May 13, 2024 • 23 mins
Embark on a transformative journey with the remarkable Alex Cardona, CEO of Cardona Business Solutions, as he shares his tale of resilience and evolution from social worker to entrepreneurial maestro. In a candid conversation, Alex reveals the pivotal role networking played in his ascension, painting a vivid picture of how strategic connections can build an empire of diverse business services. Discover the art of seeing beyond the immediate transaction, and learn how intentional relationships and thoughtful business continuity planning can be your secret weapon in the entrepreneurial battlefield.
This episode is a treasure trove of wisdom for anyone eager to elevate their business and personal growth. I explore with Alex the profound impact of your environment and social circle on your business potential. We'll uncover the courage it takes to venture into new territories and how this bravery can open doors to unexpected triumphs. Prepare to be inspired and equipped with Alex's practical strategies as he announces the Sales Acceleration Series, promising to catapult your business acumen to new heights. Tune in for a masterclass in cultivating success through community, partnership, and the power of personal transformation.
https://www.cardonasolutions.com/
A Mosaic is a bunch of pieces, put together, to make up the whole in a beautiful way. Here at Mosaic Business Consulting we discuss the various pieces of a business throughout the course of its life, and throughout all industries, and how these pieces, when put together, can help develop a better, more efficient, and effective running of YOUR business.
Find our more or register for a course today: Mosaic Business Consulting
Be sure to visit BizRadio.US to discover hundreds more engaging conversations, local events and more.
Website: https://www.mosaicbusinessconsulting.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Laura (00:09):
Good morning.
I'm your host, lauraWagenknecht, ceo of Mosaic
Business Consulting, and you'relistening to the Mosaic Life
with Laura W.
A mosaic is a bunch of piecesthat, when put together, make up
the whole in a really beautifulway, and this show plans to
discuss the various pieces of abusiness throughout different
industries and how these pieces,when put together, can help
(00:30):
develop a better, more efficientand effective running of your
business.
To reach me, contact bizradious.
Our guest today is theever-amazing Alex Cardona, and
Alex is CEO of Cardona BusinessSolutions, and he started his
career in social work aftergraduating from the University
(00:52):
of South Florida with a degreein public health.
Alex transitioned from socialwork to teaching after a few
years of frustration with themental health system we kind of
get a sense of that and as amiddle school physical education
teacher, alex thought this isit.
I've found my life's purpose.
This is awesome and alwaysthinking bigger, though.
(01:15):
After just a few years ineducation, he realized he wanted
to take his vision and wantedto impact youth on a national
level, and focused opening hisown youth training facility.
And then the pandemic hit, andso, after losing his income
(01:36):
stream and career path, alex wasgiven an opportunity to own his
own legal services business,which is interesting and,
without hesitation, he took upthe opportunity to help empower
individuals with access to thejustice system and has since
become a respected businessdeveloper in the community.
In 2021, he took hisentrepreneurship to community
(02:00):
engagement by serving on thecommittee for both the young
professionals of Asheville andthe people's community and
inclusion subdivisions of theAsheville Chamber of Commerce.
In 2022, he expanded hisinfluence and his business by
joining the committee of OneMillion Cups One Million Cups
(02:20):
partnering with other businessesthat help with other aspects of
business development, andincreasing his notoriety in
Asheville through speaking atthe Black Expo Black Business
Expo, young Professionals ofAsheville, the Boys and Girls
Club of Hendersonville, mountainBiz Works, craft, your Commerce
and the Freelance Business Week.
Alex believes thatentrepreneurship is a journey of
(02:50):
self-development, fueled by thebalance of faith and
self-confidence, and so it is mygreat honor to welcome you to
the show, alex.
It's great to have you here.
Sorry for stumbling overeverything.
Alex (02:58):
You are absolutely amazing .
You know, I think it's funnywhen you read a bio.
It's like wait, I did all that.
It's kind of humbling and so,yeah, interesting to write it.
And then it's funny when youread a bio.
It's like wait, I did all that.
It's kind of humbling and so,yeah, it's interesting to write
it and then it's interesting toalso hear it.
So thank you for I don't know,just reminding me some of the
things, some of my journey.
I think that oftentimes whenyou're in it, you forget all the
things, trials and tribulationsthat you've been through to get
(03:20):
to those points.
Laura (03:20):
Yeah, so get to those points.
Alex (03:22):
So thank you, thank you very much for that.
Laura (03:25):
Oh yeah, and you know I'm I'm just wondering.
I know you've had this longjourney, et cetera, but I'm I'm
curious what where you've beenin the last couple of years,
cause it's been a couple ofyears since we had you on the
show and I'm just thinkingyou've gone through quite a bit
of a transition from justworking on the legal services
business to now working on yourown company.
(03:48):
What's transpired?
Alex (03:50):
Yeah, that's a great question.
To start, I think that one ofthe things that you mentioned
within my bio was my ability tosee a big picture, and that, I
think, is a very special giftthat I was innately born with,
and and that's always the way Ilook at things.
I look at things from a bigpicture perspective and then I
figure out what needs to getdone in order to make the big
(04:11):
picture happen.
And, with that being said,where I was when we last spoke
was I was obviously, you know,just promoting my legal service
side of my business.
However, I focus in thebusiness side of the business
development side.
So within that, it was moreteaching business owners the
importance of having contractreviews before they sign them,
(04:33):
having the ability to enforce adebt collection letter and
enforce their income Also, like,hey, the reality is that we're
all going to die.
Kevin Hart said that, but, incase you didn't know, that, it's
the reality of life.
And so I say that becausebusiness owners go into business
not thinking about, oh my gosh,I should have a will and have
you know this, this prepared, incase something crazy happens to
(04:55):
my business, what happens tothe income, because we're all
doing business for the peoplethat we love.
And so, at the end of the day,when I was having multiple
conversations and goingthroughout that journey, it was
more than just, oh, I need helpwith the business side, alex.
It was, oh, I need help withpayroll hey, who do you know?
Who do you know for bookkeeping?
Hey, do you need, I need helpwith business credit so I can
(05:16):
finance my dream, so I can makethis happen.
Hey, do you know somebody whocan help me with a business plan
?
Hey, do you need to havesomebody who can help me with
sales?
So, as the more conversations Ihad, the more I realized that
my niche wasn't just, you know,legal services.
My niche is actually connectingpeople.
And that's what I love to do,and so at the same time, when
(05:38):
I'm in a networking room, I canboldly say this, and I don't say
this to be arrogant.
I say this because I know theamount of work that I've put in
to become the man, the man thatI am today I'm one of the best
networkers on planet earth.
Okay, and I say that becausewhen I go into a networking room
, I am never in a networkingroom without intention.
(05:59):
So what happened was I built anetwork of people that could
serve these different businessneeds because of my ability to
do two things when I walk into aroom One, I walk in with
intention.
Two, after I walk in withintention, I'm actually creating
a meeting and creating anappointment.
(06:24):
Things go and that's not thething way things work in life.
So they're like okay, I havehopes, prayers and dreams for my
business income to increase.
They walk into these networkingrooms.
They don't do anything from thebusiness card.
They're like oh, no one calledme and here I am calling.
I'll call 150 people in a day,yeah in a networking room so.
So that's how that expanded forme, um, into really helping
connecting people.
If you look through my emailsand my texts and you type in the
(06:45):
word connection and you type inthe word fruitful, I guarantee
you it's probably one of themost used words inside my
communications.
And so that's where thatexpanded for me.
And that's why Cardona BusinessSolutions was developed,
because it was like, okay, I canhelp an individual business
owner with their systems, butultimately, what I'm trying to
(07:08):
help them with is their sales,because if they can increase
revenue by not spending theirtime in the things that they're
not supposed to be doing,because they develop a good team
.
But if I can come into the tableby developing their team and
then help them actually withtheir sales, oh my gosh, they're
(07:30):
going to be able to sustainthat business and, more
importantly, they're going to beable to walk away from the
business.
Because I think a lot of peoplethink, okay, I want to get into
something, but let's be real,lebron James is not going to
play basketball forever, andwhat I mean by that is you can
have a successful businesscareer and you can make multiple
dollars, but you got to thinkof, like, when am I going to
(07:53):
step out?
When am I going to step away?
And a lot of business ownersdon't think about that, and so
the more that they have a team,the more they can have that
ability to focus on theirrevenue, to then focus on okay,
what is the end game for me intomy skills, really tapping into
my knowledge and ability toconnect people and teach people.
(08:16):
That's been the other thing, mygift for teaching, and that
definitely comes from both sidesof my family.
If I could just teach peoplebusiness or anything on a sand
at the beach and get you know,paid for it, I would do it.
But it's crazy to me myinfluence and my passion for
(08:40):
helping people actually elevatethemselves, and so I've also
been focusing on developing myspeaking engagements and
developing my stages, becausethat's the ultimate end game for
me.
Laura (08:51):
Yeah Well, and you know, when you talk about the
networking just as a thing, it'sone thing I really liked you
saying that you're walking inwith intention, because I think
that a lot of people go to thesame networking meeting over and
over and over with zero returnon investment, because they know
(09:13):
the people and they feelcomfortable and all this stuff
and they don't stretchthemselves to meet new people
and so their circle of influenceis smaller and their ability to
expand their own business issmaller.
Alex (09:30):
Yes, yes, it is, and so I think that when you walk into a
networking room and I recentlytalked about this I did a four
week sales series.
It's called.
It was called the SalesAcceleration Series, and I'm
going to launch it again in June, and what's great about is I
help people develop ways toreally sharpen their sales
skills and with that, one of thethings that we talked about is
(09:51):
we talked about networking.
We talked about this exacttopic and in this exact topic,
one of the things that peopleare missing is that they go into
these rooms, they see the samepeople, but I go into these
rooms thinking on threedifferent levels what's in it
for you, what's in it for me,what's in it for the community,
if we can actually partner anddo something together, because
(10:12):
that's what.
I'm here, for I love mycommunity of Asheville.
I'm never leaving, this is myplace, and so with that, I just
try to have that mindset right.
So what that does is thatallows you to just say, okay,
how can I still be intentional?
Maybe this person doesn't buymy product, but if I can connect
them to someone or if I canhelp them in their journey no
(10:35):
one more thing that they didn'tknow to accelerate their success
.
The end game is economicdevelopment, because if they
make more money here inAsheville and guess what Well,
we all can fund public policyhere in Asheville.
And then the other thing withthat is now we have influence,
but that all comes throughbusiness, right, and so how can
I help them be successful?
That's the first thing I thinkabout.
Now if I have a product that canhelp them be successful, I'll
(10:57):
help them.
But the other thing is thatsome of the times, when you walk
into these rooms, what I foundis that you can build a network
of strategic alliances.
I have been in a room of 150business owners at one of
Asheville's biggest eventscalled Mega Networking through
(11:18):
the Asheville Chamber, and Ihave had absolute room dominance
.
And I mean this because I hadsix or seven strategic partners
at all the different tables thatpeople are speaking at speaking
at and all of a sudden, eventhough those people are speaking
about their businesses becauseI have a strategic alliance with
them, now I have room realestate, which means we're
(11:39):
dominating the room.
And so one of the ways that youcan strategically build a feel
more comfortable inside anetworking room is having those
one-on-one meetings and thenseeing you know, hey, how can I
connect with someone who's kindof close and similar, like, for
example, just using productsthat I sell?
Like, hey, if I do payroll, letme find someone who may do
(12:02):
401ks or do financialinvestments.
Or, hey, let me find a CPA, letme partner with a CPA, let me
partner with somebody who doesfinancial investments.
Let's go to a networking roomtogether.
We know that we're going to notbe able to get everybody in the
room, but between two of us wecan get all the people in the
room.
Well, and what you're?
Laura (12:22):
talking about with that strategic partnership.
I really like hearing that itdoes a few things.
It's not just that you havethis partnership with this other
person who might be sitting ata different table, but they
might end up speaking you up aswell.
And then you have branding foryourself that you express in a
mega networking event, but thenthey are also adding to your
(12:46):
brand right.
100%, 100%.
Alex (12:49):
I've been victorious for being in two places at one time.
The best compliment that I getwhen I walk, anywhere I go, is
I've seen you somewhere.
Is what Probably have.
I've seen you somewhere, youlook familiar.
Right, right, yeah, you probablyhave because, at the pace that
I was doing things in 2021 andwe're really going to be
bringing all these things backbetween the radio show, the
(13:12):
radio shows, the magazines, thespeaking engagement, all the
things that I was doing tocommittees that created an
absolute, massive wave ofattention that people were like
I've seen you, you look soimportant.
Oh my gosh, I need to talk toyou.
I've seen you here here, here,here, here.
Where does that stop?
It doesn't.
And so, with that being said,it does add edification, because
(13:36):
here's the reality, lauraPeople don't buy products, they
buy people.
Laura (13:39):
Yeah, boy, that's a biggie.
I don't think enough peoplereally pay attention to that,
that it's not just the productthat they might be interested or
the service that might beinterested in purchasing, but
they have to believe in you,right?
Even when I write help peoplewrite business plans.
(14:00):
That's the truth that they'regoing in front of a loan officer
and they're going to talk tothis person and the person's got
to trust you and believe in you, right?
So it's so true.
Alex (14:12):
That's why I said, that's why I said in my bio that I
believe business is about faithand confidence, because in
business, right, you don't knowwhen the next dollar is going to
come.
Ok, so what do you have to relyon?
Your faith is acting as if whatyou believe in is already going
to happen.
That's what faith is.
Faith is the actual behaviorLike I don't know what.
I believe in this.
I believe that I'm worth Xamount of dollars, but faith is.
(14:34):
Okay, I'm going to make thisphone call and take this action
to make something happen.
Well, what's going to get youto do that?
Well, it's going to beconfidence.
Okay, your confidence withinyourself and within who you are.
These are things I learned whenI was poor.
You understand, and so, and sowhat I'm saying with that is
where should that confidencecome from?
This is not a you know.
I'm saying with that is whereshould that confidence come from
(14:55):
?
This is not a.
You know I'm not speaking onreligion, but I am going to
speak on a point that, hey, youwere divinely anointed to be
here on planet Earth fromwhatever spaceship that you were
brought from, okay, and youcould believe in whatever you
believe in, but the reality isthat there's an energy that
creates and builds life and thatenergy decided to give you life
(15:17):
.
Therefore, the most simplestarea of confidence is actually
believing that you are divinelyanointed to be here.
Whoa, how does that show upinside your sales call?
How does that show up insideyour business plan?
How does that show up insideyour elevator pitch?
How does that show up when youwalk into a networking room?
(15:37):
Heck, how does that walkoutside?
How does that in your posture,in your eye contact, in your
shaking hands, in your tone, inyour diction?
These are the little detailsthat people miss when it comes
down to just carrying themselvesin a particular mannerism that
will highly accelerate theirsuccess.
(16:00):
Because they don't look atthese things and they think that
, oh, when I start a business,I'm going to gain more
confidence, or when I start abusiness, I'm going to have more
faith.
True, but if you don't havethat at your core and you don't
start at your core developingthose things, it doesn't mean
it's going to be easy.
(16:20):
It doesn't mean that you're notgoing to get hung up on.
It doesn't mean that you'regoing to be told no.
It doesn't mean that you're notgoing to go through bumps and
bruises.
It doesn't mean that you're notgoing to have a bill collector
calling you while you have asales call.
It doesn't mean that you won'tget adversity, but what will
happen is that there are goingto be some amazing miracles
(16:41):
because of your ability to showup in those moments that you
can't script, and that, to me,is why anyone should be in
business, and that's what youfind.
Laura (17:00):
By being in business, you build who you are in business,
and I don't think there's anyother way that you can do it,
and you bring up something soimportant there which is really
understanding yourself in orderto understand your business.
So, yeah, and so maybe youcould speak a little bit more
about that, that self becauseyou talk about that in your bio,
just sort of this idea thatwe're on a journey of
(17:23):
self-revelation in a way.
So maybe you could chat aboutthat a bit.
Alex (17:27):
Yeah, I mean, I think that first thing that happens is you
know we are the product of ourenvironments, right, and so you
know, oftentimes, when anyonestarts a business, the first
place that they go is they go,you know, to their direct
friends and family and this isnot a reflection of my direct
friends and family, but what I'msaying with that is usually
that's a hard place to startbecause those people already
know you.
In fact, those people havealready crafted your ideas and
(17:49):
your beliefs and your actionsand behaviors, right.
So, with that being said, yousay hey, I'm going to start a
new business.
Family support me.
They may not support youimmediately, because they're
gonna look at the other fivebusinesses that you started.
They're gonna feel like, hey,hey, now.
Hey, that didn't work right.
And so now you find yourself ata crucible where you're trying
(18:10):
to develop a new you, but theyonly know you for the old you
exactly, exactly the only way todevelop the old you is to
really change your environment.
I was raised in South Florida OK, really, I'm a minority
business owner.
My mom is from DominicanRepublic, my dad is Puerto Rican
.
I am dark skinned and so I wasraised in South Florida, born in
(18:32):
Jersey OK, well, in thatenvironment where I was growing
up in South Florida, it is veryhard to put yourself in a
position with people that, in myopinion, would edify you and
would honestly give you theirshirt off their back and want
nothing in return.
So what I had to do was I hadto change.
(18:55):
I knew very quickly at the timethat I finished my teaching
career I was about 20, 27, 28years old I knew very quickly
that I didn't have the rightpeople in my environment to help
me build the man that I wantedto become.
So I took the leap and movedhere to Asheville.
The reason why I love Ashevilleso much is not because of I
(19:18):
mean, the mountains arebeautiful but it's the people in
Asheville that have helped mebecome who I am today and have
influenced me and have brokeprevious molds of what I thought
a life on this spaceship couldbe.
They have given meopportunities or they have
edified me or they have put mein positions where, like I have
(19:42):
seen things in my life in thelast four years that, honestly,
it can't happen without faithand it needs to be put in a
movie.
Because of these experiencesthat I've had, and particularly
being a minority, like I've satcourtside on a basketball game.
That's incredible.
I don't know if I could ever go.
(20:03):
You know what they say once themind has been expanded, it can
never go back to its former areaof contraction.
Exactly I don't know if I couldever sit with the peasants in
the 100 section again.
Okay, I'm just being real.
I'm sorry, but it's hard.
Right, it's hard when you havethat kind of experience, you're
like oh my gosh, this iscompletely different than me
(20:24):
sitting up there when you're ina suite and you're like what
I've had.
The amazing moments that I didwas I had to take a drastic,
drastic move and I changed myenvironment.
(20:44):
When I changed my environment, Ichanged my circle.
My top six friends are allbusiness owners.
My top six friends all makeover one hundred thousand
dollars a year.
These are the people I spendthe most time with.
These are the people that whenI wasn't making $100,000 a year,
when I wasn't Mac Daddy, I wasPoor Daddy.
(21:06):
It was tough.
And so that's where you know.
I think that's the biggestplace that you can change and
create influence in yourself.
Laura (21:15):
Yeah, well, and if people wanted to reach out to you and
get to know more about you, yourbusiness, what you do, et
cetera, how can they contact you?
How can they reach out to you?
Alex (21:28):
Of course we got the socials.
We got cardonasolutionscom, andthen we do have the Instagram.
Is cool C-O-O-L underscore likea C, so that's the Instagram
handle.
And then Facebook is obviouslyunder Alex Cardona.
You might want to look up inTampa because I didn't want to
(21:48):
let everyone know I lived inAsheville, North Carolina, until
now.
That's there.
And LinkedIn is also under AlexCardona and then you can go to
the website cardonasolutionscomand also email me at cardona
C-A-R-D-O-N-A dot legacy atgmailcom.
Laura (22:07):
Wow, well, this has really been great.
I mean, I loved everything youtalked about the networking, the
connections, the influence, thepassion you know developing
your business and the intentionthat we need to have in that,
and then the faith and theinfluence, the passion you know
developing your business and theintention that we need to have
in that, and then the faith andthe confidence.
That's just fantastic.
So, thank you so much.
I really appreciate your timeand your expertise.
Alex (22:28):
Thank you, and people can find out more on the sales
acceleration series.
We're going to be doing it inJune.
I don't have the date lockeddown yet, but if you go on
Eventbrite, go on to look up thesales acceleration series, I'll
put in a code for Mountain BizWork, so it'll be Mosaic Life.
I'll just throw it out thereright now.
And so, yes, four week salesseries, lunch and Learn lunch is
included, and I'll be divinginto all these topics to help
(22:51):
you become the best version ofyou, so you can go out there and
go get what you want to get.
Laura (22:59):
OK, fantastic.
Well, thank you, alex, andthank you for listening to the
Mosaic Life with Laura W.
You can listen to this episodeagain and get this great content
, or listen to other great hostsand their shows by going to
bizradious and click on shows.
Thanks for listening.
Have a great rest of your day.
Good morning.
I'm your host, lauraWagenknecht, ceo of Mosaic
Business Consulting, and you'relistening to the Mosaic Life
with Laura W.
A mosaic is a bunch of piecesthat, when put together, make up
the whole in a really beautifulway, and this show plans to
discuss the various pieces of abusiness throughout different
industries and how these pieces,when put together, can help
(00:30):
develop a better, more efficientand effective running of your
business.
To reach me, contact bizradious.
Our guest today is theever-amazing Alex Cardona, and
Alex is CEO of Cardona BusinessSolutions, and he started his
career in social work aftergraduating from the University
(00:52):
of South Florida with a degreein public health.
Alex transitioned from socialwork to teaching after a few
years of frustration with themental health system we kind of
get a sense of that and as amiddle school physical education
teacher, alex thought this isit.
I've found my life's purpose.
This is awesome and alwaysthinking bigger, though.
(01:15):
After just a few years ineducation, he realized he wanted
to take his vision and wantedto impact youth on a national
level, and focused opening hisown youth training facility.
And then the pandemic hit, andso, after losing his income
(01:36):
stream and career path, alex wasgiven an opportunity to own his
own legal services business,which is interesting and,
without hesitation, he took upthe opportunity to help empower
individuals with access to thejustice system and has since
become a respected businessdeveloper in the community.
In 2021, he took hisentrepreneurship to community
(02:00):
engagement by serving on thecommittee for both the young
professionals of Asheville andthe people's community and
inclusion subdivisions of theAsheville Chamber of Commerce.
In 2022, he expanded hisinfluence and his business by
joining the committee of OneMillion Cups One Million Cups
(02:20):
partnering with other businessesthat help with other aspects of
business development, andincreasing his notoriety in
Asheville through speaking atthe Black Expo Black Business
Expo, young Professionals ofAsheville, the Boys and Girls
Club of Hendersonville, mountainBiz Works, craft, your Commerce
and the Freelance Business Week.
Alex believes thatentrepreneurship is a journey of
(02:50):
self-development, fueled by thebalance of faith and
self-confidence, and so it is mygreat honor to welcome you to
the show, alex.
It's great to have you here.
Sorry for stumbling overeverything.
Alex (02:58):
You are absolutely amazing .
You know, I think it's funnywhen you read a bio.
It's like wait, I did all that.
It's kind of humbling and so,yeah, interesting to write it.
And then it's funny when youread a bio.
It's like wait, I did all that.
It's kind of humbling and so,yeah, it's interesting to write
it and then it's interesting toalso hear it.
So thank you for I don't know,just reminding me some of the
things, some of my journey.
I think that oftentimes whenyou're in it, you forget all the
things, trials and tribulationsthat you've been through to get
(03:20):
to those points.
Laura (03:20):
Yeah, so get to those points.
Alex (03:22):
So thank you, thank you very much for that.
Laura (03:25):
Oh yeah, and you know I'm I'm just wondering.
I know you've had this longjourney, et cetera, but I'm I'm
curious what where you've beenin the last couple of years,
cause it's been a couple ofyears since we had you on the
show and I'm just thinkingyou've gone through quite a bit
of a transition from justworking on the legal services
business to now working on yourown company.
(03:48):
What's transpired?
Alex (03:50):
Yeah, that's a great question.
To start, I think that one ofthe things that you mentioned
within my bio was my ability tosee a big picture, and that, I
think, is a very special giftthat I was innately born with,
and and that's always the way Ilook at things.
I look at things from a bigpicture perspective and then I
figure out what needs to getdone in order to make the big
(04:11):
picture happen.
And, with that being said,where I was when we last spoke
was I was obviously, you know,just promoting my legal service
side of my business.
However, I focus in thebusiness side of the business
development side.
So within that, it was moreteaching business owners the
importance of having contractreviews before they sign them,
(04:33):
having the ability to enforce adebt collection letter and
enforce their income Also, like,hey, the reality is that we're
all going to die.
Kevin Hart said that, but, incase you didn't know, that, it's
the reality of life.
And so I say that becausebusiness owners go into business
not thinking about, oh my gosh,I should have a will and have
you know this, this prepared, incase something crazy happens to
(04:55):
my business, what happens tothe income, because we're all
doing business for the peoplethat we love.
And so, at the end of the day,when I was having multiple
conversations and goingthroughout that journey, it was
more than just, oh, I need helpwith the business side, alex.
It was, oh, I need help withpayroll hey, who do you know?
Who do you know for bookkeeping?
Hey, do you need, I need helpwith business credit so I can
(05:16):
finance my dream, so I can makethis happen.
Hey, do you know somebody whocan help me with a business plan
?
Hey, do you need to havesomebody who can help me with
sales?
So, as the more conversations Ihad, the more I realized that
my niche wasn't just, you know,legal services.
My niche is actually connectingpeople.
And that's what I love to do,and so at the same time, when
(05:38):
I'm in a networking room, I canboldly say this, and I don't say
this to be arrogant.
I say this because I know theamount of work that I've put in
to become the man, the man thatI am today I'm one of the best
networkers on planet earth.
Okay, and I say that becausewhen I go into a networking room
, I am never in a networkingroom without intention.
(05:59):
So what happened was I built anetwork of people that could
serve these different businessneeds because of my ability to
do two things when I walk into aroom One, I walk in with
intention.
Two, after I walk in withintention, I'm actually creating
a meeting and creating anappointment.
(06:24):
Things go and that's not thething way things work in life.
So they're like okay, I havehopes, prayers and dreams for my
business income to increase.
They walk into these networkingrooms.
They don't do anything from thebusiness card.
They're like oh, no one calledme and here I am calling.
I'll call 150 people in a day,yeah in a networking room so.
So that's how that expanded forme, um, into really helping
connecting people.
If you look through my emailsand my texts and you type in the
(06:45):
word connection and you type inthe word fruitful, I guarantee
you it's probably one of themost used words inside my
communications.
And so that's where thatexpanded for me.
And that's why Cardona BusinessSolutions was developed,
because it was like, okay, I canhelp an individual business
owner with their systems, butultimately, what I'm trying to
(07:08):
help them with is their sales,because if they can increase
revenue by not spending theirtime in the things that they're
not supposed to be doing,because they develop a good team
.
But if I can come into the tableby developing their team and
then help them actually withtheir sales, oh my gosh, they're
(07:30):
going to be able to sustainthat business and, more
importantly, they're going to beable to walk away from the
business.
Because I think a lot of peoplethink, okay, I want to get into
something, but let's be real,lebron James is not going to
play basketball forever, andwhat I mean by that is you can
have a successful businesscareer and you can make multiple
dollars, but you got to thinkof, like, when am I going to
(07:53):
step out?
When am I going to step away?
And a lot of business ownersdon't think about that, and so
the more that they have a team,the more they can have that
ability to focus on theirrevenue, to then focus on okay,
what is the end game for me intomy skills, really tapping into
my knowledge and ability toconnect people and teach people.
(08:16):
That's been the other thing, mygift for teaching, and that
definitely comes from both sidesof my family.
If I could just teach peoplebusiness or anything on a sand
at the beach and get you know,paid for it, I would do it.
But it's crazy to me myinfluence and my passion for
(08:40):
helping people actually elevatethemselves, and so I've also
been focusing on developing myspeaking engagements and
developing my stages, becausethat's the ultimate end game for
me.
Laura (08:51):
Yeah Well, and you know, when you talk about the
networking just as a thing, it'sone thing I really liked you
saying that you're walking inwith intention, because I think
that a lot of people go to thesame networking meeting over and
over and over with zero returnon investment, because they know
(09:13):
the people and they feelcomfortable and all this stuff
and they don't stretchthemselves to meet new people
and so their circle of influenceis smaller and their ability to
expand their own business issmaller.
Alex (09:30):
Yes, yes, it is, and so I think that when you walk into a
networking room and I recentlytalked about this I did a four
week sales series.
It's called.
It was called the SalesAcceleration Series, and I'm
going to launch it again in June, and what's great about is I
help people develop ways toreally sharpen their sales
skills and with that, one of thethings that we talked about is
(09:51):
we talked about networking.
We talked about this exacttopic and in this exact topic,
one of the things that peopleare missing is that they go into
these rooms, they see the samepeople, but I go into these
rooms thinking on threedifferent levels what's in it
for you, what's in it for me,what's in it for the community,
if we can actually partner anddo something together, because
(10:12):
that's what.
I'm here, for I love mycommunity of Asheville.
I'm never leaving, this is myplace, and so with that, I just
try to have that mindset right.
So what that does is thatallows you to just say, okay,
how can I still be intentional?
Maybe this person doesn't buymy product, but if I can connect
them to someone or if I canhelp them in their journey no
(10:35):
one more thing that they didn'tknow to accelerate their success
.
The end game is economicdevelopment, because if they
make more money here inAsheville and guess what Well,
we all can fund public policyhere in Asheville.
And then the other thing withthat is now we have influence,
but that all comes throughbusiness, right, and so how can
I help them be successful?
That's the first thing I thinkabout.
Now if I have a product that canhelp them be successful, I'll
(10:57):
help them.
But the other thing is thatsome of the times, when you walk
into these rooms, what I foundis that you can build a network
of strategic alliances.
I have been in a room of 150business owners at one of
Asheville's biggest eventscalled Mega Networking through
(11:18):
the Asheville Chamber, and Ihave had absolute room dominance
.
And I mean this because I hadsix or seven strategic partners
at all the different tables thatpeople are speaking at speaking
at and all of a sudden, eventhough those people are speaking
about their businesses becauseI have a strategic alliance with
them, now I have room realestate, which means we're
(11:39):
dominating the room.
And so one of the ways that youcan strategically build a feel
more comfortable inside anetworking room is having those
one-on-one meetings and thenseeing you know, hey, how can I
connect with someone who's kindof close and similar, like, for
example, just using productsthat I sell?
Like, hey, if I do payroll, letme find someone who may do
(12:02):
401ks or do financialinvestments.
Or, hey, let me find a CPA, letme partner with a CPA, let me
partner with somebody who doesfinancial investments.
Let's go to a networking roomtogether.
We know that we're going to notbe able to get everybody in the
room, but between two of us wecan get all the people in the
room.
Well, and what you're?
Laura (12:22):
talking about with that strategic partnership.
I really like hearing that itdoes a few things.
It's not just that you havethis partnership with this other
person who might be sitting ata different table, but they
might end up speaking you up aswell.
And then you have branding foryourself that you express in a
mega networking event, but thenthey are also adding to your
(12:46):
brand right.
100%, 100%.
Alex (12:49):
I've been victorious for being in two places at one time.
The best compliment that I getwhen I walk, anywhere I go, is
I've seen you somewhere.
Is what Probably have.
I've seen you somewhere, youlook familiar.
Right, right, yeah, you probablyhave because, at the pace that
I was doing things in 2021 andwe're really going to be
bringing all these things backbetween the radio show, the
(13:12):
radio shows, the magazines, thespeaking engagement, all the
things that I was doing tocommittees that created an
absolute, massive wave ofattention that people were like
I've seen you, you look soimportant.
Oh my gosh, I need to talk toyou.
I've seen you here here, here,here, here.
Where does that stop?
It doesn't.
And so, with that being said,it does add edification, because
(13:36):
here's the reality, lauraPeople don't buy products, they
buy people.
Laura (13:39):
Yeah, boy, that's a biggie.
I don't think enough peoplereally pay attention to that,
that it's not just the productthat they might be interested or
the service that might beinterested in purchasing, but
they have to believe in you,right?
Even when I write help peoplewrite business plans.
(14:00):
That's the truth that they'regoing in front of a loan officer
and they're going to talk tothis person and the person's got
to trust you and believe in you, right?
So it's so true.
Alex (14:12):
That's why I said, that's why I said in my bio that I
believe business is about faithand confidence, because in
business, right, you don't knowwhen the next dollar is going to
come.
Ok, so what do you have to relyon?
Your faith is acting as if whatyou believe in is already going
to happen.
That's what faith is.
Faith is the actual behaviorLike I don't know what.
I believe in this.
I believe that I'm worth Xamount of dollars, but faith is.
(14:34):
Okay, I'm going to make thisphone call and take this action
to make something happen.
Well, what's going to get youto do that?
Well, it's going to beconfidence.
Okay, your confidence withinyourself and within who you are.
These are things I learned whenI was poor.
You understand, and so, and sowhat I'm saying with that is
where should that confidencecome from?
This is not a you know.
I'm saying with that is whereshould that confidence come from
(14:55):
?
This is not a.
You know I'm not speaking onreligion, but I am going to
speak on a point that, hey, youwere divinely anointed to be
here on planet Earth fromwhatever spaceship that you were
brought from, okay, and youcould believe in whatever you
believe in, but the reality isthat there's an energy that
creates and builds life and thatenergy decided to give you life
(15:17):
.
Therefore, the most simplestarea of confidence is actually
believing that you are divinelyanointed to be here.
Whoa, how does that show upinside your sales call?
How does that show up insideyour business plan?
How does that show up insideyour elevator pitch?
How does that show up when youwalk into a networking room?
(15:37):
Heck, how does that walkoutside?
How does that in your posture,in your eye contact, in your
shaking hands, in your tone, inyour diction?
These are the little detailsthat people miss when it comes
down to just carrying themselvesin a particular mannerism that
will highly accelerate theirsuccess.
(16:00):
Because they don't look atthese things and they think that
, oh, when I start a business,I'm going to gain more
confidence, or when I start abusiness, I'm going to have more
faith.
True, but if you don't havethat at your core and you don't
start at your core developingthose things, it doesn't mean
it's going to be easy.
(16:20):
It doesn't mean that you're notgoing to get hung up on.
It doesn't mean that you'regoing to be told no.
It doesn't mean that you're notgoing to go through bumps and
bruises.
It doesn't mean that you're notgoing to have a bill collector
calling you while you have asales call.
It doesn't mean that you won'tget adversity, but what will
happen is that there are goingto be some amazing miracles
(16:41):
because of your ability to showup in those moments that you
can't script, and that, to me,is why anyone should be in
business, and that's what youfind.
Laura (17:00):
By being in business, you build who you are in business,
and I don't think there's anyother way that you can do it,
and you bring up something soimportant there which is really
understanding yourself in orderto understand your business.
So, yeah, and so maybe youcould speak a little bit more
about that, that self becauseyou talk about that in your bio,
just sort of this idea thatwe're on a journey of
(17:23):
self-revelation in a way.
So maybe you could chat aboutthat a bit.
Alex (17:27):
Yeah, I mean, I think that first thing that happens is you
know we are the product of ourenvironments, right, and so you
know, oftentimes, when anyonestarts a business, the first
place that they go is they go,you know, to their direct
friends and family and this isnot a reflection of my direct
friends and family, but what I'msaying with that is usually
that's a hard place to startbecause those people already
know you.
In fact, those people havealready crafted your ideas and
(17:49):
your beliefs and your actionsand behaviors, right.
So, with that being said, yousay hey, I'm going to start a
new business.
Family support me.
They may not support youimmediately, because they're
gonna look at the other fivebusinesses that you started.
They're gonna feel like, hey,hey, now.
Hey, that didn't work right.
And so now you find yourself ata crucible where you're trying
(18:10):
to develop a new you, but theyonly know you for the old you
exactly, exactly the only way todevelop the old you is to
really change your environment.
I was raised in South Florida OK, really, I'm a minority
business owner.
My mom is from DominicanRepublic, my dad is Puerto Rican
.
I am dark skinned and so I wasraised in South Florida, born in
(18:32):
Jersey OK, well, in thatenvironment where I was growing
up in South Florida, it is veryhard to put yourself in a
position with people that, in myopinion, would edify you and
would honestly give you theirshirt off their back and want
nothing in return.
So what I had to do was I hadto change.
(18:55):
I knew very quickly at the timethat I finished my teaching
career I was about 20, 27, 28years old I knew very quickly
that I didn't have the rightpeople in my environment to help
me build the man that I wantedto become.
So I took the leap and movedhere to Asheville.
The reason why I love Ashevilleso much is not because of I
(19:18):
mean, the mountains arebeautiful but it's the people in
Asheville that have helped mebecome who I am today and have
influenced me and have brokeprevious molds of what I thought
a life on this spaceship couldbe.
They have given meopportunities or they have
edified me or they have put mein positions where, like I have
(19:42):
seen things in my life in thelast four years that, honestly,
it can't happen without faithand it needs to be put in a
movie.
Because of these experiencesthat I've had, and particularly
being a minority, like I've satcourtside on a basketball game.
That's incredible.
I don't know if I could ever go.
(20:03):
You know what they say once themind has been expanded, it can
never go back to its former areaof contraction.
Exactly I don't know if I couldever sit with the peasants in
the 100 section again.
Okay, I'm just being real.
I'm sorry, but it's hard.
Right, it's hard when you havethat kind of experience, you're
like oh my gosh, this iscompletely different than me
(20:24):
sitting up there when you're ina suite and you're like what
I've had.
The amazing moments that I didwas I had to take a drastic,
drastic move and I changed myenvironment.
(20:44):
When I changed my environment, Ichanged my circle.
My top six friends are allbusiness owners.
My top six friends all makeover one hundred thousand
dollars a year.
These are the people I spendthe most time with.
These are the people that whenI wasn't making $100,000 a year,
when I wasn't Mac Daddy, I wasPoor Daddy.
(21:06):
It was tough.
And so that's where you know.
I think that's the biggestplace that you can change and
create influence in yourself.
Laura (21:15):
Yeah, well, and if people wanted to reach out to you and
get to know more about you, yourbusiness, what you do, et
cetera, how can they contact you?
How can they reach out to you?
Alex (21:28):
Of course we got the socials.
We got cardonasolutionscom, andthen we do have the Instagram.
Is cool C-O-O-L underscore likea C, so that's the Instagram
handle.
And then Facebook is obviouslyunder Alex Cardona.
You might want to look up inTampa because I didn't want to
(21:48):
let everyone know I lived inAsheville, North Carolina, until
now.
That's there.
And LinkedIn is also under AlexCardona and then you can go to
the website cardonasolutionscomand also email me at cardona
C-A-R-D-O-N-A dot legacy atgmailcom.
Laura (22:07):
Wow, well, this has really been great.
I mean, I loved everything youtalked about the networking, the
connections, the influence, thepassion you know developing
your business and the intentionthat we need to have in that,
and then the faith and theinfluence, the passion you know
developing your business and theintention that we need to have
in that, and then the faith andthe confidence.
That's just fantastic.
So, thank you so much.
I really appreciate your timeand your expertise.
Alex (22:28):
Thank you, and people can find out more on the sales
acceleration series.
We're going to be doing it inJune.
I don't have the date lockeddown yet, but if you go on
Eventbrite, go on to look up thesales acceleration series, I'll
put in a code for Mountain BizWork, so it'll be Mosaic Life.
I'll just throw it out thereright now.
And so, yes, four week salesseries, lunch and Learn lunch is
included, and I'll be divinginto all these topics to help
(22:51):
you become the best version ofyou, so you can go out there and
go get what you want to get.
Laura (22:59):
OK, fantastic.
Well, thank you, alex, andthank you for listening to the
Mosaic Life with Laura W.
You can listen to this episodeagain and get this great content
, or listen to other great hostsand their shows by going to
bizradious and click on shows.
Thanks for listening.
Have a great rest of your day.
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