 Welcome to Keys to Success, which is live on the ThinkTech Livestreaming Network series weekly on Thursdays at 11 a.m. We are your hosts. My name is Danelia D-A-N-E-L-I-A. And I'm the other half of the duo, John Newman. Welcome to today's show. The goal of this show is to provide professional and personal development tools and profound insights on how to achieve success in life, career, and or business. Dana Land, pop jazz vocalist, was our guest on our last show and her words of wisdom can be accessed on Newman Consulting Services website, NewmanConsultingServices.com or our landing page, danelia.org. In Hawaii, we have what's called the brain drain. Hawaii's young people appear to be one of the state's leading exports and Hawaii businesses are feeling the effects of this. Not only that, but Hawaii's unemployment rate in October of this year was 3.2%, which is great for our community for challenging for employers as there is a smaller pool of qualified workers. But there is help for employers in this area. The State Workforce Development Division offers funding for employers through the Employment Training Fund, referred to as ETF, that has helped hundreds of employers enhance their workers' skill sets. Employees can now translate their new skills into improving job performance as well as increase their chances to future promotions and increase in pay. Eligible employers participate in the ETF program are able to receive tuition assistance for courses through their list of approved vendors. Currently, employers can receive 50% tuition assistance for ETF approved courses, up to $250 with a $500 tuition cap. In 2017, the good news is that this is increasing to $400 with an $800 tuition cap. So if you would like to learn more about the ETF program, please call 586-887-7 or 596-0200 or go to the Hawaii Employer Training Fund Program website, which is located at the laborhawaii.gov site. Joining us today in the studio as our honored guest is Sal Guevara, Vice President, Digital Technology, also known as that, Alarm System Technology. Sal is back in July, he was on a show in July, but he's back now to share more of his wisdom. Thank you for joining us, Sal. Oh, thanks for having me on your show. Yeah, great to have you on board again. I love both of you. I get excited when I'm in your company. Yeah, you see, there was so much that we, that you talked about last time that was so valuable, and so you had so much more to say. So we said, we have to have you back. Yeah, I forgot what else I had to say. We don't want you to forget anything, okay? All right, so we know that you are truly an accomplished entrepreneur. And please share with our viewers, if you will, some of the insight that you have in building a successful business. Somebody insight I have. Okay. Well, you gotta wake up every day. One day at a time. You gotta keep your eye on the goal. Okay. Keep your eye on the price, and just do it and don't quit. All right. Well, you know, Sal, one of the things that we've talked about and when we spoke to you recently, you talked about the fact that you received another Rolex for being the most sales, is that what it was or what was it? Yeah, for sales in a certain time period. Okay. And I went to New Orleans, not knowing to accept a Rolex, that was the farthest thing from my mind. I was bringing a couple from Australia there to look at the business, the alarm business. And we had a general meeting and the guy, the president said that he had two Rolexes to give away. And he called the first guy and I said, well, you know, boom, boom, boom, clap hands for him. And then when he called me, I mean, I was like shocked. You know, I wake up every day and I work every day not to win anything, but just to be the best I can be. That's what I do. And that's just the byproduct of the end result of all the effort that I put in. And what we teach in our school is that you don't have to win every game, but you have to give it a winning effort. And that winning effort will show up no matter what you do. And it'll show up at times like you share with us right now. You'd had no clue that you were gonna be on it with a Rolex, but you had given it a winning effort and it paid off. Isn't this your third Rolex? That's my third Rolex. Third Rolex. And you know, even at your mature development age, look at you, you're still performing. It's just really fantastic. You know how to do it. Yeah, I'll be 75 February first. Wow, you know how to do it. And we've made a pact. That fourth Rolex comes to me right now. That's on there. We got it on tape. Well, when did you consider yourself a success? Never. The road to success is always under construction. You know, the road to failure is paid with good intentions, but yeah, I don't feel like I'm successful, really. I mean, I'm in a better place than I was when I came to Hawaii and stuff. And since I've came here and since I was living on the floor and only had $75 left in my pocket to owning 12 properties free and clear, six of them here and six of them in Tampa, I feel the same as the day that I started. So when did you have the vision to have six properties and be able to use the money that you earned to develop the retirement type of portfolio? Well, being an independent contractor, not working for the government, not working for the city and county, not working for a big corporation with pension plans. I had to do some financial planning and have an exit plan for the future. And I lived on very little and the monies that I made, I took, I put it into properties. So, you know, I tell people, you're working for your money right now, but you gotta eventually turn the tables and get your money working for you. Would you say that again? That's a tweetable quote. Would you say that one more time? Absolutely, you're working for your dollars now, right? So what you need to do is eventually take those dollars, turn the tables on them and send those dollars to work. My dollars are working hard. Okay. Well, you know, it's interesting because we really feel that a successful retirement is a retirement where your money is working for you. So that's exactly what you're talking about. Absolutely. I could retire tomorrow and not change my lifestyle. Yeah, that's fantastic. What do you feel, Sal, is the difference, if any, right now between achieving success in your younger years as to what you're doing right now? There's no difference. Okay. There's no 30 years ago when I started to today, if someone was starting the business, takes the same effort, the same attitude, and the same don't quit. The people that make it are the people that don't quit. You know how many times I wanted to quit? Yeah, we know, because we feel the same way. And I'd go back in the next day and you'll look at all the people that depend on you and look towards your leadership. I can't quit on them, you know. Quit on myself, but not on them. But what you just said is very profound and it's very heartfelt. And Zig Ziglar says pretty much the same thing. He's gone now and we all love him, you know, and we wish him the best in his journey. If you help, you can have anything you wanna have. If you help, enough people get what they want. Absolutely. And what you said was caring and sharing. You had a job, you had a career, then you created jobs. And when you create jobs, you have to help people. People depend on you. And like you said, you can't give up on it. Right. And that's why we're here. I didn't make all those sales. My people made all those sales, you know. We did it as a team. Teamwork makes the dream work. Oh, there you go, I love that. Another tweetable quote. One more time, Sam. Teamwork makes the dream work. What are the biggest challenges that you feel that looking back that you've experienced on your path on becoming the successful entrepreneur that you are? What are the biggest challenges? Looking back, what do you feel comes to the forefront as the biggest challenges? Oh, just having the guts to go ahead and do it. Just waking up every day and not even thinking of failure. Just putting one foot in front of the other. Working 12 to 16 hours a day, day in and day out until you make it happen. I know if you put in constant effort and you're doing the right thing by people, by your customers, eventually you'll win out. I've gone out and I've worked, when I first started, made a sale by one o'clock and went home and felt lousy. I've gone out and knocked on doors for 12 hours, didn't even get in the house and put on a demo. Went home and felt like a million bucks. I didn't even make a sale or get in the house because I knew that day I gave it all I got. The day I went home at one, I didn't give it all I got. And that taught me a lesson, give everything you got on a daily basis or you're not given nothing at all. Give it a win and effort. Every day, every time. And how do you let go of the fear? The fear, you step into your fears and eventually they disappear. Fear, F-E-A-R, is false evidence appearing real. You know, when I first, when Kirby, when I first joined Kirby, I never got up and spoke in front of people. They pulled my name out of a fishbowl. And I said, oh my God, there was like a hundred people in the audience, my peers. And I got to get up and speak to these people. My spine tightened up, I was shaking from head to toe. I got up there and believe me, I flopped. I couldn't even speak. But I said, someday I'm gonna get up and I'm gonna speak in front of hundreds of people and I've spoken in front of a thousand people at one time. Because you speak from your heart. I speak from my heart and I stepped into my fears. You got to, when you fear something, just keep doing it until the fear disappears. That's right, you have to believe, right? You got to believe. Okay, well, that went really quick today. So we're going to take a short break. This is Kids to Success on the Think Tech Live Streaming Network series. We're talking with Sal Sabera, Vice President of DAT, Digital Alarm Technology, Regarding Kids to Success. My name is Danelia D-A-N-E-L-I-A. And I'm the other half of the duo, John Newman. We'll be back in a minute, so please stay tuned for more Kids to Success. Hi, this is Jane Sugimura. I'm the co-host for Kondo Insider. And we're on Think Tech Hawaii every Thursday at three o'clock. And we're here to talk about condominium living and issues that affect condominium residents and owners. And I hope you'll join us every week on Thursday. Aloha. Hi, I'm Keely Akina, President of the Grass Root Institute. I'd love you to join us every week Mondays at two o'clock PM for Ehana Kako. Let's work together. We report every week on the good things going on in our state as well as the better things that can go on in the future. We have guests covering everything from the economy, the government, and society. See you Mondays on Ehana Kako at two o'clock PM. Until then, I'm Keely Akina. Aloha. Aloha, everyone. I hope you've been watching Think Tech Hawaii. But I'm here to invite you to watch me on Viva Hawaii every Monday at 3 PM. I'm waiting for you. Mahalo. Aloha. How you doing? Welcome to Ubachi Talk. Gordo detects our here. We're here every Friday from one o'clock until about 1.45 when we talk tech with many, many great guests. I got Andrew the security guy who helps me co-host and I got Poppy Chulow who comes in once in a while to help us through the show. So please come join Ubachi Talk every Friday. Angus will be here too. So remember, like we say at the end of every show, how you doing? Welcome back. This is keys to success of the Think Tech Livestreaming Network series. We encourage you to call our hotline at 415-871-2474 to join our conversation or tweet us at Think Tech H-I if you have any questions or comments. We've been talking with Sal Savera, Vice President of DAT which is Digital Alarm Technology. My name is Danelia D-A-N-E-L-I-A. And I'm the other half of the duo, John Newman. Welcome back to the show. Sal. Yes, sir. Are you ready? It's good to be back. All righty. We'll take a deep breath and jump right back into it. Yes. Okay. In your words, Sal, what is your opinion when it comes to the qualities and skills that's necessary to succeed? Okay, that's a good question. First, you need a good moral compass. That's important. Then you need a positive attitude. Good people skills, very important. And to me, the most important thing is you need mental toughness. Well, you know, if you can't take it, you can't make it. You gotta be able to take it. Yeah, I love that. All right. So, and to piggyback on that, Sal, what is the one question that every entrepreneur should ask themselves? Am I doing the right thing? Am I going after what I want? Am I gonna be helping the community? Am I gonna be helping enough people to become successful? Because when you go into business, you're gonna be hiring people. You know, you're gonna be paying their salaries. They got family that depends on that income and keeping your business going. You don't wanna build a business that goes out of business. You wanna build a business that is there for the long term. That endures. That endures. You know, I wake up every morning. I mean, I could retire and not have to work anymore and still, and travel and do whatever I wanna do, but I do it. I wake up every morning because people are depending on me. When I go into that office and I see people come in and ask how the kids are, we'll go into a one-year-old birthday in February for one of the people that work with us. And, you know, some day they wanna send their kids to college, so you gotta make sure that you're there so that they can make some money. And what you just said was very powerful. You said people that work with us. Yeah. If your staff understand that they're working with you and not for you, that's a powerful statement. You know what I tell them? I tell them I don't write your paycheck, you write mine. I love it. Yeah, I love that. And you know, sometimes with staff, because we manage several businesses, and sometimes with staff, they really don't understand the amount of pressure that a business owner has with the amount of expenses that occur. So, you know, staff might say, oh, we had all this money come in this month, but then it realized that most of it went out to pay salaries, to pay overhead, to pay, you know, all the expenses, rent and everything else, and all the taxes and everything that's associated with the business. So it's, you know, it's really interesting because I was talking with a business owner the other day and we determined that our staff get more vacation than we do. I was so confused. Yeah, because as a business owner, you work in 24-7. I mean, you might be in Dubai, you might be in Machu Picchu, but you still think about the business and how things are going, and it always pops into your mind to try to do things better, you know? Absolutely. When you were in South America fighting for your life, you were trying to survive to come back here because of the people that depend on you. Exactly, right? That's a whole other story. You let the kid out of the bag, no one's supposed to know we're in South America fighting for our lives, okay? So funny. So, you know, one of the things that we talked a little bit about fear earlier, but I really want to touch more on this subject, you know, the fear of the unknown is just, you know, our fear can really, really hold us back. You know, do I let go and move forward or do I stay where I am because of that fear? And I've been telling individuals, you know, you only live once. You have to go for it. I mean, you really have to go for it. If you don't succeed, you learn from the experience, but you will be always be okay. I mean, you will. I totally agree with you 100% because this is not a dress rehearsal. We don't get to do this life over again. That's right. So if you feel strong about something and you have passion for something, just go ahead and do it. Like the Nike slogan, just do it. Yeah, just do it, absolutely. And those naysayers, which we call, you know, there's always somebody who wants to share with you why they think you shouldn't do this or that. The thing is what you just said, you focus on what you want and just go for it. Yeah. So what is the motto or advice that you live by? I have, to me, the most important thing is attitude is everything. You got a positive attitude all the time. Life is great. And I choose to have a positive attitude 100% of the time. Talking about attitude, I got a little math question for you. Okay. Okay. A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E. A is the first letter in the alphabet. T is the 20th letter in the alphabet. I believe U is the 21st. I is the 29th. D is the fourth and E is the fifth. Now, if you take each one of those letters and you put a number to each one of those letters, it equals 100. Oh, that's cool. That's really cool. So to me, attitude, if you got a positive attitude, you got 100% of the formula. That's great. That's it. And that's how I live by. That's great. And what we share to our team and the individuals that go through our job readiness training course is that your attitude determines your altitude. Absolutely. So is there anything else that you'd like to accomplish that you haven't accomplished? No, just wanting to see people become successful and happy and hopefully someday step into my shoes and take over my position and take over the responsibilities. And, you know, when I see people go out and succeed that came through my organization, I'm more proud of them than the money I make on them. You know, in promoting people to the road to success in Kirby, I've earned over a million dollars, just in promotions. And some of those people that I promoted built bigger businesses than mine. And I get more joy at it at than forget about the money. The money's just the byproduct of the end result. Oh, that's so true. Yeah. So true. So how do you maintain your daily motivation and inspiration despite all the setbacks and everything? I know you mentioned that, you know, just going in and seeing your staff and everything, but is there more, more? No, I jump out of bed every morning, happy as can be. I mean, it was a year in Kirby, like I didn't take any salary because business was on a down slope. But I walked into that office, like we just had our best day and we didn't even have a sale yesterday. You know, because they look to you, you're the example, they look to you for the leadership. And then I hired people during that year that were ignorant to the conditions out there and they started selling and taking in older Kirby's that are a couple of years old when I had veterans that would never even put a demo against an older Kirby and created a whole new market and boom, you know. You know, Sal, I'm sorry, but we're out of time again. We're out of time, we'll have to wrap it up. John, would you like to share your quote of the day? Yes, to Neil, you know, I would like to share a quote by Albert Einstein, which says, imagination is more important than knowledge. Sal Saberra's words of wisdom with regards to Keystone to success can be found on Newman Consulting Services webpage, NewmanConsultingServices.com and landing page, denilia.org. Thank you so much, Sal, for being a part of our team here today. It seemed like it was five minutes. I know, it's just amazing, isn't it? We can't squeeze another 10 minutes. All right, think keys to success will be back on Thursday at 11 a.m. We ask that you please tune in again and ask your family and friends to do so as well. My name is Denilia, D-A-N-E-L-I-A. And I'm the other half of the duo, John Newman. We thank you all. Aloha! Aloha!