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Tell me about your vision.

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Very my vision for my organization and my company is to be the leading

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technology provider of managed services in the state of Texas.

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That vision includes being able to provide incremental support for

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small to medium sized businesses when it's around cyber security, managed

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technology services, voice over IP systems as well as interactive

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conferencing systems and in doing so with exceptional customer service

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and productivity to be able to watch organizations grow not only their

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footprint but also in their revenue generation.

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All right.

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Someone doesn't just happen to be in the cyber security space or

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security space per se.

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So how did you land in that?

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They tell me about it.

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Great question.

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How did I land in the cyber security space?

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It starts a long time ago.

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So when I was younger, I used to like to fiddle around with technology.

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This was before the digital era, the digital age.

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I don't want to age myself too much, but ultimately I was always

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curious in technology and as I grew into the technology realm, started

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schooling for it, going to the University of Texas at San Antonio.

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I started to understand that with all the technology that's coming

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out today, that there's threats behind that, that there's misuse

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of technology and services.

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And I wanted to get a better understanding on not only how to

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leverage this technology for benefits, but also to be able to protect

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our end users, to be able to protect ourselves against any type of

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malicious use of this technology to take advantage of individuals.

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So it became my mission to get a better understanding and then want

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to be able to help those and others in the community.

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It's very fair because I interviewed a lot of leaders and entrepreneurs

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and it's not uncommon for an entrepreneur to think about security

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very far down the road.

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And sometimes it's very late in that aspect where some things go

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was bad and then they think about, oh my gosh, I should have secured

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something.

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Oh, I should have done this.

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Maybe I should have taken a backup.

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And I think that's a great thing to have people get aware of this

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aspect of, you know, I need to take steps right now to do so.

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I'm glad that someone does that.

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My question for you then how, because I know you personally, I

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met you one time and you are founder, if I'm correct, of DocuMation.

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How did that all start?

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How did that all come about?

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So starting over at DocuMation, DocuMation started over 35 years ago

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as a family owned and operated printer copier company.

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And as that company grew, a lot of their partners saw the need for

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managed network services.

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Well, we've got these printers.

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We have these copiers, these scanners, and I'll date myself, these

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fax machines.

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How do they interconnect?

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How do they stay secure?

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We need help with this.

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We don't have an IT person on staff.

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And one of the individuals that started our managed IT services is

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Preston Wolpo, who's now our co-CEO.

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I've known Preston for a long time, have known his family for a long

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time through relationships at Community Bible Church and the like.

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And it just, there was an opportunity to build out this division, to

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build out this company.

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And Preston tapped me on the shoulder of knowing of me and my background

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as being a previous IT director and said, hey, we're trying to grow

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something.

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We're trying to start something here to be able to help support our

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clients and continue to establish deeper partnerships and protect our

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clientele.

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So is this something you would be interested in?

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And I'll tell you, Harry, it wasn't something I jumped into right off

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the bat.

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This is an emerging field.

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It's still a very new field where managed services hasn't necessarily

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populated throughout the US and the world yet.

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So it was very, it was a very much a leap of faith jumping in.

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And I said, what the heck?

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Let's start something from the ground up.

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Let's see what we can do to grow the organization.

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And it was tough in the beginning.

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It was very tough because a lot of our partners did not know what a

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firewall was, what a server was, what hosted email was.

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So as we try to educate our partners, it sure sounded like we were

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trying to do some type of magic trick and pull one over on our

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clients.

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Well, you're just talking gibberish things of that sort.

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But as our partners grown and technology has evolved over the

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years, it's become less of an education and having to convince our

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partners.

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This is what you need to be safe.

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It is now common knowledge and it has helped us grow to where we are

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today.

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And it's just been a blessing to be able to see our division grow

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from where it was to where we are now.

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Wow, that's awesome.

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What would you say are that during the time held you back from where

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you were, where you are now and what you could have done better?

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Because a lot of times we don't realize it.

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We learn a lot from our mistakes, but a lot of people learn a lot

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from someone else's mistake and they can jump hurdles.

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So as billion entrepreneurs, if they can see someone did a mistake

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and they can avoid that for themselves, that could essentially

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save them 10, five years of their life.

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And that's very, very valuable.

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I will tell you what really held me back was myself.

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That's going to sound very interesting.

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My own stubbornness, my own thoughts that I knew what I was doing

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better than individuals that have been experienced in the field.

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Since I was younger, I always wanted to prove myself, always

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wanted to try to be the best in whatever I did.

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And I wasn't one to accept help or advice.

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And that wound up becoming one of my biggest downfalls is continually

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trying to do the same thing over and over again and expecting

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a different result.

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That's the definition of insanity.

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And what it finally took me to was a breaking point in my own career.

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It was a situation where I sat down with our now co-CEO and he said,

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look, we've got a plan.

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We've got a process.

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I need you to follow the plan.

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I need you to follow the process.

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If you want to do your own thing, that's totally fine, but you can

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do your own thing somewhere else.

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And it was a very fair and honest statement.

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And it made me sit there and think I've done everything in my power

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to try to grow this division, to grow my income, to extend our

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reach and it hasn't worked.

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So I had a what the heck moment.

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Let's give it a shot.

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Let's see what happens.

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Once that happened, he gave me plans, advice.

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I started listening to the pointers.

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I also started digging deeper into some literature.

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There was books by Tim Grover by Chris Voss, all kinds of David

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Goggins, for example, really absorbing what it takes to not only

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be mentally strong, but also how do I accelerate my career in my

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path with negotiation skills, with being able to understand

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technology and being able to be a better businessman.

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And once I started doing that and broke that barrier, my career,

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my success has taken off.

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And I always sit here today and say, man, when is the next shoe

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going to drop?

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When am I going to be held back again?

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When is there going to be a regression of my progress?

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And I sit here and think my sphere of influence, I got to make sure

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that I got the right people on a corner.

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I've got other entrepreneurs and successful businessmen.

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I have my wife.

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I have family and friends to be able to help make sure that I'm

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staying on track, keeping focused, and I'm not reverting

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back to where I was.

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But also, I continually evolve.

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On my team, I have my executive team and I have them check me.

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Hey, by the way, are we heading in the right direction?

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Are we doing the right things?

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Are we doing what's best for our partners and our organization?

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And that's where I never did that in the past and was what really

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held me back is having the right mentors, having the right consultants

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and diving into additional literature to ensure that I'm continuing

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to educate myself and evolve as business.

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Thank you for being here today.

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I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.

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I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes

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continue to move forward.

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This is going to get more and more fun.

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We'll have more and more engagement as well.

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We'll invite people to participate in the show and thank you for

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giving us your time and attention.

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Have an excellent time building out your vision and becoming

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a Vision Pro yourself.