From High School Diploma to CEO: My Journey in Business, Leadership, and Growth

By Steve Lopez

When people ask me about my career, they’re often surprised to learn that I started my career with just a high school diploma. No Ivy League credentials. No MBA. No roadmap. Just determination, a passion for business, a non-traditional self-education, and the naivety of what it would take to realize where I ended up, a CEO and entrepreneur who has led companies with over 800 employees, hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue that sold for over three hundred million dollars combined.

Starting from the Ground Floor

Fresh out of high school, I was thrown right into adulthood- welcoming my first son nine months after graduating, marrying my high school sweetheart, moving out of my parents’ house, determined to build a better life for my family. My career began in manufacturing, learning business from the inside out. I really didn’t know how to work hard and didn’t know what work ethic was until I started my first full time job in manufacturing. I was suddenly working twelve-hour graveyard shifts lifting 60-pound blocks of recycled aluminum in a warehouse next to a hot machine that made the temperature inside our warehouse hover in the 100’s during the summer. Then I would come home and watch my son during the day while my wife went to work. When she got home from work, I would sleep for about three hours and then go back to work. I looked like a zombie as I couldn’t eat enough calories equal to the amount I was burning, and my lack of sleep gave me a constant look of exhaustion.

The monotony was unbearable at times of my day was the same thing over and over without change. Wake up, go to work, come home, feed the baby, change the baby, put the baby down for a nap, play with the baby, clean the house, feed the baby change the baby sleep for three hours, eat dinner, pack two lunches, go to work, every 45 seconds grab a block of aluminum, place it on the skid, build a full pallet, grab the forklift, load pallet onto railcar, take first 45 minute lunch, sleep for last half hour of lunch if possible, build more pallets, take second lunch, force yourself to eat as your body at 3 am doesn’t have hunger but you need the calories, leave work, come home, feed the baby, repeat. For the first time in my life, I had become a servant, everything revolved around my son and wife and no longer my comfort. Had I had this job one year earlier without the responsibilities of being a father and husband I would’ve quit.

The only thing that kept me grinding away was my little family and without knowing I had learned to be disciplined. They were and are my greatest drivers to keep pushing no matter the level of discomfort, I would endure anything rather than let them down Discipline gave me consistency, which became reliability, which became trust from others. I always tell my management teams we are not here to do the fun things but the necessary things to make sure we live up to our commitments to our company and to each other.

From this experience I learned what I was capable of in addition to how processes worked, how people worked, and how I could learn from both good and bad leadership. Lastly, I learned that no matter how hard I worked that effort and results are not always realized into the final goal of getting a permanent job where I worked, I was laid off after nine months. I watched as another person got a permanent job even though they didn’t work half as hard as many of us who were laid off because their father had worked for decades at the company and he worked the politics. Sometimes the path of least resistance is simply knowing someone who can influence these decisions.

Although I did not get the job I got something much more to help get me to my final goal of becoming a CEO. I learned how to be disciplined, consistent, how to shape my habits, how to be trusted and a work ethic that could compete with anyone’s. It also taught me what I was capable of physically and mentally and those habits would shape my success and became the foundation for everything I would achieve later throughout my career.

After being laid off, I needed to find another job quickly and a close friend of mine dad ran a roofing company, and they needed labor. This was another backbreaking job that also left me exhausted at the end of the day but at least I got to sleep at night for eight hours straight. When the seasons changed to winter, I once again was without a job, and I was about to learn that all work is noble and that my family was more important than my ego. I found a company that preyed upon my entrepreneurial spirit to sell vacuums door to door. I did this during the day and at night I worked cleaning buildings, vacuuming and emptying trash cans out of cubicles and offices, from 7:00 PM to 2:00 AM.

Fortunately, about five months later I found another production job manufacturing ink, where I became the youngest production manager at an international company after a few years. This was my first time in management, and I made a ton of mistakes but as the old saying goes, fake it till you make it. My habits, work ethic, and drive gave me an opportunity to prove I was worthy of being a manager.

I had known the value of EQ, I have been a very sensitive person since I was a child, I could always relate to others as far back as I can remember. This new position really magnified the importance of communicating with others and connecting with them. In this role I realized EQ would be omnipotent for me to be the manager I could be proud of. No one promotes someone they don’t like. I learned how to fit into the management culture and became someone my managers could trust. from the basics like showing up on time and working hard to being positive and someone they personally trust with everything that was happening with the company or in their personal lives without telling others or spreading rumors. They knew I respected them enough not to divulge information they entrusted to me.

Three years later I took a job managing an in-plant ink facility at a large printer. The department was in disarray which gave me the opportunity to really shine and in the first year I saved the company over five hundred thousand dollars through utilizing old inventory and a better estimating program that I formulated. You have no better opportunity to create the image you want others to see than when you are new blank slate for others to start creating their perception of you. When I started this job, I cut off my mullet which was a very difficult thing to do as I had a beautiful Kentucky waterfall mullet, but it was more important to look the part of a full business haircut instead of business in the front and party in the back. I also changed my clothes to polos and khakis instead of the usual production uniform provided by the company. 

Not only did I look the part, but I also delivered, far exceeding productions expectations, as I stayed well ahead of the production schedule while saving them hundreds of thousands of dollars through my changes. The job also gave me the ability to have contact within every part of the company.

The Leap into Sales

My job was the culmination of all my hard work and gave me everything that I had been working for, I was well paid, highly respected and valued by my company. Then out of the blue I had a life-changing moment that would soon derail everything that I had worked so hard to accomplish. This force had a name…Tony frick’n Robinson!

One afternoon, while watching the NBA Finals, it was suddenly interrupted with an urgent newsflash. OJ Simpson was in the back of his white Bronco being chased by the LAPD on the California highways. The game eventually ended but I continued to watch the chase and once the chase ended, I got up and started making dinner for my sons. That’s right, two years after our first child we wanted him to have a brother or a sister as I thought being an only child would be lonely. That said, I left the TV on and after getting everything into the oven I went back into the living room where an infomercial was playing. There was a montage going of person after person talking about how their lives had been changed financially, physically, spiritually and mentally. Then this guy started interviewing a very successful looking couple on a balcony overlooking the Pacific Ocean who described how life a few years earlier had kicked them around and that they were in a state of desperation to change their lot in life.

The interviewer then asked how they became millionaires after living in a one-room bedroom, unemployed, broke and miserable just a few years earlier. You guessed it, they saw an infomercial promoting Tony Robbins Personal Power system and ordered it. Now normally I would change the channel as quickly as I could during an infomercial but each story just became more and more interesting to me. Next thing you know I had been watching it for thirty minutes and I was really debating if I should order “Personal Power”. It was a beautifully pitched program and even though it was over a hundred dollars I ordered it. It was the first time I had ever ordered anything off the TV but I was intrigued to see if it could get me to where I wanted to be, a CEO or business owner.

The program gave you an hour lesson every day for thirty days and I diligently listened and did my homework as I was learning a ton about myself and the habits of successful people. Each lesson was so applicable to what I wanted to learn but did not have access to as I skipped college when we found out we were going to have a child.

After completing the program, it changed how I viewed work, relationships and how to accomplish the life I wanted. I had a clear set of goals with actionable items including my first step to becoming a CEO, getting into sales. The majority of CEO’s work their way through the sales channel to become the leader of a company, so I needed to get into sales.

I wanted to go into sales at the company I was working at as the top 40% made over six figures, drove very nice cars and always took nice trips to some tropical place. Since I grew up broke with a single parent mom, money was high on my priority list. Salespeople are experts at relationships as their job is to get you to like them so that you give them the opportunity to trust them. This also gives them an advantage within their company as they learn how to get people to trust them and what they are offering has your best interest in mind and will benefit you and your company. They learn how to convince others that the promises they’re making will be fulfilled if you give them a chance. They also need to be confident as sales are merely a transference of emotion and if you don’t believe in your product/company how can your customer believe that you are going to deliver what you promise. Salespeople also need to know how to deal with objections as well as rejections. This requires the ability to think fast in stressful situations as well as be confident in their answers to address an objection. As I learned later confidence comes from being prepared, there is no shortcut, and your confidence grows as your knowledge is called upon in the heat of the moment. When knowledge isn’t enough to sway their objections, you need to rely on your ability to read others. What’s the real reason someone is objecting. You need to find out the core issue. These folks also need to be resilient as salespeople have a single digit close rate consequently, they deal with rejection far more than a successful sale.

All these skills and personality traits serve you well as a CEO.

Problem was no one at my company went into sales out of production, our company was the largest private commercial printer from Mississippi to the west coast, we printed magazines, catalogs and direct mail pieces for some of the largest corporations in America. All the salespeople had been with the company for decades or were recruited from other printers and they brought with them a large book of business (millions). I had no experience and no book of business, and did I mention I was twenty-three, the youngest sales rep was in their late thirties and had spent their careers in the industry. Essentially, I had no qualifications for the job however, the one thing I had was the confidence to try, my boldness was a direct result of my Tony Robbins program. 

I met with the CEO of the company once a month to review my department and at one of our meetings I asked him if I could meet with him one day after I was done with my shift. He was a great guy, and he agreed to meet, and we scheduled a time for a few days later. He later admitted he thought I was going to give my notice at this meeting.

I had a job interview a few weeks earlier to run an implant for a major company in Washington state, before I flew out for the interview, I bought my first suit, and I must admit I felt like it made me look like a million bucks. It gave me a lot of confidence. Consequently, my plan was to change into my suit before our meeting and pitch him that I wanted to go into sales and if he didn’t promote me into sales I was going to quit and go into sales at the Washington opportunity. I really had no desire to move to Washington, after talking about it with my wife I was going to turn it down.

Essentially I had no real back up plan, just a boldness to go out on a limb and take the biggest risk of my adult life. I really felt like I was on the edge of a cliff and when I looked over, I couldn’t see anything but the ground hundreds of yards below me. I’ve always had a deep belief in God, and I felt that if I took the first step and fell god’s hand would be there to catch me, but did I have the faith to take the first step. Now if anyone should have faith it’s me because a few years earlier by the grace of God I made it through moving out of my parents’ house, becoming a father, husband, and full-time worker. God’s fingerprints were all over me making my way through these enormous life changes including my career where I had to claw and scratch my where to what I was going to risk just for a shot at a life I envisioned for me and my family.

The day of the meeting I was so nervous I almost cancelled the meeting about once an hour throughout the day. Our CEO, Michael, always had a full schedule and he told me he would call me when he was ready as he feared his meeting before ours might run over. I ended my day and ran to my car and sneaked my suit into my office making sure none of my fellow employees saw what I was doing. I put on my suit and I sat at my desk staring at the phone once again contemplating cancelling when he called me, I still had an out but once I answered and said I was on my way to his office, there would be no turning back. I would be committed to this crazy plan I concocted all because of an informercial. My mind was racing with anxiety I was about to lose everything I had worked so hard for, and I would have to face my wife as a failure not because of my performance but

Right as I was debating cancelling for the hundredth time my phone rang, I knew it was Michael. I paused and then I quickly picked it up. “Steve this is Michael I’m ready for you, come up to my office.” I faked my best positive voice and told him I would be right up.

I walked out of my office, and I felt exposed because it was highly unusual for anyone in production to be dressed in a suit. I was praying that I wouldn’t run into too many people on my way up to the front offices. I made it about ten feet when the guys on one of the presses saw and started cat calling me, one even asked if I was going to a funeral. I told him I wasn’t sure which only confused him, I just kept walking without any further explanation. I ran into a few other people, and they told me how great I looked, you could see the surprise in their faces. Why was Steve dressed so dressed up at work. I finally made it to Michael’s office and when I walked in and saw me in my suit a giant smile came across his face. “Wow, Steve you really look great what’s going on?”

I shut the door behind me, I sat down, and I started my first sales pitch that I had been working on since we agreed to meet. I started with the impact I had made during my tenure at the company and the overall savings I had made through recycling raw materials as well as increased efficiency. Once I worked on establishing value I then moved into my close. “I love this company, but I’ve been offered another job in sales, and it was a great opportunity for me, but I don’t want to move my family out of state and when I thought about it what I really wanted was to sell for the company I love.” “That’s why I’m here today, I want to sell for us.”

Michael sat back in his chair with a very serious look on his face and he asked me, “what if I tell you no?”

I respond, “then I would have to take the other job because I really want to go into sales, and I am committed to making that happen.”

He once again paused with the serious look on his face and then responded, “I’m sorry but the answer is no.”

Suddenly time slowed down as the last word left his lip, a wave of pain hit me that started at my feet and erupted into my head, I felt like I was punched in the stomach. It was suddenly hard to breathe; my mind raced with regret and disappointment. The best thing I can equate what it felt like was when Lloyd Christmas saw his best friend Harry betraying him over the love of his life. He starts to cry as he takes his hat off and crinkles it beneath his fingers and then he starts to gag repeatedly until he throws up. That was exactly how I felt, I just destroyed my life.

He sat there looking at me waiting for my response, I took every fiber of my being to muster a façade that would allow me to walk away with any shred of pride. I stood up, looked him in the eye as I held my hand out and told him, “I really appreciate you giving me the time today and I wish nothing but the best for you and the company. I will really miss working here but I will continue to root for you and the team.” He stood up and we shook hands, I turned around and started walking out the door when he said, “wait!”

It caught me off guard as once I turned around and started walking away I was trying with all my might to push down the emotions that were desperately wanting to get out, but I didn’t want Michael to see the wound that his one word “no” had inflicted on my soul. I stopped and turned around. Michael asked me to sit down and then he told me, “In sales you will be rejected 90% of the time and I needed to see how you responded to being rejected and you handled it perfectly. “ I’m willing to give you a shot but at the same rate of pay as your base and you’ll be on a drw vs commission. Further, before you go into sales you’ll need to find your replacement and train them so that your department stays highly efficient.”

Suddenly I felt my life come back into my body and the adrenaline from the gut punch became adrenaline of excitement. I told him that I wouldn’t let him down and that I would outwork all of his current sales reps. He then picked up the phone and he asked someone if they had a second to meet. He hung up and said, ‘come with me we’re going to see Barry (he was the third-generation owner of the company, he’s gotta see you in this suit.” We walked down the hall and entered his office. When Barry first saw me, it took him a few seconds to recognize me in a suit. Barry, Mr. Lopez has just asked me to go into sales, and I told him we’re going to give him a shot. Barry complimented me on my suit, and we talked about sales for about ten minutes as well as our plan to replace me. We all then shook hands, and I walked on clouds back to my office. To this day I have never forgotten the power of saying yes to others. By saying yes, all Michael did was give me a chance, really he had no risk if it didn’t work out, he would know quickly and would either move on or look good because he gave me a shot. Throughout my career I have always tried to give the right people a shot at their dream, as a simple yes can change a life.

Since I had no experience in sales, I had to learn to educate myself through books, audio tapes, and magazines about sales and business. I was inhaling books and at one point I had read so many sales books I ran out of them to read so I started reading psychology books to help me.  This self-education was vital to my success in sales because in sales it is not a subjective job, its very objective, success is easily measured. You either hit your sales quota, or you get fired, there is no in-between. Alec Baldwin has a famous line in the movie Glengarry Glen Ross where he played a sales consultant addressing the sales team- “First place, you get a set of steak knives, second place, you’re fired! This doesn’t change when you’re a CEO, “make your revenue and EBITDA quarterly budget, you get to keep your job, miss them… you’re fired”!

I moved into sales—without a shred of formal experience. I simply applied the same habits that I applied in manufacturing to move into management: be disciplined, be persistent, drive everyday towards your goals, educate yourself, find a role model to emulate and have faith. Make sure that when you speak to perspective customers you listen, solve problems, and most importantly you deliver what you promised.

Fortunately, I spent a year in telemarketing when I was in high school, so I had zero fear of calling strangers and getting rejected by them. This is your job as a salesperson when you have no book of business. Every day, I showed up at 7:00 AM shut my office door, pulled out the phone book highlighted my calls for the day and at 8:00 AM sharp I started smiling and dialing for the next nine hours. I had a sign in my closet of my office that had all my goals and what I needed to do each month, week and day to realize those goals. I also had a sayings that I had printed out, that read “First we make our habits and then our habits make us, are your habits serving you?”

I grinded for the first year incredibly hard and by the end of my first year I was the fourth highest revenue generating salesperson, by my third year I was second and by my fourth year  I was the number one salesperson.  It wasn’t about being slick; it was about truly a desire to serve my clients, understanding their needs and working tirelessly to deliver value.

Learning Leadership, Step by Step

After five years I was approached by our owner to take over the sales team and become the VP of Sales. There was no good reason to take this position as I was making good money, and I was very busy taking care of my book of business. There was no upside to taking on another full-time job that I had no experience in where I would be in charge of some folks that I didn’t have a lot of professional respect for the majority of the sales team as I saw how bad their work habits were compared to the top five reps. However, I decided to take the job for two reasons. One I felt like I owed our owner for giving me a shot to go into sales, it had changed my life and I never forget someone who has helped me when I needed a hand and two, it would move me into a VP position which would be one step away from becoming a CEO.

 Again, I committed to learning quickly. I studied, I listened, and I adapted. That willingness to learn allowed me to succeed as a Vice President of Sales. From there, new opportunities opened, and I eventually stepped into the role of CEO.

Leading as a CEO was no different than the earlier steps in career—it was another challenge where I had to learn fast while on the job. Along the way, I built and rebuilt teams, turned companies around, and helped create extraordinary growth. Two of the companies I led, one B2B and one B2C, we were able to double sales within three years and within four years were sold for over a combined $330 million dollars. At their peak, I was leading organizations of 200 and 800 employees, transforming operations, cultures, and futures.

The Lessons That Transformed My Life

Every level of my journey shaped not just my career but my personal growth. I discovered the skills you develop in business—resilience, problem-solving, communication, coaching, mentoring, team building (making a culture) and leadership—spill into every aspect of life. Business became more than a profession; it became my passion and my vehicle for growth.

Why I Coach Today

I’ve lived the truth that you don’t need to start with perfect credentials or experience, you just need discipline, the willingness to learn, adapt, and persist. My journey makes me an authority on business transformation, culture, leadership, and personal growth. I’ve led at every level, from the factory floor to the boardroom, and I know firsthand how to navigate the unknown and turn challenges into opportunities.

Today, I use that experience to help entrepreneurs, executives, and aspiring leaders realize their potential. Whether you’re starting with limited experience or leading a large organization, I know the road because I’ve walked it myself.

I now want to take what I’ve learned and help others on their journey It’s now my turn to take what I’ve learned and give it to others who want to realize their full potential.

You can learn more about my coaching approach to business at BizcoachLopez.com