The Practical Entrepreneur Podcast: Real business advice from local business owners

  Brief Summary:   Erica Lopez is a Psychic Medium Coach and author of upcoming books, The Life to Thrive and Creating Peace Through the Grieving Process. She has spoken on different panels focusing on recovery and healing from domestic abuse, sexual assault, suicide, and alcohol addiction. In this episode, Nick and Erica sit down and talk about publishing a book and the nitty-gritty of it, the value of therapy, how to begin your personal healing, suicide attempt recovery, YouTube as a mental health resource, and more.   The episode touches on the following key topics and ideas:   Introducing Erica, what she does, how she makes an impact with her advocacies, and her favorite taco (00:00:55) Why becoming a vegetarian is a protest (00:03:42) Dispelling the myth that making the transition to vegetarianism is difficult (00:09:02) The difference between vegan and vegetarian (00:11:22) How Erica’s book writing process began and what her book is about (00:13:17) What to expect when publishing a book: the logistics, the finances, and the processes (00:16:00) How a first date made Erica realize the importance of knowing when to let go of things (00:20:23) Nick shares the moment he realized that he needed a change from the job and the life that he didn’t like (00:23:40) Why people find it hard to let go of their relationships and their routines (00:26:21) How to support and begin your personal healing; why it’s important to set standards (00:27:29) How processing emotions more than happiness and anger can be constructive to how men treat their partners (00:32:25) Erica shares the story behind her suicide attempt, how she recovered from it, and how her life has been since then (00:36:41) Why parents should recognize their children’s struggles and how therapy can help them (00:44:44) The real motivation and message behind Erica’s book, The Life to Thrive (00:49:14) How resources like YouTube make self-improvement and personal healing more accessible (00:51:28) Confronting your anxiety by making it your friend (00:53:29) Where to get Erica’s books and how you can apply the learnings in your life (00:56:30) Asking for signs from your departed loved ones; Erica shares one way to check (00:59:59) Erica ends with an important note: you matter and it is okay to ask for help (01:01:45) Closing statements (01:03:09)   Resources Find Erica online Website | Email 

Carmen Baltazar is an East LA-based personal coach and mentor and the founder of Flourish Mujer, a community for women focusing on self-love and strength. Carmen, commonly known as The East LA Girl, has hosted several events and workshops for women with topics ranging from self-love to women empowerment and career growth. In this episode, Nick and Carmen talk about The East LA Girl’s rebranding to Flourish Mujer, being vulnerable, 2021 goals, what to say when someone is going through something, and more.   The episode touches on the following key topics and ideas:   Introducing Carmen, her advocacy, possible future plans, and her favorite street taco vendor (01:33) How COVID has affected Carmen and her business, and the considerations she had to think about for canceling a sold-out event (05:28) How conferencing and networking have changed since the pandemic (10:44) Carmen shares the story behind “The East LA Girl” (13:08) Why do businesses rebrand? What was Carmen’s reason behind going from The East LA Girl to Flourish Mujer? (14:18) How Carmen chooses the things she will be openly vulnerable about (17:35) Why being vulnerable and sharing the mundane get the most reaction from other people (18:26) Carmen shares how far she’s come and how far she still has to go to reach her goals (21:16) What is the ultimate goal of Flourish Mujer? What mindset do you need to be able to reach your goals? (22:40) The importance of learning how to let go and how to delegate to get things done (24:08) The recent in-person event organized by Carmen and Flourish Mujer and what the workshop was about (31:09) How does Carmen define self-love? What are some steps you can do to rediscover your self-love? (33:17) Nick shares his definition of self-love and his way of practicing it (35:07) Why hosting events in August is special for Carmen (42:04) Why it’s important to talk about things that other people are still reserved about (43:29) What to say and do when someone goes through something tragic (45:54) Carmen shares her goals for 2021 and 2022 and how she plans on achieving them (50:58) Closing statements (52:04) Follow Carmen on Instagram @flourishmujer  Follow me on Social:   https://www.facebook.com/nicolaslunabroker https://www.instagram.com/nicolaslunabroker https://twitter.com/nickHDblood http://nicolaslunabroker.com TikTok @nicolaslunabroker

Brief Summary:   Francisco Casillas, or Frankie, is the co-founder and vice president of their family business Intermex Inc., a charter bus rental company based in Los Angeles, California. With a degree in accounting and professional experience in marketing, Frankie has been managing their business with his brother and has recently been featured in CNBC. In this episode, Nick sits down with Frankie to talk about what made him fall in love with marketing, running a family business, delayed weddings, and maintaining relationships with clients.   The episode touches on the following key topics and ideas:   Frankie shares a bit about his educational background and what he currently does for a living (00:01:20) What piqued Frankie’s interest in numbers, and eventually, in business? (00:03:05) How an accounting degree led Frankie to pursue marketing (00:04:23) How is accounting different from marketing? (00:05:25) Nick narrates his journey from being a kinesiology degree holder to being a content creator specializing in health insurance (00:06:35) What are the pros and cons of running a family business? (00:09:28) How do you implement changes to a company that has been doing things the “traditional” way? (00:11:56) Frankie shares how he and his brother found a way to make their respective business knowledge and skills work together (00:14:43) How do you get a contract with the government? What are the difficulties behind signing such an important job? Frankie details the wait time and the bidding process. (00:21:42) Who is the target market of a local bus company? How has the marketing and advertising of the transportation industry changed since COVID? (00:25:25) Should your social media follower count really matter? Nick shares his perspective on follower quantity versus quality. (00:28:59) Why it’s important to be self-aware in order to maintain what’s best for their business (00:33:20) What is in store for Intermex this 2021, the adjustments they made from events in 2020, and why Frankie is still grateful despite change of plans (00:35:28) Nick and Frankie recount their delayed weddings and dealing with canceled plans due to the pandemic (00:36:58) How to maintain and grow relationships with business clients (00:42:56) Discussing social media content and the importance of staying true to yourself when exploring your creativity (00:47:49) Frankie weighs in on the importance of branding oneself apart from their business (00:51:12) Giving small business a chance and focusing on building a branding versus social media presence (00:54:54) Communication as a significant factor and skill when running a business, especially family-run ones (00:58:00) Closing statements (01:02:29)

Brief Summary:   Guillermo, more known as Memo, is a card flipper and the owner of JamVolt based in Los Angeles, California. Apart from his career in advertising, Memo collects cards of different sports teams and Pokemon, his favorite. He has turned this hobby into a profit and is showing no signs of slowing down in the card game, all thanks to the pandemic. In this episode, I have a chat with Memo about his interest in cards, how card grading works, baseball players, and nostalgia.   The episode touches on the following key topics and ideas:   Memo shares his beginnings in life and the different jobs he had when he started living independently (02:02) Why Gary V is an inspiration to Memo (04:23) How getting Charizard cards translated into a business opportunity for Memo (06:43) Memo discusses how card grading works and how it makes cards valuable (11:58) Dissecting the trust and risk factors when it comes to card grading and how the process has changed since the pandemic (14:59) Why grading your cards is a worthwhile investment (21:39) Memo explains why people should invest early in their cards (24:26) Memo and I talk about Mike Trout and his probable future as one of the greatest players of all time (26:23) What happens to a player’s cards when their career ends? It’s supply and demand answers Memo (30:55) Differentiating the value behind sports cards and Pokemon cards (34:04) Would Memo still buy Pokemon cards even if they go out of season? (35:49) How to find value and get your money back from every box of cards that you buy (37:11) The personal reason why Memo enjoys his hobby of card flipping: it paid his bills and debts (41:56) Memo shares his experience with a Patrick Mahomes II card despite having less interest in football (44:55) What are the technical components behind card grading? Memo enumerates some of the must-haves of card flipping (52:55) Memo explains different types of cards you can find in a box (00:58:10) The three reasons behind card collecting according to Memo: to make money, to add to your personal collection, and to appreciate them as artworks (01:04:57) How the pandemic increased the general interest in cards (01:08:24) How our childhood interests translate into collectibles and profits today (01:09:10) Why collecting what you like pays off in the end (01:13:50) Why consistency is a big key to success (01:15:36) Follow me on Social:   https://www.facebook.com/nicolaslunabroker   https://www.instagram.com/nicolaslunabroker   https://twitter.com/nickHDblood   http://nicolaslunabroker.com   TikTok @nicolaslunabroker  

Brief Summary:   Dominique and Luis are the couple behind the family-owned store Flor de Luna Apothecary in Boyle Heights, California. Flor de Luna Apothecary is a store specializing in CBD products and holistic accessories. In this episode, I have a chat with Dominique and Luis about their business and why they chose CBD. Flor de Luna Apothecary is a family-owned business catering CBD products and holistic healing. The couple behind it, Dominique and Luis, started the business after experiencing different medical problems in the family and discovering the benefits of CBD. In this episode, I sit down with Dominique and Luis and discuss the stigma surrounding CBD, the lesser-known history of cannabis, the challenges of opening a business during a pandemic, and healing spaces.   Follow me on Social:   https://www.facebook.com/nicolaslunabroker   https://www.instagram.com/nicolaslunabroker   https://twitter.com/nickHDblood   http://nicolaslunabroker.com   TikTok @nicolaslunabroker

Brief Summary:   Julio Ruiz is Nick’s accountant and the owner of Julio’s Tax Services, an accounting and bookkeeping firm located in Lynwood, California. In this episode, Nick gets his mind blown as Julio breaks down the steps of filing your income tax returns and simplifies the intimidating and boring process of doing your taxes. Julio's links  https://www.facebook.com/juliostaxservices   For more detail notes of the show, feel free to email me at [email protected] to get the Cliff notes from this show   Follow me on Social:   https://www.facebook.com/nicolaslunabroker   https://www.instagram.com/nicolaslunabroker   https://twitter.com/nickHDblood   http://nicolaslunabroker.com   TikTok @nicolaslunabroker  

Hafeez is a cofounder of The Roommates podcast. They have had guest like, Gary Vayernchuk, Charlamagne da God, Lewis Howes, DL Hughley and many other great guest.   Though The Roommates podcast gets 10K an episode, Hafeez still doesn't believe its a successful podcast.    Hafeez also goes over the many different ways one can become a successful content creator.  Make sure to check out The Roommates Podcast https://www.youtube.com/c/TheRoommatesPodcast/ Patreon: https://patreon.com/theroommates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roommateshtx/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/roommateshtx Facebook: http://facebook.com/roommateshtx Website: https://www.roommateshtx.com/ Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/theroommatespo... Apple Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/t... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1RtzEr2...   Make sure to follow me on Social:  Follow me on Social:   https://www.facebook.com/nicolaslunabroker   https://www.instagram.com/nicolaslunabroker   https://twitter.com/nickHDblood   http://nicolaslunabroker.com   TikTok @nicolaslunabroker    

Daniel Ramirez is a high school friend. Facebook has kept us in touch. Danny was always into Taekwondo. He served in the military for 12 years and then they said, " we have to discharge you"   Danny's wife took a sharp turn. But lucky for him, he always stayed connected with the Taekwondo world.    Check out Danny's website and Facebook page.   https://www.facebook.com/twintigerswa/   http://twintigerswa.com/ Follow me on Social:   https://www.facebook.com/nicolaslunabroker   https://www.instagram.com/nicolaslunabroker   https://twitter.com/nickHDblood   http://nicolaslunabroker.com   TikTok @nicolaslunabroker  

Ricky is the Tim Duncan of social media, Mr. Consistent. Ricky shares great tips on how you can be consistent and also good information for first time home buyers. Make sure to give Ricky a follow at his social media handles   @ricky_therealtor www.rickyjalvarez.com   Follow me on Social:   https://www.facebook.com/nicolaslunabroker   https://www.instagram.com/nicolaslunabroker   https://twitter.com/nickHDblood     TikTok @nicolaslunabroker

When a course/seminar comes up people will first look at the cost. I do it. How much does this course cost or how much is this seminar? The real question should be, how much is it going to cost me if I don't take this course or go to this seminar?   Reyna is a young entrepreneur that has the right mindset. Reyna has the right approach when it comes to investing for the long term. For more info about Reyna, here is her website and social media handles: http://www.reynamarrufo.com/ @hola_reyna Follow me on Social: https://www.facebook.com/nicolaslunahealthinsurance/ https://www.instagram.com/nicolaslunabroker https://twitter.com/nickHDblood https://medicarenick.com TikTok @nicolaslunabroker