His ideas are clear and precise, he seems to know what he wants and what to do in every moment. With overflowing enthusiasm David Esteban encourages people to be more ambitious and nonconformist. “If you want something, you have to go out and get it”. This is not a pose, David is 33 years old and he has already changed already his life direction several times.
Flapy, as his friends call him, has always tried to grow and learn without paying too much attention to the fact of having to take risks. One of his riskiest decisions he has taken was changing his life radically after studying information technology and a doctorate, when he had had a clear idea of what he wanted to do since he was a child.
“I changed my specialisation and something I felt sure about for something I had to learn on guerrilla basis”
When he finished his studies in Information Technologies he requested a doctorate scholarship to go to Japan, not only to learn new things on the technological side, but also to learn a language and a different culture. Japan was never a goal in itself, only one more step in the long run.
The day before taking the flight to Japan, he opened a blog to share his life abroad with friends and family. This diary called “Un español en Japón” has already received several prizes and helped him to discover online marketing. After receiving several job offers on this area, thanks to his blog, David went from information technology to dedicate himself to a more creative and totally different area in the internet. To David “successes are meant to be taught and failures to be learnt”, and he doesn’t care to confess that he has failed in several occasions. But it is clear to him that to reach your goal “you have to go through a lot of mud; if you want something you have to fight for it and make an effort”.
After several years in Japan working in the information technologies field, Flapy reconsidered his life and therefore decided to search for new professional and personal challenges. “When a country does not provide me certain things anymore then that stage in that country is finished”. This is the reason that motivated him to go live in China, “Japan was like receiving the sea breeze, and China is like being in the eye of the storm”.
David lives now in Canton, a city located in the South of China along the river side of Pearl River and very well connected with Hong Kong. His job consists in developing internet presence of companies in Asian countries, as well as assisting Spanish and Latin American companies to set-up themselves in Oriental Asia. A job that has nothing to do with his Information technologies studies.
Working in Asia has allowed David to understand the ways of working in different countries, “the mistake companies make is extrapolating their business model”. In Japan sales are done in a very formal way and it is not usual to mix personal and professional life, whilst in China “they invite you to eat, they introduce you to their family and daughters of marriageable age and after all that they ask you, what was it that you wanted?”.
David seems to be busy all the time, his job requires a lot of hours and responsibility, but he spends his free time doing other things he is passionate about, “ if I could I would ask for the day to have 33 hours”. Besides updating his blog and developing a videoblog to learn Japanese called “Japoneando”, he works as children educator when he finds some time off.
Among his interests, photography is the way in which Flapy likes to express the things he loves: eating, traveling and women.
“Photography to me is how I express the beauty I see in an artistic way”
In Flapy’s life having leisure time and having fun is also important, “ not everything can be about work and sacrifice”. The effort has to be rewarded with enjoyment, each one of us in our own way, and Flapy likes to go to karaokes with his friends. David Esteban is a clear example of how efforts have rewards. To be happy with he has left behind his comfort zone to make an effort and spin around his life by taking risky decisions in several occasions.
“Going to bed with the believe that you’ve grown, that you are a better person and that you have learnt things, look back and say ‘ I am the one making this happen’. I believe this is happiness”
Acknowledgements: Sergio Merino and PBL LEADERS.
