Today we’d like to introduce you to Alberto Assad.
Hi Alberto, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born in Los Angeles. CA from Mexican parents. My mom comes from a very humble background born in an adobe-made house in northern Mexico with 9 other siblings. My father, born and raised in northern Mexico, comes from a Lebanese family who had to start over in Mexico after leaving a civil war torn country. My mother’s family moved there on their way to Los Angeles, CA while they waited for their official US papers to come through. It took years. During that time my parents met in Tijuana, CA were they were studying. After they got married, my mom wanted me to have a better future so she moved to LA for a few months so I could be born there. I”m the eldest of 4 children. During that time my dad was studying to be a doctor while my mom worked as a hairstylist crossing the TJ-San Diego boarder every weekday to support the family. After some years while my mother was pregnant with my youngest sibling my dad left us. At that time my mom decided to move the family back to LA to live with my grandparents since she could not afford anything else and my dad was not providing alimony.
During this time, my mom worked and began studying nursing while she was taking care of the four of us with the help of my grandparents, who for me, as my second parents. However, since my grandfather did not believe that women should study my mom had to work in a textile-factory for a time to save up for school. Luckily, she got a partial scholarship which got her through nursing. She told me it was not easy for her and she had to study a lot to get passing grades.
I can go on so much more about my mother. All I will add is that she moved to Texas so my siblings could have a great education at an awesome school there. When she moved there she began a non profit organization called Helping Hands Medical Missions (Misiones Médicas Mano Amiga). For over 25 years, she has been taking doctors from the US to third world country including Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Brazil, Uganda, Ivory Cost, Philippines, among others.
As you can imagine, she has been the greatest example I’ve ever had in my life.
While she moved to Dallas. Texas with my three siblings, I went to a boarding school in New Hampshire. My mom spent all her money on our education because she believes so much in it and she wanted to make sure we had the opportunity to better ourselves. I had amazing teachers, high demanding academic programs, lots of sports, focus on the liberal arts and exposure to cultures from kids from all over the world. After I graduated from high school, I decided to dedicate my life to helping others which I’ve always loved to do. So I joined a Catholic seminary which the vision of becoming a priest one day. I never became a priest but I did dedicate 10 years of my life to a seminarians life fully dedicated to helping others. I got to live in several countries which immersed my into many cultures and peoples from all ways of life. It helped to get to know myself well, understand human nature and learn how to treat others from all ways of life from the humblest background to the most influential people. All assets which have helped me in my current state of life. It was the most beautiful phase of life. I discovered who I was, gave me the humility and the confidence I needed to become a better man. During this time I lived in 4 countries (Italy, France, Spain and Canada) and learned 2 other languages (Italian and French) and completed my first master’s degree which is in philosophy in Italy. I worked with a lot of leadership programs in the US and Europe. I also got the incredible experience at a young age to work in the headquarters of the organization which managed members in 24 different countries; truly an invaluable experience. At the age of 27, I discerned to move on.
I then moved to Mexico City, where I became the International Director of Mass Media for that same organization, helped restructure all the non-profit organizations the organization had worldwide, expanded a sports company internationally as the executive director, completed my MBA program and also obtained a master’s in social responsibility.
I then decided to move back to the US (Washington DC) where I joined a consulting firm. I worked in the business unit were we developed strategic plans and provided financial consulting which I truly enjoyed and got good at really fast. After a time I decided to move to Atlanta where I continued working in management consulting. After two years, I had to leave that firm. I was looking for another job when the clients I worked with at that firm asked me to continue working with them. After consulting with an attorney because I wanted to make sure I respected my non-compete, he told me I was good to go, so I started working with one client since I needed the money. After some months, all of the ones I worked with decided to come work with me without asking me asking them. So, I realized I must have been doing something right and decided to start my own consulting firm. Since then, my firm has grown to having clients in across the US, Mexico, Africa and the Middle East. I have also continued studying and am currently going through the Certificate of Professional Development in Strategy and Finance program at The Wharton School at UPenn. A year into that I got married to the most amazing woman, also Mexican-American like me. I have given more than 2,000 hours pro-bono to minority men and women small business owners. I am on the board of 3 non-profit organizations. I still play ice-hockey, we love to travel and are big foodies.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
– I’ve had to start my life completely over at least three times. One time I only had $1,000 dollars and another time I didn’t even had money to pay for my lunch but I never once asked anyone for money. I made my way on my own. I didn’t want to owe anyone money nor did I want to ask others who also had little. – I had to learn new languages.
– I had to meet new people and make new friends (Facebook hadn’t made its way to Europe nor Mexico yet).
– I had to jump from one career to a new one (from non-profit to for-profit)
– I had to accept being the outsider so many times.
– I had to support a certain level of discrimination for being “American” when I lived in Europe, being a “gringo” when I lived in Mexico, not being “seen as an American” when I came back to the US because after living abroad for 12 years I had an accent (a bit of Spanish and French in certain vowels when I spoke).
– Learning how to live as a layperson from the “monastic” lifestyle I had before (psychologically challenging for many to make the paradigm shift).
We’ve been impressed with Atlantic Consulting Solutions, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I have a consulting firm that focuses on privately-held small and medium sizes businesses primarily in the metro-Atlanta area. We offer the guidance and the tools a business owner requires to be a successful CEO and scale his/her business. We offer strategy, management and financial consulting tailored to each business and business owner’s needs. We have worked with over 110 business owners in the past 6 years, 32 different industries, prepared over 150 business plans, helped raise over $140 million in capital/credit, We are known for being trusted advisors and providing truly strategic advice when making important company decisions. We help our clients not only develop their vision but also to implement it (execution). Our holistic approach is what gives us the competitive advantage from others: not only do we have MBAs, strategy and financial expertise but we also have the experience as executives in dealing with complex situations that embody everything from marketing/sales to managing people to finance.
Most consultants are only experts in one or a couple of things so as much as they try they cannot truly provide the depth of strategic approach we can for small businesses. We have dealt with business model improvements, financial structuring, organizational restructuring, raising capital and obtaining large credit lines/loans, significantly improved company cultures in toxic environments, trained executives/managers to become great leaders, helped companies merge, helped companies acquire others and sell themselves for double the original offer, fired COOs, created successful revenue models, helped negotiate large deals, etc. Finally, we are bilingual consultants that understand the complexities of cultures and approaches.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
It’s all about people. In order for a business to have long-term and large scale success they must have great leaders. It’s all about the quality of the talent they have not only in leadership positions but across the organization. This leadership requires a yin and yang of humility and ferocity founded on true passion for serving others. This leads to success which generates wealth. As for me personally, I’ve learned that to be a great consultant you have to truly care as much as the owner because it’s not enough to through information at someone and turn off. It has to be a delicate balance of caring and not letting it affect your personal life. A great consultant for privately-held businesses cannot just be a theorist, he/she must also be a coach, a trusted advisor, knowledgeable, a facilitator, a leader, a support, a counselor, a teacher, a brother, a friend.
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