00:00Okay. And so you did that for four years at your friend's company and really mastered this industry.
00:06And was there an aha moment where then you realized like, hey, I've got to build something of my own?
00:13What a great question, Dave.
00:14Well, it was when I was 35 years old, time was a ticking and I was losing my hair.
00:19And I knew if I didn't do it now, it was never going to be done.
00:22And I would regret it for the rest of my days.
00:25And so a friend of mine said, hey, Ricardo, why don't you just start a call center?
00:29I'm like, come on, Dave, how are we going to do this?
00:31I mean, think about the money and the people and the stuff.
00:35But when you take big piles and you make them into smaller piles, it becomes easier to carry.
00:41So I needed to calm down.
00:43Number one, I'm a guest in this country.
00:45So I needed a home court advantage.
00:47Why don't we hire CTOs, accountants, attorneys, and human resources directors that know the local labor laws?
00:55I don't have time to put into that.
00:56That's number one.
00:57I built a team around me.
00:58And secondly, you're thinking call centers.
01:01Yes, today I'm sitting on a building that can house 300 seats.
01:04But when I first started, what I did was I never overextended myself, Dave.
01:09I was renting a turnkey station at a blended call center, which is like a glorified internet cafe.
01:17I don't own the plane.
01:18I'm just renting out seats.
01:20And so I could get the seat with the computer and all the stuff, some coffee, the bathroom, and they
01:26pay for the internet.
01:27But that's fine because I could pay that station, pay the benefits, the salary, and make my margin.
01:33And I scaled accordingly.
01:35I did that for two years.
01:37Then when I had the capital and the clientele that were stable, I rented space.
01:43Now, in my industry, there's an attrition and a turnover.
01:46You can buy certain things used.
01:48I bought used cars.
01:49I also buy used Dell computers and chairs that are about a month old.
01:54And so instead of paying import taxes, I'm paying top dollar.
01:58I'm getting things for pennies on the dollar.
02:00And just like Monopoly, I'm scaling it out one seat in one row at a time.
02:04I could scale accordingly.
02:07I did that for six years, and I was building out the server room.
02:10I was getting my clients.
02:11And then finally, I had enough to be able to purchase property, put on the third floor, art deco it
02:17out, pinball machines, air hockey tables, you name it.
02:20But if your audience thinks that this thing was done like this and over a long weekend, you're out of
02:26your mind.
02:26I'm the tortoise.
02:27I'm not the hare.
02:29But I also paced myself where, Dave, I acted my wage.
02:33I never had to take on a shady partner or take out a loan or do something that made me
02:40question my ethics.
02:41I realized that I could hold my own, and I could weather storms because I saved money for certain COVID
02:49periods or if I lost a certain account.
02:52And so this is the way that I was raised by my family.
02:55So I could have been footloose and fancy free, but in my mind, I'd rather sleep at night and know
03:04that I'm responsible to my clients and doing the right things.
03:08And I hope that makes any sort of sense.
03:10Oh, absolutely makes sense.
03:12So, so much to unpack in that last little bit there.
03:15So.
