So welcome welcome everyone to this special live
episode of the thrall board journey. I'm your
host l Michael bird and today we're diving into
a conversation that most people avoid but Absolutely
need to have is called turning hard talks into
lasting legacies now This is not just a podcast.
There's a space for transformation for purpose
and for real human connection and so I'm really
honored to share this space today with someone
who I've gotten to know over the last few months,
five months, six months. But from the moment
we met, I knew she was the real deal. Not just
a powerhouse in the financial world, but a woman
of integrity, vision, and heart. Estella Valdevinos
is a top tier entrepreneur, a leader of over
190 licensed financial agents across North America,
and a fierce advocate for purpose driven living.
She's the national vice president at global financial
impact and someone whose life and work embodies
what it means to really build legacy, spirituality,
emotionally, financially, and relationally. So
whether you're a parent, a partner, entrepreneur,
or someone trying to make sense of money and
meaning in your life, tonight's conversation,
today's conversation is for you. So I didn't
really want to get into it. And Estella. And
welcome to our first live episode. How you doing?
Wow. Well, good, good. Thank you for that intro.
What? Wow. Wonderful. Wonderful to be here. I
feel excited to be here with the Thrivewell Journey
Studio with you, Michael. It's been a great,
um, just getting a chance to know you and doing
the first live episode. Oh my God. It is great.
So, um, let me look here and let me see if we
got something going on here. Let me see, let
me see. She said she can't see anything. Anybody,
is anybody in the chat? Let's see. We got two,
we got three. Let me just double check here.
This is our first, hey, that's the thing we're
gonna lie. So let's see. All right. The joys
of technology, right? Right. Double check everything.
Let's see here All right, so before we get into
it, let's see what's going on and Let me see
if she sees anything All right, which but it's
okay we're still recording she doesn't see it
on YouTube so I'm gonna navigate being on the
different platforms while I'm still having the
conversation with you. So if I'm not looking
at you, I'm still having the conversation with
you. So I really want to know, I mean, again,
like we've talked for, you know, for the last,
man, I see you almost every day, which is great,
right? But you know, before all the accolades
and all the 190 place agents that you have, like
who, were you and how did you get into starting
out in entrepreneurship? Sure thing. Well, I
am From California, so if you're logging in from
different parts of the world, I was born and
raised in a small rural community in the Central
Valley of California, which is Sanger, California.
Most people know Fresno, which is not too far
from us. I was raised by a single mom of five
kids, and I'm the youngest of five. Played sports
most of my life. You know, I assure this simply
because it transitions over into the world of
entrepreneurship. All the things that I learned
as an athlete growing up and a competitive athlete
has transitioned into my business and entrepreneurship
space. Prior to that, I did marketing. I did
business marketing for about 10 years. I was
a media buyer for a local retailer motorcycle
dealership in Fresno. And I started my journey
there, went into radio, I was a promotions director
there, and kind of just fall into the space of
entrepreneurship and the world of entrepreneurship.
I had just gotten my license when it comes to
property and casualty. I was thinking about going
back to school. I was at a crossroads in my life
when I was introduced to the financial services
industry. And when I came in, I knew nothing
about really money. Just my background of being
raised by a single mom of five kids, money was
not a conversation we talked about. It was more
like go to school, get a degree, go work for
someone. And when I was introduced to the financial
services industry, I was enthralled with the
idea of being able to learn about money. and
learn what the wealthy do with their money. And
so I started my journey there. I then became
licensed through the state of California to be
able to practice in this industry and slowly
transition from the world of corporate America
into the world of entrepreneurship. And so that's
the journey. That's how I started in this world
of entrepreneurship. But I do give a lot of credit
to my mom of the things that I learned. uh, growing
up, you know, perseverance, being able to, to
start something you finish, um, putting yourself
in positions where you're growing and learning,
uh, was really important. I think that was really
pivotal, uh, to my start of entrepreneurship.
And that's, first of all, that's exciting, right?
So it was just like an innate feeling for you
to move into that space. Not at all. No, not
at all. Not at all. It was not innate at all.
What was innate was the leadership. Playing sports,
in my corporate role, I was always in a leadership
or management position. That was innate, but
entrepreneurship in itself was not innate. Being
raised, the way we're going to get out of the
situation that we're in, the economic situation
was going to school and really working for corporate
America. whether we know it or not, we are slowly
given the idea and the beliefs that the way you're
gonna go about life is working for someone, not
entrepreneurship. So it was definitely not innate
as far as that piece, but there were certain
elements to my life that allowed me to even track
on the journey of entrepreneurship. in our spaces,
and I'm going to just talk about, you know, people
of color, right? There seems to sometimes be
a myth of, you know, we need to work for people
and we need to do not really go into entrepreneurship.
Can you speak to that and how the mindset can
shift from just working for people and really
be your own entrepreneur? Oh, I mean, it's so
critical. You know, like I said, since we're
little, I mean, whether it doesn't matter, you
know, what environment we grew up in, since we're
very little and understanding the fact of going
to school and everything we do from... When we're
five years old, they tell us when to show up
to work or when to show up to school. When do
we get a break? You know, when's lunchtime? When
do we get out? And then our life starts there.
And so whether we know what these belief systems
are imparted in us, and unless we come from someone
who is entrepreneurship or business ownership,
do we see that? But many people, myself included,
it's the only way out. you know, go to school
and go work for someone, whether they're directly
telling us that or indirectly telling us that
we believe that's the idea. For myself, that
was exactly it. Go to school, get a degree, go
work for someone and then try to move up the
corporate ladder. And the importance of entrepreneurship
and individuals of color and different ethnicities
and different socioeconomic backgrounds is extremely
important because the reality of it is if we're
going to get to the next level, It's very difficult
to do that as, you know, when we're working for
someone. We might get to some level of comfort,
you know, depending on the income that we're
making, but to really strive to have a fulfilled
life, not only financially, but in every realm,
entrepreneurship is really the ticket out. And
it could be a scary conversation. It can be totally
in, it can be the opposite of innate, right?
It's like, this is not. comfortable. I don't
see myself there. And I remember that's how I
felt coming into the world of entrepreneurship.
It was not a conversation I was having with a
circle of friends. The circle of friends that
I had was, how do we move up the corporate ladder?
How do we go to the next level? Or should I go
to school and further my education in different
areas so that I can get that position? And so
I believe it's extremely important. to have the
conversation of entrepreneurship, but not only
that, but to have a platform that can guide us
or associations that can guide us in that realm,
whatever that is in whatever area that is. Yeah.
Mentorship is a big, big thing and a big deal,
especially when, uh, in entrepreneurship and
you begin to, you know, kind of navigate that
world. What would you say about mentorship and
being, being mentored in the entrepreneur space?
Mentorship is absolutely critical. They say that
typically businesses fail for two reasons, is
number one, lack of capital and or lack of mentorship.
If you have someone who's willing to share with
you, whether it's in business or in any aspect
of life, whether it's your spiritual, you need
a spiritual mentor or you need guidance in your
relationships, having a mentor is extremely important
because you have someone that you're able to
borrow their wisdom, you're able to borrow what
they know and they're willing to pour into you
what you need to know to get to where you need
to be. I have a personal mentor and one of the
things that is always said is his president is
our future. As long as we continue doing what
we need to do, putting in the work, growing,
we can see somebody ahead of us. And what happens
with that, Michael, is it becomes something that
we can foresee ourselves in. If you have someone
in a space that has already achieved the things
that you're looking to achieve, it makes it real.
And so I believe psychologically, it just gives
clarity to someone when they're on the track
of entrepreneurship, when you do have a mentor
in the space that you're looking to. to have
a business in. Yeah. What is your business now?
My business is I'm an agency owner in financial
services. So we teach about money, wealth management,
how to properly protect a family, estate planning,
we're able to help businesses. So all in the
world of financial literacy. Yeah. And with,
you know, with complete, you know, transparency,
I'm in my own business, but you are my mentor.
That's right. I have to say that when I said
in the intro, you are real. You are authentic.
And when I got to meet you, when you and Bianca
came here to Atlanta, you know, I'm the kind
of person that kind of sits back and I'm, you
know, I'll mingle in, but I'm always looking
and making sure that you know, the people that
I'm surrounded with are really like who they
say they are. And, and I got to say, man, like
you, first of all, first of all, you brought
you brought me in and you're really cool. And
just was like, it was like we knew each other
for like a long time. So for that, I was appreciative.
And after, after that night, that whole day being
with you with y 'all, I was like, okay, this
is this is cool. This is really good to really
get the relationship. uh, in person as it was
getting on zoom. So your mentorship is wonderful
and it's powerful and just let you know and give
you your aggregate. Thank you so much, Michael.
I appreciate that. You got, you're good. Good.
Good. And so, uh, we were talking, you were talking
about, um, we're basically the topic of this
show is really talking about the hard talks and
the hard talks is, you know, death, you know,
life. after death and, you know, those conversations,
those kinds of conversations, which includes
your business. And people avoid those difficult
conversations, especially about money, death,
influence and inheritance and all that good stuff.
Why do you think people avoid the money talk
even with their own families? That's a great
question you know i think that people avoid the
money talk number one is cuz we lack understanding
and when we lack understanding it's a difficult
conversation regardless so we either we either
push away from the conversation or we avoid the
conversation in its totality but it's. It's so
important to have the conversation as we're gonna
discuss i'm sure you know that why should we
have the conversation about you know. properly
protecting our families, properly planning for
the future. But for me, in my case, the conversation
about money was never there. You know, my mom
comes from another country and when you come
from another country and you come to a new country,
you don't speak the language, the conversation
about money is, I believe, just looking back
and kind of dissecting that is, it was survival.
You know, you're surviving, you're coming here.
Unless we come from, you know, that wealth or
economic standing, then the conversations a little
different. And so when I started to grow up and
to be an adult and having conversations about
money, even as an adult, as a young adult, I
felt like money was not a conversation I wanted
to have. You know, in our corporate world, I've
been in this industry for 12 years and we talk
about money and cash flow and proper protection.
I mean, this is what we do, right? But in our
corporate world, we're not talking about our
income, what someone's making. It's a kind of
taboo conversation of, what we're doing, what
are we doing to invest? What are we doing to
save money? Do we have emergency funds? Do we
have proper protection? It's a very rare conversation.
And so what I see is that just people just walk
away from it because they don't know where to
even get started. Or, you know, sometimes it's
shame. Like maybe they don't feel like they have
their own finances in order. And so there's so
many different elements to that. It's like there
are a lot of myths as well. Right. Why do why
do we keep these myths going about, you know,
the money conversation? What do you think? For
me and my personal experiences, I didn't know
better. You know, we You know, everything around
our whole life is our own belief systems. And
we got to understand, Michael, that our belief
systems have been imprinted on us, put in us
as children. They're not our own beliefs. And
we grew up believing that those are beliefs.
So when we navigate the conversation of money
or lack of money, we continue them because we
don't know any better. like for myself. To be
honest, I knew I had a 401k through my corporate
job. I mean, this is like so transparent. Like
I knew I had a 401k, but I didn't really know
that I had to plan for the future, not until
my mom retired at the age of 62. And after being
retired for a few months, she went back to work.
And that's at in my early age of 30, you know,
I was learning about all of that. And I realized
Retirement is really something that lies on my
shoulders and what am I doing to do that? But
all of until I was in my early 30s, I had never
really had a conversation about really truly
planning for my future. So it's not that we want
to carry the myth forward. I just don't think
we're really having or don't even know where
to have these kinds of conversations to even
talk about to dispel that myth. Not until, like
for me, I was introduced to financial services.
Then I started, a different whole world was open
to me as far as what I was doing personally,
what I was doing for my retirement, what I wasn't
doing, what I could be doing. And so I think
we carry these myths because we don't know where
to get the information or who to trust sometimes
with information. Yeah, I think it sounds like
it comes down to education and really educating
the person, the people, the generation. so they
can really get the world of what it is to really
prepare for the rest of your life. And it also
has to do with emotional intelligence. How do
you help with the emotional intelligence of people,
as you mentioned before? How do you help with
that? With the emotional intelligence when it
comes to money or in general? In general. In
general, emotional intelligence, again, should
be taught. Not many people understand. Some people
have amazing emotional intelligence, but they
don't realize that there's a level that we should
carry ourselves on. You know, being a mentor
in financial services, being a mentor in business,
I always tell my team or anybody that I'm mentoring
that... We can't get too high on the high and
too low on the low. We have to be able to navigate
in this space. And, and again, that's either
things that we see our parents do. If we saw
our parents, you know, go wild and that's carried
over, you know, or if we're in a relationship
and one person's very calm and the other one
is not, I mean, emotional intelligence is pivotal
to not only entrepreneurship, but just everyday
general and like public scenarios. We're seeing
a lot of things happening. around the world politically
and things and we see that there's a lack of
emotional intelligence on so many different levels
where people are taking things to the next level.
But emotional intelligence is something that
It needs to be taught. And like I said, some
people have a great emotional talent and some
people don't even acknowledge that there needs
to be a level of emotional intelligence. But
as an entrepreneur, Michael, emotional intelligence
is extremely important. You know, when I'm mentoring
individuals, I see that sometimes their business
is up and down. And it's not that their business
is up and down, it's because they are up and
down. And the business is a reflection of their
emotional level states. And my job, my role is
to when someone's high is to bring them to that
even space, not to bring them down, but bring
them to that level space. And when they're low,
how to bring them back up and go into that space.
And it takes some time to, cause it's, it's a
behavior that's learned. And so it takes some
time to navigate. How do I get, get low when
I'm, how do I get back to that space when I'm
low? How do I get back to that space when I'm
high? So emotional intelligence is super important.
And again, it should be a curriculum in school.
I think I agree. I agree. You know, you talk
about that and I've been in meetings with you
and you have such a strong presence when you
are speaking and have you had to lead or navigate
hard conversations that really supported someone
and if you had those conversations, what was
it like? Wow, Michael, you're getting in depth
here. Definitely have had those conversations,
you know, early on in as I was learning what
it meant to mentor someone. The conversations,
you know, probably weren't at the best of my
ability, you know, because we're constantly learning
our capacity. What i've learned to do early on
in our mentorship session is let let someone
know that there's not gonna always be great conversations
you know there's not always gonna be the perfect
conversation but my role as a mentor or a coach
when i'm navigating that is to coach someone
through that process and. It's important to have
a relationship because really the reality is
it just because I have a position doesn't mean
I'm someone's mentor. There has to be some deposits
into someone to be able to actually have those
conversations. So, you asked like, those conversations
can be initially tough in the beginning, but
the end if we have a great relationship, in the
end it works out in... in both our favors in
the sense of we're going to the next level. I
literally just had a conversation with someone
on my team. And one thing that I learned from
my mentor is to ask this question when you're
having a mentor session is, you know, what is
something that I need to hear that I probably
don't want to hear, but I should hear that's
going to get me to the next level. And that's
the question that I'm always asking my mentor,
because mentors have our blind spots, right?
So I just had a conversation with one of my team
members. And it's new to them asking this conversation,
the question. So I had them ask me the question.
So basically getting their permission to give
them coaching, right? They asked me the question
and I could just tell their body just kind of
froze like, oh my goodness, what are they going
to tell me? And what I had to tell them was nothing
negative. It was all positive of like what they're
doing well, but how they can enhance their business
in another level. There's some gaps missing.
And at the end of the conversation, you could
just tell they were just like their body was
more relaxed and they were excited to know that
they could go to the future. So even though we're
having tough conversations doesn't mean that
they're negative conversations. And so I think
that's really important to know. Early on, I
thought it was negative when I was a newer into
like mentorship and coaching. But the reality
of it is, you know, As individuals, we're always
looking for someone to pour into us. And that's
what I do to my team. I pour into them, coach
them, and then pour into them. It's a process.
It's an art so that we can get people to move
to the next level. Yeah. So I'm trying to fix.
We're not live on Facebook yet, so I'm trying
to fix that right now. Sorry, guys. No problem.
This is the thing about going live. This is crazy.
and it's awesome at the same time. I'm glad it's
with me. I'm glad it's with me. I know, right?
We're in the financial services business, and
financial literacy is not just about money, it's
about options, it's about dignities, it's about
impact. And just in your experience, what's the
biggest gap between, you know, with people that
people have with financial literacy and understanding
that? What's the biggest gap? Yeah. Well, you
said it, the financial literacy piece. The gap
is understanding where someone is at and knowing
where they want to be. So the gap is really helping
people navigate where they want to be. And so
when I sit down with clients, a lot of times
when we sit with them, they don't even have where
they want to be. You know, as far as retirement,
you know, understanding the products and services
that they can give them peace of mind, as you
mentioned, dignity, when things come up. But
the gap is in the gap. Basically, people don't
know where they want to be. They don't have a
financial independence number. They don't have
a number when they do retire. At what age do
they want to retire? How much income do they
need? In what types of accounts do they need
it in? And so I would say that's the gap. Michael
is not knowing where someone wants to be. Where
someone wants to be. So why is it really important
for people to really get the financial literacy
for themselves as well as their families? It's
important because it allows people to make decisions.
I again sit down with clients who said, oh, I
should have put money into my 401k or I should
have got this type of insurance or proper. Somebody
presented this to me, but I didn't quite understand
it. And a lot of the reasons why people don't
put things in place is because there's just a
lack of understanding. In this world, we're inundated
with so much information with social media, technology,
chat, GBT. You can get a lot of information everywhere.
The question is, where can we actually put that
information? into place. You have the theory
part of it, but what's the action part of it?
And so the literacy, it closes that gap because
it allows people to make a solid, informed, empowered
decision for their family. Yeah. So one of the
things that we deal with is life insurance. And
people sometimes think life insurance is just
for like burial. burial expenses, or it's only
affordable for the wealthy. It's unnecessary.
It's a scam, you know, and they don't realize
that, you know, younger people actually can afford.
It's affordable for people like that that are
younger. And I actually look up a fact, it says
a healthy 30 year old can often get a $500 ,000
term policy for less than the cost of a monthly
Netflix subscription. Is that a fact? Or can
you talk about that? Well, it depends on, I mean,
if they're healthy, how much coverage, and it
is super affordable. And I want to share something
with you, Michael, that I think that a lot of
us, when it comes to insurance, whether we think
it's expensive, we don't know, it's for the wealthy.
You know, I had a sister who, when I was 20 years
old, she was 31 years old, she passed away in
a car accident. In the accident, my nephews were
in the car. One of my nephews had just turned
five. about to turn six, they survived the accident,
my sister passed away, and it just turned our
whole family's world upside down. We never anticipated
that when you lose someone just like that, you
don't have the planning. She had no life insurance.
So how it works when you lose someone, it's a
business, you go to the funeral home, you do
all this stuff, they're upselling you on every
aspect of putting the final plan together for
the celebration of life. My brother put it, my
brother put it on, he got it on a, like he financed
it and it took him seven years to pay that. I
think it was like 15 ,000 because like the interest
rate on it was super expensive or super high.
And I share this story with you, Michael, because
in that moment, you lose someone, you don't have
insurance. Then we're trying to figure out, you
know, who becomes guardians of my nephew. So
that's the estate planning side of things. And
even after experiencing that, Michael never did
it dawn on me to get life insurance. But never
had a conversation. Nobody said, hey, Stella,
you've experienced this. You yourself can be
protected. You can put yourself. We never want
to experience this again. But not until 12 years
later when I was introduced to the financial
services that I realized the importance of life
insurance. And so what I'm seeing is that the
lack of knowledge when it comes to just the conversation
around life insurance, let's just talk about
that. It's not being had, you know? And when
we do talk about life insurance, we just see
it as like something that is there. We think
of it as auto insurance, something that we're
paying for that we're never going to use. But
the reality of it is we're not getting the proper
education when it comes to the power of life
insurance, the power of doing it when we're younger
and we're healthier and the cost of insurance
is a lot less versus when we're older. A lot
of times, you know, we were confronted with Clients
who said oh, I didn't realize I can get life
insurance when I was younger And so again, it
just comes back down to the education and I shared
my story with you Michael because like I said
It was so close to home. We experienced it. We
we understood like we went through all of that
But not once not once did I ever think I should
get life insurance And so if I experienced that
I can only imagine the people who never experienced
losing a loved one or anything like that the
conversation even come up. And so being in this
industry for over a decade, sitting down with
clients, it's the same thing. Nobody's ever had
them a conversation about it. It's the idea,
it's far fetched. They think it is a scam. They
don't have an understanding. We go through an
education process where we talk about the different
types of products. Not every life insurance is
the same. So when we give the clients that information,
they feel very empowered. to make those decisions.
And that's why as a company, we have a crusade
of education, financial literacy, sharing that.
And when I came into this industry, that's why
it was for me, it just fell right in line. I
had already experienced that if I can help families,
if I can touch families, if I can empower them
with being properly educated and properly protected,
then I wanted to be able to do that in my sister's
name and in my family's name to say, hey, not
one family has to go through a tragedy. and not
be properly protected. And so that's what I have.
That's really similar to me as well. And the
story is like, I don't know, 2003 when my mom
passed away from glioma, blastoma cancer, she
had nothing in place. You know, and I was 20
something fresh out of college, you know, starting
to earn money, but I didn't have enough money
to pay for our funeral. You know, we had to we
had to call people, you know, to help us. We
had to do some work with a funeral home, you
know, to make sure that, you know, she got the
proper burial in my family. People like to get
cremated, which is, you know. But it was just
difficult. And even at that time, like like you,
I was like. you know, okay, this is what we got
to do. Right. I didn't have the education at
that time. And I think that that's pervasive.
I can't hear your son, Michael. Can you hear
me now? Oh, there it goes. Yes. Yeah. Um, all
the hiccups. This is fun. Um, uh, man, this is
crazy. So what was I saying? Oh, yes. Yeah. So
like people that are in that situation, um, that
find themselves in a situation now, what, what
do you think they need to do? Well, number one,
uh, what someone should do is know that that
when we're talking about working for our family,
the question is why would we want to do it and
what do we need to do? So we all work hard for
our family. When I sit down with clients and
I ask them, why are we having this conversation?
What got you to have this conversation or sit
down in front of me? And they're like, well,
my family is really important. I work hard. I
want to make sure that I'm taking care of, my
family's taking care of this. So it's really...
acknowledging the fact that we are all working
for something, right? We go to work, we go to
do it for our family. And so when we have that
understanding of why we're doing it, having the
conversation of properly protecting a family
becomes a lot easier because then they understand
that having proper protection is about their
family. Everything that they're doing, that will
take place if you are no longer there. then everybody
will tell you, I'll ask, why do you go to work?
Well, because I want to take care of my family.
I want to be able to make sure I pay my bills.
And so once we have that understanding, being
able to have a conversation of having proper
protection becomes a lot easier because then
now they understand this is about their family.
This is about properly protection. This is, like
you said, keeping the dignity, having peace of
mind. And so that's why the conversation around
it or gaining the knowledge in it is extremely
important. because it all wraps around with the
simple fact that it's about our family or we
want to make sure we're properly set up for our
future. Yeah. And ultimately, you're really taking
care of yourself to take care of your family
as well. And I think that's important. And especially
as I grow older, I'm like, you know, I want to
make sure that my people are taken care of. And
then they're taking care of so they can take
care of me when, you know, it's my time. And
it's really okay to talk about that, because
that's inevitable, right? Right, right. You know,
they said there's two certainties in life. Death
and taxes and we have the conversation on both,
right? I always like to joke around with my team
and I said we're not gonna get out of this world
alive Unless unless you know something I don't
know But the but the importance of having have
having that kind of conversations is extremely
important and and we're talking even on the the
side of having proper protection and going through
the funeral and burial. But then there's the
other element of insurance, life insurance, like
being able to create generational wealth. A lot
of people don't realize that when a life insurance
benefit does pay out. It pays our tax free. And
if you have half a million in place or you have
a million dollars in place, which, by the way,
is so much more affordable than most people think,
we never want to think about passing. But like
we were just talking about, it's inevitable.
It's going to happen. We just don't know when.
You know, we can look for an expiration date
somewhere on our body, but we can't find it.
Right. We don't have that somewhere around. I've
been looking for it. But that we don't realize
that. That we are able to create generational
wealth by having proper protection. If we do
have a certain amount of coverage, the proper
amount of coverage, which we do with all of that
with our clients. We go through a full needs
analysis to make sure the client is properly
covered. They're not paying for too much. They're
not paying for too little. They have the right
amount of coverage. That's a way of creating
generational wealth. So if something happens
tragic or unforeseen and you have half a million
dollars of insurance, Michael, your beneficiaries
receive that half a million dollars tax free.
And then there's so much more that can happen
after that. And it's been a strategy that the
wealthy have leveraged many years over where
they've protected their family. Put the strategy
of life insurance in place and see it as an investment
versus as a bill, right? Yeah, right would man
versus a bill like That's just right there by
itself. Um, can you Just so that people gonna
really get the world of it Can you just break
down break it down for people were or you know,
you're leaving a legacy for people with the generational
wealth? Absolutely. Um, I mean A lot of us want
to, it goes back to the conversation, why do
we work hard? Why do we do this? A lot of times
what we're doing is not the way to lead generational
wealth. If we're working for corporate America,
we have some type of retirement, understanding
the world of taxes and the implication to estate
planning. I mean, there's so many elements to
it. But generational wealth is a decision we
choose to make, right? If we really wanna make,
and it starts in our mind. And then it goes back
to what you said, what's the gap? So the gap
is knowing what you want. If you're looking for
retirement, knowing what your financial independence
number, if you're looking for generational wealth
is how, if I'm looking for generational wealth,
what tools, what elements are around me that
I can put in place for my family to make sure
that I am actually not only putting it in place,
but when I am no longer here, that it leaves
that generational wealth. And life insurance
is a big element of that. Again, it's taboo when
we talk to people about life insurance, it's
a taboo conversation that people automatically
think it's a scam. or they can't afford it. And
that's where the education comes in. And that's
why I love what I do, because our approach is
education. And so leaving a legacy or creating
generational wealth, again, it's education, knowing
what tools are out there, what type of products
can help me do that. And as I mentioned already,
life insurance is a big part of that. Yeah. So
that's the first step. first step first step
is knowing in your mind like the first step is
knowing what you want and And when we have conversations
is it's bringing that out and people people say
well I want to make sure my family's taking care
of okay, but what does that look like? If when
you say your family is taking care of are you
talking about while you're still here while you're
no longer here And what are some of the things
that we can put in place so that you can take
care of your family step one And then if we're
looking for generational wealth what other types
of products and services that we can put in place
to create that. So number one is knowing what
you want. Yeah. Knowing what you want. And so
personally, you're building your legacy, right?
And how does that change the way that you see
your own life? It changes in so many ways. I've
always felt since I was young that I wanted to
leave an imprint on this world. I've always felt
this inner calling, inner being of being able
to leave a big footprint and then life happens
and you just don't know what that looks like.
But being part of the financial industry has
really not only enhance and change the paradigm
of my thinking as a business owner, but also
like making sure my family's protected. You know,
we're in the world of financial services. So
not only do we talk about it to our clients,
but I think the best part of it is living it,
right? We speaking it. And so making sure our
financial plannings is put in place, making sure
that we have the proper amount of protection.
And for me, the way I see it, now that I know
what I know, Prior to being in the industry,
prior to being in these kinds of conversations,
I don't think I would have done what I've done.
But because I am in the industry, because I am
talking to clients, because I want to live by
example, I feel secure. There's so much more
that I would love to be able to do for my family.
But some of the things that I plan to do and
put in place is not only to make sure that my
family's... properly protected and making sure
I leave that legacy for my family. But I also
want to be able to give back to the community.
You know, I played sports. Soccer was what I
played, you know, what I played predominantly
year round. And I want to give back to my high
school alma mater. I want to be able to do that
and do a scholarship in my name for many generations
to come. And that is part of the financial world.
life insurance could be a part of that. And so
it has expanded my scope of not only making sure
my family is protected, but also being able to
give back to the community. And I believe that's
why we're here is what kind of imprint can we
leave in this world, not just be in this world.
So it's dramatically changed what how I see and
how I can actually leave that imprint in life.
Yeah, that's I mean, I hear legacy all through
that. And you talked about generational wealth
and all the things that people talk about. They
talk about, I wanted to leave generational wealth
and they don't necessarily really know how to
get there, but you've explained what the first
step can be, which is in your mind. And then
there are actually tools that can help you do
that. So this is like creating a clear a strategy
for somebody to actually follow up with the speaking
of, I want to create generational wealth. But
how do you define wealth beyond numbers and big
accounts? Very great question. I define wealth
not necessarily with money or wealth in that
sense, but wealth is spiritual wealth. You know,
there's a lot of people who have a lot of wealth
and spiritually they're just, they're like my
mother says, they're... Like their spirit is
just constantly moving There's mental health
your your wealth in in your in your mental health.
There's wealth in your in your health And so
what I love of being a part of this agency is
you know our fulfillment formula. It's not just
creating wealth and legacy on that side. But
it's also what we impart, the intangible things
that we impart to our family and our community,
as far as the way we live our life with the five
F's, which is our faith, you know, increasing
our capacity and relationships with our family.
Of course, one of the F's is finances and making
sure that our finances are in order. And then
also our fitness, our health is extremely important.
And the last thing is having fun through it all.
Because one of our mentors says in business is
that, you know, the goal if we can is to reach
financial independence, become financially free.
Our vision as a company is to be able to be number
one in the industry. And I believe we're going
to be on track for that. But he talks about you
can become a millionaire and there's a lot of
millionaires or you can become a fulfilled millionaire
when all those five S are being elevated and
grown on every level. So wealth to me is not
just money. No for me my spiritual wealth is
extremely important and it's not if it's not
a religion based on talking about your spirit
as a human being that we're getting to know exactly
who we're meant to be and we're striving to be
that person. That's what, for me, spiritual health
is. And of course, faith isn't religious. Faith
is just the opposite of fear, you know, living
in that faith versus a lot of times. And if fear
comes in and sneaks its nose into all of our
lives, you know, it comes into our, whether we
do something in our financial planning, fear
comes in. And so it's just operating in that
faith. So wealth is more of a holistic I have
a holistic outlook on what wealth is, because
I could be super healthy and super fit, but my
finances can be in disarray. And I want to be
able to grow in all of those five F's simultaneously.
Will I grow in all areas? At the same time, no,
there might be a little bit off balance in certain
areas because we're looking for different goals
as we're striving as entrepreneurs in our family.
But I believe that every day or, you know, we're
working on improving that those five S to be
to be humans that live a fulfilled life. Yeah.
What do you say to someone who who really thinks
that they don't have enough to leave a legacy?
What do you mean? Not enough. Like they don't
they don't have like enough money or just just
they want to do probably. Let me say it like
this. They want to have life insurance and leave
a legacy, but they don't have enough like enough
money. Because I have a fact is that only it
says only 52 % of Americans report leaving or
having any life insurance at all. And so. there
may be that conversation that people may be having
with themselves that I just don't have it. I
get it. That's what I said when I first came
in. I'm like, there's no way I can invest. There's
no way I can do this. But when I sat through
the part and what we do for our clients, where
we go through a full financial needs analysis,
we find money. I mean, some people live on a
budget and they only make a certain amount of
income. you know, that's that word, you know,
limited on what we could do, but there's a lot
of people who say that they don't have enough,
they don't make enough, and they don't realize
that as we go through a personal financial review,
we find money, we find $100 here, $50 here, you
know, going out to eat, Starbucks, Netflix, as
you mentioned, right? You know, we have the money,
but what we do is we walk through someone through
that process to say, you know, what is it that
you want? And are the things that you're doing
today getting you to closer to where you want
or further away? And when we go through that
analysis, they realize what they want and what
they're doing are two different things. So we
put them on a path so that they can eliminate
Netflix or they eliminate Starbucks, maybe not
completely, but maybe two days out of the week
and make coffee at home. And we help find that
money so that they can get that proper protection.
But a lot of people will never go through that
if they don't know what they want. And part of
what we do is giving them clarity of what is
it that's important to them and how we can, with
their situation, help them get to where they
want to be. And then on the flip side, Michael,
we have an opportunity here in what we do as
an agency. On the flip side, maybe we do have
someone who's limited, they follow a budget,
but they only get a certain amount of cash flow.
So the only solution is to increase their cash
flow. And so we as actually as an agency are,
you know, looking for qualified individuals that
can partner with us. And that's how I started.
I started part -time. I got licensed. I made
some extra money as I was learning the new industry.
I wasn't at a place where I wanted to leave my
job because that was security for me. But when
I realized a lot of different things as far as
entrepreneurship and business ownership, I was
able to make the move. And I have a lot of agents
on my team who do this part time so that they
can make an extra thousand or an extra $2 ,000
to pay for their children's daycare or to put
their kids in private school or for them to actually
take a vacation. So there's two answers to that.
We can help find money. And if not, then we can
offer the opportunity if it's the right person
where they can be partnered with us and learn
a new industry. help more people and make some
additional income. And you have, like right now
you have over, my reporting test, you have over
190 agents in your agency. Correct. 190? Yeah.
What was it? 190 plus. About 190. We're about
there. Yeah. And so I can attest to that because
you, just the way that you level up people's,
uh, just mindset and just the way of being, um,
in the meetings is just has been, is when you
leave, it's like, let's make something happen.
And just from who you're being, um, for, for
myself, and I'm sure for other people, it has
been a true game changer. And then I just, I
can see that, you know, showing up in areas of
my life. And so what's your inspiration to people
that, that again, that want to partner up with
you and make a difference in their life? What's
my inspiration? How do you inspire people that
want to make a change in their life to work with
you? So that's another great question. How do
I inspire people is, well, one, What I've been
gifted through the gift of entrepreneurship or
the journey of entrepreneurship is really getting
to know myself. And they say people operate in
different levels of vibrational levels and frequency
levels. And they say that the highest level of
vibration that we can vibrate on or the highest
frequency is genuineness. And so the gift that
I've been gifted on this journey of entrepreneurship
is really getting to know who I am. who I'm meant
to be, and the more I search for that, the more
that I work towards that, I realize that's an
inspiration for other people. I don't come from
wealth, I don't come from, my whole background
story is not the perfect story, and you see me
doing what I do here in financial services, owning
a business, and being able to grow our agency
to close to 200 licensed agents. That comes with
constantly evolving and growing. I truly am a
big believer in that if I am genuine and I'm
constantly working, I have the moral authority
to inspire that in people, not by my words, but
really by my actions. And I hold that to a regard,
not necessarily to inspire other people, it's
transitioned into inspiring other people, but
it really, I just hold it to... Am I living up
to my best? Am I constantly stepping into the
best version of myself? And it keeps me accountable.
And because of that, I have a team of people
that it keeps me leveling up in accountability,
where essentially I see that there's a level
of inspiration. I know that I impact my team,
but it's very rare when I get something what
you just said back to me. When you leave a meeting,
you feel a certain way. It's interesting to hear
that and I'm just happy to hear that. That's
how I leave people. One of my affirmations is
I leave people feeling better than when I first
started talking to them. No matter what that
I pour into someone I'm doing that. And if I'm
not working on myself, I can't do that. So it's
one in the same. If I'm not working at that capacity,
I'll never have the ability to leave someone
better off than when I first started talking
to them. And so that's my inspiration. you know,
since I was like, it goes back to being a little
girl and thinking to myself that I'm on this
earth to do something special. And all these
years, it's been navigating to what that means.
And now that I'm in this position, I really truly
believe I found my purpose, why I'm here, my
intention is to really impact people. The money
is secondary, the money is not as important as
it was in the beginning. Because in the beginning,
I was trying to pay bills and do certain things.
Like everybody, right? So the beginning of the
money was important. But now that I've been in
this industry for 10 years, it's really how can
I inspire someone? How can I get someone to think
different? How can I get people to cross that
bridge of corporate America employee to the world
of entrepreneurship? Because the world of entrepreneurship
is a journey of your... You're chasing. You're
finding the best version of yourself It's the
best personal development program and the more
we personally develop the more income we're gonna
make So the income is a byproduct of who I'm
becoming and the people I serve and so I know
the money will come It's now not even as it as
it was important in the beginning of my journey
of entrepreneurship And so that's where the inspiration
comes is how can I leave someone better off than
when I first started? Talking to them or being
in their life Yeah. Well, this is, if this conversation
is evidence of who you are, then we get to see
the greatness in you and your everyday life just
in this one hour that we spend together. And,
you know, we talked about life insurance, we
talked about, you know, generational wealth.
I don't know why I can't say generational. You
got it. And I do want to offer people that that
are really interested in really making a shift
in their life, you know, or just have a conversation
and learn about what we just talked about. I'm
just going to put a link up here on the. Can
you see it? OK, because I put a link right there
on the screen and and I also have it in the description.
if you're interested in really learning more
about insurance, or even if you want to look
at partnering with Estella and really making
a shift, a change, and just making your life
go to the next level in the way that you see.
Before we go, and I know you probably said this
with everything that you talked about. What is
the thing that motivates you most? And what is
the last thing on this podcast that you want
to share with people from your heart? Okay. Well,
first of all, before I answer that, I want to
thank you for having me on this call and for
it to be your first live. So I appreciate the
invitation to be on your podcast. It's been a
wonderful conversation thus far. But the question
is what motivates me? And what do I want to share
from my heart? Yes. So what motivates me is that
I know that I am not the best version of myself.
And so what motivates me is what can I do today
to get me closer to that person I'm meant to
be? You know, when I was born, I was made in
his image. And then life happens and different
beliefs were poured upon me, life situations
that obviously I didn't have control over. But
what motivates me is how close can I get to that
person that I was ultimately meant to be? And
I believe that if I'm on that journey, that it
goes back to the previous conversation, it's
going to spill over to people. You know, when
going back to the story where my sister passed
away, all of my life, Michael, I wanted to become
an architect. All of my life, I loved design,
I loved home design, I loved different things
that like doors, windows, architecture, I just
loved it. And my whole entire family knew that
I was gonna become an engineer and I was gonna
go into architecture and all of that good stuff.
I was going to school when my sister passed away
and it derailed our whole life. I became financially
responsible for my nephews. All these different
things, I stopped going to school. Life because
I needed to take care of yeah life happens. I
needed to take care of that when I got into this
industry My mom told me something super profound.
She says she says she's in we're Mexican So she
said me huh? She says I want you to know that
you know You are fulfilling all of your life's
goals and desires. She says you are an architect
You're just not an architect of buildings. You're
an architect of people And so that sealed the
deal. I already knew I found my calling. I already
knew I found my purpose in life. But when my
mom shared that with me, it was just, you're
like right on. You know, what I'm here is to
help people become better. And I know that my
personal example is... primary and in addition
to that to continue to grow my capacity to continue
to grow my associations so that I can help other
people become better. And that's the last message
I would like to say is that I'm here on this
earth to do something special. I truly believe
that I found my calling and I'm here to help
people. through my own personal example and that
keeps me accountable. And at the same time, my
desire is that, you know, I get to transform
other people's lives, teach people how to live
better, become better. Because the more people
that become better around us, the more of an
impact we can have in the community, in our state,
in the United States. Globally, we make that
impact, that ripple effect, what they call the
butterfly effect all across the world. And so
that's what inspires me to to be better and become
better. You know, thank you for saying that.
My mission is really to connect people to the
purpose of one conversation at a time. And you
truly are a reflection of the people that you're
around. And there's no happenstance that I cross
your path, you cross my path, and I'm in your
atmosphere, so that I can always continue to
realize what that is for me. And since you are
the architect of the business that I'm in, that
I will, you know, that's how that we relate in
that world. And so I really thank you for being
who you are, and really helping families and
people to really leave a legacy, take care of
themselves, take care of their families, and
release the stress and not live at a bill. Just
thank you. And I appreciate your time being a
yes to the podcast and just being on the Thrivewell
Journey podcast. And as we always say, let's
make thriving our new normal. And before I go,
as you're looking at the recording, look. This
is our first live. And I don't, I don't apologize
about it. Okay. So the next live, it'd be a little
better. And thank you for sticking this sticking
around this long again. Thank you, Estella. And
I'll see you soon. And we'll see you soon as
well. All right. And let's make thriving our
new normal. Awesome. I love it. Thank you, Michael,
for having me on. You got it.