WEBVTT - Navigating Being a Small Business Owner 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:08.200 Gang Gang, Gang Gang. Welcome, welcome to my show, your 0:00:08.360 --> 0:00:11.560 show exactly a Mada. This is your girl, Amada la 0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:14.400 Negra and this is the production of iHeart. Today, I 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:17.280 have a special guest, she's been with me a thousand times, 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:20.639 and this is my producer and friend Charlie. Today, I 0:00:20.680 --> 0:00:24.799 want to talk about overcoming small business challenges as an entrepreneur, 0:00:24.880 --> 0:00:29.520 as a businesswoman myself, I have had to you know, 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:33.280 start zero two one thousand. Everybody knows that I'm a 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:36.080 very ambitious person. I'm a go getter. I'm always looking 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:37.960 for the next big thing to do, how to become 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:41.000 greater and better in life overall, whether it is through 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:45.600 my personal challenges, but also in business. And I definitely 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:49.880 have overcome a lot of business challenges, especially with real estate. 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:53.159 Have you ever looked into real estate or any other 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:55.240 business like that you felt that you've had to overcome, 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:56.440 you know, challenges. 0:00:56.680 --> 0:01:00.640 I mean, I've never had a quote unquote a small business. 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:04.120 I've always been very curious about it. My parents had 0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:06.319 a small business when I was growing up, and so 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:09.479 I saw how difficult and challenging it was for them. 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:12.960 So I know that it takes a lot of work. 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:15.840 Especially if you're juggling a family or you're taking care 0:01:15.880 --> 0:01:20.680 of family members as a woman, as a Latina, it's 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:23.679 even more challenging because you know, you walk into a 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:26.160 bank to get a loan, or you tell someone, hey, 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:28.640 I want to do this, and they're already you know, 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:29.840 looking looking. 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:30.679 At you like you're mad. 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:35.000 So it's very it's it's always been scary for me. 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:38.679 But I will tell you this, that idea of being 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:43.840 independent and having your own income, that's very appealing to 0:01:43.880 --> 0:01:49.160 me because working for others has its challenges for sure. 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:52.200 For sure. For example, in twenty twenty, life change for 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:54.400 everyone due to the pandemic. A lot of people saw 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:58.600 their finances disappear because of their jobs closed down and 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:01.000 you know a lot of people got fired. It was 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:03.240 a really hard moment for a lot of families. God 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:05.520 send Me is perfect because even those huge hits and 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:07.840 a lot of small businesses had to go through made 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:11.280 them become even more innovative and creative on how to 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:14.720 financially stay afloat. People had to figure out, you know, 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:19.000 home businesses to do in order to financially survive. Right, 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:22.519 we saw people that were innovative and creative and took 0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:25.320 advantage of the opportunity when, for example, when COVID came, 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:28.760 you saw a hope unto people selling face mask, right, 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:32.400 we saw people being creative and selling hand sanitizers. And 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:35.800 that's part of being a small business owner is being 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:39.519 creative and not letting your business fall. You can always 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:41.960 stick to the strategy of this is exactly how my 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:44.480 business is going to work, this is exactly how I'm 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:47.120 going to go about it, because the word exact doesn't 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:49.120 exist when you have a small business. Sometimes you have 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:53.320 to be able to be open minded enough to you know, 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:58.400 work your way around the society you know, and society's needs. 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:01.680 In many occasions where out here selling things or doing 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:04.200 things that we personally love, which you should be passionate 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:07.280 about whatever your personal business may be. But at the 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:10.760 same time, we have to think about what is the 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:13.640 demand in the market. What can I provide for you 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:16.760 that you may need, right, and in many occasions is 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:19.079 you may just want it, and that is not necessarily 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:23.120 a necessity, but they make it to the point that 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:27.400 it becomes a standard in society and it basically levels 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:31.160 you out into what place you belong financially in society, 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:33.680 and it makes you want to purchase these five six 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:36.880 twenty thousand dollars back in bands and all these crazy things. 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:39.640 It's interesting that you say that, because during the pandemic 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:41.360 I saw more. 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:44.400 Women, no offense men. 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:47.280 More women in my life be creative with how they 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:51.040 were going to survive. I had a friend who started 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:54.520 her own da mail business. She started selling tamales. She's 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:57.760 a young woman. Her business is blown up and now 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:01.480 she gets orders all across the country. Another person that 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:04.760 I knew started her own pie business. She was baking 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:07.600 and cooking and doing all these things. And so I 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:12.600 will tell you that women have this entrepreneur We talked. 0:04:12.800 --> 0:04:15.840 We've talked about this before because we're the head of 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:19.160 the household, because we know how to juggle multiple things. 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:24.280 We have that innate instinct within us to come up 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:28.200 with these creative, innovative things because it's already happening in 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:32.120 our homes. We just don't have the support system at 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:35.480 times to get out there. And the pandemic forced people 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:38.120 to really get creative so that they could survive. 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:42.720 We are natural multitaskers, right, You can do that. You 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:45.040 can give the same amount of jobs. So man in 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:48.839 many occasions they don't know how to manage all the 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:52.920 things at the same time. But women naturally are multitaskers 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:55.719 and know how to be creative in many occasions, like, 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:58.800 for example, during the pandemic. Here's another one. The pandemic 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:00.839 really put a lot of things in perspect there for us. 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:03.960 But there was a shortage of milk and a lot 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:05.640 of us, you know, when it came to like you know, 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:08.560 baby formula and having children, right there was there was 0:05:08.600 --> 0:05:11.359 a shortage, and I was panicking. I didn't know what 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:13.880 to do. I took flights to the Dominican Republic to 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:15.640 bring milk. I did all types of things. But for 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:18.479 those women who financially couldn't do all the things that 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:20.440 I was able to do. When you're put in a 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:24.080 corner with no other option, your brain automatically tries to 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:27.400 figure out a way of survival mode. I saw women 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:29.640 doing almond milk. I saw we've been doing rice milk. 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:31.760 I saw women doing all types of stuff. And I'm 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:34.120 just saying that to say that when you're put in 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:38.720 a corner, you figure out ways to survive because of necessity, 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:42.080 and those things, in many occasions are the best things 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:44.240 that could ever happen. To you get creative when it 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:46.880 comes to your social media platform, talk to your friends 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:49.760 and family to promote things for you. There's many things 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:51.520 that you could do. And in many occasions, because of 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:54.960 our own fears, our own insecurities, we become insecure about 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:57.240 our own business. However, you want other people to believe 0:05:57.240 --> 0:05:59.840 in your in your business and your project, but your 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:02.520 self doubt it. You have to have so much confidence 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:04.520 in what you do. And I'm saying that to say 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:08.960 that unfortunately, not everyone can be a boss. You can, 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:12.440 but it's maybe not meant not everyone is willing to 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:18.680 take the responsibility of being the leader of that hard role. Right. 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:22.440 It's a hard role because now not only do you 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:25.440 have your own business, eventually your own business may need 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:30.320 other employees. You have to guide that ship. You may 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:32.800 have to be the one to make those big decisions 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:36.000 financially and the direction that your business is going to go. 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:39.200 And that can go even from having to go to 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:41.799 the bank and ask for a loan. In many occasions, 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:43.520 you don't want to get yourself in debt because you 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:45.200 don't want to have to ask for a loan, because 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:47.960 you don't want the responsibility of knowing that you owe 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:50.479 somebody money. But if you believe in your project and 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:52.520 you know what you're doing, and even if you don't 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:54.800 know what you're doing, but you have faith and you 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:57.839 know the potential your business has, you have to be 0:06:57.880 --> 0:06:59.800 able to make that big decision and say, you know what, 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:02.080 if I don't go ask for this loan right now, 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:06.640 everything I built can literally fall apart. Right So being 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:09.440 able to also have the right team when you have 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:13.480 a small business is important. And I'll say small business 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:16.360 people and I'm only i only keep saying small business 0:07:16.400 --> 0:07:19.560 because it's it's it's a start. How you start up, right, 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:23.000 it's how you start. You need to have an accountant. 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:27.080 You should have an accountant. Get yourself an accountant. An 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:30.600 accountant can run every single thing financially for you, even 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:33.720 including your taxes. A lot of people get stuck afterwards 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:35.680 in those taxes because you didn't know how to do 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:39.520 your taxes properly, pay for things properly. Get yourself an accountant. 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:42.800 Things that I learn and I wish, I wish it 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:44.720 I would have gotten accountant way earlier on. 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:46.880 You know that, that's one of the things people have 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:49.800 talked about this before. The education system here in the 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:52.360 United states. It's like you, you're teaching us all these 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:54.480 different things, but you don't even teach us how to 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:58.559 like invest our money you want. You graduate high school, 0:07:58.600 --> 0:08:03.080 you graduate college, you're workforce, and you have no idea 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:12.840 how to even balance your checkbook. 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:15.880 I messed up a lot when I was starting to 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:18.680 invest in real estate a lot, and I've learned so 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:20.920 much and I'm always willing to teach and help people 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:22.920 about it. And like me, there's people that have even 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:26.160 more experience that are willing to do it. Whether you 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:27.720 have a clothing line, whether you want to start a 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:30.760 car rental, whether you want to start a restaurant, whatever 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:33.760 it is, there are people out there that have failed 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:36.280 so many times and got it right that are willing 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:38.400 to share that experience with you. Are you willing to 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:41.400 actually do the research to find out? So that's why 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:45.000 I say, Mauss, get with it. If you really want 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:47.280 to do something in life, you'll figure out a way 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:50.120 to make it happen. And then that's it. Right, There's 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:53.120 a lot of free marketing. There's a lot of things 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:54.760 you can do. And here's something else I also want 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:58.160 to talk about. Don't feel For example, we know that 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:00.280 social media is a really big platform when you're trying 0:09:00.320 --> 0:09:03.679 to promote your business, whatever it may be. And if 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:07.480 you start your Instagram page, your TikTok page, your snap chat, 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:10.640 whatever it may be, and you only have zero followers 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:13.360 or five followers, and only those five followers are the 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:16.320 ones paying attention to the content that you're posting. Please 0:09:16.360 --> 0:09:18.880 don't think that I got to almost three million followers 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:21.600 from one day to the other. It took every day, 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:26.000 me being persistent, me being content, me always pushing my work, 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:28.560 my brand, who I am, what I'm promoting, what I'm pushing, 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:31.319 who I am, what I believe in, me pushing it, 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:34.560 and little by little people start to add up. Don't 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:38.559 compare yourself to the people that have millions of followers 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:41.520 and are selling millions of products because they didn't start 0:09:41.600 --> 0:09:46.240 off that way. Understand the journey, Understand the process. It 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:49.480 takes time to build a brand. It takes time to 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:52.559 make these sales. It doesn't matter if you're only making 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:55.480 one or two cells. At least you're making them. You're 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:58.760 starting off somewhere, and the closest that you can start 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:01.240 off with is your friends and family. If your friends 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:04.360 and family aren't supporting that alone, should let you know 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:05.680 where they stand in your life. 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:08.120 That's an important point that you make, and I think 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:10.880 it's it's crucial that we talk about this. If you 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:13.520 want to start a small business, you have to be 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:16.400 able to ask for help, and you have to be 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:19.600 able to talk to your family and friends first. That's 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:23.960 where I don't have that bone in me. I don't 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:26.679 know how to ask for help. I don't know how 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:29.720 to go to somebody and say, Hey, I'm starting a 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:30.480 new business. 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:33.840 Can you check out my page? Can you be the 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:35.080 first to buy my thing? 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:38.040 I remember my mom telling me one time that when 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:41.240 she was a kid, my grandma used to send my 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:45.440 mom to lestiends to ask for like a layway to 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:48.200 like get a milk or whatever. And she's like, yeah, 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:49.800 I would always go to the store and ask for 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:53.120 like free milk that grandma and grandpa would would pay later. 0:10:53.480 --> 0:10:55.280 And I never was embarrassed. 0:10:55.760 --> 0:10:58.800 I was like, oh my god, Mom, like I'm embarrassed 0:10:58.800 --> 0:10:59.959 to ask for help. 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:04.000 Like I don't have that bone in me. Okay, now 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:06.720 let's talk about why are we embarrassed to ask for help? 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:09.000 What causes us to feel embarrassed? 0:11:09.320 --> 0:11:13.480 Well, I'm embarrassed because what if I get rejected. What 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:15.720 if they tell me I have a stupid idea, or 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:18.800 that they have other that they can't spend their time 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:23.040 with my I don't know with my silly concept. 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:25.280 Do you think this? Sometimes we're too much into our 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:29.640 own heads. We're already in our minds, We're already assuming 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:32.040 what someone may say without us even giving them the 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:35.400 opportunity to listen. And it's happened to me in the past, 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:42.760 and that's why I'm saying it. There's no worse feeling 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:45.880 than regretting not having done so. Therefore you do. I'd 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:47.680 rather you to tell me it was a stupid idea 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:50.160 and I don't want to do it. But you never know. 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:52.959 If you actually open your mouth, it might be like, oh, 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:55.480 you know what, that's cool as hell. Let me support you. 0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:57.120 I got you. What do you need me to do? 0:11:57.120 --> 0:11:58.560 You need me to post, you need me to promot? 0:11:58.720 --> 0:12:00.680 How much is it is? Fifteen dollars, twenty dollars, one 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:03.560 hundred dollars? I can do it. You never know. But 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:06.240 sometimes we're so caught up in our own head of 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:09.560 what we think people are gonna think of us. And 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:11.360 I think that also, society has put a lot of 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:13.360 pressure on us. Social media has put a lot of 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:15.800 pressure on us. The lack of support of our own 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:19.040 family makes us doubt ourselves. You know, I'm not just 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:21.560 gonna blame us for feeling that way. Sometimes it's just 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:24.640 your circle, and that's important too. If your circle is 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:28.040 not supportive, then you need new friends. And that's another 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:31.719 reason why my circle is really small. When you are 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:35.200 a small business and you're trying to start something, you 0:12:35.320 --> 0:12:37.880 don't need any type of negativity. If you have your 0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:41.400 little boyfriend that calls you dumb or stupid, or you're 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:44.079 wasting your time, get rid of him. That's the first 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:47.079 reason why you won't succeed. If you have your family 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:50.480 members complaining about what you're doing, You're spending too much money, 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:53.360 Why are you doing that? Get away from them, don't 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:56.760 share with them anything. Change your circle. If you want 0:12:56.800 --> 0:12:59.160 to succeed in life, you have to change your circle. 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:03.880 You have to be in the same frequency your friends 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:05.480 and you have to be in the same frequency. We 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:08.280 all want to succeed. We're all supporting each other. I 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:10.480 think that what you're doing is great. I love what 0:13:10.520 --> 0:13:12.320 you're doing. You know what, if you don't want to 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:13.920 go to the club today, or you can't go out 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:16.480 because you're working in your business. I respect that. I 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:19.320 understand that go for it. If you have people that're 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:22.280 like hessamiena lead that you could do it tomorrow, do 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:25.040 it later, don't do it now. Wrong person to be 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:27.760 around with. If you look at people like the creators 0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:31.679 of Amazon and Facebook and all these big business McDonald's 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:35.240 and all these big blasins, they had to sacrifice their 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:39.679 time in order to make their brand succeed. And that's 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:42.120 another thing. I mean, we could talk about this for days. 0:13:42.120 --> 0:13:45.400 There's so many layers into becoming a successful brand or 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:48.880 becoming a successful business. You have to learn how to sacrifice. 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:51.840 You can't always go out. You can't always buy yourself 0:13:51.880 --> 0:13:53.680 the nice thing that you want to do. You can't 0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:56.440 always go out to dinners, you can't always do the 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:58.680 things that you wanted to do because you have to 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:02.640 think about the bigger picture. The bigger picture is you 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:05.720 want your business to succeed, and if that means you 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:08.560 can go out with your little stupid friends that add 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:11.679 no value to the purpose that you see for yourself 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:14.040 in your future, then you have to go ahead and 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:17.800 do that. Every single person is born with twenty four hours, 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:20.680 It is up to you to know what you're gonna 0:14:20.680 --> 0:14:23.120 do with your twenty four hours. We have people that 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:25.360 are only sleep four hours. And I'm not saying sleep 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:27.360 four hours. You do whatever you think is best for you. 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:30.160 But there's people that sleep four hours because they feel 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:32.640 that the rest of that day they have to invest 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:34.600 it in their business in order for it to succeed. 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:37.480 But if you want to be sleeping eight hours ten hours, 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:39.160 and out of that, you have to take another hour 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:41.680 to shower, another hour to eat, another hour to hang out, 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:43.720 another hour to take a nap, another hour or two 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:46.440 for four per Instagram and social media, and then you 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:49.920 want to complain because your business is not succeeding. Whole's fault, 0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:50.800 is it? 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:53.280 It's like you mentioned, it's a lot of work. And 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:57.240 most people see a successful person or a successful business 0:14:57.240 --> 0:14:59.440 and they're like, ah, that's easy, and then they get 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:02.120 down to the new gritty and they realize how much 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:06.840 time and effort it takes to actually make a business successful. 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:14.120 It really requires you to have stamina and long term, like. 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:16.720 You this discipline, you have to be able to be 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:21.200 planning ahead of the game, long term, have goals, have deadlines. 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:22.960 It's very stressful. 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:27.520 So if you want, if you really want that, you 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:30.000 know dream, if you have a dream of opening up 0:15:30.000 --> 0:15:31.760 a small business and that really is your dream, it 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:36.920 is going to require work. No sta facin. That's that's 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:40.360 expression right. The biggest challenges are the best in the 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:43.480 long term. So in that sense, that's part of the 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:45.760 deal that you need to make with yourself. Okay, I'm 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:48.240 going to open this small business, but I have to 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:53.760 acknowledge that is going to take a lot of work. 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:00.840 I'm passionate about these conversations. I'm going to tell you why. 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:03.640 Because I come from an immigrant mother. You know, I 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:06.360 come from an immigrant mother that crossed the Mexican border 0:16:06.360 --> 0:16:09.040 to get here so that one day when she had me, 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:11.840 I could have a good future. And I refuse to 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:14.520 let her down. I refuse for her to see me 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:17.320 like go exact fiso that I had to go through 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:20.160 for this girl and she's doing nothing with her life. 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:21.920 I refuse to be that. I want to be a 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:24.960 success story, not only because of my mother where we 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:28.840 come from, but for my daughters, for the next generation 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:31.840 to come. I want to be a success story, and 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:34.400 I know that requires me to put in the work 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:37.160 and I have and I've proven it. And not only that, 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:41.720 but now as a single mother, I do my podcast. 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:44.400 Thanks to you guys for supporting me. I do love 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:47.880 and hip hop. I'm filming whenever they require for hours 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:50.520 on a day, I'm doing another reality show. I just 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:53.760 finished doing another one. I also take care of my daughters. 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:57.880 I put in the work like I don't sleep at night, 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:00.240 not only because I'm exhausted and I put in all 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:02.640 the extra hours of work, but because I also have 0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:05.040 two babies that are one years old and I'm still 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:07.719 putting in the work. And even though I do have 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:11.080 my days like yesterday, yesterday was one of the toughest days, 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:15.320 because you know, it's hard also when you see on 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:17.920 social media. And I'm gonna go a little bit off topic, 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:19.760 but I know that in many occasions, when you have 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:22.000 a small business, you also have your own personal life 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:24.560 to live, and your personal feelings can get involved in 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:27.719 your business, which can make you lack right. I'll go 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:30.720 to the shower, I'll cry myself off till my eyes 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:32.960 are coming out of my face. I shake it up 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:35.080 and I get right back to it. Because we all 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:38.359 have moments, but you can't stop like nothing can allow 0:17:38.400 --> 0:17:40.560 you to stop. And I was just having a moment 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:42.639 because it's hard to be a mom in the process 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:44.600 of this. It was already hard enough to do it 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:46.760 when I didn't have children and I was still pushing, 0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:49.679 but then now to also be a good mother in 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:52.040 the process of this and not, you know, miss out 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:55.159 on important moments for my daughters and do all those things. 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:57.640 It's a lot of work. Shout out to all those 0:17:57.640 --> 0:18:00.320 single mothers, to all those single fathers, because there's others 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:02.640 out there too that put in the work. Shout out 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:05.080 to you. If you're out here being the best you 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:07.639 can be and you're also being a good parent, I 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:09.520 give you all the credit in the world because it's 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:12.200 a really tough job and it's a lot, but you're 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:14.639 doing it, you're accomplishing it, and I just want to 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:17.720 take a moment to let you know you are amazing. 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:21.320 You are doing such a great job. You deserve it all. 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:23.040 And I know that it's hard, and I know that 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:25.000 it's tough, and this is almost what you can take 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:28.640 home with you. But be disciplined, be focused, be determined, 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:32.399 don't allow anything to stop you from accomplishing your goal, 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:35.080 keep your eye on the goal, on the vision, on 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:40.000 the purpose right, become educated, never stop asking questions, any 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:42.520 opportunity that you have. When you feel that you're bored, 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:47.320 go on YouTube and watch a documentary. Go on Netflix, 0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:50.879 watch documentaries. Watch things that are going to educate you, 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:53.800 that are going to inform you. You know, learn that 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:58.520 in order to succeed, you must sacrifice. Sacrifice your time, 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:03.520 sacrifice party, sacrif financially, it's a sacrifice in order to succeed. 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:06.760 There's just so many layers to this, and I'm so 0:19:06.880 --> 0:19:09.720 passionate because I love to see people succeed. I love 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:11.920 to see people put in that hard work and then 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:14.679 zero to one thousand make a name in a brand 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:17.920 for themselves. Because you're also doing this to support your family. 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:23.200 You are breaking you know, generational curses by becoming successful. 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:26.399 And I know everybody wants it, but not everybody gets it. 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:28.719 So when you do get it, because you will get it, 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:31.840 you're gonna know that you did it because you put 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:34.719 in the work. And that is so important. Put in 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:38.200 the work. Cry it off, jog it off, work it out, 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:40.280 do whatever it is that you have to do, and 0:19:40.440 --> 0:19:42.760 get back to it. You know, have your job and 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:45.600 on the side, also invest time for your own business 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:48.160 and your own goals and your own dream. Don't let 0:19:48.200 --> 0:19:52.320 your paycheck stop you from achieving your own personal goals. 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:54.800 That's very important. Arlene. Thank you so much for joining 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:57.159 in today. I am so grateful for you as usual. 0:19:57.440 --> 0:19:59.400 Thank you guys so much for being part of exactly 0:19:59.400 --> 0:20:02.359 a Mada. Thank you for subscribing. Thank you for giving 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:05.240 me those five stars. Thank you for being always in 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:08.600 tune and hitting me up on Instagram at amaraa Ale 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:11.720 and making sure that you follow me and tell me 0:20:11.760 --> 0:20:13.440 all the great things that you love about the show. 0:20:13.720 --> 0:20:17.480