The Everyday Apostle
The Everyday Apostle
The Everyday Apostle - EP005 - Jorge Lazaro Diaz
What if you could seamlessly blend faith, professional success, and personal fulfillment? Join us as we chat with Jorge Lazaro-Diaz, a seasoned expert in online courses and membership websites with a rich heritage as a Cuban immigrant's son. Jorge takes us on a journey from his early days in Miami to his academic pursuits at Columbus High School, FIU, and Purdue University, ignited by a high school teacher who sparked his passion for computers. This episode is a testament to how early interests can shape a thriving career in technology and marketing, offering valuable insights for anyone looking to merge their passions with professional aspirations.
Balancing a demanding career with personal spirituality can be a tightrope walk, but it’s absolutely achievable. Through stories of corporate life at IBM and Compaq, and my own decade-long entrepreneurial journey, we uncover the unique challenges and rewards of openly integrating faith into the workplace. Discover how servant leadership, community involvement, and consistent spiritual practices can not only sustain you through high-stress moments but also enrich your professional and personal life. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a corporate professional, or someone seeking a healthier work-life-faith balance, this episode offers practical strategies and heartfelt anecdotes to guide your journey.
Welcome to the Everyday Apostle, where ordinary lives meet extraordinary faith. Join our host, kendall Peterson, as we explore how everyday men and women bring the gospel to life wherever they live, work and play. Let's dive into it right now. Bring the gospel to life wherever they live, work and play. Let's dive into it right now.
Kendall:Hello and welcome to episode five of the Everyday Apostle. My pleasure to bring these great stories of people who are trying to live out their faith in their day-to-day lives and share them with you guys. I have a great guest for you guys today and really excited about that. A big thank you for all of the prayers that we received and the special messages. It's really nice to know that you guys are supporting what we do and the work that we do and you guys are watching and liking and subscribing and that's all really important for us to get the traction that we need so more people can see it. Also, a big thank you for our sponsor today.
Kendall:Today's episode of the Everyday Apostle is brought to you by our wonderful sponsor, Bella Paz. If you're looking for unique, custom handmade accessories, Bella Paz has got you covered. From beautifully crafted bags and stunning earrings to stylish cuff bracelets Each piece is as unique as you are. Bella Paz takes pride in creating accessories that stand out and make a statement. Whether you're looking for a special gift or a treat just for yourself, you'll find something truly special at Bella Paz. Their attention to detail and dedication to quality craftsmanship is very evident in every item they make. You can find Bella Paz exclusively on Instagram at bellapaz.796. That is Bella B-E-L-L-A Paz P-A-Z. Dot 796. Be sure to check out their latest designs and give them a follow. Support handmade artistry and elevate your style with Bella Paz, where every piece is as unique as you are. Thank you, Bella Paz, for supporting the Everyday Apostle podcast, both on screen and behind the scenes, and helping us to bring these inspiring stories to our listeners. If you feel a tug on your heart to support our mission, pray over it. Reach out to us via our website, everydayapostlecom. We have sponsorship packages, donation opportunities, even if you just want to leave a message of support, we're open to that as well.
Kendall:So today's guest is Jorge Lazaro Diaz. A good friend for quite a long time, I have the pleasure of knowing Jorge. George brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in online courses and membership websites. With over 20 years in software development and a deep understanding of online marketing solutions, he is a true expert in his field. Jorge holds a master's degree in computer science from Purdue University, which has equipped him with the technical skills and strategic thinking necessary to lead his team of motivated technology and marketing experts. His expertise extends to building marketing automation solutions and applying best practices in software development and project management. Jorge and his team are dedicated to creating results-driven Solutions on predictable timelines that's pretty hard to find. They employ precise measurement techniques like a b split testing to continually improve their methods. With his unique blend of technical acumen and marketing savvy, Jorge ensures that every project not only meets but exceeds his clients' expectations. Please join me in welcoming Jorge Lazaro-Diaz to the show. Welcome, Jorge.
Jorge:Hey, hi Cantal, thank you for having me. I don't know if that's. I didn't know you were gonna read the whole thing, but I guess that's the professional bio.
Kendall:That's the professional bio and that is that's the only way I can remember everything, so I have to read it. I have a gift, as I do for everybody, that's for you.
Kendall:Welcome to open it now. You're welcome to wait until later. That's totally up to you. Jorge, thank you for joining us on the show today. I'm really excited to kind of hear. I know a little bit about your journey, but excited to hear more, and I'm sure the listeners will be as well. So without further ado, let's kind of jump into where it all began. Did you? Where, did you grow up?
Jorge:I'm a Miami born and raised type. My folks are Cuban. They got here, you know here after the whole Castro revolution. I was born here. Shortly thereafter I was born actually a couple of miles from here in South Miami Hospital, so I'm a local.
Kendall:That's amazing and a true native Floridian.
Jorge:Yeah, one of the two or three of us.
Kendall:Where did you go to school?
Jorge:So I grew up in Miami Springs. I went to Catholic school there, went to Columbus High School, then continued on to FIU when FIU was just starting their computer science program and then did graduate work at Purdue, like you said in the intro. Okay, so you know a real geek kind of by design. I was just fascinated by computers when that was actually pretty novel. Now it's like everywhere. But I got to start my career, you know, when everything was really getting momentum.
Kendall:Great. What do you think attracted you to computers and technology at the?
Jorge:time. You know, I had a teacher, Mrs Culmo, at Columbus High School and she introduced me to computers and I just ate it up. I mean it was just fascinating to me and I thought everybody found it fascinating until I started talking to some of my fellow students. They were going you understand this stuff? And I go, yeah, don't you? And they're like looking at me like, no, we, we don't. So I had a real knack for it and just the the idea of being able to control these computers for me was just like a challenge that I really enjoyed.
Kendall:That's amazing yeah, we're pretty close to the same age so I know at that point in time it was, it was a very rare thing and and those guys that did it were you know, they were the geeky guys, right.
Jorge:Yeah, yeah, none of us were like the most popular guys on campus.
Kendall:So Columbus, then on to FIU, then on to Purdue. So what happened after?
Jorge:College. So I met my wife soon to be 40 years married now when we were in sophomore sophomore junior year in high school. So we were, you know, dating got pretty serious. When I went away to college we were already engaged and we got married. Four or five months after I finished we moved up to Boca Raton and I started working for IBM, which at the time had just recently invented the PC Bill Gates was not particularly rich at the time had just recently invented the PC Bill Gates was not particularly rich at the time and you know we helped launch him into that and I really just had a fascinating time building stuff I never thought I'd be involved in.
Kendall:Did you work at the big, massive complex up there?
Jorge:Oh yeah, yeah, it's now called—I mean it's now really sad to see it because it's kind of been cut up. Half of it is the US mail and it's a bunch of different offshoots. But back then the whole campus was IBM's and we were about 4,000 employees on campus and a total of like 9,500 across Boca Raton and Delray Beach. So it was just a great time to be there.
Kendall:Yeah, it was an amazing, amazing facility. So all through school, college, then you meet your wife, tell me a little bit about what your faith life was like growing up, and then you know kind of into the high school college years.
Jorge:Sure, for me, you know, being Catholic was always a very important part of our life. My dad was, you know, a very committed churchgoer, very involved in the Curcio movement. Both my grandfathers were as well, you know, as well as the grandmas you can kind of assume they're along with that. But I was very fortunate to be raised by some very committed Catholics. That made it a very important part of our lives. We were very involved in a youth group, for it was called Encuentro Familiades, his family encounter movement, and that's actually where Annie and I met. We were both part of the program and we started dating, you know, in that environment where doing the right thing was emphasized and it's not like anybody obligated us to it. But you know we committed to, you know, waiting until we were married and that's just something that we thought we needed to do.
Kendall:It was a very important part of our life so sounds like growing up, there were some very strong male role models in the faith which which we, you and I both know is very important absolutely, and, as a matter of fact, my business is called Larry Jacob internet marketing.
Jorge:Larry's my dad, Jacob is my grandfather, so I I named it after both those guys who were just, uh, you know, real important, uh, you know, men in my life.
Kendall:My other grandfather was as well, but his name was Faustino and couldn't quite work it into the name of the company you can make him like some chief strategy officer name, right so, but the other part of that which is notable and which which we hear you know quite often on the show, is surrounding yourself Like, if you desire a faith, surrounding yourself with like-minded people. That community is very important, which you found in that you know where you met.
Jorge:Yeah, and a couple of those people are still very important parts of our life. We went to Spain last year and we went with Jorge and Lily, who we double dated with in college. They were part of the youth group. We worked a lot of these retreats that we were involved in together. So it really is nice to have people you have that sort of longevity, not just in life but also in your faith walk. So when you come up and you say something, you're not even like guarded and wondering what's going to come back, because it's really a part of who we've been all our lives.
Kendall:Yeah, that's hugely important and it seems to me, from my perspective, that's harder to find. You know, as you kind of thin out and you realize what's important, it's harder to find those people that are on the same page with you but vitally important.
Jorge:Yeah, no, and also we, you know, when we moved up to Boca Raton, you know, back in the day, there wasn't Facebook and there wasn't, you know, free texting. You know calls were expensive even between here and 15 miles north of us. So you know. And then we lived also in Texas, we lived in California for a while. We've been back now 28 plus years. So we were separated from a lot of that for a very long time. And you know, as we rekindled that when we moved back to Miami, it was kind of nice to say, okay, it's still here. Not that we didn't form those relationships in other places, but you know that going back to high school sort of thing is a real nice thing to have.
Kendall:Yeah, that's, that's, that's a real treasure. Um, so now you're married, I would imagine, since I know your kids, that the kids, the kids, came next.
Jorge:Kids came next. We were married. Uh, I mean, we got married at 21, so that was pretty young. So we uh 24 is when Monica appeared on the scene and that was really, I want to say, a relighting up Years ago. A guy from Dallas, tony Evans he was a preacher online at the time and he said God has no grandchildren. And that really stuck with me. And what I found is our faith walk was pretty strong. Then we moved away. You kind of enjoy married life, you know, and I want to say you kind of slack, or we did anyway. And it was the birth of our first daughter where you're kind of like, okay, what was it our parents did that instilled in us this, you know this belief, you know this faith life, and that kind of really brought us back where we started getting more involved ourselves, a lot like what our folks were involved in before.
Kendall:Right? Oh, that's kind of an interesting way of looking at it, right is, your kids can bring you back.
Jorge:Yeah, no, no, and very much so. Especially Monica just happened to be the first one. But you know, there's something that happens when you kind of have a kid I mean you have yours. Interestingly enough, jerry Seinfeld was saying something the other day where he said before you have kids you don't realize what it's going to be like or what you're capable of. And having kids almost like opens up this whole new world. That makes super clear to you I can do so much more than I thought I could do by myself, with the help from God. And it's almost like you're on two sides of a wall and you can't see over the wall. It was just a really interesting way to see it, because when I think back at what I was like before we had kids to now, it's kind of like the world's a different place.
Kendall:Yeah, it's hard to imagine pre-kids For me. I mean, we have six right.
Jorge:And now I'm seeing my two older daughters. They have their own kids, we have two grandkids, they have their own kids, we have two grandkids. And then watching them go through it, where they went from not having kids to now, and you see how their lives have really, you know, just grown painful at times, but you know they're in another place now.
Kendall:So raising kids and juggling all of life at that time period right, and you're plugging along and you're trying to build your career and progress, and you're at a huge company IBM was no slouch right. So where did your faith fit in your professional journey?
Jorge:You know, for me I was very fortunate. I was able to get a lot of work-life balance. Work for me has never been like this obsessive sort of thing and I was able to apply the right amount of time to everything. Most of my career I've enjoyed what I've done a lot so that when I'm there I'm really there and then when I'm home I'm not Matter of fact. A period of time I was working for KPMG Consulting and I'd be flying out all the time and this is before the internet and it was really nice because even though I was gone, typically Monday through Thursday, when I was home I was 100% home. There was no one cell phoning me because we didn't have cell phones, and I was really able to enjoy time with my family, really being there for my kids, not just dumping everything on my wife and crossing my fingers for my kids, not just dumping everything on my wife and crossing my fingers. And that was just an important part of my life, especially when you compared it to my career, right.
Kendall:Yeah, that's hugely important, for sure. So were you, I think. How to actually ask the question. But were you able to to be Christian in the workplace, or was that something that was when you were home and on Sunday?
Jorge:Yeah, you know, I worked at IBM for a while. Then I worked at Compaq. Compaq was in Texas, in Houston, and a lot of people wore their faith on their shirt. You could see it and you didn't even really have to be secretive about it. It was something you could be open. And, you know, maybe I was just blessed that way, so it was never something that was off to the side. And, you know, just because of the way I am and the way I believe, I'm not treating people, you know, as if I'm the one who's the most important. When I've managed people, my focus has been how do I service them, how do I be, you know, that servant leader? Let them do the work, you know, and let me get out of the way and then provide them resources when they don't have the resources that they need. And that's just kind of the way I'm wired, either because of the way I was raised or because of my Christian faith, but it's always kind of been just a natural way of doing things and I think it's served me well.
Kendall:That sounds like a healthy way to do it right. I think the fire and brimstone approach doesn't work, and certainly with sensitivities that exist in the workplace that's a difficult way to do it. But being a Christian, I think, speaks loudly enough.
Jorge:Yeah, I mean it's been 10, it'll be 11 years now in December that I've been 100% on my own in my own business and I'm glad I did this after my kids were out of the house, because it's been the most time draining adventure, if you can call it that, that I've ever participated in, and actually my biggest challenges with my faith walk have been doing this on my own. I never want to go back to corporate. I really appreciate the flexibility and a lot of the benefits of it, but no walk in the park. I mean, if I've worked hours, I've probably worked double the amount of hours I've ever worked in any corporate job.
Kendall:Yeah, I think you and I have pretty much been on our own corporate job. Yeah, I think you and I have pretty much been on our own. You know a similar amount of time, but that's a great segue, right? So it all seems great. You work for IBM, you work for Compaq, KPNG, whatever, and you're living the normal nine to five Sounds good, but there's always a challenge when it comes to professional life, it seems anyway. There's always a challenge when it comes to professional life, it seems anyway. There's always a challenge, especially now in the modern era where you don't get the gold watch anymore and people don't stay. Let's talk a little bit about some of that professional turbulence that you encountered and then how you managed through that turbulence, relying on your faith, that's relying on your faith.
Jorge:Yeah, well, I mean, for me, I'm one of these people that if I get into high stress, um, you know, burnout mode, I implode, and that means I tend to shut myself off from everybody. And that includes my wife, you know, my children, my children, by this time, are moved or moved out, but I can become very isolated, and that's been, that was, that's probably been my biggest challenge. Uh, because I'll basically just say I don't have time to go to, you know, our men's morning group, or I don't have time. I mean, going to church on Sunday is almost a given, but I could not really be active in my faith and my you know my prayer, you know prayer life has been in shambles. Um was really, I want to say, like year four when I said, gosh, I can't continue this way, this is just. I mean, I hate life now. And it was a real wake-up call that. You know, you have to spend a lot of time on your career, otherwise the business is not going to flourish. But boy, this is no fun.
Kendall:Yeah, so let's talk about how you, how you manage that, how do you bring yourself back, how do you maintain a healthy balance with, with all of that stuff?
Jorge:Yeah, you know, you know, Larry Barfield, there's a Friday morning group and I was like at my wits end and I go, I don't care how busy I am Friday, I'm going to show up for the seven o'clock. They call it the morning muffin. And, Larry, you know, I can't even remember what he said. But I said, you know what, I am going to start going to this every Friday if it kills me, because otherwise something else is going to kill me. And it was really the beginning of a walking back. And this is how obsessive I was about getting back is one of the guys who was in charge was going on vacation and I volunteered to be the guy who runs it every Friday because I'd done it in the past and that way I had no excuse. I had to show up. So I forced myself for like two months to go and then they said hey, why don't you just take the next four months too, because we need a new guy anyway. They change the shifts every six months. And that I want to say that was the beginning, because it brought me back into the community. You know, they started asking me to participate in some of the retreats and then it just made me more aware. You know I need to get my daily prayer, life walk moving. I need to be more perceptive of what my wife's needs are, because it can't all be work. And you know, I want to say now I'm in a really good place.
Jorge:You know, fast forward six years and now, like I even I got an arrangement with one of my daughters that I watch her son one day a week. And you know what? My business is no less successful because I'm kind of not really working. I mean, depending on how well you know how now he's walking. So now it's crazy. But by by being better with my time, waking up earlier instead of maybe putzing around on social media or something I can still put in the time that's necessary and do things I like to do, and then being that servant leader, right, right, you know my daughter could be paying for someone to watch her kid or I could watch him one day a week. And now I begin that. You know what did my grandfather do for me? You know how do I start paying it forward? Because you know I'm not getting any younger, right, all right, right so it sounds like a couple of things that I heard again.
Kendall:Staying in community, which has been been a common theme Stay in community, that isolation is very dangerous. Right, we know that's what the evil one wants of us when we're under duress.
Jorge:Keep Jorge busy and on his own, and I've done my job for now, that's right.
Kendall:And then some other things. It sounded like you just kind of do the first thing and it opens the doors to the other things that you need to do. Is that what you experienced?
Jorge:Yeah, and, for example, I want to say, last summer, you know, I want to say I was on a hiatus a little bit from my prayer life and someone introduced me to a book by Fr. Larry Richards Be a man and at the age of 17, he had his wake-up call that he needed to become a priest. And he had. I can't recall exactly what happened, but he said from that day forward, I spent an hour with my Lord in prayer every day and it was like an hour minimum and I'm going. Whoa have, I felt, fallen off? Because there've been times I'm not a pray an hour a day person, but I've learned ways to incorporate it into what I do. I typically will wake up early, but I'll go through my hollow app and right now they just started a pope, John Paul.
Jorge:The second challenge, which goes over his life how do I put good things into my mind so that you know my life takes the direction I want it to go? And you know, um, do not conform yourself to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, and for me that's just very important. If my mind could be, I guess, on social media and all the trash they send you there, but not this podcast, because this is good stuff on social media. But how do I put the good stuff in? Because if the good stuff is going in, the good stuff starts coming out of me. I start becoming that vessel that shares the Lord's message with people, which is not the case when I'm, you know, off.
Kendall:Right. Yeah, that's hugely important. I've experienced some of those same things as well. I started this podcast because I was continually being asked by people like how do you merge your faith and work? And a lot of them entrepreneurs right, and I think I said it in the last podcast that nothing reinforces your need for a relationship with God than owning your own business. What advice? If someone were to ask you how do I keep faith and keep my relationship with Christ, how do I keep it at the center of my business or my work or my professional life, what advice would you have?
Jorge:First of all, make sure that you do have that prayer life, that you do have that relationship, just like you can have a relationship with your wife, if you don't spend time with her, you're not going to have a relationship with the Lord. If you don't have that time invested, you can't do it quickly. So I think that's important. And then the other thing is how can you incorporate? I had a client this was earlier this week where she had to drive all the way from North Carolina to somewhere near Ocala where her stepmom lives with her dad, and the woman is close to hospice, and so, as a result, it slowed down the project. So we're having the next meeting after that and my first before we're.
Jorge:I mean, we had a lot to cover, but it's like how are things with your stepmom? I'm keeping her in my prayers, I'm keeping you in my prayers, and then you know we had a five minute back and forth about that, but I'm keeping her in my prayers. I'm keeping you in my prayers Cause this is. And then you know we had a five minute back and forth about that, but I'm not ashamed of sharing that. I just can't imagine someone taking a comment like that and saying none of your business. You know what I'm saying, so how do I incorporate that into my day to day so that you know people say this guy's actually caring and he's not a jerk, right Right?
Kendall:Yeah, I think if somebody rejects that, there's probably a deeper issue at play.
Jorge:Right, right, in which case, okay, let's go on to the media, right, exactly.
Kendall:So a couple of times I've asked this of my guest. There's a quote if you were on trial for being Christian, is there enough evidence to convict you? To convict, is there enough evidence to convict you? To convict you, yeah. How does somebody make sure that they're convictable?
Jorge:You know, make sure that it's apparent to people. I mean on my website. I mean, if you look around you'll notice I've got some quotes from Mother Teresa. I have to change my—I was doing some promotions, so the footer of my email signature changed, but it used to have St Ignatius of Loyola saying where he says you know, do everything as if everything depends on you, but trust that everything depends on God. It's something like that and I would get people to come up and say, oh yeah, I like that.
Jorge:I can really relate to that and, you know, st Ignatius is one of my go-to guys, so, without people thinking that I'm a Jesuit and a Belen guy, but that's okay, I always think in those terms and we're almost out of time here, but I always think of that expression that's used in the Bible about you know, don't keep your lamp under a bushel basket. I think it's really just about radiating the light of Christ, even the simple moments. I'll pray for you. Or how are you doing? And the kindness, the gentleness and tenderness, and that says a lot more than trying to, you know, hammer home that someone should follow Jesus.
Jorge:Right, and if you follow me on Facebook, instagram, you'll pick up. You know the different things. There's no secret about what's going on, what we're doing Easter morning. You know there are times when it's very blatantly clear that you know I've got a faith, life and definitely a family life.
Kendall:Awesome Jorge, before we go, why don't you give everybody your company website?
Jorge:Sure, sure. You can find us at larryjacobcom. So it's Larry Jacob, no S in Jacob, and that's by far the best way to reach me. From there you can get to my phone numbers and my email address. I'm happy to give anybody a hand if they need some help.
Kendall:Great Thank you so much. I'm happy to give anybody a hand if they need some help. Great, Thank you so much. The time I gave you a warning ahead the time goes quickly and it's hard to believe.
Kendall:Here we are Again for everybody listening or watching. Thank you so much. Please like and subscribe. It's unbelievable how important that is for us to get traction and get visibility. Another thank you for our sponsor, Bella Paz. Please check her out on Instagram. Bella Paz, b-e-l-l-a-p-a-z dot let me get it right dot 796 on Instagram. Really really great stuff and a special promotion. She has offered a free gift to anybody who likes or subscribes this episode. So if you're interested in some custom made either earrings or handbag or whatever she's going to give, like or subscribe. We're going to look at all of those and randomly pull somebody out. You will not be disappointed. Subscribe we're going to look at all of those and randomly pull somebody out. You will not be disappointed. And with that, thank you everyone. Again, check us out on everydayapostlecom or on YouTube, Instagram, Spotify, all of the channels where there are podcasts, and please pray for us. We're out.
Announcer:Thanks for tuning in to the Everyday Apostle. Don't forget to like and subscribe on YouTube, on your favorite podcast outlet, and at our website at everydayapostlecom. Until next time, stay blessed.
