my dream car

Summary

everyone laughed at my dream car. a beat-up 1980s Volkswagen Cabriolet I bought for 2000 dollars in a Panera parking lot. I was an Air Force captain at the time. the unspoken rule was that you upgraded your truck or your watch when the next paycheck bump hit. I did the opposite.

Emily and I had over 100 thousand dollars of debt to clear before I could walk away from the military and bet on the business full time. so we sold the nicer truck. we sold whatever else was not essential. and I drove the embarrassing Cabriolet to work every day for years.

do not confuse the outcome with the process. the outcome was financial freedom and a business I could run on my own terms. the process was a 2000 dollar car that did not always start, a wife who was all in on the plan, and a willingness to look broke for years so we could be free later. that car is one of the proudest possessions I’ve ever owned. not because of the car. because of what it cost us to drive it.

Transcript

introduction to the concept of process vs. outcome and the story of the Volkswagen Cabriolet

The most impactful business is the business that genuinely improves another human, a better human business. And to grow a business like this, you have to continually improve yourself. This podcast is a documentation of that thesis, scaling businesses and also personal growth. My goal is for you to shortcut this journey.

So if you’re ready to try hard, subscribe. If you like what you’re hearing, please share and enjoy. What’s your dream car, a Lamborghini, Ferrari, something else, something more exotic? Well, mine was a 1980s, 75 horsepower Volkswagen Cabriolet. So let’s talk about why a car I bought in a Panera parking lot for $2,000 is the car of my dreams.

explanation of the military tradition of the “captain’s car” and my unconventional choice

So in the military, there’s something known as the captain’s car, and it’s pretty easy to explain. Captain is the third rank as you are an officer. So it goes second lieutenant, first lieutenant, and then captain. And most of the time when people come a captain or 100% of the time, really, you get the biggest pay bump.

So it’s a little bit of a pay raise from second lieutenant to first lieutenant. But then when once you get to captain, it’s a bigger pay increase for military officers. And so a lot of people get what they call the captain’s car, you’re making more money, you get a cooler, nicer car or a bigger house or whatever the case is.

Well, my captain’s car was a 1980 something 75 horsepower Volkswagen Cabriolet. And it was called the golf cart. Now if you’re listening to this, you should definitely Google this car 1980s Volkswagen Cabriolet so you can see exactly what this car looks like. But I was stationed in the Gulf of Florida at the time it had a front license plate that said golf cart.

discussing the financial and personal motivations behind choosing a less glamorous vehicle

And really, it was more like a go cart than it was a car. It was a stick shift, it leaked when it rained. And sometimes, in all honesty, it just wouldn’t work, it wouldn’t turn on. And I bought this for $2,000 in a Panera parking lot from a senior in high school who she had driven that car for a while and she needed some money to go to college.

And I had to get rid of a nicer truck in the previous year or so to basically get out of debt. And so what I was doing at the time was I was trying to line up all the stars in my life for getting out of the military. I had a very stable job. Military jobs are incredibly stable, hard to get into, but once you’re there, you’ve got the stable income, you’ve got the health insurance for every family member.

You know, it’s just super stable and something that you can rely on. And coming from that background, knowing I wanted to be an entrepreneur once I got out, I had to line up everything. So Emily and I worked really hard on getting out of debt. We were over $100,000 in debt, which is a lot of money at any point in time, but it was a lot of money back then, you know, over 10 years ago, a lot of money to be in that much debt.

insights into the daily realities and sacrifices of embracing the process

And so what we were doing was just getting out of debt. Like I said, I had sold my truck. We were putting away as much money as we possibly could to pay towards debt, paying off student loans, paying off cars, paying off everything. And eventually we got to the point where it’s like, hey, we got to get rid of things if we want this to move faster.

And so I sold my nice, awesome truck to get this Cabriolet because I could own it in cash, you know? And so what we were doing, Emily and I, we were doing the hard things that were required to live the life that we wanted. So no, I didn’t truly want or dream about this, you know, 1980s, 75 horsepower Volkswagen Cabriolet, but it was the sacrifice I was willing to make.

And I would honestly get laughed at when I would pull up to meetings, when I’d pull up to my office, everyone, the lowest ranking guy in the office had a nicer car than me. I would get laughed at on a daily basis and I did not care whatsoever because it wasn’t the dream car, but it was the car that led to the dream.

conclusion on the importance of process over outcome in achieving long-term goals

The dream I was chasing was being debt free, being my own boss, being an entrepreneur. And that was the sacrifice it took. So here’s the deal. Don’t confuse the outcome with the process. You might want the nice house, you might want the nice car, you might want to be an entrepreneur of a certain business size or make a certain amount of money.

That’s the outcome. The process is going to be very different. The process is messy. It can be embarrassing and it can literally leak when it rains. The process is very different from the outcome. Don’t ever forget that. So if you’re willing to make the necessary sacrifices today, you’ll eventually get to your desired tomorrow.

Ultimately, it’s not about the car you drive, but the drive within you. The golf cart was not my dream car, but it was the vehicle to my dreams. Try harder.