Reinvention, Service, and the Grit to Lead w/ Mayor Javier Lopez | Ep 45
In this episode, I sit down with Javier Lopez—Mayor of Ceres, California—for a raw and inspiring conversation about rising from humble beginnings to lead the very city that shaped him. From growing up in a neighborhood with no sidewalks to running a full-time business, coaching football, and serving as mayor, Javier unpacks the mindset, grit, and values that fuel his public service.
We talk about identity, ego, mentorship, and the often invisible work behind true leadership. Whether you're building a business, a team, or a better version of yourself, this conversation is a masterclass in purpose-driven hustle.
Timestamps:
(00:20) – The Humble Beginnings of Mayor Javier
(00:36) – From Small Town Roots to Entrepreneurial Dreams
(11:32) – Ego’s Role in Leadership
(20:12) – Navigating Leadership Through Failure
(31:36) – Blending Leadership with Community Service
Connect with Mayor Javier Lopez:
▶️ Website: https://www.javierforcongress.com/
▶️ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/javier-lopez-11822b155
Welcome to the LFG Energy podcast! Your host, Arjun Dhingra, is a two-time Taekwondo world champion and the former Team USA co-head coach. He is a 23-year mortgage veteran of the industry who loves influencing change in people.
This podcast is about the stories and lessons of those who have had their backs against the wall and have ultimately overcome. Former Olympians, coaches, entrepreneurs, and incredible human beings will share their experiences of resilience and beating the odds in spite of adversity so that you too can learn to start doing the same in your life.
Connect with Arjun:
▶️ LinkedIn | Instagram | Website
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Transcript
Mayor Javi, thanks for coming on the show with me.
Speaker A:Now, you're the first.
Speaker A:I don't want to call you a politician because I don't think of you as that, but you're the first elected official that's been on the LFG Energy podcast.
Speaker A:And the reason why I wanted to sit down and do this with you is because of your story.
Speaker A:And we're going to start there with, which is your humble beginnings, how you grew up.
Speaker A:I want you to share that with our audience because a lot of people would think that because of how you grew up, you had no shot at ending up where you're at or that you maybe had no right to expect the life that you have now.
Speaker A:But let's start there.
Speaker B:Well, I can start off by saying that I grew up in a small town series.
Speaker B:California.
Speaker B:The town that you see today is not what it reflected 20, 30 years ago.
Speaker B:Farm town, you know, agriculture, which it still is today, but it was.
Speaker B:There was less buildings around, right.
Speaker B:So I went to a small school in the middle of nowhere in the orchards called Westport.
Speaker B:And I also lived in a small neighborhood up the street from where my.
Speaker B:Where we moved when I was 17.
Speaker B:Park Lawn.
Speaker B:So no sidewalks, right?
Speaker B:No, no direct sewer.
Speaker B:And, you know, I grew up in a.
Speaker B:In a different time.
Speaker B:There was some very good moments and some very difficult moments for, for our family.
Speaker B:And I pushed through because I know where my parents came from, and they came from Jalisco, Mexico.
Speaker B:And they always instilled those, those values.
Speaker B:To me, you have to have hard work and ethic in order to get ahead.
Speaker B:Even in, in those times, it wasn't the advice wasn't that you need to go to school, go to college.
Speaker B:It was you need to get a job, need to make your hard earned money in order to be successful.
Speaker B:And I think that's kind of where my mindset really started on, on being a business entrepreneur.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:I remember one day I.
Speaker B:I took a bunch of things out of my room and I had a yard sale in the front of the house, and my mom got upset and she pulled me to the side.
Speaker B:I said, you're selling things that are not yours.
Speaker B:I looked at her, so you're absolutely right.
Speaker B:So I took everything back inside.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:A valuable lesson as a young, as a young teenager.
Speaker B:And, you know, growing up in a neighborhood with no, with no sidewalks, you kind of have a different perspective at life.
Speaker B:And it wasn't until I was about 17 years old that my parents told me that we were gonna move to a new place.
Speaker B:And at first, I was reluctant.
Speaker B:I was telling myself, well, I'm gonna leave the neighborhood that I grew up in to a different neighborhood.
Speaker B:And maybe I might not see my friends, but we didn't move as far as I thought we were going to move.
Speaker B:So we found a home literally a mile up the road.
Speaker B:So think about this for a second.
Speaker B:Growing up in Park Lawn, but no sidewalks.
Speaker B:Moving to a new, developed neighborhood a mile up the road with sidewalks changed my perspective on how I think and what I wanted to do with my life.
Speaker A:Why were the.
Speaker A:Why was the sidewalk so prominent in your memory?
Speaker A:Because even as you're sharing it, I can see, like, there's this.
Speaker A:There's this energy that kind of comes about.
Speaker A:But talk to me more about the actual sidewalk and its significance.
Speaker B:I think a lot of it has to do with, you know, growing up in a neighborhood with the exceptions that you will never succeed or get out of something that you felt you could never leave.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And the only thing I ever thought of doing at that time was, you know, starting my own business.
Speaker B:But where would I get the money from?
Speaker B:Again, I was, you know, 15, 16 years old.
Speaker B:I used to work with my father, and he would do a side.
Speaker B:He would do side work and do yards.
Speaker B:And we used to work for this lady that lived down the street from our house who was a dispatcher for the Sirius Police Department.
Speaker B:So as I got older, I started seeing different environments, and I got to, you know, help her with her yard.
Speaker B:But I also saw a lot of law enforcement officers at the house, and I would meet these guys.
Speaker B:So kind of gave me a different perspective.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So slowly, but.
Speaker B:But surely small things started kind of changing my thought process.
Speaker B:And, you know, and in that neighborhood, comparable today as I coach football, we talked about this, and I go back to that neighborhood where some of my kids live, and I tell them I grew up in this neighborhood.
Speaker B:They look at me like, coach, there's no way you grew up in this neighborhood.
Speaker B:And I said, yeah, so let me take you to my aunt's house.
Speaker B:Let me tell you, show you where.
Speaker B:Where I lived.
Speaker B:And then, oh, that's my friend's house.
Speaker B:I used to live there.
Speaker B:And they're kind of just blown away because they see me as a mayor now.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:So some of them don't know my story.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And some of those kids are what we consider under the poverty line.
Speaker B:Yeah, Right.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And that's what it really comes.
Speaker B:Comes down to when I talk about these things.
Speaker A:For those kids that you've been around and even people who listen to this, because there's a lot of entrepreneurs that listen to this.
Speaker A:Many of them didn't go to college.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:And they are.
Speaker A:They've created successful lives and successful businesses, and they're having an impact.
Speaker A:Conversely, a lot of people who did go to college and they're not doing anything.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:And there's a big attack on colleges now in kind of the.
Speaker A:In the public discourse or dialogue about, you know, it's not needed.
Speaker A:And whatever.
Speaker A:Talk to me about, you know, or talk to, you know, people that are listening this.
Speaker A:That maybe, like, I didn't go to college, so I don't.
Speaker A:I may not have a shot at life.
Speaker B:Well, I mean, I can't say that I didn't take an attempt at college.
Speaker B:I did go to MJC for a while.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:This was a little bit after high school, probably in my.
Speaker B:The middle of my career in the fire industry.
Speaker B:So before we get into that.
Speaker B:So when I turned 18 and I was living up the road, my neighbor offered me a job.
Speaker B:18, 19 years old.
Speaker B:And he told me that, you know, we just got rid of someone.
Speaker B:Would you like a job?
Speaker B:That should have been a fair warning, right?
Speaker B:They got rid of someone.
Speaker B:That's my joke.
Speaker B:I spent almost 19 years there as a fire technician.
Speaker B:I specialized in fire suppression.
Speaker B:I was a programmer.
Speaker B:And I traveled up and down California.
Speaker B:That was a really defining moment of my character, which allowed me to go outside of the city of Ceres, out into Los Angeles Bay area, run into entrepreneurs, business owners that owned huge corporations.
Speaker B:I got to be inside of data centers that were top secret that nobody else had access to, you know, and work for the federal government, have contracts with them.
Speaker B:That really opened up my.
Speaker B:My eyes.
Speaker B:So those are the kind of the things that kind of built.
Speaker B:Built my character, right?
Speaker B:So with those few pointers and, you know, I told myself, can I go back to college?
Speaker B:But here's the kicker.
Speaker B:It wasn't the career that I was in that I wanted to pursue.
Speaker B:I wanted to pursue law enforcement.
Speaker B:So this is something that.
Speaker B:That kind of led to where I'm at today.
Speaker B:And the world was different during those times.
Speaker B:The only access we had to communications was either television, the newspaper, or radio.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:So any information that we wanted to look for, we had it really dig deep to find and.
Speaker B:Or books.
Speaker B:So I wanted to pursue a career in law enforcement because I wanted to kind of just change the trajectory of what I was doing, and I wanted to give back to the community.
Speaker B:And the only reason why I didn't follow through is because I was still in the fire industry working full time, and in order for me to go to school full time, I would have to give that up.
Speaker B:And that was not an option.
Speaker B:I had to make money.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So I think, like, like I always say, God has a plan bigger than yours.
Speaker B:It didn't work out in, in many ways.
Speaker B:And now you see that I've ran for office and won twice.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:And I'm a big avid supporter of law enforcement for those very reasons.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:I have friends, family members that are in law enforcement now.
Speaker B:Being the mayor now, almost four and a half, four and a quarter years, I have a better understanding on how law enforcement works from the inside.
Speaker A:On the government side, you talk about law in services and you mentioned firefighting.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Now, I know fire technician, everybody else.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:But if I move to fire, if I pivot the firefighter, that is a word or a title that's kind of synonymous with your results as a mayor, because you are a firefighter, puts out fires, solves problems.
Speaker A:And you are really, and you are known for that.
Speaker A:That's what you're really known for in this on, you know, amongst the city council and your constituents, is that he solves problems.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:Was that a mindset that you came to with?
Speaker A:Because I think this applies to business.
Speaker A:If you're leading an organization or you're running a team, you're running a, a company, whether you're a solopreneur or what, like you gotta be in the business of solving problems, not just talking talk, but getting, getting results.
Speaker B:Many challenges that I, that I face as a, as a technician was a solving problem game.
Speaker B:I was really good at troubleshooting.
Speaker B:I love going out there and you give me issues and I would go out there and chase them, you know, and, and there's, there was times where we were chasing down issues that were.
Speaker B:That took us three, four weeks to find.
Speaker B:And I know, I love doing that.
Speaker B:And then also, you know, also being on call.
Speaker B:You know, every.
Speaker B:Every three or four weeks, I was talking to people all the time.
Speaker B:People would call me or customers would call me.
Speaker B:And it came to a point where some customers would only want to work with me.
Speaker B:So even if I wasn't on call, they would call me.
Speaker B:Javier, I need you to be at this site in 30.
Speaker B:I'll be there in 30 minutes.
Speaker B:And I just throw on my pants and go, you know, because they knew that I was dependable.
Speaker B:So when you talk about putting out fires, no pun intended, I spend a lot of my time putting out fires.
Speaker B:A lot of people don't understand that.
Speaker B:You know, they think it's a part time job being a mayor, but it's really not.
Speaker B:And even council members that do have full time jobs, you know, I understand that it's difficult for them to sometimes for, for attending events and other other different things.
Speaker B: real freedom comes because in: Speaker B:You know, I left a job that my income was really good and I decided to dedicate all my time to doing this because it's not easy.
Speaker B:You could talk to any mayor in our county and we have these discussions all the time and we do know that it takes a lot and putting out fires is just a part of the job.
Speaker B:Having conversations with people, people that want to build in our community, people with small issues.
Speaker B:You can resolve issues sometimes without bringing them to city council.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So I spent majority of my day putting out fires on the phone.
Speaker B:And, and I know that some people who, whoever spent a day with me are surprised.
Speaker B:Like this is, this is what you do all day.
Speaker B:Yeah, this is what I do.
Speaker B:I love it though.
Speaker B:That's the thing.
Speaker B:There's.
Speaker B:There's no way, I think that there's no way that you could be in office, not love the job that you do and still want to be here.
Speaker B:Especially with the climate of today.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:You know, there's a high expectation of elected officials nowadays.
Speaker B:You have to be respectful.
Speaker B:You have to, you know, have common sense.
Speaker B:You have to fall within the rules that are given to you as an elected official.
Speaker B:No egos, no power trips, you know, and then I think that's something that I stick to.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Because I know that I've met, I met politicians that are.
Speaker B:That I can say are crooked.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:And it's, it's mind blowing.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker A:Or there's just, you know, they're led by.
Speaker A:Really driven, unfortunately by the ego.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And you mentioned ego.
Speaker A:And I want to talk about that because there's this fine line with being confident and self assured to where if it crosses over.
Speaker A:And again, it's rooted in ego.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Or the lack of control of it.
Speaker A:Checking your ego to where it's like arrogant and almost condescending.
Speaker A:And that's.
Speaker A:There's a big difference between that you've managed from everyone that knows you to toe that line very carefully and not cross over.
Speaker A:People think of Javi as a leader, but he's not driven by his ego.
Speaker A:Talk to me about how important that is, whether you acknowledge this or it's just happened naturally, or if it's something you really have to work at.
Speaker A:Because I think all business leaders and people that listen to this podcast, that that's something that we all need to be reminded of.
Speaker B:I really would like to say that, you know, as a person and you.
Speaker B:You grow up and you think about those kind of things.
Speaker B:Don't confuse ego with confidence.
Speaker B:Without my failures, I wouldn't be where I am at today.
Speaker B:Until this day.
Speaker B:I make mistakes.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:But you have to have the confidence and the drive to do this job, or else I wouldn't have any respect and.
Speaker B:Or confidence in anyone who decides to be in this position.
Speaker B:I think that's one of the reasons why people continue to, you know, vote me back in.
Speaker B:Because, I mean, there's the old saying that, you know, we, as quick as we could vote you in, we could vote you out.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:But they want.
Speaker B:They don't want somebody who is reluctant.
Speaker B:I can say this in a.
Speaker B:In a way where it doesn't.
Speaker B:I don't want it to come across egotistic.
Speaker B:But you don't want weak leaders.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And I'm also very humanizing.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:If you really know me, you know that I'm a very caring person, I'll take the shirt off my back for you.
Speaker B:You know, and that's.
Speaker B:I've always been that way.
Speaker B:And sacrifice is important.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And as a football coach, I see this all the time with my.
Speaker B:These young kids, they're growing up and they're seeing certain things that are happening in their life.
Speaker B:And sometimes we were more than just coaches.
Speaker B:Family.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:Sometimes the difference between showing up to practice and being a part of big family is the difference between them, you know, and whatever's happening at home.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So that, that starts, you know, really building on you.
Speaker B:So it builds character in my sense.
Speaker B:I can tell you that, you know, as a coach, and I've been doing this almost 10 years, that the coach, Javi that started day one is a totally different coach now.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know, one thing on coaching, and you.
Speaker A:You said this and it reminded me because there was a piece I had spoken about, about how.
Speaker A:How important it is for us to learn our learners and having a coaching philosophy.
Speaker A:And this applies in business, if you head up a team or an organization, it's not a one size fits all approach.
Speaker A:You gotta learn the response patterns of what triggers that person.
Speaker B:Correct.
Speaker A:And this one, instead of just having an equal voice, same thing for coaching.
Speaker A:You know, there's kids that have a different response pattern based on what's going on in that kid's life in his home, versus another kid who might have a totally opposite set of circumstances.
Speaker A:When it comes to leadership, you know, business is one thing, but leadership at the public level, how important is that for you to understand how to get the most out of your city councilmen and women and the other elected officials that you have to work with?
Speaker B:So you.
Speaker B:You have to have the ability to pay attention to body language, pay attention to the words that are.
Speaker B:That people are saying, okay.
Speaker B:What they're trying to project.
Speaker B:And I'll give you an example, though.
Speaker B:Growing up, you know, you always tell yourself, I think I'm good at, you know, figuring people out, right?
Speaker B:And I actually took a larger step.
Speaker B:My wife approached me with this book, and this book really talked about people's body languages, different personalities.
Speaker B:And so I took a test, okay.
Speaker B:And it actually described the kind of person that I am.
Speaker B:I'm a Libra, you know, and so I seek a balance.
Speaker B:Anytime that you see me making a decision, I'm looking at what the outcome will look like, depending on how much weight is on one or the other side.
Speaker B:Trying to understand people's personalities will help you and guide you.
Speaker B:And being successful, you're going to have a group of 10 people with the same goal, but you'll get to that goal in a different way.
Speaker B:But you have to navigate every person's personality because you might have two people that drag the entire team down, and you have two people that are leading the team, and sometimes you have to make hard decisions, right?
Speaker B:Those two people that are dragging that team down are going to have to go and for the overall goal.
Speaker B:So understanding people is something that I think has really helped me in my position.
Speaker B:It's helped me as a coach trying to figure out these young kids who are, you know, only 14, 13 years old, and they're navigating everything, trying to figure out, you know, how to.
Speaker B:How to read plays, right?
Speaker B:They don't know where to go.
Speaker B:We have to figure out who are the ones that will be.
Speaker B:That will have the ability to be successful and try to coach them up as best as possible.
Speaker A:And you feel like, I mean, this obviously applies again to the business world.
Speaker A:So for anyone listening, if you're leading a group, you have a team, or you're just, you know, you're solo, but you have to interact with other people on a regular basis, the same people, certain things.
Speaker A:It's important to hear here what, what Mayor Javi's saying and have that understanding of people around you, recognizing body language, response patterns and things.
Speaker A:If you want to ultimately get what you want and have an impact and serve properly, then I think this is paramount.
Speaker A:It's not a one size fits all.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:But you also have to understand that you know, as a leader you're, you're only as good as your team.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:So you know, being the mayor of the city of Ceres, I get the opportunity to appoint a vice mayor.
Speaker B:That's, that's your, your team right there.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So in the essence of, of government, on how it works, you know, we, we have some rules are called Robert, Rules of order.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And then we have the Browns act.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:You can only talk to another council member about items that are on the agenda.
Speaker B:So my vice mayor is my go to person.
Speaker B:I've had three vice mayors since I've been elected.
Speaker B:And those vice mayors get to see more broad of what's happening in the city of Syrias because I get, I deal with more than maybe some council members deal with, but I'm.
Speaker B:I'm only as good as the strengths of everyone on my council.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So there is some council members that are very, very good at certain things.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And I want to be, I want to be dependent on, on their knowledge on certain items.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:If you ever have like for example, my knowledge would be business would be fire.
Speaker B:It's a small example.
Speaker B:So if we have something coming to the agenda that has, that has anything to do with fire, I'll be able to use some of my experience.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Based on the report and what I'm.
Speaker B:What I'm reading and the decision I have to make.
Speaker B:You could do that with your team.
Speaker B:So in order now this is one thing I'll tell people.
Speaker B:If you want to be a successful leader, you have to make sure that you have the right team.
Speaker B:You can be dependent on those persons and sometimes you can accomplish things more with the team than you can on your own.
Speaker B:Like for example, I, I, as a mayor, I don't have a person that is my secretary because of the way our, our, our city is, is structured.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Larger cities, they have an assistant.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And you can accomplish a little bit more with an assistant.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And then like on the campaign side, I have an extraordinary team and I don't have to do certain things on my own and I have a team that's helping me and guiding me.
Speaker B:But, but at the end of the day, I'm still the mayor of the city of Ceres.
Speaker B:I'm still the leader and people look up to me and it's a huge responsibility.
Speaker B:But you know, with that, my second piece of advice I would give people in leadership, in business or in anything is you have to be able to have the ability to take constructive criticism.
Speaker B:And sometimes the ones that are giving you the most constructive criticisms are the ones that care about you the most.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:And if they're not giving you any criticism, it's because they want you to.
Speaker A:Fail or they've given up on you don't care.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And on the topic of failure, you just said that word.
Speaker A:And I wanted to ask about this because people, now that you know, you've told us a little bit about your story, we know that it was humble beginnings.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:There's been a lot of work ethic and drive and relentless spirit to get you to where you're at.
Speaker A:But how important has failure been in your life?
Speaker A:And can you give me an example of something recently.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:That Mayor Javi failed at or fell short, or you were very disappointed in the result and you're using it as something or you're reframing it as a way of moving forward or using it as fuel because that's what LFG energy is.
Speaker A:You know, it's not perfect.
Speaker A:In fact, it's very imperfect.
Speaker A:But it's taking those losses and those failures and those setbacks and turning them into some kind of gold.
Speaker B:Maybe, maybe not something necessarily recent, but you know, I.
Speaker B:I'm 41 years old.
Speaker B:The young man, you know, and.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And the reason why I say that is because the 20 year old Javi was not the same person.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:And neither was the 15 year old Javi.
Speaker B:All those mistakes that I made and all those failures built my character to try not repeat history.
Speaker B:So I do spend a lot of time trying to avoid making mistakes.
Speaker B:And you can even say that in relationships, right?
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:Not saying that I have made any mistakes in my relationship, but being humbled in saying that.
Speaker B:Okay, maybe I'm wrong about something.
Speaker B:And especially when you're married.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:You better get used to saying happy wife is happy life.
Speaker B:Let me tell you something.
Speaker B:And, and that took me a long time to, to realize that.
Speaker B:My father used to tell me that all the time and I just didn't get it.
Speaker B:But he was just crazy.
Speaker B:But he, but he was right.
Speaker A:Turns out he was a genius.
Speaker B:Yeah, he's a genius.
Speaker B:So if we want to talk about like micro failures.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:That's everyday life.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:I mean, I.
Speaker A:You and you don't get a bad day.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Yeah, you can call it a bad day.
Speaker A:No, but you don't necessarily call it a bad day in the negative sense of where you're like, wow, this day was a waste.
Speaker A:You know, we had a few.
Speaker A:I mean, like, if there's micro failures along the way, that's kind of part of the day.
Speaker B:Maybe there's, there's something to say about as, as you start trying to figure out yourself that you don't, you don't harp or you let those small failures affect you as much as they used to.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:When you were younger.
Speaker A:They don't define you.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:They, they sure as heck don't define you.
Speaker B:I can't sit here and define someone who I coached when he was 14 years old and now he's a grown man and define him on his failures on the football field.
Speaker B:No, no, no, no.
Speaker B:But you have to, you most definitely do have to acknowledge certain things.
Speaker B:And I'm trying, I'm trying really hard to point out any failures that I've went through.
Speaker B:But I guess what.
Speaker B:I guess.
Speaker B:Okay, I'll start with one.
Speaker B:When I first ran for office, I, um.
Speaker B:You know, I've always been into politics.
Speaker B:I didn't do as much research as I should have done on what the position as the mayor entailed.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Because of my ambition to run for office and what it took to win for office along the sides of running a campaign.
Speaker B:So when I first ran for office, I only raised $3,500 roughly.
Speaker B:Maybe it was 2,700 something.
Speaker B:Something along those.
Speaker B:Along those lines.
Speaker B:I spent a lot of time watching other elected officials, how they ran their, their meetings.
Speaker B:But what I didn't know is what was happening, what would, what would happen in the background.
Speaker B:All the other jobs that you had to take on as an elected official, all the committees you were.
Speaker B:Were going to be put on working with staff and all those different.
Speaker A:A lot more to it.
Speaker B:There was a lot more to it.
Speaker B:So I, I looked at it more for the campaign side.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:What are the things that I want to accomplish as mayor, which I've accomplished a lot this time around.
Speaker B:When I ran for office the second time, we raised a whole lot more money and, and I understood the value of that.
Speaker B:But also this time I ran with.
Speaker B:Also with the experience and, and I think the mistakes that I made when I first ran versus the second time I knew, I told myself, I will not, I will not do.
Speaker B:And I think that that goes to running a business.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So let's just I'll give you an example of where I kind of see myself in my business.
Speaker B:So if I wasn't the mayor, I could put more attention to my business.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:And my business is a gym.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:And we have a great concept.
Speaker B:We're open 24.
Speaker B:Seven, remote access.
Speaker B:We have an app, and there's really no employees at that gym, Just the person who cleans.
Speaker B:And sometimes that'd be me.
Speaker B:But some.
Speaker B:But we had just recently hired someone.
Speaker B:If I had more time to focus on my business, my business will be exactly where I want it to be.
Speaker B:So right now, my business is not where I want it to be.
Speaker B:But see, here's the.
Speaker B:Here's the.
Speaker B:Here's the catch 20.
Speaker B:I want to put more into what I'm doing as the mayor because of the level of importance.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:I'm not saying my business is not important.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:I do have a business partner.
Speaker A:It's a different priority.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:It's a different priority.
Speaker B:And if I wasn't the mayor, I.
Speaker B:I probably do exactly what I.
Speaker B:What I set out to do, and I would probably have three, four gyms, you know, and quantity is not what's always quality.
Speaker B:So we have one and it's the, it's the original one and the only one that we have.
Speaker B:But that, but that's another form of saying that there, There are some things that I could have done better to elevate my business.
Speaker B:But that, that's why I try to tell people, don't necessarily put all eggs in one basket and expect them all to equally be the same.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And I can tell you right now, I.
Speaker B:I wake up, the first thing I think of is I got to check my emails.
Speaker B:You know, before I go to bed, I'm checking Facebook to see if anybody made a comment or a post about an issue in the city.
Speaker B:Because I'm not always on Facebook.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And that's just a clear example of, you know, as a business owner, if you want to be successful, you have to put everything in.
Speaker B:And there is a difference between being employed for an employer and being a business owner.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:You as an employee, you can check out at the end of the day, totally being a business owner, that's your business.
Speaker B:24 7.
Speaker A:247 being.
Speaker B:Being the mayor is.
Speaker B:Is 24 7.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And this is.
Speaker B:This is casual joke here.
Speaker B:I wake up in the morning, sometimes I forget I'm the mayor because I'm so.
Speaker B:I got to get ready.
Speaker B:I got to do other things.
Speaker B:And the reason I say that is because, you know, sometimes I just.
Speaker B:I'm just a regular Javier Lopez.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I'm the guy that gets up and makes a breakfast sandwich, makes my coffee, you know, jumps in the car, go to.
Speaker B:Go to football practice at 7am Just like everybody else, you know, stand in the heat at 3:45pm with everybody else.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Get ready to go to this.
Speaker B:To this podcast.
Speaker B:And we have a.
Speaker B:We have a fundraiser after this.
Speaker B:And I had to get ready.
Speaker B:I had to prepare myself and.
Speaker B:And, you know, you're always running and gunning, but I think that, you know, when people look at people like me and you and they see what they.
Speaker B:They see a success, you know, it.
Speaker B:It does take a lot of hard work and dedication.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:You can't.
Speaker B:You cannot half ass this.
Speaker A:There's a lot of titles, you know, that you wear, like serviceman, coach, mayor, the relatable guy, community builder.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Firefighter, problem solver, business owner, husband.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know, is there a title that matters more to you, or are they all equally important in their own way?
Speaker B:I say being a husband is important because if I.
Speaker B:If I don't have a stable home, there is no Mayor Javier Lopez.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:What's your wife's name?
Speaker B:Huh?
Speaker B:My wife is Stefania Lopez.
Speaker A:Stephania.
Speaker A:That one was for you.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:If you're listening to this, just remember that on Father's Day and on your anniversary, the next time he says the wrong thing, I can tell you that.
Speaker B:You know, for anybody who is in public service or anything like that, you know, when I talk to other elected officials, you know, we spend a lot of time talking about our family.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, we'll talk to mayors, and they'll talk about their grandchildren.
Speaker B:And obviously, they're way older than I am.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So I'm like, oh, you got grandchildren.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Or we'll talk to other others that have had careers and in sports.
Speaker B:And, you know, they're.
Speaker B:They're telling me about things that they've done and, you know, and I tell.
Speaker B:They always ask about what I'm doing.
Speaker B:And that kind of gets us in that mode of, like, we're normal people.
Speaker B:But then, right when that gavel hits, it's time for business.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker B:And I think that's the expectation everybody should have of us, that.
Speaker B:That when it comes to business, that we.
Speaker B:We're not joking around.
Speaker B:We're here to conduct the business of the people.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And again, tying it back to business, like, for anybody.
Speaker A:Again, listening to this, who's a business owner, like, recognize.
Speaker A:You got to get stuff done.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker A:You know, there's a big difference between being busy and productive and effective.
Speaker A:I should say busy and effective.
Speaker A:A lot of people just keep busy all day.
Speaker A:No, but they're not being effective.
Speaker B:You have to realize that, you know, I, I, I didn't get here by being someone who is just playing games all day, if that makes any sense.
Speaker B:I, I, I take a lot of pride in the work that I do.
Speaker B:And if everybody, if anybody who knows me knows that I'm, I'm a serious person when it comes to business, and it's, I don't take it lightly.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:So in my business and in coaching and as an elected official, there's, there's items that come before us that are very difficult.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Things to deal with.
Speaker B:And, and that's why, you know, when I look at what's happening in the world right now, you know, I sometimes ask myself, what would I do in that situation?
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And my biggest joke is, like, you know, I feel comfortable where I am, even though I am running for Congress, and that's going to be a huge undertaking.
Speaker B:But the reason why I'm doing that is because I want to have the ability to have a voice at the table as how I felt that I didn't have before I ran for mayor during COVID And there's a lot of people out there who are dependent on government to make decisions for them, even though sometimes government doesn't make the right decisions for them.
Speaker B:And what you see happening in the world right now is you see governments making decisions for their own purposes and realizing that there's people out there who just want to have the ability to put food on their table, afford gas in their car, take their kids to school and live a life and have grandchildren, like I said earlier.
Speaker B:And sometimes these government officials here in the United States, other countries, are really just focused on their end goal.
Speaker B:But there's also the side of me that says that I have the obligation to protect and serve.
Speaker B:When I took the oath, it meant something to me.
Speaker B:So while you may see that some people are making these very tough decisions that maybe you don't want to be involved or you see that maybe they shouldn't, you have to also look at the things that they might have been faced with or put in front of them to get to that decision.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:And if we don't have a strong country, we won't have a country at all.
Speaker B:You want strong leaders.
Speaker B:And that's one thing that I really take serious, because I don't want people to think that I'M someone who's a pushover with someone that would take things lightly.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I'm a very serious person.
Speaker B:What we have to be.
Speaker B:But when we don't have to be, catch me on the football field.
Speaker A:Respect, man.
Speaker B:Respect.
Speaker A:There's a lot of pride in your voice and even in your body language as you were saying all that.
Speaker A:And I think even for those of us in business and real estate, any craft, you got to have pride in what you're doing, pride in your craft, pride in your community, pride in yourself.
Speaker A:Yeah, to.
Speaker A:To.
Speaker A:I mean, I think that I feel like that's a big takeaway here in this talk, is that at the core of it all, there has to be that.
Speaker A:Otherwise it's going to be very difficult to be effective, to be authentic, to be genuine for the people that you serve and care about.
Speaker A:Javi, one of the last questions, I always ask every guest this, and it's a totally.
Speaker A:It's a totally open answer.
Speaker A:So there's no right or wrong answer.
Speaker A:And you'll like it because you're a football coach and you can curse here if you like.
Speaker A:So it's good.
Speaker A:But LFG Energy, which is the name of the podcast and the theme, it means different things to different people.
Speaker A:Okay, what does LFG Energy defined by Javi.
Speaker A:Coach Javi mean?
Speaker B:The pivotal moment when you win that game and everything that you put into blood, sweat, and tears and you win.
Speaker B:Let's fucking go.
Speaker B:That's what I think of when I saw.
Speaker B:The first time I ever saw the phrase, I was like, holy shit.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:This evokes something.
Speaker B:It does.
Speaker B:It does.
Speaker B:It gives you that, like, okay, let's go.
Speaker B:Because there's nothing like putting everything into something and being the winner.
Speaker B:Nobody hates a loser.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker B:The winners get to tell the story.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:You know, and that's.
Speaker B:That's exactly what I see.
Speaker B:I actually have your hat in my office.
Speaker B:In the mayor's office.
Speaker B:People always go, what is lfg?
Speaker A:I was like, what you think it means?
Speaker B:What do you think it is?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:So that's what it means to Coach Lopez.
Speaker A:What does LFG Energy mean to Mayor Lopez?
Speaker B:Oh, well, hey, you know, because I am one in the same.
Speaker B:It's every single time that the city of Ceres makes a successful move in the right direction under our leadership, and I leave that city council meeting with a smile on my face like, we did something that, when I'm dead and gone, will benefit the.
Speaker B:Those young people that live in the city of Ceres.
Speaker A:That's it.
Speaker B:Let's go.
Speaker A:Let's go series.
Speaker A:That's it.
Speaker B:That's, that's, that's exactly, that's exactly the sentiment that I feel.
Speaker B:And, and we have most definitely done a lot of things in the last four years that, you know, I, I feel that, you know, in cold, hardly in my heart that it needs to be done.
Speaker A:Yeah, well, I, you know, I, I want to thank you for taking time out of the busy campaign even though it's early.
Speaker A:But you're, you've got a lot of things going on.
Speaker A:But I'll say this as we wrap up, there's a lot of people that serve in office or for the for in their communities because it's all about them.
Speaker A:And it's very clear, and I knew this when I met you, you know, a little over a year ago, that for you it's all about all the other people.
Speaker A:That's why I said, you know, it's so unique that you wear all these different hats or titles, but the, the common thread or the common denominator and all those titles is it's about what does Javi do for all of them?
Speaker A:What does Javi do for those athletes?
Speaker A:What does Javi do for his city?
Speaker A:What does Javi do for his community?
Speaker A:What does Javi do for his family?
Speaker A:You're always doing it for other people, so I commend you on that, brother, because we need, the world needs more leaders like you.
Speaker A:I wish you the absolute best in this congressional run that you're making, which is a historic one.
Speaker A:I think your story is incredible.
Speaker A:And for all those listening, just always remember that Tony Robbins line.
Speaker A:Your biography does not have to be your destiny.
Speaker A:And if anyone is a testament to that, so many people are, of course.
Speaker A:But my guest here on the show today is definitely that from his humble beginnings to what he keeps doing, what he keeps impacting.
Speaker A:You know, this guy, he doesn't take shit from anyone.
Speaker A:So he's, he's going to make things happen and keep delivering results.
Speaker A:So God bless you, brother.
Speaker A:I wish you the absolute best.
Speaker A:Thanks for being on the show and like, like I said earlier, let's fucking go series.
Speaker B:Oh, I, I really do appreciate it and I know that we were on our way out here, but I will tell you that my goal at the end of the day is going to be doing what I think is best for the Central Valley.
Speaker B:At the end I always feel this cool heartedly.
Speaker B:This is our valley.
Speaker B:We have to take care of it for every single person, no matter what side you lie on.
Speaker A:That's the man.
Speaker A:Let's go.
Speaker B:Let's go.
