Luis Villalobos receiving the Hans Severiens Award

Luis Villalobos was a great mentor to me, the 12 Angels and lots of other people! He was a pioneer in angel investing, an advocate for entrepreneurs and an architect of organizations. Here is my story about Luis Villalobos…

In 2004, I was in a long term drug and alcohol treatment program. At 42 it was difficult to imagine starting my professional career over. The last 3 years of drug abuse had destroyed my professional reputation. My financial life was chaotic. My personal life was a mess. I had a young 2 and a half year old daughter and a wife who was a well respected professional in the drug and alcohol treatment industry.

For the last 20 years, I was in technology. I was an entrepreneur having founded 3 tech companies. At 42, I was wondering while laying in my twin bed at the drug treatment center, what do can I do? Am I too old or too poor to start another company? Should I get a job in technology? Should I get a get well job at Starbucks and focus on meetings and my recovery?

Career decisions are daunting while living in converted retirement home with 150 other unemployed addicts. Being around so many unemployed people robs one of hope. What can I put on my resume, I have been serving meals to 150 addicts at lunch time for the last 6 months?  I guess they would call that job a resume killer!

Somewhere along my path in treatment, I took the Myers Briggs personality assessment which helps identify temperament and aids in career decisions. My results, ENTP, the classic personality type of the entrepreneur. I was fascinated by the Myers Briggs and its accurate appraisal of my temperament.

In early recovery from drug addiction a person is on an emotional roller coaster of fear, hope, despair and purpose. I was searching for my calling, what can I do? Who am I, I am a recovering heroin addict and an entrepreneur. Those two activities have dominated my life. Where can I find meaning in my career, do I want to go back into technology?

It hit me one day, maybe entrepreneurship can help people with addictions. Maybe I can take my passion for entrepreneurship and apply it to helping people with addictive disorders. I was aware of social entrepreneurs who apply their entrepreneurial talents to social problems. I thought I am going to do that!

The next question is how? I started to brainstorm:

1. Creating businesses in treatment centers. Is anyone doing that? What are the benefits of having a business inside a treatment center?

a. You can generate money to help the treatment center pay for the services they provide.

b. You can provide job experience and funds to the residents in the treatment center.

c. You can make the transition out of the treatment easier and reduce the chances of relapse.

2. Successful entrepreneurs Create jobs and opportunities.

a. Entrepreneurs in recovery are more likely to provide opportunities to other addicts, because they understand what it is like to be an addict in early recovery.

b. Entrepreneurs can create personal income when traditional employment may be unavailable.

I can go on and on with all the benefits entrepreneurship can have to the recovery process but I need to get back to my personal tribute to Luis Villalobos…

So after my little entrepreneurial brainstorm I thought of the 12 Angels, an angel investment group that would stimulate entrepreneurship in the recovery community. I then went on line and found the Angel Capital Association and signed up as one of their groups. They had a program where new angel groups were assigned a mentor, enter Luis Villalobos.

I had a meeting with Luis Villalobos a graduate of MIT and Harvard Business School. He was the founder of the Tech Coast Angels, the largest angel group in the nation. I couldn’t believe it! Here I was a guy living in drug rehab, who thought of a crazy idea to start an investment group that provided funds to recovering drug addicts. Now I was going to meet one of the most influential angel investors in the country, I couldn’t believe it!

My meeting with Luis Villalobos was more than I could have ever dreamed. Luis immediately saw the value in the 12 Angels, the powerful opportunity to use angel investing to help one of the largest economic issues facing our country; addiction costs the US over $340 Billion dollars per year!

Within one meeting, Luis architected the 12 Angels organization. He gave me a blueprint from which I have been trying to follow for the last 5 years. And he gave me more. He attended our organizations first presentation and mentored me to create the legal structure for the group. He helped me understand how to be an investor and a group organizer.

How do we put the 12 Angels into practice? We needed to find an investment. Luis and I discussed starting a high end drug and alcohol treatment center and over the next year Wonderland Treatment Center was born. Luis suggested I utilize the local business schools for support. I then pitched UCLA’s Anderson School of Management for assistance and we created a business plan for career mentorship using Facebook technology. Luis was a guide, an advisor, a cheerleader and a visionary.

I cannot imagine where my life would be had Luis told me the 12 Angels was a horrible idea that would never work. I cannot imagine what my relationship with my wife, daughter, friends and family would be had Luis not given me his time and his experience. Luis encouraged me to follow my dreams. Luis believed in angel investing and entrepreneurship. Luis was a mentor to me and many other people and organizations. I am very sad Luis is gone. The world has lost a very important individual. I know Luis’ made over 60 angel investments in businesses but he made his greatest investment in me. Thank you Luis Villalobos, I will never forget you!

My opinion and experience is that employment performance follows the recovery process.  In the first year of recovery relapse is common, the brain is going through significant changes (healing) and lifestyle, family and work issues are difficult to address.

A common solution in the “nonprofit” treatment centers is called “Agency Jobs”.  Providing employment as part of the treatment center recovery program.  The longest running programs of this kind are the Salvation Army and Delancy Street.

Outside of the treatment center, the 12 Step community encourages the “Get Well” job.  A job that “supports” recovery.  Characteristics of a get well job is low stress, flexible hours and recovery friendly work environment.  We see some successful “entrepreneurs in recovery” providing get well jobs to people in early recovery.  The typical Sponsor direction is “get any job” it doesn’t matter just keep busy.

At the 12 Angels we have done research in looking for jobs that could provide revenue to the treatment center, job skills in growth industries and can be located at the treatment center.  We have a number of business models for “Agency Jobs”.

We have created small pilot programs using micro credit and micro loan programs to stimulate hiring of the newly clean and sober.  This is an area of great promise that needs some more work and development!

Jamie also provides instruction on the entire hiring process, from job searching to one’s first day at work. Also covered are strategies for writing attention-getting cover letters and résumés, as well as excellent interview skills.

For information on other services and workshops provided by Ms. Romano, please visit www.jamescommunications.com. To schedule Jamie for an event or training, please contact her via email at james@jamescommunications.com

Mosammat Taslima Begum (left), representing Grameen Bank, and Muhammad Yunus pose with their Nobel Peace Prize Medals and Diplomas.

What can microcredit do for the Recovery community?  How can it help?

Our idea is this:  We provide small loans to men and women who have accummulated a couple of years of sobriety; who are trying to start or grow a business; who would not be able to qualify for a conventional or SBA loan; who are willing to particpate in our entrepreneurship classes and programs.

What do we expect in return?  We expect our borrowers to pay back the loans with interest and participate in our entrepreneurship classes and program.

What do we hope?  We hope that our microcredit program will help recoverying individuals create or expand their businesses, create jobs for people in recovery and reduce the damage lost productivity in the recovery community does to our economy.

If you want to help us launch our microcredit program, please contact the 12 Angels!  Thank you…

12 Angels is a nonprofit organization that fosters social entrepreneurship in the recovery community. The organization’s goal is to create and implement programs that will counteract the economic damage caused by alcoholism and addiction.

Thank you for your willingness to participate anonymously in this development process.  Please complete either one or both of the two surveys presented below based on your background and experience.

By taking these surveys, you are being of service to our community, and we are grateful!

SPONSORS

SPONSEES

The 12 Angels would like to thank the Broccoli Foundation for support of our career mentorship program. As the 100th birthday celebration of Albert “Cubby” Broccoli approaches. We send our gratitude out to Family of Albert Broccoli. We are very honored to be supported by the Broccoli Foundation!

I was reading about Albert Broccoli on Wikipedia and noticed something very relevant to this Blog: The Wikipedia author writes about how Albert Broccoli became a mentor to Michael G. Wilson; Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli are Executive Producer’s of the James Bond Film Franchise. The Broccoli family is a wonderful example of mentorship and are HUGE supporters of education. We would like to thank Tony, Tina, Barbara and Michael and Jane Wilson along with the other members of the family.

The Broccoli Foundation has helped support education programs at USC, Johns Hopkins University and many other eductaional instittutions and programs. In 2001, the Foundation established the Dana and Albert “Cubby” Broccoli Professorship in Oncology to advance discovery in breast cancer and vaccine therapies at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. The Dana and Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli Foundation funded a faculty position dedicated to teaching the business and practice of film producing.

For more information on the Foundation’s work please see:

Brocolli Donation

News about Brocolli Donation

The 12 Angels organization recently started a career and job mentorship program. As a compliment to the services people receive in the 12 Step community, the 12 Angels are looking for mentors to model successful career development. Our program does not ask our mentors to find people jobs but rather be guides to career progress.

If you would like to be a mentor, please contact us at 877-858-1212. We need you!

We would like to thank José Luis Nazar for allowing 12 Angels to meet
at Houdini Park, one of the most storied locations in Los Angeles.

José Luis Nazar, the owner of Houdini Park, is the creator of Inglés
sin Barreras, the most successful English course for Hispanics in the
United States. He is restoring Houdini Park to the incredible
property it once was — a glorious four acres replete with natural
springs, cascades, Koi ponds, terraced gardens, and centenary trees.

Harry Houdini reputedly lived on the Laurel Canyon property in the
early 1920s. This world-famous magician had come to Los Angeles to
further his fortune in the Hollywood film industry. After Houdini
died in 1926, his wife, Bess, lived out her days in the estate’s
guest house, using the main house to conduct seances with her dead
husband.

We hope Houdini, the great escape artist, will aid us in our mission to help recovering addicts escape their previous life. We’ll take all the help we can get, even from the “great beyond,” to stop the damage addiction is doing to our society. Without support from people such as José Luis Nazar, our mission would be impossible.

Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed persons has increased rapidly. As of January 2009, we have more than 11 million people unemployed. Everything equal would an employer hire a recovering addict? If you were an addict just leaving drug treatment center would you disclose this to a potential employer? I didn’t. I said I was returning from an extended trip to Europe in my first interview after rehab. I got the job.

Here is an interesting statistic from the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA); in 2006, 23.6 million persons aged 12 or older needed treatment for an illicit drug or alcohol use problem. Out of the 23.6 million people needing treatment only 2.5 million received treatment.

Doing a little math - 23 million people need treatment and 11 million are unemployed; could it be that 12 million people are using on the job? Watch out employers! Looking back, I feel tremendous regret for the companies that gave me a job. I was a walking time bomb. My employers were blindsided by my addiction; I missed a lot of work, took extended lunch hours, I stole from my employers, I performed very poorly. Yet I was rarely fired. I am very smart and resourceful. I was able to con most employers or do just enough to get by.

Contrast my performance as a using addict with “me” sober and in recovery; I have started 5 businesses, sold 3, 2 privately, 1 publicly, 2 I still have ownership in; 4 of the 5 are still in business. I have employed hundreds of people, pay my taxes, give to charity and help other addicts through the 12 Angels and my personal 12 Step work. Is my transformation unique? I don’t think so. I am a small potato compared to many of my clean and sober friends. I know recovering addicts who run very large companies, employ thousands of people, make millions of dollars annually and contribute huge amounts of money to our economy and to charity.

One of the keys to our economic recovery is getting people clean and sober. Is that enough? We need to take it one step further and provide a bridge back to productivity. This is the focus of the 12 Angels. Here are some solutions to increasing productivity:

1. More agency owned businesses - these businesses can operate inside of long term government funded treatment centers. Some organizations like Delancey Street and the Salvation Army have been doing this for decades. One of our goals with the 12 Angels is to help other treatment centers that do not operate businesses start profitable and with sustainable companies. If you are reading this and are a cashed out entrepreneur, foundation or philanthropist - we need your help!

2. More micro-lending and micro-credit available to recovering addict entrepreneurs. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank for their success in creating economic opportunity to the poor. Why can’t we apply micro-lending and micro-credit to recovering addict entrepreneurs?

3. Why can’t we use models such as the ones developed by Pacific Community Ventures? Pacific Community Ventures uses tools of private equity to stimulate job creation, productivity and wealth in economically disadvantaged communities.

Practicing addicts and alcoholics cost our nation over $340 billion annually. Addiction is the largest health care problem in the nation. Using the 3 models described above coupled with the specific knowledge and experience of the 12 Angels’ organization is a winning combination.

We have an incredible opportunity to help everyone in our nation by reducing the damage addiction costs our society. Addiction is treatable. Economic recovery is possible. The return on investment is gigantic. Act now, help the 12 Angels implement our social entrepreneurship programs in the recovery community.

You can contribute via PayPal by using the button in the right most sidebar or donate your time and expertise by contacting us at 877-858-1212 or via email.

Applied Management Research

5 graduate students from UCLA’s Anderson School of Business will be helping the 12 Angels organization with an online mentorship project. We are very excited to be starting this 6 month project today. Mentorship is a vital component of career development and success. Technology allows us to use our resources more efficiently and have a greater reach.

UCLA’s Applied Management Research (AMR) Program’s Management Field Study brings together student teams with executives from organizations around the world. Each team completes an in-depth strategic study in partnership with an organization’s management.

The 12 Angels organization use successful models developed by the greatest social entrepreneurs of our time and apply them to solve the $340 billion of economic damage ( 577 KB .pdf file) done to the United States each year by addiction.

If you would like to learn more about our online mentorship program please send an e-mail to alex@12angels.org.

First - Let’s thank our donors and sponsors!

John and Regina Scully, Dr. Teas, Monarchy Clothing, the filmmakers from Lost in Woonsocket, Paul Mitchell, DJ Michaelis, SunStyle, the beautiful Ford Models from Ford Modeling Agency, metal artist Jason Mernick, the amazing cusine of Chris and Brett Sulzer, rock memorabilia from Slash and Sean McNabb, the comedy of Ashley Hamilton, the photography of Gene Kirkland, the beautiful candles of Timothy Jay in West Hollywood and Wire Image.

We had a full house, drank some amazing teas, raised some money, had a great time, laughed with Ashley Hamilton, Eric Kim provided us with some amazing clothes from Monarchy and we danced with DJ Michaelis.

The first annual Halo Fashion Show was a huge success. We are grateful to everyone that came to help create jobs and opportunities within the recovery community. Thank you!