GRAND ISLAND -- When Honorio Bravo moved to the United States from Guatemala in 1999, he didn’t have much. Now he owns two Grand Island businesses.
One of his companies is called HR Bravo Construction.
“Mostly we do paint, flooring and trimwork,†Bravo said. You might call it carpentry work, he added.
Bravo works in Grand Island, Lexington and Kearney. No job is too big or too small. He will fix water heaters and plugged sewers.Â
"I can do it, and I have the tools to do it,†he said of his handyman work.
His other company is called Bravo Management LLC. Through that company, he rents out apartments and houses. He’s flipped two or three houses, and owns two, five-plexes and one six-plex.
Bravo, 41, has seven employees, two of whom are nephews.
Leaving Guatemala, he arrived in Los Angeles, where he stayed for a month and a half. In 2000, he moved to Grand Island, initially staying with a brother. Bravo’s first job in Grand Island was at JBS, then known as ConAgra.
He later worked in York, Hastings and Gibbon.
He received some key help on the way to having his own business.
When he worked for McCain Foods, a supervisor named Don Mitchell gave him the opportunity to be an operator. In doing so, he urged Bravo to give a chance to somebody else along the way. McCain Foods paid for Bravo to attend leadership and motivation classes at Central Community College.
Bravo also received a lot of encouragement from Mark Otto and Ben Davis of Grand Island.
During all the years of hard work, Bravo was driven by a desire to own his own house.
“I don’t want to be poor all the time,†he said to himself. “I don’t want to rent all the time. I want to own my own business. I want to own my own house.â€
Bravo speaks fluent English, the result of a lot of hard work.
At his adult learning class, a teacher told him to write everything down “and push yourself every day.†Otherwise, he’d never learn English.
He recorded everything he heard in class on a cassette tape. Then when he got home, instead of taking it easy, he listened to the tape and wrote down “every single word.â€
He and his wife, Sonia, grew up in the same village in Guatemala — La Cuchilla. They were married in Grand Island.
They have five children. Juan, 17, has four sisters, Shaela, 14, Sonia, 11, Marialita, 10, and Lluvia, 8. The two older kids go to Grand Island Central Catholic.
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The household also includes a dog named Johnny Bravo, and a green parrot named Kiwi.
Bravo and Sonia worked for ConAgra at the same time. She worked there for five years, he a little bit less.
“We saved the money. Then we bought our first house,†said Bravo, who knows that every penny counts.
They now live in a nice home on South Logan Street.
Bravo admits that he’s doing well — “more than well,†he said, smiling.
Grand Island, he said, is a good place to start a business.
Sometimes, Bravo donates his time. If a customer doesn’t have the money to pay for a job, he does the work for free.
He said he’s grateful for the knowledge that God has given him. He’s learned how to manage “the money you earn every single day.â€
To help his growth in business, Bravo has read books and watched videos. He’s also learned about adversity.
“If God’s going to close one door, God’s going to open another one — a better one,†he said.
Honorio Bravo (back left) and his wife, Sonia (back right) have five children. Standing in between them are Juan, 17, and Shaela, 14. In the front row (from left) are Lluvia, 8, Sonia, 11, and Marialita, 10. Johnny Bravo is the family dog.