Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jasmine Gutierrez. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Jasmine thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

It was about 7 years ago my husband Kevin and I were looking for ways to bring in income. We were both eager to learn and work hard. We were also young parents so our drive and motivation was our son Eli. At that time in our lives we still were living with my husband’s parents home in a small garage that was converted into two rooms. We had a 94 Honda accord granted it was not in the best shape, but we definitely worked with what we got despite the challenges that came our way. We happen to be both inquiring for jobs on indeed. I came across a job that said “car detailing pays well hiring workers.” I told Kevin about it and he was always fascinated with automobiles and I have always had an open mind about things so I told him let’s check it out. We applied we got a call back they wanted an interview with us, but little did we know that our life was about to change. We took the drive to MissionViejo mind you we had no idea where Mission Viejo was at the time because we were coming from East Los Angeles so you can imagine when we got there we were both thinking “wow this was a drive lucky our car made it all the way here. As we get to our destination. What it looks like to be industrial office spaces. We get off the car knocked on the glass door it looked like no one was there it was completely dead except for one gentleman that opened the door and said you guys here for the car detailing interview. We both responded yes. As we walk in to this office there was no one else there so we were a little confused. He walks us to his office we sit down he starts to talk about the job description and what we would be doing. We asked him well instead of us working for someone else is there a possibility where we can buy the products for the car detailing and own our own business. He looks at us and tells us can you afford it? Never judge a books by its cover. We both looked at each other and said YES! As you can imagine we went for the opportunity that was given to us. As he started to tell us more details about the business side of things about the products and how it’s a waterless business helps maintain original paint on not only vehicles, but we’re talking about boats, jets, fleet trucks, RV’s, etc. We also needed to get properly trained to know how to use the right products when it comes down to detailing. Kevin and I were astonished and proud that we have a business to call our own at 23 and 24 years old. We went all in and took a huge risk investing in ourselves. After this amazing experience that we encountered we could not wait to share the news with our family. On the drive home we were on the freeway on the last lane that’s typically the fast lane Kevins driving. Mind you at the time we were speaking about how this business can potentially do for us and our family and how we can market our business when suddenly the hood to our 94 Honda had miraculously came loose completely took out the front windshield. It shattered completely I had screamed so hard I didn’t know what to do either to stay in my sit or to jump in the back I was in complete shock. Kevin quickly put the emergency lights on merged to the side of the fwy. Luckily Kevin always had his lethermen on him. He detaches the hood from the car and we had no other choice but to leave it there on the side of the fwy. Carefully driving home in the first lane with a shattered glass still attached to the car. Kevin and I are literally holding hands praying that we make it back home safely to our little one thinking that this front windshield can break at any given moment you can only imagine what we felt at this moment. I told Kevin we have angels with us because we safely made it all the way home. We looked at each other and reflected on the day we had despite the near death experience. We were both grateful that we took the chance to go all the way out there despite all odds because instead of coming back with a job having to work for someone we came back as entrepreneurs. To succeed, your desire for success must be greater than your fear of failure. What comes with success comes also failures a lot of trial and It was about 7 years ago my husband Kevin and I were looking for ways to bring in income. We were both eager to learn and work hard. We were also young parents so our drive and motivation was our son Eli. At that time in our lives we still were living with my husband’s parents home in a small garage that was converted into two rooms. We had a 94 Honda accord granted it was not in the best shape, but we definitely worked with what we got despite the challenges that came our way. We happen to be both inquiring for jobs on indeed. I came across a job that said “car detailing pays well hiring workers.” I told Kevin about it and he was always fascinated with automobiles and I have always had an open mind about things so I told him let’s check it out. We applied we got a call back they wanted an interview with us, but little did we know that our life was about to change. We took the drive to MissionViejo mind you we had no idea where Mission Viejo was at the time because we were coming from East Los Angeles so you can imagine when we got there we were both thinking “wow this was a drive lucky our car made it all the way here. As we get to our destination. What it looks like to be industrial office spaces. We get off the car knocked on the glass door it looked like no one was there it was completely dead except for one gentleman that opened the door and said you guys here for the car detailing interview. We both responded yes. As we walk in to this office there was no one else there so we were a little confused. He walks us to his office we sit down he starts to talk about the job description and what we would be doing. We asked him well instead of us working for someone else is there a possibility where we can buy the products for the car detailing and own our own business. He looks at us and tells us can you afford it? Never judge a books by its cover. We both looked at each other and said YES! As you can imagine we went for the opportunity that was given to us. As he started to tell us more details about the business side of things about the products and how it’s a waterless business helps maintain original paint on not only vehicles, but we’re talking about boats, jets, fleet trucks, RV’s, etc. We also needed to get properly trained to know how to use the right products when it comes down to detailing. Kevin and I were astonished and proud that we have a business to call our own at 23 and 24 years old. We went all in and took a huge risk investing in ourselves. After this amazing experience that we encountered we could not wait to share the news with our family. On the drive home we were on the freeway on the last lane that’s typically the fast lane Kevins driving. Mind you at the time we were speaking about how this business can potentially do for us and our family and how we can market our business when suddenly the hood to our 94 Honda had miraculously came loose completely took out the front windshield. It shattered completely I had screamed so hard I didn’t know what to do either to stay in my sit or to jump in the back I was in complete shock. Kevin quickly put the emergency lights on merged to the side of the fwy. Luckily Kevin always had his lethermen on him. He detaches the hood from the car and we had no other choice but to leave it there on the side of the fwy. Carefully driving home in the first lane with a shattered glass still attached to the car. Kevin and I are literally holding hands praying that we make it back home safely to our little one thinking that this front windshield can break at any given moment you can only imagine what we felt at this moment. I told Kevin we have angels with us because we safely made it all the way home. We looked at each other and reflected on the day we had despite the near death experience. We were both grateful that we took the chance to go all the way out there despite all odds because instead of coming back with a job having to work for someone we came back as entrepreneurs. To succeed, your desire for success must be greater than your fear of failure. In 2017 we started another business venture K & J’s Breakfast business. We’d wake up at 5 am make breakfast burritos in our kitchen and take them to locations where we had small accounts. This was another way to bring more income since we had just moved out and we were now on our own as a family of 4, Erik is our little one that keeps us balanced, but with a lot of trial and error. That venture didn’t last long I’d say 6 months due to us having to move again to the next city over. We still do jobs for our car detailing business, But as entrepreneurs we are always implementing new ways to create.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Being a American Latina with a humble heart I grew up always with the mindset of you have to work hard if you want it badly. I’m still young so I feel that i’m constantly evolving into the next best version of myself with much faith on my side I believe my purpose is to inspire those that need a reminder that they too can overcome anything as long as you look at the glass half full instead of half empty. I have been in the social media world for about a little over 7 years. I started in 2018. inspiring others through my style posts and beauty tips. I’d share if it was a quick get ready with me or a quick new hairstyle that i’d share with others. I always shared on my stories about how one should always inspire to be and not let others judge where you come from. I’ve learned through my life experience to embrace the trials and obstacles that one has faced in life becuase it doesn’t define who you are. You define the outcome by the choices you make after that you do the work to make youself the better version of yourself in the end. I also used my platform for freelance work for modeling I’ve been modeling since 2012. I’ve done fashion shows, Runway, print, collabrated photoshoots with photograghers, etc. after modeling I found myself joing a network marketing brand that at the time aligned with my niche which is all things beauty. The brand was call Monat modern nature a all vegan, non chemical, cruelty free hair and skin line. I did that for about 4 years and as much as i learned and love the products it ewas time to close that chapter for me. I still attend events to meet new like minded women in the creative field especially women that I could relate to on a personal level. Being a mom of three has a lot to do with routine and making sure I find balance in it all. I find that if you take care of yourself first your able to take care of those around you. To being a influence online and sharing my knowledge i also work in the medical field in the chidlrens aspect of things and I enjoy it. I have over 15+ years in customer service area and I still love it. being my own boss and having a boss has best of both worlds in my eyes. I get it others might see it differently and thats ok I’m a jack of all trades.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

It was this past year in 2023 I had to see where do I see myself in 5 years from now type of moment I had and it dawned on me. I was done working for network marketing and I was working part time for a childrens afterschool program. I felt it was good and all loved helping and inspiring our younger generation, but i needed more in where I can be a assset to a team long term and thats what made me pivot in the chidrens medical filed I still wanted to be very much around children just in a different setting and its been great so far. its never to late to change careers in life as long as your happy doing it. I was told by my husband one day “you can be someone that picks up trash for a living and loves doing it and it doesn’t feel like a job because you love it thats all that matters in the end versus someone making a great income but they come home not likng who they are.” and i couldn’t agree more with his analogy. people often don’t realize that a step in the right direction where you want to go is the first step your taking. We are all capable of change literally our brain has neurons that are used frequently develop stronger connections. Those that are rarely or never used eventually die. By developing new connections and pruning away weak oines, the brain can adapt to the changing environment. I like to keep in mind for motivation that most millionaires all started some where as well it just wasn’t handed to them. let ths be a sign for you that it is normal to pivit at any age in your journey.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Growing up I can say I saw and witnessed a lot of family truma I;’m the middle child of three from my moms second marriage. I have a half older sibling and when I was twelve my mom remarried after she divorced my father and then my mom gave birth to my younger sibling so in total there is five of us. My mom always having to work to provide for us and my dad as well worked, but enjoyed being out a bit more then being home with his family majority of the time growing up. they grew to resent one anoither and dislike each other so much from cheating, and abuse mentally and physically. We had a check point for vistiations on the weekend with my dad. I would hear my mother talk ill of my father at that time to her then husband. Now looking back at it it was not healthy hearing those things especially doing it in front of children. I’m a child at that time so I would tell my father and he would just tell me ignore it mija that non of your busniess don’t worry. In my head as a kid all i wanted was to have both of my parents to get along and talk to each other like other like aduts even if they were divorced I wanted to see some communication for us at least the children at the end of the day thats what was important. When that happened I felt like i had to grow uo even faster then my age. My mom relied on me so much for help with my younger sibling and I started working at fifthteen. I would help out with things they needed and i was young and kind hesrted i’d give in with gas money sometimes instesd of saving it I felt taken advatnage of or mistreated by my own mother the abuse of long lectures from my mothers husband were just the tip of the ice berg. Which I believe my mother gave him a bit to much authority with us if you ask me. I foucsed a lot in school and tuned out the noise. My Mother ended up moving us in with her then husband and it was a nightmare we slept on the floor while they both slept in a room. He lived with his parents at the time they were just as mean laying favoritism to there own blood and tresting us like if we were outisdrers. i was a kid i didnt know better one day i stole a phone from his Dad. I took it to school called my dad and told him what was going on and that I wanted to be with him. Granted the situation was bad how i handled it but being a child feeling like no one was listening to me not even my mother i felt like if i did this the attention will steer to me and it was a cry for help so i thought. later at school I made a false claim the school reported it. they had no choice in the matter because of the claim I made. they took me had to sesk with a social worker. later finally tge truth came out it was all false but the moral of the story is that not even my mother saw it as a act of love she saw it in her eyesi was starting problems and being problamatic in her eyes, in reality a little girl was just asking for a mom to get to know her daughter and stop foucsing on the wrong areas, but no she never got it middle school went by then high school I played sports while i worked durng the summer I paid for all my gear both softball and volleyball. throughout the years they were always moving us to be in someone elses home from the valley, to boyle hieghts, to having a fallout with my mom went to go move in with a bestfriend of mine in high school for a bit and then I moved in with my dad and his then wife and three kids a few months later I found out coming home one day from working at the election poll back in 2010 I was pregnant lets say “I had ate a bad lunch and it caught up to me when I stepped off the car” my dad asked me your ok? thinking to myself why did that just happen? sure enough I was baking in the oven. I told my boyfriend the same day I have unexpected news that nither of us were ready for. He was in disbelif because yes we talked about having kids, but not now well things happen for a reason for some aparent reason. this was ours we let each of our family know my dad cried, my mom said I was ruining my life, his parents weren’t to happy as well but oh well what are you going to do. So we decided to ride the ride. I moved in with him and his family they took me in. I didn’t know much spanish growing up you’d think both of my parents spoke spanish fluently but no one did not bother teaching us little kids to speak it. I had to learn which was one of the best things that happened moving in with them. They made me feel welcome granted I was the only women beside his mom in the house full of boy a change for me but I was grateful I had a home and I felt grounded woke up to always having breakfast that was never a normal thing my own mother would do another one is have dinner at a appropriate time in the evening and not at nine at night eating barley. I felt like god sent me a family that was a bit more structured and responisible. They taught me so much not just sanish how to speak up and its ok if you don’t like something. I was given a home to bring my baby into a family that needed me as much as Ineeded them with love. fast foward to now I have three amazing kids that i love and wouldn’t change them for the world. We eloped last year after 16 years of being together and its been a journey we both are loving and caring parents putting our kids first. I told myself god one thing i always prayed for was grant me a funny,loving,loyal,great human being, amazing father figure, someone who is grounded and family oriented and that loves kids as much as i do. Sure enough little did I know he was doing his work i got my prayer answered, but who knew it was going to be at the age of fourteen that i met him. Its been great so far healing from my family trauma making sure my kids don’t have to worry about certain things and them just being innocent godly kids. They are who has made me Rilsilent for overcoming and ending generational cycles. I might be the black sheep of the family and thats ok with me. I know I’m doing great and super proud of who I am today and who I continue to become.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greenhazejas/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@greenhazejas?si=3ZcNH4FSMMQvouf0
• Other: https://jasminelydiaaa.wordpress.com