Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Explore your curiosity - Interesting people with fascinating stories.
Life consists of three things:
-The stories we tell others
-The stories others tell us
-The stories we tell ourselves.
Adam, welcome aboard the show. Thank you so much for joining today.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Happy to be here.
Speaker 1:So I I wanna start with, I think, the number one mistake that my dad made, and you have a similar story to tell. Well, maybe not similar, but on the same vein. My dad, his whole life, built a boat. It was in our backyard. And before he got to sail around the world, this was his dream, the boat burns down.
Speaker 1:Totally real story. Instead of achieving his dream to go and, you know, do the sail around the world, he kind of puts it off, puts it off, puts it off, puts it off, works his ass off, gets quite old, diabetes, cancer, never lives out that dream. Similar story from my wife's parents, but different different items. You get old, you don't live the life you want. That kind of pissed me off.
Speaker 1:And and I know you feel the same. Why do you why do you deeply agree with that story?
Speaker 2:Because tomorrow is never guaranteed. And I felt that way as a kid, and I don't think I knew why I felt that way. When you're being raised, that's all you know. But as you start to make your own decisions and you start to grow and you start to create your own bucket list and your own things to do before you die, you realize that the amount of time that you have, as a kid and the amount of time you have, when you're too old to do things subtracted from the total leaves you with a very small window to really get out and enjoy life. And that's now I'm starting to really realize how I wanna live my life.
Speaker 1:Was there a certain moment where you're like, fuck it. Like, we need to live today?
Speaker 2:You know, I feel like it was when I graduated from college and I started making my own decisions, particularly my, you know, my parents raised me. I was they raised me very Polish, so I'm I'm a great cleaner. I'm a great saver. And up until that point when I was 22 or 23, I was also really great at talking about dreams and not living them. And as my grandparents got sick and ultimately passed away, my I'll never forget my mom.
Speaker 2:And she said to me, look at all this stuff your grandfather has. It's like he wanted just to be buried with it. And I was like, how about wanting to live with it? How about wanting to enjoy it? You can't take it with.
Speaker 2:And it was around then that I realized I need to just live. That's how I feel, and that's where I wanna leave it on the field. And if I have to go back to work to earn more because I blew it all having a good time living, I'm happy to go back to work.
Speaker 1:What what do you see the people around you or your parents or your grandparents or anybody else? Do you see people living this lifestyle of I might die tomorrow, I might live eighty years more, but I I wanna or forty years more, but I I don't know what's gonna happen, or people just know we need to save, save, save, work, work, What what's the what's your experiences been?
Speaker 2:I think we're a very afraid society. And for for you know? Clearly, I'm not gonna get into politics. But for all the right reasons, whether it's the political environment or the financial environment or the actual environment, all of these things make us afraid. And as you look at different generations, you know, we are trained to be afraid by those who came before us, who fought in wars or lost things.
Speaker 2:So the fear is very real, but then it becomes overwhelming, and it's how we live our lives. It's simply just shrouded in fear trying to save ourselves with bank accounts, or savings accounts, trying to save ourselves by not going on that trip, or not getting on that airplane or not taking that chance or not getting outside our comfort zone ultimately. And there's so much fun and so much magic and so much that can be done outside your comfort zone. But no, the majority of people don't take that step.
Speaker 1:What what drove that fear for you and for your parents?
Speaker 2:Well, my parents' parents, my grandparents, came from Poland, and they lived through the Holocaust and were there when the Nazis invaded and got swept up and all of that. Actually had to escape from a work camp as children and come meet some relatives here in Chicago where I'm at. And so clearly surviving that ordeal was something that they passed on to my parents who then passed it on to me, which is very different because while I've heard the stories and I've listened, sat on his lap and listened to those stories, I was born here, and this is very different. I was born in the suburbs of Chicago. And so my story isn't traumatic and it doesn't have enormous inflection points, but rather an evolution of what would they, my ancestors, what would they want me to be doing?
Speaker 2:How would they want me to be living? Did they do all that, go through all that with the hopes that a better life awaited, and I could do great things and live, every day. You know, you you you said something that reminded me of my favorite quote as a kid. No joke. Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today.
Speaker 2:You know, could be aggressive at times, but you know what? I love it. And so I guess for all the things that they gave us, that's how I'm gonna live.
Speaker 1:Do you do you think your your grandparents would be proud of what you're doing today?
Speaker 2:They would be proud. They would be a little scared I'm taking chances, like, maybe they would never have taken, but they would be proud. And I do have one grandmother, not from Poland. She's from here. But she's in her late eighties, and every time I see her, she just couldn't be more proud.
Speaker 2:And that's nothing melts your heart more than when a grandparent is proud of you.
Speaker 1:It's, it's probably the only thing that can that can make me cry. Unfortunately, my grandparents are are dead, but the the last one, was was really a heart wrencher. The you said your mother, you scared the shit out of her. Why is that?
Speaker 2:Well, because I think in a way, right, she she did her best, and she raised me, and she worked her butt off for all those years. And for me to leave the nest and then suddenly start taking chances, it contradicts, you know, the wear your helmet, look both ways, and, is there a parent home at the party? Those are the things I remember as a child. But it's kinda like, mom, I'm throwing my own party now. And so you taught me how to throw a good party, but if I'm gonna throw a party where I let a lot of people in and we stay up a little too late, well, you know, you taught me how to survive that party, but I'm still gonna throw that kind of party.
Speaker 2:So she's proud of me, but she's got that cautious optimism thing.
Speaker 1:I appreciate the context. What specifically are you doing to piss her off? We all wanna know, though.
Speaker 2:Oh, I mean, I am staying up too late, and I I do enjoy throwing a literal good party. My wife and I just turned 40, and so, of course, we threw two parties. Her birthday's a month before mine. Nice. And for her party, we rented out a venue and brought in a DJ from our wedding and had an ice luge that delivered you espresso martinis.
Speaker 2:And so while that was overwhelming for my mom, and I let my kids come and stay up till 10:00 so they could be part of the party. And then two weeks later, I flew 30 friends to Key West so that we could keep the party going for mine. Those are the type of things that makes a mom go, did I raise him right? But, here I am on the other side of things, and I did it all responsibly, so she's now she can be proud of me.
Speaker 1:And so you kids how many kids do you have?
Speaker 2:I have two little girls.
Speaker 1:Two little girls. Okay. We, you know, we're on we and I say myself as well, on the heels of the Holocaust. We also went through nine eleven. Our kids didn't have either of those experiences, and they didn't get to meet the the grandparents, at least not in my case.
Speaker 1:Are they living in a kind of a different conception because of that that didn't go through those experiences? Do you feel that you need to give them a little bit of that fear or cautiousness on or are you absolutely grad glad that they didn't go through those experiences?
Speaker 2:Well, they obviously are. Right? And and I enjoy and I will not claim to be any type of expert, but I enjoy learning about generations Mhmm. And how the generations switch and how they were formed and how we ended up because of that. Right?
Speaker 2:And it's obviously, there are many there are arguments about what are their key factors, but clearly technology, politics, geopolitics, and then, you know, the economy play into these things. And so what I'm living is different than what my parents were living and their parents and so on and so forth. So now with children of my own, I'm not naive enough to think that they won't have their own evolutions in politics, technology, economy, weather, all these things that form us. So am I happy that they didn't live through some things? I guess, sure.
Speaker 2:But I know they're going to, and they're going to have to, and it's gonna have to define them. So I'm just cautious to figure out what it is, and I'm gonna go through it with them too. But at the same time, I'm into history, and I enjoy that. And I took my kids to New York City and I brought them to the nine eleven memorial and I explained to them what had happened because it wasn't that long ago. And so they understand that the world is a big place and things will happen.
Speaker 2:And and what what it is that defines them, we're gonna figure out together.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I you know, on the one hand, I feel that my kids are living in a very blessed environment, and they are just privileged based on the fact that they didn't go through hard experiences. But as you say, on the other hand, I'm I'm grateful for that. But I do want them to get that perspective of, you know, history repeats itself, and and we need to learn from, if not our own mistakes, the the mistakes of our nations that have come before. What does that what does that kind of translate into your parenting philosophy?
Speaker 1:What are you what are your hopes and dreams for your two daughters? What do you what do you wish for them?
Speaker 2:I'm I'm trying to teach them awareness. And, hopefully, that answers the question. I'm trying to teach them, well, first and foremost, situational awareness so they don't, you know, ride their bike into the street. But then I'm also trying to teach them social awareness. What's going on around you?
Speaker 2:How can you pay attention to the fact that you're not the center of the universe? You never will be the center of the universe. And it's okay to exist in the universe and be ultimately very successful and happy. But the more aware you are of what's going on around you, the happier you're going to be because you can let the bad stuff go. You can be cautious.
Speaker 2:I want them to I want them to be able to think with their heads and choose with their hearts and make decisions with their guts. And combined, they will be successful because of that. Because then moving forward, there's emotional intelligence, and that's gonna really require, them to combine those factors to go out into the world and just take it on head on. So I want them to be strong enough to take it on. I'm raising my kids downtown in the city of Chicago because I want them to this is not I wouldn't call it the mean streets.
Speaker 2:They are very privileged, of of course, where we live. But at the same time, there's stuff that goes on, and they're seeing it firsthand. And so I want them to to get some thick skin and realize that the world is out there and be ready for it.
Speaker 1:We usually don't talk about the businesses too much, but more about the kind of environmental problems and such. But this is an interesting one, and if I may use the word, a cool one. First of all, why cars?
Speaker 2:Cars, quite honestly, were not the reason. Not at all. Cars happen to be and now we're gonna get into some puns. They happen to be a good vehicle for for living and enjoying and experiencing, but it just so happened to be what was in front of me at the time, and I was prepared. Right?
Speaker 2:They say, you know, when hard work and timing combined, that's that's luck. And so I was lucky enough to be there at the time when that was something I could take advantage of. And I've learned to embrace it, and I've become Chicago's car guy, and that's fantastic because cars do give you a feeling. We all interact with them, whether we drive in them, we ride at them, we ride in them, we look at them, we work on them. So cars are a bigger part of our life than we think, but they weren't the reason I got into this.
Speaker 1:So, you know, I I think back on, you know, me and you growing up since we're of similar ages. Right? Grease lightning, that was kind of in our rear view mirror. I'm in love with my car, queen. There's a a special connection with cars.
Speaker 1:When you and we should probably, you know, let the cat out of the sack here. You have a business that allows people to basically drive very high end cars, and it's on a racetrack, keep me honest here. Mhmm. What is the do you do you get to experience that connection, a, yourself, but, b, you know, through people coming and kinda sitting in this, like, luxury Italian car for the first time ever? What what, like, what does their face look like the first time they do that?
Speaker 1:Or when they come out of the the laps, what does that what's that experience feel like?
Speaker 2:That is why I do what I do because it's so fulfilling to watch people's lives change. You know? You have particular inflection points in life, and those create memory posts. And then the things around those memory posts are what you are left with as you grow older and and think back on the memories that you made. And so there's no way, first and foremost, that racing a Ferrari in a racetrack doesn't create a memory post.
Speaker 2:But the cool part about it is that so much of what we do and so many of the customers that we see are there with purpose because it was given as a gift by someone who loves them and knows they had been talking about Ferraris for their entire life or had a poster of a Corvette on the wall as a kid or was in the back seat of their dad's car and what is that? That's a Mustang GT. You know, all this type of stuff. That's who we entertain. And so to see them see it in real life, then be allowed to touch and drive it, and they get out and go tell their friends and family about it and share those memories, I I love going to the racetrack and seeing that.
Speaker 2:I mean I mean, whether we've had marriage proposals. We've had, we've had
Speaker 1:birds You gotta tell us what's the, like, what's the most memorable moment, right, marriage or whatever that has happened on the track or adjacent to the track that kind of you remember strongly?
Speaker 2:This one is a little emotional because the marriage proposals are nice, and, it's my birthday is nice, but it's the bucket list. It's the this is what I'm gonna do before I die moments. And those are the ones that really, you know, I'm getting I can I can feel it because those are the ones that get emotional? And, I've had plenty of people with cancer or, you know, older age, and they say, this is what I've gotta do. And then I hear from their family after they pass and say, this was the second to last thing they did, and here's the story.
Speaker 2:And because of you, you know, and I'm not taking credit or promoting the brand, but because of what we have here, I'm more at peace with it because I know how happy he or she was, you know, before they left. We even had one couple who met at one of our experiences. They drove the cars together. They ended up getting married. Unfortunately, down the road, he got ill and he passed away.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:And so she came back to the race track with his ashes, and at a 140 miles an hour, threw his ashes out the window of a Ferrari just because she wanted it to be back where it started. And I was like, holy cow. There's no way I could top that. So and that's just in the last couple of years, and we've been doing this for almost fifteen years. So the, encyclopedia I have of things like that is phenomenal.
Speaker 1:You said life changing. Did you and I'm going on a little bit of a fishing expedition here, so I apologize. But have you had people come back and say to you, that moment, that experience, I decided to change my life choices?
Speaker 2:Oh, life choices? I don't know how much credit I can take for life choices. You know?
Speaker 1:The thing we're talking about, it's between the the, you know, I'm gonna save until I die and no. Actually, I need to live for today. Is that something have you had that conversation with anybody?
Speaker 2:I have. Actually, that one goes all the way back to the beginning. I'll never forget this doctor showed up, you know, and sure doctors are successful, but he had just been saving and he'd been he had kids who he needed to put through school and he did our thing and he bought his first race car and he said, you know what? My daughters are still gonna go to school. My marriage is gonna remain intact, but I'm getting a race car because I'm not getting younger and I need to feel like this more, and I'll never forget him.
Speaker 1:I appreciate that. So so, Adam, believe it or not, we're out of time. There's only one question that is scripted. It's the only question we ask one of our guests, and it's a difficult one because it's incredibly personal. If you had to go back to 20, Adam, what would you advise him?
Speaker 2:Just do it. Just do it. You know? I was 20 when I started this business, when I started changing lives, and when I decided to to live every day. And so if just don't have any doubts, take chances and remember that all the magic happens outside your comfort zone.
Speaker 2:All of it.
Speaker 1:Adam, thank you so much for coming on the show today. An incredibly important important message. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having
Speaker 1:me.