Notes on building a business and a life.
Short pieces on starting, failing, growing and doing it with integrity.
Everyone Should Have Some Type of Business
People are good at something, and someone is already paying for it.
I hold one belief about work: everyone should have some type of business.
Think about what you are good at. Whatever it is, people are paying someone else to do it right now. That someone can be you.
Most people never test that idea, because a job feels safer. I understand that. But a paycheck from one employer is one source of income, controlled by one person. A business, even a small one, puts some of that control back in your hands.
You do not need a big plan to begin. Start by solving one problem for one person, and do it well enough that they tell someone else.
Your next step: write down the one thing people already ask you for help with. That is where your business starts.
From Miami to GGT Electronics
How I went from fixing computers for friends to building a company.
I was born in Miami to two hard-working parents. I grew up seeing what people go through just to make ends meet, and it stayed with me.
After a few jobs of my own, I knew a 9-to-5 life was not for me.
I started repairing computers as an independent contractor. First for friends and family. Then for an electrician friend who needed help with his clients’ computers. Then for my own college professor, who ran an IT business.
In 2009 I officially started GGT Electronics LLC. It has grown steadily ever since.
Nothing about that start was glamorous. I said yes to the next person who needed help and did the work right. Each yes led to the next one.
Your next step: say yes to one small job this week, and do it better than anyone expects.
What Failed Companies Taught Me
More than ten years in business, and not every company worked.
I have been in business for more than ten years. Some of my companies failed. Some succeeded.
I would not trade the failures. They taught me what no book could: what happens when you price too low, when you build before you listen, and when you carry on without a system.
The companies that worked had something in common. They solved a clear problem for a clear customer, and they ran on a process instead of on my mood that day.
If you have a business that did not work out, it is not the end of your story. It is information.
Your next step: pick one thing that went wrong in the past and write the rule you would follow next time.
Integrity Is the Strategy
Why I run my companies as a follower of Jesus Christ.
I am a man of integrity and a follower of Jesus Christ. That shapes how I do business.
It means I tell people the truth about what a service can and cannot do. It means I keep my word, even when keeping it costs me. And it means I treat the people I serve as people, not as numbers.
I help others start their own businesses and reach the next level, in business and in life. I do it this way because trust is the one asset that grows every time you use it.
Customers forget slogans. They remember whether you did what you said.
Your next step: think of one promise you made and keep it today.