Keeping Ranches Profitable Through Creative Marketing I Austin Pardon I AO 33

Austin Pardon's Pod Description?Austin Pardon grew up bottle-feeding baby tigers and walking among exotic animals — a third-generation legacy that shaped his vision for Droptine Studios. What began as a passion for telling the stories of exotic animal ranchers and breeders has grown tenfold into a thriving creative business, serving both corporate clients and small operators alike.

In this conversation, Austin shares how one early mentor and investor changed the trajectory of his career, instilling in him a giving heart and a responsibility to pay it forward. He talks openly about the tradeoffs of entrepreneurship, including the time away from family, and why faith remains the anchor in both the ups and downs of business. While Austin admits to being obsessed with the numbers, his focus has always been on people first — the clients, colleagues, and partners who give his work meaning.

At its core, this is a story of stewardship — of talents, opportunities, and the responsibility that comes with building something bigger than yourself.

Real stories. Real ownership. Real lessons from the field.
 This is American Operator.

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Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:09:15
Speaker 1
Hard work. Real talk. No shortcuts. I'm Joseph Cabrera. This is American operator.

00:00:09:15 - 00:00:21:14
Speaker 1
All right, team, I'm here with Austin and Austin hanging out here in studio with, gosh, with a really cool company and drop time studios founder, CEO of the company.

00:00:21:14 - 00:00:33:09
Speaker 1
If you're into hunting outdoors, getting into, God's good Earth there, I think you're going to really enjoy this conversation about what he's able to capture. Another storyteller. Man, so good to have you in, man.

00:00:33:09 - 00:00:34:11
Speaker 2
I'm honored to be here.

00:00:34:13 - 00:00:46:15
Speaker 1
Well, I mean, I, I want to get into a lot of things today, man. But I guess let me ask you this first third generation exotics. And for a lot of folks you probably don't know, that probably sounds really bad what I just said, but exotic animals?

00:00:46:16 - 00:00:47:03
Speaker 2
Yes, sir.

00:00:47:06 - 00:00:57:16
Speaker 1
Tell me about how I got this kind of obviously has to lead into your history of just kind of where you end up today, but tell me what that means when you say three generations of being in the exotic business.

00:00:57:21 - 00:01:21:16
Speaker 2
Yes, sir. So my grandparents, my father's parents, they both separately and together, bred, exotic. So whether that is in, like a pen setting, and they're taking animals and breeding them for conservation or for hunting or in my mind, they're one in the same. But they would breed those animals to either sell to zoos, to other ranches, to other breeders, and it helps diversify genetics.

00:01:21:16 - 00:01:43:22
Speaker 2
So like there's an animal called the bongo. Well, originally when they first came over here from the Congo, there's only 14 brought over. So being able to control and swap the bloodlines that come in, because there is going to be inbreeding with only a certain amount coming in. Well, that's where breeders and ranchers come into play, is they can breed and separate those genetics at a certain time.

00:01:43:22 - 00:02:02:22
Speaker 2
Or when a bull becomes sterile, they can sell them for profit to put back into the industry of exotics. So my grandparents did that for 30 or 40 years. Not my blood grandfather, but the guy who raised me, he had a hand in bringing in some of the last animals from overseas because you can't do that anymore.

00:02:03:00 - 00:02:13:05
Speaker 2
And so just it's always been around me. I mean, they did everything to a disease of exotics, but then our little claim to fame, which I know we'll talk about a little bit, but,

00:02:13:05 - 00:02:21:05
Speaker 2
I grew up like bottle feeding, bottle feeding tigers. And so I thought that was normal. I thought it was like you'd go to the parade and zoo in Odessa is what they called it.

00:02:21:05 - 00:02:45:12
Speaker 2
And or what the community called. It was just called Danny's house. But, so, yeah, it was within like half a mile of a school. And his grandfather, Dan, since he had animals. But there was nothing to walk outside to see baboons, panthers, tigers, you name it. And I just that's what I grew up with. And then, my dad had a breeding and hunting operation, and then that would make me the third person in that industry.

00:02:45:13 - 00:02:59:13
Speaker 2
And then. Yeah, more or less. That's how it started. Drop down is just seeing what people were doing. And how can we tell that story efficiently? Because, you know, some of these animals I'm saying I'm sure people are going, what is that going to have to hit Google real quick? But like, I know that. And then also

00:02:59:13 - 00:03:06:11
Speaker 2
trying to promote these ranches or breeders, it's a breath of fresh air to them to go, oh, I don't have to explain my business to someone.

00:03:06:11 - 00:03:08:01
Speaker 2
They can just market it for me.

00:03:08:03 - 00:03:30:14
Speaker 1
Yeah, let me explain that for folks. I think the the assumption, if you even know about, exotics. And here in Texas, you'll drive by and you'll see some crazy things out here in the Hill country. And everywhere around the state. And I think folks are literally thinking, hey, they're trapping these animals in Africa. They're putting them under duress, the shipping them across the ocean and just dropping them off.

00:03:30:14 - 00:03:41:03
Speaker 1
And Bernie, Texas, right? That's not true. All this stuff is now I mean, just as like cattle would raise here in my right to say that you would see almost every species that you just named and beyond.

00:03:41:06 - 00:03:41:19
Speaker 2
Absolutely.

00:03:41:22 - 00:03:43:01
Speaker 1
And that's born here.

00:03:43:01 - 00:04:07:04
Speaker 2
They had to do that originally to get them over here. But there's something in our industry, like with the Exotic Wildlife Association we call the Three Amigos. It's a scimitar oryx, Arabian oryx and the Addicks. And that's another species of oryx. Well, the Addicks and Scimitar have been taken off of the endangered list. And that's what we call conservation or commerce, because they didn't have any value because you couldn't hunt them.

00:04:07:06 - 00:04:25:07
Speaker 2
Well, they were going extinct. Well, through breeding in Texas, like in their native land. They've done something back then called Second Ark. That was a nonprofit where they bred so many scimitar oryx here, they ship them back to their native land. And then the the city that they shipped them to, they're like, we can't afford to take these animals.

00:04:25:09 - 00:04:42:07
Speaker 2
So people in Texas, ranchers in Texas, funded putting up the game fence and paid for feed for three years just to keep that animal and take it back to their native land. Yeah. And so it's not all the like, gore that people think that is like hunting does, but it's like, oh, that's why I said it goes hand in hand.

00:04:42:07 - 00:05:03:13
Speaker 2
Is that money? Those people's money helped fund that conservation effort to ship those animals back. So yeah, they're not doing it anymore. You can't for legal reasons. There's some little exports you can do, but it's it's a pain. And to no one does it. So anything that's here has a certain value to be able to breed or whatever it would be.

00:05:03:13 - 00:05:11:07
Speaker 2
But that's why it's kind of like supply and demand. There's not any more coming in. So what you got is what you get. Yeah. So then you got to take care of it and you got to steward it.

00:05:11:07 - 00:05:31:07
Speaker 1
Well do you. Yeah, I see the ranges out here. And you would I'd want to live on some of those ranches, but it's a really great looking spot. Do you going back to the Bengals I mean that's that's a, that's a crazy resume bullet. So talk to me about what that was. I mean, give me a day in the life of little Austin running around and not thinking this was anything special.

00:05:31:07 - 00:05:36:08
Speaker 1
Right. I mean, is this one of your chores you're doing growing up? I mean, help me understand that part.

00:05:36:13 - 00:05:54:03
Speaker 2
Yeah. Pretty much. I mean, just like, like you mentioned cattle or something is you bring them in and just, like anything else, are bottle fed, you know, they're any mammal needs milk and needs to that to survive. And so they'd pull them from the parents, to bottle rays or, to keep them healthier and to be able to maintain because they are pretty rare.

00:05:54:03 - 00:06:09:22
Speaker 2
And so they would do that to be able to watch them monitor their health. And then but they're all they are cats, right? Like, this is not me saying I own a cat like a giant cat. But what I'm saying is my crazy grandparents did it, and what they would do is they would,

00:06:09:22 - 00:06:16:22
Speaker 2
I'd walk inside and there'd be just a, cub running around, or I'd go riding my bike down the dirt.

00:06:17:00 - 00:06:41:10
Speaker 2
Deal. And they would have these giant cages. Well, they would play. They don't. You know, my cat at home plays a little bouncy ball. Well, they were throwing 20 pound bowling balls around. And so I would, you know, they would roar and scream just like normal cats would do. They're just playing. But there's a time I was on my bike and it scared the crap out of me, and I just fell off my bike, scraped up my whole legs because a lion roared and I'll just round my back by the passer cage.

00:06:41:10 - 00:06:50:18
Speaker 2
So I just thought it was normal. Or you'd be trying to do your chores, feeding animals and stuff, and then a baboon throw poop at you or feces at you. And you know, I was normal.

00:06:50:18 - 00:06:57:04
Speaker 2
So I just kind of grew up with that. I've been around it my entire life, and it just seemed like second nature, just like anybody else.

00:06:57:04 - 00:07:11:11
Speaker 2
I guess when they go to the zoo, they're like, oh, like my daughter was there this morning with my wife, and she's pointing out all the animals and probably knows more than most two year olds. But, you know, she's going around into her. It's not so much in the house, but she's still around it. Yeah. And so that's kind of how I was.

00:07:11:11 - 00:07:26:17
Speaker 2
But around it. So when like Tiger King came out, I don't know how many phone calls I got or would talk to my aunt and, but my aunt couldn't watch it because she grew up, grew up in it when it was like the peak of it. And so she was like, I got halfway through episode one. Interesting.

00:07:26:17 - 00:07:28:14
Speaker 2
I turn it off, I just I couldn't watch it.

00:07:28:14 - 00:07:30:06
Speaker 1
Because it was like, so raw. True.

00:07:30:07 - 00:07:31:13
Speaker 2
You mean? Absolutely.

00:07:31:14 - 00:07:32:18
Speaker 1
Oh that's interesting.

00:07:32:18 - 00:07:40:14
Speaker 2
Yeah. So to her it was I don't want to say PTSD, but I mean, it was very much like like she, she could not watch and she hasn't watched the sense.

00:07:40:19 - 00:07:55:06
Speaker 1
What do you think it is about the, is it just because, I mean, like, hey, you're really dealing with this animal that's, an apex predator and they're thing, I mean, to be with and around that, you just kind of have to be a little bit of a different mindset or a.

00:07:55:06 - 00:08:14:13
Speaker 2
Different character, that's for sure. Like, you kind of have to be a little unhinged to say you want to have a some that can maul you, you know, at any given point. But yeah, yeah, I think the animals were a benefactor, but I think just not a great childhood for her. And then all those things were I hate this word, but they were triggering to her to say like, watching that, I remember that.

00:08:14:13 - 00:08:25:19
Speaker 2
Or I lived in the backyard where this was happening, not actually with Tiger King, but for her story. So yeah, she hasn't watched it since, and I watched it through and I was just fine, but I guess I was a few generations removed.

00:08:25:21 - 00:08:39:16
Speaker 1
But you still had a very tangible sense of what that was like. It was like, oh, I heard of a guy. Yeah, we were a guy in our hometown. And this is your family doing it? What were they with these tigers? Was it mainly for at that point in time to ship off to these different ranches as well?

00:08:39:16 - 00:08:44:05
Speaker 1
Are they also mainly for, hey, come view is a point of tourism or whatever? Yeah.

00:08:44:05 - 00:09:06:13
Speaker 2
More tourism. Yeah. Because you can't shoot them and say it's a federal offense. And so yeah, they would just again try to bring them for, to give them value. And I was too young back then. I was like 4 to 6 around that time. And so I don't, I don't know too much of the business side of it back then, but I would assume you either had too much money, you didn't know what to do with it, and you were just kind of there.

00:09:06:16 - 00:09:22:17
Speaker 2
But, either that which I don't know if that was the case because I don't think they were super well off, but but I think it was also just kind of one of those things where it was normal to them. Yeah, just been around it their entire life. And I've gone to auction barns my entire life. I've been around all that.

00:09:22:17 - 00:09:37:21
Speaker 2
And so that's I've always been fascinated with that too, is what do you buy something for versus how much value does it have. And not trying to tie that into the business podcast. But like I've since I was a kid, like I was a kid, that they sell little chocolate bars or lemonade and I would be like, dad, I need vodka.

00:09:37:21 - 00:09:49:03
Speaker 2
And he's like, you're seven, why do you need vodka? I was like, someone will pay more if there's vodka in this lemonade. He's like, why does your your seven year old? Why do you think that way? I don't know, my I just they'll take me down the street selling them for a dollar I but I get to it.

00:09:49:05 - 00:09:50:22
Speaker 2
So my mind has always been that way.

00:09:51:03 - 00:10:08:03
Speaker 1
Now it's just like yeah there's I think it is exposure. Yeah. Right. I think about some of us just and exposure and financial programing. It clicks. That's cool man. Well so you got what did you when at one point did you realize maybe this wasn't a normal childhood that was there? I mean, because now you're working in the industry.

00:10:08:03 - 00:10:15:02
Speaker 1
So I suppose you could probably continue to think it's normal, but. Right. Was there anything that you finally realized like, maybe this different?

00:10:15:04 - 00:10:37:19
Speaker 2
Yeah. I think the tiger stuff hit a little sooner than everything else. Yeah. But as a whole, I would say probably, probably when I was going to high school to college, just, you know, normal conversations. But most of my click I ran with most of the time, they knew about it. So it wasn't anything wild to them. And I wasn't super close to the exotic family part of my family growing up.

00:10:37:19 - 00:10:58:07
Speaker 2
And so, yeah, I would say probably a little closer to college. And people were like, you what? Or, you know, even coming here was like, oh, you kind of knew what I did know what I'm like, oh, yeah, I grew up with tigers like, whoa. And so, yeah, I kind of realized that around college and people were just like, not knowing if I'm speaking about animals or if even a little game you play in college, in a board game, you got to write stuff down.

00:10:58:07 - 00:11:08:21
Speaker 2
I put down a wild animals name and they're like, what is it, Kathy Barrow? Or what is this? And I was like, oh, you know, it's just an animal. Yeah. And I know that Google and like, oh, sure enough it is. Yeah.

00:11:08:22 - 00:11:32:18
Speaker 1
So that a is that a horse or a whitetail or something more specific than that. Do you, do you think that, Do you think that a kind of like looking back on your life, do you think that in addition to obviously now this being what you do for a living. Right. Do you feel like there was any kind of character building stuff that from that lifestyle that you kind of continue to take with you now?

00:11:33:00 - 00:11:51:00
Speaker 2
Absolutely. Yeah. Because I mean, a big part of it, it's like any other animals, they don't they don't eat, they don't live. And so, just like whether it's the floods that just happened or when it gets the occasional time, it gets snowy here. I mean, you got to go out and you got to clear water lines and you got to get water troughs going, and you got to get feed out, and you got to do this, and they rely on you to do that.

00:11:51:00 - 00:12:08:01
Speaker 2
And so, there was never a day off with animals or anything like that. It's got to work, they got to eat and you have to do it. There is no I'm sick. There is no, I can't take a day off. It's oh, you got to go do your chores and then you can relax or you got to go feed the animals or clear this out.

00:12:08:01 - 00:12:27:09
Speaker 2
And then so and that goes into now is I don't really have a quit, which is you ask me, it's a good thing to grow a business. Yes. My wife, she wishes I would come home and relax a little bit more. But so I would say that's probably the biggest takeaway, is it? It made me think more about others, not myself, because I wasn't relying on myself.

00:12:27:09 - 00:12:48:17
Speaker 2
Like, I'm going to eat. I'll just walk to the fridge real quick. They have no other choice. And so whether it's a dog, a cat or a lion, they got to eat. So that I would say that was probably pushed me to where I am today and still continues to. And when I try to pass down to my kids, even though it's second hand because they're not besides, our two dogs are not feeding other stuff.

00:12:48:21 - 00:13:03:01
Speaker 2
Yeah, but, that even goes out to like our little fence place that we just take care of and have whitetail run around. We still feed out there. And so like managing and stewarding the land and the animals I think is really pushed me to be who I am.

00:13:03:03 - 00:13:10:19
Speaker 1
I could see that man talk to me about drop time. How did the idea from where you grew up go now into.

00:13:10:19 - 00:13:15:03
Speaker 1
Well heck how would you describe to somebody what drive Town Studios is.

00:13:15:05 - 00:13:42:00
Speaker 2
Yeah it's a drop down studios. I would just say it's a normal marketing agency in a very niche area. And so we do all pretty much one stop shop, photography, videography, graphic design, social media management, web design, you name it. We try to do that and we've done it for other places. I feel like a lot of agencies do it for all normal businesses, and then they might have like 1 or 2 ranches.

00:13:42:00 - 00:14:05:20
Speaker 2
Yeah. Just because there's not another option. And so what we do is we do 90, 95% of our business doing hunting ranches, breeding operations. So we had the Exotic Wildlife Association. We've done stuff with the Texas Deer Association, whatever it may be, but we're very niche and specific to that. And then we have five, 10% of our business that we do chiropractors and lawyers and whatever.

00:14:06:08 - 00:14:15:16
Speaker 2
So yeah, just a full blown media agency, marketing agency specializing in hyphen toning and breeding.

00:14:15:17 - 00:14:33:11
Speaker 1
What would why would somebody who doesn't know why anybody would need to have a good marketing presence to have, you know, like some guy's ranch? Like I don't understand why John Dutton needs to have his own website out. Right. What would you tell them? Is there a business reason for having these, having the right marketing social, all that stuff?

00:14:33:11 - 00:14:49:16
Speaker 2
Absolutely. Yeah. So you can have the best product in the world. But if no one knows who you are, then you can't buy it from them. Yeah. And so a lot of ranchers and that's what we run into a lot is we get most of the guys that are still around, they're up in age and they're the ones paying for everything.

00:14:49:16 - 00:15:03:16
Speaker 2
And so when you try to like last night, I was, pretty much near Corpus Christi and, doing a cattle job. And the first time I met that guy, he was, you can tell he has had his guard up. And he was like, we've been doing this and it isn't working. And. And he was like, going off and off and off and off.

00:15:03:16 - 00:15:20:03
Speaker 2
I mean, I was like, that's why I'm here. Because it hasn't been working. Yeah. Like, you have to give me some trust to show you it can work. Was like. And so I had to, like essentially disarm these older guys that are ranchers and like, well, I've never had a website and I don't need a marketing, I don't everything's been shake a hand and all this.

00:15:20:03 - 00:15:41:08
Speaker 2
And I was like, what do you do? Contracts. Oh, absolutely, I do contracts. I'm like, why don't you do one for your ranch? Because I'll say this to, I've done this stuff more or less my entire life, but actually business about 15 years, ten years as an actual business and probably 150 to 175 ranches total. We worked with.

00:15:41:08 - 00:15:49:13
Speaker 2
And I think I've met two people who didn't have another business supplementing all expenses of a ranch.

00:15:49:13 - 00:15:50:01
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00:15:50:01 - 00:16:06:17
Speaker 2
And so it's very hard to make money off of it, especially if you're just starting from the ground up. Especially look at the cost of land just right now. That'd be the biggest expense getting in. And so most of it's either handed down passed down and then oh well, we own oilfield company or oh, we own a marketing agency or whatever.

00:16:06:19 - 00:16:22:14
Speaker 2
And they use that money to fund everything. Again, there's a few that aren't, but a lot of it has a lot of money behind it. But for whatever reason, they can be billionaires. And when they get into the ranch and I'll put a contract in front of them like, whoa, whoa, whoa, man, we're just buzz, remember? You're just we're just going to write your check.

00:16:22:15 - 00:16:38:05
Speaker 2
You're just gonna do the work. And I'm like, this is my full time job. Like, we gotta make sure, you know, all the teams are crossed and all eyes are dotted. But for whatever reason, when I get into the ranching world, all their business savvy goes out. And I don't know if it's because they just it's their getaway, it's their hobby, and they don't want to have business here.

00:16:38:05 - 00:16:48:02
Speaker 2
But yeah, as soon as you start putting a contract front of people in the ranching industry, the like, whoa whoa whoa, man. Yeah, back up a little bit. Okay. Same work we've been doing for years. We're just doing it legitimately now.

00:16:48:02 - 00:17:05:03
Speaker 1
Yeah. The for folks who don't know about how ranchers make money, is it primarily hunting and kind of what I guess overseas you would call it eco tourism kind of stuff, is that the main drivers for what you're trying to get more folks to fall in love with it for a particular ranch?

00:17:05:06 - 00:17:28:20
Speaker 2
Yeah, pretty much. So some people just do farm tours or ranch tours. You just drive around, take a Jeep, take pictures, whatever other places have huge phenomenal lodges and so they can host 30 or 40 people. Well, that can go from a company retreat and then you can go outside and shoot skeet. Then you have someone cooking your meals, then you can drive around, look at animals, or you can entertain them, taking them, hunting, whatever it needs to be.

00:17:28:20 - 00:17:50:07
Speaker 2
That's what some of these ranches can do. And so it can be a trailer house. But you might not want to take a company retreat to a trailer house. But if you had a 15 18,000 square foot lodge and you had pool tables and pingpong and games and all this, that you can have company and everybody from, the moms and the husbands to the kids, whoever you're bringing can all have fun.

00:17:50:07 - 00:18:02:20
Speaker 2
So that's where each place can have that. But you trying to focus like the guy with the trailer house. But really nice animals might only sell horns, or he might only do live sales, which means translocate one animal to another place.

00:18:02:22 - 00:18:03:17
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00:18:03:18 - 00:18:19:21
Speaker 2
So that's how they make money on there. But then if you do have the money, but, you know, do you want to spend $3 million on a really fancy lodge and hope you make your money back? But, then if you do have those things, then you can do family retreats, corporate retreats, and then you hope they add on while they're there.

00:18:19:23 - 00:18:38:22
Speaker 2
But the good part about when they do the just facilitating events is you're not losing any expense. Besides, like food or water, because it's all built into the house and everything else. And you got to pay a chef and some staff, but you're not losing any expense like an animal, like you guys should have $10,000 animal. It probably cost the owner of five grand to put it there.

00:18:39:01 - 00:18:53:20
Speaker 2
Yeah, or even if it grows up by the time it's mature at five years old, probably $85,000 a feed or whatever else it might have been. So you're still losing an expense. So that's how that kind of make money is either through hunting, live sales or entertainment.

00:18:53:23 - 00:19:18:17
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah. And it's a fascinating world and fascinating, kind of set of just, factors that go into that world. And I think I can see why, you know, carved out a niche there, because I do think that it's not something that's probably easily understood in that world. I want to talk more about that and how you kind of bring this your world of media and storytelling life for that particular thing.

00:19:18:17 - 00:19:34:10
Speaker 1
Because I got to imagine it's its own set of tricks and tools to get out there and do that. But before that, I know we were talking ahead of time. You were talking about just kind of even getting your start into this biz right? It sounds like somebody really believed in you really was kind of what set the ball rolling.

00:19:34:10 - 00:19:39:02
Speaker 1
Can you tell me a little bit about that? I think it's such a I mean, I'm a made up man, right?

00:19:39:02 - 00:19:59:12
Speaker 2
Yeah. I, so when we had our own hunting ranch, my dad and I, and we had no cell phone signal, we had no Wi-Fi. And we were about 35 minutes from town, just outside of Abilene, Texas, so kind of West Texas. And when we, were there, I needed a place to work. So I had I had to get an office.

00:19:59:12 - 00:20:14:23
Speaker 2
And so I pretty much was sunup to sundown doing ranch work, doing whatever I needed. And then about 8 or 9:00, depending on the time of the year I'd get getting my truck and, you know, shower, get clean, go to town, get my office, work to about 2 or 3:00 in the morning, and then come back, get up at sunrise, do it all again.

00:20:15:01 - 00:20:16:06
Speaker 2
So the place I was,

00:20:16:06 - 00:20:30:08
Speaker 2
I was trying to just get the cheapest office I could like. I did not have any money back then. I was just ranch and trying to make a living for my dad and I and the place that I went to, they didn't have any availability. And so I was like, all right, well, he's like, well, the place across the street.

00:20:30:08 - 00:20:45:10
Speaker 2
And I was like, yeah, that's a nice place. And he's like, well, you need a referral to get in. I was like, yeah, no words like fearful. Like I'm fine with that. He goes, here, I'll go be a referral. And I'm in like bloody boots, dirty jeans I used to have. You can't tell because I'm balding. I used to have hair I could tuck into my jeans when I stood up.

00:20:45:12 - 00:20:59:11
Speaker 2
So I have this nasty man bun behind my head and I'm just like, dude, I am not fit to walk into this office right now. And, so the guy walked in, introduce me. And looking back on it now, his name's Josh. He looked back and told me he was like you when you first walked in my office.

00:20:59:11 - 00:21:01:14
Speaker 2
I'm like, who is this homeless man asking to

00:21:01:14 - 00:21:16:03
Speaker 2
come in? I had a big, nasty beard and, yeah, long story short, I, I got my lease there, and it was just a great place for me to go work. I was proud of myself. I was, you know, 20 something years old in my young 20s, got my first office.

00:21:16:03 - 00:21:38:09
Speaker 2
I thought I made it, and, Yeah, but quickly befriended that guy, and I was actually going to take a mission trip to Africa. I was having some trouble raising funds, and I've known this guy. He's my landlord. I mean, for like a month. And he heard about it, and he called me into his office. And at the time, for my mission trip, he just wrote $1,000 check and said, hey, I want I want to help contribute to your trip.

00:21:38:11 - 00:21:54:08
Speaker 2
So that led to us like, well, let me take you to dinner. Let me say thank you. Whatever. Well, skip all the details in between. We were selling the ranch, and I didn't know what I was going to do. That was my full time job. And, the whole time he called me into his office, I'm kind of walk him through him, like, well, where am I gonna live?

00:21:54:08 - 00:22:10:06
Speaker 2
Where am I going to go? And just being a friend at that point and, you know, he's working at his desk and he's doing little paperwork and signing this man over there. And he just at the end of it was like, well, Austin, what do you need to get started? Like, well, if I'm gonna do this full time, like photography at the time.

00:22:10:06 - 00:22:29:05
Speaker 2
Photo video. Honey. Better gear. I can't have this off brand stuff. I gotta have X, Y, and Z while I'm on, like, well, with that, how much of that take and say, I don't know, 20, 30,000? And, so we just kept having a conversation about the time that conversation and like wrapping up, I was like, well, man, I appreciate you being a sounding board.

00:22:29:05 - 00:22:48:00
Speaker 2
And he's like, well, here, this is for you. I was like, I didn't leave anything and I know it's for you. And I about just broke down in tears. He wrote me on like, I think it was a 30 or $40,000 check. And I'm like, I'm like 22 years old, 23 years old. I've never had that much money collectively at one time, ever.

00:22:48:02 - 00:22:50:03
Speaker 1
I retire now or yeah, yeah.

00:22:50:05 - 00:23:11:06
Speaker 2
Man. Appreciate it. And, I mean, I just I couldn't accept it. I kept giving it back and he just more or less said, like, man, I, I believe in you because I know you've got it. You just got to get there. And so, like, deposit it overnight and all the camera equipment sold all my old stuff. And then I had to really big jobs hit.

00:23:11:07 - 00:23:15:16
Speaker 2
I think one was like $10,000 at the time and then no one was like 12,000.

00:23:15:18 - 00:23:19:12
Speaker 1
How do you find how they find you? What was it? Was this come from the business man?

00:23:19:12 - 00:23:43:12
Speaker 2
One of them was a Grantchester company gun holsters. And so I like I did some pictures for them. I made some commercials that all turned it around as quick as I could because I wanted to get the check. And so when I got done, I can't honestly, I can't remember what the other one was, but I mean, I got that check and, drove to his house and I handed him the check and he looked at it and it wasn't in for sale was 30,000 or $22,000 in two weeks.

00:23:43:14 - 00:24:04:06
Speaker 2
And he was like, what are you doing? It's like, I'm paying you back. And Josh is his name in there. And he always told me his thing was, well, you need you need groceries, Austin. Like, you need to get groceries. And I was like, man, I've been going this long without eating. Like, I'll be just fine. We're like, I'd find my way or, you know, go by day old tortillas at the factory that they're like, couldn't sell anymore, but I could take for five bucks.

00:24:04:06 - 00:24:21:19
Speaker 2
And so he, that was his thing is, you know, you need groceries. And so, he took the check. But then when we're going back inside, and I was talking to him and his wife and everything, and then he wrote me a $40,000 check back and said, Austin, I need you to keep this and invest into. And he said, there's no time to pay me back.

00:24:21:19 - 00:24:28:18
Speaker 2
There's no interest rates. And there's no obligations to anything. And I just I couldn't believe it.

00:24:28:20 - 00:24:46:17
Speaker 1
I mean, what do you. Yeah. What was I mean, what that's that's awesomely crazy. What? I mean, looking back on that now, did he ever never mentioned it or anything. Say hey once, what do you think that was? I mean, no, and tell me about the guy a little bit. I mean, what do you think? What do you think that guy's built out of?

00:24:46:19 - 00:25:00:09
Speaker 2
Man, I honestly think it's the same deal. It's like the mission trip. When he had. He told me the reason he wrote $1,000 check. This is, you know, years later, after I got to know him. Yeah, he told me the reason he wrote $1,000 check is because he had a bank account called his Fishes and Lowe's account.

00:25:00:11 - 00:25:13:12
Speaker 2
And he said, also, I don't know how I do it. The Lord just provides and puts more money in there. And I bless people 1000 hour increments. And he goes, seriously like I have, because he would buy land and see if I had mineral rights or he would flip them. And that was kind of one of his businesses.

00:25:13:14 - 00:25:27:02
Speaker 2
And he said, you know, I bought some land that were dud. So I just I've been sitting on them. I never thought twice about them. And one day I got a call and they're like, hey, we're doing some drilling for water. Your land has water and has some wells. We want to drill on it and pay you for the water.

00:25:27:02 - 00:25:44:09
Speaker 2
We would get out of it and they said, okay. And he said, yeah, just wire it to here. And he's like, I was thinking $10,000 or whatever. And I think the first check that hit was a quarter million dollars for water off a piece of property that he just and he said, and he goes, I just I asked the Holy Spirit, like, someone comes in to give me a pinch.

00:25:44:09 - 00:25:59:10
Speaker 2
There's times I'm like, oh, thank you. You know, but no, thank you. I'm not going to help. Yeah. And he goes, there's other times he goes, I just feel like I can't not give someone. And he goes, and that way I don't have to think about it. It's just I felt like it's $1,000 increments. And that was the first time he gave it to me.

00:25:59:15 - 00:26:16:09
Speaker 2
And then what he told me later on was, that's what he gave me, that check, the first one for 30,000. And he said I had 30,000 on the account, and I gave it to you. He goes, I didn't have to think about it. I just felt like he he needs it. I believe in him and I'm willing to bet on him.

00:26:16:11 - 00:26:37:13
Speaker 2
And he said, I just gave you everything in the account, which still to this day blows my mind. It like, makes me feel lighthearted, just an aspect of like one someone believes in me that much, but two, like, I try to do that to people now because my life literally I wouldn't have ten employees if I wasn't, if that guy never took a bet on me.

00:26:37:15 - 00:26:55:20
Speaker 2
And then on the second check he gave me the same deal. Some business deal happened and they refilled the account. He goes, I don't even have to deposit this one. They sent me 40, take 40. And then he was like, and then it was replenished by 22. And he goes, it just consistently adds to it. And I mean, there'd be times where like, I literally would have no money in my account.

00:26:55:20 - 00:27:17:03
Speaker 2
And he was like, write me $100 for gas or whatever, groceries and, just seriously, he and he changed my life. And he's still to this day when I talk to him. I probably repaid him three years ago and seriously never asked once. And anytime he called. He's asking about my kids. He's asking about my wife. He's like, are you loving your wife?

00:27:17:03 - 00:27:32:21
Speaker 2
Well, what are you doing? And then I was like, hey, you know, I felt obligated to be like, hey, I need to tell you. Like, I'm working on building it up. And he's like, do you still owe me money? I don't, I have no record of what you owe me or what you don't. I'm like, you liar. And he's like, seriously, I have no idea if you've paid me back or not.

00:27:32:21 - 00:27:51:10
Speaker 2
And he's like, you tell me when we're square, meter, square. And went back and paid him. And then he said he used that other money and he'd had some girl, I'd have to look at our text, but he had some girl come in and it was like she needed $6,000 for college or something like that, and I, like I had the last payment I had was like 7000, so I took six and gave it to her.

00:27:51:12 - 00:27:52:06
Speaker 1
Wow.

00:27:52:08 - 00:28:25:08
Speaker 2
So I don't know what it is, but that's why I'm so open about anything. All my employees more or less knowing the exact dollar amount they know when we're having good months, bad months because I, I can't help but be transparent because that's how I got my start is like, I'm not going to try to, like, get a leg up on an employee or abuse them or use them is I'm just like, hey, like, I want to bless you in the way that I was blessed because I want you to be successful and I feel obligated to live my life that way because it impacted me so much that I couldn't see myself doing business

00:28:25:08 - 00:28:45:04
Speaker 2
any other way. Now I have some clients take advantage of that, but I believe it comes back to me from it. But yeah, it's I. I would not be the husband, the business owner, the father that I am today without that man doing that. So I know it sounds too good to be true, but I just, I attribute it to he's a believer.

00:28:45:06 - 00:29:05:10
Speaker 2
And, we would sit in his backyard and probably the most, like, spirit filled thing I've ever had was, ended up being like 20 or 30 guys, but it started with like 4 or 5, all different religions, all different, like everything. We just sit down, have conversations. And I mean, I could probably call any of those guys right now and haven't talked to in like five, ten years.

00:29:05:11 - 00:29:14:23
Speaker 2
And I guarantee that I'd be like, I need your help. Maybe driving to Austin and halfway through they'd be like, all right, what is this for? Yeah, but they wouldn't ask questions. I just get up and come.

00:29:15:01 - 00:29:44:14
Speaker 1
It's powerful. It. I think the, the gentleman there I think that you describe is in a way, it's kind of like the, the I think it's like the ultimate goal in life is to be able to get to a point where you can, like, be really gracious with what you're given, you know, and I find that the, the forget owners, the humans that have figured it out, I think just like they don't they don't spend a lot of time being anxious.

00:29:44:16 - 00:29:58:06
Speaker 1
It's just the way he's this is like, I don't know how it goes. You just gotta keep filling it up. Right? And I just give it to people who need it. And here you are. I mean, I don't even know if he knew this, but he probably sounds like he felt that. And he didn't just, like, help a guy buy some camera equipment.

00:29:58:08 - 00:30:18:12
Speaker 1
He helped dude go feed ten families, right? Every single day with his business. That's a very big thing that only some of us can daydream about. Do you, how has that, in addition to being transparent in the way you run your business day to day, like culturally, is there any things that you kind of hold true to in the business as you're running it day to day?

00:30:18:14 - 00:30:35:11
Speaker 2
Yeah. I mean, I just I feel like I'm stewarding money like, I don't like yes, I write myself a check, but I that's why I'm just I'm like, yeah, I want to steward this. Well. And so even in our company, well I mentioned earlier is like even when we are having a tough time, like

00:30:35:11 - 00:30:40:13
Speaker 2
I had a disgruntled client and like did a $25,000 deal is going to be in and out in like a month.

00:30:40:13 - 00:30:54:09
Speaker 2
And sorry. Oh, sweet. So we made like some business decisions off that like quickly. And he pretty much threw a fit and, we, I thought the only way to make it right. I'm just gonna write your check back. And he's like, well, no, you've already done, like, 60% of the work take. Which, you know, I was like, no, sir.

00:30:54:09 - 00:31:08:08
Speaker 2
I was like, you will never feel like you are even with me or that we are sitting on the same playing field. You always feel like Austin took advantage of you or dropped and took advantage of you. So I said, here's your check in for I can't do that to everyone because people are trying to just get work.

00:31:08:08 - 00:31:23:18
Speaker 2
But I just felt like in that obligation or in that transaction, I felt obligated to do so. But my employees talked about like, hey, we could use that money. I was like, yeah, and something that me, my wife says, I don't know how. I don't know when, but God will do. So I was like, I don't know how we're going to do it.

00:31:23:18 - 00:31:26:09
Speaker 2
I don't know when we're going to do it. God will.

00:31:26:09 - 00:31:41:00
Speaker 2
And so that leads to them. Do I think they're willing to take risks and they're willing to be open? And I mean, even when we were having some financial trouble in the company, I shouldn't say that we were just I was lower than my comfortable threshold. We still had cash.

00:31:41:00 - 00:31:57:10
Speaker 2
We're still running a business. But at the time I was like, well, hey, there's a thing going on and burning for orphans. And so I was like, I want to be able to, like, steward our money. Well, I was like, they need it more than we do. And so I think that shows not only like we care about our community.

00:31:57:10 - 00:32:24:03
Speaker 2
So we, like every person in the company went and found a person, a little boy or a little girl. We bought them shoes and some school clothes and so that when they go back to school, well, I think more so then yes, it's nice to help the kids, but the people under me who I'm stewarding and so like they got to see that as like, well, if that's just a kid that he met, how much more does he care about me and what would he do as the owner to help me if I was in a position like that?

00:32:24:05 - 00:32:45:07
Speaker 2
And so letting them know, like y'all are more important than any client, any dollar sign, any contract that we have, like I would do anything for them. And so I would say that's kind of what that's helped me get to that point of how I steward the business. Yeah. But it's it's also freeing because I feel like there's definitely times where I'm, you know, shaking in my boots a little bit and businesses are that's why not everyone does it.

00:32:45:07 - 00:33:02:00
Speaker 2
But yeah, it also gives me freedom when me and my wife can sit down going like, hey, like it's gonna talk about the next quarter or whatever's coming up and, or this past quarter that happened. You know, we just say like, well, it's not ours. So let's just do it with what we got.

00:33:02:01 - 00:33:23:13
Speaker 1
It's almost like, you can't. It's like you can't go wrong making decisions through the fact based on how you want to look at yourself in the mirror. You know, you'd rather be poor, a man of character and integrity than be rich. And somebody who couldn't stand to hold a candle to a group of folks who are living more, you know, living more straight, narrow.

00:33:23:15 - 00:33:45:15
Speaker 1
How do you when you think about bringing teammates on, do you kind of look for something in them that just kind of. I'll perfect. Who was saying I at least in my life, I don't know that I, I've learned with values especially it's hard on you can be an example. You can definitely set the standard. I always personally failed Austin.

00:33:45:15 - 00:33:48:20
Speaker 1
I don't know about you, but I've always felt like I can't teach. Like

00:33:48:20 - 00:34:01:20
Speaker 1
I can teach the technical, but I can't teach something. If your mom and dad didn't put it in you, I can't teach that right. And that's one that I almost unfortunately have to pass on, folks, because I'll just go, like, you actually are an absolute killer in all these things.

00:34:01:20 - 00:34:16:14
Speaker 1
We need you to be we for sure we'll see value in the short term, but because you don't possess this way of treating people, thinking of people and that kind of stuff, do you kind of have some of those things that you kind of look through that lens when you're bringing it on? Teammates.

00:34:16:23 - 00:34:32:06
Speaker 2
Yeah. So we're still pretty new into bringing them on. And at first when I went from just a full blown freelancer by myself to my first full time employee, yeah, I thought I just needed a I heard this on another podcast, the able bodied person who can fog up a mirror. So I just needed a body to be somewhere.

00:34:32:06 - 00:34:55:23
Speaker 2
Yeah. And I was like, and that's the first person I hired. Pretty much. He was a go getter. He was a grunt. He was put his head down and go, and I did it. But he wasn't much of a team player. And that's what we need more than anything. Especially like in client interactions, because what we do is super intimate when we're out on job locations because, like, it's not like you go down and we're going to film a commercial for a coffee shop and then we all go home.

00:34:56:03 - 00:35:20:10
Speaker 2
It's last night. I was on, 1600 Acre Ranch. We're driving around for four hours by ourself. I was with the mom, the dad and the daughter and then the daughter's kids. And so we're riding around. We're hanging out. We're talking. They're sharing stories about their family. And then if it's a job where we stay overnight, we're sitting outside till midnight, you know, having a beer, cooking, doing this, or you get to spend a lot of time with these people.

00:35:20:10 - 00:35:41:12
Speaker 2
It's not like a quick interaction. And then if you have like a year long contract, you're out there multiple times a year. So it's very intimate when we're out there and I tell all these people because like I mentioned earlier, I haven't met too many people that only have a ranch for business. So most of them are very wildly successful in other parts of their business.

00:35:41:13 - 00:35:57:08
Speaker 2
So I tell my guys or my girls, most of the girls don't travel because I don't want to put them in a position alone on a ranch. But I say, it's up to you how much you get out of this. I was like, I can tell you how much I'm gonna pay you, but there's people who pay to listen to millionaire speak.

00:35:57:10 - 00:36:15:04
Speaker 2
There's people who pay to listen to billionaire speak, and then to get them one on one. It's like if you decide not to do anything with that, that's on you. And so I sit and probe and I ask questions. And one thing I always ask if you could do anything different in your life, you've got hundreds of millions of dollars.

00:36:15:06 - 00:36:22:10
Speaker 2
Seems like you've got everything right. What would you do different? Most people say, you know, I wish I spent more time at home. But to answer your question is,

00:36:22:10 - 00:36:34:04
Speaker 2
when I'm looking for a team member, I'm looking for someone who's I can't teach grit. Like I can't teach someone who gives a damn. And a lot of people, like, if someone comes and they go, well what are our hours?

00:36:34:04 - 00:36:48:20
Speaker 2
I'm like, I'm sorry, you're probably not going to make it, you know, and like we're we're getting better at it and we're building more internal structure. But like like even some of our clients are like, well, why don't you bill us hourly instead of a day rate or something? I'm like, okay, I drove four hours here. I got to drive four hours max.

00:36:48:20 - 00:37:04:07
Speaker 2
Was that a full day? Right? Like, well, now I, now it makes sense, right? Yeah. So then. And how do I factor that into pay and what's overtime? And is it just salary with bonus. And so I'm looking for someone that is in it and they're sold on the company.

00:37:04:07 - 00:37:14:20
Speaker 2
And he's going to hear this because my great or my intern my Grayson, my intern Grayson, he he reached out on like Instagram or someone's like, they'll do internships.

00:37:14:20 - 00:37:34:15
Speaker 2
And I was like, no, but call me. In two months, I'll be less busy and we can talk. Yeah, two months of the day. And he called and I was like, well, that's a good sign that he followed up because I forgot. And, I just had a good feeling about him. And he's like, we just paid for him to go to Arkansas, to some agriculture, extended learning, whatever, which shout out to him he just entered in before he even worked for me.

00:37:34:15 - 00:37:40:12
Speaker 2
He entered in every photography category and he got second and won. And he won every single thing else.

00:37:40:14 - 00:37:41:12
Speaker 1
That's a good sign too.

00:37:41:12 - 00:37:44:03
Speaker 2
So that doesn't suck. Yeah, but, that's.

00:37:44:03 - 00:37:44:12
Speaker 1
Awesome.

00:37:44:12 - 00:37:54:14
Speaker 2
Man. But so he's he's got grit and he's not even from the like he's from Kerrville, but he's not really from the exotic world. They did more like show animals like pigs and goats and chickens and all that.

00:37:54:14 - 00:37:55:09
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00:37:55:10 - 00:38:16:20
Speaker 2
But it's the same premise. But he's got the grit. He's trying to get a job savvy, by December if he gets one or not. But I couldn't teach that. That had to be something that he grew up with. His parents required him to do this, or he just had it. But there's other people who just applied for the job, or we weren't even having applications and people would message us.

00:38:16:21 - 00:38:34:05
Speaker 2
I was like, well, I guess we're doing something right if they're doing that. But. I just get a gut feeling, I guess. I don't know how else to describe it. Or like me and Rachel, she's our social media manager and like, project manager, and we'll talk or someone will come in and we'll interview them. And she's just like, they don't have it.

00:38:34:10 - 00:38:34:23
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00:38:35:01 - 00:38:50:02
Speaker 2
And, there's times where people come in, we're like, they've got it, but we're not hiring. And so what do we do with that? And so, you know, we kind of look around like, what do we do? But I would just say the you would think it shouldn't be that hard to find someone who, like I said, gives a damn.

00:38:50:08 - 00:39:05:07
Speaker 2
But, that's really all it takes. Like, if you give a damn and you show up and you show out, I can teach you how to shoot a camera. I can teach you how to edit. I can teach you how to do in algorithms and all this stuff. I can teach that. I can't teach you to give a shit.

00:39:05:11 - 00:39:07:05
Speaker 2
I'm sorry, but.

00:39:07:08 - 00:39:40:04
Speaker 1
Yeah, no, I totally fine me. No, it's, it's one that I think. I think that even folks who do it well hire well, bring teams on. Which still, I think are figuring that out. I remember when I was in the service that was there was always like, even with the folks who, who, even with a decades of refining a try out, there's still always this probationary period afterwards, because and then, you know, you do your very best to filter it out and use experience to help you there.

00:39:40:04 - 00:40:06:01
Speaker 1
But at some point, you still then got to see the person in the wild, right? And then see what they do. And I think it's one of the hardest things, man. It's not. And I, I can't say that I've cracked the recipe. The one thing I've gotten close on, I'm curious if you have too, is just being able to, like, I like asking folks like, you know, I know we just met each other, but I'm curious, like, give me one of your toughest moments in your life and what you learn from it.

00:40:06:03 - 00:40:32:03
Speaker 1
And I often find that the folks that try to kind of sugarcoat or, try to stay the victor in the thing, that's not always a telltale sign, but for me, it's always a little bit of, you know, that that they're kind of too worried about being an A-plus student, right? I don't mind C plus and B minus students that are just brutally honest about the things they don't do.

00:40:32:03 - 00:40:48:13
Speaker 1
Well. And those that and some that I learned probably growing up, like, you know, messing things up on my grandfather's ranch and stuff is like, my brother and I, we like boys would do, you know, you just looking to blow something up or send something on fire, right? And sometimes, man, we just had a whole part of the thing on fire.

00:40:48:13 - 00:41:06:20
Speaker 1
And then, you know, the worst thing you can do is not admit right away. Right. If you met right away, you might actually get a lot more forgiveness right off the bat, because it's kind of like putting a wet blanket on a fire if you just own it. So anyway, I guess going down that trail, I just I don't know that I think there's a recipe, but I think there's certain things that we can do to ask.

00:41:06:22 - 00:41:09:23
Speaker 2
Man. And a lot of my employees honestly fell in my lap like.

00:41:10:04 - 00:41:10:18
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00:41:10:20 - 00:41:25:01
Speaker 2
So when I used to freelance, shot a lot of weddings and one of the girls I used to shoot with me. Her name is Natalie. Long story short, I met Natalie because my other second shooter couldn't attend one of them. Yeah, so here's a list. Like 3 or 4 people. And the one I called could do it.

00:41:25:01 - 00:41:41:19
Speaker 2
And it was Natalie. Yeah. She shot weddings with me for years, and then, I asked her about doing some summer projects. She's like, hey, she lives out of her truck now. She's like a nomad. Just kind of goes, Reverend does whatever. And she was like, well, hey, I can't do this. But, like, you might call my brother.

00:41:41:21 - 00:41:53:12
Speaker 2
And he pretty much. And he gave me a summers for like, three summers in a row just driving me to places because I was like, man, if I have a five hour drive, that's a lot of editing I can get done. So I paid him just to drive.

00:41:53:13 - 00:41:54:15
Speaker 1
Oh, that's cool man.

00:41:54:15 - 00:42:09:14
Speaker 2
And so he just drove me place to place and it was tiresome. And then at the last summer, I was like, hey, or would you like, consider doing this like, but being a media person instead. And he's like, I hope so is like, I'm about to graduate. And I was like, okay, cool. Like, I'll start training you now.

00:42:09:16 - 00:42:26:17
Speaker 2
But I was so busy, I didn't even ask those questions. And then Rachel, same deal. She reached out and was like, do you have any positions open? I have to do an internship for school. And I was like, no, but call me. And I made her agree to a non-paid internship. And then I paid her. But I was like, again, I wanted to see how bad you want to work here.

00:42:26:19 - 00:42:44:02
Speaker 2
So I was like, I'm not actively hiring, but let me see. I'm not going to close that door until I know it needs to be shot. And then, Tyler, same deal. I taught him in a church group. He was my first employee way back when, and. I hadn't talked to him since he was in junior high. And then he reached out one day.

00:42:44:02 - 00:43:00:18
Speaker 2
I was like, hey, do you want drop time? And I literally said, yeah, do you need a job? And, he was like, yeah, I knew I was like, all right, cool, I'll teach you everything else. And then just one thing after another just kept happening like that. And then, chance, he's our lead graphic designer, and he is the man.

00:43:00:18 - 00:43:14:22
Speaker 2
He's very good at his job. He's great with clients, but he's got the power, like he's got the will to work for it. And so everyone's kind of just fall in my lap. But the when Grayson came in and when I asked people one question, I asked and they said it was different because Evan wants to ask like, what are you good at?

00:43:14:22 - 00:43:36:03
Speaker 2
What are your faults? And one question I ask is, okay, well, if I ever had to let you go, what would it be for? And they just kind of look and they're like, I've never thought about that. And so I was like, all right, we got an answer now. But I was like, I want to know. And so if they say, oh, it's because I have anger problems or because you can't get around that, like, why would I fire you?

00:43:36:03 - 00:43:39:13
Speaker 2
Because I'm the best employee ever. Yeah. No, I wouldn't.

00:43:39:15 - 00:43:45:09
Speaker 1
Because y'all would think that I might be too good for you guys. Yeah, yeah, it was the best answer. What is one of the best ones you ever stumped everyone?

00:43:45:09 - 00:43:46:08
Speaker 2
No one's been able to answer.

00:43:46:09 - 00:43:48:13
Speaker 1
To give you a good one yet, man.

00:43:48:14 - 00:44:03:18
Speaker 2
And then we're at a, like, a hotel for a job we were doing one time, like, a month ago, and I told that story to a guy that was sitting there drinking with this, and he, he said, yeah, when I do this, I ask everybody is like, well, how bad do you want to work here? Really bad.

00:44:03:19 - 00:44:19:15
Speaker 2
He goes, how much do you pay to work here? And I saw Grayson go, because he's just a 21 year old college. He's like, I've got no money, but I want to work here. And I was like, that's kind of a good way to put it is like, everyone wants something from the owner, right? But, like, how bad do you want to learn?

00:44:19:17 - 00:44:33:07
Speaker 2
It's kind of what I mentioned earlier. I don't wants to pay to be around successful people. I want to learn what you have. Now, I don't know if I would charge someone to work for me, but it's like that was a good way to ask just to see what someone say is like, how much value do you see that I bring to the table?

00:44:33:07 - 00:44:44:04
Speaker 2
Not not you. I can teach you value, but how much value do you see me having in your life? I was like, well, it's a good way to see how someone answer.

00:44:44:08 - 00:45:07:01
Speaker 1
I think it's killer. I think those are the things that especially if you're especially if you're building something that, it's not just mission, but it's also reputation. And you're kind of it's a it's really like an extension of this family you're building and think it matters. Do you find that you how important is it when you with teammates or just big business decisions, did you consult your wife.

00:45:07:03 - 00:45:07:18
Speaker 2
100%.

00:45:07:22 - 00:45:39:00
Speaker 1
Yeah, like I find that too. Even with teammates, a lot of the times I'll go if I'm not on the fence, if I know I now. But when I'm ever just on there sugar. What. Tell me about them and I'll tell them. And she knows right away she has done sound like you I'd pass. Yeah. You know and I think it's powerful because they, they're this like third party that also know assuming that assuming that you all got a good thing going on just kind of know kind of sometimes they keep score better than you do about what went well in the past and what didn't.

00:45:39:02 - 00:45:47:06
Speaker 1
You know. And guys I guess they're probably always just like were eager to keep the ball moving. And there are good ones. I mean, do you find that relationship with your wife too?

00:45:47:06 - 00:46:02:18
Speaker 2
Yeah, she's the best at everything I'm bad at. And so if I'm too nice, like, even when I go to, like, trade shows and stuff, they're like, Austin, quit giving me away. You gave away $5,000 of merch and like, we can't. And I'm like, no, but this person came on this way. They need them. They need this. And same deal with jobs.

00:46:02:18 - 00:46:08:02
Speaker 2
I was like, if anyone came to me, it's like, I can't ever have cash because I just give it away. I don't know what I mean. I might.

00:46:08:03 - 00:46:09:02
Speaker 1
Be that guy, man.

00:46:09:02 - 00:46:28:08
Speaker 2
But it's like, I just feel like anytime someone comes up, I'm like, I want to. I don't want to say no to anybody. Yeah. And and my wife's the opposite. She's like, oh, let's pump the brakes and let's talk about it. And so anyone that comes in while we're trying to structure it now, but again, people have just fallen into our lap like we haven't had anything out in a year and a half as far as job openings.

00:46:28:08 - 00:46:43:21
Speaker 2
And we probably had. 25 or 30 people ask, are you hiring literally anywhere in the company? Do you have internships open? Do you have any of this? And I joke with my employees and stuff like, see, we want to work here.

00:46:43:22 - 00:46:45:23
Speaker 1
You better watch out. You better keep it going.

00:46:46:01 - 00:47:03:17
Speaker 2
But everyone now is. We're so small with especially the goals we have because we're a very own company. I'm 32 with including me and my wife, ten employees and so like trying to jump up and do that where three years ago we didn't have a single employee is I call everyone the drop kind of jeez, now is I'm like, are the originals?

00:47:03:21 - 00:47:20:06
Speaker 2
So, like, when we, when we build this. Yeah. Like, y'all always mean you always have that title. And, I'm a big, big believer in rising tides. Bring up all ships. And so anyone who wants to work hard, anyone who's going to be a part of the growth, it's going to be successful for all of us.

00:47:20:06 - 00:47:32:07
Speaker 1
Yeah. I mean, what's, when you when you think about when you daydream about ten more years from now, what are y'all doing? Like, what's it look like now?

00:47:32:09 - 00:47:49:21
Speaker 2
That's a good question. I, it's hard for me to see that far ahead. Like, up until two years ago, I couldn't plan a month ahead. Six months ahead, like, literally, I was, because when it was just me, I had no internal structure, and it was all in my head on a notepad or in my phone. Yeah, I still have notes on my phone.

00:47:49:21 - 00:47:54:10
Speaker 2
I probably have 6000 notes and I don't know what any of them are. And,

00:47:54:11 - 00:47:56:18
Speaker 1
You're just saying yes to jobs and running away much.

00:47:56:18 - 00:48:13:23
Speaker 2
Like this. And my wife even told me she's like, you can't remember when we have a date night. But if I was to ask your aging report, you can tell me every person that owes you money to the penny. And I was like, yep. And so it just way my brain works. And, but yeah, so I would say.

00:48:14:01 - 00:48:35:14
Speaker 2
I mean, my goal would be like start taking on larger corporate clients, but not forgetting who I brought to the dance because I still want to take on all these ranches, and because they are more or less the smaller guys, they are a pain to work with. But it's so rewarding. There's times where we go around, we've got a client that just for example, they're big.

00:48:35:14 - 00:48:56:02
Speaker 2
They've been brewing exotics for over 30 years and like super exotic. So like the high end, like axes, black buck. Those are what in the industry they call common exotics because they're just around. But sable kudu bongo cape buffalo all these things those are super exotics. And one time we're driving around and it's just there's times I'm banging my head against a desk on what am I doing?

00:48:56:02 - 00:49:14:22
Speaker 2
Like, why do I own my own business? And then when I go out, I'm like, they give me free range. They're like, hey, we got work to do. You've got the keys of the Jeep. Just go and I'll go see the largest privately herd, privately owned herd of like Cape buffalo, the 60 Cape buffalo in the US just outside of Waco.

00:49:14:23 - 00:49:33:08
Speaker 2
And just I get to drive by and they're all looking at me and I'll go see 60 sable, 50 kudu. And I'm like, this is what it's all for. Yeah. And so that's kind of what is like refreshing about it. And there's times where, like I said, I'm banging my head against a desk on why don't I start a company?

00:49:33:08 - 00:49:51:20
Speaker 2
Why am I I did this so I didn't have to do paperwork. And then my side of it and what we want to do is I don't I don't ever want to forget that is we are absolutely blessed to be able to go see all that again. People pay to fly across the world to go see the animals that we get to document and film and do all this, and people pay us to do it.

00:49:51:22 - 00:50:10:16
Speaker 2
So I don't ever want to forget that girl that I brought to the dance. Yeah. And even for the small guys. But I could see us being more of a full agency. We've got one company right now. They're probably their parent companies. Cargill. They're. I don't know what it is. Like 20 billion or if not 200 billion, I can't remember annually.

00:50:10:18 - 00:50:28:20
Speaker 2
And, that's all there. Companies everywhere. But they're a feed company. And they took us on and we're we're on their social media and we're going to do more stuff for them later on. But they're great to work with. They're super appreciative. And so and they're corporate, so they're a little hard to get Ahold of sometimes. But they're very punctual with everything else.

00:50:28:20 - 00:50:49:03
Speaker 2
And so hoping to do a lot more of that, more production stuff. But man, especially in Austin, I know it's oversaturated with like media people, but in what you ask those anyone what it costs to do a video. Like even if I was like, yeah, they start at five grand. If you go to like a rancher and you say a video is going to be five grand, and don't forget, I don't just have this.

00:50:49:03 - 00:51:11:22
Speaker 2
We've got those giant lenses, 20, $30,000 lenses on a $10,000 camera and all this other stuff. And that's one set up and they're like $5,000. No way I would. I've got $60 million in exotics, and they are batting their eyes at a $5,000 video. And it's like, but they're still we're trying to break in. We're literally no one's ever done what we're doing before in this industry.

00:51:11:22 - 00:51:30:07
Speaker 2
So yeah, I'm trying to remind myself that. But when we are driving around, it is, very rewarding to see that. So yeah, that's what I would like to do is more larger scale projects and letting our team, like, fully be able to run and hit the ground running with what we do, rather than like trying to educate someone on what we do.

00:51:30:07 - 00:51:45:23
Speaker 2
And then we're six months behind projects and just because we're trying to educate an older rancher that doesn't understand it, which is fine, but that would be my goal, is to be able to pretty much have someone come in and say, we trust you and let us loose. Yeah.

00:51:46:01 - 00:51:55:08
Speaker 1
Now, I think what it sounds like, especially in that community, is the more and more you do it, and you guys have been doing it for a while now, but that's all.

00:51:55:10 - 00:52:13:17
Speaker 1
These guys are handshake and phone calls. So like, oh, Austin called me on this. Is that what he did for you? Yeah. Okay. I guess I'll pay. That's just. But until that happens at kind of velocity, you know, or at mass and it doesn't work, but, yeah, I think that I think it sounds like also that y'all understood.

00:52:13:22 - 00:52:24:08
Speaker 1
Y'all understand this world probably better than anybody else, which I do want to dive into. Actually, I think that well, first of all, tell folks what I know what a drop time is. But what what does that mean for folks who don't know what that even means?

00:52:24:08 - 00:52:45:18
Speaker 2
So like each time on an antler, like, say, a white tail? Yeah. Each little point that goes up is a time. And so they've got your main beam. And then each little point coming off is considered time. Well, a drop time is one that comes off the main beam and just comes straight down. And like the definition of it is like, unique and rare.

00:52:45:20 - 00:52:59:17
Speaker 2
So it's kind of sought after. I've always liked it. Our hunting ranch is called Drop Town Ranch, and actually the antler and the aperture ring was our hunting ranch logo. I just manipulated it to fit inside of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I.

00:52:59:17 - 00:53:00:08
Speaker 1
Dig it. I mean.

00:53:00:12 - 00:53:10:04
Speaker 2
So, yeah, that's kind of what a time is and then what a drop time. Yeah. So we'd tell people we're unique and rare in the aspect of something that is normal.

00:53:10:09 - 00:53:19:18
Speaker 1
Yeah. They have a perfect name for it. So just walk us through maybe I mean, this is probably a podcast episode in itself, but.

00:53:19:20 - 00:53:36:12
Speaker 1
What are the considerations that make what you all do unique, but also probably tougher than maybe an average wedding or a commercial shoot where you're shooting a product or something? I cannot imagine Mother Nature can be tough, and that brings a whole new set of things to the biz.

00:53:36:16 - 00:53:54:22
Speaker 2
Yeah. So whether is it just like to any rancher or whether it's super important, you know, we can't really film in the heat of the day. So I say it's like hunters. It's the best time to hunt. So first, our first two hours in the morning and the last two hours in the evening. Well, this time of the year, it doesn't get dark till 9:00.

00:53:55:00 - 00:54:16:14
Speaker 2
So we're not starting to go out until 6 or 7:00. That's when most people are at home with families. Yeah. And we're three, 4 or 5 hours away, shot in 13 different states than all over the world. But that's I think that's the biggest struggle we have. Like, absolutely love what I do. And it's I tell my wife, it's hard to lie to you to say I don't enjoy it when I go out while you're home, stuck with the kids.

00:54:16:14 - 00:54:35:06
Speaker 2
I'm having a great time, but it is hard. The hardest part is I can't go with me. And so, that that brings in a factor. It's the travel, the hours. Because then again, we got to be up to shoot at sunlight, which is six. Well, that means you got to get up at five and half the time we're having a good time.

00:54:35:06 - 00:54:51:19
Speaker 2
We don't go to bed till midnight or 2:00. And so because, I mean, it doesn't get dark till nine, well, every little Mexican food restaurant and fast food restaurant on a Tuesday is close at nine. So then we got to cook, which again, this body was built off ranch food. But when you do that.

00:54:51:19 - 00:54:53:05
Speaker 1
Open fire fajitas. Yeah.

00:54:53:05 - 00:55:08:14
Speaker 2
Last night I was on a ranch. I had a three hour drive to get back home, and they're starting up the grill at 10:00, going. You want to stay for dinner? I'm like, that won't be ready until 1130. No. Like I, I didn't get home last night until like 1:30 a.m.. And so I was like, if I stayed for that, I got to get home at four.

00:55:08:16 - 00:55:26:04
Speaker 2
So it's super nice that we do that. But that's a challenge in itself is the hours, because again, how do I pay my guys off of that of like, you get up at 5 a.m., you shoot until six eight, 9:00. There's times where it's overcast is our best friend, because then you don't have heat waves because you're shooting super far away.

00:55:26:09 - 00:55:43:00
Speaker 2
Like in here. You have a lot of cameras. You do all this, you go outside and it's bright sunshiny. You can't really control that. And then you can't control the animals or I can't ask them, hey, can you step over here? Can you turn your head left? Right, I wish, but, Yeah, we can't. We can't control the animals.

00:55:43:00 - 00:55:56:04
Speaker 2
We can control the weather, and we have to even have it in our contract. It's like if we don't see the animals, we're not liable to film it. Like, unless you can pick them up and set them in front of me. Which that's why I'm glad we're getting into cattle. Because you shake a bag or hit a siren.

00:55:56:05 - 00:56:15:19
Speaker 2
Yeah, coming to you. But these other animals, like Ginzberg and Sable and all this, they don't. They're wild animals. And so. And that's another factor, is I spend tremendous amount of time training my guys to go out in the field because you move wrong. Or if you don't know that mama's got a baby and she will charge you, that's a huge factor.

00:56:15:21 - 00:56:35:21
Speaker 2
And then talk about insurance and everything else. But there's another guy like, it's super fun. If one guy wants to go do it once. Yeah, it's super rewarding. And what we do is still rewarding. But to do it consistently over and over and over and over again, it's, taxing. Yeah. And so that's the probably the biggest one is travel in time.

00:56:35:23 - 00:56:56:15
Speaker 1
Yeah. It's, those are the considerations that don't come into when you're watching this really great 612, 24 minute film and you're like, oh my gosh, the things I would do to do that for a living. You know, it's a little bit like drinking some bourbon or wine or whatever. And then you realize, like doing the work to make that thing come to life is rewarding.

00:56:56:15 - 00:57:19:10
Speaker 1
You got to be in it. But man, it is hard work. Yeah. And for my understanding, you've done this thing really without. I mean, other than that, other than Josh giving you that check. I mean, you've done this all bootstrapped time, like you've grown this business. Yeah. How does one do that? I mean, it seems to almost break people's idea of reality in today's world that you can not go get a loan and run a business the way that you have for as long as you have.

00:57:19:15 - 00:57:34:04
Speaker 2
Yeah. So I, as soon as I did that with Josh when we sold the ranch, I didn't know where I was going to live. I knew I was I reconnected with my wife. Me and my wife known each other since are in diapers. I promise to do that. Yes, but she was still getting her doctorate. And so I was like, well, you got a whole nother year of school.

00:57:34:04 - 00:57:54:04
Speaker 2
I'm not going to, you know, go get a house or apartment and I'm going to travel. So essentially the year while we dated, in the year while she was there. So two years I couch out like I had I was a nomad. And so I got to do a 5000 job. I'd buy 4500 islands, not live off 500 bucks.

00:57:54:06 - 00:58:15:12
Speaker 2
I go to a $10,000 job, but $8,000 on the gear. And so I just collectively started building up my gear and then I would get that and which is addicting. I hope my kids do camera stuff because they don't have money for drugs and alcohol because you spend it on it's expensive. And so we just collectively or we I started collecting all my camera equipment, my audio equipment, all my lighting equipment.

00:58:15:12 - 00:58:34:09
Speaker 2
And so once I got married, I mean, there was more lenses and stuff I wanted to buy, but I didn't have to anymore. Then, office out of my house for so long. Then I everything I did, I tried to utilize multifaceted, just like a poor college kid trying to make it through till he graduates. I was doing that as an adult.

00:58:34:11 - 00:58:55:10
Speaker 2
And so everything I did, I was like, I even pulled the math because I thought I would look, I think 2018 or 2019, I had a 600% growth and then 19 to 20 was like 200. And then every year then has been 40 to 70% growth collectively every year after that. Oh man. And, it's been super humbling.

00:58:55:10 - 00:59:04:20
Speaker 2
It's been great. But it was, you know, when you're a freelancer and you're doing so six, $800,000 is great. But then when you try to get employees, you got 6 to $800,000 in salaries.

00:59:05:00 - 00:59:07:01
Speaker 1
And that's all well now.

00:59:07:05 - 00:59:22:08
Speaker 2
Yeah, I was like, well, how does this make sense? I gave all you my money and I don't have any money left. So but I tell them that I was like, hey, this has to make sense. Because like going from a freelancer, which again, they have made my life so much easier and they're so good at what they do.

00:59:22:08 - 00:59:36:18
Speaker 2
But I tell them I was like, I could make a phone call to like, my 5 or 6 biggest clients and make them a hell of a deal for like a five year contract. And I could be making a ton of money, like as an individual, and I might keep like one person on to help Dell gain or do whatever.

00:59:36:18 - 00:59:53:08
Speaker 2
But I was like, it has to make sense. And I don't tell them that in like a demeaning way. I'm like, just I'm a realist. Like, if this doesn't work, it's not going to work. But like, I even bring them in and I tell them, like, your opinion has value. And so like I want them to know. And my goal would be for them to have a team under them.

00:59:53:11 - 01:00:09:07
Speaker 2
So I have to let them know their voice is heard. Now they can't just one day become a manager and go, oh, what I say goes. So like I pull everyone unless I have like I tell anyone, you can always tell me no, you better have a damn good reason to tell me no or tell me why you can't.

01:00:09:07 - 01:00:24:02
Speaker 2
But I was like, I'll listen. And so I want them to know that when they're managing people, I want one. I want them to treat them the same way. But two, I want you to know that like, your voice has value. And so if you come in and say, awesome, we need to do I mean, even these these are expensive giveaways.

01:00:24:04 - 01:00:40:17
Speaker 2
But I was like, someone was like, well, we should do this, or should we do a vertical or horizontal? Well, then I'll let them debate on and I just sit back. I want them to come up with a solution. I want them to be problem solvers. And that can go from a, you know, $20 handout to a $20,000 decision or what, a whole new employee.

01:00:40:19 - 01:00:52:19
Speaker 2
But I have to let them start making decisions on their own, because if not, how can I ever expect them to, like, step into a role to make those decisions if they've never had to do it before?

01:00:52:21 - 01:01:13:09
Speaker 1
It's a good philosophy, I think you have about just giving folks the ability to get out a little further on their own so they can. It's a little bit like when you it's a little bit like you ever try to recall something, and if you can work it out and recall what you're thinking, whatever. Maybe coordinates to a recipe when you figure it out like it's there forever.

01:01:13:11 - 01:01:29:00
Speaker 1
But if you immediately go to the Google machine or whatever and you go look it up, that thing, I feel like I'm looking it up every single time because my brain doesn't value it the same way. Right? So I think it just reminds me that man now, I think it's incredible. I think it's incredible that you've been able to kind of look at it from that perspective.

01:01:29:01 - 01:01:48:13
Speaker 1
What I guess, what doesn't what keeps you from me? I think I know the answer, but why continue to do the team? There's so much that comes with ownership responsibility. Morning. You know, early morning sweats like all that stuff. Why continue to do this when you could just go on your own and, I don't know, run into the sunset with your big lenses?

01:01:48:14 - 01:02:09:16
Speaker 2
Yeah. I, I value people and, I don't take it lightly that people literally uprooted their life to a new part of the Texas and, to trust me and honestly, to watch them play with my kids and to do this, that brings more value to me than their job role in their title. But I know I can't base a company off that because again, that goes back to emotions, not facts.

01:02:09:16 - 01:02:30:15
Speaker 2
And but yeah, overall, I think it's it's a lot of people are afraid to do things that are hard now for ease later. And I heard it actually I heard it yesterday. The guy just said if I think it was like a workout deal, but he was like, if I just tell myself five more minutes, he's like, that's my body's governor telling me to stop.

01:02:30:17 - 01:02:50:03
Speaker 2
Well, I've done all that hard work, and I just need to know how far their governor is going to push them. And once they get to their stopping point, I can encourage them and push them to go a little further. And that's what I love seeing as much as I love. And I'm fascinated with business and growth and numbers and how business works and all these other things.

01:02:50:05 - 01:03:05:19
Speaker 2
I love and enjoy people and pushing them to their limits. Not in a bad way, but seeing what they can do or how capable they have. Or if they do something and they lose the company money. I go, that's all right, you'll lose me money in the future. Did you learn anything? And like they just like it.

01:03:05:21 - 01:03:20:06
Speaker 2
They're like what. You should be yelling at me. I just lost 5000, $10,000. I'm like it's all right. You're going to lose me more money. Don't worry about that. Did you learn. Are you going to do it again? How do you fix it? Because again, I don't you know, you're not going to make the ground or the grass grow by yelling at it.

01:03:20:08 - 01:03:45:04
Speaker 1
But in some ways, do you also look at it and go, I know I just invested $10,000 in you. Last thing I'm going to do is fire you, right? Right. Like I need to learn from what you did. That's killer man. What? I guess to close it out there, Austin is, if you were going to kind of unrelated business or anything else, the thing you had on my mind, and especially after flipping through that book, what is one of the most beautiful places you've ever and maybe beautiful in whatever way you want to describe that?

01:03:45:04 - 01:03:52:17
Speaker 1
Yeah. What some of the most beautiful places you've ever shot. Something that maybe most people wouldn't even think about.

01:03:52:19 - 01:04:18:20
Speaker 2
Oh, man. I mean, outside of Texas, Africa is unreal. Yeah, and Texas is pretty much like the Africa in the States. Like it just the terrain, the heat, everything is the same. But just like the wildlife over there is unreal. Yeah. And, it just it's beautiful. And then, I mean, in Texas, I would say the there's two places that come to mind.

01:04:18:20 - 01:04:28:20
Speaker 2
One is a brand new client we've worked with. We've done one job with this year. They're called sleepy B, and I guess anyone watching or listening or, sleepy B ranch all in Texas.

01:04:28:20 - 01:04:29:04
Speaker 1
Or is it.

01:04:29:04 - 01:04:48:02
Speaker 2
Mullen and Mullen? Okay, it's not too far from Brady. Yeah, not too far from Brownwood. Yeah. And, man, we showed up and they it was the land was beautiful. The animals were beautiful. They had big herds. It was just a really cool experience. And, we've actually got some stuff on our social media from there that we've been posting and tag.

01:04:48:02 - 01:05:02:09
Speaker 2
And just because I, and I'm called the guys like, I am not trying to get more money, I was like, we got some of the best content we've ever gotten, and if you don't do anything, it's just going to send out a hard drive like we it'd be a waste. And, the other ones that ranch I told you about was, her tata is what?

01:05:02:09 - 01:05:02:19
Speaker 2
Their name is.

01:05:02:20 - 01:05:03:06
Speaker 1
Hurtado.

01:05:03:06 - 01:05:24:20
Speaker 2
Ranch. And they're only breeding, and they're the ones have been breeding for 30 something years. But again, it's just you can see the animal husbandry that goes into the care for the animals that they do. And it truly is a work of art, the way they put it. And it's just it's beautiful to be able to go through and watch and see how they have stewarded the land and steward of the animals.

01:05:24:20 - 01:05:32:15
Speaker 2
And yeah, just overall, I would say those are probably the two that kind of in mind. That's not Africa, because Africa has its own whole beast on its own. No.

01:05:32:15 - 01:05:53:18
Speaker 1
Yeah. No, you're absolutely right. I love Africa, man. And I think that to your point, it's almost hard to capture in words. And oddly enough, the animals there thrive in Texas. I think it's something that I know for a lot of our friends that come from the coast and visit Texas, I think they like the people, the culture, the barbecue, the music, the kind of the nice aggressiveness that we have.

01:05:53:20 - 01:06:08:22
Speaker 1
But oftentimes I don't get a lot of praise on our terrain, like a lot of folks like, yeah, it's not that gorgeous out here. I don't know, maybe because I grew up here, you know, from South Texas, but I've always found it to be one of the most, maybe because the lanes and forgiving is what makes it gorgeous.

01:06:08:22 - 01:06:18:12
Speaker 1
And I think it's Africa is the same way. It's like it's the land that you gotta have respect for, because if you're in it, it's not going to let you go lightly. And there's such a.

01:06:18:13 - 01:06:38:21
Speaker 2
Texas as a whole like you could go to there's probably 3 or 4 ecosystems just in Texas. You got to East Texas. Lush green grass. Yeah. Waters abundant. You do this, you go to West Texas even further from where I'm from, desolate. Then you got giant Texas mountains, and they're bone dry dust everywhere. And then you go to the hill country.

01:06:38:21 - 01:06:53:12
Speaker 2
It's beautiful rolling hills. It just. I'm in love with Texas. I don't know if I can ever live anywhere else, but it's like you can go within a certain. I can go in a week on a jobs. I can see every part of Texas. And it's just it's one of the hardest parts, but it's also one of the biggest blessings.

01:06:53:12 - 01:06:56:07
Speaker 2
And part of the job is being able to go see everything.

01:06:56:09 - 01:07:21:22
Speaker 1
Yeah. Keller. Me. Awesome. Well, thanks for coming in today, man, and sharing. Thanks for having me. Insights and everything. I look forward to maybe look forward to doing something with you all there in the future. I think a lot of what y'all see and do out there is just so in the vein of what our mission is out of, you know, with American operator, but even more so, I think what y'all do for a living is also just it's rare to have a small business operating to help other small businesses continue to thrive.

01:07:21:22 - 01:07:28:23
Speaker 1
So in a way, y'all are kind of this multifaceted thing, man. So thanks for all you do, man, and thanks for your time. Thanks, brother.

01:07:28:23 - 01:07:55:05
Speaker 1
Thanks for tuning in to the American Operator Podcast, where we celebrate the backbone of America small business owners and operators like you. If you've enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe so you'll never miss out on more of these stories and insights from people who keep our community strong. Until next time, keep building, keep operating and keep America moving forward.