A Journey of Faith Community and Opportunity with Max Adu

Maxwell Adu shares his inspirational journey from Ghana to Oklahoma, emphasizing the importance of faith, community, and a positive mindset. Listeners learn how these three keys can transform their lives and navigate challenges more effectively.

• Discussing personal journey and background 
• Exploring the significance of faith 
• Understanding perspective and advantages 
• Emphasizing the role of mindset in success 
• Encouraging actionable steps towards dreams 
• Sharing recommended resources for personal growth

Thank you for listening!  YouTube - @3KeysforYourJourney Connect with us at www.ocfo.info

Transcript

Maxwell Adu

Speaker 1 0:13

Are you ready to unlock your potential ? Tune in to Three Keys for your Journey podcast , where business owners share invaluable insights and empowering strategies to guide you towards success . Based in Oklahoma City , our host , greg T Jones , will inspire and motivate you every week . Get ready to join our conversation as we build community together .

Greg Jones 0:40

All right , welcome to the podcast , max Adu . Did I say that correctly ? Yes , and thank you so much for being here . Three keys for your journey . As mentioned , I'm your host , greg Jones , and we are sitting here at the Ralph Ellison Library this morning and I am just privileged to have you on the podcast .

Speaker 1 1:00

So , welcome .

Max Adu 1:01

Appreciate it , thank you .

Greg Jones 1:05

You know what . Thank you , Max . Just tell our listening audience a little bit about you .

Max Adu 1:08

First , I want to say thank you very much for inviting me to this project . I really , really do appreciate it . I know this is really big . This is something bigger than I ever dreamed about . Getting interviewed by you , that's like wow . Get an interview by you , that's like wow . Thank you very much . First , my name is Maxwell Adu . I go by Max Born and raised in West Africa , ghana , a small village . I got a privilege to live between city and the village in Ghana At the age of 21 , moved to Israel , lived there for almost three years . From there I moved to London for just a short time and then I'm in Oklahoma .

Greg Jones 1:52

It's interesting , that is , it feels like a whirlwind . I mean not only thinking about halfway across the world , but then in Israel and then Oklahoma . Wow , tell us a little bit about your family .

Max Adu 2:09

Well , so I have two boys . I've been married since 2006 . I'm a member of Baha'i Faith . That's where I met my wife in Israel . That's what we're doing .

Greg Jones 2:24

I have two great boys . They keep me up every day . Wow , yeah , that's fantastic . And tell us a little bit Now . As I understand , you have a couple of businesses .

Max Adu 2:31

You and your wife ? Yes , so my wife and her partner Just started about a couple years ago . During the COVID . There was a lot of shifting in our society People that were in the big facilities , like if your grandparents were in a big facility you couldn't go and visit them Because of COVID . Those times everything is very much like really hard to do it . So my wife came to me one day and said let's go to Arizona to learn this thing that they do in Arizona Five people in the home and they have a full-time care , they cook for them , they clean and that's where they live for their last days of their life . You know , wow , yes , that's amazing .

Greg Jones 3:14

That hits home for me because my dad just turned 80 . Okay , Fortunately , he's still able to live at home by himself able to live at home by himself . My wife's mother not quite 80 , but she's actually been dealing with dementia has to be cared for really around the clock . So man and I just celebrated a neighbor's birthday behind me . He just turned 87 . He's in the hospital now , but , man , that sounds fantastic . Yes , so y'all are doing that here in Oklahoma City .

Max Adu 3:46

Yes , we have two buildings . We're about to close on the third one that I'm going to start working on . So one thing about Nine Stars we're more than a plumbing company . We literally take projects on . We can remodel the whole house . One thing we've been doing lately is people that live in older homes and they have tub . We move in the tub , making a shower for wheelchair to get in . That's something that we've been doing to help people , because most adults will fall down at the age of 80 to 90 . They're going to fall because they're taking a shower or something like that . Wow .

Greg Jones 4:21

All right . So the plumbing business itself has been around since how long ? Since 2003 .

Max Adu 4:28

Sorry , 23 . 23 .

Greg Jones 4:30

Okay , but experience-wise , you've had experience for some time .

Max Adu 4:35

Oh yes , so I've been doing plumbing for three different countries . I started plumbing in 1997 , learning , and then I went to school as a plumber in Ghana , israel , did plumbing , and then Oklahoma . I came here . I went to school for five years , being in the plumbing union since 2011 .

Greg Jones 4:54

Wow , that's fantastic man , wow , you got a wealth of of experience , and one of the things that we talk about often is we don't have enough people in the trades . And so , man , to have someone like you and , so far as listening audience , just to share with you kind of , how I met Max was at an event that was over at one of the technical schools and we were learning about some contracting opportunities , but there was some kind of a kindred kind of spirit about him , and when I had my own personal plumbing situation at my own house , I called Max and he came and he showed up and he explained what was going on and got the job done . And then , even more recently , at our church , we had some issues going on . And so , man , I just appreciate number one , your heart to help serve , and I think that kind of gets us to what this podcast is about is three keys for your journey . What are three things that you'd love to share with our listening audience ?

Max Adu 5:55

My first one will be my love for God and people in the world . Anybody I come across . I really do , do really want to get to know people . I got to hear their story . It's something that interests me . My family it's not a big one my community I live in , so this is something . This is something that is staying in front of my mind every day .

Greg Jones 6:23

Talk to me a little bit about how faith drives you . You name that as almost the first one . How does that drive you ?

Max Adu 6:33

You know , as a kid growing up in West Africa Ghana , I think you grew up religious , was very big , you know , and I got the opportunity to go to church and be in a Baha'i , going to the Baha'i Center , but also have friends that were Muslims . And I've always questioned that about hearing a lot about heaven and hell and I was like what happened if you're born in another part of the world that you haven't even heard one of the religion ? And then so by finding out that our faith in the world is everywhere people are being born or raised , there's religion for them that to me it really makes me really , really excited saying that we can get to God with different paths by the same direction .

Greg Jones 7:24

I mean , that's so good to be able to hear different perspective , because for me I've only been in the United States , and so there's a we call it Western culture . There's a Westernization of the way I think about things , and so I really appreciate it . But that really drives you , and how do you see that playing out ?

Keys to Success and Fulfillment

Max Adu 7:46

you know , as you think about your second key , I think that mostly most people want to be good . Everybody want to be good . The thing about it is we want to be close to some high power , but really the high power that we're going to be close to is the people that we see every day , that service that we do . You know , if you help something , it's more . You see that you're helping this person and that's what it means you being human , you being God , way you know you're helping . But we can't just say I'm praying to God , not hoping the person next to you so it's living it out .

Max Adu 8:23

There's got to be some action to it .

Greg Jones 8:25

Yes , exactly Ah okay . Wow , I love that because I use a word all the time common plus unity equals community , wow . Okay , tell us about your next key .

Max Adu 8:38

Unity equals community . Yeah , wow , okay , tell us about your next key , my next key . Pretty much to me , it's all built on the same thing , but one thing that it really always I think as a kid growing up once again is sometimes you feel like your society is like it might be like more like disadvantage , but it doesn't matter where you're born or raised . You have advantage and you have disadvantages . Your advantage might be somebody's disadvantage . You know somebody's disadvantage might be your advantage . You know some people have a lot of material wealth but they are lonely . Some people have nothing , but they are rich in love . So if you can look at that perspective , it makes you able to focus on life , what you want to do , more than saying I don't have this , I don't do this , I can't do this . So to me , that's what I really look at the world at .

Greg Jones 9:32

That's a great perspective . It's how you view things , it's your mindset . Great perspective is it's how you view things , it's your mindset , and it's taking advantage of what you can take advantage of and being content with what you have . Yes , wow , and I love that . Max , appreciate it . Okay , you got another one .

Max Adu 9:50

My third one is mindset . Everything we do is about how our mind works , and so I told you about family , friends , community , my faith . All these lean to our mindset . The way you see yourself is how people see you . If you think small on yourself , people see you small . If you feel confident , people see you . You are confident . So taking time out to work on your mind will solve a lot of your daily problems you have . All the things you need to do is be better today than you were yesterday .

Greg Jones 10:28

To one step at a time . That's it , and I have to . I only have to imagine that's probably what you're trying to teach your boys . I only have to imagine that's probably what you're trying to teach your boys . It's one step at a time . Wow , man , that's whew . Those are three keys and I really appreciate um you taking time to share that . Hopefully , if you're listening today , what Max is talking about , what he's sharing , is encouraging to you . Um , that to know that , um , you know your faith , your community and mindset are three things that you need . Anything else you want to share with us today , max .

Max Adu 11:09

Well , one thing I really want to share is , as we human beings , we're going to have struggles , but there's a lot of people . You meet them every day . They're like I want to do this , I want to do that business-wise . And that was me . I'm always like . I'll do it if the kids are seven , if the kids are 14 . I think I'm not better today than I was two years ago . I'm still figuring it out and I think the more not better today than I was two years ago , I'm still figuring it out . And I think the more you get close to even people that they have established business big one , the more you really get to know them . They took action and so we dream , we take action , we pray with a faith we take , and you just clarified that you just have to jump in there and you want to make calculated risk if you can minimize .

Greg Jones 12:20

You know your risk , but you got to just do it because you're saying if I wait two years , I might be two years too late and I'm no better than I was two years ago , so why don't I just jump in ?

Greg Jones 12:29

It's a phrase I use oftentimes when I'm talking to business owners is it's like standing at the edge of a building and you're going to have to jump and know that there's a parachute , even though you don't have a parachute on . Sometimes it's taking a risk like that and it looks like you've done that . I mean , most of you can't see what I see , but Max has got this big smile on his face , so it feels like also , you don't live with regret . No , so it feels like also , you don't live with regret . No , you keep moving right along each and every day . Yeah , wow , well , thanks for sharing that . Now , max , if somebody out there listening is like I need to I don't know whether it's plumbing business or this other business you have in terms of taking care of loved ones , but how can people get in contact with you , learn more about what you're doing ? You know how do people do that .

Max Adu 13:17

We're on Facebook , Nine Star Plumbing Service . You can search us up on Google , you can . Our number is 405-513-0148 . You can call us for all your plumbing needs or even if you have your home and you feel like you want to have a little update to it . You know we do from taking the whole renovation out of the homeowner's hands so that they can sit Dealing with me as one person and I deal with the drywall , the shower and everything , so that the homeowner can go to work knowing that Max will be there taking care of everything else for them . So not just plumbing that we do . We do a lot of things , Everything concerned about construction where I am , so you can be a project manager to help somebody with the process of their remodel and make sure that their needs are taken care of .

Greg Jones 14:09

Yes , Wow , man . So again , if you didn't get his website or phone number , don't worry about that . We're going to put that in the comments for the podcast . Max man , thank you so much for joining us today . We really appreciate it .

Max Adu 14:23

Thank you very much , greg . I really appreciate you inviting me over . This is great . This is like bigger than from anybody who is listening right now . For any kids listening today , if I can be here , get an interview by this gentleman right here sitting in front of me , sky's the limit . Take your dream and just focus . Don't let anybody tell you otherwise . The three books I want to recommend to every business people before I walk out of here . My first , number one , is Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill . That's my first book , Great book . My second book is who Moved my Cheese . It's the changes that goes around us in our business , our industry . You need to be ready for that . And then my third book is where all of us , we fell from a childhood and everything is three feet from gold . You got to read those three books and after that take your business action . It's gonna work wow , well , max .

Greg Jones 15:28

Thank you , man , so much . And again , those three books that he just mentioned . We'll make sure that we put those in the comments as well . I think those are three golden nuggets , and so it makes me want to reread them , because I've actually read them but I need to reread them . But thank you so much for sharing that as well .

Max Adu 15:44

Thank you , Greg . I appreciate it .

Speaker 1 15:59

Thanks for joining Three Keys for your Journey . Tune in next time for another episode .