The Not So Black and White Real Estate Podcast

That's been

my life for almost 10 years, you know. It's a it's a steady pattern of waking up in a jail or waking up in a hospital, dealing with the consequences of that, ending up in a shelter, ending up in a detox center, and then going to treatment, and then ending up in a post treatment facility, or a rooming house, or, you know, and that that that was my life for so long. I was so reliant on the system, and thank God,

in Canada, we have the health care system we have. You're listening to the not so black and white real estate podcast with your host, sir Colin Campbell

McGowan, and you're tuned into the Not So Black and White Real Estate podcast. We're on-site today at For the Love of Real Estate conference, and we've been hunting this person down for some time now. The last time I saw him speak was at a KWYP event, and he just shared his story and his journey. And we wanna share that with you, and it's none other than Adam Poop.

Thank you.

Thank you

for having me.

K. First of all, first shout out is we gotta tell everybody what your shirt says because I'm reading it now, and I'm loving it.

Oh, it says clean, serene, lean gen machine. I like it. Machine. Sorry.

No. Yeah.

I just realized what it said to a panel.

So, Adam, tell us, who are you? Yes. Why are you here?

So I'm here. So I'm here on behalf of, Clarity, which is a new Keller Williams community. It was, started by Shelley Seidman out in the states. And we're a community that is just a support network for anybody under the Keller Williams umbrella that's been affected by substance addiction in any way. We do not discriminate.

So everybody knows somebody, my man. Where is somebody?

So what does that really mean? It's a community for people who've been affected by substance addiction. Is that, like, AA? Or, like, what are we talking about? No.

No. No.

No. I I mean, if you if you know my story as well, I mean, AA has been a large part of my journey in the past. My journey this time through sobriety, it hasn't been a part of my journey. And we, you know, we want to we wanna connect with anybody. It doesn't matter.

Somebody knows somebody. Somebody is somebody. You know, I don't care. I always tell people, you know,

I don't care what's getting you better.

I don't care if it's AA. I don't care if it's praying to the tree. Just keep doing it. Right? If it's working, keep doing it.

So, no, we we don't we're not specific to, you know, any one thing. It's we wanna we wanna be broad, and we wanna help anybody that needs it.

So you're looking to help anyone who's been affected by substance abuse or drugs in any way. What what qualifies you to lead this? Oh, man. So tell us your story.

That that's a long one. I'll try to I'll try to keep it, I'll try to keep it short. So I'm I'm real I'll start by saying relatively new in real estate. I've

are we good?

Closer to the mic. Me?

Yeah. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Good? Yep. Alright. So I'm, yeah. I'm relatively new in real estate.

I've been, doing this for my year was up in September. And when I started getting my license, I was living in a homeless shelter, here in Toronto. And prior to that, I I was I'm a recovering alcoholic. And, prior to that, I was in and out of the system, which is, you know, jails, institutions, for 10 years. You know, and I I've I've been this way for as long as I can remember.

People always, you know, when when can you pinpoint when when you start to realize that you you didn't drink like normal people, that something was off. I just never felt any different. Right? It just my my my family was going

a certain way, every everybody was going a certain way, and I just went totally off the rails, and

I had no control over it. And so, you know, that was my that's been my life for almost 10 years, you know. It's a it's a steady pattern of waking up in a jail or waking up in a hospital, dealing with the consequences of that, ending up in a shelter, ending up in a detox center, and then going to treatment, and then ending up in a post treatment facility, or a rooming house, or, you know, and that that that was my life for so long. I was so reliant on the system, and thank God, in Canada, we have the

health care system we have.

Because for someone like me, who needed I needed more chances. I just I needed another chance. I need another chance. I need another chance. And hopefully, one of those times, it would stick, and I would make it out.

You know, thankfully, this time it it has stuck, and I and I am I'm here today. So it's a little bit about of it about it.

There's a lot there to unpack. A lot? Yeah. But that's cool. I love it.

And every like you said, everybody is somebody, and and and and, you know, everyone has a story to tell, but I'd I'd love to understand from your perspective, you know, thankfully you got that chance. But you needed more chances and more chances and finally the one at that moment in time for you it aligned. Mhmm. Do we do as there's so many so many ways I can go with this. Do we, as a group of people, population, whatever you wanna call it, or your community, do we stop giving people enough chances?

Like, is that is that on us as as people as well?

You know what? I I think that's that that goes back to the stigma, not necessarily of addiction. You know, it's a stigma of asking for help. Sure. And people, you know, people have let me put it this way.

People have had really, really horrible experiences with people with addiction issues. Right? And so me doing real estate and putting my story out there the way that I am, you know, I'm taking a risk of people not wanting to work with me. And and I and I and I'm okay with that because people have had horrible experiences, people with addiction. I'm the worst version of myself when I'm when I'm actively drinking, when I'm out there.

I'm the worst version of myself. And so, you know, people will ask me, what what do you think was it this time that that

helped you stop? What was it

this time that changed? And it there's nothing really changed. It was I was back in the cycle again, and, you know, I I had completed treatment again. I was back in the shelter down here in Toronto, trying to figure

out what was next. And I just happened to, you know, something in the back of

my mind said, reminded me of real estate. And I pulled up the courses and thankfully it was pay as you go. And I had enough money just to pay for that first course and the first exam. And once I completed that first course and I passed the first exam, I was like,

oh my god, maybe I can do this.

And so then I just I stayed in I

I took advantage of, what what

our health care system offers people like me. I took advantage of it, and I stayed in those facilities for as long as I could while I worked on on my program. And so, no, we we should never stop giving people chances. You know, people are like, oh, my our resources are being diverted towards the wrong places. Right?

We're we're to to addicts and alcoholics and but, like, if I didn't have as many chances of I had if I didn't have the facilities that I had in this

in this country, I would I'd

be dead guaranteed. Wow. Guarantee.

So now you mentioned that, we should never stop giving people chances.

Mhmm.

And sometimes we are our own worst critic. Right? And we don't give ourselves grace, you know, when we slip and fall. How have you been exercising that since, you know, coming into clarity and doing what you've been doing? Giving myself grace?

Yeah.

Yeah. It's it's difficult because I mean so I'm I'm I I'm coming up on 3 years sober, and, you know, I'm still cleaning up my past. Yeah. I'm still cleaning up the wreckage from my past. And so having to start in real estate, I'm rebuilding relationships with my kids and family members and friends.

And so I'm constantly having to give myself grace in all these different areas, but then also questioning myself, do I deserve grace? Right? Because of because of what I've put people through, you know. And that's that's, that's that's been hard, but I I I tell myself to move the ball forward a little bit each day. As long as I'm moving the ball forward a little bit each day, then I'm making progress.

Right? And so that's kinda how I give myself grace, is I try to just make progress every day. And then it's it's time and it's living what you put out. Right? If I if I continue to do what I'm doing, live the way I'm living, things are gonna come back.

Now things don't always come back the way I want them to. Right? They don't come back in my time and, I still have relationships that that are afraid and may remain afraid for the rest of my life, unfortunately, because of my addiction. Right. So it's it's it's a constant balance.

Right? It's a constant balance.

Yeah. I'd love for you to provide some insights because and and I I quite frankly, I don't know how to ask this. So I'm just gonna mumble through my words. So it's all good. Story of

my life. Right?

Kind of mine

too, actually. Till you meet

you. Yeah. Is you know, from your perspective, someone that that is a recovering alcoholic, what what are great questions that perhaps myself could ask you or support you in a way that that would support you the best or support someone in that situation the best way? Because often I hear they ask us people ask me, oh, it's the same question over and over again, but it doesn't really help me.

So what's that? How you doing?

How you doing?

Yeah. Yeah. So what what can you ask people like me?

Yeah. Is that a fair question or is that a fair conversation to have or is there is it just listening or is it

That right there. So I'm I'm glad you said that because a lot of the time, I was so desperate for someone to to listen to me. Right. Right? Yeah.

Because I I had I isolated myself away from the world, away from my family, and you know, I was I what would be described as a bottom of the barrel alcoholic. Right. I mean, given the opportunity and the resources, I would have drank myself to death. Wow. The only reason I would ever stop was because I ended up in, you know, in jail or or a hospital or and I had or I was gonna be on the streets, and I had no other choice but to go to a detox facility.

Right? And stay sober in order to stay in these facilities and start again. Right?

What was

the word you said again? Listen?

No. What? Oh,

yeah. Yes. Listen. Yes. Okay.

There's my ADHD

going. Right? No.

That's okay.

So when I would go to these places, I was I just wanted I wanted people to talk to. I wanted people to listen to me, and, you know, I I was in such disarray. I was in such panic. I was going through withdrawals. You know, my life I just destroyed everything I had rebuilt again for the millionth time.

I disappointed everybody again. And so I'm just I'm I'm in the worst place I could possibly be emotionally and mentally. Right. And I'm just desperate to talk to people and to get maybe some form of compassion, even though I may not deserve it. Get some compassion, some empathy even though I may not I may not deserve it.

And that was it. You know, I just wanted people to listen

to me.

So when people come, if somebody asks, what what advice would you give somebody that's, looking to start their or doesn't know where to start to get sober? My first answer is go to a meeting. Yeah. And you may ask why if that's not part of your journey, molds.

Go to a

meeting because there's an there's an entire world of recovery that exists, and you just need to go see it. And a lot of times, if you go to an AA meeting or an NA meeting, you you'll see that world. And then there's people there that will help you take the next step and the next step and the next step. Right? All you gotta do is take that first step, reach out for help, and then there's people there that will guide you along the way as long as you're willing to put in the work and take

this over. Yeah.

So you mentioned taking the the first step. So, and you started off, like, we're all affected by or know somebody who is with substance abuse or alcohol. Mhmm. Tell us a little bit more of how they can take the first step with clarity.

With clarity. So it's difficult for people. Right? We want people to feel comfortable. And if people want their anonymity protected, we wanna protect that as well.

We understand that it's still maybe a little bit taboo, and that's kind of the whole point is to bring it out of the shadows. And, you know, if I have to be stand there and make people kinda go, I'll be that guy. And the first step is just reach out. That's it. Reach out to me.

Reach out to me. Reach out to anybody in the community. You can pull it up on on on the on the website. My I think our our direct lines are on there. You can, we always we've been we were directing people towards the Facebook group.

That's kinda how we were tracking membership at first, and that's and we still do that today. And then it's just a matter of reach out to somebody. That's like I said, all the all you have to do is reach out that first time, and if you're willing, you know, we'll put we'll put the resources in front of you and and allow you to make the decision and, you know, try to help you as best we can.

Why does this matter so much to you?

Because it's all I know. You know what I mean? It's if you put me in front of a room and say talk about real estate for an hour, I have a panic attack. You put me in front of a room and say talk about addiction for an hour, not a problem. Getting me to shut up is the problem.

Right? And I like in this, I'm I'm all about progression, and I I wanna get better, and I wanna learn. And that's why I love real estate because you can there's not enough, like, there's just so much to know and so much to learn. And I want there's an ability there with and the reason I wanted to go to real estate as well because there was there was an there was a chance to be on the other side of the fence. I was always looking over the fence, and my dad used to always say to me, give yourself a chance.

Like, you've never given yourself a chance to realize your potential,

and you're gonna you're gonna die, but I really wish you would and that's why I have, you

know, I have 8 of my 9 lives tattooed on here because that's what he used to say. You're like a cat. So you'd be like, give yourself a chance. Just give yourself a chance and see what you can do. And that's why this is important to me because I know I know whether people wanna admit it or not, if they're not comfortable that that they and and that's all I'm saying is I know you exist.

I know you're in this room. Right?

And you just have to see me there and know that, okay, he's there if I need him. Right? And that's all I want. That's all

I want. I love it. I love it. You you'd be amazed

by the conversations I've had with the most unlikely people

in this industry. That that just because I I

I obnoxiously insert my story into, like, most conversations because it usually it usually takes it in a really, genuine direction. Mhmm. And that's what I wanna build is genuine connections. Right? And so I've I've done that obnoxiously with, like, lawyers and whatnot.

And we've gone down some some weird paths, but it's that's it's been the best part. I love it.

Beauty. Beauty. I like it. I like it. Well, in just a few moments that, you know, where our boots are kind of beside each other, we're kinda having fun and that sort of thing.

I know you have a sense of humor as well. And and, which leads me to I'm gonna ask you some rapid fire questions for him. And and this is, you know, this is this

is the serious part

of the Well, if you thought that was serious

Dude, I could do this all day. This this is crazy to me, this whole setting and everything. This is crazy. I could have never imagined myself doing something like this, so I'm having a blast.

Awesome. Awesome. So I'm gonna ask you, some rapid fire questions. The the they're they're not skilled testing. Thank god.

Right? It wasn't yeah. I'm the person that wrote them, so forget it. Awesome. Yeah.

Nice and easy. Yes. Say the first thing that comes to mind. Oh. I'll play play a little bit of music, you know, get the get the vibe going.

And, first first off, we'll start off with an easy one. Would you rather be talking or texting on the phone? Talking. Talking. Favorite season of the year?

Summer. Summer.

What's up with these summer people? Summer.

Summer. I

just got I went on vacation in Mexico for the first time, and, like, it was everything. And I came back to the country, and I'm like, why am I here?

Yeah. Some summer and winter? This could happen. Yes. Yeah.

Something a little bit more serious here. Is it wrong for a vegetarian to eat animal crackers? Oh, he's going deep. He's he's circling. He's struggling with this.

I feel like there's a lot of layers to that. Right? Right? And, like, my personality is, like, you have to give a really witty answer to it, man. It's it's on the line.

Podcast either stops or keeps rolling on those.

Yeah. I'm gonna say, yeah, just by principle.

Yes. By principle. I like it. I like it. We're not judging here.

I do. Well, we might on this one. Our first celebrity crush.

Jennifer Aniston. Jennifer Aniston.

On the friends. On yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, no.

Saved by the Bell. What was her name?

Oh, Kelly or Kelly. Or,

No. It was Kelly.

Tiffany Amber Thistle. Is that it?

That one was for the scholars. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah.

We know She's saying Kelly. We know the name that she goes by.

Yeah. Yeah. You you maybe know too much.

That's Did I just reveal my first celebrity crush? I think I did. I think you did.

Favorite junk food? Ice cream. Ice ice cream with milk.

Oh, that's a classic English move right there.

Woah. Yeah.

I put ice cream in a bowl with milk. Okay.

Yeah. Speaking of food, is double dipping at a party ever acceptable? If no one's looking.

Oh, you're my guy.

You are my guy. Yeah. I want a little more of that hummus. Alright. Alright.

Name one of the 7 dwarfs.

Dopey. How appropriate. Dopey.

Interesting.

I like it.

Let's grab a movie.

Yeah. Yeah. And, last last question. The God Father or Star Wars? This is made or broken, relationships on this one here.

So choose wisely.

I'm probably gonna break some relationships here. I've never seen The Godfather.

What? Get off the show. This is it. Delete.

I was I I may have I'm not even I may have in a treatment center years years ago, but I I don't remember. Yeah. So I have to say Star Wars.

Alright. Awesome. Awesome. I love it, my man. It's a lot love.

I'm sorry. In in classic Canadian format, I'm sorry. How do people get a hold of you, my man?

You can check out my website. It's, apoperealestate.ca. You can honestly text me or call me. I'm I'm I'll put it out there. And it's funny because I'm in Toronto, but Niagara area code.

I still have to change that. It's 365-880-3501. Text me, call me. Facebook, a pope real estate. Instagram at a pope real estate.

Love it. So pretty much anywhere is where people get ahold of you.

Anywhere at a pope real estate. Yeah.

So that is a pope at whatever you like. This has been awesome, my man. I wish you continued success on your journey, and and you are definitely changing lives and having positive impact. I I I I hope so. I you know, in in 2 years and 5 years from now, this story is gonna be just amazing, and I love it.

I hope so. I I hope so. I just yeah. I wanna help.

Yeah. Awesome.

I again, I'm doing stuff like this is is so fun to me. I could have never imagined myself in this position, and I'm I'm I'm so grateful, and I and I truly mean that because my mom's gonna watch us and go, oh my god.

It's a star. And and to me that

that It's okay.

Our moms watch too. Yeah. Yeah.

It's a star.

Yeah. So that makes my heart melt for her as well. So this is amazing. Thank you guys for having me.

That's awesome. That's Adam Wolf. That's sir Colin Campbell. I'm Gary McGowan. We'll see everybody in the next episode.

Goodbye for now. We hope you enjoyed this episode. Make sure to click the subscribe button so new episodes will automatically be downloaded to your device. Please help us reach more people by leaving a rating and a review on your podcast player of choice. Now go make it an amazing day for somebody.