Marysol:  Welcome to Un Billón Mindset. I am your host, Marysol Uribe. And today, I have the pleasure of speaking with Enrique Guerra. He is a part of Drain It Plumbing, he's a sewer inspector, and he's also known as a plumbing therapist. So, I'll let him go more into detail about that. 

Go ahead and introduce yourself and tell us about your business. 

Enrique:  First of all, I'd like to say thank you, Marysol, for having me.

Marysol:  Of course. 

Enrique:  I am honored. And my name is Enrique Guerra. I am also known as the proud plumber. And I am here representing Drain It Plumbing. And we're a family owned and operated company, and just we're a little bit more than your average plumber. We're actually your plumbing therapist. And I say that because my job is to listen to you and your plumbing problems and help guide you to a solution so you're not having to deal with these problems ever again. 

Marysol:  Beautifully said, Enrique. So, tell me a little bit more about the upbringing of that baby, right? That company. I refer to it as a baby, because people put a lot of time and energy into it. So, tell me more about the root of Drain It Plumbing. How did it start? And which people did it involve at the beginning? And who's most involved with it now? 

Enrique:  Yes. So, as I had said, we're a family owned and operated company, and I'm a second-generation plumber, so my father was a plumber, and that's where it all started. My father came from Mexico, learned the plumbing trade underneath apprenticing with a plumber himself, opened his own business and has been self-employed for the last 40 years. And over those 40 years, we have about four boys that are in the family, and all four of us got our own opportunity to go work with my dad without wanting to or not, my mother's idea, she was the one that made sure we went to work and understood the value of work. And I'm so grateful for that now. But honestly, when I was 15, 16, 17, I wasn't that grateful because I didn't understand why I was going. I was on vacation, and that's what I wanted to do. 

But now, where I'm at now, we have ... my oldest brother, Albert, runs Drain It Plumbing, he's the captain of the ship. And then I'm our Field Operations Manager, and I also run our social media. And my sister is our office manager, and she's the glue to our business. She keeps us all in check, she makes sure that ship is running in the direction where it's supposed to be. And we make sure that we keep each other accountable as a team, and that's our way of making sure that we continue to progress and grow in the business. 

Marysol:  I'm glad your family is involved. And I can understand why in the beginning it may have been a little forced upon. I think it's up to us to really mature and take that opportunity as something to run with, realizing that you don't have to start from scratch, that you just if you put effort and time into it and grow what's already been built, you could actually have a great, great ROI. 

A similar story with me, like my dad, I remember him telling me, "Marysol, you don't have to reinvent the wheel and go do something else." At the time, my parents' business was property management. And that's their company. And I was a rebel, I became a nurse. I'm like, "No, I want to do my own thing." And so nursing. I could totally concur with learning that drive from our parents, and that's actually what my song, Un Billón, is all about, it's commemorating first generation Latinos, well, primarily the parents, the founders of companies, the ones who put that initial grind, came over here to the United States of America in the first place and set that example. 

So, congratulations to you and your family. I love that. I love hearing the origin story of a business, because we all go through ups and downs, and a business is no different. 

So, what problem do you solve, and how do you stand apart? 

Enrique:  Everybody has a toilet and everybody needs to take a shower, right? So, the problem that I solve is to make sure that you can do that. So, whenever you're experiencing any plumbing problems, small or big, inside or outside your house, my job is to make sure that you're able to enjoy your home at 100%, and that includes making sure that your plumbing works properly. 

So, my job is to fix your plumbing problems so that you can enjoy your home and you can enjoy your life so that you don't have to worry about those things, because I worry about them for you. 

Marysol:  Beautifully said. Yeah, we all use the restroom every day. And have you ever like gone to third world countries? I remember going to Lima, Peru, and I actually got that imagery of not having a properly-made house, of having a house that is just like with cardboard and aluminum, whatever they could find, and they just planted that to the ground. And I remember in 2018, I went for a medical mission trip, and that segment of the town in Lima, Peru, about two hours from that main city, it's not even on the map, it's the bus just goes as far as it can go before arriving on that dirt terrain. And that's how people go to and from work. But, it's certainly a struggle. 

We are very blessed to live in this country, and even have plumbing, because there are still people in this world as you're listening, struggling because they don't have those basic fundamental needs to really maintain a good sanitation system. 

Enrique:  Yes. Yeah, there's definitely ... I've been to ... I've gotten a chance to go to Rio de Janeiro and visit the slums in Rio de Janeiro, maybe about 10 years ago, and I also saw the ... and then as a plumber myself, it was disheartening because I understand the importance of proper plumbing with sanitary and hygiene in mind, and not having access to that is it's not right and it's very disheartening to see. And then having to come back to my home and everything be so easily readily accessible, and honestly, feeling like I take advantage of it because I as a plumber, my job is to fix plumbing and sometimes while I was out there I felt I couldn't even do my job and fix the plumbing because there was so much more than it needed to be done to be able to get it up to a livable standards. 

Marysol:  Let's say you walk into a house and ... well, you mainly deal with ... do you deal with residential? 

Enrique:  Absolutely, yeah. A lot. Majority of our work is residential. So, we do residential, commercial, we do some industrial work as well. But most of my work is residential, dealing with customers. And usually when I show up, it's like hectic everywhere, because the customer is unaware of the problem and they just don't know what to do. So, they call the professional like myself. 

Marysol:  So you come in as a professional to come in and assess. 

Enrique:  Correct. 

Marysol:  And my question is how can my listeners help get more educated so that your job is easier? 

Enrique:  So, my job predominantly I love to when I go to a home is to educate my customers into what's going on in their home, because if I'm asking him to go ahead and pay a certain amount to fix a problem I want them to know what it is that I'm fixing. And I want them to know exactly what it is that they're paying for so that there is no misunderstandings, and they clearly are able to know and tell anybody else, "You know what? I had this work done at my house." And by that happening, it tells me that I did my job correctly because I've educated them enough to a point where they can turn around and educate somebody else. And ultimately, I love doing that. That's like my favorite part of my job, is that somebody learns something and can turn around and share it with somebody else. 

Marysol:  Education is huge for me, as a nurse. I see patients one on one in their homes as a home health nurse, and it's really all about keeping them out of the hospital. Like I don't want to have to receive them again in that capacity, right? Like, of course, if I see them in the store or something I'll say, "Hi." They may or may not recognize me though, because all throughout Covid we've had to wear masks and even a shield. But, I mean, if you can learn how to avoid certain problems, especially in your own home, then you've done a big part of the education portion. 

Enrique:  Yeah. What we like to do when I show up to somebody's house is I like to make sure when I'm leaving that they're better informed as to what's happening in their house. Whether they choose to go with my company and hire me to fix the problem, that's not my first concern. My first concern is that you know what's happening in your house, and that you know what options you have available to fix the problem. And unfortunately, with plumbing companies, they don't necessarily think that way. It's more of a sale, trying to make the sale by the time I leave the house. And we like to focus on connecting with our customers so that they're aware of what's happening in their home, and that trust is built between us and the customer, that we're taking care of them and their home as if it was our own home. 

Marysol:  And that's what makes you stand out. 

Enrique:  Yes. 

Marysol:  I love it. 

Enrique:  Yes, that approach has been something that we've cultivated and grown to. We've focused on making connections. They know who to call when shit hits the fan. 

Marysol:  Literally, shit can hit the fan, right? 

Enrique:  Yeah. Yes, very much so. So, whether the customer goes with us in the moment or not, more importantly, we like to gain the trust of our customers because we're an honest company, we provide you with all the options that you have accessible and allow you to decide how much you want to fix it. 

Marysol:  Hair is a big problem, right? Hair can clog a lot of drains. 

Enrique:  Uh-hmm. 

Marysol:  Do you recommend everyone have like a net, a little hair catcher in their households? 

Enrique:  Yes. So, don't let the hat for you, but I deal with hair too. Us as well. So, yes, so a few things that you can do to kind of prevent me from showing up to your door is one net strainer that you can buy at Home Depot or any kind of home improvement store. Another little trick of the trade that you can do is what you can do is use a homemade remedy of bleach so that it burns the hair and instead of Drano. And so I highly recommend stay away from Drano when you're dealing with older plumbing systems or any kind of chemical, because if they don't make their way out of the system then they continue to harm and further damage the pipe. Whereas bleach is a home remedy, so that's not going to make any damage. But what that will do is it will burn the hair that's kind of stuck in there, and that will allow for the delay of me showing up to have to fix the problem. 

Marysol:  So, be there, the problem, it'll just delay the time of needing you. 

Enrique:  Correct, yes. Because what's happening inside is not necessarily the hair that's causing the problem. What it is, is the corrosion that happens along the inside of the pipe, and so what you can imagine is you have dimples that begin to form along the inside of the pipe that are corrosion buildup like calcium buildup, and then the hair will get stuck along the pipe, and then that's what begins to build up because it doesn't have a smooth surface to drain out, and so it kind of stays inside of the pipe, and hair just begins to build up to the point where the system is now draining slowly or completely clogged. 

Marysol:  Okay, so that can be like in a shower or even in a tub. 

Enrique:  Correct. 

Marysol:  When we're addressing a toilet, it's more so maybe too much toilet paper or sanitary pads? 

Enrique:  Yes, all of the above. 

Marysol:  And tampons, that kind of thing, right? 

Enrique:  All of the above, yeah. So, in the same fashion that corrosion happens on the smaller pipes, it also happens on the bigger pipes because they're all metal as well. Or you're dealing with clay pipes, and when you're dealing with clay pipes, you're dealing with roots that may have gotten into the pipe that have begin to break the clay pipe and then that's when you begin to have paper gets stuck, and then that's when you have a main sewer line backup where nothing is operating or flushing in the house. And all of the fixtures, your bathtub, your sink, your toilet, your washer, they all connect into one trunk line which is one main sewer pipe that exits then the house or the building. If more than one fixture is clogged, then what will happen is then the problem is happening in the main pipe under the house. 

So, one telltale is if you've ever experienced drain issues and it's more than just one fixture, meaning it's your tub and your toilet or it's your kitchen and your washroom, then you're likely dealing with a main sewer line issue. And that is the main pipe where everything connects into. 

Marysol:  Oh, and that can take longer to fix. 

Enrique:  Yes, that's a bigger problem, correct. Now, it all depends on the accessibility of the piping. Homes that are on slab or cement foundation are a little trickier because we don't have access to the drains that are under the ground. Whereas homes that have a crawlspace underneath the house, allows us to go under, and then all of the piping is readily accessible so that we can make any necessary repairs to upgrade the plumbing from old metal to now plastic. So, that would be our step to be able to upgrade your system so you no longer have both piping, but you have a new upgraded version so you're not dealing with either drain issues or low water pressure. 

Marysol:  So, back then, 1980s, 1990s, what are the materials of the drains then versus now? 

Enrique:  So, really the change in the materials happened about in the 60s or the 70s, because prior to that, installation of drain pipe consisted of cast iron metal pipe and clay pipe along the outside of the house, those are your two ones that you use. Now we use an ABS plastic pipe that we're able to substitute so that we're not dealing with corrosion and we're not having to worry about roots getting in the pipe. 

Marysol:  Interesting. So, plastic pipes are more common today. 

Enrique:  Correct, for drains. And then now in regards to water, you have old metal pipes as well and then also deals with corrosion, and you'll probably understand this, and with the water pipes they're a lot smaller in diameter to start, so when you have corrosion, they begin to close up like our arteries do. And so then what will happen is in the same fashion, if it doesn't have the proper flow, then it begins to back up or drain slowly. And the sewage isn't making its way out of the system. And then it begins to build up inside of the pipe. And what will begin to happen is you'll get a smell that'll begin to come into the house. 

So, if you have an odor coming into your house, anywhere, there's something happening in your drain system that's causing sewage to stay in the system when it's never supposed to be in the system. It should always flow out of the system into the street connection. 

Marysol:  I loved your artery analogy. 

Enrique:  Thank you. I knew you would like that one. 

Marysol:  That was perfect. That's my cue to come in and talk a little health. 

Enrique:  Yes, let's do it. 

Marysol:  Okay, brilliant. So, quick two minutes of health. You guys know that you need to check in on your cardiovascular system, right? So, what are some ways that you could stay cardiac healthy, Enrique? 

Enrique:  Walking is one thing that I love to do. And actually more than the physical benefits, walking does a lot more of benefiting my mental than anything. Other, dancing is a good one. I love to dance too, so you don't even feel like you're working out, so it's like the best workout. I get on the elliptical or the cycling as well. Swimming is a good exercise for me, because it's very low impact so it allows me to get my body moving without much impact happening on my muscles. So, I love to swim as often as I can. 

Marysol:  Good. I'm glad you mentioned those. And walking, that's an easy one for you, the listener. Definitely if you're not doing much of any workouts right now, we want to have you be as least sedentary as possible. So, definitely start walking 15, 30 minutes a day, whatever you could squeeze in, either in the morning. And then do a quick shower or more so through the evening. But, I'm noticing that if you work out closer to the time when you want to get to bed, you might be a little more energized. Slow down and getting calm again and kicking in that melatonin which is activated when it's dark and when you don't have blue light. So try to stay away from your devices at least an hour, hour and a half, prior to getting to bed. 

Enrique:  Guilty. 

Marysol:  Yeah, a lot of us are, myself included. But it's something that once you understand why it affects melatonin, you're more likely to try to do something about it and help your body out. 

Enrique:  Yeah, to add to that, the importance of moving the body is crucial. Whatever that looks like for you, it can be chasing the little one around the house, it can be playing catch with your kids outside, it can be going for a walk while they ride their bikes, like all of those little activities will add up. It may seem like, "Oh, it's only five minutes. Oh, it's only ten minutes." But it's five or ten minutes more than you worked out before. 

Marysol:  Exactly. 

Enrique:  And what it does for me, moving my body, is it allows me to really be able to think properly. Because there's so much that happens in my mind and so much that I would like to do and accomplish that sometimes I can't stop the wheels going on up here. So, I really have to do a course correction and kind of move my body, go for a walk. Many of times, I'll be at home, just thinking, thinking, thinking, and I tell myself, "Put your shoes on and get outside." And I just go for a walk, and I'll end up walking for a good hour, and then I come back home and I'm like, "All right, time to time to get to work. I can think clearly now." 

Although, nothing has been resolved from the issues that were happening in my mind, but at least they have been calm to where I can think a little clearer and it's not as foggy with all of the running thoughts in my mind. So, active moving, walking, that really helps more than just your physical body, it actually keeps the mind up here clear so that you can continue thinking positively so that you can get out of whatever feeling you may be feeling. 

Marysol:  I'm so glad you shared that, because we all have our experiences in how working out has helped us. And another reason why, going back to cardiac health, I know we've spent longer than two minutes, but this is one of my passions. 

Enrique:  No, I love it. Let's go. 

Marysol:  Similar to how when pipes get corrosion, things add up and it causes stagnation of the water flow, that same thing happens in our arteries, in our bloodstream. And your body tries to repair that "corrosion", and that's called arteriosclerosis. So, when there's fatty deposits that kind of get stuck in the lining of the tunica intima, which is the tissue inside of your arterioles, capillaries, blood vessels. So things get stuck there, it could be lipids, fats, a previous repair that may have shortened the diameter of that particular vessel. And so when there's repair going on all the time, because of your eating styles, lack of working out, that all slows your circulation, and so things can keep getting stuck over time. 

And if something happens to get dislodged from one of those old repairs that's already shortening the diameter of your bloodstream, that can be called an emboli which is a little clot. And that emboli, if landed here, can cause a stroke. And if landed here, can cause a heart attack. So, definitely work out not only to strengthen that mind-heart connection, but to also help circulation everywhere - circulation in your gut so you can poop at least once a day, circulation in your vessels, in your lungs so you can get all that oxygen that you need, circulation to shoot up to your brain so you can get all that clarity and decrease that mental fog, circulation all the way to your toes so you can keep the sensation. 

Because what happens also with diabetes, for example, that's common in our population, actually, sadly, and I'm writing a book heavy on diabetic education because I want you guys to never experience it at all. Type 2 diabetes is extremely preventable. So, how do you fix it or prevent it? Diet and exercise. 

But to go back to the story, if your blood is thick and viscous ... I explain diabetes like hold up a water and it's clear, hold up a protein shake and it's thick, add some honey and it's gooey, so it moves slow. So, imagine your arteries, that plumbing of your body is moving slow. That's supposed to carry your nutrients, your electrolytes, oxygen, oxygen molecules, four of them fit in each red blood cell, so that's called the hemoglobin. But anyway, that's supposed to get sent all the way to the tip of the toe, all the way to your brain, more than a billion neurons there, your brain cells, all the way to the tips of your fingers. Let's say if there's a lockage and a slow in traffic, I've seen amputations of the feet and below the knee as well caused by diabetes, and something called gangrene can happen where your toes are no longer pink, they're black, and they smell. And that's just a toe without circulation, that tissue is dead. So, what do we do? It gets amputated, we cut it, so that it doesn't affect the good tissues. 

So, long story short, to summarize, definitely work out, drink your water, and go to sleep because when you sleep, that's when a lot of repair happens. 

Enrique:  So, let me ask you this, Enfermera Marysol, I know how to clean the drains from that corrosion and remove that corrosion in pipes, how would we do that for our arteries and for our plumbing that we have inside of us? 

Marysol:  Great question, Enrique. So, a big thing is to watch your fat. So, your levels of fat, it can be calculated more specifically with say nutritionist or someone like a body builder, a coach that you could hire, like a personal trainer, they have calipers to measure BMI. So, you want to get as specific as you can with measuring BMI. There's different ways to do it now - there's a body scanner, there's an inmode machine. So, there's different scales to most accurately measure BMI. Try to find something like that. 

I know, in the nutri shop near my city, in Brea, California, they've got a body scanner, and have the app actually, download an app, and you're able to see the breakdown of your weight. So, how much is my muscle weighing on my right arm? How much of that is fat? How much of that is water? So, you need to know the numbers. It's like your CPA, they need to know the numbers of your business so you can have future projections and so you could hit your targets accurately or as accurately as you can, right? 

Enrique:  Yeah. 

Marysol:  Similarly, just know the numbers of the intake and output of your body. So, know how many calories in, how many calories out? Are you eating more than you're burning? A lot of us do. Most people will say, "You just need a calorie deficit. Go on a calorie deficit." I've actually spoken to two bodybuilders on the show, go back and listen to those because they break it down nicely in terms of how many calories is each gram of fat, how many calories is equal to each gram of carbs. So, that kind of thing, it gives you an idea. 

And you can also use a simple app if you really wanted to input how much you eat in a day. That'll give you an idea of how many calories that is that you consumed. And so you should burn about 500 calories per workout if you really wanted to kind of go hard. But that could be a lot for some people, especially starting out. So just take it slow. Start with a 45-minute workout once a day. 

Enrique:  Okay, so what I'm hearing is it's a process, right? 

Marysol:  Yes. 

Enrique:  Because in my analogy that I use, we, it's a one-time treatment. This is a process of multiple ... 

Marysol:  Oh, yeah, this is a process. 

Enrique:  Yeah. So, for us, we go in and we use specialty tools to remove the scale build up and kind of flush and get that nice and open so that it will allow for proper drainage. This can also, what you're explaining, can do the same, it just takes some time. 

Marysol:  Well, it's a combination of things. And let me just say, because I know, Enrique and I, we've talked about this, IV nutrient therapy is so good too. It's so good. Because you could have some vitamin ingredients in there, and it's already going into your bloodstream, it's going directly into your bloodstream. 

So, for example, the B vitamins like niacin, that one's known to open up your blood vessels. It opens them up. Some people even get flushed a little pink, a little red, because it's strong, right? So, you could look up B3, niacin, you could even get that over the counter and if you take it by mouth, you may still get flushed, so that's a vitamin that you start with a low dose, and you go slow to ever increment it if you needed to. But, yeah, the B vitamins are very strong. And when you put it in an IV, you may have seen it as this yellow bag, sometimes it's called the banana bag if it's used to like help with a hangover. 

So, there are so many vitamins that are at our disposal for us to use and to preserve our longevity and health. 

Enrique:  So, let me ask you this, Marysol, do you think it's a good combination of (1) changes in your diet to a much healthier choices, and at the same time, you kind of add that drip to be able to really give a boost to your body, so it's not just one or the other, you want to combine both so that you maximize the effects into your system and kind of help boost your system as much as possible, right? 

Marysol:  Absolutely. And you know what else is good for mood? Vitamin D3. And that is best absorbed in the morning before the harmful UV rays of the sun. So, you want to take your vitamin absorption, get some sunlight between the hours of 7:00 and 9:00. And you need to do that without sunscreen. So, do that, come back in, put on your sunscreen, and then you're ready for the rest of your day. 

Enrique:  Awesome, awesome. Yeah, that's great, Marysol, because it's funny how both of our industries are so similar in the way that we use the terminology and the mechanics of it. So, I'm just in awe hearing you how our plumbing works, and knowing how home and property plumbing works, they're so not far apart. 

Marysol:  That's so true. We're different, but we're similar in a lot of ways. And I hope you got some value from this, you guys. We are planning to impact at least a billion people, a billion households, a billion lives. And so if my listeners could do something for you, Enrique, how can they help your mission? 

Enrique:  Well, for you watching, thank you very much for your time for watching us. I hope what we shared in our conversation was of service to you. And how you can help me and my family and here at Drain It Plumbing is just pass along the good news. Everybody needs a good honest plumber that's going to take care of their home and take care of them, and we are that company. We are your plumbing therapist, we're here to hear your plumbing problems, and we are here to help you fix them. 

So, how you can help us - follow us on Instagram, @drain.it.plumbing. That is the most direct lifeline. You will have direct access to a plumbing professional with 20-plus years experience. Even if it's just to ask a question how to do something, we are more than willing to help you. 

I love the Un Billón. And I just would like to add to what Un Billón, for me, what that means. And I've been thinking about it all day because it's such a big question, and I want to really it come from here. So, for me Un Billón means, Un Billón mindset, is limitless. It means transcending through generations. The work that we're doing now is not for my benefit or for my gains. I'm putting in the work for my nieces and nephews, for my nieces' son, for my brother's new baby girl so that they can have an opportunity more than we did. 

Marysol:  Oh, my gosh, that fills my heart so much. Transcending generations, that's what we're all about you guys. It's like the American dream, right? Define your own American dream. What does that mean to you? We live in the United States of America, a country of immigrants. Take what you have and run with it. Bloom where you have been planted. And Enrique, you have done just that. I'm so proud of you, brother. 

Enrique:  Thank you. 

Marysol:  I am proud of your family. Thank you for supporting the Un Billón movement. And I can't wait to get that shirt to you. 

Enrique:  Absolutely. And I can't wait for our drip session, it's going to be soon. 

Marysol:  Yes, yes, definitely. So, if you guys are listening and you too want an Un Billón shirts, DM me, @enfermeramarysol on Instagram, it is $50, and join the movement. And, hey, if you've got an interesting business, I could have me on the podcast too. 

That is all guys. You've listened to Un Billón Mindset with my guest today, Enrique Guerra.