Klarissa Gamboa

I attribute my success to discipline and communication. Being a business owner isn't easy when you run your own company and you're handling people's futures. It requires a lot of discipline to be able to help fulfill what people are looking for, because they lack that part. Sometimes they just need somebody that's going to support them and back them up and show them how to create that within their lives. For me, discipline and communication have to be on point, otherwise people fall off track, they get lost, and then there's no one there holding them accountable. I would attribute that to my husband giving me those skills that sometimes aren't always just something you're born with - you learn them along the way. That wasn't always my strongest suit, and it has become part of my everyday life. Learning how to refine and become more disciplined helps me with everything: with diet and exercise, with my children, with my personal schedule, with my business, with my family, everything that I do.

The best career advice I ever received is to take the risk. Take the risk, and if it doesn't work, find a new risk to take, because unless you try, you'll never know.

I would tell women to never feel like there's competition out there. Even though there's other people that do what we do, it doesn't necessarily mean that they're competition. It's really just about being true to yourself, knowing who you are, what you stand for, and giving out factual information. There's a lot of people in our field right now that promise a lot of hope and things that aren't necessarily realistic or true just to get a sale. For me, that's not the number one thing - it's truly helping people. Whatever career you decide to be in, whatever field you want to be in, be true to who you are, always be authentic, never feel like there's competition, because no one is ever going to be you. There can be a lot of replicas. Everybody can copy and copy and copy as many times as they want, but what you put out authentically can never be replicated, no matter how many times people try. I think sometimes women feel intimidated, because for a very long time, men have been the top people in everything when it comes to career. We're starting to see a big shift in women coming in and also influencing other women in a positive way, and having each other's backs, rather than tearing each other down and feeling like you can't be at the top because I have to be at the top. Instead, lift each other up. Figure out how you can collaborate, because that's so much more powerful than you just individually trying to tear people down. That type of reputation won't get you very far, but when you build other women up, and when you have each other's backs, and when you can help one another, you see how much stronger you become, and how much further you can actually get. I think that perspective is starting to come to light more so now than ever, because in the past, it was always 'she can't have it, it's mine.' Women were tearing each other down rather than lifting each other up, and now I see rooms filled with women who empower one another, and I think that it's amazing. I don't ever want to tear somebody else down just because they're doing what I'm doing. And if they're doing it better, then find out how you can learn from them, rather than have that envy and hate and not accomplish anything.

The biggest challenge I see is when clients start the process, they're motivated and excited, and then life happens, and they don't know how to handle the struggle. The thing that they want to cut off is credit repair. Why? Because it's an expense, and they see it that way. I always remind clients, this isn't an expense - this is an investment. This is an investment in your future. It's not just to buy a house, it's for your whole future, because everything in the United States runs off of credit. If you want to buy something - a car, a house, you want to start a business, whatever it is that you want to do - unless you have a ton of cash, and I'm talking a ton, a ton of cash, credit is the only thing that's going to help you survive that. So you need it, and it should be a priority. Not to mention, if you're going into a purchase of a home, it's not just going in, signing, and getting excited. There's maintenance, there's costs that go into getting from A to B, and if you're not prepared to pay a small monthly fee of a credit repair investment, how are you going to handle a mortgage payment, insurance, taxes, HOA, something breaking, whatever it is that goes into being a homeowner? It is a big expense, and that's a huge responsibility, so if you're struggling now, how will you be then? It breaks my heart when I see someone say they're just going to stop, and I'm like, no, we've made good progress. You have to trust the process, because it's not something that happens overnight. You didn't get to where you are overnight, and we're not going to come out of it that quickly either, so we've got to stick together. That's why I remind them, it takes discipline to go through this process, and it takes communication of being able to call us and talk through questions or concerns that come up, because there's so many moving parts that take place in the process. I always want our clients to trust us and feel comfortable knowing that they made the right decision.

For me, I always put God first. My family and the time that I get to spend with them is so important, and I never want to swap work for that, but I do realize that work is important because it provides the life that we want to live. Having balance in every area of our life, and just taking inventory of that constantly, and knowing where are we slowing down, where do we need to pick back up, is where we have to focus. We can't focus too hard on one thing, because then we'll lack in something else. It's really just creating balance so that we can work, we can have time for our families, have time for ourselves, and dedicate time to all the other things that we want to do.