In this conversational interview, Matthew AI asks Ernesto Arguello about his approach to socializing, networking, and personal confidence. Ernesto explains that he prioritizes enjoyment and shared interests, avoids over‑thinking, and treats every interaction as an opportunity to have a good time. He highlights common mental barriers—such as the need for a pre‑existing support system or fear of rejection—and counters them with simple mind‑sets like “what’s the worst that can happen?” and “be yourself.” He shares a concrete example of attending a Formula 1 race alone, where he quickly made a group of new friends by leveraging a shared passion. Throughout the dialogue, both hosts stress the value of removing agendas, presenting an authentic version of oneself, and seeing oneself as a “10” to attract positive connections. The interview then shifts to Ernesto’s recent creative venture: a fashion belt made from seat‑belt material called SnapTolive, designed as a tangible reminder to practice road‑safety habits (buckling up, not texting, not drinking and driving). The belt is linked to his work on model towns in Latin America, which has attracted attention from the World Bank and United Nations. Ernesto notes that 70 % of the belt’s profits are pledged to the UN Road Safety Fund, and the product is sold via snaptolive.com for $30. The conversation wraps up with a call‑to‑action for viewers to check the link and use the belt as a conversation starter.
Questions this video answers
December 8, 2013
snaptolive.com
$30
70%
Chapters
I am here with Ernesto Arguello. Arguello.
Arguello. Look at you rolling those R's.
Rolling my R's, baby. I'm here with this man. Many of you know we were together on Ready for Love. I've been meaning to do an interview with Ernesto for months now. There are certain things that Ernesto does really well that you probably don't even know he does well that I want to bring to you. And I kind of want to frame this in the way of just firing some questions at you. He doesn't know what I'm gonna ask.
Him yet, so no pressure, I hope. One of the things that I do good is answer on the spot spontaneity.
But I have some questions for him. We'll see how they go. And, you know, they won't be rehearsed answers because for many of them, I'm sure it's the first time he'll have been asked. One thing that I know Ernesto to do well is get out there socially and network and meet people. I know this because even when we started the show together, we I, through you, I ended up meeting a ton of people in Los Angeles. I was new to Los Angeles at the time I moved here for the show. There are many people out there who watch my videos, who kind of wish they were better at networking. They wish they were better at getting out there and meeting people that could really help them move forward in life. Because it's easier to get there with the help of other people than it is to get there alone. Right?
Right.
What's do you have when you do it? A conscious kind of idea of how you're networking or what you need to do to network when you arrive in a new place.
You know, not really. My focus really is I want to enjoy life, bottom line. I want to make sure that everything I do and everywhere I go, something good comes out of it, whether it's a good time, whether it's have an impact and help somebody else. But ultimately, I don't want to waste my time. Okay? So when I go to places and when I put myself out there, I'm going to place and I'm doing things that I enjoy doing. So the people that I'm going to meet there, at least we have that in common.
Because I know that's a big barrier for a lot of people is when they're in a new place or when they're trying to network, they always feel like they have to have someone to go with or they feel like they have to have a support system already instead of just taking that risk to say, I'm just going to go to that place.
Yeah. I mean, and here's the other thing that helps me in my life. It's, what's the worst that can happen?
Right?
You know, oh, I want to be by myself. Well, if you stay home, guess what? You're going to be by yourself as well. Actually, now that we're talking about this, I just came in yesterday from Austin. I got invited pretty last minute to the Formula one race. And I had a few people that were going, a few friends of mine that were going, but they all are crazy Formula one fans, so they had, you know, pit passes and paddock, all these crazy passes that are insanely expensive. I'm like, I'm not a Die Hard fan. Is my first race, I'm gonna baby step it there, you know? So, anyway, I got these tickets, and they were good tickets, but I was by myself and I said, hell, I'll go. What I have in common is other people also, like Formula one, you know, like, we have that.
Yeah.
I walked out of there with a group of like seven. Seven different new friends that. That I'm already. I've already met up with some of them here in la.
I love that. If I break it down for someone who's watching this, let's say they go somewhere on their own. How do you go about meeting people that you don't already know? You know, if you see strangers or if you see someone that you think, oh, they look like fun, what's your thought process in actually going over physically to meet them?
I mean, whether it is I'm getting a drink at the bar and somebody is next to you, you just strike a conversation. I mean, I think there's a mental barrier that people put in their lives. And the truth is, you shouldn't. Why are you gonna assume the person next to you is not a nice person, that they're not gonna talk back to you? Talk to them, get them something. Say, hey, put it on my tab. Although it's an open bar, you know, break the ice.
Right, right, right. Do you have a conscious thing where you say, here's the energy, I'm gonna go in with, or do you have a certain energy that you like to go in with?
Not really. I mean, I think the best thing in life is to just be yourself.
Mm.
And it sounds cliche, but it's true. Another example, this same weekend, we go out with some friends of mine, and then this one girl starts talking to this friend of mine. Long story short, she Was being very, very kind of like, not pretentious, but just kind of little hard to get. Like a little, you know, defensive and standoffish kind of way. And then through the conversation she finds out that, that this particular guy is gay. In the middle of the conversation, instantly, Matt, she changed the dynamic change. She became like the coolest chick ever. And then, you know, this person later on we're having a conversation, he says, oh my God. I was about to say, like, what a bitch of a girl. Like, oh my God, no wonder you're single.
Yeah.
You know, and then when, and then I totally. It was like it was another person when she didn't feel any tension towards me.
Yeah.
You know.
Yeah.
She was at ease. She was herself and she is a really cool girl.
I think the big point there is if you remove agendas, if you remove intent, and all you have is two people trying to have a good time, then all of a sudden you're liberated to just be the fun, cool version of you.
Absolutely.
And I like that you said be yourself, but one of the things I'm always saying to people is you. It's. It's two things. Firstly, it's not just being yourself, it's being the. You are a 10. Right. Because you are one. Isn't a version of yourself that anyone wants to be around or not.
And we all have ups and downs.
Absolutely. But it's also knowing. It's also knowing what to do. And I think socializing and networking and being around people is something that I'm sure over the years you will have gotten better and better at because you, it becomes natural to you the more you do it. You know, you're you. As long as I've known you, you've never been the sort of person that if I said to you, let's do something tonight, you would go, I can't, I'm too tired. Or I don't want to. Or you, you. The only reason you would ever say no is because you're double booked. Right.
And I may still try to pull it off.
No, that's right. That's very, very true. I think this has been really useful. I don't. You know, we. We could easily turn this into an hour long interview. I think we won't this time around, but perhaps we'll do something longer next time. I want you to tell everyone you have something creative that you've. You've created recently that I know you've been sharing on your various jet setting adventures.
Oh my God.
Can you tell us a little bit about it so that everyone knows, mostly can engage with it.
And I'll give you the. The elevator version of it. As you know, I build these model townsenducation model towns in Latin America, and through design, we've been able to keep these communities very safe. So it's got the attention of the World bank and the United Nations. They approached me to be a spokesperson for road safety. I was originally a little turned off. I'm like, huh, sounds boring. Road safety, they said, ernesto is the number one killer in the world, number one youth killer in the world. And we really need a hand promoting this and creating this awareness. Snap. The lift is up. It's a belt. It's a fashion belt that is made out of seatbelt material, vintage car, car seato buckle, and. And it's meant to be a reminder of the things you can do every day to save lives and to keep the road safe. Like not texting while driving. Guilty as charged. We all are, you know, so. So keeping that in mind of, hey, you know what? I'm not going to do that. Not drinking and driving and buckling up, those three things can prevent over 80% of these deaths.
I think what's interesting about this, one of the concepts that I talk about a lot, and you guys may not have heard me talk about this in my videos, because it's something I talk more about on the retreat program that I do. But for everything that we want to condition ourselves to do, you almost need like a button or a trigger that takes you back to that thought process, because otherwise you go back into reflex response mode. You know, there's a text you've got to send and you start texting it. I'm always telling people you have to have a trigger to get yourself back to a place where you remember a certain thought. And I love that this acts like that trigger. I think it's. I think it's really, really clever. And I think if it can help kids, then that's an amazing thing. Is there like, a website people can go to?
Yeah, we have a website called snaptolive.com that's the number two.
All right, so here's what we'll do. We'll. We'll throw a link up under this video both on YouTube and on our blog. And if you want to grab one of these belts, they can do it at the website.
They can do it at the website. They retail for $30 and 70%. I'm pledging 70% of the profits to the Road Safety Fund from the UN.
And by the way. Let's link it back up with our content. This could be a great conversation starter, ladies. It shows you're kind of interesting and involved in various things in your life, which is exactly what this video is about. Look at that. We closed the loop.
Full circle. Exactly.
I appreciate you coming on. Thank you.
My pleasure.
Thank you, Ernesto, for coming. Thank you guys for watching. This has been a great video. Something a little different for you today, today. I hope you enjoyed it. Leave your views in the comments and we will see you soon.
