We recently had the chance to connect with Mario L Castellanos and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Mario L, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to share your story, experiences and insights with our readers. Let’s jump right in with an interesting one: What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
I enjoy watching people and how they interact with each other, or don’t. I take my granddaughter to the local library to meet with a tutor once a week after school. When she’s completed her session, we visit the park and playground right next to it for what is supposed to be about 45 minutes. I have a preset timer on my phone that lets me know when it’s time to leave. The snooze button on it is virtually worn. I see so many parents on their phones with many of them, spending their entire time on it while their kids are playing, They could so much more enjoy their lives and learn by watching all these little new lives just play and laugh and make new friends and open new doors with new possibilities, without the preconceptions adults tend to develop – just by coming up to each other and saying, “hi”. There’s no reason the adults can’t do the same with those sitting on the bench or standing by the fence right next to them. “That one there is mine. Which one is yours?”
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m a son of immigrants. My dad was a cop in Cuba. A few years before the “revolution”, he was assigned to then President . Overhearing what was going on behind the scenes, it didn’t take him long to realize it was time to go. He came to Florida where he joined other members of the family, soon followed by my mom and sister. I was born in Miami a couple of years later. I received my education from a combination of street sense and public schools, eventually landing at Miami-Dade Community College and later, Florida International University. It’s in Miami where I began my life-long business adventure. I use that term because it’s been much more than just a plain and so overused, journey.
I’ve enjoyed the business world from a very early age. I “founded” my first business when I was five years old. I would go out, hustle lawn jobs, then get my dad to mow them because I was too small. I refer to it as child abuse – in reverse. Since then, I’ve risen the corporate ladder, been a multiple business founder, co-founder, advisor, and turn-around specialist for several start-up and legacy enterprise and non-profit organizations within dynamic technology and non-tech sectors. I’m now Founder & CEO of Mystery on Main Street, a bootstrap start-up, B2B2C marketing and advertising company using incentivized gamification, AR, and AI. Our mission is to bring business back to local brick and mortar, pop-up and events “mom ‘n pops” so they can keep their doors open and put food on their tables and their employees too, and help to economically sustain local communities. It really comes down to realizing, the local entrepreneur is the economic backbone of every society everywhere.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
That’s a great question. The lack of communication. Maybe it comes from my salesman tendencies or just a natural instinct, but I cherish observing others. I enjoy how they communicate – both directly and indirectly. Not just people, but animals and how they interact with each other and people.
With people however, it’s the utter lack of communication I find most intriguing. We all see this every single day. I’ve seen it and unfortunately, have experienced it. People have this tendency to assume and arrive at conclusions based on what little they know and how little they are willing to learn. It’s lazy and destructive! There’s also this tendency to believe that professing ignorance on a topic or admitting fault and asking for forgiveness for a mistake is a sign of weakness. That can be, but doesn’t have to be the outcome. If you don’t know what’s wrong, you have no way of fixing it. One can’t reach perfection without first learning failure.
I believe and history has proven that communication leads to understanding. Understanding leads to education. And education leads to a better outcome in every respect. I have a motto I live by. In fact, it’s the header on the very few social media I use: “Conversation – the clearest path to opportunity. Let’s have one”.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Oh my goodness. I encounter this feeling constantly. But then I think, what have I not done? What can I do better? Where can I go and what can I look for that I haven’t already, to reach the goal I want to reach. And then as I think about it, another idea strikes me. And that opens up another, and another and so on. The ideas begin to come non-stop until – I encounter that desire to give up anew. And as Yogi Berra would say, It’s déjà vu all over again.
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? Is the public version of you the real you?
LOL, not all all! The “real” me is someone my wife, my kids and grand kids are afraid of the reactions I produce when the real me is in public. Generally speaking though, I do my best to enjoy life, have a good heart, and understand the world is full of diversity. I mostly see this as a good thing. But I’m not naive. Unfortunately, I realize the world is also full of self centered narcissism too. I think way too much dependence on this “follow me” mentality started and promoted by social media, is the crux of where most of the lack of acceptance of diversity comes from. It eats up ones ability to accept and think for themselves. It also reduces the ability to demonstrate creativity. Everyone, every single person has the ability to create something, even if it’s just recreating. The irony is, the people that have fallen into this rabbit hole don’t see it that way. It’s as if the world has become afraid of displaying what they know because they feel they don’t know enough. And this has lead to potentially, relying on limited information to shape what we think. 140 character text and 15 second video is not what the world is made of. Luckily, we are now just beginning to realize the possibilities AI can deliver – if, and this is a big if – people see and use AI for what it should be – a supplemental tool, and that’s it.
I see AI as a means to incentivize learning. Hopefully, as it evolves, people can use it to quickly answer questions and solve less than complex problems, leading them to want to delve deeper through research on their own. That’s not to say AI shouldn’t be used for complex issues. This is in essence, why it exits. But AI is not “the answer”. It’s just another means to arrive at one. The human mind should be our first, go-to place for answers. As this occurs, the hope is a self-realized need for education will become a fundamental instinct for everyone. The better educated we are as a society, the richer in so many ways, we will be.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What will you regret not doing?
I know I’ll regret not having the time and money to “fix” things. I’m bright enough to realize, much of what I think needs fixing requires a desire by others to want to fix them too. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t try. I figure if enough people see someone attempting something they believe in, they’ll jump on board to try to change those things as well. Let’s just hope though, it’s for the real good of the many, and not just the gratification of the few.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mysteryonmainstreet.com/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mysteryonmainstreet
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MysteryonMainStreet
- Other: https://www.alignable.com/heathrow-fl/mystery-on-main-street
