Originally posted by OC Register. View entire article here.
Reuben, the CEO of OC Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, asks John, left, a chamber board member who is the owner and founder of OC Hospice Care, what made him leave a job in corporate America to start his own business:
“I ran into [a doctor he had worked with] at a hospital and he said, ‘Come over to my kid’s birthday party this weekend in Huntington Beach. Bring your wife and kids.’ Unfortunately, my kids were sick that weekend and my wife couldn’t go, but she told me to go. It’s interesting, because if I hadn’t gone to his kid’s party, OC Hospice would have never gotten started.
“At that party, he pulled me aside and said, ‘John, all these years I’ve known you, you’ve always helped build other businesses, whether it’s hospices or organizations, but when are you going to open your own?’ I’d never thought about it, but he said, ‘You should do it. You can build it; you’ve built other ones.’ He instilled in me that confidence.
“I went home and asked my wife, ‘What do you think about us starting our own hospice?’ and she looked at me, like, are you serious? I called one of my old bosses who was retired and then my sister came in. Who would have thought, you know, helping each other out? That doctor instilled that in me. It wasn’t planned, but I think that’s why nowadays I enjoy teaching and mentoring young kids to be entrepreneurs, because it’s exciting when you’re building something from scratch and seeing it grow like a plant.”