We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Richard Arguelles a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Richard , looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
To be honest, I was never a workaholic before. I was very carefree, wandering through life very aimlessly and enjoying all the superficial joys that it has to offer. It’s not until youre down at ground zero, broke, and at the bottom to where that transformation of growth occurs. Also I was pretty hardheaded before too…..still kinda am but a lot better. Yeah. but coming back to that growth, one of the main pillars in order for that to occur is having a strong progressive work ethic. Thinking about mine and where im currently at in life, it just comes from that big sense of growth of wanting to be better, but also my own values of a man, upbringing, and just what I’ve experienced in life.
When I think about my upbringing I think about what my family had to do to get to the States, I think about me and my mama living in that small ass room when I was a kid and her doing the absolute most to make sure I was straight, I think about me getting kicked out of 4 high schools, I think about living off of Mexican candy when I was dead broke, and just so much much more……”wonderful” shit. But to fast forward in my sh*tty life, It got to the point where I reached the absolute lowest part of my life to where I needed a restart and I honestly hate to admit it but the military was my chance at this 2nd chance in life and played a huge part in developing this work ethic as well. So I chose one of the hardest things you could achieve in the military which was to become a NAVY SEAL. So I began grooming myself from day f*cking one the moment I stepped into the recruitment office to RTC and thinking backwards of what I would have to do to become one, throughout my first 2 years in the Navy. I didn’t end up becoming one and that’s a story in it’s own, but what I acquired from that journey was the skillset and foundation that helped progress my work ethic to what it is now.
I’ve always wanted to be a great man because I grew up with sh*tty male figures in my life. And I feel that great men can handle a lot of responsibilities, can be 100% dependable to others, are able to work like a fuckin dog in the most strenuous conditions, can put themselves down for a purpose: to the extent of dying for that purpose, and enjoy themselves within the process along the way. All of these traits tie to having an outstanding work ethic, call it the glue that connects everything together, you feel me? Because once you have a solid work ethic, nothing seems out of reach. It’s malleable to where you can apply it to anything and becomes very systematic.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I’ve done a lot in my life and feel that I’ve lived so many branching from being a muay thai boxer, a boxing instructor, electrician, mechanic, content creator/influencer, recruiter/sales, personal trainer, food critic, to now owning my own food business. So I guess to alleviate the headache, I am the proud owner of NONA, located in Honolulu, Hawaii. We specialize in asian flavored fried chicken inspired mainly from my mama’s cooking.
I absolutely love being a business owner more so, that I strongly feel that im in an industry where I am able to have the most positive impact in. I’ve always said that food connects people and that’s the goal, people. For them to come in hungry, enjoy a GOOD meal, a meal that either my staff or I physically make for them, talk story with them, and for them leave happy is what it’s about. I think the power of a good meal is kinda synonymous to good people which is nourishing you in all the right ways, puts you in a good mood, and you look forward to having/seeing again. Not only that but seeing people who aren’t familiar with asian flavors, enjoy it, will never get old to me. Im very proud where I came from, proud of my culture, and proud to share my mama’s cooking with everyone, so for it to receive a positive reaction is for one thing: everything my mama would’ve wanted and two: makes me feel very purposeful/fulfilled in this life.
The crazy thing about this too is, yes it took a long while to get here but it’s only the beginning. And most people dont like the start of something new because they’re too infatuated with the end results and not having it, but me I love it. It encompasses in a way my life which was starting with little to none and then working your way into amassing something big. And people will always want to see growth and Im so thankful that the community im in now is a part of that growth with my business. Hawaii is great and the spirit of aloha will get to you when you live here, it got to me. It’s contagious bruh. Not only that but reconnecting with my Hawaiian family and having them a part of it feels like a full circle in my life. Im blessed and grateful everyday. And I dont want to disappoint the community here, my fans who have stuck on my platform and seen everything up to now, and more importantly my family. Cause I ain’t shit.
Right now we have pop-up events locked in all over the island and even off island so it’s going to be a busy year for us and I thank my hardworking staff in advance for all the blood, sweat, and tears they’ll put in. If there’s one thing I want people to takeaway from my business other than the good food, is growth and progression because I strongly feel that people are cutting themselves off too short nowadays.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Heavy on being resilient, staying disciplined, and grateful for it all on this journey. To me that’s my trifecta. When you want to do big things youre putting yourself at risk to fail big. Which has happened to me. But you can never keep a good man down. Being able to just take those hits and standing your ground on “this is what I want to do and where I want to go, and I dont give a fuck who tries to stop me” is really an admirable quality I’ve learned to develop. Tying into the discipline of doing the same thing if not little progressive steps that lead up to your goals along the way. It’s really like the unsung hero that gets shit done. Having these two qualities alone is very powerful in your arsenal for life but would be monotonous and bleek, which is where just being grateful for everything brings everything all together. There’s always someone who wishes they were in your position or want what you have. This is a fact. With that approach it makes everything you do change from a stance of ” I have to do this…..” into “I get to do this..”, feel what I saying? It’s like youre treating everything as an opportunity and that’s what basically life is, an opportunity to have/make the best experiences possible. Or at least that’s what I think. Having these three qualities really helped me get past the bad times along the way and endure it all. And I guess the best thing I can say about developing them is see them more as progressive traits rather than binary traits.
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
2023 sucked. It absolutely did. But in hindsight now im happy what I went through because it helped me start off this year on the right foot. But where I had to improve honestly was everything. My mentality, my physical health, my financials, my spiritual relationship with god, my emotional well being, just everything was down for me. Ranging from bad spending habits, toxic relationships, being in the worst shape of my life, and more importantly the relationship I had with myself. So I had to build ALL that shit back up. Life’s crazy because when you think you have it figured out, it throws some shit in your face to humble you and then youre left feeling like youre back at ground zero. But what I realized is that, that ground zero wasn’t an absolute ground zero because I had amassed so many useful skills at that time. By that time of the realization of disarray in my life, which was in February 2023, I just started to do the little things that I could to build positive momentum. I read more books about life, health, business, and finances, put may self through a new workout program, spent more time with family, stopped partying as much, did a 7 day water fast, just whatever I thought would benefit me with the little amount of resources I had. One of my role models Nipsey Hussle once said ” Would you rather be at peace with the world and at war with yourself? OR at war with the world and at peace with yourself ” and that idea is very powerful. Everything starts with you and if you aint straight then everything that will come good or bad won’t be addressed right. Back to what I was doing, I was doing all of that day in and day out, staying tucked off up until It was finally time pop out. I feel more ready than ever, more at peace with myself, and more confident with myself that I can do it all. Im trying to build something big and exhaust everything in this lifetime. So please continue to watch me, watch what I can build, and the great man I will continue to grow into.
Contact Info:
- Website: foodatnona.com
- Instagram: nona.hnl
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/nona-honolulu-5
Image Credits
Ron Khy
