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Here's a quick rundown of my journey so far into entrepreneurialism. But first, some brief into about me, and how it all got started.
Early Childhood and Adolescence
As a kid I can remember always dreaming about being a millionaire, owning my own business, bringing my immediate family out of financial struggles (have a lot of family here from Cuba), and pretty much having that financial freedom we all dream of. Growing up, my parents tried getting into a few MLMs and I went to all the meetings with them. My parents are Cuban immigrants without any real business knowledge, and like many others, were trying to get into the "fastlane" and out of the 9 to 5 rat race.
First "Business" Experience
It wasn't about 12 or 13 that I started my first somewhat "real" business. I was really into computers then and thought of a way to score free computer parts. I decided on making my own hardware review site, and convince manufacturers to send me free parts in exchange for free advertising.
I got as far as setting up a hackjob of a website I made in Microsoft Frontpage and posted 2 reviews of some parts I already had. I didn't know anything about SEO, marketing, ect.. so unsurprisingly, I only got like 2 or 3 real visitors to my site, and called it quits after the hardware companies didn't want to bother with me, and subsequently got an adsense account banned (my fault).
We can fast forward to my post-highschool days, as I was too busy hanging out with friends and trying to get a girlfriend then to try and pursue another business idea.
First Jobs
Fresh out of high school in 2009 I got a job at a new Best Buy store, and managed to get a few close friends hired with me. I was having a lot of fun and was really enjoying having my own money to spend and blow off. Like most other guys, I spent most of my money on food. I was also trying to impress my high-school crush, so I spent most of my money buying her food as well.
It was also here at Best Buy where I started to get good at sales. They pushed us pretty hard to sell warranties/protection plans there, so that's where I put most of my focus on. I wanted to be the best sales guy there -- it was fun competing, and I'm naturally very competitive. It took a few months of busting my a$$, but I was soon hitting some badass numbers. Until I looked at my paycheck and saw that it never changed. I made the same amount as the new guy who spent his entire month sitting in the training room.
That was a huge demotivator, and my sales numbers started dropping. I didn't see myself growing there anymore, and working nights really started to suck, so in 2011 I eventually left Best Buy for Bank of America where I became a teller (wanted to be a banker, but they stared me off at the bottom). In the beginning, I HATED the bank job. I dreaded going into work every morning. I honestly considered quitting in the beginning, but I hate quitting on something just as much as I hated the job. So I kept at it.
In the beginning I sucked big time, which made me hate the job even more. But I knew it was a learning experience, and would be in my best interest to get good at it. Looking at the bank job from a competitive standpoint made me not think about how much I hated it.
Long story short, in a few hard months of busting my a$$ at the bank, I was recognized with being in the top 2% of tellers in our region, which was a pretty big deal. The atmosphere was great and they were really happy with my progress. But then I looked at my paycheck -- it was still the same as when I had started. Yeah, I got some gifts for hitting the big numbers, but I wanted more. So just like it had happened previously at Best Buy, I lost my motivation to sell.
My numbers didn't drop off too significantly, but I had a lot more in the tank than I was giving. This got me into thinking about ways I could go to work for myself, but I was too scared to do it and didn't know what I could even start doing.
Gonna grab a quick bite to eat so I'll continue it on the next post. That is, if you're still reading.
Early Childhood and Adolescence
As a kid I can remember always dreaming about being a millionaire, owning my own business, bringing my immediate family out of financial struggles (have a lot of family here from Cuba), and pretty much having that financial freedom we all dream of. Growing up, my parents tried getting into a few MLMs and I went to all the meetings with them. My parents are Cuban immigrants without any real business knowledge, and like many others, were trying to get into the "fastlane" and out of the 9 to 5 rat race.
First "Business" Experience
It wasn't about 12 or 13 that I started my first somewhat "real" business. I was really into computers then and thought of a way to score free computer parts. I decided on making my own hardware review site, and convince manufacturers to send me free parts in exchange for free advertising.
I got as far as setting up a hackjob of a website I made in Microsoft Frontpage and posted 2 reviews of some parts I already had. I didn't know anything about SEO, marketing, ect.. so unsurprisingly, I only got like 2 or 3 real visitors to my site, and called it quits after the hardware companies didn't want to bother with me, and subsequently got an adsense account banned (my fault).
We can fast forward to my post-highschool days, as I was too busy hanging out with friends and trying to get a girlfriend then to try and pursue another business idea.
First Jobs
Fresh out of high school in 2009 I got a job at a new Best Buy store, and managed to get a few close friends hired with me. I was having a lot of fun and was really enjoying having my own money to spend and blow off. Like most other guys, I spent most of my money on food. I was also trying to impress my high-school crush, so I spent most of my money buying her food as well.
It was also here at Best Buy where I started to get good at sales. They pushed us pretty hard to sell warranties/protection plans there, so that's where I put most of my focus on. I wanted to be the best sales guy there -- it was fun competing, and I'm naturally very competitive. It took a few months of busting my a$$, but I was soon hitting some badass numbers. Until I looked at my paycheck and saw that it never changed. I made the same amount as the new guy who spent his entire month sitting in the training room.
That was a huge demotivator, and my sales numbers started dropping. I didn't see myself growing there anymore, and working nights really started to suck, so in 2011 I eventually left Best Buy for Bank of America where I became a teller (wanted to be a banker, but they stared me off at the bottom). In the beginning, I HATED the bank job. I dreaded going into work every morning. I honestly considered quitting in the beginning, but I hate quitting on something just as much as I hated the job. So I kept at it.
In the beginning I sucked big time, which made me hate the job even more. But I knew it was a learning experience, and would be in my best interest to get good at it. Looking at the bank job from a competitive standpoint made me not think about how much I hated it.
Long story short, in a few hard months of busting my a$$ at the bank, I was recognized with being in the top 2% of tellers in our region, which was a pretty big deal. The atmosphere was great and they were really happy with my progress. But then I looked at my paycheck -- it was still the same as when I had started. Yeah, I got some gifts for hitting the big numbers, but I wanted more. So just like it had happened previously at Best Buy, I lost my motivation to sell.
My numbers didn't drop off too significantly, but I had a lot more in the tank than I was giving. This got me into thinking about ways I could go to work for myself, but I was too scared to do it and didn't know what I could even start doing.
Gonna grab a quick bite to eat so I'll continue it on the next post. That is, if you're still reading.
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