Finance: Louis Barajas Interview

Posted on 29. Jan, 2010 by admin in Business

A Financial Expert for Real Time Life Planning

By Diego Zerpa Chang

The author of titles such as The Latino Journey to Financial Greatness: The 10 Steps to Creating Wealth, Security, and a Prosperous Future for You and Your Family and Overworked Overwhelmed and Underpaid is also a successful entrepreneur who formed his own wealth and business planning firm in the early 1990’s with the purpose of assisting many Americans on their journeys of life planning.

Today, Louis Barajas continues to define himself as a man with a simple goal: to help working families and individuals attain greater abundance through wise business, financial and life choices.

As part of its Financial Empowerment issue, Island Vibes Magazine decided to catch up with this wealth specialist in an intriguing Q&A…

Do you see yourself as a living proof of the success of the American dream? Can you point out the major elements that led you to form your own flourishing business planning firm?

I am the son of Mexican immigrants. My parents’ American Dream was to see their children get an education and live a better life. They found their dream. My American Dream was based on finding three things. Finding the love of my life, finding my “occu-passion” (not just a job or occupation), and helping people live a financially dignified life. Love, passion, and giving back are the elements that have allowed me to live beyond the American Dream and set the foundation to a thriving wealth and business planning firm.

Through your books and speeches you talk about the different scenarios that families and individuals face when they are making financial choices. Entering 2010, what do you feel is the key lesson that people out there should be aware of in order to appreciate and reach financial independency?

The key word you mention in the question is independency. Everyone out there needs to organize their lives around creating a solid base of financial independence. As we all know very well, when it comes down to experiencing financial hardships, there are usually only a few people who will stick their hand out and give you a lift. Focus on the one thing that will give you FINANCIAL CONFIDENCE, that is: figure out every conceivable way to SAVE. Save and build your own FINANCIAL CONFIDENCE FUND. I have seen the poorest of the poor sacrifice and save. I have personally witnessed how the small build up of capital invested wisely transforms families from living lives of poverty to living lives of financial dignity.

All of your books have attractive titles, is there one in particular that you are more proud of? Why?

I love Small Business, Big Life. My dad was a factory worker forced into entrepreneurship when he lost his job 37 years ago. I was only 11 years old and because I was the eldest child and spoke English, he quickly made me his business partner. During this time my brother was born and after several years of working with my father in his Ornamental Iron Contracting business, I had an epiphany. The epiphany was that my brother and I grew up with two different fathers. Not a rich dad and a poor dad like Robert Kiyosaki talks about in his books, but a dad who went from creating memories with one son and no memories with the other. My dad always attended my ball games when I was growing up. Once my dad started his business, he couldn’t do this for my younger brother. In fact, his business consumed his life and he was rarely home. I believe that the purpose of a business is to give you more life, not take away time from the most important events happening around your life. I wrote this book hoping to show entrepreneurs how they can organize their business to give them more time, money and, above all, more life.

What can you tell us about your newest title My $treet Money? Can you briefly mention one of the resources of online information that help you create new financial opportunities or one of the money-making tips that you point out this time?

I was doing a television show on CNN with Roland Martin during the U.S. Presidential Election and he asked me if I could mention what I thought Main Street was thinking about regarding how the government was handling the U.S. Financial Crisis. My response was: “I don’t know what Wall Street is thinking or what Main Street is thinking, but I can tell you what people on My Street are thinking.” This book is about bringing up the financial issues the average everyday person struggles with. It’s about giving them “street level” advice about how to solve their money worries. My $treet Money will focus on helping people become aware of how their financial beliefs and habits are getting in the way to living a really comfortable life. I will start posting some of the money making tips on my website, www.mystreetmoney.com, and on my Facebook and Twitter pages (both of which are Louis Barajas).

What are the main qualities that a person should have in order to be financially empowered?

To be financially empowered you need to have a strong belief in yourself. You have to take personal responsibility of your own future. In my 48 years of life I have learned that you can’t help people who don’t want to help themselves. You also need to be financially mature. You need to avoid what immature people do. Immature people believe that they can take short cuts and make a lot of money. The people who believe in the get rich quick schemes are financially immature. Wealth creation takes a lot of effort, time, and not only doing things right, but doing the right things.

What is the main course of action that you think people should avoid when trying to reach financial greatness?

Financial Greatness is the by product (or end result) of using your money to express your full potential and live your highest purpose. Your highest purpose could be a stay home mom or owning a coffee shop. I want people to realize that I have been in my profession almost a quarter of a century, and so far I have never seen a u-haul behind a hearse. No one is going to take their money with them when they die. I want to show people how to create wealth to live more comfortable lives and help as many people as they can before they die. The biggest obstacle to all this is when the EGO gets involved and the persons become selfish, greedy, or they live in the delusion that they will live forever.

Finally, please share three advices that our readers should be aware of, especially with the arrival of 2010, if they like independence and if they want to control their earning potential…

Increasing your earning potential is about three things:

You need to be aware of the amount of money you need (cash flow) to live your dream life. If you have no idea, you have no target. As the best selling author Stephen Covey said in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: “Begin with the End in Mind.”
You need to become aware of the amount of money you need to earn per hour to achieve your preferred lifestyle. For example, if you want to earn $100,000 a year and you work 2,000 hours a year, you need to know that you have to be charging at least $50 an hour for your time.
Finally, you need to create a plan to increase your value. How are you investing in yourself to become more valuable? Remember that it’s all about VALUE. The value you provide to customers, to your boss, to your community must be worth at least the $50 an hour.

The sad part about all of this is that very few people ever spend any time thinking about this or, worse yet, believe they can’t achieve it. What brings happiness to me is seeing persons who have very little resources but a big belief in themselves and achieve Financial Greatness™.

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