The Empowered Entrepreneur — by Zach Marañon
October 11, 2023

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Hey bud,

When I was in my early 20s, I was lost.

I didn’t really know what to do with my life.

I was just about to graduate from college (university, for my international readers) and all I knew up to that point was video games, drinking, chasing women, and hanging out with friends.

I barely had a responsible bone in my body — hence I didn’t really have any direction.

But, there was one thing I was certain of: I wanted to start making money.

Money (to me) meant freedom and availability of choices.

I wanted to start to become independent — at least financially.

But there was a problem I faced: I knew that employment wouldn’t be the answer for me, personally.

The pay of a fresh graduate wasn’t significant enough that I could just start paying for all my basic necessities — food, housing, and utilities; PLUS all my lifestyle expenses — going out with friends, drinks, and dates.

At the same time, I liked having my time freedom — which I experienced a significant amount of in college.

Based on what I wanted, I decided to try my hand in sales — life insurance sales to be specific.

Before we dive into it — you might have noticed that this email is a bit of a different format from the other Abundant Mind Letters.

I’ve decided to send another weekly email entitled The Empowered Entrepreneur on Wednesdays 5pm Philippine Standard Time (PHST).

The goal of this series is to share more of my personal stories rather than just plain ideas and lessons to you, my dear readers.

The intention is so that we can engage in more conversation about whatever resonates with you in these emails — I’d love to hear from some of you whether it’s questions, insights, or even suggestions.

So feel free to reply to these emails.

I’m also intending these to only be available to subscribed readers like you (since these are a bit more personal lol).

Some of these will be short (maybe most of them) while some will be a bit long (like this first one). I’m kind of just going with whatever I feel is right for the week.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these reads.

Let’s get into it.

The Power of A Good Mentor And Coach

I count myself as a very lucky and blessed individual. Most of my peers in their first jobs seemed to dislike their boss or at least just be okay with them.

I was fortunate enough that my first boss, Nina Añover, was (and still is) such a caring and kind soul.

More than that, she really invested her energy and attention in the dreams of the members of her team.

She helped me set goals for myself for the income that I wanted, she coached me on creating realistic action plans in the short term, and held me accountable to the things I agreed to doing for myself.

Because of her guidance and mentorship (along with my hard work and dedication), I was able to hit the income goal that I set for myself just 1 year into my sales career.

As a bonus, I became a multi-awarded financial advisor — and that was such strong evidence for my brain that I am a capable and worthy individual.

Investing in Personal Growth

After the success I experienced in my first year in sales, I started to set bigger goals for myself in the next years.

I knew that for me to hit bigger and bigger goals, I had to become an entirely different person.

I knew that I was growing into a better and better person the farther I journeyed towards my goals.

I knew that I first had to become the type of person that has those goals I wanted, before I could actually experience the achievement of those goals.

And so, I was attracted to an organization that conducted personal development workshops and seminars — I Am Plus Coaching and Training Systems.

I had the pleasure to personally meet the company founder, Russ Juson, right before I attended their level 1 course (Thank you to my co-worker Rose Callo for making that possible).

When I met Russ, and had a conversation with him, I knew he was the real deal. He did life coaching for a living and I could feel how centered he was and how his heart was in the right place to help people.

I could only describe how I felt having gone home that night as if my soul was singing. I had a deep internal knowing that I found one of the teachers / mentors / coaches that would help bring me to the life of my dreams.

And even until this day, as I’m writing this, Russ has had a massive impact on how I see the world. I am a better coach, leader, mentor, husband, and son because of him and his teachings.

To cut the long story short — in the span of 3 years, I invested over Php 200,000 (USD 3,500) attending all of their courses and programs to grow and develop myself.

Since that time my income has multiplied 3 times over in the span of 3 years.

This showed me that the investment that yields the biggest returns is an investment in your personal growth and evolution.

Even until this day, I continue to invest in coaching, programs, and courses to increase my knowledge and skill to constantly better myself.

In fact, just in 2023 alone, I’ve taken up and attended courses that (in total) cost north of Php 280,000 (USD 5,000).

Why?

Because I know that investing in growing myself will yield in unfathomable returns in the future — of course, as long as I apply what I learn.

In Conclusion

I found direction and drive because of my first boss and leader — my Tita (Auntie) Nina Añover.

She taught me how to:

• Set clear goals.

• Have accountability

• Take consistent action

• Care for others

• Shoot for the stars

I found passion and purpose because of my mentor-coach — Russ Juson.

He taught me how to:

• Take care of myself first before helping others

• Create my massive transformative purpose

• Be of service to the world

• Align myself with my highest truth

• Be of help to others through coaching

I feel so blessed to be equipped with what I know now because of my coaches and mentors.

Both of these amazing people are my Ninong and Ninang (Godparents) at my church wedding with my wife.

I feel equally blessed to have the opportunity to share what I learn for free through these letters and through the content I share on social media.

May they help you take even just one step forward to the life that you desire.

If you want to find out if receiving coaching is for you, you can read the letter I posted last Saturday here (in case you haven’t opened it yet).

All the love,
All the power,

— Zach Marañon

P.S. Whenever you are ready, there are 3 ways that I can be of help to you:

1. Follow me on Instagram here if you want a source of bite-sized ideas and content that can help you reach your next level in life.

2. Book a free kick-off conversation for one-on-one coaching here if you are an entrepreneur or sales professional currently looking to create solutions to a problem or challenge in your life but you seem to be stuck.

3. Download my goal setting guide here if you are wanting to create clarity on your desired outcomes (Free until 100 downloads — and then I convert it to a paid resource).

P.P.S. If you are from the Philippines and are looking for a personal mastery workshop to help you experience growth and transformation, check out Discovery by I Am Plus Coaching and Training Systems. It’s where my journey of self evolution personally got fast-tracked.