Articles by Sean Murray

From Lowes to Loans: Meet William Ramos

April 12, 2015

This story appeared in deBanked’s Mar/Apr 2015 magazine issue. To receive copies in print, SUBSCRIBE FREE

Non-bank financing changed William Ramos’ life. Not as a borrower, but as a mover and shaker in the competitive world of financial deal-making. As an ambitious 20-year old, Ramos was working at both Lowes and ShopRite to try and put himself through Staten Island Community College. These were stepping stones, he told himself. He was dedicated to bettering himself, or more aptly to be the best at whatever he did.

Already on a path to success, he found himself growing impatient. The life of two jobs and school was a slow grind. Ramos wanted to do something big. He wasn’t sure what it would be, but he was confident that his attitude combined with his strong work ethic would eventually lead him to great success.

And so one day, he made a promise to himself to go out and find that big thing rather than wait for it to find him. It’s a bit of an American Cliché to say that his lucky break coincided with a sudden bout of adversity, but that’s exactly how it played out. Raised in the tough neighborhood of Brownsville in eastern Brooklyn, he didn’t have the connections to step right into the business world. Instead, Ramos had to start his search on the ground floor with millions of others on Craigslist.

His luck began with an interview for a job in telemarketing, a role that meant being connected to an autodialer nine hours a day as an opener. Undeterred by the challenge, Ramos had a feeling that this is where it would all begin. “I’ll do it,” he said.

There was only one problem, they didn’t want to hire him. The firm, which sold mostly financing products to small business owners, was very selective, even with cold callers. His interviewer at the time, who later became his boss, confirmed to me that he didn’t think Ramos was the right fit after they first met. But Ramos was determined to change his mind.

After calling the firm repeatedly over the next week to convince them that he was up to the task, they finally acquiesced. It didn’t mean he was in. It just meant it was time to put up or shut up. “They gave me a three-day trial period,” Ramos said.

His former boss confirmed this relentless persistence.

39 working hours, 3,000 calls, and 3 days later, Ramos brought in two deals, one for $100,000 and another for $35,000. They both went through.

It was more than good enough to survive the trial and he was offered a job to work full time.

“THEY GAVE ME A THREE DAY TRIAL PERIOD”, RAMOS SAID

With a starting compensation of only $250 a week + commission, he still had a long way to go. “I would be the first one in and last one out,” Ramos shared with me. “I kept my head down and I wouldn’t leave my seat unless I needed to use the bathroom or eat. All I would do is make my calls.”

His former boss explained to me that Ramos had a knack for bringing in the firm’s larger deals even from the very beginning. He was too junior early on to be making a lot of money, but they were very focused on developing his skills. The firm saw his potential and was committed to nurturing him.

Within the first three months he managed to save $700 and he used it to buy a Mercedes-Benz C240 from a co-worker. After a life of taking the bus to work, Ramos had reached his first milestone of success.

While it was obvious that he still harbors pride in that first car, it sadly became all that stood in the way of homelessness. He had sacrificed everything for this job including college. Unfortunately there would be just one more thing to lose.

Adversity struck when a series of unfortunate events suddenly left him without a place to live. Ramos’ car was now both his ride and his home, though with the long hours he was putting in at the office, he might as well of lived at his desk. His boss took a special interest in his life and soon discovered just how much his young protégé was struggling.

“He was literally sleeping in his car,” his former boss told me. “I offered to let him sleep on my couch or at the very least let him stay in the office,” he added. Ramos took him up on the latter and began sleeping at the office. At the same time his commission percentage was bumped up, which sweetened the potential and only encouraged him to keep going.

“HE WAS LITERALLY SLEEPING IN HIS CAR”

Always looking for an edge, he sometimes pretended to be a customer himself. “I would call up lenders as a merchant to hear what pitches their sales teams were using,” he said. “I would then take that pitch, tweak it and make it my own.”

Soon he was regularly closing more than $500,000 a month in deal flow and his financial situation and lifestyle began to improve significantly. A little more than a year later, Ramos had risen up to become a sales manager and was overseeing a team of five members.

Now some people in his shoes might’ve decided not to press their luck. He had taken a major gamble and it had paid off, so why do anything to jeopardize it?

But Ramos didn’t leave everything behind to settle for pretty good and a middle class lifestyle. After two years, he gave his boss and mentor some bad news.

“I’m going off on my own,” he explained. They parted on amicable terms and to this day still do business with each other. Ramos’ last commission check there was for $15,000, an amount he had never imagined back in his Lowes days.

In 2013 he founded Supreme Capital Group, a firm that primarily brokers merchant cash advances but will fund A paper deals on its own. With only two years in business, they are already on pace to generate more than $1.5 million in revenue over the next 12 months. He excitedly recalled a recent deal that generated $66,000 in commission. And that was just one deal!

He attributes part of his success to strong organizational skills. “I don’t think brokers realize how important keeping track of all their data is,” he said. He went on to explain that he can email the list of all his old leads and turn that into six to ten closed deals easily. He doesn’t have to work as much as he used to, but he still does.

With 10 callers working for him now, he’s not content with just being the boss. “I am still currently pounding the phones, doing email marketing, and sending out mailers,” he said. “We use the mailers to follow up with merchants, and we get a great response from it,” he added.

“I AM STILL CURRENTLY POUNDING THE PHONES”

After working incredibly hard for several years, Ramos has at least found the time to play hard too. In the summer of 2014, he had made enough money to buy a white Maserati GranTurismo MC Sport Line, of which he shared several photos with me. He’s since upgraded to a 2013 Ferrari California in a color he described as Pepsi blue. And while that might be the kind of car some people would dream of sleeping in, Ramos has said those days are long over.

He just bought a house in Mesa, Arizona where his fiancée grew up and he plans to relocate his office there. “It’s already in the process of being built,” he said.

Ramos is now just 25 years old. He said he regrets not finishing school and he plans to go back. But he wouldn’t change everything that happened to him. He stressed more than once that asking questions is something he considers to be very important to success, especially in the business he’s in. “For all the newcomers in the industry, my advice would be to work hard and ask a lot of questions,” he said.

He was certain he had found the right opportunity almost from the beginning. “I knew that if I made those commissions the first week that I could make more,” he said.

It wasn’t easy.

William Ramos is the President of Staten Island, New York-based Supreme Capital Group.