Latest / Learnings and Missteps by Depth Builder / Fearless Compassion Breaking Down Borders with Maxine Gomez Part 1
Transcript
- 0:00.I had given up this fight until COVID happened, and then now that we're able to have these conversations again, I'm no longer sticking my toe in, I'm now kicking down doors.
- 0:11Nobody decided casually that they were going to take this feat upon themselves, right?
- 0:16They were driven to the point of desperation where they thought that risking their lives.
- 0:21Would it be a better option?
- 0:24they're putting themselves at risk, right?
- 0:26They have no recourse.
- 0:27If someone decides not to pay them, if someone decides you got injured and by the way you're fired, like they're at extreme risk of being taken advantage of.
- 0:38I was so humbled by that act that I knew I had a responsibility.
- 0:44It doesn't work that way, you're a disruptor.
- 0:47When we hear the words, it doesn't work that way.
- 0:49We hear It didn't work that way up until now.
- 0:52exactly not yet, but let's go.
- 0:57Yes.
- 0:58And then little clips came from Ms.
- 1:00Maxine Gomez.
- 1:02She is a.
- 1:03Disruptor, tough love dealer and people builder.
- 1:07And I got connected to her by another amazing human being people build her out there.
- 1:13And I'm just going to leave that hanging because we say his name.
- 1:16As we go through our conversation, but miss Maxine and I got to talk about the grit in people that are called to serve.
- 1:25all the LnM Family members out there that are driven and compelled by serving others, you know exactly what we're talking about.
- 1:33There.
- 1:33So this conversation is pretty deep.
- 1:35It gets in, in, uh, I'm going to say, we're talking about some hot button issues, which I hope get you to think.
- 1:43And consider things from a different perspective.
- 1:46I'm pretty sure it will.
- 1:48And if not, I know it's going to get your attention.
- 1:50We also talk about the conflict or maybe, um, The red pill, blue pill thing, right.
- 1:57Doing what makes you happy versus doing what you're supposed to do?
- 2:01And miss Maxine shares her story.
- 2:04Around how she built the comfort and strength in doing what brings her fulfillment and makes her happy.
- 2:11Uh, against what most people would deem as practical.
- 2:15Amazing conversation.
- 2:17And I wish we had like eight hours to just keep talking because her energy got me all pumped up and you already know my energy is pretty dang high.
- 2:25And before you get to tap into more of that energy, I want to give a shout out to that LnM Family member.
- 2:32Uh, that took the time to send a positive thought, share their feelings, share their progress.
- 2:37And folks, you got to know if you don't know by now.
- 2:41I love having the communication and understanding how the content is serving and impacting you.
- 2:47So this one goes out to Mr.
- 2:49Lance lance says, Hey bro, thank you so much for inspiring me and helping me get out of my own head.
- 2:58When it comes to taking the first step.
- 3:01And I'm gonna tell y'all Le I was lucky enough to connect with Lance via linked in.
- 3:06So it was like a virtual connection.
- 3:08Um, and so we got.
- 3:10We connected through the content.
- 3:11He posts cool stuff.
- 3:13I try to post cool stuff.
- 3:16Uh, he jumped on board.
- 3:17He was one of the very early adopters.
- 3:19Of the emotional bungee jumpers.
- 3:23And we've been able to get in, get further connected.
- 3:27And see each other grow and speak.
- 3:29Speaking to each other's life.
- 3:31And so Lance, I appreciate you, my man, very much for trusting me and taking a leap of faith with the group.
- 3:37And I'm looking forward to the continued growth of.
- 3:41Trade partner HQ the growth of our relationship, the growth of the emotional bungee jumpers, all of the above.
- 3:48And folks, here we go.
- 3:49Y'all best.
- 3:49Be ready for some Miss Maxine Gomez.
- 3:57What is going on, LnM Family?
- 4:00I am here with Ms.
- 4:01Maxine, who has you think I got energy.
- 4:04I ain't got nothing on Ms.
- 4:06Maxine.
- 4:06And a mutual friend, Mr.
- 4:08Anson Green, connected us.
- 4:10And how he knew we would mesh as well as we have is beyond me.
- 4:15But I'm grateful to Anson.
- 4:17Thank you, Anson.
- 4:18Thank you, Anson.
- 4:19Yeah, how you doing today, Ms.
- 4:21Maxine?
- 4:22I am wonderful.
- 4:23Thank you so much for having me, Jesse.
- 4:25Of course.
- 4:26And you're in Florida, correct?
- 4:28Yes, sunny Florida.
- 4:30Sunny Florida.
- 4:32What does fall look like in Florida?
- 4:36It looks the same all year round.
- 4:37No, I'm just kidding.
- 4:39No, it's fall is, I think, one of the reasons why people live here at all.
- 4:43Is it's just cool enough during the day, where you might need a light jacket, but still warm enough that there's always sunshine.
- 4:50We really can't complain.
- 4:52I think they just put the hurricanes on the news to keep tourists out of here.
- 4:56Oh my goodness.
- 4:57Yeah, I know.
- 4:58So recently there were some heavy ones.
- 4:59I guess they didn't impact you so much or you're just used to it.
- 5:02No we were lucky in South Florida.
- 5:04Other areas of Florida were impacted.
- 5:06I don't mean to minimize their experience.
- 5:09But yeah, it's we've, so far we've lucked out.
- 5:12Oh good.
- 5:13That's super, super good to hear.
- 5:15Ms.
- 5:15Maxine, what should the LnM family know about you?
- 5:20What should they know about me?
- 5:23Huh.
- 5:24They should know that I am passionate about putting people in their purpose.
- 5:31And I don't think that geography should limit that..
- 5:36I think people should have the right to use their skills and their purpose wherever they can be of most value.
- 5:44And so I believe in a global labor force, yes.
- 5:50And a lot of my work basically stems from that premise.
- 5:56Okay.
- 5:57So there it is.
- 5:58There's the key.
- 6:00And what is that work?
- 6:01Cause You're doing a lot for a lot of people.
- 6:04One thing that comes that's super obvious to me in our previous conversation was your commitment to others.
- 6:11I want to help a lot of people know about the work that you're doing because I think they can maybe contribute in some degree.
- 6:19But also broaden their awareness.
- 6:21So in terms of connecting people in their purpose and this global workforce idea, there's something special there.
- 6:30What is that?
- 6:30What's the connection?
- 6:32There's a few connections and it started because, I think, you know, I'm a serial entrepreneur.
- 6:39And I fell into this industry that I'm in now, which is the restoration and construction industry.
- 6:45I specialize in mold.
- 6:46I'm a mold expert.
- 6:48And what I found was that most of our workforce is undocumented.
- 6:55And prior to COVID, we didn't really want to acknowledge that, except one of the things that COVID did was provide a global census so we knew where people were and we could no longer deny that people were here working.
- 7:11So it's become a pathway to a conversation that we can now have which before was impossible.
- 7:19at the time when I was growing, I had some workers that I would say to them, come back with papers.
- 7:24I don't care what you need to do.
- 7:25Just come back with something so that I can employ you and insure you.
- 7:28And they would say, sorry, señorita, it doesn't really work that way.
- 7:32I found that to be unacceptable.
- 7:34And even most recently when I was consulting for some major organizations that license and certify people, it was undeniable that they are aware that Maybe 70 percent of our workforce is undocumented, and to me that they don't have a clear path is unacceptable.
- 7:54I had given up this fight until COVID happened, and then now that we're able to have these conversations again, I'm no longer sticking my toe in, I'm now kicking down doors.
- 8:05Yeah.
- 8:06Yeah, you mentioned it doesn't work that way.
- 8:09And I'd like it if you could paint a picture of how it works, because there's probably people on that have passionate feelings about this subject but they probably have absolutely no idea of what it takes to get.
- 8:25documented just to work for people who want to work.
- 8:30What is, what are the struggles and the pains that people have to go through to do that?
- 8:35Oh my God.
- 8:35It's awful.
- 8:37And people say to me aren't you sympathetic?
- 8:40You're a first generation American.
- 8:42My parents came through the proper channels.
- 8:45So I am empathetic, but not sympathetic in that.
- 8:49I do believe that there is a right course of action to go about it.
- 8:53I had one person that was working on my team who went about it the right way, and it took him almost three and a half years.
- 9:02before he could get a work visa.
- 9:04But three and a half years later, he came back to me and he said, okay, I'm ready.
- 9:07I'm ready to work for you.
- 9:08And I was so humbled by that act that I knew I had a responsibility.
- 9:15A lot of them don't get it.
- 9:16And then they're just stuck in this sort of, purgatory of.
- 9:20Okay, I'm here, but I'm not allowed to be here, but I'm here and I can get benefits But I can go to a clinic, but I can't get a job And so you see a lot of them going through their day to day in Constant fear and constant stress like they're driving cars But they don't have a license or they're going to work, but they're getting paid under the table or they're doing dangerous work But they don't have workman's comp.
- 9:44There are lots of organizations that are working with people to help clear the path, like asylum candidates.
- 9:52But my opinion is that it shouldn't be limited to asylum candidates.
- 9:56We should be able to employ people based on their skills and their strengths, which is more logical to me, but...
- 10:04It's something people talk about, right?
- 10:06Like merit.
- 10:06Let's promote and compensate based on merit.
- 10:11But there, there's like a big butt that nobody's really acknowledging you talked about the work that some of these folks have to take, I'm going to use that word, have to take, and they're putting themselves at risk, right?
- 10:24They have no recourse.
- 10:26If someone decides not to pay them, if someone decides you got injured and by the way you're fired, like they're at extreme risk of being taken advantage of.
- 10:36Have you seen evidence of that?
- 10:39Oh, absolutely.
- 10:41It's, I could go, I could tell you stories for days.
- 10:44Someone's on the job and then it just turns into this vicious cycle because they go to, a memorial hospital to get treatment.
- 10:52So ultimately we're the ones paying for their injuries.
- 10:55where it could have been something we protected or insured or helped along the way.
- 11:01So we just, recycled them back into this downward spiral rather than elevating them into an opportunity.
- 11:08And I really had given up, but then COVID happened and now I'm on my soapbox again.
- 11:16Okay.
- 11:16So what was it that helped you give up?
- 11:21I don't know that I had fully given up.
- 11:23It had always been in the back of my mind, but I spoke to at least 10 different immigration attorneys when I was trying to actualize my own people.
- 11:33I'm like, I will sponsor them.
- 11:35They are the best people on my team.
- 11:37I need them here.
- 11:38How can I keep them?
- 11:40And every attorney said to me the same thing.
- 11:42And she said go tell them to get married, go tell them to buy papers, go tell them to do whatever.
- 11:47But there's nothing you can do to help them.
- 11:49And I would say to them.
- 11:50With the advice that they give me.
- 11:52Go buy papers, go get married.
- 11:54Go do what you need to do.
- 11:55Just come back with something.
- 11:57Help me help you.
- 11:58And they're like, Seniorita, It doesn't work that way, you're a disruptor.
- 12:02When we hear the words, it doesn't work that way.
- 12:04We hear It didn't work that way up until now.
- 12:07exactly not yet, but let's go.
- 12:11But there are.
- 12:12So many people that are passionate about it and that I do see the changes happening, which made it possible.
- 12:20I sat just this year in a think tank for OSHA and created the first entry level workforce development class for basic safety.
- 12:31We call it Cleaning for Health.
- 12:33And you don't need ID to take the class.
- 12:36Why this is interesting is because, we were talking about that downward spiral that people get stuck in.
- 12:42If you showed up to this country with nothing but the clothes you're wearing, you don't have an ID to take your first class.
- 12:49So how can you even start getting educated if you can't prove who you are?
- 12:53We made it so that if you are willing to learn and you want to show up and take the class, you will leave with the first credential with your name on it.
- 13:00Nice.
- 13:01And that's connected with OSHA.
- 13:02That's like a super official organization.
- 13:07Imagine! So what?
- 13:09It's funny because OSHA, a lot of people call OSHA a four letter word, so to speak.
- 13:14But really it's in place to protect people.
- 13:17So it doesn't really surprise me that OSHA is the one first in line to protect people.
- 13:24Because they're the ones saying, okay, these people are here.
- 13:26We can't deny it anymore.
- 13:27Now, what are we going to do about it?
- 13:29And how do you deal with the people of the mindset that they should have just come over the right way.
- 13:34It's like when somebody says I don't eat meat, it's cause you've never been hungry.
- 13:39Yeah, so for me, the same thing.
- 13:41Why didn't you come the right way?
- 13:43If you've never been desperate and you're watching.
- 13:46war around you or your family dying of famine or whatever circumstance it is that led you to the point that you were willing to risk your life to cross a border.
- 13:57You don't just say, Oh, this is a good idea.
- 13:59Let's see, maybe we'll cross and we'll, make a picnic out of it.
- 14:02Nobody decided casually that they were going to take this feat upon themselves, right?
- 14:07They were driven to the point of desperation where they thought that risking their lives.
- 14:12Would it be a better option?
- 14:55you nailed it and there's a lot there that I think people, I get the what feels like a flippant observation of like People of your culture are, have great work ethic, right?
- 15:09And it's thank you.
- 15:11Is that the Colombian, the Jewish, which side, which of my people?
- 15:17Exactly.
- 15:18And, if thinking about.
- 15:21The amount of risk and we'll just call it suffering.
- 15:25Somebody has to go through to make the decision, right?
- 15:28The suffering that's driving the decision to, to put their lives at risk to come over and then coming over.
- 15:35Like it's not that act.
- 15:37That single act in itself is extremely risky.
- 15:41If they're already with no resources.
- 15:44Any resources they have, they're cashing them all in to come over and their life is at risk.
- 15:52And then they make it.
- 15:54And then they gotta figure out how to make it.
- 15:56What kind of grit do you see in the folks that you're helping?
- 16:01It's what keeps me going because I wouldn't be passionate about it.
- 16:07If I felt that they were coming here and then standing with a handout, they're coming here because they want to better their lives.
- 16:14They want to work.
- 16:14They want to put their skills to usefulness.
- 16:17A lot of them are people of faith, right?
- 16:21They believe that they are called to serve in some way, and that if they lived the expedition of crossing or getting here somehow, that they want to give back.
- 16:30They want to be part of a community.
- 16:32There are all sides, of course.
- 16:34There are people who want a handout, but those aren't the people that I'm advocating for because they're not the ones that are going to get a job.
- 16:39I can't even begin to imagine the desperation and the grit that it takes to make that decision, knowing that once you're here, That's not when the rainbow starts, right?
- 16:51That's the beginning of the struggle.
- 16:52To even get here, and then still be treated like a second class citizen, and still be called to serve?
- 16:58That's just, that's a flame you can't extinguish in a human.
- 17:02And so that's something I want to spark, not take away You've, you mentioned early on that you don't just tip your toe anymore.
- 17:11You're kicking doors down.
- 17:14And I'm sure that comes from your own pain and your own life experience of all the no's and all the why don't you do something easier?
- 17:21Does this, is this really where you want to be?
- 17:24How much of that have you had to deal with personally?
- 17:29it's a mixed bag.
- 17:30I'm I count my blessings.
- 17:32I'm very blessed.
- 17:33I live an extraordinary life.
- 17:36But I'm also a Latin Jewish woman entrepreneur in the construction industry.
- 17:42I have people tell me all the time Latins are lazy and women shouldn't be working.
- 17:47I'm like, what?
- 17:50I've often used the name Max.
- 17:53Because I'm Maxine, and so when you're getting paid on a, huge construction job and you have to go endorse your own checks, and they expect Max to show up, and Maxine shows up, they're like, wait, you did this job?
- 18:08Yep, I'm Max.
- 18:10Oh, okay.
- 18:13You got our, yes, we'll award you the next job, right?
- 18:15But, my family came here from Columbia and it was a little different because they came through their proper channels.
- 18:23Their experience was not crossing over a border, so to speak, but my parents had a different kind of dynamic where It their families didn't approve of each other.
- 18:34So they eloped and moved to the United States and basically started here with nothing because their families didn't support them.
- 18:42So they had that same grit and they were determined to live the American dream.
- 18:47And when my parents would ask us, I would ask them like, what should we do or what do you want?
- 18:52Or what happened?
- 18:54And my dad would always do what makes you happy.
- 18:56Oh, wow.
- 18:58And This makes me happy.
- 19:00Yeah.
- 19:01So how contradictory was it for you to hear your dad say, do what makes you happy and then hear all the messaging from other influencers in your life suggesting what you should do?
- 19:13I felt so confident in their philosophy and the way that they raised us that yes, I was influenced.
- 19:20I was pre med cause I thought that's.
- 19:22That's what would make me happier.
- 19:23That's what I was supposed to do.
- 19:25And if I did what I was supposed to do, then that would make me happy.
- 19:28But the first time I interned for one of the top orthopedic surgeons in South Florida and I saw how he lived, I was like, wait a minute, that's not, what's going to make me happy.
- 19:40My, my dad gave us this quote at a very young age by John Lennon, where they asked, a kid, what do you want to be in life?
- 19:46And he says, I want us to be happy.
- 19:47And the teacher says, no, you don't understand the question.
- 19:49And he says, no, you don't understand the answer, right?
- 19:52We were raised with the Beatles and that, that sort of wonderful balance of being happy, but being educated and, they wanted the best for us, but they wanted us to have the best opportunities.
- 20:08So they worked really hard and, they had two jobs and they did what they could for us and, but because they were working so hard to make a life for us, a lot of our opportunities fell on us.
- 20:22So my sister and I took it upon ourselves to apply to magnet schools and apply to scholarships for college.
- 20:27Cause had we not done that, we probably wouldn't have been able to afford it.
- 20:31So yeah, they we took their grit and ran with it.
- 20:35It's, it sounds like they were out there making it happen, doing what they needed to do, but sounds like a little extra, maybe a lot of extra.
- 20:46And you and your sister were picking up on some of their behaviors and the way they just moved and maybe kicked down doors as they were going forward and said, Hey let's go.
- 20:55Let's just go do this.
- 20:56Let's just go be happy.
- 20:58Is that kind of how it felt?
- 20:59Yeah, a little bit.
- 21:01My mother studied architecture and then she didn't, she changed her career when my sister and I were in elementary school and she became a physical therapist.
- 21:09And she too worked for a group of orthopedic surgeons who were bound by the bureaucracy of the medical red tape where she would see a patient and their hip would hurt, but the problem would be coming from their shoulder.
- 21:21And she would say I can't treat their shoulder because they're diagnostic for their hip.
- 21:25And so you couldn't really heal people.
- 21:28And it wasn't until years later that my mom just got frustrated and opened up her own physical therapy office.
- 21:33Cause she says, I want to actually heal people.
- 21:35So I'm going to do things my own way.
- 21:39Watching our mother having, textbooks when we're five years old and she's restarting a whole new career.
- 21:45I was like, Wow, anything is possible at any time, and they were great.
- 21:49They were great examples for that.
- 21:51Yeah, no that's the thing, right?
- 21:53It's being able to see and make the connection of Oh she just made it change.
- 21:59She just made it the way she thinks it needs to be.
- 22:02I can do the same thing.
- 22:03It took me 35 years or so to finally figure that out.
- 22:07But it is a hundred percent possible.
- 22:09And it takes.
- 22:12It takes courage, right?
- 22:13It takes sacrifice because it doesn't just happen.
- 22:16The decision for you to change from you were in med school, which that's not like what's that?
- 22:24I was pre med.
- 22:25I started medical school.
- 22:26I was I was studying neuroscience.
- 22:29Oh, so nothing too hard, right?
- 22:33It's all the same microscopic stuff, which is funny because it does play into all the mold stuff now.
- 22:39So how far were you in your studies in pre med when you made the decision?
- 22:43This is not what I'm going to do.
- 22:45It was the fork in the road.
- 22:46I was either going to start medical or start my first company.
- 22:51Okay.
- 22:52So you were like in.
- 22:53And then said, maybe not that decision right there.
- 22:58is monumental.
- 23:01How much toil did you go through or did you experience as you were making that decision and transitioning into the next thing?
- 23:11In my mind, it wasn't that difficult because I always thought If I don't cut it, I can always go back to school.
- 23:18Ah, okay.
- 23:19So for me, it was a fallback plan.
- 23:21And Nice.
- 23:22I know.
- 23:24I was really blessed in that most of the things I've learned, whether it was deciding to go to school or, fall in love or learn a fish or hunt or whatever it was.
- 23:35I learned from people that weren't afraid.
- 23:37Ah.
- 23:38Hey, we're gonna go do this today.
- 23:40Oh, alright.
- 23:42Let's go free dive 70 feet and hold our breath for four and a half minutes.
- 23:45Okay.
- 23:45Let's go do that.
- 23:46Oh, we're going to start a company today.
- 23:48Okay.
- 23:48Let's try it.
- 23:49Let's see.
- 23:49Let's see how, where he goes.
- 23:51So having, a lot of people are stemmed from fear.
- 23:55That's where they make their decisions from.
- 23:58And I'm missing that gene.
- 24:01The fear gene.
- 24:05Okay.
- 24:06So I love that because Kindred spirit.
- 24:11When there's those risky things, everybody around me is Oh, I don't, considering the risk.
- 24:18And I'm like, this sounds awesome.
- 24:24Definitely do that.
- 24:26And then I'm halfway down the road and I'm like totally.
- 24:33And I think you touched on something that it's super, super important.
- 24:36Cause once, once I learned it, I could do it on purpose and it's the people that I surround myself with, right?
- 24:43If I surround rather when I surround myself with people that primarily make fear based decisions.
- 24:52That starts infiltrating my thinking and my energy.
- 24:56And so I try, I'm very guarded about that type of energy.
- 25:00Like I love people.
- 25:01I want to help people, but if fear governs your life, we're not going to spend a lot of time together because I don't need that bleeding into my being because I've had, I've been there before because of, I was not intentional about who I surrounded myself with.
- 25:15And these things started happening and I just, I was just stuck in a prison.
- 25:20That I created with my own mind because of whatever reason and the fact of the matter is, I probably spend more money than necessary and maybe lose a little bit of time being aggressive in the things I want to do.
- 25:34But the experiences are amazing.
- 25:37And the learning that I have is super, super fast.
- 25:40You feel experienced the same thing?
- 25:43Oh, yeah.
- 25:45Now, I'm pretty sure I haven't had the adventures that you've had, like free diving, haven't done that.
- 25:52And I know your business has evolved and has, there's some pretty like super awesome elements about it.
- 25:59So starting your business, like the business that you're in now, is it the business you started when you decided?
- 26:05You're not going, you're not continuing down the medical path or has that also evolved over the years?
- 26:11Oh, that has definitely evolved.
- 26:12But I wanted to ask you a quick question.
- 26:15Yes.
- 26:16What was that switch for you?
- 26:19Or when you start to notice it, what do you tell yourself to get out of it when you, right?
- 26:24Cause you said you created that prison.
- 26:27Oh yeah.
- 26:28What did you do to break out of it?
- 26:29Or when you start noticing it, how do you knock yourself out of it?
- 26:32Oh that's a beautiful question.
- 26:34Thank you for that question.
- 26:35I was completely enthralled in my addiction and I was in rehab.
- 26:41I was in inpatient rehab the last time.
- 26:45dang.
- 26:46Did you see her turn the tables on me?
- 26:49Uh, Ms.
- 26:50Maxine hit me with the curveball and asked me a super important question.
- 26:55Important to me at least.
- 26:57Um, and you can get the full answer on part two, which if you're listening right as this one releases, it'll be out in a week.
- 27:04And if you're listening a week after this releases, you can just go listen to part two.
- 27:09that one is equally.
- 27:11If not more packed with energy and meaningful conversation, meaningful thoughts.
- 27:18Uh, and inspiration.
- 27:20If you're anything like me and just can't get enough or wish you could just spend as much time as possible hanging out with like-minded people that are doing things to leave this damn rock better than we found it.
- 27:34Emotional bungee jumpers may be something you're interested in.
- 27:38So I'm going to leave a link down in the show notes So then you can check out the prerecorded webinar.
- 27:43Of what this whole, what this emotional bungee jumper thing is all about.
- 27:48So check it out.
- 27:49Be kind to yourself.
- 27:51Be cool.
- 27:52And we'll talk at you next time.
- 27:54Please.