What happens after you sell your company for $265,000,000 at 30 years old with Brian Paes-Braga
Hello our beautiful friends! Today we have a raw, insightful and deeply inspiring conversation with our good friend, Brian Paes-Braga. When we look at success stories, we only see highlights, but there is usually a big struggle behind that journey. We are excited to uncover one of them today and share with you an authentic entrepreneurial journey that teaches us to find meaning beyond financial success.
The highlights of this episode:
Brian’s drive to success came from 2 distinct things early in his life:
Brian grew up in Four Seasons Hotel in Vancouver, where his father, proud hotelier, worked as a General Manager. Even though Brian admits that he had a very privileged upbringing, still, his family didn’t have that wealth and social-economic standard that guests of the hotel had. However, the environment Brian was raised in impacted him greatly.
When Brian was 14, his father went back to his native Portugal to run Four Seasons in Lisbon. At that stage of his life, Brian lost a very important male figure that created a void in him. After that, Brian didn’t feel safe and good at home, and it drove him more to a survival type of mentality, where making money was that made Brian feel safe and empowered. He got three jobs: one as a babysitter, another one at McDonalds, and then at a school cafeteria. These jobs shaped him and taught him how to deal with people and understand the power of time management.
“I found now that my deepest wounds and scars are actually becoming the greatest gifts I have.” – Brian Paes-Braga
Brian found the ultimate motivation and mentorship in Frank Giustra, a Canadian businessman, mining financier and global philanthropist. Brian followed his success journey, and after 9 and a half years, he was able to finally pitch his idea to Frank and, eventually, become friends and business partners with him.
Brian was raised with a lesson not to ask for favours. That’s why, through those years, Brian admits he was working toward being prepared for that day: he was focused on building himself, constantly thinking about what could he bring to the table, and preparing himself to be the greatest partner he could be by sharing his passion, excitement, ambition and energy.
“A mixture of persistence, consistency and patience brings the greatest rewards.”– Brian Paes-Braga
Around 15-16 years old, Brian job shadowed a real estate agent, and started to think about his life goals. They were clear, ambitious and hyper-focused on financial success and material goods–Brian aspired to become a millionaire in his 30s. And he achieved those goals. But, then came a pivotal moment in Brian’s life, a personal rockbottom as he calls it, when after a break up, he felt lost and depressed.
Brian realised that he was only focusing on the financial success, living in a survival mode and numbing his feelings. What he really wanted–what he needed–was to fall in love with himself and redefine what success truly means. Now that Brian did a lot of work on himself, his goals are to build a wonderful family; learn about himself and his past; not living in fear; and live a life that’s in service for others.
“This rock bottom, professional success and a hard break up, gave me the greatest gift: an opportunity to explore my personal side.” – Brian Paes-Braga
Here is what else we discussed in this episode:
How traumatic experiences can become our greatest gifts and teachers
Pivotal, breakthrough moments in life
Challenges that make us stronger
Falling in love with yourself
How the Universe responds when you reach the rock bottom
Material, financial goals Vs. goals focused on personal well-being and growth
Following and getting inspiration from success stories of other people
Intuition, visualisation, law of attraction
Possibilities to start saving at a very young age
Focusing on building yourself and becoming better
What it is being a college/university drop out
Finding the right environment to achieve your goals
Surrounding yourself with inspiring people
How being fired can be your greatest opportunity to rethink your life
Finding the commonality may be a great way to connect with someone
The benefits of soft, gentle persistence works
The power of patience
Why it’s important to build personal relationships with business partners, employers, co-workers
The importance of awareness for creating an authentic life vision
Hope you enjoyed this week’s episode with Brian Paes-Braga, you can find out more about him here:
Brian’s Website
Brian’s Instagram
Brian’s Podcast
Links to what we mentioned in this episode:
The Enneagram Personality Test
Timing, Gold and Staying Grounded with Frank Giustra – Podcast episode by Brian Paes-Braga
Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
Designed to inspire you to live your own dream life.
You can find out more about Alex and Mimi here:
Mimi’s Instagram
Alex’s Instagram
https://www.youtube.com/mimiikonn
https://www.youtube.com/alexikonn
Produced by Jason Sanderson - Podcast Tech
Show notes by Veronica Joce
