Lessons from a Quitter

Today, we get to talk to Steve Trang about how he made the (rather quick) jump from electrical engineer to real estate agent and how he’s grown in that role ever since.

Steve started out his career earning a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering and working as an engineer for Intel for 3.5 years. In 2007, Steve quit his engineering career to become a real estate agent.

Since then, Steve has gone on to create Stunning Home Realty, a real estate brokerage in Phoenix, Arizona that he has grown to 60 licensed agents, selling over 100 houses a year and creating some of the top producing teams in the valley. He’s also gone on to start his own Title company and develop a real estate app. Steve is not only committed to building his successful real estate empire but he also believes in helping others build their dreams too. He recently started a podcast called Real Estate Disruptors, where he interviews other real estate experts on how they’re disrupting their markets.

Here is what we chat about in this episode:

• How getting his Masters degree in Electrical Engineering is really taking the easy route because “someone else lays out the plan and you just follow it”
• How he always knew that he would eventually leave his engineering job but why it happened so much faster than he expected.  
• How his irrational confidence allowed him to meet a real estate broker and, within 2 ½ weeks of that meeting, get his real estate license and quit his engineering job.
• • “Real confidence is knowing you’ll figure it out” - Brandon Burchard
• How the fall of the real estate market in 2007 almost sent him back to his engineering job and how he continued to push through.
• How he uses self-help to continue to grow his business.
• How he went from being a real estate agent to owning his own brokerage, title company, real estate app and podcast.

Resources Mentioned in the Podcast

• Tony Hsieh, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose.
• Micheal E. Gerber, The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It.
• Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income
• Darren Hardy’s Darren Daily

Where to find Steve

• Realestatedispruptors.com
• Stevetrang.com

We got to sit down with Kaveh Mostafavi, the founder and CEO of EcoCare Supply, a wholesale distribution firm focused on sustainable products and systems. EcoCare is one of the nation's fastest growing supply companies and helps customers increase their bottom line while reducing environmental impact. However, before starting Ecocare, Kaveh started out his career as an attorney in Arizona specializing in bankruptcy law. In addition to his law practice, Kaveh opened two Pancheros restaurants in Arizona as a franchisee. His experience as a restauranteur, specifically witnessing the amount of waste in his restaurants, led him to create EcoCare. In a couple of short years, Kaveh has grown EcoCare into a 7-figure company.

Here is what we chat about in this episode:

• Why Kaveh chose to become a lawyer and how he ended up working as a bankruptcy lawyer.
• How he opened up his own practice as well as two Pancheros restaurants.
• What his experience as a franchisee taught him.
• Why he sold his law practice and his franchise restaurant to go work for a supply company
• How he pushed past people thinking he was crazy for quitting law to start a company he didn't know anything about.
• How he ended up working for both a murderer and a fraud and why that made him want to be his own boss.
• How he got his idea for EcoCare Supply and how he started it.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey.

Where to find Kaveh:

• Ecocaresupply.com
• Thecompostninja.com
• [email protected]

We got to sit down with Kaveh Mostafavi, the founder and CEO of EcoCare Supply, a wholesale distribution firm focused on sustainable products and systems. EcoCare is one of the nation’s fastest growing supply companies and helps customers increase their bottom line while reducing environmental impact. However, before starting Ecocare, Kaveh started out his career as an attorney in Arizona specializing in bankruptcy law. In addition to his law practice, Kaveh opened two Pancheros restaurants in Arizona as a franchisee. His experience as a restauranteur, specifically witnessing the amount of waste in his restaurants, led him to create EcoCare. In a couple of short years, Kaveh has grown EcoCare into a 7-figure company.

Here is what we chat about in this episode:

• Why Kaveh chose to become a lawyer and how he ended up working as a bankruptcy lawyer.
• How he opened up his own practice as well as two Pancheros restaurants.
• What his experience as a franchisee taught him.
• Why he sold his law practice and his franchise restaurant to go work for a supply company
• How he pushed past people thinking he was crazy for quitting law to start a company he didn’t know anything about.
• How he ended up working for both a murderer and a fraud and why that made him want to be his own boss.
• How he got his idea for EcoCare Supply and how he started it.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey.

Where to find Kaveh:  

• Ecocaresupply.com
• Thecompostninja.com
• [email protected]

Hi there!! Welcome to the first ever episode of Lessons from a Quitter. I'm so excited (and equally terrified) to put this out there. I hope you enjoy the show and stick around for all the exciting things to come. I wanted to start the show off by giving you a little more information about me and why I wanted to start this podcast. (If you want to skip this episode, you can read more about my journey on the about page)

This episode goes more in depth about why I went to law school and, more importantly, why I chose to quit law. It also talks about that journey, the business I created, and what I hope to get out of Lessons from a Quitter.

I hope that you will find whatever you need from this show-- inspiration, resources, tools, or connections to get you started on your new path. I know it is cliche to say but life is too short. If you hate what you're doing, it's time to quit.

I realize this show isn't for everyone and that's ok. But if you think it might help you, I'd love for you to join me. I promise to work on my rambling, saying "like", and interviewing skills, if you promise to let me know what you want to hear.

If you want to follow along and support the show, here are 3 immediate things you can do:

1. Subscribe to the podcast where ever you listen
2. Follow along on instagram or facebook @lessonsfromaquitter
3. Join our email list

Can't wait to get started!