There are times where we rise to the top and then we make mistakes and fail. Unfortunately, after suffering from some setbacks, self esteem can take a blow and it'll make a person doubt themselves. However, through those moments of failure are opportunities to learn and do better the next time around. I'm also glad that my friends and my co-founders from my online community stuck with me these past 13 years. We're still here and we're still going strong. What started out as a gaming community for PC games for family and friends grew into an extended family. There were some decisions that were great and led us to success. There were some decisions that were not so great and it led to people leaving us. However, one thing I've learned these last 13 years was that this was part of the growing process. As my community grew, I went from being the oldest member of the team to being the youngest. We've had people come and go but eventually, the right people came to help us grow and we've stayed together since. In short, change is part of the growing process. To become successful, we can’t stay in the same behavior or same patterns. We have to evolve, learn new skills and improve ourselves.
It was very scary starting my own project because I didn't have any funding and did not know where it'll go down the road. This also presented an opportunity to explore the unknown and try new things. It took some time as we went through trial and error. When our members wanted a game server for a game we played: America's Army, we needed funding to get the server. We tried getting sponsorship but that failed. We then went with donations from members. Through our fundraising campaign from fellow members, each person donated $5.00 a month in order to pay for our server. We assigned a designated treasurer who handled the money. This required trust. We went with the eldest member of the community, my co-founder who is a father of 4 and enjoys building websites. Each member voted and we decided that my co-founder Rick would be in charge. I’ve also decided that it was time to hand the reigns of leadership to Rick because of his experience and I can learn from him. Rick became my mentor. Letting go of something I built from the ground up was a decision that took me some time to think about but to ensure its success I knew things will be in good hands with Rick at the helm. Each month, we submitted our payments to him. The additional funds also helped pay for our website until the stock market crash of 2008 when almost all of our members lost their jobs. So to cut back on expenses, we had to cut the servers and moved our communications to Facebook which we still use today. Throughout the years, we've adapted and we learned from mistakes. This helped us grow together as a team.
After looking back and talking to the people involved in growing our community, this gave me hope and inspiration. We catch up on each other every now and then to see how we're doing as we move forward into our own lives. But one thing that keeps us together is the bond we share.
Recently, I've had to remember why I started this journey. It's been awhile since I've led a team and I've had my setbacks before but given this opportunity, I'm looking forward to doing it again. My late mentor, Dr. Janice Jackson once told me "the hardships you endure will only make you stronger. You'll prosper from it in the end. I can see it. I'm proud of you". I still have that memory playing in my mind each day when I encounter obstacles in life be it in my career or in my personal life. The hard work finally paid off when my son Michael Rafael was brought into the world and now my new opportunity awaits at a new company where I can do some good. I'll be helping people in remote parts of the world get Internet access on their mobile devices. This is a dream come true. Of course, not everything is flowery. I'll have to part ways with the people at my current company in order to start new. It's part of the growing process. Change is part of life and is what helps one grow as a person. When we fight against that change, we stop growing.
I've had to greatest mentors in my life and glad to be able to learn from them. It's time I make them proud and take that next step in my life to lead a team for a change and to be part of a growing movement to help those less fortunate be able to get Internet access.
My philosophy professor, Dr. Sarmento told us the following advice from the day we started his class and reminded us this advice on our last day in class:
"The unknown is what we fear. To fear the unknown is not worth living. To live, we must explore the unknown. Failure brings experience. Experience brings us wisdom. Wisdom makes life bearable".