Naomy DePena

I always tell people I'm not very strong, and I don't have a really great memory, but I am very persistent. I also have really great systems. Because I don't trust my brain, I write everything down. I believe that at the most practical level, sometimes we underestimate the power of persistence and systems. Consistently chipping away, getting things done every day, the boring parts. I'm okay doing the boring things because not everything is glamorous. Sometimes it's hard, sometimes it's uneventful, no one notices, but those are the things that will build the foundation and really propel you. And heart, I think, just working with your heart. People are able to see who you are. Sometimes in the spirit of being very professional, or in the spirit of being perfect, you lose that human connection. So whether in politics or whether in small business, you can find me walking around, talking to people, just being very human, asking about their families, because I truly care. I think that's been a big part of how people see that we do business and how we serve our community.

I've received so much advice from so many coaches and people in my life. On a practical level, one of the greatest pieces of advice was being able to write everything that you do in order for you to be able to identify the things you should not be doing, the things you need to hire out, and just how much easier it makes it for you to create systems that will train other people. Sometimes when you're in the go, especially at the beginning of building a business, you're doing everything, but you don't realize that that's 5 or 10 different positions. Being able to write it all out, you're able to sort it out and say, okay, who do I need to hire first? That's the best way that we were able to grow in our business, because we were able to then hire for those positions and remove ourselves from the day-to-day operations and then focus on building the other location. My mother, who is not a business owner, always said, if you have to borrow something more than once, you must buy your own. I've applied that for business. In terms of a small business, a lot of times you're hiring out, a lot of times you are renting things, so I think practically just being able to see the financial reality of certain things, that if you have to borrow it or rent it more than twice, practically, just buy your own, whatever that is. And always staying with the mindset of a learner. Always. What works today might not work tomorrow. I think those things have been really, really helpful, especially having gone through COVID, knowing that what was working before COVID was very different than what worked through COVID and what's working in a post-COVID world.