 Were you ever scared that it wouldn't work out? Yes, I was very scared too many times. America has always been associated with making it, but is this opportunity accessible to all? I'm Scott Shigeoka, GoDaddy's Entrepreneur in Residence, and I'm on a journey across the country meeting the people who are building it. They're defying the odds, and their stories show us what it means to be made in America. So today we're meeting Consuelo. We're going to go to her house. We're going to talk more about her story. Hey, Consuelo. Good to see you again. Good to see you again. Thanks for having me in your home. I really appreciate that. Do you want to hug? Yeah. She is an owner of a cleaning business. She is an immigrant. She is an incredible person, and you'll come to find that she has this deep resilience to overcome the circumstances that she's in. I'm so happy to have this conversation with you. Thank you. What was your journey to today like? I was a housekeeper for probably 13 years, and one day I decided to start a business to be the owner. Can you talk a little bit more about that? Two years ago, I was married in a no-good situation, no-good marriage, and I was in a beautiful relationship, and this business helped me to get out. And when I get my first clients, I feel like I can do it by myself. Me and it's okay? You know, Consuelo is a survivor of domestic violence, and unfortunately that's a story that rings true for a lot of people, and she's, you know, entrepreneurship to gain independence and get out of that relationship and create a safer and a better life for herself and for her kids. Like, what was going through your mind and how did you actually make the leap? She wakes up at 5 a.m., she schleps all of her stuff, her kids, and she cleans these houses in these commercial spaces, and she used to do that every day, but now as a business owner, what is happening is she's doing that less and less. You're kind of shifting roles right now, right? Like, you used to go and clean, but now you've hired other people. Yes, I was working probably 13 hours and a date by myself, and now I'm probably clean just two hours or four hours, depends, so I'm starting to work less physical, but more business work. Welcome. When you have stereotypes placed against your industry, that's opportunity for you to grow, because that means other people are not paying attention to where the openings are and so this is really smart for people that are thinking about getting into an industry where they think the stereotype is going to be low or you're worried about how people are going to perceive you. Don't worry about that. Go in full on because you see something that others don't and you're going to excel because of that. What are some of the things you want to do with your business? So I have to find a name for the business. I want to create my website that I'm realized that it's very important to create a website especially for commercials and industry. They're going to see me more professional and I can show to more people my work. I think I can reach more people with this. When people come to our website I want to feel like they can trust us. I am trying to get more commercial clients and I think a website can help me. I'm a little bit nervous to do it by myself. Because we're talking about that I don't have a high education. I was about to finish high school but I didn't finish it. We're talking about that my English is not that wide. I don't know how to manage a business. I don't know how to talk about business so I really need this. What are the kinds of struggles or hardships? English not only for the business for for for help my kids for do the life but I'm working on it. Consuelo we're doing a little activity this morning. Today is my second class. My goal is to get my GD and working more in my English in one year but if it takes me longer than one year I'm going to stay. For my knowledge I need it and I want to prove even if we are older even if we pass for a hard situation. Even if we think we don't need it for just cleaning we don't know what's going on never in the future. Being an immigrant and trying to find opportunity can be tough. You start looking for well how will I create an income and what am I passionate about what can I do. When you don't have opportunity readily available to you you have to start inventing and you have to start becoming innovative and so I think that more people that are coming to this country or more people that are starting in this country that have language barriers they have to really think through what are the options that I have in order to create an income. They always come back to entrepreneurship. As an immigrant nobody told me that I can do something else besides cleaning a restaurant. That's only two options when I come here. So no one ever told you like you can be an entrepreneur. Nobody told you that you can do your own business or do something that you really like it. Were you ever scared that it wouldn't work out? Yes I was very scared too many times because when you are divorced you think you're going to fall and if you fall it's another mistake in your life and now I think in a feeling I'm pretty sure each mistake that I'm going to go through I'm going to learn on that and do better next time. This is the house that I still live when I have to live my husband my ex-husband was I was living in there per year. We are sleeping in one matrix meametric kits. All of you on one single matrix. The reason because I showed you this house is you can see the progress that I have that I made by myself after the hard situation and it started the business. Yeah that's beautiful right so this is a reminder to you when you pass by it of how far you've come. It was really hard because I don't realize on that moment that I can do things. I don't realize that I'm good for something. I just have to take the only thing that I think I'm good for and work around that and now I'm discovering this business process I'm discovering that I'm good for many things that surprise myself. You started to realize actually I am really good. I'm really good yes and I can teach them with my example. As a woman survivor domestic violence I have the responsibility to teach my sons the woman can be a powerful too. I always wish to have a better life but I never think I can do my own business. And now you're proving that you can. Yes. Yeah. I have now. Yeah. I'm like really I'm proud and impressed and just so excited for you. Thank you. I'm not scared anymore to get more clients. I'm so excited to get more clients. I'm ready for that. The way that her life is evolving now looks so much closer to what she wants for herself and for her family and that's what entrepreneurship is. That's what it's about. It's about moving towards a life that you and I can swallow wants to grow bigger. She wants to scale and right now she's doing a lot of learning. I think she's in a trial by fire and so I'm excited to come back in a couple of weeks and see how that evolves. Across America sharing the stories of communities who don't have the same access that others do and I hope to share and contribute in the ways that I can and I know that I'll learn a lot along the way too. Getting a business going doesn't happen in a day and that's why I'm going back to check in on Consuelo and Sequoia. Sequoia has got a big day at Memphis Pride and Consuelo is getting more established in her business. I hope you'll join me.