More (good) Memories, Please!

Between hosting, wrapping and shopping - let us find time to get centered and create a holiday to remember. Here is a simple exercise that will clear the clutter and get right to what matters most. 

This exercise will take no more than 10 minutes

Here's how we get started: (if you have a diffuser and essential oils, now's a good time to turn that on)

• Turn off all distractions and close your eyes
• Take a few deep breaths
• s  l  o  w down the mind
• and get centered on the thought of gratitude and abundance 

Now, ask yourself: What values are most important to me?

Is it family? Giving? Community? Health? Have my values shifted? Are they the same?

Allow yourself time to brainstorm on these questions.  

Take another breath and see if you can identify at least 3 - 5 of your most important values. 

Got them? Good :) 

Now, ask - how can I make joyful memories that align with what really matters to me? What kind of activities am I doing when I'm at my happiest?

If your current or planned activities don't align with your values, it might be a good time to stop while you're ahead. If you're feeling guilty about any of this -- here is your permission slip; it's okay to say no, especially if it means honoring your values.

As we ease into December, know that it's easy to lose sight of what's important during such a fast paced season or worse- because we're too busy keeping up with the Joneses. Now, it's not something we do on purpose, but if we're not careful, we can easily move from holiday joy to stress-overload. 

Let's get clear and intentional on how we want to spend the holidays. Who knows - we might just enjoy them exactly the way we want to. 


Here's a bonus tip: making new memories may include putting your phone in another room and watching precious moments unfold right before your eyes - especially if you have littles at home. 

I challenge you to honor your values and make memories with them. 

Now that our son is two, we're excited to make our own family traditions, while keeping some of our old favorites alive! 

What kind of memories will you create this season?

In health and love, 

Daisy

Honor Generations Before You With More Than a Diploma

Last week, my husband came home from a financial conference, eager to share his new found knowledge. As I listened to all of this great information pour out of him, one powerful quote stuck with me and I can’t shake it off. He said “...Why is it that a single mother can raise 3, 4 or 6 kids, but 6 kids can’t provide for their mother." Shit. How’s that for a rude awakening?

I’m going to let my husband chime in here and tell you the rest, it's pretty good stuff so pay attention:

As second generation Latinos, we are greatly indebted to our parents; sadly, many of us think that debt can be repaid with a diploma and career. This couldn’t be further from the truth and here’s why:

Can you imagine leaving everything you know, to move to a foreign country where you don’t speak the language, many times – completely alone, with a sack full of clothes, risking your life for just a glimpse of what you imagine could be a better life for your family? Many wouldn’t dare entertain the thought. Our parents came here with a vision of freedom and prosperity, and were ready to literally break their back so that their children and children’s children wouldn’t have to. When you think about the perseverance, resolve and selfless-love they have - it becomes clear - a simple diploma couldn't possibly do any justice, but it’s a start.

Changing your family tree and creating a legacy continues with you and me. The journey of freedom and a better life didn’t end with our parent’s arrival and sacrifice; we have to continue to build that empire they envisioned decades ago. This is no small task. In order to provide for previous and future generations, we need to be purposeful in gaining financial, spiritual and psychological freedom, in order to pass along fruitful resources. How can you justify living paycheck to paycheck? Are you investing in your future? How are you gifting financial freedom to those you love? Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter don’t have the answer. That old and tired song "the rich keep getting richer" is just an excuse; surely you can learn what they know about money if you really wanted to, right? It's one thing to ride the "you don't know what you don't know" wave.  It's another to be lazy.

Follow the ambition of the trailblazers before you. Think of this as a never ending relay where the baton is passed on from generation to generation; we have to start taking massive risk like the generations before us. I truly feel that, if you don’t take a big chance on life, you're not only doing our Latino heroes a disservice- but more importantly you're putting your own family at a disadvantage to achieving true freedom.

We also have to keep in mind that if we don’t pass down this champion mentality, this cycle of conformity will continue. How do we expect our own children to look out for us or others if we're not doing the same? Do you think this is something they're going to learn with their heads buried in their electronics? I'm sorry to disappoint but it's not likely to happen. We learn behaviors from those we admire. (And those we influence are always watching).

Start thinking and acting with the big picture in mind, take large risk in your professional and personal life to become financially independent but more importantly, be intentional about changing the path your family is on- just like your parents did before you. For my wife and I, this currently means guiding our parents into retirement; their golden years! For most 1st generation immigrants in this country – it’s safe to say they don’t know the first thing about receiving their dues. Who’s going to teach them? That is up to you, my friend. Set them up for success. They’ve done it for you, now it’s your turn.

Knowledge is not power. Knowledge is potential power; what you do with it is up to you.

-Osbaldo Alonzo
Twitter: @ozz_ito

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Ummm, how amazing is he?! And how luck am I?! Honoring generations before us can be as small and simple as: helping them use technology, guiding and connecting them with relatives on social media, using Google to search for a recipe, something they saw on Univision or whatever they want.

To share more profound knowledge, learn and teach them about investment opportunities, how to maximize their 401K, stocks, bonds... The beautiful thing is that - all of this information is good for you and your children, too!

Love your parents beyond words. It would be a pity to regret when its too late.

If you'd like to know more about investments, 401K, life insurance, etc. contact me and I can put you in touch with this savvy man right here.

-Daisy De La Cruz de Alonzo
Twitter: @hey_dais

Mis dos amores

Marketing Plantains

My fiancé loves listening to ESPN 1000. I mean, what guy doesn't, right? It's his daily dose of sports and I have to admit, I like watching him agree and talk to the radio as if they can hear him :) We were at a bar a few weeks ago and I overheard a conversation he was having about how 'someone didn't know what plantains were.' So nosey me goes- WHO doesn't know what plantains are?? Turns out, while listening to Mike & Mike earlier that day- the hosts brought up a comment about how "The Dominican Team wear bananas as lucky charms." As in, they didn't realize those are not bananas. As in, they had no clue what plantains are. Never heard of one!

Sounds silly, right? Especially because one of the hosts played in Miami at one point in time and the other had been in Puerto Rico for an extensive amount of time. Nevertheless, this sparked somewhat of an interesting conversation on the radio and on social media. I don't think listeners were angry, but rather excited to educate both Mike and Mike on what a plantain is.

I always keep an ear to the ground for a marketing opportunity. What happened next, I think- is brilliant. Someone at a company called Pollo Tropical in Miami caught wind of the conversation (how? I don't know) but they seized the opportunity for a simple and affective marketing ploy. They actually sent Mike & Mike a box of plantains, with instructions on how to cook them in a variety of ways. Lucky for the hosts, they had a chef at the station who prepared them right then and there.

That day, they announced "We've embarrassed ourselves by our lack of culture" and laughed about how they've "been chastised on twitter with the fact that we didn't know about a plantain." Overall they loved tasting platano for the first time. The fact that this conversation carried on for a couple days when it could of been a random mention shows how much we are listening. "We" as in Latinos. Aside from the people that actaully made an attempt to reach the hosts, you can bet there were a hundred others who had a conversation about the incident with friends and family. Like my fiancé did.

Unfortunately, there is a missed opportunity here as well. In my opinion, Pollo Tropical should have taken the free radio shout out and maximized it on social media. I don't see a mention of their efforts on their Facebook page, and their Twitter page is a blank slate.

Never underestimate the power of Word of Mouth marketing!

Catch the full Mike & Mike transcripts here! March 21, March 22

-Dais