Mario Pérez Fernández: The ebb & flow of power/choice

*CONTENT WARNING: We talk about auto-immune diseases and ableism, diet culture, and depression.

 

An intercultural and international relationship, choosing to work with your partner, and the power dynamics of all that - this episode invites you to join in on the conversation with my partner, Mario Pérez Fernández, and hear HIS perspective 👫

 

Over the years, I’ve built a personal brand that brings my partner to the spotlight whenever he feels comfortable. Usually, he is in the background and doing a lot of things for the brand and business that you all don’t get to see…

 

We’re changing that!

 

In the inaugural episode of Season 2 of the I’m lost, so what? Podcast, Mario is joining us to share his story and experiences on:

 

• Starting and closing his business
• What it’s like to work in The Quirky Pineapple Studio
• The realities of working with your partner
• And some of the situations we worked through being in an intercultural relationship

 

Mario Pérez Fernández (he/him) is a multi-experience back-office specialist. 

 

He is also a money-saving coach, helping others create consciousness around their budgets and teaching them how to save money in a way that is less restrictive and more empowering. Mario is also the Admin & Operations Team for The Quirky Pineapple Studio, making sure our finances, systems, and workflows are fully optimized and streamlined for the best team and client experience.

 

Connect with Mario Pérez Fernández elsewhere:

 

• Mario’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mario.perfern/ 
• Mario’s LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/mario-perez-fernandez 

 

Connect with Cassandra and her business elsewhere:

 

• Cassandra’s Personal Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cassandratle/ 
• The Quirky Pineapple Studio Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thequirkypineapplestudio/ 
• The Quirky Pineapple Studio Website - https://thequirkypineapple.com/ 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The definition of lost ismy entire life right now.
So, and that's my feeling.
Great.
[ Sound effect of a cassetteplayer button clicking]
Hello.
Hello.
And welcome back to the I'm lost.
So what podcast, this isyour host Cassandra Le and
I am super, super excited.
I feel like I say this with everyepisode, but I am really, really

(00:20):
excited to bring you this conversationtoday with someone very very special:
my partner Mario Perez Fernandez.
Mario is a multi experienced back officespecialist and a money saving coach
and in this episode we are getting intowhat it was like for him to start and
close his business, what it's like forthe both of us to work together now

(00:45):
in my business, The Quirky PineappleStudio, and an inside peek into what our
intercultural relationship looks like.
We're getting real and honest aboutmixing work and our personal relationship,
what it was like for Mario to leavecorporate, start a business, and

(01:05):
leave corporate again, and digginginto just some questions that I think
most people might not know about us.
Um, I will share that there is goingto be a little bit of a Spanglish in
this episode, not much, but a littlebit of Spanglish in here and a content
warning that we do talk about diets,autoimmune disease and depression.

(01:29):
So without further ado,let's just dive into it.
Hello.
Hello everyone.
I'm Cassandra Leigh andyou're listening to I'm Lossy.
So what the podcast exploring betweenbelonging and carving your own path
for all the peeps out there who kindof know what you're doing, but still
question what the fuck is going on.

(01:49):
Yeah, I'm with you.
Hi, Mario.
How are you?
Fine.
How are you?
I'm good.
I'm excited for this conversation.
How are you feeling?
Um, I'm not going to lie.
I'm kind of nervous.
Nobody has interviewedme, interviewed me before.
So yeah....
Well, you've had job interviews.

(02:09):
Uh, in Spanish, not English.
Okay.
Well, there's a first time for everything.
I'm excited for this conversation.
Basically, just so you all know whoare listening, we've got a couple of
topics that we're exploring today.
So we'll be talking aboutwhat it was like for Mario to
start and close your business.
Uh, the behind the scenes support thathe provides for The Quirky Pineapple

(02:32):
Studio (my business), and then alittle peek into what it's like to
be in an intercultural relationship.
Because, well, we've been together nowfor eight years, so we've learned lots
of different things about what it's liketo be in an intercultural relationship.
Hard.
And fun.
And fun, sure.
And hard.

(02:52):
But we'll save that for thatsection of this little chat.
So before we dive into everything,there's a question that I always
ask each guest that comes on.
And that is what doesbeing lost mean to you?
And can you describe thefeeling of being lost?

(03:14):
This is a difficult question for me toanswer mainly because I would say that
I don't have- you know, exactly themeaning in my mind of what is being lost.
But that feeling, I think it will besomething like, um, not knowing the next
step and also not knowing how is my lifeoutside of what I thought it was going

(03:38):
to be my life because I guess before mylife, it was, uh, it was going to be,
I mean, what I thought before it wasgoing to be something new- different
kind of the standards my parents told me.
After trying that, I realizedthat I didn't know or I
didn't want that type of life.
And now I don't know how to survivein this situation, in this, uh,

(04:02):
society and how everything is built.
And at the same time be, you know, like,uh, having all my values, uh, or trying
to make all my values kind of difficult.
I don't know how to do it.
And I'm not supposed, or I don'tknow who I am and what is going
to be the next step, you know,like, uh, with all of those things.

(04:23):
I'm not going to say, you are going tounderstand what I'm saying, but this-
So I guess based off of what you just saidabout being lost and what the feeling is
like for you, I mean- this is somethingI learned that feelings aren't good or
bad, but they are kind of like indicatorsthat something may need to change or,

(04:47):
you know, there's something that weneed to explore a little bit more of.
So if we were to categorize what beinglost is like for you, would it be
something that You would categorizeas like uncomfortable or exciting
or exploratory or kind of likeopening up opportunities, or is it

(05:12):
more of like, you know, the feelingof being lost in like what you were
saying, just not knowing or both?
Or all of them.
[ laughs]
Yeah, or all of them.
[ laughs]
Yeah, I guess what you were describingis a mix of what I'm feeling because
when I feel I'm lost, it's, it's notlike, okay, just one, one feeling is a
mix of everything in different levels.

(05:33):
So maybe at that time, whenever in thattime I'm thinking, or I'm feeling that
I'm lost, I guess it will be something.
Maybe more of, I don't know what todo, but other times it's like, okay,
that's cool because that means thatrecognizing that I'm lost, it means that
I know that I don't need to follow thepre made rules so I can do my rules.

(05:55):
Or maybe I don't follow anymore expectations on everybody.
So, and that in that moment, I thinkit will be more like, um, uh, exciting.
But other times it's like,uh, I'm worried too, because.
I don't know how to, what to do to getmoney or, or, you know, like how to do
the things in a, in a way that I canbe comfortable at the same time having

(06:19):
enough to, to live, and those things.
So I guess it will be a mix anddepending of my worry in that moment.
But yeah, definitely, I guessthe definition of loss is
my entire life right now.
So, and that's my feeling.
Great.
Actually something that, uh, Monica,who was also a guest on the podcast,

(06:42):
uh, they said that this feeling ofbeing lost in what you were describing
just now is kind of like the survivalfeeling of, oh, I need to, you
know, figure out what I'm doing.
I need to make money.
I need to, you know,find purpose in my life.
And it is a symptom of living undera capitalist society because with all

(07:02):
of the things that are going on, it's.
The pressure of, oh, you need tohave this, this, this, and this.
And if you don't have it,then you're not doing it.
Okay.
And then also, if you're not producing,and if you're not working, then you're
not like being a person or a productiveperson in society and all of this stuff.
And like you were saying.
In your answer, I feel like there are lotsof ways to create your own path, and we'll

(07:28):
get into that now because I think you havetaken lots of different steps and tried
lots of different things, I feel like.
You have really like a reallyinteresting journey of exploring,
okay, this is not what I want.
I'm going to try and test lots of things.
So if you all don't know Mario,he started and then close his

(07:50):
own business back in 2021, 2022.
And can you share a little bitabout the business that you
started and then decided to close?
Yeah, sure.
Well, my, my business -nowadays, Iwould say that even right now, I don't
know what I was exactly trying to do.

(08:12):
[ laughs] So I was also lost.
Uh, it started because I'm being always-I was started because I was working
in corporate and I didn't like that.
I mean, I don't want to blamecorporate, like being really bad, but.
It was just a time of my life that itdidn't align my values and I was, I felt
like it was hurting myself and makingmyself even more lost because it was

(08:36):
like a big gap between what I wanted andwhat that type of life offered to me.
So yeah, it was like, okay, whatkind of abilities and skills I have.
I'm going to try to, uh, help people,uh, with all of them, but I didn't
have like a, like a, somethinglike a totally thought like,
okay, it's going to be like this.
I'm going to help with this.

(08:57):
And I didn't even know if the marketwas going to be, uh, receptive for that.
So, yeah, so it was like, uh, mybusiness was kind of a mix of,
uh, virtual assistant, um, skills.
Because I have been in back office, uh,or all my entire experiences like that.
So what was the question originally?

(09:18):
Um, what was your business?
What was the business?
Yeah.
So it was like a virtual assistant,uh, and also like a mix of
finance and how to manage money.
Because when I was younger, I was livingby myself with a really low, low salary.
And even when I was younger, myparents treat me like, uh, with

(09:40):
a small money, like, uh, to learnhow to manage all the money.
Like an allowance?
Ummm una paga
I think that's an allowance in English.
Yeah.
Allowence.
And it was monthly and just not too much.
And it was like, okay, you manage themoney and if you run out, I didn't have
a, well before, uh, just is your problem.

(10:02):
So you won't have any more for us.
And all of those things help me to havea money mindset in terms of how to manage
all the money and things like that.
Uh, so I, I try also to offer that.
Um, I think it was with the clientsthat have all, all the services
that have the mix or follow thembecause it was, uh, a totally mixed.

(10:26):
Uh, they were good.
Um, but I guess.
I had more clients, I needed moreclients, and I didn't have a problem with
marketing and showing up and kind of say,I didn't know how to get more clients.
And so it was a point that, uh,it wasn't profitable at all.
It was like, I used toomuch time for each client.

(10:48):
I mean, in terms of preparing or reviewingmy job and things like that so I didn't
have like a real whole concept of thebusiness that could be like successful.
Hmm.
So what was the thought process liketo decide to close your business?
Cause I mean, a lot of people wouldsay, Oh yeah, wow- you quit your

(11:09):
corporate job to start your business.
That's already choosingto create your own path.
And then after a year of tryingyour own business, most of the
time when you're your own businessowner, you're an entrepreneur.
I know there are a lot of people who feellike shame or, you know, worry because
they decide to close their business.

(11:31):
So what was the thought process like toclose it and the experience of closing it
and then going back to corporate to leavecorporate and now You work with The Quirky
Pineapple Studio, but we're jumping ahead.
So let's just go into what was it like to-
-the process?
Yeah, the process of closingand then going back to corporate

(11:53):
and like the thoughts behind it.
Um, that's, that's something thatis, I mean, it totally remembers.
And that's, I try to forget about it.
Because it was a reallydifficult moment in my life.
It wasn't just the difficulty intodeciding is because I, I guess I
experienced for first time what was tobe depressed, just not being sad because

(12:15):
everybody can be sad for a moment.
So it was like a something totallydifferent that I haven't felt before.
It was, I don't knowhow to even describe it.
I guess it was the, uh, depression,but I didn't know because it's
affected everything in my life.
So I affected like the way Icould understand everything.
And because I was too tied with my, what Iwas doing in corporate or in my business.

(12:40):
So it was like, uh,I'm not a valid person.
So all of that, it affected really badto, to, to my mindset and everything.
And it was actually reallydifficult to go out from that.
And in meanwhile, when I was knowingthat I had to close the business and
feeling this type of, uh, startingwith this, uh, depression, yeah,

(13:02):
I had to figure it out that, yeah.
Definitely, I didn't know how to makeit different to make it profitable.
And also I was realizing that beinga virtual assistant, it wasn't
something that I really wanted to do.
What it ended up maybe because I didn'tknow how to manage it, but it's like, I

(13:22):
don't know how to describe it because it'smore like a, okay, when you're a virtual
assistant, unless you have everythingreally designed and like, you know how to
do it every month, but whenever you're,uh, doing like what I was doing, like
a mix or everything, what ended up isbeing like doing random things every
day and also it takes so much time foryou maybe or what I say so much time.

(13:45):
I don't want to say like hours.
I just what you thought itwas to to be on all of that.
I realized I don't want to do thatbecause it doesn't make sense because
it's not like I have in control mythings that's that was the main purpose
of quitting corporate because I had Iwanted to have more control on things
and I felt like, uh, we know with thatprofession being a virtual assistant

(14:09):
or, or, yeah, being a virtual assistant.
I guess it wasn't like, profitable andalso something that I wanted to, to be.
Uh, and that's how I decided to quit it.
It was difficult because I wastoo tied to that personally.
But yeah, it's, it was, uh, somany feelings of everything.

(14:32):
And while I was accepting thatI had to close it in my mind, it
was like, maybe I find something,maybe how can I, uh, pinpointing to
something, how can I do all of that?
Because everybody, like, it's alwaystrying to follow their values.
And my value was like, I don'twant to come back to corporate.
I don't want to come back to thattype of life because I knew it.

(14:55):
I don't, I don't want it.
It's not something like a,like a something for me.
Uh, so that's why I was tryingto, to find new solutions.
And at the same time that made mefeel more anxious because it was
like a something that I was goingto eat me like, uh, As you were
saying before, like, uh, surviving.
That was something like, uh, I had alion behind me and it's gonna eat me.

(15:18):
And it was so interesting because Ifelt like that lion, it was really
close and it was almost biting or,you know, some parts of my body.
So after all, it waslike, okay, I don't know.
Let's be honest.
This is not going to nowhere.
And in my mind, I waslike, okay, you try it.
Next time is, or next move isjust to come back to corporate.

(15:42):
That's trying to, accept that, youknow, even when you don't want it,
just trying to feel numb or whatever.
And don't think on that, just earn money.
And try to live in maybe on weekendsor whatever, or not even, because I
had the blue Sundays and all of that.
Oh, yeah, you did have blue Sundays.

(16:03):
That was intense.
Blue Sundays after, blue Saturday.
Blue weekends for Mario.
Yeah, um, so yeah, um, it was reallydifficult and so many emotions.
I don't know, maybe for other people it'snot like that, but I don't want anybody
to feel like I felt with all of that.
Mmm.
Thank you for sharing.

(16:24):
Before we jump into how you went backto corporate and then left corporate
again, um, to join The Quirky PineappleStudio, I have some questions about
money for you because I feel like whatyou all might not know is that Mario
actually handles all of the bookkeepingand like finances for The Quirky

(16:46):
Pineapple Studio, which we'll get into.
And actually he handles most of themoney stuff for the house as well, we
have an interesting division of labor,I think, um, which we'll get into.
I mostly do a lot of like thesocial activity stuff and then he
does all of the money handling.
But okay, before we get into that, Ihave a couple of questions around money.

(17:08):
So what is the biggest money challengeyou see people have after working with
your clients and also working with menow, in The Quirky Pineapple Studio?
The biggest challenge, you said?
Si.
Usually it's not knowing thereal amount of, uh, of the money.
I mean, when you know, uh, whenpeople think that they can afford

(17:31):
it, usually you can't afford it.
And let me try to explainwith something like this.
Like, uh, maybe you have, uh, or yousee something like, Uh, 50 percent
off of what it is and you say, like,maybe $5, 000 is really cheap because
before it was $10, 000 and you say,okay, this is an opportunity to buy
it, but maybe because you feel like amore like an opportunity, you didn't

(17:55):
realize that you can't afford it.
So this is what I mean with the money.
Usually when you see money,you think you have money or is
enough money or, or the opposite.
You don't have money or it's not enough.
But it doesn't mean what I'm tryingto say that people don't really
understand their real situation, uh,with the money in that, in that moment.

(18:18):
Mmm.
So they have different, and alsotheir feelings of that situations
more than based in the real moneythey have, uh, what can they buy
in the future and the present ismore like, uh, how they feeling.
And it's, that's not a good way tomeasure how, what is your wealth
situation in the real situation.

(18:39):
Uh, because What you'refeeling is not okay with that.
That's a great point.
Um, something I think I learned sinceyou came into The Quirky Pineapple
Studio is I had a lot of likeintuitive feelings about how much
money we spend at The Quirky PineappleStudio or how much money we made.
So in my mind, I kind of alwaysknew, um, what goes in and what

(19:02):
goes out, but not to like the exacteuro amount or to the exact cent.
I have like the ideas of, okay, thisis how much I think is going out, which
is, you know, more or less correct.
But then when Mario camein, he actually was like
-You did great.
Yeah, well, now I'm doing better, but nowsince you came in, I think it has helped

(19:26):
to give me like actual concrete data tomatch kind of what I've already kind of
known or like the intuitive feeling I had.
And I think that has also helped meto make better spending decisions
or better saving decisions forwhat's to come in the business.
And also just with like.
my normal life now.

(19:46):
Uh, so thank you.
So what is something you wish peopleknew about money and budgeting
that most people don't know?
Which is almost like the same question asthe first one, but not the same question.
Um, no, but I guess it's a good question.
I would say that everybody understandhow to budget more or less, and they
understand the basic budgeting orhow to, what was the budgeting and?

(20:10):
Money.
Money and budgeting and everybodyunderstand money and when you spend it,
you don't spend it, but I would say what Iwish they would know is how to follow it.
How to follow it.
How to follow it because usually, okay,whenever I say something, okay, this is
money and this is like, I'm telling youlike, uh, um, what I just said, like
about the people don't really understand.

(20:35):
The real situation, and maybethey say, Oh, okay, okay, okay.
And in that moment, theyunderstand it, but they forget it.
Or when it's in terms of budgeting,usually it's like, Oh, okay, okay.
I'm going to, I'm going to do this.
And they, they never follow it.
And which is fine with budgeting becausethat's whenever I'm doing budgeting with
people is mostly not for company, butwhen it's for personal, uh, financial

(21:00):
situation, it's like, okay, I wantyou to fail because I want you to
understand your real limits becauseusually when you put limits in budgeting,
it's like, okay, I guess I can do it.
Or you feel in the moment you cando it, but whenever it is, uh,
the moment or after the month orwhenever you review it, you see like.
Okay, uh, you spend more you couldn't,uh, save money and that's that's

(21:26):
what they want because people realizein the moment that, okay, maybe I
was to, you know, like, I tried toput too much in and for savings.
And that's why I'm saying that usuallypeople don't follow the things, and
I wish they could understand it,uh, or they understand more their
what is a budgeting or money or ismore following and understanding.

(21:51):
It's similar with the diets.
The diet is not...
The que?
Diet.
Una dieta?
Ah una dieta.
Si.
That is not that you can do it one or twomonths is what is the thing that you can,
uh, maintain for the rest of your life.
So it's from a diet is just one thing.
Just do one thing.
And with money and budgetingis also the same thing.

(22:13):
So, okay, I guess for business ismore difficult to do what I do with
person as like I want you to fail.
So you realize and after that, we'regoing to start with one thing or two
things, um, step by step, but yeah,definitely people we know or wish or
understood more like it's not aboutdoing all at once, like a step by step

(22:33):
and understanding more and more and whatyou can maintain for a really long time.
That would be good.
That makes sense.
Also, um, Mario mentioned diet, but I justwant to mention now, for all the people
listening that we're not talking aboutlike a diet to lose weight or anything
like that, I think from your perspective,because I don't know if you want to share-

(22:58):
I mean, I can say-
oh, go ahead, then.
Yeah, so I have a autoimmune disease.
It's called ulcerative colitis.
I think in English it's ulcerativecolitis, but in spanish it's...
Colitis ulcerosa.
Eso.
And when the doctors, at leasthere in Spain, they say they
haven't found a relation betweenwhat you eat and this disease.

(23:25):
When I have the conversation with thedoctors and I say that I have a diet or
something that it makes me feel better.
They say, okay, then do it.
So for sure, it is a relationshipbetween it, but between them, sorry, but
they don't, they don't understand how.
So that's why they say- they don't sayanything because it's like, I, I can't say
anything that I don't really know how towork because then I'm going to give you a

(23:49):
bad advice or a bad instruction to follow.
So yeah, um, once they said, uh, evenwhen doctors and everybody don't have
like a real diet to follow, I try tofollow something that it makes me good.
It makes me feel good.
And That's why I'm saying all ofthis with diet, because actually

(24:11):
I'm too thin and I would like to beless thin, but the diet I'm doing
is just for in terms of, uh, health.
Yeah.
And like, um, lessening inflammation.
Less inflammation, just to try toavoid the effects of my disease.
Yeah.
So that's what we mean when we say diet.

(24:31):
We're not talking about likea losing weight type of diet.
But now, talking about that and goinginto the business, The Quirky Pineapple
Studio, which if you all don't know, Irun a brand strategy and content marketing
agency called The Quirky PineappleStudio and Mario has been working with
us full time for a year and a month now..

(24:52):
Yes.
Um, and-
Clap, clap, clap
Yes!
Haha clap clap clap.
So most people might not know, I guess,how much time and money energy that you've
also put into The Quirky Pineapple Studio.
Like, when I first camehere to Spain, I started the
business back in December 2017.

(25:13):
Uh, I had clients, butnot really enough clients.
Um, I think the first year I wasin business, I only made 9, 000 U.
S.
dollars, which I was like, Oh mygosh, that's like almost 10, 000.
Yeah.
I was like, that's almost 10, 000,which when I told my mom, she was
like, um, did you spend it all?
And I was like, yeah, I spent it all.
And I like reinvested it back.
And she goes, okay, soyou didn't make profit.

(25:35):
Which also means that you can't even paytaxes because you literally have no money
and I was like, oh, that's unfortunate.
But anyways, um, through the firsttwo, I think, yeah, two years of me
being a full time business owner,Mario actually was the one that was
supporting us behind the scenes.

(25:56):
So he had the full time job in corporateand he was the one that was taking care of
like the house and the groceries, the...
electricity utilities, taking careof when we went out and did like
date nights or met up with friends.
And then also even with like vacationsand stuff, because I mean, if I was
making 9,000 USD the first year inbusiness, as you can imagine, I did

(26:18):
not have much to actually contribute.
And then also I was using a lot ofmy savings, which I spent, I think,
within the first year and a half ish.
And I think before I quit my full timejob to start the business, I saved
up like 14, 000 us dollars and...

(26:39):
well, when you're not reallymaking money and living off of
savings, that goes quite quickly.
So, is there something thatyou wish people knew more of
with, like, your contributionto The Quirky Pineapple Studio?
Because I feel like, youknow, everybody sees me.
Online and like doing social media stuffand you're now working in like the back

(27:03):
office and the back in the behind thescenes part, you're handling admin and
operations and like finance and stuff.
And then, of course, like, the 1st,few years, like, we've had this
conversation where you were the onethat was taking care of everything.
And I was kind of like, you know, goingout and doing what I could to make the
business work and you put in your part.
But I don't think most people see that.

(27:24):
So is there something elsethat you wish people knew?
Uh, I think at the beginning it wasmore important for me that part, I
guess I wanted people to understand thatwe, both of us were doing an effort.
You're trying to make a newbusiness and me trying to
support us, the family, us, um.
I guess right now it doesn't, it's notthat important for me anymore, mainly

(27:48):
because I guess people see us more like a.
You know, like a family, like a both,and before it was still, even when it was
two of us, like, I guess it was for us.
And I guess for the rest of the people,like, uh, two independent people living
together as a couple or so, whatever.
And we are right now morelike, uh, actually like a

(28:09):
-- a unit.
Yeah, like a unit.
So, I guess right now it doesn't,it's not that important for me.
And also because we're sharing everything,we're sharing your business, we're sharing
the life, we're sharing everything.
So right now, I guess it'snot that important for me.
And it's like, okay, you makemore, I make more, or you do more.
It's the same because we're goingto, if it's not in here, it's going

(28:30):
to be in the other side opposite.
So yeah, it doesn't, it's notthat important anymore for me.
So, I actually don't care aboutthat part of the life anymore.
And I guess it was importantthen, but not right now.
I guess it's whatever it is, it is.
And also, uh, it's right now I'mtrying to get disconnected to that
sensation that is important for me.

(28:50):
What people think is like,okay, it's their thought.
It's their way to think.
It's, It's okay.
It's not my problem.
It's their problem.
They want, if they want to, orthey ask that they want to know.
And if they ask, yeah, I would tellthem, no, it was like this just to give
them information, but not like I wantthem to know, which is the different
thing between, I mean, before andright now, right now, I don't care.

(29:14):
It's like, okay, I don't feelthe necessity for them to know.
So now that you mentioned all of that,and I think I have two questions, one
related to just what it was like to comeinto The Quirky Pineapple Studio and
for us to start working together, whichis y'all, I think that would have to be
a whole other podcast episode becausethat was, I don't know how you felt.

(29:36):
Actually, I think I do know for me, it wasan intense, like six months of adjustment.
Uh, when Mario came in, I don't know ifyou feel the same, but we can get into
that after the second question, I guess.
My question, or I don't know if it'sreally a question, but there were
or there are a lot of like differentpower dynamics in our relationship,

(29:58):
because not only are we dating, we'vebeen together now for eight years-
Eight years
Ummm a very long time.
Okay, that's for you
[laughs] great times,but it is a long time.
Um.
And then we also work togetherand we both come in with

(30:19):
-a long time
[laughs] -but we both come in with likedifferent privileges and then also with
different power dynamics because whenI first came to Spain, yes, I had the
privilege of being a native Englishspeaker of being from the United States,
but then, I think in the beginningof when The Quirky Pineapple Studio

(30:40):
started, we had the power dynamic oflike you had more like financial power,
decision making power, um, you knew morebecause like we were living in Spain
and I was coming back to Spain, not asan English teaching assistant, which is
what I was before and basically havingthe help of the Spanish government.
I was kind of like on my own figuringout like all these processes and

(31:00):
like my Spanish was good, but notgood enough to like defend myself in
like government paperwork type stuff.
You did it great.
Yes, uh, I had to learn very quickly.
Um, but that will be anotherpodcast episode for another day.
Cause that was intense.
And then again, you quit your job andthen, um, you had your own savings
and we were doing like our digitalnomad year, but I was maybe the one

(31:24):
that had more power in that time.
Yeah.
So like I had more power then becauselike I knew and understood business
and you were, you know, learning andnot totally sure what to do and yes,
you had savings and like, you werestill like, you were contributing to
like household things, but I was theone that was kind of like bringing

(31:47):
in the income at that point becauseyou brought in stuff but not enough.
And then when you went back to corporate,we kind of like even out again.
And then now, you know, you work with me.
So it kind of is back to, oh, I'm the onethat has, I guess, a lot more power within

(32:08):
the relation because I am running thebusiness and, Like we share everything,
but I guess it is still like mine, likeyou're not, your name is not like on it.
So what has that been like?
Because I feel like it's switched alot and I guess accepting and like
working through that is interesting.

(32:29):
I guess there are twodifficult things in that.
I guess the first one isjust to accept that the other
person have, uh, more power.
So you need to accept insteadof trying to fight for that.
And if that person has more poweris for something, for a reason.
And the other one is wheneveryou feel and you have more power
is just to control that power.

(32:50):
But because you know, you feelit, and sometimes you let that
power to control yourself.
You ended up being like a halfof a dictator, even when you
love the other person, but youknow, because it's difficult to
control and understand that power.
So those are the two things, like forthe person who has the power in the

(33:10):
moment to control it and the otherperson to let the other person, I mean,
the couple to have the, the power, Iguess is kind of difficult because it's
difficult to what I just said, and atthe same time talking about right now.
Uh, it's even, it has a little bitmore, a difficult part because we're

(33:31):
actually working in the same businessit's not just money or whatever.
It's just decisions at the same time.
Because what sometimes we mix businesswith life in terms that even we
don't know when, even when we try toseparate that and we're doing fine, I
guess, but I would say subconsciouslythere is a thing like, uh, now your

(33:53):
decisions are even, you know, likeover my decisions or over my thinking,
and I'm not saying this in a bad way.
I'm just saying that things like alsowe're exploring and the good thing is,
like I said, because we have workedso you have the power and you're
willing to to understand it and I alsoaccepting that you had the power right

(34:14):
now or more power and that's okay.
But yeah, sometimes itmakes us as a couple.
We do things for both of us.
So I just know myselfsomething for you to do.
And I was checking that, uh, andwhen I told you for you to do it, you
understood as I was going to do it.

(34:35):
Wait, what was it?
The email, you know, for theofficial school for languages.
Ah, yes, yes, yes.
So you understood, like, and you toldme, okay, you do it with that, and I
was like, no, no, I just trying to tellyou, like, you need to do this and you
have to do it like this because, youknow, we're I try to help you because
I know that's important for you.
You have many things on mind,but it wasn't like, uh, I'm not

(34:57):
your assistant in personal life.
I guess when we're working, I don'tmind because that's how we're doing.
So sometimes it's difficult because it'sunconsciously your mind understanding that
even in the real life, I had to do that.
But sometimes we need to work.
And that's why I was saying that.
For the first two things that we didand now working together is another

(35:19):
one, which is like trying even someconstantly not to mix it with real life
Yeah.
I do think it has been interestingbecause like, realizing that, yes,
I have more decision power nowwithin like the context of business.
But then if I remove myself from business,like we still live in not my home country.

(35:44):
I like, I know enough.
And I've been here long enough tokind of like figure things out.
But again, Mario will still havelike the power when we leave,
like the house, for example.
So it's kind of, I think both of usunderstanding where we have like more
power in certain situations and thenhow we can kind of, I think, share

(36:06):
that or bring the other person in.
So then it's not like, Oh superpatriarchal matriarchal where
like I make decisions and likesomebody just has to follow except
for maybe like in the business.
But I do.
I do ask for opinions and stuff like that.
Um-
that's your business.
Yeah.
When it's always I'msaying is your business.
And at the same time, I'm feeling it likeit's our business because we're sharing

(36:29):
a life again, mixing life and business.
But yeah, definitely.
It's your business.
And if you want something inthat way, it's your business.
Yeah, but I mean, I'm just thinking, like,even in the context of business, but then
if we leave or not leave, but like, weclose our laptops and then we're like,
okay, let's just like, live our lives.

(36:50):
I do think, you know, there arecertain things where we ask each
other lots of questions just to makesure, okay, does this make sense?
Like, is this what you want to do?
We try and plan ahead.
Um-
I asked more.
I was-
Yeah, Mario asked a lot ofquestions, uh, that is...
yeah.
When you ask is the only way thatyou can know, because when you're

(37:10):
trying to get sometimes you'reright, but sometimes you're not.
Uh, I guess that's somethingthat also we're working like, uh,
because I'm a person that usuallyI really like to ask things, yeah.
Because how are you going to know?
And also sometimes because myway of understanding things is, I
don't know what happened with mymind, but it's really different.
So a thing in my life is like, okay,I need to ask because I don't know how

(37:35):
other person is going to understand it.
Probably it's going tobe different than me.
Yeah.
Um, for you ask, I mean, wheneveryou really see a question, it's
like, uh, Or you answer with, withnothing, like a really superfluous
something that it doesn't answeranything, or you don't answer.
And it's something like, uh, that'ssomething for you, like, you're getting

(37:58):
better at that and answering all of that.
And me trying to ask less, but...
I think that is not going tochange too much because I didn't
really need to understand.
Yeah, actually, that takes meto the next point of what was it
like to start working together?
I mean, we already mentioned it before.

(38:18):
The first six months were really.
Intense.
Intense, but the way you're sayingit, it sounds like really bad-
It wasn't bad.
It was just, I think a really big learningcurve for both of us, because like, I have
been working by myself without coworkers,which I love not having coworkers for

(38:41):
five years and anybody that I do work withour clients that I have, like scheduled
calls with or with contractors who I havescheduled calls with and we work really
asynchronously and I've never had somebodybe so close to me asking me questions
or like being in my space, I guess.

(39:02):
Cause like I've alwaysworked from home by myself.
'cause like you went into the office.
Amazing.
So that was like a really big shock andI thought it would be fun at first 'cause
I was like, oh my gosh, look, we'llbe together and like we can have lunch
together and like we could be workingin the same office and like we could.
Do fun things and all this stuff.
And that's in your mind.
Yeah.
That was really in my mind y'all.
Cause like in real life, I was like,this is not, this is not for me.

(39:24):
Yeah.
Because when I was trying to make jokesor things like that, you were so annoyed.
Oh, why are you saying those things?
I'm trying to work.
And he's like-
I like working in complete silencewith like my music and that's it.
But you know, that's a confusion for mebecause before you were like, oh yeah,
we can work and say office and blah,I just said play, blah, blah, blah.
But.
It ended up not being like that.
It was like, so you wantto or you don't want it.

(39:48):
But for sure, you can't answer somethinglike that because you didn't really-
I didn't really know.
You don't really know.
Yeah.
And I saw the same time, like whenyou're working in corporate or another
type of jobs, I guess is always.
The space of people, I mean, yourespect the space and time of people,
of your co workers, but I would sayit's different, like, uh, they always,

(40:09):
because the way it's made, like, theirinformation is always, they need to say
to you, and for sure you respect theirtime, but it's different, like, uh, you
call, you ask, and if they're busy ortalking with anybody, you just wait,
or maybe they tell you, okay, maybe ina little bit, but it's something like,
uh, they always, you know, Answer youbecause I guess the company that most

(40:32):
of the companies is like, you need toshare your knowledge with people or-
Yeah.
And you need to have the otherwho work or something like that.
When, for you was you when youstart anybody to stop your workflow.
Yeah, I think that waslike the biggest thing.
For jokes or even for-
Yeah, no jokes now.
Yeah, I like I remember the first couplemonths like we worked in the same office,

(40:55):
like literally right next to each other.
Uh, something that welearned later doesn't work.
Um, so actually I have my ownoffice and Mario has his own office
now and like other parts of thehouse and actually something that.
I think you always say is that you likehaving coworkers and like you like, you
know, stopping and, um, like getting acoffee and like just quickly catching
up with your coworker or like, maybeyou see them and like, you just do like

(41:19):
a little joke and then you carry on.
Whereas like, I-
That's the building, by the way.
Yeah, that's great.
Um, I am all for that.
Uh, but I.
Actually, I'm not all for that.
That's what I want to say.
That's what you say, like,with your mouth, but-
I think because I've workedonline for such a long time, and

(41:39):
I haven't worked with anybody.
I am all for team building, but I can't doteam building like in person all the time.
I remember when I was in corporate andyeah, we had like quote unquote team
building, which was, oh, after work,like, let's all go to the bar downstairs
and like do happy hour together.
And I was like, Oh, no, y'all.
Like, I don't want todo happy hour with you.

(42:01):
Like I'm going home and they'relike, Oh, come on, Cassandra.
Like this is so we can all hang out.
Like we, we don't reallyhang out with you.
And I've noticed that like, maybe.
This might not be true for all companies,but the one that I used to work at, the
more you did team building, well, likeunofficial team building, happy hour is
how you got more projects and how you kindof like were able to get more connections

(42:22):
within the company to do better things.
But I didn't want to participate becauseI was like, I don't like happy hour.
Well, in that term, I guess it'sbecause you're out of the working hours.
I mean, that's what you'resaying is totally true.
Like.
Well, when you are more involved witheverything, even outside, you get
more, more things, but even when I saidbuilding is good because you create

(42:45):
a good relationship with everybody.
I don't agree that much with goingout, I had to going out to get
more things after working hours.
I like doing it when it's like withinworking hours and like, you know, I
know that I'm going to get paid for it.
Or maybe whenever you feel like it.
Oh yeah, or whenever I feel like it.
Or maybe like if somebody were totell me, Hey, we, we've blocked off

(43:08):
today to do a team building exercise.
I'm all for that.
But when it's like an unspoken rulethat you have to like go out and-
-because you have to.
Yeah, like and it's expected of youto so that you can get more things.
Um, I don't like that becauseI have other things to do.
Like, I-
-it's your time.

(43:29):
Yeah.
It's my time.
If I want to do it, cool.
If I don't, I would rather likelay on the couch or I don't know,
watch Tik Toks or I don't know,cook, do gym, yoga, whatever else.
So, I don't know.
Anyways, I think we're getting alittle distracted, but, um, Yeah.
The first six months, I think ofworking together, we, we had to learn
a lot because you're working style issuper different than my working style.

(43:53):
And it wasn't only working in stylebecause in your mind you expected
me to understand everything aboutmarketing when it was like, uh,
Yeah.
-for me, so I didn't understand.
Now, when I was asking that, whatI know one, because I was asking
you and second, why you don't know.
Yeah.
Because I, I think also I'vealways worked with people, like

(44:13):
whenever I contract other people.
They have worked within theindustry and I think bringing-
-or they understand more.
Or they understand more.
And I, and I think I had thought, oh, um,because you had like your online business
for a year, you kind of knew, but I, Ithink I forgot that I not only have had
the business for now five to six years,but prior to that, I basically have been

(44:38):
doing all things online business beforeit was even on like considered online
business since I was like 13 years old.
So I brought in like all of this unspokenknowledge and I think I just thought, oh
yeah, Mario will know, but he didn't know.
No, I didn't.
I'm still learning.
Yeah, but I think like we found a betterrhythm for like our working environment.

(45:02):
Um, I understand more aboutlike your working style.
I think you understand more about myworking style and like how we both
best work and how we like communicate.
And I found that like it hashelped our communication.
I think more because we approachthings in different ways now, whereas
before we might have had like thesame pattern of communicating.

(45:23):
And then because we have now the layer ofworking together on top of it, we found
like different ways to better expresslike, Oh, this is what I was expecting.
This is what I think.
This is how I would do it.
What do you think?
What were you expecting?
Oh, okay.
Why did you want to do it like this?
Yeah, and also is going even deeper withthe emotions that you're feeling, because

(45:48):
at the beginning, what happened is oneof, I mean, both of us say one thing with
the mouth, but felt in a different way.
And now we need to get even deeperwith what is the real feeling
or what we're thinking exactly.
So we can understand and we can first,communicate and make the other person
to understand, which is also at the sametime really important because you need

(46:09):
to make the other person to understand.
So when a person is sayingsomething, there's two jobs.
One, one of the sites needs to.
Put the effort to understand, but theother person needs to make it, uh,
understandable for the other person too.
So it's both person gettinginvolved in that conversation
and understanding of the thing.

(46:30):
Yeah.
And I think also because like we weremixing life, like personal relationship
with work, I think we also had tokind of like put both of our egos
to the side, which is very hard.
It's hard, but
I guess everybody has ego.
I mean, yeah, everybody has ego, butI mean, I just remember like some
of the first arguments that we hadwhen we started working together
and they just lasted for forever.

(46:51):
I was like, Oh my God, like literally Ineed to finish like this client project.
And we're over here arguing aboutlike something so minute that I
was like, Oh my God, this is likeliterally draining me of my energy.
Everybody yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.

(47:11):
So now that we know a little bit ofthe behind the scenes of what it is
like to be part of The Quirky PineappleStudio, before we kind of wrap up the
interview, I am curious to know aboutwhat your experience is like being
in an intercultural relationship.
Have you had like a big culture shockmoment in the relationship or has

(47:31):
everything kind of been like smoothsailing since we started dating?
I think that's a lie.
But, um, What has been, like, the biggestculture shock moment and what I think
has been one of your favorite momentsbeing in an intercultural relationship?
I mean, favorite moments?
For sure, I remember everything becauseI love to learn more things and I love

(47:53):
to understand more things and being inan intercultural relationship is really
easy to have all of that is because you'reactually living it in a way to describe
it is whenever you go on a vacation toa country or you live in the country.
So I would say having aintercultural relationship.
It would be similar toliving in the country.

(48:15):
I'm not saying that is living inthe country for sure, but it's
something like you learn a lotmuch more than when also you just.
Go to somebody and ask, Hey, how is this?
How is that?
I, oh, sorry.
I was going to say, this isnot Mario saying go and find an
intercultural relationship to be in-
-to understand more?
To understand more hahaha.
That is something that I love.

(48:35):
Yeah.
I mean, uh, interculturalrelationship and cultural shock.
I'm sorry we had them.
I mean, we, I had them, but now maybemy mind just want to forget about
it or maybe because that's not theimportant thing or what I care the most.
But I'm sure it was cultural - I guessthis is not something I guess is cultural.

(49:00):
I guess it's at the beginning of ourrelationship because we didn't know
how to speak each other language.
It was more like, uh, trying to expresssomething that was frustrating because.
And I don't know if you aregoing to understand or when But
that's not cultural, I guess.
That's just the language.
Yeah.
Although sometimes I think we still runinto those situations where, like, one of

(49:23):
us will be saying something and then theother person thinks that they understand.
And then later we, like, ask and then oneof us responds with something and we're
like, No, that's not what I was saying.
Do you think that's because it's cultural?
No, I think it's more of a language thing.
Language is also, and also I guesslistening because sometimes we

(49:46):
both, we just assume the first thinginstead trying to understand better.
So we don't put enougheffort to understand.
Yeah, that could be it too becauseI mean, since we've been together
now for eight years, we both kindof like know each other's stuff.
So sometimes I think, Oh, Iknow what Mario is going to ask
in Spanish, or I think I know.

(50:08):
And then I come in with likethinking, Oh yeah, this is what it is.
And then actually it'slike completely not.
Yeah.
Well, I guess that's human.
So.
Yeah.
For me, my biggest cultural shockmoment, I was just .Telling you before
we started recording was when we wereliving in Andalucía and we were together,
I think for a year at that point.
And we started Like we had arguments,um, and I remember your voice was

(50:32):
being raised in the argument andI was, and I got so pissed off.
I was like, why are youraising your voice at me?
And you were confused because you werelike, I'm not raising my voice at you.
I'm like speaking normal.
And I was like, no, you went from thisdecibel to like, ah, and you were like-
I mean, it wasn't AH.
It wasn't, AH-
but it's just like this.

(50:55):
For me, for me, it sounded likedadadada to AHHH, but to Mario it
would have been like dadadada, tomaybe DadaDaDa, and I remember you
were telling me- oh, you know, andso we actually had to like, stop our
argument, which is also very frustrating.
So that we could understand the differentlevels of anger within our cultures,

(51:20):
because for me, being in the UnitedStates, it was like, you're 0 to 100.
And then for you, you were like,well, I think in Spain, it's like, you
know, 0, you know to maybe like 10.
You're now a little bitannoyed to maybe like 15.
You're a little bit more annoyed.
And then when you get to like60 or 70, that's when like

(51:41):
you're really, really angry.
Really?
Really?
No, you are you.
You're in 60.
Oh, you're in 60.
So you're not like really, really?
But I think at 60-
-really, really a hundred.
I guess you're right.
Okay, well, for me-
I see, even when you're expressing anidea with friends and whenever the other
person doesn't, I mean, doesn't have thesame opinion, you just talk for sure,

(52:04):
because it gets more energy of you andyou want to express it more, your voice
- it's very passionate.
Exactly, it's more passionthat- I don't know it.
Even when sometimes it haslike a, uh, nuance of, uh, I
know it because that's normal.
We have layers in, youknow, in our language.
I mean, whenever you're expressingsomething, it can be in tones.

(52:25):
It can be in the word you'reusing and things like that, but
it doesn't mean that you're a 100.
It's just what you just said, it's just-
yeah.
I would say I would say that maybewhen I mean, tones are tones and you
raise your voice, it means something-it doesn't mean exactly the same thing
because as you say, maybe where you'recoming from, just raise a little bit.

(52:45):
It means like.
Somebody's being unrespectful when herewe are more flexible with that, but at the
same time is you're raising the proposal.
Yeah.
That's that's why maybe that'ssomething that to get better.
That's why I'm tryingto control more of that.
And I guess it's becausealso I was more reactive.
And now, right now, that'ssomething else I want to control.
So, yeah, it's a cultural shock,maybe, yeah, because we understand

(53:07):
in a different way, but probably alsoit was something I had to work on.
I do think, though, something thatI have learned since living in
Spain is, like, the debates here.
Maybe I don't know if this is specificallyfrom the United States, but or the area
that I'm coming from, um, debates arelike things that you don't really want to
get into, because maybe you could startdebating with a friend and then at the end

(53:31):
of the debate, you're not friends anymore.
But maybe that's me being likereally adverse to a conflict.
And confrontation, because what I learnedhere is like, people can have debates
and they just like, get very passionateand it could be like a really intense
debate where I'm like, Oh my gosh,they're like, super angry with each other.
They're very, like, upset.

(53:53):
And then at the end of the debate,they're like, okay, well, that was great.
Thank you for sharing your opinion.
I'm going to think about what you said.
And I'm like eh?
But not usually it's like that.
Sometimes people get annoyed and maybe.
They stay like two or three daysor a week, like, I don't want to
know anything about that person.
But after all, it's just a conversation.
They don't have, they don'tthink the same thing as you.

(54:15):
Yeah, that's something I think I havealso learned just living here and
kind of like seeing our friends debateabout things and not being afraid, I
think, to debate and not being afraidthat like, Oh, this person is going
to hate me, or we're going to getinto like this super heated argument.
It's just, Oh, I don't agree withyou, but let me understand why.
And let me understand your points, whyyou believe in this, which I think has

(54:38):
also strengthened a lot of the opinionsthat I have so that I can debate later
on, even though I get very emotionaland can cry, but that's a whole other
thing that I don't think is cultural.
That's just me.
Maybe.
Okay.
So before we wrap up this.
Interview and this conversation, which,by the way, thank you for sharing.
And I know doing this inEnglish is intense for you, but

(55:01):
I think you did a great job.
And there were lots of points whereyou brought in some good vocabulary.
I was like, well-
That's good.
Yeah.
Um, so the second to last questionthat I have for you is, um, what is
a nuanced conversation that you thinkthat we're not having enough of?
In general?
In general, not just us.
Yeah.
For the world.
For the world, that's a big thing.

(55:21):
But, um, yeah.
Um, this is a difficult questionbecause it's depending on my
perspective right now at the same time.
And also, I don't know, I guess it'salso, I'm having, I mean, I'm a white
person which may, I mean, heterosexual.
So, my privilege makes mesee the world different.

(55:46):
So, I'm not the right person tosay, or to answer that question.
But I will, I'm trying to answer thatand I will say that maybe we need to,
because right now my moment is liketo get more into me, like, into my
things, how my, my brain is working.
And not only that, like, trying to,uh, get richer in terms of knowledge.

(56:10):
I will say that we all need that more timefor us because the system we're living
in is like, you need to be productiveto make money, but it's not trying to be
productive in terms of be a better person.
It can be knowledge,behavior, and all of that.
And that's what I'm trying now.
And I guess it would be nice, uh,that everybody, you know, have

(56:31):
more or be more aware of that.
So it's to have a nuancedconversation around time?
No, uh, around, like, beingaware of working of, for itself.
Una persona misma.
Ah, um, being aware ofworking on yourself.
On yourself?
Eso es.
In all the sense, like, it can be like,uh, to understanding more of yourself and

(56:56):
also like having more knowledge of things.
And because usually we don't have thattime or we don't prioritize that, I
would say it's really important to,uh, give a space, uh, and lay the
space, I mean, have some space to doall of that and not just trying to
get money in my mind right now is.
Like, it's better to have lessmoney and try to work more in that

(57:19):
because that's really important andsomething we really need to do because
if not, you get frustrated again.
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And it's important.
All that.
But again, that's a heterosexualwhite person who is a male.
Uh, yeah, for sure.
It's my perspective different.
I'm sure other people will say thereare other things more important.

(57:41):
I think any self awareness is important.
I was, I was thinking, oh, I thought youwere going to say something different,
which was, um, maybe just talkingabout like autoimmune diseases or just
like what it's like to live with one.
I guess ableism is also important because,uh, before when, when I didn't have that,

(58:04):
this disease, uh, what I didn't understandor I treat person, people more like, uh,
I mean, you can do it or why you don'tor why you can't or things like that.
And now I understand that it's different.
Yeah.
That's something that maybebeing aware of that is good.

(58:24):
But at the same time, I'm thinkingthat working on yourself is important.
When you're working on yourselfis because you're making the
effort to understand yourself.
It's easy to make the effortto understand other people, why
maybe in ableism, why they can't.
Yeah.
Well, thank you.
Interesting.
Um, all right.
So last question before we wrap up,do you have any journaling prompts

(58:48):
or exploratory questions for people?
I know you are not a fanof journaling, hahah!
Your face.
Okay, any questions to consideraround like money, budgeting, maybe
about like autoimmune disease?
If you don't, that's okay too.
No, I guess with the things Iwould reflect in are things that
people maybe they can think.

(59:08):
And maybe they can journal a lot of that.
Okay.
If they want it.
Uh, we're talking about many things inmoney and yeah, mindset and everything.
Cool.
Um, I will make a journalingprompt for you all something to
consider, maybe just a questionto explore, um, around money is.
What Mario was saying before, maybethis is more of like an exercise.

(59:30):
Uh, this is something that I think Iactually have to just do my, myself,
which is just like looking at your bankaccount and knowing what it, like the real
numbers of what is actually going in andout, I think is a good exercise to always
do like, I know Mario at the beginningand end of each month, like he actually
looks and checks his bank account.
And sometimes I like find him on thecouch and I'm like, what are you doing?

(59:50):
He's like, I'm hechando las cuentas.
I'm like, which is in English.
I don't know what that is in English.
Checking account?
Checking balances?
Hechando cuentas?
Yeah, it's calculating.
Calculating.
Um-
and maybe it's passing something?
Yeah.
So he's like, oh yeah estoy
--it's like-
Well, I tried to adopt Maria's Way and itdidn't work for me, but, um, I was like-

(01:00:12):
That's something that youneed to do it that way.
Yeah.
Or everybody.
Um, but I was like, oh.
I should at least make it a routineto like just double check so I
can have like an idea of whatis coming in, what is going out.
I'm sure there are most of youwho are already doing this and
I am the one that's like, eh.
So that is an exercise to explore.
So that is all we've gotfor this conversation.

(01:00:36):
Thank you so much, Mario, for beinghere and for sharing and being
courageous to do this entire interview.
I think for an hour in English.
Muy bien!
That was good.
Yay!
Thank you.
And where can people findyou if they are interested?
And do you still offer like financialbudget coaching, money coaching services?

(01:01:00):
Like, where can people find youif they want to connect with you?
Um, they can find me throughInstagram mario.perfern
How do you say the @ thing?
At, at.
At, uh, @mario.
perfern
You know punto is in Espanol?
Dot sorry.
Sorry.
Mario.

(01:01:21):
perfern.
That's, that's me.
Uh, right now it's more like anInstagram, a personal Instagram.
Still, there are some...
Find personal finance, uh, adviceor tips, um, and yeah, definitely
if somebody is interested on that,for sure, they can contact me.
I can't do an invoice.

(01:01:42):
It will be under the table.
Let's not say that online.
Under the table with anagreement or something.
I'm not saying with money.
I didn't say money or anything like that..
Right.
Anyways.
Yeah.
People can contact with me andmaybe we can talk about that and
maybe what exactly they need orif I can help them in any ways.

(01:02:05):
So yeah.
Awesome.
And thank you all for listeningto this episode and we will
see you in the next one.
Stay fierce fam.
Bye.
Ciao.
Thank you for listening.
Gracias.
Ciao.
Hasta luego.
Adios.
Adios.
Adios.

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