Uncovering Purpose, Family, and Faith: A Client's Journey of Transformation Through Coaching

May 09, 2023
 

Faisal: All right. This is one of the other interviews in our new series that I've just recently started. I don't know how many up until this point, cuz I didn't think of that. How many I've done probably five or six before this. And I really want to thank Cristobal to join us today to share his experience around
well, why did he go into coaching? Well, why would somebody even consider coaching and what did he gain out of it and how did it support him to move forward and what are the amazing things that Cristobal is doing in his life? So we're gonna hear more about his experience around why he went into coaching,
what happened in the process, what did he gain out of him, and what is he doing as a leader, as he's moving on, as he's moving forward. I'm really excited to hear his take on this. None of this is prepared, by the way. So Cristobal doesn't know what I'm gonna ask. I don't know what I'm gonna ask to be honest.
We're just gonna jump into a raw conversation and really go into it. Maybe we'll start with is maybe Cristobal you can share a little bit about yourself and then also after you share a little bit about yourself, you can share how did you even consider going into coaching and how did you get introduced to it and what made you be curious about the process.
Cristobal: Absolutely. So I think as part of my intro, I can just merge all those questions into a simple answer or just one answer. And so everything started like I'm an immigrant in the US and as soon as I landed in California, a few years back then I started suffering. From a cultural shock, and that actually created a shell for me.
And so I stayed within my shell for a lot of years. And when I decided to come out of this shell, it was a lot of stress and I didn't know how to handle that one. I became really distressed on the family side, on the personal side, on the business side, on my job, everything. I didn't know how to handle that.
And coaching helped me. Pretty much like creating buckets or compartments for each of my sessions, the categories in my life that are critical for me, and then just addressing them one at a time.
Faisal: Awesome. And I know that you went through coaching even before you went through the coaching process with me.
Is that accurate?
Cristobal: Yes. So I've been doing. One-on-one coaching since 2016. I started with Tony Robbins and then I did two years with Tony Robbins personal coaches, and then I did other, I joined other masterminds that offer personal coaching and throughout the years as I have grown different interests in businesses most related to real estate, that's an eventually how I landed with you as my coach. Or mentor.
Faisal: It's interesting what you share about the cultural shock because I think that was a connecting point for us because I had gone through that cultural shock and unfortunately I didn't go through a coaching process when I was much younger when I came in. And I didn't even know If there was anything like coaching or anything like this at all, I was seeking answers in my own environment.
That's one of the things I always share with my clients is one of the reasons why I'm so passionate about this is that I wish I had access to a process like this in my early twenties. It would've been so much worth it for me to go through this for a few months than to go through years of pain trying to figure out how to orient myself in a completely new world.
For me, just, it was a huge cultural shock. But even if we take the cultural shock out of it as people go through transitions and whenever we go through these transitions, whether that's moving into a new culture or starting a new job, or starting a new business, Or being in a relationship or becoming a parent or going through the parenting process or starting to date or starting to get into a relationship, whatever that might be.
These transitions are actually fairly difficult for people to handle, and for the most part, we assume that we'll figure it out as you go and we do, but it takes quite a bit of time and that time can be shrunk. That growth journey can be shrunk extensively as you go through the coaching journey.
And that's been my experience later on as I got coaching. And I love that you shared that because that's important for people to notice. Like what is a transition that you're going through in your life that you might need support in? So you shared that you've gotten coaching in so many different areas.
I'm curious though, cuz I don't know this part. How did you even consider thinking about coaching? Because a lot of people will, like, when they're struggling with the stuff, they'll listen to podcasts, they'll read books. How did you, the first time, how did you go towards Tony Robbins coaching or whatever coaching you went to?
Cristobal: Yeah, so this is what happened. I became a dad and then I decided to create a new business at the same time. I just got in debt paying for educational stuff, like over $80,000 overnight in credit cards, so I had $80,000 in credit card debt. Brand new baby, all my household expenses, my job, and then this new business that I'm trying to launch.
And then when I'm meeting with my coach, they're telling me, oh, by the way, you need to spend more money on marketing if you wanna launch this business. And so I didn't see an exit. I was just literally drowning. And then when this. Individual realized that I was not making any progress.
I told her, listen, I just wanna quit and I just wanna figure out a way to pay all this debt, like, shut down this business and just move on with my life. She told me, Hey like holy horses right now. And then she recommended me a book, and that book was “A fixed mindset versus a growth mindset:” by Carl Dwight.
And that was my introduction to personal development. And eventually, through this individual, she also introduced me to Tony Robbins. I didn't even know who he was. That's how ignorant I was in the personal development world. And then when I got into my one-to-one session or consultation, the answer was like, oh, you know, my natural answer was, I already have $80,000 in debt.
And I have to keep all these payments for my household plus the new expenses from the new baby and running the business. And also, by the way, with a single income, right? And then I told the guy, Hey, listen, I'm unable to afford, I remember it was like $3,000 or so.
And I told him, I can't afford $3,000 right now. And then the answer was, you don't have the privilege to say you can't afford based on your personal situation. So if you invest in yourself, then things are gonna change. I spoke with my wife and I apologized to her initially because I got us into that situation and I told her, listen, I truly believe I really need this, and I need your support.
I know I'm gonna get us deeper into debt right now by investing in this coaching program, but I promise you it's gonna pay off. And as soon as I joined that program, it was challenging just to peel off the onion, right? All the stuff that you did incorrectly. But then I can set that after I joined two years later, I pay off my debt.
I learn more about business. Of course, I had to shut down some of the business ventures that I started to develop. But then I created new business ventures and that led me into a different path completely, that if I haven't had a coach or approach to personal development, I wouldn't be able to do that.
My natural reaction would've been to quit just to alleviate that pain, right? It's like, I just don't wanna deal with this anymore. It's too painful to quit and move on with my job. And that would've been the rest of my life.
Faisal: Yeah. Yeah. That's incredible because I mean, most people when they consider 80,000 in debt and they have a kid who is a newborn, and you're the single family, and I've gone through that process myself, so I know how stressful that can be.
How difficult, and, I love what you said is that for most people it's like you just want to alleviate that pain. Like you wanna shut down everything. And this is actually why a lot of businesses shut down. Because it becomes too unpredictable for people to go through a coaching process and then within two years you pay that off and start new business ventures and get more focused on what you need to do.
That is an incredible journey because that could either, one of two things happens. Either somebody quits completely and they slowly pay off the debt and they go into their comfort area. It might take 'em a few years to pay off the debt, but now they're. Because they got scared. They went back into their shell and created.
But for you, the opposite happened. Not only did you pay off the debt, but now you're going into better ventures. You're understanding how you can approach business in a better way. Would you say that's what happened is that you expanded instead of shrinking back?
Cristobal: Yes, and I started taking a little risk.
So I know that traditionally in my culture, which is Mexican, right? I was born in Mexico. So my wife and I are from Mexico. And then your house is the most important piece of your family that you can have, right? That's where all the beauty happens.
And then some of the decisions that we had to make was sell our home and then that was a difficult decision to make. Like that happened over 10 years ago now. But then when I reflect on that decision, even though, it was my dream house, if you will, but then I was not attached to that place and because of that, Disposing of that asset gave me the opportunity to grow 10 times more.
Faisal: Yeah, I love that. That's such a powerful distinction cuz most people look at their house as an investment. In reality, that's not the case. That's probably more of a liability for them. But you leveraged whatever you had out of that to grow 10 times more in so many other areas.
And what we're referring to here is, if you haven't gone through the process, you don't realize there's a reason why I invest so much in coaching and development for myself, professional and personal development, because I personally believe, and regardless of all the other investments you have externally, that the biggest investment is in yourself.
Because your own skillsets, your own character, your own habits, the way you approach your life, your ability to lead, your ability to share your vision, your ability to connect with your family, with your team, those are the things that make up your life. And very few people actually invest in those areas, and as soon as you do, it starts to amplify everything else.
In your life. That's the reason why personally I invest in coaching and I've seen a lot of my clients cuz they see 10 x the growth that they would otherwise. And unless you've gone through the process, you wouldn't even consider it that way. What are your thoughts about that? Cristobal
Cristobal: I agree with your statement, and for me, it was also I realized that. When I read that book, I realized that I had a fixed mindset. Yeah. And so to me, it's like how do I change my fixed mindset into a growth mindset? And I also realized that I wouldn't be able to do that alone.
And I needed support and I needed support from a neutral party that could tell me the honest truth. And then I just needed to swallow that piece and that to me that was the power of coaching.
Faisal: Yeah. I love that. And we'll go deeper into what that looks like. But I am curious, so what was the difference for you from a fixed mindset to growth?
Like what shifted? Like what was the shift that happened?
Cristobal: The shift, what happened? I changed the way I think about things of becoming like a never lasting student, instead of being the expert, I always consider myself as a student and am open, like having a blank notepad, right?
It's like I'm not the expert on any topic and I don't want to be the expert on any of the topics. I'd rather reach out to people that specialize in stuff to compliment. The knowledge that I want to have instead of me going after a specific piece of knowledge. And before that it's like, oh, I need to be the expert on everything.
I need to do this, this, this, and that. And I just realized it's not scalable.
Faisal: Yeah. And I love that, because you're on a path to building businesses and one of the things you learn is that, Usually when you're in business, other people around you are much more competent in a lot of the areas that they're doing.
Without my business partners and without my social media manager, all these people who are much more competent at what they do, I wouldn't be able to run a lot of the things that I do. And then I love that, and that's a much more scalable model because you're leveraging those around you. I think there's a story of Ford.
If I remember correctly, I think he was in a court case. The lawyer was putting him down. It's like, you are uneducated, you don't have this. And he was going on and he's like, you're right. I have all these people that are much smarter than me and that are running everything. Yes, I just need to push a button.
Like, that's what makes me have all this stuff is because I'm connecting with people and that's what it is to build an organization around you. By the way, we do the same thing in our families, in our homes as well, is that we ideally want people who are growing and we wanna empower people around us rather than make them be dependent on us for some eager reason.
So I want to jump in now. So let's fast forward to this. And this is really cool that you've gone through a coaching process cuz you can give a view cuz a lot of people haven't even gone through coaching at all, but you've gone through different types of coaching, so you are in a really good position to share like what the difference might be.
So I know that fast forward to when you came into the coaching program, it was through Michael Blanc's program, mm-hmm. That we have a contract with one of my companies. And I know you came into the group coaching program, and then after that, you did one-on-one coaching with me, so help us kind of like, what made you wanna jump into the group that we started and what did you gain out of that?
And then what made you want to do one-on-one coaching with me?
Cristobal: I think anything that's, Personal growth-related, I'm always curious about, and so even though that group was not related to multi-family real estate, it was mostly about the mindset and that really got my attention because most of the stuff that we. Have to go through it mostly mindset and then those limiting beliefs that we all have.
And as we were going through the group sessions and going through the exercises, some of the questions that I started asking myself were about purpose and clarity.
In essence like, am I doing the right thing or am I going into a different path where there's no return? And at that point, I just needed a little bit more than the group coaching, right? I wanted to go deeper and then when you are in a group session, I didn't want to jeopardize the session with all my questions and all my stuff, right?
And so that's when I say, well, that's when I'm gonna need this one-on-one just to see where that will take me.
Faisal: Okay. That makes sense. And so what I hear there is that the group helped you understand that, hey, these are the areas that I need to have developed more clarity around and I need to think a lot, a little bit about my purpose.
So it created more questions for you to explore that you might not have had the opportunity to explore in a deeper way in a group. Even though there is a lot of perspective and insight that you get in those sessions. But then that made you become more curious about, okay I need more of a personal space for me to explore these.
Then that made you go towards during the session. Now at this point, you had already gone through coaching before, and just for those who are listening for context, this is part of a bigger program, a multi-family investing program that Michael Blank offers, and one of the branches of that we started with my company was.
The mindset coaching piece of it, and that's where Cristobal came into that part of the coaching. And then eventually that led to one-on-one. So what made you want to sign up for one-on-one? What did you notice that was different about the coaching that I was offering versus what you were getting in the past?
Or was it the same?
Cristobal: So I think we discussed this in a few of our sessions, right? So, Mostly for me, was about purpose. Like, that was some of the questions that I've been asking other coaches in the past. Like, Hey, how do I discover my purpose? How do I do this? And then the answers were really vague.
And so even though we went through exercises and stuff, I didn't believe, or I didn't feel that was the purpose I was going after and the purpose of my life at that point in time. And so was after we have a few of the like that our discovery session, right? And then eventually into our first one-on-one sessions.
Those were some of the first items we were addressing. And so for that point, we had a carb out some of the past, right? We had to go deep. Okay, so this is also something that's holding you back. And so now this is really what's going on and this is what should, what you need to do. And so those aha moments I didn't have before.
Faisal: Okay. So then what I hear there is a lot of them, the reason why you were attracted to the one-on-one coaching was that it helped you go more towards unpeeling the layers of what was happening inside for you to discover what purpose meant to you, which was vague in the past, but you felt like it was getting clearer as we were having those conversations.
Would you say that's accurate, right? Yes. Okay. So then you jumped into the coaching process and you were a little bit more familiar than most people were, so you knew generally what to expect. So now just to clarify for others in your view, do I go in there and tell you what to do with your purpose, or do I define your purpose for you?
Like how does that process go for those who are listening?
Cristobal: So the process was like this session, right? It was listening and then asking very quick questions based on that specific conversation that was triggering thoughts or memories that maybe I didn't know that they were, or the feelings that will.
That we're creating, that were making me make some decisions versus others. And I thought that was most of the power, right? It's like your listening ability and suddenly just like, Hey, let me see if I hear that correctly. Or, let me ask you this, or let me say that, or would you say this?
And what about this? And so those questions that you were developing during our conversation, that was really. The powerful moments during
Faisal: our sessions. Yeah. And thank you for sharing that. And basically what Cristobal sharing is the essence of coaching about 80 to 90% of it is questions that a coach asks based on the presence awareness and the context of what the client is sharing.
And the purpose of the question is to actually get the client to. Develop more of an awareness of their own life. So in a sense, a good analogy I want to give around this is that the way a coach ideally works is that you are walking me through your life, and I'm another set of eyes in mind and I'm watching your life from my perspective, but also from your lens.
And there are things that I'm noticing that you notice. There are things that you might not be noticing. There are things that you're vague about and I'm asking deeper questions for you to get clarity around. So in a sense, you start out with a little bit of light around you in your life, and as we ask questions, we go into the darker.
Areas of your life where there was no light. And we start to explore and you start to see, holy shoot, I didn't even know this part existed. And we kind of go on this journey together to find out what's happening as we go through it. I don't know why I'm asking those questions, I'm curious like you shared this, but it doesn't connect very well here.
Help me understand this as we go through it, but things become clear about your life, whether that's related to your relationship, your purpose, your path forward, or your business. And it starts to, the light starts to illuminate, and now you know what to do as you move forward. That's why one of the things people might think indication of the difference between mentoring, and coaching is that in coaching, I'm getting you to come up with what matters to you and what is real in your life based on the answers that you already know.
Is just that it's hidden under the awareness. It's in the subconscious a lot of times until it gets triggered by a question. And then you start to notice possibilities and solutions and ways of approaching things that you never thought of before. Would you say that that's close to your experience of what happened?
Yes. Yeah. Thank, thank for sharing that. Now I want to go into the, like, some specific areas. So it started with purpose now. What else? I mean what else did coaching do for you as you went through the process? Cause I know we didn't just explore that area. We started connecting that with your family, with your faith.
Exactly. With your faith. So what happened? Like what were the tangible differences that you start to see in different parts? Yes.
Cristobal: So as part of that, then that became like the pillar of the family became really critical. Also the pillar of my faith. Became also another very critical pillar for me.
And then the business aspect. And we were able to discuss what was important to me at that time and then just go deep based on my relationship with my wife or the relationship with my children and how to become that father figure that's gonna be supportive of them instead of like I would say a different type of partnership yeah.
Become like a different type of dad. And then eventually on the spiritual side, like be open for that spirituality. Right. Like sometimes what I've seen is, People that even are spiritual, they, it's like, oh, this is just my bucket of spirituality. But then in essence, if you are deep into your faith, that's really who you are.
And then there's, you shouldn't, you shouldn't stop showing your spirituality on business or on the family side or with your friends or with your community, just because maybe you are afraid. Of people to say something about stuff that maybe you don't want to hear. But then to me, that became really critical in my life, which that's my new journey right now.
I just joined a spiritual mastermind because that's what I need at this point in my life. So as part of my continuous growth, that's where I wanted to be. So I just literally, last week I just joined a business-oriented mastermind. That's all about spirituality. I've
Faisal: surrounded my faith that that's amazing.
And what I heard there is that you became more open To not only connect with your spiritual side and you didn't leave it in a compartmentalized bucket in some part of your life, but it's everything that you are, it's, it's who you are, it's your values, it's who you are at your core. Now you're becoming more open to expressing that and exploring that in different parts of your life.
Would you say that's accurate?
Cristobal: Yes. And that was very difficult for me to do, right? Because like some of the hot topics sometimes are religion, right? And it's like, oh how do I show my values to people, which is in essence like also who I am? And that's been leading me to find.
Potential in business partnerships, right with like-minded people that we have our commonality comes to our space, our spiritual life. And then from there, there are also other business leaders. And then, so now we're joining forces to create new business ventures.
Faisal: Yeah, I love, love that you're sharing this.
By the way, this is one of the most powerful aspects of marketing and sales is people don't realize this and they don't connect this. Most people out in the world, first of all, we're all kind of scared to share who we are. One way or another to one degree or another, because there is a sense that we might be judged or we might be ridiculed or there might be a pushback.
Especially when you go out in the world, in the Western world, there's a lot of pushback around religion, faith, and values that people might share or they might be open to. So people are normally scared to share that, but now it's much more amplified with social media and what's happening out in the bigger culture and So as soon as you become open, though, like the opposite side, as soon as you become open and you become more direct and more expressive about what matters to you, what your values are, what your vision is, it tends to attract the right people.
And this is how it connects to marketing some of the best people who know how to market themselves out in the world. And that's the initial point of a business. Cuz if you don't know how to market yourself, there is no business, there is no sales. Is that they're able to share their values, they're able to share what matters to them, so it attracts the right people, tourism, and it deflects the wrong people.
Most people, when they go into business, they get a combination of those, so they attract the wrong people. Tourism, which means that their values don't align, and their vision doesn't align. The only thing that aligns is their skillsets. That is not enough because that tends to break down. As we start to deal with problems, then the finger-pointing starts to happen.
The partnerships don't work. And then I'm sure you've seen versions of that, and now you're going on this path where you're connecting with the right people that are creating a shortcut for you to kind of go faster on your business path. Would you say that that's what's happening or is it a different experience?
Cristobal: No, I truly believe that's what's happening right now. This openness, it's helping me repel. The people that I don't wanna attract or the people that I wanna talk to me in essence, right? Which is the people I don't wanna talk to anyways. And it's helping me attract the people that I wanna be in touch with.
And that's creating also a community, right? Because I'm not alone on this journey. And, so when you find those groups of individuals, then that becomes a community that will support you one way or another.
Faisal: Yeah. And I love that component because a lot of the times people might have this understanding that, oh, they're gonna do everything on their own.
Well, there's actually nothing we do on our own. Even if you're not running a business, even if you're just doing a job and you're, you're home, you're still dealing with people, you're still connecting with your family, still dealing, but dealing with your coworkers and boss and everything. But as soon as you go into business, it becomes more and more imperative.
That you know how to connect with people. And one of the things that Robert Kiyosaki always says that like school taught us the opposite of what we were supposed to do. It's so counterintuitive, like, They stopped us from cheating. And cheating is basically cooperating with others.
It's called cheating, but out in the real world, you need to learn to cooperate with people or you do not have a business. But in the classroom, if you try to cooperate, you're gonna get punished for that thing. Yes. And the other side of it is that out in the real world, you need to learn to fail and learn from that.
That is an essential part of growth. But out in school, you could not fail. You needed to get better results. Yes, if you failed, that would be reprimanded, that would have negative consequences. And so that like the model with which we have grown up in the normal circles, that does not work when you're trying to scale and grow and have a more free life, more connected life.
Taking more risks is almost everything that requires risk. That does not work. And what you're describing is it's connecting you to that mindset, but also to the people who are open to that will help you amplify that, which is so powerful. But most people have no access to that. And it's getting me excited because I didn't have access to any of that stuff.
And it's so odd when I'm in this world where I'm partnering up with people, collaborating with people, versus in a time where I was like, how do I figure this out on my own? And I'm scared? Yes. So that's one, the purpose and openness is one side. What do you think has been, you don't need to share personal stuff around it, but what do you think has been the impact of the coaching on your relationships? Because I know there is a sense of courage as well to move forward in a direction.
There's a sense of orientation and alignment. So what has been the real tangible impacts in your relationship and your own growth and how you carry yourself, but also in your movement, in your business? What are the real impacts for you from coaching?

Cristobal: Well, I would say, as I told you a few months ago, the impact that I've been having right now, I've been approached by, Other people to create potential partnerships who are in the past, that will be almost impossible, right? It's like we start going, I'm also being invited to these rooms of other entrepreneurs and that's where I start seeing some of the magic happen, right?
Even though I might be the smaller guy in the room, then as we start talking, he's like, oh. Let's go out for lunch or let's do this and, let me get your numbers so we can stay in touch. And so now as we started doing those follow-ups, then all these opportunities are showing up.
And that's something that I didn't have before because I was in a shell. I was within my shell that I didn't want to show anything out to the world because when I did in the past, I get hurt and that pain was preventing me from pursuing new opportunities.
Faisal: Ah, and so what I hear there is that you've developed more courage and openness in the process.
But also underneath that, I also hear that you have become better at managing your own thoughts and emotions in the background and I know we did quite a bit of work there. Tell us a little bit about that. Like how was that stopping you and if it was stopping you in any way to move forward, like managing your own thoughts and emotions in the turbulence that pretty much everybody feels.
Cristobal: Right. So I think it was the emotions, right? And so you attach emotions, to all your potential problems. And then you develop this horror movie in your brain, and then you go that negativity of rabbit hole, right? It's like you start thinking like, oh, and he's gonna.
This gonna happen then this, this, this, this, this, and then at that point, you are not even able to make the right decision because you're only thinking about the worst-case scenario. But then once you realize, oh, you know, I'm feeling this anxiety, I'm feeling whatever right now, let's pause, let's take a moment, breathe and, do whatever works for you.
And realize that's like. I would say 99% of the time you are not even able to control most of the stuff that you are anxious about or that you are stressed about. And so when you take that pause to recompose yourself and then realize that, oh, okay, so I can only do this much because.
I can only control what I do and how I execute it. But then the performance of other people, I really don't control what they do. So once I understood that piece and then through the sessions that we were having about, oh, I fill in these emotions and then labeling them.
Then recognizing them later on, it's easier and it's like, oh, okay, stop. And then you have to stop and do this, and then just go back. Right. To me, I was also going to food. It's like when I was feeling like I don't know, anxious, or stressed, then my reaction was towards food and so I had to stop that.
Faisal: Yeah. So what I hear there is that your coping mechanism was to get more food to deal with the anxiety and stress versus. Having better tools to deal with it. And this is something for people to understand. So it's very simple and common sense to say, pause, take a breath, and do this. Everybody knows this, but most people don't do it.
But part of the coaching processes, at least in my kind of coaching, is to get you to go through that process of experiencing the emotions and working through them so you know, experientially what's happening. So next time it comes up, you're able to deal with it in a better way. And one of the things I've learned, so for example, in the past I used to use alcohol.
I used to use drugs. I used to use all sorts of stuff to deal with my own stressors and anxieties and fears. And this is a challenge I've always had with the religious world, is that in religion, they will tell you that. Don't smoke, don't drink, don't do this. But they don't give you the tools.
Nobody wants to do that stuff because afterward, we know the effects of it, but then what the hell do I do? And it's like something in the middle has been lost because in the past when the prescription was given, the tools were there too.
And as kind of civilization has grown, a lot of the. People who are trained to help people work through this stuff. The rights of initiation have disappeared and this is the product of the industrial age. Some of the things were lost and now we're learning to readapt some of those things. Okay? I know that it's not right for me to be drunk all the time.
How do I, why am I being drunk to begin with? How can I find better tools? And as you start to do that, you don't need any of that. Pretty much everything you need is inside of yourself and you have much better tools to deal with things. And that's what part of the coaching process is helping you develop better tools experientially to deal with stressors, to deal with fear, and to develop more courage.
To become much more open much more inquisitive, curious, which are all the traits that some of the top highest performers of the world tend to say, and they've developed it in their own way or through coaching or through their experience. Now we're trying to replicate that and the coaching process, which works very powerfully.
Of course, the other side has to implement it too. Now, I'm also curious Because you've invested quite a bit in yourself. And I'd say like, at least by the number that you're saying, it's going well over a hundred K. Yeah. And we're not, we're not talking about real estate investments.
We're not talking about all sorts of others, so would you say that that's been worth it? Has it given you the ROI?
Cristobal: Yeah. I'm gonna show you this. My wife gave me this, like we're fixing my office right now. So she gave me this. These are all the badges from all the conferences I've been attending in the last couple of years.
And then most of these conferences led to one-on-one coaching. Right? And so with all of that, all that knowledge that I've been gaining throughout the years, I'm starting to scratch the surface of the benefits of it, right? It was not an immediate payoff for me. Like I didn't see any, an immediate ROI.
Then now after years and years and years of being persistent now when I was saying something that was a weakness, oh, let me try to pursue some time of coaching this or this and that and different aspects of my life. And so those, that coaching and then that guidance that I received from coaching, it's starting to pay off.
Faisal: Yeah, and so there are different types of ROIs. For example, one of my friends who's a coach, initially when I jumped into this world seven years ago, he asked me like, I put in like, start with a 10 K investment. And this process. And then over time, I think mine is well over close to 150 to 200 k.
I'm in the coaching world and all this things that I'm developing and I'm consistently getting coaching. But he asked me this question, it was interesting. He's a coach as well. He's like, was that initial investment worth it? And I really thought about it. I'm like, You know what, and I thought about it in two ways.
One, I thought about it, okay, what did it do for me? And what was the financial ROI of it? And if I were to, I just calculated the financial ROI of that initial one was 50 times more. That was for me. It was incredible. I'm like, okay. And it just hit me in that one. But also even more than that, The person that I've become the way I've grown, the way that I connect with people, how I look at myself, how I feel about my life, and how I experience my life.
The level of depth connection. And on the spiritual side, on the personal side, on the emotional side, on the relationship level, there is no way in the short few years have gotten that. I would've gone that without coaching, without a process of that personal development that I've gone through. And also, I've watched people go through their whole life.
They don't get that. Right. Forget about like, it's not like it's given that, oh, if you don't get coaching in 10 years, you'll figure it out on your own. That is not what happens. There are people who will go through their whole life, they'll get to the end of their life. They haven't learned anything. They haven't, so we assume that with age you get growth.
Not psychological, not emotional, not spiritual. Those are choices you will, we all have to make. And there are tools that will help you go towards that. For some people it starts with therapies, some people mentorship. For some people it's masterminds. And for me, it's become a mix of all.
It's been a mix of counseling masterminds, and coaching, but coaching for me, has a high place because it's a forward-pacing modality, so it helps you develop tools, strengths, abilities, and awareness to help you move forward in all parts of your life.
Has that been your experience or have you looked at it a little bit differently?
Cristobal: Yeah, that's been my experience too. And, yeah, I haven't quantified potentials or ROIs. But then what I know for sure is that I wouldn't be in the position that I am right now if it wasn't for coaching.
Faisal: Yeah. Thanks for sharing that. And, so if, there is a new investor or an entrepreneur or an experienced one, what would you say to them if they haven't experienced coaching or if they haven't gone through it, what would you tell them?
There's always opportunity
Cristobal: for growth and then to learn more. We just need to be humble enough to be open to that, and that also requires an investment. But it's an investment in yourself. And then if you are willing to put in the work from the coaching that you are gonna receive, you are definitely gonna see a change mostly in yourself.
Faisal: Yeah. Yeah, I love that. And just one, a couple of last shares. I wanna share a little bit, then I'll get Cristobal to share how you guys can connect with him because if you're an investor and entrepreneur, you're on that path. I know Cristobal brings a lot to the table, so definitely connect with them because especially if you connect with the value than ideal around growth.
And if you are on that growth mindset journey if you are. On a path to scaling and developing your business and investing journey, then definitely connect with Cristobal and I'll get 'em to share that. Now a lot of the time you might be anxious about, well, okay, how do I jump into this stuff?
Most coaches will offer a bonus consulting or strategy or discovery call to help you experience it. At least those who are really good, who understand that you need to experience it for you to be able to understand what the investment value is. And it's not enough for you to hear it like this.
This will kind of give you a view of it, but one of the best ways to know whether or not it's the right path for you is to jump in and find a coach and do a session. For me, part of this helps my business, but part of this, I'm normalizing this for the industry because I have another business where we're helping.
Develop the industry more and the industry is still in the initial stages of it, and a lot of coaches are struggling to connect with clients. So really go find a coach and go through an experience of it. Go through multiple experiences of coaching with different coaches. See what fits right for you.
And if you feel like you want to go through that experience with me, you can reach out to me. Whether you see this on my social media or my website or my YouTube or podcast, wherever, reach out to me. I'm sure you'll find the contact info. If you can't find it, just Google me Faisal Ensaun you'll find me.
I'm very reachable on social media. And also I want to give Cristobal an opportunity to kind of share a little bit about what are you trying to do out in the world and who would you ideally wanna partner with, connect with, and then share how people can find you.
Cristobal: Absolutely. Thank you faisal for that.
So right now, what I'm currently focusing on, well, it's everything related to real estate. Right. So right now my business ventures with partners for the first time or for the third time now. But then I believe this will be great. Partnerships will are still around real estate, single, like on the residential side, and on the commercial side.
And then there's an opportunity potentially for new development. We're gonna start, of course, small and then a scale, but then something that's. Been critical for me that for years I wanted to do, and I really never knew how to accomplish this, was how to bring investors from other countries to deploy their money in the US real estate market and so now, I'm finding that people, right, that have that knowledge, they're like, we need to do this, or, so I'm finding people that have done it before and they're open for partnerships to literally bring money from Latin American countries and then start deploying that in real estate to get gains and, that's really where most of my efforts are at this point in time.
Faisal: That's incredible. I love that. And that's a very unique effort around that because real estate investors are always looking for capital and it's not, especially in the market right now, it might not be always easy to find that. And they have a unique opportunity for you to connect them with the Latinamerican American world.
And I know you do some of your content creation in Spanish. Yes. Are you still doing that?
Cristobal: I'm still doing that. Yes. I want to support the Spanish-speaking community that even though we are bilinguals, but then there's nothing like your native tongue sometime to have essential conversations for you.
There's nothing like speaking in your native tongue. And that's really where I'm also focusing, on Spanish speaking. Content and the Spanish-speaking business ventures, which has been, it is been phenomenal so far.
Faisal: Yeah. And then that's a huge untapped market, especially if you're in the U.S that unless somebody's, and then there's something interesting about languages that, because you don't just speak the language, you're connecting with them at the cultural level that a lot of investors from this side might not be able to do.
But because you understand the culture, you don't understand how to connect with them, communicate with them, understand how to approach it, you're in a much better position to help them make those decisions. To invest in these deals versus somebody who's a native, for example, in the US, or Canada, or somewhere like that.
So I love that you're doing that and you're putting yourself out there and being open and, I really wanna celebrate and honor you Cristobal because I've watched your journey towards growth and just the openness you've had to, and the courage you've had to deal with these things to show up as a better father, as a better husband, as a better leader, as a better business owner.
I think we need more and more of that and the self-awareness that you bring out in the world. I'm really excited for you to go out there and I know you're already then doing that. Share it out in the world and start building amazing things in the process. So happy to see you growing in that area.
And where can people find you? Cristobal yeah, I'm
Cristobal: pretty active on LinkedIn, so if you wanna reach out on LinkedIn. My profile is my full name, Cristobal Jimenez Priego, and I'm starting to develop a Twitter feed. And my handle is @CJ Priego, which is my first two initials, and then my last name Priego.
And then you can follow me there or you can reach me out there, send me a direct message on LinkedIn or Twitter. And then we can
Faisal: connect that way. Yeah, thank you for sharing that. And definitely connect with Cristobal cuz you will gain a connection that's rare to find out in the world.
And I don't just mean here, but literally out in the world. Because it's actually very rare to find people who are on this kind of journey. Very few people Take the kind of risk that Cristobal does. Very few people grow at the level that Cristobal does, and it becomes important too, even if you're curious, Hey, let me find out what he's up to.
Definitely connect with him because it'll help you in one way or another. And also definitely share this. Whether you're listening to this on my podcast, on my YouTube channel, or any of the other social media channels, share this with anybody you think who's thinking about coaching or you think they might need something like this.
Because this might be the video that will help them get the support that they need. And ultimately, my purpose is to help people find the support that they need. It doesn't have to be from me, but a lot of times when people get the support that they need, they accelerate on their path. And so definitely share this like this.
Let's get the message out so we can help more people. And aside from that, we'll see you in the next conversation. And Cristobal thank you for joining me today.
Cristobal: Thank you for having me. Faisal a pleasure.
Faisal: All right. Bye. You're welcome.

Stay connected with news and updates!

Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.
Don't worry, your information will not be shared.

We hate SPAM. We will never sell your information, for any reason.