The Journey To Freedom

You only ever gain freedom when you learn how to surrender. Does that sound paradoxical? Well, it isn’t! Yanet Borrego learned this throughout her journey of finding her true, authentic self and connect with her purpose for existing in this world. In this journey, she learned that we can only truly be free if we learn to embrace uncertainty, let go of our attachment to the outcome, show up with our gifts, and create in the present. This message rings clear in her conversation with the amazing Erika Cruz, the rebellious host of the Chingona Revolution Podcast. Tune in as these chingonas give their take on what it truly means to be free, and how you can help yourself get there.

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The Journey To Freedom

I am super excited to connect with you again. These past few months have been crazy. I rebranded my business, and my husband and I welcomed our niece. I had a couple of speaking engagements. I have been onboarding new coaching clients. It has been super hectic in a very good sense. One of my mentors would say, “That is a high-quality problem.” In that transition, because I have so much going on and I'm one person, I am hiring my first operations business manager, so I'm super excited. Back then, because I was one person, I decided to switch the frequency of this show from weekly to monthly, but honestly, I've missed you guys. I'm going to switch it back from monthly to weekly.

The time and the energy spent are all worth it. I keep receiving positive feedback from all of you from the past episodes. I'm going to go all in again. This show is a few years already, which is crazy. What a beautiful journey. I'm so excited to connect with you. This episode is a little bit different because I'm reposting one interview that I had in a super inspiring and powerful show. This podcast is called Chingona Revolution. Its host is Erika Cruz. She's my business coach and she's amazing.

She interviewed me for her podcast and I shared my whole journey to freedom from leaving Cuba to getting into the United States. There are so many highlights and inspirational stories. Also, we talked about finding your purpose and truly aligning with who you're meant to be because it's only at that time that you'll be able to attract more abundance and fulfillment into your life.

It's a truly powerful episode. I hope you enjoy it. Please share it with your friends and family. Let's continue empowering each other to live our best lives and to truly fulfill our potential with clarity, confidence, and courage. I hope you enjoy it. Please send me messages if you do. Post a review. I appreciate all of you so we can continue empowering this beautiful world.

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I love episodes like this because they aren’t planned. If you haven’t noticed already, I can be spontaneous and adventurous. As you know, we’re all about going with the flow and letting things lead us. I have a super special guest in this episode. I am in Houston, Texas for a VIP day with one of my amazing private clients. I cannot wait to hype her up and tell you all about everything that she’s been able to accomplish in the short time that we’ve been working together and what she’s been able to accomplish in her life.

As we were sitting in her VIP day and we were talking about her story, I was like, “People need to hear this story.” What did we do? We packed up our stuff, came to my Airbnb, and now we are sitting next to each other having this interview. I already know it’s going to be an amazing episode. I have my private client here, Yanet Borrego, who is such a badass. Please introduce yourself. Tell us who you are and what you do.

First of all, thank you so much for having me here. I love this spontaneous and adventurous side of Erika. Thank you for having me here. My name is Yanet Borrego, and I’m a Purpose and Mindset Coach. I help people fulfill their potential with clarity, courage, and confidence. Erika and I have similar visions and missions. We support similar people. That’s why we have connected at such a deeper level. I’m so thankful for you.

You are this Chingona, and it’s such an honor to work with you and support you. Take us back. Tell us a little bit about who little Yanet is. Where were you born? What was your childhood like? Tell us a little bit about those early years because your life now is different than it was when you were a child.

It’s different. I was born in Havana, Cuba, the largest island in the Caribbean. I lived there until I was nine years old with my mom who was single. My dad and I divorced when I was a baby. I didn’t grow up with a father figure. My uncle was more of that father figure and then my grandmother. We were a small family of three. My mom, since I was little and since I was born, always had a dream. She had a dream that one day, her daughter was going to have the freedom and the possibilities that she couldn’t have because Cuba is a communist country.

If you’re born in Cuba, you don’t have the freedom that you get to enjoy here in the United States. In Cuba, the government has most of the control, and that includes the control of the people who are born there. For example, if you want to visit a country or if you want to live somewhere else than in Cuba, that is not possible. The government has to approve everything.

The only two ways of leaving Cuba are 1) If you have family outside of Cuba, and 2) If you’re working for the Cuban government. That’s it. You cannot leave just out of pleasure like we do here. Also, education is highly controlled. One day, she had a dream that her only daughter was going to have that freedom that she couldn’t enjoy, but she didn’t know how. She didn’t know the details or the logistics of how that was going to happen but she had that dream.

When I was nine years old, she met my stepfather whom she married and they were in love. He was working for the Cuban government. During that time, he got an assignment from the Cuban government to work in Mexico City for three years only. After three years, we needed to go back to Cuba. It’s because there is not that freedom that we enjoy here.

I was nine years old. We left for Mexico City. I did part of my school there. I had amazing friends. When the three-year mark hit, one week before going back to Cuba, we had the flight tickets and everything, Mom told me in our apartment, “Yanet, we are not going back to Cuba, but you cannot tell anyone. You cannot tell your friends, you cannot tell our family, and you cannot tell your stepfather.”

This is better than a novella. I have chills all over my body and I have so many questions. Keep going.

My stepfather was living with us. Now, let me give you some background on the relationship. He had cheated on her. The relationship went downhill completely. I’ve always been the priority of my mom up-to-date. She lives with me now. She knew what she wanted. She had a vision. She wasn’t supporting the relationship and she chose her daughter. She had to leave every single thing that she knew resources-wise, family-wise, knowledge-wise, and language-wise. She left everything so I could have what she didn’t have.

She’s the most courageous woman I’ve ever met. She has been a great example for me to continue reinventing myself. I was twelve years old. I’m like, “That doesn’t make sense, but I’m going to trust my mom.” That night, funny enough, my Mexican friends organized a surprise party because I was going back to Cuba. I went there and I couldn’t tell anyone, “No, I’m not going back to Cuba.” We are running away without anyone knowing.

It was this process of being, “Thank you.” They gave me so many toys and cards. This is going to be harsh what happened next but we had to do it. After we came back to the apartment, my mom gave me scissors. She was like, “We need to destroy all of these because we cannot take any of the things they gave you.” I was told twelve years old. Thinking back, that’s an intense thing to happen to a child, but I always trusted my mom. I knew this was for the better.

The day when we were running away arrived, and my stepfather went to work at 4:00 AM. After he left, my mom literally woke me up and she was like, “Let’s go.” We had the luggage ready because we were going back to Cuba, but we were running away. When I woke up and I started getting ready, he came back. I know you’re not going to believe it, but it was crazy. He came back because he forgot to drink coffee. My mom was like, “Yanet, go back. Act like you’re asleep.”

I’m holding my breath.

If I were my mom, I would have had an anxiety attack. I’m like, “Abort. This is not happening.” He came back because he forgot to drink his morning coffee. He got his coffee. He left and then we finished preparing everything. We had someone waiting for us downstairs, and then that person took us to Leon, Mexico. Someone from Puerto Rico was helping us. It was my mom’s uncle. We went there without knowing how long we were going to be hiding. We didn’t leave a note. We didn’t leave anything.

When he came back, he was like, “Where are these people?” He needs to contact the embassy. At this point, they don’t know. Were we kidnapped or did we run away? They don’t have the information to figure it out. We didn’t leave anything. Later on, they figured out that we ran away, but our family didn’t know either because it wasn’t safe to tell anyone, not a single soul.

We ended up staying for six months hiding in Leon, Mexico. After six months, we were given the signal of, “Let’s go. We are going to take you to the border.” They left us in a side before the officers could see us because that’s not legal. We walked towards a building that we saw between Laredo, Texas, and Mexico at the border. They then started yelling at us. They were like, “What are you doing?” It’s because we don’t know how we are.

When we showed our Cuban passports, they calmed down because, at that point, Cubans have the right to remain in U.S. territory once we touch land because of the damaged relationship between Cuba and the United States. They know that if you go back to Cuba, you’re in danger of what could happen to you. We asked for political asylum. They interviewed us.

Part of the process was that my mom had to demonstrate scenic panic. It’s panic about going back to Cuba. It has to be believable in a way. The next day, they gave us a green card where you need to contact a lawyer in the next six months so you can start working your permanent residency. From there, we flew to Puerto Rico where my mom had an uncle. Those were my early earlier years until twelve years old. That was my upbringing until twelve years old of reinventing ourselves, starting back over again, and a lot of uncertainty. I cannot imagine what my mom felt with the only child doing things she had never done before. It’s crazy.

I didn’t realize that you were in Cuba until you were nine. You were raised there.

I was raised there until I was nine years old.

Those are your developmental years.

I had a great time. I was telling you. I remember writing poetry. I’ve been a very deep person since the beginning. My uncle would always give me books to read, and it was a lot of playing outside. When it was raining, I was playing in the rain. I enjoyed it, but I wasn’t the adult. My mom was. I didn’t see that bigger picture like she saw.

It was your world. It was all you knew. What about when you went to Mexico? How was that transition? I think about us as we’re growing. We’re almost like a tree where we grow these roots, but you were literally picked up and planted somewhere else for a little bit and then picked up and planted somewhere else. You were moving around. How was that experience?

From Cuba to Mexico, from what I can remember, I had pleasant memories. I went to a school where the embassy placed me where there were a lot of international students too. There were a lot of Mexicans but also international students from France and Spain. There were two more Cubans. I enjoy the culture. I ate a lot. In those years, if you see pictures of me, I look like a little balloon. I would be hiding my food because Mexican food is amazing, but I enjoy the cultural aspect. I remember writing poetry. I made a lot of spiritual connections in Mexico like doing spells. Since a kid, I have been doing crazy spells. It was a lot of fun for me.

I have so many questions. I want to ask about your uncle and then I want to ask about spirituality as well. You went to Puerto Rico. At what point did you come to the Mainland US? Puerto Rico is part of the US as well.

We crossed the border in October. When I got to Puerto Rico, that was almost the end of one of the school semesters. It was hard because the only thing I always worried about as a kid was, “What about school? I’m not going to make it. I’m going to be behind.” That was my concern. When I got to Puerto Rico, we were looking for schools. My mom’s uncle placed me in a great all-girls school. People there were very prosperous financially. It was a lot of great education, but it was an all-girls school.

I never had experienced that in my life. Also, the language. Even though Puerto Ricans speak Spanglish, the educational system in Puerto Rico is, most of the textbooks, at least in that school, were in English. I knew a little bit, but I didn’t know any English. I was starting the semester super late in October in an all-girls school. I didn’t know anyone. I didn’t know the language.

It was overwhelming. Also, and I was in a society that was highly prosperous which was different than my upbringing. To me, that was finding the sense of where I belong because I feel I don’t necessarily fit in now. I don’t remember these. I probably suppressed these memories, but some people later on told me, “I remember when you got to school, you would be crying almost every day at the end of the school day.” It was because I thought it was so much the pressure I was feeling.

As I was entering that high school, some of the teachers were like, “She’s not going to make it. This is October. We have two more months.” There were teachers who believed in me, but there were some that were like, “No. She’s not going to make it.” Somehow, I was able to apply myself and I didn’t get behind. I ended up taking a summer not because I did badly but because I needed to advance the material I didn’t take.

Everyone was very supportive in Puerto Rico. I finished my high school. I did Chemical Engineering. That’s what I chose to study. Why? It was because I loved chemistry at that point, and part of my vision in life was always to give back to my family. I knew my mom had sacrificed every single thing that she had. As a kid, I was like, “How can I give back? How can I support you?” I was carrying that with me at all times. Chemical engineering made sense because it pays well, and then it had that chemistry component, but I didn’t know what I was choosing to study. I did my chemical engineering years. During those years, I did a couple of internships in the Mainland with Marathon Oil and with ExxonMobil. They ended up giving me two full-time offers.

That’s why I came to Houston, Texas to work with ExxonMobil in my first corporate job. It was a lot of fun. At that moment, I thought like, “I made it. I’m 23 years old with a six-figure salary. I followed the success checklist I was given. Now, I can give back to my family.” Even though I had all of these things, the first year, I realized I was not fulfilled. That’s when my true journey of finding my purpose and getting to know myself started.

Let’s put a pin in that. I have so many questions. The reality in Cuba is that you can’t just walk to the store and go buy groceries or toothpaste.

Yes. They give you a ration. The government gives you a portion of food per month. For example, they give you twelve eggs for the whole month.

I need more than that myself.

Me too. My mommy is like, “You wouldn’t have survived back in Cuba.” Now, things have opened up a little bit because there is so much scarcity that they need to do something about it. Now, people can go to the market to buy things, but the thing is where the money is coming from for people because, so many times, things are way more expensive than what they earn. That’s where the disparity comes into play. There is a lot of scarcity. Even my uncle who died from cancer, they were trying to find a tank of oxygen for him and they couldn’t. The scarcity, unfortunately, is at that point of medicines, food, and things like that. It’s tough.

That’s specifically what I wanted to talk about where growing up in such scarcity was the norm. Whenever you went to Mexico, did it feel more abundant?

People have asked me, “Where in your life was the happiest moment? Is it Puerto Rico, Mexico, or Cuba?” I’ve always said Mexico because I felt that Mexico was the place where I had everything in a way. I had a father figure, which was my stepfather. I had my mom. I had the opportunity. We weren’t going back to Cuba because we were in Mexico legally working for the Cuban government. I had everything at the same time, but when my mom chose freedom over scarcity, there was a big trade-off, which is family, unbeknownst what we had known before.

You go to Puerto Rico where in this school of Puerto Rico, people are doing very well financially. My question for you is how have you navigated literally your development years being in such scarcity and then being exposed to so much abundance? How has that played a role in who you are now as a person and a business owner?

How I navigated was, when I look back, I was in survival mode. Since a very young child, I was like, “How can I support? How can we survive?” When we are in survival mode and we are reacting, we don’t create abundance or the time to dig deeper, be more proactive, and ask questions. My uncles always told me that meditation and all of these things are people who have made it to a certain degree because the people who are in survival are not worried about meditation. They’re worried about what’s next to eat. What’s the food that I need to get on the table, which is so true. We are so fortunate that we get to work on these areas.

And when we are in survival mode and we are reacting, we don't get the abundance or the time to really dig deeper and be more proactive.

 

As a kid, I was adapting. I was following the checklist of what I needed to do to help my family and for me to get there and to make what success is for the American dream. That helped me because I was able to make it. Thanks to that, I created an abundance to go to personal development trainings, to hire mentors, and to hire coaches, which is what ultimately led me to more clarity and more purpose.

I feel I haven’t answered all of it, but I think that’s all. The other lesson, Erika, was that the only constant in your life is people. It’s relationships because as we reinvented ourselves, we had to start many times from zero. We have to start our resources and language from zero. We didn’t know anything, but throughout this journey of reinvention, what sticks in your mind is the connections, the relationships, and the people.

That also inspired me to align my career, which is my business now to help people reinvent themselves, fulfill that potential, and fulfill that dream that, sometimes in your mind, you don’t think it’s possible. Look at my mom. What are the odds of living in Cuba? I was telling Erika. The maximum salary that my mom had in her life was $20,000, and here I was 23 years old with a $100,000 salary, breaking all of the odds and the conventions. I had never imagined in my life that it was possible for me.

I have so many stories about even getting interviewed. I was so afraid to speak the language. In Puerto Rico, there are a lot of people who are afraid of speaking English or going to the job fair. I saw it in my college years all the time. The first time I spoke fluent English was in an interview, and it was here in Houston, Texas. Isn’t that crazy?

It’s a full-circle moment.

Even more full circle than that, I gave a speaking engagement to that corporation, Marathon Oil, a few months back.

I have chills all over.

They were the first company who give me that opportunity. I remember thinking, “There are people here from MIT, Georgia, and all of these. The only one from Puerto Rico was me.” It was a scholarship fund that I had earned. I was so concerned, but when you trust, when you dream, and you show up, anything and everything is possible.

There are many good things. I want to quickly highlight because we have very different stories, but I feel like there’s a lot of common themes. One of those common themes is that our moms paved the way for us. If you compare how much money they make or what their life was like, it’s not comparable, but our lives wouldn’t be possible without everything that they’ve done.

When I look at my mom, she’s traditional, but she’s also a rebel herself. She’s been the one that made it okay for me to be a rebel. Even if she thinks I’m too much of a rebel, I’m like, “Woman, you’re leading the way.” With your mom, you’ve already given her so much credit. What would your life be like if you were still in Cuba?

It’s so different. My mom gave me that example of breaking the mold of following the unconventional path and taking a risk. Now, she’s much more afraid of things because of everything that she went through in her life, but she gave me that example of creating my own reality and reinventing myself. It doesn’t matter what the goal is. It is possible.

Tell us a little bit about the power of belief and faith.

When we take the story of being in Cuba, you have this government. This government is so much bigger than one person. My mom had this hope and dream that one day, she was going to get out. The why was clearly defined. The why was freedom for her and her daughter. The what was getting out of Cuba. The how, she didn’t know how. In her wildest dreams, she wouldn’t have figured out how things unfolded. Many times, we get so attached and so focused on how, to want to know the granular steps of how everything will unfold that we lose faith. We lose the connection to the why. The lesson here is this, and I say it on my business all the time because I’m creating something I’ve never created before.

The lesson here is as long as you’re connected to the why and you believe that you have all the resources within yourself to succeed, and you keep believing and showing up with that unwavering faith, which takes the practice of connecting to it every single day, the how will magically unfold in ways we cannot even imagine. That’s the real importance of believing.

That was such a perfect example of the situation your mom was in getting you out of Cuba. You knew that you were going to provide for your family, but you didn’t know how, and ended up in Houston with a six-figure salary. Also, leaving all of that behind to start your business. You were like, “Is this even going to work?” Now, it’s obvious that this is just the beginning and you are about to kill it. You’ve already started killing it.

Thank you so much. Now, I feel stronger because I’ve worked on that spiritual aspect. The spiritual aspect is so foundational. It’s not spirituality in terms of religion or anything like that. It is spirituality in terms of connecting to that greater purpose however the label is. If the label is God, Universe, or the universal intelligence within yourself, it doesn’t matter, but it’s knowing that you’re always divinely guided and supported along the way. We are not alone, and that’s helpful. It has helped me tremendously.

It’s helped me a lot as well. You bring up such a good point where sometimes we think of spirituality and we think it has to look a specific way, like maybe how our parents taught us that religion was, but it’s more about you connecting to whatever you feel aligned to, whether that’s the source or the Universe, as you mentioned. I almost feel like when we allow ourselves to be divinely guided, it takes the pressure off of us.

When we try to do everything ourselves or we’re so much in our logical mind and make it about us, we’re setting ourselves up for failure. When we believe in something bigger, even if it’s only believing that coincidences are on our side or that magic can happen, whatever it is that you want to believe in, when you start to believe that, it’s when nonattachment happens. That’s when you can let go, surrender, and let things happen for you.

Many times, we want the certainty of things, but in certainty, there is no creation. It’s because the only moment we can create from is the present moment. If you think of the present moment, that’s uncertainty to its fullest. We think we know what’s going to happen next, but we don’t. Bringing the present moment, we tap into that creation energy, which is also a feminine energy that you talked about.

There is no creation in certainty, because the only moment we can create from is the present moment, and the present moment is just uncertainty to its fullest.

 

Even one of your four Ms, like Masturbation that you talk about all the time, it’s all about the creation energy. Giving birth is all about the creation energy. That’s the fullest manifestation of the feminine. Getting into a feminine is relying more on uncertainty and intuition, like doing this show. Erika didn’t plan this episode. I didn’t.

She looked at me. She smiled and laughed. I knew this laugh was a laugh of, “This is a crazy idea. I don’t know you’re going to do it.” She had this laugh, and I knew what that laugh meant. You brought up this idea, and we went intuitively trusting because this idea was a download from your higher self from your intuition of like, “Do it,” and you went with it. That’s the magic. That’s the power.

You said something that was such a mic-drop moment. You said, “From certainty, doesn’t come creativity.” Creativity and creation come from the present moment. The reason it happens there is because there’s no plan already laid out. It’s like, “You are the author of your life and you get to create that.” That’s the power of that present moment, and that’s huge because all people want is, “I just want to know.”

All they want is certainty, but it’s like, “What’s the fun in that?” The whole reason we came to this physical plane was not for certainty. It was to explore, to be adventurous, to be spontaneous, and to allow the present moment to take us to the next place. You held a masterclass all about creating certainty during uncertain times. Was this one of the things that you talked about in your masterclass?

Totally. Uncertainty is our competitive advantage.

All of us are out here trying to plan our weeks and lives.

It is a competitive advantage because people rely more on uncertainty, and we are all working on this. This is a lifelong journey, but the more you rely on uncertainty, the more you tap more into this gift that you have been given as you were born into this physical life, which is the gift of creation. That’s the power of uncertainty because if we rely on certainty, we are so small-minded. We have so much subconscious programming that limits us, and wanting to project things is too small for our magic. Living in certainty is like following the status quo. It is boring.

However, uncertainty is like, “I’m trusting this inner voice,” that is talking to you at all times. We shut it down until something happens or there is a crisis. That’s one of the biggest lessons. We were talking about breaking your engagement. I was talking about stepping out of my corporate career. We did it from a place of things are good. This is not something because I hate it or anything. It is because I know within myself that it’s not aligned and I have to trust that and go with that.

Many people stay in situations because they can convince themselves that it’s not that bad.

We run this pattern of tolerating pain. Let’s see who tolerates the most pain, and that’s related to self-worth.

We then tie it back to, “My parents went through so much and sacrificed so much. I can manage this.” However, we’re just repeating the cycle. If they went through that sacrifice, why would we do that to ourselves?

We owe them to step it up and do better.

We were talking about how, a lot of times, we need to work on the things that we’re helping our clients through. It’s so crazy how clients can be mirrors. The coaching I was giving you earlier was you are such an intuitive and spiritual person, but people don’t know that. What’s crazy is the same thing is with me. People don’t know that I pull cards for my clients. They don’t know that I meditate every single day and that I journal. Also, I feel like I’m divinely guided. The reason I brought it up was because you are the last private client that I took, and I’m so glad that we worked together.

She admitted that she almost didn’t want to take me. You were like, “I thought about taking this call,” but I guess you went with your gut and you didn’t.

You broke in. I don’t know how you got the link. It wasn’t even available anymore.

I don’t remember because now your calendars are grayed out. I remember looking after and I’m like, “I don’t know how I got in.” Those are the crazy things that you’re like, “How did we end up connecting?” It’s a magical manifestation.

You gave me a little bit of, “I don’t know. I just made another big investment.” I was like, “That’s totally fine.”

She was like, “Don’t worry. I’m not in a hurry. I’m not taking any more clients.” I’m like, “No. Let me figure this out.” I emailed you hours after or the next morning. When I know, I know and I knew. It is that energy of like, “I’m good. If you’re here or not, don’t worry.” That’s the power or the energy of that abundance of, “I’m good. It doesn’t matter if I have clients or not. I’m a coach.”

It is not letting that environment shape your identity. You are who you are no matter what. I am abundant. It doesn’t matter what the outcome is. I know who I am and I’m being that. We want clients and all that stuff. I’m not saying the opposite, but it’s about remaining truthful to who you are and letting go of attachment to the outcome. That’s powerful.

Remain truthful to who you are and let go of attachment to the outcome.

 

The reason I brought this up is because I’m so glad that we’re working together and that you ended up signing up, but I already knew I was creating a mastermind that’s going to take place for my private coaching. As I was trying to figure it out, I knew I wanted it to be called Magnetic Mastermind. The reason it’s called Magnetic Mastermind is because when you put two magnets together, what happens? They energetically are attached to one another.

A lot of us are out here are magnets, picking up rocks. What happens when you put a rock by a magnet? Nothing. It doesn’t stick. A lot of us are out here chasing jobs that are unfulfilling, relationships that are unfulfilling, and chasing clients instead of attracting them when we are all such powerful beings that can attract so many amazing things.

That’s the name of it, but as I was looking at what I wanted to work with my clients on, I realized the missing piece was spirituality. What I decided for this mastermind is to focus on three things. It’s helping you improve your strategy because we all need a strategy, but simple strategy, spirituality, and yourself.

It helps you improve those three things. It’s so crazy that I was giving you this coaching, and I was like, “Erika, you needed that coaching yourself.” We end up being this mirror to one another for our clients. You moved to Houston for work. You left it to start your business. I want to ask you about your experience with your clients, but tell us a little bit about that jump from a very successful career to becoming a business owner. What happened?

I started working in corporate as a process engineer and as a capital projects engineer. Within the first year and a half, I realized, “Yes, I’m successful on the outside, but this is not what success means to me.” I don’t know what that is because I never asked myself, “Who am I? How do I work? Why do I think this way?” I knew that I had to do something in order to start gaining clarity on my purpose and who I was. The first training I ever went to was Unleash the Power Within with Tony Robbins. I walked on fire which was funny because I was in a refinery. I’m like, “I’m sure these people don’t think this is safe.” Safety in a refinery is number one. People were like, “You walked on fire.” I’m like, “Yes, I did and it was amazing.”

I started investing in myself getting surrounded by a community of people that I didn’t have because I realized one pattern. Most people were unfulfilled, but they were too afraid to do something about it, and that motivated me to do something about it. It not only makes my purpose of guiding and leading people to fulfill their potential and live out of love instead of out of fear. It’s because there is this fear epidemic. We are leading our lives with fear.

I figured that out. Also, I had an anxiety attack because I was tolerating so much misalignment that the last was going to yell, “Stop. It is your body.” My body literally was the last indication of, “This is not aligned with me with an anxiety attack.” That moment I started aligning my corporate career to my purpose. I started aligning all the skills I needed in my corporate journey in order for one day to have my business, the business I have now.

From engineering, I went to supply chain because it’s services-oriented, and more people-oriented. I was negotiating multi-million dollar contracts with suppliers, which was super fun. It was a lot about behavior, about understanding people, and how I can influence them. I got my first coaching certification back in 2015. It was a leadership coaching certification on the John Maxwell team.

I was using all my corporate vacation in order to build my skills as a coach because I always knew that was my purpose as a coach and as a speaker. From the supply chain, I went to consulting. Why? It’s because that was even more aligned with coaching, to that long-term vision that I have for myself. I moved from ExxonMobil to Accenture. At the beginning, I was like, “This is so different.” Consulting is another beast. It is way more entrepreneurial, which was perfect because I started getting familiar with that piece. I stayed for two years there. I loved it. I did well. I was promoted to manager and on the side, I started my side coaching business with paid clients.

I was doing it professionally on the side, on the weekends, or in the evenings. In 2021, my uncle, who was like a father figure to me and a mentor taught me about meditation, NLP. He taught me about most of the things I know now. I’ve been strengthening the content and the information, but he passed away from cancer and he had many dreams he couldn’t fulfill.

For me, that was such a big wake-up call of, “What am I waiting for? I have the foundations built. I have clients. I started getting referrals while working on corporate. I don’t know if I’m going to leave tomorrow so I’m going to take this leap of faith and make it happen.” Again, I didn’t hate my job. I wasn’t moving away from anything. I was moving towards a bigger aspiration. I was moving towards helping people fulfill their potential, and I needed to lead by example at that moment.

I told my corporate job and they were nice. They gave me a one-year leave of absence. That was the sweetest thing. They were like, “We respect your dreams and we understand the uncle's situation. What if we give you a one-year leave of absence for you to test full-time entrepreneurship and if not, you’re welcome back?” It wasn’t paid of course, but I was an inactive employee.

It doesn’t matter. That was a safety net. In my head, I’m like, “I’m following through with plan A and there is no plan B. I’m not going back.” That year, I quit. I was doing full-time entrepreneurship already, but I officially quit and I love being a coach. I love speaking. I love making a difference in people’s lives and helping them realize their dreams because dreaming big is practical. That’s where the practicality is.

We think many times that it’s impractical, but it’s the total opposite. The practical part is staying where we are driven by fear. That’s what I’ve been doing. I hired you as a coach recently because integrity is such a big value for me. The best coaches have coaches like you have had for years. I always need to continue improving myself for my clients. I want to show up for them. What I help them with is fulfilling their dreams in every sense and helping them manifest their dream career and partner. It’s fulfilling their potential spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically in whatever they need. That’s the exciting part.

Have you seen versions of Yanet in your clients?

Totally. Here’s the thing. I see a pattern in several clients. For example, if a client is arriving late and then I see another client arriving late to a call, I start asking myself, “What is this an example of for me?” For me, it’s a boundary violation. Integrity and punctuality are important to me. I ask myself, “Where am I violating a boundary?” If I’m attracting this pattern into my reality, it means that I’m doing it somewhere, or maybe I’m doing it with myself.

I’m not setting or enforcing boundaries with other people. Every time I see a pattern in my clients or them struggling with something, I have to do my inner work as a coach and ask, “How is this also a projection of what’s going on in my life? Also, what’s going on with me?” That’s the beauty of being a coach because your clients are coaching you all the time.

They don’t know it, but they are coaching you all the time and they are showing you areas where you need to work and show up bigger with more integrity. I’m so grateful that I’ve worked with amazing clients and they have gotten amazing results because they show up. Taking action in coaching is important. What you put in, you get out and I love helping people.

Taking action is really important in coaching. What you put in, you get out.

 

There are so many things I want to say, but I have to commend you because you are such a coachable individual. I’ll tell you something, you come back, and you do that. One day, I was like, “Write down all the unhelpful thoughts and you sent them all to me right away.” I was like, “She’s got it.” Anytime I give you any type of direction, you take that action. I already know that you’re an incredible coach because of the amount of re-signs you get, which is incredible. I have to share with all of you reading. We were at a WeWork location where we were having our in-person coaching session/VIP Day.

What I like to do during these is capture content so that my clients can have content that they can use on their social channels. I grabbed my phone and I was like, “Talk to the tripod and pretend that you’re coaching me on something.” I thought it was going to be like 30 seconds. Yanet went into a seven-minute speech that I was like, “I feel like I need to pay you right now because this was so good.”

I cannot wait to see that cut up into little pieces because your Instagram needs to see what I just because your clients get visibility into that, which is no reason like, “No wonder they keep re-signing with you,” but I’m so excited for you to show for this episode and for people to hear your story and wisdom. You are very gifted and you’ve already impacted so many lives, but you’re just getting started and I’m so excited for you.

I appreciate that so much, Erika. I’m so thankful to you because you have given me some ideas that I’m like, “I don’t know.” She was like, “Why don’t you record a live and podcast at the same time?” I gave you a little bit of resistance. I’m like, “I don’t know how that works,” but that is also important to me because if I also want to attract coachable clients, I got to show up like that and be coachable. I’m like, “Why not let me try it and see.” I was able to do it. It was super-efficient. Trusting you as a coach and seeing the results over and over on the strategies that you have given me paid the investment with the ideas and strategies you gave me in a few weeks or a month.

Can we share your wins?

This woman is magic. The Magnetic Mastermind is a must.

Thank you for that. I received that. You came to me and you were like, “My goal is to have a six-figure year.” I asked you why, and you gave me one of the best responses because it’s always important to know why people have specific goals. Your response was, “If I am making enough money to survive and thrive, I can give back to my community even more. It’s because I’m not worrying about surviving if I have enough to give to myself and give to others.” That was the best response. That was your goal when you came to me and then you told me how much you had already made this year and I was like, “You don’t even need me. You’re literally going to make that already.”

Erika gives a lot of certainty in a good way like, “That’s the done deal.” I’m like, “Yes.”

Within the first three weeks of us working together, you made $18,000.

Yes. What I appreciate about you is the simplicity of the execution because I was making it so hard on myself. It’s because I had this belief that I have to work hard. If I want to make six figures, then I need to work twice what I worked last year. You gave me a strategy, which is re-signing a client. I probably lost a lot of money in the process.

She’s like, “Do you have a re-signing strategy?” I’m like, “What is that?” She’s like, “Ask the same clients if they would like to coach again with you.” I’m like. “Isn’t that crazy? I had never thought of that.” With that, I was able to re-sign for four clients that I had, which, if I hadn’t been coaching with you, I would be probably trying to figure out and I would have lost that opportunity.

I remember you came to me and said, “I’m worried because my clients were getting to the end of their package and I don’t have new people to take their spot.” I was like, “What about offering to keep working with them?”

That’s what I appreciate about your style and strategies. They are simple to implement. There are things that are not obvious sometimes for us that, based on your experience, you can identify immediately. I was able to re-sign the four clients, which was $24,000. I’ve raised my rates. She’s like, “Think bigger. Let’s go bigger,” which I appreciate because I need to be challenged.

You also raised your speaking rate. After what I saw. I’m like, “We better double that soon too.”

Also speaking, it goes back to tapping into that uncertainty and letting things flow. She told me, “Just speak.” I don’t know what the heck I was going to speak about, but when you let yourself trust and you speak from your heart, that’s when you connect to the source and then you speak and it flows. That was powerful in speaking.

I couldn’t agree with that more. I remember when I spoke on the stage of #WeAllGrow. It was probably the biggest conference that I spoke at. There were about 600 people there and I’m talking about a vulnerable story of calling off an engagement. There were no note cards. You have to be on time or else they turn off your mic. It was pretty intense.

I remember before I went on, I was like, “Universe, use me as your vessel.” The moment that I said that everything else was like, “I’m going to say what needs to be said because it’s not even me. Whatever’s channeling through me.” This is a great example of how tapping into spirituality can allow us to be more abundant because we’re no longer making it about us. We’re letting these things kind of come through us. Even for this show, we didn’t prepare any questions for this. This is just us talking.

We had nothing. We just surrendered and allowed. We made it so fun. I’m guilty of this. We take life so seriously, so rigid, and the certainty. I want to have that certainty but when you let go and you make it fun and you focus on serving and contributing, it changes your life completely.

It does. Is there anything that I did not ask you that you’d like to share with our readers?

Maybe the upcoming masterclass.

Usually, at the end, I’m like, “How can people work with you?” I feel like this part requires a little bit more of an explanation of why this topic is the one that you’re having. Tell us when is the masterclass, what the title and topic and who should attend.

The title of the masterclass is Permission to be Powerful. Why permission? It’s because we are the only ones who can give ourselves permission to think big because most of us are playing small. We have blind spots in some areas. It is Permission to be Powerful: How to Lead With Confidence and Live With No Regrets. It’s because this life is all about playing big, is all about making the most impact you can and to fulfill that potential.

Most of us are playing small. We are the only ones who can give ourselves permission to think big.

 

This is for the people seeking. More clarity, confidence, or courage to pursue their dreams so they can make a huge impact in this world. If you’re struggling with being powerful, with taking up space. Many times, we are given this advice, “Fake it until you make it.” I am completely against that because faking it presupposes that you cannot be you and succeed. You need to be someone else. You need to fake it in order to make it. This masterclass is about the opposite. It’s about permission to be powerfully you, yourself, and who you are authentically because that’s the only way you’re going to shine in this world.

Being your authentic self is the only way you get to shine in this world.

 

I feel like that topic was also a channel. Do you remember we were on the coaching call? I was yelling in my home because of excitement because it was so good. I was like, “I cannot wait for this.” Can you tell us about a time in your life when you maybe gave your power to someone else? Maybe an employer or looking for validation from others and like, “What helped you give yourself that permission to be powerful because now, you’re a powerful being?” Tell us a little bit about that.

It was in a romantic relationship. I was with this person for three years and a half, and he was an engineer too, but he also had a side business on teaching and dancing bachata. He would travel the world. He would spend a lot of time traveling. My mind went to, “I cannot travel as much. I cannot do the personal development training so we get to spend time together.”

I was sacrificing my own happiness, my own goals, and my own pursuit of my purpose in order to have this fulfilling relationship, which I wasn’t receiving. It wasn’t 50/50 or 100/100. It was like most of it. I was maintaining that energy in that relationship. Also, because I was doing that, I almost didn’t complete one of my Neurolinguistics Programming Certifications as a Master Practitioner. I had this big realization because I started to have a lot of resentment towards myself. Resentment is such a big indicator, a red flag that we are not honoring our self-worth and our own boundaries.

As I started to get more resentment, I started projecting that resentment everywhere around me. I wasn’t happy anymore. I wasn’t fulfilled. I kept communicating what I needed to my partner and the actions didn’t match the words. I believe he was doing the best he could. He had his path and my path was different, completely. How I played big and I stood in my power was I decided to end that relationship and truly honor and prioritize myself. I decided to choose myself. To realize that I didn’t need to sacrifice my happiness to make others happy.

I didn’t need to please others to be able to be accepted. The person that I needed to accept and dedicate that time was myself. What I was seeking of him, I needed to give to myself. Many times what is missing in our lives, we want others to fulfill that when we need to give that to ourselves. After that, I started aligning more. I’m focusing more on my certifications and my business. Later on, I found the love of my life and I’m married to him. We are having a lot of fun.

That is beautiful. That is so beautiful. If you are reading and you’re like, “I wonder if this is for me.” This is for you if you are looking for permission to be powerful in relationships, in your family dynamics, in your workspace, in your career, or in entrepreneurship, in any of those areas. Where can people connect with you? How can people find you and work with you? I have Instagram. I’m @YanetBCoaching. I’m also on LinkedIn and Facebook, Yanet Borrego. My website is YBCoaching.com. I’m also a podcast host of With Clarity and Purpose.

I’ll give you a copy of this so you can put it on with Clarity and Purpose. I’m all about efficiency.

You’re so giving. I love it. That’s why I love Erika. Based on what I’ve seen, you truly give from your heart, and that’s why you’re receiving tools.

Thank you. I’m just so excited for all your clips that are going to come out of this too. I had Yanet record herself on her phone while we did this interview because you said so many amazing things I want to see a clip about the uncertainty piece. I marked them down here. This was such a great way to spend the last part of your VIP day, and now, we get to go to a nice dinner. I’ve never been there, but you said it’s great.

I’m so excited. We are going to have so much fun too.

Yes, we are. Thank you so much for coming on the show.

Thank you so much, Erika. I appreciate it. Thanks everyone for reading. I have no way to connect.

Be sure to tag us both if you took anything away from this show. I will see you all on the next episode.

 Important Links

• Chingona Revolution
• Unleash the Power Within
• #WeAllGrow
• Permission to be Powerful
• @YanetBCoaching – Instagram
• LinkedIn – Yanet Borrego Coaching
• Yanet Borrego - Facebook
• https://Calendly.com/yanetbcoaching/clarity-call
• https://www.YBCoaching.com/wellness5minsroutine
• https://www.YouTube.com/channel/UCqxL829o0Vk-QdY12F-GgMw