Part One Of Our Story: Building A Business From The Ground Up, Ep #009

Part One Of Our Story: Building A Business From The Ground Up, Ep #009


So many of you have asked for more details on how the two of us got started, so we are dedicating the next two episodes to our story—and how we built our business from the ground up. We’re gonna share more about our history, how we met, and the hustle it took to get our business rolling. You’ll definitely want to tune in and listen to this episode of Both on Board!

Highlights From Our Conversation

  • [1:00] Ray’s Story
  • [7:54] Christy’s Story
  • [12:50] Our ‘Date with Destiny’ trip to Australia
  • [16:25] We started working together in November 2011
  • [18:26] Season 1 of Christy and Ray: challenges and wins
  • [23:18] Biggest win, biggest pain, and the biggest lesson learned
  • [27:00] Investing in an office and creating separation between work and home
  • [34:00] Using personality tests to start to separate responsibilities
  • [37:30] Getting our financials in order

Ray’s roots in life and business

I was born and raised in Miami, a true Florida boy. I was recruited to work in GE right out of college and found myself in Connecticut where I saw snow for the first time in my life. Every 6 months of working there I was shuffled into a new role, which constantly kept me on my toes and learning. During this time I saved as much as possible, and also invested in my first real estate deal—where I ended up losing $60,000. Despite this setback, I stuck with real estate and even connected with my first partner in the business. Continue listening as we talk about my move back to Miami and how I earned enough money to retire for two years when I met and started dating Christy.

Christy’s story of life and personal development

I had what I considered the perfect life for someone in their early 20’s. I was a Psychology major in college and after I graduated I started working as a 4th-grade teacher. I made enough money to support myself and was perfectly happy. When Ray and I met and first started dating, I 100% thought he was living off of family money. When I realized everything he had was earned through hard work and grit, I took notice. He gave me Tony Robbins Personal Power CD’s and he didn’t push me to listen to them, simply encouraged me. I took the initiative and listened, and got hooked—completely opening up my world to the idea of personal development.

Personal Development as a catalyst in our relationship

Ray and I began attending personal development conferences together and I dove into multi-level marketing while still teaching. For anyone looking to get started as an entrepreneur I highly recommend this as a springboard into the industry. It allows you the opportunity to build something from the ground up while gaining first-hand experience. It’s hard work, but it can be so rewarding on a personal and business level.

In 2011, Ray and I took a huge leap of faith and traveled to Australia together for 21 days to attend a Tony Robbins ‘Date with Destiny’ seminar. During this time, it dawned on me that I no longer wanted to teach. The entrepreneurial spirit had taken over, and I knew I couldn’t keep splitting my life between teaching and building a business. People thought we were crazy. But this is where we truly started living life on our own terms. Keep listening as we talk about how we could afford 3 weeks in Australia and how it catapulted change in our lives.

Building a business where you are both on board

There are moments in your life where you have a realization, one where there is no turning back to the way things were before. Experiences that are life-altering. In 2011, I moved into Ray’s apartment where we began building and working on our business for the next two years. There were times where we wouldn’t see our cars for weeks straight and spent the majority of our time in front of our computers. We would send out offers on hundreds of bank-owned properties, and would maybe get an offer accepted on one.

Everything changed when we made almost $40,000 on a deal that we had invested in.

We realized that we didn’t have to settle for small paychecks anymore. We also realized it was time to invest in an office space and building some separation between personal life and work life. We paid more rent for this office space then we did for our apartment. But it was the best investment we could’ve made because it forced us to play a bigger game and hustle on a higher level. Listen to the rest of the episode as we talk about our heart behind our work and how we learned what was or wasn’t working–and how to fix it.

Resources & People Mentioned

Connect With Ramon and Christy

Subscribe to Both on Board
on Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, RadioPublic, Google Podcasts, Spotify