By no means rich, Raphael and his family lived in the Washington D.C. metro area, a place that he describes as a “very violence driven area where everyone wanted to do drugs and party every day.” Vargas had dreams of being able to retire his mother and brother and becoming a multi-millionaire, and he says, “I knew this was not the environment I wanted for my family, and so I went to work.”
Starting at age 11, Raphael was performing jobs such as washing cars, providing landscaping services, and working in restaurants. He quickly learned humility through these jobs, a lesson that later resulted in gaining respect from other businesspeople. Vargas became self-taught and self-made during those years, spending hours locked away in his mother’s basement researching. He even sold his prized music production equipment and Jordan sneakers in high school to have some working capital.
By the age of 22, he began his own business called “Real Step,” a real estate wholesaling business focusing on flipping houses.
He recalls, “I got the idea from a random guy that walked into my job I was working at 20 years old. He said he was wholesaling houses. I said I would do anything to learn, and he charged me $3,000 to learn, and he robbed me.” After never hearing from that man again, Vargas learned everything he needed to begin his business from YouTube and by studying online. His first deal came nine months later and raked in $30,000 in profit.
The business expanded exponentially within the first three years, going from only two deals in the first year to making $1.2 million in its third. The company soon expanded to Tampa, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York City, and Baltimore. Raphael realized such a large operation would soon require a team. “At first it was just me,” he explains. “Then I built a large sales team, marketing, management, etc. I learned [how to put my team together] through many consultants that I hired.”
Only a year after beginning his business, Raphael became a millionaire at 24. “My company was all about flipping houses and building a rental portfolio,” he explains, “which allowed me to begin a Real Estate education business called ‘Real Empire’.” He says that the reason he started his teaching business is that he loves teaching others. “Creating leaders is a passion of mine. That’s the reason I started it,” he shares. He says that students at his school will learn “how to be real AF,” something they can’t learn from anywhere else.
Overall, both companies have successfully garnered eight figures in revenue. Raphael has flipped over 1000 homes through his real estate company and helped over 1000 real estate investors learn how to flip houses through his education business.
Just within the past year, before the coronavirus cases appeared in the United States, a friend of Raphael’s in a government agency alerted him that the virus would leave China and hit the United States. He knew that meant the economy was going to suffer, and he says that he “branched out into new territories due to the circumstance of the economy hurting. I completely transitioned from Real Estate 100 percent into building Amazon Automated Stores for clients called ‘Real Ecom.’”
First finding out about the stores 11 months ago, he immediately knew that they would be huge “because when all retail will be crashing, Amazon will be taking over 100 percent. People will still need household items and random goods.”
Real Ecom is currently focusing on building Amazon stores that make passive profits every month for over 70 clients. Partnering with Dylan Baker, a fellow businessman, the two now make over $10 million a year from their Amazon automation. Raphael notes that the two have very different backgrounds, “but we both had the same drive. He had a lot of connections in Amazon that I didn’t, but I had the scaling business experience. So, we put two together and the rest was history.”
Despite so much growth and success, Raphael still remains very humble. “I live a pretty extraordinary life,” he admits. “Nice cars, vacations that are lavish, jets. I’m 28 so I love experiencing life. But also, my family is 100 percent retired, and that’s the most important thing.” He also enjoys keeping in touch with students from Real Empire and supporting them in ways outside of real estate.
Always looking to further his business endeavors, Raphael is moving into the future by investing heavily in Forex investments with his business partner Dylan. He suspects that the two will continue creating new businesses together soon, and he says that their Forex investments are “working very well for us.” With all of the success Vargas has experienced over his career, he reflects, “I was able to do all of this and now inspire other people to find their own purpose in life through God.”
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