Mike Roberts

Mike grew up in Houston in a single-parent home with his mom and younger sister. He was always seeking strong father figures during his childhood, like his basketball coach and his martial-arts instructor who was a former Marine. The third was his stepdad -- his mom remarried when he was in high school. Those three people showed him what it meant to be a good, honorable man.

Mike joined the Marine Corps out of high school because he wanted to travel and get into the fight; he guessed he’d watched too many Clint Eastwood movies as a kid. In High School, he was a Junior Olympic athlete in judo and jujitsu, so he thought he was a really tough guy. Boy, was he naïve. He was humbled to find the Marines have a lot of World-class athletes. Many of the guys in his platoon were Allstate football players, wrestlers, or golden gloves champions and they all wanted to be the best of the best. It was an honor to fight alongside these great warriors.

Mike's job was to jump out of helicopters and rappel down ropes to an offensive or defensive position before or during a conflict. They were already in the Persian Gulf when 9-11 happened. After almost 6 years and two deployments, it was time for him to come home. He credited the Marine Corps for teaching him self-discipline, motivation and respect. Most of all, he learned an incredible work ethic. Nothing pushes you harder than being a Marine.

After that, Mike pursued a college business degree and then got into the management-training program at Enterprise Rent-a-Car. He learned how to run a business from the ground up and became adept at selling, providing great customer service, communicating well, and managing employees. Then he opened up a group of successful cell phone repair stores.

By this time, mike was married and had two sons. It was October 2017 and he was playing basketball with his kids when he blew out his ACL (knee ligament). As the week wore on, he felt more and more terrible. His wife eventually called 911. The paramedics rushed him to the hospital, where he was in and out of consciousness for hours.

The doctor came in and told Mike that he probably had a bad infection and he was going to give him some fluids and send him home. Suddenly, his body woke up – completely alert -- as if somebody else was speaking through him and he heard: “Don’t you know that in less than 3% of severe trauma patients, they experience deep-tissue thrombosis due to bones colliding and blood leakage into the body?” He had no idea where this came from or what it meant, as he had no medical knowledge or background whatsoever.

The doctor thought Mike was out of his mind but he agreed to do an ultrasound. They found blood clots everywhere in his calf as well as in his heart and lungs. He felt like God was speaking straight through him that day, telling his doctor his own diagnosis. He saved his own life that day.

Mike spent a week in the ICU (intensive care unit) and had a lot of time to think. He realized he wanted more financial security for his family. Being a real estate agent seemed like the perfect answer, not only could he help others, but he could also help and protect his family.

Being a real estate agent allows him to be there as a strong role model for his boys -- something he didn’t have growing up. It also allows him to help his clients find their perfect home and build a family or whatever their life’s journey is. The exciting thing is they get that pride of ownership and feel good about making one of the biggest investments in their lives.

What sets him apart from other agents is his life experience. Because of both his Marine experience and his prior business experience, he has all the necessary skills to overcome any challenges and obstacles. He feels like God laid out the stones and he finally found the path.

But Mike still feels like there’s a higher purpose -- something left for him to do. When he’s gone, he hopes people will say that he was a great father, a great husband, and a hard worker. He’s always looking for opportunities to help other people or do something for his family. He hopes, as his business grows, that he finds ways to pay that forward.