Building Ecosystems, One Entrepreneur at a Time with Nerma Albertorio

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. brought to you by High Level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. Today, we'll be breaking down building ecosystems one entrepreneur at a time. To drop these vibe bombs, I brought Nerma Albertorio into EO Fire Studios. Nerma is a strategist, mentor, and entrepreneur dedicated to empowering entrepreneurs through mentoring, strategic planning, and digital visibility, as evident in her initiatives such as Emprende Notas, 100 Ventures, and more. And today, we'll be talking about the entrepreneurial ecosystem, also collaboration and support, how important that is for entrepreneurs, and one action foundation it can take today.

0:40That's you to get going and owe so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Nerma and our sponsors. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies? Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white-label your own software. Say hello to our featured partner, HighLevel, and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today. Over 43 ,000 businesses have future-proofed their business with NetSuite by Oracle, the number one AI cloud ERP, bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, and HR into one fluid platform.

1:23Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine Learning today at netsuite.com slash fire. Nerma, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. I think that a lot of people think that becoming successful is luck and it is not. It's a lot of work. I think that becoming successful is when you are prepared, when the opportunity comes. So for me, that is being successful. It's being ready because opportunities are all over the place. You just need to be able to identify it. And also I think that most people think about success and think about it in terms of money or how big an exit that you have or how you scale fast.

2:25And I don't think about success like that. I think that success is whatever makes you happy. Nerma, I love the start to this episode. And one of my favorite phrases is luck is where effort meets opportunity. So if you're putting in the efforts, the opportunities are going to come and you'll actually be in a position to utilize those opportunities, to take advantage of those opportunities. And then people will say, oh, my God, she's so lucky. No, she was working hard. Exactly. I hate when people tell me that. Is your lucky? No, I am not lucky. I have been doing a lot of work. Oh, Fire Nation. Today we're talking about building ecosystems, one entrepreneur at a time.

3:09And I want to kick off by having you share your background, Nerma, and tell us how your passion for building entrepreneurial ecosystems first came alive. Well, it came alive like 24 years ago when I became a mother and I understood that I didn't have the means to sustain my family. And I was like, I am a professional. I have a bachelor degree and I can't afford to have a decent living for me and my kid. And I was like, OK, this is wrong. This is so wrong. So I was like, I remember a professor in the university that taught me that I don't have to wait for opportunities, that I have the ability to create my own opportunities.

4:03So that's where my journey began when I realized that I needed to get out of a cycle of poverty and with an 8 to 5 job at a wage that it was not minimum, but it was not a wage that it was going to allow me to have the life that I want for my son and for me. I think it was Naval who said that the two most dangerous addictions in this world is heroin and an eight to five salary job. So just think about that, Fire Nation, when you're thinking, should I make that leap? Because, man, it might be dangerous not to. So, Nurma, for Fire Nation Break It Down, what exactly is an entrepreneurial ecosystem and why is it so critical for long-term business success?

4:59I think that is all the support systems that you have around the person that decides to start a business. so when I started my journey and I started my first business it felt very lonely and and if you are doing this for the first time you are going to make a lot of mistakes and you feel alone so when I was starting and I made a lot of mistakes that cost me a lot of money I was looking around and I was like okay where where do I go to find the answers that I was looking for and I didn't find a lot of of I didn't find a lot of places that that you know allow me to answer that it was like no you make these mistakes and it was very admin or very managerial I was like, I think that this is more because we are people, we are human beings, you know, taking a decision and carrying the weight of that decision.

6:12So I understood that we needed a place where you can feel as a person, you know, or where you can be as a person making the decision of starting a business and having the tools that is not only accounting and marketing, is the soft skills about making decisions, working with the consequences of those decisions, understanding that you are not alone, that you are not the only person that makes the same mistakes. And here in Puerto Rico particularly, we don't look at entrepreneurship like an option. We are looking at entrepreneurship like an option now, But 20 years ago, no, 20 years ago, you didn't mention to become an entrepreneur.

7:11It was not thought in universities. We don't talk a lot about that. It was another economic situation here. So developing the ecosystem has been very important for us in order to navigate the economic situation that we have. if you don't have good jobs then you need to have a good ecosystem for people to be able to stay here and to thrive here absolutely and having been living in Puerto Rico now for nine years I just that's amazing I've fallen in love with the island, Nerma I mean, I tell everybody that I say it's such a special place the people are so warm it's such a welcoming culture I mean, I've never been to another place where you can go to Walmart you can be standing in line in Walmart and the person both in front of you and behind you by the time you get to the checkout register have invited you home for dinner.

8:08I mean, where else does that happen? That doesn't happen anywhere else. Like it's happened to me multiple times in Puerto Rico. And like, I remember I went home and I was talking to Kate. I'm like, can you believe this happened? This would never happen in the States. And she's like, I know that happened to me last week. And I'm like, oh my God, this is really a thing. Yeah, we are amazing. I think that we are so amazing, but we don't believe it. so that's part of of of the problem here so that's part of of i think of the mission that we have in my organization it's like hey people we can do it yes and one of the things that i love about the work that we do is that the part when you see in the eyes of a person that they understand that they can make it, that they have the tools, that everyone has the tools to do something by their own.

9:04And for me, that is it. You know, it's like that moment you see the aha moment in the eyes of the person. And that's for me. I love that. It's worth it. I love that. And Fire Nation, we'll be talking about so much more around this topic when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Okay, let's talk about a platform that's completely changing how entrepreneurs are running their business, and they are also our featured partner, HighLevel. If you're an entrepreneur, coach, agency, or course creator looking to grow faster and smarter, HighLevel is the all-in-one platform that replaces your entire tech stack.

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11:25If my business was in need of a platform like this, NetSuite is what I'd use. Whether your company is earning millions or even hundreds of millions, NetSuite helps you respond to immediate challenges and seize your biggest opportunities. Speaking of opportunity, download the CFO's guide to AI and machine learning at netsuite.com slash fire. The guide is free to you at netsuite.com slash fire. Netsuite.com slash fire. Nurmagic, we're back and I want to talk about community. I mean, we were kind of touching upon it just before the break about, you know, how Puerto Rico is such a great island for community.

11:57People take care of each other. They look after each other. They're so warm and welcoming. How have you seen collaboration and support supercharge growth for entrepreneurs? Talk to us about that. I think that after the hurricane, after Maria, collaboration has been the key for us to be able to do a lot of things. I think that a lot of organizations in the third sector particularly came together and did the work to put the business community back in place. So I think that as an ecosystem, when we understand that we don't compete, that we add to each other, then's when change happens. And I think that as founders of our organizations or of our businesses, we have to understand and see the landscape different.

12:56You have a lot of people that complement each other. So I think that as we mature as an ecosystem and as we mature as entrepreneurs or founders, we began to understand that you don't have competitions. You have a lot of collaborators. So if you want to make a bigger impact, you need those competitors and be able to collaborate with them. It's so important for all those reasons that NERMA just shared Fire Nation. And I love this idea that we talked about in our pre-interview chat, Nerma, about one entrepreneur at a time. I mean, it's just such a great idea. Can you really get down to the meat and potatoes about why?

13:43Why does focusing on the individual create these ripple effects that can transform entire communities? Because every one of us has a different set of situations. the situations of JLD are not the same situations of Nerma or Jose or Maria so you carry a baggage with you that is different and you have to address it you have to understand what is the baggage that we are carrying into the the venture that we are going to start that for me I have understand that it defines a lot of things. So you don't discuss publicly your inner things about your situation, if you have credit, if you're not, if you are bankrupt, if you are in a situation of violence in your family and you need to get out, you don't discuss that out loud.

14:49So that's why you need to, or in my opinion in the way that we do things you need to deal with that in a very intimate space so I think that we have to recognize that part when we are training people to become entrepreneurs you can teach you know the basics the marketing the accounting the operations the laws and all that but the part of the person that is dealing with taking the decisions and the conditions that the person have in their surroundings are different and if you don't recognize that you are not giving them the full power of the opportunity i've always loved the word ripple effects.

15:46And it's actually one thing that I always go to when people say, like, what excites you most about Entrepreneurs on Fire, about continuing to do an episode after 13 years, after 4 ,700 episodes. And I say, I love the fact that right now there's somebody in Southeast Asia and they're in a car and they're listening to an episode that I created back in 2015. And something on that episode is going to inspire them to do something cool. Like to me, that's a ripple effect. And like, I love the ripple effects that we can create in this world when we're being people of value. And Nerma, I want to get practical.

16:23What's one action that you would say our listeners, Fire Nation, can take today to start building or contributing to their own entrepreneurial ecosystem? I think that is take the first step. People want to have like everything perfect. You don't have to have everything perfect. You don't have to have this super enormous big idea. You just need to make an inventory of what you have, what are your talents, what are the things that you like and start with that. You don't need a lot of amounts of money to start something. You just need to do the little experiment and see what happens. And I think that it's very important for people to understand that not every good idea is a good business.

17:23And it doesn't matter if you made the experiment and it don't have the result that you want, well, then move to the next idea. I think that we have to demystify that part and we are so afraid of failure and this is not failure this is you know having the experience and the learning experience to take it to the other project it's like that it's like getting out of the fear and because we do it for other people We work for other people and we put 500 % of our energy for others. We'll put 1 ,000 % of the energy for you. That's the message that I always try to tell to my people, my students, my participants.

18:19It's like, if you do it for others, why can't you do it for you? Fire Nation, I hope you're inspired by Nurma today because, man, she is just somebody who is walking the walk. She's talking the talk. And I personally am proud to be sharing an island with her called Puerto Rico. So thank you for what you do, Nurma. It really means a lot. And if our listeners, Fire Nation, want to connect with you, want to learn more about what you have going on, what is your call to action for our listeners today? My call to action is to connect. It's very important to reach for support so you can connect with me and my people in centroparaemprendedores.org.

19:09I know that is difficult, but I know that you write it down in the notes. Or you can also reach me at my personal page. It's nermaalbertorio.com. So you can be able to be in touch with me. Absolutely. We will sync up both of those links, all of those links in the show notes page. Absolutely. Because Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. and you've been hanging out with N.A. and JLD today. So keep up the heat. And yes, the show notes page will have links to everything that Nurma just mentions. And if you just type N-E-R-M-A in our search bar, the whole show notes page will just pop right up.

19:53So just check that out. And Nurma, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with both Puerto Rico and Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we will catch you on the flip side. Thank you. Thank you for the invitation. hey fire nation a huge thank you to our sponsors and nirma for sponsoring today's episode and fire nation are you ready to rock your very own podcast check out our free podcasting course where i will teach you how to create and launch your podcast for free free podcast course.com i'll catch you there or on the flip side are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs marketers coaches and agencies build funnels automate follow-ups manage clients and even white label your own software, say hello to our featured partner, HighLevel, and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today.

20:48Over 43 ,000 businesses have future-proofed their business with NetSuite by Oracle, the number one AI cloud ERP bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, and HR into one fluid platform. Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine Learning today at netsuite.com slash fire.