What a CEO at Nuñez Agency Wishes They Had Known Before Starting a Business
Ray wishes someone had emphasized that being in charge of a company, while glamorized, is "all consuming" and filled with stress and unpredictability, as illustrated by the co-founding of Nuñez just before the COVID-19 pandemic which became a lesson that real lived experiences trump any business models one could learn, and adapting to those is essential. Thus, Ray advises prospective entrepreneurs to prepare a financial and mental "safety net" because "all this could crash at any point."
Entrepreneurship, Resilience, Risk Management, Financial Planning, Leadership
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Ray Nuñez
CEO, Co-Founder
Nuñez, The People's Agency
Johnson & Wales University
Film, Media Arts, Visual Arts
Advertising, Communications & Marketing
Business Strategy
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Pell Grant Recipient, Took Out Loans, Immigrant, Worked 20+ Hours in School, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. Entrepreneurship is often glamorized but is all-consuming and comes with stress and unpredictability.
2. Having a financial and mental safety net is crucial when running your own business due to potential crashes and unexpected issues like supply chain problems.
3. Real-world experiences are invaluable in entrepreneurship, and the ability to learn from setbacks and adapt is essential for success.
Transcript
What have you learned about this role that you wish someone would have told you before you entered the industry?
I'll go beyond the industry, but specifically the role of being in charge of your own company is glamorized. Everyone's romanticizing the hustle and the entrepreneurial track.
It is flexible; I have the flexibility to take a day off when I want to, to go to my son's event at school. But this is all-consuming, and it's not for everybody.
Jumping into running your own business will have a lot of stress and unpredictability. People in the product space have supply chain issues they never expected, and you can't really plan for that. So, you have to have a financial safety net and a mental safety net, because all of this could crash at any point.
When we first started in February of 2020, my wife and I both quit our full-time jobs, lost our health insurance, and went all in into entrepreneurship. Three weeks later, everything shut down because of COVID.
Most people would have said, "Damn, I want to go ask for my job back." But we doubled down and said, "This is what we want to do. Yes, this is terrible, but we're going to figure it out." We were creative and were able to build a business out of it.
That's the kind of stuff you can't really plan for. You could read all the books and learn all the business models, but it's the real lived experiences that will set you back. You have to learn from them and move on.