Motivation is the Key to Success Only 19 years old, and fresh off the plane from Ecuador, he spoke very little English and would take on any job to start living the American dream and earn a living. On 18 March, 1990, Cesar Nader came back to America. He would eventually join the Marine Corps, accelerate his enlisted military career, graduate from college, attain his MBA, become a Marine officer and start his own company by 18 March, 2011. Cesar has never been a stranger to entrepreneurship. You could say he was born with that “virus” that infects every American who embarks on the entrepreneur journey. Cesar Nader is proof the American dream is alive and well today. As I gather the story for this piece, Cesar’s theme has been one of motivation. Although born in the United States, his mother moved back to her native Ecuador to be closer to her family, when he was just a young 8 year-old boy. Opportunities in Ecuador for a single mother with five children were almost non-existent. They struggled for many years just to make ends meet. “When it rained, we used to slide around in the living room pretending we had an indoor pool” recounts Cesar as he fondly retells the story of growing up poor in Ecuador. Cesar knew early on that living in a drug infested and high crime neighborhood would not afford his family an opportunity to succeed. With little opportunity and chance for success Cesar Nader knew he had to find a way back to the U.S. So, after graduating high school, he proposed a deal to his grandfather, Enrique Preis. He asked for a plane ticket to the U.S. with the promise to only return when we was successful and the commitment that he would provide a better future for his mother and his four younger siblings. His grandfather told him “If you can raise $200 on your own (not by begging or asking other family members), then he would help him with the plane ticket. Cesar did not see a challenge, but the opportunity to start his American dream. Cesar, hustled and with a small investment from his grandmother, he bought some white under shirts, ironed decals of popular trends of the times to sell them to neighbors, friends and family. He bought posters at flea markets and framed them to sell on street corners. He became an ice cream vendor and walked miles and miles to sell all over the city. While his friends were enrolling in college, he was focused on that American dream. Within a year, he was able to get

the money and as promised, he got his plane ticket to America. Then, on Thursday, 18 March of 1999, he left Guayaquil, Ecuador to embark on his dream. “I had no idea what I was going to do when I got to America, but I knew I had this urge to get there, no matter what” says Cesar as he remembers what he calls the “Smell of America’s air. I was motivated to get started with my life”. He got off the plane and was greeted by his great aunt, who was currently on welfare and food stamps, but who had offered him a place to live for a couple of months. “It was a great feeling to be back in the U.S.,” said Nader. Within a week of arriving, Cesar was able to get a job at a local supermarket breaking down boxes in the back of the store and bagging groceries. Since he did not speak English well, this all they would allow him to do. He found another job at Arby’s cleaning bathrooms, floors, kitchen and taking care of the trash. Cesar was happy to have two jobs and be living the American dream. The dream of earning a living to start sending money back home to his mother and siblings in Ecuador. Later, he would earn enough money to bring them one by one to the U.S. to live out their own American dream. Today, his mother and siblings live and work independently throughout the U.S. and most of them have achieved degrees and a family of their own. This accomplishments is one of Cesar’s greatest joys. After only six (6) months of being in the U.S. and holding two jobs, working 12 hours, Cesar realized his great aunt could not keep him much longer. One evening on the way home, Cesar stopped by a local recruiting station to hear about opportunities in the military. He recalls listened to every service (Army, Navy and Air Force) recruiter pitch to him, and they all seemed to want to offer benefits along with signing up with them. “I saw a camouflage door at the end of the last hallway that read “MARINES”. I had no idea what this was and I walked in to ask the guy behind his desk what he would offer me. He almost threw the phone at me for speaking to him that way.” Says Cesar. He remembers clearly as SSgt Rodriguez said “Get out of my office and come back when you have something to offer to the Corps.” As he ran out scared, Cesar remembers turning around and feeling that sense of belonging. “He had me at – Get out” says Cesar. That very day he took a test there and barely made the score to be allowed to join as an open contract. This means that his scores were so low that they would allow him to enlist and give him a designation after he finished boot camp.

He join the Marine Corps on 14 November, 1990 to answer the call of Desert Storm as an open contract with a combat arms option. The Marines are always looking for a few good men and they wanted someone like Cesar Nader, who was motivated by an internal passion for success. All he needed was the focus he would gained through the Marine Corps to achieve greater success in life. Despite having some language barrier issues he quickly made up for it with consistent determination and an undying motivation to succeed. He went from Private (E-1) to and Gunnery Sergeant (E-7) in a little under eight years. His superiors rewarded and fueled his drive to succeed by promoting him meritoriously to almost every rank and giving him greater responsibility. They would eventually recommend him to become a Marine Officer. This decision would once again change his path. He was selected to attend the Broadened Opportunity for Officer Selection and Training (BOOST). This incredibly challenging academic program provided a better opportunity for enlisted Marines with educationally deprived and culturally differentiated background to succeed in college to eventually become Marine Officers. Once he completed the BOOST program, he would be accepted into the Marine Corps Enlisted Commissioning Educational Program (MECEP) to attend four years of college at Norwich University while still on active duty. During this time he would earn thee undergraduate degrees (Computer Information Systems, Business Administration & Accounting) and two minors (Economics and Finance) before completing Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Quantico, VA. Once he finished MECEP, he was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant on 25 May, 2001 and was later assigned a Logistics Officer billet in Japan. As a newly commissioned officer, Cesar excelled and once again took leadership roles above and beyond his rank and tenure. He was frocked to 1st Lieutenant and given command of a Motor Transportation Company. He became the most junior company commander in the unit. After a couple of years, he applied to become an officer recruiter, but his commanding officer recommended that he applies for the Master’s Degree program at the Naval Postgraduate School.

He graduated with two masters to include an MBA (Manpower Systems and Supply Chain Management). Cesar continued his service in the Corps until he reached almost 21 years of service and retired as a Captain on 30 June, 2011. Prior to his retirement, Cesar was aware that the transition to civilian life would not be easy. He did over 200 phone screening interviews with HR recruiters. He went on over 40 job interviews and had 11 job offers prior to his retirement. But during one of his interviews, at Patricio Enterprises, he recalls hearing his now mentor, Gabe Patricio “Cesar, I can’t hire you. You don’t want to sit in the bus… You want to drive it. I need people who can sit not drive”. This was the most eye-opening interview he had and that was the catalyst for what would later become X Corp Solutions. He incorporated the company the day of his retirement on 18 March, 2011. It would be his biggest risk in his life because it would directly affect his family and his future. Up until now, he had been flipping homes in the Virginia area and was making a health profit in the real estate business. He would have to shut down a very profitable business and open up a risky venture in a very uncertain time in government contracting. He knows the military but did not know government contracting. Cesar spent many hours researching the industry. The hours spent could have been enough time to be able to finish one of the master’s programs he started. One of the resources he used was the U.S. Small Business Administration’s website. He credits much of his early success in the knowledge base he acquired to the wealth of information and resources provided at this site. “For every link I would click to learn something new, there were another three or four I would have to follow up on to keep enriching my knowledge base. It was rewarding to feel empowered and encouraged,” said Cesar. “I never went to any classes or attended seminars on how to become an entrepreneur. I certainly wasn’t going to pay a company to map out my path. I already owned a business so I knew how to start and run one. I just needed information on how to become a government contractor.” Cesar set out to become one of SBA’s 8(a) government contractors. He joined the program in 2012, as a provider of top secret services in foreign language, intelligence and cyber

security, training and education development and engineering support services to the defense community. His company is also a certified SDVOSB and HUB zone entity and possess a Top Secret Facility clearance. Since starting X Corp Solutions, he has been able to land a number of contracts, because of his determination and persistency as a small business owner. In three short years, Cesar has grown X Corp Solutions from three employees and $30 thousand in revenues to over 34 employees and $3 million in revenues. Getting started as a new business owner in the federal space is not as easy as you might think, in this current fiscal environment. New government contractors can get help a number of different ways, but it is up to that small business owner to utilize the resources and make a plan of action they can execute. One resource available to small businesses to have a mentor. X Corp participates in the Mentor-Protégée Program (MPP). As a small business, X Corp has an agreement to be a protégé to the larger GRS Inc. GRS’ role as a mentor is to help X Corp build a robust internal infrastructure and develop their systems for large contract pursuit. So far the relationship has worked out for both companies. “Cesar has great business sense and vision,” said Tony Williams, CEO of GRS Inc. “He has distinguished X Corp from other companies because of his discipline, honesty and integrity. You just don’t come across it as much as you do with him. He will give you the shirt off his back. I am happy to have him as a teammate.” During a military career many people, you come across many people as you are assigned to different duties and locations. Eddie Pena, who is a former Marine, met Cesar early in their careers while they were both enlisted. They both had some of the same duty stations, went to the same military schooling and even retired around the same time. They remained friends in and out of uniform throughout their careers. They talk frequently and true to form, Cesar was always encouraging Eddie to start his own business. Finally, after years of constant fellowship, Eddie decided to follow Cesar’s advice and take the plunge into entrepreneurship. Eddie recently started his own consulting company with a lot of mentoring from Cesar.

“I am really surprised about the amount of success in a short amount of time,” said Pena. “Cesar has always been about helping other Marines and service members achieve their highest potential. He has created a network just for that purpose especially focusing on starting and running a business. He believes in success by helping others be successful,” states Eddie with an emphatic tone. Cesar is committed to helping transitioning veterans and disabled veterans find their career progression after the military. Within his business model, he sets aside funding for seminars and workshops that help veterans focus their career goals and decide on career paths once they leave the military. He often mentors his employees and other veterans on his lessons learned from owning a business. He encourages his employees to start a small business and create an entrepreneurial culture. Since getting off that plane on 18 March 1990 to the start of X Corp, Cesar never doubted his success. Whether he was cleaning bathrooms, being a Marine, earning a degree or starting a business, he always put his best effort. He says “I am not good at anything in particular and I know nothing well enough that I can be the expert at it. There’s only one thing I know and one thing I can do well – I don’t quit, I don’t give up, I don’t surrender.” Cesar says that the only thing he is good at is “…being consistent and persistent”. Today Cesar lives near Winchester, VA with his wife Melanie and his five children. He thinks of himself as a farmer in the making with his three acres and several farm animals. Yet, most who know Cesar, credit him with a consistent desire to motivate others to reach their highest potential and never give up on their American Dream. Though his success did not happen overnight, he is surely a reminded that no matter what background you come from or how you got to where you are today, you can make you American Dream come true. All you need is to be “Consistent and Persistent” and the rest will fall into place. When I asked Cesar what is the secret to his success, he told me that he has always believed that “Motivation is the Key to Success.”