Howard Holley Presents Against All Odds: How Successful People Overcome Adversity

Success, Failure and Reality Checks: Listen as Jim talks with our hosts about how he developed his success because of his failures. And Jim Inglis has been working at success a long time, overcoming failures and struggling to survive as the son of a small church minister in Compton, Louisiana. He says that he grew up "not wealthy," sometimes hungry and struggled to achieve a good education. After meeting his wife and finally achieving a college education, Jim joined Home Depot in 1983 when there were only 8 stores across the United States. As Executive Vice President, Jim helped grow that company to the largest in the United States. However, he didn't get there without some bumpy roads and failures. Now 71, he continues to ply his trade as a consultant in international retailing.

Rebecca DeLorenzo, now President of the Flagler County Chamber of Commerce, had humble beginnings, experienced common challenges yet doesn't quite consider herself successful. For her success is an end-goal that is achieved through striving to do something different and overcoming and moving beyond the day-to-day challenges. Rebecca says that without getting a "hands up" by the people around her, gaining insight from those around her, she wouldn't be where she is today. She suggests that to stay on the road to success, you should trust your gut, ask for help and find a mentor. These will keep you on track for the end goal; success.

Jimmy Day, Vice President Operations and Founder of Flagler Spirits refers to himself as a "normal" guy; a "good" guy, not a great one. The son of a government employee born in Washington, DC. he settled in Florida in 2003. He comes from generations of family who have been in "whiskey" for about 150 years. But his career took him in a different direction. Jimmy was an undertaker who owned three funeral homes and a monument company; a flower shop and he even parked cars. But he decided that he had enough of emotionally draining and serious businesses and wanted to do something fun. So 2010, he returned to his roots with Flagler Spirits, a craft distilling enterprise that was the result of having an unsatisfying drink. It was "gosh awful;" he says. He knew he could do better. It took 14 months and 14 days to go from that awful drink to being licensed, but he made it happen. In this episode, he talks about his product being like a backyard grilled burger - there is more to it and it's better than one that is mass produced. He had a dream. He had challenges.

Listen as Jimmy entertains hosts and listeners alike with his humorous approach to life, adversity and success.

Sara Hale is managing partner of Coastal Cloud which delivers superior client service through a unique delivery model that combines leading edge cloud (SaaS) solutions with a team of US-based, highly skilled, certified and cost effective professionals. In this episode, she speaks about how defining and measuring one's success is always changing; going from being very competitive to happy the baby slept through the night. Listen as she shares her perspective of success.

Sheila C. Johnson is a successful entrepreneur, impassioned philanthropist and an accomplished violinist. In her interview with Howard and Kristen, Sheila remarks that she is currently in the third act of her life. The first was as a violinist, the second as co-founder as Black Entertainment Television and now a a luxury hotel owner. It has taken more than 11 years to make her latest chapter thrive. But she says, "When you are faced with adversity, find a new road;" the way to success and fulfillment doesn't always have to be direct.

Pure Magic - Charlie Freeman, a suburban Chicago native, has worked in nearly every area of the Orlando Magic organization since he began working for them in 1996 as an unpaid intern, he was able to stick with it while living with friends. He says he didn’t know what was in store for his future, but “I had a passion for sports and believed that if you work hard and add value to whatever you do, you will be successful.” Upon reflecting on his journey thus far, Charlie's advises: Dream Big. Anything is possible. During this episode, Freeman shares the 5 pillars within his organization’s new "Pure Magic" campaign (excellence, experience, creating memories, excitement, and giving back). He also explains the importance of adding value to organizations and the necessity to go above and beyond in everything you do.

Dr. William Abare faces challenges every day as President of Flagler College that involve risk assessment and reward. The consequences for coming to a wrong decision could be profound. For each decision, he knows he has a good team on whom he can depend. However, he is still mindful of his mission to achieve and maintain his institution's goals. Hard work is, well, hard work; but does reap rewards on investment that benefit many. Listen as Dr. Abare talks about how a pragmatic and steadfast approach to decision-making is an everyday adversity that is overcome with time and patience.

Howard and Kristen contemplate and discuss the Driveway Moments that sum up each of our guests that joined us since July. By focusing on the characteristics, habits and tools each guest employed to overcome adversity and ultimately achieve success, our hosts arrive at Driveway Moments. Driveway Moments show us how overcoming the impossible, we must dig deep, be steadfast to arrive at our chosen goal or destination. C.S. Lewis says that "You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream."

Rick Rinaman's entrée into the world of Indy car racing came by way of racing go-carts outside of Pittsburgh, PA and carrying tools for Paul Newman's engine builder. Eventually, he landed an entry level, truck-driving position for Penske Racing in Reading, PA. From there, Rick went on to be one of the most successful Chief Mechanics/Crew Chiefs for Indy 500 winning teams that included Helio Castoneves, Emerson Fittipaldi, Al Unser, and Rick Mears.

Rick had great successes while with Penske, but he did not achieve success on his own. In 2009, Castroneves said of his crew, “Some of those guys have been here 10 years. They know my style; they know what I like, and they know what I don’t like. But the good news is that we’re a team. We lose together; we win together." In this interview, Rick shares his thoughts on the importance of teamwork, and he reminds us all that sometimes failure just isn't an option.

Julie Mathis' life has taken her from the Gainesville and St. Augustine areas of Florida to Kentucky, overseas to Germany and back again to Florida. Julie now operates a successful real estate business in Palm Coast, Florida but has experienced an interesting career path complete with Pakistani carpets! Though she has found great success, her journey was not without gut-wrenching loss and heartache. She shares her own health issues and per personal experience of loss of a loved-one. Julie explains what it means to "be enough for others" and how she is fulfilling purpose every day.