My Entrepreneurship Story

My interest in entrepreneurship was sparked when I met Peter Sontag.  Back in 2018, I was attending the St. Petersburg Festivals of Speed with my Uncle David, and I was telling him about a lovely, metallic dark-green Porsche Panamera GTS.  A woman in her mid-30s, named Tasha, overheard me and was very impressed with my knowledge and enthusiasm for automobiles.  We struck up a conversation, and she asked if I would be interested in interning with the company she works for.  That company was Fast Lane Travel, and after reviewing their brochure and seeing that they conduct luxury Porsche driving tours through Europe, my answer was an emphatic yes.  She told me to send her my resume and cover letter, and that she would try to put in a good word for me to Peter.  Fast-forward two months, and I arrived in their office in Oldsmar to interview for the position.  My interview with Peter was unconventional, to say the least.  Peter is a rather short, 75-year old man with round glasses, a short temper, and a fantastic sense of humor.  My interview consisted of me sitting-in while he and the VP resolved a crisis with a custom Porsche trip that they were planning for a client and his family.  Expletives were plentiful as he tried to figure out how to reserve parking for the client at an Alpine restaurant that does not normally make such accommodations.  Occasionally, he would look over at me, ask me a question, like what I was studying, or why I wanted to work there, and then he went back into crisis mode.  He also cracked a few jokes here and there, which I enjoyed, but overall it felt very informal and not at all what I expected.  When I left, I didn't feel like he was that interested in having me work there, mainly because they already had another intern, Tina, who I met while I was there.  As I was driving home, however, I got a call from Peter, and he said that I was a very impressive young man and that he would like me to work there as soon as possible, which blew me away!

I worked at Fast Lane Travel (FLT) for two summers, in 2018 and 2019.  I learned a lot about planning a trip to another country: coordinating with hotels, arranging travel for clients, securing the Porsche rentals for the customers to drive in Europe, accommodating special requests, finding exciting excursions for customers to enjoy, selecting fabulous dining options, and much more.  I also got to learn a lot about Peter and the extraordinary life he lived.  He was born in post-war Vienna, where he grew up.  As a teenager, he worked at a local hotel, where an American businessman befriended him and helped him come to America.  He fought in Vietnam, worked in a steel mill while getting his degree at West Liberty State College, and ended up earning a scholarship to Colombia, where he got his MBA in finance.  Fast Lane Travel is Peter's "passion project," as Porsches and travel are two of his favorite things.  However, he was also the founder and CEO of USTravel Inc, which he built into the third-largest travel company in the nation by the time he sold it, and he also merged and acquired numerous other travel companies over the course of his career.  Nowadays, he has slowed down and only leads FLT, where he guides trips with his incredible local knowledge and fluent German. 

He is one of the most fascinating people that I have ever met - he has skied the Alps, circumnavigated the Earth by sailboat, gone over 180 MPH on the Autobahn, blown-up part of a mountain, and owned over 40 different Porsches, as well as many other cool stories that I've yet to hear, I'm sure.  But what really strikes me about Peter is how humble and generous he is.  He took me and Tina - who became one of my best friends - out to lunch on many occasions, he took the entire office staff (about 10 people) out to dinner whenever we stayed late, and he let me drive two of his Porsches!  I drove the 2015 Panamera GTS on several errands around town, but then he also gave me his 2001, 6-speed manual (which I love), red 911 Carrera for an entire weekend before my last week working there this year.  He told me to go and do whatever I want in it, and he even gave me a Valentine One radar detector - which I'm happy to report was extremely effective ;)

The incredible life that Peter has lived, his achievements, and the way he treats people around him is inspiring, and it made me much more interested in Entrepreneurship myself.  It's why I selected it as my minor, and why I am currently enrolled in this class.  While I don't expect this class to turn me into one of the most influential travel executives, like Peter is, I do hope that it will give me insight into how entrepreneurs seize opportunities and solve problems.  I also hope that it will help me understand how to better pursue the ideas that I have on how to solve problems and satisfy the unmet needs that I see in the world.