Thank you for your interest in Liberty Power´s Plugged In newsletter… there are more Quick Tips for Entrepreneurs

The Quick Tips for Summer are an excerpt from a speech given by Liberty Power CEO, David Hernandez, to the Florida Minority Business Council. We hope you´ll find even more beneficial Entrepreneurial Tips in this text.

I. Creating Liberty Power

The Liberty Power Idea

There is a Spanish saying, "no hay mal que por bien no venga" Or in English, "Every cloud has a silver lining." As entrepreneurs we are motivated to look for that silver lining, no matter how unreasonable it can seem. I was lucky enough to see the silver lining, and see that I had some resources. So, in the middle of the post-9/11, post-Enron recession, unemployed and with no capital, we decided there was only one thing to do… Create a national energy company from scratch. Looking back on it now, this was actually the best set of circumstances for starting a new business.

The Original Team

I knew it couldn´t be done alone so I called upon the help of my brother, my good friend Alberto, and another colleague from Enron.

Raising Captial

Because it was right after 911 and Enron, I realized that financial capital would probably not be accessible We maxed-out credit cards and scraped together the little money we had (we were all still paying off our student loans). We decided that what we lacked in resources, we would make up for by being resourceful.

We had no Financial Capital, but we did have Intellectual Capital. Having worked in large corporations, my co–founders and I had a diverse set of skills.

In addition, although there was no Private Equity, we had a great deal of Social Equity. Our only assets at that time were each other. And we received moral support and advice from our friends, our family and many, many people who we met along the way.

II. Liberty Power – The Early Days

Challenges

So, pulling together a small amount of capital, having a small team in place, we were ready to make BIG things happen.

There were significant challenges faced. How do you...

– Obtain Regulatory Approval/Licensing?

We flew up to New York to meet with the regulatory agency in person to understand what was important to them.

– Secure a supplier without any credit?

– Price power if we are uncertain of what our own costs would be?

– Sign up customers when: Liberty Power was an unknown; consumers had a distrust of energy companies in the wake of Enron; some customers didn´t know what deregulation was, and that they could choose their energy provider; and we didn´t know how to price the power?

– Build a team with no capital?

The Early Strategy

Very early, we identified three key areas to enable the growth of our company (and to this day they remain the same):
1. Providing the Best Value to the Customer
2. Building a Scalable Structure
3. Investing in People

Focused on Investing in People

Since we are an energy marketer, our company is a little unique from traditional companies. We don´t own assets, nor inventory. Electricity is not exactly something you can see or touch.

Truly, our assets are our people and their ability to do their job effectively. We knew we could only achieve what the talent around us would allow us to achieve through their efforts.

To this day our focus remains on hiring people that are Humble, Hungry and Smart.

We´ve been able to attract a team of humble, hungry, smart people by providing them: 
– A place to voice their opinions and where their ideas matter 
– An opportunity to contribute, work hard, and be rewarded 
– Benefits: we cover 100% of our employee´s health care costs.

III. Liberty Power´s Success Story Today

I´m both humbled and proud of what Liberty Power has accomplished today, and the direction in which the company is headed. We are:

– One of the fastest–growing energy companies in the nation.

– The fastest–growing, Hispanic–owned company in the United States as ranked by Hispanic Business Magazine.

– One of only four national retail energy providers licensed in 16 or more states, giving us the national footprint we need to continue to grow.

We have grown from the original four to a phenomenal team over 100 strong. We have expanded our initial focus of serving small to medium sized businesses, to serve large companies as well. Today we serve tens of thousands of SMB customers, and several dozen Global 500 companies

Through challenges faced, lessons learned, and the hard work of our Team Members, we are well on our way to reaching our goal of being a billion–dollar company. It has been an incredible journey to get to where we are today. It has been a challenging, nerve–wracking, scary, amazingly exciting, rewarding, and satisfying adventure, and I can´t tell you how excited I am when I look on the horizon and I see what the possibilities are. Because, the possibilities…are endless.

IV. Lucky–Seven Lessons Learned

Importance of building relationships one conversation at a time.
– With regulatory bodies
– With suppliers
– With customers
– With people

Importance of listening.
– Build trust.
– Find out what is important to regulatory bodies, suppliers and customers.

Being resourceful.
– We used the tools that we had until we could get the tools that we needed.

Being accountable.
– Do what you say you will do.

Having a sense of urgency.

Do what you have in front of you so you can move to the next thing.

Uncertainty brings about opportunity.

Platinum Rule.

Make the most of your natural strengths while recognizing and imrpoving upon your limitations

V. Advice and Encouragement

So this is our story. I hope each one of you can find something you heard in our story that you can relate to and that it will water a seed already planted inside of you.

Allow me now, if you will, to leave you with some parting thoughts. There is an old Chinese proverb that says "Great souls have wills; feeble ones have only wishes". What does this mean? Not everyone will succeed in pursuing their dream, it means that some will fail. Just about everyone in this world dreams about success in one form or another. We desire it, we dream for it, we wish for it. But we must recognize that there is a big difference between wanting something, and actually doing something to make it happen.

The late management guru, Peter Drucker said, "What you have to do and the way you have to do it is incredibly simple. Whether you are willing to do it, that´s another matter.

Success is not given, it is earned. And, it is earned through a tremendous amount of grit, determination, and perseverance. It takes a burning desire from within, a never–say–die attitude, to make our dreams come to life.

VI. Conclusion

Thank You for allowing me to share our story because I believe that this is your story too. Remember, this may be 2002 for some of you. Capture the silver lining in what seems to be the dark clouds of a recession, unemployment, and overall economic uncertainty.

I hope my words today will fuel a fire that´s already there in many of you, and that five years from now I will be in the audience listening to one of you telling the story of how you got from where you are today, to where you will be... a $1 million, $100 million or even a $1 billion company. This conference is your opportunity to make that happen.

Thank You very much for your attention today. Good afternoon and good luck.

David Hernandez – CEO

Quick Tips: Spring 2008