Tomas Sumsky
Biography of the Author
Tomas Sumsky was born in 1976 in a small town in the Czech Republic, where he grew up in a humble setting among family and friends. When he wasn’t participating in sports, he was enriching his character through education and hard work. Taking after his father, he excelled in construction techniques and regularly practiced his skills in and around the area. Years later after receiving a degree as an electrical mechanic, he went on to fulfill a one-year obligation to the nation’s armed forces. Eager to move on from his small town life, Sumsky traveled to a farm in Italy where he spent several months picking apples just to earn enough money to buy a flight to the United States, a place famous for its opportunities and advantages.
In 1997, he arrived in New York City with five hundred dollars in his pocket and no English language skills. Five days later he traveled to Chicago following news that there would be an abundance of work. For the first few months, he waited at a local gas station to be picked up for small construction jobs, and would go from one site to another hoping for steady work.
Within his first year in America, he secured a position with a construction clean up crew, and during the next decade had a succession of careers that included electrician, re-modeler, landlord, and finally a builder of luxury homes. During this time he developed a wealth of skills and knowledge that benefited both his professional and personal growth. Not only had he built a reputation as a hard worker; he also picked up some basic English from coworkers, radio broadcasts and films, established successful businesses, and garnered an impressive rental portfolio in Chicago.
When his luxury home business opened in 2004, it was no surprise that it attracted a great deal of attention and experienced tremendous growth in the years to follow. With all of his success, Sumsky had earned quite a reputation in the industry and among consumers, and he had boosted both his social and financial status in a relatively short amount of time. However, when the housing market began to collapse just a few short years later, it presented him with some serious problems. The economic downturn coupled with numerous poor decisions on his part led Sumsky to the edge of bankruptcy. The life he had known had changed forever, but had brought with it an incredible opportunity for positive change.
As he dealt with the reality of his situation, there were many doubts and tough decisions that helped form a path to a more meaningful experience and Sumsky used these lessons as liberation from his own crisis. Although he encountered problems on a daily basis he was able to solve them with increasingly greater efficiency and intelligence. From these valuable experiences, Sumsky has met with several unique challenges that have inspired a deeper perspective on his purpose in the world, and an ironic appreciation for the difficulties he has endured.