Greetings
My name is Marcelo Olivarez.
I'm a real estate investor who speaks to sports teams and organizations.
I married my high school sweatheart and we have three beautiful, VERY active kids!
My Story
I was born with only one hand, (proud to be a lefty)!
At an early age, my parents did an incredible job fostering a mindset within our family.
A mindset rooted with faith, family, and a relentless passion for making the most out of every single day!
Participating and excelling in sports built a level of confidence within myself that I could compete with anyone regardless of my disability.
After playing basketball through high school, I knew I wanted to become a college basketball coach. Central Michigan University gave me an opportunity to dive into what it's like to be a member of a college athletics program.
As a student manager for the program my freshman year, I basically lived at the basketball offices and arena - so much so I was academically suspended from the University after my first semester, with a 0.08 GPA!
The most embarrassing part about this story is that I didn't even know I was academically suspended until that night in December during winter break when my parents drove up to campus to give me the letter from the university.
(Disclaimer: Basketball season is in full swing during this time of the year resulting in minimal time off-campus)
My parents message was simple yet powerful.
"Son, we gave you a name, we've supported you and will continue to support you your whole life."
"You need to decide what type of life you want to live."
"Your actions not your intentions will create the legacy of your name."
Needless to say that was the message I needed to setup the comeback. I successfully completed the academic reinstatement program which allowed me to attend the spring semester. With positive momentum moving forward, I graduated CMU with an undergraduate degree, along with a master's degree in Sport Administration.
Upon graduating, I was officially hired on the Chippewa men's basketball staff. At that time, there were not as many Hispanic college basketball coaches - let alone one who happened to be disabled. I had accomplished what I set as a career goal for myself. Coaching college basketball is a lifestyle - I loved the competitive atmosphere, developing long lasting relationships with players, coaches and administrators. The emotional thrill of success in that environment is unparalleled.
In the late summer of 2013, my wife had an opportunity to teach at the same elementary school that her mother taught at back home. The life of a significant other whose husband, wife or partner is a college coach, is a life filled with sacrifice. Time spent with each other is very limited in comparison to normal relationships.
We made the decision that now was the time for me to leave the coaching profession and move back home to allow her to teach at that school. At the time, I viewed that decision as a sacrifice I was making on behalf of her. I was leaving the profession and lifestyle that I had always wanted. Not having a clue about what I was going to do for employment next.
Little did I know, this is where my Meijer story would begin. Meijer is one of the country's largest privately owned supercenters, primarily servicing the Midwest. I started my Meijer career as a distribution operations supervisor and advanced quickly up the promotion ladder to the point where I was the Director of the largest automated food distribution center in the United States.
The life of a distribution operations leader is similar to that of a coach. There is a daily scoreboard, where the answers can clearly be defined as yes or no.
Did you keep your team members safe?
Did you hit your productivity goals?
Did you make money for the business?
Did you invest time to develop the leaders within your platform of influence?
I get emotional at times when I look back upon my 9 years with Meijer. It was the right career at the right time in my life. We started to grow our family, not just by having children, but by making life long relationships with fellow collogues and business associates.
The experiences were more than memorable. From leading a distribution operations hiring individuals with disabilities initiative, to managing a P&L statement for a billion dollar business/unit. From having over 400 team members and leaders within an organization report to me, to learning what it takes to become a transformational leader.
My Meijer story built a foundation for me to understand business along with expanding my knowledge of human potential.
Then the pivot occurred, a move to the current chapter.
I decided to become an entrepreneur. Starting as a real estate investor in 2023. I've been able to grow my portfolio by over 450% in a span of just two years. Many believe investing in real estate is a form of passive income. I can promise you - in order to grow a portfolio that is now worth over 7-figures, nothing about my actions have been passive.
Real estate investing is still a people business. Relationships with tenants, contractors, bankers, city officials - the list is endless. Operational discipline is something I learned through my experiences at CMU and Meijer, but you really live it everyday as an entrepreneur.
The discipline to do what you need to do when you don't feel like doing it - coinciding with having the discipline to not do things you know you shouldn't do.
I know the 19 year old version of myself did not envision this is where I'd be 20 years later.
But that's been the journey, I'm sure many of you reading this can relate.
You embark on a path to accomplish a goal, then adversity hits and you have to respond. Maybe you stumbled upon a new job not knowing how you were going to succeed, but you found a way - that job turned into a passionate career.
Maybe you are a coach, who has been blessed to form life long relationships with former players - attend their weddings, watch them grow into parents and successful professionals. This was made possible because of the emotional experiences of joy and elation, heartache and disappointment - those experiences could never be shared by others.
We all have our intentions in life, but when it comes down to it - its our actions and our attitude that determine the outcomes. It's not a coincidence we use the phrase "Growing Up". Our life experiences are meant for us to learn and grow from.
I've been blessed to have a story which has helped me become aware of this, but more importantly it's given me the license and ability to help others realize there is a process to overcome disabling characteristics.
A college professor and live long mentor of mine always told me that the most successful people discover what their passionate about then work tirelessly in a career pursuit of that passion.
I'm passionate about helping individuals, teams and organizations become the best versions of themselves.
As for the next chapter in this story, I'm excited for you to become apart of it.
​
In Relentless Pursuit Forward.