August 1st 1999 was the date. 25 years ago I made a decision to start working for my father who was a successful businessman that owned and operated three gas stations, a restaurant, a bar and a laundromat. He opened his first business in 1968 and never looked back. In 1999 I was an 18 year old kid that just graduated from high school and was getting ready to start my first semester in college. Being part of a family that owned businesses I was no stranger to work but this was the day I was thrown into the real world education of running a business. Before this I was just a worker bee who did what was told. I Spent all of my childhood at the gas station, in the garage and at the restaurant acquiring the skills to be a good employee. All I did was go to work, do what I was asked, get paid and went home. Now it was different. Now it was GO TIME. Turn on the brain and start figuring out what it was to run a legitimate business. This was a rational decision I made cause I knew what I wanted at that age. I was an open mind, ready to be my own boss. From that day on I wasn’t a worker bee anymore I was a go getter with the mentality to learn everything I could. From learning prices of what we sold on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. On learning the inside and outs of the gasoline business and economy. What the price of barrel was, how many gallons of fuel we could store underground, what it cost to purchase fuel by the thousands of gallons and of course what profit we were making based per gallon. I studied the stock market, I studied the economy on fuel and I learned all the federal and state laws and regulations. I learned how to read gas meter readings and how to meter stick the underground storage tank. To see how many gallons we sold and if there was any underground fuel leakage. This was just one aspect of our business. A big part but not the only part. I was invested in what we had and what we were selling. Open ears on how to read our daily sales, open ears on how to do pay roll for our other employees, open ears on how to keep track of the cash register,open ears on how to calculate the percentages of what we sold on the POS terminal and how much our bank merchant would receive on credit and debit card sales. Learning what we sold and what we owed to the State Sales Tax. My life was consumed for months on this. It was my honor to learn what I could. All in the name of being what I wanted to be. A Chicano small business owner. I am writing this blog because the past 25 years I have been what I set out to be. Not one day has passed that I have not been engrossed in the dealings in the art of business. The aspect of business in any place has to deal with the ebbs and flow. That has been my life for the past 25 years. It has been up and down but I accept what comes. This is my passion, this is what I love. By no means am I a workaholic but there is a perspective on what I’ve done has been easy. I welcome anyone to walk in my shoes and to get done what I have done. You might look at the name of my blog and think… really ?? Peaches and roses? Well, my whole life when things got tough, when I felt like giving up, when I was done with dealing with people and customers. My dad would tell me…. “Donde esta tus ganas? This is what it’s like, life ain’t Peaches and Roses…. Be a man, grab your balls and do what is needed to be done.”

I have Dad. I’m doing what it takes.

Thank you for reading this. This blog will be dedicated to my life, my experience as a business owner and it’s also dedicated to my parents. I will also do movie reviews and probably tv show reviews. The name of my blog Peaches and Roses was a saying my dad said all my life and it’s a thing I think about on a daily basis. To me he said this so I can realize that life at times isn’t fair but we have to have the positive mindset to keep on going, to keep on moving forward. To never give up your dream on this journey. Peace,

ZO