Awarepreneurs Interview - Juan Stiven Alvarrez Garro

Hi. This is Paul Zellisser, and welcome to the Awarepreneurs podcast. On this show, we dive deep into wisdom from some of the world's leading social entrepreneurs. Our goal is to help increase your positive impact, your profitability, and your quality of life. Before we get into today's topic. I have 1 request. If you could hit subscribe and do a review on your favorite podcast app, it helps most people learn how to have positive impact through values based business. Thank you so much.

Today, I am thrilled, and I mean really thrilled, to introduce you to our guest, Juan Steven Alvarez Gatto. And our topic is helping people to transform a dangerous neighborhood. Steven is a cofounder of Zippy Tours, an impact focused tour company that shows visitors how district 13, formerly the most dangerous neighborhood in Medellin, Colombia uses art, dance, music, and entrepreneurship to transform the neighborhoods that it operates in. Full disclosure, I met Steven because I was on a tour with Zippy Tours and it was amazing, highly recommended. First of all, I just loved Colombia as a whole country. I loved Medellin as a city, and Steven as a human and the work they're doing at Zippy Tours. If you're ever in Medellin, go check it out. Steven, welcome to the show.

Thanks. Thanks for having me, Paul. I'm so happy to share with every one of your audience. Yeah. But we're joining the place and and how we're trying to make all of these transfer way better.

Well, you're doing a great job. Top. And before we get into zippy tours and all the great work you're doing, Steven, and the incredible impact you're having not only on District 13, but beyond, we'll get there. But before we get there, what would somebody need to know about you? And, like, this is a very personal journey as well as the company. Like, your background, Steven. This is a very close to your heart conversation. Tell us about where you live. Tell us about District 13, and what was life like before Zippy Tour started?

Okay. So I'm I'm I'm a farmer, actually. I'm coming from a farmer's family. I was born in a very small town close to Medellin, that, my family started having a conflict in a really, really June 8 of mine. So When I was 2 years old, my family had to leave that place. It was for a little bit of danger situation, so that's why we end up living in in Medellin. So we came to community 13 or district 13, And we start a new life in the place. So we came here honestly because it was not like my mom my mom was a was a young mom.

Mama was she was 17 when she got pregnant, and I was worrying when she was, 19. So my mom is a single mother. So, most people can actually imagine, a little bit of the difficulties we got in the, in the in the past time coming to Medellin City, being the city, being farmers. So we came here because, obviously, it was cheap. We were no expecting what displays was gonna be for all of us. Just to give you a little bit more about the the history of this place, it was formerly the most dangerous neighborhoods in Medellin City in under 98 to the 99, we used to start having gangs problems, we started having dangerous situations, places that where we live used to have borders that we cannot cross and places that even that seems To be so close to the places that we live, we are not allowed to cross. That changed my life a 100%. That changed my whole entire life.

When I was 9 years old is when you started, like, feeling more like the dangers coming to you. So I can really say that before you before you're 7 years old, you don't really feel bad as mud. But after after you're 9 to 10 years old, things targeting you really hard. When I was, like, 9 years old, 10 years old, I start really experience a lot of violence happening in front of me. Like, I start seeing how people are circling each other so hard. I start, like, realizing that more. I was more aware To understand that people were getting caught and killed for no big deals and no big reasons why. When I was, like, 12 to 13 years old, approximately, I started losing, like, some friends that we're not super close, to be honest, that the fact that these guys are killing people like you And the fact that these guys are killing people who grow up with you, that stir you as a hell.

That was, like, me when I was, like, 14 to 15. I was having, like, All of these violence in my head and all of these, things going on, it it was quite hard. Until 2015, Community 13 was the most dangerous places in Medellin City. So almost 20 years, we got, one of the most dangerous situations inside of Medellin City. So that that's me being in all of these big problems in all of these big plays, having to, like, seeing all of these problems and and fixing those. So In 2012, most people don't really know this, but we got on escalators. We got on big escalators. It's the infrastructure in the place.

We live on the mountains, so escalators was, like, great mobility. And things have started improving a little bit. So things that started improving a little bit, and we started doing, like, a lot of work. When I was 17, I graduate when I was 17 from from high school. I tried to get a college, but I really couldn't get it because it's, like, so difficult to get a college in in Medigame when you don't have the resources. So I tried the test 4 times. You can try every 6 months. Well, this means that I tried 2 beers, but I was full reject.

And that was very frustrating for me. So when I was 17, Someone offered me to learn in like, to teach me English, and I was not really doing anything, so I say yes. It was 1 American in Scottish, British, Australian. It was a bunch of, foreign people who came to Colombia to see the place, and they got in love with the place. And they say, we wanna help, and we just wanna, we just wanna help to these people to learn English and And see what what what happened. So we were there learning in English from 0. I was probably one of the worst persons in English when it was in high school, but these guys show me English in a very easy way. So these guys show me English for 1 year.

It was completely free. It was just for love and and and and respect for what we are inside of this community. So these guys left in 2017. The class of was 2016. So in 2017, 2 years later, the the problems stuff here. We make, like, the way how to practice English. And and we were taking people who come to the place in English and we were just talking to them about our lives and in our place, in our houses, in in our culture, in our gravities, we start realizing that people like these kind of interactions. Like, we from the place living all life here, Experians, worst things, historians, change, friends, all of these things.

We are speaking in English. So we create a we create a company in 2017. It's called CV 4 and it was just 5 friends. It was just 5 friends who met in the classes of English. We all learned English in 1 year And we say, let's make this company part of our lives. Like, like, let's work for this, and let's make probably these our as our job. So we started doing full time job. We're still working so hard in the company.

And and, yeah, so we end up being one of the biggest companies. We we are the biggest company in community 13 of tourism. We are receiving a ton of people in the place per day. And this is this is this this company is how we try to Contribute to all of these process that we're having in community 13. This is this is how we take people, and we and we just tell them How difficult was this change, but but how worth it is gonna be if this change for for Medigin? I really do believe that We have done a great job inside of these plays, not not the company, but everyone in this place have done a really great job. And so we we're so proud as a company to To really feel involved in all of these social social transformation we have created in the place in the last years.

Oh, great. And One of the things I I knew a little bit about the history of Columbia, but one of the things that you taught us on the tour that I was on with you as our guide student is that Colombia had over 50 years of civil war. So think about that, listener. 50 plus years of civil war. So There was, you know, some of the things you might expect in an urban neighborhood where there was some economic pressure and gangs and drugs, all that was there. And then there was the added complexity, the language I've heard people use, Steven, is, you know, internal displacement. You and your mom came to Medellin because of some of that really dangerous like, it was a war, not just challenging like next level, and that's part of how you wound up and you and many others wound up in district 13 or Communa 13 as a way to just survive and get out of a really difficult situation. So that was one thing I wanted to highlight listeners.

You can imagine when 1,000 and thousands and thousands of people have to leave, not just because they're like, hey. Let's go to the city. Maybe there's some more opportunity there, but because if we stay where we are, we're not sure we're gonna be alive. So I wanted to just highlight that part. And then the next thing I wanted to follow with you, Steven, is so you learned English. You started to, like, tell the stories. And one of the key things, You mentioned the graffiti, right, the murals. Listeners, I'll, you know, try to have a way that we can connect you with some of the things that are on the walls.

But talk to us about the graffiti because it was the combination of storytelling, what was happening, and what life was like in District 13, but also there was this art that is like, stop you in your tracks gorgeous and compelling. If I don't have any idea what these murals look like, what the graffiti looks like, What would you say about the art itself that was a big part of what was engaging people?

Yes. So, actually, graffiti Graffiti is what we are. I think that we are hip hop that you see you mentioned all of this idea of hip hop and graffiti. Let me just put people in context a little bit about why we're doing this and how big is this. So and as you may think, Colombia was in a civil war. So I'm gonna give you and a little bit more information about this. Just see the names of how big is that. We just do graffiti because we don't really do graffiti.

We do we do graffittious transformation in inside of this place. So give you another little bit of information about this. In the sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties, and 2000, which is 50 years, Colombia was in a completely civil war without many groups. Right? We've got many Ligana groups. Some of them were fighting for ideologies. Some of them were fighting for political participation. Some of them were rebels. Some of them were gangsters.

Most people know Cali cartel and Medellin cartel. So imagine and you see the main challenge that gets this problem is Colombia produce 70% of the world cooking. This means Colombia is first from several of every 7 grams of 10 grams of cocaine that we have in the entire world. If you dimension that, the money that we made doing drugs inside of this country is one of the biggest problems we have inside of this country. So, in the eighties, we used to make 3,000,000,000, nineties was 5,000,000,000. Last year, We made approximately 16,000,000,000 US dollars, which is a lot of money. So most of this money goes today, different select groups we've got in Colombia. So that goes to the guerrillas, to the panolitavaries, to the gangsters, and they take this money, Recruit people, buy weapons, and make a big war happening here.

So that's Colombia in the last 50 years, And, basically, one of one of the biggest reasons why we really need a transformation in community searching, why specific in this place, It's because when you see a map of Medellin City, Medellin City is a very important place in Colombia to move drugs to the Caribbean. So we have access to the Caribbean. This give back access access to a lot of the drug trafficking, And this is why Medellin Cartel were so big in the eighties and the nineties. So when you guys see a map of Medellin City, The extreme West Community, the extreme Westside Community, so the last meeting on the Westside, that's Community 13. And Community 13 is very, very particular because Community 13 is around Greek Greek Jimenez. So every place that we have around It's a rich place, so every single place is a rich place. But community 13 is the only poor place. So we got 8 communas on the west side.

So 7 are great and only 1 is 4, and that's community 13. So just imagine the problem When when you guys are moving drugs from the east to the west and we only have 1 poor community, which is community 13. So many of these illegal groups We'll go to that specific meaning. This is why community 13 were so dangerous, and that's why we needed to change community 13. So now that we understand a little bit more about the traffic of drugs and the money that we make and the importance of the community 13, Let's just think about how we start changing this place and that's because of the graffiti. So one of the greatest things we have ever got in community 13 is we live on a mountain. So community 13 is 7 mountains. It's literally mountains, and it's so difficult to get on top.

So Get On Top is, like, 500 conquerors. So every person inside of this community have to walk more than 300 concourse hours to get a job, to get a school, to go for help, to go to the hospital, To do whatever, people have to do this. So it might be how hard is that you have to do all of these conquerors everyday. So after this, Government in 2012, government decided to go on escalators. These guys created escalators in the middle of a neighborhood because there was a lot of people in the place and people was actually moving a lot out of the stars. So we saw much, and I did this, and we say, hey. We have the same problem. We got the same exact problem.

We got it. It starts the people take a long time to go there, but the big difference is is this is one of the most poor levels and one of the most dangerous neighborhoods. Right? So think about investing 7,000,000 US dollars on escalators in one of the most poor neighborhoods, in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods. So that sounds like that sounds like a bad idea. So the government did it. The government bill in 2012 to build the 2nd public escalators in a neighborhood in the world after China. And and, actually, we thought that, big things are gonna happen, but things didn't happen, so everything continued being the same. The escalators were in the place And then the place keep bangers.

It was a lot of bangers for 2013 and 2014. But things in 2014 and 15, it started, like, stopping. They start stopping a lot. They start going down. In 2015, most people don't know that The gangsters we got in Medigame City, so the gangsters and the cartel we still have inside of this city, They make a deal. So in this deal, these gangsters are not going to shoot anymore. So these guys are not killing, these gangsters are not shooting, these gangsters are not making, There are not being a problem. So just because they stop being a problem, we start seeing so many opportunities.

And one of the biggest opportunities, we're gonna use the escalators And we're gonna make the people come to the place. Because if people come to the escalators, that will change the game. That we didn't know who to make people come, so we were actually going to everywhere, and we're telling people, hey. We have an escalators. We have easy mobility. What about if you guys come to the place? And this was just not happening. We have a foundation, it's called it's called Casa Collection. So Casa Collection, these guys teach hip hop.

So hip hop has 4 elements, graffiti, breakdance, rap music, and DJs. So these are the 4 elements for the k pop. So What Casa Collection does is Casa Collection tape people one of the core elements of the hip hop. And then we try to make a better life, like a better opportunities in a professional way with that element. So Casa Colacho thought about putting the history we live, So putting all of the history I'm I just told you about the problems, drugs, trafficking, gangsters' life, criminal actions, drug dealing, We start putting all of those in graffitis. So we paint the whole mountain of the graffitis, big walls, like 2 meters, 3 meters walls, and then we start doing graffitis. But those graffitis are not graffitis. So graffiti is letters.

We started doing murals. Murals is more like art, so we started doing art with a hickory public community party, And those murals were very, very Instagrammable. So we started taking people to the place. We started doing a bunch of pictures with people. Like, we start suggesting people to take many as many pictures as they can in the walls, and people will start hosting, like, posting and use the social meetings to make people know about this and and make people just, like, say, oh, this guy's making something different. Maybe 13 weeks ago because I have refitties and they have, like, this. And as a magic trick, people started coming to the place. Finally, people started coming to the place.

We made guys come to the place and and then it was it was very It was very random because we were expecting to have people from Medigin in community 13, Just because of the background of, mindset of people, people were not coming. People were thinking that it was still dangerous, so were made for rent people to come to the place. This is why we stick in and make this was so important for all these things because we start We were probably the 1st company taking these people in English to come to the place and see the graffitis and understand all of the all of the reasons why we're doing this. In the way that we start powering people, like giving people a talent, giving people a reason, give people something to really focus our lives off. And, man, that was great. That was that was that was one of the greatest things we ever thought inside of this inside of this humanity because people just are really, really being people are I I I have something really, really specific that I have realized now. People in Medellin are very natural talent for hip hop. Like, these guys are very good, Very good DJs, very good graffiti artists, very good great dancers.

Like, we I think that we have something natural talent. We have a natural natural talent. We have a natural talent for this. So we start realizing that, and and and then we start just, Like, oh, do you know how to dance? I'm gonna teach you how to dance, and then we make a foundation that that teach people how to dance. It's called the big book dance. And then we make a foundation that teach people how to craft, like, how to do graffiti, and that's salsa colacho. And then we give a foundation that teach people English. And we started doing all of this social work in the community based on graffiti.

All of the mother of this social transformation is graffiti. Graffiti is why and how we connect to the people, how we tell people a history, how we make people think about community 13. So we don't talk. I I don't think that many people talk. I think the graffiti is talk for us. I think that we have food, a lot of passion, a lot of hickory, a lot of value, a lot of background, and a lot of hickory culture inside of those walls that I I really do believe that people don't really have to talk. I I think that I think that the graffiti is stuck for the people inside of this place, and they talk in the most humble way about about how we're trying to change this. So that's what graffiti represents for all of us.

Like, graffiti, hip hobbies is how we got the made people come to the place to create an economy, to create jobs, to just, like, try to change the place. And and I really do believe that We really do believe that hip hop could be in a way of transformation everywhere. So I think that what we did is just awesome, But I really do believe this could be in any other place. That that that that's one of the biggest reasons of why we love graffiti inside of this place.

And they are striking listeners. So I'll put a link to the Zippy Tour's Instagram so you can go see yourself what we're talking about here. So, Steven, talk to us about, like, 2017, maybe 2018, your start zippy tours with a couple friends. Like, what what was happening on those tours, what was it like when the light bulb went off, like, oh, we get it. We're gonna do these tours in English. Like, how long does the tours last, what kind of questions were foreigners asking, you know, as they're walking through formally the most dangerous neighborhood in one of the most dangerous cities in the world, and here you are doing tours for tourists. Like, yeah, what what was that like? What were the questions like? How did people pay you? Like, go back to 2017, 2018, and what did it look like then?

Yeah. It was actually very random because we were not good in English. Like, I can say now that I can speak English in a fluent way, but it was not me when I was 17. I was terrible When I was doing this in 2017 and 2018, it was very random because we couldn't we couldn't make a price because we were not good. So, honestly, we were not good. And and this make all of us realize that we have to create a free walking tour. So we got we got in the tour, We give you the tour, and depends on how great is the tour, you pay us. And it was so random because in the really beginning, it was not a lot of people.

So we caught we got through many problems. One of the first problems is just because we were not speaking good and fluent English, we needed to be 3 tour guides, So 3 like me, 3 tour guides to give a tour even to a 1 person. Even, like, the 1st tours, it was 1 person And then, like, 3 tour guides. And that was, like, very random because it was, like, why do we have 3 tour guides? It's because it's so dangerous to steal? And we didn't know, like, how to express to these people that is because we we just we just learning and we just practice in it. And this is not what we do for a living, and we're not that good to just, like, have someone. That was very, very difficult English in the really beginning was very difficult. Like, Have people and convince them, like, we really want to speak in English and and just, like, have part of their journeys that they're here for vacation, and they're here for business. Coming to the place for, like, 2 hours and listening to some people who had just practiced in English was quiet hours.

One of the 2nd problems we got in 2017 is is nobody was nobody was actually understanding what we're trying to do here in the play. So poblado, for our listeners, listeners, is Poblados is, like, where every Peruvian people go. It's like the it's like a touristic place for staying in Medellin. The richest neighborhood. It's actually so great place, and that's where you have to go if you wanna sell tours. Like, that's where the tourism is. So the first part, the the we were kids. We were 18 years old, 19 years old.

We were 20 years old. For most of us, it was 1st job. So we didn't know we didn't know anything about paperwork and about legal, and I have high life have license or paid or paid taxes. We didn't know anything about this. We just thought that we could do tourism in a normal way. So we were going to these hostels and these hotels and these people to take, like, people come to the community 13. And it was very, very frustrating in the 1st year to see how these guys were not believing what we were doing. So because we were so much reject.

Like, we received so many noes. We receive a ton of notes, actually. People were not believing in us because we were kids. People were not believing in us because we were 18. But we're not legal. So this guy these guys were just telling, like, hey. You're not legal. I can now solve you at first because you're not legal.

If the police actually catch selling you your no legal tours. I can actually they can actually close my hotel and my hostel. So it was pretty many knowledge for it just be the beginning. So in the really beginning of this, it was it was quite hard. We start understanding more a little bit about companies and about the entrepreneur that we were not really good. We coming from we coming we we really come from, like, nothing, and and understand this big tram about Texas and and and license and bills and And paperwork and legalization is is quite is quite hard for an 18 year old kid who never saw, Open World. So It was quite hard that we got some help. We got some help.

You always have great people. You always have bad people to use. So we got We got as well some bad intentions to some people who tried to, like, install our company in 2018. So we actually were in a lay lawyer's problem and a legal problem because some people want to, Yeah. Like, it's still legally our our our company, and it was big travel. Those years was actually quite difficult, But I think that's something that really helped us to, like, make most of these people really change perception and just, like, start helping us Was that we were doing a great job. We we really do believe in this. We really do believe we could do this, and this could be in a great option for all of us to just, like, perceive a better realization of life.

So, one of the biggest things that helped us a lot is 2 of us. We went to work in a hostel in Poblado, so just to practice English and have a second job and and just, like, Get more focused. I was and one of my partners was as well. We went to work in hostels And that would help a lot. That actually helped a lot because this this this hostel was our hostel. So we were we were actually running the, like, the hostel. So I start telling everyone in the house still that they have to go there. Like, do you have to go to community 13? This is the best place that's going on in Medellin City.

You really have to be there, and I really start getting people going into place. Like, probably one of a one of a beginners, like, one of the really beginnings Our company having really a lot of people coming in a tour was while we were working in the hostel, and I think that that hostel Give us the 1st credibility, like the 1st people coming to see the tour and then giving us review or going mouth to mouth about the information, or these people go to Cartagena, then they meet someone and then they were telling, hey. I did a for implementing 13 with these guys, and it's quite it's quite good. It's quite cool. Right? You probably could go there. And working that hostel Gave us, like, the first people. And always in every every single job and every single entrepreneur, 1st people is probably most important people. So these most important people, We actually have to go there and work with these people because these people were not grounded with us, and then we start doing this.

So one of the biggest facts about this is, We really started making people come to the place. So in, like, 1 year, 2018 took us 2017 was the beginning, so we were learning. Where we're taking 1 people, 2 people. We were learning a lot. 2018, we were by ourselves doing tours. So it was It was only more 3 tour guides, and that that was actually, our English was way better, so we started being only 1, like, now, like, in a professional way. So we actually, like, start exploring a little bit more. I think that 2 dozen in 18, that was the year that work in in the in the hostel, that I've told you.

That was probably, like, the point that we see this as a bigger thing. We get the point that we see, hey. This can probably really, really be a big company, and this can really, really change our lives. So, like, 2018, we realized that the last 2 years that we have been doing this was gonna be really worth it. So we start, like, really believing more. One of the biggest things is more people who start coming natural by community 13 and other companies to start operating in community 13. So people up in other tour companies that help us a lot to really, like, have more credibility. Being honest, many people come to one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Medellin City after after being in a civil war for 50 years, and it top that only, like, 12 years ago as one of the hardest things to do.

So, honestly, like, maybe steeple and convince people to come here was quite hard, And that was that was that was us in 2007, 2018. I think that things things really changed in 2019. Beginning of 2019, game was very, very different.

Yeah. So we're gonna go there in just a second. Let's do this. In a moment, I wanna come back, Steven, and hear a little bit about what does it look like now because we're talking hundreds of thousands of people, visitors coming through the neighborhood, all kinds of amazing small businesses. We're gonna talk about what it looks like now and where you're going. But before we do that, I just wanna take a quick break and hear a word from our sponsor. Are you facing 1 or more important decisions in your impact business? And you'd like an experienced thought partner to develop a plan about how to proceed in the complex times we're living. But you don't feel the need for an extended coaching or consulting contract that's gonna cost you many 1,000 of dollars.

You're looking for an affordable, targeted, and time efficient type of support. Through paulzollizer.com, I offer a strategy session package. These packages are ideal for entrepreneurs who are facing 1 to 3 immediate decisions, like how to increase your positive impact, fine tune your marketing strategies to get more results for less effort, launch a new product or service successfully, or refine your pricing structure so it's both inclusive and provides you with a great quality of life. You can find out more by clicking below, and thank you so much for listening to this podcast. So welcome back, everybody. We are here with Juan Steven Alvarez Gatto, one of the cofounders of Zippy Tours in Medi in Colombia, and we are talking about empowering people to transform a dangerous neighborhood. And, Steven, you just gave us such a great background, and I love what you said about those first couple of clients, those first few reviews. Right? You're getting your Instagram going, and you're just starting to get some likes.

Right? So that's where you were 2017, 2018, 2019. Things really start to change. Let's fast forward to what does it look like now when a guy like Paul Zellizer who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico goes goes on a tour and meets this awesome tour guide named Steven, and we're going up and down the escalators. Like, what what what's on the ground owned right now in district 13. And how many people are doing the tours now about 7 or 8 years into the process?

Man, that that was that was big. Now it's something really big. I can it's it's Taken me a long time to realize all of these all of these. Like, how big is this now? Because it's a big deal right now. So, Community 13 just received the prize to be the most, most busy the neighborhood in Medellin City. We received approximately 2,000,000 people just 2022.

2,000,000 people in your neighborhood alone in 2022.

Yes. Yeah. Would you foresee despite December 2022, It was 250,000 people.

In 1 month. In 1 month.

In 1 month. It's high season.

Yeah.

And and the so that that's now. That's now. We have one of the biggest social economies in in in Medellin City. No. It's humanity.

How many people work for Zippy Tours now? Like, you have 2 guys going all the time. When when I was there, there were 4 tours running simultaneously.

Yeah. No. Now now we've been now now we are 12 people in the group. We we have grow a little bit more with 12 people. This is just 1 company, so Humanitarian is probably having around, around a a 100 companies right now. I think that there is there is a couple of ads right now. So there is We have 2 companies, which is not like companies. They are local tour guides in the place, which is basically most of the people who live in the place, they could be tour guides in an not recreational way, but they can actually do that.

And the TV guest, Love, Hope, 4 people that we got in community 13, both are band together. These people are making more than 400 people together, just just 2 companies to just, like, own their sample business. So I don't really have the number right now, but I think that we have around 600 to 700 tour guides like me and, like, see the tour now in community 13. That's how big is this right now.

Yeah. So it went from, like, some young people, 18, trying to figure out what it could look like, and fast forward 7 years later, We're talking 250,000 people in some months. We're talking 6 to 700 tour guides, and that's just the tour business. Right? I wanna put a pin. In a moment, I'm gonna ask you about the other businesses because you walk through this neighborhood, not only are these tours going on and all these incredible murals and people dancing, but there's restaurants and breweries and place to buy awesome T shirt. We're gonna get there in just a second. But Before that, you were sharing on the tour that I did, Steven, that this work has really transformed your life personally. Now Is there anything you're comfortable sharing about some of the changes of what Zippy tours and being involved? Like, what does it mean for you and your family?

I think that this changed my life a 100%. So I always say that English English and CP Tour really saved my life, And I say no really, really humble on his way. Most of my dreams when I was a kid, There are simple dreams like everyone just, like, have a house, have a job, have a family, and be wealthy.

Yeah. Tell us about tell us about your house.

Yes. Yeah. So I just got a house. We just got a house. So I bought a house in in in in 2020. So I bought a 1st floor in right at the beginning of the escalators. Like, you get escalators. And the 1st house you've seen next to the escalators, that's my house.

It's it's actually great, bad. So ideal 3 floors. I have a 3 floors apartment.

Wait. Wait. Wait. I wanna slow down just for a second, Steven. Listeners, listen to this. Right? Being a founder of Zippy Tours helped Steven not only buy a house, but also you went from 1 floor to 3 floors. So you tripled the size of that house all covered by what you earn at Zippy Tours. Is that fair to say?

Is that a 100% true? Yes.

Yeah. And then and then there's some educational things that happened, again, that Vitorz is helping you pursue other dreams. Right?

Yes. Yes. So in my personal way, I'm becoming a professional tour guide. So I went to college, and I and I on I actually did it. I'm doing right now, I'm doing some entrepreneurs. So I I don't I don't really forget where I'm coming from. So, I'm I'm a farmer, and I really feel a lot proud of what we do as a farmers. So my family my family do avocados.

My family do avocados, and they get coffee. So I got this crazy idea in 2019 to just, like, be one of those. So be back to by be back to the place that I was that I was born And probably do some farming. So what I'm doing right now, when is the next years coming to my to my life is I met someone in a tour in In 2018, we become really good friends. His name is Rahul Dubey. He's from DC. He's from he's an Indian American guy. And I met him.

I told him about being a farmer, and and and the idea of farmer is weird growing things in Colombia, but things here are so tip so, like, so tip. And things out there, like like the US and the European countries and all of this. It's, like, 3, 4 times more expensive than here. So one of my biggest ideas is what about if I take all of the things that my family produced. Like, I take avocados my family produced. I take the cock from my family produced, and I just made them way to move to the US with his partner. So that's where I am right now. So I talked to this guy.

I told the idea, and we were a little bit more harder. So we bought We got, approximately 40 hectares in in Ural. Ural is when when I was born. So we bought 2 farms that is, like, 20 hectares each others. We plant all of that in avocados. We got baby avocados right now. We have, 9 months, avocado trees that is gonna give in He's gonna be giving a lot of avocados to us in in, like, 2 2, almost 3 years. And the big idea I have, and this is what gonna be one of my this has been my my number one project on my and it's like in my baby is Probably become me and my family in, in a really big esportators of coffee and and avocados.

That's what I really want. I think that These things is gonna improve a lot of my family situations. They still live in the countryside, and I think that the countryside's beautiful and these guys are awesome, but Market is just not yet here, so we have to actually see father than here, and I think that that's what I'm gonna do. So I just focus my life in that. I'm doing this for just 2 years now. I become an entrepreneur because of the I become an entrepreneur because of CVTORE, but I think that this is your deal. Just moving things outside of the country is, like, something that really, really, really motivates me a lot, and this is the way that I can help my family. So signature is my passion.

Signature is what I own as a person, but I think that this will have A more familiar impact, and I think that this familiar impact moves me move moves me a lot, life really, really exists. And yeah. So this is kind of the things that I that I got right now just because I'm speaking in English, being in Singapore, and being here working for just 7 years.

So listeners, I think you get a sense of why I was so excited to have Steven on the show. Right? So zippy tour starts, and it becomes a full time livelihood for everybody who started it, all 5 cofounders. And but it's just so much more than that from your house, Steven, to your education. Now you're, like, an entrepreneur with, like, international connections and getting access to capital and, you know, markets in the US and buying farms, and it it's mind boggling, listeners. And and, again, it's not just you, Steven. Talk to us not even just the 6 or 700 people who are giving tours. Talk to us about some of the other businesses that you've seen pop up in district 13 as a result of this sort of economic uplift.

Yes. So this is another big thing. So one of the biggest things that we found is that, One of the biggest problems we got here in community 13 is most people feel reject for so many reasons. So government was not here for a long time. Government was not building a lot of big infrastructure, and government was not providing to us for so many years. So this make many people in community 13 feel so reject. Like, we were really, really reject by government. And this is how the gangsters get people easy.

Like, the gangsters tell the people, hey. You know what? Government is not here. Government is not gonna is gonna is not is not gonna help you. These guys are a lie, dude. These guys lie, rich people, and that's why we're here. It's like the gangsters take all of this bench. So we realized that one of the biggest problems we got into place is that people don't feel involved. So in 2020, global pandemic was a big trouble for everyone in the world.

And, obviously, because with the pains of people coming to travel here And air air and airplanes and airports were not allowed to actually be in. We were not working. So that was a big moment for community 13, and we realized that all of the things were going on in mountain one, that was a big thing, but we can lost if we don't come back. So a comeback after global pandemic was very busy. So in the 2020, when global at 2021, global pandemic panicked, We've realized that one of the greatest things to come back and make more people getting involved like, getting more people doing more things is Try to involve everyone, like, involve everyone. Involve everyone means that we're gonna basically see What people do the best, like, what is natural people talent for? And we've realized that we have a lot of talent, So we are great in food. We have a lot of mountain tree people. These guys are the best the best cookers in community 13.

So we start giving, Like these people, a lot of credibility about restaurants. There is a lot of restaurants. There is a lot of inspiration. Like, one of the greatest business that we got into place It's galleries. We start having this graffiti artist who were doing the graffitis in the places outside. That is one of the main reasons why people come to the place. But right now, they have galleries, like like like museums, and and they actually sell street art galleries, and this is up here for everyone who come to the place. It's one of the biggest deals.

It's one of the biggest business. A guide a guide, one of the biggest, one of the biggest rookie artisans in 20 13, He has a gallery. This this man is making, like like, a 15,000 to 16,000 euros orders per month. Guest art gallery, which is actually in a in a big salary for the equity artists in in in Colombia. So, yeah. So galleries is a very powerful thing. We are right now understanding that people lie people lie this This, like, this kind of life. Like, people are very, very far from this kind of life, from this kind of, like like like, culturing from this kind of, like, vibe, and and we're actually understanding that now we can we can have Disco bars, like, we can have a night live.

We're trying to be in there. So right now, what we open, and this is very new this is very new, the view from met from this minute is, like, very good, and it's very open, and it's very clear, and it's very cold. So So what we're doing is we open terrazzas, like the top side of the houses that are becoming then in terrazzas, and then We open the terraces, we make a bar in the place, and then we're doing potty on those terraces. This is one of the greatest economies that we got in the place because We don't have a 9 live. So after after 7 PM, everyone go home and just nothing was going on after that. So now we have something going on until 12. So we have a lot of people from Medellin City who come here to just to potty, and this is another way of opportunities. So mountain 2, which don't have an escalators, only mountain one has an escalators.

So mountain 2 and mountain 3 are having the coolest terraces right now. So these people are just, like, going there, and it's a bunch of, business. Street food Street beauty is a big business up here. So, like like, every 10 meters, like, every 10 meters you walk, I'm not for real. I'm not kidding about this. Like, Every 10, like, 10 to 20 meters, you get a you get a street food place. And and that is becoming in a really great way because the street food for all the passes The street food is always due by by by single mothers or by or by, like, really adult people who don't who don't get a easy job because of the age they have. So there's a lot of there is a lot of options we got into place.

As well, we're We're making worst person to hip hop. So we have shows of Brad dance, shows of, rap music, chops of freestyle. We even have chosen DJ. So there's a DJ performing for everyone on the street. People are drinking beer. And the ones who feel the vibe just came on for viewing in in a in a tip to give to this guy and promote his idea. There is a bunch of economy inside here. There is everything in the place.

Now we play drones. Now we take pictures. Now we have, like, sculptures. We make sculptures in in houses, and and then we make people go inside, and we and we Charge people something like a dollar, like, 2 daughters for for one of those pictures. We have this this thing called Neom houses. Neom houses is the next level. So these guys are crazy. Look look at what these people did.

These people have a They have a house, so they built a they they got a house, neon drafees, these neon ones, these neon paintings that is very different to the natural one. They paint all of these with neon and three d. So they try to do 3 d with neon, And they're making a really dark house with many neon lights, yet pointed to the graffitis to make, like, all of these graffitis look like true two dimensional. That's killing it. That's just killing it. Everyone want to go, actually, go there because the pictures are amazing, And the experience is like they give you a glasses, a 3 d glasses, and then you get inside of the place. And then and then inside of the place, you got all of these 3 d And and and we have animals, and the animals are flying, and the animals are moving, and the animals are so bright, brilliant, and and it's just like a old, big thing. I have not really realized how big things and how creative people are right now.

I really do believe that People have become a very, you know, in in in a they seem like very innovative people. I have seen business that I have never imagined in the place. And economists say that last year, this last year, 2022, community 13 make approximately something close to the 7, uh,000,000 US dollars. So we make 7,000,000 US dollars And a couple of 3 mountains out in community 13, which is actually like a big deal.

That's beautiful, Steven. And just to give a little context, student. My understanding is US equivalent of the minimum wage full time in Colombia is about $250 US. So listeners, when you hear Stephen quoting, you know, a street artist who opens a gallery and is now making 15 or 16,000 a month, you ask. Right? That's a pretty good living for, you know, most anywhere in the world, but in a place where the minimum wage is $250 a month, that's considered at least by the government livable. If if you imagine what it's like to make $15,000 US a month in a place where the cost of living is such that minimum wage is $250 a month. You get a sense of the transformation we're talking here. It's extraordinary.

And when you said, you know, I'm not exaggerating about a restaurant every 10 or 20 meters, I agree, Steven. You are not trading.

Yeah. That's right. There are other restaurant

or a brewery or, you know, street food. It might not even be 20 meters. I don't know what it is, listeners, but there are thriving establishments. Like, you know, you feel like, wait. I just passed 1, and here's another one, and here's another one, and here's another one. And keep in

in our subgrid.

Yeah. And keep in mind the context. This was the most dangerous neighborhood in one of the most dangerous cities in the world. And now we're describing art and music and dance and food, and just a sense of I can't use any other word but joy. So, Steven, I get to hang out with you all day, but other than tell people to go visit and put links, I I wanna be respectful of your time. I wanna be respectful of our listeners' time. If there was something that we we haven't gotten to yet that would really be important for somebody to understand about zippy tours and what's happened in district 13. Or there's something you wanna let people know like looking ahead in a year or 2, what where do you think this is going? What do you wanna leave our listeners with as we start to say goodbye?

I think that we're going to To just, like, copied this in many more places. I really do believe that what we did is amazing as a community. As a community, we did an amazing some jobs inside of this place, Mexico's shrine, Mexico City. Check Mexico City escalators, they have ones. So right now, there are 2 places in in in America having a public escalators inside neighborhoods. Sao Paulo, Brazil is gonna do an escalator as well just because of what we did. So this this give us a lot of dimension on how big thing would upgrade inside of this inside of this place. So it's it's such a really big privilege to be here right now.

It's a truly privilege to be acting and transformation inside of these place. We're trying a lot to create this this this more access to more people, like like, to have more people really trying this. We really do believe in social transformation. We really do believe that social work can can can really work and can really be worth it. We really do believe in humanity, and we really do believe that this could be replied. So in the one of the biggest ideas we got of right now is probably GOM helped more people to actually make this possible. There are a couple of communities that are doing right now in Medellin. So they're humana 1, humana 3, humana 8.

Core trying a lot to actually change their places like we do. We have a lot of social leaders in those places who are trying to make the people get power with so many ideas. And, yeah, so I I I see I see committing third to me coming in a in a very big reference of transformation, And I see this could be in replying in in many more places. I just I just I just feel privileged to be here. I just feel privileged to be part of this. I feel so proud of, I I'm just so proud of everything that we have that we have done in in in in just sit 7 years inside of this place. I think that this is Unbelievable unbelievable that we have created all of these things in such in a really short time. And, no, So so so so last thing I just wanna I just wanna thanks everyone for actually listening and and and just, like, understanding a little bit more about, the reason why we're trying to do this, I think, that this is this is one of the most beautiful things.

Secretaries, one of the most beautiful things I have ever happened in my life. English is one of the is one of the biggest tools I have ever used in my life. Like, without English, I don't think that These things could be really possible, and I think that displaced travel will not get that big. So English was a very important part of get us in the next levels. Yeah. So just just believe believe believe in social confirmation, belief in people, belief in natural people, give them a lot of support, belief in education, belief in foundations, belief in all of those things that make all of us being a little bit more involved. I think that those things make us be so involved, and I really do believe that if we can make more people Really understand the power of making everyone feel involved and give them the power to decide over their lives. I think that we can give this message to more people.

I think that we can we can just reply this in more places. I think that we're gonna be completely worth it in the end of the day. So I think that that that's where we wanna go. That's what is moving us because we really do believe that this could be this could be for more people, and we can really do this in many more places. I think that this is just This is this is just one of many, many, many places that can really have a social transformation, Social world like we did in the place. We wanna create more civic tours, or we just want the people understand that more civic tours in more places will be a really big chance for humanity inside of this country. So we really wanna we're gonna bring with that in the next future years. That's that's probably where we're gonna push to be in.

And thus, Zippy Tours Consulting, or I guess we call it Zippy Consulting, was born. Right? You you're you have a lot not to teach, Steven. So if you ever have any questions about what that could look like, I'd love to see Zippy Consulting and more of this work going out there in the world. You have so much to pitch. Steven, I just wanna give a big bow, say, thank you a 1000 times for being on the show and sharing your incredibly inspiring story with our listeners.

Oh, thanks a lot for having me. This is this is my first time doing a podcast, and And it's probably my first time that people have actually to my personal experience being in community 13 and trying to make this, a better place, and I'm just glad that that we got all of these people listening to us and just, can share a little bit of Our lives with them. So thanks a lot for having me. I appreciate this this moment and this and this respect you're giving to me and my campaign.

It's an honor, Steven. So listeners, go do what we do here on this show. Tell your friends, If you or anyone goes to Medellin, do not let them go without telling them about zippy choppers. Do the world a favor. Do yourself a favor. If you're yet considering going to Medellin, and I can't encourage you enough. The whole city is amazing. What a wonderful experience I had there.

But if somebody you know is gonna go to Medellin, the first words out of your mouth I want you to say is, Go check out Zippy Tours. Go check out District 13 and what's happening there. So enough about that. I'll put links in the show notes to the Zippy Tours website. Go check out their Instagram and some of the other context that Steven has mentioned. All that'll be in the show notes. So before we go, I just wanna remind you, we love listeners suggested topics or gas. House.

Maybe you're like me and you are, like, visiting some place, and you're like, oh my gosh. These people are transforming an entire neighborhood and even an entire city. Please send those stories on in. We love listeners suggested topics and guests. Go to the contact page on the Awarepreneur's website. There's 3 simple guidelines that tells you about what we're looking for. Please send your ideas on it. So for now, I just wanna say thank you so much for listening.

Please take really good care in these intense times, and thank you for all the positive impact that you're working for in our world.