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Who Are We? Albert Guevara
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As they say in Hawaii, "Let's talk story."
My StoreFront is the Internet presence of Sierra Vista Enterprises, a diversified, international business management
consulting firm founded in 1978. For 30 years we've been serving the self-employed and independent professional just
like you.
As certified Web Merchants, we provide advertising, merchandising, point-of-purchase promotion, frequent shopper
programs, special events, sales support and planning, and much more --- all designed to send your sales volume
soaring, attract new customers, and make improvements in the sales process that will yield long term results.
We've survived and earned a fulfilling living because of only ONE reason: I GUARANTEE you will not find another
consultant or consulting firm who will care as much about your business as you do. Read my story about how I started
and how YOU and I have so much in common. Then I'll share some nice things our Clients have said about the way we
do business:
Fun.
It's all about having fun.
Retailing is fun.
Over thirty years ago, as a wide eyed young man fresh out of the Army, I looked for career opportunities that would support my growing family
and fulfill my passion for having fun.
I went back to school to continue my premed studies, got accepted to UCLA and took a part time job at a new WT Grant City store in
Camarillo, California. I was made manager of the shoe department and men's wear department. Not because of my vast experience (I had
none), but because I was a veteran and had been an officer in the service. The suits wanted my leadership.
Nonetheless, I was hooked. The part time job turned into a full time job. Within three months I entered the management training program: a
two year intensive program designed to generate store managers schooled in the new type of retailing that K-Mart had innovated.
I resolved to become President of the company. I worked 18-20 hour days 7 days a week. I finished the training program in 12 months,
became store manager within six months more and was recognized as a 20 something year old young lion in the retail ranks of the sixth
largest retail chain in the country.
I was having fun. Life was good.
Then it crashed.
Venerable W.T. Grant Company, a retailing icon for over seventy years went out of business. It was the largest bankruptcy in American
corporate history at the time.
It was then I learned about pain: not only my personal pain of broken expectations, but the pain of my employees. Many of them were older
than I and had grown up with the company. For many of them, this had been their only job since high school. Now, their once secure future
lay shattered in anxious anticipation of an uncertain tomorrow. Ten, twenty, thirty years of dedicated service down the drain because of
irresponsible corporate leadership sensitive only to the bottom line, stockholder pressure, and family interests --- and as the future would
prove ---greed.
We didn't see it coming. I could say I was too young, too inexperienced, too naive to recognize the signs. It was true. But more so, I simply
ignored them because I had blindly given my trust to people I believed were looking out for me. All I had to do was continue with my work
and follow the company line. Things would get better.
Pain.
Such pain when a business goes down. The impact is profound. Grant's hired a professional liquidation company and I was awed by the
lack of insensitivity of the whole process. Not only by the liquidators assigned to us, but also by the public. But I got through it, learned
from it and actually got pretty good at it. The liquidation company hired me to do more closings after my own store and I made a few bucks.
Then I left.
There were plenty of career options for a young stud willing to commit to a corporate logo. My good friend David, a fellow stud, interviewed
with some regional company out of Arkansas. He was rejected. He failed to remember the secretary's name who introduced him to the
interviewer. How could someone with a rip-off name like WalMart turn down my brilliant pal? We couldn't understand it.
I interviewed with several companies. It was a heady experience. Being recruited by corporate executives twice my age was exciting.
"Look at me," they said. "You, too, can look forward to a fancy office, fancy cars, and a wonderful lifestyle just like mine. Just keep doing
what you're doing and when you reach my age, this is how you'll be." Pretty impressive. All I had to do was dedicate myself to another
corporate logo and I would be secure forever. Right? I don't think so.
I took those bucks I made from the Grant's debacle and bought a franchise from Rasco Store's, a 40 year old variety store chain serving
remote rural areas mostly in Central California. Sound familiar? WalMart was still a few years away.
I was having fun again. This time, however, I was in control because I owned the store. So what if I had a $250,000 debt? So what if the
franchise company was taking 7% off the top? It was mine. How could anything go wrong as I long as I worked hard and made a profit?
Life was good.
Then it crashed. Rasco Stores was bought out by Gamble-Skogmo, a diversified retail giant. Since my store was not a strategic location,
the site was sold to Newberry's, another retail variety store chain. Once again I had to liquidate my store. Because of my experience with
Grant's, I was asked to close out other locations. Once again, I made more bucks from a funeral. Then I left.
Pain. Such pain.
Enough already. I resolved to take my limited knowledge, my youthful energy, my passion and dedicate myself to retailers looking to avoid
the pain I had endured. I resolved to become the most informed expert in the birth, growth, maturity, and decline of a retail business. I
resolved to be a virtual partner to my Clients. Clients without the resources of a corporate logo; possessed only with their skills, their
passion, and their will.
Resolute, rededicated, and entirely on my own, I created Sierra Vista Enterprises. I entered the 80's, a 30 year old with four munchkins and
a trusting wife. I began my search for retailers wanting my help.
The 80's proved to be a watershed. New businesses were springing up everywhere. There was money on the street and WalMart was
expanding. I became expert at Grand Opening Sales and servicing Clients wanting to improve their retailing skills for their expanding small
businesses. My Clients asked for three things from me that they could not do for themselves:
1. Make my business productive
2. Show me how you did it
3. Do it with respect and dignity
My response: No problem. Guaranteed.
I was having fun. Life was good.
Then it crashed. But not for me. The 90's proved to be the demise of the easy money of the 80's and the rise of the retail King Kong -
WalMart. Many of my Clients could not cope with this colossal entity. Most decided to quit. No problem, I am the expert at Quitting
Business Sales. My Clients asked for three things from me that they could not do for themselves:
1. Sell my business to the public at a reasonable return on investment.
2. Sell my business in the shortest possible time.
3. Do it with respect and dignity
My response: No problem. Guaranteed.
My work in the 90's took me cross country from Hawaii to Alaska to the lower 48. With our work in Puerto Rico Sierra Vista Enterprises
became international. WalMart was everywhere now and my services were in great demand.
With the exponential growth of Internet retailing, my scope of service has expanded and has reduced substantially the amount of travel. I
truly have become a "Virtual" Partner and Project Manager for my Clients. Clients who want me to help them fulfill their dreams and
expectations within their small business niche.
I continue to fulfill mine. I'm the Lone Ranger and I'm busier than ever. I've avoided the corporate logo, the fancy office (not the nice car!),
and the fancy title. In return I've witnessed my munchkins graduate from fine schools and create munchkins of their own.
Life is good. I'm having fun. Are you? No?
Email me NOW at My StoreFront, Call me at 619.206.3225, or Fax me at 619.374.2067!
I can help. Guaranteed.
Next, visit our Testimonial Pages where some of my gracious Clients have taken time to talk about how we made a
difference in their lives as well as their business.
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