Most success stories begin with a stumble, or a drastic change in direction; for John Gutierres, his story was no different.
John Gutierres looked down at his hands, holding back tears as he recalled the struggles he has experienced the past few years. The economy crisis in 2009 affected John Gutierres and his family tremendously.
Gutierres was struggling to make ends meet when the auto sales department he worked at was closed, causing his income to cease, home to be foreclosed, cars repossessed and after losing nearly everything, Gutierres knew he had to make a drastic decision to be able to provide for his family. “I was filled with anxiety, depression and you know, thinking things weren’t going to work out,” explained Gutierres.
That’s when Gutierres decided to move to the community of Mt. Pleasant, with his wife and children where he worked for Nexus Broadcast in Texas for a year.
After weeks of trying different outlets that could lead to opportunities of a job that would be able to provide financial support for his family, Gutierres decided to travel to Texarkana, in hopes of finding a secure position.
On that same day in July 2014 when Gutierres traveled to Texarkana, he landed a job at ORR Chevrolet and began working almost immediately. Little did he know this opportunity at a business in this tightly knit community would bring the solidarity and support he needed to get back on his feet.
Though the days were never easy, and it would have been much simpler to give up, Gutierres found strength and a renewed hope every morning, pushing himself to work diligently even though he describes himself as being “terrified.”
“Yes, I was terrified,” Gutierres explained, “I hadn’t been on a sales floor in years. I had to borrow a car to get there and even the gas to get there. But, I told myself not to give up and to keep pushing, and no matter what the obstacles were, we were going to make it.”
Not only did John Gutierres find hope and ambition to push through his days but he set out to give hope to other people. On the way to his first day on the job, Gutierres filmed a video of himself speaking words of positivity and shared it on Facebook. To his surprise, the video gathered many likes, comments, and was shared by multiple people.
The community of Texarkana, Texas gave Gutierres and his family a second chance, at living a life without unmanageable struggle. Gutierres explains, “for the last year and a half I’ve been blessed to be working at ORR Chevrolet. I’ve met some wonderful people in Texarkana, the customers I’ve had the past two years have become friends. I’m just creating relationships and things are starting to move forward.”
While working at ORR Gutierres has been named Salesman of the month four different times. Gutierres was named Used Car Salesman of the month 3 times over the course of a year and Salesman of the Month for the entire store in February 2016.
Gutierres continues to do his job at the best of his ability, while continuing to bring a message of hope to all of those who interact with him on the job and on Facebook.
“There’s more to getting things done than just hoping, we have to get ourselves out of the bed and face these strangers with confidence even though we are terrified. Fortunately, I landed somewhere like ORR Chevrolet, they helped. They knew my situation and they helped.”
