Mastering Employee Management: Strategies for Success - Podcast Transcript

Editor's note: Below is a transcript of a live interview with Julissa Chavez from the Latino program with SRS Distribution. You can read the interview below, listen to the podcast, or watch the recording.

Julissa Chavez: Hello, good afternoon, my name is Julissa Chavez, manager of the Latino program with SRS Distribution. Today we are on another episode of our series: Learn and Eat with Us. Today I have the pleasure of welcoming my super friend, Teresa Ramirez, who is with us today. Between Teresa and I, we are going to talk a little bit with you about how to manage employees, but first we are going to introduce Teresa. Teresa is with Southeast Contracting. Teresa, tell us a little bit about your company and what you do for our Latino community.

Teresa Ramirez: We generally do what we do when there is a company that does not complete its work groups, we can send people from here at the RGV to complete their group of workers. We are your resource for any company to complete work groups. We don't send complete groups, we only complete your group.

Julissa Chavez: Wow! Nice clarification you gave us there Teresa, because I think people can get a little confused. We know that there is a need for companies to find solutions with work groups and obviously, today you are clarifying that you cannot provide a complete group for a job, but if one of your boys or girls is missing for some reason due to health or commitment elsewhere, they go on vacation, you can call Teresa and Teresa will basically be able to find a solution on how to find that person to complete your work team.

Teresa Ramirez: Of course, we provide Worker's Compensation for our workers, as well as send it anywhere in the United States. The only condition we ask is that the work be for more than 3-4 weeks, because as you know, if I am going to send 2-3 boys, which is the minimum we require, we need them to be occupied for [inaudible 00:02:37] three or four weeks so that people find it convenient to go to work in a place that is outside of town.

Julissa Chávez: To travel, you have the condition that a company has to have a minimum of three or four weeks of work opportunity so that you can send your boys and girls to work on that project.

Teresa Ramírez: Correct.

Julissa Chávez: And what I love about you Teresa, I think it is different for our Hispanic community, I think that you... For all of you who are business owners, you need to find that fill in in the gap that exists with your group, that you can have, Teresa can help you with that. But what I also love about your company, Teresa, when we met you and talked, is that if you are looking for a job opportunity, a new career in the roofing industry, you can help them with everything related to insurance, as you said: "[another language 00:03:35]". And what I also loved when I heard about you is that you can help with the transportation of the employee to go to that job and I think I also remember that you can help with housing, if one of your boys or girls goes.

Teresa Ramírez: Yes, of course. All of that is charged to the client, but we coordinate everything that is the logging process, logistics, travel, that is, everything that is travel logistics. And look, it's important to mention that, one of the biggest problems I see, not only in the Hispanic community, but in general, is that many times they send groups of 8-10 workers and suddenly four of them leave and they continue paying for hotels and they're left without people and they bring a mess because their groups are not full.

Teresa Ramírez: So, that's where we come in, we help coordinate the groups, to be aware that: if someone leaves, we cancel hotels so as not to waste money; we try to get people to bring their own car, if not we can help with transportation, for more than two months no longer. Before two months, we help with transportation while the kids lighten up, as we say in Mexico, while the race comes, we help with transportation.

Teresa Ramírez: After a while, people have to have their money, because you and I know, in roofing you earn well. We offer competitive salaries and we tell our clients: "If you don't want the kids to leave, we have to pay well, because if we don't pay well, people will go to the highest bidder."

Julissa Chávez: All in all, and that brings us to today's topic... How to manage our employees?

Teresa Ramírez: Of course, and right now we're going to touch on things, because it's not just about money, there are many other things that we're going to touch on point by point right now, right, Julissa?

Julissa Chavez: Of course. And for all of you who are watching us today, we wanted to talk about the opportunity for business owners and talk about the opportunity that this tremendous woman brings to the entire Latino community that struggles with transportation, with insurance. Come and talk to this girl, Teresa, she will help you with everything that is involved in joining her team, if you want a new beginning or to enter this industry and you don't know how, the best way is to get in touch with her and join Teresa's network, because I am really so impressed with everything that you do with our Latino community Teresa and that is why you are one of our guests in this series.

Teresa Ramirez: Thank you very much for having me on your show, Julissa.

Julissa Chavez: No, thank you.

Julissa Chávez: And I want to start with today's topic, because when we were talking about topics that our community needs a little more learning and conversations about, the topic that we always know exists, but we never talk about it more than we should, is how we manage people. This roofing business is really about relationships and people, I have realized that it is one of the most beautiful industries that I have known, it is one of the industries with a lot of opportunity, especially for the Latino market, for our community.

Julissa Chávez: And we are really reaching a point where Latinos are already in leadership positions, that is, you no longer just have your group, but now you have your company and now you have to be a leader, it is like putting on a different cap and going around ordering people around day to day. So, that brings us to talk about our first learning, which we want to talk about today, topic number one, which is going to be based on communication.

Julissa Chávez: And with communication, I would like to start with what I have seen in my leadership experience. Now that I have worked, as they say, in the corporate world, I have realized the difference between being a boss and being a leader. And the biggest difference between a boss is that the boss commands, the difference between a leader is that the leader communicates with his people.

Julissa Chávez: So Teresa, tell us a little about communication... For me, the most important thing I have learned is to have a vision, a mission, and goals. So, how do you do it or what advice do you give us for all of us who are listening to us who have to be leaders of people in their teams?

Teresa Ramírez: First of all, as Julissa is saying, I fully support your theory of saying: "We have to be very clear in stating the vision," what is the vision? It is seeing where I am going, what I want to achieve with my company, where I am headed. That is very important, that you let your people know so that your people are in the same boat as you. Because if you know: “You know what? I want to take on government contracts, work in schools, take on a subdivision, take on several new residential housing projects or new residential projects of 40-50 houses,” you have to communicate to your group what it is that you are taking on.

Teresa Ramírez: Why? So that your team knows and goes in the same direction as you. Because if an employee comes and you tell him: “You know what? Take on two projects of so much and you are not going to go on vacation for three years, because we have a huge contract,” no, you have to let people know so that people get excited, know where your company wants to go and based on that, everyone gets on the same boat and goes in the same direction. The mission, the goals, all of that is included in what we are discussing right now, supporting what Julissa is saying right now, it is very important to be very clear about our vision, our mission and our objectives or goals in our company and to make them known to our people.

Julissa Chávez: I love it.

Teresa Ramírez: Another thing that I would really like to talk about is that it is very important to be open with our employees, we have to be honest. Yes, guys, it is very important to be honest, to be very clear with the information that we want to give. I really invite you to ask the person, very kindly and clearly: "Did you understand what I said?", or rather: "Did I explain myself well?", because the moment you say: "You understood me," you are limiting the other person's ability. But we have to be humble enough to say: "Did I explain myself well?", and the person must explain to you point by point what you wanted to make them understand.

Teresa Ramírez: Now, if that person did not understand well, explain it again with patience and science. Many times we as employers have many things in our heads and we think that our people understand us, but unfortunately sometimes we are thinking: "The material has not arrived, the loan that was going to come to me has not arrived, I need more people to start this project, I need to talk to SRS so that they have all the necessary information for me tile material ready" that is, there are many things that you have to do, that many times when we want to communicate this to our workers, it is a little difficult for us.

Teresa Ramírez: So, first of all, be very patient, explain as best as possible, try to touch on each point, if you can write down what you want to convey to each one and make a checklist of: "Check, check, check... I did this," I think it will help you a lot so that you can have open communication with your employees.

Julissa Chávez: I love you woman. And one of the things when we were having our session, as we always do, we always have three learning objectives and we were talking about the first one about communication. And what I loved about you was being assertive, that was something that caught my attention, being definitely open, being clear with what you are and how you are making the message.

Julissa Chávez: Two tweaks that you do with: "Did I explain myself? [other language 00:12:341]», those little things that you learn from your experience of how to be a leader and communicate in a way that the person takes it defensively.

Julissa Chávez: Now, doing [inaudible 00:12:57], is something that I have struggled with in my experience of being a leader, because I am: «I love and I am guided by the heart and I love you as a person», but one of the things that I have learned is that just as we are leaders of heart and passion with people, because we are people of people, it is when an employee is not producing as he should produce and you say to yourself: «No, how am I going to tell him that he is screwing up or that he is not doing the job as he should? Because I like that person».

Julissa Chávez: So, how do you differentiate that expectation from: we have the relationship of friends, but we also have that relationship of employee and boss? So, with being assertive, I wanted to know a little bit about how you balance that side.

Teresa Ramírez: Number one, what we always have to do, there are 3-4 magic words: “Please, thank you, I would like, when you can.” Please, completely changes the way you are going to ask for a favor. A thank you, the person really values ​​being thanked, even if you have to do the work when someone says: “Thank you,” you feel valued and you feel respected. So, it is very important that our employees feel valued and respected.

Teresa Ramírez: I would like, you are opening a time frame or a specific time for the person to do what you ask, that is very important. Now, it is very important that we listen to see how the worker is, because you start to think: “I want you to finish in three houses in so much time,” you have to ask: “How are you? How do you feel? I would like you to finish at home, how do you see it?” What is your opinion? "So, there you are giving importance, a value, a respect to the worker that you have.

Teresa Ramírez: So, it is very important that we have that ability to be compassionate with our workers, with our suppliers, with everyone in general. I think that compassion has been forgotten a lot in all industries because of the pandemic, because of loans, because of social media. I mean, there is a lot, but I think that if we focus a little on any communication that we have to do, we base ourselves a little on compassion, we will get very good results.

Teresa Ramírez: Now, we Mexicans or Hispanics love to give things a lot of thought. Making [inaudible 00:16:00] to the kids is very important to be objective and direct, but be careful, you point out: "This kid: low production, attitude...", you know that these are two topics that you are going to touch on. My suggestion for all of you friends is: first, tell him three good things that he does, three good things: he is an excellent worker, he arrives every day on time and he doesn't complain. But we have two problems, which are: his attitude, maybe with other coworkers or some other problem, so we already know that we are going to touch on those two topics.

Teresa Ramírez: First, talk about three good things that they do and then touch on the point of: "You are getting upset, they have told me that your attitude lately is not very teamwork-like, you are not working, how can I help you?" That is the first thing that you have to say to the employee, because if you go and attack him, you are not going to receive anything good. So, always as a leader, as you were mentioning Julissa, it is not about giving orders, but rather being supportive, that is, being someone who is going to help a person who is struggling with anything.

Teresa Ramírez: Now, many times we don't know, we bring a lot of things from home, I know that we have to leave things at home, however, we have to understand that that person has a problem and many times we don't know what the problem is. And maybe for you, the problem he has is nothing, but for him it is everything. Right now we have an indication of violence like never before in our lives, we are living in really difficult times. So, if we base ourselves on support, compassion and empathy, we are going to have very good results. And I would love for someone to do a practice and then write to us and tell us how maybe one of the practices that I am telling you about worked for them, I would love it.

Julissa Chávez: I would love it, so we invite you, try it. That is why I have this woman in this interview, because she is one of the best leaders I have known in this industry and that is why she is part of this episode.

Julissa Chávez: With this, I know that we just talked about empathy. When we were talking about the second learning objective we said: "We have to talk about empathy." And I said to Teresa: "You know what? We have to distinguish," because I think that people get quite confused with the English word sympathy, that is, having sympathy for someone and having empathy.

Julissa Chávez: I want to start with that, reading the difference for all of you who are with us today, your empathy, empathy, basically, you are doing or having or feeling compassion or you are understanding the position of the person in which they are at that moment, even if you are not going through it yourself. Sympathy, on the other hand, is for example, if I feel bad because your dog died, I mean, I have sympathy for what pain, because I have lost a pet and I have sympathy for you. So, I think that with this we are going to clarify the two differences with those words, because today we are going to focus on empathy, which is not sympathy.

Julissa Chávez: And since we have clarified the differences, tell us a little bit more Teresa, I know that you just had compassion and empathy. Tell us a little bit about yourself as a leader, how do you use empathy to guide and lead your team, your people?

Teresa Ramírez: Something very important to mention is that when we talk to a person, we have to get to know them a little bit more. I'm not telling you to spend three hours a day trying to talk to a person to solve a problem... And you know what I love, Julissa? That all the points lead us to each other. So, that's very genuine. It's genuine, because we're giving our heart in this interview, as you mentioned, we're very passionate and very passionate about our work.

Teresa Ramírez: So, it's very important that we understand that we always have to understand the other person a little bit, put ourselves in the other person's position. I'm not going to tell you: "Go and help him, get out of your job and go and help him and run to turn off the light in his house." I can't tell you that, because then you have to have a balance. As a boss, you have to continue doing your job as a leader.

Teresa Ramírez: But understanding the employee, you can somehow support yourself psychologically with a pat on the back, with a loan that you can give him, that you can discount in four ways. Because we also understand that many times: “You know that I'll lend you $200 for the electricity bill, but I'm going to discount it in the first check,” no, you have to be a little empathetic in knowing: “Well, this kid earns so much money, if I discount $200 it will affect him a lot economically, so I'm going to give him four discounts of $50,” that is, those little details make you better. And if people don't understand it like that, many times you as a boss will feel comfortable, saying: “I did what I could,” you have to understand, “I do as much as I can.”

Julissa Chávez: I love it and I have an example. I heard from a branch manager from one of our branches in South Carolina, she's super cool and then she had a new salesperson in her market. And this guy has a nice story. He started from the winery making sales inside and now he was making sales outside. So, this happened during the time of COVID and Ana calls me and says: “Julissa, I don’t know what to do, because this person had all the desire, all the intention and lately his numbers are down. I don’t see him with the same emotion, passion, we don’t have communication like before.” And she said: “I’m going to have a conversation with him.”

Julissa Chávez: So, she spoke to the guy and said: “Hey, based on the numbers, you’re not going to give up your goal for this month. There’s something going on in your life that’s taking your attention away from what you do every month and you’re not producing this month.” The guy jumped up crying and told her that basically two people he knew had died from COVID, that is, one month apart from one another. So, she said: “You know what? Take this week off, don't even come to work, take it to be with your family, to recharge your batteries, to get out what you have inside you and have this time for yourself. And when you're ready to come back next week, if you're ready, let me know and we'll get back to it again."

Julissa Chavez: And said and done, she gave him the week the boy and when he came back the boy was the same person again. He came back with a plan and that's how I'm going to do it and these are the things I'm going to focus on and I already have all the desire in the world to move forward and be the person you're used to seeing. These are those little conversations that you just said Teresa, in your example, that you never know what's going on with others, that's why it's important to have empathy.

Teresa Ramírez: Julissa, you and I have to do a podcast of traveling bullfighters.

Julissa Chávez: I would love to.

Teresa Ramírez: To talk about so many stories, because I have some incredible stories, about so many situations and things. And we as an agency, who send people abroad, imagine with everything we face, because life is a balance. This boy needed five business days to get his head together, suffer his pain and his loss and recover his energy to be able to return to the ring to be the best bullfighter at what he does.

Teresa Ramírez: So, for us as an agency we also struggle a lot with balance. What we always recommend to people is: “Look, if you are going to work for a while in Minnesota, which is where we have the most work.” Minnesota is one of the 10,000 lakes, so I tell them: “Go to a lake, walk, talk, meet good people, check out the people who approach you, don’t trust everyone, do a little exercise, you know that you are going for a while and you are going to return to your family, you are going to return home.”

Teresa Ramírez: So, it is very important that we know the conditions of the workers, because each one is different Julissa. The salesman has one function, the traveling rufero has another function, the rufero who is in the same location has another function. So, trying to understand each point and as we discussed earlier, putting ourselves in the other person's shoes and saying: "How can I help this person recover?" I love your example, Julissa.

Julissa Chávez: And I think it happens more often than we think. And we're not talking about work relationships, Teresa, but really that's among all the relationships we have, that is, you say to yourself: "I don't understand why this person is behaving this way, if I know them and I know that they're not this person." You know that something is happening and keep in mind that something must be happening to this person and that's why they have this attitude or are behaving this way.

Julissa Chávez: Simply, never take it personally. But try to have empathy and understand why this person is behaving this way, and I apply it every day, Teresa. Even in my own relationships with my family, sometimes I say: "Why are they making these decisions that I don't understand?" So, I say: “I have to try to understand that person and why they are acting this way,” not so much as employees, but also in your personal life. I think it is something that, if you are emotionally intelligent, empathy is something that goes side by side and it is simply how to better understand the relationships between humans at the end of the day.

Teresa Ramírez: Of course, there is another very important point, compassion, because sometimes we do not understand or we do not put ourselves in that person's place, because our head is simply not capable of understanding that person. But when you cannot handle empathy, you say: “I just can't understand why.” Go to the last resort, which is compassion. The compassion of saying: “I just have to use compassion and know that even though I do not understand and even though I cannot understand why they made that decision, I have to have compassion for that person and accept it.”

Teresa Ramírez: Now, something very important is that we are living in post-pandemic times. We were locked up for three years, struggling with workers, struggling with entire sick crews, with a lack of material. I am not a psychologist, far from it, I am simply talking about my experiences and what I talk to all the people I interact with. We are living through very difficult times right now, so we have two options, there are only two, don't look for them: either we get ahead or we are victims, what do you want? [another language 00:29:07], you have the decision, what do you want to be, a winner or a person who is going to be struggling?

Teresa Ramírez: So, let's go, we are all struggling, we are all right now with what do I do, I don't have patience, I don't have time, that one spoke badly to me, the other one doesn't... I mean, take a deep breath and move forward. And we are all struggling, Julissa, me, everyone. But what we are doing is from the heart and we are giving what we are humbly talking about and somehow it is working for us.

Julissa Chávez: Completely. I love that this brings us back to the spirit of being fighters, as always, that we are not going to give up. I think this brings us to a very good point again, Teresa, to the third point from this Lunch & Learn, which is the importance of working as a team.

Teresa Ramírez: Of course.

Julissa Chávez: So, speaking of working as a team, I think that for me, in my experience, what I have learned the most about teams is that each of us has our natural strengths and weaknesses. For example, for me, being in front of a room and speaking in front of 100 people is something that is natural and I am not afraid of it. But if you put me behind an Excel spreadsheet to write formulas, to work with details of numbers, percentages, that is not my thing.

Julissa Chávez: So for me, one of the things I have learned personally is: “Focus on the best of each person and find the natural skills they have.” And for me, based on that, put those people in different roles in which they are going to do and practice what they are naturally good at. So, speaking from my experience, what has it been for you, any advice or something that you have when it comes to creating teams? Because we all work as a team, nobody does everything alone.

Teresa Ramírez: Of course. First of all, we have to accept the diversity of people. What do I mean by diversity? I mean culture, race, ethnicity, it doesn't matter if you are Arab, Colombian, Salvadoran, Anglo-Saxon, European. Whatever you are, respect yourself and respect the person you are going to work with, both in religion, as well as their politics, their political parties, their tastes.

Teresa Ramírez: Remember that in order to be able to make a team, as Julissa is mentioning: "Your strengths are my weaknesses." I want you to memorize that phrase, for the love of God, always: “My strengths are your weaknesses and your strengths are my weaknesses,” as Julissa says: “Maybe I can be very good at speaking in front of 2000 people, but I am terrible with numbers, I don’t like it,” but there will be a colleague who does it and you have to understand that many times people are not good at everything.

Teresa Ramírez: I am a person who can talk to many people, but there is a moment when I want my solitude and I want to be alone with myself and I like to meditate and I like to do yoga, I like to pray. In other words, I am a person who understands each person and I respect their political parties and I respect their way of seeing life. And I think that is the most important thing to be able to form a good work team. This person helps you with this and that is: “How great that they help me with this and that, how cool, how nice,” whatever each one says.

Teresa Ramírez: Now, the important thing is to always go in the same direction. And also to be supportive, to be a person who is going to tell you: “You know what, how can I help you?” Believe me, I have had ideas stolen from me that I can tell you a thousand times, but my talent is not taken away from me, why? Because you can say: “Look at him like this, like this, like that” and that person is going to thank you. And if that person doesn’t thank you, life will thank you.

Teresa Ramírez: And at the end of the day, I’m going to tell you one thing, what you want to do is a good job and that SRS is not just SRS or Roofers Coffee Shop is not just Roofers Coffee Shop or Saudis Contracting Services is not just Saudis. It is a work team that together and each one doing their job, makes Saudis what it is Saudis, with its defects and its virtues. Likewise SRS, equally Roofers Coffee Shop, equally your company, friend who is watching us. You really have to follow the person who is stuck in the cart, you have to help them to get the job done. How do you see it, Julissa?

Julissa Chávez: Everything forward, nothing backwards.

Teresa Ramírez: «Not even to take flight», as we say at my ranch.

Julissa Chávez: And now, one of the things. We talked about your strong skills and your skills that are not so strong. We talked a little about building our team with diversity, as Teresa said: «We have to be open to diversity.» The best teams are the most diverse, apart from all that, in the world of companies, don't forget that, boys and girls.

Julissa Chávez: The other thing that is super important is team accounting. Now we are going to talk a little more about having your team accountable and what that means for the morale of the entire team, if you could talk a little about your opinion.

Teresa Ramírez: Of course. It is very important to measure results. How are we going to measure results? I'm going to go back to the example of a subdivision that you're going to do. You're going to put an estimated time on which you're going to finish that project. Let's suppose that they are houses with certain characteristics and that your project is going to be finished in three months.

Teresa Ramírez: Once a week, have a quick meeting: "How are we doing? How are we doing? What do you need?", once a week. And then a larger one at the end of the month to see productivity: "What progress was made? How can we measure the effectiveness of the work group that we had on that specific project?" materials: “How did it go with the materials? How many times were people missing? How did your recruitment go? How was your productivity in terms of the workplace? What was difficult for you? What did you struggle with the most?”

Teresa Ramírez: And above all, after seeing all those points, it is: “How are you going to solve that?” And believe me, when you identify the problem you had, if you have your team happy with all the points we mentioned above, your team will be happy to tell you: “You know what? We are going to do it like this, like this, like that.” And I will tell you why, because sometimes as a boss we have a lot of things on our minds and maybe we are not going to know how to identify how to solve the problem of employees leaving. But the supervisor will be able to solve it for you, or maybe someone else who is somewhere.

Teresa Ramírez: One of the biggest problems I see in personnel management is that many times supervisors have been very good workers, but they are not good leaders. So, prepare your leaders, invest in them. At NRCA there are many very good courses where there are programs for people who manage groups. Go to the State Association where you are, because I know that this is at the national level, or talk to people at the national level so they can tell you: “You know what? I need my new supervisor, who was an excellent worker, to now be a supervisor and I want him to be prepared, I want you to give him tools so that he can be a good leader.”

Teresa Ramírez: Why, guys? Because many times the best worker you have does not necessarily have to be a good leader. But what are you going to give him? Tools so that he can do a good job. What tools are they? To become certified as a good leader, there are thousands of training courses in Spanish, English, and Japanese, where you can train your people to do their job better. I really believe in training.

Teresa Ramírez: My background, my first 10 years of my life, I was always involved in training and I have never seen it as a loss, I see it as an investment. What is the risk of investing in an employee? That he will leave and go to another company; but if you pay him well, he will not leave; if he is happy, he will not leave; if you have empathy, he will not leave. If you use everything we talked about before, if you use tools that we used before, the employee will not leave. Believe me, I have seen it, I have felt it for 30 years of my life in different companies where I have worked.

Teresa Ramírez: So, the only one who will leave is the people. You always do everything so that people do not leave. If people still want to leave, good luck to them. Send them a God bless you, a namaste, good vibes, whatever religion you profess, but you send good energy to that person so that they do well, why? Because soon another good worker will come to you and we are all learning, all of us. I learn every day, I imagine you do too, Julissa, that is, everyone.

Teresa Ramírez: I always tell the people who help me: “Accept your mistakes,” that is the most important thing. We have to accept our mistakes, because if we talk about: “I am fine,” we are not giving our being a chance to learn what we are doing wrong and for something new to come into our lives, to learn something. So, always learn from your mistakes and see how you can do to improve.

Teresa Ramírez: And I have always said, when there are people who get very sad: “It is because I made a mistake,” I tell them: “Look, the only ones who do not make mistakes are the dead.” People who died don't make mistakes because they don't do anything, but people who are constantly learning and taking risks and going out every day to earn a living for our children, for our families, are always going to make mistakes, it's normal. Worry if out of 10 things you do, you make 9 mistakes, but if you make 2-3 mistakes it's normal, accept it and see how you can improve, it's okay.

Julissa Chávez: Teresa, I was at an event and I said: "For me, making mistakes is not a loss, but rather a learning lesson," because you learn to look at the stumbles that life gives you, which sometimes happen to us in everyday situations. If we have an attitude that we can get positive out of what we just went through and learn from it, I think that's the most important thing we can do.

Julissa Chávez: And help others, as always. One of my theories is that we have to help others, our neighbors. And I think we have to learn to accept that we are going to stumble on this path that we are on, we are not perfect. But we learn from our stumbles and we hope to help another person prevent them from taking the same role that we took.

Julissa Chávez: But at the end of the day, people are human and we are going to have those moments. The moral here is: Give it your all, we are going to keep going. Go ahead. You are supported by people like Teresa, who is here with you today to help complete your groups, or for you who are looking for an opportunity to get into this industry or you don't have the money for a car, you don't have the money for insurance, but you need a job, I know that I have my body that is physically ready and I have a positive attitude, look for Teresa with Southeast Contracting Services, she can help you.

Julissa Chavez: And on our side, from SRS for Latinos, we are here supporting you in having these interviews with people who inspire us and who are really changing the industry in our Latino community today.

Julissa Chavez: So, Teresa, thank you so much, sister, for participating in this Lunch & Learn with me, with this topic that we are both passionate about, about people, how to be a leader in this industry. So thank you so much Teresa for being with us and I hope to see you soon at many more events that are coming up in the future for both of us, I know it's not the end for us, thank you.

Teresa Ramírez: Thank you, thank you so much for everything.

Julissa Chávez: Thank you.

Teresa Ramírez: Bye.

Julissa Chávez: See you later guys.

Teresa Ramírez: Bye.