Story & Lesson Highlights with Diego Santos of Southern California

We recently had the chance to connect with Diego Santos and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Diego, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
The first 90 minutes of my day are always the same. Right after I wake up, I check my emails, texts, and calendar to see how the team is doing. I usually take a few minutes to sit with my phone and get in the right headspace for the day. From there, I jump into any urgent messages that need attention, then check in with the team to see where I can offer my support. The first 90 minutes go by fast, then it’s time to dive into the real work for the rest of the day!

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hello! I’m Diego Santos, Owner of Life’s Short Picnic. My team and I offer some of the best Marriage Proposal and Luxury Picnic Packages in Southern California! We have a very strong team of 9 to help make all of this magic happen. We’re also partnered with esteemed Hotels and Venues along the coast.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who taught you the most about work?
I’ve had multiple “people” come in and out of my life virtually. I have nobody else in my family or friend group who has a business or has any idea what this is like. I actually sought out to people online to help connect and relate to others. Since I was unable to find someone in person to relate to, I resorted to looking online for people who are in similar positions. It was such a great way for me to get exposure to what work can look like and how to put yourself out there. Especially when running multiple companies; which is a part of the end goal for my organization!

What’s something you changed your mind about after failing hard?
Look forward to failing. Look forward to making mistakes. To me, the key is to learn from all mistakes and failures in your life and put things in place to ensure it does not happen again. This is also something I preach to my team. Embrace mistakes and learn from them; as long as we don’t make the same mistake twice or more, it can be used as a learning mechanism to better ourselves. I would not be where I am if it wasn’t for mistakes. It’s a lot easier to learn when things are going wrong, than when things are going right. Once I saw this for myself, my entire approach changed.

I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. Is the public version of you the real you?
Absolutely. All the things I stand for are true in public and behind closed doors. I appreciate the opportunity I have everyday to treat people right and do the right thing. For me, this means making sure I’m supporting my team and making sure they love doing what they do and love the team they are on! I enjoy that they look forward to going to work and doing a beautiful proposal set up at the beach and have lunch with their coworkers on the sand. I appreciate the opportunity to help in some of life’s biggest moments for all of our clientele! It humbles me to believe that so many people hire us for something as important as their proposal. I do the best I can to give them everything they deserve so they have the best and most memorable day of their lives. I stand by doing the right thing, always.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What are you doing today that won’t pay off for 7–10 years?
I am building my family’s last name. This is something that won’t ‘pay off’ until after I’m long gone and my grandchildren’s grandchildren are taken care of. I look at my life in decades. I look down the line and embrace delayed gratification. I’m not looking for a pay off, I’m looking to create an organization that everybody wants to be a part of, that offers the best services in the industry, and give my family opportunities that I never had growing up. These types of things take decades to create and i’m about 2.5 years in.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Michelle Green Photography. Alanna Guapo Photography

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