Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon Juarez.
Hi Brandon, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I went to prison with a life sentence at 18 and had never touched a computer. Today I run Juarito Web Studio, a web design and development business based in central St. Joseph, Missouri.
When I was a teenager, I got involved in an altercation with a man who was physically assaulting a woman. I stepped in trying to help her, but I made a terrible decision to take matters into my own hands. The situation got out of control, and a man lost his life. I was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. I don’t run from that. I regret it deeply, and I accept responsibility for the choice I made.
Inside prison, I started rebuilding myself from nothing. I got a job at the Center for Braille and Narration Production (CBNP) in the Nemeth department, where we converted math and technical books into braille. CBNP is not part of the Department of Corrections—it’s run through Rehabilitative Services for the Blind, which is allowed to operate a worksite inside the prison. It’s one of the most trusted and best-paying jobs an inmate can get in Missouri; after a few years, you can earn around $225 a month, which you can’t make anywhere else in the system. We even experimented with using braille characters to form geometric shapes so blind readers could feel triangles and circles under their fingers. That work taught me precision, patience, and what it means to make information accessible to people who depend on it.
I also started looking for ways to make the work both faster and more accurate. I taught myself Visual Basic for Applications in Microsoft Word’s Visual Basic editor and built macros that would scan a document for specific patterns—fractions, exponents, geometric symbols—and automatically wrap them in the markup that Duxbury needed to translate the text cleanly into braille. Once I understood what Duxbury was looking for “under the hood,” I could hit a button and watch most of the formatting happen by itself. In a place where most people are grinding all day, figuring out how to turn an eight-hour job into a one- or two-hour process with code felt like a superpower. When I went in, I knew nothing about computers; over time, they became the tool I used to rebuild my life.
I paroled in October 2021 and came home to St. Joseph in my mid-40s, basically starting over. I enrolled at DeVry University, earned an Undergraduate Certificate in Website Development and a Programming Essentials certificate, and I’ve maintained a 4.0 GPA while working toward my associate’s in IT & Networking and my bachelor’s in Computer Information Systems. In the four years since coming home, I’ve gone from having almost nothing to building a stable life: I’ve bought a house, I drive a car I never could have imagined owning at 18, I share my days with three dogs I love with all my heart, and I’ve started a business that I actually care about waking up for.
After release, I worked as a value-added maintenance mechanic at Triumph Foods until a disputed situation cost me that job. Instead of letting that be another dead end, I took it as a sign that it was time to put my energy into my own skills and build something I could stand on. That’s when I committed to growing Juarito Web Studio.
Today, Juarito Web Studio focuses on practical, results-driven web design and web development for small businesses. I build fast, mobile-friendly websites and help clients with the full setup: domains, site structure, on-page SEO optimization, and ongoing maintenance so their site doesn’t slowly turn into a slow, broken mess. I also provide basic branding and marketing support—logo and visual design, consistent messaging, and guidance on how to present their services online so customers actually understand what they do and feel confident reaching out. I use the same structure and SEO principles on my own business, and they work: Juarito Web Studio has climbed to the top of the local Google map pack and shows up when people in my area search for web designers near them.
My background as both a mechanic and a programmer means I treat every website like a system that has to run clean. I’m developing a standardized web-development and automation framework that keeps code organized, avoids the bloat that makes many sites slow, and bakes technical SEO in from the start so the site can actually be found.
I’m also working on bringing automation and AI into the mix. For businesses with specific recurring problems—like repetitive messages, basic emails, or lead follow-ups—my goal is to design website + AI workflows that take some of that load off their shoulders. I don’t just want to hand someone a nice-looking homepage; I want to help them build an online system that saves time and helps their business run smoother.
My long-term goal is to build a stable, remote-friendly career in tech so I can support myself, spend more time with the dogs I love—Chopper, Chico, and Vida—and eventually create opportunities for other people coming out of prison who need structure and a real shot at something better. I can’t change what I did at 18, but I can control what I build with the years I have left, and Juarito Web Studio is one of the main ways I’m doing that.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. When I paroled in October 2021 after 25½ years, I was basically starting adult life from scratch. I had to figure out housing, steady work, and how to build a future without a safety net, all while proving to myself and everyone around me that I wasn’t going back to the person I was at 18.
On the job side, the biggest challenges haven’t been my record as much as the politics that come with having skills and ambition. In more than one workplace I’ve seen how people can get threatened when they find out you’re good with computers or that you’re in college working on a degree. Instead of being supportive, some coworkers turn into haters and start looking for ways to push you out or keep you in your place. Later, when I was working as a value-added maintenance mechanic at Triumph Foods, a disputed situation cost me that job and wiped out my main source of income overnight. That forced me to lean harder into my web skills and push Juarito Web Studio forward instead of relying on a factory paycheck.
Parole itself has also been a real obstacle, especially when it comes to music. My greatest natural talent is playing guitar—I’ve been playing since I was a kid—and most musicians build their name by playing in bars and venues where alcohol is the main source of income. Under my conditions, I can’t go into those places, which means I can’t play in bands or perform live the usual way. Right now the only way I can really share that side of myself is online through TikTok, Facebook, and similar platforms. It’s a constant reminder that even while I’m doing everything right, there are still doors that stay closed until I’m off paper.
At the same time, I’ve been working to build real stability. Since coming home, I’ve bought a house, kept a roof over my head and my dogs—Chopper, Chico, and Vida—taken care of, maintained a 4.0 GPA at DeVry, and started Juarito Web Studio with no investors or cushion, just faith, family support, and a willingness to grind. Balancing school, bills, home responsibilities, and a growing business has meant long nights and a lot of hard choices, but it’s also why I take this work so seriously. The struggles have forced me to be disciplined, organized, and focused. They’re the reason I approach my business the way I do: with structure, consistency, and a real respect for every opportunity that comes my way.
As you know, we’re big fans of Juarito Web Studio, LLC. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Juarito Web Studio is a small, independent web design and development studio based in St. Joseph, Missouri. I work primarily with local and small service-based businesses—trades, shops, and solo owners who are great at what they do but don’t have the time or desire to wrestle with websites, SEO, and tech.
I specialize in building fast, clean, mobile-friendly websites that are structured correctly under the hood. That starts with the unglamorous pieces most people skip: domain and hosting setup, organizing content, technical on-page SEO, and making sure the site is easy to update and maintain over time. From there I focus on clear, readable design—good typography, logical layouts, and branding that feels like the actual business, not a generic template.
What sets Juarito Web Studio apart is the way I treat every website like a system, not just a design. My background in maintenance and troubleshooting means I care about how things run: organized code, consistent naming, performance in mind from day one, and SEO baked in instead of bolted on at the end. I use the same approach on my own site, and it works—Juarito Web Studio has climbed to the top of the local Google map pack when people search for web designers near me.
I’m also building a standardized web-development and automation framework so projects are consistent, lean, and easier to extend as my clients grow. As part of that, I’m starting to integrate automation and AI into my services—things like simple lead follow-up, handling repetitive contact requests, or custom agents that help solve a specific business problem instead of just handing someone a brochure site.
Brand-wise, I’m most proud that everything I do is grounded in structure, integrity, and long-term results. I want readers to know that Juarito Web Studio isn’t about quick, flashy sites that break in a year. It’s about giving small businesses a solid, technically sound online presence that helps them get found, builds trust with their customers, and can grow alongside their goals.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
The most important lesson I’ve learned is that freedom comes from taking full responsibility and building structure for yourself, not waiting for someone else to save you or “give you a chance.”
When I was 18, I made a decision that took someone’s life and cost me 25½ years in prison. There’s no way to undo that, and there’s no shortcut around it. Owning that fully—without excuses, without blaming anyone else—forced me to understand that every choice I make either builds my future or destroys it. That same lesson shows up in everything I do now: how I work, how I run my business, how I handle setbacks, and even how I use my time day to day.
I’ve learned that discipline and structure are what actually create room for creativity and opportunity. In prison that meant learning braille, teaching myself code, and turning an eight-hour job into a one- or two-hour process by building systems. On the outside it’s meant going to school, keeping a 4.0 GPA, buying a house, starting Juarito Web Studio, and building websites and SEO in a way that’s clean, organized, and built to last. Life is always going to throw problems—family drama, job loss, parole restrictions, haters at work—but if I keep showing up, accept the consequences of my choices, and keep building solid systems instead of chasing shortcuts, I can turn even a bad situation into something I can stand on.
Pricing:
- JWK Lite – 1-Page Business Website — $500 flat One-page landing or portfolio site. Mobile-responsive, contact form, basic SEO setup. Great for creators and startups.
- JWK Core – 5-Page Business Website — $1,000 flat Five-page site (Home, About, Services, Gallery, Contact) with on-page SEO, Google Business Profile linking, GA4 setup, and GBP + GA4 verification handoff.
- JWK Pro – 10-Page Business Website — $2,000 flat Ten-page site with CMS editing, advanced SEO (schema + sitemap), GA4 + Meta Pixel tracking, GBP creation, GA4 install + verification, and Facebook/Instagram ad tracking integration.
- JWK Store – Full E-commerce Setup — $3,500 flat Full e-commerce setup (Shopify / WooCommerce / custom JWK Store), up to 20 products, Stripe or PayPal payments, with Meta Pixel tracking for Facebook/Instagram ads.
- Add-ons & care plans — SEO/content upgrades, extra pages, and maintenance plans quoted per project so small businesses only pay for what they actually need.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://juaritowebstudio.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juaritowebstudio/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/juaritowebstudio/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/juaritowebstudio
- Other: https://wdkcorehaze01.juaritowebstudio.com/
