Hey there, thank you for joining me for another episode of YQG In Bloom.
My name is Tracy Martens and today I have Vu Ngo and Vu is a real estate agent and
also a personal trainer.
So let's figure out how you became both of those.
Yes, yes.
So hey guys, I'm Vu, if you guys don't know.
So basically, it all started from high school.
So basically, growing up, I was a thinner kid playing in the basketball season.
Then just in high school, I started, you know, maybe some time to work out a little bit,
build a little more self-confidence from there.
Then once I started working myself and I had a lot of family and friends kind of asked
like, hey, I've noticed you doing a lot of good progress.
Like how can I do this or whatever?
Then I kind of like changed my idea.
Like, maybe this is something for me.
Because at first I was able to go to be a nurse and it was funny too, because I got
a scholarship to be a nurse and imagine going to my parents like, hey guys, I actually not
going to take this free money for school.
I'm going to become a personal trainer.
And my parents being foreign, they're like, what's that?
That's a hobby.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, you go to the gym.
Yeah, you go to the gym, right?
And they're like, well, take this job, be a nurse and this and that.
I'm like, you know, it's a lot of, I know a lot of pressure.
So I told them like, let me pay for school.
Let me become, let me get everything done, let me work for a year.
And if I can become self-sustainable and be successful, let's continue on.
If not, I'll go back to the nursing realm.
Oh, for sure.
Then long story short, clearly I'm still here.
So all worked out in the end.
Then I started working at Crunch Fitness for my first three years there and COVID hit.
So that was also a very interesting time for everyone.
Then being the fitness world, it was hard too, because they're can't, they're shutting
down gyms.
We couldn't work on our health.
The government didn't want us to exercise, which is another topic within itself.
But we're over that, we're past that.
So now here going on, so I was at Crunch, it was a corporate gym, right?
It's a big company, things like that.
Then during COVID, it was essentially so hard to get into a gym because it was a booking,
only 10 people per hour.
So that was a headache for myself.
So I went to, okay, let me just start training at Burnett Park in LaSalle.
I love that park.
Yeah, it's beautiful.
Beautiful.
I loved it.
I was there and they'll come in a circle, they'll pick me up, they'll start trading
tomatoes.
It was the cutest thing ever.
I loved them.
So sweet.
So it was nice, especially during COVID, because whoever wanted to come work out can come work
out.
It was nice just to have that human interaction again that we all missed during that time.
Right?
And during that time too, and I was trying to kind of make a business decision because
I wasn't seeing eye to eye with the corporate view, which I understand business is business.
But I understand that I'm here to help people.
I want to be there for people, help them accomplish their goals and guide them in the right direction
where business, where corporations, they kind of see the dollar sign first.
You know what I mean?
So then I kind of met with Luis and Jessica from True Fitness.
So they're a mom and pop job in the city.
They have two locations, downtown on Ouellette and one on Palette and Tecumseh East.
So I reached out to them and then that's how I kind of became an independent trainer there.
So it's kind of like if a hairdresser paid rent at a salon.
So I had my, so this taught me to kind of become my own entrepreneur because now I have
overhead fee that you pay every month.
I had no idea that you could do that, become an independent.
Yeah.
So it's more likely in more local gyms where like, so say like the crunch, the good life
and more corporate gyms is always going to be a kind of a split base and become independent
wherever you charge your clients or the business you charge is all within myself.
But then again, I have an overhead fee to kind of pay off.
So it's kind of pros and cons to both.
But with the times at the times I was like, okay, I have to kind of pivot because of COVID.
So I made a decision to become independent and it's been very, it's been, I'm blessed
for the opportunity because I learned a lot about myself and as a business and try to
become independent, the dos and don'ts and whatnot.
Then one of my clients, Chris McCloud, he was my very first client at Crunch when I
started at 19.
And imagine like it was a big dynamic change because now I'm younger and the people who
are listening to me now.
So that was a big change that I had to get used to coming out of school and everything
else.
But I've been training him for so long and during COVID they called me a virtual VU because
we're training on Zoom calls and so on and so forth.
Then last about a little over last year he kind of looked at me like, VU, have you ever
thought about doing real estate?
Because he has his own brokerage called this at the time called Distinctive Homes.
And now he was thinking about franchising to now Realty One Group, ICONIC.
We're actually the first franchise in Canada.
The head office opened in GTA area, but the business started in Las Vegas.
So we're the one, we're the very first one in Canada, Gresham and I'll and yeah, he's
like, yo, we ever thought we were real estate?
And I was like, I never thought about it, but I kind of knew at that time I kind of,
I was scared to make a career change.
I think any change is scary when especially when I've been doing the fitness thing for
the last like four or five years at a time.
But I had so much trust and faith with him because I seen how he runs his business.
I see it that man and mentor he is, how he treats his family, the things he does for
other people he cares about.
So I had a lot of faith and trust in him.
And it's funny because I told myself I'll never go back to school and I had to go back
to school and do the online learning and be stressed and that.
Real estate school is not fun.
It's dry.
It's really dry.
But everyone said, just get it done, get it done.
And thankfully I got done.
You have two years to do it.
I got done in six months because I was trying to do it.
It's like hustle, hustle, hustle, do it, do it, do it.
Then I got my license and now I'm talking about my license in June of this year.
So I've only been in the industry for five months now.
Now that my Chris has opened up the Realty office and we just had a great opening just
last week and the mayor was there, council was there, it was a really big celebration
and Chris is also on the board and head of the board for the downtown BIA.
So he's really trying to push and rejuvenize the downtown scene.
And it's nice too because the office is right on Palisher and the Wichita Mamm at True Fin
is right on O'Lett.
So I'm born and raised.
I'm a Windsor native and I've always been in the downtown area.
And like I get the stigma, I get people worried, but like for me it's home.
You know what I mean?
I love the downtown area.
I think it has a lot of hidden gems that people aren't aware of yet or people have a different
stigma coming down through, but people come down all the time for like the downtown market
and the night market through.
So people know about downtown, people are willing to come, right?
But I think as a community, especially with the city hall being right there and the police
station being right there, like I think as a community we can do more and we're taking
the right steps to get to where we need to be for the downtown scene.
You just need to move a little faster.
It needs to be a little faster, right, but at least steps are being made now.
So I think we're on the right track to bring more of a, to kind of change the dynamic of
the downtown scene.
And I'm kind of happy, I'm very happy and thankful to be a part of the experience, right?
Because downtown is my home and I think it has a lot to offer.
And I know a lot of the local businesses and just people in the community saying hi and
every day.
So it's like, we deserve it, you know, as a community and as a city as a whole too.
And with all the jobs come in from the hospital, the plant and everything else, like I tell
people too, the next five, 10 years, it's going to be a little metropolitan city.
It's going to become like a little Toronto.
I really believe it.
People aren't seeing it yet, but it's coming.
Well, it is.
I mean, you're in real estate.
So you know that there's a lot of people from Toronto in businesses and corporations that
are buying here, which we're not going to get into that because I don't do the political
side.
I see the pros and cons of it and I get it.
Now you started your career here just a few months ago in the midst of the change in the
real estate market and that how are, how's it going for you?
I learned quick that it's a, I'm a really small fish in a big pond.
And I feel like the same way when I started fitness, like I'm very young, I'm 26 in this
industry.
So it's relatively very young compared to elsewhere.
So at first I think it was very intimidating at first just because, you know, with any
change and starting anything new, I kind of was on edge.
I want to do, hopefully do things right.
And I'm helping someone purchase a home.
You know what I mean?
That's, that's a very big investment.
That's usually the biggest investment that people are making working through.
Right.
But I knew with Chris and my team, I had a lot of support and I was always on like, they're
helping me at 10 o'clock at night, 11 o'clock at night.
They didn't have to, you know what I mean?
So they're, they're willing to help with me and I know it is a very interesting time.
Interest rates are high and things that through, but if I knew if I can kind of navigate during
this market, everything is a cycle.
It's going to cycle through when, when does low is come back high, when is high is come
back low.
But if I'm able to navigate in this market right now, I know I'll be able to be successful
when it flips over.
I was just, I was just going to say that as long as you can keep your head up.
That's the one good thing about starting in this market is you're going to learn how to
fight and figure it out, but you don't have that stress because of it being your only
bread and butter because you have your other job as well.
So you have the stress reliever.
Yeah.
It's nice to add you had that safety net too, right?
Even going to school, like I kind of put myself in a part time position because I knew once
I was done school, I had to balance everything out.
And it's kind of tough too, because doing multiple things at once, you can never put
a hundred percent of your effort onto both.
You can try your best, but really it's not possible, right?
Everything going on, moving through.
So it's a balance where I'm trying to keep my current clients in the fitness world happy
and make sure I'm doing the best I can there.
But now taking on this new responsibility, I'm trying to just make sure I balance everything
out and giving everything its proper time and effort as well.
It's been interesting too, like no complaints.
I've definitely learned a lot.
Just going through everything.
Like my last client, we spent like five months buying them a home.
We put an offer on six different houses and kept following through, but everything was
a learning process.
Everything was a learning journey.
So I'm thankful that I got to experience it and thankfully my clients were patient with
me as well.
And we got them to a home where they're completely happy with.
And I know when I got the call that we closed the deal, hung up, I was screaming.
It was like nine, 10 o'clock.
And my mom was like, what's wrong?
What's wrong?
I just got out of my house.
I was just so happy for them to finally not deal with that stress anymore and the worries
from everything else too.
So it was very self-motivating because it really showed myself like, hey, I can do this.
You can do it.
So that gave me a lot more confidence in myself to be able to do that too.
And I think it's just when you take that change, it's just putting yourself out there, just
trying, just trying.
Because the worst comes worst.
You fail a couple of times and you finally succeed, but if you don't even try, you'll
always have that wonder in your thought like the what if.
And I think that it's always going to be more of a killer on people than actually trying
out too.
But it is scary to take that first step, right?
Yeah.
But I think Chris was smart in bringing you on and telling you to become a real estate
agent because A, you have the personality and the confidence.
But B, being in the personal trainer field, that's very personal.
You're right in there with people when they're maybe not feeling their best and you're kind
of forcing them, but having the patience and the ability to listen to them.
And I know from being in real estate, only in the office part, many, many years ago,
that is key.
You need to be confident, but you also need to be able to listen.
And not a lot of people understand that.
Yes.
Especially like, it was interesting too, as you mentioned that, like I started my fitness
world in 1920.
Like I learned quick, like I had these clients who were double, triple my age, like invented
to me about certain things and crying to me about certain things where like I haven't
experienced that in my own life.
So I was like trying to sympathize and be empathetic and give them that support when
even myself, I've never been through that too.
Right?
So I feel like with that going on, it made me mature and grow up quicker than I really
anticipated because everything I dealt through.
It's like with personal training, I see my clients more than my own family and friends.
You know what I mean?
And they've been like technically in the health field, they see their, if you do have a trainer,
you see them more often than your doctor, your dental hygienist or your chiropractor
and so on and so forth.
And we are so mingled in between our lives.
And I do ask them because their personal lives do affect their own health, the fitness and
overall and I'm a big advocate for mental health as well.
I feel like physical health is important.
Jessica, we're here for a long run, but if you're not in a good head space yourself,
everything else that you want to move forward and succeed, whether that's personal life,
friends, family, it's going to be put at a hindrance because you have to still work
on yourself too.
You know what I mean?
So yeah, so definitely thankful for Chris to kind of open that window of opportunity
for me because I didn't see it myself.
And sometimes you, I'm glad that I have people that nudged me and be like, Hey, you could
do this.
You could do this because sometimes you don't see yourself in that limelight.
I can see that because I mean, how many kids grow up saying, I want to be a real estate
agent.
You know, like that's my goal in life.
It's not that many.
It's something that they fall into, but the really good ones, they find that as a passion.
And it sounds like it is turning into your passion, especially after that first sale.
Yes, for sure.
I think like people always ask me like, who you think you'll be in the fitness world forever
or the real estate world?
Like, what'd you make that change?
Like, what's your passion?
At first, when I was growing up, I said fitness is my passion and exercise my passion.
But now as I grow older, I think it's really, I think people are my passion.
I think so too.
You know what I mean?
I think especially with COVID, like becoming virtual, everyone trying to navigate during
those times.
I think it made me really miss the human interaction, the human connection, and just being so personable
with each other too.
Right?
Cause it was, honestly, I'm thankful for FaceTime, Zoom calls.
At least we have that too, had that communication, but nothing beats hugging our friend or a
family member in so long.
That physical touch and physical presence.
Yes.
So, yeah, I would say like people are my passion.
I feel like I'm very open-minded and understanding people.
Cause I understand, even myself, I didn't have the easiest childhood growing up.
You know, and I'm thankful for certain things that made me the man I am today.
And I understand that everyone has their own journey.
And I think people are quick to judge or make pre-assumptions about people, which I don't
think is fair.
Yes.
I always, when I meet new people, I come with open mind, listening more than I try to speak.
Cause everyone has a story, especially nowadays in a world of instant gratification, social
media, like people aren't, people feel like they're not being heard.
You know, and I understand that too, you know?
So it goes a long way of just listening to someone.
And sometimes people don't have that.
I understand sometimes with myself, I didn't have people in my corner at times.
And now I know like when people are having a bad day or whatever, maybe you never know
what people are going on.
So I always try my best to shine a little light, crack a little joke, try to give them
some sunlight.
They're like, people are good.
There are good people out here.
You know what I mean?
And people do generally care and people are authentic too, which especially with like
another Windsor local, Shadow 2 MD motivator.
So he's in a local ship, spreading good energy and a good positive vibes for the whole world.
And now he's doing things nationally too, right?
So I think after COVID, I do see a big sense of community, especially in the Windsor local
community, like everyone showing up to pop-ups or the Ford City went out of the community
and started in the summertime in the downtown market.
So I love seeing our people coming out to support our people too.
So it's really refreshing.
It's so funny.
In fact, I was actually working at a market in Amersburg last night and it was quite busy.
I was surprised.
I love that.
I was excited to it even with the weather, but I mean it was busy, but I didn't sell
a ton of stuff, but we just, we all had so much fun and we were out there freezing our
buns off and we didn't care.
We were just all the vendors who were just hanging out.
And I do like that new sense of security.
I think everybody missed everybody, but they also realized that you have to have a little
bit more patience, a little bit more understanding because we're all going through the same
thing.
Kind of, you know, we all have our own issues, our own stories.
And as long as you listen, then you're going to be heard and people are going to listen
back.
And I never wanted to go into public speaking.
I was behind the camera.
I never was the type of person.
I always said, I don't like people.
And I've just found the last few years, there's been a shift in Windsor and you can feel it.
You can feel it.
You can really feel it.
You can.
And now so many people have decided that they're going to find their passions and do their
passions that we have an abundance of new pop ups, new stores, new markets, new vendors,
like Instagram.
You don't have to follow stars anymore.
I have so many people that I follow and they're all from Windsor.
It's crazy.
It's lovely too, cause like it's such a big community and people share each other and
follow each other and just both lives and word of mouth.
You know what I mean?
And support each other.
And that's the thing too.
Like I really do feel a sense of support.
And that is like in like the last couple of years, you do see a lot of more businesses,
local businesses and people and it's refreshing because people are taking that step to follow
their passion.
Right.
And I think a lot of like said, making change is very scary for a lot of people.
I think a lot of people is the, can I do it?
Or like, or they're scared of what people are going to say and this and that, but it's
so comforting and rewarding to know that our community is welcoming everyone with open arms
and trying to, can I say like, at the end of the day, there's a big pie, but we can
all eat.
We can all eat.
You know what I mean?
So it's refreshing to see everyone succeed and try out their passions.
And especially with everyone coming in with all the new jobs and opportunities, I can
only see more businesses opening up in the city too.
So it's a supplement everyone coming through.
So I really hope so because we have way too many commercial places that are closed down,
especially in the downtown area.
If we can start bringing in, even utilizing those empty spaces as pop up markets or open
it up, we have so much talent in this area and you're the real estate agent, so get to
it.
Yeah.
You have nowhere to find me.
I hope everyone out.
So especially through, I think definitely in times like the downtown market and the
summer, those are really good opportunities too, right?
Because the weather is nice.
I know you've been out there.
Everyone's out having a great time.
It's so happy to see the community out and about, right?
So I definitely see Windsor moving towards that direction.
And when everyone's thinking about doing their own thing or just debating themselves, take
that step.
Take that step.
I know it's scary, but it's even scarier to not know what would happen.
Especially in Windsor because there's always somebody patting you on the back or holding
you up and helping you and supporting you.
And I have people running around here that are my support systems that I met online,
but I mean, it's a community and I'm really glad you're part of it.
Oh, thank you so much.
I'm glad.
Shout out to my cousin, Nina.
Oh, love Nina.
So I know she's been big in the whole content creation, just making local, promoting local
business as well.
And for me, it's like, I used to make content too, then like during COVID, then this is
a time I was trying to work on my mental health.
It became like a burden for me because this stuff can become very taxing if you let it
be and you worry about the things that don't even matter.
But the human condition, you know how it is, right?
Exactly.
So I took a lot of time away from it, but I was still going up to these local stores
and going to these markets because I do love to support my city.
And now that I feel like I'm in a lot better place mentally and now starting real estate,
going into new year, I'm also getting some camera gear.
I want to start promoting local businesses to kind of show these are the gems that we
have in our neighborhoods.
You know what I mean?
And it could help people who are interested in real estate moving so on and so forth.
But I think if I'm able to give back to my community and show my love to support, I think
it will just naturally form that community even more so and build that exposure for everyone
else working through, right?
That'd be a great idea.
Yeah, so that's my idea.
I would love to move forward.
I don't see a lot of real estate agents kind of.
I see the real estate industry is a very old, old school industry.
And I feel like it's kind of the new age, the new era of people.
I'm going to be stepping in and doing my own thing, a little twist to it.
But I'm going to, I really look forward to showcasing these local businesses and just
let the community hear their stories.
I think that's going to be a good way to spark a connection within the community.
And also it's nice to see these local businesses, but you never get to really hear their internal
story.
And I think that will be able to connect certain people and gravitate towards people to other
people and kind of build that love and support even more with each other deeply.
It's true.
But I want to thank you so much, Vu, for coming on here today and sharing your journey.
Both with personal fitness and real estate.
Thank you.
Now, where can people get a hold of you?
So best is probably on Instagram.
My personal social media, like it's kind of interesting, kind of you can do personal business,
but my real estate page is selling YQG.
Then my personal page is just my name, underscore, Vuno.
That one's more my lifestyle, fitness and everything else too.
The real estate is real estate.
We can do, but it's kind of all encompassing on one.
I share local businesses and my personal life on both because even though it is a business
page, I still think it's important to be personal and show the community that this is me.
You know what I mean?
And I'm not, I don't have any shame with it.
I love myself and I hope I can spread my energy towards other people and just continue to
build our community and keep moving forward.
And you're also at True Fitness and the Real Estate Agency.
So the GMMA is True Fitness on OLE and the brokerage is Realty One Group Iconic on Polisher.
Excellent.
Awesome.
Thank you so much.
It was a pleasure.
Oh, so nice to meet you.
Again, my name is Tracy.
Thank you for joining me for another episode of YQG in Bloom.
Have a good one.
We'll talk soon.