Spanish for Beginners: Spanish Crash Course (Conversational)

In a nutshell, I'm a serial entrepreneur, techie, life hacker, expert PM and MBA (x2). But at heart, I'm also an Educator. 

Mauricio in Numbers

Founded or co-founded 9 business startups.

Invested in 8 personal startups.

Studied 2 MBAs and 1 Bachelor of Engineering.

Teaching hundreds of thousands of students in more than 180 countries worldwide (that's nearly every country on the planet!).

Traveled to 10 Countries and lived in 4.

Lives in the most beautiful city in the world, frequently ranked in the Top 10 places to live & visit.

Works for a prestigious University, ranked 1st in Australia and 8th in the world among young Universities.

Worked for a Fortune 500 company (Johnson&Johnson) for 6 years. During that time received a High Performance and Global Leadership award.

Was in the Top 40 in the world that were part of J&J's Global Operations Leadership Development program inaugural class.

Created over 100 Online Magazines with more than 18,000 curated articles from all over the world.

Host of the Join Me for Coffee Podcast with over 80 Episodes and counting.

Speaks 3 languages (English, Spanish and Portuguese).

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[NEW] Recent Accomplishments

-Published a new book: The Mini Book of Agile, now available on Amazon

-Published a new book: How to Make Money in the Modern World, now available on Amazon

-Received a letter of recognition from the CEO of a Billion dollar company for my contributions in an Agile project

-Entered the High Income Earners bracket in Australia, one of the wealthiest countries on the planet

-Tripled the passive income from my startups in less than a year

-Launched a Research Data Management Plan tool for Researchers

-In the Top 10% Most Engaging Instructors on Udemy

-Won a Hackathon by creating an immersive virtual reality experience

-Achieved an Agile DSDM certification

-Rolled out OneDrive to over 8K users in a business for collaboration and data management

-Successfully migrated over half a BILLION archived emails from an on-prem solution to Office 365 in the Cloud

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The Story

My passion for entrepreneurship, technology and education started when I was just a kid. By the time I was 15 I had already started three businesses: candy commercialization at school, newspaper recycling in my community and car washing for family and friends. I had also moved from Colombia (South America) to the U.S. to experience first-hand the American culture, something I was always curious about. By the time I had reached my 20’s I had moved on to a knowledge based business, teaching English. And the rest as they say is history. I got married, became a self-taught investor, started trading stocks in the U.S., Australian and Colombian markets, traveled the world, migrated to Australia, did 2 MBAs and started all the startups listed below. I also speak three languages (English, Spanish and Portuguese), have been to over 60 cities in 10 countries & 4 continents and have also lived in Colombia, Mexico, USA and Australia (my home). 

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The Entrepreneur

***Business Startups

1) AgileKB - The Agile Knowledge Base | Everything you need to know about Agile Project Management & Agile Delivery

2) AgileLee - Online Courses, Audio Books, Templates, Coaching & More

3) thePMKB - The Product Management & Project Management Knowledge Base | Everything you need to know about Product Management and Project Management

4) Ureducation - Free Online Courses & Outlet Priced Courses | Curated Online Courses from the world's leading Online Training Providers and Instructors

5) Podcasters Haven - Shutdown | Global Online Community for Podcasters and aspiring Podcasters

6) TOTC: The Online Teachers Club - Shutdown | An Online Teaching Community

7) Udemy - 38 courses launched, more to come | Knowledge turned into useful / commercially viable courses

8) Numbby - Shutdown | a crowdsourced/curated source of data, statistics and everything in numbers.

9) Todoenbienes – Shutdown | a social network for selling and buying products and services. 

***Personal Startups

1) Global MBA with Tulane University. Studied in New Orleans (USA), Paris (France) and Beijing (China).

2) Migrated to Australia as a Permanent Resident and Skilled Professional.

3) Started a Street Performance Documentary on YouTube (you can google it, just enter "Street Performance Documentary Mauricio Rubio Parra").

4) MauricioRubio the website – On Going | Free knowledge sharing. It's my way of giving back to the world.

5) Amazing photography - Find it on Instagram (just search "_mauriciorubio")

6) Quora - Answering questions for the world

7) Join Me for Coffee Podcast - News, technology and my recent thoughts

8) The Mini Book of Agile - a book that jam packs the key concepts, fundamentals and tools of Agile Project Management, Agile Development & Agile Delivery

***Behind the Scenes

It's not all pink, ponies and rainbows. Even though I have had many successes as a person, professional and entrepreneur, I have also been rejected many times. A lot of people have not believed in my projects or ideas and have not supported me in my journey. Yet, like Jack Ma I have kept moving fwd because I strongly believe I'm doing the right thing in pursuing my dreams and projects (go to youtube and search "Jack Ma rejected by Harvard"). Here is a list of the people who have rejected me recently (to name a few):

1) The prestigious University MIT, twice in 2016

2) The Boston Global Mass Challenge in 2014.

3) The Colombian Government - Trip to Silicon Valley in 2014. 

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The Adventurer

When I reflect on what I've done in my life I always conclude that even though I've done a lot, I still feel there's a lot for me to do, to explore. But I'm happy with what I've done so far, so I wanted to share some of those unique adventures with all of you. Moments that I treasure in my heart and that will always be part of who and what I am. I also realize that not everyone gets the opportunity to experience some of these things first hand, so I feel grateful, blessed and fortunate for all of these experiences:

1) Climbing the Great Wall of China. It wasn't so hard going up, but coming down was a true challenge. I could feel my knees shake all the way down due to the small steps, the incline and the weight of my body. I had to stop a couple of times to catch my breath but I made it all the way up and all the way down. 

2) Hunting Crocodiles in New Orleans. You can watch this one on youtube, just search "Mauricio the Crocodile Hunter." I had a blast with this experience and probably took unnecessary risks which could have lead to me losing a hand lol, but I had a lot of fun. 

3) Swimming in an Underground River down in Mexico. The water was crystal clear, there were branches everywhere and it was a very unique experience. I loved it. At times I was a bit scared too, but overall I enjoyed it. The trees over the river were amazing...

4) Visiting the Salt Cathedral in Colombia. This place is a human marvel. An entire cathedral built on a salt mine, with salt Yes, salt! It's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in my life and on that day I felt really proud of being Colombian and of the amazing things Colombia has to offer the world. You should watch "Colombia Wild Magic" on Netflix so you can understand more about this.

5) Seeing the Opera House and Harbour Bridge in Sydney, Australia for the first time. You have no idea how excited I was on this day. I almost couldn't believe I was there and could feel my body shake with excitement. For a moment I thought I was going to cry and I guess I almost did. You experience the true might of Australia when you're in Sydney.

6) Climbing the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Seeing all of Paris from the top of the Eiffel tower was so amazing... But even better was having some wine with friends on a bridge, visiting the Louvre, Sacred Heart and Arc of Triumph. All incredible experiences. France is a very unique country and their contributions to humanity are incredibly important. 

7) Driving 20 & 40 Ton Half a Million Dollar Excavators in North Dakota, near the border with Canada. Oh this was so much fun. Brought me back to when I was 5 years old and I was playing in the sand with friends and cheaper toys. So re-living that when I was older with huge expensive toys was awesome and fortunately I didn't wreck any of these bad boyz. 

8) Putting one foot in the ocean and another one in a river at the same time in Brazil. This South American country is rich in culture, great music, good food, friendly people and beautiful views. I never thought I could be in a river and the ocean at the same time until I went to Brazil. Definitely memorable. Some of the best fish I've ever had in my life I ate in Brazil. It just melted in my mouth and I loved it.

9) Climbing the Sun and Moon Pyramids in Mexico. Everything looked so small from up there... and I felt so much peace at the top of these places that I will never forget them. You should know that despite of its violent international reputation, Mexico is probably one of my favorite spots on Earth. Great culture, amazing food, nice people and very vibrant. There's always something going on down in Mexico.

10) Snowboarding & Rafting in Aspen. Aspen is one of the top ski resorts in the world and its international reputation is well earned. The views and mountains of Aspen make you feel like you're in a postcard. It's just so beautiful and unique, you just have to see it for yourself to fully understand it. 

11) Eating ants and frogs with the locals. Yep, I've done it but wouldn't do it again. Of course these weren't the typical ants you see around, nor were the frogs. They are both "special dishes" and varieties of ants and frogs where I had them and to be honest they weren't that bad (the ants were roasted and tasted a bit like nuts and the frogs a bit like chicken), but like I said, I wouldn't do it again lol. No offence to the locals of course :)

12) Visiting Potsdam in Germany. This was once the house of Kings and Queens and it truly is a very unique place in Germany. You should know that of all the countries I've been to, Germany is one of the Top 3 places I would go to. I love it. Such a great place. Really organized, clean, secure, green, cultural. It's just a country with so much history. Unfortunately, some really dark history too as we all know, but let's not even go there. 

13) Petting Kangaroos in Cleland, South Australia. This was my first big encounter with Kangaroos. I was able to pet them and feed them and it was magical. Cleland is such a wonderful place. Truly a hidden gem in Australia and a must see if you're in Adelaide. I've never eaten kangaroo meat and I never would after this experience. It would be like eating a bunny, I just couldn't do it.

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The Migrant

My wife and I arrived to Australia on April 25th 2014, Anzac Day. April 25th is a special day for Australians all over the world, and to us, it is now not only special because of its history and what it means for us as a country, but also because what it means for us as a family. It marks the day we arrived to Australia and the future generations of our family will continue to celebrate and commemorate this day just like any other Australian would, but also like we as a family would due to its special meaning within our family circle. 

We arrived to Australia with four bags, a bit of money in the bank, no jobs, no friends and no family, nothing. It was hard. And it would put us to the test many times, but we made it. Partly because my wife was so strong in the early days. The beginning was really hard for me. The first six months I questioned myself whether we had made the right decision and whether I would be able to tolerate being so far away from my family and friends back in Colombia. At times I felt I wasn't strong enough even though I always thought I was prepared to leave the country and had already lived in other countries before. This time it was different. I can't really explain it, but I just knew this time I wasn't coming back and that feeling hit me hard in the beginning as I adapted to a new country, a new culture, a new city. 

In the early days my wife and I were in survival mode. So we would not make any unnecessary expenses and would walk everywhere (we didn't have a car back then) & would even share a meal and a juice. We also lived in a very very small apartment. As in really tiny. But we made it work and made the best of it. I still remember the first time I was invited to play soccer in Australia... I had no soccer shoes and even though I could buy them I didn't want to given I didn't have a job. So this generous and kind guy gave me his. And many other people would show us kindness and generosity in the coming months. People would drive us around, invite us for dinner, introduce us to other people and stuff like that. And eventually we would end up finding jobs in record time. Something rare amongst migrants with zero local experience. 

In August 2019 my wife and I became Australian Citizens. This of course is something we feel really proud of and it also makes us very happy.

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The Professional (My CV)

Master of Management and Engineer with decades of experience in Product Management, Project Management & Business Analysis (Agile certified). Expert in software and mobile development (including agile development and digital services) with a strong capacity to drive innovation, productivity, efficiency, improvement, growth and high performance. 

Experience with Higher Education, small, mid-size and large companies; proven track record of consistently exceeding targets, delivering projects on time and within budget (flawless project execution).

I've lead course development, LMS, CMS, CRM, mobile apps, Facebook apps, web development, new product development, IT, operations, sales and procurement projects across a wide range of industries including Higher Education, IT, FMCG and Equipment industries. I also worked for the following companies:

-An Australian Go8 University, ranked in the Top 1% in the world.

-The leading Online Training provider in Australia: e3Learning, part of Open Universities Australia which has big clients such as Qantas, IGA and Tupperware.

-A Colombian compact and heavy equipment distributor: ETECOL, part of Doosan and Bobcat a global company with Billions of dollars in sales.

-An American high tech startup with important clients such as NASA, the White House and the U.S. Department of Defense.

-An American Fortune 500 company: Johnson&Johnson one of the biggest and most respected brands in the world. 

Academic Background

Master of Management - Tulane University

MBA - ICESI University

Bachelor of Engineering - Javeriana University

Professional Development

Entrepreneurship 101 - MIT

Data Wise: A Collaborative Process to Improve Learning & Teaching - Harvard University

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Skills & Areas of Expertise

-Agile Development & Agile Delivery

-Scrum

-DSDM

-Product Management

-Project Management

-Business Analysis

-Change Management

-Entrepreneurship

-Wealth Creation

-Email Marketing

-Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

-Job Interviews, Resume/CV & Cover Letter Optimization

-Lean

-Six Sigma

-Design Excellence

-Strategic Procurement

-Supply Chain & Operations

-Content Creation

-Video Creation

-Video Edition

-Audio Edition

-Podcasting

-Creative Writing

-Spanish, English and Portuguese

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Pledge to All Students (both current & future students)

Students First. I will never compromise your experience to make money. Never, ever. Yes, this is also a business but to me teaching goes way beyond making money. I already have a full time job and fortunately don't rely on teaching to survive. You are always at the forefront of my courses and I want to ensure you have a unique, valuable and memorable experience. I promise. 

24x7x365 Support. You can contact me 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, year round, even on holidays, Christmas and New Years Eve; I will get back to you quickly (in a few hours tops) and deliver outstanding quality of service in my support. I promise. 

Humbleness, kindness and social responsibility. I believe in giving back to you and the world. So think of me as your own real-life human "Siri." If you need advice or support just ask. And if I can do something to help you in your journey, I will. I promise.

Australian Made. Recognized in the Industry as a symbol of quality and excellence. All my courses are Made in Australia with high tech and professionally edited. They also include my secret sauce: a lot of passion & love. I also apply in my courses everything I've learnt from years of experience working with technology, projects, entrepreneurs and people all over the world. I promise.  

Quality over Quantity. I will strive to make courses concise, to the point and relevant. Time is one of our most valuable assets and we need to invest it carefully. So I won't make a course long for the purpose of displaying it has more hours; only when strictly necessary. To me it's about quality and if I can deliver that in 5 minutes and save you time, I will. I promise.

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Why do I teach?

-Because I love sharing knowledge and helping others

-To make the world a better place

-To empower others to reach their full potential

-To create a sustainable, wealthy future for my family

-To help others reach their goals

"I'm not an ideal man, but a man of ideas" -Khodorkovsky

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What am I watching right now?

-The Expanse / 4 Stars, if you like sci-fi and what the world would look like if we had conquered Mars and beyond, then this is one if definitely for you.

What have I recently watched?

-The Man in the High Castle / 5 Stars, but I would give this 6 if I could. Watching what the wold would have looked like if the Germans and the Japanese had won WWII was more interesting than I ever imagined. An extraordinarily well made series.

-The Last Kingdom / 4 Stars. I've been watching this one for some time now and can't say I intend to stop now. I've always liked shows about knights, honor, courage and braveness.

-Man Like Mobeen / 2.5 Stars, but I really enjoyed it. I don't know if it's the accent or just how raw and real British TV is, but I tend to like British shows.

-Kim's Convenience Season 4 / 5 Stars, I love this show and never get tired of watching it. It makes me laugh every single time.

-Tiger King / 1 Star, I honestly don't know why people like this. Perhaps it has to do more with me not liking documentaries in general, I mean I rarely like them. But just watching some clown who has a fetish for Tigers just isn't my thing, even if the world is going crazy about it. I think I barely watched two episodes on this one.

-All American / 5 Stars, really entertaining. A bit of the typical "American" story, but I still really enjoyed it. My background in Sports tends to make me appreciate the stories in this type of show.

What am I working on right now?

-I'm preparing to make a multi-million dollar investment to secure my family's wealth for generations

-Growing the business and making improvements & enhancements across the board. This is one of my specialties and a key reason for my success. I never stop working on this, which the Japanese call "Kaizen" or Continuous Improvement

-Diversifying the business across different channels, markets and countries