MFZ – Ray Gonzalez & Christy Risco
Welcome to the Multi-FAMILY zone podcast, where business meets family. The hosts of the show, Julia and Gino Barbaro, have been married for over twenty years, and have six children. Julia homeschools the children, and recently became a marriage and life coach to help couples become better communicators and help enrich their lives. The couple is constantly asked about how they balance their entrepreneurial and real estate journey while raising their kids. The Multi-FAMILY zone was created to address these questions, along with a host of questions from the Jake and Gino community.Julia and Gino are joined by Ray and Christy. They will talk about how their store and how they balance working together and being married.
Ramon Gonzalez has been in the Real Estate field since 2004. Prior to that, he was recruited to GE for their Financial Management Program. After 3 years, he realized that the corporate world wasn’t for him. He was searching for Freedom, Financial Abundance and a higher Purpose.
Christy Risco was a 4th grade teacher for 5 years, before realizing that although she has a passion for teaching, growing and giving – the Public-School System was not the place for her to shine bright.
After dating for 3 years, in 2011 – Ramon and Christy attended a Tony Robbins seminar called Date with Destiny. During the 6 intense days, they realized that they were ready for a big, bold step in their lives! They moved in together while simultaneously starting a new Real Estate joint venture– Flipping REO properties in the Miami market.
Within 2 years of working and living together, they were both at their rope’s end. The relationship was practically nonexistent and their finances did not reflect the amount of hours and energy they were putting into their company.
After working with several life coaches and continuing on in their self-discovery journey, they began to make several adjustments to their current life situation- including getting an office and taking several personality tests to hone in on what they were really good at and what they needed help with.
Once they drew that line between personal and business space, things started to shift. Next, they hired a Business Consultant, who advised them to start looking for staff, even though it was scary for both of them to “give up” control in the business. This led to growth and a new direction for the company. Within 2 years, with a Property Manager and an Acquisitions Rep on payroll, they were able to grow their business to 7 figures and acquire over 100 units of rental properties.
In 2016, the couple had a daughter, Valentina, and again this started to shift the direction of their lives and business. They decided to sell off most of their portfolio and eventually close the office to enjoy more freedom and time with their toddler.
They are currently in the Private Lending space and take pride in having amazing relationships with all of their borrowers, who they consider family. They each are part of Mastermind Groups and run their own Mastermind Experiences in Miami. They believe in growing, networking, inspiring & giving.
Within this transition, many of their colleagues and friends started getting intrigued by their success both at home and in business. After much brainstorming, they realized that all of their success has come from working together to make things happen, no matter how difficult things seemed to get. Through this personal reflection – Both on Board was born. Both Ramon and Christy are passionate about helping and inspiring couples to work and play together in a way that serves each other, the business and the relationship as a whole! “Helping Entrepreneurial Couples Thrive” is what they are about and helping them create IMPACT in the world! <3