CONTRACTOR SUCCESS STORY II : ESCOBAR CONSTRUCTION
Years later , Ron returned to USC to complete his MBA ; however , work prospects did not look promising , as he graduated just a few months after the 9 / 11 attacks . “ The job market was not good , and I had student debt and had just had my first child .” Through a recruiter friend , he got a job as a bank manager in Century City , California – where his clientele was made up of movie stars , real estate developers and other successful go-getters . After a few years , Ron decided that he wanted to be an entrepreneur , got his real estate license and started his own company as a broker .
Ron Escobar , President & CEO , Escobar Construction
After graduating in 1997 , Ron worked at Pacific Bell , managing union employees . As part of a leadership development program , he rotated through different positions and encountered considerable anti-minority resentment from one particular supervisor , who tried everything possible to sabotage him . “ This was where my Marines training came in – I was not going to give up . I finally had to use the ‘ workaround method ’ and got mentored by someone who was two levels higher than my direct supervisor , which because of my impeccable work ethic , led to my getting promoted ,” explains Ron . In this arena , he honed his interpersonal and influencing skills as a member of a team managing a $ 21 million contract with the County of Los Angeles .
In 2003 , Ron started flipping houses and realized that he had a lot of unlicensed handymen helping him , many of whom were being taken advantage of by other customers , because they did not have their contractor licenses . “ I felt that by getting my contractor ’ s license , I could help these laborers do better work and better themselves as well .” Ron got his General Contractor license in 2006 .
When the housing market crashed in 2008 , Ron was heavily leveraged in properties and lost a lot of money . Seeing many in his community lose their homes during the crisis , he decided to go to law school to see if he could assist others in combatting financial stress and bankruptcy . However , only six classes away from finishing his law degree , he realized that he did not want to become an attorney . “ I ’ d had several law school graduates working for me already , and I did not like being an attorney ,” notes Ron .
By 2011 , he started getting into construction after winning a Freddie Mac contract to repair
WINTER 2021 - SPRING 2022 LA CONTRACTOR CONNECTION - 15