Who is Ms Jared?

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My name is Jared, yes Jared … I know what you’re thinking, “isn’t Jared a boy’s name?” Well yes, yes it is. My name is actually pronounced (Jar-ed) in Spanish, which is what my mom decided to name me. I’m full Mexican, by this I mean I was born in Mexico and both my parents are Mexican. I mostly grew up there, since my parents were constantly moving back and forth from the United States to Mexico, due to my dad’s Engineering Job.

Most of my childhood was spent moving back and forth from place to place. When you’re a child it could be the worst thing ever, you make friends and then suddenly you must start over again. However now that I’m older I learned from moving, I have become comfortable with the element of change and embraced it for my benefit.

As a child I wanted to be an entertainer, a singer, a dancer or perhaps an actress. It was a bit rough since my parents and people around me would laugh and joke about what I wanted to be. Those jokes can be devastating to a child, as it was for me. I became scared of everything; I grew up without confidence. In the back of my head all I wanted was to be successful and if that was not the path to take I would take another.

When I was 7 years old I began by making and selling small beaded flag pins that I would create. I really enjoyed selling and getting a profit for it. That was my first experience with entrepreneurship. As I grew older I found other ways to make money. I started selling Mexican candy at my school; I would sell lollipops, churritos, chips with chile and other types of candy. After I saved up enough I opened a candy store at the apartments where I lived. I made friends and convinced them to start a business where once in a while we would have bake sales. Entrepreneurship is another of the things I love to do and it was one thing I knew would be a path that would eventually get me where I want to be.

As I grew older I pursued other businesses. I discovered online sales, Ebay. In 2004 I started selling accessories and was soon making $3000 a month. I began at age 16 years and been generating extra income, since.

When I turned 28 I decided to go ahead and give a store front a try and open my business in my local town of Calexico, California. Keep in mind, I did not go to school for business. I have an Urban and Regional Planning degree from Cal Poly Pomona. However thanks to my job experience in Planning I was aware of zoning laws and licenses required to operate a business.

At the beginning the store did well but as time went by sales began declining, until one day I had to make the decision to close. It was so hard to let go of a dream that had failed, but I wasn’t making any money, I was in the red without any extra income to maintain it.

I went through an all-time low, my personal life was shattered, my economic problems were multiplying and I had just lost a dream business to unpreparedness and ignorance. My online business suffered as well and lost many buyers; it was not a good time. I decided to move away from my home town and recover from financial loses and the mental state I was in after so much failure had hit my life. I began looking for a job in other cities and I finally got one in the Los Angeles area. When I moved it changed my life. I see past failures as learning experiences, and understand that there is opportunity in every corner. After a few months in LA I decided not to quit and continue pursuing my dreams.

There are several life events that brought me to open this blog, but the main reason is that I am in a good mental state to where I have finally understood that if I fail I’m not a failure; I am only a failure if I stop trying. This is where my journey begins, where I will use my life experiences to achieve my goal of being a successful entrepreneur.