We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mario L Castellanos. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mario L below.

Mario, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Along with taking care of clients, taking care of our team is one of the most important things we can do as leaders. Looking back on your journey, did you have a boss that was really great? Maybe you can tell us about that boss and what made them a wonderful person to work for?

This is the thing, I believe the best boss anyone can have is themself and the worst is anyone else. An individual should always make the very best effort with any job they take on. I started my first business at age 5. I’ve always tried to work as hard and as smart as I can. If you think about it, one really doesn’t work for a company or organization. They work to achieve what’s important to them. That could be money just for the sake of having lots of it. Or they work to reach or sustain a lifestyle they feel comfortable with. Either way, pleasing their boss is just a consequence of a goal.

So, in direct response to this question and in my case, I’ve been my own best and worse boss, whether I led the organization or not. I’ve failed to listen to others when I should have and succeeded when others said I would not. I’ve then taken that experience and used it improve myself and to mentor others. Sometimes, I’ve become the student in the process.

Mario L, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a native born Floridian of Cuban parents with over forty years of business experience. I “founded” my first business at 5. I would go out, hustle lawn jobs, then get my dad to cut them because I was too small. Sort of child abuse – in reverse. Since then, I’ve risen the corporate ladder, been a multiple business founder, co-founder, advisor, and turn-around specialist for several start-up and legacy enterprise and non-profit organizations within dynamic technology and non-tech sectors. I’m also Founder & CEO of Mystery on Main Street, a unique interactive B2B2C big data marketing and advertising technology app using AI, AR and cash prize winning gamification to bring targeted patrons into walk-in brick and mortar and events businesses. From a business perspective, I guess what I’m most proud of is, I don’t give up. That’s not to say that I won’t if something doesn’t make sense. But that’s not the same as overcoming roadblocks and obstacles. That’s what you do when you start something, intending to make it better. I admire the business man or woman that starts a business because they want to see it succeed. I bristle every time I see someone call themselves a multi-exit entrepreneur. That’s easy. Anyone can start a business and sell it off. Anyone. The admirable ones are those that have a vision for the long term. These are the ones that want to make something good, better. They are thinking about their families and family to come. They are thinking about their employees and their communities and maybe even the world at large. They have better things to do than write a narcissistic blip on a social media site.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Starting a company in today’s environment is much easier than it was 10, 20, 30, or 40 years ago to some degree. But in other respects, it’s also much more difficult. And not only starting one, but seeking to work with one as well.

My story of resilience isn’t about just one instance nor strictly about a business I’ve started. It’s probably the same story for many. When I was younger, I worked for a few companies based in the northern or central parts of the US. It was difficult for me, regardless of how exceptionally well I did to progress within that company because my last name was Castellanos, not Smith or Jones or any typical Anglo name. Making matters worse was I had not reached the level of “maturity” (code for age) these companies were looking for. It was the same for the investment community. They looked for Caucasian men with an acceptable level of maturity from a certain background with preferred formal schooling and from distinct educational institutions. My heritage coupled with community and state college education as opposed to a private one, didn’t quite fill their desires. They and organizations in general publicly embrace diversity now – except for the age part. It seems they still have a way to go.

However like so many stories that were created due to adversity and challenge, these roadblocks caused me to build my own path. Every business I ever started in the past was bootstrapped and eventually, self-funded. I’ve had no choice.

Businesses are now opening up to the idea that diversity of background equals diversity of knowledge. Unfortunately, ageism still plays a factor. And that’s a shame. But that’s not the greatest roadblock facing start-up founders like me. Today’s investors seek assurances that frankly in my opinion, don’t make sense. They aggressively seek out the “warm introduction”. In other words, do you know someone I know. They also seek out a proven concept or at the very least, a completed product or service.

Charles Babbage is considered the “father of the computer” because he developed a non-working concept of a mechanical calculator that would soon form the basis of computing and the computer as we know and use it today. He passed away before he could complete it due to lack of funding. That a prominent scholar named George Biddell Airy, that everyone blindly followed as he discredited Babbage without merit, didn’t help matters. My point being, had it not been for someone later understanding the significance of his invention and arranging to fund and complete it, we might still be using our fingers! I find this reliance on the word of others, abhorrent. I can’t begin to imagine the missed opportunities.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

I had just recently been hired as Sales Manager for Latin America for a broadcasting equipment company called BTS, a US$16b joint venture between two electronics industry titans. One of the first customer visits I made was to the at the time, largest broadcaster in Latin America and in fact, one the largest in the world. The Chief Engineer and staff kindly received me, heard my pitch, and when I finished just as kindly explained to me, they would never buy anything from me while I still worked for that company. He went on to tell me the reason was because just five years earlier, they had made a multi-million dollar purchase from the company, then never heard from them again. The very first thing I did when I returned back to my home office was to call our company President and explain what had occurred. His response was that he knew all about it and that it happened before his time, and that I should not waste my time with it any longer.

Typical of me, I did the opposite. I promptly assembled a team of engineers from every product group Televisa had purchased, and arranged to return to their offices. Upon our arrival, I introduced my team to their staff and explained to the CE, our purpose was to fix everything that was wrong and to make sure they never experienced the same lack of responsibility again. This continued for approximately one year. During this period of time, Televisa, which had been in negotiations with a rival company, Sony, to purchase their equipment and services, became so impressed with the service our team was performing, they promptly canceled their negotiations. BTS garnered the largest sale in the company’s history (US&90mil) and at the time, considered the largest sales ever by one supplier, in the industry.

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  (This is the most important one for us)