Unlearning Entrepreneurship with Griselda Martinez: Economic Development, Supporting Women Entrepreneurs, Financial Planning, and Pursuing True Calling

Transcript

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Hello, hello, hello everybody, and welcome once again to the Unlearned Podcast.

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I am your host, ruth Abigail, aka RA, and this is the podcast that is helping you gain the courage to change your mind so that you can experience more freedom.

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And we are in our entrepreneur more freedom.

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And we are in our entrepreneur unlearning entrepreneurship series.

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And I have a great friend with me, uh, griselda Martinez.

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And if we had the little hand claps, you know the little applaud, we would do that in the background.

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What's up, homie?

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Welcome when you are.

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Eh, I am delighted to be here.

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It's exciting to be your guest in this beautiful podcast that I have seen come from planning into being this really high-energy, impactful platform.

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So I'm excited to be your guest and I look forward to all the fun questions you have for me.

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Yeah, I'm excited to be your host I mean your guest and I look forward to all the fun questions you have for me.

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Yeah, I'm excited too.

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So we, um, so Griselda and I met actually doing a coaching course in 2022.

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Um, and we've just connected ever since.

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We just we, just I, I, I I have not been able to get rid of her.

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Like I, she just kind of latches on and you're like, oh, I have a new friend.

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You don't know, but now you do.

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You know when, when you find people that are a blessing, uh, you just need to know that they need to stay in your life, right?

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So what do you do?

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You are, you make it happen, you make it happen, and already she has me doing crazy things like going to a conference a week before my wedding.

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Yes, like literally a week before her wedding.

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In Miami.

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Now I'm in.

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Memphis.

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Yes, so this is not like a two hour drive situation, I mean, it is a whole situation, and so, yeah, these are the types of friends I have that get me to do a learning um getting married.

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There you go.

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There you go.

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I'm so grateful that we are in each other's lives and I'm so grateful you're on the podcast.

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This is so I.

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We started off like in this like learning mode, where we're learning how to coach and you know, um, and just become better at the crafts that we, we, we do.

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And what's funny is, you know I, I know I know you from that point on, but, like the, your entrepreneurship story, as far as like the other elements of all the things you do I'm not as familiar with, like we talked a little bit about what you do in the economic.

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She's well, she's a doctor.

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So let's, first of all, let's be clear about that this is doctor.

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So if you get sick, you know who to call.

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There you go and it's more so if you get sick in like in in some version of like education.

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I'm not really sure what that means, but yes, it's a.

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But if you get sick in like in in some version of like education.

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I'm not really sure what that means, but yes, it's uh, uh.

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But if you get really sick you might want to call your other doctor.

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Yes, yes, and now clarifying a little bit, that was a joke.

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If you get sick, don't call me but but I I say that to say people who have doctorates, phds you people out there have just a have an ability to understand information at a level I personally do not, and so we were talking one day and you were kind of explaining a little bit of what you did in the economic world, because you're an economist, Is that?

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Yeah, so my, my bachelor's is in economics and international business, and then I went for my master's in public administration, which is government and related, and then my doctoral program is in economic development, with an emphasis on regional development, and then I specialized in entrepreneurship and small businesses through through that field of work as well.

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Yeah, so y'all see all that, you see all that, see all that.

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Yeah, so what I, what I, what I want us to do, is I want you to break down what that is, so, but you have a a business called uh, I see in those strategies, yes, and the strategies.

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Yes, that's a uh.

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You've been in business with that for how long?

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So actually it's.

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It's fun to tell that.

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Uh, by the time this podcast airs, it'll be three years that I've been on my own entrepreneur journey, so I launched it in August of 2021.

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That's amazing, and and so there's.

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There's like three different elements to that business.

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Is that yes, so kind of down, just break down just real quick.

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What are those three elements?

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What, what all do you do?

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Yeah, so the first one is economic development, uh, consulting, which is the core of my doctoral program, right, and the core of what I've been doing for the last 15 years, before I switched from the private sector research type of thing in almost like a previous career 10 years before that.

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And then the second part was actually, as we connected right In my economic development journey, I had worked with small businesses and I had worked at business incubators and and like advising entrepreneurs, but when I moved to the more organizational side of things I was with the local government I totally left that and expanded into other aspects of economic development, because it's a very broad field and actually, as you and I were in the coaching program, I realized that I had lost a love of working with entrepreneurs, so that allowed for me to go back to the business coaching, which is the second part of of what I do, uh, right now.

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And in my own journey, as I was launching my, my business, I realized that my network was really strong um, beautiful people in my network, but very few were actually business women who looked like me, and so that access to mentors, access to role models, access to just people who could answer questions that I was needing answers for, instead of doing trial and error, weren't there.

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So that led to the launch of Unexpectedly Successful the podcast to feature successful businesswomen to talk about their own journey, to talk about how they did it, who was there to help them, what were the struggles, and just talk about the raw and genuine stories of entrepreneurship for women in particular.

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So those are the three pieces of what I do and I'm glad to go into more detail, but it's been a beautiful journey with three very different pieces to this business and, if you ask me, the podcast is one of the favorite things I get to do and the farthest from anything I had done in the past, right, except for asking questions, because I've been doing that for many years.

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Yeah, that's I want to know.

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I want to know because you I mean, you got a lot of letters behind your name.

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You got a lot of your education.

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You have the highest degree of education you can have.

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You could be, you could go, you could be hired anywhere you had and your career.

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You could be hired anywhere you had and and and your career.

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Right Even before this has you had a?

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You had a great career, you were successful in what you did.

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What made you jump out and start something on your own, like, why would you do that?

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Yeah, so you know it's it's been.

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The entrepreneurship for me has been a beautiful, powerful journey, and I come from a family in which my dad was an entrepreneur, my mom was a teacher, but the doing and actually I just learned something really cool about a month ago, my dad launched his own business and that represented a huge change of opportunities for our family, for me as a daughter, right?

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Um?

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So I, I lived through that lens for many years.

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Uh, I, I was born in race in Mexico, came to the U?

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S when I was in my twenties, early twenties, but the entire, my entire family, siblings and aunts and cousins and all that I mean I have family in other places, but my siblings, they all have something entrepreneurial because they have created part of their own opportunity, right?

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So me in the U S uh, with immigration restrictions, restrictions I did not feel I could launch a business.

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So I was a very dedicated employee, but at the same time, there was always something missing in my career, like I was able to create things, I was able to launch new programs, I was able to grow programs, but there was always a cap.

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There was always a cap, whether it was bureaucracy or whether it was salary.

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I mean, there were a lot of caps in the different parts of my walk as an employee, um, and also the uh months after I had launched my business.

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I have I found this notebook in which I was doing reflection work and I had noted that I was going to launch my own business, like five years before I actually launched it.

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So it was something that it was pending for me to do, um, but when I actually made the decision to do it, I was in a place where I was successful, and I actually talk about this very openly.

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I was successful, quote unquote.

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I had the title, I had the um salary and actually when I got to that, to that, when I was in my in my early career, I thought of a six figure as like, um, unbelievable to reach, uh, like who makes six figures Right.

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And so in my career, when I got there, it was such a weird place because I it was almost like not believing that I had made it, but at the same time, it was when I felt farthest from my purpose.

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I felt farthest from what I was supposed to be doing.

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I remember one day in my Microsoft thing, the statistics of how my time was being used using my calendar, came about and I was spending about 70% of my time in internal meetings.

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That led nowhere.

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So my drive to be in economic development, which is making programs, creating opportunities for communities as a whole, was really far from being my reality.

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And so I was, being an administrator, very bureaucratic driven, and I was not happy.

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I was very depleted of energy.

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I was very depleted of hope.

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Actually, I was in a very hopeless place.

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Um, I was disappointed about humanity, like I, it was not pretty.

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And when I had taken that job, it was a very strategic move for me because it was a better, it was very set better salary, better position, better title.

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I was going to supervise people that I had not officially supervised, and and so it was.

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It was the right career decision for me.

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But also, uh, my husband and I at that point had, uh were aware that it was not going to be a long-term um period, because we knew that the, the, the, the, not fun parts of that job.

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But, um, I said one year and a half, two years, and when I actually decided to leave that job it was four years into the making, and so when I was in that, in that position, I was.

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One of the things that made me like really plug pull.

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The plug was that I met with a friend.

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We talked on the phone and he had met me when I was doing the things that I really love, like working with entrepreneurs, and I was really energized and engaged and after we talked he said you know, you sound different.

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You know you sound different.

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Everything is a no instead of how can we make it happen?

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Wow, and in that moment I was like, wow, this is like getting into my essence.

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Wow, and there was no title, there was no salary that that could have kept me there.

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But it was that moment in which I said you know what?

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This?

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It is the time for my own wellbeing, for my future, to step away.

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Um, because I, at that moment, I was almost afraid that my light was dimming to a point that it was like going to be shut down.

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Yeah, and I know it was the, the, the overall situation.

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Um, but it was.

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I know it was the overall situation, but I know it was my own calling, calling me Like what are you doing?

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You're like deviating further and further from your purpose.

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Just, you have to make a change.

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And that's how I switched into launching my own business, but it's, it's been a I mean, the beginning of my own business was just the beginning of my own business.

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It's been a beautiful journey.

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It's been an intense journey.

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It's been days that I'm like what am I doing?

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Like, why am I here?

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Right, I could, I could go to a job and and do what I know how to do, because in reality, I've been an employee way much longer than I've been an entrepreneur, and so my, my easy is being an M, an employee, right, and so becoming an entrepreneur in my mindset has been its own journey, right, and not just wanting to lean into the easier option.

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But then, when I say easier option is like, was it really easier when I was in it?

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Right, so being an entrepreneur, it has been a way for me to be empowered, um, for me to.

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I used to say when, when, when I was like in this really not good place, I used to say that I was not creative, and in my journey as an entrepreneur, I was like, wait, I can create anything that comes to my mind.

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Yes, and, and it's, it's, it's just beautiful.

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Um, so entrepreneurship I thought it was cool when I was a beneficiary of, of the economic impact of the of the training through my dad, through my siblings, but walking it, it's a whole different deal.

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Yeah, yeah, I mean not, not even comparable to what I thought it was going to be.

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Like you, you cause there's there's so many there.

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I have about three questions in my head and I'm trying to figure out which one I want to go with.

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I'm going to.

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I'm going to do this one Cause this has been a common thread in all my conversations so far.

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You said it uh, the mindset of an entrepreneur, the fact that you shift your mindset, that has it's so interesting.

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And and um, when we were going through our coaching, mindset was the very first thing that we worked on for the half of the time, I mean before, for a good three, four weeks, it was all about mindset.

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Before we went into techniques and tools and all that stuff.

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So, um, talk about the mindset shift and I'm going to.

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I'm going to.

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I'm going to ask a part B, because this is the other piece that I think you were.

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That I heard in your, in your comments.

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That also points back to our experience in coaching.

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Was you honoring your value system?

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Yes, moment of uh, when, when your friend said something's changed, there's more no's than yeses and realizing.

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That's not who I am Like.

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Talk about the shift of mindset and then the process of re-honoring your values, uh, by moving into entrepreneurship.

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Wow.

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So the mindset, um, you know, um.

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So I, I knew it's really interesting.

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I knew that I was going to launch my own business.

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By the way, by the time that the four years came about, my immigration situation had changed and I was not restricted to just um being hired by that employer that had hired me.

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So, in that way, I am grateful for the people who hired me in the past, because it was an extra layer of work that they had to deal with, right, um.

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But when, when I got in mindset, I see, I came in 2001 and I got my permanent residency in 2020.

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So, almost 20 years as a non-immigrant, with all the restrictions, uh, and being making sure that, uh, I had all my documentations and I had the answers for anyone related, like border patrol across the border, right, or whatever.

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So the time, the first time that I actually had my, the first crossing with my permanent residency, I literally thought it was like a fake car and they were going to reject my entry.

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So I mean, I, that's the context of my mindset where I was Right, um, and so when, when I get to this, this place, where I'm like you know, it is time, by the way, it's interesting because the last person that the last, my last boss as an employee when I left the organization, when he wrote the email letting people know his highlight was she loves to work with small businesses, like it was so obvious to people, except for me, except for me.

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I had to work on things rediscovering that, but anyway, so I maybe a couple of months before I actually resigned.

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I resigned and gave a one month notice.

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By the way, people, if you're thinking of doing that one month, don't do it.

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So, about two months into into me, knowing that I was going to do it, what I did was I asked three people that had worked with me before and knew me at a professional level, but also at like new uh enough about my, my person, my essence, my values.

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Um, I asked him, uh, for I asked for for me to meet with them, and one of them was this friend that earlier had told me that something had changed.

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And my question guess what it was?

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Ra, what had told me that something had changed?

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And my question guess what it was?

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Ra?

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Can I add value as a consultant to any client?

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Can you imagine, wow, can I add value?

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I wasn't asking how can I add value, which that would have been a reframe of the question.

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Right, can I add value?

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Now we're talking about a professional with 20 years of experience, right, with a doctoral degree, with certifications, I mean, like I had been putting the work.

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It wasn't like somebody gave it to me, I had earned everything that I had accomplished at that point, it had been backed by hard work.

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And my question was can I add value?

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And the three of them say yes, and my friend, the one that I, that I was, um, that I mentioned before, he said um, by the way, whenever you have a rate, let me know, because I have work for you and it was so, anyway, fast forward.

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I resigned, um, and I could not.

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I could not start work.

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One, because I did not have the time and the energy and the and the mindset to do anything before before leaving my previous employment.

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Uh, but two, it was too close to what I was going to be doing and I saw it as a conflict of interest, right, but um to my values.

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I said before I was very hopeless and in intrinsic in my, in my, in my being, is being hopeful, yeah, and so that was the first like I used to say, really not like like I.

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I created sentences and statements that capture how I felt in that moment.

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That was totally opposite to who I was, um, and and I had like really attached to those.

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So, okay, it's going to be really harsh.

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Okay, useless pieces of flesh.

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That was a common statement.

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How would you like and what kind?

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of like like when I saw people not doing their work yo that's, but you know what that's real.

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So you, in your mind, they were useless pieces of flesh.

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But can you imagine that that degree of hopelessness, like it was not a project, it was just like I'm done, move, I'll get it done next, and and that was that was really, I think, just realizing the degree of of um work I needed to do, because that was real for me at that moment, right, um, and, and so that was that was a big one.

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And then I started, uh, this friend gave me my first contracting was a small contract and he was just he, he recognized where I was and he's like you're going to be the coauthor of this, this project, and like when I had like 5% contribution of the project, um, but he's like this is going to be something that you're going to utilize for the next steps.

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And yeah, he was seeing this, he was seeing the strategy, knowing what I was capable of doing, Uh, and he just helped me take those steps, um, and with my.

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So that was my first contract, which was like small and because he was at the tail end of that project.

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But then that led me to another project and I was so excited and to take this project.

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But then that led me to another project and I was so excited and to take this project.

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It was a $5,000 contract.

00:25:15.047 --> 00:25:22.320
$5,000 contract you could have sworn that it was like a $500,000 contract.

00:25:22.320 --> 00:25:31.953
I was so excited and pumped because it was my first contract that it was not through somebody I knew.

00:25:32.474 --> 00:25:32.654
Yeah.

00:25:33.056 --> 00:25:33.661
And the second one.

00:25:33.661 --> 00:25:39.013
It was a project that I um, it was like my dream project.

00:25:39.013 --> 00:25:54.387
Wow, if in from my previous employment, that was one of the actually one of the projects that um, that did not go through, that I knew the impact of the project for the community that was shut down.

00:25:54.387 --> 00:26:03.045
It was a very similar project for me to have the opportunity it was like redemption for me and and it was just beautiful.

00:26:03.045 --> 00:26:29.788
But, um, I, I, I totally thought it was going to be a week long work, uh, and it took me two months and, like, seriously, totally like super woman, turned into human kind of approach, um, but so that was my first project I completed.

00:26:29.788 --> 00:27:13.398
It was cool and then I got another project and it's just like these projects just kept coming and I mean I, I was able to reach out to my network, I told them about what I was doing and I think part of the mindset shift was that people knew what I could bring to the table and and it was just a a way of me reminding myself about that very thing, right, um, but I remember I mean in the three years there have been moments in which I've looked at jobs and said maybe this is what I need to be doing.

00:27:13.398 --> 00:27:29.388
Yeah, uh, and it has been several times, um, and I remember one time I was um asked at the beginning, like different people reached out to me for employment, like, hey, would you be interested in this job?

00:27:29.388 --> 00:27:30.324
Would you be interested in?

00:27:30.324 --> 00:27:34.164
Oh, you would be great, and and and so I would.

00:27:34.325 --> 00:27:46.525
I would come home and I would try to convince my husband by the way, wayne, my husband, uh, also known as Flakito, he has, he, he was.

00:27:46.525 --> 00:27:48.729
He told me this, which is really.

00:27:48.729 --> 00:27:50.634
I've asked him, like how do you know?

00:27:50.634 --> 00:27:57.901
He said you are going to start with consulting, but we don't know where you're going to go, like.

00:27:57.901 --> 00:28:20.759
He was so certain of of the possibilities, um, so actually the, the word of my first year in business was possibilities, like what's, what's possible, like what my mind can create right, what I can make happen through partnerships, through relationships, through hard work, through, et cetera.

00:28:21.260 --> 00:28:31.703
But when the jobs would come as something interesting to me, he would say you know, um, why would you take it?

00:28:31.703 --> 00:28:34.489
And the number one reason was money stability.

00:28:34.489 --> 00:28:38.280
Yeah, it was like I would.

00:28:38.280 --> 00:28:40.542
I would have like that money.

00:28:40.542 --> 00:28:44.527
And I remember one day, uh, in on my whiteboard, I noted.

00:28:44.527 --> 00:29:38.339
I'm very analytical, so I wrote it pros and cons, and I was with my husband and, and we were cause it's some family decision right, um, and, and I was just noting things, and, and the number one thing on the pros was that money stability and on the cons were the things that I knew that were not aligned with my values, which was lack of creativity, lack of flexibility, being an administrative again and not somebody really close to the impact, which I think that's why I am so passionate about coaching, because you coach, you work with somebody and you see the transformations.

00:29:38.339 --> 00:29:45.470
You see them like right in front of you and the people are.

00:29:45.470 --> 00:29:55.380
They will never be the same after that moment and I just find it so powerful.

00:29:59.980 --> 00:30:02.022
But on that conversation, I actually was late for a meeting.

00:30:02.022 --> 00:30:13.845
By the way, I also became a published author at the end of December of 2023, which is again something that I knew I was going to do at some point, but I didn't know when or how.

00:30:13.845 --> 00:30:19.761
It just got put make the way, and so we were working in this process of um.

00:30:19.761 --> 00:30:28.512
It's 11 coauthors in this book, which is the transformative power of a name, and that on its own is like wow.

00:30:28.512 --> 00:30:31.864
I mean I can just talk about that and the name that I wrote there.

00:30:31.864 --> 00:30:56.971
But I was late like 10 minutes to that meeting and the lead author was facilitating the conversation and as I jumped into the virtual room, she said are we really believing that God will reign in our businesses or are we doubting of what the promises are?

00:30:56.971 --> 00:31:17.826
And I'm like, drop the mic, I know God has something for me and I just need to be strong in this season of my life with what he has put um in front of me and just be, uh, a good steward of of what I need to do.

00:31:17.826 --> 00:31:28.470
And but I mean those, those moments um have been impactful to, to my um, like aligning the values.

00:31:28.971 --> 00:31:51.380
And and I'm going to just share briefly about one of the conversations in which part of why I decided that RA was going to be my friend, um, because we were doing work on on on values and mindset, right as as she said, right as she said, and I had just defined my core values and number one was integrity.

00:31:51.380 --> 00:32:08.348
Yeah, and in one session that RA and others were part of, I was sharing a moment and I was telling myself a statement similar to this very harsh statement Um, I was.

00:32:08.348 --> 00:32:13.135
I was now, I was now my own target of my harshness.

00:32:13.135 --> 00:32:19.189
And she said so, griselda, what is your number one value?

00:32:19.189 --> 00:32:21.413
And I said integrity.

00:32:21.413 --> 00:32:23.040
And she said so.

00:32:23.040 --> 00:32:26.708
With that statement, you're telling yourself is that true?

00:32:26.708 --> 00:32:30.334
Are you violating your own number one value?

00:32:30.334 --> 00:32:32.884
And guess what?

00:32:32.884 --> 00:32:33.384
I?

00:32:33.384 --> 00:32:34.586
I was lying.

00:32:34.586 --> 00:32:53.037
Wow, I was violating my number one value against my own value number one.

00:32:53.660 --> 00:33:05.689
So I mean, this journey has been filled with moments like that where I'm like whoa, something has to change, because this is not how it's supposed to be.

00:33:05.689 --> 00:33:13.368
And just amazing, um amazing things that have happened.

00:33:13.368 --> 00:33:48.628
But I keep saying, if I had not, um done that leap of faith, if I had not taken that leap of faith, I would not be here, I would be in that hopelessness, I would be in that place of really harshness and and not like now, um, about two months ago we started this, this um a book reading a book, and the author asked book reading a book.

00:33:48.628 --> 00:33:51.160
And the author asked um do you believe that you can be whole as a person?

00:33:54.640 --> 00:34:06.842
And if we ask that question even then, even two months ago, I'm like, maybe not, yeah, but at the end of the work, um, through that work and and just um, putting the hard work in right, Um, I know that that's the goal.

00:34:06.842 --> 00:34:35.565
So I am more whole than I was two months ago and definitely more whole than I was three, three years ago and and I'm excited because I know the process will continue to move forward and and that alignment between my core values is I'm going to be even more aware, I'm going to be more intentional and more whole and and more, uh like, more aligned to my purpose in every step of the way that I take.

00:34:35.565 --> 00:34:44.436
So, yeah, it's mindset, core values, purpose yeah, All of it goes together.

00:34:46.840 --> 00:35:03.152
So we, there is an exercise that I've recently did with my students at Angel Street over our summer program that I that I saw another group do earlier in the year with another program I was working with.

00:35:03.152 --> 00:35:07.063
This was with teenagers and it's called budgeting your values.

00:35:07.063 --> 00:35:16.463
So it's basically like you get $10,000 and the goal is to budget everything based on your value.

00:35:16.463 --> 00:35:23.072
So, instead of a material thing listed clothes, shoes it lists values Like uh, I want to.

00:35:23.072 --> 00:35:25.780
You know, I want to see people treat it fairly.

00:35:25.780 --> 00:35:28.746
Um, I want a world peace.

00:35:28.746 --> 00:35:42.552
You know, whatever the value is, they have lists of probably 20, 30 of them, and so you use that list and you, you, you rate the ones that you're most important, you put a higher number and the ones that aren't, you put a lower one.

00:35:42.552 --> 00:35:51.065
And this particular exercise I mean we did this a few weeks ago it's probably the quietest I've ever seen this group- Wow.

00:35:51.244 --> 00:35:52.188
That extended period of time.

00:35:52.188 --> 00:35:59.219
I mean they and at the end they really, really appreciated it, one of the most interesting things, of course.

00:35:59.219 --> 00:36:04.632
Afterwards I told them to close their eyes and ask them a series of questions.

00:36:04.632 --> 00:36:10.969
After that I kind of deduced from the group.

00:36:10.969 --> 00:36:29.875
One of the values is like material possessions or something like that, sometimes material wealth or something, and I would say one, maybe two out of 14 had that as their one of their top three.

00:36:29.875 --> 00:36:33.940
Yep, real well, and so we had this conversation.

00:36:33.960 --> 00:36:35.065
They don't know better yet.

00:36:35.065 --> 00:36:40.063
All right, it'll drop soon.

00:36:43.340 --> 00:36:44.847
That's the crazy thing.

00:36:44.847 --> 00:36:55.130
I wanted them to see that the like most of you actually don't have that as a value.

00:36:55.130 --> 00:37:00.469
No, most of you are more concerned about money than anything else.

00:37:00.469 --> 00:37:02.632
Yes, and so, and that is.

00:37:02.632 --> 00:37:03.724
I think it's a great.

00:37:03.724 --> 00:37:04.847
Um, it was a, it was a.

00:37:04.847 --> 00:37:11.135
Really, it's a good example of a, of a micro version of of the world.

00:37:11.215 --> 00:37:21.708
Like most people, I do not believe if most people took that, most people wouldn't say money, material possessions, material wealth and there's nothing wrong with that being a value of yours.

00:37:21.708 --> 00:37:28.610
There's, there's great things that come with that, but most people actually don't value that above most things.

00:37:28.610 --> 00:37:36.844
But most of our energy goes towards that, at least here in America.

00:37:36.844 --> 00:37:41.268
Right, so, I love.

00:37:41.268 --> 00:37:47.255
You've said it a few times, but you said it with.

00:37:47.255 --> 00:37:52.329
You said I hit that six figure mark at the job I had.

00:37:52.329 --> 00:37:59.554
I realized when I hit that I was also the furthest away from my purpose at the same time.

00:37:59.554 --> 00:38:06.570
And then you talked about when you were trying to figure out do I go back into a stable a job, an employee situation?

00:38:06.570 --> 00:38:10.684
The only pro that you listed was stability and money.

00:38:10.985 --> 00:38:35.351
Right, um, the, the, the gap of your work and your values was too important for you to sacrifice that on the altar of stability with money, that I would love to talk a little bit more about that, because I think that there are a lot of people who are nervous about an entrepreneurship journey.

00:38:35.351 --> 00:38:41.146
Yes, because of that issue, right, I mean, everybody didn't have.

00:38:41.146 --> 00:38:47.927
You know it's like, well, there's a and, if you don't mind, if you, you know, get being a little vulnerable in this.

00:38:47.927 --> 00:38:56.521
In this regard, not saying I'm not, I'm not saying divulge your, your bank accounts, but you know you're not a millionaire, you're not.

00:38:56.521 --> 00:39:00.246
You're not yet, not yet, come on, not yet.

00:39:00.246 --> 00:39:08.621
And the works, you weren't one when you started, right Like you had to jump on faith here.

00:39:08.621 --> 00:39:13.952
It's not like you had a stash of you know uh, cash to be like I got a year to fail.

00:39:15.442 --> 00:39:18.813
But, but you know, I I actually can speak about the strategy.

00:39:18.813 --> 00:39:39.255
I can speak to the strategy, um, because it is important, it is a leap of faith, it is, but at the same time, there are steps that I would highly highly recommend to anybody who's considering this transition into being an entrepreneur and leaving a job.

00:39:39.255 --> 00:39:48.481
So, yeah, a job, so, um, yeah, so okay.

00:39:48.481 --> 00:39:53.936
So I said that we knew, um, as a family, that this moment was approaching, right, and so I've always been a very um, I love to travel.

00:39:53.936 --> 00:40:04.992
So when you said about $10,000, like my currency is like, how many flight tickets would that buy me and where can it get?

00:40:04.992 --> 00:40:06.173
How much?

00:40:06.173 --> 00:40:11.000
Uh like, where can I go with that investment anyway?

00:40:11.000 --> 00:40:18.853
Um, but I've always been very, um, I'm not a big spender on things that are material.

00:40:18.853 --> 00:40:48.385
Um, I believe that that comes from my, my, my mother, especially that she gave us the gift of valuing love and and family, Right, so it's not like, um, well, there was a stage in my life Actually, I'm going to take it back there was a stage in my life in which I was making money, I was single, Um, I was having the, the time of my life and that car, just, but somehow.

00:40:48.385 --> 00:41:13.188
Um, still, I've always been somebody who saves money and for people who was listening right now, I would, I would tell you this one strategy, um, that I actually speak about in my podcast is we often talk about not having money to take that leap of faith and I'm going to the first is I'm going to challenge you.

00:41:13.188 --> 00:41:15.393
Not having enough money.

00:41:15.393 --> 00:41:17.304
What does that really mean?

00:41:17.304 --> 00:41:25.853
Right, because most people haven't really made numbers of what they actually need to take that jump, right?

00:41:25.853 --> 00:41:29.164
Um, so is it what?

00:41:29.164 --> 00:41:30.327
What is the money for?

00:41:30.327 --> 00:41:38.208
And even as, as business owners, we often say we want money, but it's really hard for us to articulate how much and for what.

00:41:38.208 --> 00:41:38.929
Right?

00:41:38.929 --> 00:41:53.795
So the the first piece is for for the audience considering jumping into becoming a business owner is put numbers how much do you need for your business to launch it?

00:41:53.795 --> 00:42:10.445
And then the second thing, which is it's more about that stability If you know you are going to leave your job, make sure that you are paving that, uh, that that path.

00:42:10.445 --> 00:42:27.463
And when I'm saying pave that path, start putting money away to give you that stability, because even if you get a client, even if you get a contract, it's going to be a month, a couple of months before you actually have cashflow.

00:42:27.463 --> 00:42:36.927
And cashflow for anybody, any business and any household is the king, right, right, there, you have to have cashflow.

00:42:36.927 --> 00:42:43.929
Um, the, the bills are not going to be waiting, uh, for you to get their revenue, uh, from your business.

00:42:43.929 --> 00:42:49.773
The, the, I mean food is not going to just wait until you have that cashflow coming in, right.

00:42:49.835 --> 00:43:16.494
So what I, what, what I did, is actually we defined, um, we actually we bought a house, we did heavy remodeling, we made numbers, we created a budget, a monthly budget, including the projection of how much it was going to take us to pay that debt.

00:43:16.494 --> 00:43:34.742
Doing like getting closer to their purpose versus like giving giving up on their dreams and giving up on on their alignment and suffering and not get wanting to get up in the morning, right, I, I dread going to work.

00:43:34.742 --> 00:43:37.248
But then you have the, the fancy car.

00:43:37.248 --> 00:43:38.570
Well, get rid of it.

00:43:38.570 --> 00:43:47.014
Get rid of it, right, yeah, I mean, how much are you paying in addition to the monthly note?

00:43:47.014 --> 00:43:54.492
Like, is that price worth paying every day, every week, every month?

00:43:54.492 --> 00:43:59.885
So, get rid of the debt, create a strategy to get rid of that.

00:43:59.885 --> 00:44:10.748
And then number two is how much is it that your household needs for, let's say, three months and then stash it in your, in your savings.

00:44:11.990 --> 00:44:17.186
And I wasn't millionaire, but we had a plan and we worked it and we wasn't hard.

00:44:17.186 --> 00:44:24.490
It wasn't easy because, um, we, we just needed to like, prioritize meeting that goal, right?

00:44:24.490 --> 00:44:31.009
Um, and people say, but I don't have the money and I'm like, how many times a week are you eating out?

00:44:31.009 --> 00:44:42.088
How many times a week are you are you going for a coffee at Starbucks or whatever Um other coffee coffee place?

00:44:42.088 --> 00:44:45.119
Right, you pay six, eight, $10 for a coffee.

00:44:45.119 --> 00:45:04.561
Like, becoming aware of where those holes are is one huge step to you becoming the like, the, the business owner you want, launching whatever is in your mind I mean, even if it's not a business, but whatever you haven't done because of money.

00:45:05.485 --> 00:45:06.628
So can I?

00:45:06.628 --> 00:45:06.889
Can I?

00:45:06.889 --> 00:45:19.289
Just I, you don't my, my whole, my whole soul is jumping right now, like I'm yes, because, um, that's that, that, uh, I.

00:45:19.289 --> 00:45:34.284
So, like you know, I work in the, in the nonprofit space, um, and have for 15 years, and so I, I've, I've chosen and I believe I'm here and this is, this is what I do, and I love what I do.

00:45:34.284 --> 00:45:43.362
I love what you're saying, because there has always been a part of me that you know, I want to have freedom.

00:45:43.362 --> 00:45:46.610
I want to be free and do my purpose Right.

00:45:47.112 --> 00:45:47.331
Yes.

00:45:55.860 --> 00:45:58.909
And I realized probably in 20, I want to say probably the 2000, like 16, 15, 16,.

00:45:58.909 --> 00:46:01.195
The only way for me to do that was to get get my debt under control.

00:46:01.195 --> 00:46:02.480
Yes, no debt.

00:46:02.480 --> 00:46:03.181
I had car debt.

00:46:03.181 --> 00:46:03.684
That's where I had.

00:46:03.684 --> 00:46:07.969
I probably had about $40,000 in it altogether, maybe a little bit more than that yeah.

00:46:07.969 --> 00:46:10.599
Um and so, and I was making nothing.

00:46:11.260 --> 00:46:16.789
I wasn't making significantly lower than my debt amount, right so?

00:46:16.789 --> 00:46:19.534
But I knew I was like my.

00:46:19.534 --> 00:46:26.293
My answer at that time was not to go and I wasn't going to be able to go and like make a ton more money to do that.

00:46:26.293 --> 00:46:33.432
Figure out how, like exactly what, how do I get rid of my debt and how much do I really need to live?

00:46:33.432 --> 00:46:33.960
Like.

00:46:33.960 --> 00:46:55.494
Because I really think that this entrepreneurship journey, or a journey towards whatever freedom, looks like for you to pursue your purpose, if that's being an entrepreneur if that's doing a certain industry, a service industry, if that's whatever that is, the monetary part of that is usually the thing that's the sticking point, right?

00:46:55.599 --> 00:46:56.505
Yes, yes.

00:46:56.505 --> 00:46:58.688
Where people get really hung up.

00:46:58.688 --> 00:47:01.139
But I love what you're saying about this strategy.

00:47:01.139 --> 00:47:02.320
It's like it doesn't have to be.

00:47:02.320 --> 00:47:03.842
It doesn't have to be.

00:47:03.842 --> 00:47:08.746
You can plan for the freedom journey you want to go on.

00:47:08.806 --> 00:47:20.454
You can do that and so, and it's may not be in the exact time frame you want, but get to do it.

00:47:20.454 --> 00:47:34.764
I love that I'm in a position where I don't have to demand a certain salary in order to live the life I need to live, because I don't have debt, I don't have it Freedom Yep Since 2019.

00:47:35.144 --> 00:47:37.528
And so that's that is.

00:47:37.528 --> 00:47:51.168
It is freedom, and it's freedom not just to uh, you know, just to say it, but what I think people don't always connect is it's freedom to live the way you are supposed to live.

00:47:51.168 --> 00:47:56.192
I think, daniels, this was gosh, this was a sermon series years ago.

00:47:56.192 --> 00:48:05.327
Um, he, he said, uh, he was like he was talking about Abraham, and it was one of those moments.

00:48:05.327 --> 00:48:07.099
It was in the turning point of the sermon.

00:48:07.099 --> 00:48:17.956
He was talking about something and then he turned it to where he said you know how many of you, instead of listening to where God wants you to go, yes.

00:48:18.760 --> 00:48:20.065
You don't have a choice, you can't.

00:48:20.768 --> 00:48:21.289
Exactly.

00:48:21.681 --> 00:48:27.472
Because you have to follow Visa or you have to follow MasterCard or you have to follow student loans.

00:48:27.472 --> 00:48:28.878
I just didn't expect.

00:48:28.878 --> 00:48:30.527
I was completely blown away at that point.

00:48:30.527 --> 00:48:32.400
I was like man, I didn't even expect you to go that direction.

00:48:32.519 --> 00:48:55.579
But so many people don't have the opportunity, like they can't follow God's lead because you've chosen a different master and that master is your debt, because you wanted to make decisions that we've all made, and so now it's like I just I love that you brought that up, man, Cause I think that is such a such a critical part of the most people's journey.

00:48:55.579 --> 00:49:00.242
That is also a very paralyzing part that people don't want to admit.

00:49:00.282 --> 00:49:16.032
I mean I you know, I'm talking to a lot of younger people in in this, in in the nonprofit space, who are making, quite frankly, more than I made when I started, but still not a lot.

00:49:16.032 --> 00:49:21.534
I would train on this and all this stuff.

00:49:21.534 --> 00:49:32.050
It's like if you want to continue to do this work and not have to move and go somewhere else where you're not feeling, you're going to have to get control over your finances.

00:49:32.050 --> 00:49:33.804
It's your, your freedom.

00:49:33.804 --> 00:49:36.411
And a lot of people don't connect those dots.

00:49:37.199 --> 00:50:10.661
Yeah, and, and you know actually when, when I said it earlier, um, and you know actually when, when I said it earlier, um, debt it's such a burden, right, and, and this society we've become comfortable with just owing and and living outside, um, our means in order to look or feel whatever we're missing, right, but what we don't when we're making those choices, what I mean.

00:50:10.822 --> 00:50:24.034
And debt has different circumstances as well, right, I remember a point in my life in which I had savings, and it was actually 2009.

00:50:24.034 --> 00:50:55.364
I was transitioning jobs, but remember my immigration status, so it had like somebody was somebody had to be willing to hire me with an additional layer of a burden in order for me to have a job in the U S, and so, as, as I was transitioning jobs, I had savings, but they were running out of money and so I went into debt, right, and, and that was, that was a situation that was not ideal, but it was what it was, Right.

00:50:55.364 --> 00:50:59.833
So it's not like we're just judging debt as a whole.

00:50:59.833 --> 00:51:04.231
There are, there are moments in which you, there's that, moments in which that's the situation.

00:51:04.780 --> 00:51:06.565
Right, you don't want to go to school.

00:51:06.565 --> 00:51:08.110
A lot of us have to take out student loans.

00:51:08.110 --> 00:51:09.641
It's just the reality of the situation.

00:51:09.663 --> 00:51:20.237
Yeah, Right, but even on student loans, because, are we living a life of somebody who's making like 60, 80, $100,000 with the student loan, right?

00:51:20.237 --> 00:51:28.005
Or are we taking the minimum that we need to actually live, right and so, like, how are we making decisions?

00:51:28.005 --> 00:51:43.711
And, um, when, when we talk about debt, it's not only the payment that we have to make every month in in money, but is the payment of that burden?

00:51:43.711 --> 00:51:49.085
Is that that frustration, is that lack of fulfillment that I have?

00:51:49.085 --> 00:51:52.092
I mean not because of that, but I've experienced it right.

00:51:52.092 --> 00:52:26.135
Like I said before, before my the launch of my own business, um, I was unfulfilled and that is not a good place to be, and so, like, is, is that, like, whatever I'm going into debt, for the car, the clothes, the ring, like whatever I'm getting with the debt, is that worth trading that for my peace, for my values, for me being aligned to who I am and and just enjoying life, which is?

00:52:26.135 --> 00:52:35.045
I believe that that's what I've, that that's what we've been called to right and and make a difference in, in in people's lives and when we are.

00:52:36.068 --> 00:53:01.429
My dad has a saying when you uh bet out of obligation, you are going to lose out of obligation, right, when you are putting all of the chips on the table because you need to win, probably you'll lose, because you are not objective, you are just, um, making decisions out of desperation.

00:53:01.429 --> 00:53:04.373
It's not clear, it's not strategic.

00:53:04.373 --> 00:53:12.612
It's like this, this, this blur right, um, and actually, um, uh, pastor, uh, darius Daniels.

00:53:12.612 --> 00:53:29.422
He's one of my mentors in in my business and one time I was talking about the, the, the moment in my business, uh, financially, and he said how much money do you need so you don't need to sell?

00:53:29.422 --> 00:53:37.916
I want you to serve the people and I don't want you to have to sell.

00:53:37.916 --> 00:54:03.489
And it was such a powerful moment because, like I became I mean my business in addition to my fulfillment like it's a mechanism for me to deploy my purpose right, and part of my purpose is to make an impact in the communities that I work with, make an impact with the women that I work with, uh, the listeners of my podcast.

00:54:03.590 --> 00:54:11.713
So when he posed, that question is like, am I deviating from my core values with because of money?

00:54:11.713 --> 00:54:25.114
And so, for your audience, like, what is the actual cost of you having debt, of you not being free, of having those burdens right?

00:54:25.114 --> 00:54:37.315
And when you have a plan, you feel in power, like you make a plan and you feel in power and every day it's like a switch.

00:54:37.315 --> 00:54:42.710
It's like I hate my job or I hate what I do, or whatever situation there may be.

00:54:42.710 --> 00:54:52.182
But when you have a plan and you know that you're moving towards is like one day closer to what I want to do, right, and so it's.

00:54:52.182 --> 00:54:57.534
It's a really uh, it's a big shift into how we do life.

00:54:57.534 --> 00:55:30.940
Uh, even even even when we have still have debt or still have whatever burden, but we know that we're working towards our dream right In action, not just a wishful thinking, which a lot of us do if we don't have an actual plan behind it no-transcript.

Unlearning Entrepreneurship with Griselda Martinez: Economic Development, Supporting Women Entrepreneurs, Financial Planning, and Pursuing True Calling

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