#019 – On this episode,Mayra talks about her experience at a Podcasting Conference and how she’s had a moment where she felt a lack of hope and became overwhelmed. She discovered similarities between building a business and getting out of debt.
Leaning on hope is active! Mayra is rediscovering and refocusing on her “why” which has given her a new sense of peace and strength to keep building and providing financial literacy for everyone.
Transcription
[0:00] This is gonna be a little bit of a different episode. I have had a day full of reflection and a lot of learning. Learning why I do this, that’s number one. Why I want to help my community dig deep and figure out is this a long-term thing? Is this something that I want to do forever? Is this my calling?
[0:42] Welcome to Debt-Free Latina, the podcast where you can finally realize your dream of being debt free and feeling peace about your financial future. And now your host, Mayra Alejandra Garcia.
[1:01] Hola, hola. Thank you so much for being here. The question was, do I want to do this forever? Is this my calling? And I really think it is. I also feel that after attending She Podcast, which let me tell you, Elsie and Jessica are amazing. They were super welcoming. I got the privilege of talking to Elsie in person and she is super sweet, love her to pieces. And the whole experience was really good. I have literally a notebook full of notes and tons of things, and I was super inspired and tons of things I could apply right away. And I’m an extrovert. I mean, I even had the button that said extrovert on me, like talk to me fill my cup, please. I love people. That’s how I feel all the time. And on Thursday through Saturday. This was a 4-day event. So those three first days were amazing. I got to sleep in my own bed because the event was here locally. And I had the privilege of coming home and sleeping in my own bed. And I’d come home every night between Thursday and Saturday night, and I just was so happy to go back the next day.
[2:45] But then on Sunday, things took a turn. And it was a lot of info, a lot of things in my head. And it was nobody’s fault, it was just on me. I had a hot seat with a wonderful company that I will not mention, and they gave me practical things that I could do to fix my description, my show notes, my website, tons of little things that I could definitely do. And they touched on a couple things that, some of the software that I have, that I used to get on the air is probably not the best out there. And a lot of that has to do with, I tried to find the most economical way to get on the air. I needed to keep this in my budget. And so I bought a deal with a company, a host, forever, where I get an RSS feed, which is what you need to have a podcast. And yeah, it’s doing a couple things that I don’t want it to do and I discovered that on Sunday. And it was just little things right? I mean, the guy was amazing and I have so much respect for him and I’m so grateful for all the feedback. But I don’t know why, I broke down as soon as I walked away from that booth, from that mic, from all the feedback. I broke down. I was so overwhelmed because I’m trying to build this as a solopreneur, and being a solopreneur is really lonely. You’re trying to do all the things and on top of all the things, I’m trying to also keep a job. I have a full-time job. I’m a mom, I’m a wife. I have to cook and clean. I’ve got a lot on my plate and that’s not to make an excuse, that’s just my reality. And I’m trying to build this with my own capital, with my own money, with my own personal budget. I move money over to my business account when I can and with the little coachings I do hear in there, I pay the bills for the business and I’ve made it work for four years.
[5:45] However, I learned a lot, would love to apply a lot of that right away and I just know that that’s not possible. That was part of my overwhelm. Like, gosh, I just wish I could facilitate some of this. I just wish I could… and there’s some that I can do. And that’s the reality. I need to go back and just look at my budget for the business and say, how much can I outsource this little thing that I don’t know how to do? Or maybe I need to get an SEO expert to help me understand what I need to do to optimize XYZ. There’s a lot of things I could do. And I will move forward and I wrote a list of all the things that I could do and should do, but it’s still a long list. It’s long. There’s a lot. Just one person can do. You need a team. And that’s what I would really really love. I would love a team. I would love to get the word out. I would love to help people. That’s my passion. That’s what I love to do. And you can’t do all the things. You can’t do all the things at once. It’s all in due time. Just like you’re probably on you’re debt free journey and wish you could just be out of debt.
[7:28] I have goals now. I have things that I have to aim at. And I have to try to find a way to get that done. I have a lot less resources than the people that were around me, a lot of them, and that’s my reality too. I don’t have a six-figure income. I don’t have a college education. I don’t know what I don’t know and I’m trying to learn from the experts and take some wise counsel so that I can try to build this all on my own. That’s my reality. That’s how I feel right now. I’m trying not to have a pity party about it. I’m just sharing how I feel. And when I shared that with a couple of my really good friends now, I had a very cool amount. I had a very good group of people around me. I appreciated feeling validated and being relatable because they have felt that same way. They don’t have all their ducks in a row. We’re just trying out here, to help y’all. We’re just trying out here to help, to build this.
[9:12] My dream is to be a financial coach full-time. Full time. That’s my dream. And I had a friend that I met in person. I’ve talked to her a few times through Instagram but I met her in person, Maribel Quesada Smith, and she got on the phone with me today, which I so very much appreciated. Because she asked me, what’s your why? And although like I’ve written that years ago, like four years ago, I wrote my whole business plan with the Business Boutique book and I went to the Business Boutique conference, and I’ve done that years ago, the question helped me refocus. The question helped me and inspired me to keep pushing, to find the resources. I mean, is there somebody out there giving grants? I don’t know. I have no idea. But I’m gonna go ask. That’s what I’m going to do, and I’m going to document it, and I’m going to tell you here on the show. I don’t know if somebody is, just like they give scholarships and grants for college. Hey, I’m self-taught y’all, I’ve invested in my own education. I’ve learned how to podcast on my own. I’ve learned how to build a website on my own. I’ve had to learn a ton of skills by myself for the last four years. But is there scholarships out there? Is there more help for us, that are just trying to build this all on our own and then we are solopreneurs? Is there somebody willing to take me under their wing and mentor me? I don’t know. I hope so. I really hope so because I am able and willing to learn. I learn quick. To apply, to have somebody understand how hard this is, and that I’m still out here trying.
[12:00] I hope this helps you in some way. I don’t know. I don’t even know anymore. There’s just a lot in my head. It’s a lot. If I find some sort of resource or mentor, or who knows. I don’t know. I’m gonna go ask. I’m gonna try to figure this out. I’m gonna try to also look at my budget and see what can I do? Because there are some things I could do. There’s some things I just don’t have the skillset yet. And that’s okay. I can go learn it. It’s just gonna take me longer. It’s just going to take time. I’ve already invested for years, I’ve been trying to build this business for four years and it’s been great. I love it. I know there’s a need and I want to help fill it. That’s my goal. Outside of being a full time financial coach, that would be amazing, but slow and steady. It’s alright. I’ve got a lot to learn.
[13:33] As a first gen, there’s a lot we have to overcome and sometimes we just need help, support, somebody to hear us out, somebody to help us put a plan together. Just like I help people build a budget because I’ve just done it for 10 years and it’s super easy for me to build one. I need somebody to help me build a plan I can follow. I mean, I’ve done these, I’ve done as much as I can I sort of had a… I have some sort of a plan, but can it be better? Is that what I’m lacking? I don’t know what I don’t know.
[14:45] I appreciate you being here. We’re in this together. We can do this. We’ll figure it out. But I also want to stay true to my values. I don’t want to get in debt. I’m not going to get in debt to build this business. I’m not. It’s an integrity thing. And to some people, it might be super weird and that’s alright. I’m just not. It’s not an option. How will I do this? How? Stay tuned, I’ll keep you posted. And I’m also going to start a series called Why? Why do you do this, Mayra? What are you trying to accomplish? Because it all goes back to why do you keep pushing? I have a responsibility to bring hope and teach my community, including Lantinx population, the first gen folks, the basics of budgeting and building wealth, avoiding debt, and not falling for cultural sayings that hurt our mindset. Being relatable and understanding our culture is important to me and approaching them without shame and love, is what I aim for. That is my mission.
[16:43] I’m gonna give you a couple of examples of the things that I will be addressing in this why series, because in our culture, some people live Spanish word 16:58, which is day by day, which is below paycheck to paycheck. Another mission of mine or another why is because we need to make this information accessible and relatable to our culture, to our people. And that’s super important to me, understanding the culture is of utmost importance to me, respecting my people, respecting the culture, respecting these things, and coming from a place of a loving heart. That’s important to me. We need to tackle and debunk the mindset of things like Spanish phrase 17:55. What do you mean? No, we don’t. That’s not true. But these are things we heard growing up. These are things that people live by. And no it’s not true. It’s not true. And that is just a couple of things that I will be covering in this why series. Thank you so much for being here. Hasta luego.
[18:38] Thanks for listening to Debt-Free Latina. Make sure you hit that subscribe button so you can take Mayra with you on your journey to become debt free as you build financial wealth. Looking for more? Follow Mayra on Instagram @debtfree.latina, on Facebook @debtfreelatina, and online at debtfreelatina.com.