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Michael Baltazar | Faith It ‘Til You Make It

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Hosted by
Mike Ayala

On this episode of Investing for Freedom, Mike is joined by guest Michael Baltazar. Mike and Michael discuss taking accountability for your actions, having a practice in life, growing as people, and setting goals for yourself. Michael discusses his career path and where it’s going. Finally, Mike and Michaels speak about how everything is intertwined, how they first met, and their relationship today.

“One thing that really separates the winners from the losers is holding yourself to a higher standard when no one is looking. Not to serve others, not to look good to others, but just to be a better version of yourself, just to feel good inside.”

HIGHLIGHTS:

0:00 – Intro
0:35 – Mike and Michael discuss when they met
1:19 – Michael tells us that God and his Grandfather has had the greatest impact on his life
4:24 – Michael explains how marrying his wife/soulmate and keeping blind faith has had the greatest impact on his success
8:16 – Mike asks Michael about how he always seems to take accountability for his actions, and where this strength came from
13:35 – Michael mentions something he thinks separates the winners from the losers which is how you must hold yourself to a higher standard when no one’s looking
16:16 – Michael discusses how he likes to challenge himself to go against the easy
18:01 – Mike speaks on having a practice such as journaling or meditating and how it gets you to focus internally and aids success
21:26 – Mike asks Michael what the piece of advice he finds himself sharing the most is
27:09 – Michael speaks about how we sometimes do the victory lap before the game is even over, and we miss out on hitting our full potential
28:30 – Mike asks Michael if he thinks you can be content and not satisfied
30:59 – Michael speaks about his greatest setback being limiting himself and not completing things that he had committed to
37:01 – Mike asks Michael about any guilt he feels, why it exists, and how he has learned to work through that

FULL TRANSCRIPTION:

Mike Ayala: Thank you for joining me on The Investing for Freedom Podcast. Today I’ve got Mike Baltazar in the studio with me, actually in my kitchen.

Mike Baltazar: Boom!

Mike Ayala: Yeah, this is the first time I’ve actually recorded a podcast in the kitchen. So Mike and I actually go quite a ways back. We’ll probably get into that story a little bit, but I met Mike, Mike, when did we meet?

Mike Baltazar: Had to have been 2000. Cause that’s when I moved up to Elko Nevada. Yeah, I started going to church right away up there. And that’s where we met, hung out for four years, and then came back home to Arizona.

Mike Ayala: Yeah, that’s good stuff. So yeah, I’ve known Mike for quite a while and I’m not sure what all we’re going to get into today, but it’s quite a ride, quite a story. Yeah, it should be fun. I’m pretty excited to see where this conversation leads us and yeah, I think you’re just going to, I think you’re going to enjoy it. So Mike, thanks for being on the show.

Mike Baltazar: Hey, thanks for having me on. It’s an honor and a privilege.

Mike Ayala: Yeah. So before we get into whatever we’re going to get into we’re going to ask the questions that we always ask. So who’s at the greatest impact on your life, Mike?

Mike Baltazar: That’s a really good question. And I answer that question in so many different ways, you know, first and foremost is, I read the Bible a ton and that’s my faith. That’s my belief. That’s my beacon. And so, just those amazing words from God almighty. And it has had an amazing influence on me. And again, that’s my guiding light, and here on earth was my grandfather passed away in 1997 of cancer, young man. He was 58 at the time. And so in his, very, very short life, he was able to impart so much on me and I carry his last name to this day. And so I would say, he’s another one, but with God, it’s a faith thing, and yeah, hear and talk with him every single day, but it’s a different type of voice. And obviously, my grandfather’s in the grave and I still conversate with him as well. But again, it’s on that supernatural level. And today, one of the things I really force myself to do is surround myself with the right people to just help guide me through whatever I’m going through or help guide me in achieving whatever I need to achieve. And so I’m super protective over my circle, who I let in, the influences I let in, whether it’s music or podcasts or books, friends, family, whatever the case may be. Because I know I’ve experienced firsthand, what it’s like when you’re not protective and when the wrong influences get into your life, it can really mess things up. I think his words of wisdom are just phenomenal. And so right now I’m chewing on a lot of that. Just like most people, I think a Gary V is someone that’s highly entertaining at the same time, highly enlightening as well. So I’ve been chewing on that for a few years now. But I’m always trying to find the right influencers out there that are going to serve me on my mission, help me to better serve my tribe, better serve my family. And while I’ve been exposed to literally hundreds of amazing people not everyone’s for me. And so those are a couple of names and another big one that thankfully has come back into my world is this guy named Mike Ayala.

Mike Ayala: I appreciate that. Yeah, I really do. And that reciprocates we’ll get into this a little bit, but Mike Baltazar was probably one of the first greatest influences in my life too. So yeah, it’ll be cool. So cheers to that.

Mike Baltazar: Cheers to that.

Mike Ayala: Yeah. It’s cool to be sitting here and having this conversation. So, I don’t know where this is going to go today, but it might be a little different than any other podcast and they usually are. So I’m pretty excited about it. If you could narrow it down to one thing that has had the greatest impact on your success, what do you think that would be?

Mike Baltazar: Wow. The one thing, that’s a great question. And I know that I answered your assistant one way, but I swear every time I get asked a question like this, I answer it so many different ways. I think the one human element life element that has had the best impact on me is just that taste of failure. Really. Of course, that’s not one event. That’s something that comes around quite a bit obviously. And I love it because it helps me to perfect whatever I’m trying to perfect, or sometimes just get rid of the stuff that maybe it doesn’t even belong there. But I would say that my shining moment, the thing that really has given my life new meaning is when I married my wife and for me, that was my second marriage. And I had a lot of guilt that had been carrying for years. I never thought I was going to get married again. And when I met my soulmate, when I met that person that fulfilled me, completed me and I knew almost right away, that really helped give me added meaning to a life that I already had very meaningful because I had some amazing kids in my life. And I had some amazing achievements that I was already in the middle of and coming from and headed towards. And so once I had all my ducks in a row with the absence of that special someone, she came in unexpectedly and that was in 2009 and my life has been truly magical ever since.

Mike Ayala: That’s cool. So I may have missed the lesson in that. So I want to, and again, if I did that’s fine, but so what you talked about, the taste of failure and then some guilt and, your wife coming in. So, what’s the one thing that’s had the greatest impact on your success?

Mike Baltazar: I think it’s just having that blind faith that it’s going to turn out okay as long as I can get my heart right. You know, time and time again, we’re making mistakes here and there sometimes repeatedly. And just being able to just, do some soul searching and just knowing that, I’m the root of the problem, and I need to figure out where it’s coming from, why it’s happening. And so, for me, it was just a growing process, a learning process, unfortunately, a lot of people got hurt along the way. And I own that. And I learned from that. And at the same time though, it’s helped me to better appreciate life and opportunities and myself in second chances and being able to pay it forward to others, whether it’s by sharing my story with them or encouraging them or lifting them up or just, if they screw me over just being able to forgive them and move on and not have to carry the hate, basically with me. I think that’s one of the things that one of the gifts that God’s really blessed me with is just the ability to not sweat the small stuff and really be able to focus on the stuff that really matters.

Mike Ayala: You know, I’ve known you for a long time. And I would say that our relationship has gone to a deeper level over the last couple of years, but really more so this year. And it feels like a year or two, but I think it’s just really been the last few months that we’ve really reconnected on a much deeper level. But the one thing that I appreciate about you and that I’ve really paid attention to is I don’t really ever, and you were just alluding to this and I want to point it out. And then I have some questions that I’ll probably ask you about it later if we have some time. But I don’t really see you spending a lot of time or here you spending a lot of time blaming or projecting outward or everything. Like you just own it, man. It’s like, I did this, I screwed up there and I’m working through it. Like was that intentional? Is that something you’ve always done? How did you work through it?

Mike Baltazar: You know, that’s a great question. And I’m glad you’re able to identify, cause I think that’s something that we could totally pay forward to your tribe and what it is for me is that what started off as a coping mechanism ended up just being an amazing life hack for me. I think most people naturally just kind of just run away from the problems or try to ignore it or sweep it under the rug, not take ownership or responsibility for their actions. And I was guilty of that as well. But one of the really cool things that I just got through prayer meditation, just growth experiences, screwing up a ton is that it was so much more fulfilling and rewarding when I just took full ownership of it. And let people know that even if it was their mistake, just letting them know that, Hey, you know what? This one’s on me. I’ll take this one. I’ll take one for the team. And just being able to just have full, extreme ownership of my actions, my world, my circle, so to speak, and it made everything else just so much easier and supernaturally, just things would fall into place. And so for me, it’s like, dude, when you’re owning it and taking full responsibility for it and sincere about it, then life’s more fun. The people that don’t belong in your world are going to let themselves out. They’re not going to stick around. They’re not going to weigh you down. And so just by, the process of elimination as time goes on, the right stuff sticks, the right people stick. And for me being able to sleep at night with a clear conscience because you know what, I didn’t BS anyone. I didn’t screw anyone. I owned it if I made a mistake, they were fully aware of it. So for me, it was just a coping mechanism. So that way I didn’t feel guilty or bad or yucky. And so for me, it was a really selfish move because I didn’t want to feel that way. But then when it was being a good role model example to others of how to take extreme ownership and to lead by example and to be a good leader and mentor and coach, then it’s just like dude there it is.

Mike Ayala: Yeah. That’s so good. You know, everything you’re saying, last yesterday, it was last night. Kara was talking about, when you walk into a dark room, you don’t drive the darkness out of the room by turning on the dark. You drive the darkness out of the room by turning on the light. And what you just said reminded me of something she was talking about last night, because she said, she said that like a lot of people want to return hate with more hate, they want to drive out darkness, or they think that when something dark has happened to them, by doing something dark back to someone, it makes it right or light, for instance, and I just loved the way that she put it back into like a, just a natural like terminology. You don’t turn on the dark switch to turn on the dark or to get rid of the dark. You turn on the light switch, you bring light to it. And the perspective that you’re just giving in that is so valuable to that, because what started out as a coping mechanism, as you said turned into some bigger reality for you and I’ve watched you with this. Like, there’s just no blame. There’s no, it’s all internal with you. You’re looking at, what, you, there’s such a valuable lesson in this too. Because just bringing it back to what Kara said, there’s so much going on in the world right now. I don’t want to get into the weeds on what it all is. But there’s so much hate going on. And people think that by hating on those who are aiders like we’re going to get somewhere with this. And really what we have to do is show up with light and be a higher version of people. And just look at, what can I do about this situation? And I love everything that I’m hearing you say because to me that is your shining light, not only on your own bullshit or, you know, darkness in your world but externally as well. Because we can’t control other people. And I think we spend so much time whether it’s in business, whether it’s employees or whether it’s vendors or, you’re in the mortgage industry trying to get people to sign off on loans or like, we just spend so much time and energy trying to get to control things, trying to control things in our life. And what I heard you say is, I don’t remember exactly how you said it, but just lean into it, you know, just like the process, just let the process happen and figure it out. So love it.

Mike Baltazar: No, totally. And sharing all of that. It just reminded me of my kids, I have a four-year-old, six-year-old, ten-year-old, and someone does something, hit someone, takes a toy, the kids want to respond with, I want to hit them or make them hurt. And you’re right. I think that’s just something that we’re born with. I think, you know, cause my kids are great. They’re innocent, they got good hearts, but you know, kids, they’re humans, they have those natural tendencies. And so I think that’s the one thing that really separates, you know, the winners from the losers is, you know, how can you hold yourself to a higher standard when no one’s looking and not to serve others, not to look good to others, but just to be a better version of yourself, just to feel good inside. And again, that’s one of the things I kind of just learned by process of elimination or trial and error is that I felt better about myself when I just took that full ownership. And that’s one of the things I try to preach and teach to others is try it out, try to avoid the excuses and lean into it and just own it. It doesn’t matter if someone else did it or not just take full ownership of everything and just see the magic unfold, just see the freedom that gets released. And for me, I think it’s a lot of it’s supernatural, but if it works, you can’t knock it.

Mike Ayala: Yeah. That’s so true. And, even on the supernatural front, like we have to take the step into that realm. And I think so many times people, I think some of this is so simple that we can absorb it. One of my mentors, Barry Lipparelli who was on the episode a while back, I think you actually, do you know Barry, I think you might know him.

Mike Baltazar: I remember his real estate company. I spoke to him a few times.

Mike Ayala: So he always says this, like just it’s the simplest phrase in the world, get off you can, do what you can and can the rest and like, it’s funny. Cause I can’t tell you how many times, the little sayings that this guy has shared with me, I’ve had such a deep impact in my life. And then I tell somebody else this huge, like an impactful statement of get off you can, do what you can, can the rest. And they just kind of look at me like, Oh, what the hell is that? Like, that’s not some, philosophical 12-word sentence. It’s not, but the reality is, I think some of this is so simple. Like even what you’re talking about, quit with the excuses, like really what good does it do us to look externally and try to control other people, things in our life, just even the serenity prayer, which I don’t know exactly how it goes, but grant me the wisdom to accept the things I can’t change and whatever, however, it goes, it doesn’t really matter, but I think there’s so much wisdom in that. And that’s when the supernatural can really start happening. So I think people don’t get over into the supernatural world or realm and great things don’t start happening to them because they think it’s so complicated that they have to go up like, be a Buddhist monk in a monastery for 30 days to get spiritual. And the reality is, is when you just turn on the light switch, darkness flees, and that’s when supernatural stuff happens in your world.

Mike Baltazar: Totally. Totally. And for me, it’s a little bit like a game because I challenge myself to just go against the easy. So I was telling someone yesterday is, it’s easy to take the easy way out. It’s hard to challenge yourself or hold yourself to a higher standard, especially when no one’s looking. And so, that’s one of the things that I do as like a form of a game is, if I’m in my prayer meditation, my visualization stage in the morning, I’ll ask myself, okay, you’re going to get weak today. You can take the easy way out today, just kind of talking to myself and just like, no, I’m going to step up. I’m going to show up and I’m going to have some fun. So just watch, just watch me. And so I think, for me, it becomes fun. It becomes a game.  Because if I do have a vulnerable moment at some point in the day where I want to take the easy way out or remind myself of that conversation, I had that morning and that challenge I took that morning. And so again, it’s just one of those weird things that I do, that I try to teach and preach to others that just works. It’s fun.

Mike Ayala: I love just listening to what you’re saying, and I think a lot of people out there in the world, they hear prayer, meditation, quiet time, journaling, whatever it is that our people’s practice, like most successful people have some form of practice that evolves over time. And I think a lot of people that don’t have a practice, they look back at that and they’re like, well, what is like spending 10 minutes journaling? Or what is spending 10 minutes in prayer, meditation? Like, what does that do for me, and I almost said, what does that do to me? And actually, those are both like valid comments, but what it does for us. And I’d love to get your thoughts on this. It does exactly what you started out with. It gets us focusing internally, whether I’m journaling about my thoughts, whether I’m spending time in prayer and meditation, it shuts off the outer world. It’s no longer about everybody else in the world. It’s about dealing with my inner demons. It’s about dealing with my inner thoughts and all of that stuff. And so I love just listening. You started off by saying by you just spend a lot of time looking internally. It’s like, what did Mike have? The very first thing that you talked about, it’s just, it’s literally just looking internal. I circled it. Cause you said, it’s about looking internal and not external. And I think if we take nothing else away from today, that could be the most impactful device. It could be a device, advice that anybody could ever like absorb. If we just look internal instead of external in every situation, there’s probably the majority of the solution lies right there.

Mike Baltazar: Totally. I believe every person has the answer to their own problems inside. A lot of people will come to me, advice in one fashion or another, and all I’m doing is asking them questions so I could dig out the answers from inside of them. And that’s one of the things that I do with myself every single morning is again, like I was just saying, I challenge myself. I do the prayer meditation, the visualization, during exercise or walking or driving, just always just kind of just playing out the game. What am I doing? How does it look, how would I respond with this, that, or the other? And so for me, it’s just leading by example and the first person that I’m trying to coach mentor and lead is myself, and just stay out of my way, just be on the right path. And it’s easier said than done obviously. But if it works, you can’t knock it, but I agree with you 110% on something that you said a few minutes ago, about being that light, instead of being that darkness. Sometimes when we shine our light, it’s going to blind others and they’re not going to like it. They’re going to try to kind of dim the lights, so to speak. A Britt just did a really cool post just the other day about that. And when I do get that kind of attack for lack of a better term, when I get those types of attacks or those people trying to come at me with that, it just, for me, I respond with just trying to shine even brighter. Let’s get rid of these people, let’s get rid of these roaches, let’s just turn that light on. Let’s make them scatter. And then knowing that all the while, while I’m staying true to myself, I believe who I am, who I want to be attracting the right people that not only need you to show them, to teach them, to coach, to mentor them but then they also have something for me. And I’m not talking about money or things. I’m just talking about words of wisdom or encouragement, or just an idea, or a thought, or maybe they have a gift or a talent. That’s just going to just jive perfectly with my world or where I’m at. When that stuff unfolds and it’s happening at a really rapid pace for me in my life and my wife and our family right now, when that stuff happens, it’s amazing. It’s more than fun. I mean, it’s just static.

Mike Ayala: That’s really cool, man. That’s awesome. What is the piece of advice you find yourself sharing the most?

Mike Baltazar: Have fun, have fun, it kind of gets a little redundant because that’s one of the things that I circle back to every single time and it’s have fun. And what I tell my team members, the people that I coach and mentor, what I tell my wife and kids is just to make sure that you’re having fun at all times. And yeah, are there some things that we have to do that aren’t fun? Absolutely. But, just make it a game, challenge yourself to grow with whatever you’re dealing with, and have fun with that adversity, just put a positive twist to it, lean into it. I was talking with someone a few days ago who had suffered a loss of a parent and had to tend to it and this individual very successful, but he has a business that’s been built around him. So, because he was absent, there was a loss of income. There was a loss of relationships. The business basically was crumbling, with the two or three weeks that he was dealing with a sick parent and then eventually losing the parent and then having to plan their funeral and whatnot. And so, one of the things that I had encouraged him with is this is, let the people that are walking away from you in this time, this season, letting you down or just whatever the case may be, let them go, be kind to them on the way out, let them know they can’t come back in though. Not only that, but trust that because you put your best foot forward, you kept your head up, you kept your integrity, your heart is pure. So just believe that just know that it’s going to happen. And so I think for this individual because he’s seen me enough do it enough times, experienced extreme adversity, experienced unfairness, just things outside of my control and how, just like you said earlier, just how I just don’t let those things get down, lean into it, and just see how it does get redeemed supernaturally. And I know that’s probably like the 12th time we’ve used that on this recording, but that’s really how I operate as if it works, if it works, you can’t knock it. And for me, I’m playing this game called life and try to do the best I can with it. And knowing that as I’m playing my game, others are learning and pulling and drawing from my experiences. And I’m happy to share those. And that makes it even more fun when you have more people to play with.

Mike Ayala: Yeah. Well, it’s interesting. Just kind of listening to what you’re talking about. I’m reading a book right now by Michael Singer called the surrender experiment. And it’s so interesting because in there, Michael Singer went through this period of time where he was basically going into like deep zones of meditation and he was literally got to a point where he didn’t want to be around people. And I know that’s not what you’re saying when you’re talking about your quiet time and looking internally and all that, but he got pretty deep and pretty far out there, but one of the things that he talks about in the surrender experiment, and he goes on, I’m not even through the book yet, but it’s such an amazing story. And he was talking about, he went through, he was basically talking about the voice in our head and how it’s always just chattering. And it’s always either talking about what we don’t want or what we want. Like, it’s always, it’s never here. It’s never present. It’s always thinking about what we’re not happy with and what we don’t have, or what we’re not happy with because we want it. And it just, like he just talked about it being chatter. And one of the things that he said, I’m going to stop trying to control everything and just surrender. And so he literally went on this experiment with, to whatever’s going to happen in life, he would basically say yes to, and it’s just such an interesting process and story to see how that all evolved. I won’t go into the weeds on it. But when you talk about supernatural, and just leaning into it and letting life happen, a lot of people were like, what the hell is Mike talking about? Well, what Michael Singer was talking about in the book is if we try to control everything, then we’ll miss out on things. Life knows better than most of the time, what we could really design our lives for. But the reality is we spend so much time trying to control it and navigate it and control other people. And Michael Singer, just, his whole message is really just like, just lean into it. We’ve said that a million, that’s my word this year is lean into it. Like internal intuition, lean into my intuition. That’s like my whole theme for this year. And so I love the conversation we’re happy having because the reality is it can sound crazy, but if we don’t let life happen and we try to control everything, we’re actually going to miss out on a lot of amazing things that we would never get to see, and I can look backward. And I can honestly say that some of my biggest successes in life, business, family, relationships, opportunities, I could have never planned it out like this. Because my brain is not able to think big enough for what’s actually could happen to me if I just lean into it. The world actually wants amazing things for us.

Mike Baltazar: Absolutely. And I think, sometimes no matter how successful you are, we sometimes do the victory lap before the game’s over. And we miss out, sometimes we miss out to the point to where we don’t hit the finish line. We don’t hit our potential. We don’t unlock that next level of amazingness because we were satisfied with enough. And it’s okay to be satisfied. I’m not saying no, I’m not saying, earn a billion dollars and still want more. I’m not saying that. All I’m saying is that if you have more to offer if you have more to do and accomplish, and if you’re having fun doing it, then don’t stop. Don’t stop. You know, whether it’s paying you a dollar or $10 million, it doesn’t really matter. Just do what you love. And if it’s serving others as well, then call it charity, call it whatever you want. And so I agree with you wholeheartedly that don’t let up, lean into it, figure out what’s more. If I press through a little bit more, what’s that going to unlock? What’s that going to do? But of course, if you’re hating it, then don’t do it, stop it yesterday. But if it’s serving you, serving your tribe, you having a good time, go for it.

Mike Ayala: I have a question for you. And some people would say this is semantics, but do you think you can be content and not satisfied?

Mike Baltazar: That’s good. That’s good.

Mike Ayala: Cause you said, and I’ll let you think on that for a second. And then answer.  You said, I don’t remember exactly how you said it, but you said not being satisfied, and you kind of backpedaled a little bit there, like saying that you’re not saying that you got to have a billion dollars or whatever, but I’ve been pondering this lately and I’m interested to hear your thoughts on it. Like, can I be content like fully content yet not be satisfied with where I’m at?

Mike Baltazar: I think it’s the other way around. I think you can be satisfied and not content, and you’re a hundred percent right on how you preface this whole thing. It’s all semantics. And the way I see it is, it’s okay to be comfortable. It’s okay to be happy. But at what cost? Are you robbing society of your gifts and talents, because now you want to camp out in complacency? You have these gifts, you have these talents, you have these things on your heart to do and say, are you going to fulfill your commitment to your tribe, to your family, to those that need what you have to offer? I think at that point in time, it’s almost a sinful approach to one’s existence if you’re not going to finish the race, finish what you started. And I think at those times of “contentment or satisfaction,” I think then, you have to be held accountable for that. But I believe that it’s okay to be happy and to be able to celebrate where you’re at, where you’re headed, where you’re going to have that sense of satisfaction. But I think that the contentment, I think that’s something that can be a little misleading. Semantics.

Mike Ayala: I skipped a question. What was your greatest setback and what did you learn from it?

Mike Baltazar: My greatest setback. I think you got these questions out of line on purpose because this really ties into what I was just trying to convey a moment ago. One of the things, we’re always speaking from just a few moments ago is how we don’t finish what we start and that we truly owe something to society, to our tribes, to our families, and to finish what we start and to really pay it forward because you truly owe it, because you’ve taken something and now you need to grow it and pay it back, tenfold, so to speak. So I think one of my major drawbacks, one of my issues, probably one of my biggest failures that I’ve had time and time and time again, and something that I really bring up on a daily basis to me to hold me accountable, to having a better standard for myself is that I limit, I stop when I’m just getting going. I allow myself to get distracted and not follow through on something that I had committed to myself, or, maybe even not audibly, maybe subconsciously, but something that I had committed to my tribe, to my family, to my employees, to my coworkers, to my clients, whatever the case may be. I had a purpose something to my heart and I dropped the ball. I let it go. And so for me, those are major setbacks because we don’t know what could have come up with those relationships. What could have happened for that person, what could happen for myself, whatever the case may be. So I think just not finishing something I started, I think that’s one of the things that’s my major drawback. But I hold myself accountable to that. I own that. And I’ve learned from that. And I think that’s one of my driving forces today is just knowing, having that on my resume. You gave up on that, you stopped on that, yeah, you thought about that and you didn’t act on that. And so for me again, within the game of life, it’s just one of the things where it’s like you know what? I am not going to go down that road again. I know where it leads. And so let’s stay on the high road. It’s a hard road, but it’s going to be the one that’s going to be the most rewarding.

Mike Ayala: Nice. Just a little clarifying question. Is this in all areas, like is it things you start in business? Is it family? Is this just something like, you’re not a good finisher?

Mike Baltazar: Here’s the thing is, I’m a great finisher if I let myself. One of the things that I take extremely seriously is, being the best husband and father I possibly could be. And so for me, it’s like, that’s a non-negotiable, you’re going to finish that race. You’re going to lay it all out in the field. You’re going to deliver on that. And then when it comes to business, I aspire to just have every client just a raving fan. And every client just thinking that they’re my only client and to have my employees see how I run myself, how I hold myself, how I run my business, how the standard I hold our business to. And in that way, when I decided to take two, three weeks off, I don’t worry about it because they already know how it goes, the standard that we hold ourselves to. And if they decide to venture off on their own, that I showed them the way on how to do it the right way. So, for me, I think I am finishing on the things that are serving me, serving my tribe, serving my family, serving, and not taking, because I think there’s a lot of things that we invest our time, energy, and money in that don’t deserve it. And so I’m happy to not finish those types of endeavors.

Mike Ayala: I like it. So you had mentioned earlier, I think it was the question you were talking about dealing with the deep guilt. Give us some, I mean, give us some context there. Cause I mean, we all obviously deal with guilt. Some people probably more than others, so I don’t know, I mean, are you like an ax murderer and you just have more guilt than other people or what, like, give me some, because that’s obviously something that has really like shaped you is the way you deal. Like you learn to deal with deep guilt. And so I want to make sure that, I don’t wax over that because obviously, you’ve learned to overcome deep guilt. And so for, I’ve never really dealt with a lot of deep guilt. I had a shitty childhood, but I just always kind of kept my head above water and I’ve been working with a coach lately that it’s been so amazing because I thought we were going to un-mine and unearth like just all this, things that I hadn’t dealt with and everything. The only guilt a lot of people would have these stories that they felt guilty and they thought it was their fault that their parents got a divorce, or they thought it was their fault. I never experienced any of that. I just like, I don’t deal with a lot of guilt. And so I’m really curious number one, if you think that that’s something that it’s just different personality types, or if you just deal with things differently and then what’s the outcome. Like, how do you, cause that this is what you said, you said that learning to deal with that deep guilt brought you to really be in present and I think brought you to what your superpower is looking internally. And so I want to kind of unpackage that. Number one, what is the deep guilt? Why does it exist? And then number two, how did you learn to work through that process?

Mike Baltazar: That’s a great question and a super deep question. And I’m happy to answer that. I think that’s something that we could definitely pay forward to others. And I think there’s something that can add a lot of value to your tribe and I think it’s great when people can learn from others. And so, happy to answer that question. For me, the guilt comes in a lot of different ways, a lot of different fashions. We’ll just kind of go chronologically, when I was in my new career right out of college, I was already married with two kids. And so I did what I was shown to do, and that’s, go out and provide for the family, do the most with what you have. So I went off and became a workaholic and we added more kids to the mix and all the while I was not very visible, very present. And basically, I was just a weekend dad, I was not very involved throughout the week. And so, I just saved it for the weekend. And for me, I thought that was okay, cause that’s what I was shown growing up. And one of the things that, unfortunately, reared its ugly head is that, when faced with adversity, I didn’t know how to handle it. And our foundation was not very strong. And so the years, the time, the hours that I had invested into my career, even though it was financially rewarding, I hadn’t used that same time and energy, that same purpose intention to keep my family strong. And so being a workaholic while I thought it was serving my family, it was actually adding some poison to the overall chemistry of it. And then unfortunately in 2003, just had an extreme lapse of judgment and crossed the line and cheated on my wife and I totally messed up. That’s something that I was not taught. I was shown better. I knew better. That wasn’t part of my belief system. That was something that I was anti. But just with all of the poison that I had allowed into my world, not only being a workaholic and not being visible and present to my family, but also drinking a little too much and not really having the right level of integrity on the people I was hanging out with. And so I think it was just a cocktail for that night to happen and it did. And so I kind of lived with the guilt and as a matter of fact, as weird as it sounds, I didn’t even admit what I did to my ex-wife until after we were already divorced for probably about a year, maybe a year and a half. And one day we’re just hanging out talking and she asked me, she goes why did you do it? And I shared it with her. And she had already heard through the great vines. So she kind of already knew and she thought, kind of thought that’s what it was. And for me, that was an extreme healing moment. Cause she forgave me. Of course, this is years after the fact, but it happened then, for me I didn’t want to ever be put in that situation again. That’s the kind of like I said, at the beginning of our conversation today, didn’t want to get married again. You know what I mean? And so until I met my wife and it’s just been pure magic, but you fast forward to that moment, 2009, where I met my wife. And at that time we are just friends. I told her every bad thing I’d ever done in my lifetime, every bad experience I ever had, every lapse of judgment I had, quite honestly, I was trying to scare her away, that way I didn’t have to finish the mission. But she loved me, accepted me for who I was, and it just gave us a deeper relationship, deeper intimacy. And then when she gave me the privilege of marrying her, I wanted to take care of that. And even though it hasn’t always been easy being married to her, it’s something that I work super hard at, something that I want to do. Something that I’ve honestly used my past mistakes, my past guilt, guilt that I’ve since let go and forgive myself for, but still, it just, it’s my driving force to just have that extreme accountability each and every day at every moment. And it serves me. And when I shared this story with others, it serves them and it’s kind of crazy how much adultery exists in our world. It’s been there since the beginning of time. You can just go into the Bible and it’s all throughout the Bible as well. So this isn’t something new, but how much people struggle with this and how often it holds them back from realizing even a fraction of who they’re supposed to be. It’s really crippling.  And so being able to just share my story with them and encourage them, it’s something where I, even though I regretted ever happening, wish it didn’t, it’s been able to really help a lot of people as well. So, how did I handle it? I just owned it. And thankfully, was forgiven for what I had done.

Mike Ayala: And that clears up a lot for me in just tying your message back together. So I appreciate you being vulnerable. Because I think that really solidifies everything that I heard today. When you were talking about the deep guilt that caused you to go on to be a better person, the way that you dealt with that was by just confronting it head-on. And obviously, that didn’t happen immediately, but you deal with it head-on and took responsibility for it, which I think is your superpower. Now, as I’ve gotten to know you and this is everything that we talked about earlier like you just look at the world through the lens of what did Mike, what responsibility does Mike have in this? And so literally you took that guilt and you turned it into probably, one of the things that I really truly admire about you. You’re not projecting everything out into the world. I’ve never once heard you say, this piece of shit or this happened because that person did X to me. And so that really comes full circle for me. And it’s super-valuable pulling that lesson together because you were never saying that you were perfect. It was an evolutionary process. And now it makes a lot of sense to me. One of the things that I was thinking as you were saying this, and I’d love to get your thoughts on this. Just being a person who spends so much time looking introspect, I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. It was probably in the early two that I first thought about it, but this came up several times over the last couple of weeks again. There’s a scripture in the Bible. It it’s in the Old Testament and the New Testament, but love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. And when I look at everything that’s going on in the world, and then just bringing this conversation back to what you’re saying about looking internally and guilt and the struggle, I think what’s happening. Number one, we’re disconnected from God, whatever God is to you. I mean, just having a connection. I get so sad when I hear somebody say they have no faith in anything, I’m like, how do you get through life? Because I have to have, like, I’m so thankful that I have faith in something greater than myself because that’s just really sad. But anyway, I’m going to set that aside. Don’t really want to go down that rabbit hole right now in this conversation, but love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and love your neighbor. This is what I want to key in on love your neighbor as yourself. I think that the reason why there’s so much hate in the world today and why we don’t love our neighbor is because we have no love for ourselves. Like, and there’s a circular thing there. And a lot of people would come and say that really, it’s about treating other people better and loving other people and whatever. But if you don’t have a relationship with God and you don’t truly love yourself and have a pure understanding of who you are and what you want out of life and have a love for yourself, and this might sound selfish initially coming out, but I can’t fully love you if I don’t love myself first. And that’s what I see about with a man sitting across from me and when you’re talking about guilt and then going through that process. And so for the people listening, if you’ve got guilt out there or you’re not happy with who you are or whatever, look at what Mike’s done, like look at that process and working through it. And I think that’s really what’s wrong in the world today is that we have, the world does a good job of kicking our ass. We don’t need to kick our own ass. And I think most people just, we beat ourselves up.

Mike Baltazar: Yeah, no, I think that’s well put for sure. And I think that’s something that you could put on replay on a daily basis just to kind of just let that really sink in because you’re a hundred percent right. You really can’t know love and serve others if you don’t know yourself if you can’t serve yourself. And if you can’t love yourself, it’s just like I was telling someone last night you need to serve your number one fan first. And he’s like, well, who’s my number one fan? I’m like the guy in the mirror. I said, cause if you’re not going to be your own fan, I can’t be your fan. If you’re not going to follow yourself, why should I follow you? And so I think that’s the standard that we should really hold ourselves to. And quite honestly, some of the Mike talk that I’ve had with myself over the years and trying to overcome the guilt, the mistakes, the issues is just to say are you going to stay in my way because I don’t want to stay here. I want to move from this spot.  How do I move forward? And, and that’s just keeping it real with me, keeping it real with others. No one likes to be lied to. So don’t lie. Don’t pretend you’re something that you’re not. And just being able to just take extreme accountability for everything that you are, everything that you’re doing, and the only way to grow and move forward from the mistakes is to just be a hundred percent transparent, authentic with others, especially those that you care the most about and want to keep in your circle for whatever reason is just to stay true, stay transparent, because the stuff that’s inside that you don’t want people to see that helps you to identify like, oh, if I’m not wanting anyone to see that, I probably should work on that. I didn’t know that until I started hanging out with Mike Ayala. So, you know what? I should probably work on that. Cause that’s an issue, maybe that wasn’t my blind spot now I see it. So, just work on that. And so it’s just about extreme accountability and wanting to just serve others better, be a better person and have more fun with this life that we have for sure. And as far as the faith thing and the God thing, I get it. There’s a lot of people, I believe a lot of different things and I respect all of the above. I really do.  I have friends that believe in different things and they’re beautiful people inside and out and I’m so glad that they’re in my world, in my circle and they respect my beliefs as well. And we learned so much from each other. We add so much value to each other’s world. So, again, you can’t knock it if it works. So hopefully they’re there for a long, long time. But as far as for those that don’t have something that they believe in, even if they’re great people on the outside, I protect myself and I protect my tribe and my family from people like that. Not because they’re bad people again on the outside they’re amazing. But I question what’s on the inside because just kind of like, what’s your beacon? What’s your light? What are you aspiring towards? Where’s your accountability? What are you working towards? And so for me, there’s no way to answer that question, honestly. So for me, I just want to just protect myself and others from that type of influence, so to speak. I’ll have a beer with them, I’ll have a drink, I’ll have dinner with them, we’ll talk business, whatever strategy, whatever, but at the same time, it’s kind of like you got to keep a watchful eye. It’s the same thing where if you have a pedophile out there that is rehabbed and gave his life to God and just doing a lot of great intimate things, I’ll have a beer with him. I’ll have a meal with him, but I’m not going to have him watch my kids. You know what I mean? So it’s just,  if you’re not all in with somebody or if you have some apprehensions towards somebody or something, do they belong in your circle, in your world? So for me, it’s an easy answer. No, I don’t have very much space. So I want to make sure that I’m protective and mindful of that space.

Mike Ayala: So Mike, you’ve got a lot of stuff going on, a lot of positive things you’ve alluded to it a couple of times through the show. But I want to make sure that I give you the opportunity to share whatever it is that you want to share. It’s been a great conversation. You guys just recently moved, like you’ve been a mortgage guy, like a success, you’ve been in the mortgage industry since I met you. And I remember when I first met you and you were killing it then and you’re killing it now. You’re really good at what you do, but obviously, you haven’t even said what you do. And so that’s not even like a big part of what you identify with, which I’m super impressed by. So yeah, you got a lot of stuff going on. What do you want the audience to know?

Mike Baltazar: Well, you know, I really don’t talk about myself all that much.

Mike Ayala: He’s going to start more by the way, because he’s got a lot to share and if we don’t share it, who’s going to.

Mike Baltazar: Amen to that. No, the mortgage industry has been an amazing blessing to me and my family. And as strange as it sounds it’s something that I love too much. I mean, really, I just into the industry in 1997 and thought I was just going to do it until I got an MBA. And take some, fortune 500 high-level executive job and work up the corporate ladder. That was my goal. That’s what I was shooting for. And after receiving my MBA in 2001, was making the most money I’d ever made. It was easy, it was fun. And I said you know what? I can’t leave right now. I was still in my mid-twenties. And so I’m like, you know what, I’m going to ride this wave until it crashes. And there was no crashing, even after my divorce in 2004, and I moved back to Arizona and I was starting brand new and a whole different marketplace, just hit the ground running. It came easy and it was fun. It never felt like work. And I always thought that okay, I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing. Cause I enjoy it. It doesn’t feel like work. I’m going to keep on doing this until it kicked me out of the industry. Then the market crashed in 2008 and I was kind of happy about it, because I felt that I could go out and get a real job. And so I thought, once I was starting to apply for jobs and look for a job and even if it was an entry-level position, I was okay to start at the bottom. We were in a recession at that time and no one was hiring. And so I couldn’t get a “real job.” And so by default just was scraping with a barrel in the mortgage industry, just like every other mortgage professional at that time. And thankfully in 2009, we had a breadth of life that was breathed into the industry. And the rest is history, we continued on and you fast forward to today and still loving what I do, how I do it. One of the things I’ve had been challenging myself to since 2015 is to take Michael Gerber’s book, The E-Myth, take that to heart, put that into practice and to build a tunnel key operation with Mike. And so that’s something that I’ve been working on and working with over the years and slowly but surely perfecting that I was able to take 18 months off and live on the road and away from the office with a family. So that’s a story for another day, but it worked, yeah, it had some kinks, it had some things that needed to be worked out. But it was a great experience. And for me, as you know I’m getting ready to launch into the next phase of my young life. I still feel young. I want to stay in the industry as long as they’ll have me, but I do want to start to explore some of the things that God’s put on my heart for a very long time, since I was 17 years old. And that’s to be a motivational speaker to get out there and coach mentor, teach and preach and just publicly speak to others and just impart everything that’s been imparted to me over the years. And just everything that we’ve talked about up to this point, just being able to just have fun doing that while serving others and just stepping into the stuff that maybe doesn’t make sense, but it’s perfect timing. And I think this year so far, 2021 has been a huge testament to that. And my wife and I, and our kids are having an amazing time on this crazy-ass adventure that we’re on right now.  And it’s super cool. The other thing that I would like to say to your tribe because many of them may not know you the way I know you, and I think it’s super important to know who we’re investing our time and energy in. For the people out there that are like me that are super stingy with their circle, their time and energy. What I would say to them is, I’ve known you for over 20 years now. I knew you before you became extremely successful. I know success is a relative term, but it was probably, I don’t know, maybe 10,11 years ago might have been longer actually, where I, even though we didn’t keep in touch because I moved away, every now and then I would hear through the great vine of what you’re up to and what you’re doing. And I was your number one cheerleader from afar. Just like, dude, go for it, man. Just do it. And you’re just doing everything that you set out to do. And then some, and then I heard you’re starting to venture off into some other things that wasn’t part of the business plan that we wrote that day. And I’m like oh dang, this guy’s freestyling now. And then just seeing you just hit all these astronomical Heights from my perspective, I’m like fucking A, this guy passed me. And so what was super cool was just being able to follow your rise and then to be able to reconnect, I believe was in 2017, maybe 2016 where we reconnected and we kind of just recalibrated like, Hey, what’s going on and re-meet Mike and Kara Ayala and your kids. And the one thing I want your tribe to know is that you were an amazing person back in the day. Had a heart of gold. And I have stories for days of hard concrete examples of that, just a selfless individual. That’s just always a servant and loving on others with actions indeed that is just phenomenal. But to fast forward 20 years, and you still have that same heart, you would never guess in a million years that the success didn’t change you. That’s fucking amazing. That’s rare. That’s a gift that you’ve earned. And that’s something that for me, is something that I want to hold myself to is to maintain your integrity, to maintain who you are, don’t let success change you. So that’s phenomenal. And so when I had the opportunity to essentially tap into who you are and what you are and what your platform is for others, I jumped right online. Like I want to buy into this. I want to invest in this. And what’s funny, and this is something I was thinking about on my drive up today is that what I’ve invested monetary-wise into your mentorship for me is more than what I paid for my college education. And I can honestly say with a hundred percent honesty is that what I’ve been able to extract from you is way more than what my college education is serving me today. I mean, the shit that you’re putting out there is not next level. It’s like next, next-level stuff that people probably is going over their head and it’s not resonating, and that’s a shame, but I think for the right people, it’s just, this is exactly what I need hear, even though it makes no sense. And it’s foreign to me. And what I want to encourage your tribe with is just to just faith it until you make it, just believe that you’re not just out there blowing smoke and just throwing stuff out there that isn’t applicable. Just take it, run with it, apply it like it’s just proven by science, and watch the magic unfold. And so for me, if you were ever to, for me, I feel like I’m getting the better end of the deal. What I’ve been, what I’m investing into your mentorship is I’m getting the better end of the deal. And even if you doubled your price, I’d still pay it because I’m extracting so much value out of it. And you’re throwing a lot of stuff out there honestly, that for me is I can’t fathom, comprehend. So I just faith it, apply it, and then just run with it too, because I know that it’s going to serve me, it’s going to serve my tribe, it’s going to serve my family. So I’m super thankful that you’re doing what you’re doing, how you’re doing it, that you’re making yourself available to people, but especially to me, to Brit, to my tribe because we’re definitely rising a lot faster than what we have been in the last five-plus years. And it’s awesome. And you did not pay me to say that I swear on God’s good names.

Mike Ayala: I sure didn’t. Yeah, I appreciate every bit of that. And I know it’s heartfelt and yeah, thank you. And I can’t thank you enough for our relationship and Mike alluded to this a couple of times, but and you guys have heard my story about starting my business in 2004, which I sold in 2014. And I’ll never forget going to Mike. And we were sitting at dos Amigos, which was this little Mexican restaurant in Elko, Nevada. And Mike was the wisest, most knowledgeable guy that I had in my life and just such a good, genuine person. I came to you with this little, I’ll never forget you telling me too, this is your baby. And we’re like having this conversation and Mike helped me cause, I’m a plumber, right. I didn’t even, so Mike helped me write a business plan and that’s what you were talking about, about the business plan that we wrote together. And this is the great thing we were talking about, the circles in life before we started recording. And just getting back to the supernatural and leading into it and letting life happen like we couldn’t have imagined that 20 years later we were going to be sitting here having this conversation connected. And so I just want to kind of leave it there. Thank you for helping me write the business plan and get me inspired and get me going. And, Kara, my wife talks about this a lot. Even if you don’t want to show up, even if you don’t want to share your message you got to quit being selfish because just like Mike if Mike hadn’t shown up 20 years ago and hadn’t helped me write the business plan and encouraged me, I was scared shitless then. I had no clue about running a business. And so if Mike hadn’t shown up then, everything that I’ve built on and a lot of people might say, well, somebody else, no, that’s bullshit. Like we have to show up because our lives are intertwined.

Mike Baltazar: It really is.

Mike Ayala: Yeah. And so, if you’re ever on the fence out there, like just show up, cause look at Mike showing up, helped me succeed and go where I needed to go. And it brought our paths full circle again.

Mike Baltazar: No, a cliche, talking about paying it forward, pay it forward, pay it forward. And what’s funny is, even though I paid it forward that day in 2003, 2004, whenever we had that business planning meeting because of your rise and where you’re at, and then just passing me up along the way when we reconnected, I’m like, dude, I need to latch on. And like I said, just what we’ve been able to achieve together over the last however long it’s been,  it’s catapulted what we were doing. So for me, I paid it forward to me, it took, I don’t know, 15 plus years to start seeing the return on that. Not that I would be expecting one. But that’s pretty badass when you can pay it forward to yourself, you know? So where I helped you become this bad-ass, now you’re helping me to level up and go to new levels myself. And so for me, that’s cool. That’s super cool. And that’s like, you couldn’t have written a movie script that was believable that’s cooler than that.

Mike Ayala: Yeah. So good man. Well, I think we could probably record a hundred of these episodes, but we better probably better cut it off. It’s a pretty good place to do it. So where can people find you, Mike?

Mike Baltazar: I think I love having conversations, so, let’s start a conversation, old school via email. My email address is mike@mikebaltazar.com. Shoot me an email. Tell me what’s up, tell me what’s on your mind. What’s on your heart. And yeah, we’ll just kind of just go from there. But I’m stepping out in a lot of different things that I’m making room for in my life and my wife’s right there with me, doing this, building this together. So, you should be able to expect to see a lot more coming your way from the Baltazar tribe.

Mike Ayala: And yeah, Mike, the cheque is in the mail for all the nice things you said about me, buddy.

Mike Baltazar: No, thanks for the coffee, bro. That was plenty.

Mike Ayala: Thanks for coming on the show.

Mike Baltazar: Hey, thanks for having me, man.

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Episode 120