Become So Good That They Can't Ignore You w/ Maya Corbic

I don't believe that everybody should be going to university or college. But back then I mean, this is what I was told by my parents and it was kind of like you know, get good grades, get into a good university, study hard, start working for like a really big, good company and then kind of work there until retirement. That was the golden plan. I try different things and I encourage young people to try different things. So my best friend was doing business and I said, okay, fine, let me just start doing something kind of like you, let me get in there and figure it out. I was really under impression that I was going to do marketing, because I love marketing, I love sales. Like I'm not very good at sales, but I just love the psychology behind it.

The journey to wealth is a long walk and some may walk quicker than others, but what good is sprinting to the finish line if you pass out when you cross it? On Walk to Wealth, we enlighten and empower young adults to build wealthy, abundant lives. They say the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and your first step starts right now. This is Walk to Wealth with your host, John Mendez.

Hey everyone, welcome back to the Walk to Wealth podcast. If you're tuning in on YouTube or any of the podcast directories, make sure to do yourself one teeny, tiny little favor and make sure to give us a follow, because I don't want you to miss out on any of the amazing guests I got coming on this year. But without further ado, let's get right into this one. Maya, for anyone who hasn't had the opportunity to get to meet you, to get to know you yet, tell us your elevator pitch. Who are you and what do you do?

So hi everyone. My name is Maya Korbic, I am a CPA and I have been actually teaching children and youth about money for the past 11 years Anything from credit cards to budgeting to investing. I want everyone to become financially independent and wealthy.

Amazing. So, maya, I always loved doing this. Take us back in the time machine to Little Maya. What was it like growing up? What was this topic of money like? What was your upbringing like when you were first getting here, first started walking?

So I actually didn't grow up in North America. I grew up in Bosnia, which ended up having a war. But when I was little I grew up in an upper middle class family for Bosnia, which would, I guess, be a little bit different for North American families. People have a lot more stuff here, so the standard is a little bit different. So we didn't lack anything basic. But my parents, they didn't really talk about money. I think I learned a lot more by absorption. There was always, I guess I always felt like I wanted more money, I wanted things, but it was more dependent on what my parents were willing to give, give me or buy. My mom was always a strong believer of like not giving money to kids because she believed that money was the root of all evil or it would spoil us. But then a war happened when I was in my teens and we ended up losing everything in the war and we ended up immigrating and I immigrated with my parents and my brother and we only had two suitcases and $50. So we kind of had to start from scratch and I lived in government shelters and government housing. I had two part-time jobs when I was a teenager just to pay for my school supplies, bus tickets and so on. And, yeah, I just worked my way up, became a CPA and maybe I'll just end there and let you ask your questions, because I know that's quite a lot already.

Yeah. So I want to start off because my grandparents immigrated here too. I was born here in the States, but my mom and everyone my brothers, her brothers and uncles and aunts, whatever they were all born in Dominican Republic and then they immigrated here. If not mistaken, I think it was about maybe 30 years back, 30, 40 years back, and they pretty much kind of similar just up and left everything behind and came here with a dream. My oldest uncle, my mom's oldest brother, he actually had to stay behind. So it was the three brothers, the three younger brothers, and then my mom and my aunt and then my two grandparents on my mom's side. They all came here together my dad and on his side of the family, he immigrated to the States when he was in sixth grade and he moved without his family. So he pretty much came out here alone. So it's like At like 12? He was 12. Something similar, yeah, something around there. Wow, he came from Guatemala. So I mean I'm not sure all the details of the story. As you know, male ego tends to like exaggerate some things every now and then, but according to my dad, that's when he moved around here. So he didn't really have schooling or education, he just kind of came and worked and figured stuff out, and I mean they were kind of, at least in Guatemala, in his culture, he was brought up working. So it's like kids there reach maturity a lot sooner just because the responsibility is forced upon them a lot earlier on in life. So it's like I didn't get to experience that I was born here. So for anyone who hasn't immigrated, what was that experience like?

Well, I think there's definitely a cultural shock, right? Because, yes, you see things in the movies and I remember watching 90210, beverly Hills. I mean, your generation is way younger, but it's like they lived in these beautiful houses, these beautiful neighborhoods and then we came and it wasn't anything like it. First of all, there was abundance of things, but it wasn't just given to you. The good thing with North America is that there is an opportunity that you can earn your wealth, but you're starting from scratch. So for me, it was really hard. For us actually, it was really hard because we didn't really come from nothing. We had stuff and then all of a sudden we had nothing, so we really had to work hard to acquire things. But also we had no connections, no networks, we didn't speak English. It was really difficult, especially, I would say, the first five years were probably the hardest, and then it just started getting a little bit easier when all of a sudden, we were making some connections. You're trying to understand how the system here works. So for me I come from a country that used to be communist country, communist and socialist. So the system, the monetary system, is very, very different, and my parents never invested because investing was not an option. There was no stock market there. They didn't even have credit cards. So things were a lot different and they couldn't teach me any of these things, so I had to teach myself.

So take us back in the story. So you came here, you started working two jobs just to get you by through school. From there Did you end up going to university? What was life like? So you work in two jobs, where did you go from there?

Yeah, so I was working two jobs. I was a really good student. That was my ticket out, and it's so interesting. Nowadays I'm not 100% sure whether it's one of those things. I don't think. I don't believe that everybody should be going to university or college, but back then this is what I was told by my parents and it was kind of like get good grades, get into a good university, study hard, start working for a really big, good company and then kind of work there until retirement. That was the golden plan, and so that's what I followed and I was a really good student and I knew that was my only way out because my parents couldn't help me. And so I got into University of Toronto and I actually got into one of the better programs, one of the best programs, and again worked really hard to get my degree and then from there I secured a job with an accounting firm and I was able to get my CPA designation paid for so that I didn't have to pay for it because I already took student loans and yeah. So then I ended up becoming a CPA. I had this really good job with an accounting firm. But when I say it was a good job, it was a good job. It's something that I wanted, I wished for. But then when you're working there, it's not nine to five, it's more like five to nine, and you're working these crazy hours. It's a corporate world, right. So I was there for about eight years and then I decided to do my own thing.

Yeah. So take us back a little bit. So you went to college. You went to University of Toronto. So, similar to you, I knew my ticket out was with academics, so I didn't know that entrepreneurship was something I wanted to do. When I was back in high school, I just knew that school always came easy to me. I didn't have straight A's and I wasn't in the college level courses, mainly because I didn't apply myself enough. But I got good enough grades and I got into about 13 colleges when I was out in high school and from there I ended up going to university. That was before the pandemic happened, and so for me, a lot of people knocked school, but like for me as well, like that was the only plan I knew. So I just knew what I had to do was get me a good enough grade and I'll figure out the rest later. And a lot of times, like, people don't like what they're currently in now and don't have another option, or another option that they see, and they screw up the only vehicle they have. Like, for me, it was always of the mindset of like, all right, since I don't know any other options, I might as well make the most of this one, and if other options present themselves then I'll be open to that in the future. And so that's why, for me, I went about going to high school. I got good enough grades to get into college. Once I got to college, my eyes opened up to entrepreneurship. I kind of just took my own route. So take us through that time. So you started working as a CPA, right? Was money always something that you were interested? Once you came to North America, like, where did that interest about money come about? Because you said you came from a communist country. You know the monetary system was very different. You were working two jobs, right? So like, where did the interest of becoming a CPA spark?

You know what? Actually I didn't know. I wanted to be a CPA. So I was kind of like you too. I was like, oh, just get me to university and I'll figure out what I want to do. And I try different things and I encourage young people to try different things. So when I was in high school I remember doing a co-op in a dentist's office and I was like, oh, I know, dental career pays, well, let me see if I like it. And I hated it. I was like this is not for me. And then I took biology class and I thought, ok, maybe I can be a doctor. And we dissected a rat and I'm like, ok, this is definitely not for me, so I try different things. And then just really did not know what to do. I thought, maybe engineering. Again, I think I ended up going to an open house and I was like this is like I'm really good at math and sciences. It's just, this is not right, like I just don't see myself here. So my best friend was doing business and I said, ok, fine, let me just start doing something. Kind of like you, let me get in there and figure it out. And originally I was really under impression that I was going to do marketing because I just I love marketing, I love sales. Like I'm not very good at sales, but I just love the psychology behind it. And when my last year of university rolled around, I was only then I mean I wish I did this earlier, but only then I started doing a bit of research. Ok, how much does the starting position in marketing pay once you get out of university? And I realized it doesn't pay that much. It was like back then and I'm dating myself like this is like 20 years ago it was like getting paid like mid 20s, like 27,000 or something like that. I was like I could have done that straight out of high school. Like why did I even bother going to university? I had student loans. So again, like my really good couple of my really good friends, they were doing the CPA route and I thought, ok, I'm like that, I'm going to do this and I was always good with numbers. But I didn't really even know what this entailed, how difficult it was to become a CPA. And I mean I'm not ashamed to say that a lot of my decisions were guided by money, because when you don't have any money, you're literally relying on yourself. Like I couldn't rely on my parents to give me anything. It was all me. So it was kind of like OK, how can I make the most amount of money and just live a decent lifestyle and hopefully, when they have a family that I can support with this money? So a lot of these decisions were guided by OK, where can I make the most money that I'm not squiddish if I'm like dissecting people or rats or whatever, right. So it ended up being a CPA designation. So that's kind of how I ended up in it and I was very confused at the beginning because all these people that I was that I went to school with, they knew they wanted to do this. For years They've done their research. They even got jobs like with the best CPA firms right away. I didn't, because I made that decision very late in the game. So one of my first employers was a small CPA firm and back in the day I used to think that was a big failure because all like my salary was drastically lower. I remember starting at like $32,000 a year. They were start. They started, I think, at 42 or $45,000 a year. They had all these benefits and it was amazing. But in hindsight you know, things happen for a reason and I learned that that small firm more than my friends ever learned at a big firm, because it was just me working directly with a partner who's a CPA and I learned not only bookkeeping, I learned taxes, I learned audit, I learned all sorts of stuff and I had to kind of handle and take jobs from beginning to the end and it was a very, very good experience for me.

Yeah, it's one of those things where, for me, I had like a kind of similar experience where, like in football, right on my team, we had a very small senior class. So it's like you pretty much. I had no choice but to go both ways and play offense and defense, and so it's like I'm bouncing around positions and I learned so much about so many different things. And even when I worked in a restaurant too, it's like one day someone will call out and this is during the pandemic, so it's like people were calling out sick pretty often. This is like it wasn't rare for a couple people to call out at the same time and it's just like oh John, I know you're a busser, but we also need you to food run and can you also help behind the bar as well? And it's like when you have these situations where you're not like as well resourced as like somebody's bigger companies or these bigger organizations, you kind of just have to get your hands dirty and just do a bunch of stuff that maybe not technically in your job description, but you get so much more like real world experience when you get thrown into the world and situations like that. And so you said you started working for about eight years before you started to do your own thing. Like what was that tipping point for you that made you finally like pull the plug on your corporate career and decide to pivot and shift. You know where you wanted to head. Like what made that happen for you? Take us back to that time.

Sure, so it was. Actually I worked I should say I worked really 10 years because it was two years at a small accounting firm and then after that I got hired by a big accounting firm called the Lloyd and Tush they're like one of the top ones and so with the Lloyd, I was with them for about eight years and I was 32 when I quit, and the reason why I ended up quitting it was kind of twofold. So by the time I was 32, my husband and I ended up paying off all of our mortgage and debt, and that debt included my student loans. Well, I had student loans, he had, like car loans, whatever. So $60,000 of debt and mortgage, and we were debt free. At that time. I also had two children. My son was six and my daughter was about four and I was working insane hours at Deloitte. Anybody who works for those big firms, they're great. But you are literally you're not working nine to five, you're working five to nine, you're working around the clock, weekends, and I even tried working flex hours and just I couldn't make it work. I just really couldn't. And so my health started to suffer and I wasn't seeing my kids enough. And one day my husband just said to me. He's like, well, why don't you quit? We really don't need you to work anymore. Like we all of, like we had no debt, we had no mortgage, like why are you working Right? And it was so strange because, you know, I wasn't raised to think that way. I mean I also, as I said, I come from a different system too, where women worked. There were very, very few women that were stay-at-home moms and like stayed with the kids, and usually the women back there that did that were women that were not educated, whereas here it's different. I have some friends they're doctors, opometrists, but they choose to stay at home with their kids. So in my head, like I always thought I was going to work and I was going to work until I retire. So the fact that I could like just leave my work, it was freeing, it was scary. I ended up quitting, but I was crying the entire time, I was telling people I was quitting, and then they said to me they really like I was. I was actually, I was a very good employee and they didn't want me to quit. So they said why don't you take a year off and really think about it? Take our laptop. They even offered to pay me something like a leave, some money, but I decided not to take it. But just the fact that, you know, they said, okay, take a year, think about it. It gave me that comfort that if I made a mistake I could always go back. So I left and after a year of not working there and just kind of doing my own thing, I realized that you know what like this is. I don't want to go back to that. I don't. Thankfully, I didn't need to go back to that because we were financially in a good place. And so I just and it was strange because when I was telling people that I quit, people thought I was nuts because everybody was asking me, like where are you going, like what's your next job? And I was like well, I don't have a next thing. And people are like oh, you're crazy, you're throwing away your designation. And I'm like that's not what I'm doing, I'm just looking for something different. And you know, at that time I didn't really know much about entrepreneurship, I didn't even know that was a potential path for me. But I knew I was ready for something different.

Yeah. So I mean that's amazing. I hope everyone like picks up on a lesson that you kind of share, without actually sharing it of like money is good for the good that money can do. And because you guys were financially situated, you were able to prioritize the things that valued most in your life, which was your family, and it's like a lot of times we give up those we cherish most just so we can make ends meet and then lose all the time that we wanted to, you know, spend back with the people we cherish and sometimes, like, the people that we cherish by the time we make that money aren't there anymore. And I know a couple of people that that happened too. I went to my good friends on that interview on my podcast a few weeks ago and he was like, yeah, he was working, working, working like 16, 17 hour days and you know he ended up having his dad pass away and it's like didn't get to see him at all and it was like situations like that no-transcript. Yeah, you know we have to hustle, we have to make ends meet and stuff like that, but it's also at what cost and you know, knowing being self-aware, to know when you're paying too much, right when you're giving up too much time, when you're losing time with your loved ones and being aware that's super important, and so I love that you shared that. And so you took that year off right. You started to get away from everything and you have all these people in your head. When I dropped out of college a similar experience. Like everyone in my family, I was the golden child. It was like, oh my goodness, john, you're going to be the first men that's to graduate. Like what are you doing? Yeah, but like in Spanish instead of English. Like oh my goodness, you know. And it was for me, it was one of those situations. It's like you guys can't see what I'm cooking up right now, but like I don't know what it is that I'm cooking up right now, but it's something I know, something's on the pot and it's stirring and it smells good. I just know. I just got to keep with it. And so, like for you, like what allowed you to persevere through that? Because I feel like I mean, at any age is difficult, but when you're younger it's a bit more impressionable and what the older you know, the more season and the older generations think tends to have, or a little bit more on us. So, like, what advice do you have there to you know, stick with your vision for what you want to do with your life.

You know it's so interesting that you say that because, that's, you know, I feel like I've been cooking things for the last 11 years. Right, it's. It's funny. I know people and I have this personality. People won't say stuff to my face because I don't have a filter, so stuff will come out without even me realizing. So I will go into attack mode right away, which is sometimes beneficial because then people will not say stuff to me. But at the same time it's not good because you know, no filter is never really good. But so I didn't really my family didn't really directly say anything, but I know that friends and family were talking and the best thing that I think I did was just ignore them. I the. The good thing was I had support for my husband. Him and I were on the same page. Because you know, when you're married it's different Like I think most of your audience is not married and you know, then it's you're just accountable to you, but when you have another person you're accountable to them, I'm accountable to my kids. So as long as my husband was 100% on the same page as me and he supported me, that's all that mattered. Like I had his support. And you know, over the years, like I, know that people probably thought, like, what is she doing? What does she think she's doing? Like, what is this Instagram thing? But like, once my Instagram, you know, hit 100,000 followers, people were like oh, and now it's at 129,000 followers and it's like, oh, if I tell you that and I don't do many brand deals because I really want to make sure that whoever I, you know, if I do any sponsorships, that that brand really resonates with me. But like, I've done a few and like I've done a brand deal, like for 45 seconds and I got $2,750 for it. So when you do stuff like that, that's when they're like oh, but for years they're doubting you, right? So it's almost like you just need to tune out the noise, you know, and even if you don't know 100% what it is that you're cooking up, like I, I felt like all these years I was onto something and I'm still onto something. I'm still not 100% clear. I've got a lot of things going on. I have this book that's coming out of the membership club. I have Instagram, you know, but people are starting to take notice, even like I, because I live in Canada. The CPA Institute like they, they ignored me, but the CPA Ontario, which is the province where I live. They actually asked me to be a keynote speaker for their financial literacy month event. That's happening, and but it took 11 years, right? So you just work on your craft. You get really really really good at it that they cannot ignore you anymore and just tune out the noise.

Yeah, alex from Ozy says something similar. It's like the best revenge is becoming so successful that people can't help but be, you know, overwhelmed by you know your light. He doesn't say exactly where for like that, but like something around those lines, just like become so good at what you do that no one can ignore you and that they have no choice but to accept what you got going on. And so, like, what kind of birthed the whole Instagram thing? Because I know we kind of talked when we went over at FinCon but like, what made you want to start teaching other parents about money I know you guys were able to come debt free and everything like that but like what inspired you to teach? Because there's something about teaching Like you kind of have to have a heart for it, right, because a lot of times, especially when you try to teach someone and then they listen but they don't implement or they, you know, just aren't receptive, it kind of sucks sometimes being a teacher because it's like you know you have all this, you know knowledge and gem that you want to give out to the world, but it's like it's like no one's listening and no one's paying attention. So it's like what kind of helps spark that teacher in you. Do you always kind of have that and like how did that translate with the whole Instagram thing when you were starting off?

Yeah, so that's interesting. Like I, I think I've I've been born a teacher, even though which is so interesting when I was trying to choose my career I never thought of becoming a teacher. I don't know why I thought of becoming a doctor, dentist, all these things engineer, the teacher didn't even cross my mind. But ever since I was a little kid like I would actually pretend to be, like pretend play, to be a teacher and I would have like my toys lined up and I'd be teaching them. I have a younger brother who's five years younger, so like I enjoy teaching him anything and everything, I would tutor kids in math for my class for free, like just because I wanted them to succeed. And so, like I've always been teaching and I somehow I don't know how and I can't explain it, but like I know when people get it and when people are not getting it, and if people are not getting it, I'm able to kind of step back and analyze it really quickly and figure out, okay, how can I make somebody understand what it is that I'm trying to teach? So, but it was really interesting because when I worked for Deloitte and Touche, once a year we would have these volunteer opportunities and I don't know if you've heard of junior achievement they're pretty big in the States, yeah so they provide financial literacy education and I actually got to volunteer for them and I would what we did, and I did that for a couple of years. I would go into class and basically teach from like nine o'clock in the morning till three o'clock in the afternoon. That's like a typical school day in Canada and I would come back from those days like I would come home and I would be glowing, absolutely glowing, and my husband was like he's like I have never seen you like this, like this is what you're meant to be doing. But I was in a completely different career, like I was auditing companies. I was, you know, doing tax returns and whatnot. So I had no idea how those two were going to merge, if at all. Right. And then when I quit my job, as I said, my kids were very little six and four and I think at that time my son was telling me he wanted me to buy a new car. I was driving Jeep Cherokee and he wanted me to buy a Ferrari. And I was like, okay, well, do you know how much a Ferrari costs? And he had absolutely no concept of prices or you know, he just knew Ferrari was like a cute, good looking car, right. So then I realized, like my kids don't know anything about money and I wanted to teach them and back 11 years ago there was really they were not that many resources on financial literacy for kids or youth. Now there's so much, there's a lot out there. And then I started looking at like the school system and the curriculum and what are they going to learn there and I realized again like they weren't going to learn much. And so, remembering what I you know me going back for junior achievement and teaching this in schools like I was so excited, so I kind of created my own curriculum to teach my own kids and pretty soon after that, like I was teaching other people's kids, I was going to schools and doing workshops, and so my business was born out of that.

That's amazing and it's crazy how, like you kind of get thrown into opportunity and it ends up turning like I have such a similar story, but not with kids. It's like for me, I was in real estate and I got to actually teach a class on social media and I never taught a class before and at the time I was teaching realtors. At the time I didn't have never sold a house, but I was teaching realtors who are selling tons of houses left and right about social media. So I had a ton of imposter syndrome because, like all these successful realtors are closing deals, I haven't closed any deals Like why do they want me to teach? And then I taught and it was like the adrenaline high I got from teaching was like insane and just like seeing the reaction and seeing the comment section, I was like I can get used to this, like this is pretty fun and for me that kind of sparked everything that I have going on now and I'm actually led to teaching AI and now I'm teaching. I have a work literally tomorrow. From the day we're recording this, I'm teaching a workshop in person. But had I I think I made a video on this literally the other day on Instagram or I think I was talking to someone I forget what it was, but I was talking about how the game plan I originally drew up looks nothing like what it's going on now, like at all. Like I thought I was gonna be a top realtor in my office selling houses left and right, and it's like crazy how it all plays out and how. If you just I would say you don't have to be correct, you just have to be directionally correct. As long as I kept heading in the right direction. I didn't know where exactly I was going or how it looked like, but I just knew that I Gotta keep doing stuff, I gotta keep trying stuff, I keep throwing myself in and from there. As I kept doing that, it started clearing out more. And so for you, back to your story, right? So you started teaching this. You know, the junior achievement and that kind of helped plant the seed of teaching. Now, at what point did you start to catch steam with your IG presence? Because, as you said, you have a tons of following now. And what did that evolve into like once I started to pick up and get going?

Yes, it's really. It's so interesting, like I feel like our stories are in a way parallel, because you're like, I didn't know what I was gonna. I thought I was gonna do this, but here I am, I'm doing this. As long as you like, keep doing things. I think that's what really matters. I completely agree with you. So, my, so I was actually trying to really get into schools. I was getting into some schools, but schools have a lot of red tape and I knew I had a good program as long as, like, if I could just teach it once, I knew they were going to invite me back, but just getting into schools, talking to the principals or, like you know, going to the head office, it was such a mess. So, you know, it's kind of like hit and miss. It was, it was going but it wasn't going. And then COVID happened and I Like realized I couldn't go into schools anymore and teach. So what I had to do was I changed my game plan and I ended up going on Instagram and I would say the first year was very kind of Not not productive. I mean it wasn't. No, it was productive. I mean I was working very hard but I wasn't seeing the results and it was just one of those like okay, stick with it. And I just tried to like Make my posts relevant to people like. I Realized that like okay, I don't know how many followers like what is happening here and I realized that People are not really like why aren't people liking my post? Why aren't people sharing my post? Well, it's because I'm not teaching them anything like. Would I share this post? Like what am I? What kind of value am I providing? So I started focusing on providing more value with my posts and essentially teaching through my Instagram account. And it's so funny because sometimes, you know, we're so scared of doing some things. Like I remember before COVID, people are telling me to start doing webinars because I would get wider exposure, maybe more global exposure, and I was just lazy and partially scared, like I didn't want to do it and, in the end, covid forced me into it. So, with that, like I had to, you know like I started doing Instagram and then, through Instagram, like people were asking for these like online workshops, and I started doing those and Just providing value. I think when you provide value, that's when not only you know you're helping people, but you get to grow, your business gets to grow. So that's really what happened with Instagram, and now I feel like Instagram is the driving force behind my business, like a lot of my leads Come through Instagram. So a lot of people that join my wealthy kids investment club, which is a membership Program for families to invest, they come because of Instagram, because they see what I post there. They get inspired. I'm I, as you know, I'm publishing a book, so a lot of that stuff is Like I'm advertising the book through there and a lot of the book now the pre-orders are being, you know, they're all coming through Instagram. So it's really interesting. I never really Wanted to be an Instagram influencer, but I guess I ended up being one because it just kind of happened.

Yeah, you're providing value in the marketplace respond they're well to and they kind of picked up what you had going on and you came from a genuine place and you stayed consistent and when you were talking it just made me like Visualize. There's like a me we're not a meme like a photo I seen on Facebook one time and it was like why, when our business doesn't get results, we constantly check in every single day, every single hour to say, oh, did it hit? Yet Did we get a sale that we get a deal with? Like whatever, whatever. But when you plan a seed, like you plant a seed and you don't dig it back up every hour to check it or every day to check it you maybe dig it up once a year to maybe put it in a bigger pot. It's like when a lot of times, we will plan a seed and then we keep on stunting our growth by like being so overly caught up with the growth and the result and not caught up with nourishing it and providing that value. As you said and you know Self-reflecting, like is this something valuable? Like is my stuff even good? Like a lot of people don't. A lot of people post, especially in real estate, because that's where I know most of the people I've met through. But it's like that time these realtors are post content and say who cares about the market? Like literally, there's not. I'm not gonna say there's not a single, there's a, probably a handful, but the majority of people I know that I met in real estate Never seen a real estate post until they got into real estate and they had to market their business. So it's like if you're only doing this now, after you got your license, and your audience are people without licenses Like do you think any of them actually care about? Like, how many houses are on the market right now in your city? Like how many times did you check that when you were before you got? Like you never know. Most people never do the ugly work of looking themselves in a mirror and pointing out all the things that they're doing wrong. Like pointing out that your content sucks, pointing out that Maybe that didn't provide value, and if you do that enough time, well, eventually you'll not suck as much and then eventually you'll actually be good and then eventually you'll actually be like like, oh my goodness, like John, this is amazing, am I? This is great. Like, oh my, thank you for sharing. But it takes a lot of time, a lot of self-reflecting before you can ever get to that stage and most people never take the time to do so. I mean, you mentioned earlier about your son and I was gonna ask you this earlier, but I wanted to keep on going with the story, like he asked about a Ferrari, and that kind of sparked the realization that you know, kids don't know much about money. So it's like you've taught a lot of parents. You taught a lot of kids like what are some of the main Misconceptions that you see when you're teaching people about? Like what money is and how it can be used, because you said you were brought up in a Situation where, like, money is the root of all evil. But clearly you you know, after learning and growing into money I'm pretty sure you think otherwise. You know that it's not the root of all he was loving. Money is what causes it to be the root. So you know what are some of the misconceptions you help kids overcome when you're teaching them.

Well, I think it's really important to teach them. Oh gosh, there's a fully loaded question, there's quite a bit, but I think, like one of them is investing, whether it's real estate or, you know, stock market, I Actually really think that we need to Not make a taboo and talk about investing. I think investing intimidates a lot of people and you know it's. It's really simple. It's more the jargon that intimidates a lot of people. So a famous investor, peter Lynch, said that anybody who has completed grade four can learn how to invest. So the problem with investing, I think, is that a lot of people think of it as gambling, and it's only gambling when you don't know what you're doing, when you are uneducated, and there are also three different types of investing. So you know a lot of people want to get rich quickly and you know if you're going to invest, maybe you can get rich quickly, but that can also be a problem. So you know you can actually not get rich quickly. You can lose a lot of your money quickly. So sometimes I just want people to realize that we can all get rich, but we can all get rich slowly and with some education. So you know the people there. As I said, three different types of investing. There are day traders who will invest into stock market and they don't even hold the stock for the whole day. And then there's people who invest into short-term Investments and they're just holding the stocks for a couple of days, maybe a month or so. And then there are long-term investors, and most of us are long-term investors because we do have these long-term goals. So the investing strategy for that is very different. And Again, like I just think that you know, the best way to grow your wealth is through investing, whether it's investing in stock market, whether it's investing in real estate. Just leaving money sitting in the savings account, it doesn't help us, because it gets eaten by inflation, it's purchasing power diminishes. So a lot of times I guess the misconception is people think that, oh, I'm saving, I'm doing well. Well, yes, that's only part of the success, but if you don't invest that money, that money will diminish in value because of the inflation. So this is like just one of the things that I tried to communicate to two younger generations.

And so. So let me ask you this then so how much does it cost to buy a Ferrari? If one of someone did want to buy one, I Thought like I don't know.

Last time I researched it I thought it was like and this is Canadian dollars, so maybe in the US dollars Maybe it's a little bit cheaper. But yeah, I thought it was like two hundred and thirty thousand, or is it two hundred thousand dollars? Maybe an American dollars, and I think it depends also what kind of Ferrari it is right.

Yeah, there's that too. Did your son ever end up getting a Ferrari?

No, no, he did not. But you know what, like I was, I mean one story I wanted to share with him and I wish actually I don't think I ever shared this with him, but I, online, I actually saw this couple. They are very much into exotic cars and so they ended up starting this business where they got the loan from the bank and they bought all these not too many, but some exotic cars that they get to drive and enjoy themselves, but they're also renting them, and so when they're renting them, these the any any kind of expenses are related to these cars are deductible for their business. Plus, they're making money and renting these cars. So I just wanted to throw that out there, because there's always a way to get what you want. You just have to be creative about you. Know how you're going to accomplish it.

Yeah, and that kind of reminds me something you mentioned earlier too, like you said that you realize that you know your kids didn't know anything about money and you were able to spot that, and that's like something that I don't want people to overlook. Like the ability to see gaps in the market is a skill on its own, and what I'm learning as I'm growing I'm still in the more beginning stages of my entrepreneurial journey, but, like the better you can get at seeing those gaps and seeing them early, I think it definitely helps with, like, progressing in your journey and finding opportunities that could really change your life I feel is getting good and learning how to build that muscle of finding the gap. I think it's something that I said it's been playing out for me like the AI stuff. I taught a class and the only reason I taught that class is because I joined a mastermind and in the mastermind they had a class on chat GBT. So within two weeks, instead of me waiting on it, if within two weeks I already have my presentation that I taught and I was teaching a webinar and it's like that speed can help take a lot of people a long way, especially when you're still not that experienced and you're still starting off and so, my man, it's been amazing talking to you. Where could we keep up with you? I know you have a lot of amazing stuff coming out, like where could we find you at? Where could we keep up with you if we want to get more information, more knowledge and investing more information about your group? Like, where could we find you at?

Yeah, sure, my Instagram handle is teachkidsmoney. I do have a blue check mark next to my name. There are a lot of scammers, so be careful you follow the right account. My membership club is wealthykidsclub, so wealthykidsclub, notcomclub and you can find more information there. If you want to learn the basics of investing and I have a book that's coming out just now and it's available on Amazon it's called From Piggybanks to Stocks the Ultimate Guide for a Young Investor If you see this book, do not be alarmed. I know it looks very kiddish, but that is the reason why I purposefully made it like that, because it's kind of like the dummy series, because I want everybody to feel comfortable with the investment basics and it's written in a language that a 10-year-old can understand. So when I had people tested out these families that tested it, it was some parents and kids, and the parents actually came back to me and they said we love your book because, finally, we're not intimidated by investing. So that's why it looks the way it looks.

I think there was index funds for dummies was the third book I ever read and it definitely helped me out a ton. So I definitely recommend reading books when you find a topic that interests you, because that'll help take you so much further and so much faster as well. And so, maya, now it's time for our famous five questions. Question number one what is the most impactful lesson you've learned in life?

I think the most impactful lesson I've learned in life would be to always be open and give. It doesn't matter. This is one thing that my mom taught me. She said that if you see somebody suffering or if you see people struggling or if somebody comes to you for help and this can be like in business or everyday life even if you're not in the position to help, then at least like think who you know that can help. But if you can help, if you can do something, even if it's just a little bit, do that for people, because it always comes back threefold, fivefold, 10thfold. It's karma. I think it's really good.

What is the most admirable trait a person can have?

I would like to say it's honesty. I don't know why that's the first thing that popped in my head. Maybe I should have prepared myself for that. For me it's honesty, and I know a lot of people cannot. Honesty can be hard to handle, Like no filter, but I'm that kind of person and I'd rather tell me people what they think than sugarcoat something. I'd rather know where I stand with people than if people BS me.

If you had to change someone's life but you only had one book to give them, which book would it be?

My favorite book of all times is Atomic Habits by James Clear. Have you read it?

I have not yet. Oh, I have the audio book, if I'm not mistaken.

So I listened to the audio book and I ended up buying the book itself and then I afterwards ended up gifting that book to a few people. There is a lot to unpack there. I kind of use it like a textbook and I just think that this is 95% of what we do. We do out of habits, we do on autopilot. So if we can create the right habits that can sustain us in the long run to become better version of ourselves, then I'm all for it, and that's what Atomic Habits is all about. It's about like these little steps that we can do, just tiny, tiny little steps every day that make huge results. At the end, and essentially, when you ask me about my Instagram account, what helped it grow so big, I felt like that was that book was the driving force behind my Instagram account. Every day I tried to make my Instagram account just a little bit better.

That's amazing. What is the legacy that you're trying to leave behind?

I think the legacy that I'm trying to leave behind is that I guess the I want everybody to understand that we can all be wealthy. The ideal world that I would love to live in is where people have so much money and so much wealth that they don't have to work if they don't want to, but they're working because they want to, because they're working at the jobs that they really, really enjoy, and so I know that that can be done if we start investing early enough and managing our money right, and, as I guess it's our parents' duty to help our kids do that. But sometimes not all parents do that, not all schools do that, so sometimes we as individuals, we have to do that and it's possible. So, yeah, that's kind of the legacy I'd like to leave.

And for anyone that wants to embark on their walk to wealth today. What is the first step you recommend they take?

Can you repeat that again, sorry?

So for anyone that wants to kind of start their walk to wealth today, I assuming they just heard this podcast, they never thought about building wealth or living their ideal dream life or whatever, and you only had one step you could give them Like what would you recommend that first step be to help get them on the right track?

I would say just start paying yourself first, and I'm putting that in quotation marks. What that means is, whatever money you have coming in, take a little bit, put it aside and kind of forget about it, and then the rest of the money you can spend or do whatever you need to do with it. But this money that you've put aside, eventually you will. If you keep doing that, this money will accumulate and then you can invest it. Invest it into whether it's real estate or stock market, or invest it into yourself. Get yourself educated. Invest it into courses, conferences that will make you better, so that you can learn more and you can be more productive and you can generate more wealth 100% Well, maya.

thanks again for hopping on. Thank you for telling us your story and sharing the lessons along the way and all the nuggets you trapped. I really did appreciate it. Thank you for hopping on.

Thank you, John, for having me. This has been a lot of fun.

You've now finished taking the first step. Now let us help you take the next one. Subscribe to our newsletter at walktowealthcom. That's walk, the number two wealthcom, so we can keep you moving on your journey. We'll see you on the next episode of Walk to Wealth with John Mendes.