A LITTLE MORE ABOUT

I was born into an entrepreneurial environment; everyone in my family owned a business. My grandmother was an entrepreneur, my father was a farmer before he passed away, my mother owned a restaurant, my stepfather had a canopy company, and my aunts owned restaurants as well.

I started working at a very young age, helping my family at the snack bar they owned. My entire family is entrepreneurial, and we faced a lot of challenges due to not having as many resources as many other families. From a young age, I already had that entrepreneurial spirit; I used to pick acerolas from a tree in our backyard to sell to people.

Do que vale meu conhecimento minha educação, se não ajudo pessoas que não possuem o mesmo conhecimento que adquiri? Eu quero deixar um legado, tenho que fazer a diferença, porque meu mentor, Chuck, um dia disse que eu iria encontrar pessoas que começaram como eu e minha forma de continuar esse legado veio dessa ideia de continuar a corrente, de fazer diferença na vida das pessoas a fazer elas crescerem em um país diferente do seu de origem.

Chuck Joyce foi meu mentor e foi ele quem me incentivou a estudar e trabalhar na indústria financeira, ele era como um pai que não tive na minha vida, ele me incentivou,me ajudou, e financiou. Um dia, perguntei: “Como vou pagar por tudo que fez por mim?” e ele me respondeu: “Tiago, um dia você irá encontrar outros “Tiagos” lá na frente e você vai ajudá-los e é assim que você me paga”. Só que agora irei pagar com juros altíssimos, pois vou ajudar milhares de pessoas.

Knowing what you know now, is there anything you would have done differently when you were starting out?

This project comes from the need to define what wealth means for immigrants—not just financially, but in all the ways that can improve their quality of life and that of the people they care about and love. Wealth is having a good home for your family and for your mother, a nice car, and providing a better education for your children. Wealth is going to sleep and waking up the next day and saying, “Wow, I’m leaving a legacy.” It’s not simply about accumulating money in a bank account.

We can also talk about people who have accumulated money but have left no legacy because one thing is independent of the other. But how much money do you really need to be considered wealthy? I know many people who are rich—not financially, but personally.

BRZ has undoubtedly been transformative in my life due to the knowledge I gained throughout the process of starting, expanding, and scaling the company. It was very relevant for the Tiago 2.0 that exists today, and the experience of marketing such a complex product to Latinos in the United States will definitely bring invaluable lessons to the Immigrant Rich project.

The first step is to let go of the inferiority complex. Often, we apologize too much and forget about our skills, strengths, intellectual capacity, and what we can truly achieve and deliver in the market. While it’s important to be aware of our mistakes and shortcomings, we tend to focus on our weaknesses instead of valuing our strengths.

All the experience we’ve gained in other countries can be adapted to the U.S. So, if you’re a Latino in the land of Uncle Sam and considering entrepreneurship, I will provide the tools and resources you need to adapt to your daily life and your business. Embrace your potential and know that you have what it takes to succeed!

Rule No. 1 for me is that you must know what you don’t know, because half information is worse than none at all. We get hurt by what we don’t know. Many believe that half information is enough to make decisions, and from my own experience, that’s simply not true. If you lack knowledge, where can you get it? Hire a consultant, find a mentor, partner with someone, read extensively, take courses—always be in search of ways to acquire the knowledge you need.

To sum it up in one sentence, Rule No. 1 is: Be intellectually honest and know what you don’t know.