#373 The Emotional Rollercoaster of Entrepreneurship: A Deep Dive with Ricardo Jimenez

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Mehmet: Hello and welcome back to a new episode of the CTO show with Mehmet. Today, I'm very pleased joining me, Ricardo Jimenez. Ricardo, the way I love to do it, honestly, is I keep it to my guests to introduce themselves. I have a theory. No one can introduce someone else better than [00:01:00] themselves. So the floor is yours.

Ricardo: Okay. Uh, well, thanks for having me in your show, Mehmet. Very glad to be here. I'm Ricardo Jimenez. I am from Spain, currently living in Puerto Rico, and I'm an entrepreneur, an angel investor, most recently an author. I launched my book, Crash Course, a couple weeks ago, in which I tell the emotional journey I had as an entrepreneur.

Ricardo: I'm more than happy to talk as much as we talk more in depth about the book, but that's a short intro there.

Mehmet: Great. Great. And thank you for being with me here today, Ricardo. Um, the way I like to start, um, So what what brought you to entrepreneurship and you know, like also I know like you you You've you've done some some investments in like more than [00:02:00] 30 tech projects um So that there must be something that attracted you to be in this space, you know, you decided to to be there.

Mehmet: So

Ricardo: What? What was

Mehmet: the turning point?

Ricardo: Yeah. Yeah, I think lots of people You know End up here for, for different reasons. Um, and I will think most often it's, uh, people have no, people know that they've always wanted to be an entrepreneur. Uh, but in my case, I think I had this spirit, uh, the desire, the, the ambition for freedom, but I never knew what the best route for me was.

Ricardo: I did not know what the, uh, what an entrepreneur was until it was 28. Um, however, I think that that word is just a way of capturing, um, let's say, uh, a set of values or ambitions. Uh, and I did have those. [00:03:00] Um, so, so what I wanted again was, was to find a way, uh, to, to live the life that I wanted and to express myself out there in the world.

Ricardo: Uh, so I have, um, I was, I was sharing ideas with a friend, uh, we wanted to see what, what made sense for our first startup. And, uh, uh, because we both have been to over 40 countries, 30, 40 countries at the time, we, uh, we cared about education. We want, we wanted something that could really, really scale. Uh, we decided that we wanted to do toys, uh, in the shape of countries, but that was just the beginning of a product line that I could see having 200 toys.

Ricardo: An app to connect the kids over the world, a theme park, movies, uh, the sky was the limit. So, uh, a big vision and a big opportunity, a big way to make an impact, and [00:04:00] also, uh, having the sense that, uh, if I work hard and I do things well, uh, I will end up capturing. the rewards, uh, because just the idea of going Paycheck by paycheck with savings that may not make a difference in the future Uh has never been very appealing to me.

Mehmet: Um You know, maybe i'm later than you ricardo because they know the moment I Uh, of course, I I knew like this path. I knew about that, but I was very Hesitant maybe to take this path, uh until like You even at a later age. But one of the things, Ricardo, um, that usually people get scared of really is to do mistakes, to fail, right?

Mehmet: So why do you think not many are brave enough? And, you know, Actually accept that they [00:05:00] might fail and because you know people even they fail and they don't talk about it. So What what you know, can you tell people who might now be listening to us? And saying, Hey, okay, kind of the same situation. I'm living paycheck to paycheck.

Mehmet: Maybe I have some savings, but I'm not feeling, you know, I'm doing a lot to the world, but at the same time, I'm in my comfort zone and you know, why I should go out and do these mistakes.

Ricardo: Yeah, there's, there's many, there's many, many things that could be said. Um, we don't want to fail because it's painful.

Ricardo: Uh, it doesn't feel good.

Ricardo: What is failing? Not meeting some expectations. Most expectations are not met, especially in the in the sense of entrepreneurship. I will think 90 percent of companies did not succeed in a traditional term. So most likely. [00:06:00] Your company is it's not going to Grow or have the impact that you imagine all entrepreneurs are extremely optimistic We all think that our idea is the best since sliced bread.

Ricardo: We think that the world needs us and And unfortunately, it's not the truth. There's there's I don't know that there's no room for success for Uh, so most likely things are not going to go your way and it's painful Uh, but there's a couple of There's another aspect to this. Um, one is how much meaning do we give to, to the, say, failure to the lack of success?

Ricardo: And that's where I think we have more freedom than what we think, because usually we are so identified with our projects, with our ventures, we put so much in them, our time, our money, [00:07:00] our energy, our love, you So when you put everything that you have into something, you almost become that you identify into that you think you are that.

Ricardo: Uh, so when you think you are, you are your venture, and that this is very unconscious, but you're all in in your venture, you've told everyone about your venture, you want your venture to succeed, you've asked people to invest. You've asked people to use your product, uh, and if it doesn't work, it's not that your venture doesn't work.

Ricardo: It's that you feel like you don't work. Uh, this is where we need to be careful, and this is one of the messages that I send in the book. Uh, that we are much more than our ventures. That we need to be able to separate our startup from us. Um, even for the good and for the bad. Uh, so What doesn't, what is not healthy is that you devote yourself to a project, the project doesn't work, [00:08:00] you gave your best.

Ricardo: And then because it didn't work, you think, Oh, I am a failure. That is, and it's very common and it's very natural. And it's, this is how, this is how our brains tend to operate, but we need to be much more aware of that. And, uh, and again, and be very clear when we are treating ourselves like that, giving ourselves our messages, Awareness comes a long way.

Ricardo: Uh, and this mental clarity to realize, Hey, be careful. My startup didn't work, but that doesn't mean that I don't work. Um, so it's very important to make that that distinction. And the other the other thing that comes to mind, um, is that when we it's very important that we release all those emotions that we had, uh, in a painful or failure experience.

Ricardo: Um, if we feel sad, confused, [00:09:00] overwhelmed, lost, lonely, uh, again, when expectations are not met, some of those emotions are going to be generated and we need to find mechanisms to To release that as soon as possible because those emotions stuck in us are what they're going to, um, uh, keep us stuck in the past and we want to be free from that.

Ricardo: We, we again, a project we, we, a project that we started may not work. But what we want is to take the lessons and then we can talk about some of those as well. We want to take the lessons and then, again, look for the future with, with brightness and optimism like we were before. And again, it's not easy when experience, previous experiences don't work, but that's when we need to do the inner work to process a painful experience.

Ricardo: Um, as soon as possible, as deeply as possible, become free from that [00:10:00] and regain the optimism that entrepreneurs have. Entrepreneurs are extremely optimistic. We try to put things out there in the world that never existed before. So for that, we need to, again, be clear. We need to be, uh, you know, we need to, we don't want to go back to the world of, I don't know if the word is creative.

Ricardo: We want to do as much as we can to, to see ourselves fresh, to press F5, uh, refresh and, uh, start up new again. And I will share again, I understand that when we don't meet our expectations, it creates, uh, emotions. It's painful. We are not trained as humans, um, to look at what's happening within us. And that's, and that's, and that's a big, uh, I don't know if that's a big mistake, but that's a big blind, blind spot that we have.

Ricardo: Uh, we're trying to fix the [00:11:00] world and we're trying to put companies out there, but we are not aware of what's happening, uh, within us. And the more we're in tune with us, the more we're going to be able to understand this. And the more free we're going to be after, uh, what's called a failing experience.

Mehmet: This is very thought provoking, Ricardo. Uh, you know, because there are two things you mentioned here and they're gonna, you know, maybe touch base on something related to the book also as well. Um, so you said entrepreneurs are optimistic, which is 100%. I agree with you at the same time. You know, it looks like, you know, we, we need to take the risks and accept that maybe it doesn't goes at, you know, as we, when we plan.

Mehmet: So most likely, and I know like in the book you talk about, uh, you know, you know, I, and you mentioned now this, uh, you know, emotionally draining [00:12:00] experience and you have a story yourself, you know, uh, about, uh, you know, You know, putting like, uh, a hundred, a hundred thousand dollars against your mortgage. So you know, if you can walk us through, you know, how did you manage to take this financial hit?

Mehmet: Um, and you know, at the same time, staying optimistic and saying, yeah, like I, I gonna do well. So, so how did you manage to do this?

Ricardo: Yeah, there are lots of parts. Um, I think, I think entrepreneurship, it's very hard. And it was in my case because we have some very early wins, some really good initial feedback, uh, but in a very small scale.

Ricardo: And then when I tried to scale the company, I just wasn't able to, to grow it. Um, so at the beginning, when you, let's call it when you fail, [00:13:00] when you things don't work as you expected, you think harder. Uh, I think it brings the best out of you and you go through, I'm going to figure this out. Um, and I'll share so about the financial impact.

Ricardo: I started with my savings. I was laid off from a company, big company in Austin, North Austin. And. And, um, I didn't have all the savings that I wanted before quitting and going full time with my, with my startup, but at the same time, it was good enough and more than anything. I realized that that I didn't have the heart to go back, uh, to, yeah, to, to this company or, or to corporate America.

Ricardo: And, uh, and I really had a full desire to, to, to give a chance to this company. So something that I didn't mention before about failure. Um, [00:14:00] Failure can be judged from the outside, but the, but we are the ones that we need to. So did your company succeed or not? And these can be observed from the outside, but the bigger conversation, the deeper conversation is what's happening within me.

Ricardo: And for me, self honesty, uh, is the biggest, let's call it success. Um, and, uh, I didn't want to live with a ghost in my heart. I wanted to make this company happen and I wanted to give. everything I have. Uh, so for me, that's the biggest success. There's, there's a hundred, there's 20 different areas or ways or aspects about success, but one that I, uh, that I don't think it's, uh, talked about enough is this one.

Ricardo: Um, and then yeah, when, when you go all in with your bet on something and it didn't, and it doesn't go well, it, it takes a financial hit. So first I. Uh, I spent all the savings that I had, and [00:15:00] then when I ran out of savings, um, I got a line of credit and, uh, uh, to continue with, uh, with the company. So pretty much, I, I spent all I had, um, until I, I, I will evolve more.

Ricardo: And until I saw that we were running, we, we were run outta money. So I had to choose. This is after six years after I started the company. Um, so I had to choose, do I get another loan or not? Um, I had tried to raise capital. I, I have many conversations, but none of them, but, but I didn't, I wasn't able to raise, to raise capital.

Ricardo: So I was with strapping. Um, and at some point after six years, I had to again get another loan and, uh, and I realized that that that wasn't the life that I wanted. Uh, I had realized that what I was doing had a cost of opportunity and, uh, [00:16:00] and that I could be doing other things. So that was very liberating because as entrepreneurs, we tend to fall in love with ideas and I have fallen in love with my idea.

Ricardo: And I thought, I'm going to, I'm going to devote myself to this idea, even if it takes my whole life. And I guess that's normal to start like that. Uh, but after years making efforts, getting rejections, and I could share specific examples, there's lots of examples in the book. Uh, so in my case, a brief, brief, brief comment, some companies fail.

Ricardo: Some entrepreneurs would say fail because of something very sudden and unexpected and big happens. With me, it was a death in a thousand cuts. So, uh, yeah, when, when these things happen, uh, you, you try harder, but it could come to a point in which you question, is this really what I want for myself? And it's very important to start asking questions about [00:17:00] yourself as a person, rather than all of my company.

Ricardo: Um, and that, that shift was very important for me, not only to think, to think in terms of the company, but To think myself in terms of the person there to bring the humanity back into Into the into my into my startup adventure

Mehmet: now because there are many You know I mean, it's like a roller coaster, right?

Mehmet: So, so, so all these things that we, we might face as entrepreneurs, um, of course, maybe the first thing that comes to mind, uh, frustration, stress, you know, like these kinds of, of, of things that we can feel, but, and of course the fear, the fear of, of being rejected also, maybe, Um, something related to, um, you know, losing everything.

Mehmet: [00:18:00] So, so, but it's like a very, very, you know, different experience. I can, I can, you know, I don't know like if even I can express that enough because I think the only people who live that can, can talk about it, want to ask you something, um, from this emotional aspect, right. Um, Where, for example, you know, some, I would say best practices, let's say related to wellbeing, or maybe related to, you know, how in a nutshell, if I want to make it simple question, it's crazy, but how as entrepreneur, as founders, we can stay sane.

Mehmet: We, we don't lose our minds and we, we don't drop the ball.

Ricardo: Yes. Uh, I guess I'll give you the crash course on that question. Because the first invitation is to look at ourselves, [00:19:00] uh, as founders, we want to change the world and that's what we want to do. We want to change the world and we want the world to look in a certain way and having our products and our product and our product changes the world.

Ricardo: So, so all our efforts are outward, outward thinking. So, um, all our efforts are outward focused. So all our energy is how can I change the world in a way? How can I change the world? And when I do change the world, then I will be happy. Uh, but the starting point comes in me obtaining whatever I want, even though that may come from a very noble perspective.

Ricardo: Um, but again, the, the focus is on the outside. The invitation. The first invitation would be to look into us. And this is something, this is a message that. We really don't, we really, we really don't get very often now we talk about mental health, uh, but to look at our emotions [00:20:00] That is something that I think most people don't even consider that they can have some level of I don't know if it's control but some level of awareness Management care of their emotions.

Ricardo: So and I will get to the question but very often Or towards the mid end of my company, I would realize that I had spent the whole morning without being very productive. And it wasn't because of a lack of desire, conviction or ambition. It was because I was, I was paralyzed. I felt lonely and I was paralyzed.

Ricardo: So those emotions, those emotions are in our bodies. And that's where we need to look. Uh, again, we treat our, we treat our bodies. Sorry. I see, I see if we were a black box. Uh, I see there was nothing for us there and it's, and it's the opposite. We, we [00:21:00] accumulate these emotions in our bodies. Um, what are they for?

Ricardo: So I am an instructor in a meditation system called the Asian system. And we work with four basic emotions, fear, Sadness, anger, and joy, and we need to start paying attention to ourselves to see what's happening within us. And be very quick at identifying when we have these emotions and then release them.

Ricardo: If we, if we, if we are sad, we can cry. If we're, if we are angry, we can hit a pillow or scream. I'm scared. This is a little bit more varied. Lots of things can happen when you're scared, but if you move the body, the idea is to move the body and start, maybe you can hit, scream, uh, but really cry, but start moving the body.

Ricardo: So the emotions start releasing. And [00:22:00] when you've released your emotions, you're going to have so much more clarity. Um, it's happened to me many, many, many, many, many times that Yeah, I mean, this is something that I, that I've seen again and again, who doesn't feel better after a good cry? I don't cry very often.

Ricardo: Uh, but I know that after a good cry, the world doesn't seem to wait as much. And what we thought were incredible, overwhelming problems, then they lose their weight. So we underestimate how much our state, uh, how much our interstate, uh, can influence. are, let's see, our, our outcomes and how we underestimate how important it is to take a look at ourselves.

Mehmet: That's fantastic, Ricardo. And I'm going to come back to, you know, some of the, you know, the meditation. And again, I ask you later about the, [00:23:00] the, the journey that you had after your experience, but before this want to go back to something you mentioned about, you know, of course, when you say corporate America, this is a global show, you know, we can say it's a corporate world, right?

Mehmet: So, so it's the same concept.

Ricardo: Yeah, that's right. Same concept for sure.

Mehmet: Yeah. Um, now. There are sometimes we see people who go outside they they I'm, not sure if they try they are trying to to push the people or they are trying to demotivate them and they say hey Look like entrepreneurship is not for everyone right and uh Do you know like it's if if you are like doing good and you know Okay, you're complaining about the corporate and you're complaining about this and that so keep doing it now what really I want to to you know, get your opinion on and someone who is, who experienced that, uh, [00:24:00] Ricardo, uh, is this, is it really like entrepreneurship is not for everyone?

Mehmet: And if it's, if it's not, you know, so, because people, they want also to avoid going and, you know, start hitting the walls, right? Because they said, okay, you know what, I'm, I'm, I'm not meant to be an entrepreneur, like maybe, maybe the nine to five is something that suits me. So I should be accepting this from, from, you know, from, you know, Your experience, like, is there really something like this or do you think, and because, you know, especially after the pandemic and what's happening now in the world, so more people, they are thinking to become entrepreneurs, but they hear these opinions that, Hey, this is not for everyone.

Mehmet: What's your take on that?

Ricardo: Two quick thoughts, because the way in which you, it was very subtle, but the way in which you express that. When people say, well, maybe I'm not an entrepreneur, I think that statement or that way of saying it, it almost, I [00:25:00] perceive, I perceive a tone of defeat in which you're almost deciding, Oh, I'm not, I'm not meant to be an entrepreneur.

Ricardo: Uh, as a way to get yourself off the hook. Um, it's like, I am too old to do this. Oh, it's, it almost feels like an excuse not to do something different. If you're coming, different and challenging. If you're, um, if this is how you're perceiving it. It has a, yeah, like a, a tone of, The opposite of aliveness.

Ricardo: It's a ton of, uh, passivity of, uh, how do you call when resignation? Um, so that is not as great. Um, so again, going like always, I don't have a universal answer, but if that's what you're thinking, it's like some of some, one of my friends thinking, ah, I don't believe in these [00:26:00] markets anymore. And it's just, uh, it's just, it's just a way for him to get him off the hook.

Ricardo: I'm not having to do anything about it. So. First, I would look at how we talk about each other. Um, the second part is that, yes, it's not for everyone or it's, yeah, it's not for every, it's not for, for everyone. That's, that's for sure, because if you want to be an entrepreneur, because you are not satisfied with your current job, well, then you need to look at why are you not satisfied?

Ricardo: Is it because it's hard? Well, then is it because you're working a lot in your current job and that's why you want to become an entrepreneur? Then that's not a good reason. Um, Do you have lots of I don't know lots of ideas and lots of drive? Uh, you want to put something out there in the world? Do you want to make an impact?

Ricardo: Do you want to get the rewards for making an impact? Then that's a good reason to become an entrepreneur [00:27:00] So like always more than it is for everyone or not for everyone I think we each of us needs to needs to look at ourselves and ask ourselves What do I want? What am I willing to do? Um, what are the sacrifices?

Ricardo: Maybe both, maybe both jobs have sacrifices, uh, the corporate and the entrepreneur. What set of sacrifices am I more comfortable, um, uh, going through? Uh, uh, and the other, yeah, the other thing is what, what if you, another way of looking at this is what kind of regrets do you want to, do you feel better with?

Ricardo: Uh, the regret of, not having tried, the regret of failing. Um, I knew I wanted to try, even if I failed, I didn't want to live with, with that regret. Uh, but maybe for other people, I don't know, failing could be this absolute disaster [00:28:00] that could ruin your life. So I don't know. Uh, yeah, that's what, that's what I would say.

Ricardo: So I don't have a universal answer, but this is for everyone to look at themselves and think what, what, what, what do they want for themselves? Do they want to put everything out there with an outcome that may not be the one they expected? Or, or do they want to be doing the same thing for the next few years?

Ricardo: I'm not sure. We're all different. Um, so I guess we all need to choose our own adventure.

Mehmet: Absolutely. Absolutely. And actually, you know, like I've, I've had a quick, you know, skimming the book and what I have felt Ricardo and correct me if I'm wrong, is. You know, the way you have put it is you set expectations for people, and this, I think this is why you called it crash course, right?

Mehmet: So, so, so you just set kind of expectation, what could happen, what could go wrong and how you can [00:29:00] overcome it. But people, if they read the book, it's what I felt personally. So you feel like you are, you know, Putting them into the future for a moment, let them have a thought about it and then get back to reality and take your decision.

Mehmet: Is this what you aimed for when, when you decided to write the book?

Ricardo: So there's two main reasons why I wrote the book and the book, uh, crash course, uh, which is about the emotional journey of entrepreneur. So first I wanted to, Organize and express what I have gone through, uh, what I what I have gone through for six years.

Ricardo: I wanted to organize this experience, get a little bit of distance, um, and have more clarity about everything that happened. But the other, the other most, I guess, more, more relevant thing for for your audience is that there are lots of [00:30:00] books about startups, uh, building startups, growing startups. scaling startups.

Ricardo: There are not too many books that I've seen about the person, uh, the person who's building the startup. No, again, this is a distinction I'm making that I don't see very often. This book is for the person. And when I see books about the person, this is the, the, when I've seen books about the person building the startup, it's always been out of biographies of billionaires.

Ricardo: And yes, they are. They can be absolutely inspiring, uh, but a little bit hard to relate to. So my goal, my goal was. Not to write a book about inspiration. I wanted to write a book For companionship to the entrepreneur, uh to the entrepreneur I hear you you're understood. There's nothing wrong with you What you're doing is extremely difficult [00:31:00] and extremely beautiful and And I want to to be there with you Supporting you.

Ricardo: So this is I wanted to write this book to support all entrepreneurs that are doing something difficult and beautiful. Absolutely.

Mehmet: Fantastic. Ricardo. Like, and to your point, you're right. Like, um, and you know, these kinds of books, of course they are very valuable and it's not only the books. So for example, maybe you, you will agree with me, I'm sure.

Mehmet: Uh, so nowadays we, we went out of the books only, you know, and thought leadership. Started to become something also on like, uh, social media, like LinkedIn and so on. And then I see the same thing. I put myself in, in, in the shoes of a founder. And you know, when I see all these things in front of me, I said, Hey, hold on one second.

Mehmet: Like, I feel like I'm sitting in a school, you know, they're teaching me how to do this, how to do that. While the entrepreneur should be [00:32:00] like more curious and should have the. You know exactly what you said, like the companion that can be kind of a mentor, coach, whatever you want to call it, rather than a teacher.

Mehmet: Because I think like teaching entrepreneurship and teaching these things, theory is one thing and, you know, practical, uh, you know, experience is something completely different, right? So this is what. I felt, you know, like, you know, having this approach would, would benefit the, the, the founders because or the entrepreneurs in general, because they will feel that they, yeah, like, this is not someone who's trying to instruct us and, uh, show us like we are like kind of a, we don't know dummies.

Mehmet: Do you agree with me, Ricardo?

Ricardo: Yeah, as you, as I'm listening to you, what I hear is yes, I think we're, so of course we need to be educated and we need to know what we're doing and [00:33:00] hopefully learn from the best and, and don't do very stupid mistakes. Uh, we are taught about things, how to do things, build things.

Ricardo: But again, when you, that you have a plan, you follow the recipe, but at some point, most likely the recipe is not going to work. And at that point, yes, you can work on the recipe. You can pivot. You can change it. You can do all these things, but when things don't work, that's going to have an impact on you.

Ricardo: And, and that's when we incorporate the human aspect of entrepreneurship that, that, that it is so, so may. So yes, books about things will get you so far along at some point, we need to look at the person. Who's building the company, what's happening with him or her when, when things are not working, why are they doing this?

Ricardo: How much are they willing to sacrifice? Um, and these are personal questions. They're not questions about things. They're questions about people. And I think they're more important.

Mehmet: Absolutely right [00:34:00] now. One thing you, you bet, because you mentioned about the wellness and you know, the meditation and all this stuff.

Mehmet: So I know like, you know, Your experience led you to a spiritual path, uh, you talk about it in the book. So can you share some of the things that you have learned, uh, from, from this experience?

Ricardo: Yes, I mean so much. So every year I go for one or two months in 2018, I went for six months. I did, uh, this, uh, meditation retreat in, in Uruguay, in the Isha, uh, jewel Center in, in Uruguay.

Ricardo: So every day you learn something new. Uh, but a couple of, a couple of insights. I think you start paying attention with what's happening within you. And let's say you [00:35:00] start to listen to your body, making the comparison. Let's say you put the body, I'm sorry. Yeah. Let's say you put a loaf of bread in the oven.

Ricardo: Uh, sometimes you will see it when it's burned and then it's too late. Uh, but you develop the awareness to, to feel what's happening with you. Let's say as the bread is heating up. So let's say someone comes in the street or let's say, I think that you are asking me something very, Yeah, inappropriate, but let's imagine, uh, so if I react as if, as if the bread was already burned, I'm, I'm just going to, um, respond as if I was, uh, a puppet.

Ricardo: Uh, mechanism. You say this. I take it as that. And then I respond this. So, uh, we're very, very reactive. So as you develop this self awareness to see what's happening, you start realizing that you have different [00:36:00] ways to respond. So instead of being so reactive, let's say, I may, let's say, shouting back at you, you ask me a question and I don't think it's, uh, it's, it's, it's appropriate.

Ricardo: Um, I can take a second here and maybe six or seven options on how to respond would come to me. Maybe I could tell you, can you rephrase that? Or is there something that I did not understand? Can I get back to you? I actually, this is not the, I don't think this is appropriate. Uh, let's, let's look at this this other way, or I don't know, we, I can, I can respond to you gracefully, but still addressing the part that I did not agree with, or maybe even be open that I didn't understand something.

Ricardo: So you have so much more openness. Um, what is the consequence with being less reactive? Uh, so you, you make a different kind of choices. And when you make different choices, the world also responds in a different way. [00:37:00] Um, and when the world starts responding in a different way because you chose something different, you start to really see yourself as a creator.

Ricardo: No, I chose this and I created this, um, and the more you develop this practice of choosing and being aware of the responses that your choices have, you see yourself again more as a creator of your circumstances and of your world, unless as a victim. So that's, that's one of them,

Mehmet: you know, really inspiring, uh, Ricardo, uh, as, as we are almost, uh, you know, coming to an end of, of this episode, like, uh, one final thing I want to ask you, Ricardo.

Mehmet: So if you know, the people who reads the book, like if the, you want them to go, to go up with one, one, one lesson, what would be to,

Ricardo: so it's mostly [00:38:00] for the book was, was thought for different hours. Founders, creators, and even everyone who's something new, new and important for them in the world. Um, so I will tell them that, yes, when you were stopping in the world, it's really, really, really important. But your life is even more important than that.

Mehmet: Really? That's, you know, to the point I would say, uh, Ricardo, when people can, can get the book. So where, where they can get the book and where they can get to know more about you and, and, and your work.

Ricardo: Sure. So it's available in Amazon. Uh, I've been told that, uh, Amazon really looks at those, uh, reviews. So if people are inclined to get a copy and leave me a good review, I would appreciate it.

Ricardo: So the book is on Amazon, the book is Crash Course, and if you look for Crash Course Ricardo Jimenez, like my, uh, like my first and last name, you will find it, but, uh, but it's also, there's also a direct link from my website, which is [00:39:00] Ricardo Jimenez, and Jimenez is G I M E N E Z H, so ricardogimenezh. com, you will find links there, um, to Amazon, more information about me, my Instagram as well, and I would love to connect with your audience.

Mehmet: Great. Uh, so the, for the audience, you don't have to follow the URLs, you will find them. If you are listening to us on your favorite podcasting app, you'll find them in the show notes. If you are watching this on YouTube, you'll find them into the description. Um, Ricardo, really, this is a, a, a topic close to my heart, as I was telling you even before we start to record this episode, because, uh, and this is what we call it, the entrepreneur's mindset, right?

Mehmet: So to have this. You know ability to be resilient to be strong to to understand, you know, all the emotional aspects of How really to build a great? Product service as you said even a creator so so you you build something really I enjoyed you know the conversation with you today [00:40:00] and all you know, the insight that you shared and You can connect with ricardo as I said, I will put all the links in the show notes and in the description on youtube so This is how I end my episodes usually.

Mehmet: This is for the audience. If you just discovered this podcast by luck, thank you for passing by. If you enjoyed, give me a favor and subscribe to this podcast and share it with your friends and colleagues. We are trying to reach out as much people as possible to inspire them. And if you are one of the people who keep sending me there, you know, questions, some suggestions, keep them coming.

Mehmet: I read them all and I take them into consideration. So thank you for doing this. And as I say, always, thank you very much for tuning in. We'll meet again very soon. Thank you. Bye bye.