We were lucky to catch up with Marco Ruiz recently and have shared our conversation below.
Marco, thank you so much for joining us today. Let’s jump right into something we’re really interested in hearing about from you – being the only one in the room. So many of us find ourselves as the only woman in the room, the only immigrant or the only artist in the room, etc. Can you talk to us about how you have learned to be effective and successful in situations where you are the only one in the room like you?
Many teachers and roles model throughout my life have taught me to alway exceed at whatever I would do. Since I was very young I was always different from everybody else because of this way of thinking and for actually caring about been better or the best I could be. I remember one of my first jobs I had I started as a “stock boy” and within a year and a half I became a manager of the store with the experience of literally knowing how to do every single job. Many people always told me not to care or let my bosses over work me and I always replied that I was doing it for me, for the experience, and for the learning, but hardly anybody ever understood why I would do so many things that may even look like I was underpaid or been taken advantage of. I did the exact same thing at every job I’ve ever had and when it came time to open my own business I had some many tools and experiences available to me as well as connections that I achieve with this mentality. Many times it did feel like I was alone in the room because nobody would understand my mentality and way of thinking but I always knew it would help achieve my goals in the long run.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I am the owner of Birritaco in Concord, NC. We open Birritaco about 2 and half years ago with mission to show people how good autentic mexican food can be. When we were designing Birritaco, we didn’t want to make just another taco tex-mex place, we wanted to use authentic mexican recipes and give it a modern Taqueria twist. The most special thing about our restaurant its the authenticity and the localness of it. We get a enormous support from our local community and I would say thats one of the key elements to our success. We are actively looking to expand to more locations to continue growing our brand and be able to reach more amazing communities around NC.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
A skill I had early on was vision, I had a vision or a clear idea on what I wanted to do and throughout my journey I started to add details and refine it, As I said before when you have a job, be the best you can be, it doesn’t matter what it is, if its dishwasher be the best dishwasher, if its stock boy, be the best and most efficient, and never ever think you are doing it for your boss, its for your own benefit because you are the one who will gain the experience and gain the proper connections to create opportunities in the near future.
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
As a small business owner often times work feel more like home, like hanging out with friends. As the business grows you have to learn to detach yourself from that and become more structural while maintaining a good work environment. Often times this means letting people go a different path from you because they are not willing to grow or their vision of growing its different from yours, but that is ok. If you don’t detach yourself form the past and help your business to grow by setting up rules or helping your employees be more efficient than the business will get stuck in a plateau.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.birritacoconcord.com
- Instagram: birritacoconcord
- Facebook: Birritaco
- Other: tik tok: @birritacoconcord
