The Coffee Culture: More than Just a Drink

Chapter 1: Strength in Vulnerability 0:00 I cry all the time. He's a crybaby because he cries all the time. No. No, they're just learning that so that there's strength in vulnerability. 0:07 There's strength in speaking or talking or asking a question or a friend being able to come to you because even if I cry, it doesn't mean that I can't put this left high kick to the right side of your face. 0:18 Exactly. We still have tools. We just choose to use higher intelligence levels of tools on the tool belt. 0:37 Welcome to the Degrees of Success podcast. I'm your host, Freda Richards, and today we have an incredible guest, Orlando Jimenez. 0:45 Listen, this particular alum getting his MBA here at University of Phoenix and currently working on his doctorate is an avid business owner from a coffee company to an online fitness company with the equipment. 1:00 And he's a wrestler and he was in the Navy. The list goes on and on. Let's introduce you to Orlando. 1:07 Thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. Good morning. 1:10 Good mo- I know that you are ready and raring to go. 1:13 You were just telling me about cold brew and I just I want to start there because I feel like it's very important for any student or any listener or what or viewer to understand how coffee, especially code brew, can greatly affect you in the morning. 1:29 Yeah, I mean, it's the breakfast of champions. like to say that Dos Bros Cold Brew Coffee, because of how we roast it and how we really take the process of uh growing and harvesting like farmers, because we're farmhand kids. 1:41 We grew up in the corn fields, cotton fields here in Southern Arizona from age five till I left to military at 18. 1:48 But the last thing I did before getting on that plane and then getting on a bus to Great Lakes was husking corn from 11 p.m. 1:57 to 11 a.m. because it's hot here. so was just, coffee was a big part of the culture and the smell of it, right? 2:04 And then so I think, what harvest can I take and give that it's maybe not so grueling and demanding from an 11 p.m. to an 11 a.m. 2:12 job? um Cold brew, cold brew. It's hot in Arizona, it's hot in the Southwest region, but I could take this same thing through the same harvest of coming from an agricultural background. 2:25 and pack it in everybody's morning, because as a child, every morning smelled of coffee. So I'd get off of my grandfather and father were mechanics, so then they're getting ready for work. 2:35 So I'm smelling their coffee as I'm getting ready for bed. um So just love this love language. em It's got to be a part of the culture and the tradition of hard work. 2:45 So I think if you have coffee, it's tied into hard work, and then you'll have a successful day or whatever you do. Absolutely. 2:52 Do you think that your family or watching your family go in and out having coffee when you're going to bed, watching that tenacity, is that where you got it from? 3:03 Definitely grandparents, the women, the women. My grandfather is hardworking man, he's 83 right now. 3:09 My father is retired mechanic, 62 years old, former professional boxer. 3:14 So you learn a lot of manhood, masculinity, but when you think about my grandfather's wife, my grandmother, Jessie, she woke up at 3.45. 3:25 to prepare his breakfasts by four so she can be to work by five. And then he would come out and I would smell the coffee as a little boy. 3:34 But he'd come out at six and it's just coffee, food, lunch is ready, go about your day, right? 3:42 And so my mother was the same way with my father. And so then as a little boy, they come home. Well, these women weren't done. They had jobs. 3:49 My mom was a surgical nurse to this day. And so they come and they still serve. 3:55 Kids get out of school, they're having dinner ready, and they're offball to the fitness center, a little racquetball to do their training session every day to this day. 4:02 Grandfather comes home five, eats, father's home, eats. um Daughters clean up everything, boys handle everything outside. 4:11 But the drive from the women in my life that is really a draw this from is that their work ethic was silent. 4:20 It was service. It was a cup and... giving it from me to you and not wanting anything. And I don't know what that is. 4:29 I'm still trying to understand what love that is, but I can serve you a wonderful cup of coffee to start your day. Chapter 2: Roots of Hard Work and Service 4:36 But it comes from that. It's the thought for me that obviously there's a lot of masculinity in the home. 4:44 um And then you clearly took from that. There was a lot of wrestling with the dad. 4:51 So, I mean, my last world title was 2023 Greece, where, um, little trocky Greece and, and the little boy and you still waiting for the dad to grab you off the stage. 5:03 And I got that at 40 years old. 5:05 And so that's always going to be there, but that the work ethic and the, the, the joy that's in every cup of Dos Bros is they come from the feminine beauty and the grace from the women in our lives. 5:20 I want to talk about that service because I heard you say you definitely get that embracing the fun masculinity from the men in your family, but then you watched the women in your family work and then still continue to serve. 5:35 And then there's just something that you haven't even necessarily identified that is in you that you want to do. You want to replicate that and give that same love to other people. 5:45 And you've done that not just with Dos Bros which we're definitely going to talk about. if we go further, you started in the military. 5:54 Can you tell me more about that? Yeah, I was 18 years old. Like I said, I left the farm. I left the farm and I got a pick up. 6:01 I got a ride in my grandfather's pick up to the Sky Harbor airport to, it was July 1st, 2002. 6:12 And I left, arrived my first day in bootcamp, Great Lakes, Illinois was the 4th of July. So you can imagine on a Monday, you're just. 6:20 in your barracks with 50 other young men, you can hear and smell all the fireworks, but you can't go outside. 6:27 You're in your barracks, you're in boot camp, you're in basic training. You're not there to enjoy the fourth. 6:33 So it was like, wow, this is a real turning point here. It's like, I can't go outside, but we understand the mission at hand. 6:41 We have to learn the skillset so we can go do a job. And that was my first experience. 6:46 And then the rigor and urgency and the discipline that came through uh basic training and through A school and the fleet when I got to San Diego. 6:55 And then you're talking camaraderie, brotherhood, where people are like. telling me, you shouldn't even be here, you should be wrestling in college. 7:03 Because I had a full-right scholarship, but I chose this path. 7:08 just what you get from that and the military, signing me up, somebody walking me to sign me up, a Boatswain's Mate First Class oh signing me up for my first college class has not given me an opportunity to go anywhere and have fun. 7:19 Just say, no, when you finish your job, then you're to have coursework. And then when we go on deployment, you're going to continue this coursework. 7:26 How and why did you choose going to the Navy instead of taking the scholarship? 7:30 I was a senior in high school when 9-11 took place and I walked into the school's first period and then you're wondering why everybody was looking at the little TV in the corner 7:39 and you're thinking, oh they're watching some HBO movie, know, this is planes hitting, there's a movie going on and everybody's glued and that's when I realized like, okay this 7:49 is real and English teacher's crying and just leave and go sign up that day. Just left and signed up. 7:58 You signed up on 9-11 when you saw the planes crash into the building? I had already done the ASVAP my junior year just to get out of class, so I knew I had the scores to go. 8:09 But watching that and then leaving and going to the 48th Street and Warner, there was a Navy office. Where'd you choose an E? 8:17 It was the closest thing right there. So you just, you saw what happened and immediately decided, no, I'm going, I'm serving, I'm leaving school right now. 8:28 There's a tragedy and whichever military service building I see first is one I'm walking into. 8:35 And I knew my mom's gonna be pissed. I mean, my parents, no, I I lived on my own. I lived across from the high school. 8:43 I asked permission to live on my own my whole senior year. So I lived in an apartment across from Mount Point High School. My parents lived in Casa Grande on the farm. 8:52 It was a grown boy, you know? And all that mattered was school and wrestling. Didn't have a girlfriend. I didn't party. It was just, it was business. 9:01 So when you called your parents, because they thought you went to school, obviously they're dealing with the fact that there's a national tragedy. didn't even find out until the spring. I'm finished wrestling. 9:10 They don't even know until the spring. They didn't say anything. And they realized I'm not going to Susanville, California to wrestle. Chapter 3: Military Journey and Life Lessons 9:19 I'm going to Great Lakes, Illinois. Oh my goodness. did your parents go to college? 9:24 My mom did, my dad didn't finish, but he went to this technical institute right here, 48th Street and Baseline. 9:32 He's like three credit hours shy. And then they divorced. So he didn't finish. But my mom, yes, my mom's been through so much school, probably like myself. 9:41 I don't know all her schooling. And then when they divorced in 06, she's been in 10. 9:48 She's been up in San Francisco and San Jose area as a nurse. And then my dad's here, so it's just been, I'm a daddy's boy. 9:58 And so, um but yeah, she had all her nursing degrees and does great. And my brother is just graduated with a master's at Stanford. 10:08 Excellent. And he's going on to be a physical therapist. So as you know, he's the baby brother. I'm 12 years older. 10:15 So, you know, I need the University of Phoenix to get on board with me. So I am the brother that gets the first doctorates. Yeah. We're competitors. 10:23 We're very competitive in sport and very competitive. It just says brothers. so academics is one thing. So, yeah, I have a little more credit hours than that. 10:31 So we're going to we're working on. I'm in my twelfth, twelfth, twelfth credit hours now. Oh. Okay, very good. I love you. 10:39 My favorite thing is that oh every after every class you get that little countdown, you know, like it tells you like how much, how many percent of you. 10:47 I love that. It's encouraging. They don't even know. 10:50 University of Phoenix, if you don't know that your page, your webpage and your student access page and watching us, allowing us to see the process of our growth and what we're doing and the encouragement of it, the emails, get out of here. 11:03 You're right there, the milestones. It's great. Isn't it so incredible? reminder that you're working hard and that it's paying off and you're doing a good job and you're learning something in the process. 11:12 Yes. The thing and the trick is to go share it, right? So I have a head barista, his name is Aaron. It's just no school like that. 11:18 We grew up through the school of hard knocks and the school of martial arts and MMA and wrestling, boxing, but it's not like he can't take that and go share that and give that to people. 11:28 And that's the thing is just like, wow, how does this knowledge become wisdom only if I apply it in the lives of others. 11:35 And that's where really Dos Bros isn't about me, Orlando Jimenez and my family, even though it's a great story, it's about what are we doing for other people and their families? 11:42 How are we growing veterans? 11:44 We've known other veteran groups who have done great job and tremendous work, but that's also part of what we wanna do, hire veterans, hire veteran friends who are calling right 11:53 now when they see the truck and trailer in a cafe that, hey brother, I need a job. 11:59 we're not there yet, but that's a push to get there. So. It's to provide that for others and your friends and don't forget where you come from. 12:09 I love your heart to give back. I wanna say 99 % of the people that I've interviewed thus far, servant leadership is consistent in every single one of you. 12:21 And at this point, it is very clear to me that to be successful, you have to serve. You have to be a servant leader. 12:29 You have to have the heart to want to do for others and lift them up. 12:34 as opposed to just working for yourself because I haven't had one person like that in this chair or uh virtually either. 12:43 It's good to hear. Yeah, it just ties together. It's all about service. It really is how you're supposed to be and live. Like I said, I know we talk about how was the last 20 years was very, very selfish. 12:53 You get to be everything you want. I got to ASU and the wrestling coaches. didn't have, I just married but no children. 12:59 Said, okay, it's a little responsibility for you, but you you're still, this is a very selfish endeavor. If you want to be the best in something, it takes a lot of focus for yourself. 13:08 School, every accolade you can think representing your country. 13:13 in every form from uniform to a singlet to MMA gloves in Saudi Arabia and you're, there's your dad, know? 13:21 There's your dad, like, he looks like he's from there for one, but like, you know, yeah, thick old mustache. 13:27 But just to have that, like I say, in Greece, like to have your dad, he doesn't even let me get off the steps and then just, maybe that was his dream, you know? 13:38 But like. You never know. You never know what you're gonna do or where you'll be. Just treat people well. Just treat people kinder. How you want to be treated, you know? So you had an incredible childhood with a lot of support. 13:47 A lot of support, probably spoiled support just because, because I just always knew, said and knew what I was wanting to do. 13:54 And being adopted by five, at five by my father, just give permission to go get it. I'm gonna show you how. 14:01 I can teach you three things, how to be a good person, how to fix cars, and how to fight. You did all three. 14:10 And so you were adopted at five in this family. Were you the only child at that point or were there more? Now there's four of us, you took on four of us. 14:18 at the same time. Tell me about that. Tell me about being adopted at five. Oh, it was amazing. 14:26 He's just like, here's this man, it's a mechanic. He's fixing a car in the garage and the carport. 14:33 Name, Victor, blue, mechanic shirt, very fit, very fit man. 14:41 And then the three quarter thermal underneath, because it's winter. He's looking at my mom's car, he's helping my mom's car. And it's like, I go outside and, hi, nice to meet you. 14:50 And says, hi, that was it. 14:53 And then my parents started dating and then went to his house and didn't know anything about him other than that, you we were spending a lot of time and um then I saw his back bedroom. 15:05 There's like trophies, posters, weightlifting. He's done it all, you know? He's done it all. 15:12 was like, okay, this is what I'm gonna do. So he just kind of became my hero. Well, he did, he became my hero, my father, but. 15:22 Now it's like one of those things like the old man gets everything. Yeah. Do you think you do a lot of these things to make him proud? everything. 15:34 I'm sorry. I totally understand. How many times has he told you he's proud of you? 15:45 All the time. I mean, just being there. uh Having a present person in your life when you weren't wanted by your biological father. 15:52 So, you take what you can get, but you're like... 15:57 and then they get older so you're now you're at that, excuse me, they get older and you're just trying to hurry up. 16:06 Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, mean, every day. 16:13 Yeah, but I didn't have that before, so. I have it now, my children have it, my friends have it, my family have it. 16:21 So that's where the heart of service is, like, being so masculine, but he's so graceful. 16:29 Didn't ever touch us, didn't spank us. was, form of discipline was physical activity or working, you know, it was never. 16:38 doing it to hurt us or em lay a hand on us. You would think that it would, a pugilist, fighter, um knowing how to physically lay hands on people. 16:47 Never chose that. 16:48 It was, grab this cap, you're gonna put it against the wall, we're gonna hold it with our nose in a squat position, and we're gonna think about what you did, because I know you're not dumb, so it's a choice, but you have to accept responsibility. 17:00 So you're just making it go through responsibility, so young, not knowing this, and then like. 17:05 sitting down like this before your competitions, All right, you're 12 years old, you're nervous. And just close your eyes, okay. All right, I'm gonna walk you through the first period. 17:14 Ding, he hits the buzzer. You're at wrestling, he walks you through visualization, you know, and just, so when you wrestle the next day, you're like, that was easy. 17:22 You know, it's just like, didn't realize. I didn't realize that that's what he was doing. You know, and so it's like, well, what are we doing now? It's just, we wanna get up. 17:30 strategically plan something, visualize it, and then go attack it. And that's what he gave us permission to. You have my permission to go be the best you want to be. 17:39 Well, that helps me understand the seeing the planes hitting the building and you finding the very closest military building to go serve. 17:47 Because... I don't know what possessed me that day, but I just knew that I wasn't going to go to wrestling college right away. I knew I was. 17:55 It was just on a pause. So tell me about that then. 17:59 So I know that you served twice, feet on the ground, boots on the ground in Iraq, and then had the opportunity to wrestle. Chapter 4: Transitioning from Military to Civilian Life 18:07 Walk me through that. Yeah, it was Operation Iraqi Freedom. We left San Diego in, I believe December of 2002, arrived January of 2003. 18:18 War kicked off March, but we were already there, just launching everything. it was just fireworks in the sky, well lit over the Northern Arabian Gulf. 18:28 Marines onloading, offloading, all small, but also onloading and offloading the Marines. 18:33 in different locations in the north that are in golf, picking them up months later in a different area, you know, and seeing some friends return, seeing not some friends return, 18:42 you know, wondering what I'm doing, taking college classes, there's wrestling mats, so it's just very, everything physical to get through deployment, and then come home and just 18:52 be normal again, you know, see the family and uh give the opportunity to wrestle right after that. 19:00 And then I went on the second deployment again. And then of course I needed to get that ring for my girl. 19:06 So I went to Carnes, Australia and grabbed her a ring and proposed her on the, her birthday, 2005, July 21st, 2005. 19:18 has, the Navy is the foundation I feel for everything in my life. growing up as a young man into adulthood, the men that reared you right there, it's just. 19:28 standing at attention and having to take orders for something that you're messing around. 19:33 You're not paying attention, you're not respecting his orders, and now you're at attention in front of 500 Marines and sailors. 19:42 You have to learn how to take it. Respect goes a long way. And that's similar to the way that dad raised you, right? 19:50 So you had to be fairly comfortable in that environment. I we knew how to iron, we knew how to do everything, change oils, tires. 19:55 So getting into basic and seeing that men, young men needed help with ironing, you're like, okay, yeah, I can, I'm glad I learned these things. 20:03 I realized they prepared me for a lot much more than I thought. So I was like, God forgive me for the grumbling. 20:11 But thank you for the lessons. But yeah, no, I noticed that young, you know, when they're paying you at midnight to iron their uniforms, because they don't know how to iron. 20:22 There's young men that don't know how to hygiene. No, were you taking payment for irony? No, I would just help them iron or teach them. 20:30 The thing is to show them how to iron so they wouldn't wake me up to have to iron. They learned how and they go buy your own iron. 20:37 And then you do that at home by yourself. It was like that in the Navy too. There's a friend that's out here. We met in the Navy. He's 17. 20:45 I'm 19. He lives out here now. 20:49 We started where we were forced to be roommates in the Navy wrestling team because he didn't, he came from a farm in Idaho and I did a first deployment, but he didn't shower often. 20:59 there. told him he needed to learn how to bathe and hygiene and so it was my job to take him to the Navy Exchange and make sure he bought all the new clothes and knew how to do his 21:08 laundry and became my roommate in order to stay on the wrestling team and that was 2003 and so yeah, he wrestled, started his masters, two different masters programs, became an adjunct professor and uh his children played with my children. 21:25 And he smells amazing now. smells amazing. can grow an amazing beard. But he's, know, he's a bunch of part of this. 21:32 We started this at the idea of Dos Bros at a table, a coffee table with a bunch of friends in San Diego. And he was one of them. 21:41 It's just, what are we going to do during this pandemic? You know, we can't go buy coffee now and can't go train in public. 21:47 So we created our own training facility and we created our own coffee brand. 21:52 All centered around the same camaraderie and brotherhood that we really, you really miss when you get out of the military. Yeah, Brotherhood and Serving. 22:01 I know that you struggled a bit with... 22:05 em Tell me about the challenge of going from the military to being a civilian and dealing with your PTSD. 22:16 And how did you overcome? five years of wrestling. Five years of year round. Intensive, fighting demons. 22:27 Yeah. physically, mentally. But the thing in that is I say that because they provided us. You gotta go through this whole ordeal to get there and be selected, but it's also what you get. Chapter 5: The Heart of Service and Leadership 22:36 You get your five coaches, right? 22:38 You get your academic advisor, you get your mentor, you get your athletic advisor, and then you get access to all these other coaches and advisors, and your own, your sport has its own athletic director. 22:52 So then you're talking about, have... not just this line of coaching staff, but someone at leadership that you can always talk to. For us military men, we were a little older. 23:01 We weren't 18. We're 22 now, 23, a little rougher on the edges. We didn't fit in. So we knew that. It was just trying to do our best to, you know, fit in, fit in. 23:11 um Coming from war and all that to now we're in a classroom where they're talking about what just happened four years ago. 23:19 They're talking about the bombings in Afghanistan. You're like, yeah, I was on those ships. Right. I remember those targets. So they're just like, wow, this is different. 23:27 Like, just trying to do just to fit in. And that was what the wrestling was. 23:32 And ROTC the whole time was just joining EOD unit and Coolidge just so I can blow things up once a month for the whole time, too. 23:40 Yeah, this is... Not wanting to let go of that. And then my son was born in 2008, so I'm a junior now. 23:47 So letting go of that now, because I just realized I'm not going to go back in by dropping the ROTC program or so. 23:54 I'm realizing that I'm not going to be the service member away from his children. So I just gave up that and stayed local, law enforcement, family. 24:04 But it's always been around family-centric. 24:08 Which is obviously I want to be an awesome grandfather. Can you imagine? Like my dad's awesome. Like I got a lot of catching up to do. 24:16 Because with the PTSD is in patience, It's wanting things now and knowing that doesn't work that way with children. Chapter 6: Final Thoughts and Future Aspirations 24:26 You know, there's patience, right? It's also if you say something a certain way that I just raise their level of cortisol, right? It's my job. 24:34 It's not to... to scare them into doing something. Even though I'm very driven like that. 24:40 It's just understanding that um ways of being and being what's missing, what's being missing, what's patience, love, kindness, getting down on my knees saying, buddy, just, I know I asked you that. 24:53 Okay. and not having to raise your voice. Just learning different tools on the tool belt, right? Emotional intelligence, taking different courses. 25:00 Relationship courses, just deep diving into a lot of self work. And that's been a lot of, since 2018, 2018, being a part of a lot of leadership courses. 25:11 And my family, my son is a graduate in Las Vegas. There was just a lot of things that we were learning that other fighters or athletes go through with yourself. 25:21 Just being invited to take a course here and there and realizing, wow, there's so much more to myself I didn't understand. Or that little boy, right? Or the little girl. 25:29 What's that about, right? 25:31 I'm so inspired and I know that our listeners and viewers will be inspired by you as well, not only because of your drive, but your heart, your willingness to be vulnerable, your willingness to serve. 25:41 That overall, like I said, it's consistent with all the people that I interview here at Degrees of Success, which are incredible alumni that are doing amazing things, but are 25:51 more concerned about how they affect other people, how they can pour into other people and set them up for great success. 25:59 and it's consistent with everyone that sits in that chair. And you're clearly a part of that. 26:06 mean, it's in the, the water in Casa Grande is incredible and clearly when you get a degree from University of Phoenix, you're taught servant leadership. 26:15 When you're told and given permission to be a Phoenix is when you really fly. 26:22 And that's what U of P have given me. And continue, because I'm not finished, right? I have to find a way to finish this doctoral program, which I will. 26:30 Of course will. But that's what they give them as permission to, is fly. I'm a Phoenix forever. That's right. That's right. 26:36 Well, listen, I believe that you and I are going to walk across the stage around the same time, which is going to be incredible. 26:42 Like I'm so excited to, my gosh, we're going to be screaming and having a good time. I only have two kids, but I have a pretty big family. 26:50 So we'll, we'll be hooting and hollering together. we'll pull up with the Dose Bros coffee trailer. We will caffeinate everybody on graduation day. Yes. my goodness. 26:58 That's an amazing idea. Yes. Well, first, I just want to say thank you so much for taking this time because you are a very, very busy man. 27:07 And so thank you for taking the time just to hang out with us, to give all of this knowledge to our listeners and viewers. 27:12 If there was anything that you wanted to make sure that you walked away and ensured that you said to our audience, what would that be? 27:22 Yeah, just give it 100%. Believe in yourself and love yourself. You have to love what you're doing. You have to love when you're in that. 27:31 Why am I in this session? Why am I digging so deep in this program? What is it that I want? 27:38 I want to give this to myself. Give yourself permission to give yourself that gift. That's what I would say. So good. 27:45 Now, if they wanted to find you, we know you have several companies. now's the time to tell them, where do we find you? 27:52 Of course you can find us at the Dos Bros Coffee, we're on all social media channels, Fight Rope as well on Instagram and Facebook, our website at fightrope.com and of course dosbroscoffee.com. 28:03 Excellent excellent. Can we hire those pros to come? We're available for events, catering, we do all events. 28:12 available. We want to be your caffeine dealers. 28:16 oh I love, well, listen, this is where I'm heading after this pod, cause I get to have a whole bunch of homework to do. So. Yeah, we're gonna have to have a whole airstream of 40 cups just ready on hand. 28:28 Yes, yes, yes, we have you. Thank you so much. I'm so grateful that you had the opportunity to come down during your very, very busy schedule. 28:36 Thank you for having me. I appreciate you. Have a good rest of your day. You as well. And somehow that brings us to the end of this episode of degrees of success. 28:46 You heard it here directly from Orlando. Walk, run, jump directly into success and believe in yourself. 28:55 I'm your host, Freda Richards, reminding you that your next chapter might just be your best one yet. See you soon.