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In today's Tip Jar, find out what questions Sandra Pineda recommends you ask yourself, based on where you are in your life. She also shares how much she thinks you should save up before launching your own business.
But, first, learn Pineda's approach to facing challenges.
WHEN LIFE IS OVERWHELMING
Maria "Sandra" Pineda has a mantra she goes by that’s been especially helpful when things haven't been going well in life.
“I did the next 'right' thing.”
“Because life will become so overwhelming at moments, that you’re like, how am I going to get out of this?”
The founder of Medical Equipment Solutions, a medical supplies provider, says her philosophy focuses on moving. Just keep moving.
She had to put it into practice pretty early on in her personal life.
When Pineda was 18, she became a mom.
In 2008, she filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
In both instances, Pineda didn’t panic. She used these difficult situations as catalysts to push forward.
Maria "Sandra" Pineda
INDUSTRY: Medical Supplies
STARTED BUSINESS:
Insurance business – Around 1995/1996
Medical supplies business - 2000
LATINO/HISPANIC CONNECTION:
Father – Cuban (Her dad was an exiled political prisoner)
Mother – Spain
Sandra Pineda – Born in Spain
EDUCATION:
Attended Miami-Dade College, but she dropped out of school.
“I always did continue self-educating… I think education is a life-long process, and it does not end when you finish school. And I’ve stuck to that. My life is all about learning. I love to learn.”
DREAM JOB AS A KID: “I wanted to be a singer. I’m not a great singer. But I loved singing… But then I realized… I like working with people.”
BIGGEST GOAL YET: An author and spiritual life coach… helping people discover their true purpose.
Note: Pineda already got certified as a spiritual life coach and is in the process of trying to publish a book. She has the title already: Your True Power: 9 Steps Toward Discovering Your “Soul” Purpose.
WHAT OVERPOWERED THE FEAR
Being a teenaged mother didn’t make Pineda more timid with her professional decisions. It made her bolder.
She was already working as an insurance agent when she decided to make a move to provide a better life for her daughter.
Sandra's daughter, Natasha (on left), when her mom owned an insurance agency
“I realized, I had to do a little bit more if I wasn’t going to go back to school… So the entrepreneurial spirit that was within me kind of like started stirring at that time. And I started thinking, well, I might be able to do this.”
So she did it. She opened an insurance agency with her sister, Elizabeth. Pineda calls Elizabeth her right hand.
Sandra with her sister and staunch supporter, Elizabeth Pineda
"The level of enthusiasm of what I had to offer and the connections I could make overpowered the fear."
Pineda’s mother provided her with a $20,000 line of credit to help her build her dream of business ownership.
THE HUGE LEARNING CURVE
“It was really a huge learning curve. I had to learn everything about the business. I thought it was just going to be about selling insurance. But there’s… money management and the processes and licenses and a bunch of different areas. So I kind of learned as I went.”
About four years later, that learn-as-you-go philosophy helped her when she and her sister decided that they wanted to pursue something more fulfilling, namely selling medical supplies.
"PUSHED ME OFF THE PLANE"
Pineda already had a plan. She would intern at her friend’s business. Pineda told her friend the vision for her own company and then interned for six to eight months, while still at the helm at her insurance agency.
As luck would have it, someone knocked on her door at the time and wanted to buy her insurance agency.
“So that was actually what ‘pushed me off the plane’ to just get moving and transition to the next step.”
"IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY'LL COME" - NOT REALLY
Pineda also had a concrete idea of where the clients would come from for her new business.
“It’s not always, you know, if you build it, they’ll come. There has to be a plan.”
Her plan outlined four different sources that would provide clients. And she thinks that’s critical for aspiring business owners.
Pineda believes that, if you can’t outsource, you should be spending at least 60% of your time marketing to find clients.
REBUILDING
When 2008 rolled around, the housing crisis turned out to be a devastating blow for her. So, in 2010, ten years into her second business, she was forced to file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. She came out of it and was determined to rebuild.
“I did it. I survived. And I thrived, thank God. But… I had to jump through a lot of hurdles.”
She cautions others that the fallout she experienced, in terms of having to pay a lot more to borrow money, had a lasting impact. But she also says, “It’s not the end, either” for your business.
THE COMEBACK... AND THE PANDEMIC
Sandra ready to send her company's first federal contract for medical supplies to Africa
Pineda actually credits being able to pursue and win multi-million dollar federal contracts for helping her rebuild and grow her business.
She says she went from a gross yearly revenue of about $300,000 in 2010, the year of her bankruptcy, to $2.3 million in annual revenue in 2018.
The pandemic hit and dropped revenue back down to $600,000. But she says revenue is "on the rise again."
Still, the government contracts have given her the opportunity to travel to other countries and have experiences she wouldn’t have imagined possible.
Sandra with her team in Tanzania, Africa - thanks to an SBA contract
It’s now been nearly a dozen years since Pineda filed for bankruptcy. Pineda and her company, Medical Equipment Solutions, have weathered the storms and come out stronger. Even Pineda’s daughter, Natasha, who used to say that she didn’t want to become a small business owner after watching her mother struggle has now changed her mind.
Pineda recounts her daughter telling her, “Mom, you were right all along. I really don’t like working for somebody else. I like the freedom that working for yourself gives – that you get to be more in charge of your own life. You know, if you make the right investments, you can set yourself up for success.”
Sandra with her daughter, Natasha Borras, at a small business women's event
THE TIP JAR (tips passed out courtesy of Sandra Pineda)
Note: Pineda says every category below should start with a business plan. What you ask yourself from there differs, depending on where you are in life. She also recommends you have at least six months of savings to start.
STARTING OUT: “It doesn’t have to be a perfect business plan like you’re going to submit to a bank – but one for yourself. Be sure... what you’re going to offer – on what your product is. Be certain about who your ideal client is.” Then, Pineda says you should ask yourself the following:
How am I going to bring in business?
Who can help me?
What resources do I have?
STEEPED IN SKILLS (mid-career): “If you have a larger nest egg and you have maybe 12-24 months in reserves (savings), then you’re in a better position, of course, than somebody who is starting off younger.”
Pineda says you’d want to consider these questions at this level:
What are you trying to accomplish?
What type of market share you trying to capture?
Are you going to need business partners to start at a higher level?
STARTING OVER: Pineda suggests people who are starting over reach out to SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) for help.
“If you have no idea what you’re going to do, and you want to start your own business, start by looking at what are your best qualities.”
She advises asking yourself these questions:
What would you do for free, if you could, because you enjoy it so much?
Do you love helping people?
Do you love resolving things?
Do you like to talk or not talk? (Note: She says if you don’t like to talk, you can focus on something where you can sit in front of the computer or stay behind-the-scenes)
I’LL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN: “If you can avoid a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, try. Because there’s other ways to resolve things.”
“It haunted me for a very long time. And I came to realize afterwards that I could’ve resolved it in a different way.”
BEST ADVICE FROM “LA CASA”/BEST “HOUSE” ADVICE: Pineda’s best advice comes from her dad.
“He would always tell me, ‘You’re always going to succeed, no matter where you’re at.’ And I believed him.”
NO NEED TO GO IT ALONE
HELP ON THE OUTSIDE...because we can all use a helping hand:
SUCCESS IS NO ACCIDENT: STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR SMALL BUSINESS
Planning. Planning. Planning. Sandra Pineda told us how planning was critical to her starting her businesses. It’s something that she believes every entrepreneur needs to spend time doing – whether it’s working on your business plan or your marketing plan. This on-demand webinar from the SBDC at UCF (Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida) covers those plans. It also helps you develop a strategic checklist for your business. You’ll learn the importance of a “golden month”, why a strategic plan is a process rather than a one-time event, plus much more. The webinar is on the top right corner of the page, once you click on the link below.
https://sbdcorlando.com/webinars-on-demand/
WORKING ON THE INSIDE...because we know our culture has a hard time asking for help:
RETRAIN YOUR BRAIN FOR MOMENTUM & ACHIEVEMENT
I’m always fascinated by new discoveries about what the brain can do. In this virtual webinar from the SBDC at Stony Brook, you’ll learn how to change your mindset to reduce anxiety and achieve results. Ben Ahrens is the coach who will share with you “the science of small wins” to help you establish new patterns of success. Check the link below:
https://www.sba.gov/events/1701922
Wednesday, December 15, 2021
Virtual Webinar
9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. EST
FREE
INSPIRATION FOR THIS ISSUE:
I remember walking into an editorial meeting for the first time at one of the TV stations I worked for years ago. I was floored by what I witnessed. There was breaking news, and suddenly, I watched in awe as the assistant news director immediately started calling out orders as to who was going to do what, when and where. “Send the chopper up over the scene, get this graphic made, send this reporter out to the scene, send that one to the other, we’re going to have team coverage at noon, etc.” It felt like she was juggling 12 balls in the air seamlessly without a missing a beat. And she pretty much was.
I later told her that I admired how decisive she was. After working with her for a couple of years, I concluded, just like on that first day, she was the most decisive person I’d ever met – and still is.
She explained to me, “I don’t always make the right decision, but I will make a decision.” There was no hesitation.
And, yet, so often in bad situations or crisis scenarios (which frequently aren't, but feel that way), many people become either paralyzed with fear or just wallow and do nothing. It’s what I call the “non-decision” decision.
The trouble is, you let that feeling linger long enough and you can lead yourself down a rabbit hole of mental defeat.
But, of course, in the moment, it can be hard to re-focus and turn the page. It's so much easier said than done, right?
That’s why I thought Sandra Pineda’s way of immediately focusing on the “next right thing” was a helpful tool to in picking yourself up off the floor and getting back to work to do better.
As she’s shown through both, a personal and professional challenge, you need to let that light switch in your head go off and force yourself to try to get back on track.
Look, we all face setbacks, dry spells or bad seasons at certain points in our life. I hope you found this to be a useful reminder to find that tool, mantra or mechanism that helps you snap out of it and get back to creating and enjoying the good season that is just around the corner, in business and in life.
Sandra Pineda - President & CEO of Medical Equipment Solutions
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