Risk, Ego and Community

By Luis Dominguez, Vice-President of the Salvadorean Surfing Association FESASURF and Managing Partner JM Administracion y Desarrollos S.A. de C.V. email: luisernestodominguez@gmail.com

I have been surfing since I was 14 years old. I was always distracted at school because I learnt quickly. I was considered intelligent in my class, but not fond of rules. It was an advantage I was not born in the ADD Era, because I would have been medicated.

When I was 18 years old and graduated from school I got the support of my dad to start my first serious small business venture where I would be in charge all by myself. I created a goat farm that was a model visited by university students, but failed to sell it's products. In one year I sold the farm to a Salvadorean that lived abroad and it was a succesfull real estate deal. In 1991 we bought at 80k with 15k down, invested 30k, and sold for 140k. Total investment of 45k plus interests, and we sold for 140k in 1 year!. The buyer offered me a work/study stay at his house in downtown L.A. and that is how I ended in a real estate license course in 1992.

When I was a teenager surfing was all about radical moves, $400 buck surfboards which I could hardly afford, aerials, and the fit body, tan, clothes, and bully persona. Beyond the common surfer archetype I just mentioned, there were moments that I could  predict when the waves were big just by feeling the wind and looking at the sky in the city. There was something that called me to go surfing and I used to find big waves when I followed my instincts.

I left my surfer persona in 1993, and stopped partying ever since at 21. I kept surfing less and less and when I was 33 I hardly hit the beach. I had becomed obssesed with work, suits, the "I don't have time for nothing" attitude and a business persona. I worked at a Bank and became CEO of our real estate association.

It always hurt me a lot when people did not understand when I was trying to do things they thought I was not qualified for. Who are you to think you can do that? What is your track record? What resources do you have? What is your experience?

The need for beeing accepted kept me from embracing my whole potential as an entrepreneur. I changed surfboards for the hard working man archetype and thought I was beeing a good boy.

Excess work, worry, fear,insomnia,pressure, the sense of beeing responsible for so many things that were not in my hands started to pass the bill to my health in my late 30's and early 40's.

3 years ago I decided to surf again, I started to invest time in surfing and good food, time with my family near nature, and that first year, my productivity changed, I saw how a project we had been having problems to develop sold easily it's second phase. I have ever since been recovering my health, step by step, wave by wave and investing in myself and my family. I made a bet for a better future with my wife and consciously brought to life our second daughter.

I now feel the urge to surf big waves. I have surfed the biggest swells that have arrived to our country in the past couple of years. When I tell people of my urge to surf bigger waves, I still feel hurt when they tell me I am not qualified.

I have experienced that when you surf big waves and risk your life, your ego dissapears. All those people you don't communicate with suddenly become your friends and you start caring for the others life and feel the sense of beeing safer if you see somebody around. A true sense of community. There are still stronger and better surfers but there is no time for ego. I like that. It is man and nature. The survival of the fittest.

When I am out there alone, with big waves that could drown me, I see the faces of my daughters and my wife, and I think I have to be there for them, I have to survive, I have to return home. I have no option. No margin for error. Crazy. Yes. But that experience always makes me rebirth and know what is really important.

I am starting to realize that to find my true potential and call I need to hang out with others that need to surf big waves. Surfers that are willing to train and go for that big wave. The same in business. I need to go out there and surf big projects, and be part of those who are willing to risk it all and be part of that business community. That has always been my call and will always be. I am an opportunistic investor. I risk my life everyday. Legal agreements, promises, are all bullshit in some cases; they are breached and broken. They are mere formality. A must. They reduce risk, yes, but are not the essence of business. It is only the trust in life that I will obtain my returns that lets me go further. The end game. I can see and foresee risks in complex situations, I am good at it, but when I think about my family, fear of failure must be overcomed. I must go on. I need to survive. I need to be there for them, even with the risk of loosing everything.

I am always figuring out how to add value in the long term to the projects I manage and invest in. Some people say I am stupid investing in risky projects and not obtaining nothing in the short term. But that is the way I am. I am long term greedy. 

I injured my leg almost two months ago. I got beaten up in the waves one day and did not give up. I went back the next day. I got my injury. I have experienced pain in the past days, and I am about to win big or fail big in some business. But that is how I am. 

                     Sourcing deals yesterday. 

My plan is to recover from my injury and prepare myself for bigger waves. I LIKE BIG WAVES AND BIG PROJECTS!!