We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gerardo Larios. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gerardo below.
Gerardo, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
I grew up in Mexico City, the youngest of five kids. We lived in a three bedroom house, four boys sharing a bedroom. My parents put everything they earned into our education. We didn’t have much. Both of my parents worked, but it was my mom who taught me the most about resilience. She had a full time job, but on top of that, she cooked every single meal from scratch, did all of our laundry, kept the house spotless, and made sure we always had what we needed. Her days were often twelve hours long when it was all said and done, and not once did she waver. The quality of care she gave us was incredible. It was five star treatment every single day. Amazing meals, clean clothes neatly folded, a home that was always ready for us to come back to.
I tried to help wherever I could, but I was just a kid. Even then, I recognized the weight of the sacrifices she was making every second of every day. I never took it for granted, and I still do not. Now that I have my own kids, I realize how much my mom gave.
That example stuck with me. That environment taught me early on how to make the most of what you have, to push forward even when things are not easy, and to stay focused on the bigger picture.
After college, I moved to Austin in 2005 and started working as an audio engineer. A few years later, I taught myself web development while helping my brother with his consulting business. That led me into agency work, and eventually into cybersecurity, where I became a principal senior software developer. I’m proud of that because I never went to school for software development. I taught myself how to do it, and resilience was key to that.
All throughout those years, music was always part of my life. I played in multiple bands, always playing shows, recorded, and wrote music alongside my full time career. In 2017, I joined Spoon and for a while, I balanced touring the world with still holding my software job remotely. In 2021, I left tech completely and focused on Spoon full time.
Then in 2024, I left the music industry too and started Öli Saunas. I started it from scratch with no prior experience running a business, and within eleven months I was able to grow it to over $1M in sales. Out of everything I have done in my career, building this company has been the most challenging by far. It has pushed my resilience to new limits. Even in the short time we have been operating, there have been days where walking away would have been the easier choice. But that is not how I am wired. I just keep moving forward, one step at a time, head first.
Resilience for me has always been about staying focused when things are uncertain, finding a way forward when the path is not clear, and holding on to the belief that progress is possible even when things look grim. No matter what, there’s always a path forward.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
At Öli Saunas, we’re all about making wellness something you can actually fit into your real life. We offer saunas and cold plunges that bring all the health benefits of a spa into your backyard. What makes us different is that we focus on everyday people, parents, professionals, and families who are juggling a lot but still want to take care of themselves and spend meaningful time with family and friends.
We’re not just here to sell you a sauna. We’re here to make the whole process easy, from choosing the right sauna to getting it set up, so you can focus on your health and your family, and all at a reasonable price.
What I’m most proud of is how personal this is for me. Saunas completely changed my life. They helped me navigate a tough transition period, feel healthier, and reconnect with my family. That’s what drives us. I’m also really proud of how we’ve built this brand from the ground up.
Saunas and cold plunges aren’t just for pro athletes or luxury spas. They’re for anyone who wants to feel better, create meaningful moments with family, and make health a priority without overcomplicating things, and we’re here to help make that happen.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Looking back, the three qualities that had the biggest impact on my journey were resilience, self-sufficiency, and discipline.
Resilience was essential because there are always going to be moments where things are harder, slower, or more discouraging than you expect. You have to be able to keep moving even when it feels like nothing is working.
Self-sufficiency mattered because nobody was going to hold my hand and show me how to do things. I had to teach myself new skills over and over again, whether it was learning software development or building a business from scratch.
Discipline tied it all together. It’s one thing to get motivated for a few weeks. It’s another thing to stay consistent over years without anyone pushing you.
My advice for anyone early in their journey would be to get very comfortable with learning on your own, to expect hard days and keep showing up anyway, and to focus less on feeling inspired and more on building habits that carry you when your motivation is lacking. I’ve learned that progress usually doesn’t come from big, exciting leaps. It comes from doing the small, unglamorous work day after day.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
The biggest challenge I am facing right now is scaling the business in a sustainable way.
When I first started Öli Saunas, it was just about getting it off the ground and making sure we could deliver great products and service. Now that we have real momentum, the challenge is building the right infrastructure so that we can keep the quality high as we grow.
That means potentially taking on things like manufacturing and logistics, which are complicated and expensive but necessary if we want to control quality and lead times the way we believe we should.
The way I am working through it is by staying focused on small, consistent steps. I do not expect to solve everything overnight. I am building the systems and relationships we need, one piece at a time, while keeping the standards high. There is no point in growing if the product or the customer experience suffers.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.olisaunas.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/olisaunas/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/olisaunas/
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