Gary Vela established Web Daytona in 2008. A digital marketing agency with the world ahead of it, the drive for this company came from his early life spent in the jungles of Peru. Here he made his way selling bread, fruit, and insects, foraging for some of his meals and living a simple but ideal life.
Cut to 2018, and through perseverance and strong leadership, Vela has transformed Web Daytona into the leading digital marketing agency in Florida.
Perseverance in a Peruvian businessman who rose from trading mangos and loaves of bread to the CEO of a BBB+ digital marketing agency makes sense. But what about the leadership? What makes a strong leader, or at least a strong enough leader? And how can we develop this kind of leadership in ourselves?
Here to answer your questions, we’re proud to introduce...
GV: Being a strong leader, the way I see it, starts with always setting an example. A good leader leads by example, whether it be putting in those long hours or anything else. You just never know who’s watching. Your kids, the people you work with, people who may look up to you.
Also, communication. Very important in any field where you’re leading a group of people, a good quality in a strong leader is having solid, all cards on the table communication, whether it’s good news or bad news. You’ve also got to be able to listen. To speak last, and to absorb what’s being said, then give your feedback or executive decision.
Lastly, a strong leader has to have a balance between work and their personal life. Professionally and personally. It’s a sense of priorities that a lot of entrepreneurs aren’t born with - they have to learn it. You’ve got to become self-aware, and many of us start with the focus much more on work than anything else. It’s a process.
GV: Leadership is a synonym for discipline, to me, meaning that you have no choice but to become disciplined in everything you do. Because if you don’t have the discipline, then nothing is going to motivate you every single time to go the extra mile (and, sometimes, over and over again).
GV: Two ways: you’re either forced to become disciplined or you have to teach yourself to become disciplined. I, for example, was definitely forced. Coming to a country where I knew nobody, far away from my loved ones, I was forced to, in a way, grow up faster, become stronger, and become disciplined.
I had to find a reason why I had to keep pursuing my goals. And that reason was always giving my family a better life in Peru. Failure was not an option. That determination, then, to always hit the mark and exceed my own expectations, that became the conclusion. I had to be disciplined.
Really, you’ve got to have a fear of God in you. In all honesty, that is one of the most important things. Unconsciously and behind closed doors, when it’s just you before you step outside, having that fear and that faith in God is what makes a good leader. Making decisions that line up with the plans you have in your heart, and knowing that it’s now or never.
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