This podcast episode delves into the intricate journey of a musician who has transformed his passion for music into a thriving business. The principal focus is on the speaker's evolution from a church musician to an entrepreneur, highlighting the establishment of Juice's Music Shop and Juicy Ears. We explore the challenges and triumphs inherent in navigating the music industry, particularly during the pandemic, when unexpected opportunities emerged. The conversation emphasizes the significance of community, mentorship, and the intertwining of faith and creativity in achieving success. Moreover, we discuss how the speaker's entrepreneurial spirit continues to grow, aiming to elevate his brand to meet esteemed industry standards.

Takeaways:

• The podcast delves into the fascinating journey of a musician turned entrepreneur, highlighting the intricate relationship between artistry and business acumen.
• Throughout the discussion, the importance of building authentic relationships within the music industry is emphasized, showcasing how networking can lead to unexpected opportunities.
• Listeners are encouraged to embrace their unique paths and remain steadfast in their faith, as it serves as a foundation for navigating the challenges of the music world.
• The conversation underscores the significance of adaptability and resilience in the face of adversity, particularly during the tumultuous period of the pandemic and its impact on the music industry.

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Juicy Ears
• Juices Music Shop
• Juicy Sticks
• Juicy Basses
• Juicy 8s

From classics to curiosity and where melodies meet me.

Welcome.

Welcome back to another episode of the DNA Airwaves.

As usual, I'm one of your hosts, D.

I'm here with my partner in crime, Mr.

Anthony, sipping his tea.

What's going on?

That's funny, man.

I'm good, man.

Yo, you went back in time.

Did you realize that?

I went back in time.

The Music Explored podcast.

What did I say?

You said the DNA airwaves.

What just happened to your brain?

Hilarious.

Wow.

That's funny.

Out of it.

Did I really see DNA Airwaves?

Yeah.

You're back.

You know why?

I was looking at something that said I had a toque.

Oh, the tu.

Yeah.

Crazy.

Wow.

Wow.

Okay, well, I'm glad got you up to speed with where we are now.

It's the Music Explored podcast.

Wow.

Great.

Welcome.

Welcome, D.

And call me out on that.

Everybody else is who is new here.

That's funny, man.

We're just gonna roll with it because it's gonna make me laugh for days to come.

I love clowning you forever, as you know, but we've been friends for a long time.

Lifetime, actually, so we could get away with things like that here and there.

And I take full advantage of that, man.

I'm actually really.

Yeah, you know.

You know how it goes.

I'm really excited, man, for this chat.

There's.

It's like a.

There's like multi levels to things and reasons why I'm excited here.

So I'm looking forward A lot of parallels.

I've noticed a lot of parallels.

Yeah, yeah, you're right.

You're right, you're right.

Okay.

Okay.

So that's interesting that you noticed that.

So with no further ado, I'm going to introduce and I'm going to mess up your name because I.

I took.

I took a look at a clip from an interview where you did a breakdown of your name and you, like.

It was like, spelled out a few different ways, so now I'm relying.

Okay.

Yeah.

Like Hugo Boss.

Okay, so we got Mr.

Hugo.

Hugo.

Hugo Sanchez with us, also known as Juice, and we got to talk about that, man.

But first of all, welcome to the show.

Well, glad to have you with us.

Thank you guys for having me.

If it's a little breaky, please excuse me.

I'm, like, in the middle of nowhere.

We're pretty remote today, so.

Yeah, you're on vacay, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

With the family.

Thanks for squeezing us into this times early in the morning where you're at, so we really appreciate it.

Ji.

You're a man of the words.

Actually, your wife is multilingual.

Right.

So I know you've picked up some things from her.

Trilingual.

Okay, so I, I read this.

I hopefully I'm not an idiot for I'm going off the man himself.

But do you understand, is there a correlation that you see as from his name Hugo and the nickname Juice?

I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it's a play on the Spanish word Hugo, which is juice.

It literally translates to Juice.

J, U G O is juice.

And so maybe, maybe that's the correlation I'm making.

Or maybe he's just dripping with swag.

Juice.

All the time.

Just.

It's probably a little bit of both.

Most bass players are the coolest people in the band too, so maybe they.

Yeah, so that's exactly.

Yeah, that's exactly it.

So growing up.

Which one?

Both.

Yeah, growing up, they would call me Juice because Ugo is how you say Juice in Spanish.

My name, the actual way to pronounce it is Ugo.

Without the H, it's just U, G, O, N, U go.

Just the way that I, I always tell my friends.

I'm like, just put the H from the front to the back.

It's Ugo.

So Ugo, that's how you say my name, but growing up.

Hugo.

Hugo.

That's how they.

So if you follow me on social media, my.

My handle is Hugo equals Juice, just because that's how I got that nickname since I was a kid.

Funny story is that now my firstborn, his name is Juice.

I actually named him Juice.

Oh, wow.

Oh, okay.

Okay.

Juice.

Junior.

Junior Juice.

Yeah, Junior Juice.

Okay, it carries on.

Yeah, Yeah, I like it.

I like it.

I mean, and it's.

And I mean, as like the Ricky mentioned as a bass player, it's a direct play on your swag too.

So I guess it's just.

It was.

It's all encompassing, natural fit.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, no.

Well, he did warn us.

He's in a remote area, so.

Making me worse.

Sorry, guys.

Yeah, I'm literally in the.

I'm in the desert right now.

Oh, wow.

Okay.

Where, where, what state, can I ask?

I'm still in California.

I didn't want to go too far.

There's still a lot of stuff that we're doing, but I'm like, you know what, let's just get away for a little bit.

So.

Yeah.

So if it drops, I'm going to be reconnecting.

Sorry.

No, it's all good.

We'll Try this a few times.

In the worst case, we can just go audio if we're having too many tech glitches here.

But, yeah, we'll power through, man.

So.

All right, so let's talk about your, I guess, your early days, and I'm guessing in this chain of events that has kind of led to where we are now.

I'm guessing that before, you know, entrepreneur and creator and other things, that you were a musician, right?

Yeah, I grew up.

I don't come from a musical family.

It was just like most of my friends.

There was a need at church, and then.

And then that's how I just gravitated towards bass.

And.

And then after that, it was just history.

I.

I didn't know you could make a living from playing bass.

I didn't know that, you know, being a musician was something you could sustain yourself off of.

My parents didn't understand that, you know, growing up from a Latin home, my parents, you know, first generation.

Right.

So they said, get a job, and, you know, I was just like, sure, I'll get a job, but I'll still play music.

So growing up, it was always music.

And then working retail, that was it for us.

Okay.

Okay.

And I guess a lot happened probably in a short period of time.

Well, when did you start actually playing?

I guess that's a good.

I started playing bass.

I would say.

I want to say somewhere around 14, 14, 15.

My mom took us to a huge music chain, which is no longer around, called Sam Ash, and she bought us a Fender Squire starter pack for bass.

That's how I started.

And then.

Yeah, that I remember.

I'll never forget this base.

It was a red precision Fender Squire with the low.

It's called, like, a rumble pack.

And.

Okay, that was, like, my birthday gift.

And that's how I got into playing bass.

A very traditional bass bass path, I think, actually.

Yeah.

It's actually really funny because we and I, Drake, you'll agree, now there's a definite.

The music industry.

We've talked to people from all different aspects, and there just seems to be an overwhelming tie in to people who started off playing and.

Or singing in church, and it's no matter what.

Yeah.

People listening might think that this is a path and these are, like, certain.

This is, like, criteria to be a guest on our podcast.

But it's just literally by chance.

It's overwhelmingly probably like 75% is this.

You think it's by chance, though?

I don't think it's.

Well, I mean, by chance, as far as we're not actively looking for people who meet this criteria.

Yeah, yeah.

By chance as far as other things.

Absolutely not.

This is divine.

It's much greater than chance, for sure.

Yeah.

I think, I think it's just because it's.

It's like free education, man.

It's.

That's cost you to do play there and you learn everything.

Yeah.

It's just a good breeding ground for, you know, artistry, you know.

And now we realize that the church breeds.

The church cultivates artists, photographers, videographers, musicians, singers, you name it.

It's just a place to be creative now where as maybe someone was a professional photographer and would maybe take photos at your church or did sound or whatever.

Now it's like school people, they want to get good at anything artistic.

Church is going to be the place to really just cultivate those talents.

That's very true.

I agree.

And I know there, I mean there's definitely.

There were definitely generations that came before ours and that were pioneers of a lot of different things.

But I guess in my mind I kind of see it as we.

Our generation has kind of been like that bridge of where it went from, you know, like playing bass or playing drums, whatever it is, singing as just strictly love as something that we didn't even think twice as one day I'm going to be a pro, one day I'm going to get paid doing this strictly a labor.

It was like it was love.

It was love.

It was love for the instrument, it was love for church.

It was all that.

But now I think the generation coming up behind us has seen a clear cut path.

Not to take away from them, but they're born into a good time as far as that goes.

Where now you can look around and say like I want to be a bass player.

That's what I'm going to do.

You could be five years old and say I want to be a pro musician, I want to be on tour and all that stuff.

So yeah, I think it was a very interesting time for us where we kind of saw the, the bridging of this gap that I didn't even know existed until I saw the other side.

And I think it's probably the same.

Yeah.

And it's so much more accelerated now.

Like everything is super accelerated.

You can start playing guitar tomorrow and in one year you could be, you know, at the, you know, at the Madison Square Garden with elevation, worship.

So true.

We've seen it.

There's just so much more acceptability.

Even when I started playing, not even that old.

That YouTube wasn't really strong yet.

So if you want to learn a song.

Yeah, yeah.

You still had to put the CD in, stop it, rewind, and then play it again and stop it and rewind and hope that you're playing the right part, or ask a buddy that.

That is more, you know, versed in whatever, and then they'll teach it.

But you're like, oh, actually, this is it.

You know, now it's super accelerated, so it's.

It's.

It's super cool, though.

Tutorials.

Yeah.

Yeah, it is cool.

It's a little different approach.

Can't knock it because it's working in a lot of aspects.

Right.

You can't say it's not, because, like you said, the acceleration is crazy.

Could have saved us a lot of time, too.

There's probably a benefit to hitting that rewind and having to figure it out a little bit deeper.

Break it down.

Yeah.

I mean, but I guess either way, you're kind of ending up in a very similar place, so.

Okay.

So I want to kind of pivot from.

Well, I don't want to take.

Jump right into it, but can you kind of talk us through your journey as a musician?

So you're playing in church, I assume.

And I.

I mean, I know that it led to some other opportunities.

What did that look like?

And was there a point where you thought, like, okay, this is what I want to do, and this is all I want to do as far as being a musician.

Yeah.

So when I first started playing, like I said, I didn't know that you could even.

I didn't know you got paid for this.

I literally was just doing it for the honor and glory.

God.

Which I still am.

Which is crazy to me, because.

Right.

You know, things for sure change.

But I was just playing because I.

I wanted to play bass.

I wanted to be on.

On the same.

Like this, you know, the scope as my brother.

My brother was a drummer.

We all picked it up at the same time, but my brother just started playing way more than I did.

I was a kid, and I'm like, man, if I could just play with my brother, that'll be the coolest thing ever, you know?

Shortly after, we started playing everywhere.

Every youth service camp, convention, you name it.

And I said, wow, this is honestly so much fun.

It was a culture that we were a part of now that we just.

That was our life.

Right.

Church and hanging out and being at camps and just having that environment.

Little by little, people just started saying, like, hey, it's kind of how it is.

Right?

Where are you playing?

Hey, can you play here?

And then next thing you know, after my church, I'm going to another church.

I'm going to youth service.

And then mom, I'll be back by 9pm and I'll be with my brother, don't worry, or whatever.

And it kind of.

It kind of progressed in that light.

And then shortly after, I got called.

I'll never forget.

I know every single step to where it got me.

Today I got invited to go to a musician's, like, jam.

Like a shed.

We call it shed.

Right.

And from there, everything just opened up.

I started playing everywhere.

It just.

It took me into the.

Into the gospel community.

And then after that, it was like.

It was an acceleration of growth.

But in church, I grew up in Latin church, where it's very simple.

All service, I'm playing two notes.

Literally two notes.

And then when I started playing at different churches, I said, oh, man, what's this song?

Everything's new to me.

Like, I didn't know Blessed Assurance.

I didn't know Total praise.

I didn't know, you know, a lot of music.

Yeah.

And I said, okay.

So then by the grace of God, man, people were absolutely willing to pour into this young kid, you know, and.

And I started learning a lot then as, you know, as your IQ grows, you start getting calls for different stuff.

So then I started doing, like, local BET awards here at the Staples center in California.

I started called for some videotapings.

And I've always been the youngest guy.

I've always been the only Mexican in the room, which is so wild because my whole landscape changed.

And then I guess to fast forward a little bit, I landed at a church not too far from my house.

And it was a church you got in Christ.

And I really developed a heart, you know, in that specific ministry.

And then I became a youth pastor with my wife for six years.

And then, yeah, literally, I was Kojic for six years.

Loved it because I grew up apostolic, so it aligned relatively similarly.

And yeah, right there at that church, I learned a ton.

I'm talking about everything.

Like, I learned.

Yeah, just anything music musically related.

I learned a ton.

And that launched me.

So when I started getting calls for bigger stages and I started touring, it was just easy.

It was an easy transition because it, like, a lot of amazing musicians would run through, just to name a few.

I would have.

I would.

There'd be Sundays.

I'd be playing with Mike Burrell, super gospel legend.

Quentin Golich, super, you know, amazing producer, musician, place for everyone.

Clifton Williams, keyboard is for Baby Baby Face and the Jacksons.

Like, literally, I was running through a ton of musicians.

This was your education?

Yeah.

And they were just pouring into me.

And because of that, I started in my community, my land community.

Right.

I started building an influence, better yet.

So when I was going on the road, they would say, hey, Juice, we want to play gospel like you.

What are you using?

And I would tell them, oh, I'm using this bass.

I've learned that this bass works good with this cabinet.

And this tone is perfect for this.

Or when I would tour, I would play Persian music.

No idea how that even happened, but that was my main gig.

Literally everything was six, eight, or, you know, just, you know, and.

And then that opened a lot of doors.

Sorry, it was reconnecting on my end, but it opened a lot of doors for us.

And.

And.

And then that led into where we are today.

Wow, that's incredible.

I mean, that trajectory has got to be intense.

Especially, like you said, being the only Mexican in the room at most times, and your ability to kind of navigate in these spaces, I mean, it's all under the umbrella of gospel.

And obviously the Christian community is very welcoming, so I'm sure that wasn't tough.

But in terms of just going from playing in churches to touring, I know technically, like, musically, you're ready for that big stage, but what's that like as a young man trying to tour as a Christian, as with his faith, trying to kind of just stay, you know, true to self?

Because I know it's tough on the road being alone or sometimes just being isolated from your family, from your wife.

What was that like for you as a young man?

And is there anything you could tell young musicians right now that might get that opportunity?

Just things to kind of either be aware of or some advice you might give them?

Yeah.

So basically, it was an absolute challenge.

And I don't know if I'm cutting out because on my end it says reconnecting, but it was an absolute challenge.

Simply because.

Simply because obviously I'm super God fearing.

You know, I was a youth pastor even while touring, which is very uncommon, where, you know, most of the time, you know, guys are just musicians, the community.

And the gig that I had, my constant gig, they knew me as preacher.

So they were like, right, Preacher, Preacher, your.

Your plane leaves in 30 minutes.

So right after the show, I would have to leave because I told them, hey, man, I'LL do the gig.

But I got to be in time Sunday because I got to preach.

I got.

I have Bible study.

I got Sunday school.

So my schedule went like this, right.

I would leave Thursday.

Shows would be Friday.

Saturday, I would catch a plane either Saturday night or Sunday morning, typically east coast, so that I can make it in time for 10am or normally I'd make it in for 9am prayer on Sunday.

Okay.

But if I didn't make that, then I absolutely would make Sunday school at 10.

And then after Sunday school, we would have prayer.

I normally would do inspirational message before service.

So I'm preaching before service.

Okay.

And then I have to play.

Right.

And then after that, I'd go do church and so on and so forth.

So they knew how active I was, Right.

So I told them, look, dude, I'm super down.

Yes.

No joke.

Obviously, we built the relationships, but I told them, I don't want to miss church.

Like, I.

To me, that's number one.

Simply because I told.

I remember telling God or asking God, look, God, like, I'll just.

If you can sustain me through music, I'll give you all my time.

And I left.

What I did my first five years, we took, like, two years off.

But my first five years of marriage, we devoted to ministry.

You know, we were youth pastors at two different churches while touring Maryland at one church.

So I was very, very active.

Yeah.

But what I can say for musicians that are like, you know, believers, your faith will be tested.

You know, I.

I would show up to certain hotel rooms and, like, they would be doing full on drugs.

And I'm like, I don't know if this is the life that I want to be a part of.

And I knew that that culture, you know, traveled across any industry, any.

Any music genre.

True.

So I had to be very strategic in what I was doing because I understood the value of touring, but I also understood the value and the influence that I had.

So at some point, I had to leverage that to get me to where I wanted to go.

I realized after touring for whatever time that I'm like, okay, this isn't a forever gig.

This is a young man's game.

This is a single man's game to me.

Now, I know a lot of musicians, like my buddies that I mentioned.

Yeah, those guys are crushing it.

Yeah.

And, you know, they.

They do it on their terms, you know, which is super fire.

But what I started seeing for the future of my life and my wife and now my two kids, I said, I don't want to be on the road, I don't want my kids to be, you know, where's dad?

You know, and I hadn't even had kids yet.

Right.

So this is something I thought about.

So I knew that everything that I did from then on forth, I had to be very strategic.

And, and yeah, you know, we ended up.

I ended up using all of those networks that I built over the years and I leveraged that to my next move, which was what we're doing now, you know, but if you're in the industry, okay, I guess, and I'm not just saying it's secular.

This is, this applies everywhere.

It's going to be for sure shock because you, you would think that certain things run a certain way, but they don't.

Not everybody's purely musically, you know, do it or not.

Everybody's doing it, you know, specifically just for music.

A lot of guys are doing it to pay the bills.

Yeah.

You know, and they're going through stuff while they're paying bills.

So for sure, just be mindful.

Don't let those things distract you.

You know, don't.

Don't get absorbed by the culture of the music world.

Stay strong.

And it's okay to say no.

Don't feel, don't feel like you're held hostage for the gig because you need the check.

You know, there's other ways to make money and you can make the same amount of money locally, you know what I'm saying?

But social media change that because social media changed that because now you can be more famous on social media and never tour, Right.

Whereas in.

In order for you to get the endorse, don't.

Only thing you had to do was tour.

As soon as you got the tour, as soon as you got the shows, people were like, ziljan here.

Yeah, you know, you know, Vic Firth here, you know, whatever here.

Now it's like, oh, you have 100,000 followers here.

So the landscape has changed.

So I think what happens to us as musicians is that we feel like we.

We're chokehold a little bit because we have to play in certain settings.

But one of the things that I've understood, and then I preach every week, I'm like, when God gives you value, no one can take that away.

You don't have to dilute yourself to be a part of the big picture.

Like, if God wants you at that table, he will make room for you at that table.

And that's, that's one thing that I've noticed and that I've experienced in my life.

That's Huge.

That's very.

Yeah.

Wow.

Yeah.

You said a lot in that, man.

And I.

For anyone listening, I know we have.

I mean, there's some who have experience, who have been on the road.

There's also a lot who are upcoming and looking for that next opportunity and working hard just to be seen.

And that's.

Social media culture is just like.

It's really.

Look at me, like people are on there.

You're putting up content to be seen.

It's not.

That's.

That's the end goal.

Right.

Which creates a whole nother layer of dynamics that a lot of us didn't have to face pre this previous era.

So, yeah, that.

Some wise words of just at least things to consider.

Considering your why, understanding your purpose and not straying from that is huge.

When temptation comes your way or distractions come your way, staying focused on.

On the plan, which requires you to actually understand what your purpose and your plan are before you get in those situations, or else you're going to find yourself scrambling.

So I think that you spoke of, and I.

I'm really grabbing on to that.

Just the fact that you thought ahead, even thinking ahead to the next moves.

I know that you transitioned from, you know, touring musician, music director, youth pastor.

That's a lot of stuff to be juggling at once.

No kidding.

Yeah.

I don't know how much of that you gave up or how much you carried on to the next sort of chapter.

But I want to talk about that transition because from there, I know you opened up Juice Music Shop, and at some point also.

Well, I'll let you tell us that whole next side of what came from that transition.

I'll accelerate a little bit because honestly, it's a lot I can imagine after.

Yeah, it's a lot.

So, you know, I got married.

I got married and then, you know, we were youth pastors first before all the gigs.

I mean, all the major stuff.

I always.

I always give credit to my wife.

She literally unlocked God's favor in my life when.

As soon as I met her, you know, like, everything happened.

And that's how I knew that was.

It was divinely appointed.

Right.

But, yeah, once.

Once we started playing and I started really taking off musically, I realized I'm like, man, God, you're giving me a lot.

And I don't want to.

I don't want it to not be reciprocated.

I want to make sure that I give you more than what you're giving me.

And that's why we were so heavily involved in church, because I'm Like.

Like, I'm just like, God first.

Like, if.

If I want these seeds that I plan to grow, I gotta do them.

I gotta do them with the help of God, you know?

So as time went on, you know, as time went on, we.

I started realizing, like, I said, I'm like, all right, I'm building an influence.

I'm building.

You know, people are following us for what gear, you know, they want.

That was that guy.

I was like, hey, Juice, what are you using?

And I'm like, I'm using this.

Then I started getting endorsements.

And I'm not.

I'm a time.

I'm not talking Fender.

I'm not talking, you know, Roland.

I'm talking, like, these Korean companies and these Chinese companies that I would see at this.

This at namm, right, the national association of Music Merchants when that big event, right, every January, I was on that side.

I was on the.

On the artist side.

And I would.

I would, you know, sell my stuff.

I'd say, like, hey, dude.

I would pitch myself.

I'd say, hey, man, I'm playing with so and so.

You know, I can move this product.

And one of my main.

One of my.

My now partners, he would tell me, no every year.

He'd say, no, no, no, I don't need artists.

I don't need artists.

And he would tell it to me, you know, and I would say, it's okay, you know, But I knew.

I knew what I wanted to do.

So I had a string endorsement.

Then I got a base bag endorsement.

Then eventually, after two and a half years, I got a.

I got a base endorsement.

So I'm on tour.

Everything is endorsed now.

I don't have to pay for strings, bases, bags, whatever, you know.

So now I'm like.

I'm like, okay, I'm a professional quote, unquote.

Like, if things are lining up, yes.

And then as time went on, that's all I was selling.

So I was known for these three companies.

People would say, hey, Juice, place for so and so.

Dude is a preacher.

Yada, yada, I'm doing all this.

But also, if you want gear, go talk to Juice.

He'll get you.

And.

And to be honest, I've always been an entrepreneur.

In high school, I would sell chocolates, right?

We would do.

I would sell sneakers, I would sell clothes.

It's just.

Okay, you know, that's just how I was.

I didn't come from.

I didn't come from a lot of money.

You know, the beginning of the school year did not mean that I had A brand new set of clothes and meant that a month before I had a hustle to get at least 100 bucks to buy a pair of jeans.

Right?

So I've always been a hustler.

Yeah, yeah, I've always been a hustler.

So then that's what people knew me as.

They're like, oh, this is the guy to go to for this.

Eventually I told my wife, I'm like, hey, I want to do something else.

Like I want to play music, but I also want to have a business.

And she supported me and it was easy for her because she was a first grade teacher, right?

So you talk about stability, right?

You got a 401k.

I've never had insurance up until I got married through my wife.

That's just the honest truth.

Musicians go get insurance.

We don't have that.

You know, we don't, we don't have the retirement.

Fair enough.

Yeah, yeah.

So then she supported me.

It took me two years to really.

For it to happen.

And this is where, this is where it really starts accelerating.

I would ask God, I'm like, God, like, I want to do something else and I want to, I want to.

I really wanted just to devote my life to Christ, you know, and the business was always looming over my head because I was already doing it, but I didn't have a store yet.

So then eventually, this is after two nams, I told all my reps, I said, or my company, I said, hey, look, I want to open up a store.

Let me sell your stuff stateside.

I'll be your guy.

I'll be your dealer exclusively for you guys.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then they said, sure.

They literally were like, okay, yes, done.

And I, and I was like, oh, wow, that was pretty easy.

But even then I didn't do it because I didn't.

I was scared.

I said, oh man, I don't have the money to open up the store or I don't have the money to whatever, whatever.

What am I going to do, you know?

So then I waited another year.

Yeah, right, Another year.

So this is, this is not like, you know, month by month.

And one day I come home from work, mind you, I'm doing all this, I'm touring and I'm working a part time job as a salesman for a printing company.

And then I go home, I'm eating, probably eating Taco Bell in my apartment.

And there, yeah, I know, I love Taco Bell.

My friends get on me because I want to eventually open up a Taco Bell franchise.

I want to have my own.

Oh, okay.

But regardless, I know I'm ambitious.

I'm ambitious, but I was eating Taco Bell.

And I'll never forget this, that God came over me.

And I'm not one that cries.

I'm not.

I'm not a crier.

I didn't cry when my son was born.

Neither of them.

I didn't cry on my wedding day.

Almost did.

But I always told my wife, I'm like, I saved my tears.

I saved my tears for Jesus.

I would always tell her that.

I'm like, I saved my tears for the Lord and literally started crying.

I started crying.

And God.

God audibly told me, he said, start the business.

Start it now.

He's like, don't worry about it.

Just start it now.

Don't worry about the money.

Start it now.

And I just was like, all right, all right.

And I went to work the next day.

And while I was working, I was on my computer looking for places to lease.

I found one for affordably, you know, for affordable, like, two miles from my apartment.

Probably less than.

I'm probably less than that.

Wow.

And then that's where it started.

I started juicing music shop right then and there.

I didn't know that the pandemic was coming.

I didn't know that.

I had no idea.

Right.

No one did.

Right.

Yeah.

We sell out at NAMM.

Yeah.

This is my first time going as a business, as Juices Music shop.

We sell out.

And this is.

This is before.

In years or anything.

This is just bases.

This is bases, bags and strings.

And then all of a sudden, March and my tours.

I had three tours lined up, right?

February, March, April.

February comes.

Hey, we're not gonna do the San Francisco show.

Hey, we're not gonna do the LA show.

And then all of a sudden, hey, that tour's canceled.

Am I okay?

I told my wife, I'm like, at least I have, you know, the two other tours, Right?

Okay.

Hey.

Right.

March tour is canceled.

We're in March now.

Yeah.

And then I realized I'm like, oh, everything's done.

Like, no more touring.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I was kind of pressed because I thought to myself, man, this sucks, because I was counting on that money.

But at the same time, I was like, I didn't want to do them anyways.

Like, I didn't want to play anyways.

Right.

I wanted to do the job stuff.

Yeah.

The world shuts down, right?

We know this.

The world shut down.

And it wasn't just the States.

It was the world, right?

The world shuts down.

Church shuts down.

I'm preaching remotely now.

I was.

My first Sunday was the Sunday before my birthday.

And that was the first Sunday I went live stream for my youth.

And then.

And then that was it.

No more church.

I wasn't playing, so I wasn't making a check from church.

I wasn't making a check from work.

I wasn't nothing.

That's it.

It was just.

Yeah, whatever.

We.

Whatever we had.

Then the music store popped off.

Hey, yo, I can't go on this vacation.

I have an extra thousand dollars.

Want to buy a base?

Okay, buying bases.

I'm buying.

I sold out.

Within a month and a half, I sold out.

I'm like, wow.

I had no idea.

But because I just trusted in God, God sustained us through the pandemic, right?

Through this.

Through this brand new store.

Yeah.

It's like, yeah, perfect timing, you know, And.

Yeah.

And then to fast forward, I sold everything.

I didn't know that.

I was like, the.

All my manufacturers were like, you're not going to get product till maybe September.

Right.

We're in April.

Right.

Like, maybe you'll get product in September.

Because the world was going to open up.

And I told my wife, I'm like, yo, we're going to have to wait the pandemic for us.

I know for some people, unfortunately, it was tough for me, my wife and my best friend.

We were having the time of our life.

We were literally hanging out every day, movie night, ordering food.

I would tell my wife, I'm like, man, babe, I'm like, it's as if the government's paying us to learn how to run a business, you know, in Juice's Music Shop.

Like, we're having the time of our lives.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I was able to be with my wife every day, you know, like, not having to go to church every day.

I'm like, wow, this is crazy, right?

It didn't mean that we weren't like, I was still having.

I was still doing inspirational messages every morning.

I was still doing morning prayer every Friday with my youth.

I was still doing church on Sunday.

Right.

So I wasn't, you know, remotely.

But.

But yeah, I was like, wow, God, that's incredible.

Like, I had no idea.

And because I was willing to take that leap of faith and trust in God, the business was born.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And that's obviously before.

That's incredible.

Juicy ears and juicy basses and sticks and stuff like that.

It was just Jesus Music Shop.

And the business was born from that.

So that was pretty Wild.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's intense, actually.

And that's.

I mean, a lot of businesses started shortly before, and a lot of businesses crumbled shortly after, so.

Exactly.

Yeah.

There's something you said.

I mean, and just that whole story eating Taco Bell or possibly McDonald's, I can't verify that, but.

And just that moment where you just heard the voice and it was like, this is what you have to do.

And you listened, right?

Yeah.

And look what, look what that obedience has done.

Right.

Through the hardest time that the world has seen, at least in our lifetime, you and your family were able to thr.

And your business thrived and you continued to do.

Maybe you said you're still preaching.

Maybe in your pajama bottom, you're still doing the.

That had to be done.

And, and look, it was insane.

Yeah, yeah, it was insane.

The business.

A lot of my friends started businesses.

Some people didn't do well, you know, and some people did really well.

I saw it.

Yeah.

I didn't even know possible when I started the business, mind you.

I'm first generation.

Right.

My I, My parents, you know, speaks more predominantly Spanish.

And I told my dad, I said, hey, I'm gonna start a business.

And my dad said, oh, no, it's not gonna work.

Because he didn't understand it.

Yeah.

He didn't understand my business.

Yeah.

He never understood that I could make a living from playing music.

And, and that was five years ago, right?

That was five years ago, two kids ago, where I, I, I brought that up at a Thanksgiving dinner, and my dad was like, I don't know.

And now we're here and I've horses relationships that were built.

But honestly, it's.

Without the help of God, it wouldn't have never been possible because I would have doubted myself and I would have never done it.

I'd still be playing.

True.

Like, exclusively now.

I play because I want to.

So.

Yeah.

And that's when it comes like.

Yeah.

Because for a lot of musicians, like you said, you reach this plateau of just playing and going through the motions of playing, and that passion is kind of getting dwindled because of the necessity to play.

But when you open up your opportunities and you can do other things that don't make you have to play and you just want to play.

It's.

It's a beautiful thing.

I've seen it with a lot of people where now they can pick and choose when they can refuse gigs because they don't have to take the gig.

And that's when I feel musicians really get to blossom into who they want to be.

Do you.

Do you think with opening up the business, with being a youth pastor, father of two, playing music, you know, you had so much going on.

Is there anything else that you feel you want to challenge yourself and do?

Because, I mean, it's incredible that you were able to do the business, but is there anything else where you're kind of like, at that same moment, just before you ate the Taco Bell, where you're considering doing something?

Yeah, absolutely.

At that time, my goal, I was going back and forth between opening up a donut shop and doing a business.

Doing the music stuff.

Yeah.

I wanted to do something.

I know, right?

I wanted to do something that was just like, people need it.

I didn't want to try to sell coffee.

I.

I didn't want to try to sell, you know, bracelets.

I wanted to do something that I know that it's gonna.

People are gonna want it all the time.

Yeah.

So, yeah, there was that.

But my heart's always been in ministry.

Like, even now, my heart is 100% in ministry.

I'm the.

I'm the music director of my church, and I oversee a lot of things.

The whole thing about Juice's Music Shop was.

And what it came to be was so that I didn't have to worry about leaving and gigging, I could devote my time to my local community, my church, where I can sew back in ministry.

And that's what Juicy Music Shop allows us to do.

It allows me to sew back into my.

Into the ministry that I'm a part of without me having to be like, oh, guys, well, I gotta go, because I gotta leave Thursday and I won't make rehearsal.

You know, that's.

That's where I.

That's what my heart was, to build church.

You know, to build churches.

Our mission for Juice's Music Shop is eventually to travel abroad and do missionary work, because God called me personally and my wife to be evangelists, which we do now, but we're doing that through.

Through Juice's Music Shop.

Right.

Which I couldn't have done in any other way because this has opened up so many doors in church.

That's always been.

Since Even before Jesus Music Shop, my heart's always been in evangelism.

It's always been in preaching.

And now we're able to travel.

Now we're able to.

I'm talking to you guys, right?

That.

I mean, I give honor and glory to God for that, because I know these relationships eventually will grow.

And we might be over there and have a juices music shop revival, Right.

Let's just say, right.

We believe that everything is absolutely intertwined.

So that's always been our heart.

Our heart has always been absolutely.

In growing the kingdom without having to put a name to it as far as, oh, this is hillsong or this is elevation.

Yo, this is Jesus.

That's it.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, lives are changed.

It just so happens that, you know, JMS is.

Is funding this, you know.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I love that, man.

There's so much value, so much purpose in the business.

And yeah, honestly, I mean.

I mean, people need donuts too, so I guess it could have been any business, Truth.

Truthfully.

But I think it's what you put into it.

And the fact that no matter.

I believe that no matter what business you opened up or what businesses you continue to open up, I can see that you're still going to have that solid foundation of your belief and your obedience to Christ.

And I think that that's going to come through all of the work that you do.

So that's incredible.

I look forward to more of that.

I want to.

I know our time is getting a little shorter.

Have a lot of questions about the shop and some of the other things that have happened since, you know, like recently after the pandemic.

So I want to talk about Juicy Ears and some of that other stuff, but I also want to hear about.

We've talked a lot about relationship and I want to ask you a bit about artist relationship and how that's all come into play as a business and as your value system.

Like, maybe talk us through that and I'll pick your brain a little bit more about some of the details there.

Yeah.

So I.

After, you know, during that.

The height of the pand.

We call it the Panda.

During the height of that.

Because YouTube would flag us if we said pandemic.

So let's just say the Panda.

And.

But yeah, after that, I sold everything.

I was also endorsed by an in ear company and I was going to approach Juicy Ears to them.

I said, you know what?

Let me be your guy.

I'm a salesman.

Like, I can sell anything.

I could sell a rock.

I can sell a rock to.

To a desert.

Like, I know what I can do.

But the guy that might call my contact say what?

I said, is that why you're in the desert now selling rocks?

Yeah, pretty much.

That's why me.

I'm reconnecting.

Christ is my firm foundation.

That's why.

But what's it called?

I was pitching the Idea to them.

And the guy, my contact, I think he quit or he got laid off, whatever the case is.

I didn't have a contact anymore, okay?

So I said, you know what?

I'm gonna go alone.

I'm gonna just run it.

My wife said, do you know how to do it?

And I said, no.

Took me a while.

Once I did that, the world started opening up a little bit more.

I started playing again.

Then I started playing with bigger names.

Started playing with Chandler Moore, Todd Delaney, Naomi Rainbow.

And I was taking this product everywhere.

People would say, hey.

I would tell them, what are you using?

Oh, I'm using this.

I'm using that.

And I said, no, you got to use Juicy Ears.

What is Juicy Ears?

And I'm like, they're my headphones.

I made these headphones, and I was making them in house in.

In Whittier, California.

And they're like, okay.

They would try them.

Wow.

And then their minds would be blown because everything that they were using was just, like, entry level, you know, And.

And I was just bootstrapping everything.

Like, I would just Big ten with me everywhere.

I started growing it there with my friends.

I had five friends that I still.

I just played with them.

Last weekend, we had a concert that pretty much helped me just.

Nice.

Push this juicier idea.

At that point, it started growing really fast.

All my local community started buying it.

It wasn't this Juicy Ears wasn't the thing where it was like, I have to convince people.

It was more like, hey, dude, what are you using?

What is that?

I want it.

That's what happened.

So then it started growing, and then.

And I.

The highlight point in the beginning of this, even though I was playing with Chandler and all them.

And I was.

I was really involved with this church organization called All.

All Nations Worship Assembly.

They would.

They would have me come out to Vegas once a month to do, like, this new church launch that they were doing.

I got called to play for Israel Houghton, right?

And I remember they called me.

Wow.

And they said, hey, man, Israel's gonna come down to do this thing called Cafe New Breed.

And I said, no.

I said, dude, like, the shop is doing well.

Like, I don't need it.

I don't want a gig.

I don't want to travel to San Diego.

So I kind of was like, you know what?

I have a buddy that I know could benefit from playing, and he could add that to his resume.

But they, like, insisted.

They're like, dude, no, they want you.

The church would love to have you.

And it really was.

It wasn't just so much for the base playing.

I think it was just for, like, the leadership and the relationships that I built with that church, you know, through ministry.

And I said, all right, cool, I'll do it.

So I said, at the very least, because I didn't know what the pay situation was, like, I'm like, the very least, I'll take Juicy Ears and I'll sell some, and then I'll pay for my trip, you know?

So I took 12 juicy ears.

Fair enough.

As soon as I got there, gone.

Sold them.

I sold them right away.

Beautiful.

We had sound check.

Israel didn't have any ears.

And everybody's like, you got to get some Juicy Ears.

You got to get some juiciers.

Now, at this point, juiciers locally was a thing.

And then he said, well, what's Juicy Ears?

What's juiciers?

And then they pointed at me.

And then he's like, okay, we'll talk after soundcheck.

So then after soundcheck, we talked, and the video kind of went mini viral, right, of him unboxing the Juicy Ears and was, like, just blown away.

And after that, he said, how much are they?

And I'm like, well, it is for 70 bucks, right?

They're cheap.

And he thought, well, let me pay him.

Like, no, it's okay.

Like, they're free.

You know, I grew up listening to you.

To me, it's just cool to be here, right?

And he said, well, then let's cut a promo.

He's like, let's cut a promo video.

And I said, stay less.

So we did a promo video.

I held on to that video for about a month and a half because I had to get my inventory up, right?

Mind you, I'm still learning how to make this.

I can't, right?

I was making, like, four or five Juice years a week, if I'm lucky.

So I boosted up my inventory.

I invested more money with them, you know, that we had.

I've just invested everything.

And.

And.

And then that was it.

It took off.

Boom.

It started taking off.

Boom, boom, boom, boom.

And then now I'm.

The world opened up again by then, and my friends, you know, Mike Cliff, you know, Quentin Golage, they all started going on the road, and they were doing major stuff.

Usher, Baby Face.

And they're like, well, we want to use Juice Sears.

And I was blown away because I'm like, well, yeah, yeah, they're universals.

They're entry level.

In my.

And you know, in the, in this, in the price point, I was just like, wow, fair.

Yeah.

And yeah, then it started traveling, then churches started getting a hold of it from relationships that I've built and said, hey, we keep hearing about the juicy years.

And we saw Israel.

Yeah, he gave you an endorsement.

All right, we'll take 10.

And I said, whoa, okay, well, Jackie, I gotta figure out how to make 10.

That would be my, my next challenge, right.

I was working at a part time job and eventually I started telling my boss, my father in law, he was my boss.

Can you imagine?

The best, the best boss ever.

Crazy.

He was.

He's awesome.

He's so awesome.

I know.

Yes.

I love him.

And then I told him, hey man, like, the business is starting to grow.

I think I'm gonna have to take less hours.

And then I went from working whatever to like five hours a week.

And then, and then eventually I told him, hey man, I gotta stop working here.

And he's like, what?

And then I went from multiple gigs to just, hey, man, I can't play there anymore.

Hey, dude, I can't.

I'm sorry.

I went from being a youth pastor, and this is before the business, but it really blew up.

But eventually I realized that I had to concentrate my efforts at my home church because I had, I had three.

I had.

Okay, so we had three ministries in my mind, right?

My first ministry, which is my family.

Then, okay, it's church.

And then my business, right?

This is before my babies.

So I, I kind of prioritized that.

And then, yeah, the business just blew up.

Then to get to the next point, I started getting a lot of people and I went from being an artist to being a manufacturer to now accepting artists to saying like, oh, right.

Which was super bizarre because I'm like, yeah, wow, I can't believe I'm meeting you for the first time.

And I.

And, and these are the.

You know, this is the context of our, our meeting.

Yeah, yeah.

Which was bizarre because I'm like, there was a.

There's a bass player by the name of.

You guys might not know who he is, but he's my favorite bass player.

His name is Junior Ribeiro.

Brazilian guy, plays predominantly Christian music in Brazil.

Dude, I've been looking at this guy since I was 14 and he's amazing.

Now he's our artist.

And I'm like, dude, you're like my favorite bass player.

Like, I grew up watching you, my team.

I'm like, wow, so that for sure was different.

We started seeing the dynamic of artistry now.

I.

I went from when I was an artist, I just wanted not to pay for stuff.

I wanted to get stuff for free.

But at the same time, I understood my value.

So I was working like crazy before I even became an artist.

For my base, for the base company I sold.

We sold like 15 bases through our name.

It wasn't like, oh, yeah, tell them I sent you.

No, people would send me the money and I would send it to the manufacturer and I'd be that point of contact.

So, right, I was building valuable value.

My, My, My.

My repertoire was growing because they were like, well, Juice might not have a mate, like, like a million followers, but he can move product.

And that was it.

Right?

That's big.

When we opened up that gateway for.

Yeah, for jms, and we're like, yo, we want, like, people that want to be artists.

I would tell my artist relations lady now, and I'll talk a little bit about her.

But I told my.

My artist relations, I said, hey, look, whoever wants to join our team, they got to be down to hustle, you know, because we're still growing and we don't want.

We don't want to just give away product.

We want to build a community.

We want to build a culture.

So all our artists that are with us now are.

They're super down.

You know, they've invested into the business and they've invested into the culture.

Because.

Because my goal for the job is to be at the Yamaha level.

And that wouldn't have been possible had we stayed at just in ears.

Because now our bases, our stakes are absolutely blowing up.

And I'm.

And I realized this.

All these things that we.

You kind of branched into was given to me by God.

It wasn't just like, what's another way that I can know this was.

These are God moves, because God has given me the roadmap on how to get there, and he's given me the resources.

So of course, I could have stayed with just 10 years, and we could have been the next 64, the next JH or ultimate years.

But guys are like, no, it's bigger than this.

So then we started Juicy bases, and then we started Juicy Sticks.

And now we have artists in every genre does it.

You know, it's not just gospel.

It's everything.

R B, jazz, rock, pop, whatever.

Now we touch the whole scope.

Yeah.

Wow.

Yeah.

I mean, incredible.

An hour is not enough time for this for us.

We gotta have you back to dive into specific.

You Know what it might be if I didn't talk so much.

If you didn't talk so much, then we'd be missing the Value Poor podcast.

If you didn't share your story.

It was incredible.

Yeah, I mean, just.

There's so much.

I mean, I had, I had some questions before we started.

I have more questions now.

I'm gonna make a note of those.

I gotta ask you this one.

It came to me as you were talking there because we've all, we've.

I think the majority of us, I'm gonna say we've all been through this.

You're working hard in your successes.

It sounds great telling the story now, but obviously it came with some ups and downs.

There's gonna probably be some failures along the way which taught you and moved you forward.

Whether it's in the speaking realm or in the store or the playing or the manufacturing slash endorsements.

I'm just sure you've come into some obstacles and roadblocks.

Was there ever a time where you felt this familiar feeling of like, imposter syndrome or maybe this is not something that I should be doing?

Like, did you doubt yourself?

And just what's some advice to get over that?

Because I know that's something that people, creatives, musicians, entrepreneurs face a lot with Some advice on that.

Yeah, that's.

That's absolutely.

I love that you mentioned that because that happens a lot.

Sometimes I feel unqualified.

Sometimes I feel that.

Yeah, like impostors.

It's that that mindset happens because you, you doubt whether this is the thing that you want to do or this is the doubt.

You doubt the thing that better yet to say, it's like, is this even gonna work?

Like, is this gonna continue to move forward?

Can I sustain this?

Yeah, I think about that all the time.

I'm like, I can just go back on the road and make money or I can sell donuts, right?

You know?

Absolutely, man.

It happens all the time.

Doubt is.

Doubt is ever, ever present.

It's always going to be there because there's going to be.

You're going to compare yourself to something, right?

And yeah, yeah, man.

I would always be like, that would happen to me a lot and it wouldn't crush me.

But I'm like, lord, look, you gave this to me.

This is yours.

You do it.

You make way, right?

If you want it to succeed, it's going to be because of you.

I'm going to work hard.

If this is something you've given me, I'm going to cultivate this land and turn it over and turn it over and turn it over, you know, in every season.

But if you want this to die, then let it die.

I'm not.

I'm not gonna hold myself emotionally to it because you gave it to me.

Right?

Yeah.

And that's essentially how I carry this whole thing.

I'm like, look, we're here because of God.

If it fails because God didn't, you know, he doesn't want it.

He doesn't want it to move forward.

It's already run its course.

Now we're moving on.

To me, ministry is number one good outlook.

That.

That's the one thing that I want to make sure that's constantly moving.

So whether this business does good or not, which by the grace of God, it is, I'm still going to press forward with ministry.

And that's where.

That's where I find my.

That's where I find my strength in knowing that God is going to take care of us because we're just constantly pouring into, you know, the love of God.

You know what I'm saying?

Right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because if you compare yourself.

If you compare yourself with other industries or other.

Or you try to go toe to toe, right away, it's like, it's not gonna work.

You're gonna.

You're gonna be.

You're gonna feel crushed.

You're gonna feel small.

Like, if I were to really compare juicy ears to 64 ultimate years, I'm like, yeah, we're not them.

We're not.

These guys have been doing it forever, you know?

Yeah.

But at the same time, like, our presence is insane and we're players now because God made room.

So of course I can say to myself, am I good enough for this?

Am I.

Am I equipped for this?

And if I.

And me personally, if I didn't have God and I was just doing this on my own, I'd be like, nah, this is tough because those guys are masters.

Right.

These guys are specialists.

But I'm like, now I'm just like, yeah, absolutely.

God made room for it.

Like, yeah, you can't.

There's.

There's proof in the pudding.

When we go to Namm.

True.

That's where we see it all.

We go to Namm.

We are the talk of the town.

People want to be where we are.

That's pretty wild, beautiful thing.

And, I mean, you said it.

You're not them, but they're also not you.

So there's something in that, too.

I'm going to quote one of the words of probably one of Doriki's favorite songs growing up because he lives.

I can face tomorrow.

And I think that your life really reflects that wholeheartedly in everything that you do.

You have the vision, like you said, you're not trying to be anyone else.

And I know you're not.

You're really doing you and what God's poured into you.

But at the same time, you have that vision.

Because I did hear you mention, you know, on a Yamaha level, for example.

So I see that you have these levels in the back of your mind somewhere that you're working towards.

But your faith isn't overwhelmed by just being faith because you also take the action steps.

A lot of them, probably insane amounts of faith move.

Work really hard, right?

When you're an entrepreneur.

Yeah, yeah.

Everything is a faith move.

Like last year.

Not this time, but let's say namm, NAM is our biggest.

That's probably one of the most times in the year where we spend the most money.

Now, I'm talking about a year's wages for some people.

We spend a lot of money.

Yeah, yeah.

Oh, yes.

My faith gets absolutely tested.

Last year, right, maybe two weeks before namm, we went all the way down to zero.

Our bank was at zero.

Nobody knows this, right?

Nobody.