Sept. 18, 2005 – "The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night."
This quote by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is one that holds meaning in the life of Trevor Adams. As he sat in his living room with his family Sunday afternoon, Adams reflected on the many values he has developed in his 38 years of living — particularly, the last 12 years of his life.
What started as a move to gain a new experience for Adams became a life-changing lesson that turned this high-school dropout from Antigua to a self-made entrepreneur.
In 1987, at the age of 22, Adams left Antigua to visit his uncle on St. Thomas.
"It was just a change of environment for me," Adams said. "I wanted to see what a U.S. land was like."
However, Adams' experiences in his new environment were far from ideal. Adams soon associated with the "wrong" crowd and did many things that, looking back now, he is not proud of.
Adams said he used to gamble full-time for a living in the streets, throughout the Caribbean and the United States. He said he also hung out in bars. But that life soon changed after he married his wife, Sandra, in 1993 and became a father to his first son, Tresan, now 11. Adams is also the father of Trevorn, 10, and Trevornique, 7.
"I realized that I didn't want my kids to be on the path that I was on, so I decided to change," Adams said. "I quit the gambling and began washing cars."
Adams said he just knew he wanted to work for himself, so he started up his car-washing business. This did not last for long, however, because he wanted to move to new heights. Adams ventured from his car-washing business to becoming a cellular phone accessory salesman.
"I came across a catalog that had a cellular accessory that I wanted," Adams said, explaining how his business, ADM Wireless, came to life. Ordering that accessory for himself led Adams to a niche market that became a growing business. He began ordering and selling cellular accessories for friends and acquaintances from his home.
"Some customers didn't want to come to my home," Adams said. "So I decided to have a store presence."
ADM Wireless – the name's a shortened form of Adams – was born. The store in Four Winds Plaza sells cellular phones and accessories compatible with Sprint and Innovative Cellular.
For Adams, having his own business was not easy, but he was determined to not let anything get in his way. Realizing he needed to gain knowledge and skills, he did what most great men have done – he educated himself. Not in the now traditional ways, of course; Adams preferred the old school.
"Everything I know is self-taught," Adams said, explaining that he read books, listened to tapes, did online research and associated with people with the skills he desired.
The more he learned, the more his business grew and blossomed. With the skills he learned, Adams expanded his business from selling cell phones and accessories to now offering wireless and wired Internet services to the hospitality industry. His clients include Marriott's Frenchman's Reef, The Ritz-Carlton and Wyndham Sugar Bay hotels.
In the future, he wants to expand his business further by providing wireless Internet services to business in the Charlotte Amalie area, he said.
"A lot of the principles I now have, I learned from reading positive books," Adams said. A few of his favorites are Ben Carson's "The Big Picture" and John C. Maxwell's "Developing the Leader Within You."
"They taught me to observe what the masses are doing and do the opposite," Adams said.
Adams has come a long way from the young man who quit high school after his dad died, feeling his mom could not afford to pay for him to take the General Certificate of Examination, which was required to graduate. But he still has a lot further to go, he said. He credits God for bringing about all the changes in his life and for giving him a second chance. He also credits the support of his wife, who has stood by him.
"She really helped to stabilize me," Adams said. "As they say, 'Every great man has a woman behind him.'"
Adams encourages the young men today to read positive books and gain an education.
"Associate with the right crowd," Adams said. "Most of all you have to get your life in tune with God, because He's the creator of all things, and that's what matters most."
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