‍[00:02] Jennifer Wu: Hi everyone, thanks for listening to The Founder Spirit podcast. I'm your host, Jennifer Wu. In this podcast series, I interview exceptional individuals from all over the world with the founder spirit, ranging from social entrepreneurs, tech founders, to philanthropists, elite athletes, and more. Together, we'll uncover not only how they managed to succeed in facing multiple challenges, but also who they are as people and their human story. 

“One thing that hold me through all these was faith in the future is power in the present. I had faith that there's always a hidden gem inside all those difficulties, of all that suffering, of all that difficulty.”

“Connecting with nature, what I have found, is the pathway for bringing enlightenment into your life and bringing harmony and togetherness and unity, which is what we're created for.”

“Bottom line is love, love is the divine feminine. Love is the paraclete, is everything. Everything was formed in the world from love.”

“Life is not only the pursuit of happiness, it's the pursuit of purpose.”

Joining us today is the purpose-driven Andres Ruzo, a serial entrepreneur, philanthropist, and visionary leader. Peruvian by birth and Texan by choice, Andres is the Founder and CEO of LinkAmerica, a communications technology services firm that became the fastest-growing privately-held Hispanic company in the United States.

Beyond his professional achievements, Andres is also a community leader deeply committed to driving social impact and fostering inclusive growth. He founded the Lumen WeDoBelieve Foundation to improve the human condition focused on education and (nature) regeneration. 

Author of the bestselling book, The Human iOS, (the deeply spiritual) Andres provides an allegorical adventure into the heart of humanity. 

Just how did an immigrant who came to America with two bags and a dream become a successful entrepreneur and a remarkable changemaker? Well, let’s talk to him & find out.

Hello Andres, welcome to The Founder Spirit podcast! So great that you could join us today and we thank you for taking the time.

[02:11] Andres Ruzo: Thank you, Jennifer. It's always an honor to talk to you and work with you and find new things with you. 

[03:22] Jennifer: Thank you. Andres, growing up in Peru, what were some of the major influences on your life? 

[02:18] Andres: Well, I recall my grandmother, Carlota Oliard, she was an amazing woman that teached me unconditional love. And I think love is the highest vibration that we have on earth, it has a frequency on 528 (hertz). 

And she was just an amazing woman that showed me how to be an agent of positive change through her example. And she was just a very good influence that led me also into the US because she was telling me (that) the sky is the limit for you. 

And Peru had a story of difficulties with Shining Path and others that we'll talk later. But she always projected peace, happiness, consciousness. And to me, she was a great example for me. 

[03:16] Jennifer: That's wonderful. And as you had mentioned, so in 1980 you left Peru, which was rife with terrorism at the time, and you moved to the US to pursue a degree in industrial engineering at Texas A&M University. 

And you were seeking a future with stability, security and success. But nonetheless, it must have felt like a big culture shock for you. Can you tell us what were those first few years like for you coming to America? 

[03:45] Andres: Well, first of all, I'm a grateful US citizen now. I was 19 when I left Peru and it was a change that was necessary. 

The country was going through a real difficult time with social upheaval. Shining Path was blowing towers every night, businesses were shutting down. And this was for many, many years. I mean, they used to push revolutions with guns and doing things that were really complex. 

So my grandmother, my mother, they said, you have to go to the States because you need to look for stability, security in the future. And that's how I came into the US with two bags and a dream - exactly that. And it's been an amazing ride, it's been now 43 years here. So you can see my age - I'm 63 now. 

And the reality is that I'm really grateful. I know we're going through some difficult times now, but still it’s an amazing nation that allows an immigrant like me to become a very successful person because (it) has that structure, the institutions and good solid laws where you can play and have sustainability. 

And that's what has made me grow into technology, into education, into real estate and other things that I have done in my life. 

[05:02] Jennifer: So I've read somewhere that you supported yourself with multiple odd jobs while at university. You've been a carpenter, you've actually (dug) sewage pipes and you built houses, and you've been called a serial entrepreneur by necessity. 

And your entrepreneur journey started very early. You invested in your first startup upon graduation in 1983. And I also read somewhere in an article that you attempted 17 startups before creating your big success, LinkAmerica. 

[05:35] Andres: Absolutely, it's an interesting story of finding a way. That's what entrepreneurs do - you find a way - because life is not easy. You have to figure it out and then shift and constantly move your cheese. 

And there is always in the lemons that you find in life things to make lemonade, right? We're talking about me wearing this lemonade shirt, which is meaningful to me. 

So yes, why 17 companies in reality was 17 initiatives that I was trying to figure out, first, how to stay in the States. So I graduated with an engineering degree and there was a practical training visa for six months. But no company wanted to just train me for six months, you’re non-productive in six months. 

And then what do we do? I had no permanent resident vehicle, so I have to figure out a way to land and stay in the States. I was a carpenter. I just started digging, I did a lot of odd works until I bought my car. 

I found this oil exploration company in College Station (Texas). And I said, if you give me my H1 visa, I will work for you. And he said, I'll pay you 50 bucks a week, give you a beaten old car and you can live with four guys in a house. So I said, okay, I'm in. So I sold my car, put the $2,000, I (became) a shareholder - and that's how I started as an engineer with $50 bucks a week. 

But that led me into trying to figure out a way, a path, a narrow path, to get into opportunities that were bigger, more scalable, more sustainable. And I tried, (but) I didn't know. 

In Peru, my family is very well-known. My mother is the Julia Child of Peru, my grandfather was the mayor of Lima and Miraflores. And he was very close to the president at that time, and he did a lot of amazing things, discovered Marcahuasi (in Peru).  

But the challenge was that now I had no experience, I was a Social Security number here. I will mention my name, a policeman will stop me and they say, oh, you're the son of Teresa. Oh, go ahead, I don't give you a ticket. 

But here was different, here I was a number. So I started figuring out, every idea I came up with became kind of a business. So I went from really bad to not so bad, to bad to it's okay to not so good and then to good until I hit LinkAmerica. 

I was looking for a large ticket item, repetitive sales and no competition - and I got into telecom. When I got into Telecom in the 90s, I realized that was the place that I needed to stay because technology was just moving from analog to digital and now into IP and other things. 

So I founded LinkAmerica in 1994, and we had amazing rapid growth, amazing growth. I mean, I went from 0 to $12 million in seven years, which is the seven years that I call the fat cows, because it was easy to make money. 

I was competing with a manufacturer, taking their market share because they were not paying attention. They were making so much money, they were not paying attention to the repairs. So I focused on the repairs. And I took 70% of the Siemens market in two years on repairs for large Class 4, Class 5 switches. 

And that catapulted me into all this growth, which was very interesting. And this is what America can do. And how did I figure out going from bad, not so bad into something good? I also joined the Chamber of Commerce because one of the things that I realized is that in the (United) States there are institutions that work. 

And if you don't know people, which I didn't, I was a number. They said, well, use the path of that chamber. And then I got into a committee, I became chairman of the committee, I came into (the) executive board, and then I became a chairman. And that has been my path. 

So through chambers of commerce, I've met (a) tremendous amount of people and I found a way to service our communities and at the same time to do good and do well. 

And people say, hey, this guy, he's an agent of change, he's a leader, you know. And then when I took control of the chamber in 2004 (the Greater Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce), it became the #1 chamber of the United States. 

And we did more changes in the bylaws than they did in the last 60 years just to shore up. So I've been always a rainmaker, an agent of change in everything that I touch and do. But that's been my story. 

And now I mentioned the seven years of fat cows. Because in my life I try to connect with the spirit in everything I do and live with purpose, right? A purpose-driven life. So it was interesting. 

In the first seven years I went from $0 to $12 million. And I said, wow, this is amazing. And then 2001 comes and we have a dotcom bust in March and we have a 911 in September. And then I just bought a company from Siemens for digital loop carriers at that time, and I just built a humongous building, I bought the land and built a building. 

And then I saw the market coming down tremendously fast and I said, oh my God. So  the next seven years, from 2001 to 2008, were my skinny cow years. It was really skinny for me to $7 million to $5 million to $2 million, and I was in deep debt. 

I was $3 million in debt in 2007 with a manufacturing plant, And I say if I don't sell this, I'm stuck, so I sold my assets. And it's a long story, but I'm just going to make it short - sold my assets in 2007. 

And in 2008 I changed the plan and went from 100% (telecom) equipment to 100% services, from four buildings to one, from 100 people to 5, doing the skinny cows. And it was just brutal. 

But one thing that hold me through all these was faith in the future is power in the present. I had faith that there's always a hidden gem inside all those difficulties, of all that suffering, of all that difficulty. 

And in 2008 we made the shift. So what was interesting was that 2008 comes and I have two buyers. I engage with one company called CTDI and they give me $1 million cash and then they give me a $50 million line of credit. And with that I am able to go from $2 million to $12 to $39 to $115 to $250 million in four years, which was like a hockey stick. 

But during the bad times I was saying, hey, you know, I want to have lean bulls, I don't want to have skinny cows no more - I want to have no people and be super lean. And then I changed my mind and I said, no, I'm going to call it holy cows because holy cow, I couldn't believe it myself that I went from $2 million to $250 million in four years.

And all of this is easy to say because it's my story, but it has a lot of emotions and ups and downs and difficulties in the path. But that's how life operates, right? It's never a perfect plan. 

And one of the things, this is a gold nugget to me is in the past we used to say that IQ was the most important thing when they hire people because the coefficient of intelligence. Then it was the EQ in the 2000s, which was the emotional coefficient. 

We had another coefficient now is the AQ - what is the AQ? It's the coefficient of adaptability. So one of my secrets of success has been the ability to adapt, but in a minute, I mean super fast, to change the outcomes by changing yourself and absorbing the reality that is coming to you. 

And it could be a bull charging at you, but look at the bull in the eye and grab it by the horns. And that, very few people do. But that's the secret of being an entrepreneur, is just facing it with no fear and driving it with love and intention and purpose and connecting with people. So that's been my story up to 2008. 

So 2008-2015 was holy cows. And I'm going to finish with the story because there's more cows coming. 2015, I start with education and I say, well, there's seven years. And I have this path of seven years, so what next? And I go from holy cows to cows with a purpose - purposeful cows. 

And why? Because I stumbled into education as I'm looking for what do I need to do to help others, share the enlightenment that I'm getting in work and the impact that we can do in humanity that needs it. 

In 2015, the world was okay, but it was already going into a different dimension. And I say, let's get into education. So we find an opportunity to buy a piece of land that has a school with 90 kids in Costa Rica and we get into education. 

And then I thought, this is a real estate deal - I'm buying it for half the price, it's a great deal. But then I couldn't let go (of) the schools. And my partner says, let's make it work and get into education and run the school for a year. I said, okay, let's run it for a year and see how it goes. 

So now it's a total success and we're super engaged in education. We're running three schools now and one university. And so those years of cows with a purpose, 2015-2022, the years where I get into education, which is double purpose and triple impact for me because it really helps our Latin American people, which is where we're focused. 

That's LinkAmerica - 600 million people that I want to impact with God's Grace, of course, to help them with technology, to bring knowledge and creativity. You put those together and bring innovation, and Latinos are super creative. 

So a little bit long on my answer, but that's my story. 

[15:23] Jennifer: (chuckles) Oh, I love it. I love it. There's so many things that you said that I would love to unpack. 

Back to the beginning of your story, you know, as we had mentioned, you attempted 17 startups. You don't have to list all of them, but I understand you had run a real estate company and you had also imported fruit and vegetables during the winter months, and then you sold real estate in the summer months. 

During this time, did you ever think, oh, man, I have a degree in industrial engineering, what am I doing selling real estate and perishables? 

[15:54] Andres: Never, I swear to God, never have I thought about that. I was saying, what can I do? I had three kids. What can I do to give them stability and to give them education? And I was so focused on that I never stopped to think. I was just trying to… 

I was a human doing at that time, I was pushing more than pulling from the universe. At this time, I'm pulling from the universe. At that time, I was just pushing, pushing, push. I wanted to be the President of the Hispanic Chamber - push, push, push, I was the president. I wanted to sell $50 million - push, push, push, I will do that. 

But, yeah, those experiences, that kind of activity has led me to be able to juggle three, four, five balls constantly. I am very well trained on that. And it's just because I had to learn how to survive and to thrive. And so I've done many more things. I did, I have many, many more things - I don’t want to tell you all that stuff that I've done.

[16:51] Jennifer: I know we won't have time to go into all of those things. But I did want to mention that in 1985, in the midst of doing so many different things, you founded your first nonprofit called Help Ayacucho Foundation. 

What motivated you to start your first nonprofit on top of running all your companies? 

[17:10] Andres: I was so driven to be an agent of change and to help. I felt so close to my people in Peru, and my mother is from Cusco. 

And up in the Andes in the Sierra, they were having a real hard time and there were a lot of kids that were orphans. And I joined efforts with the US Ambassador, Anabela Jordan, at that time. And I built this nonprofit in the US to attract funding and gifts and food. 

I also created the Padres a La Distancia, Fathers at a Distance, the first program of $30 a month and you can adopt a kid. And I got a social worker to go and find these kids and take a picture and put a 2-3 paragraph story of them, which were difficult stories of brutality and how they saw their parents being murdered. So I was very successful. 

But then in ‘88-‘89, what happened was they threatened our social worker to kill her if she continued. They killed the priest that was working with us while he was celebrating mass and shot him six times. ‘88-’89 was the worst time for Shining Path, and we stopped because of the situation that got so difficult in Peru. 

Fortunately, after that, Fujimori was president, (who) did a lot of good things at that time, he stopped that. But I continued with this connection with our community. 

I really believe that we are part of a whole, it's just that we're disconnected. We're not self, we should be part of a whole. There should be no separation between us and our communities we serve. And that's part of why I did the foundation at that time. 

[18:48] Jennifer: And going back to your company, LinkAmerica, I find it very ironic as most startups I know usually struggle at the beginning until they find the product-market fit. But your story of the fat cows and the skinny cows, Andres, it's the opposite. 

So I want to better understand, what kept you going in those difficult times?

[19:09] Andres: That's a great question. So this idea of faith in the future gives me power in the present really was a thriving force for me to continue with this founder spirit, right? That is like your podcast. I have this founder spirit, this unquenchable willingness to go the extra mile and to figure it out. 

And that's been my life story. It's always figuring it out, and it's always going for the better. Every time that something big, drastic has happened that is difficult, I have always come out not only positive but better, with more wisdom, with more knowledge, with more enlightenment. 

We're constantly transforming and changing. And the older you get, the wiser you also get. I don't know if I have answered your question, but…

[19:56] Jennifer: I think so, Absolutely. Faith in the future is power in the present, those are very powerful words. 

But the easy thing to do in a startup when you encounter some difficult period is to quit, right? That's the easy thing to do. But faith has been so much part of your identity, how do you integrate faith into your business? 

[20:17] Andres: Wow, that's a very good question. 

We're multidimensional beings, and faith for me comes from the spiritual side.  At one point in time, I tried to integrate my Catholic faith into work, and it created a catharsis to the people that I was working with. 

Because I learned that if you work on the spiritual plane, which is a higher plane, the people that you're connecting with have to have a point of readiness. You have to meet them where they are. 

And sometimes on the spirit, you cannot push things, they have to happen. It's like a flower, you see a bud, a beautiful bud that's going to become a rose, and you want to see the rose. And I was the guy that will try to open the petals, you know, to see the rose, and I will destroy it. And I, oh, my God, what did I do? 

You know, now I wait, now I wait. And it has its own timing, it has its own flow. And for me to find that flow is something that I do. The second thing is, to me, it's really critical that you listen to what comes your way, that you are always with your antennas on, connected, to say, okay, what is the universe trying to tell me.

That I am a little bit older and more experienced, I just don't resist the flow, I let myself flow, which is complex because you don't know what tomorrow brings. That's where the faith in the future is my power - I will handle tomorrow tomorrow, because you have to live in the present. 

And this is part of also the consciousness we have, the mindfulness of being here and now, which is where you connect with God, with your Creator, and you connect with yourself. And most of us, because of the digital noises that we have and the digital tsunami with social media and the phone and the things, we're not centered on the present. 

We're either with the anguish or the stress of the future or the memories or the anxiety of the past. And you're constantly in those two sides of the equation when the only thing that you have is the here and now. 

Connecting with nature, what I have found, is the pathway for bringing enlightenment into your life and bringing harmony and togetherness and unity, which is what we're created for, right? 

[22:33] Jennifer: Right. 

[22:33] Andres: So faith in the future is power in the present. That's the power that I'm talking about, is the power that is here and now, the power that I am here with you, the power that I'm connecting with you. 

And if you use that power to connect on a daily basis to whoever you touch, to whatever you say, to whatever you think, then you are in the path of enlightenment. And that's the path that I pray to God and choose to go with, because 80-90-100 years is very short time. 

And this is not only for me and my higher purpose, but also for my grandkids, I have nine grandkids now. I want to make sure that they get a good example of, hey, you know, my grandfather did some amazing things and let me follow his example. So that's the power. 

[23:18] Jennifer: So besides faith, what would you say are the other key elements of your success? 

[23:23] Andres: Being resilient, being purpose-driven, always finding that jewel in the difficulties. Because basically in business, they pay you to solve difficulties, to be a problem solver and a troubleshooter. And less than 1% of the people are like me, type A people. I'm a type A, type A. 

But the reality is a lot of people get very discouraged when things don't go their way. And being an entrepreneur and taking high risk is not for everybody. It's not for everybody, because it's like an S, a horizontal S - you go up and then you go down and you go by waves. 

And what I have learned is also attune with nature, which is death, life, resurrection, constantly. I mean, nature works that way, you have summer, you have winter, you have fall, you have spring, you have growth. And then it continues the process. 

So I see patterns now not only on myself, but on people, on businesses, on governments. I see patterns everywhere, like fractals. And that enlightens me because it shows me that there's an order. 

And in that order there is things that happen and move, and we have to be cognizant of those parts of ourselves, on how do we react when things don't go our way. And that's where I call it faith, because it's the easiest way. 

But that's where the connection comes, because at the end of the day, what the universe gives you in this worldly experience is the ability for you to caminar (in Spanish), to walk into this, but walk in connection. 

And the experiences that they are giving you that could be bad are for waking up your higher purpose. It could be a cancer, it could be losing a leg, there's always hidden jewels in that particular circumstance. And in business I see that a lot. 

And now that I'm in a flow, instead of pushing, I'm pulling from the universe, then people, the right people are coming to me, opportunities come to me. I just have to be very very attuned with the frequencies and the vibration. And it's (the) law of attraction. 

The world needs people that are very conscious and they're healers. I mean, the world is going through a really difficult time now, in terms of we came out from COVID, now we have all these wars and all this disconnection and dislocation. 

More than disconnection is dislocated. The kids are dislocated, the politics are dislocated, the economy is dislocated. It's a hard time. So how can we make sense of all of what is happening? And how can you continue enlightening that? 

But what I'm seeing is that I'm meeting a lot of people that are in the same frequency that we're discussing now that are trying to change the world, but that almost all of them are realizing that to change the world, they have to change themselves. It's an inside out, it's not an outside in. 

And it's not the President or the Governor or the Pope that is going to tell you what is going to happen and what you have to do, it’s you unveiling that divinity inside of you, connecting to that Grace that is given by the Holy Spirit, by God. And letting that flow in your life, so you can transform others and love people and unite. That's our biggest challenge. 

And if I can use my companies to transmit that path, that sacred path, and it's not mutually exclusive. Be highly spiritual, but at the same time, you can be highly profitable. I believe in people, planet and profit, I believe in the triple bottom line. 

I believe in, first, take care of your people, but really take care of your people and train them and educate them and make them a better version of themselves, upgrade them, help them become a human being, not a human doing.

Second, planet, you know, do whatever you need to do with the planet. I'm involved with regeneration because we need to embrace the planet - that's the gateway to divinity. And we're lost - we're destroying it, we're killing it. 

And third, we can make a profit. If I can do the first two, we can still make a profit. 

And that's why I really believe that the path that we're taking is a narrow path because it's complex, but it's a real path. Enlightenment is a path of Grace that we're all called, but not all respond to it.

[27:51] Jennifer: Right. And so speaking of higher purpose, Andres, do you think you were born with this? I mean, it seems like that you already had a very early calling to the higher purpose. Do you think that you came here already with a higher purpose? 

[28:07] Andres: Wow. I think yes.

The Jewish tradition and the Kabbalah say that when you are born, God whispers to your ear your higher purpose. But the devil listens to it and he tries for you not to connect with it. 

I do believe that there is a trail, an Akashic trail of what we're called to be in our highest dimension, because out of love, you have all these magnificent geniuses, creation that we all have - 8 billion people. 

But we have to water and fertilize and we have to let it grow and then, you know, keep it clean and make sure that you don't have any bugs. But it's a process. 

And the interesting thing is how you come into the world. So everybody has his personal history. I came into the world where my mother and my father had already separated. And then my grandmother told her, hey, you have to try again. You have two kids, you have to try again and get together one weekend. 

So they went and on Sunday, my mother, she was very decisive and she kicks my father out of the house and she says, you're out. And then a month later she says, oh, my God, I'm pregnant, and that was me. The world was collapsing for her. You know, my father was doing other things. And here I come, in that worst time for her. 

So I have had to do a lot of healing to her and myself because of all the emotions and feelings that she had. But my life has gone from that to now to very joyous - I have a wonderful wife, a wonderful companion. We're going to be 40 years married in February. 

She's the soulmate of my life, I knew that since I met her. And we're very happy, and we have four wonderful kids - three girls, one boy. And my boy is amazing, he’s a National Geographic Explorer. And if you do Andres Ruzo TED, you will see him in his talk about the Boiling River. And my girls gave me nine grandkids. 

So I have so much to thank for in my path, in my journey. So anyways, that's (what) I get excited about. 

[30:13] Jennifer: No, you were definitely put here with a purpose and what a purpose it is. 

But I want to go beyond your professional achievements and I want to talk more about your commitment to drive social change. I think much of that comes from your faith and your belief in a higher purpose. 

So as you had mentioned, you bought an elementary school in Costa Rica called the Santa Monica School of Innovation in 2015, and it's currently serving over 300 low-income students. And there's three education pillars in the school - STEM, mindfulness and entrepreneurship. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. 

[30:54] Andres: That's correct. 

[30:55]Jennifer: Which it's very understandable why you would have that as an educational pillar, but why the focus on mindfulness and entrepreneurship? 

[31:01] Andres: Well, mindfulness is a cognitive skill, right? It's a skill of the mind. And mindfulness is really the awareness of being present, the awareness of who you are inside out. 

So with my partner, we went through these ideas of, okay, what are the three basic legs of the stool? STEM definitely is critical because mathematics and science and all that and learning to code now for kids, that's really important. 

But mindfulness, to me, especially with the noise that we have with the phone. I wasn't born with a phone in the hand; I don't think you, either - but the Gen Z's and the Millennials - that is a curse and is also a blessing. 

But it's more of a curse because it's shying away us from the true nature of what we need to unite with. And it brings us to the world that we have created, which is complex because it has a lot of chaos into it, it has a lot of difficulty. 

So why mindfulness? Because it brings you to the present. If we can teach the kids to be in the present, in the here and now, then half of the battle is won because the rest will come. 

And then entrepreneurship has two words in Spanish, it’s emprendedor and empresario. So they're similar, but they're not 100% entrepreneurship. We believe that it's a skill, it's a life skill that has to be taught. 

Why a life skill? Because life is difficult. I've come to the conclusion that life is always going to be difficult. That's what we're here for, to make it easier. 

But you have to thrive and if you have this spirit of being an emprendador, you overcome the difficulties and you become an agent of change for your own life. If we can teach that skill when you're 5-6-7 years old, man, half of the future of your life is set.

How do you change the world is by changing yourself. If everybody can change themselves to become enterprising, to become aware, to bring their antennas on, then we are making an impact to change the world. And that's how I see us changing the world, is changing each of us one at a time. 

[33:24] Jennifer: Going back, so just to continue with the biblical references, you've had seven years of fat cows, seven years of skinny cows, and then you had seven years of holy cows, and then followed by the purpose cows. 

And you're stepping into a new era, at the end of… post-Covid, you published a book called The Human iOS, which is this beautiful spiritual allegory that takes us on a sacred journey into the depth of our soul. 

And so all these references that you have about the antennas, about living inside out, before we jump into the details of that, in the preface of the book you mentioned that you had faced five huge storms in recent years and you had a heart condition that brought you face-to-face with your own mortality. 

So I want to ask you, how did this book come about? 

[34:11] Andres: Well, great question. So I was wondering what was next because my seven years have been very biblical in a way, but very real in my journey. 

And on August 12th of 2022, I signed the contract with my editor to write the book. And then I realized, oh my God, it's been seven years. So how do I call the next seven years? So in 2022 I decided to call it Sacred Cows because I'm in a sacred seven-years now and I hope it continues for the end of my Life. 

But on August 12th of 1994, I founded LinkAmerica thirty years ago. On August 12th of 2022, I signed with my editor and in three months I download this book from the cloud. Because that's my allegory, right? The book talks about universal truths that go beyond religion; it talks about connecting to those universal truths. And honestly, I wrote the book in three months and I don't know how.

My first book was going to be called Two Bags and a Dream, It's been five years (and) I haven't finished it. So it was kind of downloaded from the cloud using my analogy of technology. Why technology analogies? Because the book was written for Gen Z's which understand everything about phones and iPads and everything that has to do with iOS. 

And I've been privileged for the last 40 years to work on technology and I saw a lot of similarities between the spiritual life and technology. And I said, why don't I communicate a higher truth to the Gen Z that I see very dislocated with themselves, with nature, with God and with neighbor? So how can I help them reconnect meeting them where they are? 

Because I've talked to many of them, they want the truth, but they don't know how. And they are throwing out the window the baby with the bathwater with all religions. They're trying to do their own thing and trying to figure out on themselves, well, there's 10,000 generations that have done the same, and what they have done is connect with nature. 

So The Human iOS brings you in this allegoric journey, utilizing technology to bring higher truths into the world that we live. And in 2022, the metaverse was a big deal. So I start with the VUCA world, with a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world to try to set the framework where we're at. We're coming out of COVID, complex times, we need a new order. 

And then from the VUCA, we start into a trip. Five seekers, two are twins, boy and girl, Lita and Daniel. And she is a hacker, technical person; he's an amazing kid. So those are the two main people in the book. 

And it's a journey that they have to take into South America because his grandfather leaves them a manuscript. They break it in half. Each has half of it, and they don't know what it means, but they have this yearning to connect, which we all have it. Humanity has this yearning to connect with the Creator. 

It doesn't matter if it’s the Incas or the Mayas or the Egyptians or the Aztecs - we all have it, we've always had it. And if you don't respond to that yearning, then you feel a huge vacuum, you have no purpose. 

Life is not only the pursuit of happiness, it's the pursuit of purpose. 

So what I tried to connect in the book was, hey, you have an iOS like the iPhone, but iOS is Internal Operating Spirit. It's your soul, it’s your actual soul. And if your phone has a virus or a bug, what do you do? You reset, restore, and upgrade. 

What happens if your soul has a virus? You reset, restore, and you upgrade. And if you upgrade to Jennifer version 2.0, you're becoming a better version of yourself. That's what we're called for - that's what the universe is asking you to wake up to. 

So that was my first postulate, was, okay, you have an iOS that has some bugs, you need to download some new applications from the cloud, and you need to go to version 2.0. 

And the second thing is start living inside out instead of outside in. Why inside out? Because most of our younger generation, the outside defines what the inside is, defines their moods, defines how they dress, what they do, which is not who you are. 

You have to awaken to who you are, that being. That is a divine imprint, fingerprint of our Creator. That's how we're going to solve the puzzle of the aloneness, of the unhappiness, of the vacuumness that we're feeling, that most of the younger generation feel. 

I talk to Gen Z's, they're anxious. Why? It's interesting, Jennifer, because now they say, oh, we have a mental health problem. I say mental health? We don't have a mental health problem. Oh, no. It's a collective mental health problem. No, it's not, we have a collective problem, which is we're not connected with ourselves. 

[39:04] Jennifer: That's right. 

[39:05] Andres: There's a disconnection with ourselves. And that's not mental health. That's how it shows, it shows in mental health and guys shooting people in the malls and stuff like that. That's the dislocation that we're living in today's world. 

And that's why we have to bring light into that shadow so that we can actually improve the human condition. So the second thing is live inside out, don't live outside in. 

And the third one is very interesting because it is the universal frequency or the universal wifi. And I downloaded from the cloud the picture on the book, which is this guy, right? 

[39:46] Jennifer: Right. 

[39:46] Andres: It's a wifi with a guy standing, balancing, I have him balancing in two circles. One circle is the material, one circle is the spiritual. 

Why balancing? Because everyday you walk into the office, you have to maintain that balance. You know, I believe material prosperity can manifest itself if you have a spiritual abundance. Spiritual abundance brings material prosperity, but material prosperity should not be the driver. 

It should be driving your higher purpose from the spirit to the material, which is where I'm at now. In the past, I used to work on the material trying to reach the spirit. Now I'm trying to work from the spirit and letting it flow to see how I can impact the material. 

So that third one is very interesting because that universal frequency is everywhere. Bottom line is love, love is that universal frequency; love is the divine feminine. Love is the paraclete, is everything. Everything was formed in the world from love. 

And that disconnection that we all have from that world is what hurts us and brings us back to the loneliness, to the noise inside, to not living in the present. So those are the three things. The third one, the Holy Spirit, the universal frequency. 

So now, how do I drive this message that is allegorically spiritual using technology, words and concepts? So I said, no, I have to drive some kind of a un viaje un camino. So I take them in a tour they go to the jungle through Brazil, and then they go to the Rio Viente, and then they go to Machu Picchu, and then they go to Nazca Lines and Marcahuasi. 

And why do I do that? Because if you go to the jungle and wherever you step, you have to make sure there's not a snake or an alligator or something, right? Because you have to be present, you forget about everything else. All your senses have to be looking where you step. And that's where the journey comes with the younger kids because for them, it was so hard to (disconnect). 

One of them, Llama, was in the metaverse all the time, and he said, no, I don't want to go to Peru. You can see it from here, put these goggles in, and you can visit Machu Picchu and see everything right from here. 

Well, the virtual world is not the real world. What is real is nature, because God manifests through nature and everything and everyone. And I was doing some thinking, and it's just so marvelous that nature is really what connects us, is a gateway to the Spirit. 

And if you look at the big revelations, you know, Jesus and Muhammad and John the Baptist and many others, all of them found their enlightenment in nature. 

[42:23] Jennifer: The Buddha. 

[42:25] Andres: Buddha, he went to the wilderness, and he sat under the tree, and then he got enlightened. 

Christ went 40 days and he found his divinity. And Muhammad, the same, he went to the wilderness, and John the Baptist ate bees from honeycomb. I mean, all of them.  

Nature is the connection to that Higher Creator. And the Incas used to do the same thing, and they live in harmony. We've lost that and we're killing it. So this is the path. 

And I hope, as the journey continues, they start finding people because the universe is conspiring to help them to awaken. It's always open, Grace is always... It's like the wifi in this house, it's always there. But I have to make the effort to connect. It's the human effort and the Grace of God working together to connect. And this is the dislocation that we have. 

So my job, what I felt that I was called for, was to open up a gateway for this younger generation to see themselves, to reconnect with themselves, to upgrade themselves, and then pray to the Holy Spirit to download new applications so they can say, hey, I can live more present, I can live more wholesome and more connected with myself and others and nature and God. 

[43:40] Jennifer: You know, it's interesting you mentioned people have a focus on mental health and I have this discussion always that actually mental health is not the cause, it's a symptom. 

And the cause is because we've lost, as you said, our connection to nature, to the Pachamama, to Mother Earth. And because we lost connection to the Earth, we've also lost connection to ourselves and to each other and to other species that are on this planet. 

But as many of us are now disconnected, and we're unable to access our Internal Operating Spirit, as you call it, we're unable to access our own human iOS. 

So how can we reactivate our own iOS to start downloading from the source? 

[44:24] Andres: It's a conscious decision to reconnect. 

But what first comes to my mind is reconnecting with nature. That's why nature for me is so important, because nature really harmonizes you. If you can find that connection with nature, then the rest is going to flow. 

Let's talk about regeneration - 70% of the biodiversity in the last 50 years has been lost. Every second, we lose two football fields in South America, because they're burning it. And you can have all kinds of statistics, but the Amazon gives us 25% of the oxygen in the world. 

And people are thinking, oh, it's about the carbon. But the reality is that's at this level, the consciousness of, hey, yes, we have to reduce our carbon footprint, we have to do all these things and we have to do key indicators. 

But in reality, I want to take you to another dimension, which is a spiritual dimension. That connection through nature is the beginning of the path. For a world that we live on, it’s hard to go to the spirit without going through nature, it’s hard because we have so much noise. 

In the past, probably at Christ's time, it was easier to listen to the Messiah and follow him. I will go after him immediately, right? Because I will fill my heart and I will not be a fisherman no more and do like Peter. 

But now it's not that simple. Now it's super complex because you are so engulfed with this materialism. And if you look at the ecosystems that we have in the world, most of our ecosystems are in a crisis mode. The countries are in crisis, the world is in wars - every ecosystem needs to be regenerated. 

And that's where I see that nature is really the gateway for us to reconnect with our divinity. We can read the Bible, the Quran or the Talmud, but the manifestation of that love of God is right there in a butterfly, it’s in a worm, in an ant. It's just if we can connect. 

And Saint Francis of Assisi used to do that, and I read this morning a prayer from him. He used to connect with nature, he used to call the Mama Pacha the cathedral, because it is the cathedral. It's the manifestation of the divine. 

So as we move and drive this awareness into our spirituality and into nature and regeneration, we got to be agents of change to support not only the zero footprint carbon and the 2030 Paris Accord and all that stuff, but also realize that we are called to find that divine in nature. 

That's what the Incas used to do. They respected nature, they were one with nature, they will not kill it. They will change the crops, and they will plant a seed and harvest from here, and then they would let it rest. It was amazing. Harmony, union, that's what will quench the thirst of our soul, of connecting with the higher purpose. 

[47:12] Jennifer: You know, I think it's easy for me because I live very close to nature. I mean, in about 5-10 minute drive, I can be in a nearby forest. And it's beautiful to be in nature because it's very healing for me. I go to the same forest maybe twice a week, and it's never the same - it's always different, it's always changing. 

And it's also teaching me that life, no matter what obstacles that you may encounter, it is always changing. What may seem like an obstacle today, may seem like a silver lining in learning something new about yourself and learning about the world tomorrow. So that's how I feel some of the lessons are coming from nature.

And one of the things that you had mentioned is love. So I've been reading a lot, I like to read. I read a lot of books in Buddhism, I read earlier this year the Holy Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita. I also read the Bible and I learned a story about Sufism, about Rumi. And the common thread that I see in all these religions is that actually love is fundamental. 

In Buddhism, we call it loving kindness. In Hinduism, Krishna says, there's unconditional love. And of course in Christianity, that's also what Jesus preaches. When he says, love thy neighbor, he doesn't mean literally your neighbor, he means everything in the universe. So I think that's really fundamental.

That's what you mean by living inside out. People are like, what does Andres mean by living inside out? I think it's about tapping into the love that's inside and then being able to spread it in everything you think, everything you say and everything you do. 

[48:41] Andres: Yeah, it's a state of being, it’s not a state of doing and that when you're in that state of being, it manifests itself like a flower manifests its beauty. That's what we need to do. We need to connect inside, to manifest ourselves, who we are, who we really are - that human being that you are, not that human doing. 

I'm totally with you. That manifestation is what drives us to a purposeful life, to happiness, to a balanced connection with earth, with neighbor, with thyself, and with your Creator. And that's where you can find the Founder Spirit.

[49:17] Jennifer: There you go (chuckles)

[49:18] Andres: That's the Founder Spirit. This is finding that source of everlasting connection, right? 

[49:26] Jennifer: That's beautiful. And Andres, is there a particular passage that you like to share with the audience from your book? 

[49:31] Andres: We talked about it. I believe that everything that we've been talking about, love and all of that, there's manifestations, right? So a manifestation of love is gratitude. And I tell the kids that I talk to that they have to be grateful. 

Every morning I wake up, open the eyes and say a prayer because I'm really grateful that I'm alive. Because we're one heartbeat away from eternal. And to me, that's very important. So I want to share with you a couple of paragraphs on gratitude that I wrote in the book. 

This is a message of gratitude from Rodrigo. Rodrigo is a shaman that they find in the Rio de Veinte and that starts downloading information to them as they are seekers. And so he meets with Daniel, and Daniel comes back to the team and says, what did he say? And he's telling, this is what Rodrigo says. 

“Each new day opens up a chance to start anew. Each morning when we wake, should we choose to listen, is a message from the Creator to remember the privilege we were given of waking up. 

It's a reminder to get up and prepare ourselves, to drive our higher purpose, to go out into the world, to connect with nature, Pachamama, and the hearts of the other beings inspire and encourage those who cross our path to connect to a higher frequency and most importantly, to enjoy the sacredness and joy of being alive. 

Gratitude and generosity are similar virtues, but they differ in that gratitude is an internal characteristic and generosity is our external expression of our sense of gratitude. Moreover, gratitude is how we feel, and generosity is how we express that feeling in the world. 

Let's be generous with our gifts, talents, treasures and time. When we engage with the world from a place of gratitude, it is the difference between trying to make something happen and allowing the flow to happen. 

The defining difference between effort and effortlessness is the virtue of gratitude. Gratitude is the gateway to the divine intuition, which allows us to be guided by our connection with the universal Creator.

The simple act of practicing gratitude disrupts negative thought, changes our mindset and soulset to see the world positively and become agents of change, of positive change into humanity. 

Not only are we more attractive to others when we live in gratitude, but the most ordinary thing can become extraordinary, creating a fuller, more beautiful expression of our purposeful life.”

I think that was a download from the… I created that. And I get goosebumps because it was a download. I mean, it was a moment of inspiration, connecting with the divine and manifesting here in a book. I mean, to me, it really captures the spirit of gratitude and generosity. 

[52:30] Jennifer: I love that. Beautiful, thank you so much. 

You know, it's interesting because I do a gratitude journal and I sometimes I forget, so I skip them. But then when I'm feeling not so great, I started doing it. And then just with the act of doing it for three or four days, I start to come out from my trough. So I think gratitude is a really powerful practice that we could integrate into our lives. I love that. 

Andres, your book really elevated my consciousness and I hope that it will inspire the audience out there to find their own human iOS as a guide to return to unconditional love, or what you call the source of the universal wifi. 

Now, beyond the book and your focus on education, I also want to talk to you about regeneration, you had already mentioned that before. Your current project is called the WEGO platform, which is a large-scale restoration project with 4,000 acres of coastal property in Nicaragua to promote sustainability. 

I know you're in the process of launching the WEGO platform now, but can you talk more about the project and what your vision is? 

[53:31] Andres: Sure. It's a beautiful project. First of all, the name, right, is we go together. It's not I go, it’s not ego, is WEGO. 

And this originated also with a name called Ubuntu. Ubuntu means I am because we are, I am because we are - it's not about me, it's about us, it’s about (the) collective. 

And we haven't talked much about the collective consciousness, but the collective consciousness is really important because that's where we need to all gather together, or that's where the frequency is going to take us all together. It's like the frequency is like a river. And if you jump into that, then you meet people that are in that same flow. 

So WEGO, so we have this 4,000 acre project that does regeneration and we're trying to do regeneration for human regeneration because we all need to regenerate. If you look at a pyramid, the human is on top and everything else is below us, and we are not respecting and honoring the creation. 

We should be part of an ecosystem where the man is just a piece and then everything works together. We're not there. And the effort that we're trying to do is a collective effort to regenerate animal, regenerate land, marine. We have aquaculture, we're going to be doing hydroponics (the technique of growing plants using a water-based nutrient solution rather than soil) with that. So it's all organic. 

We have hundreds of chickens that do organic eggs - we give them army flies for 20% of their diet. We have all kinds of… we have a cheese factory that we do French cheeses now. And all of this is in Nicaragua, which is also a country that is complex because of their political situation. 

But the reality is a very ambitious project. We're putting reefs on the ocean. We have three big beaches, reefs in the ocean to re-populate lobsters and eels. And we're seeing the population is growing. And so what we're trying to do is going from monocultures and insecticides to do all organic.

From my partners, they have a million trees that they have planted already. And what we're trying to do is to do an ecosystem where also we bring the Ubuntu concept, which is the human side, and then we bring the nature concept and we bring them together into one holistic idea. 

And the place is just fabulous. Nicaragua is one of the most prettiest… It's beautiful. I mean, it's all green, it's fantastic. And we're trying to make a change. We're trying to figure out a way to develop a community of people like-minded, where we can have a collective consciousness of who we are, what we are. And then we can enjoy organic food and be part of a community in front of the beach. 

It's really cool, but it takes time, like any startup, right? We're attracting the right people. We're attracting entrepreneurs also, where we help them put their business and incubate them in a way. 

We're trying to improve nature's condition and regenerate. In the past I used to think about conservation, let's do conservation. But I don't think there's much to conserve now. It all has to be regenerated because we're past that point of conservation. 

I think we have gone beyond. Human has done a lot of things. You know, when we destroy nature, we degrade our own contact with divinity. And what we're trying to do is reset with nature so that we can reconnect with divinity. And WEGO is one of the ways that we do it. 

[56:58] Jennifer: And you know, you and I have talked about cultivating a collective consciousness to address the challenges that we're facing. So I'm always curious, like we know that's what we need in order to face the challenges that we're being dealt with. 

But how do we go about to really develop this collective consciousness? Some people may say, like the use of psychedelics. But in your opinion, how can we cultivate, how can we develop this collective consciousness? 

[57:27] Andres: Yes, I think it starts, the journey starts within. 

I don't think that the use of psychedelics, I don't believe in shortcuts in life. I never tried to take shortcuts because they don't take you anywhere. It has to be organic, it has to flow. Psychedelics can reconnect some stuff that is so disconnected and it can help there. 

But I think long term what we need is to find a way to reconnect ourselves to ourselves. I think that if you start with the same process of reconnecting to yourself, then you continue opening up new dimensions where the collective consciousness resides. The collective consciousness is then a factor of your own self-awareness, purpose-driven consciousness that as it evolves, it starts moving up into a frequency that is shared not only by you, but by others. 

I think that's the collective consciousness for me. It's a shared frequency that we all listen to and that we are connected to and that is moving us towards love, right, towards compassion, moving us to our connection and unity with nature and neighbor and you. So I think that connection, that collective consciousness is a byproduct of your initial connection. 

So to the listener, I think the wisdom that I have received is we need to start with ourselves. We need to start with working with ourselves so that we can help that collective question. As we develop up, then there's more people there that you find that are more connected. And that's how we change the world, changing ourselves. 

[59:07] Jennifer: So somebody told me a couple of years ago that the purpose of life is to constantly improve yourself. So this goes, I think, hand-in-hand with what you're saying, because I feel like sometimes when we think about developing a collective consciousness, we're always looking towards others, right? 

But what you're saying is that first we have to look within ourselves, and actually that collective consciousness is a frequency that resides in every single one of us. So I really love that.

[59:35] Andres: You know, and I didn't make it up, I downloaded from the cloud. Remember, we're multidimensional beings. 

We're called not to be only in this dimension that is material and five senses. We're multidimensional. So when you talk about collective consciousness, it's on a different dimension. But to jump to that dimension, you have to do the work internally. It doesn't happen like taking an aspirin and, you know, it doesn't happen like that. 

And we are much about immediate gratification. And we want to be there now, right? It doesn't work that way. It works through the pain and the suffering. And the pain and the suffering is where you wake up and it's ironic. I say, oh, my God, it's ironic. 

I look at my life and the moments of more growth like now is the worst moment. When the worst happens, my being becomes the best. And it's not that I want issues and problems and suffering, It's just the way it is. 

So the faster we embrace, like a kid, embrace it with alacrity, you know, like going Toys R Us. Oh, my God, so many toys. We should be like that, embracing challenges, because there is a hidden message for us in every challenge to go to the next dimension.

Because that's what we were created for, is to continue that evolution, transformation. And transformation is pain, it's difficult. In the book, I also talk about the caterpillar. The caterpillar starts tiny, and they grow a thousand times. And he goes eating, eating, eating until it's time. 

And he does his cocoon, and then it liquefies itself. A horrible caterpillar liquefies itself and becomes a beautiful butterfly. That's what we have to do, that's the path of nature. Sometimes we have to liquefy; these problems liquefy us. 

But we have to come and do a change of mind to see it in a different dimension. And that's where the collective starts coming in, because they start helping you. And the collective is not only human, I believe that there's other spiritual beings, angels, archangels. 

So that collective is top-down, and bottom-up. Bottom-up is our human effort, it’s our material to bring it to the divine. And then the divine is always open, that door is always open, it just us has to unlock it from the material. It has to be unlocked, bottom-up instead of top-down. 

I think that if we get to that consciousness and mindfulness that we are created with a purpose, that God spoke into our ear, who we need to be in his image and likeness, and we awaken that divine footprint that he has given us, then I would say, you know, that's my legacy. I would love to end my life like that. 

[01:02:11] Jennifer: That's beautiful. So you're known, previously mentioned, you're known as the Lemonade Man. That's why you're wearing your lemon shirt today. And after hearing (about) your life, I'm not surprised at all. 

But looking back, how has your life's purpose evolved? 

[01:02:27] Andres: It's been a hero's journey, right? Like, you start and then you fall, and then you stand up again and continue and you meet people and you get a mentor, and then you fall again, and then death and resurrection. 

So to me it's been, I will not change my life for anybody. Honestly, I'm really who I am and I'm really happy where I'm at and I love to connect in this purpose-driven life. And I'm feeling awe all the time, right? Awe is that admiration of not knowing what tomorrow is going to bring. 

And to me that is super hard as an entrepreneur, it's super hard not to plan for the next year and what you're going to do and who's going to move and all that stuff.

I keep on doing it, but I do it now with more patience, with more cadence. I do it now with a spirit of letting go and letting flow and seeing how things move. Because I'm always surprised. I mean we plan and God loves. Ha ha we plan… It never happens like that. 

So to be able to embrace what happens, what manifests and always try to bring that divine consciousness into that experience that is happening, it enables me to continue that purpose-driven life that I have experienced from the get go. 

Now is more intentful, now is more… They say that life is like a toilet paper, the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes. Faster. So I feel that the days…

[01:03:24] Jennifer: Time moves faster as you get older. 

[01:03:27] Andres: And the months are becoming weeks and the years are becoming months. And I say, you know, I want to leave an impact. That's why I decided to buy this university in Costa Rica. Because education has a double purpose and triple impact. 

And you know what is beautiful in the University of Creativa is that we change our model. Instead of college of engineering and architecture and models, we change it to business, design, technology and life. 

We're starting to teach life, we're teaching how to design your life. Why? Because you can design your life. If you can design a house, why can't you design your life? You can really sit down and think about it and build it in a way that it's highly purposeful. 

And some of the soft skills that we have seen in the past that people talk, oh, this is soft skill and character, you know, character is a soft skill and critical thinking is a soft skill. No, it's about creative thinking, it's about collaboration, it's about communication, it's about connection. But it has to do with life. 

And that's why we call it four domains now. One domain is life. And we're going to try to do it horizontally so that everybody can take a course of life. How can you build your life, design a life? 

And I don't think (that) we stop and think about it. We're just thrown into that as a gladiator, you're thrown into the arena. And then you figure it out, right? And then you have all this noise and all these things attacking you and all this social media and wars. Then you're 30-years old and you're not figuring (it) out. 

One of the worst ages now and people that are suffering more with loneliness is a 30-year old male. He has a good job, but he has no purpose. There's a lot of those kids out there, a lot, a lot. 

And that hurts my heart because they're dislocated - dislocated from themselves, from nature, from others and from Creator. And they should read the book, because my book is a 101 to reconnect. 

I'm planning to write another book now because I'm getting inspired on something much more deeper. But it's in line with what we have done. 

[01:03:56] Jennifer: So are you going to finish your first book, Two Bags and a Dream? 

[01:03:59] Andres: Yes, I want to finish that one first. That's the idea, yes, I already have it, almost 90% there. But I'm in the flow. I mean, if the flow wants me to finish it, I'll finish it. I don't want to push anything else. 

[01:06:22 Jennifer: I love that. That's very Taoist of you - going with the flow. 

Andres, as a grandfather of nine grandchildren and in telling your story, what are the key principles and nuggets of wisdom that you like to share with the world? 

[01:16:37] Andres: Well, I think I've shared a lot of good gold nuggets throughout the conversation. But, you know, no, I am just grateful. Part of my why, because I really don't have to work, I've done really well here thanks to God and my human effort. 

But the reality is I'm back full force and I want to exit technology in the next 3-5 years. And I want to focus on education and regeneration because it's where I can really bring more impact to the world. 

It's ironic also, you know, I read an article that was talking about when is the decade of most influence in humanity in any human being? 

And the people say, oh no, it's 30-40 because you're young. No, it's 60-70, number one, 70-80, number two, 50-60, number three. And why? Because at 60 you have the money, you have the knowledge, you have the contacts, you have the experience, you have the platform, you have everything. And when do we retire? 

So if I go retire and go play golf, everything that I learned and did and connections and it's gone. How can I impact? And we leave politicians that never have had a job run countries with billions of dollars and trillions of dollars making decisions that they have no clue, no clue because they never have had a payroll to meet. 

I believe that the new order is going to come through entrepreneurs, job creators, people that bring jobs, that innovate, and females. I really believe in females - this is the century for the female to thrive. The female divine, the female energy has to lead. If we had more females as presidents of countries, we'll have less war, that’s my thinking at least. 

We need to change our mindset, we need to heal the world. You guys are amazing creatures that give life. We need that healing energy now more than ever because humanity is at the dawn. 

I see a lot of hope in the future. I don't want to be pessimistic. I see a lot of empowerment and a lot of people awakened and a lot of collective dimensions. But at the same time I see a lot of darkness, a lot of shadows. 

So maybe this is the dawn. The next 10, 15 years is the dawn where we're going to have to realize that we have to change the way we think, the way we work, the way we act. And it's not through Covid, but it's inside out. Covid was outside-in. 

[01:09:05] Jennifer: Right. Keep in mind it's always darkest before dawn. So maybe that's why we're going through such a turbulent period right now in this world. 

[01:09:12] Andres: No, no. I do believe you're totally right, Jennifer, the darkest is before the sun comes up.

And we're changing from Pisces to Aquarius. And Aquarius is a more collective awareness and higher dimension. So there's a lot of things that are manifesting and I'm not an astrologist.

I'm just saying that I see that the collective is starting to really change hearts, change minds. Mind work, soul work and hard work are being touched, and we just have to flow with that. 

So I hope that you continue doing your podcast for many, many, many years. And I'm bringing people to this kind of connection and awareness because we need everybody. Everybody was born to be a giant, they just have to discover it, uncover it, and upgrade it. 

[01:10:06] Jennifer: We're now coming to the end of our interview, and as you know, we end every episode with a quote. 

And for this episode, we have a quote from Robert Byrne, an American author, engineer and billiard player.  

“The purpose of life is a life of purpose.” 

Andres, many thanks for coming on the Founder Spirit podcast today, and elevating our consciousness with your faith in a higher purpose. Thank you.

[01:10:28] Andres: Thank you.

Jennifer Wu: If this podcast has been beneficial or valuable to you, feel free to become a patron and support us on Patreon.com, that is P-A-T-R-E-O-N.com/TheFounderSpirit. 

As always, you can find us on Apple, Amazon and Spotify, as well as social media and our website at TheFounderSpirit.com. 

The Founder Spirit podcast is a partner of the Villars Institute, a nonprofit foundation focused on accelerating the transition to a net-zero economy and restoring planetary health. 

[01:11:05] END OF AUDIO