Born 1984 in Eagle Pass, Texas — a border town where the US and Mexico bleed into each other. First-generation, non-technical, no degree. Ten industries. Four decades. Zero investors. One system installed by my father at age 5: Mentalízalo.
No Nintendo. No quarters. No sugar. No handouts. His philosophy: give him nothing material and he'll build everything. He was a Mexican architect who'd studied at Tec de Monterrey — top 10 university in the world — and became a yogi and a vegetarian and a star football player. He installed one thing in me at age 5: Mentalízalo. See it before it exists. Act as if it's already yours. Go get it.
My mother's philosophy was simpler: "Do what makes you happy, be number one at it, and don't stay quiet — ask for what you want."
That's the whole operating system. Everything else is execution.
Made my first feature film El Escape de los Santos at 19 with no money, no actors, and no film school. I convinced the county sheriff, the city police chief, and the mayor of Eagle Pass to be in it — as a teenager. Sold nationwide distribution to Univision and Venevisión. Landed in Walmart Hispanic markets, Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, and Netflix during the DVD era. My second film Ash Wednesday triggered a bidding war. Then the 2008 crash killed it. I spent six months convincing artist Jesse Treviño to give me life rights for free ($60K standard option). Eventually I walked away from film after 10+ years. Mentalízalo built that. Mentalízalo also knew when it was time to leave.
Went from promotions kid to on-air personality to Music Director at BMP Radio Partners in San Antonio — no degree, no connections. Opened concerts for MANÁ and Luis Miguel. Was offered a house, a car, and an escalating salary to launch a station in Austin. I said no three times. Chose film instead.
Marketing Manager at Jones Lang LaSalle for Mall de las Águilas in Eagle Pass. Took it from 60% to 99% occupancy, surpassing every budget goal by double digits. I didn't just lease spaces — I built entrepreneurs. I taught community members how to form LLCs, get insurance, and run businesses. When I left, CBRE (a competitor) called the brokerage by name: "We're not hiring JLL. We're hiring Frank Flores."
Built LeasePin, a tenant-landlord matching app, with zero coding background. Got a $50K investor offer. COVID ended it. Lesson: Mentalízalo builds things. Timing decides whether they survive.
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 twin 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.
During COVID, I bought a 200-acre ranch. Launched an Airbnb on it — $70K in the first 100 days. Started Carmelitas, shipping tortillas and salsas nationwide. When shipping killed the margins, I built the 5-Criteria Product Checklist. Spotted the carnivore diet trend early and launched SECA Carnivore Chips on Amazon. Year one: $150K+ revenue, ~$115K profit. My first digital product was a $17.99 recipe PDF — and that's the moment I saw the future.
My twin brother Marcelo — "Mars" — disappeared on a trip to Acapulco after graduating college. I identified his body and brought him home. My father passed during COVID, leaving nothing material — but the operating system was already installed. My second film was killed by a market crash. The Jesse Treviño project ended in creative differences after I'd spent six months building the relationship. I don't tell these stories because they're sad. I tell them because they're the whole reason I can teach Mentalízalo with a straight face. The system holds when you're burying people. If it didn't, I'd have nothing to sell you.
My wife is a dentist from Mexico. I asked her out the week before I was about to leave Eagle Pass forever on a motorcycle. We were married three months later. We have three young kids. I'm building this entire business so we can travel and homeschool through experience — the way my father would have wanted me to raise them.
My twin brother Alex went to UT Austin's McCombs School of Business, worked at Frito-Lay, and helped bring Lidl to the US. My sister Robbie went to Texas A&M and got her Master's at NYU in Journalism. She directed The In Between, a PBS documentary about border identity that includes Marcelo's story.
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.