Walk 2 Wealth Ep 76 - 3:8:23, 5.30 AM

[00:00:00] This is Walk to Wealth, episode 76. Welcome to Walk to Wealth. Why enlighten and empower young adults to build wealthy, abundant lives? I'm your host, John Mendez, and I'm currently walking to Wealth as we speak. And if you know the traditional route of finishing college, working in nine to five interior sixties, and hopefully having enough safer retirement isn't a path you wanna take, then join me as we walk to wealth together.

[00:00:31] Now before we start today's episode, you know I gotta give my shout out. So today's goes to Rob Guillory, Michael Holly Nani, and Stan. For just showing some love. On my recent posts, I was announced to be a speaker of Pod Fest Global, which is a virtual summit, taking play, taking place on March 27th, and they were showing some love.

[00:00:49] So thank you guys so much and let's get right into this episode. So today I'm gonna be pretty much taking you guys back to what happened in February, the pros of that month, the cons of [00:01:00] February, what I was able to accomplish, et cetera, et cetera. And let's get right into this one. It was a pretty good month.

[00:01:05] We'll start off with the cons and then we'll work our way to the good. All righty. So to kick things off, February was another tight month when it came to my money. My budget and money has been. Relatively tight recently, but I haven't been worrying because money is in abundance. I just need to get into where money flows.

[00:01:28] So I haven't been worried, although money has been tight, I've been burning through a little bit of, uh, some of my investments. I have to tap into some of my investments sold off, like close to like $12,000 worth of like index funds and stuff like. Uh, and I'll tell you why later I had to sell so much off.

[00:01:45] But, uh, my credit score also dropped 30 points ish, like 25 points. My credit score dropped. Because I, I paid my credit card on time. I just didn't pay in full. So there was a little bit of a balance there. Ended up paying it in full [00:02:00] in the middle of the month once I had it all put together, but I didn't pay it in full at the time of my closing date.

[00:02:06] So that dropped my score. My score did go back up or sitting right now around like 7 54 last time I checked on Experian around somewhere around there. So it's still relatively, So I'm not gonna complain too much in that department. Uh, let's see what else. I overspent on my credit cards. Have I accessed a couple workshops?

[00:02:29] Something I definitely need to stop doing, but a couple of these workshops are definitely well worth it. One of them was, A press release workshop. So pretty much how to get into the media and news outlets, things like that. Another one was for my, uh, friend Brandon Godo, his speaker school, and another one was the Hi Brandon is also hosting a conference in in Stanford.

[00:02:54] I had to pay for that as well, so, uh, yeah, definitely overpaid a little bit on my credit card. [00:03:00] And the planning for my virtual summit. So I'm actually gonna start promoting it in like next week, so you guys will hear more about that. But the planning for the virtual summit definitely didn't go as planned.

[00:03:10] I originally was gonna have 15 speakers coming in to talk about. All different top, uh, mindset, personal finance and entrepreneurship. Summit's called First Up to Wealth and it did not go as planned. I wanted to have a little bit more than 15 speakers. I was gonna have like 20, and then now it's gonna be like right around 10.

[00:03:27] So, yeah, definitely didn't go as planned. Virtual summits are extremely hard to plan. There's a lot of thought that goes into it. Big shout out to everyone that hosts those. Everyone, everyone that runs those. A lot of thought that goes into it between scheduling the speakers and getting the speakers.

[00:03:46] making the website and making the landing page and the checkout page and all this stuff, like a lot of, it's a lot of work that goes into it, and it definitely was something that I didn't plan to be that much work, and now it's not really going as [00:04:00] planned. So I had to make a couple quick changes on the fly.

[00:04:03] It's supposed to be three days. I'm going to just make it one day and just go about it like that. So, You live, you learn, right? But it's definitely something that I'm glad I learned because hosting a virtual summit is definitely a credibility booster. And now that I got, I'm, I'm about to have one under my belt.

[00:04:21] I got all the kinks and stuff underway, like out of the way. Not saying I'm an expert now just cause I did one, but I definitely learned some things and people look at you differently when you host a virtual summit. You look a lot more credible, a lot more like an authority figure, especially to the eyes of other experts in other professionals in your industry.

[00:04:39] So it's something that is, I'm glad I went through with, but yeah, it definitely did not go as planned. Um, I also stopped going to the. I stopped journaling. I haven't been reading my Bible. I've been sleeping late and staying up. Pretty much I've been sleeping in later and [00:05:00] staying up later. I've been distracted with emails and social media and wasn't planning out my days, so I stopped going to the gym.

[00:05:09] Part of the reason also is because I hurt my back last month, and that was like one of the worst ex like pains I felt in a long time. Like I know I haven't been as as active with the gym, but like that pain was like, I've been sore. Like, because I haven't been, I've been, I've been rushy, but that was not like a, I haven't been in a gym in a while.

[00:05:32] Soreness. That was like, no, I think there's something wrong with my back kind of soreness. So that definitely was no good. Uh, what else? I stopped journaling. That's something I know I should be doing. So that's on me. Um, I haven't been reading my Bible again. That's on me. I usually check my daily Bible verse, um, my bible app, which has like a daily verse and I usually re read it, start my day.

[00:05:55] So I haven't been doing that. Um, as I've been sleeping later, I've been [00:06:00] going to sleep. Around like midnight or like one, almost back in February. Now I'm back on track, like literally hasn't recorded. This is like five in the morning right now. So now I'm back on waking up early, so I'm doing better now. Uh, I've been distracted with my emails and social media.

[00:06:17] One of the things I did is that I pretty much muted everybody on social media. That's not a successful entrepreneur, and so I'll catch myself scrolling and because I, I'm scrolling through entrepreneur content, it feels like I'm being productive, but I was just really lying to myself and I would always check my email over and over to make it look like I'm doing something.

[00:06:38] But yeah. You don't need to check your emails that often. At least I don't. So I was really just BSing and killing time. Let's see what else? And the last thing that I wasn't doing well is like, I've been feeling like a loser for quite some time now. Uh, really, as I said, this past like month, really just been feeling like a loser, mainly [00:07:00] because when you know you're supposed to do something and you don't, , like for me personally, I just feel sucky.

[00:07:05] Like I just feel like, you know, what am I doing myself? Like for me, as I said, I wasn't, I haven't been going to the gym, I wasn't journaling, things like that. I wasn't meditating. It's like, these are things I know I should be doing personally, and it's like I haven't been doing any of it, so I just haven't been feeling like myself and I feel like I, I could be doing so much.

[00:07:26] and if I were just more productive and I just put more into my hours instead of like kind of just BSing and getting myself distracted, I could definitely do so much more with the same amount of time that I'm working, the same amount of time that I'm putting to projects now. And so that's pretty much all the bad things that happen in February, but now it's time for the good stuff.

[00:07:47] Let's get right into this. So to kick things off, I hit two years with my girlfriend. That was super exciting for me. Yeah, two years is a long time, but it hasn't felt like it at all. [00:08:00] So super excited for that. I be, I paid $8,800 for an accelerator program, and it was one of those things where I just felt so nervous.

[00:08:09] I had so many butterflies just knowing that I was putting my credit card information in. I was extremely nervous, extremely discomfort, um, discomfort, but. The growth happens in the discomfort, so that's why I sold off a lot of my stocks. It's because I was going to pay for this accelerator program, and this accelerator program is going to help me land a TEDx talk and also promote that TEDx talk and then leverage that TEDx talk.

[00:08:36] To get into paid public speaking. So it's something that I thought was well worth it, especially because I'm getting more and more into speaking. I've been guessing on tons of podcasts. So I think it was a, well, uh, definitely a great investment and that's gonna definitely pay for itself in the long run.

[00:08:51] So for me, Making that decision being okay, there's nothing that I've paid for in the past that's come anywhere near close to paying [00:09:00] that, and I had to split it up into two payments because I don't have a credit card that has a $8,800 limit yet, so I had to split up in two payments and that was something, as I said, that was super nerve-wracking.

[00:09:11] It's some something that I definitely wasn't really comfortable with, but as I said, it's an investment. I was tired of playing on the fence. I was planning on going with them back. around September, October last year I began, I began a conversation with them, and then I backed out because of the price, obviously.

[00:09:26] And then this year it's like, man, if you wanna play in this entrepreneur space, you can't play on the fence. Not saying you gotta go and spend $8,800 on the accelerator. But if you know that there's an opportunity, it could be even like a $25 course or a $50 course, or maybe it's a a hundred dollars workshop, whatever it may be.

[00:09:44] If you know that there's an opportunity where you can grow and accelerate your progress and learn, you definitely need to invest in yourself and not be so hesitant depending on if you have the money or not. If you have the money, definitely, like for me, I had the money and investments. [00:10:00] I just didn't want to sell off my stock, but you had to think.

[00:10:04] I could get 8% year over year in an index fund, or I can get an infinite return by putting that same amount of money in myself and investing in me, in my education and my growth. So that's why I made that decision there. So I was super excited for that. I became a virtual judge for the Great American Speak off.

[00:10:23] That was at Grant Cardone's 10, uh, 10 X conference. He was hosting the finale. There were 27,000 speakers that applied and they narrowed it down to four finalists. And I was able to be a virtual judge and that helped me connect with tons of amazing people. And so I also got some big lined, some big guests lined up for.

[00:10:45] Like around April, may. I got some, some hitters lined up, man. I got some pretty big guests coming up. I'm super excited. I'll, I'll share with you guys a few just so you can see what we got coming up. So I got Mark King. For anyone that doesn't know, he's the president of Keller Williams, my [00:11:00] brokerage that I have my real estate license with.

[00:11:01] So he's coming on. Anthony Mendez from Mendez Fitness. He's a big time entrepreneur. He was also a podcaster for a certain point in time, so I got him lined up. I got Sean Crane, another entrepreneur. He went to jail if I believe, for six years, if I'm, if I'm not mistaken, and went out and made something for himself.

[00:11:20] So if you think that you can't turn your life around, he did it. And he's an amazing motivational guy. Uh, invests with Sasha. She's a big time Hawaiian real estate investor. She has. Pretty big following on IG and she's been doing, making Big Noise in the, in the real estate investing space. I got Shari Gonzalez hopping on the podcast.

[00:11:41] She was one of the four finalists from the Great American Speak Off, so she has an incredible story. Her story is like no one else's, so she's definitely gonna be a super amazing guest that I got that I'm excited. We got Finance Cowboy. I've been following him personally for a while on Instagram. He's [00:12:00] another real estate investor guy.

[00:12:01] Save my Cents. She's a personal finance influencer on ig. I think she has close like 200,000 on IG or something. 200 or 100 I forget. But she definitely has a pretty big following and she has a solid IG page. Would you? Gives a tons of golden nuggets. I got David Melter coming on another big time entrepreneur guy, Scott.

[00:12:21] Claire. He is the host of the Success Story podcast. His podcast is amazing. I got some inspiration from his podcast that I started using for anyone that's been keeping up with the thumbnails that I have for my episodes, I got that idea from him. He doesn't know it yet, but I got that idea from him and I just made it my own.

[00:12:40] I had my own little flair to it. But yeah, he has like 1.4 million on Instagram. He is another amazing entrepreneur guy. Ken John. Ken Jocelyn is another entrepreneur. I'm super excited for him cuz he's been helping my friend Guillory out a ton. And when I reached out, he's a super down to earth person.

[00:12:59] Just someone that loves [00:13:00] giving back. So as I said, I got some pretty big names coming on. Super excited to just see the show growing. Just see the credibility and of the show growing and the credibility of the guests coming on. So stay tuned guys. We got a lot of exciting people on the way. I got selected to present at Pod Fest Global.

[00:13:20] I spoke at Pod Fest Expo in January, which is an amazing experience. And now I'm speaking at the virtual summit. Which is, I believe is one of the largest, if not the largest virtual podcasting event in the world. So I'm speaking at Pod Fest, expo Global, and that's gonna be another amazing five minute presentation.

[00:13:40] I need to get some, some, some bigger talks. I, I feel like I deserve some bigger talks, but for the time being, I just keep making, making a name for myself with these smaller talks. Do what I gotta do and work my way up. Right? Once I land at Ted Talk, it's over. I'm, I'm, I'm, look, I'm searching for big stages, but once I land at Ted, Can't, no one tell me nothing.

[00:13:58] Uh, I also won the [00:14:00] K W K C scholarship, so for anyone that doesn't know what that is, Keller Williams Kids Care, I believe it's called, is a non-for-profit with Keller Williams. And last year, one of my team leaders here at my office at Keller Williams here in Stanford, he sponsored my ticket to 10 Kell Williams, the Q Quantum Leap Summit, which is event they host every June that Gary Teache.

[00:14:24] Gary is Gary Keller, the guy who founded Keller Williams, and so he sponsored my tickets at 10. Then from everyone that goes to the event, they offer you an opportunity to get free six week coaching or six months coaching or six session coaching. Um, the time doesn't really matter how long it takes, but six sessions and I sign up for that and I applied and I got it.

[00:14:45] And then I had six coaching sessions. And then after the coaching sessions are over, you can apply for a $5,000 scholar. And so I applied for it. I won the scholarship. I'm gonna be using that money to pay for this thing called Podcast Paradise. [00:15:00] For anyone that doesn't know what that is, John Lee Douma from Entrepreneurs On Fire.

[00:15:04] He. Has this, like this community that you could, uh, be a part of where you get, has a lot of training, et cetera, et cetera, only exclusively for podcasters. So I'm gonna be paying for that. I'm using the money to pay for, to go to podcast movement in August. I'm also applying to be a speaker at Podcast Movement, so I've already shot my shot.

[00:15:26] Now we just gotta see if it lands. And then I'm also using the money from the scholarship to apply to, to go to FinCon. in October, so I'm gonna be. Also, I'm going to apply to speak at FinCon, so I'm gonna shoot my shot there and see how it goes. And then the last thing that really, you know, I'm super proud of is that I'm planning my hundredth podcast episode celebration that is going to be in person, more details on that to come, but know that there's gonna be a $2,000 giveaway.

[00:15:55] Tons of bonuses. If you're in person, it's definitely gonna be an amazing event, [00:16:00] but you don't have to be in person to be a part of the giveaway. So more details than that to come. Stay tuned. Episode 80, I dropped the full details, so make sure to watch out for that. So that was my month of February, I think it was a pretty good month overall.

[00:16:16] You know, just let me know what you guys think. Yeah. Was it a good month, was it not? It's definitely been a challenging month, but March is looking to be on off a good start. So I'll let you guys know next month how March went.

[00:16:30] That is all for today's episode. Thank you guys so much for just showing love and supporting as always. Again, if you find this episode to be valuable, make sure that's shared this episode with another friend, another entrepreneur, another person that's trying to get the ball rolling and doesn't really know where to start.

[00:16:44] I'm going to be as transparent as can be on this show. I'm not just going share with you the ups and the shiny stuff I'm gonna share with you. Be real life like in the trenches of what it's like. And it's not all sunshine and rainbows in this entrepreneurship space, but you gotta keep on pushing, you [00:17:00] gotta keep on working.

[00:17:01] Again, thank you guys so much for just showing up. I'm your host John Mendez, and I will see you guys in the next episode.