From Engineer To Crypto Millionaire

In this episode of Entrepreneurial Empire, Jacqueline sits down with Ricky Cucalon for a grounded, no-nonsense conversation about wealth, markets, and the psychology behind financial decisions.

Ricky breaks down one of the most misunderstood moments in modern investing, the 2017 Bitcoin surge and why so many people lost money not because of the asset, but because of emotion-driven decisions. From FOMO buying to panic selling, this episode exposes the real reason most investors fail: lack of patience, discipline, and strategy.

This conversation goes beyond crypto.
 It’s about how markets move, why cycles matter, and what separates long-term builders from short-term gamblers.

If you’ve ever wondered:

• Why smart people still lose money
• How emotional decision-making quietly destroys wealth
• What patience actually looks like in real investing
• Why timing and discipline outperform hype every time

This episode will recalibrate how you think about risk, opportunity, and long-game wealth.

🎙 Hosted by Jacqueline Hernandez
📈 For builders, leaders, and investors who play the long game

Subscribe, follow, and share this episode with someone who needs to stop chasing hype and start building with intention.

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Transcript

Welcome And Guest Intro

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Entrepreneurial Empire Podcast. This is the place where you can find business and career strategies, techniques, and real life success journeys of individuals who have built their businesses to the million-dollar revenue mark and beyond. I'm Jaclyn Hernandez, life coach and business development consultant. I have worked with startups, Fortune 100 companies, network marketing, direct sell organizations, churches, nonprofits, and government agencies all to become the authority experts in their industry. Lead with people and scale their revenue. Let's get it started. Hello, hello, everybody, and welcome back to Entrepreneurial Empire. Today we have an amazing guest. His name is Ricky Kukilon, and he is a phenomenal entrepreneur in all facets of life. Um, has amazing energy and is just traveling all over um North America and South America. So today we're gonna hear about his journey as a successful entrepreneur. He's gonna tell you how young he is and everything that he's been able to accomplish. So, Ricky, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Hey, what's going on? Jacqueline, thanks for having me. I'm excited. And then I've been watching you too. You know, I've been watching your growth. I'm really, you know, happy for all the things that you're doing. And when you asked me to be in your show, I was like, man, it's a no-brainer. I gotta be there.

Early Life And Drive To Succeed

SPEAKER_01 1:28

Awesome. Well, I'm glad that you feel that way about everything. So, Ricky, let's dive right in. I want to hear about your journey. I want our audience to hear about your journey. You and I have we go back a few years. Um, I've gotten to see the landscape of your diversifying of you know, revenue streams and streams of income, right? And you're just wildly successful. Now, your entrepreneur journey started off. You went to school, you became an engineer, and you thought that that was the path that you were gonna go on. But then guess what? Life had a different turn, and your ambition took you on a different path. So let's hear about that.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

Most definitely. I'll say my journey started when I was a little kid, when I was like nine, 10. Uh, and it started because, you know, like when I was a little kid, uh, I remember seeing my dad basically, you know, like going to work and then coming back to the house. And then every time I had to go to school, like we'll walk to school. So I saw my friends, you know, they their dads drove a car, and my dad didn't have a car. So when I was a little kid, like I always asked, I was like, how come my dad doesn't have a car? How come the other kids' dad they do drive? And how come you know we don't have it? And I remember I asked my dad, I was like, hey, how come you don't have a car? And then my dad told me, yeah, I used to have a car, but I sold it to pay for your school. So when I heard that in my head, I was like, man, you know what? Like when I grow up, I gotta become really successful because I want to change these things, you know. I want to be somebody who who, you know, like is able to provide for my family, but at the same time, I want to provide for my parents as well. So when I was a little kid, I was like, when I become you know older, I'm gonna become so successful that I'm gonna have a bunch of cars. And my main car is gonna be a Ferrari. That's when I was a little kid, I made the decision that I was gonna have a Ferrari in my head. I always imagined having a Ferrari. Um sad story. I grew up, you know, and you know, the sad story is that I didn't then I didn't end up getting a Ferrari, I end up getting a yellow McLaren, which is the reason why I did that was because you know, like I grew up and then I learned more about cars, and I was like, you know what, like a Ferrari is is you know, it's okay, but I want to get something more classier, something more exotic, which is a McLaren. And I and I remember you you saw part of the the growth. You you met me before I got it, and then you saw when I got it. But at the same time, uh, I'm not saying this because you know, it's not about the the material things, but it's about the access. You know, I did it because I wanted to have that access that I didn't have when I was a little kid. Because, you know, I grew up in a family where money was a big issue. So in my head, I was like, you know, I gotta become really successful where I gotta have access, I gotta be able to provide, and I gotta be somebody who, you know, changed that pattern. Um, what I can tell you that's when I made the decision. Then and the reason why I went to school and I did civil engineering was because you know, I asked my parents, how do I become successful? And they told me, son, you gotta go to school. Either you gotta become a doctor, a lawyer, or you know, an engineer. And when they say doctor, I'm like, man, every time I see blood, I kind of want to faint, you know, like it's not my thing. So, lawyer, I don't like arguing with people and then engineer. Well, I'm good with math, I'm good with numbers. So that's why I decided to become an engineer. I went to school, I went to Esther State, graduated, and I remember the day, you know, I graduated, I felt like wow, I made it. A week after I realized that a degree doesn't make you successful. Matter of fact, it doesn't even get you or secure your job to the point where I was like, you know, jobless for six months looking for a job, different places for me to get hired. And what I can tell you is that, you know, that's how my journey started. And that's why, you know, I made the decision to do different things. You know, I did the right thing I felt when I was a kid growing up. I listened to my parents, but at the same time, there's a huge thing that I learned, you know, by meeting and by being mentored by people who have what I don't have yet, you know, by people who have the results that I want to have someday, is you gotta listen to those who got what you want to have, you know, because if you start listening to those what what you know, if they have what you want to have, eventually that's gonna be you. And uh and I remember, you know, going back to when I asked my parents how to become successful, my parents weren't even successful. You know, they were just repeating what they heard somebody say, you know. But hey, I'm not trying to bash the educational system. I feel like if you're you know somebody who wants to go to school, if you want to go that route, if you have a passion, say for medicine or anything that you're learning, which is great, uh, props to you, you know, like do your thing. Uh, but then there's a big confusion though between becoming uh successful and getting a degree. You know, a degree doesn't guarantee you success when it comes, you know, if we're talking about money, maybe success or when you graduating and being, you know, what you want to be in life, but uh, but that was my issue, you know. But at the end of the day, I'm happy that I did what I did. I learned a lot of things, uh, met a lot of people, and I wouldn't change uh a thing, Jacqueline.

From Engineering Degree To Jobless Reality

SPEAKER_01 6:52

I love this. Well, okay, so we had this conversation back then. Um, and I I love the story about the car. You you got well versed in what cars are really performance-wise, and you decided on the right choice, right? Okay, so now moving forward, you took the entrepreneur leap, and then you actually started dabbling into um crypto, cryptocurrency, and cryptocurrency, you found your niche, right? You really locked in, you paid attention, you became a student. Most importantly, you became a student, and by becoming a student, that actually took you into becoming a millionaire. So, how old were you when you became a millionaire?

First Bitcoin Exposure And Curiosity

SPEAKER_02 7:34

I was in my early 20s. What I can tell you is that it all makes sense because basically I was graduated from college and basically I was looking for a job. I was, I got a job, I got an internship where I was working, I was barely getting paid. And what I can tell you that I started to look for different ways for me to make money, but it took me back to the days where I was working at the Apple store back in Palo Alto. You know, if you're you're in the Bay Area, there's an Apple store in University app. I used to work out there. And back in 2013, that's when I first heard about Bitcoin. When I was selling, I think it was the iPhone, I don't know, man, the iPhone 4S or 5. I don't remember. Uh, don't quote me in that. But uh, I remember you know, a couple of Indian guys walk into the store and uh and they got like five five phones, right? And then one of them joked, he was like, Hey, uh, can I pay with Bitcoin? Um I didn't know what Bitcoin was, and I kind of asked him, What is Bitcoin, sir? And then he tried to explain it to me. And in my head, I couldn't understand, you know, blockchain, all those terms. I was like, Man, you know, in my head, I was like, Man, maybe that's money for smart people. You know, look what I was saying back then. That's money for smart people. I was calling myself dumb. And what I can tell you, the only thing that I got from that conversation was that one Bitcoin was like almost$100, something like that, right? So in my head, I was like, okay, whatever, you know, I let it go. And then uh back in 2016, you know, three years later, when I was basically looking for opportunities, I remember about Bitcoin and I was like, man, let's see how much it is, right? And when I looked, it wasn't uh when they first told me it was like either$30 or$100, something like that, right? But when I went back and checked in 2016, it was like at$600, something like that. So in my head, I was like, yo, it went from like$30 to$600 in three years. Man, I wish I would have invested, right? So at that point, I was in a situation where honestly I was really struggling, even though I had a degree, even though I was working at an internship, I wasn't making much, and I had my own car, I had a Honda that I buy with my own money. Um I didn't have the the means or the funds to invest because you know if you want to invest, you gotta have some money, right? I didn't have any money laying around for me to invest. But there's two types of people, Jacqueline. There's the people who say, yo, because I don't have money, that's why I'm not gonna invest. And they buy the excuse and they take the easy way out. And there's other people who say, yo, because I don't have money, that's why I gotta make it happen. I gotta see how I make it happen. You know what I mean? And I'm the second type of person. Uh I ended up selling my car, I sold my Honda. Um, I know I did I did it. Uh, it's crazy because you know, when I did it, um, I didn't know what I was doing, but in my head, I was like, man, I gotta, I gotta do it because if I don't do it, it already I already missed it on the first opportunity that I had. I'm not gonna miss them the second time. And then I ended up selling my Honda for$20,000. I was able to buy 18 bitcoins for the price of$800 each. Uh, at that point, at that time, um, Coinbase was one of the main platforms. Uh now it's called Coinbase Pro, but they used to have a different thing called GDEX, where you know you can buy like if you were buying over five bitcoins, you can do it through the website for less fees. And that's how I did it. So about 18 bitcoins at the price of$800 each. And I remember when I first did it, I what I was excited, was happy, right? And then I went, I told my dad, I was like, Dad, you know, about Bitcoin. My dad, he he was like, Man, what kind of car is that? Because he thought Bitcoin was a car. And I was like, No, dad, it's not a car, it's cryptocurrency. Uh, he showed me, show me where is it? Because$20,000 back then it was a lot of money. And uh, I told him it's you know, my it's on my wallet, it's on the in the blockchain. He was like, son, you guys can. Uh, and you know, I I felt like at that point, I was like, man, my my my parents don't get it. But at the same time, I was like, you know what? They already told me to go to school, uh, become successful that way, it didn't work out. Now, this time I'm gonna listen to those people who got what I really want. Uh, and that's what I did. I dug it up, that's the word, because you know, after a body went down a little bit, um, everything changed in 2017. I remember it was the month of December because December is my birthday. So you already know, Jacqueline. I'm gonna send you my invitation for my next uh birthday party. You gotta be there with me celebrating big big uh the big 21 year. No, I'm just kidding. No, but uh what I can tell you, what I can tell you is that you know, back uh in December, and it's vividly because you know it takes me back to to the emotions, you know. I mean, it's like it's like remembering is like you're living again. So that's how I feel right now. But uh yeah, it took me back to to the feeling that I had when I signed my wallet. Bitcoin had gone from$800 to$20,000 per coin. So in my crypto wallet had less than$20,000 to yeah, almost half a million dollars. Uh, and in my head, I was like, Man, you know what? Uh this is the way to go. That's when I decided to quit my job. Matter of fact, let me rephrase that. Well, I don't I don't ever quit. I say I fire my boss because we don't fired your boss. There you go. I fire my boss. There you go, you're fired. Uh and yeah, you know, that's when I decided to to dive in full time to do this thing. And what I can tell you is being up and down, it's been up and down, but at the same time, you know, every time I I feel like I learn more whenever it's downtime, because you know, you become more experienced, you learn more when you when in the downtimes, and at the same time, it humbles you. You get humble a lot because you know, when you're winning all the time, it's like you stop losing humility, and then I don't know if you believe if you guys believe in God and energy, whatever you believe on. I believe in God. What I can tell you feel like like God humbles you so he can give you more, you know. But at the same time, he reminds you that you're human. Uh, and at the same time, you always gotta be thankful and grateful for whatever you have in your life. So that's how I got into cryptocurrency.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

God will humble you. I I've been humbled before, that's for sure. And I definitely had to start all over again. But I think it's you know, to the point that you're making here is you can create anything, you can create anything, but you got to believe, but also having the right people around and getting that right information. It's crazy that you'd say that because um just the other day I was having a conversation with somebody and I was talking about how the Silicon Valley, when you think about the growth of the Silicon Valley and the people that are there, um, even like places like New York, um, other, you know, other places that have had their big rises, right? And the one thing about Silicon Valley is there's a concentration of intelligence, you know, and so you're you're getting the smartest people all around the world that are coming in and they're exchanging information. And so just being around that, I mean, you are literally in what an Apple store? Come on, you're in an Apple store and you over you know, you're exposed to this conversation about Bitcoin.

SPEAKER_02 14:59

Palo Alto, Palo Alto.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

It's Palo Alto, right? It's Palo Alto.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

True, true, that's true.

Selling The Car To Buy Bitcoin

SPEAKER_01 15:04

So it's a it really is about where you're at. Timing is everything, but I really feel like the landscape, the environment that you're in, and luckily for you, you're in an environment where you had, you know, again, smartest people all around the world that were in a concentrated area, and you're hearing you're hearing these uh conversations, you're exposed to this information. And not only are you exposed to it, but here's where that reality shifted for you is you you took the opportunity to say, hey, maybe these guys are some, there's something to what this guy said in that store X amount of years ago, but also you something inside of you, that innate ability inside of you to be curious. I feel like entrepreneurs are definitely curious because that curiosity allowed you to go back years later and say, I wonder what that Bitcoin is at right now. And then you're like, holy moly, and you were able to discover and say, okay, these guys were definitely onto something. I'm gonna invest. And that belief shifted your your trajectory forever, like forever, you know? So I want to talk a little bit about like biggest misconceptions, right? Uh, we're living in an era and a time in history where the most millionaires are being like popped out, like you know, like popcorn, right? And the the millionaires are getting younger and younger. I mean, you were how old did you say you were?

SPEAKER_02 16:28

I was in my early 20s.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

In your early 20s, early 20s, popping out millionaires. And the one thing that I have to say about your work and just knowing you, knowing your servitude heart, um, you are not only creating wealth for yourself, because I remember we sat at the Capitol Club back in San Antonio, uh San Jose, California. And we were we were at the Capitol Club having lunch, and you pop up to the laptop and you were like, Jacqueline, you want to see what I'm doing? You want to see what I'm working on? And I said, Yeah, let's take a look. You had no problem showing you had multiple accounts, and in one of your accounts, oh, actually multiple accounts, you had like half a million here, you know, 700,000 there, and and these were all in cryptocurrency accounts. So, you know, you're not just talking the talk, you're walking the walk, you're doing the investments, you're taking care of your education, really looking at like pivotal opportunities within the space of cryptocurrency and staying ahead of the game, right? But with that information, you've also been able to mentor it's thousands, right? Thousands of people. So you travel all over South America, Peru. I know Peru's a big one for you. Um, Peru, North America, and you hold these humongous conferences where thousands and thousands of people are coming together and you're really you're really copying that model of that concentrated intelligence and you're bringing the best of the best. Um, there's keynote speakers, but everybody's talking about their experience, but you are leading and mentoring thousands of individuals and creating young millionaires as you're going along. So let me ask you this what's the biggest misconception that people have about, you know, about cryptocurrency or about the work that you do?

2017 Runup And Quitting The Job

SPEAKER_02 18:19

Most definitely, you know, at the at the same time, I want to thank you for all those words. You know, like really uh it's amazing to hear those words from you because you know you're a big influence on me as well, Jacqueline. You know, I look up to you as well. I see you're a woman, your mom, you're somebody who are in the field, you're always doing things, and I'm watching and I'm like, wow, you know, I get inspired just by watching. So with that being said, I had to tell you that. But uh, let's go to the the the crypto far. Uh what I can tell you is the big the biggest misconception, Jacqueline. I'll say that is uh cryptocurrency is quick money. That's the biggest misconception that I can tell you because that's how you end up losing money, that's how you end up getting a scam. That's how you end up basically in a situation worse than where you are right now. So, what I can tell you is that if you come with that mindset that you're gonna make a quick book, you're gonna lose money. You gotta understand that cryptocurrency is a whole different world and it's in diapers. You know, there's a lot of different things, a lot of different fads, a lot of different, you know, waves inside the cryptocurrency environment. What I can tell you is that one that we lived on a few years ago, a couple years ago was the NFTs. You know, everybody was talking about the NFTs, this and that, boom, boom. Matter of fact, you see in the back I have one of my NFTs right there, you know, my board a club society. But uh but you know, back in the day, you know, like back uh a couple of years ago, people were talking about yeah, by this, by this, by that, by that. And people lost a lot of money with that, with the NFT uh space because you know they were basically just dumping money and pumping money and People are making money, a few amount of people are making money, but most people are losing money. Same thing happened with the shed coins. You know, a lot of these coins telling you invest your money this, invest your money there. There's a lot of different things. You gotta understand when you come to the crypto space, okay? The main the main language, I'll say this Bitcoin is the main cryptocurrency, it's the mother of all the cryptocurrencies, is the one that came first. Okay, so if you're gonna treat Bitcoin, you gotta treat Bitcoin like gold. You know, when we're talking about technology, it's not the fastest, okay, it's not the one that has the less fees when you do transactions, uh, but at the same time, it's the is the gold, you know, it's it's the standard. So Bitcoin is gonna dictate how the cryptocurrency market moves. Uh, the second one, I'll say Ethereum is basically like the silver is a great coin as well. It has technology as well. But what I can tell you is that you know, those are the main two cryptocurrencies. If you're somebody new and you're looking to get into the space that you gotta look at. Now, the other advice that I can give you is that educate yourself. You know, don't let FOMO uh get to you. Because if you let FOMO get to you, you're gonna be like those people who are losing money. For example, Jacqueline, uh back in 2017, you know, when Bitcoin went to 20k, a lot of people bought the FOMO. A lot of people were buying when it was a 20,000, 20,000, 20,000, 19,000, 19,000, 18,000, 18,000. They were selling the house, selling the cars, they were getting mortgages, just invest in Bitcoin. And guess what? 2018, boom, bitcoin went down, right? It went from like 20k to 3k, and a lot of people were like, man, what the heck? We lost money, we lost money, you know. People were like liquidating, you know. There were just uh a lot of people saying, yo, Bitcoin is a scam, this and that. But in my head, I was like, yo, you gotta understand this. The market moves up and down. It's like life. Everything goes up, everything that is up, it's gotta come down. Everything that is down, you know, it might go up. So, what I can tell you is that a lot of people bought on the at the high and sold at the low when in reality what they have to do is you know, have a lot of patience. If they have patience, those who bought at 20,000, guess what? Four years later, Bitcoin went to 70k.

SPEAKER_00 22:13

They would have three extra money.

SPEAKER_02 22:15

They would have three extra money if they wouldn't, if they wouldn't just let their money sit, uh, even if when they bought at the high, you know, but uh because they got greedy, they got impatient, they lost money. I'll all say this, right? In the trading game, there's two types of people, right? There's the winners and there's the losers. The winners are the people who got patience, and the losers are the people who are the impatients, you know what I mean? So basically, the impatient money go to the patients, and that's what it is, you know, because money changes hands. That's how it is. You know, we're talking about trading somebody gotta lose for you to win, and that's how it is, you know. But I can tell you when it comes to the crypto game, the biggest misconception is crypto is quick money, is not maybe happen a couple of times, but what I can tell you is that those people, everybody that I know, Jacqueline, that make quick money either by buying an NFT or by by buying a shitcoin that went up, they have lost everything because it's not about how much money do you make in the within the the crypto space, but it's how much your mindset grows, you know. Once you grow your mindset, you get what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 23:26

I definitely have to say I was a student as well. Um, you taught me very well, also in the time frame that we worked with each other. And I just remember us sitting at the top of a rooftop in San Jose, downtown San Jose, and we were like uh waiting, waiting, waiting, and Shiba was just going to the moon, right? And that was a game changer for me because you know, just traveling in stock, that was always kind of like, okay, this is exciting. I'm gonna stay cautious, I'll put money into stock. But you really uh enlightened me, but also changed the game when I look at cryptocurrencies and I look at different types of currencies, right? And so thank you so much for that. But I remember us, I I gotta send you a photo of us. We're sitting on the rooftop.

Humility, Faith, And Lessons From Losses

SPEAKER_02 24:14

Remember when I was wearing uh when I got to the the Capitol Club and uh and I was wearing my Tacoville shirt because you know, like it's fashion, you know. I had a I liked it, it was purple, you know, you gonna know. And I remember we, you know, we were like meeting at the at the Capitol Club, and somebody asked, they were like, because when they saw my car, I was driving my R8 and they were like, Man, you work at Tacobille and you got an R eight? What do you do?

SPEAKER_01 24:44

Well, remember when we got to the club, I had to explain to the owners. I was like, Yeah, millionaires are not looking like in a business suit anymore these days, and they're getting younger and younger because they were like, Well, we can't let him in, he has jeans, and his jeans have holes in them.

SPEAKER_02 25:00

And I'm like, I know, I know, I know.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

Millionaire doesn't look like the normal millionaire anymore, so you gotta let him in, otherwise, you're gonna totally uh block a whole audience of millionaires that could be coming to this.

SPEAKER_02 25:13

But but you know what? I understand now because at that point, Jacqueline, I was at the point of my life where I would I wanted to show off. I just honestly, and there's a lot of things that have happened. Um, I gotta update you, you know. Like um, basically, you know, like you know, I was living life on a on a different lane, you know. Basically, well, when you go for nothing to have money, you want to show a lot, you know. You want to show you wanna be the show off, you know, because it's new money. You're like, yo, I never had it. I want to show it off, you know, from the cars to you know the the the the things that you wear, you know, used to buy a lot of uh uh Louis, Gucci, Balenciaga, a lot of designer, you know, because you want to show off.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

Um, but in time, I love that you're saying this. Absolutely love. So you're evolving. What do you think about showing off now? Do you still do the same?

SPEAKER_02 26:10

No, you know, I uh it's I'll I'll say this, Jacqueline. It's all about understanding, you know, because the more you the more your understanding grows, you start seeing things a little differently, you know. Before I used to wear the hats, remember I used to, you know, wear the the nice things, you know, I didn't care what everybody you know said, this and that, whatever. But you know, with time, um, by learning things and also by getting humble, you start understanding different things, you know. And what I can tell you is like before I wanted to show off today. I want to be low-key. That's why you see me always wearing black shirts. You know, here and there I'll wear Rolex, but uh it's very, you know, low-key. I don't really do that on the outside because you know, a lot of things happen to me, you know. I'll give you this. I don't know if you saw it on the news a couple of years ago, and the reason why I ended up moving to Arizona was because I was at a gas station in San Bruno, California.

SPEAKER_00 27:07

I remember you talking.

Environment, Curiosity, And Serendipity

SPEAKER_02 27:09

I was around my yellow McLaren and I was about to pump gas, came out of, you know, there's a video went viral here in the Bay Area. Um, you can just go to Google and then you know you'll see it. And what I can tell you is that, you know, I came out of my car, I was wearing my another Rolex, and then uh a white Jeep closed me. A guy came out of the, you know, he was wearing a ski mask, and he didn't have a gun. He had a mini Uzi pointing at me, asking for my watch, asking for my things. Yeah, crazy. So I gave him my watch, I gave him my keys, and then uh he took my watch. I had a sky dueler, uh a Rolex, um, you know, he took my car keys. But at the same time, you know, even though there are material things that you could replace, I'm just glad that nothing happened to me because, you know, at the end of the day, when I saw when when that situation happened, in my head I was like, man, you know, whatever. I wasn't scared. But uh after seeing it, when I saw the video, in my head I was like, whoa, that could have been my last video. You know what I mean? Yeah, so it got to the point where I was like, is it worth it? Is it worth showing off? Especially during these times where people are like, you know, desperate to like you know do things at the same time, which I don't really understand how the mind of the criminals work. Because I'll never, you know, like I'll say, you know, you gotta be really dumb to like try to go first somebody to, you know, to make a quick come up instead of like putting your head down, looking in and work. You know, you got two hands, you got a brain, you can do your own thing, you can just look at different there's different things for you to make money, different ways. But uh I don't understand how they think and why they do what they do. But what I can tell you is that it that definitely showed me that I gotta be more careful about the way I move, you know, from the things I wear, from what I post on social media, from you know, basically like stories. Whenever I do stories, before I used to do live stories where it was, whatever, exposing my location. Now if I'm posting a story, best belief, I'm not there anymore. Best belief, you know. That's like an old story, you know. That was last month, you know, I'm not there anymore, you know. So yeah, it's just got yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

I definitely hear you. We're living in some scary times, very uncertain times right now, especially everything that's going on politically, economically, you know, and obviously those things are gonna affect the way that people are getting desperate and feeling that they have no other option or feeling that they want to take advantage of what's going on, you know. But either way, it's it's scary, you know, it's scary time.

SPEAKER_02 29:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:56

You know, and I just definitely I'm excited about your new journey and where you're headed now. Uh, it sounds like you've learned a lot along the way, or should we say we grew up along the way and different things that um that might have been of interest to us before, you know, we kind of grew out of that. And I had that conversation even the other day with somebody, we were talking about the way that you know, people show their their money, show their their net worth on their on their person or by the way that they drive, you know. And then a lot of when you look at like the ultra-affluent, the ultra wealthy, um, they don't really move like that. You know, they drive regular cars, they have, you know, maybe they have a bigger house, but they still drive regular house cars and you know, they're still in the day-to-day operation of their businesses, and it's all about it's all about changing the world, changing people with their products and services. And and that's the space that I see you in right now. You know, I really do see you moving that way. It's about the impact that you're making, not about you know, the showing off and the glamour of it all, you know, and definitely you can see that in your as well. Uh, you definitely have evolved. So, but I do want to say, okay, kudos to you for jumping in on Bitcoin at$800 because today it's worth like what$116,000 a share.

Biggest Crypto Misconceptions

SPEAKER_02 31:19

So crazy. I mean it's gonna it's gonna go to millions, Jacqueline. Put it in quote, quote me in the next, you know, uh four years, you most likely gonna see Bitcoin at a million dollars. And you know, it's the same thing that I said when it was like uh not even uh ten thousand dollars, you know, we'll say Bitcoin is gonna go to twenty thousand dollars, it happened. Then I say it's gonna go to 70, it happened. Then it's gonna break the hundred, it broke the hundred. Now I'm telling you guys it's gonna go to over a million dollars. And to those who say, yo, Ricky, um, so so should we invest in Bitcoin? Uh and I'll be honest with you, you know, like I feel like the trend with Bitcoin, it already passed, you know what I mean? Because if you want to make money with Bitcoin, you will have to have money, you know, because say, for example, you say this is 116. For you to 2x your money, Bitcoin gotta go to 100 230, right? Which is gonna happen, but it's gonna take time. But the good news is that there is other altcoins, there's alternative alternative coins that are at a lower price. You know, there's other coins that say, for example, Solana, Solana is another coin that made me a lot of money because when I first got into Solana, it was like less than five dollars. Today it's at$200. There's Cardano, there's Ripple, there's different other coins that are most likely gonna go up as well. They might not go to 100k, but if you have a coin that is a 50 cent and it goes all the way to$100, then you make money. You get what I'm saying? So so that don't lose hope. Just educate yourself. Um, if you want obviously more advice, you know, you have me. Jacqueline is gonna give my information at the end. I gotta market myself, Jacqueline. You know, I was gonna no, I'm just kidding. But uh, but yeah, definitely, you know, we're we're here to like to help you. But I'll say the biggest takeaway from this cryptocurrency market is like you always gotta do your own research, you gotta be a student of the game, you gotta take it as you're learning a new language because that's what it is, it's a whole different language.

SPEAKER_01 33:23

Oh my gosh, it definitely is a whole different world. You know, you're playing with money that a lot of people say it doesn't even exist, it's like virtual money, you know, especially when the NFTs came out, but so many people were just I can't wrap my mind around that. So I definitely agree with you on that. Um, you know, and it's interesting that you you gave that offer, your your marketing commercial there, right? Real quick. Um, Acacia, my daughter who's 14 years old. She tells me we gotta get your daughter on.

SPEAKER_02 33:56

We gotta get your daughter in.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

So she tells me she's like, mom, I know you know a lot of people. Who do you know that's in the the stock or you know, crypto or something, you know, exchange? And I was like, what? I'm like, you're watching too much TikTok, seriously. And she's like, no, mom, we can open an account in your name and I can work it for you. And I was like, so you're gonna um you're going to basically use my money to figure out if you could do this or not. She said yes.

Bitcoin As Gold, Ethereum As Silver

SPEAKER_02 34:28

But but you know, Jacqueline, that's a new generation. The new generation don't want to have a 905 anymore. The new generation, they know that the internet is real, they know they can make money with the internet. And I would the whole, you know, if you thought crypto was big, Jacqueline, AI is the next biggest thing. So I'm telling you, there's there's gonna be more opportunity when AI becomes the norm. Uh, and basically those, and and I will say this though, you know, those who are before the trends, those are the ones who make money. Yeah, it happened with the internet. Right, it happened with the internet. Look, the internet, like before even we, you know, before even I knew, you know, was the the the basically the the people who understood the internet game, how the internet game worked. I know some some people that made a lot of money, but just buying domains, you know, buying domains, just buying abc.com, you know, like yahoo.com, you know, those names, you basically, you know, they they made a lot of money by just buying domains and selling them. It's like real estate, you know, digital real estate, you know, by selling, even basically renting those domains. Now, yeah, when the cryptocurrency space came out, you know, when it was, you know, basic nobody knew about it because I remember back in 2016, a lot of people used to be like, Man, that's a scam, it doesn't work, it's a fat, it's a bubble, this and that. Uh, and you know, people are just saying that all the time whenever I was talking about Bitcoin. Now, a lot of those people were talking smack about it. Now they're asking questions. Some of them are even joining. But what I can tell you is that you know if you talk made you know money from it, there's people who made way more money. There's people who made billions of dollars with cryptocurrency. Now, the new thing is gonna be AI, and AI is basically uh it's a whole different game, you know. What I'll say is the newer generation understand it, uh, and those who get on it become a you know uh an authority on that field, yeah, and basically dominate that field are gonna not only make a lot of money, but are gonna gain a lot of influence. So that's my one of my next things. You know, I'm learning the game when it comes to AI. Uh, I'm dabbling, I'm new in it, but uh I see a huge opportunity in that world.

SPEAKER_01 36:55

Well, you're gonna be my go-to person. Okay, so what you're saying, you're gonna take my daughter under your wing and you're gonna mentor her. Is that what we're saying here?

SPEAKER_02 37:03

Most definitely. You know, if she's if she's got the, you know, I'm I'm she's your daughter, so she's definitely got the brains. So yeah, you know, I I can definitely do that for you. I can help her, you know, have her uh reach out and then you know, I'll give her some you know links so she can go and learn. And uh yeah, at the end of the day, I feel like kids should be learning this, you know, they should be teaching this at school, Jacqueline. You know, instead of teaching uh, you know, like when we went to school, they used to teach uh geography, you know, like what do we need to know how many rivers are in South America or in Europe? What do we need to know that when we got Google? Uh, what do we need to know how many bones do we have in our body? I think it's 206, but what do I need that information for? That that information is not making me any money, you know. But uh, I feel like they should be teaching at school either wealth, uh, they should be teaching at school marketing, they should be teaching at school programming, uh, cryptocurrency, real estate, finances, you know. Uh, they should be teaching a lot of skill sets, real life skill sets that are gonna help the future generation because at the end of the day, think about jackling. I'm very passionate about this because I got I got three kids. I got three kids. So so basically for me is more three kids. I can't keep on popping kids. Yeah, I just had a I just had a a daughter, so I got two boys and a daughter. Yeah, she's uh she just turned she just turned one.

SPEAKER_01 38:32

Oh my god, congratulations.

SPEAKER_02 38:36

Thank you. You got a how many daughters do you have?

SPEAKER_01 38:39

I have three daughters and two sons.

SPEAKER_02 38:41

You got three, you got five kids? Jacqueline, you don't even look like you got two kids.

SPEAKER_01 38:46

Oh, and I'm about to have five grandkids all together now. I have four right now, and one on the way.

SPEAKER_02 38:53

That's amazing, though. You got a big family. Congratulations. Uh, yeah. What I can tell you is that, you know, like it's having a daughter is you know, is different than having a boy. You know, when you have a boy, you know, you care about uh obviously sports, all that, which is great. Uh, but when you have a daughter, it's like a whole different feeling. But what I can tell you is that education is so big for me because uh I want my kids to be better than me. So I feel like they have to, you know, like if a school is not gonna teach them what I just you know show you or what I just told you about, uh, I'm gonna teach that to them. My kids already know that money is an asset that you gotta use, that you gotta invest. That money is not for you to just save. You gotta put your money to work, or else your money is gonna lose value with inflation. Inflation is a real thing, you know?

SPEAKER_01 39:43

So basically, I love what I love that. There's a there's a book called The Richest Man in Babylon, and he talks about I read that book, of course, yes, of course, of course, exactly.

FOMO, Cycles, And Patience

SPEAKER_02 39:54

We're we're we're in the same vibration, you know. We're like that's why we get along so well, you know. Whenever you know we get together, we have conversations. We're talking about it's a different type of conversations, even with our friend Mauricio. You know, but whenever I see Mauricio, I love talking to Mauricio because I feel that Mauricio understands me. You know, we're talking and then we're like, you know, talking about things that that people don't really talk about on the daily. So, you know, I'm I'm I'm glad that Mauricio introduces us. He's a great guy. Uh, you know, every time uh I'm in San Jose, I reach out to him. He's always, you know, there for the community. Uh, and even though we don't share the same, you know, feelings when it comes when it comes about politics. Oh my god, don't stop there, don't think it's I always give him a bad time, you know, always like messing with Mauricio. But I love the guy, you know, he's somebody that that because of Mauricio, I met you. I've met a lot of amazing people because of Mauricio. I'm always gonna be thankful to him. Uh, and he's somebody that I look up to as well, because you know, for me, Mauricio is like, you know, somebody who's not only successful when it comes to money, but successful when it comes to relationships and also when it comes to knowledge. You know, he's somebody who's always willing to give everything for his community, and that's what I aim to do one day.

SPEAKER_01 41:11

Awesome. No, I I absolutely agree. And I have to say, you know, it's so funny you bring up Mauricio, totally love him, my bestie over there, right? And he actually was one of our guest speakers here at my Elevate conference last year. Um, last July, we had an Elevate conference here. He came all the way out from San Jose because you know, I'm in San Antonio, Texas now. He came out here and he was one of our uh keynote speakers. So totally amazing. The information fire that he has and the way that he connects to everybody. He is the godfather of the network of San Jose, you know, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 41:49

Yeah, next time you get invite me though. How come I didn't get my invitation to the conference? I would have my ticket.

SPEAKER_01 41:55

I don't really honestly I don't know if San Antonio's ready for you. We gotta come and next one.

SPEAKER_02 42:03

You gotta give me the next one.

SPEAKER_01 42:05

Our next event, you definitely have to be one of our speakers for sure. Um, everything that you're talking about and you're sharing. Um, even me, I have my own nonprofit now, and our nonprofit is called Yes, Youth Entrepreneurship Services. And we're teaching them what everything that you said should be taught in schools. That's what we're talking and teaching and mentoring on, right? And we have them read that that whole book, uh, which is the richest man in Babylon as well. I completely 100 believe 100% belief in making every dollar your soldier, right? So they are there's a a lot of kids in there that are very interested in AI, uh 3D um stuff, and then also robotics and um cryptocurrency. So that came up a lot, and I was like, oh my gosh, Ricky, we got to get you involved in this somehow. You got to be one of our speakers.

SPEAKER_02 42:55

Yeah, let me know. Let me know if I'm on town you already know. I'm always gonna say yes, but uh let me know, and then I'll see what I can do.

SPEAKER_01 43:03

Okay, Ricky, I got one last question for you. What is the hardest truth about yourself that you've had to accept, right? And how was embracing that? How did that truth actually become your greatest strength?

SPEAKER_02 43:19

The hardest truth is uh uh what I can tell the hardest truth is that we're always gonna make mistakes. You know what I mean? Sometimes we want everything to go perfect and be smooth, and not we don't want problems. But what I can tell you is that the biggest part and the hardest truth is that we gotta admit that nothing is gonna be perfect and there's gonna be problems. And problems are good. It's good to have problems because whenever you have problems, you can also have solutions. You get what I'm saying? Imagine having a life without problems. Imagine that you do anything and everything goes smooth and you accomplish whatever you want to accomplish without having an adversity, without having a problem. Then would it matter? I mean, the answer would be of course it wouldn't, because you know, you get into the goal, you get into the price, but you're not uh basically going through the journey. You're not, you know, going through the process, you're not going to the trials and tribulations where you know you learn more by losing, you learn more by by basically uh not accomplishing things whenever you want to accomplish things. You know, you learn a lot more when you're down versus when you're winning. And what I can tell you is that I'm you know, at first it was hard for me because I don't like to lose because I like to win all the time, but uh it humbled me up and it made me understand that I'm human and it made me understand that it's part of the the game, you know, that's how you live life. Um it's part of being who you are. And at the same time, you know what, Jacqueline, if you ask me for the definition of success before, I'll tell you success is getting to where you want to be. Uh, for me, success today is basically moving forward, you know what I mean? It's not just getting there because once you get there, what success ends, you know. For me, success, you know, being successful is actually feeling that you're moving towards the right direction and you're also, you know, putting that work. Um, you know, sometimes you're gonna make sacrifices, you know, you're gonna make sacrifices uh in different areas in your life, but uh as long as you feel like you're moving forward, you feel like you're becoming successful and you feel like you're accomplishing things for a man like me, that's you know what I want in life. So before it was hard for me to accept it, before I hated it, but now I embrace it, I love it, and it's part of who I am.

Showing Off To Low Key Living

SPEAKER_01 45:33

So that's uh no, absolutely how how are you going to be filled with wisdom and experience if you've never had exposure to problems and providing those challenges? How are you providing strategy to get out of those challenges? You know, and they always say there's this old like proverb that says, you know, basically, you're God's gonna keep giving you the same problem until you figure out the solution, you know? And how it seems like you've mastered that landscape of like, okay, today, game on challenges here. How are we going to to attack it? How are we going to overcome it? You know, and that's an amazing truth right there because people, when you embrace those challenges, that's when things begin to change for you, you know.

SPEAKER_02 46:19

Right. And exactly.

SPEAKER_01 46:21

Yes.

Robbery, Safety, And Moving Smarter

SPEAKER_02 46:21

Just to add to what you're saying, because you're so right. But I feel like, and this is a tip for everybody who's maybe if you feel like you're going through hard times, if you know adversities, what I can tell you is that uh this is a hack. The hack is that in your head, you gotta put this in your head. You gotta in your head, you gotta believe that everything is gonna be fine, that you're gonna find a solution. Even though if you don't have the solution, you gotta you gotta believe that that you're gonna make it work, you know, because if your mind is good, you might not have the the means or the tools or or be in a situation where you want to be, but if you in if your mind is basically you're in perfect condition, you're like, man, I'm great, I'm good to go, even though your situation is not, that's what you need for you to move forward. Because I've seen a lot of people that they break mentally, you know, they're like, oh man, uh, and they start taking the the victim mentality set uh mindset where like they're like, man, poor me, this and that, everything happens to me. If you go that route, you're cooked. So, what you want to do is like you want to have the mindset of like, hey, you know what? I might not be in the right situation, I know be in my best situation, but guess what? I believe that I'm gonna make it work, and then you go step by step. You know, don't expect to have a big win or or you know, do the leap of faith and get there right away. Just understand that it's gonna be little by little. Embrace those little you know wins that you're gonna have. Uh, and a little win might be, you know, you might have, you know, like you might be like ten dollars richer. Man, you're ten dollars richer, you know. You got ten dollars you didn't have before, you know. Keep on adding up to your bucket and then you know, count those small wins, and eventually those small wins are gonna become big wins together. But you, my friend, are looking at me right now, they're watching us. If you're going through any adversity right now, don't give up, have you know a positive mindset. Uh, surround yourself like good people like Jacqueline, uh, people that inspire you, you know, even though you might not have access to them yet, but watch them, you know, follow Jacqueline, you know, follow her journey, follow her on social media, watch her videos because I feel like Jacqueline does this videos not because of her, because she already she's really successful with what she does. Like she got a family, she got five kids. You don't think she Jacqueline could be doing other things? She's got a lot of things on her agenda, but she takes the time a day to do these videos, this podcast, because she knows that this type of videos are gonna help somebody who's in need. So, with that being said, Jacqueline, thank you for your service. You know, you you're you're so inspiring. You know, I'm gonna tell you that all the time, every time I see you, and uh, and hopefully, you know, you get to invite me to one of your events. I'd love to be a speaker, I would love to, you know, bring my my guys to to your conference. And and if you're in Latin America, Jacqueline, you know, come to my events, you know. If you're in Peru, if you're anywhere in Latin America, let me know. I'll have somebody pick you up from the airport, take your hotel, you know. Basically, if you come with your husband, you know, we'll definitely your husband speaks Spanish, so you know, we'll you will need a translator, but uh you know, you're welcome, you're welcome. What whatever we are. So, with that being said, thank you for having me, Jacqueline.

SPEAKER_01 49:37

Awesome. Thank you so much, Ricky, for sharing your experiences with our audience today. You guys heard it here. Success is not a destination, it is about growth and keeping moving from there. Once you create the success that you have, you don't stop there. How do you evolve and how do you grow even more? Okay. We heard about his evolution from going to uh San Francisco University and getting an engineering degree. Holy moly, that's a whole work in itself. Um, and then hearing some information at an Apple store in Palo Alto, California about Bitcoin. He invested in Bitcoin and has been doing amazing ever since, but he didn't just stop there. He began to teach other people and create other millionaires alongside with him. He said, I'm not just changing the trajectory for myself and for my family, I'm changing the trajectory for everybody that's around me. And he's taking everybody to success with him. If you want to get a hold of Ricky and you want to hear more about his philosophy, his take on cryptocurrency, and then just all the other ventures that he's dabbling into, real estate. I know that that's a big uh venture for him right now as well. Um, you want to hear more about him? You're gonna find the details in the description. You can um follow him on social media as well, and we'll have all those links in the description also. Ricky, thank you so much for joining us today, entrepreneurs. Until next time.