Episode #807 - This 22-Year-Old Entrepreneur Turned A Side Hustle Into A Successful Business

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Welcome to this edition of the Million Dollar Mastermind podcast. This is where we pick the brains of high achievers from all walks of life and get their hard earned real world insights on winning. I'm your host, Larry Wydell.

Hello, everybody. We're talking to Randy Roblero. Yes, Randy has the, he has the responsibility of representing millennials. And usually we avoid millennials like the plague on here because even if they're successful, Randy, they don't have, you know, they're not seasoned, you know, you can't, you know, have success. But people on here, usually you're looking for the more seasoned type thing. But I thought, you know, you think about it. So. Hello, Randy Roblero.

Hi, Larry, how are you?

Glad to have you here. And so the thing is that, you know, you think about it, you go like in the navy or the military, you have Youngsters, you know, 20, 21, 22 running these multimillion dollar, even billion dollar weapon systems, you know, and they're flying these multi million dollar chess. We've got to respect that. A few of the young people can really do amazing things. And it's great to get inside. You know, if you're building companies and you're going to be in the same thing down the road, if you're building companies, you want to get young people in because if you get the right one, you get them trained to be with, you know, they'll, they could be with you forever and kind of grow and develop with you. And as they go through their big growth surge in their career, that could produce a big growth surge in your company. So it's great to be, have the mindset of the new generation. And what I've heard all along is that, you know, whatever generation it is, they're all, sorry, you know, they don't work and you know, they're all airheads. But, you know, go back to the time of the Greeks, Socrates, you can read something from Socrates and he's saying the same thing about the, the youth is in his era back in ancient Greece. You can't believe that too much because there's always going to be exceptions. There's always going to be sharp people coming up. And you have identified yourself as one of those sharp people, you know, outstanding. And you identify yourself by what you do. You know, it's not what you say about what you do. What you did was you and I, for full disclosure, we've known each other for maybe a year or so, I don't know how long. But you have detailed our cars and trucks and everything for four years. So I've known you, but then all of a sudden I get a call from or get a text from my staff and say, get a load of this. They've got Randy on cnbc and they've been filming them for two days here in West Palm as up and coming, like part of their Young Millennial series, you know, making it. You know, how in the spotlight was on how the new millennials make and spend money. So we want to get into that story, you know, how that all happened and what that did for you. But as you came up, so where you are, so people know you've got your own business, you're 22 years old, you struck out on your own. You had a job job, you know, you went for a couple years of college, and they said, this is too slow for me. I've got to get out and do things. And you got a job job and, you know, was making, you know, around $40,000 or so a year or more, which is not bad, you know, right out of school. And. But bam, you start. You take a leap of faith, you start your own business, and right off the bat, you're right on track to double that right out of the gate. And so with the sky's the limit. And so let's talk about that thing, what was moving you, because this will help us think about, you know, you might speak to what's going on in people's minds. You know, we understand the entrepreneurial spirit with people that are a little older, you got the kids and families and things like that. But, you know, how young can the entrepreneurial spirit take hold of you? And when you start thinking about having a business of your own and if you're good enough to do that.

Yeah. So I think it all can depend on your upbringing. So maybe the people around you, your family members or just general life advice. So when I was younger, you know, of course, I was just a kid. I didn't make any money, but I'd see that you'd have to have money to spend money to buy what you want. So I would always have the idea that, you know, I want to learn how to get money because I want to buy things that I want. So, you know, as I was going, you know, that's.

That's a basic thing, right? It's self. That's not going to change from generation to generation, you know?

Exactly. So in high school, I. In the beginning, I would say 9th, 10th grade, I didn't have a job. But with 11 and 12th grade I was able to get, you know, just a quick job. I was at a restaurant and it was just, you know, I. It was so little pay, yet it was so much for me because I went from, you know, never earning any type of money to now earning some, some type of money. And I would, I would only hope from that point to, you know, be able to go to another job that was going to pay more and go from there, you know, advance every year, get a better job as year goes by. And I'm fortunate to say, like you said, I had a job, I had a full time job where I was earning $40,000 a year and it was at an aerospace company. I actually started there as a delivery driver. So I was driving to Miami every single morning and I was driving back the same day delivering parts and picking up parts for airplanes. And the owner of the company actually saw my work ethic and he told me within three months that he wanted me to have a position in his office. So I ended up transitioning over to the office and I became, I would say account payables, account receivables, which it's like nowhere near. The positions are nowhere near, like, correct. You go from a delivery driver to like now like accounting, where you know the financial of the company. But that's how much trust he had in me and he saw the work ethic in me. And I appreciate that ever since that happened. And I'm super thankful for the opportunity. And it was just like, where can I go from here? Like, I don't think I can go anywhere else from here. Like, I was super comfortable. I love the schedule, I love the pay. They treated me like family. It was great. But I've always wanted to sort of stand out. Well, I don't know if stand out would be the right word, but I've always wanted to be different because, you know, you have 100 people and they all get a job. You want to see how you want to stand out, how you want to be that one person. So I feel like I've always wanted to, you know, make my own schedule, you know, be my own boss. And I know now with experience, the couple of years experience I had in running my business, when people say you want to become your own boss, well, you become your own boss, but it's like you become 10 more positions at the same time. So you not only become, you know, the actual operator of the company, but you become, you know, a lead marketer, you become the customer service person, the salesperson, you become all of these things. At once. It's expected, but it like hits you once you actually experience it. But yeah, to answer your question, you know, I just wanted to do my own thing and I felt like I had the possibility and I knew that if I don't take chances, I will never know. So it's like, you know, you either try it and fail or you never try and you never know.

Yeah. And so is there any special effect on your mentality? The fact that, you know, coming from an immigrant family and, you know, no special advantages, you know, having to make, make it in a new country? Was that a limiting belief or what? How did that affect your thinking coming up?

I think more than anything it was a positive thing for me because, you know, my family have never done anything like this. They, they, all they know is, you know, get a job. And I wanted, I don't want to say break the cycle, but more so, you know, implement that, a new thing within the family so, you know, start a business. So one day, you know, maybe grandchildren or a nephew can say, you know, hey, you know, X person, Randy in our family, you know, he had a business at one point in his life. And that's really how I thought about it. I thought about it long term for our future generation and I figured, you know, I feel I can do it. I feel like anything is possible. It's just, you know, it's the effort that you put into something. So I feel like anything is possible as long as you put effort in it. So you can't say, you know, I want to become a millionaire by 30 and you just, you know, go on with your normal life. Well, you can say, you know, I want to be a millionaire by 30, and then go out and look for ways to get it, get it done. And to answer your question about like coming from immigrant parents, like I said, I felt like it was a positive thing because all they know, again, is work, work, work, like as, as an employee. And there's nothing wrong with being an employee, but I'm just saying, like, I've always wanted, you know, I feel like I have the ability to do so. So let me go ahead and try it out. And after all, I, I'm young, which I think that paid the biggest role. So I'm young and I say, you know, if this doesn't work out, I can always start over. Whereas if I was 45, 50 years old, it'd be much different because maybe by then I have a kid and maybe by then I have a family support. Yeah, I just don't have the ability to do things more flexible.

You know, the thing is, if you hadn't gotten out there in the job market and taken the first job offered to you and excelled at that, you would have never gotten into the accounting, you know, moved up into the office. And yes, you hadn't. If you hadn't been pushing ahead from that situation, you never gotten your own business to where CNBC could even find you. You know, you went out around the globe, basically this story, and you know, the, the advertising, the free advertising that did for you. But when you started this thing, it was a risky thing for the family and the funds and everything. And you took, you took the gamble. But you had a tragedy happen with your dad pretty quick after you started, which often happens when something big happened. Often goes wrong. Right. When you take a big step like that. But what happened? Tell us that story.

Yeah, so unfortunately, like you said, something happened right after I went and took that leap of faith. And unfortunately, my father passed away. He had a cardiac arrest. And he stood in the hospital for around seven months before we let him go. Because at that point, the day that he fell down, he had a cardiac arrest. They were able to, you know, resuscitate him, except that his brain by that time was already, like, fried. In other words, simple ways. So he was still breathing, but it was like he wasn't there anymore. And you know, my mom, the love she has for him, she didn't want to accept the truth. She didn't want to let him go. So we had some faith, you know, maybe within time he'll get, you know, better. But that was never the case. And it came to the point where we were like, you know, we have to stop being selfish and we have to look out for him and, you know, we have to let him go and pretty much go in peace.

Yeah.

Because he's suffering at the moment. Yep.

In the meantime, you're dealing with that emotional, gut wrenching thing. But you got to, you're, you're out there now learning all these new jobs and you got to make a living, right?

Yes. Yes. Like you said. Yup. It, something happened in, in the worst timing, but I just looked at it on a positive thing. I just looked at my, hey, let me go work. You know, of course that's always in the back of your head. You're always thinking of your dad and things like that. But even if I was doing my own thing or if I was like working at a normal job, like, I'd feel like I handled it the same way, you know, I don't want to sound bad, but, you know, life goes on and you can only do so much, and.

And the quicker you learn that lesson in life, the better, because it allows you, you know, frees you up to go on and do what you can do.

Exactly. And that's the way I look at life now. Like, you know, you can only do so much, whatever it's your abilities are, and you can do something, go ahead and do so, but you have to know the limits where you have to stop and, you know, accept the truth, accept faith, just destiny, and so move forward.

And your business is growing. And then out of the blue, CNBC shows up and talk about how you reacted to that and the. The impact of that on you. You know, what was that like?

Yeah.

So film crew following you around. You're like a reality TV show for a couple of days?

Pretty much. Yeah. So they came over, I believe, I want to say it was a total of three days, if not two days. I want to say it was three days for sure. I had a producer, and I want to say he was the interviewing guy. They follow me around. They did the interview first, and from there they were able to know, you know, based on my answers, based on the things that I've said, they knew what exactly they wanted to get as far as, like, you know, B roll and things like that. So it wasn't anything different. They were just like, do what you do on a normal basis and leave the rest to us.

Ah. And so were you happy with the result?

Definitely, of course. Because I'm not gonna lie. Like, I'm not. I'm young again, and I'm. I'm new to everything, so I'm new to being able to answer questions. And I'm getting a little bit better now, and I. Time and more experience, I'm going to get even better. But I didn't know how to answer the questions maybe the way I wanted to, and maybe nerves came in and things like that, but overall they were like, don't worry, you did pretty good, and I'm pretty sure you'll like the end result. And when the results came out or the video came out, I was like. I was more than happy about it.

Well, you're doing great at answering these questions. And I'll tell you this, we're never completely happy with how we either ask questions or answer the. I get mad at myself after most of the podcast over questions and I forgot to ask.

No, I believe. I believe you would be a great person to have a conversation with. But I think in general, I mean, I mean, I don't know if it's because I'm young or I don't know if somebody else who is the same age as me, maybe they're good at it, but I think it just takes, it just takes experience. It takes you to mess up a few times for you to become better and then be able to answer questions and things like that.

Just like anything, you know, just like you started your detail your car detailing, you know, and counting on you to, and pulling for you to make that million dollars by your time you're 30. Because, you know, we want to be having you back on the podcast and watch your kind of monitor your growth and your progress. That's part of the reason of having some millennials on, so we can kind of monitor the progress because that's what's really going to drive the country.

Yes.

People that like yourself moving up, you know, doing new things and creating more jobs and opportunities and doing for the new generation. What the, your, your boss over the air space repair company did, you know, find finding bright young kid and moving him into a position and, and believing in him. You know, you can be that person.

Down the road, definitely. I think that's what it's all about, honestly.

Yeah. And so talk about social media world. Talk about your experience on YouTube.

Yeah, so basically I've always wanted to start a YouTube channel, whether it was personal, personal or work related. And of course, I think, I'm not sure if you, if you'd know, but a lot of the, the young people now, they see a lot of, they're always on the Internet, they're always on, on Tick Tock, they're always on YouTube or just in general social media on Instagram. And they see other influencers, they see other people who are on social media and they see they're making money off of it. So they're like, wow, it's an easy life. Like, all you have to do is record your life and you're making money. But it's more than that. And of course I think that that's in the back of their head. Everybody, they would love to do that, but that's just not possible for everybody. Basically. I've always wanted to start a YouTube channel. And it just so happens to be that I'm doing car detailing. And I've always thought in the back of my head, you know, I'm young and I have a car detailing business. I was so sure that I'd be successful with YouTube, but I never pulled a plug of course, sometimes I gave it a try. I told a friend, hey, can you hold the phone? Can you record me and I'm trying to talk? And it just, it was like, first of all, it's too many things all at once. You're overwhelmed because somebody else is going to see you with the camera recording you, and you're like, sort of embarrassed. Another thing is that you don't know what to say. You don't know how to basically script the video or format the video. These are all things I learned now. But in the beginning, it was just like, it was a mess. However, you know, a year goes by and I'm like, you know, I have to do this. I have to give it a try. You know, I have to take it serious if I want to be serious about it. I'm not going to get a thousand subscribers if I don't post any videos or if I don't try the efforts. So I went ahead and I did my first video. I started a whole new YouTube channel to start off from scratch, to make sure that, you know, hey, this is a brand new beginning. Let me go ahead and try to do so. And I started my first video. And my first video was titled How I Started My Cardio to the business at 18 years old. And one day, within 24 hours, I got 890 views. Where for me that was like, that was a lot. Because YouTube, you post a video, you can only get maybe 10, 20 videos. I mean, 20 views, if that's the case.

Just out of the box with new channel one video and you got 800. Good Lord.

Basically out of the box. Literally out of the box. I recorded a video and it did around 894, I remember the correct number and 24 hours and. And I had comments which was more important because people were like, hey, I'm rooting for you, or nice, keep it up things, positive comments. And it was like, wow. And for some reason, I don't know why, I had set my mind that I was going to receive a lot of hate, a lot of negative comments, a lot of negativity, and for some reason, I don't know why, and it was the complete opposite. So it was just like, I was super. It gave me more inspiration to keep going, to go ahead and maybe post another video. And I so happened to do, in the next three or four videos, I did one video where it wasn't more about me, it was more about the business. So it was like somebody in my scenario when I first started, you know, how can they start A car detailing business. And it was more of, like, the tools and products and equipment that they can go ahead and purchase. So maybe somebody doesn't know what a pressure washer is to wash a vehicle. So I'm like, hey, go out. You can go to these stores and buy a pressure washer.

You can.

You can go and buy these soaps that are meant to be only for car washes. So, of course, I was saying little things like, you know, you don't. You don't want to use your dishwashing soap for a vehicle because that's bad for your vehicle, but you want to use a dedicated car shampoo for things like that. And one video where I showed a couple of products and tools and equipment, like I said, where I went out, and instead of me being on camera and telling you, hey, you know, you want to purchase this, you want to purchase that, I went to the store, I recorded myself being at the store and picking up the items and saying, hey, you want to get this? And this costs X amount of money. And then you want to get this. And then these combined cost a total of this. And with this total, you'll be able to, you know, go ahead and start your journey. You know, you may not start off, you know, as professional as possible or right off the top, but that's not what we want right now. You know, you want to get experience right now and you want to see. You want to get a feel for it. This is for you. Or if you can work with, you know, with the little tools and products, and then later on, you can go ahead and purchase, you know, the big boy toys. And that video literally, like, skyrocketed and views right now. I want to say it's like 400,000 views. And that video is definitely like the. I wouldn't say the video that grew my channel to where it's at right now. I'm currently at 24,000 subscribers, and I'm always posting. So one thing I want to mention is that with YouTube, ever since then, I became consistent. Like anything in life, if you want to succeed, you want to be consistent and persistent. So I'm always consistent. I'm always trying to post there. Every Thursday, every Sunday, basically two with two videos a week. And I figure, or I thought of making, maybe even posting more videos on a weekly basis. But the fact of the matter is, the more you do things where you think about the number, the quantity goes down. So I'm like, you know, I put out quality videos in quantity.

How long are your videos?

Most of My videos tend to be anywhere from seven minutes to 10 minutes because I feel that's what, you know, viewers can go ahead and spend amount of time on their day to go ahead and watch your video. If you're posting 50 minute videos, one hour videos, a lot of people are not going to take a lot of the time to watch you or to include you and their day. So that's why my video said to me from 7 minutes to 10 minutes. However, my latest video, which was yesterday, I uploaded Yesterday, it was 38 minutes and so far it's doing pretty good. And that's the only reason I posted it so long because I collabed with a mentor in the car detailing industry. He has, he actually owns a car detailing line. Product, product line. And I guess he was in town for the weekend and he knows about me. He reached out to me the day before, which was, I believe I want to say, and he said, hey, I like what you're doing. I see you on YouTube all the time and I'm actually in town, you know, if you want to meet up, we, we can do so. And of course I took the opportunity. He actually came over to my house, which I'm super grateful for, and we made a video together on one of his products. But it was just the experience, you know, getting to meet him and getting to ask about his own products and you know, questions that anybody else watching on YouTube would be like, well, what about this? Can this product do this or where should we not use this product? I was asking a question like that and it was just a great experience. And the video was 38 minutes, but it was, I don't want to say it was on complete raw because there was some editing, of course, you know, we had to cut out some places where there was quietness and things like that. But overall it was a pretty raw video. It was like no script, you know, hey, let's go ahead and try to do it on this, work this product on this vehicle. Let's see the results. And I'm going to ask you all the tough questions.

Have you trained your assistants to be cameramen for you now? Basically, yes.

He's my, he's my friend and he's, he's literally my best friend who you always see me with. We've done a lot of things, a lot of things, the great things in our life with each other. We've always been there, right next to each other, whether it was big purchases or big decisions. But yes, definitely, he always helped me out with the camera. And now you have so much flexibility now with. You can just buy a tripod and you have a lot of gadgets where you just start going on there.

Yeah.

But, yeah, it definitely helps, you know, having somebody behind the camera just, you know, going ahead and saying, hey, go ahead, start or hold up, you know, something happened, let me do it again, and things like that. Just an extra hand, for sure.

Have you gotten feedback from being on the cnbc? I mean, from. From outside that people recognize you or.

Yes. So I've actually had a couple of customers where. Well, I've had both. I have customers who told me before they even booked a detailing service that they saw me on cnbc and that's why they were calling me out. And then they had other people who I go ahead, detail their vehicle, the appointment is finished. I tell them, hey, you want to come check out the vehicle? And they say, great, it looks amazing. And also, by the way, I saw your video on cnbc and it just. It's so funny. It's so funny to me. And also a great interaction of. This was a few weeks ago, I actually went to a detailing store where they sell sort of equipment and things like that as far as detailing, pressure washing. And I believe I went there because I had to replace, like, a hose. So I went there and I'm like, hey, I'm here to. I want to replace my hose. Can you guys install it for me? And the guy's like. He stood quiet for a second. He's like, wait, I know you. And it was like, you're Randy. And then what? Just a funny and great experience. It's just like, what? Like, you know me. Like, I don't even know you. And it's like, well, I saw you on. On. On CNBC. Like, keep @ it, guy.

Yeah.

Yeah. So it's like, wow, it's amazing.

You probably have people learning how to detail cars over in Kuwait, listening to your. Your videos.

No, definitely. I get on my. On my YouTube comments, I get a lot of people from all around the world telling me like, hey, I'm watching from. From this country and thank you because I service where I wash somebody's vehicle in exchange for money. And some just. Some are. Some are just hobbyists. Some just want to detail their vehicle. Well, thank you for. For what you're doing because you're teaching me about how to properly detail my car.

Well, thanks so much, Randy. This has been fantastic. I wish you the best.

Thank you, Larry, for having me on. It's truly a. A great experience. And like I said, even with this podcast, I, I'm learning how to speak and I'm just getting the real world experience.

Yeah, well, you're, you're moving up, and that's how you learn it, just by doing and jumping in and you're having fun with it, you know, and that's what people, you know, that speak that comes across when you're doing something you enjoy and you're not all worried about everything being perfect, you know?

Yes, definitely.

And so I think people enjoy hearing, you know, your story about getting started. And it speaks to people at all ages, but especially for millennials, you know, there's no reason to hold back. You did your planning and the time was right, and there's always a risk, but you never know until you make the jump, you know?

So, like with anything, there's always or risks. And you just have to have some sort of risk tolerance. For sure, there's some people who don't have any risk tolerance. So it all depends the kind of person you are. And maybe you're not that person. Maybe you can teach yourself how to be that person or, you know, work your way up to be that kind of person, to be able to take risks. But overall, the word risks exist for a reason, and you have to take risks. And in a business, when you're starting off, it's not going to be, you know, all rainbows. It's going to be, you know, you're going to have time for your struggle, but it's all part of the process and it's all part of life.

Well, that's a great final word to wrap this up on. So thanks so much, Randy. Appreciate it.

Thank you, Larry. And thank you for having me on again. And you have a great rest of your day.

All right, you too.

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