Today we’d like to introduce you to Patrick Perez.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Chicken Puncher
When people ask me what I do for work, I usually respond with, “I’m a chicken puncher.” Their often perplexed look is what I’m going for. The truth is, I got so tired of telling people my real profession because it, too, often comes with a perplexed look; only this time the look is mixed with a sprinkle of curiosity.
“Motivational speaker for youth,” they’ll repeat once I tell them what I really do. Then, about 3 times out of 4, the follow up question is “How did you get into that??” “Well, I started off as a breakdancer (b-boy) and…”( by this time I get cut off by the inquiring party), “Wait, breakdancer? Like cardboard?? FOR REAL?! Can you show me a move??”
Sigh.
This is why I always go with “chicken puncher.”
Every dance has a history and every dancer has their story. My story begins in a dusty flea market off 290 back in the
late 90s. While strolling through the 290 flea market one Saturday afternoon with my family I came across a kiosk that was surrounded by a large group of teens. Whether it was curiosity or fate, I’ll never know, but something drew me to that crowd.
As I neared the kiosk, I felt this pure energy emanating from group; I glanced up at the TV they were all staring at and I was raptured up. “What…is…this,” was the only thought in my 16-year-old mind.
On the screen played a VHS tape from an event called “Radiotron.” Hip-Hop beats tickled my ears with rhythmic treats I never knew I was starving to hear. My eyes dazzled at the dance moves I witnessed on screen. Teens roughly my age were spinning on their heads, backs, hands and freezing into the most unbelievable poses I had ever seen!
In a sort of strange way witnessing these dancers seemed to awaken something within me. For the 2nd time in my life I felt like I was born again -well 3rd time…thank you, Jesus.;) A seed was planted in my soul. My heart began to beat to a new rhythm. I finally found an outlet for the pain that seemed to come with young adulthood.
This pain I was experiencing was the annoying bullying I endured from middle school through high school. The pain and regret of not being brave enough to ever ask out a girl
for a date. The pain of seeing my best friends get caught up in the wrong crowds. The pain of navigating a confusing “secular” world that seemed to clash with my uber charasmatic church lifestyle. From pain comes purpose.
The dance battle on the TV was unworldly (tip: Youtube “Style Elements vs. Renegades” and thank me later.) I wanted to be out of this world! I wanted to be free like the guys dancing. I wanted to be a b-boy! In 1996, I found my rhythm in life.
Leap
“Ice-quad, venti, non-fat, two equal Latte!” The high energy and excitement of the downtown Starbucks on 6th and Congress fit my personality well. I had just returned from Texas Bible Institute and a church friend hired me on at Starbucks. The year was 2001.
I was watering a small seed in my soul; a dream of combining my newfound dance with youth mentorship. My dream was to create a motivational outreach program of sorts. Between serving lattes and scones, I was serving as a youth outreach mentor to pre-teens at my church. In between work and church I was also attending Austin Community College.
Within the year, the birthing pains for my dream/vision/ calling/whatever you want to call had taken root into an idea…no, a concept…no… A MISSION called Lead, Encourage and Dance (L.E.A.D.) It was becoming harder and harder to focus at work and school…my soul needed to create something bigger than myself! I needed to find a way to launch out on my own and create this motivational mission!
In the Fall of 2001 had transferred Starbucks locations and was in the pipeline to begin assistant store manager training. I was in the midst of a break-up with a girl I was prophesied to marry (told you I was uber-charasmatic!) Finals had just started for me at Austin Community College. By September I felt stuck. I felt like a grey cloud drifting aimlessly through my work. School was mundane and my dream placid- that’s when the first plane hit.
I was working the morning shift when I began overhearing customers mention a plane hitting the World Trade Center. I figured it was a small prop plane or something. No. This was something bigger. My mind distracted, I told my crew I would be right back. I ran to the fitness center behind our store and watched history unfold on a small TV. What… just…happened?!
People were at work… leaping from the burning buildings. That messed with me. That messed with all of us. People
went to work, some of them to jobs they hated…and they never came home. I had to take my leap. Now or never.
I was shaken. I was angry. I was having an existential crisis by the time I got back to the store. The world would never be the same. My world would never be the same.
I put in my two-weeks notice.
Over the next few years, I felt like I was falling…until one day I realized…I was flying.
Voicemail
About a week after putting in my notice to leave, I received a voicemail. It was Marty! Marty Gaines was the former dean of our Bible College and my favorite human! The voicemail was nothing short of a miracle.
“Hey Patrick, it’s Marty Gaines! Hope you’re doing well. I am not sure what you have going on in life right now, but we have an interesting situation here [at Motivational Productions]. Our technician in the New England area just quit. He left the company van in Philadelphia. We need someone up there immediately to finish out the school assembly tour. [Motivational Productions was a San Antonio-based non-profit that used three screens and
movies to do motivational school assemblies across the country.] Give me a call.”
I was dumbfounded. Was this opportunity really being handed to me?
This one call set in motion a series of adventures that propelled me out of Starbucks and into the beginning stages of my dream…my mission…my dance.
After about six months touring in 90 schools across 13+ states with Motivational Productions something unique began to happen. When MP would follow up with the campuses asking what they thought of the motivational movie presentation their response was well, different.
In a nutshell, the school reps thought the movies were good, but THE BREAK DANCER!!! WOW!! HE WAS AWESOME!!! HE SPOKE TO THE STUDENTS AND THEY LOVED HIM!! This perplexed the staff at Motivational Productions. What break dancer? Who? What?
Yeah, I decided to dance before each film presentation. I had a captive audience and was taking full advantage of the situation.
The last show of my tour was on a small island in Canada. The founder and president of the company was coming up
to speak at this event as well. We did our thing and after the show, he let me know, “We would love to have you on next year’s tour.” I thanked him but let him know I had a new adventure to start on… Lead, Encourage And Dance.
Battle Time
I had absolutely no idea how to build a motivational outreach performance company. I had called up my old buddies from my Bible College Hip Hop Crew (Gospel Hip Hop Crew) telling them of my vision. No dice. I had gone to some of the bboy practices back in Austin trying to connect with other dancers. Nada. I was at a loss. Surely this dream was not just going to wither away.
After much persuasion (thank you, mother dearest), I decided to continue my education while waiting on my dream to happen. In the Fall of 2002 I enrolled at the University of Texas in El Paso (Go Miners!) I left Austin for the vast beauty of the west Texas mountains and desert.
Sometimes, we need to step out of our normal; leave behind what we thought was the path and wander a bit. I did my wandering in the far west desert city of El Paso. It was there I met my dream face to face.
During the university’s homecoming event (Minerpalooza), I did something a little bit different. During the DJ’s last
hype song of the night, I went into the middle of the street and started dancing, just for the joy of it. A crowd of spectators formed a circle around me. I wanted to share my dance with my new city. I finished my set to a nice round of applause when a young nursing student ran up to me.
“Go dance again,” she screamed! You don’t gotta tell me twice! I went back out and started dancing again. Little did I know the years spent practicing in my parents’ garage, the high school band hall and campuses across the country came down to this moment. I was getting into my groove when I noticed something stirring directly across the way from me. No, not something… someone!
All eyes swiftly left me and fixated onto this other B-Boy who had jumped into the circle! This fired everyone up!! This guy was doing moves I had never seen before!! The excitement more than doubled the size of the crowd! His
dance moves were insane! He had the freshest dance style I had not seen since that day I was transfixed on the VHS tape in the flea market! This was…incredible! No, HE WAS INCREDIBLE! And he was calling me out! Dang.
Every fear of embarrassment rose up inside of me. This guy was obviously better than me. My self-talk was already trying to shut me down. I felt like the nerdy, bullied middle school band nerd all over again. Why did this always seem to happen? Just as I am ready to shine, something comes
along and knocks me out of my groove! This guy came and stealing my thunder.
We can go through life wishing, wanting and desiring for things to go a certain way. That is seldom the case. Sometimes the defining moment in the course of one’s life comes down to one simple decision. The decision to try one more time, the decision to not self-talk yourself out of something, the choice to push yourself out into whirlpool of fear and doubt. In my case, the decision was to push myself back into that circle and not simply give in. Not this time! Win or lose, I made the decision to Keep On Dancing.
Keep On Dancing
For the sake of not making this a novel, I’ll keep things brief from here on out. Plus, it is such a sunny day outside I need to get out and away from this laptop. The other guy and I battled it out several rounds. We were sweaty, dirty, bloody hands and now blood brothers of sorts. We became friends… then started a crew called the Sun City Floor Rockers.
Little by little our crew numbers grew. Step by step we began doing performances at local YMCAs, youth programs and non-profits…all for free. Organizations like The Youth Initiative Program spring boarded us into groups across the area. We used our dance to gain the attention of youth, no,
demand the attention of youth! We would speak to middle school and high school students about choices, goals and the importance of positive peer relationships. “At-risk” youth who were written off by their schools would clap, smile and be caught up in the same wonderment and awe of break dancing that caught me up so many years before!
Red Bull Energy approached us about doing events and so we began performing at the area Military Base and other events across the city. We even co-hosted a Texas vs New York High School Break Dance Championship with Red Bull! I began hosting Street Arts competitions that brought crews from across the region and soon from across Mexico.
Soon we were getting inquiries from schools for Red Ribbon assemblies (drug prevention). Over the four years we had in college, our crew blossomed into a full-blown non-profit motivational performance company (mostly because of some issues arising from our dancing on university property. We had to be a recognized non-profit group in order to be a club on campus.)
We began doing drug prevention assemblies at schools and actually got paid a couple of hundred bucks! Our passion was dancing and our mission was serving our community. Our crew motto was, “Live To Serve;” this phrase has a double meaning. Serve as in service to our community, but
also “Serve” as in defeating other dance crews on the dance floor.
Our original crew members (Rick “Sick Rick” Ogaz, Gabe “Double G” Lozano, Carol “Carols” Reyes, Alex “Chance” Mendoza) later blossomed into 15+ members; we openly accepted anyone who wanted to represent our mission.
By the time graduation came, I was pretty set on turning Lead, Encourage And Dance into my full-time career…a “spin-off” of sorts from Motivational Productions (pun intended.) I had won a contract with the City of El Paso to do several STD and Pregnancy Prevention assemblies. I had received the Bill Gove Award from the National Speakers Association. I felt validated and ready to launch out and crush it! This was not to be the case.
I built a website, made marketing materials and within one year of graduating college UTEP…I was broke.
Not even broke, I was $38,000 in debt with student loans and freshly acquired credit card debt! Even more painful was the loss of several crew members (Rest In Power :Sick Rick, Poppin Joe and Michael “Acid” Garland). Our crew began to unravel as we each set out to other ventures.
The guy who started it all in that dance circle (Gabriel Lozano) moved to LA to pursue acting. He would later tour
with the Harlem Globe Trotters and even be a private tutor for celebrities’ children. LEAD was our springboard for our next seasons. (Years later at a drug-prevention assembly in
El Paso a student sat in the packed gym bleachers of his school. This student was the campus drug dealer, but also, a phenomenal dancer (e.g. Poppin.) This student watched our crew members dance and something sparked inside of him. He came down from the bleachers and joined in. This student would call me years later, tell me his story and later become the new president of our crew. His name is Sonny and he is my hero.)
I had been involved in an amazing group called Toastmasters for years (served as president of the Amigos Toastmaster Club in El Paso). After competing in the World Championship of Public Speaking and making it to the semi-finals, I was able to meet some professional speakers. I had no idea people could get paid so much to speak!! Ha! My crew and I were used to getting a few bucks for our gigs, but professional speakers could actually make a living!
I had several great mentors in Toastmasters who were business owners and real estate moguls (Hi, Bob and Ira.) The knowledge they imparted me was a gift. I sought out other professionals who taught me about marketing, branding and the speaking industry as a whole.
I continued to seek out mentors and they all told me the same thing, “Your marketing needs to be the lifeblood.” I continued marketing. I continued building and branding. I invested money into my speaking education by attending a new boot camp put on by the top youth speaker mogul Josh Shipp.
My first year, I made about $10,000, the next $20,000 the next $25000 and so on. My good friend and mentor, Bob Mihalov, brought up a good point. Schools were paying speakers from out of town top dollar to come to speak. Me being local had a bit of an “Oh, he’s from here” type of association. He confirmed what I was already feeling…time to move back to Austin.
El Paso was super cheap, I loved the city and had all my friends and remaining crew members there. Alas, the desert had brought me to this point, my next season required a new city. My hometown, Austin.
I moved back to Austin in 2009. Bob was right. The same clients who had been paying me a couple or so in El Paso were now bringing me back to speak but paying much more. I lived very far below my means for years. I paid off my student loans and debts within five years. I had a fixer-upper condo on Riverside. My marketing continued and I was now traveling across the nation.
For several years I would fly Gabe out from LA to perform with me. In El Paso and New Mexico my crew would join me at my shows. I was getting traction as a speaker and was living out the vision I had in my mind so many years prior.
I soon began speaking for larger conferences and was soon picked up by a youth speaking bureau out of California. I spoke at several national level leadership events and this further helped my marketing and branding. Even when I began making six-figures I kept living below my means until I could afford a rental property. Then another.
I’ve been very fortunate to have amazing clients with the American Lung Association, National Guard Family Programs, Student Councils, FCCLA, migrant programs and campuses across the country. I honestly burned out of traveling several times over the last decade +. At times I would limit myself to just one event a month. Once upon a time I did Uber and Lyft just to unplug all together. I was burning out again in 2020 when Covid hit.
At the beginning of the pandemic a handful of my clients went virtual for their events. This free’d me up to try something different. I began teaching entrepreneurship at Del Valle High School. Teachers…I salute you! I can totally understand why so many teachers have left the profession over the last two years. Y’all so deserve better! Okay, getting off my soapbox now. Go Cardinals! Hugs.
15 years later and one pandemic too many, I have spoken in 48 states and have since also started doing corporate events (Customer service, leadership and job readiness programs) with my awesome wife, Rachel. We landed several amazing corporate events with Texas Speakers Bureau (Thanks, Koby and Braylyn!)
A New Rhythm
We welcomed little Sebastian Diego Perez to the family in August of 2021. We are learning a new rhythm while caring for him and trying to juggle the speaking engagements we have lined up for the year.
We recently moved to Bastrop since it was a bit more affordable than Austin…was! It is definitely a different kind of groove out here. Now as I get back out into the world of in-person events, I shall do what I’ve always done and keep on dancing. Peace and chicken grease!
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Patrick “Pac Man” Perez is an energetic combination of rhythm, caffeine and leadership with style! Patrick is an award winning speaker, dance artist and author who has performed across the USA, Canada, Germany and Mexico. For well over 10 years Patrick has reached over 400,000 students, leaders and business owners in schools, conferences, colleges and National Guard programs in 48 states.
Patrick is a first-generation college graduate on his dad’s side having earned his Bachelors Degree from The University of Texas in El Paso. In 2006, Patrick was named the El Paso Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the Small Business Administration. Patrick was a Bill Gove Award recipient from the National Speakers Association as well as a semi-finalist in Toastmasters’ World Championship of Public Speaking. He has performed with contestants from America’s Got Talent, So, You Think You Can Dance and World of Dance.
Patrick’s mission is to help youth set goals, break through their challenges and break free from their excuses.
Patrick’s books “Bully Breakthrough: Breaking the Cycle” and “Break Free: Be True. Be You.” are available on Amazon.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Student Success Speaker, Author and Dance Addict @ PatrickPerez.org
Corporate Leadership, Professional and Personal Development Speaker @ HighImpactPrograms.org
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice? Toastmasters is phenomenal!!! Check out a meeting and you’ll thank yourself later.
Pricing:
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Contact Info:
- Email: patrickperez1206@gmail.com or patrick@patrickperez.org
- Website: PatrickPerez.org
- Instagram: PatrickPacManPerez
- Facebook: /PatrickPacManPerez
- Youtube: /PatrickPerezTV
- Other: HighImpactPrograms.org
