no funds to dive into purchasing properties, he had to get creative. What he discovered was wholesale real estate investing.
Considered by many experts to be one of the top short-term investment strategies available, the wholesale real estate market has grown in popularity in recent years. How wholesale real estate works is simple. A wholesaler contracts a home with a seller, then finds an interested party to buy it. The agreement with the buyer is higher than with the seller, and the wholesaler keeps the difference as profit. Generally, this is done with distressed properties. It’s a “way in” for people interested in becoming real estate investors but who may not have a surplus of initial start-up funds.
In a short amount of time, Ramon’s famous determination started to pay dividends.
“I didn’t start winning my first year, and I didn’t start winning my second year,” he explains. He nearly quit two years in, feeling that success wasn’t materializing quickly enough for him. He was right on the brink of throwing in the towel when a huge deal came through.
“From that point on….it just started working out,” he says with a chuckle.
He founded his own company and began teaching other people how to get in on the wholesale real estate game. He hosts one-day events designed to teach people what wholesale marketing is and how to network, market, and run full-fledged businesses. He brings in other people to speak who have been inspirational for him. He hopes by showcasing information that he gained value from; he will help others have a successful journey in real estate.
“Entrepreneurs have to decide what they want and what’s most important to them. To me, there was nothing more important than this thing working. I sacrificed so many things for it,” says Ramon.
His signature grit and his willingness to sacrifice continue to pay him back. Today, his one-day events garner thousands of participants coming to Arizona from all over the United States to learn Ramon’s way of succeeding in the wholesale market.
He went “all in” on a dream and now lives life by design, helping others realize their own dreams along the way.
