31: From Law School Dropout To Successful Entrepreneur: The Road, The Roadblocks and The Rising

Hello, friends, and welcome to Grief Guts and Green Smoothies. I am your host, Melissa Dugalecki, and I am so excited to be here with you all to chat about ways in which we can all get through different adversities, challenges and loss, and how getting outside of our comfort zone and maybe having a green smoothie or two can help us do so. We will cover different topics, ranging from interviews to recipes, to sharing my own stories of my grief journey and the loss of my daughter, Layden. And I'm honored to be able to share her light in hopes of helping you spread yours. Now, let's dive in. Today I am bringing you an interview with my friend, Ravi Abuvala. Ravi and I met just a few months ago, actually, but his story is amazing and it's one of entrepreneurship, perseverance, resilience, and at one point, perceived quote, unquote failure. He's going to talk to you guys about how he was pursuing a top law school and degree in the country, how he took a step back and realized, why am I doing this? Is this what I want? And scratched everything and was suddenly working in a restaurant part time, trying to figure things out and fast forward a short period. He will specify for you exactly how long. He is now living in all different parts of the world, currently reporting to us from beachside in Spain, and talks about how breaking through, limiting beliefs, getting uncomfortable, investing in ourselves, and using adversity as a change agent can shift everything. I guarantee after listening, you're going to be inspired and motivated to become so clear on your passion if you're not, and if you are to go after it full throttle. So let's dive in. Okay. Ravi, I am so excited to have you on the podcast. Thanks for being here, Melissa.

Thank you so much for having me. I was super excited that you invited me on here, as I'm sure people will figure out. We've done work together and I've seen the kind of community you and Mooch have built together and, and the fact that I have an opportunity to speak to them, I'm totally grateful for. So thank you.

Thank you so much. So, before we dive into the opening questions that I ask everybody, just let us know, where are you recording from?

I am in Europe right now. I've been in Europe for the past 14 days. I was in Barcelona, then Valencia, and now I'm in a small coastal town right outside, about an hour outside of Valencia, called Alicante. And I showed Melissa my view. I'm sitting on the penthouse floor of this apartment building and I have A view of this gorgeous emerald green water right now. So not in the US it's 4:30 my time. I don't know what time it is over there for you, but it's about 4:30 my time. Yeah, it's a little bit of a time difference right now, but, yeah, I'm in Europe right now. I'm in Spain.

Amazing. All right, so every guest I have on the podcast, I always ask two things, and the first is, to start, I have a unique podcast name, but it makes sense for me, but it's different for everybody else. What does Grief Guts and green smoothies mean to you?

I don't know. I saw that, I was like, oh, God, I hope she doesn't ask me this question. For me, what it means to me is you guys, like, just because I know you guys on a personal level, anytime I see somebody drinking a smoothie, I'm not joking, I think of both of you guys immediately. And maybe my just refusal to start drinking smoothies, I think that also makes me think to you guys. But knowing your story and where you guys have come from and where you guys have gone, literally, to me, it just means, like, a lot of the similarities in my story and essentially, like, going from one place and the struggles to get to where you want to be. And that's kind of what that means to me.

I love that. Yeah. That sense of resiliency and defining your life, not letting circumstance define you for sure. And then on a lighter note, which I'm very curious about this, as you're in Spain right now, what is your favorite kind of taco?

So, you know, I was just thinking this a second ago. I have eaten probably more Thai food in Spain than I have tapas or Spanish food. I'm a huge fan of Thai food. I just had two orders of pad Thai. This lady was like, you want another one? I was like, yes, I need another one. But my favorite kind of taco, I don't know. I'm super boring. I remember when I was growing up, we went to, like, whenever I would get tacos, no lettuce, no cheese, no sour cream, no tomatoes, no onions. I would legitimately just get a hard shell and ground beef on the inside. And that was how I grew up. So no longer my favorite taco, but let's just say it's my favorite taco.

So it's a little more exciting, a little traditional.

A little traditional, yeah. And it's like, you know, where I came from, you know, the humble beginnings, like, you know, now, before I was a Taco with just a shell and meat. And now I'm like a full, super sized burrito with rice and beans and queso and cheese and lettuce and tomatoes and onions.

Yeah, love that. You're so funny. Well, speaking of humble beginnings in your story, why don't you tell the listeners? I mean, some of them aren't too familiar with your story. They see you on mine and much's kind of Instagram or popping up or, you know, know that we work together and. But I mean, even my own family, like, my mom's still like, when are you gonna get a real job? And people are like, right. And so I just think for people not in this world, it can be really hard to kind of understand what it is. So why don't you let people know what you do now? And also where you started.

Yeah, great. Yeah. Just really quickly when you had said the thing about your mom. I'll tell you a story about that later. But yeah, that's why I love working with you guys too. Because in, like, anybody in this space, it's just fun to be around. Because if you don't have somebody in this space, it can be a little lonely to be totally transparent with you. Right? It's like you. Not a whole lot of people understand what you're doing. And I'm not joking with you guys. Like I said, I've been traveling 14 days here by myself. I was in. We were just talking about Columbia. I was in Colombia for two months by myself. And everybody's like, you're driving alone? And I'm like, yeah, yeah. Like, oh, you're on vacation. You know, everyone's saying this in Spanish and I speak Spanish, like, oh, you're on vacation. I'm like, yeah. Like, where are your friends at? I'm like, oh, I don't really have any. Like, I'm just traveling. Like, well, what do you do for job? How you make money? I was like, I make it from my computer. They're like, you make money from your. Like, no one understands any of it. I'm like, yeah. So I just tell everyone I'm on vacation. Like, that's what I tell people now. I'm just on excited vacation. But essentially, whole life wanted to be a lawyer. Like, that was my number one plan. The goal go to law school. Why I wanted to be a lawyer was because my dad told me I should be a lawyer. And I saw. I watched every episode of Law and Order. And for me, I was like, well, that's gonna be fun. And I also knew they made a lot of money. So, you know, based on absolutely zero research, I dedicated 22 years of my life to going towards being a lawyer. And essentially like middle school, elementary school, high school, and then college, like, all geared towards internships, classes, courses and opportunities towards law school and where I wanted to go. Right When I graduated from Florida State University, when I was 21 years old, I was speaking with a law school consultant because, like, you guys already know me, but if I'm doing something, I'm doing at 110%. And I wasn't just going to go to any law school. I want to go one of the top five law schools in the country. In order to do that, coming from Florida State University, I had to score in the top percentiles for the law school admission test. And so my law school counsel pretty much told me, like, look, you need to take a year off and spend that year studying for law school. And then at the end of the year, you take the test and then you get a high enough score. Hopefully it's the hardest standardized test out there. And then you go to the top law school. And so I was like, great, I'll go back home, live with my mom, and I'll work on the beach and I'll study for the law school. Like, I had it all planned in my head, but as everybody here I'm sure that's listening to this knows life never happens the way that you want it to. And three days after graduating from college, my dad was diagnosed with stage three lung cancer. He lives by himself in Atlanta, Georgia, and he had to go to chemo and radiation five days a week, and he couldn't drive his car. So I literally had unpacked my car at my mom's house, like two days after graduating college and repacked it again, moved up to Atlanta to my dad, and for one entire year, I spent 4am to 8am every single day studying for the law school admission test. 8 to 6pm Every single day in the chemo and radiation unit at Piedmont Hospital with my dad, and then seven to midnight every single day going back and studying for the law school admission test. So, like, my whole life was like cancer and law school and pre, like eight months into it where I was about to take the test, I kind of realized that I was maybe like after sitting next to people that were like 20 years old that had cancer, and like seeing people that were 80 years old that were going through it as well and like, figuring out, listening to their stories and their regrets and stuff like that. I realized that life was a little too short for me to be just chasing something I had absolutely no idea about. So the first thing I did was actually start. My dad knew that I was wavering, and he wanted to be a lawyer. He wanted me to be a lawyer. So he started introducing me to all these lawyer friends he had. I'd go out to dinner with them, and these lawyer friends would be like, don't go to law school. Right? And my dad's mouth would like drop open because he just brought this person here to tell me to go to law school. And the guy's like, it's a different time. Don't go to law school. And pretty much right before I took the test, I pretty much had made up in my mind, like, all right, Robbie, I don't know what the hell I'm going to do, but I know that I am probably not going to go to law school. And so for me, that was a hard decision. I ended up taking the test because I'd already spent, obviously 22 years of my life going towards it. I scored a 172, which. Anybody here knows what law school admission test is? That's in the top 8 percentile of test takers in the nation. So I got into University of Chicago. I got into a bunch of the top law schools I wanted to get into. And I remember coming downstairs one day with my dad, and I think probably some people can relate to this, like my whole identity of who I was and what I was doing was law. And so for me to decide not to do it, I felt like I didn't know myself, let alone my whole friends and family and everybody I'd been posting on social media about that I was gonna be a lawyer. I was so afraid what everybody thought. And I read a fantastic book called the Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck. Love that. Pretty much. Yeah. Incredible book. Literally changed my life. I legitimately say that on every podcast. And I said, you know what? All these people that are telling me to be lawyers, none of them are lawyers. My dad, this law school consultant, none of them were lawyers. And then the lawyers themselves were like, don't go to law school. And so I was about to make a $250,000 and three year decision, like three year opportunity cost decision in my life. And I just went downstairs one day, I told my dad, like, I'm not going to law school. And he was like, you're making the biggest mistake in your whole life. Kicked me out of the house. Which, by the way, Dad's in remission. He's my hero. I love him so much. I'm not ever talking bad about him, but parents think they know what's best for you.

He thought that was the very thing. I love you and I want you to be successful, literally.

Exactly. He wanted the best thing for me. And he didn't know what the opportunities were out there because it's different world than 40 years ago. And he came from India, you know, with $18 in his pocket, and so essentially kicked me out of the house. I moved in on my brother's couch. I worked in an Italian restaurant, making less than $1,500 a month in this Italian restaurant, working full time. And keep in mind, I'm like, about to go to a top school in the nation, come out making $200,000 a year, and I ended up working at an Italian restaurant as a waiter. So, like, super, like, I was embarrassed. My family was still, like, they weren't telling anybody I wasn't going to law school. Oh, yeah, he's going to law school. He's just taking a break. He's going to law school. Everyone was embarrassed for me. And then that was kind of when I stumbled across online marketing and lead generation. I started seeing people online posting about it. And I still remember to this day one of my best friends. That was a fraternity brother of mine. I kept on seeing it and be like, wow, that's something cool. And then I saw my fraternity brother's dad post something about his online marketing agency. And I messaged my fraternity brother, hey, man, can you connect with your dad? That's exactly what I want to do. I'd love to talk with him. And I still remember this day. He messaged me back like, oh, no, that's my company. I run a digital marketing agency. My dad works for me. And that was when I was like, if this motherfucker can do it, I know I can for sure do it. You know what I mean? So essentially went in the world, got out there, got super uncomfortable, got my first client. As soon as I got my first client paid me money. I knew at that point I was addicted. There was no way I was going back. I was making money. I was, like, sitting there at my waiting job, working on my client that was paying me $2,000 a month while I was waiting for someone to come in and pay me, like, $8 on a tip for a table. So, like, very quickly, I left my waiting job and dove into that full time. It was a real struggle in the beginning, but ended up figuring out what I was doing wrong. Like, I wasn't outsourcing, I wasn't systemizing, I wasn't scaling, I wasn't focusing on appointments. Once I started doing that, our agency took off. You know, I now run an Agency, a seven figure agency. We help over 112 real estate agents across North America actively, every single month, get qualified closings, get buyers and sellers. And also I help business owners get trained virtual assistants. And I help business owners scale their business so that they're allowed to literally live like the four hour work week, which is what I'm essentially doing right now.

So great. It's so amazing. And now what this. You hit so many.

I know, sorry.

I know I'm a note taker. You know that pen and paper, always. But what just so anyone listening, like, knows this span of time that you went from, you know, deciding that to pursue law to having successful business of your own right now in Spain, what Was that timeframe?

14 months is about what it's been since. Yeah. And that's. I am very proud of myself for that. And that's even more proud considering the first six months of my business before. And I know Melissa talks about this all the time, which is why we get along so well. Before, before I invested in myself anything when I was just trying to do all by myself, first six months of my business, we did $6,000 in total revenue for six months of my business. And it wasn't until I started investing in other opportunities. Some of them panned out, some of them didn't, that I started like, slowly my revenue started exponentially growing. And now we're at where we are today. So, you know, people, what is it saying? People, like, underestimate what they can do and. Or overestimate what they can do in a year, underestimate what they can do in a lifetime. And so for me, it was like I just knew that if I just kept on doing with the slight edge, which I know you guys know about, if I kept on doing, like the right stuff every single day. It was a super hard beginning. Like, I just told you guys, like, almost nothing. The first six months, I was an embarrassment where now we're exponentially growing at levels that I wouldn't even dream were humanly possible in a time in the world where there's never been more opportunity abundant about us. I mean, it's unbelievable the world we live in. I'm so grateful to be alive right now in this time because it's like, you guys make money from your computer. I make money from my computer. We impact hundreds of people and most people don't understand it. So what I wanted to tell you was when you had said your mom's like, when are you getting a real job? So I was featured on Fox News a few months ago and it was a pretty big deal for me and I was super excited about it. And I still remember my grandma and my aunt calling me up. They're from India. And you know, that whole side of that family, it's like you're a doctor or you're a lawyer or you're nobody, right? And I still remember my aunt and grandma calling me up like, oh, congratulations on Fox News. Thank you so much. Yeah, so when are you going back to law school? I'm like, oh my God, you guys will, you guys will never get it. I was like, oh, it'll be a few years. Like, you know what I mean? Sometimes most people don't understand. Yeah, most people don't get it. Which is cool with me. Totally fine with that. But I'm just letting you guys know, since you brought it up, if you're listening to this podcast and you guys are thinking like recession or you guys are thinking like, you know, a little bit of a scarcity mindset, which is totally cool, you've been most likely raised and most of society and the media and the influence you have in your life make you think that. But I'll tell you guys this, there has never been a more fantastic time to be alive. There's never been more opportunity abundant and there are more 20 year old billionaires now than ever in history before because of the opportunity time we live in right now. So don't let anybody ever tell you that you can't do anything because if you're ever going to do anything, it's going to be right now.

I love that. And so you just hit on so many like gems, so many golden nuggets and unpack for everyone here. But one of the first things that you and as you shared your journey, I could visualize these roadblocks. Like I kept, I'm a very visual person. I kept seeing like roadblock number one, roadblock number two. And the things that I see people I work with because in addition to move, I work with clients one on one and life coaching. And so we do pretty much we're like doing construction zones, right? Like breaking down these roadblocks and rebuilding these roads. And one of the first things that you alluded to that's a huge roadblock that I see was that word should, right? Or just the idea of what you're supposed to do and blindly pursuing things because it's what everyone around you has done, what the people who care about you tell you you should do. And even if they have the best intentions. Right. You know, my family did not want me to go into education, and then I wanted to prove them wrong and to go to education, and then they didn't want me to leave education, so. And again, all of those things were from their love and wanting them to know I was like, safe and whole. And I heard that with your dad as well. So what clicked for you that allowed you to kind of break down that roadblock of should?

Yeah, I'll just say this right now, like when we were on a podcast right now, and I'm just trying to give you guys the packed up version of everything that I said. But that moment, like that timeframe when I decided in my head mentally that I wasn't gonna be a lawyer, but the world didn't know that yet, that was one of the most difficult and depressing times of my life. And I don't say that lightly. Like it was, I was a real internal battle for me, trying to figure out, like, what is my identity, who am I? And this is what the whole world expects me to do. And I'm about to break this out. So when I just tell you guys, oh, yeah, I read this book and I did it, that was like a four month process of me every single day, like writing in my journal, trying to figure out what's a day I'm gonna come out and do this. So sometimes when you guys hear people talking on podcasts or videos, whatever it is, it's like, oh, yeah, then I woke up and I started it and I made it, became a millionaire. It's just like that reality. It's like, you know, you're trying to allude. I'm trying to put my whole life story in an hour podcast. Or it's like you're comparing it to a movie where it's like your whole life or a whole series of events happens in less than two hours. But in reality, if you guys are at a point right now where it's like, it's not happening as fast as you hear it happening to everybody else and not just clicking like that, understand that that's everyone's giving you the summed up highlighted version. But more likely than not, it's taking a lot longer with a lot more effort than what people are admitting to or they're lying to you, just to be totally honest with you. Just for marketing purposes. But for me it was like reading that book and then every single day just figuring out like, okay, I just pretty much weigh the pros and cons. Okay, what is the absolute worst thing that happened if I decided to go out on my own and didn't do the should? Right? I should go to law school, I should get a good job. I should be the nine to five person. I should have worked that place for four years. I was like, worst thing that happens is I embarrassed myself. Which, you know, at that point in my life I had given up all social life. I hadn't talked to a girl in over a year, right? Because I'm with my dad every single day from 6am until midnight. No drinking, no partying, no going out, no doing drugs. Like nobody even knew I existed anymore. So it was super. I was like, I have nobody to embarrass. Like, I don't care. I think the other thing was like, you know, money. But the other benefit about the time we live in today is that you can create a business for less than $100 today. Like I created the business that I have today for less than $100. Like the cost of putting an LLC and then put in the blood, sweat and tears to make it happen. And so, and then I was like, alright, well let's look at what happens if I go into law school. Well, it's $250,000 in debt. I don't have wealthy parents, so I had to take out a loan for it. And then more importantly, it's three years of my time where you can't be working another job. You almost can't be doing any kind of personal development because it's so intensive in order to do that work. And so for me I was like, well, after weighing the pros and cons, and I know Melissa and I talk about the four hour work week and Tim Ferriss talks about like, write down of all that could go wrong if you did something. And so that's literally what I did. And I was like, you know what, if this entrepreneur thing doesn't work out, my law school test is good for five years. I'll just go back to law school the next year. And so for those of you guys thinking right now, like, I want to leave my job or like I'm dealing with this thing right now, Just keep in mind, like I said before, there's so much opportunity out there today. So even if you decide to give up, pass up on this one thing that you should do in order to pursue something that you want to do that thing that you should do, I almost promise you will always be there. But the more you delay that thing that you want to do, although you might think, like, oh, I'll start it next month, or, oh, I'll start three months from now, time doesn't work like that. And delaying it three months could actually mean a delay of nine months to a year to five years. So there's no time like the present. And so for me, I just realized that, like, look, no car payment, no girlfriend, nobody knows I'm alive, no house payment. Like, this is the time in order to start something and put all the risks on the line because I got nothing to lose.

Yeah, I love that. And I think you're right, though. And even if people do have, quote, unquote, something to lose, there's still always options, right? There's always options. You can always go back. And I don't think there's any greater loss than not taking the chance of pursuing your dream greatest loss, you know? So. All right, you hit on a couple of other things, too. I don't even know if you realize how many good things you hit on and sharing your journey. But you talked about some of the limiting beliefs and also some of the shame and embarrassment, right. Of, you know, quote, unquote, not looking like a certain type of success. And I know that that shame and embarrassment and fear keep a lot of people paralyzed. You persevere through. And you also persevere through those limiting beliefs of what was possible. Right? Because I think at some point, I never thought what I'm doing now was possible. And I'm sure you never thought what you're doing now is possible or that I'd be able to figure it out, or you'd be able to figure it out, whatever it is. And, you know, so what recommendations, what advice do you have for people facing shame or, you know, embarrassment, judgment, criticism, and then also their own internal limiting beliefs?

Yeah, Freaking awesome question, Alyssa. So for me, and I was doing a podcast the other day where I was talking about this as well. For me, I was sold on who I was going to be a year from that date, before the rest of the world even had any idea. Like, I knew I was going to be where I am today before anybody else had any idea what was going on. And I was even going to be an entrepreneur. When I was literally, like, negative $10,000 in my bank account or in my credit card, which is where I was when I started entrepreneurship, I knew I would be traveling the world, living the life that I wanted to on my terms, in about a year, I had it already sold in my mind. But just because it was in my mind, it doesn't mean I wasn't totally terrified of telling anybody else about it. Because if you surround yourself with either small minded people or if you're surrounded by people that don't understand the world as it is today and the opportunities that are abundant. You know, when I talk to my friends who were waiters or who were working the same job back in high school, I'd be like, yeah, man, I can't wait to make money for my laptop. I'm gonna make $100,000 a month. Like, I'm gonna be like, people, yeah, all right. Like, all right, see you in 40 years. Yeah, exactly. And so like that just reinforced it more for me. Like, do I really, Should I really be doing this? Am I throwing my life away? So, like, I'm gonna be the opposite. Everybody else out here, it's like, oh, it's so easy. And like, you're just gonna do it? Like, look, I tell, you know, we build businesses from scratch with people. And I tell them in the beginning, like in the proposal, it's like, you're gonna fuck up. There's gonna be so many problems, there's gonna be so many failures, are literally gonna be like, this is the worst decision of my entire life. I can't believe Ravi talked me into it. But that's what everybody goes through right before the breaking point, right before that glass ceiling. And then if you stay with it and stick through it, that is how you're able to go to the other side. And then it's like the compound effects. Now you're traveling the world making more money than you ever thought was absolutely humanly possible, doing exactly what you love to do. But the issue is that most people will get even close to that pain point or are even afraid to get near that pain point. And so they don't get past it. And so what I'm telling you guys is like, it's gonna happen. Your guys are gonna have issues, gonna be so many problems, you're gonna lose so much money, you're gonna lose time, you're gonna lose friends, you're gonna lose energy, whatever it is. Like, you're gonna lose before you win. Like, you wanna know the key to success? Double your rate of failure. And so that's what we do. Like, I'm just like, how can I fail more? How can I take more action? And so if you're listening to this and you guys are going through change or you're worrying about things. One of the number one things that I started doing, I was blessed enough in the sense that when I was back before Instagram and Facebook and all this stuff, before it was cool to be personal development, I was reading Think and Grow Rich. You know, how to Win President.

We've read more of the same books.

The same books, yeah, I know, we should figure it out. But I literally was like, when it wasn't cool, when people were making fun of me and everyone was going out, I was like the nerd reading that kind of stuff. And so for me, reading 10 pages of an incredibly life changing book. And I would also listen to 15 minutes of a motivational speaker every single morning. And especially when I was going through that law school stuff when I was really depressed, that which put my mind in such a great mindset every single morning. And the other thing that I do, and I know that this is a podcast so you can't see it, but like this journal right here, I've had about 10 of these over the past few years. And every single morning for the past few years, I've written down almost the same thing, which is like, I'm making $500,000 a month by January 1, 2020. I'm making that money through lead generation VA placement consulting and assets. Money flows to me easily and in abundance. I'm dating only women of ambition. I have an excellent relationship with my family that results in daily phone calls. I'm speaking on larger and larger stages, getting my message to more and more people. I live a healthy and disciplined lifestyle that leads to the slide edge going up, doing the things that are easy to do and easy not to do. I've written that in my journal every single day for the past four years. And so, like, when people talk about visualization and like affirmations, like, that's something that I believed in so strongly because the rest of the world is going to tell you that what you're doing, it doesn't make sense and that it's not absolutely possible. But as long as you guys have sold yourself on it, as long as you literally, what I like to call it is brainwashing yourself, which is legitimately what I did. Now. $500,000 a month, like, you know, a year and a half ago was like, if I could make $10,000 a month, that would be incredible. And obviously it's going to adjust as you move forward, but for me, like, you have to brainwash yourself into believing that it's absolutely Possible. And then surround yourself with influencers that promote that. And if there's people or things in your life that are the opposite of it, like Instagram profiles that you follow, YouTube videos that you watch, movies that you see, old friends you used to hang out with, any of that stuff, you have to absolutely cut it out of your life because you guys don't understand. Like, Lens and I were talking about you delaying that dream and that journey and that goal further so you can stay complacent to where you are now. That is a much higher risk and a much higher cost than going out and pursuing it right now.

100%. And I've actually done podcast episodes, so I alternate. I do solo episodes and then interviews, and my solo episodes talk a lot about manifestation. Law of Attraction, energy. Right? How we use energy. And what Ravi is speaking to here, for those of you regularly listening, is you can't surround yourself with energies that aren't consistent with the energy you want to live. And also, if anyone else noticed, I loved this, your manifestation, which is what I, you know, I call it in the coaching work that I do, I have the people that I work with do their manifestation every single day also. We do that, and it's included in Move, but it's in the present tense. Most people put it in the future. And the Law of attraction says, you put in the future, it's going to stay in the future. So I was. I loved hearing that. I have the same. Got my old journal here. It's me, Mooch.

Of course. You guys have it. Freaking literally a monogram with photos on it. You guys are always one upping me on it. Yeah. And I'll even say on top of that, like, as a total credit to you and Mooch, no bs. Everybody that lists podcasts has following these two ladies, I will say this. I work with all kinds of online entrepreneurs and all kinds of people out there. No bullshit. And my other clients might listen to this as well. They both have probably the best mindset and the best teaching capability of anybody else that I've worked with. I've worked with hundreds of online entrepreneurs, and even when we've had issues and communication problems, they have taken such extreme ownership and responsibility. And no one ever places blame on anybody. And we always work everything out that, like, whenever that happens with somebody and somebody else does that, I have so much respect for that person that I talk about you guys, anytime I'm talking to, like, one of my groups or whatever it is. So just as like, a little side note here, because you Just brought it to my mind when you had said, like, you know, what you teach on your life coaching and stuff like that. Like, if you guys aren't working with these two ladies, like, I promise you guys, you guys need to be. Because, you know, I'm not a female, so I can't. I don't subscribe to, like, I can't be taught by them. But I will say this. Like, everybody I know, I refer over to them. And I've seen the inner workings of their business, I've seen their content, I've seen their testimonials, and I absolutely love hanging out and talking to. I could talk to you both you guys, every single day.

Aw, thanks, Robbie.

You're welcome.

X in the mail for that one.

There you go. Yeah, I know. My referral money. God damn it.

Oh, you're so funny. No, I appreciate that. You know, I think communicating directly is really. It's a core value and you're not placing blame. It's not productive. I think there's always. Whenever anything goes wrong, I always look within first. Truly I do. And I'm like, what could I have done better here? Or then it becomes, what could we have done better here? Right.

Well, you just practice what you preach and that's what I respect. Like, people that practice what they preach. Like, everyone can put on video on YouTube and Instagram and say something, but it's like when. When your back's up against the wall, when shit's hitting the fan, is your integrity still there? Are you delivering what you said? You will, and you guys have. Every single time.

Thank you. So you also alluded to something else in sharing your journey. That something I talk a lot about on here and just in social media in general. And two different things, again, but related. One was that you had to get uncomfortable, and the other was that you had to invest in yourself. And these are two of the mistakes I see. Everyone's like, oh, I want this. And then they get a little uncomfortable and they're like, eh. And then a lot of times when people are in a position to invest for themselves, I hear this all the time. They say, well, once my business gets going, then I'm going to invest. And I'm like, your time right now is more money than money. You need to start looking at time as your money right now and not money is your money and you need to generate that and not worry about that. What would you say about those two things? Getting uncomfortable and investing in yourself?

Yeah. So for me, being uncomfortable and I talk about this on My Instagram and my Facebook and everything. But every single day, I strive to be uncomfortable. Like, I'm not just BSing you guys. When we talk about, like, you know, saying something and doing it, like, I do that. Like, guess what's uncomfortable? Traveling across the world all by yourself with zero friends. Like, that's actually uncomfortable. Like, it's actually lonely sometimes. And I don't. Like, yesterday there was a guy that was searching around, like, for a spot to sit at this restaurant, and I was sitting by myself, and I was like, you know, why don't you sit right here? And like, you know, most people would be like, let me stay by myself. I don't want to sit next to this complete stranger. And for me, I'm like, I need friends. Like, come, please talk to me. So I have somebody down here. When I was in Colombia, I went to. I actually went on a date with a girl, and I was like, what's the most uncomfortable situation I can put myself in? So I am absolutely awful at dancing. And so our first date on a blind date with this girl was at a group salsa dance. Like, we had to do salsa dancing. I swear to God, I didn't tell.

You guys I saw that video.

I know, I know. Oh, someone got a video of me. I made them delete it. But essentially, like, I was just like, what's the most uncomfortable thing I can do? I ended up loving salsa. Like, and I went to salsa twice a week for the whole three months that I was down in Colombia, I ended up absolutely loving salsa. And so for me, whenever I experience uncomfortableness, like, if it's in, like, clients, if it's in outreach, if it's in cold calling, if it's in, you know, talking to people. I don't know, whatever it is, whenever I experience uncomfortability, I always know, like, guess what? Right before I came here, I packed. On Monday of a few weeks ago, I decided I wasn't going to live in my house anymore because I wanted to be in a different area. And I want to be surrounded by people that were pushing me forward, not dragging me back. I put my apartment up for lease, got it leased up in one day. I sold my car. I gave away 95% of the stuff. And I remember sleeping on, literally on the floor in my apartment the night before I left for Europe the next day, going like, this is the most uncomfortable and scary thing I've ever done in my entire life is just to give everything up and get on my computer and travel the world. But I literally remember Telling myself at that time, like, Ravi, and I'm at this point in my life where I can see this, where you guys might not be. And that's why I want to tell you guys this. I remember thinking to myself, like, Ravi, anytime you've been incredibly uncomfortable in your life has been right before. The best thing of your life ever happens to you. Every single time that's ever been is right before, like, dropping out of law school, starting my business, investing in a mentor. That was $15,000 when I was only making $5,000 a month. Like, all the stuff that was, like, super uncomfortable for me always leads to something great. And no joke, probably slept 30 minutes that night because I was so nervous and scared. But once I get out here, I speak Spanish fluently. I know you guys can't see the video, but as Melissa sees, I'm literally looking at emerald green waters right now on the beach. I'm living my absolute best life. And it's because I consistently put myself in uncomfortable situations. I seek it out because my favorite thing in the world is like, everybody loves to be comfortable. So if you guys are the person that can be the person that loves to be uncomfortable, the literal world is going to be your oyster. And then as far as, like, investing is concerned, look, I had this conversation on a podcast I was on the other day. Last year, I spent $21,000 trying to get into the e commerce game. Like, you know, I saw all the Instagram videos of the guys, the Ferraris and the girls, the models, and like, oh, yeah. And I was making good money on my own, but I was like, you know, I want to. I want an e commerce business. So I spent $21,000 between mentoring, Facebook, ads, product development, all that kind of stuff, I didn't make a penny back, not one freaking dime back. And where most people would have been like, all right, I'm done. No more investing. This is it. I lost my ass on it, whatever it is. I knew that all I needed was just one of these mentorships, one of these programs, one of these courses, one of these services to click and work, and it's going to pay for all those other mistakes. And so the next guy I invested in was $3,500, which was a lot less than what I paid for the e commerce thing. But he ended up helping me build a seven figure agency that does six figures a month from it. So for people here that are, like, you know, afraid to invest, like, there's two parts of it. If you're just starting out and you legitimately like are going to go into debt, like bad kind of debt. And to get into a business like, like I said, you can start a business for $100. It's not a big deal. Like you can get to a point where you're making money, but if you start making a few thousand dollars a month and you're using that money to travel the world or party or buy a nice car and you're not just putting 95% of it back in your business again and back in your self development, well, I hope you freaking left your job in a good tense because you're about to have to lose your business and go back to it. So the reason I'm at where I am today is because I invest 20% of my monthly income into personal development every single month. And I would recommend everybody the exact same. And at some point it might need more like 150% like it was for me when I paid for $15,000 for my, one of my mentors. But it paid off in spades. So I think being uncomfortable and investing in yourself because look guys, you guys don't realize this. When you buy Drake's, Drake's, what's his name, Dr. Dre's headphones, you're investing in Dr. Dre. When you buy Nicki Minaj's fucking like CDs, you're investing in her. When you buy Lululemon, you're investing in those clothes. And people are spending high, high dollars amounts for fucking leggings. But when someone has an opportunity to invest in their growth of their mindset, their body, their spirit or their business, they're like, oh, whoa. Like I don't want to pay for that. It absolutely blows my mind. So up until I literally was making quite a bit of money, I wore the same clothes that I had since I was in high school. I hadn't bought any new clothes, no new shoes, like nothing. And I just, I kept investing all the money back in myself and my business.

And in my opinion, it's paid off no 100%. I mean mooch and I encountered that, you know, and I have. So I have my own coach that I work with who's like an energy kind of coach. And that helped, is helping me so much. I'm looking into getting a writing coach. And then through Moo, we've had like, similar to you, I think when we first started, in our first, you know, three months or so, we made maybe, I don't even think $2,000, I don't know, something like that. And as soon as we invested and it was a hefty amount, you know, it was, it was a hefty amount. But that very first investment and it was like, I'll never forget, like, both each of us running our credit cards, you know, and it's like, that was a, that was scary. Cause it was like, not only am I investing in me, I'm investing in Mooch and she's investing in me. And we're both like, better not fuck this up. Like, here we go. But you know, that's when in five months from doing that, we built a six figure business, right? And then that trajectory's only grown, right? And so had we never invested in ourselves, we would not be where we are. And I think people, you know, tune that out a lot. They're like, oh, easy to say, but you know, whether even if it's not just spending the first money you're making on cars or going out or partying, but like, maybe not spending it on like clothes you don't need or excessive food you don't need, or entertainment you don't need, or like social, like binging on things that you don't need because you know, you've got this other shit to take care of and really putting it towards investing energy towards where you want your energy to grow.

I actually still remember, that's such a great point. I remember when I first became an entrepreneur, quote, unquote. And that's why I say, because, like, I don't know, $6,000 in the first makes you an entrepreneur or not. But I still remember like going out at nighttime and like putting all of everyone's drinks on my credit card and like, oh, I'm making online money. Like, I'll take care of. Like, I just thought that like, that was what entrepreneurs do, like, and I was just like going in debt further and further. But I just had to put on a show to show everybody that I knew what I was doing. And like, eventually when I started realizing that, like, self development, going out and partying and going out and impressing other people is not going to take you anywhere. But investing in yourself and taking care of yourself is going to take you literally everywhere you want to go. And so once again, for another year in my life, I dropped all my friends, all of my bad habits, and I locked myself in my room and I got an office space and I just absolutely grinded it out, like, and didn't talk to anybody during that time and just did what I needed to do to make it happen. And like, now I Barely. Like, I told Melissa I was in Colombia, and everyone's like, oh, you must have party every day there. Like, I went out one day when I was in Columbia. I went out one night when I was in Columbia, and that was it. And I was in bed by midnight. And so for me, like, and I'm not saying you guys have to do that, but for me, like, personal development, I have such an extreme ownership over that, that, like, I'm just like, wow, look how far I went in one year doing the things that I did. What the hell is going to happen if I do this for five years? Like, where am I going to be in five years? You know what I mean? And so for me, that's my motivation to keep on doing it. It's just like, look how far I've already come. Which I don't think anybody. Nobody does this enough. Nobody stops and is like, wow. Like, can you believe that I'm doing what I'm doing now, like, compared to a year ago? And so if you continue to do that and you write your gratitude, which is what I write in my journal as well, I think it's just going to push you guys to do more and more of it and invest more and more in yourself.

Absolutely. I completely agree. And when you're invested, you're invested, right? One of my favorite quotes, Rachel Luna says, all the time, people who aren't invested aren't invested. Yeah, you're not investing your time, you know, your energy, whatever. You're not actually invested in it.

So I think it's Ice Cube or Soup Dog that said, like, scared money don't make no money, too. So I'll get all. Counteract what you said. Yeah, you have to pay to play. Like. And that's like, even my close friends I have, one of my literally high school buddies for 15 years wanted to get on one of my courses because he wants to run an online business. I charged them full price. It was like, dude, I'm like, if I just give this to you for free. And that's the other thing you guys need to keep in mind, right? Like being a part of Melissa Moochin Mello's program or working with me or working with somebody, if they're giving it to you for free, you guys gotta keep in mind what you're doing is you're paying for someone's free time. And when I'm in the beginning of my business or when I really want to see growth quickly and I want to hear somebody's real truth, what they're actually doing. I don't want it to be someone's free time. I want to capture their attention. And so when I reach out to people, like every day I get people that say, robbie, I'd love to hop on a quick five minute conversation and just talk to you. And I'm like, well, you know, my hourly rate is this and we can discuss. And then like 95% of them just disappear. Because I respect my time, I respect other people's time. But then the people that come to me and say, hey man, how much is an hour of your time? I'd love to talk, I'll do it for free for those people. Because I'm like, look, these people absolutely get it. And so what you guys need to realize, like books and all this stuff that you get for low level or for free, that can only take you so far. And so when you talk to somebody and they're like, want you to pay them for their time. Well, in reality you should be happy to do that because if you're paying, if you're doing it for free or for a discounted price, you're gonna get free and discounted work. If you invest a considerable amount of money, there's a good chance you're gonna get what you invested back in. Knowledge, power, skills, something like that.

There's just two things I want to add to that. Cause it's a really good point. I talk about a lot. And one is that Tony Robbins, one of my favorite things he talks about was how why would we try and spend five, 10 years figuring out what someone's already figured out and learn it from them in a much shorter period of time. Right. And accomplish that much more. So now we've taken 10 years, we've learned it in a year, and then we're going to learn that much more in the next nine years. And the other part is it's this energy exchange scale. So whether you're in a relationship, whether it's. And to me, money is just one energy exchange source. Love is one time emotion. Like these are all just energy sources. But when there's an imbalance in the energy exchange, people get burned out or resentful. Right? And so that's not sustainable. If you're in a relationship where you feel like you're always giving, giving, giving and not receiving, you're going to get burned out. It's the same thing. If you're constantly looking for someone to give you free advice, that person's going to get resentful or they're going to snap eventually. And so I just think it's all about constantly maintaining an energy balance in whatever we do.

Yeah, I mean, it's. It's a. It's fair exchange of value. Like, that's just what the world is based upon, literally a fair exchange of value. And if that's money, if that's an exchange of services, like, it's just fair exchange of value. And if that's not the case, someone's getting shrewd in that, and you don't want that in a relationship. You don't want. Even if you're the person doing the screwing that's going to come back and bite you in the ass at some point.

100%. 100%. All right. I would love for you to let people know what was, like, the biggest surprise in your journey.

Biggest surprise in my journey was actually, you know, I talk about this kind of frequently. Was actually when I. That first six months that I would have made $6,000. And I didn't know if this was going to work for me. And I had the mindset there, but I wasn't making any money. And let's be honest, like, you're not making any money. Well, like, everything else doesn't really matter because it'll eventually come if you have the right mindset. But in the time when you got to pay bills and you don't have the money to pay the bills, it can be quite frightening. And for me, what I realized six months into it, it wasn't until I invested in that first coach, the reason I only made $6,000 in six months was because nobody had any fucking idea what I was doing. Everyone still thought I was going to law school. Everyone still thought I was either in law school or still studying for law school or taking a break from law school. And so I was trying to hold outreach to hundreds of people every single day. I had no testimonials, no proof, like, no background, no history, no work experience. And I'm trying to reach out to all these people that don't know me because I'm so scared that if I tell anybody that what I'm doing, they're gonna be like, what the hell are you talking? You ain't making money online. You're supposed to be a lawyer. Like, what the fuck are you doing? And I thought that it was gonna blow up my face and was gonna be so judgmental of me. And that kept me the first six months from doing anything and telling anybody what I was doing. Like, me and my family didn't have any idea what I was doing. And eventually what happened was I still remember my mentor was like, dude, obscurity is the reason why you're not making more money. People not knowing is a reason why you're not making more money. And that's why I preach every single day. You should be doing anywhere from 500 to 1,000 touch points to your target market. And so for me, it was like, you know what I remember? My one client that I had for six months was a lady in Bluffton, South Carolina. She had a gym. We did like an extra $8,000 with her the first month we worked with her. I asked her a video testimonial. She shot the video testimonial. I still remember to this day. I was like, you know what? It was only like 2 o' clock in the afternoon. And I was like, you know what? I'm gonna post this testimonial on my Facebook page of all my friends, all my family, all my fraternity brothers, like, all my ex girlfriends, like, everybody in my life on my Facebook page. I'm gonna put this testimony out here, say, you know, I run an advertising agency. She's my client. Listen to what she says. We had $8,000 in the first month. And I just. I remember posting it, closing my laptop and literally going on a run and being like, you know what? And on the run, I'm like, God, like, I fucked everything up. Everyone's gonna ask me so many questions. People are gonna be ridiculing me, making fun of me, because as everybody here is listening, or if you don't know, like, fear is just, you know, fear is always gonna be in your mind. And it's just your mind. You let your mindset alone, and you don't have the right, like, mental toughness. You're instantly gonna be like, this is gonna go wrong, and this is gonna go wrong, and this is gonna go wrong. And that's what I was thinking. And I remember coming back from a run and a workout, opening up my laptop. When I opened up my laptop, we had over 130 likes on that post. I had 40 comments. I had five shares on it, and I had probably 40 or 50 dms of people going, oh, my God, you run advertising. Like, I run a business. That's this. Like, do you think you could do this? Let's get on a call. And the next month, we did $18,000 in revenue. So what I was super surprised about was that what I was this thing that I was. The biggest thing I was just scared of, which is telling other people what I was doing actually ended up being my largest asset out there. And so if you guys are in that same situation where you're like, I don't know if I want to tell the world what I'm doing, well, that's the only way you're ever going to make any money. And the people that you're afraid of, like, maybe you have a specific. Because I had specific people on my mind, are going to be like, you're fucking it all up, the people that you're afraid of. Well, the quicker you put your stuff out there, the quicker they hate on you, the quicker you can click that fucking block button on Facebook and you never have to worry about that person ever again. Like, it literally. It reveals the snakes in the grass. That's what it does. And so I still remember I would literally go out to bars, like, after that when I started doing, like, videos on my iPhone and, like, motivational stuff. And, like, there would be guys that I walk into the bar and they'd be like, oh, I'm Rovio Boballa. Like, you should live a better life. Like, literally making fun of me. When I went out at nighttime at the bar, and I would just turn around and walk out of the bar. And, you know, in the beginning I was upset with it, but in the later on I realized, like, you know, he's super uncomfortable where he is in his life and he's projecting it out on me. And I'm in Spain right now, living on a penthouse, looking over the Gulf, and he's working at a restaurant right now. So it's like, which, no disrespect to those people, but the whole point of that being, like, my biggest surprise on a very long story long in my life on this journey, was essentially that there's a lot more people that are going to be in your corner than there are going to be against it. Whenever you actually decide to do this and the people that are going to be against you, well, this is going to be the quickest way to figure out who they are. And you can completely remove them from your lives 100%.

I mean, you just reminded me of a few things we talk about. I mean, Brene Brown, she always says the bravest thing we can do is have the courage to own our stories. Like, just truly own our stories. And everything else falls into play. And then, you know, when I coach a lot of people in posting on social media, I always tell them to envision the person, the one person who needs to hear what they have to offer. Just that one person, whether it's sharing their authentic story or a story of struggle. Obviously, a lot of what I do is more. More around, like, grief and loss, but, you know, just sharing that. I mean, yesterday I had. I. The first time I shared on grief. And I'm so glad you read the first time I shared on grief on Facebook now late in past five years ago. So this was like, about six months or so after she passed. I deleted it immediately because I was so like, oh, my God, what are people gonna say? What are people gonna think? Like, that might have offended someone. Now I have a podcast on grief, right? And so funny. Like, last night I got a message from a nurse at Boston Children's Hospital. Don't know who she is. Never spoken to her. And she said, melissa, I just have to tell you, I've been following your story. You inspire so many of us from hearing your daughter Layden's journey in the illness that she had. I saw signs in one of my patients, and she kind of listed what the symptoms were, and there were symptoms of the disease Leighton had, she said. So I flagged it. Luckily, the medical team listened. We had the test done. We caught it before any signs presented. Now this baby is still sick and is still septic and in Boston Children's Hospital, but would have had no chance of living. And so it's like an extreme case. And I did for it a little bit here, but it's just that idea of, like, just you sharing your authentic truth, whether it's a service you offer or a story you've been through, whatever you've endured, I think it's the bravest, most courageous thing you can do do. And like you said, everyone else is going to sip themselves out, but you don't even realize the people you can touch. Whether it's touching in a business aspect or like, literally, I was crying last night that this baby could be alive because I shared Layden's story.

That is absolutely incredible. And that's right before you said that. That's so funny that you said that, because I was literally thinking the exact same thing. What I started realizing was once I really started putting content out there, like so many people, on a daily basis, I get the exact same message. Like, obviously not that extreme, but, like, hey, Ravi, I've been following you for a year now. I haven't ever liked or commented on any of your stuff, but I just want to shoot you this quick little message and let you know, like, you've really changed a lot of my life. And Melissa and I aren't saying this guys to be, like, bragging that, like, we're impacting lives. We're saying this because you don't realize who your supporters are, and you probably have more people supporting you than you even think. And so when you start putting stuff out there, like, that's just the beautiful world that we live in today. When I go back to opportunity, like, the reason I was able to do what I am right now, which is living the life that I live, is because I saw other people online doing the exact same thing, and I thought, if that person can do it, I can do it, right? 50 years ago, there wasn't Facebook and Instagram, and you. The only people you saw were your family. And your family was telling you to go to law school. So you went to law school. But now it's like, well, your family's telling you to law school, but you see this guy that's traveling around the world making $50,000 a month, and you're like, well, that's possible as well. So you follow that guy's journey and you start going. And that totally changed the trajectory of my life. And so if I can do that for somebody, or if you can do that for somebody, like, why not give it back? Because somebody did it to me as well. So if you guys are in that situation where you're so afraid, like, look, everyone, like, there's one thing I've learned. This is literally a model that I live by. Whatever the masses are doing, I do the exact opposite. And so, like, everyone is so afraid to post things out there, and everyone is so afraid to be their true, authentic self. I'm not talking about, like, popping bottles on the balcony out here and, like, acting like I'm, like, a millionaire. I'm talking about, like, coming on here and saying, I had a refund, a client last month. Coming on here and saying I fucked up. Coming on here and saying, like, I get lonely and depressed. Like, traveling alone across Europe is super, super lonely. Sometimes, like, legitimately, for four weeks straight, I'm not seeing or talking to anybody. And I'm in a country where I don't speak the language in some instances. And it can be super lonely. And not just acting like, I'm just, like, having the best time of my life, but it's uncomfortable for me and it's challenging for me, and that's why I love to do it. And so, like, start trying to be your true, authentic self. And I think you guys will figure out it's gonna pay you guys back, not just in money, but in friendship. Networking and then literally. I'm sure Melissa will agree, but I had someone send me a message this morning that literally said pretty much the same thing. Like, I've been following you for a while and stuff like that. Like, this morning I was feeling a little bit of in a funk and stuff like that literally snatched me out of it. And it reminds me exactly why I'm doing everything that I'm doing right now.

Amazing. Thank you so much, Ravi, for coming on. I appreciate it. And speaking of sharing, where can the listeners find you? Where can they keep up with all your happenings and continue to be inspired from your story?

Yes, I will say first, thank you for having me on here. Totally, totally blessed to be on here. Great questions. I go on podcasts all the time. This is the second podcast I was on today. Great, great questions. And you have an incredible story. And I'm super blessed to have both you ladies in my life. I'm so happy that we got connected. I think that the future is going to be great for all of us, and I hope we're able to stay connected together. As far as everyone that's listening to this podcast, thank you guys for listening. I hope I didn't talk too much. Sometimes people tell me that I do that, so I hope you guys got some value out of it. I'm grateful that you spent. I don't even know how long this was, but the fact that I was able to capture your attention, if you stayed all the way through, insanely grateful for that. I never thought that I would be able to do that. So thank you guys for that. If you guys want to check out my story or my following, the easiest way would be Instagram or Facebook. To be totally transparent with you, I'm sure Melissa will drop my name or something down below because it's a little bit tricky. R A V I A B U V A L A is my Instagram and my Facebook name. Follow me on there. Shoot me a message and say, hey, I came from Melissa's podcast. Ask me any questions you have about traveling or business or scaling or virtual assistants or lead generation, and I'll literally give you everything that I can. Because if you're coming from Melissa and Mooch, they give me a lot. So.

All right. Thanks, Ravi. All right, well, if Ravi didn't remind you of how much you can change your life in 14 months. 14 months, think of where you were 14 months ago and where you can be 14 months from now, I don't know what's going to inspire you. He inspired me he fired me up. And as I mentioned, I've only known Ravi for a few months, but I think it really speaks to the power of getting into different networks. Mooch and I met him through growing our business and being in one program and networking and resourcing and just all of these things in ways that put you in a position to meet incredible people. And so, in addition to all of the little golden nuggets Ravi gave you, I hope you think about what networks you can immerse yourself in, what social circles, what online circles, whatever it is to just learn and to be inspired and to grow. I would love to hear what you think about that episode. If you have any questions, if you want to reach out to Ravi and follow him, I encourage you to do so. And as always, if you love this episode and you want to help us grow, our mission of encouraging others to find their strength, their courage, their guts, and to persevere no matter what they are facing. As my way of shining Layden's light with all of your help, please head over onto itunes Spotify rate review. That's going to be the way we can spread this really meaningful work. Until next time.