Small Talk With Compa
Small Talk with Compa" is where it's at, with two bros from NYC chopping it up about the grind for happiness, the hustle for meaning, and the realness of our connections. We're dropping truths and getting deep into our journeys. Tune into STWC, where life's lessons and brotherhood meets another world full of hope and prosperity. It's all about keeping it 100, sharing the love, and staying true to the game of life.
Small Talk With Compa
Launching Small Talk with Compa: Embracing New Beginnings and Authentic Conversations
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Ever wondered what it takes to leap from a decade long career into the unknown? We've been there, and we’re here to share the triumphs and trials of launching our first episode of "Small Talk with Compa." Join us as we introduce ourselves and unravel the heartfelt inspiration behind our podcast. Our journey is steeped in passion for authentic conversations encompassing life, culture, and music, sprinkled with humor and honesty. As we reveal our motivations, we aim to offer comfort and inspiration to all who tune in, creating a community where diverse voices are celebrated.
Our passion for sports and the holiday season shines as we discuss incorporating seasonal sports conversations into our podcasts. Beyond the field, we explore the gritty realities of being a small business owner in the hospitality industry. From relocating a restaurant to embracing new beginnings, our stories are painted with resilience and growth. This episode is a tribute to the power of learning from every experience, and we salute the dedication of fellow industry workers who tirelessly persevere through both triumphs and challenges.
Finally, we dive into the nuts and bolts of podcasting testing and refining our equipment with an eye on constant improvement. We're grateful for the support as we hone our craft and eagerly anticipate the journey ahead. It's a candid exploration of the courage it takes to start afresh and the excitement of mastering something new. So, grab a seat and let's connect over stories that inspire, entertain, and resonate with everyone.
Introducing Small Talk With Compa Podcast
Speaker 1What is up . What is up . What is up . Everyone , welcome , welcome , welcome to this podcast , this podcast that my compadre and I are creating , and gonna have a good time doing it . It's Small Talk with Compa Podcast . What up Compa ?
Speaker 2What up , what up , what up , what's up everyone . This is the co-host . Will you call me Big Willie style ? You call me Will . I am whatever you want to do , but for my compa here what he was saying , we're just very excited for this opportunity to have this podcast with Small Talk and you know , yeah , I'm super excited . Let's get it on , let's get it going .
Speaker 1Yeah , we're both are super excited . You know what ? We've been trying to do this for a while now . Super excited , let's get it on , let's get it going . Yeah , we both are super excited . You know what ?
Speaker 2We've been trying to do this for a while now , and when I say a while , I mean a while . It's been like a while , but you know , we had our trials and errors and we were just trying to make sure that we were ready to launch this great opportunity .
Speaker 1Yeah , this platform . Try to see what comes out of it and , you know , have a good time doing it . You know we got some gear . That's why we sound a little cleaner . We were testing all that stuff a few times and you know , now we're going rocking and rolling and today in this podcast , we're basically just going to talk about why and why we're doing it . Who's it for you ? You know all that good stuff . Maybe throw some some advice here and there it's gonna be great .
Speaker 2I think we're gonna um have a great success here . I can't wait till I where this is headed . And , yeah , this , this episode is just basically most of uh , us being um ourselves and , you know , giving this introduction to the public to kind of know us , you know , and a little closer to to us and to the podcast . So , yeah , I guess we're going to start with you compa , you know , and then we'll take it from there .
Speaker 1Yeah , hell . Yeah . So my name is Danir . Yeah , you know , in this podcast I've been wanting to do it for a long time . I've been wanting to get this going and you know I was who the been wanting to do it for a long time .
Speaker 1I've been wanting to get this going and you know I was who , who , the better person , and to do it with , and but with , my compadre , thank you thank you , thank you yeah , and you know , maybe uh give them , give some people uh , cheers people up with our , our shenanigans that we're gonna be talking about , you know , make people laugh , make people have a good time , make people forget about their daily lives for at least for 40 minutes or so , 30 minutes or whatever how long we do this podcast . But yeah , just to this . This podcast is going to be for everybody's . Now , there's no particular person or individual or anything . It's going to be for everybody , for the , for everybody to enjoy , because we're going to be talking about a lot , uh , culture , um , music for me it's just more like hi .
Speaker 2by the way , my name is will , so , you know , definitely agree with my compadre here .
Speaker 2You know , this podcast is going to give us this opportunity to um , talk about our um , tribulations , our success , our , you know , fun , loving moments , as well as the darkest in the long term , and the goal and I , you know , correct me my wrong I think that we're gonna try to tell you and be real as we can , because we want to connect with you guys , because we feel like we're not the only ones that are going through these events , and I feel like there's other people that are going .
Speaker 2There , are going through some difficult times or even some fun and loving times , and we want to share that . We want to keep it 100 with you . We want to be very transparent and I think that the goal here is to create a platform so that we could , you know , help someone out there Could be one . You know , the first step To go to , going back to what Compadre said , you know why are we doing this podcast ? I guess my question to you , compadre , is you know what made you realize that this is the kind of route you were heading to ?
Speaker 1Well , you know , I I've always been into audio forever . You know , I've always been a fan of making music or messing around with with music . I started listening to a lot of podcasts throughout the past couple of years and I'm like you know what I'm just going to do ? A podcast , I'm going to bring it up to my compadre and we're going to talk about , you know , just life , just about good old times , bad old times , your downs , your ups , and , you know , have a good time doing it while we're here .
Speaker 2You know , for the people out there , you know , have a good time doing it
Podcast Goals and Occupations
Speaker 2while we're here .
Speaker 2You know , for the people out there , you know , michael Ballard has been a big fan of , like he said , audio and all these technology and all these tech gadgets and so , like you know , for him to even mention to me , you know , and thank you again for giving me the opportunity to work with you , man , on the podcast . It's kind of like , right away , I said this is like the right fitting . You know , thought about it and I said , wow , you know this is he's up to something because you know it's many , many people out there doing podcasts . But , um , you know , what is gonna like stand out for us and how , what we think we could bring it to the table the transparency , and I think that that's something that we are going to kind of focus on and , um , for me also is going to bring out the best of what , uh , of me and also is going to create this opportunity to help others . Um , but , with that being said , um , now that you have this and we are creating this platform , actually what is your long term ?
Speaker 1you know , I know we talked about helping others , but is it that you're trying to accomplish for you and for your family you know , have a good , like I said , have a good time with it and if there's any you know any bad days that I'm going through this , I can always go back and , you know , jot down some notes .
Speaker 1Oh , this is going to be a good topic for the podcast and kind of just to get away for a short time at least , if there's anything bad , anything good , or just to regroup as in itself . And then for the long term you know , time will tell , I guess Time will tell See where this goes and see how the public , how the public takes it , how , uh , yeah , how the world and interacts with us wherever we put it up , whether if it's going to be on youtube or spotify , it's going to go up on spotify and apple music for starters , and then at some point we'll do video . Um , but yeah , you know , I'm just kind of want to go for the ride and see how , where it takes us . What about you ? What are your goals ? What do you expect ? The outcome of this podcast ?
Speaker 2I think that for me is again expressing my feelings , putting out real content and just having fun with it , you know , but also for the long term .
Speaker 2I think , that I want to have a platform for not only us but for , like , the public , for the people you know that want to have their voices heard and you know looking forward and hoping that we are able to do that , and also , you know , having people come in and share their stories , to take that and learn from it . So I think that's my long-term goal in this podcast . And just again , just have fun with it , man . Just go go along with the ride .
Speaker 1You know what I mean for sure , and we're uh , we're both , uh , super sports fanatics , so we're gonna be talking a lot about sports , which should be . You're gonna be hearing noises in the background . Bear with us . I'm going to try to edit as much as I can from from it . But , um , you know , we're right now , at the time of this recording , we're approaching , uh , the holiday season , great time of the year for the spend with the family food , good energy , drink , a a little bit of everything .
Speaker 2My favorite time of the year , you know Thanksgiving . You know great food , you know surrounded by great people , your family , like you know so much love and so much appreciation for life . And then moving again to Christmas , where you know again , you know you're with your loved ones , but you know , you look far ahead and you start to realize , hey , you know the people that are there for you since day one , you know , and people that really care for you , and Christmas it just brings that you know , whole vibe and appreciation together . So it's the best time of the year , man . So can't wait , can't wait . But yeah , you mentioned , you mentioned you know our occupation . Um , I guess we should tell the public what we , what we do , um , starting with you man , like what , what is your um , your occupation man , how you started in the business , and like you know what you learned from from the uh , from the industry , and you could apply that also to your life , your personal life as well I am a small business owner .
Speaker 1I own a restaurant that , sadly , is uh gonna be relocating from the location that we're in . Um , but that's fine , you know those are . Again , this is gonna . This is a little bump in the road of you know of life . We're gonna . We have to move because they gave us the door , the door out , I guess . Um , but that's fine , it's all good . You know , shit happens .
Speaker 1That's what I do . I'm so . I'm in the hospitality industry . I'm in the service industry .
Speaker 1I've been in the industry for for quite a while now , I want to say , since I was like 20 , 26 maybe , or so great times , you know , I that's where I enjoy , that's where I learned , you know , everything about food , beverage , from all aspects of it , you know , and it opened my mind to so many things , stuff , especially in the culinary world and everything else in it . You know , it taught me a lot , you know . It taught me to value what you have and taught me me service , taught me how to treat people well , treat people with respect , and so you can get the same respect from others . Yeah , you know . So I've been doing that for a portion of my life . Now we're gonna see what my part .
Speaker 1My business partners and I hop on to the next journey and hopefully we can establish ourselves somewhere , somewhere new , sooner rather than later . You know , what sucks about it is that it's the holiday season and is we gotta , you know , let people go , because you know it's just sad , you know , because we uh we developed such a strong team over the last . We've always had a really strong team , but you know we it's gonna be tough for them , for for us as well as a as a as business owners along to let people go on on the holidays . It's just one of the worst things yeah , it's like it's .
Speaker 2It's so hard to um , to kind of fathom that and you know you try to do your best to help out and you know , try to be positive about everything , but you know you're doing a good job , brother . So I know that you're going to bounce back , I know the restaurant's going to bounce back , and we're . You know this is not the end , this is a bump in the road and can't wait for your next venture . You know I'm there to support you in every aspect that I can .
Speaker 1Appreciate you . Yeah man , what about you ? What's your occupation ? What ?
Speaker 2Appreciate you . Yeah , man , what about you ? What's your occupation ? What do you do for a living Manager at a restaurant ? There's always been a restaurant for me . I've been in the restaurant industry for maybe , I want to say 20 , 21 years . I think it's a long time . Yeah , started off as like everybody else , from the ground up you , you know , as a busser moving up the ladder , uh , similar to you know , to to you , and you know it was always , uh , a catching . I was always trying to catch up to my compadre because there's one position he goes up , I go , I'm like right next to him . So , no , no , but it was always been like something for me like to like look forward , you know . So it was just like it like if something for me like to like look forward , you know .
Speaker 2So it was just like if you can do it , I can do it right type of thing .
Speaker 2And it wasn't for this business , this industry , you know , I wouldn't be who I am today . It taught me a lot of like taking care of people , helping people , being a very good human being , being aware your surroundings , you know , observing and one thing that I didn't have , bro , that I had , that this industry taught me , is the , uh , empathy part . You know , I didn't have that in the beginning and then so , like , when you are listening to a person and what they are going through , you have the opportunity to change that person's life , at least for a few hours that they're going to be with us , yeah , so I am grateful for the opportunity to do that on a daily basis . And so , yeah , I'm a manager now at a restaurant here in the one of the airports in new york city . I'm pretty excited about this opportunity because it's kind of new um in aspect . The time now in my career I'm not , you know , trying to like chase a goal and becoming this , like you know , big shot in the company . I think now it's more like giving back .
Speaker 1What do you mean by that ?
Speaker 2What I mean by that is just giving back to the next generation of kids that are there . Yeah , they want to . They want to be in this industry .
Speaker 1Or like teaching young people , young kids , little young thundercats .
Speaker 2Yeah , exactly Because I know that . You know people that come into this industry , some of them just here for the money and they're going to come and go . Others are just doing it for a season or two .
Speaker 1Yeah , a little extra cash .
Speaker 2But then you have others that kind of like enjoy , that probably were in that mentality like hey , I'm gonna be here like a year or two and then I'm out . But then kind of grasp them into the their interest and you know they they try to want to succeed in the industry and they want to move up and so this . These are the type of people that I kind of want to connect with and teach them what I know . That's it no complication . If they want to learn how to be a good server , they want to learn how to be a good manager , they want to learn how to be a a good busser . I mean , I've done it all bartender bar back .
Speaker 1You know , let me know what do you think is your uh , your worst moment for you as a like ? What do you think was a bad experience that you wish you were not in this industry ? Ooh , that's a hard one and it can be anything . It can be , you know . It can be guests , it can be .
Speaker 2It's a hard one because , honestly , this industry , you know , yeah , it comes with a roller coaster ride . You got your ups and downs . But just like in anything right In relationships , you have that In friendships , you have that , you know , in relationships , you have
Moving on and Starting Fresh Podcast
Speaker 2that in friendships , you have that , you know . I think the one that I kind of like , took to to heart , and it has happened recently separating from a from a , from a company that I've been working there for almost like 10 , 10 to 12 years and so like I'm not going into full details , but just you's hard to separate from a company that you've been working for such a long time and gave it everything , gave your heart working , your heart , your soul to the company you believed in it . That's the hard part to split apart and move on .
Speaker 1You know what I mean for sure , not the , not what happened , just the splitting of it and moving on yeah , because you , I mean you , you you touched a lot of lives and you know you connected with so many people , from guests to employees .
Speaker 2I had so many people there , I learned so much , I have so many friendships that I created there , and so , yes , it was just hard , it was bittersweet , you know bittersweet , but you know those are the type of lessons you learn . You move on and now you know , you take that opportunity and embrace it and be positive about it and move forward . You know , and that's basically what it is , man If you don't have that positivity in your mind , you're not going to succeed in anything else .
Speaker 1Yeah , and now we're starting a podcast . It's fucking dope .
Speaker 2Look at that . Now we're starting a podcast . It's fucking dope . Look at that . Now we're starting a podcast . You know , I never expected me to be here to talk about it and you know , being able to work with one of my closest friends since , like you know , a long time ago , it's been like what , since we were like 16 , 17 ? Yeah , it's been a while .
Speaker 1It's been a while . Should have done this a long time ago , it I ?
Speaker 2don't know if we could curse or not , but yo , we are here . There will be some cursing , there will be some cursing . I'm not going to watch my mouth , but I'll be very honest with you . I'll try my best , but I feel like we are here to stay . I'm excited . I can't wait .
Speaker 1I know I can't wait to show off to all my friends and family just to jump back on what he was talking about and the question that I asked him what was um bad times or bad moments from the industry that we're in ? For me , I think um is what I'm doing now . I think I was nothing , I think I mentioned it already , but there's nothing harder than than closing a restaurant and letting a bunch of people go . Um , this is , you know , unfortunately . I don't know if it's this is the third time , because I was a manager . Oh well , all three times and they all closed and then it was just .
Speaker 1It was sad , and I think that's one of the things that I don't like to experience , because it's like if restaurants stay open forever , that would be amazing . It's a , it really is , unfortunately , you know , and you know our business makes a lot of people happy , you know makes a lot of people have , you know , a good time . You know there's people like that , like us , that we show people a good time . You know we'll go out to experience good food , good wine , good beers , good cocktails , and it's sad to see that . You know it's not really you know the same anymore . Right , I could be wrong , but I I feel like the industry has changed so much . I definitely see the industry in a different , different side and we'll get into that some other time , of course .
Speaker 2Yeah , I was gonna say that just , we get that because there's a lot to cover . Um , when it comes then to , uh , to how this industry has evolved and and , believe me , I have so many friends in the industry that will agree with me and probably others that will disagree- Some people probably think no , I don't think the industry has changed , but no , it definitely has .
Speaker 2And I think that you know when we discuss it and we kind of break it down and pinpoint when and how then you kind of will see the , so that our occupation that's what we do .
Speaker 2That's what we do . That's that's . That's what how we make our living uh , we're proud of it . Oh yeah , I'm proud of it . There's a lot of people out there that are in this business , and salute to them , because they are the ones that are there a day , working hard , making sure people are having a great time , eating great food , showing great hospitality . So salute to you guys . And also in this podcast , man we're gonna talk about , you know our , our tribulations , man , our freaking personal . You know um issues , man , and you know I can't wait for that too , because you know , I guess I got a lot of things to get off my chest , I'm pretty sure yeah , we have something to say .
Speaker 2So , yeah , talk to me . Nice after that , all right , um , but uh , we're gonna , we're definitely gonna have a great time here . Um , another question that I wanted to ask you , compa , that I totally forgot to ask you earlier . You know , when it came to like the podcast , you know I was thinking a lot , maybe a couple of weeks ago , about . You know , what we were trying to accomplish is , when it came to the reality that we were going to do this and you were gonna , you know we're gonna make this happen . Did you have any doubts ? Like , did you have any ? Like cold feet in a sense ? Like , man , I don't think this is . I don't know why I'm doing this or if I should do this . Do you have any ? Did you discuss this to anybody ?
Speaker 1and you know they were giving you negative feedback no , no , honestly , everybody that I've mentioned this to have all been very positive my family , my closest friends , and then obviously yourself and your family and I'm sure they know about it they've all been very positive . I think it's just been more of the doing it , just doing it , just press record and start talking and then send it out . Obviously we're new to the whole the whole thing , so we're gonna . It's not gonna sound great , but we'll we'll get better as time goes by . And it's more than nervous .
Speaker 2A little bit , a little bit of nervous , not really I don't know what it is I well , I'm glad that you , that you said that , because , yeah , I think that was the the main focus on on why we didn't launch it earlier . I just felt like we weren't ready and I wasn't sure . But it's that type of thing where , like it's like when you're becoming , when you're becoming a parent , let's say , or you're becoming , like when are you ready ? Right , like you're never ready , you're never going to be ready , and I think that the mentality is that that if you keep on , you know procrastinating it , then it's just gonna , it's never gonna happen .
Speaker 1So kind of just gotta , just gotta push through and just do it and then see what happens . You're not hurting anybody , nobody's hurting you . You know people are gonna be judgmental about it . It's fine . People have their own opinion . I have my own opinion all the time about lots of things and you know I'm okay with that . I'm okay with people talking shit . As long as I'm happy , I'm breathing , my family is good , my compadres , everybody's , everybody's good . You know it's all good . I don't want , we're not trying to cause any any hurt . We're not gonna hurt anybody again . Just we're gonna do have a good time , just bang it out and yeah , and just let everything out , let our emotions out , give people laughter .
Speaker 2We have plenty of stories of where we're gonna gonna make people laugh and they're gonna be like well , these fucking guys are crazy yeah , thank you for thank you for telling me that man , because again I was just freaking , losing my mind , like why we weren't able to launches and and I was so scared , bro , like I had that same fear like man . Is it gonna sound great ? How's this like ? How's my voice gonna sound like ? You know , like I was just scared . Am I gonna like freeze ? Am I gonna just like not talk and not ? You know how I'm gonna , how I'm gonna like sound to the public and I just realized you know what , man , whether or not you do this correctly or not , it's still gonna have an opinion on you , whether it's good and bad . So , yeah , like you said , just have fun with it .
Speaker 2And as long as I'm breathing and having fun , everything else is pretty secondary I think overall , um , it's gonna be good for our , our mental health yeah , this platform is definitely for it and , you know , I think that it's going to also help us bond together , man , and it's going to help us create even more memories and , and I think that the most important thing again , like what we said , in the long term , is that I hope that our podcast could touch one person uh , you know , and if it doesn't work out , it doesn't work out .
Speaker 1It doesn't . You know , we're going to look at each other 20 , 30 years from now . Remember that time we tried to start a podcast . It's going to work out . Yeah , you're right , it's going to work out . It's going to work out . It's going to be cool .
Speaker 2It's going to be cool . I don't care if it takes us 1,010 episodes or two or three episodes . Man , we're here for the long run , we're here to stay . You know , if you ask us the question like , what makes us different from these five million podcasts that are out there , you know what you're going to hear is what you're going to get . You're going to hear real stories . You're going to hear two gentlemen here that are expressing their feelings , their concerns , their , their feelings , their concerns , their happiness , their , their everything . And so you know , we , we just want to keep that real and then , once we have more opportunities and things , we're going to give you more of of of what we have in a personal level . Um , like you know , like michael father mentioned here , in the future we want to kind of record ourselves and and you can see us and again , it's's gonna be fun .
Speaker 1Or 30 years from now , we're still gonna be doing that , maybe somewhere and somewhere bigger , not in my bedroom . We're definitely in his bedroom small little setup , but anyway , I think that that come , that comes to an end . Now , really , we were just getting started right . I know well we can , I don't . I don't want to bore people with just like yeah for sure . Again . Once again , I want to thank everybody for tuning in . Uh , hope you find us on all your major streaming platforms , on spotify , uh apple podcasts and I'm still trying to figure out how to get it to uh I heart radio . And yeah , we're looking forward to this , this next journey , and we're really excited . Shout out out to you compadre , let's go .
Speaker 2Yeah , man , definitely . Thank you for everyone who's listening , or part listening , and then left and then came back when the good part came back . You know what I mean . Like whatever it is , man , thank you so much . Everything counts here . We just want to make sure that you know we have a platform for everyone and I hope that we could touch a person out there . And this is just the first
Equipment Testing and Future Improvement
Speaker 2of many . And , like Compadre said , you know we're just testing out our equipment . We're testing out , you know , what we need to work on . We're just going to get better . We're going to get better . We're going to get , you know , we're going to get real good at it . And you know I can't wait for the future . You know , thank you all who listen . And you know , see you next time I'm out .
