Born 1984, Eagle Pass, Texas — where the US and Mexico bleed into each other. First-generation, no degree, no investors. Ten industries. One system installed by my father at age 5: Mentalízalo.
His philosophy: give him nothing material and he'll build everything. He made me work for everything — every summer growing up I was across the border at my grandmother's house in Piedras Negras, working in my cousins' restaurants or a buddy's mechanic shop. He never just handed me money. He was a star football player for the Borregos Salvajes de Tec de Monterrey, an amazing architect, and a real estate developer and investor — and he taught me a lot. He installed one thing in me at age 5: Mentalízalo. See it before it exists. Go get it.
My mother kept it simpler: "Be number one at what makes you happy, and don't stay quiet — ask for what you want."
That's the whole operating system.
Made my first feature film at 19 — no money, no film school. Convinced the sheriff, police chief, and mayor of Eagle Pass to star in it. Sold distribution to Univision and Venevisión. Walmart, Blockbuster, Netflix DVD era. A second feature triggered a bidding war. Walked away after 10+ years. Mentalízalo built that — and knew when to leave.
Promotions kid to Music Director at BMP Radio in San Antonio — no degree. Opened concerts for MANÁ and Luis Miguel. Then came the offer: Program Director of my own station in Austin — a house, a car, a big salary. I said no. I walked away from all of it, moved back to Eagle Pass to live with my parents, and started my second film from scratch — no money, no paycheck, no guarantee. I'd done it at 19 with El Escape de los Santos and sold the rights; this time the payday was supposed to be bigger. Then the 2008–09 housing crash hit. We sold the rights, but it never released. A big flop — and a bet on myself I'd make again.
Marketing and Leasing Manager at Jones Lang LaSalle. Took Mall de las Águilas from 60% to 99% occupancy. Didn't just lease spaces — built entrepreneurs. Taught community members how to form LLCs and run businesses. When I left, CBRE said: "We're not hiring JLL. We're hiring Frank Flores." JLL — leasing malls across Texas, from Eagle Pass to Killeen — was my day job all through my 30s. And the whole time, I was building businesses on the side. The side hustles below I built nights and weekends, while still holding the full-time job — all before I turned 40.
While still leasing malls at JLL, I built LeasePin — a tenant-landlord matching app — for my own job, with zero coding background. Got a $50K investor offer. COVID ended it. Lesson: Mentalízalo builds things. Timing decides whether they survive.
Still at JLL, with $500 in the bank, I negotiated a lakefront property for $500 down and $1,500/month. Built "Mars on the Lake" — a food truck park named after my late younger brother Marcelo. Recruited 5 paying tenants before a single food truck arrived. Sold the whole thing for $480,000. Roughly $180K profit in 8 months. That's the story I tell when people ask if you can really start with nothing.
Before the carnivore wave, there was the vegan one — and I caught it early. I was driving up to Austin constantly (my brothers were at UT, my mom was there) and watched the whole city go plant-based. I'm always trying to turn a hobby into a business, so I went vegan myself and started Vegan Biceps, a fitness-apparel brand — built from nothing on the side while I was still leasing malls full-time. I learned to build not just a brand but a community: I started sponsoring athletes with huge followings and people went crazy for the gear. Hats, shirts, hoodies — designed and drop-shipped through Amazon and print-on-demand. Over $60K in the first six months. I walked away after a year — I wasn't truly vegan and I wouldn't fake it for the community — but it proved the only thing that matters: start with nothing, grow it fast.
The ranch came before COVID — I bought it when I got married, for the hay business and a plan to build cabins around our 15-acre lake and rent them on Airbnb. We never finished the cabins, but we ran the Airbnb out of the house — $70K in 100 days. Then Carmelita's: handmade flour, corn, and nixtamal tortillas plus homemade salsas, shipped nationwide — 200+ Etsy sales, five-star reviews, zero preservatives, everything made fresh at dawn and boxed by hand. But no-preservative food is brutal to ship — weather, weight, spoilage. That pain pushed me to digital: Carmelita's recipe cookbook became my first digital product that actually sold — and to a lighter, shelf-stable, higher-margin product, SECA Carnivore Chips, riding the carnivore wave before it broke. Year one: $150K+.
During COVID, stuck at the ranch, I taught myself leather — full-grain, hand saddle-stitched, no cloth lining, no machines, no shortcuts. Wallets, bags, and — once I got into cigars with my dad and my older brother Ramón — a line of leather cigar accessories. I made my wife a bag; I made pieces for friends. The whole idea: something you'd hand down to your grandson, built to outlast the big brands that charge a fortune and line the inside with cloth. When travel started again and I went back to the malls, I set it down — it's the one I'll pick back up someday, just for the love of the craft.
In my 40s I left JLL to go all in on my own. SECA Carnivore Chips keeps shipping — and the newest thing: a new SECA now produced in the United States in a USDA-inspected facility. And I'm building two software companies, turning everything I learned into tools. FamiliaLista — the encrypted digital manual, in Spanish, that organizes everything that matters (accounts, insurance, wishes, contacts) and hands it to your family the day you can't tell them yourself. A will says who inherits; FamiliaLista tells your family what to actually do. And SedeIA — the home of AI in Spanish: quote, invoice, and get paid in seconds, with seven business tools plus the Sede IA Institute for courses and certification. Reset With Frank is the thread that ties it all together — same first-generation story, same face behind all of it.
My younger brother Marcelo disappeared on a trip to Acapulco. I identified his body and brought him home. My father passed during COVID. My second film died in a market crash. I don't tell these stories because they're sad. I tell them because they're why I can teach Mentalízalo with a straight face. The system holds when you're burying people.
My wife is a dentist from Mexico. Asked her out the week I was leaving Eagle Pass on a motorcycle. Married three months later. Three young kids. Building this business so we can travel and homeschool through experience.
Everything I teach comes out of this family. Everything I've built is the system they installed.
If you read this whole page, the next thing to do is download the free 2AM guide. It's the one question my father taught me to ask when I'm stuck.