EPISODE 16

Adam McCaughey

From 70k in Debt to Forbes’ King of Sales: Adam McCaughey on Sales, Discipline & Building an Empire

What are we drinking?Kombucha

About the episode

What happens when you get expelled from school, end up $70K in debt, and find yourself living out of a Volkswagen Polo — and then decide that’s not the end of the story?

This week on What Are We Drinking, Rachel sits down with Adam McCaughey — chef turned Forbes-recognised “King of Sales” — for one of the most energetic and honest conversations we’ve had on the pod.

Adam’s journey is anything but linear. From scrubbing pans at Rockpool at 16, to cooking for billionaires on superyachts in Fiji, to rock bottom, to scaling sales teams closing $600K a month — he’s lived a lot of lives. And he connects the dots between all of them in a way that’ll make you rethink everything you thought you knew about sales, success, and self-belief.

There’s also a live objection-handling roleplay that is genuinely impressive, a story involving heroin and hypnosis, and the long-awaited baby announcement (kind of).

Raw, real, and packed with gold. Don’t miss it.

In this episode

Why conviction is the one thing you can’t teach a sales rep
The “cookie and the lion” framework for understanding your drive
How elite kitchen culture shaped Adam’s approach to business and leadership
The difference between a smokescreen objection and a real one
Building sales teams that don’t churn — military discipline meets family culture
Why being present (and bored) might be your biggest competitive edge
Adam’s challenge to stop looking for external validation — and become your own biggest fan

Never miss a drink

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