Do You Want to Know What the Basis of Entrepreneurship is? - Kelly Cardenas

ST Intro/Outro: 00:00:10

Welcome to Soul Talk. The podcast founded and created by Monica Romirez, the Warrior of Love. Soul Talk was created in 2020, when a pandemic hit, and we were in lockdown. She wanted to have exciting conversations with open minded people, so they could understand different aspects of herself. And she could help others in the same way. She interviews, healers, coaches, therapists, psychics, readers, channelers, mediums, intellectuals, poets, artists, and more. She calls it Soul Talk, because it started as a conversation from soul to soul.

Monica Ramirez: 00:00:47

Hello, everyone, this is Monica Ramirez, the Warrior of Love. And thank you for coming back to soul talk. And today we have a very special invite that I have the pleasure to meet him in UCLA in Los Angeles, in person. And then Kelly accepted to be in so talk, I'm really, really excited for this. You're cepting my invitation for soul talk and how you here.

Kelly Cardenas: 00:01:14

I thank you so much, Monica, you are an absolute phenomenal human being and you're doing such great things with this podcast.

Monica Ramirez: 00:01:22

Yes. Kelly Cardenas. She's a keynote speaker that I have the pleasure to be in one of his speeches so that he gave up there UCLA, and euphorbias contributor, bestselling author, host of the top ranking podcasts, and we have to learn from him and founder of CEO of the National multi, multi million dollar brand. And Kelly, tell us a little bit more about yourself, because many speakers know you, many people or speakers know you and many thought. So tell us a little bit more about yourself as well.

Kelly Cardenas: 00:01:58

I think I would describe it as I'm a little kid who had a ton of encouragement, and was loved by both of my parents at at such a crazy level. And you know, I shared with you where they told me that I was awesome. Never come to compare myself to anyone. I was beautiful. Well, I was awesome, separate myself from my accomplishments. I was beautiful never to compare myself to anyone, and that I could do anything that I put my mind to. But just because I was able to do it didn't make it my purpose. And so I grew up in a military family. We didn't have a ton of financial, you know, success, as people would say. But what we did have is that we had the love and encouragement of those two amazing individuals. And I believe that that's what really gave me the wings to just try whatever it was that I wanted to do in life.

Monica Ramirez: 00:02:53

Not everybody was so lucky as you were, unfortunately, maybe the world will be a better place that you're making it. And in reality, there was something that took you to where you are now it was a pain or something. Usually we have ups and downs in life that take us to the person that we are now what it took you here.

Kelly Cardenas: 00:03:20

Well, I think when you talked about the pain part, you know, we grew up, you know, my parents got split, when I was in about sixth grade, and it wasn't that they got divorced, but they got separated at the time. And you know, so we were, you know, we had a little one bedroom apartment with five people. And, again, we didn't have a ton of money, but we had a ton of love and encouragement. But if that agent sick in sixth grade, you want to be able to have a little bit more money. And watching my mom work for 1618 hours a day and not have enough energy to be able to pull out the the height of bed that she slept on in the front room because we only had one bedroom and my brothers and I slept in the bedroom, on mattresses put together with no box springs. I remember thinking at that time that I wanted to make sure that my mom was going to be okay. And, you know, I didn't want my kids to have to go through everything that I did. And my dad referred to it as this. He said that his dad took it as far as he possibly could. And then he passed the baton to my dad. Well, my grandfather, you know, I'm from a Mexican descent and my grandfather was Mexican. So, you know, he grew up picking fruit during the summer. And you know, my dad worked with him during that time and they talked about businesses and they talked about entrepreneurship, but they never got my my grandfather never got to experience it because he passed away at 44 years old. And my dad, you know, talked about it his whole life. But you know, he also had children very young and you know, he got to see it later on in life. And you know, but I believe that I have the baton now and I'm doing everything that I can To be able to pass it to my son and my daughter where they have a little bit better existence than than I did, you know, and not to say I've had a bad I mean, you know, I've been very fortunate. But I think it's a lot of the way that I've looked at it not that my circumstances have been great. But it's the way that I've looked at my circumstances, because my parents raised me with the encouragement that they did. And give me those three principles that really gave me wings, that no matter what happened, if I got kicked in the head, in business, or I closed a business, which I've done, I've, you know, I, you make a bad business decision, you lose a lot of money, or whatever it is, then you still live to fight another day. And now I have a wife, who's an encourager, and I'm just very, very fortunate to be around such amazing people, and my wife is an amplifier of everything that I do. And she believes in me more than what I believe in myself.

Monica Ramirez: 00:05:50

It's very, very interesting, something that I have noticed a while back, and I have a lot of conversations with many people about that two kinds of people that I observe in what I'm just in my spirits, I can't talk, I cannot talk about the spirits of someone else. That there's two kinds of people, the ones, the entrepreneurs, the ones that are going to be doing business and so forth. And the ones that they want to be employees, or because they're their employees, because they're too afraid to actually not having a boss. Notice once they're gonna leave the ones they want to leave, they're already entrepreneurs in a way or the other are the ones they don't want to let go their job, because who's going to be the boss. And, and you mentioned right now that your dad and your uncle were talking about that, even if they do it or didn't do it, but at least they had a dream, and they put that in do. And that's why in a way you look for that freedom in a way not having that boss and you become the boss, in a way or living that dream? Why do you think, actually, that happened, because there's a lot of limitations for the people there, they hate their job, they do not have the guts actually to let it go and start their own business and have that freedom.

Kelly Cardenas: 00:07:12

So number one, this is probably not going to be that exciting. But you know, owning your own businesses. For me, it's not freedom, it's it's the fact that you eat last you get paid last. And you know, you stay until everyone's gone. So you know, it's a joke on on social media. There's one guy that says, you know, I wanted to quit my nine to five, because I wanted to be my own boss. And he's like, I didn't know that I was going to be working 24/7. But I think it's, you know, in the event that you're going to go that route, you know, you've got to be doing something that you absolutely love, and that your purpose to do. And that's what my mom had told me. And these three principles, the you're awesome, separate yourself from your accomplishments, you're beautiful, don't compare yourself to anybody else's journey, and that you can do anything, but just because you could do it doesn't make it your purpose. And this is a big thing with entrepreneurship, because I was just talking with the lady today. And she asked me about she asked me this exact thing. And she didn't, it's interesting that we get to talk about it, Monica, because what she said was, is that, you know, there are, she said, How do you know? Like, how do you know if you need to be an entrepreneur? And I said, Well, I do I do a, a two sided test, right? For entrepreneurs, like kids that come to me and say, I want to be entrepreneur, I want to be my own boss, I first asked them and I do a personality assessment. And I asked them Are you the person that lights up the room? Are you the person that, you know, adds a little bit to it, but you don't really light it up? Or are you the person in the corner that everyone has to come and talk to, to be able to get you started. And so do that self assessment, if you're the guy who's in the corner, just be conscious of jumping out and starting your own business, because when you do most likely is going to involve people and if you can't engage with people, it's going to be very tough. Now, that's not an all of them. If you're the mid, the mid person that brings a little bit to the party, they bring a little bit then you have a choice. And that's why we go on to step number two, if you're the outgoing person in the room and jumping around and things are and it's not even jumping around. But if you're that person that can connect with people truly connect with them, and you don't have that fear. Most likely it's a you know, it is a good path for you to go to but then I go to stage two and stage two is let's look at your discipline. Okay, because as an entrepreneur, you're gonna have to be disciplined because no one's going to tell you to come to work, no one's going to tell you to go home, no one's going to tell you that the job is done or that you know, or it's not done. And so I look at the discipline and I break it into four areas number one personal number two professional number three financial and number four spiritual. So and I what I do is I ask them to grade themselves in your discipline in your personal life, okay with your relationships, whether it be your you know, your significant other your kids All those things, where's your discipline there? Do you hold yourself to a high standard in those areas? And I grade on one to 10? Right? And then I go to the professional like, right now in your job? Do you honor your boss? Do you honor the company that you work with, because I can tell you this, a lot of people, Monica, they leave a job because they say I want to be my own boss, but then they end up working for a jerk, which is themselves. Yes. And so what they do is they end up taking what they did into what they're going to do. And the only common denominator is them. And that's the reason why they don't succeed at it. So I always say that the way that you leave something is the way that you enter the next. So if you leave a job saying, I absolutely hate this job, this is the worst job in the world worst boss, and I'm going to go and start my own company. Now you're starting with negative fuel. Now, if you're leaving that job to be, you know, to do something that you're very passionate about, you honor the boss, you you worked harder than they ever paid you, you honored them and honored the people around you, that's a good foundation to be able to start a company. The third one is the financial. If you find yourself not honoring the finances that you have, and that you've made in the company that you're at, and then your written with dad or things like that, most likely entrepreneurship might not be the best thing for you. And then I look at the spiritual side, do you see that the world is a lot larger than yourself? Do you see that serving others is going to be bring a lot more increase than anything that you could do, trying to serve yourself. And what we do, and I'll finish this thought is we graded on a, on a scale of one to 10. Anything from one to four means danger, danger, right? Anything from four to seven, in the mid grade, and anything from seven to 10 is that you're elite in that area in your discipline. Now, if you find yourself in any of those areas, personal, professional, spiritual or financial, and you're in, if you find in two of those areas, if you're below a four, I would suggest keep your job and just serve your your job at the highest level. If one of those areas, you're in the, you know, below a floor, which is in the financial area, I would say danger Will Robinson danger and stay away from being an entrepreneur as an you know, until you get that discipline and then you can move into it.

Monica Ramirez: 00:12:24

I totally agree with you. It is not easy to be entrepreneur for a while, as an artist as a you had to art galleries and so forth. And needless not easy. Not easy. And it is you work 14 hours a day or 16 hours a day or sometimes when people tell me why you don't wake up at eight o'clock in the morning, I went to speak up six different as we do we awake at eight o'clock, you know? And yes, I totally understand that. And unfortunately, in many jobs, there's people there, the CEOs, and they don't know how to be leaders. And that's another another thing that happens, that they're abusive, and there is so forth and people stay there because they have a need. And because they don't, they don't understand that freedom is not zero, right? Nice, not having your own business is not a freedom, unless you're really doing what are you supposed to be doing. And if you love it, and you love it, yes, it is a freedom in your mind working 16 hours for yourself and maybe not getting paid that day that is going to come later one that is the freedom. That's what I mean with freedom, not freedom of all I can have so many hours and I'm gonna enjoy it. Like how I met you in Los Angeles. Amazing experience amazing speakers, I learned a lot I learned from myself from from other people. And I can give myself that time. And probably if I was working with someone else, I could not have that.

Kelly Cardenas: 00:14:00

Well, and I think that for you, I mean, being the spiritual warrior that you are, you can see it in you that you have those disciplines. And I didn't i It's not like I set out and I want to encourage everyone that's listening is I didn't set out and say like I didn't take this assessment on myself. But I was just very fortunate that I had parents that, you know, had set those principles in line. So that way, you know when a person like getting to meet you, Monica like I could see that you had that discipline, I could see that you had that passion and you were doing something that was in line with what you were purposed to do. And I just find that there's far too many people out there that entrepreneurship is really shiny, especially today. And it's a tagline that most people don't understand what it is. So they call themselves an entrepreneur, but they still have a nine to five job that's not an entrepreneur, an entrepreneur is that in the event that you do not work you do not get paid. And that is major. I mean and to like for For me, I was talking with my friend the other day, and he said something about entrepreneurship. And I said, Well, you got to be conscious when you're utilizing that word, because an entrepreneur never knows how much they're going to get paid on the day. Okay, and then I'll say it like this, we never know how much we're gonna get paid on the day,

Monica Ramirez: 00:15:17

Or if we're gonna get money from there,

Kelly Cardenas: 00:15:20

At all. Right? And so that part, I think that needs to be talked about, because not many people are willing to talk about it.

Monica Ramirez: 00:15:28

Yes you're totally right, I and sometimes we say, Okay, this business did not work. And we have to close it down. Like, there are galleries that I have locally here, like, okay, even if I'm an artist, let me paint from home. And let me close this art galleries. And that's a tough job. Also, for an entrepreneur, when you need to know when you have to close down and let it go. Because it was not working for you. And there are many businesses that we can open or many ideas were created people to intrapreneurs, one of the basis is you have to be a creative person. And if your creativity is sometimes it's not working, you have to let it go. And that's the hardest part for entrepreneurs to write. Absolutely. This end, I'm talking about a little bit of a culture that is which culture, do you think I have seen many different ways that of culture have gone in different cultures have different types of business? And that's the main thing. But why at the same time, why you find only Mexicans doing tacos? Or Mexican to? Or why a lover of at least locally oriented people doing nails, females, you know, or why is why they cannot be doing other stuff, the majority have been and been very successful. At the same time. By the way, you know, where I'm going with equities have grasped that the question for this one, but there is a division in that. And dreamers too, that way?

Kelly Cardenas: 00:17:07

Absolutely. I just I think it's, you know, I talked about this the other day with a friend because it's limited mindset. So when I was, you know, but limited mindset comes from the lack of heart set. And when we have our heart set, it develops our mindset, and will help us with our skill set, right. But the heart set, I just, I was talking with a friend the other day, like I said, and and I was in Utah, and I walked into this home that's being built in our neighborhood. So there, it's a new development. And as they were building, I walked in, and there was a guy on a ladder, and he was on the very top top top of the ladder. And he was reaching even further. And he was on his tiptoes not tied off. Well, when I looked at him, I thought he could get hurt real quick. And my dad was in safety and construction, and my dad would have like called to shut down the whole area. But the reason why it wasn't shut down is because he was Mexican. And the guys that are working and doing the work and doing this amazing craftsmanship are Mexican guys. But the sad thing is most of those Mexican guys who are doing the work and creating this craftsmanship, are not experiencing the home or living in the home. It's generally owned by a non Mexican person. So what but the reason why I say this is because with my family being Mexican, most of the time, people get into a mindset that that thing over there that house, that neighborhood, or that business or that type of lifestyle, that just isn't for us. And once we get to the point where we realize like my mom said that you're awesome, exactly who you are, your accomplishments do not define you when you're when you know that you're beautiful, and you're not comparing yourself to anyone, and you know that you anything is possible, then you start to say not, I'm Mexican, so I do X is, but I'm a person. So this stuff is available. And I tell you, in my experience, Monica, in working with Mexican American people, which are honestly some of the hardest working people in the whole entire world. The challenge for me, was never getting them to work hard, was never having them to take ownership of what they were doing. It was to get them to a point to help them to understand that it's okay to be successful, based off of how hard you work. To me, that is just the heart set. And once we get the heart set in mind, the mindset will follow and the skill set, its eminent it will just happen.

Monica Ramirez: 00:19:40

And something that I have noticed my first language being Spanish, meaning United States for 26 years. Something that I noticed a lot. They told me Okay, the first language is Spanish how you're gonna you're gonna write a book in English, how you're going to be a public speaker in English, how you're going to because you cannot do that when Your English is terrible. And I'm very stubborn a woman does I became all that at the same time. Why? Because I can do it. And if not, well, I will try to get better. And or learn how to be get better. But many people, that's what you limit to, because they're hearing those programs from everybody else forget about their family. Because like I mentioned at the beginning, not everybody has the same family as you. I hear exactly the contrary, my family, you're a woman, female, speaking Spanish, single mom, you know what, you cannot do anything, just look for our guy that pay for the bills? No, I'm not gonna get that limitation. So I, I became everything that I wanted to. But many people that score today stay. And they think that they cannot do that. They cannot achieve whatever dream they have. Because all the limitations the society have put on them, or religion or millio, whoever. How we can save me May Amen transformation or belief coach now. And I know you're always battling with trying to shift the beliefs of the people so that they can achieve whatever they want. And then not limited by all those goodness, brown believes that they have about that. And I've been doing it, that's why I can talk about it more because angels Look at me. But it is not about look at me now look what you can achieve. And, but how we as a society can help to make that shifts in the minds of the people. Because I believe that's what is more important, how we can help to transform that and help anybody in the world that we really want to live.

Kelly Cardenas: 00:21:48

I think that it's all like my pop my pop would always say like, how do you eat elephant? Right? How do you eat elephant just the same way you do a chicken just one bite at a time. So as opposed to looking at the society at large. Let's look at ourselves as an individual, let's break it down to the lowest common denominator, right? So as opposed to looking at society or the world, let's look at our community, then let's not look at our community, let's look at our city, then look at our town, then look at our neighborhood, then look at our family and then just look at ourselves. And really what my brother taught me was, is that the only people that you'll truly have an impact on and that really matter are the people that are across from you at dinner. And it's I stopped and I was like no, but I speak all over the world. And I speak to these companies and speak to here and let's do all the things he's like, No, the, the biggest impact that you're gonna have is right across the table. And that meant my son Maddix, my daughter McKenna and my wife, Brooklyn.

Kelly Cardenas: 00:22:45

And see there's only two human desires and everything, whether we're talking business, or we're talking from a spiritual sense, or we're even talking from, you know, like a belief and a mindset scenario. And again, I think a lot of times people go to mindset before they ever touched the heart set. And so the heart set the human beings have only two desires to and if you solve those two, you'll be successful in your business, you'll be successful in your relationships, you will be successful in your friendships, and here they are, number one, people want to be heard. They want to be heard. And number two, they want to be seen. And then we have to ask the question, how can that happen? Well, to make someone feel seen Monica, you have to let them know of things that are specific, like you and I spending time at UCLA and the impact that you had on me on that day, your encouragement to me, made me float home all the way up on my drive. And when I say that, I've got to say it publicly. That's why I want to tell you on the podcast tonight, because I need to tell you that publicly because other people need to know how just how special you are. And for you to know the specific things that I saw. Now you say, Oh, wow, he sees me. I feel seen. How do I help you to feel hurt? That means that I gotta ask questions, and then I gotta shut up, and I can listen to you. And the way that you know that someone listens to you, is when they take the information, they apply it to their life, and then they bring you back the results. And so as as leaders or as CEOs or as just, you know, a husband in a relationship to help your wife or husband I'm gonna say wife because my wife to help her to know that she's heard means that I have to ask questions, and then I have to hear her advice. I have to apply it and then bring it back to her and thank her for the amazing results that I got from her amazing advice that she gave me to make sure that she is seen and feel seen. I've got to let her know of the great things that she does on a particular day. I've got to say, I'm in front of friends and family, and help her to realize that every single day, I'm looking for the great things. And I tell you, once that happens in a relationship or in a business, now you take the, I mean, you take all the breaks off, you put wings on every single person, and now people feel completely safe.

Monica Ramirez: 00:25:23

I love that answer. Because you're so right. And I have not seen that part. It is a love it. Because it is. That's one of the main things that I believe there is one more that I will add there. People want to be loved. That's the third one. Because we everybody's searching for that one, too. And we will appreciate it. Let's put it in our work if they don't love you, or at least they appreciate. And so many of the ways, but I do love that answer. Wow, this has been amazing. I really love this. How do you think in a way, yes, we we bring impact to our family, first, our kids, and those are the ones we're trying to educate or show. And so then with, with actions, so like that they can be different, and show up to the world in a different way. And there's, there's other ways that they can also, we can impact people beside our family side of keynote speaker, or whatever podcasts, or whatever books, and so forth, do you think there's another way that we can impact more people, because there's limitations in everything. And?

Kelly Cardenas: 00:26:44

Well, for me, I think that it really it has to start at home. Because, you know, all of us have seen the keynote speaker who drops absolute wisdom on us. And then they come off a stage. And they're not the same person is what they were talking about. And then we see their relationship. And I just talked to the guy the other day that, you know, he was saying that he's working on some leadership things. And then he, in this same breath, he talked about all the challenges that his son and him were having, and that how his son just, you know, was not, you know, performing to the level that he wanted them to. And I thought you're teaching leadership, but you're the one that we it means the most, you're lacking in that area. And I'm gonna it's not from a judgment standpoint. But what I want to I want people to know is like, honestly, the greatest impact that you can have really is on your family and on the people that are closest to you. And if you do that it can reverberate and the rest of the ripple effect can happen. And so and this is just a desire for me. And it's not telling everyone what to do. But a desire for me is that I become the same in the dark as I am in the light. So if you catch me on a Tuesday at seven o'clock, it's not going to be on Kelly are off Kelly is just going to be Kelly. And that's the thing that is hard for us to do. Because a lot of times we think that we need to show up in a certain way. And we need to have this massive impact everywhere. But what's crazy is when you start impacting your family, when you start loving your wife, when you start loving your kids, those kind of impacts, like you can't stop that, from impacting the world, you cannot. And that's a part that for me, and this is just again, it's just it's just myself, I'm not giving advice to other people, but I'm just saying what myself, you know, if I impact 1000s of people, 10s of 1000s, hundreds of 1000s. But my son is suffering because of it. I really have to rethink my skill and my my strategy. So I think that impact your family, love on your family love those who are closest to you. And everything else will work itself out.

Monica Ramirez: 00:28:57

I do agree with that, Chris, a little bit about your podcasts, and the name of your podcast, and what are you doing your podcast? Because maybe many people want also to listen to you?

Kelly Cardenas: 00:29:09

Well, they want to come on and listen to people like you. So I have it's called Attitude Determines Altitude. And it's, you know, I thought for so many years, Monica, that this stuff that my parents were saying, and my mom would scratch my back. And she would say that, you know, you're awesome, you're beautiful, you could do anything. And then my dad would say to me every day, you're the greatest son, so act accordingly. And these are things that I thought were normal, and everyone had. And so I thought it's not really that special. And then when I started to share it with people, I realized that there's so many people out there. Like it's crazy because when I go and work with organizations or I go and speak to a company, they asked me to help them with their culture because 99% of challenges in businesses is because of the culture in the organization. And when they ask how do we fix the culture, how do we fix a bottom line profit I asked him for access to the people. And then what I do is help the people to realize that they're awesome. They're beautiful, and that they could do anything. And once you empower the people, then the people build the business, right? And so that that was the premise of the podcast. And I started it because of my kids. And I wanted my kids to see the most iconic people in the world, like the monocles of the world are not superheroes, that you are a human being with a phenomenal attitude, and crazy work ethic. And then I have every one of them give advice to my kids by name.

Monica Ramirez: 00:30:35

Oh, that's wonderful. As wonderful, I started my podcast, because I wanted to have amazing conversations. But yes, it is funny how the how, what caste actually has now become a norm. Many people stopped listening and watching TV and they started hearing test. And in a way, just, that's a perfect way to be creating change in the world.

Kelly Cardenas: 00:31:05

It's been a it's been amazing, you know, journey has been one of the coolest projects that I've ever done in my entire life and being able to be with people like you, you know, I mean, you are an absolute master at what you do. And it's such an honor to be able to share time with you.

Monica Ramirez: 00:31:23

I'm going to be sharing his link of his podcast so you can go and listen to him and actually listen to amazing people with Kelly. Ah, so like that is actually a may help you it may help everybody in any greater conversation with amazing people. Kelly, tell us also would like to know a little bit about the your founder or CEO of the National multi million dollar brand. What did that means?

Kelly Cardenas: 00:31:49

Well, I put that I put that in there. Because there's, there's admissions to the park, right? If you go to Disneyland, you have to have a ticket. And there's a lot of people who want to know about past success or things like that. We built salons throughout the country, I was in the professional beauty industry for for about 30 years. And we recently sold all our salons, but we created, you know, million dollar locations all over the country. And we did it in about 11 to 1200 square foot zero walk in business zero marketing dollars. And we did it with 19 to 24 year olds. And people said that you had to mark it, or you had to do all this and we didn't do it, we invested in our people, we invested in the relationships that our people had with each other. And we never ever, ever focused on customer service, we only focused on the true relationships of the people that were working inside of our company. And what we wanted to do was grow leaders. And what was so cool is a couple years ago, one girl who started with us at minimum wage and became in about four years, she became the top earner in our entire company. And then another girl who took a 50% pay cut to come and work with us because she believed in what we did. Those two ended up buying the company. And so for us, you know, in in those things, it helped me to realize that building a million dollar business was nothing more than a little over $3,700 a day on a five day workweek. And again, so think about this, let's round it up to 4000. Okay, so $4,000 a day, in an eight hour workday, in an eight hour workday, you only have to produce $500 per hour. So $500 per hour, if you had 10 people working, that would be $50 per person. And so again, here's an elephant have a kid growing up in a 35,000 person town, I didn't even I couldn't fathom a million dollar business. But then when I realized that it wasn't focusing on the million dollar business, just like we wouldn't focus on the elephant, we just focused on one bite at a time. And so we focused, we broke it down to the hour, and then we broke it down to the individual, you could even break it down to the minute. And when that happens, then we go back to when we were talking about the Mexican culture of which I am, then we start to say, well, this stuff is possible if I can do this one little thing. So I would suggest every person out there as opposed to thinking about I'm gonna go out and I'm gonna kill it. I'm gonna kill it. Just injure it slightly every day. Just kick it in the knee. So when you set these big, huge, audacious goals that people tell you to do all the time, honestly, those out the window, think of it as inch stones. Don't think of it as milestones in stones and celebrate every one of them because you're exactly where you need to be. Because guess what? If God had you to be someplace else, don't you think He's big enough to have you there? So revel in the place where you are right now? Stop living in the future because that's gonna create anxiety, stop living in the past because that's going to create depression. Live in the present where you can truly have joy in your heart every single day because you've fallen in love with your current circumstances.

Monica Ramirez: 00:35:00

I love that this future pants for an order big industry like that in the beauty.

Kelly Cardenas: 00:35:08

In the in the beauty side, no, I you know, we're focused on the podcast, I'm focused on the speaking side and, you know, really helping people to grow cultures and leadership. And I find that, you know, for me, I, we start with helping people to become leaders themselves of themselves, and then they can lead in our organization, but they have to be filled up. And when you fill people up, right, and my dad always said this, there's only one business in the world and one business only, and that's the people business. And if you take the people out of the business, you have no business at all. And so the thing is, is if you can build the people, and then allow the people to build the business, then it takes the pressure off the owner, or the CEO, to have to be the All Knowing, simply start asking the right questions of the right people, and you'll get the right answers.

Monica Ramirez: 00:35:59

That's a great tips. Those are great tips for it doesn't matter what size of the business you have. It will help everybody. And, or even you're a sole proprietor, and you're the only one running it.

Kelly Cardenas: 00:36:12

Absolutely. And I think that, you know, Monica, I think one of the big things is is as opposed to trying to manage the culture that grows on its own, why not set parameters and, and be intentional about the type of culture that you create? And so, you know, for me, this is, this is what we did, you know, that's why what I wrote my book on, which is the six indicators for business in life. And, you know, it was how to people talk about culture, but they don't talk about how to construct it. And so we went through and constructed a culture we construct helped you to be able to manipulate the vibe, we looked at your processes and procedures, and then we looked at your productivity, your innovation, and then your ability to adapt immediately. And outside of those six indicators, I haven't found anything in business or in relationships, that wouldn't be solved by looking at them. They're not the answers, but they are the indicators to help you to know if you're on track or not.

Monica Ramirez: 00:37:06

Oh, you make people actually combined their cultures and get along. Let me read estates about that.

Kelly Cardenas: 00:37:15

Absolutely. Well, I think it's about, you know, what, what we refer to as speak in life. And so if you speak life, like I said, Mike, I think that you are such an a phenomenal podcast host. You're such an incredible artists, like if anyone out there, listen to the podcast right now, if you haven't got to experience her art. It's unbelievable. Like it blew my mind, I almost fell over at lunch when I saw your art. And but you need that life breathed into you every single day. And when that happens, what happens is, is it breaks down the walls that you put up, or we put up as humans around us to protect ourselves and we instantly become vulnerable. Once we become vulnerable, then we can grow. But most people are inside of a shell because they have been they have impacts from people in their lives, their moms, their dads, their uncles, that has not been touched, right. So they have an impact, like an uncle was nasty to them, or an aunt was nasty to them a mother or whatever it was. And now that person puts a shell on it says, I'm not going to allow you close to me, because you might hurt me, the way to break those walls down is to simply breathe life and speak life into someone. And it's two components. Number one, you have to use their name. And number two, you have to say something very specific. Because if I said, Monica, you're awesome. You're always great. And you're so incredible. It doesn't mean anything to you because it was so vague. But if I guess specific and say when we were at UCLA, and I got to see your art, and I looked at it, and literally I almost fell off my chair, because your art is that good. That hits and now you start to feel safe. And if I do that over and over and over again, and I start to recognize the things that you're doing on a day to day basis. And I'm asking you questions, as opposed to try and tell you all the things. Now what starts to happen is your shell starts to break. And once your shell starts to break, and Monica gets to show up, and when Monica shows up, her superpower is on display. And when your superpower is on display, You're a superhero. But there's no superhero outside of Batman that doesn't have superpowers. And when you take the superpowers away from the super superhero, they just become a human. But what my job is always is to find the superpower in the person, celebrate at the highest level and then allow them to be a superhero. And imagine that my pops told me in you know, to draw out the best and the worst in people is just to be the dumbest person in the room. Ask questions. And you do this at such an amazing I mean you are one of the most intelligent people I know Monica, and one of the most talented, but you have a show where you ask other people questions. You're all your listeners could just tune in and just listen to Monica for an hour. But you choose to give other people the platform. And that is where the strength is because other people feel seen, they feel heard. I feel that way tonight, you have made me feel like I'm loved, you make me feel like I'm important. And because of that, I want to give you every single thing that I can give you my superpower. And imagine if you lived around a bunch of people who were just willing to give you their superpower, then you would only have to be good at being you. And that in that place, you get 100% score all the time.

Monica Ramirez: 00:40:34

And that is the easy one just be you. Because you don't have to remember how it was the last time with that person. You will forget that's what lies never work. Thank you so much, Kelly. I really, really appreciate. Remember that your spy imitation too. So talk, I really, really appreciate it. And do you have any last words that you would like to say to the listeners?

Kelly Cardenas: 00:41:00

Well, I just want to I want to thank you, you know, I want to thank you, Monica. And also to anything that I say I have a friend told me it was a hand in the sand. And hand in the sand means that you scoop your hand in the sand and you lift it up and whatever falls through your fingers. You just let it go. And whatever stays in your hand that was for you. So if there's things that I said that you said, Man, that doesn't work in my life, okay, cool, let it fall right through your fingers. And don't worry about it. If it hits home with you, then utilize it. And for all of you out there, I'm not again, like when I talk about something, I'm not trying to say that, hey, you need to do it like X. I'm just saying I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. I've made so many mistakes, but I continue to write them down and then they become systems or a little roadmap for the person coming behind me so they don't have to experience the same exact thing.

Monica Ramirez: 00:41:49

Yes, unfortunately the majority of people we learn from our mistakes and know from our successes. So we become wise because we did a bunch of mistakes. Thank you so much, and, and thank you everybody for listening to us. If this help you. Please share it with your friends. And I will appreciate the reviews. Thank you so much, everybody. Thank you for being in Soul Talk.