0:04

Have you noticed how some people turn everything they touch into opportunity? In today's episode, Adam Torres shares how every just for fun idea, from comic books to gratitude live streams became a way to serve more people and build mission matters into a global media platform. This is the Your Next Success podcast, and I'm your host, Dr. Caroline Sangal I'm a life first career coach and strategist on a mission to normalize questioning your career because I believe each of us is made on purpose for a purpose only we can fulfill. The longer we live out of alignment with who we are, what we do best, and why we are here, the more we miss out. And the more the world misses out on what only we can give. The Your Next Success Podcast is where we explore how to build a career that truly fuels your life. We talk about self-discovery, smart job, search strategies, professional growth, and you'll hear stories from people who have navigated big career transitions themselves, so you can create a life, first career and become your own version of authentic success.

Caroline: 1:21

Today's guest has a gift for turning curiosity into opportunity. Adam Torres is the co-founder of Mission Matters and host of the Mission Matters series of shows. Ranked in the top 2.5% of podcasts globally. He has conducted more than 6,000 interviews and build a media branding and book publishing agency dedicated to amplifying the voices of entrepreneurs, entertainers, executives, and experts. Before Mission Matters, Adam spent over 14 years in financial services serving more than 1000 business owners and 3000 high net worth families and managing relationships for over 400 families with a cumulative net worth above$500 million. He is an international speaker, a multi-book author on business and investing, and his insights have been featured in outlets like Forbes, Yahoo Finance, Fox Business, and CBS. Today we're pulling back the curtain on the story behind the media company, the mindset behind the mission and the lens that shapes how Adam sees business money and impact. In this episode, you'll hear how Adam's childhood shaped his drive and view of money. The pattern of this started as fun and turned into business that keeps following him. The story of how he flooded office and ruined certificates became his sign to leave finance. Why he believes media and storytelling are one of the most powerful ways to serve others. And how mission matters grew into podcasts, books, PR, and events, by simply listening to what people asked for. If you're someone who has always seen the world a little differently or you feel a pull towards something bigger than your current role, this episode will help you trust that and step more fully into your own mission. Welcome, Adam to Your Next Success. I have been looking forward to this conversation for weeks now, so thank you so much for being a guest.

Adam Torres: 3:28

Oh, Caroline, I'm excited to be here and have some fun. Let's do it.

Caroline: 3:32

Awesome. Let's do it. Okay. We are gonna get to all of the amazing work and huge mission-driven enterprise that you have now. Extremely successful. Like we're gonna get to that. We're teasing that, but I'd love to kind of like dial it back like way, way, way, way back. Tell me about growing up. Where did you grow up? And then we're talking like early childhood. What are the things that you really, really love to do?

Adam Torres: 4:00

Yeah, I'll say that, we're going way back, right? Well, first off, I'm from the southwest side of Detroit, Michigan, so I'll start there. So, mid-Westerner, I've been in LA now for 10 years or so, but, so started this journey in Michigan, and I think even from a really young age, my mom and dad, they just kind of knew that I was gonna be somewhat entrepreneurial. I just kind of understood and thought about business and money at a pretty young age. I still remember my first understanding of like buying in bulk and buying like gumballs. I was probably like five or six years old. I remember if you bought'em one at a time, let's say it was, it was 5 cents or something like that but if you bought'em in bulk, you had a deal. Like, so I remember like pretty early on in life, just kind of like understanding money. Like even at five, six years old, I knew. Just how money works somehow.

Caroline: 4:50

Did they give you experiences to like, you're the one paying the bill or you're the one doing the thing? Or how did you get that?

Adam Torres: 4:56

You know how I know my very first job was ever?

Caroline: 4:59

Tell me.

Adam Torres: 5:00

Guess

Caroline: 5:02

I mean, I know your job's later on, but like what?

Adam Torres: 5:06

Folding socks 5 cents a sock.

Caroline: 5:09

Nice, nice. Ours was, a dollar an A, 50 cents a B.

Adam Torres: 5:14

Oh no.

Caroline: 5:14

So

Adam Torres: 5:15

That's the interesting part. That part wasn't rewarded and it was like, it was always something extra that was just, you had to do that.

Caroline: 5:22

Mm-hmm.

Adam Torres: 5:23

It was

Caroline: 5:23

Interesting. And ours was the other way. You had to do all of the chores and jobs and contributing. But the school stuff, you could get, but that discrepancy.

Adam Torres: 5:33

Was maybe, writing. So I remember a dollar a page for a book report, and that was over and above outside of school. That was just like my dad would take me to the library, we'd go get a book and then I'd read it, write a book report I'd a dollar a page.

Caroline: 5:47

Oh, that's awesome. And now you're,

Adam Torres: 5:49

Good, good reader because of that early on. Like, because I wanted that dollar. And then

Caroline: 5:54

No, I get it.

Adam Torres: 5:55

Later on, the book, I would just go for a thicker book and then my dad would say, well, wait a minute, wait a minute. This kid may get too much money on these things. Oh, does that count as a writing gig? Wow. Since I was a teenager. I better update that bio.

Caroline: 6:09

Now, tell me, what did your parents do? Like what was that of work?

Adam Torres: 6:13

My mom was a social worker, so she was 40 plus years at working with at-risk youth. So I mean, the least of these is what she called them. And that was like, unfortunate she lose children that she work with every summer, every year, like to the most horrific things you could think about. So it's things that people don't normally understand or know, maybe always go on in this country. So she worked with at-risk youth, so really her entire career. My dad was a entrepreneur. I would say he owned a small business. He painted cars, like high-end painting cars and stuff like that, like highend paint jobs and all that kind of stuff, that was his thing.

Caroline: 6:49

Like the designs and like what now is wraps or like the really good stuff to make sure that there was no orange peel and all that.

Adam Torres: 6:55

Yeah, he was like a craftsman. He painted cars and he worked kind of when he wanted to. So like, people would wait and they'd wait and they'd just show up at the house, like, are you ready to start yet? And he just, he couldn't get into a car'cause when he did, it had to be perfect. And he knew he was gonna do it. He was gonna do too much work, and everybody else knew it too. And he was gonna do more than he charged for, and he was gonna just go further and further into the project. And he's a craftsman. It was, he had a different, like, love for that was his sport. Like, it just had to be perfect. So if you could get him to do your car, then you would have something special.

Caroline: 7:31

I see. And did you have any siblings?

Adam Torres: 7:33

No, it's just me.

Caroline: 7:34

And so you had this interest in, you know, starting to have this interest in money. Definitely in now you were a paid author what else did you do for fun? Like, what did you do? What were those kind of things that fascinated you?

Adam Torres: 7:48

I talk about this with friends pretty often, and most things surrounded went around business some way, shape or form. I don't know if you think about. So I can tell you everything started for fun, by the way. It didn't start with the idea of a business, but then it turned into a business somehow. So, you know, the normal stuff baseball cards, things like that. Comic books, collected comic books. But then it always started. It began as fun and then it turned into a business. So then I began selling comic books and I'll give you another example, Christmas, you know how kids get all these toys and stuff like this, right? Like when we were kids. So then, I remember growing up like. X-Men like those figures, they were really popular. And I remember still, this is when I first learned about the concept of rarity and like what that meant and price and supply and demands. I still remember my first supply and demand, and I think, geez, if some, somebody can call me out in the comments but I think I haven't thought about these stories in ages, but this, I might have wrote a book where this story's in for some reason. It's been a while, but that might be an earlier release. But I still do remember this story, that was my first supply and demand understanding is I was, I'm at a comic book store show and like a Wolverine, or it was Wolverine or it might have been, Star Wars. No, it was Wolverine, I'm pretty sure, and I'm, I'm asking the person, how much was it? And he said something like, let's call it$50 or whatever it was way back when, so that's really expensive. And then there was one right next to it that was like$5 and I'm like, well, why is that one$50 and why is the other one$5? And I remember understanding that he kind of explained, well, this one's rare. There's not that many of those. And I just kind of knew pretty early on. Wow. So if you bought something and it was rare and it was old, is what he said, it was old. So it was like a collector's item is what he explained because this was released a long time ago. It was old. And so in the future it's gonna be worth even more. So I understood that. So then from that moment on, and I still have these, by the way, they're, they're locked away in Michigan at a friend's house. But from that moment on during Christmas, I started asking for action figures and I never opened them.

Caroline: 9:47

Oh, you were one of those. How about Happy Meal toys? Did you keep your Happy Meal toys unopened? I tried to keep'em for the longest. But

Adam Torres: 9:54

I don't know if you remember my candy example from earlier, but I had a stockpile of candy. So I give some candy, I get to play and break everybody else's toys. I go put mine away. So I still had a lot of fun.

Caroline: 10:06

Yours were pristine and the others were to play with. Yeah.

Adam Torres: 10:09

And I still have them. They're still in the box. They're still like, perfect.

Caroline: 10:13

And what are we waiting for, for you to like try to unearth them?

Adam Torres: 10:17

I'll tell you how random it is where my head was and I still remember my mom saying, who is this kid? You're not my kid, what are you? I don't know, just old soul or whatever that is. I remember being a kid and my parents trying to, me explaining to them why I didn't open the toys. And I'm like, well, one day they're gonna be worth money. And they're like, but when? I said, maybe in my lifetime, maybe not, maybe my kids will benefit from them. I don't know. And I'm like, seven years old saying this.

Caroline: 10:42

I get it.

Adam Torres: 10:42

Who is this kid? You weirdo, freaking alien.

Caroline: 10:48

They knew you were destined for greatness. Yeah.

Adam Torres: 10:50

I don't know about the dust and for greatness part, but I just saw the world differently. I feel like God gives people lenses to see a world in a certain way, and I just have a certain lens, that's all.

Caroline: 11:00

And so tell me about that like, when did God become part of your, was there a specific time that you remember or was it, I think you've said before that you, you grew up Catholic. I'm Catholic. I grew up and for me it just always was. So I'm just curious, is that other people's experience or.

Adam Torres: 11:18

For me it always was. It's just always been an ongoing conversation. I don't think it ever stopped or I don't remember when it started. I just kind of always knew and it always started. I think maybe, probably when you start going to church or for me, I'll speak for myself. When you start going to church, like early when you're young, young, young, I just kind of have memories sometimes of being there and this, and I just never knew anything else. Honestly, I can't really relate, no offense to anybody else watching this, but I just can't relate to somebody that doesn't see that part in their life.'Cause it's just always been part of mine.

Caroline: 11:50

I think I was given the opportunities and experiences to try to come to know love and serve. Do you have a specific early memory of something related to religion or church that kind of helped form you?

Adam Torres: 12:02

I don't know if it helped formed me, or formed me, but I will say one of my favorite memories would be going to like midnight mass and stuff like that during the holidays, and like going there and trying to stay up so bad. Like, gotta

Caroline: 12:14

You get the candle?

Adam Torres: 12:15

Stay up.

Caroline: 12:16

The fire hazard candles. Like, and children got to hold'em too with like the little paper thing.

Adam Torres: 12:21

Oh, I remember.

Caroline: 12:21

Catch the wax. Right.

Adam Torres: 12:23

Thought about that in ages. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I haven't seen one of those in a long time.

Caroline: 12:27

I know, I know. I think they're probably not safe anymore or something, but, uh, yeah.

Adam Torres: 12:31

And the smell of the incense, whatever that is, or frankincense, or, I don't know what it's called.

Caroline: 12:35

Yeah. It's, it's good stuff.

Adam Torres: 12:36

I just remember that feeling, being young and just feeling kind of like safe. I just remember always feeling safe in that environment.

Caroline: 12:44

Yeah.

Adam Torres: 12:44

And so that was always a good feeling.

Caroline: 12:46

And so then as you kind of like grew up a little bit, how about middle school and all that, what fascinated you? What kind of things did you get lost?

Adam Torres: 12:54

At that point, which is kind of fun, is music was coming around and so music, I started becoming more aware, I believe, of music and what was going on around me. And around that time and this story, I know where this one's at. This one is actually in a book that I have coming out in November, actually it's coming out pretty soon, 1 billion podcasts.

Caroline: 13:13

I want that.

Adam Torres: 13:14

I'm giving them away too. So in all sincerity. So I'll give you a copy and everybody that's listening, I'll give a copy to, that's what we wrote them for, or what I wrote them for. But that being said, in this book, middle school's kind of interesting'cause that's when I started understanding, I'd say wider lens and wider view of business. So, around that time, Master P came out who is forever to watch that doesn't know who that is, he's a famous rapper. And then also Cash Money Records came out, and that was another famous organization in hip hop music. And because I'm in Detroit, it's heavily influenced by hip hop music. So if you think about the demographics, heavily, heavily influenced. I remember for the first time ever seeing people on TV that were like people that I knew, like from my neighborhood. And the difference though was that, and for those of you that don't know their story, so Masterpiece signed a huge distribution deal. It was something like 200,$300 million and this was unheard of back then, especially for urban music. And he really changed the entire face of what that looked like. And how did he do it? He did it from selling records out of his trunk. Impossible. Like to think about what that even means to change the entire music business by selling records out of the trunk of your car. That's something that I could relate to as a kid. And Cash Money, they did something very similar. And so how that influenced me was, I'm thinking, I'm sitting there thinking like, wow, it opened my eyes to like what was possible in the world because again, I didn't come from somewhere nice. I still remember, and I know this now, that it wasn't normal. You don't know this when you're growing up. But I know this now that it wasn't normal as I remember, how police officers come and they give you your talk or whatever, they scare people and this and that. Well, at my school it was a little, probably a little different'cause the numbers were different in the area. And basically, I still remember in like sixth grade or no, might have been seventh grade or something. Officer comes in and he says, hey, look to your left, look to your right. And remember, we're seventh graders and he's like, one of, you'll be dead and another one of you will be in jail before you're 21. And that's the actual numbers, by the way. He wasn't, he was right. When you think about that, you're kind of living in fear when you understand what that means. And that's real numbers. And so I, you don't know what you don't know back then, that it was that bad in that area at that particular time. So you don't know, like you don't know. You thought it's, you think it's normal? I didn't know until I got to college and I'm like, what? That isn't what you guys got at your middle school talk from a police officer. They're like no, adam, nah, we didn't grow up there.

Caroline: 15:44

Well that's interesting.

Adam Torres: 15:45

So from that, I was very aware is the point. And so I was always thinking about after that business got serious to me, I'm like, oh wow, I gotta make money. I like money matters. And I have to, which is the title of my first book by the way. I have to figure this thing out. So, I took kind of some of those skills that my dad had which was painting and I had already been airbrushing and then I started making clothes, so I would airbrush. So getting back to hiphop, one of my earliest like shirts that was a hit, if you will, was like the Wu-Tang logo on a sweatshirt.'Cause it was easy enough for me to do. People loved it. It was really popular. And it sold. And it was a lot of fun to see, like kids in school wearing my clothes. It was a lot of fun.

Caroline: 16:25

How did you sell it? How did people come to even know that you had it? Was it just talking to people? Word of mouth or?

Adam Torres: 16:31

Well, I mean, we're kids. It's middle school, they're just my buddies and it's like, yeah, I airbrush. They know what airbrushing is during that time, that was very popular and people would go to the mall all the time and wear airbrush clothes. So I'm like, hey oh, you got that Wu-Tang album? Look at that. Let me put that big old W on a sweatshirt for you. Bring a sweatshirt. And it grew blessed and it grew from there.

Caroline: 16:52

Wow, that's kind of cool.

Adam Torres: 16:54

And I'll tell you what became even funnier, getting called into the principal office and I'm asking like, hey, Adam, you can't like be selling clothes at school. And I'm like, what do you mean? I have a big old knot of money in my pocket? I got like a grand on me.

Caroline: 17:07

But of all the things you could sell at school, I think that's a good one.

Adam Torres: 17:12

Right. That's what

Caroline: 17:13

You know?

Adam Torres: 17:14

That was what I was thinking. Like, I didn't, wasn't hurting anybody. It was good.

Caroline: 17:18

Yeah. Interesting.

Adam Torres: 17:20

Not agree with the copyright. It's not like I probably owe them a 7-year-old Adam might owe them a check, trademark infringement.

Caroline: 17:29

But we didn't worry about that then, right?

Adam Torres: 17:31

Sorry, RZA. Sorry, RZA.

Caroline: 17:34

Okay. So you have this entrepreneurial spirit and bringing in this artistic side, and you liked music. Now, did you play music or you just loved listening to it?

Adam Torres: 17:44

It was just, it was part of the culture. That was it. It was everywhere. That was like, Tupac was out, Biggie was out. Like, that's it. You couldn't go anywhere without, that was like, that was like a lifeline for the inner city, like, period. It was a lifeline. That's the first time that you'd see people that looked like you on tv. Like it was just a lifeline. It's never happened in history.

Caroline: 18:05

And then who found out about that high school that you went to? Like how did you get to go there?

Adam Torres: 18:10

So it was actually across the street from my middle school. So my middle school, it was called UPS, I think it might still be around, it's called University Public School. It was Wayne State Charter School and a fun fact, it was actually the very first charter school in the history of Michigan. So it's the first one ever John Engler signed, I think he was the governor at that time. He signed the document that allowed it to happen. Wayne State University was kind of like oversaw it. So the college, and it was the very first experiment of a charter school in Michigan, and that's where I went. And it was by lottery.

Caroline: 18:41

Oh wow. And so who found out your mom or your dad or,'cause like I,

Adam Torres: 18:45

My mama. I'm sure it had to be my mama'cause she was involved in the community, remember? So she was the second, and this was probably, this was after this point, by the way. I don't know where she was working at this point, but she was always involved in the community. And then years after that, let's call it, I don't know, five years or so after me being in middle school, so I was already a teenager. She was the second employee of Covenant House Michigan, which she stayed basically the end of her career.

Caroline: 19:08

And what was Covenant House? What did they help to do?

Adam Torres: 19:11

So they're huge. So if you Google them, they have different mandates in different areas, but they're mainly working with at-risk youth, women. a lot of at-risk populations. And then every state's gonna be a little bit different in what they do, but they, everything from housing to, it's a huge organization.

Caroline: 19:27

That's awesome to give so many needed services to the population that might not otherwise have access. So then you go to this really cool high school after going to an amazing middle school. So you're already kind of being set apart, but even, even then in that middle school, they still had the look to your left, look to your right kind of conversation. Come on. Yeah.

Adam Torres: 19:47

Well, if you think about it, well, we went outside and right across in the park, right there was a Cass Park and like that was kind of like our playground. That was no, like walk in the park, so to speak. That's in the middle of downtown Detroit and not a really, a good period. So the reality is, the drug addicts, all the worst things you can see, they're right there. They're right there. Like you're in the middle of it. Like location wise. The actual middle school was in office building. It took up a floor of an office building. So think about like, you go to work and you're like, this, that's what we did. And it was a second floor. And it was like one of those like nine to five kind of deals, or eight to five, it was a little extended school day, the whole thing. It was a big experiment. We were the first guinea pigs for charter school. So I'm gonna say they didn't know what they were doing, but, they did well with what they were doing, what it kind of designed, you gotta start somewhere, right? Like, they did a good job I feel.

Caroline: 20:35

Okay, so now you go to this cool high school and somehow this high school, you don't have to be there the whole day. Tell me about that.

Adam Torres: 20:42

So, I don't think that was everybody's experience. I just know that it was mine. So, it was called college preparatory, which, it's a college preparatory school, which you would think that all high schools are, but that's not necessarily the case. Like, atleast it wasn't the back then. So this one was specifically designed to where people that went to it were supposed to go to college afterwards. So there was zero tolerance policy on fighting. If you were in a fight, whether you started it, you didn't start it like you're kicked out immediately. And so it made it a very safe place. And I think it was one of the few, and this is way back when, I don't know what it's like now in Michigan, but this was one of the schools that, if I'm not mistaken, didn't have metal detectors because the people that were there, ultimately if anything happened, you were just kicked out with zero tolerance, not even asking a question, like, your fault, not a fault, whatever, you're just kicked out. So it was actually a really safe school, in my opinion. nothing really happened on campus, that's for sure or else you just weren't gonna see the campus again, basically. So, people took it very seriously. It was college preparatory, they had a bunch of different tracks you could do. They had a art one, a music one a business one, of course. And I took the business one and ultimately I got my third year, so 11th grade I got the opportunity to interview at a firm called, it was Roney and Company originally. And then it was bought out by Raymond James and Associates, which is a larger brand that is out there still today. Essentially, it's a brokerage firm for anybody that's not familiar with Raymond James and Associates. So it's a brokerage firm where you go to get, you know, retirement done, insurance, that kind of thing. So I was able to interview for an internship working in their IRA department. I got it. And then, so I spent really my third and fourth year going to the office. So I'd go to school maybe like two hours, three hours in the morning. I'd get my couple of classes and then I'd go to the office and it'd be work. So it felt just like, you're going to work that so I started, I like to say I started work my maybe third year of high school. I was already in the workforce, but maybe if we go far enough back, remember I was a paid writer.

Caroline: 22:41

Right. All of that.

Adam Torres: 22:42

So I went from freelance paid writer to, now I'm hitting the big time. I'm working at a brokerage firm.

Caroline: 22:50

How did you select the business one? Out of all those choices, what led you to choosing the business thing, not the art thing or something of that, or did you have this money?

Adam Torres: 23:01

No, it was talking to people. So like my, my counselor, my parents, thinking about like, well if you think, if we think about back then, I think there was a misconception now because, well, there was no digital media like it there is today. There was no obviously, there was no social media at this time. So like the concept that an of an artist means you're gonna be broke. Unless you're one of the very few that are like really good. If you're not really good, you're gonna be broke. So there was no, like, even today, like in the day of AI, like technically speaking, you could just have really good taste and not have the tactile skills that you could put together projects. And make something amazing and light and world changing without being physically able to create art with your own hands yourself. So back then it was just basically like I was told, I wanna be an artist, you're gonna be broke. Then I'm like, I don't wanna be broke. That's what led me to say, all right, business art, I like'em both. Let me go business.

Caroline: 23:59

What did you think success meant, or what was your view in that, let's say teenage years of aha, this is what it means to be successful?

Adam Torres: 24:09

I don't think, take it a step further. I'm talking about survival. I'm not talking about success. I'm talking about I wanna be alive at 21 and I don't wanna be in jail. Like,

Caroline: 24:20

I got it.

Adam Torres: 24:21

We're not,

Caroline: 24:21

But you had some of entrepreneurial spirit of like money, right.

Adam Torres: 24:25

But that's not entrepreneurial spirit. That's survival. Think about it, I'm six years old. I'm in sixth grade and a police officer's telling me, you're gonna be dead or in jail by the time you're 21. That was still a reality. I was still losing friends in high school.

Caroline: 24:40

Gotcha. So it wasn't about the, it was about,

Adam Torres: 24:44

Or a car, this or that's about can I live past that age?

Caroline: 24:48

Gotcha. Yeah. So this is your viewpoint?

Adam Torres: 24:51

It's very different. No, it's very different.'Cause you have to see the surrounding, you don't get to, I'm in a good high school. I'm in a good place, a good middle school, but I'm still in the city, so what that means is, I'm going to play basketball and one day somebody doesn't show up and you find out a week later that they're dead and you're like, oh, so that's a different, we're not thinking about success.

Caroline: 25:14

Yeah. I got you.

Adam Torres: 25:16

What that is.

Caroline: 25:16

So you're looking for your ticket to live.

Adam Torres: 25:20

I just wanna get to the next year, the next summer, that's it. And try to stay outta trouble. and it's a different mindset, right? It is different. That's why, and I do think a lot of that rightfully or wrongfully, but fuels my motivation today. And it's not anymore to like be alive, but it's just kind of like hardwired. So people say, how can you do so many interviews? Or how can you, and I know we'll get to that later, but they're like, how can you do this? How can you do that? I'm like, man, I could be digging. I could have been digging ditches. Are you kidding me? Where's my next interview, Caroline?

Caroline: 25:49

Yeah, yeah. Let's get it done. Okay. And so you have this like view, ability to now work in an office with other people in this financial,

Adam Torres: 25:59

I didn't know anybody in my neighborhood that wore a suit or tie. I can't remember a single person.

Caroline: 26:03

And did you have to wear that in high school going there?

Adam Torres: 26:07

I didn't, but I did wear, I wore business casual and, but no, so I didn't in high school, so I didn't know anybody. I didn't know, I didn't learn how to tie a tie until college. I don't think I had any other tie until college. I remember exactly when I learned how to tie a tie.

Caroline: 26:21

Who taught you how? Who taught it?

Adam Torres: 26:23

I pledged a fraternity and in that fraternity it was called Phi Iota Alpha. And in that fraternity it was part of the process. And so one of my frat brothers taught me how to tie a tie.'Cause I didn't know how to tie a tie. He knew how to tie a tie. His dad went to work in hat in our tie like many others did that were in college life. That just wasn't my experience. So it's, and it was a red tie and that's the reason why I wear a red tie. That's part of the process so that goes back to, so that fraternity goes back to 1931 in the United States and further back in Latin America, there's some other ties there. And that's part of, it's the red tie. So that's why I always wear, people always ask me that, and I don't usually tell them, and I'm just like, oh, I just like red. But that's the reason why.

Caroline: 27:04

That's so neat. Yeah. That was part of, oh, that's so cool. Okay, so how did you find out about the college that you went to? How did you find out about, because it seemed like that was a pretty selective institution. Yeah.

Adam Torres: 27:19

I got really lucky in all realities. So, whatever somebody feels about this topic, I know it can go both ways. So I'm not, I don't really have a stance, but I'm a product of affirmative action 100%. My grades were not good enough for me to get into an honors college, so I was a product of it. So whether people are for it, against it, I know it's no longer around and there's all kinds of other things, but hey, I benefited from it. So I went to James Madison College, which was again, honors college within Michigan State University. It was a great experience. I was highly undereducated to be able to do that, to be in that honors college. But I will say that I had amazing professors that I still remember my very first paper. It was five pages on your idea of justice. It was something like that. And, I might have wrote 60 pages I couldn't do it. And the reason why it was so hard to do, and it's still hard to do, is because you couldn't use any, any resources. Like there's no, you couldn't use any money, it had to be all your thoughts. It

Caroline: 28:20

Interesting.

Adam Torres: 28:22

You couldn't quote anything else. it was all your thoughts on what it was. And then, that's a hard assignment. And so it really just, it's how you think is what it comes down to and how you can articulate an argument, which I was highly underdeveloped on that side. I just didn't understand. I wasn't that educated. So my professors, they took a liking. They saw that I'd work and I'd just be there. I'd just be there, I'd be help. They'd be helping me along the way, and I'd just keep on working and working. And like I said, I might wrote, she didn't, I think she finally accepted Ms. Burgess off the top of my head, was one of the professor's name. And she finally accepted that paper like the last week of class.

Caroline: 28:57

Wow.

Adam Torres: 28:58

She worked with me the whole semester I probably wrote 60 pages and she worked with me on revision, revision, revision.'Cause she knew, I mean, they could tell in retrospect, think about it, you got this 18-year-old kid from the city, rougher than ever. Like, doesn't like fit, not doesn't fit in as in people don't like him. People love me. I was always, God gave me that, whatever that is to where I could socialize with any group that never mattered. I was always fine on the social part of things. So I was never an outcast or anything. That's just not part of my story. I was always accepted even when I shouldn't have been, for whatever reason, people did, didn't matter what social scene it was. But that being said, it must have been, in retrospect, looking at me if I was in my shoes. Now seeing this 18-year-old coming in from Detroit, from southwest side of Detroit in this honors college. I must have stuck out like a sore thumb.

Caroline: 29:48

And you are willing to do the work and ask for help though. But where did you get that? Right? Because I am not saying anything about the beautiful humans that live in my household, but some teenagers are willing to ask for help and other teenagers think they already know it all. So how did you have that desire or ability to just be like, you know what, help me understand how to do this thing?

Adam Torres: 30:13

Well, I already understood that nobody like succeeds by themselves. That's the benefit of probably being from a rough environment is that I didn't, I didn't make it out of that environment by myself. There were many people that allowed me to get out of that environment. Like literally there were decisions made that I'll never know about that said, Hey, no, leave him alone. So I knew, like I knew that there's a community that's allowing me to rise up and to go to college. So I already knew that you need other people'cause you don't make it outta that environment alone, period. It doesn't work that way. So in college I just kind of, and that's how I see in business too. Like when I think about different levels and things like that, like I know that you can't do things by yourself. You need people, period. So every different level of people, even if it's just fulfillment of product nowadays, like if I were talking about my present day business, like I just knew. So I guess maybe being in such an extreme environment, I'm not talking about anybody in your household, but I'm just saying it's a luxury to think that you can do something by yourself. It can hurt you, or help you, but that's a luxury to think that you have the skill or ability to do something by yourself. And maybe you do, maybe you don't. But in my end, that wasn't even a question, it's not even a possibility. You might as well said I was on Mars. And that fuels my, I think that fuels my interview style nowadays, by the way. It's just like,'cause I don't know, even when I know something, I mean, I'm trying to draw stuff out. It's just always new to me. You know what I mean?

Caroline: 31:44

Absolutely. I love that curiosity. Just the ability to ask whatever questions because how else are you gonna learn? Why not ask somebody who's been there, done it? Tell me about this idea or desire to travel and go see other places. I know you had that experience as for some study abroad, and I think I was listening to something earlier about like, you were 18 and decided to go to Europe, but like prior to that, had you traveled as a family or like where.

Adam Torres: 32:11

That's a good question. I remember going to like, definitely not internationally. I have a memory. I know I went to Puerto Rico when I was really young. I have a memory and I met my grandfather once before he passed. But that was like, I was really young. I don't remember that. The only actual memory, I have a vague memory of that is only actual memory I have from that, how you remember pain. I remember the seatbelt burning my arm'cause it was so hot. That's it. I was a little guy. I don't remember what age I'd have to.

Caroline: 32:38

Yeah.

Adam Torres: 32:39

I was five or six

Caroline: 32:39

That metal part. Yeah.

Adam Torres: 32:41

Young. Like I was young when I went out there. But other than that, I don't know. We might have did a little trip, but I don't think so. Maybe, not too much. Definitely not as a family or nothing like that. My dad didn't really travel. He does, he doesn't now either.

Caroline: 32:53

So how did you have this desire to even think, like, you know what I feel like doing? I feel like being 18 and just going to Europe. How did that come about?

Adam Torres: 33:04

It was working at Raymond James. I remember one gentleman,'cause I had, the brokers were all around me. So even like somebody, and you gotta think like during that time it was like 98 to 2000 was the time period. That's before the tech wreck. So back then there was so much money in the market. Anything with the dot com was like going up. So you have all these brokers that have money and expense accounts and all the brokerage firms are making money and this and that. So they'd be coming back from, to me, an exotic trip was going to Chicago.

Caroline: 33:31

Right.

Adam Torres: 33:31

So that was like they come back and I'd see their receipts for like, oh yeah, I was out there entertaining clients and this and that and, you know, and they'd have a couple thousand dollars receipt from going for like a day or two or something back then. Money. That's crazy. Like a couple of thousand as be like 5,000, 10,000 nowadays, for the weekend and out there entertaining clients. Again, this was back then, the rules were different by the way, for everybody listening when they say that. They're very, very different now, but it was, it was different time periods. Anyway, that was like a miracle. I'm like, man, like to spend that much money and to have clients entertain it, that was like, you might as well be the president of the United States. You're doing that. So I just always knew that piece of it and even hearing that people could go somewhere else, and I remember collecting postcards very young just because I'd be like, wow, that's amazing. Like, the fact that somebody could go somewhere. I don't know, I just never went anywhere. So I was like, one day I want to go somewhere. And, I just kind of remembered it. I'm like, I definitely want to go somewhere and see things'cause I also, I was very aware that I really didn't know anything. I was aware that my lenses and my growth, like,'cause again, there was no social media and obviously I didn't know what would develop with social media, but I just knew that like, I didn't know anything. And I knew that the environment I grew up in was pretty backwards. Like, and I knew that certain people had like tape recorders going in their head. And I was aware of my age pretty young. So because I was so aware of my age, I love playing basketball. So if you're playing basketball and you hear these older men talking about the good old days about when they were playing basketball in middle school or high school, I'm like, what? Like, you, dude, you guys are old. Like, that was the good old days that game winning shot in eighth grade. Like, no offense, and I'm not dissing them. If that's their memory and if that's what they did, how hard was their life afterwards that that was the high point at that moment.

Caroline: 35:16

Yeah.

Adam Torres: 35:16

I'm not insulting them. I just knew that that's not what I wanted. I was like, there's gotta be something else in the world because life is too hard for there not to be something else in the world.

Caroline: 35:26

So when was this Europe trip, was it part of your study abroad or was it just you on your own in some?

Adam Torres: 35:35

Combination, there was some stuff planned ahead and I went and for the first one and I also wanted to take some Spanish classes and some other things. So some things I got credit for, some things I didn't get credit for, but I knew I just wanted to go. I was like, let's go see what this is'cause I need to go somewhere and also I read a lot, remember? So i've read about these things and way later in my life. So let's say in my early twenties I have a similar feeling where I'm reading the Bible and this is after college I already live in Phoenix at this point, or Scottsdale, and I'm thinking about it and I'm reading the Bible and I'm thinking about it and I'm like, Israel. I guess,'cause I don't know, as a Catholic, you grew up where I speak for myself. I grew up, and when you read the Bible, it almost seems fictional. Like you don't know, like see a Galilee, like, can, can this,

Caroline: 36:18

exactly.

Adam Torres: 36:18

Place? Does it still, can you actually see that? Still? Is that a place? But because it's so fictionalized in my head as a kid, you're reading it since you're a kid to me it didn't seem like a real place. So I went and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is a real place. It just changes things. Like, so circling back to when I was 18, I'd read stories, I'd seen things, and through books I'd say I'd seen them or thought I'd saw them. And I'm like, are these places real? Like, I just wanted to see it. Like I wanted to see it and that's what led to, I have to get over there.

Caroline: 36:49

Gotcha. So you have this desire, it's like an experiential learning, like you're learning and now you wanna be part of that and actually be in there and you're brave enough and willing enough to just do it and go. Now when you did some of these travels, like, did you go with friends or?

Adam Torres: 37:04

Solo traveler. I was just out there, I didn't know anybody wanted to go to Europe.

Caroline: 37:08

What did your mom say? Good. Have fun, or?

Adam Torres: 37:11

Oh yeah, for sure. They knew I mean, come on, I survived Detroit. What are you talking about? That's the other part is that you survive, you're okay. I mean, it's fine.

Caroline: 37:20

That's true. That's true.

Adam Torres: 37:21

Be crazier than that. They know. I mean, you have a different sense of danger and where to be, where not to be. So I don't think there was any worry there.

Caroline: 37:29

Did you have any go-to favorite prayers?

Adam Torres: 37:32

I don't think so. Mine is a constant conversation. I just talk. I have a normal conver it's not pretty.

Caroline: 37:40

Yeah. It took me till I was 30 something to realize that I could pause and listen that before I was just talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. And then somebody had to be like, oh, go to the blessed sacrament chapel and I don't know what you should do, but just go ask him. And I'm like,

Adam Torres: 37:57

I like that.

Caroline: 37:58

What are you talking about? Ask him, you know, I was, I showed up.

Adam Torres: 38:01

Do you do it verbally ask or verbal out loud? Or do you,

Caroline: 38:04

kind of like in my head ask, but then I just have to listen.

Adam Torres: 38:08

Hmm.

Caroline: 38:08

Do you ever do the listen?

Adam Torres: 38:10

I talk out loud.

Caroline: 38:11

Oh, that's cool.

Adam Torres: 38:12

I don't know if it's cool if you're here and you're just like, who's Adam talking to? And now my mom, unfortunately, my mom passed. I'll talk to her out loud too. I'll be like, come on, mom and what's funny is I have some friends that knew her as well, I'll talk out loud with them to her. I'll be like, mom, they're picking on me, come on, get done. And then they'll start talking there, they'll be like, no, we're not. It's,

Caroline: 38:34

Everybody's talking to you.

Adam Torres: 38:35

You can't hide now, Adam. She knows all. It's,

Caroline: 38:39

Well, that's too, yeah, that's true.

Adam Torres: 38:41

It's ridiculous.

Caroline: 39:24

Okay, so you become this big financial career related person after college, right? And just immerse yourself in that world. Is it just, you just happened into it from doing the brokerage stuff and all of that, and then now you're going to do that thing and work in offices like you had been in, or what was the draw there? How did it, how did it unfold?

Adam Torres: 39:48

I think that was in my subconscious, like I just went back to that, but I wasn't going there first though, my plan was to become a lawyer. Like that was always the goal. And I was accepted into law school actually, and so you know, in college, get a bunch of internships, things like that. So one of the notable internships I had, I worked for a lobbyist, which was awesome. They started the Michigan Equine partnership so I got to know a little bit about lobbying. Then I worked in the executive office of who, the Attorney general at that time. His name Mike Cox and awesome experience. I'm like on the top floor and like his office is right down there and I'm just like, I'm in awe. Like it's a celebrity to me. I'm like, this guy's on tv. Like all these other things. Like, I don't know. I'm at the capitol in the state capitol. And it was just amazing to me. I'm like, wow, this is the coolest thing ever. And it was all slated. I was supposed to start in law school in right at the Capitol, and then I'd go to college and then I probably worked either in politics or something else like there, and that was supposed to be the next step in my career. And I had to wait between, I think it was like a six month to eight months, something like that. Maybe it was a year wait until starting law school. And during that time I had a good buddy of mine named Adam. He's also Adam and he worked at this place called Rock Financial at that time and that was if you grew up in Michigan that was like the big, that was Dan Gilbert, the owner of Cleveland Cavs. He owns the Rock Financial and now it's known as Rocket, I believe. But it went from Rock Financial to then Quicken Loans and then Rock and then ultimately I think it's Rocket today. Having that first job, I thought I'd be there until law school started and then something happened. I was good like I was real good and I learned about, so they had this, I'll take you to the early days. They had this thing where when the phone rang, you would have, a bell would go off. And so when the bell went off, whoever picked up the phone, got that call and that was an inbound lead. And so Caroline, getting back to the old school work ethic, I literally slept there.

Caroline: 41:44

Wow.

Adam Torres: 41:45

And I go to the gym in the morning and I'd take a shower and stuff like that. I had a house, by the way. I had a house and all that stuff. So,

Caroline: 41:51

Yeah.

Adam Torres: 41:51

Like I had to just FYI, it wasn't out of poverty. It was out of,

Caroline: 41:55

Desire to win. Yeah.

Adam Torres: 41:57

It was like, I wanted money. I wanted competition. And I think my first, like actual, after you're done with the training program, which that amazing training program. I remember meeting Dan Gilbert in the training class. Absolutely amazing business leader. I've written about him many times in different books that I've written, and he's just awesome. I remember literally sleeping, at my desk with one hand on the phone, the other hand on my arm and that bell rang. I could probably do it today. Rock Financial. This is Adam, how can I help you? I could probably still do it today and I've signed loan documents at like 2:00 AM 3:00 AM'cause people like I, what I realized is there's service workers, there's other people. That, like have off hours and people would be so shocked that somebody answered the phone

Caroline: 42:41

Hmm.

Adam Torres: 42:42

be like, wait, I thought I was gonna leave a message. And I'm like, leave a message. We gotta get you alone. Why? What are you calling in so late for? And I'd be let's get this done right now. so sometimes they'd come back in, like the staff would come back in, my boss, all that, and I'd have a loan doc sign that they didn't even know that was,

Caroline: 42:59

Wow.

Adam Torres: 43:00

And they'd be like, where'd that come from? I did it last night. They're like, what do you mean you did it last night? So that's the difference there. And my first month, long story short, I won, like I still remember the name of the caveman sales award. That was the most coveted prize on our team. And for a new person to get it, that was impossible. Like there'd been people that had worked there for years that didn't get it. And so I, for a new person to get it, I was number, I was like top, I'd say top 1% or something like that of the, the hires within a certain bracket'cause they bracketed'em, obviously based on new people at versus not. So I started make, we were basically printing money at that time, so that's the key, making a lot of money. I think my first check, I don't remember if it was quite 10,000, but it was close. And that's my first commission, out of the training class. So law school kind of got forgot after that. When I started thinking about if I work really hard over this, I might start at like 40K. I just made 10K this month.

Caroline: 43:55

Gotcha, gotcha. No, so yeah. So you see this taste of,

Adam Torres: 43:59

Then numbers, by the way. So I'm like, I guess I'm pretty good at this. And then I started going down the sales and the financial route. That's where it began.

Caroline: 44:07

And then how did you switch from, like what place? Or I guess was this where the Israel thing came in after?

Adam Torres: 44:13

Switched. They switched for me. So they went through a just bad timing on my end. They call us all in at one in a room at one time, and they say anybody that was hired after this state is going here. Anybody that was hired after this state is going there. So they basically, their future growth was going to be at Quicken Loans, the internet side of things. I was more of a branch banker type of person, I was hired for Rock Financial. So when they moved the internet side of things, they basically said, you can have as many leads as you want but they didn't pay the same amount that they paid on the loans on Rock Financial side. So for the same amount of work, instead of making that 10 grand, it might have been two grand. And I might be exaggerating a little bit, but I'm not exaggerating that much. So it basically, and I was just like, well, I don't actually wanna be on that side. I like my current compensation, I like the way things are going. But they were like, yeah, we're really sorry. We understand, but I can't, we can't make an exception for you. And then that, it's a whole company wide shift. It's nothing personal. And so I left, I was like, there's no way. Like I can't, I'm not, it just wasn't, it didn't match my strong suit.

Caroline: 45:19

Gotcha. Gotcha. So then you moved,

Adam Torres: 45:22

So then I moved to Arizona.

Caroline: 45:22

Ah. And then you started working, So then you're Vanguard in Arizona for the longest?

Adam Torres: 45:31

Before then I was, American Income Life, so I met a guy, remember I said I used to sleep at work, basically. I would go to, it was either Lifetime Fitness or something like that I think that was the name of the brand. It's been a long time. So I would go in the morning, every morning, like pretty early, like 5:00 AM and something like that. And when I was in the locker room, I'd always see, you see the same people. The people that go there early are pretty regimented. They're just a certain type of person that go really, really early. And so, there's this guy there and he was recruiting me to work for an insurance company, for his insurance company. And he's like, Hey, what are you doing? What are you doing? Whatever, whatever. And he knew where I work and we get to know people over time. And so when I was ready to make the shift, I was like, ah, I think I'm moving out here to Arizona. Do you have an office out there? And so he connected me with them and they based, they hired me and then that, that's where I moved out.

Caroline: 46:18

Gotcha. So you still are immersed in yourself in this financial services related,

Adam Torres: 46:24

Yeah.

Caroline: 46:25

thing. When did that shift? When did it shift to you wanted more? Or what did that feel like?'Cause you're doing well, being really successful, helping other people be successful.

Adam Torres: 46:37

Well, for me it was always just about getting to bigger markets after a while, when you're in that game of managing money, it's like getting into bigger markets. So I started in Phoenix and then Scottsdale, and I'm getting my licenses and my skill sets being like honed at this time. So I'm really young in my career so I'm working with small business owners on retirement plans, things like that, then once I made the shift to finally get to managing money, then we're going to bigger and bigger markets, which led me to California. And then that would be the real, the eye-opener and eventually moving to Century City, California and I like to think of Century City as the little brother, if you will, to Hollywood.

Caroline: 47:16

Yeah.

Adam Torres: 47:16

So that's where all the people that actually are doing the deal. So if we're talking about like the lawyers, the agents of this, that's where they're all located and that's where my practice was and that's ultimately where I launched my own firm before getting into the media side of things.

Caroline: 47:29

Got you. And so at that point, is that what you thought success looked like? Was being somewhere in California, working with all the, like,

Adam Torres: 47:37

Um.

Caroline: 47:37

It was, you went from survival to now you're in California in this amazing place. How did.

Adam Torres: 47:42

That was crazy. I still remember the first time that I drove like to Century City and I'm going like in the heart of Beverly Hills and I'm seeing all these mansions for people that live here. They take it for granted. They're like, oh yeah, that's just Beverly Hills or whatever. They don't know, for me, I'm like, what is this place? My eyes are like wide open. I'm like the Beverly Hillbillies, like old school TV. I'm like straight from the Midwest. I don't care. I googly-eyed. I'm not ashamed. I'm not too cool for that. They're too cool out here. They'd be like, oh, not me. It's okay. So I'm like, oh my gosh, what is this? So, no, I think at that point as I got further along, I realized that, I didn't know what I didn't know. Like to me, I thought that the ultimate goal was that financial advisor life.

Caroline: 48:30

Hmm.

Adam Torres: 48:31

What I learned was that there probably wasn't too much of a hockey stick in that for me. So,

Caroline: 48:36

Interesting.

Adam Torres: 48:37

Anybody listening to that, that doesn't know that term, just think of it like growth. Like there's different ways that something can grow and, you know, you hear about like, founders, things like that. Like maybe, a business grows really fast and then it just starts going up. Like the growth curve starts going up like the end of a hockey stick. Well, for me, I didn't really see that it was kind of a, it was really a add a client, add a client, add a client.

Caroline: 48:58

Yeah.

Adam Torres: 48:59

Really a persistent, at times drudgery of a process of trying to add another client and grow the number of assets that you're managing. But I didn't really see any hockey stick there. So when media came around and I realized what was happening with social media and I kind of saw the future of branding and entertainment, um, or at least I thought I did, which some things I was right about and continue to be right about and some things I was wrong about. But, that's where I saw, I was like, okay, this is probably a more interesting game if I'm gonna be playing one, because I didn't have the skillset of the, what I learned in retrospect is that because I started, so let's just say so low on the totem pole, to me the ultimate goal was being that financial advisor guy and for any financial advisors out there, I hope you don't take this wrong with what I'm about to say, but you understand this. Depending on where you're at in on that totem pole. What I didn't realize though, the guys that were making the real money and the real finance guys were the investment bankers and the people that were doing M&A and doing all these other things. If I would've had those type of under that type of understanding as a kid, I would've started on that path doing that. When I was younger, I just didn't know. Like to me, the ultimate was, but I didn't have those influences. I didn't have that understanding. I didn't have that, if that makes sense.

Caroline: 50:14

From your viewpoint of what you could see that looked like it and then you realize, oh, I actually want more.

Adam Torres: 50:21

Yeah. Well, and maybe that wasn't like, yeah, and not only that, but it wasn't what you thought it was.

Caroline: 50:27

Yeah. Yeah.

Adam Torres: 50:28

What you thought it was. So it's a good living, don't get me wrong, and you make a lot of money if that's your goal, by the way. Not, that's not everybody's goal, but for me, the purpose side of it too was that it wasn't the way I made more money was by having less clients that had more money that were wealthier. My impact was kind of like, I was talking to less people daily to make more money. And so my impact was a little bit different, and it just didn't, they didn't really align. I'm like, do I really wanna be this? It just didn't align with what I wanted to do.

Caroline: 50:56

So how were you just, you know, like, so you had the money side that you're, that's kind of coming good, and you're realizing you want more impact. Where was that coming from? Where was that desire of wanting to impact more lives?

Adam Torres: 51:09

When I started my very, very first, it is a show technically, and it was, and for the people that asked me to bring it back, I will call it that. But I started this is way back when on Periscope. We had this, which was a streaming platform for everybody that doesn't know what that was. That was a while ago. And I think Twitter bought them and then ruined it, whatever, which is X, and they ruined it. But it used to be a streaming platform you turn on and then and it was on your phone early days, and anybody around the world could find you and they could watch your stream. And so what I did was I started this show called The Gratitude Show.

Caroline: 51:43

Oh.

Adam Torres: 51:44

Literally, all I did, there wasn't two way communication like this with like video. All I did was I would ask them, you know, what are you grateful for? That was it. And then like, what are you grateful for? And people would write in the comments and I'd read it. And so it became this thing where there'd be like thousands of people just sitting like, and just, and all I'd be saying is, you know, what are you grateful for? Tell me what you're grateful, Caroline. What are you grateful for today? And it became like this thing that people were plugging into. And it was just amazing. And I'd hear the most amazing stories. I remember hearing this woman say, talk about being like the first woman programmer in like Saudi, for her particular area, going through this program she did, and being like so proud and sharing when she got her certificate. And I would give people these gratitude missions where I'd just tell them like randomly like, okay, today what I want everybody to do. Is text somebody that you love and just tell'em, hey, you're grateful for them and you're glad they're in your life. Send it cold. Don't say anything else. Just say that. And then the next day when I did it, I'd go you know, fire up the old stream. I get like messages back on what would happen. And I remember one guy like,

Caroline: 52:47

That's nice.

Adam Torres: 52:48

My wife was like, it took, it brought her to tears. Like she says that she don't remember, me ever saying that to her in our entire marriage. And it was like the most amazing thing. Thank you. So people started really leaning in and I still have followers on Twitter and people that check in on me from those early days, like we made real connections. So I just saw what was possible. I got scared because I was like, whoa, what is this? I didn't really understand what I was doing, but I was still doing it. And so I just kind of knew. I was like, there's just some, there's just more things out there. And I didn't know what it was. By the way. I'm not claiming I had any like, good plan, I just knew.

Caroline: 53:22

You just kept taking it Sounds like you just keep doing like. One, one step after the other. Try it out. Try it out. Like there's a little bit of like,

Adam Torres: 53:30

Like if reality.

Caroline: 53:32

Yes, I do think so, but I think that some people are more fearful and they let the fear of, what if I do it wrong? Hold'em back. Where I think that you, you're like, eh, if I do it wrong, I'm gonna learn from it. You know? So like there's that, there's both of the mindsets and some are like so calculated. So like, I have to get this right, I have to get this right. I have to plan out and record 50 episodes before I release one. And I'm, like I said, I'm gonna have a show. I'm gonna record it and I guess we're releasing it today. You know, like just'cause I'm like, I gotta do something in order to get better.

Adam Torres: 54:08

Done.

Caroline: 54:09

Yeah. So how did you go from this? How did you go from, did you like dial one down while you were dialing one up? You know, this whole media side. When did you switch from okay, I'm no longer gonna take your money from this financial side. Yeah.

Adam Torres: 54:28

Well, speaking of doing one thing, like I can only kind of do one thing. Well, I feel like, so that's just the, in my mind, I mean, some people may have that Elon Musk gene where they can just do all these projects, all these things.

Caroline: 54:40

Think they have help.

Adam Torres: 54:41

God didn't gimme that one. But even just to manage it and to be able to have that, you know what I mean?

Caroline: 54:46

Yeah.

Adam Torres: 54:47

But there's still, there's still somebody at the helm. There's still pressure.

Caroline: 54:50

Yeah.

Adam Torres: 54:50

And there's other things at play. So, I was both, were kind of growing at the same time, and they're both doing their thing and I'm praying and I'm talking to God and I'm telling him, you know what? I'm trying to, I'm looking for guidance here because they're both growing and I couldn't short either of them. The people that were my clients on the media side, they needed my attention. But then the people, obviously, who are trusting me with their assets to manage their future, like, that's a huge responsibility and connection. So I couldn't really do both. So I'm, I'm preying on it and I still remember the story. I'm going to bed one day. I just moved into a new place and I put everything away and I have everything, packed away except from all of my certificates and all of my certificates sold my series seven, my series six, my CFP, like all these different certificates. And so those are still on the floor in my office. And I'm going to bed. And I remember going to bed. I still remember the words. And so I'm saying, all right, God, you don't have to part the Red Sea or anything, but I need you to tell me what to do.'Cause I don't know. So I go to bed and I wake up the next day I put my feet on the ground and and I'm in water. And I'm like, what? All right. So I think I'm still sleeping, Caroline, I

Caroline: 55:58

Yeah.

Adam Torres: 55:58

think I'm still sleeping. Like I'm not kidding. I'm like, this is weird. All right. But I remember that flashing in my head, like what I said before I went to sleep. I'm like, all right, God, you don't have to part the Red Sea. I remember this. And I'm like. So then I try to go back to sleep and my feet are still feeling wet and I'm like, wait a minute, I'm awake. And then I'm like, but I'm wet. And I was so confused. And so then I go to stand up and I'm like, yeah, I'm standing in water. I'm like, okay. And I still have this flash in my head of telling God, you don't have to part the Red Sea.

Caroline: 56:27

Yeah.

Adam Torres: 56:28

I turn on the light and I look down'cause it's like right below the light switch to my left. And I see all of my certificates are like ruined. I'm like, ah, and I took a picture of this, so I still have this picture. Maybe that's gonna be a book cover. One day.

Caroline: 56:41

Yeah.

Adam Torres: 56:42

To change, how to transition. So I just took all of the certificates, I threw'em in the trash right that moment. And and I took a picture of them in the trash, so I have that still. And I was like, all right, God, thank you. A little dramatic. You had to ruin the floor and like all this, I said, you didn't have to part the Red Sea. But, but then on the other end of things, I know I'm a little hardheaded, so I've blamed you and been wishy washed. If you had,

Caroline: 57:05

Yeah.

Adam Torres: 57:05

These are my normal conversations with God, by the way.

Caroline: 57:07

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But did you feel like comforted in that moment too?

Adam Torres: 57:12

Heck no. I was eternally scared. I'm

Caroline: 57:14

Oh.

Adam Torres: 57:14

The heck? No'cause identity. One is it was my identity since I was essentially a teenager. Think about it, like, so I'm 16 at my first brokerage firm, so people have me as this like finance guy, whatever. Now all of a sudden, I knew I was gonna lose my entire peer group. Like, period, my entire peer group, not because of it's their fault or they don't like me anymore, but when you're in finance, if you're not in finance or if you're not in that ecosystem, you're out. You're out.

Caroline: 57:42

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Adam Torres: 57:43

Just the way it works. So I knew I lose my entire peer group pretty quickly. So it was literally like starting a new life all over again. And I knew that that was what was gonna happen. I didn't know it would be on the other side of it. And I knew that that's also like, oh, okay, so you're going from this and now you wanna be a host and a media guy. Like, come on, how cliche can this be Midwest guy moves from the Midwest to LA to become a, to get in media? Come on.

Caroline: 58:08

Yeah. And,

Adam Torres: 58:10

Just,

Caroline: 58:11

I mean, couldn't it be, you could always just go and re-get your certifications if you wanted, like you had that fail safe. Was that like a backup plan? Like if this doesn't work, then?

Adam Torres: 58:21

Sounds good to say that, and I might have told myself that, but the reality of it is you don't accidentally build hundreds of millions of dollars in assets under management. Like, it's not like, oh, by the way, I got my licenses again. Do you wanna invest with me again? Nah, it doesn't work that way.

Caroline: 58:37

Yeah. Yeah. Got you.

Adam Torres: 58:38

And now you got a blip on your, on your resume too. You're like,

Caroline: 58:42

Yeah.

Adam Torres: 58:42

Let's say you did try and go back. So what have you been doing the last couple years?

Caroline: 58:45

Went to media.

Adam Torres: 58:47

Well, I tried to become a host and it didn't work out. So can I manage your money? I mean, it's just not a good story.

Caroline: 58:53

Got you, got you. Okay. But what you did make is a good story.

Adam Torres: 58:57

Back to,

Caroline: 58:57

You go all in certificates in the trash.

Adam Torres: 59:01

Yeah, that was tough. And then I start, I don't really know, I still don't know what I'm doing as a host, by the way, or in media. So I don't, all that's not figured out. This is early. So we had like a book, maybe two out there. We're not, it's not like this is like a huge cash cow or anything like that. We had a ton of demand to come on the show. So at this time period, I'm doing about 70 interviews a week on average. So seven zero for everybody that's listening to that. So if you're listening to this and you're like, I wanna start a show, but I don't do your show, it's fine. You don't have to do 70 episodes, do one a week and you're good. It's okay, you'll be okay. But my record's 91 in a week. So

Caroline: 59:39

Wow.

Adam Torres: 59:40

All I knew was that we had demand to go on the show. And I knew that if the more people I interviewed, the more people that would know who I was. At the very least. Whether anybody listened to it yet, who knows. But I just knew that I'd be extending the network, and I know that by doing my current averages anywhere between 1500 and 2000 episodes a year. So that's, and my catalog's over 6,000 episodes now. So all I know is if I do 40 years of content every year, which that's basically what I do, then maybe I'll get better. I don't know if I've gotten better

Caroline: 1:00:14

Well,

Adam Torres: 1:00:14

Still young. I,

Caroline: 1:00:15

But people pay you. People pay you and you get to travel to all kinds of great places all over the world to help tell their stories.

Adam Torres: 1:00:22

That's true. That's true. And if you're listening, I will accept your money. Especially if you think I'm good. If you don't think I'm good, then I'll still accept your money and help me get better. Help me get better. It's fine. I'm not gonna get better if you don't give me more swings at bat, hire me.

Caroline: 1:00:42

So your overarching platform now is Mission Matters, and then you have different sub things. So tell us a little bit about, you know, how you do that, how you make this mission matters.

Adam Torres: 1:00:54

So our team, definitely without the team. So it's the structure of the company and the way I'm able to, to do what I do is really based on all of our team. So the way we're set up is I spend about 70% of my time in front of camera or behind the microphone. Doing interviews or giving interviews, whatever the case may be, depending on the week. And then the rest of the time, the other 30% I spend my time running the company as CEO. But, all of our different profit centers have their own executives that's in charge of that and make sure that things are happening. Brilliant people, many that are, they're better than me at business and many cases. And, so we have one side of, it's our podcast agency in that where we produce shows for individuals. We've launched over 250 shows now. We have our, our publishing side, we've published over 400 authors. We have a PR side where we help individuals with their PR obviously, and getting placements and magazines and tier one, tier two, news outlets, event side of things. We do quite a few events. We do 50 plus events, and that's just the ones that we're hosting if you count the ones that we're partnering with other people and things like that. I feel like in 2026 we probably did over a hundred events if you're counting the ones we partner with people and other things like that. And then, so it's all kind of, I won't claim that this was all by design. What it was by, and the, the lesson in all of this was, it was in listening to our audience. That's it. So the people in our core audience was the people that run the show. Like, even, I'll give you one example. The launching the podcast agency and being in that business during COVID, we started a lot more people had time on their hands and more people wanted to launch shows. So I'd be interviewing somebody, it could be this simple, I'd be, have you on the show, Caroline? And then you're like all of a sudden like, Hey, you know what? I've been thinking about launching the show. And so it was like we weren't even in that business really. And then, um, people started asking, and it took me back to like the early book days. I wasn't trying to launch books. It was, you know, people asked me and I eventually said yes. I eventually said yes to this'cause we had some, you know, editors and people with some bench time. And now fast forward, we launched over 250 shows. So I didn't, it wasn't kind of like the normal of like, oh, we wanna be in this market. We did all this research, we did a business plan, we did this, we did, it was like, no, I was just listening to somebody that, uh, very simply rudimentary was like, Hey, could you help me with this? And I'm like, yes, we can help you with this. And that was the seed of it. And then it grew from there.

Caroline: 1:03:20

How do you take time for yourself or your own? Like what do you do for a break? Because it's like you went from this work, work, work, work, work, work, work. Oh, you know, pick up the phone in the middle of the night to now, it seems like, I don't know if you're doing all that many, like,

Adam Torres: 1:03:35

It's worse.

Caroline: 1:03:36

Do you take a break? Like, yeah.

Adam Torres: 1:03:39

God's still working on me. I don't know really. God's still working on me. I don't everything. The thing is, is that even when something's supposed to be a break, it turns into something else. I can't help it. It just does and I'm capable and people see I'm capable. And then I've gotten much better at putting together teams and other things like that. So when I do this, and this is kind of what the, is somewhat misunderstood. I think about what I'm doing is, for some people, and I've heard this before'cause they think it's like about me sometimes.'Cause I'm in front of camera and I put out so much content, but we're not actually an influencer type brand. And then just to give you an example of how you know or not, and I'm not just saying this is the goal and the aim has never been to get more people to know who I was or say, hey, look at me. If it was, by the way, then all the money we make, we would put into advertising into other things that would allow more people to know who I was. It's simple. Like it's not that complicated. No. But what we invest in is we invest in infrastructure and things to produce and to get the am to fulfill our mission. Myself and the other co-founders, Shiraz Cigar, is to amplify the stories of others. So I might be leading from the front by putting out this content, but ultimately, our aim and our goal is to inspire others to get in the game and to make their own content like, so that that's fulfilling our mission. So. What happens is, um, things start for fun and then they turn into business. I'm gonna give you an example and you're not even gonna believe this. Well, let's look back just one quick one to pull from the earlier story. The music thing. Music comes in, it's fun. It's this, it's that. Now I'm selling t-shirts.

Caroline: 1:05:14

Right, right, right.

Adam Torres: 1:05:16

Comic books. I'm collecting them for fun and then all of a sudden now I'm selling them. All these different things. That's just what tends to happen. I don't know. Maybe I would've, I got a little Persian in me somewhere down the line in the blood. I don't know, like I was supposed to if I was in Genghis Khan, I've been on the silk roads, hawing something. I don't know. So here's an example.'Cause my friends gimme grief for what you're talking about, by the way. They'll be like, well, what do you do for fun? Or this or that? And I always, I use this example with my personal friends. I'm like, all right, if I was a musician and if I was playing guitar and I was like, this great guitarist, and would you ask me, what do I do for fun? You wouldn't, you'd be like, oh, you play music. You're a rock star, you're a guitarist. You're this, you're that. Just because podcasting isn't as cool or doesn't sound as cool to people, and it's like, for them it's work, it's like I'm like playing my instrument.

Caroline: 1:06:08

You're loving it. Yeah. Yeah.

Adam Torres: 1:06:10

I don't know if I'm loving it, but it's my calling. Like,

Caroline: 1:06:12

Gotcha.

Adam Torres: 1:06:13

You do, sometimes you don't. I don't think the guitarist or the person, the rockstar doesn't always love being a rockstar. There's a lot of drawbacks to it, I'm sure. Not that I have, not that I know that, but there is.'Cause there's drawbacks to everything.

Caroline: 1:06:25

Yeah.

Adam Torres: 1:06:26

But you wouldn't ask him that. So that's where I'm at. So then what happens is, I'm talking about like, oh, what do you do fun? What do you do for fun? I'm like, all right, well, and I remember doing a real, a big, big, deep dive on this, and I'm like, what do I do for fun? What do I do for fun? And then I'm like, okay. The one thing that I do that is considered for fun only is, um, I watch a lot of movies.

Caroline: 1:06:46

Ah.

Adam Torres: 1:06:46

Go to, like I see pretty much most movies that come out on theater in theaters. So if you go to like my, my Instagram, you'll see like there's a movie little thing there. And I set up this little silly, I can't even make this up, Caroline. I set up this little, little, silly, like in Instagram handle. It's Adam rating and I rate movies.

Caroline: 1:07:06

It's cool.

Adam Torres: 1:07:07

Funny about that is I did it completely for fun and I do my first little story on it, and then I'm like, oh my gosh. Then people start asking questions. So then I had to create the account. Then I had to create the rating system. Five star, four star. And I had to do all this. And here's the funny part. So then I start rating and I put the story up but then Regal starts. So that's my movie theater by me, that's my home court. Regal starts retweeting my stories, i'm actually selling freaking movie tickets, Caroline. People are like DMing and sending me and saying, no, hold on. It gets funnier. It gets funnier. So then. That starts growing. That starts growing. I did this interview with this, so her name is Michelle and she's the owner of, MAM studios. And she's been in TV and all that kinda stuff for a long time. I interviewed her a long time ago. She just literally told me, this is maybe a month, not even a month ago, a couple weeks ago now, to be there for this premiere because she put the clip of our interview in one of her projects coming out at this film festival. So now I'm gonna be on the big screen at that Regal and what that's gonna spin into. I already know,'cause now we're getting some inquiries and some other things like that. I'm gonna be in some freaking movies or something ridiculous and I'm be like, I didn't even say I was doing all that. This was supposed to be just for fun. So that fun is gonna turn into opportunity, money networks, whatever. It's all a whole infrastructure's already developing, and that was for fun.

Caroline: 1:08:31

Interesting. That's so, yeah. This is the recurring theme, the fun thing becomes the business becomes the, yeah. And it grows you even more.

Adam Torres: 1:08:41

That's God.

Caroline: 1:08:43

So.

Adam Torres: 1:08:43

God. Though. All of this was God. Like I didn't, you see, there was no, like, there wasn't any huge business plan. I didn't say, oh, I want to be in the movie business. Or, oh, I wanna, none of that. Like, oh, I wanna be in the podcast business. Even that, no, I didn't say any of that.

Caroline: 1:08:58

So how do you define success now? Or what would you say is authentic success for you?

Adam Torres: 1:09:04

I enjoy providing opportunity for others. I think that's the cool part. I don't wanna say it's the wrong way, but I feel like, you know, God kind of helps some people be capable for certain things and other people have other gifts in other ways. I get pleasure out of providing opportunity for others. Like when I think about even like this whole regal thing and all this, the way I see it is if that profit center grows and that becomes a thing that's more jobs for others. That's a ability to allow other people to live in their light and in their calling, whatever that is. Like, that's providing opportunity.'Cause Hollywood's hurting right now. Hollywood's hurting. There's a lot of people unemployed. There's a lot of very talented people that don't have, that are still trying to figure out some things in the shift. So if I am to be a part of that in some way, and that's God's plan, then and I can provide, you know, jobs and opportunity and eyeballs or whatever else is needed.'Cause I don't know what's needed yet. We'll see. We'll do another interview in a couple years. Like Caroline, I told you they weren't gonna let me have any fun. Now that's silly little accountant. Now they're making me.

Caroline: 1:10:06

That's awesome though. I love it.'Cause you're continuing to spread your mission and allowing others' voices to be heard and to be having their use. And, you know, we're all made on purpose for a purpose. Only we can do the fun thing is figuring out what that is, um, and staying open to possibilities. So I think you've done an amazing job of just continuing to evolve and adapt with the things that you're called to do and to help other people live out their mission for sure. So how do people find you? Your Instagram? I'll put the links in the show notes.

Adam Torres: 1:10:37

Easy one is Instagram, Ask Adam Torres. That's just a really easy one. And there's a link in that link tree there. So you can see all kinds of things. The podcast, the website. We give away more free content than I believe any other company of our size on the planet. So you can just check it out. Instagram, Ask Adam Torres. And, uh, if you want that book's coming out in November, if you want a copy of that. So 1 billion podcasts, all you have to do is just send me a DM and just put 1 billion podcasts and we'll get you a copy, completely free. No strings attached. Nothing else. My aim and goal with that book is I want to inspire others to get in the game and to create their own content as well, whether it's a podcast or whatever they feel called to do. So that's the thesis of the book is that is there's gonna be 1 billion podcasts one day, and I want everyone to get in the game.

Caroline: 1:11:24

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for telling more of your story, for sharing all your time and wisdom and let's see how this develops. I can't wait to see what you do next and um, yeah, just share it even more. So appreciate your time. Thank you so much for being on Your Next Success.

Adam Torres: 1:11:40

Oh, appreciate it. Your Next Success. If you didn't hit that subscribe button yet, I don't know what you were waiting for. You better hit that subscribe button to Your Next Success and thank you, Caroline.

Caroline: 1:11:49

Thank you, Adam. I appreciate it so much.

1:11:52

Adam, thank you for your honesty, your hustle, and your reminder that curiosity plus consistency can reshape an entire life. For Adam, fun was never just fun comic books, action figures, airbrush shirts, gratitude live streams, movie reviews. Each one became a doorway into business service, and eventually a global media platform focused on sharing other people's missions. If you're still listening, remember to follow Your Next Success on your favorite podcast platform. Share this episode with someone who sees the world differently and needs to know it's a gift, and leave a quick review so that these conversations reach more people who are ready to explore their next success. Thanks for listening to your next success with Dr. Caroline Sangal. Remember, authentic success is yours to define and includes aligning your career to support the life you want.