Roads To Success 12

Epilogue:  Ron and Cristy Varela

The story just told was current as of 2006 when the Varela’s episode of Secrets Of Success completed production.  During an October 2011 telephone interview Ron and Cristy brought me up to date with their business and personal lives.

Following their litigation with the State of California over the Highway 71 landslide circumstances forced the Varelas to downsize their work force from one-hundred-fifty employees to eight.  They also liquidated their trucks and heavy equipment in order to satisfy the demands of their bank.

The economic downturn that began in 2008 and cascaded across the United States obliged the Varelas to cut back even more.  In recent years they have reduced their number of employees to three.  With their business smaller than ever, and with new construction jobs fewer in number, Ron and Cristy found themselves seriously discussing whether or not they should continue maintaining the company at all.

Ron makes the observation that, in the current economic environment, doing business is tougher and more frustrating than ever before.  Customer loyalty has eroded away to almost nothing, banks are increasingly inflexible, and ethics in general have been negatively altered.  Having experienced years of running a thriving company and doing business on a handshake, Ron finds it discouraging.

The Varelas were on the verge of closing down their operations when a small job came along, a dirt-hauling contract for a Temecula hospital project worth about $450,000.  It gave them hope and caused them to keep an expectant eye on the business landscape.  Ron says that he now sees new jobs on the horizon; now it’s just a matter of landing them for his company.

There is a great deal at stake.  The Varelas have employees whose futures depend on the solvency of their business, and their personal nest egg for retirement has been impacted as well.  Their beloved Rancho Diamante is also at risk; it is currently on the real estate market.

In spite of the impending circumstances, Ron and Cristy manage to attend to the problems at hand without actually focusing on them.  Their main and unwavering focus is on their faith in Christ.  Besides, this couple simply does not know how to give up.  They never have.

Just to clarify, the Varelas are mere mortals, just like the rest of us.  The problems and loss accumulating in their lives during these challenging times impinge on them just as they would anyone else.  “We’re not supposed to question the Lord about why these things happen but you still can’t help asking why,” Ron explained.  “We have to keep the faith because that’s just about all we have left.”

“I know beyond a shadow of a doubt the Lord’s plan is good,” Cristy added.  “Whatever it is it will be better than anything we can imagine.  Everyday I see signs that the Lord is near.  I praise him all the time.”

The Varelas’ desire to serve certainly hasn’t been impaired by the economy or other current circumstances.  They haven’t been able to contribute financially as they once could but they still find ways to give substantially.  Ron put it this way, “Even if you lose material things you can still give your time.”

Ron and Cristy currently donate generous portions of their time to the Military Ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ (CRU), Pinnacle Forum, the Prescott Annual Prayer Breakfast, Advocates for Faith and Freedom, and Big Brothers-Big Sisters of America.  Of course, their favorite service is still hosting a variety of ministries at Rancho Diamante.  “This year we didn’t host that many,” Cristy said.  “However, it is one of our greatest joys.”

So, as of October 2011, the Varelas are hanging in there and fighting the good fight, just as they always have.  They are working hard to regain a solid footing for their business, and they are still hopeful they can keep Rancho Diamante.  Most importantly, they daily live in and maintain an unshakable faith in God.

Ron offered up this parting comment to end our interview, “We’ve lost a lot of material stuff but we still have our family, and we’re a tight, tight family and that’s awesome.”

Thank you, Ron and Cristy, awesome, indeed.

© 2011 Philip Kassel

Roads To Success 11

Ron and Cristy Varela (continued)

New Horizons

Facing the daunting challenge of breast cancer, Ron and Cristy bonded together as they had through so many other crises in their lives.  Together they considered the options available to Cristy.  Together they researched, consulted with doctors and together they prayed for guidance. 

“It didn’t take very long but for some reason I had a peace about everything I decided to do that I can’t explain,” Cristy recounted.  “I know now that comes from God.”

Ron summed it all up with, “We made the decision together that she was going to have surgery and then just put our faith in the Lord.”

The surgery was successful, and through the ordeal, the Varela family had grown stronger because of it.  There was a new closeness, a greater openness and a tighter bond between not only Ron and Cristy, but the entire family.

“It really brought us to what was really important in life,” Ron stated ardently.  “It brought our family together even closer.”

“This is really all that matters, your family and your relationship with God,” added Jason.

Ron and Cristy’s walk of faith is obvious in them both; it rests easily on them, defines them and guides them.  As their faith matured they involved themselves in a small, Christian media radio station based in Prescott, Arizona, helping whenever and wherever they could.  At the time we taped the Varela interviews Carol Stensrud was the general manager of KGCB and I asked her on camera to give me her assessment of Ron and Cristy.  “What I see in them are two people who are so hungry to please God now,” Carol answered.  “They just want people to have the excitement and joy they have.”

“For both my mom and dad, I think they rely a lot more on prayer every day, all day, for all the decisions they make, big or small,” Jason told me during his interview.

“I think before it was how many toys you can have and how much money you can have in the bank,” Ron added.  “We changed our priority about material things.  Now we’ve had the opportunity to give back.”

Carole Stensrud confirmed Ron’s statement, “They’re generous in so many ways.  Not just here at KGCB but around the world.  I just can’t get my mind around all they do to bless other people.”

“We’ve been able to go to Ecuador, Bolivia, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic,” Ron explained enthusiastically.  “We’ve been able to share the Gospel and share with some of our finances to help out.”

“Now I see a new success in their lives,” Jennifer related.  “With being able to affect other people, and going to other countries, and reaching out to people, just being effected by it and caring.  They see people that are in need and they want to help.”

Today, Ron and Cristy have restructured their business into The Varela Companies.  Most of their business is in residential development and they operate a grading company as well.  The Varela Companies even encompass their Arizona ranch.  At the time of their television interviews in 2006 the companies were collectively generating annual revenues in the tens of millions.

Ron and Cristy have little doubt where their success comes from.  Cristy put it this way, “I know that our success is because God has given us the abilities, the opportunities, opened doors for us, and helped us grow strong.”

“From having a lot to losing just about everything, and then they got a second chance to grow,” reflected Jason.  “I think with all the things that happened in their lives with cancer, and losing companies and all the bad things, they got to say, ‘Okay how do we do it this time?’  It’s allowed the companies to grow and headed us in the right direction.”

Ron, having already acknowledged God’s grace and provision in his family’s life, added this, “With hard work and perseverance you can succeed.  Next month it’ll be thirty-eight years that we’ve been married.  We have two wonderful kids and five wonderful grandkids.”

“We don’t give up,” Cristy agreed.  “We have a reason not to give up, mostly because God has given us the courage to go forward.  We trust each other and we trust Him.”

© 2011 Philip Kassel

Roads To Success 10

Ron and Cristy Varela (continued)

Turning Point

Ron and Cristy found themselves in a challenging and often disappointing season of life.  The business they had worked so hard to build together no longer existed in the form they had known it; the business was there but on a much smaller scale.  No longer owning their own equipment, they would lease what they needed in order to complete the jobs that came their way.

Certainly not helping the situation, Ron was still drinking, and the drinking caused stress between him and Cristy.  There was tension and there were arguments, and the marriage frequently stumbled over rocky ground.  But the couple had been together since their teenage years and something kept them holding on.

The situation was about to grow worse, and it began at a party attended by Ron, Jason and Jennifer.  Ron, particularly, was enjoying the party.  “We’d have a drink, he’d have a double, or he’d have two doubles,” remembered Jason.

“I specifically said to him, dad give me the keys,” Jennifer added.  “Let me drive you home.  But he insisted on driving himself home.”

Ron wouldn’t listen, climbed into his car and headed home.  On the way he fell asleep at the wheel and struck another car.  Fortunately, no one was hurt but Ron ended up spending the night in jail.

The accident and the jail experience were traumatic for the entire family but it was also the beginning of an important course change.  “It was a tough moment but a good moment for us because I think it was a turning point,” Jason explained.

Ron realized that he could have been injured or killed, or even worse, he could have killed someone else.  The accident and jail experience became a giant wake up call.

Admitting that he did nothing in moderation in life, Ron decided he would stop drinking.  At the time of his interview in 2006 he had not had a drink in over ten years.  According to his family, the changes in him didn’t happen overnight but they did indeed happen.

Daughter Jennifer indirectly played a part in transformations that occurred in her father and her mother as well.  To help deal with some personal problems of her own, Jennifer had begun attending a local church.  Ron and Cristy accepted their daughter’s invitation to attend with her.  For Ron and Cristy, the experience would be dramatically life changing.

I asked Ron and Cristy what they gained from attending church.  “Well, we started to realize that we had to have faith and trust.  We just realized that we can’t do it all by ourselves,” was Ron’s response.

“It took us a while to understand what it meant to be saved,” Cristy told me in a recent correspondence.  “We first knew we had a relationship with the Lord in 1997.”

The Varela family took their initial exploration of Christianity seriously.  They asked questions, attended Bible studies and visited a variety of churches.  The effort fed their commitment, they grew to understand what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and their faith grew stronger.  That faith was soon tested when Cristy was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998.

“A lot of things go through your mind,” Cristy remembered.  “You wonder if you’ll live.  You wonder if you’ll see your family again.  You don’t know what’s next, what God has in mind for you.”

Jason Varela observed that the crisis caused his mother to truly rely on someone else.  “I think that’s when she started to turn to Him for support in her life,” he said during his interview.

“I just depended on my family and I depended on God and I really prayed a lot,” Cristy explained.

Jennifer saw the cancer crisis as a significant catalyst in Ron becoming a new person.  “My mom’s breast cancer was the breaking point for my dad, and I saw him really surrendering, and just wanting to be there for her, and just so desperately wanting her to be okay.”

Ron credited his growing faith in Christ to his transformation.  “When you start having faith you begin to realize that it’s not all about you,” Ron said.  “You start treating people the way you’d like to be treated.  You learn your priorities.  You put the Lord first, your wife and family second, and yourself third.  I had always put myself first.”

“He just has a softer way about him,” described Jennifer.  “That’s very big, because my dad wasn’t soft.”

Thinking back on those days of transformation Cristy recalled, “Over time he [Ron] became more patient, more tolerant, slower to react.  He was less angry, more giving, and more prayerful.”

There were decisions to be made, extremely critical decisions that would ultimately determine Cristy’s future health.  Ron and Cristy knew they would make these decisions together, and this time they were absolutely certain that God would guide them in the process.

© 2011 Philip Kassel

Roads To Success 9

Ron and Cristy Varela (continued)

Landslide

Ron & Cristy had built a successful business, and in spite of marrying at an early age their relationship had endured a number of challenges and even thrived.  But a hidden problem had slowly been creeping up on the young couple unnoticed, growing larger and stronger with time.  “We got to where we thought we were invincible,” Ron explained.  “I was staying out entertaining customers and drinking with my friends, and having too much fun.”

Ron would start the day early and come home late.  Cristy, reasonably so, was not happy with the situation.  She stayed at home with the children, often with dinner waiting for Ron.  And just as often, Ron would not return home until after midnight.  Not surprisingly, there were numerous fights between them during this troubled season in their lives.

“I hated his drinking,” Cristy recalled.  “I hated the change I saw in him, or how he’d be when he was drinking.”

Ron and Cristy’s children have lucid memories of that period in their family’s life.  Jennifer recalled that her father was frequently on edge and not particularly friendly.  She also noted that, as much as Ron loved Cristy, he wasn’t very respectful to her when drinking.

Jason Varela, now Vice President and General Manager of Diamond R, LLC, the Varela development company, graduated from college and began working for his father in 1992.  He looked back on his father’s drinking with this observation, “He was, to me, tough to work with but mainly tough to deal with outside of work.  He was a very functional alcoholic; a very functional drinker and most people I think looking back would say, yeah, he’s a fun guy but not necessarily an alcoholic.”

Ron’s drinking made family life difficult enough, but even greater trouble was looming in a large grading and excavating job.  The project was in Chino Hills, California, on a three-mile stretch of Highway 71.  The problems began with a landslide that dumped approximately 300,000 cubic yards of dirt onto the freeway.  The landslide brought work to an immediate halt while the state began a lengthy process to determine what should be done to resolve the problem.

“Working with government agencies really took us down,” recalled Jason Varela.  “At the time I think one of the projects was $700 million.  Well, that was huge to us.  To them it was nothing.  We were just another change order, just another contract on a billion dollar project, or whatever it might have been.  And they [the state government] don’t take into account that every time they don’t sign one of our change orders that somebody’s not going to get paid or a trucker’s not going to get his money to feed his family and pay his bills.  So, it really was a cash flow issue and a lack of accountability with the government agencies.”

Ron had little choice but to take his battle with the State of California to court.  Nothing about the experience was easy.  “It just seemed like almost every day there was a new issue that was not good, something to deal with,” Cristy explained.  “And so he would come home sometimes and just wonder how much more could he take.  Is it all worth it?”

After months of costly litigation the court determined that since the primary contractor had hired Ron’s company, it was the contractor and not the state that was liable.  Ron would have to begin again by filing a new lawsuit.  But by this time, beginning again was not an option.

“I saw that his fuse had gone out,” Jennifer said of her father.  “He was tired of fighting.”

Ron decided to settle out of court with the primary contractor and move forward if at all possible.  At the time it was really the only logical option, especially if the Varelas were to avoid the huge cost and relentless stress generated by additional litigation.  But it was also a costly decision.

“It just took a large, large amount of money out of our net worth,” Ron explained.  “To the scale we had been it closed down our construction company after twenty-seven years.”

The company dwindled from one-hundred-fifty employees down to eight.  It was also compelled to sell its trucks and other heavy equipment at a discount in order to repay bank debts incurred during the lengthy litigation.  For Ron and Cristy it was a deeply humbling experience.

If the demise of his company wasn’t enough there was even more disappointment, and more loss, heading Ron’s way.  The sandbag company Ron had started with a partner was doing well, generating approximately $2 million annually.  While Ron was distracted by the lengthy legal proceedings with the State of California his business partner disappeared with a large amount of company money, resulting in the end of the sandbag business.

“When that fell apart I think it was pretty devastating because it was a company based on trust between dad and his partner,” recalled Jason Varela.

Both Jason and Jennifer remembered that the betrayal their father experienced from the sandbag company incident disappointed him greatly.  There was a time he could do business on a handshake but those days were gone for good.

To Ron’s family and friends, it appeared that everything important in his world was falling apart.  Unfortunately, there were still greater challenges heading towards both Ron and Cristy.

© 2011 Philip Kassel

Roads To Success 8

Ron and Cristy Varela (continued)


New Territory

In its early stages the Ron E. Varela Company operated out of an office in the Varela family home.  It enabled Cristy to work alongside Ron managing office operations.  “We had always worked together well,” Cristy said.  “So I was able to work and take care of the kids.  When it became apparent that I wouldn’t be able to support him in all areas he hired other employees.”

“We ended up growing that company into, eventually, a $30 million a year company,” Ron added.  Still in their twenties, the Varela’s personal income was over $200,000 a year.

During that period of time the Ron E. Varela Company had up to 150 employees, an inventory of heavy, earth moving equipment and 75 hauling trucks.  In business, timing is often everything, and the timing for the Varelas was excellent considering the building boom in Orange County during that era.  Among the company’s multi-million dollar projects were the Century Freeway in Los Angeles and the Orange Crush freeway intersection in Orange County.

With the growth of their company, the Varelas enjoyment of life grew as well.  Cristy put it this way, “We bought another home; our tax man would tell us we had to invest in other things and so we invested in some properties.  We played a lot.  We travelled a lot.  We always travelled with our kids; we took them almost everywhere we went.”

Ron and Cristy’s daughter, Jennifer, now a real estate agent in Riverside County, California, recalled those family vacations.  “We’d be on vacation and my dad would be on the phone.”  And that’s kind of the vision I have of my dad,” she related.  “He’s always working; he’s one of those people who loves to work.”

Horseback riding was one of the recreational activities that Ron and Cristy grew to love.  While on a five-day camping trip with a men’s equestrian group in the hills of Temecula, California, Ron discovered what he believed was the perfect place for his family.  “When I got back I told Cristy I thought I’d found the place we should move to,” Ron recalled.  “It was nice, serene country and we could keep horses there, so we moved to Temecula.”

Ron and Cristy had overcome the numerous challenges they faced by marrying as teenagers.  They were successfully raising two children, and together they had built a multi-million dollar company.  Life was looking extremely good when they made Temecula their family home.

“A few years later everyone else heard about Temecula,” Ron explained.  “Our secret wasn’t a big secret anymore.”

The fact that Temecula was just beginning to grow and had yet to be developed made it ideal for a talent Ron had developed through his experience in excavating and grading.  Through his years in the earth moving business Ron had learned to visualize the end result for land requiring excavation or grading; he could clearly see the end result of the work.  “One of the projects we did was a two-hundred acre property we were able to purchase,” Ron told me during his interview.  “We subdivided it into five-acre ranchettes and put homes on them.”

The Varelas sold the five-acre parcels effectively creating a development division in the Varela companies.  They also partnered with a business associate to create a sandbag company during this period of growth.  Much of the sand came from their various excavation jobs, but they also acquired permission from owners to excavate sand from flood control districts, channels and a variety of other projects.

The Varelas were doing well and were ready for more.  Through their horse association friends they found a thirty-two-hundred acre ranch just outside of Prescott, Arizona.  The ranch’s current owner, a Canadian developer, was in the process of raising financing to develop the land with 3,000 homes and two golf courses.  He needed someone who could refinance the property and the Varelas took on the refinance. The agreement gave them 320 acres in collateral and stated that if the owner failed to pay back the loan within one year they could purchase the entire ranch at a fixed price.

When the developer was unable to raise the money to complete his project, Ron and Cristy ended up purchasing the ranch, naming it Rancho Diamante.  We shot most of their interview at the ranch, a peaceful, sprawling property cradled in the Prescott National Forest.  The main house, built in the 1920’s by Quaker Oats heir Jerome Eddy, is an expansive, hacienda-style home of brick, with wood vigas, covered porches and patios.  The interior is a warm blend of wood, ceramic tile and smooth, plaster walls.  Nearby, but not too nearby, is the bunkhouse, now often used for ministry guests.  And of course no self-respecting ranch would be complete without a barn, stables and corrals.

When Ron and Cristy took over Rancho Diamante, they immediately began transforming the property, making it truly their own.  The house, a rather cold structure when they first moved in, became more welcoming under Cristy’s care, and the property flourished under Ron’s management.  On the surface, everything was going well, but in reality trouble had been brewing for some time.

© 2011 Philip Kassel

Roads To Success 7

Ron and Cristy Varela (continued)

Leap of Faith

Growing more and more practiced in his profession each working day, Ron was becoming an expert truck driver.  He knew from the beginning that he would earn good money driving, but he began to see that there was better money in being an owner-operator of a truck.  When the opportunity to purchase a truck presented itself, it was hard for Ron to resist.  He was 21 years of age; he still wanted to improve himself and his situation.  He believed the gamble of buying his own truck was worth the risk.

“I remember telling him there’s no way we can afford to do that,” Cristy told me on-camera.  “But he was just real gutsy.  We talked about it some more.  He said he was going to do it no matter what, and he did.”  Cristy paused a moment and then added, “I had to learn to trust him and trust his instincts and trust his abilities.”

The truck was a new, 1971 International Harvester with a price tag of $21,000, for sale by a private party.  “I borrowed $1,000 from my parents.  The payments on that truck were $2,100 a month,” Ron explained, vividly remembering the dollar amounts.

With his own truck, Ron began driving as an independent contractor.  He was enjoying his independence and his increased income.  His family was growing, too, with Cristy giving birth to a son, Jason.

Ron’s owner-operator status would not last very long.  All went well for about two years, and then an unexpected turn of events derailed his thriving business.  Unfortunately, Ron had unknowingly purchased his truck from a man who was struggling financially.  The troubled man declared bankruptcy and Ron was forced to turn the truck over to the bank in order to satisfy claims by creditors.

Ron had a wife and two young children to provide for, but Cristy wasn’t worried.  “I knew that he would be able to go out and find a job.  I just could see by the way that he did things that I could be confident in the fact that he could find a job,” she said.

Cristy knew her husband well.  He quickly landed a job as a dispatcher for a dirt hauling company.  From dispatcher he transitioned into a foreman position; eventually he would become an estimator.

What some might have viewed as a setback, Ron viewed as a learning opportunity.  “I learned all the different phases of the construction business,” Ron recalled.  “I saw the money that was being made.  Actually, the money I was making for the company.  The last job I had done for the company made $26,000 in one month, and I had done that job all by myself.”

The income from that single job was more money than Ron made in one year.  Ron always had big visions and he began entertaining ideas about starting his own company.  It’s not unusual for people to dream about their future, dream of a better life, but Ron could always visualize the possibilities in choosing a particular path.  He believed that if he could generate $26,000 working for someone else he could certainly do it for his own company.

So, once again, Ron started his own business, the Ron E. Varela Company, Inc.  The new company would sell dirt by the truckload.  “That was when Orange County was just really starting to grow,” Ron explained.  “It was an opportunity for me to go into business for myself.  So, I turned in my resignation and bid a job.”

Ron was awarded the job he bid on, a school site requiring 200,000 cubic yards of dirt.  The $350,000 job would necessitate twelve thousand truckloads of dirt.  Ron rented all the equipment to do the work and fulfill the contract.

The job itself proceeded very well, but enjoying the profits proved to be more difficult.  Once again, unknown to Ron, the contractor whom had sealed the deal with Ron’s new company was having financial problems.  The man, obviously hoping to avoid personal and professional disaster, skipped town with the project funds.

For months, unable to pay many of the bills generated by the project, Ron managed to stay afloat.  His suppliers knew him to be an honest, responsible and hard-working businessman.  They knew he was not responsible for the missing cash and willingly worked with him when their invoices came due.  Ron’s reputation essentially gained him the time he needed and the thief was eventually captured.  “The police ended up tracking him down and recovered most of the money,” Ron recounted.  “We finally got our money after months of worrying.”

Even though the first official job for the Ron E. Varela Company resulted in a good deal of stress and a lengthy delay in receiving payment, Ron would not give up.  He pushed his young company on to other projects.  “We ended up getting into the grading and excavating business,” Ron explained.  “Originally we were doing $2 million, $3 million a year.  And it gradually grew to $5 million, $7 million and $10 million.”

Still in their twenties, the Varelas personal income had grown to over $200,000 a year.  They had no way of knowing that it was just the beginning.

© 2011 Philip Kassel

Roads To Success 6

Ron and Cristy Varela (continued)

A Humble and Busy Beginning

Cristy spent her days caring for their new daughter, Jennifer, while Ron completed his junior year of high school.  He attended classes during the day and worked in a pizza joint at night, bussing tables, performing custodial tasks and washing dishes.

Ron eventually transitioned from the pizza joint to working as a busboy in a restaurant located adjacent to Disneyland.  When he learned from the parking valet that parking cars at the restaurant was more profitable than bussing tables, he made a move into that field.  “I got to work at nights parking cars across the street from Disneyland,” Ron said.

One year later, Ron purchased the parking concession with money he managed to save from his earnings.  The experience he gained running this little business would eventually come in very handy.

“We thought we were rolling in money back in those days,” Cristy laughed.  “We were able to pay all our bills and take care of our family.”

After two years Ron decided that he could probably do better than parking cars and sold his valet concession.  “I ended up getting several different jobs.  For about a year I went through quite a few of them,” Ron explained.

In fact, there were about a dozen jobs for Ron during that period.  He worked in a Pier One Imports warehouse; he drove a forklift working for a yogurt company and then later used his forklift experience working for an orange juice firm.  These jobs, obviously, were just to name a few.

Cristy always had faith in her husband, but she couldn’t help feeling somewhat insecure about Ron leaving so many jobs just to find new ones.  “Cristy was nervous about all the different jobs I had, but they always seemed to be better than the last one.  I was always bettering myself,” Ron stated.

“He would come home with a new job and just say, ‘it’s going to be better money,’ and he’d quit his job and start a new one,” Cristy added.

The job that would prove to be a significant turning point in Ron’s career came about in an unexpected way, through a man living in the same apartment complex as Ron and Cristy.  The neighbor revealed to Ron that he was earning $4.65 an hour working as a driver for a moving van company.  It was an extravagant hourly wage in the mid-sixties and Ron was always on the watch for a more profitable job.  He began working with his neighbor, packing and moving the belongings of the company’s clients.

Ron later heard about another job from his neighbor, a position driving a truck with a dirt hauling company.  He quickly visited the company and managed to set up an interview.  The interview took place while Ron rode with the owner-operator of the company throughout an entire night shift.  Of course, one of the questions the man asked was if Ron knew how to drive a truck.  Ron replied with a confident, “Sure I do.”  The owner told Ron to meet him the next morning for a trial run.

“I met him at seven o’clock the next morning and rode shotgun with him for half of the day,” Ron recalled.  Riding in the passenger seat was a breeze.  The potential job got considerably more interesting when the man slipped out from behind the wheel and told Ron it was his turn to give it a try.

For anyone imagining that Ron and his potential employer were cruising around in a standard pickup truck it is important to note that this particular truck had 16 gears forward and four in reverse.  When Ron started grinding gears it became painfully obvious that he really didn’t know how to drive a truck, at least not a truck that could hall 50,000 pounds of dirt.  Confronted by the owner, Ron admitted that he didn’t know anything about driving a truck but was eager to learn.

“Ron would show that he could do the work.  He was able to learn almost anything he ever tried to do and he did it well,” Cristy explained.

Apparently seeing the confidence Ron brought to the table, the owner agreed to train him.  He taught Ron how to drive hauling trucks and a week later Ron was working for the company.  And then one day, only a short six months after taking on the dirt hauling job, an opportunity presented itself to Ron, one that managed to make Cristy extremely nervous when she heard the details.

© 2011 Philip Kassel

Roads To Success 5

Ron and Cristy Varela (continued)

Youthful Courage

As sixteen-year-old expectant parents, Ron and Cristy faced the overwhelming aggregate of emotions, stresses, judgments and opinions that accompany most teenage pregnancies.  Cristy’s mother was upset and even angry.  Her birth father didn’t really have anything to say about the situation while her stepfather advised her to handle it however she wanted.  Ron’s parents were rightly concerned about the state of affairs but were also tremendously supportive.

At that time, abortion was illegal in most of the United States so, fortunately, it was never suggested as a viable option.  Well-meaning family and friends strongly advised Cristy to have the baby, and then immediately put the newborn up for adoption.  It made sense.  Ron and Cristy were juniors in high school; they were young and inexperienced.  They didn’t really know what it meant to have, care for and be responsible for a family.  And of course there was the cliché, even if it did carry a fair amount of truth, “they had their whole lives ahead of them.”

The general opinion leaned profusely towards adoption and Cristy was beginning to believe that it was, indeed, the path to follow.  “We weren’t going to get married at first.  I was going to have my baby and the baby would be adopted,” Cristy explained.  “And we really didn’t understand the alternatives; what it would be like with adoption.”

But Ron resisted the onslaught of advice.  He loved Cristy and was serious about his commitment to her.  It saddened him to think about permanently parting with a child he would have with Cristy.

“I think it broke his heart to be talking that way,” Cristy related during her interview.  “So we started talking about, do you think we can get married; do you think it would work if we got married?”

“You can’t just give up,” Ron stated emphatically during his interview.  “It’s too easy to give up and too many people are giving up.”

Looking back at that tumultuous season in their lives, Cristy explained her husband’s position.  “Ron pretty much didn’t want to be a failure in that area.  He wanted to show that he could be responsible and take care of me and our baby.”

So, Ron and Cristy chose marriage.  Initially, none of their friends and family agreed with the decision.  But once that decision was made a lot of people began pulling together to help them.  “Ron was a member of the YMCA at the time.  His friends at the Y collected enough money to pay our first month’s rent,” Cristy related as just one example.

None of it was easy or uncomplicated.  Due to their status as minors, getting married was not a straightforward matter.  “We had to go to court to get a court order to get married,” Ron remembered.  They were still juniors in high school when the marriage took place.  Their baby daughter, Jennifer, was born a little over two months later, seven weeks early.

It is important to note here that Ron and Cristy Varela do not advocate that any unmarried couple have a child together, and they particularly do not advocate that a teenage couple do so.  “I would never recommend that a sixteen-year-old couple become involved in a way where a baby would result,” Cristy stated during her on-camera interview.  Ron added, “But if the circumstance happens you have to understand it’s going to take a lot of work, working together, and a lot of understanding.”

Choosing a life together with their new baby daughter meant making some radical life changes.  Ron was active in the high school wrestling, track and football teams.  He had to give up those activities but was able to complete his junior year in high school.  Cristy was not allowed to continue attending regular classes but managed to complete her junior year.  “I had a tutor that came to the house that helped me finish the eleventh grade in my own home,” Cristy related.  “And then our senior year we finished in adult education and got our diplomas.”

© 2011 Philip Kassel

Roads To Success 4

Ron & Cristy Varela

Success comes in all kinds of packages and for all kinds of reasons.  There is always the lottery winner, of course, that lucky individual whose birthday numerals happen to match nicely with numbered ping-pong balls in the $80 million Power Ball drawing.  Sometimes it comes with a good idea.  Bill Gates coming up with the DOS operating system was a pretty good one, and it is unlikely anyone would debate the level of success that followed the idea.

Most of the time, though, success only comes with hard work and persistence.  For Ron and Cristy Varela that is precisely the way it came, but they were too busy at the time to give such a philosophical question much thought.

Ron was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, a small city extending into the desert from the base of the Santa Catalina Mountains.  The youngest of three brothers, he remembers that his family life was rather typical for the 1950s and 1960s.  His mother was a housewife who took care of her husband and boys, making sure they were always clothed and fed.  In later years she broke out of the “typical” mold and became a paralegal.  His father was a car salesman, good natured, fun loving man with a strong work ethic.  “He always took care of his family,” Ron told me during his on-camera interview.

“Being a Mexican family there was always lots of people around and lots of food,” he reminisced.  There was also a spiritual influence; like many Mexican families, the Varelas were Catholic.  It wasn’t something Ron or his brothers willingly embraced.  “We were born and raised Catholic,” Ron explained.  “We’d go to church, but we were expected to go.”

What Ron did enjoy was working at the bakery his aunt owned in Tucson.  He enthusiastically worked there whenever he could, beginning when he was about ten-years-old.  “I always enjoyed making some money,” Ron explained.  “My aunt gave us that opportunity and all the donuts we could eat.  She taught us a lot of work ethics.”

Ron was fourteen when his father accepted a position as an auto salesman at a Southern California dealership.  The Varelas packed up and made the 480 mile move to the Golden State.  At least, most of the family moved.  One of Ron’s brothers had just graduated from high school; his other brother was still attending college.  They remained in Arizona.

“I was a desert boy so I wasn’t quite ready for it,” Ron explained.  “And you don’t want to leave your friends.”  Still, the prospect of living in California excited Ron, and he had no idea at the time how the move would radically change his life.

The Varela family settled in Anaheim, California, an up-and-coming city in Orange County.  The completion of the Interstate 5 freeway in 1954 began a wave of commercial and residential development in Orange County, but in the mid-1960s the area still consisted largely of citrus fields.  Avocado and strawberry farms were everywhere and Buena Park native Walter Knott was doing well with his boysenberry crops.  Disneyland was still bordered on two sides by orange groves.

Ron began attending Ball Junior High School, entering the ninth grade.  Although he was fresh from the desert and not exactly a natural fit in the Orange County sun and surf environment, his positive attitude and sense of humor enabled him to make quite a few new friends.  One of those new friends was a girl named Cristy McKenzie.

Cristy McKenzie was born in Long Beach, California, and had grown up in Orange County.  Her parents divorced when she was two and Cristy only saw her father twice annually.   Cristy’s mother eventually remarried and had children with her second husband, supplying Cristy with three new brothers and a sister.

For Cristy, Ron was hard to miss.  “We were raised in a beach area and beach atmosphere, and he just dressed differently.  He talked differently,” she told me.  “He was funny.  That’s what made him interesting; he had a good sense of humor.”

“She was like a surfer girl,” Ron recollected.  “Long, blonde hair.”

Ron and Cristy became close friends, increasingly including each other in school and social activities.  Eventually, the friendship flourished into romance and the couple began dating.

Cristy explained, “The social activities at school back in the ninth grade were mainly dances and football games, and that’s what we did.  We’d mostly hang around with groups of kids and eventually he invited me to his home to meet his family.”

Continuing into high school, Ron and Cristy’s relationship grew stronger than ever.  They were happy together and they were in love.  They were also human, and teenagers being teenagers with romance in their hearts and raging hormones, a new aspect to their relationship developed.  In the eleventh grade Cristy found herself pregnant.

© 2011 Philip Kassel

Roads To Success 3

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The Series

Personnel key to the series were scattered across the country; the gentleman who originated the China television idea (he became the executive producer for the project) was located in Iowa, people in charge of placing the series in broadcast systems across China were in Florida, the team responsible for dubbing the shows into Chinese and a handful or other individuals were in locations I can no longer remember.  Scott Hannah and I were located in California.  So, production meetings via telephone conference calls began taking place weekly, every Monday morning.

For the most part everyone on the team was in agreement with what needed to be done, and how it should be done.  The sole disagreement concerned what the focus of each episode should be.  At the time, my way of explaining it was that the executive producer wanted each episode to be an educational video describing how to make widgets.  If the featured entrepreneur owned a window manufacturing company, then my instructions were to write and direct a show that showed the viewer, step-by-step, how to mass-produce windows.

I felt strongly and argued that the step-by-step, how-to concept was going to make for boring television.  My choice was to make each show about the entrepreneurs, the people and their lives.  The businesses, the companies and the success that came with them would serve as backdrops for the story telling.  Scott saw my point and agreed, but we didn’t get our way; at least, not for the first nine or ten shows.

Eventually, the executive producer resigned; I don’t recall ever hearing a specific reason as to why.  The power base shifted with his departure, Scott and I were able to assume more control, and I was able to write and direct the balance of the shows telling the personal stories of the business leaders we featured.  For the record, those first nine or ten shows move remarkably slow; it’s very difficult for me to watch them today.  But slow or not, they did not stop Secrets Of Success from catching on.

As it turned out, the distribution team faced unexpected and difficult challenges in getting the series broadcast on Chinese television.  It did air in China during the first one or two years of production, but only sporadically and never reaching the size of audience that was hoped for.  However, other countries began to discover the series and ask for it on their airways.  Secrets Of Success gradually spread around the world, airing weekly in a growing number of countries.

The program aired only briefly in the United States, broadcast on some obscure cable television station for a single season if I recall correctly.  It was produced for a secular audience; it rarely contained Christian “buzz words” or phrases and it never preached.  But the show still dealt openly with issues of Christian faith, and that certainly made it unpalatable for most American secular television, even cable.  The U.S. may have been uninterested in Secrets Of Success, but requests for the series in other parts of the world continued to increase.  Russia, Romania, South Africa, Latin America and many of the countries of central Europe broadcast the show weekly.  Before production ended on the series Secrets of Success would amass a worldwide audience of over 2 billion.  The weekly audience in India alone varied between 80 and 125 million.

Secrets Of Success featured over thirty-five business leaders in the series.  Among them were Mike and Brian McCoy (co-owners of McCoy’s Building Supply in Texas), Norm Miller (founder and Chairman of Interstate Batteries), John Beckett (Chairman and CEO of R.W. Beckett Corp., manufacturing oil and gas burners for residential and commercial markets), Gene Birdwell (founder and CEO of Birdwell Construction and Remedial Construction Services) and Ed “Skip” Ast (President of Shasta Pools and Spas).

The series profiled successful individuals in the world of sports, as well.  Among them were Penny McCoy, at 16 the youngest person ever named to the U.S. National Ski Team (Penny’s father, Dave McCoy, founded and operated the Mammoth Mountain ski resort), and Catherine “Cat” Reddick, Olympic Gold Medalist in women’s soccer.

These remarkable, successful individuals were all gracious, generous with their time, open and honest in providing the stories of their lives.  As I got to know more and more of them I began to see certain commonalities in the foundation of their lives.  With only one or two exceptions, they had all built their financial success from nothing, or next to nothing.  They all placed a high priority on their families.  They cared sincerely for and valued people, all people.  Finally, they judged their success not on how much they owned or profited, but in how much they were able to give to individuals or charitable organizations in need.  I remember Paul Lindholm, a charming gentleman who owned several banks in Minnesota, beaming proudly as he told me that he had earned $749,000 in personal income the year before but had given away over $800,000.

The people whose stories I am about to relate are my favorites from all the shows we produced.  For whatever reason anecdotes from their lives stood out for me at the time, they stuck with me throughout the years; theirs are the stories I related to friends and family the most often.  I hope you enjoy them.

© 2011 Philip Kassel