We were lucky to catch up with Amir Bentatou recently and have shared our conversation below.
Amir, appreciate you joining us today. Do you take vacations? How do you keep things going – any advice for entrepreneurs who feel like they can’t step away from their business for a short vacation?
I chose the question of taking vacations because the other options were altruistic topics. I work in a space that embodies excess and has no purpose outside of personal fulfilment. I could give a typical answer involving passion, dreams, wanting to give back etc The truth is that I’m incredibly fortunate to have a business and career in a very small world that is built around a love for Motorsport Thanks to this career I get to travel quite a bit for work and pleasure. Last year I spent a couple months travelling to Japan, Thailand, & Mexico City. I live to work in racing and travel. I’m grateful to have a job that allows me to do both.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am Amir Bentatou that owner of RS Future, a driver, and an engineer/team manager in professional racing
I have always loved cars and racing thanks to my mother and father. My mother raced offroad in Guam and my father has always loved and owned sports cars. Thanks to both of them, cars and racing are something that is a major part of who I am.
My journey started when I had to drop out of college and was homeless. To get out of that situation I spent a couple years working through a temp agency at Wonder Bread and at a lighting store to make ends meet. During that time I built cars and read every book I could to educate myself on Motorsport and vehicle dynamics. After gaining financial stability I started working at Avus Autosport in Glendale. It was a BMW, Porsche, & Ferrari shop. During that time I learned a tremendous amount about building cars and running a business from talented individuals around me. I worked there for a decade, and during that time I started my race program and built the foundation of my business. I left Avus in 2020 due to travel time required for my race program. After branching out on my own, my team won multiple championships, my business grew, and I started to work in professional racing. My dream has always been to work in professional racing and set records in Time Attack as a driver. I was able to accomplish both of those goals over the last 5 years. I am currently working on transitioning my business to my current vision and with a GT3 team in the SRO Championship.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I often joke that I was too stupid to stop.
I had a friend that was confident in winning a race that is difficult to win. He fell short and asked me why I work so hard to win. This was the first question in life that I didn’t have an instant answer for. At that point I had spent years and every dollar I made to accomplish a goal When I finally did I felt no happiness, just a sense of relief. I never asked myself why I did it and when someone asked me I had no answer. I still have no answer and I wish I did. Regardless, it is intrinsic to keep pushing towards the next goal.
The question asks about resilience. I believe that success comes from a love or acceptance of failure. You learn little from your wins/success. I believe the lessons learned from failure are the greatest a persona can have. As humans we are afraid of potential failure. Once a person realizes that failure is okay and inevitable they are freed from a foundational fear. I have many 1st place trophies, but they’re all in boxes. The one trophy I put on my desk was a second place trophy that was a painful loss. Seeing my failure every day inspired me to push hard. The next year I won in a dominant fashion at that race. It was thanks to the inspiration and lessons of my loss.
Resilience is a trait that is intrinsic or hard earned. Learning to love failure trumps intelligence, resources, or aptitude.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
My initial capital came from selling my Porsche 911 that I bought and built over many years. I was stupid to buy this car the and the years I spent building it were my springboard into my industry. It was sentimental and the dream car I bought at 23. Once I decided to start my business I decided to sell something that was a part of me to fund it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://rsfuture.com
- Instagram: @rsfuture_amir, @rsfuture
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/rsfuture
