Automatic episode summary
Still Strong #14 puts Keith Vance across the table from a guest less than half his age, and he says up front that it is the first conversation he has ever taken written notes for. Julio Ramirez is eighteen, born in Florida, one of six children, and has been running Julio Auto Detailing for six years, which, as Keith works out on air, means he started at twelve. The two met in Keith's own driveway: Julio came to detail his son's truck, came back a week later for his wife's, then for several of his employees' vehicles, and Keith eventually stopped to ask how old he was. The answer sent him looking for the rest of the story.
Julio traces the mindset to his family. His older brother, four years ahead of him, was never a party person, and Julio watched their parents be proud of him and decided he wanted the same. An aunt who works in health care sends him motivational texts and reminds him God is beside him. His father works concrete; his mother cleaned houses and now works as a school lunch lady. Both, he says, work too much and carry visible stress, and it is that stress rather than any ambition of his own that first moved him. He tells his parents to slow down, that he and his siblings have it; on a good week he leaves two or three hundred dollars where they will find it, whether or not they want to take it.
Keith names what he is hearing as a reversal. A generation of parents worked hard so their children would not have to, and this household has flipped it. He walks through his own version: mowing yards at ten, being told he was too young to be trusted, going out on his own in his early twenties when the builder he worked for went out of business, and praying daily for work he then received as gifts. He is a framer by trade, has seven kids, and says he is fifty.
The business talk stays concrete. Julio's origin story is his father's crew truck, which he still details every Sunday, sometimes by lamplight. He names the most expensive vehicles he has worked on, holds a two-to-six-hour standard he refuses to rush, and describes taking a seven o'clock call, driving to Naples, and getting home at five in the morning while his parents worried. He talks about the years of one client a month, about people treating him as a joke because of his age, and about letting his work speak when words do not land. Keith presses him on scaling: what he would look for in a hire, how he would replicate his own standard, and whether he would rather stay a one-man operation and charge for the name.
Faith enters through the hardest stretch. A junior-year sports injury and surgery took Julio off work, and when he came back his clients were gone. He describes praying through it, breaking down, and slowly rebuilding, and says the provision made his faith real. Keith answers with his own near-quit, driving over an overpass and thinking that pulling over and walking away would feel like relief. He stayed under his responsibilities, and a breakthrough came shortly after.
The last third turns inward. Julio keeps a circle of friends with the same work ethic. He names time with family as his one sacrifice, and admits that when pressure builds he stops talking and isolates, which Keith, whose own pressure comes out as anger, tells him plainly is not healthy. Keith is candid that he sacrificed more of his family's time than he should have and still does not know where the balance sits. Asked what Still Strong means at eighteen, Julio says it is being strong for his family and his siblings so they can see it is possible. Keith closes on the word still as continuation: another link added to the chain, chosen daily.
Speakers
- Intro voiceover other
- Julio Ramirez guest
- Keith Vance host
- Crosstalk other
Chapters
- 0:37 An eighteen-year-old with a business
Keith introduces Julio Ramirez, eighteen, six years into running Julio Auto Detailing, and explains that he booked this episode after watching Julio detail his son's truck, his wife's truck and several employees' vehicles in his own driveway.
- 5:06 Where the mindset came from
Julio credits an older brother who stayed home studying and working, and an aunt who sends him motivational texts, then describes parents whose work ethic he calls insane and whose stress he decided to carry some of.
- 16:05 It started with dad's work truck
The business traces back to cleaning his father's concrete crew truck at twelve, buying cheap supplies from Walmart and AutoZone, and doing family cars until the prices and the passion made sense. He still details that truck every Sunday.
- 19:16 Nobody takes a kid seriously
Julio on being treated as a joke and going a month between clients, and Keith on mowing yards at ten and later being told in his twenties that he was too young to bid a job.
- 23:42 The cars, the hours, the standard
Julio names the most expensive vehicles he has detailed, explains why a job takes him between two and six hours, and tells the story of a seven o'clock call that had him driving to Naples and getting home at five in the morning.
- 28:34 Complaining is a character flaw
Julio argues that constant complaining on a job catches up with you, and Keith turns it into a test of character: what comes out of a person when pressure is applied, and what can be learned from any job if you pay attention.
- 31:51 Bad grades, finished anyway
Julio walks through a school day stacked on top of a work day, admits he was not a good student and saw little value in school, and says he graduated for his parents. Keith questions the promise that a degree alone opens doors.
- 38:06 Prepared, clean, ready to scale
Both men on arriving prepped rather than prepping on the customer's time, and on a clean truck and trailer as a form of reputation, moving into Julio's plan to pitch a fleet contract and Keith's questions about hiring, quality checks and whether to stay small on purpose.
- 48:13 Family, God, and money as a tool
Julio calls family and God the two things he could not do without and mentions going to church together every Sunday. Keith recalls buying his own school clothes as a boy and spending everything he had on a Mother's Day gift.
- 59:44 The season he wanted to quit
A junior-year sports injury and surgery cost Julio his clients, and he describes praying through the rebuild and watching the work slowly return. Keith answers with the day he nearly pulled his truck over and walked away from everything.
- 1:06:24 Friends, sacrifice, and pressure
Julio on keeping a circle of friends with the same work ethic and naming time with family as his sacrifice; Keith on learning from adults as a teenager, on the balance he never found, and on how differently their pressure comes out.
- 1:20:56 What Still Strong means at 18
The closing question. Julio says being Still Strong means staying strong for his family and siblings so they can see it is possible, and Keith describes still as continuation, another link added to the chain by a daily choice.
Key takeaways
- 5:34 The shift in Julio's thinking came from watching an older brother who stayed home working and studying, and from an aunt who kept sending him encouragement and reminders that God is beside him. He decided he wanted to be the kind of son his parents were already proud of.
- 1:00:46 The rebuild after Julio's injury is where he says his faith became real. He prayed through it, describes breaking down and getting upset, and kept going; as the work slowly came back he took it as God providing when he most needed it.
- 1:18:18 Asked what pressure looks like when it comes out, Julio says he distances himself, stops talking to family and wants to be alone. Keith names that as unhealthy and tells him he needs someone he can talk it out with, adding that his own pressure comes out as anger at things that do not matter.
Pull quotes
Julio Ramirez: "I like to think differently because I know that party life every day, every weekend, it's not really going to get me anywhere."
Julio Ramirez: "I don't work for the money. I do it for the passion. I just love what I do."
Julio still details his father's crew truck every Sunday, and if the day gets away from him he will do it at night with lamps set up, because that truck is where the whole business started.
Julio Ramirez: "Not everybody is going to believe in your work just because you're young, but I just show my work and sometimes I just let my work speak for itself, because sometimes words doesn't get to people and they just need to see."
Keith Vance, on the season when nobody would hire him: "God, unless you give me some work, these people aren't going to do it. God, give me something." He says he came to see the jobs he did get as gifts from Him.
Julio describes a seven o'clock call from a customer travelling the next day, driving to Naples, arriving around nine and not getting home until five in the morning. His parents were worried all night; he calls it part of the job.
Julio Ramirez: "Family and God. As long as I have that, I mean, I wouldn't ask for anything else. I can have work and everything. But if I don't have my family and I don't have God with me, then what am I really?"
Keith Vance, on the day he nearly walked away from his companies: "I didn't walk away. I stayed under my responsibilities." He says the weights lifted a short time later and a breakthrough followed that he would have missed if he had quit.
Keith Vance on the name of the show: "Still can mean absent of movement, but still also means a continuation." He pictures every day he chooses to be Still Strong as another link added to the chain.
Scripture & context
- 1:45 Keith explains how the episode came about: Julio showed up in his driveway to detail his son's truck, came back a week later for his wife's truck, then did several of his employees' vehicles. Keith asked his age, heard eighteen, and decided he had to know the rest of the story.
- 3:20 Keith says he normally just has a conversation and lives in the moment, but this one mattered enough that he wrote notes beforehand, around ten of what he calls conversation hangers.
- 12:08 Keith uses the King James phrase help meet from Genesis 2:18 while describing what a husband carries: a wife is there to support him, but that does not mean dumping the whole load on her, because carrying everything would crush her. He is not quoting the verse by reference, only its language.
Questions answered
- How does an eighteen-year-old already have six years in business?
- Julio started at twelve by cleaning his father's concrete crew truck every weekend. He bought cheap supplies from Walmart and AutoZone, moved on to family cars, and kept going once he worked out pricing and saw money coming in. He says his parents backed him from that point and still do. jump · 16:05
- Where did Julio's work ethic come from?
- He points first to his older brother, four years ahead of him, who was never a party person and stayed home studying and working. Seeing their parents proud of him made Julio want the same. He also credits an aunt who works in health care and sends him motivational texts reminding him God is by his side. jump · 5:06
- Why does he give money to his parents?
- Because he can see they are stressed, especially his father. Even on a light week he tries to put two or three hundred dollars in their hands, and if they refuse it he leaves it in their room or somewhere they will find it. He says he does not work for the money but for the passion. jump · 12:49
- What was hardest about starting a business that young?
- Being taken for a joke. Julio says people looked at him and assumed he was not serious, and that he still runs into it. There were stretches of roughly one client a month. His answer was to let the work speak for itself, because words do not always reach people. jump · 19:31
- How long does a detail take, and what standard does he hold?
- It depends on how dirty the vehicle is: a minimum of about two hours and a maximum of around six. He says he deliberately takes his time, because if it is rushed it is not done right and the customer will not be happy. He would rather lose money on a job than hand back work he is not satisfied with. jump · 25:00
- What would Julio look for if he hired someone?
- Work ethic first, and it has to be high, with real passion behind it. He wants someone who wakes up ready to get after it. Keith pushes back that the average hire will not carry an owner's standard on their own, and suggests ownership, incentives, or a final inspection checklist before any car goes back to a client. jump · 43:16
- Did Julio ever want to quit?
- Yes, more than once, and the hardest was his junior year of high school. A sports injury and surgery stopped him working, and by the time he was able to come back his clients had gone. He was down to about one car every two weeks and says he genuinely felt like quitting. jump · 59:49
- What is he sacrificing right now?
- Time, and specifically time with his family. He says he feels like he is always working and does not get enough of it, and names that as the major sacrifice he is making. Keith tells him he sacrificed more of his own family's time than he should have and still does not know where the balance sits. jump · 1:13:24
- How does pressure show up for him?
- Julio says he feels a lot of it because he wants to build something big and cannot do everything at once, and that he bottles things up rather than letting them out. When it builds, he distances himself from people, stops talking to family, and wants to be alone. Keith tells him plainly that isolating is not healthy and that he needs someone to talk it out with. jump · 1:17:15
- What does Still Strong mean to an eighteen-year-old?
- Julio says it has been on his mind since Keith first invited him, because the last few years have been a journey of pressure, overthinking and emotion, and he is still going. For him it means staying strong for his family and his siblings, because if they see that he is strong, they will know they can do it too. jump · 1:21:21
Helpful links
other
- Julio Auto Detailing The guest's mobile detailing business, named on air by the host; no web address or handle is spoken in the episode.
- Julio's detailing Instagram Keith mentions looking at Julio's Instagram to see the vehicles he has been trusted with, but no handle or address is given.
- David Goggins Keith borrows his line "you don't know me, son" while describing being turned away as a ten-year-old looking for yard work.
- Jesse James, custom motorcycle builder Keith raises him as the example of staying small, staying precise and charging for the name rather than scaling up.
product
- Still Strong Richardson 112 cap The hat Keith gives every guest at the top of the episode.
video
- Orange County Choppers The custom-bike show Julio names while the two try to place the builder Keith is describing.
verse
- Genesis 2:18 The help meet passage whose language Keith uses when describing what a husband carries and what he shields his wife from.
Full transcript
Intro voiceover: I learned the hard way, nothing's overnight, some days you lose, some days you survive. Still Strong, even moving slow, every step counts more than you know. I found gold in the everyday, showing up and staying brave. Still Strong.
Julio Ramirez: Leo Ramirez. Yes, sir. Welcome to the podcast, brother. Yeah, thank you, sir. Thank you for having me out here and it's ready to speak and talk about it.
Keith Vance: Yeah, I have been looking forward to this one all week, man. This is going to be a positive communication, man. Positive communication. So let me give you your introduction. Julio Ramirez, born in Florida. Florida. You have five siblings. Yes, sir. Five siblings. Five siblings. Same as me. We have a little connection there. A little connection. Your hobbies are learning new skills and sports. What sports?
Julio Ramirez: So I grew up playing soccer moments of life. Entering my sophomore year in high school, I decided I want to play football. I decided I want to be a kicker. I had that kicking just there. So I'm like, all right, let me put it into use. Oh, good. So I decided to become a kicker and ponder for my school and things went on from there. And fortunately, I had a really good future for that. But then I decided to get injured and couldn't go anywhere.
Julio Ramirez: You
Keith Vance: have a business. Yes, sir. Julio Auto Detailing. And that's the reason why you're here. Yes, sir. We're going to talk a lot about that. Here's the other thing. You've been in business for six years. That's another thing. Look at this kid. Six years in business. Six years in business. And you are 18 years old. Okay. That's the whole reason why I got you here, man. The whole reason why I got you here. So there was one day I came home and I see this detailing truck and trailer on point in my driveway. Washing my son's truck. I took notice. Notice that this kid was out there detailing this truck and he was there. He was working hard all day long. A week later, the same truck's back doing my wife's truck. A couple weeks later, doing some of my employees' vehicles. And I was walking past you. I said, hey, dude, how old are you? You're like 18, sir. I said, okay. I got to figure out what this kid's story is. And that's why you're here. We talked last week. He told me your background. And we're going to dive into this thing, man. But before we do, everyone that comes on the podcast gets us Still Strong. Richardson 112. Oh, yes. So while you're out there detailing, you can promote us, represent us.
Julio Ramirez: Yeah, thank you. Thank you. This is actually a really nice hat. I love it. Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome.
Crosstalk: Okay, Julio.
Keith Vance: I've never done this before. I normally just have a conversation and just live in the moment. But this one was so important to me. I actually took notes. And I'm going to follow those hangers. I picture them as hangers to hang conversations on. Yeah. I got like 10 conversation hangers because I don't. This is so important. I don't want to miss anything. Okay. So I'm going to go down my thing here and we're going to dive into it and we're going to make a connection. Perfect. Julio, at 18 years old, most people are thinking about freedom. They're thinking about the weekend. They're
Crosstalk: thinking about kid things. At 18 years old, you're thinking about responsibility. You have a business. Why?
Julio Ramirez: So, first of all, I think most people my age, they just think about the party life. I feel like everybody's at the age where everybody just wants to be out partying, hanging out with friends. But I like to think differently because I know that party life every day, every weekend, it's not really going to get me anywhere. Me taking responsibility and going to work or texting back clients, future clients, I like to find that different because that's a future right there. A party life is not really going to get me anywhere. And not only that, but most people just like to think differently and they don't think about their future and they just want to think about the next day or the day before. But I like to think about my future and where I can where I can be someday. Do you
Keith Vance: do you remember when you had that shift in mindset? Do you remember what? Like, were you did you have an older sibling or some family members older that you're like, look like what? Because that's not a normal mindset to have, especially at your age. Most people sow their wild oats. They get out of their system. They say, OK, it's time to be responsible. You're different. So I want to take my time and like kind of digest this and live here for a little while. Where did that mindset come from?
Julio Ramirez: My side came from my aunt and my brother. Honestly, my brother, he's never been a party person. He's always been at home studying, working. He's never really never really talked about parties or going to parties. So honestly, seeing him and and being focused on school, it just made me change my mindset. I'm like, yeah, I need it. I need to be responsible. I need to be like him. Because I see all my parents were always happy for him and everything. I'm like, I need to be like him. What's the age difference between you and your older brother? My older brother, he's 22. I'm 18.
Keith Vance: So four years. Four years. Yeah. OK, so he set a good example for you. Oh, yeah. You saw that he was making your parents proud. And you're like, I want to be like that. Yeah. And then you mentioned your aunt.
Julio Ramirez: Yeah. Yeah. So my aunt, she's 29, I believe. She's always always told me she's she's that one. And I look at it as a mom as well. She always sends me text motivational. It was like, hey, you got this. Have a great day. Keep pushing through whatever you have going on. You know, God by God is by our side. And I always text her. I'm like, hey, thank you. He really is. No matter what, no matter what we go through, we can always look at God and and just talk to him. And she's she's always been that person where I can rely on as well. And and she's always been there since since I was young. So I was there. Is she in business or is she? Um, she works in in health care. So she in that side of business.
Keith Vance: Understood. So she's she's invested in you. Yeah. Yeah. And kind of like shaped you. So your older brother. You mentioned your older brother and your aunt. Now, um. Your parents. Tell me about your parents.
Julio Ramirez: Oh, my parents. They're both. I believe my dad is 40, 40. And I know my mom is 38. Young, right? They're pretty. They're pretty good. Um, my parents. I mean, they've their work ethic is. It's insane. They they don't like being home. They always have to be working. We sometimes have to tell them, like, I calm down a bit. You know, we we got this in the future. So you don't have to worry about it. And honestly, just just seeing my parents work so much. I mean, it's an impact on me and my siblings. So we're like always. Always the same way. We're like, OK, we got to go to work. We got to work. And then every my parents have just been. They have been there for us. No matter what. Um, they've always focused on us and also. Also helped us through a lot. So. Your, um. Your mom and dad. What do they do for work? My dad. He's in the construction industry. He does a concrete. Well, the concrete side. Yeah. Um, my mom. She's in the house cleaning services. Oh, good. Um, but right now she is. Uh, she's working at a school. Um, as lunch lady. OK.
Keith Vance: Yeah. Um. You. Made a comment. He's. Hey, slow down a little bit. We got this. And you and I talked earlier in the week. Um. What struck me is. And this is why I want to have this conversation. There was a shift. In American society at some point. Where. Parents. Didn't want their kids to struggle like they did.
Crosstalk: And they. They. And I think it was good intentions.
Keith Vance: They. Didn't want their kids to struggle the way they did. So they tried to make their life easy. Which again, I think is a good intention. But the problem with trying to make kids life easy is we. And this isn't a blanket statement. This is just a broad brush. And trying to make our kids life easier than ours. Um. We built. People
Crosstalk: that didn't have a certain level of resilience. Um. People that. People that.
Keith Vance: It's easy to quit things because there's really no ramifications to it. You follow me? Yeah. It's easy to not push or motivate because mom and dad built this life for me and then my life is easy. I think enough time has gone by that there's enough markers. We've been tracking that long enough. There's enough markers that we see that all the intentions were probably good. The outcome is probably not that great. Okay. So when you made a comment, hey, mom and dad, slow down a little bit. We got this. You flip the script. We're in the past. Mom and dad are working hard to make a life for their children so that they won't have to. You and your siblings flip the script. Say, hey, we're going to work as hard as we can so that we can take care of mom and dad in the future. That is an amazing perspective. And I want to drill down on that. How did that happen? Why did that happen? And again, let's just sit here and talk me through this. Okay. Yeah. At five siblings at young age, your oldest brother's in his 20s. Yeah. So you guys are relatively young. To have a mindset, say, hey, listen, instead of mom and dad doing all the work and we getting the benefit, let's the family all pull together. Let's all pull some heavy weight and let's take care of mom and daddy. That's why you're sitting in this chair, because I think this is a message that needs to be heard. Let's get it.
Julio Ramirez: Yeah, let's get it.
Julio Ramirez: Honestly, it just started basically seeing how my parents work. They work too much and then they stress a lot. And honestly, it hurt me seeing my parents stressed. And not a lot of people pay attention when their parents are stressed. They probably say, okay, it's something small. Now, usually I always ask my parents, I'm like, hey, like if y'all need help with anything, just let me know. But even if they don't want, if they don't tell me, it's 99% of the time they don't tell me anything because they don't want me to worry as well. And hold on a minute. And that's
Keith Vance: good. Like, as a husband, my wife don't need to know all my stress. I need to shield her. As a dad, my kids don't need to know all the stress. I need to shield them. Like, as the fathers and husbands, we carry all the load and we have a help meet. We have a wife that's there to support us. But that doesn't mean I dump all the load on her because if she has to carry everything, I feel it will crush her. So your parents aren't, they're protecting you from responsibility as a kid is not yours yet. Like, you need to be a kid. But you have a perception. You have a perception in the family. Hey, mom and dad are struggling. I want to help. So let's keep going.
Julio Ramirez: Yeah, so I always try to be involved. I'm like, I always try to help them no matter what. Even if it's like, if I barely even work that week, I'll try to throw in $200, $300 to give them at least something. I don't work for the money. I do it for the passion. I just love what I do. I love all the vehicles I detail. It's something really passionate I'm about. And not a lot of people are used to that passion about their work. And I'm just saying. Yeah. So whenever I have a good week, you know, I always try to give my parents the most I can. And even if they don't want to take it, I leave it in their room or I leave it somewhere, they'll find it. So I always try to help them. And just so they don't stress a lot or worry too much. Most of my dad, because my dad is, he's the one that stresses the most. He stresses.
Keith Vance: He's feeling the responsibility. Oh, yeah. Got it. Hmm. I can relate to that. I got seven kids. He's got, you know, I can relate to that. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Especially pouring concrete. I respect those guys. I worked on a concrete crew for a while. I'm a framer by trade. Oh, really? Concrete's heavy work, man.
Julio Ramirez: Oh, yeah. No, it really is. And I believe they're. Concrete, don't
Keith Vance: wait. Oh, no, it doesn't. Concrete's going to do its thing and you better be ready. Oh, yeah. Because it ain't going to wait on you. That's where I respect those guys because they're there early. If they got a big pour, it don't matter what time. Like, if it's 4 a.m. with the lights on, they're pouring. Like, I respect those guys. Yeah.
Julio Ramirez: And I went to go work with my dad for a summer in construction. So I really see how it is. And I'm like, that's a lot of work. And I understand why. He's always tired, stressed and everything. And I'm like, that made me realize that I need to really, really step it up and get to it. Because I can't see him doing that forever. I need him to relax and calm down a bit. That's...
Keith Vance: That's... that's admirable. That's admirable. And I want, like, again, I keep going back to this. I want to take my time. I don't want to rush this. Because I think most kids your age are oblivious to the stresses that mom and dad carry. And I think this will open their eyes and kind of flip the script. It don't need to always be about me. Like, I can pitch in. I can help. I can have, like, a pulse of what mom and dad are going through. I got two good arms, two good hands, a good brain. Like, who says that you got to start being responsible at 20? I mean, you started doing it when you're freaking 12 years old. Right? Yeah. So that's good. Speaking of 12 years old, you said you've been in business for six years. Which, again, if you go back six years, you would have been 12 years old. So walk me through that process. So I'm guessing at 12 years old, you felt this urge or impulse to help mom and dad at 12 years old.
Julio Ramirez: Yeah. So at 12 years old, I mean, it just started from cleaning my dad's work truck every weekend. And it just started being a little thing. And I just started, little by little, just started getting a passion for it. I started liking how satisfying it really is. And then I would see all these cars on YouTube, on the road. And I'm like, dang, I want to detail that car one day. I want to clean that car one day. And I just started going on from there. Little by little, I just started going, buying things from Walmart, from AutoZone. And, you know, cheap things. And then I started doing family cars. And I'm like, okay, let's keep going. I want to keep doing this. And then it finally set in. And I'm like, I can be big one day. I can do something. And then once I finally started doing and getting prices done and everything. And I seen where money can come in. And I'm like, okay, I think this is where I want to be. And my parents were happy about it. They're like, okay, that's really good money for a young kid like you. That's good money. And then they just followed me. And they led me through everything. And they hold my back through the whole entire way. They still do.
Keith Vance: So it started with you cleaning your dad's work truck. Oh, yeah. I can imagine what that truck looked like.
Julio Ramirez: It was bad.
Keith Vance: Did he carry the crew with him or just him?
Julio Ramirez: He would carry the crew.
Keith Vance: So I'm getting that. So I'm getting the mental picture because my guys, the crew rides together. Yeah. And I'm seeing some of my work trucks. So I'm picturing what you got to clean up. Yeah.
Julio Ramirez: Yeah, I know. And I'm like, Dad, we got to clean it. We got to clean it. And he's like, yeah, we really do got to clean it. And until this day, I still do it every weekend. Do you really? Every Sunday. Wow. Every Sunday. And if I have to detail late at night, you'll see me Sunday night with lamps on and everything detailing it at night because that truck started it all for me. So I got to keep going.
Keith Vance: So that's pride. That's the one that got you started. So you're going to take care of it. That's good, man. This is good stuff. Oh, yeah. It's good stuff. And
Julio Ramirez: if it takes care of my dad, then I got to take care of it. You know, so got to go both ways.
Keith Vance: I am. This is refreshing hearing your story because you can tend to become pessimistic with where society is going. And this is just refreshing to hear this positive story and to know that although it sounds unique, there's other kids like you. There's other kids like you. And there's nothing keeping young people from being like you. You know what I mean? There's nothing. There's nothing. Like. How much skill does it take to wash a car? It's work. It's work. But anybody can do it. I mean, at 12 years old, you can figure it out. Anybody can figure it out. So these these things that we can do that don't take a lot of skill, just take some work, some effort. And like you said, it has to be a passion, right? It has to be a passion. That's good, man.
Crosstalk: This is a. What were some
Keith Vance: of the hardest moments starting that young? So you had your dad's truck. So that was that was steady. Yeah. Every week of things coming dirty. So that's steady work for you. Oh, yeah. Yeah. But branching out past family. What were some of the hardest moments trying to build a business
Julio Ramirez: that young? Honestly, people would just look at me and just think I was a joke and think that I was just joking around with them. But. To this day, I still go through it. So, I mean, it's it's a really difficult challenge. Not everybody is going to believe in your work just because you're young, but I just show my work and sometimes I just let my work speak for itself because sometimes words doesn't get to people and they just need to see. So challenges are there was a lot of challenges. I mean, it. It was from having clients. I was probably having like one client a month and I just kept going through. I just kept pushing. I'm like, it's going to happen. It's going to happen one day. And thankfully it is happening now and I'm almost busy almost every day. So it was a challenge and it was a mindset where I had to, where I should just stay on and keep pushing through everything.
Keith Vance: I can relate to this. Um,
Crosstalk: my, my family,
Keith Vance: all the way back to my grandfather, we just came from hard work ethic. It was instilled in me from an early age. And I remember when we first moved to Florida, we lived in the villas. Okay. And, um, my grandfather said, Hey, once you start making some money, you can mow all these yards around here. I was, we were, I was 10 years old when we moved here. So I was 10 or 11 years old, similar to you. And I was already mowing our yard, already had responsibilities, you know, knew how to work. And so I was like, Oh yeah, I'll do that. So I took my push mower with the weed eater and set it on the, you know, the lawnmower with a little gas can and just started going door to door. And, um, it was so hard because people didn't want the liability of a 10 year old being in their yard or they didn't think I could do it. They didn't know me. What David Goggins say, you don't know me, son. You don't know me, son. Give me a chance. You don't know me, son. Someone took a chance on me. And then once someone takes a chance on you, it's almost like that momentum gets going. Right? So I remember that challenge. And then that breaking point. Oh, okay. Now I got something going. Um, and then I experienced that again later in life. I was early twenties. The builder that I was working for had went out of business. I was forced to go out on my own. And so I'm bidding jobs and like looking at projects and the common denominator was Keith. Um, he's just too young. He's just too young. I was in my twenties. I told my wife, I was like, I wish I was 30. I said, I feel like if I could just get 30, I would get the, I would get some respect. But again, it was my passion. I had a lot riding on it because I didn't, I wasn't taking care of my parents like you're trying to do. I had kids to feed. So I had that sense of responsibility and failure was not an option. I just kept going. And again, that's where like my relationship with God, you mentioned God. That's where my relationship with God kind of stepped up a little bit because I would daily, God, unless you give me some work, these people aren't going to do it. God, give me something. You know what I need. Give me something. Give me something.
Crosstalk: And I saw the jobs that I got
Keith Vance: as gifts from him. You know what I mean? So that was a good life lesson for me to learn early in my age, early in my age. So that connection, would you just said, bye with me. And even now, at 18, you got some momentum. I look at your Instagram, dude, you're washing some, oh man, people are trusting you. I saw some of the cars you're touching and you've earned some trust, man. Oh yeah. You've earned, just real quick. That was off the cuff. What are some of the cars that you washed and detailed?
Julio Ramirez: So I've done. Let's hear
Keith Vance: the most expensive one.
Julio Ramirez: Ooh, there was the most expensive one will probably have to be the F450 Platinum. It's a dually, any level. I think the selling was $250,000. It was a pretty hefty price. Below that will have to be an Audi R8, twin turbo. So pretty, pretty fast car. Then it would be, have to be, another one would be a Corvette Z06 C8. And actually that was my first maintenance client as well. So me and that customer go, we go back way, way, way back in time. He's like, he always tells his neighbor, he's like, yeah, he's been detailing my car since he was 16. Can you believe that? And people look at him and they're like, dude, you trust a 16-year-old cleaning that type of car? And then he always talks positive about me to everybody. And he shows me the messages where he's always sending the pictures of cars to his friends and everything. I'm like, such an amazing guy.
Keith Vance: Another question, just off the cuff. How long does an average detail take you?
Julio Ramirez: So it usually just depends on how dirty it is. Minimum two hours. So the max, it should take six hours. But I always love taking my time. If I'm not taking my time, I don't think it's done right. And then if it's not done right, customer isn't happy. So I always try to take my time on it. You know, even if I'm going to lose money on it, then so be it. As long as my customer is happy, then I'm happy. Oh, wow. Yeah.
Keith Vance: Man, you got, I feel like I'm talking to a grown person right here. Because these are, these are responsible thoughts you're having. Yeah. Most kids are just like turn and burn in and out, blow and go, make my 20 bucks. You know what I mean? Like I'm a kid. What do you expect out of me? I'm a kid. But you're, you're on a whole nother level. Like you're, you're going to be a monster to deal with. You know what I mean? You're going to be a monster in the workforce to deal with.
Julio Ramirez: Oh, yeah. Yeah. And my parents, my parents are unfortunately dealing with that. Because the other day I, there's days I get called out late at night and I'm there 2 a.m., 3 a.m. detailing. Last week I had a person call me at 7. They're like, hey, I'm going out of town tomorrow. My wife's car is really, really dirty and she doesn't want to travel in the car. And I'm like, okay, well, unfortunately I can't fit you in until Tuesday this week. And I'm like, okay. He's like, can you do it like tonight? And I'm like, you know what? I got you. I'll do it tonight. Send me the address. Send me the address at all the way in Naples. I'm like, okay. It's already 7. Just got out of work. I'm like, okay. I got this. So I'm like, okay. Drove down to Naples. Didn't get there until like 9. It was a hefty car. It was bad. I understand why he didn't want to travel in either. But I got it done. I didn't get home until 5 a.m. Wow. My parents were worried all night. They're like, you can't do this. Don't worry. I'm like, it's part of the job. You know, we have to get it done. We have to advance in some way or another. Listen, man.
Keith Vance: I can't believe I have this conversation with an 18-year-old kid. But in business, you got to strike when the iron's hot. You got to make hay when the sun's shining. Like all these metaphors, you got to get after it. Because if you're not, somebody else will. Like somebody else is eating your lunch if you don't get it.
Julio Ramirez: Oh, no, definitely.
Keith Vance: So there's always this thing where you always, you never really make it. You hit these certain levels where, okay, I can breathe for a minute. But don't breathe too long because somebody else has come up behind you and you got to stay hungry. You need to have a good vibe on what you got going on. Because if I'm in the car detail business and someone calls me, say, can you do it tomorrow? And I say, no. I hope they don't have Julio's number. You know what I mean? Because I'm going to lose that client. So, oh, man, that's what I'm saying. Like you are going to make it, brother. You're like everything that it takes to be successful, not just in car detailing, but in business. You're getting all the pieces right so far. And you're connecting those dots early. Early. You better watch out. We already hit this a little bit. And maybe we can, maybe this next one won't take so long because we've already hit on it. But what separates you from other people your age? I think we already talked about it.
Julio Ramirez: Yeah, we talked about it. But I definitely feel like there's more points in there. Most people, they just, they don't have the work ethic as I do. Some people will work a retail job or they'll work with their parents and all they do is complain. Complain, complain, complain. And honestly, there's nothing wrong with complaining there and then. But complaining a constant every day, every time you're going to go to job, it's the complaint that's going to catch up to you at some point because you're not, you're not passionate. Even if the job is not the one you want, you need to have to find some passion about it and find a way to like it because that's where you get your money. That's where you're going to pay your bills. That's where you're going to buy your school, buy your lunch and everything. So you have to find some passion about it so you can find some happiness to it because without happiness, I mean, what is there really room for?
Keith Vance: Man, brother, you're making some good points. You're making some good points. So pressure and having a job is responsibility and it's pressure. Okay. So pressure, when there's pressure on me, what comes out? And if complaining comes out, then that's, that says something about my character. Okay. Okay. here. Okay, and like you said, everybody has a bad day, and it's not wrong to, man, this sucks every once in a while, but if you're, when that pressure comes on you, and it's consistently complaining that's coming out, that's a character flaw. And I like what you just said, gratitude, being thankful that this is, that I have this opportunity to work. It might not be where I want to be in life right now, but to view it as a stepping stone, to use those tools that you're learning in life that I can just kind of tuck in my tool pouch that I can maybe use potentially further down the road as I advance. Again, that takes maturity to have that mindset. Yeah. To be thankful, to have the opportunity to make some money, to have my eyes open, and not just do my job of blinders on this, do what I'm supposed to do, and I'm not going to do anymore. But, okay, how does this business operate? What's going on? Like, what are some stuff that I could be learning here that I can better myself? Dude, you learn a lot just by working at Walmart, pushing carts.
Julio Ramirez: Yeah, you learn a lot. Do the
Keith Vance: carts, but watch everybody else. Like, how is this business working? How does Publix do this? Hmm, okay. How does Publix step up people in management? Like, all these things, man, it's just right there for the taking.
Julio Ramirez: And you just learn. It's an easy path to learn. It's an easy freaking path to learn, isn't it? You just need to pay attention.
Keith Vance: Change your mindset. Oh, yeah. Pay attention. All the tools, everything is right there for the taking.
Julio Ramirez: Yeah, you learn no matter what. Like, wherever you go, you're going to learn something if you really pay attention. That's good. Everything is different.
Keith Vance: That's good. That was a good point. I'm glad we didn't skip
Crosstalk: over that one.
Crosstalk: This is a good one.
Keith Vance: Are you still in school? No. Okay. Because you're 18. You graduated what?
Julio Ramirez: 25. Class of 25. Okay.
Keith Vance: So, what does a normal day look like for you right now? But also, I want to know what a normal work day looks for you when you're in school. Because I want to speak to those high school kids.
Julio Ramirez: So, right now, with no school, wake up early. It's a pretty start early. Tell me early. Like, 5 a.m., 6 a.m. Okay. Same time my parents are up, pretty much. Try to get everything ready for the day. Make sure all the equipment's correct. We can't have any failures at the houses. So, make sure everything's correct. Make sure all the bottles are filled up. Towels are cleaned. No mess. Because I don't like working in a messy, messy work area. We're going to talk about that. So, I always try to keep my area clean. Just make sure everything's correct. Fill up the tank. And from there, we just go on. And we go do our details. Stop by a gas station. Get our coffee. Or get a Red Bull. Or whatever. Stay hydrated, for sure. Mostly with the Florida heat. And we just work throughout the day. Then go home. Eat. Talk with family. And shower. Then go to bed. And get after it all over again. Yes, sir. And then, when I was back in high school, wake up early. 6 a.m. Go to school. Soon as I get home. Pack everything. Let's go. We got to go to work. Wow. So, then repeat it again. How? Were you a good student? Honestly, no. No. I always had bad grades. I was getting told by my parents, you know, you need to step it up. If the detailing is getting in your way, like, don't worry about it. We're here to support you. If you need something, like, we're here. And I always tell them, I'm like, no, no, no. I'll step it up. Like, I'll get my grades better. I don't want to stop detailing. And I'm like, ended up getting my grades up for a little while. Then they bring down again. Same thing over and over again. And then I feel like that's where it steps in, where you say that parents always try to tell them, you know, we're here. We built the life for you. But I always found it different. I always said that I want to keep working. I want to keep working because sometimes I believe in school. Sometimes I don't. And then some points I was like that. And I'm like, I just, there's no reason for school. Like, I don't need school. And I always tell my parents, I'm like, just let me keep working. But they always said no. They were like, you got to go to school. You got to go to school. And I'm like, okay. And I did it for them. And I did it for them and my family. And graduated high school diploma and everything, thankfully. Kept working every day. They were proud of me. They really seen how I took my responsibilities. And how I still managed to get everything done, even with working.
Keith Vance: So even though school wasn't naturally easy for you, you still succeeded. You finished. Even though it wasn't naturally easy for you, you didn't see any value in it. Like, you kind of already had your mind made up what you want to do. Yeah. But you still finished it. It says a lot about your character. It says a lot about your respect for your parents, that you honored them, and that you followed through with it. I had a thought as you were talking, and I want to make sure I say this clearly. I don't say something that's taken the wrong way.
Crosstalk: Well, we go back to
Keith Vance: this generation and previous, where I think there was this,
Crosstalk: somehow there was this mindset that if I'm good in school, and if I go to college,
Keith Vance: that college gives me all the keys to a bright, productive, successful future. Somehow we sold this, and I don't know how this came along. Well, I kind of do, but I don't want to get too deep in the weeds with it.
Keith Vance: A kid's mindset, if I go to college and I get my degree, everybody's going to want me because I have my college. You follow me? Mm-hmm. Yeah. And you do need college for certain things, but college in itself isn't the recipe for success. You can't get around that grind, that work ethic, to outwork everyone in the room with that degree. You follow me? Oh, yeah. But there was this thing, there was this thing, well, if I go to college, everybody's going to want to beat down my door because my degree gets me in the door. A degree with no work ethic, then you can get you nowhere. You're just like everybody else. So, man, I am thankful that the recipe for success isn't complicated. I'm thankful that it's simple because if it wasn't simple, you wouldn't be sitting there and I wouldn't be sitting here if it wasn't simple. You follow me? Yes, that's true. If it was this thing that you had to be from a certain family, you had to be from a certain pedigree, or you had to have these certain credentials, you and I would never make it. Never. But ain't the recipe for success. The recipe for success is what you just said. 5 a.m., get my stuff together, get out there and let's get after it. Go home, sleep, and do it all over again. Oh, yeah. That's what got me. That's what made it for me.
Julio Ramirez: Oh, yeah. No, I definitely did. And like I said, it's a process for everybody. So, everybody's going to learn one way or another.
Keith Vance: So, a normal work day for you, it was what you had said was, I like what you talked about was getting everything prepped for the day.
Keith Vance: Nothing is more frustrating to me than for me to hire somebody to do a job and for them to have their stuff breaking down or they're trying to figure it out or they got to run to the store to get gas because they weren't ready for the day. That is, like to me, when you show up, brother, we're doing battle. It's battle time. It's not prep time no more. You should have got that stuff prepped before you even got to my house. You follow me? And things happen. Stuff breaks down. But to come say somebody's going to mow the grass. To come mow the grass and like there's no gas in the tank and you didn't get any this morning. Like, dude, come on. Really? Oh, yeah. The other thing that vibed with me was your, you talked about being organized and being clean. When I was framing on my own and a framing crew by myself, I always had these trailers, my nice truck, organized, clean, because that gives a perception of me. Okay? If my truck's all beat down and dirty and I open the door and Red Bulls are falling out, not a good perception. No, definitely not. So clean. My trailer was always clean. My trailer was always organized. Because when you're organized and your stuff is taken care of, you're more efficient. You're more efficient. Stuff's not breaking down. Like, you're on it. Plus, it gives a perception. Man, look at this guy's space. Look how he takes care of his stuff. He's going to take care of me. Oh, yeah. You know what I mean? So people's perceptions. It's important. If you rolled up over here, man, you open the door and all your crap falls out, it's an automatic no-go for me. No, definitely. Because it tells about your care. It tells about, man, this guy, what's this guy even doing this for? Right? Yeah. So that was a good point you made. It's important.
Julio Ramirez: And it's always best having a clean truck because, I mean, I like to think about it as if it's dirty, what's the point of having the name detailing? It's not going to attract any customers. They're going to be like, look, that guy's a detailer and his truck is all dirty or his trailer's all messy. It's just representation to everybody. And if you're going to be a detailer, you got to be a mirror. So.
Keith Vance: You said that you want to, and when I said, hey, man, when I gave your introduction, your goals, some of your goals. I can't believe we're even talking about this. Your goal. Can you believe this? All right. I'm going to read this. I'm going to try to say it with a straight face. I can't believe it. I can't believe this is your goal at 18. And I'm just like, right now, I got kids your age, and I'm going to go over there. I'm going to say, listen, you better tighten up because there's a bunch of Julios out there that got it figured out that they're going to take over the world. Yeah. Man, you said you want to partner with companies and grow. Okay. You want to partner with other companies. You want to have multiple companies. You want to partner. You want to grow those businesses. All right. So what does that vision look like for you, Julio? At 18 years old, what's that vision look like for you?
Julio Ramirez: Honestly, it's just the future thinking about it. If I partner with those companies, my mindset right now is as soon as the Amazon that's done built off of 82, I want to go there, and I want to go speak to that manager, and I want to tell them, look, give me all these work vans, and I'll give you this price, and we can work something. We can have it set. And honestly, they're just one Amazon facility. Just imagine the income for that. And, I mean, you're set. Hire two or three guys, and you're going to be set for a while. And honestly, I just want to keep growing. I just want to keep getting my name out there. Just want to become a huge company, you know, just not a local one, but
Keith Vance: all around. So let's talk about that because to grow, like you only have two hands, two feet. You can only do, like you literally can only do so much work in a day with your body, right? So at some point, if you want to scale, you have to use other people. So at 18 years old, what would your, what are you looking for in somebody? What would your training style be? Because you literally have to replicate yourself. Oh, yeah. And that's a challenge. Really? I told my wife, you know, I got to a point where, well, when I was in my early 20s, it's time to scale. And I told my wife, I said, the work is easy. It's dealing with people and training people. That's the hard part. So that's a whole nother challenge. So in your mind, who are you looking for? What's the training process to replicate yourself?
Julio Ramirez: Honestly, the work ethic has to be there. It really has to be high up there. And you have to have some type of passion for it. But I like to think about it as, as how I went through it. And work ethic has to be high. Passion has to be high for it. Honestly, just, just having a hardworking coworker or, or somebody that, that wakes up and says, okay, let's get to it. Let's, let's go make this money. Let's, let's make them proud. That's exactly what I'm looking for. And someone who, who's always ready, ready to work no matter what. And you just have to be, like you said, replicate me.
Keith Vance: So in order to do that, the way I did it was, I had a bunch of kids. I had a bunch of kids that got the same mindset. So that's one way. The other way is to give them some type of ownership, right? Because when you give someone ownership or something, they got skin in the game. They're feeling it. But most people, they're just looking for a job. They just want to clock in, clock out. You're not going to get what you're asking for from the average person that just wants to go detail the car. You know what I mean? So you need to think about that. Like how are you going to incentivize someone to be you? You got to think about that. You got to give them some ownership. Maybe a family member's got your back. A good friend that you can trust to say, hey, dude. Or like some type of incentive thing where it's not just an hourly thing, but maybe they get like a bonus or something like. Something that to pull that out of people, right? Because it doesn't naturally come out from that. The average person. Yeah.
Julio Ramirez: I mean, just hearing God not really right. They're not really going to. Right. To be happy about it. So. Yeah. Have to give them some reasons to. To be up there.
Keith Vance: Yeah. So. But then again, I'm just putting myself in your shoes. I'm talking through this because it's what I do. You could. Find your person that's like you. And then. Have them manage. People that don't have. You don't share your same passion. That's just a job to make sure that you're getting that. That you're getting that same quality. You follow me? Yeah. There could be where you could use just a standard people that just. It's just a part time job. Just something. Just. It's not their passion, but it's making money. You could use that. But that car doesn't get handed off to the client until it passes Julio's. Test. Right. Maybe there's a checkmark. You know what I mean? Hey, when you get done FaceTime me and you like look at all over and like, OK, good. You're good to go. I mean, so there's these there's ways to get there. But you have to make sure that every car that goes out is the car that goes out just as if you were touching it. Yeah. Right.
Julio Ramirez: Oh, yeah, definitely. Yeah. I feel like that's one of my biggest worries, you know, always looking for hire someone. You know, they're they're not going to work as you do or replicate your work. Yeah. And there has to be like a set policy for that. Like you said, the checklist. That's that's a really, really good and nice idea. Always have papers ready for them. A little clipboard and let them go over and check everything. Glovebox, carpet under the seat, stuff like that. Really good idea. I like that.
Keith Vance: That'll work. Or you go the other way. You just stay small or just you. Yeah. And you'd be like, who's that guy? Michael, who's that guy that does custom bikes on California? The chopper shop.
Crosstalk: Jesse James. Yeah. You could just be like, so like it
Keith Vance: could be like a status thing. Oh, yeah. You find me go the other way where it's just you, but you charge a thousand bucks a vehicle. Yeah. Because because people want you.
Julio Ramirez: Oh, yeah. No. And and honestly, that that's pretty much where I'm at right now. Just just me. Because. Was it Jesse James? No, the guys I was thinking of is the the Orange County chopper show with Paul. And I don't know what guy you're talking about.
Keith Vance: Yeah. Jesse James. He builds custom bikes and vehicles. He I think he built. Shaq's bike. And I think Shaq or somebody wanted a certain color. He's like, no, sorry. We don't do that color. Yeah. It's Jesse James. Jesse James. Like he's like real precise on what he does. Shaq
Julio Ramirez: went crazy. I seen that one. And Shaq went absolutely crazy for that bike. I seen that one video. I seen it. Yeah. That's that guy is something else. You got to find your niche. Oh, yeah. You got to
Keith Vance: find your niche and do what you're going to do. Oh, yeah. You know what I mean?
Julio Ramirez: Just got to follow that. Yeah. Follow your passion.
Keith Vance: Yeah. Yeah.
Crosstalk: Um, we kind of hit this one. But you
Keith Vance: said that. You know what you do. You know what you do. You everybody has to make money. We got to make money to survive. But you said money is not the primary goal. You said it's my passion. And you mentioned your family. I want to go back to that point. How important is your family and your drive?
Julio Ramirez: Dang. My family would have to be probably the most important. Family just for me means everything. Family and God. As long as I have that, I mean, I wouldn't ask for anything else. I can have work and everything. But if I don't have my family and I don't have God with me, then what am I really? So I always try to think about it. I just try to have my family happy, make everybody happy. And then also get everybody close to God, just like I am. And that's why every Sunday we all go to church together. We all have our fun days on Sundays. And then family just means everything. Because honestly, I wouldn't be where I am with family, without family. So they've been a major impact for me. A huge one.
Keith Vance: Again, I'm just shocked I'm having this conversation with you. And I'm so thankful. Like, this is good timing for me personally. To know that there's people like you. There are few, but they're still out there. And that gives me hope.
Crosstalk: That gives me hope.
Crosstalk: My... I can relate.
Keith Vance: I can relate. I was going to say... Like, you doing stuff for your family, your mom and dad. Okay. Okay. Thank you. I couldn't really connect with that, but I just had a memory. I can really connect with this. Because at 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 years old, you know, working, had my own money, and what I would do to help the family was I would buy my own school clothes. Because my parents were in ministry. My dad's a pastor. They don't make a lot of money. school comes around, you know, every year, school. And I remember it being,
Crosstalk: man, I just had this memory. Wow.
Crosstalk: Wow. A teenage boy hits a girl spurt.
Keith Vance: It's hard to keep shoes on that kid. It's hard to keep him in clothes. and I remember,
Crosstalk: wow, I can't believe it was,
Crosstalk: I remember feeling the struggle my parents had
Keith Vance: to keep clothes on me for school. And I remember when I was able to buy my own clothes to take that off of them. Yeah, I was buying my own clothes, but still stress off of them. That
Crosstalk: felt good. I felt like I was contributing to the family. That felt good, man.
Keith Vance: I remember, I can't believe I just got struck with these memories. I remember when we were living in the villas, one of the first Mother's Days. I had my own money because I was mowing some grass. And we went to service merchandise. You don't know that store. It's been out of business forever. service merchandise and uh we were there shopping mother's day was coming up so i kind of went off on my own and i bought uh like a manicure set for my mom some fingernail clippers those things that push your cuticles back like a little like a set yeah i mean yeah and it was kind of neat because they're in its own case and they're gold-plated. In my mind, at 12 years old, I was like real gold. You know what I mean? Like, oh, man, I'll buy my mom some real gold fingernail clippers. You know what I mean? And I spent all the money that I had in my pocket, and I was showing my dad, hey, dad, look what I found for mom. And I remember getting in the car. I can still see it. We had this brown station wagon, dude. Mom and dad are in the front, and I'm in the back. and I hey mom look what I got you I gave it to her and she's looking at it she's acting she's acting excited for me but I can tell I can tell she's uncomfortable that I got this for her
Crosstalk: and she leans over my dad so stupid
Crosstalk: she leans over my dad how much did he spend on this
Crosstalk: and my dad said he spent all of it he spent all of it so
Keith Vance: I can identify with you man like having you sitting there I'm like having these memories I forgot about what I was going to say was I can't identify with wanting to take care of my parents but I can what I was going to say is taking care of my family taking care of my kids my wife early on working like your dad pours concrete hard work man uh in the florida heat up on the roof setting trusses slinging plywood all day my shirt off because i didn't like how the when i get sweaty the sawdust gets in my shirt you know itchy yeah i don't i don't like it so my shirt's off and uh someone i heard someone made a comment like they felt sorry for me i had to do that kind of work huh no no no no no brother Don't feel sorry for me. This is my purpose. This is my passion. Like every day I felt like a warrior. I'm conquering the day. I felt like I was a warrior for my family. And listen, I loved every minute of it. I was built for that work. Like you're built for detailing. I was built for that work every day. Listen, I love getting up early before the sun came up. I love getting on the job site. I love rolling those tools out. Tools are rolled out. Sun's coming up and I'm getting after it. Long days. Good memories, man. Oh, yeah. Good memories. Taking care of the family, doing my thing, like what I was built for. When you find what you're built. Or it's not really work. It's passion. It's something that no amount of money can replace that feeling, right?
Julio Ramirez: No, no, yes. That's true. Yeah. It's just passion. It's all about passion, pretty much.
Keith Vance: Yeah, that was under family. Yeah, at the end of the day, without God and family, what's the point? You can always make money. Oh, yeah. In my mind, money is just a tool. It definitely is. It's just a tool. But when you can use that tool to benefit the ones you love, you know what I mean? To show some love to your mom and dad, eh, mama? And don't that feel good? It feels good. It feels like your boss.
Julio Ramirez: It feels like you're a top dog for that. Yeah. It's a great feeling.
Keith Vance: Yeah, it's good. It's good to receive, but it's also good to give. Oh, yeah. And I've been on both sides. I've been on both sides. Oh,
Crosstalk: wow. That surprised me.
Crosstalk: Okay. What would you say
Keith Vance: to someone your age who just doesn't feel motivated? Like, got everything they need. You know, like, life is good. The typical, I think the typical people. What would you say to someone who just feels unmotivated? And now we're having this podcast. And it might have tripped something in their brain. Like, wow, I never considered that. What would you say to that person?
Julio Ramirez: Honestly, you just have to find some sort of passion for something. I feel like if you find a passion for something, it's going to bring a lot of happiness.
Julio Ramirez: Obviously, there's going to be ups and downs with everything that you go through with. But you just have to keep your head up and just keep going because failure is never an option. Failure always, you have to always go through it. Keep your head up. Keep your chin up. Always have family by your side. Family and God. Because without those two, there really isn't anything. And that's the main happiness. And that's the main passion. And striving through everything, it's an important thing. And finding that true passion of what you really want to do and what you really want to live your future up to. That's, I believe, finding that motivation. That's key. That's key, yeah. That's key
Crosstalk: because when you find what you're built for, man, there's nothing like it. There's nothing like it. We're all designed for a purpose. And when we find our purpose, there's nothing like it.
Crosstalk: I heard someone
Keith Vance: say one time, the reason why most people don't succeed is because they don't suck long enough to get to the seed. A lot of people, young people, they see what maybe mom and dad has or what someone else has and think that there's a quick connection to that. And if it doesn't happen in a few months, then I must have been wrong or like, you follow me? Yeah. But the pathway to success is a long process. It's up and down, but it's just consistent work. It's just consistent work. And when you love your work, it's not that hard, even in the downs, right? When you're loving it.
Julio Ramirez: Oh, yeah, definitely.
Keith Vance: So, yeah. Young people feeling unmotivated. Find your passion. Everybody has a passion. Everybody's built for something. And there is no, like I said, there is no quick road. There's no fast track. I got my hair done. I'm a haircut. My barber, he took his kids to Disney World for spring break. He said some of these rides were like 180 minutes. He said, so they bought fast passes. He said the fast passes were five minutes. There is no fast pass to success. There is no fast pass to business. It's all 180 minutes worth of slow growth work. Right.
Crosstalk: Yeah. Hmm.
Crosstalk: Well, speaking of that, was there, and
Keith Vance: if there wasn't, it's fine if there wasn't, but was there ever a moment that you felt like quitting or wanting to quit?
Julio Ramirez: Oh, definitely. Multiple.
Keith Vance: Let's hear it. Because that's important. Yeah. Because everybody hits that, everybody hits that, that block where, man, this is hard. I just want to quit. Okay. Okay. Okay.
Julio Ramirez: Yeah, so definitely, I hit a point, it was my junior year in high school, just got injured from sports, got told I couldn't do nothing, and I had to get surgery and all that. Unfortunately, I couldn't work. When I tried to go back to work, I mean, there was pretty much no one, everybody had just disappeared pretty much. So
Keith Vance: you're playing sports, you got hurt, and the injury affected that you weren't able to work, so you lost your clients. Yeah. Okay, so then you got healed up, you're ready to get back after it, and you've been replaced. Pretty much. Okay.
Julio Ramirez: And it just, it took a while. I was probably doing one car every two weeks, one car a month. So it was pretty difficult. Just had to keep building up again, and I felt like quitting. I really did. I'm like, well, everybody's gone, like, there's no point. And I'm like, I just, I just need to keep pushing. And that's when I really, really turned my faith more into God, and I'm like, God, I really need this. I really, really need this. Help me out through all this. Push me through this. And honestly, through that point where I prayed with God and everything, I would get these shivers through my body, and I would, it would get pretty upsetting. And I would break down, and I would get sad, and I'm like, but I just need to keep going. I need to keep going. I need to get through this. God is going to be my side through all this whole entire journey. He's going to be there with me. And I just kept praying, and slowly by slowly, everything started going up again, and I'm like. He provided for you. He provided for me, and it was there for me when I mostly needed it, and it just made me happy, and it made me realize. It made your faith real. Yeah. It just made me realize everything that whatever you ask for, he can give, but there's certain points where you can ask and not ask, but. Right. He's always going to be there with us, no matter what.
Keith Vance: Man, the fact that you're having these experiences at 18 is really amazing, that you're connecting these dots so soon, and that you are going to God in prayer, bringing your petitions before him, and making those connections. It's really encouraging to me to hear this. And again, I can relate. I've wanted to quit several times. The main one that comes to my mind was we had a little restaurant in North Fort Myers, and then I decided to start my construction company again. There were guys that used to work for me that started coming back. They found me, and I just felt like God was putting that in my lap to do this. So I decided to do it, and there was one day my wife was, man, she was holding down the fort at the restaurant, doing all of my bookkeeping and everything for me. And I was running the construction company. And I remember, I can't remember what the events were that made me want to quit, but it was like they kept getting stacked on me. Like these, I would get a phone call or something happened, and it would just get, I felt like, when is this going to quit? Like when I can't take anymore? Like, when I can't take anymore. And I remember driving on Colonial over that overpass, and I just thought, just pull over and walk away. Like, to me, to pull my truck over, shut the key off, get out, and just walk, felt like relief. It felt like just that, it just felt like relief, just walking away from everything. Like, oh man, that would feel so good. Yeah. And I called my wife. I told her what was going on. I said, hey, I just had this thought of quitting. Like, I said, Karen, I just felt like just getting out and walking away from everything. I said, that scares me, because I never had that. I'd never had those thoughts before, and it scared me. And she's a good woman, brother. Hope you find a good wife. She's a good
Crosstalk: woman.
Crosstalk: But we talked through that.
Keith Vance: I didn't walk away. I stayed under my responsibilities. I wanted to, I just wanted to, like, ugh, I just can't take no more. I stayed under my responsibilities. And in just a short amount of period of time, all those weights that were stacked on me went away. And then I experienced a breakthrough in business. And if I would have quit, I wouldn't have never experienced that breakthrough. I wouldn't have experienced what was on the other side. Okay. Okay. So there are those times, man, like at the last minute when you feel like I can't do no more. Hang in there because you don't you never know what's on the other side. Oh, definitely. And I didn't go to God. I'm ashamed I didn't go to God. I wish I would have. I went to my wife, which was the next best thing. For sure. Was next best thing.
Crosstalk: Do you have a girlfriend? No. I heard that couples that are in business. And they work together in the same business.
Keith Vance: Are exponentially more successful than if it's just say you in business by yourself, your wife works a job or if like two couples that are aligned. Together. Pulling together in business. It's like, look out, man. Like you can almost not fail. Yeah. And I have that in my wife. I hope you find that. Yeah, I've heard a lot about that. Honestly, I'm like. That's something. Find the right one. Oh, yeah. The wrong one is going to make you miserable. Oh, no, definitely. I've seen a lot of people that got hooked up with the wrong one. And all your work.
Julio Ramirez: Just goes down.
Keith Vance: Just goes down. Get the right one, brother.
Crosstalk: Oh, yeah. Get the right one. It's important.
Crosstalk: Do your friends understand your mindset?
Julio Ramirez: A lot. They understand me. I honestly try to just try to surrender myself around people who who has the same work ethic as me, who has the same mindset. Just keep working. Just think about our future. And honestly, I surround myself with a lot of those people. And sometimes we just like if we hang out, we're talking about businesses. We're talking about work. Like if we're grown men and we're over here just 18, 19 year olds. And it's like that. And I'm like my friends understand. And sometimes sometimes we'll try to hang out. The last minute, either one of us is like, hey, we can't hang out no more. Or we got this that came out. Or like, OK, that's fine. We'll plan another day. And we just keep going on like that. But I just I love surrounding myself around people who has the same work ethic as me. Because I had friends before that that didn't think work was needed because they had their parents or they just had a school and they they didn't really think about the passion or the work ethic. And that brings that brings you. You may think it doesn't bring you down, but it really does. It's a different type of hearing. You hear work ethic on this year than you hear is be lazy on this year. And it just brings you down. And it just gives you a different type of mindset. And I just try to stay away from that type of mindset, because once you get into that mindset, I mean, things start changing little by little. It's true.
Keith Vance: I I'm glad you have a circle of friends that. You can. Collaborate with have the same mindset as you. I didn't. I pretty much early knew like my pathway. And. I connected more with people that are older than me, like adults. I could carry in a conversation with adults. A lot of you, I could kids my age kind of felt like. I felt like I was the don't in the room. I don't say that in a prideful way. There was just this gap where I couldn't really connect with kids my age because they're talking about stuff that I didn't care about. You follow me?
Julio Ramirez: Oh, no, that's true.
Keith Vance: And I found myself connecting with adults and like looking back, I'm thankful for that because. I gained so much knowledge. You can gain so much knowledge from people older than you just from their life experiences. And looking back, that was what was happening to me. I was being shaped by people who have lived it and like, OK, I'll do that. And I felt like I couldn't get that from people my age because they had no life experience. You follow me? I'm looking I'm looking down the road to the future. And these older people are giving me those those nuggets that I'm not getting from my peers. So. I have a hard time connecting with people my age. I have a hard time. Like, to me, people are complicated. To me, I
Crosstalk: hate saying this, but to me.
Crosstalk: I had this mindset when I was younger.
Keith Vance: I don't have it now because people are valuable. Everybody is important. But when I was younger, people my age, I felt like those relationships were a waste of time. Time is key. I feel like they're a waste of time. Like I'm not getting anything out of this. And that really shaped who I am because I'm pretty much a quiet person. I'm I do a lot of thinking. Okay. Okay.! have a very small circle. But I think that me not being distracted by relationships with people my age made me very more acutely focused on my pathway, where it was like a laser beam and just projected me so far out around everybody else because they're talking about stuff that doesn't matter. And I'm thinking down the road. I'm not saying I'm better than anybody. It's just like we all have our life experiences that builds us and shapes us who we are. And that shaped me.
Julio Ramirez: Oh, definitely. It shaped me. Time is just vulnerable. You don't have, you always have time, but there's always a certain amount of time that you have to to really have for your business, for your future. But it all comes different in everybody.
Keith Vance: I remember there was, man, I'm talking to you. I'm just having memories when I was a kid. I was 13 years old. We were living in Lehigh off of Harry Avenue. And I mowed one, two, three, four, five. I mowed six yards in that neighborhood. And there was an older couple that was going to my dad's church. They actually lived in the house just down at Cemetery here. And their roof needed to be re-shingled. And instead of hiring a roofing company, they knew that our family could use the money, right? So my dad and I re-shingled that roof. And I actually drove by there a few days ago and looked at it. At 13 years old, that roof was huge. And it's a steep pitch. It's like an 8-12 pitch roof, so it's steep. But it's not that big of a, it wasn't that big a house. So my dad and I re-shingled that roof. And I think it took us a couple days. And I got 50 bucks. Yeah, I think I got 50 bucks for doing that. And then, man, I felt like a man. I felt like I was doing man work. I was so, I felt so good. I felt so good, like, on this high. Like, man, I did some man stuff. That when I got home, instead of, like, taking it easy, I went ahead and knocked out a couple of the yards that same day. You know what I mean? Just to get after it. Because I want to turn that $50 into something else. Like, I want to go farther. And I remember my dad making a comment to my mom. I don't know if I was supposed to hear it or not. But he said, you know, I think we just built a monster. I think we just built a monster. Just that work, man. I just love to work. Just feel good. I was proud of myself at 13. I'm up on a roof shingling, doing, like, a man thing. I had a sunburn. I felt good. I come home on the motion yards, too, man. Yeah. It's funny. I appreciate you sitting down and having this conversation with me because I'm having memories, like, of my own upbringing.
Julio Ramirez: Every conversation always opens up something. Not everybody understands that. So, always good having conversations because it's always something new.
Keith Vance: I've got a couple more questions for you. Yeah. What are you sacrificing right now? Are you making sacrifices right now for the future?
Julio Ramirez: Sacrifices?
Julio Ramirez: Honestly, right now, I probably wouldn't be able to think about anything, any sacrifices.
Keith Vance: Are you sacrificing time for business? Are you sacrificing spending your money? Are you saving for anything? Are you sacrificing relationships? Is there any sacrifices that you're making for your goal right now?
Julio Ramirez: I'm definitely sacrificing time. Time with family. That I feel like I don't have enough with. And I feel like I'm always working and not being with family enough. That's definitely a major sacrifice I'm making. Time. Time. Time is a major.
Crosstalk: A major one.
Crosstalk: Time. I think that's pretty much it. Time. Figure that out. Figure that out. I sacrificed early on probably more than what I
Keith Vance: should have. I can't redo it. And I, to say that I regret it would be a lie. I do regret it. And I still don't know what the balance is. Because had I spent more time with the family instead of working, I wouldn't be where I'm at now. The trip would have taken longer. I would have got here, but it would have taken longer. My family experienced a tremendous amount of sacrifice for me. Like me. Just working dark to dark. Okay. Me just working dark to dark.
Keith Vance: But now I hit a little spot in my life where I can take time and I am taking time. I'm aware of that. So I'm taking time with family, children, grandchildren, being in the moment. For a lot of years, I wasn't in the moment. I'm stressing out about the next car. I got a detail. I'm planning my day. I'm getting ready for the day. Meanwhile, my kid's like, hey, daddy, look at this. I'm looking at it. Yeah, yeah, I see it. But I'm not really seeing it. My mind's somewhere else. You following me?
Julio Ramirez: No, yeah, definitely.
Keith Vance: So that's going to be a balance for you because there's always work that needs to be done, especially when you're good at what you do. People are going to want you. And which customer do you say no? Because if you don't pick it up, somebody else is. But then as you become a dad and your son's there and daddy, daddy, and you're, hey, son, wait, I got it. I'll play with you tomorrow. Right now, I'm getting a phone call where I got to go detail this car until 2 in the morning. At some point, you're going to hit that crossroads where you got to make some hard decisions. And I can't give you that answer. You're going to figure it out for yourself.
Julio Ramirez: Oh, no, definitely. Yeah. And that's going to be another challenge. It's going to be a challenge where it's going to go downhill and uphill and just have to keep striving through it. Yeah. Passion.
Keith Vance: Yeah. It's a balancing act. It's a balancing act. It's a balancing act you're going to need to figure out. Right now, you're good. You only got yourself to take care of. You know, your mom and dad, you're trying to support. But as you grow your own family and your wife needs your time and you need to spend quality time with her and then quality time with your children and just make sure your life is in balance. My life was not balanced.
Keith Vance: And I regret it, but I don't. You know what I mean? I regret it, but I don't. If that makes sense.
Julio Ramirez: Yeah. No, definitely. No, it makes more than sense.
Keith Vance: Another kind of a digest this one. But right now, do you feel pressure or do you feel purpose or a combination of both? In your business. Is it more pressure or more purpose?
Julio Ramirez: Probably have to be a little of both. Pressure. Definitely feel a lot of pressure on top of me because. I always talked about pressure to myself. I always talk to myself about how I want to be this big company, how I want to expand and be everywhere. So it's a lot of pressure for myself because I want to do everything at once, knowing I can't do it everything at once. I can identify with that. So it's a lot of pressure. And I feel like myself, I bottle up a lot of things and I don't let it out. I can identify with that. Yeah. That pressure just builds up to the point where you're basically just losing your mind. And I feel like that's a lot of pressure I go through. And it's something I need to really work on because pressure, it's real. People don't really believe that pressure comes in a lot of ways.
Keith Vance: So let me ask you this. When that pressure builds and then it comes out. What does it look like? What does it come out as?
Julio Ramirez: I really distance myself from people. So I won't really talk to family. I won't. I won't be there as much. And I just like to be alone. You isolate yourself. Yeah.
Keith Vance: That's not healthy.
Julio Ramirez: Not at all.
Keith Vance: When my pressure builds up, I get pissed off. I get mad. Like everything makes me mad. And it's not even about the circumstance. It's about the pressure that I'm feeling. It's not even about that walk into the dishes are done. It's not even about the thing that's making me mad. It's that pressure that I put on myself.
Keith Vance: And yeah, man, I'm 50. And it took me, I don't know when I became aware of this, but it was really later on in life. If that pressure came out on things that don't matter. Yeah, so pressure comes out different ways, but it's not good for you to be isolated. No, definitely not. You got to be able to talk to somebody. Talk it out. And again, I hope you find a good wife because my wife is good at, dude, sometimes I make it so hard for her. Sometimes I literally feel like she's pulling my words out. Hey, what's wrong? Nothing. Well, I can. I can say that. I can definitely tell her something wrong with you. What is it? Just say it. No. And she has to, I feel like she has to tug. And then once she gets that tug and I can just let it out, it just feels so good to have somebody that can, I can just let it out. Definitely. And that just feels like it wasn't that important to win that bad. It's bad in my mind. It's hard in my mind. But when it. comes out into reality, like, oh, that wasn't that bad. It
Julio Ramirez: wasn't that bad. I was probably overreacting. And I feel like I, I definitely need somebody to open up to because that's, that's an issue I deal with a lot.
Keith Vance: It's good to feel pressure. Someone who doesn't feel pressure, something wrong. They don't care enough. Oh yeah. But someone who feels so much pressure, like again, that's a balancing act. You need to feel pressure to perform. Pressure to perform. Because if you don't feel pressure, somebody else is feeling it. Somebody else is going to take your job from you. So yeah, pressure is a good thing, but it can also be a killer. So, uh, but it is good to have purpose. Like my family has been my purpose. Your family's your purpose. Yeah. And when you find that right one, that purpose is just going to exponentially grow. It's going to be great. Oh, exactly. Great. My closing question,
Crosstalk: my closing question. When you hear the word Still Strong,
Keith Vance: what does that mean for you at 18 years old? Because Still Strong is built originally from my demographic. People that are older, but we're not done yet. Yeah. Still getting after it. At 18.
Julio Ramirez: Still Strong. Honestly, that ever since you first told me about Still Strong, I've always thought about it from that first time you talked to me about being on the podcast. Um, when you're going to do their first podcast and everything that Still Strong has always, always been in my mind because it's, it's been a journey I've been going through. It's, it's been a, it's been a lot, a lot of thinking, a lot of pressure, a lot of overthinking, a lot of emotions and thoughts that have gone through everything. And it's the fact that I'm Still Strong, still, still being able to go through everything. Um, just keep pushing and, and strong, just be strong for everybody, be strong for family, be strong for siblings, be strong for everybody, because I tend to think that, that I need to be the one where they look up to and who they got to think about. And I feel like if I, if I need to stay strong, stay strong for them, stay strong for everybody, because if they see that I'm strong, they can definitely do it. And it's, it's just been a, it's been a journey and me being strong has, has been a really big purpose of it.
Keith Vance: Every day is a choice. That's why I like the word still, still can mean absent of movement, but still also means a continuation. And when I think of the word still as a continuation, I have a mental picture of every day that I choose to be Still Strong, another link in the chain being added to the chain back in the past. When I made the decision to get after it every day, I have to choose because you can quit at any time. You can rush a job at any time. You can be like, well, this one doesn't matter, but that's not being Still Strong, a consistent level of who you are, what your job is, a continuation of your expectation of yourself. every day. Because the, the day that you choose to, well, that's good enough. That's the one that's going to come back to bite you. Oh yeah. And your work. Oh, that's good enough. Now that's your new normal. That's your new, Still Strong. So. Any other closing comments you want to make? Any other thoughts?
Julio Ramirez: I don't know. It's been, it's been a great podcast so far. I feel like a lot of good questions and a lot of questions actually opened up a lot. And I feel like I've, I've learned a lot. Just answering these questions and, and hearing your stories. It's, it's, it's something great and it's some great advice and, and it's just gonna, it's going to push me, push me for more. Gives me hunger.
Keith Vance: Well, your story, brother, is an encouragement. Um, it's inspirational to me and I appreciate you. I want to meet your family. I want to meet your mom and dad. I want to shake your dad's hand. Tell him I'm proud of him. Raising such a good, strong young man. Um, I want to have you on. Regularly. As you grow, like when you're 20, I want to have you back on here. That's for some brother. When you become a multimillionaire, I want you to give me a hat. All right. Whatever the hat is. I want you to give me a hat. Right? No,
Julio Ramirez: definitely. Definitely going to be one of the first ones.
Keith Vance: Yeah. So. All right. All right. Well, that's it, brother. Appreciate you, man. Yes, sir. No problem. Thank you. Let's get out here and go detail some cars. Yeah, I really do. That's okay.
Intro voiceover: Be Still Strong. Watch me rise my way. Slow growth turns into real change. I found joy in the simple days. In honest work and faith. Still Strong. No.