June 12, 2025 • 23 mins
In this episode of From Crisis to Justice, Parag L. Amin sits down with Adam Torres, co-founder of Mission Matters and one of the most prolific interviewers in podcasting, to break down the power of personal branding, storytelling, and building a media platform that amplifies your mission.
Adam has published over 400 authors, hosted 6,000+ interviews, and built a network that empowers entrepreneurs, executives, and thought leaders to get their message out. But his journey didn’t start that way. From being a financial advisor too afraid to show his face on camera, to becoming “Mr. Century City,” Adam shares the behind-the-scenes path that helped him transition from “Money Matters” to Mission Matters.
Key takeaways include:
- Why personal branding isn’t optional for today’s business leaders
- How to build a brand based on authenticity, not perfection
- The difference between business marketing and personal connection
- How media, podcasts, and publishing can elevate your voice and influence
- Lessons on pivoting, starting over, and taking bold leaps of faith
If you’re a business owner or entrepreneur ready to make your mission matter, this is the episode you can’t afford to miss.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hi, I'm Parag Amin.
Welcome to my podcast.
From Crisis to Justice.
As a lawyer and entrepreneur, I'mpassionate about helping small business
owners successfully navigate situationsthat can kill a business.
As a kid, I watched my dad's dreamsof being an entrepreneur were destroyed
by an unethical businessman, and I don'twant that to happen to you or your family.
(00:22):
That's why I started my law firm.
I want to protect and defend businessowners and their legacies from crisis.
Welcome to From Crisis to Justice.
Welcome back, everybody.
To from crisis to Justice.
I am your host, Parag Amin, and I'm joined
(00:43):
by a special guestand friend, Adam Torres.
Adam is the co-founder of Mission
Matters and media branding and bookpublishing agency that's helped amplify
the voices of thousandsof entrepreneurs, executives and experts.
He's conducted over 6000 interviews.
He's builta content network of more than 100,000
(01:06):
pieces of content across podcast,video and books.
Before that, he
before he launched Mission Matters,he was in the financial services industry
where he managed a portfolio of overhalf a billion dollars.
Today, he's a top ranked podcast host,international speaker
and author of multiple bestsellerson business and investing.
(01:27):
Adam, thank you for being here today.
You forgot.
And a guest on From Crisis to Justice.
What an honor.
Parag Matt, I've been following youon social for a long time.
Obviously, you're a friend as well in L.A.
so we're in the same networks.
But man, I'm loving the contentyou're putting out, and I'm happy
to finally be on the show, man. Thank you.
Awesome, man.
Thank you. So let's jump into it.
(01:48):
I mean, like,you know a lot about branding.
You know a lot about
people and
their in their missionsand what they want to do.
So how did you even get into this?
Why? Why?
Why is it called Mission Matters?
And why does it matter? Yeah.
So I will say a big piece of this was
(02:09):
the other co-founder, Sherak.
So I'll say like originally I pitched him,I said, Hey, I'm going to put together
this book. It'sgoing to be an anthology series.
So think about it as like Chicken Soupfor the Soul, but it was for business
owners and entrepreneursand executive sales like same concept.
And I was originally pitching Sharadto be in the book and I talked to him.
He's like, You know what?
(02:29):
I like this,but I actually want to be part of this.
Like, like for real, for likethis should be a company.
And I'm like a company,a book publishing company.
Are you crazy? Remember, I'ma financial advisor at this time.
I have like an actual, you know, brickand mortar building like, like business.
And I'm like, he's like, Yeah.
And I didn't quite understand the mediaspace, which that was Siraj's background.
And so I said, Be in this businessbook business.
(02:51):
I got a little duck hereand I'm trying to put together a book
with some buddies like that.
I don't even knowwhat the business is for that.
And he taught me a lot along the way.
And then as we started buildingbrick by Brick,
the podcast was added to it, and reallythe podcast was the game changer for us.
Books were a little bit datedand we still put out books, by the way.
So this is April of 2025that we're recording this hard to believe.
(03:13):
We've now published over 400 authors,and we just released the 11th edition
of our bestselling Business Leadersbook last week.
So that being said,like we're still in the book business,
but the podcast is what really kind of litfire fire on our brand
and really like amplified everythingand you know, and that that that was
the big wave that got us any type of reachand that when we started the podcast,
(03:37):
that was when I was finally comfortablewith exiting my other business.
No longer being in finance,I had every license
you could think of your series6763 insurance licenses, 66,
you name it, I had itand I gave them all up
and I went full force,full time in the media.
I've been doing it nownine years in January or December.
(03:58):
Kind of insane.
That's awesome.
I love that. So.
So would you say your mission is to helpother people with their missions or
what is thewhat is the purpose of mission Matters?
What arewhat are you trying to accomplish?
What would you like to seeis like a successful end result?
Well, I'll tell you originally,I'll give you the progression.
Originally, it was like most businesses.
(04:21):
I wanted to, you know, make some money.Media could be a good thing.
My other business,I didn't really see a hockey stick in it.
I know I could grow year over year.
I know I could grow by acquisition.
I know there's a lot of different waysto grow in that model,
but I didn't see any real hockey stickand I was and I was thinking
aboutlike what was going to be next overall.
And when I saw the media thingin the media model,
it started with,you know, just make money.
(04:42):
I mean, that wasthat was the original thought process.
In fact, the original name of the companywas Money Matters.
And as I got further into this conceptof helping others and further
as a host and to telling storiesand helping people share their stories.
I still remember it like it was yesterday.
I was onI was doing a an interview with someone
and they said, You know, Adam, moneymatters, but mission matters, too.
(05:05):
And it hit me like in the stomach, Prague.
I'm telling you, I was like, like God justgave me a little punch in the stomach.
And by the way, me and God talk like that,
He might put me in the head like,Come on, Adam, listen.
Like,that's the way I work with God. It's fine.
He made me. It's okay.
So it just struck me.
So I call up Chiragmaybe a little bit after that.
That conversation of that interview,
I'm like, Schrock,what do you think about the name
(05:27):
Mission Matters and SchragWe talk about it, we talk about it,
and you know, we let it,we leave it on the table.
Then we keep on,you know, talking about other things.
And then maybe like a couple of weekslater, Chirag calls me, he says, Adam,
what do you think about the nameMission Matters?
And I'm like, Schrag,That's a brilliant idea.
But if we're going to do it,I'll tell you right now,
if I look it up,I know the domains are already taken.
(05:49):
We're going to have to buy it
if we have enough money in the bankaccount for this particular business,
we're going to spend it all to get thisdomain or we're not going to do it.
I won't even look it up.
So we make the commitment.
If there's enough money in this businessesbank account, we're going to do it.
So we we looked it up.
It was more expensive than I ever thought.
I'd pay for a domainand the rest is history.
(06:10):
We have within nine days from that moment,we completely stopped our other podcast.
We completely stopped all of the brandingand everything else we're doing.
So all just to be clear, when I,when I talk about like a leap of faith,
either whether it's from for meit was listening to God
and just being like,okay, this is the next step.
(06:30):
But it's like that kind of like stepand you will be rewarded.
But it was a leap of faith.
We already already had over 1500 podcastepisodes under my belt under that brand.
Just to be clear, they're still out there.
We'd also already publishedmultiple books under that brand.
We had the social media built out,we had a website built out.
So just it's hard enoughto start a media company.
(06:52):
We already a couple of years
in, hard enough to start a media company,get it functioning,
get it to where anybody cares,but then to pause it
and stop for no reason outwardlyand start over again.
That was a leap of faith.But we are rewarded.
And that and ultimately,what part of what also helped us
make that decision
was that the real and nothingnot that there's anything wrong with money
(07:14):
and money matters in our financial advisoror anything like that.
But I looked at the contentand I looked at
where my personal heart was as a creatorand a content creator.
And maybe only 20% of my conversationswere actually about money.
So I'm now I'm just thinking as a marketeras well, like in retrospect, of course,
I wasn't thinking this at that time.
At the time I'm thinking,Are you absolutely crazy?
Adam was hard enoughto get anybody to care about this brand,
(07:36):
and now you're going to launchanother stupid right? But
I thought about it as a creator then,
and I'm like, you know, like missionwas really what stuck out to me.
It was like,
there's so many people out therethat have a story to tell that never will
if they're not provided a platformto tell that story.
And just like what you're doinghere, Parag, with From Crisis to Justice,
and also there'sand all the other podcast hosts out there,
(07:59):
the publishing companies out there,like without providing that platform.
But the second thing isI figured that people need encouragement.
They don't even necessarily knowthat their story is worth telling.
And that's why I'm on this show today.
That's why I go on other people's showsthat at this point is
because I want to spread the loveand just encourage others that, Hey,
if I could do it, you could do it.
(08:19):
Because let me tell you,I was the scariest person ever.
Sprague
I don't even know if we didn't know eachother back then, but you turn on a camera,
I forget my name.
I did almost 3000 episodes before
I would before I was comfortableto go in front of a camera.
These were audio only episodes,so I was that scared.
In fact, my first show,I didn't even use my real name, Parag.
(08:44):
I did not.
I used a pseudonym.It was and it was a nickname.
Did you use It was a nicknamethat was assigned with my
my office was in Century City,and I'm a community builder,
so I was part of the century CityChamber of Commerce, the Arts Council.
I'm picking public art.
So like affectionately, some laughing,some not.
But eventually it stuck.
People in Century Citywould call me Mister Century City.
(09:04):
Like that was actually my name. Like,Oh, there goes Mr.
Century City.It started as a joke, but then it stuck.
So then that'swhat I called myself on this list.
So it was ridiculous.
It's looking back now, but from even that,you know, a brand was built.
But that's the funny part about it.
So when I tell other people, like they maylook at me now, some may say, Oh,
(09:24):
this guy's terrible,some may say, Oh, I could never do that.
This guy's good. Whateveryour opinion of me is, just understand.
My opinion is I startedas the worst podcaster in history.
I couldn't even say my namein front of a camera, or I'd be, like,
losing it to the point to where, again,I didn't even use my real name.
So if I can do it.
Anybody listening to this right now,if you're thinking about a podcast,
(09:45):
Instagram channel, blog,whatever, your voice needs to be heard
like you should, you just start it.You should do it.
Whether you're doing ityourself, you're using a company.
Does it matter to me?Just get out there and do it.
So that's why I do what I do.
Parag That's awesome.
I love that. Yeah.And there's one mystery solved.
Anybody was wondering who Mr.
Century City was for us.
So I trademarked that.
(10:06):
Actually, I own it, too.
So don't go out there still.
And not because I own that trademark.
You know, it's interesting because
the pivot from going from money mattersto mission Matters.
Because, look, I mean, it's true.
Money does matter,but it's not the only thing that matters.
And so I think a lot of times,unfortunately, people get this confused,
(10:27):
particularly, you know,you have a background in finance.
My undergrad major is in finance
and I worked in financefor a little bit before law school.
So I think particularly in finance,
which is very money focused, I think it'svery easy to lose sight of it.
And, you know, an insight that I had was
the issue with moneyis that when it's money by itself
(10:47):
without mission, it's very hollowand it becomes very problematic
and very dark where somebodyis just acquiring wealth or money
for the purposesof acquiring wealth or money.
And there's there's no purpose
behind it,there's no sense of service behind it.
And ultimately, those are the people yousee who say, well, money doesn't matter.
(11:09):
Money never made me happy.
It's like, of course,because you were chasing the wrong thing
instead of chasing a mission,a purpose, a vision to help other people.
It was a very selfish endeavorof just trying to gather
as much money as possible.
Yeah. So let me ask you, when it comes to
somebodywho wants to get their mission out there,
I think the fear you described of
(11:31):
not wanting to use your real nameor doing 3000 episodes
before you felt comfortable on camera,I think a lot of people,
one don't realize how long of a processit can be to get comfortable.
But then too,they don't realize the importance of it.
So can you talk a little bitabout the importance of branding and
(11:52):
talking about your mission, your vision,your values in today's economy?
Mm hmm.
Well, going back to the beginning,even before our Mission matters.
So the first book that I released,because just to just to give you an idea
like I was I was a scale of 1 to 10,one being, you know, nothing.
I was a zero.
(12:12):
Like, I didn't want to do anything.
And I fought every bit of it.
I was like, I remember my first book,I didn't want to write it.
I was like, because again,I was in finance.
I did haveI was exactly what you mentioned.
I was one of those people that had a chipon their shoulder, didn't know.
I didn't know what I didn't knowat that point.
I grew and have evolved since then,but I didn't know.
So the first thing one of my mentorswhen I started my own career, so now
I have my own business and they're like,okay, well you need to market yourself.
(12:35):
And I'm like,
Okay, great.
But people know what I do is like,No, you should write a book.
And I'm like a book.
I'm like, Why would I write a booklike Broke people write books?
Do you think I want to spend my timeon like a $3 item or what is my profit
margin or what is it like?I didn't get it.
And he's like,Adam, don't fight me on this.
You hired me like, write a bookand this is how we're going to do it.
So I'm like, All right.
So I do that book and it justI start getting feedback from the world
(13:00):
that and I startseeing how my story was helping
other people and I start seeing andthen other opportunities just came my way.
Like all of a sudden I was doing like paidspeaking gigs and I can think about
like before that I was,you know, the financial advisor world.
You're paying,you know, I'm buying everybody dinner
if you want to come see me, speak
because I want you to invest like,you know that model.
(13:20):
It's like, So that's what I'm used to.
Now, wait a minute.
You want to pay for me to come
Just because I have this book like thatjust was a whole new world to me.
And it opened up a lot of thoughtprocess around like what was possible.
So as I've seen my brand grow year overyear,
it's come to the point to where a yearand a half ago, maybe two years ago now,
(13:40):
we launched a personal brand acceleratorand the reason we did it was to help other
people do exactly what we've been ableto accomplish in growing a brand.
So now, if I was a one in the beginningwhere I didn't understand brand
and I thought it was all a waste of time,now on the other side, I'm a ten
and I'll tell you, I'll give you, I'llshow you, I'll give you a quick example.
People at home won't be able to see this,but I'll just describe it.
(14:02):
I'm holding up a bag of coffeeright here for you could see that.
That's Arabica coffee was started in 1976.
I don't know if you can see the logoon there.
That's my face. And so how funny is that?
They'll roast ten tons of coffee
this year.
So when you think it's come again,I've been around since 1976
over 200 locationsand my face is on the bag.
(14:26):
So that's from a financial advisor.
I wasn't some, you know, celebrity.
I didn't I couldn't shoot a basketball,I couldn't play football.
I couldn't do any of that.
I can get behind this microphone,talk, share my story,
have some laughs with my buddies,and build my personal brand.
Try to addas much value to the world as possible
and through my mission,which is to amplify the stories to others.
(14:48):
And then magic happens with the rightbrand,
like a coffee company callsyou out of the blue and says, Hey,
I see your workand let's let's collaborate.
Like that'swhat happens with a personal brand.
It's insane. And I'm just a baby.
Just to be clear, for everybody at home,I'm just a little I'm a little puppy.
In this media game.
The greats have been doing it for 20,30 years.
I'm only nine years in.
(15:09):
So like the way I see it,as if if it works this well.
Now, what happens if five years, whateverthe ten years, but have the 20 more years
still pretty young?
Yeah. So what do you think about
what are
some common misconceptionsor things that people get wrong
when it comes to media and branding?
They Well, two different sides.
(15:30):
I don't think they understandthe personal.
Personal means personalLike if you're creating a personal
brand, I'll talk from that side of it.
So what that means isyou got to share some things
that are personal,
like at some point,like if you if you think you're
building a personal brandand it's all a business
and all you have out thereis business context, not a personal brand.
It's your business and it's okay.
It's okay to do just business marketing.
(15:51):
There's nothing wrong with that.
It's okay to do that.
But when you think about person,you got to share something
that's authentic.
You got to share something that's you.
You've got to share other interests.
Like and the hard part for me
with personal branding in generalwas that I'm kind of a one trick pony.
Like, What do you do? Adam Podcast.
What do you do for Fun podcast?
What do you dowhen you're not podcasting sleep?
(16:12):
I mean, that's very boring.
You got, you got to have more dimensions.
You got to have more depth.
If you're it's okay to be like focused.
It's okay to build your business. It'sokay to be like, really.
But if you want to attractif you want to get to the point
to where you're attracting interestingpeople and interesting experiences,
you got to start dreaming a little.
You got to be authentic.
(16:33):
You got to start having fun again.
That that was one of the things that I wasI had to learn the hard way.
I'm like, I look up one dayand I'm like, Man, not having as much fun.
Sure.
Making more money, doing other things,doing this, that the business is growing,
the reach is going.
But like,
how can I incorporate some fun into thisso that also it's good for business too.
And so when I started doing that more,it worked a lot better.
(16:54):
But when I was a financial advisorand just kind of
thinking about whattype of content to make, it was very hard.
Like creatively, I'm like,okay, I'm at a desk all day.
How do I build a personal brandwhen I'm at a desk
looking at a computerout there in front of a pile of papers?
And then you look online, you open it upand then all of a sudden
you have like this, you know, influencer,this, that, Oh, I'm traveling,
(17:17):
I'm doing this, I'm doing that.
So originally that was my conceptof what a personal brand
was supposed to be supposed to be.Oh, I got to be an influencer.
I got to travel like I do now.
Obviously, I had clientsand I'm not going to do that.
I don't I have to be by that desk.I have to do this.
But there's other ways to be creative
and to start creating contentthat aren't that.
(17:37):
So when I say authentic, you just have toyou have to find your voice.
You have to find what matters to you.
So I give you just one quick exampleof how I used to create content then.
So every morning,I mean, I lived right off of
off of Camden in Wiltshire.
I don't live there anymore,so I can give the crossroads ads
anyway in Beverly Hills,so a block away from Rodeo Drive.
And in the morning I would go
(17:57):
and I do a live stream on my morning walkwhen I was grabbing a coffee
and I'd just be talking to peoplelive stream walking around doing that.
And at this point, this is a while ago,but there was
a platform called Periscope,and I'd have thousands of people watching,
thousands of people watching mego grab my morning coffee,
just having a conversation.
And that first conversation,it was called The Gratitude Show.
(18:17):
And all I did because again,I was so freaking scared to do anything.
I just asked one questionWhat are you grateful for?
That's the whole show.
And people would come on and I'd be like,I just say their name.
If you were to come outand be like, Parag.
So what are you grateful for this morning?What are you grateful for?
And then my next step in buildingthat show was I started coming up with
(18:38):
gratitude missions.
So then I was like,okay, the mission today
for everyone watching isI want you to text somebody that you love
and just tell them you're gratefulfor them.
Out of the blue, Don't say anything else.
Just text them that.
And the next dayI would get like responses.
And I remember I remember very clearly onegentleman's like Adam.
I don't even know how to tell you this,but this show has changed my life.
(18:59):
It's changed my marriage.
My wife was cryingbecause she said in our 15 year marriage,
that's the first time I ever toldher, told her that I was grateful for her.
And I thought she knew,but I never verbalized it.
I thought we had a healthy marriageand everything else, and we're doing well.
There's nothing wronglike in our marriage.
But I never I never verbalized it.
(19:19):
And she it really hurt her.
So, like, you just don't know how, like,all these little things
along that journey of of building contentand trying to help others,
you don't know where you're going to hit,but everything that I just described,
it's all authentic.
It's all authentic.I didn't try to make anything up.
I didn't do any research to say,should I do
a show called The Gratitude Showand ask one question?
(19:40):
Probably Chatbot would come backlike Adam.
That's a stupid idea.
Like that show will never work.
But it did, and it was authentically me,and I just kept moving forward
it building from there.
So the number one thing is
you got to be authenticin whatever you're doing
and building your personal brandlike it's got to be something
you're proud of that you're going tobe proud today and tomorrow.
(20:02):
Yeah, 100% agree with that.
And that's the interesting thing,is whether you bounce it off Chachi, Pete
or Friend or whoever, ultimately
they don't know how much original ismyou're going to bring to it,
how much of yourself, your own character,your own charisma
are you going to bring in to this thingthat helps make
this make this thing successful?
So it's not really about the idea,but it's about the expression of yourself.
(20:26):
And I think it's such a powerful thingthat people really should tap into.
And it's interesting before
because before we even turnedon the recording, on the cameras,
you and I were just talking about that,the importance of that,
whether it's in social media or whatever,just having fun with it
instead of making it a chore.
And the same thing is true of work.
(20:47):
I think, unfortunately, a lot of times
that part of it gets lost,that it's not just supposed to be a grind.
It's not just supposed to be a hustle.
You're supposed to have some fun alongthe way, because if you're not having fun,
what's the point?
You know, like, yeah,
it's just the same thing over and overand people can sense it.
People can feel itif you're enjoying what you're doing.
That's why your social media is so good.
(21:08):
And I wasn't just pulling your legor saying,
I enjoy it when you come upbecause you're always testing.
You come off the new video.It's a new format.
It's something that's like you're I'm notsaying that you don't have a great team.
I know you have a great team behind youthat helps you with this.
But like, you're enjoying doing it,whether you came up with the idea
or they did, like you'reactually you're in it.
You're not they didn't just hand you
something like,all right, we're going to do this now.
(21:29):
You're in it on some level that waybecause it comes through.
It's authenticallyyou and out of all the other, like people
that try to, like, get caught upwith this, what we are talking about,
you got to postpone todayor you got to do this. You got to do that.
I'd rather see one good post from you.
Then, like one consistent postfrom somebody that's not in
and just pushed, put a random clip, aI software and regurgitated
(21:51):
a bunch of 15 second clips to make surethat they were in front of me.
They get unfollowed. I'm sorry.
Yeah, 100%. And I appreciate that. Yeah.
And likewise,you know, and I think for all the
listeners out there who are like,well, what should I post about or
who do I need to show up as?
I mean, look, Adamjust told you he made up a show called
The Gratitude Show and just had peoplecome on and yet a thousand or thousands
(22:14):
of listeners and viewers every day over,
you know, no offense, but a verysimple concept, but a great question.
I think it's a powerful question.
So, you know, let me ask you this, Adam.
I know that you'd mentionedyou're a little short on time.
So if people want to learn a little bitmore about maybe
how to record orif they are thinking about doing a podcast
(22:36):
or likeif they want their own branded coffee, how
how can they get in touch with youand find you and learn more about you?
And Mission Matters.
Easiest way. Connect with me on Instagram.
Ask Adam to send Medium.
I'd love to hearwhat kind of show you're working on.
Let me know.I want to hear. Pitch me an idea.
You want an opinion on it?
(22:57):
I'm happy to give opinions on shows.
So conceptual ideas.
As a company,we've launched over 250 shows now.
Prague. It's unbelievable. I can't even.
Yeah, the time flies by, but I love to.
I love to hear new show pitches.
So shoot me a DM on Instagram.
Ask Adam Torres.
There's also a link tree there
so that if you want to check outany of our content and we've got more,
(23:19):
we have free ebooks, we got books,we got you name it, the newsletter,
all the other good stuff.
There's a link on again,ask Adam Torres on Instagram.
Awesome, Love it.
So check out Adamand for everybody who tuned in, thank you
for checking out from crisis to justiceuntil next time
is good seeing youand make sure you like and subscribe.
(23:42):
So you know the next episode is more of.
Hi, I'm Parag Amin.
Welcome to my podcast.
From Crisis to Justice.
As a lawyer and entrepreneur, I'mpassionate about helping small business
owners successfully navigate situationsthat can kill a business.
As a kid, I watched my dad's dreamsof being an entrepreneur were destroyed
by an unethical businessman, and I don'twant that to happen to you or your family.
(00:22):
That's why I started my law firm.
I want to protect and defend businessowners and their legacies from crisis.
Welcome to From Crisis to Justice.
Welcome back, everybody.
To from crisis to Justice.
I am your host, Parag Amin, and I'm joined
(00:43):
by a special guestand friend, Adam Torres.
Adam is the co-founder of Mission
Matters and media branding and bookpublishing agency that's helped amplify
the voices of thousandsof entrepreneurs, executives and experts.
He's conducted over 6000 interviews.
He's builta content network of more than 100,000
(01:06):
pieces of content across podcast,video and books.
Before that, he
before he launched Mission Matters,he was in the financial services industry
where he managed a portfolio of overhalf a billion dollars.
Today, he's a top ranked podcast host,international speaker
and author of multiple bestsellerson business and investing.
(01:27):
Adam, thank you for being here today.
You forgot.
And a guest on From Crisis to Justice.
What an honor.
Parag Matt, I've been following youon social for a long time.
Obviously, you're a friend as well in L.A.
so we're in the same networks.
But man, I'm loving the contentyou're putting out, and I'm happy
to finally be on the show, man. Thank you.
Awesome, man.
Thank you. So let's jump into it.
(01:48):
I mean, like,you know a lot about branding.
You know a lot about
people and
their in their missionsand what they want to do.
So how did you even get into this?
Why? Why?
Why is it called Mission Matters?
And why does it matter? Yeah.
So I will say a big piece of this was
(02:09):
the other co-founder, Sherak.
So I'll say like originally I pitched him,I said, Hey, I'm going to put together
this book. It'sgoing to be an anthology series.
So think about it as like Chicken Soupfor the Soul, but it was for business
owners and entrepreneursand executive sales like same concept.
And I was originally pitching Sharadto be in the book and I talked to him.
He's like, You know what?
(02:29):
I like this,but I actually want to be part of this.
Like, like for real, for likethis should be a company.
And I'm like a company,a book publishing company.
Are you crazy? Remember, I'ma financial advisor at this time.
I have like an actual, you know, brickand mortar building like, like business.
And I'm like, he's like, Yeah.
And I didn't quite understand the mediaspace, which that was Siraj's background.
And so I said, Be in this businessbook business.
(02:51):
I got a little duck hereand I'm trying to put together a book
with some buddies like that.
I don't even knowwhat the business is for that.
And he taught me a lot along the way.
And then as we started buildingbrick by Brick,
the podcast was added to it, and reallythe podcast was the game changer for us.
Books were a little bit datedand we still put out books, by the way.
So this is April of 2025that we're recording this hard to believe.
(03:13):
We've now published over 400 authors,and we just released the 11th edition
of our bestselling Business Leadersbook last week.
So that being said,like we're still in the book business,
but the podcast is what really kind of litfire fire on our brand
and really like amplified everythingand you know, and that that that was
the big wave that got us any type of reachand that when we started the podcast,
(03:37):
that was when I was finally comfortablewith exiting my other business.
No longer being in finance,I had every license
you could think of your series6763 insurance licenses, 66,
you name it, I had itand I gave them all up
and I went full force,full time in the media.
I've been doing it nownine years in January or December.
(03:58):
Kind of insane.
That's awesome.
I love that. So.
So would you say your mission is to helpother people with their missions or
what is thewhat is the purpose of mission Matters?
What arewhat are you trying to accomplish?
What would you like to seeis like a successful end result?
Well, I'll tell you originally,I'll give you the progression.
Originally, it was like most businesses.
(04:21):
I wanted to, you know, make some money.Media could be a good thing.
My other business,I didn't really see a hockey stick in it.
I know I could grow year over year.
I know I could grow by acquisition.
I know there's a lot of different waysto grow in that model,
but I didn't see any real hockey stickand I was and I was thinking
aboutlike what was going to be next overall.
And when I saw the media thingin the media model,
it started with,you know, just make money.
(04:42):
I mean, that wasthat was the original thought process.
In fact, the original name of the companywas Money Matters.
And as I got further into this conceptof helping others and further
as a host and to telling storiesand helping people share their stories.
I still remember it like it was yesterday.
I was onI was doing a an interview with someone
and they said, You know, Adam, moneymatters, but mission matters, too.
(05:05):
And it hit me like in the stomach, Prague.
I'm telling you, I was like, like God justgave me a little punch in the stomach.
And by the way, me and God talk like that,
He might put me in the head like,Come on, Adam, listen.
Like,that's the way I work with God. It's fine.
He made me. It's okay.
So it just struck me.
So I call up Chiragmaybe a little bit after that.
That conversation of that interview,
I'm like, Schrock,what do you think about the name
(05:27):
Mission Matters and SchragWe talk about it, we talk about it,
and you know, we let it,we leave it on the table.
Then we keep on,you know, talking about other things.
And then maybe like a couple of weekslater, Chirag calls me, he says, Adam,
what do you think about the nameMission Matters?
And I'm like, Schrag,That's a brilliant idea.
But if we're going to do it,I'll tell you right now,
if I look it up,I know the domains are already taken.
(05:49):
We're going to have to buy it
if we have enough money in the bankaccount for this particular business,
we're going to spend it all to get thisdomain or we're not going to do it.
I won't even look it up.
So we make the commitment.
If there's enough money in this businessesbank account, we're going to do it.
So we we looked it up.
It was more expensive than I ever thought.
I'd pay for a domainand the rest is history.
(06:10):
We have within nine days from that moment,we completely stopped our other podcast.
We completely stopped all of the brandingand everything else we're doing.
So all just to be clear, when I,when I talk about like a leap of faith,
either whether it's from for meit was listening to God
and just being like,okay, this is the next step.
(06:30):
But it's like that kind of like stepand you will be rewarded.
But it was a leap of faith.
We already already had over 1500 podcastepisodes under my belt under that brand.
Just to be clear, they're still out there.
We'd also already publishedmultiple books under that brand.
We had the social media built out,we had a website built out.
So just it's hard enoughto start a media company.
(06:52):
We already a couple of years
in, hard enough to start a media company,get it functioning,
get it to where anybody cares,but then to pause it
and stop for no reason outwardlyand start over again.
That was a leap of faith.But we are rewarded.
And that and ultimately,what part of what also helped us
make that decision
was that the real and nothingnot that there's anything wrong with money
(07:14):
and money matters in our financial advisoror anything like that.
But I looked at the contentand I looked at
where my personal heart was as a creatorand a content creator.
And maybe only 20% of my conversationswere actually about money.
So I'm now I'm just thinking as a marketeras well, like in retrospect, of course,
I wasn't thinking this at that time.
At the time I'm thinking,Are you absolutely crazy?
Adam was hard enoughto get anybody to care about this brand,
(07:36):
and now you're going to launchanother stupid right? But
I thought about it as a creator then,
and I'm like, you know, like missionwas really what stuck out to me.
It was like,
there's so many people out therethat have a story to tell that never will
if they're not provided a platformto tell that story.
And just like what you're doinghere, Parag, with From Crisis to Justice,
and also there'sand all the other podcast hosts out there,
(07:59):
the publishing companies out there,like without providing that platform.
But the second thing isI figured that people need encouragement.
They don't even necessarily knowthat their story is worth telling.
And that's why I'm on this show today.
That's why I go on other people's showsthat at this point is
because I want to spread the loveand just encourage others that, Hey,
if I could do it, you could do it.
(08:19):
Because let me tell you,I was the scariest person ever.
Sprague
I don't even know if we didn't know eachother back then, but you turn on a camera,
I forget my name.
I did almost 3000 episodes before
I would before I was comfortableto go in front of a camera.
These were audio only episodes,so I was that scared.
In fact, my first show,I didn't even use my real name, Parag.
(08:44):
I did not.
I used a pseudonym.It was and it was a nickname.
Did you use It was a nicknamethat was assigned with my
my office was in Century City,and I'm a community builder,
so I was part of the century CityChamber of Commerce, the Arts Council.
I'm picking public art.
So like affectionately, some laughing,some not.
But eventually it stuck.
People in Century Citywould call me Mister Century City.
(09:04):
Like that was actually my name. Like,Oh, there goes Mr.
Century City.It started as a joke, but then it stuck.
So then that'swhat I called myself on this list.
So it was ridiculous.
It's looking back now, but from even that,you know, a brand was built.
But that's the funny part about it.
So when I tell other people, like they maylook at me now, some may say, Oh,
(09:24):
this guy's terrible,some may say, Oh, I could never do that.
This guy's good. Whateveryour opinion of me is, just understand.
My opinion is I startedas the worst podcaster in history.
I couldn't even say my namein front of a camera, or I'd be, like,
losing it to the point to where, again,I didn't even use my real name.
So if I can do it.
Anybody listening to this right now,if you're thinking about a podcast,
(09:45):
Instagram channel, blog,whatever, your voice needs to be heard
like you should, you just start it.You should do it.
Whether you're doing ityourself, you're using a company.
Does it matter to me?Just get out there and do it.
So that's why I do what I do.
Parag That's awesome.
I love that. Yeah.And there's one mystery solved.
Anybody was wondering who Mr.
Century City was for us.
So I trademarked that.
(10:06):
Actually, I own it, too.
So don't go out there still.
And not because I own that trademark.
You know, it's interesting because
the pivot from going from money mattersto mission Matters.
Because, look, I mean, it's true.
Money does matter,but it's not the only thing that matters.
And so I think a lot of times,unfortunately, people get this confused,
(10:27):
particularly, you know,you have a background in finance.
My undergrad major is in finance
and I worked in financefor a little bit before law school.
So I think particularly in finance,
which is very money focused, I think it'svery easy to lose sight of it.
And, you know, an insight that I had was
the issue with moneyis that when it's money by itself
(10:47):
without mission, it's very hollowand it becomes very problematic
and very dark where somebodyis just acquiring wealth or money
for the purposesof acquiring wealth or money.
And there's there's no purpose
behind it,there's no sense of service behind it.
And ultimately, those are the people yousee who say, well, money doesn't matter.
(11:09):
Money never made me happy.
It's like, of course,because you were chasing the wrong thing
instead of chasing a mission,a purpose, a vision to help other people.
It was a very selfish endeavorof just trying to gather
as much money as possible.
Yeah. So let me ask you, when it comes to
somebodywho wants to get their mission out there,
I think the fear you described of
(11:31):
not wanting to use your real nameor doing 3000 episodes
before you felt comfortable on camera,I think a lot of people,
one don't realize how long of a processit can be to get comfortable.
But then too,they don't realize the importance of it.
So can you talk a little bitabout the importance of branding and
(11:52):
talking about your mission, your vision,your values in today's economy?
Mm hmm.
Well, going back to the beginning,even before our Mission matters.
So the first book that I released,because just to just to give you an idea
like I was I was a scale of 1 to 10,one being, you know, nothing.
I was a zero.
(12:12):
Like, I didn't want to do anything.
And I fought every bit of it.
I was like, I remember my first book,I didn't want to write it.
I was like, because again,I was in finance.
I did haveI was exactly what you mentioned.
I was one of those people that had a chipon their shoulder, didn't know.
I didn't know what I didn't knowat that point.
I grew and have evolved since then,but I didn't know.
So the first thing one of my mentorswhen I started my own career, so now
I have my own business and they're like,okay, well you need to market yourself.
(12:35):
And I'm like,
Okay, great.
But people know what I do is like,No, you should write a book.
And I'm like a book.
I'm like, Why would I write a booklike Broke people write books?
Do you think I want to spend my timeon like a $3 item or what is my profit
margin or what is it like?I didn't get it.
And he's like,Adam, don't fight me on this.
You hired me like, write a bookand this is how we're going to do it.
So I'm like, All right.
So I do that book and it justI start getting feedback from the world
(13:00):
that and I startseeing how my story was helping
other people and I start seeing andthen other opportunities just came my way.
Like all of a sudden I was doing like paidspeaking gigs and I can think about
like before that I was,you know, the financial advisor world.
You're paying,you know, I'm buying everybody dinner
if you want to come see me, speak
because I want you to invest like,you know that model.
(13:20):
It's like, So that's what I'm used to.
Now, wait a minute.
You want to pay for me to come
Just because I have this book like thatjust was a whole new world to me.
And it opened up a lot of thoughtprocess around like what was possible.
So as I've seen my brand grow year overyear,
it's come to the point to where a yearand a half ago, maybe two years ago now,
(13:40):
we launched a personal brand acceleratorand the reason we did it was to help other
people do exactly what we've been ableto accomplish in growing a brand.
So now, if I was a one in the beginningwhere I didn't understand brand
and I thought it was all a waste of time,now on the other side, I'm a ten
and I'll tell you, I'll give you, I'llshow you, I'll give you a quick example.
People at home won't be able to see this,but I'll just describe it.
(14:02):
I'm holding up a bag of coffeeright here for you could see that.
That's Arabica coffee was started in 1976.
I don't know if you can see the logoon there.
That's my face. And so how funny is that?
They'll roast ten tons of coffee
this year.
So when you think it's come again,I've been around since 1976
over 200 locationsand my face is on the bag.
(14:26):
So that's from a financial advisor.
I wasn't some, you know, celebrity.
I didn't I couldn't shoot a basketball,I couldn't play football.
I couldn't do any of that.
I can get behind this microphone,talk, share my story,
have some laughs with my buddies,and build my personal brand.
Try to addas much value to the world as possible
and through my mission,which is to amplify the stories to others.
(14:48):
And then magic happens with the rightbrand,
like a coffee company callsyou out of the blue and says, Hey,
I see your workand let's let's collaborate.
Like that'swhat happens with a personal brand.
It's insane. And I'm just a baby.
Just to be clear, for everybody at home,I'm just a little I'm a little puppy.
In this media game.
The greats have been doing it for 20,30 years.
I'm only nine years in.
(15:09):
So like the way I see it,as if if it works this well.
Now, what happens if five years, whateverthe ten years, but have the 20 more years
still pretty young?
Yeah. So what do you think about
what are
some common misconceptionsor things that people get wrong
when it comes to media and branding?
They Well, two different sides.
(15:30):
I don't think they understandthe personal.
Personal means personalLike if you're creating a personal
brand, I'll talk from that side of it.
So what that means isyou got to share some things
that are personal,
like at some point,like if you if you think you're
building a personal brandand it's all a business
and all you have out thereis business context, not a personal brand.
It's your business and it's okay.
It's okay to do just business marketing.
(15:51):
There's nothing wrong with that.
It's okay to do that.
But when you think about person,you got to share something
that's authentic.
You got to share something that's you.
You've got to share other interests.
Like and the hard part for me
with personal branding in generalwas that I'm kind of a one trick pony.
Like, What do you do? Adam Podcast.
What do you do for Fun podcast?
What do you dowhen you're not podcasting sleep?
(16:12):
I mean, that's very boring.
You got, you got to have more dimensions.
You got to have more depth.
If you're it's okay to be like focused.
It's okay to build your business. It'sokay to be like, really.
But if you want to attractif you want to get to the point
to where you're attracting interestingpeople and interesting experiences,
you got to start dreaming a little.
You got to be authentic.
(16:33):
You got to start having fun again.
That that was one of the things that I wasI had to learn the hard way.
I'm like, I look up one dayand I'm like, Man, not having as much fun.
Sure.
Making more money, doing other things,doing this, that the business is growing,
the reach is going.
But like,
how can I incorporate some fun into thisso that also it's good for business too.
And so when I started doing that more,it worked a lot better.
(16:54):
But when I was a financial advisorand just kind of
thinking about whattype of content to make, it was very hard.
Like creatively, I'm like,okay, I'm at a desk all day.
How do I build a personal brandwhen I'm at a desk
looking at a computerout there in front of a pile of papers?
And then you look online, you open it upand then all of a sudden
you have like this, you know, influencer,this, that, Oh, I'm traveling,
(17:17):
I'm doing this, I'm doing that.
So originally that was my conceptof what a personal brand
was supposed to be supposed to be.Oh, I got to be an influencer.
I got to travel like I do now.
Obviously, I had clientsand I'm not going to do that.
I don't I have to be by that desk.I have to do this.
But there's other ways to be creative
and to start creating contentthat aren't that.
(17:37):
So when I say authentic, you just have toyou have to find your voice.
You have to find what matters to you.
So I give you just one quick exampleof how I used to create content then.
So every morning,I mean, I lived right off of
off of Camden in Wiltshire.
I don't live there anymore,so I can give the crossroads ads
anyway in Beverly Hills,so a block away from Rodeo Drive.
And in the morning I would go
(17:57):
and I do a live stream on my morning walkwhen I was grabbing a coffee
and I'd just be talking to peoplelive stream walking around doing that.
And at this point, this is a while ago,but there was
a platform called Periscope,and I'd have thousands of people watching,
thousands of people watching mego grab my morning coffee,
just having a conversation.
And that first conversation,it was called The Gratitude Show.
(18:17):
And all I did because again,I was so freaking scared to do anything.
I just asked one questionWhat are you grateful for?
That's the whole show.
And people would come on and I'd be like,I just say their name.
If you were to come outand be like, Parag.
So what are you grateful for this morning?What are you grateful for?
And then my next step in buildingthat show was I started coming up with
(18:38):
gratitude missions.
So then I was like,okay, the mission today
for everyone watching isI want you to text somebody that you love
and just tell them you're gratefulfor them.
Out of the blue, Don't say anything else.
Just text them that.
And the next dayI would get like responses.
And I remember I remember very clearly onegentleman's like Adam.
I don't even know how to tell you this,but this show has changed my life.
(18:59):
It's changed my marriage.
My wife was cryingbecause she said in our 15 year marriage,
that's the first time I ever toldher, told her that I was grateful for her.
And I thought she knew,but I never verbalized it.
I thought we had a healthy marriageand everything else, and we're doing well.
There's nothing wronglike in our marriage.
But I never I never verbalized it.
(19:19):
And she it really hurt her.
So, like, you just don't know how, like,all these little things
along that journey of of building contentand trying to help others,
you don't know where you're going to hit,but everything that I just described,
it's all authentic.
It's all authentic.I didn't try to make anything up.
I didn't do any research to say,should I do
a show called The Gratitude Showand ask one question?
(19:40):
Probably Chatbot would come backlike Adam.
That's a stupid idea.
Like that show will never work.
But it did, and it was authentically me,and I just kept moving forward
it building from there.
So the number one thing is
you got to be authenticin whatever you're doing
and building your personal brandlike it's got to be something
you're proud of that you're going tobe proud today and tomorrow.
(20:02):
Yeah, 100% agree with that.
And that's the interesting thing,is whether you bounce it off Chachi, Pete
or Friend or whoever, ultimately
they don't know how much original ismyou're going to bring to it,
how much of yourself, your own character,your own charisma
are you going to bring in to this thingthat helps make
this make this thing successful?
So it's not really about the idea,but it's about the expression of yourself.
(20:26):
And I think it's such a powerful thingthat people really should tap into.
And it's interesting before
because before we even turnedon the recording, on the cameras,
you and I were just talking about that,the importance of that,
whether it's in social media or whatever,just having fun with it
instead of making it a chore.
And the same thing is true of work.
(20:47):
I think, unfortunately, a lot of times
that part of it gets lost,that it's not just supposed to be a grind.
It's not just supposed to be a hustle.
You're supposed to have some fun alongthe way, because if you're not having fun,
what's the point?
You know, like, yeah,
it's just the same thing over and overand people can sense it.
People can feel itif you're enjoying what you're doing.
That's why your social media is so good.
(21:08):
And I wasn't just pulling your legor saying,
I enjoy it when you come upbecause you're always testing.
You come off the new video.It's a new format.
It's something that's like you're I'm notsaying that you don't have a great team.
I know you have a great team behind youthat helps you with this.
But like, you're enjoying doing it,whether you came up with the idea
or they did, like you'reactually you're in it.
You're not they didn't just hand you
something like,all right, we're going to do this now.
(21:29):
You're in it on some level that waybecause it comes through.
It's authenticallyyou and out of all the other, like people
that try to, like, get caught upwith this, what we are talking about,
you got to postpone todayor you got to do this. You got to do that.
I'd rather see one good post from you.
Then, like one consistent postfrom somebody that's not in
and just pushed, put a random clip, aI software and regurgitated
(21:51):
a bunch of 15 second clips to make surethat they were in front of me.
They get unfollowed. I'm sorry.
Yeah, 100%. And I appreciate that. Yeah.
And likewise,you know, and I think for all the
listeners out there who are like,well, what should I post about or
who do I need to show up as?
I mean, look, Adamjust told you he made up a show called
The Gratitude Show and just had peoplecome on and yet a thousand or thousands
(22:14):
of listeners and viewers every day over,
you know, no offense, but a verysimple concept, but a great question.
I think it's a powerful question.
So, you know, let me ask you this, Adam.
I know that you'd mentionedyou're a little short on time.
So if people want to learn a little bitmore about maybe
how to record orif they are thinking about doing a podcast
(22:36):
or likeif they want their own branded coffee, how
how can they get in touch with youand find you and learn more about you?
And Mission Matters.
Easiest way. Connect with me on Instagram.
Ask Adam to send Medium.
I'd love to hearwhat kind of show you're working on.
Let me know.I want to hear. Pitch me an idea.
You want an opinion on it?
(22:57):
I'm happy to give opinions on shows.
So conceptual ideas.
As a company,we've launched over 250 shows now.
Prague. It's unbelievable. I can't even.
Yeah, the time flies by, but I love to.
I love to hear new show pitches.
So shoot me a DM on Instagram.
Ask Adam Torres.
There's also a link tree there
so that if you want to check outany of our content and we've got more,
(23:19):
we have free ebooks, we got books,we got you name it, the newsletter,
all the other good stuff.
There's a link on again,ask Adam Torres on Instagram.
Awesome, Love it.
So check out Adamand for everybody who tuned in, thank you
for checking out from crisis to justiceuntil next time
is good seeing youand make sure you like and subscribe.
(23:42):
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