Meet Francisco Rivera of Puerto Rico Detailing

Today we’d like to introduce you to Francisco Rivera.

Hi Francisco, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My wife and I came to Utah from Springfield, Massachusetts, looking to build a family, in 2004 with nothing but our 6-year-old and two-month-old children. We found ourselves in the streets on a rainy day, until a Davis County sheriff found my wife and me carrying our children in a stroller. He had offered to pay for a hotel room and help us acquire the resources necessary to get back on our feet, which we happily accepted.

After we met that officer, our lives changed for the better. He was like our angel, but we never got his name. We were able to start taking small jobs to provide for our growing family. From being a Spanish radio station host to selling vacuums door to door, my wife and I always made sure we could support our children. It has been amazing teamwork from both of us to accomplish things that we never thought we could.

When little jobs weren’t providing for our now five children, I decided to take a job detailing cars. Before I came to Utah, I had cleaned cars in East Windsor, Connecticut, since I was around 19 years old, so I already had some experience. I figured that it would be easy, but I was wrong. Although soon I started learning skills that amazed me! Taking that job had inspired my interest in the Detailing industry, and it also inspired me to open my own shop.

We had no idea how to start a business, since we are the first ones in our families to own a business, so we had to educate ourselves. And with advice from businesspeople that we’ve met from within the Detailing Industry, we’ve been able to stay in business. I remember it as if it was today, we went to the dealer by the dealer offering our services, and we had to learn how to get rejected, but we also learned how to get accepted. Soon, we started cleaning cars from car dealerships, and one day, a classic car came through to see if we could have restored it, which put our skills to work. It came out so amazing, and our quality work had started to get noticed by people.

One customer would tell other people about our work, and word of mouth spread like wildfire. Having so many people know who we are had allowed us to start building a clientele. Of course, it wasn’t easy, it’s an industry that comes with a lot of competition, so you have to be good at what you do in order to succeed. Several years later, that same customer had brought in another classic, we did it for him, and today, we somehow ended up owning the first classic that we’ve done for him, a beautiful 53′ Chevy truck.

Having so many people interacting with our business, we decided to start doing things for our community. Our wonderful family and friends had started going to the Ogden Rescue Mission every Thanksgiving to help throw a big dinner for everyone in the community. We wanted to help wherever we could because we were in their position at one point, and we would still be there if it weren’t for this amazing community that we were able to be a part of.

One of the employees that we’ve hired from a homeless shelter now lives in Indiana with a family and runs a business as a manager for a retail shop. We gave jobs to the youth, and for some of them, this was their first job. Some of them liked it and felt like they could get somewhere in life with it and having this company has been a blessing to see other people grow from working with us. It hasn’t been perfect we’ve, had our ups and downs, we’re not a big company but I know one day we will be looked at as a story of success for other small business to look up to

Nowadays, we are certified to apply Ceramic Pro coating and PPF (clear bra,) and coming soon window tinting those were skills that I’ve wanted to learn when I first joined the detailing industry, and we still have much to learn. It has been an amazing journey so far, and I’m excited about our journey yet to come!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One of the biggest obstacles that we’ve had to deal with was our credit.

We were able to fix it and get ourselves back on track. My diabetes and blood pressure were also big problems because I had to worry about getting better, but it took a lot of dedication and will to lose some weight, start eating better, start doing some exercise, and lose some old habits. Now, I don’t have to use insulin anymore, and I have nice stable blood pressure.

Other obstacles were being around negative people not having money to grow. my wife had her own health issues she had two bowel obstructions that hospitalized her both times not having anyone to help us when needed was a struggle.

As you know, we’re big fans of Puerto Rico Detailing. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
we are a detail shop that specializes in vintage vehicles as well as any other vehicles we are known to be one of the best detail shops here in Utah we are known for our thorough cleanliness and our buffing we love what we do and do our best for everyone we treat every customer like our own family we show our love.

We are a proud Puerto Rican family and thought we should bring our touch to Utah so decided to name our business Puerto Rico Detailing. Our brand offer detail services, paint protection film (clear bra), paint corrections, and soon-to-do window tinting.

What would you say has been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
we learned that dreams come true when you wake up and work for it we learned to be persistent and dedicated, when you want something you work hard for it and it will pay off. we learned how to think differently we changed our mindset.

We learned how to have faith and keep moving forward and not look back. learned how to better ourselves to help our children become better people in life and have a better future than what we did we also became better people we learned how to take our business to help others have second opportunities.

We also learned how to budget.

Contact Info:

• Email: puertoricodetailing@gmail.com
• Website: https://l.instagram.com/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fpuertoricodetailing.business.site%2F%3Futm_source%3Dgmb%26utm_medium%3Dreferral&e=ATPwK1YGvClsRHYGrR4SlegbWHL5opA2314v1kombjeoHCcuAik2-aR_YF81dXQWgp3VQHauE5JQgx3o1bFLxRBBBzb3YBb8egNv5i4&s=1
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/puerto_ricodetailing/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Puerto-Rico-Detailing-LLC-260914634841616/