About Me

“Follow your dreams and be what you want to be.” This phrase has become the montage I try to follow daily in my life. This wasn’t however always the case. Looking back, I remember, my dreams were typical to that of any child. Young boys often dream of being fireman or astronauts, or for the ladies, it might be to marry a rich dude. I definitely never imagined myself as an auto repair shop owner. The rush of owning my own business and being my own boss wasn’t enough to overcome the feeling of being caught in the web of the 9-5 daily grind. Recently, I had decided I had finally had it, which ultimately ended my short 4 year run as an auto repair shop owner. I had finally made up my mind and I decided to sell my business. Unsure as to what I would do next, I just knew I was quitting my job and then I would figure out what to do.

Ever since I was in college I knew that I wanted to be my own boss. I was never really the studious type and I had always managed to find a way to just get by in all my classes. During my senior year at Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo), I thought I had it all figured out. Under the guidance of one of my favorite teachers and business mentors, Dr. Duane Seaberg, I set out a plan to develop and own my own sushi restaurant. Everything was all planned out. I in fact dedicated my whole senior year meeting with Dr. Seaberg, planning the process of opening up my own business. I pretty much had every aspect of the business covered including the target market, the budget, the décor, the marketing promotions and the menu. With the introduction of the Sake Bomb in San Luis Obispo and my fraternity connections within a college town, this new sushi restaurant was supposed to be the next big thing. I was confident in the success of my bright idea. All of these dreams came to an unexpected halt with the opening of 2 new sushi restaurants later on that summer in the same area that I had worked so hard to plan my business around.

Of course I was disappointed at the time, but like with a lot of situations in my life, it turned into a blessing in disguise. Due to the fact that I planned on starting my own business, I didn’t apply for any companies prior to my college graduation ceremony. I didn’t have a backup plan, so I ended up coming back home to San Francisco and ended up working as a sales rep for a home entertainment retail company called, The Good Guys, while simultaneously taking courses to get my real estate agent license. I still had no idea on what I was going to do. Throughout that same period, I also unsuccessfully attempted to go into business (College Club Poker) with one of my closest friends Bob (now founder of OnlineSmogCheck.com), but the life of that company reached its demise early on. As our business start up declined, I was approached with another business opportunity by another close friend named Jacalyn. Her father owned a struggling auto smog service station and was ready to retire. After running the numbers, my younger brother, Earl, and I decided to go into debt $120,000 and buy the business.

This turned out to be a great decision and in fact, business went so well that in a matter of 2 ½ years, my brother and I paid off our debt, and opened 2 new shops in the process (another story, another time).

Unfortunately when you become successful too fast, you take things for granted, and as a result my businesses dwindled. I no longer had the drive, or the desire to really improve my shop and as a result I neglected it. My auto shops were kind of at its peak already and I became bored really fast. Day in, day out I began to live the typical mundane 9-5 work schedule that I always dreaded.

After a year and a half of doing pretty much the same type of work day in-day out, I knew it was time to change and move on to greener pastures. As you can see, God has opened and closed many different doors throughout my business career. There is no way to predict God’s plan for my life, but I know that I can’t do it strictly on my terms. I don’t know what the next step in my life ultimately will be, but I do know that God has blessed me with a serial entrepreneur spirit and no matter what new venture I may partake, it will only prepare me for the even next one to come.

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in response to ray’s question… my ultimate dream is to be a youth basketball coach when I retire. In terms of my business ambition? I want to get into the non profit sector someday. I dont think i will ever have an ultimate plan or goal. My life is always changing and different opportunities are always coming up. Kind of like donald trump, he never really had a clear direction on what he was going to be 20 years down the line. He made different investments such as real estate developments, managing hotels, and joining the casino industry all because he saw million dollar opportunities in certain situations. I guess I just need to take advantage of the ones that come my way.

As for will I get bored, probably. The good thing about starting a business is that your next one has to be bigger and better. I feel that business is a never ending cycle and you have to make a lot of moves to do well. The more experience you have and the more people you know, the easier it gets. Even if i this syndrome were to happen again, I will be even more prepared and ready for the next business to come.