The Entrepreneurship & Innovation Studio

Small Business Development: Collaboration and Mentorship with German Zavalza

• Stanislaus State • Season 1 • Episode 4

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This episode of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Studio welcomes German Zavalza, the Director of the Valley Sierra Small Business Development Center (SBDC), to share his expertise on all things small business in the Central Valley.

Host Dr. Pablo Paredes Romero speaks with German about the importance of putting ideas and plans on paper, finding mentors, and utilizing resources like the SBDC and the Warrior Entrepreneurship Innovation Program. The conversation highlights the collaborative and supportive environment in the business community and the impact of small businesses on local ecosystems.

Co-produced by the Warrior Entrepreneurship and Innovation program and the Office of Strategic Communications and Marketing at Stanislaus State. The E&I Studio is edited and recorded in the KCSS studios on the campus of Stanislaus State.
The views expressed by guests on this podcast are not necessarily those of the University.

Welcome to the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Studio, where we explore the passion and the purpose behind some of the amazing people in our community and, above all, their stories. I'm Dr. Pablo Paredes Romero and all my career, I've been fascinated by entrepreneurship and innovation from the moment an idea scribbled on a napkin, drawn on a tablet whiteboard and spoken out loud in the shower or in the car on the way to someone's 9 to 5. It's all about the work and the art behind the venture. German Zavalza is thoughtful, surgically punctual. Every word is measured and meaningful. He gives you the impression that Stillwater has run deep as Chief Innovation Officer at the Valley Sierra SBDC. This casts him in the role of nonprofit leader here for the entrepreneurs of the world, pre venture and otherwise. His is a life of faithful service as he manages the launching pad of other people's dreams. Welcome back. As we are here with our guests, German Zavalza of the Valley Sierra SBDC, where he serves as Chief Innovation Officer. How are you? I'm doing well, Pablo. Thank you for having me. I want to talk about community. Tell me about the community where you grew up. I was born in Aliso, Mexico. We moved to the U.S. when I was two. I had a younger sister who was about when my parents were in their early twenties. I don't remember much about Mexico because we were so young, but what I do remember was that we we moved to San Francisco primarily because I have an uncle who owned a liquor store there. It was a grocery store. Your typical, like ethnicity, they would sell goods as well. And he offered my father a job. Over the course of the years, we took on a larger role where it became more of a family owned business, where he would take care of like the produce and we would take care of the meat department. And for me, that was very important because it really gave me that when production toward entrepreneurship really is, I would work there on my days off on the weekends. And at the time I didn't really know it, but I was being taught a very important skill, the skill of customer service, the skill of caring for your community. Sometimes clients, reoccurring clients would come in and they were a little short and my uncle or my dad would cut him a break but kept the business coming. And and the business did very well. And that's something that I really remember because that was my intro to business. It was very grassroots, very community oriented, but it was great. Shortly after that, my folks started looking for a home. Of course, San Francisco, even in the early 2000s, was not very affordable. That's what brought us to the central Valley of Turlock, the same home where my parents live today. That's really where that sense of community started developing, right? I was in my adolescence by that point in time. I started building some friendships. A lot of those friendships that I still have today and that followed me through the end of my college career and now my my career here, my work. And I think that's what really stands out about the Central Valley. Relationships are important. Your word is, is your bond. If you say you're going to do something, you need to follow through with it, because it isn't uncommon for individuals like myself to go from one employer to another. But those relationships follow you. The work follows you, and some of our colleagues have done that, and you can see it there as well. But to me, community is very important and having that support but also giving back is equally as important. How have you seen the business community evolve here in the Central Valley? First and foremost, the pandemic changed a lot. I would say that the pandemic was a test for the resiliency of the business community. Unfortunately, a lot of businesses go under, but the businesses that had a plan, they had a game plan, even if it was written on a piece of paper and were able to pivot, were able to get through it and grow and scale and and now they're doing okay. So I would say over the course of the years have really been seeing the entrepreneurship community in our area thrive and grow. There was a minor dip during the pandemic. I think a lot of businesses suffered, but we're bouncing back and we're doing well. But I think something that we need to highlight is that entrepreneurship is changing, right? The millennials and the Generation Z now graduating a lot of those students want to start a business. You know, they don't want to follow the channel of like, I'm going to I'm going to go work for someone. I'm going to learn some skills and I'm going to promote, like a lot of us have. They want to get out. They want to be their own boss. They want more freedom over their time. They want to own their time. So for us as the SBDC we're always learning and we have to pivot on an ongoing basis. We have to pivot with the services that we offer, the talents of the consultants of our team, among other things, in order to keep up with that ever changing demand from the clients that are coming through our doors. Where do you see it all going? I see a lot of innovation in the future, and I'm I'm saying that because we're working with a lot of clients that are looking for new and creative ways to do things that we have been doing for a long time. I can't go into details, of course, into the non-disclosure agreements, but innovation is on the rise and some of the new talents, they're looking for ways to do things that we would never imagine was even possible. And it's exciting. It's really exciting to think about. If we can go from idea to concept, if we can get the product funded, it's just really exciting to see where that's going to go. And I think with quite a few clients that we're working with, I'm really excited to see where they go with that. You mentioned a lot of Gen Z businesses on the rise here in the Central Valley making decisions about owning their time and how they're going to really kind of shape that and the way that they like to make it say, is the most important thing that a young person compelled to start a small business in the Central Valley should know about the Central Valley. I would say the fundamentals of starting a business are very important. The creative aspects of the work, I think that's going to come because like I said, these individuals have talent. Just hearing them speak, I'm just I'm blown away by their ideas. But what I would suggest is that they get those ideas on paper. They put together a strong a strong plan. They take a look at their financials. The feasibility component is very important. I think that before you take anything from concept and you want to apply it like drive around, if it's a product, if it's a storefront, take a look at the area. Is it feasible? Like will it work? Ask questions, Take a look at the data, run the reports and get all of that information on paper, because the pandemic showed us that if you have a plan, it's a lot easier to to pivot. Having an idea is important, but being able to take that idea, measure the feasibility, put it on paper, assess if it's profitable, and then executing is a whole nother ballgame. Right? We want to support businesses, but we want to get them not just too large, we want them to be successful. We want them to contribute to the economic vitality of our area, to create good paying jobs and a lot of these ideas, they're very large scale. So I'm confident that they're going to get there. But it's extremely important that they put a lot of thought into that and that they get it on paper on a plan to find a mentor called SBDC. We're always here to help you, so call the SBDC call scorer, the Warrior Entrepreneurship Initiative. Right. Reach out to the folks here and just get that second look and make sure you write everything down and just continue to pivot and moving forward. Excellent point. I say this to people that I meet here and people I meet outside of the valley, been in the business community where everyone was so collaborative, so congenial to each other means competitions. Competition is going to happen no matter what. But you saw like real humanity, businesses helping each other out now. Yeah, that's accurate. So in the pandemic, just speaking for our team, right, for those BDC staff, I've never worked with the group of individuals that have been as supportive and that have cared about their community as much as as our consultants do. And I'm very grateful to have them on my team. But with that in mind, we had consultants that maybe didn't specialize in PPE doing the work you had organized sessions like, like a shout out to the to the Latino chamber, right? Like, was that in their space? Maybe not. But they were doing these PPE applications and assisting our clients in assisting their clients. So everyone came together to help each other out. And I think that's why we were able to bounce back in the way that we did. But let's take those lessons and let's let's move forward. And I think that what sets the Central Valley apart is, is just that that collaborative spirit. Everyone is open to working with everyone if it makes sense, if there is alignment. But a lot of these organizations that support small business, like we work very closely together because at the end of the day, it's the client that needs the services, the client that we need to support. And if we can make that happen, whether it's by leveraging our resources or by one organization taking the lead on the project, it's just important that we do it right. At the end of the day, we need to get the client through that finish line and that's amazing about our community here. People want to work together and our clients benefit from those services, whether it's our municipal partners, the county, the state. We get a lot of support from go because the SBA and here locally, all of the different organizations that support small businesses are chambers. It's just it's crucial that we continue to work together. For me, it comes back to learning and leadership, but I'm fascinated by both in equal measure. What would you say has been your most powerful learning experience as a leader and as BDC spaces? I couldn't pinpoint one specific example, but what I can say is that the concept of continuous improvement, right? I'm always learning, whether it's from our clients, our staff, our consultant team, our leadership at our organization. We're always learning. Continuous learning and growth mindset, as are concepts that are just so pervasive in so many different spaces and especially in business here in the Central Valley. To you personally, what does lifelong learning mean? Lifelong learning to me means that you're never done learning. You're always growing, you're always developing, and you've got to be open to that. I think we got to set our pride aside whenever we work in the service industry, like when in our industry, right? We're talking about the economic vitality of our region. I have a young daughter. She's she's going to be five this year, but we live in the valley. She's going to go to high school here. She's going to get her first job here. And to me, it's important that the economy is strong and that we're safe and that this is a good place to live. So when we're in the service industry, when that that impacts the economic vitality of our region, it's very important that we set our pride aside and that we're mindful of the bigger picture. And that's how can we improve the community that we live in. So we've always got to be open to new ideas and acknowledge that change is going to happen and just be open to that. Who or what has been your greatest teacher experience? Has been my greatest teacher because I came to Stan State I was a business major. You graduate and you just feel like you're going to conquer the world, right? Like I learned all of this. Now let me go apply it. Let me get a good paying job. Let me buy a house. All of that, all of that exciting stuff. But my experience will show you that you've got to be humble. You've got to have that growth mindset. And you might think that you're doing things a certain way and that that's the right way to do things. But experience will teach you that. You've got to continue pivoting and back to that concept of continuous improvement. But experience has been my my greatest teacher. If I had to pinpoint an individual, we would have to be my father. We immigrated to the States when I was a very young child and he didn't have the opportunities that I have today. I didn't have the opportunities that my daughter has now, but we never saw our selves as victim, right? That old school mentality going back to like my grandfather, who was a cattle farmer who in his days purchased some land and started a business in Mexico. And then my father benefited from that. Just seen how he was able to adapt. Right? You come to a country where you don't know the language, you don't own anything. You might have a hundred bucks in your wallet. Somehow he was able to support his family, put two kids through college. My sister, as I've mentioned in the past, she just finished her residency. She started here at UCSF in Fresno, and she's helping the new residents that are going through the program and myself like we we got these opportunities because he was willing to to take a risk. And I think that that it's very important to acknowledge that. Right. Like we're where we are today because somebody was willing to take take that risk to create those opportunities for us. But now that we have those opportunities, it's extremely important that we don't victimize ourselves, that we acknowledge that that we're here, the opportunities are there. If you look for them and take advantage of every single opportunity that that you get, because we all have 365 days in a year, what you make out of each and every one of those days is extremely important. And someone somewhere took that journey, took took on some risk or or made that decision to bring you to a place like like Lake Stanislaus County where where there is a lot of opportunity in order for us to do better. So it's extremely important that we're mindful of that and that we live each and every day knowing that it's up to us to to do something with that time. You may find yourself in what you do at times, being a teacher, if you didn't and you wanted to be a teacher, what would you teach? Well, I think we're all teachers, right? I could thinking back like and I and I've shared her name before. One of the best directors I've ever had. Her name was Sue Watson. She was my director when I was kind of like moving up the chain in the organization that I worked for before this. And she taught me patience. She she genuinely taught me with what an outcome driven mentality was. And that's focusing on the on the outcomes, not focusing as much on the activities, but giving your team the flexibility. You hire good people and you give them the flexibility to do their work and you trust them. They're going to produce. She taught me that, and she wasn't a teacher, but but I learned a lot from her. And I think I try to do the same thing with my staff whenever, whenever possible, or if I can't teach them, point them in the right direction of another community partner or another director, whether they're within our organization or not, to to help them grow. What role do you believe research plays in your everyday life and what you do? Oh gosh, it dictates everything that we do probably alone as an SPDC. We are the only federal program that has been consistently accredited. We go through a very long process every five years to receive that accreditation, and a big part of that is, is just our research. We're expected to ask these learning questions on an ongoing basis from our clients and from our staff, from our stakeholders, from our host opportunities. Then Stennis has a shout out to them as well and from our community, right, Because it's very important that we're relevant. And I'm going to repeat that. It's very important that our work is relevant because we need to hear from our clients as to what do they need us to what do they want us to offer, What does our program need to look like? And we do that on an ongoing basis because if we don't, we might be putting together workshops or we might be bringing on new consultants in an area that they don't necessarily need. Right. So so research is is crucial. It's very important that all of our decisions are backed by data. And and I'm talking about actual data. That's PDC now is very different than it was even two years ago when I started. The needs of our clients have changed. The pandemic has created some of that. But also just entrepreneurship is changing. It's generational and research is extremely important because again, the work has to be relevant. If it isn't, then we're missing the mark. What role do you believe research should play for a small business owner? It should play a huge role, right? When we think about feasibility before the launch of the business, that needs to be backed by research, will the business be successful? Have you done a market analysis? Have you identified a location? And if so, is that location the best location for your type of work for existing businesses? How do you continue providing the best product or service for your clients? That needs to be backed by research. And the exciting thing about that is that at SBDC, we have tools for that. We have tools that can support a client through like Geo Geofencing, I believe they call it it, or we can tell a clam this is where they go after they visit your your business opportunities. There are endless, right? But there's always going to be some risk when going into business. But by having the data, the research to support your decisions, you can manage that risk to a level that that makes sense and that's more profitable. It's important that our clients understand that you don't have to pay for all of this data, like partners like, like, like us, like score. We have those tools and we can support you. What do you find yourself enjoying researching? Like what do you geek out on? I'm kind of a data guy. We have access to to a lot of data, right? It's all confidential. Of course, we're never going to share confidential client information, but I do look at the report like what type of economic impact are we creating through our work? But after I look at the graphs, I like to dig in and find out why is this happening right? And are there trends like, for example, we noticed an increase in clients of 15% last month. Why did that happen? And usually you can you know, you can you can ask you can call a partner like an economic development director at a certain city and ask like, hey, we got X number of clients more from your area. Did you start a new program? Did did you advertise for us what happened? Right. And finding out the why is important because it helps us plan and it helps us decide where should we be putting our resources to find out what works. And it also helps us develop a program to better serve our clients. What is the secretly coolest part of what you get to do for a living? Working with clients? I'm doing a lot more of that now than I did when I started. I still feel like I'm drinking out of a fire hose. It's it's it's a big the work. It's challenging, right? But but that's the exciting thing about it. But I think now that I've identified clients that I can provide support to, right. Whether that's by connecting them with the right funding partner assisting them with their business plan, talking to them just to learn about their experience, and so that I can go out and find the talent to support them. I'm really enjoying that now. It just remind you why we're doing the work and there's there's information that you get that, you know, most of my work is at the strategy level, right? I'm talking about the strategic direction of the organization, the structure, the budgets. Not a lot of my work was direct client facing. So if I think back to like the beginning of my career, most of my work was direct client facing right? And you miss that, right? Because it's but now you can support clients at a greater scale by focusing on the strategy because now you're implementing programs or processes that can help them at a greater scale. So I might not meet with may not be able to meet with three or four clients a day. But through my team of consultants, through our staff, we can serve thousands a year. But now that I'm getting a little bit more familiar with the work, I can step away. And of course I have great support. Shout out to our program manager Amy, and our project coordinator, Stephanie, our new marketing coordinator, Rihanna, because they're really holding hope things down at the office and that gives me the ability to start connecting with clients at a greater level. That's what I enjoy the most about the work and hearing their success stories right after they put in the work. Like now, I was able to keep my business. Yes, I was able to sell my business. I was able to hire five employees. Those five employees can now go home and put food on the table because they have a job. They can be proud that they're working for a living and and supporting their families or for some of our clients that may have a little bit of experience under their belt. Now they're opening other locations and doing that at a greater scale. And that's by far what I enjoy most about this work. Everything we do needs to be client focused, bar none, right? What we do, everything we do is for our clients to help improve the economic vitality of our region. And it's always with the people, isn't it? Right. I those mind that the magic, if there is if that's the appropriate word, what does the word innovation mean to you? So to me, innovation is it's all about improvement. It's not it's it's about finding new and creative ways to either do something that has already been done more efficiently or to create a new product or service to that that addresses a specific need their resolve. The specific problem, to me, that's what innovation is. What do you feel that the word innovation should mean to us here in the Central Valley? Yeah, that's another big question improvement. We've got great resources here, we've got land, we've got AG, we do excellent work in manufacturing. So innovation for us should mean let's identify what we're good at. Let's not try to replicate something that's already been done. For example, the Silicon Valley. We have one. Do we need to know, should we create a bridge to the Silicon Valley? Maybe through our partnerships, through our resources, but identifying what we do well here and finding new and creative ways to do that better. How do you feel personally that you've been innovative in the places in which you've worked and grown? Like, how do I feel about being innovative? Or do I feel that I've been innovative? How do you feel you have been innovative. There's always room for improvement, right? I think that like we talked about earlier, when you have that growth mindset, you acknowledge that there's always a better way to do things and that's important. But I will say that in in my organization, right in the the division that I'm responsible for, we've taken some risks with you. Just if you look at our our structure, we we've got some fairly green staff that are just filled with amazing ideas and they're doing great work and they're finding new ways to improve our processes, whether that's the tracking mechanisms or the supporting structures for independent contractors and there was a level of risk when some of these ideas were very we could call them modern, right? But I think that's I've been the most innovative by being able to empower my my team to bring their ideas to the table, to implement those ideas and to execute. What is the term of thought leadership into. Thought leadership. I'm a little embarrassed, but I haven't heard the concept. But to me thought leadership would mean being very thoughtful about the the decisions that you make and who those decisions impact, whether it's your staff, your your clients, the organization, just being very thoughtful before you make any decision because there could be implications. What does the word application mean to in the context of a business education? So to me, application application in the concept of a formal business education is being very mindful of the evidence based principles that you learned before applying them in your day to day work that can be done by looking at case studies. I think that as leaders, it's very important that before we make a decision, we do some research. We're talking about research and analyze. Has it been done before? Did it work well? Did it not work well before applying it in your workplace? Because, yes, through continuous improvement, you're always learning, you're always trying different things and pivoting. However, if those decisions are influenced by things that have gone well, you will be a lot more successful. Tell me about a time when it all came together for you, when you applied things from your different career experiences, all of them, and made your career what it is now? That's a great question, Pablo. So someone to share a story shortly after being offered this position and in accepting this position with with opportunity. Stanislaus We were going into our five year campaign, right? It's a big campaign. It's a huge private public partnership. We've got we're all about business, business retention, business attraction, supporting small business, the Vote Institute, creating the workforce for the for the businesses. It's all about business. I had an MBA, I did my undergrad here. But the the real world is a little different sometimes. Things aren't always textbook, right? But surely coming on board, one of my mentors, Fred Mickelson, who's one of our senior consultants, approached me to let me know that, no, he wanted all of the he wanted the executive team to put together a case statement. So this is what we said we were going to do over the last five years. This is what actually happened. Did we meet those results? What do the next five years look like in our organization? Excellent. So I'm looking at the individual like like Fred, I love you, but I have no clue. I just started here. The I don't know that I'm getting to know the stakeholders. I'm getting to know our partners, trying to get familiar with the work. There's the processes. We were just about to start accreditation, so I don't know how I'm going to do this right. However, I tapped into the expertise at the time my team that I had. I was very fortunate that the prior CIO is now the CFO, so I could approach her to to get a better understanding of like what have the last five years really been like, right? This, this, these are the outcomes that we met. But what happened on a day to day And she had a lot of great ideas and great feedback. I looked at the data, made an assessment and as to like how we should benchmark. I was able to get somewhat familiar with where are the opportunities, how can we improve? And I used that to benchmark. Well, the outcome was great because the benchmarks that we set on that case statement have really stretched us to grow in a way that I didn't even think we would be able to do in the beginning. Right? We've launched two new satellite centers since then. We're in the process of launching a half an additional satellite center, more specifically focused on capital infusion to help our most marginalized clients get access to capital. We're going to be launching on additional satellite center on the west side of the county and the east side of the county by the end of 2024. We've grown our consultant team. I'm very excited to share that 92% of all of our new clients last year were clients that were considered underserved from underserved communities. Now that we're seeing the direction that both our all of our funding partners are are going in, we're very much in line with that. So I'm very grateful for the feedback that everyone provided because it together we way we were able to put together a very solid case statement that we then use to help to to mold our strategic plan and where we're going to be working on our next strategic plan in August. But it's it's all going back to that five year plan that we put together very early on and have some of the elements changed. Yes, they have. We've learned some of the things I'm not going to say that they didn't work, but we had to pivot a little bit and that's okay. Plans changed, but overall, we're doing very well. We are one of the highest performing as BDCs in the region and that's thank you to our staff and our and our consultant team more than anything. What do you wish to learn one day and apply. Gospel of asking all these hard questions? That's kind of the job, right? Yeah, I feel that as far as what can I do to make my community a better place, right? That's that's still something that I'm learning. I consider myself fairly young now that I'm hiring some of these generations years. I'm like, Oh my gosh, I'm the I'm no longer the young guy in the office, but everything we do has to be done to make our community better, right? And I look at some of our other individuals in our community that have done that. We when you think about the Joe trends, when you think about the Johnny Garcias, when you think about the Dave White's like they do great work, but they've made their community better, right? Correct. And and I'm still like, I know we're rolling in the right direction and we're we're doing great work, but what do I need to do now so that I can look back on my career in 30, 40 years and say, like it was well worth the time, right? The work paid off. We're in a better place because of the work that we did. And and I think I'm still learning what that looks like. The big question gets a bigger answer What would our students be best served to know about applying what they learn here with us as it stands? So my advice now and I can't be that guy because I've been out of undergrad for almost ten years now, Don't be afraid to take risks, but take the opportunity that's going to give you the flexibility to contribute through your ideas, to put those ideas into practice and to make mistakes, shop around and find the organization that's going to invest in you. What makes a good community leader? So a good community leader uses their resources, uses their relationships to make the community better than it was when they arrived. And I think that's very important here. Who's the leader who impressed Head among the most in his early years? And while I did have mentors growing up, but the leader that has impressed me the most, I met about two years ago, his name is Fred. You've met Fred. I believe that Fred is selfless. Fred has a wealth of knowledge. Fred helps you work through your own problems or your own challenges and doesn't make decisions for you, but provides the input that he has through his wealth of experience. And it works. You know, this guy was the chairman of the American Cancer Society like he's got a lot of experience. I just really respect that. Who's your hero growing up? My hero growing up was my father. I think I shared that earlier on, came from a different country, didn't have a lot of money, didn't have a degree, worked his ass off very hard, worker, very smart, because when you talk to him, he enjoys reading a lot. Didn't have the opportunity but gave us that opportunity. How have you seen Stansted evolve over the years? I was a student here and I remember how intimidating it felt. You're at a university. For those of us that are first generation college students, it's not like that's expected from you, right? Like, well, my parents made it very clear you're going to go to college. Except for them. Yeah, except for them. But as far as I didn't have siblings that went to college, I didn't have parents that went to college. So we were kind of like paving that road, at least for our family. So it was very intimidating. However, some of my best relationships were made here. The student support, like with the program like this, where those students that for one, the data shows that the Generation Z, they want to work for themselves. Well, programs like this, that too, when I talk about data driven decisions, they're a response to that. So I'm only thinking back to like when I was in college, if a program like this existed and those individuals knew that they had more support and they had more connections, how many more success entrepreneurs would we have? It's crazy to. Think about it, right? So I think that there's a lot more support for students now than there was when I was in college, and that's exciting to see because it's good growth. When you think of Stanstead, what comes to your mind? First. Skilled workforce, Because in order to attract those companies that have good paying jobs, we don't want to just create jobs. We want to create good paying jobs, correct? You need to have a skilled workforce. We have a CSU and we have a U. C in the Valley. So when I think Stan State, I think opportunity beyond the student that we're serving, but at a greater scale because that student may start a company, they might start a small business or now they have that skill set that attracts the businesses that will come in and create a lot of better paying jobs. And that's really what we need in order to improve the economic vitality of our area. What are your thoughts on the WI and its place in the region going forward? Any time a program is being developed in response to what our clients are asking you, I think it's a win in my books and back to what I was sharing earlier. There's a lot of entrepreneurship in our community and there are a lot of organizations that support those entrepreneurs like Des BDC, like SCOR, like Stanislas Equity Partners, although I built this into my strategic plan, it is in our sole focus. So having a program that can take the different support structures in our community and identify what works best for our students, I think that's key, that's important because as a student, if you're taking 15 units, you may. I had to work full time when I was in school and if you're working, you're not going to have a lot of time to really identify what programs within the different organizations in our area would help me. Sure. And I think that it's important to put that library of resources together for our students. Sure. Some of them may not want to move forward with the business, but that's important as well. Learning whether or not this is the right fit for you and if it is getting the right support to execute, to move forward, to put a plan in place and to make things happen. Who is German Zavalza? Who is her months about? Well, I'm a man of faith. I'm a father, I'm a husband. I'm someone that wants to make our community better. So I'm someone who puts my family first, puts my faith first, but really wants to improve our community. I want to go back to head man. In his early career, what would head among now say to start a conversation with him and then. Take a break? Man, You know, straight up because I had to work 40 hours a week and took a fall load. So I didn't have much of a social life. Right. Right. But my parents couldn't pay for school and I couldn't get financial aid, so I had to work. I didn't want to graduate with any debt. Who do you see yourself as now that is different from how you saw yourself then? I'm a lot more focused on what I consider the most important thing in life. Right? But it just comes naturally. Like Herman, before a wife and kids had a lot more time to work, to build, to grow. And that's okay. Then I got married and I didn't have as much time, as much free time on my hands. And now with my little one, I really value time because I got to make the best use out of every second that I get in the day because there's so much work, so many initiatives. Good, good work, right. And good initiatives. But I got to learn to be as efficient as I can so that I can disconnect when I get home and spend valuable time with my family as well. Some quality time. What can you tell our students about their graduate school journey and how it contributed to the evolution of head among as a human being and as a professional. I would say be flexible. Find what works for you. I started the MBA here at Stan State and it was great. I learned a lot, but as I started taking on more responsibility at work, my schedule shifted. I had to travel a little bit more and that's just what I had to do at that point of my career. And I went to a different program that was also AXP accredited, and I really enjoyed that program as well. But it was a hard decision, right? You want to finish what you started, but just understand that there are a lot of options and it's important to know what works the best for your schedule and for your situation and move forward with that. What does the SBDC system come to mean in the telling of your own story? Small businesses are the heartbeat of our economy. You don't move to a to a community because they have a retail chain. You move there because they have a nice restaurant, they have a nice coffee shop. They greet you when you walk in through the door. They know you by name. Their kids go to school with your kids. That ecosystem that gets created when the small businesses are thriving. And to me, that's where the SBDC really resonates with me, with who I am. To what degree is being the CEO of the Valley Sierra SBDC an extension of a part of you, past or present? I don't know. Being the CIO is an extension of me, but working in the organization is back to like our up and coming graduates or our recent grads. It's very important to find an organization that's going to invest in your development, that's going to give you the growth opportunities that's going to be forgive for when you make mistakes. But it's also important to make sure that their values are aligned with yours. So I think the I'm not going to call it as the CIO, but as a as an employee of the SBDC of opportunity. Dennis Laws It is an extension of me because they respect my values. They know that I'm passionate about small businesses, they understand that I'm very passionate about our underserved clients. It's it's who I am. It's it's my community, it's my culture. And I'm given an opportunity to find creative ways to serve those clients. And you don't take that lightly when it's a great responsibility, but it's also a grapes supportive structure and want a shout out to my Tadesse BDC network to the Central California SBDC Network, because we've got a wealth of knowledge and experience there. They listen to me when my ideas make sense, they push back and provide feedback when they don't, and it just creates that environment where I feel comfortable sharing ideas. My team feels comfortable sharing ideas because they know that they're going to be respected and acknowledged. And if that idea makes sense, we're going to move forward with that. What does it mean to be a Latino leader in the business climate? I guess I've never really looked at myself as a Latino leader. I've just looked at myself as an individual that's an executive in an organization, and I have responsibility. However, with that said, I mentioned it earlier, representation does matter. It's very important that the kids in elementary school, the kids in being in grade school are students, see individuals that are a reflection of their community in positions of authority. And that's important. I think I've shared with you that I have a little sister, not so little anymore. She's 32, who was chief resident at UCSF Fresno, and I accepted a faculty position there. Well. Congratulations. Thank you. Well, for her, right. She didn't have that Latina doctor that she can look at and say, I can do that. The individuals in those positions weren't a reflection of who we are. Adversity. It's part of every story. Take me back to the first moment when you thought to yourself, I may not be able to deal with this challenge at the moment, whatever it was. I can't say that I have ever felt that I couldn't deal with the challenge. There are challenges that really forced me to grow, to stretch my skillset, to seek counsel. But my my grandpa used to say, big problem, big solution. I've never felt that a problem was too big, but there's always a solution, at least in our work. Booker film The Changed Your Life. Book that Changed My Life 15 Secrets. Successful People Know About Time Management. Through this book, I learned that it isn't uncommon for professionals to prioritize the needs of others. But it's okay to turn down meetings. It's okay to to value your time. And there's a way to do it right through prioritizing. You can be very efficient, but it doesn't mean that you need to say yes to everything. Song you've heard that made you say, That's my life, that's me. I'm not much of a song guy. Which the song not lyrics. Now they're like, I'll turn up the jams in the car, but oh man, with the little kid I can tell you about Baby shark. Oh. Mario and Luigi, thank God. But yeah, don't get to listen to a lot of music. Do you see yourself as a high achieving individual? I mean, do you see yourself in those terms? Not yet. I'm doing okay, but there's a long way to go for sure. Through our work, we're impacting about 1000 clients a year, right? But there's 33,000 businesses in the county. So how many clients are not getting the services that they deserve? Right. So from a professional standpoint, not until can make some more progress there. Why consider myself high Achieving. What aspect of leadership came most naturally. Activating the Clifton strengths finders? Have you ever done that? And it isn't very difficult for me to start generating some ideas, but putting those ideas into into practice and identifying like putting together a plan and not necessarily writing it down at first but just seeing the vision there, right? I think that comes to me very, very naturally and then being able to activate. Take me back to the moment that you saw the light and what were the spark that inspired you to know that you could design your career the way that you wanted it? For me, that did not happen until I was about 2 to 3 years out of college because I feel like I've always had some some decent ideas. However, a big part of that comes with opportunity, right? Again, I share that in college I had to work 40 hours a week. That's what I had to do to pay the bills. That's what I had to do to pay for tuition. However, that isn't what I would recommend. If you can avoid it, like take on some internships, volunteer at an organization that that is aligned with your goals and show them your skill set. I couldn't do that because I was so busy working to just pay the bills and the jobs that I had to do those washing dishes and at a restaurant or retail I was working retail. There's only so much that you can showcase your talent in those spaces, but once I stepped into an industry where I did have more opportunity to do that, that's probably where I started to shine a little bit, right where people would say, Yeah, hey, he does have some good ideas and or look at his numbers, look at his performance rate. And from there on it was just take advantage of every opportunity that I would get, but build relationships, cultivate those relationships, don't burn those bridges and just work. Right. And I think that that didn't happen while I was so focused on just paying the bills. So I had to kind of get out of that. And with that, we arrive at this section of our podcast. We know Affectionally as the 11 originally Proust's parlor game that's taken by APB, that's taken by Lipton and shamelessly appropriated us. What is your favorite part of starting something new. Not knowing if it's going to work or not? There's something exciting about not knowing. Obviously there should be a risk assessment of benefit and risk analysis. You're not just doing anything without it, without the right information, But. But there's still something exciting about it. What is your least favorite part of starting something new? I don't like it. It's too easy. I think it needs to be challenging. There's something that can be said of like the learning process, so if it just works that that can be a little boring at times. What interests you most? I would say family. What interests you least? I can't say There's something that I that that I have no interest for. You know, I just appreciate every opportunity and every day, every breath, I don't know, traffic. But even they can listen to some music that isn't baby shark. So what music, artist, genre or song reminds you most of your early days working with and in entrepreneurship and innovation? I shared that it was a Guernsey slash convenience store, so rancheras is what they were always playing. So I remember again, it was a family owned business. I remember walking to the back where they would make lost chitchat on this and just hearing the jams and the little little speaker. That was nothing compared to the quality that we have now. But I could still hear the music. And yeah. It takes you back. It takes me back. Right? What food or beverage reminds you most of your memories of your days as an undergrad student and as an MBA student? Well, I was very blessed. Yes, I had to work a lot. My parents didn't have a lot of resources, but we always had food and we always had a roof over our heads. And I was very blessed that when I was an undergrad, I wasn't eating, what do they call them? Ramen noodles? Yes, ramen. Noodles and eating that. You know, I was very blessed to be at home where like my mom was making enchiladas. Chilaquiles. What profession? Non entrepreneurial do you admire the most? Well, physicians and and law enforcement. I feel very blessed that I could spend weekends with my daughter. I can spend evenings with my wife and daughter. I remember during the pandemic, I didn't get to see my sister for sometimes four or five months because she was exposed in the marriage and she was she was younger. They were using the residents because they were the risk was was a little lower right. And she was exposed to COVID on an ongoing basis. So I would talk to her over face time and I would just see the marks on her face from the face masks. And yeah, no 40 hour workweek. They were doing evenings, they were doing weekends. They were doing what had to get done in order to keep people alive. And to this day, when if we have a very back to challenges. Right. If we have a difficult challenge in front of us, we know that we're we're beat, we're tired. I let the team go home. We're not curing cancer. Anything can wait. Let's go homeless, refreshed. Let's think about it in the morning. But we're in a position where we can do that because lives are at stake, right? So I really do respect those who who who, who do those things so that if we have an emergency at three in the morning, we can go to the hospital and get care. One job prior to your current career, did you like the most and why? That's a that's an awesome question. Was it washing dishes? I'll tell you that. I did it, but I really enjoyed working at Stanford in Admissions. We had a great team not only here at the University but across the other the other campuses, and we got to go to some cool places. There was something exciting about going to a to a high school or a meeting with students to talk about admissions and students that looked a lot like me. Students that did it know that they could go to college and letting them know, Hey, you did X, Y, and Z, you've met the requirements, submit an application. Education changed my life, right? Like I shared, neither my my mother or my father had an opportunity to go into professional careers. They did what they had to do to put food on the table. And they're still doing that to this day. But for my sister and I, it created opportunity. And for me, it's been a while since that switch went on, right where, Hey, now you're going to college. Guess what? After this, you're going to get a job, but it's going to be a career. It's not you're not washing dishes anymore. And and just to see that reaction on the student's face when they know that, like, hey, there's hope, there's opportunity. Some of these students have it a lot harder than I did and they're changing their lives. So I really enjoyed that. It's an amazing part of the university to be on right? What job prior to your current career did you dislike the most and why? I love being in a in an industry where I can create some sort of impact in my community and where I can leverage my skills to do that. And I'm very grateful that I had a paycheck and I would do anything I had to do to put food on the table. I'll wash dishes tomorrow if I had to in order to pay the bills they have. That's important. But I didn't enjoy the restaurant work, you know. But it served its purpose. Sure. Great. I think it was important. It's an important job. I love going to restaurants now, as you can see. But if I can stay on this side of the of the counter, I prefer that. Lastly, if heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates? Heaven does exist. And what I am hoping to hear is that you left the world better than than you got it immediately thereafter. What idea or innovation would you like to pitch him her They it with the universe as your marketplace. I guess I would ask for patience because I think people overall are well-intended. They wait I she told me this once assume positive intentions and if you do that in every interaction, your perspective is just so different. So I would ask for patience while we try to figure things out. Thank you for visiting the studio friend. Thank you very much for everything. Pablo. Thank you for having me here. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Studio. This podcast is part of the Warrior Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program, affectionately known as the WEI. This series is recorded on the campus of Stanislaus State at the KCSS radio station and produced by Frankie Tovar. Following Subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform. I'm Dr. Pablo Pareded Romero, wishing me the best of everything. Always.