We had the good fortune of connecting with Adina Appelbaum and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Adina, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I was fortunate to learn the value of taking smart risks, adaptability, and going outside my comfort zone at a young age from my father. This spirit led me to go live in incredible places like Cairo, Egypt for a year after graduating from college as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar and Quito, Ecuador, where I met my husband. I have learned many lessons about the incredible rewards that risk can bring in life, and how important it is to follow what feels scary and exciting. As a social entrepreneur, continuing to take risks and live in the zone of uncertainty has allowed me to also create impactful new initiatives for social change. A large theme of what I teach my business coaching clients is how to embrace uncertainty, master money and business mindset, and take risks despite fear to create mission-based businesses, bring their soul purpose into reality, and make the impact they’re meant to make in this world.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
When my husband Mauricio immigrated to the U.S. from Ecuador in 2013, we struggled through the whole process of trying to figure out our finances. We didn’t know if my husband was allowed to do basic things like have a bank account or credit card or if he would be able to invest, take out a mortgage, save for retirement, and build a future here in the U.S. We felt very alone and anxious in the process and wasted years trying to figure it all out on our own. There was nothing on the internet or in the personal finance books about personal finances for immigrants. Even as someone studying to become an immigration lawyer, I couldn’t find the answers and we had to piece together everything ourselves. To hear our whole story you can listen to the first episode of our podcast here: https://anchor.fm/immigrantfinance/episodes/1–Our-Immigrant-Finance-Story-eo2v9t.

As an immigration lawyer who has worked with hundreds of immigrants, I have also seen how much of a difference having a strong personal finance foundation can make in someone’s life and immigration case.

Additionally, as the great-granddaughter of Jewish refugees who fled to this country with nothing, I also personally know how our relationships with money are impacted by the immigrant experience — such as the constant fear of not having enough and worrying about money — that get passed down for generations if they are not addressed head-on. For my family, developing financial stability by starting businesses has been critical, and for me, working on my relationship with money has been a journey of healing generational traumas. I want all immigrants to have the same opportunities and more options and choices.

My husband and I created Immigrant Finance™ because we don’t want anyone else to have to struggle like we did when he first immigrated to the U.S. Immigrants are some of the most hardworking, innovative, and entrepreneurial people. Yet many are unfairly not seeing the rewards of their years of dedication and strong work ethic because they face barriers due to unjust immigration laws and do not have access to education on how to navigate the financial system, invest, and increase income, for example by starting businesses.

I am moved everyday to find ways to provide the tools that will unleash the incredible potential that so many immigrants and their families have to offer. From the railroads to the mom-and-pop shops to the people who clean our homes, grow and serve our food, and take care of our children and elders, this country was and continues to be built by immigrant families. I believe immigrants and their families are the people who are best suited to envision and create new innovative solutions to address the many challenges of this country, particularly with the vast opportunities available on the internet through online business, where start up costs are low and reach is infinite. I have seen what’s possible through the students we work with and want to do everything in my power to support them.

All immigrants deserve to have opportunities to invest, start businesses, and build generational wealth regardless of their immigration status or lack thereof. All immigrants should have the lives they deserve. This is exactly what we support our students to do in our signature coaching program Immigrant Finance School™, which focuses on helping people learn how to manage money, invest, increase income, and strengthen their money mindset. Our mission is to help over 1,000 immigrant families invest over $1 million together in the next 5 years. We also offer an Online Business Accelerator, Immigrant Finance Business School™, where we coach our students on everything they need to know to start an online business from developing an offer, to pricing, to marketing strategy, sales training, software systems, setting up an LLC, business taxes and finances, and business mindset. We want to scale to a level where we can make sure immigrants across the U.S. have access to financial and business resources and are able to provide grants to support the new businesses our community members create.

Growing our platform to carry out this big mission where it is today has been one of the most challenging and exhilarating experiences of my life. The hardest part has been mindset. I have had to literally re-wire my brain on a daily basis to move past limiting beliefs, societal conditioning, and doubts and fears so that I can continue to work toward our mission and make the impact we are meant to make for this community. What gives me the strength to keep going is our students. Whenever I hear that one of our students not only became the first in their family to open an investment account, but also opened investment retirement accounts for their parents and siblings, I know it’s all worth it. I am also floored whenever I witness one of our students take a leap of faith to work past their own mindset blocks to create the business of their dreams, start to get paid fairly for their value, time, and energy, and create something that will help change other people’s lives.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We live in the Washington, DC area. My favorite spots I’d take one of my best friends are Pop’s Sea Bar, Tryst coffee shop, outdoor places overlooking the waterfronts in Navy Yard, Georgetown, and Alexandria, and some of the amazing parks in our area (I love nature). If it’s summer we’d go to listen to Jazz and drink sangria in the Sculpture garden.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I am beyond grateful to the mentors and coaches I have worked with who have supported me to step into my power and create and grow Immigrant Finance.™ In particular, Amanda Abella, Robin Hornstein, and Allie Lieber have each made a tremendous impact on my self discovery, mindset, and ability to turn the focus away from my own insecurities and fears and toward the people I’m meant to help.

Website: ImmigrantFinance.com

Instagram: @immigrant.finance

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/immigrantfinance

Twitter: @immigrantfinanc

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ImmigrantFinance

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUEt5sUxmHo8Xj1FBfMZw0g

Other: Immigrant Finance School™: Immigrantfinanceschool.com Immigrant Finance Business School™: Immigrantfinancesbusinesschool.com Immigrant Finance Podcast: https://anchor.fm/immigrantfinance

Image Credits
Lauren Metzler Photography

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