From CustomerServ President Nick Jiwa

Twenty years.

The journey started in 1986 when I took a part time summer job as a call center agent– a serendipitous start to an unplanned career in a new and eccentric industry.

By 2006, after two-decades working for BPOs, I found myself leaning into an entrepreneurial instinct, and that’s when I created CustomerServ.

When I started the company, I had this distant idea in my head that one day I might look back and feel like I had made a positive impact on our industry. I didn’t know what that would look like. I just knew it mattered.

Now here we are.

People often ask why I started the company, or what I’ve learned along the way. The honest answer is: more than I can fit into this brief post.

What I can say is this: CustomerServ is the outcome of a long, unlikely path. A kid from humble beginnings in Queens, NY who was written off more times than he can count, finding his way in an industry that gave him a chance. 

That’s something I don’t take lightly.

This industry has done that for a lot of people. It opens doors. But what you do once you walk through them is up to you. It will test you. There are highs, and there are lows. And that’s exactly what makes it so meaningful if you’re willing to stay in it.

For me, it’s been a simple formula. Work hard. Fall down. Get back up. Learn. Repeat. Especially over the last twenty years.

None of this happens alone. I’ve been fortunate to have mentors, teachers, friends, family and colleagues who shaped the journey in ways I couldn’t have imagined at the start.

I’m grateful for that. Deeply.

And as I humbly celebrate CustomerServ20,  I’m looking forward with excitement to the years ahead.