Cristina Ouilhet

My story with money

I grew up hearing my parents argue about money: that there wasn't enough, that it was never enough, that it was so hard to earn. My mom sewed clothes for other people to help with expenses, and she made it so we didn't feel the lack. When I had a fifteenth-birthday party to go to and nothing left to wear, she took me downtown and bought me a black dress, so it would work for me afterward too. I'm still grateful to her for it.

I learned early to earn what was mine: on Sundays I sold used clothes at a street market, I waited tables at events, I tutored, and I wrote book summaries for hire while I studied communication sciences. After that, for 20 years, I built sales teams of thousands of people in my network-marketing business.

At 32, from one moment to the next, my income was cut in half. I moved back into my dad's apartment in Mexico City, in debt and judging myself. It was the worst time of my life. One night, after I cried out everything I was carrying, I wrote it on a sheet of paper: “From today, I'm moving forward.” That's where I learned what I teach now: making a mistake doesn't take away your value.

Money problems never had to do with money.

I devoted myself to financial education. I wrote Estoy quebrado y no lo sabía and created my course, Liberty. But I saw that many people understood everything and still stayed stuck. I studied neuroscience and neurofinance, and I understood: the block isn't in the information. It's in the subconscious.

That's how 21 Letters to Money was born: a simple ritual, written by hand, that moves the conversation with money from your head to the page. Because when you write with your own hand, in blue ink, and say it out loud, what was hidden comes into the light.

For my mom

My mom passed away a year ago: the one who took me downtown for my black dress, the only one who believed in me when I started. So much of who I am today I owe to her. She was with me in the hardest moments of my life and never let me give up. When I needed to be brave, she was the one who told me she trusted me and pushed me to try again. She always supported me, even in my craziest ideas. This program, like everything I give, is also for her.

What I believe

• That what you reject rejects you, and what you love finds you.
• That you don't have to be perfect, or suffer, to deserve good things.
• That abundance begins inside and shows outside, not the other way around.
• That prosperity is also shared, which is why each day of the challenge ends with a small gesture of generosity.
• That no matter the mistakes you've made, your value as a human being doesn't change.
• That you can begin from where you are, with what you have.