Finding Balance in Business, Life + Resiliency with Ricardo Jimenez (part 1)

What drives an entrepreneur to launch into the tumultuous journey of starting a business? Join us as we pose this provocative question to our esteemed guest, Ricardo Jimenez, a seasoned angel investor and entrepreneur hailing from the vibrant city of Barcelona. Despite the late hour, Ricardo's infectious energy lights up our conversation as he shares his fascinating journey through the worlds of technology, aviation, and finance. With engaging anecdotes, Ricardo offers a candid glimpse into the emotional rollercoaster that defines the entrepreneurial path, emphasizing the crucial role of resilience and honesty in overcoming challenges and managing expectations. 

In our thought-provoking discussion, we delve into the heart of entrepreneurial purpose and passion, questioning whether the drive to create stems from true passion or the desire to prove oneself. We shed light on the importance of aligning business pursuits with personal goals through self-awareness and clarity, especially in the face of external events like global crises. Reflecting on personal experiences and insights, Ricardo and our hosts explore the fine balance between business success and personal well-being, offering listeners valuable perspectives on navigating the unpredictable landscape of entrepreneurship. Tune in to discover how resilience can reignite your entrepreneurial spirit and guide you through the highs and lows of building a sustainable business.

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Chapters

• 0:06 Reignite Resilience With Ricardo Jimenez
• 15:56 Reevaluating Entrepreneurial Purpose and Passion

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

All of us reach a point in time where we are depleted and need to somehow find a way to reignite the fire within. But how do we spark that flame? Welcome to Reignite Resilience, where we will venture into the heart of the human spirit. Resilience where we will venture into the heart of the human spirit. We'll discuss the art of reigniting our passion and strategies to stoke our enthusiasm. And now here are your hosts, natalie Davis and Pamela Cass.

Speaker 2: 0:42

Welcome back to another episode of Reignite Resilience. I am your co-host, natalie Davis, and I am so excited to be back with you all, and joining me, of course, is Pam Kass. Pam, how are you today?

Speaker 3: 0:55

I am fabulous, and I just realized it's been three weeks. Yes, since we've recorded. Yes.

Speaker 2: 1:01

What the heck? That's mainly because Pam's been MIA, not because we've been slacking.

Speaker 3: 1:06

Don't blame it on me. I never go anywhere.

Speaker 2: 1:10

Oh my goodness. Well, we're going to have to do an episode where you recount your fabulous trip. But welcome back, Pam. We are happy to have you back.

Speaker 3: 1:18

I am grateful to be back the good thing about loving what you do. I was so excited, so much so that, with very little sleep, I went ahead and booked like seven hours of coaching, a meeting and then this podcast. So when you come back, you just jump right back in.

Speaker 2: 1:34

Yeah, you told me that you were doing that before you left and I'm pretty sure I looked at you like you had two heads then and I'm still looking at you like you had two heads literally getting off the plane and directly into the seat to join our fabulous listeners. That's dedication, but it's also balance. It's what we talk about balance yes, yes something.

Speaker 2: 1:54

I don't know if balance is the word that I would use, but it's definitely something if she starts to doze off during the podcast, you all I'll uh, I'll just yell at her and hopefully startle her to wake her up.

Speaker 3: 2:04

Yeah, that's not good, because we do video now, so that would. I can't hide that, you can't, I'll be in trouble.

Speaker 2: 2:10

I'll be in trouble. Okay, I'm going to keep it together. Keep it together, exactly, exactly. Well, I am excited today because, as we are getting back into the saddle, we have a fabulous guest that also. I am just impressed at the fact that they're able to join us because they're on a complete different time zone. But, pam, why don't you introduce our guest?

Speaker 3: 2:29

today. Yes, absolutely. Well, we are so excited to have Ricardo Jimenez, who is a Spanish-born author, entrepreneur and active angel investor. Angel investor Since 2014,. He has performed direct investments in over 50 tech projects, including the I'm going to say, I try to say this Alathrium token launch. In recent years, his investment scope broadened with investments in the first electric aircraft designed for hydrogen propulsion in France I really want to hear more about that A gold mine in Paraguay and a financial solution for Gen Z in the Middle East. I am so excited. We're also going to talk about his book, Crash Course, so we're so excited to have you with us. Thank you so much. It is 11 something at night, so we can. So excited to have you with us. Thank you so much. It is 11 something at night, so we can't believe that you are here. We're so grateful for you. So please welcome and please share your story.

Speaker 4: 3:34

Well, thank you very much for the opportunity of being in your show for the energy. Yes, it's 1143 pm here in barcelona, spain, but uh, it feels like uh, what are you saying in the youth?

Speaker 2: 3:49

like a second um oh, a second win, exactly.

Speaker 4: 3:52

It feels like a second win here with your a second win here at almost midnight with the energy, so looks like we're gonna keep the energy up for the next hour or so. And, uh, I'll share a little bit about me after the wonderful introduction. Yeah, I was born in spain, in a town called saragossa, many years ago. I've lived half of my life abroad, mostly in the us nine years in austin, but also north carolina, miami. I've lived in l Miami, london, indonesia, colombia, uruguay so different places for different reasons, and now I'm between Puerto Rico and Barcelona. I published this book about the emotional journey of the entrepreneur a couple of months ago and I love to speak about what entrepreneurs go through. Like I love to say, I have a startup. I did not succeed, so I don't know what it is to have a playbook for founders to succeed, but I do know what the founder goes through in the attempt of trying to succeed. That I know very well. So that's what I love to talk about.

Speaker 3: 5:03

I love it.

Speaker 2: 5:04

Being an entrepreneur it's emotional, interesting. It's as if we didn't know this. Yet we do it to ourselves, we do it to ourselves.

Speaker 4: 5:16

I love to talk. One of my favorite topics is honesty self-honesty, because now that you say we do it to ourselves, we start something that we know it's going to be hard. We know that. We've all heard the statistics 90% of companies close down after three years. Lots of people wouldn't understand why we do what we do. Lots of people have lots of ideas of what we should be doing with our lives, but there's the act of self-honesty, or really listening to. Well, it looks like this is what I want to do. I have to think about the consequences some other time. For now, all I need to do is be honest. So that's the first step.

Speaker 4: 5:55

And then what I learned over many years of being an entrepreneur is that our expectations usually don't happen. We have all these ideas of how our company is going to work, of how things are going to evolve, and it doesn't happen. So this creates this disconnect, this clash we can say disconnect or this clash, with all the rejection, all the challenges. It produces lots of emotions and entrepreneurs and people very rarely slow down and stop to see what's happening with them. It takes a lot of self-honesty and to finish with the whole path and then the end, to acknowledge that something in which you've been working for many years in my case, six years it's not what you thought it was going to be.

Speaker 4: 6:43

To acknowledge that something's really, really not working and put an end to a story in which you invested all your money, energy, all dreams. You told all your loved ones and everybody who listened to you for many years what you were working on. It became a part of your identity. We can talk about all that a little bit later, but but again, it takes a lot of honesty to start, to keep it during the process and to finish something that you know that's not working. So these are things that I that I think a lot about. And again, and I think we as entrepreneurs, we get so invested in our company that we get lost and we miss sometimes slowing down and checking with ourselves to see what's really happening within us, because we're just trying to try and try and try to make our company succeed that we forget about ourselves.

Speaker 3: 7:35

Yeah, exactly. How do you know when it's time to say you know it isn't working? Because I know, when you've invested so much time and energy and passion into something and you want it to succeed, but deep down you know this isn't working.

Speaker 4: 7:51

But you just keep doing it. I think it's one of the hardest questions. So I can think out loud for I don't know maybe one or two minutes for people to consider some things, but I really think it's the hardest. I think it's on a case-by-case basis. It's always an it depends and it's on a case-by-case basis.

Speaker 4: 8:10

But the biggest illusion in which entrepreneurs live is that tomorrow I could be meeting my ideal customer or my perfect investor. It's like we live with this fantasy that tomorrow everything could change, that we need to run one day more, so maybe something happens. I don't think that's the ideal way. I think it's healthier to focus on your processes and what's in your hands and the things that you can control and trust in what you're doing. But it's still.

Speaker 4: 8:45

It's always this we've all heard about these companies, these near-death or almost-death experiences that some companies have right, some companies that end up being super successful. They almost died either one, two, three times. So it's really really tricky and, at the same time, companies that have done really well in the last decade or two decades, maybe next year, technology changes, customer changes and they go south. So I think it's really tricky because any moment it's true that anything can happen in both directions. So I think at what point? Instead of just thinking about what can happen with the company, I think the question needs to go back to what do I want for myself and stop thinking in terms of the company and start thinking in terms of you as a person, which usually, when you're an entrepreneur, you take very few decisions according to what's best for you. It's mostly about what's best for the company.

Speaker 2: 9:43

Or the employees. If you have employees right, it's what's best for everyone else.

Speaker 4: 9:48

Everyone. Yes, you're just a means or a tool, so things keep running. In my case, somebody told me that there was a cost of opportunity for what I was doing. It was very insightful, because sometimes we are so in love with our ideas. In my case, I thought I'm going to dedicate my whole life to this. I like this idea, so I have a company. I'll share a little bit.

Speaker 4: 10:11

We did toys in the shape of countries. We wanted to educate kids about the world from their point of view of play and education, and the toys have stickers that you put in your passport as your collection of friends from over the world, and I wanted them to learn about the world, playing through curiosity, and also connect them with with other kids along the world. The idea is that when you have a friend from a different country which is my case when you hear something about that country, then you think about your friend and suddenly that country is not just a black box or a mystery anymore. It's something that now it means something to you because at least you have a friend from there. So that was our company. I thought it was a good idea and I thought I'm going to kind of have this. Like all entrepreneurs, I thought it was a good idea and I thought I'm going to have this. Like all entrepreneurs, I thought very grandiosely I wanted to connect the kids, to have the app, to have a movie, to have games, to have a theme park. I wanted it all. So I was dreaming big. So we all end up I realized that entrepreneurs end up loving so much what they do. We become so identified.

Speaker 4: 11:18

So at what point do you realize that something? When do you stop? So, in my case, I realized that there was a cost of opportunity, and not only that. So I realized, hey, hold on, I'm doing this, but I could be doing other things. But, like I said, I also realized that I just didn't want more of that struggle. I didn't want a life. I had been struggling for six years and it feels like we cannot make decisions. It looks like it's prone upon someone that's thinking of himself or herself rather than their company. But, being honest, I told myself that this is not what I want for myself anymore. I'm done. I cannot do it. I want something different for my life.

Speaker 3: 11:56

Yeah, well, that kind of. It's interesting, as you're talking about that, I think of entrepreneurs, and I would say Natalie and I are kind of in that where, when we're together, we're constantly thinking, oh, let's do that. So you have these my coach calls them entrepreneurial seizures because you come up with these ideas, with these ideas, and how do you because you've been, you've started companies how do you pick and choose? Like, which ones do you focus on, so that you're not just over here and then over here and then over here? And how do you, how do you pick the ones that? This is the one I want to focus on. This is, this is the one so I know how we pick.

Speaker 4: 13:30

I think so. I think we're all different and at different moments. When we started this company, I wanted something that I thought could really scale. I could see how this would scale. I wanted something that we could start on the side, because me and my co-founder, we both had full-time jobs when we both started. And the other thing that I wanted was something that I cared about. I wanted to work on something.

Speaker 4: 13:59

At that point maybe I had already been to 40 countries. Again, I lived many years outside a very strong country, yeah, very strong worldview. So I thought it matched some of the. It was very aligned with me.

Speaker 4: 14:15

But now that I, very lately, we always hear follow your passion. But I think this is an incomplete. I think not all passions are going to make you, I don't know. Equally, I think some passions let's put it in a different way are easier or smoother than others. Right, if you are depending, think, some passions let's put it in a different way are easier or smoother than others. If you are depending on your age, it may be wiser to do one thing or the other.

Speaker 4: 14:39

If your passion is in an industry with 5%, let's say employment, let's say if you want to be an actor or a singer or a football player, or if there's a 95% employment, what are you really good at? Because, like I share on the book I think I said it a couple of times I would have loved to be a Real Madrid soccer player, but I mean, I wouldn't be even qualified to be in the starting lineup in my neighborhoods, in my neighborhoods team. So Well, there's the first obstacle. So it's a mix of I love the question of what makes sense, what makes sense for me, what makes sense at this moment of my life. And I think it's a very beautiful question, because we can hear about what other people did, but we cannot just copy and do exactly what they did because they had other circumstances. So how do I see what I don't know 3, 4, 20 other people did and how does that relate to me? Where am I similar? Where am I different? And again, self-honesty I don't know. And how much effort and energy do you have?

Speaker 4: 15:51

Because I don't have the same energy for I don't have the same energy for I don't have the same let's call it, I don't know eager eagerness for overcoming struggles that I did 15 years ago. So if I was going to do it now, I think it would take some convincing to be a founder again, even though I'm realizing that selling a toy, selling a book, selling, selling a shampoo, selling a flower they all have lots of common elements. But if I was to start, I guess, what's called a traditional, a typical startup like we all understand it, I wouldn't like to stay for many years trying to find what's called product market fit. I would like to have a partner that's 100 times smarter than me, that he knows how to get us quickly to the answers and hopefully, in a few months, know whether this makes sense or this doesn't make sense. But I wouldn't like to be struggling for many years with a company. That's how I feel now.

Speaker 2: 16:43

Doing it solo or independently?

Speaker 3: 16:45

Yes, I love that. What makes sense at this time? I think that's that's. That's an important phrase to it. You know you gotta be passionate about it. Obviously that's gotta be something. But then which of the things make sense right now in your life, in your circumstances, and what you have to offer? I think that's really important. I like that.

Speaker 2: 17:08

Okay, well, and Ricardo, I think you start to touch on a piece that many people, many think that's really important.

Speaker 2: 17:11

I like that. Okay, well, and Ricardo, I think you start to touch on a piece that many people, many entrepreneurs, don't really give themselves time to digest, and that is that seasonality piece right, recognizing when it's time to pull the plug or move on to something else, or it's not necessarily the passion that you want to continue to pursue. And I love just in the title of your book itself, it's saving the startup and saving your sanity, which I think is the twofold piece, right. Like you have this commitment and dedication to the business, but then what is your level of commitment to yourself? And so, for an individual to understand, I may have explored this.

Speaker 2: 17:48

Maybe I've invested three, five, seven, 10 years in this company, but right now I need to create that strategy to save my sanity, right? What does that look like? Maybe I have a different level of ownership, I sell the company. The options are endless, right? And so I don't know if we necessarily create that space or permission to shift or transition or, in some instances, just pivot to something else yes, we need to, lots of.

Speaker 4: 18:15

We also hear about lots of companies that ended up succeeding with very different products than when, like with what they originally had in mind. I think people think it's it's almost now. I maybe I know many, many years ago people think it was someone trying to think very hard, okay, this is not working, so what can we do? And it was very unconscious, but now I think we all understand that as your customers stop interacting with your product or as you talk to your potential partners, new ideas come and I think we all understand that it's it's part of the nature of the game. So that's a story about, let's say, the company, right and what I, going back to, to my book, what I think the special angle that it has.

Speaker 4: 19:01

Again, I'm not an expert in, yeah, like I said, my company did not succeed, but when I feel like I'm more, let let's say, wiser or comfortable talking, it's about the person.

Speaker 4: 19:12

So not so much about the company, but about the person driving the company and what's happening with them, because there's so many things that could be happening in a person to the point that the main reason again, it would be good to analyze or for this person to understand why they're starting this company in the first place.

Speaker 4: 19:34

Are they really trying to make an impact and, if so, why is making an impact so important? Even though the question may sound like it doesn't make much sense, but it's good for people to understand where they're coming from. Are they trying to prove something to someone? Are they really passionate about this, and do they love this so much that, even if this company didn't work out, maybe the next week they will start another one, which will be pretty much the same one as the first one, because I've heard entrepreneurs tell me well, if we run out of funds for this one, this is the one thing I'm going to do, and I'm just going to start a similar one again. But in other cases, I feel like sometimes people just want to. They think that they need their company to succeed in order for them to be worth it, for them to be, it's like their external success represents their inner worth.

Speaker 4: 20:26

So I think everybody has a different reason why they're doing things. So it's good to check. It's good to check with ourselves where we're coming from, because from the surface everything can look the same. But maybe if we dig deeper, that's when we're gonna get real answers to see what's driving people, because maybe some of the original drivers, instead of fueling them and fueling them, the the best thing would be to disengage with them and letting them go, because they're just adding a lot of stress for us to achieve something that we don't even really want in the first place.

Speaker 4: 20:59

So I don't know if that was a valid explanation, but with the main interest in distinguishing between what's moving the company, but what's moving the entrepreneur, and the entrepreneur is the key piece of the company. Without this person, there's no, especially at the very early stages. They're the person in charge of well, having the vision but also finding the money, because either there's revenues or there's investments, or the company dies and that's a lot of pressure. So I think it's good to have clarity and understanding of what you're doing. What you're doing.

Speaker 2: 21:34

Yeah, I think that's huge.

Speaker 2: 21:36

Well, ricardo, I had the opportunity to start a business in 2018.

Speaker 2: 21:41

And it's interesting, as we talk about the statistics in terms of the success rate for companies, and the company was doing well until we ran into this fabulous thing on a global scale called the pandemic that absolutely impacted a service-based industry, and so, looking at that, but it wasn't until that moment that I started to think is this my purpose or passion, or am I using?

Speaker 2: 22:03

Is this really a way for me to validate my worth and that I'm capable and able to? And there was a moment in time not until three years later when I sat to reflect, because I did close down the company and there's a certain level of guilt or shame or all of those negative emotions that go with that. But as I was reflecting on that, I remember I had to just do it to prove it to other people that it could be done right, and it wasn't my passion, it wasn't my purpose. I couldn't do any of these things that I'm doing right now, which I'm really living in alignment with the things that I am passionate about and that I truly love, but I found myself self-investing in a business that I had no business investing in when it was all set up.

Speaker 4: 22:46

How did you come to that realization again? When did you see that? How did you see that?

Speaker 2: 22:49

How did you see that, yeah, great question. Oh well, now that puts me in the guest seat.

Speaker 4: 22:54

Yeah, a little bit. Let's all play this game right? Absolutely, I'd love to.

Speaker 2: 22:59

I'll be the test subject for us today, and here's what it came down to.

Speaker 2: 23:11

I have become very clear on the things that bring me fulfillment and joy in my life and I use that as a gauge in what I say yes and what I say no to.

Speaker 2: 23:15

And as I look back on that experience of the prior ownership of the business, it was fulfilling to some degree, but I spent the majority of my time doing the 90% of the tasks that I absolutely hated doing, and in that I started to get resentful at having to do those tasks and dive into that element of the business and at the fact that that 90% of activities continue to pull me further and further away from my ability to pour into other people the way that I truly wanted to, and that's my passion.

Speaker 2: 23:46

I love pouring into other people and I have different vehicles in doing so. But because I had bookkeeping and you know office administration things and you know the oversight I mean we're talking actual physical space that I had oversight of as well, so the operation side of it, not my wheelhouse. I don't love that, but it wasn't until I stop and pause to think, okay, I'm spending the majority of my time doing things that I'm not passionate about, so that I can invest, with the 5% of the time that's left, in pouring into other people, and that ratio was off for me. I'd rather invest 90% of my time pouring into other people and the other 10% doing everything else.

Speaker 4: 24:25

I've seen this right and it happens with lots of small businesses. I remember a few weeks before my book was going to be published, I was told that I needed to take a photo shoot, and the reason why I tell this story is because I went to take a photo shoot. I can't remember. I got recommended to someone and I went there and the woman was super passionate about taking photos, but she had to become, but she needed a website, she had to find her clients online and she had to do all these other things that she didn't want to be doing. And I feel like lots of creatives these days, they're very passionate about what they do, but then they have to do mostly with marketing. They have to be out there doing all these things that they don't want to do to find yeah, to find their, their niche, their audience. To find their, their, their clients, their customers that's it and that's it.

Speaker 2: 25:20

She just wants to capture the moments people to capture their moments right.

Speaker 3: 25:27

That's it, and you know, we see that as coaches. We coach mostly realtors, owners of brokerages, and it's funny they spend a lot of their time doing the stuff they don't like to do instead of, you know, having somebody else do that and allowing them to focus on what they love, which is servicing the clients. So it's with everybody, yeah, interesting.

Speaker 2: 25:51

We hope that you have enjoyed part one of our two-part interview with Ricardo Jimenez, his journey to entrepreneurship, as he has navigated through the commercial corporate life to make his way into understanding the ins and outs and the emotional journey of entrepreneurship. But make sure that you come back and join us for part two, because we're going to dive into more of his personal story and get to learn about his six-month meditation retreat that was absolutely transformational in his life. We'll see you soon.

Speaker 1: 26:24

Thank you for joining us today on the Reignite Resilience podcast. We hope you had some aha moments and learned a few new real life ideas. To fuel the flames of passion, please subscribe on your favorite streaming platform, like or download your favorite episodes and, of course, share with your friends and family. We look forward to seeing you again next time on Reignite Resilience.