Colombian wants to empower and bring joy to salary workers

Tan Yifan

Ricardo Jose Cortes Pena,whose nickname is Ricky, claims to have the power to help stressed salariats become happier and discover their potential.

Once a language trainer and merchant, Cortes said he found most of his adult trainees in the city were under a lot of pressure and their lives were unbalanced.

“Most of the young Shenzheners that I taught were not happy with their work and life. Young men were anxious about money, cars and houses that were required if they wanted to get married. Young women were also worried about marriage and other material things,” he said. “It seems to me that the whole society is driven by pressure and the societal definition of success was highly influenced by money.”

Cortes said he was tired of business and thought he could do more for those anxious young workers, who spent their spare time trying to perfect their English.

“I think I’m good at empowering people to take control of their lives and gifted to help them find the right track,” he said.

Cortes started to write his philosophy on happiness, wisdom and relationships and so far, after five years’ living in the city, he has managed to publish two books. After building up his theory step by step, Cortes began trials — putting his methodology into practice with seven other like-minded people.

They call their brainchild, “Gifted,” a “from zero to hero” package, which “will eventually help ‘lost’ young people start a happy business that is both mentally and financially rewarding.”

“It was not just a training course in English, we plan to help an unhappy man regain his self-awareness, find mind, body and heart balance, foster wisdom, discover his gift, and build his team and business through our courses, future community and an online platform,” he explained.

After several trial courses, Cortes now has a well-designed “happy” business model. He said that he still enjoyed a balanced life although some pressure did come with his startup project.

Shara Yang, one of his trainees, said that Cortes had influenced her life. She told the Shenzhen Daily, “Ricky is a loving and super positive person” and he had transformed her into a confident and happy woman. Yang said that she had quit her previous job and now was working for a beer distributor.