In this episode Talmage interviews Austin Brady. Austin is a talented videographer, entrepreneur and YouTuber. On his mission he had to learn a lot about the delicate dance between structure and the human touch in service. While Austin was never looking for love while serving he ended up meeting his soulmate. The narrative unfolds to reveal how a steadfast commitment to serving others can lead to profound personal growth, even when it means setting aside meticulously laid plans. This episode is a heartfelt reflection on the power of human connection and the enduring value of prioritizing people over programs, a lesson that Austin's life richly exemplifies.
As we near the end of our journey with Austin, we celebrate the art of manifesting goals and the beauty inherent in trusting the path laid out before us. It's a story of success, intentionality, and the firm belief that with conviction and God's guidance, we are all capable of reaching greatness, whether on a mission or navigating the seas of everyday life.
Remember, God is good and is planning on your success. And though you've been released from your mission, you haven't been released from your ministry.
In this episode Talmage interviews Austin Brady. Austin is a talented videographer, entrepreneur and YouTuber. On his mission he had to learn a lot about the delicate dance between structure and the human touch in service. While Austin was never looking for love while serving he ended up meeting his soulmate. The narrative unfolds to reveal how a steadfast commitment to serving others can lead to profound personal growth, even when it means setting aside meticulously laid plans. This episode is a heartfelt reflection on the power of human connection and the enduring value of prioritizing people over programs, a lesson that Austin's life richly exemplifies.
As we near the end of our journey with Austin, we celebrate the art of manifesting goals and the beauty inherent in trusting the path laid out before us. It's a story of success, intentionality, and the firm belief that with conviction and God's guidance, we are all capable of reaching greatness, whether on a mission or navigating the seas of everyday life.
Remember, God is good and is planning on your success. And though you've been released from your mission, you haven't been released from your ministry.
Hey, what's up everybody. Welcome back to another episode of release the podcast. In this episode, I get to interview Austin Brady. Austin is a very talented videographer, entrepreneur and youtuber. We filmed this episode three or four months ago in his effort to get me to start doing season 3 again, and so thank you so much, austin, for the encouragement. We're getting it out there. This episode is coming out a little late. It was supposed to come out yesterday but it's coming out today. But it's really good. There's a lot of great stuff in here. I'm excited for you guys to hear his released story. Let's get into it. Sick Austin, thank you so much for being on release the podcast. It's been a long time coming, but we're doing it and so, yeah, thanks for being on course. Well, without further ado, let's just jump into who you are, how you grew up and why you wanted to go on a mission in the first place. Perfect.
Austin:Yeah, so I was born in Sandy Murray area and so my parents live there for about three years and I just remember from like really young, like reading the Book of Mormon, or at least listening to the Book of Mormon, like the old, like children's Book of Mormon stories yeah, those were so sick, yeah, and they've updated them now, so like the Illustrations are a lot more interesting. Nice, kind of cool to see that progress.
Talmage:The war chapters are pretty dope. Oh yeah, I bet the swords.
Austin:Yeah, all the helmets. Yeah, no gore, no, I've got to keep it clean. Yeah you know we were trying to fill spirit.
Austin:When you're with your kids exactly Got to be clean, yeah. But I'd listen to these stories of the Book of Mormon and hear about like the epic adventures of like Tiancom or like Ammon or Nephi, and like I really looked up to those guys's as role models Moroni, even to specifically captain Moroni, and so, yeah, I grew up in Utah and then my parents moved to Missouri where my dad went to chiropractic school and Then we moved to Tennessee. So I got kind of like eight to ten years inside Utah, got that experience and then eight to ten years outside of Utah which was kind of cool too.
Austin:I remember being on the school bus and one of my friends being like dude, like that's a super cool ring, like what does that mean? Like Christ the Rock, I was like Frick, yeah, rock dude, little CTR ring, and so I, you know, growing up in Utah but also like in the Bible Belt in the south, was kind of fun to yeah, at Midwest there's a lot of really good Christians and people who love Christ and want to follow him. So I had the ability to be around people in my same faith, but then also people who weren't of the exact same faith, that are dominant Denomination at least, and going out to share so my beliefs. So kind of got to be a little missionary.
Austin:Yeah from a young age which is cool, that is sick.
Talmage:Any experiences that stick out to you the most, that kind of Formed you and made you appreciate living in a place that didn't have a ton of LDS kids.
Austin:I think two things were interesting. One was my parents taught me and this was more of just my our household was Trying to keep the Sabbath day holy, and that's kind of evolved as I've gotten older and had a more perspective. But one thing for my parents was like we don't go outside and play with friends.
Austin:Yeah we, we still go and like hang out with people or you like write cards or give out treats or visit family, but it wasn't like we're getting all sweaty running around playing basketball or anything, yeah. So I remember one day One of my buddies came over and he's like, hey, dude, like we're getting all the guys together, let's go play ball. And I was like, yeah, that'd be sick. So I like, hey, mom, I want to be right back, I'm gonna call it play basketball. And she was like, hey, like remember what day it is? Oh, it's Sunday, dang it. It's like, hey, dude, I don't play basketball on Sundays, but you guys have fun. So I was kind of an interesting way and and who's to say that basketball is good or bad on Sunday? But I was just a way to remember hey, like this is the Lord's Day. How can I make it specific for him? Yeah, maybe in some instances that would be appropriate, but that was a small thing. People asking me like, hey, why don't you drink coke? Yeah, Well.
Austin:I could drink coke but I'm like really young so I'm probably not gonna be drinking caffeine or anything right now. But trying to explain, like the word of wisdom, to other people who really love their coffee or, you know, love drinking it like family or the coldest act, parties and stuff.
Talmage:So you got to go to these conversations way before the mission, which is yeah yeah, cuz a lot of us Utah missionaries Just like just give up coffee. Yeah, what's the big deal.
Austin:So at least I got a little bit the Outside of Utah experience where I knew where these people were coming from. I knew that there was a lot of good Christian people that wanted to follow Christ, that had different perspectives, different Places where they grew up, and so even on my mission, even though I left from Utah for my mission, I would tell people that I was, you know, from Tennessee, because I lived outside of Utah for so long. I wanted to give them a different perspective than just, oh, here's some white, you know elder from Utah that doesn't know anything. Hopefully to say like, hey, like I, I may understand more of what you're going through because I didn't just come out of some factory in Provo. Yeah, exactly.
Talmage:That's great. Yeah, so you put in your papers what year.
Austin:But my papers. I think it was 2017 in a 2017.
Talmage:Okay birthdays in January and then oh yeah, that's when I met you, yeah 2017.
Austin:Yeah, we met. My parents were in a In a business together, we're in business together and I met towel, like right before my mission, and you just got back from Scotland, ireland, yeah, that's so sick foreign. You know mission, you spoke.
Talmage:I spoke. English.
Austin:Yeah, but the accents were crazy. Accents were crazy.
Talmage:Yeah, picked up a couple phrases in Portuguese and Chinese.
Austin:Oh, I bet, but yeah, I heard Dublin's like I had a friend who served the same mission and Dublin was like a melting pot so many different people.
Talmage:Yeah, tons of Brazilians, mm-hmm, like loads, almost more than there are Irish people. Just crazy. Yeah, it's crazy of all places. So you got your call and where were you called?
Austin:So I got my call. It was called to the Nebraska Omaha mission. We called it numb, so back in numb Kind of a funny phrase that we had. If you're from the non mission, you know yeah.
Austin:And I was disappointed. I knew I wasn't gonna go internationally Because of how I filled out my papers. I knew there was a couple things that would bar me from international service, just some personal health choices that chose to make. But I was excited to serve in the United States. I thought Tennessee be kind of cool. To go back to the Bible belt, yeah, east Coast would be interesting. I've never, you know, had never lived out there at that point. Or maybe West Coast would be cool too. And it was Nebraska, smack dab in the middle of the United States. And I was low key, a little disappointed. You know, I wasn't maybe as hyped as someone else being called to say somewhere they wanted to be Mm-hmm. But very quickly I felt that it was where I needed to go and I felt Excited about it. I knew that there was gonna be people or experiences I was gonna have there. That would be Worth it. Yeah, maybe serving somewhere that wasn't as exciting and ended up being exactly that.
Talmage:That's awesome, dang. Yeah, tell me a little bit about that mission, any transformative moment that you might have had While while on the mission, whether that was like somebody in the street that said something to you, a convert, your mission president, whatever it was, mm-hmm, tell me about that.
Austin:Yeah. So for the mission I reported to the MTC this was way before COVID and so I got to have those three weeks of experience. I was really obsessed with Iceland still am, yeah, and they were flying the Iceland flag at the MTC, which means that there's someone serving in that mission who's gonna go to that mission, yeah. So I tracked down the elder. He was there for nine weeks learning Icelandic, oh my god. So I followed his mission, which was really cool. It was fun to be in that, experiencing all these missionaries, dedicated, excited to serve, learning different languages. And so I Went out with about three or four other elders and a couple sisters. So we got to Nebraska, got to meet our mission president, which we had for one transfer. Then they switched mission presidents, so that was kind of interesting and Then started serving in kind of a more boony area out in the sticks and also got the city experience too.
Austin:But from all those areas I served in and from all the people, the companions that I had, I think the biggest thing that I learned was compassion and empathy For people. I learned that people are more important than things, than schedules, than analytics, than numbers. I was very much the kind of person who was strict with the schedule. I loved waking up at like 5 am 6 am. I love going to bed at a good time. I loved having a schedule.
Talmage:I am for me.
Austin:No before the mission. So sleeping into 6 30 was like there was a vacation for me almost.
Talmage:Dang, I kept myself very strict. Maybe I was one of the elders a morning person oh yeah, I'm a person. Yeah, I. I wake up at night.
Austin:Yeah, and so yeah I don't know, kind of weird like that. So that aspect was not hard for me. I found a lot of joy in that. I fell a lot of peace.
Austin:But I had companions who live differently, probably someone like you. They Didn't like waking up early. I love staying up late, um. Or for other people that maybe struggle with schedules or following very strict rules I mean, being religious is more of a strict lifestyle in general, yeah, and then you add on top of it missionary service.
Austin:We're representing an organization, a church, and that was tough for a lot of my companions. There was things that was difficult for me too, but I had to learn that I'm not here to be a perfect person. I'm not here to Flex on numbers or on people that I helped. It was more of how can I become a friend to those that I'm serving? How can I be a support, a good companion to those that I was working with, and Some of the hardest companions have ended up becoming some of my best friends because of those experiences.
Austin:We went together and realizing that when I let go of what I wanted, what elder Brady wanted, and realized, okay, what is God, what? How can I help people, then that's helped a lot that's helped in my life now realizing, when I did summer sales, when I'm doing Content online, rather than thinking how can I make myself look cool or how can I get big numbers, analytics, how can I focus on connecting with someone, finding and value that they need, giving them that value. I've seen immense success, so that was kind of a cool way to Learn a good life principle, but then also a business, a social friendship principle too. Totally.
Talmage:It's just like that Thomas S Monson quote where he says never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be served. You always have the best quotes some do all up.
Talmage:I just remember the good ones, and, and President Monson had a lot of them, he did, but it's so true, as soon as you let red tape, regimen or Structure become more important than somebody's need, then Then what's the point? Yeah, what's the point of serving a mission if you're not serving the people in that mission? Yeah, and that includes the investigators, the companions, the church members, all of them. And so, yeah, that is probably one of the best lessons you could have learned while on the mission. Yeah, that is awesome. Is there a specific instance that might have? Like, would, would drive that point home? Kind of like, maybe you were one way, you were a Little too strict, and then you had a moment where you're like, dang, I need to forget this rule and help this person out.
Austin:There were so many experiences. It was fun because I think the Lord was really trying to humble me. I Went on my mission and I had the opportunity to be trained by an amazing elder, elder deroture. He was the best trainer you could imagine then had the opportunity to help train Right after, right after, twice, right after which was crazy. I didn't feel very adequate for that and we had immense success. My first training. I had immense success. I was feeling really good. I was like, okay, I got that. I got this missionary thing like on lockdown. Yeah, we're just gonna cruise, we got this. Second trainee was way more difficult. We saw way less success. It was a new area and I was really focusing on like numbers and how can we be strict on our schedule. And Then after that I had six months, so two companions back to back. They were in very similar circumstances. They were both three months away from going home and I had them for two months each Dang. They both were really obsessed with sisters in the mission.
Austin:Oh, dang, they loved those mission. I know from ants. I know they loved, you know, casually shopping. They loved Maybe being a little more lax with the rules. They really enjoyed Just doing things that weren't like super strict. Some of that was maybe more disobedient. A lot of it wasn't, was just more of a laxadaisical style, and I'm very much like scheduled to the tea, like every 15 to 30 minutes Maybe not 15, but 30 minutes was like scheduled like K yeah, comp study, personal study, proselyting, knocking doors, lessons, member dinner, keeping member dinner short, like all this stuff, because that's how I felt like I was being productive, it's how I feel like I was being obedient. And there was one time where my companion he was like, hey, I know you want to go knock doors because that's what we should be doing according to scheduling, but we have a new member and they were married to a member who's becoming more active hmm, so a part-member family, had he just gotten baptized and they want to watch the passion of Christ With us.
Austin:I was like we're hanging out with members, we're watching a rated R movie, but we're just sitting around like sacks. That was a big thing of my mission was being a sack.
Talmage:It was just sitting around like what a sacks, do they just sit?
Austin:so yeah, people sacks and I was like what are we doing? Like that's not what we're supposed to be doing right now. Yeah, and we went. We ended up caving. I'd have choose, picked my battles. I guess we went over there Watch passion the Christ. Highly recommend that movie. Really good, definitely violent.
Talmage:I've only seen the crucifixion.
Austin:Yeah, brutal, brutal holy cat, and that's just the crucifixion. Imagine what Christ experienced.
Talmage:Yeah, with the atonement seriously, yeah, and I saw a little evil baby Satan.
Austin:Yes.
Talmage:That was weird.
Austin:Yeah, satan in that movie is a little off. I don't, I don't like that.
Speaker 3:They could cut him out and the rest would be pretty good.
Austin:But, yeah, so we're watching this movie really good. Um, I wouldn't say it was spiritual, but I felt. I Felt very emotional. It was a very interesting experience to see what that was like. But then also be there for these members like why would we go knock and potentially get rejected all evening, whereas and we could work and love and support this new couple who had one of their, you know, one of them had just gone baptized. The other spouse was getting reactivated. Show them we care about them, help integrate them with the ward and not be so stickler about those things. So, who knows, maybe if my mission president watches this, he's like everybody.
Austin:That was not what you're supposed to do, I mean. But in the moment and afterwards I feel like you know what that was a really pivotal moment, probably because it was just so shocking of what a contrast. Yeah, I realized that those people and my companion were more important to love, to serve, to be empathetic Towards, to be more relaxed. Then try to just follow a schedule and just cut things off. Yeah, because in certain moments you need to just follow what the spirit directs or what you just feel may be the more humane and Interpersonal. Then just.
Austin:Finding a schedule and be like hey schedule says this, just go do that. Mm-hmm.
Talmage:It's so true I this is actually a really interesting theme that's been brought up in this podcast several times now. Because I was very much like a Stickler, I guess I wouldn't say that, but yeah, I stuck to the schedule as a hard worker. If my companion that was a sack. We call them wasters waiters every mission is probably got their own.
Austin:Yeah.
Talmage:If you wanted to do something like lazy, then I would kind of like fight back. But it is such a Interesting topic because we all know obedience is good Of course, actually does get a bad rap a lot of times. But there are times when you, the rules, aren't the right answer and you need to be obedient enough, close to the spirit enough to know when, to know when. The rules don't give you the answer to everything. Yeah, and so going over spending time with new member Coming back to church, a spouse and your companion that might be just needing it is the right thing to do and I think I would add like of course was a rated our movie, but it was a literally about Christ.
Austin:Yeah, it's about and so that's probably a way better thing than maybe watching some other rated our film or other film, no matter what the rating, because you know and this is something that we talked about a lot is like the letter of the law, the spirit of law, I think almost just understanding like be intentional, right, if your time is just to knock doors and knock doors, that's not intentional.
Austin:Yeah if you're gonna go be with a member and help bring the spirit, hopefully help one of their friends, help teach the gospel like bringing, like. Our purpose is to bring people, invite people to come Into Christ mm-hmm so if we can invite someone to come into Christ by helping them have a transformative experience watching a film, great yeah, huge.
Talmage:Your mission is coming to an end, correct? You're getting ready to go home. Tell us about what you were expecting and what ended up happening.
Austin:Yeah, I think this is gonna be true for every missionary Expectations will always be completely different than reality. For me, again, god has great humor. It couldn't be further from my expectations. So I left in May of 2018 and it was interesting because the plaque that they made for me said I was coming home in April of 2020.
Austin:Mmm and my parents were like that's weird, cuz, that's not two years. Well, when did I come home? April of 2020. So I had to come home six weeks early because that was when the world was shutting down and the church was saying hey, anyone who's over I think it's like 21 or 23 months or whatever it needs to be sent home so we can make room for this influx of Missionaries who are from the United States, that we're serving foreign missions yeah, so in our mission we have a tradition of sharing your, like, final testimony. Everyone going to home that chance forgot to go up in zone conference share their testimony. Well, there was no zone conference, no testimony. Yeah, supposed to have an exit interview where you talk with your mission president, talk about girls, talk about college, like all the fun things coming up. Yeah, no interview, dang we literally were you bummed?
Austin:Oh, I was super bummed. I was tight with my mission president. I loved him, respected him a lot and, yeah, presidents was awesome. So they get that. We're just sitting around. We can't do any of the normal activities like go to the temple, go to the Trail Center we had a visitor center and our mission next to the temple. We couldn't really play games or hang out. There really wasn't anything else to do besides watch like church movies. I guess the district Testament district estimates Fighting preacher you know that kind of stuff.
Austin:Great films. So I was like man, this is interesting. And then they put us up in a hotel before we went because we had to kind of be separated quarantine from everybody. So we're sitting in the hotel room and Our mission present gave us permission to watch a movie. Because he's like there's nothing else to do, yeah, watch Blindside. It's like man I'm another great film so disobedient watching a non-church movie. But even though president told you yeah he said we could, and it's Blindside like yeah it's a great film, yeah.
Austin:So I'm like, man, this whole thing is not what I expected. And then come to find out that you couldn't have anyone At the airport besides your parents no siblings, no friends. My former mission president Normally visits his misshers when they come home. Could he could come and I literally felt like it was straight out of the RM, because I roll up.
Austin:Everyone else's families are there, and my parents were chronically late to everything they're like we tried to get there on time, but we're 30 minutes late and your like plane was 15 minutes early, so I'm sitting on my luggage for like you walk out like this yeah.
Austin:So I'm sitting there seeing everyone else get their hugs and I'm just like cool, well, welcome to welcome to life at home. So they picked me up, drive me the two hours back to where we lived in Cache Valley, finally get to see my siblings. They had signs made for me but they weren't there. So I'm like looking at the signs in the van like cool guys, thank you Could be with my mission or my stake president. So he released me over the phone, that's we didn't get a talk in church as a like a homecoming talk. Didn't see it, my friends, because there I was, like one of the oldest of my friends they're all missions or just quarantined somewhere else. Yeah, it's like man, I didn't serve a mission for this, but it's kind of a cherry on top to be like congrats, yeah, it gives you closure, yeah, closure especially. Yeah, and no missionary special, don't expect everybody like cheer you on when you get home. You're one of thousands of missionaries, but it's nice to feel a little appreciated it feels nice to feel like the hero, exactly.
Austin:Yeah, yeah, because we treat missionaries like heroes when they leave. You want to feel that way and you come home and it is tough. Two years is tough, year and a half is tough, or however long you serve. So that was a big, big change. And then after that it was like well, churches masked up Quarantined people are using Sanitas, you know, like crazy sanitization, and so it was very odd Coming home to like a completely different world where church is different. I was planning on moving out like immediately.
Austin:I didn't know if I was gonna go to college or just do work. But I was like, man, I don't, things are kind of on unstable footing, so move back home, I Move back home, basically. And I didn't know what was really gonna happen. So I was feeling like dang, I wanted to come home, hit up college or hit up work, move out, get roommates start dating. You know stuff like that. Yeah and there really wasn't places to go meet girls, to go hang out with friends, so fuck it very lonely, I feel like that.
Talmage:That would be so lonely and church. Was your ward meeting or were they quarantining?
Austin:there. It depended on the week I had my homeward. I didn't even think I went to my homeward when I got back because they Either they weren't meeting, but I think some more I say awards were meeting. So I went to my local steak YSA and then I also went to a college YSA up at USU. Oh nice, with some friends, switch off. Yeah, we'd have come follow me sessions afterwards as things started easing up, which was good, that's good. So Dang.
Talmage:Yeah, dude, that's nuts. Yeah, I always felt bad for the missionaries coming home around that time. We're having to get sent home around that time just cuz I'm like it's not what everybody's dreaming of. No, Because people dream when they're coming home. That's part of the big truckiness.
Austin:It is Either you're thinking about how cool that will be or you're trying not to think about it, but it's like kind of a reward for the end of staying strong hopefully Totally.
Talmage:Yeah, here's my question. You're married now.
Austin:I am. How did that happen? I don't even know. Dude.
Talmage:And she seems so cool.
Austin:She is awesome. Yeah, so Lizzie and I actually we serve in the same mission. That's how it happened. Kissing on penis.
Austin:Mission romance baby the interesting thing about that and I think the God like directed that or at least helped with that in some way, because I'm someone who kept my heart locked by my eyes open. Of course I was talking to sisters, maybe soft learning with sisters, that type of thing, making friends, getting emails but I was trying to stay focused and so there was nothing. I was never in a situation where I was like distracted by sisters, which is I'm grateful for that. Although, meeting Lizzie on the mission, because I served with her and around her and she was dating somebody at the time, writing them, and because of my attitude like we never really talked a ton, there was never any like conversation or like strong friendship, and so I was just my goofy self, just goofy all the way, doing my thing, sharing my political beliefs, my religious beliefs my health beliefs, my educational beliefs.
Austin:If there's something mainstream, I probably disagree with it. I'm probably the opposite of that. So she got to see how crazy I was and she still liked it. And the cool thing is she served in the same area, started her mission the same area. I started my mission Dang, that's sick and we had a lot of success and love the members and had a lot of great opportunities there, and so everyone was just talking about man you know, we haven't had sisters in 20 years.
Austin:It was all elders and some of them were good, some of them weren't, but elder Brady, man, we just loved elder Brady. That's so sad. Members were hyping me up so she was like who's this? Elder Brady Didn't even realize it was her zone leader at the time. And then we, we finally met, but we served around each other.
Austin:I think I was in the same zone as her for five transfers, her first five transfers. So she talked to her one of her, uh, she talked to her companion and she was like man, I just I see you and elder Brady together. I don't know what it is. You've reminded me of each other. She finally got courage up to hand me a sticky note and then she chickened out and right and I was. I was moved. I was being transferred up to Minnesota from Lincoln, nebraska, which is forever away. And so her campaign is like no, you have to do this. She grabs the sticky note. She's like elder Brady, come back, we have a referral for you. I was like, oh sick, we're going to go baptize this family, or like sort of them somehow.
Austin:And I get the sticky note and they like squeal out of there. It's like like drive their car out. I opened up a sticky note. It was like Eloymissureyorg. It's like a I just got a, it's got a referral boys. So when I went home I emailed her and so there was no romantic or flirting or interest on the mission. I'm so grateful for that Cause I probably would have beat myself up or, being the really strict and sometimes a very suitable missionary that I was, so we'd call it, yeah.
Austin:And so we wrote for eight or nine months and she got home and we started dating. So she stayed out there when COVID hit. She did nine months, bro.
Talmage:That was rough Half her mission, did she get back home and you guys started dating, right?
Austin:away. That wasn't the plan I wanted to. Just I was like when you get home, like we're just friends. She was like was kind of flirting an email but I was like no, like we're just friends, like we need to actually see who each other are as people, not just missionaries, cause your personality kind of changes a little bit on the mission versus off the mission. So but I went to her homecoming. Her mom and sister were like obsessed with me. They were like follow me on socials, inviting me down to stuff.
Austin:So I like I already, met like two or three of her sisters and her mom, like right off the bat. Yeah, just kind of weird that's so funny yeah.
Talmage:Well, your views. I'm going to hear what your thoughts are on those mission romances and stuff, because they're very discouraged. They are now and then they work out. Well, not that you guys had a romance on the mission but I want to have missionaries meet up afterwards.
Austin:Yeah, I don't know our. So the I was just at a mission reunion, my original mission president, chad Gardner he had. It was like between I don't want to get it wrong it was like 40 to 60 couples over the three years that he served and I know at least 20 from my friends. Oh my gosh. The Nebraska what mission is a breeding?
Talmage:ground for a record. I've never heard of that.
Austin:It was. Everyone was getting married to that Holy crap. And some were definitely on mission friendships and flirting and conversations and you kind of do like I don't know about Ellen sister or so, and so like they're probably going to get married afterwards. Yeah, I'm biased, because it was that's how I met my wife. Yeah, it worked out. It did.
Talmage:I think I think too many people Were there a lot of bad situations though.
Austin:There were some that were less than good. Yeah, yeah, but nothing crazy like Africa, like stories I hear from foreign missions. Africa. There was no Hinky Pinky or anything like that. That's good. Yeah, it was all above bar. Yeah.
Austin:As far as I know I don't know, dude, I think I'm biased but I would say that a lot of people want to. If they're a member of the church and they want to continue staying strong in the gospel, they're encouraged to find someone who's also a member, especially missionaries. A lot of girls are encouraged, married RM and now that there's a lot of sisters who go out and serve, a lot of guys are looking for returned sister missionaries. Just because you served a mission doesn't mean anything.
Austin:We both know missionaries who made it and weren't dedicated weren't maybe as compatible as you think they would. So I think it's important to recognize that, although If you're trying to find a spouse that has similar values, maybe going to a college that holds those values, serving a mission, where you can find people who are also dedicatedly serving, is important, but more so than just finding a returned missionary, finding someone who's dedicated to the gospel, whether they've served or not, is way more important. So I highly recommend, if someone is serving a mission or knows some cool people from their mission, like you, have so much in common, so many stories, so many experiences, spiritual experiences that you can connect with, and I know a ton of really solid couples that have come out of my mission and other missions and I think that's so cool yeah and it makes it easy to go back and visit the mission.
Austin:Oh it does. If we're driving through Nebraska it's not boring like most people, we're like remember someone's home, remember this experience.
Talmage:Especially since you guys had the same first area we did.
Austin:It's amazing, yeah so we actually weird full circle. We're driving out to do cells in Boston and we both stayed and slept at a member's house that we had both served around and I was like, man, this is kind of weird, sleeping in the same bed as a sister missionary that I served in the mission with. That is hilarious A little odd.
Talmage:Yeah, that is so funny.
Austin:But hey, sometimes crazy things happen.
Talmage:Crazy things happen.
Austin:That's the beauty of life, it is Dang. So, yeah, highly recommend marrying someone from your mission if you find someone that's dedicated, but definitely don't recommend getting distracted on the mission.
Talmage:Yeah, don't go out, for that reason A lot of sisters did.
Austin:The only reason they were out there is because they're like I want to find an elder. Good for you, but maybe serve the Lord. Yeah, serve the Lord.
Talmage:It'll be more likely that you'll find an elder if you serve the Lord. I think so. And have that be your focus. Exactly. It's kind of like the I forgot what it's called, but it's kind of like an ever eluding, like an ever elusive goal. Whenever you're trying to reach it, it doesn't happen. But, as soon as you let, go and let go let God, let go, let God. I've actually never heard that.
Austin:Really yeah, but it sounds like a good phrase Let go, let God Don't quote me, it's from someone else. Yeah, it's a good one, though that's a good phrase.
Talmage:But as soon as you do that and you start focusing on the right things, the blessings will come. And so I forgot. There was an example of a guy who had a stutter and he was trying to get on this bus. And he was trying to get on the bus for free. And so he went up to the bus driver said hey, can I get on the bus for free? I have a stutter. But he said it perfectly. He's like what the heck he's like? No, I promise you, I have a stutter. And he said it perfectly again Wow. And then he realized when he was trying to convince people he had a stutter, he did. He didn't Interesting, but every other time he did.
Talmage:Kind of funny. Maybe it's just your brain does that, but also just like goals in general, if you have good intention behind the goals, if they're the right goals, god wants to bless you. Yeah, he does and so he's going to. And that's what happened with you. You found an amazing sister missionary and then, after the mission, after you were done serving him and focusing on him, the opportunity opened up. Yeah, and you guys are a great couple.
Austin:I was like almost sure it was someone I knew from before the mission or someone I would meet like in college. I did not expect. Yeah. It's meeting someone in the mission. Yeah, the interesting thing. With that in mind, with goals in general and I've done this and this could be a whole podcast episode the topic of just writing down what you want and then focusing on what you can do to become like that person who would be able to receive that. Yeah.
Austin:But every single girl I dated, or new in high school friends I had in high school, I was always like writing down notes, evaluating people, even on the mission. You're living with these companions and so you have a lot of friction of just like living with someone. So you figure out, like what are some personality traits, what are some behaviors you like or maybe you don't like, I don't like, yeah. And then girls I dated after the mission too, because as soon as I got home I wasn't waiting around for Lizzie. I was like dating like crazy, to meet a lot of different people, to make some friends, to build, to understand who I liked and who I needed to become, to be prepared for marriage.
Austin:And as I was writing down this list, I was like, hey, then it was specific, highly recommend whatever you want. Write down exact details. So I'm like height, ethnicity, nationality, religion attributes, family attributes you marry their family just as much as you marry a person. So I had like exactly what I wanted, locked down, written all the way out. And then I was like, hey, now, instead of like hyper focusing on comparing every girl to this list, I'm just going to leave that for God to be able to help me with.
Austin:Now, who would I need to become to attract that caliber of woman? Because it was a lot. I was like I don't know if I'm in a position right now where I could maybe score a girl like that. And so, as I was writing all these things down and becoming more like that person, then God had already preplanned and pre-helped me find people who would be, because there's no soulmate, but you can find amazing people who will be part of that, and it happened to be Lizzie. And if the scary thing is, if you look at that original list, identical to who Lizzie is, that's amazing.
Talmage:I actually have a question about goals. You are somebody you're very passionate and very tenacious about a lot of things, but in terms of business and education, did you do the same thing, write out your goals of who you wanted to become, what you wanted to do, what opportunities you wanted to come your way? Could you tell? Me a little bit about that.
Austin:So I haven't gone to college, probably will never go to college. I knew from a young age I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to do photography for a while. Then that moved into videography and filmmaking. But as soon as I got home from the mission I was like, hey, I'm doing video, so I need to learn video editing software. I need to get myself a camera. So I have old vision boards where I have the exact camera, the lens, the mic, set up, everything I wanted or needed. I remembered full-time filmmaker back when I saw that in high school, so I went and purchased that and started seeing all these creators.
Austin:And so in business and in career, I have exactly what I want Earlier this year. This is really cool. I maybe I should show a screenshot of this, but I had okay. I want to partner with these specific brands. I want to work with these specific people. I want to become like these specific people. These are the social goals I want to have. And halfway through the year I looked at it and I was like, oh my gosh, I wasn't even close. These were like massive goals.
Austin:I wasn't even close to them at the beginning of the year. And now it's like October and I'm working with FilmLab, partnering with FilmLab. I wasn't working with FilmLab in January, february, there was no opportunity. I was like I'm going to work with Mitchell Thane, thane Brothers and FilmLab, and now we're here, I'm going to partner with Onset Black. I have no idea how. Now I've done at least three or four different partnerships with them.
Austin:Crazy, had no really connections. Love the brand, wanted to do something with them. I wanted to have X amount of subscribers. I had like 600. And then, with a matter of a couple of weeks, it blew up to like 2600 now and I want to hit 5k by the end of the year. By the end of the year is my new goal. It was 1000. And I think I will. Yeah, like, people are just coming in and subscribing. Same with Instagram. Like, if you put those things out there and then you actually do the work, you do the key factors that would contribute towards that. But then just trust God's going to take care of you. He's going to do that.
Talmage:Amazing.
Austin:So I was shook at the money that was coming in, at the social proof that was coming in, the partners, the friendships. And so it's like man, maybe I should dream even bigger, like halfway through the year, reevaluate. It's like, okay, now I want to connect with these people and work with these different experiences. Never would have thought we would have worked with the jazz or like all these massive brands, mr Beast Insane, you know all these things, and now we have, which is so cool.
Talmage:Yeah, Dude, the big dreaming is I think it was just this morning. It was in the shower this morning. Actually, Shower thoughts are the best. Shower thoughts are the best Because I suffer from a lot of self doubt, talking negatively about myself, and just I have a lot of big dreams and then something in my brain immediately has he got some thoughts? Yeah, Like you think you can have that, it's like there's better people than you and so. But this morning I was thinking about it and I was just like why, why can't? I'd be bringing in 30,000, $60,000 in revenue into the podcast department per month.
Talmage:There's no reason why you can't? Why not? Why can't I bring the build the biggest and highest quality podcast, calamari in Utah and work with the best podcasts? I freaking did an episode with Mr Beast, like you were saying the Mr Beast.
Talmage:The Mr Beast, jimmy Donaldson, jimmy Donaldson. And so it was really cool. And it's just funny because we're talking about it now and you have been somebody that I actually look up to a lot in that area. You have belief, you have passion. You write it down and it happens. Mitchell told me about when you reached out to him. At first you're like, hey, I'm wanting to get into this, what should I do? Yep, and then I gave you a little list and then you went and did it. You actually did it. Most people just ask and then they're like, oh, mitchell didn't ask me to come like help him film something, and then they get disappointed. But you actually went and did it. And then you went back to Mitchell and said, okay, did it, abc and D, what's next, what's next? And then he's like, sweet, when's your next shoot?
Austin:How can I be there?
Talmage:Yeah, yeah. It's just crazy. Kind of going back to intentionality, the intentionality you had on your mission, whether it was to stick to the rules or to go and meet with the members and watch Passion of the Christ, your intentionality now has translated to you meeting and working with awesome brands, with the people you want to work with, becoming the person you want to be, the cameras you want to have.
Austin:It's insane, so yeah just major props to you. I really appreciate that. And it's kind of a full circle moment, cause when we met you were like yeah, I'm getting into video and like I don't know what I'm doing. And then you shared Mitch's stuff and this was back in Avenue Film Cub days and I was eating that stuff up, following you guys, and I was like man Tal's like the coolest guy, that's nice and he's doing all these cool things. And I was like it'd be so fun to work with Talmage and those guys in the future. And so for you to say that I mean I've looked up to you for so long and told me I've got permission, like I was still following all your guys' stuff and when you got back home April, that's when I started released.
Talmage:That's crazy.
Austin:Yeah, yeah, I was like, whoa, like that stuff's happened. This is so crazy. And yeah, if you have a dream and then you just believe, just believe it's already happened in your life, act like it's already happening. If you want to be the biggest YouTuber, act like the biggest YouTuber. If you want to be working with Mitchell Thane, work with Mitchell Thane. If you want to have, you know, whatever it is money or relationships or objects, even things you want to purchase already, act like you have those things. Tell people you have those things, because what could it hurt? You know you're only going to find the people you need to talk, to, consume the media you need to have, and then it's going to happen in your life, which is so cool. And God literally tells us out in the scriptures. He's like ask and you shall receive. We don't ask, though. Yeah, we're like oh, I can never have that. Yeah.
Austin:Or, oh, you know, maybe there's someone better than that. But when you shared like and maybe that's just a gift that God has given me or I've developed with parents and friends that have been so supportive, when you're like I could be the biggest podcasting you know brand in Utah or pull in 30, 60, 100 K a month, there's no reason why you can't do that and I have a hundred percent belief that you will, and this podcast is only going to get bigger and bless more lives. Sure, have way cooler guests than Austin Brady on Dude. You're freaking dope.
Talmage:What are you talking about?
Austin:It's going to grow and you're going to be able to have way more opportunity to bless people's lives, Cause that's your intention is to support people.
Talmage:I really want to do that and it's been such a blessing already in my life. Just interviewing people that have gone through what I've gone through and also who have found success and done great things Gives me hope. I'm like, ah yeah, I can do that, yeah, and so like honestly doing this podcast, even selfishly which not all of my intention is selfish, but part of it is Just like one percent Because I gain so much from it, just meeting with people and having an intentional conversation rather than just shooting the breeze, chatting. But, dude, I really appreciate you taking the time to do this podcast with me. It's been a bit since I've interviewed anybody, so thanks for making me get started again.
Austin:It's good. I love watching all the episodes. I love that you're starting it again and posting more consistently. I feel like you go through these like ebbs and flows and it's okay not to be like every single week. I know podcasting world loves that being consistent but at least continually putting in the effort. I know people love this podcast People listening right now. You know they love the new content. I'm always telling you like, post more content on the socials, whether it's podcast or Instagram or those things, and I'm just excited to see where this goes.
Talmage:Yeah me too. I'm excited to see what clips we can get from this too. Hopefully there's some good ones, yeah there's some good ones Sick cool Dude. Well, see you Monday.
Austin:Okay, dude At work, sick, Gonna make some more dope freaking content, let's do it. Let's do it. And when you hide?
Talmage:the worst, worst kind of day. Remember we are not, we are not going away, a thousand miles apart between you and me. Remember we are not, we are not going away. Thank you so much for coming back and listening to another episode of Release the Podcast. Austin is awesome. Loved having him on.
Talmage:There were so many good principles of belief in oneself and belief that God really wants you to succeed. When you believe it and you act on it, god will make things happen. He will move mountains. It's such a good reminder for us to see that and to see it in other people's lives that, hey, they wanted something, they went for it and God made it happen, so why can't he do it for us? Thank you to everybody who listens. Please, if you would rate the podcast and lever a view, it really helps the show grow. If you need anything, please reach out. Reach out to me on Instagram, whether it's through release, the pod released, underscore, the podcast or just Talmud's Thane. I would love to help out in any way I can Cause. Again, we're all in this together and just remember God is good and is planning on your success and, though you've been released from your mission, you've not been released from your ministry.