Today we’d like to introduce you to Jaime Sanchez.
Hi Jaime, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Obviously like probably most entrepreneurs it was a VERY rocky start in the beginning.
My journey begins when I was working at a prestigious immigration law firm working as a “Financial & Immigration Specialist” focusing on building cases for investors to get their “investor visas” as well as building the business plans for the visas. Working there I noticed that there was a big need for foreign investors on how to land their businesses in order to get an investor visa. Basically, noticed that Immigration law firms file all the paperwork, but there was no firm/brokers/consulting company that helped or understood how to help foreign investors land their business in the USA. Once I saw that need, I proceeded to tell my boss (the owner of the law firm) about this need. I was positioned well in the firm and was always one of the most productive employees in the firm. When I told my boss the idea he was ecstatic about it and basically told me “any business you want to start count me in”. This gave me a lot of hope even though I had no experience and didn’t really know how to really fulfill this need. I had no real business background. I was only about 24 or 25, but I saw a big need as well as a calling.
Once that was established it was set that I was going to quit my job at the firm and my boss was going to help me fund the business. There was no real plan really, just a vision. Fast forward a couple of months, I quit my job and my now ex-boss gave me some money to start. Literally started from my college apartment room (I even have a picture of that room). I remember taking a picture thinking once I build the business, I’m going to look back at it to never forget when I started. To this day I’m glad I did.
The first day I didn’t even know where to start. It was like “okay I’m here….. now what”. I didn’t even know exactly how I was going to help these foreigners; I just knew I was. There was literally no real company that fulfilled this purpose, so I didn’t even know who to learn from or use as an example. I didn’t even know what the business that I was supposed to build would look like. All I knew was that I was on a mission to: “Help foreign investors start a business, buy a franchise, or buy an existing business”. I literally knew nothing about this, knew nothing about marketing, knew nothing about business in general, licenses, accounting, hiring, etc. I was supposed to be a guide or a mentor for these people and I had no knowledge WHATSOEVER. That’s when reality kicks in, and you really start to see everything you don’t know, that’s when self-doubt hits the hardest. That’s when people start to ask you “so what are you doing again” and “how exactly are you going to help these people”. Most people were right asking these questions, which I didn’t know the answer either. Hard to tell people: “Don’t know what I’m doing or how I’m going to do it, but I’m going to do it”. A lot of self-doubt starts to kick in HARD. Thoughts like:
“Hard to believe that a 25-year-old with no real business experience was going to guide successful foreign entrepreneurs and investors to start a business in the US.”
“Hard to believe also that people were going to trust me with a big chunk of their wealth”.
These are some of the self-doubts that I had and the people around me had (they were not wrong to doubt me, BUT AGAIN, I WAS ON A MISSION). I had never really been a leader, or super successful at anything. At best I was mediocre at most things. I was a C & D student all my life. Also, I was at a weird age where you don’t know what to do with your life. I never really had figured a purpose or nor did I know what I wanted to do or be when I grew up. Never ever thought I would be an entrepreneur or business owner or to say the least, an industry leader.
There was A LOT of self-doubt going on during this period.
So my first idea on how I was going to figure this out was: Take a year off to learn marketing, sales process, business, accounting, real estate, franchises, business brokering, etc. Anything I could learn I was trying to learn. I was not making money and literally was just spending money, learning, and seeing how to build “this”. I didn’t even know what “this” was. At this rate, I was only spending money and “figuring it out”. At that point, my ex-boss who was supposed to be my mentor started losing interest in the project and not believing. He saw no results after a couple of months and after some time he was just like “I’m out” through a text. Someone who I had worked super hard for over 3 years just like that, “I’m out”.
He sent me a text message saying something along the lines of “Count me out of the project sorry”. This is when anxiety and fear start to really kick in. This was one of my hardest moments and one of my many “falls”. The person who was supposed to be my mentor just abandoned me all of the sudden. I felt so alone. I felt like a loser. That’s when all that negative self-talk I have had, was confirmed. Someone that you looked up to and thought was so smart basically told you “You’re not going to make it”. I remember I fell into a state of depression, anxiety, and a feeling of hopelessness. I’ve never been a depressive person or had any trouble on that end. I honestly didn’t know what to do. I have very little money, no mentor, no real direction, no plan, no clients. I felt like this is it.
I was at the end of year one of the projects, but I had nothing to show for (or at least that’s what I thought). I had not noticed how much I had learned about marketing, sales, business, etc. however those skills are worth 0 unless you put them into action. I didn’t know what to do, and I was so hopeless. I remember how hopeless, lost, and depressed I felt (to this day, when I remember those days or I tell someone this story I can’t help myself but cry).
I started asking mentors, other business owners, even SCORE mentors. Everyone told me the same advice and everything was along the lines of either “give up the idea there’s a point you have to take a loss” and “get a job and work on this part-time”. At this point, I was building a website for my business. I was doing it myself cause, well I had no money. At the same time, I had to learn business, get contacts, etc. I was also at a point of giving up. All my credit cards were maxed out, I had sold personal items, and didn’t have any money. I remember a day that I was like “this is it”. It’s the end of this journey. I was so ready to give up. I felt so pitiful that I remember I couldn’t even stand out of bed at that point. Any spec of drive was exhumed out of me at this point. I remember getting out of bed that day at 11 AM to eat something. All a sudden for the first time ever SOMEONE calls me. A potential client. I couldn’t believe it!! My marketing worked and an investor had called ME. Talked to the guy and once I hung up. I started bawling. For the first time ever after probably a year and a half on working on this project, SOMEONE was interested. I couldn’t believe it. It was the first victory after 1.5 years of no results. At this point again I had no money now. So I took a leap of faith and I went to talk to my parents to ask them for money. I remember feeling so selfish asking my parents for money on something that was failing. I felt so guilty. They also didn’t know what was going on. Nobody really knew what was going on. I didn’t want to talk to anyone about it. My mental health was at a -1000. Even though I felt this way I continued and asked my parents for some money. It wasn’t a lot of money, but I needed money to survive. Kind of told them the situation and they felt so bad at how bad I felt all by myself. They also told me to think about getting a job. This is probably like 2018-2019.
Now with some money, I continued at least I could “live” and have some money to invest in marketing. Now after some time and tweaking the website was up and I started getting leads. I had started to figure out how to get leads, now I needed to figure out “how do I actually help them”. So after about a year and half, I had only barely figured this out (kind of). I finally learned how to get leads. Now I needed to learn “HOW THE HELL DO I HELP THEM”.
Now it took another almost five months to figure it out. And again, I was left with NO MONEY. Broke once again. Now it was like “damn it”. I figured all this out, but now I don’t have any money. Again. Went down in that rabbit hole of self-doubt another once again another “round” of depression. Again, I was out of money, and I couldn’t find the guts to ask anyone for help. At this point, I was super tired of being a failure. I was at about two years. 0 results. I hated myself for not giving up. I was living my version of hell. I hated myself and felt so down that I still can’t describe it in words. I remember feeling pity every day. Finally, I had to make a decision and once again I asked my parents for money. I felt SO bad asking my parents for money. My family is a middle-income family, not a super rich family, so wasn’t NOT like “yeah sure here’s a couple of thousands whatever”. I felt so bad asking them for money. To this day I have no idea why I didn’t give up. So finally, they accepted giving me some money. I felt too bad and guilty but I still kept going. Even though I felt this pain and I felt like I was crawling a mountain. I still kept moving forward.
Now after some time I got my first client and finally got paid. It felt so good. It was my first big win after a little more than two years. Then fast forward bad money management and not getting any other new clients. I was again at almost $0. However, finally I had found a mentor. Told her my idea, told her what I was doing and trying to build. To this day I don’t know what she saw in me and why she believed in me, but basically, she told me to partner up with her. I now imagine she saw potential in the vision (I think). She saw that I was persistent, and she saw that I was determined. We started the partnership and she started mentoring me.
For the first time ever I had:
1. Leads
2. A service to provide.
3. Mentor
That’s when for the first time EVER I thought I had made it. For the first time, I saw my business as a “machine”. For the first time ever, I felt I was going to make it. It’s March 2020 and I had just been to Las Vegas to close out a big client. I felt like a winner finally after all these years. I had leads and was now going to close a big client. At that same time, my life depended on this big deal to close, but it was almost certain that it was going to close 100%. The client had given me the green light. I was almost at $0 in my bank account for like the 10th time (not literally, but felt that way). It was a for sure thing this deal was going to happen. Then when you least expect it, COVID-19 hits everyone. Let me remind you that my sales cycles are about 6 months. So basically I had lost six months of work. my client backs out once he starts seeing things on the news and COVID starts being a thing. At that point, I was like “this is it”. I have no money, AGAIN. Just lost my client. This was my last shot and now I’m screwed. Also, I had now moved back to my parents to save money. I was 27 and moving back with my parents, I had no money, my 2 years of work were lost, and I felt again like a loser. At this point also my 3-year girlfriend leaves me. Now I’m truly alone. “When it rains it pours”. I had now: No relationship, no money, no career, overweight, depressed, living with my parents, nothing to show for the past two years, literally the epidemy and definition of a loser. Now I had broken down to the lowest anyone alive can feel. I was literally dead inside by this point. Sounds very drastic, but that I how I felt. My parents started to notice I was VERY down to a point where I considered no reason to live. Not that I was suicidal, but I feel I was getting very close to it.
Then COVID-19 hits and it’s all that period of April 2020 – June 2020 where nothing is really happening. At that point, no one in the world wanted to invest. Everyone was just trying to survive, including myself. Something changed in that period. It was the lowest point anyone can be at in their life. The good thing is that once you’re there, once you’re so low, there’s only going up from there.
Between April 2020 and June 2020 was a period of self-transformation. This is when something inside me changed. Something turned 180 degrees. I started losing weight, I started getting a crazy influx of leads, and everything changed from there moving forward. To this day I don’t fully understand what happened. It was very weird. I was back from the dead. For the first time ever, I started making money. I went from 0 to 100 in about a 6-month period. I was finally “making” big money. Then I started just investing everything back into the business. If I had built to this point with no money, now with money, I could build better things. Much faster than ever.
From about August 2020 going forward is when my business blasted off. I have won every day ever since that time period; of course, there have been obstacles in the way, but nothing compared to that 2.5-year period that felt like an eternity. To this day all this journey of pain and loss now translates into a journey of perseverance and continuous growth. Every challenge now seems like a new opportunity. Challenges now seem easy and in that 2.5-year period, I was building a muscle called grit. It is now a muscle that I still keep strengthening every day.
Fast forward to 2021, when I was nominated “Visionary of the Year” by the Franchise Brokers Association (which is the largest franchise consultant/broker network in the nation). Out of more than hundreds of franchise consultants in the country, I was able to win that award. In 2021, I also won a “Top Producer” award. In 2022 I was also in the “175 Global Franchise Influencers of 2022” by one of the largest franchise organizations worldwide (https://1851franchise.com/2022s-top-franchise-influencers-125-116-2717944#stories). Also during this period (starting April 2021) I also now own a Kitchen Remodeling franchise called Kitchen Tune-up San Antonio North Central and I have now built my dream office, Where I run both businesses. In February 2021 I was working alone. Today I have a team of 10 people working in both companies (Interlink FBC & Kitchen Tune-up San Antonio North Central). Interlink FBC now has a team in Argentina and we’re currently building the Mexico office. Ever since February 2021 I have been hiring and recruiting new talent every 1-2 months and have not stopped to this day.
I’m excited about the direction we’re headed, the journey keeps going. Success is not a specific point in time, but more of a continuous journey. I now know my journey has just begun.
We’ve been impressed with Interlink FBC & Kitchen Tune-up San Antonio North Central, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
My company specializes in helping foreign investors/entrepreneurs invest and start their businesses in the USA. We help them understand and navigate the best way to start a business in the USA. We also provide consulting and guidance to Hispanics living in the USA to acquire a franchise or start a business from 0. I have built a proprietary way of helping people do this.
We create great relationships with our clients. To this day we have 100% approved investor visas and 100% of the business owners are still operating to this day.
In 2021 I was consulting firm #4 nationwide to award the most franchises nationally. I’m also the youngest or one of the youngest franchise consultants in the country and one of the few Hispanics in my industry. I’m also the youngest franchisee nationwide in my franchise system.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Most people don’t know about my journey (I don’t like to talk about it, it’s still very emotional for me).
The awards and recognitions I have won nationwide (Visionary of the Year, Top Producer),
Being the #4 consulting company to award the most franchises nationwide.
Being one of the youngest franchise consultants nationwide.
Being one of the youngest franchisees in Kitchen Tune-up (there are over 200 franchisees nationwide).
Being one of the few Hispanics in my industry and also one of the youngest.
Growing from a 1 man show to 10 people in less than 1.5 years.
Having now 3 offices worldwide and continuing to expand (we have a 2024 plan to open a Florida office).
Being an industry leader in the franchise industry and also in the investor visa world so quickly.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.interlinkfbc.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/interlink_fbc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Interlinkfbc/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/INTERLINKFBC
Image Credits
Ana Patricia Lozano
