Life Can Change In A Moment

We are the sum of all moments in our life. Is it one moment that stands out that we can say, “This is why I am who I am,” or is it all those moments stacked up? Ruben had always had the athlete mentality of competition and that comes into all areas of his life. Exercising and training are the ways he eliminates stress in the morning.

[4:00] Ruben is more goal-oriented than task-oriented. It’s good to know that you can put in effort and see results at the end of the day.

[5:25] Ruben graduated with a degree in Exercise Science and he was doing tours of hospitals when he had the thought, “Did I want to be fat, bald, with $35,000 in debt and try to work out of that hole?” He met a guy who offered to get Ruben into real estate and he made $18,000 in his first month. He never looked back.

[7:00] Ruben started in the mortgage industry and eventually branched out into real estate, then went on to buy properties and own over a million dollars in assets. Then 2008 happened.

[8:40] When you are in your 20’s and making money in Los Angeles, you’re taught that what you have is how you measure success. Now Ruben operates differently and focuses more on the legacy he’s going to leave in the world.

[9:40] Ruben witnessed plenty of fraud in the business but he ran his business over board. When everything started to crash, he began burning through his savings to cover his payroll and debts. Ultimately, Ruben had to declare bankruptcy in 2009. During that time he realized that he didn’t need fancy watches and shiny objects to define himself.

[12:20] Ruben could have gone down the path of the victim but he chose not to. He knew he could succeed so he chose a different road. He was disenchanted with real estate and the shady practices and ended up in financial services.

[15:40] Ruben went from one difficult self-employed commission sales position to another one. He did well initially, but he felt like he was in just another rat race and not happy about what he was doing.

[17:40] One of the connecting factors that Ruben has had in everything he’s done in life is people. Pain points are how we adjust, grow, and evolve. While working in the financial services industry, Ruben realized that he was unhappy and depressed and needed to make a change. His friend invited him to an emotional intelligence workshop, which lead to Ruben’s life changing moment.

[20:30] During this time in Ruben’s life, he was open to finding a solution. It was during this workshop that Ruben was doodling an image that would later become his first mural. It started out as Beautify Lincoln, which later became Beautify Earth.

[22:00] Ruben didn’t realize at the time that the premise of the mural would later become the foundation for his work. Ruben knew how he was feeling at the time and he wanted a reminder that would help him shift how he was operating.

[24:00] We are all mirrors of each other. Ruben realized that if he needed to see that message, someone else probably needed it too. He started thinking about what he needed to see and started making those messages with the faith that others needed it as well.

[25:20] We have the opportunity to choose. Only we can make ourselves happy. We get to take responsibility for everything and not pass that off, and ultimately when you love you, that’s life. That’s when everything happens. You have got to love yourself to be able to do everything you can do for the world.

[25:50] Own all your flaws, and all your skills. Part of how you love yourself is allowing others to give back to you. A good exercise is to write yourself a love letter.

[27:30] Be open to other opinions and thought processes without judging. Realize that every single person is trying to do their best with the information they have at that moment.

[28:55] Ruben had always been drawing and painting, but being an artist was never really part of the plan.

[31:20] Ruben is trying to elicit an emotional reaction from people with his work. He grabs attention with color as a way to draw someone in. He pulls his inspiration from the emotions he feels himself and then puts that into his art.

[34:30] Sometimes it’s hard for people to hear a message they need to hear and art is a way into people’s hearts.

[36:05] At the time he created the first mural, Ruben was still working in the financial services industry, and being in both lead to him being mediocre at both. It took him having a conversation with himself and committing to the artist’s path for him to leave the services business.

[39:00] He found success in all the other things he had put his mind to, so Ruben just had to shift his mindset and believe that he could also be successful as an artist. He started out slowly by connecting with people who had enjoyed his work.

[41:00] What you’ve got to realize is that you have to stay true to your purpose and play the long game. When you play the short game you often sacrifice the exact thing that will lead to long-term success. You don’t have to be a “classical” artist, there are plenty of ways you can approach success.

[44:15] One of the things that Ruben stills struggles with is self acknowledgement. Every project is special and unique with different impacts, but there were two that stood out.

[47:50] One particular project focused on financial literacy which was something that really connected with Ruben. It was centered around goals and dreams and allowed kids to visualize their dreams and paint them into the mural. Another major project involved painting a mural inside of a prison.

[53:00] Ruben is working on expanding his brand and building out his startup, essentially the AirBnB of murals. He’s taking what he learned with the non-profit and connecting artists so they can share their voice.

[54:15] Aside from beautifying the marketplace, Ruben is focused on building out the community around his brand and changing mindsets. One of the things that drives Ruben is the belief that you have to aim for the stars.

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