The Journey

Ricardo Vargas

5.0 (1)
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
UPDATED WEEKLY

In this podcast, I will record my journey to becoming successful in the business world, starting from literally day 0 until I make it. You will listen to raw experiences, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I wish the great minds of our times did this as they were coming up, so I hope to do that here. Thank you for investing your time and I hope you enjoy!

APR 19

Success Looks Different Than You Think - Marcus Roberts

I had a powerful conversation with Marcus Roberts, owner of two Augusta locations, about his transformation from a lazy teenager in Montana to building a million-dollar lawn care business. We dove deep into topics most business podcasts avoid — from morning meditation and faith to the mental toll of management and finding your true purpose. Marcus got real about the osmosis effect of surrounding yourself with the right people and content. We talked about the difference between physical and mental exhaustion, why firing employees is one of the hardest parts of leadership, and how meditation isn't some mystical practice — it's just sitting with yourself. The conversation took an unexpected turn into religion and spirituality, where all three of us shared our complicated relationships with faith. Marcus told the Mexican fisherman story that completely reframes what success means. Sometimes we're already living the life we want, we just don't realize it. This isn't your typical business interview. It's raw, reflective, and gets into the real cost of entrepreneurship — both what you gain and what you might lose along the way. What's your Mexican fisherman moment? Drop a comment below. 0:00 Intro 1:53 Marcus Roberts: From Lazy Teenager to Two-Location Owner 4:37 How to Move Up: What Managers Actually Look For 9:00 Building Future GMs: Marcus's Operational Manager Playbook 20:00 The P4P Model & Paying Employees for Performance 28:06 Faith, God & Building Your Own Relationship With Religion 49:08 What's Actually Wrong With Church Culture 1:00:00 Grieving With Purpose: A Different Way to See Loss 1:15:30 Going Deep: Reflection, Silence & Self-Awareness 1:19:51 The Rare Thing About Building Something of Your Own 1:23:35 Burning the Plan B: Going All In on Yourself 1:36:00 The Fisherman & Jeffrey: A Story About What You Actually Want ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📩 JOIN THE NEWSLETTERES Every week — strategy, lessons, what I'm building.→ ricoxjourney.com/subscribe ────────────────────────────────── FIND ME EVERYWHERE📺 YouTube → youtube.com/@thericardovargas 📸 Instagram → instagram.com/ricardovargas174 🎵 TikTok → tiktok.com/@r.vargas174🐦 Twitter/X → twitter.com/ricardov174 🧵 Threads → threads.net/@ricardovargas174 🎙️ Podcast → The Journey on Apple Podcasts ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

1h 44m
APR 13

Behind the Scenes: Cuts, Growth & the Bottom Line

We tried to start this episode six times. That tells you everything about where we're at right now — Marco, Bryson, Andrew and I sitting down to reflect on a year that taught us more than we bargained for. Marco learned the hard way about being kind versus nice to employees. Bryson had to fire someone who kept stirring up drama in group chats. I bought a second location I wasn't planning to buy until 2027. We're all trying to figure out how to build general managers while dealing with the reality that managing people who manage people is a whole different beast. The conversation gets real about choosing profit over growth, why Andrew's taking GM training even though plans changed, and that moment when you realize making money isn't enough if you don't know why you're making it. We end with the Mexican fisherman story — fitting for a year that made us all question what we're really building towards. What's your version of the fisherman's life? 00:00 Intro 00:46 Multiple Takes and Bloopers 03:41 Marco's Year Review 06:21 Being Kind vs Nice to Employees 10:06 Firing That One Guy 17:00 Dump Trailer Strategy 26:20 Content Creation Journey 30:10 Ricardo's Second Location Story 38:40 Revenue and Service Breakdown 42:15 General Manager Challenges 47:50 Profit Mode vs Growth Mode 54:00 The Mexican Fisherman Tale ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📩 JOIN THE NEWSLETTER Every week — strategy, lessons, what I'm building. → ricoxjourney.com/subscribe ───────────────────────────── FIND ME EVERYWHERE 📺 YouTube → youtube.com/@thericardovargas 📸 Instagram → instagram.com/ricardovargas174 🎵 TikTok → tiktok.com/@r.vargas174 🐦 Twitter/X → twitter.com/ricardov174 🧵 Threads → threads.net/@ricardovargas174 🎙️ Podcast → The Journey on Apple Podcasts ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

1h 2m
MAR 28

Trauma as Catalyst, Not Anchor - Morgan Latimore

Morgan Latimore grew up in East St. Louis. He served in Afghanistan. He came back not with PTSD — but with a decision to let trauma be a catalyst. This conversation covers the full picture: where Morgan came from, what the Marine Corps actually taught him about discipline, why most people buckle under pressure, and what he means when he says we're all "human doings" instead of human beings. There's a line in here about looking inward first — before fixing your business, your team, or your relationships — that's worth sitting with. Morgan coaches endurance athletes and life clients, but what he actually does is something simpler: he asks why. Not once. Repeatedly. Until the person sitting across from him hears something they've never been asked before. If you're building something — a business, a team, a better version of yourself — and you keep spinning your wheels, this is probably the episode to start with. The answers aren't outside you. They never were. Follow Morgan on Instagram and connect with him through Augusta. 🎙️ The Journey Podcast is built for builders, creators, and people in motion. Subscribe for new episodes every week. 00:00 Intro 01:57 Meet Morgan Latimore: the people's coach 04:11 Why you keep looking in the wrong place for answers 05:33 What separates high-capacity people from the rest 07:05 The emotional pain most coaches never address 09:13 Using trauma as fuel, not an anchor 14:36 What the Marine Corps actually teaches you 17:29 The real definition of discipline 20:38 How to diagnose your own lack of discipline 22:15 The coaching courtship: curious not judgmental 25:53 Owner mindset vs. employee mindset 34:04 Human doing vs. human being 39:07 The one word that unlocks everything 43:12 Turning "why" into a daily practice ───────────────────────────── FIND ME EVERYWHERE 📺 YouTube → youtube.com/@thericardovargas 📸 Instagram → instagram.com/ricardovargas174 🎵 TikTok → tiktok.com/@r.vargas174 🐦 Twitter/X → twitter.com/ricardov174 🧵 Threads → threads.net/@ricardovargas174 🎙️ Podcast → The Journey on Apple Podcasts ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

45 min
JAN 24

Change Your Circle or Stay the Same - Mark Siles

Six figures in six months… sounds clean on paper. This episode isn’t the highlight reel — it’s the real timeline: the wins, the mistakes, the pressure, and the discipline it took to keep going. Mark breaks down how he started flipping products on Amazon, what changed when he began treating it like a real business, and the parts nobody warns you about: account risk, IP complaints, margins, and learning (the hard way) to track your numbers. We also get into the deeper stuff — identity, faith, insecurity, the people around you, and what “making it” is actually supposed to feel like. If you’re building from zero, subscribe and follow the journey. More long-form conversations and real breakdowns like this are coming. 00:00:00 Intro 00:02:08 The Jump: Flipping On Amazon + Big Goals Early 00:05:29 Discipline > Motivation: Staying Consistent On Bad Weeks 00:10:28 Origin Story: Early Hustles, Dropshipping, Learning To Sell 00:15:38 The Amazon Playbook: Sourcing, SellerAmp, Product Research 00:20:35 Scaling Up: Wholesale, Approvals, And The Long Game 00:32:46 Risk & Reality: IP Complaints, Deactivations, Money Locked Up 00:40:21 The Numbers Lesson: High Sales… Negative Profit 00:46:05 Work Ethic & Resilience: Toyota Days, Gym Discipline, Staying In The Fight 01:09:29 Environment & Identity: Your Circle, Family Pressure, Degree Debate 01:30:55 Outro ───────────────────────────── FIND ME EVERYWHERE 📺 YouTube → youtube.com/@thericardovargas 📸 Instagram → instagram.com/ricardovargas174 🎵 TikTok → tiktok.com/@r.vargas174 🐦 Twitter/X → twitter.com/ricardov174 🧵 Threads → threads.net/@ricardovargas174 🎙️ Podcast → The Journey on Apple Podcasts ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

1h 31m
JAN 17

The Secret Beauty of Hard Lessons

Every season of your life leaves a mark. Some lift you higher than you ever imagined — and others break you down until all that’s left is the truth. This is a chapter about understanding the rhythm of life. The highs don’t last. The lows don’t last. But the person you become in the middle of all of it… that’s permanent. We grow the most in the quiet moments — the boring victories no one sees, the days we show up even when we don’t feel like it, the nights we try again despite not believing in ourselves. And when you look back, you realize the struggle wasn’t punishment. It was the preparation. If you’re in a season that feels heavy, slow, confusing, or unfair… just remember: the season always turns. It always has. It always will. And when it does, you’ll look back and see that this was the moment that shaped you. 00:00 Nothing Lasts Forever 04:52 The Quiet Victories 09:10 The Emotional Weight of Growth 13:36 The Beauty of Looking Back ───────────────────────────── FIND ME EVERYWHERE 📺 YouTube → youtube.com/@thericardovargas 📸 Instagram → instagram.com/ricardovargas174 🎵 TikTok → tiktok.com/@r.vargas174 🐦 Twitter/X → twitter.com/ricardov174 🧵 Threads → threads.net/@ricardovargas174 🎙️ Podcast → The Journey on Apple Podcasts ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

18 min
JAN 10

Your Standards at Home Show Up at Work - Caleb Storts

Most people talk about winning. This conversation is about the cost of trying to win too fast — and what it takes to build a life that can actually hold the weight of the business. In this episode of The Journey, Ricardo sits down with Caleb for a raw, practical talk that moves from the realities of scaling a lawn care/home service business (systems, hiring, leadership, money) into the parts nobody wants to admit out loud: relationship standards, emotional discipline, and the seasons where you feel “locked in”… but you’re actually breaking your foundation. If you’re a builder, creator, entrepreneur — or a man trying to grow without losing yourself — this one is a watch-to-the-end episode. Subscribe for more long-form conversations like this, and keep following The Journey. 00:00:00 Intro 00:01:53 Meeting Caleb 00:09:59 The Locked In Trap 00:29:53 You Can't Skip The Foundation 00:36:02 The Laundry Basket Test 00:45:54 Stop Tolerating Low Standards 00:56:09 The Weekly Test 01:01:56 Write It Down 01:11:53 The 3-Part Relationship Filter 01:17:57 Your standards At Home Show Up At Work 01:23:53 Separating Your Life From Business 01:31:58 Every Business Becomes A People Management Company 01:39:57 Flashy Goals Vs Real Authority 01:47:55 Documenting The Grind ───────────────────────────── FIND ME EVERYWHERE 📺 YouTube → youtube.com/@thericardovargas 📸 Instagram → instagram.com/ricardovargas174 🎵 TikTok → tiktok.com/@r.vargas174 🐦 Twitter/X → twitter.com/ricardov174 🧵 Threads → threads.net/@ricardovargas174 🎙️ Podcast → The Journey on Apple Podcasts ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

1h 56m
JAN 3

Competitors Aren’t the Enemy - Parker Hodge

Most people think the hard part is getting clients. The harder part is keeping trust—especially when you leave town, the phone won’t stop ringing, and your business starts exposing every crack in your life. In this episode, Parker Charles Hodge and I talk through what it actually looks like to build a lawn care/landscaping business in real life: the seasons that blindside you, the marketing mistakes you only make once, and the moment you realize growth doesn’t just require more work—it requires better leadership. We get into door hanger marketing, “Mulch Madness,” hiring and training crews, the difference between training vs micromanaging, and what burnout feels like when you push past your personal capacity. Then we take it where most business conversations don’t: marriage, compromise, communication, and what it costs when entrepreneurship starts taking your weekends. If you’re building a service business, chasing excellence, or trying to become the kind of man who can carry more without losing himself—this one is for you. Watch to the end for the leadership and “long game” lesson that reframes what dedication really looks like. Subscribe if you’re following the journey, and check the channel for more long-form conversations on business, discipline, and growth. 00:00 Intro 01:22 The Episode That Almost Didn’t Happen 03:38 Competitors As Allies 10:43 Mulch Madness 14:05 Door hangers & $20K Months 16:21 Training Is Culture 23:35 Business Reflects You 30:05 Compromise & Boundaries 39:43 Leading From the Front ───────────────────────────── FIND ME EVERYWHERE 📺 YouTube → youtube.com/@thericardovargas 📸 Instagram → instagram.com/ricardovargas174 🎵 TikTok → tiktok.com/@r.vargas174 🐦 Twitter/X → twitter.com/ricardov174 🧵 Threads → threads.net/@ricardovargas174 🎙️ Podcast → The Journey on Apple Podcasts ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

46 min
12/27/2025

The Long Road to Being Undeniable - Bristol Banchek

This episode is a deep conversation with Bristol about mastery, discipline, and what it really takes to build a career — and a life — you’re proud of. From falling in love with the craft, to hitting ceilings, to teaching others how to level up, this isn’t a highlight-reel conversation. It’s about the slow, earned process of becoming undeniable. We talk about: • Mastery before money • Discipline over motivation • Teaching others without ego • Loneliness at higher levels • Confidence built through repetition • Identity, self-trust, and responsibility If you’re a barber, creator, entrepreneur, or anyone trying to turn skill into something lasting — this episode will hit close to home. Nothing here is rushed. Nothing here is fake. Everything here is earned. Links: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thericardovargas Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ricardovargas174 Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@r.vargas174?_t=8lJxUUN4SD5&_r=1 Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ricardov174 Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ricardovargas174 Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-journey-from-zero-to-a-million-and-beyond/id1734802848

1h 40m

In this podcast, I will record my journey to becoming successful in the business world, starting from literally day 0 until I make it. You will listen to raw experiences, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I wish the great minds of our times did this as they were coming up, so I hope to do that here. Thank you for investing your time and I hope you enjoy!

Creator

Ricardo Vargas
Years Active

2024 - 2026
Episodes

62
Rating

Explicit
Copyright

© Copyright 2026 Ricardo Vargas
Show Website

The Journey