Latest / No Más Yes Girls / She Left the U.S. With $40K in Debt… and Called It a Plan | Lorena Miranda Bendeck

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She Left the U.S. With $40K in Debt… and Called It a Plan | Lorena Miranda Bendeck · No Más Yes Girls

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hi everyone, welcome back to another episode of Nomas Yes Girls.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Vinet here with my sister Vivian where we talk about our healing journey.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: And today we have um one of our good friends.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: She actually became a very good friend these last um couple of weeks, months here with us.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: We have Miss Lorena Miranda Vendeck.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: She's the creator of Lorena and her audacity.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: And honestly, the word audacity describes her story so perfectly.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: Lorena.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: Lorena left the United States after, I believe she was 40.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: Is that correct, Lorena?
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yes, I actually turned 41 in Colombia.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, she left the United States um after 40 years old, living in the US her whole life.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, she moved to Colombia and started rebuilding her life while carrying around$40,000 of debt that she actually left behind in the US.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: It's like period.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: Bye.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: Not exactly the cute little new chapter story social media usually gives us.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: She didn't wait until every problem was solved.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: She didn't wait until she had zero fear.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: She didn't wait until everybody understood her decision.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: She reached a point where she knew something had to change.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: And today we're going to be talking about that.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: And once again, welcome, Lorena.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: We're so, so, so excited to have you on here and share your story with us.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Truly, it's, I mean, I did not expect this kind of feedback when I posted, um, which by the way, which is how we found each other, right?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: It was through Instagram.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I posted a reel where I was just talking off the cuff about the consequences, the consequences that I suffered when I chose to move from the United States to Colombia, leaving all my debt, uh, including my car and my apartment unpaid for a couple months, and just packed my things and left.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I discussed in that real like what those consequences were, which were essentially almost basically nothing.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I did not expect that to explode the way that it did.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's got over a million views right now.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I gained all these followers, and I wasn't doing this to become, you know, an influencer or a creator or anything of that sort.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: It kind of just flowed into that, and I decided to listen to it, you know, to, you know, if God is showing you something, you kind of gotta pay attention and you know, follow the lead and not resist it.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I listened to the comments I was getting from people, and um one thing really, really stood out, and that was people are sick of it.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people are just exhausted by the American system.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: And interestingly enough, obviously, because I live in Colombia and I am Latina, I do get a lot of Hispanic and Latina followers, but I also get a lot, I also noticed myself, and I did do some of my own analytics about it as much as I could, that I also had a lot of black women following me, which tells me that I mean, if you think about the statistics, especially about what it takes to be a black woman in the United States, I mean, they're tired.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And my story resonated with them.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I respect that, I appreciate that.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I feel like I have a responsibility to really make sure that I articulate this in a way that's educational, informative, and frankly, with the understanding that um, you know, this is my experience, this is what I'm telling you.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone has their own DNA, things are gonna be different.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: But at the end of the day, in order for you to make bold moves, you have to have a lot of audacity.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that audacity comes from the inside, where you have to get to yourself to a place where you're making the decisions from a position of strength, not fear, not worry, not lack, right?
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: You're doing it from a place where you're so sure of what you want and what you deserve, that whatever consequences come with that decision, you can handle.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: And here's the interesting part about that something in the vibes, something in the universe, something, however you want to put it, okay?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: When you become decisive about what you want, and you're no longer afraid of those consequences that you either have been sold or have been rotating in your mind or have been consuming your thoughts, what you end up doing is you disempower those the idea of those consequences, and somehow you become immune to them.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Can I say that?
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm not even trying to sure if that's a proper way of saying it, but they just don't you know manifest the way you think they will, or excuse me, the way you thought they would.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I think if more of us understood that equation, more of us would be living our lives on our terms.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that's sort of what I learned in this entire process is that you know, you know is a complete sentence.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: You have to get very, very used to and okay with not being liked.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: You're not everyone's bat signal, right?
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: No one is going to die because you didn't make it, or because you couldn't be there, or because you couldn't do it, you know.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, these are all the things that I sort of learned in this process, and I applied them and I just boom made the decision.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: February 2nd of 2024, I'm like, I'm out.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: March 2nd, one month later, I was on a plane, you know.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I um I was very, very excited to do this.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: It it's funny because it didn't feel like a chapter renewal.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: It didn't feel like I was restarting my life or anything of that sort, because I was so in the thick of just like the logistics of getting here and selling everything and moving things around, et cetera, et cetera, that it wasn't till I got here and I gave myself a little time to kind of rest, like do the mental relaxations that I needed in order to really gain the clinic clarity to live my life with purpose that I realized, damn, like I really did it.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like, oh my god, I totally did it.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that it looks drastic on the outside.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: I know, but internally it was just the next logical move.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: So, okay, yeah, let's just do this, just pack up my shit and let's go, you know.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: And um, for that I'm very grateful, you know.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm very grateful because I recognize that there's a lot of privilege in what I was able to do, but I also recognize that you can create your own privilege.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, you can create you can create your own effect, and that makes me feel powerful.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, 100%.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like um, I think there's a lot of women out there who reach a point, I mean, myself included, where we say I did everything I was supposed to, I worked, I paid my bills, I was responsible, I handled things, I kept going, I'm hustling.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: Why am I still unhappy?
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Or or feeling like you're behind.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: And and by the way, I just want to clarify one thing, especially for your audience, because when people hear$40,000 in credit card debt, they think that I went on like some kind of shopping spree, which frankly, to screw these banks, I should have, but that's not what happened.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I wish I had, you know, done my little shopping spree, bought all the things I wanted to buy, and just racked up that debt and left.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what happened.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: I started accumulating this debt around 2022 during the thick of the pandemic because I did have a business, which by the way, focused on empowering women.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: I worked with women in Ghana and Colombia making artisanal products for my home decor line, like that fan, for example, is one example.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: That thing is about five feet big.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you can tell the scale of it, but this is all handwoven, handmade, and um, it was predominantly by women, many of whom were in charge of taking care of the children's educational expenses, etc.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I was paying them equitably, I was paying them really, really well.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: I was paying above market value because I understood that the market value was exploitative to them, you know, like their value was devalued, and that was the norm in some of these places.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: And when I understood that, I said, well, how am I supposed to effectuate change through business um unless I'm ensuring that my makers are being paid properly for this?
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: And they were.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: And during the time that I was working with them, I mean, every time I'd go back to Ghana, I wouldn't see children at the shop at the at the weaving center.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember the first time I noticed that, I asked um, you know, one of the bosses that I had placed, I asked him, hey, where are the kids?
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, they're in school.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, what do you oh, they're in school?
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, yes, the moms have them in school now.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because of the work I was providing them and the level of pay, they could afford the school fees and the uniforms, the books, the shoes, you know, all of those things.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: So that to me was extremely rewarding.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I know that you can feel highly rewarded buying a Ferrari with the products, with the fruits of your labor, but it's also equally, if not even more rewarding to know that you're changing lives in this direction, you know, in this way.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so with that in mind, and because the ethics of my business model were so crucial to me, I was unwilling to waver on that.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I chose to pay them equitably, even during a pandemic when it was costing me, specifically because I believed, like most of us, that this pandemic was going to be temporary, right?
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: I remember at first we thought it was a few weeks, maybe a few months.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: We never imagined it'd be a couple years that there would be two stimuluses, it'd be, you know, EIDL, PPPPs, and all this crap that the government had to do to like undo the effects of this disease.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so um instead of using the cash that I was generating to pay back my credit cards, I was just paying like little minimums and the balances kept going up and up because I was using this to like pay for pay for shipping or logistics.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Everything was based on covering the expenses of my business because my heart wanted to maintain these people employed.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: And at the same time, yes, my business was growing.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: But anybody who owns a business understands that when you're going through these growing pains of a business, that's really, really cash-heavy times, you know?
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: It consumes a lot of money.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: You don't, you know, you'll get paid in 90 days, but in the meantime, you got to front it.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: So it's very, very expensive.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and little by little, you know, I got to a place where all of a sudden, bam, I have$40,000 in credit card debt, and I'm going, and my interest rates were stupidly high, like ridiculous, almost like I mean, this was like abusive what these banks were doing, right?
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: And and the reason why I kind of came to this conclusion where by the way, me choosing to leave my credit card debt was a highly strategic move.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't me being unawandolera, like it wasn't me being una.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: I was just like, no, this is what private equity does.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: Donald Trump has done this multiple times.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Why can't Lorena Miranda Mendeck do it too?
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, but when I do it, I'm a sleaze ball.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: But when someone like a private equity firm does it, they're a financial genius.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, no, no, no, no.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: We're applying the same exact rules to little old me.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: And it took audacity to do that, you know?
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: I called these credit card companies and I contacted every single one of them because I was making payments.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: At the time, I was like paying between$1,200 to$1,400 a month, something like that.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: And when I actually did the math, I was realizing like nine, ten hundred to almost a thousand dollars is going to interest.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you understand anything about interest, that's basically a payment to the bank.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: The same bank put me in this position, and I say put me in this position because they fought and lobbied against consumer protection laws.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, this type of interest rate and usury rates are only legal here because you know, banks are just basically these corporations are managing the way that they've treat these consumers.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's what I like to call a scam by design, right?
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I called all these banks to work with them because I did want to pay back my debt.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like I had no intention on, you know, doing this.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it was almost like a uniform script amongst all of the banks that I called.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: I had uh four credit cards, I think, at the time, and I called each one.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: It was different banks.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'll name them Capital One, Chase, American Express, Bank of America.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, called them all.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: They all said the same thing.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Essentially, um, well, you know, you can either pay the balance in three payments, or we can just close your account and you can pay it slowly, um, or it would just go to collections.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, I am drowning here.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how is this a solution for me?
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: If I'm having a hard time paying minimum payments, what makes you think I can pay this balance off in three payments?
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like, this is before AI.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Are you a robot?
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Or like, are you comprehending the situation that I'm in?
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it was just over and over, this is what they would respond.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's when I realized, and I kind of compared it to the recession of 2008 when a lot of these banks were giving these very, very, you know, um, prime mortgage loans and very, very like risky loans.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because they were insured, so they didn't care if the person defaulted.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's on you, that's your problem, that is your choice and accountability.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: So, taking that into account, I said they must not give a damn about my debt.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like, they clearly don't care whether or not I pay this.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like, in my opinion, it seems and it sounds like they're so unwilling to participate in helping me get out of this that it's almost like they don't mind the loss.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't mind the loss either.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because at this point, what are you gonna do?
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna ruin my credit?
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's in the shitter.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, you know, my credit score does this, and no one can explain why.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm like, so I don't really care about that.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: But my biggest, biggest calculation was what would forty thousand dollars mean in my pocket right now?
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: If I am going to work myself to the bone, you know, to pay off this debt as much as I can, little by little, while a chunk of it consistently goes to the bank.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, what if I did the same to generate this cash and just kept it?
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Would that be life-changing for me?
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: What would be the consequences of that?
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then I started doing the math, okay?
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: And essentially, I was like, you know, they're gonna ruin my credit.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, whatever.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: If I don't have credit, what does that mean?
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that means that when I go buy a car, I'm gonna have a higher interest rate, still cheaper than paying back$40,000.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it means that when I go rent an apartment, they're gonna ask me maybe for an extra month up front, still cheaper than paying$40,000.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: And that extra month up front, it's my rent anyway.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna consume it, you know.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, if if I need a loan, what what like I don't remember the last time I had a$40,000 emergency.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: So if I accumulate that cash, what if they sue me?
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, before it even gets to that, they're gonna be sending me a lot of letters and a lot of opportunities to pay this pennies on the dollar.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I still win, and it's a lot less than paying back$40,000, right?
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: I started doing all of this math, and I said, I have nothing to lose here.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, I'm the one that's in the position of strength because I got your money.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: I got your money, and I'm the one that's deciding, but why not you get it back?
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: So let's switch these tables here for a second and let's let's let's talk about it, right?
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I said, I'm not paying this back, let them call me, we'll figure it out.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I did around December of 2023.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: I or November, I made my last payment.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then when I tell you harassment, phone call after phone, I mean, like, I mean, these people were like on mobile, right?
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: They were even calling my mom.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how at some point I must have put her number as a backup or something.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: They were calling, I was like, mommy, no contact.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, she would uh tell me they're sending me letters to the house because I always put my mother's address because it's my permanent, you know, no matter where I moved, mom always did the same, right?
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I always use her address for many reasons, and so she started getting all these letters and we're gonna sue you.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I go, mom, mom, she goes, she's like, Well, look what look at her right, look at her right, and I go, mom.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, it's a federal offense to be opening up my mail, especially if it's gonna make you crack out.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so I was like, calm down, okay, do not open my mail, and if you do it, send me the picture.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: So she would send it to you on WhatsApp, and she's like, What is that?
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I would respond simply toilet paper.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: Or use it to pick up Canelo's pee.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like I go, para el Pipi de Canelo, I would put it there, I would respond to her, you know.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: So whenever Canelito would do peep in the house, I'm like, there you go.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: You use this to absorb it, okay?
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: Don't waste your paper towels, use this because it's the same shit, because I'm not gonna pay for it, I don't care.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: So when I got even more into deciding not to pay for this, I build this kind of bravado and this sort of strength.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: And by the way, I do want to be very clear about something.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: One of the reasons why I was able to get away with this was because I was essentially insolvent, which means that I didn't have any liquidity, I don't have anything saved, all of my money in my um investments, investment accounts were all, I mean, uh retirement accounts.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: You can't sue, you know, that's untouchable.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, Well, I mean, I'm good for retirement, and by the time I get there, this ain't gonna matter.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not like they can target me and they're like, oh, well, they can send the IRS a 1099, and I go, Yeah, they can.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: Still less than paying, still cheaper than paying$40,000.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because the I they're sending the IRS this income, if I mean, which they didn't, but they could, as a 1099, and I would have to pay taxes on that.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, yeah, and I also have deductions and a bunch of stuff, so still cheaper than paying$40,000, you know.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I kind of took on this attitude, and it was it felt great.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: At no point did I regret this, at no point did I feel bad, at no point did I feel like I was um screwing the system?
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: No, I felt like I was taking mine back.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: I felt like I was taking my power back.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: And when people say would tell me, Well, now the rest of us have to pay a higher interest, or the rest of us have to pay more because of what people like you do, and I go, Why is that your default thought?
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: And not that the shareholder has to pay more?
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Why is it that you're so willing to accept the shareholder being shielded from this type of you know, defaults, which they created, the ease in which consumers can that can happen to them, right?
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's and instead of telling, oh, well now the shareholders are getting screwed, why is your default oh now the consumer?
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: Who taught you that and why?
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that is sort of like the the mental grip that I started like releasing from myself.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that was just from the financial perspective, right?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: But let me tell you, I told you, once you start making bold moves, it becomes very easy to make bold moves, right?
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: And and one of the reasons why I decided to move from Miami to Columbia, you know how they say, you know, the straw that broke the camel's back or a you know death by a thousand cuts.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: I got my last cut.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: I really, and it wasn't a cut, it was a freaking gash.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it was January of 2024, and I had gone to a trade show for my company at that time, and the idea of the trade show was to sell you know a lot, which we had done in the years past, which was which would provide us with like a nice little push in little you know springboard for the rest of the year.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: I go to Atlanta, I spent thousands of dollars to be there, and I basically broke even, which for the for a trade show that's considered a success, but for me, that was considered, oh my God, like you know, I just knew all my insights, like I needed more money than this to really truly be able to position my business from you know in a in a strong place.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: And when I get back from Atlanta, I'm in Miami, two in the morning, walking in my house after driving 11 hours.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: There's a letter under my door, and it's from my property management.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: The building where I lived in Miami, in the North Bay Village area, was not owned by a person.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: I did not have a particular landlord.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: It was owned by a private equity firm that owned 400 other buildings in the country.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I get this letter and it was about my rent uh renewal.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: And my rent renewal, they were increasing my rent by$600 a month.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: The previous year, they increased it by a thousand.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: And at that time, I was so in the thick of it, I did not have time to move to find an apartment.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: And if you know, you know, when you're looking for an apartment, they're usually asking for first, last, and deposit.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: So most apartments are, you know, between$2500,$200.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: I needed like between everything, about$10,000.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: thousand dollars just to get my foot in the door right and I was just like I can't do this right now so I signed the lease 12 months later now we're six hundred dollars more I mean I even thought it was a typo I go maybe it's sixty dollars so I went to the office because I could not I just could not believe it no sure enough it was six hundred dollars more and I'm like what added value you guys are improving this or improving that you know we don't have this we don't have that like like well those are the market conditions and I remember when they said this to me I thought to myself the market's rigged these private equity firms come in here buy these buildings hold them so that you know they stay empty and rent prices shoot up right and and and and now it's the private equity firms and all the people behind that that are making all the money at our expense and I just remember seeing this letter and thinking I went from a$1500 apartment when I moved in here in 2018 to$3200 in 2024.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's not normal.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: A salary doesn't do that you know I mean even and and that's kind of one of the things that made me feel like damn I'm doing so well in my business you know my numbers are good everything on paper looks good but I'm drowning like like you said I'm doing everything right and I'm still coming in last like there's something wrong in this playbook right so I saw that and I just couldn't I couldn't I was like I live here I was born and raised in Miami I am a full blooded Miami girl I know this is not Manhattan I'm not you know in the center of the world like this is North Bay Village like give me a break you know so that was kind of a moment like the very next day I called my cousin in Columbia and I said to her hey do you know of any apartments in the area where you live because I had been to her apartment here before and I loved it.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: I thought the area was so cute.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean within an hour she sends me a picture of apartments that are you know for rent in this building that they just built and blah blah blah long story short I told her how much is it she sent me a video of what it looks like and I said to her okay I'll let you know tomorrow I called my dad and I go Bobby do you how do you feel about me moving to Colombia to Barranquilla and he was like oh my god I think that would be great right and his response was because he knew what I was going through and he was like you know you're two hours away it actually takes you less time to get to um Barranquilla from Miami than it does Miami to New York you know so I was like he was like it's much cheaper you're making the same money like I mean you can recuperate you can recover you can figure things out there and I go and I'm not alone I have family I have friends I had already built a network here like I was like you know I think that's the solution because I would love to stay in Miami but not if this is happening you know and it's all out of my control it's like I gotta go right um and frankly part of the reason for that was because I felt like I was paying a premium to live a basic life because at those price points I mean leaving your house is a hundred dollars a day you know it's like and I was like this is nuts like I know like this is a I mean a rip-off is a ripoff it doesn't matter how much money you have right yeah so um I made the decision I said yep I'm gonna go I'm not paying for this and so I decided February 2nd that I wasn't gonna pay for this my rent was due February 3rd and I'm like I am not paying for this I'm gonna figure out a way to get out of here as soon as possible before they send the sheriff over because these folks were actually really quick about evicting about evictions.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: I mean I would see eviction notices on doors in my building by like the 7th of the month and I'm like dude rent was due four days ago like give this like for real you're already going through this you know they were super aggressive so I was preparing myself for that level of aggression and I said I may have a couple days I may have a couple weeks I may have I don't know but I gotta get fast and when I tell you that within 10 12 days I had sold the majority of my things um I had already decided what was going to mom's house what was going to storage what was I gonna take with me you know and I had already organized things that I would be taking with me with other trips like little by little because remember it's only two say suitcases per flight um and I was constantly afraid that I would get that eviction notice because the thing about the eviction notice is that it would force me to go to court and I didn't want to delay my flight.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't want to delay my trip you know so I was trying to avoid it and I kept sending them emails like hey you know I had a delay I had a fraud in my account you know just giving them a bunch of BS just to like hold them off right especially because for the last two years I was a perfect payer I never had an issue so I don't think they had a reason to um you know to doubt me right so yeah I used those 30 days and imagine that I didn't pay my credit card bill I didn't pay my rent so I had all of that money accumulated to come to Colombia where I was gonna live in pesos I mean you want to talk about comfort I had I had a car in in the states in Miami um that I had bought like about two years prior which I also barely drove um and I called the bank multiple times come get your car I am leaving the country come pick it up yes you know we're we're figuring we're figuring it out we're we're gonna send someone over blah blah by today like by March 1st they still hadn't picked it up I'm leaving March I'm leaving the next day so the day before my fight I drove it to the bank and I left it parked in front of the bank that financed it and I put the keys in the ATM box and I'm like listen here's your car this ain't my problem you figure it out because I'm done trying to help you bye and I left I mean got into my dad's car left the car parked there and I was like and I left and when I boarded my flight the next day I had two suitcases and I remember thinking to myself yep I'm I'm literally arriving with the clothes on my back at this point like in my two little suitcases you know and when I got here that day I was just I remember like by the way I had an air mattress because my cousin I had asked her get me an air mattress for now because I need to go figure out what I'm gonna do with a bed and all that.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I got home and there was the air mattress all blown up and I remember just like laying on it and thinking to myself holy cow the last time I laid on an air mattress I was a freshman in college talk about like full circle like I'm starting over again a whole new you know like an old a new learning curve all these things and it just felt so great you know um because I felt light and I felt powerful like anyway it was a feeling that I just did not want to let go of and I was like wow it's kind of like when you discover something I don't know like in a hundred years the solitude when Aureliana when Dia discovers ice for the first time it was just like what is this and that was kind of it and I mean I do believe and feel that I've been a fairly empowered person throughout the majority of my life but not like this I mean I was on the top of my game and it was a good place to be wow what an amazing story I still can't get over it.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: I know I I think I've heard this so many times and I'm just like so in awe so amazed and so inspired and so motivated.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah exactly but I do want to ask because I know there's I mean listen I know there's um people who have asked like so you currently live in Barranquilla Colombia you fly back to Miami you don't get stopped by TSA or like the airport when you fly into Miami because of the unresolved debt that you may have accumulated here because I know people will will ask about that.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: No yeah so and that's a great question because that's also a fear tactic that's not true.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: First of all I am a U.S.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: citizen this is my birthright to enter this country and come and go as I want I don't debt is a civil matter you know it is a legal civil matter it's not a criminal thing now if you owe the IRS or you um properly managed money right I don't owe the IRS I don't have any IRS liens I'm not you know I'm not you know uh what's it called like oh child support is another one for example I mean things like that are different when you're talking about credit card debt you know like a personal loan your car that's personal right that's all civil I mean no as a matter of fact the only questions I get asked by TSA is what am I doing in Colombia because they see my passport and it's like US Colombia US Colombia like I mean the majority of my trips are to Colombia and I'm like listen I ain't trafficking anything I just live there half the time they're like oh okay you know and then they see my Colombian passport they're like oh okay you know but that's it then I have never been asked about my diet I have never been asked about anything because it's they don't care which again goes to my point of how much we have been taught to be scared of things that simply are not that big of a deal.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: You have to use a lot to the average Joe because if you're making$80 a year$40,000 sounds like a whole ton of money but to these banks 40 grand it might cost them more to go after it than than what they could actually use it for.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: And they're willing to say the hell with this and by the way it wasn't$40,000 to one bank it was like$10,000 to these folks$9,000 over here$11,000 over here you know$4,000 so these little these amounts actually are very small and to them it's like annoying you know yeah they might sue you they might sue me sure if they sue me that's again a civil matter TSA is not going to stop me.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: They're not gonna say oh you got a lawsuit pending no that's not that's that's not what they're looking for.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: So how how much how much do you pay now in at your apartment in Colombia?
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god if I told you so I left your apartment you know it I'm actually headed this weekend to buy paint because that was supposed to be like a moodier darker blue and I was just kept painting and I'm like oh trust the process it's gonna paint out and I think the guy made a mistake because I'm like I don't know where this powder blue came from and so now I have like I'm changing I'm still organizing all this but to answer your question okay I was paying$3200 for about a 750 square foot apartment in Miami.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm paying well because the dollar has gone a bit down I'm paying just under a thousand like$970 for 1500 square feet almost double the size and I live in a very nice upper area um you know obviously there's a huge privilege in earning dollars and living in Festos and actually one of the conversations that I have pretty constantly is how to be a good expat a good immigrant and not come here and you know and reduce your your gentrification footprint you know yeah um because immigration is inevitable people are gonna move things I mean this is just this is the con a global constant right um and I know what gentrification is like because I was victimized by it myself.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean I literally saw what happens when you know people who make a lot more money than you come in and have a lot more buying power and they look at your$3200 rent like a bargain versus a burden right and and how that affects you like I understand that and so my goal here is to you know accumulate and recuperate financially as as much as I can while at the same time living the life I deserve and Colombia is offering that to me and I'm very thankful.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah so you mentioned a little bit about um uh getting paid in dollars uh versus versus Colombian pistols so what is it you do you're working or you're just content creating well I'm accidentally content creating because I wasn't expecting to do that but I I am monetized you know um uh Facebook does pay me TikTok does pay me fortunately it's you know because I don't need as much here right um I you know with a little bit a little bit goes goes a long way but no I I do I do have a job you know um so I kept my insurance licenses it within the state of Florida and what I do right now is I work with a few agents life insurance and health agents and I just help their administrative work and the trade-off is that in Miami I had to earn about 10,000 a month just to cover my expenses and it left me with very little at the end of it.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: I had to work like a freaking indentured servant in order to get that every month.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember feeling that the pain of that hustle along with the pain of being left with nothing and it was just like I said I was paying a premium to live a basic life and so here you know with 2500 to 3000 a month you are I mean ridiculously fine like you are so good.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm talking about like I mean I have a like you daily housekeeper you know everything from I mean everything like they do your groceries they do your laundry everything everything everything you go out you get the facials you get whatever you want I mean it's really really comfortable living um but it's only you know it's much less than what I was doing before and what does that mean that means that I get to work a lot less now because I don't need to you know strain myself 40 60 80 hours a week to make so much money now I you know sometimes I have like four hour days I mean I wake up around 9 30 comfortably I don't get to my computer to like noon sometimes I mean to like if I'm trying to be mass I'll do it at 11 but you know and I'm out of there by like 2, 3, 4 p.m right and it's and they got the rest of the night for myself and that is the value of living a slow life the mental clarity you know I'll tell you this when I moved here and I finally got used to life in Colombia first of all I was very nervous for a chunk of it because I wasn't used to not worrying about my bills not worrying about you know how am I gonna do this it felt like it felt fake I was like what simulation is this because something's gonna happen something like I was constantly on edge waiting for like you know something to just tear me apart pull the rug from underneath me right it took me I want to say almost a year to fully internalize the soft life you know to fully internalize like no you're okay it's okay like for my nervous system to just shh and get used to this because it was so accustomed you know what it was the most familiar with was the grind you know just the constant pressure the pressure the pressure when suddenly I didn't have it and instead I was like what you know I would wake up in the middle of the night like fearing like I should be worried about something like am I forgetting something you know because I just could not relax I did not know how to do that and so um one of the things I am extremely grateful for is that I've been given the opportunity to come here live easily um you know I don't have to worry about where like I said you know how am I gonna pay this bill how am I paying like I'm I'm always okay and obviously making dollars and living in pesos is where it's at and that actually taught me one thing and I I heard it once I think on TikTok or Instagram and it said see I wasn't you know it wasn't like life stressing me out it was America that was stressing me out it were these systems that are in place that are like a scam by design as I call them right these systems where it forces people to always work stay in debt and you know never have like you know never have enough like you always have to consistently stay in this cycle and the people who benefit the most are the ones on top right and you know one of the biggest arguments that I have with folks in from the US now that I live in Colombia and I see what the lifestyle is like here and I go you know what in the United States yes you guys have a new iPhone every year every bedroom has a television each person in your house drives a car but you stay in debt to do that you stay in a lot of debt to do that yeah you most Americans are living track to track most Americans can't even finance a$500 emergency which means they don't even have$500 in a savings account right now okay do you have any idea the level of vulnerability that curves you that doesn't make you rich that makes you vulnerable whereas in Colombia yeah maybe people don't have you know every a lot of everything but they own what they have you own your car you own your house you know your house may be like in three or four generations but you own it it's yours you're not paying a bank you're not paying for this you're not staying in this cycle right and in the states you're terrified of like breaking your pinky toe because it could literally bankrupt you here you break you break your pinky toe you go to the clinic they fix it for you and you pay nothing because you shouldn't have to pay for that you know you shouldn't have do you know how many people when I go into my dentist okay how many people were sitting in that lobby speaking English so many yeah I was like of course I can't believe it's same thing in Mexico I mean heck every time I go back to Mexico I I go to the doctors I go everything it's because here here in the US it's so unfortunate but it's a luxury to have healthcare here.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah how did we get there exactly that's my question how did this happen I was talking to a doctor in Mexico and he was um obviously we're talking in Spanish but he um he said some in between the lines that I don't understand how the system in the US works just to see a doctor because not only are you seeing a doctor but you also have to go to a specialist and another specialist and another specialist he's like here you can just call and then they don't even give you your their phone number in Mexico I still have the doctor's phone like I'm WhatsApp the doctor I need a receta like I need a prescription for this or totally you know what blew my mind here I like to so I I've been on blood pressure medications since I was like 29 genetic it's hereditary issues right so I was in Miami and like an idiot I left my my pills here but I had three in my wallet for some reason.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I only had three days worth of pills and I was gonna be in Miami for a week I'm not gonna die if I don't take it for four days but you know it's blood pressure and at this point my body is accustomed to the mechanics of the medicine right and I just didn't want to risk it.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I said what if I miss my flight you know and all the things so I go to CVS okay and I used to have a prescription there but I explained to them hey I'm a traveler you know um I how do I get access to this medication oh well we can't because it's not you know you it's by law you know I could be sued and like all of these blockages and I'm like dude I'm not trying to have a stroke here like I just need can I get two pills?
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know like and it was just like an act of Congress to actually get access to something.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: I ended up having to go to a doctor pay out of pocket so that they could get me my prescription and I mean basically the whole thing cost me like$200 just so I can get 30 days worth of medication when I was only going to be there for a week but I just did not want to push it because I did do it once and the doctor got pissed at me and I was like let me not screw this up right I figured well I forgot.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile here in Colombia I do have insurance here and my insurance covers my meds but in order for me to get my my renewals I have to be seen by the doctor every three at least once every three months which is cool by me because they just want to check you up right yeah and it's all preventative well I had it because I was traveling I hadn't had a chance to do that.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know that I could just go to a like a pharmacy walk Tell them what I need.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's like almost over the counter.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_00: Here you go.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_00: Totally off-brand, completely generic, totally effective.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_00: So, and I'm like, oh look, I'm not gonna die.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_00: How awesome is that?
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, because I had the you know, I I made the mistake of taking a trip, right?
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: So um, yes, and and and part of it also has to do because again, when you are when you position yourself into a place where you're able to make bold decisions because you now have gained, you know, this audacity, as I like to say, it also comes with a tremendous amount of clarity, and you start seeing things and systems that are in place by your friends, the people you love, the place you work, the economy and society you live in, that are all designed in some cases to corner you.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_00: And when you start seeing these systems, you begin breaking those patterns and you start disempowering them, which is where you'll find some conflict, which is why you have to get used to not being liked, okay, which is why you have to understand that no is a complete sentence, which is why you have to come to center and remember why you're doing it, right?
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and once these things are figured out, you know, by from yourself, you start seeing these systems and these things in place, and you realize I disagree with this.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_00: This is a scam.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna participate in that, I'm not doing it this way, and then you start to find the loopholes that work in your favor, because now this is how you're programming your brain, is to find these easily, right?
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when you start seeing how all of a sudden you become an elevated version of who you used to be, right?
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now you're in an elevated space, and all of that bullshit that used to follow you around suddenly disappears.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because you know what happens when you become whole, you radiate this energy, it's like a shield where people who are gonna come ruin your day aren't even gonna try.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, then they're not even gonna try, like you attract what you expect, right?
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the same thing with situations and and and and everything from people to situations to things and places, right?
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm a big believer in cleaning this aura, but part of cleaning this aura is also understanding what you're working with and what the choices you have, and figuring out that within those choices, shuffling them around so you find the ones that work for you or the ones you're willing to tolerate, right?
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so once I saw that, it was like, wow, definitely.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_00: The United States is just unfortunately in this place at this moment, it is built to not benefit me.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it is built to I I have a higher likelihood of getting into and staying in a rat race than I do excelling above it, and I don't want to work that hard, I don't need to, so I left, and now I don't work hard because I'm not love love love you're so in your power, you're just like what it just comes out, you're right.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, and and by the way, have I said anything to you girls that's offensive or insulting?
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_00: Oh no, right, and but everything that I'm doing, there are people out there that find it offensive and insulting, yeah.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_00: But it's not because I'm offensive and insulting, it's because I'm a mirror to them and I'm showing them what they don't have the guts to do.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and they're looking at me and going, Oh my god, no, no, no, she can't do this because this this no, I did it anyway, yeah, and I didn't die exactly, so you didn't hurt anyone either.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_02: Precisely, yeah.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_02: So talk talk to us a little bit about um and I'm her audacity digital products that you have, and I know that's not the only one, but you have other things going on.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_00: So, like I said, I went viral a few times accidentally, unintentionally.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_00: I never set out to be an influencer or a content creator, but once I started getting like all this feedback and followers, and I mean when I tell you that my DMs blow up, I mean, there are days where I see my DMs and I'm like, wow, I really do want to get back to these folks.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I started understanding like based on a lot of the questions that people were asking me, because I was getting questions from every topic from hey, um, you know, if if I don't pay this credit card, do you think that this is gonna happen?
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_00: Or hey, I'm in a similar situation, or hey, I'm so sick and tired of what's happening, like I'm I'm getting ready to leave and I'm thinking about moving to Colombia.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_00: Can you tell me more?
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and I was like, whoa, I am being looked at as a pillar of information.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_00: How do I process this in a way that makes sense?
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I also wanted it to be very affordable, right?
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't want this, I'm not gatekeeping anything, but I also need to be compensated for the work I'm doing, right?
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't think that's an unfair ask.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I did three things.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_00: I did the audacity of selecting yourself, which was an e-book that I essentially created like a guide.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I think it's 11 chapters, and essentially it talks about all the steps that it came from me realizing or really putting down on paper like all the steps and the things that had to happen in my life and to my perspectives to get me to a place where I had the audacity to select myself.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it's sort of a guide on like how to reconsider, rethink certain things that are happening in your life.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of the topics I talk about is you know, get out of this, you know, rut, understand what your triggers are telling you, right?
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_00: Understand what you know your nervous system is trying to say and how to beat it.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_00: Understand that you don't your no's don't require an explanation.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, you know, you disempower the powerful by you, you know, it's saying no to it.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_00: You you you're the one that's in charge of deciding whether it has power or not.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_00: Essentially, the whole you know, crux of the e of the guide in the book is helping someone come back to their center and understand that hey, you're the one in control.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_00: Don't give it up.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_00: Don't, don't, don't give it up.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's not for sale, do not discount it.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because you get people used to that, you know.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that is kind of like the whole point of that, and it sort of got me to this place, right?
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_00: The next one is called the Audacity Math System, where I basically discuss, you know, I break down exactly the math that I did, where I decided to walk away from the debt from the car and the apartment.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, also reframe these consequences, you know, eight real consequences.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_00: Here are the numbers, here's here's some of your options.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_00: And this is like the things that they told you to fear and how to reframe your fear around these things.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I actually spoke with several lawyers about this, you know, I kind of got some information on that.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's just really designed to help you make your calculated decision as to whether or not, hey, is it worth me paying this back or is it worth me suffering the consequences?
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I call that the the uh the audacity system, it's the full system, and even has calculators in it and all that.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, you know, the Columbia Relocation Guide.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if I had a peso for every time someone asks me a question about something related to moving, from how do you shop, where do you go, how do you get a job, how do I make money, I answer all of those things there.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not just from Barranquilla, it's several types, it's several cities, different types of living that people may want to be interested in.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_00: And here's the thing I did uh buy and read several guides, and there were certain a lot of things that I wish I had known before I got here that I didn't find in some of those guides.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_00: And you're not gonna believe this, but actually, one of the things that I found to be one of the most helpful, that people think is the most helpful, and I put it in my guide, and I've also done a few stories and like reels about this, is what to buy in Colombia and what to buy in the United States.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because remember, you're gonna be traveling back and forth, and so like there's you know, there are a lot of things that surprised me when I got here that were super expensive that made no sense.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, you know what?
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_00: I got 50 pounds available on my suitcase.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when I go back to Miami or the States, there's certain things at Trader Joe's I love to buy.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_00: I always go to home goods.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_00: I love buying certain towels and you know, and sheets because it's better quality and much cheaper than the ones I find here.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, versus here, like, you know, um, honey.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, I absolutely love honey, but don't buy olive oil because it's super expensive.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_00: Bring it from over there.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's certain things that you know that just make life easier and and and knowing.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_00: And those are the things that I kind of input in here.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one of my favorite things, you know, Columbia is very, very cheap when it comes to services, you know, hair, nails, um, laundry services, home, you know, that kind of stuff, right?
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_00: But it can be very expensive when it comes to certain products, especially, for example, like a washer dryer.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_00: It can run you here between$2,500 to$3,000.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_00: Something that over there is like$1,400,$1,200 for the set, right?
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_00: And these are things that were like, I was like, whoa, cars.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know, a Chevy Equinox is about$75,000 here.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't get a Porsche.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just like, which is why I haven't purchased a car.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm always Ubering around.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_00: So those are some of the suggestions I make, you know?
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, those are like the things that I like to compare in the guide.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_00: So those are the products, right?
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_00: I have three.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's the Audacity of Selecting Yours, then it was the um the math, the debt Audacity Math system, the full system, and then the Columbia, the US to Columbia Relocation Card.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I can tell you that I poured my heart into all of them.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_00: I do go back and review if there's been any changes to you know to certain things that affect the information that's in there.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then of course, those who have already purchased it can get the updated copies automatically.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_00: But I just want you guys to know that this is like I said, it was never intentional.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_00: It was something that kind of came about, and I listened, and that's how I created those products.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I sell them every day, just about.
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I love how you integrated not only just like the mass of you know, the debt and everything you went through and the relocation, but also that the mental part of it, you know, of looking into yourself because I think it's very easier just to say, okay, well, yeah, I did this, this, and that.
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_02: But it takes time, you know, to prepare yourself mentally, you know, to do something like this.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_02: I know you just kind of like, I know that wasn't just a decision, like in a month I seems that way, like it was just, oh, okay, and then a month I'm gone.
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, to detach from everything, you know, I think that's so amazing how you integrated that.
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate that.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that's actually a wonderful observation because and a good word, detachment.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_00: When you get to a place where you become your priority, where you've selected you, where you are your own pick me, the ease in which you detach from things and people, I mean, you peel it off like a band-aid, like a sticker.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I can tell you this because as I was getting ready to leave, I mean, I had an apartment, a beautiful apartment, full of beautiful furniture and things that I had very specifically looked for, right?
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_00: Very curated in many respects.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_00: These were my things, and if everything had it had its meaning, had its purpose.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, I don't just buy to accumulate junk.
• 57:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like I was, you know, these are my things.
• 57:04
  SPEAKER_00: And the ease in which I was able to sell them is what surprised me.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_00: Sell them, donate them, toss them.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, who is she?
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_00: What?
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_00: I thought I was gonna be like my mother and become a hoarder and like everything get rid of anything ever.
• 57:25
  SPEAKER_00: And instead, here I'm like, no, no, no, talk about like no, no, you know, and it was really surprising to me.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I asked myself, like, why was I able to do that?
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_00: And it's because what I'm moving towards is more important, and I don't need the bag.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's so true.
• 57:47
  SPEAKER_00: And Lorena I just hear that on my insights, yeah.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_01: Where can people find you?
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_01: So, where where can people find what's your Instagram, your socials?
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, all of my socials are under the same name at Lorena Miranda Bendek.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_00: Bendek is B-E-N-D-E-C-K.
• 58:04
  SPEAKER_00: It is my Palestinian Lebanese name, and um I am on social, excuse me, um, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube.
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm growing my channels.
• 58:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, this was never something I, like I said, intended to do, but it turns out it's something that I really have a lot of fun doing, you know, um, especially because my kind of content creation is not, or my kind of content, I'm not here doing like TikTok dances.
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, no shade, right?
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm just I'm just talking and I'm telling you my life.
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, when it when I record b-roll, I literally just put the camera there and then you see me just doing things around the house.
• 58:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like that is, or going shopping or something.
• 58:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't do things that are very gimmicky because my whole point is this is my message, this is what I want you to hear.
• 58:55
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to know who I am.
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_00: If this resonates with you, follow it for more.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_00: Engage with me because I love engaging back.
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_00: And no matter how big this gets, I will never not engage with my people, you know.
• 59:07
  SPEAKER_00: I will always chit-chat, I will always, you know, listen.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I feel that I was gifted this, I don't take it for granted.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't, like I said, I didn't expect it, and I didn't know I was gonna want it, which is the which is the interesting thing, you know.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_00: So now I'm protecting it and I want to do really good by you.
• 59:27
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where you can find me.
• 59:28
  SPEAKER_00: Lorena Miranda Bendek.
• 59:31
  SPEAKER_01: Love awesome.
• 59:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um overall, after having this conversation, I honestly believe maybe Audacity isn't believing everything will work out perfectly.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe Audacity is believing even if it doesn't go perfectly, I trust myself to figure it out.
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_00: Precisely.
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_00: Because if everything went perfectly, then what's the point of living?
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_00: Life life is great because of the contrast of it, the contrast between what you want and what you have, and and bridging that gap, right?
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_00: But in order to bridge that gap, you have to evolve, learn, and tweak.
• 1:00:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where living comes in.
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's the living part, that's the human experience part, you know.
• 1:00:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the thing is, how easy are you gonna make it to bridge that gap, to build those bridges?
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where the you part comes in, where you have to, you know, really align yourself and get centered and understand.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_00: I can't emphasize this enough.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_00: If you hear me talk about um, you know, all the lessons I've learned when I had the audacity to select myself, one thing you will find is that I always discuss these lessons from a position of strength and not trauma, right?
• 1:00:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I say this because it's not to invalidate trauma.
• 1:00:53
  SPEAKER_00: I've had plenty of it, I know what it feels like, but trauma has a negative connotation.
• 1:00:59
  SPEAKER_00: It comes from a place of lack, it comes from a place of you know resistance, right?
• 1:01:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to frame what I learned because of the trauma that I went through.
• 1:01:10
  SPEAKER_00: No, I want to frame what I learned when I because I had I repositioned that trauma and I said, well, here's the strong part of it, right?
• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's more powerful to talk about yourself as a phoenix who has risen than a rising one, yeah, you know, and when you do that and you start to really see yourself from that perspective, you will understand that ultimately everything is working out for you.
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_00: It is, but it's not gonna be perfect because if it's perfect, it's boring, and you don't want that.
• 1:01:47
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want that, Lorena.
• 1:01:48
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much once again for sitting down and talking with us.
• 1:01:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's always an honor, it's always a pleasure.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.
• 1:01:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm learning so much from you.
• 1:01:59
  SPEAKER_00: I love it all the time.
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_00: And vice versa.
• 1:02:02
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've been listening to your podcast as well, and I just absolutely love how you guys have guests who really, really help people kind of unwind and untangle, you know, and truly with different with different voices, you know.
• 1:02:17
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I know that I sound bolder and a little bit more, you know, go for it, right?
• 1:02:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that a lot of people aren't ready to be that, but my hope is that they get to, you know, and that they feel inspired to get there and that they understand that it is that space exists and exists barely for you too, you know.
• 1:02:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I love that about you guys, and I really do appreciate that.
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much for having me.
• 1:02:40
  SPEAKER_00: This has been a lot of fun.
• 1:02:42
  SPEAKER_00: I love talking about this, and the more I talk about it, the more I realize how much I love it.
• 1:02:46
  SPEAKER_00: And you guys helped me realize that even more today.
• 1:02:49
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you.
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_01: Oh thank you.
• 1:02:53
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 1:02:54
  SPEAKER_01: This episode resonated with anybody.
• 1:02:57
  SPEAKER_01: If you could just give us a simple like, follow, share, please subscribe, share it with anybody who needs to hear this, and uh we will put everything uh down the description box where you can find Lorena, her website.
• 1:03:12
  SPEAKER_01: We'll put everything down below so you guys can also check her out and give her a follow and a like and subscribe as well.
• 1:03:20
  SPEAKER_01: And um, we will see you on the next episode because we are doing a Spanish one too.
• 1:03:26
  SPEAKER_01: So it's we get a twofer with Lorena, which I'm so excited about.
• 1:03:35
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 1:03:36
  SPEAKER_01: All right, guys, we will see you on to the next episode.
• 1:03:39
  SPEAKER_01: Bye.
• 1:03:40
  SPEAKER_00: Bye, bye.