GO!!!!!!!

Nedzad Zagovic / ZagEx, Inc.

Imagine leaving the paradise known as Montenegro to spend a few months in Mexico City and then crossing border into the United States knowing you would be arrested. This is the story of Nedzad Zagovic, and how a chance encounter turned into a life-long friendship.

After being arrested, Nedzad (or “Zagi” as I’ve come to know him) declared asylum due to war in his homeland in Eastern Europe. He spent some time in detention and was eventually released to his waiting family here in San Jose, CA. There is something one must understand about Zagi, and when spending time with him, this becomes apparent. Zagi is not exactly a patient guy. He’s a risk taker, and luck seems to always be on his side. There are those who leave their lives to fate, and there are those who like to control their destiny. Zagi is definitely the latter. While most people in Montenegro were applying for immigration visas, waiting in line, and leaving their future to be dictated by faceless Embassy workers, all Zagi knew was that he wanted to be in the United States as soon as possible. With that motivation he hopped on a plane to the closest country he could get to without a visa; in hindsight this paid off greatly!

After arriving and celebrating in the United States, Zagi worked a series of odd jobs including restaurant work, handiwork and installing cable for Comcast. He eventually started delivering packages for FedEx and this is where we met on a random evening at Santana Row in the early 2000s. We struck up a friendship and since then have kept in touch regardless of the struggles each of us has faced in our own lives. At some point Zagi started to buy FedEx routes and become an owner and entreprenuer rather than just an employee. Being an owner is not exactly a glamorous role — in fact in many ways it proved to be much more difficult than being a regular employee. Zagi learned that he had to maintain his own van, pay for his own gas, and manage logistics to ensure his clients received their packages in a timely manner.

Over the years I’ve seen Zagi work hard at building his business. He purchased routes whenever opportunities arose. He went from one van, to two vans, to finally owning a fleet of FedEx vehicles. He employed a single staff member to a small company worth of personnel. From outsourcing his truck maintenance to leasing warehouse space and building out his own service shop, Zagi has truly started from the most basic customer service position to developing and running his own living, working community. It looks so easy today, but it was all built on hard work and a simple vision — to survive.

Zagi was never one to settle for average. He has always looked to improve, to grow, and to learn from his experiences. To those around him he’s always been caring, loving, generous and above all, understanding. This may be why we get along so well. Today, although not on the Fortune 500 list (yet), Zagi is living his dream. He’s come a long way since immigrating to the United States as a teenager via Mexico. He still operates FedEx routes, enjoys motorsports on the weekends, but above all is happily married to his beautiful wife, with whom he raises an incredible son in their new home.

I’m not sure what the future holds for Zagi, but one thing I’m sure of is that it will be good and it will be exciting. Zagi’s the type of guy to life to it’s fullest, and then enjoy it just a little bit more.

Keep up the good work Zagi! GO!!!!!!!

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Written by Wallace Chane, Co-Founder / VP of METIS

METIS is a start-up operating in the residential real estate space. We are a data and detail driven brokerage which provides the most value to dollar ratio on the market. Connect today — www.metisre.com | 408–621–7607