Incarcerated Or Dead With Ernie Vargas

Okay gentlemen.

In today's episode, I've got for you Ernie Vargas.

Who's an absolute living legend.

It's based out of California, Los Angeles is a property mogul.

And for me, someone that's actually had a fairly reasonable and easy upbringing.

I mean, Ernie has given me some absolutely fantastic insight in terms of what it's

like growing up on the streets of LA and his wall ride from being homeless

to a Mexican immigrant mother, to gangs, to friends being shot dead to

the property business that he set up.

It's fucking awesome.

His knowledge is spectacular.

His insight actually on mindset.

And what it takes to be a man today might surprise you.

So let's get

You grew up in LA

yeah.

So, I mean, born and raised in LA, right.

Los Angeles, California, um, to a single mother.

Um, my mother actually came to America, uh, at a, you know, she came to

America as, as, just as with no family.

Right.

She was sent to America, came to America and basically, you know,

long story short, she found the supposed man of her dreams, right.

When that man of her dreams got her pregnant and pretty much

threw her out on the streets.

And so she was pregnant and, um, you know, with me.

So I was born in a nuns convent.

, and then, you know, um, I, I was raised in, in a basement, um, in my

younger age, We had a struggle of homelessness, to be honest with you.

Um, we, we were, um, we were homeless.

So that's kind of like how my story, my journey begins.

Right.

Um, and I really, um, I really applauded my mom because, , she

was a strong person, right.

Because, um, in, in those instances, you, you make a choice, you

either persevere or you give up.

Right.

And so giving up is not an option.

And so she persevered, she fought hard, she worked hard, she

worked, I mean, really, really hard to put food on the table.

Um, but that, that's how she raised me.

She, she raised me with, with that can do attitude and just

being tough and being out there.

She never married.

And so she, um, you know, she, she gave me everything that she had.

It was rough, you know, where I grew up at because a lot of my friends

probably had similar scenarios, not exactly the same thing, but, uh,

the, the, the, the common denominator being that they were, um, oftentimes,

uh, um, parented by single parent.

Right.

So,

. You know, there are a lot of

responsibilities that they should take on.

Right.

And so, um, as a result, we do have a lot of mothers out there that, that are,

you know, raising children on their own.

so true.

It's it's, it's, it's crazy that isn't it.

And I mean, where, from your standpoint, Ernie growing up, is there a moment in

your mind where you're like, holy shit, that, that was the turning point for me.

Um, I, I always called my mom, my mother and my father.

Right.

cause she, she basically was both.

With both roles.

Um, I saw a lot of the, you know, the other kids in, in, in my, in my life that,

that did have a parent on, on both sides of mother and a father, um, how, how, how

enriching that was to their life, right.

So I, at a young age made a decision that when I grow up, the choices

that I make will determine how, you know, I can provide for my family.

, oftentimes I think struggle, um, is, is the fuel that turns people, right?

Like either one way, the, the, either giving up or to say, In your

mind decide I'm gonna go for it.

I'm gonna get it right.

So,

So, so talk, talk me through.

Cause I think that drives really, really, interestingly, I, I love when, whenever

I'm, I'm speaking to, other men that have that drive or that entrepreneurial

spirit and, and, and I'm always curious where that fuel sort of came from.

In my upbringing, a lot of my friends, um, you know, as, as I got to high school,

uh, were, were, um, I was burying them.

Right.

Um, because you can imagine that, that an environment like that would probably

produce, you know, not the best thinking.

Right.

So a lot of these guys were, uh, getting killed,

fuck.

So when you say bearing you, you you're literally talking holy fuck.

Ernie.

yeah.

I mean, so I I'd say that yeah.

Nine, nine outta 10 of my friends, you know, either incarcerated

for life, um, or, or, or dead.

Holy shit.

And, and so they're, they're a big repercussions, if you don't

man, up to the responsibilities that you had in front of you.

Um, oftentimes people don't tell you what's possible.

And I, and I saw that at a very young age that a lot of my peers had never

been told what's possible in their life.

Right.

There were so many limitations in, in their environment.

Um, and seeing a lot of these guys, um, go in that direction, uh, you

know, that led to death or life

that's fucked up.

So, I mean, I, I could only imagine how that impacts you growing up as

a, as a man, when you we've got that happening over and over again, with

multiple people in your environment.

Holy fuck.

That, that must make you one of the most resilient people on this planet.

Mm.

Yeah, it, it did.

I mean, these guys were all, you know, joining the a gang, right.

They were all gang banging.

Um, and so, you know, BA basically that, that, that put them in that place.

Um, that was one thing , the other one was my mom.

Right.

I, I, I saw her cry every Christmas, you know, it would

break my heart to see her cry.

How, how hard the struggles were in our life.

Right.

And how she was just in so much pain.

Right.

So it, it, it does something to you internally.

Right?

I'll tell you Charlie though, , you know, sometimes we do the stupidest things, man.

I'll tell you that.

Um, I remember that my mom always told.

You know, uh, the one thing that I ask of you son, is that you graduate from

high school and that you walk on stage.

I am.

So looking forward to seeing you walk on that stage and that was like her

whole vision of, of, of, you know, I I've made it as a mother, right?

Like, oh, success.

Um, and that's all she ever talked about.

Well, Charlie, you know, when you get to high school, sometimes

you do the stupidest things.

Right.

And I told you, a lot of my friends were weren't weren't

necessarily bookworm . Right.

So I, I, you know, I'm out there, um, Doing a bunch of stupid things,

you know, not going to class.

And so as a result, you know, I, I didn't get to graduate on stage.

So, so here we are, my mom has purchased herself a brand new dress that she's

going to wear on graduation day to see me walk, you know, on that stage.

Um, and then, and then I come home and I say, mom, I've got something to tell you.

Um, uh, I'm not gonna graduate on stage.

Um, you know, I basically messed up.

. And, um, and yeah, dude, that, that, that really broke her heart.

And she's like, well, I'm still gonna go to your graduation.

I'm still gonna wear my dress.

And I'm gonna sit there and imagine what it would've been like to have

my son walk through that stage.

And Charlie that killed me, man.

That, that killed me.

I, I can actually tell you this story today without crying, but man, when I

would talk about this, it would really tear me down because I, I let my mom down.

You know, she didn't know this, but I actually went to that same graduation

and I sat like two rows behind her.

And I saw her just cry and cry and cry throughout the guitar ceremony.

And that, that killed me, man.

That, that really killed me.

We have all these visions and all of these.

Potentials, right.

Like anything's possible, right?

Like if you ask, if you ask your, your, your son, you know, what do

you wanna grow up be when you grow up, he might say something like, I

wanna be an astronaut or whatever.

Right.

And, and in his mind, 100% possible, no doubt about it whatsoever.

Anything's possible, but that, that, that that's the beauty

about children's minds, right?

Like anything's possible.

But then as we grow up, um, you know, we sort of get hit with the

right and the left with, with life.

Right.

And then we start to forget about these dreams.

Um, and so by the time that I got to high school, all these things that I used to

tell my mom, mom, I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna take care of you.

I'm gonna, you know, get us this, I'm gonna do that.

Um, by the time that I got to high school, dude, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm failing classes.

Um, you know, it didn't feel very real anymore.

Right.

And so, um, but it was in that moment that I saw her tear up out there that,

that I said, I have to do something.

I've gotta find something.

I just didn't know what it was.

So, um, you know, I, I, I got, I, I, I got one J O B, which, you know, it's

an acronym for just over broke, right?

I, I got one job after another.

And, um, charlie, you know, I, I, I had the worst jobs in the world, man.

what, what talk me through that worst, worst job, Eddie.

What, what was the worst job that you ever.

oh dude, the worst job in the world was when I worked at a, at a Sears warehouse.

Do you know what Sears

Yeah.

They're like big department stores, aren't

Right, right, right.

So this back then Sears.

So I worked at a Sears warehouse, um, with, uh, a bunch of inmates.

So they were guys that, that had come outta prison, doing life sentences

in prison, just about coming out and, and an opportunity for work.

And I say it was a worst job because dude that's so far off

from where I wanted to be in life.

Right.

So I had a few jobs after that.

I mean, dude, I, I, I, um, you know, I had, I had a couple of jobs and I

landed in one really good job, um, for what we call Costco warehouse.

I dunno if you know what that is.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I was at a Costco back then they were called price clubs.

Right.

So I was the forklift driver there and I used to stock frozen chicken

and drive the forklift there.

Right.

I bet you're like a fucking surgeon on a forklift truck, Ernie.

I

Oh, dude, you, you know what we used to do when the, the funnest thing

about that job, I'll tell you, is that when the store closed down,

we used to race in the forklifts

that's amazing.

and, and you know how you drive a forklift, right.

You drive it backwards.

Right.

So we used to go from the front of the store to the back of

the store driving backwards to,

amazing.

oh yeah.

Oh man.

But anyway, um, yeah, so that was a really good job it was had benefits.

It had, you know, anything that, that, that, that basically, uh, an average

person would, would aspire to be.

So

this was my very big, first turning point.

Right.

I was stocking chicken day.

And then my manager pulled over on the forklift and said, Ernie, what's going on?

Like, man, I see that.

That they, you know, like you're miserable here.

Like, like you've got a frown, like you don't wanna do like, is, am I right?

I said, yeah, you're right.

Well, Ernie, I'm gonna tell you something.

I'm gonna give you some really good advice.

And that advice is that you better learn to love this job.

Love it with all your heart, because life is never gonna get

any better for you than this job.

And Ernie, if you play your card, right, Ernie, Ernie, if you play your cards,

right, you can stay at this job for the rest of your life and retire from this

one day, Ernie, that's what I'm gonna do.

That's what my manager said.

My manager said for us, and this was my manager's version of a pep

Wow.

My manager said, for us, us, it never gets any better than this.

It'll never get better.

This is it.

Holy shit, Ernie.

and, and so, you know, that that does something to you, right?

You say, yeah, damn.

You're right.

I, I either I either do something today.

Or I stay here for the rest of my life.

It's my choice.

And so that's when I kind of like, you heard that expression, you

burned the ships behind you, right?

So I burned my ships, dude.

I, I left a full time job with all the benefits, . Right.

Um, my mom thought I was an idiot.

She's like, what are you doing?

Even the people that love you and, and mean the best for you,

they'll, they'll, they'll, they'll say don't do it, you know, in part

when you gotta do it and you do it.

Right.

And so I did it.

I, I, I quit that job.

I went into this car sales job in Charlie, guess what, man?

First day on the job, Charlie, first day on the job, , I'm driving to my first

day of the job and it's a rainy day in March and I get into a car accident

Oh, no.

So I didn't even make it to work.

And that car accident was so bad, Charlie, that, . My body flew out of the Jeep

oh, fuck.

So, wow.

into the freeway.

So I was on the highway.

Um, and, um, and I was in a coma as a result of that, um, first day on the job

and,

So, so let, let me just, let me just rewind there already.

So you've, you've, you've jacked in stable job.

You've jacked in the, the health insurance, all the benefits on, on,

on, on the thought process that, right.

Fuck this.

I, I, I can do better than this.

And your first step in doing better.

This, I've got this job as a car salesman on the day there you're in an

accident and, and, and, and fuck man.

That's.

And I'm in a coma.

Yeah.

And, and, and then the, the, the hospital calls Kathy and says, um,

leaves her a voicemail, . Right.

And, um, you know, your husband's been in a small car accident.

They didn't wanna scare her.

So come on over that day, she found out that she was

pregnant with her first child.

Oh, my word,

Yeah.

So she gets over there.

She sees me all in blood.

I'm cut up everywhere and, you know, um, that, and that, you

know, that, that was crazy.

But, you know, I came out of that coma.

She told me that we were gonna have a baby, you know?

And, the doctor's like, well, this is a miracle.

I mean, like, you came out of a coma with

long were you in the, how long were you in the coma for Ernie?

It was like about a, uh, like about a week,

Wow.

Wow.

So what's, what's, what's that experience like as someone that's

never been in a coma before, do you, do you remember anything

you don't remember anything?

I, I don't remember waking up.

I don't remember getting dressed.

I don't remember the accident.

I don't remember anything that full day was vanished outta my

That is fucked up.

Yeah.

So I came, I came to work after all that.

Right.

I had to stay at home and rest for a while.

I went to work.

I had no medical insurance.

Um, you know, I had no, no paid, no nothing, no training.

Cuz I skipped the, the training that was so I'm at work and um,

you know, I'm selling cars or I'm, or at least trying to sell cars.

Um, eventually I get this guy coming in to the, to the dealer and,

he's a, he's a car sales trainer.

Everybody's ignoring the dude.

Everybody's like this dude's smoking stuff.

He doesn't know what he's talking about, but I paid attention to this dude.

This dude trained me on how to sell cars.

He was pretty good.

Fast forward to today.

The dude is pretty well known.

His name is grand Cardone

No.

So, so, so one on one training at the, from grant card.

from grand Cardone.

Yeah.

This, this was when

shit, Ernie.

yeah.

So, so nobody knows that grand Cardone's early start was, he

was a car salesman trainer.

He used to train sales people.

Yeah,

So, so that, that was like a, uh, fir first step into whether

you call it personal development, but going fucking hell, man.

Like if, if I listen to someone and, and, and I can get some results here.

Yeah.

So, so, so talk, talk me through that, that, that light.

What, what was that Ernie was, was that just basics of selling

or was that, was there mindset stuff involved in that as well?

Or what, what did that look and what did

You know what a lot of it was being, it was awareness of, uh, being aware

of what's going on in the marketplace.

Right.

He's like, no, man, well, you guys gotta focus on is you guys gotta

focus on, on the, on, on the long game, focus on being able to generate

a lifetime of customers from one.

And so he would talk about, um, you know, giving that person the, the

best deal that you possibly could, but then you you'd treat them so well that

then they in turn refer you people.

Right.

Essentially people will come back to you.

Um, and so that worked for me.

I, I did really, really well.

I did a bunch of other things.

Um, um, I made all the other car salespeople pissed off cuz I was

bringing in a lot of business.

So see you come in, you come in off the back of being in a coma.

Listen, listen to what you're being told is the right thing to do.

And, um, fucking good shit happens.

And you're be in all the other, all the other, all the other car sales

people that have been there before.

oh yeah.

Yeah.

So the thing was about getting your name on the board, right?

All of a sudden you see Ernie's name on the board and they're

like, What is Ernie Ernie doing?

running out here, you know,

but, you know, that, that still didn't fulfill the dream man

because, um, you know, I knew there was something bigger, right?

. And so, um, I, I, I pretty much, um, I got this, this invite

to go to a real estate seminar

. I had never seen anything like that in the world.

My, my background, there, there was no entrepreneurship right.

To, to this point in my life, none.

Um, I was very much an introvert.

I was very quiet and shy, timid, scared, even, right.

And, and you see something like this and.

I'm thinking this must be a scam, you know,

so I told Kathy, I told her, um, you know, uh, we need to go to this thing.

Um, and um, we went and uh, you know, uh, very skeptical.

Um, I told you I wasn't making any money.

And so Charlie, it was a struggle for me to go to the event because it cost $99.

Wow.

I, I literally had to round up quarters signs and nickels to put in a Ziploc

bag and, and have $99 worth of, coins to be able to pay for this event.

Right.

That, that that's how.

amazing.

That's how poor I was, man.

You know,

And Kathy's still pregnant at this stage as well.

Right?

So you you've got

no, um, so time had passed, uh, baby was born, um, you know,

and so she was a school teacher.

So I, I asked her for a big thing.

I, I asked her to take a day off of work.

Right.

I asked her to take a day off work and, um, and, and, and, and to come

with me to this, to this event,

so, you know, she was nursing our baby, right.

So, you know, um, she had to exit the, the workshop every certain

amount of hours to be able to nurse.

Yeah.

You know, the baby and my mother was outside in the lobby waiting

with, with our, with our child,

So your mom's literally babysitting live while the event's going on.

Yeah.

In, in, in the lobby.

Um, and then Kathy would take the baby and run to the car and, you know,

nurse her, um, yeah, it was hard, man.

Holy shit.

So it was, it, I, it was a big ask, you know, You know but, um, so we're there,

you know, Robert, Allen's talking about all these things that are possible in

your life and you know what, man, this is the gift that Robert Allen gave me.

He, the gift that he gave me is that he real woke, you know,

what was possible for me again,

. Right.

And so that was beautiful, man.

That was awesome.

At the end of the seminar, Robert Allen says, okay, for anybody

that's ready to come with me.

Um, I'm gonna have an, have a room right down there.

If you're ready to move forward and do something with all of this,

you know, and ready to take action.

Now come with me.

Right?

Like, raise your hand if that's you dude, I'm on top of the chair standing up and,

and, and, and, and then the punchline to that, Charlie, is that he's like, okay,

you know, it's only gonna cost you $5,000.

I was like, oh, oh, right.

Cause remember I struggled to put $99 together in a Ziploc bag.

. Um, so

just, just so we are clear really that that $5,000 is,

is, is for the training, right?

So that you can get into the, the real estate business and, and,

and you can, you can get this thing going and, and possibly,

correct.

Correct.

Yeah.

So, you know, I didn't have it, but as a, as a, as a, as a gift for coming to

the workshop, you got like a book and, and a little cassette tape, um, series.

Right.

So I took that with me, Charlie, cuz that's all I could take with me and guess

what, man, I listened to those cassette tapes every single day, every day.

And now to the point that I was contaminated, I was

contaminated with, with, with.

With like what, you know, the, this what's possible thought, right?

So once you've been contaminated with what's possible, like there

is no way you're going back, right.

So fast forward, I'm at the car dealership and I'm in the cars,

you know, that I'm supposed to be selling, listen to these tapes.

Instead of selling cars.

He selling cars, where's Ernie where Ernie's out there in those

cars, listening to those tapes.

That's all he does every day.

. And, um, you know, I, I eventually joined Robert Allen's program.

so, so how, so you say eventually joined, , how did you get that money together only?

And, talk me through that story.

Okay.

man.

Charlie.

So my mom, you know, I told mom, mom, you know what, mom, I, I, um, you know,

I know I didn't graduate on stage.

Right.

I failed you there.

I'm sorry.

And, um, you know, I, I, I, I went to like maybe one year of community college

and I dropped out of that mom, I'm sorry, I didn't go to college either.

Um, and I never landed a good paying job.

sorry about that mom.

But mom, I found like I found it right.

Um, and so, um, I told her, all I need is $5,000, you know?

So my, you know, my mom, like, dude, she cussed me out in Spanish,

really, I could

oh yeah.

So you know, me, a Mexican mother, you know, my so Mexican mother, um, will

give you all the support that you want, but she'll give you a piece of her mind.

She'll tell it to you straight as it is.

And she called me every name in the book.

And at the end of the day, she's like, okay.

Yeah, son, if you're ready, then here here's the card.

fuck.

I did it.

That's amazing Ernie.

So, so, so your mum, despite what had happened at graduation, that's, that's

an amazing, um, amazing place to be.

Isn't it to have, have that have someone there that's got that much

faith and belief and willingness to back you there already.

I mean that that's, that's, that's powerful shit.

Isn't it?

It is man.

It is, it really, really is.

And, um, you know, and that, that's why wherever there's a will, there's a way,

and everybody has a different story.

Right

. Um, man, . And so I did, um, I was a sponge.

I listened to everything that, that was taught to me.

And, uh, and you know, like this, this, this is where belief comes in.

Charlie.

Like , you gotta take action.

So for me, I, I, I set a plan for myself, uh, that was an activity of

knocking at least 10 doors per day of, of homeowners that were in foreclosure.

Right.

And, and, and, and putting a solution in front of them.

So for me, um, I was young and naive and I was aggressive.

And so I said, um, I'm gonna set a goal for myself that in two weeks time, Well,

cuz that that's the next step is that you gotta give your goal a deadline.

So my goal is that I will find a house and my deadline is in two weeks.

And that's exactly what I did, Charlie.

I knocked on 10 houses a day and on the last, very last day, that Friday I

landed on a house that belonged to miss Sally, miss Sally, her house was in

foreclosure and she told me that she had everything resolved and taken care of.

Um, you know, I used the, uh, um, a phrase that, that helped me get in

the door and, and that was miss Sally.

Um, if anything were to change, let me give you my business card because

everybody needs a backup plan.

And let me be that backup plan for you.

Let me be your plan B and miss Sally says, sure, sure.

I'll take it.

So time passed after that, like a whole week after that, and then I

get a phone call from miss Sally saying, Hey Ernie, remember you

had come to my house last week.

And we said that if things change at back yeah, yeah.

That, so she's like, well, I need your help.

And so long story short, Charlie, and, I got that property and

that was my first property.

And it just goes to show, man, it goes to show how belief a plan, a

goal, and a deadline, and you acting on that plan is everything right?

And you gotta be tenacious about it, you know, no matter what, yeah.

People insulted me sometimes with, I would knock on their door

and, and, you know, told me off.

And, and, and could I have said, oh, this isn't working out.

Yeah, I could have said that, but I didn't.

Right.

I kept on going.

And so I got that house and that was my first house in Charlie.

Do you know how much money I made off of that first property?

don't tell me.

$158,000.

fuck.

So we we've gone from, we've got . We go, I need $99 in a fucking Ziploc

bag that we're piecing together with nickels dimes causes to mom.

Can, can you please put this, this 5k on, on a credit card to 158 K

Yeah.

Ernie that's , tell me that feeling like what, what did, what did that feel like?

And,

Oh yeah, man, dude, it was, it was the, the, you know, it, it was,

it was, um, oh, it wasn't easy.

It was a good at the end of it all.

When you get that check in hand and you're going like this.

Yeah.

You feel amazing.

You feel wonderful, right.

Everything's possible getting to that was a scary moment

. But doing that deal the first time was

getting that house, you know, refurbished to be able to put back on the market.

I made every mistake in the book that you can possibly think of.

talk me through what, what was the biggest mistake you did when you were doing that?

Ernie?

Dude, I, I hired, um, I, I hired some guy who, who said that

he could fix his house for me.

Um, I get to the house and, and I see all the local homeless

people inside of that property.

And I'm like, Hey dude, aren't those the homeless guys out on the streets.

He's like, oh yeah, don't worry about it.

I got them.

Like, what are you talking about, man?

So, uh, you know, this guy, this guy, uh, that I hired apparently, um, my

life surrounded by that he was an Excon

oh, no,

yeah, he was an Excon and, um, you know, um, I don't know.

Have you ever heard of a, a gang called 18th street?

no, no.

Uh, a big gang in Los Angeles.

One of the most notorious gangs.

I don't know.

It's like a, so I, I get, I get, I get there and, um, he's standing there with

no shirt and he is right there painting a wall and I see a big, a big one and

a big eight on his back, a big, a big, which, you know, so his whole back was

a one, one of the biggest gangs there.

He's like, oh yeah.

So he's from 18th street.

Uh, I let him go.

I lost my money on, on him, right.

I hired another guy and I come to check up on that other guy that I hire, and

this guy's all tipsy, totally like this.

And I'm like, dude, are you drunk?

He's like, no, no, man, I ain't drunk.

Boom.

He falls over and he passes out on, oh my goodness.

All right, dude.

I don't know how to hire anybody.

So, um, you know, I did every mistake in the book that you can think of, but

after all those mistakes, in spite of all those mistakes and everything, I

still was able to take home 150, $8,000.

that's that's phenomenally

so, but, but that feeling, that feeling that once I got that, that check

once everything was done was amazing.

And um, as a, as a celebration, I took my mom, my wife, my, my child,

um, friends, extended family members.

Um, I took them all, all paid for right plane ticket walls

and their time to Hawaii.

Oh fuck.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

So that, that, that was my, that was like my celebration.

And it it's a memory that, that I will never forget.

Um, it was a beautiful way to celebrate, you know,

So, so even though you took your mom to Hawaii at that point, did

she forgiven you for not graduating?

Did, did that did that let you off the hook?

Or she was like, Ernie, Hawaii's kind of cool, but, but sudden

you're still fucked up and you should have graduated high school.

yeah, she, she, uh, she eventually forgave me.

what, what's, what I think's amazed about that earning is I I'm a big believer

in, and let's call it like, like daily standards in terms of the, the stuff

that it's, it's a small stuff that you do consistently each and every single

day, that, that, that has the big impact.

And the fact that you said there is as part of the goal thing,

it's like, right, I'm gonna knock.

10 doors every day.

I'm gonna have 10 conversations every day.

I think that's so fucking powerful.

Isn't it?

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

Consistent action, you know, consistent action.

Uh, you still have to work on your mind.

Right?

We all get hit, right.

Life is always throwing things at us, but, You know, it, it's

easier to stay motivated when you know, things get hard, right?

Eventually you, you, you work past, you know, at least for me, you work

past your, your own personal wants towards even in bigger and greater.

Right?

So, um, a, a big, a big part of my drive is my family, right?

My wife, my kids, um, you know, freedom, but beyond that, um, is the next chapter

of my life, which is working with men, uh, what, what we call reentry, uh,

that, that are incarcerated and that are released from the prison system.

So , I go into prison and I, I get to, you know, work with men and, and

have conversations with them, right.

It all starts with having conversations with them and, and really helping

men to understand that they can break this chain of incarceration because.

Statistically a man who is incarcerated will have children who they

themselves are incarcerated and it's a chain that continues to happen.

And, um, so, you know, I'm passionate about entrepreneurship.

So I get to teach these men about entrepreneurship and about

thinking differently, right.

And behaving differently, being different kind of men being men who

are good fathers and who are, you know, really good husbands, right.

, I had a really good friend that I still think of.

, his name was Vince and so Vince was, uh, he was a brilliant guy, man.

This guy was, I don't know if you ever watched MacGyver when you were growing up.

Yeah.

I fucking love MacGyver.

Yeah.

MacGyver in the 18th.

That's that was like my childhood.

that's right,

awesome.

So, so my, yeah, so my friend Vince, he would, he would, he was my, my

real life MacGyver, just guy like man.

Um, he would create things out of anything in real time in that moment.

Um, it was insane.

He was brilliant.

The guy was a genius, so much potential.

. He was brilliant.

He was smart.

He joined the gang.

His life went downhill and he was killed all that brilliance that he had,

that MacGyvers, that he had inside of him all went away, wasted potential.

So that, that, that, that's my drive today.

That's huge Ernie and I, I, I think you, you hit the nail on

the head there isn't it earlier.

I, I, I imagine even more so, um, with the work that you are doing, is it, it's

incredible how, like you said, we, we are born with like this unlimited potential

and then all the fucking restrictions.

And imagine once you've been through the system, like the people have been

that, that you are helping right now.

I'm like, fuck man.

Um, that, that must be like rewarding.

Like nothing else.

Yeah.

Yeah, it is.

I mean, um, it really, really is, uh, I dunno if I ever told you about

my story, but I, I spent, uh, I, I was in on what we call death row.

I don't know if you guys got death row

No, we don't.

We don't have, we don't have that here, but I know, I know what it is.

Yeah, so I was, um, I was in Louisiana . Uh, one of the

most violent prisons in America.

Well, I, I got to, I got to live in it, you know, sleep in there.

It was, it was an experience, you know, to, to, to walk inside of the prison,

amongst the men, to eat with them, to be on the yard with them, to, to, to

do everything that they do and to sleep on the same cells that they do, um,

How, how do, how do they, how do they treat you Ernie as, as someone that,

that isn't necessarily facing the same situation that they're facing yet is,

is, is there with them, like how, how does that get, uh, received at their end?

It was good.

, I think they appreciated that somebody was willing to kind of

spend time with them in there.

And, um, you know, they share their stories, . And, and this is for us,

it gives us a lot of perspective, man.

The, the fact that we're free, we've got the freedom of choice to do

whatever we want, whatever we want.

It's unfortunate because we waste it so much.

Right.

When you're incarcerated, when, when you've been sentenced to life in

prison, you don't have that anymore.

Right?

It's still a choice.

They chose to thrive while they were in the system.

Some of the guys became attorneys.

Right.

They, they graduated from law in inside of prison cuz you can, you

can still study and, and, and do so many different things in there.

Some of these guys became master carpenters where they were building

amazing, um, amazing things out of wood.

Um, you know, other guys, I mean, I became musicians, uh, I, you

name it like so much talent.

You can still but do so much, but you just have to do it within the,

with, with, within, within the walls of, of the, of the facility.

You can't be out there doing the things that,

yeah.

Yeah.

you know, but it was amazing for me to see like, wow man, like, so, uh, some

of these guys were like a combination of lawyers, musicians, artists, um,

carpenters, all in one, like, right.

Like, and here we are out in the world, we're trying to get it

together with just one thing.

And people come up with 1,001 excuses, why they can't be carpenters, why they can't

be lawyers, why they can't be musicians.

. And we, we talk ourselves out of doing the shit that really deep down

is, is possible and, and doable.

Um, and I, I, we, we didn't touch on this when we were talking because I

know from conversation that we've had in the past that you sold that house for

150, $8,000, and you went back and told that story and thi this made you like a

fucking national celebrity, didn't it?

, I was grateful and I was excited.

I'm like, Hey guys, I, I got, I got my first deal.

Right.

And they're like, oh, okay, great, great.

So how much you make 150, $8,000?

They're like what I said, would you be willing to give us, uh, you know, just

kind of like, let us film you and do like a little interview and stuff like that.

I said, sure, no problem.

They took that story and they ran that on, on, uh, back back then all the

advertising, this was pre-internet right.

Was on a full page, newspaper ad, you know?

So I was on the front page of these newspapers across the country.

Right.

America and Canada.

Right.

And so they were running all these things about Ernie Vargas.

They were running workshops, live workshops about this

guy named Ernie Vargas.

I had

no

idea just blew me away and it was insane.

So, I mean, dude, I, I get, um, I got a fireman that came over to my house and he

said, he's like, you know, he knocks on my door and he says, I'm so sorry to intrude.

But as a fireman, I've got special privileges that the

rest of the world doesn't have.

So I can you up and find out where you live.

And I, I took the Liberty of coming because all I wanted to

do was just shake your hand.

And for me, I'm looking at that like what, like, dude, I, I was at, I

was at a store once and this woman taps me on the back and she says,

excuse me, are you Ernie Vargas?

And I says, yes.

She said, oh my goodness.

I've been praying.

Literally I kid you not.

I've been praying to meet you.

You know, and, and that, that, that was happening like crazy.

That's amazing.

I, I love, I, I love how, how, how you were made the celebrity there

it's fucking, super cool.

. And, . We've been talking today.

It's, it's, it's amazing.

How many times you've, you've mentioned two people, first thing

is your mom and, and the second person is, is your other half Kathy.

And I love Cathy.

She's fucking amazing.

And how, how much, how much impact in, in terms of Cathy?

And you you've got four, four kids now, right?

And they, they travel with you and Cathy everywhere.

You, you homeschool them.

And I, I I'm interested.

That, that relationship that you have with Kathy and, and how that works.

Yeah.

I mean, yeah, Kathy's always, um, you know, we, we actually met each

other at a, at a, yeah, probably a pretty young age in high school.

You were all, we were together through high school.

Um, so we've, we've had our, she she's been there all, you know,

good, good and bad in my life.

And can't say it's always been easy.

Right.

Um, but, um, yeah, the relationship has been good.

. Four kids is, is definitely a, a bigger number in today's day and age.

Uh, that was important for us.

Um, you know, we, we decided to homeschool, actually.

It was kind of interesting how that kind of came about because

it wasn't really, um, something that I was familiar with at all.

But , she had mentioned it and remember she was a school teacher.

She was an elementary school teacher, um, and loved being a

teacher and working with children.

Uh, but she, uh, saw how the school system was, was flawed in, in, in, it

would, I would say limit kids' growth and everybody has different ways of learning

. Um, she had mentioned it to me and I

that how I thought, I thought that it would not be a good idea because I, I

thought that in my opinion, you know, look, I, I went through the public

school system that, that, that made me in my mind, um, a better person, because

it allowed me to deal with the world.

Um, and you know, um, you can't shelter a child, you can't kind of keep that

child in above and protect them.

Don't really hurt a child by doing that.

Right.

A child's gotta be able to fall down and know how to get themselves back up.

Right.

That, that, that was my, all of my thinking.

Um, and what about the socialization aspect?

Right.

We only have so many years of influence over our children.

I forgot what that exact number is, but it's like, I think it's, so we, we think

that we have a kid up until the age of 18.

We don't, we only have them for like, what is it like seven

years or something like that.

It's a very, you know, after a certain age, they are looking outside of us.

Right.

And they're influenced by other people by the world, by their

peers, more than they are by us.

Um, well at, at the time my, my daughter, my oldest daughter was in,

um, like she was in, in school, like, like at like the very first year.

And um, you know, a already I started to see things that I didn't agree with.

. She, she already knew how to read a lot more than the average child.

She, her, she had been given a lot.

We had poured a lot more into her.

Right.

She got, she got punished at school because she was told to write her name.

Okay.

But she wrote her name in colors

right.

and she did not write at all in one color, but in different colors.

So she was being creative.

Right?

And in school, in a traditional setting, you are not taught to be creative, right?

You are taught to be conventional.

You are taught to stay within the lines.

She went outside of lines.

So you have to stay within the lines in, in a conventional world.

You've gotta stay within the lines.

You gotta think within the lines.

So, so, so you, you, you see your, uh, your daughter there already, she,

she, she's got this creative writing.

And, and was that the moment where you're like, right.

This Kathy's right.

She she's right.

We're doing this homeschooling shit.

We, we, we we're, we're allowing you to have bigger pictures.

And, um, was, was that the catalyst decision

Pretty much.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We, we pulled her out and, um,

I'm not saying that it's easy, right.

Because as a parent, I mean that, that, there's a lot of

responsibility on you, right.

As well.

Um, but, and, and I'm not saying school is bad altogether either, but.

You gotta be very mindful of, of what your kids are doing in school and who they're

around, what they're listening to, what what's coming into them and spend time

with them to make sure that they can grow in the areas that they, that they develop

need more development in and growth.

That's amazing Ernie.

And it's, it's amazing that you and Kathy managed to do that together on

top of running the business together.

You've got so many shared experiences, like good times, bad times.

How do you balance that?

So the, right decisions are made from a business standpoint, from a family

standpoint, with all, all that fucking history and all that sort of stuff.

Yeah.

I don't know.

I, I guess, um, um, I think we've both grown and matured as we've gotten older.

Yeah.

sure.

Yeah.

When we were younger arguments, right.

More pride, I think pride is a big one.

Man.

Pride is pride is really get in the way of, of, of, of living, you know,

um, sometimes we wanna be right or we're defending our position

right.

In, in that relationship with your spouse, um, you know, do you,

what's that saying, do you rather be right or do you rather be happy?

Yeah.

Right.

And, and, um, I think too many people are focused on trying to always be right.

Nah, man, let go of that.

Let go of that.

What really matters?

And you know what?

Life is very, very short man.

Holy fuck they haven't gentlemen.

An absolute lesson.

And how to overcome adversity.

I mean, fuck anyone that can go ahead and scrape $99 together, nickels and dimes.

And then go turn that into 158 GS.

In my mind and with everything that's going on right now.

Couldn't be a bigger mantra for money.

Anyway that's it from me i've been charlie hot and you've been

listening to Ernie vargas and we'll catch you guys on the next episode