The Early Days.
It’s the mid 80’s in Bogota, Colombia. As recollected by those present, my father [Mr. Guzman] was rushing to hospital on a Saturday night [most likely playing sweet American top forty tunes in his car]. Mrs. Guzman was about to deliver a light haired and fair skinned boy, who couldn’t wait to make his entrance to this world in a birthing suite like the rest. Instead, opting to make his entrance at the hospital’s triage office right at the time Mr Guzman went to park his car. The same boy that would later come to raise some eye brows when he was next to Mr. Guzman. The old joke would come out of the bag “What was the hair colour of the post man Mr. Guzman?”
Luckily for dad my hair went on to get darker and darker to the point that the running joke became history.
In the mid 90’s – living in the capital city of Colombia became a rather unpleasant place for middle class families. Much of the crime, violence and corruption had found its way too close to us and it was decided that it was time to move abroad. Where to? Australia it was. Why Australia? Geographically one of the furthest places possible and why not...
School Days.
School was fairly average and uneventful for me – academia was not my forte. I tended to follow my others passions. Rollerblading (on vert ramps and skateparks) and Football (soccer). I always made enough of an effort at school to ensure my marks and reports were palatable to my parents. Like most migrant parents they worked long hours and we didn’t want to burden them. My brother and I helped around the house as much as young teenage boys could with the addition of extended babysitting services when our younger sister was born. We understood our parents had sacrificed a lot to give us a safer and better place to grow up.
Work Life
Reflecting back on my very first paid job, I think I was always destined to work in finance. I worked for a finance company (Motorpass) for a fortnight during my year ten work experience. Luckily for me I was offered extra work there during the summer holidays. The company needed extra hands on deck [Thank you Johnny Howard for the introduction of GST].
Like most young people in the early 2000’s I did multiple other jobs during my tertiary education years. The one that stood out the most was working in a wine shop where customers were always happy, particularly the wine tasting days.
My finance career kicked off again in 2008 when I was offered work at a branch at Bankwest. Jason Robinson my manager at the time took a chance by hiring a young and well-mannered chap that went on to have successful years there and learn about third party distribution. In 2013 I was encouraged by family and friends to take on the “EASY” task of starting my own business (Guzman Finance) in Point Cook. Easy they said, you will love it…
They were right! I would love it. Easy? Not so sure about that one….
Personal Life
Starting a business wasn’t enough on my plate at the time, some months later I met a wonderful woman and decided to pursue a relationship. Luckily for me, this went on to be a successful and rewarding journey (just like the business).
Reflecting back on it -the uncertainty of income and trying to do all the fun things that new couples do whilst maintaining a shoestring budget meant this was a fun yet challenging time. My years of skating certainly payed dividends when I impressed my now wife on one of our early dates at an ice-skating rink.
My other passion- football- provided an outlet to forget everything that went on in the world for at least for 90 minutes each week. This came to an abrupt end in 2016 when one of my battered knees gave way and raptured two ligaments requiring a reconstruction of my ACL.
Luckily for me, my now wife and family were very supportive and had an almost full recovery just in time for our wedding in 2017. In 2018 our son Ruben was born and the journey continues...
