Antonio Mañueco: Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Blubeta Group

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All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Antonio Manuaco with us. He is the co-founder and managing partner at Blue Beta Group and CTO of BetaBlocks, where he leads the infrastructure and strategy for blockchain initiatives. So welcome to the show, man.

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Of course, man. So for everybody listening, me and Antony are neighbors here down in Miami. So very excited to have him on and we'll dive into the first one. The first question I have for you, man, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?

I think the most valuable lesson I've gotten, it was in college. My dad never saw me graduate. He passed from leukemia when I was right before I graduated college. And I went through some difficult times and my mom tried her best to support me. And I used to take that money and either party or do things that I shouldn't have been doing as any good college student should do. And at some point, she got to the end of the rope and she said, listen, I think this is the end of it. I can't give you any more money. And I had to fend for myself. And at that time I didn't have money to buy any food. I didn't have money for books and I had to get a job and actually get my stuff together. And I think to this day, it was probably one of the biggest things that she's done for me that really turned me into who I am today.

And what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?

I think the most important thing is to, is number one, to really separate what's happening in the market and the economical side with cryptocurrencies and blockchain. Obviously they're related, But there's blockchain, the technology, and crypto, and the economic factors. And I think it's good to separate them and to really understand that we don't really know what the implications are for the future of humankind and how this technology is going to evolve over time. So it's something that we need to pay close attention and really let it go to where it needs to be without actually being fearful of what it can actually present to the industry.

And what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry-specific.

Keep moving forward. As long as you're making forward progress, keep doing it. It's very difficult to— as any business entrepreneur, it's a very difficult path and it's a very challenging path, to say the least. And you always have to keep your head up high and really look towards what your vision is and every day move towards that vision. Anything that's not contributing to what you want to accomplish with your business should not you should not be spending time on. Really, I think it's focus, put your head down and really, you know, aim for that.

And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?

Try to not make as many mistakes as you did. That's probably my biggest piece of advice. Like I said, I think I made a lot of mistakes when I was younger, and I wouldn't have it any other way. But I'd probably tell myself, yeah, try to avoid some of these other traps that, you know, could have maybe been easily avoided by getting either mentorship or, you know, really relying on people that had more experience than I did.

And in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?

You have to do what you love, you know. I think love is one of these things that people say that, oh, it's a feeling. I don't think love is a feeling. I think love is really a decision that you have to make, and you really have to apply yourself and really go through that, understanding that, you know, you're not going to feel great every day about your business, but remember that it's a decision that you took to embark in this. So You really have to be, you know, okay with that decision and make sure that you don't look back, that you just continue moving forward. Even when you fail, you have to pick yourself up very quickly and try the next thing.

And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?

The best book I've read, if I go back in time, I would have to say is Who Moved My Cheese? It's an unbelievable book. It's a short read. It's written for It's a very easy read. So it's one of these books that just flows. And it really, the concept is when things change at a business level or at a personal level, it's not really why these external factors contributed to this movement. It's more about, okay, well, my cheese now has moved. It's about these two rats that are going through this maze and they need to find the cheese. And then every day the cheese gets moved. And it really, really teaches you at a very basic level to cope with change and how to make the best of change.

And what is your favorite quote and why?

Um, I have a lot of favorite quotes and I love inspirational quotes. Um, one that I really like, um, is by Les Brown and it's, uh, "You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great." And I think as a business owner and, uh, as an operator, as a human being, you always were fearful of embarking in some type of journey where we don't have the tools or the experience. So we always talk ourselves out of doing something out of our comfort zone. And really the most important thing that I get from that quote is that you really have to start in order to really get to that level. You don't have to be the best, you don't have to be the greatest, you just have to have this drive and this hunger to really get there. And that's what's gonna make you great.

Dude, thank you so much for coming on. The last one I have for you before we let you go is where is the best place for our audience to find and/or connect with you online?

Absolutely, so we have a Slack channel, Wynwood Tech, for local entrepreneurs, technologists, creatives, CEOs, operators. I'm always on Wink with Tech on the Slack channel. If you go to our website, you can request an invite. I'm also available via LinkedIn, email. And if you go to our website, bluebeta.com, you'll be able to see some of our other, some of our other companies under the umbrella. So that's probably the best way to contact me.

Perfect, man. Thanks again for jumping on.

Thank you, Tyler Wagner.

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