TCS | About Richard Gomez

Richard Gomez (C.E.O.)
rgomez@teamtcs.com

Richard Gomez knows that his success in the business world is not an accident or luck. He emigrated from Mexico when he was 11 years old with his parents, and none of them spoke a word of English. As the family settled in their new East Los Angeles home Richard remembers his mother telling him that education would be the key to his success in America. Soon after moving, Richard’s parents found work in factories to support the family and on weekends Richard’s father would take him to help pick strawberries in the fields surrounding Los Angeles. Watching his parents, Richard learned that a strong work ethic is another key to success.

Richard went to school and struggled to learn the language but found sanctity in an activity that doesn’t require any words- athletics. Richard excelled in athletics and his coaches and other students began to notice. He was eventually able to learn English through athletic practices with students and coaches, but the most important thing Richard feels he learned from playing high school sports are the three P’s. The three P’s are passion, persistence and preparation and are the three ideas by which Richard lives his life. He knows that no matter what, he has to be passionate about what he is doing, he has to be persistent and not give up, and most importantly he has to be prepared. These three ideas led him to success in football and rewarded him with a scholarship to Cal Poly.

At Cal Poly Richard majored in Political Science with dreams of becoming a lawyer, but on his last final exam his senior year of college he met a representative from the Xerox company who was intent on hiring him. Richard went to meet him to discuss the job. He was dressed in his football workout clothes, all he could afford at the time, unaware that he was arriving to an interview. Richard remembers the man he met just a few weeks before on his college campus asking why he was dressed like that. Richard shrugged his shoulders and followed him out of the building into a restaurant across the street. “We switched clothes,” Richard says, “I put on his suit and went upstairs to the interview, and I got the job.”

The job at Xerox introduced Richard to the business world and his life’s passion. Richard began to think of new concepts for companies and then put them into action. He started his first company, Modern Business Automation, in 1988 and sold it to Danka Industries in 1995. Three years later he started Contact Office Solutions becoming the largest Ricoh Copier dealer in Southern California, eventually selling Contact Office Solutions to Toshiba Business Solutions. Today, Richard has left the copier business to purse a new concept company. He started Total Corporate Solutions, a company that Richard describes as a “turn-key company,” that can provide all office services in one phone call. This concept is sure to save businesses money, time, and energy usually spent arranging necessary office services.

Richard’s determination is so inspiring that many young executives and new business entrepreneurs are proud to call Richard their mentor. Throughout his career Richard Gomez has remembered the lessons of his parents and his high school coaches. Spending at least an hour and a half everyday walking around his neighborhood to gather his thoughts, Richard has continued to work hard, learn something new every day and follow the three P‘s.