Metanoia Member Spotlight - Mario Escobar

Mario Escobar: Building Dreams and Having Fun!

In our first Member Spotlight, Mario shares how a financial base is changing his life. 

Hi there, you! Thank you for reading our humble blog and welcome to Metanoia’s first ever Member Spotlight Award! We’re happy to honor our members who are executing their financial goals in excellent fashion. Handpicked by Coach Fern himself, the recipient of the Spotlight Award must demonstrate that he or she is FULLY INVESTED in building his or her dream life… using the power of the Metanoia Budget and Strategy! So without further ado, our first Spotlight Award goes to… *drum roll*… Mario Escobar! 

Last month, I had the pleasure of video chatting with Mario and we discussed his life, goals, and his Metanoia journey thus far. I learned that Mario works as a Customer Service Agent at LAX, and is actually coworkers with Metanoia’s very own Sean Yun, Director of Marketing and Customer Relations! Outside of work, Mario is studying to become a flight dispatcher (his original goal of being a commercial pilot was sidetracked by his color blindness, but he still achieved his pilot’s license!), and he’s training to compete in the 2024 Olympics in Cycling. Mario enjoys doing life with his long-time girlfriend, and together they are proving that building a life of meaning and fun begins with a solid financial foundation! :D

In addition to receiving the Member Spotlight Award, Mario was given a gift card and a personalized Metanoia hoodie! Read on for a condensed/edited version of our conversation:

Christian Quiwa (Q): So how did Metanoia come together for you? Did Sean approach you, did Fernando approach you?

Mario Escobar (M): Sean told me about it. Before Metanoia, me and my girl created a Mickey Mouse Google Sheet [I understood this to mean a basic, amateur budget], like writing down our debts, our monthly payments, all that stuff just to keep track of it. We kind of just did that, which is cool, but then Sean told me about Metanoia, and it seemed dope. He eventually convinced me into it. Actually, we went out to Korean BBQ for Claudia’s [Sean’s wife] birthday, and he covered our bill and said, “Oh, just pay me back by joining Metanoia for two months and see how you like it.” I was like, alright Sean, that’s a cool way to nudge me in there! First month in, first week in, I got hooked. I was like, yup, I’m gonna stick with this for a pretty long time. It’s dope though, it works.  

Q: That first week, what were the hooks, what captured your attention? 

M: You know when you got a lot of things on your mind they say the easiest way to unwind all that stress is to just write it down. It’s as simple as grabbing a piece of paper, writing it down, and now everything that’s on your mind you can see on that list. So that’s kind of what Metanoia hooked me on, is the fact that you saw everything in three spreadsheets. Everything from your debts, your daily expenses to the cent, the losses, 401k, all that good stuff. And that just made life so much easier to see the big picture, because when you see the big picture you get a broad understanding. And another reason I got hooked is that it’s set up to be month-to-month, and that makes goals more manageable. People usually see their long-term goal and it feels far away, and I think that’s what scares people. But if you break those long-term goals into short-term goals over time, 1) it’s easier, and 2) it keeps you motivated to improve more and more.

Q: Can you paint a picture of what life was like before Metanoia. You mentioned you created a Mickey Mouse type budget, but were you struggling? Or did you have a decent grasp on things and this just helped you to organize it?

M: We didn’t have a huge struggle. I’m not gonna say we weren’t struggling either because everyone has their own struggles, financially. That just comes with life. We kind of just created our Mickey Mouse budget to see where we’re at. ‘Cause our big goal is that we wanna get a house. We were going to move to an apartment in Vegas to see if we like it there, and if so, invest in a house. Things changed and that didn’t work out. So after that, that’s kind of when we knew we needed to figure out some sort of game plan. That’s one of the things that was different, is the fact that we weren’t prepared to see the broader picture.

Q: Is Coach Fern aware of your long term goal for this house?

M: Oh yeah definitely. I told him that I want to be one of his first clients to buy a house, so this plan helped me out.

Q: How has he advised you thus far on this situation?

M: He’s done great. Step by step he’s been working with me. Like I was saying earlier, we’re not shooting for the big goal at the end of the tunnel, we’re going step by step. First and foremost, the way he created this is just a miracle. It’s freaking amazing, it’s badass! He’s got so much knowledge in this that it’s like, okay I definitely trust him. His advice is like, “What if you try this and see how it works, and if that doesn’t work, then let’s try this.” Or he’ll say, “Okay, let’s figure out what your current situation is, then let’s work a game plan together.” It’s cool that he has his own strategies, but he’s personalizing them to work with you, because the strategy that works with him may not work with someone else because everyone’s different.

Q: So he’s personalized it and before making any recommendation, he makes sure there’s a clear picture of what’s really going on for you. 

M: Exactly. He’s able to personalize each budget for each individual client. ‘Cause a lot of companies have this standard or go-to plan. But the one important thing they don’t take into consideration is the human factor. Because at the end of the day we’re all individuals, and not everything is going to work the same for everyone. So the fact that Fernando is able to work with each of his clients to personalize their budget plan is what makes Metanoia stand out. 

Q: So given this honor, was it a surprise? How do you consider your journey so far with Metanoia? Does it feel like you’ve been doing well? Do you recognize your success?

M: It was a surprise to me, like oh damn, this is cool! I think anytime you can accomplish something, even the smallest tasks, that’s success. Success is not just about the financial aspect, but it’s also about being able to use Metanoia, use the financial budget, as kind of a base to help you build success, not just financially, but also in other areas of your life.

Q: How has this financial base helped you in other areas?

M: First and foremost, taking control of my finances has not only allowed me to pay for my dispatcher course, but the fact that I have a plan for my money, I don’t need to worry about being short when I do invest $5-6,000 into this program. It’s going to gain me a return in the long run because this is what my career is based off of. On top of that, there’s my fitness goals. If I didn’t have this financial stability, I wouldn’t know that I could invest in my fitness. In order to compete in the 2024 Olympics, to get a gold medal, or to compete in the Iron Man, it takes equipment, gear, time invested, and that costs money and time. So using the financial stability as a base to work from is what makes Metanoia pretty sweet, because it’s not only helping you in your finances, but it also helps you in other aspects of your life. My philosophy is that if I’m improving either physically, mentally, or spiritually, then it’s worth the investment. 

Q: What’s a major failure and what’s a major win that you’ve experienced in your financial journey? It could be before or after Metanoia.

M: So definitely the first thing, let’s reframe the word failure, to what’s a major lesson. That’s the way I like to look at it. If you’re able to reframe it as a life lesson and learn from that, then “failure” is the journey of it. But yeah, we were going out a lot, especially on eating, because we love going out to eat. 

Q: Dude, that was my #1 expenditure, it was eating out. 

M: Yeah that’s definitely the weakness. It’s even tougher because my girl’s a pastry chef. So she wants to try food and I love eating, so it’s kind of a blessing but a curse. We were spending like crazy going out to eat, watching movies, and we just didn’t have a set plan. We had the goal in mind to buy a house and move out, but we didn’t have full discipline to be able to do something like that. It just wasn’t there. Sometimes it would feel like that would get us down, but then we’re like no, let’s just work from this. Like okay what have we done wrong, what are moves that didn’t benefit us, and let’s learn from that and avoid this later. Let’s improve upon this. So that’s the lesson part of it. The win part of it…? Damn… I think overall it’s just having control of your life. And I say life because, like I said, if you can use Metanoia as a baseline to help out in every other area in your life, then that’s the biggest win right there. You can use this to succeed in the fitness side of things or in the family side of things too. I say family because when you’re stressing out with money, that takes a toll on your family life. Like you might be thinking “if I work overtime, then I’m going to make more money” but you’re working so many extra hours that it’s taking away from some quality time with your family. So that’s one of the biggest wins is that it gives you the most important thing that each one of us has in life, which is time. Time is definitely the most valuable thing that you can get out of it. That’s the way I see it. Other people may see it differently, but I think I’m able to explain it from our personal experiences.

Q: One last thing to wrap up here... did you have this mindset beforehand, or is it influenced by Metanoia, or what’s going on here? ‘Cause you’re saying all these things and they’re golden nuggets! I could’ve read some of the stuff you’re saying from a book, and I don’t know if you got that from being a part of the community, or if you got that just because that’s who you are.

M: I mean I’m pretty sure a lot of what I’ve learned in the few months that I’ve been with Metanoia has definitely influenced that. I’ve always just kind of been a goal setter and someone that always looks at the philosophical side of things in every aspect of life. If your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough. So yeah, I’ve kind of been like that since I was a boy. Just wanted to go out and try new things. Even if it meant failure, aka a lesson. Life’s a journey, you just gotta make the most out of it, you gotta make it work. There’s no time to be sad or no time to be mad, it’s just not worth your energy. You got one life, take advantage of it. The way I see it, I thank God everyday that I wake up in the morning. Just for waking up! The fact that I have vision, that I can hear, that I can taste, or the fact that I can do a simple thing like walking. There’s people out there that can’t do that. There’s people that can’t see or can't hear or don’t have the brain development, unfortunately. But that doesn’t mean their life is unfortunate. Maybe they just have a different purpose in life. So honestly, you really just gotta make the most of it, that’s what it is. I’m pretty sure people hear this all the time but, if you set your mind to it, you can do it. You can legit do it. 

Q: Any last words or advice or something that you might want to give to the community or to potential members? Anything you want to lay out there?

M: It’s worth giving a shot. It doesn't hurt at all, just try it. It’s something that's very important. Especially to young people who are just graduating high school or getting into college. You get your first job and you’re making all this money, that’s when it’s the time to really start hammering down. When people think budget, they think it’s limiting themselves, like ‘ugh, all my extra money is going to my savings so I don’t have any money to go out, I don’t have any money.’ But as a matter of fact, since me and my girl started this budget, we’ve actually gone out more. We like going out to nature hikes, adventures, and just getting out. We’ve done a lot more of that. Also, I was able to invest in my dispatcher course, and she’s been able to invest in some wedding cake baking classes. But yeah, we still go out to the movies, we go out to eat. But the most important thing is we’re paying our bills, making sure we’re taking care of our dues, we’re putting money aside to save, we have an emergency fund in case we have to grab from there. Those are the important things and the rest of the stuff is all fun and games. That’s the point though, on the budget you’re not limiting yourself, you’re allowing yourself to be able to look at your charts and spread out your money. Like let me get my priorities done and then take care of my wants. And you’re gonna realize like, oh damn I actually have this much for wants. So the fun of it is there. So definitely for everyone out there, budgeting is not limiting yourself. It’s checks and balances. That’s all life is about. You’ve got to be able to balance. And if you can balance it, it balances evenly. And I’ll guarantee you’ll have a lot more fun!

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So there you have it! Our very first Metanoia Member Spotlight Award! Mario has consistently demonstrated our core values of self-control, discipline, and stewardship. We’re so proud of his growth and the continued growth of the others in our community. But now that you’ve read about Mario’s journey, let’s turn our attention to YOU...

What are you waiting for? Seriously… What is holding you back from signing up today and changing your financial trajectory? Take a minute and really think about it. There are so many reasons why people DO NOT have full control of their money. What’s your reason?

Maybe it’s your family background or maybe it’s just plain laziness - it doesn’t matter - if you’re willing to invest in yourself, this is your chance! We’ve made it our mission to put a budget in every household, and we’re doing everything we can to achieve this goal.

Our Metanoia Budget is simple, user-friendly, and most importantly, flexible. Membership is only $24/month! That’s an insane bargain with access to your very own financial coach AND a community of growth-minded individuals that are changing their financial trajectory... together!!

So again… What are you waiting for? We have the tools you need to succeed, just like Mario. Start TODAY, click the link below to get started, and maybe you’ll receive the next Spotlight Award! We can’t wait to meet you :)