She Rebuilt Her Life From Scratch w/ Maria Rojas

Maria Rojas did not set out to become a marketing agency owner. She began her career as an electrical engineer in Venezuela, certain of the path she was building. But when life changed and opportunity disappeared, Maria was forced to make a hard decision: leave everything familiar behind and start over in the United States.

In this episode, Maria shares the reality of rebuilding from the ground up, from navigating life as an immigrant and taking jobs she never imagined doing, to discovering a deeper sense of gratitude, resilience, and purpose along the way. What began as survival eventually became something more: a business rooted in service, empathy, and helping small business owners feel supported as they grow.

This is a conversation about identity, sacrifice, faith, and what it really takes to begin again when life does not go according to plan.

Episode Highlights:

• Maria’s journey from electrical engineer to entrepreneur
• Leaving Venezuela and starting over in the United States
• How hardship shaped her gratitude, faith, and resilience
• Building a marketing agency rooted in empathy and service
• What it really takes to survive and grow as a business owner

Chapters:

00:00 — Welcome Maria Rojas

02:14 — Maria’s engineering background

09:17 — Leaving Venezuela and coming to the U.S.

10:50 — The hard first year and starting over

19:48 — Gratitude, money, and mindset

28:49 — Moving through Florida, Michigan, and Indiana

32:33 — Building Trace Marketing and growing the agency

Connect with Maria Rojas:

Website - https://tresmarketing.net/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tresmarketingagency/

Let’s Stay Connected:
→ Follow Lauren on Instagram: www.instagram.com/laurennajar
→ Learn more or work with me: www.laurennajar.com
→ Follow Business Over Cocktails on IG: www.instagram.com/businessovercocktails
→ Attend Growth & Connect retreats & events: www.instagram.com/growthandconnect

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Hey there, and welcome to Business Over Cocktails. I'm Laura Najar, your host and hype woman, bringing you real talk about entrepreneurship. This is the podcast where we dive into the bold whys, the messy middles, and the game-changing aha moments that lead to success. You'll hear unfiltered stories from entrepreneurs plus bite-sized solo episodes inside the Business Chacer series, where we cut through the noise and get straight to what actually drives sales, visibility, and growth. So whether you're here to get fired up or finally feel seen in your business journey, pull up a seat, pour your favorite drink, and let's have a real conversation. Hi everyone, welcome back to Business Over Cocktails. I'm Lauren Najar, and today I have Maria Rojas. I okay, I probably say this every episode with everyone, but I'm very excited to talk to Maria today because I feel like she has such a cool story. She's one of my favorite people I've connected with in the last year. She is self-described as a crazy person. And I only say that because I literally I ask everyone right before we hit record and I go, hey, like how do you want to be introduced? And she's like, I don't know, I'm not creative. Just say I'm crazy or something. In all seriousness, she's the owner of Trace Marketing. She has her own digital marketing agency and she is a marketing consultant as well. And a business coach. And she is launching all of the things to help one-on-one coaching, just you're like gonna do all the things. So thank you for being on here, Maria. I'm excited to talk with you today.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Thank you. I'm excited too. I was looking forward to this. I was like, what would be the perfect place to have a minute with her? And it was like, my car. This is where I had the minutes with the oldest time. I was like, people need to know that my car is my second office, if not the first. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

I mean, you do have a cool car though, because I love jeeps. And I mean, Jeeps are cool, so yeah. And honestly, you made some cool content from it too, because you have some reels where like you have the windows down and the top off and your hairs blown in the wind.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

I don't get to enjoy as much as I want to. Like I there's all other things I could do. I'm jealous when I see all of these people, it's like I don't have the time to do that. So that day I was just like, I'm taking it off.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

I was wearing a suit and I was like, yeah, I don't care. So I want to get into like your story. And I feel like some people know this, but maybe not a lot of people know this. But you're actually an engineer. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

That was my like that's still my passion. Like I wish when I came here I did that, but there's a reason why I ended up doing what I do now. So my name for like I this I'm gonna say it today because people are gonna find me on social media with different names. So my my name, Latino name, is Maria Jose Rojas Gonzalez. So it's four names. But when I came here, saying that long thing, it was a struggle. So I went to Maria Jose, which is my not my name, to Maria. And then two last names, which is my dad's last name and my my mom's. In Latin America, if you if I just say I'm Maria Rojas, they would be like, Don't you have a mom? They would tell you that. They would ask me, like they they asked me that when I was younger. And I I knew I needed to say both. So when I came here, it's like, so Gonzalez is your last name? No, it's Rojas Gonzalez. So it was a struggle. And I was like, you know what? To make it simple, Maria. And same thing with my Instagram. So my Instagram is the Mary Rojas. In Spanish, you say Mari with I or Y, and it sounds the same. And I learned that later here when I was here that Mari is with I, Mary is with why. I'm like, you know what? I'm not changing it. So people sometimes they ask me, it's like, but you go by Mary or Mari or Maria? I'm like, it's the same person. So this is why I said that I'm crazy. Because one time I said, you know, it's like prostitutes. Like you call them however you want to call them. So same thing with me. I'm gonna answer if you say Maria, Mary or Mary. I know you're gonna talk to me. I stopped saying that, but but yeah, I did say it one time. So yeah, ever since I was 12, I knew I wanted to be an engineer because my dad, he was an electrician, and then my mom is a teacher. So I was like, okay, which one I'm gonna choose? And my mom was like, don't be a teacher because you're not, you're gonna get you won't get paid well. So I was like, okay. So I actually have always loved studying. I think I'm a nerd, like, by heart. I love to do that. So ever since I was little, I knew I never struggled to say, this is what I want to do. I I knew when I was 11 or 12 what I wanted to do. So it was really easy for me. And I did that for seven years. So I went to college. Actually, I got to I got to one university, but I, well, the way it works there is like you can start in September or you have to wait six months. And I got to the second term to wait six months. I was like, I want to study, I don't want to wait. So I found another university and I went there, and then I ended up choosing electrical engineering because one of my teachers said, uh, I asked, like, well, what's better? Like electrical engineer or electronics? He's like, Well, since you're a woman, you should do electronics instead of electrical. I was like, oh, okay. And then the next day I just went to sign up for electrical engineering because I was like, I need to prove this guy that I can do it. Luckily, my class, in my university that I went to, the people that I started with, I ended up like all the classes were with them. It's not like here that you see one class with one person. So that was a cool thing. And there was we were 17, I think, in my class, and maybe eight or seven were women. So that was cool too. I was I was proud of like having more women in my class. Yeah. Then after like I graduated, then you do you can sp like do an specialization about on whatever you want to do. And then I did that. And then I was like, you know what? I know I I know about numbers, I know about cables and formulas and stuff like that, but I don't know anything about finances or businesses. And I think I've always, since I was little, had that like that I wanted to have a a business or I wanted to sell stuff. And I used to say, I always hated sales. And so I my mom was the one who would charge or like who would just ask them, like, hey, you have to pay us. So I would, I always wanted to create stuff and sell them. But then at the moment, it was to be like, hey, you owe me this or you owe me that. My mom was the one doing it. I was like, mom, you do it. You call them and tell them that they owe me money. So when I graduated, so after those seven years, I graduated in 2026, 20, 2006. And then I worked for the like the big electrical company in my country. I loved it. I was like, if I'm, if I'm coming, if I die and coming back, I'm gonna study the same thing. I don't have any doubts. So I really loved it. But I knew I wanted to have a business. And back then it was just having a business related to what I went, I went to school for. So I did, I was like, well, I need to do something. And then I that's when you go, like, oh, I have to do a master's. So my problem in 20, that was 2013, 2014, 2013. I didn't speak English. I was just like, hello, give me a hamburger. Like, no, nothing. I always liked it. Like, I always liked it. And I was good at it, but to get to a point where you were like to take a class, I couldn't. So I went to a school in Nicaragua that was rated one of the best schools in Latin America. And they had a program in English, and they had they had one in Spanish that just started. So I did that one. And we took classes in English there, just for the group that didn't speak English. Then, well, I'm from Venezuela, so I'm in Venezuela, all the everything is crazy. Like, all the that's I wouldn't even be able to explain it. Like to give you an example, I was able to, with$4,000 that I had, I was able to transform that in$50,000 that was my master's. So my friends just say, I'm going to Venezuela. I'm just like, it doesn't work that way. The way I did it, it's some regulations and stuff they had there, and that we have a black market and we have an official market. So it was, it's a whole story. So that's the only reason I have. I've had great friends, a lot of them were rich, and I was like, I'm here just because$4,000 became 50. But that's all. And then I came here because there were opportunities in Venezuela when I graduated. And then my masters, I took emphasis in marketing. I've always been like every Latina always liked the gossip and always want to know why.

unknown 9:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Latina that says that they don't like it. No, it's it's that's that's not true. So I've always been like, why do people do things? Like, why do they react the way they do it? Why they buy stuff, why they would choose this instead of this. So that psychology of like, of the buyer, I like it. And then that's why I chose marketing. And then when I came here, I was told that I couldn't do anything related to engineering. So I was like, okay, well then let's gonna just gonna just use what I learned in marketing. So my first year was hard. Like every immigrant that comes here, like you you're lost. It's a country that you don't know. I'm always gonna be a stranger, like a foreign, but it's not, it's hard to feel like this is my country. I respect it a lot because I would like that if people go to my country. So my first year was really, really hard. But it taught me, and I think I I we talked about this before, how to be more human. Like I experienced, I have to do jobs that like in all honesty, like I never cleaned a bathroom until I was 29. I remember you telling me that. Yes. So I had to do stuff that I was like, I would cry next to a toilet because I was like, mom, I don't want to do this. But I I honestly, if I like I tell people, you I think when you're coming from a culture that you are something because you graduated of this big career, being an engineer in Venezuela was a big thing. It's like being a doctor. So you come with that mental and then you go to business school when they teach you like corporate America, you're gonna be a CEO, and they just like brainwash you about like, oh, these big things. That when you hit like reality like that, you say, like, well, sometimes some days you have something, some other times you won't have it. Like, how do you react to that? So I think I wish my sisters would go through that too, because to me, I don't regret it. I said, like, I'm grateful for that first year that I when when I came here because I had to do things that I would have never done in my country. Just because culturally, like I wasn't like, just didn't do it. And I, but it taught me how to, like, I remember asking my mom to forgive me for giving her a hard time when I don't know, she was cleaning the house and we didn't care, or not appreciating the things she did, or taking for granted what she was doing. And even like we we had someone that would go to my house, her name is Carmen. So I was like, now I know what she felt. Like now I know how she felt. Like I felt really, really bad that I said, mom, I am really sorry. Like when I was little, if I ever did something that honestly I took it for granted. So, and then I also appreciated, like, I got to a point, there was, there were days that it I had nothing. And I remember the first thing I bought, one of the first things I bought was a nerve mattress that cost me 18 bucks at Walmart. It was uh it was a twin size. I felt that I was sleeping in one of the hotel beds. I mean, honestly, I say I tell the story, but I wish people really could feel that I was just like on a cloud when I was sleeping there. I remember just like being like this, looking to the ceiling and saying, God, thank you for this air mattress. Like, I love it. Like, I feel that I'm sleeping like in a hotel. And I remember before when I was in Venezuela, I would never sleep on an air mattress. I hated them. I was like, no, I'm not gonna sleep there. And so it's like I will never say I regret it. Yes, it was hard. It was really, really hard. I wish like people that could go through that to learn some lessons, but that taught me like, well, today we have a lot of things, but tomorrow we might not have it. So, like I tell a lot of people, it's like, I have the D because of my husband. My car was at Toyota Country 1993, and I loved it. It took me to New York, it took me to Florida, it took me everywhere. And he's like, because of my dog, well, his dog, that's my dog now. He didn't want the dog to be on another league car from 1993. So that's why we got to gym. So I was like, you bought this car because of the dog. So, so yeah, so that first year taught me so many things that I'm always like, at least by like with being grateful for everything that happens. And I think I'm very lucky that I have been in situations that it could probably have been a very dangerous situation or something could have happened, and nothing bad never ever happened. And I'm like, I think when you when you live your life, like thinking, I have clients that could pay me, like, I don't know,$50 for a design. Just because I want to help them, and I know they don't have the budget to pay more. And even with those$50, I every time I get money, I say, thank you, God, for this$50 or for this$5,000. Whatever it is, I'm always grateful because, and that happened just here. Like every situation I have been that I'm struggling, that I'm like this close to quit, something happened. Just like it's just unbelievable. To me, it's just like I'm not like I don't go to church every Sunday, but I do believe like completely. And to me, it's like I don't get when I'm struggling, I obviously get stressed, but I know that there's something that's coming. So I try to be like, okay, just try to breathe. You're not drowning. Let's see, like, and then always, like always, like I was in a situation that I was just like super desperate. And like I got like three clients that same week after I was just like, oh my God, what am I gonna do? Yeah. So every time I see, like with my husband and their friends, when they get so stressed about, like, oh, this is the end of the world. I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, just calm down. Like better things are gonna come. And I think it's because we don't pause to like believe and have faith and pray. Like, I don't pray it all the time, but when I do, it's never to like please God. The only time I have prayed, like, please, please God, I was running out of gas and I was I was far from the gas station. And for 15 minutes, I was like, please, God, let me get there. Don't let me just run out of gas here. That's the only time that I really prayed, like, because I needed something like that. But other like time is more mostly like just for my family or like saying thank you because like even after everything I went through, he has always been there. I'm always on the road. So always. So I'm always like, and it's it's risky because I mean I can drive fine, but you don't know about other people on their in the highway. So I'm always like, well, you're with me, you're in the car, so like this, like whatever you want to happen, it's gonna happen. And I have been in situations where I'm like, man, I'm glad, like, I'm glad I I mean, I don't know if I'm lucky or I'm like, I'm just I don't know. I'm very happy with where I'm at now. It's not perfect. I tell my husband, it's like, you're never like I don't think there's a my way of thinking, like when you say that you're happy, it's like it's a state of mind. Like, you cannot be happy every day, every time, every morning, every night. There's gonna be moments when, like, when I think about my family being in back in Venezuela, I'm not happy. I said, like having them so far, yeah, that doesn't make me happy. But I try to live my life thinking like, give everything that you can give that's good, because eventually maybe it's not gonna come from the person or that specific thing, but it's gonna come back to you. So I think that first year taught me all of this stuff. That I wasn't like that before. I was more like like feeling entitled because like the way I was raised. So today is like it doesn't make me a better person if I have a Jeep or if I have a Tayora from 1993. I I try to not get attached to stuff like that because I was at a point when I had them. And there was another moment when I just had a suitcase full of clothes and little stuff that I had, and that was it. And that's why I, when I started my agency, I wanted to help small businesses. Because they start with like the minimum that they have. And I felt like I wish when I started there was someone there that could help me instead of just sell me whatever they wanted to sell. And there were many times, and this is why I like to teach and I like to like and I speak in engagements when they can learn something, because that's what I do with my clients. I try to always like sit down with them. In the beginning, it was a lot of things I did for free because I was like, I just want to help them until it's like, well, when you have a business, you can help, but then you also have to pay the bills. So that switched a little bit. So I have some clients that I guide them and I tell them, hey, this is what's going on. But I try to be the way I I would like someone offering a service to me, uh I would like them to be with me. So I I believe that if I give, eventually, in in a way, it's gonna come back.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

I love that you said that. And I I think the money thing I wanted to ask about is, you know, you're you're grateful for every penny, you're grateful for every cent that you make. And I think that that's something that a I think a lot of people struggle with because, you know, like especially business owners, right? Or anyone that needs money, right? It's like, okay, well, someone just bought something from you as a hundred dollars, and you're like, well, it's not a thousand yet, it's not ten thousand yet. But if you're not happy with or like grateful that you're getting ten dollars, a thousand dollars, you're not gonna be happy at a hundred thousand or a million. You think you will, but you're not gonna be grateful for that and you're always going to want more. And the other thing though I wanted to ask you, so you mentioned about like you came from Venezuela here because of opportunity, but like what was in that decision? That's a hard decision to make. So, like, yes, opportunities, but like how did you like arrive to that decision?

SPEAKER_01 19:17

So what it was like the big decisions in my life haven't taken that long for me to make them. Like, it's just like it's like this is what I want to do, and when I'm there that I don't hesitate, I don't have any doubts. That's what I have to do. So in my case, it was a little bit like that, it was like country situation plus personal situations. Because I used to work for like for the company in the country that was from the government. So there were a lot of like political issues there that I had to be like find a way to ask for asylum or seek refugee. So that was the that wasn't like the main thing, the main goal. But the countries that would give me better opportunities if I had to be there was this one. And I have some friends here, and so I came here just because that was like the best option in the moment. And I didn't have a lot of time to be like, okay, let's kind of think and study, or because of where I used to work, you have to be supporting the government. So they would just like make you go to events, make you go, or like you couldn't check. And I did because I was planning like projects. So I had projects that were specifically related to the government. Like the government did some apartments and then I was part of it. So I had to meet with people that were like high people. So when I came back from Nicaragua, Nicaragua is also a country that I was scared to, but I this it's a little bit different. And then when I came back, it was like I cannot stay here because it's not, it wasn't safe, like just because of that. Because I I was like, I'm not gonna go back to where I was before or where I was working before. So here, like for Venezuelans at least, they have options like if you're seeking for asylum. And that is the reason why I haven't seen my family. Because if you seek for asylum, you cannot go back to your country. So that's one of the reasons why it's hard for me. And it's like I cannot be happy all the time. Like there are times when it's like when it's not super happy. So yeah, that's why I landed here. When I came here, it wasn't just you know, I tell people it's like when people tell you, like, oh, you you you went there because you have the American dream, it's like, no. I'm like, it wasn't that the reason. But I do believe, because I tell all the entrepreneurs that I the fact that I didn't come here just seeking the American dream, because like the American dream can be so different to every person. Yeah. And the way they paint it in Latin America is just like you're going to Disney and all the malls and stuff like that. Then I don't and I get it because it's what we see in the movies and what what we see in on TV shows. And once you're here and you start like you live here and you start blending with the people here. You know, like this is like I tell people it's like this is exactly as any other country, just there's more rules, but people would bend the rules, people would do great things, there are smart people, they're not so smart people, there's everything. So like what we see on TV sometimes is not it's not really the reality. Or I don't know, it's just so many things that I I always talk with my husband about that. I'm like, we never saw these things. I even thought, imagine, like I even thought, do you know the TV show El Zorro? Like the the one with the Z? Oh yeah, yeah, Zorro, yeah, yeah. Okay. I thought it was a Mexican show, and I knew it was I found that it wasn't a Mexican show like three years ago. I'm like, no, but this guy had this voice. I never knew it was from here. Yeah. I'm like, I cannot believe it.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

I thought Zorro was Mexican. I know.

SPEAKER_01 22:56

Well, you I mean, there was a Zorro movie, I think, that came out 20-ish years ago with Antonio Banderas, but no, but I used to watch the T the show, yeah, and I completely thought because I remember telling someone from here, I'm like, you have to listen to the real voice of that guy. And that person was like, That's a real voice. I'm like, no, he speaks Spanish. So funny. And I was like, I cannot believe everything I thought before I came here. It's just fantasy. So yeah, we have just a different way of thinking there because of what we see.

SPEAKER_00 23:28

Yeah. You know, that's one of my favorite things, like, because I've been in business now for I'll be in seven years next month. And so, like, part of my business, I've only been online for the most part of it. And so I've had clients in South Africa. I have a client in India currently. I have a client in London for the last five years. And actually today I have a I have my coaching call with my client who lives in India. And I've known her now for uh almost like three years. We've been working on and off together. And literally today we are talking about we always get into a topic of like, what's happening in your country? Is it really like this in your country? And it's so interesting. She was asking me today about breakfast and people going out to breakfast because she's like, that seems so weird to us. Like she goes, We have brunch, but like she goes, Do people just like go out to breakfast where you are? I'm like, Yeah, we have like places that are just open until like two or three PM. And she's like, That's so weird. Like that is so interesting. So yeah, it's I mean, to your point, like it and we talk about that all the time. Like, yeah, like on the news, you know, where they are right now in India and they see what's happening in America, like it just seems so awful. And maybe you do think it's awful, maybe some people do and not, whatever. But yeah, to your point, it's like, yeah, we're just everyday people driving around.

SPEAKER_01 24:47

Yes, exactly. And I said, like, there's people that have money, there's people that don't have money. Like my my sister, I remember in Florida, I used to like I remember one of the things I did was just passing out flyers in for Lauderdale. For Lauderdale. Whatever.

SPEAKER_00 25:02

I can't really I just went there in February and I struggled to say it too.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

So Yeah, so on a Saturday at 12 p.m. Until like two or three. So with that sound, I felt like I there were times I was dehydrated. And I remember my sister saying, like, can you give me 20 bucks? And I'm like, no. She lives in Argentina. So I have a I'm here, my other sister is in Venezuela, and the other one is in Argentina. So she's like, What's$20 for you? I'm like, those are two hours under the sun at 12 p.m. So no. So people outside don't see that because what you see is in the movies. Like everybody has money, there's big houses, everybody's pretty, everything's perfect. Like it's like every in any other country. So it's it's just there are rules that are different. Probably what we do in Latin America, we wouldn't do it here because you they will call it police. But it's just it's people. It's not, it's just not it's not the country, it's people. So it's like all the issues that we humans have, it doesn't matter what country we are at. Like it's just what maybe makes it different, it's just the rules and laws and stuff like that. But at the end, it's, you know, in politics, it's gonna be corruption and and there's gonna be good and bad. And so that happens everywhere. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:18

So how long? So I guess I don't think I know this, but like when you came to the United States, like where did you live for like the first few years?

SPEAKER_01 26:28

I was in Pembroke Pines, Florida for a year.

SPEAKER_00 26:32

What side of the what side of Florida?

SPEAKER_01 26:34

It's between Miami, between Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

SPEAKER_00 26:36

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

Like Hollywood, Florida. So it's like 20 minutes from Hollywood. So, because my friend was living there. And then I moved to Niles, Michigan, and I was there for six months. And then I've ended up in South Bend, Indiana, and I lived there like for actually I'm in South Bend today. I lived there for five years. My dream was always living going to move to Chicago. That was just like, I'm gonna move there. I would always go because my ex-boyfriend was living there, so I will always go to Chicago. It's like my dream was just being able to walk in the streets like at night or in the afternoon, having sidewalks. That was my dream. And I did live, I did try to. I actually moved into my friend's house, like while I was finding an apartment, and that's when I was with Tony and my husband, and then he's like, Why don't you stay with me for a little bit? And the the little bit became more weeks, more weeks, and I never left. I'm like, and he hates, he hates the city. Yeah. So I'm like, but I'd say, I always tell people, it's like, be careful with what you say, because I remember with my aunt's boyfriend, I said the perfect place to to move, to live, it would be something between Chicago and South Bend. And that's where I'm now with a different man, but that's where I'm yeah, yeah. So I was like, you have to be careful with what things you the words you you you let out.

SPEAKER_00 28:04

You kind of manifested that. You really did.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

Yeah. Because I remember saying that. That's a perfect, like I never knew about Porter, but I was like, that's a perfect place to live. I was thinking Michigan City, because that's the the place I used to like go sometimes, but I was like, why didn't I say Chicago?

SPEAKER_00 28:22

I know. That's so cool. I didn't, yeah, I didn't know where you moved around to. And then I always just like wonder, like, I feel like I have these conversations a lot with people. I'm just like, why'd you end up in Indiana? But like that makes sense. You were kind of in Chicago, want to live near Chicago. I get that. But then there's just some people like, yeah, you know, I lived in Florida forever, and then aren't I lived in California? And like, I feel like those places are so pretty. And they're like, Yeah, like now I live in, you know, Cheryl, Indiana. I'm like, how did you find Cheryl, Indiana?

SPEAKER_01 28:56

Well, in my case, because my friend became my boyfriend, and then he was he was in Niles. And I came to Niles a few times, and then it's just the cost of living. Like I was really struggling in Florida, and I said with the money I was making there, I could easily make it here and then live better. Yeah. I I I remember those five years, I rented an apartment that was$500 per month. It was one bedroom. It was perfect. Yeah. In Florida, we were paying like$1,600 for the same thing. So I'm like, no, I mean, I love I like it to go on vacation, but to live there, it's just not not easy. Yeah. I was like, this is a struggle. So I I was like, no, I don't, I mean, I want to be able that the money I make, I mean, I I invested or or use it the best way I can. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:45

So then how long were you here? Then like then you started your agency? Like how long did that take?

SPEAKER_01 29:52

So I came here in 2026 to the States 2020, 2016. Why am I saying that? 2016. And then so that year, like I said, I I didn't know what I wanted to do, or so just it was too much of a struggle to think about that. So then in 2017, when I came to Niles, I was like, okay, I'm gonna settle here, I'm gonna stay here. And then I'd be like, well, what did I do before that worked for me? And was like, I'm gonna start meeting people here that can connect me with other people to see how things work here. So that I did it it from 2017 and 2020, 2017 and 2018. 2018, I started working for an agency, a marketing agency. They had a project. I was doing just social media marketing. Because I I I really like that. So those years I would study like what's going on, what's happening, like what I like. Because I was like, well, I had an emphasis in marketing, but I don't like like I mean commercials or TV, radio. That's not like the old school. It wasn't my thing. So I went through social to social media and I started doing that for like a freelancer for a friend in Ecuador. And then I started because I needed to build portfolio. And then I started with my, well, he's now my friend, so he he had an agency here in South Bend. So they needed someone bilingual for a specific client. So I started working with him. And then after a year, I was like, what do I have to do? I kind of learned, like, okay, this is what you need to do. Just find clients, like build portfolio. And then I went to a point and was like, okay, I have all these like masters and then all these degrees and titles, and now what? And then I realized, like, I don't have I don't know how to do business here. I don't know how they work here in Indiana. So there was a program from St. Mary's College that it's called Spark. I think it's been around for 20 years. It's for women. And I did that program because you have to build your business plan. But the good thing about that program, it's kind of like a there's our sisterhood. Like once you are part of the program, you can connect with all the people that went that are Spark graduates. And it's very well known in this in South Bend. So people that know that you did that program would help you or would connect you with other people. So I sometimes I use it as a like a signature, like as a sign, like, hey, I'm a Spark sister. So even if they don't know me when you say that Spark is a Spark sister. Yeah. That's how we call each other. So after that, it was like, then that was 2019, and then COVID hit. So the net said was like, well, you have to register your business in the state of Indiana and all that, which I didn't know before. So that's when I learned that. And then I registered my business in June 2020. And the clients I had as a freelancer, I lost them, obviously, because most of them were restaurants. So they have to like it stop. So I was like, okay, what am I gonna do now? So my agency started that year. And I just used that time to gain more experience. Like once they went by like doing like to go and all this takeout and all that stuff, that was, okay, we can do this, or building websites and stuff like that. So I started as a social media marketing agency. It was just that. Then the more I kept going, the more people were asking me for more stuff. And then it became a like digital marketing agency probably two years ago. Because it's like multiple, do you do this? Do you do that? I'm like, so I started being like, yeah, I can do it, because it's still the same people that I'm using now, it's the same, so the same, like everything's the same. I don't have to do something extra. But then when it became when I started having a team, I worked with a lot of people in different countries. And it was a struggle because like the time changed, and it was I kind of was excited, then lost money, then lost faith, then lost, and then I went back and now we are almost, I think we're 10. The opportunities came and I was like, I was ready. Like I was ready to take them, but then I was like, okay, now we have to run because we don't have X, Y, and Z. And then so that was 20, what, 2022, when I got married, so I kind of paused it for a little bit, and then I went back again. And then I was like, okay, now I'm working now more on the instead of the operations and all that, on like, okay, what do I need to do to make it better? What do I need to do to be a better owner? Or like, how can I connect to have better services? How can I connect with my clients? So this year has been like a year of learning as much as I can, investing everything I have and what I don't have, just to prepare for opportunities like that, like where I want to go. So, so yeah, still a baby. It's five, it's only five years. So we just turn five in June.

SPEAKER_00 34:33

You know, it's funny, like you say that because like, yeah, five is not that long of a time, but like when we look at the stats, right? Like we look at the stats and like businesses fail within the first couple of years. It's like the percentage is so crazy that, oh, they failed in the first years. And then when you get to five, it's like, oh, that percentage gets even higher to fail. And then when you think of then I actually looked at this when I crossed the five-year mark, I looked at all of these things and I'm like, okay, so like this is actually a pretty cool milestone. The other thing is like, oh, you actually make money and you're profitable. Like, even if it's just like$20,000 a year, like you are already, like if you make$20,000 profit, I mean that's also like I guess like, and I think you're kind of the same way. We have a lot of similarities. But like if I I saw those stats and I'm like, oh, like I'm hard on myself because I'm like, I always want to make more money and like, you know, be more successful and all this stuff. But like when you actually look at the stats of like five-year businesses and how many businesses fail, and how many businesses are actually profitable and how many businesses actually make six figures and you know, then seven figures and all this stuff, like those percentages are so small. So like five years is still really impressive, I think.

SPEAKER_01 35:50

Yeah. No, and I think I read a lot of that. I try not to because I don't want to scare myself, but I don't want to see numbers because I believe in numbers. Yeah. But I do think because of a lot of entrepreneurs that I have seen, because what I do with the Chamber of Commerce, is that a lot of them it's just they don't do the work. Like I not all the years were good. Like that 2020, like there were there have been at least three times that I can remember that I was this close to be like, you know what? I tried. But there's always, I'm always like, God, please. Like, if this is just a sign that I have to just end it, I'll do it. I haven't had like all those years where I'm like, oh, every month was positive. No, like some months were red. I lost clients, like big clients, but I learned from all of those experiences. How can I do it in its time? I cannot trust just like being comfortable with I and then I started being like afraid of money. And and then to say that it's just like I was like being comfortable with what what I was making because I was seeing as a, oh, this is my salary, not as a business. And then I realized what I was just afraid to make money, more money. I was making the money that I needed to stay to be okay. But I wasn't making enough money to see it as a business. Yeah. And when I wanted when it started being like, I need I want to grow, I was like, okay, then I need to make way more money so I can pay myself, pay my team, and then get some money for the business. So I think it's just like either some people might give up because just they don't find, they don't look for the right tools, and there's so many resources out there that they can go to. And then some other people think it's just because I don't know. Because I studied marketing, there's like, yeah, I'm gonna start an agency. It's not just that. Right. That's that's one thing. That's one thing, but it takes way more. It's a whole thing. It takes way more. So I always tell people like, if you feel that you want to give up, see if you really, really have done everything that you could, everything that you needed to do. So sometimes I think those, those numbers is just because, not just because of the money, it's just because they don't have all the resources to be like, okay, what is it that I need? I know I need systems. So I started being like, this year I need to work on that. This is the year that if I don't end in December saying everything is already how I want it in January, I'll be like, no, there's something wrong. And I'm I'm working towards that. But I'm doing a lot of things to get there. So I think it's just like some of it, it's like people think just, oh, I'm gonna have freedom to have my own hours, to do to do my own thing. It's it's not really, it's not like that. So you have to love what you what you want to do, and you have to change this mindset of like, I'm making it and doing it for money, because money's gonna come. Like if you change that that th thinking, money's coming. So I think some of them fail it's just because they don't do the work they need to do. They just rely on like, oh, I know about marketing, so my agency's gonna be gonna do well. I'm like, no, everything I have to learn all these years have been nothing related to marketing. So so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:49

I feel like we could talk for like three more hours. But can you tell everyone how we can connect with you? Where should people connect with you at?

SPEAKER_01 38:59

So Instagram is quicker because I'm always there. Either Trust Marketing Agency, that's its same on Facebook, or my personal with which where I'm doing the mentorships on, it's the Mary Rojas. But they can find it on the agency. Probably the agency will be faster if they don't remember if they're not gonna find me by Maria Rojas, probably. So yeah, that's easy and faster.

SPEAKER_00 39:23

Thank you for sharing your story. I know I learned a lot.

SPEAKER_01 39:26

You see that crazy?

SPEAKER_00 39:28

Yeah, you crazy all over the place. So thank you, Maria, for being on. I love learning more about you. So we'll talk soon. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Business Over Cocktails, where real stories and bold business moves come to life. If this episode lit something up in you, share it with a friend, tag me at Laurenajar, or the podcast page at business over cocktails. Make sure to leave a quick review as well. It helps more than you know. Until next time, keep chasing what matters and building the business that feels like you. Cheers!