The Story of Strappato's Success: Flo & Julie Perez’s Journey through building a family & business

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
welcome to the Journey Podcastwhere we showcase some of the
most inspiring stories on theplanet and the life lessons that
came along the way.
Today I am really excitedbecause you guys are going to
hear from a dynamic couple, apower couple.
We have the one and only or thetwo, and only Julie and Flo
Perez, who are the owners ofStrano Sweets and Strano Body

(00:21):
and Beauty, and they'reabsolutely dynamic and I know
that you guys are gonna beblessed by their stories.
So without further ado, how's itgoing guys?
So happy to have you on theshow.
Great.
Thank you.
Absolutely, man.
We, it's, it's interestingbecause I, I walked into this
establishment and, and by theway, for those of you who are
tuning in, I had came across youguys from an event that I'm

(00:42):
gonna be speaking at, which isyour event.
Yes.
And it's a, it's amazing becauseI had did some research and I
see the mayor was recently heredoing the ribbon cutting
ceremony, and you guys had thisamazing grand opening and I got
to visit here for the very firsttime and meet you guys for the
first time.
And as I'm, as I'm walking in,the very first thing that I
noticed here is that it feltlike family, it felt like

(01:05):
community.
It felt like you guys just havea, a soul in this, in this
establishment.
And, you know, I commend youguys on that.
Like what you've built is trulyspecial and the fact that you've
been together for over a quartercentury, we were just talking
about it, uh, is absolutelyamazing.
You have three wonderful kids.
So I have respect for peoplewho.

(01:27):
Have not only had success inbusiness, but also have managed
to keep their families together,keep their faith intact, and you
guys are the epitome of that.
So thank you so much for beinghere with us.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Absolutely.
So where do we begin?
I, I would love for you guys toshare a little bit about how you
met each other.

(01:47):
Let's start there, because thishas been a long time and you
guys were completely differentpeople.
Yes.
And obviously you weren'testablished or anything like
that, but give the audience anidea of like how you guys
actually met.
You want me to start?
Can I start?
That's fine.
Okay.
So, um, if you ask my husband,I'm gonna be very honest with

(02:09):
you.
You know, uh, he was in VIP andI was in general admission.
Um, but we did meet at the club.
Nice.
It's, um, it's a lot of peoplewould probably be like, oh, wow.
At the club You met?
At the club.
How'd you stay together thatlong?
Yes.
We met at the club.
I love it.
Or at a club.
Nice.
Nice.
Here in Tampa?
Yes, here in Tampa.

(02:29):
Okay.
No longer exist.
Nice.
Downtown at the parking lot now,but Okay.
Club exists here in Tampa.
Nice, nice.
Now was it, was it love at firstsight or like did you, like
what?
What kind of vibe did you getwhen you guys first met?
Let's see if he's gonna tell thetruth.
I'll let him, yeah, I'll let himgive that scenario.
It was just that it was a vibe,you know, we were out having a
good time, kind of bumped intoeach other, you know, had a good

(02:53):
night and that was pretty muchit.
Nothing really popped off onthat first night.
Yeah.
So it was just a change ofnumbers, getting to know each
other a little bit, but love atfirst sight night during the
club.
Nice.
Yeah, absolutely.
Hard to call that.
Absolutely.
You guys remember the first dateat all?
Yeah.
Oh gosh, yeah.
What was the first date?
McDonald's.

(03:13):
Oh, nice.
Okay.
Okay.
Let's go humble beginnings.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's what I mean.
That's where the love startedkicking in.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
This is easy day.
This is an easy day.
And it was my choice to go toMcDonald's.
It was, he gave me a choice.
He asked me where I would liketo go.
I chose McDonald's.
Nice, nice.
He didn't just take me toMcDonald's.
Okay.
So you're like, she's a keeper.
Right.
She's not trying to, you know,break the bank, get whatever you

(03:35):
want.
I might have something here, youknow?
Absolutely.
No, I love that.
And and to be fair, you guyswere super young at the time.
Very young.
You weren't even 21.
Yeah.
No, not even 21.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So crazy.
How much time has flown sincethen?
Yes.
So let's, let's fast forward to,um, even what you guys were
doing at the time, like forwork, because I remember you

(03:56):
both had kind of like separatejobs.
You weren't really establishedentrepreneurs or even doing
anything entrepreneurially atthe time, correct?
Mm-hmm.
So I worked at a doctor's officeas a Rece, front office clerk,
receptionist, they call it.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and he worked in thewarehouse at Winn-Dixie.
Wow.
Wow.
Mm-hmm.
That's, that's amazing.
So when did you guys like reallymake a decision that you were

(04:16):
going to just be together, likeyou're gonna do life together?
When, when did that happen?
It was almost immediately, Ithink.
Good.
Yeah.
It was, it was very, very fast.
Wow.
Um, so, like you said earlier,we were super young.
I had a condo, he had his ownhouse.
Hmm.
Um, he owned his own house wherehe lived with his mom.
Oh.
His parents and his youngerbrother.

(04:37):
And he decided to leave hisparents the house.
Wow.
And come and move in with me inmy condo.
Mm.
Nice.
So when did you guys have yourfirst kid?
Uh, 95.
Joseph was born in 95.
I see.
Yeah.
You got the ball rolling.
Yes.
Nice, nice.
Yeah.
So I'm, I'm curious, when didyou guys like actually start
embarking on business?

(04:58):
So, just, just so the audiencecan know, by the way, like
you've had success outside ofthis.
You, you established twoschools.
Yes.
And I'm not sure if that wasyour first business venture,
but, uh, give us a little bitof, of the story and, and the
journey of getting even intothat.
Um, it was our first businessventure and it was 2001.
Mm.
Wow.
Mm-hmm.
Wow.
But it stemmed from her parents.

(05:18):
Um, her mom owned a school firstactually when we had our.
Her mom decided no one is gonnaraise him.
So she opened up the firstcenter.
Wow.
Just to keep her grandson closeto her.
Mm.
Um, we saw their success.
Yeah.
Um, and then of course, youknow, they were older, so they
started talking about retirementand we're gonna give you this
and mm-hmm.
Years went by and they justlooked like they're not giving

(05:39):
us nothing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, uh, we made the decision,you know, one moment and was
just like, all right, maybe weshould do this for ourselves.
Wow.
Yeah.
So what was that process like,just embarking on even starting
the school?
Did you guys like save up abunch of money or like raise
investment, go to the bank?
Did you start off like reallysmall and then just expand from
there?

(05:59):
No, it was actually, to be veryhonest with you, pretty scary
for me on my part.
Yeah.
So like he said, um, my parentswere the ones that started the
schools first.
Yep.
Um, and I did not know how tobreak it to my dad.
Mm-hmm.
I could tell my mom anything.
Yeah.
Um, but my dad was, you had totreat him with kid gloves.
Of course.
Yeah.
Um, and I was his baby girl.

(06:21):
Mm.
So, um, I, we didn't know how tobreak it to him.
Yeah.
And Flo would tell me all thetime, just tell him you're
opening a business, he's gonnabe happy.
Yeah.
And I'm like, yeah, you don'tget it.
Yeah, yeah.
You don't get it.
So, um, so it was very, veryhard.
Um, we actually opened withouttelling my dad anything.
Wow.
Yes.
Um, my mom was support a hundredpercent.

(06:41):
Um, and we took out a secondmortgage on our house to do
this.
Crazy.
So we risked a lot'cause wedidn't know if it was gonna
work.
Yeah, right.
We didn't know what was gonnacome out of it.
We had no funds, we didn't haveno reserves in the bank account
or anything, so we were bankingon our home.
Wow.
Being what was gonna usher usinto a business opportunity.
Yeah.

(07:01):
Um, so like she said, weleveraged our home.
Got a second mortgage put on it.
Um, basically putting our houseWow.
You know, on the line.
Mm.
And, uh, yeah, we took that riskand lived 2001.
Check to check.
Yeah, sure.
Literally check to check.
Wow.
Um, I think there was a goodprogram going on at that time
that you didn't have to putmoney down.
Got it.
Got it.
So you could get the secondmortgage.

(07:22):
Mm.
Um, you could take it out of theequity of the home, but you had
to put zero down.
So that's how we were able to a,apply and be approved for it,
because we did not have anymoney to put down Yeah.
As leverage to I see.
To open this door.
It was an existing school at thetime that we purchased.
Mm-hmm.
Um, but it was.
Completely run down.

(07:42):
They, it licensed for 184 kids.
Mm-hmm.
If they had 20 kids enrolled, wewere lucky.
Wow.
There was barely any enrollmentthere.
Um, no teachers.
Hmm.
Uh, so it was, we had to work itfrom the ground up.
The establishment was basicallyfalling apart when we walked in,
so we had to gut everything.

(08:03):
Wow.
Um, mind you, at this point, oursecond daughter was just, uh,
five months old.
Mm.
Okay.
So, um, Desiree was five monthsold.
So when we would work there, wewould open at six 30 in the
morning.
We would close at six o'clock atnight, and we would work from
6:00 AM or 6:00 PM till three inthe morning.
The next morning, Desiree'ssitting in her car seat.

(08:25):
Joseph was older, so he would gowith my mom without a problem.
But Desi was, you know, she wasso young, we were like, no,
she's gonna stay with us.
My mom would take care of Josephwhile we were working, but, um,
we kept her with us and shewould literally sit in her car
seat.
Wow.
From six.
To three in the morning that wewere working.
We would run home at three inthe morning, shower, get about
two hours of sleep, and comeright back at six 30 in the

(08:47):
morning to open again.
Wow.
So what were you guys doing likeduring those hours Exactly.
Ripping up floors.
Mm-hmm.
Knocking down walls, putting upnew partitions, painting, you
name it.
Anything to get the business.
I think, you know, when you lookat a business and it's all
destroyed or kind of just overlyused mm-hmm.
You don't see that when you, youknow, on this, your new baby to

(09:08):
say, of course.
You know what I mean?
'cause all you see is what I cando.
Yeah.
How can I make this better?
So that's a driving point.
Yeah.
So, you know, some of the times,I mean, we would just living off
of just the idea.
Mm-hmm.
You know, we didn't need tosleep.
We were so passionate behind itthat it was like, all right, get
you out, sleep, let's get backto you.
Put in day's work, fix allnight, go right back to work.
That's amazing.
Yeah.
And what was important was that.

(09:29):
Whatever.
We started at 6:00 PM mm-hmm.
We had to finish by three.
Mm-hmm.
Because we had kids coming in atsix 30 in the morning.
Mm-hmm.
So they couldn't come in to tornup floors.
Yeah.
They couldn't come in to torn upwalls they had to come in to.
So whatever room we startedworking on at six had to be
complete by three in themorning.
Yeah, yeah.
In order actually was a dailyproject.
Yes.
Every project you did had tobefore that same day.
Fixed on that day.

(09:50):
Yeah.
That, that's incredible.
Now, were you guys working jobsduring that time?
Like when did you leave youractual jobs?
Right when we decided that thiswas what we were gonna do.
So you like had both just likequit.
We were all, we were all in.
We had to be, yeah.
We couldn't afford to payanybody to run them for us.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So we took a pay cut, we went torun them.

(10:11):
Um, we had to be teachers,construction workers, kitchen
staff, janitorial staff.
Wow.
We were literally front officestaff being parents, enrolling
kids, still being parents, stillbeing a wife.
Him still being a husband.
That's crazy.
Yeah.
Well, did it ever get to thepoint where you guys, your, your
marriage started to suffer?

(10:31):
Of course.
Yeah, of course.
I think that's the, the hardestthing, especially when you're
trying to manage home, marriageand business.
All of those pull at a highdemand.
So it's kind of hard.
Unless you learn how to balanceeach one of them, you can give
to one more than the other andyou'll start to see the drop off
on the other ones immediately.
Mm-hmm.
So I think that's why yourperceptive of what it is you're

(10:53):
trying to accomplish had to beupfront.
And being so young that we didit or whatever, I think we were
so focused on, oh, we're doingthis to better our family.
Mm-hmm.
But that may be how it starts,but then you start to see the
financial side of it.
Like, okay, I can generate moremoney.
So then your focus comes fromleaving from your, it being
about your family to just beingmoney driven or business driven,

(11:15):
and all of a sudden the otherstuff starts to tell off.
Yeah.
So you started put a strain evenup between our relationship and
we were working together.
Wow.
Yeah.
Yeah.
How how'd you guys manage tojust kind of get through that?
Because my wife and I, we builtbusinesses together and, and
honestly, like, I remember whatit was like to just really, um,
you know, have that, that seasonwhere there was no intimacy.

(11:36):
Like there was just, you'restressed out, you know,
everything is focused on thebusiness, everything like that,
you know?
So I definitely know what, whatthat, that struggle is like.
And, um, so I'm curious as to,you know, how you navigated
through that.
So I think the key word that youused was we just managed.
Mm-hmm.
Um, it was hard.

(11:56):
It was very, very hard.
Um, there were some days that wedidn't believe that we were
going to be able to manage.
Um, it was tough.
Yeah, it was really tough.
Yeah.
I, I, I know, I know the painthat comes with that and I, I
remember my wife and I also,like, we almost didn't make it
at one point, and I, I, I'venever considered myself a

(12:18):
quitter.
Mm-hmm.
But I would say marriage willpush you to the edge and, and I
know what that valley is likeand you know, it takes a lot to
get through it.
And one of the things, you know,Flo and I were talking earlier
about faith and Faith's role infamily life, and I'm just
curious, brother, you know, foryou and your journey and, you

(12:39):
know, how has Faith reallyhelped you, you know, just kind
of keep it together.
And I'm curious to hear Julie'sperspective as well, because I
know faith is a big part of yourlife.
Yeah.
For me it is, it is myeverything.
It's, it is my foundation now.
I mean, at that, you know, thatyoung 18-year-old trying to be a
businessman or whatever, um,unfortunately I didn't have God

(12:59):
in my, in my life at that time.
And so I made a lot of mistakesin the flesh, um, thinking I
knew what it was to be a man.
Yeah.
To be a husband, to be a father.
Um, and I was falling short onall of them for myself, you
know.
Um, when the Lord found me, Istarted giving myself to him.
And then I started recognizingthat through his word.
I was the one falling short, youknow?

(13:21):
So, um, recognizing what theword tells me, uh, what it is to
be a man and a kingdom man atthat, um, I saw all my flaws.
Hmm.
So I had to humble myself andsay, okay, maybe it wasn't so
much her or my surroundings, Ican change a lot of it by just
changing myself.
Um, according to his work.
And in doing so, um, I startedseeing a better me and a better

(13:43):
me produce a better husband, abetter husband, produce a better
father.
So he just had that trickleeffect.
Yeah.
So, um, yeah, that's myfoundation now.
For sure, for sure.
What about you Julie?
So, um, just to, to be verytransparent and, um, clear, we
didn't come to truly know theLord and know who God was.
We believed in God.

(14:04):
Mm-hmm.
Um, what our parents instilledin us at a young age, but we,
um, didn't surrender totally tothe Lord until 2012.
Hmm.
So, um, this was 11 years oftrying to figure things out on
our own mm-hmm.
In our own strength.
Um, and I could truly say thatnow.
I could say that I know God'shand was all over it.

(14:26):
Yeah.
During, um, those 11 years,because.
If God didn't have a bigger planfor our lives, we wouldn't have
managed those 11 years before wetruly surrendered to him.
In 2012, of course, we took alot of hits as a marriage.
Mm-hmm.
As a couple, we took a lot ofhits and some of it was
self-inflicted.
Yeah.
You know, um, but a lot of itwas self-inflicted.

(14:46):
Yeah.
Yeah.
What would you say was thelowest point?
Like with just marriage, family,life and business.
I, I definitely could recalllike mine and I'll never forget
because those lowest momentsreally shape our character more
than anything.
And sometimes you're, you'releft with nothing but to
surrender to God.
Right.
And I know what that's like.
And I'm just curious as for youguys, like you had business,

(15:09):
business was going, and I'm sureat some point you started to get
some traction with it.
But you know, we were talkingabout this earlier.
Sometimes it's, it's really the,the enemy.
We we're our biggest just enemy.
And on the whole journey it'sdealing with ourselves.
Yeah.
And, um, I'm curious for youguys, what was the lowest point
of the, the whole journey that,that you guys can recall?

(15:31):
Is there one specific season ordo you guys have different
seasons that.
Hit you in different ways.
I think for me was, um, in 2012mm-hmm.
Right before we came to theLord.
Yeah.
We were gonna call it quits.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We were truly, I mean, to thepoint where he would see me and
was sick of seeing me, I wouldsee him and mm-hmm.
Was sick of seeing him.

(15:51):
Didn't, you know, neither of uswanted to go home.
Yeah.
Like it was Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
I, I think for me it's, it isborder around what she's saying.
I mean, we did actually take areal hard hit where we actually
separated.
Yeah.
She had her own place.
I had my own apartment.
Wow.
And you're talking aboutbusiness people.
Right.
So it had nothing to do withfinances, we just could not

(16:11):
connect at that level.
Yeah.
Um, so she had her place, I hadmy apartment.
We both got new furniture, neweverything.
Wow.
But still feeling broken.
Wow.
You know, so finances don't giveyou everything that you're
really desiring of.
Right.
Of, and sometimes you can putyour own stress on someone else
and it just purges you guysapart.
Mm.
Um, but yeah, that wasdefinitely the lowest moment to

(16:32):
feel like I got everything, butlost everything at the same
time.
Yeah.
Wow.
Um, so there was definitely a, abit of emptiness going on.
Yeah.
I, I appreciate you guys evensharing that.
Yeah.
Yes.
I mean, prior to to, um, tocoming to the Lord, I think
money was our driving force.
Mm-hmm.
You know, we had two verysuccessful schools, over 320
families, you know, combined inthe schools.

(16:54):
And, um, you know, the word ofGod says money is the root of
all evil and money was ourdriving force.
We literally worked day andnight mm-hmm.
To just Seymour, SeymourSeymour, not, we weren't
investing.
Mm-hmm.
You know, our bank account wasjust rising.
Yeah.
We drove nice cars.
We did, you know, we had a verynice house.

(17:16):
Yeah.
But we just wanted to see thebank account get bigger and
bigger and bigger.
Yeah.
You know, not for anything,anything that was wrong.
Mm-hmm.
We didn't do anything, you know,we weren't, we, we used to
drink, but we weren'talcoholics, you know?
For sure.
You know, we didn't do drugs, wedidn't, none of that.
It was just, we wanted to seethe bank account rise For sure.
And everything was money driven.
For sure.

(17:36):
Yeah.
Knowing what you guys know now,if there's anything that you
would've done different or maybeany advice that you would have
given your 20-year-old self,what, what comes to mind?
Gosh.
Will be to give your heart tothe Lord.
Yes.
Yeah, definitely.
I think I didn't want, I, Ididn't wanna sound too
religious, but this, that wasthere.
Yeah, yeah.

(17:56):
You know?
Yeah.
I think when you recognize, youknow, I think when you give
yourself to the Lord, yourecognize the hand of God over
your life the whole time.
Mm-hmm.
Then you start to say, man, I'vebeen fighting this.
Yeah.
And the moment you start to say,all right, God, I'm not gonna
be, you know, a resistance towhat you're trying to do.
I'm gonna actually flow in yourdirection.
All of a sudden you see newopportunities, new doors, we're
getting closer, we're loving oneach other.

(18:17):
We're actually parenting ourchildren with a kingdom mindset.
So now you start to see it like,man, I delayed this.
Why?
Mm.
Yeah.
You know, so sometimes you lookback and see the scars of the
relationship and be like, Icould've omitted some of those,
you know, I'm saying Yeah, forsure.
For sure.
What, what was that, that momentwhere things kind of brought you
back full circle and said, youknow what?
Let's, let's work on this.

(18:38):
Let's, let's get back tobuilding our family.
Let's, let's move back in,right?
Mm-hmm.
And at what, when was that?
And, and how did you guys kindof reconcile, like once you kind
of gave your life to the Lord?
Was it immediate or was it likea process?
Oh, no, no, no.
So we, we got back togetherprior to giving ourselves.
Got it.
Mm-hmm.
Our lives back to the Lord.

(18:58):
We got back together and then,um, I don't know if it was a
year later, maybe I, I don'tknow exactly timeframe that we
gave our lives to the Lord, sowe got back together.
Mm-hmm.
And still, yeah.
Had bumps in the road and still,because why?
Because there was un unsolvedissues.
Yeah.
We put band-aids over those, um,Aidas, I don't know how to say

(19:19):
that in English.
Uh, yeah.
The wounds over those wounds.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and we covered'em uptemporarily, but we weren't
healed of them.
Yeah.
You know?
For sure.
So, so we were back together.
We were, you know, we actuallybuilt a brand new house and
moved into a, a brand new houseand, and all of that stuff prior
to giving our lives.
Um Yeah.
Back to the Lord.

(19:40):
But I will say that, um, when wedid in 2012, it was actually
flow that gave his life to theLord.
First.
I wanted nothing to do with it.
Wow.
Yeah.
I was like, Nope.
You know, you could, you couldgo to church.
And he actually went to thechurch that my parents, my, my
mom took me to as a child.
Wow.
Those were the pastors of thechurch.
Wow.
That's the church that he choseto go to.

(20:02):
Um, and I was like, you couldgo.
And I wanna say that I, it mighthave been like three months
before I stepped foot.
Into church with him.
And even going after he had beengoing already for three months,
I was like, I want nothing to dowith this.
Like, you know, this is not,this is not what I want.
Um, not because I didn't wannasurrender my life to the Lord.

(20:23):
'cause like I said, I knew whoGod was.
Mm-hmm.
But because I, in my mind itwas, this is not real.
This is not genuine.
Yeah.
This is just going to be so thatwe can get back together and in
six months, a bandaid, eightmonths, yes.
He's gonna be right back to thesame person.
I'm gonna be right back to thesame person and we're gonna be
right back to the same issues.

(20:44):
Yeah.
It's not gonna last.
I don't wanna go through this.
Like, I don't, I don't want toinvolve God.
I know who God is.
I know what he's capable of andI don't even wanna play with
that.
Yeah.
You know?
Um, and that's where my mindThat's fair.
That's, that's where I was, Ithink to, to feed off what she
was saying that.
Yeah.
We didn't allow God into ourlives before we got back
together.
But I think what draws us backtogether is that I speaking for

(21:07):
myself.
Mm-hmm.
I believe we're better together.
Of course.
Course.
You know?
Um, where I am weak, she isstrong, which yep, she is weak.
I'm strong.
There's things that I just can'tdo.
That's to her simple.
There's some things she's like,I'm not doing this.
Like, bro, I got this.
This is nothing.
And I think we just work so welltogether.
And I know that a lot of couplesstruggle with that.
Mm-hmm.
We've been blessed with it sincethe beginning to where there's

(21:27):
no ego in between us to say,well, I made a successful or I
did this, I accomplished this, Ibrought you along, I carried
you.
There's none of that.
I mean, we might do it in jokingor whatever.
Yeah.
But we know that we had nothingwhen we started and everything
that we have.
And I think the biggest thingshe's ever told me when, when we
opened up our second one,'causeI was like, man, we're gonna
open a second business.
It's con jeopardize the firstone.

(21:47):
I'm like, this might not work.
And she was like, it has to workbecause we're doing it.
We're not gonna allow it tophone.
And I just remember her sayingthat and I was just like.
You know, she's so focused,she's so locked in.
And until I got locked in and Iwas like, okay, let's do this.
And then of course life happens.
Mm-hmm.
Right?
And, and I give my life to theLord.
And, um, yeah.
She wasn't coming to church, youknow?
Yeah.
And I'm, I'm, I'm receiving theword and, and I'm hearing what,

(22:09):
what the word of God is saying.
Oh man, I'm trying, you know,I'm, it's, it's working on me.
And I'm like, man, how haven't Idone this before?
Yeah.
You know, many times you, youhear about the church and
religion pops up, you know, andit's like, no, okay, now I'm
just building with myrelationship.
Yeah.
I want to know this guy whocreated everything who knows me
by name.
Right.
And I'm learning and I'm like,man, this is crazy.
I wanna share with my wife.
And she got that look like,yeah, bro, you're playing

(22:31):
church.
I know what the real you, butnot recognizing that I didn't
want no part of the old me.
Yeah.
Because the old me is what gotme to the situation that I got
myself into.
So at this point, I knew thatthere had to be more, there had
to be better, and that there wasanother level to the life.
Mm-hmm.
So when I started feeling like Ifinally got to the doorway, I'm
like, you need to come.
Mm.
And she was like, nah, you gonnado that on your own?

(22:52):
So it was even in.
And that transition was tough.
Yeah.
When did you know that like, oh,he's actually serious about
this.
Like he's, he's changing likefor the better.
Right.
And you were actually receptiveto moving forward?
So, um, the church that weattend mm-hmm.
Abundant Love Worship Center,they host retreats.
Mm.
And it's called an Encounterwith Jesus.

(23:14):
Got it.
Back then in 2012, men went ontheir own, women went on their
own.
Got it.
Mm-hmm.
Now they, they do it co-ed, but,um, so he went and I was like,
oh gosh, you know, I, me havingnever experienced a retreat.
So I don't know what he wasgoing, I didn't know what he was
gonna encounter.
I didn't know what he was gonnalive while he was there.

(23:34):
Mm-hmm.
But on, on the third day, whenthey come back from this retreat
mm-hmm.
They do a, a family gatheringwhere their family receives the
people that went on the retreatback and, um, oh my gosh.
Wow.
He looked different.
Hmm.
Um, he was still aura, he wasstill dressed in the same foes
obviously.
But even his clothes lookeddifferent.

(23:54):
I was like, who is this guy?
You know?
Um, that's amazing.
He hugged differently.
Mm.
It was, uh, like we got to go upand hug him at the end, and I
was just like, you could justfeel like it was genuine.
It was, it was different.
Yeah.
It was just different.
Um, even at home life.
Like it was different.
Yeah, it was very different.
Um, he was still Flo, but he wasnot Flo.

(24:16):
Wow.
Yeah.
Wow.
I love that.
What was that like for youduring that?
Like what, did you feeldifferent during that time?
Yeah, I mean, it's a 48 hourexperience.
You know, you go into the woodskind of thing, so you, the cabin
and, and they're just preachingthe word, you know?
And, um, the way they speak,it's like an equivalent of a
year's worth of information in48 hours.
And it's just an encounteringand, but, and through the

(24:38):
process, there's steps that theygo through, you know, throughout
the days or whatever.
But it was that point where theywas talking about the kingdom
man.
Mm.
And they're talking about howGod views the man versus how the
world sees it.
I'm looking at it, I'm like,that's not me.
Wow.
I'm messed up.
Like, no wonder my family's theway they are.
No wonder I'm the way I am.
I'm like, man, I'm missing thesethings as a man.

(24:59):
Mm-hmm.
I, I grew up without a father,so I kind of felt like I was
short chained, like, man, no onewas there to gimme these
principles, you know?
Like these things that were overmy head is, I'm like, all right,
but hearing it, I was like,okay, I could still manage to do
them.
Like it ain't too late.
You know?
I still got my boy, I still gotmy daughter, I still got my
wife.
So I was like, you know, forthat moment I was like, nah, I'm
gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna dothis.

(25:21):
Wow.
I'm gonna do this.
I love that.
I, I can relate so much.
'cause I, I also grew up with,without my biological father and
it's, it's interesting that, youknow, it really does leave some
holes.
And I always say that awarenessis the first step towards
healing.
And sometimes we're quick tojudge not realize, realizing
that there, there was thatscared little boy that, that

(25:42):
grew up without that masculinefigure in his life.
And, and it spills over later onin life and it, it affects the
relationships.
And I know we didn't really getto talk.
Much about your childhoods.
Right?
And I wanted to kind of go backa little bit because sometimes
the way we grow up really iswhat leads to these issues,
right?

(26:02):
Mm-hmm.
So I'm big on addressing thesethings and, and really raising
the awareness like, hey, if, ifyou don't heal from those who've
hurt you, you'll bleed on thosewho don't.
Right?
And in, in your case, it wasobviously marriage.
I know it's definitely has beenfor me, you know, with my, my
issues with, with, you know, nothaving my father.
And, and, uh, I'm curious tohear a little bit about,'cause

(26:24):
you had a two parent household,was it?
Um, when, when they wanted to betogether, when they wanted My
dad was, you know, my dad wasvery back and forth.
Yeah.
Um, he was made his soul rest inpeace'cause he's not with us
anymore.
But, um, he was very, uh, veryviolent.
Mm.
You know?
Yeah.
Um, especially towards my mom.

(26:44):
Mm-hmm.
And my mom gave him everything.
Mm-hmm.
Her world was my dad.
Wow.
Um.
And he made her go through somestuff.
Yeah.
Um, every scar that's on mymom's body anywhere was caused
by him.
Wow.
Like physical?
Yeah.
Um, you know, that you couldvisibly see scar Yeah.

(27:05):
Was caused by my dad, but onething, my mom always, and I'll
never forget it, and it's what Itell my children all the time.
Um.
My mom never, ever let me downtalk my dad.
Mm.
I love that.
You know?
Yeah.
No matter how much he hurt us,no matter how much he hurt her,
no matter what he put mybrothers through mm-hmm.
Because my brothers were not hischildren.
Mm-hmm.
And he treated my brothershorribly.

(27:27):
Yeah.
She would not allow me as hisdaughter to say anything
negative about him.
Wow.
Yeah.
Um, she taught me to love him.
To love him beyond the scars, tolove him, beyond the pain, to
love him beyond the absent, youknow, that he was so absent in
our lives.
Yeah.
She still taught me to love him.
Yeah.
You know?
Um, and it was huge.
That's beautiful.
Yeah, it was huge.

(27:48):
Yeah.
On the show, you know, I'm, I'mreally big on never really
demonizing our parents becausewhen you really backtrack their
lives, I'm sure he also had hisfair share.
Oh yeah.
Generational cycles and issuesthat, that he had to personally
deal with and Correct.
You know, we were all innocentfive-year-olds playing in the
sandbox at some point in timeand, you know, full of, you

(28:11):
know, bliss and joy and lifejust kind of changes us.
Right.
And, and I'm sure he probablydealt with his fair share and he
grew up in Puerto Rico.
He, Puerto Rico and New York,Puerto Rico and New York.
He was between the two.
He would, um, he would go backand forth between the two,
depending on what lifestyle hewanted to live.
And that generation came withall kinds of problems.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All kinds of problems.

(28:31):
So God bless his soul.
Yeah.
And he definitely produced, youknow, something great in the
world.
And I, I mean, I loved him untilthe very last day.
Yeah.
He, you know, he knows I was, II used to say all the time, I
was all he had.
Mm-hmm.
You know, and, and he was all Ihad.
Yeah.
When it, you know, came to, to afatherly figure or whatever, I,
of course my mom.
Taught me to love him.

(28:51):
I love him.
Yeah.
You know, regardless, you know,and my brothers, you know, had
their fair thing share of thingsto say about him, and I would
defend him until the very, verylast moment.
But the most beautiful thingthat I could say is that when my
dad did pass at his funeral,every single one of my brothers
were, they're present.
Wow.
You know, they walked it, theyheld his casket, they walked him

(29:12):
out.
Like they honored, you know,they honored me and they honored
my dad.
Yeah.
That's, that's beautiful.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Uh, what about you, Flo?
Like, I'm curious what your,what your family situation was
like, you know, for you growingup.
Yeah.
Um, same seeing your pops, youknow, violate your moms and
stuff.
Um, by three years old he wasout.

(29:33):
Mm-hmm.
You know, I didn't see himanymore.
Uh, seeing my mom having astruggle with three kids, uh,
not having enough to the pointwhere she sent my sister to
Florida with my grandparents.
Um, so at that moment, that wasthe first tearing in our
household.
Um, then it was just me and mybrothers, you know, struggling
with my moms.

(29:53):
Um, yeah, man, I mean, I, Ithink it's your typical
household when you, when thepops leave, you know what I
mean?
The enemy gets to wreak havoc inthe household.
You know, there were momentswhere, you know, being on food
stamps, you know what I mean,and the food stamps not
reaching.
Um, seeing my mom hanging out ofthe second store window, tapping
the wire line to get the powerto cut back on, you know?

(30:14):
Yeah.
Stealing light.
Um, that's where the hustlecomes from.
Mm-hmm.
That's where the grinding,that's where, you know, the
business mindset ain't in that,you know what I mean?
It's survival at that point.
Yeah.
So as a kid, you learn tosurvive versus to live.
Yeah.
You know, so, absolutely.
It's interesting because I, Ican relate in so many ways.
My, my family also migrated fromPuerto Rico to New York, and my
father wasn't in my life at all.

(30:35):
Like, I always share the storylike I shared.
I spent more time by him, by hiscasket than I actually did my
entire life.
I never had a meal.
I never heard my father say,happy birthday.
I never received a gift oranything like that.
And I would hear stories andlike my mom, for example, I had
shared a story of like, my, myfather literally lit my mom on
fire.
Mm-hmm.

(30:55):
You know, and, and put her outwith like a boiling pot of hot
broccoli, you know, that was andlike, but.
You know, when you have anunderstanding, like she, she for
forgave him over the years and,you know, he was, uh, addicted
to heroin.
You know, he had got hooked onheroin and this was during the,
the drug epidemic in New York.
And a lot of these are systemicissues and, you know, there's so

(31:18):
much, and it isn't until youhave the awareness of what was
really going on, what they werefaced with.
You know, he also saw his cousinmurdered in front of him, you
know, at 14 years old.
Wow.
And carried the weight of that.
So having an understanding ofthat, like how could you have
resentment towards someone likethat, you know, as, as tragic as

(31:39):
that is.
But years later I hadreconnected.
I, I looked for him and Ireconnected with him, and he was
just very apologetic about.
You know, the whole thing andhow he went about his
relationship with my mom and,you know, it was, it was healing
for me to, to, you know, get tothat, that place.
And he ended up passing away,like right after, like, I had my

(32:00):
first son, his, his, hisgrandson.
And literally within a few dayshe had passed away.
Wow.
And, and honestly though, I wasjust truly grateful that I got
to a place where yes, I could, Icould bring things full circle
and heal from all of that.
Yes.
And he, he paid the price forhis actions.
He really did.

(32:20):
Um, but it, it is important tojust heal from those
relationships.
And I think that's part of ittoo.
You go, you go and you findyourself spiritually, but it's
also healing aspects of you thatwere deeply hurt, you know,
throughout childhood.
Yeah.
With, with your specificupbringing, do you guys feel
like there was any of that thatled to just issues that you had

(32:42):
later on in life?
In terms of even what it lookslike to be a wife or be a
husband or just, you know,trusting or, you know, just any
For, for me, I mean obviouslywhen we had our first child or
whatever, first thing that comesto my head is I can be nothing
like my pops.
Mm-hmm.
You know, so, um, never violatedmy wife, you know what I mean?

(33:05):
Um, I'm one that I believe thatI'd rather end it Yeah.
Than to go that far with it.
Of course.
You know?
Um, so for me, I knew I had thetemplate of what not to be, just
I never knew what to be.
Yeah.
So I kind of got left in thatcliff where it's like, okay, I'm
not that, but what am I kind ofthing or whatever.
Mm-hmm.
But what I did know is when Ihad our first child, it was, I'm

(33:25):
not gonna be nothing like mypops.
Mm-hmm.
This child is gonna always seeme, she's gonna always know me.
They're gonna always fill myhands, they're gonna always feel
my embrace.
They're always gonna get myinstruction, you know, while I'm
here.
Mm-hmm.
Um.
That was the only thing that Iknew, you know, that was the
biggest hurt that I think I'vehad was, I don't wanna be
nothing like that, dude.
Yeah, yeah.
For sure.
For sure.
Yeah.

(33:45):
What about you, like with, witheven the way your mom navigated
through, like dealing with yourdad?
So it was really tough for mymom because, um, he, he didn't
even allow her to learn how todrive.
Mm.
You know, because he wanted herto depend on him so, so much and
to control.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Control.
Um, so one thing that I tookfrom him, and one thing you

(34:08):
know, that I, that I, uh, that Itook from my mom, from him was,
you know, I, which I'm not proudto say, but for a very, very
long time, I had to be incontrol of everything.
You know, to where even, youknow, our fra friends and family
jokingly, but they meant itYeah.
Would be like, she wears thepants.

(34:29):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
You know, not something I'mproud of at all.
Yeah.
You know, now.
Yeah.
But back then it was like, yep,I do.
Yeah.
Sure.
Um, but to take away from my momand I'm proud, you know, growing
up my mom worked three jobs.
I would see her come out of herfirst job, walk to her second
job, and on the weekends had athird job because we never knew.

(34:54):
When my dad was gonna be around.
So yes, my dad paid the billswhen he was around, but if he
got into one of his Frenzy,frenzy mm-hmm.
And wanted to disappear mm-hmm.
He could be gone 3, 4, 5 monthsof course.
And he wasn't paying bills fromwherever he was at.
Mm-hmm.
You know, so my mom always hadto keep it up.
So the workaholic, the wantingto work around the clock mm-hmm.
Even when I get home stillworking.

(35:16):
Yeah.
You know, wake up in the morningand still working that my mom
instilled in me.
Or not even having to depend ona man.
Right.
You, you know, taking on that orjust having the mindset where
I'm not gonna put up with hisshit.
Right.
Yeah.
Right.
Like, there's no way in in hellmy mom had to do.
I'm not, I'm not that, I'm notdoing that.
Yeah.
I'm not doing that.
Yeah.
It's interesting how thosethings kind of carry on to the

(35:37):
next generation.
Yeah.
You guys now have threechildren, right.
And they're all adults.
And I, uh, I'm curious aboutwhat that was like from a
parenting standpoint.
So you got each other that youobviously at war with, but then
you have the children and it'sinteresting, right?
Like.
You hear the stories from theirperspective years later and
you're like, wow.
Like that's how, that, that'swhat you were, that's what you

(35:57):
guys saw.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I'm sure you guys probablyhave had a lot of Yeah.
Maybe hard conversations withthem.
Yeah.
But what was, what was that likethe parenting side of things?
Was, was there, was there alittle bit of like, I know for
me, sometimes I'm, I getworried, like whenever I have
those heated, you know,arguments with my wife, like,
damn, I don't want my kidshearing that version of me.

(36:18):
Right.
And you don't know what they'reactually taking, how they're
perceiving it or interpretingit.
Well, we protected our kids alot.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
A lot.
We didn't fight in front ofthem.
That's good.
You know, or we tried not to.
Mm-hmm.
Sometimes it was out of ourhands of course, and it would
happen and, but we tried not tofight in front of them.
Mm-hmm.
I will say, uh, my, our son.
I always chose dad.

(36:40):
Yeah.
Like, you know, he was the coolone.
Yeah.
So, um, and the girls for themost part were always on mommy's
side.
Yeah.
But the girls were a lot youngertoo.
Mm-hmm.
So we didn't expose them.
Yeah.
And I think it's something thatbecause of what we saw as
children growing up, like hesaid earlier, like, I am not

(37:00):
gonna put my kids through that.
Mm-hmm.
Not because we spoke about it,not because we ever said to one
another, Hey, we're not doingthis in front of the kids, but
because we both lived it aschildren course in us,
absolutely.
It was not gonna happen to ourkids.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's amazing.
Yeah.
I had learned from apsychologist years ago that, you
know, sometimes you have theselike arguments or you're like
going back and forth and he hadmentioned that the most

(37:21):
important thing to do wheneveryour kids actually see you kind
of fighting back and forth is toshow them what it looks like to
forgive and move on right after.
Mm-hmm.
So when my wife and I findourselves just going, then going
back and forth in front of thekids.
Immediately we're showing themthat, Hey, we're back to being
friends.
We're back to loving each other.

(37:42):
And we, we don't want them tohave this unreal, unrealistic
expectation that marriage isjust all mess.
Oh, mess.
My parents never fought.
Right?
Yes.
Right.
We'd rather them know like, Hey,this is actually what it looks
like, but we can heal, we couldforgive and we can let go and
move on.
Right.
And yeah.
And I, I think that that's a bigpart of just parenting in

(38:02):
general.
Just showing your kids like,hey, it, it, you'll have those
difficult moments, but you canlet go.
And it's the after it'simportant.
Exactly.
And I think the model changes asthey get older.
That's true.
Because the way we handled themwhen they were 10 to 13 is not
how we obviously handle'em now,you know?
Um, before it was moreinstruction like.
Yeah.
You know, you saw mom and dadarguing or might pull one up to

(38:23):
the side and be like, Hey.
That's just arguing.
This is not fighting.
No one's gonna, you'll see thekids freak out, like, oh, what's
gonna happen now?
Are they gonna separate?
Yeah, because we did at onepoint, of course.
So now they look and like, isthis really happening?
Or whatever.
So sometimes you gotta just goback to them and kind of counsel
them.
Yeah.
While you're still in theargument with your, with your
partner.
Right.
For sure.
And.
So sometimes you gotta giveinstruction to, now it's to the

(38:44):
point where obviously, like youwere saying earlier, we're
closer that the end of the emptynesters.
Yeah.
But there was a point where wewere no longer giving counsel,
it was more modeling it to showthem like, Hey, I'm not gonna
tell you that we're not leavingor breaking up when anything's
happening.
We are gonna show that there'sstill love in disagreement.
Yeah.
You know?
So I think it's better to modelit for them Of course.
Than to talk about it.
That's right.
Because some people will talkbetter than what they do.

(39:05):
Yep.
So we kind of learn to better,to model it in front of our
children and be like, look, yes.
It's not always gonna beperfect.
Mm-hmm.
But it's always gonna bewilling.
Yeah.
It's always for sure.
So we try to model it more thanwhat we do.
Talk about it.
Would you guys say that you'reproud of the, the, you know,
young adults now?
I mean, your son is 30 now,right?
Right.
Yes.
So, I mean, would you say you'reproud of who they became in the
process as adults?

(39:27):
Who our children became.
Yeah.
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah.
Oh, I think that further aheadthan what we were.
Yes, absolutely.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
That's a good deal.
We were ambitious and wanting,but we were blinded as well.
Mm-hmm.
I think they're morevisionaries, you know what I
mean?
And even with vision, you canstill make mistakes.
Yeah.
So that's okay.
Yeah.
That I can be corrected, but Ithink Yeah, they light years
ahead of us.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Our youngest, um, Angelie, she's22.

(39:49):
Mm-hmm.
And she's just, uh, you know,she's a teacher at school, she's
a makeup artist now.
She's doing custom creations forcups and pens.
And so she's just, she loves itall.
I love that.
You know, and, and she's okaywith being, you know, doing all
of the different things.
And, and I see her sometimes andyou know, with the coffee shop,
she's like, I wanna work, comework at the coffee shop.

(40:09):
And I'm like, no.
Yeah.
Keep the three things that youhave going on right now and
master them.
No, you're not coming to thecoffee shop.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I love that your, your childrenare really an extension of you
guys.
Yeah.
Like they're serialentrepreneurial kind of, you
know, interest and the fact thatthey are hustlers and, and the
fact that you guys integratethem into the business.
I love Yes.
Like you mentioned, one of yourdaughters is on the body side of

(40:31):
things, the other's on thebeauty side of things.
Yeah.
And the fact that you can allcome together, they obviously
have to like you enough to bewilling to work with you.
That's right.
That's right.
One of, one of my good friends,he would always say that success
is your kids wanting to hang outwith you in their twenties.
Oh yes.
Right.
When they're willing to justwanna hang out with their

(40:52):
parents.
That's right in, in adulthoodthat that's success.
You know, you've done somethingRight.
We are a package deal.
Yeah.
Like we are a package deal whereyou see him, you'll see me.
Where you see me, you'll seehim.
Yeah.
All the time.
Yeah.
But our family, we are a familyof five.
Like we are a package deal.
And it's so funny that you saythat because when we want to do

(41:13):
something or when we wanna havea party or go somewhere or make
a reservation somewhere.
It's hard.
Yeah.
Because now they're older.
Absolutely.
They all have their partners.
Right.
And now it's a party of eight.
Yeah.
And now you call places andthey're like, oh, you have to
make a special reservation.
And I'm like, wait, this is myfamily.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, or you know, we wannago out on a boat.
And I, I tell'em, we can't goout on a boat'cause we can't

(41:34):
invite anybody because just usand our family, we're we, we
maxed it.
Absolutely.
You know?
But our kids love to be with us.
Yeah.
All three of them.
Mm.
That's amazing.
Love, love, love to be with us.
Love that.
I love that.
There's not a moment, there'snot a moment that I could say to
them, Hey, we're gonna go dothis.
Do you guys wanna go?
No.
We know that they wanna go.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
They love to be with us.
Of course.
And we love having them with us.

(41:54):
That's amazing.
Yeah.
We love having them with us.
Yeah.
That's really beautiful.
What would you guys say at, atthis stage in your life, uh,
that you're, what, what are youmost proud of?
Out of everything, you know, yougot business, you got family,
you got your spiritual life.
Like what comes to mind ifsomeone was to ask you, like,
Hey, what are you most proud ofin your life?
Our spiritual growth?
Hmm.
My spiritual growth.
It is, it is everything.
Yeah.

(42:14):
It is everything.
Um, Bible says that it's yourgifts that may s room before
men, right?
Mm-hmm.
So it is the more God, the moreopportunity.
Yeah.
And it's not about theopportunity, the opportunity to
come when you have more God.
Yeah.
So it is building thatrelationship with God, waking up
in the morning.
Right.
And not allowing myself to bedistracted with the day, because
there's always gonna besomething to do.
Of course.
Um, to set aside that time.

(42:35):
Um, I think the best thing forme as a man was getting to a
point where I had to make surethat my kids saw that I was the
last one praying before theywent to bed.
Mm-hmm.
They know that I'm seeking God'sface and before they wake up,
they already know that I'm gonnabe the first one already praying
and worshiping.
Yeah.
And setting a tone for the day.
Um, like I said, without God,there's nothing so much can go

(42:55):
wrong.
And if it goes wrong, it's, itwill.
Yeah.
So I'm okay if something takes aleft, you know?
Yeah.
'cause I know, okay, I presentedthis day for God.
Absolutely.
So, yeah, I think the biggestthing that I can look at and
say, you know what, we usheredin the presence of God into our
family, you know, there's a fearof the Lord within us.
Of course.
Business is great, family isgreat, but if there's no God,
none of it means anything.

(43:15):
That's right.
Anything.
So, if anything, I wanna leavemy children, my family, if I was
to leave or whatever it is, toknow that you guys know you're
God.
That's right.
That's right.
That's amazing.
Yeah.
What about you?
Usually mine is, um, obviouslyGod first.
Mm-hmm.
But, um, it's our love.
Mm-hmm.
You know, we've been married 25years.
That's a long time.
You don't see that often, youknow.

(43:37):
That's good.
I get a new watch, I get a, Iget a new watch when we leave
here.
I get a new watch for thatanswer.
Yeah.
No.
But, um, yes.
It, it is definitely our love.
25 years is a long time.
Yeah.
You know, um, 25 years is a longtime.
My parents married, divorced,married, again, divorced.

(43:57):
Wow.
Like split up.
Yeah.
You know, my dad marriedsomebody else like it, you know,
and we are, um.
We've been together and it'sbeen rough.
Yeah.
But for me, I'm super proud ofwhere we are today.
Absolutely.
Together, standing strong, ourkids, you know, that's so
incredible.
Yeah.
Doing what you, you know, what,what they're doing and mm-hmm.

(44:18):
And being able to be proud ofwhat we have.
Definitely, definitely.
What advice would you givesomeone who probably is in the
same shoes as you starting out,let's say early twenties?
What, what advice would you givethem for like, marriage in
particular?
What, what comes to mind?
Like you guys have over aquarter century together.
Yeah, it's a long time.
And if there was any piece ofadvice that you would give just

(44:41):
on having a, a, a, a good solidmarriage, maybe some things you
guys could have avoided that,you know now, what would that
be?
Um, I would say to be thefastest to forgive mms.
I think that's good.
The moment you're able toforgive within any discord
within the relationship, ifyou're ready or quickly able to
disarm it.

(45:02):
That's then that tension, thathardship, that going to bed on
the opposite side, or somebodysleeping in the bedroom, the
other one you remove that youdisarm the enemy in that area.
Right?
So if you're the fastest to doit, it's almost one of those
things like, yes, it happened.
Mm-hmm.
But let me make it right.
Mm-hmm.
You know, don't let time be thatthing that's supposed to heal,
because it never does.
It just wedges other things inthe middle of it.
And by the time you recognizesyou're further apart, and then

(45:23):
you recognize, you look at itand be like, why are we this far
apart?
And you're like, I really don'tknow why.
How did we get here?
Right.
So it's kind of one of thosethings like if you can be the
first or the fastest to forgive,your marriage will excel so much
better.
I love that.
So good.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Never, ever go to bed angry.
Mm-hmm.
That's super important.
Not that we live it and modelit.

(45:43):
Mm-hmm.
All the time.
Yeah.
But it is something that, youknow, I was taught.
Mm-hmm.
You know, and don't go to bedangry.
Yeah.
You know, you let the enemy sofar in.
Mm-hmm.
Your relationship.
Yeah.
When you go to bed angry forsure.
You know your thoughts.
Mm-hmm.
You know, and the mind is crazyand we all know that.
Yeah.
You know, so don't go to bedangry.

(46:04):
Communicate.
Mm-hmm.
Communication for me is so, sohard.
And he could tell youcommunication is not my favorite
thing.
Yeah.
When we do have to communicate,he's like, I'm talking to you.
Yeah.
Can you speak back?
And a lot of times I am like, Ican't, I can't communicate that
I can't get what I wanna say outbecause I don't know if what I

(46:25):
say is gonna make things worseof what I say.
Like if I really tell you how Ifeel, yeah.
Is it going to be worse?
Of course.
Are we gonna be in a worsesituation than what we're in
now?
So maybe I just feel like, um.
I'm better off not sayinganything at all.
Yeah, yeah.
And that is not Yeah.
The best place to be.
Of course, of course.
Yeah.
No, it's so true.
Now I want to go into a littlebit of the success.

(46:46):
Yes.
So at some point in time youguys launched two schools, and
then you got into the beautybusiness and, and everything
like that.
And talk to us a little bitabout just what that looked like
for you guys.
When did you finally get to thatarrival point?
Or maybe it wasn't an arrivalpoint, but it was like, okay,
things are actually, we we'refinally where we've always

(47:06):
wanted to be financially as afamily.
What did that season look likefor you guys?
Um, so our schools, um, one ofour schools took a major hit in
2019 because we were so absentfrom it.
So we had two schools.
We were so absent from it thatwe were not seeing internally

(47:28):
what was going on inside of it.
And um, and God revealedsomething to us.
One day and like, I don't know,we would be here right now.
Yeah.
If we had not heeded to whatGod, you know, showed us.
Wow.
But, um, so we, we got.

(47:49):
Control of it in 2019 and, anddid some changes and had to go
through, you know, a, a fewhurdles, um, but got it back on
track.
Mm-hmm.
Got it back on track quick.
Um, and since then, praise theLord.
It's, it's been great.
But, um, I, I could say Flo is,he is my biggest cheerleader.
He's my biggest fan, you know.
Um, we discuss everything whenit comes to the businesses

(48:11):
together.
So I had this bright idea that Iwanted to get Fajas shipped down
from Columbia because there areno good faja stores.
Yeah.
Here in Tampa.
Mm-hmm.
Like they sell one size fitsall, you know, small, medium,
large, extra large.
And it's supposed body shapesare not like that.
Mm-hmm.
Body shapes are different.
Some women are small on top, ofcourse.

(48:32):
Big on bottom.
Yeah.
You know, small on bottom, bigon top.
So I did my research and I founda distributor in Columbia that
customizes Fajas to be.
Custom to the body.
If you're small on top, you geta small, if you're big on
bottom, you can get a large.
And, and that's how it worked.
So I talked to him one day andhe was like, I don't know about
this.
And I was like, come on, let'sjust give it a shot.

(48:53):
I think we can do it.
And it took a little bit ofconvincing, um, but he finally
said yes.
So that's kind of where STR wasbirthed.
Wow.
Um, you know, he came up withthe name he researched, even
though he was not solelyconvinced Yeah.
On the back end without meknowing he was, he was working.
Yeah.
And that's normally he might notbe 150% onboard.

(49:16):
Yeah.
Yeah.
But he's, he's in mm-hmm.
And he's in, he's in the back,you know, he's behind the scenes
working on it.
Yeah, for sure.
And then he comes up and he'slike, Hey, I thought about this.
And I'm like, wait.
You told me No.
So, um, so yes.
So that's where str Wow.
Was birthed.
Yeah.
That's amazing.
Yeah.
As far as feeling like youso-called, made it or have

(49:37):
reached that pinnacle that youwere seeking?
We haven't gotten there.
No.
I think that's the push.
I think that's the drive, yeah.
That we have.
That's why we keep spilling intoour children.
Yeah.
Because we're gonna get to thatpoint where we max out, right?
Mm-hmm.
And we'll plateau in lifestyleor whatever, but if you're
spilling up into your children,then they could be an extension
of your drive.
So that's the push for ourchildren.
Mm-hmm.
Um, but yeah, as far as when didwe feel like it, it has, in our,

(50:00):
our dream has always been to bedebt free.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I think we're like, uh, 80%,90%.
Nice.
Nice.
Yeah.
Um, we want to be totally free,you know what I mean?
Yeah.
To be able to, to really do whatGod has put in our hearts, you
know, in the areas of business.
Um.
Yeah.
But as far as reaching thatlevel that we want to, I don't

(50:20):
think we, oh, there's still somuch more.
It's crazy because you guys saythat, right?
But there'll be so many peoplelooking at like, this beautiful
establishment you guys have and,and how far you've come.
And now you have this, thisconference that you're doing the
Rise and Build conference andYeah.
Everything and your family life.
And, and for some people it'slike, yeah, they made it.
Yeah.
But sometimes as overachiever,it's like, it's never enough.

(50:43):
Right?
Yeah.
It's, it's never enough.
Right?
Yeah.
I, I think, you know, the wordof God tells us to be fruitful,
right?
Yeah.
And so you've always got to beproducing.
Yeah.
When you're not producing,you're, you're not operating in,
in the identity of God, becausethat's what God does.
Mm-hmm.
God expands, God grows.
Yeah.
Um, when you stop growing, yougotta start asking, where's God
not planting seed anymore.
That's right.

(51:03):
That's right.
Right.
Before you be fruitful, yougotta be seed full.
Yeah.
So I believe you gotta call forthe seed first or whatever.
And when you get it in his.
And dream form and vision formthat drives you.
Yeah.
You can't sleep.
Yeah.
Your passion, you wake up andyou're driven and it's like, so
you're never satisfied, youknow?
Yeah.
Now, do we know what's next?
No.
No.
But there is a next, of course,because I'm here today.
Course.
Of course.
So there, there's an ability,there's an opportunity for

(51:23):
something.
Yeah.
This connection, right?
Like we were talking earlierthere, I'm like, man, I'm,
you're good.
So I'm like, man, I love yourvision.
I love your ideas and stuff.
So it's like things happen for areason and you expanding those
things.
It's like they say success is inthe journey, not the
destination.
Yes.
And you guys, you're successfulbecause you're, you're in
pursuit of a, a higher ideal, ifyou will.

(51:45):
And now it's like you're in thephase of your children and
extending the legacy throughthem.
And I, I love.
Earlier.
Earlier we were talking aboutjust the vision down the road,
and you mentioned just leavingsomething behind for them.
Like you can genuinely say, oryour children can say, you know,
our parents, they left this,they left that.
Yes.
Like, I don't have to work forsomebody else's company because

(52:05):
they built this for us.
And what, what do you guys thinkof when you think of legacy?
Like when you think of like truelegacy, what, what comes to
mind?
I mean, for me it is the lastname.
Mm-hmm.
You know, I didn't have my dad.
Yeah.
So he didn't give me thatbenchmark of what it is to be a
Perez.
Yeah.
So to me it's like, all right,it's on my shoulders.

(52:26):
So I always made sure that mykids got their heads up behind.
Yeah.
Anything happens, you know, theyfall, they get hurt.
Yeah.
Pick your head up your Perez notape.
Knock it off.
Yeah.
That's right.
Like hold yourself to a certainstandard.
Yeah.
You know, but the word of Godsays that Jesus name, his name
is above every name.
Yeah.
So there's a name above thePerez name.
Of course.
Of course.
You course.
So my name is just humble beforehis.
Yep.
Yep.
But when I talk to my children,they're like, you gotta live it

(52:47):
for your name, because that'syour everything.
Yeah.
When you mention your name, thatshould say those are people that
are honest, trustworthy, mm.
Hard workers driven.
You can trust on'em, you know?
Mm-hmm.
Your name has to mean somethingin life.
So yeah.
The name is everything.
I, I love that you say that, andI get goosebumps because when I
asked you guys at the beginning,do you want me to just refer to
you as ju Julie and, and Flo?

(53:09):
Mm-hmm.
And just leave out the la youknow, I didn't know if you want
your government out there andyour daughter's like, oh no,
that's the family legacy.
Right.
Like, that's our family name.
That's our name Of course.
Put it in there and, and you canjust tell that the apple doesn't
fall far from the tree.
Yeah.
And I, I love.
That you guys really embody.
You mentioned like having, beinga kingdom man, right?

(53:29):
And what, what does that looklike?
So obviously you have, you havethe spiritual, and then the US
men we're, we're supposed to bethe priest of our household,
right?
Mm-hmm.
And we're like the heads of ourhousehold, and I always say that
the women are like the next,that give the head direction.
Mm-hmm.
And if the head is sick, thewhole body follows and you can
judge a tree by the fruit thatit bears.
And the fact that you guys areproducing really, really good

(53:52):
fruit, not only, you know, froma tangible standpoint with
business, but also through yourchildren.
Yes.
Which is incredible.
But what, what does legacy looklike for you, Julie?
Um, I mean, see knowing, well,praying, you know?
Mm-hmm.
That when we are not.
No longer here, my kids willcontinue, you know, that our,

(54:13):
our legacy that all we workedfor, all we strived for, you
know, blood, sweat, and tearsmm-hmm.
You know, meant something.
Mm-hmm.
And will continue.
Yeah.
You know, we'll continue.
Um, our kids by no means wereborn with a gold spoon in their
mouth.
Yeah.
At all.
You know, they've seen the lowsof lows.
Yeah.
Too.
Um, we were on, you know, um,welfare or, you know, government

(54:38):
assistance Yeah.
For many, many years.
Mm-hmm.
You know, many years.
Um, so legacy to me is, youknow, that my children take
something away from this.
Mm-hmm.
You know, um, that everythingthat we have done Yeah.
We serves its purpose and wehave done it for a reason.
You know, that what God haspoured into us mm-hmm.

(55:00):
Trickles down to our children.
Trickles down to ourgrandchildren.
Yeah.
And that, um, you know, there'spurpose in them.
Mm-hmm.
You know, and that they followsuit.
Yeah.
You know, um, we have our, our,um, head bumps with our kids.
Mm-hmm.
You know, they're not perfectYeah.
By any means.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and a lot of times it'stough love, but we'll never let

(55:22):
them suffer as long as we'rehere.
Yeah.
Um, will we let them go throughstruggle mm-hmm.
And, you know, see what reallife is.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Because if we didn't, wewouldn't be good parents.
Mm-hmm.
You know?
Absolutely.
If we, you know, fished them outof the pond every time they were
drowning Yeah.
We wouldn't, yeah.
We wouldn't, we wouldn't beserving purpose.

(55:43):
Right.
Yeah.
Um, I, I'll bring up my son forone.
He's a mama's boy.
Mm-hmm.
You know, he's 30 years old, buthe's a mama's boy and I love
that he's a mama's boy.
Mm-hmm.
I wouldn't change it foranything in the world.
Mm-hmm.
You know, but, um, it's beenrecent.
That I've had to let him gothrough some bumps in the road

(56:03):
and stuff like that, and, youknow, and, and he doesn't get
it.
Mm-hmm.
You know, because I have babiedhim so much because of all that
I have done for so long.
For sure.
And is that fair to him?
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
You know, so I just, you know,um, I just, for me, it's what we
have given, what we haveinstilled in them, what they

(56:25):
have taken from what mm-hmm.
We have, given what they, whatthey've taken from what they see
in us.
Is very important.
Yeah.
I love that.
I, I always share that it's,it's not about.
Trying to protect your childrenfrom struggle.
It's about teaching them how tostruggle well.
Mm-hmm.
Because none of us are gonna getaway from struggle.

(56:46):
That's right.
It is just, it's inevitable.
And that's why you, youoftentimes hear that pain is
inevitable, but suffering is achoice.
So you're gonna go through painin your life, but if you choose
to stay there and suffer throughit, and that's a choice.
Right.
And I, I, I wanted.
Before we bring it in for alanding here, like, just my
personal question for you guysis how do you as entrepreneurs

(57:08):
navigate when it's a reallytough, like winter season and
the, the bills are billing andlike you're way in over your
head?
And, because I, I remember when,when I got hit with that and it
was just, it was a shock to mynervous system.
I was like, damn, I've neverbeen here before.
This is really uncomfortable.
And then when you have childrenand you have this high quality

(57:29):
of life that you're trying tomaintain for your family mm-hmm.
It, it can be, it can be reallyheavy for, for someone.
Yeah.
And I'm curious as, as you know,parents, as a family, how, how
have you guys navigated throughthose really difficult financial
situations where you don't evenknow if you're gonna be able to
cover the, the payroll or therent or whatever, you know?

(57:51):
Yeah.
It, it is, um.
Your your purpose over yourplatform, right?
Like even this term, it is KBkingdom business.
Mm-hmm.
It is kingdom before business,right?
Mm-hmm.
So when you recognize what'syour foundation, right?
Your foundation gotta beunshakeable.
Yeah.
It doesn't mean that thingsaren't gonna happen, that storms
aren't gonna come crashingagainst your life where bills do
look real.
Yeah.

(58:11):
And, but you gotta know that atthe end of the day, your
business didn't start with you.
It started with God.
Right.
The opportunities, the, theability, the people, the
connection.
That's why we said earlier, youknow, uh, people are more
important than our finances.
Right?
Yeah.
Because when the finances driveup, you always got people
resources.
Yeah.
So I love people over finances,you know what I mean?
So, um, yeah.

(58:32):
We've hit storms in ourbusinesses.
Mm-hmm.
And, um, because God was ourfoundation, it doesn't mean you
don't go through things and youdon't question things or
whatever.
That's right.
You just got a source that says,all right, God, quiet this
storm.
Yeah.
He's the bridge over the stormywater.
So it's like, God.
It's crazy right now.
Mm-hmm.
You know, the business is notlooking the same as being
shaken, but he's that steelbridge that we can come and

(58:53):
settle on and say, God, I knowyou're in control.
And through that comes wisdom,you know, it comes, discern
comes your next move.
So yeah, the foundation isalways gonna be God.
Now before, oh, we hit SuperiorLo without God and Yeah.
Was drowning and looking at eachother like, it's your fault
because you did this.
Now it's like, God, okay, we'regoing through this.
Teach us how to navigate throughthis.
Mm-hmm.
There's a reason in this storm.

(59:14):
That's good.
Really good.
I love that.
Yeah.
You know, I remember a, um, atime in our life, and it
probably was back around 2019when I told you that one of our
business took a big hit.
I was sitting in church and myparents always taught me, stop
looking at your bank account allthe time.
Stop looking at your bankaccount.
Stop checking to see what youhave in your bank account.

(59:35):
I was sitting in church and um,the pastor's daughter is my
witness.
She was sitting right next tome.
And I looked at my bank account,I looked at our business's bank
account, and God is my witness,Josh.
It was$0.
Mm.
And I was like, wait, how didthis happen?

(59:57):
You know, how did I not see thiscoming?
$0 in the bank account, youknow, to where I had to take
from savings and put in the bankaccount.
'cause I was like, it's Sunday,I did payroll on Friday.
Yeah.
Those checks obviously have notall cleared.
Yeah.
They start clearing Monday,Tuesday, Wednesday, we're in
trouble.
Mm-hmm.
You know, and I'm, and so, youknow, I move money over, I had

(01:00:18):
to move quite a bit over.
We have 35 teachers.
Yeah.
The bank account is$0 inside thebank account.
Wow.
And I'm like, okay, God, dosomething.
Yeah.
I need to move.
Yeah.
And, and move quickly.
Yeah.
Do something.
Mm-hmm.
And it was maybe two weekslater.

(01:00:40):
That God revealed to us what wasgoing on at the center, that we
were able to run in and save it,you know, that God saved it.
Mm-hmm.
You know, and we ran inphysically to do the work that
needed to be done behind thescenes, but the biggest thing
that I took from that moment wasobviously our kids heard what

(01:01:01):
was going on.
Right.
They heard the struggle.
They, they, they saw what we hadto do to, to regain control of
our own business.
Yeah.
You know how crazy that sounds?
To have to regain control ofsomething that is yours.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, and one of our kids on theirown without asking, took our
electric bill at home and ourelectric bill at home is eight

(01:01:25):
$900, sometimes a thousanddollars a month.
And walked up to me and waslike, mom, our electric bill is
paid.
Yeah.
I wanna help.
Wow.
Yeah, that's beautiful.
I think that's the biggestprinciple, if I can add to it,
um, is the given aspect.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Because giving breaks and opensdoors, right.
The Bible says, given it shallbe given onto you.
Um, I think when our business istaking the most hits where it's

(01:01:47):
like, okay, are we gonna have toshut one down to make the other
one survive or whatever.
At that moment it was like thatfrom one school to the other,
and we was like, yeah, I thinkit's time to maybe close one so
the other one could survive.
'cause it was just beingovertaken by the other one,
having to pay his bills.
And it was at that moment whereit was like, no, what we're
gonna do is give, we're gonnagive to the church.
We're gonna sow a bigger offerand we're gonna give more to our

(01:02:09):
time.
And in doing so, I mean, it wasliterally within that same week,
like families just startedenrolling and coming in.
Um, so yeah, like the principleof giving, if there's anything,
any area that I would, ifsomeone was to ask, like, what
was the one thing that you guysdid?
It's giving and like, I don'tknow what it is about it that
when you do it, it just givesyou access.

(01:02:30):
You know, we gave a large C onetime, believe in God for
property.
God ended up giving us our home,and our home is over$3 million
or whatever.
We paid$500,000 for it.
Wow.
That's another testimony.
Yeah.
That's another interview.
Yeah.
Go home.
That's a huge story.
We go home and it's like.
This is God.
You know, there's not a moment.
We've been there almost 10 yearsnow at our home, and there's not

(01:02:51):
a moment where I drive up anddon't see the hand of God.
Yeah.
Over our lives the moment wewalk into a property.
So it's like incredible.
You're faithful, but it all stemfrom giving and trusting and
having faith.
So for sure giving is huge.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I, I remember asking you when Ifirst came in, how this all came
to be, and, and, you know, wespoke a lot about faith, we
spoke about business, family,all that stuff.
And it's, it's interesting thatwe're here today and if it

(01:03:14):
wasn't.
For this establishment.
I mean, I probably wouldn't evenbe here.
Right.
Right.
And that's how divineintervention works.
Yes.
And this whole establishmentfrom just the community that you
have.
And, and I love what you guyshave here because it's not just
about your success.
You're also creating andfostering an environment for
other people to succeed.
So you, and that is important tous.

(01:03:36):
Absolutely.
So important to us.
And they look like they'rethriving.
I, I see barbers, I see Tians.
I see, you know, you know,eyelashes, everything.
Yeah.
And you guys have the full blownout operation here.
Yeah.
And it's, it's incredible.
And I, you can, you can feelthe, the flow of prosperity in
this place.
Yes.
And not only prosperity, but butthe peace that, that they have.

(01:03:58):
Yes.
Amen.
As well.
Yeah.
And I think that's incredible.
But this was also the divineintervention, this entire
building.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
And we can't close out thisshow, um, or this episode
without just talking about howthis came to be because just a
few months ago, and I'm surethings kind of.
Came full circle, having themayor here Yes.
Doing a ribbon cutting.

(01:04:18):
And it's just like, wow.
Look how far we've come.
Yes.
Right.
So yeah, you, I'd love to just,you know, have you guys share
that take?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Um, so, uh, in November again,um, we go to a conference at our
church.
There's a guest speaker there.
We don't know him.
Um, we've never seen him before.

(01:04:39):
He's never spoken to us before.
He's a prophet.
And, um, we're, we're at thisconference, he's speaking, he's
pouring into people or whatever.
We're sitting probably in middleto back of the church.
Right.
We're not even sitting up front.
And, um, he, he calls us out andtells us to stand up and we

(01:05:01):
stand up and, um, he prophesiesseveral things over us, you
know, prosperity business, butthen he goes into something very
specific.
And he says, you know, he closeseyes, his eyes and looks around
and he's like, you know, I see abuilding and I see a building
with many rooms.
Mm-hmm.

(01:05:22):
And the building calls forbusinesses.
And he specifically said, thebuilding calls for businesses.
And he says, you know, go outand search for that building,
but if you don't find thebuilding with many rooms, build
the rooms yourself in thebuilding.

(01:05:44):
So of course, you know, wereceive it, you know, we go back
to our seats, we get in the carand I'm like, babe.
The my first thought process, itschools.
I don't want another school,schools.
I don't want another school.
Wow.
I don't,'cause I'm thinking manyrooms, classrooms, right?
Mm-hmm.
I don't want another school.
This is not, I don't wanna builda third school.
Like this is not where I seemyself.

(01:06:06):
I don't see myself with schoolsthe rest of my life.
It's too stressful.
The licensing, the, the lawscourse.
I don't, I don't wanna do this,you know, until I, it's time for
me to retire.
And he's like, well babe, Idon't know what to tell you.
You know, you can't tell God youdon't wanna do it.
God said he sees a building withrooms and go out and look for
another school, babe.
And I'm like, that's not what Iwant.

(01:06:26):
So we leave it, you know?
Um, we don't talk about itanymore.
We continue to pray.
And, um, a few months later,not, no, sorry, A few weeks
later, we realized that ourdaughter's, um, leases are going
to expire where they're rentingspace for strato body and beauty
in South Tampa.
So their leases due to expireDecember 31st.

(01:06:48):
And so we sit down and we talkand we're like, guys, you know,
str body and beauty's notcutting it.
Like it's not, we're paying waytoo much.
Yeah.
You know where we're at andwe're barely making, making it
buy, you know, I don't, I don'tthink we could renew this lease.
Yeah.
So we need to start looking foranother, another space.
Mm-hmm.
So we look, look, look, and wefind nothing.

(01:07:12):
And we find somebody in thisbuilding that's renting this
space that you see that we're inright now and speak to them or
whatever, leave.
We don't have that assurancethat this is for us.
Yeah.
You know, that this is where weshould be.
And, um, we leave and we goaround the building and on the

(01:07:32):
other side of the building is ahuge sign with a phone number
and my hu that says for sale.
That says for, for rent, forsale.
For sale.
For rent.
So one of the two.
Mm-hmm.
And my husband says, call it.
And I'm like, no.
You know, and he's like, call itor I'm gonna call it.
Yeah.
And I'm like, I don't wanna callit, we were just inside the
building.
Yeah.
The same lady's gonna pick upthe phone.

(01:07:53):
How silly are we gonna lookcalling that number?
No.
And so he's like, babe, justcall it.
Mm.
So I call it, and it's agentleman that picks up the
phone.
And so I said, Hey, you know,I'm outside of a building.
It has your sign on it, blah,blah, blah.
He was like, I'm actually fiveminutes away.
Can you wait for me there?
Wow.
And I'll bring you inside sothat you could see it.

(01:08:14):
So I said, yeah, sure.
I hang up the phone and I'mlike, babe, what do we need to
go inside for?
We were in there and he's like,listen, let's just wait the five
minutes when he gets here.
Fast forward.
Yep.
The gentleman gets here, opensthe door, we come in.
So we saw a portion of thebuilding.
We didn't see the entirebuilding.
So we saw this section and wedidn't see the other section of

(01:08:35):
the building got.
So the gentleman says, no, it'sthe whole entire building.
It's this, that, and the other.
Explains everything to us.
We probably talked to him forabout 30 minutes.
Um, tell him what we're lookingto do.
Mm-hmm.
And when I turn around, heliterally hands my daughter the
keys to the building and says,congratulations, this is your
new building.

(01:08:55):
No lease, no deposit, noanything.
Hands puts the keys.
First time meeting him, firsttime talking with the man, and
he's already handing over keys.
Wait, why, why did he do that?
Put he put the keys in her handand was like, this is your
building.
Congratulations.
And I was like, wait, wait,wait.
We haven't made a decision.
Yeah, we don't, we don't have alease.
We don't, we haven't drawn uppaperwork.

(01:09:15):
We haven't investigated.
We don't know that, that wecould even be in this building.
Mine is not dawning on us.
A building with many rooms.
Right.
It's not dawning on us.
So the prophecy is not even,we're not even talking about the
prophecy or thinking about thepro prophecy because now this
is, so the prophecy happened inNovember.
Now this is January ish.
This is January.

(01:09:36):
So.
We had already passed our leaseterm and now we're month to
month in the building that we'rein.
Yeah, okay.
Which means rent is even higherbecause now we're month to month
of course.
So he hands my daughter thekeys.
Um, I look at my daughter andI'm like, no.
Yeah, yeah.
And she's looking at me like,mom, really?
You're gonna kill this for me?
I got keys.

(01:09:56):
I'm, and I'm like, no.
Like you don't, something seemsoff here.
Something's not right.
Is this even his building?
Like, did he find this set ofkeys somewhere?
Like nobody does that.
Wow.
You know?
So, um, he leaves and he's like,call me tomorrow or Call me
during the week.
You know, if you guys wanna comeand sign the lease or discuss
more.
And we're like.

(01:10:17):
Call you tomorrow or take yourkeys with you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know?
And he was like, no, I know thatthis building is gonna be yours.
Yeah, that's exactly what hesaid he was.
I don't know how to explain it,but I know this is for you guys.
So I'm leaving you guys with thekey.
I'm looking at her like, yo,this guy's bugging, but I'm
taking the keys.
I'm taking the keys, I'm takingthe keys.
Um, yeah.

(01:10:37):
This is crazy.
I know.
It it really crazy.
So then we get in the car, we'reall looking at each other like,
what just happened?
Mom's the word in the car.
There's no speaking, nobody'stalking.
I'm pissed that we left withkeys.
He's like, oh, oh, we left withkeys.
My daughter in the back isprobably doing somersaults, you
know?
'cause she's got this big oldbuilding.
Yeah.
You know, and I'm like, what inthe world just happened?

(01:11:00):
Did we just go from paying$3,000in South Tampa to probably 10,
12?
Because we didn't even discussmoney.
Yeah.
So is this a bigger issue Forsure.
That everybody is just so okayabout.
Hmm.
Except for me.
Yeah.
So we leave, um, and thegentleman doesn't call us on
Monday.
He doesn't call us on Tuesday.

(01:11:20):
He doesn't call us on Wednesday.
Finally, I'm like, okay, I'mcalling him.
Yeah, yeah.
And so I call him and I'm like,you know, I haven't seen Elise,
I'm, he was like, don't worryabout it.
I'll get Elise to you guys whenI get around to it.
My niece will draw it up, blah,blah.
I was like, yeah, but I needterms.
Like yeah.
I need to know what is involved.
He was like, what do you wannapay?

(01:11:40):
Yeah, yeah.
No way.
And I'm like, who does that?
When God ordains it is done.
Yes.
So, long story short, we sign alease, we get the building, it
becomes ours.
This side of the building is notbuilt.
The main side of the buildingalready has rooms in it.
Mm-hmm.
So the profit, let's go back.

(01:12:00):
Yep.
ICO building with many rooms.
And if it's not built, then youbuild them.
Yeah.
At that moment when we calledour contractor in, I said.
Yeah, that was, this is theprophecy.
This is it.
You know, the contractor camein, I was like, look, you have
two, two weeks.
You need to build us 10 rooms onthis side of the building.

(01:12:22):
You have two weeks to do it.
And a bathroom.
This is crazy.
Yeah.
In two weeks he was like, twoweeks.
And I was like, two weeks.
I was like, we need to havepeople in here March 1st.
He was like March 1st.
I was like, you heard correctlyMarch 1st.
Wow.
He was done.
He got it done February 29th.
Yeah.
On that day he got it done.
Done.
That's crazy.
People were in here March 1st.
Yeah.
That is crazy.

(01:12:42):
We were sold out by April 12th.
Yeah, I have to ask.
Yeah.
42 days.
Why did the guy give up the,like how did he know?
Did you, did you speak with himabout it?
So we don no, we don't know himfrom anywhere.
Yeah.
So like she said, we called usthe number on the sign.
Um, come to find out he's theowner of the building or
whatever.
Um, basically it was like, Hey,he's been sitting, you know, we

(01:13:04):
need movement in here.
We had somebody forward.
It didn't work, you know.
He was like, but y'all seem likey'all know y'all business
people.
So I believe you guys can get itdone.
Handed our daughters the key.
The following time that I sawhim, he was like, so, you know,
what do you think?
Monthly payments here?
So it was like, okay.
We told him like, is he askingus or he's telling us like, is
this negotiable?
Can we drop it away?
You know, we don't wanna payanything.

(01:13:25):
Yeah.
Almost like God was justtesting.
It was like, however you want,I'm gonna give it to you guys,
but this is what I have for you,or whatever.
So yeah, so we came, built itout.
Like she said, the contractorcame in two weeks, opening doors
on March.
He actually, the owner of theplace came over here with his
wife.
He like, you gotta see whatthese people are doing over
here.
So even he was in present, he'slike, man, by far my best tenant

(01:13:46):
ever.
We don't know the guy fromanywhere, but he's loving all
this.
He just, yeah, he knew.
He knew.
Wow, that, that's an amazingtestimony.
I'm so happy we brought No, it'scrazy.
And.
Just to go back, we have zeroexperience with suites.
Yeah.
We have zero.
Like this was, we did it for ourkids.
Yeah.
Because they needed a place tocontinue their business.

(01:14:07):
Of course.
Or they would've been workingout the garage.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know, we, we have zeroexperience with this.
We didn't know, and every singletenant that came to visit us,
and every single tenant thatleased a space, we were
transparent.
We were honest.
We told them all the same thing.
This is the first time that wedo this.
Hmm.
But we promise we're gonna doit.

(01:14:28):
Right.
That's right.
And we're gonna do it together.
I love that.
And I have built a personalrelationship with every single
one of them, you know, to wherea lot of them call me mom.
Yeah.
I, I, I noticed that.
Did you hear When I first walkedin?
Yeah.
A lot of them call me mom and Irespond.
I'm, you know, because I am herefor them.
My kids are very youngentrepreneurs.

(01:14:50):
So I know what it is to feellike, am I doing this right?
Am I not doing this right?
Of course.
You know, is it gonna work?
Am I going to succeed?
That's right.
You know, will I be able to makeit to next month?
You know?
Yeah.
So I am very hands-on with everysingle one of our tenants, not
just some of them.
Mm-hmm.
All of them.
Yeah.
You know, they have my personalnumber.

(01:15:10):
They know that they could callme.
They know that they could textme.
They know if they have an issue.
They, I, we will be here torespond.
If he has to go into a room andput something up for somebody,
he does it.
You know, if he, sometimes I'mlike, you're not supposed to be
doing that.
Stop doing that.
We're spoiling them.
And he's like, ah, it's okay.
You know?
We are very, very invested inthe way that we invest in our

(01:15:32):
children.
Mm-hmm.
Except for financially.
Yeah.
We are very, very extremelyinvested in them because we want
to see them succeed.
Yeah.
Our, our heart's desire is tosee them bigger than what they
walked in as Of course.
Yeah.
Key thing to business is just todo it.
I think a lot of people say, buthow do I start?
You start by doing it.

(01:15:52):
Yeah.
Just take the first step ofdoing it.
Like don't, don't talk yourselfout of it.
Just do it.
I mean, it sounds scary, soundsreal risky or whatever, but
there's no one coming to handyou a business.
Yeah.
No one gonna help you open thedoors and be successful.
That's right.
Only time to do it is right nowwhile you have the passion and
the drive, so Absolutely.
They always say, you know, youhave to participate in your own
rescue, so you have to.

(01:16:12):
That's so good.
You want a helping hand look atthe end of your wrist.
Right.
It's, it's good stuff's.
So as we get ready to wrap upand I could talk to you guys for
hours, like there's so much, Imean, there's so many amazing
things that we spoke about.
We, we have to do it by afireplace one of these days,
like a cabin or something.
Oh, at our house.
We have a fire pit.
Really?
Let's do it.
Well, I mean, yeah.
I'm gonna take you guys up onthat Yes.

(01:16:33):
At our house.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
We, uh, you know, put, puttogether like a, a nice dinner
or something and just have aYes.
A really great conversation.
Yeah.
So, uh, as, as we wrap up,right, I, I just want you guys
to just share a little bitabout, you know, the vision.
And I know it's, it'sinteresting because the way I
came across you was through a, arise and build event that you

(01:16:54):
were having.
And the, the crazy thing aboutit, I originally said, no.
I had got reached out to,because I charged$25,000 for a
one hour talk.
Mm.
You know, like that, that's myrate.
And there was just like,absolutely not, you know, like,
not for free.
You know, I'm not, I don't knowwho these people are.
Right.
Like, you know, you're, you'rejust wanting me to show up, you

(01:17:15):
know?
Right.
And I, I, I was not going to doit, but there was just something
in me that was just like.
I don't know.
You know, you get those, thosenudges.
Right, right.
And there was just something inme that said, say yes.
Oh, wow.
Just say, I had no intention ondoing a podcast.
I had no nothing.
I just, wow.
There was just that part of methat was like, just say yes.

(01:17:36):
Wow.
And I'm so happy that I didbecause this would not, so are
we, man, and we are so gratefulthat you did.
Yeah, yeah.
No, for sure.
And I'm really excited about theevent.
Yes.
And the fact that you guys areeven hosting event, like what
are the odds?
Right, right.
Talk about divine intervention.
Right?
So you have this beautiful eventset, uh, centered around legacy
and leadership and all theseamazing things.

(01:17:56):
You have panelists and what's,what's the vision?
Why even put together an eventand curate an event for business
people?
Uh, and like, what's, what's,what's the, the master plan, if
you will.
Okay.
You wanna me, I give a littlenugget or whatever.
Okay.
I mean, life is like a puzzle,right?
And every piece has its portionand stuff.
And I think, you know, what youbring to the table is not what I

(01:18:18):
can bring to the table.
Mm-hmm.
And there's somebody pullingright now to take that next step
that I don't have that answerfor them.
Mm-hmm.
But you can take two minutes ofspeaking and be like, I
understand now.
Mm-hmm.
So I think when you starting tobroaden the scope and bring in
people that are superior or dowell in their atmosphere.
Yeah.
I mean, all you do is a dooropener, right?
Yeah.
So it's like you come in, youspeak, and all of a sudden

(01:18:39):
somebody has a plan that justgot birthed in the atmosphere
and it's like, now I know whereI'm headed.
Of course.
So yeah.
When you get a room togetherwith a louder of masterminds,
you know what I mean?
That's right.
Only but good things can comeout of it, so.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
And so for me it is, I'm gonnabe very honest with you, one of
my tenants.
Pushed me to do rise and build.

(01:18:59):
Mm-hmm.
It has always been in me.
It's always been a desire, butI'm not a public speaking
person.
It's not my character, it's notmy personality.
Even though people say, what doyou mean?
Yeah, it's not mm-hmm.
It's not who I am.
Mm-hmm.
I've never, you know, I've neverbeen that person.
And one of my tenants one daywas like, Julie, you have got to

(01:19:19):
put people in a room so thatthey can hear.
Of course.
That what they see now mm-hmm.
In your family is not who youguys were before.
Yeah.
Like they're we're levels andyou are human just like the rest
of us are.
And you guys had to go throughobstacles, you had to go through
the trenches, you had to gothrough hard times Yeah.

(01:19:40):
To get to where you are today.
So it is possible.
That's right.
And that to me is everything.
Yeah.
I want success.
I wanna see success.
I wanna see people build, Iwanna see people rise.
And if I can be just a.
Tiny, tiny portion of someone'sjourney.
Mm-hmm.
That to me means, you know, theabsolute world.

(01:20:01):
That's good.
It's super important to me.
I'm all about communityconnection, you know, how can we
use this?
How can it better you?
How can you grow?
You know, how can I grow withyou?
Mm-hmm.
How can we do this together?
Yeah.
You know, um, something that wasreally important to me at the
grand opening that I spoke tothe team about, and I was like,
guys, this building's alreadysold out.

(01:20:22):
Yeah.
You guys are all here.
Mm-hmm.
So this grand opening is aboutyou.
That's right.
It is not about stpa suites.
Mm-hmm.
This grand opening is to helpyou, to help our team, you know,
not, not for us in any way,shape, or form.
And I think out of the 22tenants that were sitting in
front of us, there was not onedry eye.
Wow.
You know, they were so, theywere so appreciative, so

(01:20:43):
grateful that it wasn't aboutthe owners.
It wasn't about, you know, the,the people that were running the
building that were alreadysuccessful, that we're already
doing a good job, you know?
It, it was about them.
Yeah, for sure.
And it's always been about themand it will always continue to
be about them.
Yeah, definitely.
I'm excited for the event andjust excited to go deeper with
you guys.
And I know the, the panelistswho are coming to speak are

(01:21:06):
absolutely dynamic, so Yeah.
Excited for all of you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So make sure you guys keep aneye out for future events as
well.
I know the event is this week,so if you watch the pod a little
bit late, uh, no worries.
Because I, I, I'm, if I had totake a wild guess, this is gonna
be an ongoing thing.
Yes.
This is the beginning ofsomething truly special.
Yes.
And isn't it amazing how Godworks things out?

(01:21:27):
He does.
I'm surely, you probablywould've never thrown a million
years you'd be sitting here justtelling at all, at all, telling
the story, but at all, here youare.
And I, I appreciate you guys forbeing obedient to God's word
because if you weren't, none ofus would be here.
That's right.
Yeah.
So, um, a beautiful story,beautiful family.
Thank you.
And I, I appreciate you guysgiving us your time here today.

(01:21:48):
Thank you.
And if there are any departingwords, let's just say.
Your great-great-grandchildren.
Mm-hmm.
We talk about legacy.
Right.
What would be your departingwords to them?
If there was any piece of adviceyou would give to them, what
would that be?
Oh wow.
Mm.
Not to go religious tone onthem, but uh, yeah, just strive

(01:22:11):
forward.
The pathway to forward isforward, you know what I mean?
So if any of my family, friendsor just the community, I mean,
press forward, you know, leaveeverything that's behind behind
now.
Don't drag it yesterday untilyou're today.
Yeah.
It is all about looking forward,you know?
So that would be my thing.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Yeah, definitely.
I love that you can do it.
Mm-hmm.

(01:22:33):
You know, you can do it.
Yeah, definitely.
That's, you know, that'ssomething that I say to everyone
that I talk to, especially whenthey come with the mindset, you
know, of giving up.
Now you can do it.
Absolutely.
You absolutely can do it.
Definitely.
And we can of course drop themic there, right?
Yeah.
So where can the audience find.
On social media, anything on, onthe internet?
Where, where's the best placefor them to look?

(01:22:54):
Look the guys up.
Um, I'm on Instagram.
Mm-hmm.
Julisa, J-U-L-I-S-S-A.
Annette, I-N-E-T-T.
Mm-hmm.
He's on Instagram as well.
Flo Perez, underscore Perez.
Oh, underscore Perez.
Yeah.
Um, that would probably be thebest place and, and on, on our
Instagram are all our businessesand how to get to our businesses
and absolutely.
All that good stuff.
Guys, thank you so much.
This was so beautiful, and I,I'm, I feel inspired and, and

(01:23:17):
moved and just really encouragedto continue my journey as a, as
a family man and a businessman.
So thank you so much.
I appreciate you, you guys aretruly a blessing to the world,
so thank you.
Thank you.
Yeah, there you guys have it.
So, uh, I mean, make sure youguys follow this wonderful
couple and, uh, as you guys cansee the Journey podcast, uh, we
have phenomenal guests and, uh,these two are, you know, by far

(01:23:37):
some of my favorite that I'veinterviewed so far.
So make sure you guys like,comment, share, tag, and see us
on the next episode of TheJourney Podcast.
Take care guys.

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