Welcome back to the show—my fellow Extraordinary Americans. For today’s guest: We have Julio Barreto Junior. 

Julio is an entrepreneur, CEO, mindset coach, keynote, and motivational speaker. He’s the CEO of Barreto Real Estate and Development Corp., LLC, and Barreto Construction Services LLC. Julio became an entrepreneur later in life after reinventing himself following his latest about with the chronic illness. 

Originally from the Bronx, he spent most of his professional career in politics, starting in Hispanic-related civil rights advocacy and then representing local governments in various areas, culminating in a focus on housing and community development. 

His areas of expertise include, but are not limited to, civil rights, immigration, crime, policing, education, economic development, and housing. He currently works with a developer in West Baltimore, helping individuals and families become first-time home buyers and guiding newer novice real estate investors. Recently became certified as a fireman instructor and is committed to assisting individuals and families in learning how to protect themselves, including firearms for self-defence. 

Julio is what I would call an extraordinary American, and I’m honored to have him on the show. Julio, are you there?

Yes, sir, I am. How are you? It’s great to be here. I appreciate the opportunity.

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this with me, Julio. I’m honored to have you on the show.

Thank you. Thank you. You’re being kind.

So, Julio, I know that you’re an entrepreneur. You’re a CEO, and you have been in the political arena. Can you tell? I want to tell the audience more about you, your background, and how you started.

Sure, sure. Sure. I am a native of the Bronx. My folks are from Puerto Rico—an interesting story about my parents. My dad came to New York from Puerto Rico to meet his dad. He was like my grandparents when my paternal grandparents separated from my dad at age 2. I came up here and met my mother. Three months later, they got married. Seventy-four years later, they are still married. It was a great story, so I grew up in the Bronx. 

I’m a New Yorker through and through, went through a Catholic high school, and was educated from the 4th grade on. And after high school, I realized I needed to. If I wanted to find myself, I had to leave New York. And I’m an individual. I’m not. Even though I try to plan things when I look back at my life, there were certainly just circumstances that sort of happened that were blessings in disguise.

So, I was a C student all my life. I realized later in life that I love to learn. I just did not like school. And so, when it came to college, my criteria were simple. The first school that accepted me, which was the furthest away, was the one I was going to.

So, I ended up outside of Rochester, NY, at a Brockport State school. Right. I didn’t know what I wanted to study. I knew part of my mission and my purpose in life. It was to help people. I studied social work and decided to get a master’s degree outside of Philadelphia. I was pursuing two master’s degrees. Between the two masters, I decided I wanted to be a writer, and then they came down to DC to get an internship, which got me into politics. Eventually, it got me into politics. And then, in my life, it has been the same since.

Well, so, Julio? You know, like the motivational factor, the journey that took you from high school to politics and also from there into entrepreneurship, if you could tell the audience a little bit more about that journey.

You know, I think so. I thought I would be a football player, but I wasn’t as talented or confident as I needed to be to maximize my talents. But through my experiences in high school, I realized that my purpose in life was to help people. 

Again, I thought I needed to get away from New York, so getting away from New York gave me a chance to grow up and learn how to take care of myself; while I was in college, I was active as a student, one of my passions is to believe that people should be treated fairly. I have to agree or disagree with what you believe or do. But as long as you treat me fairly, I’m okay with the life that you want to live.

And so I became very active in student government. I started a student group called the Association of Latin American Students at Bronx Board as an opportunity for Latin American students to merge. And, you know, learn how to deal with being away in college; for me, it was a grouping of projects in the Bronx. So, going away to college was a big deal. Interacting with working-class and working-poor families is something I do a lot. That was the environment I grew up in. 

All of a sudden, middle-class and other higher-income individuals. It was a learning adjustment. When I went down to study social work, I knew I didn’t want to get a job immediately. Out of college, I wasn’t ready. 

I went to Brenmar College. I never wanted to study law, and with social policy, I somehow didn’t want to go to law school for either of those again. Academically, I’m not a very good test taker. After the first masters, they could. They won’t. They couldn’t tell me what social workers did in a way that made sense to me, and just out of the blue, I decided I wanted to be a writer and came down to Washington. I was on the road to pursue a career in journalism in California.

But I was dating a young lady for about six months then. And I knew if I left, the relationship would go nowhere, so I stuck around, got this policy job doing Hispanic civil rights advocacy, and she and I will celebrate 40 years next year. But my introduction to politics was, 

Congratulations

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

That was a pivotal moment.

It was a pillar decision. There is no doubt about it and the government that hired me. And it is with the Hispanic civil rights group. To this day, he’s the only individual who, when I met him as he walked away, said I had to get to know him.

He was my political mentor, and my introduction to politics was the last time the country passed an immigration bill. Working with him helped him get that bill passed. So, I got introduced to politics at very high levels, and then I spent about 25 years doing civil rights work and had a chance to go to Cuba. And I’ve been blessed with the tremendous opportunity to play at a young age. 

Then, she represented the local government. In the course of all that, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, which is a chronic intestinal illness. So, I’ve had about. I’ve had three surgeries. I’ve lost about 30 inches of my intestines, and it’s been one of the biggest blessings of my life. 

And so, the last job. I had. It was let go primarily for health-related reasons, so I had to do something, and that’s when I met a gentleman, got involved in real estate, and things kind of snowballed from there. And then, because of my involvement, some of the areas we work with in Baltimore are not the safest in the world. So that’s when I decided to take advantage of my interest in firearms and get a concealed carry permit, and I just realized that. I have a passion for teaching. 

And there are a lot of people who want to learn how to use firearms responsibly. But I got myself certified. I’m now transitioning into teaching people how to be aware of their environments, that they’re in a situation with, for example, a mass shooter situation, and that they know how to act and respond. And he can protect himself.

So, Julia, this is one question I would want to ask you because you’ve been into politics, and you’ve also been into real estate, and many people go into politics.

And so, they start with ideals, right? Then, they realize how human nature works, go into real estate development, and see the world’s shady side. So, my question to you is, what is the biggest lesson of human nature you have learned over all your years of being in all these arenas?

You know, I am often thinking of advice that a mentor gave. And he said, Julio, remember that we are children in adult bodies. People as children in adult bodies. And at the end of the day, what the children want, they want their way.

And so, you have to understand that as a foundation for working with people. Right now, I believe we live in the greatest country in the world. Yeah. You know, I think that we’re a country that went from enslaving people—to electing a gentleman whose ancestors were enslaved. You know, and that’s pretty powerful, right? You don’t say you have to get the politics. That’s pretty powerful. 

And so I think that people. When dealing with people, you must understand that they want their way sometimes.

Again, as children, you have to guide them along to help them understand how they can get their way. However, they must understand that certain responsibilities come with wanting to get their way.

So, in politics, people are quick to speak about their rights. But they are… They don’t want to take the time to understand the responsibility that comes with these rights. If you don’t have responsibility, lights mean nothing, and you’ll lose your rights. I am in this whole political environment. 

I used to have trouble saying this, so I used to travel throughout the country. I would tell people if you’re frustrated. With what you see in Washington, you need to look in the mirror because the craziness in Washington reflects the craziness of the person you see in the mirrors.

Because we voted on them, we put them in there. Now, you might. Say, well, I didn’t vote for that crazy. No, you vote for the other crazy. Right, each pointing fingers at each other. And until people are willing to change, which is the key to any success, you have to be willing to go outside your box. You’re not going to see anything different happen in Washington. And because people aren’t responsible, what happens when you don’t teach responsibilities to a child?

They become irresponsible adults. And I think in the political arena, you’re seeing irresponsible adults. On both sides of the aisle, Republican-Democrat, Liberal, Conservative, it’s irresponsibility. It’s very bipartisan. There was a time I was introduced to politics during the Ronald Reagan years, and Democrats and Republicans each understood the big picture. Which is what we call America, the United States of America. And they always keep the big picture in mind. And they always knew when to sacrifice themselves for the big picture. Nowadays, people don’t want to sacrifice themselves for the big picture because they feel like a child. I deserve this. I want to watch you have it, but I can’t. You know, it’s those dynamics that come into play.

Consequently, you have these classes that seem impossible. And everybody wants the adult in the room to stand up. Unfortunately, the adults in the room are the bigger bullies than everybody else. That makes sense.

No, it’s it; if you put it in that perspective, everything makes complete sense.

So consequently, you know, again, I think that everybody wants their way. And what’s interesting is, I forget the guy’s name who wrote this, but it’s Psychology Today. It’s in the psychology of money. I think it’s more than useful or something like that one thing he talked about, which I thought was very interesting. He says that it comes out of World War 2. There were only three television stations. And with the advent of credit, he had people who would live before World War 2. 

Everybody lived within their means because they were wealthy and wealthy. If you were poor but you lived within your means. After World War 2, with the advent of credit and the site that only had three television stations, People were living a lifestyle above their means. And that, over time, got to the point where I felt that I should have the same lifestyle. As someone rich, even though I can’t afford that lifestyle,

I am keeping it up with yours.

And once that, left, keeps up with the Joneses, the child emerges once that lifestyle is no longer attainable. I need that. Why can’t I have you give me this? You know? So, we’ve lost the sense of working towards something and sacrificing now for the long term and being willing to accept that maybe there are things that are a little bit outside of our reach right now that will take much longer than we hope it does. And then kind of go through those scars and make it happen.

Juli0, you bring up a lot of interesting and good points here. And then, yeah, like this concept, I think many people are looking for a quick fix for the country. But what we should be looking at is, as you said, looking into the mirror. 

I Remember this comedian I used to watch a lot. His name was George Carlin, and he did it this way: every four years, people are voting for these things, and then he was like, where do these politicians come from? They don’t come from the sky. They don’t come from another dimension. They simply come from American homes and American families.

So, like, they rise from that. So, if we, as a nation, are selfish and self-centered, our childlike politicians will end up. I was that way for some time. So, I guess the solution is, I think, a long-term grassroots solution where we change culture and society. And then overall, but like every but. Ultimately, people are looking for a quick Fix.

But that’s no. I think you’re right. And just to put it aside, George Carlin attended my high school before me. He ended up leaving, and he always regrets it. But Colonel Hayes High School is in the Bronx. But I think, to your point, I think that. I think sometimes we’re trying so hard to use a baseball analogy. We’re trying to hit a Grand Slam so hard that we’re not hitting singles. 

And so I think we often hear this notion about young people, and certainly people my age. I think every generation does. These young people don’t understand. Young people don’t understand where they’re just being; they’re replicating what they’re taught. In the home. Right.

So I think that if everyone started with their own families. Their children are their grandchildren and start to impart wisdom. And let it sink in. Eventually, it is all going to connect. I remember a friend of mine who lived in Dallas at the time. He was raising three girls, and he was very frustrated. At the time, they were all teenagers. And he had a friend sit him down, and she said, Listen, Ron. He says they heard you. You have to keep telling them they hear you.

They just don’t want to acknowledge it to you. He says it’ll register, and you’ll see. And sure enough, years later, he could see that it had all been registered. And I think that my pastor once commented, saying, grandparents, you need to be involved in your grandchildren’s lives. Because, as a parent, you’re so concerned about raising your child, sometimes you don’t. You don’t love them enough. You love them but don’t show it enough because you’re concerned about being a parent. 

And you’re so concerned about making sure that they have food that protects it, you know, and you worry that when you become a grandparent, you realize there were things you worried about as a parent that simply weren’t important. You know, where those toys are all over, at the end of the day, you want a need house. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter, right?

You want your kids to grow very confident. You want them to. Feel good about themselves and let the natural talent kind of take care of itself. But the thing about being a grandparent is that you know. And you have to impart that knowledge. To your grandchildren, I take it back. You have experience. As a parent, you know, but you don’t have the kind of experience and lessons from those experiences that you can pass on. You kind of limit what you do.

And I think the more we input and pass on that knowledge and experience, the more we concentrate on ensuring we care for ourselves. Eventually, it bubbles out because people will see each of them, and it’ll build out from there. I saw, so I’ll give you an example of transitioning into entrepreneurship. I didn’t. I began learning about entrepreneurship one time. Years ago, I became an Amway distributor and read a book by Robert Kiyosaki called Rich Dad. Poor dad. But it was also…

Rich dad. Poor dad.

It was a book. We just forget right down the business of the 21st century. We talked about network marketing. It’s a business, and suddenly, my mind started thinking differently. Then, I read the cash flow quadrant. And so now, when I look at things, when I look at finances and even politics, I look at them through the lens of the cash flow quadrant, with its underpinnings. 

You know, with kids in adult bodies. And I’m able to see things differently than I did before. I can understand things, but even as my faith has increased, I don’t get as caught up in politics as I asked. God, what’s the lesson he wants me to learn, and usually it’s outside the box? I’m not very popular with some people. Because I think outside the box, I’ve always been that way. Right.

And so now I take that, and so I learn and be. I don’t necessarily have to be someone’s option in the world. 

So I learned that I enjoyed it and learned about how we are. Not just talk about how money is made but also our misconceptions about money. And about even the role that the government plays for money. I just finished reading the book from the Rich Dad series called Tax Wells Tax Flows Strategy. I think, off the top of my head, I can probably move my computer and get the title of it. One of the things that I said was, and also one of the bellwether audios, that Andrea. Getting her last name is because the government wants you to take advantage of all of these. Tax benefits. You know, because it’s all good. Entrepreneurs founded our country.

And so, the tax structure favors entrepreneurs, and people don’t know this. And one of the things that Andrea said. That shocked me, but she said if you have a W2 job, you’re earning $30,000 or more yearly. It would be best if you had a side. Whatever that side business may be, the taxes will kill you. Right. So now I’m teaching my wife, and I’m teaching our granddaughters. Let’s think this way now.

So, think about assets; they don’t. We got them to Kiyosaki games. My middle granddaughter makes beats. I have one of the beads on right now, and she tells me they call me to stop. She was just sauce. I’m going to make you these beats. It’s going to cost you this much money. I get no breaks as a grandfather, right? He charges me for the beans. Right. And she had this idea about doing something else and said, Well, I have to charge them $5 per item. 

And I said, why? That’s a little thing there, she said. My time is valuable. She is nine years old. Right. So, when you start changing, We will start imparting that experience and wisdom you have. And get it to the next generation. I think that’s when you start seeing, you know, seeing things change, you know, so you do those things. You know you do those little things individually, and eventually, it’s the power of one. I tell you, the power of 1, You can’t get to 2, which I have started at one. 

One leads to two, and two to three, you know, and it just. Kind of, you know, moves from there.

I love how you put together the structure and all of this together because it’s true, and I want to let you know that I have also read that book, Cash Report. And I realized that you’re divided into entrepreneurs, businesspeople, and investors on one side. 

And then you have the self-employed and the working class on the other side. And yeah, the. The tax system is designed to support the people doing business together. And here’s the thing, right? Instead of looking to politicians, if we as Americans started investing in ourselves and our financial education, and basically, we followed a system of respecting each other despite their opposing views, it would automatically create massive change, but it has to be done on a grassroots level, right? 

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it has to be done on an individual basis inside the home. And then it builds out from there, regardless of how your home starts; it has to be built out for that. It’s also important that I’m now at the age where I have enough experience to pass some of that wisdom on. 

So when I came to those political ranks, there weren’t many people who looked like me, who I could turn to and say, Oh, I see myself in you, if you will. I have people helping me along the way.

And maybe there were more people there than? I thought there were, but. But maybe this wasn’t mature enough to understand, but I know I am now in a position where people may look like me or come from the same background. 

Then, I can relate to what their experiences are, and I can at least share the knowledge that I have. You know, my experiences over the years to kind of make it a little easier for them, and, certainly, you know, my son sent me a text one time, and he said, Dad, now I understand why you did all the stuff that you do because he’s worked for American Express. Because I’m dealing with all kinds of people.

And now I understand why you did everything you did because now I’m. I feel like I’m prepared. To be able to handle all these different people. You know my, my, the, the stuff in Baltimore that I work with, he says, if the net will stand still for a second, who will talk to it because I have no problem talking to people. And if it goes back to. I think one of the points you made earlier is that, you know, I think that I think again, going back to the notion about being children in real estate, I see this all the time.

And you made a point about education. People don’t want to invest in their education, or they look at it as an expense. As opposed to an investment, and you know, I find people in real estate. I want to make money in real estate, but I have no money. OK. How do you expect to make the amounts? They’re waiting to purchase properties with money down, but I just don’t like talking to people. 

That’s the first thing they say out of their mouth. I prefer telling people I don’t have much money but want to invest in real estate. How can I go about doing that? At least they understand that there is a necessary investment. 

And you have to invest in yourself. Self-education is the most important investment that you can make. And then you invest in others. Then, the combination of the two, as it is applied to the thing that you want to apply it to, will create the fuel that will allow you to accomplish what you want.

That is what extruding America is aspiring to do because I know that, you know, like politicians that like to comment, like they’ll promise you stuff, and then I’m going to do anything. 

So, we have to invest in our education, and we have to invest in our understanding. And, like, we have to come from a higher state of consciousness while interacting with others. And that’s how. The ripple effect happens, right? We invest in ourselves; then, we invest in the people around us. 

And then all of a sudden, like a subtle change, happens from the ground up, and then it happens, but it’s like it’s not a quick fix; it’s a long-term kind of thing, but that’s what America aspires to do.

That’s awesome. That’s awesome. And then one thing I will say about politics, and I think most politicians. They are doing what the people who elected them told them to do. I think the challenge is that they’re not using that adult-style kind of notion. Politicians are trying to be friends instead of leaders; as a parent, they’re supposed to lead. You’re not supposed to be their best friend. I think politicians have lost the desire or the willingness to lead.

And telling their constituents what you’re saying doesn’t make any sense. And we can’t do that. When I entered the ranks and first represented the mayor and the City Council people, we used to have our legislative conference in March. We have elected officials to come in. We had them lobby Congress on issues that we thought were important to cities and communities. I met this one group of people. They are a wonderful group of people. 

They are the nicest people in the world. There’s a location in the South. It was a small town in the South with “simple people.” And I remember saying so. Their constituents’ Rights elected these people. And again, nice people are not sophisticated people in the world. 

And I realize that elected officials are elected by the people who elect them and want them to be the way they are. Right. And so if you’re a Democrat in power, and it is right now, you elected people that you wanted to do XY and Z towards Republicans and vice versa, right? And again, the stalemate is because everybody wants their way; they can’t get to that big picture.

So the more that people start to coalesce around the big picture, which is that, you know, we’re a country that was founded on the principle of freedom, the more flawed we’re because of that, that freedom was built on the backs of people who were denied it. As I often say, freedom is the greatest threat to freedom, not socialism. It’s not communism. It’s freedom itself because freedom affords you the luxury of ignorance. Right. 

We were a country founded on the principle of freedom, which gave tyranny free reign. That’s what slavery was. It was tyranny. And you can see a direct relationship between the US system of slavery and the Holocaust in the twenty-first century. Right.

And so, if a country finds freedom and allows tyranny to grab hold of itself, freedom isn’t safe anywhere in the world. I think people are operating under the assumption that we’ll always be free, but they don’t understand how easy it is for your minds to be tricked into allowing things that will enslave you. Without realizing it, part of it is financial. Part of it is political because you want your way again, and you’ll listen to anybody who will tell you what you want to hear. 

The politicians get very close to your point, telling you what you want to hear—the really good ones. And the ones who tell you what you need to know are usually the ones that people don’t elect because they want their way; they say they want a leader, but leaders tell you what you need to know, not what you want to hear.

Julio, this reminds you of an analogy in dating, right? This is saying that, like, you know, when you’re in, when I was in college and high school, there were all these attractive girls, all this talk about them wanting the good guy, they wanted the good man. But then they always end up with the bad boys. 

Tell them what they want to hear and give them sweet, flowery future promises. And then they always bring them down. And then the good men are like, hey, man, give us a chance. They’re like, I like, I want a good guy. But then, when the time comes, their friends, all those people, so and so it. 

So, it reminds me of this political sphere where the constituents say, hey, we want a good leader. We want a good leader. We want a good man, an honest, moral leader, and everything. But when they try to come up in the system, they can’t because the only people that can come up in such a system right now are the narcissistic bad boy types. You know, they’ll tell you what you want to. So that’s what came to mind. But please tell me if I’m wrong in my assessment.

I think you’re right. And then I think you know if you’re a person of faith. I think part of the challenge is differentiating between what is faith-based versus something that uses faith as a weapon. As the weapon of choice. Right.

And I think you know again that I became a Christian when I was in politics, and slowly, I think what God was doing was showing me. The biggest lessons I learned typically were in the areas I thought. That was just the opposite of what I was thinking, if you will, right? And so, because I don’t believe that God teaches you in your comfort zone, he teaches you. Outside of your comfort zone. Right, because for you to grow spiritually, he has to challenge you and put you in situations where you have to sit back and say, what was that right?”.

And I think, you know, I still believe that the greatest chapters in U.S. history have yet to be written. America’s greatness has never been in its past. It’s always in its future because you have a shot every day you wake up. Every day is a new day. Not many people know the country can say whether you are—abject poverty. Living in the streets or the mansion on the hill daily is new, and you have a shot. You’re a country. There are people in countries that don’t have a shot.

And so, America’s greatest is always in its future. It’s never in the past, and people have to stop looking at the past. Because politicians are good with it, they know that people will spend more time, effort, and energy recapturing the certainty of the past than they will explore the uncertainty of the future. And when you and so consequently, everybody’s always looking back to recapture the past. When they should use the past as A, the past is a prologue to the present, and the present is a prelude to the future. 

And so that’s why you have to constantly, as is talked about above, have the vision you have. You have an idea of where you’re going, and it doesn’t matter your age; you always have to have a vision moving you forward, particularly as you get older. Longer because you want to keep your mind active. You know, there are tons of businesses that were started by people who were over 50 or 60 years old.

I think Home Depot was one of them. Kentucky fried chicken. Is that the most famous one? McDonald’s is another one, you know? And. And so that keeps your mind active, but you always want to have a vision. Because you never know who’s looking at you. You never know who’s watching your steps and the impact that you have just by observation.

You know the last part you said? It is so true. Many people go about their lives like they’re doing their things but don’t realize they could inspire somebody other than two or three. They’re watching what you’re doing, and you wouldn’t even know about it until, like most of the time, you didn’t even realize it.

That’s right. That. No, that’s exactly right. That’s exactly right. Most of us are going to impact people that we will never meet or that we will never know about because of the one person that we are. Who helped one person who helped one person? I remember a friend telling me my friend is African American and worked for a corporation in Dallas. 

And he was talking to a coworker who happened to be white, and the guy said, “Listen, I just can’t thank you enough for helping me. And what kind do I say? Is there anything I can do? And my friend said to listen to some; it was my pleasure. I’ve had help along the way, but the only thing I ask is. You’re going to come with time. There might be a black individual who’s going to need your help. All I ask is that you give them help when they need it. He said absolutely. I’ll do it.

Now, just that’s that statement alone. Generational people—generations of people—will benefit from that guy helping another person. Because of the racial dynamics in this country, you know, it’s significant that two people were able to connect as human beings but also recognize some of those dynamics and use that as a bridge to overcome that down the road. You know, and I think that again, we’re a country whose greatness is in its future; it’s always in its future. It’s never in the past, and we always have to keep our eyes on the prize in the future. 

And again, we have to strive and strive and strive for something constantly. Be careful with whom we share our vision because not everybody understands that. But just this example has a ripple effect on everybody else.

No, I’m a big believer in the ripple effect. We’re like, whatever our actions happen, they’ll ultimately ripple, not just to different people but also across time. 

And we must be aware of what we’re passing down to others, like our children and grandchildren, because how we act now will determine how they act. After all, they’re just going to look at their parents and grandparents. They’ll see what they’re doing and then learn from it.

That’s exactly right, and that’s why someone like yourself. Do you have any children yourself?

Right, right now.

No, that’s why you must be intentional about how you want to impact your children and grandchildren. Because when you’re young, you want to have a good time and enjoy life, and you’re not as intentional as you need to be. And understanding the decisions you make right now will set generations down the road.

No, totally. But Julio, there’s one question I wanted to ask you. Based on your background, right, like you have been in, you’ve been in politics where you’ve dealt with immigration, and you have also been an entrepreneur and a CEO, right? So, American identity has been founded on the entrepreneurial immigrant identity, but right now? From a national standpoint, do you think we’re living up to that identity, and what’s your perspective on this?

Immigrants, more so than natives, are “American-born” individuals. I think they’re bringing the entrepreneurial spirit back to America. Having immigrants has a. For lack of a better description, they had a hustle mentality. Right. 

I’m not getting into the politics of immigration, but for people who come here, all they do is come here for that opportunity, right? They come here because they want to wake up and change their lives. And the way that they do it is by working their buttocks off. Right. They and many of them start businesses. You know, when I was representing, you know, local governments, one of the things that struck me was that there’s an article in, I think, Alabama. Even though there’s only one small town in Alabama, of all places, 80% of the new businesses in this community were started by Hispanics. Right.

And first, they kind of do those things to themselves, whether these little food trucks go around to the workers and provide home-cooked meals, opening up a restaurant, or cleaning business. Still, they come in with an entrepreneurial drive. Right. 

And sometimes we get upset with that because we don’t have it. Right. But they’re bringing that back, and I think it’s that energy we need to take advantage of and learn from, like going back to the idea of learning how money is made because they are going to. This is where the future, I think, of America is.

And I think that I know. I know some people are concerned about how the country’s diversity has increased and what issues have arisen. But I think the immigrant communities are the ones that are driving and fueling. I think a lot of the entrepreneurship taking place in the country needs to think we need to learn that we need to, that we need to take advantage of it, and that we need to. Encourage that as much as possible.

I would also like to add that even for people born here like, we’re not the same; we’re not just an immigrant nation; we’re descendants of immigrants, Americans, and it was founded on the entrepreneurial spirit and people from faraway places. America was not always like this, where people had to hustle and work hard.

Right. That’s right.

Build bridges and buildings. They had to go westward. Populate the entire continent before we became the nation that we had to become and resolve because of this.

No, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely, yeah.

Yeah, it was because. Of that, go.

I’m sorry. Go ahead. No, go ahead. Good, good.

No, it was. Because of this identity, we had a particular identity. And that’s what made us extraordinary. In the first place. And so yeah. That’s where that comes from.

Yeah, yeah, you know, people do.

Again, I just think that because America is great, this is always in its future, not its past. And it’s always in the fact that you have hope. And yeah, I know some people have lost hope, and I’m not. I’m not discounting that. I’m not diminishing that in any way. I’m not dismissing their feelings of hopelessness. I think. I think those are very real and need to be dealt with. You know again. I think America’s greatness is always in the fact that every day you wake up is new.

And you get to start all over again, and there’s no limit to what you can do, you know, and some people. When former President Barack Obama was elected president, that was, I think, the first time that the country truly demonstrated that you could do anything in the country. And now, some people might say otherwise. But I know people certainly mean I never really expected in my lifetime to see a black man president. 

And I think most people, in all honesty, would say they never expected it. I know people. Who openly said, oh, he’s not going to let me? They’re going to kill him before. The election president. Because you know again because of the history of this county. Right.

And so, again, I’m not saying anything about his politics or anything like that; whatever his politics are, whatever you think about his politics, Was that the idea? We came from a country—that enslaved black men. To elect a black man, the most powerful person on Earth. It says exactly how great this country is. And how? It’s created, I think, a sense of belief that, hey, maybe I can. Do more than I thought I did. I wish I could find this interview with a 10-year-old little black boy in Louisiana. When he was asked, what do you think about Barack Obama being elected president? 

And he said that—for the first time in my life—I believe I can do something with my life. And then he sat down. You know when you see yourself? In history books, when you see yourself in images, you can be yourself. And when you see others, you can free yourself of many biases that have held you back from getting together with people. That’s why history must reflect, you know, what people look like. You know, we can see each other, and once we see each other, we can start connecting, recognizing who we are, and respecting who we are with ours.

Our difference is, you know, physically, culturally, spiritually, you know, politically, whatever the case may be, and I’m going to believe that that’s safe-based people. Connect regardless of what your belief is. Faith-based people who believe in their higher power and believe in that golden rule treat those they want to be treated. They connect, and they don’t have conflicts because they understand the value of people. And when you understand the value of people you know, you appreciate that individual for who they are. And what they bring to the table.

I couldn’t agree more. Like faith, it is an important factor. Like our understanding of a higher power, because they have There’s something that always unites us. And there’s one thing that I also wanted to add. Right, with regards to the concept of race, you know, you’ve got to realize, to my audience, that when you die, you’re no longer going to be brown or black or white. You know, like, this is only a temporary construct. Your body is temporary, and life isn’t permanent. So, there is an eternity left.

Our dividing ourselves based on race makes absolutely no sense.

Me it. Yeah, it’s an artificial construct there. There’s no. There’s no question about it.

When you’re dead, you’re all in the same race. I mean, I don’t get it, you know.

Right. Well, I’m a believer that God wants us to be physical. He expects us to be in the spiritual right. And so when we, if we, if you look at flowers, If God wanted all the flowers to look the same, they wouldn’t be red roses, yellow roses, and pink roses. And you know their beauty in the entire color spectrum. I mean, that’s what God wanted us to recognize, and he wanted us to recognize that we’re what we’re supposed to be as Christians. I believe that we’re God’s greatest creation. 

It doesn’t make sense to deny the beauty of the greatest place. My wife’s a painter, you know. No one goes there. And a museum and complained about the colors. Why is this red? Why is this yellow? No, you go there and admire the colors and what they bring to the canvas, and I believe that’s what God wants us to do. Look at each other.

Your complexion is, in some cases, different. Your features are different. God wants me to respect you. And how you look and appreciate and see him in you, and for you to see me in him, to see him, him, and me. Right, right, right. You know. 

And when we do that, when we understand that, then we understand that this whole division by racism is an artificial construct to deny. The spiritual connection that God wants each of us to have to have. I think that’s the main thing that you know: God wants us to be in the physical, what he wants us to be in the spiritual, and to your point, when we get to heaven or whatever we believe the afterlife is, you know, we’re these spirits that are going to connect, and our ability to connect is just going to be a reflection. Of how we were in the physical, to get spiritually, you have to like kids; you teach kids in the physical. You don’t teach them the mental until they’re mature enough to understand it.

No, I mean, you couldn’t have said it any better. You know, that was incredible. The flower analogy with the different colors is still true.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

That is, that is, that is an awesome analogy. I’m. I’m glad that you brought it up. So, Julio, are there any projects you’re doing that you’re doing right now that you want the audience to glimpse?

It’s all good. Yeah, the main thing is that I’m connecting potential investors. Properties might be available all over the country, so I’ve had connections all over the country because of the various works I’ve done.

So if anybody is looking to get involved in real estate and more and has been to talk with them, kind of walk them through the process and help them understand. How to navigate that as I also get on the sort of protective side with the fire, I’m going to be doing, I’m going to look to. I want to do national training on personal safety, protecting yourself, and more. But I mean, once again, it does define our part. That’s fine as well. But basically, it’s helping people better understand how to be conscious of their surroundings.

So you can keep yourself safe and away from harm. I’m still working on my website. And working through my media kit, if you will, I’m a little slow regarding those sorts of things. I can be very particular about what I want to do. So, the best way is for people to contact me through LinkedIn. That’s probably the best way to connect with me. And yeah, go from there.

That’s great, Julio. And so, Julio, how can the audience? So they’ll connect with this thing.

I can give you my phone number if people text me beforehand; that would be great. That’s usually the best way to reach me. Actually, it’s 240-381-6311, and they can reach out to me and just say that, you know, Cosmo sent them, and I’ll know. I’ll know what to take care of.

That is also Julio and Julio. I’m so glad that you took the time to come on the show and share your perspective of the world because it’s so. It’s so amazing, and it’s it. Pretty great, you know.

Thank you, and I appreciate the opportunity. I’m honored that you asked me to participate. I truly am. I’m blessed to be here. So thank you very much.

Yeah, I’m. I would love to have you here later, you know, because.

That would be awesome. That would be awesome.

I want to conclude this episode by letting my fellow Americans know that, hey, look, there’s something extraordinary within every one of us. We must awaken it and unleash it until next time. Bye. For now.