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| Immigrant entrepreneur: | Donizete (Donny) Minchillo Jr. |
| Company: | Pineapple Development | Joy of Cleaning FL |
| Place of birth: | Brazil |
| Employees: | 10 |
| Annual revenue: | $500,000 |
Show notes:
Donny’s journey to entrepreneurship was definitely not a straight path. He initially dabbled with selling random things on eBay and that’s where he got hooked. He had several different businesses along the way, one was a furniture company, another one was something similar to Groupon but in the end he launched Pineapple Development which helps customers with Magento and Shopify platforms.
He didn’t stop there! Shortly after, he acquired another business that was completely unrelated to his past experience and unrelated to software development. Both of his businesses now generate roughly $500k annually!
Donny’s entrepreneurial journey is definitely one of a kind and in this episode he gives some powerful and transformational advice to all immigrants!
Quotes by Donny
After selling a few items online, I was just hooked.
When I put my mind into something, I put everything into it, and I work 20 hours a day, whatever it takes.
Once you put yourself out there and these opportunities, these people will come around and then it’s a matter of you realizing that hey, there’s an opportunity here.
There’s always opportunities around you.
Failures are what makes you who you are today.
A lot of times people just give up too soon, and sometimes they’re so close getting to that next level.
There’s opportunities everywhere and if you don’t pay attention to them, if you don’t seize them, they’ll go away.
Just stick to it, and keep going and you’ll do well.
Being here illegally for many years and just getting through those years, and to keep moving forward no matter what the obstacle was, I’m so glad that I kept going.
I didn’t know if I was going to make it, or go back to Brazil.
In entrepreneurship, there are struggles there.
The American dream is what you make out of it.
I’ve had a lot of struggles, and tough moments in my life, but I think everyone can be happy and have that American dream.
Start today, don’t wait until tomorrow.
A lot of people overthink things.
Taking that step and taking action is what makes things happen.
Where to find Donny
Pineapple Development | Joy of Cleaning FL | LinkedIn
Links mentioned
BNI – Business Network International
[read more] Alina Warrick (0s):
Welcome to the Immigrant Entrepreneurs Podcast, Episode 43.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (6s):
And at the time, I was illegally in the country. So for me finding a full-time job was tough, right? I mean, it’s difficult. And the jobs that are available are not easy jobs, and they pay what they pay. I mean, we all know, right? So at that time, I was like, “You know what, I need to just figure something out for myself and see what I’m going to do moving forward.” And I was always into technology. I was always into computers. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I was going to this community college to learn how to build websites.
Alina Warrick (33s):
My name is Alina Warrick, and today we have Donny Minchillo on the show. Donny came to the United States when he was 16 years old. He started like everyone else taking ESL classes, and learning everything from scratch. His very first job was painting houses at the age of 16. But his entrepreneurial path is started when he started to sell random things on eBay and then he was hooked. He had a different entrepreneurial ventures, like being a partner in a furniture business. And Donny launched another business that was similar to Groupon.
Alina Warrick (1m 17s):
But it didn’t go as expected, so he ended up selling the company. Later, he continued his journey by being a Magento developer. And for those of you guys that don’t know, Magento is very similar to Shopify, so he was helping clients get their websites connected to Magento and Shopify platforms. That experience led him to launch his business Pineapple Development, three years ago. Donny also acquired another business that is completely unrelated to software shortly after launching a Pineapple Development.
Alina Warrick (2m 2s):
Now, both of his businesses combined are bringing in $500,000 in annual revenue. So let’s dive right in and hear all about Donny’s journey. Okay, Donny, thank you so much for joining me on the Immigrant Entrepreneurs Podcast. I truly appreciate your time. And I’m really excited to hear all about your journey because I read a little bit about you coming to America through the book, Immigrant Hustle. So let’s get right to it. And welcome to the show.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (2m 38s):
Thanks so much for having me.
Alina Warrick (2m 39s):
So let’s talk about your immigrant journey. Tell us where you’re from, and when did you come to the United States?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (2m 46s):
Sure. I was born in Brazil, San Paolo, more specifically. And I moved to the US in April 1st, Fool’s Day, 1999.
Alina Warrick (2m 55s):
Awesome, and how old are you?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (2m 56s):
I was 16 years old.
Alina Warrick (2m 58s):
Okay, so tell me did you come with your family? Did you come by yourself?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (3m 3s):
My dad was here for a little over two years. He came first. And then I came alone as well, when I was 16. I lived with him for four or five months. And then my mom, and my brother came later. And then once they were here, we all moved in together.
Alina Warrick (3m 18s):
Okay, got it. So and what was that journey like? Why did your dad decide to move to the United States? And why United States?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (3m 26s):
Well, I think we have the typical immigrant story, right? Just you know, struggling financially in your country, not knowing what the next steps are. And again, like I was pretty young, back then. So I didn’t know what was going on in our household. But now I understand a little bit better. And money was always an issue growing up. So at the time, my parents were fighting quite a bit, and then they decided, you know what, my dad would come to the US. My uncle was here at the time. And he was going to help up my dad, you know, get settled in to find a job. And we had a few people that we knew, including some family members a handful that already lived in the New York area. So it just made sense for my dad to come first, see how everything went, and then the whole family would come after.
Alina Warrick (4m 10s):
Got it. Okay. Okay. So you landed in New York?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (4m 13s):
Yes, yeah.
Alina Warrick (4m 14s):
Oh, wow.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (4m 15s):
In New Rochelle, more specifically, yeah.
Alina Warrick (4m 17s):
Okay, great. So what was the like growing up in Brazil?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (4m 22s):
I was born in San Paolo, which is a huge city, right? I was there until I was eight or nine years old, and then I moved to a farm. So quite a bit of a little different lifestyle. So I enjoyed a lot, living in a farm with animals nature, doing climbing trees, taking oranges from our backyard. And then we moved around quite a bit. We lived in, I want to say maybe four different cities, before we moved to the US. So within three to four years, we moved quite a bit and —
Alina Warrick (4m 52s):
And why is that?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (4m 53s):
Again, now going back to the financial thing, right? The money issue, you always trying to find a better living situation, going from one place to another. Things didn’t work out for my parents. You know, let’s try this other place. And we always knew somebody in that town. So we’d like, “Oh, let’s go there and see if maybe they can help us out.” And we just didn’t seem to work out. When we got there, we would stay for maybe a year or two. And they’re like, “Okay, this is not working out. Let’s go somewhere else.” So eventually, they said, “You know what, maybe Brazil is not the place for us. Let’s try something else.” You know, everybody talks about the US, being the place to be to make some money, and then maybe eventually we’ll move back, right? That’s the story for most people. Let’s go to US make some money, go back to Brazil, and then buy a house, build a house.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (5m 33s):
But as we all know, a lot of people, many of us immigrants, they come and they love it here so much that they end up staying, and becoming citizens, and building a life here. A lot of times marrying an American girl, in my case…
Alina Warrick (5m 46s):
Yeah.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (5m 46s):
Same thing for my brother, and we just decided to stay. So, yeah.
Alina Warrick (5m 50s):
Awesome. So did you know any English when you came at 16 years old?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (5m 55s):
I like to say when a lot of people ask me that question. It’s like, obviously most people asking they’re all Americans. I always say like, “How much do you know Spanish?” You know, like, because we do English classes, you know, in middle school or high school, but you don’t really know much. We know only a few words here and there. And that was my knowledge of English. I knew a few words here and there, but I didn’t speak any English.
Alina Warrick (6m 14s):
Got it? Got it. Okay, so tell me a little bit about the struggles that you had to go through when you first immigrated? So, I’m hearing. You didn’t know much English.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (6m 22s):
Mm-hmm.
Alina Warrick (6m 22s):
You are in New York.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (6m 24s):
Mm-hmm.
Alina Warrick (6m 24s):
How do you handle the public transportation, the metros, and oh, my goodness. So tell them a little bit about that.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (6m 31s):
So we didn’t live in New York City, it was a New Rochelle, which is about 45 to 50 minutes of a train ride. But yeah, I mean, being a 16 years old, right? Imagine a boy 16 years old, going through that period, and not speaking English, and going to a place that you don’t speak English, you’re forced to go to high school. Oh, before high school, I ended up working with my dad for quite some time painting houses. And I worked with him by installing windows and doors. So that was new to me, because I had never had a job in Brazil, prior to 16. I helped my dad with his own little business here and there, but I never had like a job that I worked for someone else. Now, when I look back, it was a huge lesson for me.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (7m 12s):
It just taught me so much. And I’m so glad that my boss at the time didn’t put me to work with my dad, he put me to work with someone else. So he was now looking back. That guy was a mentor to me. So work was tough. I did not like it. I did not like painting houses. And I moved here, it was April. In my mind it was extremely cold, even though it wasn’t as cold as you would think. So I did not like that. I couldn’t wait to get into high school. So in December, eight months later, I finally got into high school. And it was tough just being an ESL class and not knowing what to do. And there weren’t too many Brazilians in that high school, and I had to take math classes.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (7m 55s):
And I believe there was one other class, I don’t know if it was science, I had to take it with Americans. So you can imagine in you’re not speaking much English and I’m trying to figure it out and trying to make it work. So it was a great experience now, that I look back, but I it was tough. It was not an easy transition at that age.
Alina Warrick (8m 11s):
Yeah, yeah. And so what about your parents? What kind of jobs do they pick up?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (8m 16s):
My dad was a windows installer, and my mom just cleaned houses. So I helped them here and there whenever they needed, whenever my dad needed extra help, I would go and help after I graduated high school. And then my mom, if she needed some help, we used to drive my mom to different houses for her to clean. And then we would go pick her up after she was done. But yeah, house cleaner and windows installer.
Alina Warrick (8m 37s):
Got it, got it. Okay. And so before you tell our listeners about your company, tell me about a path you took. And I really want to hear about your soccer journey. And how entrepreneurship was Plan B? So let’s hear about that.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (8m 54s):
Well, being from Brazil, you’re born with the soccer ball next to you, you know.
Alina Warrick (8m 60s):
Yeah.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (9m 0s):
So soccer was always a huge part of my life. I had fun. I, all the problems all distressed. I mean, it was all gone when I was playing soccer. And for sure, I thought it was gonna be a professional soccer player. Until I did go, I had an opportunity to play soccer in college here, not here in Florida, but in New York, I had a scholarship. I had a great time. And once I got to that level, I realized, “Oh, maybe I’m pretty good, but I’m not that good.” So I don’t know if I will have a career in soccer here. And at that age —
Alina Warrick (9m 29s):
Was you’re dream shattered?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (9m 30s):
Oh, for sure. I mean, as a kid, you see your idols going to the World Cup or playing for this team or that team. You’re like, “Oh, maybe one day I’ll be there
Alina Warrick (9m 40s):
Yeah.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (9m 41s):
So, it’s tough to realize, but then it’s liberating because you’re like, “You know what, let’s focus on something else. This will always be part of my life, but let me put my energy in something else.” So the entrepreneurship part of it was, it was pretty early on when, I was still in community college actually. I was playing soccer at that time. And at the time, I was illegally in the country. So for me finding a full-time job was tough, right? I mean, it’s difficult. And the jobs that are available are not easy jobs, and they pay what they pay. I mean, we all know, right? So at that time, I was like, “You know what, I need to just figure something out for myself and see what I’m gonna do moving forward.” And I was always into technology, I was always into computers, I didn’t know what I wanted to do.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (10m 22s):
I was going to this community college to learn how to build websites. And I remember I had this coat, I don’t remember if I had a job at that time, I was working as a bartender, but I knew I wanted to do something with computers. So I had this coat that I had bought, and I never wear it. I don’t, you know, when you go with your friends to a store, and you’re like, “Oh, I really liked this coat.” Even though you kind of know, he would never wear it, but you bought it. So I ended up buying it. And I’m never wear it. So sitting in my closet for months, and I had heard of this eBay thing at the time, this is in 2000-2001, maybe. And I was like, “Maybe I can just put it on eBay and see how it goes. Maybe I can make 100 bucks or $200. And we’ll see how it goes.” So I listed it and he sold. And again, when you sell something online, if you have in or for the people that have sold something online for the first time, it is the greatest feeling in the world, especially back then 20 years ago.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (11m 10s):
So as soon as I sold it, I was like, “Oh, maybe I can sell something else.” And then I think I listed a note pair of shoes, or some other t-shirts that I had. And then I said, “Wow, I think there’s something here.” And then from there, I just decided, “You know what, this is what I want to do. I enjoy it. I like the research. I like the work. I like the thrill of listing something and putting — like your heart and soul into describing this product, creating this listing, and then somebody paying money, giving me money for that. And not having to do that in person.” So after I sold a few items, I was just hooked. So then I started just looking overseas, how I can find more products to sell. And then here we are today I manage, and build, and maintain eCommerce websites.
Alina Warrick (11m 51s):
Okay, okay, got it. So a couple of questions for you. So, you realize that because you’re illegal in the country, there’s no other choice but to do something on your own and therefore, become an entrepreneur, is that what I’m hearing?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (12m 6s):
Exactly, yes.
Alina Warrick (12m 7s):
Okay, and so what limitations did you have when you said that you were illegal in the country? What is it? Because when you first came in, you guys didn’t do the paperwork or what?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (12m 18s):
Mm-hmm.
Alina Warrick (12m 18s):
Yeah, so what limitations did you have when you are illegal? You couldn’t work, right?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (12m 22s):
Correct. Yeah, I mean, on top of me being 16, right? So my parents brought us here, went to high school, and in college. And I remember, so in college, once I moved from the community college to a four year college, I really enjoyed the 3D animation, and game design, so I ended up taking those classes. So me and one other guy in class, we were kind of like top of the class. So our professor asked us if we wanted to do this internship in a city, in New York City, there was to work on an Xbox game. And I was like, “Yeah, oh, absolutely. This is gonna be amazing. This is like a dream come true.” So after doing the internship, it was hard to realize that I could not get that job because I didn’t have the paperwork. So after that huge realization, that’s when I said, “You know what, if I cannot find a job…”
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (13m 6s):
And I tried many other places, and they said, “You know, if you don’t have a social security, you can just work.” So that’s when the whole thing, I was like, “Okay, I need to figure it out on my own. And then I’ll just see how it goes.” And it kind of worked out.
Alina Warrick (13m 18s):
Thank you so much for sharing that. So, I’m looking through your profile on LinkedIn. And I’m seeing that you had another company, Joy of Cleaning.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (13m 26s):
Mm-hmm.
Alina Warrick (13m 26s):
And then you had the Pineapple Development, is that correct?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (13m 29s):
It’s the opposite. So first…
Alina Warrick (13m 31s):
Oh, it’s the opposite, okay.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (13m 32s):
Yeah, Pineapple Development. So I had been freelancing for quite some time, just finding jobs on Upwork, back then it was called Freelancer. And it was all related to eCommerce. Building eCommerce sites, Magento or Shopify. So over time, the number of clients that I had, it just kept increasing. And that would bug my wife and say, “Hey, can you help me? I really need to do like, pay these guys, or I need to do something else. And I can’t do everything myself.” So over time, I convinced my wife to help me with this. And then one day, she’s like, “You know what, I’m gonna go and help you.” So that’s when we officially started Pineapple Development, even though I already some freelance clients, we made an existing business into an official business Pineapple.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (14m 12s):
But that was a little over three years ago. And then Joy of Cleaning came about a year and a half ago, once we were here in St. Pete, the cleaners that cleaned our house said that, they’re going to move to Seattle. So I just started talking to them, and they were also Brazilian. So I started talking to them and just asking questions, it is the entrepreneur mindset, right?
Alina Warrick (14m 31s):
Yeah.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (14m 31s):
If there’s maybe there’s an opportunity on everything. So, as they started telling me the story, I was like, “Oh, maybe I can keep that going. Maybe we can talk a little bit more. And I can learn more about your numbers. How many clients you have? How much money you making? And long story short, they shared everything, they’re super honest, and open with everything. And then I saw the opportunity and I said, “You know what, I’ll buy this company from you.” And then we worked out a deal. And then here we are today. We have been able to more than triple our revenue since August, a year and a half ago.
Alina Warrick (14m 59s):
Wow. And this is for the Joy of Cleaning Company?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (15m 2s):
Joy of Cleaning, yes.
Alina Warrick (15m 4s):
Oh my goodness. Okay, so you’re running two businesses?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (15m 6s):
Correct. Yes.
Alina Warrick (15m 8s):
Got it. Got it. Okay, well, good job, Donny. Good job. Okay, so, tell me more about Pineapple Development? Who are your clients? So who do you guys serve?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (15m 19s):
Sure, yeah. We focus on eCommerce. So whether it is a Magento website or Shopify. We have built sites like one of the biggest ones that everybody knows is Thermos. If you go to thermos.com, you know, the coffee mug company?
Alina Warrick (15m 31s):
Yes.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (15m 32s):
There was an agency from Atlanta, they hired us, because they didn’t have enough Magento developers. So, that was one of our clients. So we’ve completely built that website from scratch, thermos.com. Diamondback is also a pretty well known brand for all the mountain bikers out there. And then there are some local companies here such as Pinch A Penny. Pinch A Penny, is a pool supply company. They have a little over 250 locations in the Southern Area of the US, not just here in Florida. Trulieve is a cannabis company that’s been growing super fast. We’ve built their website as well, and they have a little over 50 locations. So we focus again, Magento, Shopify, pretty all the eCommerce. And we focus on development only. We don’t do this strategy, or content, or design.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (16m 13s):
We focus on development.
Alina Warrick (16m 15s):
Okay, okay, got it. So anyone with the Shopify store, they can come to you and get that hooked up on their website?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (16m 22s):
Correct, yeah. If you’re thinking of using Shopify or Magento, Magento is another, is an open source platform. Very similar to Shopify. So either platforms if they are on them right now, or if they are thinking of switching from, let’s say, WordPress. WooCommerce, they want to switch to Shopify or Magento, we can help them.
Alina Warrick (16m 39s):
So I also find in the book that you had a furniture business?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (16m 44s):
Yes, kind of.
Alina Warrick (16m 45s):
Okay.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (16m 46s):
I was the eCommerce. I was the tech guy at that time. And a close friend of mine that I also played soccer with, that’s how we actually became friends. Again, soccer was so big in my life that I moved around quite a bit from New York, I went to California; and California went to Detroit; Detroit, Chicago; Chicago, Costa Rica. And most of my friends to this day, they all came from playing soccer. So at that time, this guy that I was playing soccer with, he had a furniture business, a wholesale furniture business, that he imported furniture from overseas, and then he wholesale to local retailers. So as we became more friends, I said, “Hey, I build websites. I know how to sell your stuff online.” And he didn’t do any of that.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (17m 26s):
So I said, “Maybe there’s something here. Let’s make some money together, and let’s have some fun.” So I partnered with him, and I took care of all the online stuff. And then we had a great time doing it. And then it just got to a point where I moved to Detroit, and he just made things too difficult for us to continue. And then we decided, let’s just part ways. And let’s just see, I’ll take a break here. And then that business kind of like this went away. And then that’s where I started focusing more on taking on clients again, and focusing on the Magento part of things, and me being a Magento developer.
Alina Warrick (17m 56s):
Okay, okay, so you dabbled in eBay, furniture business. You are kind of all over the place.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (18m 3s):
Oh, yeah.
Alina Warrick (18m 3s):
And then you developed Pineapple Development. Is that what I’m hearing?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (18m 7s):
Yes. And another very close friend of mine from Detroit also came from playing soccer together. We also started a different company that didn’t go so well. We all have failures in this entrepreneur life that we have. We built a website or a company, similar to Groupon, but focus more on restaurants in Detroit. We tried, tried, tried for maybe a year, year and a half. And you got to a point where, “You know what, this is not working out.” There was another company kind of like a competitor. And we decided to sell it. So we just, it was kind of cool, because being pretty young at the time, and I think so at least, and then being able to build something and sell it. Even though it wasn’t for much, you know, it was just a few thousand dollars. It was cool to build something and be able to sell it that someone else was interested in buy. So I also did that for a little bit.
Alina Warrick (18m 51s):
Wow, amazing. It’s nice to hear the path that people were on until they got to their entrepreneurship, like passion and develop that niche that they really wanted to focus on. Because obviously, the successes that we hear, they seem overnight, right? Like, “Oh, my goodness, how is it that, you know, Bill Gates develop this?” Well, let’s look at the trajectory that or let’s look at the path that he took? Or let’s look at the backstory of how people really got there. And sometimes it’s all over the place.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (19m 25s):
Oh, 100%. And I didn’t even met —
Alina Warrick (19m 27s):
Yeah.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (19m 27s):
Yeah, and I mean, it’s never overnight, right? I mean, if there is an overnight success, I mean, if you look into any more detail, it’s not really overnight. You know, there’s a lot of, there’s a bad story, there’s a lot of struggles. And I haven’t even mentioned while I was doing that furniture thing, or I was doing the eBay thing, I always worked in restaurants. I worked in restaurants for almost 10 years. I was a busboy, in the beginning. I became a waiter, I was a bartender, then I became a bar manager, then I was a restaurant manager. So while I was trying this whole entrepreneur thing trying to build businesses, I was always working restaurants.
Alina Warrick (19m 58s):
Yeah, that’s good to know. So don’t quit your day job until you figured it out, right?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (20m 3s):
I mean, you can always take a risk, right? But you know, I had to. You know, I had to pay my bills. And even though these ideas that I had, and I tried to make it work back then, I needed something to pay the bills. Especially as I was moving around, and I didn’t have anyone. In LA, for example, when I moved there, so there was no, I didn’t have parents to rely on. I didn’t have friends that I could borrow money, or I could sleep on their couch. I had a rent to pay, and I had bills to pay. So I had to bartend at night and try this furniture thing during the day. And then at night, I would go bartend at different events. Once you realize, you do what you got to do, and then if you keep going and you don’t stop, you will get to your destination.
Alina Warrick (20m 41s):
Yes, yes. Thank you. Woo, that was powerful.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (20m 46s):
Yeah.
Alina Warrick (20m 46s):
Okay, so Donny, how old were you when you started Pineapple Development?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (20m 51s):
I’m 38, now. So officially, I was 35 when we made the freelance thing into a real business. So a little over three years ago, so 35.
Alina Warrick (21m 1s):
Okay, got it. And how long did it take your business to start seeing some real traction in the beginning stages?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (21m 8s):
It’s funny, because this has happened to me in the past, where when I put my mind into something like I put everything in. And I work 20 hours a day, you know, whatever it takes, I’m the kind of person. So we had pretty good success very quickly, which sometimes I think it was good, but bad at the same time, because we did go through a couple of struggles afterwards. For example, the contract that we had to build thermos.com, I believe, was not even a year into making Pineapple, the real business, and we signed that contract. And the contract was huge for us, right? Hundreds of hours per month that we had with this company, this agency in Atlanta. So we had a pretty big success within the first year. And then we had struggles again, and then we sign another big contract, we struggled again, then we sign another big contract.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (21m 51s):
So it’s the ups and downs, right? It’s just the entrepreneur lifestyle. You have really high highs and really low lows. And you got to know that there’s a process to it, there’s a journey to it, and you got to enjoy the process.
Alina Warrick (22m 4s):
So I read in the book that you didn’t pay yourself a salary for about six months.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (22m 9s):
Mm-hmm.
Alina Warrick (22m 9s):
So how did you survive? Were you just able to cover your expenses to run your household?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (22m 15s):
Yeah, Jackie. Well, my wife did have a job. In the very beginning, when we moved to Costa Rica, she was still working. I guess freelance, you can call it for the agency that she worked full-time in Chicago. She tried to quit. And then her boss said, “Oh, can you just stay with us? Even though I know you’re gonna live in Costa Rica.” So she was working full-time. And I think by the time we started Pineapple, if she wasn’t working for that agency, she was covering Costa Rica for a magazine called International Living. So we did have some income there. So yeah, that’s how we paid. And we had a little bit of money saved to pay our bills. And Costa Rica. It’s not the cheapest country to live in, but it’s definitely way cheaper than Costa Rica. So you can live on $2500, $3,000 a month, including everything.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (22m 59s):
So that’s how we made it happen.
Alina Warrick (23m 1s):
Got it. So you were in Costa Rica, when you started Pineapple Development?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (23m 4s):
Yeah. We flew back to the US in Florida to open the bank account, and then get the whole thing set up. And that’s exactly when we were stopped by immigration. So as we start Pineapple, we have this whole thing happening.
Alina Warrick (23m 18s):
Uh-oh, let’s hear about that.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (23m 21s):
Yeah, so we come to the US thinking we’re gonna just gonna open the bank account. And that’s when immigration pulled us aside and said, “No, you cannot do this.” So when we came back to Costa Rica, we contacted different lawyers. And that’s when we decided, “You know what, let’s move back to the US get the citizenship, and then decide what we want to do.” But it was very early on. It wasn’t the first year that we had Pineapple. And then I believe it was the first or second year, and then we moved to the US.
Alina Warrick (23m 47s):
And immigration stopped you because your green card was expired?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (23m 50s):
No, no, it was not expired. I had been outside of the US for almost an entire year. And because I’m a green card holder, I’m never supposed to do that. It’s not against the law, or I’m not wasn’t doing anything wrong, He’s just be raises flags to immigration because if you’re a green card holder, they think that you’re living here and you’re paying taxes here, and you doing things here in US. And when the government sees that you’re not doing these things in the US, they like, “Oh, why do you need a green card? If you want a green card, you’ve got to stay here.
Alina Warrick (24m 19s):
Yeah.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (24m 19s):
So that made us rethink certain things. And then we didn’t want to take the risk of me losing green card because we definitely have a lot of ties here. Have a lot of family here. Our businesses here, right. We register here. We were paying taxes here. We still had an address here in the US. So we knew the US is a huge part of our life, and we wanted to come back here. So we decided let’s move back, get the citizenship and then we can decide. Maybe we’ll live six months in Costa Rica, and maybe we’ll live six months in the US, and then we’ll see how it goes.
Alina Warrick (24m 45s):
Well, on top of all of that immigration just stopped you.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (24m 49s):
Yes.
Alina Warrick (24m 49s):
That is totally stressful.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (24m 51s):
A little bit. A little bit.
Alina Warrick (24m 53s):
Yeah. So Donny, did you have to raise any capital to start Pineapple Development?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (24m 59s):
Nope. All on my own.
Alina Warrick (25m 1s):
Wow. Amazing. So save, save, save to start a new business, right?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (25m 7s):
Yes, yes.
Alina Warrick (25m 8s):
What about mentors? Did you have any mentors that helped you out in any stages of your business?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (25m 14s):
For Pineapple specifically?
Alina Warrick (25m 16s):
Yeah, Pineapple or the cleaning business, any ventures?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (25m 21s):
I have mentors that I discovered that these people were mentors in my life much later in life, because these mentors were the guy that I worked with while I was working painting houses. There was another guy that I worked at this restaurant back in New York. And these guys were very tough on me, when I was managing this restaurant, when I was bartending, I didn’t like them. But later on in life, as I was running Pineapple Development, I realize how big of an impact they had on the way I do things today, it was because they were tough on me. And it made me a much stronger person being able to go through difficult times, right, have difficult conversations. I was forced to do things at a early age that I didn’t know I could, and I did it.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (26m 3s):
And then now we helped me quite a bit. Right now, I mean, mentors, I mean, we have amazing partners. And we can touch on a little bit later. But they did acquire part of the company Pineapple Development, and they have been huge, a huge help for us. And I have been learning a lot from them. And maybe one day they will become mentors. I mean, they are kind of a mentor right now, because whenever I have questions, right, I go to them, they have a bigger agency, they’ve been in this business much longer. So yes, I consider them mentors as well.
Alina Warrick (26m 31s):
And where did you find these partners?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (26m 33s):
We found them here in St. Pete. I was part of, not myself, but one of my employees as part of BNI. I’m not sure if you know what that is. It’s just a networking group that I went every week. And one of the members there introduced me to Andi. Andi is the owner of the Big Sea, the agency that acquired part of Pineapple Development. And that’s how we met. We just had a few conversations we met. I was trying to get them to hire us to do some development work. It didn’t work out at the time, I met her partners Dzuy. And again, amazing guy had a really great conversations. And then later on a few months later, we didn’t really do any work for them. We liked them so much that later on, when we were going through some tough times with Pineapple, we decided, “You know what, maybe we can just talk to them and see what they think about what’s going on.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (27m 17s):
And if there’s anything that they can help.” So long story short, many, many conversations many back and forth, they decided, “You know what, I think is a great business.” They don’t do eCommerce. They never did. They don’t focus too much on development. And they decide, “You know what, I like Donny. I like Jackie. Let’s partner. Let’s make this happen.”
Alina Warrick (27m 36s):
Okay, okay. So is mentorship important in entrepreneurial journey?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (27m 45s):
100%. 100%.
Alina Warrick (27m 46s):
Awesome. And if someone does not know where to get these partners or mentors, where do you think they can get plugged into?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (27m 53s):
From my experience it wasn’t a specific place. I think once you’ve put yourself out there, I mean, these opportunities, these people will come around, and then it’s a matter of you realizing, “Hey, maybe there’s an opportunity here, or maybe I can just strike a conversation, and then something will come out of it.” And then in this case, this conversation that we had turned out to be a partnership with another company. So I don’t have a specific place that somebody can go to, but there’s always opportunities around you. And you just, you know, realizing, “Oh, this can be really good for me. This can be really good for me or the company.” Right? So keeping your eyes open. There is opportunities everywhere.
Alina Warrick (28m 28s):
Thank you so much for sharing that. So what about marketing? Are you guys doing any Facebook ads, Google ads, anything?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (28m 36s):
We just started now that Big Sea, we partner with them, I never did any of that. Most of our clientele still came from Upwork. And if people don’t know, well, Upwork is, I highly recommend just checking it out. If you’re a freelancer, or if you’re looking for some part-time work, you can just go in there and bid on jobs. So most of our clients, including the agency from Atlanta, including Diamondback, Thermos, all of these other companies, they all came from Upwork. And now since we partnered with Big Sea, now we’re really putting this marketing effort in place because I never had that background. I didn’t know how to do that. I’m a person that I can talk, I can sell, especially stuff that I know about. So I can sell eCommerce. So yeah, now we’re focusing on this. And it’s been, it’s pretty new.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (29m 17s):
We started maybe four… six months ago.
Alina Warrick (29m 20s):
And is it Facebook ads? Google ads? What are you guys gonna do?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (29m 23s):
Both. We’re doing both.
Alina Warrick (29m 24s):
Oh, okay. Got it, got it. Wow. And you’re the very first person on this show that says, check out Upwork, and get clients. You know, that’s amazing. I never even thought of that. But it’s a really good idea.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (29m 36s):
Yeah, clients and employees, right? I mean, there’s a lot of freelancers out there that are great. I mean, they’re great people, great workers. And sometimes I look for people there. I look for developers on Upwork. Sometimes people just think, “Oh, I cannot find good help there. I cannot find real clients there.” I mean, I’m proof that that’s not accurate. You can find huge companies, huge clients on Upwork.
Alina Warrick (29m 56s):
Yeah, yeah. That’s awesome. Thank you, thank you for that.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (29m 60s):
Yeah.
Alina Warrick (29m 60s):
So, Donny, I’m really interested to know, how do you look at failures? And how do you overcome them?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (30m 6s):
Oh, great question. I’m glad you asked. Failures is what make you who you are today. Without those failures, you don’t realize what you’re capable of doing. Sometimes you don’t realize how strong you are, how much you can push. Obviously, it’s not fun when these things happen. But once you have gone through, a few times, you almost like, “You know what, I know it’s happening. It’s not easy, but I know I’m going to get through it.” And you start looking at it as, “How can I learn? What can I learn from this situation that I’m in? And how I’m going to get out of it?” So failures, I think it’s what people say, right? “If you’re going to fail, fail fast. And fail often, right? Because these lessons will stay with you for the rest of your life. And it’ll will just make you stronger, more knowledgeable.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (30m 48s):
You understand risks better. You understand who you should be doing business with, who you should not. So I think you have to go through failures in life. And I think we all do in one way or another.
Alina Warrick (30m 59s):
So just don’t, don’t stay down with the failures, right? Make sure to push on through, and you’ll get to the successes sooner rather than later.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (31m 8s):
I actually
Alina Warrick (31m 25s):
Got it. Got it. Awesome. Thank you so much for saying that. And let’s switch gears and talk a little bit about successes. Are there any successes that you would like to outline from your immigrant entrepreneurial journey?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (31m 36s):
I think me being just here. It’s a huge success, you know.
Alina Warrick (31m 40s):
Yes.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (31m 40s):
You know, being in this country, living life…
Alina Warrick (31m 43s):
Oh, my goodness.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (31m 44s):
Yeah, I think is a huge success. I think many people can relate to my story. You know, been here illegally for many number of years. And just getting through those years and keep moving forward, no matter what the obstacle is, you get to this place where you’re like, “Wow, I mean, I’m so glad that I kept going. And I’m so happy with where I am now.” I don’t know. It’s just very grateful for everything that has happened. And I didn’t know if I was going to make it, or if I was going to go back to Brazil. And here we are.
Alina Warrick (32m 17s):
Yeah, and you know the immigration process in America is so like, troubled in many ways, because I hear people waiting for their citizenship for 10 years. And sometimes…
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (32m 28s):
Right.
Alina Warrick (32m 29s):
They don’t even get it and they have to fly over to Canada and start a brand new life in another country when they’ve tried so many different ways. And people do this illegally. And they can’t get through the immigration process. Like, it’s really sad to hear about all these stories, and hopefully, it’s going to get better, but we’re losing a lot of great talent. We’re losing a lot of great professional people that are coming here, that are extremely talented with amazing ideas, with an amazing energy. And the immigration process is just not helping us in any way. So yeah, that is a great success.
Alina Warrick (33m 9s):
So congratulations of that.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (33m 10s):
Thank you. Thank you.
Alina Warrick (33m 12s):
Okay, so I read something in the book where you mentioned, your team quadrupled, and your monthly revenue increased by 500%. What happened there? And what did you guys do differently? Let’s, talk a little bit about that.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (33m 28s):
So I mean, we started very small with my freelance clients. And it’s partly luck, right? It’s luck, and hard work, and keep pushing, keep trying, not being afraid of talking to someone that big at a big company that somehow said, “Hey, Donny, I want to talk to you. And they are from this huge agency in the planet.” I think luck is definitely part of it. And I feel very lucky and blessed, right, that these things somehow, these things come, right? They just show up in your life. And again, going back I don’t need to be repetitive here but there is opportunities everywhere. And if you don’t pay attention to them, if you don’t see them, they’ll go away. So what happened I think is like there was an opportunity and I kept pushing, and pushing, and pushing to get this client and then he just helped.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (34m 10s):
So part of luck, and once we got signed that client no other things just kind of like came into place. And we didn’t do anything special. I think the mindset was there. We kept pushing, kept trying. Tried many different things. Well, a lot of them didn’t work and they don’t work. Hired many people and they didn’t work. So there’s no… I don’t have like a secret. There is nothing that I can share. I think you just keep going and keep trying.
Alina Warrick (34m 36s):
Yeah, yeah. You’re talking about opportunities and luck. But if we’re not pushing out there, and if we’re not going out, is seeking work and seeking high ends and these opportunities and luck, doesn’t really just fall from the sky, right? I mean, you have to continue. Like you were working all these jobs, all these food and beverage and restaurant jobs, and still hustling. It was coming of luck was not landed from the sky because you were sitting on the couch.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (35m 7s):
Right, exactly.
Alina Warrick (35m 8s):
Right, yeah. So you were still hustling. You were still doing all that hard work. So and that’s when these lucky opportunities come to our door.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (35m 18s):
Yes, I agree.
Alina Warrick (35m 19s):
Okay, awesome. Awesome. So Donny, what does the American Dream mean to you?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (35m 25s):
I think for me and Jackie, time freedom, right? I think the entrepreneurship, there’s a lot of struggles there. But I think being able to choose what you want to do with your time, whether it be hustling in growing your company, or taking a walk in the middle of the day, or walking your dog, or whatever it may be, right? I think having that time freedom is huge. Obviously, being here in this country, being here legally, being married to an American woman, having my own company, owning my own house, I think this is the American dream. And I’m very grateful and very happy with where we are, with all the struggles that we had. The American dream is what you make out of it.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (36m 6s):
I mean, what do you want it the American dream to be? And then you just go out and make it happen.
Alina Warrick (36m 11s):
Yeah, yeah. So can anyone reach their American dream?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (36m 14s):
Every single person can.
Alina Warrick (36m 15s):
Awesome.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (36m 16s):
Every single person. I mean, it just from my experience, I’ve had a lot of struggles, a lot of tough moments in my life, and many people go through tough times, tough things, tough experiences, losing loved ones, or losing a job, or not being able to go to school, or but I think everyone can be happy and have that American dream. I think so.
Alina Warrick (36m 36s):
Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So is giving back either a volunteering time or giving back to the community, something that is part of your business values?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (36m 45s):
100%, More so, I think my personal values. Again, going back to Jackie and I, I think because we’ve moved around quite a bit, had the opportunity to live in a different country, met people with similar mindset, other entrepreneurs having our own businesses, right? What we have been doing lately, men and myself, mainly, I think we have tried to share our experiences a lot, because I think a lot of people question themselves, and they’re not confident enough. They just question themselves, thinking that they’re not able to do things. And I think it’s the wrong mindset to have, right? So I put myself out there. And actually, I heard something long time ago, when I didn’t have my businesses, I was trying to figure things out, I think I was still in college.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (37m 25s):
And I heard something that they really make sense to me at the time, which was entrepreneurs, like people that have businesses are successful. They want people to reach out to them. They’re more than willing to help and be that mentor and share their experiences with people that are just starting out. And for me, I’m like, “Why would these busy people, successful people, wouldn’t even listen to me?” And I was so shy that I never did that. And now that I’m kind of like, kind of like on the other side, I don’t want to say that I’m super successful, and I have this huge company, because I don’t think I do, but I have lived and I have done a few things that I’m more than happy when people come to me and ask questions. I want to be able to ask more questions. I want to be able to, like come in to me and say, “Hey, how did you do this?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (38m 6s):
How do you do this? How… why did you do this?” So I think I’d love to be more of a mentor even more to help people and encourage them to take that next step that they’re afraid of taking. So I think talking to people, this is how we give back. Sharing our experiences, telling them our story, and how we got here.
Alina Warrick (38m 27s):
So amazing. No, I totally agree with you. Because when I first launched this podcast, I was like, “Why would all these super busy, successful Immigrant Entrepreneurs carve out an hour of their day to sit and talk to me about their journey. I was totally with you. So I was like, kind of afraid to reach out in the beginning stages. But you’re totally right. Like these people, they’re compassionate, and you’re doing the same thing. And you can share your journey and that truly can inspire so many different immigrants listening. And then it’s so rewarding to see the fruits of your wise advice to everyone listening. So thank you so much. We appreciate it.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (39m 7s):
You’re welcome.
Alina Warrick (39m 8s):
And that leads me to the next question, which is what are some things you would advise the next aspiring immigrant that wants to start their own business listening to you right now?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (39m 20s):
Start today. Don’t wait until tomorrow. I think a lot of people overthink things. And I think taking that one step at a time and taking action is the first thing, right? You can worry about raising money, or doing some… whatever it is that you’re worried about. Just worry about that later. Take that first step. Start that website. Create your logo or whatever it is talk to people. Get out there, join a networking group. I think take that step and taking action is what makes things happen. If you just sit on your couch and wait for opportunities to come, they’re not going to come. Maybe once in a while in the right case, maybe things will come, and knock on the door, but that’s not the majority of the time. Taking action is the number one.
Alina Warrick (40m 4s):
So powerful, awesome. So what’s next for you? What are some business goals for the next couple of years? Are you going to be opening of it any more businesses, Donny?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (40m 14s):
If I say that I did, I think my wife Jackie would be very mad at me, yeah. I can’t say that I haven’t thought about it. I definitely have. And I think eventually, this journey has been a huge learning experience, right? We’re still a small company, you know, officially over a little over three years. Business has been around for 10, 20, 30, 40 years, and we’re so small. And I think, obviously, you know, focusing on these two businesses. But if the opportunity comes, and there is something else out there, and I think it’s good for us, based on where we are right now with our life, what’s going on with our businesses and in our personal life. If it makes sense, maybe we’ll start another business. But yeah, we’ll see.
Alina Warrick (40m 52s):
So I have two ask. I said Pineapple. The word Pineapple, I don’t know, maybe like 10 times in the last 45 minutes of our conversation. I feel like I just want to go out and buy 10 pineapples. What made decide to come up with Pineapple Development?
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (41m 10s):
Yeah, great question. Perhaps to my wife, Jackie. So we knew we wanted to start this company, right? We knew we needed to come up with a name. And we’re vegans. And we’re really big into nature, animals, and veggies, fruits, all that kind of stuff, you know. So we knew we wanted to name the company, either an animal or some sort of fruit. That’s how it all started. So we started looking at different meanings of different things like a bear, or I don’t know a horse, or an apple, or an orange, and then pineapple came up. And then it’s just a fruit that people would give to other people. Right? It’s a symbol of hospitality. So we decided, “You know what, I think this fits with where we are right now. And we’re gonna go for it. Let’s call it Pineapple Development.”
Alina Warrick (41m 51s):
I love it. I’m gonna go out and get some pineapple.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (41m 55s):
Everything we get in the house. We have sheets with pineapple. I have socks with pineapples on them. You gotta leave the brand, you know.
Alina Warrick (42m 8s):
Yeah, you’re gonna have to put a shop on your website so we can get some pineapple gear from you.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (42m 14s):
Yes, yes, it’s in the plan.
Alina Warrick (42m 16s):
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I love it. All right, Donny. Well, this wraps it up. Thank you so much for coming on the Immigrant Entrepreneurs Podcast and sharing your amazing, wonderful journey with everyone listening. I know it’s gonna inspire so many immigrants. And I wish you all the best of successes, and hope to see more, and new upcoming things from you. And thank you so much.
Donizete Minchillo Jr. (42m 38s):
Thank you so much for having me. I hope this inspires many, many people. Thank you.
Alina Warrick (42m 43s):
Alrighty, guys, thank you so much for tuning in. If there are any links that were mentioned in this episode, make sure to check them out on my website under this episode to find all the links conveniently located in the show notes. I just wanted to ask for a quick favor, if you could please leave a review wherever you’re at listening to this podcast. Also, if you’re an Immigrant Entrepreneur and would love to be on my podcast, please email me and we’ll get connected. I’ll see you guys all next time for another exciting and impactful episode. Take care.
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