From Employee to Empire with Nestor Gutierrez

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:21):
Hello all, my entrepreneurs and business leaders, and welcome to
the Michael Esposito Show, where I interview titans of industry
in order to inform, educate and inspire you to be great.
My guest today embodies a passion for vehicles and customer
satisfaction that has consistently fueled his career for over a decade.

(00:43):
Purchasing his enterprise in twenty twenty after eight years and
more than fifty thousand vehicle inspections, his dedication to preventative
maintenance is unmatched. A lifelong car enthusiast, he focuses on
edge educating his customers about the value of preventive care
for their vehicles. He firmly believes in making his services accessible,

(01:08):
ensuring every customer receives a complimentary thirty point inspection when
unsatisfied with their vehicle's performance. He's passionate and ensures that
his clients prized vehicles receive the perfect blend of expertise
and integrity they deserve. He's on a mission to help

(01:30):
two hundred thousand drivers of all ages stay safe on
the road at an affordable price by twenty thirty. Please
welcome the CEO of Rancero Express Lube, Nestor Gutierrez.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
How's it going everyone, It's a pleasure to be on
here today. I've been looking forward to us since I
talked about it, so I'm really excited to share my
story and hopefully I can change some of your lives today.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
I know you're going to change of some of their
lives today because you started out from behind the counter.
You started out from just flipping the wrenches and you
know what we would call a grease monkey, right like,
just working on the cars, and you turn that passion
into an enterprise, into a business. And you're here with
me today because of that, Because of that passion and

(02:25):
that drive. So so many people listening right now might
be in similar positions, might be behind a counter somewhere,
working at a desk somewhere, have a dream, and your
story shows that if you put the work in and
you're passionate about what you do that dream can actually
come true. And as I say that, Nestor's sitting at

(02:47):
his desk in his office in California right now while
I'm here in the Hudson Valley, and behind him he's
got this beautiful picture of a black card, an American
Express black card, and right on it it says the
Americans American Dream. So it looks like an American Express card.
It says American Dream. It says take risks, make moves,

(03:09):
tell us about that.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
I live by that. And obviously as you grow up,
your mentality changes a lot of things, change mindset. But
when I saw that card, I saw it online, I'm like,
you know what that that's that's really that's really mean
right there, because every every year a business has been
a journey. It's a different journey, but part of that

(03:34):
journey in my growth has been the taking high risk
and making those moves, you know, for me, Like I
can be like, you know, I gotta I got a business,
first time entrepreneur, first time college, first time everything. I
could have just been like I can set up for
that and I have a business. There's no need to
grow anymore. Like I'm comfortable with what I make I'm

(03:56):
making more money and that's what matters. But like I was,
that was my first year. Like I was just like
at a point where I got comfortable, and it's like
I never I never seen that much money before in
the bank account. It's like you get excited obviously, you know.
So as you go, you get to a point where,
like you see your surroundings, You're like, I'm not doing anything.

(04:19):
You know, there's other people like doing so many things,
and I'm like, I'm a fool because I think that
I have a business, Like like that's that's not enough,
you know. So I started being a little uh a
little curious you can say, like like what other people
were doing. And I started going to conferences. At conferences,
I started meeting new people, listening to new people like

(04:42):
great business owners, great entrepreneurs. And that's when like my mindset,
my mindset change in the fact that like you can't
you can't think that you you everything that you have
is it. You know, like you have to be moving forward.
You have to be doing better every single day. So
as you want to grow, like with growth comes a

(05:02):
lot of a lot of big moves you have to make,
you know, because you're not gonna grow up. You don't
make changes that are going to make a good impact,
you know. So that's literally now, like my wife's like, damn,
I don't. I can't believe the risks that you take sometimes.
Like there was an investment that I made. It was
it was, it was pretty big. You can say, I
put like all my money on the line. Like I
had like maybe three hundred bucks on my bank account

(05:24):
after that, and it was very scary because I mean
I didn't have money for for you can say, for
two weeks of bills that were coming up. You know
that that includes mortgage, that includes car payment, that includes
like just lifestyle, you know. So it was one of
those moments I'm like, Okay, you know what, I'm gonna
do it. But it took me about two weeks to
decide on this one, just because I was like, like

(05:46):
what if? What if it doesn't work? And what if?
Like I'm like, you know what, screw that. I'm not
gonna be that person that what if, Like what about it?
If it could have worked? You know, I don't want
to be in that position, you know. I want to
make sure that I make it happen. So I like
putting myself against the wall because it forces me to
level up. It forces me to to like really get

(06:07):
the results. You know. So when any anytime I see
an investment, that's that's what I see. I want. I
want my money back immediately, and then it forces me
to take action and make everything work, you know. So
with that investment, it was actually through Cardonal Ventures and
it was the ten Next three sixty and it was
a conference, very intimate. It was about twenty five people,

(06:29):
and part of that was to make your business grow,
you know, to make your business scale, and they're gonna
show you the break points of the business, you know
how it's like one million, three million, ten million, fifty
million breakpoints, thirty million breakpoints. And from that event itself,
like the main advertising point was like you're most likely

(06:51):
to hit fifty percent of revenue ninety days after attending
the event. So then I started doing the math. I'm
like it makes sense, you know, Like why why wouldn't
I Like, I can't focus on what I'm spending. I
got to focus on what I'm making, you know, it's
an investment. I can't. I can't have the mentality. So
when I did it, my wife's like you're crazy, like
she was. She was kind of stressed, she was panicking.

(07:13):
She's like, what about you feel like, I'm like, what's
the worst that can happen? Like we'll start again, Like
I'm not scared for that. You know. I have to
do this because I see I see a lot of
my vision's big. I see a lot of potential, and
I have to do this. So Ever, since then, I
was that was April twenty twenty two. Man, Like, my
business just changed, you know, in a really good way.

(07:36):
I mean, I did have to get rid of a
few employees just because at the end of the day,
it wasn't a good fit their vision and their mission.
They didn't it didn't align with mine. And that's something
I didn't understand before. You know. I was more of
the like the manager type of person versus being the
role model and being the leader and making sure that
everyone understands what they're here for. You know. So after

(08:00):
the event, I like like like for me, no, Like
I wasn't, like I said, I'm a first time generation entrepreneur.
I have no club about business. I knew how to
do the work. I knew how to turn ranches, and
that's why you know, the opportunity lined up and that's why,
like I'm here, but like it was like for me,
it was like a way of seeing like you know what,

(08:22):
like this is like pretty much school for business. You know,
I got to learn from the people. You know, grandpart
does doing amazing things, Like I have to learn from him.
What is it that you did? Because if it worked
for him, it can work for me. I just got
to put in the work, you know. So I did
that and guess what after that investment, like we have
within like sixty five days, Like I come my money back,
and I was super excited. I told her why would
I look? It worked out and then I get another

(08:45):
opportunity and it's like another investment out as much it
was like, well like twenty five thousand dollars one and
and I see them like them you know what's crazy now?
Like I look at that number and it's like compared
to like one hundred twenty thousand that I made, Like
it doesn't seem that big. But then it's like just funny,
how like the mentality changed, you know before like it

(09:07):
all started with an investment of a thousand bucks, then
five thousand dollars and then ten thousand dollars and then
forty thousand dollars, and as it kept getting bigger and
bigger and bigger. Now when I looked at the other ones,
it's like that doesn't really seem that much. Why because
I see the results, you know. So so before, like
I was that person that was that business owner that

(09:29):
I thought that if I didn't do it myself, it
didn't get done right. And that was I mean, it
was hurting my business in a sense that like you
could say I had like trust issues, especially in the
automotive industry. Like it's just because of the liability that
it comes with, you know, like working on a cards
like almost like working on a human body, you know,

(09:51):
like you can put lives at risk, you know, so
it's a lot of liability. So I was just really
scared of something going wrong. And I was always like
just like all over place, Like I was at the
front desk, going outside, just making sure everything was perfect,
you know, and like its just it would just get
to the point where like it was draining. It was
like it was just seeking all that like it was

(10:12):
drinking all the energy from me, you know, Like and
by the time we would get home, I'd be like
burnt out, like and it was unfair to to my
my wife, you know, because and I would go give
it her scraps, you know, like and that's unfair, you know.
And I see that a lot of times that people.
People have businesses and they really want to grow. Like
timeskit tough. You know, there's problems every day, but it's

(10:35):
just unfair when when you've had a bad day or
a busy day or whatever at work, and then you
go back home and it's like if it takes a
hit on on your relationship, it's gonna be hard because
then later you can lose your business and you can
lose your relationship, your your girlfriend, husband, whatever you have.
You know. But like that that was me. And and

(10:55):
now like after attending a lot of these conferences, not
only am I meeting a lot of great people people,
but I'm learning a lot. I love learning. I love learning,
you know, and to see people people's journey, like there's
always I always learned from anyone, anyone that I speak to,
I always learn just at least one thing from them,

(11:15):
and I apply it to my journey because, like I said,
we all have something valuable, you know, we all come
to this world for something, we're meant for something, you know,
and if we really go out there and and make
everything work, like you can learn from anyone. But then
there's people that you know, they're so close minded, they're
not coachable, and I just love being coachable for that reason.

(11:37):
You know.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
That's awesome. Yeah, I mean, there's so much there for
us to talk about. I'm going to take us back
to the very beginning, but I just want to touch
on a few things that we're going to be talking
about in this episode. It sounds like I love the
idea that you shared earlier, which is like you were
once a manager and now you're a leader, and I
definitely want to get into that. The other thing I
want to get into is rest and the responsibilities that

(12:02):
go into that, and you mentioned that with your wife
and all the other things, and then of course your
passion for keeping people safe. It's also really nice to
hear and refreshing to hear from somebody in the auto
industry to look at working on vehicles on cars as
your number one priority, not to just get paid, but

(12:23):
really to make sure that the people that drive off
your lot are safe. And so it's also really refreshing
We're going to talk a lot about all of that,
but I want to go even further back because something
that you kind of spoke about and kind of just
brushed off as like, hey, yeah, it's all good. I'm
a first time entrepreneur and so here I go. You
know that takes a lot. You said. You also mentioned

(12:45):
first time graduate, first time business owner, first time entrepreneur,
and your family. Speak to us about your upbringing. You know,
as I know from what we talked about before getting
on camera here, you grew up in California, in a
small town called Coleville, California, and you graduated a class

(13:06):
of less than fifteen students. So tell us a little
bit about your background. Tell us a little bit about
where your family came from and how you got here
and how you got to where you are.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yeah. So, yeah, I'm a young immigrant. I came to
the United States at the age of eight, and I
lived most of my life in Colville, California. And yeah,
very small town. When I went to school, I think
there was maybe like around four hundred and fifty people in
the whole community. That number is probably like got two

(13:37):
hundred maybe right now. There was a big fire and
a lot of homes were lost, unfortunately, but like it
keeps getting smaller and smaller and smaller, and you know,
it's when I went there, like it's you at that obviously,
you know, like it was tough for me because I
didn't know the language. I had no friends, you know
besides my mom and my little sister. At the time,

(14:00):
it was it was very stressful. I was sad, Like
it was just like I felt like I would go
to school cry and cry, you know, like the first
two weeks, like it was, it was very I would
get like kind of like mad at myself that I
didn't understand what other people were talking about, you know,
so it forced me to like really put more effort
into learning the language, you know, learning English. And I

(14:22):
was working like one on one with a teacher the
s L and you know, within the first month, I
remember that there was a big assembly and that's something
new to me, you know, in Nextico there was none
of that. So I would just look, I'm like, what's
what's type of I didn't understand. I was so lost,
I'm like, why why are we getting together right now?

(14:42):
And then I look behind and I see my parents
and my first thing like crap, I'm in trouble, Like
what did I do? Like why are my parents here?
Like my dad should be working, like he will never
really work, Like damn, what did I do? And now
the whole time was just like like what is it?

Speaker 1 (14:54):
You know?

Speaker 2 (14:55):
And then I get called up and I'm like like
that I got super red. I'm like what am I
supposed to do? I so lost, you know, and it
just gave me a trophy like the Student of the month.
I'm like damn. Like so, so I'm like what did
I do to win this? And then the teacher is like,
you might not know the language, but your effort that
you're putting into learning the language, like we really think

(15:16):
that's worth a lot, you know. So you're really good
at math and you put a lot of effort. You're
very kind, you help others with what you can, and
they appreciated that, you know. So that's why I won
the award. So then okay, that's awesome. And then that
was the first month of school. And then the second
month of school I wanted again, and then after I
wanted like several other times like throughout the years, but

(15:37):
like it was the very first month, it was very
tough for that sense. But after that I felt like
more like like relief, like more comfortable, you can say,
like I felt welcome. You know. It was a smaller school.
There was only one more person that knew the language,
I mean Spanish, and it was that's really the only
person I really communicated with, you know. I was like, hey,
can you translate for me? What is he saying? And

(15:58):
like that was my my my former communicating, you know.
And I remember like I would be a night, like
I would just be laying in bed and I'd be
like I would just start saying like a bunch of
words like and I'm like, I wonder if I'm saying
anything in English? Like I was just like I wonder
if I even said anything, you know. So that was
me at night when I was little, and it just
you I feel like, you know, looking back at it,

(16:20):
I felt like it like flew by. Like I felt
like I didn't really like really enjoy especially like you
can say, like my high school years, and I mean
I'm twenty seven years old, and like just looking back
at the journey, I feel like it's just like in
the blink of an eye, you know. So that just
tells you know, like, really take advantage of every single
day and make it worth it, because you know, time

(16:42):
flies by. And when I was in school in middle
in eighth grade, towards the end of eighth grade, I
started understanding, you know, money, money was tight, and I'm like,
how can I help my parents? My dad's only wants applying.
It's like I see the stress, even though he might

(17:04):
not speak about it, but I see it. And I
told my dad, hey, can I come work with you,
like like just I don't know, I mean, like whatever
that I get paid. He's like, oh, let me see
you know. So then he's a farmer. So he talked
to his boss and he's like, yeah, you know, maybe
he can help us like pick rocks and do whatever
it's needed. So I would pick rocks, I would pick garlic,
I would like I would do anything, you know. And

(17:29):
it was like June, July, August, half of August because
school would start. I would work those months. And I
think that first year, I mean like maybe like four thousand,
and I was really excited. I'm like, I'm like four thousand.
I'm like, I'm gonna help my dad. Told my dad,
I hate dad, here's the money. He has no son
like keep that, you know, keep that the way we
start saving for college. I was like okay. So then
when he said that, that's that's when I got kind

(17:49):
of said again. I'm like college. I'm like, well, I'm
not from here. I can't I can't go to school.
So it kind of took a hit on me. Like
I'm like, damn. Like I went into high school, was
like excited talking about, like, you know, going to college,
and like I'm like I felt left out again. So
then I'm like, you know what, let's just go with emotions.

(18:11):
Let's see what happens, you know, at the end of
high school, what we can do. But I just made
it work. I'm a super athletic. I was playing all
all sports and I'm really competitive, so you know, so
that was kind of a big distraction for me. Like
my days consisted of going to school from three thirty
to like five thirty PM. That was that was my sports,

(18:34):
my practice, and then I would go home do homework.
That was my life, you know, on the weekends play sports.
And I can say, you know, in the in those years,
I never lost a homeschool in a home game in football,
and I never I only lost two games, and unfortunately

(18:54):
it was state title games, but you know, it can say,
you know, there was it was very successful for the
school because the school had never been that good. So
we're really competitive and I really appreciated that. And then
we get to junior year and then once again everyone
talking about college, university and all this. I'm like, ah, okay,

(19:14):
and I didn't feel comfortable telling people like, hey, you
know my situation but a lot of people know. But
I'm like, I don't know how to open up about that.
And I speak with my counselor and she's like, also,
what school do you want to go to? Let's apply
for this, let's apply for them. I'm like, hey, you know,
I'm just gonna tell you, like, you know, this is
how my situation is. I don't know how this can work.

(19:35):
She's all, let's let's see. Maybe there's some things that
we can do. So she did, and she helped me out.
She helped me like apply for the California Dream Act.
So I was gonna go to a community college. She's like,
you know, go to community college. You're gonna make it work.
And I came to So I'm from Coville, California, a

(19:57):
very small town graduated. I think it was fourteen student
before I moved into college. Years very small class. There
was at least six people that were nerds, like super smart,
and there was a lot of scholarships available, and I
would look, I'm like, there's no way I'm gonna winning

(20:17):
a scholarship, Like look to look at the people like
you know, like that we have, Like there's no way,
Like I'm not even gonna apply for it. And then
the counselors like why what what do you apply for it?
You never know, like you're you're smart yourself. Like I
get that they might have a higher GPA, but like,
just do it. And I did it. And they announced
the winners at the ceremony and I ended up winning

(20:40):
four of seven and it was twelve thousand dollars that
I won in the scholarships, and I was like, damn,
I'm surprised. So I get the chill seats, like like
when I was getting my name called and I see
my parents are crying, I'm like damn. Like it was
very very emotional, you know, because like I was doubting
my own self just just from seen like the potential

(21:02):
in the room, you know. So when I saw that,
it was like one of those moments, like it was happy,
but then there was emotional just because like them, I
can't believe I was pretty much giving up before before
it even started, you know. So that kind of once
again set the tone for college I got. I got
super excited. So I moved from Coldville to southern California,

(21:23):
where I had a family. And being the fact that
Colville was borderlined with Nevada, either I had to pay
out of situition to go to a university in Reno,
which would be really expensive. So I'm like, no, that's
I'm not even gonna look at that option or what
it was to go to like San Francisco the Bay Area,

(21:45):
which was about three hours and a half from Coldville.
So and I'm like, I don't want to do that
because I'm like, I'm I'm gonna start fresh. I don't
know no one in the Bay And it's like I
felt more comfortable coming to southern California. So I come here,
same thing, you know, with a family, but I just
felt different and I've never been like separated from my parents.
You know. It was tough, and the first two weeks,

(22:07):
like it was just adapting to the city. I'm not
once again, I'm not used to the city. I'm used
to you know, on weekends go out there, run hiking, fishing,
and like that was me, you know. So I come
over here and I'm like, it was just a different vibe,
you know. So I made it work. And the only
kind of upset that you can say I had was
when I started going to community college. I went to

(22:29):
Chafee College. Another setback I had was that they were
saying that they were viewing the application for the Dream
Act and they said that they didn't qualify. So that
took a very big hit, just because they saw that
they saw something with my parents that they didn't meet
a certain requirement. And I was in order for me

(22:51):
to go to school, I was gonna be have have
to pay like the non resident fee, which was about
two hundred and fifty five dollars at the time for
like per unit. So then I did the math. I'm like,
damn what, I can probably make the first semester work,
but what about after I'm like, I'm not, I'm not working.
I'm like So that was kind of hard on, I mean,
and I told my dad, I'm like, so he got
a little bit stress, kind of like felt domb because

(23:12):
like them, and you had a dream. Now like you're
like falling back again. It's getting complicated. And I just remember,
you know when when I when I they told me
that school, I went straight to the gym. I worked out,
and I was like I had mixed emotions. I'm I'm
very you can say religious in a sense, like I
like going to church, and remember going to church that week,

(23:34):
and I'm like, hey, you know, like just you know,
just give me, give me a hand, God, like just
help me out, you know, like make this work whatever
I have to do, Like, just help me out, you know.
And uh, I mean he answered my prayers. You know.
Like the following week, it seemed like that counselor was
giving the same like problems to like three other people.

(23:55):
So then she got fired because like it was she
was making it possible for them to like get that,
you know. So I get to sign a new counselor
and they're like, hey, I see a lot of a
little little glitches in your application. We're gonna fix it.
Don't worry about it. You you do qualify for it,
so you're gonna be covered. And I'm a guy who
do the whole process. I'm gonna make sure that you're
also applying for scholarships at the Tavy College. That way

(24:17):
it helps you with the tuition. And she was very helpful.
Uh when when I had once again I hear that,
it's like God, damn, thank God, you know, thank you,
thank you for for for giving me this opportunity. And uh,
I really made it work. You know when when before
I I when I came to college, I came with idea,
I was really good at football and I want to
be I want to be part of the team. And uh,

(24:40):
my coach, my high school coach knew the coach of
this college. So I had sent them videos and you, oh, yeah,
we can make this work. You know, does come to tryouts,
We'll make it work. But something I forgot to mention
was in my junior year, I tore my a c L.
In basketball, I tore my a c L. And then
I missed basketball season year, and then I missed baseball.

(25:02):
And when a year later when I graduated, I had
barely recover from it. I did play my senior year sports,
it didn't feel the same. Tis once again, like you know,
a big injury like my body didn't feel the same,
but I still want to play football. Why did tryouts?
I did tryouts at pass tryouts the second week into
the team, like a week before the game was coming up.

(25:25):
The first game, I did a hard cut and like
my left knee kind of gave out, and I want
to get it checked out. And they're like, hey, you
have a you have a tendonitis on your left knee,
and it's because you've been applying a lot of pressure
on the on the leg that didn't get surgery. So
now either you recover for eight weeks and and kind
of go back to to the motion and see how
you feel. It's very likely you're most likely mess up

(25:48):
to your knee on that on that left leg, just
because of the way that you've been playing and you're
putting a lot of pressure. Not only that it's football,
so it's very dangerous. Just think about it to if
it's giving you a lot of pain. It's something that
just to think about. So I'm like, you know what,
I'm thankful for this. Maybe it's just not meant to
be football, you know, it's I felt like once again

(26:11):
I was I had a passion for it, but I'm
like I didn't really see myself like going professional. I
just didn't really see it, you know. So I'm like,
you know what, thank you, I'm thankful for this. So
that's when I really like, uh like weigh my options.
I'm like, what's the next thing I can do. I'm like,
I like cars, so I'm like, maybe I can do
like sales, or maybe I can do something with cars,

(26:34):
you know. And I started looking and deep and I'm like,
you know what, I think maybe the best thing is
for me to to to do repairs, become a mechanic.
I started looking information what's needed. I'm like, you know what,
I'm going for that to my dad, I'm going for
my social degree in science. I'm gonna do all my
general head. I'm gonna make sure that everything that I
I can possibly do, cat's done. And I became an

(26:56):
auto automotive technician. So I was to go for about
three years and a half, and that last semester I
took business. I took business after I was already here
working as an employee, and I took that just the
same thing I wanted to understand, like how numbers like worked,
and like I wanted to have to see a little

(27:17):
bit more knowledge at least for that job you can say,
you know. And it's like for me, it's like one
of those things I always tell people, like everything happens
for a reason, you know, like we may not see that,
especially when it's a bad things, you know, like we
don't understand sometimes like oh why us, why do things happen?
But like they happened for a reason, good or bad.
And I remember that when one day after the first semester,

(27:42):
the first semester, I didn't work at all, but one
day on during the second semester, I was driving. So
my business is like three miles away from the college
where I attended. It was kind of like the midpoint
of where I live with my uncles. And the street
was closed, the main street it's Haven Avenue. It was close.

(28:02):
So I'm like, damn, okay, So I take a detour.
The detour happens to be like driving through the front
of the shop. So then I'm at the light and
I look left. I'm like, oh, now now hiring. I'm like,
let me give it a shot. Let me come in
and let me see if they're hiring. So then I
come in and I'm greeted by the manager kind of
rude and I'm like, yeah, you guys hiring. He's like,

(28:25):
oh no, not at the moment, I'm like, well I
saw a banner. I'm like, oh, it's old. Like okay,
So I'm walking out and then I can hear in
the background, like the owner comes out, Hey, what are
you doing? Like you just told me we need people.
He's like yeah, but he's not a good fit. He's like,
why you didn't even ask him anything? And uh he
was white, you know, so you can you can put
that together. But he didn't like me from the beginning.

(28:49):
But talk to the owner. And the owner we have
a conversation interview and he's like, you know what, I'm
gonna give you the opportunity even though you've never worked
at shop. You really have no no knowledge. You can
say and and uh and oil changes and and and whatnot.
But I have told him that, you know, when I
when I work with my dad as a farmer, like

(29:10):
my dad did everything in the cars, and I'm like, yeah,
that might not be the same, but there's something that
I know is like if you teach me, like I'm
a I'm a flast learner and and I'll make it work,
you know. And that's something like you can see, you
can tell that he saw it in me, that he
believed me, that I was being honest, and I'm gonna
give you a shot come tomorrow at this time, and

(29:31):
and and we'll go from there. Well, I'll tell you know,
like the first few weeks with the manager was it
was like it was hell, it was horrible, you know,
like I would do all the work. I would do
like the like changing the oils, I would do the fluids,
the tire pressure. I would do everything, and then the
manager would be in the back to smoking cigarettes and

(29:52):
I'd be done with everything, and he'd still yell at me.
And this was all right, I get to the other
one and then you're you're you're you're taking way too
much time. You know, you gotta be faster. So it
felt like I was a slave. Like it felt like
like it was just the manager. The assistant manager was
a brother of him, so they were literally just smoking
in the back and it was just me and another guy.

(30:13):
The other guy was Mexican too, and the like it
just felt like we're being slaves, like literally, like that's
what it felt like. So when it got to the
point I told my dad, I, you know what like that,
like I don't, I don't. I don't feel comfortable anymore,
Like I don't feel like it's it's one of those
things that you know, I'm going to work, but I'm
not excited. I'm like dreading it, like I don't want
to be there. I feel miserable. He said, why didn't
you tell me the earlier? You know, go ahead and quit.
I'm not gonna quick. I'm gonna tell me, you know,

(30:35):
I'm gonna give you a two week notice. After the month,
I'm gonna tell him that it's it's just not good
for me. And I talked to him. I'm like, you
know what, it's my word against his. I'm not here
to cause problems, but it's just best for me to leave.
And he's like, well, what's the reason I'm I just
I don't feel good in here, you know, like I
don't like the way I'm treated. He's like, go ahead
and elaborate. So then he was an absent owner, so

(30:57):
he believed everything the manager would tell him, you know.
So then after we had that conversation, I told him,
I'm like, hey, you know, this is how really things
are but like once again, I'm not here to cause problems,
but like I'm just here to resign, and he's like, no,
let's let's hold off on that. The next day, apparently
he looked at the cameras and he saw how everything
was and he fired them. And I remember, like it

(31:17):
was yesterday, like it was a very strong conversation they had,
like they were really upset, like they were like like
why why are you believing him? Like I don't know
what he told you, like like it's completely opposite. He
like the manager were tell the owner, like the complete
opposite of what I would do. They would tell him
I would be late. They would tell him I would
take a long time. I was lazy, like complete opposite,

(31:40):
like like for me, like I'm a hard work like
for me, like if I have to, I mean, I
don't mind like skipping a lunch. I know that by
law you have to have lunch, But that was just me,
Like I'm like, hey, I'll eat as i'm going. I
don't need to be resting Like that was me, you know,
And and I don't know why, Like I don't know
what this guy had against me, you know, like I
never did anything to him, like I would even bite

(32:01):
him lunch and like like he would always deny me too.
I'm like, okay, you know what, that's it. I'm done trying.
So when when this happens, like you can tell even
like it got ugly because like it just felt like
the guys wanted to beat me up, you know, like
they were like maybe in the mid thirties. I was
only what like about I was about a turn nineteen,
so it was it was tough, you know. And after

(32:26):
he fired them, he said, you know, thank you for
telling me this. You know, I'm glad I did this.
I already had a feeling, you know, like I had
to trust you even though you're not like I can
tell you that you were being honest. You're just being yourself,
you know, so I appreciate that. And then right away
he said, you know what, I want you to be
my assistant manager. I'm like, crap, I don't know anything

(32:46):
about system manager. I'm like, which is going from luteg
like you know, in a month and a half, and
now you want me to have an assystem manager. I'm like,
I'm like one, I hate talking to people, I hate
running the front. I've never done it. Befo for I'm
not good with computers, Like like, I'll do whatever you
want me to do, but like just know, like it
might be better to bring someone as the experience. He's like,

(33:08):
we'll see, but for now, I want you to come
on a Sunday and I want to give it a
shot to see how you do. So we do that
coming a Sunday and it went great. I did a
lot of a lot of sales and he loved it.
He was like, man, I've never made so much money
in a day, and the fact that you don't even
know this, like and the amount of cells you did,

(33:31):
like it's crazy. He's like, I want you to be
the system manager. And I'm like, man, like I had
a miserable day, like like every time I would go
speak to someone, I'm like, I'm like, I did not
feel comfortable. I told him, I am, I don't feel comfortable.
He's like, you don't feel comfortable, but you're good at it.
All you did was just give them information and you
didn't even sound like you were making the cell. You
were just telling them they needed something because I have

(33:51):
X factor and they understood, so they told you to
replace whatever was needed. So you made it really easy.
So she's like, he said, we're gonna keep working and
we're gonna make it work. So yeah, move fast. You know.
Six months later he's like, Okay, you're gonna be manager. Now.
I'm like, whoa, We're moving way too fast, you know,
and like I'm so grateful for that, because once again,
without him, I wouldn't be in this year right now.

(34:13):
Like he made every opportunity that came my way, it
was because he believed in me. And we still have
a great relationship. He's a very humble guy, and I
love a relationship like super super cool. You know. He
invites me over to his events, his house. I do
the same, and it's like really good to have. And

(34:34):
some people some people forget to appreciate that, you know.
Some people like they they forget about those times, you know.
So for me, I'm always grateful for everything that I've
I've done and everyone that has came in uh, I
mean at least passing my journey, you know. So to
have someone like that believe in me so much, it
only boosted my confidence, you know. And I remember like

(34:58):
I had like my tea hat had a big gap
in my teeth, so that was one of my uh
one of my thoughts was like what about if I like,
I feel like it looked dumb. I feel like I
sound dumb, like my my I don't like the way
my teeth look, I don't like the I don't like
my smile. I feel like my accent is really bad.
Like all these like what if is in my mind?

(35:19):
You know, like what what do they think? That was
my whole time. Like when I would talk to a
customer and it got to the point that his name
is Art, my former boss. He's like, look, Nest, I
know your your main insecurity is your smile. Forget about it.
He's like, you have a beautiful smile. Like just be yourself,
just do what you have to do and just get

(35:41):
it done. Just don't let the insecurity stop you, because
you have a lot of potential. He's like, this, this
shop is going to be yours one day. So he
said that. I'm like, oh damn man, you're you're a
movie way too fast. I'm like, what why is he
telling me this? You know, like, why why is he
telling me that the business is going to be mine
one day? I'm like, I don't know, I don't know
what he's seen that I'm not seeing, but I want
him to tell me, you know. And I remember the

(36:02):
one day he took me out to breakfast. He said, look,
I love I love your work ethic. I love you know,
a lot of things have changed in the shop. But
one of the problems that we were having at the
time is I was the youngest one here. You know,
I was like twenty, and then we had people like
in the mid thirties forties. So me being ahead of
the team as a manager was hard because like it's

(36:24):
like a twenty year old telling older people how to
do certain things is like, you know, like we would
always bump heads with that, and it was it was
tough because I mean like it got to a point too,
like I told him, like, man, like that just doesn't
feel right, you know, like it doesn't feel right to
to be telling someone what to do like that's older
and she's like, you're great at it, just keep doing it.

(36:46):
If they don't like it, they can leave. So he
gave me that confidence, you know, and I would always
ever ever ever since I can remember, you know, like
I was always a leader, you know, you know I
can say that even I was a manager, I was
cleaning restrooms. I was doing, know, the dirty work, like
I wasn't really the manager. You can say like I
was maybe more dirty than the actual mechanics sometimes, you know,

(37:06):
but I didn't care. I'm like, I'll do whatever I
have to do. It's my job. That's the way I saw,
you know. So that's something that really was appreciated by
the owner. And in twenty eighteen he told me, He's like, hey,
you know, there's this opportunity I'm gonna give you. I'm
willing to sell you the business. We can work on payments,
we can do something. If you're not interested, I'll sell

(37:29):
it to someone else. I'll give you twenty percent of
whatever I sell it for, And I just really want
to tell you that I really appreciate you. And that's
like my thank you, whatever choice you want to pick.
So then I'm like twenty percent. I'm like, hopefully he
sells it. I was like, hopefully he sells the business.
I'm already thinking that the money I'm gonna make from
the sale, So I'm like I was excited, but then

(37:50):
I'm like, so, what's gonna happen with the new owner
comes in now and he doesn't want to keep this team,
I don't be without a job. So I'm like, maybe
that's not a good idea, you know. And throughout the
whole time I was here, I was like getting job
offers left and right from dealerships just because I was
a good student at Chafe as well, Like the teachers
were like refer me to like friends they had dealerships.

(38:14):
They're like, hey, if you want to take a dealership position,
the door's open, and we're talking about Mercedes and BMW
that were really close. And it was like for me,
it was always a dream to work at a dealer,
but I almost took it one day just because like
it was gonna be a little bit more paid. But
then the only thing that stopped me, honestly was the
fact that over here I had my own schedule. You know.

(38:35):
I'm like, if I go anywhere else, like it's gonna
be hard to work with that, because sometimes I had
school at like seven in the morning until ten, and
then I had to go back at three, and it
is like very inconvenient, you know, starting at a new job.
So that's the only thing that made me like like
stay still, and that's when like you can tell the owner,
like he felt like maybe at some point I was

(38:55):
gonna leave just because he saw that, you know, I
was really responsible, and he thought like maybe he would
lose me just to to the competition, you could say,
but just the fact that I was staying loyal, that's
why he was giving me these opportunities, you know, luckily
that I mean, I had no money to move forward
that one in twenty eighteen, you know, to to buy
the business, and it was already in the process of

(39:18):
that being sold to someone else. It was actually to
the oil supplier, and the deal fell through because of
the landlords some some things that couldn't be done, like
the landlord was asking for more money. So that's that's
why the deal fell off. I'm so grateful with it.
And the following year again saying that's to this this
this business is going to be yours one day. And

(39:40):
and the reason he kept saying that is because he
got this business because it was an opportunity, not because
he liked it. So next to this business, he had
a window tin shop, and window tinting was his bread
and butter, like that's his thing, you know, And it
would get to the point where or he would feel

(40:00):
bad he's like, I feel bad because I feel like
I don't pay you enough. And it's like you're the owner.
You do everything, you do paperwork, you do everything. I
see you maybe once a month, and it's like it's
I feel like it's not fair. So that's why he's like,
I don't I don't feel I don't feel good as
a owner because like I'm not giving you guys attention.
You guys deserve, you know, all my attentions to window,

(40:22):
even though I try to come in more and I
try to make things work with you guys, but like
it's just like it's just not in me, you know.
So that's why I'm trying to like sell it. So
when he told me that, it's like, okay, I need
to start planning for this because if I don't take
the opportunity of buying it, then you know it's gonna
be someone else's. So twenty nineteen comes and as we're

(40:42):
speaking before the year and there twenty nineteen, he's like, so,
what do you want to have a deal, And he's like,
I need a final answer now because I'm getting to
the moment like I want to expand my window tinting
and I gotta see you know, if you're not gonna
want it, I'm probably gonna have to sell it. I'll
still give you the twenty percent that we had spoken about,
but like, I gotta know, so Penny, and I'm like,
you know what, let's let's let's do it. Let's do April.

(41:03):
Let's do April twenty nineteen. I mean twenty twenty. Oay,
we did something, and then guess what Covid happens. Covid comes,
Covid comes through, and I'm like, damn, you know, and
I tell him like, hey, I don't even know how
to tell you know, even though we talked about it,
we signed, and it's like, I don't I don't think
it's the right time for me to start a business,

(41:25):
you know, like Covid, Like everything's shut down, and I
feel like I'm down to the heel if I do that.
He's like, you know what, I was actually gonna tell
you the same thing that I'm gonna give you a
few more months to see how things changed maybe and
we'll go from there. And I'm like, damn, thank you,
thank you for understanding. Luckily, we like I've always had,

(41:46):
I always had to work during COVID just because we
I had I had brought as when I was a manager,
I had brought in a lot of fleets like I
brought in the enterprise fleet account. So we service out
enterprise vehicles locally and a lot of like local flower
shops and out of fleet accounts. Those people are the
ones that kept us busy, you know. So we went
from maybe averaging like thirty cars back in the day

(42:06):
to like averaging like maybe five or six cars a day.
So that's when I really became better at the business,
even though it wasn't mine, but I understood that in
order for us to have work, I had to be
great at the phone because if people were calling, I
had to do whatever it took to bring him in here,
if it's like bringing the price down or doing something

(42:27):
about it, like like we had to make it work. Well,
you know, me and my boss talked about it. He's
a nictary. We need to find something right now that
is attractive. And we started thinking, and like, what what's
attractive right now? Well, guess what hand sanitizers. People were
going crazy for them, like out of stuck everywhere. So
then we found a supplier that had hand sanitizers before

(42:49):
they ran out, so then we went out and then
we bought those little ones, like we bought like three
thousand of them. So then we advertised, you know, Comecay,
you're oil change and instead of the free car washings,
they're closed. We can't do that. We're gonna clean clean
your windshield and we're gonna give you free hand sanitizers. Man,
that was gold for people. So more people started coming in,

(43:11):
more people coming in, and it was like we had
to get rid of not rid, but we laid off
two people because they they got COVID, so at the
time there was only three of us. So it got
to the point one day I'm like, damn, we had
a full bay, more cars outside, and it's like it's
a good problem to have, you know, at least we
have work. But like, hopefully we get these people more.

(43:31):
You know, they come back soon. And it's not at
the point that you want to hire because no one
wants to work. They're giving stimulus, you know, like people
do not want to work, So it was a wrong
time to be hiring, you know. And and March March
was bad, and then April go a little better, and
then May started seeing a little bit of sun sunshine,
you know. And when June came, he was like, let's

(43:55):
let's do this in August. Let's do this in August.
Things are getting better. You feel, come the bow, let's
make it work. I'm like, okay, let's go. So then
my mentality was like, Okay, before August comes, I gotta
start setting the tone. I need to increase everything, you know.
So then June became a really good month. And then
the way July ended, He's like, wow, and that's true,
that's our best month ever, ever, ever, ever, like with me,

(44:18):
like we always like we grew every every month. We
grew a little bit, maybe like a couple of hundred,
but it was it was better than the previous month,
you know. So when he saw that, it was like
a like fifteen thousand dollars change, like that we did more.
He's like, what happened? What changed? I'm like, I'll be honest,
Like for me, it was just like I'm preparing for
me being the owner, you know. And I'm not saying

(44:39):
that like I slacked off the whole other time, but
like I felt like now it's like more responsibility. So
I like I took it to a next level, you know,
Like like I was like, if we close at six,
sometimes I would say until like seven, seven thirty two,
like put put more money in the door, you know.
So he saw that. He's like, man, you're gonna have
great potent.

Speaker 1 (45:00):
You know.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
Just you start seeing things that you hadn't seen before.
So that's really good that you're doing that. So man, Like,
ever since I took over in August, like, my business
has always done at least five K more every month,
and that's always the goal, you know, the target to
keep going more and more and more and more and more.
And now you know that I'm understanding numbers way way
way better, I put the target even higher, you know.

(45:22):
I put the target at fifteen K or more every
month to make more because I tell my guys, I'm like,
I mean, I'm pretty sure you guys don't wake up
and say that you want to make a less next
pay period than you make today. You want to make more.
So in order for you guys to make more as
a company, we need to make more. And I don't
want you guys to make a hundred bucks more or

(45:44):
two hundred bucks more. I want you guys to make
thousands more. You know, so it all falls under the
same concept that I learned with part of adventures. You know,
like when when you look at business like people, a
lot of business owners, they have a business for the
wrong reasons. You know. They go into business thinking that
they're gonna have more freedom, maybe they're gonna have more

(46:06):
money than before. Maybe they think that they're gonna be
their own boss. A lot of people go for that
one and they're gonna work less and all these wrong reasons,
you know, because at the end of the day, like
it's the completely opposite. If you really want to make
something work, like, you work more than you did before
you're the owner. Now there's more responsibility, there's more bills,

(46:26):
there's complaints you have to like you have to deal with,
there's just more things, you know. So when people go
into business for that, they they I feel like, they
go after the money. They want more money, more money,
more money, more money. And that's why they keep like
going through employees, you know, left and right. And what
I learned from, you know, attending that the first conference

(46:47):
with Cardona was that in order for you to build something,
you need to be able to be a great leader.
And there's a rule of three. You know, so you
have one leader at the top, and that leader has
to form two leaders, and it's a triangle effect. After
those two leaders, those two leaders at the bottom, they

(47:08):
form their own triangle. They form two more leaders, and
the next thing you know, you have a big, big,
big triangle. Everyone is the leader at the end of
the day, but it all starts with the main leader,
the business owner. You know. So when you under when
you understand that in order for you to grow, you're
you're The main problem everyone has is that they have
employees that they're not dedicated. They call off, they they're

(47:31):
not responsible, maybe they show up late. They they're not
fully committed. They once again I talked about it before,
you know, like they go to work and they're dreading it.
They're not pumped up. And the main reasons is because
they're they're the employees are there for the paycheck. So
when the when the owner demands for more and more

(47:51):
and more, what happens. You know, everyone goes their own way.
You know. The employee starts looking for a new job,
the owner starts looking for a new hire. The owner
brings in a new hire, and it's the same problem
again down the road. But if you focus on helping
the employees that you have right now, that's not gonna happen.
Because if you focus, like for example, if I tell you, hey, Michael,

(48:14):
so what's your what's your vision, What's what's what's your
goal for? What's your five year goal plan? And there's
no answer. Okay, let let's work on this. Let let
let me help you. If I start helping you on
something that I'm gonna help you achieve your goals, I'm
gonna get more out of you. Because now we have
a mini contract. You can say, you can say like damn,

(48:34):
like is he really gonna help me? Or is he
just talking? And if you're lying, you're gonna lose employee.
You know. So in order to make this work, you
have to be a man of your world and make
this happen. You know. So if you tell me, hey, nestor,
I want to go you know, five years, I want
to go to Europe, travel the world, and I want
to buy a home and I want to buy a
nice car. Awesome, Michael. So if instead of five years,

(48:58):
we did this in three years and I help you
achieve everything that you want to achieve, what do you
buy into my own goals and if the answer is
gonna be yes most of the time, because I'm helping
you achieve yours. Now I'm asking you in exchange, are
you going to be committed to my goals? Most of
the time the ANSWER's gonna be yes. And let's say
you do say yes, and you see that now you

(49:21):
have more duties, you have more responsibilities, but without responsibilities,
you're gonna make more money. You're more bought into the
job now because now you're going to work showing up,
it's like damn. At first, it's gonna be like, I'm
only doing this because I really want to go to Europe,
and he's gonna pay for my vacation, and he's gonna

(49:41):
help me make more money to buy a home, and
he's gonna help me make more money for the car.
Maybe that's the thought at the beginning, but as they're going,
like every time they go to work, they're thinking about
their goals. That's what you've got to have people think about,
because if you have employees thinking about like, oh my god,
it's raining, it's gonna be a rough day today, I'm
having a lot of problems. Like it's just a mentality.

(50:03):
You want people to show up to work excited. You
want to you want them to show up, Like the
first thing that they do when they wake up is like,
I gotta get to work. I'm so ready for today,
you know. And once again, when you have a great leader,
they set the tone for that. And when I say
back then, I've always been a leader, but I felt
like I was a manager more than a leader because

(50:23):
at the end of the day, like even though I
led by example, like I clean, I did everything, but
like at the end of the day, I felt like, hey,
go ahead and do this, Let's do this over here
and make sure you're doing this, make sure you're doing that,
make sure you're doing that. And it wasn't in a
bad way like I would. I would also still help them,
but I felt like, you know what I'm not. I'm
not being the leader that that I would like. I'm

(50:44):
not being that person that the grand card doing this
or the branding dolls in this. I'm not doing that.
So how can I do that? You know? So when
I started implementing everything I learned right there, I'm like,
you know what, now I'm gonna start doing one on
once with my employees, and I know you know it's
gonna take me time, but you know, I have to
have these one on ones with my employees the way

(51:05):
that there's a lot of engagement. And if there's engagement,
that means that they're gonna be more committed and we're
gonna do better. They're gonna understand why we have a
high target, They're gonna understand why we need a certain
amount of calls, why we need to make a certain
amount of sales, and they're gonna understand other things. I
started doing it and I lost maybe three people. I
lost three people, even though I was trying to help

(51:26):
them and everything. They just didn't like the fact that
the accountability, you know, that's that's one of my core values, accountability.
They didn't like the fact that, you know, they did
first everything was smooth. They told me everything they wanted
and they told and I told them how I was
gonna help them. I gave them the responsibilities and if
they still didn't follow through, you know, like the daily

(51:46):
training on Cardon University, they didn't. They didn't do it.
It was like a non negotiable and I'm like, okay,
Like so you're telling me pretty much that your goals
are not really that important to you because you know
we talked about X, Y Z, you're not doing them,
You're not fully committed. One day you do that, the
other day you fall off. So if you're not believing
in your own goals, you're not going to believe in mine.

(52:09):
So it's just because to the point where like it's
not a good fit, you know. And if it's not
going to be a good fit right now, there's to
saying you know, uh, fire fast and higher fast, you know,
So it gets to the point that it's better just
to part ways before it gets ugly, before it turns
into something that you don't want to turn into, you know.
So when I when I started seeing the results out

(52:31):
of that that I was losing maybe the wrong people
that were the wrong fit for the business. But when
I was bringing in more people, I was focusing from
the beginning to tell them, hey, these are the things
that we're looking for, not after I get them, you know.
So now like it's like the environment has changed, you know,
that everyone's pumped to be here. We have we have

(52:52):
one on once twice a month with my employees and
I pull them accountable on the personal level. So the
Pope has the personal professional financial goals. So we talked
about those, those those meetings one on ones twice a
month with my employees, and every week we meet twice
as a team on Mondays and Fridays. And I do

(53:13):
that because you know, the start of the week and
the end of the week in a sense, I mean,
we do work Saturdays, but I don't like keeping them
actual Saturdays, so we do them on Fridays. And at first,
once again something new, they're like, this is new, Yeah,
we want to become better, you know. So in those meetings,
now everyone's engaged. At first, it was kind of like
they were just like listeners. But now like everyone's like

(53:36):
just coming out with ideas and ideas and ideas, and
that's what you want, because we all have great ideas.
And when we have, you know, it's not just one
person engaged. We have a lot of people engaged. Then
that just makes you grow even faster because now you
got your own people thinking, You got your own people recruiting,
Like that's that's that's what you want, you know, you
want to make sure that your own your own employees

(53:57):
are recruiting for you. They're they're advert tising for you,
they're they're like they're proud to be putting that uniform
on for you know, they're they're proud to say, you know,
I do work at Rancho Express Loop. I do work there.
And and that's why you want to hear as a
business owner. That just tells you are being a great
leader because they're they're they're they're happy with you, they're
happy to be part of your team. And not only that,

(54:18):
they're they're achieving their goals, which is it means the
world to them, you know. And everyone's gonna have different goals,
you know, like like we talk about like like a
small target and mid mid target and high target, you know,
and some people may may For example, I had someone
that he's never been to a basketball game. So I'm like, okay, awesome, Hey,

(54:41):
so would you like to go to a Laker game?
And all you like the Lakers? He's like, oh yeah,
that man, I mean everything to me. Awesome. You're gonna do.
You're gonna go, You're gonna go, We're actually gonna go together.
You're gonna take your your your girlfriend, I'm gonna take
my spouse. He's like wow, really, and it's like they're
already good employees, and when you do this, it's like

(55:02):
you get more out of them. It's like, man, he
didn't they didn't have to do that. So now it's
like our relationship only gets better and better and better
because I'm helping him do the things he's never done.
And when when you do that, like for me, loyalties everything,
loyalty is everything for me in all aspects, you know,

(55:22):
and employees and relationships and friendships, it's everything for me,
you know. So when I do things like that, I
expect the loyalty. I expect them even if they want
to leave, like they're honest, you know, they tell me
exactly where they want to leave, or they're they're straight
up with me. That's that's what I like, you know.
So more than anything, I focus on having a great
team that's gonna stick stick together no matter what happens.

(55:45):
And at the end of the day, at the day,
like everyone's winning together. It's a winning environment and a
lot of people. Once again, you go to a lot
of businesses and even as a consumer, like it just
feels like the environment is off. You go to some
businesses like it doesn't it doesn't even it doesn't even
matter on the industry. Sometimes you walk into the business
and it's just like why the way you're treated, it's

(56:07):
like oh, hello, like you know, like it's rude. But
then that's just a reflection of the owner, you know.
So for me, I'm being a part of the chamber
of commerce for the city. Like my standards are like
up in the sky, you know, like I have huge standards,
you know, like the way like like we all have
every every business has, you know, different different ways of

(56:27):
doing things. But like when I understood that, you know
from the coaching too, like you have as a business,
you need systems and procedures. Like I didn't really understand that,
so I really saw that the reason for it, and
it's like damn. Like when you look at a big franchise,
you know, you can say Starbucks, they do way they
do everything in a way that they have to move fast.
You know. They greet you, they say, they say welcome,

(56:49):
they take your order and then the barista is doing
the drink and like there's a process, you know. And
the way I was seeing that is like I feel
like like we all know what to do, but sometimes
I feel like we can maybe uh not have a
very rapid flow just because like we're kind of like
running all over the place. So then I started focusing. Okay,

(57:10):
you know that. That's why I started integrating the meetings
that Mondays and the Fridays the way we understand. You know,
we did rope, we did a bunch of things. So
when I started doing the meetings, like everyone started like
seeing like okay, that that makes sense why you did that?
So now when when when when like, for example, a
car pulls up to the shop, like everyone's saying, walcome, welcome.
We have three greaders, they get their information, have them

(57:31):
sit in the office. The service writer helps them. So
everything's fast now super fast. And I tell them that
that all the time. It's just like just pay attention
anytime you go to a business, like look at the
way they run and I'll operate. And now that we're
doing this, you're gonna start you're gonna start looking for
that now. And it's like now it's like damn man.
Another day I went to a restaurant like they were
so rude and like they took forever and like I

(57:52):
didn't like the way they were greeting me. And then
like it's like I they didn't really care that I
was there. So now they're they're looking for these things,
you know, So I tell them now, like, okay, as
a consumer, all the things that you're not liking to
just imagine that's how people feel when they come in
our door. We can't have that feeling. So you gotta
make sure it's special. You got to make sure that
when they come in our door, like it's the experience

(58:13):
that they've never had before. You want to make sure
they come back, you know. So the customer service has
to be amazing. That's the quality of work has to
be amazing. And everyone always has to be smiling, passing
on the energy that we have, you know, and I
guarantee you at the end of the day, like we
don't have to promote. People are gonna promote for us,
you know, word to mouth. And that's really what I
focus on. And it's gone a long way. It's gone

(58:36):
a long way because I hate, like, I hate spending
money on Yelp or Google Ads or anything else marketing
because I tell my guys, I'm like, I'd rather have
you guys do a great job and give you guys
more money versus me going to pay Google Ads and
make them richer, pay Facebook ads and make them richer.
We're at the end of the day, like, yeah, make

(58:56):
it more business, but I'd rather give you that money
to you guys.

Speaker 1 (59:00):
You know.

Speaker 2 (59:00):
So now I even have them my recruiters, now that
I told them that for any any any flea company
that they bring in, they also have a credit. I
give them two hundred dollars credit for any any flea
company they come. So, you know, there's a saying another
day I saw on on Instagram. It's like a reflection
and I said, someone asked, uh, someone else They're like, hey,

(59:21):
how many yellow cars that you see today? I have
no clue. Okay, so what about if I totally for
every yellow car you you you saw, I would give
you five hundred bucks. But do you know how many
cars you saw? Oh? Absolutely? What's the same way now
when I do this, like when they're driving on the
freeway or on the streets, they're looking out for company cars,

(59:42):
fleet vehicles. They're looking out for them because now they know,
like them, if I bring even five, like I can
get an extra thousand bucks a week or even sometimes
a day. You know. So that's they That's what I mean.
You know, like you create the environment, and there's there's
people that don't see that. People people always, like I said,
the people business owners sometimes they want make money, but
they don't want to give away too much to their

(01:00:03):
to their to their employees, like they want to be
stingy know you, Like, in order for you to grow,
in order for you to do big things, you kind
of help your team. Because once again I tell people
all the time, I will not be in this chair
without my team, Like I am nothing without my team.
As a business owner, the company is nothing without the employees.
So we can understand that we have to we have

(01:00:24):
to treat our employees correctly, and we have to make
sure that they love it here because at the end
of the day, everyone's winning because of them. They're the
ones doing the work, you know, so really appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:35):
That's awesome. I've just I feel like I've just taken
the whole grant Card owned program with you just now.
I'm like, I'm listening to you and I'm taking notes
as as we've been talking, and like my note sheet
is just been filled. It's incredible. But I mean, everything
you've been saying, you've really I got to command you.

(01:00:56):
You've You've done such a great job in taking your
story and also adding all of what you've learned inside
of your story. I feel like you've done such a
great job. I mean, I have to like rewind the
tape now in order for us to kind of like
go back to certain things that I've made notes on
that I think were just really big. The first thing
I'm just going to talk about for you, which is

(01:01:17):
just so cool, is you kind of again subtly mentioned it.
You're like, yeah, I'm twenty seven years old. It's like,
oh my goodness. When you were talking about being twenty
seven years old, you were saying about how school and
being an eight year old and then high school all
kind of like was a flash before your eyes and
how to appreciate every moment. That is just so mature

(01:01:41):
to say as a twenty seven year old. Because I'm
forty two, and so many people listening are probably anywhere
from their probably twenties all the way up to their
fifties and sixties. But for those that are in their
thirties plus, we'll look at anybody at twenty in their
twenties and just say, oh my goodness, you have so
much ahead of you, say that to me, and I'm
in my forties and so there's so much more. So

(01:02:03):
it's so great to hear you say at twenty seven
years old, to appreciate the time that you have, and
it's so obvious in what you're doing now and reinvesting
in yourself. You know, I had mentioned that before you
started talking, that we would talk a little bit about risk,
risk versus responsibility. But I can see now a lot
of the risks that you took were because of really

(01:02:27):
being present in the moment and looking towards your future
and understanding how important your future was or is as
you invest in it. I have so many questions for you,
and you just shared so much information and so much knowledge.
So I hope everybody who's listening right now realizes that
that's why I didn't stop him. I didn't ask him

(01:02:48):
any questions in between all of that, because what Nestor
just gave us was essentially a masterclass. What you just
shared with us. You know, you're going to have this
recording for yourself, and I encourage you to use it
wherever you decide to use it. But this was essentially
a masterclass. And what I see in this as a
masterclass is you took, as I just said, a very

(01:03:09):
personal story of where you came from, your roots, your
your challenges, and all these other stories, and you intertwine
them into your life experiences and the learnings and your
life experiences, and you're bringing in your mentors like your
dad and Art and all these different people, and you
brought them into this and then moving it into the

(01:03:31):
other learnings of what leadership looks like and what investment
looks like and all these other things, and you brought
them in and it's just it really was beautiful to
sit here and listen and watch you explain it. I'm
just like, man, this guy's this guy's got it. This
is awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:03:46):
I appreciate that. Ma, thank you much.

Speaker 1 (01:03:48):
You got it. You got it for sure. So I
do have a burning question for you, and I feel
like in some of what you just shared with us,
you kind of answered it. And it's really really cool
to see. And I don't know if you realize it,
but you were talking about when you were in grammar
school and one of the first things that helped you
feel welcomed and motivate you to learn a new language

(01:04:10):
and to adapt to a new life and a new
way of living was by getting that honor student of
the month, that that honorary certificate or trophy for the month,
and it motivated you and inspired you to keep going forward.
And I had written down while you were telling that story,
what about those experiences? What about them taught you in

(01:04:32):
what you're doing today? And I'm still going to ask
you that question, but I just also want to mention
in that you're doing the same thing that was done
for you of feeling welcomed because of this this student
of the Month award you do for your employees today.
But moreover, like just more speaking in terms of what

(01:04:55):
I'm asking here is so, what about those experiences, those
childhood experiences that you had of being new to a country,
of not knowing the language and having people welcome you
and give you the motivation to do what you're doing today?
What did you learn from those experiences? What did you
take from that?

Speaker 2 (01:05:16):
You know, I just I feel like I always live
in the moment, and when when I had like in
the when I first moved over here, you know, like
I was excited and I was sad because I mean Mexico,
Like I'm from Mexico, and like where we lived like
I mean, you'll really look back. Is like you you know,

(01:05:37):
we got kids, you know, on like Joaquino shoes. You know,
we got kids maybe like starving all day. So when
I come over here and I see like, okay, it's
a different life. You've got to adapt. But it's like
I'm grateful that, you know, we didn't make a change.

(01:05:57):
We have a better roof, we have clothes, we have
you know, maybe say we have better food. Mousta not
doing well economically, but we're doing better than before. So
that's the way I saw it. Is like even though
like it was a hard time, like adapting to the
to the new country, new new language, I felt like
that's what I had to do in order to make

(01:06:18):
it work. I'm like this is easier than being back
in where we work, you know. So that's the way
I saw it. And then for me, like I said,
I'm I'm really competitive and when I work hard for something,
it doesn't even matter. Like like for example, like this
trophy my wife give it to me is like the
best husband, but like this means the word world to me,

(01:06:41):
you know because even though like maybe it has no value,
just like the fact like like I get it like
like as a sign of like appreciation, Like that's that's
what That's what it means everything to me, you know.
So that's just really the way I work, and I
just always give it my all and even if there's
no price, like I want to make sure that I
did everything possibly that I could to have the best

(01:07:04):
outcome possible.

Speaker 1 (01:07:05):
Yeah, there's a there's a gratitude that I feel that
comes from you and that you always pay it forward
and give to others. In contrast to what I just
asked you of feeling welcomed, you then had an experience
where you were not welcomed. And and as you mentioned,
the person behind the counter was white and your Mexican,

(01:07:28):
and so when you walked in the door and asked
for a job that was obviously advertised, he said, we're
not hiring. And and it was obvious because the owner
or you overheard the owner, and of course the owners
soon became a great mentor to you and a great
friend to you that that wasn't the case. Speak speak
to us a little bit about overcoming that kind of

(01:07:49):
adversity and racism and and what it looks like for
you today and how you help people in similar situations
that you were once in.

Speaker 2 (01:07:59):
Uh you know that that time was it was hard,
but then it's like it didn't really get to me
because I mean, like at the end of the day,
like I feel like, you know, like just the situation
where you know, like mean not being from this country
at the end of the day, like all the odds
are against us, you know. So seeing that really like
it took a hit, but I was like, okay, whatever,

(01:08:21):
you know, like I'm not gonna let it get to
me because at the end of the day, I'm like,
just look at my background, everything that I've done for
me just to kind of like be here, like okay,
like let me give up. It's too late to give up,
you know. So that's the way I saw it, and
I told my dad, you know something, my dad would
always tell me, like, you know, it doesn't matter we're
not from this country. Don't ever let someone look down

(01:08:41):
at you. And that always stuck with me, even though
like I had the confrontation you can say, like the
pumpy heads, like I never really like let him like
look down at me, like he would kind of like
do sometimes he would like trying to like make fun
of me about my accent and and like just little

(01:09:01):
things like that. And that's why he would tell the
owner like, oh man, he talks, he talks back all
the time, and I would talk back in a sense
like you know, I'd rather have an accent that your
ugly teeth that you smoke, you know. So it's like
he would see his attitude, but I would see it
like I gotta defend myself. You know, I'm not gonna
be here to stay quiet just because like you're talking
to me, I feel like I'm lessening. You know, I'm
the same as you know. So it's it's that mentality

(01:09:23):
of being like like we're all eq you know, we're
all equal, and it's like the skin of the color
doesn't change anything. And that's just the way I saw it.
And when when even though, like I said, at first,
you take the hits like damn, like damn, So if
I was white and I was different, had blue eyes,
it would be a different story. And now it's like

(01:09:44):
it gets to you, but then you like overcome it
just because like whatever you want to think about yourself,
you gotta make you gotta believe in yourself, because if
you don't believe in yourself, then that's that's sometimes when
people take a lot of hits and they can't they
can't it gets to the moment that they can't deal
with because they don't think that they are worth it.
They don't think that they're just as good as an

(01:10:04):
other person, you know, because of the skin color. So
that that was just my belief on that.

Speaker 1 (01:10:09):
Yeah, and believing in yourself was something that Art spoke
a lot with you about, and you had to overcome
a lot of limiting beliefs of whether your appearances, your smile,
your teeth, your accent, and it's it's it's kind of
ironic that you said you were always disliked speaking with
people because you were you were self conscious about your

(01:10:30):
accent and you were, you know, really scared about speaking
in front of others. And I thought it was so
ironic because I looked at the clock and I was
just like, huh, he's been talking for like a good
twenty thirty minutes. I think he's gotten over that fear.

Speaker 2 (01:10:43):
My wife always tells me that, because you know, I've
been like this maybe for like the last fifteen months
or so ever since I started, like I said, like
a networking and stuff, because I would tell my wife
all the time, and before like I would get red
in front of someone, like it was awkward silence. I
didn't know like kin to talk and then she's like yeah,
and then now you talk too much. You can't stop.

(01:11:05):
Now It's like he said, it's a good thing to
have because you know, you tell your story, you you
you get well with everyone and like people see the
smile like that, that's good. You know, you feel comfortable.
So it's good in a sense. But like sometimes like
he's like, you need to know how to like had it.

Speaker 1 (01:11:20):
Yeah, that that'll come, that'll come. But more more importantly,
what I'm and you know that is part of networking
and public speaking is learning to listen and also right,
So of course that'll come and you'll learn that skill.
But what I'm what I'm saying more importantly is that
you overcame these limiting beliefs. And I'm interested in the

(01:11:40):
mindset and the conversations that you and Art had. You
you touched on them from a business sense and from
him really being that that person who believed in you
and showed you he believed in you and talked about
your work ethic and your skill and saw so much
in you, so much potential in you from a business
standpoint because of what you did and what you hardy worked.

(01:12:01):
But from the other side, from the mindset side of
being able to instill self belief in you and to
smile and to do all the different things and to
be able to start speaking and being customer facing. I'm
interested in that for you is too. What was some
of the work that you did in order to get
to that point?

Speaker 2 (01:12:19):
Honestly, when it comes to the speaking, I just saw
it as like I was uncomfortable. But then I just
saw it like, hey, it's my duty, so uncomfortable or not,
like I have to do it. So it got to
the point where like I started feeling a little better
and a little better just because I have the mentality hey,
like don't put excuses, like this is your duty and

(01:12:40):
like you have to make it work. And it got
to the point where, like I told myself, if I'm
sounding like insecure in the way I'm saying things like,
maybe I should do more research. So then I was
being a little more curious and I started doing more
research on like what's the best way to explain this,
what's the best way to explain that? So once again education,
and I spend more time on that, on the just

(01:13:02):
little like little explanations on maybe how does the suspension
system work, how does the break system work? Because at
the end of the day, I noticed that when when
ar told me, you know, like you told great information
and they understood so they told you, hey, go ahead
and proceed with the repairs, I felt like sometimes like
the cells were not coming through because they didn't understand

(01:13:23):
what I was telling them to to go ahead and purchase.
So then that's when I'm like, I need I need
a brush off on some on things right now that
I need to make it more clear to them because
I'm saying it maybe the book way, but sometimes like
if you don't know anything about automotive, you're not gonna
know what certain terms are. So I need to like

(01:13:44):
dumb it down. I need to make it easy. So
I'm like, Okay, how can I make this easy? So
when I started making like little like comparisons, I'm like, hey,
you know, it's like this and it's like that, and
like that. That was kind of like my focus to
like to teach them to to to really explain what
I'm trying to sell. So when I started like focusing
on my speech. Just like all you gotta do aster
is just just talk and just make sure they understand,

(01:14:06):
just forget. Like I wouldn't even look at them. I
would just like look at like the object. I was like,
so this is a break pad, And I was talking
the whole time like this, explaining it. So that made
me feel more comfortable because I wasn't looking at them,
you know, as I was speaking. So that's really that
what really helped me in that sense. And that's why,
like like I was, I started becoming better and better

(01:14:26):
at it. But when it was like face on face
like I once again, then security the smile, it would
really take a hit on me. And and the way
I told myself as well, I'm like, you know what,
if you don't like your smile, you need to fix it.
And it's expensive, you need to do it. You need
to get bracest. So that was kind of my next goal,
you know, like, no, I gotta work harder, I gotta
make more money to fix the insecurity of the smile.

(01:14:49):
And and I'm like, how can I fix the insecurity
of the accent If I don't like the way I speak,
I kind of fix it? How can I do that.
I'm like, well, maybe I got to read more books.
Maybe I have to talk more. I have to do
something about it, you know. I mean I still have
the accent, but like I feel like the more the
more you're surrounded with like uh, great amazing people with
different vocabulary, like it sticks on to you know. So

(01:15:11):
that's why, like I like, I like doing that, I
like doing the networking events. I like reading. And I
mean in the whole school career, I that was one
of the classes I dreaded Language Arts Reading. I hated
that class. And it's like now when I came to college,
like I started like having a little passion for it,
just because the professor he taught me a certain way

(01:15:32):
how to like storytell and how to write an essay.
So like next thing, you know, like them, I'm already
in a fifth page, like like we're talking right now,
Like its just like it started like just like down
on the system of how to lay it out, like
it just started becoming super easy. And like that that
helped big time too when I was taking Language Arts

(01:15:52):
English class right here in college as I was working here.
That was one of the biggest things that helped me
overcome the fear of just you know, just your story
and if I didn't like the accent. And I actually
had classes with that teacher because he had a similar
story to mine. So he's like, hey, you know, you
just got to do whatever's under your control. And what's
under your control is just the way you speak. You

(01:16:13):
can fix it maybe a little bit. Maybe repeat the
words a million times. If there's hard words so you
don't know how to pronounce, just repeat it several times.
You're gonna become better at some point.

Speaker 1 (01:16:23):
Well, and I just a I was gonna say, I'll
give you a free tip if you want one, go ahead,
so I so. I also I trained in public speaking,
and one of one of the tips that I've recently
learned from from another trainer in public speaking that I
thought was so cool. He's he's a Vietnamese descendant, so
his father's from Vietnam, and he has a very heavy

(01:16:46):
Vietnamese accent. And one of the one of the tips
that he gives to people with accents in order to
help them with their accent is to actually open their
jaw more when they speak, so to open your mouth more.
And it's funny because as you were telling me all
of this about wanting to fix your accent. I started
really focusing on on your mouth to see and I
noticed that, Yeah, your jaw doesn't open much at all.

(01:17:09):
So I wonder it's gonna be awkward at first, because
I did I did work.

Speaker 2 (01:17:12):
That's a very that's a very helpful tip. Man. I
never like, you're right, I am going to be looking
at my jaw.

Speaker 1 (01:17:17):
Yeah, it's it's a it's a weird thing. But I
watched a whole thing on it. I can't think of
his name off the top of my head, and I can,
but I'm gonna butcher it because it's it's a difficult name.
But anyway, I watched the whole thing that he did,
a whole YouTube video that he did on it, and
and it made sense, like just by opening the jaw
more and then he was able to do other accents

(01:17:37):
because of how he played with with his mouth and
how he opened his jaw and everything. So it was
it was really cool. And so there you go. There's
your there's your freebie of the day everyone. If you
have if you speak with an accent, open your jaw more.
I did work on that with one of my clients.
And the reaction I got was it's weird at first,
Like she was just like, this is so weird. But

(01:17:58):
after trying it a few times, she did notice that
as it became more natural, it did help absolutely.

Speaker 2 (01:18:06):
I mean, look, I'm telling you we learned something every day.

Speaker 1 (01:18:09):
Yeah, But so I am curious too, And I mean
you could take off, you could pick up from where
you left off with the language arts thing, if you like.
But I am curious about So you said you got
braces and that feeling that you must have had when
you got the braces off, and what that first smile was, like,
I'd love that moment. I'd love to hear about that moment.

Speaker 2 (01:18:29):
You know, when I had braces, I felt like I like,
I feel like a lot of people have insecurities when
they get bracest right because they don't like the brackets.
And for me, it's like I felt already better. I
already felt better even though I had braces, Like I
felt like my smile was was better already because maybe
like the wires covered my gap. So I'm like, already

(01:18:50):
I was already happy. No, I wasn't happy with the
fact that they hurt, you know, like I could have
really eat so many things. But I'm like, hey, no,
like it's it's it's it's okay, Like it's fine, Like
I already I was already more more secure about myself.
So when the dentist starts selling me, hey, you know
it's going very well. You're only gonna need them for
eighteen months, not not twenty four months like we said,
so you just gotta make sure where your retainer. And

(01:19:12):
they start talking about like, you know, like taking them
off soon, and I start seeing the results. I don't
have a big of a gap, and it's like I'm
feeling more confident now. So when they took them off
and the first thing I see is like them is
like like it was an amazing moment. Like it's like damn,
Like I always like I always had that vision.

Speaker 1 (01:19:29):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:19:30):
I would look at like TV stars and like actors.
I'm like, d like his smile, like you smile, Like
one day I want to have a smile like him.
You know. So I'm still not not like completely sertified
with my smile, but like it's now like it's I
feel way more comfortable and confident the way I look.
It's just in that smile, you know, so I'm so
glad I did that, you know, like that the bracest thing.

(01:19:50):
And I feel like if I still have that like
that gap, I feel like I wouldn't be as comfortable
as I am. And when I see other people have it,
and like, for example, there's there's a lot of people
that make a lot of money they keep the gap,
It's like that's amazing, you know, because that tells you
that they're super confident on themselves, that that that doesn't
mean anything to them. So when I see other people

(01:20:12):
having like them, like, I respect that.

Speaker 1 (01:20:14):
Like I.

Speaker 2 (01:20:16):
Love that.

Speaker 1 (01:20:17):
You got to respect the gap. Uh, you know, I
mean what I've what I've learned in my personal development
journey is that is that yeah, they were able to
overcome that on their own, but they deal with they
deal with overcoming a lot of other things as well.
And so for you, that was one insecurity that that
you needed to get fixed that you could deal with
all the other ones that you deal with on yourself.

(01:20:38):
And I have to say for everybody listening, of course,
you know you'll be able to see this on the
YouTube channel when this all airs, But I mean, you've
got a great smile, man, you know, as as you're
talking and laughing and smiling, it's it's a great smile.
And you know, the braces did well, you know, I mean, yeah,
you pay good money for them. So I got to
tell you your teeth look nice and straight. I got

(01:20:59):
I got like a little of a crooked teeth in
my bottom ones. But I'm like, you know what, my
bottom lift covers that enough enough. I'm good with that.
You are a young leader. You're twenty seven years old
and you are a leader. And you spoke about the
difference between a manager and a leader. I made some

(01:21:19):
notes on it in that, you know, and you made
your triangle of like a leader, the triangle of two
of a leader creates two other leaders and so on,
and it just becomes so much bigger, whereas a manager
really just manages people. What I'm interested in, and I
know our listeners are interested in, is what it takes
to be not just what it takes to be a leader,

(01:21:41):
but what does it take to be a young leader.
And you kind of talked a little bit about it earlier,
where you're not just leading people that are younger than you,
you're leading people that are in their thirties and their forties,
and where the age matters for everyone listening is the
experience is that you're coming in. You went to school,

(01:22:02):
you're a great technician, you have this leader mentality, but
they come in with ten, fifteen, thirty years of experience.
How do you what is your best strategy? What are
your best tips? What is your best practice on being
a leader? And what you do today that you could
share with our listeners.

Speaker 2 (01:22:21):
You know what, when it comes to the leader part,
like I feel like it just comes in natural.

Speaker 1 (01:22:26):
It's like.

Speaker 2 (01:22:28):
More than anything, I focus on their strengths and their weaknesses,
and I try to make their weaknesses strengths. That that's
my main focus as a leader. So I have a
conversation with them from the beginning and I just saw, Okay,
tell me your weaknesses, your three weaknesses. Okay, now you're
three strengths. Awesome, if I help you with the weaknesses,
are you willing to put it in a ne effort? Yeah?

(01:22:50):
How can I overcome this? Okay, this is a piece
of cake. This is going to be super easy. I'm
gonna show you how. So when I do that, guess
what happens? You know, Like they they want more, you know,
and then we're going too into the professional the financial goals,
like they only get more excited. But as a leader,
you have to understand that everyone's a little bit different.
Everyone has a different drive. If you understand your drive,

(01:23:13):
each and every one of them is going to be
super easy to lead. Even though at the end of
the day, like everyone has different drives, different interests. At
the end of the day, what matters is that you
being a leader to all of them. And they they see,
they see I tell my people all the time that
the way I am with other people, like for example,

(01:23:35):
like I want to be a leader in everything, not
only in the job site, but as a husband, as
a father, as a son, I want a leader, a
leader in every aspect. So they see that I am
a great husband, I am a great father, I'm a
great son, great brother, great friend. Like they they they
want to they want to be like they want to
have that, you know, like that that them the respect

(01:23:56):
they respect you more and and and they're like, you
know what, I can I can be better. I can
be better in this area. And I tell them, I'm like,
I'm not perfect, I can be better in every single area.
But like I said, that's why I always follow more
leaders and I learn from them because there's always going
to be an easier way to do it, a better
way to do it. So for me, that's just like
the starting point. So when they start seeing the progress,

(01:24:20):
as as an employee, what matters the most is progress.
That's that's the biggest thing, you know. If they see
the progress, they see that what you're telling them is working.
That means everything to them because there's there's once again,
there's a lot of leaders alike you know, oh, yeah'm
gonna show you this. I'm gonna show you that. I'm
sure you how to do this. I'm not sure you

(01:24:41):
how to do that. And the employee goes and it's like, well,
you still haven't shown me how. If anything, you made
it more complicated. I'm more confused now. But it's at
the end of the day, like a leader cannot lead
it by example if it's not in them, you know,
if they hear things that like, you can't teach something
that you don't know. And when when it comes to

(01:25:01):
a leader, like I said, I feel like it's it's
kind of like it has been, like it's always been
in my genes. But when I when I discover how
to become a better leader. Like really emphasize the time
I give my employees and tell them, hey, you know
you do matter, thank you for being here. I love
what you do. I love the great family that you have.
You know, keep rolling for it, keep working hard for it,
keep doing all the things that you're doing. Like I

(01:25:23):
give them the confidence. I give them a little bit
of motivation. Sometimes they lack and and and that's one
of the biggest things. Sometimes people are lacking motivation and
they don't they don't receive it because there's a lack
of leadership, you know. And now, like I said, now
like everyone here is a leader. It's like it's crazy,
like to see like, hey, like everyone wants to be
at the front of the wolf packt Like it's I

(01:25:46):
love to see that.

Speaker 1 (01:25:48):
And I think part of part of what you're also
shared in your story about being a leader and being
such a young leader, but a leader at any age,
is that that desire to continue to learn. You said,
you said you loved learn and you did it when
you were a kid, you did it, and you do
it as an adult. You love to learn and go
into conferences and surrounding yourselves with other people to learn.

(01:26:08):
From because you know, you could become a great leader
and then just decide, Okay, that's it. I learned everything
and now I'm going to teach it all to you.
And I think that that's to your point that you
were saying earlier, is that when we have people that
just think that they know it all and then they're
just going to tell us, that's not a leader. You know,
maybe it's a teacher of a course, maybe it's a
manager of some sort, but a leader is somebody who

(01:26:29):
teaches you everything that they learned and continues to learn
and continues to strive for more, which is definitely something
that you do. You know, you have several employees and
you treat them all differently, and it reminds me in
terms of like doing the one to ones and working
on their strength and their weaknesses and what their goals are.
And one of them is to take them to a
basketball game, and one of them might be to go

(01:26:51):
to a different country or something. And something that that
I had heard recently from Stephen Covey, who wrote The
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, is treat everyone the
same by treating them differently. And I love that treat
everyone the same by treating them differently, which is just amazing.
And so one of the things that you talked about

(01:27:12):
that you do in terms of treating them all the
same by treating them differently is accountability and holding them accountable.
And I'm interested in how do you hold your employees accountable?

Speaker 2 (01:27:24):
So this is the way I do things. You know,
in our meetings, we have targets. We have targets. We
have daily targets, weekly targets, quarterly, monthly, yearly, like there's
targets for everything. So I always sell them. Okay, So
if our target is, for example, let's say the target
for the day is ten thousand dollars and we're working

(01:27:46):
as a team, we're a pack. If we have let's
say we have Nestor. Nestor doesn't sell the three tickets
of five hundred that he's supposed to sell, and let's
say everyone else on the team, that's great, they do
their part. We're not meeting the target because Nestor chose

(01:28:08):
not to go all in today because he's having a
rough day. So now that falls under accountability. So when
I tell them, hey, you know, at the end of
the day, we're not meeting a target, it's because we're
not all in, and if we're not in, if Nestra's
not all in, and if we still reach the target
because maybe someone took over, maybe he did six to
cover for for nest At the end of the day,

(01:28:31):
they're they're making it happen because they know that in
order to reach their personal professional financial goals, we hit
have to hit those daily targets. So the accountability becomes
easy because they know the reason that they have to
hit a certain target is in order for them to grow.
So everyone at the end of the day as a team,
like everyone has different duties and we hold each other

(01:28:52):
accountable the same the same way that we we tell
them that at the end of the day, if I
wake up and I'm like I'm feeling a little sick,
it's okay, I'll call off. If there's no accountability, there's
no really desire to like show up to work. But
if there's a lot of accountability, not only from my side,

(01:29:12):
but from everyone's side, it's like, hey, bro, like where
you at. It's ato four, it's aight o five, Like
what's going on? Like you're not here yet? Always I'm
feeling a little sick, Hey, come on, brother, like just
take some medicine whatever, Like just let's make it work.
You know, we have a really busy day. Like they
literally it's like it's a bunch of ness just talking
to them, you know, But that that's what you want.
Like everyone knows their roles and everyone knows that what

(01:29:35):
they bring to the company. So when when you have that,
it's like I said, it's always it's always gonna become
easy to to to grow and move fast because everyone
knows their roles and they're they're no they know that
they're being held accountable. Because what happens at the end
of the day. If if I don't hold you accountable,
you're not gonna grow. I'm not gonna grow. And if

(01:29:57):
I do hold you accountable and you're not meeting the targets,
like it's obviously it could be happening because maybe you
don't know enough information or maybe you do know enough information.
I'm teaching you enough, but you're still not putting in
the work ethic or you're still not following through. That
means once again, it's time to split because it's just
not going to be a good fit. If it's not

(01:30:17):
working right now, it's not working in a couple of days,
it's never going to work out because you're not all in.

Speaker 1 (01:30:22):
You know, yeah, yeah, it's it's it's it's kind of
funny what you say too about like when when someone
calls out being sick, it's like, as entrepreneurs, it's like,
we never get sick. It's like there's no such thing
as sick days for entrepreneurs. No such thing as sick
days for entrepreneurs. So you have this business and you

(01:30:44):
have this like beautiful way of running it in that
you care about people's lives. I'd love to just understand
this value that you put on people's lives more than
being about breaks and tires and oil changes, that it's
really about keeping people safe. I'm very interested on how

(01:31:04):
you came to that conclusion for your business.

Speaker 2 (01:31:07):
You know. The reason for that is because we're in
an industry that's really burnt off, the automotive industry. Everyone
looks at us as crooks. Everyone thinks that we're the
worst people. That you go in for one service and
they come out with another service, Like that's the image
of the automotive industry. And it's very sad to see
that because, like, as an honest person, you're trying to

(01:31:29):
build something and you see that like it's hard. It's
hard when people tell you that in front of your face, like, oh,
I don't trust you, guys, I don't do this, Like
I've always had a bad experience everywhere. So when you
focus on really generally helping someone and they notice that
that you are helping them and you're not being pushy
on selling things that maybe they don't need, Like at

(01:31:49):
the end of the day, I feel like it's just
common sense. If you want to grow up business, do
what's under your control, really help them in the service
they need and the problems are happy find the solutions,
you're gonna be busy forever. But if you're in there
being transactional and being there just for the one time
ticket just because like oh yeah, I screwed them over.

(01:32:10):
You know, I saw them tires. He didn't need tires.
Like our days gonna look good financially, but guess what,
your day's not gonna look like that in a few
months when when they were supposed to need another service.
So I focus on long term. I'm not gonna sell
you something that you don't need to start with. And
not only that, I want to show people, hey, you know,
there's still honest people out there. There. There's still is

(01:32:31):
you know, just like everything else. And my focus is
to keep the people driving safe from the road, just
because I hate when I'm driving on the freeway and
I hate a car pulled on the side of the road.
Sometimes most of the time, it's people that don't have
a clue what's going on, especially sometimes when it's a
woman's very inconvenient if they have to change a tire,

(01:32:52):
they don't know how. They run into little hiccups like
where maybe it was under their control, but they just
took it to the wrong place, and things can go
always go wrong. So I hate seeing cars on the
side of the road broken down because things didn't go
right the first time, you know. So my message to
my employees and anyone that comes here is like, hey, guys,

(01:33:14):
Like for my employees, like I tell them all the time,
would you be happy if you took it to another
place and they sold you on something, They sold your
wife tires that she didn't need, suspension that she didn't need,
all the things that she didn't need. How would you react?
Would you be mad? Oh? Yeah, I would be mad? Okay, Well,
we're not gonna be like that. We gotta be like

(01:33:36):
that that shop that you know, the husband sends the
wife too, and we don't sell them anything they don't need.
And if they do need stuff, we make sure that
we have a conversation with a husband and it can
be there by email, by text, because if we don't,
we teach the wife and she has to understand correctly.
She's only gonna remember the numbers, the fact that she

(01:33:57):
has to spend three thousand dollars to get X y
Z fix. But we talked to the customer, to the husband,
and we explain with pictures and videos. We're gonna do
the same explaining to both of them, but we actually
actually also give the information to the husband. If the
wife tells them, hey, honey, we need uh, we need breaks,
we need suspension, we need tires, the first out on

(01:34:20):
the husband's mind is gonna be like, oh, these guys
trying to get you. Huh, we're trying to get you
on all these things. We don't need none of that, babe.
And then babe, but they posted a video. Look, this
is good and this is bad. This is making a comparison.
So it is our car look and then the husband
takes a look, it's like, oh shit, maybe maybe we
do need something I thought, I thought, I did. You

(01:34:41):
know why I didn't do it? So that's why that's
why we focus on We focus on honest cells because
we want to be known as the best auto repair shop,
you know, and we're not gonna be known as the
best we're not honest. You know. Honestly business will thrive
and a lot of people will market for your business.

Speaker 1 (01:34:59):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:34:59):
A lot of customers work to mouth. I said it before,
and that's what you've got to focus on. So we
focus on the quality of the service, the customer service,
and the honesty. And that's why, Like before, I had
a very simple system that it was it made everything harder.
Now I have a system that you know, you bring
your car to the shop, we take pictures and we

(01:35:20):
upload videos educational videos. Hey Michael, you know your cabin
filter is dirty, recommend replacing as soon as you can,
and it posts a video on the function of the
cabinet filter, how often it gets dirty, how often you're
supposed to replace it. So guess what, customers gonna trust me,
and they don't trust me from the beginning. If you

(01:35:40):
tell the customer, Hey, this is this is what's going on,
and this can be the end result. It can be
even worse when it actually happens. It's like, damn, I
should have listened. But now, like you prevent that from happening.
Anytime they need anything else, they'd rather come to you
because certain things happen and they warned you about it,
versus go and taking a shot another phase and like

(01:36:02):
you don't get that service, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:36:03):
Yeah, And what you're referencing to is is that preventative
care that you see. And I just want to make
sure for all of our listeners that that they understand
and they know you well, is that you're just being
a gentleman when you're talking about you hate when you
see a woman on the side of the road with
a flat tire, it's more of a gentleman. And I
and I agree with you on that, like we were
raised the right way and pull over and to try

(01:36:24):
to help her out. We don't want to want to
see that. And then of course it's in your experience
that for your most of your customers are predominantly the
wives that come in and take care of the cars.
And you're speaking on that just want to make sure
that that we clarify that for everybody listening to know
that I don't think you know. I'm sure you have
plenty of customers who are the wives themselves and make
the decisions as well, So of course I want to

(01:36:46):
clarify that for everyone. But you're you're one hundred percent right,
you know. In you know, for my business, my insurance business,
we talk about it was I literally, I literally just
used the example of an auto mechanic with my sales
team yesterday because of exactly what you're speaking about. And
I'm going to share this example with you because I
think you'll appreciate it. So we sell insurance and one

(01:37:08):
of the things we were talking about is talking about
flood insurance with our clients. And one of our salespeople said, well,
what we could do is we could just call them
and just say, hey, I noticed you don't have flood insurance,
and we know with all the bad weather going on,
you should probably add flood insurance to your policy. Do
you want one? And I said, okay, that's great. You
know it's proactive. You're going and you're calling clients and

(01:37:29):
you're asking them. I said, but you know, you just
asked a yes or no question, and you know what
do you do when they say no? He said, well,
I'm going to be polite and I'm going to hang up.
I said, all right. I said, is there a different
way to ask that question? And he said, well, what
do you mean? And I brought up the auto mechanic
and I said, well, let's think about this. You know,
you drop your car off at the auto mechanic for
an auto change, for an oil change, and the mechanics

(01:37:52):
calls you up and says, hey, listen, you know your
car is ready. Just want to let you know. You know,
you've got your tires are almost balding, and and you
know we're going to You're gonna need new tires, so
we're gonna put those on. And you're also gonna need
new Winchel wipers in order to pass your inspections, so
you're gonna need those. So the bill's going to be
X amount such and such. You could pick your car
up at such and such time. I said, how do
you feel about that phone call? I mean, nest, how
do you feel about that phone call?

Speaker 2 (01:38:14):
It's I tell my guys all the time, people if
people do not for example, this this this scenario that
you're running people. One, they're not coming excited to get
an oil change. They're not. They're not It's not like
the same excitement they get when they go to the mall.
People are not jumping around like oh yeah it will change. Second,
if you tell someone else that they need tires, they

(01:38:35):
need other stuff, they're not gonna be happening right because
it's costing them money money. Yeah, they need it, but
it's it's like there's no excitement. But then you under
if you explain the reason they need it, that's when
like it all comes together.

Speaker 1 (01:38:49):
And like you know, and so I think you're gonna
like my second example then, and I said, and how
would you? And so, because that's what we came to
the same conclusion together, we're like, okay, so we got
to change this, and how do we change it? And
I said, I imagine you drop your car off at Nestor's. Right,
I'm going to use you because I know this is
how you do it. Well, you probably do it better
than this, But this was the exact example I gave
to my team yesterday. I said, now, imagine you drop

(01:39:12):
it off at Nestor's. What's the name of the business again.
I'm sorry, I want to use your Express Rancho Express Louve.
Imagine you drop it off there and they call you up.
They say, hey, listen, your car is ready. Oil has changed.
I want to let you know that, you know, I
just did a look over your your do a thirty
point inspection. I did a thirty point inspection for you,
free of charge, and I noticed that your tires have

(01:39:33):
about ten thousand miles left. I ran a few quotes
for you. I have them available for you when you
come in. I also want to let you know that
you have an inspection coming up in two more months.
Your wipers are looking a little dull. You're probably going
to need those at that point. I also left you
a quote for some wipers. Your car is ready whenever
you're ready to come pick it up from the oil change.
How do you feel about that? One nester?

Speaker 2 (01:39:54):
Absolutely? One point and then that's literally what I do, exactly,
And it makes once again, you put the customer in
a position that they don't have to act. Now you're
warning them it's coming up soon, so that gives them
more like, Okay, yeah, I know it's coming up, so
I can say for it and something that I add
to that is just to once again make it all

(01:40:17):
come together and really build that trust. Is every car
has intervals, my leg intervals. If I tell you, hey, Michael,
by the way, you know, besides the tires, this is
coming up a seventy miles, this is one hundred dozen
miles service. This is one hundred and fifty thousand miles service.
This is two hundred doozd miles service. I'm attach it
to your report. That way you know what's coming up,

(01:40:40):
and that way nothing takes you by surprise next night.
If you have to take the car anywhere else, do
not let them fool you into buying XYZ because this
is right here, what I'm showing you, this is exactly
what you need other than you know, like running into
a flat or any other problem that breaks. It's just different,
you know. But you do not need anything else other
than this. I'm telling the customer and giving them the information.

(01:41:02):
That's what you want. You know, they want you to
come back later. Hey, that's straight in all life, man.
I need that service you told me about. Thank you
for telling me in advance, and it made it way
easier I can save. It's not putting me in a
budget and anywhere else. So they appreciate that absolutely.

Speaker 1 (01:41:18):
And what you're doing is you're offering them a choice.
That's the other thing. And I think that that's the
biggest thing. So when I was saying that, you're saying
making them say yes or no. In a yes or no, Yeah,
you have a choice between yes or no, but you
don't really have a choice. You're kind of put in
a corner and having to make a decision. With what
you and I are talking about. Now, you're giving them
a choice. They could say, hey, you know what, I
don't want to wait the ten thousand miles put the

(01:41:39):
tires on. Now, you know, you're giving them the choice
with the with as you said, the incremental points of
seventy five thousand, one hundred thousand, they could decide, you
know what, at ninety thousand, let's just do it, so
that would just get it over and done with. So
I think, you know, it's huge to give them choices.
And I'm very appreciative that you're out there doing this
because I finally found a really great mechanic for my car.

(01:42:01):
But it's true, I mean I had I went through
I mean, I'm forty two Like I said, I went
through countless mechanics, and every once in a while I'd
find one, and to your point, whenever I found one,
I would stick with him.

Speaker 2 (01:42:14):
Man.

Speaker 1 (01:42:15):
I mean I remember I had one for my first
brand new car. I'd bought a Honda in two thousand
and six. And the shop, the Honda shop, he worked
for the dealer. He did some side work, and the
guy who sold me the car introduced me to him.
I used to bring it to this guy's house and
I was going there for like five years straight until
he was just like, oh yeah, I no longer do that.

(01:42:36):
And when he stopped, I was like, oh my goodness, Like,
where am I going to go now? I was like,
I can't go to anybody, because it is a very
difficult industry in finding people that treat you right and
are honest with you. So I'm very appreciative to you
for the work you do. I'm very appreciative for my mechanics.
So everybody in the Hudson Valley Fleet Auto Service go
see Eli. He's the best. But of course, if you're

(01:42:58):
in California, go to a rinch Arrow right because Nesta
is going to take care of you. Nestra as we
wrap up. Something I always like to ask people is
their mantra and a quote that they live by. And
for you, you said, you only have one life, so
make every day count. Tell us about how you live
by that.

Speaker 2 (01:43:15):
That's I live by that because it's very true. You
never know. I mean, what can happen. You know, accidents
happen and tragedies happen. The last thing you want is
like the way I look at it, is like I
don't want to be age fifty looking back at my
life and say like, damn, if only I took that

(01:43:37):
one risk, If only I did that one thing, if
only like all these if only you know, like I
would be in a different position now. Like so like
like I always say, like live it by the day,
make it count in a sense that you know where
you're headed and you know that you got one percent
better every day. And a lot of people don't live
like that. A lot of people live by like Monday

(01:43:58):
through Friday weekends coming up, have that mini weekend, you know,
get drunk and have fun and then go back to Monday.
I feel like those people that live by that, they're
kind of miserable. They don't enjoy their life. And it's
like they're they're not in a good mood five days
out of the week and another two they're like enjoying themselves.

(01:44:19):
And I would say, you know, I encourage you to
like find find what makes you happy and find a
job that doesn't going to make you really happy, and
you're gonna grow, you know, because at the end of
the day, we'll only have one life. Guys, like you
have to make sure you make everything out of it
because at the end of the day, I tell people
all the time, there's people dying right now. We have
the privilege to be sitting right here speaking. You know,

(01:44:40):
we're having a good time, but people are dying every second,
and there's some people that are in the deathbed wishing
that they had your position. And you're over here complaining
that you have a lot of problems that you don't
know why, Like there's always going to be a bigger problem,
you know, So be grateful for problems, their opportunity to
make something better and improve in that area. But just

(01:45:02):
be grateful for life. You know, we we have to
make the best out of it. And like I love
the level list.

Speaker 1 (01:45:08):
That's awesome. You you also have so many people in
your life to be grateful for. And I want to
give you an opportunity to go ahead and give a
shout out to your family and to Art of course
a great mentor of yours. But you know you mentioned
your dad and your mom, and your sister and your
wife and your children, So if you want to give
them a quick shout out because they're the people right

(01:45:28):
behind you.

Speaker 2 (01:45:29):
Yeah, yeah, you know. Yeah, So I mean I appreciate
my mom, my dad, you know, they're the world. My wife,
my daughter, beautiful daughter, she's a year in two months. Wow,
thank you. My sisters Carla, Stephanie and are you know
a great mentor business partner, And there's so many other
mentors I have, Albert, and it's like all these people

(01:45:51):
like they are in my life, like everyone, even if
if I mentioned your name, like everyone has made an
impact in my life. Yeah, and I'm really grateful for that.

Speaker 1 (01:45:59):
Yeah, I hear that, man. I mean for what you've
accomplished in all the years, and going back to when
you were that little eight year old boy and new
to the country and getting a student of the month
to going to your dad and saying, hey, I pick rocks,
and that person on the farm giving you that opportunity
there and then just doing the things that you've done
just shows that you had a community always supporting you

(01:46:21):
and always there for you, and you leaned on it.
And that's the other great thing is you were always
willing to be vulnerable and lean into that community and
go to the counselors and find out more and learn
more information and really just put yourself out there and
try new things. Is what I heard from your story.
So I commend you for that. You've been You've been
an inspiration to me. Your story moved me emotionally. I

(01:46:42):
don't know if you saw that while while I was
listening to you, but you certainly moved me emotionally, and
I know you moved everybody else listening emotionally today. So
thank you so much for coming on the show.

Speaker 2 (01:46:52):
Thank you for having me. Like I said, I love
sharing my story. And you know, everyone has a story
that they need to be sharing. They'll be don't be shy,
like it can change lives, you know, like we have
to pass on that message.

Speaker 1 (01:47:04):
Yeah, it's been awesome. Well, thanks so much for coming
on today.

Speaker 2 (01:47:07):
Thank you. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:47:09):
Just I always do this and I almost forgot because
it was just such a beautiful ending here. But I
want to make sure so everybody who's listening right now,
of course this will be in the show notes. How
can people get in touch with you? How can people
find your business.

Speaker 2 (01:47:21):
Any social media platform? You can find me as the
nestricutearists and for the business Rancho Express, Lubique.

Speaker 1 (01:47:28):
Awesome, awesome, and that'll be in the show notes everybody. Nesta,
thanks for so much for coming on the show today.

Speaker 2 (01:47:33):
Thank you. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:47:35):
Thank you for listening to The Michael Esposito Show. For
show notes, video clips and more episodes, go to Michael
Esposito Inc. Dot com backslash podcast. Thank you again to
our sponsor d ten Insurance Services helping businesses get the
right insurance for all their insurance needs. Visit dent ten
dot io to get a quote that's d N t

(01:47:57):
N dot io and when you buy an insurance policy
from Danten, you're giving back on a global scale. This
episode was produced by Uncle Mike at the iHeart Studios
in Poughkeepsie. Special thanks to Lara Rodrian for the opportunity
and my team at Mike Lesposito Inc.

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