Exploring Life & Business with Chris Nguyen

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Nguyen.

Hi Chris, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was born and raised in Dallas, Texas where I spent the first 20 years of my life. Despite having no background, family, friends, or connections in real estate I decided to make the leap, drop out of university, and moved to Los Angeles, California to launch a real estate career.

My journey didn’t really begin until I was around 14/15 years old. I was transitioning from middle school to high school and my parents were going through a divorce. It was a rough time for me which had a long-lasting effect for a long time. I could only remember that it was because of this moment, I knew I wanted to become successful in whatever I did. The thing was I didn’t actually know what success meant. I was never a top student but I wasn’t a C student either. I absolutely hated school and the university I went to was very depressing as I felt there was a lack of community, culture, connection, and passion. Everyone seemed to feel like robots that just follow a very traditional path of going to college, getting a degree, working a normal job, getting married/buying a house, having kids, etc. I realize now that a lot of this has to do with what society tells us, familial and cultural pressures, or other factors in our upbringing which can sometimes be rooted in trauma. I learned early on that I had to figure out this path on my own and that no one was going to pop into my life to change it.

I didn’t come from a wealthy family so it was very hard to have access to other resources out there that those in different tax brackets would normally have. To put it into perspective, my mom is a barber and my dad delivers pizza. This is where I developed a passion for reading because I felt it gave me clues and access to what I believe a successful person does. When I was 18 years old, I read the book How to Win Friends and Influence People. To date, I have read over 600+ books on subjects ranging from personal development/self-help, wealth building, wealth management, wealth transference and preservation, personal finance, sales, marketing, public speaking, persuasion, philanthropy, real estate, macroeconomics, stock market, currencies, commodities, bonds, private equity, venture capital, startups, investment banking, taxes, corporate law, general law, taxation law, real estate law, asset/capital allocation, estate planning, asset protection, risk management, psychology, philosophy, and stories of CEOs, icons, and world leaders including Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Warren Buffett, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Phil Knight, Robert Iger, Michael Dell, Stephen Schwarzman, Elizabeth Holmes, Robert Kiyosaki, Sheryl Sandberg, Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Brene Brown, Simon Sinek, Yuval Noah Harari, Tony Hsieh, Ray Dalio, Henry Kissinger, and Robert Moses.

I also experimented with all kinds of hobbies and went on a long journey of self-discovery to master myself. Prior to real estate I had been a self-taught violinist for 7 years and performed around the streets and convention centers alongside my brother who also played violin. I tried out acting, singing, dancing, martial arts, a YouTube channel that I am a bit embarrassed to admit I did, and I played around with running an e-commerce store focused on selling watches. It was really fun jumping around different industries and learning a lot about what I liked and didn’t like. I left university when I was about 19/20 years old because I so badly wanted a head start in life and I felt that I was learning a lot more from reading books and trying out different hobbies and skills than from sitting in a classroom. I went through multiple jobs in restaurants, cafes, movie theaters, delivery driving, etc. There were a good number of jobs I didn’t last very long in. Some of which I actually got fired in! I saved up all the money I could and put it into the stock market in March of 2020 when COVID was shutting everything down. I managed to do very well and used the profits to buy my current car to drive from Texas to California.

Today, I operate from my headquarters in Beverly Hills and have quickly learned the nuances of the real estate industry. This year I am set to hit a breakthrough in my sales volume. While I am still very early in my life and career, I am currently setting up plans for large-scale projects that will span over the next several years of my life such as a real estate investment portfolio and a potential startup company.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Definitely not. There have been betrayals from people I believed were close to me, days where it feels like you’re not getting anywhere in life even though you are but your mind tricks you into thinking it, sleepless nights of stress, people who don’t believe in you or tell you that you are something you’re not, people that are full of deception, lead you on to waste your time, or just screw you over, countless rejections, people I have personally disappointed unintentionally, and large egos which is something I myself have to continuously monitor.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I am a real estate agent. Currently part of a team. I can see that I will be hitting a major breakthrough in my sales volume this year and do have some notable names in the LA market noticing my work. I am still trying to figure out where to go next once the sales start rolling in. There seem to be many big names out here but it’s hard to know which one would really help scale my business to the next level.

There isn’t too much I feel I can say at the moment because I am still very early in the industry to say I have a big reputation. I am very young in a business where there aren’t many here and have seen places in LA that feel pretty unreal like celebrity homes or the stuff you see in magazines like Forbes or Architectural Digest. I think it was pretty funny to see a stunning mansion in person and then a few weeks later read in a magazine article that it sold only to find out that it was Ellen Degeneres’ home or Ashton Kutcher/Mila Kunis’s home. Personally, I do find that it’s more interesting to learn who actually owns these homes as it gives me clues as to what I can do to be an owner of one of these beauties myself!

This has led me to explore larger projects beyond being a realtor. Currently, I am working on building a real estate investment portfolio and a possible startup company. I recently finished a textbook on real estate syndications and now have a lot of textbooks lined up on real estate development, commercial real estate, all kinds of law like corporate, business, real estate, and taxation as well as advanced finance topics like asset/capital allocation, company valuation, private equity, venture capital, etc. I notice that only a tiny minority of realtors actually own one of these mansions. It seems that it’s not just celebrities that own these. There are people that are changing the world and making a dent in the universe that live behind those doors.

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
I think it’s important to pursue purpose above anything else. Everyone loves to talk about passion which is definitely important. In my opinion, passion is great but it can be very fleeting. It comes and goes. I think that the idea of having a higher purpose is what really puts you on a mission that is more long-term and sustainable than passion. I am a firm follower of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs where the top of the pyramid is the concept of self-actualization, which is quite literally about being in constant pursuit of being the best you can be. I feel that the best way to achieve this is by pursuing purpose. The cool part is that you can make it whatever you want it to be no matter how crazy it sounds. As long it makes sense to you and will make you happy.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamchrispy/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chrisnguyenre
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophernguyen123/