My 83 Year Old Entrepreneurial Mom
Today isn’t Mother’s Day. However, we have to treat everyday like it is Mother’s and Father’s Day. Today isn’t my Mother’s birthday either. I just want to talk about my 83 year old entrepreneurial Mom and the things that I have learned and observed from her.
I saw my Mom hustle everyday. She always told me “The Money is already made, you need to go out there and get it.” At an early age, my Mom retired from her 9 to 5 job. After retiring early she started to do different things. I remember that she was involved with:
- Jafra Cosmetics
- Stanley Cleaning Products
- Mary Kay
- Sold green plantains from her car. A megaphone was the marketing tool that she used to sell her green plantains.
- Owned two Beauty Salons
Not only she was involved and sold those products, she also sewed clothes for other people. Everyday, I saw my Mom go out there and do something to get her closer to her dreams and goals.
At age 81 she decided to learn how to make ‘pasteles’, that is a Puerto Rican plate. People in Puerto Rico eat a lot of ‘pasteles’ on Christmas season. After learning, she decided to start selling them. Now she has a lot of clients in Puerto Rico and the United States. It’s incredible to see how my 83 year old Mom created a source of income for herself in her 80’s.
Hurricane Maria
On September 20, 2017; Hurricane Maria went through Puerto Rico. The island was devastated. The whole power grid was down. Two weeks after the hurricane my parents flew to Orlando, FL and stayed with my sister for almost 4 months. For them it was hard to deal with the hurricane aftermath. My Mom was bored in my sister’s house. She wanted to do something. Well, she decided to start making ‘pasteles’ in Orlando, FL – there is a big Puerto Rican community in Central Florida. Her experiment was successful. She acquired more clients that she was able to handle.
Things that I have observed/learned from my Mom:
- She never quits
- Lifelong learner
- Goes to bed early
- Always wakes up early
- She likes Sales
- Creates rapport and cares about other people
- Brings value to other people
- Likes to serve
- She hustles everyday
- Every night before going to bed she drinks ginger tea. Tim Ferris recommends ginger tea.
- She doesn’t say: I can’t do it; she says: How can I do it?
- Knows how to deal with stress. With her positive attitude she knows how to decompress from the things that life throws at her.
- Wants to keep living (she says that life is beautiful)
All those things that I have observed from my Mom, I have read in Self-Help, Personal Development, and Sales books. I have noticed that big successful people have the same traits. For example: Dale Carnegie’s says in his book, How to Win Friends and Influenced People, that you need to pay attention to other people’s interests, create rapport and bring value to them.
Lifelong Learner
My Mom is 83 now, but this year she will turn 84. It’s really refreshing to see that if you want to achieve something you can really do it. It only takes a lot of focus, discipline, grit and hard work. At 83, she learned how to use a smartphone. She learned how to text and take selfies among other things. Here is a selfie that she took by herself:
Conclusion
Now that I’m an adult and understand how this world works. I can say that my Mom have every trait to keep living longer. She is healthy and wants to keep living. I have learned more from her now than when I was a kid. Why?, because now I can really understand that you need the traits that she has to be successful in life. The picture in this post is when she was making ‘pasteles’ in my sister’s house. Mom, thanks for your parenting and for teaching me the things that are going to make me successful in life.