0:00

Write down everything that you suck at and then

0:02

better those things and learn some skills

0:04

. I admire people that have overcome everything

0:06

despite the fact that they had

0:08

all this stuff happen to them . Like we're still here

0:10

and I'm going to show up and you say you're going to do it

0:12

and you do it . I am going to be

0:15

the first billionaire in my family

0:17

, my kids are going to be billionaires and my

0:19

grandkids are going to be trillionaires . We're going to look

0:21

back and they're going to have a beautiful portrait

0:23

of me and say that woman has a story

0:25

.

0:28

The journey to wealth is a long walk and

0:30

some may walk quicker than others , but what good

0:32

is sprinting to the finish line if you pass out

0:34

when you cross it ? On Walk to Wealth

0:36

, we enlighten and empower young adults

0:39

to build wealthy , abundant lives

0:41

. They say the journey of a thousand

0:43

miles begins with a single step and

0:45

your first step starts right now

0:47

. This is Walk to

0:49

Wealth with your host , John Mendez

0:52

hey everyone

0:56

, welcome back to the Walk to Wealth podcast .

0:58

If you're tuning in on YouTube or any of the

1:00

podcast directories , make sure to do yourself one

1:03

teeny , tiny little favor and

1:05

make sure to give us a follow , because I don't want you

1:07

to miss out on any of the amazing

1:09

guests I got coming on this year . Without further

1:11

ado , let's get right into this one , maria

1:13

, for anyone who hasn't had the opportunity , the pleasure

1:15

to get to know you , to get to meet you yet

1:17

, tell us your elevator pitch . Who are you and

1:19

what do you do ?

1:22

Well , have you ever had such

1:24

a great business idea and you

1:26

get so motivated and so riled up but

1:29

when you realize all the work that it takes , you

1:31

just kind of lose that motivation because

1:33

it's extremely overwhelming . I

1:35

have , and it's extremely

1:38

disappointing to know that you have such a great

1:40

idea and you just cannot take action

1:43

. I coach people how to take action

1:45

and have mental toughness so

1:47

that they can achieve the life that they

1:49

always wanted .

1:51

Amazing Maria , before you

1:53

got into doing what you're doing

1:55

now and all the investing in the businesses and

1:57

everything . Take us back in the

1:59

time machine . What was little Maria

2:01

like growing up ? I know you have quite the story . Take

2:03

us all the way back in time .

2:06

All the way back Mexico . All the way back

2:09

, okay , so my

2:13

earliest memory was in

2:16

Mexico City and

2:18

we were very poor . I remember my feet

2:20

used to hurt and I

2:22

just didn't understand . I was like my feet hurt . I told my mom

2:24

and she took me to buy some shoes and I

2:27

remember walking around

2:29

and new shoes and

2:31

it was almost

2:34

really exciting when you buy

2:36

yourself something new . I was just very excited

2:38

but I didn't really get that as

2:41

often I

2:43

remember . Later on I complained

2:45

again . My shoes hurt and so my mom

2:48

was like you're going to have

2:50

to wait because I don't have money . She told me in

2:52

Spanish no tengo dinero , te las nicas . But my

2:54

feet hurt . For the longest time

2:56

the concept of money was always like

2:58

what do you mean ? You don't have money

3:00

. I need shoes . I don't care , I'm a kid

3:02

. That early

3:05

on idea of I don't

3:07

have money was very

3:09

perplexing to me . I started seeing

3:11

the world differently . What

3:13

else are we missing that we don't have money for

3:17

? Providing ? Now the life

3:19

that my kids have now it's

3:22

an abundance , because coming

3:24

from Mexico and then moving to America

3:26

in America is very

3:29

different . People don't understand . It's

3:31

a whole different world , like for Mexicans that

3:34

live there . It's like . It's

3:36

like the promised land for Christians , like

3:39

the streets are made of gold and you

3:42

know there's abundance . And you're

3:44

like in Mexico , like dude , we

3:47

didn't have food , we didn't have a refrigerator

3:49

First of all , like that was not a thing and

3:51

we didn't have running hot water , and like abundance

3:54

. You just turn on the shower and like let it run

3:56

. And in Mexico it's funny because you

3:58

turn on the water and it runs for five

4:00

minutes with high pressure . After that

4:02

, good luck . Like

4:05

it just it's not as as

4:07

as I hear , like it's just so different

4:10

and I remember like experiencing

4:12

that in the back of my day

4:14

and then here in America , it's just like

4:16

the biggest difference , that a lot

4:18

of times I just look back and I'm like I'm just so grateful

4:20

to have central air , I'm

4:22

like I am grateful to have a car

4:24

, like I think that that's

4:27

also why they say you know , gratitude

4:29

is like the highest vibration . But

4:32

when you really come from dirt like

4:34

it's , it's just gratitude like . And

4:36

I think that that's one of the reasons why I've

4:39

been successful in a lot of the things that I do

4:41

, if not all of them right , because I

4:43

mean I fail like any other person , but I learn

4:46

and but I think that my gratitude

4:48

is like you know . I look at , I

4:50

mean it . You look outside right now

4:52

and it's like a beautiful day . There's

4:54

no one , like you know , shooting people

4:56

off . I'm not getting kidnapped , like I'm safe

4:58

, I'm just grateful .

5:01

Yeah , no , that's amazing . It's one of the things to

5:04

our realized . Like I Don't

5:06

take up , I can't

5:08

believe that , I don't believe

5:10

that you could understand life unless you've

5:12

been outside the country . Like , if all you know

5:15

, like these 50 states , right , you

5:17

don't really know the world . Like you don't really know what people

5:19

got going on , like a lot of people

5:21

complain and something I jokingly say , but

5:24

also be low key , dead serious about that . Hey

5:26

, you got first world problems like yeah

5:30

. Like a lot of people got

5:32

first world problems like , oh my

5:34

goodness , like I don't know what to wear , bro

5:37

, shut up , bro you have . Closet

5:41

, walking closet . And

5:44

I don't know how about to wear . It's like a lot of the

5:46

things that people deal with . People don't really

5:48

know struggle , you know understand . So they're

5:51

kind of take us back a little bit to Mexico . So

5:53

what age ? Because you said you remember

5:55

being really young and walking and your feet hurting

5:57

. At what age Did

5:59

you make the transition from Mexico

6:02

to living in the States ?

6:06

I believe it was 1999

6:08

, if not year 2000 and and

6:11

we moved when my dad went to

6:13

pick me up , right , and it was just my dad

6:15

, he lived here in the States and he

6:17

was . He was always bringing

6:19

us back like toys and stuff . And I remember

6:21

this one time he didn't bring us anything and I was pretty

6:24

upset . I was like where's my toy ? And

6:26

he was like I got something better . Like you

6:28

know , you're gonna come with me when

6:30

when I leave . And I didn't

6:32

understand the concept of him living

6:35

in another area . I

6:37

just thought he went out , like he was out

6:39

the door and that was it . And

6:41

I remember that when I was leaving

6:43

my mom was like you're gonna

6:45

go visit your grandma . And I clearly remember

6:48

picking up some flowers for her and and

6:51

taking them in my pocket , thinking like I'm just gonna

6:53

go across the street right , like I want to go see my grandma

6:55

. And I remember like getting

6:57

on a bus and like getting on a really

6:59

long road trip and I was like we

7:02

know you're gonna get there . I was antsy and my

7:05

dad like he was cool . But

7:08

then when we got to , like

7:10

we started walking to this park and

7:13

I was like , oh , we're gonna go play . And then we get

7:15

to a river and I was like

7:17

like what the hell's going on ? And

7:20

so he starts like it was him and my

7:22

uncle and they start blowing up like this like thing

7:24

, like this pool , bad , like

7:26

mattress thing , and I they were like

7:28

get on . Now it's like no

7:30

, like I've never been in a body

7:32

of water . And so I'm freaking out

7:35

right and I can clearly remember like

7:37

me just shaking and being very nervous

7:39

and getting into this like real nasty

7:41

, muddy , murky , green water and

7:44

Like obviously I have to take your shoes

7:46

off because your weight , your clothes wet , like

7:48

it weighs you down . And so I'm

7:50

sitting there with my feet across

7:53

this like pool thing it's like a mattress

7:55

and and and

7:57

I'm shaking cuz like there's wind and I'm scared

8:00

and like it's cold and my

8:02

body's like trembling , but I'm trying not

8:04

to tip over the like

8:06

the pool thing . You and I'm just

8:08

like oh my God , like if I

8:10

fall into this water , I don't know how to swim

8:12

right , and my dad goes under the water

8:14

and I don't see his head and I'm like , oh

8:18

my God , like I'm scared , I'm

8:20

terrified , and I remember my mom used to pray

8:22

a lot Like she would get on her knees

8:24

very traditional woman and she would

8:26

pray and in that woman I just remember

8:28

like praying , like I

8:30

started praying to God , I was like , oh my God , like you

8:33

know , I hope you can hear me , I

8:35

hope you can hear me , god , help me , please . Like I don't know what I'm going to

8:37

do with my dad . I'm very scared , like I was

8:39

freaking out and then he comes out and

8:42

he starts like going across the river

8:44

and I see , you know , we're like on the other side

8:46

and it was like walking

8:48

up this muddy hill and the feeling

8:51

of that mud under my feet

8:53

in the water , it's like

8:55

it just it's unforgettable . I have

8:57

the lasso phobia because of that . Like I cannot

8:59

get in dark waters because

9:01

of that .

9:03

Really , that's insane . Like this

9:06

story , like it's

9:08

something that I was talking to someone the other

9:10

day . And so my grandpa , my

9:12

grandpa , my dad he immigrated here by

9:16

unconventional methods a

9:19

while ago , right

9:23

? We don't know if the feds are tapped in , right ?

9:25

Unconventional methods right and

9:29

so it wasn't my . I didn't try to come

9:31

here . They brought me Okay , and

9:33

so um my dad

9:36

.

9:36

He came in um , I believe I'm not mistaken

9:38

in sixth grade and I never asked for

9:40

his story until , like someone

9:42

brought it up literally like a couple weeks ago , because

9:47

for me I don't like , you know , bringing

9:49

up stuff that's underneath the rug

9:51

, like if it's not , like out of nowhere

9:53

, right , and so it's like I

9:56

never really thought that like for me , my

9:58

dad , we chop it up Now he was absent most of my life , but

10:01

like we chop it up now we're boys , now I

10:03

still I don't look at him as my dad , I just call him my dad

10:05

, just because like it's easier , like I'm not going to call him by his government

10:07

name , like dad is one syllable , but

10:10

it's not like I see him as a bro yeah

10:12

it's good , bro , and um , and

10:15

so it's like for me

10:17

, we just chop it up about business . Now he has a landscaping

10:19

company , he's doing well for himself and , like

10:21

we're talking about like um , you know , end

10:23

of the year , taxes come around , and so

10:25

, like we're talking about like some tax stuff and

10:28

um , but that's normally

10:30

what we talk about when we chop it up now , but

10:32

, uh , I never , ever asked them for like his

10:34

story of how we got here , because he got

10:37

here , as I said , when he was in sixth grade and

10:39

, uh , he came by himself , like , if

10:41

I'm not mistaken , and so that's pretty much about it

10:43

. So , thank you for sharing your story . I really do

10:45

. Of course , I appreciate

10:47

that , cause it's like it's something that doesn't

10:50

really get talked about much like at all . There's

10:52

not much awareness . Oh , you know , like

10:55

people come here but like people don't know how

10:57

bad and it really

10:59

gets in , how many lives don't make

11:01

it across .

11:03

Yeah , you know , one thing that I've

11:05

I've seen um with the people

11:07

that I meet now and I asked him , like you

11:10

know cause I ? Uh , one thing that I've been doing

11:12

this year is sponsoring

11:14

some families that come from other countries

11:16

and they live , you know

11:18

, and I get to know them and stuff and I

11:21

help them and it's just like their

11:23

stories . I mean , I know people that have crossed like

11:25

the forest and

11:27

from coming from Venezuela , from Honduras

11:29

. It's scary , it

11:32

definitely claims lives and people don't understand

11:34

that when they say immigrants

11:36

make the backbone of this country

11:38

, like they

11:42

kind of do they kind of do ? any

11:45

job , like they will pick up any job . Even

11:47

you know people from all over the country , like all over

11:49

the world Asia , india

11:51

shout

11:53

out to all my homies .

11:55

Yeah , like for me it's like we're

11:58

called the melting pot for a reason Like

12:01

yeah we're literally a

12:03

bunch of cultures intertwined

12:05

into one , like it

12:08

wouldn't be what it is without all

12:10

the intercom mingling of all these different people

12:12

from all these different places and all their unique perspectives

12:15

all coming together for

12:17

, for the most part , one main common

12:19

goal a better life , right , and so it's like

12:21

it's kind of progressed with the story , right . So you ended

12:23

up making it successfully , of course , because you're here today

12:25

, right , you made it across .

12:28

Yeah , we made it .

12:29

We made it across in one piece , right

12:31

. So from there , what

12:33

was the transition like in

12:36

new countries ? I'm assuming you spoke only Spanish

12:38

prior to like coming , so

12:40

it's like what was that transition like ? Getting

12:42

acclimated to the States ?

12:45

Well , coming to like a whole new country . It's

12:47

like it's a whole

12:49

game changer . Like John , I'm sure that

12:52

a lot of people talk about like

12:54

coming to another country and learning

12:56

the language . You know yidiata

12:58

and the success story , but they don't understand that

13:00

when , like they put

13:02

in simple terms , when I was in elementary I did

13:04

not know the language at all , like

13:07

the language was like Spanish

13:09

and Spanish was it . In my household

13:11

. We were not allowed to speak any English and

13:13

I remember , like we're not allowed to cut our hair , we were

13:15

not allowed to like dye , we were not allowed to like

13:17

we're nail polish . It was very

13:20

traditional old school , mexican Christian

13:22

parents and I had to wear Sunday's

13:25

best to school . So I stood

13:27

out like a sore thumb and actually I just published

13:29

a collaborative book and

13:31

in the collaborative book I talk about how

13:34

that impacted like my childhood , because

13:36

it was like I cannot

13:38

. I cannot

13:40

blend in with these kids and

13:43

I was bullied for that because it was

13:45

like you , you don't look like

13:47

the rest of us and you don't speak the same language

13:49

and so when you don't speak the same

13:51

language , they look at you funny , they call

13:54

you names . You don't understand what they're saying

13:56

it kind of pushed you aside because you're like you're

13:58

the weird kid right , and

14:00

so growing up with that kind of culture it's very

14:02

hard and it's it's

14:04

very detrimental to a child

14:06

when they push them aside and even the

14:08

teachers like they'll put you in a separate class because you

14:10

don't speak the language . And so overcoming

14:13

that barrier and feeling like

14:15

inclusiveness with your community

14:17

is like I think it's a big part and

14:20

so I you know very glad

14:22

that . I learned the language because if I didn't , I

14:24

would I would definitely not have all these opportunities

14:26

that I have .

14:28

So at what age did you learn ? How long

14:30

did it take for you to learn English , at

14:32

least ?

14:33

learn it enough to talk in school . It's

14:36

funny enough because kids

14:39

pick up the language a lot quicker than

14:41

adults . Adults have , like this preconceived

14:43

notion that it's like , it's

14:48

like . It's basically like okay , I'm

14:50

stuck in my ways , this is how it is

14:53

, that's all there is . And kids

14:55

like me , I picked it up like in the first

14:57

grade . And like in the first grade I was

14:59

like , okay , I get it . But then I think

15:01

it was like the third grade that I really started

15:04

to understand it and get fluent conversations

15:07

and connect with my peers and I wasn't

15:09

like ask , and then again I did

15:11

stop wearing the long skirts . So

15:13

I think that might have helped a lot .

15:17

That definitely probably helped you a ton

15:19

in going to school . It's like

15:21

man , like it's crazy

15:24

, like how kids , like good kids

15:26

, are at bullying and

15:29

they'll isolate

15:31

you very quickly . Kids

15:33

have no heart at all whatsoever .

15:35

No , kids are ruthless . They

15:37

don't care about anyone but themselves

15:39

, and I've learned

15:42

that . You know what

15:44

. That's funny . Out of all the bullies

15:46

that I had in school , most

15:49

of them like add me on Facebook . They're like hey , what's

15:51

up ? I'm sorry for bullying you

15:55

, I'm like really . Like

15:57

on my Facebook . They're like . They're

15:59

like hey , you know , like I remember you

16:01

, I'm so sorry for being mean to you and I'm

16:04

like you know it's a therapy for

16:09

that , right , Like , I'm sorry , bully , you

16:11

were a little you were just an ugly kid Like thanks

16:14

, that makes it feel

16:16

any better right that makes it feel so much better .

16:19

Dang , I'm a grown woman now

16:21

so fast forward a bit right

16:23

, you got acclimates to the country

16:25

, right ? You went through school here . Let

16:28

me ask you like , because now

16:30

you're in entrepreneurship ? You just said

16:32

you published a collaborative book . You , as I said , you

16:34

had your cleaning company . You're coaching now

16:36

like you're doing a lot , you're running your family

16:39

like a boss , like what

16:48

was like overcoming your

16:50

mindset , growing up in a very traditional

16:53

household , to

16:56

getting into entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship

16:58

, as you know , isn't ? You know , I'm also

17:00

Dominican and Guatemalan . Right , I'm Spanish too . That

17:04

isn't preached as much , Just like get your degree

17:07

and find a good

17:09

job and you know and work

17:11

and eventually like my grandfather . He

17:13

said , like I always joke around him , like still

17:16

to this day like I go

17:20

to work as a donkey .

17:22

I used to work as a donkey to live as a

17:24

gringo , or whatever .

17:26

A king . I used to say , and so like when

17:28

I used to work at the restaurant , for anyone who doesn't speak Spanish

17:30

, like I'm about to work like a donkey pretty

17:32

much , and so every time before I used

17:34

to go to my restaurant job to go clock

17:36

in , I was like I look at him

17:38

and joke . They say I'm going to go work like a donkey

17:40

and because at the restaurant I'm food running

17:43

, it's two floors , it's like

17:45

right and doesn't

17:47

one doesn't know . It's like two full flights of stairs . It's

17:49

not like you know five steps , it's two

17:51

completely flights of

17:53

stairs that I have to run with

17:55

trays of food , with , and when they got busy , I'm

17:57

just flying around for like sometimes

18:00

seven , eight hours straight , and so it's

18:02

like that's all my grandparents knew

18:04

, though . It's just like working till you die

18:06

, type of thing , like that's the mentality . It's

18:09

not about working smarter to try and get ahead , and

18:11

just you show up , you do your job , that's it . You

18:14

get paid and you keep on doing that .

18:15

You stay in your lay , you be quiet . You don't ask the questions

18:18

.

18:18

Yeah , and so you literally can't anymore and you

18:20

just tip over . So it's like , what

18:23

was it like to fast forward a little bit with

18:25

the upbringing that you had getting

18:27

into entrepreneurship , and at what stage

18:29

of life did that happen ?

18:33

You know it's a good really it's a really good question

18:35

. And then the fact that you understand

18:38

that it's like it's even more remarkable job

18:40

, because I feel like

18:42

you know , we all know this like

18:44

, okay , you're Latino

18:46

, you're an immigrant , like I'm bringing my kids

18:48

here for a better life , and the better life

18:50

for them is like they get a job , they

18:52

get as many jobs as they can , they work

18:54

and then they send their kids to school because it's free

18:57

in Mexico it's not free and

18:59

then when they go to school , they graduate , they get their diploma

19:01

, they go to college , they get in debt . If

19:03

they don't get in debt , they apply for FAFSA

19:05

. And if they apply for FAFSA , they can get like

19:07

small little loans from the

19:09

community . But

19:12

it's not like a big , huge grant . Like when

19:14

I was like in high school I wanted to be a nurse , I

19:16

wanted to go live in Maryland and go to like the university

19:19

and have like a university life , and

19:21

then I went to the counselor and she was like I

19:24

don't think that's going to work for you . You're

19:26

an immigrant , your mom doesn't have a stable income

19:28

, you don't have the requirements

19:31

that they're going to need for FAFSA . Like

19:33

you're just not going to make

19:35

it that far and

19:37

her nursing is very expensive . And so

19:39

she put that like she took the blindfold

19:42

off and I was like well , if

19:44

I can't go to college or anything like

19:46

that , then what am I doing in school ? And

19:49

I remember like my mom was like go to school

19:51

, staying high school , and I dropped out of high school

19:53

. I was like , girl , you don't understand

19:55

, all I'm going to do is waste my time

19:58

. And that's when I think that the time management

20:00

came into my mind . Like the concept

20:02

of time management was like okay , if I'm

20:04

sitting here , then what is the

20:06

point of actually getting

20:09

a diploma if I cannot go

20:11

to college , like I wanted to ? And

20:13

so I started working . And I remember working and

20:16

getting into , like actually

20:18

, restaurants , like you said like

20:21

oh my God , that was . I remember working at a restaurant

20:23

was very interesting . And she was like no

20:25

, you need to go to school . So when I

20:27

was in the restaurant industry , I learned that

20:29

the owner had a better life than me

20:31

and a better car . And I was like how

20:34

did you get a restaurant ? Like I want to

20:36

get a restaurant too . And so he would always

20:38

tell me like you know , I'm not going to go to college .