197: Broke Single Mom Turned Self-Made Latina Millionaire with Scarlette Joyce Rojas | Bestselling Author

[00:00:16] Zach White: So Scarlett, did you grow up with a lot of money or how did you learn about this? 

[00:00:22] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: Yeah, I didn’t grow up with a lot of money. That’s why I learned about it. Okay, so let’s 

[00:00:26] Zach White: start there What was your childhood relationship to money tell us about where things began for you? 

[00:00:34] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: Yeah I actually this fascination with money started at an early age because I’m a daughter of immigrant parents And so I really watched Pretty much everything that can go wrong with money go wrong with money when I was a kid Wow I watched my dad work really hard.

[00:00:52] He worked two jobs and it still wasn’t enough. So I kind of learned, hey, I thought hard work wealth, but I learned that’s not the case, right? I saw my mom not be able to make decisions, finance decisions. And so her freedom to make decisions was taken away because she had to be consistently asking my dad.

[00:01:17] So I remember as a child, I remember thinking, I don’t want to be that way, right? So this, this desire to learn about money grew and then I ended up after university going into the banking industry. 

[00:01:33] Zach White: Wow. Okay. So before we go there though, were you in the U S growing up or were you back and forth between where your parents lived before?

[00:01:40] What was that like? 

[00:01:42] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: I was born and raised in Jersey, I’m a Jersey girl. My parents were from Ecuador. So they came here and there was four of us. So feeding four children. That’s a lot putting them through. My dad believed highly in education, so he wanted to put us through a private education.

[00:02:01] Zach White: Wow. 

[00:02:02] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: Just, it was really tough for a one income to, to do that. So what a 

[00:02:08] Zach White: gift from him to believe in that so much to work those jobs and make that happen. I’m curious because I’ve talked to various people who’ve, you’ll come from having a lot less and have been extremely successful in my lifetime. And some of them report financial pressure as a ever present, constant conversation and stressor in the home and others.

[00:02:32] Almost didn’t even know that they were poor until later. It’s like, and then one day I realized, wow, I grew up really poor. but it wasn’t something that was conscious for them. What, which side of that were you on or how would you describe your relationship to money when you were there in Jersey growing up?

[00:02:48] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: I really felt that lack, even though we were going to a Catholic school, There was a lot of things we couldn’t have because we were going to a Catholic school, right? I couldn’t go on the field trips. I couldn’t do any of the, uh, I couldn’t go to birthday parties because my dad be like, well, I don’t have money for a birthday present.

[00:03:08] So do you want to show up without a present? You know, so it’s like all these little things that we have. I didn’t have you know, we couldn’t be part of sports. So all of these little tiny luxuries that, you know, Kids have that they don’t realize that our luxuries, we didn’t have growing up in the city.

[00:03:28] Right? So I grew up in the city and we couldn’t leave our bikes outside because they’d get stolen, you know, so all I wanted when I was a kid is I just wanted to live in a house with grass outside where I can leave my bike outside and no one would steal it. You know, so I knew that we were not well off it was a glass ceiling.

[00:03:49] I had to burst through in my adulthood because we all have these subconscious beliefs that we don’t even know about that were created when we were kids. And one of mine was, I’m not one of them, one of them being the kids that have money, right? And so that’s something that I had to work through myself.

[00:04:12] Yeah, 

[00:04:14] Zach White: so before we talk about your transformation and growth through that, what else did you subconsciously end up believing about money? Or what does your parents teach you about money? You know, like money doesn’t grow on trees and these phrases and these things that we pick up in our beliefs about money.

[00:04:33] And I know today, money affirmations and mindset is your genius. So, like, what else did you pick up then what else was taught to you about money growing up? 

[00:04:42] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: So one of the biggest things, right, is this working hard, this idea that work.

[00:04:47] Hard is what you need to do to make money later on. I realized, okay, My dad worked hard for decades, but he’s still not wealthy. So that doesn’t working hard doesn’t equate to money and wealth. 

[00:05:03] Zach White: Yeah. 

[00:05:04] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: Is you need to work smarter. You need to understand money and really be able to leverage it as a tool. And so that was one thing, right?

[00:05:14] This idea. I’m 

[00:05:15] Zach White: not one of them and you have to work harder if you want more money. Is there any others that were like anchor points for you? 

[00:05:23] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: Yeah, the other one was this idea of freedom, right? So people want financial freedom in quotes, right? What does that mean to you? What’s financial freedom to you? I saw my mom not have the freedom to make her own decisions because she relied on somebody else for income.

[00:05:47] right? And so then I, that in my child mind said, I never wanna be that way. But what happens is that we end up overcompensating. And so what I did is I overcompensated, I said, I never wanna be that way. So I became this, powerful, successful woman that was all about, I’m gonna do it myself. Well, if.

[00:06:12] Years go by that I’m doing it myself. I’m going to be exhausted at some point. I’m going to say, you know what, maybe that was, that was compensating. Maybe I do want to do it with somebody. that was another subconscious belief that I had to come. 

[00:06:27] Zach White: I really appreciate you sharing that. That’s an interesting one.

[00:06:29] Like you’re going a good direction. I don’t want to be helpless or powerless in life, but I pushed it. Too far and then can end up so independent or so driven by this idea of I don’t want that, the fear of being powerless, that you actually end up creating a new problem. Right. That’s super interesting. I think I’ve fallen victim into that same, that same pattern.

[00:06:55] So you were telling us your story, you went to university, and then you go into banking, which you know very. Bizarre, untypical place to go. It would seem from that, background. How did you decide, I want to go into banking? Did you, it’s just related to this. I don’t wanna be that person.

[00:07:10] Or was there something else about the industry that interested you or like why banking? 

[00:07:14] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: You know what it, it was the, it was the oddest thing actually. I really, really feel like God kind of led me there because I was an English literature major. So that has nothing to do with it. Well, well, 

[00:07:23] Zach White: well, you, your actual degree is in English lit?

[00:07:26] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: English literature, yeah. And you go 

[00:07:28] Zach White: into banking. 

[00:07:29] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: Exactly. Yeah. So I entered in economics. I was actually doing a double major and I decided, you know what? I’m not going to be a super senior. I’m done with the, I was done with English lit major probably by year two, double major in economics. And then I thought, you know what?

[00:07:47] I’m not going to do this. Let me just, let me just graduate. Don’t want to be a super senior. So I ended up leaving and then I didn’t know what I was going to do. Cause everybody’s like, are you going to be a teacher? I’m like, no, I don’t want to be. 

[00:07:58] Zach White: I love this. And so how did you, how’d you end up in the bank?

[00:08:05] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: A major bank actually, came to campus. I met one of the people and they, they loved me. So then they were like, okay, hey, we want you to be part of this program. Uh, but they didn’t have opportunity in that year. They had it another year, like the next one. So I actually ended up going into human resources right after college.

[00:08:27] Then I went into, to work with a major bank. And so since I’ve been in the banking industry, And that’s actually now 

[00:08:36] Zach White: wild. And so if you were going to kind of fast track the different steps of the career leading up till today, what were the building blocks, the different things you’ve done since then.

[00:08:48] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: So first I went into banking and I was in management, so it was sales management and I created a great reputation in there and the leadership. Then I met an upper manager and he said, Hey, you’d be great at investments. Why don’t we bring you here? I’m like, can I make more money? Sure. Okay, let’s do 

[00:09:10] Zach White: it.

[00:09:11] Baby. 

[00:09:12] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: Which was actually a very, interesting part of my life because that was around 2008. The Great Recession. So that was when like the market had come down. It was just a very tough time to actually move towards, investments probably two years or so after the great recession, but it allowed me to spend more time with my son.

[00:09:32] And I was a single mom at that point. And so because of that, I figured, okay, let me go into investments. And I was making, maybe Close to a hundred grand, right? Which to me was a lot at that point. Yeah, 

[00:09:46] Zach White: totally. Growing up with, you know, far less, 

[00:09:50] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: right? 

[00:09:50] Zach White: You’re crushing it. 

[00:09:51] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: Yeah. And so then I’m like, okay.

[00:09:54] Now they told me, okay, in order for you to go into investments, we’re going to pay you 25, 000. That was a huge step of faith because I had to believe in myself, right. And figure, okay, I am going to have to make it happen. Somehow or another, but I wanted to spend more time with my son. So I decided to take that step and and for sure it was Was 

[00:10:23] Zach White: that change because the rest was on commission for your performance?

[00:10:27] Yeah. Yeah Wild 

[00:10:29] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: commission based 

[00:10:31] Zach White: most engineers You know, really love that safe, secure paycheck. And so I can imagine a lot of people be like, Ooh, you know, I, I wouldn’t mind a base plus commission when the base is a hundred thousand and then you can make more, but to see that number drop, that would be a really hard decision to bet on yourself.

[00:10:51] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: That was, yeah. 

[00:10:52] Zach White: Okay. 

[00:10:53] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: And then, you know, I bet on myself again, you know, probably about three years ago when I left corporate and started my own firm. 

[00:11:01] Zach White: Yeah. Congratulations, by the way. It sounds like that’s going extremely well for you. Yes. 

[00:11:06] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: Thank you. 

[00:11:07] Zach White: So Scarlett, at what point, maybe it was around the time of leaving to start the firm.

[00:11:12] I’m not sure, but tell me when you started to become so aware of the role of mindset when it comes to attracting wealth and creating wealth. 

[00:11:23] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: Yeah, so it was twofold. It was during that great recession time frame, right? Where I was in banking, banks were going under. I didn’t know whether I was going to have a job.

[00:11:35] I was going through a very messy divorce at that point as well. And then. During that time, I was hit by a car, actually a pickup truck. Yeah, out of nowhere, I’m crossing the street, I get hit by a pickup truck. And I remember thinking, the two thoughts that went through my mind were, is this it? Is this all there is to my life?

[00:12:04] That was one. The second one was, what time of what type of morning did I have with my son? Today because I was a single mom at that point, right going through divorce and I just couldn’t remember whether it was one of those crazy mornings where I kind of left him upset or crying or was it one of the happy mornings and the fact that I couldn’t remember that really really bothered me and I think that that was a big turning point in my life I was actually in California at that point and I had to Let go of my life in California.

[00:12:42] Short sell my home. Remember the housing crisis that happened? Yep, I was part of that. And really, redesign me and myself. And I remember thinking, how the hell am I going to do this? How am I going to do this by myself? And it was, mindset that helped me through that. I had to begin believing in myself and knowing that no one was coming to save me.

[00:13:12] And so it was during those years. And when I came back to the New York area, I came back in the same industry and I started to see patterns in people. And so I would tell people exactly what to do with their money. But for some reason, They wouldn’t do it. They’d get back into debt. 

[00:13:32] Zach White: Yeah. Or they’d 

[00:13:33] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: inherit three million dollars and then it’d be all gone in three years.

[00:13:37] Like, how do you do that? Right? 

[00:13:39] Zach White: Yeah. So I 

[00:13:39] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: started seeing that there was something, mentally there. There was a psychological piece to money. 

[00:13:45] Zach White: Hmm. 

[00:13:46] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: With my own experience too. 

[00:13:48] Zach White: I can’t gloss over the fact that you got hit by a truck. Yeah. That’s, that’s kind of crazy. I mean, were you okay? We’re in the hospital for a long time.

[00:13:56] I mean, how serious was it? 

[00:13:58] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: Yeah, it was actually not as serious as it could have been. I was in the hospital maybe a couple of days and then out of work for two months, three months. 

[00:14:09] Zach White: just divine protection. Praise the Lord for that. 

[00:14:12] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: 100%. It was 100 percent because it totally, you know, put me in a completely different way of looking at life.

[00:14:20] I was pretty much sleepwalking through life. And after that, I, I gained my purpose. I saw things in a different manner. 

[00:14:29] Zach White: Yeah. So there you are. I can’t even put myself in this situation, but it’s like, I just got hit by a truck and the thing that’s Most bothersome is not that my body is broken. It’s that I, I don’t remember even what the morning with my most beloved family member, my son, like the person I love more than anyone else.

[00:14:52] And I don’t even remember what kind of morning we had. It’s time to wake up. I’m a walking dead here it’s time to wake up. Mindset helped you come out of that place. I’m curious. Was there a person, was there a book, something that you tapped into, did you work with a coach, where did that mindset inflection point begin?

[00:15:18] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: if you really want to know the answer to that, I think the first thing was my faith in God, Started to lose it at that point. I began questioning. I began to say, why, why are you doing this to me? Right? Why me? And, and I’ve been good. 

[00:15:34] so that became this, decrease of my faith and then to go to understanding that we don’t, we don’t ask why.

[00:15:49] Right, you get stuck in. Why is this happening to me? Or why did this happen to me? Then you get stuck in a victim mentality versus understanding. Okay, this happened. And how do I leverage it? How do I move on? Right? And so that was, I think, the first change in the way that I thought that I had to realize that, yes, I could have died, but I was dying anyway.

[00:16:20] I was sleepwalking through life anyway. I was in a marriage that I wasn’t happy in. I was going to a career that was like, okay. really wasn’t challenging anymore. I didn’t even know whether that morning with the person I love the most was a good one or a bad one. And that’s the thing I care about the most, right?

[00:16:43] I care about the most. So, so yeah, so I wasn’t enjoying, and I wasn’t, I wasn’t enjoying the true things that are important in, in life. 

[00:16:54] Zach White: I almost died, but I was dying anyway. Yeah. Wow. That really hits me. we need to wake up. Okay. So here you are, you’re experiencing this crisis of faith, leaning in, asking hard questions, You realize I’m creating this victimhood.

[00:17:17] If I stay in this place, it’s time to turn this around. I’m going to change my mindset. I’m going to shift. was it quick? you started to make these changes and everything was next day better, or what was that? Growth out of the dark place like for you, 

[00:17:32] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: it was constant, it was constantly talking to myself.

[00:17:34] And that’s where I began to see the power of affirmations, right? Because formations are seen as this kind of thing, but we affirm ourselves every single day. We talk to ourselves. We tell ourselves, Oh, I’m not good with money. I’m fat or, Oh, you know, I’m, I’m really not, I’m not the religious type or whatever you want to say to yourself.

[00:17:57] that is an affirmation, but it’s just a negative type of affirmation. And so during that time, whenever those thoughts would come into my head, like, how are you going to do this on your own? How are you going to go from California back to New Jersey and say, still be able to take care of a child on your own?

[00:18:14] Is your son going to be okay? Or is he going to be, some degenerate in the future, all of these scary thoughts, I would affirm myself. So I would then change them to positive thoughts and begin talking to myself. And so then that was another mind mindset shift that happened. And because of that, I began seeking out mentors.

[00:18:37] So Jack Canfield was a mentor, author for chicken. Yes. 

[00:18:42] Zach White: Yes. I love Jack Canfield’s work. Tremendous. So before I, Ask the engineering question I want to ask. So yeah, how do affirmations work? What are the mechanics of this? How do we do this? Let me really quick, I’m going to brag about you, you correct me if I’m wrong about any of these points, Scarlett, but since going through this transformation in your own mindset and leaning into the affirmations and finding great mentors, doing this work, now you have this incredibly successful boutique firm in New York that wealth management where you’re not counting your money in hundreds or thousands.

[00:19:19] We’re counting in seven figures now. Congratulations. You’ve got a bestselling book, the 31 Badass Money Mindset Affirmations, and coaching others and having a tremendous impact, including a monster social media following and people who are leveraging your genius and your encouragement to their own transformation.

[00:19:38] And so there’s, plethora of evidence that this has not just a feel good result, but a meaningful, tangible result in your life in the real world. Are there other things you’ve accomplished in these last few years that I didn’t mention that are like you’re really proud of, really excited about from all of this work?

[00:19:55] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: I got my master’s in business administration as a single mom after that event. So that, that was a big win for me. Because it’s, I mean, it’s hard to do on its own versus, I mean, doing it as a single mom’s even 100 percent tougher, I think. So that was a really big one for me. 

[00:20:14] Zach White: I love it. So It’s safe to say this works and so now the question is well, what is it?

[00:20:20] What is the the work? What exactly are we doing? And when someone sees that opening idea that you know Scarlet can help me attract wealth by rewiring my money mindset for me as an engineer That’s a hard like what do you mean by that? What does it mean to attract wealth? What does it mean to rewire? My money mindset you talked about the power of affirmations.

[00:20:43] That sounds kind of woo woo So can you break it down like the mechanics here? what’s actually happening? What are you doing? in the real world, if I shadowed you all day, like the work itself, that’s creating these results. 

[00:20:57] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: Yeah. So let’s start from the, the fact that when you are a child, there’s certain things that are said to you.

[00:21:07] There are certain things that you experience that, help you make a decision about yourself. So you end up making a decision about yourself. about the world or about money. these are the past experiences. what ends up happening during your life is whatever decision you made, let’s say when you were seven is continuously reinforced.

[00:21:32] during your childhood, teenagehood, adulthood, right? So if you have this idea that I’m not good enough, that’s going to be continuously reinforced because your brain will begin to see, oh, that’s an example that I’m not good enough, right? 

[00:21:48] Zach White: So, so, so I’m not one of them. your example from earlier, every time somebody doesn’t invite you to the party or every time somebody cuts you in line or every, It’s just 

[00:21:59] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: I can’t afford something.

[00:22:02] Zach White: I’m not one of them just reinforces. Okay, so we all have these patterns these beliefs and then we reinforce it our whole life So 

[00:22:12] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: then now, you are in your adulthood and what you’re not noticing is that your subconscious is making most of your decisions for you and research shows that 95 percent of what happens on a daily basis in our bodies and the decisions we’re making 95 percent of Is unconscious, right?

[00:22:33] We think it’s not only 5 percent is actually what you are willing to do. Everything else is already wired. Okay. So now, because you’re wired that way, your 7 year old self is making decisions for you. It’s making the decision on what you do with your banking and your finances and how afraid you are of things or how crazy risky you are on things.

[00:22:56] It’s deciding who you choose to marry. It’s deciding where you go to school. It’s deciding all of these things, but you’re not realizing it. 

[00:23:07] Zach White: Seven year old Zach is driving the bus. That’s a scary, that’s a scary thought. and it explains a lot about the challenges I’ve been through in my life. So, all right, seven year old us is driving 95 percent subconscious.

[00:23:22] We’re just operating off these beliefs. And so if you were going to give the, I know this is a, it’s a big topic, but like, what are the first starting points? If we want to make that change, if we’re looking to uplevel our money mindset, how do we do that? 

[00:23:37] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: Begin to realize what you tell yourself every single day and you catch yourself talking to yourself, 

[00:23:44] You’re with yourself all day. You’re the only person that’s with yourself all day. So then it begins seeing how you speak to yourself. Are you speaking to yourself negatively and begin seeing what makes you feel kind of like uncomfortable. Right, because that’s right. They’re going to point you in a direction of like, okay, what am I feeling right now?

[00:24:07] Am I feeling angry? Am I feeling upset with myself? Am I feeling scared? Because these are all rooted in something from the past. when you begin doing that. can start noticing some patterns or some old subconscious beliefs and then Affirmations are pretty much just statements right in the positive about you And what happens in the brain is that every time that you talk to yourself every time you say something It is either creating a new little path in your brain, or it’s Actually making one stronger Okay, so if someone says, Oh, you know, I’m old.

[00:24:49] I’m old. I’m old. I’m old. All right, they’re consistently saying that it’s actually just creating that to be stronger when you change that thought and you say, I’m young and healthy, right? It feels really weird and uncomfortable, but that’s because your brain is not used to it, but it’s creating a new little roadway in your brain.

[00:25:08] Zach White: Yeah. 

[00:25:09] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: in order to make that stronger, you have to continuously say that even if it feels uncomfortable. So that’s basically neuroplasticity is what you’re practicing. 

[00:25:21] Zach White: So that discomfort when you’re saying an affirmation, I’m young and healthy and full of energy and vitality, and it doesn’t feel true at all.

[00:25:31] It’s like, no, I’m old and decrepit. Like that’s the truth. What feels like the truth today is that old thought that I’ve been replaying over and over again. The term cognitive dissonance comes to mind. We end up in this place where the brain’s not ready to receive that. Would you say that there’s something we need to do in that moment to make the affirmation work, like you’re doing it wrong, you’re doing, or is it just no, like that’s exactly what you would expect and just keep doing it?

[00:26:00] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: Yep. It’s exactly what you would expect and you keep doing it. It’s the same way that you go to the gym and your muscle begins to kind of like, okay, it’s kind of hurting now. Uh, yeah, well, you gotta just have to keep going. Your muscles are gonna get sore before they get bigger way. 

[00:26:18] Zach White: So, so let’s rip off the gym metaphor.

[00:26:21] Like how many reps does it take before my guns start to bulge out of my, my t shirt here? You know, if, if you’re thinking about affirmations, when should we expect to start sort of feeling more at ease with that belief or maybe seeing a shift or actually Getting new results from that affirmation. Even what’s that journey like we’re talking 10 times, a thousand times, a hundred thousand times, like, 

[00:26:44] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: how do we 

[00:26:44] Zach White: know?

[00:26:45] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: So it takes anywhere between 22 days and 62 right between 22, 22 and 61 or something like that. Right. 

[00:26:54] Zach White: Days. 

[00:26:55] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: Yes. Days. Okay. A habit. Right. 

[00:26:58] Zach White: Okay. And 

[00:26:59] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: so that’s why I said, Hey, let’s do 31 days of affirming ourselves. Right. And, and in the book, I split it up in three different types of affirmations, affirming yourself as in you, how you feel about yourself.

[00:27:14] Affirming the world how you feel about the world and then money, right? So giving you these positive ways of seeing things Versus what you probably have a custom have been accustomed to by society Religion your parents or whatever else happened in your childhood. 

[00:27:33] Zach White: Mm hmm. Is it possible to You go through all 31 or 62 or however many days, you go 100 days and see no results because of the way you approach the exercise.

[00:27:47] Like your heart’s not in it, you’re not really going for it or you just casually scan through the book while you’re eating your breakfast and you’re like, can you miss it completely? Is that possible? 

[00:27:59] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: you can if you’re not believing in it, if you’re not bringing your a game, nothing is going to, to, to work, right?

[00:28:07] Yeah. and it’s funny because I ask people to say it at least 21 times. 

[00:28:13] Zach White: Ah, that was going to be my next question actually. Yeah. Okay. So you got to go for it every day. Like this isn’t just a one time and you’re good. You got to repeat it all day long. 

[00:28:22] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: Yes, you got to repeat this. So if it’s one affirmation, right, for day one, let’s say I’m a creator and everything I touch prospers.

[00:28:31] Okay. So you need to say that 21 times, just say it. And, and it’s funny because you start off with like, okay, I’m a creator and everything I touch prospers. But if you begin saying it over and over, as you’re walking, as you’re driving, you just have it in your mind, you’re going to want to put feeling into it.

[00:28:49] Zach White: Yeah. 

[00:28:50] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: Everything really is dependent on feeling even your relationship, right? It depends on what kind of feeling, what kind of energy you’re putting into it, your career. What energy are you putting into your career? Are you coming in whole home drum or like, are you coming in and saying, okay, you know what?

[00:29:11] I’m going to make it happen today. 

[00:29:14] Zach White: the engineers who I coach Scarlett, I tell them that when it comes to mindset, Shifts mindset transformation. You have two levers. You got to pull the repetition, which I love what you’re saying here. And I need to increase my count that I challenge people to do.

[00:29:28] I’m not going high enough, I think. But the second is that intensity or energy emotion that you bring to it. If you really want to change faster, if you want to install that habit and that new program to your point, you know, you can’t just casually glance at it one time or put it on the wall and expect it to change your life.

[00:29:44] Yeah. You got to bring some energy into that. Bring that intensity, that emotion. And that’s the hardest part for most engineers. We just feel so uncomfortable, shouting an affirmation out loud in the car or looking yourself in the mirror and saying that thing, you just feel like such a goober doing it like this.

[00:30:01] This is so bizarre, but I think to your point, What helps a lot of engineers is to take what you said, and if you need to, go study the neuroscience, go study neuroplasticity and epigenetics and all these disciplines that will show you that that crazy action of shouting affirmations in the car actually is rewiring your brain.

[00:30:22] and when you see that, I think sometimes the science helps people buy in to these crazy actions that are out of their comfort zone. If you’re serious about getting results, but I’m curious for you when you coach people and you’re helping them through this process, if somebody is resistant to just doing the exercise, like they don’t like, ah, scarlet, I’m not feeling it.

[00:30:42] I don’t like this. This is uncomfortable. What would be your encouragement to them? Or how do you help people stick with it and buy in? 

[00:30:50] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: I’ve asked why it’s uncomfortable. And then I’ve asked, have you tried it, right? And which affirmations made you feel most uncomfortable?

[00:31:02] And when I actually did a study group before the book came out, there was one affirmation that made people feel very uncomfortable. And I, from what I remember it was,I am a sexy, sexy, successful moneymaking machine, right? And it made people feel uncomfortable. I’m like, Oh, really? What part of that makes you feel uncomfortable?

[00:31:21] And it was this, idea of them being sexy. So a lot of them were like, I don’t see myself. I don’t see 

[00:31:27] Zach White: it. 

[00:31:27] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: Right. I’m like, okay. So that’s interesting. So they kind of felt like, I, you know what, I, I don’t want to do this one because it makes me feel uncomfortable. Well, when I dug deeper, they were the same ones that struggled with self esteem.

[00:31:44] Zach White: Yeah. Yep. 

[00:31:45] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: So there is one thing that I challenge you to do is if it makes you feel uncomfortable, what part of it makes you feel uncomfortable? is it the the what you’re saying because you feel like it’s not the truth about yourself And if you feel like it’s not the truth, then why let’s dig a little deeper into that You’re like, okay.

[00:32:07] I don’t you know, I don’t want to be doing this I feel so stupid in the mirror doing this or I don’t believe in this stuff, right? So you just have to understand yourself a little more. 

[00:32:17] Zach White: Yeah, really good It’s likely that That affirmation is the most important one for those people. It reminds me of Maxwell Maltz, his book, psycho cybernetics, where he talks about the importance of the self image.

[00:32:30] And we’re talking about money, but we’re really talking about your belief about yourself in relationship to money. Right. So that’s, That’s really interesting. I’m going to add, I’m a sexy money making machine into my list. Cause I I’ve never used that one. I like that a lot. Okay. So Scarlett, here’s another area I’d love to hear your thoughts on, because I think it’s hard to wrap our heads around it, especially as an analytical, logical Y equals F of X type of thinker.

[00:32:59] Being an engineer, you use this phrase that you’re going to help me attract wealth by changing my mindset. I’ll just be honest. the phrase in, and I go back to the first time I heard anybody talk about attraction, it’s like, What? You’re telling me that I can just like sit on the couch and think about money and someone’s going to go deposit money in my bank account.

[00:33:22] Like that’s a bunch of BS. I’m not into this. This is some woo woo garbage. You know, I’m going to go get to work. And like you said earlier, I’m just going to keep working harder so I can make more money, which by the way, led to my burnout and divorce and my own rock bottom experiences I’ve talked about on the podcast a lot.

[00:33:40] So I don’t recommend that option, but I just wasn’t. willing to buy into this idea of attracting wealth. And I didn’t understand what that meant. So can you explain what the heck that means? and can you give an example of how you’ve attracted wealth into your life by changing your mindset? 

[00:33:58] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: Yeah, I’ll give you, I’ll start off with more of a simple way of looking at it, right?

[00:34:05] I’m a big believer of building wealth, hence why I’m a financial advisor, right? So, yes, we build wealth, but we also attract it with the way that we are. Our mindset. Will end up coming out into the public, right? So people see what’s inside of us. And so we come to life, come to the world with the best version of ourselves, with belief in ourselves, confidence in ourselves, right?

[00:34:35] We are going to attract the right people to us. Why? Because they’re going to be attracted to people that are actually, living life, have assessed for life, not just, you know, someone that’s always negative or in a victim mentality or doesn’t want to talk to people like who wants to be around those people.

[00:34:52] Right? 

[00:34:52] Zach White: Yeah. 

[00:34:53] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: So that’s a simple way of understanding. How you can attract wealth, It’s because you’re going to be attracting the right people. They will be attracted to you based on how you come into this world, how you show up. That makes really good. 

[00:35:09] Zach White: So if I relate that to the career context, if I believe about myself that I’m not smart enough to do the job, that’s going to come out and how I interact with my colleagues and with my boss and the people deciding whether or not to promote me.

[00:35:23] But if I change that mindset, what they see is somebody who’s confident and capable and ready for the next promotion, you’re more likely to get that promotion. You know, we could say, Oh, well, you performed better, but in a way you just shifted who you are on the inside and then that comes out and then you attract those results.

[00:35:40] So it’s no different with money. It’s the same concept. It’s just that inside shows on the outside and then creates a difference. How has it affected you personally? What’s something where you look out and you say, wow, the money mindset work attracted this outcome that I never could have, you know, just done on my own strength with my old mindset.

[00:36:00] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: It’s in the confidence. It’s in the confidence and the self esteem, right? For a Latina. Right to that grew up in an inner city to leave corporate the beautiful comfort of a very high salary at a very large firm to start my own company that takes confidence that takes a different animal 

[00:36:25] Zach White: right 

[00:36:26] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: different type of mindset I had to become a different person to be able to do that and then to attract clients right For them to look at me and say, yeah, I trust you with my money.

[00:36:39] here’s 2 million. Here’s 3 million, right? That’s a big deal. So if I came at them and didn’t believe in myself, they would see right through that. They’d see that so fast. And you made a point because you said, for someone incorporate, right, whatever’s inside your mind, even your body actually ends up showing it, right?

[00:37:05] So that’s something to take into consideration. 

[00:37:11] Zach White: You don’t have to answer this if it’s too, too personal, you don’t want to say it, but I’m kind of curious if you were going to put a dollar sign on how much your affirmations that you’ve done over the last, you know, Five years, 10 years are worth in the next 5 to 10 years.

[00:37:27] How much would you say doing this has been worth to you? what’s the return on investment of doing affirmations and transforming your money mindset and real dollars in your life? 

[00:37:37] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: Oh my gosh, I would say priceless. I can’t even put a dollar sign on it. Yeah, I can’t even put a dollar sign on it.

[00:37:46] something that is done every single day. You do it, Zach. I do it. All your listeners do it. They just need to catch themselves doing it. And they need to ask themselves, Oh, crap, am I doing, doing like negative affirmations or am I affirming myself in a positive way? Because there’s one thing I’ve noticed about all of the people that come to me is that each one of us has an inner child.

[00:38:14] We have little Zach, In there, little scarlet in there, and then we tend to ignore that because we’re grown up, supposedly, and so when we berate ourselves and say negative things to ourselves or don’t believe in ourselves, we need to see that we are doing that to that little child inside of us.

[00:38:40] So the way that you’re speaking to yourself? Would you speak to your child like that? Hopefully not 

[00:38:47] Zach White: Wow, and you’re right that we are affirming negative affirmations to ourselves all the time in that 95 percent that autopilot, right? And so if we don’t proactively Drive a new narrative.

[00:39:02] It’s going to hold us back. You told us some beliefs you had as a kid that were imparted to you from your upbringing and your parents and the environment you were in then I’m, not one of them. You have to work hard to make money What do you believe about money now? what are the top two or three?

[00:39:20] core beliefs you hold in your money mindset today that really serve you?

[00:39:25] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: Money is a tool. We are more important than money. For some reason, we are led to believe that we have to chase money. It’s not the case. We’re money makers. The ideas come from our mind, the service comes from us. that’s one big thing, this, this idea. 

[00:39:51] Zach White: Money is a tool. Yeah. Wow. What else? 

[00:39:55] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: the second one would be.

[00:39:58] how we see the world, how we see money, and how we see ourselves has been pretty much given to us. We’ve been wired with that at an early age, and so we now have to look at that and say, does that work for me now, or do I have to change it? 

[00:40:25] Zach White: I have a feeling. Anyone who’s listened to our conversation up till here has been listening because what they’re believing now hasn’t been working for them.

[00:40:34] So as my coach tells me all the time, Zach, if nothing changes, then nothing changes. Those little nuggets of gold that is like so obvious, but you just need to be reminded. And yeah, I think this is a great opportunity for somebody to wake up to that 31 badass money mindset affirmations. Go get a copy of Scarlett’s book, Happy Engineer, if you want to start going on a journey to transform your money mindset.

[00:41:06] Scarlett, I really appreciate you being here. Where can people find you get connected to your work? Maybe grab a copy of the book. What’s the best place for the Happy Engineer to go? 

[00:41:15] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: My website. So www. moneymindsetadvisors. com. 

[00:41:21] Zach White: Okay. We’ll put that link in the show notes, Happy Engineer, go check it out. And I will.

[00:41:27] boldly say that this type of work Is easily going to create multiple seven figures of wealth in my next five to 10 years if I had not done it in my own journey, and I continue to lean into this every day. So I will be going through your book myself as well. I’m really excited to do that. My wife’s excited, too.

[00:41:47] She loves the book. Jen Sincero’s book, You’re a Badass at Making Money. So when I told her the title of your book, she’s like, Oh, it’s perfect. I got to put it right on the shelf next to Jen Sincero’s book. So Scarlett, I’m excited to hear your thoughts on this last place. We always finish the conversation.

[00:42:03] And you know, in your work and as a coach of this work that questions lead. The answers follow and we’re all looking for better answers with money and in our life and in success and happiness. So we need to ask better questions. And so what would be the question that you would lead the happy engineer with coming out of our conversation today?

[00:42:25] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: So why do I want it? And what’s the next step?

[00:42:31] Zach White: Why do I want it? And what’s the next step? Brilliant. Scarlett, thank you so much. It has been tremendous to spend time with you today. I just want to acknowledge you for the amazing work you’re doing, changing people’s lives through one of the most important areas of our life, our money to get those goals that we have.

[00:42:49] And also to remember, it’s not just about counting our money in the morning, but loving who we see in the mirror when we get up. So I appreciate you so much. This has been awesome. 

[00:42:58] Scarlette Joyce Rojas: Thank you, Zach. Thanks. I’m super excited to be here. Thank you.