Passion to pursue your dreams...

For me, posting things online is pretty difficult, when you consider that in fact, I am actually a very private person.  I am public when it comes to my work but private when it comes to my family, religion, friends and my past.  Basically anything that is not work related.  Not because I have anything to hide, but it is just the way I was raised.  However, in my desire to make sure I leave my mark, primarily for my sons, and my son's children, I am trying to open up my personal life even more.

A few of years ago (June 2007) I was asked to give a commencement speech at ITT in Greenville.  Here is a slightly modified version the speech I gave.

Enjoy,
Ralph
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Good Afternoon.


Dr. Brightharp, faculty, friends, family and most of all graduates. For me it is an honor and an absolute pleasure to be in front of you today, to share with you some personal thoughts of wisdom. To be honest, when Dr. Brightharp asked me if I wanted to speak to you during your commencement, I was, well, in shock. I didn’t know what to say. Nobody had ever asked me to give a speech at a graduation ceremony.

You see, you are accomplishing something that I never did. You are graduating with either an associates or bachelors degree. I immediately began to wonder, if I was qualified to be in front of you today. After pondering this for a few days, I realized that we share something in common. All of you and I have the drive to do something with ourselves in life. We are both motivated and have a desire to succeed. You found it within your self to get you to this point. Some of you did this while working full time either day or night. I tried to do the same thing until after about 4 years of working on my associates at UCLA. No not the famous one, the other one. The University Closest to the Lincroft Area, otherwise known as Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, NJ. As you can imagine, I burnt myself out. I started traveling overseas on business trips and I also got married. As a matter of fact, today is our 22nd year anniversary.

I started attending college in September of 1982 after graduating high school in June of that same year. But by the time I started college, I had already been working at Bell Labs for about a year. I found myself frustrated because I had to work in order to go to school. I would leave to go to work at 7:00am, and would get home about 6:00pm. I swallowed my dinner without chewing, picked up my books and drove off to school about 40 minutes away. I would stay at school until about 10:00pm and then I would come home. I repeated this pattern 3 days a week, trying to take 2 courses per semester as I worked on my Computer Science Degree. I figured that at this pace, I was on a path to graduate, about 10 years later. I also came to the conclusion that I was learning more at work than I was at school because technology was not as advanced in school as it was at work for the field that I was interested in. The PC revolution had just begun in the early 80’s and I had more power on my office desk than the minicomputer that our school had. Things have changed quite a bit since those days. I have seen some of your classes and have actually had the pleasure of meeting some of you and your professors. You are definitely way ahead of where I was when I started school. So you see, I do believe that I can relate to most of you. I understand how hard it is to set some goals and reach them.

One of the first major goals that I had set for myself when I was young was that I wanted to buy a house when I grew up. I had lived in an apartment all my life. I had 3 sisters and along with my parents, lived in a 3 bedroom apartment. Right before I got married, I moved into my own apartment and several months later, my wife joined me. We both worked full time and went to school nights. In 1988, we decided that we needed to move in with her grandparents in order to save enough to buy a house. We wanted to start a family but I was determined to make sure that my child would live in a house that I could call home, and not an apartment. Not that there is anything wrong with an apartment, but it was something that I felt passionate about. I wanted my children to have a back yard. To have a neighborhood where they could go out and play and be safe.

In November 16th, 1989, my wife and I closed on our first house. I was the first person in my family to purchase a house. Two weeks later, our oldest son was born. He is seventeen today and just finished his junior year in high school. He is already looking into his own college plans.

I continued working for Bell Labs and AT&T for almost 14 years. During that time, my job was declared surplus 3 times. In other words, it means that you are not needed and within a certain period of time, you will be laid off. I refused to let that happen to me. I looked around within Bell Labs and continued to find out where the work was moving to so that I could follow it. In those days, departments were shut down, and responsibilities where transferred from one department to another. I moved with the work, pursuing my career in computers. During one of those surplus times, I felt like I was the most depressed I have ever been. I don’t think I have ever felt like that again. I was fascinated with the personal computer business and I was not going to let someone take that away from me. I had made my bed and was being told that I could not sleep in it. I was extremely frustrated because there were people making decisions for me that did not see what I saw or understand how personal computers would revolutionize everything. I absorbed everything I could about computers during those years. I read a ton of books and spent hours a day continuing to try to learn as much as I could. I constantly asked questions about every topic to every body that I worked with. I was determined to be a sponge. To pursue my career.

I worked my way up from a clerk position in 81 until I reached the level of engineer, in 93. It took me twelve years to reach another goal. To be an engineer, at what was once, one of the most premier research institutions in the world. Had I finished my college degree, I would have definitely cut that time in about half if not more. What kept me going was the drive to learn and do my best. I knew that I had it in me to achieve that goal no matter how impossible it seamed or how many times I was told that I couldn’t get there because engineers at Bell Labs had to have a degree. It was not a common thing in those days. At one point, over half of the people I worked with in one of my 30 person department had PhD’s.

During those years, I received a promotion just about every year. At one point, I was given the promotion but told that I would not be getting a raise because my salary was higher than the average for my new level. Thinking back on this several years later, I felt like I was not given my due. But to be honest, I was glad to be getting paid for something that I absolutely loved to do. However, I felt like I could always do better than the person above me or that I had a better way of running the company.

After 14 years, and having moved my family to South Carolina, I finally caved and decided to leave AT&T when they closed up shop. In hindsight, it was the best thing that has happened to me. I finally had the reason and courage to go out on my own and not be dependent on a major corporation making decisions for me.

Now fast forward to today, where since leaving AT&T, I, along with my partners, have started, 2 new high technology companies in Greenville, sold one, and also established 2 satellite divisions of out of state companies all in the past 12 years.

My most recent, and definitely the most exiting, endeavor has been to start a company call Zipit. Several years ago I invented a wireless messaging device for teens that has amazing potential. I came up with the idea because I was witness to my nieces fighting over the computer so they can IM with their friends. I actually invented it in April 2003. We had our first prototype in 8 weeks. My partners and I spent most of 2004 being told that it was impossible to make it for $99 and that China was going to eat our lunch. In October 2004, we got Target to start selling it online for $99. And by the way, the product is manufactured in China. We also lost a 10,000 unit opportunity with BestBuy that Christmas season because we did not have the dollars to manufacture it ahead of time.

We quickly realized that we needed to start marketing this product through advertisements and commercials and to ramp up our manufacturing plans. So we set out to raise money in early 2005. We spoke with dozens of investors in the hopes that we could get funding to pursue our dreams. You cannot imagine all of the excuses that came pouring in. It is impossible to start a consumer electronics company in South Carolina. What do we know about Consumer Electronics? After all, we are just a bunch of engineers. We were told that just because we got the product in Target online, that we had absolutely no experience in getting a product in retail. In 2005, we introduced the product in almost 4,000 RadioShack stores, 200 CompUSA stores. We also introduced the product in Mexico and Canada. However, we lost another opportunity for 100,000 units with BestBuy. Once again, because we could not afford to build up enough units satisfy the demand we had generated. In the meantime, we had the product in a movie, the NY Times, Chicago Tribune, even in Time Magazines’ most Amazing Inventions of 2005 issue. I do not want to steal the thunder but keep your eyes and ears open for some major announcements that are coming in the next couple of weeks.  (We actually introduced Z2 two months later and have since then continued to introduce other products as well.)

My work, I do for me. It gives me the satisfaction that I am doing something that I never thought possible and is definitely a dream come true. Over the years, I have learned to trust my instincts, to rely on my faith and believe that anything is possible, but it may not be easy. That you should never give up nor be complacent.

During my “free time” I dedicate my energies to my faith, sharing my lessons with Scouts and other youth groups, and obviously spending as much time as I can with my very supportive family. Just like my work, I commit 100% of my personal time in making sure that I give back and that I can have a positive impact on others. I have learned a lot through the years and know that I have lots to share. I encourage all of you to do the same because the satisfaction you get in teaching is even better than in learning.

I have many, other highlights to tell on my personal experiences.

But my purpose in mentioning these things today is not brag about myself, but to make sure that you understand that if you have faith, if you believe in yourself, have the support you need from family and friends, and finally have the desire to do succeed, you can pursue, and achieve, your dreams. Never give up.

I can think of one word that exemplifies my attitude towards things. Passion.

I believe in myself, and have the passion to excel in everything I do. Anything is possible.

One more thing I wanted to mention. My parents followed me down to SC, and bought their first home just last year after they retired. My dad just turned 72.

You have the opportunity to do what you want. All you have to do is believe yourself and have passion in everything you do.

Congratulations and best of luck.