More than connections or a college degree, native Galvestonian Joe Flores credits “paying attention” as the biggest contributor to his success.

“I’ve always been in tune with whatever was happening around me,” says Joe, who grew up on the east end of the island with neighbors of African American and Hispanic heritage.

“I was an athlete at the old Kirwin High School, and I found it easy to move in just about any social circle,” he says. So Joe’s friends came in all colors. And along the roller coaster ride of his business career, which includes the rise of Yaga brand T-shirts and clothing, which he founded, his childhood friends have always rooted for him.

Wearing one earring on the left, Flores has the surfer’s laid-back manner. One of the first surfers in Galveston, he grew up riding waves on longboards and listening to beach music.

He was a junior in high school, working on a tug during the summer of 1961 in the open water between New Orleans and Florida, when he first heard the reggae music of Jamaica, popularized by Bob Marley. “I thought ‘that sounds really cool.’ Everyone else was listening to Elvis, but this music stayed with me.”

Flores, 62, wears designer eyeglasses with a special tint that resemble those worn by U2’s Bono, an acquaintance of his. He met the rock star and other luminaries, such as Sting, when he worked in Miami for hotelier Chris Blackwell.

“Mr. Blackwell founded Island Records in Jamaica and signed Bob Marley back in the 60’s,” says Flores, who helped establish and manage gift shops in Blackwell’s resort hotels in the 1990’s.

In a voice both friendly and careful, Flores wants people to know that others have been important in bringing his dreams to fruition, citing family members Diane and Tod, in particular. While he seems a natural storyteller, he is a bit shy about revealing details of his life, preferring, he says, to talk about the future rather than the past.

That future includes the soon-to-be launched rebirth of Yaga wholesale. He and his investors have rights to the trademark name, and Flores is busy contacting retailers and distributors, including those that market in Japan, Germany and France, where the line was wildly popular in its first incarnation.

The Yaga line, featuring dread-wearing characters espousing peace, love and island vibes, derives from Flores’s love of all things reggae - and cool.

Flores knows a thing or two about marketing and sales. As a youngster, he rode a bicycle and threw papers for his father, who had the distributorship.

His dad taught Flores early on how to knock on doors at collection time. He later worked resetting pins in the bowling alley along the Seawall, and then at Todd Shipyards during summers.

One semester at Texas A& M University’s all-male campus was enough for Flores. He spent bits of time at various colleges before graduating from the University of Houston with a degree in marketing.

He quickly returned to the beach, opening a surf shop at 24th and Seawall and then a souvenir shop called Ocean Rhythms. When George Mitchell began investing in Galveston and The Strand, Flores was paying attention, and he soon followed.

Along with family members Diane and Tod, his ventures included Cruisin’ on the Strand, Yaga Clothing Store, Jammin, Tola Market and Yaga Sport. Flores teamed with Benno Deltz and Allen Flores to start Yaga Tropical Café.

The Galveston Downtown Partnership recently named Flores and his brother, Allen, Entrepreneurs of the Year.

In his current stand on The Strand, Flores presides over JuJu’s, a bar cum café where reggae master Bob Marley’s portrait gazes down at guests. It’s a place where you can always get a beer, but you may go hungry if the cook calls in sick.

“I’m not a restaurateur,” Flores notes, but he looks quite the genial host, moving from table to table, greeting locals who obviously like this spot - and Flores - food or not.

The chicken tortilla soup is some of the best around, particularly on a 40-degree, wind-whipping day, and it is an incredible value. I tell him he is undercharging.

But Flores is still trying to grow JuJu’s business while simultaneously restarting Yaga. And there is something else in the works involving Bob Marley’s mother and brother. “But I’m not quite ready to talk about that,” says Flores.

The ideas keep flowing. The beat goes on. Could anything be mo bettah?