From Setbacks to Significance: How Leadership Changed My Life”

Written by David Nunez. I grew up all my life here in the Rio Grande Valley, growing up in Pharr, Texas and now living in Edinburg, Texas. I love the culture and the people down here. I truly believe that we have great people hungry for leaders and leadership. The journey to where I am today was a tough one, but one full of growth. You can't grow without a challenge. Back in 2009, I experienced the loss of the mother who raised me since birth and gave me her name. During the time my mom passed, I had also lost what I thought was a secure job, and a couple months after, I was a brand new dad. All of that happened during the Summer of 2009. I finally started to work again and had to start at the bottom. After being passed over for promotion twice, that led me to look for other opportunities. That's where I found Network Marketing. I was introduced to a company in the energy industry called Ambit Energy. That's where my first true introduction to leadership happened. What many people don't know is when I first found Ambit, I was struggling to make ends meet and I was about to lose my vehicle. The sad part is I was still living at my mom's with no rent or mortgage to pay. All that while also raising a son. I knew something had to change. I remember being fascinated when I heard the word leadership for the first time. I never really knew what it meant to be a leader. I thought it was telling people what to do. I was wrong. I've had many defining moments in my business life. One of the first ones that comes to mind when my team started to grow and people started to look at me for guidance. It was tough being that I was looking for that myself. I knew I had to get my cup filled and help fill others' cups. That's when I started to read books and listen to audios to help grow my leadership skills.

Another defining moment happened recently about 5months ago. I also work for the RGV Vipers front office. Back in November while we were getting ready to start the season and also celebrate my daughter's birthday, my wife got the news, you have cancer. This news came the day before my daughter's birthday and two days before the home opener. We had to make a decision. So many people were counting on me, not just my wife and family, but my Ambit team and Vipers season ticket members. So we prayed and made a decision we were going to focus on getting through this, but also focus on other people. That is what leadership is all about: others. We poured and poured into other people's lives. Helping them in both endeavors. We didn't share that health news with anyone, except for a few church members, until now. We didn't want to distract or be distracted from helping other people. We decided to take the high road in leadership and focus on helping more people grow, in spite of our own troubles and worries. Thank God things are getting better slowly but surely. One of the leadership lessons I've learned and have applied is from Zig Ziglar "help enough people get what they want and you will have anything you want". This is so true especially in network marketing because the more you focus on helping people grow, the more your income grows. In business as well, the more you help your season ticket clients, the more business they will bring you. Another lesson is "Nobody cares. Work harder". Although this may sound harsh, this quote has really helped me realize that when talking with other people, their main need is to be heard and understood. This means we need to work harder to understand people. Listen to them. Love them. Even though I was and still am going through what I was going through, I put extra emphasis on hearing people out and trying harder to understand where they are coming from. I encourage my team to do the same. This will pay big dividends. The more you listen to people, the more you will know how to serve them. In business it is all about filling a need. You help people fill a need, your needs will be met.

Lastly, learn how to take the high road, meaning give without thinking of what you will receive. Encourage others even when you yourself need encouragement. Love others even when they don't show love for you. Everything in life comes back to you. Make sure you are sowing good seeds. Tomorrow is not promised so live life helping people. That's the greatest legacy you can leave. This will impact more people because people may forget what you say, but they will never forget the way you make them feel. David Nunez Account Executive RGV Vipers