Hi Alberto, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I have lived in San Diego since the summer of 2000, attending San Diego State University. I majored in electrical engineering and graduated in 2006. My first career job was at Qualcomm in 2004 and an intern in their Yield Management Team. During my 16 years of my young career, I have worked for Qualcomm, Machine Vision Products (MVP), Northrop Grumman, Soitec Solar, and Cubic Defense. During my five years at Cubic, I was overworked, and my stress level was more than I can handle at the time and suffered a stroke in December 2017.
During my ten months of therapy, I had a realization that life is too short, and we never know when it’s our last breath on this planet. My stroke’s side effects prevented me from speaking, writing, eating, and all aspects of life. The blood cot in my brain prevented me from speaking and paralyzed my right side of my body. Writing this story is a miracle for me. I was scared that I was not going to be back to “normal” at one point. I returned to Cubic after ten months of therapy and was laid off in February 2020. With the pandemic, it’s tough to find a job, but it has been a blessing in disguise. Blue Bear Entertainment came to light after Frias suffered a stroke in December 2017, forcing him into ten months of physical therapy. He said this experience inspired him to get closer with his kids, and the bounce house business was born. Scripps Ranch Newspaper Article: http://www.scrippsranchnews.com/life/fullstory.php?ID=2266 As Scripps Ranch’s youngest residents grow increasingly restless in their houses during the coronavirus pandemic, local business owner Alberto Frias said he has the perfect medicine: bounce houses. The COVID-19 pandemic hit merely a year after Frias launched his bounce house business, Blue Bear Entertainment. Although the early months of the outbreak were grim – with Frias experiencing a week’s worth of cancellations – he quickly realized his five inflatable bounce houses gave him an easy way to perk up the community during tough times. “Think about it: parents are home with their kids for the last three months. They’re sometimes suffering and sometimes they need a break,” Frias said. “Set up a bounce house for the kids and they’re jumping all day and they go to sleep at 9 p.m.” Once the County started reopening in June, Frias began setting up his bounce houses in local parks – then posting about it on Scripps Ranch Facebook groups for anybody to enjoy. Some days, he would set up an inflatable castle in his front yard so community members could enjoy private sessions. “He set up drinks for us and he sanitized it right before we got there,” said Katie Mandalia, who brought her two young kids over to bounce. “Then afterward, he ran out and had more wipes to show us how clean he was keeping it.” Mandalia had been quarantined in her Scripps Ranch condo for months with her six-year-old son and one-year-old daughter.
Because she has no outdoor space at her home, her family depends on daily walks to get out of the house. After jumping for about an hour, Mandalia’s son said he had the “best day of his life.” “For that hour, the kid gets to be a kid again,” Frias said. Blue Bear Entertainment came to light after Frias suffered a stroke in December 2017, forcing him into ten months of physical therapy. He said this experience inspired him to get closer with his kids, and the bounce house business was born. Even with the financial struggles of operating as a young business during the COVID-19 crisis, Frias has found ways to offer inflatable castle experiences to Scripps Ranch residents. “It’s time to just be a kid again because these days are just totally different,” Frias said. Mandalia said her experience with Frias served as a friendly reminder of the kindness that remains in others, especially during tough times. “It’s nice to know that people are still willing to help people, knowing they don’t get anything back in return,” Mandalia said. To contact Blue Bear Entertainment about bounce house rentals, call (619) 813-3914, email info@bluebearentertainment.com or visit bluebearentertainment.com. I applied for a free app with Qualcomm, but I was not selected:
In December of 2017, I suffered from a stroke that bore an intense amount of stress on my family and me. The stroke deprived me of holding my three-year-old daughter and communicating with my wife that was seven months pregnant. I had to attend speech therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy in order to perform some of the tasks that I was once capable of doing. During my time in therapy, I reflected on how detrimental my stroke could have been to my family if I did not get to the hospital in time. It made me realize that I wanted to maintain my health so that I could spend as much time as possible with my family. I understood that I would eventually have to go back to work as an engineer. Although, when I thought about the stress and the workload that my job bestowed upon me, I came to the realization that I needed another source of income so that I would not have to work full-time as an engineer. My doctors advised me to avoid tasks that caused me stress or trigger another stroke. I wanted to find a way to gain income that would allow me to support my family and spend more time with them. My plan developed from the idea of wanting to bring families together in an enjoyable and indulgent way. I thought that the perfect way was to allow families to rent bounce-houses and games that would brighten their children’s party. Blue Bear Entertainment was an opportunity for me to focus on establishing a business that provided a side-source of revenue that would allow my family and me to live comfortably without having to work as much.
Due to the prevalence of COVID-19, I was beset by many difficulties in trying to grow my company. The state of California restricted people from gathering in large groups, and in-turn, it prevented me from being able to rent my bounce-houses to families that wanted to throw parties for their children. As a family business, my wife and I struggled to manage bookings and found it difficult to operate when a client wanted to rent and check out a bounce-house. It is challenging to constantly check calenders to ensure that a client was not renting a bounce-house that was already taken a certain day. An app would benefit by allowing clients to have access to a calendar that will notify them if a bounce-house rental is already taken and make check-in and check-out easier. I would want my clients to have a quick, accessible way to contact and send payments to me through an app.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
During the pandemic, I had multiple cancellations for bounce house rentals. Now, both parents are home with the kids, and my daughter is in zoom class.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Blue Bear Entertainment has high-quality Jumpers/Bounce House made in the USA. We pressure wash every jumper before rental and spray them down with Clorox. We use high-quality balloons for our balloon decor. We provide a significant gift to all our customers (candle for cake) and have a relationship with each customer. We are a family-owned business. You can see our reviews on Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/blue-bear-entertainment-san-diego?osq=blue+bear+entertainment Google Reviews: https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1SQJL_enUS870US870&hl=en&biw=1920&bih=937&sxsrf=ALeKk021n8rY5976CCsiU-1oWF-WDoCstA%3A1604859595842&ei=yzaoX6viMsP0swXHvp64Aw&q=blue+bear+entertainment+gool%3Dgle+reviews&oq=blue+bear+entertainment+gool%3Dgle+re&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQARgAMgcIIRAKEKABMgcIIRAKEKABMgUIIRCrAjoNCC4QxwEQrwEQJxCTAjoGCAAQCBAeOgQIIxAnOggIIRAWEB0QHlDYnQNY1tYDYKTrA2gAcAB4AIABxQGIAaoPkgEEMS4xM5gBAKABAaoBB2d3cy13aXrAAQE&sclient=psy-ab#lrd=0x80dbf93e12a17edf:0x20fa1d4eb82c23d2,1,
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Yeah, sometimes life throws you a curveball….. wait for it and hit it out of the park, Petco Park. Go, Padres 🙂
Contact Info:
- Email: info@bluebearentertainment.com
- Website: www.bluebearentertainment.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bluebearentertainment/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bluebearentertainment/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlueBearEst2019
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjEizK-m2eojKebZmutf0Jg
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/blue-bear-entertainment-san-diego?osq=blue+bear+entertainment
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