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

Julie and Flo Perez: Building a Legacy Together | The Journey Podcast

In this inspiring episode of The Journey Podcast, we sit down with Julie and Flo Perez, the dynamic couple behind Strappato Suites and Strappato Body & Beauty. Josh listens to their journey of entrepreneurial success, overcoming immense personal and professional hurdles, and how their faith played a crucial role in their thriving family and business life. From a humble beginning, meeting at a club to battling financial crises, and finding divine intervention in unexpected places, Julie and Flo's story is an incredible testament to resilience, love, and the power of community. Tune in to hear how they built their business empire while keeping their family together and their faith intact.

00:00 Introduction to the Journey Podcast
00:07 Meet Julie and Flo Perez
01:42 The First Encounter: How Julie and Flo Met
03:06 Early Days: Humble Beginnings and First Jobs
04:53 Venturing into Business: The Birth of Their First School
05:59 Challenges and Sacrifices: Building the Business from Scratch
10:25 Struggles in Marriage and the Role of Faith
12:27 Finding Faith and Reconciliation
13:52 The Turning Point: Embracing Faith and Healing
25:23 Reflecting on Childhood and Family Dynamics
28:45 Reflecting on a Father's Legacy
29:25 Struggles of a Single Mother
30:26 Understanding a Father's Absence
32:34 Impact of Childhood on Parenting
33:51 Balancing Control and Independence
35:38 Parenting Through Challenges
41:57 Spiritual Growth and Family Unity
44:23 Advice for a Strong Marriage
46:43 Entrepreneurial Journey and Success
52:07 Building a Lasting Legacy
55:44 A Mother's Love and Letting Go
56:34 Teaching Children to Struggle Well
57:02 Navigating Financial Storms as Entrepreneurs
57:54 Faith as the Foundation in Business
59:17 A Miraculous Turnaround
01:01:34 The Power of Giving
01:04:00 Divine Intervention and New Beginnings
01:06:45 Building a Community of Success
01:16:46 The Vision Behind Rise and Build
01:21:42 Final Thoughts and Legacy

Transcript

0:00

welcome to the Journey Podcast where we showcase some of the most inspiring stories on the planet and the life lessons that came along the way. Today I am really excited because you guys are going to hear from a dynamic couple, a power couple. We have the one and only or the two, and only Julie and Flo Perez, who are the owners of Strano Sweets and Strano Body and Beauty, and they're absolutely dynamic and I know that you guys are gonna be blessed by their stories. So without further ado, how's it going guys? So happy to have you on the show. Great. Thank you. Absolutely, man. We, it's, it's interesting because I, I walked into this establishment and, and by the way, for those of you who are tuning in, I had came across you guys from an event that I'm gonna be speaking at, which is your event. Yes. And it's a, it's amazing because I had did some research and I see the mayor was recently here doing the ribbon cutting ceremony, and you guys had this amazing grand opening and I got to visit here for the very first time and meet you guys for the first time. And as I'm, as I'm walking in, the very first thing that I noticed here is that it felt like family, it felt like community. It felt like you guys just have a, a soul in this, in this establishment. And, you know, I commend you guys on that. Like what you've built is truly special and the fact that you've been together for over a quarter century, we were just talking about it, uh, is absolutely amazing. You have three wonderful kids. So I have respect for people who. Have not only had success in business, but also have managed to keep their families together, keep their faith intact, and you guys are the epitome of that. So thank you so much for being here with us. Thank you. Thank you. Absolutely. So where do we begin? I, I would love for you guys to share a little bit about how you met each other. Let's start there, because this has been a long time and you guys were completely different people. Yes. And obviously you weren't established or anything like that, but give the audience an idea of like how you guys actually met. You want me to start? Can I start? That's fine. Okay. So, um, if you ask my husband, I'm gonna be very honest with you. You know, uh, he was in VIP and I was in general admission. Um, but we did meet at the club. Nice. It's, um, it's a lot of people would probably be like, oh, wow. At the club You met? At the club. How'd you stay together that long? Yes. We met at the club. I love it. Or at a club. Nice. Nice. Here in Tampa? Yes, here in Tampa. Okay. No longer exist. Nice. Downtown at the parking lot now, but Okay. Club exists here in Tampa. Nice, nice. Now was it, was it love at first sight or like did you, like what? What kind of vibe did you get when you guys first met? Let's see if he's gonna tell the truth. I'll let him, yeah, I'll let him give that scenario. It was just that it was a vibe, you know, we were out having a good time, kind of bumped into each other, you know, had a good night and that was pretty much it. Nothing really popped off on that first night. Yeah. So it was just a change of numbers, getting to know each other a little bit, but love at first sight night during the club. Nice. Yeah, absolutely. Hard to call that. Absolutely. You guys remember the first date at all? Yeah. Oh gosh, yeah. What was the first date? McDonald's. Oh, nice. Okay. Okay. Let's go humble beginnings. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I mean. That's where the love started kicking in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is easy day. This is an easy day. And it was my choice to go to McDonald's. It was, he gave me a choice. He asked me where I would like to go. I chose McDonald's. Nice, nice. He didn't just take me to McDonald's. Okay. So you're like, she's a keeper. Right. She's not trying to, you know, break the bank, get whatever you want. I might have something here, you know? Absolutely. No, I love that. And and to be fair, you guys were super young at the time. Very young. You weren't even 21. Yeah. No, not even 21. Yeah. Yeah. So crazy. How much time has flown since then? Yes. So let's, let's fast forward to, um, even what you guys were doing at the time, like for work, because I remember you both had kind of like separate jobs. You weren't really established entrepreneurs or even doing anything entrepreneurially at the time, correct? Mm-hmm. So I worked at a doctor's office as a Rece, front office clerk, receptionist, they call it. Mm-hmm. Um, and he worked in the warehouse at Winn-Dixie. Wow. Wow. Mm-hmm. That's, that's amazing. So when did you guys like really make a decision that you were going to just be together, like you're gonna do life together? When, when did that happen? It was almost immediately, I think. Good. Yeah. It was, it was very, very fast. Wow. Um, so, like you said earlier, we were super young. I had a condo, he had his own house. Hmm. Um, he owned his own house where he lived with his mom. Oh. His parents and his younger brother. And he decided to leave his parents the house. Wow. And come and move in with me in my condo. Mm. Nice. So when did you guys have your first kid? Uh, 95. Joseph was born in 95. I see. Yeah. You got the ball rolling. Yes. Nice, nice. Yeah. So I'm, I'm curious, when did you guys like actually start embarking on business? So, just, just so the audience can know, by the way, like you've had success outside of this. You, you established two schools. Yes. And I'm not sure if that was your first business venture, but, uh, give us a little bit of, of the story and, and the journey of getting even into that. Um, it was our first business venture and it was 2001. Mm. Wow. Mm-hmm. Wow. But it stemmed from her parents. Um, her mom owned a school first actually when we had our. Her mom decided no one is gonna raise him. So she opened up the first center. Wow. Just to keep her grandson close to her. Mm. Um, we saw their success. Yeah. Um, and then of course, you know, they were older, so they started talking about retirement and we're gonna give you this and mm-hmm. Years went by and they just looked like they're not giving us nothing. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, we made the decision, you know, one moment and was just like, all right, maybe we should do this for ourselves. Wow. Yeah. So what was that process like, just embarking on even starting the school? Did you guys like save up a bunch of money or like raise investment, go to the bank? Did you start off like really small and then just expand from there? No, it was actually, to be very honest with you, pretty scary for me on my part. Yeah. So like he said, um, my parents were the ones that started the schools first. Yep. Um, and I did not know how to break it to my dad. Mm-hmm. I could tell my mom anything. Yeah. Um, but my dad was, you had to treat him with kid gloves. Of course. Yeah. Um, and I was his baby girl. Mm. So, um, I, we didn't know how to break it to him. Yeah. And Flo would tell me all the time, just tell him you're opening a business, he's gonna be happy. Yeah. And I'm like, yeah, you don't get it. Yeah, yeah. You don't get it. So, um, so it was very, very hard. Um, we actually opened without telling my dad anything. Wow. Yes. Um, my mom was support a hundred percent. Um, and we took out a second mortgage on our house to do this. Crazy. So we risked a lot'cause we didn't know if it was gonna work. Yeah, right. We didn't know what was gonna come out of it. We had no funds, we didn't have no reserves in the bank account or anything, so we were banking on our home. Wow. Being what was gonna usher us into a business opportunity. Yeah. Um, so like she said, we leveraged our home. Got a second mortgage put on it. Um, basically putting our house Wow. You know, on the line. Mm. And, uh, yeah, we took that risk and lived 2001. Check to check. Yeah, sure. Literally check to check. Wow. Um, I think there was a good program going on at that time that you didn't have to put money down. Got it. Got it. So you could get the second mortgage. Mm. Um, you could take it out of the equity of the home, but you had to put zero down. So that's how we were able to a, apply and be approved for it, because we did not have any money to put down Yeah. As leverage to I see. To open this door. It was an existing school at the time that we purchased. Mm-hmm. Um, but it was. Completely run down. They, it licensed for 184 kids. Mm-hmm. If they had 20 kids enrolled, we were lucky. Wow. There was barely any enrollment there. Um, no teachers. Hmm. Uh, so it was, we had to work it from the ground up. The establishment was basically falling apart when we walked in, so we had to gut everything. Wow. Um, mind you, at this point, our second daughter was just, uh, five months old. Mm. Okay. So, um, Desiree was five months old. So when we would work there, we would open at six 30 in the morning. We would close at six o'clock at night, and we would work from 6:00 AM or 6:00 PM till three in the morning. The next morning, Desiree's sitting in her car seat. Joseph was older, so he would go with my mom without a problem. But Desi was, you know, she was so young, we were like, no, she's gonna stay with us. My mom would take care of Joseph while we were working, but, um, we kept her with us and she would literally sit in her car seat. Wow. From six. To three in the morning that we were working. We would run home at three in the morning, shower, get about two hours of sleep, and come right back at six 30 in the morning to open again. Wow. So what were you guys doing like during those hours Exactly. Ripping up floors. Mm-hmm. Knocking down walls, putting up new partitions, painting, you name it. Anything to get the business. I think, you know, when you look at a business and it's all destroyed or kind of just overly used mm-hmm. You don't see that when you, you know, on this, your new baby to say, of course. You know what I mean?'cause all you see is what I can do. Yeah. How can I make this better? So that's a driving point. Yeah. So, you know, some of the times, I mean, we would just living off of just the idea. Mm-hmm. You know, we didn't need to sleep. We were so passionate behind it that it was like, all right, get you out, sleep, let's get back to you. Put in day's work, fix all night, go right back to work. That's amazing. Yeah. And what was important was that. Whatever. We started at 6:00 PM mm-hmm. We had to finish by three. Mm-hmm. Because we had kids coming in at six 30 in the morning. Mm-hmm. So they couldn't come in to torn up floors. Yeah. They couldn't come in to torn up walls they had to come in to. So whatever room we started working on at six had to be complete by three in the morning. Yeah, yeah. In order actually was a daily project. Yes. Every project you did had to before that same day. Fixed on that day. Yeah. That, that's incredible. Now, were you guys working jobs during that time? Like when did you leave your actual jobs? Right when we decided that this was what we were gonna do. So you like had both just like quit. We were all, we were all in. We had to be, yeah. We couldn't afford to pay anybody to run them for us. Yeah. Yeah. So we took a pay cut, we went to run them. Um, we had to be teachers, construction workers, kitchen staff, janitorial staff. Wow. We were literally front office staff being parents, enrolling kids, still being parents, still being a wife. Him still being a husband. That's crazy. Yeah. Well, did it ever get to the point where you guys, your, your marriage started to suffer? Of course. Yeah, of course. I think that's the, the hardest thing, especially when you're trying to manage home, marriage and business. All of those pull at a high demand. So it's kind of hard. Unless you learn how to balance each one of them, you can give to one more than the other and you'll start to see the drop off on the other ones immediately. Mm-hmm. So I think that's why your perceptive of what it is you're trying to accomplish had to be upfront. And being so young that we did it or whatever, I think we were so focused on, oh, we're doing this to better our family. Mm-hmm. But that may be how it starts, but then you start to see the financial side of it. Like, okay, I can generate more money. So then your focus comes from leaving from your, it being about your family to just being money driven or business driven, and all of a sudden the other stuff starts to tell off. Yeah. So you started put a strain even up between our relationship and we were working together. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. How how'd you guys manage to just kind of get through that? Because my wife and I, we built businesses together and, and honestly, like, I remember what it was like to just really, um, you know, have that, that season where there was no intimacy. Like there was just, you're stressed out, you know, everything is focused on the business, everything like that, you know? So I definitely know what, what that, that struggle is like. And, um, so I'm curious as to, you know, how you navigated through that. So I think the key word that you used was we just managed. Mm-hmm. Um, it was hard. It was very, very hard. Um, there were some days that we didn't believe that we were going to be able to manage. Um, it was tough. Yeah, it was really tough. Yeah. I, I, I know, I know the pain that comes with that and I, I remember my wife and I also, like, we almost didn't make it at one point, and I, I, I've never considered myself a quitter. Mm-hmm. But I would say marriage will push you to the edge and, and I know what that valley is like and you know, it takes a lot to get through it. And one of the things, you know, Flo and I were talking earlier about faith and Faith's role in family life, and I'm just curious, brother, you know, for you and your journey and, you know, how has Faith really helped you, you know, just kind of keep it together. And I'm curious to hear Julie's perspective as well, because I know faith is a big part of your life. Yeah. For me it is, it is my everything. It's, it is my foundation now. I mean, at that, you know, that young 18-year-old trying to be a businessman or whatever, um, unfortunately I didn't have God in my, in my life at that time. And so I made a lot of mistakes in the flesh, um, thinking I knew what it was to be a man. Yeah. To be a husband, to be a father. Um, and I was falling short on all of them for myself, you know. Um, when the Lord found me, I started giving myself to him. And then I started recognizing that through his word. I was the one falling short, you know? So, um, recognizing what the word tells me, uh, what it is to be a man and a kingdom man at that, um, I saw all my flaws. Hmm. So I had to humble myself and say, okay, maybe it wasn't so much her or my surroundings, I can change a lot of it by just changing myself. Um, according to his work. And in doing so, um, I started seeing a better me and a better me produce a better husband, a better husband, produce a better father. So he just had that trickle effect. Yeah. So, um, yeah, that's my foundation now. For sure, for sure. What about you Julie? So, um, just to, to be very transparent and, um, clear, we didn't come to truly know the Lord and know who God was. We believed in God. Mm-hmm. Um, what our parents instilled in us at a young age, but we, um, didn't surrender totally to the Lord until 2012. Hmm. So, um, this was 11 years of trying to figure things out on our own mm-hmm. In our own strength. Um, and I could truly say that now. I could say that I know God's hand was all over it. Yeah. During, um, those 11 years, because. If God didn't have a bigger plan for our lives, we wouldn't have managed those 11 years before we truly surrendered to him. In 2012, of course, we took a lot of hits as a marriage. Mm-hmm. As a couple, we took a lot of hits and some of it was self-inflicted. Yeah. You know, um, but a lot of it was self-inflicted. Yeah. Yeah. What would you say was the lowest point? Like with just marriage, family, life and business. I, I definitely could recall like mine and I'll never forget because those lowest moments really shape our character more than anything. And sometimes you're, you're left with nothing but to surrender to God. Right. And I know what that's like. And I'm just curious as for you guys, like you had business, business was going, and I'm sure at some point you started to get some traction with it. But you know, we were talking about this earlier. Sometimes it's, it's really the, the enemy. We we're our biggest just enemy. And on the whole journey it's dealing with ourselves. Yeah. And, um, I'm curious for you guys, what was the lowest point of the, the whole journey that, that you guys can recall? Is there one specific season or do you guys have different seasons that. Hit you in different ways. I think for me was, um, in 2012 mm-hmm. Right before we came to the Lord. Yeah. We were gonna call it quits. Yeah. Yeah. We were truly, I mean, to the point where he would see me and was sick of seeing me, I would see him and mm-hmm. Was sick of seeing him. Didn't, you know, neither of us wanted to go home. Yeah. Like it was Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I, I think for me it's, it is border around what she's saying. I mean, we did actually take a real hard hit where we actually separated. Yeah. She had her own place. I had my own apartment. Wow. And you're talking about business people. Right. So it had nothing to do with finances, we just could not connect at that level. Yeah. Um, so she had her place, I had my apartment. We both got new furniture, new everything. Wow. But still feeling broken. Wow. You know, so finances don't give you everything that you're really desiring of. Right. Of, and sometimes you can put your own stress on someone else and it just purges you guys apart. Mm. Um, but yeah, that was definitely the lowest moment to feel like I got everything, but lost everything at the same time. Yeah. Wow. Um, so there was definitely a, a bit of emptiness going on. Yeah. I, I appreciate you guys even sharing that. Yeah. Yes. I mean, prior to to, um, to coming to the Lord, I think money was our driving force. Mm-hmm. You know, we had two very successful schools, over 320 families, you know, combined in the schools. And, um, you know, the word of God says money is the root of all evil and money was our driving force. We literally worked day and night mm-hmm. To just Seymour, Seymour Seymour, not, we weren't investing. Mm-hmm. You know, our bank account was just rising. Yeah. We drove nice cars. We did, you know, we had a very nice house. Yeah. But we just wanted to see the bank account get bigger and bigger and bigger. Yeah. You know, not for anything, anything that was wrong. Mm-hmm. We didn't do anything, you know, we weren't, we, we used to drink, but we weren't alcoholics, you know? For sure. You know, we didn't do drugs, we didn't, none of that. It was just, we wanted to see the bank account rise For sure. And everything was money driven. For sure. Yeah. Knowing what you guys know now, if there's anything that you would've done different or maybe any advice that you would have given your 20-year-old self, what, what comes to mind? Gosh. Will be to give your heart to the Lord. Yes. Yeah, definitely. I think I didn't want, I, I didn't wanna sound too religious, but this, that was there. Yeah, yeah. You know? Yeah. I think when you recognize, you know, I think when you give yourself to the Lord, you recognize the hand of God over your life the whole time. Mm-hmm. Then you start to say, man, I've been fighting this. Yeah. And the moment you start to say, all right, God, I'm not gonna be, you know, a resistance to what you're trying to do. I'm gonna actually flow in your direction. All of a sudden you see new opportunities, new doors, we're getting closer, we're loving on each other. We're actually parenting our children with a kingdom mindset. So now you start to see it like, man, I delayed this. Why? Mm. Yeah. You know, so sometimes you look back and see the scars of the relationship and be like, I could've omitted some of those, you know, I'm saying Yeah, for sure. For sure. What, what was that, that moment where things kind of brought you back full circle and said, you know what? Let's, let's work on this. Let's, let's get back to building our family. Let's, let's move back in, right? Mm-hmm. And at what, when was that? And, and how did you guys kind of reconcile, like once you kind of gave your life to the Lord? Was it immediate or was it like a process? Oh, no, no, no. So we, we got back together prior to giving ourselves. Got it. Mm-hmm. Our lives back to the Lord. We got back together and then, um, I don't know if it was a year later, maybe I, I don't know exactly timeframe that we gave our lives to the Lord, so we got back together. Mm-hmm. And still, yeah. Had bumps in the road and still, because why? Because there was un unsolved issues. Yeah. You know what I mean? We put band-aids over those, um, Aidas, I don't know how to say that in English. Uh, yeah. The wounds over those wounds. Mm-hmm. Um, and we covered'em up temporarily, but we weren't healed of them. Yeah. You know? For sure. So, so we were back together. We were, you know, we actually built a brand new house and moved into a, a brand new house and, and all of that stuff prior to giving our lives. Um Yeah. Back to the Lord. But I will say that, um, when we did in 2012, it was actually flow that gave his life to the Lord. First. I wanted nothing to do with it. Wow. Yeah. I was like, Nope. You know, you could, you could go to church. And he actually went to the church that my parents, my, my mom took me to as a child. Wow. Those were the pastors of the church. Wow. That's the church that he chose to go to. Um, and I was like, you could go. And I wanna say that I, it might have been like three months before I stepped foot. Into church with him. And even going after he had been going already for three months, I was like, I want nothing to do with this. Like, you know, this is not, this is not what I want. Um, not because I didn't wanna surrender my life to the Lord.'cause like I said, I knew who God was. Mm-hmm. But because I, in my mind it was, this is not real. This is not genuine. Yeah. This is just going to be so that we can get back together and in six months, a bandaid, eight months, yes. He's gonna be right back to the same person. I'm gonna be right back to the same person and we're gonna be right back to the same issues. Yeah. It's not gonna last. I don't wanna go through this. Like, I don't, I don't want to involve God. I know who God is. I know what he's capable of and I don't even wanna play with that. Yeah. You know? Um, and that's where my mind That's fair. That's, that's where I was, I think to, to feed off what she was saying that. Yeah. We didn't allow God into our lives before we got back together. But I think what draws us back together is that I speaking for myself. Mm-hmm. I believe we're better together. Of course. Course. You know? Um, where I am weak, she is strong, which yep, she is weak. I'm strong. There's things that I just can't do. That's to her simple. There's some things she's like, I'm not doing this. Like, bro, I got this. This is nothing. And I think we just work so well together. And I know that a lot of couples struggle with that. Mm-hmm. We've been blessed with it since the beginning to where there's no ego in between us to say, well, I made a successful or I did this, I accomplished this, I brought you along, I carried you. There's none of that. I mean, we might do it in joking or whatever. Yeah. But we know that we had nothing when we started and everything that we have. And I think the biggest thing she's ever told me when, when we opened up our second one,'cause I was like, man, we're gonna open a second business. It's con jeopardize the first one. I'm like, this might not work. And she was like, it has to work because we're doing it. We're not gonna allow it to phone. And I just remember her saying that and I was just like. You know, she's so focused, she's so locked in. And until I got locked in and I was like, okay, let's do this. And then of course life happens. Mm-hmm. Right? And, and I give my life to the Lord. And, um, yeah. She wasn't coming to church, you know? Yeah. And I'm, I'm, I'm receiving the word and, and I'm hearing what, what the word of God is saying. Oh man, I'm trying, you know, I'm, it's, it's working on me. And I'm like, man, how haven't I done this before? Yeah. You know, many times you, you hear about the church and religion pops up, you know, and it's like, no, okay, now I'm just building with my relationship. Yeah. I want to know this guy who created everything who knows me by name. Right. And I'm learning and I'm like, man, this is crazy. I wanna share with my wife. And she got that look like, yeah, bro, you're playing church. I know what the real you, but not recognizing that I didn't want no part of the old me. Yeah. Because the old me is what got me to the situation that I got myself into. So at this point, I knew that there had to be more, there had to be better, and that there was another level to the life. Mm-hmm. So when I started feeling like I finally got to the doorway, I'm like, you need to come. Mm. And she was like, nah, you gonna do that on your own? So it was even in. And that transition was tough. Yeah. When did you know that like, oh, he's actually serious about this. Like he's, he's changing like for the better. Right. And you were actually receptive to moving forward? So, um, the church that we attend mm-hmm. Abundant Love Worship Center, they host retreats. Mm. And it's called an Encounter with Jesus. Got it. Back then in 2012, men went on their own, women went on their own. Got it. Mm-hmm. Now they, they do it co-ed, but, um, so he went and I was like, oh gosh, you know, I, me having never experienced a retreat. So I don't know what he was going, I didn't know what he was gonna encounter. I didn't know what he was gonna live while he was there. Mm-hmm. But on, on the third day, when they come back from this retreat mm-hmm. They do a, a family gathering where their family receives the people that went on the retreat back and, um, oh my gosh. Wow. He looked different. Hmm. Um, he was still aura, he was still dressed in the same foes obviously. But even his clothes looked different. I was like, who is this guy? You know? Um, that's amazing. He hugged differently. Mm. It was, uh, like we got to go up and hug him at the end, and I was just like, you could just feel like it was genuine. It was, it was different. Yeah. It was just different. Um, even at home life. Like it was different. Yeah, it was very different. Um, he was still Flo, but he was not Flo. Wow. Yeah. Wow. I love that. What was that like for you during that? Like what, did you feel different during that time? Yeah, I mean, it's a 48 hour experience. You know, you go into the woods kind of thing, so you, the cabin and, and they're just preaching the word, you know? And, um, the way they speak, it's like an equivalent of a year's worth of information in 48 hours. And it's just an encountering and, but, and through the process, there's steps that they go through, you know, throughout the days or whatever. But it was that point where they was talking about the kingdom man. Mm. And they're talking about how God views the man versus how the world sees it. I'm looking at it, I'm like, that's not me. Wow. I'm messed up. Like, no wonder my family's the way they are. No wonder I'm the way I am. I'm like, man, I'm missing these things as a man. Mm-hmm. I, I grew up without a father, so I kind of felt like I was short chained, like, man, no one was there to gimme these principles, you know? Like these things that were over my head is, I'm like, all right, but hearing it, I was like, okay, I could still manage to do them. Like it ain't too late. You know? I still got my boy, I still got my daughter, I still got my wife. So I was like, you know, for that moment I was like, nah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this. Wow. I'm gonna do this. I love that. I, I can relate so much.'cause I, I also grew up with, without my biological father and it's, it's interesting that, you know, it really does leave some holes. And I always say that awareness is the first step towards healing. And sometimes we're quick to judge not realize, realizing that there, there was that scared little boy that, that grew up without that masculine figure in his life. And, and it spills over later on in life and it, it affects the relationships. And I know we didn't really get to talk. Much about your childhoods. Right? And I wanted to kind of go back a little bit because sometimes the way we grow up really is what leads to these issues, right? Mm-hmm. So I'm big on addressing these things and, and really raising the awareness like, hey, if, if you don't heal from those who've hurt you, you'll bleed on those who don't. Right? And in, in your case, it was obviously marriage. I know it's definitely has been for me, you know, with my, my issues with, with, you know, not having my father. And, and, uh, I'm curious to hear a little bit about,'cause you had a two parent household, was it? Um, when, when they wanted to be together, when they wanted My dad was, you know, my dad was very back and forth. Yeah. Um, he was made his soul rest in peace'cause he's not with us anymore. But, um, he was very, uh, very violent. Mm. You know? Yeah. Um, especially towards my mom. Mm-hmm. And my mom gave him everything. Mm-hmm. Her world was my dad. Wow. Um. And he made her go through some stuff. Yeah. Um, every scar that's on my mom's body anywhere was caused by him. Wow. Like physical? Yeah. Um, you know, that you could visibly see scar Yeah. Was caused by my dad, but one thing, my mom always, and I'll never forget it, and it's what I tell my children all the time. Um. My mom never, ever let me down talk my dad. Mm. I love that. You know? Yeah. No matter how much he hurt us, no matter how much he hurt her, no matter what he put my brothers through mm-hmm. Because my brothers were not his children. Mm-hmm. And he treated my brothers horribly. Yeah. She would not allow me as his daughter to say anything negative about him. Wow. Yeah. Um, she taught me to love him. To love him beyond the scars, to love him, beyond the pain, to love him beyond the absent, you know, that he was so absent in our lives. Yeah. She still taught me to love him. Yeah. You know? Um, and it was huge. That's beautiful. Yeah, it was huge. Yeah. On the show, you know, I'm, I'm really big on never really demonizing our parents because when you really backtrack their lives, I'm sure he also had his fair share. Oh yeah. Generational cycles and issues that, that he had to personally deal with and Correct. You know, we were all innocent five-year-olds playing in the sandbox at some point in time and, you know, full of, you know, bliss and joy and life just kind of changes us. Right. And, and I'm sure he probably dealt with his fair share and he grew up in Puerto Rico. He, Puerto Rico and New York, Puerto Rico and New York. He was between the two. He would, um, he would go back and forth between the two, depending on what lifestyle he wanted to live. And that generation came with all kinds of problems. Yeah. Yeah. All kinds of problems. So God bless his soul. Yeah. And he definitely produced, you know, something great in the world. And I, I mean, I loved him until the very last day. Yeah. He, you know, he knows I was, I I used to say all the time, I was all he had. Mm-hmm. You know, and, and he was all I had. Yeah. When it, you know, came to, to a fatherly figure or whatever, I, of course my mom. Taught me to love him. I love him. Yeah. You know, regardless, you know, and my brothers, you know, had their fair thing share of things to say about him, and I would defend him until the very, very last moment. But the most beautiful thing that I could say is that when my dad did pass at his funeral, every single one of my brothers were, they're present. Wow. You know, they walked it, they held his casket, they walked him out. Like they honored, you know, they honored me and they honored my dad. Yeah. That's, that's beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, what about you, Flo? Like, I'm curious what your, what your family situation was like, you know, for you growing up. Yeah. Um, same seeing your pops, you know, violate your moms and stuff. Um, by three years old he was out. Mm-hmm. You know, I didn't see him anymore. Uh, seeing my mom having a struggle with three kids, uh, not having enough to the point where she sent my sister to Florida with my grandparents. Um, so at that moment, that was the first tearing in our household. Um, then it was just me and my brothers, you know, struggling with my moms. Um, yeah, man, I mean, I, I think it's your typical household when you, when the pops leave, you know what I mean? The enemy gets to wreak havoc in the household. You know, there were moments where, you know, being on food stamps, you know what I mean, and the food stamps not reaching. Um, seeing my mom hanging out of the second store window, tapping the wire line to get the power to cut back on, you know? Yeah. Stealing light. Um, that's where the hustle comes from. Mm-hmm. That's where the grinding, that's where, you know, the business mindset ain't in that, you know what I mean? It's survival at that point. Yeah. You know what I mean? So as a kid, you learn to survive versus to live. Yeah. You know, so, absolutely. It's interesting because I, I can relate in so many ways. My, my family also migrated from Puerto Rico to New York, and my father wasn't in my life at all. Like, I always share the story like I shared. I spent more time by him, by his casket than I actually did my entire life. I never had a meal. I never heard my father say, happy birthday. I never received a gift or anything like that. And I would hear stories and like my mom, for example, I had shared a story of like, my, my father literally lit my mom on fire. Mm-hmm. You know, and, and put her out with like a boiling pot of hot broccoli, you know, that was and like, but. You know, when you have an understanding, like she, she for forgave him over the years and, you know, he was, uh, addicted to heroin. You know, he had got hooked on heroin and this was during the, the drug epidemic in New York. And a lot of these are systemic issues and, you know, there's so much, and it isn't until you have the awareness of what was really going on, what they were faced with. You know, he also saw his cousin murdered in front of him, you know, at 14 years old. Wow. And carried the weight of that. So having an understanding of that, like how could you have resentment towards someone like that, you know, as, as tragic as that is. But years later I had reconnected. I, I looked for him and I reconnected with him, and he was just very apologetic about. You know, the whole thing and how he went about his relationship with my mom and, you know, it was, it was healing for me to, to, you know, get to that, that place. And he ended up passing away, like right after, like, I had my first son, his, his, his grandson. And literally within a few days he had passed away. Wow. And, and honestly though, I was just truly grateful that I got to a place where yes, I could, I could bring things full circle and heal from all of that. Yes. And he, he paid the price for his actions. He really did. Um, but it, it is important to just heal from those relationships. And I think that's part of it too. You go, you go and you find yourself spiritually, but it's also healing aspects of you that were deeply hurt, you know, throughout childhood. Yeah. With, with your specific upbringing, do you guys feel like there was any of that that led to just issues that you had later on in life? In terms of even what it looks like to be a wife or be a husband or just, you know, trusting or, you know, just any For, for me, I mean obviously when we had our first child or whatever, first thing that comes to my head is I can be nothing like my pops. Mm-hmm. You know, so, um, never violated my wife, you know what I mean? Um, I'm one that I believe that I'd rather end it Yeah. Than to go that far with it. Of course. You know? Um, so for me, I knew I had the template of what not to be, just I never knew what to be. Yeah. So I kind of got left in that cliff where it's like, okay, I'm not that, but what am I kind of thing or whatever. Mm-hmm. But what I did know is when I had our first child, it was, I'm not gonna be nothing like my pops. Mm-hmm. This child is gonna always see me, she's gonna always know me. They're gonna always fill my hands, they're gonna always feel my embrace. They're always gonna get my instruction, you know, while I'm here. Mm-hmm. Um. That was the only thing that I knew, you know, that was the biggest hurt that I think I've had was, I don't wanna be nothing like that, dude. Yeah, yeah. For sure. For sure. Yeah. What about you, like with, with even the way your mom navigated through, like dealing with your dad? So it was really tough for my mom because, um, he, he didn't even allow her to learn how to drive. Mm. You know, because he wanted her to depend on him so, so much and to control. Yeah. Yeah. Control. Um, so one thing that I took from him, and one thing you know, that I, that I, uh, that I took from my mom, from him was, you know, I, which I'm not proud to say, but for a very, very long time, I had to be in control of everything. You know, to where even, you know, our fra friends and family jokingly, but they meant it Yeah. Would be like, she wears the pants. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You know, not something I'm proud of at all. Yeah. You know, now. Yeah. But back then it was like, yep, I do. Yeah. You know what I mean? Sure. Um, but to take away from my mom and I'm proud, you know, growing up my mom worked three jobs. I would see her come out of her first job, walk to her second job, and on the weekends had a third job because we never knew. When my dad was gonna be around. So yes, my dad paid the bills when he was around, but if he got into one of his Frenzy, frenzy mm-hmm. And wanted to disappear mm-hmm. He could be gone 3, 4, 5 months of course. And he wasn't paying bills from wherever he was at. Mm-hmm. You know, so my mom always had to keep it up. So the workaholic, the wanting to work around the clock mm-hmm. Even when I get home still working. Yeah. You know, wake up in the morning and still working that my mom instilled in me. Or not even having to depend on a man. Right. You, you know, taking on that or just having the mindset where I'm not gonna put up with his shit. Right. Yeah. Right. Like, there's no way in in hell my mom had to do. I'm not, I'm not that, I'm not doing that. Yeah. I'm not doing that. Yeah. It's interesting how those things kind of carry on to the next generation. Yeah. You guys now have three children, right. And they're all adults. And I, uh, I'm curious about what that was like from a parenting standpoint. So you got each other that you obviously at war with, but then you have the children and it's interesting, right? Like. You hear the stories from their perspective years later and you're like, wow. Like that's how, that, that's what you were, that's what you guys saw. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm sure you guys probably have had a lot of Yeah. Maybe hard conversations with them. Yeah. But what was, what was that like the parenting side of things? Was, was there, was there a little bit of like, I know for me, sometimes I'm, I get worried, like whenever I have those heated, you know, arguments with my wife, like, damn, I don't want my kids hearing that version of me. Right. And you don't know what they're actually taking, how they're perceiving it or interpreting it. Well, we protected our kids a lot. Mm-hmm. Yeah. A lot. We didn't fight in front of them. That's good. You know, or we tried not to. Mm-hmm. Sometimes it was out of our hands of course, and it would happen and, but we tried not to fight in front of them. Mm-hmm. I will say, uh, my, our son. I always chose dad. Yeah. Like, you know, he was the cool one. Yeah. So, um, and the girls for the most part were always on mommy's side. Yeah. But the girls were a lot younger too. Mm-hmm. So we didn't expose them. Yeah. You know what I mean? And I think it's something that because of what we saw as children growing up, like he said earlier, like, I am not gonna put my kids through that. Mm-hmm. Not because we spoke about it, not because we ever said to one another, Hey, we're not doing this in front of the kids, but because we both lived it as children course in us, absolutely. It was not gonna happen to our kids. Yeah. Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah. I had learned from a psychologist years ago that, you know, sometimes you have these like arguments or you're like going back and forth and he had mentioned that the most important thing to do whenever your kids actually see you kind of fighting back and forth is to show them what it looks like to forgive and move on right after. Mm-hmm. So when my wife and I find ourselves just going, then going back and forth in front of the kids. Immediately we're showing them that, Hey, we're back to being friends. We're back to loving each other. And we, we don't want them to have this unreal, unrealistic expectation that marriage is just all mess. Oh, mess. My parents never fought. Right? Yes. Right. We'd rather them know like, Hey, this is actually what it looks like, but we can heal, we could forgive and we can let go and move on. Right. And yeah. And I, I think that that's a big part of just parenting in general. Just showing your kids like, hey, it, it, you'll have those difficult moments, but you can let go. And it's the after it's important. Exactly. And I think the model changes as they get older. That's true. Because the way we handled them when they were 10 to 13 is not how we obviously handle'em now, you know? Um, before it was more instruction like. Yeah. You know, you saw mom and dad arguing or might pull one up to the side and be like, Hey. That's just arguing. This is not fighting. No one's gonna, you'll see the kids freak out, like, oh, what's gonna happen now? Are they gonna separate? Yeah, because we did at one point, of course. So now they look and like, is this really happening? Or whatever. So sometimes you gotta just go back to them and kind of counsel them. Yeah. While you're still in the argument with your, with your partner. Right. For sure. And. So sometimes you gotta give instruction to, now it's to the point where obviously, like you were saying earlier, we're closer that the end of the empty nesters. Yeah. But there was a point where we were no longer giving counsel, it was more modeling it to show them like, Hey, I'm not gonna tell you that we're not leaving or breaking up when anything's happening. We are gonna show that there's still love in disagreement. Yeah. You know? So I think it's better to model it for them Of course. Than to talk about it. That's right. Because some people will talk better than what they do. Yep. So we kind of learn to better, to model it in front of our children and be like, look, yes. It's not always gonna be perfect. Mm-hmm. But it's always gonna be willing. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's always for sure. So we try to model it more than what we do. Talk about it. Would you guys say that you're proud of the, the, you know, young adults now? I mean, your son is 30 now, right? Right. Yes. So, I mean, would you say you're proud of who they became in the process as adults? Who our children became. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Oh, I think that further ahead than what we were. Yes, absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. That's a good deal. We were ambitious and wanting, but we were blinded as well. Mm-hmm. I think they're more visionaries, you know what I mean? And even with vision, you can still make mistakes. Yeah. You know what I mean? So that's okay. Yeah. That I can be corrected, but I think Yeah, they light years ahead of us. Yeah. Yeah. Our youngest, um, Angelie, she's 22. Mm-hmm. And she's just, uh, you know, she's a teacher at school, she's a makeup artist now. She's doing custom creations for cups and pens. And so she's just, she loves it all. I love that. You know, and, and she's okay with being, you know, doing all of the different things. And, and I see her sometimes and you know, with the coffee shop, she's like, I wanna work, come work at the coffee shop. And I'm like, no. Yeah. Keep the three things that you have going on right now and master them. No, you're not coming to the coffee shop. Yeah. Yeah. I love that your, your children are really an extension of you guys. Yeah. Like they're serial entrepreneurial kind of, you know, interest and the fact that they are hustlers and, and the fact that you guys integrate them into the business. I love Yes. Like you mentioned, one of your daughters is on the body side of things, the other's on the beauty side of things. Yeah. And the fact that you can all come together, they obviously have to like you enough to be willing to work with you. That's right. That's right. One of, one of my good friends, he would always say that success is your kids wanting to hang out with you in their twenties. Oh yes. Right. When they're willing to just wanna hang out with their parents. That's right in, in adulthood that that's success. You know, you've done something Right. We are a package deal. Yeah. Like we are a package deal where you see him, you'll see me. Where you see me, you'll see him. Yeah. All the time. Yeah. But our family, we are a family of five. Like we are a package deal. And it's so funny that you say that because when we want to do something or when we wanna have a party or go somewhere or make a reservation somewhere. It's hard. Yeah. Because now they're older. Absolutely. They all have their partners. Right. And now it's a party of eight. Yeah. And now you call places and they're like, oh, you have to make a special reservation. And I'm like, wait, this is my family. Yeah, yeah. You know, or you know, we wanna go out on a boat. And I, I tell'em, we can't go out on a boat'cause we can't invite anybody because just us and our family, we're we, we maxed it. Absolutely. You know? But our kids love to be with us. Yeah. All three of them. Mm. That's amazing. Love, love, love to be with us. Love that. I love that. There's not a moment, there's not a moment that I could say to them, Hey, we're gonna go do this. Do you guys wanna go? No. We know that they wanna go. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. They love to be with us. Of course. And we love having them with us. That's amazing. Yeah. We love having them with us. Yeah. That's really beautiful. What would you guys say at, at this stage in your life, uh, that you're, what, what are you most proud of? Out of everything, you know, you got business, you got family, you got your spiritual life. Like what comes to mind if someone was to ask you, like, Hey, what are you most proud of in your life? Our spiritual growth? Hmm. My spiritual growth. It is, it is everything. Yeah. It is everything. Um, Bible says that it's your gifts that may s room before men, right? Mm-hmm. So it is the more God, the more opportunity. Yeah. And it's not about the opportunity, the opportunity to come when you have more God. Yeah. So it is building that relationship with God, waking up in the morning. Right. And not allowing myself to be distracted with the day, because there's always gonna be something to do. Of course. Um, to set aside that time. Um, I think the best thing for me as a man was getting to a point where I had to make sure that my kids saw that I was the last one praying before they went to bed. Mm-hmm. They know that I'm seeking God's face and before they wake up, they already know that I'm gonna be the first one already praying and worshiping. Yeah. And setting a tone for the day. Um, like I said, without God, there's nothing so much can go wrong. And if it goes wrong, it's, it will. Yeah. So I'm okay if something takes a left, you know? Yeah.'cause I know, okay, I presented this day for God. Absolutely. So, yeah, I think the biggest thing that I can look at and say, you know what, we ushered in the presence of God into our family, you know, there's a fear of the Lord within us. Of course. You know what I mean? Business is great, family is great, but if there's no God, none of it means anything. That's right. Anything. So, if anything, I wanna leave my children, my family, if I was to leave or whatever it is, to know that you guys know you're God. That's right. That's right. That's amazing. Yeah. What about you? Usually mine is, um, obviously God first. Mm-hmm. But, um, it's our love. Mm-hmm. You know, we've been married 25 years. That's a long time. You don't see that often, you know. That's good. I get a new watch, I get a, I get a new watch when we leave here. I get a new watch for that answer. Yeah. No. But, um, yes. It, it is definitely our love. 25 years is a long time. Yeah. You know, um, 25 years is a long time. My parents married, divorced, married, again, divorced. Wow. Like split up. Yeah. You know, my dad married somebody else like it, you know, and we are, um. We've been together and it's been rough. Yeah. But for me, I'm super proud of where we are today. Absolutely. Together, standing strong, our kids, you know, that's so incredible. Yeah. Doing what you, you know, what, what they're doing and mm-hmm. And being able to be proud of what we have. Definitely, definitely. What advice would you give someone who probably is in the same shoes as you starting out, let's say early twenties? What, what advice would you give them for like, marriage in particular? What, what comes to mind? Like you guys have over a quarter century together. Yeah, it's a long time. And if there was any piece of advice that you would give just on having a, a, a, a good solid marriage, maybe some things you guys could have avoided that, you know now, what would that be? Um, I would say to be the fastest to forgive mms. I think that's good. The moment you're able to forgive within any discord within the relationship, if you're ready or quickly able to disarm it. That's then that tension, that hardship, that going to bed on the opposite side, or somebody sleeping in the bedroom, the other one you remove that you disarm the enemy in that area. Right? So if you're the fastest to do it, it's almost one of those things like, yes, it happened. Mm-hmm. But let me make it right. Mm-hmm. You know, don't let time be that thing that's supposed to heal, because it never does. It just wedges other things in the middle of it. And by the time you recognizes you're further apart, and then you recognize, you look at it and be like, why are we this far apart? And you're like, I really don't know why. How did we get here? Right. So it's kind of one of those things like if you can be the first or the fastest to forgive, your marriage will excel so much better. I love that. So good. Yeah. Yeah. Never, ever go to bed angry. Mm-hmm. That's super important. Not that we live it and model it. Mm-hmm. All the time. Yeah. But it is something that, you know, I was taught. Mm-hmm. You know, and don't go to bed angry. Yeah. You know, you let the enemy so far in. Mm-hmm. Your relationship. Yeah. When you go to bed angry for sure. You know your thoughts. Mm-hmm. You know, and the mind is crazy and we all know that. Yeah. You know, so don't go to bed angry. Communicate. Mm-hmm. Communication for me is so, so hard. And he could tell you communication is not my favorite thing. Yeah. When we do have to communicate, he's like, I'm talking to you. Yeah. Can you speak back? And a lot of times I am like, I can't, I can't communicate that I can't get what I wanna say out because I don't know if what I say is gonna make things worse of what I say. Like if I really tell you how I feel, yeah. Is it going to be worse? Of course. Are we gonna be in a worse situation than what we're in now? So maybe I just feel like, um. I'm better off not saying anything at all. Yeah, yeah. And that is not Yeah. The best place to be. Of course, of course. Yeah. No, it's so true. Now I want to go into a little bit of the success. Yes. So at some point in time you guys launched two schools, and then you got into the beauty business and, and everything like that. And talk to us a little bit about just what that looked like for you guys. When did you finally get to that arrival point? Or maybe it wasn't an arrival point, but it was like, okay, things are actually, we we're finally where we've always wanted to be financially as a family. What did that season look like for you guys? Um, so our schools, um, one of our schools took a major hit in 2019 because we were so absent from it. So we had two schools. We were so absent from it that we were not seeing internally what was going on inside of it. And um, and God revealed something to us. One day and like, I don't know, we would be here right now. Yeah. If we had not heeded to what God, you know, showed us. Wow. But, um, so we, we got. Control of it in 2019 and, and did some changes and had to go through, you know, a, a few hurdles, um, but got it back on track. Mm-hmm. Got it back on track quick. Um, and since then, praise the Lord. It's, it's been great. But, um, I, I could say Flo is, he is my biggest cheerleader. He's my biggest fan, you know. Um, we discuss everything when it comes to the businesses together. So I had this bright idea that I wanted to get Fajas shipped down from Columbia because there are no good faja stores. Yeah. Here in Tampa. Mm-hmm. Like they sell one size fits all, you know, small, medium, large, extra large. And it's supposed body shapes are not like that. Mm-hmm. Body shapes are different. Some women are small on top, of course. Big on bottom. Yeah. You know, small on bottom, big on top. So I did my research and I found a distributor in Columbia that customizes Fajas to be. Custom to the body. If you're small on top, you get a small, if you're big on bottom, you can get a large. And, and that's how it worked. So I talked to him one day and he was like, I don't know about this. And I was like, come on, let's just give it a shot. I think we can do it. And it took a little bit of convincing, um, but he finally said yes. So that's kind of where STR was birthed. Wow. Um, you know, he came up with the name he researched, even though he was not solely convinced Yeah. On the back end without me knowing he was, he was working. Yeah. And that's normally he might not be 150% onboard. Yeah. Yeah. But he's, he's in mm-hmm. And he's in, he's in the back, you know, he's behind the scenes working on it. Yeah, for sure. And then he comes up and he's like, Hey, I thought about this. And I'm like, wait. You told me No. You know what I mean? So, um, so yes. So that's where str Wow. Was birthed. Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah. As far as feeling like you so-called, made it or have reached that pinnacle that you were seeking? We haven't gotten there. No. I think that's the push. I think that's the drive, yeah. That we have. That's why we keep spilling into our children. Yeah. You know what I mean? Because we're gonna get to that point where we max out, right? Mm-hmm. And we'll plateau in lifestyle or whatever, but if you're spilling up into your children, then they could be an extension of your drive. So that's the push for our children. Mm-hmm. Um, but yeah, as far as when did we feel like it, it has, in our, our dream has always been to be debt free. Mm-hmm. Um, I think we're like, uh, 80%, 90%. Nice. Nice. Yeah. Um, we want to be totally free, you know what I mean? Yeah. To be able to, to really do what God has put in our hearts, you know, in the areas of business. Um. Yeah. But as far as reaching that level that we want to, I don't think we, oh, there's still so much more. It's crazy because you guys say that, right? But there'll be so many people looking at like, this beautiful establishment you guys have and, and how far you've come. And now you have this, this conference that you're doing the Rise and Build conference and Yeah. Everything and your family life. And, and for some people it's like, yeah, they made it. Yeah. But sometimes as overachiever, it's like, it's never enough. Right? Yeah. It's, it's never enough. Right? Yeah. I, I think, you know, the word of God tells us to be fruitful, right? Yeah. And so you've always got to be producing. Yeah. You know what I mean? When you're not producing, you're, you're not operating in, in the identity of God, because that's what God does. Mm-hmm. God expands, God grows. Yeah. Um, when you stop growing, you gotta start asking, where's God not planting seed anymore. That's right. That's right. Right. Before you be fruitful, you gotta be seed full. Yeah. So I believe you gotta call for the seed first or whatever. And when you get it in his. And dream form and vision form that drives you. Yeah. You know what I mean? You can't sleep. Yeah. Your passion, you wake up and you're driven and it's like, so you're never satisfied, you know? Yeah. Now, do we know what's next? No. No. But there is a next, of course, because I'm here today. Course. Of course. So there, there's an ability, there's an opportunity for something. Yeah. This connection, right? Like we were talking earlier there, I'm like, man, I'm, you're good. You know what I mean? So I'm like, man, I love your vision. I love your ideas and stuff. So it's like things happen for a reason and you expanding those things. Of course, of course. It's like they say success is in the journey, not the destination. Yes. And you guys, you're successful because you're, you're in pursuit of a, a higher ideal, if you will. And now it's like you're in the phase of your children and extending the legacy through them. And I, I love. Earlier. Earlier we were talking about just the vision down the road, and you mentioned just leaving something behind for them. Like you can genuinely say, or your children can say, you know, our parents, they left this, they left that. Yes. Like, I don't have to work for somebody else's company because they built this for us. And what, what do you guys think of when you think of legacy? Like when you think of like true legacy, what, what comes to mind? I mean, for me it is the last name. Mm-hmm. You know, I didn't have my dad. Yeah. So he didn't give me that benchmark of what it is to be a Perez. Yeah. So to me it's like, all right, it's on my shoulders. You know what I mean? So I always made sure that my kids got their heads up behind. Yeah. Anything happens, you know, they fall, they get hurt. Yeah. Pick your head up your Perez no tape. Knock it off. Yeah. You know what I mean? That's right. Like hold yourself to a certain standard. Yeah. You know, but the word of God says that Jesus name, his name is above every name. Yeah. So there's a name above the Perez name. Of course. Of course. You course. So my name is just humble before his. Yep. Yep. But when I talk to my children, they're like, you gotta live it for your name, because that's your everything. You know what I mean? Yeah. When you mention your name, that should say those are people that are honest, trustworthy, mm. Hard workers driven. You can trust on'em, you know? Mm-hmm. Your name has to mean something in life. So yeah. The name is everything. I, I love that you say that, and I get goosebumps because when I asked you guys at the beginning, do you want me to just refer to you as ju Julie and, and Flo? Mm-hmm. And just leave out the la you know, I didn't know if you want your government out there and your daughter's like, oh no, that's the family legacy. Right. Like, that's our family name. That's our name Of course. Put it in there and, and you can just tell that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Yeah. And I, I love. That you guys really embody. You mentioned like having, being a kingdom man, right? And what, what does that look like? So obviously you have, you have the spiritual, and then the US men we're, we're supposed to be the priest of our household, right? Mm-hmm. And we're like the heads of our household, and I always say that the women are like the next, that give the head direction. Mm-hmm. And if the head is sick, the whole body follows and you can judge a tree by the fruit that it bears. And the fact that you guys are producing really, really good fruit, not only, you know, from a tangible standpoint with business, but also through your children. Yes. Which is incredible. But what, what does legacy look like for you, Julie? Um, I mean, see knowing, well, praying, you know? Mm-hmm. That when we are not. No longer here, my kids will continue, you know, that our, our legacy that all we worked for, all we strived for, you know, blood, sweat, and tears mm-hmm. You know, meant something. Mm-hmm. And will continue. Yeah. You know, we'll continue. Um, our kids by no means were born with a gold spoon in their mouth. Yeah. At all. You know, they've seen the lows of lows. Yeah. Too. Um, we were on, you know, um, welfare or, you know, government assistance Yeah. For many, many years. Mm-hmm. You know, many years. Um, so legacy to me is, you know, that my children take something away from this. Mm-hmm. You know, um, that everything that we have done Yeah. We serves its purpose and we have done it for a reason. You know, that what God has poured into us mm-hmm. Trickles down to our children. Trickles down to our grandchildren. Yeah. And that, um, you know, there's purpose in them. Mm-hmm. You know, and that they follow suit. Yeah. You know, um, we have our, our, um, head bumps with our kids. Mm-hmm. You know, they're not perfect Yeah. By any means. Mm-hmm. Um, and a lot of times it's tough love, but we'll never let them suffer as long as we're here. Yeah. You know what I mean? Um, will we let them go through struggle mm-hmm. And, you know, see what real life is. Absolutely. Yeah. Because if we didn't, we wouldn't be good parents. Mm-hmm. You know? Absolutely. If we, you know, fished them out of the pond every time they were drowning Yeah. We wouldn't, yeah. We wouldn't, we wouldn't be serving purpose. Right. Yeah. Um, I, I'll bring up my son for one. He's a mama's boy. Mm-hmm. You know, he's 30 years old, but he's a mama's boy and I love that he's a mama's boy. Mm-hmm. I wouldn't change it for anything in the world. Mm-hmm. You know, but, um, it's been recent. That I've had to let him go through some bumps in the road and stuff like that, and, you know, and, and he doesn't get it. Mm-hmm. You know, because I have babied him so much because of all that I have done for so long. For sure. And is that fair to him? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You know, so I just, you know, um, I just, for me, it's what we have given, what we have instilled in them, what they have taken from what mm-hmm. We have, given what they, what they've taken from what they see in us. Of course, of course. Is very important. Yeah. I love that. I, I always share that it's, it's not about. Trying to protect your children from struggle. It's about teaching them how to struggle well. Mm-hmm. Because none of us are gonna get away from struggle. That's right. It is just, it's inevitable. And that's why you, you oftentimes hear that pain is inevitable, but suffering is a choice. So you're gonna go through pain in your life, but if you choose to stay there and suffer through it, and that's a choice. Right. And I, I, I wanted. Before we bring it in for a landing here, like, just my personal question for you guys is how do you as entrepreneurs navigate when it's a really tough, like winter season and the, the bills are billing and like you're way in over your head? And, because I, I remember when, when I got hit with that and it was just, it was a shock to my nervous system. I was like, damn, I've never been here before. This is really uncomfortable. And then when you have children and you have this high quality of life that you're trying to maintain for your family mm-hmm. It, it can be, it can be really heavy for, for someone. Yeah. And I'm curious as, as you know, parents, as a family, how, how have you guys navigated through those really difficult financial situations where you don't even know if you're gonna be able to cover the, the payroll or the rent or whatever, you know? Yeah. It, it is, um. Your your purpose over your platform, right? Like even this term, it is KB kingdom business. Mm-hmm. It is kingdom before business, right? Mm-hmm. So when you recognize what's your foundation, right? Your foundation gotta be unshakeable. Yeah. You know what I mean? It doesn't mean that things aren't gonna happen, that storms aren't gonna come crashing against your life where bills do look real. Yeah. And, but you gotta know that at the end of the day, your business didn't start with you. It started with God. Right. The opportunities, the, the ability, the people, the connection. That's why we said earlier, you know, uh, people are more important than our finances. Right? Yeah. Because when the finances drive up, you always got people resources. Yeah. So I love people over finances, you know what I mean? So, um, yeah. We've hit storms in our businesses. Mm-hmm. And, um, because God was our foundation, it doesn't mean you don't go through things and you don't question things or whatever. That's right. You just got a source that says, all right, God, quiet this storm. Yeah. He's the bridge over the stormy water. So it's like, God. It's crazy right now. Mm-hmm. You know, the business is not looking the same as being shaken, but he's that steel bridge that we can come and settle on and say, God, I know you're in control. And through that comes wisdom, you know, it comes, discern comes your next move. So yeah, the foundation is always gonna be God. Now before, oh, we hit Superior Lo without God and Yeah. Was drowning and looking at each other like, it's your fault because you did this. Now it's like, God, okay, we're going through this. Teach us how to navigate through this. Mm-hmm. There's a reason in this storm. That's good. Really good. I love that. Yeah. You know, I remember a, um, a time in our life, and it probably was back around 2019 when I told you that one of our business took a big hit. I was sitting in church and my parents always taught me, stop looking at your bank account all the time. Stop looking at your bank account. Stop checking to see what you have in your bank account. I was sitting in church and um, the pastor's daughter is my witness. She was sitting right next to me. And I looked at my bank account, I looked at our business's bank account, and God is my witness, Josh. It was$0. Mm. And I was like, wait, how did this happen? You know, how did I not see this coming?$0 in the bank account, you know, to where I had to take from savings and put in the bank account.'cause I was like, it's Sunday, I did payroll on Friday. Yeah. Those checks obviously have not all cleared. Yeah. You know what I mean? They start clearing Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we're in trouble. Mm-hmm. You know, and I'm, and so, you know, I move money over, I had to move quite a bit over. We have 35 teachers. Yeah. The bank account is$0 inside the bank account. Wow. And I'm like, okay, God, do something. Yeah. I need to move. Yeah. And, and move quickly. Yeah. Do something. Mm-hmm. And it was maybe two weeks later. That God revealed to us what was going on at the center, that we were able to run in and save it, you know, that God saved it. Mm-hmm. You know, and we ran in physically to do the work that needed to be done behind the scenes, but the biggest thing that I took from that moment was obviously our kids heard what was going on. Right. They heard the struggle. They, they, they saw what we had to do to, to regain control of our own business. Yeah. You know how crazy that sounds? To have to regain control of something that is yours. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and one of our kids on their own without asking, took our electric bill at home and our electric bill at home is eight$900, sometimes a thousand dollars a month. And walked up to me and was like, mom, our electric bill is paid. Yeah. I wanna help. Wow. Yeah, that's beautiful. I think that's the biggest principle, if I can add to it, um, is the given aspect. Mm-hmm. Right. Because giving breaks and opens doors, right. The Bible says, given it shall be given onto you. Um, I think when our business is taking the most hits where it's like, okay, are we gonna have to shut one down to make the other one survive or whatever. At that moment it was like that from one school to the other, and we was like, yeah, I think it's time to maybe close one so the other one could survive.'cause it was just being overtaken by the other one, having to pay his bills. And it was at that moment where it was like, no, what we're gonna do is give, we're gonna give to the church. We're gonna sow a bigger offer and we're gonna give more to our time. And in doing so, I mean, it was literally within that same week, like families just started enrolling and coming in. Um, so yeah, like the principle of giving, if there's anything, any area that I would, if someone was to ask, like, what was the one thing that you guys did? It's giving and like, I don't know what it is about it that when you do it, it just gives you access. You know, we gave a large C one time, believe in God for property. God ended up giving us our home, and our home is over$3 million or whatever. We paid$500,000 for it. Wow. That's another testimony. Yeah. That's another interview. Yeah. Go home. That's a huge story. We go home and it's like. This is God. You know, there's not a moment. We've been there almost 10 years now at our home, and there's not a moment where I drive up and don't see the hand of God. Yeah. Over our lives the moment we walk into a property. So it's like incredible. You're faithful, but it all stem from giving and trusting and having faith. So for sure giving is huge. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I, I remember asking you when I first came in, how this all came to be, and, and, you know, we spoke a lot about faith, we spoke about business, family, all that stuff. And it's, it's interesting that we're here today and if it wasn't. For this establishment. I mean, I probably wouldn't even be here. Right. Right. And that's how divine intervention works. Yes. And this whole establishment from just the community that you have. And, and I love what you guys have here because it's not just about your success. You're also creating and fostering an environment for other people to succeed. So you, and that is important to us. Absolutely. So important to us. And they look like they're thriving. I, I see barbers, I see Tians. I see, you know, you know, eyelashes, everything. Yeah. And you guys have the full blown out operation here. Yeah. And it's, it's incredible. And I, you can, you can feel the, the flow of prosperity in this place. Yes. And not only prosperity, but but the peace that, that they have. Yes. Amen. As well. Yeah. And I think that's incredible. But this was also the divine intervention, this entire building. Oh yeah. Yeah. And we can't close out this show, um, or this episode without just talking about how this came to be because just a few months ago, and I'm sure things kind of. Came full circle, having the mayor here Yes. Doing a ribbon cutting. And it's just like, wow. Look how far we've come. Yes. Right. So yeah, you, I'd love to just, you know, have you guys share that take? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um, so, uh, in November again, um, we go to a conference at our church. There's a guest speaker there. We don't know him. Um, we've never seen him before. He's never spoken to us before. He's a prophet. And, um, we're, we're at this conference, he's speaking, he's pouring into people or whatever. We're sitting probably in middle to back of the church. Right. We're not even sitting up front. And, um, he, he calls us out and tells us to stand up and we stand up and, um, he prophesies several things over us, you know, prosperity business, but then he goes into something very specific. And he says, you know, he closes eyes, his eyes and looks around and he's like, you know, I see a building and I see a building with many rooms. Mm-hmm. And the building calls for businesses. And he specifically said, the building calls for businesses. And he says, you know, go out and search for that building, but if you don't find the building with many rooms, build the rooms yourself in the building. So of course, you know, we receive it, you know, we go back to our seats, we get in the car and I'm like, babe. The my first thought process, it schools. I don't want another school, schools. I don't want another school. Wow. I don't,'cause I'm thinking many rooms, classrooms, right? Mm-hmm. I don't want another school. This is not, I don't wanna build a third school. Like this is not where I see myself. I don't see myself with schools the rest of my life. It's too stressful. The licensing, the, the laws course. I don't, I don't wanna do this, you know, until I, it's time for me to retire. And he's like, well babe, I don't know what to tell you. You know, you can't tell God you don't wanna do it. God said he sees a building with rooms and go out and look for another school, babe. And I'm like, that's not what I want. So we leave it, you know? Um, we don't talk about it anymore. We continue to pray. And, um, a few months later, not, no, sorry, A few weeks later, we realized that our daughter's, um, leases are going to expire where they're renting space for strato body and beauty in South Tampa. So their leases due to expire December 31st. And so we sit down and we talk and we're like, guys, you know, str body and beauty's not cutting it. Like it's not, we're paying way too much. Yeah. You know where we're at and we're barely making, making it buy, you know, I don't, I don't think we could renew this lease. Yeah. So we need to start looking for another, another space. Mm-hmm. So we look, look, look, and we find nothing. And we find somebody in this building that's renting this space that you see that we're in right now and speak to them or whatever, leave. We don't have that assurance that this is for us. Yeah. You know, that this is where we should be. And, um, we leave and we go around the building and on the other side of the building is a huge sign with a phone number and my hu that says for sale. That says for, for rent, for sale. For sale. For rent. So one of the two. Mm-hmm. And my husband says, call it. And I'm like, no. You know, and he's like, call it or I'm gonna call it. Yeah. And I'm like, I don't wanna call it, we were just inside the building. Yeah. The same lady's gonna pick up the phone. How silly are we gonna look calling that number? No. And so he's like, babe, just call it. Mm. So I call it, and it's a gentleman that picks up the phone. And so I said, Hey, you know, I'm outside of a building. It has your sign on it, blah, blah, blah. He was like, I'm actually five minutes away. Can you wait for me there? Wow. And I'll bring you inside so that you could see it. So I said, yeah, sure. I hang up the phone and I'm like, babe, what do we need to go inside for? We were in there and he's like, listen, let's just wait the five minutes when he gets here. Fast forward. Yep. The gentleman gets here, opens the door, we come in. So we saw a portion of the building. We didn't see the entire building. So we saw this section and we didn't see the other section of the building got. So the gentleman says, no, it's the whole entire building. It's this, that, and the other. Explains everything to us. We probably talked to him for about 30 minutes. Um, tell him what we're looking to do. Mm-hmm. And when I turn around, he literally hands my daughter the keys to the building and says, congratulations, this is your new building. No lease, no deposit, no anything. Hands puts the keys. First time meeting him, first time talking with the man, and he's already handing over keys. Wait, why, why did he do that? Put he put the keys in her hand and was like, this is your building. Congratulations. And I was like, wait, wait, wait. We haven't made a decision. Yeah, we don't, we don't have a lease. We don't, we haven't drawn up paperwork. We haven't investigated. We don't know that, that we could even be in this building. Mine is not dawning on us. A building with many rooms. Right. It's not dawning on us. So the prophecy is not even, we're not even talking about the prophecy or thinking about the pro prophecy because now this is, so the prophecy happened in November. Now this is January ish. This is January. So. We had already passed our lease term and now we're month to month in the building that we're in. Yeah, okay. Which means rent is even higher because now we're month to month of course. So he hands my daughter the keys. Um, I look at my daughter and I'm like, no. Yeah, yeah. And she's looking at me like, mom, really? You're gonna kill this for me? I got keys. I'm, and I'm like, no. Like you don't, something seems off here. Something's not right. Is this even his building? Like, did he find this set of keys somewhere? Like nobody does that. Wow. You know? So, um, he leaves and he's like, call me tomorrow or Call me during the week. You know, if you guys wanna come and sign the lease or discuss more. And we're like. Call you tomorrow or take your keys with you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know? And he was like, no, I know that this building is gonna be yours. Yeah, that's exactly what he said he was. I don't know how to explain it, but I know this is for you guys. So I'm leaving you guys with the key. I'm looking at her like, yo, this guy's bugging, but I'm taking the keys. I'm taking the keys, I'm taking the keys. Um, yeah. This is crazy. I know. It it really crazy. So then we get in the car, we're all looking at each other like, what just happened? Mom's the word in the car. There's no speaking, nobody's talking. I'm pissed that we left with keys. He's like, oh, oh, we left with keys. My daughter in the back is probably doing somersaults, you know?'cause she's got this big old building. Yeah. You know, and I'm like, what in the world just happened? Did we just go from paying$3,000 in South Tampa to probably 10, 12? Because we didn't even discuss money. Yeah. So is this a bigger issue For sure. That everybody is just so okay about. Hmm. Except for me. Yeah. So we leave, um, and the gentleman doesn't call us on Monday. He doesn't call us on Tuesday. He doesn't call us on Wednesday. Finally, I'm like, okay, I'm calling him. Yeah, yeah. And so I call him and I'm like, you know, I haven't seen Elise, I'm, he was like, don't worry about it. I'll get Elise to you guys when I get around to it. My niece will draw it up, blah, blah. I was like, yeah, but I need terms. Like yeah. I need to know what is involved. He was like, what do you wanna pay? Yeah, yeah. No way. And I'm like, who does that? When God ordains it is done. Yes. So, long story short, we sign a lease, we get the building, it becomes ours. This side of the building is not built. The main side of the building already has rooms in it. Mm-hmm. So the profit, let's go back. Yep. ICO building with many rooms. And if it's not built, then you build them. Yeah. At that moment when we called our contractor in, I said. Yeah, that was, this is the prophecy. This is it. You know, the contractor came in, I was like, look, you have two, two weeks. You need to build us 10 rooms on this side of the building. You have two weeks to do it. And a bathroom. This is crazy. Yeah. In two weeks he was like, two weeks. And I was like, two weeks. I was like, we need to have people in here March 1st. He was like March 1st. I was like, you heard correctly March 1st. Wow. He was done. He got it done February 29th. Yeah. On that day he got it done. Done. That's crazy. People were in here March 1st. Yeah. That is crazy. We were sold out by April 12th. Yeah, I have to ask. Yeah. 42 days. Why did the guy give up the, like how did he know? Did you, did you speak with him about it? So we don no, we don't know him from anywhere. Yeah. So like she said, we called us the number on the sign. Um, come to find out he's the owner of the building or whatever. Um, basically it was like, Hey, he's been sitting, you know, we need movement in here. We had somebody forward. It didn't work, you know. He was like, but y'all seem like y'all know y'all business people. So I believe you guys can get it done. Handed our daughters the key. The following time that I saw him, he was like, so, you know, what do you think? Monthly payments here? So it was like, okay. We told him like, is he asking us or he's telling us like, is this negotiable? Can we drop it away? You know, we don't wanna pay anything. Yeah. Almost like God was just testing. It was like, however you want, I'm gonna give it to you guys, but this is what I have for you, or whatever. So yeah, so we came, built it out. Like she said, the contractor came in two weeks, opening doors on March. He actually, the owner of the place came over here with his wife. He like, you gotta see what these people are doing over here. So even he was in present, he's like, man, by far my best tenant ever. We don't know the guy from anywhere, but he's loving all this. He just, yeah, he knew. He knew. Wow, that, that's an amazing testimony. I'm so happy we brought No, it's crazy. And. Just to go back, we have zero experience with suites. Yeah. We have zero. Like this was, we did it for our kids. Yeah. Because they needed a place to continue their business. Of course. Or they would've been working out the garage. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, we, we have zero experience with this. We didn't know, and every single tenant that came to visit us, and every single tenant that leased a space, we were transparent. We were honest. We told them all the same thing. This is the first time that we do this. Hmm. But we promise we're gonna do it. Right. That's right. And we're gonna do it together. I love that. And I have built a personal relationship with every single one of them, you know, to where a lot of them call me mom. Yeah. I, I, I noticed that. Did you hear When I first walked in? Yeah. A lot of them call me mom and I respond. I'm, you know, because I am here for them. My kids are very young entrepreneurs. So I know what it is to feel like, am I doing this right? Am I not doing this right? Of course. You know, is it gonna work? Am I going to succeed? That's right. You know, will I be able to make it to next month? You know? Yeah. So I am very hands-on with every single one of our tenants, not just some of them. Mm-hmm. All of them. Yeah. You know, they have my personal number. They know that they could call me. They know that they could text me. They know if they have an issue. They, I, we will be here to respond. If he has to go into a room and put something up for somebody, he does it. You know, if he, sometimes I'm like, you're not supposed to be doing that. Stop doing that. We're spoiling them. And he's like, ah, it's okay. You know? We are very, very invested in the way that we invest in our children. Mm-hmm. Except for financially. Yeah. We are very, very extremely invested in them because we want to see them succeed. Yeah. Our, our heart's desire is to see them bigger than what they walked in as Of course. Yeah. Key thing to business is just to do it. I think a lot of people say, but how do I start? You start by doing it. Yeah. Just take the first step of doing it. Like don't, don't talk yourself out of it. Just do it. Of course, of course. I mean, it sounds scary, sounds real risky or whatever, but there's no one coming to hand you a business. Yeah. No one gonna help you open the doors and be successful. That's right. Only time to do it is right now while you have the passion and the drive, so Absolutely. They always say, you know, you have to participate in your own rescue, so you have to. That's so good. You want a helping hand look at the end of your wrist. Right. It's, it's good stuff's. So as we get ready to wrap up and I could talk to you guys for hours, like there's so much, I mean, there's so many amazing things that we spoke about. We, we have to do it by a fireplace one of these days, like a cabin or something. Oh, at our house. We have a fire pit. Really? Let's do it. Well, I mean, yeah. I'm gonna take you guys up on that Yes. At our house. Absolutely. Absolutely. We, uh, you know, put, put together like a, a nice dinner or something and just have a Yes. A really great conversation. Yeah. So, uh, as, as we wrap up, right, I, I just want you guys to just share a little bit about, you know, the vision. And I know it's, it's interesting because the way I came across you was through a, a rise and build event that you were having. And the, the crazy thing about it, I originally said, no. I had got reached out to, because I charged$25,000 for a one hour talk. Mm. You know, like that, that's my rate. And there was just like, absolutely not, you know, like, not for free. You know, I'm not, I don't know who these people are. Right. Like, you know, you're, you're just wanting me to show up, you know? Right. And I, I, I was not going to do it, but there was just something in me that was just like. I don't know. You know, you get those, those nudges. Right, right. And there was just something in me that said, say yes. Oh, wow. Just say, I had no intention on doing a podcast. I had no nothing. I just, wow. There was just that part of me that was like, just say yes. Wow. And I'm so happy that I did because this would not, so are we, man, and we are so grateful that you did. Yeah, yeah. No, for sure. And I'm really excited about the event. Yes. And the fact that you guys are even hosting event, like what are the odds? Right, right. Talk about divine intervention. Right? So you have this beautiful event set, uh, centered around legacy and leadership and all these amazing things. You have panelists and what's, what's the vision? Why even put together an event and curate an event for business people? Uh, and like, what's, what's, what's the, the master plan, if you will. Okay. You wanna me, I give a little nugget or whatever. Okay. I mean, life is like a puzzle, right? And every piece has its portion and stuff. And I think, you know, what you bring to the table is not what I can bring to the table. Mm-hmm. And there's somebody pulling right now to take that next step that I don't have that answer for them. Mm-hmm. But you can take two minutes of speaking and be like, I understand now. Mm-hmm. So I think when you starting to broaden the scope and bring in people that are superior or do well in their atmosphere. Yeah. I mean, all you do is a door opener, right? Yeah. So it's like you come in, you speak, and all of a sudden somebody has a plan that just got birthed in the atmosphere and it's like, now I know where I'm headed. Of course. So yeah. When you get a room together with a louder of masterminds, you know what I mean? That's right. Only but good things can come out of it, so. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. And so for me it is, I'm gonna be very honest with you, one of my tenants. Pushed me to do rise and build. Mm-hmm. It has always been in me. It's always been a desire, but I'm not a public speaking person. It's not my character, it's not my personality. Even though people say, what do you mean? Yeah, it's not mm-hmm. It's not who I am. Mm-hmm. I've never, you know, I've never been that person. And one of my tenants one day was like, Julie, you have got to put people in a room so that they can hear. Of course. That what they see now mm-hmm. In your family is not who you guys were before. Yeah. Like they're we're levels and you are human just like the rest of us are. And you guys had to go through obstacles, you had to go through the trenches, you had to go through hard times Yeah. To get to where you are today. So it is possible. That's right. And that to me is everything. Yeah. I want success. I wanna see success. I wanna see people build, I wanna see people rise. And if I can be just a. Tiny, tiny portion of someone's journey. Mm-hmm. That to me means, you know, the absolute world. That's good. It's super important to me. I'm all about community connection, you know, how can we use this? How can it better you? How can you grow? You know, how can I grow with you? Mm-hmm. How can we do this together? Yeah. You know, um, something that was really important to me at the grand opening that I spoke to the team about, and I was like, guys, this building's already sold out. Yeah. You guys are all here. Mm-hmm. So this grand opening is about you. That's right. It is not about stpa suites. Mm-hmm. This grand opening is to help you, to help our team, you know, not, not for us in any way, shape, or form. And I think out of the 22 tenants that were sitting in front of us, there was not one dry eye. Wow. You know, they were so, they were so appreciative, so grateful that it wasn't about the owners. It wasn't about, you know, the, the people that were running the building that were already successful, that we're already doing a good job, you know? It, it was about them. Yeah, for sure. And it's always been about them and it will always continue to be about them. Yeah, definitely. I'm excited for the event and just excited to go deeper with you guys. And I know the, the panelists who are coming to speak are absolutely dynamic, so Yeah. Excited for all of you. Yeah. Yeah. So make sure you guys keep an eye out for future events as well. I know the event is this week, so if you watch the pod a little bit late, uh, no worries. Because I, I, I'm, if I had to take a wild guess, this is gonna be an ongoing thing. Yes. This is the beginning of something truly special. Yes. And isn't it amazing how God works things out? He does. I'm surely, you probably would've never thrown a million years you'd be sitting here just telling at all, at all, telling the story, but at all, here you are. And I, I appreciate you guys for being obedient to God's word because if you weren't, none of us would be here. That's right. Yeah. So, um, a beautiful story, beautiful family. Thank you. And I, I appreciate you guys giving us your time here today. Thank you. And if there are any departing words, let's just say. Your great-great-grandchildren. Mm-hmm. We talk about legacy. Right. What would be your departing words to them? If there was any piece of advice you would give to them, what would that be? Oh wow. Mm. Not to go religious tone on them, but uh, yeah, just strive forward. The pathway to forward is forward, you know what I mean? So if any of my family, friends or just the community, I mean, press forward, you know, leave everything that's behind behind now. Don't drag it yesterday until you're today. Yeah. It is all about looking forward, you know? So that would be my thing. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, definitely. I love that you can do it. Mm-hmm. You know, you can do it. Yeah, definitely. That's, you know, that's something that I say to everyone that I talk to, especially when they come with the mindset, you know, of giving up. Now you can do it. Absolutely. You absolutely can do it. Definitely. And we can of course drop the mic there, right? Yeah. So where can the audience find. On social media, anything on, on the internet? Where, where's the best place for them to look? Look the guys up. Um, I'm on Instagram. Mm-hmm. Julisa, J-U-L-I-S-S-A. Annette, I-N-E-T-T. Mm-hmm. He's on Instagram as well. Flo Perez, underscore Perez. Oh, underscore Perez. Yeah. Um, that would probably be the best place and, and on, on our Instagram are all our businesses and how to get to our businesses and absolutely. All that good stuff. Guys, thank you so much. This was so beautiful, and I, I'm, I feel inspired and, and moved and just really encouraged to continue my journey as a, as a family man and a businessman. So thank you so much. I appreciate you, you guys are truly a blessing to the world, so thank you. Thank you. Yeah, there you guys have it. So, uh, I mean, make sure you guys follow this wonderful couple and, uh, as you guys can see the Journey podcast, uh, we have phenomenal guests and, uh, these two are, you know, by far some of my favorite that I've interviewed so far. So make sure you guys like, comment, share, tag, and see us on the next episode of The Journey Podcast. Take care guys.