Meet Beto Vargas

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Beto Vargas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Beto, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

My resilience comes from two parts. The inner child that always pushed me to keep moving forward and the artists that inspire me through their journey, their challenges and their own resilience. Every time I feel like quitting, I connect with my joint self and ask myself, “What would young Beto feel about this.” I truly believe that all the struggles and lessons this journey has put in my path has been leading me to something. To become the best version of myself. And I believe that I need to believe in my dreams in order to reach that.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I am what you call a person of many hats. But essentially, I am a record producer, recording artist, songwriter and engineer. I was born in Bogotá, Colombia but moved in 2009 to Boston, where I studied at Berklee College of Music and then on 2012 I moved to Los Angeles, where I have lived for the past 14 years. It has been quite the journey, with ups and down, wins and failures, tears and laughter, and extremely life changing. A road less traveled, but one I would not change.

In this last decade I have worked in various studios, worked with over 300 artists, including names like Jane’s Addiction, John Legend, Barbera Streisand, Eagles Of Death Metal, Allen Stone, Maná and Moderatto, played countless shows, written and produced music for artists, film, TV, advertising, you name it! I founded “The Record House” in 2014 and “BV Productions”, in 2020 two music production companies/ Labels where I have developed some of the best artists I have had the pleasure of working with, worked with some of the biggest brands such as Nike, Puma, New Balance, Wayfair and been involved with projects I could only dream of as a kid.

But they were not kidding when they said this is a tough world and not for the faint of heart. It is challenging. It is a world where you need to be resilient, patient, talented, ambitious and humble. There have been many times where I have thought about changing my life, leaving LA, quitting. But every single time I have tried to do so, something shows up in my life to remind me why I do what I do, why I will never stop creating and the beauty that exists through the cracks. I am grateful now for the struggle, because it has shown me my true colors. It has shown me who I really am and what I am capable of. It is only by pushing ourselves to out limits of our imagination and our dreams that we truly find who we are destined to be, how we become the best version of ourselves. I’m not saying I am completely there, but I am very much on my way.

Right now, I am excited about the new records I am producing and writing with artists such as Fehr Rivas, Ignacio Val, Malikno, Marc Oliver, Camie Llano and my own. Make sure you follow me on socials and visit our website to stay connected with what we are doing.

Following my heart has shown me that anything is possible. And I hope it inspires you to follow yours.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

My biggest advice to any creative is to make sure you have a plan. Having a dream is great, but without a strategy, without a plan, it will remain a dream. Have a year plan, a five year plan and a ten year plan. This is crucial. Have goals you can set and meet and give yourself a treat when you do. Doesn’t have to be money related, but treat yourself. It is your journey. Secondly, make sure you collaborate, create a team. YOU CANNOT DO THIS BY YOURSELF. And also, it’s more fun to share it with people.

See what your dream brings to the world. How is what you are doing benefitting humanity? This is important, and in the long run, you will ask yourself this.

I would say the best qualities I have had that have helped me through my career have been resilience, being genuine and honest, and profesional. And also just being a nice person. People want to work with people they enjoy, but who are also talented, hold up their own and show up when needed. The rest you will learn along the way.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

When you feel overwhelmed, it feel counter intuitive to stop because you have all this pressure to finish a bunch of things or one huge task, right? Well, in my experience, it is exactly what you should do. You need to take a beat, you need to take a break and get some perspective and clarity. If you can, take a trip, even if it’s small, for a weekend, for a day, go to the beach, a park, ideally something with nature or a place that gives you peace. Do something not related with your career or dream, something fun. For me taking a trip, exercising, meditating or going to see a show always gives me some clarity and perspective. You know that feeling when you travel or go on vacation and suddenly certain day to day problems don;t seem that important? Well that is why taking some time is so important. Even if it is stoping and meditating for 10-15 minutes. This clears the mind so that you can look at the problems in front of you with objectivity and not through your emotions. I have learned that you attract what you feel. So, when you are feeling empowered, rested, motivated, well you attract more work, easier times, fun things because your body and mind are reaching out and vibrating in this frequency of attraction. It also leads to a happier way of living your life, and that is the real success in life!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bvmusicproductions.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/betovargas/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/betovargasmusic
• Other: https://linktr.ee/betovargas