“If you had a gun to your head and a few weeks to learn Spanish as best as you possibly could, what would you do?”

That’s what my barber asked me the other day during a conversation we had when he was cutting my hair…

And it led to some deep thinking and a big realization.

Before I tell you about that, I first want to say that I hope you had Holly Jolly Christmas with your loved ones.

I don’t like bothering people over the holidays, which is why I didn’t send this email sooner.

This is likely the last email you’ll receive from me in 2020.

But I want you to know that as crazy as this year has been, it’s also been fantastic for our Speak Spanish Faster family.

We are a small team, but this journey has been unbelievable.

I need to thank all my SSF team members and all the students who joined us on this journey. 

This has grown far bigger than we could have ever imagined in one year as we are almost at 30,000 YouTube Subscribers and 10,000 members in our Seven Day Spanish Course. We are currently at 9,880 members, to be exact 😲.

(That’s not including our Seven Day Advanced, Spanish Stories, and Spanish On-Demand). 

With that being said, I want you to know that I truly appreciate YOU from the bottom of my heart, and this wouldn’t be possible without you.

We’ve received hundreds of success stories from our students, and it feels good to know that we are having a positive impact on the world.

I’m not sure how we’re going to top that in 2021 but we will try our best!

On another note, I have a lot to cover in today’s email, including one announcement I’m really excited to share with you.

Before I do that, however, let me tell you about this little conversation I had with the barber and how it could change the way you learn Spanish forever.

Let me explain…

You see, I usually go to the barbershop every week…

The one that I go to is primarily Latino.

All the barbers working there are either Puerto Rican or Dominican… 

I think one may even be from Colombia.

As soon as you walk through the door, you hear the sound of either Reggaeton, Bachata, or Merengue music blasting through the speakers.

Imagine being in a Spanish club or something (pre-Co-vid19, of course, LOL).

Seriously, if I close my eyes, it feels as if I’m back in Puerto Rico. 

Anyway, the barber I go to is named Jay. 

He’s a Puerto Rican from New York City (we call ourselves Nuyoricans)… the Bronx—to be exact—just like my family.

And just like my parents—his parents didn’t teach him Spanish when he was growing up.

So he doesn’t speak it at all.

In fact, he’s the only one in the barbershop that doesn’t speak Spanish.

We had a long conversation while he was cutting my hair, and he told me how much he wishes that he could speak it fluently.

That’s because his wife speaks Spanish, and he wants his newborn daughter to learn it while growing up.

The problem is that his wife won’t talk it in the house because he can’t speak it well.

I could hear the pain in his voice as he was telling me the story…

“Man, I really wish my parents would have taught me Spanish,” he said, “Sometimes I don’t even like telling people that I’m Puerto Rican because I feel ashamed that I can’t speak Spanish.”

At that moment, I felt his pain…

I knew exactly what he was going through.

That’s because even though I’m Puerto Rican, my parents didn’t speak Spanish to me or my four sisters when we were growing up…

And today, I’m the only one of us that can speak Spanish fluently.

But as you probably know, I didn’t learn it until I was a teenager.

“How did you learn Spanish?” He asks.

“You really want to know?”

“Yeah man, that’s my New Years’ resolution, and my goal for the year is to take learning Spanish seriously.”

Now, to be honest, I don’t love New Year’s resolutions.

Quite frankly, I don’t believe that we should wait until a New Year to set our goals…

Besides, how many people actually stick to their New Years’ resolutions?

But I can’t change the fact that the beginning of a New Year is a sort of natural reset for all of us…

And this year, it’s definitely needed, especially with how crazy 2020 was.

“Rocky, at least answer this for me, if you had a gun to your head and a few weeks to learn Spanish as best as you possibly could, what would you do?” Jay asked.

It’s that question, along with the New Year quickly approaching, that has been on my mind for the past few days.

I know many people are ready to take their Spanish learning seriously, and there’s no better time to do it than now.

The New Year gives us all a reason to go hard, at least for a few weeks.

So I’m thinking of putting together a special Workshop for serious people looking to take their Spanish to the next level in 2021.

This would be a 6 Week Workshop where I’ll walk you step by step through what I would do if I had to learn Spanish all over.

It doesn’t have a name yet (if you have any suggestions, REPLY to this email and let me know).

This workshop will be much different than my courses…

It will be a little more hands-on, and you’ll get special access to me through weekly Zoom calls.

Of course, this means it will be a little more expensive than my flagship courses, but it will totally be worth it.

I do want you to know that this won’t be for everyone.

This class is going to require effort on your part.

In fact, I’m not as concerned with your current level of Spanish as I am with your willingness to dig in the next 6 weeks and put in the work needed to drastically transform your speaking and comprehension ability.

As for the actual “syllabus,”…

I’m still building out the plan now as you read this email…

But I’ll have more information next week immediately following the New Year. 

This is the first time we’ve ever done anything like this, so it will definitely be a learning experience for everyone, including myself…

But we would love to have you join us.

Have an excellent rest of your week and a safe New Year.

Let’s start 2021 off with a bang!

Rocky