What makes you happy? Think about it for a moment. Is it spending time with family and friends? Growing your passion projects or side-hustles?
If you’re like serial entrepreneur Carlos Garcia, it might even simply be your passion for your work itself and how that work makes other people happy.
Having shown true entrepreneurial spirit from childhood, Garcia’s drive for freedom and growth is what fuels his passion for happiness. As a first-generation Dominican-American son to immigrant parents, Garcia remembers his parents consistently working multiple jobs just to put food on the table for their family. Though he says he was never aware of how close to poverty his family truly was, due to his parents ensuring that he had a happy, joyful childhood, his parents’ work ethic exemplified from a young age that whatever Garcia wanted in life, he needed to find ways to get it—or make it himself.
This realization led Garcia to pursue a number of side-hustles from a young age, generating income from flipping products on Craigslist and selling candy to friends and neighbors before eventually diving into the then-rapidly emerging world of E-commerce.
Upon graduating college, Garcia landed what he thought would be his dream job as the Social Media Director for Life in Color’s international department. While the role let him bring happiness and smiles to others all over the world, he quickly realized that the job gave him no opportunities to learn new skills, move up in the company, or make more money. It was the antithesis of everything his entrepreneurial spirit knew and thrived on.
He knew a change needed to be made; even if he had to make it himself. This realization ultimately spurred Garcia to learn anything and everything he could about the world of digital marketing. Knowing that he wanted to live a life of joy and freedom as a digital nomad, after only a year of putting his nose to the digital grindstone, Garcoa went on to found his own digital marketing agency: Smile More Business Solutions.
Like most tried and true entrepreneurs, Garcia knew that he wouldn’t be done learning once his years of formal education ended. And after landing his first handful of clients through his own agency, he found out that both his knowledge and skill set would quickly become outdated if he didn’t work to continuously improve them. This forced him to change his mindset of having to “do” and instead focus on learning how to do it.
To improve this ability, Garcia began dedicating at least one hour of each day to reading new books and articles, or even working on masterclasses to improve his digital literacy and marketing acumen—all so that he could keep making his clients smile through the work he provided them.
Garcia notes how over the past two years, it’s been nearly impossible to avoid the slew of negative daily news on everything from COVID, rising gas prices, hiring shortages, and divisive politics. In spite of this, he has been able to maintain his focus, connect with his audience on Instagram, and show them how to keep having a fun and happy life full of smiles every day as a natural goofster who is unafraid to be his true self.
That connection and unapologetic adherence to his own truth is one that Garcia carries over to his work for his clients with Smile More Business Solutions. In remaining true to himself and his commitment to always be better, Garcia has helped dozens of businesses and entrepreneurs like himself implement true solutions for their digital marketing needs. By helping businesses succeed, “one smile at a time,” Garcia has proven to himself, his online followers, and his clients alike the potential possibilities that can happen with a focus on happiness as the core driver.
