Look for the Light: How an Entrepreneur Found His Way Out of a Place with No Future
Hello, friends! 👋🏼👋🏾👋 Kicking off September with a story about the power of focus in creating your future. In Part One of my profile of Hector García, you'll learn about his journey out of Cuba to becoming an entrepreneur in Florida.
He shares the following:
🌴How his mindset guided him
🌴The importance of trust, especially for people starting over as entrepreneurs
🌴What he did when he couldn't afford to get an MBA
🌴 Let's get to know Hector García, CEO & co-founder of INMYTEAM:
CREATE A WAY WHEN IT LOOKS LIKE THERE’S NO OTHER WAY
If you want a reminder of how good we have it here in the U.S., just speak with someone who grew up in Cuba, like Hector García.
He's the CEO and co-founder of INMYTEAM.
It’s a company that helps home health care agencies with software-based solutions for operations, coordination and HR functions.
García says, “I grew up seeing how difficult it was for my parents to even put a plate of food on the table.”
It was the ‘90s and García says, “All Cubans that grew up in that period of time kind of [had] to invent stuff and fix what they [had].
He recalls his father owning a very old car, a Lada. It was a Russian car from the ‘60s.
“I had to paint it myself. And I had to fix the engine myself.”
García thinks this resourcefulness that Cubans had to have just to survive may be part of the reason why “some of the Cubans of that period are entrepreneurs now."
Hector García - CEO & Co-founder of INMYTEAM
CLIMB OUT OF THE DARK ROOM; LOOK FOR THE LIGHT
Even one of García's teachers seemed to encourage entrepreneurship. The teacher told him, “It’s like you are in the dark room… We show you the window… It’s up high.”
The teacher then pointed up and outside and told García that’s where the light was. “It’s your responsibility to reach out to that window and get out. So, for me, entrepreneurship is that. Looking for that light and [getting] out.”
Hector's apartment (top left) in Cuba when he was born
THE TIP JAR (Tips provided courtesy of Hector García)
STARTING OUT: “Read a lot.”
“Try to rip off all the fear that you come with and all the [baggage].”
García says, as a Latino, he was told all his life, “You have to go to [the university and then get a job, then get a house and car, right? So that’s not the case anymore. So my advice? Get out of that mentality of getting a job, buying a house [and] getting a mortgage…”
Instead, García suggests you take advantage of that time period before starting a family or acquiring debt.
“Try to use that momentum to create something… and don’t be afraid to make mistakes.”
STEEPED IN SKILLS (mid-career): “Start as a side hustle first. Test it out. Test all your ideas. There’s a lot that you can accomplish after 5pm."
STARTING OVER: “Trust young people. Trust people that can help you with your business. Don’t do anything by yourself. Try to get a team of people that are prepared and try to get them to help you. Look, the success of the business is not [coming from] the one that has the brightest CEO. But it might be the one that has the brightest team.”
I’LL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN: “Work in an environment that is toxic and accept that as part of your reality.”
BEST ADVICE FROM “LA CASA”/BEST “HOUSE” ADVICE: This nugget of wisdom comes from García's mom. She drilled into his head that he needed to get at least a 95 on every test so that he’d do well enough to go to a certain elite school.
She told him, “Trabaja duro y enfócate en lo que estas haciendo.” TRANSLATION: “Work hard and focus on what you’re doing.”
García applied to the school and was accepted.
Looking back, García says his mom was right. But he jokingly says, “Don’t tell her that!”
García's mom instilled in Hector the value of being disciplined and focused
WHEN A FORMAL EDUCATION IS UNAFFORDABLE, DON’T FORGET SELF-EDUCATION
Hector with his wife and son during a brutally cold winter in Canada
The way out of Cuba for García was a skilled worker program in Canada. So in 2013, with his wife and his six-year-old son at the time, they left for Quebec. “We had like four bags. And that was it. That was my 28 years [of] living in Cuba. It was in those four bags.”
He looked into MBA programs in Canada and the U.S.
Of course, once García saw the price tag, he settled for the next best thing: reading. Lots of reading, along with online courses and sheer grit.
SENECA, THE PHILOSOPHER, WAS RIGHT: “LUCK IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PREPARATION MEETS OPPORTUNITY”
After spending a few years in Canada, García was able to make it to the U.S.
Of course, with his entrepreneurial mindset and computer science skills, naturally, his friends and family turned to him for help with their computer problems.
One of those friends owned a home health care agency. García and his business partner and co-founder, Ernesto Ferriol, were able to transform that friend's business through software solutions.
Word of mouth spread and García and Ferriol soon found themselves growing their business in the home health care niche.
Hector (right) with Ernesto (left) in Canada before arriving in the U.S.
ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET: OFFER A SOLUTION TO A PROBLEM IN THE MARKET
In Part Two, I’ll share how García and Ferriol approached specific problems in the industry, allowing their company to grow its customer base.
Since García mentioned his teacher’s advice to look for the window and light, I asked him if he’d found the light in America with his business.
He said, “I’m on the 2nd floor now…. There are more windows every day… There’s always something else you can learn.”
INDUSTRY: Tech (Home health care)
STARTED BUSINESS: February 2019
LATINO CONNECTION:
Born in Cuba
Parents are Cuban
EDUCATION: CUJAE (Universidad Tecnológica de la Habana José Antonio Echeverría) – Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science
DREAM JOB AS A KID: “Pilot. Yes. But then I… got sick every time I went back on the bus… So I realized very quickly that it wasn’t my thing.”
BIGGEST GOAL YET: García not only hopes his startup becomes a multi-million dollar company in terms of earnings, but he also says, “I really want to get [to] a point that my life serves as an example for all the people who are coming after me and [are] trying to be successful in America.”
NO NEED TO GO IT ALONE
HELP ON THE OUTSIDE...because we can all use a helping hand:
SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives)
Find the Money – Even When Your Credit Score is Below 650
Even if your credit score is under 650, you may still be able to get a loan to start and operate your business. This FREE webinar will share how you might be able to still get a line of credit to purchase equipment or get working capital for your business. The workshop will also address how you can get money to start your business, even if you’re only in the idea phase. See below for details:
“Working Capital: How to Get it When the Banks Say NO!”
Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022
8:00 a.m. EDT – 9:30 a.m. EDT
Virtual Webinar
FREE
https://nationalec.org/event/working-capital-how-to-get-it-when-the-banks-say-no/
WORKING ON THE INSIDE...because we know our culture has a hard time asking for help:
Get Into the Right Routine
This FREE webinar got my attention because its goal is to help you “conquer your morning routine.” To me, that’s code for discipline, consistency and mindset. And that sounds like something we might all benefit from (or maybe I say that because I’m not a morning person).
By following the recommendations, it’s supposed to increase your chances of garnering higher “sales, profits & results.” What more could you ask for? Here’s more info:
SBA (Small Business Administration)
“Coffee with a Leader: 3 EASY tips to Triple Sales, Profits & Results!”
Thursday, September 22, 2022
8:00 - 9:30 a.m. EDT
https://www.sba.gov/event/2543
INSPIRATION FOR THIS ISSUE:
It’s so easy to take for granted the opportunities that the U.S. offers. Many of the foreign-born entrepreneurs I interview for the Generation Si! newsletter are awestruck at all of the free resources available in the United States.
The myriad programs and resources available to help aspiring or current small business owners in the U.S. just don’t exist in other countries.
Hector García says that, in Cuba, until relatively recently when new categories of doing business were expanded, entrepreneurship was “almost like going against the government.” Even still, there are limitations and a variety of restrictions on entrepreneurship in the island nation.
When García talked about having to figure out, on his own, a way to fix the engine of his father’s car from the ‘60s when he was growing up in Cuba in the ‘90s, because there was really no other option for survival, it was a stark reminder of the huge divide between the U.S. and a country like Cuba.
But it also reminded me of the popular proverb that originated with Plato, “Necessity is the mother of invention.”
Survival in Cuba meant a person had to become resourceful.
García was able to draw on those lessons of resourcefulness to find a way to make it out of Cuba and eventually make it in the U.S.
No wonder he said that it’s much easier to start a business in the United States and Canada compared to Cuba.
Still, that hunger to achieve so much more burns inside and leads him to keep looking towards the window and to keep looking for the light.
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