17 | Do It Scared: From Musician & Costa Rica to Data Analyst & France | Federico Urena
Tags: career, podcast, news, motivation
Published: 2023-03-29 18:15:00

{% embed https://youtu.be/hsB6T2Ea9vs %}

**About**
Get ready to be inspired by Federico Urena's fearless pursuit of his dreams! From a musician in Costa Rica to a data analyst in France, Federico shares his story of transformation and how he did it scared. Don't miss this chance to hear how he faced his fears and made the leap to a new career and life.

Federico Urena: [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/fedeurena/)

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Alternate Titles For The Algorithm:
From Musician to Data Analyst: Federico Urena's Fearless Journey
How Federico Urena Overcame Fear to Pursue a New Career in France
Changing Your Life: One Man's Story of Courage and Transformation
A Tale of Two Careers: Federico Urena's Transition to Data Analytics
The Power of Resilience: Federico Urena's Journey to Success
Chasing Your Dreams: Federico Urena's Inspiring Story
Doing it Scared: Federico Urena's Path to a New Life
The Courage to Change: Federico Urena's Bold Career Move
Embracing the Unknown: Federico Urena's Journey to Self-Discovery
Music to Data: Federico Urena's Incredible Transformation

**Show Notes**
0:01  
Hey y'all, this is your host Elyse Robinson. With nobody wants to work though podcasts I hope the stories were inspire you to switch careers. I was an auditor in my past life and I'm in tech, then let's get to it

0:19  
we are switch into tech tech resources to accelerate your career in information technology, monthly classes on tech topics. We offer free or discounted exam vouchers, scholarships for you to me courses, free events, free boot camps and more. You can find us at www dot switch into tech.org. Quite honestly

0:46  
recorded Oh, well. That's

0:49  
odd. gotta hear it. Hey, your feedback. Is that near you?

0:59  
Yes. I don't hear anything.

1:01  
You don't hear anything. Okay.

1:04  
I hear hear your voice. But I don't hear feedback.

1:07  
Okay, because I hear myself on your in in the background. Okay. I don't hear it anymore. Okay, maybe it fixed this though. All right. I'll just cut this part out. But hey, this is Robinson with nobody wants to work though podcast today. I have with me Federico. And he is our first international guests. Tell us where you are, from where you live. And you know where you started and where you went to?

1:36  
Yes. Well, thank you very much for having me. First of all, it's it's really cool to be here. I didn't know I was the first international one. So that's, that's very cool. I'm originally from Costa Rica, in Central America, where I started a career as a musician. I was a touring musician. I was a music teacher. And that was kind of like my first, my first go around in the professional world. And three and a half years ago, I moved to France, where I now am a market research analyst. And I work for a company that does. Yeah, market marketing, marketing research on social media, mainly for luxury and beauty brands like L'Oreal, Armani, and things like that. So, Morgan, I'm a Marketing Research Analyst now. Gotcha.

2:32  
I will say the D spoke speak three languages. Do you speak English? French and Spanish?

2:38  
And Spanish? Yes. Yes. That's right.

2:41  
Which one was the hardest to learn?

2:44  
Which was a Hartwell Spanish. I learned when I was growing up. So that was the net that came naturally. I think the hardest was definitely French. Because I learned I first learned French when I was around 18, more or less. English I learned in like in primary school, so I was I was young too, so it's easier to absorb it. French. Yeah, I was older and French is hard. Not just French is sometimes it's complicated. Yeah. Yeah.

3:14  
I was shocked and amazed because, I mean, French is is kind of like Spanish where you have you know, femenino and mescaline. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, English doesn't have that. So I'm actually shocked. But you didn't learn English when you were a child, though? So that's probably

3:29  
That's correct. Yeah, and also French, phonetically, you know, the sounds that you have to produce when he French. Like, they're hard. There's so many different sounds and like, like small, small differences that make a small difference in sound that make huge differences in meaning. And so it's hard.

3:50  
Gotcha. And I meant feminine and masculine. I'm using my Spanish. Right, yeah, just branch, um, seventh and eighth grade. I think that's when I took French but of course, I never used it. So for some reason, it comes up a lot when I speak Spanish Sometimes, though, and I'll be like, that's not even the right word. It'd be like, the best French that's why. So it's cool. But yeah, I mean, I'm shocked that that French was, was very hard for you, though. It is, it is. Um, let's see, what was the catalyst that made you change from being a musician to a market research analyst?

4:35  
Yeah, I think Well, at first, I didn't fully like that's who I am now. But at the time, I didn't know that's what I would end up being at the time. I just wanted to switch from music to business, you know. So I wasn't sure what, like what road I would go down in the business world. But the reasons answer your question, the reason that I were What sparked my desire to switch was I started feeling in music, that I was not adding enough value to other people's lives, you know, I kind of felt a little bit selfish, because I was playing a lot of guitar, like a lot of hours every day in my room practicing and learning songs. And yeah, we had, like, I had concerts and stuff like that, and I was a teacher, but I don't know, I just had the feeling that I could do more for, for people. And that sounds like very, maybe very abstract or whatever. But it kind of felt selfish, you know, I was, I was spending a lot of time just playing for myself kinda, and then feet a little time playing for other people. But I felt like there was more that I could do in the world. I didn't really know what it was exactly. But I thought that business was a good way to start. And also my you know, I come kind of like from a business family. So my dad has been in business for like, 45 years, something like that. So, you know, business was somewhere in the background there all along. And but yeah, what sparked my interest in fishing was was the fact that I was feeling selfish, maybe limit.

6:20  
So what type of musician were you when you said, you played a guitar Did you sing or just guitar, you play any other instruments?

6:27  
I studied. I have a bachelor's degree in classical guitar. But after I finished my studies, I kind of branched out into other stuff, I did a little bit of jazz. I did a little bit of singing. I'm not a very good singer, but I gave it a try. I got into production a little bit. So I worked in a couple of production studios. And a little bit of songwriting as well. But mainly guitar, I got into electric bass eventually, later on, but, but that was, you know, I kind of tried several different avenues, I guess.

7:05  
Gotcha. So digging deeper into selfish. How is market research not selfish to you, in comparison to being a musician?

7:15  
Yeah. That like, originally, I had the idea that if, and this is not true for everybody, of course, it's just how I felt at that time. I had kind of the idea that, you know, having picking up business skills would allow me to be more useful, even if I stick like, even if I if I had stayed in music, just having, you know, marketing skills and having financial, liberal financial skills and strategic, the strategic side of business business, which is something that I do a lot today, that would give me like a wider spectrum of action, I guess, in which I get be able to get more things done not just for myself, but also for other people, like whoever I worked for. So that was the idea. And the other thing that I forgot to say before is that one of the other things that also sparked my interest was kind of something that happened, by chance, I guess. But I was a music teacher and I had a few friends that founded a music label, and they wanted to produce music, and they invited me to be a part of that. And I came into that experience with the expectation of, you know, musical side, you know, making music and recording. But what they needed actually was somebody who took care of the business side, you know, finance and make deals with artists and stuff like that. So I took that opportunity, and I, I ended up finding out that I liked it. And so it was more both things, the selfish side and also just seizing an opportunity, seizing an opportunity that that came up just without me. Planning for it, I use

9:16  
Do you still practice your music? Or you just left it alone?

9:20  
No, I play I play sometimes. Whenever I have time, whenever I have the chance. I actually it's funny. I met a group of people from Costa Rica here in France who are musicians. So every now and then we team up to play we play reggae music every now and then. So I think we have a concert coming up sometime that we do that, you know, maybe a couple of times a year. That's it.

9:45  
Gotcha. Um, all these things come at a cost. What did it cost you? And you know, did you have support from your friends and family? They think you were crazy insane.

9:56  
Oh, yeah, for sure. People were my friends were like because it's uh, you know, when you think about it, to me now it's it's, it comes natural. But when you think about switching from classical guitar to marketing research, that's seems like a huge leap, you know? So yeah, it kind of was weird for some people and I still had the support of my family and my friends, like nobody, like nobody was was weird about it. But it did kind of come off as something that not everybody does, I guess. And what it caused me was, well, first of all, I decided to go back to school. Because I realized when I was at the, at this music production project that I told you about, I realized that I really didn't know what I was doing. So I decided that, you know, I needed to, if I was going to go down that road, I needed to level up my skills and go back to school. So that was a huge cost, not just, I mean, not financially, so much as you know, time and attention and an effort in starting from the bottom. And I was like, I think it was 32. Back then. I had 20 year old classmates who, you know, so that, yeah, that was like a cost. That was, it was hard to go back to school and start over, having already finished a different career and, and feeling kinda lost, because I didn't really know how business worked back then. So that was that was, it took a little bit of convincing myself, I think, to be able to say, Okay, I'm gonna go back to school, I'm gonna start everything from scratch. And that was hard. And, and part of the cost also is now that when I started when I when I eventually started working, also, this idea of starting from the bottom is something that is, doesn't come naturally to you, when you're, I guess, in your third shift, you know, going back and taking all these jobs and doing all these tasks that people don't want to do. And, you know, you're the new guy, and you're learning, so you need to be flexible. And that was also kind of hard.

12:24  
Definitely, definitely, I totally understand. Because as I told you, you know, my mother passed, I was, I had just turned 30, a couple of days before she passed, and, you know, it was life changing, of course, and, you know, I'm like, I have to start over because I quit my whole life to you know, help take care of her and my family. And it's like, okay, where do I go from here? You know, because people think that your life ends at like, what 27 You're supposed to be established, and all this other kind of stuff, you know, starting a family. And it's like, okay, well, it might be Hind, you know, what's really going on. And I will say, I'm gonna say her name her name, because I mean, she has a, she has a unique name, but she put this bug in me. And I don't know if she'll ever see this or whatever. But her name is September browning. And she, she taught me well, in audit, for my, one of my audit positions, and we didn't leave on good terms, but, you know, keep bugging me about the golden handcuffs. And she was saying that, you know, make sure this is something that she wants to do before, you know, you start making all this good money. And you can't leave. And so I was like, Well, you know, I'm in my 20s I want to I want to see the world, you know, and that's, that's pretty much what I did. And, you know, that blood was already in me, but my mother was was the more some of the catalyst for me to because at that point I had, I really had nothing holding me back. Okay, but, ya know, I totally understand where you're coming from, because it's like, okay, that bug is there on you know, am I Am I successful and my goal in the right path? Should I start over what I do? And that's one of the reasons why I started this podcast so people can see that it's okay to, I don't wanna say, bottom, but, you know, I say take the skills that you already have and put them somewhere else. Yeah.

14:37  
And that that is so important that I what you just said, like, Yeah, you don't you I said, I started from the bottom, you don't really start from the bottom because you need to leverage the things that you that, you know, maybe not the technical aspects of the craft. But you know, just the fact that you are 12 years older than your classmates or your work, colleagues and, you know, just you have to find ways of making, making it positive, not negative, you know, there's so many stuff that we learned about life and we mature and we, we go through things that maybe other people, because just because they're younger, and they haven't had the chance to go to those things, but like you just said, you need to leverage those things when you're switching because they are a they're, it's an advantage that you have over people who haven't had the chance to go through those things. You know?

15:41  
Definitely, definitely. And, and outside of that, I mean, you could be a mentor towards, you know, the younger people. Yeah, for sure. It's not always a negative, because you hopefully you want to see the next generation be successful. So that's how I see it. And we can add that to the reason why I started the podcast to like, you know, this, this new generation needs to see that, you know, there's people it's okay, it's okay, you know, I don't care what your parents say, or your friends say, like, it's okay to, you know, do things a little different sometimes. And stepping back to, you know, learning about business, I always tell people, please, please take an intro to business course, you know, because I studied, yeah, you know, please take that in your in your college education, or, you know, even if you don't go to college, I tell people just just please take in to help you understand stuff. Um,

16:35  
yeah, for sure. I mean, business gives you a lot of skills, even if you'd like to set even if you don't end up doing business, whatever you do, just the the skills that you acquire, but by learning how to craft products that people will like, or do things that will attract people, that is so valuable.

16:57  
So you kind of talked about the process, you said he went back to college? And so did you get like a second bachelor's? Did you get a certificate? Um, you know, I want to dwelve into this kind of later about how you got to France? Because I mean, I could talk to you all day about being an immigrant. You know, because I'm one might, yeah, but, you know, did you go to school in France? Like, you know, what was the process on you know, getting to where you got your, your marketing analysts job? Did you What did you say, on your resume? How could How did you convince people to take a chance on you? When, you know, for the past, you know, 10 to 15 years, you were a musician?

17:38  
Yeah. That's a great question. I went back to school in 2017, beginning of 2017. While I worked on the project that I told you about, and so I did both things, I went to school to get a bachelor's degree. That was in Costa Rica, although I was still over there. I finished my bachelor's degree in 2019, July or August 2019. And it's just, it just so happened that the school that I was the University where I was doing my Bachelor's on Costa Rica had, like a partnership with a school in France. And that school in France offered a master's degree in data analytics for marketing, which was something that I began eventually to be interested in. So, you know, I applied for the, for the Masters, it was super easy, which was unexpected, I thought it would be like, you know, I you hear this, this complicated paths that people have to go through sometimes to, you know, go abroad and get accepted and all those things. For me, thankfully, it was it was easy enough. And I got accepted and came in late 2019, to France. To do the master's degree, then COVID hit like, two months later. So we went from, I mean, we had to do the rest. The second part, it was a short Master's, it took like, the courses took maybe nine or 10 months. And then you had to do like, like a thesis type of thing, like research type of thing. But like, sec, the second half of the courses we had to do online, because you know, we were like it was home because COVID And then this is where where it started to go towards the working part. Like you asked before, how did you get people to, to, like, believe in you or hire you? You know, I think it started back when I was doing my math bachelor's degree in Costa Rica. I think the answer to that is, I mean, if you're going back to school to do something that you want to do, it's not some thing that somebody is imposing on you or anything, you want to do this, then, like, when I went to school, I just gave him my all, you know, I just, I was really so interested in learning, like actually learning because I had the other project on the side. And eventually I quit that project to just study. But the way I got people to believe in me eventually was just, you know, showing that I really wanted to learn, I wasn't just there to get a degree, you know, like, a lot of people just want to get a piece of paper. And that's fine, I guess. But like, I really wanted to go beyond the obvious. And actually one of the first people who hired me and gave me a chance on a seasonal job was one of my teachers. And so that's like, I say that because I feel like the way that you get people or me, the way I got people to, believe me was just showing in the little, little things showing that you, you really want to really want to get better, you really want it to good job. And that goes for if you're a student, or if you got a job, or both, or, you know, just show that you're reliable in the small stuff, and people will, will give you larger opportunities. And then when I was in like the same thing, same principles applied when I was in France, we were we had to do like an internship to graduate from the masters that was like part of the program. And I got an internship in Paris. It was a company that did like ratings for TV and radio and movies and stuff like that. So it's more of a, like the technical side of data analytics for for media ratings. An app after that I did that from 2020, to 22, late 2021. And after that, I switched when I did an internship and a fixed term contract as well in that company. And then I switched to this other company, because I was starting to notice that I was going down to like the technical side of data analytics, which is very interesting, and I really liked but I wanted to try the strategic side of business, you know, how strategy plays into business and marketing. And so I found a post a company that, which is the company that I worked for today, where we do exactly that, what we do, like consultant marketing, strategy consulting, so that's where I am now I've been doing, I've been working there for, like, close to a year and a half soon. And that's, that's, you know, I'm trying, I'm summarizing, like, four or five years of experience into a few minutes. But yeah, I mean, it's been a crazy ride. And you get surprised that I never like, back in 2017, if you'd have if you would have told me that I that I was going to get to know so many people and you know, get to work in different things that worked for find a company that did finance in Costa Rica, and I did that media thing. Now I'm doing marketing strategy. You know, it's just one of the things that I tell people, if you're thinking about going switching or changing, you're going to be surprised at how many things you're going to be able to experience. So I think that's one of the positives of, of, you know, just just taking the leap. And I'm not saying everybody should do it. I mean, everybody, each person has a different situation, I guess. But I think just for me, looking back and thinking about all those experiences and different opportunities and, and also the bad things because of course, are there things that are not easy. It's just amazing the amount of things that you you get to experience you know,

24:06  
definitely, definitely. I tell people, you know, one reason why I stayed in Mexico was because everything was so easy. Like it just came so easy. I didn't have any trouble or strife. Either everything just connected, it just connected. So when you said you know, it was very easy to you know, apply for the scholarship and the master's degree and then just, you know, the visa it just everything just connected and just ran so smoothly. You know, I hear you, I hear you. Um, and so yeah, I haven't had too many bad experiences, you know? And that's why, you know, I'm like, it was my destiny. I was I was supposed to do this. Yeah, but yeah, I totally understand. Um, what are some of the positives and negatives of your new career?

25:07  
Yeah, I mean, the positives is, I think the first positive which is, which was the first thing that are one of the first things that, that I understood is that I'm doing something that I really like. And of course, I like music, too. I love music, I still love music, but like, if you're gonna switch, you gotta, you have to switch to something that you like, you can't just switch because it makes more money or because whatever, you know, you have to be sure that you'd like it, because otherwise it's going to be too hard. So, so that's one of the positives, the fact that I like what I do. I think it's more also more of a dynamic market to than the music was, at least back in where I came from. There's more space to create new things, and to, there are different types of jobs that you can apply to. There's just so many, like, in Paris, at least, there's, there's so many startups that have, you know, like, do these crazy things that you will never imagined, and that's one of the positives is that just there's so much room to experiment and, and try out new things as a, as an entrepreneur, or as an employee to you know, there's just so many different, like job descriptions that you wouldn't even imagine would exist. So that's, that's one of the positives, too, is it's more dynamic. I think, on the negative side, one of the things what I mean, something that happens to me, and I'm guessing that, for other people who switch also, it's the same situation, you kind of I mean, like, I kind of miss music, sometimes. Sometimes I want to play and sometimes I you know, like that side of what you if you if you liked what you did, yeah, you miss it, you know, sometimes you're at work, and you'd be nice to just play guitar a little bit, right. So that's, you know, it comes with the, with the journey, I guess, you know, you have to be willing to adapt and adjust to those things. But it is a reality that sometimes you can't miss that. And that's okay, you have to like, also give yourself permission to miss it, you know what to say, like that, and find a way to feed that, that motivation in the time that you have. The other thing that I think may be negative about business is the fact that for some people in some, some jobs, it's very easy to go down the, you know, like, kind of like turn your brain off and go down the path of just, you know, getting up in the morning, going to work and going back at 6pm to your apartment, and then watching some Netflix and eating and going back to bed and then doing it all over again the next day. And I think it's easy to and this goes for, I guess any career but I think specifically business because you know, it's easy to find a job that pays well enough, and when you don't feel like you need to change or need to move so you can many people just yeah, just I don't know if they turn their brains off, but they it's just you stop reflecting maybe and it's easy to start questioning things and you just go and do your job and go into your nine to six and and all of a sudden one day you're gonna wake up and it's been 40 years and you're doing the same thing. So that's one of the things that I try to guard myself against, you know, always try to find new things and question things and try to find ways of doing maybe the same job but doing it better or more efficiently. I think it's easy to go down that that wormhole you know, you get sucked into the this idea of Yeah, okay, I have a good good enough job I have what I need and so I'm just going to do the same job for the rest of my life. You know, many years and that is one risk that some people I feel fall into in this industry.

29:31  
Gotcha. No, I understand about you know, missing your old your old career, your old life I call it my past life. Yeah, I literally hate accounting, right. But I love audit, like I could never be an accountant or anything like that audit is a whole different ballgame and one position that I had, it was a lot of fraud I would find and those were the juicy stories right? Ya know, people would steal money and you know, go back to their, their home country a lot of times or, you know, they would get arrested times it would be in the news. And so that was the juicy stuff. And I missed that sometimes. Ya know, so I get it from that perspective because I can guess that you know, you miss, you know, the probably the crowds and things like that and yeah yelling your name

30:33  
Yeah, yeah, it's true. And it's true because with the group of people who Costa Rica that I played with every now and then you do get like that kind of like adrenaline rush when you're playing in, you know, music. Arts, I guess, in general give you like that. Yeah, that rush. And, but also the other thing that, like I said before, one of the things that I found is that you need to give yourself permission to miss it, you know, like, yeah, because I, it's also easy, I guess, to just kind of, like, block it out and say, okay, so I switched in, so I can't look back. And I have to focus on what I do today. And yes, you do have to focus on what you do today. But, you know, I mean, we, we're human beings, and we have attachments to some things and, and some of them are bad, but not all of them. You know? So so just giving yourself permission to I guess, reminisce a little bit. It's okay, you know,

31:34  
definitely, definitely. And yeah, I mean, art is definitely adrenaline rush. I painted something one time, and a lady said she wanted it. And I'm like, you want this mess? created your no. And I ended up selling for like $20. But I was like, oh my god, I'm like a real market now.

31:57  
That's cool. Yeah, that's very nice. No, I

32:00  
get it from being you know, like a real artist. And, you know, you're like, people come to see me. Oh, my gosh, like I can imagine. So. Yeah, yeah, I can understand you really missing something like that? Um, what are some traits that are good for being a data analyst?

32:29  
Yeah. I think, well, I mean, if you are talking specifically about the data analytics side, you have to have like, some hard skills, mostly related to like, numbers and stuff like that. That doesn't mean that you have to be like a mathematician or whatever. Because I'm not that, but you have to kind of like to deal with numbers. If you open an Excel sheet and you want to die, then that's going to be a problem, probably, you're going to definitely have to do that. Probably every day, or every now and then a lot. I think in the in the market research space, you need to be very, you need to learn how to think strategically. And I think that's one of the along with the numbers thing. That's one of the main main skills that you need to develop. Some people are like, naturally attracted to that or others aren't. That's okay. But you need to learn. Because business, you know, when you're like I worked for, like I said before, for a company that does marketing consulting, so part of that is kind of like us, telling the brands, what we think they should do and why and what the results might be from that. So you have to, like, develop that sense of visualizing things strategically. And so what happens if we do this, okay, this might happen? Or if we don't do that, then okay, what would the competitors do all those things? So, I think that analytical strategic side of how you, you need to learn how to think that way. I think that's very important. It just, also, I said before, just questions, questions that question things all the time, you know, like, and that goes for everything, not just what I do, but I mean, it's just like I said, it's so easy to just sit down and get comfortable into your child every day and but when you're working with business business is so dynamic, especially when we're dealing with startups and entrepreneurship and all those things. You need to constantly find solutions you need to be a problem solver is just important. that you develop that sense of, you know, be aware that you're going to go through a lot of problems in your work, and you need to solve them because that's your job. I think that's very important to

35:18  
do you think? I mean, you kind of touched on this a little bit? Do you think that you should have become, you know, a market research analyst, like years before you became one? Or do you think that was the right time? Or, you know, do you think you shouldn't ever became a musician? You know, what

35:35  
do you think? That's a great question. No, I think, no, I think I think things happen in a way that this sounds very romantic, but I think it's true. Like, if I had become if I had gone into business, like straight out of high school, for example, you know, I would have missed a whole side of who I am today that, you know, a whole side of a lot of things that I learned about, not just about us, but about who I wanted to be as a person. And even even things like, you know, music and studying music in school, you need to be so disciplined, you know, you learn to be disciplined. And I always say that music is like sports, you know, you need to, you need to work out every day, you need to play that guitar every day. And if you skip a day, you're going to notice the difference. So that side of learning how to stick to something and being resilient and putting yourself out there and being disciplined. I would have liked if I'd never gone to music school, I would have never learned that or maybe I would have learned it some other way. But he will, you know, it wouldn't have been the same thing. So I think it happened when it had to happen. Like to me that I switch when I was 32, more or less, some people are going to switch later or earlier. But I what I would say just don't kill yourself thinking that I should have, you know, I should have if I had used the previous 10 years to build my marketing career, I would be CEO, I don't know, maybe. But that's not something I mean, I don't think that's the right approach, you know, to that, what you need to do is, value who you are and understand that who you are comes from all those different experiences and learn to use that, like we said before, also use that as an advantage. You know, the fact the very fact that you switch careers means that you have this whole other well, to draw from you have experiences and learning so, so I think it just happened when it had to

37:55  
know I asked that question, because, you know, when I became the immigrant expats it's like, you know, I'm thinking to myself, I wish I would have did this earlier, you know, but I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready, you know, I wouldn't have been able to, you know, move to another country and, you know, learn a language and not know anyone, I don't think I was strong enough. Yeah, no,

38:21  
that's, that's hard.

38:23  
Yeah. And after, after my mother passed away, it's like, what are you really scared of, you know, like, when when we're that I described myself as is fearless. Because it's like, Okay, once the person that created you is gone, it's like, what is what is what is the really left? You know, so? Yeah, I asked that question. Because, you know, at certain times, you feel a certain type of way, when you when you make a huge change, you know, you made two huge changes. You went to another country, you change careers. I'm okay, like, how do you really feel about that?

39:04  
Yeah, understand?

39:06  
Last question is, you know, what, what, what can you what's the final statement, you want to say to someone that is thinking about, you know, changing I'm gonna say changing careers, it's like literally changing your whole life around right. So changing your whole life around what what would you say to some person?

39:25  
Yeah, what I would say is first, one of the first thing that you need to understand is why you feel the motivation to switch to change. Like to me was the fact that I felt selfish or that I that I had something else to offer to the world or to people. And it's going to be something different, I guess for every person, but try to even though you're not going to exactly know why you want to do it, but I try to ask yourself and be as clear as you can about about your why, you know, I think that's very important part of being successful, I guess, in the switch. And the other side is I call it laying bricks, which is, you know, when you switch, you're going to maybe have to take jobs that, that, you know, maybe not from the bottom, but close to the bottom, maybe. And that's okay. That's just how it works. You have to lay those bricks, you're not going to be the architect, you're going to be the guy who lays bricks, which is less sexy, I guess, and less interesting. But you know, that's, that's how it works. And you have to, you have to be aware that that's probably going to happen, because it kind of took me by surprise. When I switched in I you know, because when you start thinking about switching, or when you're in school, you're all you know, you're hyped up about the change and everything. And then you start working. And then you say, okay, so I have to fill in this report like, okay, every Monday morning, you have to have to copy and paste this, okay? So you have to be ready to go past that. Because it's, it's something that might happen. And if you lose motivation, because of that, that might be a problem. So just be ready to go pass to go past that. And the other thing, is something that we've touched on a lot, I think already, but you have to make your experience count, you know, you can't see the switch. Okay, I'm deleting everything else that I am or that I know. And I'm starting over. I mean, yes, in a way, starting over switching is a way to start over. Because then you should feel the freedom to build whatever you want to build, and, you know, that's good. But in definitely going to be definitely gonna need to take advantage of the things that you know, and who you are, that comes from your previous experiences. That's, I always tell people, people, that's your competitive advantage. You know, you have you have things that you learn and, and he, you should definitely go back and understand what which one of those things? What can you take advantage of, and use in this new stage of your life? Don't see the switch as, as, you know, deleting everything and starting literally from scratch. Because you're not, I mean, it's okay. I mean, you have experiences and so you better use them, you know?

42:54  
Definitely, definitely, you know, I've definitely felt like that before, especially when I was younger, like, I don't really care anymore now, because it's like, Okay, I've done it so many times, like, what's, what's another? What's another switch? What's another restart, you know, at this point, but, um, yeah, going back to the old experience that I had, I had to, I had to move to another state, you know, within my country, by myself, because, you know, before that, where I was in relationships, and it was like, you know, I had someone to lean on. And, you know, I had to move to this new city where I had no one to lean on, in order to make the switch to another country. That was, that's what I had to do first. So, yeah. All that to say, you know, you're basically saying, Time waits for no one, you know, you only live one. And, you know,

43:57  
and also, and also, another thing that I think is important is the fact that before you do it, it just seems so scary, you know, you're so like, it's the unknown and it's you, you have no idea what you're going to be faced up against. But once you start, like, you know, if I go back to 2017, and somebody would magically be able to tell me all the experiences that would I would, I would have in the next five or six years, I would have never imagined that like coming to France and I got married when I came to France, which is one of the reasons why I stayed in France. I'm married to a French woman. So like, if you if you told me that five, six years ago, I wouldn't know what you know. So, what I'm trying to say I guess is it's always scary at the beginning when you don't know what's coming. But once you take the take the step leap You know, things start clearing out and you start finding ways and that's just the way it works. You know?

45:08  
Definitely, definitely. I don't really have much else to say that is like, you know,

45:14  
do it do it scared. Do it scared? Yeah, I agree that, you know, if someone would told me, you would, you would, you know, get Mexican, you know, residency and you'd be living in Mexico, you know, like, you're a couple years ago, like, you're, you're out of here Damn. What do you mean? So, you know, like, I get you? I do I do. So, Federico, where can we find you? And any last words?

45:46  
Yeah, you can, you can find me on LinkedIn, so that he could enter. Maybe I'll send you a link so that people can find it easier. And yeah, if you want to, you know, contact me how to talk. We want to learn more. Anything I can do to help by sharing my experiences, and people can look me up and just send me a message. And I'll be more than happy to talk about about my experience and my job. And yeah, I guess the last thing I would say is, like, don't be afraid of the unknown. And not just do it scared, like you said, but it's smart to you know, don't just switch because you feel like you have to switch or whatever. Find ways to do it in a way that might then it's going to benefit you and it's going to be okay, don't worry. I can I can attest to that.

46:49  
True. Oh, god, you're gonna get me started on on the expat immigrant situations where people just come and do stuff, all kinds of crazy ways. But those stories were not today. But yeah, definitely do a smart you know, someone somewhere has already walked the line. And yeah, so most people are friendly enough to where, you know, they'll they'll they'll teach you their ways to an extent so close mouths don't get fed, you know, utilize the internet. That's, that's all I can say.

47:22  
That's right. Yeah.

47:24  
Thank you so much for being on the show. already, please hit that subscribe button. Hit the like button. We're on Google podcasts, Apple podcast, Spotify, so you can listen there. And this is episode number 15. I think so. Stay tuned for some Oregon. We've got a couple more coming up.