Learning from Millionaires – Why Brandon and Adriana are Mentoring Entrepreneurs for Free

It’s no secret that becoming a millionaire is difficult. So many people struggle for years and years to continuously fall short of their dreams. Having been there and achieved the success everyone dreams of, Brandon & Adriana, founders of Life as Millionaire, are now on a mission to educate and empower entrepreneurs with the resources to succeed – without charging them a cent. 

Having built multiple successful companies themselves, Brandon & Adriana know exactly what it takes to become financially free. With so many ‘guru’s’ out there with little to no real experience, Brandon and Adriana have broken the mould and mentor people in the most wholesome way possible. I had the pleasure of speaking with Brandon & Adriana, learning a little more about their journey & how they are changing lives with their free mentorship. 

Lewis: Thanks again for taking the time to do this with me. First things first – I am sure our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?

Brandon and Adriana: First of all, thank you so much for this opportunity. We are super grateful and excited to do this. We got to where we are today with a real DESIRE. We both wanted to be successful and we both had different paths. The biggest similarity we shared as we both got closer to achieving our financial goals was the determination to never quit. 

Adriana: I was born and raised in Venezuela and when my parents had the opportunity to move our family to the United States, I knew that there was no limit unless I imposed it on myself. The biggest and most important experience in my journey was following my dream career with no regard to the barriers of entry.

I wanted to have a career in the entertainment industry although I didn’t know a single person- not one! The people around me often asked why I moved to Los Angeles to work at ABC when there was an ABC liquor store right around the corner. Yes, this really happened! 

Because I didn’t know anyone, I started cold calling and cold emailing every single day. Every NO I received was one step closer to my YES. I never got discouraged. I had a goal and once I got my first YES, I knew I could do anything and have unlimited financial growth because I believed in myself. Overcoming that challenge is what opened the “floodgates” to abundance in my life. It really made the fire in my heart burn bigger and faster to achieve the life of my dreams. 

Brandon: I was born in Mesquite, Texas and if you look up where I started you can understand that anybody can do anything you put your mind to. Growing up and looking at other kids my age with new shoes, or getting to go out to dinner, or having a bike were just a few of the things that inspired me to make something of myself.

Money was the one thing I knew that could help change that. I focused day in and day out on MONEY. I sold bubble gum at school when I was 8 years old. At 10 years old, I started a lawn mowing company and had friends help mow with me. When I was 14 ½, I started my first real company. I was not afraid to work, and I sacrificed a ton to be retired at 31. One thing I have learned looking back, and we even have this quote in our daughter’s bedroom is to “THINK DIFFERENT, BE DIFFERENT, HAVE MORE MONEY”. 

One of the greatest things I would like to share from all of my experiences is that EVERYBODY “claims” to HAVE A BETTER WAY TO DO YOUR BUSINESS THAN YOU. But guess what!  All of those people are the people working for you. You must only listen to people whom you would trade places with. You could ask 1,000 people from Dallas and they all would say Brandon never listens. I can assure you I listen better than 99.9999 % of people. I just choose the people who I listen to. 

Lewis: Just like the readers I am very curious – how did you both make your first million?

Adriana: Lifestyle was the biggest part of it for me. I remember my dad always talking in my head, “live below your means”. But the biggest financial LEAP I had was when I met Brandon. Brandon is a master negotiator and with his help, I was able to negotiate my biggest salary in my corporate career at age 26, which then propelled me to continue building my wealth and then leave my corporate career to run my own business full time with unlimited financial earning potential.

Being rich is not about how much you make, but how you spend your money. If you save most of your income and invest it wisely, you can make your money grow BIGGER than if you save little or spend more than what you make. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make in my young adulthood versus starting as a young child like Brandon did, but despite having different starting points, we both made it. it doesn’t matter when you start as long as you start and make the lifestyle change. The obvious part that goes without saying is that the sooner you start, the faster you will get there. 

Brandon: It was like yesterday, when I made my first million. And as the phrase goes the hardest million is your first million.  I can remember I was all alone in my house and seeing my account go to that magical 1,000,000. The amount of happiness I had for accomplishing such a tough task, continued to spur me to make more. My first company, which was a party planning company, was already starting to become one of the largest in the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex. 

The real question is how did I get there? Being so young and being able to live at home was a huge help because I did not have the big overhead costs of rent, food, etc.  But the biggest reason was how my spending habits in real life transferred to my business spending. I have never been afraid to spend money, but I only spend money when it will allow me to make more. Many entrepreneurs want a new personal car, a new work truck, or new jewelry etc, but I only used money on marketing to continue growing my business.

Lewis: What are the key steps you have taken to grow your businesses? And what advice do you have for others on how to take their businesses to the next level?

Brandon: Cut out all the distractions in your life. If you want to control your own destiny you have to make BOLD steps. There is a reason I don’t drink today – I never had time to go to parties as a child, and I did not have the money to spend on alcohol.  The people around you impact you WAY more than you could ever imagine. There is a reason I only have 5 true friends. 

When you have great influences around you, it will help you make better decisions. The exact opposite is true, and we can all EASILY look back at our own lives, or other people in your high school and see how they were impacted with those negative influences. It happened in high school and it can happen today in your life as well. It can be something as easy as Facebook, a TIME ZAPPER, or video games.

Adriana: I agree and echo Brandon here. It is so easy to be negatively influenced by others. Just like you should value your money, you should value your time and the impact your surroundings have on your personal and professional development.

Choose your environment and your “people” wisely. Above all else, remember you only have today and right now, so be intentional about your time and start taking the steps to make whatever your “dream” is a reality. Remember actions speak louder than words (another quote on our kids’ room), so start doing and stop talking about it.

Lewis: Can you share a little bit more about your philanthropic venture, Life As A Millionaire? What do you both do, and who do you help?

Brandon & Adriana: Life as a Millionaire  was born after we took several classes on the science of happiness and studying how the brain works. Our top classes were the Science of Well-Being at Yale, and The Science of Happiness at UC Berkeley. We also studied and read research by Harvard PhD, Shawn Achor and research on the Psychology of Happiness at Stanford Graduate School of Business.

The biggest take away from our learning was that giving back actually makes people happier. We decided we wanted to give back with our business and financial knowledge and offer 100% FREE advice, coaching and mentoring to business owners, entrepreneurs and any individual wanting to attain financial freedom. Anyone is welcome to apply for our FREE service. The only catch is: SHOW UP!

Adriana: Life as a Millionaire is a very special project for me especially,  because of a promise I made many years ago. One of the executives I met through my hundreds of cold calls was the first person to put my name in the hat for a job opportunity. She told me to promise her that once I made it, to pay it forward. So here we are, keeping that promise and paying it forward.

Brandon: Adriana spearheaded this mission and it has provided us a great deal of pleasure helping others who truly want to grow and learn. We have failed, and have learned the hard way, sometimes costing us thousands of dollars. Our mission with Life as a Millionaire is to share all of our knowledge to help people grow and continue their success. We have helped thousands of people already and can’t wait to continue helping more.

Lewis: What has been your biggest inspiration in giving back to others?

Adriana: My biggest inspiration for me is seeing the transformations. Getting to know people who have great products and product ideas,  but just need the confidence to stand behind their brand and grow it 10x, 100x, etc. I especially enjoy the connections we have created with those individuals who really take our 100% FREE help to the next level and are motivated to keep sharing their success stories and ask for advice when they face challenges.

People usually pay thousands of dollars for coaching. We have learned that paying for a service is the only way to have enough skin in the game to actually do the work. I love knowing that we can offer a FREE coaching and mentoring service and attract people that are self-motivated enough to do the work and make things happen. At the end, those are the people I want to be rooting for anyways!

Brandon: My biggest inspiration is truly seeing the people you know will CRUSH it! I am so happy to celebrate with our entrepreneurs when they accomplish their huge goals. I feel and put myself in their shoes when they are talking with us, because I have been there. I know the feelings I had when I was there. I think this is another way to connect to all of these people we have helped.

Lewis: Can you pinpoint a time where you made a decision that had the biggest impact on the trajectory of your lives?

Adriana: The biggest decision that had the biggest impact in my life was to always put myself FIRST. I knew what I wanted in terms of success and I didn’t allow anyone to bring me down because I was not doing things the way everyone else was doing them.

I remember many times when I listened to my gut and removed myself from the negative influences of others around me. Making decisions like this are extremely difficult, but trusting myself really helped guide me in the right direction.

Brandon: I had proven to myself I could make MILLIONS with the companies I had built, but after all of my success, I was approached by a BILLIONAIRE to consult for him. I had done everything on my own to this point in my life, and never answered to anybody. But I knew this would be a tremendous opportunity for me to LEARN (somebody I would clearly listen to), so i jumped in head first and moved to Los Angeles leaving all of my businesses behind before selling them. 

Lewis:  What advice would you give someone who wants to be a millionaire, but has no idea where to start?

Adriana: Start with a budget. Pay off your debt. Start a side hustle or work smarter and prove you should earn more, then START earning more. Start saving more. Start spending LESS. Most importantly stop living your life for other people. We don’t have to work another day in our lives, but we still live life making good financial decisions for us and no one else. There is no need to be flashy, we continue to be ourselves for each other and our kids – that’s it!

Brandon: Decision making is the only way you can get there. If you think spending $6 a day on Starbucks Coffee is smart, you have a long way to go. If you think you need a nice car, you’re not ready. There is a reason I am retired at 31. I was driving a truck at age 26 that had NO A/C in Dallas where every summer would have 100 days in a row of 100 degree weather. If you’re doing what others are doing, you can expect their same results. 

Lewis: In as few words as possible, what’s the best advice you’ve ever received, or a mantra you both live by?

Adriana: Above our bed is this quote: LISTEN TO PEOPLE THAT YOU WOULD TRADE PLACES WITH. To me that sums it all up.

Brandon: We win, or we learn – We never lose, because we learn and come back stronger each and every time.

Lewis: Thanks so much for taking the time to do this with me – I am super inspired by what you guys do!

To learn more about what they do, head over to  Brandon & Adriana’s instagram and keep up to date – and don’t hesitate to send them a DM!