Brandon Held - Life is Crazy

Episode 69: Life's Wild Journey with Adam Torres

• Brandon Held • Season 3 • Episode 69

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Adam Torres, host of the Mission Matters podcast series, shares his journey from growing up in Detroit's tough neighborhoods to becoming a top global podcaster with over 1,500 episodes produced annually. His story reveals how early exposure to finance, international travel, and a determined mindset helped him overcome challenging beginnings and develop the global perspective that powers his success today.

• Born and raised in Southwest Detroit during the drug epidemic and high crime rates of the 1980s
• First encountered finance working at Raymond James during high school, opening his eyes to new possibilities
• Studied international relations in college to deliberately expand his worldview through travel
• Traveled extensively through Europe, Mexico, and beyond, often with minimal preparation but maximum curiosity
• Currently produces between 1,500-2,000 podcast episodes annually, ranking in the top 2.5% globally
• Connects his sports background to podcasting success, viewing each episode as equivalent to "taking shots" to improve
• Emphasizes valuing every listener who gives their time rather than focusing solely on download numbers
• Encourages others to start podcasting now while the medium is still relatively uncrowded compared to platforms like YouTube

Start your show today! With less than 4 million podcasts compared to 150 million YouTube channels, there's tremendous opportunity in podcasting. Don't wait until there are 100 million podcasts and regret not starting sooner.

Subscribe to Brandon Held's podcast at brandonheld.com for just $10 a month to support his mission of helping trauma survivors and those struggling through difficult times.

Developed by a team of Practitioners, men's health scientists, neuroscientists and peak performers. MNLY harnesses the power of blood analysis, machine learning, and AI to evaluate data from four essential components: Biological, Environmental, Nutritional, and Clinical analysis. By leveraging this advanced technology, we develop precise, evidence-based solutions that are tailored uniquely to each individual.

Their supplements have been developed by a team of Practitioners, men's health scientists, neuroscientists and peak performers. MNLY harnesses the power of blood analysis, machine learning, and AI to evaluate data from four essential components: Biological, Environmental, Nutritional, and Clinical analysis. By leveraging this advanced technology, they develop precise, evidence-based solutions that are tailored uniquely to each individual.

Their supplements have been developed by a team of Practitioners, men's health scientists, neuroscientists and peak performers. MNLY harnesses the power of blood analysis, machine learning, and AI to evaluate data from four essential components: Biological, Environmental, Nutritional, and Clinical analysis. By leveraging this advanced technology, they develop precise, evidence-based solutions that are tailored uniquely to each individual.

https://www.getmnly.com/ 

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Speaker 1:

Welcome. Welcome back to Brandon Held. Life is Crazy. Today I'm very excited. I have a special guest on my show. His name is Adam Torres. To talk to Adam today is because he is a host of the Mission Matters series of shows, ranked in the top 2.5% out of over 3 million podcasts globally. So my man knows what he's doing and I'm excited to talk to him. So how are you doing today, Adam?

Speaker 2:

Man Brandon, I'm excited to be on here today.

Speaker 1:

The Life is Crazy podcast. Come on, let's do it. I'm in, man. I've been waiting for this journey in life. As best as we possibly can in the limited amount of time that we have, let's just dig right in, man. Tell everyone, adam, what was your childhood like? Where did you grow up? How did it help mold you into the young man you became?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so appreciate that, and it's one of the stories I don't get to really tell that often actually. So normally and for those that are unaware of our brand, mission Matters or the Mission Matters podcast, so you know it's there are different shows, most of them around like business or marketing or finance and money things like that. So oddly enough, brandon, people don't normally care about my story in those cases. They care about money, they want to know what's going on. They come to us for other things. So it's just, it's a privilege to be able to come out here and just talk a little bit more about where all this thing started and even go further back.

Speaker 2:

So, based on you know my, my background in finance and things, many people think maybe I came from that type of like family or there was some type of privilege there or there was some other things. But that's not the case. So I'm from the Southwest side of Detroit, michigan. So for those of you that don't know where that's at, it's Detroit, detroit, as we like to say, if you're from Detroit, you know what that means If you're from the Midwest, you know what that means.

Speaker 2:

A lot of people might say they're from Detroit and then you say, oh, what part. And they're like Bloomfield Hills. That's not Detroit. That's not Detroit. That's a very beautiful area in Michigan. Shout out to Bloomfield Hills, the people that listen to me out there. I'm okay with it.

Speaker 2:

I got listeners in Detroit as well and that's where I was, you know, born and raised, and it's just, it's a different socioeconomic environment. The city, when I was growing up, was going through some challenges. I mean, the population was shrinking, had a lot of violence. If you think about when I was really young I mean that would be the 80s, when I was really young and you know the cities not just Detroit, but many of them were being overrun by the drug epidemic at that point and things were, you know, things were not so good for many of the inner cities, detroit included. So that was, you know, just an example of and I tell this story often when I'm doing a keynote or other things and I still remember one of my earliest memories when I realized that I wasn't kind of in a normal upbringing or a normal places.

Speaker 2:

You know how. You know kids come to school or schools have, I should say, like these guest speakers that would come in and talk. Yeah, I remember one day a guest speaker comes in and talks to a police officer and his opening remarks were and I still remember this this is science class, this is sixth grade. He says look to your left, look to your right. One of you will be dead. The other will have been in jail at least once by the time you hit 21. Yeah, that's an eye opener, right. The other will be, will will have been in jail at least once by the time you hit 21.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's an eye opener Right and.

Speaker 2:

I'm like man, I'm over here trying to play. I'm in sixth grade and this is a science class and like, the crazy thing is, you know, people were like very, um, you know, I remember we're kids, right. So we're like, oh yeah, whatever, you don't know what you mean, whatever, but, and that's basically, there's an uproar in the class. I still remember this and I'm like, but I took it kind of serious. I was like no man, it ain't gonna be me.

Speaker 2:

Like I took it serious, I believed him and I, because I just always had an affinity and a respect for numbers, so I'm like, if that's the data he's saying, maybe he's off, but and I thought like this, as a kid I didn didn't just trust an adult inherently, but I thought, even if he's off, like some of the people in this class are going to be dead and some of them are going to be in jail, and I can still remember names and people that were in that class, that passed away and that did have due jail time, like from that classroom and I'm like dang, like he was right. Like he was right. So that was, when we think about the early, early years, like that was the early, early years.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I grew up in a small town in Ohio, northern Ohio, not far from the Michigan border, and when I say small, I mean my class had less than a hundred people in it and just through the years of my life many people have died in my class. My 30 year reunion, we had to do a in memoriam we didn't have to, we did of classmates that had passed and I just couldn't believe how many had passed already. I'm still only 52 years, young man. That's too young to be passing, so there's some legitimacy to that for sure. I remember at one point in my life when I was younger, detroit was the murder capital of the US. Were you there when that was going on?

Speaker 2:

Oh, I'm sure, I'm sure I think it used to didn't used to flip-flop. I could be wrong on this one. So people put it in the comments, do what you got to do, send some emails, but I think it flip-flopped between Chicago and Detroit during that time period. If I'm not mistaken, it used to flip-flop.

Speaker 1:

Maybe Baltimore was thrown in there too. Maybe Baltimore?

Speaker 2:

was thrown in there too. I feel like those three would be kind of like it flip-flopped between those three in those days.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I don't think it's been Detroit for a while. It's definitely Chicago now, but I do remember it was back in the day and it tripped me out because I was so cool. I was like an hour and a half away from Detroit, so that's cool. So you? So you didn't grow up with a silver spoon, neither did I, which, to me, in many cases, outside of the fact that you could get some help if you were goal oriented and you did want to do things in life that growing up without the without part is can give you a drive and desire to go do something and be something. Would that be how that that?

Speaker 2:

worked for you as a I don't. You know, brandon, I hear people say that all the time, but I don't necessarily buy it, to be honest. Okay, no, I don't. And I know there's nature versus nurture, and I'm not saying that. You're proposing that as an idea, but I don't know. I don't know if people need to go through that pain in order to achieve or to strive and I know you're not saying that need, by the way, or anything like that. I'm saying it just to be clear, but for listening. But I don't know that people need that Like I don't know, because there's such an unawareness while you're going through it. So if you think it's normal, then how does it help you? Propel you to something else, like there's nothing to compare it against alcoholism and drug?

Speaker 1:

addiction and just people who were miserable and hated life. And one of my goals in the 80s? Obviously, $100,000 back then meant a hell of a lot more than it means today. Yes, sir, one of my goals back then was I was going to get a six-figure job. That was going to be my. I made it. I'm doing something with my life, and I did do that, I don't know 15 years ago or so, and then I actually felt disappointed. I thought it was going to make me happier, I was going to be more excited about life, and I definitely had to learn there was more to life than money. That was my own personal experience. That's why I was wondering if you identified with that. So then, what did you do when you got out of high school? What'd you do with yourself?

Speaker 2:

So I think my first realization was actually in high school, and I'll tell you why because I didn't really know. So all the stuff before kind of like high school, I didn't have self, I didn't have awareness of the broader world.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

Because you're in your neighborhood, you're a kid, you don't know, or for me I'm not saying you know we didn't have the Internet.

Speaker 2:

That's what I mean, you don't have the Internet, so I I'm trying to take the audience back to like we don't know what's going on, like you think that what's happening in your neighborhood is the world, or what's happening in your little microcosm of the people that you know is the world, which it's not. So I'll give you an example, just one quick example, about something I remember growing up. There used to be this thing called Devil's Night, and I tell people about this all the time. I'm like Devil's Night, and I tell people about this all the time. I'm like Devil's Night. And then there was this other thing and that was essentially like before Halloween, there'd be hundreds this is an exaggeration, I'm talking about 100 plus, sometimes 200 plus and there would be a count on TV. There would be a count and there was like this curfew to where nobody could go outside the night before Halloween because it was devil's night is what it was called. And what would happen is people would burn all of the abandoned buildings in Detroit. People forgot about this, wow.

Speaker 1:

I never heard of this.

Speaker 2:

And so this is interesting because in my like growing up and upbringing I thought that was normal. I thought everybody knew devil's night, and even as an adult. When I talk about that and people say and they rebranded it to Angel's Night, and they try and they change some things up and again the city once, all the abandoned homes were knocked down and actually excavated at some point. There was nothing else to burn right, so it naturally ran its course and there wasn't.

Speaker 2:

The things that were happening back then weren't happening, but I thought that was normal, or during and this is when I was growing up or during, like New Year's Eve, to hear automatic gunfire and to hear essentially a war zone outside, and it wasn't people killing each other, by the way, but I just mean like firing off guns is a tradition which I don't think, which isn't necessarily the thing to do right before New Year's, but legit automatic gunfire, like for you know, a solid hour, hour and the police weren't allowed to come out. Actually there was this thing to where they had to be in the base for I think, that hour after new year's eve. So it's not. When I say it was like the purge, I don't mean like people are out there running around killing.

Speaker 1:

I'm sure some people sounds like a good time to do it for sure.

Speaker 2:

Well, I'm just I'm sure some unfortunately some people were you know what I mean taking advantage of that hour or so when the police and the police and firefighters weren't allowed to come out I thought this stuff was normal.

Speaker 1:

Brandon, if I'm a gangster, a criminal, I definitely use that hour for sure.

Speaker 2:

But I'm just saying I thought this stuff was normal, so, like you, so I don't think all that was like necessary to be like oh well, that made me and you didn't say that. But I'm just saying I don't think it was necessary, I just think it was my experience at that time for whatever that was worth. But in high school that's where I started to get some self-realization of the, of the broader world and that's when I got into finance actually. So I went to high school, maybe like two hours a day, and on my 10th and 11th or, excuse me, my 11th and 12th grade year, I should say I went to high school. Those were the specific years, maybe like two hours a day, three hours a day. And then I worked for a firm called Raymond James and Company. So I was working for a financial institution in their IRA department, and that's when I first started getting introduced to the business world. And at this point in time this would be in the late 90s, so like 98 to 2000-ish. This would be when the stock market's like skyrocketing, like anything that had a dot com after it was going up. So I'm learning about the stock market and other things Now I'm not licensed at this point.

Speaker 2:

Of course, I'm a kid still, I'm underage, right. I'm not licensed, I don't have any license, but I'm still working in the office and I'm in and I'm still, you know, providing my function. So I'm not client facing, just to be clear for everybody listening but I'm now. I now have access to brokers and I'm having different types of conversations about their trips and their expense reports and how they're helping their clients and what's going on in the internet and how people are investing in companies and why. And that's what kind of opened my world up to. Like what, like this other stuff that I kind of was understanding. I'm like there's a whole nother world out there. Like this is crazy, like this is, like I want some of that. I don't want that over there. That's when I got my first and looking at magazines like the Rob report, like that's what gave me my first insight into like what was possible.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, but there had to be something that even drove you to start there, or did you just trip and fall into it?

Speaker 2:

Oh it was actually a question. I was kind of like just talking to my parents and um, and about, like money and business. I was always trying to figure out little businesses or things like that, and they didn't really, um, know what they didn't know, and they would tell me, like you got to, we don't really know that much. That's one of the best things my parents did for me. As they said, they didn't, they didn't really know too much about money. My dad was a small business owner, but it was, you know, it was more like solopreneur, small business owner type. He didn't scale his business, so he would tell me that like, hey, I don't know. I know how to do what I'm doing here, but this isn't the way to do it.

Speaker 2:

There's other and I used to think when I was a kid, like that they were, um, they were being humble or they were just kind of like not trying to give me information, when they'd be like I'll be cutting your. You know, they just didn't know, and I was very fortunate to have people around me that would tell me the truth, that they didn't know, and I was an only child, by the way. So when you're an only child, maybe they talk to you a little bit different. So they're just, like you know, talking to me kind of like an adult. So that's probably part of the reason. But it was that was kind of me out there searching. And then the school had a program so I went to Cass Tech. So a lot of famous people, big Sean, a lot of famous people went to Cass Tech, famous high school. Shout out to all the technicians out there. Yeah, but I did that on your show, brandon, because you got a couple listening, I promise.

Speaker 1:

I don't even know anything about this Cass Tech. Of course you don't, but they're out there listening, they know what it is.

Speaker 2:

Don't worry um. Don't worry, I won't do that for college, though we're good um, but yeah, yeah, well, you don't you don't want to get into that conversation because you can't compare michigan state to ohio state, they're not even on the same level.

Speaker 1:

I didn't even say the word that's all right, I'm talking about high school. I'm fine with bringing it up. I have a new podcast, buckeye battle cry, that I do with my best friend about ohio state football. We release it every friday, so check it out. But but come on man, michigan state, ohio state, they're not on the same level.

Speaker 2:

You got to admit that. It's a thing I understand, I know, I know, but I like to mess with people still.

Speaker 1:

All right, yeah, so that's cool. I mean, even if your parents did know it all, which they didn't right, but even if they did. There's something to be said about making your kids fish right. Learn to fish did. There's something to be said about making your kids fish right. Learn to fish and love that, love that. Let's sort of just handing it to them and then they get lost at a certain point because they've been handed everything so don't know how to think, don't know how to fun, don't know how to yeah exactly my son gets frustrated with me.

Speaker 1:

I have a son that's turning 18. He asks me stuff all the time and I tell him go look it up, go look it up. Sometimes I know the answer right. I would say most of the time I know the answer or I have some version of the answer, but I want him to figure out how to fish and then I tell him if you go look it up and then get some information, come back and talk to me and then I'll, and then you know I'll, I'll explain better yeah, what you learned or didn't learn and we can talk about it.

Speaker 1:

But he gets frustrated with that.

Speaker 2:

He doesn't like that, yeah that's a good one, though, man. Well. Well, the thing is is, I'm guessing you're not like, well, go pour this, the concrete, in the, in this, in the, in the, on the, on the driveway right, like like, let's go back to in our day, like you wanted, like you got to go, go, go put on a new roof, go pour you don't know how to do it, figure it out go pour a driveway, what, like yeah, no, I did all that stuff as a teenager man he probably doesn't have to do that right no, his life's been pretty easy.

Speaker 2:

look it up and he's like and I'm like man. Show me those calluses what.

Speaker 1:

I mean to his credit. He recognizes that he's had a pretty easy life, so I am appreciative that he recognizes and appreciates the life I've been able to give him, and it's completely different than the life I grew up with, which was my drive. It was my purpose, right? I wanted to change my legacy. I wanted to change the legacy of the people that I came from, which was just alcoholics and drug addicts and people that couldn't hold down a job and were barely surviving in life, and so I'm grateful that I was able to do that and I'm grateful that they appreciate that that's a total sidebar. So you started getting into finance, right. So how did that go from there?

Speaker 2:

I still went to college. So after that I went to college. When I went to college I already knew that I didn't know anything. So I, and because because of that high school experience but now I'm an adult so I'm like I need to travel, like I need to get out of here, I need to travel, I need to do some things. So my um, my major I picked was international relations.

Speaker 2:

I did that intentionally because I wanted to go and study in as many places I could and go as many places I could. So as soon as I could get it like literally, I basically after high school, my first trip was to Europe and this is before internet for every listening. So I know that they're not even gonna understand what I'm about to say, but it's so crazy that it's a true story. I literally went to Europe. I didn't have a place to stay. I thought I would. Just somebody told me I don't even know what the random conversation was I had with somebody. They said yeah, just go to the. I thought they said go to the hostel. I didn't know. They said they went to go to a hostel I thought it was a place so picture this I fly into amsterdam.

Speaker 2:

I get into a taxi. I'm 18 years old, don't know, I've never been out of the country, never traveled anywhere. I get in the taxi. I have'm 18 years old, don't know, I've never been out of the country, never traveled anywhere. I get in the taxi. I have all this luggage because I don't know that you pack lighter when you're traveling.

Speaker 2:

I got 100 pounds of luggage with me. True story. I get in the taxi and the guy and I'm like, hey, can you take me to the hostel? And he looks at me, he says which one? And I one. And his face drops and he's like, oh, my god, is what he's thinking? And I said, look, I don't have a place to stay, but I have money. Take me to somewhere, a hostel, whichever one you think is okay. And uh, and we'll go and I'll go there and, don't worry, I'll tip you because it's going to take a little longer. So we go to the first one booked.

Speaker 2:

I didn't know this was the height of tourist season, so this is way back when. Height of tourist season. First, one book. Second, one book. Third, one book. I'm finally like. He's like. I'm like man, I don't want to make you have to drive around all day. Don't worry, I'm going to pay you. It's fine, um, but where can I leave my bags? Do you think this is before 9-11, before all that, when you actually could put bags in train stations and things like that? Left it in the train station. Man, I just went out and had fun. I had a ball. I think the first night I might have slept in a park because I forgot about my bags and everything else.

Speaker 2:

Second night I found a hostel. I was like knocking, looking rough, going door to door at all these hostels. Then it was all fine, but I realized that I had to like get out there and experience to see other things, other cultures. And throughout that you know college experience I studied everywhere, from Spain, czech Republic, brussels, belgium, so places like NATO European headquarters, like European Union headquarters, like all those places I've been to. I studied them Mexico, a bunch of places I'm probably forgetting. I studied at them. Mexico, a bunch of places I'm probably forgetting. But I spent a lot of time in college making sure that I studied in other countries as well, and that's what kind of I wanted to kind of just reshape my worldview and just see what was out there, cause I just knew that I didn't know anything really, which now, now that I go more places, I still know I don't know.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, the smartest people know they don't know anything, because we all have a lot to learn. There's so much knowledge out in this world that it's best to just recognize you don't know anything. But that was very brave of you. I joined the air force at 17 and I moved from Ohio to North Dakota and I was scared to do that. I couldn't imagine at 18 traveling the world not really knowing what the heck you're getting yourself into.

Speaker 2:

Think about it. I didn't know a word of that. I remember being in like France and I'm being lost in the south of France because they had to change, like something happened with the with the train. I mean, I didn't know one word of French, I didn't even I, nothing If I. What money they use. I think this might've been before Euro or no. It might no, they had Euros back then, but I think it was still converting kind of, or something was happening at that time. But man, I was green.

Speaker 1:

So, yeah, while you're doing this stuff going through high school, going through college, traveling the world any love life issues in the mix, you just focusing on you.

Speaker 2:

I was always lucky on that side of things. I always had girlfriends, always had steady girlfriends. I was always. I just never had any problem on that. In that area of things I just I always had a girlfriend or was dating and I don't think there were any issues. I think it was just college man, it was just college. Yeah, I was in a frat, so if I owe the alpha.

Speaker 2:

I was in a frat so I definitely lived the greek lifestyle and in all of its glory uh, or not glory, whatever we want to call it yeah, that was that we did a lot of road trip and we went to different, um, different chapters of the frat fraternity. We did a lot of road tripping, we went to different chapters of the fraternity and had a lot of fun. Spent time in New York, spent time in, you know, all across the Midwest like just road tripping, honestly, having a ball. Didn't really play any sports in college or anything like that, but went to a lot of tailgates. Man, there we go and during this time, one thing that we did beat ohio state in was our tailgating ranking and I feel like it was playboy magazine at that time we were the number one tailgate school in the country, brandon, when I was there.

Speaker 1:

I would like to say that gotta be number one at something, right I'll take it that's so before the ice luge was banned either you were lucky or your women picker is very good. Mine was broken when I was young. I had all kinds of psychopaths for girlfriends and wives over the years. They're good to you when they're good to you, but but when you know things aren't good, it's like they lose their mind and they become the devil. So you're lucky there, man. Um yeah.

Speaker 2:

I worked, I worked a lot. So if anything that was, that was where, uh, I I just got. Maybe I wasn't around. If anything, I was the, I was the weak link. I wasn't around enough to uh get to those other stages.

Speaker 1:

Well, a lot of times that's what would get me in a lot of trouble, cause I, when I was young, I focused on me too. I was doing what I wanted to do. I was huge into sports, I was an athlete and I would play like you know, just put it this way on my day off in the air force. So I had a three days on, four days off schedule. So I worked three days straight, slept at work, the whole thing, right. But then I had four days off completely to myself and I would wake up in the morning and I would go to the gym and I would play basketball from eight or 9am until 7pm, 7 pm, wow, yeah, and obviously that got me in a lot of trouble with whoever.

Speaker 1:

I was with, because they're like you don't spend any time with me. I'm like I want to play basketball. Sorry, so yeah, that stuff got me in trouble, so that means you can play.

Speaker 2:

That's what I heard out of that story. You got handles, brandon, what you got over there got.

Speaker 1:

No, I was a shooting guard, not a point guard, but they did call me steve kerr so I could shoot the lights out of the ball ah, there we go, so you got game okay, I did.

Speaker 1:

I'm 52 now, but I did back then for sure, and I was confident. I had a game when I was in the army and I was playing. I had a game where I hit 12, three pointers in one game. And this is a 20 minute running clock halves. That's insane, yeah. So I was lights out back in the day, man, they were triple teaming me and stuff. It was funny, but anyway, I loved sports big time so that was my thing. That's what I was always doing with my time, and that would get me in trouble with the women I was with because they didn't feel like I spent enough time with them.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

And they were right, but I didn't care enough to make a change. Yeah, All right. So you traveled the world, you learned. How did that serve you in your career?

Speaker 2:

After that I'll tell you as I look at it. Um, all, and this is the way I feel. You know I'm I'm not the first person to say this, but you look back in hindsight and you look, think about all these different things and experiences that make you up, and that worldview, and even just that understanding and the books you read and all the other things that you kind of go through. Um, for me, what it's done is it's allowed me to be able to really have conversations with people.

Speaker 2:

Now, at this point, especially in my present day profession as a podcaster, I mean, my first call of the day I might be interviewing somebody in Brazil, the next one might be in UAE or somewhere, next one in Saudi, next one in Africa, next one in like. So I'm literally circling the globe multiple times per day and my output is a little bit different. So I'm doing between 1500 and 2000 episodes a year. So what that equates to is I'm doing interviews every day, and I'm doing many interviews every day for people that are listening and that aren't doing the math, 365 days, you know, in the in the year I'm only doing interviews Monday through Friday.

Speaker 2:

Rarely do I do a weekend, unless it's a conference and I have to do it or something, or I get to do it whatever. However, we want to say that, right, but I'm booked. Let's just say, if they book me and it's a weekend, I'm going. Obviously I'm going to meet my commitments. But now really it's given me the opportunity to connect with people in different levels.

Speaker 2:

It's the understanding of cultures, the appreciation and you know over time, just, you know with repetition and you know I from over time, like being in different areas or thinking about different areas and what's going on and seeing progress and innovation, even things like buildings being built.

Speaker 2:

I know that may sound silly to some people, but I think it's cool. When I go to a city or I go to a place and there wasn't a building or an entire region there, then you go back years later and you're like whoa, that wasn't even there before, like that's insane, the skyline changed, like it's just. I've just even besides business, I've just gained a different appreciation for humanity based on seeing so many different cultures and meeting so many different types of people and understanding that other people's values are not exactly our values all the time, and people have different opinions and way of living. Some, we could argue, are right, wrong. I don't know, I'm not judging any of that. That's their business, but that one's not my business. But for me, just even the appreciation and the understanding is something that I always strove for, and I feel like the traveling and everything that just brings me closer to that understanding, which to me is pretty cool.

Speaker 1:

Feel like the traveling and everything that just brings me closer to that understanding, which to me is pretty cool. Yeah, I think that's really cool. I agree I did it a little differently than you. I don't have quite the worldview that you do, because I haven't really traveled the world. I've been to Brazil multiple times because my wife is Brazilian, so I brought her out of Brazil to America here with me. But I've dated women from other countries and for periods of time years and so I got their point of view on their culture and their country, which isn't exactly the same as being there. I recognize that, but it does give you a different perspective. Like you said, that not everyone sees things the way you do. As an american hell.

Speaker 2:

Even americans don't see things the same way, the coast versus the middle states versus the south versus oh my gosh, this is one american nothing. There's a lot of opinions.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, for sure I respect the getting a world view and seeing things through different and as far as right is what's right and wrong in my eyes. If you're not hurting anyone, there is no right and wrong Right. But if you are hurting people, then there's a right and wrong, obviously. That's where you're at today and you're doing this podcasting gig like every day. I mean 2000 episodes a year. That's, that's wild to me. I'm a new podcaster. I've only been doing it for a few months and you know I'm only in the sixties, so that's, that's huge man.

Speaker 2:

That's huge. Most people don't get past, like some. I've heard many different stats. Some people say 10 episodes, some say 24, some day 26, some say I don't know. But to me's it like the cool part about now. I didn't know this about you before, but now that I know your sport and gaming like background, like that. You then that you got skills that you can shoot the rock. Now that I know you can shoot the rock whatever, 50 year old brandon still got some games. I'm not.

Speaker 1:

I don't, don't oh, I could shoot for sure, but don't ask me to play some defense. No, you ain't playing D, we got to just leave you at the top, like just leave it, just throw it over him.

Speaker 2:

Can you at least stand in the middle, like at the top, so that people got to run around?

Speaker 1:

It's funny the evolution of my basketball game. So when I was younger, I used to be more.

Speaker 2:

Take it to the whole type and people would be jordan man. Yeah, people would be like for a white boy.

Speaker 1:

Dude, you can hang in the air that was cool, that's what people would tell me right, because I would play with a bunch of bros in the military and so I had their respect for my ability to ball. But then I decided, as I was getting older, I wanted to be a better shooter, so I started focusing on my shooting as mj man, you start feeling that like that steps a little slower baby.

Speaker 2:

You guys want to extend that life exactly.

Speaker 1:

So then I start practicing hard at the three-point line right and I start getting pretty solid there. And then people stop letting me shoot three-pointers because they knew if they left me open I was going to kill them. So I had to keep stepping back farther and farther and farther and getting better from farther distances.

Speaker 1:

So legitimately man I could be I could be six feet behind the nba three point line and you couldn't leave me open like for real. I was because I also was a weight lifter, so I was strong, so I was like, yeah, so it was nothing to me.

Speaker 2:

It was a weight lifter, so I was strong, so so it was like, yeah, so it was nothing.

Speaker 1:

To me it was a natural motion to shoot six feet behind a three-point line. It didn't take any effort at all and I loved it. It's just too bad. My knees gave out when I was in my 30s and I couldn't play anymore yeah, that man.

Speaker 2:

That's because you were playing eight hours a day, man. The knees ain't made for that I'd be.

Speaker 1:

So my, that was just basketball, bro. I played football. I was a quarterback and a wide receiver and footballed on various teams. I played on a traveling volleyball team, um, and I also played. When I was young it was baseball, but when I became an adult it became softball. So yeah, man, I played them all. I loved sports dang well now.

Speaker 2:

Now in my mind, you, if, you, if, and I'm maybe it's already begun because you're, you're launching another show. So I feel like it's begun. I feel like it takes a certain type of compulsive personality to hit that many sports at one time. So if you can take that love and put it in your podcast game, if that is somehow transmuting, oh my gosh, dude yeah, I think so.

Speaker 2:

That's why you know game over because this is a big space and there's so much opportunity and people don't even understand that that podcasting is just starting. It's just starting.

Speaker 1:

no, I recognize that, and I have a couple passions. One them, the reason I started this podcast, is I wanted to reach people who struggled in life Hence, the life is crazy, right and are going through whatever they're going through and help them understand that it's a moment in time. They can get through this moment in time and still live a great life. They just have to get through whatever this difficult period of time is. And so that's where this one was born. But also my love of sport and I'm pretty knowledgeable at sports because I've been playing it and watching it my entire life and so, yeah, I needed to do that. That was just a natural transition to also start a football podcast.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome. And so now, man, I just see it. I see it that, if that, that's that, whatever the feeling, that drive or that love for sports because, by the way, when I talk to people or when I'm even I don't do this much anymore, but I used to coach people in this space on certain things and when I did that, I always equate it to a sport. Like to me, an episode is going to be that's like a layup, that's like a layup, that's a free throw, like, and you do other ones. You're going to miss some, like it's okay, but like you know, you keep on shooting. You get better over time. You get better, you get better. Maybe your percentage of you know shots made increases, so the percentage of great interviews increases over time. But the cool part about this versus sports, in my opinion, is sports isn't subjective, so meaning you either won or you didn't. There's a score on this. The only person you're really, or the only thing you have to answer to, is between your ears yeah, that's it like. So there's no. So you could say, okay, there's downloads, okay, there's this, there's that, but not really.

Speaker 2:

Because, if you think about it and this is what I tell people whenever they get hung up on downloads. They're like, oh, my episode, I have a new podcast. It's like I got I got 20 episodes out and I'm only getting like 10 episodes. I'm getting like 10 downloads 20 downloads per episode. And I'm like, if you got 10 downloads an episode and I'm like, how long are each of your episodes? Like an hour hour or something.

Speaker 2:

I'm like, man, you got 10 hours of somebody's life. That's right. What are you talking about? Like that's amazing that that either 10 people or one person listen, whatever it is. Like 10 people gave you an hour of their life. Instead of watching a Netflix episode that maybe cost $50,000 or $500,000 to produce, instead of watching a movie and some commercials on a watch-free TV app or whatever the TV is that they're watching, instead of going on YouTube and watching some other creator, 10 people listen to your episode and you got 10 hours of somebody's life. You respect that. Like, don't get hung up in those downloads. Anybody gives you an hour of their life. That's something special.

Speaker 1:

No, I agree with you completely and I open up my app every now and then just to see like some days will go by and I didn't even look at how many downloads episodes got or whatever. And I happened to casually open it over the weekend and I noticed Wednesday I had the most downloads I had ever had in a day.

Speaker 2:

And I didn't notice that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, thanks. So I didn't even notice that till like three or four days later.

Speaker 2:

And I told my wife.

Speaker 1:

I was like oh, I had a pretty good day Wednesday and then, and then this week has been awful, right it's, it's been so. This is the part where I'm hoping.

Speaker 2:

I'm hoping that I don't know what fueled you as an athlete, by the way, but I'm just, I'm just, uh, I'm just a gamer from the sense of I. I want more people to get involved in creating content. I want them to get out there because then I want them to create shows, whether it's podcasts, Instagram, whatever. Go out there and create shows, because this is a luxury. We didn't always have the opportunity to document and be part of conversations.

Speaker 2:

The small town that you mentioned, that you came up from, people weren't running around there like what's your story? Let me help you share it. There's no way it was too small. It's not happening. Nobody cared about those people, period, Like it. Just. I mean they care, the people that live there, their families, right, Like you care if you're living in it, but I mean the world, like they didn't. Nobody was making some special thing to let you go there and tell your story.

Speaker 2:

In Detroit, when I was growing up there, nobody's like oh my, they were. They were coming there for the media headline to sell newspapers about things that were going on that were wrong and that were bad and terrible, which is why Detroit still has bad branding. Right, Because all the media back then went there and I'm not saying they deserved it, didn't deserve it, whatever, but people don't forget. So, based on the branding and based on all the reporting in the media that was done back then, people still have a stigma that it is not even true anymore. For a decade, more than a decade, probably 20 years it hasn't been true, but that branding is still there. So in my my reason that I come on shows like this and I want to talk, cause I want other people to get involved, Cause this is a luxury, it's a blessing, it's a miracle that we can come on shows and that we can share our stories and that we can help other people through doing that.

Speaker 2:

So that's why, when I try to say like you as a gamer and I'm like man, this is like layup for you, brandon lucia, because you're 60 in. I'm excited because with your skill, with your drive, with what you've done in the past with sports man, you'll be over 6 000 in no time. I know that sounds crazy, but you know what. It doesn't sound crazy because you know how fast 10 years goes by.

Speaker 1:

Yeah no, I've been doing this going on 10 years yeah, it goes by just like snap of a finger. Like you said, and I am that way. I don't believe in failure. I remember when I first started people are like, oh, 95 of podcasts fail and I saw something today like most podcasts fail after six days. Like people will try really, really hard for six days when it doesn't.

Speaker 2:

Man, that sounds like going to the gym after New Year's yeah that's it.

Speaker 1:

This is the show.

Speaker 2:

This ain't going to the gym because you're trying to lose a couple pounds.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, if all that's true, that's wild to me. It's like why even start?

Speaker 2:

But that's an advantage for you, because you're, you just came from the gym Like you're doing.

Speaker 1:

you're putting in your reps. That's an advantage for you. No, I'm not a quitter man. I definitely will. That's awesome. I'll be in this for the long haul. So whatever happens happens. I have my reasons for doing this, and money is not the reason. That's not the reason I'm doing this. We're getting close to an hour here.

Speaker 2:

Good man, I got to run payroll. You know it's never about money till. You got to run payroll. If you want you to pay them for the work they did, then it's about money.

Speaker 1:

No, go ahead. Yeah Well, for some people it is, I'm saying, for me it's not. No it's about the game. It's about that three pointer. I'm fine financially. I'm trying to give back.

Speaker 2:

That's what I'm trying to do so amazing.

Speaker 1:

So, just what thoughts would you like to leave? What's your final, adam Torres, final thought of this is what I want to leave people with on your show.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, if you're. If you're out there, you're listening. You ever thought of starting a podcast, getting a show going like? Now's the time to do it. There's over 150 million YouTube channels. There's less than 4 million podcasts. One day there's going to be 10 million, 20 million, 50 million, a hundred million, plus podcasts, and you are going to be kicking yourself when that happens If you don't start your show now. Um, like, get out there, start a show. If you're scared, don't worry, it's okay, you'll get better. I was the worst podcaster in history. At my first show I didn't even use my own name when I introduced myself because I was so scared. I did over 1500 interviews without any video at all because I was, so you turn on a camera and I forget how to say my name. I swear I couldn't do.

Speaker 1:

I couldn't get through the intro.

Speaker 2:

So I am 100% the worst podcaster that ever did this in the beginning. Now, who knows, maybe I'm still not that good, but a lot of people listen to me that maybe would say otherwise, but maybe they got bad taste. I don't know. Brandon, it's okay, but people listen and I'm all right with that. So my final parting words is start your show. You won't regret it and don't quit. Just start your show, get it done, figure it out, and if you have a show concept or a book or anything else, I mean, shoot me a DM. Askadamtorres on Instagram. That's how you can follow and figure out anything that I'm up to. If you care to ask Adam Torres on Instagram. And Brandon man, I appreciate you having me on.

Speaker 1:

No, it's been great. Like I said, I could keep talking to you. There's plenty more I could ask you and I couldn't agree with you more. Like I, I had my first episode pretty scripted, so I thought it went pretty well, but I was nervous, and my second episode I really, when I listened to it, I really see how nervous I was because I kept repeating myself a lot, you know, and that was that was nerves. That was me being unsure of myself and what I was doing. But all you can do is continue to try to grow and get better, right, so that's all we can do.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome.

Speaker 1:

I want to thank you, Adam, for being on my podcast today. I appreciate that very much. I know we'll stay in touch and I will reach out to you when Ohio State beats Michigan State this year.

Speaker 2:

Thank, you Remind you what's up, thank you, just in case you forget, I feel like there's gonna be some instagram posts coming up or something. Oh man, I see the battles now.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's coming for sure it's for sure and if it happens to go the other way, you make sure you give it to me right?

Speaker 2:

you give it to me, don't worry, there'll be a whole. There's a whole team over here that'll get a team.

Speaker 1:

I mean, it won't but still that's a double-edged sword, though. Bring the rain and that don't last long oh man, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So anyway, it was great having you on and for my listeners, if you would, please go to BrandonHellcom and click on subscribe to subscribe to the podcast. It's just, it's 10 bucks a month, but it's just to support the show, to help me keep it going, and it'll keep going, but to just support the show so I can keep it going without debt on this, because it costs money to do a podcast. And then also I have a new sponsor, manly. You go to getmanlycom and what they do is they take your blood and they find out what vitamins and minerals and supplements your body is deficient of and then they specially make supplements specifically designed for your body and what you need. And they're amazing. I use them and it takes the guesswork out of how much creatine you think you need or whatever it is that your body needs. It takes the guesswork right out of it. They give you the exact amount you need.

Speaker 1:

So that's getmanlycom and check them out. And as always, like Adam alluded to earlier, I appreciate you giving us your most respected asset, which is your time, and I appreciate that and thank you for listening. And this has been Life is Crazy and I'll talk to you next time? Yeah, like an appetite. Who is the crowd that fits through the cage as we put the fear Upon the stage?

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Brandon Held

Host