Have you ever heard the expression, "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity"? The saying is old, and is often contributed to Lucius Seneca, the great Roman philosopher. I'm here to tell you he's right.
My journey to entrepreneurship started in my teens. I always seemed to identify role models for how I wanted to navigate through life. So, looking back, it seems fitting that my first mentor, Basil Jennette, was a God-fearing, blue-collar, hard-working, family man who just so happened to invent and patent his own tool for auto body shop applications. I was in awe, this guy created something useful and took all of the steps to making his creation into a viable product to introduce to the market. He inspired me to start my own company. That's when I started iPro-ductions Media.
My junior and senior year in high school I took a video and photography class. That's when I realized I really enjoyed creating. I wanted to turn my love for creating into a business, and with the help and encouragement of my mentor I took the steps to create an LLC. I had big plans; I would market low-cost video commercials, bundled into business' based on their location, and the final product would be printed on DVD and left directly on potential customer's doors nearby. I did all of the footwork, created the business plan, and made sure I understood my margins and that if I met my goals I would grow the business. Turns out FEAR is a business killer. I never managed to build up the courage to market my idea to customers and eventually I closed the business.
I spent my twenties slightly dejected by my own fear, but continued to create. I eventually started doing business making music videos, marketing flyers, and taking family photographs as an independent contractor under the name DS Pictures. I grew my customer base through word-of-mouth and a little YouTube show called Free Verse Fridays. After several years bouncing around as an independent contractor, and working for business' like Comcast, FOX40, and the California State Lottery as a creative, my mother fell ill. Her illness changed the trajectory of my life, personally and career-wise. I found a job doing demolition, which provided a more structured work schedule, allowing me to watch over my mom as my family started taking shifts while my mom was at her worst.
In November of 2016, I had just turned 29 years old and was being recruited by a small company who worked in a niche market servicing automotive lifts for customers like Walmart, Carmax, and incorporated car dealerships. At this point in my life, I was working as a foreman for the demolition company and the prospect of "prevailing wages", somewhere around $75-$90/hour was very enticing. From the beginning the desire to own my own means of work kept me always learning, always hungry for what might help me be successful. I told the recruiter that if I were to switch industries and work for them, that I would be doing so with the intent to run my own company in that industry. Fast forward to January of 2022, I began operations as Diego Salazar Enterprises Inc. an Automotive Lift Company.
Thank you for those still following along, it may have seemed like we detoured somewhere right after mentioning Lucius Seneca and his(?) famous expression. The fact is, I had been preparing to start Diego Salazar Enterprises Inc my whole adult life, starting in high school. It's important to note that at the end of 2021, the world had endured 2 years of the Covid 19 pandemic, inflation had bubbled to such an amount that I felt the company that had recruited me to work for them, was going to have to get creative in order to stay afloat. I always treated my work there as if I was the business owner, and in doing so managed to learn the industry inside and out. Keeping my eye on the objective, I incorporated at the end of 2021.
The first day I stepped foot into an auto shop as a new business owner I would have told you that the reason I started the business was because it "felt like the right time" and I had "always wanted to own my own company". Although that was true, I didn't realize until day 3 that the real reason I started my own business was because the market needed me. Over the course of 5 years, I had shown customers that I was dedicated to providing a stellar service with a smile. I had learned to love building something useful for the customer and was able to communicate with my customers in a way that made them feel comfortable with me and my skillset. That preparation, met with the high cost of doing business during a time of economic uncertainty and high inflation built the opportunity I needed to start my company with a successful launch. "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity", and I'm grateful to be a beneficiary of that luck.
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