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Entrepreneur Unleashed
Entrepreneur Unleashed focuses on sharing with the audience the struggles of the podcast guests throughout their entrepreneurial journey. As entrepreneurs, we always learn the biggest lessons from our lowest points, both personally and professionally. This is an amazing opportunity for the podcast guest to share his or her story and at the same time, it gives an immense amount of value to our listeners as they will have the chance to listen to the pitfalls of other entrepreneurs and learn vicariously of their past challenges.
Entrepreneur Unleashed
How To Make Money Using Social Media ⎮ Josue Pena
Are you ready to level up your entrepreneurial game? Look no further, this episode of Entrepreneur Unleashed is about to give you the inside scoop!
Join our host Edward Collins as he sits down with the one and only Josue Pena, a true inspiration for entrepreneurs. Josue shares his incredible journey of being an immigrant student, experiencing the highs and lows of building a successful online business, and the mindset that helped him bounce back and achieve even greater success.
Throughout the interview, Josue provides an inside look into the mindset and strategies that helped him achieve success as an entrepreneur, and how his experiences shaped him to be the successful business owner he is today.
This episode is a must-listen for any entrepreneur or business owner looking to take their business to the next level, and gain valuable insights from a successful entrepreneur like Josue Pena. Tune in to Entrepreneur Unleashed and let's make your entrepreneurial dreams a reality!
Connect With Josue:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pena/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/onlineceos/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@OnlineCEO/videos
Join Our Private Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4183185471779764
If you are a business owner and looking to get to the next level, I have something that you will find valuable. For as amazing as it would be to offer you something that would transform your business, that is not really an option without knowing a little bit more about your business. However, I can help you plug one of the main profit leaks of every business owner... TAXES. After doing these over and over with all of my clients, I have curated the top 3 secrets that help me pay next to nothing in taxes every year! You can learn them too, all you need to do is jump for FREE on my next "Outsmart The IRS - Web Class". Sign up for free at this link: https://outsmarttheirs.com/
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https://uplevelentrepreneur.com/official
Josue Pena 00:00
Three things that changed my life is like one skill set.
Edward Collins 00:02
Okay.
Josue Pena 00:02
Like develop a skill that's valuable to the market. Right? Focus on that skill. Don't try to deviate, a lot of ups and downs in my journey. And it's all because I lost focus from my one main thing, right? Well, my one main skill, right, that's there. And then two is networking.
Edward Collins 00:19
Welcome back to another episode of Entrepreneur Unleashed. Today in the studio, I'm joined by Josue Pena, and he's gonna be sharing his story, his background, and some tips and tricks to get you to the next level. I'm so excited that you're here. Once again, my name is Edward Collins. And you know, if you've been following me that, that my belief, I have the strong belief that the quickest way to shortcut your journey of success is to learn vicariously through others. So that's what we're gonna do right now. Jump in. Thank you so much for being here. It's, it's definitely an honor to have you here. I looked a little bit into your story. And I'm looking forward to learn a lot more by having this conversation with you.
Josue Pena 00:56
Thank you, thank you so much for having me. It's always an honor and a pleasure when I get invited to stuff like that, so I appreciate it.
Edward Collins 01:02
Awesome. Well, the whole point of this show is essentially to give other business owners the opportunity to learn vicariously through the trials and the triumphs of business owners who have attained now some milestones of success. And that definitely qualifies you. I mean, I've been looking a little bit into your story. But for those who don't know you, let's let's talk a little bit about what you're doing right now. Like, what was Josue like focused on what's your business like?
Josue Pena 01:27
Yeah, so today, well, there's multiple different facets, like you probably have, like 80 different things going on. But today, we have, I'm building a software company that has a payment processor built in on the backend as well. That's what the partner called that the Powell he is been in the industry for, like 25 years. That's that then we have full service agency, right. So for typically, personal brands, and course creators want to scale. It's called E Scaler. And then obviously, I have my personal brand that people know all my CEOs, where we sell coaching programs, courses, and obviously done for you services,
Edward Collins 02:01
That's online CEO?
Josue Pena 02:02
Online CEOs, so that's the main three things the, Yeah, that's pretty much the reason why the software is into place, because I was sending everybody to click funnels and go high level.
Edward Collins 02:14
Yes.
Josue Pena 02:14
And getting commissions at school. But um, you'll be building no equity
Edward Collins 02:18
Your own. Yeah.
Josue Pena 02:18
So partner with Anthony Powell to launch that. It's called Vizio. We're finalizing the stages of that piece right there. And yeah, that's pretty much the full scope of it. I think.
Edward Collins 02:31
I'm curious about like, what is what is it going to be?
Josue Pena 02:33
Yeah. So I mean, I'm sure you've seen this. So Click Funnels is great for funnels only?
Edward Collins 02:38
Yes, right.
Josue Pena 02:39
The membership portal, it's kind of kind of, like meh, go ahead level is great for agencies and copy pasting and stuff like that. He does a lot of great things. But it's like missing a couple other ones. So I wanted to build like an ad to custom code, a bunch of stuff, because my background is electrical engineering. And that's why I graduated from DR.
Edward Collins 02:58
Okay.
Josue Pena 02:59
So I had to custom code a lot of things. And I know most people can't do that. And then for the LMS, or the Learning Management Software, or the membership platform, per se, it was clunky, to say the least right? Kajabi is there, it's great. But it's still not to the part where you actually want it to be in the communities. I'll see you not to the part where it should be, obviously their school from Sam ovens. It's great. But in my opinion is like missing some things that I want the so called meta network, there's a ton.
Edward Collins 03:26
Yeah, there's a lot of them out there.
Josue Pena 03:27
Yeah. But like for me, specifically, I was trying to fill something specifically for me, and also with a payment processor aspect of things. Because as you know, stripe,
Edward Collins 03:34
Yeah.
Josue Pena 03:35
Shut down all the payment processing companies you see them? And I don't know if you've seen the statements,
Edward Collins 03:40
I think the challenge with with merchant accounts in general is that it's outside of your control.
Josue Pena 03:45
Yeah, exactly.
Edward Collins 03:46
You can get shut down pretty much for almost anything.
Josue Pena 03:48
Exactly. So and if you see the statements, you're getting charge a buttload of like different fees that you have no idea what they are. So I've been like that. So Anthony Powell, no, hence this 2019 has been in the industry for 25 years. He owns his own merchant, he probably like 15 billion a year. And then he has this platform that I'm like, bro, like, why don't you just let me like, go out there and sell i.
Edward Collins 04:10
Right.
Josue Pena 04:11
Because it was it was very, very good and up to par to what I want it. Right now is like still being built because I'm like, this nice to have XYZ for me to like actually push very hard. But anyways, that's like full scope of what that is.
Edward Collins 04:25
Okay, so looking at where you are today, though, it wasn't always like this. I mean, I know that that your story is pretty varied. Let's go back in time a bit. And tell me about like how you grew up like tell me about where you got start because you're not from the United States. You're from Dominican Republic
Josue Pena 04:41
Correct.
Edward Collins 04:41
Near and dear to my heart. I love Dominican Republic.
Josue Pena 04:43
Yes.
Edward Collins 04:43
Tell me a little bit about what the younger Josue was like.
Josue Pena 04:46
Yeah, so I mean, I'm an only child. Born and racing, the arm moved to the States when I was like 21-22.
Edward Collins 04:53
Okay.
Josue Pena 04:54
So today's like eight years ago, and I'm only child because my mom had health issues or complications now because she wanted to so my, the way I grew up, my dad is an electromechanical engineer. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I remember that.
Edward Collins 05:06
Okay.
Josue Pena 05:06
My mom is an industrial engineer. So I grew up, obviously, we're filling my head food and clothes. But it wasn't like lavish, right? I remember, once a month, maybe we will go to the movies to see one movie. Right? And then back then there was there was soda there was called chupi chupi. I don't know. In the logo. So once a week, I will have one of those. It was tiny like this. And once a week, my parents will have one beer.
Edward Collins 05:32
Okay.
Josue Pena 05:33
Because that was pretty much all we can afford for like, like, like, you know, fun. And then twice a month, we will have like ice cream will go out with like one cone. And that was, so that's how I grew up. I love my parents to death. My dad worked very, very hard from like, 8am 7am to very late at night. And I saw that, and from a very early age, I was like, I don't want this .
Edward Collins 05:55
Right.
Josue Pena 05:56
So I don't know how I was gonna make it. Or do I really didn't. I was like, I don't want this. Like I didn't, I knew what I didn't want. And that's kind of how I grew up.
Edward Collins 06:05
Sometimes it's the most powerful thing.
Josue Pena 06:07
Yeah.
Edward Collins 06:07
Knowing what you don't want helps push you into the direction of the things you do.
Josue Pena 06:10
And I never liked school. Even though I was I was very, very good at school. My mom was like, beat me with a broom. And pretty much I got bad grades. I really like one day, I got an 89 on the on the monthly report, or whatever. And they were Oh, yeah.
Edward Collins 06:28
So like, this was the standard. They said for you.
Josue Pena 06:30
Yeah, I had to get above a 95 or whatever it was, and to get like A plus plus, you know, so anyways, that's how I grew up. Very strict household. I'm super grateful for that. Because I'm, you know, that built me into a home today. My parents are still together. So very great family values, relationship wise stuff. But on the finance aspect, I knew what I didn't want, right. Thank God. Like, as time progressed, my father became more successful. He built his own business, but then Haiti earthquake happened while we were talking about like a second ago. And he literally, like, we come from a very church background as a pastor, and he's like, you know what, I'm gonna go missions.
Edward Collins 07:09
Yeah. Mission health.
Josue Pena 07:10
So by that point, he was building a very successful business in dr like, starting to build, he was making like 200 grand a year,
Edward Collins 07:18
Oh that's huge, yeah.
Josue Pena 07:19
Yeah, ton of money, because like, he was working for the main manufacturer, Home Depot in the yard, which is a Chola.
Edward Collins 07:24
Okay.
Josue Pena 07:24
Um, and he will go to China and like, bring products and stuff. So like he became, he started becoming very successful. And like the last, you know, couple years, and you have a very good business model with like, air conditioners, and like, all these different things. Anyways, but Haiti happened.
Edward Collins 07:40
Yes.
Josue Pena 07:41
And he was like, you know what, I don't care about money. He, like, he's a weird person, I can say like, he does not literally lying about money at all.
Edward Collins 07:48
Okay.
Josue Pena 07:49
But he went all in into helping people in Haiti, and I saw all that there was, for me, it was crazy. And it was like, very impactful. So he will, you know, come home and like, have food on the table. And I cry because the kids in Haiti wouldn't have food. So every week, Wednesday night, we will go to, let's say Sam's Club or Publix over there, it was called price mark, and we'll buy a full truck, like he will buy it full truck food and go deliver it in Hayden every week, and he will stay in Haiti for a week and then come back. Anyways, that's how I grew up. So I know like the sacrifice of giving and like, I'm so grateful. That's how I grew up. And that's what I saw. Because it gives you a very different perspective on life.
Edward Collins 08:31
Well, values are instilled in children as young as pretty much by the age of eight, a lot of experts say so the fact that you grew up in a family that that valued the concept of giving value, the concept of hard work, the value of the concept of literally like becoming an intellectual, learning your stuff and knowing your stuff and holding you accountable to it. And that's, that's amazing, because a lot of people don't have that a lot of people don't grow up in that that type of ecosystem you did, and that, like you said, that's probably what has led you to be the success that you are today.
Josue Pena 09:03
I was a rebel too, though. Like, they were very strict. So I didn't like that. Absolutely.
Edward Collins 09:09
Yeah.
Josue Pena 09:10
I would I would let you fight all the time.
Edward Collins 09:11
Okay.
Josue Pena 09:11
So like fighting school and I got spelled for somebody to theft from a kick.
Edward Collins 09:17
Oh, my goodness.
Josue Pena 09:18
Well, sorry, long story short, like full circle today. He works for me.
Edward Collins 09:20
Okay.
Josue Pena 09:21
So we're good friends, but I got spelled and that led me to go into bilingual school and learn English, which today obviously serves me well. But anyways, I was a rebel on that side. So I felt like I'd never like refitted in school. I hated school. My parents really want me to like, do well in school. So yeah, that's pretty much how I grew up like family values very well. I knew what it didn't want. But I also was a rebel because I was like, trying to figure things out.
Edward Collins 09:47
But you went you went to school for engineering?
Josue Pena 09:49
Yeah.
Edward Collins 09:51
That from an academic standpoint.
Josue Pena 09:53
Correct. Like in college in Santiago. But the way I chose electric engineering, electromechanical engineering was ,what are, so number one I wanted to become a professional soccer player that was
Edward Collins 10:05
Okay.
Josue Pena 10:05
That's why you can start social media.
Edward Collins 10:06
That's a big difference.
Josue Pena 10:08
A big difference.
Edward Collins 10:08
Okay.
Josue Pena 10:09
Obviously, Dominican Republic is known for baseball.
Edward Collins 10:11
Yeah. Not in soccer. Exactly.
Josue Pena 10:13
So I'm like, I need to get my name out there with social media to get a contract. And hopefully I'll make it that was my thought in like, 2012 2013.
Edward Collins 10:22
Okay.
Josue Pena 10:22
But my parents like, nope, you got to go to college. You got to study, you got to do this.
Edward Collins 10:26
Yeah, they were holding you accountable?
Josue Pena 10:28
Correct. And they knew that I had the capabilities of, you know, to be well, math, etc. So I was like, I literally looked at all the subjects, the careers I'm like, which one I dislike the least.
Edward Collins 10:41
Okay.
Josue Pena 10:42
So I was like, business administration. No, that's for lazy people. That's, you know, no offense. But like, over there, at least, it was like lazy,
Edward Collins 10:52
Okay.
Josue Pena 10:53
I hate like, lawyers, like, I hate reading. Like, I can't read books. Like that's not for me. Doctor, I don't want to study 12 years to hopefully make something one day, it's like, that's not for me. And I don't like opening people up and like watching blood.
Edward Collins 11:06
Okay.
Josue Pena 11:07
I don't like that.
Edward Collins 11:07
Okay.
Josue Pena 11:08
So the only other thing was engineering. So from all the engineering, I was like, okay, like, which one makes the most money? And which one is like, kinda,
Edward Collins 11:16
Okay.
Josue Pena 11:16
Kind of cool. And that's how I decided electrical engineer.
Edward Collins 11:20
I actually, I'll say this, I don't actually, I laud your approach. Because most people, especially in the United States, most people don't do that analysis to determine what it is that they're going to study. Like, I have this, this pet peeve with people who go to university for like, what I consider to be kind of silly degrees, that don't actually generate revenue. And then they those are the people that also tend to rack up a significant amount of debt. You wonder like, yeah, you have all the
Josue Pena 11:47
Arts degree.
Edward Collins 11:48
Exactly. When you sit back and you're looking at at, I just don't want you to waste your time going to university. So if you're gonna go to a university, make sure that it's a productive use of your time, you're gonna get a return on the investment that you have.
Josue Pena 11:59
Yep.
Edward Collins 12:00
You evaluate the degree that you're going to pursue? And what is the potential outcome of income that you can expect from that particular exam? And then make an informed decision regarding how much you're going to financially invest in the pursuit of that degree?
Josue Pena 12:13
Yep.
Edward Collins 12:14
So you've done I actually logged the prototype, you said, Okay, this would have the what is available? What's going to make me the most money?
Josue Pena 12:20
Yeah, I was forced to.
Edward Collins 12:22
Okay.
Josue Pena 12:22
So like, Thank God, like, I never, you know, my parents had enough income at the time to pay for college and stuff like that. So I graduate without student debt. So I'm just super grateful for that. But like, they were like, you're going to college no matter what. I'm like, Oh, crap. I need to choose one of these crappy subjects that I don't like. And I ended up graduating one year earlier because of that. So because I was like, I, the second I got in, I'm like, How do I get out of this as soon as possible?
Edward Collins 12:48
Okay.
Josue Pena 12:48
So I was like, taking like 25 credits per semester out or something.
Edward Collins 12:53
Okay. So it was like, you were like, Okay, I'm dedicated to get it done. Because I have to exactly make me do it. So I just want to do it exactly as I can't.
Josue Pena 13:01
Like I was making like, the way I've made money. So my parents never gave me money or allowance or anything, like I would like, have two other chores in the house. And they would like give me something from that. But the money the way I actually made money looking back, my first sales experience was my uncle. He passed away now, but my uncle lived in New Jersey.
Edward Collins 13:22
Okay.
Josue Pena 13:23
And he will send boxes of toys and Nintendo or whatever, back to the ER.
Edward Collins 13:27
Okay.
Josue Pena 13:27
And every Christmas so obviously, as a kid you use and then you toss it in the closet.
Edward Collins 13:32
Right? Right.
Josue Pena 13:33
So but then you know, you're 17 or 16 you need to make money and like crap, like, I want to get the new playstation or whatever the case may be or cell phone.
Edward Collins 13:40
Right?
Josue Pena 13:41
My parents aren't gonna buy from me. So what I did was it over there was like eBay,
Edward Collins 13:45
Okay.
Josue Pena 13:45
But make alibaba.com
Edward Collins 13:47
I'm not familiar, okay.
Josue Pena 13:48
Like I'll leave it it's like the same thing at the same time. So like, take the stuff from my closet and put it in Mercado Libre it and sell it.
Edward Collins 13:55
Okay.
Josue Pena 13:56
So I would like sell literally anything like, everything in my closet. I was like, I wasn't using out sell it in there.
Edward Collins 14:02
I'm going to do a study because every every entrepreneur I meet with that has, again attained levels of success that most aspire to. Every one of us has a background in sales. So we've we've cut our teeth, in the process of selling things. So looking at at that sales experience that you've been through, how would you say that that's contributed to where you are now?
Josue Pena 14:22
I think greatly because you lose the fear of reduction. I think that's like the main the main thing like Oh, will happen, like if they say no, like I'm, I'm honestly an introvert, like, like, I'm an only child. Like, you know, obviously you're an introvert because you're not surrounded by that many people. But I can become an extrovert, like in this scenario.
Edward Collins 14:42
Right?
Josue Pena 14:43
Right. So but sales wise, I think I just lost the feeling of like, what happens if you say no, like, I don't care.
Edward Collins 14:50
So, I the way I talk about that is I want business owners to learn how to divorce themselves from the outcome and bury yourself to the process.
Josue Pena 14:58
Exactly.
Edward Collins 14:58
Because that's what leads to you attaining the things you want. If you're focused so much on the outcome, you you that distraction can cause you to trip because you're not looking at the things that need to be done day in and day out to get to the outcome. There's another quote. And I don't know who said it, but I fell in love with it. When I did hear it. It says the man who loves to walk will always walk farther than the man who loves the destination.
Josue Pena 15:00
Yep. Right? Exactly. And servicing the prospect in the best way and helping the prospect make the best decision that it is for them not
Edward Collins 15:21
And that's just an amazing thing and the process of sales. If you'd become good at it, you're not concerned with actually making the sale, you can certainly doing all the things that are incorporated in the process of sales. Exactly, because if you're diagnosing I mean, which sales should be you're diagnosing the current ailment in your prospect. And if you have the solution, that value add is you're morally obligated to share it. And if you don't have the solution, that's also a good thing to be able to know because now you can say hey, listen, I don't have the solution for you.
Josue Pena 15:56
Correct? Exactly.
Edward Collins 15:57
If you are someone who networks, maybe you have contacts with those that would have the solution. So there's never really a downside that yes and a no are both great answers.
Josue Pena 16:06
Right?
Edward Collins 16:06
It's the maybes that that
Josue Pena 16:07
Yeah.
Edward Collins 16:08
Cause challenge.
Josue Pena 16:08
I know, I'm like, Let me think about I'm like, bro, just tell me. I'm good. Like, just tell me no. And I think people are afraid to make the wrong decision, which is why they delay it.
Edward Collins 16:19
Or they're afraid to offend.
Josue Pena 16:20
Yeah.
Edward Collins 16:21
Yeah, at the end of the day, it's like for a real salesperson. Again, they don't care about the yes or the no, they care, they hate the concept of maybe or I'll get let's let's reconnect, because that takes time and you have to follow up, etc. I love this. I love this, this great conversation. So when you look at at your experience that you graduated you are you are in an environment where you have this degree behind you, but that's not what your passion was. Your passion was was football, real football.
Josue Pena 16:49
Yeah, real football,
Edward Collins 16:49
American football.
Josue Pena 16:50
Like they're always soccer. I say soccer was like actual football.
Edward Collins 16:52
Yeah. That concept then led you to figure out how you can market yourself because you didn't have access to local resources for for your football, desires and passions. So tell me about that process. That marketing process?
Josue Pena 17:05
Yeah. So um, back in 2012 2013. I think I mean, the YouTube videos are still up like relation football, relation fitness. Those are the two YouTube channels that I had. I would wake up so this was my entire schedule. I would Monday through Friday. Obviously, I had classes every single day.
Edward Collins 17:23
Yes.
Josue Pena 17:24
I will wake up like seven ish. I would work a little bit or go the internship was you had to work an internship to graduate or whatever I was making like, no money. Pretty much. I was like working in a factory.
Edward Collins 17:37
Right?
Josue Pena 17:37
Super dirty. So we'll do that. Then I will go to college. Right until like 5-6 PM, then we'll go play soccer.
Edward Collins 17:44
Okay.
Josue Pena 17:45
Then I had classes again at night. until like, 9pm 10.
Edward Collins 17:49
Okay.
Josue Pena 17:49
That 9pm 10 I will go to the gym until like 12. And then 12. That was like Monday through Friday. And then during the weekends, I will wake up early to go train in the field by myself. Free kicks, I became very, very good at it. Funny sidenote, Google contacted me back in like 2017 or 2016. I think it was for a video that I posted how to Bend It Like Beckham and they were going to use it on a on a hey, Google, how do you bend the light back? And we're How do you say we're
Edward Collins 18:16
And you're gonna highlight it?
Josue Pena 18:17
Yeah, they never did. But yeah. So I would just go train and film myself.
Edward Collins 18:22
Okay.
Josue Pena 18:23
Doing that. So I started an entire
Edward Collins 18:25
Publishing those videos.
Josue Pena 18:26
Exactly. I started photography, videography. By myself, I was doing like little shitty camera that my dad had when he was like traveling to China. And that was like my first camera, I would just the boxes of shoes as a tripod on the field. And that was like, yeah, like,
Edward Collins 18:44
DIY.
Josue Pena 18:45
Yep, exactly. So I would just, you know, I only have one ball also, or two, and out. So I will kick it, I'll do run
Edward Collins 18:53
Around to go get it and bring it back.
Josue Pena 18:54
Exactly. So that was how I trained every Saturday morning. And that's what I did for years. So that was like my schedule, if you will.
Edward Collins 19:03
Okay.
Josue Pena 19:04
And that's how I started learning about social media, learning, photography, learning videography, learning content creation. So today, I'm able to, you know, pick up a camera, and like, just shoot myself and like, you know, the team, like the content team that I have, can just tell me pretty much anything because I know what to look for when framing and lighting and aperture and shutter speed and like all these different, you know,
Edward Collins 19:25
You're the rule of thirds.
Josue Pena 19:27
Exactly, exactly. Exactly. So that's that's like how, what happened back then. But it wasn't like monetization at all. Like I was thinking, growing followers on YouTube and Instagram, to then hopefully get a contract because of my social media presence.
Edward Collins 19:41
Oh. Okay.
Josue Pena 19:41
That was like my train of thought the entire time. I was not thinking about money or business at all. And how did that evolve? So in 2014 2015, I moved to the United States, Indiana Lufia in the middle of nowhere, my it was cornfield, a pig. Nothing. So it was like literally middle of nowhere. Where, which helped, because that forced me to obviously focus on the business and what I was doing. I started playing semi pro there. And because of my social media, I actually get the chance to be a pro. Yeah, an agency.
Edward Collins 19:45
Okay.
Josue Pena 19:49
Wanted to use me as a case study. They basically what they did is like, they will take you, and they will play some different teams as tryouts. And then they will help you sign a contract and then from the contract, it will take a percentage. Right for X amount of time. So they wanted to use me as a case study to bring more players because obviously, I had started building my social media and stuff like that. That was 2016. What ended up happening was I broke, I got injured. The left the big toe of my left foot. I broke it. So like super tiny fracture, it was so dumb to Yeah, you can't play. So what ended up happening is the time that I was training, I started the voting and social media. And then when I recovered, it was like August 2016. I like alright, I can either keep pursuing soccer or keep doing this thing. And I realized the soccer life, a lot of sacrifices, very tiny money, especially United States. And I wasn't going to be Messi or Ronaldo. But I could be Messi Ronaldo in my field.
Edward Collins 20:21
Okay. Right.
Josue Pena 21:08
So,
Edward Collins 21:09
Okay.
Josue Pena 21:09
That's, that's what I chose.
Edward Collins 21:10
I love that.
Josue Pena 21:11
Yeah.
Edward Collins 21:11
Because you're looking at, you recognize within yourself the limitations. You knew at least you have you had a strong belief that you could not be the superstar here.
Josue Pena 21:22
Yeah.
Edward Collins 21:22
But you could be a superstar. It's just you had to find the right niche.
Josue Pena 21:26
Exactly. But it was it was a very hard decision. Because I mean, I've been working for this dream for like, 10 plus years. By that point. I was like, 24-25 at the time. And I've been working for this dream for like, 10 plus years, I broken both of my ankles playing soccer in VR, like, I've gotten so many injuries, you have no idea. And every single time I push through it, right? So by that point, I'm like, I need to decide. And most people like, and you see this all the time, like oh, like follow your feet, like follow your heart. They may I'm like, no, no. Like, ignore your heart completely.
Edward Collins 21:59
Yeah.
Josue Pena 22:00
Because your feelings and your heart will deceit you like 100%?
Edward Collins 22:04
Yes.
Josue Pena 22:05
And follow logic, like to see pros and cons for each decision, evaluate upside, downside, and then just make a decision.
Edward Collins 22:13
See that mechanical engineering degree helped out because that's a logical approach.
Josue Pena 22:17
Yeah, it kind of did. But I hate to admit it, because I wish I would have been able to get those three and a half years, four and a half, like four years back.
Edward Collins 22:24
If only you knew what you know.
Josue Pena 22:26
Yeah.
Edward Collins 22:26
And you can apply it back that yeah, totally get that.
Josue Pena 22:29
Yeah.
Edward Collins 22:30
So okay, so you you're faced with the decision, continue to pursue soccer, or real football?
Josue Pena 22:37
Yep.
Edward Collins 22:38
Or venture in full force into social media. And you, you chose the latter.
Josue Pena 22:43
Yep. And one month later, September 13, 2016 to this day, I still remember when I got the first paying client for like, $3,500 a month. It was like the most amount of money I've ever made, because I was making like, 300 bucks as an engineer in the ER.
Edward Collins 22:55
Yeah.
Josue Pena 22:56
Now make from one client for like, one call a week for consulting $3,500 a month. And that was like, he's like, it was like some the CEO of like an insurance company. I have no idea why he wanted to go. This was me, honestly. But, you know, back then. I'm like, he's like, how much are you gonna charge me like $30,000 a month? Like done to me, your PayPal? I'm like,
Edward Collins 23:15
Okay.
Josue Pena 23:16
Crap. Like I should have charged more.
Edward Collins 23:18
Exactly.
Josue Pena 23:18
So that's, that's kind of how it happened. And then, you know, throughout the years, like you learn, and by December, January 20, December 2016, January 2017, that right there, I was reading their Grant Cardone TV show, I got featured in the twice and things started growing like very, very quickly. But it wasn't easy. So
Edward Collins 23:40
I think that's also an interesting point. Because a lot of people do look at at individuals like yourself, they find you on Instagram, they find you on Tik Tok, or whatever. And they'll say, Wow, this guy's this guy had some overnight success. And I wish it wasn't overnight. Right. I mean, this is years in the making for that overnight success, though, that
Josue Pena 23:59
Yeah.
Edward Collins 24:00
You did land some interesting opportunities early on in that career journey. How did that shape where you are today like that, that opportunity?
Josue Pena 24:11
A ton. So I mean, I had no money for REITs. So it was like, for me, it was organic networking events, and just just, you know, belly to belly as they call it. By the way, sidenote, throughout this entire time, I was on a student visa. Like I was a student
Edward Collins 24:28
In the US?
Josue Pena 24:29
Because I mean, how you're gonna get States legally at least right? You can do a bunch of like legally.
Edward Collins 24:35
Yeah.
Josue Pena 24:35
So throughout this entire time,
Edward Collins 24:37
Your student visa.
Josue Pena 24:38
Yeah. So like today, I have two master's degree and associate's degree. So when they talk to me, like the college thing when you like, talk to him he's like, Oh, no college, and I'm like, are you kidding me? Like you're talking to somebody who has four degrees?
Edward Collins 24:52
Exactly.
Josue Pena 24:52
No, it's like college is like if you want to make money is like the worst decision you can possibly make. Period. You want to be a lawyer, engineer, doctor.
Edward Collins 24:59
There are definitely some specialized areas that you need to go through that only because that field requires it.
Josue Pena 25:05
Exactly.
Edward Collins 25:06
But if if your goal, your outcome is to have fulfillment in life, it doesn't necessitate a degree to do that at all. But it doesn't. It does require some money.
Josue Pena 25:16
Yeah.
Edward Collins 25:16
Money isn't the most important thing in the world, but it impacts everything that is.
Josue Pena 25:19
Yeah.
Edward Collins 25:20
It impacts your ability to eat the way you want to eat, go and visit the places you want to visit, back to the community in which you live. The education that you can have access to for you and your family. Healthcare, definitely impacts everything that isn't.
Josue Pena 25:33
Exactly, exactly. So anyways, what ended up happening, like the way everything grew, was like I said, belly to belly networking events. So 2016 I was that year, I bought a course in their community Sargon social media. That's how I became quote, unquote, the Instagram guy.
Edward Collins 25:49
Okay.
Josue Pena 25:50
2017 comes, I launched a course that I thought was a failure. Because my perspective, I did like $20,000 in the first 24 hours, but for me, it was like, supposed to be the 100 grand, it didn't sound like it was a failure. It was. So 2016 we did like 100. And between 2016 2017 We did like 150 $100,000.
Edward Collins 26:10
Okay.
Josue Pena 26:10
Out of partner at the time separated that was very sour and weird. So everything went down in July the next year. So in the year I went for one
Edward Collins 26:18
So that's going 18
Josue Pena 26:20
That was 2017. So it's between 2016 to 2017. So summer between the two years that year, it was going up and then down
Edward Collins 26:27
Right off the cliff. Okay.
Josue Pena 26:28
Yeah. And then what changed a lot of the game for me was networking events, like I told you. So I went to the Clickfunnels events in Boise, Idaho, where they did the bubble soccer, bubble soccer, Guinness World Record. So I have a Guinness World Record today because of that. But that events, I met a ton of people. And literally what I would do in that event, I would just go to people like Hey, nice to meet you. My name is Mr. Pena. I do XYZ more than happy to help you and I will do work for free. So I met lady boss Pengy. Like I met all the top dogs.
Edward Collins 26:56
Yeah, yeah.
Josue Pena 26:57
In the Clickfunnels community in that event, but nothing happened. I've also like nothing happened. But like, zero, but I saw this great list of months later, in 2018 comes right before the Clickfunnels event. I think it was like March or February.
Edward Collins 27:10
Okay. Before Funnel Hacking live.
Josue Pena 27:12
Before funnel hacking live. Brendan pulled him from Lady boss calls me, hey, we're going in this cruise. You should come. By that point by the way, I'm making like four grand a month net profit. Like no.
Edward Collins 27:22
Okay
Josue Pena 27:23
So he's like, You should come. I'm like, Okay. Cruise is for grand.
Edward Collins 27:27
Yeah.
Josue Pena 27:28
Like, I'm
Edward Collins 27:29
Like my entire profit.
Josue Pena 27:30
Yeah, like crap. Okay. Alright, let's let's do it. I'm living with my parents in Indiana. You know, I we got very tiny expenses. Let's do it. So I go there, make great relationships with them. Then go to the Clickfunnels event. Macro mosey met all those guys. Right. Yeah. And then then it just snowballed. So lady boss became a client got great success for them. Then her Mozi start consulting with him. I spoke at his event, then Alex Becker, then yeah, like, by September of the same year, we did over a million dollars in like process.
Edward Collins 28:02
Wow.
Josue Pena 28:02
So like, January to September, nine months, I went from like, four grand or 10, grand, whatever it was, to a million and collected.
Edward Collins 28:09
So let's, let's unpack that for a minute. So you had this major fall off with regard to the the one exiting a partnership environment. So you made your fall off in income, so that you started hitting some lows, then obviously in your in your business mentality, etc? What gave you the inspiration to say, Hey, listen, you know what, I'm going to put myself out there, I'm going to spend my $4,000 the only $4,000 I have, I'm going to go to this event. Like what what was it about? I mean, so was asking you or was like,
Josue Pena 28:39
Yeah, it was it was definitely who was asking. Because it was like, it was like, nobody, I would have said no, right? It was who's asking who was going to the cruise?
Edward Collins 28:46
Okay.
Josue Pena 28:47
It was a full week, because the west side like, I'm gonna be able to make great friendships in here, great networking, and at least something's gonna rub off. Like at least something right? So that's what I thought back then. And I was like, my expenses are pretty much zero because I'm living with my parents in Indiana.
Edward Collins 29:05
Right?
Josue Pena 29:05
So it doesn't matter. It's like, whatever. Let's just do it. And that was my whole period. That was like, pretty easy decision. In my opinion. It was like, okay, very tiny expenses, invited me or adult people. Like at least I'm gonna learn something, right? For some reason, everybody this random Dominican kid that makes little tiny money compared to they're already making like five to 10 million a year at that point.
Edward Collins 29:27
Yeah.
Josue Pena 29:28
Now they're making like 70 or whatever it was.
Edward Collins 29:30
Yeah. So a little more
Josue Pena 29:31
Yeah. So back then there were like, on the come up. So I'm like, I need to get on this cruise no matter what.
Edward Collins 29:39
Right? Right.
Josue Pena 29:39
So that's that's kind of how it happened. It was a pretty easy decision in my opinion.
Edward Collins 29:43
Now what was your process for actually like making those connections when you were on the cruise? Did you have did you go in with a game plan like
Josue Pena 29:50
So I met the connections in the Boise events.
Edward Collins 29:54
Okay. All right. This was at the Guinness Book of World Records.
Josue Pena 29:57
Yeah, I sent in a random tiny Airbnb. I'm in a college like, literally couldn't afford more like a nice hotel. But I made those connections there. And then literally, I would just go out, I would just give value for free, I will help people for free, like as much as I could. And that's it. And they saw that I was good at what I was talking about, which was Instagram, right?
Edward Collins 30:17
I think that that's also an important point, you lead with value.
Josue Pena 30:21
Correct.
Edward Collins 30:22
I mean, Hormoz he talks about doing this all the time nowadays, but you did it back then he was like, Listen, I have this opportunity to potentially share my wisdom with you that could change the course of what you're doing.
Josue Pena 30:33
Exactly.
Edward Collins 30:33
Let me do that. Share, share your wisdom, give them an opportunity to, to let people know that you know what you're talking about. And then things fall Snowball from there.
Josue Pena 30:42
Exactly.
Edward Collins 30:42
When you look at when you look at that experience, then would you say that that was the transition point for you?
Josue Pena 30:48
Um, one of them for sure.
Edward Collins 30:50
Okay.
Josue Pena 30:51
Because I realized, like the people, I had to get into circle, the right circle, the right people that had the money to pay me, right, and that I can easily deliver results for, right, that was it because like back then I only knew how to grow like I knew how to, like bring a ton of traffic to you. But if you had a good conversion system, you'll make a ton of money. If you didn't then just have a lot of traffic. Exactly, exactly. So obviously, Alex Becker Ladyboss all these guys had a great sale system, which is why they made a ton of money. And I have built testimonies from them. So that helped tremendously. And I knew that that was like that was the best marketing because they had no money for us. You know, so that was my whole train of thought pretty much.
Edward Collins 31:32
So you said that was one of your, was what was the second?
Josue Pena 31:36
So 2018 comes, right? million dollars. I'm balling spending it all pretty much. Very dumb. Like super, super dumb. I'm like, I look back. I'm like, geez, I was I was straight up dumb.
Edward Collins 31:49
Yeah.
Josue Pena 31:50
Right. Because like, and then I mean, you're making 100 grand net profit a month, and from like, nine months, like, you're 25 at the time, right?
Edward Collins 31:58
You don't know. You don't know anything about money at this point.
Josue Pena 32:00
No.
Edward Collins 32:00
Financial Literacy wasn't there.
Josue Pena 32:02
Yeah, I'm making I'm making in like, a couple months, while my entire debt did in his entire career.
Edward Collins 32:08
Yeah.
Josue Pena 32:09
Right. So I have no idea how to manage this money, right. And my parents were really never approved with the online business. And they really never believed that. And it was so 2019 comes. And that was everything went down again. So that year, I made a lot of bad business decisions. Got hugely in debt as well. Because I was like, split my focus, tried to do a bunch of stuff all at the same time. And it went down like hardcore. And that year also, because of everything that was happening, and you know, my status, sort of visa whatever. I started also working at a gas station.
Edward Collins 32:44
Really?
Josue Pena 32:44
Yeah.
Edward Collins 32:46
From making seven figures.
Josue Pena 32:48
Correct.
Edward Collins 32:48
To working in a gas station.
Josue Pena 32:49
A cashier for eight or nine hours a day, standing.
Edward Collins 32:52
Oh, my goodness.
Josue Pena 32:53
Yeah. So it was tough. It was like my face was breaking out like stress all over. It was it most people don't know that. I'm just starting to share this like now. But back then it was extremely tough. I mean, like, you're on top of the world.
Edward Collins 33:06
Yeah, yeah.
Josue Pena 33:06
Literally the top of the world. And then you lose everything. You know. And obviously, a lot of people make fun of me. I was posted all over the social media or Instagram was to say, like, Oh, this guy like making all this money loud. He's working at a gas station, but they didn't know the background of everything.
Edward Collins 33:21
Right.
Josue Pena 33:22
So back then I knew who the real people were and who wasn't.
Edward Collins 33:26
Okay.
Josue Pena 33:26
Right. Like who's ride or die?
Edward Collins 33:28
Right?
Josue Pena 33:28
Who was like, actual real friend and who's just in here for what I have.
Edward Collins 33:32
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Josue Pena 33:32
So it was a very tough lesson. Like 2018 my uncle that I was just talking about, like, in a second, like, passed away, then COVID happens 2020. So my grandfather passed away in the ER, and then my fiance dumps me back then a week later. So like, I mean, I'm working on gas station after losing everything. I'm in debt over half a million dollars. Right. Uncle pass away, grandpa passed away, fiance dumped me a week later.
Edward Collins 33:59
Oh my goodness.
Josue Pena 33:59
Yeah. And I'm like, bottom of the but I was actually suicidal too. So I had to go like psychiatrist, medication. Like all that stuff. That's like, not fun. And, you know, nice to talk about. I was there in my face, like was breaking with with acne because of all the stress. Yeah. And like, people were like, you know, make comments like, let's try to still try to show up and do videos and stuff. And people were like, oh, like get frickin Accutane, like pomade like, you know, like, you know, the
Edward Collins 34:28
People can be cruel when there's on behind a keyboard and
Josue Pena 34:31
Keyboard warriors. Exactly. Exactly. So anyways, that's that's what happened. I got screwed over by different JV deals. I lost like in 2018 I lost a huge contract over seven figure contract. They stole it from me like it was it was brutal, like in 2020 2019. Now, July 2020. Working in a gas station COVID middle COVID.
Edward Collins 34:52
Right.
Josue Pena 34:52
Right a couple of friends moved to Miami, by that I'm living in Davie.
Edward Collins 34:57
Okay,
Josue Pena 34:57
I'm moving.
Edward Collins 34:57
You already moved to Davie.
Josue Pena 34:59
Yeah, I've already been moved there in 2019. Right. And I'm living in a friend's house like in a closet. It's like, like literally like, tiny library slash closet. That's where I'm living.
Edward Collins 35:09
Oh, wow.
Josue Pena 35:09
So, my again, decision making I'm like 15 grand is no money. Like, if you have 15 grand saved up like that's nothing like just invest to figure out like how to multiply like, Okay, number one pitching gun his own money. I've already made a million. This is nothing, right number number two, I'm ready. Like I'm ready bottom of the barrel, like, like, I'm already down. I can't go any further than this. So I'm like, Alright, whatever. Like, I got two months to figure it out. That's that's, like, obviously 5k a month in rent plus, yeah, you know, utilities, whatever it is, it's like a six to 7k. After everything's kind of heard, like, at least I have two months. And Porsche sounds are one of the most beautiful buildings in Miami, living with celebrities like Maluma. And with all the stuff, I'm like, I have these I have two months to live life, and at least get out of the environment I'm in right now.
Edward Collins 35:09
Okay.
Josue Pena 35:09
So and then a couple friends moved to port Santa. And they're like, look, we have a you know, extra bedroom. You just stay. Well rent is 5-15k a month? Yeah. 15k a month split three. That's five campaigns a month for Whoa, I've saved up throughout the year. It's 15 grand from the gas station.
Edward Collins 36:14
Right?
Josue Pena 36:15
And I'm glad I did that. Because like, the reality is that your environment plays a bigger role than you think. It's like, you can't pivot or you can't fight. It's like, I mean, you can but it's like so hard to fight against your environment. It's almost impossible. So I changed that. Jul 2020, end of July, by end of August, business was already doing 89 grand a month, like in 30 days.
Edward Collins 36:36
Okay, still in the same environment. So doing agency oriented.
Josue Pena 36:39
Agency oriented Instagram guy, like focus there. Because like I am good at I was good at what I did, right. But I didn't have the environment to be able, that allowed me to do that. So I left the gas station, cuz obviously you're working 10 hours a day. You don't have any energy after that. So left that left. You know, all that stuff was poor sent our huge rents, obviously. But in a month, things started picking back up at nine grand in sales, like 50 grand collected, things were started, like, picked back up by the end of that year. It was doing over 100 grand a month. Right? And 2020 2021 comes it like they started snowballing from there.
Edward Collins 37:16
Okay.
Josue Pena 37:16
But I'm still a student. So I'm still going to college throughout that entire time.
Edward Collins 37:20
Oh, my goodness.
Josue Pena 37:21
Yeah.
Edward Collins 37:22
So what, what would be if you had to look back on it, like, what was the thing that gave you the best opportunity to make the business a success when you ventured back into it? So again, having the fall off in the business, having some challenging relationships business wise, getting into an environment where you for you hit back to rock bottom $15,000 left, let me invest that. What was the business thing you did?
Josue Pena 37:50
Yeah.
Edward Collins 37:50
That cause the catalyst to make money again.
Josue Pena 37:52
So it was the same thing it wasn't before. So I think that what I've realized throughout my entire career is anytime I try to do, or try to step out of my lane, or like, try to be focus from my main thing, things just go sideways, like south like extremely quickly. So that's what I realize. So I'm like, Alright, let me just go back to what made me money.
Edward Collins 38:13
Okay.
Josue Pena 38:14
Like, it's pretty logical range. Yeah, agency, Instagram, growing monetization, like just helping personal brands do to grow and scale their following and monetize their following. That's it. Right. So that's what I did. And that's what started like picking, like steam back up. Again.
Edward Collins 38:32
So what about from a business operations standpoint? Was this still just you doing? It does start to expand at that point,
Josue Pena 38:38
I had, I had team members, like during COVID. And I didn't want to fire them because like they depended on me, I had like maybe like three or four.
Edward Collins 38:45
Okay.
Josue Pena 38:45
Between, like overseas and one or two in the United States. So I didn't want to like let them go because I was in the middle COVID, I feel bad. I'd never got PPP. Like, I've never gotten a student visa. Exactly. Yeah. Like I never got any assistant. And also, by the way, also is making no money by the way, because like, I just wouldn't you can't take any money, like you can't work. So yeah, anyways, so that's entire thing is happening. And I didn't want to fire them because like they dependent their livelihood depended on me. So that was a huge pressure point as well. Back then. So I mean, I just went back to what was working before, it's like, how did I make the first million Instagram? I'm the Instagram guy, like the Clickfunnels man, when I got the award, they're like, this young guy, man. Like, that's makes you right? So like, right, I'm just gonna do that. Let me focus on here. And it worked really well because obviously because of my focus on there throughout the years, people just see me as as the main guy for this stuff. And I was the first one in that specific industry or ecosystem that did anything Instagram related.
Edward Collins 39:48
Right? Right.
Josue Pena 39:48
So Instagram Stories, shout out to like all the things that are popular today and like our niche or like our little thing or pond. I was the first one who pioneered exactly and it's one back to that. So that's how things start picking back up and growing. And
Edward Collins 40:04
So as we ventured into now 2021 and 2022, what was the transition like for you?
Josue Pena 40:09
So I was just started, like I was doing everything like delivery, like all that stuff. So I started hiring people. In September, October 2020, 2020 September, October I start hiring people.
Edward Collins 40:20
So leveraging labor.
Josue Pena 40:21
Exactly leveraging labor, correct. And then 2021 was the year like things started like rocket fuel and upwards. So that year, I think we ended the year with like, 2 million plus in in sales.
Edward Collins 40:34
But what was it that caused that route?
Josue Pena 40:36
Focus, focus, focus is focusing on one thing and doing that one thing exceptionally well. And that was it, you know,
Edward Collins 40:44
And was it specifically your ability to tell others of what you were doing? Like what what was it that caused you to take take it to the next level?
Josue Pena 40:52
So talking to the right people like the avatar, right. So like, my main niche in the ICOs is like talking to business owners like helping them they're following and monetize that, like, how do we structure that in a in a good way? That's flows.
Edward Collins 41:06
Okay.
Josue Pena 41:06
Right. So that's what I did just focus on one specific thing. And it just grew super, super quick. So back then, like even beginning of 20, ending of 2020, beginning of 2020, I wasn't running any ads
Edward Collins 41:20
At all.
Josue Pena 41:20
At all.
Edward Collins 41:21
All organic,
Josue Pena 41:22
All organic. Yeah.
Edward Collins 41:23
Oh, my goodness. So you went from a few $100,000 to $2 million, with no advertising.
Josue Pena 41:32
So by 2021, we did 2 million in 2021 2020. We did like 700 grand. So, but 2020 was no ads. 2021 was with that.
Edward Collins 41:41
Okay.
Josue Pena 41:42
But it was still the network like,
Edward Collins 41:44
zero to 700,000 with with just organic is amazing.
Josue Pena 41:47
Yeah. So but again, like I build a personal brand, in that the main thing I think, helped me tremendously is like, even though I was working at a gas station, nobody knew that, like, people knew about it. But then I was still helping, like providing value, like doing what I was good at, right? to business owners and other people. So that created obviously value in the marketplace. My personal brand was intact, my name was intact. Obviously, with the testimonies that I have in the background that I have is it's very easy to ramp it up again, as you as you launch it. So that's what I did.
Edward Collins 42:20
Okay.
Josue Pena 42:21
Well, then anything,
Edward Collins 42:21
What would you say then is the next step for you?
Josue Pena 42:24
So, right now, so 2021 happenned, great year, we went from like 89k 200k to like 200 plus 250 plus 300. Peak month was like 400 to 500.
Edward Collins 42:37
Okay.
Josue Pena 42:38
So now what we're doing is software so I think that's, that is the next big move. So I had I mean,
Edward Collins 42:46
Eell, so for any type of SaaS gets you into that monthly recurring revenue.
Josue Pena 42:50
Exactly.
Edward Collins 42:51
So that's, that's a huge win. MRR is definitely where, like, the smart business player is playing in MRR.
Josue Pena 42:59
Yeah.
Edward Collins 42:59
So if you're focusing on SAS, like what's going on with your agency then .
Josue Pena 43:03
No, it's still going on right now.
Edward Collins 43:04
Okay. You put the right systems in place the right people in place,
Josue Pena 43:07
But I've separated so what I realized too, is like everybody was coming to me and expecting me the thing you like, that can't happen. Like it has no equity has no value as a company. And that can't happen. So now I've separated things where E scalar is the agency,
Edward Collins 43:23
Okay.
Josue Pena 43:23
And I'm just a personal brand, like all my sales is that E Scalars product services for.
Edward Collins 43:28
Right
Josue Pena 43:29
So that's how I've structured it where you scalars one providing all the services everything
Edward Collins 43:35
I love that.
Josue Pena 43:35
And then when he says like courses and coaching, whatever it
Edward Collins 43:40
It's all the time and try to help them to understand that you can't be the one who's doing because if you are there is no
Josue Pena 43:47
There's about him like like at the beginning 100% yes, you have to do it.
Edward Collins 43:50
Absolutely. Because you need to you need to be the one who actually builds out the business you understand how the business operates etc.
Josue Pena 43:56
Yeah.
Edward Collins 43:57
You're gonna get to a point where you need to make a decision to say hey, listen, this is the the amount of money I've been compensated myself to run my business now that's the pool of money in which I can hire others to do it.
Josue Pena 44:07
Exactly.
Edward Collins 44:08
Because if you're if you build your business the right way with regard to profit in mind and having planned predictable profit in place before each dollar is even earned, you can you can organize it in such a way to be able to afford to replace yourself.
Josue Pena 44:22
Yep.
Edward Collins 44:23
And when you're no longer working in the business, and now you can focus on working on the business that's what takes you truly to that next level and gives you the freedom to explore other revenue streams, which is what you're doing now.
Josue Pena 44:33
Exactly. And I think a big I mean, I was a mistake I did hugely even though I have two MBA degrees and all this stuff is not tracking with dollar one.
Edward Collins 44:43
Yeah. It's not just a mistake you make all not all but so many business owners make this mistake because I talked about the fact that you don't know unless you look, you have to look at your numbers. You have to understand where the dollars how one how the dollars are coming in, but even more importantly how dollars are going out.
Josue Pena 44:59
Exactly, because it's very, it's surprisingly easy to make a lot of money. And you'll see how surprisingly easy it is to spend the money to.
Edward Collins 45:07
Yeah.
Josue Pena 45:08
In 2018 when it went to a million, literally all my thought was like, okay, statement end of the month, I have 10 grand in the bank. Okay, cool. Next month, I'm on 20. That was that was my train of thought.
Edward Collins 45:20
Yeah.
Josue Pena 45:20
That was it.
Edward Collins 45:21
Okay. How much did I kick? Yeah, because it's it's net, not gross that matter?
Josue Pena 45:25
Exactly. But I wasn't I wasn't tracking where the money was going. I wasn't tracking where I was spending. I was talking with like, actual net net, like, what's my cost of goods sold? Like, I wasn't tracking anything of that. And that was a big mistake. And that changed in January 2021. I think that that helped me because like, 2020, I'm just focusing on making money. And then I realized, okay, like, money is going out, I need to like, figure something out. And I'm not, I'm good. I could figure that out. But my focus is sales and marketing. I can't do delivery and also operations. So I ended up just hiring somebody from Upwork. And just training them and excreting this like insane system in the backend where every single penny is tracked. Every single day for an hour.
Edward Collins 46:04
I'm a numbers guy.
Josue Pena 46:05
Yeah.
Edward Collins 46:06
I'm a huge money guy.
Josue Pena 46:07
Yeah.
Edward Collins 46:07
So when it comes down to it, understanding what your numbers are, or how healthy they are, it gives you it gives you so much insight into making the right decisions at the right time.
Josue Pena 46:16
Yep.
Edward Collins 46:17
I run up against business owners all the time, who's like, I'm gonna hire these people. Have you done the analysis to determine can you afford to hire? What's the return on investment on those hires?
Josue Pena 46:28
Yep.
Edward Collins 46:28
Understanding what your metrics are, so that you can evaluate whether or not it was a good hire three months in, like all of that information, that data is so critical, because you and your career, I know that you've run up against us, too, with business owners who are business owners by default. They're not really business owners, they their job owners, they own a job they own maybe they own an income stream, because they they're doing something that's generating some income, but that doesn't make them a business owner. If you want to be a business owner, and you should be able to tell me, what was, what's your profit this month? What's your profit going to be next month? What is your predictable profit going to be? based on a formula?
Josue Pena 47:06
Exactly like cash sales, cash collected? MRR Commission's to sales reps, advertising spent net profit?
Edward Collins 47:14
Exactly.
Josue Pena 47:14
Fixed expenses, variable expenses, cost of goods sold all that stuff?
Edward Collins 47:18
Like customer acquisition costs, all of those things?
Josue Pena 47:20
Yep.
Edward Collins 47:21
Yeah, understanding those metrics is important. But now you know, you know that you've learned it, you've gone through those life lessons. You got to a point in January, said 2021, where you started to say, Hey, listen, I need to pay attention to my numbers.
Josue Pena 47:34
Yep.
Edward Collins 47:34
You did that 21 was a success. Because of that, you're keeping much more of every dollar that you're making. 2022 is also following that route. Right? So if you look then with with SAS being a huge focus for you going forward, what is the next five years look like?
Josue Pena 47:52
So goal, eventually, is to get to 30 to 100 million, okay, as an enterprise. So that's, I'm like, and I've seen this, like, a bunch of different, like, just talk to different people and like, honestly, is that fastest way to do that is software like by far and the reason why I got into that is because I talked to this kid, his name is Ian. He bought my Instagram course back in like 2017 2018 buy that one in a dropshipping course and he couldn't figure it out. Couldn't figure out how to do that. And then he went on to build two not one to nine figure software companies.
Edward Collins 48:29
Oh my goodness.
Josue Pena 48:31
I'm like timeout. You couldn't figure out my course how to do this. But then you went out to building not one but two, you exited the first one and then he's building the second one, nine figure companies and you're 21-22. All right, I'm doing something wrong like I'm and I think the vehicle that I chose, it's great for cash cow like you create insane skills, sales marketing. But now that I have this skill set, I can just transfer it to this better vehicle and you're not going to be able to compete like a Toyota will never be the Ferrari,
Edward Collins 49:04
Right period. Yeah.
Josue Pena 49:05
So just the engine is different so the vehicle matters a ton but your skill sets matter even more while you're in the vehicle so that's why I chose and dove into software is so hard though to build like it's so money intensive. You spend a bunch of money and stuff like that so and I think so the combination of the payment processor and the software is what gives insane enterprise value so you see for example Airbnb, Airbnb at the beginning was just hey you book it and then you transact in person cash or whatever. When they added the payment processor, oh, the company just skyrocket
Edward Collins 49:40
Went through the roof.
Josue Pena 49:41
Exactly. So that's ultimately what we want as well, where the payment processor aspect of things for online businesses, you know, e courses e commerce, etc. That you know, this stripe will shut you down in an instant. They have no support, and most payment processors suck or they charge a buttload of fees that you have no idea what the hell they are. I'm so that's where we come in. We're like No, like this is fully transparent. This is like the fee we beat anything out there in the market. And then we also provide you with the platform to support the growth.
Edward Collins 50:09
Wow.
Josue Pena 50:09
Because, and I'm, I'm lucky, I think that I met Anthony Powell, who's the actual mastermind behind it. It's like he's been in the business for like 25 years. But you come from like the multilevel network marketing world, you sold like 2 billion plus worth of Herbalife with LMS, and systems and funnels back before it was cool or fun. So he comes from that world and brings all that experience and stuff like that on to the this and like, I'm like, bro, like, just just let me fronted, like, let me just push hard.
Edward Collins 50:39
Right. Yeah.
Josue Pena 50:39
And just you just make sure that the system works properly again. So that's that, I think, is a very beautiful, partial, like, it's it complements each other very well. And then we have the agency where it's like, cool, you can have the software, if you want to do it yourself, or the agency can just full service will do everything for you, either for an upfront fee, or a profit share, You know, or combination of the two. And then I have my personal brand as well, that can just keep growing, and that fuels everything else. So that's like, the three different elements that three
Edward Collins 51:11
legs of an amazing school, that just gets you to a point where you have true financial freedom.
Josue Pena 51:16
Exactly. And like my goal eventually is like, let's just say we exit tomorrow, like the agency and the software for 100 million plus, or whatever it is, right? What I'm going to do next. So like, that's why I want to keep my personal brand separated from everything. Because that then creates enterprise value that has its own value. And if I exit tomorrow, I can still keep my main thing and keep running the thing I'm doing because the beauty about a personal brand is like it will always be with you until the day you die.
Edward Collins 51:44
Exactly.
Josue Pena 51:44
And you can pivot, you can do a bunch of stuff. And people will always follow your personal brand. Like I can, like, you know, everything can go to zero tomorrow. And just my personal brand alone will sustain me. And I've experienced that Twice,
Edward Collins 51:55
Twice. Yeah, I was just gonna say that that has happened.
Josue Pena 51:58
That has happened twice. So and I've been able to build back up because of that. So I think it's it's like, it's hard. It's not easy. It's not overnight. But if you're able to do that, then you're set literally set for life. So that's that's ultimately like the master plan, if you will.
Edward Collins 52:14
I'm looking forward to seeing how this unfolds.
Josue Pena 52:16
Yeah.
Edward Collins 52:16
Hopefully, years ahead.
Josue Pena 52:18
Yeah. Hopefully it works out well, or is it gonna be epic failure? And I will just come back here and say like, look, it was a failure. This was the lessons and that's it.
Edward Collins 52:25
Always gonna be welcome back.
Josue Pena 52:26
Yeah.
Edward Collins 52:27
One of the things I like to do is, every time I bring a guest on here, I like to go through a little bit of a mental exercise. So if you would indulge me, I'd love to take you on this journey. I want you to imagine for a moment that you have an ability to go back in time. And you're gonna go back in time to visit a younger version of you. And you're going to be able to share just one thing with that younger version of you. What I'd like to know is what version do you go back to? And what is it that you share?
Josue Pena 52:55
I would go back to was sweat in the second he moved to Indiana?
Edward Collins 53:04
Okay.
Josue Pena 53:05
I was 21-22 at the time.
Edward Collins 53:07
Okay.
Josue Pena 53:08
Just got to Indiana. And the thing I would tell him is forget about growing followers and content focus on sales. Focus on where the money's at. That's, that's what I would do. Even though wholesale at that time, his dream is to be a pro.
Edward Collins 53:26
Right?
Josue Pena 53:26
At the end of the day, professional teams is all a business. Like they're thinking, This I signed this player, this player will is very good, we'll win this trophy. This trophy will make X amount of money, this player will sell X amount of tickets, etc, etc, etc. So I even think of a generation exactly everything from a marketing and sales perspective, not just growing the audience that ultimately even if I wanted to become a professional soccer player, I would be a much more successful soccer player even though I might not be the best on the field. But I'm a better money, Jonathan Yeah. So that's what I would tell 21 22 was way just moved to the States doesn't know anybody Indiana cold AF like yeah, holy Kent, especially this time of year. Yeah. So that's what I would tell him. I was like, focus on on sales and figure out a way where you can make money online. Very good. There's tons of ways and just use in focus on sales and marketing, build those skill sets instead of growing the following.
Edward Collins 54:21
I do have a second portion of this this particular journey I want you to imagine then a future version of of swag comes here to sit with us in this moment in this section of time, and he's going to share one thing with you. What does he share?
Josue Pena 54:38
Future holds sway. What does he share? That is a great question. I have let me let me think about that for a second, that I have no idea because I don't know what future was was gonna think that maybe maybe the decisions I'm making right now. For the business are very stupid or they're very great.
Edward Collins 55:02
Okay.
Josue Pena 55:02
I don't know. So, but yeah, that's a great question.
Edward Collins 55:09
Okay. I love I love stomping you guys. Okay,
Josue Pena 55:13
I have no idea that yeah, geez, what caught me off guard there?
Edward Collins 55:18
No worries no worries.
Josue Pena 55:19
So yeah, I mean like I would just say maybe future holds sway is thinking more? If you if future was windows the lottery numbers I will say that
Edward Collins 55:28
Okay, okay, shall we do the quick wins
Josue Pena 55:31
The lottery numbers I'm just kidding. But like, I'm sure it will be more investment like I focus on investing more money? And where do you work like doing that like focusing more on that because as you know, recession is is getting worse and worse and worse and whoever has cash in hand and good credit is going to be able to reap opportunities over the years to come. So I think that will be the the the advice the future has always say like focus on keeping as much as in hand credit, build it and invest as much money as possible.
Edward Collins 56:05
That's excellent.
Josue Pena 56:06
So I think that that might be the most I would say.
Edward Collins 56:09
Any any period of economic upheaval creates opportunity, right as opportunities can add zeros to your net worth,
Josue Pena 56:15
Exactly.
Edward Collins 56:15
Or if you're poised to seize them
Josue Pena 56:17
Exactly. Or just tell me who's going to win from Argentina, I bet all the money I have right now and just, you know, okay, or that.
Edward Collins 56:26
So a younger version of Josue got got some nuggets of wisdom. The current version of Josue is getting some nice nuggets of wisdom, but I don't want the audience to feel left out. So if you could share one thing with the audience that you think could add significant value to their life in this moment? What is it that you would want to share?
Josue Pena 56:45
I would, I would share a couple things.
Edward Collins 56:47
Okay.
Josue Pena 56:47
One is have standards and boundaries. So back in 20, oh, I forgot about this back in 2021 2022, I was able to go through a process like immigration wise where I didn't have to get a student visa, and because of fear, and stupid lawyer, whatever. They said, I had to go through the route. But I would have been able to get the green card a lot sooner than what I have. Now. I have the green card today. So I was just saying never make decisions based on fear.
Edward Collins 57:14
Okay.
Josue Pena 57:15
Be logic.
Edward Collins 57:15
It's hugely important.
Josue Pena 57:17
Be logical, but never make decisions based on fear from anybody that tells you anything, I would just like, like there's relationships before my life that I literally fell palpitations on my chest as I was speaking, because like there was speaking like screaming like all these different things. So I will say never make a decision based on fear. That's number one, two, is make sure that you have boundaries, like you need, like a line, do not cross it. Even if you offend the other person, no matter what that's for anything business, personal love life, all that stuff. Right. But then, from business perspective, I would say three things that changed my life is like one skill set, like develop a skill that's valuable to the market. Right? Focus on that skill. Don't try to deviate z, a lot of ups and downs in my journey. And it's all because I lost focus from my one main thing.
Edward Collins 58:06
Right?
Josue Pena 58:07
Well, my one main skill, right? That's there. And then two is networking. So like, if I go to as much networking events as you can, if you don't have the money, here's a little hack, you want to go to the Clickfunnels event, the tickets are 1000 bucks, right? Traffic components, like traffic and conversions. Same thing. Just go to the bar. Yeah, just just just just get a ticket, same hotel, stay in the same hotel, that's extremely important.
Edward Collins 58:30
Yeah.
Josue Pena 58:30
Stay in the same hotel or an Airbnb that's like walking distance, and just go to the bar and network network, like, most people will not go even like not most people, some people, especially the big dogs will not go even into the event session.
Edward Collins 58:44
Right? Exactly.
Josue Pena 58:45
They will just hang around and network in the bar and stuff like that, you'll be able to talk to people. And that's how I got most of the clients at the beginning, especially, just so I would say like networking is like those two things like skill, focus on that skill that should become very, very good. And then network with people that you can provide that skill to, and where are those people duplicate conferences, networking events, and if you can't afford it, just buy a flight 50 bucks a night 20 bucks on a couch, Airbnb it just go to the fucking bar and just talk to people and give value for free. Get their contact number, do not try to sell on the event.
Edward Collins 59:21
Exactly.
Josue Pena 59:21
They're not trying to sell on the event just on your notes on your phone, write the name, phone number email, and then follow up the next week. And just get them on a call to just help them for free again, because you're a nobody right now.
Edward Collins 59:31
Right?
Josue Pena 59:31
Is that held them for free for 14 days, 30 days, whatever it is. And then like that's going to build a lot of momentum. It's sucks is a lot of hard work. But it's how I did it.
Edward Collins 59:42
Yeah.
Josue Pena 59:42
You know, and I mean.
Edward Collins 59:45
And it worked.
Josue Pena 59:46
It worked.
Edward Collins 59:47
So at the end of the day, those who are watching could say hey, listen, if I want to shortcut my journey, my journey is still gonna be long because every journey is but if you want to shortcut it, just listen to the nuggets of wisdom you just throw up.
Josue Pena 1:00:00
Yeah.
Edward Collins 1:00:00
And then into practice.
Josue Pena 1:00:01
Yeah. And I think there's like, there's multiple ways of doing it. Like obviously, there's more ways to skin a cat and like most path to Rome, but like if you have like, you have no money like nothing, develop a skill and do that. Or obviously you can do it online. Like I was living in Indiana in the middle of nowhere. I was I was networking in Facebook groups. That's what I was doing, right. That's how I met, like, started meeting all these people. And like when I met in person, they already kind of knew who I was. And there was like already a trust factor built.
Edward Collins 1:00:26
Yes.
Josue Pena 1:00:26
So you can also do that online. So just develop a skill that's in focus on it. And then network, those three things will change the lives of every single person.
Edward Collins 1:00:36
That's why I just want to say thank you what you shared right now. And throughout the entire episode has been amazing. I just truly appreciate you. I'm so thankful you're on here. It's been an amazing, amazing. Guys, you've just watched another amazing episode of Entrepreneur Unleashed. I know, I know you've loved it. So go ahead and hit that thumbs up button. It's not going to just help me it's also going to help you because you're going to be telling the algorithm exactly what type of information you want to be shown. I wish you well in your journey. My name is Edward Collins, and this has been Entrepreneur Unleashed. Be well, bye for now. Thank you so much. That's for sure. That's been awesome. And your journeys is really really cool. Man. You said the ups and the downs, the ups the downs, the UPS again,
Josue Pena 1:01:21
Yeah, looking back. It's kind of cool