Fueling Dreams and Legacy: The Entrepreneurial Journey of Adrian Winston

Embark on an emotional ride with Adrian Winston, my nephew and co-founder of the Live Above Clothing Company and Winston Automotive. Our conversation takes you behind the scenes of his entrepreneurial quest, where dreams and family legacy intertwine, creating an empire that spans from detail shops in Wisconsin to the bustling dealership lots in Georgia. Adrian recounts how the dreams and determination of my late brother-in-law, Bobby Winston, sparked our generational passion for automobiles—a legacy carried on with pride and dedication.

In a heartfelt exchange, I delve into the lessons of leadership learned from fraternity life and the ways personal hardships have shaped the mission of his brands. Adrian and I reflect on the honor of Nashville's "Top 30 under 30," and the life-changing decision to move to Atlanta—a testament to the enduring influence of family guidance and the adaptability that's essential in the fast-paced world of business. We open up about the profound moments of seeking wisdom from our loved ones, underscoring the strength we've drawn from our family roots through every challenge and success.

As we round out our discussion, Adrian and I touch on the ethos of entrepreneurship, emphasizing the relentless pursuit of excellence and the balance of empathy in leadership. We inspire others to seize opportunities, take risks, and cherish the supportive relationships that make the entrepreneurial journey all the richer. Through our stories of overcoming adversity and pushing beyond comfort zones, we hope to motivate you to chase your dreams with the same fervor that has propelled our family legacy forward. Join us for a narrative that celebrates not just the milestones of success, but the profound connections that fuel our ambitions and fulfill our lives.

Live Above Clothing Company
Street wear brand with a positive message!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

Lil' Mel: 0:01

Hey, hello and welcome back to the Lil" podcast show, and I want to welcome my next guest, which is Adrian Wissner. Adrian is actually my nephew. Adrian is a young man who I actually lean on for advice sometimes because, as old as I am, I still need a vice. I need to talk to somebody that's in touch with the culture, in touch with the youth and touch with what's going on out there in the world.

Adrain Winston: 0:34

What was that we were talking about earlier?

Lil' Mel: 0:35

Culture and the world, and also the social media.

Adrain Winston: 0:40

Oh yeah, social media, heavy ads definitely.

Lil' Mel: 0:43

Yeah, you're heavy on what you're doing with your wife, which we'll be interviewing her later as well. So, adrian, introduce yourself.

Adrain Winston: 0:50

Hey, what's going on? First off, I want to say thank you for having me on the Lil' Mel podcast and being one of your first guests. My name is Adrian Winston. Again, this is my uncle, Charlie Shaw. My background I'm an entrepreneur full time. I'm the co-owner of Live Above clothing company and also co-owner of Winston Automotive, which is a family-owned automotive dealership. Me, my brothers sister, and my mother as well. Okay, you got two locations.

Lil' Mel: 1:17

You have two locations now Right, so tell them where your locations are and tell them where we're at Right?

Adrain Winston: 1:23

So we had our home base, our first location. So this location is in Racine, wisconsin, mount Pleasant, wisconsin, outskirts of Racine, for those that know the area, and we've been at this location going on six years, the business originally started in 2008 as just a straight detail shop. Right right, it started as a detail shop, cleaning cars. Hold on to Coven Avenue On the Coven Avenue on the south side of Racine, Wisconsin, and my brother, michael Winston, he spearheaded this project. He spearheaded this business.

Adrain Winston: 1:50

So we were there going on what 10 years and the whole time we were there, we were buying and selling cars and just trying to figure things out. Detailing was the foundation and we decided there was time to switch it up and go full time with the buying and selling of the car. So the dealership side of it and that's when we got this location, which is out here in Mount Pleasant, wisconsin. And a year and a half ago, well, I moved to Georgia, moved to Atlanta, georgia, three years ago, and since I've been in Georgia, we opened up our second location, which is there in Atlanta, east Point to be exact, and we've had that location for about a year and a half now. So now we have two bases. So we have one in Georgia and one here in Wisconsin.

Lil' Mel: 2:26

But you know what? I think that your organization, your, your automotive organization, goes even further back to who my dad? Okay, let's talk about Mr Bobby, yeah.

Adrain Winston: 2:35

Rest in peace. Bobby Winston yeah, so my father, Bobby Winston. He taught us everything we knew about cars. So that's where our foundation originally comes from, and it really was his dream. So he used to tell us you know, when I retired I'm going to get my trailer, I'm going to give me a truck and trailer, Me and your wife, me and his wife. He said him and his wife, my mom, was going to ride around the states, ride around the nation, picking up cars and he was going to fix them. So I remember growing up and he was just fixing cars in the backyard. He worked at an automotive shop and we was just watching and he was teaching us a little bit here and there and we just kind of naturally picked up the game.

Lil' Mel: 3:07

I remember that year that I came home, the year that you graduate and also the year that Bobby passed away. He had us out there changing tires.

Adrain Winston: 3:14

Yeah, yeah, that was my whole.

Lil' Mel: 3:16

While we was trying to barbecue. But Bobby was type of brother at all. He was a good brother in law, he was very good brother in law. He was tight. Where you know there's always something to do.

Adrain Winston: 3:25

There's always something to do. I remember when I was little come on here and help me bleed these brakes, press on these brakes. Yeah, trying to show you something.

Lil' Mel: 3:32

Yeah, not knowing Me personally, I didn't want to get my hands dirty, but you know you can't do that with your, you know, with your old models. You know he was like he was a brother in law but he was like an uncle to me because you know he, you know he came up with our uncles and all that and my brothers, but you know all of them are a little older, so I respect them all, as you know. Senior uncles.

Adrain Winston: 3:51

And our whole family come really our whole family come from a mechanic background your brothers, your uncles, my great uncles, my, you know my great uncles and uncles.

Lil' Mel: 3:58

We have an uncle over in Chicago who has an auto body shop as well as tow trucks and all that. He was doing that from when he came up to Chicago, from where we originated from Our roots. Yeah, back in the 50s, yeah, late 50s he had a little corner shop and grew that up and he was able to, you know, sustain and feed his family off of that and he just I mean he just retired, he was in his 80s, just retired and he still go.

Lil' Mel: 4:26

he still go to the shop every day, even though he ain't gonna stop, even though he don't own it.

Adrain Winston: 4:30

but he ain't gonna stop. I remember they used to tell us stories of when he moved to Chicago he would drive cars back to Alabama and just taking them back to his little brothers and nephews and they would drive them All his sisters, yeah, everybody.

Lil' Mel: 4:41

He kept everybody in cars and get on the bus and come on back to Chicago and do it all over again and, you know, the following month he hooked everybody up with cars.

Adrain Winston: 4:48

He took care of everybody, yeah.

Lil' Mel: 4:49

See, this is something that you didn't know, man. My father, that's how my mom met met, met, met. That's how my dad met my mother. No, I ain't know that. Because, Uncle DC hooked them up.

Adrain Winston: 5:00

That's what you do still.

Lil' Mel: 5:01

Yeah, he used to. They used to run cars back and forth to Florida. Mm-hmm and him and Uncle DC got together and that's how they, that's how they met Wow.

Adrain Winston: 5:11

Yeah, yeah, history, I ain't know that one. No, I didn't know that one. So when we say it's in our blood, it's in our blood Right, it's in our blood on every side.

Lil' Mel: 5:19

So Buying and trading cars.

Adrain Winston: 5:22

Yup, all that. I bought my first car when I was 14, with Mike, with my brother Couldn't even didn't have a license I had.

Lil' Mel: 5:27

I had a car at 15 and it was sitting in the driveway. I ain't, I ain't even know, you know that wasn't supposed to do that, but you know, pops, pops left me.

Adrain Winston: 5:35

I was like okay, that's what we doing, what we doing, what we doing. I'm not going to say no, but I remember, yeah, but we was responsible.

Lil' Mel: 5:41

You know my father was responsible. We made sure that you know we was doing. You know doing the right thing. Reason why I'm very impressed with you is because a lot of times you remember when I was on you. You're part of the what's your fraternity.

Adrain Winston: 5:56

I'll fire off a fraternity incorporated Right and you, you graduate from. Tennessee State University. Right, okay, and that's where you met your wife. She found out. That's why I met my wife. Y'all met my wife two weeks before she graduated. We was on campus together for years, and then we each other two weeks before she graduated.

Lil' Mel: 6:11

And what was your?

Adrain Winston: 6:11

major there Business administration and I have a concentration in management and also have a minor in entrepreneurship.

Lil' Mel: 6:17

Minor in entrepreneurship. Yeah, how many times have I told you, man, I'm higher up because y'all got, y'all got the balls to go out there and start your own business Right, whereas I stayed in the government and just kept getting that check every week and made made my life comfortable. But these young men, they, they got out there and they started doing their thing and that's a lot of respect for you know, a lot of respect for their ambition to go out there and lead others. You know grab. You know grab grab a hold of opportunities and run with it, appreciate that.

Lil' Mel: 6:48

You tell us every time you talk to it, right? I'm not going to stop telling you. Even if you come up short, I'm still going to encourage you to keep moving, man, because that's what I want to see, you know. Next gen come up and start moving. So, with that, with that same energy that you have, I want you to keep pressing me.

Lil' Mel: 7:04

Got you, I got you, you know you know, we talk about, we talk Right, you actually got on me when, when I was saying I'm just going to chill, I ain't going to do anything, he was like oh, what are you doing, man? Yeah, yeah, you know, you got to keep you thinking.

Adrain Winston: 7:15

That ain't even your care, yeah.

Lil' Mel: 7:17

You give a check every month why don't you try?

Lil' Mel: 7:19

something else. You know it's free, now it's free. It's free Now it's open for you. So you know that. That segue into why I'm doing this podcast called OML podcast on filter. What I'm trying to promote is young folks, old folks, any folks that want to better themselves and improve, improve upon what they already have. If you need mentorship, we're going to find it. If it, if it's me that's going to mentor you, I'm going to. I'm going to try to get you to get up every day and strive for the best, because whenever I get, whenever I get into a funk have you noticed that I call you Mm-hmm?

Adrain Winston: 7:56

I check in with you, or you just trying to get the clarity on me?

Lil' Mel: 7:58

Yeah, or you check up on me, you know, and we don't really talk about anything, but it is coming out, mm-hmm, you know. So you know, like I said, I appreciate that nephew Feelin' this mutual, but what I, what I actually want to talk to you about, is your leadership. Okay, that's why I asked you what fraternity you was in. Okay, because fraternity is just like with everything else. They want, they want leaders, mm-hmm, they want leaders am I correct? Correct, yeah. So what's your leadership skills?

Adrain Winston: 8:25

Um, I would say that I'm more hands-on, like I want to. I want to, I want to lead by example. Right, I can't. It's hard for me to tell you to do something that. One, I haven't done myself. Two, I don't know how to do. Right, you know what I mean, because I need to know, one, that you're doing it correctly and be able to guide you the right way. If I, if I see some mishaps, I see some things that's not going, you know the way they supposed to. So I'm gonna say I'm a lot more hands-on leader. I need to be able to know what I'm telling you to do. I can't just send somebody out there blindly. Right, right, I.

Lil' Mel: 8:53

Feel the same way. Oh, you gotta leave from the front. Oh, it's very easy to fall back in. Hey man, you run with it. Yeah, and then put the blame on someone else, yep.

Adrain Winston: 9:04

It's easier to go. It's easier to go that way, yeah.

Lil' Mel: 9:07

Yeah. So my style yeah so we talked about how you guys started on your pathway to your, to your success with your two brands. What was, what was the? What was the baseline or the, the Mission statement behind live?

Adrain Winston: 9:26

above the mission. Stay behind, live above is no matter what you're going through. If you got the heart and the mindset to live above it, it's endless what you can achieve. And that stemmed from me and my business partner Darren's. Both I, both our life. Really.

Adrain Winston: 9:41

We both kind of got the same story where we had issues at our first universities. We both went to different schools to play basketball, had issues at those. When you first went to Milwaukee for that, yeah, I was a school Milwaukee school of engineering for a year and a half. He went to a school in Ohio for about a year and a half and we both both trying to play basketball, not knowing each other, not knowing each other, know nothing about each other, and we ended up transferring Tennessee State. We kind of turned things around, kind of got things rolling for ourselves.

Adrain Winston: 10:07

But the biggest thing that we have in common is that we both lost a parent to cancer right, he lost his mother and I lost my father. And while joining our fraternity that's my line brother as well. So while joining our fraternity together, we learned that about each other and we learned things that we overcome together. So neither one of us have a fashion background. We don't. We didn't come from fashion or we wasn't looking to be the freshest and, unlike that, right, what we wanted to do was push, push a message that, no matter what you're going through, if you got that mindset you can. You can overcome it. So that's where, a little above, and it essentially came y'all actually got recognized for 30 and below.

Lil' Mel: 10:38

We did.

Adrain Winston: 10:39

Yeah, 30 in the top 30 and 30 in Nashville. Yeah, we did that's great accomplishment.

Lil' Mel: 10:43

Nashville is no joke, there's a lot moving on now. Now, yeah, thank you. Yeah, what made you make the move to Atlanta? I know that Vetta was there and his older sister, and you want to be closer to her, did that, was that?

Adrain Winston: 10:58

was. That was for you. That was probably that was my biggest factor. To be honest, family family was my biggest factor. I say that was around the time when that she did. She did become sick Right so when she got sick, my wife was already looking to leave. She had been standing for years. It's time to get out of natural.

Lil' Mel: 11:15

I'm looking she had. She also has a sister.

Adrain Winston: 11:17

Yeah, she has a cousin there her cousin is there and my sister is there and I just I just was fighting it. I was fighting it, my business was stationed in Nashville and then when COVID hit one, my sister got sick, but then our business went strictly online, yeah. So that was the thing that was kind of that was my back. I was like I can't leave, I can't leave yet. And when that went online I was like maybe he maybe telling me something, right, I mean, what? What? No, telling who's he it got okay.

Lil' Mel: 11:41

God, we're not afraid to talk about that. No, you're real, there we go.

Adrain Winston: 11:44

Yeah, I'm like, maybe God telling me something, maybe he giving me a sign and I call my mom and, and she never. She never pushed me to move, or anything like that. I would have conversations with her like man, I'm thinking my wife want to move, I'm thinking about it.

Lil' Mel: 11:57

She's like, well, how you feel right, she would always give me that and that's my, yeah, that's my big sister, trish, she, she's another one that lean on when you know, when things are dark. She's just like my mother, matter of fact, sometimes, you know, you know, wait, wait, she raised me, wait, wait, my mother raised her. And way she looked over me as, as a kid. She's like mama, she's like mom we share, but she's yours, you know, but she my sister.

Adrain Winston: 12:28

Sorry about that, but and usually when we in my mom have conversations, she never I mean, I've always been one to think for myself, so she'll give me guidance or advice, things like that, but she'll never be like you need to do this, you need to do that. She always Open it and receptive to what I'm saying. We have, we have dialogue about it. But I asked her, I said my, you think I need to move to Atlanta. She's like I think it's time. And I think, even though we talk to speak about my sister being sick, I think she just knew I needed something different, without me knowing in the moment that I needed something different. I knew it was time for some type of change, but I just didn't know what I was like.

Lil' Mel: 13:00

I think it's time when you right before that, I remember you, we had, we had talked, that you felt kind of stagnant, but you really didn't discuss what, what it was. And now I'm understanding. Mm-hmm, you know, I'm understanding. Oh, I went through the same thing when I was in the military and also, you know, early in my career. Sometimes you need, sometimes you need different environment. You need different environment. There's nothing wrong with that.

Adrain Winston: 13:24

It's not you quit.

Lil' Mel: 13:25

Yeah, you just a different environment? Yeah, so did you cultivate Success out of making, making that switch With? What do you mean by that? Did you? Did you find that you that that became more more positive, that you're my move?

Adrain Winston: 13:42

Yes, definitely like like three years later today.

Adrain Winston: 13:45

See where I'm at today right, it was one of the best moves I made. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Like, looking back, like I'm glad I did it, even though I fought it, I was nervous about it. But I also knew, like I get times where if I'm unsure about something, if I'm fearful of something, I do nothing. I try to let God figure it out for me. I don't want to rush into nothing. I don't want to force nothing and then be regretting my decision. That's nothing, nothing I ever want to do. So in that moment I did do nothing and I did nothing for years and me finally making the decision to move was a blessing. I'm a Ron Moore family, my wife Ron Moore family. Her business has changed like crazy since we left.

Lil' Mel: 14:22

Yeah, we're going to be talking to her. She's interior design.

Adrain Winston: 14:26

Interior design, social media influencer, eco-friendly, Like she's doing a thing, so making that move was man. It was huge. And then it also turned around like I started to realize the things I did with the business from the auto auto dealer side I wouldn't have been able to do in Nashville. It's different just from a standpoint of laws, Like the regulation they have in Nashville as opposed to in Georgia, as opposed to Tennessee, was different.

Lil' Mel: 14:50

So that's a good segue into the next question. So your specific strategy and your techniques that you use up in Wisconsin when to work in Nashville as well, but Atlanta is better for you, it's working for me.

Adrain Winston: 15:06

I probably wouldn't have been able to get a dealership because you have to have like. In Georgia I was able to get a dealership by having an office, just the office space, but I was full a lot. In Tennessee you gotta have a full lot of 10 spaces, so it's a lot more finance.

Lil' Mel: 15:19

Sort of like it is here in Wisconsin.

Adrain Winston: 15:20

You gotta have this basically, you gotta have this, so being not known.

Lil' Mel: 15:24

I didn't even know that going to Georgia. Okay. So what barriers? Not barriers. Yet I still wanna talk about your leadership, okay. You have older brothers, I do All right. Do you feel at times that you have to motivate them? Try to push them a little bit, because we all go through things, definitely Right. I know that you care for it because I watch it. I watch how you move. Yeah, tell the folks how you do that.

Adrain Winston: 15:56

Out of love, I mean, if you want to talk about it.

Lil' Mel: 16:00

But you're no nonsense. Yeah, I'm not.

Adrain Winston: 16:02

Yeah, you don't really beat around the bush, yeah, and I think because I justify that, because I care about you, I care about you, I want you to win. So I'm not gonna just tell you anything, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, I'm not gonna play that game with you If I know you can handle it and the type of brother we done been through so much my siblings I'm really my best friend. You know what I mean.

Adrain Winston: 16:24

I'm blessed with the family that I've had. You know what I'm saying. I'm blessed with that family so we can have those hard conversations and I know it's not gonna be taken personal.

Lil' Mel: 16:32

And they do the same with me. They on my head at times, you know what I mean.

Adrain Winston: 16:35

I might be a little more vocal, a little more outgoing, like, hey, we gotta do this, this, this, this isn't that, but they the same way, they the same way. So it's like a you know what I mean. It's a constant revolving circle, like we all hold each other accountable.

Lil' Mel: 16:46

So it's like. So tell them where we're at right now.

Adrain Winston: 16:47

Right now we at Winston and Ken automotive.

Lil' Mel: 16:50

And what time is it On the weekend?

Adrain Winston: 16:51

What Saturday, at almost seven o'clock Seven o'clock on the Saturday, and ain't nobody in a rush to leave. Nobody's in a rush to leave Nobody in a rush to leave. This is normal.

Lil' Mel: 17:00

Cleaning cars, doing inventory, organizing, and he took the time out to talk to me to help me out. This is normal.

Adrain Winston: 17:09

This is a normal evening, regardless Saturday, sunday. We at the house, probably more than likely Right Monday through Saturday. We at the shop this is our home. We send it all the time Like and the reason we keep it clean, keep it looking a certain way, cause, if you at home, we spend more time here almost than we do at the house.

Lil' Mel: 17:26

Right, you know. Have you ever had to fire anybody or discontinue your relationship with them as an entrepreneur?

Adrain Winston: 17:32

Yes, yeah, I mean, I wouldn't say I've discontinued relationships, Discontinue really yeah, I've discontinued Business relations. Yeah, cause most now our business. We run out of a little different source, A lot more contract side as opposed to hiring employees. So we quick to discontinue a relationship Right In a minute, because we hold ourselves to a standard.

Lil' Mel: 17:51

Right, we hold ourselves to a standard and that's the reason why I ask a question, cause I want you to explain what you know your high expectation of folks Right. Right, I overheard you and Mike talking earlier. Amen, I'm not. There's nothing in the shop that I'm not going to do that, that I'm going to ask somebody to do that. I wouldn't do it, thanks.

Adrain Winston: 18:12

That I haven't done already, that you haven't done already. We done detailed every card we can see under the sun. We done done all the paperwork before we clean, we mop every day. We take care of the space. You know this. Again, this is our home Right. So I can't I can't always expect people to do it at the level that we do it at Right, but it is a standard that you have to be able to do it In order for us to maintain the business Right.

Lil' Mel: 18:31

You know what I mean. Like this is our line. We have a reputation.

Adrain Winston: 18:33

We have a reputation and this is our livelihood. If we allow ABC&D to slack or to take their time to get things done, it's going to affect us Right, and that's what we can't allow. Now, we also not expecting nobody to be perfect, cause we not that either. We know we not perfect, but we give it everything we got every day.

Lil' Mel: 18:49

So you're telling me that you got empathy for folks that you know, if you got to let them go, which try to guide them, and you know, oh yeah, it's never personal, okay, it's never, I'm never going to.

Adrain Winston: 18:58

if I let you go, I'm going to tell you why, and I help and. I help you work on it. We've had people that we worked with that I was like man, this is why it ain't working Right, I'm not going to let you go and then, just well, you just ain't in and we're not mad at you. I ain't in personal, no, but at the same time, we also got things. We got to get done too. So let me tell you why.

Adrain Winston: 19:15

Let me hope that you've taken it wrong with it and you're real from it.

Lil' Mel: 19:17

You know what I mean. Do you also take that same practice with your live?

Adrain Winston: 19:20

above. Definitely Live with Bill Grant, definitely, definitely. It's the same regard. I take that in life, in life, like that's again going back to, like fraternity. That's just part of wanting to see people growing, be the best they can be. But I want you to be the best you can be. You ain't got to be the best in my life from what my standard is. Be the best to your standard.

Lil' Mel: 19:37

As long as you get that Hold yourself in higher ground.

Adrain Winston: 19:39

Yeah, hold yourself at that standard. But again, we come from. I'm 36 and I got 20 years of entrepreneurship experience.

Lil' Mel: 19:46

I know you know what I mean At 26, so I can't expect another person to have that same type of you was actually I'm gonna use the word you was actually hustling in your game and the automotive and the love brand why you were in school While I was in school.

Adrain Winston: 20:02

Why you were in school, people don't know. I pay my way through school, yes, I do. People don't understand that, like I wasn't calling home, asked for ABC because I knew it wasn't there. Right, you know what I mean Not to downplay them, but I just knew it wasn't there. So you gotta figure something out.

Lil' Mel: 20:15

You know, I did, yeah, I was selling clothes on campus.

Adrain Winston: 20:18

We started the brand a year and a half before we graduated, in the process of getting ready to graduate. Like we finna, take this brand to the next level In school, on campus. Not okay, I graduated now. What Now? Once we graduated, it was already set what we was doing. Right, it was already set, yeah.

Lil' Mel: 20:34

Now with the live above brand. What demographics are you so much?

Adrain Winston: 20:41

in. So we don't really. I honestly don't like to put an age on it. Okay, because it's not a high end fashion brand to the point where you wearing it from the statement Right, you know what I mean and live above can match the 15 year old who going through it in school, who trying to figure it out and trying to learn himself, to the person that's 65, who's been through life and understand what it mean and already experienced most things they have to overcome.

Lil' Mel: 21:05

Well, you, know that's why I attracted my eye. It's because you know I had to live above a whole lot of things just to get to where I'm at. So it's a reminder that things you've already won at. You already winning, so just keep moving. You know you gotta let things. Some of that you gotta look through that. It's like what Jay-Z said sometimes you got I'm not looking at you, I'm looking through you, I'm looking through you. I gotta live above all that.

Adrain Winston: 21:31

Now, since you talking about it, so I never like to put an age on it. Like we used to say when we was in college, the demographic exists because that's the people we were selling to like physically, but when you talk about that message, it can touch anybody who the message is I've seen, oh Slepery's wearing your brand, some of the top we've had. I mean, you know Ryan Clark from ESPN. People know, everybody know Lil' Bow Wow, right right, brandon Clark. I believe I wanna say Brandon.

Lil' Mel: 21:59

Clark. Yeah, it's Brandon Clark.

Adrain Winston: 22:00

It's been several. Who else is gonna be wearing your brand here soon? Uh-uh, well, let's say Lil' Mel.

Lil' Mel: 22:08

Well, one of the main reasons why I brought that few on is because he offered a sponsor me and I wanna wear his brand on my chest and on my back for him and promote his show, I mean promote his product. I'm very proud of it. I have live above gear and I'm gonna try to make sure that I have at least a t-shirt on Consistently Consistently, you know, with supporting you and getting your brand out there and much of this support. It's a partnership because what you're doing is huge too.

Adrain Winston: 22:42

Right, you know it's huge on both ends. We wanna make sure that we acknowledge that this is a partnership. It's not like I'm doing it out of a relationship of just all my uncles know you build the brand and you're in the front end of it, but big things is coming. I hope so.

Lil' Mel: 22:55

I hope that I'm giving off a positive message for my listeners. And you know I'm not a perfect man, but I do, wanna. I've always wanted to motivate people and I always wanted to make sure that people are inspired to do more than what they did the day before. There you go, you know, and carry on. You know, carry on good reputation of a hard worker, and it's just like what I said. You know, my model was my father and that's why I named that show after him, and I think that he would be proud of both of us. He would be, I know he would be, I know he would be.

Lil' Mel: 23:26

So we just gotta carry on that tradition of hard work and keep it moving. Yeah, yeah. What advice would you give somebody that's trying to come up and do like which follow Entrepreneur.

Adrain Winston: 23:38

Yeah, don't quit. Don't quit. You learn and you figure things out in your process, right, like I can't tell you, like I'll do it this way, do it that way. You gotta find your lane. It's a million different entrepreneurs, it's a million different businesses out here. Find what you like and find something that you can do for 10 years and not quit.

Lil' Mel: 24:01

So you expect me to do this for you? Yeah, don't quit.

Adrain Winston: 24:04

Now it's also. I mean, I like that, though. That's the truth. You know what?

Lil' Mel: 24:08

I don't think about quit before I started because you know I was like man. People can judge me, people can have the you know what. They can say this about me you talk yourself out of it. I almost talk myself out of it.

Adrain Winston: 24:18

We do it. But you gotta understand. I say I say I'm 20 years and I we still do that now, right, but again I'm able to bounce off my brothers, right. And then when I'm having them, I'm having conversations, I vice versa, we able to bring really each other back in, or you know what I mean, give you a different insight. So that's why I say don't quit, because the winning most people that they don't fail, they quit, they quit, they quit Because it gets hard and that's why I say don't quit, don't quit, they get very different.

Adrain Winston: 24:41

Yeah, when I say don't quit, it's easier to say than done. Don't get it twisted Like I'm saying that because it's the truth, yes, it's the truth. Like we didn't do anything different, I don't believe from when I was 14 and bought my first car to me at 36, but we just kept going Right, we kept going.

Lil' Mel: 24:59

You use the same strategy, but you build upon it through experience, experience tears, bumps, all that, All that flat tires.

Adrain Winston: 25:09

And the good days.

Lil' Mel: 25:10

And the good days, and the good days and the barbecue days.

Adrain Winston: 25:12

You know what I mean.

Lil' Mel: 25:13

All the every Did we talk about how, oh, Bobby, had me changed the tire with you A little bit, yeah, before. Yeah, I was like man, I don't do this.

Adrain Winston: 25:22

No, you're doing it today. You're doing it today. That's the difference. And be willing to do everything, be willing to try it all, like most people like and again, that's what I was going to say with you. Like you test, you testing this out. You know what I mean. It may not be. It may not be.

Lil' Mel: 25:37

You know what I mean. You're going to see where it goes.

Adrain Winston: 25:39

You're going to see, but at the same time, like give it everything you got Right and be sure that it wasn't Right, as opposed to like, well then, in a year from now you're like man I wish I would have. I wish I would have interviewed songs or songs. Now I have no regrets.

Lil' Mel: 25:50

I have no regrets, you know one of the things that, over my pretty much as far back as I can remember, I was just going to say my adult life, but I've never wanted to say man, I wish I would have did that. Yeah, I don't ever want any regrets. Yeah, I'd rather try something and come up short than to say man, I just didn't want to try it.

Adrain Winston: 26:10

Yeah, yeah, cause you're going to regret it. But also, you know, I think I learned too. Everybody don't got that same personality, right, cause I used to think, now that I'm a little old, I used to feel like everybody thought like me, right.

Lil' Mel: 26:20

Well that's. I still think that I'm 55. I'm learning. They don't yeah.

Adrain Winston: 26:24

They don't my father.

Lil' Mel: 26:25

Well, you know, I was just. I was just telling somebody the other day that, you know, not everybody can think the way you think. Right, and that's fine, Right. But you know you, you can motivate them as much as they want to be motivated, but I with with, with this podcast, I just want to remind people that you are capable of doing anything that you want. I'm going to be talking about traveling, yeah.

Adrain Winston: 26:44

Would you ever thought that you don't would have got an RV and went over. So I say you doing big things.

Lil' Mel: 26:49

Yeah, go over to California for a month, right, I don't know them folks out there Right. You know, I said you know what I'm going to do that, yeah. And I said, well, that's what we're going to do. And you know, I just want to inspire people to just do different things. Man, don't, don't just get caught up in oh y'all don't do that. No, we do anything we want.

Adrain Winston: 27:07

We do anything we want, try it.

Lil' Mel: 27:08

You never know.

Adrain Winston: 27:10

There's so much world hard, so much going on you never know so much different avenues.

Lil' Mel: 27:14

Go down that, go down that street, see what down there?

Adrain Winston: 27:17

I?

Lil' Mel: 27:17

was rolling through a race scene today, man and I rolled through some streets.

Adrain Winston: 27:21

I didn't even ride through you, never been there before I, never been there before I was like why I never ride down the street.

Lil' Mel: 27:26

Oh, maybe because I was dating a girl on this side.

Adrain Winston: 27:29

It'd be so many facts that you don't realize. Yeah, before you know you don't miss out on so much life.

Lil' Mel: 27:32

Yeah, so much life.

Adrain Winston: 27:34

Somebody else thinking of this and that I rolled out to Whitewater.

Lil' Mel: 27:39

That was a college that I was supposed to go to, right, right, and guess what? I didn't go to that college because I was afraid to try that, mm-hmm, you know, nervous. And when I was, and I actually did a trip up there when they were recruiting us for football, and everything started flashing back to me For real, yeah man, everything started flashing back.

Adrain Winston: 27:58

It was kind of surreal.

Lil' Mel: 27:59

As a matter of fact, it was the year you was born 87. That's when you went on your visit.

Adrain Winston: 28:03

Yeah, and how old are you? I'm 36.

Lil' Mel: 28:06

36 years ago this year man Around, this time actually Just 36.

Adrain Winston: 28:10

Yeah, four.

Lil' Mel: 28:12

OK.

Adrain Winston: 28:15

That's fine yeah.

Lil' Mel: 28:17

Okay, yeah, just started 36.

Adrain Winston: 28:19

Not even a little over 10 days ago, okay, yeah.

Lil' Mel: 28:23

So we just had a little technical difficulty with the video, but the audio is still going. So we're almost at the 30 minute mark. Man, I was surprised that we were enrolling so smooth. So, me personally, I'm only interviewing people that I know that are hard workers, you know, and somebody that can give back and you know help. Maybe the listeners understand that they are capable of doing anything and everything. Great, you're working hard in the industries that you're in, thank you, but my question to you, my question to you, is how do you balance all that out, work life and enjoy the fruits of your labor?

Adrain Winston: 29:12

I'm still figuring it out, but for that one, honestly, I got to give credit to my wife. Okay, I got to give a lot of credit to my wife, like she slowed me down a little bit, because it before I mean, we've been together over 12 years, right, and prior to meeting her, or even in the early stages, none came before it. I mean, outside of it was family, then it was business and I have no time for and I used to know non-signal time for nothing else. It's time to figure these things out. And she was able to come into my life and just kind of slowed me down, just helped me see different things. You know what I mean? Give me a different perspective, man. You know what?

Lil' Mel: 29:46

We've been impressed with her since the first day. She came down, just like my ex Monica. You know Nobody gave her, you know, she just found give me an address, I'm going to get there. And she got there.

Adrain Winston: 29:59

I gave her an address and what's funny is so and what he's speaking to us. Our family roots is Orville, alabama. I was outskirt about 15 miles outside of Selma Alabama. So, country right Outskirt.

Adrain Winston: 30:10

Nobody really know how to get there. Navigation won't get you there so I was coming down later. This was our first time coming to visit the family we go down every 4th of July. Gave her the address, she took off. I was going to come up about an hour and a half two hours behind her and everybody sit on the front porch at the house and they said a little red car pulled up, rolled the window. I said is Adrian family here, me and my uncle Lee.

Lil' Mel: 30:33

Bob was sitting out. I was like who are you? Come on in here, come on in here our girl, and every since then we fell in love with that girl. Man Pulled up.

Adrain Winston: 30:41

By the time I pulled up maybe I would have two hours later she was frying fish. Yeah, vetta had her on the fish. She was frying fish and it's so funny because our family but that's a doctrination for any woman that's coming in too, because her family is exactly the same.

Lil' Mel: 30:52

Yeah, they did. They did Monica the same way. Yeah, same way, but at the time Monica was pregnant. They was trying to figure. I didn't even know, but my mom they knew and they was like I'll take her out to fish. Yeah, yeah.

Adrain Winston: 31:06

That's real bro.

Lil' Mel: 31:06

That's the thing. They put her right on the fish. Yeah, see how they move, yeah.

Adrain Winston: 31:11

But she held it down but she'd bring me peace. We relax, we take trips, we travel together. That gave me a peace of mind and kind of step away from business, because you have to sometimes, especially when, like the mind said, I got why. I feel like it's always something can be done. It's always something can be done, I don't care what you say. It's always a cock or be sold, it's always another one can be bought. It's always something can be done. It's always some shirts that can be made, shipped out.

Lil' Mel: 31:34

Well, that's how my main girl is right now Rhonda, she, she, she, she. She didn't want to have me go out there. And you know, start taking these trips and relax, Because I never, when my daughters grew up, I stopped taking vacations. Yeah, you was taking it for them, I was taking it for them. And then the next thing, I know, man, I got grown daughters. I don't even I stay at work. You remember how I was moving?

Adrain Winston: 31:52

I was always on the move, yeah.

Lil' Mel: 31:54

But you know I needed to slow down and enjoy that fruit.

Adrain Winston: 31:58

Yeah, yeah. So I got a credit for that because I wasn't. I wasn't doing it on my own. It didn't keep my mind busy. You know, stressing and just thinking about so much I felt like engulfing yourself in the work. You know you think that you're doing yourself a benefit, but you could be hurting yourself.

Lil' Mel: 32:12

Right, I mean you could be hurting yourself. Well, this is a wrap. Man, Do you have any questions for me or for me?

Adrain Winston: 32:19

I don't have no questions, but what I do want to say is I admire what you're doing and I mean that from the bottom of my heart, because I've watched you, like you said in your intro, give 30 years of your life to law enforcement, which is a life that, as a nephew or as nephews, we've always seen from the outside looking in. But it was always a bit of a silence tour or, you know, a bit of solitude, where we didn't know the full details of the full in and out and you to transition to something like a podcast where it's becoming almost like a therapy, or you pouring your heart out or pouring your life out.

Lil' Mel: 32:48

This therapy yeah, I'm going to admit it, I'm going to be vulnerable this therapy for me, you opened yourself up to that, which is something completely new to you, so I admire that.

Adrain Winston: 32:55

Now, I love the transition that's happening and listening to the first one, you sound real, natural.

Lil' Mel: 33:01

I thought I sound nervous.

Adrain Winston: 33:03

I mean you don't have that, but I mean just the way you're talking. You talked about yourself on your first one.

Lil' Mel: 33:08

It was just you. You sat by yourself.

Adrain Winston: 33:09

I was sitting at the house by myself, by yourself, and that was really dope for me to listen to. That sealed it for me a little bit, because I didn't know at what route you was going. I hadn't heard it, I hadn't heard you, you don't know. So when I heard that, I was like he got something. He got something comfortable on there. You know what direction he wanted to go in. So I admire you for that, for doing the 180, going from law enforcement to where you're speaking to the world now.

Lil' Mel: 33:34

I don't want to carry a gun, no more man. I want to help people in other ways. I feel that I feel you carry it enough in your day. I carry it enough. Let me help you this way. I respect that.

Adrain Winston: 33:43

I respect that. But I will say I admire you, uncle, I'm proud of you, man, I'm proud of what you're doing. And you said you was going to do this and you did it. You didn't wait, you didn't try to figure it out, you jumped in, you died. You ain't been retired three months. That ain't even three months.

Lil' Mel: 33:57

You ain't been retired three months.

Adrain Winston: 33:59

Thirty years of your life to law enforcement. You know already jumped in what you got going on over here, so I admire that you ain't playing no games with it, where you think I get it from. So you say it's no nonsense. Appreciate it when you think I get it from. You know what I mean. Look at my examples from across the board. So I have no excuses. Appreciate it so that's all.

Lil' Mel: 34:16

Let's close out with you promoting your own brand.

Adrain Winston: 34:22

And where can the folks find you? Most definitely so. Again, live Above Clothing represents if you have anything going on in your life, that's Live Above. Can you spell it out for me? Live Above L-I-V-E-A-B-O-V-E clothing C-L-O-T-H-I-N-G. If you have anything going on in your life, if you have the heart and the minds of Live Above it, it's endless what you can achieve. You can check us out on social media, all social media platforms LiveAboveco and that's Adrian Winston.

Adrain Winston: 34:46

Adrian Winston. Yeah, that's me. A-w-u-u-n-s-c-l-o-l-i-v-e-a-b-o-v-eco. That's the website as well. Liveaboveco and they need to buy a car. On why you need to buy a car. If you need to buy a car, contact us personally. That's gonna be the best way I want to talk to you on the car.

Lil' Mel: 35:06

So how do?

Adrain Winston: 35:07

you want to get a hold of yourself. I would say that would be reaching out personally or through social media.

Lil' Mel: 35:13

I would say through my social, probably the best way through social media right now.

Adrain Winston: 35:16

So my social media is aw-liveaboveco and we also got Winston Automotive, so Winston Automotive on all social media platforms. Aw-liveabove on Instagram.

Lil' Mel: 35:25

All right, I'm looking at some hot cars out here in this parking lot. I mean I got enough cars, but I don't we got some heat though Marrows Corvettes you got family rides. I like that van that they have.

Adrain Winston: 35:38

Let me get off of here, blackout.

Lil' Mel: 35:39

Yeah, let me get off of here. I'm gonna be running my mouth a little too long. Appreciate you folks tuning in. We'll get back with you next week, thank you.