What’s your backstory?
Every entrepreneur is born with the gift, it just takes time to crack the code
In Grade school I’ve always wanted to work for myself, listening to classmates going to college and wanting to work for a company didn’t interest me. I knew that if I worked for someone else I would be a slave to their time, make money on their time, and lastly have time for myself they would allow me to have. My interests were to work for myself, make a huge impact in something I was fully passionate about, and to become a leader that lifts people up to make a positive change.
I just didn’t know how to at the time.
I had a burning flame in me wanting to be unleashed but it was locked in a safe and I didn’t have the key to unlock it. After high school I did the very things I did not want to do, not because I wanted to but only because I didn’t know how or where to start. I went to college, and worked a job. Then got fired which led me to dropping out, worked several jobs after that, got introduced to multi-level marketing, my first taste of entrepreneurship, not.
Worked for a startup PR company which is now known as Manufacturing Influencers with the Founder Ulyses Osuna, who was my mentor at the time. That led me to gaining me my very first actual taste of entrepreneurship. The hustle, the grind, the no family time, the no personal relationships, late nights and early mornings, the failures, the rise, the game changing moments of the PR business.
I wanted to be my own boss, and at the rate I was going I was getting very impatient but one day while helping ulyses, as a task he wanted me to get him on three podcasts. I remember asking him how?, no response was given. It was like getting handed a blank piece of paper and someone telling you, “ it needs to be finished by tonight” I had no clue how to start. I think he was testing my true entrepreneurship capabilities at the time because the first thing about entrepreneurship is entrepreneurs always find a way.
I had ambition and some knowledge on how to properly network, I had officially cracked the code to getting Ulyses on three podcasts within two days, I remember once the episodes released it was a life changing moment for me, I had officially added value to someone. I did that, I got someone’s voice heard through the power of podcasts.
I remember starting my business, I quit on my business so many times, one for going through my very first break up, second for not truly believing in myself, and third by not charging. By the second year of trying to get my business off the ground, It got to the point where I gave up again and it led me without a job so definitely no income was coming in and I would party a lot and not do anything positive for myself. That ultimately left me homeless, sleeping in a car with my pregnant girlfriend parked on top of a hill every night for 2 months looking over the city lights, trying to find hope.
I would look over to my right side and I could see my girlfriends cold breath at night when the windows would fog up, I remember I would have to turn on the car here and there to keep some heat while saving gas in the car at the same time. When it came to mornings I remember driving to a local park and opening the car trunk filled with duffel bags full of clothes, changing in public bathrooms and looking myself in the mirror, tears falling down my face telling myself each day “Nathan… You got this” homelessness took a toll on me. I made a promise to myself that I would get my act together in time and I ended up working a bank job 1 month after, which was my 16th job in two years.
Fresh start
I remember hating that bank job so much, I would hide in the bathroom four to six times a day to reply back to my mentor at the time and potential prospects. I remember making the excuse to my manager that I had a weak bladder, I worked there for 6 months and one day I just quit. In my head thinking to myself, if I didn’t get my business off the ground it would be because I don’t truly believe in myself. I had full confidence in myself with only three-hundred dollars in my account at the time.
I just started hustling on my business not knowing when my next paycheck would come, I was messaging one-hundred people a day to sell my services, following up with practically 60 people every two days and many of them leaving me on seen in the DM. Eventually after 2 weeks of doing this I officially started charging others to get on media outlets such as podcasts and TV shows.
Ever since that life changing moment of making money my way, I have been able to work and network myself with Multi-Millionaires such as Danny Morel, host of the relentless event and founder of Intero real estate, Sam Bakhtiar who has 106 fitness locations, Ed Mylett worth over 400 million, Brad lea who is the founder of Lightspeed VT who has helped Grant Cardone, Daymond John, Jeunesse and more companies who find better solutions in their training environments, and many more.
Out of everything I’m glad I chose the route of being the entrepreneur my inner self knew that I was born with. I believe my ambition, persistence, and need for helping others gives light to my success, learning actual life habits at age 18, dropping out of college, working at 16 different jobs by age 20, being homeless with my pregnant girlfriend, sleeping in a car, changing in public bathrooms, and working with millionaires at age 21 has been a life changing experience.
I know this is not an easy job. What drives you?
What drives me every day is knowing where I started, the rock bottoms I hit twice, and all the experiences I’ve learned that has created the person I am today. This influences my growth to succeed and knowing I own my business at age 21. I’m working with millionaires who have great stories to share, knowing when each time I get someone on a podcast or TV show I’m not only helping them share their their story, but I’m also helping millions of people who are listening in gain that extra value, motivation, and passion to change their lives in a positive way.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? What lesson did you learn from them?
There are many people who have helped me get to where I am today like my girlfriend who stayed with me during my hardest times, homeless sleeping in a car and still keeping a smile on her face. My friend Josue Arteaga who would pick me up and buy me food when I had money issues and still respected me as a human being, Ulyses who taught me how to sell my services and teaching me about the PR space and helping me become the expert I am today. The person I really do admire the most that has helped me would be Mike Young the make over master, I remember I would always message Mike while I was at work, I would sneak into the bathroom 6 times a day to get feedback from him, he was the one that helped me get out of my bank job and has helped me work for myself.
How do you push through your worst times?
What I do to push through my worst times is remind myself why I got into entrepreneurship in the first place. I also remind myself to keep working on my life to the full extent each day, remembering the experience where I quit twice in my life which led me to become jobless and even homeless, so I have those painful memories stored in my mind ready for reply when I feel like giving up. There’s only one direction in my life and that’s the direction to my better self, the person I’ve always dreamed of becoming.