Like many immigrants, this Mexican made his way through discipline and perseverance
When at 18, Jorge Campos emigrated from Mexico to Los Angeles, he had the dream of being the “Mexican Schwarzenegger”, but when he saw the vices that surrounded bodybuilding, he decided on sales, without imagining that one day he would have his own property company.
“I have always liked bodybuilding. I finished the high school in Mexico and I came to Los Angeles, because here is the best when you want to engage in that sport, ”he says.
However, the young immigrant from the city of Acuña in the border state of Coahuila, Mexico, found that if he wanted to succeed as a bodybuilder, he had to enter the consumption of anabolic steroids used by many athletes to quickly increase the muscles, to Change of health risks.
“I wanted to be a bodybuilder to stay healthy, but I didn't want to take steroids that would take my bill sooner,” he says.
He also became very discouraged when he discovered that as a bodybuilder he was not going to earn money. "There is not much where to stay," he explains.
So he abandoned his dream, but he did not return to Mexico as his parents would have wanted him to study in the university a traditional career of doctor, lawyer or engineer.
"I loved the city of Los Angeles. I realized that there were many opportunities here, and I decided to stay and dedicate myself to sales", account.
And it started from the bottom, at the beginning of the 90s. “I started selling footwear in fertilizers, door to door in the San Fernando Valley. I sold and charged, ”he says.
His parents had no choice but to accept the child's decision. “My father is a teacher, founder of Cebatis – a government high school in Mexico. He as a father worried that his children were about something safe with university studies, and I understand now that I am a father. At that time being an entrepreneur was not something appreciated in Mexico, ”he says.
But Jorge resisted following the wishes of his father. He earned more from the sale of footwear from house to house than his engineer friends in Mexico. So he followed and did well.
So much so that years later he opened his own furniture store in Arleta, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. Thus, several years passed before a client who appeared in her business, changed her business.
“One day it was a lady to buy me furniture. The account was for $ 4,000. I warned him that I could not sell him in fertilizers. She told me she was going to pay me in cash, ”he recalls.
Surprised, the immigrant asked him what he worked for. "She replied that she was in the area of loans for the purchase of houses."
Even more curious, he returned to the attack with more questions. “Where can I learn that career. I teach you, he told me. ”
From the hand of the unknown client, Jorge began the career in Real Estate. He sold the furniture and got into it. “I became a broker for home loans, ”he says.
14 years ago he created his own real estate company through a Century 21 Plaza franchise, and settled in the city of Granada Hills, a residential community of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles.
He invited his brothers Óscar and Enrique, who lived in other states of the American Union to participate.
"We join forces and associate," he says.
Currently, among Real Estate agents and office staff, they have 112 employees.
When counting his more than three decades of immigrant, Jorge believes that his success is due to the discipline, perseverance and motivation.
Of course there have been bad days in which they wanted to throw in the towel. “What I do these days is not to throw a lot of head because there are times when the mind plays very ugly tricks to demoralize us. I work as a robot, without thinking much until the bad thoughts leave, ”he says.
And he acknowledges that it has helped him a lot to read about the lives of people who have achieved success in business. “When you read, you realize that they went through the same thing, and that it is normal to have those moments of doubt or pessimism. They started and have gone through the same thing, ”he says.
Jorge obtained United States residence in 1993 and citizenship in 2012. “I entered with a tourist visa, and it was uncomfortable to be without papers because you cannot get the jobs you want, but I always knew that I wanted to excel and not stay where it was. Residence and citizenship made me feel more secure, ”he says.
To the degree that five years ago, he founded a chain of healthy juice establishments through various sites in Los Angeles. “We put Movita Juice Bar. We have ten stores, and we sell juices, fruit smoothies and acai-bowls. Everything is with fresh and organic fruit because we want to contribute to the health of the angels. That business is going to grow a lot, ”he forecasts.
And creating this healthy juice business is an answer to his passion for health that he has not forgotten despite not having been a bodybuilder.
To succeed, this Mexican immigrant recommends other immigrants to get together with people who have already gone ahead and follow their path. "They are people who can give them direction where they are going," he says.
He says that sometimes people get discouraged from a business because there are already many, but if changes are made they can succeed. "Many times, one has in mind to go in a certain direction, but on the way you realize that you have to make adjustments to your initial project, and there is the business," he says.
Jorge is confident that his greatest happiness has been to achieve a balance between his family life and work.
“It would do me no good to succeed in my business, if my children, my wife, my brothers and my parents were not well. So the key that makes me feel very satisfied and happy, is that balance, because economic is not everything", He says.
