The Achieve Podcast - Cristina Barrett (Mona Payment Solutions)

Welcome to another episode of the Achieve Podcast, the show where we highlight leaders, creators, and entrepreneurs who are building meaningful businesses, shaping their industries, and having an impact. I'm Taylor Baker Baker, your host, excited today to be joined by Cristina Alvarez Barrett, the CEO and President of Mona Payment Solutions, and you can find them at monasolutions.com. Christina, first off, thank you so much for joining us today.

Yeah, thank you for having me.

Absolutely. And then real quick, for those getting to know you, give us the backstory with this niche that you've kind of gone in.

How did you get into this space, uh, with payments? It's a long story because I was a temp and they hire as a temp as an admin, and, uh, they hire— the company that I was, I was working for at the time was FFMC, and this is like 35 years ago.

I—

that's how I got into it. It was all by accident, and everything that's happened to me ever since has been by accident. I was, uh, FF Sync turned into First Data, who is now Fiserv. I left Fiserv 15, 16 years ago and, um, started, uh, representing a friend of mine that started in his own, um, ISO, as you call them. And, uh, and that's kind of just pretty much started by accident, and I never went out to say I'm going to build— be in payments have my own payments company, be in the fintech world. It was just all by accident. One thing led to another, and it's actually been really rewarding. And, um, I love payments. I love what I do. I love our team. So yeah, that's kind of in a nutshell.

And how big is the team right now?

So there's 7 of us. Um, we're, um, as we call it, small but mighty. And, uh, we work nationwide and in Canada. And just recently, actually, um, uh, just became resellers for Square. So that's going to open up a lot of doors. Um, Square had this whole, um, idea of hiring companies like Mona Payment Solutions to really bring on new clients but also service them because they, they lack that service aspect of what they currently do. It's all You know, click and maybe 3 weeks from now we'll let you know and so forth. So we're— Mona is more of a, uh, concierge kind of white glove service. So, um, we hope, you know, for a good partnership. So, mm-hmm. Yeah.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

And what would you say is actually driving growth for you guys right now?

Uh, partnerships actually. So we also partner with financial institutions and software developers, associations. Um, we just, um, signed an agreement with a financial institution in Northern California. Where they will providing us all their leads, all their business clients if they're looking for merchant services. So that's been how we got started, how I got started, how Mona got started, and just developing these relationships. And, you know, every ISO like myself and any, even a salesperson, all they want is just those referrals, right? Because that's how people grow. Because it's a pretty nitty-gritty, go cold calling all day. And, you know, it's But it's— we got to do it. So it's just part of the sales.

That makes sense. And what part feels harder than it should right now?

What part hard? You know, it's not like it was when I first started, when I was with FFMC a long time ago, cold calling. And you pick up the phone and go through the yellow, uh, the yellow— the— I even don't even remember what they call it, Yellow Book or the phone book.

Yellow Pages.

Yeah, yeah, the Yellow Pages, right? And so forth. And people actually were answering the phones. Um, it's a lot harder now. It's a lot more, um, social media Just, you know, LinkedIn, um, just different avenues. You really gotta just do all the touch points because, um, and people do answer the phone, but it's not the way it was. So I think that's, that's really hard. And, and just people have more options because they're more knowledgeable as well. So, um, that, you know, it's harder, you know, it's, it's— I always say, you know, it could take 3 years to get a client, it could take 2 seconds to lose it, you know. And that's more true now, um, because of technology and this everything's so easy at our fingertips. And you know, you don't doing this for me, I'll just go over here. So yeah, we really focus on the customer support.

And looking back for you personally, what turning points have had the greatest impact or changed the way you run the organization?

Um, so, um, the impact was, um, becoming partners with a financial institution here in Southern California with, with 17 branches. That was like the big— went from here to hear. Um, the— what was the second question?

Because, um, does this have affected the way you run the organization?

The way I run my business? Yes, the way I run my business. So during COVID COVID was great for us, right? I mean, we then became virtual. We're still virtual now. We can kind of move past, um, just the Southern California area. But I joined Webank, you know, the, uh Okay, a women-owned business. And I took some of their courses and I really, really learned a lot. So, um, so I love them, still part of Webank. But I also did, um, the Entrepreneur's Operating System. I don't know if you're familiar with that, which is really, really great because I had no training whatsoever how to be a business owner, how to run an office, how to run a company. I had no clue. So, um, I did— we still are part of the EOS family, so to speak. And also Vistage has helped me a lot. Um, Vistage is, you know, a group of entrepreneurs, and, you know, you come together and you have a chair, and, and that's really just been really helpful for me and giving me the confidence that I need.

And, uh, so yeah, that's awesome. That is quite the story to just, you know, bootstrap it, figure it out.

Uh-huh.

So now, as you try to grow and expand, what have been the biggest bottlenecks that keep showing up?

You know, I think, you know, I mean, we every year, luckily, thank you, we've been growing. I think having a sales— so merchant services, credit card processing is what we do, what we offer. It's extremely competitive, extremely competitive. I don't know if you remember back in the '80s, AT&T and all the Uh, everybody that had a cell phone was extremely competitive. We're just as competitive. And is it because it's a great industry, right? It's always, um, technology is always growing. It's very rewarding financially. So I think it is just getting the right salespeople that are, um, that want to, that are hungry, they want to go after this because it's not an easy sale. Um, and that's kind of been one of the things that we've been struggling the last year or so, but we're What we're doing to kind of alleviate some of that is bringing and educating our internal team from grassroots. Okay, you start, had no clue on payments and developing into salespeople. So, and this is 2, 3-year process, right? Because payments is so, there's so much to learn. So that's kind of one of the things that's been the hardest, but it's been now the most rewarding 'cause we're seeing these, young ladies in our team kind of, you know, really develop and, and just flourish in their sales.

Mhm, that's awesome. So this next question is a two-part question. When it comes to your messaging and outreach, your marketing systems, first, what's been working well to attract and keep customers?

Um, in marketing, I mean, I don't know if our marketing is keeping to keep our customers or even attracting them. Again, like I said, our industry is extremely competitive. But we do a lot of educational videos. We used to— not a lot, I should say. We do them. We used to do them twice, twice a month. Now we're doing them once a month. And then we're doing now a newsletter. Okay. Educational videos like, you know, we target certain industries. You know, we're heavy. We have a partner in the software industry integration with the heavy-duty trucking industry. So we focus on the trucking industry. Now we're doing a newsletter. That, you know, more educational what's going on. So it goes not only to our clients but to our database. And I think we have about 15,000 people in our database, or maybe a little more. So just more educational. We'll get some calls from that, but it's all consistent. It's, it's building that brand. It's just, you know, they see who we are, what we're doing. We're not trying to sell anybody on those marketings. We do have a good presence on Instagram. One of the— our team members really loves doing that, so we gave her, you know, that seat that she can fill in and, and bring in more exposure.

Okay. And so, and the second part is, where do you feel like you're still leaving money on the table?

There's still opportunity, money on the table. Well, We're really good about, um, talking to our current base, our current clients, and upselling, you know, our products and really making sure that they have everything that they need. And we're not scared to try anything new. We're not trying— scared to look for those products that they're looking for. So I would say, um, we're not— we're trying not to leave anything at the table. I mean, marketing-wise, um, you know, we're always updating our website. We're going actually 2 new pages to our website. We're working on that. LinkedIn, you know, we also, you know, try to post as much as we can on LinkedIn through our blogs. So our marketing, the marketing team that we do, we do the posting on the blogs. Mm-hmm.

Now when it comes to, with all the talk and buzz around AI and automation, where have you guys found ways?

Oh my God, we love it. Love it. We have been using it actually before anybody started using it. And, you know, I was born and raised in Mexico.

Okay.

And Spanish is my first language. And, you know, the where's and where, I never know the difference. And, you know, some of the English grammars, you know, so I'm not the best, right? And, um, so when, um, ChatGPT came out, we— I got it, I tried it for like a week. I got it for the business. The whole team uses it. I said, If you don't understand it, you don't get it, just use it. Um, just signed up for Claude as well. Claude is amazing. I mean, it's just— I mean, it does everything for you. I mean, things that we can— that took us days now takes us less than an hour because we plug it on to either ChatGPT or Claude, and we're still using both and go from one to the other. I mean, one's great for one thing. It's just If you're not using AI, you really are doing a disservice to your company, to your team, and to your clients. Productivity has increased. People's confidence have— has increased because they feel that they can, you know, instead of Googling it, you know, ChatGPT it, Claude it, whatever. I mean, I don't know if you've seen some of those presentations on Claude. They're amazing. And then we just put them into Canva and, you know, just kind of tweak it up a little bit. It's It's— we love it. We— anything new, like I said, we are not scared to try anything new whatsoever. Uh-huh.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

When you think about the next stages of the business, what are you most excited about?

What, um, I just kind of going into that next level of, of where we're at right now. You know, we're in a great place. I know we can be in the best place yet to come, and, and that's just developing our, our kind of junior senior sales team, so to speak. And, you know, um, we have, you know, a few, you know, senior salespeople, but those young sales team developing and see where they can go. Because, you know, um, we all are women, and not just because it happened. And all, all the young ladies that are working in our office, um, they're all moms, you know, except, uh, one. And, uh, um, so everybody's— one has 4 kids, and she said, okay, I have to leave to go drop off, pick up, and come back to work, and so forth. And just, you know, giving them that opportunity where they can be really successful. And if they're successful, Mona's successful. And that's kind of how we look at it. So that's my exciting kind of news to like, where is it going to go? To see all these young women be very successful and, you know, reach those dreams that they want to give to their families, you know. And we're in Mississippi, we're in Houston, we're in Baton Rouge, we're in Connecticut, we're in Las Vegas, here in Los Angeles. You know, we're pretty spread out. Out. So, um, and we just have such a great culture and very encouraging and, and just, you know, give everybody back what I got back from my mentors, you know, when I was starting in the business.

I love that. I love that ethos, that just give back, pay it forward.

Yeah, pay it forward.

Yeah, that's wonderful. Now, when you look at your own journey, the wins, the mistakes, what lessons stand out to you and like took longer to learn than they should You know, um, I think is fear is usually, you know, the first thing.

Scared of what's going to happen. And I've learned now not to— just try it. If it doesn't work, it's okay. It's okay. I think, you know, I used to wake up and, and think, you know, all my clients were going to cancel, right? You know, you know, that's, that was the fear that I had, that if I did something and, you know, everybody would, you know, not use our services. And, and now I know that's not the case, you know, but not be so scared. And, and really, I think, you know, um, educating myself, you know, really, you know, I also did the, the, the Goldman Sachs, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program that for entrepreneurs, and that's all a free program, and, um, that was so helpful for me. And, um, so yes, I think it's, it's, it's fear, um, having the confidence, but I think that's just with being a new entrepreneur, you know, so No, put fear aside and just try and go for it. You know, I wish I would have done it sooner in my life. Let's put it that way. Yeah, I love it.

Just put fear aside and go for it. Yeah, that's wonderful. So, Christina, if you had to pick one constraint to focus on and solve over the next 90 days, what would it be?

Okay, so we're really focusing on partners, and that is my responsibility within the organization, is to reach out to those financial institutions and try to get more relationships relationships, because the more relationships, the more partners that we have, um, the more successful we're going to be. And we can provide this amazing service. We have the team, we have the capabilities, we have everything, you know. We just need to just get those partners, and that's my job. And if we've got, you know, one in the last month, uh, month and a half— it doesn't take— it doesn't happen overnight. So 90 days to, you know, at least, you know, the middle of the year, towards the end of the year, we're looking to at least for 3 or 4 would be wonderful.

That's awesome. And so any final words for other leaders, entrepreneurs, those on a similar journey?

Um, you know, um, really, I think take advantage of all your resources, you know, really kind of look at what, what's out there. I mean, you know, the 10,000 Goldman Sachs, that's a free program that any entrepreneur can sign up, and you need to get accepted and take it seriously. You know, if you're a woman, if you're a woman or a minority person, you know, take advantage of what that has to do. Sign up, get registered, keep with your certifications. And they have so many programs to offer you. They can really educate you. And just go for it. Don't be scared. And one thing I tell everybody in our team is if you keep on doing it every, every day, whatever you're doing, it will happen. It will happen. And it does, you know. And in any industry, if you want to be a really good actor, If you do everything you need to put to do, you will become that good actor. Anything.

Yeah, I love that. Just put the fear aside and go do it.

Yep.

Wow. So for those who want to learn more, want to reach out, LinkedIn or—

sorry, my— the gardener's out there. Sorry.

Oh, you're fine. So monasolutions.com or LinkedIn, anywhere else they can find you and learn more?

Um, Instagram, they can— Mona Solutions on Instagram. Uh, um, just reach out to us. We have a landing page if you have any questions. If you're looking to, you know, uh, get an account review on, on your current merchant services, we'd love to have you, you know. And you know what, we'll let you know if you've got a good thing or not, or if you're a good fit for us, or we might not be a good fit for you. So you never know.

That's awesome. Okay. Yeah. And you guys service all 50 states, right?

All 50 states, Canada, and, um, and with now with Square, a couple other countries, um, within globally.

That's awesome. So yeah, reach out. And again, thank you to our sponsors of today's episode, Achieve Fractional, which provides fractional executive leadership for growing businesses. And if you enjoyed the episode, reach out to Christina and the team, see if you're paying fair for services for your merchants, for your processing, and just get educated. Like, reach out and they'll help you out.

Perfect.

We'll see you all in the next episode of the Achieve Podcast.

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