EXPERIENCE 169 | Escaping Venezuela and Building a Business with American Values with Diego Rago Vega, Founder and Owner/CEO of Obsidian Atlas

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Diego Raquel Vega is a chef, a writer, a philosopher, and a permanent resident here on Political Asylum, but he came to America long before it was trendy.

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He and his family operated an import export business in Venezuela, and as the nation's economic fortunes crumbled under first Chavez and then Morales, the enterprise became unsustainable.

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In part because the family wasn't aligned with the government or willing to be compromised.

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Diego's business is Obsidian Atlas, and he provides strategic marketing, consulting, and full spectrum marketing activities, mostly for B2B small businesses.

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He was a top producing marketer for Madwire and other agencies in previous chapters, but branched out to start his own firm, So that he could give individualized attention to his clients.

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Diego's business is early stage in America, but his philosophies and experience run deep and the journey he shares in our conversation along with about a third of a bottle of bourbon between us will please and inspire the hearts and minds of our long form conversational podcast listeners.

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And this is a long one, but full of the good stuff.

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So please enjoy as I did my conversation with Diego Rago Vega.

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Welcome back to the Loco Experience.

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My guest today is Diego Rago Vega.

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And Diego is the founder, owner, CEO of Obsidian Atlas.

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Diego, welcome to the show.

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Thank you.

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Thank you for inviting me.

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This is actually something I've been wanting to do for a long time.

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So it's really fun to be here.

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Like a podcast in general or a podcast with me?

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And that too, both.

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So the podcast in general, cause I feel like this is a great, uh, like piece to like converse with somebody and then put it out there and see if somebody can be helped by it or entertained by it.

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So a long coffee, uh, but.

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Yeah, exactly.

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With a bunch of eavesdroppers.

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Yeah, there you go.

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And bourbon instead of coffee.

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Yeah, there we go.

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So, why don't we, uh, why don't we start with, uh, tell, tell our listeners about Obsidian Atlas.

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What is it that you do?

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Such a strange, mysterious name.

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Yeah, yeah.

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Um, so Obsidian Atlas, uh, it's a digital marketing agency and we do, like, it's like 90 percent of whatever you might do for your business to show up online, to, Get people website social media email campaigns.

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Yes, and like branding branding.

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It's a big Oh, you do design and branding and stuff, too So everything that will get you from I don't like people don't know me to now.

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I'm a online sensation That's kind of like what?

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Well, I want to be that how much to turn me into an online sensation.

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Yeah, that's it's A lot of the times it's just like that hard work that it's, it's like the constant, like putting a grain of sand every single day and, and making sure that you're making the right moves.

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And I actually posted something recently that like for movement, like you want movement, it doesn't matter if it's up or down, it's like a constant movement.

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You want it, you want it to happen for your company because when you're going up, it means that you're doing something good.

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Keep playing that game.

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If you're going down.

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Then you know what to switch.

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You got a pivot.

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You have that information.

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You have that data.

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You have that something that gives you incentive to try new things.

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Well, and it's, it's, it's If you, if you never have a feedback as a company, you probably are out of business in three months.

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True.

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So do you have a, uh, a niche of client types that you favor?

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Is it for online businesses that you're, or it's for anybody?

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Yeah.

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Whether you're doing carpet cleanings or whatever, you can have a brick and mortar, you can have just an online shop, you can have anything that requires marketing and we can help you out with that.

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So the whole idea of the, like the, the whole.

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Kind of like premise of the business for me, and I don't, I don't work with industries.

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There are certain industries that might be too complicated.

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Like if you're like a, a biologist who's coming up with this like brand new theory or product or whatever, or a medical industry, like professional that is coming up with this very niche thing.

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I would probably try to recommend somebody else.

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A specialty marketing agency.

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Yeah, or, or maybe get you like the really basic things that you might need and then point you in the right direction to find that somebody.

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I don't want to take the time to learn enough to really be good at marketing this complicated thing.

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Yeah, and it's a lot of the times it's to like the legal side of things.

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Oh, right.

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It could, it could entail that.

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Insurance or law.

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Yeah, so I don't, I don't want to get you in trouble and I don't want to get me in trouble because like it's not, Complicated when it's that like very specific of topics to get into trouble because everything that you're putting out There is a legal binding document per se.

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So what's your what's your manner of engagement?

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Are you acting kind of like the full?

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marketing department for Small businesses that don't otherwise have one.

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Are you in the strategy space for yeah So a little larger so I like to kind of like sell the business in a couple different ways One of them is gonna be The full on, if you bring me in, if you bring Upstate and Atlas in, you got, you have a team of marketing on your side without having to pay the cost.

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Three five like salaries a year, right?

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Right, which is kind of like you usually need between two and maybe four people to run Everything that has to do with marketing your company, right?

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And we like to do that for you with like just a monthly Kind of like a monthly traditional agency kind of thing, but we're we've got a social media specialist We've got a website developer.

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We've got a graphic designer, right?

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And so you contract most of those functions for your clients?

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So as a good small business, I do a lot of the work as well.

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I do have my specialists, but I am.

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I am like the good, you're 30, 50 percent like initial stuff.

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And once things get complicated or get too overwhelming or something like you have those hands that pop in every now and again and be like, okay, I need to do this website, but this is going to have like this very complicated technical piece.

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I'll bring that developer in that developer.

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And then we're all like, Kind of like in the same realm.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Everybody has that like opportunity to, Hey, come in.

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So you're like pretty good at all those things.

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Yeah.

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I, I, I wouldn't say like pretty good, but like a seven and a half at everything and you can hire the expertise above that.

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Exactly.

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So I, I'm, I'm a hundred percent on like all your basics.

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And then if you come to me and be like, Hey, I want to do this, like very, Over the top things like I got I we still got or I want 30 social media posts a month as part of my package You're like, okay, I'm gonna have to yeah some of that cuz exactly I have the Jago don't got that much time Yeah, exactly.

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I have the expertise to because like being a perfectionist I have that kind of like mentality of being like this everything has to come out 120 percent every single time, but then it comes down to, do you have the time?

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So that's kind of like the, it's kind of like a fun trade off every now and again.

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Who would you say, um, is your ideal client?

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So I've been learning a lot this last year and my ideal client is definitely the person that actually wants to get things done.

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Okay, because it's very complicated sometimes when you when you go into like a company and they're like very excited to get things done Very excited to oh, this is where I want to be in the next six months Yeah, and then you're like you put all these plants together you put every like we can do this It's only gonna cost this much.

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Yeah, and they're like, oh I don't want to do it.

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And you're like, it's like, I cannot help somebody that doesn't want to help themselves.

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And lately in this last like few months, uh, we've been rolling out with some planning for, especially for small businesses to offer you a plan of payment.

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So you can get that ball rolling because if you don't move, you're like, nothing is going to move for you.

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Oh, so you'll like build them a website, help them with some brand stuff and things.

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Probably going almost into the hole, but with a contract for them to carry you through the first year or something like that.

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Yeah.

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And then to me, like the way that I see it is like, I I'm very kind of like sure of what we're doing.

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I'm, I'm very trustful, confident, confident and all that, of the things that we're doing for clients that I'm willing to invest first in your company.

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Before you invest with me.

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So it's kind like it, it's, it can be a double-edged sword for sure.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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But at the same time, it's like some, like some, well, so it's mutual trust, like Yeah.

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You have a business that does things that I believe in and I think we can help you get there.

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Yeah, exactly.

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If, if it's somebody that's doing something because, uh, you, you definitely come across, uh, businesses that want to do, it's like, I want to create the new Amazon.

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And it's just like, yeah, I don't know about that one.

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How much capital do you have?

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Yeah, exactly.

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Do you have like 20 billion to start competing?

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You want to go head to head with Amazon?

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Yeah, exactly.

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So every now and again, you'll come across some people that, and I've heard this before too, from people that do apps.

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Yeah, I have development that people come in.

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It's like, yeah, I want to mix like Uber with like Uber eats and then all this and this and this and this and that.

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And it's like, and I have like 5, 000 and the guy's just like, yeah, this is, uh, you're going to need like 5 million.

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Yeah.

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And it's the whole idea of like having it.

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I'm, I'm a dreamer.

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I'm a hundred percent.

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I'm that type of person that it's just like, the bigger I can dream, the better I feel.

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But it's like, sometimes you have to come down And put your feet on the ground and actually put things together.

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True.

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Because otherwise it's just not going to happen.

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You're always going to have that dream.

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How, uh, how long have you been operating your firm, Diego?

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Uh, we're close to two years now.

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Okay.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Um, you know, and, and, well there's two reasons really that I invited you on the show.

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Uh, one is you just kind of charm me.

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You seem like a really smart guy and you're part of, If I'm being honest, a bit of a dying breed.

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There aren't that many solo agency owners that yes, you have contractors and things, but you do a bunch of stuff.

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It's, that's a shrinking demographic.

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I see less and fewer and fewer of the real small offices, which I'm sure you're trying to grow bigger too.

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And they got to start somewhere.

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Um, but then also because of your, your journey, I mean, Uh, as a Venezuelan by birth and most of your upbringing, I'd love to, like, hear about that and, and story.

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Were you an entrepreneur?

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Were you a business operator in Venezuela?

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Yes, to a, to an extent.

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So we had a kind of like a family business that operated for, I would say, shorter of a decade.

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Uh, we were like an import export company and this was far, like, after we kind of like start establishing ourselves in the.

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Like, crawling back into the middle class, at least from, like, back home.

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Okay.

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Um, so that was kind of like the family business.

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We operated with some, like, some close friends of the family.

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So it was kind of like a, a, a, a partnership with people that we cared about and that were family, basically.

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Yeah.

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Um, but I always had that mind.

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Like for just starting businesses from like the age of 14, 15.

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I was always coming to my dad and be like, Hey, I have this wonderful idea.

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And one of the things that he actually taught me that I really appreciate to this day is that the first thing that he always said, it's like, have you thrown numbers down, how do you put things together?

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Have you done your research?

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Have you, did you push a pencil to it?

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Is the way my father said that.

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Yeah.

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So it's like, do you, do you know what it entails to go out and do this?

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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So that that's kind of like how there was always something there was a big curious piece of my brain that was always like, okay What if we this is an idea?

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This is something that could solve this problem And this is how we can approach it.

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Let's see if it actually, how much can we charge, et cetera.

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So, and I've, I've done this for, I don't know, at this point, maybe 30 businesses.

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So you're using that lens with your clients and your customers and stuff too, is what you're saying.

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Yeah.

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So you won't just do that, you know, get a website now, pay for part of it later thing with just everybody.

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They got to have some real opportunity to succeed.

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Yeah.

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And I, and I feel like to the open, the open mind of, you know, Understanding that somebody from the outside can also have good ideas for your business.

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Uh.

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I am not very.

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Like, I don't connect well with people that have that mindset that if I didn't think about it, it wasn't a good idea.

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I never heard a good idea.

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That wasn't his Yeah, exactly.

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It was something I heard of a former boss of mine.

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Yeah, and and, and it's yeah.

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It's very real.

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Cause I've, I've encountered so many of those types and it's, Hey, you do you.

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And then that's all right, but I don't need to tell you nothing.

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Yeah, exactly.

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So, and that's the other piece of the business too.

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I can come in as like to consult and I love doing that.

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Cause sometimes I'm like, it's like 1am and I'm working and then I'm just working for like local think tank.

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And then it's just like, Oh crap, this idea.

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And then I'm like, like type up an email and then just send it your way.

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It's like, Hey, I thought about this.

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And it's like, I don't know if you guys have explored it or not, but this is an idea.

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And it's to me, it's just that this is an exciting thing for me, like coming up with new avenues, coming up with new things for businesses or for somebody who wants to like, Hey, I want to sell my.

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My craftsmanship.

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Yeah.

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But I don't know how to approach it because it's a very unique thing.

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I build custom chairs.

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Yeah, exactly.

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Something like that.

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For gaming.

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Yeah.

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So it's one of those things that you're like, okay.

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There are ways to put things together.

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There are ways to marketing can be a very exact science, but at the same time, you can break it so many ways in a good way, like you can just like, okay, this is like usually the box that you get, but let's get out.

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Let's put some different pieces.

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Let's well, and depending on what you're selling, different avenues are totally more or less appropriate.

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Yeah, yeah, exactly.

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So there's, there's always ideas that come in and.

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What's working in the marketing world right now?

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I feel like we're getting back to the being very personable.

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In the sense of like, come, come at people as a smaller company, don't try to sell yourself as, you know, Oh, I'm like this amazon 2.

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0 because I feel like a lot of people have been burned by the really big companies Uh, so they start it's like i'd rather pay an extra 10 20 for the same product But I know that i'm helping out a local i'm not I know especially Here in the area that we're at like a lot of people.

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Yeah about that local piece I was telling somebody the other day about like if you can have a company that has almost like an avatar Where the company has its own personality and people Like it's personality on its Instagram page or whatever.

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That's kind of more real any more than like this, the, the big personality founder that founded that company.

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Yeah.

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And that's something, that's something actually that we do for our branding.

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We create that concept of creating that persona for your business when it comes to brand.

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It's funny enough, our company came out as, uh, uh, what's his name?

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The guy from, uh, Nio.

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Virachuk?

00:16:05.774 --> 00:16:06.043
No.

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Oh, uh, Nio.

00:16:07.244 --> 00:16:07.833
You mean, uh.

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Oh my matrix.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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That I completely blanked on the name, but like the personality of Keanu Reeves.

00:16:15.999 --> 00:16:16.219
Yeah.

00:16:16.219 --> 00:16:16.528
Yeah.

00:16:16.589 --> 00:16:16.778
Yeah.

00:16:16.778 --> 00:16:16.938
Yeah.

00:16:17.249 --> 00:16:18.379
Like his personality.

00:16:18.663 --> 00:16:21.453
Came into what the persona of the company is.

00:16:21.464 --> 00:16:48.788
It's like kind of like you see him as carrying himself Very like humble, but he also has the potential of being like he owns a very successful motorcycle company Uh, he is a very like well known actor in the world But at the same time is it's on the beginnings of yeah helping people out making sure that everybody's taken care of so it's kind of like there's there's a trade off in there that It's just like, you're a higher end personality, but at the same time, it's like, we, we go all out.

00:16:48.798 --> 00:16:57.349
Like, it doesn't matter where you at, you're in the middle of nowhere, in a, in a swamp, and we're gonna have fun, we're gonna do this, we're gonna like, get ourselves dirty, whatever it is.

00:16:57.418 --> 00:16:59.158
Yeah, yeah, he's not above that.

00:16:59.198 --> 00:16:59.538
Yeah.

00:17:00.033 --> 00:17:05.844
You know, um, so that's where I want to linger there on is that's where the name obsidian atlas came from.

00:17:05.864 --> 00:17:06.663
No, no, no.

00:17:06.663 --> 00:17:09.304
That's just how you kind of that's your brand persona for you.

00:17:09.304 --> 00:17:09.864
Yeah, yeah.

00:17:09.864 --> 00:17:13.263
And that's kind of like, for us, it's a huge questionnaire.

00:17:13.263 --> 00:17:17.594
And it's almost a bit invasive sometimes in the sense of like, you feel attacked a little bit.

00:17:17.713 --> 00:17:20.574
Yeah, just because it's like, we need to get this information out.

00:17:20.574 --> 00:17:23.243
It's it's kind of like your cycle, your psyche has some you.

00:17:23.618 --> 00:17:25.638
Some ideal of what you want this company.

00:17:25.648 --> 00:17:26.179
Yeah.

00:17:26.219 --> 00:17:26.419
Yeah.

00:17:26.419 --> 00:17:31.788
Yeah, and then we take that out avatar A bit or whatever like your best self.

00:17:31.838 --> 00:17:32.929
Yeah as a company.

00:17:32.989 --> 00:17:41.034
Yeah, so it and then it shows out in the visual So like depending on like how the visual comes out, it's there It tries to tie into that personality.

00:17:41.304 --> 00:17:44.064
So, um, let's talk some customer journey.

00:17:44.094 --> 00:17:51.814
Like, I don't think I'm interviewing you to be my new marketing agency, but maybe I am, uh, I think you've, you've enjoyed loco think tank.

00:17:51.814 --> 00:18:00.253
I think you've thought it was a pretty interesting thing, uh, since we first talked and stuff, so I suspect at least I'd be on your eligible for my services list.

00:18:00.403 --> 00:18:01.034
Absolutely.

00:18:01.034 --> 00:18:01.304
Yeah.

00:18:01.483 --> 00:18:06.013
Um, and so tell me like what, where you would start.

00:18:06.499 --> 00:18:10.509
Um, in terms of like that info gather and like.

00:18:11.588 --> 00:18:14.459
How do you decide what a company should be doing?

00:18:14.588 --> 00:18:18.699
So first of all, what we like to do a lot of background research.

00:18:18.699 --> 00:18:33.689
So we go into kind of like what's happening in your area, not only industrial, like in my industry, but also like locally, there might be other podcasts around town, or there might be other people that are talking business in this, in this sense.

00:18:34.108 --> 00:18:36.088
And then we look to see what they're doing.

00:18:36.328 --> 00:18:38.598
And then we start targeting the things that they're not.

00:18:38.903 --> 00:18:44.304
On top of the things that they are like, to me, it's a very big thing.

00:18:44.304 --> 00:18:49.074
It's like if somebody already did the R and D, why are you going to invest money in our?

00:18:49.324 --> 00:18:49.634
Yeah.

00:18:49.663 --> 00:18:59.983
So and it's not necessarily that that's like their solution is the only solution, but it's like, okay, we can, we can build on this, but we can also build on the newer things that maybe people are not testing.

00:19:00.183 --> 00:19:02.403
And that's the whole idea of the data gathering.

00:19:02.838 --> 00:19:05.838
And comes back to what I said earlier, like ups and downs.

00:19:06.229 --> 00:19:09.888
Hey, if this starts going down this path, then we pivot right away.

00:19:10.068 --> 00:19:10.159
Right.

00:19:10.219 --> 00:19:10.429
Then.

00:19:10.429 --> 00:19:11.269
That's, that's the thing.

00:19:11.269 --> 00:19:15.969
'cause marketing unfortunately, but fortunately is not a Sure fireware to Right.

00:19:15.969 --> 00:19:18.128
Fortunately for you and other marketing agencies.

00:19:18.134 --> 00:19:18.489
Yeah.

00:19:18.489 --> 00:19:18.759
Yeah.

00:19:19.449 --> 00:19:21.189
But I, I feel like it's, it's very.

00:19:21.644 --> 00:19:50.509
It's you have to go through that process because nobody gets it the right like right the first time so analytics is really Foundational is something that I'm hearing understanding what you've been doing what you should be doing and by the way, I Yes, the loco experience podcast is something I do but the loco think tank is really the business that Sponsors this podcast and powers the whole thing but So that's what I'm hearing from you.

00:19:50.509 --> 00:19:56.449
There is like the, it starts with understanding what's being done, what's been done, what's done in this industry.

00:19:56.449 --> 00:19:57.679
What are the competitors doing?

00:19:57.798 --> 00:19:58.108
Yeah.

00:19:58.269 --> 00:20:15.288
And to me, one of the biggest ones too, is going to the person that owns the company, going to the people that work in the company and learning about what they do, learning about how they approach the business, learning about what their other passions, why they created this.

00:20:16.094 --> 00:20:21.173
I cannot, I cannot promote your business with as much passion as you do.

00:20:21.554 --> 00:20:23.753
I just know how to put it together so I can put it out.

00:20:24.433 --> 00:20:28.854
So if you tell me that it's like, okay, we do ABC because C W.

00:20:29.183 --> 00:20:30.594
And then you're like, okay, perfect.

00:20:30.913 --> 00:20:35.723
Now I can grab your words and put them into a marketable campaign and then put it out there.

00:20:36.003 --> 00:20:40.933
So the whole idea is I will be an offshoot of your company.

00:20:41.374 --> 00:20:45.463
You hire me to be inside of your company, to be that part of your company.

00:20:45.463 --> 00:20:45.519
Okay.

00:20:46.019 --> 00:20:52.679
One of the interesting things that we were, we just had a sales process, I guess, conversation with, with a couple of folks and myself.

00:20:53.209 --> 00:20:57.419
And one of the interesting things about, so we do these peer advisory groups, right?

00:20:57.419 --> 00:21:03.459
So we've got a, uh, a board and support group like experience.

00:21:03.538 --> 00:21:06.058
And we want everybody to be in it.

00:21:06.534 --> 00:21:07.433
But not everybody.

00:21:07.983 --> 00:21:09.243
Like, maybe not you.

00:21:09.253 --> 00:21:20.923
Like, if you don't bring, uh, some upward mobility, kind of openness to change, uh, kindness, authenticity, generosity of spirit, you can't be in it.

00:21:21.134 --> 00:21:21.344
Yeah.

00:21:21.564 --> 00:21:32.243
And so, but, But a lot of people should, and so it's an awkward kind of, from a marketing perspective especially, it's like, you should be in Loco Think Tank, but not you, and not you.

00:21:32.804 --> 00:21:38.993
And like, trying to be an open to everybody kind of an organization that's not really open to everybody.

00:21:39.023 --> 00:21:39.344
Yeah.

00:21:39.959 --> 00:21:41.239
Uh, that's something that we struggle with.

00:21:41.308 --> 00:21:43.038
Uh, any, any thoughts, any insights?

00:21:43.108 --> 00:21:55.618
Um, I, so, to me, I feel like the biggest thing, especially for something like that, cause you're advising people to make moves in their company, you're advising for people to, like, get things, maybe, like, Yes, but I'm not.

00:21:56.138 --> 00:21:57.308
I'm putting them in groups.

00:21:57.798 --> 00:22:00.092
Where their peers are advising them to do things and not do things.

00:22:00.092 --> 00:22:04.088
Yeah, but it's kind of like that concept where it's like you're going to hear the outside perspective.

00:22:04.128 --> 00:22:07.638
You're going to hear a perspective from somebody that has nothing to do with your company.

00:22:08.019 --> 00:22:10.729
And then it's just like, okay, you either take it or you don't.

00:22:10.969 --> 00:22:19.259
And then it's as much as the person who's receiving the advice of being that open minded and be like, Hey, I, okay, let's try this out or let's figure something out.

00:22:19.358 --> 00:22:19.598
Yeah.

00:22:19.638 --> 00:22:28.989
And as much as the people from the outside looking in, It's like you have to be very delicate and careful about the things that you say and how you approach it because you're talking about somebody's baby, right?

00:22:29.159 --> 00:22:32.989
so Totally, but you have to also have that tough love.

00:22:33.038 --> 00:22:41.743
Yeah where you're like, hey, man You've been investing a hundred thousand dollars for the last two years on this campaign and it hasn't gotten you anywhere right move Right.

00:22:41.794 --> 00:22:43.003
Get out of that money.

00:22:43.064 --> 00:22:48.273
Go put it somewhere else because this is just a, Hey, you might have the a hundred K to do it.

00:22:48.493 --> 00:22:49.144
Fantastic.

00:22:49.153 --> 00:22:49.653
That's great.

00:22:49.653 --> 00:22:58.884
If you have a hundred K to just throw away every time they want it, but it's that idea is like, if it's not providing you anything, if it's not giving you any returns, why?

00:22:59.124 --> 00:22:59.423
Yeah.

00:23:00.064 --> 00:23:05.663
So there is a, like an openness, tough love kind of like relationship in that end.

00:23:05.864 --> 00:23:11.179
So I feel like that, that could be, To me, it's and I need to hear that kind of striking.

00:23:11.189 --> 00:23:12.419
Yeah, I need to hear it too.

00:23:12.419 --> 00:23:19.509
And I've had it with the biggest thing that I that I found at the beginning that I wish I had somebody to like, get this tough love on me.

00:23:19.568 --> 00:23:20.798
Yeah, it was.

00:23:21.378 --> 00:23:31.288
I wanted to get my website done at the beginning, just like this massive, really like robust and then just like that you would go in and then just like drool from like, just looking at it.

00:23:31.368 --> 00:23:31.729
Right.

00:23:32.699 --> 00:23:54.824
And then it was just like, no, dude, you have to, you have to get, A landing page, where people can go in, contact you, and then from there, you start adding to it, or once you, once you're on a stable, which is what I did, once I was on a, a more stable thing, then I flipped, and I'm like, okay, we're making something a little bit better, a little prettier, and it might change in a year.

00:23:55.094 --> 00:24:02.624
To something that is going to be like, Hey, whatever's the trend at the moment or whatever, like we feel that company's moving towards, then we can move in those directions.

00:24:02.624 --> 00:24:07.913
But it was just like, Hey, it's better to do the a hundred percent in 20 percent increments.

00:24:07.923 --> 00:24:17.223
Cause if you mess up in the 20%, then you know that you don't, you don't have to wait six months to tear a bunch down to redo it because you screwed it up.

00:24:17.239 --> 00:24:19.449
Yeah, it's like, Oh, I don't like how the shingles look.

00:24:19.489 --> 00:24:21.558
Well, you just build the entire house already.

00:24:21.558 --> 00:24:23.459
So it's not going to match now.

00:24:23.459 --> 00:24:26.459
The whole architecture is just not going to match what you thought it was.

00:24:26.469 --> 00:24:28.638
So you're going to have to change some foundational stuff.

00:24:29.219 --> 00:24:30.098
So fair enough.

00:24:30.528 --> 00:24:48.493
Um, If you like, you've mostly been kind of a small businesses, you know, maybe probably the, what, maybe 50, 000 to 5 million, you know, probably 100, 000 to 2 million captures most of your clients in terms of revenues.

00:24:48.493 --> 00:24:55.233
So from real small up to established, but you know, once they get over 2 million, then they have their own inside marketing agency.

00:24:55.233 --> 00:24:57.173
Usually, what would you say that?

00:24:57.544 --> 00:25:04.243
Business owners do the worst as you've done some of these audits and looking through what they're currently doing.

00:25:04.253 --> 00:25:10.003
Like, what are some of the consistent, can't believe people are still doing this or not doing this?

00:25:11.554 --> 00:25:18.794
This has happened a few times already and it's interesting how you tell people, it's like, hey, Online is the new world.

00:25:19.114 --> 00:25:22.134
Unfortunately, if you don't, if you hate it, the whole world is online.

00:25:22.173 --> 00:25:22.564
Yeah.

00:25:22.584 --> 00:25:25.044
So if you don't have a website, that's a big problem.

00:25:25.233 --> 00:25:27.394
If you don't have social media, that's another big problem.

00:25:27.733 --> 00:25:31.963
And then I have people were like, yeah, I don't have the money to do this, blah, blah.

00:25:31.963 --> 00:25:47.638
And then they go spend 5, 000 on a, like a, a magazine that it's going to be used as like Paperweight somewhere else or like to like wrap gifts or something like so you you just lost that money because that Your market is not in that magazine.

00:25:47.638 --> 00:25:50.689
You're Your potential customers are not reading that stuff.

00:25:50.959 --> 00:26:03.459
So it's one well and if they find you in that magazine and they go to your website and your website looks like it was made 14 years ago by your eighth grader Like they're not gonna buy from you.

00:26:03.459 --> 00:26:15.538
I'm sorry and I I'm very vain when it comes to the visuals of a website just because I'm probably biased on this on this subject but if I You could have a great solution for the problems that I have.

00:26:15.709 --> 00:26:21.959
If I go into your website and it looks like it was done in pain in 1997, I will probably back out and go somewhere else.

00:26:21.959 --> 00:26:24.368
Cause to me, it's like you're not investing in your business.

00:26:25.709 --> 00:26:28.778
That tells me what are you going to be investing in me?

00:26:29.108 --> 00:26:33.838
Like as your potential client and why do, why should I give you the money if you're not willing to invest in yourself?

00:26:33.848 --> 00:26:35.729
That's kind of like the way that I see it a lot of times.

00:26:35.739 --> 00:26:51.318
So would you agree with the statement that the, your website is kind of the cornerstone of your, Marketing, no matter who you are as a digital for sure, and there's the we've we've been transitioning into a world of like videos are really big now, especially if you show up.

00:26:51.818 --> 00:26:56.318
Like good quality video on like certain social medias like TikTok or Instagram.

00:26:56.318 --> 00:27:01.058
They can, of course, if you actually put fun stuff out there that lots of people wanna forward and like and stuff.

00:27:01.058 --> 00:27:01.179
Yeah.

00:27:01.179 --> 00:27:06.604
If you see like Geico, uh, the one example that I would put is them, it's like they have fun advertisement a lot of the times.

00:27:06.604 --> 00:27:06.884
Mm-Hmm.

00:27:07.298 --> 00:27:10.118
So it's one of those things that it's like you, you get a laugh.

00:27:10.298 --> 00:27:10.509
Yeah.

00:27:10.513 --> 00:27:15.729
And they offer you something that you might be, so you, if you think in the future about insurance, then you might think of them.

00:27:15.759 --> 00:27:16.088
Sure.

00:27:16.179 --> 00:27:17.203
So it's that like.

00:27:18.134 --> 00:27:21.334
I feel like I would say almost nobody wouldn't think of Geico.

00:27:21.384 --> 00:27:21.743
Yeah.

00:27:21.743 --> 00:27:23.854
At this point, at this point, right.

00:27:23.903 --> 00:27:32.263
But I feel like they, they, before, before they started doing the, their 3d like Geico advertisements, I never heard of the company.

00:27:32.503 --> 00:27:33.713
And then they started doing that.

00:27:33.874 --> 00:27:34.963
like, Oh, this is fun.

00:27:34.963 --> 00:27:37.243
And they have like, really like catchy.

00:27:38.013 --> 00:27:42.003
It's like, okay, now I, Hey, I, my, but my insurance is Geico.

00:27:42.013 --> 00:27:45.483
So it's one of those things that is like, okay, I, this is kind of like what I use.

00:27:46.213 --> 00:27:47.453
So, but in.

00:27:48.324 --> 00:27:57.614
It's really interesting to come into a world of that where like, there's somebody doing the fun things and Attracting people the fun way and then you have you want to come in.

00:27:57.614 --> 00:28:19.153
It's like well, but our business is still serious I can guarantee you Geico but multi billion dollar company is very serious, right, but they knew how to attract people So if you know how to attract the people and that to me comes down to like your website It's like if you're gonna come in it's gonna be just like a black like slate that it just has nothing interesting to it Yeah, it's just like very Kind of like dull.

00:28:19.473 --> 00:28:40.249
Yeah, then hey you You're not you're not bringing your passion into what it is, and it might be like your formal Well, where or something then there are ways to do visuals that are still professional That are still sharp, that are, will be attractive, and that look modern, and that look like something that you want to approach.

00:28:40.278 --> 00:28:46.298
So it, there are, that's the, that's the beauty of marketing is that there are a million ways to do things all the time.

00:28:46.489 --> 00:28:46.828
Yeah.

00:28:47.019 --> 00:28:49.608
You don't have to be stuck 30 years ago.

00:28:49.808 --> 00:28:56.288
I, I feel like I should have a, like I've kind of wanted an avatar of some sort for Loco Think Tank for a while.

00:28:56.298 --> 00:28:58.594
Like, Cause it's a complicated thing to sell.

00:28:58.594 --> 00:29:07.864
We've got this peer advisory membership experience that you can't even look at until you've been vetted by two different people and come and visit and stuff.

00:29:07.864 --> 00:29:25.003
And so it's not very on display or anything, but, but the, my, my avatar could be like, You know, a grumpy old fox that finally decided that he should listen to other people's opinions and perspectives before making his own decisions.

00:29:25.003 --> 00:29:32.824
And then all of a sudden, after that, everything started to go right for him, you know, and then he found a girl and he made his business work better.

00:29:32.824 --> 00:29:36.874
And he got along better with his kids from his first marriage.

00:29:36.993 --> 00:29:37.423
It didn't work.

00:29:37.564 --> 00:29:37.943
I don't know.

00:29:38.354 --> 00:29:44.413
Anyway, no, but I think that because it also gets you thinking out again, outside of your head.

00:29:44.713 --> 00:29:47.413
And think in the business as that other person.

00:29:47.584 --> 00:29:50.489
It's like, like, Business is business.

00:29:50.489 --> 00:29:51.318
Love is love.

00:29:51.398 --> 00:29:52.419
Friendship is friendship.

00:29:52.618 --> 00:29:53.848
You have different persona.

00:29:53.898 --> 00:29:55.088
Like you already do that.

00:29:55.368 --> 00:30:01.148
You're not, you don't treat your friend like there is love with your friends, but you won't trade them exactly.

00:30:01.148 --> 00:30:03.179
If I told my wife, this is just business, baby.

00:30:03.209 --> 00:30:03.628
Yeah.

00:30:03.669 --> 00:30:05.159
I do would be in big trouble.

00:30:05.848 --> 00:30:08.679
So I feel like you do have those.

00:30:08.868 --> 00:30:11.679
personifications of, of interactions with people.

00:30:11.679 --> 00:30:13.959
And that's the same way that you have to treat your business.

00:30:14.259 --> 00:30:19.959
If you're that person that it's going to treat business as friendly, then you're might get screwed over by a bunch of people.

00:30:20.159 --> 00:30:23.659
That should show up in the right way and be friendly when people get there.

00:30:23.689 --> 00:30:24.429
Yeah, exactly.

00:30:24.499 --> 00:30:25.949
So it can't be inauthentic either.

00:30:25.979 --> 00:30:26.348
Yeah.

00:30:26.679 --> 00:30:30.378
So I think that you like taking that out.

00:30:30.798 --> 00:30:45.778
When you're doing branding and understanding like this is kind of like that person is gonna feel like talking to them Yeah, then you can you can play your business that way and then you're actually that authentic is like this business is gonna feel this way Yeah, this business is gonna run this way.

00:30:45.808 --> 00:30:47.259
We're gonna talk this manner.

00:30:47.259 --> 00:31:02.669
We're gonna help people this way Yeah, well if I'm like Geico like I think part of what they probably succeeded is And is yes, insurance is serious, you know, it's important things and like, you don't have to be so serious about it.

00:31:02.868 --> 00:31:05.949
Like you can have this little smart gecko running around here kind of thing.

00:31:05.959 --> 00:31:06.659
That's fine.

00:31:07.298 --> 00:31:07.499
Yeah.

00:31:07.499 --> 00:31:13.118
And there, there, and there are definitely that like perspectives of attractiveness versus like, we do business this way.

00:31:13.459 --> 00:31:15.038
So you, you can, you, it's.

00:31:15.719 --> 00:31:20.679
You see businesses out there that they're very flashy and once you come in, they're like, okay, this is very structured.

00:31:20.699 --> 00:31:22.699
This is, there's no chaos about it.

00:31:22.699 --> 00:31:30.239
It was just like, the way we advertise is for, to be, you know, For you to come in once you're in, this is how we do things.

00:31:30.638 --> 00:31:36.288
So it's, it can be, you can break things up in a lot of different ways too.

00:31:36.459 --> 00:31:47.618
So as you look around, um, Fort Collins in Northern Colorado, you've been here a couple of years and in business now, who do you think as far as marketing agencies, who's.

00:31:48.203 --> 00:31:49.854
Doing it best other than you.

00:31:50.953 --> 00:31:52.013
No, no, I'm just kidding.

00:31:53.463 --> 00:31:57.933
Um, so there are, I'm pretty sure you've heard of Matt wire.

00:31:57.933 --> 00:32:02.403
I feel like they have a really solid approach towards like small businesses.

00:32:02.574 --> 00:32:02.884
Okay.

00:32:02.943 --> 00:32:07.358
Um, Honestly, I feel like they're becoming more of a SaaS company.

00:32:07.358 --> 00:32:09.868
Like, uh, try to become, yeah, yeah.

00:32:09.868 --> 00:32:11.159
And that's what they're pushing.

00:32:11.159 --> 00:32:21.568
So they, the, what I feel like what they started with, which was the very close knit approach that you are, you and I are partners in your business and whatnot, they might be losing a little bit of that.

00:32:21.919 --> 00:32:23.868
But Hey, I think that's where they're growing towards.

00:32:23.868 --> 00:32:25.479
And that's probably their future plan.

00:32:25.479 --> 00:32:27.699
It's just, Hey, this is going to be a suffer for you.

00:32:27.999 --> 00:32:32.269
And then if you want a little extra help, you can pay a little more and whatnot, but you have everything here.

00:32:32.269 --> 00:32:35.358
So I think it's a solid pivot for them to do that.

00:32:35.409 --> 00:32:38.538
It's a solid kind of like approach on that end.

00:32:38.989 --> 00:32:44.588
But that's kind of like why I wanted to start what I'm doing, because I like that personal connection.

00:32:44.588 --> 00:32:45.788
Yeah.

00:32:45.788 --> 00:32:51.068
And at the end of the day, I want to fix your problems specifically for you.

00:32:51.068 --> 00:32:51.134
Yeah.

00:32:51.403 --> 00:32:57.663
I don't want to fix your problem because, Oh, this is the box that I gave the other company and it worked for them.

00:32:57.663 --> 00:32:58.614
So it might work for you.

00:32:58.614 --> 00:33:00.874
It's like, no, I want to put the same bandaid on your solution.

00:33:00.884 --> 00:33:01.499
Yeah, exactly.

00:33:01.499 --> 00:33:10.993
So I call it like painting everything in the different shades of gray, where you're not going to shine, you're not going to come out of the crowd and stand out.

00:33:11.003 --> 00:33:11.304
Yeah.

00:33:11.304 --> 00:33:16.634
So I want to paint you the right color so you can actually come out and be like, and shine above everything else.

00:33:17.253 --> 00:33:17.663
Fair enough.

00:33:18.193 --> 00:33:18.854
Um, yeah.

00:33:19.534 --> 00:33:23.273
What are some of the other, what are some of your pet peeves in the marketing industry?

00:33:24.364 --> 00:33:27.433
Like things that people spend money on that just doesn't ever work.

00:33:27.433 --> 00:33:28.973
Do you have any of those or otherwise?

00:33:30.523 --> 00:33:57.628
I've heard a couple times and I've seen it a couple times too where people invest in this like huge name Of a person that's going to come in and solve all your issues and they're just like, like a consultant or like, almost like a consultant and these people charge 100, 150, 000 for like a four to six month period and then they just do nothing.

00:33:57.679 --> 00:33:58.088
Right.

00:33:58.439 --> 00:34:09.009
Like I've one of the ones that I recently heard they got this guy comes into a like a multi million dollar company that sells a bunch of products that were like really in the up and up they started getting a little stagnant.

00:34:09.099 --> 00:34:09.539
Yeah.

00:34:10.208 --> 00:34:20.088
They needed to change so many things because they were like hammering money in things that they didn't need to put money into and then they bring this guy and I think the guy was charging like 30k a month, something like that.

00:34:20.108 --> 00:34:20.458
Right.

00:34:20.458 --> 00:34:21.309
It's insane.

00:34:21.748 --> 00:34:27.449
The first thing that the guy says is like, we have to start buying domains for, for promoting things.

00:34:27.469 --> 00:34:28.739
Uh, no, no, no, man.

00:34:28.748 --> 00:34:32.108
Like, and then it's like, Oh, we need to start giving people merchandise.

00:34:32.739 --> 00:34:33.648
For their purchases.

00:34:33.648 --> 00:34:39.259
Like, can we get like an actual solution instead of like a 2002 solution.

00:34:39.259 --> 00:34:41.168
He has some ideas that have worked before.

00:34:41.179 --> 00:34:50.739
Yeah in your world, but yeah I think the guy was just like he there's a saying in Venezuela that it's like every day a moron goes out on the street.

00:34:50.739 --> 00:35:07.028
It's like whoever finds it is theirs So it's, it's one of those things that you're like, you, somebody will, will go out and be on this like snake oil path and then it's like, if I find you and you want to buy snake oil, please take all my supply.

00:35:07.699 --> 00:35:12.668
In my, in America, we have a phrase that goes back to the, probably the forties or fifties.

00:35:13.349 --> 00:35:15.059
Uh, there's a sucker born every day.

00:35:15.978 --> 00:35:17.778
Yeah, it's an interesting thing.

00:35:17.778 --> 00:35:30.969
It's like, if you find it on the street with a bunch of money in their hands and they're just willing to hand it out for basically nothing in return, then you're like, you know what, maybe, but if that's your business model, there might be some seasons of drought between customers.

00:35:30.978 --> 00:35:31.438
Yeah.

00:35:31.478 --> 00:35:32.048
Yeah, for sure.

00:35:32.048 --> 00:35:36.268
But Hey, if you make 300, 000 in one year, you might be able to survive a couple of years on that.

00:35:36.268 --> 00:35:39.918
Um, so I feel like.

00:35:40.199 --> 00:35:51.759
Um, you know, from a business standpoint, there's not any, you don't have any special software is really more an intuition and awareness around kind of the holistic suite around digital marketing.

00:35:51.759 --> 00:35:52.619
Is that fair to say?

00:35:52.719 --> 00:35:53.119
Yeah.

00:35:53.119 --> 00:35:53.389
Yeah.

00:35:53.389 --> 00:36:03.369
And the, the, and the whole idea is to, I, I want to create those smaller boxes at first so we can start advancing every single one.

00:36:03.378 --> 00:36:08.768
And that's one of the things that I tell people say, Hey, it's not only your website, it's also like, let's start attacking your social media.

00:36:09.079 --> 00:36:10.739
Let's start attacking your SEO piece.

00:36:10.759 --> 00:36:16.099
Let's start seeing where are other areas that you can promote yourself, that you can get out.

00:36:16.108 --> 00:36:23.528
So there is a, some, somewhat a like non online approach to the marketing as well, because it's like, it's recommendations.

00:36:23.539 --> 00:36:29.239
It's like, Hey, if you, if you, if you have a thousand dollars, don't put a thousand dollars into social media.

00:36:30.079 --> 00:36:32.989
Let's do 300 here, 300 there, 200 here, 200 here.

00:36:33.059 --> 00:36:33.369
Right.

00:36:34.009 --> 00:36:36.889
If this one, like the number one, starts moving forward.

00:36:36.929 --> 00:36:38.259
No response to this one.

00:36:38.548 --> 00:36:42.949
Yeah, but this one is dying out, then you take that money out and then distribute it somewhere else.

00:36:42.949 --> 00:36:43.248
Yeah.

00:36:43.289 --> 00:36:52.239
So it's like not putting all your eggs in one basket, but at the same time it's like if you see that one of the baskets is like rotting out, then just like get rid of that basket and keep putting it where it actually matters.

00:36:52.239 --> 00:36:54.199
So you're very analytics driven it sounds like.

00:36:54.199 --> 00:36:54.679
Yeah, yeah.

00:36:54.679 --> 00:36:56.559
And a lot of the times too is.

00:36:58.253 --> 00:37:08.384
I tell myself sometimes, and I don't know if this is the right thing to think, but it's just, I think that I have a good old school brain with the new, like, school brain, like, mixed together.

00:37:08.384 --> 00:37:11.813
You understand the technology plus the actual, the psychology around it.

00:37:11.813 --> 00:37:20.153
Yeah, and, and, so I understand when, like, an older business owner comes in and is like, well, I want to do, like, like, news advertisement.

00:37:20.849 --> 00:37:31.039
Like I get where they're coming from and I try to translate that into like, Hey, let's modernize this approach and let's put it somewhere where it's, you're going to feel kind of like the same thing and it's actually going to bring something in.

00:37:31.829 --> 00:37:36.818
So it's that like, I, it's not only that, Oh, if you don't have TikTok, you're dead.

00:37:37.188 --> 00:37:38.608
No, I don't want to approach it that way.

00:37:38.608 --> 00:37:40.909
I want to approach it and say, so it's like, Hey, you hate tick tock.

00:37:41.208 --> 00:37:43.489
Hey, what about if we do like Facebook and instagram?

00:37:43.659 --> 00:37:47.498
Or what about if we do some other approach that could be?

00:37:47.548 --> 00:37:53.559
It's not maybe going to be as popular, but it could have some potential of like starting that snowball effect that you want.

00:37:53.608 --> 00:37:54.659
Right, right.

00:37:54.659 --> 00:38:07.914
Well, and I guess that's one question is In the demographic that you're working, it really relies on that founder or at least some of the core team members to help create content and stuff, right?

00:38:07.923 --> 00:38:18.164
Like, like for local think tank, I would probably have to be in some of the videos that were on my tick tock channel, for example, because I'm, I'm the face of local think tank.

00:38:18.173 --> 00:38:20.273
Nobody else can wear that mask, right?

00:38:20.983 --> 00:38:29.123
So like, is that kind of the part of the partnership is just agreeing together how much of the content that you create.

00:38:29.864 --> 00:38:33.463
Like has some contribution from them and stuff like that along the way.

00:38:33.523 --> 00:38:33.884
Yeah.

00:38:33.884 --> 00:38:42.074
So, and this is one of the things that I, that I almost harp on my clients a lot is I will get the commercial side of social media for you.

00:38:42.083 --> 00:38:52.514
So I will, I, I know that what clicks marketing wise, when it comes to a social media, I know what maybe might have people look at it twice, stuff like that.

00:38:52.739 --> 00:38:57.969
But again, going back to the whole thing, it's like, you are the passion behind your business, the heart of your business.

00:38:58.188 --> 00:39:00.969
So if you were posting before, keep doing that.

00:39:01.228 --> 00:39:04.548
We're just attacking the same problem from multiple perspectives.

00:39:04.608 --> 00:39:06.168
So I might get the.

00:39:06.528 --> 00:39:14.088
People that are just looking for business as business and you get the people that are looking for your business because it's like, Oh, oh, this is a really good.

00:39:14.278 --> 00:39:14.648
Yeah.

00:39:14.648 --> 00:39:17.958
It's like, oh, they had a really amazing video explaining this problem.

00:39:18.309 --> 00:39:19.619
And now I want to work with them.

00:39:19.748 --> 00:39:25.398
Yeah, so you have to have that multiple approach and that's where marketing can get a little crazy But it's to me.

00:39:25.398 --> 00:39:39.673
It's fun to me is that puzzle where you're like, okay Let's just put stuff together and then we'll test out things and then we keep adding like getting our data And then from there we keep pivoting and pivoting Until you become that monster in your industry and you're, you're that Titan.

00:39:40.643 --> 00:39:50.054
Then you get to that point where you're like, okay, now we can, now we can start really getting into the weird stuff and not once you, once you have like a really solid.

00:39:50.474 --> 00:40:05.614
Approach where all you get people come in and then you're, you're growing the same way with some experimentation because then now maybe you thought of this idea five years ago that you wanted to promote your business this way, but it, it could be a very risky thing.

00:40:06.094 --> 00:40:10.583
Now you're making X amount of money that you're like, okay, this is so much extra than I thought it was going to be.

00:40:11.054 --> 00:40:12.244
Now I can experiment on this.

00:40:12.653 --> 00:40:17.074
So it gives you a little bit that too, of like, you still have the reins on your, on your business.

00:40:17.664 --> 00:40:20.164
With that, like, voice from the outside telling you.

00:40:20.164 --> 00:40:26.623
So I can create my, uh, my animated cartoon series with all the different avatars of loco members.

00:40:26.623 --> 00:40:32.994
Like the crazy old fox, and the spring chicken, and the rabbit that is always a little bit scared of taking the next step.

00:40:33.324 --> 00:40:37.228
I could totally have, like, a child friendly animated cartoon.

00:40:37.739 --> 00:40:45.648
Children's show sponsored by Loco Think Tank, reflecting all these fears and challenges that business owners face as they're trying to make decisions.

00:40:45.688 --> 00:40:52.199
Yeah, and also probably something that we very much need is teach people about business, conducting business.

00:40:52.219 --> 00:40:52.679
Totally.

00:40:53.188 --> 00:40:55.092
And you don't have to be 40.

00:40:55.092 --> 00:40:59.518
Well, you could teach kids about conducting business and pushing a pencil to things and stuff.

00:40:59.528 --> 00:40:59.548
Yeah.

00:40:59.949 --> 00:41:04.989
I only need a, I'm pretty sure for like 60, 000 a month.

00:41:05.373 --> 00:41:10.673
I could create a series like that, but my revenues are only 50, 000 a month right now.

00:41:10.884 --> 00:41:12.074
And so we're going to have to wait.

00:41:12.744 --> 00:41:14.664
Hey, maybe, maybe we can work together.

00:41:14.903 --> 00:41:23.393
And we can get you to no, but I feel like this industry is about education.

00:41:23.724 --> 00:41:23.963
Yeah.

00:41:23.963 --> 00:41:25.284
Education is key.

00:41:25.293 --> 00:41:29.061
And then you tell people your customers and your clients for you.

00:41:29.061 --> 00:41:29.416
Yeah.

00:41:29.416 --> 00:41:30.844
And to me, I.

00:41:31.414 --> 00:41:49.353
Like, I know that a lot of companies, like marketing companies, will come to you with all these acronyms and all these names and all this like Like fancy things that they, it's like, and they're just confusing the clients so they can sign the papers to me is like, Hey, I want to, you're going to probably get tired of me because I'm going to explain everything.

00:41:49.353 --> 00:41:51.403
I want to, I want to be as open as possible.

00:41:51.684 --> 00:41:53.934
And I want to teach you what the acronyms mean.

00:41:54.193 --> 00:41:57.054
And I want to tell you that this is not a complicated science.

00:41:57.083 --> 00:41:57.724
I just.

00:41:58.014 --> 00:42:02.974
Like to do it where a lot of people it's like, yeah, it's not complicated, but I hate marketing.

00:42:02.983 --> 00:42:03.414
Yeah.

00:42:04.543 --> 00:42:06.773
What, uh, what's your typical client engagement?

00:42:06.784 --> 00:42:08.574
Are they on retainer?

00:42:08.634 --> 00:42:11.963
They're paying two, three, four, 5, 000 a month.

00:42:11.974 --> 00:42:12.693
Something like that.

00:42:13.284 --> 00:42:15.893
Do you have a certain amount of like, yeah.

00:42:15.943 --> 00:42:16.873
Talk to me about that.

00:42:16.893 --> 00:42:19.893
So I like to, Play it per case.

00:42:20.414 --> 00:42:22.324
A lot of the times I'll find custom pricing.

00:42:22.324 --> 00:42:22.773
We'll call it.

00:42:22.893 --> 00:42:23.313
Yeah.

00:42:23.313 --> 00:42:29.253
And, and, and not necessarily like you're going to pay more than the other person because you are more profitable than the other person.

00:42:29.813 --> 00:42:44.713
Uh, cause that's kind of like shadies, but the whole idea is, Hey, you might have the money to put up front right now, a little bit more than the other business that is starting out and then, so I'll take a bigger investment on them, like a bigger risk on that other person than you.

00:42:45.068 --> 00:42:47.338
So you put more upfront work on it.

00:42:47.358 --> 00:42:47.728
Yes.

00:42:47.748 --> 00:42:47.969
Yeah.

00:42:47.969 --> 00:42:49.608
So I try to balance it out in that way.

00:42:49.608 --> 00:42:50.648
And sometimes it is.

00:42:51.824 --> 00:42:58.043
I've had people that come to me and say, Hey, I only have like 200, 300 a month, which any other big company is going to tell you.

00:42:58.043 --> 00:42:58.934
So yeah, we'll kick rocks.

00:42:59.833 --> 00:43:01.233
We're not going to less than a thousand.

00:43:01.233 --> 00:43:01.673
Yeah, exactly.

00:43:01.724 --> 00:43:05.063
If you don't have like, sorry, I can't hear you or less than 2000.

00:43:05.063 --> 00:43:05.713
Yeah, exactly.

00:43:05.813 --> 00:43:06.603
So yeah, I don't know.

00:43:07.474 --> 00:43:08.893
Our team is not for that.

00:43:09.134 --> 00:43:13.983
So I like to be like, Hey, you movement, movement, movement, movement.

00:43:13.983 --> 00:43:16.873
That's all I want because I need to have your data.

00:43:17.619 --> 00:43:25.728
And maybe the first few months, you're not going to see something like very like, Oh my God, you made my life so much better, but you have that data.

00:43:25.978 --> 00:43:28.998
So now in the future, you got 10 more clients.

00:43:29.318 --> 00:43:32.159
Now you can actually invest in the things that have already been working.

00:43:32.168 --> 00:43:34.599
Oh, and Diego got four of them for me or six of them for me.

00:43:34.599 --> 00:43:35.478
Yeah, exactly.

00:43:36.268 --> 00:43:44.693
I might increase Diego's thing from 300 a month up to 500 a month because it seems to be, And to me, I call it my self serving prophecy.

00:43:45.213 --> 00:43:52.563
So it's kind of like to me, if I help you go from 10 clients a month to 50 clients a month.

00:43:52.994 --> 00:43:57.713
You might be paying 200 now, but if you multiply it by five, then you pay 1, 000.

00:43:57.713 --> 00:44:00.213
That's kind of like, uh, now you're at least breaking even.

00:44:00.213 --> 00:44:00.963
Yeah, exactly.

00:44:00.963 --> 00:44:09.903
So, and, and I, I feel like the business, the way that I, the way that we do it, since we don't have like this up cost of, oh, we have a board of directors.

00:44:09.903 --> 00:44:13.353
We have like seven people that I have to keep on, on salary.

00:44:15.164 --> 00:44:17.793
I still am profitable with the smaller companies.

00:44:18.034 --> 00:44:19.523
And that's why that's the beauty.

00:44:19.523 --> 00:44:27.094
And that's what I, what I love about what I do is that I can approach you and be like, Hey, you don't, you don't have to like mortgage your house.

00:44:27.554 --> 00:44:29.103
To get, get me paid.

00:44:30.003 --> 00:44:32.199
So I like to give that opportunity.

00:44:32.199 --> 00:44:35.876
As long as your central interface, uh, holds up.

00:44:35.876 --> 00:44:36.693
Yeah, exactly.

00:44:36.693 --> 00:44:38.737
I don't wanna go insane.

00:44:38.737 --> 00:44:40.574
Although, that might be already a little late.

00:44:41.403 --> 00:44:52.759
I would imagine that, you know, you can probably manage to, about the strategic direction of 20 clients or something like that if they're selected within a band and things like that.

00:44:52.759 --> 00:44:53.039
Yeah.

00:44:53.099 --> 00:45:02.119
I've actually, uh, my worst time with an agency, working in the agency, I had up, upwards to I think it was 80 clients.

00:45:02.179 --> 00:45:03.509
Oh, for, were you at Medwire?

00:45:03.548 --> 00:45:03.878
Yeah.

00:45:04.018 --> 00:45:04.579
Oh, okay.

00:45:04.628 --> 00:45:07.228
And it was, well, how do you keep 80 clients?

00:45:07.668 --> 00:45:09.378
You can't, no, you can't.

00:45:09.389 --> 00:45:10.748
There's no, there's no way.

00:45:11.278 --> 00:45:16.478
Cause it, like, if you see it this way, small client will take you two to four hours.

00:45:17.134 --> 00:45:18.634
A month to get things done.

00:45:18.844 --> 00:45:23.824
Maybe five, add a little admin here and there, maybe sending an email and making sure that everything's correct.

00:45:23.844 --> 00:45:26.434
Once you're trained up on what they do properly and blah, blah, blah.

00:45:26.653 --> 00:45:30.114
Uh, a decent client, it's 10, 12 hours.

00:45:30.134 --> 00:45:32.994
So you're spending a full day with just one client.

00:45:32.994 --> 00:45:39.331
And if you have 80 and you only have 22, 25 days a month that you're working, there's no way.

00:45:39.331 --> 00:45:40.028
Everybody gets sick.

00:45:40.978 --> 00:45:41.418
Sort of.

00:45:41.518 --> 00:45:42.539
Yeah, there's no way.

00:45:42.539 --> 00:45:47.778
So it got to the point where it was just like, it's, I am, I, I'm an overachiever.

00:45:48.393 --> 00:45:49.364
So I like to do it.

00:45:49.373 --> 00:45:54.864
So I was, I was working 70, 80 hours a week being paid a salary.

00:45:54.974 --> 00:45:55.304
Right.

00:45:55.324 --> 00:45:57.054
Cause I didn't want to let my people down.

00:45:57.094 --> 00:45:57.463
Right.

00:45:57.653 --> 00:46:03.534
Cause at the end of the day, some, some of these people, it's like, Hey, small and pop, they need these, they need it.

00:46:03.534 --> 00:46:03.744
Yeah.

00:46:03.744 --> 00:46:04.393
They need to move.

00:46:04.903 --> 00:46:06.574
So I'm like, I can't let them down.

00:46:06.574 --> 00:46:08.983
You were like an ideal employee for a while, huh?

00:46:09.204 --> 00:46:13.523
Uh, I, it's funny because my numbers were always at the a hundred and.

00:46:13.748 --> 00:46:17.838
10, 120 percent every month because I wanted to get that done.

00:46:18.349 --> 00:46:22.748
But then I started to realize it's like, this is like some of the people appreciate it.

00:46:22.748 --> 00:46:24.188
I'm grinding myself into a fine powder here.

00:46:24.188 --> 00:46:24.938
Yeah, exactly.

00:46:24.938 --> 00:46:55.844
And at the end, at the end, it's like, if I'm getting, uh, like actual Like extra money every time that I do something like this great, but it's just like nobody's noticing nobody's it's like and i'm not here To be like, oh my god, you're such a great employee I'm, just like but the appreciation of your employees, especially when somebody's like bleeding for your company Come on, man, you give them a little a little something give them a little push whatever it may be And I think that a lot of business owners Don't have that idea.

00:46:56.173 --> 00:47:00.603
And sometimes it might be that you're drowning in your own, like, okay, this is, I need to make this happen.

00:47:00.704 --> 00:47:00.983
Yeah.

00:47:01.233 --> 00:47:08.204
Um, that it gets to a point where it might be complicated for you to acknowledge that, but I don't want to get there.

00:47:08.204 --> 00:47:11.614
I don't want my company to get to the point where I can't acknowledge people.

00:47:12.579 --> 00:47:13.918
And that to me is very big.

00:47:13.929 --> 00:47:16.728
So I am, I learned it.

00:47:16.728 --> 00:47:19.349
You'd like to grow and become a boutique marketing.

00:47:19.358 --> 00:47:19.798
Yes.

00:47:19.798 --> 00:47:20.079
Yes.

00:47:20.079 --> 00:47:28.228
And I, and I want to, I, I would love to do for like, for BMW to come in tomorrow and be like, Hey, we're doing this campaign for this brand new car.

00:47:28.974 --> 00:47:31.713
That would be kind of like, wow, this is fantastic.

00:47:31.864 --> 00:47:44.083
But if I can help that small person to go from like, okay, I'm barely making it by having two more, uh, two other jobs with the company that I'm trying to get out of the ground to be like, now I'm going full in.

00:47:44.143 --> 00:47:44.364
Yeah.

00:47:44.364 --> 00:47:45.393
And I've got two employees.

00:47:45.454 --> 00:47:45.884
Yeah.

00:47:45.903 --> 00:47:47.804
That to me is like, crap.

00:47:47.864 --> 00:47:49.724
It's like, we're helping the people around.

00:47:49.724 --> 00:47:53.824
So it's, it, and I see myself a lot in the, in those situations because.

00:47:54.844 --> 00:47:56.833
I've been through it and I'm going through it as well.

00:47:56.974 --> 00:47:57.344
Right.

00:47:57.503 --> 00:48:04.954
It's just, it's that thing like How do you, uh, resonate with the term, uh, the cobbler's kids have no shoes?

00:48:05.373 --> 00:48:06.094
How's your website?

00:48:06.273 --> 00:48:08.443
Uh, it actually It's pretty good now?

00:48:08.443 --> 00:48:08.773
It's really good now.

00:48:08.773 --> 00:48:10.253
Okay, finally.

00:48:11.713 --> 00:48:17.623
Yeah, definitely before I was, I'm not gonna say I was disappointed because the visuals were there.

00:48:17.634 --> 00:48:19.643
It looked pretty, it looked clean, it looked sharp.

00:48:19.983 --> 00:48:22.224
It gave you all the information that you needed.

00:48:22.224 --> 00:48:25.764
It And it gave you the, the, the, the funnels to go through it.

00:48:25.764 --> 00:48:32.224
So the, the technical piece was there in the, some of the visuals aspect too, but it wasn't the last thing that I wanted.

00:48:32.304 --> 00:48:33.724
It wasn't like, this is it.

00:48:34.043 --> 00:48:35.503
So now it's one of those.

00:48:35.503 --> 00:48:37.893
It's like, okay, now, now I can breathe up a little bit.

00:48:37.893 --> 00:48:43.563
And I know in six months to a year, I'm going to come up with a brand new idea and be like, okay, let's see if we can switch something out.

00:48:43.804 --> 00:48:44.273
Fair enough.

00:48:44.583 --> 00:48:45.284
So, yeah.

00:48:45.878 --> 00:48:53.878
Um, so I want to jump in the time machine unless you're, unless you have anything else you'd like to share about marketing tips with our listeners.

00:48:53.998 --> 00:49:01.699
Uh, well, well, the big marketing tip that I can give somebody to do something now.

00:49:03.184 --> 00:49:04.224
Just move every day.

00:49:04.273 --> 00:49:05.034
Just do something.

00:49:05.043 --> 00:49:08.184
No, and not necessarily like go and serve your client.

00:49:08.344 --> 00:49:17.804
It's like tonight, take 15 minutes and learn how to do a solid Instagram and Facebook post and then do that twice a month.

00:49:19.623 --> 00:49:27.474
Keep the engine oil because if you oil it today and then you wait six months, the oil is going to be all like dry and sticky.

00:49:27.483 --> 00:49:27.954
Yeah, yeah.

00:49:28.224 --> 00:49:30.583
And then the engine is going to take a little longer to move.

00:49:31.083 --> 00:49:34.943
And then the other thing too, is like, uh, with SEO is a bigger piece.

00:49:35.594 --> 00:49:40.153
A good SEO campaign will take you six months to start seeing some numbers move.

00:49:41.853 --> 00:49:44.043
If you wait a year, you're waiting a year and a half.

00:49:44.514 --> 00:49:46.373
If you wait two, you're waiting two and a half.

00:49:46.454 --> 00:49:47.384
Like planting a tree.

00:49:47.443 --> 00:49:48.264
Yeah, exactly.

00:49:48.264 --> 00:49:52.603
So the, the longer you wait to plant that seed, the longer it takes for you to get that.

00:49:52.603 --> 00:49:55.603
It's not like, Oh, in six months, I'm going to put like really big effort.

00:49:56.063 --> 00:49:57.474
It's still gonna take you six months.

00:49:57.844 --> 00:49:59.184
So you're seeing a year out.

00:49:59.824 --> 00:50:02.634
So, to me, it's like, just start oiling things.

00:50:02.903 --> 00:50:06.713
Start looking up, maybe, hey, I wanna get a new website.

00:50:06.724 --> 00:50:10.474
Start looking for, hey, look into my company and then I can help you out.

00:50:10.733 --> 00:50:11.083
Right, right.

00:50:11.414 --> 00:50:13.153
Like from zero down, I don't care.

00:50:13.574 --> 00:50:15.813
I wanna help people move.

00:50:16.373 --> 00:50:17.583
So you need to move now.

00:50:19.014 --> 00:50:21.764
You know, if I look back at my, I'm the most famous on LinkedIn.

00:50:21.813 --> 00:50:27.324
I've got a lot of Facebook friends and stuff, but LinkedIn is like thousands of followers on there.

00:50:27.324 --> 00:50:31.494
And we had a firm that for a while was using my LinkedIn to approach leads and stuff.

00:50:32.213 --> 00:50:46.349
Um, but in that space, like if you looked at back at my LinkedIn feed for the last several months, like there'd be almost every week, Uh, podcast release.

00:50:46.349 --> 00:50:53.389
Hey, thanks to Diego Rago Vega, Rago Vega, uh, for being my guest this week.

00:50:53.599 --> 00:50:59.458
And it'll get, you know, a smattering 15 to 30 likes, depending, and a few comments.

00:50:59.458 --> 00:51:00.809
Hey, he's such a great guy.

00:51:01.369 --> 00:51:15.293
Um, and then there's a bunch of, you know, You know, shared posts, reposted posts of usually something about the government or the climate fear fiasco enterprise or something.

00:51:16.023 --> 00:51:20.298
And then the ones that actually get attention is when I like write something authentic about climate change.

00:51:20.809 --> 00:51:24.389
My team or one of my facilitators or myself or something.

00:51:24.869 --> 00:51:32.148
And that for me, at least is like, those are the real posts, but I only do it once a month at best.

00:51:32.329 --> 00:51:32.639
Yeah.

00:51:32.639 --> 00:51:49.398
And, and I feel like a good, a good approach on like, let's say on our end would be understanding how you think, and then you're, we're probably not going to pull the trigger on the post itself, but we can get you something very solid that it's like you read it and then you change a couple of things.

00:51:49.409 --> 00:51:49.909
Yeah.

00:51:49.909 --> 00:51:49.978
Yeah.

00:51:50.188 --> 00:51:58.188
And then it's you still that's talking, it's kind of like the new mentality of AI that you needed so much information and at some point it's going to talk like you.

00:51:58.248 --> 00:51:58.708
Yeah, yeah.

00:51:58.728 --> 00:52:00.349
So it's, it's kind of like that situation.

00:52:00.349 --> 00:52:08.938
So that burden is also taken off your shoulders to sometimes the hardest thing is to sit down and write the first sentence.

00:52:09.329 --> 00:52:09.748
Totally.

00:52:10.199 --> 00:52:16.199
Once you have that first, and I say it in the sense of like, I wrote a book two years ago, a science fiction novel.

00:52:16.199 --> 00:52:16.239
Yeah.

00:52:16.509 --> 00:52:21.688
And the first time that I approached the situation, I was like, this sucks.

00:52:21.688 --> 00:52:22.449
I can't do it.

00:52:22.449 --> 00:52:23.389
I'm not a writer.

00:52:23.398 --> 00:52:25.028
This is never going to happen.

00:52:25.259 --> 00:52:28.728
And then I ended up writing 125, 000 words for a, for a book.

00:52:28.728 --> 00:52:34.048
So it's that it's like, it's, it's like that first sentence is always the hardest.

00:52:34.079 --> 00:52:36.699
And then once you get that done, it's, you can roll with it.

00:52:36.719 --> 00:52:42.548
And that kind of like, it would be our approach too, that if you're struggling with that first couple, like.

00:52:42.824 --> 00:52:43.134
Letters.

00:52:43.164 --> 00:52:43.324
Yeah.

00:52:43.324 --> 00:52:43.693
Yeah.

00:52:43.733 --> 00:52:44.653
We'll give it to you.

00:52:44.653 --> 00:52:50.954
And all you have to do is read it and then be like, okay, in, in my spark, Well, you can probably use chat GPT or something too.

00:52:51.094 --> 00:52:51.414
Yeah.

00:52:51.454 --> 00:52:52.733
Hey, write a draft.

00:52:53.114 --> 00:52:53.434
Yeah.

00:52:53.514 --> 00:52:56.043
Article about da da da.

00:52:56.043 --> 00:52:56.373
Yeah.

00:52:56.583 --> 00:52:56.824
Yeah.

00:52:56.853 --> 00:52:57.474
For this guy.

00:52:57.704 --> 00:52:57.923
Yeah.

00:52:57.923 --> 00:53:01.284
And it's in that, that you guys could polish it up.

00:53:01.403 --> 00:53:02.204
Send it to me.

00:53:02.253 --> 00:53:02.534
Yeah.

00:53:02.583 --> 00:53:03.733
Now listen, I just got to click.

00:53:03.733 --> 00:53:04.074
Yes.

00:53:04.123 --> 00:53:04.914
Yeah, exactly.

00:53:04.914 --> 00:53:12.018
So it's, it, you're, that's why I want to have people think and feel that you're still, Are in control.

00:53:12.199 --> 00:53:12.688
Right.

00:53:12.969 --> 00:53:15.559
And at the end of the day, it's still, it's still you.

00:53:15.958 --> 00:53:17.228
It's still your company who's talking.

00:53:17.228 --> 00:53:20.978
It's not Obsidian Atlas through your, yeah.

00:53:21.418 --> 00:53:32.659
I've got people telling me I should become, you know, the, the founder of a collection of small business groups, including the CEOs of some notable brands and act like that.

00:53:32.719 --> 00:53:33.009
Yeah.

00:53:33.208 --> 00:53:35.744
And then others are like, Nope, keep sharing that.

00:53:35.844 --> 00:53:37.454
Conspiracy theory is shit, Kurt.

00:53:37.454 --> 00:53:39.514
I love you saying stuff that nobody else wants to.

00:53:41.463 --> 00:53:44.063
So, I'm working on my own personal brand.

00:53:44.304 --> 00:53:49.474
Well, you have the voice for it, so I think you have a good voice to get people following, so that's good.

00:53:49.483 --> 00:53:50.193
Well, we'll see.

00:53:50.193 --> 00:53:53.353
I don't know if I'm moderate so far, and if I stop talking.

00:53:54.733 --> 00:54:00.324
Would I lose followers if I stop with the conspiracy theorist stuff, or would I gain followers if I stop with that?

00:54:00.324 --> 00:54:00.983
I don't know.

00:54:01.164 --> 00:54:03.434
I feel like you can, you can still do both.

00:54:03.434 --> 00:54:14.233
I feel like, and I think that's the biggest, the, the, kind of like the other perspective of me coming into this, is that I want to make this fun.

00:54:15.054 --> 00:54:19.173
And if sometimes I'm going to post some silly stuff on Instagram for the company, great.

00:54:19.514 --> 00:54:22.344
If you don't like it, man, there's a million other companies out there.

00:54:22.563 --> 00:54:26.204
And there's a million other companies out there that might be for you or not for you.

00:54:26.304 --> 00:54:26.634
Yeah.

00:54:27.114 --> 00:54:28.153
The same goes with budget.

00:54:28.153 --> 00:54:30.813
If I tell somebody like, Hey, I can do as cheap as 500.

00:54:30.833 --> 00:54:33.134
I know that no other company is going to give you that price.

00:54:33.204 --> 00:54:33.494
Right.

00:54:33.679 --> 00:54:44.409
I'm probably the cheapest option that you and not because of sake of cheap is for the sake of like that self serving prophecy going back to it is that whole idea of like, Hey, if we get it started in the future, you're going to spend 5, 000 with me.

00:54:44.409 --> 00:54:45.849
I don't, that's kind of the thing.

00:54:45.849 --> 00:54:50.918
But if you still think that I'm not for you because you didn't like me, because I don't know, you don't like that.

00:54:50.918 --> 00:54:52.418
I'm bold of whatever it may be.

00:54:52.418 --> 00:54:53.559
I just don't like Venezuelans.

00:54:53.579 --> 00:54:54.469
Yeah, there you go.

00:54:55.728 --> 00:54:56.108
Immigrant.

00:54:56.168 --> 00:54:56.708
No, I'm just kidding.

00:54:56.938 --> 00:54:57.659
But that's the thing.

00:54:57.659 --> 00:55:01.518
It's like, Hey, I know there are people out there that it's just like, Oh, you're an immigrant.

00:55:01.768 --> 00:55:03.128
I don't know if it's right.

00:55:03.528 --> 00:55:06.338
More power to you because you know what you want, right?

00:55:06.489 --> 00:55:12.509
So you don't have to you don't have to fight with me for six months to realize that you want to like kick me Out of the boat.

00:55:12.579 --> 00:55:12.778
Yeah.

00:55:12.778 --> 00:55:13.009
Yeah.

00:55:13.009 --> 00:55:13.329
Yeah.

00:55:13.548 --> 00:55:14.599
No, I think that's fair.

00:55:14.679 --> 00:55:28.708
So I I am not against Client saying no and I am not against me firing people too Yeah, like firing a client if you're if you're if you're getting on my nerves and then you everything that I do is a problem For you, then it's just like then this is definitely not gonna work, right?

00:55:29.159 --> 00:55:35.103
Because we need we need to be Partners in some way Yeah, mutual appreciation.

00:55:35.103 --> 00:55:35.764
Yeah, exactly.

00:55:35.764 --> 00:55:39.713
And you're going to disagree with some things that I say, and I'm going to disagree with some things that you say.

00:55:39.983 --> 00:55:41.784
So, that's how this game works.

00:55:42.244 --> 00:55:44.574
So, I think I want to call a short break.

00:55:44.764 --> 00:55:45.034
Yeah.

00:55:45.153 --> 00:55:50.264
And, uh, we'll refresh our bourbons and then go on with the time machine.

00:55:50.414 --> 00:55:50.884
Perfect.

00:56:35.739 --> 00:56:36.469
And we're back.

00:56:36.748 --> 00:56:38.849
Um, by the way, I lied to you just earlier.

00:56:38.849 --> 00:56:41.614
I actually like Vanoss Whalen's quite a lot.

00:56:41.614 --> 00:56:42.108
Yeah, yeah.

00:56:42.239 --> 00:56:46.548
Uh, and partly because I feel Terrible for what they've endured.

00:56:46.838 --> 00:56:52.559
Um, so you came to found your business after coming here and Madware.

00:56:52.989 --> 00:56:55.778
Um, how did you get to Fort Collins?

00:56:55.778 --> 00:56:58.318
Can we jump to the short term time machine first?

00:56:58.429 --> 00:56:58.849
Okay.

00:56:58.849 --> 00:56:59.179
Yeah.

00:56:59.179 --> 00:57:01.318
So I lived here when I was 10.

00:57:01.418 --> 00:57:02.248
Oh, Willie.

00:57:02.423 --> 00:57:03.693
80 100 years ago.

00:57:03.784 --> 00:57:04.224
Yeah, yeah.

00:57:05.264 --> 00:57:11.503
Um, in my sister and her family, I've been living here for 25 plus years.

00:57:11.503 --> 00:57:14.173
Oh, this whole thing was just like farmland still.

00:57:14.384 --> 00:57:17.914
Oh, it was just like half empty, empty town still pretty.

00:57:17.914 --> 00:57:20.364
It's still like that, like shadows wasn't even in power yet.

00:57:20.373 --> 00:57:21.724
Yeah, not not even.

00:57:21.733 --> 00:57:24.414
And then I came in when I was 10.

00:57:24.423 --> 00:57:27.103
I went to school here for those like six months.

00:57:27.103 --> 00:57:28.684
So it was kind of like a late thing.

00:57:28.693 --> 00:57:34.958
I got here on December, finished the school year, and then when went back, That's funny.

00:57:35.248 --> 00:57:40.539
Alma spent one semester in fourth grade when she was about ten, living in Mexico.

00:57:40.759 --> 00:57:41.159
Oh, nice.

00:57:41.208 --> 00:57:46.688
And she got turned into the temporary English teacher for the class because they found out that she could speak English.

00:57:46.688 --> 00:57:48.659
So they're like, oh yeah, well you're our new English teacher.

00:57:48.668 --> 00:57:49.039
Yeah.

00:57:49.059 --> 00:57:50.688
So, opposite land kind of for you guys.

00:57:50.688 --> 00:57:56.429
I actually had a really funny encounter with that because since the age of ten I've been, you know, Fully bilingual.

00:57:56.478 --> 00:57:56.849
Right.

00:57:56.958 --> 00:58:04.958
And then I've had so, so many bad encounters with like some English teachers back home because I'm like, I You suck at grammar.

00:58:04.958 --> 00:58:05.398
Sorry.

00:58:05.398 --> 00:58:14.543
I'm not trying to be a dick or anything, but it's just like you came up with these like things that are not Either like grammatically correct or they're well spoken.

00:58:14.583 --> 00:58:17.273
Whatever it may be.

00:58:17.273 --> 00:58:17.833
You're just wrong.

00:58:17.884 --> 00:58:22.034
Yeah, I wasn't, but I wasn't the type of guy who would come in and be like, you're, you're wrong.

00:58:22.043 --> 00:58:22.643
You suck.

00:58:22.804 --> 00:58:25.134
I would be like, what if we put it this way?

00:58:25.293 --> 00:58:26.623
What if you write it this way?

00:58:26.623 --> 00:58:28.653
And they were like, No, that's not how it goes.

00:58:28.653 --> 00:58:29.324
And I'm like, okay.

00:58:29.324 --> 00:58:31.724
And like five minutes later, they will auto correct themselves.

00:58:31.893 --> 00:58:34.204
Be like, well, I think this is better written this way.

00:58:34.204 --> 00:58:35.313
And I'm like, yeah, of course it is.

00:58:37.603 --> 00:58:38.143
That's funny.

00:58:38.193 --> 00:58:39.184
So yeah.

00:58:39.184 --> 00:58:42.233
And both a blessing and a curse to have that early bilingual action.

00:58:42.233 --> 00:58:53.733
Um, so once going back, the, we had that, that was kind of like probably our lowest point as a family in the sense of economically, uh, my dad.

00:58:53.893 --> 00:58:55.454
So you were rebuilding your life.

00:58:55.909 --> 00:58:56.268
Yeah.

00:58:56.278 --> 00:58:56.699
Back home.

00:58:56.708 --> 00:59:00.469
And then it, like the, then Venezuela fell apart again, more so.

00:59:00.798 --> 00:59:04.068
Literally the shit hit the fan and then it just never came back.

00:59:04.079 --> 00:59:04.548
You know what?

00:59:04.559 --> 00:59:10.548
It's going to make more sense if we just jump all the way in the time machine and go to your equivalent of first grade.

00:59:11.278 --> 00:59:11.759
Okay.

00:59:11.958 --> 00:59:15.179
Before you even came here or whatever, when you were just a little shaver.

00:59:15.268 --> 00:59:15.688
Yeah.

00:59:15.688 --> 00:59:17.139
So very Set the scene.

00:59:17.139 --> 00:59:18.378
Are you in Caracas?

00:59:18.378 --> 00:59:18.668
Yeah.

00:59:18.668 --> 00:59:25.869
So I lived in Caracas for five, till I was like five or six and then we moved to Margarita Island, which is like one of the biggest.

00:59:26.719 --> 00:59:29.099
Uh, tourist attractions in Venezuela, basically.

00:59:29.748 --> 00:59:35.478
So every summer, it was, uh, four to six hundred thousand people living in the island.

00:59:36.039 --> 00:59:39.458
We had an influx of three million people almost in the summer.

00:59:39.458 --> 00:59:40.708
So it was a, it was a mess.

00:59:40.929 --> 00:59:41.858
Like Estes Park in the summer.

00:59:41.869 --> 00:59:42.208
Yeah.

00:59:42.208 --> 00:59:43.248
It was a big mess.

00:59:43.259 --> 00:59:46.628
Of Venezuelans or of international tourists or both?

00:59:46.679 --> 00:59:46.989
Both.

00:59:46.989 --> 00:59:50.369
But there was a big, a big number coming from the U.

00:59:50.369 --> 00:59:50.489
S.

00:59:50.518 --> 00:59:52.088
and a big number coming from Europe as well.

00:59:52.099 --> 00:59:53.179
And this is, give or take, like, two years?

00:59:53.478 --> 00:59:54.789
2000 or something.

00:59:54.798 --> 00:59:58.208
Yeah, kind of kind of around that that that timeline.

00:59:58.318 --> 01:00:00.349
I don't know how old you are 35.

01:00:00.418 --> 01:00:00.869
Yeah, actually.

01:00:01.099 --> 01:00:01.338
Yeah.

01:00:01.469 --> 01:00:03.289
Yeah, so I'm not very far off in that regard.

01:00:03.748 --> 01:00:08.398
Yeah, but um, so we moved to Margarita Okay, my dad had a decent job.

01:00:08.418 --> 01:00:17.358
He was in in the insurance business for okay to the time He passed he was probably in the insurance business by for like 35 years Okay, really big name back home.

01:00:17.608 --> 01:00:35.494
A lot of people knew him a lot of people did business with him You And he was like, almost like the, on the president seed on this company for a few years, the company goes down, it's like, this is your package, psych, this is not your package, we're taking the money and heading out.

01:00:35.503 --> 01:00:36.143
Sorry, bye.

01:00:36.414 --> 01:00:39.523
So yeah, they, basically, the people Like it was an international insurance?

01:00:39.543 --> 01:00:46.403
No, it was a national insurance company, but they just, they just robbed everybody of their Of their closing packages and whatnot.

01:00:46.764 --> 01:00:47.463
And they just left.

01:00:47.474 --> 01:00:50.273
They banished as a good third world country.

01:00:50.304 --> 01:00:51.344
Nobody could say anything.

01:00:51.344 --> 01:00:52.384
They could do anything.

01:00:52.384 --> 01:00:54.273
They probably bought some people out.

01:00:54.304 --> 01:00:57.733
Be like, okay, if somebody comes here, here's for our immunity defense fund.

01:00:57.733 --> 01:00:58.474
Yeah, exactly.

01:00:58.514 --> 01:01:01.614
And from that point on, we limped for.

01:01:02.199 --> 01:01:08.478
Three years or so it was that common like was a lot of distress happening or was that just in your particular case?

01:01:08.518 --> 01:01:15.278
This was kind of like particular but things were it was kind of there were some shifts happening It wasn't anything like too intense.

01:01:15.278 --> 01:01:23.688
There were a lot of people making a lot of money um But it was still like the, the, it was kind of like the, the good corruption flourishing.

01:01:23.708 --> 01:01:24.228
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:01:24.559 --> 01:01:31.849
Uh, so my dad being a, like a solid kind of like very correct person, he didn't want to do anything shady.

01:01:31.849 --> 01:01:33.168
He didn't want to do anything weird.

01:01:33.418 --> 01:01:36.309
So he, he Sorry, you don't have a place here.

01:01:36.358 --> 01:01:36.918
Yeah, exactly.

01:01:37.108 --> 01:01:45.768
So it was one of those things that it kind of like, okay, we, we got to the point where, uh, dad and brother were in Margarita.

01:01:46.059 --> 01:02:09.248
My mom and I went to Caracas That's a year that I came over because oh, yeah We did he went over there to like serve the tourist economy or something got well He we lived in Marietta for a while and he made he did a lot of business there Yeah, so at that point it was kind of one of those things that he knew All the people that he could probably make business with and whatnot, but we didn't have enough money to sustain a home.

01:02:09.869 --> 01:02:13.018
So we lived at our, my grandma's house for that year.

01:02:13.159 --> 01:02:13.398
Yeah.

01:02:13.398 --> 01:02:15.489
But that was the year that I came to the U.

01:02:15.489 --> 01:02:15.818
S.

01:02:15.878 --> 01:02:15.998
Yeah.

01:02:16.119 --> 01:02:24.679
So, cause the, long story short, we didn't have the money to pay for a private school because a lot of schools in Venezuela, like high school and all that are private.

01:02:25.534 --> 01:02:29.824
Uh, and then when we actually went into the public school, it was too late, so everything was sold out.

01:02:30.713 --> 01:02:35.434
So, and my sister, the first thing that she said to my mom was like, he's not spending a year without going to school.

01:02:35.523 --> 01:02:36.143
Oh, wow.

01:02:36.153 --> 01:02:40.313
He's nine, that's not, you're breaking a pattern.

01:02:40.514 --> 01:02:40.773
Oh, wow.

01:02:40.773 --> 01:02:41.724
So that's not happening.

01:02:41.884 --> 01:02:47.123
So she actually And she had taken off like 10 years before or five years before or something to come to America?

01:02:47.123 --> 01:02:47.614
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:02:47.664 --> 01:02:48.583
And how did that happen?

01:02:48.583 --> 01:02:49.934
Did she meet a sweet U.

01:02:49.934 --> 01:02:50.123
S.

01:02:50.123 --> 01:02:50.523
boy or something?

01:02:50.523 --> 01:02:59.733
No, so my, my brother in law, he's been in the, He's an engineer and he's been in the industry for 35 years at this point.

01:03:00.094 --> 01:03:01.824
And he got hired by a company here in the US.

01:03:02.264 --> 01:03:05.443
And now he works for a big company here.

01:03:05.784 --> 01:03:10.884
One of my former facilitators was from Brazil and came through the JBS kind of organization.

01:03:10.884 --> 01:03:12.454
I'm sure that's not uncommon.

01:03:12.494 --> 01:03:12.833
Yeah.

01:03:12.844 --> 01:03:15.273
So for For him was kind of like that aspect.

01:03:15.273 --> 01:03:17.969
It's like they brought him in very smart guy.

01:03:17.969 --> 01:03:23.159
He's he does way too much that I he was like you at Medware for a while.

01:03:23.219 --> 01:03:25.699
Yeah, kind of working too hard for nobody.

01:03:25.809 --> 01:03:32.239
I actually look up to him quite a bit because he's one of those people that he's not only good at that, but he's also an amazing family man.

01:03:32.248 --> 01:03:37.849
He's just he's he's been My other dad for so many different situations.

01:03:37.849 --> 01:03:51.324
So I do appreciate that quite anything So you came up here and stayed with them for a semester and yeah, and then that was done go back Went to school for that next year in caracas, and then we moved back to Margarita Island.

01:03:51.423 --> 01:03:51.664
Yeah.

01:03:51.693 --> 01:03:54.963
Once my dad kind of established himself again, we were living.

01:03:54.963 --> 01:03:55.744
In insurance?

01:03:55.934 --> 01:03:56.373
Uh, yeah.

01:03:56.514 --> 01:03:56.733
Okay.

01:03:56.744 --> 01:03:57.634
Again, in insurance.

01:03:59.773 --> 01:04:00.264
We had.

01:04:00.273 --> 01:04:03.384
So you were pretty much an upper middle class family or?

01:04:04.034 --> 01:04:06.873
We were, we were middle class before the problem.

01:04:06.884 --> 01:04:07.333
Okay.

01:04:07.483 --> 01:04:09.554
Then we went to like as low as you can get.

01:04:10.143 --> 01:04:11.284
Right, super poor.

01:04:11.284 --> 01:04:16.994
Yeah, and After that, we became middle class for the next like five years or so.

01:04:16.994 --> 01:04:19.213
And then my dad actually got a good position.

01:04:19.213 --> 01:04:20.943
He started making business for himself.

01:04:21.224 --> 01:04:22.623
He started like growing a lot more.

01:04:22.623 --> 01:04:32.423
So we came, I would say a middle upper, but still on the, on the, we can't do everything that you want, but we still get like, Hey, we're like, we'll, we'll buy a couple of things here and there.

01:04:32.423 --> 01:04:34.784
Well, we have openings for me.

01:04:34.784 --> 01:04:39.914
It wasn't even despite the inflation already occurring in Venezuela and stuff back then, cause this is now the.

01:04:40.208 --> 01:04:47.818
Early 2000s, 05, 07 or something, I suppose, because Chavez didn't come into power until like nine.

01:04:47.838 --> 01:04:48.909
He was in 99.

01:04:48.958 --> 01:04:52.039
Oh, He was inaugurated in 99.

01:04:52.088 --> 01:04:56.108
I consider that kind of the main beginning of the end for Venezuela.

01:04:56.108 --> 01:05:10.188
Yeah, yeah, that was the first three years were, I would say, were kind of like on that Interesting visual of things are probably not looking great, but still, we haven't noticed it yet.

01:05:10.228 --> 01:05:12.849
We still can hold, there's a lot of people making money.

01:05:12.849 --> 01:05:20.579
There's a lot of big companies from outside of Venezuela coming in and putting money into Venezuela because it's just, we got a ton of oil, oil's expensive right now.

01:05:20.659 --> 01:05:25.668
For some reason, there's, we have money printing machines in a lot of industries.

01:05:25.728 --> 01:05:26.039
Right.

01:05:26.048 --> 01:05:31.989
So it's kind of like one of those things everybody could just, Oh yeah, I mean, agriculture and oil and a lot of different things.

01:05:31.989 --> 01:05:32.469
And then.

01:05:32.813 --> 01:05:40.864
At some point things started shifting and then that's where he went crazy and started like expropriating everything that he could see that, right.

01:05:40.923 --> 01:05:41.253
Yeah.

01:05:41.264 --> 01:05:44.344
Well, and he invested a ton in like the education system and stuff.

01:05:44.373 --> 01:05:51.664
Like they took those oil monies and just like did like healthcare for everybody and education supposedly quote unquote.

01:05:51.903 --> 01:05:52.083
Right.

01:05:52.114 --> 01:05:57.923
They didn't actually improve the education system, but they actually, I, I, I like to think that they, they actually build it.

01:05:58.148 --> 01:05:59.918
Down they broke it.

01:05:59.949 --> 01:06:05.918
They broke it a little bit because one of the big things that had happened in In venezuela and this happens with dictatorships all over the world.

01:06:05.918 --> 01:06:20.539
It's like the stupider you can make your people The the more you can actually control them, right because then they depend on you They depend on you to be the feeder the guide the everything So once that starts happening, then people are not going to try to look for solutions outside.

01:06:20.548 --> 01:06:23.929
They're trying to be like, oh god What's your next command?

01:06:23.938 --> 01:06:24.298
Right?

01:06:24.389 --> 01:06:29.844
So in that and it's funny enough that A lot of people in Venezuela still consider him a messiah.

01:06:29.963 --> 01:06:30.784
Whoa, really?

01:06:30.793 --> 01:06:31.733
Yeah, it's insane.

01:06:31.914 --> 01:06:32.434
For real?

01:06:32.454 --> 01:06:32.934
Yes.

01:06:33.599 --> 01:06:44.949
And it's, it's so bizarre to think about it and see people that are like, you just lost a child for starvation, and then you still consider this guy to be your, your god.

01:06:45.378 --> 01:06:52.128
You know, I, I, there's a, there's a, a podcast blog that I listen to sometimes, it's called, uh, Blog and Mayblog.

01:06:53.168 --> 01:07:00.954
And one of his, uh, And he's kind of engaged in this Christian nationalism conversation lately, and we'll get to the religion segment.

01:07:00.954 --> 01:07:07.974
But he says one of the problems with having a secular state is if there is no God, then the state is the God.

01:07:08.784 --> 01:07:18.514
And like what you're describing here is almost terrifying to me that, that these poor, mostly uneducated and worse educated than they were 20 years before.

01:07:18.514 --> 01:07:21.244
People were like, oh, the Chavez Messiah.

01:07:21.423 --> 01:07:21.784
Yep.

01:07:21.844 --> 01:07:22.804
And, and then he's.

01:07:23.168 --> 01:07:27.478
He's next in Kim, which is Maduro, who's still, yeah, who's still there.

01:07:27.489 --> 01:07:40.248
It's, it's almost that it's like this guy is if you put together the worst Political figures around the globe totally and mesh them together and take all the good bits out of them.

01:07:40.648 --> 01:07:41.509
You get that guy?

01:07:42.978 --> 01:07:50.918
Hitler plus Mussolini plus he's not that aggressive right, but he is Well, it's like a slow creeping slime.

01:07:51.208 --> 01:08:05.648
Yeah, yeah, and the guy has no clue what he's doing, but he knows a lot about corruption, and a lot about drugs, and a lot about, like, shitty things to do for your people, and keep them down oppressed, so.

01:08:06.829 --> 01:08:09.748
So you think his actual motivations are terrible?

01:08:09.748 --> 01:08:16.368
Yeah, well, the whole Like sometimes I think that socialists think that they're doing good for they're doing good.

01:08:16.378 --> 01:08:33.179
Yeah, no, these people, these people are really good to put a facade in front and then they, they know that, yeah, there's, there's no way that you can be that naive to think that you're actually helping people when you see your, you have a mass exodus of five, six million people leave and leave the country right out of a 30 million population.

01:08:33.189 --> 01:08:33.618
Wow.

01:08:33.819 --> 01:08:35.679
In the span of like three, five years.

01:08:36.078 --> 01:08:36.918
And when is this?

01:08:36.988 --> 01:08:39.908
This happened about seven years ago.

01:08:39.948 --> 01:08:49.298
Yeah, okay, that's when I Between seven and ten, like when I left in 2012, it was kind of like the starting of getting really out.

01:08:49.309 --> 01:08:50.439
You were one of the early outs.

01:08:50.469 --> 01:08:53.033
Yeah, well, I was, I was, The middle.

01:08:53.054 --> 01:08:57.974
I was in the middle where it's just like, I think things are really getting all ugly here.

01:08:58.253 --> 01:08:58.654
Right.

01:08:59.043 --> 01:09:00.283
I wonder how my sister's doing.

01:09:00.333 --> 01:09:00.923
Yeah, exactly.

01:09:02.514 --> 01:09:08.684
Um, for me, it was like somewhat a political reason as well as looking for a better life.

01:09:08.873 --> 01:09:09.134
Yeah.

01:09:09.453 --> 01:09:13.069
My dad had, you know, Some nasty encounters in the company that he was in.

01:09:13.399 --> 01:09:15.198
Oh, uh, before he, the first one even?

01:09:15.198 --> 01:09:16.939
No, the, the, the, the, the second one.

01:09:17.043 --> 01:09:18.969
The, the last one before he started.

01:09:18.969 --> 01:09:21.309
So he rebuilt his insurance agency Yeah.

01:09:21.314 --> 01:09:30.338
And then fled that because like he was willing to not think wonderfully about the president or something or, so the, the one that like, is it a party thing or is it a president thing?

01:09:31.149 --> 01:09:40.259
Um, I think it's a, it's a precedent thing because people still look at Maduro as is like your Chavez is like kind of Jesus below God.

01:09:40.269 --> 01:09:40.998
Yeah, exactly.

01:09:41.038 --> 01:09:52.248
So, but for him, it was the company that he worked for, uh, got bought by the, well, got expropriated by the government and they started doing all their biddings for the military and all the government things.

01:09:52.248 --> 01:09:56.743
So it was like, I'm laundromat for the government for many things.

01:09:57.163 --> 01:10:03.184
He got in multiple chances, like people coming in and telling him, it's like, you are going to sign these papers because X, Y, and Z.

01:10:03.373 --> 01:10:04.873
And then you'll get some money out of it.

01:10:04.894 --> 01:10:08.654
And this is naive, you just have to sacrifice your integrity.

01:10:08.654 --> 01:10:09.283
Yeah, exactly.

01:10:09.283 --> 01:10:10.753
Naive me, 15 year old.

01:10:11.003 --> 01:10:13.623
I remember my dad telling me one time, it's like, yeah, I got this people.

01:10:13.623 --> 01:10:17.793
And this is like 15 years ago, 20 years ago, like something along those lines.

01:10:18.394 --> 01:10:19.684
Um, it's like, yeah.

01:10:19.684 --> 01:10:19.884
Yeah.

01:10:20.113 --> 01:10:31.564
I got this people coming in wanting me to sign these contracts for like this aviation kind of like Problems that would make them so much money and they were giving me like a million bucks for just to look the other way Yeah, and I'm like dad.

01:10:32.024 --> 01:10:33.613
Why didn't you sign it up?

01:10:33.613 --> 01:10:42.939
It's like and then that a very valuable lesson was learned that day because it's like the second you accept that You become their bitch for the rest of your life and the second you say no We're all dead.

01:10:42.939 --> 01:10:43.378
Then you're dead.

01:10:43.559 --> 01:10:43.899
Yeah.

01:10:43.908 --> 01:10:45.729
So it was like, Oh, that makes sense.

01:10:47.698 --> 01:10:49.479
But it was, but it's dramatic, right?

01:10:49.769 --> 01:10:50.038
Yeah.

01:10:50.038 --> 01:10:50.128
Yeah.

01:10:50.128 --> 01:10:51.548
There's no, there's no grace.

01:10:51.578 --> 01:10:52.738
There's like black or white.

01:10:52.738 --> 01:10:53.469
It's like, you're right.

01:10:53.469 --> 01:10:56.729
If you're not with them, then you're, you're politically persecutive.

01:10:56.769 --> 01:10:57.559
You're with them.

01:10:58.109 --> 01:10:59.219
You're probably hated by a lot of people.

01:10:59.219 --> 01:11:00.929
You're probably making a lot of money, so you don't care.

01:11:00.988 --> 01:11:01.149
Yeah.

01:11:01.149 --> 01:11:01.418
Yeah.

01:11:01.429 --> 01:11:06.868
So it was, it's like, are you willing to break who you are for something like that?

01:11:06.878 --> 01:11:11.929
So, um, the first of your type, I guess.

01:11:12.203 --> 01:11:22.144
Uh, that I, that I befriended was a young lady that, uh, that just announced that she got her citizenship a couple of weeks ago on Instagram, Carol Sacco, uh, Carolina.

01:11:22.634 --> 01:11:26.634
She, she called herself Carol because she didn't think that people would understand Carolina.

01:11:27.264 --> 01:11:31.113
I was like, well, we have a two states named after Carolina, but, uh, Well, you will be impressed.

01:11:31.154 --> 01:11:35.484
Mine is Diego and it's like San Diego is probably one of the biggest cities in the U.

01:11:35.484 --> 01:11:35.703
S.

01:11:35.944 --> 01:11:37.894
And people still do not know Diego.

01:11:39.019 --> 01:11:39.889
People do not get it.

01:11:39.889 --> 01:11:43.849
And they're like, Daniel, David, what's your name?

01:11:43.908 --> 01:11:45.578
It's like, it's, it's fine.

01:11:45.588 --> 01:11:45.939
It's.

01:11:46.569 --> 01:11:57.988
So, uh, Carol, uh, was, had a very successful dog training business in Caraco and she was like, she was on TV a bunch of times and stuff like that.

01:11:57.998 --> 01:12:02.109
She had like 13 dog trainers, plus her very upper middle class.

01:12:02.658 --> 01:12:04.048
And then her dog got cancer.

01:12:04.779 --> 01:12:06.878
And she brought it up here to CSU to get cancer treatment.

01:12:06.878 --> 01:12:16.378
And then, meanwhile, the bee went from 1, 000 to 7, 000 bees per dollar while she was here for eight months.

01:12:16.878 --> 01:12:22.009
And so, my wife and I did some fundraisers for her so she could raise some dollars and different things.

01:12:22.349 --> 01:12:26.809
And her father was an oil industry economist.

01:12:27.298 --> 01:12:33.453
And I suspect, uh Also a free thinker and not willing to be turned into a bitch.

01:12:34.054 --> 01:12:36.404
Um, it's such a fascinating thing, right?

01:12:36.404 --> 01:12:39.844
Where integrity is a negative.

01:12:40.793 --> 01:12:50.493
Almost like when you think about like evolutionary psychology and stuff, you think about, okay, well, why don't we have more integrity in the world?

01:12:50.493 --> 01:12:54.463
Well, cause sometimes when you show integrity, you get killed.

01:12:54.894 --> 01:12:55.134
Yep.

01:12:55.293 --> 01:12:59.934
Um, and that's like one of the, I guess, negative biases toward.

01:13:00.804 --> 01:13:01.613
The good things.

01:13:01.953 --> 01:13:02.264
Yeah.

01:13:02.264 --> 01:13:04.444
And then you see it, you see it everywhere else.

01:13:04.444 --> 01:13:09.713
And like, some people, Tell it's like well the corruption here and there's like everywhere.

01:13:09.743 --> 01:13:10.663
There's corruption.

01:13:10.673 --> 01:13:11.963
It's everywhere, right?

01:13:12.094 --> 01:13:18.333
Corruption here might look more in the all I'll pay you so media military pharma.

01:13:18.423 --> 01:13:30.054
Yeah, but a lot of the times is like the common one It's kind of like, I'm going to be doing business by myself in this industry for six months, and then you can start letting people in kind of like that, that might be the situation back home.

01:13:30.054 --> 01:13:33.554
It's like, if you start a business, you and your entire family's dead.

01:13:33.703 --> 01:13:34.094
Right.

01:13:34.203 --> 01:13:35.953
So good luck with that.

01:13:37.224 --> 01:13:39.344
So, and nobody will ever investigate.

01:13:39.384 --> 01:13:40.243
Yeah, exactly.

01:13:40.243 --> 01:13:49.154
And we, before, like when we were on the, on the highest peak of our economical situation, we wanted to buy a.

01:13:49.509 --> 01:13:56.189
A piece of land in the in kind of like the farm area of Venezuela to have cattle and then start dealing cattle.

01:13:56.189 --> 01:13:57.309
It was my dad.

01:13:57.338 --> 01:14:01.319
Enjoy the kind of like the fun part of it in the business side of it.

01:14:01.319 --> 01:14:03.828
It was like, OK, it could be a really fun thing to do.

01:14:04.359 --> 01:14:05.689
We thought about my brother and I.

01:14:05.689 --> 01:14:12.564
It's like, OK, we'll get our pilot's license and we'll get a small plane so we can because it's It's like a three hour flight, four hour flight.

01:14:12.953 --> 01:14:15.873
But it's like, if you be the ranch manager's vice.

01:14:15.913 --> 01:14:16.684
Yeah, exactly.

01:14:16.694 --> 01:14:20.484
But if you go on, on land, it's, it's an extra like four hours on top of that.

01:14:20.734 --> 01:14:21.854
And it's a nightmare.

01:14:22.083 --> 01:14:24.434
So it was one of those Right, you get robbed at every corner.

01:14:24.444 --> 01:14:24.833
Yeah, exactly.

01:14:24.833 --> 01:14:26.094
Pop in with the airplane is good.

01:14:26.094 --> 01:14:27.503
Yeah, so it was one of those things.

01:14:27.503 --> 01:14:32.644
And then that time was where expropriation started like happening rampantly everywhere.

01:14:32.884 --> 01:14:40.373
It was just like, oh, uh, you have, uh, Uh, plays that has 10 cows, uh, I don't think it's yours anymore.

01:14:40.373 --> 01:14:41.054
I think it's ours.

01:14:41.083 --> 01:14:41.854
Yeah, exactly.

01:14:41.854 --> 01:14:46.923
And it was, the reasoning, cause you have to, quote unquote, still give some reason for it.

01:14:47.203 --> 01:14:53.384
But the reasons were like, it's because you're, you're like, Yankees and then you're in cahoots with the U.

01:14:53.384 --> 01:14:53.654
S.

01:14:53.654 --> 01:14:56.094
and it's like, what the fuck is wrong with you?

01:14:56.094 --> 01:14:57.503
Your sister lives in the U.

01:14:57.503 --> 01:14:57.713
S.

01:14:57.783 --> 01:14:59.344
So you're probably some kind of a spy.

01:14:59.394 --> 01:15:01.163
Yeah, for us, it never connected.

01:15:01.173 --> 01:15:02.384
So that was a good thing.

01:15:02.384 --> 01:15:06.684
Cause then it would have been probably a bigger problem, but we weren't such big names, right?

01:15:06.783 --> 01:15:08.434
So I flew under the radar enough.

01:15:08.444 --> 01:15:08.774
Yeah.

01:15:08.774 --> 01:15:12.503
But I, so I'm here under, so you're like thinking about this situation.

01:15:12.503 --> 01:15:12.823
Yeah.

01:15:12.953 --> 01:15:16.564
Oh, so you came as a, as a political, a proper political aside.

01:15:16.573 --> 01:15:16.873
Yeah.

01:15:16.873 --> 01:15:17.173
Yeah.

01:15:17.203 --> 01:15:19.134
Well, I was here under student visa.

01:15:19.194 --> 01:15:23.783
Cause I thought that my case didn't have enough strength to be considered political.

01:15:24.293 --> 01:15:47.088
And then I was I realized that a lot of things that happened in my family and a lot of things that happened to my dad Were like politically related danger So it was one of those that I'm says like I either leave and I like or I get killed here So one of the two I didn't think because I wasn't like, uh, a political, like appointee or whatever it might be connected to the actual politics in Venezuela.

01:15:47.368 --> 01:15:49.219
I never thought that that would be a problem.

01:15:49.269 --> 01:15:50.658
Like that would be my case.

01:15:50.658 --> 01:15:59.099
Cause it's like, I'm not a political figure, but it's just like, you did enough that you started to like turn people's eyes and then you had some like bad encounters here and there.

01:15:59.779 --> 01:16:03.519
So at this point it's like, you probably, you're probably better off.

01:16:03.788 --> 01:16:06.208
So do you feel kind of, uh, ripped off?

01:16:06.809 --> 01:16:12.932
You could have waited until 2020, 2021, and then just come here and not had to go through all that book.

01:16:12.932 --> 01:16:18.548
I do have some, some problem with that because I've been, I haven't received anything.

01:16:18.548 --> 01:16:23.298
The only thing that I've received from the USCIS is the, your next step is an interview.

01:16:23.658 --> 01:16:25.698
And that's been the case for four years.

01:16:25.708 --> 01:16:28.469
So you're here with a green card on political asylum.

01:16:28.738 --> 01:16:33.644
I'm, I'm, uh, I'm, uh, I'm almost like a refugee slash asylee.

01:16:33.764 --> 01:16:36.054
Oh, so you don't even have a green card proper.

01:16:36.073 --> 01:16:38.814
I am in the worst position that you can have anybody.

01:16:38.833 --> 01:16:43.163
You're more likely to get kicked out in any of the 14 million people that have come in the last three years.

01:16:43.173 --> 01:16:50.054
So that's the positive is that I am fully legal and I'm under every single like aspect of the law here.

01:16:50.083 --> 01:16:50.774
I'm legal.

01:16:50.884 --> 01:16:51.154
Okay.

01:16:51.184 --> 01:16:56.634
I just don't have any paperwork that says that I'm either Venezuelan or that I'm American or that I'm a refugee or.

01:16:57.104 --> 01:16:59.123
You're just in limbo, in a green limbo.

01:16:59.274 --> 01:17:00.453
That's where you are.

01:17:00.453 --> 01:17:02.604
You're in the thumbs up limbo.

01:17:02.634 --> 01:17:03.083
Fascinating.

01:17:03.144 --> 01:17:03.493
Okay.

01:17:03.514 --> 01:17:04.264
Well, that's good.

01:17:04.283 --> 01:17:12.823
Yeah, so there is a positive aspect of that, but at the same time, it's like, I don't know if Well, at least you're not in a place where you just don't know.

01:17:12.854 --> 01:17:13.384
Yeah, exactly.

01:17:13.404 --> 01:17:13.613
Right?

01:17:13.613 --> 01:17:23.338
There's millions of people in the country now that I have never even contacted our government, you know what I don't know.

01:17:23.639 --> 01:17:23.939
Yeah.

01:17:23.939 --> 01:17:25.359
So that's awkward.

01:17:25.529 --> 01:17:25.849
Yeah.

01:17:25.849 --> 01:17:27.588
And to me, like, I get it.

01:17:27.649 --> 01:17:30.338
I, I, I lived in Venezuela.

01:17:30.359 --> 01:17:31.559
I lived in Argentina.

01:17:31.588 --> 01:17:33.948
I've been to other, other countries here and there.

01:17:35.128 --> 01:17:35.939
I get it, man.

01:17:36.009 --> 01:17:36.623
I, I get it.

01:17:36.844 --> 01:17:37.253
I get it.

01:17:37.253 --> 01:17:38.684
And this is the part of that.

01:17:38.694 --> 01:17:44.493
This is one of my biggest pet peeve when I get Americans telling me that this is a shitty country and then the virtual world drowning.

01:17:44.503 --> 01:17:45.764
Yeah, try somewhere else for a while.

01:17:45.764 --> 01:17:50.573
It's just like, I'll let you get in my house in Venezuela for a month.

01:17:50.694 --> 01:17:51.453
Figure it out.

01:17:51.984 --> 01:17:52.993
You don't have to pay for a house.

01:17:53.923 --> 01:17:54.474
Figure the rest out.

01:17:55.003 --> 01:17:58.333
And then you'll figure out that it's like, oh my God, I'm living in paradise.

01:17:58.413 --> 01:17:58.764
Right.

01:17:58.793 --> 01:18:01.844
And a lot of people look at me, it's like, this shit is happening.

01:18:01.844 --> 01:18:03.434
And I'm like, dude, I'm still really happy.

01:18:03.434 --> 01:18:03.753
Yeah.

01:18:03.774 --> 01:18:10.753
There are circumstances that I've had in some self made whatever, but yeah, still that look what I'm doing.

01:18:10.764 --> 01:18:16.844
I'm building a business where in Venezuela, probably a good word is get somebody else to employees, then they would just take it from you.

01:18:16.854 --> 01:18:17.524
Yeah, exactly.

01:18:17.524 --> 01:18:29.719
Or, or be or being a In a political situation where it's just like, if you, like, you're going to get people coming into your business to kind of like, just be bullies until you quit.

01:18:29.779 --> 01:18:30.109
Yeah.

01:18:30.109 --> 01:18:31.748
Or just take 10 percent of your revenues.

01:18:32.229 --> 01:18:36.609
So there's a lot of, we call them vacunas, which is, uh, vaccines.

01:18:37.009 --> 01:18:40.139
So a lot of people ask for vaccines from businesses.

01:18:40.208 --> 01:18:40.658
Okay.

01:18:40.679 --> 01:18:43.288
So you go into, Oh, well, Hey, how's it going, man?

01:18:43.309 --> 01:18:46.479
Um, so I see that you're making 50 K a year.

01:18:46.908 --> 01:18:48.338
How about if you're making 40?

01:18:48.359 --> 01:18:51.559
So you can keep, so you can keep working.

01:18:51.599 --> 01:18:52.158
Right.

01:18:52.418 --> 01:18:54.328
So you won't kidnap your daughter.

01:18:54.338 --> 01:18:54.878
Yeah, exactly.

01:18:54.878 --> 01:18:57.918
So you have to give them 10 grand just because you exist.

01:18:57.979 --> 01:18:58.469
Right.

01:18:58.878 --> 01:19:00.908
And you have a business that's somewhat successful.

01:19:00.918 --> 01:19:02.368
Why is it called vaccines?

01:19:02.469 --> 01:19:05.248
I, I, that's why they've been called for ages.

01:19:05.748 --> 01:19:08.509
It's like a vaccine against us coming and taking all your shit.

01:19:08.538 --> 01:19:08.969
Yeah.

01:19:08.979 --> 01:19:12.668
That, I think that's kind of like, it just costs you 10 percent of your life force.

01:19:13.019 --> 01:19:13.368
That's all.

01:19:13.368 --> 01:19:14.979
So it's kind of like evangelical in a way.

01:19:15.469 --> 01:19:16.988
It's a lot like the COVID thing.

01:19:16.998 --> 01:19:17.719
Yeah, exactly.

01:19:19.609 --> 01:19:25.498
So, so your family's fortunes actually rose again, partly because your dad was just a hard worker.

01:19:25.908 --> 01:19:30.628
So he started his own thing, got chased out of this second venture and did an import export business.

01:19:30.639 --> 01:19:37.128
So the import export business happened in the midst of him working in that previous company that wasn't his.

01:19:37.219 --> 01:19:37.618
Okay.

01:19:37.974 --> 01:19:39.134
We get this going.

01:19:39.604 --> 01:19:41.783
He has some really good deals happening.

01:19:41.783 --> 01:19:49.293
He starts his own firm and then from there on this company started it survive on its own and made some money here and there.

01:19:49.293 --> 01:19:53.253
We used it to import certain things like some were just personal stuff.

01:19:53.253 --> 01:19:54.613
Some it was just business.

01:19:54.613 --> 01:19:56.854
Yeah, yeah, but we sent a bunch of just like.

01:19:57.349 --> 01:19:58.819
Random crap home with Carol.

01:19:58.819 --> 01:20:02.649
Cause yeah, it was like, we're the fortune in bees.

01:20:03.309 --> 01:20:03.509
Yeah.

01:20:03.509 --> 01:20:10.229
And it, it helped out a lot of, because of that, because in Venezuela, there's a big issue with trying to bring things from outside.

01:20:10.229 --> 01:20:15.899
I'm pretty sure we weren't supposed to send a full suitcase full of random small things that your family could sell.

01:20:15.899 --> 01:20:21.128
But yeah, the thing is not that it's illegal or legal or whatever.

01:20:21.158 --> 01:20:27.993
If you have to pay taxes on it or whatever it may be, the thing is like, When it goes to customs, it disappears.

01:20:28.804 --> 01:20:32.543
So if you don't have something solid like we did with like, Oh, right.

01:20:33.363 --> 01:20:38.783
Things would disappear and things would just like, Oh, I just spent 10 grand on this like container filled with shit.

01:20:38.894 --> 01:20:43.033
Then you go in one day, it'd be like, Uh, the container's here.

01:20:43.123 --> 01:20:44.793
Oh yeah, we don't know where it is.

01:20:45.168 --> 01:20:47.599
Dude, it's a 40 by 20 by 8.

01:20:48.078 --> 01:20:50.168
Right, it was It's a huge block.

01:20:50.198 --> 01:20:52.179
Full of iPods.

01:20:52.179 --> 01:20:52.939
Yeah, exactly.

01:20:52.939 --> 01:20:53.088
Or iPads.

01:20:53.649 --> 01:20:54.988
Yeah, what happened?

01:20:55.099 --> 01:20:56.309
It's like, oh, we don't know.

01:20:56.878 --> 01:20:59.029
And then say somebody in the, usually the military.

01:20:59.208 --> 01:21:02.078
up with the, uh, 1 800 I don't give a shit about you department.

01:21:02.078 --> 01:21:02.759
Yeah, exactly.

01:21:02.759 --> 01:21:08.538
And a lot of the times would be, you get to the point where you're like, if you keep asking about this, we're gonna Yeah, now you're on the list.

01:21:08.578 --> 01:21:09.099
Yeah.

01:21:09.208 --> 01:21:12.009
It's like, if you keep talking about this problem Right.

01:21:12.118 --> 01:21:13.588
It's gonna be a bigger problem for you.

01:21:13.998 --> 01:21:14.328
Right.

01:21:14.328 --> 01:21:17.588
So it's just like, either shut up, or you shut up actually because you can't speak English.

01:21:17.599 --> 01:21:20.208
Those are all those, like, anti evolutionary things.

01:21:20.229 --> 01:21:20.448
Yeah.

01:21:20.448 --> 01:22:09.514
Like, the things that we want the most, and I don't even want to take this into that kind of a conversation, but When I learn about big complex systems turning into things like Venezuela has become or frankly like Argentina Like does Argentina make you so excited now having kind of a libertarian president and trying to tear down those walls Are you just like no, it's probably gonna turn around and turn into shit again Yeah So I lived in Argentina I lived in Argentina for a year Um, and I feel like there is a curse with the South American population, and I feel like we have something and I don't want to put us because there's a lot of something about us wants that, but there's there's a lot of big minds that want to make that change.

01:22:09.514 --> 01:22:10.533
It wants to move forward.

01:22:10.944 --> 01:22:15.434
But the problem is, is that you also have people that have been accustomed for a lot of small minds.

01:22:16.029 --> 01:22:19.868
That, hey, the government has given me food my entire life.

01:22:19.939 --> 01:22:20.288
Right.

01:22:20.288 --> 01:22:21.618
Why do I want to change that?

01:22:21.689 --> 01:22:22.828
Why do I want to go out and work?

01:22:22.828 --> 01:22:23.809
The danger of pure democracy, right?

01:22:23.819 --> 01:22:29.179
Yeah, so, there are, and you see it in almost, like, America, we're getting close.

01:22:29.198 --> 01:22:42.248
Yeah, and Chile went through it recently, where it's just like, Chile was considered, number one country in South America, very well, like educated, very well, like economically wise, a lot of different things.

01:22:42.248 --> 01:22:46.029
Like they were a huge exporter for so many different items.

01:22:47.059 --> 01:22:53.838
And then it just started limping in the last five years, just because they started fantasizing about the socialist mindset.

01:22:53.908 --> 01:22:55.408
All the things that they could do.

01:22:55.769 --> 01:22:59.208
And it's just like, I, I get it.

01:22:59.259 --> 01:23:02.399
I get that we have to take care of people as people.

01:23:02.658 --> 01:23:06.118
So I, I like the poetic side of the socialist mentality.

01:23:06.118 --> 01:23:07.208
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:23:08.389 --> 01:23:17.458
You can still be a social person with a Money background and some other backgrounds that kind of like we're helping every end.

01:23:17.658 --> 01:23:17.908
Sure.

01:23:17.929 --> 01:23:20.208
We're helping businesses grow We're helping people.

01:23:20.208 --> 01:23:21.609
I like to say I'm a communitarian.

01:23:21.628 --> 01:23:27.548
Yeah, so, you know, I think that helping people should be done on a relational level Not a federal level.

01:23:27.559 --> 01:23:28.279
Yeah, exactly.

01:23:28.279 --> 01:23:30.588
And then otherwise you'll just get grifters Yeah.

01:23:30.658 --> 01:23:37.658
So, and it gets to a point where, and I've had so many conversations with people here that are very much on the, on the socialist mindset.

01:23:37.769 --> 01:23:38.139
Yeah.

01:23:38.198 --> 01:23:44.599
And they're like, whoa, but it's, the thing is like, it hasn't been like, They're trying to tell you that Venezuela hasn't, isn't done right.

01:23:44.628 --> 01:23:45.458
Whoa, and that's the thing.

01:23:45.458 --> 01:23:53.298
It's like, so you consider that the country that has had, Probably the best minds in the oil industry.

01:23:53.359 --> 01:23:53.779
Totally.

01:23:54.439 --> 01:24:07.509
You think that those people that have been so smart in the engineering side, that the U S has higher, so many hundreds, maybe thousands of people on the engineering side, because we had some of the best schools in the world for a lot of that.

01:24:07.849 --> 01:24:14.088
You're telling me those are the same people that don't know how to run a country, don't know how to like put shit together.

01:24:14.088 --> 01:24:16.448
It's like, this doesn't make any sense to me.

01:24:16.448 --> 01:24:21.993
It's like, And I tell them, it's like, go live in a socialist country with the people.

01:24:22.203 --> 01:24:23.154
Don't go from the U.

01:24:23.154 --> 01:24:23.323
S.

01:24:23.323 --> 01:24:27.514
be like, okay, I'm gonna take like 20 grand and then live in Venice because you're, you're gonna live like a king.

01:24:27.514 --> 01:24:28.253
That'd be easy.

01:24:28.323 --> 01:24:34.873
Yeah, it's like, oh, I can spend a hundred dollars a month and still, like, just ball and then have fun.

01:24:34.873 --> 01:24:35.203
Right.

01:24:35.344 --> 01:24:36.083
I'll do that.

01:24:36.154 --> 01:24:37.654
You could hire three cookers a week.

01:24:37.673 --> 01:24:39.913
Yeah, so that's the whole aspect.

01:24:39.913 --> 01:24:40.904
Because they're so desperate.

01:24:40.904 --> 01:24:44.729
Yeah, so you, you have to go live The actual thing.

01:24:44.798 --> 01:24:45.099
Right.

01:24:45.099 --> 01:24:54.828
And go in, there's a place in Caracas called Petare, which is probably, it's a, I don't know if you've heard, uh, Ciudad de Dios in, or City of God.

01:24:55.139 --> 01:24:55.349
Oh, yeah.

01:24:55.378 --> 01:24:56.229
In Brazil.

01:24:56.279 --> 01:24:56.679
Yeah, yeah.

01:24:56.719 --> 01:24:58.309
That's kind of like our equivalent.

01:24:58.429 --> 01:24:58.908
Okay.

01:24:58.958 --> 01:25:03.078
So this is a huge mountainside town that was built up by the people.

01:25:03.309 --> 01:25:05.139
No infrastructure, no nothing.

01:25:05.139 --> 01:25:07.548
It's just a nightmare of a labyrinth.

01:25:07.618 --> 01:25:08.238
Right.

01:25:08.349 --> 01:25:10.479
A lot of times if you go in, you might never come out.

01:25:10.958 --> 01:25:12.849
Just because you get killed in the middle of it.

01:25:12.849 --> 01:25:14.448
It's almost Slums now, virtually.

01:25:14.448 --> 01:25:15.298
Well, it's slums.

01:25:15.338 --> 01:25:19.939
And it's so bad that the military and the police will not go past the entrance.

01:25:21.488 --> 01:25:23.019
They go in and like raids.

01:25:23.109 --> 01:25:23.349
Right.

01:25:23.368 --> 01:25:25.338
If they catch like, oh, this isn't target number one.

01:25:25.338 --> 01:25:30.069
If they know there's a real terrible guy there, they'll take in a 12 person team and get Not even 12.

01:25:30.078 --> 01:25:31.168
It's like hundreds of police.

01:25:31.359 --> 01:25:31.729
Right.

01:25:31.759 --> 01:25:32.729
Because it's too scary.

01:25:32.729 --> 01:25:32.969
Yeah.

01:25:32.979 --> 01:25:32.998
Wow.

01:25:32.998 --> 01:25:37.168
And they've had like battles that take days.

01:25:37.219 --> 01:25:37.979
Wow.

01:25:38.139 --> 01:25:42.748
So it's that, like, we have that, that still, and people don't understand.

01:25:42.748 --> 01:25:44.798
It's like, you have no idea what you're talking about.

01:25:45.189 --> 01:25:48.078
Reading something doesn't mean you know what it means.

01:25:48.078 --> 01:25:54.939
So there's a, there's a discrepancy there between experience gained by reading and experience gained by living it.

01:25:54.939 --> 01:25:57.198
So fascinating.

01:25:57.698 --> 01:25:59.929
Um, so.

01:26:01.149 --> 01:26:05.668
Talk me through this, this fall of the second enterprise, right?

01:26:05.698 --> 01:26:11.069
Or was that like your, your dad started this new import export kind of thing and stuff.

01:26:11.069 --> 01:26:18.328
It prospered and grew, you were involved, you're going to buy a ranch and then 2012 happened kind of?

01:26:18.618 --> 01:26:23.319
So before that, I started getting some, some hints.

01:26:24.259 --> 01:26:28.868
About the situation around the area not being as safe as I wanted it to be.

01:26:29.099 --> 01:26:32.948
I've actually got, had been followed to my home multiple times.

01:26:33.248 --> 01:26:41.038
We were, um, Actually, we were taken hostage in our own home for a day by the poli by the police.

01:26:41.189 --> 01:26:42.259
Well, police.

01:26:42.309 --> 01:26:48.628
They were they all had plates, but, like, the police, uh, badges, but none of them care about it.

01:26:48.639 --> 01:26:50.149
So, you know, like dirty cops.

01:26:50.529 --> 01:26:50.788
Okay.

01:26:51.099 --> 01:26:53.389
Uh, so a lot of different things started happening.

01:26:53.519 --> 01:26:54.368
So, like, for money?

01:26:54.488 --> 01:26:55.538
Well, I think Ransom?

01:26:55.588 --> 01:26:57.429
Uh, For your dad to do something different?

01:26:57.429 --> 01:27:01.198
Yeah, so I think it was, like, connected somehow to my dad in one way or another.

01:27:01.309 --> 01:27:03.029
And you're, like, a teenager virtually?

01:27:03.029 --> 01:27:03.173
Yeah.

01:27:03.894 --> 01:27:06.724
Uh, yeah, this was 2009, I believe.

01:27:06.823 --> 01:27:09.194
So I was almost 20.

01:27:09.194 --> 01:27:09.873
Yeah, yeah.

01:27:09.963 --> 01:27:15.173
Uh, so that happens and that kind of like broke the whole idea of being like this, we can fight this.

01:27:15.224 --> 01:27:15.913
Right.

01:27:15.963 --> 01:27:24.474
And it started getting to the point where it's, it's not fun to like, You sit in your car, turn on your car, and then be like, Who the fuck am I gonna find today?

01:27:24.804 --> 01:27:26.444
What is, who's gonna follow me today?

01:27:26.963 --> 01:27:28.073
Is anybody gonna look at me weird?

01:27:28.073 --> 01:27:29.823
Will my car blow up when I start it?

01:27:29.823 --> 01:27:34.644
Is there something weird that's gonna happen today because of the situation that I'm in at the moment?

01:27:34.724 --> 01:27:38.234
So, uh, at that point, I'm like, you know what?

01:27:38.264 --> 01:27:39.764
I need, I need some time out.

01:27:40.024 --> 01:27:45.533
And we, we were fortunate enough to, I went to Argentina to study.

01:27:45.594 --> 01:27:47.713
It's the lucky people of Venezuela that have gotten out.

01:27:47.734 --> 01:27:48.844
Yeah, I, I, I will say.

01:27:48.854 --> 01:27:51.283
The wealthy and the lucky and the ambitious.

01:27:51.314 --> 01:27:55.783
Yeah, I will say that I'm very fortunate on that end because my dad believed a lot in education.

01:27:56.123 --> 01:27:59.194
So he, he was never one to cut.

01:27:59.194 --> 01:28:00.378
So this is your Argentine story.

01:28:00.729 --> 01:28:01.399
My Argentine dream.

01:28:01.399 --> 01:28:01.998
Starts now.

01:28:02.158 --> 01:28:02.399
Yeah.

01:28:02.399 --> 01:28:04.878
So I a little hot in the kitchen over here.

01:28:04.939 --> 01:28:05.128
Yeah.

01:28:05.458 --> 01:28:06.588
Why don't you go over there?

01:28:06.588 --> 01:28:08.538
Yeah, I actually went to study culinary arts.

01:28:08.759 --> 01:28:09.269
Oh, really?

01:28:09.269 --> 01:28:10.139
I was in the kitchen.

01:28:10.168 --> 01:28:10.668
Oh, cool.

01:28:11.599 --> 01:28:13.769
Um, so I went there.

01:28:13.769 --> 01:28:16.128
I did my, my degree.

01:28:16.368 --> 01:28:17.219
I finished it.

01:28:17.219 --> 01:28:19.418
It was a, like a very intense one.

01:28:19.418 --> 01:28:20.519
So it was a full year.

01:28:21.939 --> 01:28:24.198
I loved Argentina, but not to live.

01:28:24.368 --> 01:28:25.479
So I'm like, you know what?

01:28:26.099 --> 01:28:27.298
Things might have changed.

01:28:27.588 --> 01:28:28.359
Let's go back.

01:28:28.359 --> 01:28:29.788
Let's figure things out.

01:28:29.788 --> 01:28:30.859
Let's see if we can make something.

01:28:30.868 --> 01:28:33.279
I don't want to be a good chef at a wonderful restaurant.

01:28:33.399 --> 01:28:33.948
Yeah, exactly.

01:28:33.948 --> 01:28:37.519
I don't have to work in dad's business and stuff where there's stuff.

01:28:37.868 --> 01:28:38.269
Yeah.

01:28:38.279 --> 01:28:43.878
So I come back and then things are kind of like Effy still, but I didn't feel it as much.

01:28:43.878 --> 01:28:45.238
It might've been that I cooled off.

01:28:45.259 --> 01:28:50.738
Like I get, it was like the ice treatment for some people and we, we weren't looked at enough.

01:28:50.849 --> 01:28:51.238
Sure.

01:28:51.548 --> 01:28:55.408
Um, so I started a, a business.

01:28:55.993 --> 01:28:57.774
My own business which was a catering.

01:28:57.934 --> 01:28:58.333
Okay.

01:28:58.564 --> 01:29:00.264
Uh, so I started doing catering.

01:29:01.224 --> 01:29:08.613
I started kind of like feeding some of the local cafes and summer restaurants with sweets and and things that they would sell in their place.

01:29:09.514 --> 01:29:18.024
And it got to a point where, that's when things started actually hitting like rock bottom, and then I couldn't find flour, sugar, milk, eggs.

01:29:18.764 --> 01:29:24.724
And I'm like selling sweets, selling like baking goods, and it's just like, this is my bread and butter, no pun intended.

01:29:25.423 --> 01:29:27.569
And it's just like, I can't find that.

01:29:27.899 --> 01:29:38.399
So you had to be in cahoots with some mafia that sold flour To be like, okay, the flour is like a dollar a pound, but we're selling it for five, right?

01:29:38.519 --> 01:29:54.479
So it was or you can have none Oh, yeah, or you or you just don't run your business and it got to the point where I kept trying I kept trying and I kept trying I think I'd spend maybe six to eight months Working like 14 hours a day, my girlfriend at the moment was like, Hey, dude, are we ever going to like do something together?

01:29:54.479 --> 01:29:55.618
Are we going to go out or whatever?

01:29:56.279 --> 01:29:58.139
You always come home and then you're dead.

01:29:58.168 --> 01:30:00.429
I just need to find a consistent sugar source, baby.

01:30:00.429 --> 01:30:02.599
Yeah, go out and have some fun.

01:30:03.639 --> 01:30:04.859
But it was, it was interesting.

01:30:04.859 --> 01:30:08.198
Cause they got to that point where I'm like, this, this is stupid.

01:30:08.529 --> 01:30:10.439
Like the time that I'm putting here.

01:30:11.333 --> 01:30:14.604
Would be, for me at least, for the business to run.

01:30:14.814 --> 01:30:15.144
Right.

01:30:15.583 --> 01:30:16.604
Not to run good.

01:30:16.604 --> 01:30:19.453
Not to run itself, not to run, to stay alive.

01:30:19.514 --> 01:30:19.963
Yeah.

01:30:19.969 --> 01:30:27.944
The, the amount of effort that I'm putting and the positive feedback I'm getting from people should translate into this is a successful business.

01:30:27.974 --> 01:30:28.213
Right.

01:30:28.333 --> 01:30:34.423
And it got to the point where it's just like, I, I just kept, I, I felt, I felt the scales falling off every, every day.

01:30:34.783 --> 01:30:41.474
It's like, okay, this like massive dragon is like hitting the front, like really good and then it just kept falling apart and fall.

01:30:41.474 --> 01:30:49.474
Yeah.

01:30:49.474 --> 01:30:49.703
Yeah.

01:30:49.703 --> 01:30:50.479
So I got to the point.

01:30:50.479 --> 01:30:51.654
I can work as hard as I can on this.

01:30:51.684 --> 01:30:51.913
Yeah.

01:30:51.913 --> 01:30:52.953
And it just won't work.

01:30:52.953 --> 01:30:54.923
And that's, and that, and that was a desperation.

01:30:54.923 --> 01:30:59.814
It's like knowing that like you, there is no lack of effort.

01:31:00.083 --> 01:31:00.373
Right.

01:31:00.384 --> 01:31:01.283
The effort is there.

01:31:01.394 --> 01:31:06.094
I would, if I would have done that effort that I put that at that time here in the U.

01:31:06.094 --> 01:31:06.363
S.

01:31:06.663 --> 01:31:10.384
at that point with that company, the same thing, selling the same things.

01:31:10.384 --> 01:31:10.399
Yeah.

01:31:10.838 --> 01:31:13.389
I would have today a Dunkin Donuts.

01:31:13.509 --> 01:31:13.779
Right.

01:31:13.779 --> 01:31:14.798
Like type of franchise.

01:31:14.798 --> 01:31:18.663
I would have something that I would be right now talking to you and Right.

01:31:18.663 --> 01:31:19.703
You worked as hard as you could be.

01:31:19.703 --> 01:31:22.838
Like right after this, we're getting on my jet and we're going to Hawaii for the weekend.

01:31:23.259 --> 01:31:24.519
I would be on that point.

01:31:24.639 --> 01:31:25.569
So it's it.

01:31:25.569 --> 01:31:29.019
I knew that it's just like this is not the place for me anymore.

01:31:29.048 --> 01:31:29.349
Yeah.

01:31:29.408 --> 01:31:35.269
Because my mentality does not connect anymore with the current mentality.

01:31:35.298 --> 01:31:37.698
'cause we were like that for decades.

01:31:37.819 --> 01:31:41.060
Venezuelans were the type of people that would go to Miami and be like.

01:31:41.764 --> 01:31:43.753
Okay, that's ten grand.

01:31:43.774 --> 01:31:44.434
Give me two.

01:31:44.823 --> 01:31:45.613
Oh, that's that.

01:31:45.623 --> 01:31:46.333
Give me three.

01:31:46.484 --> 01:31:48.423
Or just send like five home.

01:31:48.724 --> 01:31:52.043
Or like, oh, I need new cars for me and the wife.

01:31:52.323 --> 01:31:56.573
Give me two of the good ones and give me one for the, for The housekeeper.

01:31:56.573 --> 01:31:57.703
Yeah, for the housekeeper.

01:31:58.064 --> 01:32:00.373
Like, that's how we were for decades.

01:32:01.469 --> 01:32:03.168
That oil money was really good.

01:32:03.168 --> 01:32:16.469
My wife and I, uh, had, uh, well, she's Brazilian, but she had grown up in a fairly well to do family that had like gardeners and housekeepers and all these things, which is very common.

01:32:16.929 --> 01:32:17.149
Yeah.

01:32:17.149 --> 01:32:20.939
It's not like we were like, everybody was like a multimillionaire, but it was.

01:32:22.059 --> 01:32:25.179
But if you're a middle class or above, you kind of live that lifestyle.

01:32:25.179 --> 01:32:32.168
Whereas in the U S like even rich people barely have like helpers and stuff cause they cost too much money, you know?

01:32:32.649 --> 01:32:35.788
Um, and that was one of her biggest, Manuela was her name.

01:32:35.788 --> 01:32:46.128
And one of her biggest, I guess, compliments toward us or observations about our time was that like, you prepared me to actually take care of myself.

01:32:46.734 --> 01:32:56.474
Like, if I, whether I have an apartment with roommates, or live by myself or something, like I can cook, I can do these things, cause I've actually had to take care of myself.

01:32:57.144 --> 01:33:01.014
Um, yeah, so that's an interesting dynamic.

01:33:01.043 --> 01:33:03.453
So, so you've come to this conclusion.

01:33:03.769 --> 01:33:07.979
Yeah, so I, I finished that and that business goes down to the ground.

01:33:08.488 --> 01:33:11.729
Uh, the, your girlfriend breaks up with you cause you don't have any time for her.

01:33:11.729 --> 01:33:12.029
Yeah.

01:33:12.029 --> 01:33:14.288
We actually had some rough patches after that.

01:33:14.288 --> 01:33:19.229
And I, well, yeah, who wants to date a broke guy, rough patches.

01:33:19.458 --> 01:33:23.759
For us, it was like, I think we were too comfortable in a situation that wasn't feeding anybody.

01:33:23.759 --> 01:33:27.738
So it was one of those that I'm like, eh, we both kind of like, we're not there anymore.

01:33:28.248 --> 01:33:32.798
Uh, so I finished that relationship finishes that business relationship is done.

01:33:33.048 --> 01:33:37.439
The other big import export companies already on its way down because of the same complications.

01:33:38.368 --> 01:33:41.628
There's not enough money if you don't want to play insider ball.

01:33:41.639 --> 01:33:45.128
There's no one that I think we were already kind of like establishing.

01:33:45.128 --> 01:33:50.969
We had our contacts to get things clean enough that people wouldn't steal or would become a bigger issue.

01:33:51.304 --> 01:33:58.514
But the problem started getting into the, if you don't have money to eat, why are you going to buy other goods or not?

01:33:59.073 --> 01:34:09.953
Well, in hyperinflation, it's just like, you know, I can't buy something for 10, 000 this month and sell it next month for a profit because next month people would have to pay 14, 000 for it.

01:34:09.953 --> 01:34:09.974
Yeah.

01:34:09.984 --> 01:34:13.613
So it got to the point where that company was not going anywhere either.

01:34:14.854 --> 01:34:16.863
And I moved to the capital again.

01:34:17.054 --> 01:34:22.634
Um, I spent a year there and like, I try my hardest.

01:34:22.673 --> 01:34:24.533
I wanted to start another food business.

01:34:24.533 --> 01:34:35.163
I, I worked at a restaurant as a sous chef slash chef for, for that, like six months, some of it, like at the beginning that I was there and then I'm like, okay, I want to start my own business.

01:34:35.163 --> 01:34:39.753
I know food can still sell food, food will always be, yeah, exactly.

01:34:39.753 --> 01:34:43.323
And I had some good ideas, something that was going to be like something decent.

01:34:44.338 --> 01:34:47.458
And then I kept looking at prices and the price is constantly changing.

01:34:47.458 --> 01:34:52.559
And like rent was up the roof because they were, a lot of people are laundering money through.

01:34:52.559 --> 01:35:02.099
So if you have a government where everybody has millions and millions of dollars, but they're all like drug related, you have to laundry that money somehow.

01:35:02.099 --> 01:35:04.548
So they would rent things and just let them die.

01:35:04.788 --> 01:35:07.298
You're like, Oh yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm renting this out for.

01:35:07.319 --> 01:35:18.198
100, 000 a month, which it's just like got way too long from themselves virtually and stuff, or, or, or start a restaurant that doesn't have to make any money.

01:35:18.198 --> 01:35:18.469
Yeah.

01:35:18.469 --> 01:35:30.819
Or you and I would go in because you have this place and then you would rent this office to me for 20 grand, but you pay five grand for the place and then you're like, okay, I paid that I took another two and then I give you the change.

01:35:30.838 --> 01:35:31.738
I get the clean money.

01:35:31.779 --> 01:35:32.029
Yeah.

01:35:32.029 --> 01:35:33.149
So you get clean money.

01:35:33.219 --> 01:35:34.509
And so that happened a lot.

01:35:34.509 --> 01:35:35.668
And he got to the point where I.

01:35:36.014 --> 01:35:45.854
I remember this was like, this was like a very emotional, like conflicted area of my life in that point that I told my dad, it's like, I'm tired of this shit.

01:35:46.064 --> 01:35:47.304
I want to live.

01:35:47.543 --> 01:35:49.203
I don't want to survive.

01:35:49.703 --> 01:35:51.663
Surviving is, I'm done.

01:35:51.764 --> 01:35:55.963
I'm done surviving because I don't know if I'm going to go out tonight and then not come back.

01:35:56.694 --> 01:36:00.224
It's not an, it's not a point of being like, Oh, I want to live better.

01:36:00.224 --> 01:36:01.293
I want to have a nice car.

01:36:01.293 --> 01:36:02.913
It's like, I want to go out.

01:36:03.279 --> 01:36:04.359
And walk.

01:36:04.649 --> 01:36:04.769
Right.

01:36:05.738 --> 01:36:12.248
I wanna go out to a park and know that somebody's not gonna be waiting behind a bush and then shoot me because I had a nice pair of shoes.

01:36:12.248 --> 01:36:12.309
Yeah.

01:36:12.314 --> 01:36:14.618
Be sitting in the backseat of my car when I get back in my car.

01:36:14.649 --> 01:36:14.918
Yeah.

01:36:14.918 --> 01:36:21.548
I had a, a problem, like the girlfriend that I had at the time, we were coming back from one of her cousin's house, which was like an hour away.

01:36:21.548 --> 01:36:23.708
It's kind like, imagine driving from Denver up here.

01:36:23.708 --> 01:36:23.948
Sure.

01:36:24.448 --> 01:36:27.509
And in the highway, one of my tires blows up.

01:36:27.798 --> 01:36:28.158
Okay.

01:36:29.408 --> 01:36:30.639
I destroyed.

01:36:31.184 --> 01:36:35.634
That rim because I couldn't stop wasn't safe to stop.

01:36:35.673 --> 01:36:39.033
I I stopped at my house and I call my dad the next day.

01:36:39.033 --> 01:36:42.113
It's like dude, I just obliterated this rim.

01:36:42.413 --> 01:36:46.094
The rim is almost like on the on the on the center and sparks the whole time.

01:36:46.654 --> 01:36:49.753
And it's just like, and he's like, Yep, that's probably what you had to do.

01:36:49.764 --> 01:36:58.123
You probably if I would have stopped anywhere, I she would have been well, something really bad or I would have gotten killed or something.

01:36:58.493 --> 01:37:20.793
Something bad would have happened because it was Past midnight in the middle of a city that doesn't sleep that bad people don't sleep Wow, so it was one of those things that I'm like, you know what there's no good people out after midnight Yeah, I think I think I could this car could burn and I'll still be alive and I'll be fine So after that point, I'm like I could this I was very conflicted.

01:37:20.844 --> 01:37:38.764
Well, you had this experience of Other parts of the world, I imagine, too, like living in Northern Colorado for even just a little while as a kiddo, living in Argentina, not that that was any better at the time, but When I went there, it was, government wise, was kind of like putrid, but money wise, it was pretty stable.

01:37:38.764 --> 01:37:39.703
Things were easy, yeah.

01:37:39.958 --> 01:37:45.509
Uh, so the money, the transfer, the, the, the exchange rates were pretty decent.

01:37:46.509 --> 01:37:56.988
I was living comfortably, so I didn't ever feel the, the heaviness of it, but still, it's kind of like a rough city to be in if you don't like that, like really heavy cement jungle.

01:37:57.088 --> 01:37:57.389
Yup.

01:37:57.469 --> 01:37:58.118
So.

01:37:58.378 --> 01:37:58.759
Fair enough.

01:37:58.759 --> 01:37:59.019
Yeah.

01:37:59.529 --> 01:38:02.988
Um, so what's next for you?

01:38:03.009 --> 01:38:07.099
Like how did, like when you pull the trigger, what's that look like?

01:38:08.448 --> 01:38:13.599
Like, cause you said you went to Caracas and you were ready to, like, get the heck out of there now.

01:38:13.649 --> 01:38:16.809
And is that when you came to work for Medwire virtually or?

01:38:16.819 --> 01:38:17.288
Well, no.

01:38:17.288 --> 01:38:23.889
So I started doing my, my, my background check on everything, like how things were happening here, what I would need to be here.

01:38:24.368 --> 01:38:30.878
I actually, we figured out to go, like for me to go to school in Florida, uh, with the help of my dad.

01:38:30.878 --> 01:38:37.923
So I can't say that I'm a self made man in any way, shape or form, because I think my dad, Was the one who actually got me to a lot of different places.

01:38:38.509 --> 01:38:40.479
Um, so that happens.

01:38:40.479 --> 01:38:41.238
I come to the U.

01:38:41.238 --> 01:38:48.099
S., go to school, graduate, and then come back up in Tufor Collins around 2014.

01:38:48.298 --> 01:38:48.668
Okay.

01:38:48.798 --> 01:38:55.569
And I, it's because I, my family was here, my sister was here, so it's kind of like, it's, it's easier transition.

01:38:55.838 --> 01:38:59.988
And it, it always in my mind was a place that I'm like, I could live there.

01:39:00.109 --> 01:39:03.729
I don't, a 10 year old could not potentially, like, for sure.

01:39:04.219 --> 01:39:06.109
It's like, oh yeah, Fort Collins is a great place to race.

01:39:06.109 --> 01:39:08.918
I'll go through a transition, that's why I was going to fall apart.

01:39:08.929 --> 01:39:09.738
Yeah, exactly.

01:39:09.738 --> 01:39:14.519
But, but it was like something that is always, it was always in the back of my head being like, okay, it's a good place.

01:39:14.519 --> 01:39:15.328
It's a cool place.

01:39:15.628 --> 01:39:16.378
It's beautiful.

01:39:16.378 --> 01:39:17.559
There's a lot of nice people.

01:39:17.569 --> 01:39:21.889
People are warm and welcoming and whatnot, even though some people here like to think otherwise.

01:39:22.198 --> 01:39:24.118
I believe it's still, they're still that warm.

01:39:24.118 --> 01:39:24.755
No, I don't think so.

01:39:24.755 --> 01:39:24.881
Yeah.

01:39:24.881 --> 01:39:25.009
Yeah.

01:39:25.009 --> 01:39:36.069
So, so I kind of like came back up here and then I just, Did chart everything I worked in the in the restaurant industry for a while.

01:39:36.069 --> 01:39:41.349
I realized sure, like two, three years into that, that it was not for me anymore.

01:39:41.698 --> 01:39:43.618
Very low glass ceiling there.

01:39:43.689 --> 01:39:44.048
Yeah.

01:39:44.048 --> 01:39:53.309
And not only that, it's cause I feel like, and even to this day, I feel like if I started a restaurant with the food that I could make and all that, I'm pretty sure it can, it can happen because I know people here like to eat.

01:39:53.878 --> 01:39:56.269
And it's, uh, like people here spend a lot of money in food.

01:39:56.309 --> 01:39:58.349
I make some of the best food I've ever had personally.

01:39:59.158 --> 01:40:01.819
And I'm not, I don't think I could start a good restaurant.

01:40:01.939 --> 01:40:08.279
I don't have enough capital, you know, I don't have enough patience to build the, the thing.

01:40:08.279 --> 01:40:10.048
I'm not really a systems guy.

01:40:10.059 --> 01:40:13.639
I don't want to have to be constrained by prices when I come up with my creative ideas.

01:40:13.658 --> 01:40:13.958
Yeah.

01:40:14.248 --> 01:40:14.479
Yeah.

01:40:14.479 --> 01:40:22.788
So I, I thought of that for a while, but then I never got the opportunity to like pitch it to somebody, uh, in working in the industry, I got burned out.

01:40:23.038 --> 01:40:39.458
Because here, like, like, wages were really low for that, and I'm, I'm just working 12, 14 hours a day, and my paychecks were 300 bucks, 400 bucks, and I'm like, this is, this is a nightmare.

01:40:39.838 --> 01:40:47.203
I'm never going anywhere with this, so I, I got out of that, I started reading a lot, I started, uh, writing, so kind of like getting into that.

01:40:47.203 --> 01:40:48.533
What was your degree, from Florida?

01:40:48.533 --> 01:40:52.908
Uh, so it was kind of like in the 3D graphic, so kind of like digital graphics in general.

01:40:53.368 --> 01:41:22.734
Um, so I came, I spent the first like year and a half trying to, You don't have to, you're trying to find, break into that, it's a tough industry to get into, right, apply to hundreds of jobs, with no experience, yeah, never got it, well there aren't that many companies that need a lot of graphics anymore, yeah, yeah, and at that point I focused on the gaming industry for a while, so it was kind of like what I, like my biggest focus in college, yep, Uh, and that was the time where everything was going towards like Russia and China, India.

01:41:22.753 --> 01:41:30.713
So a lot of really big companies that had the talent and they would charge a fifth of what you would charge here in the U.

01:41:30.713 --> 01:41:30.854
S.

01:41:30.854 --> 01:41:38.314
So I understand it's a very logical solution, be like, do I pay you 100, 000 or I paid this guy 15, 000?

01:41:38.314 --> 01:41:39.594
In India, 18, 000.

01:41:39.594 --> 01:41:39.894
Yeah, exactly.

01:41:39.894 --> 01:41:40.423
Exactly.

01:41:40.743 --> 01:41:49.259
Um, so that, that happened and then I started kind of like figuring out that I, I didn't want to lose the creativity.

01:41:50.128 --> 01:41:53.219
And I always thought that writing was a fun thing.

01:41:53.279 --> 01:41:56.229
I used to write poetry back home.

01:41:56.934 --> 01:42:07.963
Uh, so it was something fun to do, but in South America, being a writer is like the, the lower piece of the totem pole of starving artists.

01:42:07.974 --> 01:42:10.884
It's worse than being gay and all these other things.

01:42:10.884 --> 01:42:13.814
Well, I love, so many really, really good authors.

01:42:14.354 --> 01:42:14.734
Yeah.

01:42:14.743 --> 01:42:18.533
Really good authors in Venice, in, in not Venezuela, in South America in general.

01:42:18.543 --> 01:42:18.644
Yeah.

01:42:19.844 --> 01:42:22.734
Made it to what a middle low class would be.

01:42:22.743 --> 01:42:23.323
Wow.

01:42:23.684 --> 01:42:27.363
Very, maybe like one or two became really renowned.

01:42:27.373 --> 01:42:30.113
Actually, financially successfully.

01:42:30.679 --> 01:42:36.748
Uh, so it was kind of like that perspective in mind, but it's always like if it's art, it's going to be a really bad thing.

01:42:37.269 --> 01:42:38.538
So do not look that way.

01:42:38.908 --> 01:42:49.349
And I started kind of like falling in love again with writing here and then reading for a year or so, just reading books every week, different book, just go and then start writing.

01:42:49.349 --> 01:42:51.338
And you're like working at restaurant jobs or different things.

01:42:51.338 --> 01:42:51.559
Yeah.

01:42:51.559 --> 01:42:51.698
Yeah.

01:42:51.698 --> 01:42:54.219
And I was working as a Lyft driver for a while too.

01:42:54.359 --> 01:42:55.998
That was a very interesting point.

01:42:56.418 --> 01:42:56.918
Right, right.

01:42:57.488 --> 01:42:58.689
And then I started writing.

01:42:59.099 --> 01:43:00.389
And I wrote this novel.

01:43:00.759 --> 01:43:02.729
I kind of like got into the whole writing thing.

01:43:02.729 --> 01:43:05.378
And then I realized at one point, it's like, you know what?

01:43:05.408 --> 01:43:12.578
I think I could be a writer, whether it be a technical writer for a company or whether it be a writer for like to write novels.

01:43:12.578 --> 01:43:14.979
And that's still kind of like on the horizon somewhere.

01:43:14.979 --> 01:43:16.048
That's something you really want to do.

01:43:16.498 --> 01:43:18.203
And before we leave this writing part.

01:43:18.623 --> 01:43:20.304
Talk to me about your science fiction book.

01:43:20.833 --> 01:43:28.474
So, it's a, um, So, it's about a mercenary that gets hired by this multi galactic mining and exploration company.

01:43:28.493 --> 01:43:28.934
Okay.

01:43:29.024 --> 01:43:37.064
To go to this, uh, kind of like planet and clear out, uh, Kind of like the Dune movie that Almost, almost on that end.

01:43:37.064 --> 01:43:41.234
I mean, it's different, but But it's just like a planet that's completely empty.

01:43:41.944 --> 01:43:46.533
Oh, and they just want you to go in there to clean it out because they want to come in and exploit.

01:43:46.533 --> 01:43:49.293
It's probably an empty space Yeah, basically like North Dakota.

01:43:49.323 --> 01:44:08.029
Yeah, something like that where you're like, hey, there's a few Indians, maybe Yeah, if there's bears and wolves and whatnot, just get rid of all that I don't want to lose personnel because there's some like wildlife trying to kill my stuff my people So he, like this guy goes there alongside with a bunch of other, uh, mercenaries, his team, whatever, his team.

01:44:08.048 --> 01:44:09.399
And he's the leader.

01:44:09.399 --> 01:44:16.088
He's just, well, he's, he's the leader of his pack, but there's two other crews that come in, each one specializing in different things.

01:44:16.458 --> 01:44:17.809
The pay was fantastic.

01:44:17.809 --> 01:44:20.639
So he's like, yes, I will take this money, baby.

01:44:20.679 --> 01:44:28.569
Yeah, and then he gets there and he realizes that there's something in there that shouldn't be kind of like owned or shouldn't be exploited by anybody.

01:44:28.988 --> 01:44:38.748
And the way that I like that I wanted to write the novel was to have that mental dichotomy between Should I do the right thing and not?

01:44:39.439 --> 01:44:40.769
Indulge in this problem.

01:44:40.779 --> 01:44:44.198
Yeah, or should I just like get paid for this and live the life?

01:44:44.458 --> 01:44:44.729
Yeah.

01:44:44.738 --> 01:44:45.139
Ten lifetimes.

01:44:45.139 --> 01:44:45.529
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:44:45.798 --> 01:44:46.418
Happily.

01:44:46.439 --> 01:44:52.198
Should I destroy this spirit of goodness and flourishing that exists here for the money?

01:44:52.238 --> 01:44:52.748
Yeah, exactly.

01:44:53.198 --> 01:44:53.798
So I got it.

01:44:53.798 --> 01:45:02.088
Was it a critter of some sort that he was it was, uh, my, I have seven other books that I have in my head.

01:45:02.109 --> 01:45:05.469
Some of them I started writing, like, they're in the works.

01:45:05.488 --> 01:45:05.948
Yeah, yeah.

01:45:06.389 --> 01:45:09.698
But my concept, this universe is.

01:45:10.123 --> 01:45:19.613
Put together by these entities that were from outside created this universe and now they live in this universe So they're entities of things in that we come across.

01:45:19.724 --> 01:45:19.894
Yeah.

01:45:19.894 --> 01:45:20.094
Yeah.

01:45:20.104 --> 01:45:35.139
So the first book deals with the entity of time So it's the the kind of like the mind behind how time works in the universe And then this is the essence of it, and that's what is inside of this planet, is this planet.

01:45:35.139 --> 01:45:37.019
So it creates kind of the value of time.

01:45:37.029 --> 01:45:45.868
Yeah, so it's, it was one of those things that it's just like, should I give the, the ability, the control of time to these greedy people?

01:45:45.958 --> 01:45:46.219
Right.

01:45:46.219 --> 01:45:48.279
That are going to destroy everything in their path?

01:45:48.359 --> 01:45:48.708
Right.

01:45:48.708 --> 01:45:50.863
Or should I just like, help these, this thing?

01:45:50.863 --> 01:45:51.809
Let time be on its own.

01:45:51.809 --> 01:45:57.344
Yeah, let time be time and then just have, you know, It just not be affected by this problem.

01:45:57.344 --> 01:46:13.274
So, and I have other concept of, there's some, like another book that I started that it's like the essence of like evolution and how things like progress and how things kind of like grow from there, from their point, what would happen to the universe if we lost that?

01:46:13.344 --> 01:46:13.724
Yeah.

01:46:13.884 --> 01:46:15.984
Somebody else controlled that ability to progress.

01:46:18.578 --> 01:46:26.588
So to me, and there, there are like dead essences and like some, some planets might have a dead essence of what like kindness might be, right?

01:46:26.588 --> 01:46:30.389
And then they just don't know what kindness entails because kindness left.

01:46:30.458 --> 01:46:32.019
Yeah, that place.

01:46:32.048 --> 01:46:34.219
Well, it's like Fort Collins still has kindness.

01:46:34.238 --> 01:46:34.859
Yeah, exactly.

01:46:34.859 --> 01:46:37.118
It's one of the things that are characteristic about us.

01:46:37.168 --> 01:46:37.429
Yeah.

01:46:38.368 --> 01:46:49.488
You know, I would argue that, Like the United States for at least 150 years had striving, virtually, you know, or working hard toward good ends.

01:46:50.479 --> 01:46:53.469
Um, and it's less so?

01:46:53.519 --> 01:46:54.599
Yeah, it's slowed down a little bit.

01:46:55.059 --> 01:47:05.219
Um, you know, while we're, while we're on this thread, and before we, we're gonna, I'm gonna have to take another break here, cause I gotta go pee, but, Um, like, When you think about the U.

01:47:05.219 --> 01:47:05.399
S.

01:47:05.429 --> 01:47:10.748
that you've seen in the last, I guess, mostly 10 years has been the bulk of your experience, right?

01:47:10.779 --> 01:47:13.128
Like, 14 to now, virtually 15.

01:47:13.149 --> 01:47:13.849
Yeah, 12 years.

01:47:14.248 --> 01:47:19.498
Um, like, have you seen a cultural change in terms of its striving and its desire?

01:47:19.498 --> 01:47:22.889
Are you concerned about a Venezuelan type economy?

01:47:23.569 --> 01:47:29.868
I'm not concerned about that, just because at the end of the day, I do believe that the American mind is a, it's a, it's a bit stronger than that.

01:47:29.868 --> 01:47:31.349
It's more resistant to it?

01:47:31.349 --> 01:47:32.849
Yeah, the resistant, it's in.

01:47:33.283 --> 01:47:37.144
I tell this to a lot of people, when a country has gone through war.

01:47:37.529 --> 01:47:50.198
And know what unifying means and know what that like kind of like heart to heart like you're in with your neighbor because it's the only person that you can rely on things get done and things get like you're going to go like everybody else.

01:47:50.198 --> 01:47:51.479
You're going to go through shitty times.

01:47:51.698 --> 01:47:55.078
You're going to go through times where like right now we're not understanding each other.

01:47:55.078 --> 01:48:12.509
We're like very, very Like everybody's on their own corner and everyone wants to pull their own, like to their own side, that's a, and I feel like it's a common thing in politics in a lot of places, but at the end of the day, I feel like there's a, there's another change happening already right now that people are kind of like getting tired of that bullshit.

01:48:12.509 --> 01:48:14.569
It's like we are one people.

01:48:15.198 --> 01:48:19.908
This is not a thing just because you're loud and you can yell your stuff louder.

01:48:20.404 --> 01:48:21.923
That doesn't mean that's the end all be all.

01:48:21.923 --> 01:48:23.904
Nobody's listening anymore.

01:48:23.913 --> 01:48:26.533
Now it's just like, I'm so tired of listening to your crap.

01:48:26.533 --> 01:48:27.694
I just don't want to do this anymore.

01:48:28.163 --> 01:48:33.594
I want to go with Kurt and we're going to have a beer and we're going to figure out what we can do for this area to make it better.

01:48:34.113 --> 01:48:34.594
Something like that.

01:48:34.594 --> 01:48:37.304
So I feel like people here are very on that end.

01:48:37.804 --> 01:48:39.484
Where it's just like, we want to work together.

01:48:39.484 --> 01:48:40.684
We want to make things happen.

01:48:41.094 --> 01:48:44.503
And yeah, sometimes you have people that are just, I don't want to work for the rest of my life.

01:48:44.503 --> 01:48:47.073
Well, collaborative over taking advantage.

01:48:47.154 --> 01:48:47.573
Yeah, exactly.

01:48:47.573 --> 01:48:49.113
Which is kind of the culture, unfortunately.

01:48:50.104 --> 01:48:50.314
Yeah.

01:48:50.314 --> 01:49:01.219
Venezuela evolved into, was very much taking advantage economy and to us we kind of like created that in the sense of, uh, why Chaz was so, such a big figure is that he was the first.

01:49:02.154 --> 01:49:11.024
Or probably one of the first and maybe the only person that actually looked into the lower class poverty levels and where it was like, what do you guys want?

01:49:11.264 --> 01:49:11.823
Right.

01:49:11.974 --> 01:49:21.354
So if you tell somebody that hasn't, yeah, if you have somebody that has never seen the light of day, it's like, hey, I'm going to take you to Cancun and then we're going to have fun and you're going to eat all you want.

01:49:21.503 --> 01:49:21.774
Right.

01:49:21.774 --> 01:49:23.984
And you have a limitless credit card.

01:49:24.448 --> 01:49:26.668
To buy whatever the fuck you want.

01:49:27.179 --> 01:49:28.378
I'm going to say yes.

01:49:28.408 --> 01:49:28.769
Heck yeah.

01:49:28.769 --> 01:49:29.453
I'm voting for that guy.

01:49:29.453 --> 01:49:30.298
Yeah, I'm good.

01:49:30.359 --> 01:49:32.609
What I, I'm gonna, I'm not gonna have to work for free.

01:49:32.609 --> 01:49:33.569
Forgive my student loans.

01:49:33.569 --> 01:49:34.378
Yeah, exactly.

01:49:34.979 --> 01:49:35.668
There you go.

01:49:35.878 --> 01:49:43.698
So it's like, you're gonna give me this thing for free without any repercussions with, or making me think that there's nothing there, nothing bad is gonna happen.

01:49:43.703 --> 01:49:44.708
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:49:44.708 --> 01:49:45.850
I'm, I'll be, I'm down with you.

01:49:45.854 --> 01:49:46.479
You got it, homie.

01:49:46.479 --> 01:49:48.279
So, yeah, once you, once you.

01:49:48.689 --> 01:49:57.923
Tap into the people that feel neglected, that feel oppressed, that feel pushed down, you get People following you and then you start getting this for us.

01:49:57.923 --> 01:50:03.873
It was the unfortunate piece It was a big side of the population that was that was I need it smitten by that.

01:50:03.894 --> 01:50:24.694
Yeah Well, and that will I'm gonna call the call pause here shortly But they like the current like Palestinian situation with all these college students like like if you're the oppressed even if you're full of suicide bombers And whatever else, like, you're the good guys, automatically, and if you're the oppressor, then you're the bad guys.

01:50:25.094 --> 01:50:31.413
Yeah, I've been reading so much about that lately, I've been listening to a lot of, like, commentary on both sides.

01:50:31.413 --> 01:50:33.354
I'm sure it's probably a topic you never even heard about.

01:50:33.503 --> 01:50:33.923
Yeah.

01:50:33.953 --> 01:50:34.604
Five years ago.

01:50:34.644 --> 01:50:41.748
Yeah, but it's, it's very interesting because I, That's the only thing that I, that I find really complicated to find here in the U.

01:50:41.748 --> 01:50:42.078
S.

01:50:42.529 --> 01:50:56.899
is that critical thinking and common sense and having a good solid foundation to have some of these conversations because I do believe that there's some problems going in the Palestinian world that it's just like, Hey, some of these people don't.

01:50:57.069 --> 01:50:58.149
They've got legit beefs.

01:50:58.149 --> 01:50:58.588
Yeah.

01:50:58.609 --> 01:51:04.889
Well, and not only that, it's just like, some of these people are, are very much on the side of like, they don't deserve any of this.

01:51:05.088 --> 01:51:06.198
They just have an it.

01:51:06.753 --> 01:51:07.833
A quote unquote ally.

01:51:07.833 --> 01:51:10.804
I would say that it's not beneficial to them Right.

01:51:10.804 --> 01:51:14.373
And I would say that the other side is also has a, a very, probably like Right, right.

01:51:14.373 --> 01:51:15.394
A powering side.

01:51:15.573 --> 01:51:17.734
So I do believe there's a problem in both of them.

01:51:17.884 --> 01:51:20.673
There's, there's victimizing both, and there's a problem in both.

01:51:20.673 --> 01:51:21.904
And there's an aggressor in both.

01:51:21.904 --> 01:51:22.083
Mm-Hmm.

01:51:22.354 --> 01:51:27.814
There is a totally, it's, it's a, and it's, again, it's a battle that's been raging on for 2000 years.

01:51:27.814 --> 01:51:27.963
Right.

01:51:27.963 --> 01:51:28.488
With people as puns.

01:51:28.488 --> 01:51:28.769
Yeah.

01:51:29.029 --> 01:51:29.769
But it's, uh.

01:51:30.524 --> 01:51:38.913
It's a lot more complicated than saying that they're killing this or they doing that it's like you a lot of people that are Yelling about this have no idea.

01:51:39.054 --> 01:51:54.434
Totally what the problem is or or how heavy it is So I think there's there's a lot to be said about Sorry to dip into there, but it ties right into that oppressor victim kind of notion of who are you?

01:51:54.434 --> 01:51:54.984
Where are you?

01:51:54.993 --> 01:51:57.113
Yeah All right, quick break.

01:51:57.144 --> 01:51:57.583
We'll be back.

01:51:58.913 --> 01:52:01.703
Gonna be a fairly long one already when we're back.

01:52:01.873 --> 01:52:02.793
Hey, great.

01:52:03.073 --> 01:52:04.203
I, I love this type of conversation.

01:52:04.524 --> 01:52:08.974
So, if you, if, if you want to do this more often, I'm more than done.

01:52:08.974 --> 01:52:10.363
We can do once every quarter or something.

01:52:10.373 --> 01:52:12.354
Yeah, I'm, I'm up for that all the time.

01:52:12.564 --> 01:52:20.604
Well, we need the, uh, Launched the Diego Rego Vaga Vega podcast in the future.

01:52:21.003 --> 01:52:22.083
I'll be one of your guests for sure.

01:52:22.144 --> 01:52:22.854
Oh for sure.

01:52:22.884 --> 01:52:26.873
We'll start we'll start it together for a little Okay, it's pretty easy.

01:52:27.144 --> 01:52:35.274
If you can do all your digital marketing things you can run a podcast simple simple so faith family politics is always our Ladder segments.

01:52:35.323 --> 01:52:41.844
Okay, we usually get there sooner than now, but we've enjoyed kind of Well, some, some faith and family and politics questions.

01:52:42.293 --> 01:53:01.703
Um, but I wanted to start with faith, um, because I've, I've picked up some cues to at least some levels of kind of Christian orientation, maybe Catholic, I assume is maybe more prevalent, but I also know that like, um, socialist countries and stuff kind of tend to try to.

01:53:02.583 --> 01:53:04.293
Disrupt that notion.

01:53:04.298 --> 01:53:04.429
Yeah.

01:53:04.448 --> 01:53:11.984
And so, yeah, talk to me about faith and, and so for you and for Venezuela in general, love to hear some, so we're very Catholic.

01:53:12.224 --> 01:53:12.554
Okay.

01:53:12.854 --> 01:53:16.753
Roman and Apo Apostolic, I think is the, the translation to it.

01:53:16.753 --> 01:53:25.993
So it's kinda like that Big Angels Mother Mary, and then God and Jesus like, so we have like the whole shebang kind of icons and stuff is a big deal.

01:53:26.588 --> 01:53:27.899
Angels are a big thing.

01:53:27.939 --> 01:53:28.248
Okay.

01:53:28.338 --> 01:53:33.319
So we like, we have like Santeria, which is kind of like witchcraft in some sense.

01:53:33.378 --> 01:53:34.168
Oh, okay.

01:53:34.198 --> 01:53:35.538
But connected to saints.

01:53:35.698 --> 01:53:36.059
Okay.

01:53:36.059 --> 01:53:36.149
Interesting.

01:53:36.149 --> 01:53:37.109
Kind of like situation.

01:53:37.109 --> 01:53:37.529
All right.

01:53:37.618 --> 01:53:40.458
Uh, I am actually a very atheist person.

01:53:40.458 --> 01:53:40.819
Okay.

01:53:41.088 --> 01:53:43.878
A lot of the times, mostly because I, I don't.

01:53:44.009 --> 01:53:45.309
You're pushing against that.

01:53:45.359 --> 01:53:46.878
Well, not necessarily against it.

01:53:46.878 --> 01:53:51.779
I do believe that there's, there's some room in the, in the cake for that.

01:53:51.868 --> 01:53:52.128
Okay.

01:53:52.189 --> 01:53:52.779
If you want to put it that way.

01:53:52.779 --> 01:53:53.418
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:53:54.238 --> 01:53:56.219
But you don't have any of that in your background necessarily?

01:53:56.219 --> 01:53:59.418
No, no, like even for my, this is a funny story.

01:53:59.748 --> 01:54:04.048
When I was, I think, four or five, I remember this clearly.

01:54:04.048 --> 01:54:06.738
I can picture, I can put the scene together.

01:54:07.458 --> 01:54:10.429
I was on my bed, big fan going on.

01:54:10.939 --> 01:54:14.988
open window and it was just midnight or something like that.

01:54:14.988 --> 01:54:15.738
I couldn't sleep.

01:54:16.109 --> 01:54:22.819
And the first thing that comes out of my mouth, it's like, if you're real, just do something, anything, anything could be the stupidest thing.

01:54:22.819 --> 01:54:23.559
And I'll believe it.

01:54:23.559 --> 01:54:24.378
And I'll go from there.

01:54:24.408 --> 01:54:24.979
Right, right.

01:54:25.738 --> 01:54:32.109
And then, nothing happens, and like, 10 minutes go by, 20 minutes go by, 30 minutes go by, like, time goes by.

01:54:32.149 --> 01:54:32.668
Right, right.

01:54:32.679 --> 01:54:36.529
And I'm like, okay, I guess I'm not, and to me it was kind of like a waste of time.

01:54:36.759 --> 01:54:38.319
So I'm very scientific.

01:54:38.328 --> 01:54:41.623
You think you're that important that God's gonna like, jump when you say jump?

01:54:41.623 --> 01:54:42.029
Yeah, yeah.

01:54:42.029 --> 01:54:42.719
I'm one of his scientists.

01:54:42.738 --> 01:54:43.338
Sons.

01:54:43.519 --> 01:54:44.328
So all alright.

01:54:45.048 --> 01:54:51.229
Why not answer to, even if it's just like a, wouldn't take much faith if he answered every time somebody ask a question like that.

01:54:51.234 --> 01:54:51.469
Yeah, I know.

01:54:51.469 --> 01:54:54.979
But to me, I saw that when being, being a kid, you kind of like, yeah, yeah.

01:54:54.979 --> 01:54:56.868
You're very exaggerated in your abuse.

01:54:56.868 --> 01:54:57.679
It's like, sure, sure.

01:54:58.179 --> 01:55:00.189
I've been in this life for six years.

01:55:00.189 --> 01:55:00.458
Right?

01:55:00.458 --> 01:55:00.908
Like, what?

01:55:00.969 --> 01:55:01.899
What's going on?

01:55:02.359 --> 01:55:06.078
Um, but it was one of those things that I kind of like never picked it up after that.

01:55:06.078 --> 01:55:06.139
Yeah.

01:55:06.168 --> 01:55:08.328
There might have been some points in my life where.

01:55:08.734 --> 01:55:15.663
My, the good thing is like my mom or dad, my dad died, I think of an agnostic, basically.

01:55:15.724 --> 01:55:16.094
Yeah, yeah.

01:55:16.123 --> 01:55:23.323
So, I think by the end, kind of maybe believed a little bit more, but never was a person for religion or beliefs.

01:55:23.833 --> 01:55:27.293
Uh, my mom was a little bit more, but she still Is that common?

01:55:27.719 --> 01:55:49.759
Uh, not necessarily, we're a very religious country, but the good thing is like they never put anything on us, so we never went to church, we never did any, like every now and again, we have some like very in depth religious kind of like events that happen throughout the country, that people go to church, religious holidays, like our Easter and Christmas kind of thing.

01:55:49.759 --> 01:55:50.779
Yeah, stuff like that.

01:55:51.069 --> 01:55:53.069
Um, and people go to church for those.

01:55:53.069 --> 01:55:54.578
We never did any of that.

01:55:54.998 --> 01:56:00.168
Actually, the times that we went to church is because people came to visit and then we went and showed up.

01:56:00.168 --> 01:56:05.639
Because those churches are, they're still one of those like, 300 year old like churches.

01:56:05.798 --> 01:56:07.708
So there I love the architecture.

01:56:07.708 --> 01:56:27.546
So that's why I appreciate Religion a lot because if I would go to Italy or Spain sure, I would like to go to those places because they're Like I can still not believe that we went from that into the shitty architecture that we have right now That we got these square boxes and whatever.

01:56:27.546 --> 01:56:30.429
Yeah, they're like gray, all gray, no windows, no nothing.

01:56:30.838 --> 01:56:34.009
You guys, uh, you, we, we lost, we lost touch somewhere.

01:56:34.538 --> 01:56:37.168
Uh, but I'm personally, I'm not a religious person.

01:56:37.168 --> 01:56:46.389
I do believe in somewhat of like energy just because we, like, I, like right now we're exchanging that energy between you and I, and I think there is some sort of connection.

01:56:46.389 --> 01:56:50.958
So there is still like a very scientific approach from my end to that.

01:56:51.009 --> 01:56:51.298
Sure.

01:56:51.328 --> 01:56:53.958
It's not like, oh, well, there, it might be some sort of like.

01:56:55.323 --> 01:56:59.604
Cosmic energy that's connecting us like no, it's probably like a very scientific thing.

01:56:59.604 --> 01:57:02.934
There's actually a wave there that's connecting us right now or whatever.

01:57:03.274 --> 01:57:06.564
And then we kind of like, that's why we clicked or whatever.

01:57:07.094 --> 01:57:17.203
So there is that so it could be somewhat spiritual, but at the same time I'm like, I'm So you would say you would lean Almost in the atheist camp not the agnostic camp.

01:57:17.213 --> 01:57:20.094
Yeah, definitely definitely more on the atheist camp fair enough.

01:57:20.134 --> 01:57:49.328
Yeah, hopefully this doesn't Take away business from you because some people are like you're not you don't believe in God at all Well, I mean, yeah, they'd be the right people not to call you I suppose and I'm not that popular So don't worry about that too much One thing I've well one thing I've brought up on this podcast is when I was a kid say five six seven ten years old I Like it was kind of proposed almost like it was Big Bang or God.

01:57:50.229 --> 01:57:52.038
And that was kind of the offering.

01:57:52.048 --> 01:57:55.309
You could believe in the Big Bang and there is no God or you could believe in God.

01:57:55.878 --> 01:57:58.418
And God held the whole universe in his hands.

01:57:59.118 --> 01:58:04.238
And now that we've got this new telescope thing, I forget what the, not the Hubble, but the one after that.

01:58:04.578 --> 01:58:05.609
Yeah, the, the web.

01:58:05.908 --> 01:58:06.969
Yeah, the web telescope.

01:58:06.969 --> 01:58:17.859
So, people, observers of that have started looking at kind of the, how it folded out, and they're like, Well, there almost had to have been an intelligent designer.

01:58:17.948 --> 01:58:18.208
Mm.

01:58:18.963 --> 01:58:23.434
Before the Big Bang, because otherwise it just wouldn't have unfolded like it was.

01:58:23.434 --> 01:58:29.594
And so now the Big Bang is starting to look like more of a faith oriented event.

01:58:29.613 --> 01:58:29.923
Yeah.

01:58:30.253 --> 01:58:36.224
And, to me at least, I don't really see, like, a Atheist oriented event.

01:58:36.323 --> 01:58:43.194
It feels like more and more really smart people are starting to become, if not Christians, at least like God believers.

01:58:43.194 --> 01:58:55.793
Yeah, yeah, but I've seen it in a lot of like very high Yeah, over the last 10 years especially, you know, people that are very high up there, they're starting to kind of come around a little bit and be like, you know, I thought there was no God and now I'm starting to think there's a God.

01:58:56.274 --> 01:58:58.753
Uh, what's your, what's your thoughts on that?

01:58:59.113 --> 01:59:08.554
So, hey, the one thing that I wanted to say is, like, maybe I'm, what I'm writing in my novels are just, like, some of this cosmic Well, you've got seven novels in your head.

01:59:08.564 --> 01:59:09.873
Where's that shit falling out of?

01:59:10.543 --> 01:59:12.253
Like, where do those ideas come from?

01:59:12.264 --> 01:59:12.323
Just you?

01:59:12.323 --> 01:59:14.094
I have no idea, man.

01:59:14.184 --> 01:59:22.094
Like, this novel, so the first thing, I started writing one novel that I will finish at some point in my life because I really enjoy the idea.

01:59:22.444 --> 01:59:24.384
And it's the one about evolution.

01:59:24.684 --> 01:59:28.203
And it's like more superhero connected, but it's still like sci fi y.

01:59:28.274 --> 01:59:29.123
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:59:29.134 --> 01:59:30.173
In the sci fi world.

01:59:30.604 --> 01:59:40.349
Um, But when I started writing it, I was horrible at it, not saying that I'm great right now, but writing writing in general, I didn't know how to put sentences together.

01:59:40.559 --> 01:59:43.798
My paragraphs look like a big mess of oatmeal.

01:59:43.798 --> 01:59:46.458
It was just you were just a puppy.

01:59:46.458 --> 01:59:47.298
Then when you started, right?

01:59:47.298 --> 01:59:48.679
Yeah, it was a disaster.

01:59:48.969 --> 01:59:56.708
And I hated it because I'm like, I don't feel like there's a connection between me and the text and I don't feel like I'm putting actually something enticing.

01:59:56.979 --> 02:00:00.429
So to me it was like, okay, that's when I stopped and then I started reading.

02:00:00.639 --> 02:00:01.689
But the idea is there.

02:00:01.689 --> 02:00:18.474
I still like the idea and I kind of like, Um, to me, this is gonna, this, this is one of those projects that I really want to make him happen, but it's still on that end where I'm like, I still need to like, eat, so I don't want to, I don't want to force it.

02:00:18.474 --> 02:00:20.623
Yeah, you can't go into an eight month sabbatical.

02:00:20.634 --> 02:00:21.304
Yeah, exactly.

02:00:21.304 --> 02:00:22.694
And like, I'm gonna finish my book.

02:00:22.743 --> 02:00:33.014
Yeah, but it's, um, the reason I like, I, I like to connect it to like the religious piece because I feel like that might be like, to me, more fathomable.

02:00:33.024 --> 02:00:33.043
Yeah.

02:00:33.604 --> 02:00:38.713
Idea of being like there, there is like, we're just an experiment for somebody else, right?

02:00:39.064 --> 02:00:41.264
And it's still kind of like, I think that's feasible.

02:00:41.774 --> 02:00:51.043
Yeah, I feel like that, that to me would be landing more on the religious side of being like that, where somebody came in and put like water and like the Dallas.

02:00:51.288 --> 02:01:03.009
Um, of, uh, like the, of the founding fathers in America, Thomas Jefferson, I believe is like recognized as kind of a Taoist where there's a God, he spun it up and then he let it go.

02:01:03.009 --> 02:01:15.889
He doesn't actively intervene and interject himself in the hearts of men or in the circumstances of the world, but somebody, the, the, the prime mover, uh, or the, the, what the uncaused cause.

02:01:17.069 --> 02:01:22.248
And that's kind of like the idea behind these like entities, this essence, like the essence of time.

02:01:22.639 --> 02:01:24.958
Create a time, put everything in motion.

02:01:25.109 --> 02:01:25.918
This is the equation.

02:01:26.668 --> 02:01:27.998
Now I'm not meddling with it.

02:01:28.509 --> 02:01:38.689
I'm living here because I like to see how things grow, how things evolve, how things kind of like, kind of like create their own doom and their own safe, like saving grace and whatnot.

02:01:38.963 --> 02:01:42.154
So kind of like, that's, that's kind of like these entities, how they work.

02:01:42.154 --> 02:01:47.234
They just came in, build it, and now they're watching through a lens and then seeing how it works.

02:01:47.243 --> 02:01:58.658
There is a book that was maybe my favorite back in my teenage years, and it was, I believe it was written by Madeline L'Engle or something, A Wrinkle in Time.

02:01:58.788 --> 02:01:59.918
Okay, I heard.

02:01:59.939 --> 02:02:02.248
You've heard of that series, I think, probably.

02:02:02.248 --> 02:02:26.828
And I don't, I don't know if I think there was a series that followed up with it, but the original book was, and it was, I would say it was probably, cause I grew up in a I guess similar, where faith was kind of assumed, but I spent over 10 years assuming not in my lifetime, maybe 15 almost, and that was a reinforcing item in that.

02:02:26.828 --> 02:02:32.569
It was kind of like that universal, almost in the, you would like that book if you haven't read it.

02:02:32.588 --> 02:02:36.899
It would, it's kind of adjacent to some of the topics that you're talking about with your series.

02:02:36.918 --> 02:02:37.269
Okay.

02:02:37.498 --> 02:02:38.338
So, check that out.

02:02:38.368 --> 02:02:42.208
And I've, I've heard it before too, where people are like, Hey, you might want to read those books.

02:02:42.689 --> 02:02:43.078
Right.

02:02:43.128 --> 02:02:44.639
It feels like it's right down your alley.

02:02:44.649 --> 02:02:45.158
Right.

02:02:45.158 --> 02:02:50.588
And it was, well, I mean, I read it when I was 12 and it wasn't a new book at that time and I'm 50 now.

02:02:50.588 --> 02:02:52.158
So that was 40 years ago.

02:02:52.219 --> 02:02:54.319
It was probably written 50, 60, 70 years ago.

02:02:54.338 --> 02:02:54.599
Yeah.

02:02:54.899 --> 02:02:55.618
Would be my guess.

02:02:55.618 --> 02:02:58.889
So anything else to reflect on in the faith conversation?

02:02:59.884 --> 02:03:05.243
I, one thing that I always believed in is like, we do need faith for a lot of people.

02:03:05.243 --> 02:03:15.384
I feel like a lot for a lot of people is the driving factor for a lot of people is the saving factor for a lot of people is that like, like, this is your execute, like your executor, your judge.

02:03:15.394 --> 02:03:15.793
Yeah.

02:03:15.804 --> 02:03:17.953
So I feel like there is a need.

02:03:18.408 --> 02:03:26.269
For it, we've, I think we can both agree that some, some of us have gone on the stream end of certain things with religion.

02:03:26.359 --> 02:03:26.948
Yeah, yeah.

02:03:27.029 --> 02:03:30.359
Well, that's why I say faith instead of religion, because I think religion is kind of gross.

02:03:30.389 --> 02:03:35.498
Yeah, so, and I feel Religion is kind of what you do because you don't think about doing what you do.

02:03:35.658 --> 02:03:43.149
Yeah, yeah, and I think that there's, there's that, like, component of that faith where, just, just think a little deeper.

02:03:43.418 --> 02:03:48.809
Not necessarily for you to like, stop believing in the God that you believe in, or to stop following the things that you follow.

02:03:49.179 --> 02:03:54.088
Just understand that just because this is a solution for you, it's not the solution for everybody else.

02:03:54.139 --> 02:03:54.469
Yeah.

02:03:54.519 --> 02:04:00.698
And that's why, like, when people come to me trying to offer that, like, saving grace of being like, Hey, I'm gonna, like, introduce you to Jesus.

02:04:00.698 --> 02:04:02.649
Like, it's not that I don't need it.

02:04:02.939 --> 02:04:04.548
I would love to discuss it.

02:04:04.849 --> 02:04:05.948
I love the stories.

02:04:05.948 --> 02:04:07.158
I love the content.

02:04:07.158 --> 02:04:07.889
I love the concept.

02:04:07.889 --> 02:04:09.038
Sounds a little too good to be true, huh?

02:04:09.069 --> 02:04:11.323
Well, and not only Because you're You've got a sin filled heart.

02:04:11.354 --> 02:04:13.213
You know all the terrible things you've done.

02:04:13.384 --> 02:04:14.543
You probably remember most of them.

02:04:14.543 --> 02:04:15.163
Yeah, yeah.

02:04:15.434 --> 02:04:21.059
But it's one of those things that I'm like Like, if it's not for that person, you should not be able to push it.

02:04:21.078 --> 02:04:26.059
And if it's, if, if it's what you believe in, people will come to you for it.

02:04:26.189 --> 02:04:26.618
Yeah.

02:04:27.078 --> 02:04:40.259
And it's, and to me, like, I don't want to make this a business approach, but if I, if you create a business and you put it out with passion and you believe it yourself, people will come to you for the business.

02:04:40.288 --> 02:04:46.309
Well, that's part of why I say faith, like having faith that this offering that you have is going to be.

02:04:47.144 --> 02:04:47.304
Yeah.

02:04:47.304 --> 02:04:48.583
Acceptable to people or whatever.

02:04:49.024 --> 02:05:02.543
Um, I, I'm trying to remember who it, it might be, it might be Richard Dawkins or one of those kind of notable new atheists, if you will, um, has recently called himself a cultural Christian.

02:05:03.453 --> 02:05:03.793
Oh.

02:05:03.804 --> 02:05:03.833
Okay.

02:05:03.884 --> 02:05:18.708
Um, and because he doesn't believe in Christ, he doesn't believe in God, but culturally he thinks that the world is kind of a better place with, People reflecting on things like, what does the Ten Commandments say I should live like, or what does Jesus think I should do about this?

02:05:18.868 --> 02:05:27.448
Well, and if you see it too on the psychological end of things, a lot of the stories, at least in the Bible and the Quran, has the same thing in the, in Sure.

02:05:27.519 --> 02:05:27.819
Yeah.

02:05:27.849 --> 02:06:08.703
Whatever the, the Talmud Yeah, all the books have Similar stories and a lot of the stories if you actually want to like detach yourself spiritually from things and see it in a psychological way or say in a scientific way, it's just logical to be like, why kill somebody else and deprive them of their, Chance to have fun in this life or enjoy what this life has to offer So it is logical because you don't want somebody to come in and kill you For you to stop enjoying what you enjoy or or like so a lot of these stories a lot They have that psychological back end of being like this is just what you would do Yeah, the straight truth kind of thing.

02:06:08.703 --> 02:06:10.873
Yeah, it's kind of like that ultimate truth.

02:06:11.444 --> 02:06:16.038
Everybody wants this Nobody wants to go anywhere Like, nobody wants to get killed.

02:06:16.248 --> 02:06:17.599
So, you shall not kill.

02:06:17.729 --> 02:06:21.019
Have you, uh, have you looked at the book of Proverbs before?

02:06:21.029 --> 02:06:22.168
Have you gotten into the Bible?

02:06:22.929 --> 02:06:25.198
So, uh, consider, check it out sometime.

02:06:25.198 --> 02:06:27.198
Consider it, call it the book of wisdom.

02:06:27.969 --> 02:06:35.288
Because it's kind of like, kind of like, these are wise sayings written by randos across time in the Old Testament.

02:06:36.109 --> 02:06:44.609
And, like, if you just open it up and said, this is a book of wisdom, And didn't like attribute it to God saying it virtually you'd be like fuck.

02:06:44.609 --> 02:07:01.493
Yeah, this is some good stuff right here And I feel I feel like that that's the people that are against because I'm not against religion I am just I to me I got it I got to a point where it's just like this is more space in my hard drive that I don't want So I just discard the information.

02:07:01.503 --> 02:07:05.894
Well, and you got all these ghosty things with magic stuff and I'm pretty sure it ain't like that.

02:07:05.923 --> 02:07:06.234
Yeah.

02:07:06.234 --> 02:07:13.033
So, but, but I, I feel like the people that are against it and that like fight it, that are constantly like, okay, we should burn this down.

02:07:13.463 --> 02:07:19.253
It's like, you don't understand that like there is some value to this and there are, there's beauty in this writings.

02:07:19.663 --> 02:07:23.394
The writings have stories that are fantastic and you can learn so much.

02:07:23.703 --> 02:07:29.404
And then it's just, to me, is a, is a, it's kind of like one of the best written novels in history.

02:07:29.453 --> 02:07:29.764
Yeah.

02:07:29.823 --> 02:07:32.323
And it's basically the most sold book ever.

02:07:32.363 --> 02:07:33.194
Oh, for sure.

02:07:33.213 --> 02:07:35.163
Well, Billions upon billions of copies.

02:07:35.524 --> 02:07:51.474
Once you start understanding it more and investigating it, and I would encourage you to even, As an intellectual pursuit, perhaps not a spiritual pursuit, but as an intellectual pursuit, the interconnectedness of the books of the Bible is just, yeah, and I've read your top.

02:07:52.354 --> 02:07:53.083
I read some of it.

02:07:53.344 --> 02:07:53.543
Yeah.

02:07:54.314 --> 02:07:58.963
Uh, I read some of it and I remember being a kid around like 10, 15.

02:07:58.963 --> 02:08:01.774
We had religious like classes in school because we were.

02:08:02.073 --> 02:08:05.333
Since it's a religious country where it's taught into the schools as well.

02:08:05.554 --> 02:08:14.963
So I definitely read a lot of the stories, and this is where I kind of started getting, I think, the one that comes to mind very vividly is the Noah's Ark story.

02:08:15.354 --> 02:08:18.573
So there are a lot of things, and it, to me, was just fascinating.

02:08:18.594 --> 02:08:20.594
Because it's a great learning exercise.

02:08:20.594 --> 02:08:24.224
Well, and also, for me, I'm a big creative person.

02:08:24.554 --> 02:08:27.224
And I write really, really odd things.

02:08:27.224 --> 02:08:39.024
I just didn't write them at the right time to become a religion, so So I do, I We'll say, uh Well, yeah, maybe in a thousand years somebody will I agree to disagree on that one.

02:08:41.144 --> 02:08:42.163
No, but it's one of those things.

02:08:42.163 --> 02:08:42.623
But yeah, right.

02:08:42.623 --> 02:08:50.363
Well, I'm not going to give you the opportunity to, like, start a Christianity thing, I'm not But you could maybe do it, be like, Scientology.

02:08:50.363 --> 02:08:50.384
Maybe.

02:08:50.764 --> 02:08:58.323
Like, you get up there, like, I'm just saying, if you're gonna start a fake religion, you might as well compare yourself to another one.

02:08:58.333 --> 02:08:59.024
Yeah, yeah.

02:08:59.024 --> 02:09:03.024
I don't think I have as much push as Christianity has.

02:09:03.033 --> 02:09:04.833
No, it's gonna be tough to compete.

02:09:04.833 --> 02:09:06.493
It's like trying to start up against Amazon.

02:09:06.503 --> 02:09:07.493
Yeah, yeah, there you go.

02:09:08.373 --> 02:09:12.208
Um, Family or politics would you like to drift to next?

02:09:12.259 --> 02:09:18.319
Um, I like both, so You want to talk about your family next?

02:09:18.349 --> 02:09:19.738
I mean, we talked about them some already.

02:09:20.298 --> 02:09:23.828
Um, talk to me about, like, your family here.

02:09:23.878 --> 02:09:24.208
Yeah.

02:09:24.389 --> 02:09:25.998
Your sister is still here, I assume.

02:09:26.009 --> 02:09:29.208
Maybe you have some sibling or nephews or nieces or things.

02:09:29.708 --> 02:09:31.368
How about your extended family?

02:09:31.368 --> 02:09:34.128
Yeah, so I just, I actually just became a grand uncle.

02:09:34.219 --> 02:09:35.359
Oh, wow.

02:09:35.378 --> 02:09:35.708
Yeah.

02:09:35.923 --> 02:09:37.083
Very young for a grand uncle.

02:09:37.094 --> 02:09:37.413
Yeah.

02:09:37.413 --> 02:09:39.264
So I was, I've been in uncles as I was three.

02:09:39.524 --> 02:09:43.713
So I think my uncle was one when he became my uncle.

02:09:43.753 --> 02:09:44.314
Oh, there you go.

02:09:44.974 --> 02:09:46.734
He was my classmate growing up in school.

02:09:46.793 --> 02:09:47.073
Yeah.

02:09:47.073 --> 02:09:47.304
Yeah.

02:09:47.304 --> 02:09:49.054
So it's kind of like the same situation.

02:09:49.054 --> 02:09:52.373
So I believe that I'm there kind of like older brother sometimes.

02:09:52.583 --> 02:09:53.054
Right.

02:09:53.224 --> 02:09:55.493
And my sister and I are 19 years apart.

02:09:55.514 --> 02:09:56.014
Oh, wow.

02:09:56.194 --> 02:09:56.533
Yeah.

02:09:56.573 --> 02:10:00.963
Um, but yeah, the baby just moved back here from Hawaii.

02:10:00.963 --> 02:10:00.984
Yeah.

02:10:01.904 --> 02:10:03.264
Uh, so it's been fun.

02:10:03.264 --> 02:10:09.594
It's, uh, it's been interesting to spend some time with a kid cause I, I'm not, I'm not, uh, uh, kid type of guy.

02:10:09.663 --> 02:10:25.309
Like I enjoy having kids around, but to me I'm very much on the uncle side where it's just like, uh, once, uh, once you, like you have the kids around you, You play with them for a little bit.

02:10:25.338 --> 02:10:26.969
You kind of like enjoy their time.

02:10:26.969 --> 02:10:28.509
And then you're like, mom, here you go.

02:10:28.979 --> 02:10:29.738
I'm out of here.

02:10:31.618 --> 02:10:37.748
So I, I am not the, I probably will be the learning child interaction skills.

02:10:37.779 --> 02:10:38.219
Yeah.

02:10:38.219 --> 02:10:41.389
And I probably will be the ultimately bachelor, like just.

02:10:41.918 --> 02:10:43.588
Ongoing bachelor for the rest of my life.

02:10:43.618 --> 02:10:44.078
Yeah.

02:10:44.149 --> 02:10:46.908
I not necessarily not for finding somebody.

02:10:46.908 --> 02:10:47.798
It's just more on this.

02:10:47.798 --> 02:10:52.734
Even if you find a woman that will, you know, Yeah, I I've always like you, you'll still might not have kids.

02:10:52.743 --> 02:10:53.054
Probably.

02:10:53.524 --> 02:11:01.863
I I keep saying it is like there might be an opportunity in my life where I find that somebody that's like, there's nothing more in life that we could accomplish together.

02:11:02.224 --> 02:11:06.458
And like happiness is the right It's always the drink of the day.

02:11:06.859 --> 02:11:07.288
Sure.

02:11:07.809 --> 02:11:15.548
And maybe if the, the, the, the waves flow that, that, that route, I'm not against, I'm not opposed.

02:11:16.998 --> 02:11:20.128
I am a very selfish person when it comes to that situation.

02:11:20.128 --> 02:11:23.988
I want to have somebody that I can enjoy my time with, that I can do all the things that I want to.

02:11:23.988 --> 02:11:24.319
Yeah, yeah.

02:11:24.689 --> 02:11:31.859
And in the future, if that happens because it's just a natural thing to happen, I'm not against it.

02:11:32.118 --> 02:11:40.389
I am not somebody that believes in the push for kids to better marriage or have kids because it's gonna bring some fulfillment in your life.

02:11:41.029 --> 02:11:43.798
I feel like kids I just want somebody to pay my social security down the line.

02:11:43.798 --> 02:11:44.378
Yeah, there you go.

02:11:46.948 --> 02:11:50.088
Somebody to be like, hey, I need to go to the bathroom again.

02:11:50.139 --> 02:11:53.538
What you need is, uh, get married.

02:11:53.889 --> 02:11:58.448
Have a couple kids then get divorced and do the week on, week off thing.

02:11:58.509 --> 02:11:58.538
Okay.

02:11:58.538 --> 02:12:02.708
That's like the new best life So you get, like, you get to raise kids.

02:12:02.708 --> 02:12:02.798
Yeah.

02:12:02.804 --> 02:12:09.279
And then you get a week off every, you know, two weeks off every month to go chase women or whatever else you're looking to do.

02:12:09.639 --> 02:12:16.748
And, and it's funny enough, I'm sorry I joke about it, but it's sadly that's so, and it's a, it's a hard, interesting dynamic in American culture at least.

02:12:16.748 --> 02:12:16.809
Yeah.

02:12:16.809 --> 02:12:21.969
And I, we do have a lot of like broken houses back home.

02:12:21.969 --> 02:12:22.059
Sure.

02:12:22.059 --> 02:12:24.609
But I believe that America has a little bit more of that.

02:12:25.128 --> 02:12:34.868
Uh, and especially in the recent time in the maybe the last decade, uh, I feel in this, my hardest time in this country have has been the dating scene by far.

02:12:34.878 --> 02:12:44.298
That's kind of been a very complicated topic on, on top of that, because culturally I'm a very romantic, very kind of like lovey type of person.

02:12:44.298 --> 02:12:45.618
That's kind of like what we are.

02:12:45.618 --> 02:12:45.889
We're.

02:12:46.219 --> 02:12:48.439
We're like over the top in romance.

02:12:48.509 --> 02:12:49.979
Okay, people here fear that.

02:12:50.048 --> 02:12:51.288
Yeah, a lot of people.

02:12:51.288 --> 02:12:51.838
Get off me.

02:12:51.838 --> 02:12:55.269
Yeah, a lot of people it's like you are too intense, this does not work.

02:12:56.609 --> 02:13:11.338
But I feel like there's a in in it might be a phenomenon that's been happening around the world that people Since you have that quick connection that you can go on your phone and find somebody tomorrow, I can find 500 new people tomorrow.

02:13:11.408 --> 02:13:11.828
Yeah.

02:13:11.878 --> 02:13:16.019
I think that has given the false sense of option to people.

02:13:16.729 --> 02:13:26.708
And then if you have anything that could resemble, not even a red flag, but a flag that is not, Fully green, then people are like, no, you're not for me.

02:13:26.719 --> 02:13:29.939
It's like, this is not what relationships are supposed to be.

02:13:30.248 --> 02:13:30.649
Yes.

02:13:30.658 --> 02:13:45.384
If you find somebody that does this thing that either brings you back your traumas or brings back something really bad for you, I completely understand for you to be like, this is not my cup of tea and it's fair, but if it's something like, yeah, I don't know, he eats with his left hand.

02:13:45.734 --> 02:13:48.203
He never puts the coffee cup away in the dishwasher after he finishes it.

02:13:48.203 --> 02:13:50.213
Yeah, he's probably a monster.

02:13:50.234 --> 02:13:59.564
It's like, and that's the thing, I think we've gotten so quick to categorize people in this like, really, really bad, like, kind of like, spectrums.

02:14:00.243 --> 02:14:12.408
Like, the recent one commonly happened in politics is, if you're bad for one group, you're, you're, Hitler like right and people don't understand how detrimental that it is to society.

02:14:12.408 --> 02:14:14.418
How that is to education.

02:14:14.418 --> 02:14:18.548
That is to all the things because you're you're comparing this person that has a mile.

02:14:19.429 --> 02:14:27.828
I think that mildly just like disagrees with your beliefs as one of the worst people People that have lived in this planet.

02:14:28.238 --> 02:14:36.238
My, uh, did you, did you, uh, come across the Alec Baldwin interaction with a free Palestine protestor thing?

02:14:36.238 --> 02:14:36.344
I have not.

02:14:36.349 --> 02:14:36.868
I have not.

02:14:36.958 --> 02:14:38.309
It was about 10 days ago or something.

02:14:38.314 --> 02:14:44.279
This person literally was like filming Alec Baldwin, like saying, we know you killed that girl, Alec.

02:14:44.283 --> 02:14:45.389
We know you killed that girl.

02:14:46.019 --> 02:15:12.569
Just just need you to say free free Palestine and I'll leave you alone and she like harassed him for minutes as Being like an asshole that killed somebody on a movie set and she would let him go if he endorsed her cause Yeah, that is not the way to approach that super logical Yeah, and I Honestly, I hate you unless you say free Palestine and then you can be my spokesman.

02:15:12.878 --> 02:15:24.689
And to me, I don't understand how I've had my encounter with so many smart people that fall for these like schemes so much.

02:15:24.689 --> 02:15:36.918
And I'm like, how, how are you not understanding whether you are on the right or the left of the situation, you are falling for the stupidest tricks.

02:15:37.458 --> 02:15:37.828
Right.

02:15:37.878 --> 02:15:39.259
And you are smarter than this.

02:15:39.259 --> 02:15:40.708
You have drank all the Kool Aid.

02:15:40.748 --> 02:15:43.868
Yeah, you're like, you, you, you're making more.

02:15:43.939 --> 02:15:44.279
Right.

02:15:44.279 --> 02:15:44.618
For the group.

02:15:44.618 --> 02:15:46.309
You're like, purple?

02:15:46.668 --> 02:15:46.948
Red?

02:15:46.948 --> 02:15:47.548
I got free Kool Aid right here.

02:15:47.548 --> 02:15:50.038
Yeah, I'll make both, you know, I'll make both, it's okay.

02:15:50.588 --> 02:15:54.238
Um, so we're drifting into politics, so let's just stay there now.

02:15:54.798 --> 02:15:57.198
Um, do you know what TDS is?

02:15:57.399 --> 02:16:00.389
TDS, uh Trump Derangement Syndrome.

02:16:00.804 --> 02:16:01.243
No.

02:16:01.654 --> 02:16:12.583
Oh, it's like when somebody like hates Trump so much that they can't even really think clearly about anything in the world except for Trump, orange man bad.

02:16:12.844 --> 02:16:13.073
Yeah.

02:16:13.264 --> 02:16:18.083
And they can't even listen to you saying, you know, Joe Biden seems like he's a little senile.

02:16:18.123 --> 02:16:18.373
Yeah.

02:16:18.854 --> 02:16:19.804
They can't even hear it.

02:16:20.413 --> 02:16:22.613
So have you noticed that in America?

02:16:22.923 --> 02:16:26.024
Yes, especially lately in this last like five years.

02:16:26.993 --> 02:16:27.354
Hey.

02:16:28.264 --> 02:16:29.984
I will, I will admit it here.

02:16:30.753 --> 02:16:32.353
Trump, not my cup of tea.

02:16:32.523 --> 02:16:34.724
The guys can be a moron sometimes.

02:16:34.734 --> 02:16:35.154
Totally.

02:16:35.234 --> 02:16:35.963
A lot of the time.

02:16:36.474 --> 02:16:36.703
Most of the time.

02:16:36.843 --> 02:16:37.949
Yeah, let's put it that way.

02:16:38.328 --> 02:16:44.429
Has some good ideas here and there had maybe some ideas that he attributes to himself, but it's somebody else's idea.

02:16:44.429 --> 02:16:45.299
Yeah, somebody else.

02:16:45.318 --> 02:16:47.058
It's okay Oh, he's a narcissist.

02:16:47.058 --> 02:16:47.498
Yeah.

02:16:47.498 --> 02:16:47.748
Yeah.

02:16:47.748 --> 02:16:48.078
Yeah.

02:16:48.088 --> 02:17:04.709
Sure But the other side like at this point like Biden it's like dude This guy cannot speak in front like the thing that he's been training his entire life that in that he's been on His entire life he cannot do anymore, right?

02:17:04.769 --> 02:17:07.797
What's a, what's a politician without his words?

02:17:07.797 --> 02:17:16.388
You could, zero actions for the rest of your life as a politician, and you, if you have the speech, you have it all.

02:17:16.769 --> 02:17:26.338
You could be the worst at applying your, your words, but if you have that, like, that silver tongue to bring people in, you are a good politician, period.

02:17:27.023 --> 02:17:32.683
This guy cannot do that anymore, and people are still thinking, it's like, well, this is probably a better option.

02:17:33.164 --> 02:17:36.634
Why don't we all focus on bringing a third option?

02:17:37.494 --> 02:17:43.834
Somebody who actually has, yeah, somebody who has brains, who has maybe more than four years to live.

02:17:45.334 --> 02:18:02.084
Somebody who can actually get something done, or in the case of RFK, I know that there's some big things on his back pocket that maybe are A little bit ugly, but he's gotten shit done, which is why So you're is that where your vote's gonna go?

02:18:02.254 --> 02:18:04.254
Uh, I can't vote, so Oh, right.

02:18:04.683 --> 02:18:05.293
But you would.

02:18:05.664 --> 02:18:10.433
I would probably vote for him, but I would stay, probably Quiet about it?

02:18:11.203 --> 02:18:13.168
Not necessarily, I would probably not even vote for him.

02:18:13.388 --> 02:18:21.168
Well, even though that's probably the worst option, and I'm being a little hypocritical, I mean, I voted for Kanye in the last election.

02:18:21.179 --> 02:18:21.898
Oh, there you go.

02:18:22.498 --> 02:18:24.619
Well, then we might, that's probably what we need.

02:18:24.619 --> 02:18:28.269
We would, we just need like a super wild card shakes it up.

02:18:28.308 --> 02:18:29.039
Yeah, that's what I thought.

02:18:29.039 --> 02:18:29.468
Yeah.

02:18:29.468 --> 02:18:31.619
And what happened with Trump?

02:18:31.619 --> 02:18:34.129
I believe that that was a wild card at the moment.

02:18:34.369 --> 02:18:37.898
And we actually started to realize that there's so many other problems.

02:18:38.279 --> 02:18:39.238
It's not Trump.

02:18:39.248 --> 02:18:41.949
It's that we as people have so many issues.

02:18:42.039 --> 02:18:42.588
Oh, right.

02:18:42.728 --> 02:18:53.549
And then we just Well, and most of it's fomented by the media and by this kind of environment that invites diversion or di What's the, when you battle each other?

02:18:54.338 --> 02:18:55.898
Uh, maybe dichotomy?

02:18:56.129 --> 02:18:56.578
I don't know.

02:18:56.648 --> 02:18:57.168
Well, yeah.

02:18:57.308 --> 02:18:58.529
Whatever, you know what I'm talking about.

02:18:58.529 --> 02:19:00.019
Like this, this dual sided thing.

02:19:00.029 --> 02:19:08.474
Yeah, and that to me, that would be the only reason why I would be in any way, you know, On a dictator path.

02:19:08.674 --> 02:19:10.543
It's just to get rid of that.

02:19:10.593 --> 02:19:15.314
Yeah, and not getting rid of the division on negative, not getting rid of those people.

02:19:15.343 --> 02:19:17.174
It's just you will.

02:19:17.174 --> 02:19:17.853
It's going to be.

02:19:17.884 --> 02:19:20.064
Yeah, I will be your check and balance.

02:19:20.443 --> 02:19:24.043
If you come out and say this thing that is a complete lie.

02:19:24.674 --> 02:19:29.713
I will charge you like half of your money every single time.

02:19:30.043 --> 02:19:33.703
You're going to run out of money really quick if you keep doing this crap.

02:19:34.004 --> 02:19:43.693
It's like, I don't, I'm not against you being like having money and making money as a company, as a, as a, as a news company, you cannot keep doing this shit, man.

02:19:43.703 --> 02:19:50.543
Like you're, you're, you're literally implanting fake seeds on people's heads and then feeding them all these like.

02:19:50.843 --> 02:20:00.193
Weird information that has nothing to do with what is misinformation, you know, I mean, Mark Zuckerberg spent 400, 000, 000 on their election last time around.

02:20:00.414 --> 02:20:02.523
Um, I don't know where exactly or what happened.

02:20:02.804 --> 02:20:06.414
Let me ask you about that because you were here right as an observer.

02:20:06.834 --> 02:20:11.759
Like, I want to ask you about your opinions of The election in general.

02:20:11.789 --> 02:20:11.998
Yeah.

02:20:12.019 --> 02:20:15.189
Was it fair as an outside observer?

02:20:15.189 --> 02:20:18.658
And then January six was that an insurrection?

02:20:19.779 --> 02:20:28.879
So for the, for the election piece, I would say that there's, there were, I think everybody had their, had their hands dirty.

02:20:29.088 --> 02:20:29.459
Okay.

02:20:29.668 --> 02:20:32.588
Everybody did something odd that shouldn't have been done.

02:20:32.619 --> 02:20:33.019
Okay.

02:20:33.109 --> 02:20:40.593
The only problem is that we took the side that corresponded, like that, that we felt The safest width.

02:20:40.804 --> 02:20:41.074
Mm.

02:20:41.343 --> 02:20:49.443
So I feel like a lot of, I, I feel like one side did something really bad, the other side did something really bad, but depending on if you were blue or red, okay.

02:20:49.623 --> 02:20:50.943
You went against the yellow one.

02:20:51.123 --> 02:20:51.304
Alright.

02:20:51.304 --> 02:20:55.113
Because it, if you see it, you, if you read from outside from an outsider Yeah.

02:20:55.293 --> 02:20:56.164
That's, I'm curious about.

02:20:56.373 --> 02:20:57.814
You don't follow either, right?

02:20:57.843 --> 02:21:02.134
You, you see that blue side said Trump did, did this with V shot.

02:21:02.138 --> 02:21:04.109
He did not the right and Yeah.

02:21:04.129 --> 02:21:07.023
Or did that, or they paid this amount of people or they.

02:21:07.468 --> 02:21:11.398
Met with this documentation, or they did all this stuff to get in power.

02:21:11.549 --> 02:21:26.338
And then you say you see on the re on the red side, you, you go like, oh yeah, these people, uh, paid all this stuff and did all this propaganda side mailing ballots and yeah, mailing ballot, voters voting ballot, ballot and blah, blah, blah ballot and all the like, and undocumented voters that got in and blah, blah.

02:21:26.668 --> 02:21:32.474
And they're paying all these people to be so everybody has a problem, had had a, a stake on this problem all.

02:21:33.404 --> 02:21:34.943
It's just depending on where you see it.

02:21:34.943 --> 02:21:36.424
I see it as you all suck.

02:21:37.394 --> 02:21:37.804
I like it.

02:21:37.953 --> 02:21:38.644
I like it.

02:21:38.763 --> 02:21:39.123
I agree.

02:21:40.174 --> 02:21:48.384
At the end of the day, at the end of the day, if you're a voter, if you're blue or red or green or purple, you're fucking yourself up.

02:21:48.513 --> 02:21:49.293
Yourself.

02:21:49.384 --> 02:21:50.933
You're not screwing anybody else.

02:21:51.123 --> 02:21:52.914
You're destroying your house.

02:21:53.814 --> 02:21:55.674
Yeah, because you're not voting because you're just a color.

02:21:55.713 --> 02:22:08.183
Well, not only, not, yeah, not only the voting piece, it's just, okay, Trump won, Biden won, let's try to accomplish something instead of fighting for four years, because that's four years that you lost.

02:22:09.783 --> 02:22:12.363
So to me, it's not the, it's not the idea.

02:22:12.424 --> 02:22:19.543
Yeah, there are like either one has their own extreme Propositions and those are probably the ones that we're not looking into.

02:22:19.543 --> 02:22:21.123
It's like, okay, you're, you're a little.

02:22:21.123 --> 02:22:22.674
Mostly they agree on most shit.

02:22:22.724 --> 02:22:25.174
Yeah, you're a little crazy on that perspective.

02:22:25.174 --> 02:22:31.154
So you're not gonna even pay attention to this, but let's figure out I don't know housing situation in the US.

02:22:31.154 --> 02:22:32.884
That's a problem.

02:22:32.894 --> 02:22:42.769
We all can get behind Because we're having a crisis on the housing totally peace We're having a crisis sometimes on the food.

02:22:42.818 --> 02:22:44.228
What's your housing situation now?

02:22:44.369 --> 02:22:51.418
You're not living with your sister anymore No, no, i'm living on under rent, but it's still it's even though the person i'm living with.

02:22:51.509 --> 02:23:10.019
Uh, he's been a very like helpful person because as a Relatively new business owner you're still struggling constantly So he's been really open about it and he's been really helpful with it So I can I do appreciate that but it's still way over a thousand dollars a month Well right now it's 700 but i'm living in loveland.

02:23:10.029 --> 02:23:12.599
So it's kind of like a And it's a smaller place.

02:23:12.599 --> 02:23:14.748
And I think that's the hookup almost.

02:23:15.158 --> 02:23:15.398
Yeah.

02:23:15.398 --> 02:23:15.539
Yeah.

02:23:15.539 --> 02:23:20.299
For him, like he's a friend and I kind of like almost pester him into like renting.

02:23:20.718 --> 02:23:21.148
Right.

02:23:21.488 --> 02:23:22.658
Hey, you got an extra room, man.

02:23:22.679 --> 02:23:23.488
Yeah, exactly.

02:23:23.498 --> 02:23:24.529
And it was that situation.

02:23:24.529 --> 02:23:25.638
It's like you live by yourself.

02:23:25.638 --> 02:23:27.718
There's an extra room that you're not doing anything with.

02:23:27.748 --> 02:23:30.808
It's like, do you want to make an extra few hundred bucks a month?

02:23:31.189 --> 02:23:31.418
Yeah.

02:23:31.449 --> 02:23:33.328
So basically that was kind of like it.

02:23:33.799 --> 02:23:37.728
Uh, but I, I do believe it's a problem and we all recognize it.

02:23:37.728 --> 02:23:37.799
Yeah.

02:23:38.039 --> 02:23:39.799
Why don't we all work together towards it?

02:23:40.578 --> 02:23:41.049
Oh no.

02:23:41.049 --> 02:23:45.058
It's because like Trump said that he was, Oh, it's because Biden can't talk.

02:23:45.068 --> 02:23:48.248
It's like, Oh, and mostly it's done nothing about any of those things.

02:23:48.248 --> 02:23:55.099
It's a bunch of regulations around building codes and it's inflation of interest rates.

02:23:55.359 --> 02:23:58.879
And it's a lot of other things beyond the control of the president, no matter who he is.

02:23:58.998 --> 02:24:02.049
And, and to me, like, it seeps.

02:24:02.634 --> 02:24:24.424
It seeps into like business as well in the sense of the whole perspective of getting everything right now instead of having like a long term thing, which to me comes down to like companies when they want to do, Oh, we want to make a million dollars right now, but you don't want to make 10 million in the next two years.

02:24:24.443 --> 02:24:26.523
Well, you just want to make the million now and that's it.

02:24:26.873 --> 02:24:29.613
Well, and know that it takes you a while to get to that.

02:24:29.674 --> 02:24:39.023
I, that's what I was reflecting about is your, you know, website, getting it done 20 percent of the time is the right method.

02:24:39.023 --> 02:24:40.574
Not being perfect coming out of the gate.

02:24:40.584 --> 02:24:41.394
Yeah, exactly.

02:24:41.394 --> 02:24:58.443
And, and I, I've had so many conversations with people on that, on that perspective of, I just don't understand how like the business mentality of not seeing into three years in the future, you're making you, you're literally making more money in three years than you're making today, right?

02:24:58.843 --> 02:25:00.093
You just have to weigh that.

02:25:01.084 --> 02:25:02.273
You're gonna sacrifice something now.

02:25:02.283 --> 02:25:08.634
One, it's also a success story, like, it's also a success, like, an almost confirmed success, like, it's gonna happen.

02:25:09.193 --> 02:25:11.713
You're still deciding on the shitty product now.

02:25:12.113 --> 02:25:16.293
That's, uh, one thing that I find interesting, and, uh, do you ever listen to Jordan Peterson?

02:25:16.353 --> 02:25:16.533
Yeah.

02:25:16.533 --> 02:25:16.974
His podcast?

02:25:17.033 --> 02:25:17.213
Yeah.

02:25:17.384 --> 02:25:34.968
So Like, in some ways, he's kind of making a case, or has made a case that sacrifice, like, going back to the Jewish system and then even into the Christian system, to a way, is like the foundation of Western civilization.

02:25:34.978 --> 02:25:39.668
You gotta sacrifice something now so you can have something more later.

02:25:40.218 --> 02:25:45.109
And I think, uh, what's his name, uh, lives by that same thing.

02:25:45.119 --> 02:25:47.179
He's a famous financial guy in the world today.

02:25:49.234 --> 02:25:52.324
Live like nobody else today, so you can live like nobody else tomorrow.

02:25:53.373 --> 02:25:53.754
Anyway.

02:25:53.963 --> 02:26:02.174
Yeah, it's a, no, but I think there's, there's that, like the, the whole concept of, and I'm, and I'm guilty of this myself, like the immediate gratification.

02:26:03.543 --> 02:26:07.404
Like you could live in a 2, 000 a month apartment now by yourself.

02:26:07.554 --> 02:26:07.863
Yeah.

02:26:07.863 --> 02:26:08.674
Not have a roommate.

02:26:08.724 --> 02:26:09.144
Yeah.

02:26:09.203 --> 02:26:10.384
Probably could spin it.

02:26:10.674 --> 02:26:19.273
And your business would be without 1, 300 a month to try to pay contractors, to do good work, to get more customers for yourself, all that.

02:26:19.404 --> 02:26:25.724
Well, and to me, like the biggest example I have of this is the getting.

02:26:26.103 --> 02:26:36.674
That's third or fourth job to live a better life, instead of sacrificing every single day of my life, to get that business going to where it needs to go.

02:26:37.373 --> 02:26:47.904
I'm not making money right now, but I know I'm a hundred percent certain that it's going to be making that money tomorrow, but I'm suffering the consequences right now.

02:26:47.904 --> 02:26:52.394
Exactly, you're right now, it's like, well, I guess it's the fourth day of Rice Man.

02:26:52.963 --> 02:26:53.054
Right?

02:26:53.054 --> 02:26:54.314
Rice and tuna.

02:26:54.314 --> 02:26:57.283
It's just like, it's something, it's sustenance.

02:26:57.283 --> 02:26:59.984
I appreciate that you're in that space right now.

02:27:00.043 --> 02:27:07.804
Well, and and it's something that I'm, I can guarantee you that every single business owner in this country and in every other country has gone through it.

02:27:07.834 --> 02:27:08.074
Yep.

02:27:08.193 --> 02:27:08.463
There.

02:27:08.914 --> 02:27:11.843
Unless you're like a, like a on baby.

02:27:11.843 --> 02:27:12.293
Eight months.

02:27:12.324 --> 02:27:12.953
Eight months in.

02:27:12.953 --> 02:27:15.744
When you were in Caracas, you were like, this just isn't gonna work.

02:27:15.804 --> 02:27:16.373
Yeah, exactly.

02:27:16.373 --> 02:27:18.474
So here you're like, Hey, it's not.

02:27:19.154 --> 02:27:19.904
Great now.

02:27:19.953 --> 02:27:22.193
Yeah, I've got this roommate situation.

02:27:22.463 --> 02:27:23.113
It's pretty cool.

02:27:23.113 --> 02:27:25.074
Sometimes he's a dick, but it's cheap.

02:27:25.853 --> 02:27:37.343
Sorry, dude When you listen back But a few more clients a couple more clients and I can be stable and a few more clients after that I can be You know have some date nights again.

02:27:37.343 --> 02:27:41.634
Yeah, exactly and a couple of clients vacation after that in 10 years, right?

02:27:42.174 --> 02:27:42.613
That's fair.

02:27:43.203 --> 02:27:43.644
That's fair.

02:27:43.664 --> 02:27:55.019
But I think I And that's kind of like, it comes back to the perspective that I give potential clients in that sense is understand that you have to sacrifice that now.

02:27:56.238 --> 02:27:59.488
If you don't sacrifice it now, going back to what we said earlier today is that.

02:28:00.129 --> 02:28:05.869
You're pushing that, it's not the six months that it takes you, you're pushing that six months plus the time that you're waiting.

02:28:05.898 --> 02:28:06.269
Totally.

02:28:06.308 --> 02:28:09.238
And every time you wait is that time plus the time it takes.

02:28:09.238 --> 02:28:09.519
Yep.

02:28:10.029 --> 02:28:13.058
Somebody put me on hold as far as joining local think tank recently.

02:28:13.498 --> 02:28:16.939
I said, you know, it's fine, I understand, you know, budgets are budgets and all.

02:28:17.398 --> 02:28:21.668
But the longer you wait to plant the tree, the longer you have to wait to sit in a chair.

02:28:23.998 --> 02:28:42.498
I my biggest complication with that is finding a way to not make it seem like I'm being pushy That's really that's the only piece that I find complicated because It's kind of like telling your telling somebody that their kid has like something in their eyes It's like oh you there's a problem with their legs.

02:28:42.529 --> 02:28:43.439
Your baby is ugly.

02:28:43.439 --> 02:28:50.429
Yeah, you're offending their baby is totally ugly Yeah, and even if you're doing for the right reasons, right you you Probably should get it checked.

02:28:51.379 --> 02:28:52.879
It's not that I think your baby's ugly.

02:28:52.879 --> 02:28:54.619
It's I think that your baby needs help.

02:28:54.638 --> 02:28:54.968
Right.

02:28:54.968 --> 02:28:56.529
He's got some kind of something wrong.

02:28:56.539 --> 02:28:56.849
Yeah, exactly.

02:28:58.408 --> 02:29:02.549
So definitely one of those where it's, it can be a touchy subject and I, and I've had it.

02:29:02.959 --> 02:29:12.338
In the past a couple times where you try to tell people this and you can tell like you can totally see their hair on Their back kind of like right just like I already hate you.

02:29:12.349 --> 02:29:21.718
Yeah, let's figure out the exit for this conversation And i'm like, i'm, sorry It's like this is the option that I can give you and if you want to take it good if not It was a pleasure meeting you.

02:29:23.179 --> 02:29:23.658
I like it.

02:29:24.189 --> 02:29:32.799
Um, it's time for the loco experience, your craziest experience of your lifetime that you're willing to share with our listeners.

02:29:36.599 --> 02:29:40.228
Doesn't have to be good, bad, or good, bad, or otherwise could be a moment.

02:29:40.228 --> 02:29:40.908
Could be a week.

02:29:40.939 --> 02:29:41.808
Could be a day.

02:29:41.859 --> 02:29:47.248
Could be, you know, if you'd gotten kidnapped and raped on that flat tire episode thing.

02:29:47.259 --> 02:29:47.828
Yeah.

02:29:47.908 --> 02:29:50.049
So the, I think the craziest one and it's.

02:29:51.353 --> 02:29:56.613
I was prepared for it, but I, I still couldn't believe it when it happened is when we got kidnapped, not kidnapped.

02:29:56.623 --> 02:30:02.494
We were held hostage our own house for ransom or for so action or tell me about that.

02:30:02.533 --> 02:30:16.914
So it was, it was an interesting thing because I feel, I feel like somehow they got the house mistaken and they got into the wrong house, but then they kept asking things that were like, yeah, this could be connected to us in some way, shape or form.

02:30:17.054 --> 02:30:21.074
And this was the cop situation with three cops that come into the house.

02:30:23.568 --> 02:30:29.109
So the whole thing started, we're a good friend of mine, still friends with him to this day.

02:30:29.418 --> 02:30:33.629
We were upstairs in my room just talking whatnot.

02:30:33.658 --> 02:30:39.724
My mom comes out and it's like, hey, Uh, kind of like around 10, 11 a.

02:30:39.724 --> 02:30:39.994
m.

02:30:40.334 --> 02:30:42.304
And you guys are like upper teenagers?

02:30:42.304 --> 02:30:45.234
Yeah, he's, he's seven years old.

02:30:45.234 --> 02:30:47.164
And so he was like 25, 27.

02:30:47.164 --> 02:30:49.304
I'm like 19, 20, somewhere around those things.

02:30:50.693 --> 02:30:54.683
We're needed to go out to do some, like, get some stuff done.

02:30:55.224 --> 02:31:00.183
And before that happens, like, okay, I'm telling my mom, it's like, yeah, we're going to go do whatever.

02:31:00.373 --> 02:31:00.683
Okay.

02:31:00.793 --> 02:31:05.808
Uh, my mom, my friend, uh, Super big coffee addict.

02:31:06.189 --> 02:31:11.558
My mom knows it because we've been friends for 15 years and she's like, do you want coffee before you guys leave?

02:31:11.558 --> 02:31:13.509
And my friend is like, absolutely.

02:31:13.509 --> 02:31:13.689
Let's go.

02:31:14.148 --> 02:31:15.599
So we go down to the kitchen.

02:31:15.599 --> 02:31:19.218
My mom puts the little Greca on the, on the fire.

02:31:19.388 --> 02:31:20.209
We're talking there.

02:31:20.209 --> 02:31:21.238
It's like a French press kind of style.

02:31:21.238 --> 02:31:21.766
Is that even coffee?

02:31:21.766 --> 02:31:24.943
The little, the little metal one that you like, it has like three parts.

02:31:24.943 --> 02:31:25.738
Goes from the bottom to the top?

02:31:25.859 --> 02:31:25.998
Yeah.

02:31:26.049 --> 02:31:26.259
Yeah.

02:31:26.289 --> 02:31:26.418
Yeah.

02:31:26.418 --> 02:31:26.799
Yeah.

02:31:27.088 --> 02:31:27.779
I like that style.

02:31:28.379 --> 02:31:29.599
So puts it together.

02:31:29.629 --> 02:31:30.709
We put it in the fire.

02:31:32.074 --> 02:31:38.213
Two minutes later, a guy comes in, pistol on his chest, and I could see the badge underneath his shirt.

02:31:38.634 --> 02:31:40.424
So I'm like, the fuck is going on?

02:31:40.593 --> 02:31:42.123
This, this, this is weird.

02:31:42.943 --> 02:31:49.363
So I, like, I see the guy and the guy's like, don't worry, there's something happening in a few houses down.

02:31:49.363 --> 02:31:50.593
We're here to protect you.

02:31:51.093 --> 02:31:51.974
I'm Venezuelan.

02:31:52.174 --> 02:31:53.234
I know my country.

02:31:53.674 --> 02:31:54.244
Bullshit.

02:31:54.273 --> 02:31:54.674
Right.

02:31:54.713 --> 02:31:57.824
Immediately, I'm like Fuck.

02:31:58.713 --> 02:32:01.564
And then the guy's just like, yeah, follow me, like, whatever.

02:32:01.574 --> 02:32:03.484
The guy's just like, kind of like, standing against the wall.

02:32:03.484 --> 02:32:03.814
That's so funny.

02:32:04.064 --> 02:32:06.384
In America, people would be like, come on in, you're here to protect us.

02:32:06.384 --> 02:32:06.577
Yeah, exactly.

02:32:06.577 --> 02:32:07.554
It's like, oh, the cops?

02:32:07.554 --> 02:32:09.273
Yeah, they're here to, like, save us.

02:32:09.293 --> 02:32:09.693
Great.

02:32:10.193 --> 02:32:13.804
Uh, we walk up, so it was lower floor.

02:32:14.213 --> 02:32:19.693
A middle floor that had an office and the entrance and then the upper floor was that so this was kind of like a mid floor.

02:32:19.824 --> 02:32:20.183
Okay.

02:32:20.244 --> 02:32:21.994
So we're right when we get there.

02:32:22.074 --> 02:32:23.564
You're in basically an apartment kind of thing.

02:32:23.574 --> 02:32:25.683
Well, a big house, but it's kind of like structure.

02:32:25.713 --> 02:32:25.974
Gotcha.

02:32:25.974 --> 02:32:26.283
Okay.

02:32:27.199 --> 02:32:28.898
Get there, there's two more guys.

02:32:29.349 --> 02:32:34.338
The main guy, I still remember to this day, really spiky hair, a little bit on the chubby side.

02:32:34.779 --> 02:32:43.638
Uh, the, so they, the guy had a Colombian accent, but it's the, it's our Colombian accent that it's on the border.

02:32:43.718 --> 02:32:44.078
I see.

02:32:44.078 --> 02:32:45.238
So we call him Gochos.

02:32:45.318 --> 02:32:45.578
Okay.

02:32:45.908 --> 02:32:51.088
So the guy was like, really, I'm pretty sure he was like hyped up on, on coke because he was like, you know what?

02:32:51.088 --> 02:32:55.388
Like kind of like that really high energy type of situation.

02:32:55.398 --> 02:32:55.418
Yeah.

02:32:55.738 --> 02:33:01.213
And he's constantly telling us, like, if you guys fucking move, if you say a word, if you do something, we're gonna kill you all, blah, blah, blah.

02:33:01.644 --> 02:33:07.224
So we were like, okay, just you and your buddy or your mom and my mom too.

02:33:07.283 --> 02:33:07.703
Okay.

02:33:08.074 --> 02:33:09.293
They, we go upstairs.

02:33:09.293 --> 02:33:13.824
We will actually to my room, they, the guys grab some of the blankets.

02:33:13.824 --> 02:33:17.064
They start ripping them off to start tying us down on the floor.

02:33:17.693 --> 02:33:18.013
Yeah.

02:33:18.013 --> 02:33:22.634
And then we're on the floor and the guy just kept asking, these are not cops actually there.

02:33:22.683 --> 02:33:23.314
They are.

02:33:23.523 --> 02:33:23.763
Yeah.

02:33:23.763 --> 02:33:28.164
They're, they're on the, what you would call here, maybe like special forces for cops or almost.

02:33:28.164 --> 02:33:30.834
FBI.

02:33:30.834 --> 02:33:31.113
Yeah.

02:33:31.113 --> 02:33:31.974
Kind of situation.

02:33:32.533 --> 02:33:39.734
Uh, so the guys come in and they start, like, one of the guys just goes around the house to start looking for other, I'm assuming for other people.

02:33:39.914 --> 02:33:42.763
We had the, the people that were doing the lawn that day.

02:33:43.023 --> 02:33:46.334
They were, they brought them in too, so they tied them down next to us.

02:33:46.683 --> 02:33:50.463
We're all just like there, and this guy kept asking questions, like, where's the money?

02:33:50.463 --> 02:33:51.164
Where's the blah?

02:33:51.164 --> 02:33:51.394
Where's the jewels?

02:33:51.404 --> 02:33:53.353
And this was about your dad somehow?

02:33:53.363 --> 02:33:53.703
Or?

02:33:53.894 --> 02:33:56.564
So we thought about it for a while, that it was this.

02:33:57.564 --> 02:33:58.564
It was a conflicting thing.

02:33:58.564 --> 02:34:01.334
But your dad wasn't corrupted, so they really had no reason to bust in.

02:34:01.543 --> 02:34:09.043
But it was, it was kind of like a conflicted thing because they probably knew where he lived because he came, like, that's, that's his house.

02:34:09.043 --> 02:34:09.793
Easy to figure out.

02:34:09.793 --> 02:34:15.453
Yeah, so, but we also thought that it's like, this is a rampant thing that's happened to everybody in this country.

02:34:16.224 --> 02:34:19.894
Like, there's, you know, the seven levels of, like, connection.

02:34:19.904 --> 02:34:21.084
Yeah, separation or whatever.

02:34:21.103 --> 02:34:21.744
Separation.

02:34:21.863 --> 02:34:24.574
In Venezuela, this complication is like a two level.

02:34:24.584 --> 02:34:27.084
Everybody knows one or one level away.

02:34:27.084 --> 02:34:27.914
Yes, it's a two level.

02:34:28.004 --> 02:34:29.693
It's like, at most.

02:34:29.814 --> 02:34:30.283
Wow.

02:34:30.304 --> 02:34:30.834
So.

02:34:31.498 --> 02:34:33.738
Big guys comes in, keep talking.

02:34:33.769 --> 02:34:35.009
It's like, where's the money?

02:34:35.009 --> 02:34:35.728
Where's whatever.

02:34:36.009 --> 02:34:39.738
It got to a point where it's just like, dude, you got the wrong house.

02:34:39.869 --> 02:34:40.289
Right.

02:34:40.859 --> 02:34:43.449
And then the guy's just like, still pissed.

02:34:43.769 --> 02:34:45.658
Like still walking, pacing around.

02:34:45.748 --> 02:34:46.238
What do you mean?

02:34:46.238 --> 02:34:47.049
We have the wrong house.

02:34:47.398 --> 02:34:48.998
You guys don't have a bunch of money for us.

02:34:49.088 --> 02:34:49.388
Yeah.

02:34:49.388 --> 02:34:54.009
And then, and I knew where my mom kept just like a handful of dollars in one of her coats.

02:34:54.009 --> 02:34:54.408
And right.

02:34:54.478 --> 02:34:55.599
And dollars too, right?

02:34:55.599 --> 02:34:55.779
Yeah.

02:34:55.779 --> 02:34:55.949
Yeah.

02:34:55.949 --> 02:34:56.088
Yeah.

02:34:56.088 --> 02:34:57.849
Like, because that was like gold.

02:34:57.849 --> 02:34:58.088
Yeah.

02:34:58.088 --> 02:34:59.377
That's gold for us.

02:34:59.377 --> 02:35:00.664
I would say like.

02:35:00.763 --> 02:35:07.779
Three four hundred bucks maybe worth of like 20s 50s and 100s Which was a fortune for her at the time.

02:35:07.789 --> 02:35:13.429
Well for us, like, at the moment it could have gotten you by a month for like two people.

02:35:13.759 --> 02:35:14.879
So it's not that much.

02:35:14.879 --> 02:35:16.808
As a time.

02:35:16.828 --> 02:35:17.158
Yeah.

02:35:17.218 --> 02:35:19.199
Today it would get you by for six months.

02:35:19.209 --> 02:35:19.478
Yeah.

02:35:20.424 --> 02:35:25.984
So the guy, and I tell the guy, it's like, Hey dude, I can show you everywhere in the house where we like hide shit.

02:35:26.263 --> 02:35:36.513
We had a, a, a actual, uh, like a safe, but the previous owner of the house turned it into a key safe because he had the same situation happened to him.

02:35:36.804 --> 02:35:37.873
Oh, he was so nervous.

02:35:37.873 --> 02:35:38.564
He couldn't open.

02:35:38.884 --> 02:35:39.388
He thought he was going.

02:35:39.529 --> 02:35:42.218
And I think they actually beat him up because he couldn't open the safe.

02:35:42.248 --> 02:35:45.468
So he turned it into a key safe because I'm not doing it anymore.

02:35:45.668 --> 02:35:47.039
So we go to my mom's room.

02:35:47.039 --> 02:35:48.789
I give him the cash, whatever.

02:35:48.939 --> 02:35:50.908
And I take out the keys and open it.

02:35:50.959 --> 02:35:54.119
And me still being a stupid kid at 19.

02:35:55.049 --> 02:36:14.884
I put like, Papers in there, there, there's no wealth, riches, or you had your term paper from, it was just stupid things that we put in there for, yeah, because it was like, as soon as we, yeah, as soon as we move into the house, it was your porno collection, as soon as we move into the house.

02:36:15.254 --> 02:36:17.084
It's like, oh, we have this, right?

02:36:17.203 --> 02:36:21.754
Why would we actually have a safe underneath the stairs going down to our basement in the crappy house?

02:36:21.853 --> 02:36:30.814
Yeah, I grew up in yeah, but it's like we never used it right same and then we open I open the thing and show the Guys, here you go This is a decoy.

02:36:30.814 --> 02:36:31.773
Where's the real one?

02:36:31.793 --> 02:36:33.394
It's like what the fuck do you think we are?

02:36:33.603 --> 02:36:33.963
Right?

02:36:34.004 --> 02:36:35.984
We got a second safe Yeah, exactly.

02:36:35.994 --> 02:36:49.318
We are that big of a deal that we have not only one but two saves in the house And the guy, at some point, he probably realized that he messed up, or it wasn't what he wanted it to be, or it was a bad investment, whatever it may be.

02:36:49.318 --> 02:36:49.658
Right.

02:36:50.388 --> 02:36:51.998
They weren't gonna get a bunch of money out of this place.

02:36:52.029 --> 02:36:57.769
Yeah, so they started taking a lot of different things in the house, so like all the consoles for like gaming consoles.

02:36:57.799 --> 02:36:58.218
Right.

02:36:59.359 --> 02:37:05.228
Laptops, phones, everything that they could put in a bag or a suitcase they started taking.

02:37:05.789 --> 02:37:13.439
Uh, I actually, this was the only part where it kind of like was a little bit freaky at the moment, but I had a, you know, um, Airsoft.

02:37:13.754 --> 02:37:14.144
Sure.

02:37:14.474 --> 02:37:16.213
I had an MP5 airsoft.

02:37:16.674 --> 02:37:17.113
Okay.

02:37:17.373 --> 02:37:18.623
One to one replica.

02:37:18.674 --> 02:37:19.123
Perfect.

02:37:19.134 --> 02:37:20.043
It was in my room.

02:37:20.283 --> 02:37:23.043
As soon as the guy saw it, it's like, Oh my God, what's this?

02:37:23.873 --> 02:37:25.484
Kind of like excited about it.

02:37:26.054 --> 02:37:28.484
And then, and then I'm like, Oh, that's an airsoft gun.

02:37:28.484 --> 02:37:29.773
It's not an actual gun.

02:37:29.783 --> 02:37:31.144
It's like, Oh, well you're lucky.

02:37:31.144 --> 02:37:35.963
Cause if it was a real thing, cause the only people that carry that back home are the, like the special forces.

02:37:35.974 --> 02:37:36.453
Right.

02:37:36.523 --> 02:37:38.703
It's not cause we, we don't have legalized guns.

02:37:38.783 --> 02:37:39.533
Oh, right.

02:37:39.814 --> 02:37:40.574
Um, yeah.

02:37:40.828 --> 02:37:46.558
So it would've been like, you are part of any of these groups, so we're gonna, like, they would've killed us all if it was a real Right.

02:37:46.908 --> 02:37:48.289
So it would've, because you're part of them.

02:37:48.318 --> 02:37:48.558
Yeah.

02:37:48.558 --> 02:37:53.179
'cause you were a part of a, like an actual, some other group, that group had access to guns that, that could probably clash.

02:37:53.478 --> 02:37:53.689
Right.

02:37:53.689 --> 02:37:55.068
So it would've been put them guys down.

02:37:55.099 --> 02:37:55.429
Yeah.

02:37:55.638 --> 02:37:56.449
So, wow.

02:37:56.478 --> 02:37:59.088
The guy took that, they took a bunch of stuff in the house.

02:37:59.148 --> 02:38:02.658
Um, they actually wanted to take some of the cars, but they never took any.

02:38:03.138 --> 02:38:32.549
And in the middle of it for three, four hours after that, my dad and my brother went out to buy, I think he was buying a ticket to go back to Caracas to do some business, comes back in and they, like, it's interesting cause my brother lets the dog from the, from the patio in and the dog knew how to open the doors, so he kept pushing the door and somebody kept closing it, pushing the door, closing, pushing, closing, pushing, my brother's like, what the fuck, opens the door and there's a guy with a gun pointed to his head and it's like.

02:38:32.549 --> 02:38:32.603
Yeah.

02:38:33.414 --> 02:38:34.054
Hello.

02:38:34.783 --> 02:38:35.623
So they bring it up.

02:38:35.884 --> 02:38:39.013
Um, bring them up here up to my dad and brother.

02:38:39.123 --> 02:38:39.474
Yeah.

02:38:39.554 --> 02:38:40.384
No, everybody's there.

02:38:40.384 --> 02:38:40.634
Yeah.

02:38:40.634 --> 02:38:41.373
Tie them up.

02:38:41.433 --> 02:38:42.404
Start asking.

02:38:43.234 --> 02:38:53.343
One of the things that my dad, everybody that knows my, that knew my dad would always tell you that he had a, like a, a thing that he had his nerves cut out.

02:38:54.164 --> 02:38:55.244
It was a very cold.

02:38:56.543 --> 02:39:13.558
Like the guy was just pointing a gun at him and being like i'm gonna kill your entire family And my dad is like we got no money man, like it's just like it's sure it's like and then at one point he pulls out a He came to visit one time and he went to Vegas and got one of those like million dollar bills.

02:39:13.638 --> 02:39:14.109
Oh, right.

02:39:14.158 --> 02:39:14.588
Paper.

02:39:14.689 --> 02:39:14.988
Yeah, yeah.

02:39:14.988 --> 02:39:16.388
It's like, then what is this?

02:39:16.388 --> 02:39:17.709
It's like, are you fucking stupid?

02:39:17.759 --> 02:39:20.119
Like, literally, are you fucking stupid?

02:39:20.379 --> 02:39:20.668
Right.

02:39:20.679 --> 02:39:23.338
Don't you see that that's a piece of paper that it's not real.

02:39:23.799 --> 02:39:24.808
It's just a souvenir.

02:39:25.019 --> 02:39:25.449
Right.

02:39:25.759 --> 02:39:28.638
Like I would have a million dollar bill laying around my house.

02:39:28.759 --> 02:39:30.738
He actually Slap my dad across the face.

02:39:30.738 --> 02:39:33.849
And that was the only time that I'm like, Oh, I'm timing.

02:39:36.908 --> 02:39:38.338
Yeah, but you're tied up.

02:39:38.338 --> 02:39:38.549
Right.

02:39:38.718 --> 02:39:39.959
So he doesn't much you can do.

02:39:39.968 --> 02:39:40.269
Yeah.

02:39:40.289 --> 02:39:45.619
There was one, one point in the whole situation where I actually felt really scared because.

02:39:46.638 --> 02:39:48.138
Everything went silent.

02:39:48.588 --> 02:39:48.888
Mm.

02:39:49.459 --> 02:39:55.898
And I'm facing down with a hat, so I'm, I cannot see from like middle forehead up.

02:39:56.019 --> 02:39:56.318
Right.

02:39:56.318 --> 02:39:59.109
But I can see to the sides and I see his two feet.

02:39:59.689 --> 02:40:00.138
Right.

02:40:00.259 --> 02:40:00.888
Right next, next to my ears.

02:40:00.888 --> 02:40:01.443
On other side of your head.

02:40:01.593 --> 02:40:01.884
Yeah.

02:40:02.789 --> 02:40:11.269
And I thought because everybody was quiet that he was pointing at my head and I'm like, okay, I guess, I guess I should just, this is it.

02:40:11.269 --> 02:40:12.498
Give it everything I got here.

02:40:12.498 --> 02:40:15.638
Well, and I, I knew that moving was a stupid move.

02:40:15.728 --> 02:40:15.818
Right.

02:40:16.439 --> 02:40:19.888
But at the same time, I'm like, I kind of like accepted it.

02:40:19.929 --> 02:40:22.328
I'm like, well, I guess this is, this is how it goes.

02:40:23.328 --> 02:40:24.578
This is all the cookie crumbles.

02:40:24.578 --> 02:40:25.558
That wasn't how it happened.

02:40:25.588 --> 02:40:26.289
Uh, no.

02:40:26.289 --> 02:40:30.869
And they kept telling my mom, it's like, we're going to take him and we're not caught his fingers and we're not caught his ears.

02:40:30.869 --> 02:40:32.738
And I was like, why me, man?

02:40:34.828 --> 02:40:35.529
Do something.

02:40:35.949 --> 02:40:36.709
Do my mom.

02:40:36.709 --> 02:40:37.259
No, just kidding.

02:40:37.908 --> 02:40:38.509
Bless her.

02:40:38.568 --> 02:40:42.318
Well, I mean, you and your mom and your brother and your dad, like, you're like, but.

02:40:42.623 --> 02:41:05.054
This is the, this is the time where you realize how like powerful a mother, like a mother's love is because every time they said something about me, even my best friend, not her kid whatsoever, she every single time said to them, take me, me, do with me, whatever, whatever you want, do it to me, not to my kids, not to my husband, not to anybody in this house.

02:41:05.443 --> 02:41:09.254
Take me and I'm like, this is that's the testament.

02:41:09.334 --> 02:41:13.443
That's something like that's that's the strength of the family It's like your mom.

02:41:13.603 --> 02:41:16.254
Yeah, and she's always been a bear a bear mom.

02:41:16.254 --> 02:41:19.783
So anytime Yeah, any anything happened to us?

02:41:19.783 --> 02:41:21.384
She was like, I'm gonna kill something.

02:41:21.433 --> 02:41:22.564
Yeah, that's awesome.

02:41:22.574 --> 02:41:40.699
So that was kind of like the Situation there and we actually ended up They just, yeah, they took everything that they could, uh, took one of the keys, but threw it outside of the house, somewhere in the middle, like car, whatever, yeah, never took a car, took everything, IDs, a bunch of stuff.

02:41:40.759 --> 02:41:52.658
And one thing that it's in, I'm pretty sure it's a common practice here too, is like once, if somebody steals your ID, you go to the cops and tell like, sure, my ID has been stolen because you don't want somebody to go kill somebody, rob a bank, whatever.

02:41:52.658 --> 02:41:52.918
Yeah.

02:41:53.509 --> 02:42:05.709
Uh, so we went to the place, uh, so it's C I C P C, I think it's like the, the, one of the intelligent bodies of the police.

02:42:05.779 --> 02:42:06.978
No one else, that agency.

02:42:06.978 --> 02:42:08.289
Yeah, that was the agency.

02:42:08.769 --> 02:42:11.869
Um, that, and these were people from there.

02:42:12.138 --> 02:42:15.648
So that's where you go and report stolen IDs.

02:42:15.709 --> 02:42:16.088
Yeah.

02:42:16.109 --> 02:42:21.869
So like the, the thing that we had to do is just walk in and say, like, our IDs were stolen.

02:42:21.879 --> 02:42:23.099
They asked us like, what happened?

02:42:23.099 --> 02:42:25.158
It's like, we lost our wallets.

02:42:25.638 --> 02:42:26.088
Right.

02:42:26.609 --> 02:42:27.039
Really?

02:42:27.078 --> 02:42:29.968
You couldn't say we were held at some point by some of your officers.

02:42:29.968 --> 02:42:30.248
Yeah.

02:42:30.248 --> 02:42:38.388
The thing that they said is like, if we know where you live, if we're leaving and you're scream, we come back and kill you.

02:42:38.388 --> 02:42:38.484
Yeah.

02:42:38.843 --> 02:42:43.593
If you go out and put a police report, we come back and kill you.

02:42:43.914 --> 02:42:47.123
If you tell anybody about this, we come back and kill you.

02:42:47.513 --> 02:42:51.804
We know everything that happens, so we're not gonna let you down on this one.

02:42:51.804 --> 02:42:53.644
So we had to shut up about it.

02:42:54.064 --> 02:42:57.593
We told our friends and it was like a story to tell friends and whatnot.

02:42:57.593 --> 02:42:59.154
Right, and now 20 years later, it's fine.

02:42:59.183 --> 02:43:00.273
Yeah, you're here.

02:43:00.644 --> 02:43:05.043
Uh, but it was one of those things is like you, we, we were never able to say anything about that.

02:43:05.093 --> 02:43:05.674
Wow.

02:43:05.724 --> 02:43:06.324
So yeah.

02:43:06.543 --> 02:43:08.234
How traumatic was that in itself?

02:43:08.273 --> 02:43:13.654
Just like not being able to say anything about it almost, that has been almost harder.

02:43:13.783 --> 02:43:16.513
Honestly, I will say, I don't know what it was.

02:43:16.543 --> 02:43:19.924
I never, I don't think I ever developed trauma from it.

02:43:20.193 --> 02:43:24.513
I know my brother did and he started going to therapy after a little bit for that.

02:43:24.804 --> 02:43:29.853
But for him was probably more impactful because he came in later and saw us all tied down.

02:43:29.884 --> 02:43:29.904
Yeah.

02:43:30.429 --> 02:43:33.148
We kind of like started the whole situation.

02:43:34.299 --> 02:43:51.929
So, and there are, there might be something hidden inside my brain that I kind of like, I, I, one thing that I noticed a lot in you, I don't know if you've noticed it, like when we're talking before that I kind of like look everywhere when things move, I have a really like high perception of my surroundings.

02:43:52.199 --> 02:43:54.699
So every time something moves, I need to check what it is.

02:43:54.699 --> 02:43:57.449
So those, those are living in countries like that.

02:43:57.449 --> 02:43:57.849
What it does.

02:43:58.009 --> 02:44:07.209
Gives you, it gives you that kind of like you have to be hyper vigilance, but I don't think that I ever develop anything like too in depth from that situation.

02:44:07.888 --> 02:44:12.238
And it comes down to, it's such a common occurrence.

02:44:13.039 --> 02:44:20.609
Because if it's something that it happened just to you, it might be one of those that it's like, fuck, nobody understands me, But it was one out of a hundred families that experienced that.

02:44:20.609 --> 02:44:22.449
It's not even that, maybe one out of twenty.

02:44:22.459 --> 02:44:23.168
Wow.

02:44:23.189 --> 02:44:27.929
So it's, it's a, it's such a common situation that some of the people that I spoke to.

02:44:27.929 --> 02:44:28.859
Here's our particular story.

02:44:28.988 --> 02:44:33.838
Yeah, some of the people that I spoke to about it, they're like, oh yeah, my cousin had that happen like two weeks ago.

02:44:33.838 --> 02:44:34.099
Right.

02:44:34.328 --> 02:44:46.168
Or, oh yeah, my aunt in like another state had the exact same thing or the, the, there was a very common thing that happened in Venezuela in those times I would, it was a, an express kidnapping.

02:44:47.009 --> 02:45:04.613
So they, they would take you in the street, put you in a car and then start you start driving you around and call people on your phone until they found somebody that was willing to put money for you and be like, Hey, if you give us 10 grand now, uh, We're, we'll drop him in like, I don't know, like Loveland, and that was it.

02:45:05.213 --> 02:45:07.004
So it was just, it was a day kidnapping.

02:45:07.013 --> 02:45:11.433
That actually sounds really sweet, like there's no planning necessary, you just grab somebody and see what happens.

02:45:11.443 --> 02:45:12.283
Yep, yep.

02:45:12.674 --> 02:45:19.134
And a lot of the times I heard stories of people just receiving the money and then they found them dead in the side of the road, stuff like that.

02:45:19.134 --> 02:45:20.263
It was actually safer.

02:45:21.179 --> 02:45:23.658
To not have them be around to tell a story afterwards.

02:45:23.808 --> 02:45:24.129
Yeah.

02:45:24.168 --> 02:45:28.869
So yeah, that was, that, that, I guess that could be a local experience.

02:45:28.869 --> 02:45:30.888
Yeah, local experience for sure.

02:45:31.138 --> 02:45:32.869
Um, we're gonna wrap this up.

02:45:33.439 --> 02:45:34.129
It's been fun.

02:45:34.269 --> 02:45:34.658
Yeah.

02:45:34.668 --> 02:45:39.109
We're, we're way over our normal timeline, but that's okay.

02:45:39.408 --> 02:45:42.058
Um, tell people where to find Obsidian Atlas.

02:45:42.228 --> 02:45:42.549
Yeah.

02:45:42.549 --> 02:45:43.898
So obsidianatlas.

02:45:43.898 --> 02:45:44.279
com.

02:45:44.709 --> 02:45:52.859
And you can find Obsidian Atlas media on Instagram, Obsidian Atlas on Facebook and info at obsidianatlas.

02:45:52.879 --> 02:45:53.129
com.

02:45:53.129 --> 02:45:56.699
You can reach out to us and then we can get back to you as soon as possible.

02:45:56.699 --> 02:46:02.379
And whatever you need, sometimes it's just sitting down and talking to somebody about your business, how it's going.

02:46:02.379 --> 02:46:04.529
You probably don't want to invest money at the moment.

02:46:05.218 --> 02:46:12.519
But I like to be that voice of, on the marketing side to be like, Hey, you might be able to do this stuff that are for free, that will get your foot in the door.

02:46:13.148 --> 02:46:20.679
Uh, so I, I like that a lot, even though maybe like a business person from outside of my perspective tells me that's a stupid thing.

02:46:21.109 --> 02:46:23.279
And are you, uh, taking bilingual clients at all?

02:46:23.498 --> 02:46:23.918
Yes.

02:46:24.049 --> 02:46:24.269
Yes.

02:46:24.578 --> 02:46:26.648
I am actually, that was one of the things that I was thinking.

02:46:26.648 --> 02:46:32.398
Something you should mention, actually, because we do have a lot of mostly Mexican, Hispanic clients.

02:46:32.834 --> 02:46:44.744
Business owners in our community that aren't up to speed on some of their digital stuff because they don't have that Yeah, and I will say that we do full on Spanish I can I can we can tackle a little bit of the Portuguese as well.

02:46:44.863 --> 02:47:10.099
It's a Venezuelan But yeah, oh Brazil's they can call you a little bit if they want to yeah so in the whole the whole aspect of it is just Especially for people that don't speak the language well, it's that, like, you need, you need that opportunity to get going and sometimes, yeah, especially here that you're in the middle of America, very few people speak Spanish, so this could help them out quite a bit.

02:47:10.959 --> 02:47:11.328
Awesome.

02:47:11.599 --> 02:47:12.338
Well, thanks for taking the time.

02:47:12.338 --> 02:47:13.418
Oh, thank you for inviting me.

02:47:13.418 --> 02:47:14.359
Cheers until next time.

02:47:14.498 --> 02:47:14.849
All right.

02:47:14.968 --> 02:47:15.478
Thanks, Teo.