Meet Adam Torkildson

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Adam Torkildson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Adam below.

Hi Adam, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

Ever since I could remember, my Mom instilled in me a belief that I had value. Alot of value.
Not only to her and our family, but to God and my fellow men. I know she spent alot of time devaluing herself, and feeling crushing depression and despair. But she always made sure to tell me that I was special, that I had hidden talents inside myself that I could develop and do anything I wanted.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I spend most of my waking moments focused on building passive income streams. I do this through investments in angel deals, private equity funds, real estate, my businesses, and myself.
Some of my angel investments this year include putting money into 2 companies: Podup (a podcasting software solution) and Soar AI Studio (an AI incubator that licenses it’s AI tech stack to multiple companies).
Some of my fund investments this year were into a Bitcoin mining operation called NFN8, and into an MCA fund provided by Halifax Capital.
My real estate investment this year was into a single family home in Alabama that I’m renting out.
I’ve spent 100k + this year on my business, Tork Media, to continue building out my network of owned and operated news websites. I’ve spent a few thousand this year in continuing education for myself, both mentally and physically.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

For operating a business, the best advice I ever heard was, “Operate your business as if you’re about to sell it”. I’ve done this for several years now, and it forces one to think very hard about all expenses, hires, decisions and the entire operation as a whole so that it remains profitable and sustainable for the long term. It does have an impact on my growth trajectory, which is fairly non existent. But the cash flow and predictability are 99% perfect.

For being a father, the best advice I ever received was, “Don’t give your kids the things you never had. Teach them the things you never knew”. I’ve been abundantly blessed with so many things, and I’m tempted to just give those things to my children. When I was young, my parents were destitute. My father was a real, legitimate circus clown, and my mom stayed home to take care of us 8 kids. I never want my own kids to experience that level of poverty. But I also never knew what it was like to give to others, because my family was always on the receiving end of charity. That’s one of the most important things I’m trying to teach my kids. And giving doesn’t have to be in monetary form. It can be giving of our time and talents.

For being a husband, the best advice I’ve ever received was, “Your wife is always right. And if she’s not, she still is.” Case closed.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

The 3 books that have had the most impact on my life are:
1. The Book of Mormon. This is a book of scripture, similar to the Bible, that teaches one how to live a life of purpose and to believe in Jesus Christ. I believe this book, more than any other ever written, can bring us closer to living our full potential as children of God.
2. The Richest Man in Babylon. I read this when I was 12, and I still think about it nearly every week. The principles of personal finance taught within it are pure gold; pun intended.
3. Who Not How. This book changed my perspective about getting things done in life. I’ve always tried to do things on my own, and feel like everything relied on me. The less I try to rely on myself and trust that there are others who are better, stronger, smarter, etc. the easier life and business have become.

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