Since the whole basis of my life coaching practice is aimed at helping others find their reason Y so they can achieve their greatest goals, it’s only fair for me to share my personal reasons Y. Let me tell you why I invested $600k in a two year move to Latin America (LatAm) to learn Spanish and the culture.

About one year before I decided to move to South America I had begun to take a few Spanish courses. Although this may work for some, I felt that (1) the progress was too slow and (2) I was not learning the real norms of the Latin culture and language that would allow me to achieve my goal. And since I believe that you either are growing or dying, I felt that learning Spanish would pay off hugely if I was willing to invest. And invest I did, to the tune of almost $600,000. Allow me to explain…..

I resigned from my position as Vice President of a division of Trading Technologies (annual salary + bonus 190,000). I had to return all unvested stock options (70,000 shares). I spent around $55,000 over the 2 years I traveled through LatAm. So what was my approximate total financial investment?

Loss of 2 years income = 380,000
Options at potential $2/share = 140,000 (approximately)
Cash spent on trip = 55,000
Total Investment = $ 575,000

To pull the trigger on an investment like this, or any major sacrifice, you better have an unshakable resolve with respect to your reason Y and be ready to live with the outcome. Otherwise things like logic, fear or a friend/family member telling you that you need psychological help will not allow you to step out on faith and follow your gut.

But stuff like big financial investments and sacrifices DON’T MATTER, when your reason Y dwarfs them. You can pull the trigger with confidence and controlled fear. Notice I said, controlled fear. Did I have fear? Yes! Did I think for one moment, after careful evaluation, that I was not doing the right thing? NO!

Some facts and figures will show you why:
• the Latino community in the U.S. has now exceeded 50 million
• the U.S. has the second largest Spanish speaking population in the world, behind only Mexico.
• The population of LatAm is almost 600 million with some countries growing at a clip of over 5% per year.

There’s a big opportunity here – an economy within an economy that most people in the US have no idea how to approach.

Obviously to truly take advantage of this opportunity you need to speak both English and Spanish. If you remove the bilingual Latinos from the U.S. population, maybe 1% (and this is being generous) of the population can truly communicate effectively in Spanish.

And although Latinos outside of the U.S. have a surprising level of English fluency, because of our strict visa laws, most can NOT travel freely across our borders.

So, imagine this… the 1% of Americans that can travel freely and are bilingual, (1) have NO competition and (2) the barrier to entry (learning Spanish) is very high and very painful, let me tell you.

Ask any business to place a price tag on just these 2 advantages; most would estimate conservatively……100s of millions of $$$.

Hence My Reason Y.

Part 2…. My reason Y I have chosen my current path to build the Darren Mason  brand beginning with Beach Body (P90X).  Stay Tuned!!!

 

by Darren Y Mason

Darren@darrenYmason.com

Filed under: My Reason Y

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