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What's a goal you're currently working towards? What inspired this goal? 

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What's a goal you're currently working towards? What inspired this goal? 

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"Retiring early. Turning 50 this year pushed my goal to retire early. With 4 businesses that give us a good income, I could do that but I still want to secure our next 20-30 years for our family. I would like to semi-retire in a year or 2 so I can spend my time the way I want to and dedicate more time to exercise, family, and travel."

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What was an important day that you remember, and why? 

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What was an important day that you remember, and why? 

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"The day I became a father. It was a Sunday morning and very sunny out. Leading up to it, we would go to dinner, walks, etc, all at our own time. The day my first was born, everything revolved around him. We didn’t mind because now we had a reason for everything we did. He gave us purpose in life and we continue feeling that way with both of our kids."

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If you could give a younger person life advice, what would you say to them? 

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If you could give a younger person life advice, what would you say to them? 

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"Slow down and smell the roses but be proactive when needed. As a young kid, I would not take time to enjoy what mattered and didn’t know it. Time with family is so important that now I look back and I wish I cherished those times more. I wish I asked my grandparents more questions so I know where I come from and what made me who I am."

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Describe your first job.  What did you do? What details do you remember? 

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Describe your first job.  What did you do? What details do you remember? 

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"My first real job was for an Ecuadorian leading furniture manufacturer. They hired me to be their spy. I was in charge of getting big quotes from different competitors. Most salespeople were extremely nice, invited me to their factories, I toured around, etc. It was a lot of fun to see how things are made but after 3 months I decided to quit. I saw a lot of people work really hard for a sale and I knew I wasn’t going to buy from them and worst of it all, I was bringing all that information to the company that hired me. I’m glad I had that experience but I wouldn’t want to do that for a living."

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What's a quotation you would associate with yourself?

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What's a quotation you would associate with yourself?

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"It doesn't matter what life throws at you, you have to learn to the best with what your given"

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when life gives you lemons make lemonade

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Tell me about a passion or interest you have.  When did you become interested in this? What should we know about it? 

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Tell me about a passion or interest you have.  When did you become interested in this? What should we know about it? 

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"About 8 years ago, I was invited to play in my first escape room. I didn’t know what it was but I was down for a night out in the town. Little did I know, this was going to change my life. I started playing them when traveling for work, with friends, etc. To the point that I opened my own and now it’s a major source of income for our family. I am very passionate about the design, the construction, and the industry. I can talk about it for hours and hours. I have played over 200 games and built 18 fully immersive games. It’s a healthy passion."

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What's a challenge you've overcome that has shaped who you are today? 

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What's a challenge you've overcome that has shaped who you are today? 

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"As a young kid in my home country of Ecuador, I always wanted to be a business owner like my parents. I started a total of 7 companies before I moved to the US and most were very successful. My second business was a large format printing company but I had a manager because I was working on my main one as a developer/construction company. I should’ve stopped putting money in the business early but I kept trying to make it work. We invested a lot in technology but in the end, the market was saturated and one day I finally decided to close. It was very difficult to see that business fail because I had high hopes for it and had invested a lot of money in it. I learned an important lesson. Don’t dig a bigger hole when you have one you don’t want."

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 Describe a moment when you felt truly proud of yourself. What led to that feeling?

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 Describe a moment when you felt truly proud of yourself. What led to that feeling?

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"I wanted a big building for all my businesses and decided to buy some land, design, and build. I didn’t have a lot of funding but I finally got a way to do it. People would call it “My white Elephant” but I believed in the project and rents would pay for it in 7 years. Step by step we got close to design, permits, construction, and finally the day we moved in. I felt very accomplished and after 7 years we had the building paid off. It has been one of the best projects I have had in my career; not a big project but a great one because of how it happened."

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What's the best piece of advice you've ever received? How has it influenced your life?

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What's the best piece of advice you've ever received? How has it influenced your life?

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"Do what you enjoy and you are good at. People always say, you have to enjoy what you do, but it’s difficult to know what that is. In my life, I have followed my passions and I can attest to it. Doing what I love has brought me happiness and the money with it. People see you excited about what you do and they want to be around you. The key is to try many different things until you find what you are passionate about. If you don’t try, you will never know what you are good at. You will have many failed attempts until the one thing falls in front of you."

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Marcelo's first building that he designed.

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This is a drawing of when my dad was in his late teens. He used to race at rallies and one time he crashed into a little farm and accidentally killed 2 chickens and a pig. I chose to draw this because it shows how unhinged and unregulated his childhood was and I believe it contributes to his story.