In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Jenna Rodriguez, founder of Brave Masters Inc. Jenna shares her personal turnaround story, detailing how she went from a $700,000 debt and bankruptcy after a failed storefront venture to building a successful brand twelve years later. She emphasizes that true "bravery" lies in the decisions, commitments, and actions one takes after setbacks. Jenna outlines her core business philosophy that perceived value starts with self‑recognition, and introduces her proprietary framework called VITAL PACE within the Evolution of a Brave Master, a five‑phase model guiding entrepreneurs on what to do, when, and how based on their business stage. She advises taking personal responsibility early, asserts that happiness and emotional experiences are choices made internally, and recommends Brandon Burchard’s High Performance Habits, highlighting the concept of “finding your necessity.” Jenna closes with her personal mantra “brave daily,” and directs listeners to her website bravemasters.com and a Facebook group for brave entrepreneurs.
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Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
¡Hola! All right, everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. Today I have Jenna Rodriguez with us. She's a brand, business, and Brave strategist with Brave Masters Inc. So welcome to the show, Jenna.
Hello, Tyler, and everyone listening. Thanks for having me.
Of course. Thank you so much for joining us, uh, and we'll dive into the first question. The first question I have for you is, what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
So probably the main story of my journey that I speak about is my from bankrupt to Brave Master story. And it really is my entrepreneurial journey. I came out of corporate America and jumped into entrepreneurship, owning a storefront. And within 1 year of investing and all of that, opening it up and all of that, Within 1 year, I found myself $700,000 in debt and couldn't stay afloat and ended up having to close that business and file bankruptcy. And The Brave is all about what I said next and what I chose next. And that's really been the message of my life now that I look at it, is that the brave is really the decisions, the commitment, and the actions we take in order to get where we want to go. And that's been my journey. And here I am still standing 12 years later. And with a, you know, highly successful business and doing what I love, which is helping entrepreneurs get their brave on.
Yes, incredible story, Janet. Thanks for sharing that.
Sure.
And what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Yeah, so as a business strategist and all of that, I really believe that building a business is about perceived value, and there's many facets of that, but what I usually say to people is that you must perceive your own value first before anyone else can, and I think if you come from that place, you can accomplish a lot.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice, not necessarily industry-specific?
Yeah, so I believe there is a concept I use, a system I use called VITAL PACE. Is paramount in business. And what that means in, in my terms, I use a system called Evolution of a Brave Master and the different phases that I believe there are in business, 5 phases that I've identified. And so knowing what to do, when to do it, and how to do it based on where you are in your business is what I call your vital pace. And if you aren't paying attention to that, I think we get ahead of ourselves. And sometimes we're too We're playing too small and or, you know, what have you. And I think it's really important to identify that.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Oh, you know what, my younger self, I would have said, start to take personal responsibility for how life shows up for you sooner. I would have done that sooner. Because from that place, you're empowered to make your own choices and experience life in a positive way. So that's That would have been nice. Of course.
And in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
Oh, the key, the key is choosing it. I believe happiness, love, all our emotional experience of life is our choice. And it's not outside of us. So choose it, turn it off, turn it on, whatever you desire. But don't look out, look at it from outside of you. It's all inside of you that you get to choose.
And what's the best book that you've read? And what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Man, I like books and my whole bookshelf, so I've read quite a, quite a few. However, I'm just going to pick the one that I most recently picked up, which is Brandon Burchard's High Performing Habits. And one of the key points that I loved about that book was finding your necessity. And I really believe in that, that that will be a driving force in all of the things that you do. And so that was a powerful book to read.
And what's your favorite quote and why?
I'm going to choose one of my quotes. And so I leave you with, uh, brave daily, because that's what I live by.
Yes. Thank you so much for coming on, Jenna. The last question I have for you before we let you go is, where's the best place for people to find you online?
Uh, easy is bravemasters with an S at the end dot com. And then find me at my Facebook group. For brave entrepreneur, brave entrepreneurs, and you can join in there in the conversation as well.
Perfect, Jenna. Thank you so much again for coming on. We appreciate it.
Thanks, Tyler. Thanks so much.
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