In Trust podcast EP 17: Interview with Massimiliano Freddi on Turning Dreams Into Reality

Talking Points

• How Max got started with theme parks and built his businesses (including an adventure park)
• Max’s love of the complete experience of amusement parks
• How to design experiences that make people happy
• How being an orphan and being gay has influenced how Max thinks about what it means to be a minority
• How exclusion could be seen as a good thing, and what belonging looks like
• Max’s story of what led him to the decision of starting his own adventure park
• How to trust in yourself when taking what seems like a huge risk
• Dealing with impostor syndrome and trusting others to trust you
• Running a transparent business in order to build trust with employees and guests, especially in times of uncertainty
• The IKEA metaphor for building trust with oneself
• Max’s masterclass on practical ways for someone to make their dreams into reality
• The future of Wonderwood and Max’s ask for crowdfunding pros to reach out to him

Quotables

“What I am in love with, even more than the design process itself, is how it will make people feel afterwards.” – Massimiliano Freddi

“There is no real creativity, for me, if you don’t love and respect and can’t wait to meet the people who will be part of the experience.”   – Massimiliano Freddi

“In the end, we are all part of a minority. There is a part of us that is just in common with a few other people, and sometimes we find them easily and sometimes we don’t.”  – Massimiliano Freddi

“It always depends on what is the camera angle you use inside the scene you are living that makes you feel alone or just different.”  – Massimiliano Freddi

“This space that we create together is a place because we believe in the value of being together and not [being] alike.”  – Massimiliano Freddi

“What we can create in the future is more places where everyone can be herself, and himself, and themselves, no matter if it’s a place in which you feel like you belong to, or if it’s a place where you are just passing by or if it’s a destination.”  – Massimiliano Freddi

“You don’t know until you do it, until you succeed or fail, until you become brave enough to give up what makes you 100% and you know that what you create could turn your whole life upside and could lead to a mess and you could be full of debts and so on. But on the other hand you can create a new space for opportunity.”  – Massimiliano Freddi

“I trust the numbers. I trust the analysis. And I trust the fact that they are never perfect and never enough.”  – Massimiliano Freddi

“If I’ve done my homework, I already know that I’ve proven to myself that I can be wrong, but I can also be right. And there’s no way of knowing until you try.”  – Massimiliano Freddi

“Be so transparent so that other people embark on your journey. Not only because they paid a fee or they get money from you monthly, but because they believe in what you are thinking about and what your idea is.”  – Massimiliano Freddi

“Ask for more feedback, and don’t judge yourself on that feedback.”  – Massimiliano Freddi

“Dreams are beautiful, but they’re also a beautiful places to hide and not feel the sweat needed to try out new things.”  – Massimiliano Freddi

“Avoid identifying yourself with the job that you’re performing.”  – Massimiliano Freddi

“It’s about what we can add an extra to what we are doing so that there is so much more magic in it and the cost most of the time is just the same.”  – Massimiliano Freddi

Show Notes:

• Massimiliano Freddi on LinkedIn
• Max on Facebook
• Wonderwood.it
• Lake Maggiore
• Leolandia 
• IAAPA – International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions
• Disneyland’s dark rides
• Grease
• The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
• altMBA
• IKEA
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show