"One of the biggest lessons learned over the last few years is you can't go by historical trends as your guide but rather need to be able to change direction quickly when needed."
Victor Tabaac Tweet
In this exclusive interview with Valiant CEO Magazine, we are excited to welcome Victor Tabaac, a seasoned entrepreneur with a passion for the tech industry.
With extensive experience in business management, marketing, staffing, and more, Victor has accumulated multiple certifications in cloud computing and related technologies. As a CEO, his top priority is the success of his employees, and he believes in giving back to the community and valuing family time.
Victor offers insights into the challenges businesses faced during the pandemic and shares his thoughts on thriving in 2023. He emphasizes the importance of being adaptable and prepared for potential financial instability, focusing on data-driven decision-making and continuous growth.
Victor also shares his experience in adapting to the changes brought by the pandemic and offers valuable advice on finding opportunities in the marketplace.
In this candid conversation, Victor highlights the significance of putting people first in the workplace and the impact of the “Great Resignation” on the business landscape. He stresses the need for leaders to stay in tune with their teams and foster a supportive company culture.
Finally, Victor shares his vision of success in 2023, centered around happiness, job satisfaction, and quality time with family.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to Valiant CEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself.
Victor Tabaac: As an entrepreneur, I have always been passionate about the tech industry. Over the years, I have gained extensive experience in business management, marketing, staffing, and related support services. My priority as a CEO is the success of my employees, and I ensure they are well-positioned to achieve their goals.
I have several certifications in cloud computing and related technologies, including AWS Cloud Practitioner, AWS Solutions Architect Associate, and AWS for Microsoft Workloads Technical. My expertise lies in cloud computing, e-commerce, staffing, Telco, and information technology.
In addition to my work, I enjoy giving back to my community by donating time to charities and causes. I believe that success is not only about achieving one’s goals, but also about building strong relationships with the people around you. Being a family-oriented person, I value spending time with my loved ones and creating memorable experiences with them.
2020 and 2021 threw a lot of curve balls into business on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past couple years, how can businesses thrive in 2023? What lessons have you learned?
Victor Tabaac: One of the biggest lessons learned over the last few years is you can’t go by historical trends as your guide but rather need to be able to change direction quickly when needed.
We saw that some businesses were able to thrive during the pandemic, however some are no longer here. It was the ones that were able to pivot quickly enough to adapt to the change who were successful.
Going into 2023, whether we’re in recession or not, leaders need to look at things differently and be prepared for potential financial instability. During these times of instability some companies get lean, and just try to survive while others work to get ahead of everybody and capitalize.
The best bet is to try and find opportunity in your marketplace wherever you are and to position yourself for future growth.
The pandemic seems to keep on disrupting the economy, what should businesses focus on in 2023? What advice would you share?
Victor Tabaac: Looking forward, companies should focus on their numbers, data, and the market headwinds to make decisions not on a monthly or quarterly basis, but how they can pivot on a daily basis as needed.
How has the pandemic changed your industry and how have you adapted?
Victor Tabaac: The pandemic has led to incredible growth for the businesses I’m involved with because we were remote prior to the pandemic, and it gave us the ability to have processes in place already that other organizations didn’t.
Our competitors had to race to get up to speed. The new paradigm we were ready for allowed us to operate under the new norm of getting all work done virtually without having to meet the person face to face.
What advice do you wish you received when the pandemic started and what do you intend on improving in 2023?
Victor Tabaac: I wish that I had received advice on preparing for the expansion of my businesses.
Underestimating the significant market growth that came in such a short period of time left us spending additional time developing systems and processes that could have been in place prior to the exponential growth.
It’s a lot easier to affect change on a small scale when you’re smaller than it is when you get a lot bigger. It is never a great idea to essentially build a rocket ship while flying it.
Online business surged higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for 2023?
Victor Tabaac: My expectations for online businesses in 2023 will begin to show a slight return to normal as people are increasing their requests to meet in person. People have become Zoom and video conferencing fatigued. There are plenty of benefits from doing things in person. Though it should be noted that productivity wanes when you have to start traveling.
When thinking about what your average day looks like, not commuting into an office saves time. Potentially hours a day. With this online meeting slow down increasing across multiple industries, you are seeing some online platforms shrink.
On the flip side, some things have become the new norm such as online grocery shopping. It may not have been introduced because of the pandemic, but its popularity exploded over the last few years. So much so that my wife and I haven’t stepped foot in a supermarket in 4 years.
How many hours a day do you spend in front of a screen?
Victor Tabaac: Simply put, far too many.
The majority of executives use stories to persuade and communicate in the workplace. Can you share with our readers examples of how you implement that in your business to communicate effectively with your team?
Victor Tabaac: We always talk about how we put people before money in my organizations. In one instance, I had a situation where we had a new employee.
He was doing an amazing job his first 60 days and was about to have a baby. He came to me and said that he knew he had not accrued any PTO but asked what could be done. I saw how good of a job he was doing but couldn’t create a new policy because then everyone would get the same opportunity.
My solution was to give him a performance bonus for the 2 months that he had been with the company so far to show him how valued he was here.
When hiring new people after that I have used it as an example about how we put people before dollars. Just by giving the employee that flexibility, even though he hadn’t been with us long enough to qualify for paternity leave, will help make him a company man for the rest of his career.
Operating with that kind of elasticity, showing we will go above and beyond for our employees can make all the difference.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as the real challenge right now?
Victor Tabaac: The biggest challenge for company growth across all industries right now is the economy. With all the banking issues and rising interest rates, they can stunt an organization’s growth.
They do not have to be impacting the business that day. It is merely the fear that can lead companies to do things like widespread layoffs even though their business hasn’t been impacted yet. They are worried about the next quarter, or the following quarter.
In many cases, it’s a good strategy, but not all. Leaving some people hurt due to fear in the marketplace. This fear could stunt growth for companies in 2023.
In 2023, what are you most interested in learning about? Crypto, NFTs, online marketing, or any other skill sets? Please share your motivations.
Victor Tabaac: I am most interested in leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to automate processes that will help organize and make our employees more efficient.
A record 4.4 million Americans left their jobs in September in 2021, accelerating a trend that has become known as the Great Resignation. 47% of people plan to leave their job during 2022. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued, and misunderstood in the workplace. Do you think leaders see the data and think “that’s not me – I’m not that boss they don’t want to work for? What changes do you think need to happen?
Victor Tabaac: When I look at what led to the great resignation, I believe the biggest impact was from skilled workers. This all happened in a time of remote work, and it gave employees the opportunity to work from home eliminating long commutes.
This also allowed them additional time to look for higher salaries from industry competitors. Which led a lot of people to leave their companies.
I think leaders generally see themselves as effective, but the truth depends on how in tune they are with their team. If you look at large organization it becomes difficult to get the pulse on how your team feels.
For me, it becomes harder as my companies grow because I used to talk to every person monthly. Then it became quarterly, and right now it feels more like I talk to everyone in the company annually.
It can be easy to become out of tune without knowing whether you’re creating the right environment unless you’ve hired the best managers and executives underneath you. You need people to make sure they truly capture your ideals, your values, make sure that the culture stays intact within the organization.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Victor Tabaac: My business superpower would be the ability to create AI that automates all the processes my companies handle to speed everything up, so tasks are completed in seconds rather than hours. The ability to free up my employees to help achieve greater success would be at the top of my list.
What does “success” in 2023 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Victor Tabaac: Success to me is simple. Being able to answer the following questions in the affirmative is everything. One, am I happy? Two, do I like what I do? And three, how much time can I spend with my family instead of being behind the screen?
If my answer is yes to all three, then I am successful.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Victor Tabaac for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Victor Tabaac or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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