Melissa Monjaraz - Arizona Lender | TOP 1% LO

Opening Quote: "... Or so I had to figure it out on my own. And I've learned it through coaching. I've learned that you know, what are the successful people doing day in, and day out to be successful? And so I now want to help others be successful and let people know that, you know, sometimes it's just a choice that you make and it's the habits, those daily habits..."                   
                                                                                                                  - Melissa Monjaraz

Guest BIO:
"Experienced Senior Mortgage Loan Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry. Skilled in U.S. VA Loans, Buyer Representation, U.S. Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Referrals, and Relocation. Strong finance professional with a Real Estate License and Arizona Mortgage License focused in Real estate/Mortgages from Arizona School of Real Estate and Business."

Guest Social Links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homeloanswithmelissa/reels/?hl=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meli.monjaraz
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-monjaraz-59ba6465/

FOLLOW THE HOST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thechrismedellin/reels/?hl=en
Website: https://chrismedellinofficial.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrismedellin/

This podcast has been edited and produced by Content by Fabio LLC

Transcript

Chris Medellin -
Welcome to Breakthrough with Chris Medellin. These are stories from remarkable, diverse people who have fought to break through and take their careers to the next level. And I'm excited because I am here with at Home Loans with Melissa. Melissa Monjaraz. Did I say that right? She has a top 1% loan officer and 20 years in the industry.

Chris Medellin -
She is teaching you the things that you didn't learn in school. She is Spanish speaking and she is inspiring with her brand. Other Latinas in the industry come up, find their voice and do amazing things. And so I am lucky to have you. I have been trying to do this for months now. DMing you. We met at the Forward event, so thank you so much for finally being here today.

Chris Medellin -
It went well. It's funny, right? We almost didn't do this. We luckily, you work right down the street, so we thought it was a zoom and she was like, as this person was like, it's a person is like, I'm there. So like literally in 5 minutes she came. So I'm so excited because I got to tell you the story of why I invited you to come on.

Chris Medellin -
So breakthrough this, this entire podcast is really based and we want to bring it into the realm of showcasing people who have diverse background. You're Latina. You came up in an industry that is predominantly run by males and males that are not Latinos. Right? And so when you look at the top, the top of most mortgage companies, they're not run and not managed by people that look like us.

Chris Medellin -
And I think that the communities we serve actually look like us. And so it's really hard for a lot of people in the marketplace to find affordability in homes and to work with somebody professional to get them into homes. And this is a specialty for you and so I was I really wanted to talk to you because you've helped so many people find homeownership that didn't think that they ever could.

Chris Medellin -
I wanted to talk about your story and what it was like to come up because you had to have struggled, I mean, to be a top 1% loan officer. That's not easy to do. I mean, you have sacrificed so many things from your personal life. You're a mom. You know, you have a four-year-old, and you're married. Those are debts.

Chris Medellin -
There is a massive amount of time that you have taken away from them to build your brand and to come up and help other people. So first off, thank you for helping the communities the way that you have. But more importantly, I want to hear your story. So, Melissa, let's start with let's start let's take it from the beginning.

Chris Medellin -
How how did you find mortgage to begin? Like, how did you find that this was going to be something you were going to go into? Because you and I were talking and you mentioned that you didn't even go to college. Neither did I. Right. And that's something that I always kind of in the back of my mind felt a little bit ashamed of.

Chris Medellin -
But I'm actually really proud of it. So tell me your story. I mean, coming up, you didn't go to college. How did you find mortgage?

Melissa Monjaraz -
So that's a great question. So originally I worked for a bank as a teller, and my goal was always to go to college, and get a degree. And, you know, it's funny because it's not that my parents ever said, you got to go to college. My dad always said you got to own your own business. Wow. And work for yourself.

Melissa Monjaraz -
But basically, I decided I'm going to go to college. Yeah, None of my brothers had gone to college or gotten Integrys, so it was in my head. I filled out the forms, I got the grants, and I went to college. I did not get the degree. However, as I was going to college, taking classes, I'm like, I'm going to be an accountant.

Melissa Monjaraz -
I love numbers, so I'm going to be an accountant. So my sister-in-law was an accountant. She said You got to take these courses. I took those courses and then I met my now husband and we, you know, obviously fell in love. He moved to Arizona and brought me with him. I knew no one in Arizona. I knew nothing about Arizona.

Melissa Monjaraz -
I had never been here. And I took the plunge, got in the car, and moved with him to Arizona. And I grabbed the newspaper and the first thing I saw was a receptionist at a mortgage company. Oh, I knew nothing about mortgages. So I got a job as a receptionist and I was 23. Everybody in the office was like 56 years old, 30 years in the business.

Melissa Monjaraz -
And no one spoke Spanish. So I had a lady there. Her name was Cher, and she said, Hey, can you help me write out some cards, call these clients, and get some information? So I just kind of started that way. I started taking some applications. Applications give me 50 bucks, and then six months later, my branch manager came home and he said, Do you want to be alone?

Melissa Monjaraz -
So I'm like, Mark, you're crazy, right? Like, I know nothing about mortgages. I couldn't. I'm only 23 years old. All these people have been doing it for 20, 30 years. I mean, he's like, No, you got this. So give me a desk with a pen, a list of leads to call, and holy smokes, I the first lead that I got, it was a manufactured deal in San Diego.

Melissa Monjaraz -
And this girl said, you know, I've talked to three lenders and nobody wants to give me the time of day, nobody wants to help me. And I was like, I was just like, I need to figure out a way to help this lady. And so I figure it out. And then when I got my first paycheck, I was like, You're joking, right?

Melissa Monjaraz -
This cannot be real. And yeah, I was $14,000 check. I got 50%. So 7000 on one deal. So I'm like, Wait, you're telling me if I closed five deals? I started doing the math in my head. I'm like, Holy shit, yes, I want to be a loan officer. And that just started my path to Amazing becoming a loan officer.

Chris Medellin -
So, when you think about, like, how we came up, you and I were talking about this earlier, too, you know, we didn't come up with our families that were wealthy. And so there was not really a blueprint of, you know, I knew people already making a lot of money and therefore I'm going to follow that path. You had a trailblazer path not only for you but in an industry that doesn't have a lot of people that look like you.

Chris Medellin -
And so tell me about the moment, like because I said it earlier, but like being a top one percenter is not easy. And the reason why I also invited you on was because you came out of nowhere for me like you were at my feet all the time. And I was like, She's cool. Like she has good style.

Chris Medellin -
She is doing some funny content, had this person out, but then I met you. I met you at Ford, and you were what I would say. You were really shy. Like, I think we caught each other off guard when we ran into each other. And I said, you know, we got to get together, you know, get to do this podcast, whatever.

Chris Medellin -
And I did do it a few times. But then I was like, I really wanted to meet you because, in our industry, I don't see a lot of people like you doing as well as you were doing and having so much fun with it. So tell me, what was that journey like to get to where you are today? Because that couldn't have been easy.

Chris Medellin -
I mean, you had to have people trying to hold you back. You had to have people that weren't really supportive. What was that like? Talk to me about that.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Absolutely. So the goal was never to be a top one percenter. I, I never thought I could be where I am at today. I didn't even think it was a possibility. Right. I didn't finish school. Right. I just quit school. I'm like, I'm just going to be a loan officer. And I just never thought I could be successful.

Melissa Monjaraz -
So it wasn't even a goal of mine. But I went to a Tony Robbins event about six years ago. Wow. Okay. And when I went to this event, I was working on top mortgage team for about five years. And I just always thought like, I'm good. I love my team. Stay on the team. I learned a lot and learned learning from some top mortgage loan officers.

Melissa Monjaraz -
I'm happy, but I never knew there was more in me until I went to that event and I wrote down some goals. And even when I look at my goals today, I mean, my goals were small because I just never thought I could be where I'm at. And so just, you know, my husband always pushed me like, just go on your own.

Melissa Monjaraz -
You've been doing this for a long time, just and I was like, No, I just I'm not capable. I'm not smart enough. I'm Hispanic. Like like no one's going to give me the time of day. I just didn't think I can go out on my own. And it was just that fear, that fear of failure that we all have.

Melissa Monjaraz -
And Tony Robbins said the reason we don't take action or we stay in our comfort zone is because we're fear. Fear of failure. We don't think that we're worthy of anything more than what we're already receiving or getting or where we're at. And so we don't take that risk. And so I fear and even my dad would tell me, like, what are you doing?

Melissa Monjaraz -
Like, go, how do you know what you're doing? Go out and work for yourself don't ever work for anyone. And so I finally just decided I'm going to take the plunge, I'm going to take the risk and I'm going to go out on my own. And since that day, I never looked back and I was like, Holy smokes.

Melissa Monjaraz -
It's like a world of possibilities.

Chris Medellin -
It is a world of possibilities. But you said something really interesting here, and we talk a lot about this. Our success. We are all born and grow up with certain self-limiting beliefs that we have embedded in our brains that didn't get put there by anyone. Or maybe if you really go back and look from, you know, a psychology perspective or a psychological perspective you can probably pinpoint where it happened.

Chris Medellin -
But at the end of the day, they exist. And what it sounds like happened with you was that you went to a seminar with Tony Robbins, and after that seminar, something got in your head along with you had some cheerleaders in your life, which is really amazing. Your husband and your father telling you, you can do it, you can do it, but you're almost not listening to it because of like but you don't understand, right?

Chris Medellin -
You know you don't understand what I'm going through. And then finally, what was it about what Tony Robbins said that you got in your head and said, I can do this? What was it, A confidence shift? What happened to you? Do you remember?

Melissa Monjaraz -
I think I was just like, wow, I'm like 15 years in the mortgage and real estate business. Okay. I had also been a real estate agent when the market crashed in 2008 for four years. Then I came back to mortgages because I realized that that's my passion. That's what I love to do. But I was just at a point where I was just tired of working for someone that didn't see the value.

Melissa Monjaraz -
You know, I worked hard. I was the last one in the office to this day. I still am, but I was, you know, he didn't give me a raise. He didn't value all of the work, in my opinion, that I was doing right. He didn't see that. Like she has so much potential. Yes. And I started seeing that, wow, I do have a lot of potentials.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Like I started gaining that confidence. And so one day, just me and one of the other gals that worked on the team, we just decided like we just got to go out. We got to go out on our own and we just decided, let's do it. So we both left. Yes, we went over to Guild Mortgage.

Chris Medellin -
Oh, my gosh. So this is not that long ago. I mean, when you really think about it, like five. Yeah, five years ago.

Melissa Monjaraz -
About five years ago.

Chris Medellin -
So think about that for a second. I mean, this is really like and I love this about what you said because this is almost a culmination of what happened with me coming up with the podcast named Breakthrough, because there is somebody in Arizona within a five-mile radius of where we're talking today that is underappreciated, undervalued but is helping clients get into homes and fulfilling dreams.

Chris Medellin -
You and I both know this. When you're dealing with a Hispanic borrower who only speaks Spanish, the trust level that it takes to get them to give you all of their financial information and then to work with them for months and months and months to get their credit where it needs to be to season the money that they have under their mattress and to get through all that.

Chris Medellin -
It could take a year to get them into a home. But when you do, you have accomplished something that's going to change the trajectory of that family forever.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Absolutely.

Chris Medellin -
And that becomes undervalued in our industry. And for me, if I could have talked to you 20 years ago and said, Melissa, you have it, you can do this, what would you say to yourself 20 years ago if you can go back and say, I'm going to start this over and I'm going to take you under my wing, What would be the advice that you would give to you 20 years ago?

Melissa Monjaraz -
I would say definitely. You know, I would have taken a lot more risks. Right? I think as we said, we limit ourselves and or we waste a lot of time, Right? So not so much take a risk with money, but time. Time is money. And so what are you doing with your time, right? Mm-hmm. I've realized that most successful people, don't waste a lot of time.

Melissa Monjaraz -
They're not watching TV. They're not out partying every weekend. They're not wasting any time. All their time is. It's all mapped out. It's all planned out. It's on their calendar. They know what they're doing at any given time during the day. And, you know, they're reading, they're listening to podcasts, they're going to advance, they're around successful people. And so that's what I would have done.

Melissa Monjaraz -
I would have taken a little bit more risk with my time. I definitely would have hired a coach or a mentor a long time ago. I think that's one of the mistakes I never did. But now I do have a coach and I have a good for you. But that didn't happen until about a few years ago. Yeah. And so I think that's what's really helped me grow and get from here to here in a short amount of time.

Melissa Monjaraz -
I've only been on my own for about five years now, or I'm sorry, about four. Yeah, about five years now.

Chris Medellin -
It's a weird thing that happens because I almost sense that you're minimizing yourself and what you've accomplished because you went on your own five years ago like I was just five. Yeah, but you became the top 1% in the country in mortgage lending. Right. And that's not an easy thing to do. And so and through that, you find wealth.

Chris Medellin -
You're probably living a lifestyle that is very different from when you grow up. So let's talk a little bit about that. I mean, how has you know, like I said, there's not a blueprint for it, but let's give the audience an idea because you shared it with me a little bit. What was it like growing up? And these are things that you said earlier you've never talked about But walk me through that, that scenario of where were you born and what was the living conditions like growing up in California?

Melissa Monjaraz -
Yes. So awesome. I yeah, this is it's crazy because I don't I've never told this story. Right. So it's one of those things it's, you know, do you how honest and real you want to be.

Chris Medellin -
I want you to be wrong. Raw like I mean and by the way, like, we're not going to edit this. This is going to be you and me having a real conversation. But because here's the thing that's most important for me to establish with the audience and with you is that there is somebody out there that lived just the way you did in the way that I did, and is feeling like that can hold them back.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Right.

Chris Medellin -
And look at you and but you still never told the story. And so I would be honored to hear it. And you share it with the audience because there's somebody out there that needs to hear it. Yeah.

Melissa Monjaraz -
So basically, I grew up in Santa Cruz, California, and don't get me wrong, I have great parents who are very supportive. I love my parents, but many times our parents, you know, my dad came from Mexico when he was 14 and has worked hard till this day. He's almost 70 and works hard. So but our parents didn't know what they didn't know, right?

Melissa Monjaraz -
They, you know, didn't have much growing up. So growing up, we grew up in some apartments. They were called the voice of San Carlos. And they were not the greatest apartments. Right. It was gangs, drug thugs drive-by shootings. It was just not the greatest environment to raise a family.

Chris Medellin -
You wouldn't raise your kids there today.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Never in my life that I ever done that. However, I know there are people that grow up in apartments like that. Right. And so I grew up watching, you know, my brothers. They were in gangs till this day. Me and my brothers have tattoos in the same Mexicanos dress. So I grew up around, you know, a lot of my friends were in the gang and so I grew up seeing all of this and it was not easy.

Melissa Monjaraz -
It was not easy. And I think the one thing that helped me is my mom would take me to church. And so that kind of kept me in a straight line. She put me in cheerleading and dancing. And so I was involved in all these activities, and I think that kept me away from all of that, although I still had, you know, friends that were involved in that.

Melissa Monjaraz -
And my brothers and I, I saw a lot of things that I probably shouldn't have seen and I'm sure a lot of people see growing up. But when I think about, like, what makes me successful or why I work so hard, it's not the money, right? It's not. I know a lot of people say, Oh, I work hard because of my kids.

Melissa Monjaraz -
I, I only have one child a four-year-old named Luca. And so I've been working hard since I started when I was 23. So why do I work so hard? And I think when they really, really, really think about it, it's, you know, I think because where I came from and what I saw, I think that many times in my career I thought, I am not capable, I'm not smart enough.

Melissa Monjaraz -
As I said, I'm Hispanic. There are not a lot of Hispanic that Hispanics are successful, let alone females, in the mortgage business. And so when I got into coaching three years ago, I coach with the Corps. If you've ever gone to a Corps event, it is mainly white males in their forties. So if you're going to the restroom, it's like the male line for the bathroom.

Melissa Monjaraz -
I mean, the line for the bathroom is it's just it's all males and the ladies, we joke around. But even in my coaching program, I'm in the top-level program. There's not a lot of females, let alone a lot of Latina females. Right? I can count like there's a handful, maybe four or five. And so when I joined that coaching program and I looked around and I said, I can be successful too.

Melissa Monjaraz -
And it's almost like I'm trying to prove to others that we can be successful. Everybody has the opportunity. It doesn't matter where you came from or how you grew up, It's a choice that you make and as you said, we didn't have the blueprint, right? Our parents didn't have a blueprint, so we didn't have a path to lead us to how to be successful.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Or so I had to figure out on my own. And I've learned it through coaching. I've learned that you know, what are the successful people doing day in, and day out to be successful? And so I now want to help others be successful and let people know that, you know, sometimes it's just a choice that you make and it's the habits, those daily habits.

Melissa Monjaraz -
It's all those little things that you do on a daily basis that compound over time. Right. And I love Darren Hardy's book. The one thing is because that's what he talks about, right? It's a choice that you make, right? It's like, who are you surrounding yourself around? What are you watching and what are you doing on a daily basis to be successful.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Right. And it's I just want to tell people that like you, you got to take the risk because if you don't take the risks and you'll never know and you'll just stay at your job where you've been out for 15, 20 years, or you just kind of keep job hopping and you're never going to see the potential that you have to be successful.

Chris Medellin -
That's an amazing, amazing way of putting it. And, you know, think about it from the perspective of, yeah, I think you told me that you had never like he said, lived in an apartment complex. Did you live there your entire upbringing in the same one.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Till I was 16.

Chris Medellin -
So you were from from from baby to 16. You lived in the same apartment complex and that crazy to think about, Right? And so do you believe in like that, the fact that you ended up in mortgage and that you're helping people get into homes, that there's a tie into that, do you think that that's why you have passion to do what you do?

Melissa Monjaraz -
Absolutely. So growing up, no one ever educated my parents about owning real estate or investing in real estate. And so that's where my passion comes from. Growing up, we had no stability, right? We lived in these apartments and it's not like my parents didn't have the money. My dad always tells me that home that you grew up in or, you know, any like when I was I'm sorry before I was four years old, we lived in a home in a house.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Gotcha. And then from 4 to 16, we lived in those apartments. But my dad always tells me the home that you grew up in, that you were born in, we could have purchased that home for $40,000. And now that home is worth over a million in Northern California. And so I think about that, right? If my dad would bought that home, he could have been a millionaire by now.

Chris Medellin -
He could have. And it's built well.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Living.

Chris Medellin -
It builds.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Wealth. Yeah. You know. Yeah, exactly. It builds wealth. And so that has really stuck with me. And so now I have this passion and I'm it's almost like it's my mission to go help others and show them that it's possible. And even if you can't buy now, I will show you how you could be able to purchase a home if not now.

Melissa Monjaraz -
In the future, we're going to create a plan, and tell you how to build your credit, and how to fix your credit. And so it's almost like my mission to help people accomplish their goal of owning a home because you never had that opportunity. And so when I moved here when I was 23, the first thing I did when I got into mortgages is I helped my parents purchase their first home.

Chris Medellin -
Wow, that just gave me chills. That is so cool. Yeah.

Melissa Monjaraz -
So, that's my mission. When someone comes to me and they're not ready to buy a home, I always let them know, Don't worry, I'm going to give you a plan on what you need to do to be able to buy a home in the near future. So just follow my lead will get you there. And so I think that that's really helped my success because I get a ton of referrals from families that I've helped get into a home.

Melissa Monjaraz -
And I know there's a lot of loan officers out there that just say, You know what, I'm sorry, you don't qualify at this time. You know, call us back when you're ready to go. But when you come to me, I'm going to put a plan together and I'm going to let you know, okay, These are the steps that you need to take.

Melissa Monjaraz -
You know how much money you need for a down payment. This is what you need to do with your credit to be able to buy in the future. And so I really outline a plan for them, for them to be able to accomplish their goal of buying a home.

Chris Medellin -
That's it. I mean, to me I feel like families or not and I feel I know that families are far more likely to be a successful unit if they're in a home and stable. And, you know, when you live in an apartment complex, I'm surprised that you didn't move as many times like from, you know, 4 to 16, because a lot of people do as they bounce around from apartment apartments or landlords, you know, sell the apartments and something happens, you know, So but just all of the things that you said, you know, you saw happening that happen in an apartment complex and these type of situations really gave you street smarts, I'm sure that

Chris Medellin -
that you probably have that most people, don't you can you understand how to navigate certain situations in a way that a lot of people don't. But what is it like to go back, you know, when you go back and you visit your family and, you know, are you one of the only successful people in your immediate family from the perspective of, you know, income and stability?

Melissa Monjaraz -
Yes. Yes. That and that, then that's hard to say. Right. But yes, I definitely am. And so a lot of my siblings. Right. They look up to me because I've had a lot of success. And so I think that's what drives me as well, because if I'm successful, then I'm able to help my siblings as well, not only show them how they can be able to have their own home and build wealth and that kind of thing, but just be an example of what's possible.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Yeah, right. It doesn't matter where you came from. Yes. It doesn't matter what you've gone through as hard as that is. You could you can to be successful. And so definitely I am one of the ones that have gone on to be successful.

Chris Medellin -
You even like I'm watching you say you're so uncomfortable saying this, but you broke through. Yeah. And congratulations on that, because I want you to feel really proud of yourself because you, you know, you a lot of times like so I'm super surprised. And I'll come back to what I was going to say in a second.

Chris Medellin -
But like my mom, I grew up very gang. You know, there was there was the gangs in my neighborhood were predominant. And both of my brothers were very well known. And as I was coming up, there were I had two older brothers, so I was lucky to have them. We never went to the same school like I was always behind them, like maybe a year or two from, you know, following in their part.

Chris Medellin -
But they left a reputation everywhere they went. And so I was a little lucky that because I was always smaller than everybody else. So I was really lucky that people just left me alone. They were like, Oh, that's their brother. Leave me alone. And then I had to kind of get enough street smarts to know who to hang out with.

Melissa Monjaraz -
I always hung out with their friends because then everybody would leave me alone. So I made it through like, you know, a war zone, in my opinion, of just kind of trying to be funny and try to hang out with the older people and pretend I was older and but I looked up to them and I wanted to be in you know, I remember my brother, we had rooms, really tiny bedrooms.

Chris Medellin -
But I remember he would knock on the wall and I would come around and because he would he would get home from being out and I wouldn't go out. So it would be like a fright. And he would have blood on his pants from a fight. They got into it. And he would like, to tell me the whole story.

Chris Medellin -
And I remember just being terrified, like, I don't want to live that life. You know, that's not for me. Right? But I wanted the protection of not being the person that was getting beat up or was getting jumped or whatever the case was, drive-bys, all those things were happening. But for some reason, I don't know.

Chris Medellin -
I think I got really lucky with two friends that had money and I just would watch their lifestyle and I was like, actually, why don't I hang out with them and I'll just like not hang out with my friends anymore. And I started hanging out with these two guys and it changed my life like finding that. But how did you get out of it?

Chris Medellin -
Like because you were going home, yet you had six siblings, you said. Yes, right? Six siblings, all real. Six of you total.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Three boys, three girls.

Chris Medellin -
And then your parents got cable? No, I'm kidding. And so then you guys, you were watching things that you said you shouldn't have seen, drug use, probably gang violence. Was it ever cool to you? Was it ever like, I want to be a part of that? Because that's when you live in an environment like that, that's really all you know what you know, and you said your mom put you in the got you busy enough to not want to do that.

Chris Medellin -
But how did you change the trajectory to break out? That's what I'm curious about.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Yeah, like I said, my mom took me to church when I was about 11 years old, so we went to church. I was very involved. I was in the choir. I'd go to church camp. So that really kept me away from all of that. Right? And at that point I was like, I don't want to be a part of this, right?

Melissa Monjaraz -
I don't want to be involved. I don't want to do drugs. I don't want to be around people that do drugs. And luckily, I had a best friend who also lived in those apartments. Her name's Volodya. Okay? She's still my best friend.

Chris Medellin -
She still. This is so this is.

Melissa Monjaraz -
For my sister, honestly. Yeah, but her actually, her parents, they call. They called me like I'm their adopted child. Yes. And so they also lived in those apartments. However, when I was about, I want to say, 12 years old, they bought a home. They bought a house.

Chris Medellin -
When they're crazy, like they got out, they got out. Right. And they're like, You were rich now. Yeah, right. Yes. Yeah.

Melissa Monjaraz -
They bought a house. I still remember for like 167,000 at that time. And I hung around them all the time. I was with them. I stayed the night. And her mom was very Berta, who's also like a second mom to me. She was very, very, very strict. Right. And so I, I think that really helped me. Yeah. On the right path, because I think I had a tendency of like being a little bit more, I'd say just open.

Melissa Monjaraz -
I have a lot of different types of friends. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Friendly. And you know, I had some friends that were in the gang and I had some friends that, you know, we just smoked pot. And then I had my friend Volodya, who is just stable. Yeah, a lot of stability. She didn't do any drugs and she was like a mom to me, Right?

Melissa Monjaraz -
So she, I felt like their family really kicked me, kept me on the straight path. Right.

Chris Medellin -
And centers are so important.

Melissa Monjaraz -
I had a great example growing up with them. And so that's why they're kind of like my second family so good and I love them. And so I think that's kind of what kept me out of sight of like being involved in dancing and cheerleading. And I will say when I was 16 years old, I can't go into details, but when I was 16 years old, my mom and my little brother, I moved to our Skully in Mexico.

Melissa Monjaraz -
And I'm going, to be honest with you, I didn't grow up speaking a lot of Spanish. And so we moved to Mexico and I had to go to high school there when I was 16 and 17 years old. I was in Junior high school and went to school. I didn't speak very much Spanish, but I learned how to read it, read it, speak it, and I hated it.

Melissa Monjaraz -
And I was very angry that we had to move to Mexico. And now, looking back, I believe everything happens for a reason. I truly believe that as bad as the situation whatever anyone's going through, there is a reason it's happening and you will learn from it. And now that I'm older, now I know my purpose, right?

Melissa Monjaraz -
So I moved to Mexico. I learned a lot more about the culture and I learned Spanish. Now I could speak it right and write and now I help a big part of the Hispanic community. And I'm able to do that because I am fluent in Spanish now.

Chris Medellin -
Yes.

Melissa Monjaraz -
And so I'm able to help them. And I really take my time. If someone comes to me and wants to learn how to buy a home, I will meet them in person. I don't care if it takes two, or 3 hours to educate them and get my point across by showing them that it's possible you can own a home and this is the path that it takes to own a home.

Melissa Monjaraz -
I used to have a boss that said, you know, you take too much time, 15 minutes, and that's it. You know, you're in there too long teaching your Hispanics for 2 hours. You can't do that. Melissa. And so I told them, right like this is what it takes and it takes more hand-holding and education. And when I went on my own to become a loan officer, I decided that's how I'm going to run my business.

Melissa Monjaraz -
I don't care how long it takes. I don't care that you don't qualify. Now I'm going to make it my mission to help you get into a home.

Chris Medellin -
That's amazing.

Chris Medellin -
Well, I think your point in all of this in I think it's something that I need to point out is when you say when we're in the storm, when we're in the middle of a situation in our life where our backs against a wall and we don't know why we're in it, we hate it. You're 16, a very impressionable age, especially for a female.

Chris Medellin -
And, you know, you have to go to a new school that you don't understand the language, all those things. And it's like, why? Why me? And then, you know, 25, 30 years later, you're like, that's why.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Yeah.

Chris Medellin -
And what God was trying to teach me or the universe or however you want to look at it. But I do agree with you when you say, you know, this is a weird market that we're living in today, you know, and a lot of loan officers who are $100 million loan officers are 20 million loans $20 million, $20 million loan officers.

Chris Medellin -
And they're wondering why is the universe doing this to me. And it's because there's something to be learned here. And what you have to learn is not to quit and to take advantage of the opportunity. And like you, you learned a new language. You learn a skill set that has helped you your entire career. And through that, you've been able to help other people.

Chris Medellin -
And that's not something to be taken lightly, because there are a lot of people in this industry that don't get the hand-holding right, that they need mortgages are extremely complicated, right? There's a reason that it takes 30 days usually to get a mortgage, you know, and you can say, yeah, we can do it faster, and blah, blah, blah.

Chris Medellin -
But it's a manufacturing process. And there are so many hands, especially when you deal with the clientele that you're dealing with. But you also like you you're in a high-end area as well. Like so you, you know, and let me ask you this. This is something interesting because I was having this conversation with somebody else recently. Are you finding more Latinos in the upper end of buying houses now that are finding you and using you because you're Latino or do you know that you're of the same descent as them?

Melissa Monjaraz -
Absolutely. Yes. And it wasn't always like that. Right. I always worked in Phenix for 16 out of my 20-year career. I was always in the West Valley, always in Phenix, but I lived in Chandler.

Chris Medellin -
Gotcha.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Okay. And so it wasn't up until about four years ago. I moved to Chandler Branch and but all my realtors were in the West Valley. I didn't know really any realtors in the East Valley and so a lot of even my Hispanic clients were in the West Valley. But now that I've moved to the Chandler and now Gilbert area, I am mainly working with a lot of East Valley realtors and of course, a lot of their clients are in the East Valley and a lot of them are Hispanic.

Melissa Monjaraz -
And yes, I am finding that a lot are definitely looking to buy large or I'd say a higher price.

Chris Medellin -
Absolutely. Yeah.

Melissa Monjaraz -
And I never thought that that that existed. Right. I was just used to the lower price points. People that needed, you know, help with their credit. But I'm realizing that there is a bigger group out there, even in the East Valley.

Chris Medellin -
There is. And they all think the same way. I mean, it's very it's still a very similar, you know, thought process of trust. And I don't trust the bank. Sometimes I want to work with someone like you that has, you know, help people and is also living in the same community. It's all those things that are super important.

Chris Medellin -
But you have all these superpowers. It's crazy. I mean, when you really think about it, all these superpowers that you hated at one point are all these skill sets, are all these things about you that you hated or that you felt were holding you back have now catapulted you. You're Latina. You're able to help people in a way that that people can't you speak Spanish and write Spanish and you know it in a way that, you know, a lot of people can't.

Chris Medellin -
You have built marketing you know. Well, and this is the other piece that I wanted to ask you about because you came out of nowhere marketing yourself, and to be somebody who I think traditionally was shy, you've now figured out a platform on how to market yourself. Has that changed you, do you think, also including social media and marketing the way that you have built your business to help you get to that 1%, or do you feel it's more word of mouth or combination?

Chris Medellin -
How is marketing helped you write?

Melissa Monjaraz -
Social media? Part of it is not what helped me get to the top 1%. I would say coaching that you get to the top 1%. Of course, my hard work and long hours, and late nights definitely helped me get there. But I'm definitely learning to work smarter. Okay, beginning. I think you've got to work hard, but eventually like, okay, how do I work smarter and use my time wisely?

Melissa Monjaraz -
But what social media has allowed me to do and I love this, I absolutely love social media. It's allowed me to show people another side of me that it's me, it's the real me. But people don't really get to see that right When I'm normally super shy. I don't like the camera. I don't like to be in the spotlight or I don't like the attention on me.

Melissa Monjaraz -
But at the same time, it's allowed me to it's allowed people to see the silly part of me, the absolute fun part of me because I can be fun, I can be silly. So social media is really allowed me to do that and it's really allowed me to find my tribe. It's allowed me to find the people that I want to work with.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Yes, it's allowed me to find, like I, I attract a lot of Latinas that are in their thirties, forties, and yeah, female Latinas. It's like they just find me. Yes. It doesn't matter if they're in Arizona, California, Texas, Miami, or Florida. It doesn't matter. They somehow gravitate toward me. So good. Yes. So then a lot of the women or realtors that I've met here in Arizona, I've met them for coffee or lunch.

Melissa Monjaraz -
I meet them and instantly it's like they want to hug me. And it's this instant connection. They feel like they know me. Yes. So and we've just ended up working together. It just it's like it's this perfect match.

Chris Medellin -
Well, it's because you've given them an opportunity to get to know you without getting to know you. And when you can do that, instead of having to go to, you know, 50 events during a year and handshake until 50 people your story and get to know them, that way they get to open up their phone and you're putting so much content out there that is good and entertaining and I'm like, She's cool.

Chris Medellin -
I want to hang out with her. Like, and then, you know, I got to do this biggest transaction in my life. Well, she knows what she's doing. You're constantly and a lot of times you're not even really doing a call to action. You're just reminding people who you are. And I think what loan officers are missing are, you know, which is a really good thing for someone like you, is that a lot of people aren't doing it.

Chris Medellin -
I mean, there are people doing it, but there are not a lot of people. I mean, and then to be Latina as well. And successful and be able to, you know, showcase that it's an attractive thing because people are like, if she can do it, I might be able to do it. And through that, you're going to have growth and there's going to be you know, I'm hoping even just one person calls you after this is.

Chris Medellin -
I heard that right. And can I work with you because I want to, you know, take the path that you've taken? What do you say to that person if there is a young Latina out there that's a similar story to you but is afraid to break out, what would you say to them?

Melissa Monjaraz -
I get that all the time for a lot of my relationships who have never done video and want to do video. So I'll either invite them to come to do a video or come meet with me and I'll show them some tips and tricks. And so I actually have, you know, a handful of realtors who have never done a video in.

Melissa Monjaraz -
So it's awesome to see them now get out of their comfort zone and break that fear. And just seeing their videos like it just makes me so happy. And again, just like I help my clients, I take the time and I will do that with any other realtor. I'll sit down with them, show them what I do, and show them all my tips and tricks.

Melissa Monjaraz -
I've got scripts as well to help people that are don't know what to say on camera. And so I would say that I was there at one point a year and a half ago. You never really saw me on video.

Chris Medellin -
That's right around the time that I saw you. You just came out of nowhere and slapped me in the face with good content. It was good.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Yeah. But prior to, say, June of 2021, I'd never been on video. And so at that point, I hired my social media gal, Molly Zorn, who is frickin amazing. And then I hired a videographer at the same time. Gotcha. And so the video blogger for that's what really got me out of my comfort zone. As soon as I started doing the video, I was like, Wow, this is crazy.

Melissa Monjaraz -
I never knew that I can even do video. I was like I said, I was super shy. I was that person that was like, No, you will never get me on video. But once I started doing it, you start getting comfortable. And it's interesting because not only do you get comfortable on video, but it almost gives you this confidence that I've never had before.

Melissa Monjaraz -
I love that. Yeah, it's almost like it's a breakthrough that you have in so video. It amazing the possibilities that it has. Right. And it can change your life. Honestly, I feel like it's changed my life and my career in my it's changed me as a human being. I feel that I have this breakthrough where I'm able to now be who I was meant to be.

Chris Medellin -
I love.

Melissa Monjaraz -
That. It's almost like I've realized what my purpose is. Yeah, right. And it's I'm able to now educate people off camera in on the camera and I can take this nationwide as I can really show people what they're capable of doing.

Chris Medellin -
You kind of do big things. I mean, I see it. It's why I asked you to come because I want this to be a bit of a time capsule to be able to say I was able to get her. Now you have to pay to get her in the room with you because it's you're going to blow up.

Chris Medellin -
And I see it. And I mean, I'm proud of you. I'm just happy to be in the room with you because you've done some amazing things and your social media is on fire. Tell me a little bit about your process. So I may look at our time. Yeah, we're good on time, the process that you go through so a lot of people think, you know, I got to get cameras, I got to get microphones, I got to do all these things.

Chris Medellin -
But at some point, you had to start somewhere. What was that journey like for you and what advice would you give somebody who's like, I just want to jump in and hit record, but I don't know where to start. What advice do you give them?

Melissa Monjaraz -
Right. So I'll be honest. As I said, I mean, I did start out with a social media gal and then who's still my social media girl, but I started out with the videographer and that's what helped me get out of my comfort zone because what happened was I put it on the calendar and I based I bought their program, right.

Melissa Monjaraz -
It was on the calendar. Everyone, my video organizer would come to my every single Tuesday to my office. You'd show up with this camera, with the lighting, and I had no choice.

Chris Medellin -
You had no choice. It's like time to do content.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Yeah. So it's like the night before I'm up till midnight. You're writing.

Chris Medellin -
Scripts.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Right.

Melissa Monjaraz -
That. Yes, watching YouTube videos, and trying to get ideas. Yes. So, you know, I'd show up the next day and I do like two or three videos. Yeah, right. I try to memorize and figure out what the heck I was going to say, But I, I think that's key is we are loan officers, right? We're not videographers.

Melissa Monjaraz -
We're not content creators. We do loans and we don't have the time to come up with the ideas or the scripts or we don't maybe you don't have the money to buy the equipment. Right. And so by hiring the videographer and my social media girl, they just show up. And then I show up, I do the videos and I basically.

Chris Medellin -
Well, that's interesting.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Thing. I what I got to do.

Chris Medellin -
Well, that's not to interrupt you, but that's really interesting that you say it, that way, because I've never heard anybody and this is why I like how practical you are. But it's like hiring people to drop an insane amount of money to go hire a personal trainer, right? Yet they won't go pay for a videographer or I mean, it's the funniest thing.

Chris Medellin -
So I have a videographer. He's right on the other side of, this camera. And when I hired him, it was like, now I'm forced. Like I was doing like maybe one or two a week right now, Like now I got to pump it out. Right? And even then I'm thinking I'm leaving business on the table from not doing enough of it.

Chris Medellin -
And that forced me to use them and to utilize them because I couldn't live with myself. He was just sitting around doing nothing. So that's one. Then number two is you can get the videographer, but then somebody has to edit that, right? And that's you and I both know that we are not editors. And so people get mad because they're like, Well, you said you would video me.

Chris Medellin -
Yeah, but you got to get an editor. You got to spend money, right? And most people would be more willing to go pay for a Zillow lead or a personal trainer than to pay for marketing their own business. And it's crazy to me. So for you, you hired a social media coach, and what did that social media coach do for you?

Chris Medellin -
Did they help you with scripting? Did they help you with, you know, angling and lighting? What did they do? What was their position and their role to help you get going?

Melissa Monjaraz -
So it's she's like a social media manager, so she handles my social media, okay. She does all the content calendars she posts. She helps me with the captions and she shows up in my office and then we do reals, basically gotcha. Do together. Okay. So she shows up, she comes up with ideas, I give her ideas, and then basically she just tells me, okay, this is what I think we should do.

Melissa Monjaraz -
You give me some ideas and then we just start shooting. But she edits thrills.

Chris Medellin -
That's good because that's the hardest piece, right? So the mechanic piece is hard and like, I mean, after a while it's not that hard, but you got to do what you got to do a job. You have you have customers. You got to help, right? So like, this is a piece that you need to farm out and delegate to somebody.

Chris Medellin -
But so because one of the things that I noticed about you is you have very good content that's geared towards the millennial person. It wants to buy an educational video, but then you have this is where your fire is. Then I get to see your cool outfits. You always have. You're always rocking a cool belt. I think I told you that the other day and you have.

Chris Medellin -
But these are part of your brand. You're like, I'm going to show. But then you do these, like dancing and you're like, You're not afraid to get uncomfortable. Whereas I think everybody is terrified of that. So is that where the social media manager comes in? She says, like, we're going to do some fun stuff and you're going to get a little uncomfortable and now you're like, adding to that, or how does that work?

Melissa Monjaraz -
Yeah, I think so. My social media girl, if you guys never met Molly, you got to meet Molly. But Molly is super funny. She should have been like an actor or a director, an actress or a director.

Chris Medellin -
Honestly, where do we find our at Molly At?

Melissa Monjaraz -
Okay, Molly underscore is on. Okay. Yeah, I can get you the information.

Melissa Monjaraz -
It's on Instagram and she's freakin amazing. Awesome. Love her, but she makes me look good. But I would say that you know, I told Molly one day because I just. I want everything to be fun, right? Like, absolutely. Yes. We're doing business together. And yes, I'm, you know, looking to partner with realtors. But at the same time, like, I just want it to be fun.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Right? And so when, you know, when I was little, my dad used to, but my dad had one of those huge video cameras back in the day. Right now, they're small, but he had a huge video.

Chris Medellin -
They just took the whole videotape in there. Yeah, those are money, because then I have to convert anything. Yeah, Yeah, those are money.

Melissa Monjaraz -
So it's funny because he invested in that.

Chris Medellin -
Those are like $1,000. Yeah, they were not cheap. Yeah, they were. Yeah.

Melissa Monjaraz -
So to this day, we have, I don't even know, 50 videos of when we were little.

Chris Medellin -
Yeah. Doing music and we could do the music videos.

Melissa Monjaraz -
All the time. Yeah. I have tons of music videos.

Chris Medellin -
You should pull the strings. Yes. Yes.

Melissa Monjaraz -
So yeah, but I have a lot of videos. My dad used to put the video or the camera on a stand and he just leave it there all day and we'd play music videos in the background. You could actually see them on the huge TV and we'd just dance in front of it. And I was always kind of like the shy one.

Melissa Monjaraz -
My sister was all outgoing and I always wanted to be like her. My cousins were super good on camera and I was just the boring, shy one. Yeah, but I told more, and then I got into dancing. I was a hip-hop dancer.

Chris Medellin -
You, I guess there I was like, she worked. You posted one today. I think it was today or yesterday. And I was, dude, like, this is good. Like, you got like because I watched like three times and I was like, this is like, not just normal. This is good. The timing was good. Everything was good. I was like, This, she's legit, but that you have a background in it that's pretty bad.

Melissa Monjaraz -
An actress in a dance group. We're called Positive Vibe. We went to like Italy and.

Chris Medellin -
Are you?

Melissa Monjaraz -
Serious? Performed all over.

Chris Medellin -
This is at the time of like.

Melissa Monjaraz -
I was like 18.

Chris Medellin -
19 in Living Color, like the back of that, that was like the culmination. Jennifer Lopez is on there. That was like everybody wanted that group. Yeah, I know.

Melissa Monjaraz -
I should have said that before. I wanted to become an accountant. My dream was to go to L.A. and become a backup dancer. Just like in Living Color. I'm like, I want to be like Britney Spears or J.Lo. Like, I want to be a backup dancer. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

Chris Medellin -
But you get a chance to do that, right? And this is it. The cool thing about social media and for people who are in more in our business, even though we're helping people and it's fun to get people in the homes, it is boring there's nothing sexy about mortgages, right? It's the manufacturing process. It's an accountant-type position.

Chris Medellin -
However, when you can do marketing and you can get creative, you exercise a side of the brain that you never get to use. And it's made this business fun again for me, like being able to do a podcast like, you know, ten years ago was like a deal podcast, right? Yeah. Like, why would I do that? But this is fun because I'm so enamored by your story and like, your aura and like, how you present information because, you know, like, there would never be a reason for us to, like, sit down for lunch and be interrupted 50 times to be able to get the story.

Chris Medellin -
And now we have a platform. But now, like your clients and potential clients can hear who you are. And there's something to be said about that. You're a really amazing, remarkable person. And like, you're exactly what this show is about. It's about, you know, your story. And so thank you. Like, I can't thank you enough for doing this.

Chris Medellin -
So you're about to launch a podcast. I am so do you have a date yet? Do you? I mean, like, I got it. I want to be on it. Please, like, let me get on it. That would be so fun. But yeah, tell me a little bit about the podcast. What got you to want to do that?

Melissa Monjaraz -
Yeah, So I did a podcast that my videographers studio, okay, And I interviewed Shannon Gillette and in interviewing her, I learned a lot about her. It was maybe about 45 minutes and I learned basically how she grew up, what motivates her, why she works hard, and how she's become so successful. And the same thing as we're doing now. Yeah, right.

Melissa Monjaraz -
You can learn a lot about someone, cause sometimes you realize if you go to lunch or coffee, it's not the same. It doesn't. It's not like you're interviewing them and asking them 20 questions, but you can really get to know someone and you can learn a lot. Absolutely right. You can learn a lot about how to, you know, grow your business as well as other people's.

Melissa Monjaraz -
And so not only that but then I thought, wow, now I can put this on social media and now I'm teaching others about how to be successful. Right? She's a real estate agent, a very successful real estate agent in Queen Creek, Arizona. And so now other people now I get to help grow her business as well. And so I thought, Oh my God, I need to start a podcast.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Yes. So that I can bring on others and learn from them and also help them grow their business without it. So I decided I'm going to start doing it.

Chris Medellin -
I can't wait. I can't wait to see you.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Launch it that day. But okay, say probably about mid-February.

Chris Medellin -
Know how to be so cool. I mean, the fact that you're doing it, I think that there's a need for it in the industry. I think the industry needs a powerful Latina voice that's, you know, confident about what they're doing. And you culminate you're like all of that. So, I can't thank you enough for taking the time because I know.

Chris Medellin -
You're busy. I mean, you got a bunch of business and to drop everything to be here today meant so much to me. And I hope that you know, we can continue to collaborate one way or another because this is I like you. I think you've been really, you know, awesome to hear your story. It resonates because, like you, I have a lot of similarities to that.

Chris Medellin -
And I know if I do that, there are hundreds and thousands of people that need to hear to know, no matter what your upbringing is, no matter what you, you found yourself at 16 in Mexico and here you are in Chandler, Arizona, crushing it. And, you know, it's a journey. And so anybody, you know, has an opportunity to do it, you just got to have that confidence.

Chris Medellin -
And lucky you, you found Tony Robbins to give you that push to get, you know, to break through to the next level. So thank you for being here.

Melissa Monjaraz -
No, thank you.

Chris Medellin -
And if you're not following Melissa, it's at Melissa Monjaraz at Home Loans with Melissa. So at home loans with Melissa, follow her on Instagram. She has amazing content and I think she's at like 9000 followers at this point. So help her get to 10,000. And thank you for being here today. I'm so happy about this.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Thank you for having me and allowing me to tell my story. Yes. Awesome. I've never done that.

Chris Medellin -
So it's going to be so much and I can't wait to hear you do it over and over and over again. So it's going to be a fun journey.

Melissa Monjaraz -
Thank you.