I was $10 short of my daughter's formula — and it changed me

“When the cashier told me I was ten dollars short, I put the second can of formula back — and I swore that would never happen again.” — Carlos Nicasio

Carlos says that line at about the grocery-store moment that became the hinge of his life: a survival season that moved him from scraping by to building companies, ministries, and a posture of abundance. He’s been at this work for decades — founding Remark Global Consulting in 2009, spinning off Overstock Trade Direct from a 1992 liquidation discovery that earned him $10,000 on his first deal, and now running cross-border logistics projects and nonprofits. The conversation is full of the kinds of specifics you can use: exact years, projects, and the daily habits he credits for staying steady.

The $10,000 idea that became a business

In 1992 a routine request to liquidate Pepsi-labeled cups for a restaurant chain turned into Carlos’s first sale across the border. He was 24, made about $10,000 (100% profit), and decided to pursue overstocks as a business. From that single win he set a goal: become the largest wholesaler of liquidation inventory in the food-service industry on the U.S. West Coast.

That goal shaped the rest of the work: identify manufacturers, find dead stock, build distribution channels into Mexico. Today he runs two companies focused on international sourcing, supply chain, and liquidation inventory, and he still frames opportunity the same way — look for waste, move it where it has value, and scale the mechanics behind the trade.

Scarcity, the switch to abundance, and the five core values

Carlos traces his drive back to poverty and a survival mindset: repeating a grade because of ESL challenges, borrowing money for gas, and the grocery incident with his newborn daughter. Those experiences, he says, taught him two things — the cost of surviving, and the necessity of choosing differently.

He names five core values he lives by every day: commitment, courage, responsibility, abundance, and joy. He describes how commitment grew out of a pattern of half-finished projects, and how courage is the muscle that keeps commitment honest. Responsibility flips the victim script; abundance replaces scarcity thinking; and joy keeps the whole system human.

A practical nugget: when coaching people who “want” something, Carlos asks three straight questions — what do you want, why do you want it, and what are you willing to do to get it? He then pushes for execution by numbers: if you want a job, go apply to 10–50 places; if you want a company, get the legal and financial infrastructure before you build a social profile. That simple triad is his filter for separating wishful thinking from real intent.

“If you really wanted a job, you would find 10 to 50 places to go apply, knock on doors.” — Carlos Nicasio

How he coaches leaders: discover, develop, deploy

Carlos’s coaching program is a three-stage ladder:

1. Personal mastery — identify belief systems, master thoughts and habits, establish anchors (values).

2. Development — launch or scale a project with operational systems and team structure.

3. Deployment — use the company’s success to contribute to communities and global projects.

He says many leaders get stuck at stage two because they lack systems to scale or the international know-how his teams provide. His practice tests organizations like a skeleton: who’s on the team, what’s the revenue, what processes are missing. When those pieces are in place, he’ll help turn a business into a platform for community work (Costa Rica robotics programs, projects in Uganda, India, Cuba, and more).

Service as a leadership posture (not a PR line)

Humility threads through everything Carlos talks about. He describes showing up to church early and moving chairs, refusing front-row seats, and insisting influence must be tethered to service. That posture carries into his corporate and ministry roles — he spent 12 seasons as the Spanish chaplain for the San Diego Padres, running voluntary Sunday chapels, preaching through Genesis, and being available for players outside game days.

This isn’t performative humility. Carlos links respect to leadership: title won’t make people follow you; how you show up will. He’s built trust in rooms with players, executives, and political leaders precisely because he opts for service in small acts.

Catherine’s Kids and putting structure behind compassion

Catherine’s Kids (started 2005, now run in the U.S. by Carlos as president of Catherine’s Kids USA) cares for children with special needs across Baja California. Carlos oversees legal, fundraising, and U.S. operations while local staff run day-to-day care in Mexico. Recent wins include a rounding partnership with OXXO convenience stores in Mexico, which lets customers donate their change to the charity. This is the programmatic end of the “deploy” phase — financial engines that fund local programs and measurable community impact.

From sneakers to grills: collection, craft, and curiosity

Carlos is a collector at heart: Jordan shoes since 1985 (his first Jordans for Christmas), F1 memorabilia, vintage pieces, and now Rolex watches. He also treats hobbies like a practice field: studying wine with online sommelier coursework, learning coffee production with eyes on owning a Costa Rican coffee field someday, cooking at a culinary school in Tijuana, and custom grilling with red oak and high-quality charcoal.

He’s intentionally non-commercial about some hobbies — he avoids turning every passion into a business because then it would lose the joy he wants to keep for people, not profit.

What’s next: GoMail Plus and cross-border logistics

Carlos is launching GoMail Plus in 2027, a freight-forwarding and mail-logistics company to move freight across U.S.–Mexico ports. The plan targets five border crossings (Laredo, El Paso, Nogales, Mexicali, San Diego) and partnerships with UPS, FedEx, DHL and Mexican carriers. The site is up and the work is already in motion; the project ties together his decades of trade experience and a systems-first approach to scaling cross-border commerce.

The practical throughline you can borrow tomorrow

• When you hit a scarcity moment, turn it into an experiential lesson — move from knowledge to wisdom.

• Ask the three questions: what do you want, why, and what will you do to get it. If the actions don’t match the want, revise the want.

• Build anchors (values) before building optics. Carlos’s five values are simple enough to be used as a morning checklist.

• Serve in public ways that are nonperformative: folding chairs, picking up trash, showing up for the small things.

Carlos’s life reads like a manual for converting survival into stewardship: a $10,000 first deal, a recommitment to faith at 23, a decades-long ministry with athletes, and programs that put business muscle into community work. He measures success not by a follower count but by how many people get equipped, served, and moved out of scarcity thinking.

If you want the texture — the exact anecdotes, the logistics details for GoMail Plus, and the stories from Costa Rica and Baja — the full conversation is worth the listen. For now, hold the final line he left us with: work hard, stay humble, and ask yourself honestly, what are you willing to do to get the result you say you want?

-Gabe