Meet Lucas Rohm

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lucas Rohm and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lucas, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
Taking risks is often touted as necessary and encouraged when working for oneself and in the business world in general. That said, I have always considered myself risk averse – but only in the sense that I’m wary of the fine line that exists between taking a risk and making a gamble. Over the years, I’ve seen people take risks that lead to both great success and great consequence. By incrementally taking calculated risks backed up by data and logic, progress can be made with fewer potential setbacks – even if it means marked progress happens more slowly. You often hear of high risk, high reward success stories in business, but I feel like the most valuable lessons come from those characterized by a series of smaller, calculated risks, or those that underscore the consequence of flippant or impulsive risk taking. An old saying goes “if you want to make an omelet, you’ve got to break some eggs,” and while I agree with this in a general sense, my stance has always been that if you’ve got eggs to break, you may as well do it over the sink to mitigate any messy surprises that may come up in the process.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I think in any creative or client-facing business, you’re always to some extent walking the line between taking on projects that support the financial and operational goals of your business, and taking on projects that help build your professional portfolio in order to help support those goals on a longer and less immediate timeline. In the early years, the day to day was largely dominated by clients and projects falling into the latter of these buckets. Building a portfolio to support your business and provide social proof and case studies showcasing the quality and breadth of your services is the hardest part of getting a project-based business based in client services. For me, this took the form of 2-3 years of making financial, professional and personal sacrifices and compromises. These were among the more challenging years of my life, but the lessons gleaned during this period also made them some of the most valuable and rewarding. I met someone early on in my experience who said that work only happens Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm, and while I agree that work-life balance is very important, I consider this a bit reductive. Reflecting on the last 15 years of my professional life, I feel like the most important lesson I’ve learned is how important it is to be flexible, accommodating and willing to make personal and professional sacrifices in the short term to establish a more rewarding life over time. Believe me when I say that I value my non-work life and it’s joys and rewards, but business and life often require that you “rise to the occasion” and make the needed compromises to deliver results and shy away from deflection.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Nobody thinks of San Diego without thinking of the beach and the ocean, and while one or more of San Diego’s coastal communities would certainly be on the list, there are definitely other places that I consider special and worth sharing with those whose company I enjoy and value. Definitely on this list is La Playa Taco Shop – a true gem in a landscape broadly characterized as being a mecca of Mexican cuisine regardless of who is cooking the food (shoutout to Victor and Laura – siblings and owners of La Playa and exceptionally kind people. They let me take photos of their restaurant and kitchen for an immersive media project I did in college, and even have a “Lucas Burrito” you can order that’s not listed on their regular menu.) Another thing I would make a point to cover are some of the historical and outdoor spaces that make San Diego unique and are often overlooked by visitors since they are not next to the ocean. One of my favorite spots is the Old Mission Dam, a rare historical landmark housed in Mission Trails Regional Park which is one of the largest municipal / city parks in the country and features native landscapes that paint a picture of what San Diego must have looked like before the modern era. Less obscure but equally historically important and interesting and on my list of favorites is Balboa Park – not only it’s many trails and themed gardens that make it feel like a botanical menagerie, but also public indoor spaces like the Museum of Us that provide a window into things like the daily lives and traditions of the Kumeyaay people native to San Diego county, and the city-shaping Panama-California Exposition of 1915 that collected and shared the cultural contributions of people across the Americas and laid the groundwork for the iconic architecture that define and bookend the park as we know it today.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
When I was first getting started out on my own, I was in my early twenties and had only recently completed my degree. I knew I had the skills and vision to accomplish what was needed, but lacked enough practical experience to fully trust that I had what it took to make things work on my own. In addition to this, I sadly was also not getting a ton of encouragement from those close to me at the time, and frequently heard things like: “Maybe you just don’t have what it takes to do this.” Thankfully, there were enough people that believed in me to get me past the initial hurdles that come up when you’re first learning to trust your instincts and believe in yourself. One of these people was Jeffrey Krauel – at the time the CTO of the largest company I had ever been engaged with. Despite my lack of experience, he evaluated my skills and knowledge and took what felt like a chance on me at a time when I was still very fresh in the workforce. Not only did this experience help build the foundation of trust I had in myself and my abilities, but also taught me valuable lessons in team based collaboration, technical leadership and working on applications that helped solve real problems for thousands of real people. There were also some people close to me in my personal life who were always supportive and encouraging and who I am immensely grateful for, such as my close friend of now 20 years: Katilin Parry. Another shoutout definitely goes to my mother for always falling back on the mantra “Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” which I still stand by and which I think can give anyone the motivation and self-assurance needed to persevere in the face of setback and defeat.

Website: https://missionbaymedia.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mission-bay-media-sd/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/missionbaymedia

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/missionbaymedia/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/mission-bay-media-san-diego

Other: Google: https://g.page/r/CSJzK2fEMJyiEAI/review