Entrepreneurial Empire
Learn the fundamentals of where you are in business and how to scale with your host Jacqueline. Your business will go through many stages, and every stage will have it's own set of requirements. Let's unravel the journey ahead together and find strategic solutions that will help you conquer it all.
Entrepreneurial Empire
Franchise owner at 19, Millionaire by 23 - Vanessa Richaud
Curious about how a 19-year-old could purchase a $700,000 franchise and turn it into a million-dollar empire by 23? Join us as we speak with Vanessa, a young entrepreneur whose determination and savvy business acumen have made waves in the industry. Vanessa shares how her father's auto repair shop sparked her passion for entrepreneurship, providing a glimpse into the early influences on her journey. Despite high school challenges, her family's unwavering support enabled her to carve out her path in business. Vanessa's story is a testament to the transformative power of family, passion, and a relentless entrepreneurial spirit.
Our conversation also unravels the art of building a strong, supportive team. Discover the strategies that Vanessa employs to foster a sense of loyalty and growth among her employees, ensuring they thrive alongside her ventures. We explore her upcoming expansion plans and commitment to giving back, including her roles on the boards of Breaking Down Walls and Youth Entrepreneurship Services (YES). These nonprofits reflect her dedication to mentoring the next wave of young entrepreneurs. This episode is more than just a success story; it's a blueprint for aspiring leaders keen to make their mark while lifting others along the way.
Welcome to the Entrepreneurial Empire podcast. This is the place where you can find business and career strategies, techniques and real life success journeys of individuals who have built their businesses to the million dollar revenue mark and beyond. I'm Jacqueline Hernandez, life coach and business development consultant. I have worked with startups, fortune 100 companies, network marketing, direct sale organizations, churches, nonprofits and government agencies, all to become the authority experts in their industry. Lead with people and scale their revenue. Let's get started.
Speaker 1:All right, entrepreneurs, welcome back. We are here with an amazing woman that I recently got to meet over the summer. She is talk about the most energetic individual that you'll ever meet. It's no wonder, and she is 23 years old, and it's really exciting, because this year her company is hitting a million dollars, so we're really excited to have her here. She is definitely one for the books who is building her empire and making it happen. But not only is she building her empire, but she's also sits on the board of two nonprofits. Yes is one of those nonprofits and breaking down walls here locally in San Antonio, and the greatest thing about her is that she's not just out here building her own empire, she's teaching others how to build empires as well, and also reaching out to the youth and helping them raise themselves up and be self-reliant on themselves and make that money. So thank you so much, vanessa, for coming on the show.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Jacqueline, for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, let's just dive right in. Okay, so I want to talk about 19 years old. You bought a franchise. How much was that franchise, that franchise?
Speaker 2:was $700,000. Oh my gosh Okay.
Speaker 1:$700,000 as a 19 year old. Yes, okay, so that is amazing, right?
Speaker 2:Not a lot of 19-year-olds are talking about raising up money and guided me into being who I am today and, you know, without them and their help, my uncle, you know, was a big part of that. He, I can, he contributed a big part of that money as well. Um, and I could never, you know, thank him enough for that, because he believed in my dreams and what I wanted and it really, really pushed me, to push me out pretty much out of my own comfort zone. You know, doing something that I've never done before and doing it alone, because my parents and my family are not involved whatsoever with my business. They just know what I do, but they don't know how I do payroll or how I handle my employees or any of that. So, and how many employees do you have?
Speaker 1:I have seven employees right now seven employees and you're about to open up a second franchise. Not too far, but far enough to collect a whole different audience, right?
Speaker 2:correct. Yeah, we're trying to partner up with corporate um and then we're trying to open one in 281 and like evans road area. Okay, um, it's going to be like five minutes from where I live, so it's perfect, because the other store is off of like northwest military and washbox. It's about 15 minutes apart from each. So you can get a little bit of different people in both.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Total different audiences. I feel like, OK, so let's dial it back just a little bit. 19 years old, you invested $700,000 into a franchise. I mean, where did that mindset come from? So let's talk about Vanessa in high school. What type of Vanessa was in high school? Were you motivated? Were you entrepreneur?
Speaker 2:then I was definitely entrepreneur. Then I was the type of person that I would have rather worked with my dad at his business than go to high school any day. I did not like school. I was not a person that could sit down and read a book and learn that way. I was more of a hands-on you know be exactly be in that position in that area.
Speaker 2:And high school was a little hard for me, I'm not going to lie. Thankfully I graduated. I graduated in 2018. But it was hard and I think afterwards, the hardest part was also finding something I loved, something I had a passion for. You know my parents, like I said, my dad owes an auto repair shop. So I was a car girl my whole life, but I didn't see that as my calling. I didn't see that as that was something I wanted to do in the future. So I had to find my calling, find my purpose, find my why and, you know, find what I wanted to do. And so chill and just kind of popped up.
Speaker 1:And we're like that's very entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship, though, so you were raised as an entrepreneur. Sounds like your dad owned a business for a very long time, so all you knew was entrepreneurship owning your own business.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and thankfully, you know, my parents never forced us to be like, oh, you have to be an entrepreneur or no, you have to go to college, so they never pressured us into. You know, me and my sister wanted to do something specific. My sister took the college route, I took the entrepreneurship route. So I love it. We're both in different stages of our life, but you know, she's, you know, working as a supervisor at 20 years old for two, um, big companies. She works for the miami miami heat stadium and the dolphin stadium as a supervisor. So at 20 years old, I mean, that's she's just making her mark out there. Okay, well, I gotta give your parents.
Speaker 1:Props, they did something right. Okay, they have two boss baddies.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, they they really did and you know, their support really meant a lot because they never pushed us, like I said, to specifically do something like that. They wanted us to. They kind of let us find our own way. Yeah, um, so, yeah and so chilling just kind of came upon us and I was like, wow, this is really cool. So I went Miami, tried it out and met the CEO, met the founders amazing people, they're like a second family to me and yeah. And so then we were like this needs to come to San Antonio, like this is ridiculously good, like and I was a foodie back then how did you discover this.
Speaker 2:So it was a friend, a friend of a family, that told us about Shillen and you know I was like, oh, you know, like let's look into it, see what they do. And, like I said, my dad and I flew to Miami literally before they shut down the airports for COVID. Okay. So we, you know, flew down there, were there for a few days. When we got back two days later it had shut down the airport.
Speaker 1:So we would have gone, stuck in Miami.
Speaker 2:So we went in there, which we didn't even know COVID was around that time. So we were like panicking, like oh my god, do we get COVID? Because we were over there in Miami. And then you know, miami was really like high rated you know COVID cases and I was like oh my god, but no, it was, it was great. We went there, met everybody tried the ice cream.
Speaker 1:I swear we had an ice cream every day, maybe even twice today. You know it was pretty bad. It is your Nutella banana. Oh my god, totally crushing on that. So good, so, so good. Ok, so you guys flew out to Miami and the one thing that caught my attention about your entrepreneur road was that you literally moved to Miami. Like you uprooted yourself. You move there by yourself at the age of 1920. I was 20 at the time. An apartment on your own. Drove your car out there all the way from texas, san antonio to miami, drove there by yourself and you set up shop over there to get in the trenches with the company and learn hands-on how to do this.
Speaker 2:And you did that for one year. I did that for four months, four months yeah, it was.
Speaker 2:So I my dad was like okay, you know we're about to sign, you need to go drive down. I'm like, yes, I need to go down there. So we were, we're not planning for me to stay that long. I think we said a month and I just enjoyed learning so much and I was like no, I'm staying for three months. So I think it was like three or four months. I stayed in an apartment nearby and I kind of moved around because I wanted to see every single store. There was eight stores in Florida at that time, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:So you hopped around from store to store To see the different culture, to see how everybody else does it and make sure everything's streamlined.
Speaker 2:Exactly, yeah, I went to, you know, from the south part of Florida to the north part of Florida, you know, worked my way up to see every store. I worked in every store with every employee. I got to see what I wanted in my store, what I didn't want in my store, what employees wanted in my store what worked, what didn't?
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:Like everything from mopping and sweeping.
Speaker 1:What personality do you want? What mop I?
Speaker 2:wanted what broom I wanted To. You know what employees I wanted and what I wanted my company to be like. So that really helped. I really liked that and they gave me the opportunity to do that. So you know it's a blessing to be able to even go there and do it, because most people, you know they just kind of get thrown in the fire and kind of like, all right, you know, have fun OK so now you open up your shop, you get here.
Speaker 1:you're having to deal with this through a pandemic as well, so you were able to navigate through a pandemic for ice cream. I mean, I feel like ice cream is definitely an in-person thing, especially what you do at your shop. So tell us a little bit about what your. What makes your ice cream so unique with the nitrogen?
Speaker 2:So we make everything on the spot using the liquid nitrogen. It goes from a liquid to a solid, so everything with your base. If you want dairy, non-dairy, you know we have gluten-free options, vegan, anything. You know people that are, you know, lactose intolerant, soy free or whatever they might have. Some people are allergic to eggs as well, and thankfully, our milk has no eggs in it, so that helps a lot.
Speaker 2:So most milks or most ice creams do have eggs, contain eggs. So yeah, and so we. You do that, and then you pick your flavor, what flavor ice cream you want, and then anything you want mixed into it, and everything is created right in front of you using the liquid nitrogen.
Speaker 1:So it's pretty unique, it's pretty different. It's like when you're walking in there, I mean you are an element, right, and so when you walk into there, you feel like you're a part of a chemistry lab. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:No, everybody's always like oh my gosh, I feel like I'm in science class again. Our whole menu is a periodic table, so they're all just looking at it like, wow, am I in a lab? What are we doing here? We're getting ice cream.
Speaker 1:I love it. Okay, so let's let's look at leadership now, right, because you're 20 years old, you're opening your own shop. Now you're in charge of other employees, so where do you think that leadership came from, and how to be able to direct and instruct people but also lift them up in a way that they feel like they're bringing value to your spot?
Speaker 2:Of course. No, it definitely came from my dad. His big leadership roles in his company. You know he he's like, hey, you go do this today, you know do this and that, and they're like I'll do this and like he kind of he helps them out, though he's not just like you do this and I'll sit back and watch he's hands on with them as well. Ms1, I feel like that's how I am as a boss as well you are very hands-on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm there seven days a week. So I'm definitely very, very hands-on. But even with my employees, you know, I do understand they're in high school, they're in college. I think all of them right now are in college now. But when they were in high school and first opened and now college, you know I, you know respect, that they have band and after-school activities and you know this and that, and I understand they're young too, they're teenagers, so of course they want to go out, um, and thankfully I'm very, you know, I'm very big on communication. As long as you communicate with me, as long as you let me know what's going on, I'm very, very, very open you know, and.
Speaker 2:I I have a very good relationship with all my employees.
Speaker 2:I cannot say yeah, I'm very, very, very close with all my employees. I mean, they they could tell me their darkest secret. I'd be like, oh, you know, like I can help in any way you can. You know what can I do to help? Or you know, they talk to me about everything. They talk to me about home, they talk to me about, you know, school or whatever, and it's just a blessing to have a team that you can really rely on, especially with me managing another store out of, you know, out of San Antonio. It's a little hard sometimes feeling like, oh, I can leave, and not feel like worried about my store, which I never do. I leave, you know. I come back and my store is like even better than I left it.
Speaker 2:It's in one piece still, yeah, no, it's even better than I left it, like everything is like cleaned and organized and they had already like practically cleaned the floor with the, you know with the brush or something, I don't know what they do. It's amazing. Every time I get back.
Speaker 1:Okay. So now you guys are talking about. You know, as you expanded and as you begin to bring on employees, your leadership and then make a profit with the company itself. Now the franchise or a corporate is saying, hey, we want to have you come and be a corporate leader and oversee other stores. How did that feel and what was that like?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I think they saw the like you were talking about earlier, the energy that I have. I have lots of energy and I'm very organized.
Speaker 1:I'm a very organized person.
Speaker 2:I like to have everything you know to the book, like if I wrote this down and it needs to be done this day, it better be done by this day, you know, or else I start like feeling like panic. So they came. I was actually the first one to sign a franchise, like the documents that I needed to sign with them, I was the very first franchisee to sign with them, oh my God. So, and I just built such a strong relationship with them that they trusted me so much and they were like hey, you know, they asked me to take over the Fort Worth store that franchisee had left, and so the corporate took over. And so they were like, hey, you know, can you please help us manage the store? You're closer, you know, in that area than we are, because they're all the way in Florida, corporate's all the way in Florida.
Speaker 2:So I'm definitely, you know, fort Worth and San Antonio is just like a four-hour drive, and so I, you know they're doing all the trainings, making sure everybody's up to par hired, fired, trained, you know just everything like from teaching them how to make a flavor to you know just running the store as a manager, as a team leader, whatever position they are. So I've done it all Pretty much. Everybody there yeah, everybody there I've trained. Half of them I probably hired too, and I actually that store when it was a franchise store I was the one that trained them. I drove down to Fort Worth and the franchisee had asked me to train their kiddos.
Speaker 2:So most of them are still from when I trained them, like two years ago.
Speaker 1:Okay, so it sounds like your employees stick around. They're not just there for summer jobs, they're there for the long haul. They've transitioned from high school students to college students with you now, yeah.
Speaker 2:The ones from my store, like 80% of them, have been with me for the whole two years I've been open. Wow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's only like two of them that I had to hire, but they've been with me for a year now too, so everybody there has been there for a year plus um, but yeah, and then I guess they saw so you guys are growing together exactly, exactly. And actually my manager because I was talking to her the other day about you know me opening another store and I was like would you like to be like an area manager, you know kind of like taking care of both stores she's like oh, I'd love to.
Speaker 1:I'm like, okay, great, I already have a manager for the new store. So you're not only helping guide, but you're also raising them as well in leadership, in the ranks of leadership, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:And anything I mean. And there's like I have different employees that are in different like careers.
Speaker 2:One of them is in like marketing and that kind of thing and so I told her to talk to Mel from you know, breaking Down Walls, and I told her I was like, talk to her, you know she'll probably give you some good advice on where to go, what to do. It's like I help them and guide them to find mentors and and people that can help them, you know, whatever careers, because that might be not something that I specialize in and I do not want to give them advice that I don't know so.
Speaker 2:So, but I do help them as much as I can to be there, and you know, I feel like I'm a pretty good boss. I mean, I got a mug that says world's best boss.
Speaker 1:I think so. I mean, every time I've gone to the shop you are running around, you're helping out, you're just so involved. But the way that you come across to your employees, you're so kind. But you across to your employees, you're so kind, um, but you're definitely informative as well, um, and you're just amazing at everything you do. But I think also, too, that energy is just off the charts, oh yeah I mean it's uncomparable okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I feel like if you don't have that energy, it's like what are you doing it for? Like you have to have. You know you have to be happy and excited to do it. If not, it just feels like a job. And to me what I do doesn't feel like a job. I actually enjoy it. I actually look forward to going in on a Sunday or a Monday or, you know, wednesday to go in and do extra work if I need to, in the morning or whatever.
Speaker 1:You know, I do actually have a very curious question here Now, not to be ageism or anything, but does anybody ever question your authority because they feel like, oh, she's just so young?
Speaker 2:What does she know? What can I be the owner? So, not only being my age, but also being a woman, a lot of people kind of not really understand that you could be an you know, an owner of anything at any age. And it all goes back to age doesn't define you and people you know will sometimes make you feel like you know, are you sure, are you lying? Or they'll be like are your parents you know with you, or your parents with you and I'm like no it.
Speaker 1:You or your parents are with you and I'm like, no, is this your parents business? But yeah, you're running it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm like nope, just just me. But you know, I feel like you kind of got to block those haters out well, I feel like that's the what you're doing.
Speaker 1:I mean, what you just said right now is, I feel like, where this, you know where the society is going, where this era is going is that you can't look at an entrepreneur, a millionaire, and say, oh, she's 23, she can't be a millionaire no wrong because that's not the era that we're living in.
Speaker 2:We we have definitely made and defined new rules here definitely no, yeah, and I, like I said, I have big goals for myself. So for me it's like I don't care if anybody doesn't believe that I'm going to be a millionaire.
Speaker 2:I am going to be a millionaire, whether you like it or not. So at the end of the day, I don't have to prove anything to anybody but myself. It's you versus you all the time, so it's for sure it's never a oh. She became a millionaire at 19 and I become a millionaire at 24. You know, she became this and I became that. It's more of like what are you doing? You pay attention to yourself and what I'm doing on paid attention to myself.
Speaker 1:Stay in your lane, people.
Speaker 2:But yes, I mean, I've had that happen, but it doesn't hurt my feelings. If anything, it makes me feel more powerful. That I'm like yeah, that's me. You know whether you know.
Speaker 1:I'm doing this. That's like I'm going to get out there and do bigger now.
Speaker 2:Because you said that Now I'm going to go do something else. That's hilarious. No, that's hilarious, no. Yeah, I mean, people do of course have something to say, but I just don't let it define me or, you know, make me feel uncomfortable in any way.
Speaker 1:Yes, OK. So as a 23 year old now, what kind of life do you have? Like a personal life? Are you just all work, or are you some play?
Speaker 2:So I feel like right now I am all work just because I feel like, since I'm so young, right now I have no kids, you know, I don't have big responsibilities besides my business. I really try to focus on that because I want to grow it. I want to be able to grow it to where, I'm older, I can retire early enough, to where I can enjoy my kids and enjoy my grandkids and not feel like I'm still working extra, extra hard to continue to build something because I lacked, you know, doing that in my 20s. Yes, so I think right now, I mean, I do, don't get me wrong I do go out and enjoy, you know, some time with my friends, or, you know, go out to dinner, or I do leave to go on vacation once in a while, but it's nothing to where I leave for like a month or two months, or, you know, even when I'm gone, I'm still working. I don't think, being an entrepreneur, you ever stop working, you know.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. You are a very responsible and you know where you want to go and where you want to be. But again, it's all about building that empire. So right now, that thought process for you is, even at the age of 19, is like how can I grow and build something right now that is going to mature by the time it is time for me to retire or settle down or take things a little bit slower. You already have that ramped up and settled for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I kind of want to. You know, my main thing is I want to be able to build an empire at a young age. So when I do have kids in the next few years, you know, because that is my goal, I do want to be a young mom I want to make sure that I'm on a level where, okay, I'm already more settled down. My second store is already open for a year, you know. I've already, you know, did this and this and that that I've been wanting to accomplish and I'm kind of more set Now. I'm not saying, you know, when I have kids I'm going to slow down, because I feel like having a kid is going to motivate me more, to do 10 times more than I'm already doing. But thankfully, I have the resources and the ability to bring my kid to work or, you know, leave them with my parents and my mom's. You know she doesn't work anymore, so she, you know, has the ability to be able to leave it with with grandma, or, you know. So thankfully, we have that.
Speaker 1:And I love the new way of doing business too. So, even though you're a franchise owner, your way of doing business is all about collaboration as well. So you're always looking for how can you connect others collaboration as well. So you're always looking for how can you connect others, how can, how can you, you know, provide your services and your product to other opportunities as well. And I love that about you. You're not just thinking you know two plus two, you're thinking more, yeah, more strategy, right, and so let's talk about you being on the board of two nonprofits now. So you're running a franchise, you're 23 years old. You're like no, I'm all work, no play.
Speaker 2:We're not doing no play.
Speaker 1:Strategize it. I'll focus. I love this, you know. So now you also sit on the board of two nonprofits breaking down walls and, yes, youth entrepreneurship Services. That is our nonprofit. Yay, and you know, I just have to say from a personal experience with you just being on the board and working with you, you bring fresh perspective. But again, you still have that. You know you're in touch with the young people of today and what they're looking for. But also you are the living, breathing, walking, talking. You know entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial empire because you've already done it at such a young age, right, so you have a lot of value to bring to the youth. Tell us a little bit about Breaking Down Walls.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Breaking Down Walls is a nonprofit that focuses on young adults living healthy, wealthy and wise. They focus more on like like 17 18-year-olds and up and they help them pretty much develop, you know, mastermind mind skills and stuff like that. So we do our mastermind meetings every two weeks and we do like fit camps to help the community.
Speaker 2:You know a percentage of San Antonio is obese, so we try to you know help them go out there and, you know, work out with us and, you know, get them to just take that first step. So, yeah, we focus on that. And then, of course, the youth. So you know, with, with, yes, you know we focus on a sixth to 12th grade is our, is our perspective. So for them it's, you know, a little bit older, so from 17 to older.
Speaker 2:So I like that I'm able to do a little bit of both to where I can bring, you know my, you know my. I can connect with kids, my age when breaking down walls, but I can also inspire kids at, yes, that are younger, to that. You know, it doesn't matter what age you are. Age doesn't define you. You can do it at any age. So I think that really helps to have like a both different perspectives but both very, very, very, very well connected in a very, a lot of ways that you both really do help the San Antonio youth and I mean that's the mission at the end of the day is to make sure everybody, you know, has a chance to do whatever they want to do in life and not feel like, you know, because of their age or where they live or you know what their, whatever it is their family, background or whatever it might be, you know, don't let that define them, that's true?
Speaker 1:No for sure. And this week or last week we did some interviews for junior board members for YES and I have to say I mean I was really impressed by the applicants that came through and they have an amazing head on their shoulders. I can't even imagine, with a mentorship, with people just like you that are involved with them, how far they're going to go and what types of businesses they're going to open. So really excited about that.
Speaker 2:I'm super excited. I feel like I mean, everybody talks about all this new generation. You know this and this and that, and I'm like you guys are not seeing the outside of that. You guys are just seeing the very small, you know, amount of people. That might be what you're saying. They are, that can change and people that were that way might grow out of it, like you know. And I think like people nowadays are kind of like oh, this new generation, oh, this view and I'm like oh, you guys have no idea what you're all talking about.
Speaker 2:Just wait till y'all see us exactly. We're showing up. Oh yeah, we're coming hard we are that's for sure.
Speaker 2:I just it's. It's good to see that those kids are taking that first step, too definitely. And you can only do so much as a mentor, you can only do so much as a leader, you can only do so much in any way. But you know, if they don't take that first step and they don't want that for themselves, you can only do so much. So you know I'm blessed to be around you as a mentor and you know, lenny, as a mentor, mauricio, I've been talking to him a few times and he's amazing no-transcript.
Speaker 1:And I've been in.
Speaker 2:California forever, so we need to take a trip down there.
Speaker 1:So she's talking about Mauricio Mejia. He's also been a guest on our show as well and then a guest at our conference. So Vanessa actually spoke at our conference as a panel member as well. And how did you feel about talking at the event at Elevate? I mean, that was really excited. We brought people together from all over San Antonio and then we brought people from outside of San Antonio to really come in and talk about how to take your businesses to that million-dollar mark and not to settle, but to have the guts to go out there and build an empire, make something happen of yourself. So how did you feel about?
Speaker 2:being a panel member. Oh no, I loved it. I mean, I think we I've talked to you before about like speaking in public. Man, I would have never thought I would ever do that in my life. In high school I avoided it any way I could. So doing the uncomfortable has really helped me grow and not only just myself and my business and I think I've really pushed myself, and you as a mentor, and Lenny as a mentor, have both pushed me to speak at, you know, conferences where I've had to speak in front of you know a good couple hundred people, and so it's a lot, but I loved it. I love that I could experience that next to other. You know women that are in the same you know, in the same mindset, the same. You know they're going through the same routes and the same problems, and you know we're we're both strategizing and doing our best to be able to get out there and do it together. So it was amazing. I loved meeting new people too.
Speaker 1:So I love it. Well, getting you on platforms is what your trajectory is and really speaking your truth about getting out there, what it takes being in the trenches, you know, having that grit and also being able to pivot. I mean again going back to when you first started. You started a whole entire franchise in the midst of COVID, so you had to pivot and ever since then, I mean, you've really worked through these challenges and these challenges have really, you know, defined your success. You know, and a lot of people I feel like as entrepreneurs, they try to shy away from those challenges or cut corners or challenges?
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I love those challenges. I thrive on challenges. I feel like I do better when I'm being challenged. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:No, and then it also just makes you feel like you're progressing right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:If there's no challenges, I feel like gosh. Am I not growing? Yeah, yeah, all right so as a boss and you know, a leader, a mentor in the community of San Antonio and also all over the state of Texas, helping out other franchisees and then helping out with corporate establish themselves and really have some bearings out here in Texas, all the way out from Miami. You know, what advice would you give in a young entrepreneur right now?
Speaker 2:I think it's just start, start. I feel like people always say, oh, I need to have this amount of amount of money, or I need to do this, or I need to have this, or I need to just start. Whether's planning it, whether it's, you know, doing a vision board, whether it's talking to people, you know, just start. My biggest thing is having a mentor is one of the best ways to get out there. I feel like you know how, like I said, having you and Lenny both working with me into pushing me to do the uncomfortable and pushing me to try something new and, you know, be a leader and that sort of thing has really really helped, really go out there and push me. So I think it's great, I love it.
Speaker 1:Awesome, okay, any last words that you want to tell our listeners here today?
Speaker 2:I just really want everybody to know that you know, at the end of the day, you really just need to be that boss, babe, that boss like you said, and push yourself out there. I mean, I feel like when we're talking about challenges, people are always afraid to do the uncomfortable, to do what you know might not be the usual for them, and I feel like people. That's why they get stuck. They get stuck in a mindset where they don't know where to go from a certain place because they're so used to being in one comfortable area. Um, so I just I want the san antonio youth to know that you know we're there rooting for them. Yes, we are you?
Speaker 2:have all these people around you that we'd love to help. So if anybody wants to reach out or, you know, go on my social media. You know, reach out to me in any way. I'd love to help anybody in any, in any way. I can you know know so Awesome.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, you guys heard it here live. This is Vanessa Rashad. She is franchise owner of Chillin and boss baddie board member of two nonprofits. Thank you very much and we'll see you next time.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thank you so much for listening to the Entrepreneurial Empire podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, do me two solids Subscribe to the show so that you never miss an episode and leave us a review so that others can find this life changing content that we provide here. This show can be the very difference for someone you might know struggling in their business, and we need your help to bring us together. And thank you again for being a part of our entrepreneurial community and for tuning in each and every single week Until next time. Bye for now.