Walk 2 Wealth Ep 64 - 2:3:23, 11.27 AM

[00:00:00] This is Walk to Wealth, episode 64. 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.

[00:00:30] Thank you guys so much for tuning into today's episode. I just want to give a big shout out to all of you guys that are here listening right now. This second I started this podcast for some of you that don't know or some of you that do know pretty much as a medium kind of to share and document my journey, but also to share the knowledge and the experience that I've been going through.

[00:00:50] And they experience that these people that I've walked the journey, you know, long before most of us. Now share their knowledge and their wisdom. And once I [00:01:00] started doing podcast interviews, it got a lot easier to just keep on doing podcast interviews. And then I almost entirely stopped doing solo interviews.

[00:01:08] I know I dropped my birthday episode. I dropped the episode to wrap up 2022. I dropped a couple episodes, solo episodes throughout, but I really haven't dropped much episode. Today I just want to share my jour, my journey with you. Just be raw and recap. You know what my January of 2023 to start off this new year was like so that you could see the good, the bad, the ugly, the indifferent, whatever you want to call it.

[00:01:31] And yeah, so we're gonna start off with the pros cuz who actually, let's start off with the cons first. Let's start off with the cons so we can end off on a good note. So pretty much the first one is, I overspent almost with all my credit cards. Um, Almost most of my credit cards were maxed, not most. A couple of my credit cards were maxed.

[00:01:52] I spent a lot of money last month, uh, but I'll tell you the bright side later. But, so I spent a lot of money, uh, [00:02:00] wasn't really in a good position to start off the year, and currently I'm about $8,000 right now in credit card day Lucki. I'm pretty smart guy. So that credit card debt is in my business name, in my business account, which doesn't apply to my personal credit score.

[00:02:16] So my personal credit is still like seven 50 something and it won't be affected because I have, um, the cards in a business card and from one of the cards it's, you know, 0% APR for a while. So it doesn't report to my personal credit. And I have 0% APR on the business credit cards, which is where I have the credit card.

[00:02:34] Almost $4,500 in personal personal loan debt a while ago to get my car. I haven't shared this on the podcast, but a while ago to get my car, I took out a loan against my own portfolio so that I can have the money for the down payment and to keep me afloat for a little while. I took out a personal loan and that's been kind of just a crew in interest pretty much since February-ish of last year.

[00:02:59] So, [00:03:00] um, that hasn't been the most helpful. Right now I'm about about 8,500 in car loans. My car payment right now is like almost 300 a month, which is insane to me because it's like, ah, sheesh. And then on top of that you gotta factor in gas and then insurance. It's like, it's a whole lot of money for no reason.

[00:03:18] So that's annoying. And um, I'm also 21,000 in student loan debt, so that is still on pause. I'm not paying that. It's still a. Half of that I use to invest in index funds. So I'm not really that much in student loan debt, but still I, I'm very fortunate and blessed so that we don't have to pay it off right now.

[00:03:38] But worst case scenario, I'll just use my investments to pay that off. Um, you know, I'm in a, a good chunk of that. You add that all together, that's like close to like 33,000 in debt or something like that. Um, between student loans, personal loans, and their credit cards. And that's not a good hole to be in.

[00:03:56] I don't even make that much money. Right. So, um, I [00:04:00] also haven't been consistent in the gym this month with going to the conference with, you know, just it being super cold and me working on a couple different things at the same time. My sleep schedule kind of been off and once my sleep schedule gets off, uh, the gym also schedule gets off.

[00:04:15] So I haven't been the most consistent in the gym. I haven't been journaling like I know I should. I almost overdrafted my credit cards. Two of my credit cards, um, one each, and then I almost overdrafted my checkings account and I'm still burning through my savings. So that's the ugly, right? That's what I'm currently going through, uh, for January.

[00:04:36] That's what I went through in January. That's where I was at. And I wanna share that with you guys because as I said, I wanna document my journey. Too many people wait until they become successful. So many people wait until they finally make it, till they finally achieve success. Whatever success may. and then they wanna start giving back.

[00:04:55] And it's usually in a court in the form of like a chorus or a ebook or whatever. Uh, I wanna [00:05:00] share this with you guys raw, like in the moment, kind of just like, here's what's going on in my life at this current point in time. So as I said, it's a long walk to wealth and somebody walk faster than others.

[00:05:10] But what good is sprinting to the finish line if you pass out when you cross it. And so at the time I'm recording this, it's slightly over, it's February 3rd, and so I'm recording this a day before I drop it, but it is, I'm just gonna be talking. January ever. I've already made some changes, but I'll let you guys know those changes in this month's of February's recap.

[00:05:31] And so, um, now let's get to the good side, right? Because we don't wanna see sit and, you know, be negative on this. Beautiful. If you're listening in the morning and this beautiful morning. So here's what went well in January. So for the pros, I had 637 downloads. That is my highest down. Ever yet. Uh, just for a little bit of context, August was, I had like 2 77 or something like that, and then I went down in September, October it went down [00:06:00] again, and November went down again.

[00:06:01] I was at pretty much almost 200. Then in December, not sure how, but the numbers just kind of jumped up a lot and I got to like five 30 and so this month I'm at 6 37, so almost a hundred downloads more than last month. So we're on a really pretty good track. I've been also getting, I think this month alone I got close to like 10 reviews or something like that.

[00:06:22] So thank you guys so much for supporting. Thank you guys so much for. Uh, showing appreciation and giving back. Thanks. In a form of review, it really means a lot because the search engines for these podcasts don't really help at all with boosting, you know, helping get the podcast to more people, but in not only just that, it also.

[00:06:42] It means a lot to me to know that this means a lot to you. At least it means enough to you for you to go outta your way to write a review. So for everyone that is, has written a review already and for everyone that's going to write a review, I just wanna say thank you. Cause it really does mean a lot and it really does help out a lot.

[00:06:57] Um, I spoke at my, oh, [00:07:00] really quick before I change the topic. I got 3000. Total download in January, early January. I broke that threshold, so my first a thousand downloads, it took me almost seven months to hit or so. Then my second 1000 downloads took me about three and a half months to hit almost four months, and then my third, a thousand downloads, two to 3000, took just about.

[00:07:24] A little over two months. And now for my next a thousand downloads, the way it's projecting, I'm probably gonna get hit that within in two months. So we're definitely going on the right trajectory. We're finally starting to get some traction. We're starting to get going. So I also spoke at Pod Fest Expo.

[00:07:39] Um, my big takeaways from there, it's pretty much pay to skip the line. You know, pay to skip the line if you want to excel, if you want to fast track your progress. I know I said was good at sprinting if you pass out when you cross it. You don't have to figure this out alone, right? If you have the funds necessarily invest in yourself, invest in, you [00:08:00] know, right now, if you're a young adult, if you're my age, you know, in your twenties, early twenties, you don't have too many responsibilities.

[00:08:05] That index fund route that they're selling you, that the invest in index fund and invest in your Roth, I, that's not gonna get you anywhere in life. Right? Take that. and that little tiny 8% return that you would get, you would get in the stock market. Put that money into yourself. Invest in yourself. Grow yourself.

[00:08:24] You are, you will get the largest return on investment from putting money into growing your skillset and growing your expertise and growing your authority. Then you will get putting your money in the index fund and then just waiting 40 years to ever effing use it. Right? We only have one life. Why on earth are.

[00:08:41] 40, 45, 50 years to use the money that we worked so hard to get. Especially cuz it's hard to get money now, which we're gonna spend a lot more time and effort making this money just to invest it and never be able to touch it. And then if we do touch it, then we pretty much are gonna get penalties if we try to take it out of these retirement accounts prior to the age.

[00:08:59] So [00:09:00] instead of taking that money and putting in the index funds, take that money and put it back into yourself and, uh, pod Fest Expo, sorry, I got a little bit on a tangent. At Pod Fest Expo, I pretty much talked about icky guy. It's a four step process to find your purpose and um, it was around 150 or so people that were in the room that day.

[00:09:20] And I kid you not, I was like extremely nervous. I was, I'm talking like as soon as I got the mic to the moment I handed the mic back, I was pretty much like, I don't remember. And it was five minutes and it was just super rapid fire. A lot of people said, uh, that I did well. A lot of people came up to me afterwards, throughout in the, the hallways when I was walking.

[00:09:40] So you did a great job. So I think I did pretty well. I watched it, the replay. It's on my Facebook, uh, my Facebook page replay. So I watched that. I did pretty well. So I enjoyed that opportunity. Uh, another big thing that I did is I joined the spearing clover Master. I met this guy because I hopped on a guest on his show and then he let me hop [00:10:00] on one of the Mastermind calls for free just to test it.

[00:10:03] And then from there I decided to go all in. And that's a quite a pretty big investment, and I was very nervous at first to get into that. But as I said, it's like I need to help. I need help to get me to that next level. . And so I'm gonna invest in myself and invest in, you know, putting myself in a tribe of people that are like-minded so that I can fast track my, my success so I can fast track my learning and my pretty much my, my progress and that mastermind has been going very well so far.

[00:10:33] Literally the first, uh, couple days or so, the guy named Jason, he taught a course on chat, G p T and then how to use chat G B T to. A course. And so I pretty much just took that same framework and then I taught a social media class, had over 300 signups, and then I sold from the free class to a workshop and I made it close to $4,200 gross.

[00:10:55] So that's the most money ever made in the day. And that was super big for me cuz like [00:11:00] I was so nervous. I'm getting into that Mastermind. Then I joined the Mastermind and then a week or two after I pretty much made 10 X my initial investment. I'll take it. And that's just the start, right? That's within two weeks.

[00:11:12] So it's been going good so far. Uh, love the group so far. And Jason's, he's a cool guy. So enjoying that. Uh, the podcast hit top 5% globally, right? That was big cuz I checked listen notes. Listen notes has like aggregates, almost like data from like over three to 4 million podcasts. And out of those three to 4 million, most of which are not even.

[00:11:36] But still, I don't care. I hit top 5%. So the podcast is finally starting to get some traction, trying to get some awareness around it. People are starting to hear about Walk to Wealth. They wanna see what the kid got going on over here. They wanna see what we got going on, they wanna join the family. So that was really big for me.

[00:11:51] Uh, I made some really good connections, uh, some of which Jason, as I said, it's a guy named Vince Warnock and um, this lady named Tracy, a Hazard. People I all have met [00:12:00] through guesting on other. And, uh, they have been some super helpful connections so far. So big shout out to them. Um, I applied for a Quantum Leap scholarship.

[00:12:11] So last year when I spent a day with a billionaire, qu uh, Keller Williams, every year has an event for young adults called Quantum Leap. And I went, I was able to go to the event and from there you get access to free coaching. So six free coaching calls, and then once you finish your six free coaching calls, you get access to apply to a scholarship of $5,000.

[00:12:31] So I can, I'm gonna apply, I just applied for the first 5,000, and then once hopefully that gets approved, then I'm gonna apply for the second 5,000. And I plan on using those to go to more conferences in the podcasting industry. So, uh, put yourself around people that are doing what you wanna do that back to what I said earlier, invest in yourself.

[00:12:51] Um, let's see. So far in January, I've been on over 40 podcast interviews as a guest, so that's been really fun. Uh, I had a Keller Williams party [00:13:00] that was super. And I hit level 600 in chess. So that is pretty much my January recap. I just wanted to, as I said, give you guys the real time update of how my life is going on.

[00:13:12] I don't want you guys to wait and be like, oh my goodness, John is successful now, and I'm only just now hearing a story despite him having so many episodes out. Now I'm gonna share you guys the, the real, the raw, the real time, what's going on in my life, so that hopefully you guys feel inspired to take action.

[00:13:30] I just said, despite not everything being the way I wanted it to be, right. And I thought this year, last time I was gonna be a top realtor, selling house was left and right, taking over Stanford. My life didn't play out the way I planned it, but. It's still going, you know, it's still going right for me, because I am now have so much more clarity, I have so much more intentionality, this intentionality this year.

[00:13:52] So it's like I'm just being okay with the journey and with the process, and I'm just gonna keep on running with it. God got me. I know I'm good. So [00:14:00] thank you guys so much for tuning into today's episode. That's me, man. I, this is a little, this is what I'm going through right now. This is the real, the uncut, the stuff that nobody likes to share when they're going through it.

[00:14:13] I'm still going through it and I'm gonna be transparent. I want you guys in on my journey so I, you guys can know that I'm a real person too, man. I don't got it all figured out just cuz I talk to some very successful people. Just cause I get behind the mic doesn't mean I gotta. I'm still figuring it out myself, and if you wanna learn more about my story, make sure to go check, check out episode one.

[00:14:32] If you wanna know how this is all put together, how I kind of got started in this entrepreneurial path, go check out episode one. Again, I'm your host, John Mendez, and I will see you guys in the next episode.

[00:14:53] So before I give today's message, I just want everyone to take a deep breath.[00:15:00]

[00:15:00] So today's message is the two most important days are the day you were born and the day you find out why. And most people never live to see the second. Think about that. Most people live their entire life, never understanding, never come into the solution as to why they were put here. Who were they meant to help?

[00:15:21] Who were they meant to serve? They just live at very meaningless and unfulfilled live life. Next time you get some alone time, I challenge you. Think about why were you here. I feel like I was genuinely put here to help people my age, the young adults, the people who don't wanna take the traditional route.

[00:15:38] I say it in my intro all the time. For those of you that know the traditional route of taking, you know, working a nine to five and retiring in your sixties isn't a route for you. This epi, this show is for you. I say that in my intro all the time. These, these are the people I feel I was called to serve.

[00:15:51] Right? So next time you get some free time, spend some time thinking about it. Who it is it, who it is that you're meant to serve, who it is that you're meant. . [00:16:00] And then once you figure that out, spend as much as you can helping them as much time as you can, energy, effort, and at first, don't really think about it for the money.

[00:16:11] Do it for the fulfillment. Chase the fulfillment. It'll lead to a much more rewarding life. The money will. You always have time to make more money. So chase the fulfillment. Don't chase the money. Then you guys, and I'll see you guys in the next episode.