THE Cambridge Connection - Episode 45

Great show. Oh, God. Yeah. I mean, again, every time I watch these shows, like I watch Peaky Blinders as well, I feel like it’s bringing me into that kind of activity, but it doesn’t happen. Of course, it just is like you kind of get into that, that lifestyle and it just seems so dangerous, powerful, exciting, depressing.

Yeah, it does. It does. But it’s got such an authentic feel to it and it draws people in. And I love this publication, the Daily Coach, because it comes out every day and they’re really targeting in short form, different types of coaching that come from different points of view and not just always from real life that, I mean, they’re taking this one that we’re about to talk about, right? Five lessons right from the Sopranos.

Yeah. So interesting question in the article was how can a narcissist who robs, lies and murders be so beloved? And obviously we talked about the word is authenticity. And as a leader, there are certain traits that make you authentic that almost gives people the ability to still follow you, even though there’s some things that are not terrific about the type of leadership that you’re providing. Right?

Right. No, absolutely. So the five steps in the article to become an authentic leader requires mastering five traits. One is self-awareness. Well, I think the pandemic put everybody sort of into self-awareness mode in the last couple of years.

So the fact that this is top on their list to me is very authentic because, you know, we all want to be more self-aware. Absolutely. You know, we’ll talk about this on another episode, but I worked through a program that actually helps you kind of identify your self-talk. And that self-awareness is so important because when you’re going through ups and downs, what’s actually going on inside and what you’re thinking really needs to be taken stock of to really see where you’re feeling. They’re still saying that even with the pandemic, we’re not really seeing the mental effect that it’s had on people.

And it’s articles like this that keep it simple that might make you be able to become aware, right? Become thoughtful of some of the things you might be going through. Well, I know Tina Marie is very self-aware, so I’m sure she would have a commentary for this. Hopefully she can jump in on that next week and bring her personality to it. Without a doubt.

How about number two is self-mastery. So it says that he was extremely good at being a tough guy using force to get the job done, but also deeply cared about how others viewed him. So when you’re when you’re putting out your brand and your craft, you have to put some work into how the world is viewing you. That’s what narcissism kind of is. It’s an interesting character where you can love him and watch him do a very dirty job and still almost honor him for the kind of character he was.

And I think self-mastery is something that we never stop teaching ourselves. That’s what wisdom is, right? You go down the road, you can’t be taught everything in a textbook. We don’t have the matrix where you can plug the plug into the back of your head and download all the files. And then all of a sudden, you know, everything.

Right. Right. So. And I think that self-mastery is really appropriate to this show because you and Tina Marie are always learning new things from our guests. Absolutely.

And bringing new conversations to the table. And it actually opens up doors for who we should have on the show to talk about more things that are in line with some of these topics. Right. Exactly. All right.

Number three is social intelligence. This is interesting because in the mob business, when you watch these shows, how could you not feel that you’re constantly being cheated or always having to look over your shoulder? That’s what they portray. But in real life, who knows? Maybe they’re mirroring what really happens in real life.

So social intelligence is important. You have to have a read on people, right? And social intelligence, you know, everybody listening to this show can know times when they’ve looked at somebody or met somebody and they get this great immediate connection. And then they look at somebody and feel all of a sudden potentially threatened or that there’s something wrong. That’s kind of what feeds into social intelligence.

So number four is empathy. And this is interesting because it’s amazing how you can put such dastardly characters in a show that are doing such very bad things, but then they make it real. They still go home. They still eat dinner together. And they still show that they have humanistic type behavior and feelings that they actually care about people in the midst of being gangsters, murderers, thieves, etc.

I know. I love this. It says Pauly’s empathy was somewhat bizarre and often displayed in strange settings. When Tony announced he was in therapy, Pauly admitted he had been to a shrink, too. So they humanized.

Yeah. And, and we’re all human. And again, I think the pandemic created that when you’ve looked through social media today and the posts and how people are having more of a voice and speaking up and, and admitting to things. I mean, I think it makes us more empathetic as a society when we know the truth, when we see that authenticity. Absolutely.

And lastly, the number five is consistency. So when you watch the show and you watched Pauly, he was exactly who he was all the time, whether it was doing a bad deed or just being a family member or a friend, even being able to take down his own guard and talk about some of his personal situations, which made you kind of love him like that. Right. And, and it really, all of these for the daily coach go back to talking about leadership skills. And I love how they, they took this one post and used the Sopranos for that, you know, lesson for the day.

So it’s fun if anybody out there wants to subscribe. I started subscribing a couple of weeks ago via another friend of mine that I saw on LinkedIn and it’s free. It’s a free subscription. I’ll post this on our pages as well. So people can link to the article with the show and with that said, rest in peace, Tony Sirico, AKA Pauly Walnuts.

Break and introducing guest Gus

And with that, we’re going to take a break and we’ll be right back with our special guest, Augusto Garcia, also known as Gust, the CEO from team Springfield pie. We’ll be right back. This is the Cambridge Connection. Are the rise in prices for gas and other expenses crushing your budget? Cambridge’s typical clients save 140 per month while paying down their credit card debt at much lower interest rates.

Call Welcome back everyone to the Cambridge Connection. I’m your host Gordon Oliver here with my co-pilot and producer, Lisa Riley. And it is a honor to introduce our special guests, Augusto Garcia, also known as Gus from the CEO from team Springfield pie. Gus, welcome to the Cambridge Connection. Thank you very much.

Pleasure to have you. This is amazing show. I have been listening for a while. I’m glad to hear that. Yes.

Very happy to be here. Yeah. And you know I can’t wait to get into your story and the work that you’re doing because a lot of the position of what the show is all about is helping individuals, family members, friends with challenges and a lot of times finances come into play. People are having trouble buying groceries now because the economy is where it’s at. So we try to provide fulfilling information and having you on this show is kind of the American dream of, of building something from your heart and your hard work.

Guest journey from Brazil to Domino’s

So why don’t you tell us at first a little bit about your story? All right. Well, um, I am originally from Brazil. Um, I came here 23 years ago. I met my wife, Sabrina.

Uh, she was 14 and I was 17 we started dating and uh, we got married in 1999 and three months later we came to the United States to start a new life. Um, we still together and I think we’re going to be together for a long, long time or maybe until we die. I love to hear that. Yeah, that’s great. Yeah.

We’ve been together for 30 years now. So we both came to America. We barely knew, we didn’t know anyone. Um, we came with a $200 in our pockets. We rented a room and started working very different types of jobs for about four or six months when, um, I believe that I was blessed when I went to the Domino’s pizza down in Boston and applied to be a delivery driver.

I barely spoke any English back then. My wife was cleaning houses and then she started doing deliveries as well. It was very quick. Once I took, once I, I, I, I started working for Domino’s, uh, my career really went, um, uh, fast. The thing will happen is, uh, when, when you work for Domino’s, uh, it really gives you, uh, a lot of opportunities and chances in your career if you are a hardworking person.

So let me, let me ask you just a couple of questions just to kind of position your journey, right? So you came from Brazil. What was the driving force for you to come here? And obviously just from what you said, you and your wife started just looking to find a job. Your wife was cleaning, you were looking to be the delivery driver.

What was the, what is the main driving force for you? Well, um, in Brazil, my, my parents had an ice cream factory and we had a few, a couple of ice cream stores and, uh, it was doing very well. Uh, my wife, my girlfriend back then, uh, was even working with us. Uh, but the government changed and a lot of corruption, uh, there, and we ended up losing a lot, almost everything. That seems like a world plague.

Yeah, exactly. So we got married and we said, you know what, we need to give it a try in someplace else. This is not working out. Uh, so we decided to come here and, and we actually came to stay only a couple of years. Uh, man, it’s been 23 today.

So. So what you’re telling me is you know how to make killer ice cream. Is that. I can make a killer ice cream. Okay.

All right. We’ll talk about that offline. All right. So, um, you started as a delivery driver. Um, you got in there and you worked hard.

What came next? Okay. Well, as a delivery driver, uh, about three months later, uh, I was so scared though. I, the phones would ring and they wanted me to answer the phones, but my English was pretty bad. So I would run to the to the hand of the store and don’t answer the phones because I was afraid.

Right. But then they put me on the spot. Then you start answering phones, making pizzas. And then three months later they invited me to be an assistant manager. I took a paid decrease, a big paid decrease from driver to assistant manager, but I knew the future was there.

So, uh, while my wife was out there making more money, uh, I was there, you know, making less, but growing my career. Okay. About six months later that was invited to be the assistant manager training and I started in Salem, Mass, uh, stayed there for about a year. Then I was promoted to be a GM in Haverhill, Mass. Uh, stayed in Haverhill, Mass for about four or five years, uh, running great numbers and getting great inspections from the corporation and all that.

And then I was invited to be a partner here in Springfield, uh, 20% partner of the store on Boston road. Uh, I then decided, you know what, let’s just move everybody there. I moved my son, my wife, we sold the house, bought a house here and took over the Boston road location at 20% ownership. A few years passed by, I would say maybe five, six years. I was able to buy a maybe 10 more percent.

And then at the end, in 2014 I bought my entire partners out and became the solo owner of that store. Uh, today I own five stores. Uh, in 2021, we purchased the four other locations. Springfield and the one in Chicopee. And now we are opening one in Wilbraham.

You know, we talk a lot about financial woes, issues, student loans, things of that nature. This is an incredible example for our family, friends and listeners of how if you come to a position where you just work hard and you prove that you have character and you prove that you have drive and you prove that you want to do better and you want to do more, opportunities will open doors for themselves, right? Absolutely. And United States is the American dream. You know, all the opportunities are here.

If you are a hard worker and you, like you said, with integrity and keep moving forward and working hard, the right doors will open to you. I have chills and it’s not because of the air conditioning. I love hearing that. And even more special for everyone listening, your sons in studio watching and just hearing that you’ve led by this example and him here being proud of you, you know, even filming the interview for us. I think that’s tremendous.

I think it’s just a great story. It’s the one that people should be listening to. So Gus, question. Was your ascent within Domino’s up the ladder? Was it, was that a normal ascent?

Because it sounds like you moved pretty quickly from driver to assistant manager to general manager into a partnership. Yes. Well, I didn’t move all the way from Brazil here to waste time. So when I saw the opportunity, I ran to get it. And while others were partying and having fun and drinking, I was working.

I was working night shifts. My wife was working day shift at the stores and we barely saw each other for about 10 years or 15 years. Made hard sacrifices to work hard and get to where you’ve got to today. Exactly. And sometimes people believe that working two, three years for a company, it’s enough to be able to grow in your career.

It’s not, it’s a beginning. You gotta keep going. It’s a great story. And it’s so inspiring because I think, and we’ve talked about it on the show and offline as well. I think there’s a generation of youth out there that feels a sense of entitlement today.

And not everybody, and I’m not putting that as a blanket statement, but there are a lot of youth who feel entitled. And I think you’re an inspiration to say, hey, you can come here from another country. You can live in this country. You can have been born here, but as Gordie was just saying, hard work is the bottom line. And it really does pay off if you put your priorities and your goals in the right place.

No one’s gonna hand you the golden ticket. You really have to work for it. But I’m curious now that you’ve achieved all this, is it a little bit easier to, I would perceive it to be a little bit easier that now you have five stores and we’re gonna talk about your giving back program in a minute, but do you look back and say, all those years were absolutely worth it because now I have so much and I can do for others? Absolutely. When I look back, I look at myself and I say, well, how was I able to do that?

But the thing is, I was young, 20, 30s, and I had all the energy to do it. If you are 20, 30, or even 40, go for it because you have the energy to do it and you still have, it’s still in the middle of your life. You still have a lot to go. Yeah, so now I don’t know what to say. That’s right, we’ll cut that out.

Financing growth and helping employees

That’s right. All right, do you wanna? Well, I’m curious. So I just wanted to rewind for a second. So in 2005, you said you were invited to be a 20% partner in the store on Boston Road.

Did you have enough, and this is a personal question, you don’t have to answer it, but did you, had you and Sabrina saved enough money to do cash or did you have to like- Finance. Did you have to go finance what you were doing and get into some debt to move yourself ahead? Oh, absolutely. I don’t think someone that came here with $200 could build enough equity or enough cash flow to be able to get where I am today. So definitely finance was the key for me.

The franchisee who invited me to be his partner, he helped me with the finance and the banks, and that was my first start. So the 20% that I gave down to be able to buy that store, it was due to a house that I purchased and I got some equity, so I sold the house to buy my part in this company and come to Springfield. Ding, ding, ding for all the listeners. The reason that the franchisee probably wanted to make this offer is because you proved by working hard, being credible, being trustworthy, coming to work, being available, jumping on the phones when you were afraid because your English wasn’t so well. You proved by your actions why you should be involved.

No doubt, and the same thing I do to my employees. Everybody that works for me has a chance to become my partner or become a franchisee. That’s awesome. Really, oh my gosh, that’s awesome. So is that something that you’ve implemented or is that sort of a Domino’s dictate from up above?

Well, they don’t dictate us to do that, but it’s the tradition for Domino’s for the past 20, 30 years. S. started as either a driver or a CSR making pizzas. Wow. That’s incredible.

How many franchisees are there? Do you know the national numbers? I don’t. I don’t know. It’s a lot.

The majority of the stores are franchise. Oh, so they’re not corporately owned. Very few. Oh, interesting. So I love that, that this is a tradition of Domino’s to help people find their American dream and be a business owner.

Because you would think, I mean, we always hear stories about the donut companies or some of these other franchises that it just, the entry level cost is just so- Extraordinary. Extraordinary, yeah. That it’s just, you can’t even get a foot in the door. Well, yes, you are correct. However, because these people worked so hard for me and they continue working hard for me, when the time comes for them to franchise, buy one of my stores, become my partner, whatever happens, I will directly finance them to help them get in the boat and get in banks and being able to finance directly one day.

Addressing food insecurity in Springfield

In the BNI networking sphere, they call that giver’s gain. You give, you give, you give. And because of that, you gain, you’re building, you’re growing. So with that said, let’s talk about what you’re doing to combat food insecurities in the city of Springfield. Yeah.

Well, food insecurity is something that we are concerned. My wife and I and my son, we have been watching the news and we’ve seen everything that’s going on in the country, inflation. We are coming out of COVID, other issues coming to the country as well. We are facing all these headwinds in the city. The city is feeling everything.

And it’s very important that business owners give back to the community. And that’s why we are doing this. I feel that if I’m paying a lot more money buying groceries for my house, if I’m paying way more to buy food for my stores, I can’t imagine the population that has to go to the grocery store and buy their own food there and don’t have a business to back them up. So you’re absolutely right because people are putting more and more debt on their credit cards now because they haven’t gotten an increase in income, just an increase in cost on everything across the board, gas, energy, food. So you’re absolutely right.

Rent. Rent. Yeah. Rent is crazy. All right.

So we’re running out of time and I understand that you’ve pledged to donate $500,000 worth of food to nonprofit organizations. Yes, that’s correct. My family and I, we are going to be donating $500,000 to nonprofit organizations like YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, the Christina’s House, and other nonprofit organizations in town. Again, I wish this was an hour show and we’re going to work on that because I could sit here and talk to you legitimately forever. Lastly, before we let you go, can you tell our listeners how they can find you?

Absolutely. com. My son Lucas Garcia will take care of you. I’ll make sure that when we post the show that we put the contact information up there as well. Yes.

Closing thoughts and show wrap up

All right. We’re going to take a quick break. This is Gordon Oliver with The Cambridge Connection. We’ll be right back. Hi, this is Gus Garcia.

My family and I would like to take a minute to share a program dear to our hearts. As owners of Domino’s Springfield, we have launched a summer of giving program to help with food insecurity in the Springfield area. The goal of this free program is to distribute Domino’s food vouchers to local nonprofit organizations. com. Thank you.

Welcome back, everyone, to The Cambridge Connection. I’m your host, Gordon Oliver, here with Lisa Riley, our producer, friend and substitute co-pilot. What an amazing story. I could sit and talk to Gus for hours. So could I.

And I and I have eaten at his Domino’s and his pizzas. I watched him make my pizza. Wow. Pizzas are amazing. So much to unpack from the show.

It’s going to be great to put the summary together. I mean, just incredible all across the board. So every week I provide a quote. Here we go. The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers and cities.

But to know someone who thinks and feels with us and who, though distant, is close to us in spirit. This makes the earth for us an inhabited garden. So this is another week of The Cambridge Connection. A huge thank you to our producer, Leah and Lisa. We have great experts and amazing people, as you’ve seen on this show on the horizon.

m. If you’ve missed any shows or simply missed us, go to WHMP dot com, click on podcasts or you can go to where you listen to your favorite podcast shows. Once again, be part of the conversation. Email connect at Cambridge Credit dot org or feel free to call 1 800 Cambridge.