Avoid This Networking Mistake: The $100M Man Explains I Tony Nino DSH #477

You know, like I said, relationships are everything.

You know, my biggest thing is your network is your net worth.

There's nothing more valuable than relationships and the people you meet.

But there's three things that we look at when we meet people.

We look at what watch they're wearing, we look at what shoes they're wearing, and we look at what kind of car they're driving.

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And here's the episode.

All right, guys, Tony Nino here, $100 million man.

Can't wait to dive into his story.

And we actually just met a few months ago through Isabella, right?

Yeah, Isabella and her mom, Susanna.

Yeah, that was interesting.

And I can't wait to dive into this, man.

I just saw you on YouTube blowing up.

Appreciate you.

Sounds like you got your snowball rolling.

God bless, bro.

You know, like I said, relationships are everything.

You know, my biggest thing is your network is your net worth.

There's nothing more valuable than relationships and the people you meet.

Right.

And you have so many exotic cars.

We got to dive into the first one and how it just grew from there, right?

Absolutely.

Whatever you guys want to talk about.

Absolutely.

So what age did you really get into cars?

You know what?

I was into cars my entire life.

You know, early on,

I wanted success so bad, I was willing to do anything for it.

So, you know, I'm not embarrassed to say I was stealing cars early on at 16 and, you know, selling them for parts to be able to fix my car up.

I was really big into street racing.

Like, you know, cars and the car scene has been my entire life.

And, you know, early on, I was just doing whatever it took to be successful.

And eventually it caught up with me.

I got in trouble with the law.

I lost everything.

And I decided when I came back, I was going to do it the right way to where it couldn't be taken away from me.

Damn.

So what did you get arrested for?

So

I got arrested for a couple of different things, like, you know, grand theft auto and possession of stolen.

parts

and then also some drug related charges.

Wow.

So they were building case on you.

You know what?

You think you're invincible when things are going really good, but when you're doing things the wrong way, you've got to always be looking over your shoulder.

Right.

And it's not if, it's when something's going to happen.

Yeah, it's not a good way to live.

I like to be able to sleep at night, you know what I mean, with no regrets.

Because I used to do some weird stuff too back in the day.

I don't even know if I should admit it, but you know what I mean?

Hey, bro, it's who you are now.

So it's helped build you to what you are now.

So embrace it.

Empower it, brother.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It was part of the journey.

But I think a lot of entrepreneurs start off in that gray area, to be honest.

The more I talk to successful entrepreneurs, they start off in that gray area, learn the ins and the outs.

And it's actually like a good thing to grow.

I think, you know, the reason why there's so many successful entrepreneurs that have a past is because we learn that we can accomplish anything.

Because if that happened and it was so bad, then we can get through anything else.

And I think that's like mindset is everything.

And people just don't realize that we overcomplicate it.

Oh, there's got to be 100 steps.

No, there's only two or three.

You know, if you want it, you can go get it.

It's just owning it and saying that I'm going to do whatever it takes to make this happen.

I love that.

So did you have that mindset coming out of jail or did that take some time to develop?

You know, well, there's a lot of things.

You know, going to jail was very scary.

So there's, you know, I had to build a mindset that I'm tougher than.

what I really am.

You know, I can be scared on the inside, but I can't be scared on the outside.

Right.

You know, and it's just like it's business and success.

People want to do business with the people that are as successful as them or more successful than them.

So going into that like mindset, I tell everybody, mindset is everything.

So you have to convince yourself that I can do this.

I'm going to do this.

You know, it's not,

sorry here.

It's not, it's not, I can, it's I will.

You know, like you will get this done.

You will do it.

You know, and I tell everybody, like,

You know, you never fail if you don't quit trying.

You know, so the only time you fail is if you quit.

But if you don't hit the results that you want right off the bat, keep going, keep learning

and learn until the L becomes silent.

When you take the L away from learn, it's earned.

Facts.

So that's, you know, that's one of my big things.

I love that.

And did you acquire this mindset from your parents or did you have a mentor?

How did that happen?

No, like I said, it's life experiences.

Like there's a lot of trauma in my life, you know, getting in trouble.

I've buried three brothers.

You know, I bought my youngest brother a motorcycle for his 19th birthday and and he died racing to work.

Wow.

And, you know, so like that was something I had to overcome.

Like, did I kill my youngest brother?

You know, and overcoming your tragedies and your traumas, just, you know, what don't kill you makes you stronger.

And then that's the mindset that I came from.

But you don't have to have something that terrible that happens to you.

You just got to convince yourself you can get through it and you deserve it.

You can have whatever you want if you're willing to put the time in.

You know, I tell everybody, sacrifice.

It's all about sacrifice.

And everybody looks at me a little weird.

And sacrifice is not a negative thing.

Sacrifice is giving up something of a lower nature to make room for something of a greater nature.

So you've got to give up something you think you want now for something you really want later.

And that's all it is.

You know, just being honest with yourself and

using your time efficiently to go and get what you want.

I love that perspective on sacrifice because, yeah, people look at it negatively.

Like you're giving up time with friends, with family, but sometimes you have to do that to get to that next level.

100%.

100%.

When you were racing back then, was it for money?

Was that your way of hustling back then?

Sometimes, yeah.

I loved cars.

So, you know, the illegal street races back in the day, San Diego was like a...

you know, one of the major pillars as far as street racing.

And so I had a couple of 23 109s.

That's the illegal drag racing ticket.

I've got it memorized.

So,

you know, but cars was everything.

Cars was life.

But what I didn't realize as I got older is it's networking you know relationships are the most valuable thing people ask me all the time like you know what houses what you know planes what boats what what what are your favorite toys what do you value the most i don't i give up all the cars all the boats all the money wow i could rebuild it all again with just relationships relationships are the most valuable thing your network is your net worth i say that a thousand times i believe that's stronger than anything else your network is your net worth i love that and that's why i bought a car a nice car, because it would lead to networking.

That's why I bought a good watch because it would open doors.

I didn't buy it for the object.

Like,

whatever.

I could lose that object.

But like you said, the networking, it leads to so many opportunities.

And you just touched on it.

When you meet somebody, we can't help it.

But there's three things that we look at when we meet people.

We look at what watch they're wearing.

We look at what shoes they're wearing.

And we look at what kind of car they're driving.

Three things.

Like right off the bat, when I came in, I noticed your shoes.

I love that.

And that's true.

That's true, man.

I used to wear beat-up shoes when I first started the pod, and I'm like, yo, I got to step it up.

I'm a podcaster now, like, I got to look presentable.

Absolutely, you know, because unfortunately, that's people judge, okay, by what they're wearing.

Like, I mean, you and me are comfortable guys.

I wear my brand because I believe in it.

I love it.

Yeah.

So, you know, my clothes may be not the highest end because, like I said, I believe in my brand with straight-up driven.

But my shoes, my watch, and my car,

you can definitely tell what kind of person I am based on.

Absolutely.

So, what was that first luxury car you got?

First luxury.

Well, my dream car was the 1993 to 1998 Toyota Super MK4

that was the main car in Fast and the Furious.

Okay.

The original.

And so I acquired that car, and I was really fast.

Back in the day, I was on the cover of Turbo Magazine, the cover of D Sport magazine.

Wow.

And, you know, I thought that was the end for me.

I used to make fun of exotic car guys.

I said, those guys are idiots.

Like, if I ever had the money, I would never waste money on a Ferrari or Lamborghini.

I would have the fastest car out there.

I'd never waste it on that.

Well, what I learned is as we get older, we get smarter.

At least most of us do, right?

But I learned that the cars are a networking tool.

It's not about the car.

It's about the relationships.

You know, and that's where

my success today is through the relationships and people that I've met.

And the cars have helped create that because it's a talking point.

Yeah.

And I mean, you know, we all have a dream car.

I don't care who you are.

That's why I love my business more than anything else.

I've done 28 businesses

is like everybody drives a car.

Not everybody can buy a house.

So the car is the number one biggest asset most of us will ever have.

And as it goes longer and longer, you know, people are holding on to their cars for shorter periods of time, which means more transactions for us, more money.

But I literally believe that I'm paying them the most for their car and I'm building a relationship to where I can take care of them to where word of mouth is your best marketing.

I love that.

And you've figured out great ways to like buy a car, right?

Because you bought so many.

And we were just talking earlier about how some dealerships kind of rip people off.

You know what?

It's, yeah, I mean, it's, it's a stigma in the car business.

I mean, just, let's be honest, like, if you're going to go to a dealership, you know, are you excited?

No, I'm going to be here for hours.

Yeah.

You know, it's a negative stigma when you're going to go and look for a car or you're trying to sell your car.

That's why, you know, currently I don't do retail.

My team is trying to get me back into it.

We are

one of the biggest auto wholesalers on the West Coast.

But the reason why is, is when I call a customer, I let them know, look, I'm not interested in selling you anything.

We have one of the fastest inspection processes in the industry.

Eight out of 10 times, we can pay you more money for your car.

I'm going to get you the best offer I can in 15 to 20 minutes.

There's no pressure.

And please go get an offer somewhere else because I'd be happy to try and beat it for you.

Wow.

Because transparency is everything.

It's the relationship.

I don't need to get rich on one deal.

I make a profit.

I'm honest about that profit, but then I'm doing business with you for life.

Wow.

So you play the long game.

I play the long game.

That's where the real success is.

Yeah, I love that.

Out of all the cars in your collection, which one is your favorite?

God, that's a tough question.

I get that one.

I don't think, because there's so many cars now, I don't think that I have a favorite.

I favor Lamborghinis.

Okay.

So I like, I have three Lamborghini Aventadors.

So they're probably one of my, if it's one of my more, I guess, closest to favorite, but all the cars perform differently.

All the cars have, you know, a different special feature or special characteristic or, you know, difference performance-wise.

So,

you know, that's what's, you know, so nice about trying different things is you get to see what you really like.

Yeah.

One of the Lamborghinis you own, there's only a few in the world, right?

So we just had, we just debuted the car at SEMA Las Vegas last year, and it's one of three ever built Lamborghini Super Trafeo.

Wow.

So, you know, there's two others out there, but ours is the first one with no quick tabs and all working hinges because it's a race car kit.

It's supposed to come off fast, but we incorporated it to make it a streetcar kit.

So being a little different and unique, I like to be different.

Yeah.

And like you said, relationships.

Only three people in the world have that car.

You were able to use your relationships to be one of those three.

Absolutely.

Through a friend, I couldn't get access to the kit to put it on a car.

So I had to go through a friend to get access to the kit, and it was able to make it happen.

That's legendary, man.

I want to talk about your mentorship program, which you just started up, right?

I did.

I did.

And it's the most passionate thing.

And what I'm most excited about right now is because, you know,

I've been blessed.

You know, I have several businesses, make monies.

I also own one of the biggest body shops in Orange County, you know, 60,000 square feet, City Collision.

But

my mentorship program, straight up success is what I'm most excited about right now because literally helping people achieve their financial goals and dreams, the financial freedom, because that's what we're normally looking for.

And to be able to be a part of that, I'm really excited.

So do you help on the car side or is it just general advice, business advice?

Well, it's a central hub of resources.

So some of, you know, my connections, the best in the business, real estate, and several, what I teach is exactly where I've built the majority of my wealth is buying and selling cars so I literally my class I tell everybody it normally it'll take you three to six months to get everything understand it and apply it

you can make money through the whole process though but I teach you how to find deals and how to buy deals but it's the first mentorship program in the world where we let you use our money to make money wow there's no other mentorship program out there they can get your mind right they can tell you how to build a successful business but we're the first to let you use our money to do it.

And we pay you 50% commission because I want you to feel like you're a partner.

So we're working together long term.

Dude, that's a no-brainer because no other mentor is going to be like, here's some money, go out and do it.

You know, they're going to be like, use your own money.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

You can really help people grow and scale quicker now.

Absolutely.

Well, and I teach them the hardest part of the business, finding cars, you know, for sale from the public.

So, you know, private listings and then, you know, reaching out to the client, you know, price evaluating the car, setting an appointment for inspection and then you know they get to use all the resources we've developed and that's the one thing right off of the bat you know you're getting tremendous value like our software systems our appraiser systems like they're very expensive the average cost for a new dealer to create a dealer business is three to four thousand dollars a month wow for literally less than a thousand dollars a month we give you all of that stuff for free nice you're helping save 75 right off the bat right off the instant i have dealers now they think they're smart.

I got to figure a way to weed them out, but they literally join my mentorship program to get access because just Carfax is $800 a month for your average dealer.

So they're like, hey, I'm only paying $250 a month.

So I'll just use his Carfax.

And then, you know, I already have my own money.

So I'll buy the cars.

Well, you know, eventually, if you're not.

you know, partnering with us and buying cars with us, then it doesn't make sense for the partnership.

But, you know, I want to see everybody grow.

I want to see everybody succeed.

But that's why I give them the tools right off of the bat and instant value because there's a lot of other programs out there that are a little misleading.

And I want to be fully transparent and let people know: like, if you put in the time, you will be successful.

Nice.

You will make money.

I have a student just this week brought tears to me on Tuesday.

He just finished his first, he's only been in for five weeks, just finished his first sale, made $3,250 on his first deal.

He said, He said, Tony, I just made more money on this one deal than I'm going to make the entire month of working my job.

Yeah.

To be a part of that, there's just, there's nothing more rewarding.

Yeah.

To be able to make, you know, 50K on the side is, is amazing.

That could change some families' lives for sure.

We have buyers that make, that put $100,000 a month on the books.

Whoa.

That are in their 20s.

What?

$100,000 a month on the books.

Like, there's so many different ways to make money in this business.

I teach you the hardest part first, and then I let you graduate to the easier money.

But then there's the brokerage, brokerage deals.

There's, you know, there's the inspections.

You can make money doing the inspections.

There's the retail side.

And then there's the, you know, the dealer connections, the franchise stores.

And that's your most consistent money, which a least amount of effort.

So that's why it's the last thing I teach because it makes the average car, you know, individual a little bit lazy within the car industry once they get to the dealer side of it.

Yeah.

So it's similar to real estate where there's fix and flips, there's Airbnbs, there's short-term rentals, different styles.

There's over 100 different ways ways to make money in this business.

It's like, you know, I have, you know, and then we're going to be franchising.

So the company we buy under is called carpayday.com.

And then I'm going to allow the students to, you have to be in the program to franchise and they can open up a car payday inspection center.

And you're literally opening a business with limited money out of your pocket because why?

To open up an office, what do you need?

$4,000, $5,000, $6,000 because you don't need the cash flow because you have unlimited cash flow to purchase the cars with us.

So we're funding your business, and then every deal that comes through there with all the buyers that are your center, you make money on all of those as well as your own.

So, there's a hundred different ways to make money in this program.

I'm really excited, and I appreciate you guys having me on.

Let me talk about it, bro.

Yeah, we'll link it below.

What's the site?

So, it is a straight-up success, but you can also get to it through straight-up driven, our Instagram.

Cool, and uh, yeah, S-T-R, the number eight, UP-driven, straight-up driven.

Cool.

Um, what's the most expensive car you've bought?

i've bought cars in the millions what yeah cars get up to the millions in the millions for sure

yeah bugatti's koenig zay oh you got a bini i've bought we bought a wrecked uh bugatti and uh you know those those are some of the best deals scared money don't make money oh it was wrecked like completely it was wrecked lightly and you know some people were afraid of it Are you interested in coming on the digital social hour podcast as a guest?

Well, click the application link below in the description of this video.

We are always looking for cool stories, cool entrepreneurs to talk to about business and life.

Click the application link below and here's the episode, guys.

But, you know, we purchased it, we fixed it, and we sold it for an incredible profit.

Wow.

So you're willing to take that risk of a car accident car and fix it up?

Absolutely.

You know, scared money don't make money.

I mean, I don't care if it's a $200 car or if it's a $3 million car.

We buy everything.

Wow.

It's at the right price.

You know, obviously, I don't want to buy a $100,000 car and make $1,000.

You know, I tell my buyers, you know, like, you know, on your lower-end cars, you want to average about 10%.

So we typically average about $1,500 in profit or more per unit.

But like I said, we're honest with

our client.

Hey, we're going to make a profit.

But then we show them everything so they can feel good about it.

So they don't see, oh, they just bought my car for $30,000.

Now they're retailing it for $45,000.

They're making $15,000 off of me.

Because that doesn't make anybody feel good.

No, definitely not.

You buy any cyber trucks yet?

Have not bought a cyber truck, but a friend just let me drive his last week.

Very impressive.

Really?

Very impressive.

Powerful.

And I don't like to talk bad.

It's just I wish it had a little bit more mileage for the truck.

I'm waiting for them to get over 500 miles, and then I think definitely add one to the collection.

Okay.

But it was very impressive.

What did it go up to?

350?

In the auction?

No, the mileage.

Well, they rate it for 340.

Okay.

But he's telling me that he's averaging lower than 300 for charge.

Yeah, that is the one thing with Tesla is because when you play music, when you have AC running, all that stuff kind of drains the battery.

Well, and he put bigger wheels and tires, so that's going to lower it a little bit too.

Right.

You know, but I mean, it's a truck.

I mean, we all want to put bigger wheels and tires on, right?

Yeah.

I have the Model 3.

I like Teslas, but

they get a lot of heat, I think.

They do.

Because the quality.

I mean, I have one too.

I mean, I have a Model X wide body on, you know, nice wheels.

I mean, I customize all my vehicles.

Yeah.

But it just doesn't get utilized a lot just because of the mileage restrictions.

Yeah.

That makes sense.

I want to talk about you on Netflix, man.

You're blowing up.

Well, we got a long way to go, but thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, I was honored to be part of a Netflix show last year that just aired in December, CarMasters, Rusta Riches.

And they, you know, great group of guys.

I'm very excited to work with them.

Great team over there.

And, you know, they built me an incredible car.

And so we've got some new things coming this next year for, you know, season six.

Nice.

So they're just an amazing show.

And I'm really, you know, happy and excited that they honor me for being a part of it.

Yeah, it's super cool.

We were talking earlier, so they basically take beat-up cars and completely redo them, right?

They'll completely

customize it out.

Like, I think mine was, it started as like an 06, 07 charger, and then they did the whole slant nose and the big 70s wing, and they turned it in from a four-door to a two-door.

So some heavy modifications.

But, you know, and I like different.

You know, I like to stand out.

I mean, if you see some of my cars, I have a chrome pink Aventador.

I have purple.

Like, you know, I have bright colors because I like to be a little bit different than everybody else out there.

I love that, man.

You got to be different.

Got to be yourself.

Absolutely.

Everyone's trying to be each other.

You know what I mean?

Absolutely.

And I hate that.

I could sense when people are kind of conforming to society.

And it's a turnoff for me.

Absolutely.

No, it's just, you know, relationships and being who you are.

I don't care what you have or what you don't have.

It's that you're real and that you're a loyal person.

And that's more valuable to me than anything else.

Oh, for sure.

And I've learned that too because I've been screwed over and stuff thinking it was the right fit.

But when you try to force it, it never works out.

Absolutely.

I agree with you 100%.

Yeah.

So people watching this, it's a younger audience.

Do you have advice for them on, you know, making more money?

Maybe they're coming out of college looking to do something big.

Yeah, let me see here.

I got some.

I've definitely put some notes down for sure.

I mean, the biggest thing for me for success

is, you know, people ask all the time, what do I need to do to become a millionaire?

Well, it's not what you need to do.

It's who you need to become to become a millionaire.

So in my opinion, to become a millionaire, you got to change what you do and how you look at it.

You know, honesty, discipline, and quality relationships.

You know, your net work is your net worth.

I'll say it a thousand times.

That's the biggest one.

And the ability to just work, believe in yourself and just get it done.

Like, you know, I have people that say, hey, I worked eight hours, but I'm not as good as this person that worked eight hours.

It's not about the time you work.

It's about the work and the time you do.

Because if you're sitting there and I'm working for eight hours, but you're on Instagram, you're on Facebook, you're on this, you talk to three friends, and that took up four hours.

Well, then you only really did four hours of work.

And so you can't, you got to own and be honest with yourself.

Are you putting in the best effort?

I've never seen someone put in effort and not get out a result, but you get out the result of what you put into it.

Wow.

I love that.

Yeah.

Too many people focus on the quantity of time they're working, but not the quality.

I love what you're saying there because they think just working, and you should, you know, work for someone else, gain some experience, in my opinion.

But people try to make that jump too quick into entrepreneurship, I'd say.

And it's a hard journey that's glorified on social media.

So people think it's easy.

It's not easy.

Discipline.

You know, I don't recommend entrepreneurship for anyone if they're not self-disciplined and mindset.

Okay, hey, look, I'm not going to go out and drink with my friends.

I'm not going to go out like if I'm partying every single weekend, I'm only going to party one weekend now because we only have, we all have the same 24 hours in a day.

So for me, I'm.

I'm not going to sleep more than six hours.

Okay.

So then that gives me this many hours to be successful.

And then if I got to do this, I got to do that.

I got to prioritize my time and be honest of where I'm putting my time.

Time is money.

So if you're playing video games, are you going to make money playing those video games?

Some people can, but the majority can't.

So are you putting your time to where you're going to be successful?

And straight up success, if you are looking for deals,

you're only as good as the leads you're putting into it.

I tell people you should be doing 50 to 80 leads a day.

Wow.

And I have students that are five weeks in that are making, I have one student that's on his fourth deal.

He's going to make over $10,000 in his first two months.

Okay.

Like you, if you put in the time, you will get, and he's doing the hardest part of the business.

He's not even to the consistent money yet.

So time equals money if you're putting your time where it's going to most benefit you.

And just be honest with yourself.

And if you're not willing to sacrifice that, then you're not ready for entrepreneurship.

Yeah.

And that being said, with time, how many hours a week are you working right now?

Geez.

I mean, me myself, like, I mean, 12 to 14 hours.

Wow.

I dad.

Like literally, because I love it.

I tried to retire before I decided to do this mentorship program.

Yeah.

You know, God bless.

I'm financially secure to live the life that I want to do.

But, you know, people come up to me all the time and they say, you know, Tony, why do you, why are you doing this?

Like, most people want to be famous to make money.

They said, but you already have the money.

So why do you want to be famous?

I tell them, I don't want to be famous.

I want to be remembered.

Okay.

Everything that I have, if I'm gone tomorrow, the cars, the money, the houses, the boats, the planes, whatever it is, right?

That's, I'm not going to be remembered for any of that.

But if I can help 10 people, 20 people, 1,000 people find financial freedom, I'm going to be involved in their life when I'm gone and I'm going to be remembered.

And this is the most valuable thing that I've done in my life.

And that's why I'm most passionate about straight-up success.

Yeah.

It's like a spider web because you impact 1,000 people, they impact 1,000.

It's like a never-ending web, right?

Absolutely.

And they can do this, you know, for as long as they want.

And, you know, the car business is not going anywhere.

We all need cars.

So, and the return on investment is greater than anything else.

I mean, if I'm buying $10 million in cars in one month, sometimes it's more, sometimes it's less, I'm literally doing that with less than $3 million in capital.

Well, how is that possible?

I'm literally rolling that $3 million three or four times in that month span.

I don't know any other business.

You can roll your money three or four times and make profit on it three or four times in a single month.

And I've done a lot of businesses.

I can't think of any.

Yeah, you've done 26, you said, right?

20, 28.

28, yeah.

Wow, that is crazy.

But I have heard of that.

The bigger dealerships have like a huge credit card or whatever, and they could just buy, buy, buy, right?

They can't.

They still, you know, they pay per Diems and they pay interest.

And so for everyone to know, we're self-funded.

We have no credit lines.

We pay no interest.

So I don't charge interest to the partners.

I just lose 10% interest on my car.

Well, not anymore.

Now that you know me, your next car, we're going to make sure we get you taken care of.

I'm thinking the callin' in this year, man.

The callin' in?

I'm thinking.

You like it?

I've got a callin' in black badge.

It's a great driving car, just very heavy.

And I want a performance car.

Okay.

So the good crossover to that is the Lamborghini Urus.

Right.

You got the performance.

It's still the SUV.

So, I mean, between the two, don't get me wrong, the Callin Ins a statement.

It's, you know, it's a tank.

Yeah.

But you're not taking it on a rally with your friends.

That's true.

It's a very specific mission when you're in that.

Yeah.

It's not a casual car.

Yes.

Any cars you bought that you were disappointed in, you thought were overrated?

Ooh.

You know what?

I hate to talk bad bad about people or things.

Just your personal opinion.

My personal opinion.

I think there's no such thing as a perfect car.

So I think it's finding the car for you that

suits your needs, that speaks to you.

I love power.

I love performance.

I'm a competitive guy.

I love to race.

So my car needs to have a certain performance level to it.

You know, now I can do without some of the other comfort features and things of that nature but you may be different so um you know one car that is you know close to perfect for me may be the complete opposite for you that makes sense but all of my cars have that like some you know hey i don't like this i don't like that but at the end of the day they they serve a purpose and a need so i i keep them all yeah no it's i like what you said because we're tall so sometimes a comfort you got to sacrifice a little bit you're taller than me you're still 6'4 though so how tall are you i'm 6'6.

6'6.

Okay, so I'm 6'5 ⁇ .

So I'm just under you.

But like, that's the one thing.

Like Aventadors, we don't fit well in Aventadors.

I have to slouch to drive it.

But believe it or not, like McLaren 720, you have a lot of leg room in.

You have a lot of headroom in.

But, you know, they have the reputation for needing a little bit more maintenance and a little bit more love and care.

Yeah, I have heard that.

So, you know, my typically my McLaren is getting service two to three times more than my Lamborghini or Ferraris.

But like I said, it's, you know, you take the good with the bad.

Yeah, if you know it beforehand, it's not as bad, I think.

Right.

Some people get those, and I heard Range Rovers too sometimes.

A lot of electrical issues.

But like I said, if it's under warranty and it's good, there's some certain comforts that

you get with Range Rover that you don't get with some other brands.

Absolutely.

Any street races that really left an impact on you?

Wow.

Man, you're making me go back.

I mean, all racing, I, you know, now I race for fun.

I used to be real competitive with it, but now it's just, you know, for fun.

I've,

you know, but back in the day, yeah, big money.

I've street raced for, you know, $10,000.

Damn, that's a lot better.

Yeah.

I mean, that's a lot now, too, right?

But back then you could have money, that safety net.

So that must have been a huge percentage of your race.

Well, back then, we had teams, and then everybody in the team would put in money.

So, okay.

You know, so together, if you had 30 cars in the team, that was like kind of your monthly, you know, payment to be part of the team.

And then, okay, we're going to select you to race tonight.

And, you know, we're all going to put up the money.

And if you win, you're all sharing it.

You know, a team that works together, you know, earns together.

And is it a straight line?

Like, I'm digging a Fast and Furious, or is it like a loop?

I did a lot of drag racing.

So it was just a straight line.

I do a lot of roll racing now.

What's up?

So, you know, you get up to 50, 60 miles an hour, and it's like the first one to 150, 180, 200 miles an hour.

Oh, okay.

A lot of roll racing stuff now.

I still love drag racing, but

maybe I'll get back into it.

But

I got sideways at 150 miles an hour.

I had to pull the parachute straighten out.

And luckily, the parachute caught and pulled the car straight, or it could have been a bad day.

Holy crap.

My son was little at that time.

So I said, hey, I'm going to take a break because I need to be here for him.

But he's 16 now.

So I definitely feel the urge to take the performance level back to where it was.

Have you taught him the car game?

Yes, yes.

He's get ready to get his first car.

And I made the mistake.

I said I was never a straight A student.

I got in a lot of trouble.

And I made the mistake of telling my son that if he had straight A's all through high school, that he would have the nicest car in high school.

And this kid, you know, just despite me, 4.3 GPA honor roll classes.

So I'm going to be writing a hefty check for his first car in the next month or two.

Wow.

That's cool to see your son be an academic, man, because you were the total opposite.

Total opposite.

My son wants to be an attorney, and uh you know he's he's putting in the time you know we had uh i was a big sports guy and uh my son quit playing sports to focus on you know you know what's important to him and uh so he wants to be an attorney and he actually has one of the top law schools in the country picked out damn so it's uh i'm happy for him i didn't know what i wanted to do till i was well into my 20s so for him at that age to know what he wants i'm happy for him right so what's your advice for people watching this that are kind of lost?

They don't know what to do.

You know what?

You can get, like, I don't care what anybody says.

Like, people tell, like, I used to have, and I love my dad, but my dad used to tell me, quit being a dreamer.

You know, just get a regular job, be an active part of society.

But if you can dream it, you can make it happen.

Like, I had nothing at one point, and now I have everything that I wanted.

But it was a lot of hard work.

It was a lot of.

time dedication.

Like time equals money.

So stay focused on what you want.

I love cars.

So it's not work for me.

I enjoy it.

So if you enjoy it, then great.

But if you don't, through the mentorship program, we can introduce you to real estate.

We can introduce you to crypto.

We can introduce you to day trading.

I have day traders that make over $7,000 a day that will

be on the show talking about it.

But it's where your passion is.

So find something you're passionate about and just keep it.

Keep it and just go, go, go.

Do not quit.

Keep learning till the L becomes silent and you will hit your goal 100%.

I love that.

Tony, it's been a blast, dude, getting to know you, your world.

Congrats on all your success.

Thank you.

I was so honored to be here with you.

I'm inspired with you, man.

I'm going to step up my car game and we'll be car buddies soon.

We'll be driving next to each other.

Sounds good, man.

I look forward to sharing the road with you, my friend.

Absolutely.

Where can people find you and learn more about your stuff?

So, guys, on Instagram, straight up driven, S-T-R-8-U-P-Driven.

Straight up driven or straight up success.

And there's websites on both.

So, and everybody always asks me, why straight up driven?

You know, it's the SD with the up arrow.

It's all value back to God.

Sky's the limit.

We're going there together.

I believe in my brand.

But, you know, why straight up is because everything, my whole life's been straight up.

You want to race?

Let's race straight up.

You want to fight?

Let's fight straight up.

So everything's been straight up for my life.

But if you want it, you can go get it, guys.

Let's make it happen together.

Love it.

We'll link it in the video.

Thanks for coming on, brother.

Thanks for watching, guys.

See you tomorrow.