Good Morning – I love lemons into lemonade stories like this bold emphasis is mine as it relates to employees, prospects and clients.<\/p>\n
Engineer moves from punching clock to punching bags<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n By <\/strong>Marcus Hooper, CNN March 27, 2010 7:57 a.m. EDT<\/p>\n Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) — In the middle of a bad economy it’s easy for many people to throw in the towel on their dreams.<\/p>\n But Paul Delgado is still punching away at his.\u00a0 The electrical engineer is turning his passion for the boxing ring into a business.<\/p>\n He first put on a pair of boxing gloves at age 12. In his rough neighborhood in Rhode Island, he’d been constantly getting into fights at school, so his father took him to the local Boys Club to learn to box.\u00a0\u00a0 Delgado took to the sport like a natural, but he didn’t start out a winner. He lost his first two matches, which taught him the lesson that would shape the rest of his life: Never quit.<\/strong><\/p>\n His persistence and dedication<\/strong> helped him rise quickly in the rankings as a teen boxer, winning numerous regional and state championships.<\/p>\n Through his success in sports he earned a scholarship to a junior college.<\/p>\n He jokingly said he was the only person to have a punching bag as a roommate.\u00a0 He trained on that bag to get ready to represent Southern New England for the Golden Gloves. He was named champion each of the two years he competed.<\/p>\n His electrical engineering degree led to a job with the Phillips Engineering Firm.\u00a0 After five years of sitting behind a desk he saw the layoffs coming.\u00a0 He resigned and moved to Atlanta, Georgia.<\/p>\n Delgado helped open several gyms and built a couple of boxing programs around the city. Then one day he realized he was doing all the work for It was scary to start his business just as his wife had lost her job.<\/strong> But, he believed that if you do something that you love doing, it will work out. <\/strong><\/p>\n He encourages other people with dreams never to be discouraged by a weak economy. His advice is to find your niche, find your passion and go after it; this is the time. <\/strong><\/p>\n He says three things are key:\u00a0 Find something that people really want or need<\/strong>, keep your overhead low and tell everyone you know what you’re doing.<\/strong><\/p>\n The boxer admitted he was not prepared when he opened the gym; he didn’t even have a business plan. But he does now. He said it gives you a very clear picture in the direction that you want to go next. He said it’s important to know what you’re going to look like at the end of the year.<\/strong><\/p>\n Delgado said the gym’s grand opening was one of the greatest moments of his life.<\/p>\n Now is the time for You!!<\/strong> Believe it or Not !!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (Ripley)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Good Morning – I love lemons into lemonade stories like this bold emphasis is mine as it relates to employees, prospects and clients. Engineer moves from punching clock to punching bags By Marcus Hooper, CNN March 27, 2010 7:57 a.m. … Continue reading
\neveryone else and wasn’t being rewarded. He took a leap of faith and decided to open his own business in 2009, at very near the peak of the recession.<\/p>\n