Prosper's Whiz Kids, 2005
From December 2004
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“I really want to see other people do well,” she says. “I am absolutely driven by seeing goals come to fruition, both mine and those of the people around me.”
While most of our whiz kids have made their mark working for someone else, Juan Gonzalez chose another road. After spending four years learning the radio business at local Spanish-language-radio giant Z Spanish Media, the then 23-year-old Gonzalez opted to buy a radio station of his own. He acquired two partners, also Z employees, and was off.
Within a short time, the trio had formed Aztec Media, Inc. and acquired two stations. Gonzalez became Aztec’s vice president and program director, instantly becoming one of the youngest in the nation at both positions. He also developed RadioAlAire.com, a website that serves as a central clearinghouse for all kinds of industry information in Spanish-language media.
The group sold one station and bought another in Modesto, but made sure to keep its hands on Sacramento’s KTTA 97.09 FM, which recently became the No. 1 Spanish-language station in town. Just this August, Gonzalez, now 28, and his partners decided to strike while the dial was hot, selling both stations to their old employer, Amador Bustos, for a tidy $21.5 million. Not bad for a guy who dropped out of CSUS after three years so he could concentrate on radio work.
There is, of course, a yang to all this ying. High achievers and thoroughbreds are built for speed, and anything less is about as welcome as Michael Moore at a GOP fundraiser. Angie Balderas, one of Gonzales’ two partners in Aztec Media, notes that the hubris of youth can occasionally be a challenge.
“It has been frustrating sometimes,” says Balderas. “In the beginning, Juan’s inexperience and naiveté were great strengths because it didn’t even occur to him that something couldn’t be done. But because he really hadn’t been through too many ups and downs, he didn’t understand that in business things don’t always work out so well. He thought success would always be easy.”
So while success is undoubtedly intoxicating, when does the price these fast-risers pay become too high? How does someone who is accustomed to always being “on” recognize that it is time to slow down and relax?
“Relax? When? There is never a time when I am really “off.” If I’m not here physically, then I am here mentally,” says Lewis, who readily cops to the dreaded “w” word.
“Yes, I am definitely a workaholic,” she says. “I tried not working for a while when my son was born, but it doesn’t work for me not to work.”
Continued...
While most of our whiz kids have made their mark working for someone else, Juan Gonzalez chose another road. After spending four years learning the radio business at local Spanish-language-radio giant Z Spanish Media, the then 23-year-old Gonzalez opted to buy a radio station of his own. He acquired two partners, also Z employees, and was off.
Within a short time, the trio had formed Aztec Media, Inc. and acquired two stations. Gonzalez became Aztec’s vice president and program director, instantly becoming one of the youngest in the nation at both positions. He also developed RadioAlAire.com, a website that serves as a central clearinghouse for all kinds of industry information in Spanish-language media.
The group sold one station and bought another in Modesto, but made sure to keep its hands on Sacramento’s KTTA 97.09 FM, which recently became the No. 1 Spanish-language station in town. Just this August, Gonzalez, now 28, and his partners decided to strike while the dial was hot, selling both stations to their old employer, Amador Bustos, for a tidy $21.5 million. Not bad for a guy who dropped out of CSUS after three years so he could concentrate on radio work.
There is, of course, a yang to all this ying. High achievers and thoroughbreds are built for speed, and anything less is about as welcome as Michael Moore at a GOP fundraiser. Angie Balderas, one of Gonzales’ two partners in Aztec Media, notes that the hubris of youth can occasionally be a challenge.
“It has been frustrating sometimes,” says Balderas. “In the beginning, Juan’s inexperience and naiveté were great strengths because it didn’t even occur to him that something couldn’t be done. But because he really hadn’t been through too many ups and downs, he didn’t understand that in business things don’t always work out so well. He thought success would always be easy.”
So while success is undoubtedly intoxicating, when does the price these fast-risers pay become too high? How does someone who is accustomed to always being “on” recognize that it is time to slow down and relax?
“Relax? When? There is never a time when I am really “off.” If I’m not here physically, then I am here mentally,” says Lewis, who readily cops to the dreaded “w” word.
“Yes, I am definitely a workaholic,” she says. “I tried not working for a while when my son was born, but it doesn’t work for me not to work.”
Continued...
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