The rags-to-riches story of Luis Garg: builder, investor, wealth coach and Entrust client.
His mother didn't like it at all. The oldest of her six children wasn't content with being poor and humble. Luis was definitely not going to go to Heaven with this kind of an attitude.
"Mama, quiero ir a los Estados Unidos para ser rico," he was saying. "My son, what nonsense!" she interrupted. "You can't even speak English! How can you even think of going there, and besides, getting rich will take you straight to the Devil!" she exclaimed vehemently, and then added, "Leaving your Mama, and all of your brothers and sisters...nothing good will come of this!"
But 23-year old Luis was determined. He had already packed all of his belongings into his VW bug, fixed himself some tacos for the three-day drive, and borrowed a map showing him how to get from Mexico City to Los Angeles.
Luis had a goal: to get an MBA in the USA. There were just a few obstacles to be overcome. He needed to learn English, he needed a scholarship, and he needed a university to accept him, which the elite schools had refused to do, so far. UCLA was willing to take him under the two conditions: he had to learn English, and he had to pay his own tuition and room and board.
Having arrived in L.A., no one would give Luis a real job, so he started as a valet parker at the Trader Vic’s restaurant in the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel. No salary, but he got to have dinner in the fancy restaurant after it closed. He was one of several valet parkers, and they would generally get about $1 per car.
Studying English during the day and working at night, he was making progress. But making just $10 or $20 per day was not enough to pay living expenses, send money home to Mexico, and afford the tuition for UCLA's MBA program. Then he noticed something. Once in a while he would catch the name of a restaurant patron in conversation with someone. When the guest came to ask for his car, and Luis addressed him or her by name, the tip would be $2 instead of $1. Luis quickly realized the importance of this fact.
He started a system to learn the name and car owned by every guest whose car he had the opportunity to park. He created a table in a little notebook that he carried in his pocket while at work. When he would first receive the car, he would check the glove compartment for the car insurance papers and write down the name of the owner in his table. Then he would add a description of the person and a description of their car. Whenever he had a free moment during the day, he would study his table and memorize the entries.
After a while, every guest who came out of the restaurant to have his car delivered would be greeted by Luis in a friendly, enthusiastic tone: "Oh yes, Mr. Watson! I'll have your gorgeous silver Mercedes out for you in just a minute!" After a few weeks of implementing the system, Luis started receiving tips of $5s, $10s, and $20s regularly, especially from return restaurant clients who enjoyed his personal service every time.
But it got better than that!
Guests who remembered him would start insisting on having him park or return their cars, choosing to wait for him rather than use one of the other available valets. On some days, there would be a long line of cars waiting for Luis at the restaurant entrance, while the other valets stood there idle!
Luis was happy, now making over $4,000 a month parking gorgeous, fancy cars and having luxurious dinners every night. Having learned English in several months of daily study, he now also started UCLA's MBA program. But the other valets were not happy. Although they had some idea of how much more money he was making, they were definitely making less than they had before! At some point, they complained to him. "We don't like this at all Luis. You are monopolizing the customers. This is not fair!"
Luis was creative, and he had an idea. He created another system.
"Listen, amigos. I have a proposal. I won't park cars any more. I will just speak to the guests as a kind of valet parking host and have you guys do the parking. I'll collect the tips and pay you $2 per car." The other valets were stunned: "Wow! That sounds great! We're in!" They got busy again, making twice what they had before. But Luis was the best off. He could take care of guests twice as fast now. While he made less money per car, he could now make more than $20 in the time he had previously made $5.
With almost $8,000 per month in income back in 1972, trading the VW for his first Porsche (used) and a year of UCLA under his belt, he was a very happy camper!
To his surprise, at around this time, his family in Mexico received a letter from Harvard in the mail, inviting him to join the MBA program because they needed to cover their minority quotas, but telling him that no scholarship would be available. Luis smiled. He didn't need a scholarship any more, did he?
After graduating from Harvard, Luis continued his fascinating journey of building systems in every aspect of his work. Every system created more wealth. And his mom, dad, siblings, and later, his nephews and nieces all got to enjoy the fruits of his labor. He takes the whole extended family on a Caribbean cruise once a year —all expenses paid!
Luis Garg is the presenter of our
November 19th webinar. If you'd like to learn from him and be entertained by his fascinating life stories in the process, sign up for the webinar now!
By Anushka Drescher, Your KaChing Marketing