Please do me a favor, share where you're located.
I know your name is easily pronounced, but go
ahead and do it for me and the name of your business,
books, or anything else you've done. Hey, Javanka.
First off, thank you for having me on Vision
Pros. This is a lot of fun. I know you're out
in Texas. I'm in L .A. today, downtown L .A.
That's where I'm stationed. That's where our
shows are filmed, recorded, all that good stuff
distributed. And the name of my shows, Mission
Matters, I host eight different shows. I have
a business show, I have a money show, I have
a marketing show, a tech show, a startup garage
show, a bunch of different shows that I host.
6 ,000 interviews and man, having fun, having
fun and keeping it going. I love that. Okay.
As I mentioned before, you do a lot. You've done
a lot. And to have all of these shows, may I
ask what started all of that? You know, it's
kind of interesting because it was I like to
call myself an accidental entrepreneur. So in
the previous book that we distributed and released,
it's called Driven. And on that book, myself
and the other co -author, Elliot Callen, he's
he's known as the serial entrepreneur. So he
started a bunch of businesses distributed and
then, you know, started sold all that good stuff,
a bunch of businesses myself. I was a financial
advisor. I was a financial advisor. And eventually
I ended up I ended. I ended up starting a podcast.
And after I started that podcast, the business
started to grow. And that's when I got further
into media. And then, you know, nine years later,
I can't believe it. I'm like, wow, there's a
lot of episodes, a lot of content, and really
a lot of privilege to be able to interview people,
to be able to come on shows like your own, and
really to have a lot of fun. You know what's
crazy? This is going to be so random for you,
Adam. On your website, you're a star. You look
like a star. You look like somebody that would
not, I wouldn't say not communicate with you,
but you are so down to earth, Adam. I'm from
the Midwest. I said I'm in L .A. today, but I'm
from Michigan. Come on now. That's one thing
about. websites in my opinion as you go on there
they're very pretty you know they got your best
picture on there they have your accolades all
that you've done and one thing I love about what
I do in this part of my life is the fact that
I get to allow people to understand there's a
person behind all of that there's a really great
person named Adam Torres that is that's human
too right and so with that being said all these
businesses didn't just happen overnight in nine
years Where did where did it get started? Tell
me like what it was like. You know what? This
is what I'm going to do. I'm on one. Now I'm
on two, three, four. Yeah. You know that the
pile up of episodes was kind of kind of random.
What it was was I don't I don't like to tell
people no. So in the beginning, I didn't want
to tell people no. And then I'm like, and, you
know, you just start doing one, then you do two.
In the beginning, you really got to beg people
to come on the show, right? Then you're like,
and the first person I ever interviewed was the
other co -founder here. His name is Chirag Sagar.
So I was like, and it was his idea to start the
podcast. I'm like, I'm not starting no podcast.
I don't even know what a podcast was. And so
he's the one who eventually twisted my arm. It
was then we started it. grow but um really with
those first episodes it was just you know i didn't
even i didn't even edit like you have a fancy
software you stream yard you you know you have
all these amazing graphics i used my phone and
i didn't even edit like the first 300 episodes
like it was just like no audio i did nothing
i was just like recording conversations upload
it that's a podcast Like that was it. And so
we accumulated all these episodes. And one day
we started, you know, releasing one a week. Then
it was one at one point, one a day. Then it was
two a day. Then it was three a day. And it got
to the point to where we had something like 70
or 60 or 70 episodes like backlogged. And we
and I was still had a full schedule. So my record
is 91 interviews in a week. And my average during
when we first started was over. It was around
six. 65 to 75 would be like my average interview
schedule for a week. And then one day we had
a backlog of like 70 interviews or something
like that. we didn't know what to do. I'm like,
well, we can't bring somebody on the show and
tell them, Hey, your episode is going to be released
in six months. What are you going to do? So,
so I just told the team, Hey, release them all.
And they were like, what? And I'm like, yeah,
they're like, when I'm like now, I don't know.
Like we got to tell these people, like these
people want to hear their episodes. We're getting
emails. I don't want people mad at me. And a
strange thing happened. We released them all.
And, um, our per episode download went up. So
if you think about that for a moment, that doesn't
really make sense. If you really 70 posts on
Instagram, you'll probably get shadow banned
or something like that. Or you reach 70 posts
on Facebook or LinkedIn or something, your content's
not going to get distributed. And so I don't
really recommend this for anybody, and I don't
really know. That's not a strategy I teach. I'm
just telling you what happened in my life. But
yeah, our per episode download went up, which
meant that more people were listening to each
episode, and it was growing. And I was just like,
what? well, I guess maybe, you know, the algorithm
doesn't, you know, people that are into my type
of content, they're in. And so let's just do
more. And then you keep doing more. And then
we focus the whole business around that. And,
you know, that's where we come to now. And this
year I'll do, for example, between 1 ,500 and
2 ,000 interviews. So just this year alone. So
I do about 40 years of content every year. You
know, what's interesting is what I got from all
of that is that gummit, just do it. Just do it.
And I love that. I actually got chills saying
that out loud. Adam, you didn't think about it.
And I think that that's what happens with most
people that want to become entrepreneurs or are
entrepreneurs. We get into our head and we're
like, oh, this needs to be perfect. Adam was
like, load them up. Load them up. I don't care
what anybody thinks. I don't care what anybody
says. The service that you're doing. For these
individuals, it wasn't going to be so quick.
So he's like, just load them up. And lo and behold,
we stopped thinking so much and worried about
what someone else is going to think or what the
algorithm is going to do. Yeah, it just worked
out like. That's exciting for me. Yeah, it's
exciting for me. And ultimately, and looking
at that, to me, at the end of it all, it's like,
you know, I mean, God's in control anyway. So
if that's going to be good or bad at the end,
you're one person away from whatever, you're
one phone call away from it being the best day
of your life or the worst day of your life. So
it doesn't like, you know, I'm like, God's in
control anyway. So if something's going to really,
really happen, then it's part of my journey.
That's that. Please share with us your vision.
Yeah. My vision is to continue to help. entrepreneurs,
executives, experts to help people that maybe
don't always feel that their voice should be
heard. My vision is to give them a platform,
to give them an opportunity, whether it's coming
on my show, whether it's my company helping them
launch shows. We've launched over 200, now going
on 250 podcasts for our agency. We've also helped
people publish books. We published over 400 authors,
including Barry Sanders, his Bye Bye Barry documentary.
So my vision is to continue to walk in my calling,
which is helping others tell their story and
hopefully maybe at some point inspiring them
to do so. That's why I come on these shows. It's
not to not to sell anything, actually. It's just
because I want other people to know that if I
can do it, you can do it, too. I was the worst
podcaster in history. My first show was so bad
that I didn't even use my own name. I was so
scared to be behind a mic or anything else. I
didn't even use my real name. I didn't even do.
I wasn't even allow myself on camera until after
3000 episodes, I had such a fear of the camera.
So think about that 3000 episodes before I even
turned on the camera to be able to do that. So
like, if I can do it, you can do it too. That's
my goal. And if you're listening to this, you
don't have to use an agency. You don't have to
go start a show yourself. My, my first show took
me like 10 minutes to start. I didn't know what
I was doing. I didn't even know there were podcast
agencies. So that's my vision to help others
understand. know, and hopefully be inspired to
know that their voice matters and that they should
share their story too. When it comes to Mission
Matters, why that name? You know, originally,
the company was actually called Money Matters.
And I thought it was going to be a, we thought,
myself and the other co -founder, Sharag, we
thought that it was going to be like a money
platform. You know, like, which isn't a bad,
because I was a financial advisor. My background's
in finance. So I had almost 15 years of, or 14
years in that business. And I was running my
own RIA. And I had this other company on the
side. And this is the one that I, and I was like,
you know, just, it wasn't my full time. time
focused yet and i um over time you know i'm both
start kind of you know growing things are going
well and one day i'm i go to um i'm doing an
interview and somebody says um you know adam
mission matters or excuse me money matters but
mission matters too and i'll tell you it was
like god just like like lightning just hit me
like god was speaking through this person i could
feel it and so i called the other um co -founder
and i'm like hey shrug let's um What do you think
about the name Mission Matters? And he says,
well, Adam, you know, we were talking about talking
about it. We forget about it. And then we leave.
Then we come back to it. He calls me like maybe
a month later, something like that, a couple
weeks later. And he's like, hey, Adam, what do
you think about the name Mission Matters? And
I'm like, oh, that's a great idea, Sharag. But
if we look that up and we don't have like if
there's enough money in the bank account, we
have to get the domain. We can't do it if we
can't get the domain. So he's like, all right,
we'll do it. Fine. And so we. We look it up.
It was, of course, taken. We spent more money
in a domain than I ever thought I would in my
life. And then we basically, within nine days,
did a complete rebrand. We restarted everything.
So brand new show, lost all our subscribers,
brand new website, new book. I mean, think about
it this way. We had books already published.
We had over 1 ,500 interviews out there for the
O brand. We had a website. We had all our social
media. It's hard enough to get one media company
running. So to pause it, stop, and for me, feel
like, you know, God was telling me to do this.
And, you know, I'm like, you say step, I got
to step, right? So it was really a faith -based,
like, leap over. stopping something that was
already working and then really starting over
and starting it again. And within nine days,
then we had it all relaunched. We had over 30
social media channels at that point. And all
the shows were niched out. So instead of it being
one show, there were eight different shows based
on the level of content I put out. And we niched
everything out to where we created an entire
platform around it. And then things just started
to grow. So God gave us a calling, told us to
do something. We did. We leaped in faith and
were rewarded. What was one of your most significant
learning experiences in this all? I think it's
to not try to emulate what you see. Like you
got to really be authentic in what you're doing.
So in the beginning, this is like, you know,
nine, 10 years ago. So it's kind of like the
early days of, let's just say, even awareness
around podcasts, awareness around marketing,
at least for me, for digital marketing, for like
creating a brand online. It was kind of awareness.
And if you look at like some of the earlier content
I had out there for Money Matters, it wasn't.
quite authentically me. If it was, then I probably
wouldn't have put out that content. Not that
it was off -brand, it was just really hardcore
money content and it was just that. kind of what
other people were putting out at that time but
um it really finding my voice and leaning into
mission if i would have started with that then
it probably would have saved me a couple years
because i would have known like authentically
in the beginning like that i don't know if i
would have came up with the mission matters name
like that again i think that was from god but
um but i would have probably put out different
like if you look at my first book that i put
out it's called money matters and it's like me
in a suit and there's like money on the cover
and stuff like that kind It's super cheesy, super
cheesy. And I leave it out there on purpose.
I leave that book out there on purpose. Now,
back then, that was a self -published book, and
the design's not perfect, all that. But I leave
it out there, and I call it my ugly duckling
because I want people to look at that book and
be like, what? Adam put this? I stand by the
words, by the way, the story, the words. That's
all authentically me. But if you look at the
design and some of the other things, you look
at it, it definitely wasn't me. in retrospect.
So I think being authentic, not emulating, not
just looking at what other people are doing and
thinking if you did that same thing, it's going
to work for you. Not necessarily the case. So
just be yourself and you'll be okay. And God
will put the right people in your place. There's
more listeners than anybody can ever handle.
There's more people. If you're supposed to have
a listener or a business partner or whatever
attracted to you in your world, it's going to
come. You just got to keep walking in faith.
So in regards to legacy dreaming, if you could
leave behind one invisible legacy, something
not seen but deeply felt, what would it be? I
would hope that I inspire others to launch shows.
Like that would be that would be fun to me. And
I don't have to be seen. I don't have to be on
somebody's show for that. But to me, it's multiplying
the ability to help others. So when I think about
like, how do you help a billion people? You help
a thousand people, help a thousand people, help
a thousand people. And how do you help them?
In my case, it's helping people tell their story.
It's helping document it. You know, in the past,
before podcasts and all this was around, other
people wrote our stories. Who are the other people,
quote unquote, people that had access? that had
resources, that maybe had the money, that had
the, you go far enough back, it's who had the
paper, who had the papyrus, who had the ink,
who had the, like, whatever we were writing,
who had the clay tablet. I don't know how far
back you got to go for that one, but basically
now we get to be a part of telling our own story,
documenting our own histories, and really making
sure that our legacy and our time is not... forgotten
or rewritten for us, especially if we're doing
this stuff in mass. When you think about entire
moments in history being blotted out or not recollected
or rewritten by people in power that maybe didn't
always have our best interest or didn't have
the general population's best interest and had
very specific reasons for writing history the
way they did. Nowadays, it's kind of hard to
do that if you're participating. If you're participating,
if you're not participating, well, then one way
or another your legacy is going to be written
it's either going to be written by you or somebody
else what tips do you have for entrepreneurs
today um i'd say uh get back to reading and studying
like get back to reading and studying um i'd
say the other side of um of uh being an entrepreneur
is um you know equipping yourself when i look
back in the beginning and especially now um things
are moving so fast like and so you can go to
chat you can ask the sense you can ask that answer
you can get some and you can get things back
quickly But I'd say take a little bit of pause
and get into like some bigger bodies of work.
So like look back at some of the classics, get
to some of the primary sources again and maybe
do some reading. Maybe like take some time out
to like just slow up just a little bit, because
if you can never still those voices, whether
it's through reading or whether it's through
something else, then maybe you can't hear what
you're supposed to be doing. Sometimes we go
too fast. So just pause a little bit. Read a
full book one day. Mess with your attention span.
Don't worry. The work's going to be there tomorrow.
I promise you. And once you solve one problem,
the next one's coming. So it's okay. But chill.
Thank you for being here today. I'm really happy
that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking
forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes
continue to move forward. This is going to get
more and more fun. We'll have more and more engagement
as well. We'll invite people to participate in
the show. And thank you for giving us your time
and attention. Have an excellent time building
out your vision and becoming a vision pro yourself.