David Amortegui is a 22 year old entrepreneur and social media savant from Potomac Maryland. He’s started multiple businesses and is now helping others grow their businesses using social media. He told me his passion was in becoming the best version of himself, so that he can help others do the same. I asked him some questions about himself and his journey in the hopes that you too can learn something to better yourself.
Personal Life
Q: How did you feel like growing up in Potomac shaped how you approach things?
A lot of people haven’t heard of Potomac MD, but it’s a very wealthy city in Maryland. I did fit into that stereotype. My family was definitely very fortunate, but it lit a fire in me being around so many people that, in my young eyes, were super successful. I was inspired to someday achieve for myself, what I had seen everyone around me have. The nice house, the nice car. For me, the thing I learned the most growing up in Potomac was, defining what “success” meant to me. So now, when I come up against a challenge, I remember why I am doing it, I remember what I decided “success” was to me, and I use that to fuel me through whatever I might be going through.
Q: So what is “success” to you?
For me, success is about being independent and being able to give to others. I want to put myself in a position where anyone can reach out to me and I’d be able to help them, and even if I couldn’t, I want to be in a position where I’d be able to connect them with someone who could. For me success is about the value I bring to those around me.
Social Media
Q: What role does social media play in your goal towards attaining success?
Growing up, I was never big into social media. And it wasn’t until I got into college that I started seeing social media less as a form of arrogance and more as a tool. A tool that, while some use for money or for vanity, I can use for influence. Social media for me, is a tool to spread my message, my impact on the world.
Q: How do you gain influence using social media?
Well, it’s simple, before I can help people they have to trust me, they have to allow me to help them. And that requires a relationship. Now, how do you build a genuine relationship with someone you’ve never talked to before, all online? They have to get to know you first. So the content you post has to dive into who you are, so that people feel like they are getting to know you.
Mindset
Q: What kind of mindset do you have when talking to people who might not share the same mindset as you?
It’s all about understanding others. A friend of mine once told me, don’t argue with someone unless you can argue their point of view better than they can. And that’s kind of how I go about conversations with people who share different mindsets as mine. I try to get to know them, understand where they are coming from. In doing that, in genuinely doing that, the other person usually becomes more open to me, but also more interested in also learning about me. And then a genuine connection can be made.
Q: How do you deal with failure?
An old mentor of mine once told me to “redefine failure”. Failure to me, doesn’t mean not achieving a goal. For me failure is not trying. When I don’t achieve a goal, I don’t view that as a failure, I view that as part of the process to success. For me failure is when I decided to watch that netflix show, instead of working out. That’s how I deal with failure.