Startup Savvy: Entrepreneur Jake Wolf Of WAREHOUSE Shares Their Secrets For Rapid Growth and Success
An Interview With Eden Gold
Relentless effort — Now if you take this “want to” and ambition, and back it with relentless effort you will drive yourself towards your goals against all odds. You get pushed down, you get back up. Someone tells you that you can’t do something, you prove them wrong. A project or deadline seems unattainable, you put in the hours to make it happen. If you back your dreams with relentless effort to achieve, you’re going to give yourself the highest probability of success, and if you’re not successful, there will be no question in your mind that you didn’t do everything in your power to make your goals happen.
The entrepreneurial landscape is more vibrant and challenging than ever, with young entrepreneurs at the forefront, driving innovation and redefining the boundaries of success in the business world. These dynamic individuals create new products and services and build sustainable business models that thrive in today’s fast-paced, technology-driven environment. Their journeys are filled with lessons of resilience, strategic innovation, and the relentless pursuit of growth. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Jake Wolf.
Jake Wolf, 28 years old, is the CEO and co-founder of WAREHOUSE, a new premiere community-driven private car and social club. This first location, which is in Park City, Utah, sets the groundwork of his plans for national expansion with the next locations being South Florida and Southern California.
With a bachelor’s degree in strategic communications from Ohio State University, Jake began his career in collector-grade clothing sales, sourcing exclusive collections from around the world, for the likes of Rick Owens, Raf Simons, Helmut Lang, and Louis Vuitton. This expertise expanded into exotic car brokerage in Miami, specializing in investment grade automobiles. Inspired by his own passion for luxury cars, Jake conceptualized WAREHOUSE after purchasing his first Lamborghini Murciélago LP640. Securing the investment, he spearheaded the development of WAREHOUSE Motorclub, LLC, overseeing all aspects from design, construction oversight to finance. The project began when Jake was 24 years old, where he had the vision and dedication to bring his dream to fruition.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion about cultural sensitivity, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?
Sure! It all began with passion. Since I was a child, I’ve always had a fixation for rarity and the obscure, this translated into my obsession for collecting and eventually became my first “business”, selling rarified clothing items and accessories around the world. This business taught me the importance a consumer places on rarity and uniqueness and specifically, what a high-net-worth consumer profile desired in a product and sales experience. What started as a hobby grew into a small business through college and brought me to Miami FL where I eventually applied my skills to the car world through a lifetime passion for exotic cars. As I entered the exotic car industry, I saw first-hand how much the traditional dealership system and broader industry was ill-equipped to provide a lifestyle experience beyond sale, which left first time consumers in the odd position of having to figure out what to do with their new prized possession and searching for a community of like-minded enthusiasts to share their experience with. This served as the genesis behind why I started WAREHOUSE. To provide our members with a pull-through concierge experience ensuring they get the most out of their purchase, while immediately immersing them into a lifestyle consisting of exclusive opportunities and an active community of like-minded enthusiasts to share their passion with.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?
Depends on what you define as interesting, I guess. To some I’m sure it’d be some of the crazy experiences I’ve had in the car world, influential people I’ve met, etc. It sounds boring but personally, the most interesting thing that happened was that I started a restaurant out of all of this ha-ha. If you asked me this five years ago, I would’ve laughed. Opening a restaurant within WAREHOUSE wasn’t ever on my radar going into the venture but I’m excited about the opportunity and what we can do with it.
You are a successful individual. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
I think I’m on my way to success as I have big goals for our brand and company however, I’m a firm believer that the following traits have helped me in my career.
Curiosity — I strongly believe my level of curiosity, especially earlier in my career was a huge factor in my career growth and maturity. Early on when I’d get in a room with leaders that I’d aspire to instead of talking about what I’ve done or my ideas, I just soaked things in from the conversation and listened to what they had to say, how they operated, what they’ve done, and what they didn’t do well. This goes beyond just conversations, but every time I’d walk into a similar business, I’d think about what they’ve done well, what they haven’t, wondered how they may have figured out a problem or built some aspect of their business.
Integrity — Speaking with honesty, admitting when I mess up, holding myself and others accountable and following up on my commitments has helped me form strong relationships and trust within my industry from a young age. There’s been plenty of times where I’ve messed up throughout my career, but rather than try to sugarcoat it whether with my peers or partners, I’ve always tried to be upfront on what happened and present a solution to spur a positive outcome out of the ordeal. That’s allowed me to move forward in my career, learn from my mistakes, and establish trust with others.
Confidence and Determination: One thing that has significantly contributed to my career is the utmost confidence in myself to execute on my vision at a high level, backed by a fierce determination to do so. I had never built a car club before this, I had never developed real estate, I had never built an app, I had never built a membership etc. etc. but there was never a point in my career where I didn’t think I could execute. Call it blind confidence, blind faith, whatever you would like but when I didn’t know what to do, I asked questions, surrounded myself with people who had the experience I needed, I researched, used my intuition, and put in the work to make this all happen. I went into this with the mindset that nobody wants this more than me and I was going to force this dream of mine into reality. You have to have “want to”.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview about young entrepreneurs secrets to rapid growth and success. To start, how would you define success?
Again, success can be defined differently for everyone, for some it may be lifestyle or family focused, for others it could be directly business or finance related. For me, I would define success based on goals I’ve prescribed for my ideal lifestyle, family, career, and world impact as those life aspects are what I value for my future and aspire to.
What unconventional strategy did you employ that significantly contributed to your startup’s growth, and why do you think it was so effective?
I wouldn’t call our strategy unconventional as much as it was under-executed in my industry but the decision for my club to be experience focused, rather than commodity focused has definitely been a significant accelerator for the growth of our business. I realized early on the level of importance our clientele placed on experience so rather than making our club solely a utilitarian focused car storage facility with auxiliary vehicle related services and little else, we looked at our facility from an enthusiast perspective, focusing in on every small detail of our facility and offering to ensure when our members were signing up with us, they were gaining access to a lifestyle experience that they could only have dreamed about, rather than a 8’ x 18’ parking space for their car. There’s no doubt that this led to us selling out all of our car spaces before we even opened our location.
Can you share a critical pivot point in your startup’s journey and how you navigated the decision-making process?
Sure thing and I think this touches on the previous question as well. For me our most critical pivot point happened very early on, and it was the decision for us to go from essentially a semi-automated clubhouse with vehicle storage, self-governed amenities, and relatively inconsistent programming to a full-fledged social club, doubling down on member experience and redefining what it would mean to be a member of a dream enthusiasts club. This all took place about three months after first publicly releasing the concept and breaking ground on construction. This was all spurred by higher-than-expected demand and feedback coming from our initial member group who loved what we were doing from a social perspective but wanted to see this elevated into more of a country club like offering. We took this feedback and decided that we would take the size of our facility and triple it, offering more car spaces to match demand and adding several amenities and social offerings to capture the social interest that we had received and foresaw as the membership evolved. This was certainly a large undertaking at the time so I relied heavily on my partners guidance, member feedback, new data, and my intuition to make decisions that would best serve our members and enhance the member experience.
How do you balance the need for rapid growth with maintaining a sustainable and healthy company culture?
This is so important, especially in a startup environment where you’re learning in the field and making decisions on the fly which can be extremely tough and limiting when it comes to growth. Right now, that means a 100% focus on operations for my team backed by a great staff, organization, and set operational procedures to provide our members with the best experience possible after every visit while improving backend efficiency and knowledge transfer amongst staff along the way. When we bring on a hire, we make sure each new prospect understands the startup nature of our company and is not only aligned with our goals and expectations, but wants to directly participate in our growth, which we incentivize them to do so. We place a big focus on letting our employees shine by giving opportunities to maximize their potential rather than confining them to limitations.
In what ways has your personal definition of success evolved since the inception of your startup?
I started WAREHOUSE at such a young age and was so motivated by building my own business that I think lifestyle, family, and world impact goals have all emerged as things I aspire to as I work to reach my own definition of success. My definition of lifestyle goals has surely changed since then, as priorities shift with age, I’ve crossed a lot of things off my list and now prioritize shared experiences with loved ones, maybe more so than I would’ve when I was younger. As my parents get older, I want to spend more time with them, I now have an amazing girlfriend that I hope to start a family with someday, and I have more and more interest in helping others which I’m starting to evolve and look forward to in my future. For my business, I know its potential is much larger than I originally imagined, and I look forward to building on that potential. Given my personality I’m likely never going to be 100% satisfied so I feel comfort in the fact of evolving my version of success throughout my lifetime and working towards these goals.
Based on your experience and research, can you please share “5 Things You Need to Succeed as a Young Person in Business?”
1. Ambition — You have to have it! Especially as a young person in business or entrepreneur. There has to be a dream you’re working towards that will instill that drive towards your goals. For me, my dream was, and still is to start a network of modern, enthusiast-based car clubs around the country.
2. “Want to” — Similar to ambition, something that has stuck with me since I was a child stemming from my father was that you have to have “want to”. More often than not, things won’t go your way, if you have a high level of “want to”, you can use this drive to see things through, figure out how you can do something better, and push towards your goals.
3. Relentless effort — Now if you take this “want to” and ambition, and back it with relentless effort you will drive yourself towards your goals against all odds. You get pushed down, you get back up. Someone tells you that you can’t do something, you prove them wrong. A project or deadline seems unattainable, you put in the hours to make it happen. If you back your dreams with relentless effort to achieve, you’re going to give yourself the highest probability of success, and if you’re not successful, there will be no question in your mind that you didn’t do everything in your power to make your goals happen.
4. Knowledge Base — As a young person in business make sure you take time to build up your knowledge base within the marketplace you’re going after. Research, look at data, ask questions, learn from others and do everything that you can to become so well versed in your world that you would consider yourself an expert in the subject. This will strengthen your ability to network and allow you to make calculated decisions that can advance your career.
5. Confidence — I spoke about it earlier but without it, what can you do? While you should be open to criticism and feedback, you should have all the confidence in the world in your ability to execute. Be your biggest fan.
What is one piece of advice you would give to an aspiring entrepreneur that you wish someone had given you at the start of your journey?
I’m super fortunate to have some amazing mentors, business partners, family members, and colleagues that have had my back and have given me advice along the way. I can’t think of a particular piece of advice that I wish was said to me, but one thing that has continued to stick with me and helped get through the ups and downs of starting a business was to take pride in the journey rather than be frustrated that things aren’t happening for you as quickly as you may have hoped. Take time to celebrate your wins and learn from your losses, be grateful for the opportunities given to you. Those moments of adversity that seemed to have placed the weight of the world on your shoulders and the path you took to overcome those moments will be what you will look back on the most fondly and learn from.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
If everyone could just be honest with themselves and one another the world would be a much better place ha-ha. I don’t know how you instill that in the masses but in a social media era where everyone seems to have their guards up, being honest with one another I think would drive progress and release a lot of tension in the world.
How can our readers further follow you online?
You can check out our website warehousemotorclub.com and Instagram @warehousemotorclub to follow along on what we’re doing at WAREHOUSE, my personal social is @jakeaustinwolf on Instagram.
Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!
About The Interviewer: Eden Gold, is a youth speaker, keynote speaker, founder of the online program Life After High School, and host of the Real Life Adulting Podcast. Being America’s rising force for positive change, Eden is a catalyst for change in shaping the future of education. With a lifelong mission of impacting the lives of 1 billion young adults, Eden serves as a practical guide, aiding young adults in honing their self-confidence, challenging societal conventions, and crafting a strategic roadmap towards the fulfilling lives they envision.
Do you need a dynamic speaker, or want to learn more about Eden’s programs? Click here: https://bit.ly/EdenGold
Startup Savvy: Entrepreneur Jake Wolf Of WAREHOUSE Shares Their Secrets For Rapid Growth and… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.