Embracing Inner Transformation + Resiliency with Ricardo Jimenez (part 2)

Ricardo Jimenez found himself at a crossroads, transitioning from the hustle of a successful career to the serenity of self-discovery at a six-month meditation retreat in Uruguay. Join us as Ricardo opens up about this transformative experience with the Isha Judd organization, where meditation, yoga, and physical exercise became daily rituals. He paints a vivid picture of how shedding past burdens at the retreat cultivated a life imbued with openness, trust, and love. Ricardo's story is not just about leaving behind a career but about embarking on a journey toward inner transformation that he passionately recommends for anyone seeking profound personal growth.

But that’s not all—Ricardo also takes us on his entrepreneurial journey, offering insights that stretch beyond business success. Through stories of unexpected setbacks, like the rejection of his toy placement after years of hard work, he underscores the necessity of managing emotions and balancing ambition with self-care. His experiences serve as a reminder that trust, vulnerability, and self-honesty are crucial in navigating the turbulent waters of entrepreneurship. Ricardo's narrative is a compelling testament to the power of resilience, urging us to nurture personal connections and take care of ourselves amidst the chaos of our careers.

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Chapters

• 0:06 Reignite Resilience Meditation Retreat Experience
• 9:40 Crash Course Founder
• 16:06 The Entrepreneurial Journey

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: 0:41

Welcome back to part two of our two-part interview with Ricardo Jimenez. We are going to dive right in to hear about Ricardo's experience at a six-month meditation retreat in Uruguay, his takeaways, the lessons learned and what has helped him in his own personal experiences of entrepreneurship. We hope you enjoy.

Speaker 3: 1:03

Can you share with us? You did a six-month meditation retreat in Uruguay. What led to that? What was that experience like? I would love that. That's so interesting to me.

Speaker 4: 1:14

I got a little bit touched that you brought this up now. The simple answer which I would elaborate will be life-changing. I quit my last office job in 2018, january of 2018, because I had some investments that were doing well or very good. So, yeah, I quit my job. I went to a one-week meditation retreat with this organization called Isha Youth, and it was a one-week VIP event. This was around I think it was maybe March. I quit my job in January. So in March I went to this VIP retreat and this organization has the six-month retreat that they usually do every two years, and it was going to start two months after. So this was March and I think that their retreat was starting. The two-year retreat was starting in May and half of the people that were in this one-week retreat half of them about half of them had already done the six-month retreat and they were telling me that it was the best thing that they had ever done. So at the beginning I know all the things that I'm going to speak for myself I never thought that I was going to do a six-month retreat.

Speaker 4: 2:23

That I'm going to speak for myself. I never thought that I was going to do a six-month retreat, but as I started contemplating it and thinking, well, maybe I can do it. I have so, because I have quit my job. I had already made lots of plans for summer and I thought, well, maybe I can do the last two months. And then maybe I thought, maybe I can do this three, the three last months. Well, maybe, if I take this out, I can do the last four months. And then the joke came maybe I'll be able to do the last six months and that's the whole enchilada.

Speaker 2: 2:49

That's it, yeah.

Speaker 4: 2:51

And I was able to. I had told my parents that I was going to do a trip with them and my one of my best friends was getting married. I had said yes to that. I asked permission to step out for a couple of weeks, but then I came back. But what was it like? So imagine a hundred it was. This was in uruguay, 150 people.

Speaker 4: 3:08

But we all go there for different reasons and we all end up in the same game, meaning we have a plan for the day, which which I can describe, but we're all focused on following what we're told that we need to do, in the sense of following the program, giving our best and with a very strong desire. I think if you go there, it's because you have a strong desire of some kind of change, regardless of the reason, what took you there. And very often I think people go there because they want some kind of change or they think that something in their life's not working. Usually, suffering is a great teacher and at least a great motivator to ask you well, something's not working here. There must be something else in life. There must be. This is not normal. There has to be another way to live. Lots of people will go there because of lots of different reasons, but I guess we can think about the most common reasons. They want health issues or their love, something very hard for them to have to keep their love relationships, or with money, or with work, or sometimes people also. They have this desire for more. This is, I think, more unique because unless we have something happening to us in our lives, it's much harder to think we have the reason to question ourselves. The easiest thing is not to question ourselves.

Speaker 4: 4:35

But let's say we all go there for different reasons and one of the first things that we're told whatever brought you here, it's great. Now forget about that and just follow the process, and the process I'm gonna describe. This is pretty much what we did every day. So from 7 to 8 am we had yoga optional. At 8 we would have breakfast until 9 this is going to be the winter schedule.

Speaker 4: 4:59

From 9 to 11 we did a meditation and I will describe briefly. From 11 30 to 12 30. So we have every day an hour for physical exercise. That was an important part of the program to move. And then from one to two, lunch. From two to six, meditation, and I will describe the kind of meditation that we did. So that's four hours from six to six thirty, a guided meditation At 7, dinner 7 to 8. And at 8.15, we would have a meeting for a couple of hours until 10.15. So every day we did that. The meditation is called unification. Again, I would love for your audience to check the website, which is IshaYudYoga I-S-H-A, j U D Dcom, and then you can see instruction. There's another two year program starting as our six month program starting next.

Speaker 4: 5:52

May for your daring listeners.

Speaker 2: 5:54

If you are interested in checking it out, there you go Next May.

Speaker 4: 5:59

Only if you want to change your life and become more free, more open, more trusting, more loving, more empty, lighter, sweeter I think you just sold it, I don't know Trusting more loving, more empty, lighter, sweeter.

Speaker 3: 6:11

Wow, I think you just sold it.

Speaker 2: 6:13

I don't know, I'm having a little anxiety over here. That sounds lovely for maybe days one through six At day seven.

Speaker 4: 6:20

Yes, but let me tell you something about days one to six. I'll finish with the meditation. So in the meditation, which we call unification, we think of some sentences. We think of sentences that are based in appreciation, in gratitude, in love and unity. We place the attention usually in our hearts, and the body listens to your thoughts, it starts reacting and vibrating in the frequency of these sentences and the old memories and old emotions, experiences that are based in fear, trauma, all these things start coming out and they produce emotions. So it's a process of emptying. It's not so much about learning, it's more about emptying. And when you let go of what doesn't serve, then you, you're just more, more clear again, more open, more trusting and this quality. So it's a process of self-transformation. It's like they, they give you the tools, but you're the one, that who transforms yourself. So it's it's your own alchemy, to put it like that.

Speaker 4: 7:30

And about the seven days so I heard that once they did a three-month program, but they only did it once, because they realized that the full process took. The six-month process was by design, and what I've noticed is that on the fourth, between the fourth and fifth month, that's when the rubber hits the road. And now I've gone to the last. So my five six months was in 2018. I came back I think it was in 2021, then the following one in 2023 last year. So I went back to the last two to support and I love to go in the fourth, fifth month to support the students.

Speaker 4: 8:09

Then we have a room which is called the expression room. When you need help moving or connecting to an emotion, you will go to the expression room and a teacher or a facilitator Once you do the six months, then you can become a facilitator. So I am now a facilitator. So I love to go there, because when they come to you in the fourth month, I love to tell them. It's like you feel like they're putting their six months in your hands and I love to tell them this is what you came here for. This is what you came here for. If you go there in the first week, everything is very superficial. Nothing wrong, people talk and talk, but everything is very superficial A lot of stories but when it's in the fourth, fifth month, you feel like they're right there, hesitating whether to go in and go through it or not, and I love to be there to say this is what you came here for this is what you came here for.

Speaker 3: 8:58

That's awesome, that's awesome.

Speaker 2: 9:00

It sounds like a life-changing experience. We'll make sure that we add the link in the show notes, so if any of our listeners are interested in checking it out, that's a huge that's a huge team of support.

Speaker 4: 9:11

So if they're interested, I can find the way, the best way, to refer them, because the the teachers are now the extended support team with facilitators. We are very committed to to yeah, to giving the information to everyone who's interested, because we've seen in ourselves how, how impacting it can be, because we've seen in ourselves how impacting it can be. So this year I spent most of August and every year I go one or two months. So I keep going for more, yeah, love it Wow.

Speaker 2: 9:35

That speaks volumes. That speaks volumes.

Speaker 3: 9:38

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 9:39

Well, good, good. Well, Ricardo, I know that we've touched on the book a little bit. Share with our listeners how you came to this space and creating Crash Course and some of the I mean, this is your raw story in this book, if I'm understanding correctly. So, as you are putting your entire life on these pages, what are some things that our listeners can look forward to when they get the book and they start to dive in?

Speaker 4: 10:06

Yes. So let's say there's a few parts in the book, the beginning, a little bit more of my personal story of where I grew up the first time I heard the word. So I studied business. My bachelor's was in business, but I never. I think the first time I heard the word entrepreneur was when I was 28. I was doing an MBA at Duke. So again four years of business and I didn't hear the word entrepreneur. So I was coming a little behind.

Speaker 4: 10:33

So a little bit about my story to give some context. But then it's a whole story from the beginning to end of my startup. And it's a story that is very common, maybe with different colors, different industries, different countries, different main characters, but it's a story of someone who has an idea, who's passionate about it and who's doing everything that he can to bring it to market. I'm getting a lot of rejection, surprises, even positive surprises, negative surprises. It's just you enter, you start doing something and then it's like you enter a magical world, for good and for bad, in which very often I felt that I had, that I didn't have much control of what was, what was happening. So it's a story of the conversation that I had with my partner because, for instance, what we were doing wasn't working. So we had these conversations of. So I told him this is not working because we need we need more context, we need to have a broader product line so kids and parents and our customers would better understand what we're proposing the story and then the product. So that's what I will tell him and he will tell me but why are we going to be doing more of this if this is not working? So and I would be the opposite Well, we need to make it work. We need to continue doing things until this works. These are conversations that you have with your partner and lots of encounters that didn't go the way that I wanted or expected. Lots of people didn't meet their commitments and I realized, not because they had bad intentions from the beginning, but because things are maybe providing the service that they offered us, whether it was marketing or an integration on the website. Things are usually harder than what they estimate, so in the middle of the process they would just leave. So all the stories our biggest customer didn't pay us, so stories that that happened, that again with different colors, but it's a true story and it's very, say, founder or person centric, because what I, what I care more, is about the person, not the thing. I care about the person, the founder, not the thing, the company. It's a story, that's that's so told. So, my, my, what I love to say about the book and some of the readers would challenge me on this is that my intention was not to write an inspiration book and now I know from readers that there is inspiration. But what I wanted to write was a companionship book. I didn't want to write a book again to give a playbook or tools on how to make a company successful, because I didn't know. But I did want founders to feel understood, to feel appreciated, to feel recognized and also to have some tools for themselves, not for their company again, not for their company, but for themselves.

Speaker 4: 13:25

So I talk about the four basic emotions. I talk about how to connect with emotions, and emotions usually feel inconvenient or uncomfortable or woo woo. But we are humans and I feel like very often we deny our humanity. Emotions are part of our humanity and when you're doing something challenging that's a hundred times harder than what you thought, you're going to have lots of emotions. And if you keep adding emotions, some because I am someone, someone deceived you or someone didn't give you exactly what they promised, you can be angry, but if you're carrying that anger or that frustration around you to the next conversation, that other conversation, it's not going to go great as well. So, whether we like it or not, we have emotions. We need to take care of ourselves. So, regardless of how they happened, whether it was our mistake or not, we are the ones that are.

Speaker 4: 14:18

Maybe someone, like I said, our biggest customer didn't pay as well. I can be angry, but I'm going to be talking to the next potential investor. Do I want to come from anger or do I want to be trusting, confident, open? So it's a lot about pointing the finger back to the person, and there's bigger messages. So, beyond what happens to us, how do we want to respond? What kind of person do we want to embody? Who do we want to become? Do we want to stay jaded? Do we want to play the blame game? Do we want to take responsibility for our lives? Am I not going to be happy because this partner promised me something and they didn't make their commitments? So I think it's very important to distinguish between what happens to us and what we do with it, and that's a big part of our responsibility.

Speaker 4: 15:10

So this is a book for people who are both ambitious, because I think you need ambition, whether because you want to make your dream happen or because you want to create the life that you want or the world that you want. I think it takes a lot of ambition, but it also takes a lot of heart to slow down and take a lot of yourself. So there's messages of this and trust to slow down and take a lot of yourself. So there's messages of this and trust. Sometimes, very often, things won't go as you thought they were going to be. Hey, sometimes not every startup in the world goes exactly as planned. Maybe it was just mine, or maybe there's more, but sometimes it doesn't happen. What are you going to do? And I think trusting, but in a deep way, I think it's very beautiful Not just telling yourself oh, I will be okay, I would be okay, like, say. Like, say, sweeping it off. No, you really trust. You need to first trust to feel what's there for you, and then, when you become more empty, more open, then you can really trust. So there's there's messages of of trust.

Speaker 4: 16:06

My, like I said, my company didn't work. I didn't mean to write an inspiration book, but at the end I added a little bit of inspiration because I heard that unless you show some level of success, then people wonder why am I going to have to listen to this? So I added a little bit of that as well, for those who needed that. But there's a message of, there's a big message of trust, of trust. Yeah, so that's what.

Speaker 2: 16:27

What that was about I love that you don't want. You didn't have the intention of making an inspirational book but I think as soon as you start to share your own personal journey.

Speaker 2: 16:36

Like I said, it's the raw version of your story on those pages. You start to share that. I mean that level of genuine share and vulnerability that you bring it to the reader. It's going to become inspirational. Right, there is buy-in to your story, even though it's already played out. It's going to happen. So thank you for actually for giving us that raw behind the scenes.

Speaker 4: 17:54

Yeah, I'll share one story that sometimes touches people, to share some details of one of the stories of the book. So I was living in Austinin at the time. There was a toy store. My friends who had kids, they were all telling me your toys to be in this store I'm not giving the name I guess for to be that's fine.

Speaker 2: 18:14

We don't need to name names.

Speaker 4: 18:15

I don't even remember I don't even remember the name that I very well know the store. So I knew that I wanted my toys to be in that store and for a couple of years I went to the store trying to get a meeting with the buyer or the owner. It was impossible. And then my friends who had kids, they kept telling me oh, I went to this store and I bought these toys to my kids or for a present. Your toys should be there, Okay. So I kept going and I think maybe after four or five years I finally got a meeting. So I got a. I don't know how it happened, I don't know if I went one time and I left my number and I got a call back and they said okay, the owner will meet with you. I remember I was dating a girl at the time and in the morning I told her I'm going to meet this person.

Speaker 4: 19:02

I've been wanting to be in this store for so many years. I planned my pitch, I planned everything I could imagine. Everything that I did was thought about. I don't know whatever I was wearing. Whenever I was getting everything, I thought about everything.

Speaker 4: 19:16

So I go there with my toys. I am going to stop talking to her for a little bit. I was going to pull them out from the bag and as I was about to do that, she told me there's some shit for you to take out your toys. I said, well, what do you mean? And then she said I've already seen them on the website and they are too colorful and too branded. So I said, but is that enough for you to have an idea? I said, yes, Well, that's great.

Speaker 4: 19:46

So those things happen. And again, regardless of whether it's your industry I would think not many people are in the toy industry but we've all had experiences in which we thought we were about to have our big break. It went the opposite, the opposite way, and it's and it's hard. Sometimes it's not it's hard, but sometimes it's hard because you didn't again, because once it's hard, but also sometimes you just didn't. If you had asked me about what are the potential outcomes of that meeting, that encounter, maybe I would have given you I don't know five, six, seven outcomes, but that of not being able to show my like, take my toys out to the back. I wouldn't have been able to thought that was not even an option, it's not even a path that you had gone down preparing for that meeting.

Speaker 3: 20:32

Yeah, so these are some of the stories that I that I share, wow. Well, I know the book is going to resonate with other entrepreneurs that have gone through things and maybe think they're the only ones that have had something happen. But now this is something they can share that story along with the story that you went through. So, yeah, it's great.

Speaker 2: 20:49

I think any entrepreneur that's in the space that has a product or a service we can resonate with. I mean, I just had not that experience, but something where you have that rejection, where it's like I never imagined that that would have been the outcome of this meeting, like slam dunk, this is in the bag. I've been reaching out to you for four years now. Finally we have the meeting. Let's get my product on your shelf. No, don't even take it out, I don't want to see it. Yeah, oh, my gosh. Well, ricardo, for our aspiring entrepreneurs and maybe our entrepreneurs that are teetering and not in that space where they are maintaining their sanity, what advice do you have for them that you could share that would either get them on the right track or at least make sure that they're navigating in the right direction as they're living this entrepreneurial lifestyle.

Speaker 4: 21:43

Make sure that they're navigating in the right direction as they're living this entrepreneurial lifestyle. So lots of things again. So we talked a lot about self-honesty that's key but also sacrifice. They're going to be making sacrifices, lots of sacrifices, and that's normal, and it's probably not the time to have the most balanced life, but I will encourage them for them not to lose themselves completely in their startup.

Speaker 4: 22:07

I have a good friend who is a dancer. Actually, this friend, he's from Argentina, his name is Federico and I'm going to share this he did. We became friends because we both did the six-month retreat together in Uruguay in 2018. And every year, we continue seeing each other in their retreats and I saw him in August. Again, he's a dancer.

Speaker 4: 22:29

He told someone, I think he told another dancer in regards of taking care of himself. I think, or maybe in this context, he said you are your art, you are your art. He told him another dancer and when I heard that that I guess he processes things from them with the lens of a, of an artist, of a dancer. I process them from an entrepreneur and I thought, the same way that this applies to a dancer, it applies to an entrepreneur. So you are your art.

Speaker 4: 23:01

So, yes, you need to make sacrifices, but you need to be taking care of yourself because you are your company, especially at the very early stages. So I would encourage them to recognize how important they are and for them not to. Yes, they may treat themselves as a means and this is hard to say like, because nobody likes to be treated as a means for something but you may be treating yourself as a means for your company to succeed. Well then, let's make sure that you're using your company as a means for you to grow as well, because you're going to be running into all these challenges, all these obstacles, all this uncertainty. What's it for you? What person do you want to be become in the midst of these challenges, when things don't go your way? So you're going to be giving everything that you have for your company. Well, let's make sure that your company transforms you in the best way possible. Yeah, that's huge.

Speaker 2: 23:59

Wow, you are your art. I think, it does apply from the artistic side or from the logic brain side. I'm from an entrepreneur, business owner. I think it does resonate with all of us. Wow, ricardo, thank you, thank you.

Speaker 3: 24:13

It has been an absolute pleasure.

Speaker 2: 24:16

Thank you for letting us pick your brain and hear your personal story.

Speaker 4: 24:19

Well, thanks to you, I really enjoyed it. It was very special, I know both of your smiles made me feel really welcome here and I had a great time. Thank you so much.

Speaker 3: 24:28

Thank you for being here so late in the evening. Exactly, from all the way across the globe. Really Exactly, he's across the pond.

Speaker 2: 24:36

I was going to say it's tomorrow, but it's not yet. I mean, I think you have a little bit of time.

Speaker 3: 24:40

No, it is tomorrow. Oh, it is tomorrow. It's officially tomorrow, yeah.

Speaker 4: 24:46

You are in yesterday. Yes, exactly, I'm still in yesterday. Yes, that's it, we're yesterday, you're tomorrow.

Speaker 2: 24:52

Oh my goodness, Ricardo, thank you, Thank you. Thank you For our listeners. We will make sure that you have all of Ricardo's contact information a direct link to his book. So if you are looking to get your hands on that crash course book, we will make sure that we make that easy for you. And if you're wanting to learn more about what's happening in the world of Reignite Resilience, head on over to reigniteresiliencecom. And if you haven't heard, check the show notes or check it out on our website. You want to make sure that you subscribe to our weekly think letter that gives you all the tools, tips and resources that you need as we are working to overcome adversity and live that resilient lifestyle. So until next time, we'll see you all soon.

Speaker 1: 25:30

Thanks everyone. 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.