#TheGrind

Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a KU NV studios original program. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education. Good morning

Eric James 0:15
and welcome to the grind. I'm your host extraordinaire. Mr. Eric James, what is the grind, simply put, the grind is a half hour conversation that speaks to local business entrepreneurs and explores their take on where our local economy is heading, and asks them to tell us their own story of the sacrifices and work ethic that it takes to have a successful business. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to hashtag the grind as the intro says, I am your host extraordinaire, Mr. Eric James, and once again, we're going to bring the heat this weekend. And I hope your Sunday morning is off to a good start, and I hope we can heat it up a little bit more, get past some of this cool weather and get ready for this summer heat. It's coming, y'all. So y'all better be ready, because you know how it is here in Las Vegas, hot, hot, hot. But I have three hot guests on on the show today. I have a Mr. Jerry Glover, a miss Vicky Greco, and I have a CJ Salazar. All entrepreneurs, hustlers, grinders in their own individual business field. And we're gonna get to know a little bit about them today, and tell them their story, and find out how they get their grind on, how they've continued their grind, and how they see AI and other things changing their grind in the future. We're going to start off on to my right. I have Miss vicko, and we're going to let her tell you a little bit about her story, but I do want to drop some clues and hints to you, folks, this young lady has an incredible story. Now we're not going to get to it all today, but we are going to tap into a couple of the things that makes her and her business grind unique. Now, she gave me her bio because I asked, as I said, on every show, I asked each person for an individual bio. One is to get to know folks a little bit better, but also so you get to know them on a more personal basis. And because she's given me these things on her bio, I feel comfortable to talk about them, because I assume she wouldn't have given them to me if I couldn't talk about them. But if she tells me to hush up and not be all in her business and putting her tea out to the public, then we gonna pull back on that too. But what I can't tell you about this young lady is that she started off in advertising business. Her both of her she has, she's had some family tragedy in her life, and which caused her to spend some time in a foster care home. So what the show, as I said, is about, is people finding the ground. How do you overcome obstacles in your life to be successful in your career field. And her story is about as interesting as anyone's story, so I'd like to get into it first. Then I rotate to My other guest, but Vicki, tell us a little bit something about yourself, and then I can chime in with a few questions for you. Well,

Vicki Greco 2:56
currently, I run a business consulting firm. In the past, I've practiced as a lawyer, I've been to jail, I've lived in foster care, I've lost half of my family in a car accident. I was 450 pounds. I was told I would never walk again. And through all of that, the G has always been with me, and that's why my company is now called Silent G.

Eric James 3:18
I like that when they drop a little bit of spiritual in there, but on the low key. So you know, we don't go over the top, but just enough to give you that faith. And I know that's what's kept her going through the different challenges that she's faced. But one of the things I like to say, if it was easy, everybody would do it. And every 183 you know that if it was easy, everybody would do what we do or what you do, and it's it's hard to overcome the obstacles. So Vicki, tell me, how did you overcome some of these obstacles? Because life has put some challenges in front of you, and like a hurdler, you keep hurdling over them to the next challenge.

Vicki Greco 3:54
Back then, when they were happening, I didn't know that I was resilient. I just kept going, grinding, grinding, grinding. Eventually, one day, I realized there was such a thing as called grounding. And once I started grounding, everything changed for me and shifted. But I'm an overcomer, because sometimes our souls come back for the hardest things so that we can be something to hold space for people in the world. And so for me, I always knew, but I didn't know when I was going through it, even the times I tried to kill myself, I didn't know. But now, when I look back, I'm grateful for all of those things that happened and that I'm still here to have that story, because

Eric James 4:32
life will always test you. I mean, I can speak only for myself. Some of you may know I don't think I've mentioned it on this particular the shows, but my own father took a shotgun to his head when I was 23 years old, and my mother died three years later of a heart attack. So going through my 20s was a tough period of time. So I think I can in some sense relate to some of the obstacles that's been put in front of you, but I've always said everyone has a story and everyone has a. Ask is, today, what can you do today? What can you do tomorrow and the day after that, to improve your lot in life, make things better for yourself and to keep moving forward. So for you, Vicki, haven't been through that now, like myself, you've never been married. And if my understanding is, Mr. Glover, you've never been married either. Is that correct? Sir,

Vicki Greco 5:18
no, sir, that

Eric James 5:22
does leaves you on the table for that. When we get to the marriage part of the conversation, I'm gonna I'm gonna default to you, because you don't want to get the credentials on that. But Vicki just knowing that having to face some of these things by yourself and knowing to move forward, it'd be easy for you to get distracted or get off track or take the nine to five. What was it that said for you? No, I need to be in this for myself. Fun, fact,

Vicki Greco 5:47
after I lost my law license and went to jail, I came out, and it was about six years ago, and I started working at a law firm because nobody wanted to hire me, and I was working for 20 bucks an hour, and I was also driving Uber to which I got fired, but that's another story for another day, and I worked for somebody else for the first time ever in my life. And I just don't do well taking orders, and I don't do well giving them, but I've always wanted to be sovereign. Sovereign in spirituality and sovereignty in business is very important to understand who and what you are and what you're giving your power to. So I worked that job for a year, and yesterday was the anniversary of the day that I walked out. Yeah, five, five. How many years that was? Four years ago now. I had already started my side hustle at the time, which was silent G but I think as things move out of your way, or these tests that you call them, or these trials happen, that's where you learn where your resilience is, and if you're going to actually be a sole a business owner or resilient in your own life. But for me, a nine to five, it just couldn't work because it had too many constraints on me. And I'm a very free will person. I can

Eric James 6:55
relate to that. Having been in the military, I've always said I can take orders and I can give orders depending on where I rank and things, but I've always found I'm much better at giving orders, and I never did well working for other people, because I always thought I was smarter than the person I was working for. And that don't always work out. When you tell your boss his ideas don't make sense to you, and he's like, why are you working for me? Then? So one day, the light went off and was like, Yeah, I need to be working for myself and never look back. All right, Mr. Glover, we're gonna go from right to left, so we haven't forgotten about you. CJ, we don't get to you. So no worries. We got to get that energy and spirit that you bring to the table every day. But Mr. Glover, I know you know something about being a champ, State Basketball champ. You know, talk to me the hoops he's wait. But folks, you got to understand he's done walked into this studio with a Golden Knights jersey, rocking hockey. Now, I don't know if the man has ever picked up a stick in his life to be out there on them, on them skates and but he is a state basketball champion, college hoop star. He's about five. I mean, 636363, kids. Okay, six, four. Shoes got an arm span. Hey, he could be hooping right now, but he's here to talk to us today. Tell us a little bit about yourself, sir, and when and Vicki, don't worry, we're going to let folks know where they can find you here also in a minute. But tell us so hooks. A little bit about you and your journeys to going to school abroad in England and master's degree in Spanish and so on. Well,

Jerry Glover 8:25
first things, first, thanks for connecting us with such great people. Eric, I think that's the coolest thing you've done, and I'm glad for it. Secondly, basketball has opened up everything for me. To be honest, I was able to get a full scholarship to play basketball Central Michigan. And then from there, I went to grad school, University of Miami, then London, and then also studied in Mexico, which I'm also fluent in Spanish, because I lived in Mexico for two years. So yeah, basketball has opened everything up for me. And then also in the business world,

Eric James 8:55
my favorite line is muy Paquito Espanol, muy mall. I let them know real early. I know enough, because if you're talking about me in Spanish, I know you're talking about me, but I might not catch every word, but to be fluent in Spanish, obviously, our population here in Las Vegas is a large part Latino, Latino population. And I'd say, What about I think the statistically, we're about 40% or close to 40% being Spanish or Latino heritage. So having that as a business person is a phenomenal advantage over your average individual that doesn't or can't communicate with multiple languages. I don't know if CJ speaks to Gala, but given her background and heritage, we'll see if later on, if she's uh, has multiple dialects under her belt. Now, do you speak any other languages? Sir, no, no, just Spanish, English and Spanish to start off with, the big ones going down. You did say you lived in London and went to school in London. Tell me about that experience. Well,

Jerry Glover 9:55
I didn't. I didn't go to school in London. I did like an internship. Okay, so. Hmm, it was really cool. I actually worked for an American sports agent over there who was from the Bay Area, and he represented American basketball players who played abroad. So we met on the internet, and I needed that for part of my master's degree at University of Miami. And then he realized he's like, Dude, you can actually play you're pretty good in college. Of like, yeah, I was 25 years 24 years old. So when I went over there, actually played. So I played in like, a semi second division League, which was pretty good had, you know, some top level college American basketball players and the top English guys there. And then stayed there for a short period of time and got homesick, and I was just like, You know what? I'd rather live in Mexico than London. So, yeah, I ended up coming back a little bit earlier, but it was, it was a great experience of any soccer skills down there. No, not even close. I watched too much soccer. That's one thing, or whatever they call it. Yeah, I that was the first time I was really homesick, because it was a real difference in the way we they live there in the United States, for sure. Okay,

Eric James 11:00
so I've been to London a few times. Picked up my favorite saying is, you're doing me head in. They say that a lot like you're driving me crazy. I always found that to be or half 12. But how does one get from an aspiring basketball career Spanish degree to the mortgage business?

Jerry Glover 11:18
Wow, that's a great question. When I came back from England, unexpectedly, I went back to Oklahoma, and I was living with my mom, and I was like, This is not what I want to be doing. I had no money, and I still had my bachelor's degree in Spanish, and I just remember one day I was like, I wanted to get back to South Florida, but I was like, you know, I need some money, so I just went into a newspaper, saw an ad for entry level Spanish, speaking, you know, mortgage whatever, people and answered it, and that's how I got started. So

Eric James 11:47
when they walked in the room, they was like, Are you Puerto Rican? Are you Dominican? Or are they trying to figure out if speaking Spanish, you walk in the room, speaking Spanish, they trying to figure out

Jerry Glover 11:56
who you are. Well, listen, you gotta remember, this is Oklahoma, so look at me, like this guy's lying. So they actually put me on the spot, and had, you know someone who spoke Spanish fluently call me on speaker, and I had to talk to him on speaker and this and that. And I was just like, please don't screw this up. But I did pretty well and got the job, and here I am.

Eric James 12:17
Obviously you must have done well enough you made it this far in the journey. So we're gonna keep that going. All right, we're gonna switch gears to our third guest. We're gonna come back to everybody because we still got plenty of time in the show, but the clock does move quickly. But Miss CJ Salazar with the abbreviated first two, two initials there. Tell us a little something about yourself and your real estate hustle. Well,

CJ Salazar 12:39
I think one thing to really know about me is I'm a very proud grandmother of a 14 month old girl who is going on 14.

Eric James 12:49
For you folks out there, she does not look like she's a grandmother, so I do know Her granddaughter's name, and she touts her up and she she's she, but she does not look like grandmother. Folks. Well, thanks

CJ Salazar 13:01
for that, Eric. You know, it's one of my biggest thing is just being a mom and being a single mom of three amazing children, you know, like what Vicky had said. I think resilience come from the things that get thrown in your life, not so much with you know, like reacting to it is one thing for me, but knowing that my kids, however old they are, they're my reason for what I'm doing, the biggest thing I always tell myself is, how can I be a good example, at least, especially to my two daughters? You know, real estate I've been doing for about 10 years now. I came from a background of HOA high rise management. You know, from that, it's kind of same thing, like Vicki had mentioned as well, is I was one person that I cannot have a cap in my head. I need to be able to know how far can I go, depending on how you know how fast I can move there. But I just, I can't be one person that can be told, okay, this is the most you're gonna do. This is the most you're going to make, and that's it. So I like to hustle. That's my biggest thing. And just, you know, spending a lot of times with my family now,

Eric James 14:07
I know you have a military background in your family, having served in the military, I must give this the necessary shout out. Tell everyone your family thank you for their service. Thank you. But having proud military outside of your granddaughter, Willow, how did the young men serving in the military? Did you instill that kind of mentality in them, or did the military help bring some of that out in them? And you complimented that with who you are?

CJ Salazar 14:34
I think the latter will be what I would say applied to that. When it comes to my son, which is my youngest one, it wasn't so much that that was essentially the option for him. He chose that he was, you know, after high school, he had, you know, took taking a break before college, and was doing some little work here and there with his dad. And it came to a point, one morning, he just called me up and said, Mom, I'm done doing. This. I want something better for my life. And when we had that conversation, I'd ask him one simple question, okay, are you really ready? And when he said he was, you know, I told him, Okay, one thing is, I'll help you get there. But you know how it is living with me, I have one rule, which is, you do everything that you're supposed to do. I'll be out there helping you whatever it takes. And he did all that. And right now he's, he's such an amazing young man, because seeing him from what he was as this teenager who thinks he knows everything to just the very amazing young man has become the way he talks, the way he treats people. I mean, when you say chivalry is dead, I don't see it with him. You know. It's just it's taught him a lot of great things, and a lot of it too stemmed with the guidance from his uncles. All my brothers are in the military, so having that really kind of catapult him to where he's at.

Eric James 15:53
That's that whole it takes a village, mentality and mindset and so that. So I'm gonna drop a little bit more of my stuff in there, since you were talking about the mill. Talking about the military, I am in the process opening up my own home inspection company called Veterans First Gen home inspections. So I'm gonna tap into CJ later on and remind her of all that military connection that we have together. All right. But where can folks find you? What company are you with right now? Who are we rocking with? Thank

CJ Salazar 16:21
you for that. I'm with Berkshire Hathaway at the moment, actually, for about going on five years now, and I love it. You know, they can go into either 702-738-6911, or just go and log into Berkshire hathaway.com now

Eric James 16:34
repeat that, because folks, you know, they got a pen they don't want she said, What? That was, six, two, and then they met because you didn't say it twice, so sorry, tell them one more time. That's 702-738-6911. Jerry, where can folks find you at 702-883-8933?

Vicki Greco 16:53
And I mortgage loan officer at Alameda mortgage company,

Eric James 16:56
give him that phone number. One more time. 702-883-8933,

Vicki Greco 17:02
a. Alameda mortgage company Jerry Glover

Eric James 17:04
is Vicki. Where are people finding you? At silent

Vicki Greco 17:07
G consulting.com, what we do is we do business structure and setup for nonprofits, LLCs, corporations, business, licensing, gaming, licensing, liquor, licensing, anything you could imagine that you need for business that is structure and compliance. We take it from a different perspective, without the fear, and we just make sure that you're protected if and when that ever comes to fruition. I also am with the Franke Foundation, 511, 88 that's my nonprofit that helps children who have lost loved ones. So if anybody you know is grieving and trying to get out of the stages of grief, we teach conscious parenting for that level. And that's silent G consulting.com 702-587-5652,

Eric James 17:47
all right, Vicki, tell me a little bit about Sophie, because I know, see, she lit up soon as I said that she lit up. It's just the same way CJ did when she started talking about her kids and the loved ones and her, God, her granddaughter. Tell me a little bit about Sophie. That's, that's, I know that's your, your weak spot. There,

Vicki Greco 18:02
your soft spot. I wouldn't call it a weak spot. I would call it

Eric James 18:06
when she's got you wrapped around her finger. I bet it's no

Vicki Greco 18:10
I practice non attachment pretty well. But she's my joy. She's a she's going to be eight in June. She came from terrible background. Her parents both lost her at childbirth for different reasons, both horrifying reasons, and she was adopted by her grandmother, who When Sophie was too wound up with stage four pancreatic cancer and wound up passing away and during all of this time, this is part of my family, and I don't know if anybody's ever heard of inner child work, but part of the reason that I am here today is Because I woke up when I saw what was happening to her and was called to action to help guide her. And so she's eight years old, and she spends the summers with me and living with her non paternal grandfather, but if and when something does happen to him, I'm her legal guardian, so I'm like a mother without being a mother. So even though I had that vow never to get married and never to have kids, God found a way to give way to give me some anyway, God

Eric James 19:04
gives your life. Gives you what it needs you to have, not always what you think you want, but what you need to have. So now we're going to do a little intro pause here for just a second. I have a young lady here in the studio with me today. She just graduated from UNR she's out rocking the world. Her father was actually a guest on the show a couple months back, and she's interested in the communication, entertainment and what I have to remember the other parts, but I know news and media outlet, so she's asked to come on and check out what we do here. And so I don't want to call it an internship, but we'll call it a intern adjacent, and I'm gonna let her introduce herself. Some of you might know her now I know I'm gonna get this younger demographics, because she's gonna tell all her friends and hit her social media up and let them know that she was going to be on this show. So our number's gonna blow up, because now I'm gonna be hot with the young, younger kids, but I'm gonna let this young lady introduce herself real quick. Say a little something about herself, and then if there's folks out there that can help her out on her journey, that's what this is about, maybe they can reach out and maybe give her a little handout or help up on her way. So introduce yourself, young lady real quick, and tell them a little something about you real

Lauren Buchanan 20:16
fast. Hello. My name is Lauren Buchanan. I currently, just recently graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno. I have a degree in journalism, and what I want to do with that degree is to create a podcast around self love. I've already created the podcast. It is called Learn to love you, and I'm just on the journey to helping people find inner peace, healing the relationship with themselves. I realized that there are a lot of people who are suffering in this world, and I really want to bring peace to those people and help them to find a way out of that suffering that they kind of perpetuate on about themselves. And I just realized that there's such a need to be or a need for the content that I'm creating to be put out into the world, and I know that a lot of people out there need to hear what I have to say, and I'm just on a mission every single week to create more content for it. I'm very passionate about what I'm doing and the words that I'm saying, and I just hope that whoever needs to find it will find it. So it is called Learn to love you if you would like to follow it on Spotify. It's already there. It's on YouTube, but I just found so much passion when it comes to it, and passion when it comes to just being behind the microphone, creating being in the studio, it just lights me up. And I hope that everyone finds something that lights them up as well. But thank you.

Eric James 21:35
So now you know somebody's meant to be on radio and TV broadcast, because I said, tell them a little something about yourself. She went on for 15 minutes and just took my whole show over the microphone. I thought she was pushing me out of my chair for a second, but she just bumped into me. She was like, move over. Oh man, let's get this we got so no, she has no time. She's a beautiful young lady, and her father is a standing businessman here in town, and again, he was Travis Bucha. He was on a show a little while back, but I wanted her get a shout out. I'm hoping over the summer we can with my entertainment company. We'll be we're scheduled to shoot a commercial for one of our Realtors. She wants to one of our Realtors is shooting, wants to shoot a commercial, and I hope to bring her on the set and then help her with some of our other entertainment aspects, so she can see, really, where she fits in and what her drive and motivation is, so she can be successful. So I just want to say thank you for coming in today. All right, back to our guests. We've got about eight, nine minutes left in the show. It goes by fast, so we're going to go back to Atlanta, and because we got Atlanta house, Mr. Glover is from the ATL, and we want to talk to him about his master's in international administration and a little bit more about him while we have some time left on the clock. And then we're going to go back to miss Salazar, and she's going to explain to me what's the difference between being a parent a grandparent, and which one did you whoop more? All right, Jerry, so tell me about Atlanta. I got, I got some people in Atlanta myself.

Vicki Greco 23:07
Now, hold on a second. I can't claim Atlanta too much. Now, I was born there and then moved to Oklahoma when I was six. Okay, so I was, I gotta claim Oklahoma.

Eric James 23:20
The thunder looking good exactly, even though they took a little bit of a stumble the other night, last night, but they looking good Exactly.

Vicki Greco 23:29
No so to talk about, you know, my masters, essentially, when I got into the program, it was to get into the FBI. So it was based on, you know, having the, I guess, knowledge of public policy, and I wanted to do that, and then I was like, you know, what I want to do? What I want to do in life, and become like a sports agent, and that's what led me to London and playing basketball for $1,000 a month and all this other stuff. So, but it was a great experience to be in Miami and go to the University of Miami, because it was a dream school of mine. You know, I went to Central Michigan because I got a scholarship there. But University of Miami was like a dream school, and I met really good people there, and also had the experience of living in Miami and always go back. I think that's that's more

Eric James 24:14
everything. He almost said that, like on a down low, like living and move, don't let none of those skeletons come out here, make their way from the beach to Las Vegas and get you caught up next you know you over there with P Diddy and some other people. We all what happens in Miami. Stays in Miami. Miss Salazar, what is it like to be a grandmother and how you said a little something about your your your son and how he helps motivate you. But overall, I mean, I get the sense that you're very much family oriented. It feels like it's part of who you are and how it you bring that. How do you bring that to your customers or clients? Do you make them feel like family? Do they do are they able to embody some. Of who you are as a person and how you interact with them on a business side, you

CJ Salazar 25:04
know, great question. The answer to that is, yes, I always do. I think being a residential realtor a big difference when you're representing more commercial than it is residential. One thing I always tell myself is, when it comes to people purchasing their home, I have to remember that that's the single biggest ticket item that they purchase in their lives, you know, so to me, having to at least be that guide, be that one person that lets them know. Okay, are they making the right decision? Do we go with point A or point B? As far as making them a part of my family, I always make that a point only because that's one way that I, you know, function in my business, is I always concentrate on retention of, you know, clients, and doing that is getting to know a lot of them. I always make it a point. I know the birth dates. I know the anniversaries, if they're married, their children, pets, for all matter. So, yes, I always try to involve family orientation with what I do. So

Eric James 26:02
have you always done that? Or is that something you developed over time as a technique or platform to brand or base your business off? Of

CJ Salazar 26:11
great question that one is, I developed that a lot of what I've noticed, or at least have known about myself, is I do know how to connect with people. You know, just just empathy goes a long way. Having to understand what what their needs are, what exactly they're looking for, and being that warm person, not so much. Hey, I'll get that for you, but let me be that bridge to help you find that. So, you know, I'm blessed in that aspect of my life, and I'm blessed to be able to have conversation, get communication, and connect with people and stay in their lives. I mean my clients. I can still remember my very first one to today of like my clients now, at least 95% of them I've represented more than twice or three times.

Eric James 26:55
It's always better to be able to work with somebody you've worked with in the past than somebody new. Now we're running out of time here, but I know you were born in San Diego. From San Diego, you moved to mesquite. That's that's a that was a culture shock, even now, given that the time that you did to Las Vegas. So your journey has taken you a long way. And it seems, from my perspective, and I haven't known you as long as some of my guests, but I can see why you're successful and what you do actually each one of you. I can see the story in even with you. Vicki, we glanced over. Didn't you know? Maybe next time you come to show we'll talk about the time, as we say, you went away to see the government. You brought it up to the table. And I mean, there's got to be an interesting story behind that. Jerry, you know your international travels. That's why I'm enjoying doing this show, because I'm meeting and getting to know people more and more, and everybody's background is so diverse, and how they've managed to build a path to success, or, you know, to rise the cream rises to the top, as they say. But all of you, I just always want to give respect to the folks that come on the show and say, Thank you for your hard work, your due diligence, your strive, not giving up. And as I said, if it was easy, everybody would do it, and we're all still standing here so that everybody doesn't include us, only us that rise to the top. So I want to say thank you, and that think that's about all we got. I'm getting the cue from the booth that I need to get off the air here. But again, thank you each and every one of you. I hope to have you all back share a little bit more about your lives, your stories and your business hustles and that hashtag, that grind, that grind, that grind. Thank you everybody. Thanks for listening to the grind again. My name is Eric James. We hope that today's show was two parts, entertaining with a dash of education, feel free to reach out to me at my office at 702-836-0953 and remember to always stay on your grind. You.