Honest-1's A.J. Velazquez becomes regional developer after Air Force

A.J. Velazquez has been living in and out of South Florida for the last 20 years. He was born and raised in Puerto Rico, and joined the USAF after graduating from high school. He embarked on a journey that would take him around the world multiple times due to his concentration on Latin American Affairs. Velazquez is fluent in three languages including in English, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese and received his graduate and post-graduate education while serving in the Air Force.  Velazquez is considered a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in Latin American political, cultural and security affairs and retired from the Air Force after 23 years of service in 2009. Velazquez continued serving his country in different capacities as a Department of Defense (DoD) civilian, National Defense Contractor and Independent Contractor/Consultant for Latin American Affairs and Business Development. As an entrepreneur and business owner, Velazquez has developed several business models that he later sold.  In his current venture with, Velazquez guides people to achieve their dream of becoming business owners, and then coaches them to maximize their income, lifestyle, wealth, and equity through business coaching.  He is passionate about developing powerful, enduring and value-added relationships with all stakeholders across the corporate and public sectors. Velazquez has more than 18 years of success building and maintaining human enterprise operations and cross-cultural relationships worldwide. As a business development coach, he helps small-to-midsized businesses succeed, while also helping place entrepreneurs with the right business opportunities.  He looks to assist the community with advice, guidance and contacts in small business development, as well as in the areas of Latin America political & cultural relations, security and business analysis and global/cross-cultural engagement. How did you learn about the brand? I learned about the brand through my partner and friend, Gary Cook. I met him at a franchise expo and he became a part of the network of coaches that I am involved in. Gary has owned the north region of Miami/Dade Honest-1 for over a year. After becoming friends, I decided to partner with Gary to become a developer with Honest-1. Why did you choose an opportunity with Honest-1 Auto Care? The friendship that we developed and the uniqueness of the brand made it a perfect fit for us. The key differentiator in our decision was that Honest-1 is had a very eco-friendly and green aspect to them. On the opportunity side, we are seeing a growing trend in Miami with an influx of Latin Americans seeking to invest and diversity in the South Florida area. After being a business coach for over two years and being retired from the Air Force for 23 years, I have a lot of experience in training and development. My background in language and culture awareness for South Florida will help us to position the Honest-1 brand in the best way possible to our potential investors. Why did you choose to sign on as a regional developer? I understand the market and the need to assist franchise owners. We need to educate Latin American investors on what the brand is all about and how great of an opportunity it is to buy and run an Honest-1 franchise. I will use the family aspect of the Latin culture to position the business development, and cater to families at the same time. Are you involved with any charities or do any community outreach with your business? I’m involved with SCORE – we give business advice and consulting to entrepreneurs. I’m also an American Legion Post 357, Deputy representative of the American Legion to the VA in Miami, District Director for District 4 of Florida’s Planned Educator’s Association (they assist families for home schooling) and I do a lot of community service and volunteering for our church- I’m an Elder of  our church in South Florida.