If at age 9 someone had told me "Ramon at 23 you are going to be interested in intellectual things and you are going to have a drive for reading and learning but you are also going to be broke" I would have laughed and said "yea right I'm going to be playing video games all day because I hate reading" and I would have shrugged off the being broke comment, but now that I think about it, maybe I didn't hate reading maybe I was just never introduced to a topic of my interest and that just captured my mind.
Now at 23 I think back as far as I can remember, and now I realize that I had always been that quiet conservative kid spending my time trading and collecting Yu-gi-oh cards and playing Pokémon on my Gameboy Color, you know all the things the popular kids thought were lame. There are so many people in the world, that I’m sure some of you if not most, can relate to that feeling of not fitting in at one time or another or what’s worst when you get older and you get that feeling that no matter how hard you try you just can’t get your shit together, but believe me if you sit down and expand your knowledge and you put that knowledge to use you will become unstoppable.
I was born in Tijuana and came to the United States with my parents at the age 3 .While growing up in the states I had no idea what an illegal alien was or what a green card was ,but even though I didn't know exactly what it was or that I needed it, when I heard kids in 3rd grade talking and joking about it, it made me feel weird because it still sounded like an anomaly this was back around 2003.It was when I got to high school that everything hit me. I soon realized that I was at a disadvantage and that when I left high school, I would not be able to get a job, go to college or even get driver’s license. My world was shot, here I was at 18, and I already had barriers keeping me from progressing.
Then in 2012 Obama came into the picture. Love him or hate him I don't care but with the DACA program that he set up I finally had small path to hang on to, but even with DACA I’m not out of the water, you see to even qualify for DACA you need to have a completely clean record with the law and when I say completely clean I mean it. One DUI one mess up and you are out. On top of that, this is something that must be renewed every 2 years and you must pay around $500 to the department of homeland security to even get considered, so what happens if you don't renew your DACA permit? You guessed it, your out.
When you reapply, there is also the fear of being denied which is just as bad. With DACA you don't qualify for ANY government assistance and it does not offer the path to citizenship. Not that I like handouts but just thought I would make that clear. With DACA I was able to get a SSN and finally get a driver license and I was able to slowly start treading forward.
My parents of course would have preferred that I go to school and the fact that I have not gone back disappoints my father, but you must follow your passion its almost 2018 there are now new platforms on which we can build on without going to school. Don’t get me wrong if you have the passion and the drive and you know what you want and the only way to get there is school then by all means go kill it but for a lot of us it’s just not that simple. I’ve always felt bad for letting my dad down, but I know I will make It up to him tenfold.
At the age of 18 I found my first job at a call center that focused on verifying information with utility companies, at the time I felt lost mentally I had no drive and no thought of the future, my focus was to help my parents as much as I could, I thought the best and only way to do that was with hard work alone and man was I wrong.
I left that job about 6 months in, leaving with little knowledge on customer service. A few weeks later I managed to pick up a better job working for a Google Call center which paid better but after about 2 years, I had had enough of management and the call center environment, so I decided to venture onto other opportunities.
One thing that I am thankful for is that from that job, I picked up an amazing customer service skill set I learned the importance of empathy, tone and just skills that you can also use to your advantage in your everyday life if applied strategically. After doing some searching I had found what I thought would be the perfect job at the age 22.
I had landed a Job at a Bank of America contact center making $19 an hour I thought I had it made. What I did not expect was that I was going to end up passionately hating the job. I found out the hard way that when it comes to banking, people will almost always be upset and being able to see people’s financial situations was just depressing. I would see accounts with as little as 35 cents in them and it made me realize the struggle that people go through daily.
Around this time, I also started looking heavily into YouTube. I noticed that there were people making money on that platform and I wanted in. I launched a channel with my girlfriend, but the channel did not have a direct path and we were not as passionate as we would have wanted to be. During this time however, I did as much research as I possibly trying to expand my knowledge on photo and video editing, coding, self-awareness, software development, marketing and many other skills of my personal interest I also started discovering some very positive influential people among the few were Elon Musk, Gary Vaynerchuk, Jeff Bezos and lots of Ted Talks they all provided me with valuable knowledge and they're overall intention is just to see people succeed.
All this new information I was picking up was rewiring my thought process and I didn’t even know it. Finally, I had a direction, I did not know what that direction was, but somehow, I did not feel as lost as before.
These people all provide value to me by dropping what they like to call gold nuggets of knowledge.
I'm still learning how to put together and how to use these gold nuggets but trust me it will all come full circle for me. I found out that there is a formula to making great content and one of the ingredients is emotion.
3 months later I left the bank, management was great, and it was a great company, but I was just not passionate about what I did there. Customers negativity started impacting me outside of work it seemed like I was always in a bed mood and it was just eating at me and I just couldn't do it anymore.
I quit the bank and then came the downward spiral. The following 4 months after leaving the job sucked. I had told myself that I was done with call centers, but I had the hardest time finding a job after the bank. I eventually fell back on a pizza delivery job and although the job was not the best I felt free and I was happy, but I soon realized the pay was just not enough.
Due to low pay, bills started piling up and I dug myself deeper and deeper in the financial hole. After that my love life started suffering and I was becoming a burden I knew I had to come up with something soon.
Fast Forward to today here I am in the Steemit community with more drive and vision then I have ever felt before.
The key in my case was self-awareness and really sitting down and engraving in my head that everyone has great ideas but it’s those who action them who succeed. It sounds like common sense, but common sense is not that common anymore.
Today I work for the one and only Tesla Motors where I can officially say I have a passion for what I do. Seeing what the company is doing amazes me, they are really transforming the planet one step at a time and here in the Tesla environment is where I found my passion. Thanks to this environment I was able to pinpoint that I do care about people and how we live, and I want to also help improve lives. I also became aware that there is nothing worst then ignorance especially with a super computer at your fingertips.
So, to wrap it all up I’m here, and I’m here to stay and to succeed. I will try to make sure that any content that is put out is always good quality and I will always try to add a little value to your life, my goal is to leave you with something to think about something that is going to resonate so hard in the back of your brain that you will want to take action not matter what your goal is. The content I will be focusing on will gravitate around innovative technology ranging from AI to Cryptocurrency all the way to talking about Space X putting people on Mars. I have also launched a new channel on YouTube called INNOTECH where I will also be making videos regarding that content so look out for what’s coming!
That is amazing man. I wish you all the luck in the world but I know you don't need it already because you have the FIRE in your belly :-D
Re-Steemed and upvoted of course!
Thank you man I really appreciate it!
There are few people who have change the history of the world, in the beginning they are nobody but when they became somebody they have change things what actually they are. They have passion to create a lot from nothing. Thanks for sharing incredible story of the time.
The way you explained it is exactly how I have it in the back of my head,and just reading it gave me chills.
Thanks for appreciating.. @innotech
surprised by the high amount of money that is generated with a post and I am encouraging to make you want with steemit
happy that you found your passion man. im sure you'll fit here in this community like a glove! i read your posts and they're great! i cant wait to read part 2 of the Area 51 adventures post! :) see you around! and hey you just got yourself a new follower! :)
Dude you just made my damn morning with this comment. Thank you so much
Its my pleasure man! Thank you for sharing your life story with us its such a good read! See you on the flip side bro! 😀
Damn man. I was just about to go to bed and i seen this post and ended up reading the entire thing. Your story is amazing man and hopefully one day you can create your own big thing. I like what dr.dre did and how he became bigger than himself. Where he became a big artist himself and had a skill set and then find people with the potential to be like him and then teach them the skills and then put them infront of his audience and from that they woukd blow up with the likes of eminem, snoop dog, 50 cent , etc and then takes that network of people and puts it on a pair of headphones which became his billion dollar exit. But wow its great to see you doing well. Keep it up man. I also resteemed to share your story because its awesome
Thank you for taking the time for one reading my story and two for writing such a thoughtful comment. Just remember you can do it too brother and once you realize that, your whole prospective changes.
That's a really great story man, always keep it up and follow your dreams.
Welcome on Steemit, waiting to see more about you in the next post.
wow thank you! Its these type of comments that motivate me to try to create the best content that I possibly can.
Keep moving forward, you sound like you are finally on the right path. Happiness and money can coexist. Best of luck to you.
I think you are absolutely right, money and happiness can coexist we just need to search for that balance and make sure we don't get lost in the journey.
The struggle is real man. I'm glad you've found something you're passionate about. I feel like I am where you were before you left the bank. I'm at an ok job and I can survive but I'm not doing something I am passionate about.
Trying to make that change now, but it's slow going.
Thanks for posting, can't wait for more inspiring content from you.
Hey brother thanks for the comment, one thing that really helped me was I started focusing on some of my strengths. If you have 5 min free in your day today, I suggest going to YouTube and just listening to anything by Gary Vaynerchuk even if its a 3 min video. I'm not one to push content on people but Gary Vaynerchuk spits free real knowledge man.The information is there it's just up to us to catch it and action it while everyone else is going through life at a 9-5 job like a zombie or absolutely hating working where they are. Just remember this man "Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune."
You have an amazing story and a 'never give up spirit'. Since you work at TESLA, how often do you see Elon musk? What qualities do you think he posses that has contributed to his success in business?
Anyway check out my blog to see a post a wrote about Elon musk. He is a mentor from afar.
Hey Brian thanks for the positive comments. Honestly man Elon is so busy that I personally have not had the chance to meet him, but what I always get a kick out of is the fact that he's in my email list for work and I could literally send him a message whenever I want lol. One day I will try it to see if he replies hahaha
Yeah I heard he replies mail. I read that from his biography.
Are you on discord or whatsapp?
This Awesome Post
Thank you man
awesome post ..bro
no one is illegal we all have infinte value! all those wars are actually fake anyways its just douchebag billionaires who are bored so they like 2 play war games with other beings that dont even realise there being manipulated by from behind the scenes. kinda funny honestly
u know whats funny shit is we are already on mars been there 4 years course they not gunna tell u that ITS CLASSIFIED DUH fuck classifed shit thats buncha nonsense! i mean dont get me wrong i dont think anyone should be building nukes though . its funny i remeber when i was in high school my history teacher told us if u figure out how 2 build a mini nuclear reactor if the a certain group finds out they might come steal it from u. explains why zero point devices aren't everywhere yet LOL