Bernado Moya

People Are Capable Of Re-Inventing Themselves at Any Time

Bernado Moya is a Neuro-Linguistic Programme Practitioner, with a business delivering NLP courses. He is also the founder and creator of The Best You, specialising in personal and professional development. In this interview, Bernado tells us about the importance of family to him and the challenges of balancing that with being a committed entrepreneur. He has learned from experience that business has its ups and downs and the essential value of having resilience and the ability to reinvent yourself. We also learn more about his interests in travel and motorbiking.

What can you tell us about your childhood and upbringing and how that has influenced you?

My parents were Spanish immigrants that met in London and I was born in London. My Dad was a head waiter and my Mum was a chef so I was brought up with food, quality food and working hard, and then also getting together with family and friends on weekends. So it was a very family orientated, Spanish environment that I got brought up in and what it has meant is my love for food and my passion for kind of working hard really, and understanding the importance of family life and the family upbringing.

Who is your family today and what are your personal interests?

Unfortunately, my Dad died when I was 15, but my Mum is around luckily and I have a brother. I also have three great kids. My two sons are working, one has a business and the other one is working in yachts. They both live a great life and they’re great people. My daughter, well she’s amazing too. She’s just finished University so we’ve had a family life where we’ve spent a lot of weekends together surrounded by family but yes in an environment where I suppose where they’ve seen me work hard. I’ve worked very hard and maybe I missed out on some opportunities with them but I think they’ve had a great upbringing and they’re great kids so I’m very proud of them. It’s my legacy.

The world needs inspiration, it needs leaders that can help and inspire the newer generations but also can make the world a better place.

What were your earlier career or business ventures and what did you learn from those experiences?

Well, I have been in real estate off and on doing different things from timeshare to running my own real estate. I had up to 23-25 employees so selling and engaging with clients has been something I’ve done from an early age, since I finished in the army at the age of 19. But I would say that it’s provided me a great life but also challenges. I lost my business twice, once when I was 26 and then again at the age of 38-39 which is where I pretty much re-started all over again. From my experiences, I’ve learnt that I’m very resilient, I’ve learnt that I can re-invent myself as needed and work hard to create something new. I’ve been very passionate about everything that I’ve done, I’ve always had big dreams and I’m still on a journey.

As an entrepreneur, how much is it in the nature, in your genes and how much is it instinct and nurture, do you think?

Well, I think there’s a special type of person that has to have that within them to become an entrepreneur. I understand that not everyone wants to build their own business and I understand that people are happy to live an easier life, less stressful. Becoming an entrepreneur is very challenging, it’s something that you’ve got to be prepared to put more hours than you can imagine, be prepared for failure, be prepared for disappointments with staff and employees, be prepared for people not to buy into your products but also it has amazing rewards. If you understand your business, if you understand your customer, if you really study marketing, sales, and how to build relationships with your customers, if you build something that’s unique, that inspires people, it’s a very rewarding job.

I’ve had three children, but I know that my businesses have always taken a very important part of my life and I’m aware of that, yet it’s something I’m proud of. I’ve always done my best and I would prefer to at least know that I’ve tried than not ever even attempting it. So I’m very happy with being an entrepreneur and the rewards that it has given me in my life.

What attracted you to become involved with NLP?

It was Paul McKenna’s book ‘Change your Life in 7 Days’. It was packed with NLP techniques and it was the first time I read about Dr Richard Bandler and Neuro-linguistic Programming. I remember that after reading the book I asked a friend of mine who worked with Paul Hay, I would love to do the course. I did the ‘7 Day Practitioner’ and I remember at the end of the course I knew that I wanted to do something different. I wanted to do something with more meaning and I felt that NLP could provide me that, and would provide me with the set of skills that I needed.

Can you tell us more about NLP and how it works?

Neuro-linguistic Programming is the study of excellence. Richard Bandler, the Co-creator, looked into how did successful people do what they do? How do people that have phobias overcome them? How did they leave those phobias and fears behind? So he put those techniques together and he packaged them. Neuro, stands for the head linguistic set of skills, language patterns that we use and the programming set of skills and strategies. Part of NLP is simply allowing you to think. It gives you a set of skills to become a better communicator, more confident, to be able to become more motivated, and to understand how you can change how you feel by simply thinking differently. If you think differently you feel differently, if you feel differently you act and behaviour differently.

Why do you believe that continual personal development is so important for everyone?

I think the older we get the more we understand the importance of investing in ourselves. When we’re at school we take learning, not everyone, but I think generally we take it as a burden, something that we have to do. I think with age we understand how important it is to really be at our peak and how we can become a better version of ourselves; how we can think better, how we can communicate better and that’s what personal development brings you.

You know people are looking for love, they’re looking for ways to increase their self- esteem to become more confident, to become happier. And you do that by learning from the best, from reading books, from attending talks or attending Expos and being surrounded by positive people that can provide you inspiration. If we think of ourselves as a device, as a phone, we’re always looking at the latest version or downloading the latest update and software. But when it comes down to us, we’re always reluctant to upgrade our own software. We need to be permanently pushing ourselves and reading the best, not just because we need to, but additionally the world needs it too. The world needs inspiration, it needs leaders that can help and inspire the newer generations but also can make the world a better place.

You have two Expos in early 2018 in London and Long Beach California – can you tell us more about these and what to expect?

It is our third Expo in London, that’s on the 16th and 17th February and in Long Beach on the 24th and 25th March, which will be our first run in the US. The Expos have grown and doubled in size every year and the reason being is because there wasn’t any personal development experience like this. It’s an opportunity to meet all these fantastic inspirational speakers, brands, companies and organisations that are dedicated to improving people’s lives.

It’s a great format. We have loads of workshops, 8 or 9 seminar rooms with more than 140 speakers. We have a variety of other activities, like the Inspiration Zone, where we teach people how to overcome phobias, learn how to dance Salsa, and walk on glass. We have the Yoga and Meditation Zone, fresh juices, we’re screening some amazing documentaries with some fantastic partners; Netflix, and Sky. There is so much going on at these Expos and we’re very excited about them.

What are your favourite places in the world from your travels and why?

I have travelled and I would like to travel a lot more. I loved Vietnam, it was beautiful. One of the things that I like doing and have done quite a few times, is I’ve gone with friends on motorbike tours, which have always been amazing and very appealing to me. I’ve also been to Madagascar, South Africa, and Canada. I’ve done a few small trips around the US, but I have many future plans. I want to travel the whole of South America. I feel that travelling is a very important part of life and I believe that as The Best US Expo starts licensing around the world, it’s going to be something that’s on my plate and I’m looking forward to it.

What words of wisdom would you give to our readers, either already successful or aspiring to success?

One of the beauties, I think, of personal and professional growth, as we’ve seen it many, many times, is that people are able and capable of re-inventing themselves at any time. I would always say that it’s never, ever too late. I always insist on that, it’s never ever too late to become who you want to become, to become the best you. You’ve just got to take action and start today, start now. And be resilient, just be prepared. Life is going to throw things at you. It’s not what happens, it’s how you deal with what happens that’s the important bit. You can have a bad day, you’ve just got to wake up the next morning, take the dust off, brush yourself and get on with it. So keep going, never give up, never allow anyone to say it’s too late and then again surround yourself by positive people. I love the hash tag ‘no negativity’. I follow that through, I’m not interested in working or being surrounded by any negative people in my life.