By: Nick Jiwa

Founder and President

CUSTOMERSERV

One of my greatest fears in life is working for someone ever again. I had to overcome many fears and obstacles to achieve my goal of becoming self-employed. This is my story about turning that dream into reality, and I sincerely hope it inspires others to believe in making the impossible happen.

My family emigrated from Tanzania to New York City in 1974, when I was five, in pursuit of the proverbial American Dream. Resettling in the U.S. was a success itself, only to face the harsh realities of having to restart from the bottom. Jobs were scarce, money was scarcer, and my family was crammed into small living spaces.

We were immigrants trying to assimilate in an unforgiving, crime-ridden, decrepit city which was New York in the 1970s. To top it off, I was an underprivileged asthmatic who didn’t speak English being raised by a single mother. The deck was stacked against me—but then again, millions of immigrants share my plight, many of whom overcame the impossible to achieve great things.

A Journey Begins—The Discarded Kid

Life in the big city is daunting, especially without means. I was often mired in self-doubt because society profiled me as “one of those kids.” By that, I mean a kid from a broken home who will probably underachieve and become a burden on society. I was often grouped among the discarded who lacked confidence and hope because of the tall barriers blocking us from realizing our full potential.

I hope my experience gives others faith that the less fortunate have a path forward regardless of their circumstances and that the seemingly impossible task of lifting yourself up to achieve the highest heights is realistic and possible. I am that one-in-a-million chance—a clichéd phrase we often hear—but the term takes on a different meaning to those who embody it.

Education

From elementary to middle school and high school, I lived a typical unremarkable life of a kid from a struggling NYC family. Despite the challenges, I wouldn’t trade my New York upbringing for anything in the world. I was fortunate to grow up in Queens, having learned street smarts and the importance of loyalty and accountability, blessed that I lived within an incredible melting pot of a community, teaching me the vital importance of cultural diversity.

I graduated from high school in 1986. While my friends got accepted to “popular” universities with sprawling green campuses and dorms, I ended up attending the City University of New York (CUNY)—Baruch College. I was accepted through a program called SEEK (Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge), designed for underprivileged kids.

Baruch’s campus is in the heart of Manhattan, so I could work full-time and take on a full credit load. I completed my undergraduate degree in four years and graduated among the top of my class. I thought about an MBA but needed to fast-track an income stream and start my career.

The First ‘BIG’ Decision

Sometimes in life and business, an ordinary decision can be your most fortuitous one. The concept of self-sufficiency was taught to me by my late grandfather, and because of him, I got my first job at age 12 and always had a part-time job as far back as I can remember.

My motivation to work led me to a milestone decision when, at age 17, I took a job as a call center agent. At the time, I did not know and could not possibly predict that this one small step would lead to something much greater. A part-time summer job turned into a 36-year lifelong passion and career for me in the Call Center or Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, which today is a high-growth $300 billion global marketplace.

The Second ‘BIG’ Decision

After graduating in 1991 with a BBA, I was recruited by an outsourcing firm in Houston, Texas. I took the job, hesitantly headed out west, constantly second-guessing myself. Having worked for a top-five call center outsourcing agency, I was initially hired for an operations role. However, upon my arrival, the CEO moved me into business development, bringing in clients who needed outsourced call centers, something I had never done.

So, here is me, at age 22, thrust into an unfamiliar role at a new company in a nascent industry, adjusting to a new city with little money and no security. I was terrified and quite unsure of the future, but I saw the possibilities. I quickly realized that I was given an incredible chance to be a leader in my field. My fate was staring me in the face, challenging me to seize the moment—and I did.

Career Pivots and Challenges

After my first big break, I never looked back. I worked for several other outsourcing firms, was promoted multiple times, and built my CV, network, and knowledge base—all while making a positive impact, generating millions in new client revenues for my employers, creating new jobs, and scaling the corporate ladder with each opportunity.

While my dreams and hopes were palpable, I had no financial cushion, security, savings, and nothing to protect my family from falling back into the abyss I worked so hard to pull us out of. I had one nice suit and a belief in the greater good. I was ridiculed by the more experienced, successful, and older sales guys who worked for competing outsourcers. I was young, inexperienced, naïve, atypical, honest, and just looking to make something of myself in one of the most brutally competitive industries in the world.

Early Career Success

I attribute this drive to my underprivileged roots, humility, and appreciation for people from all walks of life. I was able to cut through corporate barriers, make human connections, and communicate with my clients on a grassroots level. They did not see me as a prototype, aggressive, self-serving, one-liner-obsessed, name-dropping sales person.

I wasn’t interested in the wine-and-dine, glad-handing approach. I was more serious, grounded, and laser focused. And because I started in this industry at the entry level—a call center agent who worked his way up—I was able to make genuine connections with people who saw my authenticity. Competing against more experienced sales executives, I carved out my niche, achieved the highest milestones, and laid the building blocks for my future as an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurship Begins—the American Dream Personified

I do not hail from a family with an entrepreneurial pedigree. Throughout my professional career, I envisaged business ideas, often struggling to come up with a winner. Over time, I toyed with startups and investments, some mildly successful and some face-plants, but I always kept the dream alive.

Finally, in 2006, I found my calling when I created my company, CustomerServ, an outsourcing ecosystem that helps corporate brands select the right call center or BPO outsourcing providers. Vendor selection in our industry is central to successful outsourcing, yet too many client-vendor relationships fail, so we created a more predictable way to solve this problem. The genesis of CustomerServ coincided with a personal discovery of my inner entrepreneur at the right time in my life and professional career.

Transition to Entrepreneur

I enjoyed corporate life until I didn’t. I had grown weary of bureaucracy and analysis paralysis, which are anathema to people like me who thrive on creativity, solutions, and unbridled action. While the excitement and newness of working for oneself is a great feeling, it takes an adjustment. The high pressure of being your own boss is stressful because you must answer to your worst critic: you.

Even with the broadest of shoulders and sharpest of minds, entrepreneurship can be a grueling yet rewarding way of life. I used to stress about everything about the business in the early days. I attribute this to the normal lifecycle of a new company and my perfectionism coupled with over-reliance on too few clients. My mentors often advised me to control the controllable, but I did not always know how.

The Start-up That I Almost Didn’t Start

Every entrepreneur needs resilience to overcome start-up fears. I recall sleepless nights worrying about the transition from employee to business owner. I had come to realize that being my own boss is, in fact, in my DNA, but I still had to overcome the fear of leaving the safety net of a high-paying position. Job security has a strong gravitational pull, and it nearly prevented me from entrepreneurship, but my allergy to failure resulted in CustomerServ succeeding.

In our infancy, it never occurred to me that I was a disruptor. But, over time, once the industry started referring to us as revolutionary, difference makers, and my favorite— outsourcing thought leaders—it dawned on me that we are a unique and transformative company. We are saving organizations $millions while creating new jobs and revenue streams for our BPO vendors by facilitating lasting business marriages based on our authentic process, proprietary vetting, high integrity, and matchmaking expertise.

Learning and Earning Selectivity

You have heard the phrase “control your destiny or someone else will.” To control my company’s destiny, I had to become more judicious, especially about the opportunities I chose to invest in. You cannot be all things to all people. Therefore, my company and I earned the right to be selective over time. Selectivity comes from consistent, successful outcomes. As you and your organization mature, you will naturally lose your appetite for lower-hanging fruit and phantom “opportunities.”

More importantly, you must become an expert at deflecting timeand resource-draining situations.

As much as I love people and networking, there is a fine line between benevolence and practicality. It is imprudent and impossible to allow everyone into your tent, so you must carefully choose your network, service providers, and clients. The ability to decide where you invest your time and effort is a sign of a responsible, well-balanced, diverse, and healthy operation. Discernment, not arrogance, can drive positive outcomes. It takes years to develop the right professional and business maturity formula to achieve this milestone.

My Company Today

If you had told me when I was younger that one day, I’d be the CEO of one of the most successful companies of its kind, I would have asked you for the punchline of your joke. But it happened for me, just like it has for many immigrants who traversed their way to the United States, full of hopes, dreams, and beliefs. Today my company CustomerServ is responsible for creating over $3 billion in successful outsourcing contracts for Fortune 100 companies and brands of all sizes. We’ve created over 100,000 call center outsourcing jobs globally and, in the U.S., including jobs and careers for disadvantaged individuals in emerging countries.

I am the poster child for those who come from humble beginnings only to scale the corporate, then entrepreneurial ladder against unbelievable odds. I am fortunate to be one of the bricklayers who built the foundation of the BPO industry as we know it today. As a pioneer and “founding member” of BPO services, I will continue giving back to an industry that has enabled me to achieve the American Dream of professional and personal success and, ultimately, entrepreneurship.

Final Words

• Risk and fear: As much as the corporate world is not for everyone, neither is entrepreneurship. Employment and entrepreneurship have inherent risks, but entrepreneurship requires a certain risk tolerance. It calls for the ability to convert fear into energy, then channel this energy into successful outcomes.
• Don’t panic: No matter what highs and lows you experience, never panic—even in the darkest of times. Irrationality is panic’s bestfriend. Experience has taught me to be patient and prescriptive.
• Path of least resistance: Pretend that it does not exist.
• Embrace change: Always be open to criticism, never stop in your pursuit to be better, and do not allow complacency to enter your realm unless you enjoy stagnation.
• Be obsessive: If you do not obsess over your business or work, you might be in the wrong profession. Anything less than perfection is tantamount to failure. That is why my personal commitment and effort are indefatigable. I have an undying devotion to my clients, vendors, and close network, and I am an advocate for them.
• Learn: Bob Ross, the late famous painter, referred to mistakes as happy accidents. Yet, I lose sleep if we do not get it right. I take it personally if a client is ever unhappy with a vendor match. Fortunately, this rarely happens. In fact, the outsourcing relationships we create usually result in unprecedented success, and there is no greater satisfaction than knowing that we delivered on our commitments.
• Define your own success: We are pre-programmed to measure success by financial milestones, but monetary accomplishments alone should not define success. Success is relative and it requires initiative, awareness, selectivity, and accountability, not advanced degrees, or higher intellect.
• Instinct is your best mentor: Looking forward is wise, but only if you learn from the past. You can draw on experience and gut instinct to help you. Your instinct is an asset and can be more valuable than your best business ideas. Even if your instincts are more right than wrong, arrogance will drive good karma and opportunities away.

Summary

I take inspiration from people who have experienced a similar journey as mine and I hope to inspire others to stay on course. I am a once disadvantaged kid who became a champion for independence, entrepreneurship, and paying it forward. No matter your background or struggles, never stop dreaming. Believe in the greater good, visualize your dreams becoming reality, build your career, grow your business, be bold, let your fears motivate you, have courage and faith, do the right thing, and great things will happen.