Building Multiple Successful Businesses - with Jose Berlanga
Episode 217
What We Covered
Ever met someone who turned childhood trauma into entrepreneurial fuel? That's exactly what Jose Berlanga and I explore in this conversation about resilience, business building, and the art of turning perceived weaknesses into competitive advantages.
Jose, from Houston, Texas, brings a refreshingly honest perspective on entrepreneurship. His journey from severe childhood burns and learning difficulties to building successful businesses across real estate, construction, petrochemicals, and food services reveals a fundamental truth: sometimes our biggest challenges become our greatest strengths — if we know how to reframe them.
The Golden Nugget: Transform Your Flaws Into Fuel
Here's the counterintuitive wisdom Jose shares: instead of hiding from your difficulties, lean into them. He talks about turning his scars into desire, his anxiety into fuel for action, and his dyslexia into a reason to collaborate brilliantly with others. It's like watching someone take everything that "should" hold them back and use it as rocket fuel instead.
Jose's advice? Stop trying to fix your perceived flaws and start asking how they might actually serve you. His excessive ability to space out and dream? He channeled that into vision-building. His anxiety? It became the antidote to procrastination, pushing him to take action when others just think about it.
The Deal-Maker Philosophy
One of the most refreshing moments comes when Jose admits, "I was never the inventor of ideas." Instead of pretending to be the genius in the room, he's built his reputation as someone who can put all the pieces together—the right team, the right process, the right structure, the right mission. He's become the person others come to when they have an idea but need someone who knows how to make it happen.
Jose talks about how this reputation built itself over time. Once he demonstrated accountability, hard work, and an understanding of how to build businesses, partners started finding him rather than the other way around. His construction company partnership with his architect brother Tristan is a perfect example—Tristan came to Jose with the idea, and together they built something neither could have achieved alone.
The Fast-Paced Reality Check
We dive deep into what it takes to succeed in today's business world, and Jose makes this brilliant observation about modern entrepreneurship: you can't just be good at one thing anymore. Today's executives need to understand sales, marketing, finance, legal, distribution, psychology, and negotiation. But here's the trap—entrepreneurs often spend all their time on what they're already good at while neglecting the areas that desperately need attention.
Jose uses this analogy about business departments being like children who all need equal attention. Focus too much on innovation and neglect sales. Pour everything into sales and forget about inventory. It's a juggling act that requires constant awareness and intentional time distribution.
The Failure Conversation
Perhaps the most honest part of our conversation comes when Jose opens up about his multiple business failures. He doesn't sugarcoat it—he's failed "horribly" more than once. But his perspective on failure is revolutionary. He points out that success requires perfect alignment of countless factors (timing, team, market, concept, process), while failure only needs one thing to go wrong.
His biggest insight? Most of his failures happened when he was in businesses purely for money, without any real passion or purpose. When you're only there for financial rewards, failure is devastating. When you're there to solve problems and enjoy the process, failure becomes education, and success becomes deeply fulfilling.
The Writing Renaissance
Right now, Jose is in a transition phase. After decades of building and running businesses, he's stepping back from day-to-day operations to focus on writing and sharing what he's learned. He describes the writing process as "cathartic"—finally having an outlet for all the information and insights he's accumulated over the years.
He's already published "The Business of Home Building" (which, despite its specific title, is really about entrepreneurship in general) and has "Dirt Rich" launching soon. What's coming next sounds even more intriguing: "Quantum Entrepreneurship," a book that will focus not just on business tactics but on the mindset, lifestyle, and identity you need to develop to thrive as an entrepreneur.
Connect with Jose Berlanga
Website: joseberlanga.com
Books:
"The Business of Home Building"
"Dirt Rich"
The Bottom Line
Success isn't about being perfect or having all the advantages. It's about understanding your unique combination of strengths and challenges, finding the right partners to complement your skills, and having the resilience to keep moving forward when things don't go according to plan. Most importantly, it's about doing work that matters to you—not just for the money, but for the impact and fulfillment it brings.
Jose will be returning later this year to discuss "Quantum Entrepreneurship" in greater detail, and honestly, that's a conversation I'm already looking forward to.
The Executive Edge delivers practical wisdom for navigating leadership challenges. Available on all major podcast platforms.
