Over the last many, I dare say years, I’ve played this moment countless times in my head. The day I’d pick up my childhood dream car was finally here. I visualized this time, like hundreds of times and each time the outcome was me leaving the garage lot with my very own Ferrari.
After all the paperwork was done. I inserted the key with the Ferrari logo in the key-holder, (no keyhole for cars these days), pushed the ignition button, waited for a few seconds for the start-up check and then pushed the ignition button one more time.
And just like that the dream became a reality.
Finally after years of waiting, I got my Ferrari.
But let’s take things from the top.
Since I was a little kid, I always had a love for things on wheels. Bikes, cars, etc. I always liked the speed and when I became 16, I bought my first little motorbike. A Honda Chaly 50 cc. It wasn’t much but at least it was mine to proudly ride around the city.
Many different vehicles came and go since then, but my very own first car was a 2000 model Fiat Punto in a kinda flashy yellow color. You’ll see a pattern there, I promise. I liked this car very much. I put so many kilometers on it I don’t even remember, many trips, nights out and stuff. It was my ride, my kitchen table and in some cases even my “bedroom” if you know what I mean
In fact it was such an honest and easy to keep car, I still have it this very day, although my mom drives in it now.
Falling for the brand
I don’t know exactly why, but since I became a teenager, I started to grow an affinity for sportscars and the Ferrari brand especially. Maybe it had to do with the fact that it’s one of the most recognizable (and valuable) brands on the planet or maybe the fact that I’m half Italian.
I honestly can’t tell. But what I can tell for sure is that when I first saw the “Rock”, in 1996 the film with Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage, (which is a masterpiece by the way), I fell in love with this stunning F355 yellow Ferrari they drive like crazy in San Fransisco streets.
It was one of the most beautiful cars I’ve ever seen and still is even to this day.
Since then, whenever I was seeing a video, photo, article about cars, I was mainly drawn to Ferraris. One of my items in my bucket list is to visit the Maranello factory and although my relatives in Italy live relatively close, I still haven’t managed to do so.
Most of my posters, model cars, ornaments, etc. were always about Ferraris. I guess deep down (very deep down), I knew one day I’d get one. But it’d take some more years and a ton of effort before it became a reality.
You cannot have one
A few years after the movie, a lucky event would lead to a rather impactful incident. Riding my faithful Fiat Punto, my mother and I went to my godfather’s country house for a casual Sunday lunch. And oh my, casual it was not My godfather’s neighbor and a friend had a red F430 Ferrari. Still a beautiful car to this day.
Petrol-heads around the world still consider this one of the best sounding V8 Ferraris of all time.
Anyway, back to the story. As you can imagine I was in nirvana around the car. Not only it was the first time I was seeing a Ferrari up-close, but also there was a very good opportunity to step inside one and go for a ride.
After the guy said yes, I went ecstatic. Forgot about the lunch and all the guests and was drooling over the car waiting for the time I’d step inside and hear the engine roar.
And roaring it was. The kind of roaring that gives the chills to Tifosi like myself. Even by today’s standards, this car was fast. Very fast, agile, beautiful to look at and man, the engine could scream like nothing else.
If the movie made me fall in love, this live fast ride was as close to an orgasm as it could get. I remember it was the only thing I could think for the next few days weeks.
And then it happened.
After our visit was over and we were walking towards our car with my mom, I told her I was crazy about the car and I’d die to buy one someday.
I don’t think I’ll ever forget what she replied. She said son, “I know it’s a very nice car, but it’s so expensive you most probably will never get one even if you worked for 2 lifetimes.”
Damn, that’s all it took to shatter my dream. Imagine me dreaming in my bubble and then she threw this big wrecking ball and bringing everything down.
Now don’t get me wrong. My mother loves me. A LOT. She has made a ton of sacrifices to raise me and my sister – alone. She said what she believed was possible. And if you ask me, for the time being, she was right. My family wasn’t poor by any standard. It was just an average class family.
But if you do the math, (trust me I did the math many times in my head so I know), with an average salary of $1k per month, it’d take a person between 20 – 40 years of working and not spending a dime to buy a car that costs around $300.000.
So unfortunately for my blue-pilled brain, she was right. It’d be impossible to buy a Ferrari on my own even if I worked as a slave and saving everything for the rest of my life.
Swallowing the red pill
Fast forward a few years later, around 2014, and due to a lucky strike of events, it happened to find myself in a company of people that had a different opinion than my mom (and the rest of the society) on the matter.
Quite a few people actually, but if I had to distinguish a few I’d say that luckily, my friend Nasos firstly discovered this company of people, that Iraklis a personal friend and mentor had put together. They did, and still do, a remarkable job on the self-development front.
The tipping point was when I met Ilias, another very close friend of mine and my wealth superhero. He guided me through the first rough months on wealth self-development, he proposed a lot of amazing books so I could start feeding my brain with healthy mind meals, and we had discussions about ways we could both develop.
By consuming all the content he proposed, I started to develop an alternate reality. A reality in which if I worked smart and hard, I could [maybe] buy someday a Ferrari.
My reality became so strong that a few years back I wrote an article about someday soon, buying my Ferrari. The article talks about how to find your motivation. Your carrot on a stick that’ll drive you forward. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a noble cause like eliminating hunger in Africa or even a more superficial one like buying a Lambo.
As long as it keeps you putting in the hours, it works. For me it was a damn Ferrari, for you it could be becoming a top mathematician or top marketer in the world.
All you have to do is, work, learn, improve yourself…and then work some more. And that’s all that matters!
So, I worked. Hard and smart. For about 4 or 5 years, developing my business was consuming 80% plus of my focus. All I could think of was, how I’m going to grow my business and make more money.
Rest assured it was fucking hard, especially during the first years that I was putting tons of effort but results were meager. But once more, perseverance, dedication, focus and having a network of like-minded, high-achievers did the trick.
Luckily revenues went considerably up. Since 2017 my digital publishing business is doubling in revenues and profits, every year and will do my best to keep it the same way.
Keeping the eyes on the road
And that it was. On the 18th of February 2020, the big day has come. After doing extensive research in the Dubai market for a Ferrari 488 GTB, I found the one. The transfer process was relatively easy.
Gave the cash, took the key.
Boom.
I know that by now you’re all wondering how does it feel to own a Ferrari.
Well, I won’t cut around the corners. It feels fucking awesome. It’s one of the best modern supercars on the planet anyway, and even in the supercar infested Dubai, it is a serious head-turner.
Also, it’s a fucking beast I mean scary levels fast and although I consider myself to be a pure petrol-head I’m still scared to give full throttle. Besides, speeding limits and fines here in Dubai are cruel so I try to keep my right foot, light.
But apart from this kind of boring horsepower stuff, the really exciting part is the sense of accomplishment I got. Not only because of the price tag of two or three small apartments, not only because it’s one of the best cars in existence today or the head-turning and the selfies next to the car, but mainly because it was an impossible dream for me that became a reality.
A 20-year old *impossible* dream that became possible.
This counts for like 90% of the emotion for me.
Horsepower, sexy lines, and status symbols are nice, but it’s nothing compared to doing the impossible. And I keep repeating this last line before a few years back it really was impossible for me to drive this kind of car.
I have said many times before, that if an average IQ person like me has managed to do it, I cannot really think of any reason other people cannot follow the same paradigm.
And if you are to keep one thing out of all this, please keep that in mind.
Everything is fucking possible, if you really want it.
I was driving a bloody Fiat Punto for almost 20 years for Enzo’s name. How many more examples you could possibly need?
Future dangers and how to overcome them
As I said, this car was a major motivating factor for me to try as hard as I did in the previous years and now that I got it, the danger of going soft and relaxing is imminent. I’ve seen some marks that I don’t appreciate.
So the big bet over the next period would be to migrate as fast as possible to my next “Ferrari”. I will have to find something else that’ll motivate me as passionately as this car was if I want to keep the pedal to the metal.
But you know what? You can’t order 1 kilo of motivation out of a butcher’s menu. I didn’t “order” some motivation before to want this Ferrari and I’m not sure I can do myself crave for something else on demand. It might be possible but I don’t believe this is the way it usually happens.
Most probably in each one of us, a series of events, memories, and emotional triggers at some point align and cook the perfect recipe for some powerful driving factor to be created. This is the way it happened with me and the Ferrari in the first place I think.
So at this point in life, I don’t have an equally strong carrot. But sooner or later I’ll have to find one, or create one somehow. Growing my business to become a huge corporation, having a family, do a lot of trips or buying a yacht are all fit candidates.
I might start with one of those, or attack a few at the same time.
On the positive side, I have one very strong weapon in my arsenal. The years of discipline and focus it took me to achieve the first major goal, have built a very strong foundation of habits that most probably will keep me on the right track for the rest of my life.
All the daily routines, like reading, working out, consuming useful content and trying to grow my business have shaped a reality that is very well calibrated to lead me where I’d like to eventually go.
Closing remarks
Unfortunately, I had to make this post in the midst of the COVID-19 situation and although it’s a very difficult period for all of us, I try to stay as positive as I can.
All this is temporary for sure and like all other difficulties it’ll only help us become stronger.
No matter what the financial and emotional consequences might be, I know for a fact that in the end, we’ll be ok.
Try to stay safe, work out as much as possible, and eat as healthy as you can because staying inside all day and having food delivered to you can become very tricky. Consume as much useful content as you can and if your business has made it so far, keep your eyes on it.
If it’s struggling, try to find something that people really want at those difficult times and give it to them. They’ll be more than happy to trade their money for something that will take their pain away, or will give them some joy.
Remarkable people are the ones that make the most out of every situation.
How hard can it be to overcome a lousy virus?
I mean, I started dead broke and managed to buy a freaking Ferrari in less than 5 years damn it.
