Miles & Mountains
Join Nick, a social worker and coach by day, as he unravels the inspiring stories of athletes and the public, uncovering the motivations behind their actions, from conquering mountains to participating in ultra-endurance races and competing in rodeos. Get ready for heartwarming tales of community support, acts of kindness, and the revelation that everyone has a deeper story to tell. Whether it's running, climbing, or participating in rodeos, these stories will inspire and uplift. #Running, #Climbing, #EverydayAthletes, #Rodeo
Miles & Mountains
8 Second Strong
After leaving the comfort of a corporate job and venturing into the entrepreneurial world of rodeo apparel, Nicholas Reynolds has a story that promises to inspire. Our guest, Nicholas, alongside his partner Josh Gershom, has built 8 Seconds Strong—a brand that’s more than just clothing; it's a mission grounded in faith, family, and community.
The narrative deepens as we explore tales of personal transformation and redemption. Hear the impactful story of a young rodeo enthusiast who transcended rebellious phases and substance struggles through spirituality and faith. With raw honesty, Nicholas talks about his path toward sobriety and the continuous effort to overcome challenges. This heartfelt segment invites listeners to reflect on the profound bonds of faith and family, and how they forge resilience and hope in life's tumultuous rodeo.
Rodeo isn't just a sport—it's a vibrant community full of camaraderie and shared experiences. We bring you highlights from women breaking barriers in ranch bronc and bull riding, along with exciting tales from the Northwest rodeo scene. From mentoring the next generation to expanding into new markets, the future of 8 Seconds Strong is bright, brimming with potential to impact and minister to the rodeo world, one unique product and inspiring story at a time.
Nicholas Reynolds
Instagram: @8secondstrong
@https://www.instagram.com/8secondstrong?igsh=MXMxZWtmenZrMDZiNg==
Website:
www.8secondstrong.com
Shoutout to :
Nicholas Reynolds
Josh Gershom
The Reynolds Family
The Gershom Family
8 Seconds Strong
Wild Kiger Designs
Elaine Kimball
Emma Folz
8 Second Strong team
Be on the lookout for The Hold Fast Podcast
Alter Ego Ambassador: https://alteregorunning.com/
Miles & Mountains Promo Code: Milesmountainsyr3
Nicholas Reynolds, how are you?
Speaker 2:I am well, how are you?
Speaker 1:I'm doing all right, man. It's been raining all day, something that you're probably used to. Not us, not us in eastern Washington.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, so you're in eastern Washington, I'm in. Yeah, I'm in. Yeah, I'm in eugene so yeah, you guys are used to the time from washington but not eastern yeah, well you got, you were in yakima just recently yeah, no, I mean, I actually lived in washington for a while. So oh yeah, what park I lived in everett snohohomish Marysville area.
Speaker 1:Oh, up there, up there. Okay, all right, yeah, up there.
Speaker 2:What can I say?
Speaker 1:Yeah, up there.
Speaker 2:You know if I had a place, oh yeah, yeah, If I had.
Speaker 1:if I had to live anywhere on I-5 corridor, it'd be South of Olympia man.
Speaker 2:Sure It'd be south of Olympia.
Speaker 1:I like that area just because it's not too crowded. I mean, when I was there stationed in the Army, it was crowded. It was getting there. I'm pretty sure it's even more crowded.
Speaker 2:But I would live around that area just because don't know the traffic south of olympia or north of portland and then south of portland, north of sacramento, on iphone, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm telling you I wouldn't, well, I won't want to live there.
Speaker 1:I lived in 97 a few times, but, um, yeah, that's as far as I would go. So when I asked you earlier if it's still on, if this episode is still on, you said yes, we can call it the the two nicks episode. Yeah, I think I'll do it. Aka you knowka you know, but in actuality, it's going to be eight seconds strong. It sounded witty at the time.
Speaker 2:It doesn't sound as good now that you say it out loud.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, want me to say it again I'm good, I'm good. To Nick's episode yes, it's not that bad, yeah, yeah. So you're the mastermind behind 8 Seconds Strong.
Speaker 2:Sort of I wouldn't call myself the mastermind, I guess I'm the face of and daily operations guy. So I have a partner, my partner Josh Gershom. He has been doing, you know, rodeos and horsing events with his company Wild Kiger Designs and they do more of like a ranch horse person type clothing stuff and he he had, he had some stuff mixed in there that was rodeo specific and it was eight seconds strong shirts and hats and things like that. And I've been doing events for corporate entities for for decades now and so he came to me. I met Josh at it was the NPRA finals rodeo, one of those finals in Salem, and I had a booth next to him when I was working as the uh events manager for the state of oregon. For leaf filter they sell a gutter protection device. It's corporate, you know, super boring, but I had a booth right next to him and we got to talking and became friends and stayed in touch and did subsequent events where he was there and my wife did some events that he was at. She, my wife, surreal Design, she burns custom cowgirl hats and so we just kind of stayed in touch and he reached out to me at one point and said, look, I, I've got this brand Eight Seconds Strong and I really want to branch it off as a separate thing because it's very rodeo specific and it's not exactly completely on brand with what I do and I can't think of anybody better to head that up than you. So would you like to buy in 50% of the company and take it over and run with it?
Speaker 2:And it was at a kind of a point in life where you know, the corporate thing had just drug on long enough and then it was growing in my faith and had some things just internally and emotionally telling me you know that money isn't everything, that you know, my faith, my family and my, my mission in life is bigger than a paycheck. And this fell in my lap and I I ran with it. I said yes, I, you know, stopped working, doing what I was doing and kind of gathered up all the resources that I could and I bought half the company and dumped in a bunch more money. Grandmother had just passed away and, unfortunately, but on the fortunate side, thank you. But it turned out to be a blessing in that she had left a small nest egg, not a ton of money, but a little bit, just enough to get this thing started.
Speaker 2:And so in December I believe or not, we just started in December we branched 8 Seconds Strong off into its own thing and started the social medias and the websites and the design process, went and bought a toy hauler and started booking events, and so it's. It's been incredibly well received. You know, we like to say that we're not owners of the company, we're just stewards of God's company, basically, and so and that's kind of been our whole MO and it's snowballed into this huge thing. We've got 1,200 followers in the last 30 days. We've got you know we'll get deeper into that, but yeah. So that's where we are now and we're excited, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because I've been in this game for a bit, you know, since 2021, august and everything else and of a sudden, you know, just doing the research, you hit me up. I was doing research and how long have you been doing this? And then, yeah, you guys have uh following quite big one, but then you also have a few uh, uh sponsors, uh, you, you sponsor athletes. Man, how many athletes do you sponsor at this moment since starting?
Speaker 2:so I think we're at 43 athletes, which is an insane amount. Um, we're, we're a family-owned company. We don't have any money. Um, we're totally, you know we're not totally broke, but we're we're pretty close until, uh, summer rodeo season hits and so we're not doing cash sponsorships this year.
Speaker 2:I would love to, but really what the relationship looks like is athletes who um kind of have the same value system as us and see the, the mission and um kind of see what what our goals are and align with those goals.
Speaker 2:Um, they've, they've jumped on board with merchandise sponsorships, and so I think we've got it's between eight and 10, um riders and rodeo Queens that are um merch sponsored, and so we hook them up with the hats, the hoodies, the shirts. Um, we help out where we can monetarily, just as far as you know, buying tickets to a Queen's coronation or throwing some hoodies at their fundraising auction or whatever we can. It's going to be a lot more once we get this thing rolling, and so that's kind of a top tier sponsorship right now, and then below that we have what we call the reserve team, and these are riders who again align with our core values and see the mission and kind of just want us, want their name on the list, you know for for when we do get bigger and can offer sponsorships with cash and things, and so that lower tier I don't want to call it a lower tier. They're just as important to us.
Speaker 2:But we can't offer everybody hoodies or we'd go broke like day one yeah, hoodies are expensive, man they are expensive, but like the reserve team riders, they get stickers, they get hat stickers, they get patches for their vests so that, um, I don't want to say prove themselves, but they can kind of show us that they they're ready to ride for the brand. Um, you know they're, they're they want to ready to ride for the brand? Um, you know they're, they want to wear the colors and the patch and just represent what we stand for. And then that kind of you know puts them more in our purview for next season or the season after, when we do have, you know, more to offer. And so, yeah, we support them however we can on social media. You know, we we did a couple contracts with some of our bigger writers, but other than that, it's just kind of a handshake.
Speaker 2:And I said some stuff and we help each other on social media and yeah, yeah, that's, that's where we're at.
Speaker 1:But we, we do want to do, like you know, full, you know writer sponsorships as soon as possible yeah, you guys are getting big, it's trying man you're like two and a half months in man, yeah yeah, it's been a, it's been a whirlwind, for sure that's, that's what I say. You know, balls of the wall, man. Go big or go home, man. You guys are doing it, man. I see that you guys have uh dylan riggins right yep, dylan's on dylan's awesome. Yeah, dude, he's an athlete man yeah, killer, I love that guy and then you got peyton peers, who junior uh nfr yep yeah, peyton, uh has got baby coming.
Speaker 2:We're gonna do something special for the baby. Actually, I don't know if it's a spoiler or not, if I'm supposed to leak this, but I'm sure this won't come out before next monday, I don't know. Anyway, he finds out the uh, the gender next monday, and so, nice, I won't spill the beans completely, but we're gonna do a little something special for junior and nice, get him rocking the brand day one tried to hit him up when he was still living at home.
Speaker 1:You know, get him on the podcast and he's like parents aren't gonna let me, all right. So went to the nfr this last year he was, you know, uh, competing and everything else, and he saw that I met up with del brisby and he was like dude, what was this? I was like his booth man, he's always at his booth, he's all right. Well, I was like, hey, man, meet me here and we can meet up and everything else. And, uh, he didn't get the memo, I guess, or the message, and so we, we didn't cross paths, but one day, peyton, pearson trying to teach him to be a little more on top of his instagram messages.
Speaker 2:So he's young, he's young, yeah, he's young well, you think that would make him a little more apt to be on there. But yeah, not the, not the young dudes we ride around with.
Speaker 1:I guess Right, exactly.
Speaker 2:Got other stuff going on.
Speaker 1:Those rodeo athletes, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're all getting dirty, not on their phones.
Speaker 1:Exactly, Exactly. And if you're going to NFR, if you're competing at NFR, I mean, dude, go ahead by all means you can. You can ignore me, I'm just a scrub.
Speaker 2:We love that kid and and he and the way that that relationship came about. He actually met Josh, my business partner, at a rodeo somewhere and came up and bought one of our Get Tougher, die shirts. Okay, and so after NFR, he had posted with his girlfriend I think it was her, I'm pretty sure it was her birthday, and they had taken some pictures together and put them on Instagram. He was wearing that shirt and so I hit him up like dude, that's our shirt. He's like this is my favorite shirt, man. So we just you know this conversation snowballed and I said man, I don't have any money for you, but I'd love for you to rock the brand. He's like a thousand percent, I am totally in. So he's our team captain now.
Speaker 1:So oh nice, yeah Young for captain man. All right, all right. Has faith always been in your life, man?
Speaker 2:It has. Yeah, so I grew up in the church. My mom she had a couple of Christian albums out. She's a singer. My dad, when he was around dad, was a guitar player, player in the in the band at church worship team um. He then went on, you know, after they got divorced, went on to play um a tour, played bass for the beach boys for a tour which is pretty cool the master's at the art institute, seattle for music and media technology. So big, big music family Mom. Still today she's actually in the back room there she lives with me. Now those roles have reversed.
Speaker 2:But yeah, woman of faith through and instilled that in me. I didn't stick to it. You know I I grew up in the country and you know horses, cattle, the whole nine. But I was the kid who couldn't wait to get to the city. You know I couldn't get out of the country and do something quote unquote cooler, you know and be one of the city kids and get get to get a taste of that life and I did that and faith kind of went out the window with it.
Speaker 2:But uh, it's back stronger than ever now.
Speaker 1:So what makes a man good? Get back into it, man know.
Speaker 2:So what makes a man good? Get back into it, man, you know, I think, just maturing, just, uh, growing up, I've got two kids, they're grown now they're moved out and you know, seeing people pass on, um, just getting older, really, I guess, realizing what's really important in life, you, I guess that comes later for some of us, and so you know that. And then, just you know, I was drinking a lot and, and in a bad way, you know, went through the whole bout with drugs and drug abuse and alcohol abuse and it really caused a lot of you know, horrible things to happen in my life. And you know, I guess at some point you just go, this is enough, and it was God that pulled me out of that and it's God that keeps us out of that. Now, my wife and I and you know I can tell you that in the past five years, as you know, we've been serving in the church- and you know, studying the Bible and praying together and all these things life has never been as good as it is now.
Speaker 2:You know, and I will never go back and we found just a whole different level of joy and happiness and peace in life. That, you know, I, I I'm bummed that I missed out on for so many years, but I'm just so thankful that we have it now.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah, gotcha, I gotcha thankful that we have it now.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, gotcha, I gotcha sober now. Oh yeah, I actually haven't had a cigarette or weed or a drink of alcohol and going on four years in july.
Speaker 1:So congrats, man that's tough, that's tough yeah, it's easier than I thought I've.
Speaker 2:Still, I gotta kick the vape pen, though that's what I used to get off of the cigarettes I smoked for 27 years, and so, uh, I started vaping and I was able to quit smoking, and now that's my last advice I gotta gotta get rid of that stupid thing.
Speaker 1:So everybody's doing zens these days, man is that the thing now? Straight up nick man, nick doing nick. I don't do Nick. I've thought about it because you know you hear all things about why you're taking nicotine away from cigarettes because you know to keep the man down.
Speaker 1:You know, you know I'm a rebel man. I got you but yeah, I'm not really anymore. And then you know they got you know, zenz. They're mild but they're sold in the States. And then Germany they got nicotine for like rated 49 or something, 50, dude, can you imagine that in your bloodstream?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's crazy. What are these Zenz? Are they like the little pouches for your lips, like a chew? Okay, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they even do it for mushrooms. Now it's a thing. Now, dude, it's like the patches are no longer, it's just the pouch. You get that kick. You do the mushrooms, you can do the caffeine, you can do coffee grounds. I did coffee grounds before. It was even cool, you know.
Speaker 2:I saw a buddy of mine I I was, I grew cannabis for years and I was semi-famous on the cannabis scene on the west coast. I had a brand called west cush and yeah, we did some pretty big things. I mean, a lot of people, if you asked them in that world would know exactly who. I am not in that scene anymore, obviously, but uh, and we had these, uh, cbd zins I guess would call them, but they're little flavored pouches. You get the strawberry or the peach or whatever and drop the CBD in your lip. You know.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't mind the CBD. I think there's some things. No, I don't either, especially for the dogs. Yes, the dogs need it.
Speaker 2:We got mastiffs, and so they got joints that need taking care of, and I think that stuff helps them.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, oh yeah, but now mushrooms are the thing. Now, man.
Speaker 2:I tried it. I mean I tried the funny story. I tried micro. I mean I've done mushroom as a drug to get to get, you know, buzz off of several, well, a bunch of time yeah.
Speaker 2:But we get to get, you know, uh, buzz off of several, well a bunch of times, yeah, but uh, we tried it as an antidepressant, microdosing, okay. Or you get the capsules and it's just the tiniest little amount. You really don't even feel it. You take it a couple times a week and I don't know if it worked or not, but yeah, microdosing is different.
Speaker 1:What I'm talking about is, you know, the lion's mane, the turkey tail.
Speaker 2:You know yeah, just gotcha, okay, yeah, they do?
Speaker 1:they do the the little zen thing there too, without they got the coffee now yeah, that's what I'm saying, man, it's a mushroom coffee.
Speaker 2:It's actually pretty good.
Speaker 1:We I had does it clear out your system, just like regular coffee I don't know, I drink decaf, man I can't, I don't.
Speaker 2:I don't really do stimulants atf, man I can't, I don't, I don't really do stimulants at all anymore. I just can't handle it. I guess I'm just being old, I don't know you're not that old.
Speaker 1:How old are you?
Speaker 2:I don't know. My wife gets home in like an hour.
Speaker 1:I'll ask her shout out to the wife mid 40s somewhere I think I'm 43. So we're the same age man, Okay 1981. Yep 81.
Speaker 2:Okay, july of 81. So I'm 43.
Speaker 1:Thanks for reminding me. No problem, man. I'm not calling you old Nah it's all good, I got you, man, I got you. So you're saying no matter what challenges trying to buck you off in life, hold fast for just eight more seconds yeah, that's kind of our slogan.
Speaker 2:So we've got, you know, obviously, eight seconds. You've got bronc riders, you got bull riders and see, these are some of the toughest dudes out there. I mean, and for that eight seconds, I mean you've got to just be on your game, you've got to be, you know, as strong as you possibly can be for that eight seconds. And so we want to take that eight seconds of strength and kind of project that onto everyday life.
Speaker 2:You know, I mean you get those moments in life where you're just down and you feel beaten, or you feel like you know you don't know what to do next, and or you're angry or whatever. And if you can just stop and hang on, you know, clear your mind and just pray or whatever it is, for eight more seconds, just eight seconds at a time. One step at a time. You know, bible says he's a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path. It doesn't say he's a light five miles down the road. It says he's a light under your feet, right here. One step at a time. And so eight seconds at a time. If you can just hang in there, usually it turns out all right.
Speaker 1:What can you say about the steer wrestlers then?
Speaker 2:You know I might get a lot of flack. So it's funny because we roll up to one of my sayings to Josh. It's kind of an inside joke between him and I and I'm probably going to make a shirt at some point that says I'm here for bulls and barrels, like that's my bulls and barrels, that's that's why I'm at the rodeo to watch bulls and barrels. And so I get a lot of flack from the tight end guys and I love breakaway too, don't get me wrong.
Speaker 1:I was going to say breakaway breakaway.
Speaker 2:You blink, it's over, dude. You know, yeah, I love breakaway, yeah, um, and then we have several, uh, women and young, young women riders who are riding ranch bronc and red bulls on. I saw that, which is so epic to me. I love that. I want to see a ton more of the the ladies get into that. But yeah, I mean, I love all rodeo. You know I I don't want to discredit any of the sports, but uh, you know I can't, I can't come up with a slogan that encompasses them all. Man, that's that cool, you know they get it. I think they're all right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know, I know, I just I was just throwing a, you know a curve ball man because dude, I'm a huge star wrestler fan and uh yeah. So I was just like team roping guys too.
Speaker 2:You know I, I was just like team roping guys too. You know I got a lot of buddies that do team roping.
Speaker 1:Those guys make sometimes they make more than bull riders man. Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, hedder or Haley or man, you know we love them all, man yeah. All right. Hebrews 10 23.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, that's the one you'll see. Hold fast on the sleeves of just about all of our shirts. Hold fast is kind of like our second motto, I guess, or it is our model. Hold fast and again like hold fast for another eight seconds. But uh, hebrews 10, 23 is let us hold fast to the confession of our faith. And uh, it goes on to say without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. But that first line, let us hold fast to the confession of our faith, is another core value of the company. So, basically, being open about your faith, being outwardly Christian and you know you'll see it on our shirts, you'll see it on our website, you'll, you know you'll hear me talk about it in the booth if you come by. But that's, that's the main goal, that's the whole reason we're doing this is to spread the gospel and that's what we're all about. And so, again, you know we're just stewards of this thing and I'm hoping someday it turns into a bigger platform that we can use to do that.
Speaker 1:So you and the co-owner came up with that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I hold fast, josh. Josh came up with hold fast before I came along or right when I came along, but we we went back and forth. It was going to either be hold fast or what was the other one. It was another one, hold, hold firm. And we went back and forth between the two different scriptures and we we looked up different um translations of the scriptures and, like you know, we dug into it a little bit and made a call on hold fast and some people still come up and ask us hold fast, what's that mean? I love that. You know. Now I've got a big banner behind. You know where I sit in the booth that has that scripture on it, like this kind of point behind me.
Speaker 2:And uh but yeah he and I kind of went back and forth and narrowed it down to that one and we both kind of felt like in our spirits that that was the one that we should go with. So hold fast, it is man.
Speaker 1:And it means what?
Speaker 2:to you. To me, it means don't be scared to be outwardly a man of faith, you know. Don't ever be ashamed to be a christian. And um, yeah, because it's it's. Hold fast to the confession of our faith, you know. And so if anyone ever asked me, they're always going to get the same answer yes, I believe in God, yes, I'm a Christian, you know. So, yep, and it's just kind of uh, it'll be a little more in your face here pretty soon. We've got some ideas coming for some shirts that are, uh, you know, you can't mistake what we're about. I don't think you can now, but it's going to be painfully obvious very soon.
Speaker 1:So Well, rodeo is pretty much high in faith and I mean he picked a good slogan and you know a great slogan, you know scripture and everything else, and so my question is when? When are you going to get Bible studies?
Speaker 2:That's a that's a great question. I didn't even think of that, but I would love to do. I mean, we do Bible studies, josh and I, you know, in our own lives and our personal lives, and, yeah, I wonder what that would look like, how we could make that happen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean they're there, they're. Yeah, I mean I hear these kids, you know they meet up with other kids bible study, you know, on a saturday or sunday, and I mean I can see it working, especially if you're going to these, uh, these events, you know pretty much weekend, on every weekend.
Speaker 2:I can see it working, I can see something working out yeah, if we do like an athlete bible study, we we advertise it, you know, on our page and just say, hey, we're going to be at such and such rodeo. Um, we'll be there early saturday morning. If you guys all want to meet up for prayer and bible, say that'd be a. That's a, that's an awesome idea. You're killing me with it, no worries. Okay, I've got to make some notes here.
Speaker 1:Hold on, I got my pen, I'm writing it right now yeah, no yeah, you're good so my question is how much does the wife have to say in this business, man? She?
Speaker 2:you know she she's's the first person I consult second person next to God. But and she, you know I will make this. We'll make the short answer long if you don't mind. So, because there's a whole story behind it. I, working in the events industry, you know I worked for it's tough. Yeah, yeah, on a corporate level. It know I worked for. Um, yeah, yeah, on a corporate level it's, it's a little crazy.
Speaker 2:So I worked for Arcimoto, which is, uh, an electric vehicle manufacturer out of Eugene Oregon. They make a really cool product. It's a trike, it's freeway legal, it's, it's open air electric trike that goes 80 miles an hour it's awesome. Electric trike that goes 80 miles an hour, it's awesome. Um, but I was, uh, I was there, um, can't remember my title lead senior events producer, I guess it was. But uh, before that for them, I headed up their rental department and so I traveled all over the country, you know, scoping out different locations and literally setting up an entire rental program for these vehicles in Florida and in Hawaii and all over the place, so that people could rent them out, kind of like you'd rent like a go-car or like a scooter or whatever, just to ride around the city.
Speaker 2:I got into the event side. I had been doing events in hip-hop for years before that and started running up their entire national program, me and a good friend of mine, miles. I had hired him as a consultant in san diego for the company and they brought him on and actually put him right above me and so he and I were just, you know, coast to coast, constantly doing the corporate thing. You know know, jet setting and and, um, it was fun for a while. Um, it was a publicly traded company. So you know, there's a lot of a lot of rules and a lot of things you can and can't say. You know, and it was. It wasn't as cumbersome, I guess, as it could have been. But you know, unfortunately the company sort of crashed and, uh, stock tanked, and so I moved on from that to Leaf Filter around the whole state of Oregon.
Speaker 2:For Leaf Filter we had, I think, 30 employees underneath me, different teams in different cities, running to events every weekend and doing everything from the home shows to the farmer's market, whatever we could be at setting up that deal. And then that turned into me hooking up with a company out of Bend, oregon, that had their own bath planet dealership. You know they bathroom remodels and so I went and set up their their events department for them and kind of got them started and did that for a while and I just was super unhappy with it. There was no fulfillment in it at all for me. You know, and at the end of the day, you know when you're I guess you could say when you're peddling these things to. You know, primarily elderly people that probably don't need them and you kind of feel like you're hustling old people out of their money and it's like you know it's just kind of a bummer at the end of the day.
Speaker 2:And so my wife knew that I wasn't happy in this. She knew I wasn't being fulfilled in my spirit with this thing. You know she saw in me that, you know, I really wanted to disciple, I wanted to minister to people and you know I've got this background of marketing for decades and events. And you know I've got this background of marketing for decades and events and you know it all just kind of was this perfect storm of things the financing coming in when it did, josh approaching me with what he approached me with and him being a really strong, devout Christian too, and the way that we vibe and the way that our wives get along, and it just was kind of this perfect thing. And so you know, when we stepped into it at first, first I had kind of poured the money that I had gathered up into the thing and you know we got kind of our ducks in a row and got the designs nailed down and got our first batch of um clothing and you know had to purchase all the stuff for the booth and still had to have money. You know some of these bigger rodeos are 1500 bucks to set up, and so you got to have money to do 20 or 30 of those a year, you know. So it started looking like you know, is this thing going to work out? You know, we were a little stressed out and I got a call from Jacuzzi Everybody's familiar with Jacuzzi, I'm pretty sure they called me. They wanted me to be the director of events on a national level for them and it was like pushing a quarter million dollar salary.
Speaker 2:I took a lot of praying man, because we were at the point in eight seconds strong, where it was like you could cut your losses and walk and take this thing and still be okay. Cut your losses and walk and and take this thing and still be okay. Or you could pare down eight seconds strong, way, way down, take this job and use that money to kind of fund it and grow it slowly. Yeah, but I had had this conversation with josh several times, like are we just going to kind of trickle this thing together? Are we just going to go, you know, all out, a hundred percent in, and do it right the first time, and just go, you know, full speed ahead? And both of us really wanted to just go all out with it.
Speaker 2:And so, after a lot of prayer, you know, I, we had a conversation, my wife and I had this conversation and I had to ask myself what would be the reasons that I say yes to this corporate gig. And the only answer at the end of the day was the money. And I just I couldn't live with that man. I couldn't live with that. Is that who I am? Am I going to just put everything that I believe in on hold for money, like that's not me anymore? Five years ago I would have been like hey man, sorry man, sorry, but we're gonna have to put this on pause.
Speaker 2:Go get this money, but now I'm at this point in my life where money's not. You know, money's not as important you want to have fun?
Speaker 1:do you think I want the freedom? Yeah, I want.
Speaker 2:I want to do my own thing, I want to work for myself too. I feel like god has given me these jobs and these roles throughout my life that are kind of glamorous and kind of cool and and you know, at the same time, it just been preparing me for this thing my whole life, and so I'm here for it, man. I'm here for it, man, a hundred percent. So if it doesn't work, it doesn't work, but it's not going to be because I didn't go all out.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, man, for the two and a half months you've been at it and you've been dealing with jacuzzi and that it goes fast, man, oh, dude, more power to you, man, it feels like we've been doing this a couple of years, honestly, at this point, I tell you what during, you know cowboy Christmas and you, during, you know cowboy Christmas and you know, when it's cowboy time, it's, it's going to go fast and you're going to be like, wow, I've been doing it for a year.
Speaker 1:Wow, I've been doing it for two years, wow, three. You know, I mean, that's how I feel when I get some of these athletes on. Some of these boys were 14, 15. Now they're seniors. You know what I mean? It's crazy. Crazy. And it goes. It goes quick, man. You're going to have the time of your life and I'm glad you got that lady next to you that is, you know, wanting to have fun with you. So keep it going, Keep it going. Yakima, how was that? Was that your first event of the year?
Speaker 2:No, so we've done some O-Set events. You guys have I guess it's WOSET up there or WSET, where it's like the uh high school equestrian teams, and so so we do those meets, we I tell this story all the time but, uh, I I book a lot of fairs in my days. We have set up our booth at a lot of different fairs and we support FFA and 4-H and teens in Oregon, mustangs and things like that, things like Oset and Waset, because when I'm at the fair and I'm in my booth I see, you know, there's the 12 year old girls walking around wearing things that, as a father, I would absolutely not approve of, and using language and things that would not fly at my house. But then you walk back to the barns and you see these kids in a hundred degree heat wearing their corduroy, ffa or four.
Speaker 2:And they're shaking your hand and looking you in the eye, saying yes sir, yes, ma'am, and it's like a different breed of people and we want to promote that as much as we can.
Speaker 2:So we do the O sets, we do teens in Oregon Mustangs, which is an amazing program where they take wild Mustangs. I don't know if you know, but like the wild Mustang population in pins, in a lot of these states they're just there's thousands of these horses pinned up with nobody to adopt them, nothing. You know, they're wild horses and they have to be taken off the land because they're just wrecking the grazing lands and like we get it. But there's a program where teenagers can adopt a wild mustang and I think they have six months to train this horse to get into a trailer, to be rideable to, you know, go through the arena, through some obstacles, things like that, and at the end of that six months they get to come show off how well the horse has been trained and then auction the horse off to someone that'll give her a forever home and a lot of times these kids make really good money off this. A lot of times you know companies like Les Schwab or you know different companies meet companies that are local or whatever, will buy the horse and let the kid keep it, and this is a really cool program for the kids and for the horses, and so we do those too.
Speaker 2:But a short answer is no. Yakima was our first rodeo, uh, but not our first event, not our first event. And yakima was good, man, it was fun, you know. We yeah, it was good to you guys. Yeah, we did pretty good. We uh, we almost died a few times on the way there. I don't know if you heard i-84 in oregon had a hundred car pilot. One of them was on fire.
Speaker 2:They just caught him and we drove right past that at. You know it took us I think it's a four and a half hour drive. It took me eight on solid sheets of ice 30 foot trailer with my 1500 denali, you know, on mud tires not not safe sketch. But uh, by the grace of god we made it. And uh, it was just raining on the way home, so but it was fun. You know, we got to meet up. Obviously, emma falls was the first time we got to meet her in person. Amazing human being.
Speaker 1:Uh, emma's awesome uh, 21 years old man yeah, and she's uh, she is killing it.
Speaker 2:She's gonna be, she's gonna be up there in the photography world for rodeos. I know elaine's kind of taken her under her wing, and Elaine is just another epic human being. Both of those ladies are are are awesome.
Speaker 1:She's good people. You gave her a shout out, told her, I'm done giving her shout outs, but you gave her a shout out.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, yeah, it wasn't you this time. But yeah, elaine, she's one of the coolest human beings. I, she's one of the coolest human beings I know. Man, this is genuine wonderful, both of them, just wonderful people, and I know that I listen to actually listen to both of their interviews on the way home from yakima okay yeah lane always gets shots out.
Speaker 1:Man, she, she's, she's a good lady and she has me on speed dial and lady is tearing life up. I know it hits some speed bumps, but she is tearing it up and I'm so proud of her.
Speaker 2:So she said the same for you, man, you had some speed bumps too, and you're tearing it up. So she had nothing.
Speaker 1:She was at Yakima, though.
Speaker 2:Elaine, no, as much as I bugged her and bugged her and tried to get her there, no, she, I think she was at something else, wasn't she? Or no, yeah, she was somewhere else. She had a NPRA gig to go to or something, I don't know. She didn't make it, but I'm not sure.
Speaker 1:She doesn't come On the east side that much Goldendale maybe, but I've tried.
Speaker 2:I've got dogs, man.
Speaker 1:She's got the pups at home.
Speaker 2:She's a dog mom. I'm a dog dad, but I got my wife at home. She gets to deal with the mastiffs. One of them's just a baby too six months.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's why she's a little terrible. Yak six months. Okay, that's why. Okay, all right.
Speaker 2:She's a little terrified.
Speaker 1:Yakima was good, then huh.
Speaker 2:Yeah we had a great time and it was cool just to see the actual rodeo crowd instead of the kind of ranching horse crowd, to see the booth and get to talk to those folks. And some of our riders were out. You know we had Dylan Riggins was out there, so yeah, uh, and then we did um, what was the other?
Speaker 2:we did one in california, oh, the red bluff. Uh, bull and gelding sale, which is a big, big deal. Uh, not a rodeo again, but um, another one of our riders was out there, got to hang out with him, yeah.
Speaker 1:Good times.
Speaker 2:Mike Reed, did you run into him? No, I don't think so. Okay, should I have, I would have liked to yes.
Speaker 1:Yes, you need to run into those kids, man, those college kids, dude, they're hungry, man, they're hungry.
Speaker 2:He was there. I'm pretty sure he's over at TCC yeah.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:I saw him walk by with his girl. I don't know what I was doing, but yeah, I'm sure I saw him Pretty sure.
Speaker 1:You can't miss him, man. He looks scrawny in the pictures, but when you see him, dude, he's massive. Was he there? Yeah, he was he. Was he there? Yeah, yeah he was. Yeah, he was riding I should have.
Speaker 2:I should have grabbed him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm pretty sure I saw him yeah, okay, how many events do you have lined up this year?
Speaker 2:oh man so far so that's been another huge blessing and we'll I'll dig in with you real quick, if you want.
Speaker 1:But uh, go for it.
Speaker 2:A lot of these bigger event and this is true with most events to home shows or whatever. You know what have you for vendors? You get first right of refusal, and so if you can get into one of these big events, you're pretty much good to go for the next year and the next year because you're the first one to get the application right. You want your spot back, you know, and so. But to get in the first time is the hard part, and we have been crazy blessed to get into the vast majority of these major shows on the you know over here in the pacific northwest that we want to get into.
Speaker 2:So, uh, and for the people out there that are listening, if they want to know where we're going to be at, let me rattle off some of these names, because I'm super proud of this list of of events we're going to be at. I'm stoked man, I can't wait. So we're going to be at spray um okay, josh's favorite spray, super cool um, snake river and crooked river. So we're going to get out to idaho. Uh, this year, saint paul, which, is a big one.
Speaker 2:We're stoked to get out to Idaho this year St Paul, which is a big one. We're stoked to be at that one. We'll be at Philomath, we'll be at Saniam, we'll be at Jefferson County Fair, we're going to do the Benton and Umatilla and Canby, all three of those fairs, and then we're coming out your way a little bit North washington fair. That'll be fun. I think that's uh pretty sure that's a prca, might be mpra. Uh, we're gonna do ellensburg. I hope so. Fingers crossed for ellensburg. Haven't heard back but it sounds good. Uh, we're gonna go out to lewiston for the roundup in idaho. We'll be at pendleton, which is major for us, uh, main street cowboys yeah, first year, and here you come, man yeah, man, uh.
Speaker 2:And then we got invited out to uh some friends of ours they own a pretty popular horse trailer company that's out here close to us in harrisburg um, they're gonna have us out at the elite breakaway finals, so that's gonna be okay, uh. And then we'll be at, uh, the national finals for um team roping in reno, which is uh, what is it? Actra finals, yeah, and so that's a.
Speaker 1:That's a pretty big, big man geez well next year.
Speaker 2:I hope you see us at um. I hope you see us in Houston. I hope you see us in Arizona. Josh is headed out Friday with his kit and his company to do Art of the Cowgirl, so that's major. You might see us at the Reno Rodeo next year. I mean, who knows?
Speaker 1:Yeah, wow man, a lot of stuff coming on at the NFR too, so that's kind of the dream there. Yeah, you go to NFR too. So that'd be that's kind of the dream there. Yeah, you go to NFR. Let me know I'll definitely come visit man you can ride with us, man that'll be fun. That'll be fun, yeah. I've never been to Vegas, so no, you're not missing much, but hey, during NFR it is the Reno.
Speaker 2:I guess that's like little Vegas right it's different man Is it Reno's a little more country, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's a lot different. But you know Vegas is cool because you know you get all the like-minded people in one building. You know Cowboy Christmas and then pretty much all the hotels are loaded with people wearing, you know, cowboy hats and boots and you know they wear their, their uh, red carpet wardrobe and everything else. So you're like nfr.
Speaker 1:But you know I go to nfr just for cowboy christmas in the environment, right, I watch the stuff at the bar or in at, you know, restaurants, because, dude, that's a lot of money to just sit there and watch for like maybe an hour or two.
Speaker 2:You know it is yeah should see the vendor fees, man yeah, I could only imagine it's a few grand to set up down there.
Speaker 1:So but uh, cowboy, christmas is man. It's crazy. I took my wife this last uh year for the first time and she's like this is how it is. I'm like yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my wife's not allowed to go. Bring a lot of money, that's all I have to say you got another mortgage or something, yeah.
Speaker 1:Bring a lot of money, yeah, or don't go at all, just okay, sightsee, sightsee. You spent more in Pendleton, though, than the NFR, for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, for sure, yeah, yeah, I've been out there, and then the last time I was out there was for my birthday. Last year we went out for the music festival. That was fun okay, all right.
Speaker 1:The rodeo though the rodeo.
Speaker 2:I haven't been to the rodeo, no, I mean, I've been in benton a bunch of times, I've been in the music festival, but not the rodeo yeah, I'll never go the last saturday, man, I'll never go to the saturday yeah, it just seems like a kind of a mess to me, like it's just too much, man, unless I'm down there vending, then yeah, I'll watch it on the cowboy channel soon yeah yeah, yeah that, that's.
Speaker 1:That's it. I'll go watch, you know, the slacks and everything else during the week, but, man, I won't go saturday ever again. If I do, I'm gonna go, you know, out in the street because you see all and every uh tv for free.
Speaker 2:So well, maybe we'll set up a tv at our booth there you go come hang out with us. Man there you go, we'll be down main street cowboys so okay, all right.
Speaker 1:My question, man, which blew my mind. You said earlier, this is the other way around. You're used to interviewing people. You interviewed hip-hop artists. Yeah, man. Okay, how does one go from hip-hop to country man?
Speaker 2:uh well, I mean, I grew up country. I grew up in a little town, keno, oregon, middle of nowhere, yep Out of Klamath Falls.
Speaker 1:Yep, klamath Falls. I graduated college there.
Speaker 2:Did you really go to OIT?
Speaker 1:Yeah, oit Yep.
Speaker 2:All right. So, you know, a couple of days in the summers up there with him and you know I just kind of fell in love with that city vibe and so, long story short, I started going to college in Coos Bay, oregon, on the coast there, and I was going for a degree in journalism. And so I think I was in like a writing, like a low writing class, one of my first writing classes, and we had to write some essays and short stories. And my writing teacher came to me one day and she's like this is amazing, like you're really good at writing, have you ever thought about writing for the school paper? Like you're really good at writing, uh, have you ever thought about writing for the school paper? And I hadn't. But she said we'll give you a full year scholarship and books. Uh, if you write for the school paper, I'm like, well, sign me up. So I came up with this idea to do a food critic column and so basically the school would pay for my meals and I'd just pay for me and my gas to go out and eat at restaurants, take my mom to restaurants, you know and and, uh, write a review on food. And that was my gig. That paid for school for that year and it was awesome. Um, but then you know, I I had, you know, previous to college, I I kind of ran away from home, I'd gotten into some trouble and ran up to live with my dad outside of Seattle and ended up in Everett and, you know, kind of ended up getting in with an old, longtime friend of mine now, sammy P, who was a rapper.
Speaker 2:I had a record label and I had traveled all over with those guys, you know, doing tour management and A&R stuff and just tons of record label stuff with those guys, and so I had already kind of been immersed in that world before college. Yeah, and so I think one of these artists Tech N9ne or the Game or somebody was coming to my town. And so I went to the school paper, the editor, and I said, hey, what do you think about me interviewing this rapper? If I can figure out how to get backstage, will you guys pay for my tickets? They said, yeah, if you can get an exclusive with him for the school paper, then yeah, we'll pay for the tickets. And so, long story short, I went on this year's long journey of just learning how to get ahold of a tour manager short.
Speaker 2:I went on this years-long journey of just learning how to get a hold of a tour manager, learning how to get a hold of the, you know, the, the media rep or whoever I had to find, to get in front of these rappers. And I ended up spending years, um, you know, I had gotten offers from the source magazine and double xl. I saw my stuff somehow hey, such and such is going to be in your town. We saw your stuff in the school paper. Uh, on MySpace Cause I, you know, I made a fair amount of money back in the day running MySpace pages for rappers too. And so, yeah, I just I kept getting approached by websites and magazines like, hey, will you interview such and such for us? And I'm like, yeah, so I ended up, you know, interviewing 40 and too short and tons of hip artists. And, um, yeah, man, I've been published I think 200 something times in a past life as a hip-hop writer. So random, random knowledge, yeah, random facts about keno, kooz bay and hip-hop rap man.
Speaker 2:That's crazy right yeah, I've done it all, man, it's uh gosh, all right.
Speaker 1:Well, who was your favorite artist? Uh, that you interviewed tech nine tech nine.
Speaker 2:Why is? That just because he tech nine was like the most down-to-earth intelligent I heard guy that I and I got to tour with him for a while. You know he has this persona, you know, of course, as a rapper, but as a as a human being in real life, he's. He's really nothing like that. The guy is just super smart, uh, business savvy, you know down to earth doesn't drink, doesn't do drugs.
Speaker 2:You know you'd think he does from his music, but yeah, yeah, tech night was the guy okay, gravitated to the most. My least favorite interview, I think, was the game the game I could only imagine. Yeah, yeah, yeah, guys say no further man, so jerk shout out game. Yeah, man too short and e40 were both fun ones too, but I could only imagine man, man crazy life, man.
Speaker 2:It was a crazy life. A lot of flights, a lot of you know popping dom p in hotels and a lot of debauchery. And I mean mean you know you get your travel paid for and you're backstage at these huge shows with famous people all the time. It sounds very glamorous and fun, but at the end of the day, a lot of hangovers and a lot of regretful actions and at the end of the day you're getting 50 bucks a page for what you write and you know.
Speaker 1:So it's like yeah, like yeah, bad kids, you have to stop doing it. You know and thank god for that keno to the bigs man, keno kuzbay to the bigs dude yes, sir, been around a little bit, yeah, crazy you know, kiddo is so small man yeah, yeah I went from you know playing with uh playing with milking cows and and calves across the street to flying around the country interviewing rappers.
Speaker 1:And now, uh, now I'm now in a rodeo clothing company, so yeah life's crazy man life's crazy yeah, I used to deliver pepsi product at that gas station or that that mart in keno yeah, keno store.
Speaker 2:I got a keno store hat, right where. You'll see me wearing it once in a while nice nice that's cool. My travels, I was through there and they used to have.
Speaker 2:They used to have jars, like lining the counter in a Kino store and some were nickel and most were a penny and they had a little candies in them. You know you get like candy corn, gummy bears. Yeah, man, you go in there and get a little sack for you know, 15 cents worth pennies. So I thought to myself, driving by, what if they still have those penny candy jars in there? And I'm sure the fda shut that down at some point, you know yeah, oh yeah but so I went in and I saw that they had a couple hats up on the shelf.
Speaker 2:I thought, man I gotta get me a keno store hat. So now I've got.
Speaker 1:I've got a keno store hat you ride one of the cheapest hats and gas station ads. Man, oh, they did. Uh, they did have the best jojos and uh burritos oh yeah, so yeah, yeah, good ranch too, oh yeah it was the same lady, by the way.
Speaker 2:When I went out there and I'm like, hey, you still have the, she said how do you know about that?
Speaker 1:like I grew up out here, yeah, that's crazy, man small recognize me, but yeah, same lady okay, sponsorships, man was who's behind the talent? Who's behind the talent watching? I'm curious about that, man. Uh, as far as what we mean is the lady behind that of who gets what with you, I mean, like, how do you pick? How do you pick?
Speaker 2:um, you know, to be honest, it was the first people who came on board got the merch sponsorship. And once I got to a point where I started seeing, uh, what it was going to cost to, you know, fund the clothing, and actually I just shipped it all out yesterday, day before yesterday, yeah, day before yesterday. Um, once we got to like 10, you know, because hoodie retail is at 55 bucks, 10 people with hoodies, you know, you're 550 bucks and like yep, and so we, we kind of stuck at 10, and so basically the 10 first 10 people that came on board got the merch sponsorship. Now, it's not going to be like that forever, you know, and I don't want to sound shallow, no, I got you in any sponsorship, there's's an ROI aspect to it, you know.
Speaker 2:And if I, if I see a kid who is just naturally talented on fire for God, you know, aligns with the values you know and things like that, or if we just, you know, pray about it or we feel in our spirits that this kid, you know, is some special, then that's's different. But at the end of the day, if you've got 14 followers and two crummy pictures on your instagram page and you want 1500, for, you know, to wear my patch, it's like yeah, oh man, this is a business at the same time. So I got you. But I'm totally down to like, help these kids build their online presence and give them pointers and shout them out and stuff like that. So, you know, at the end of the day, it's not all that, but I do want these kids and these athletes thinking in those terms because, you know, I want, I want to see them, you know, get to their full potential. And if you approach Wrangler or Ariat or one of these companies for, you know, a major sponsorship, that's what they're going to be looking for. They're going to be looking for stage presence, you know, per se, and they're going to be looking for how you handle yourself, how you you know your interview skills.
Speaker 2:There's a ton of things that go into branding yourself. You know I learned that from from. You know, back in the day it was all about how many cds could you sell, and then cds turned into mp3s. Mp3s got pirated and so then that turned into. You know, in the hip-hop industry our main source of income for several years was ringtones. I don't know if you remember that craze, but ringtone money, dude Right. And so it became. It came to a point where nobody was selling music anymore. You had to brand yourself, you had to create a brand around you and your persona and so and that's kind of how it is still today. And so I want to see these kids develop. But you know, long story short. So I want to see these kids develop, but you know, long story short.
Speaker 2:This first round is kind of who came first. This second round is going to be much more about who spent this season liking, sharing, repping the brand you know, conducting themselves in public and at rodeos in a way that you know aligns with our values, things like that. Are you posting? You know reels of you? You know smoking herb with your buddies and cussing and doing stuff like that. You know, then it might not be a good fit for us next season. So yeah, there's a lot that goes into it. We didn't put a ton of thought into it this time, you know. I just if you kind of have the same values as us and you want to roll and rep the brand this year, then then let's go for it. But, um, we are going to have to put some, you know, guard guard rails in place for next season and and really put some more thought into it.
Speaker 2:So, but everybody we have right now is just they're awesome, awesome people, great group of riders.
Speaker 1:I'm sure you saw most of them, yeah yeah, well, I asked if the lady is behind because, man, you got a lot of lady athletes do a lot of canadians, ladies, and a lot of canadians.
Speaker 2:Yeah right, they are ba dude they are ba they yeah yeah rodeo's big in canada. Man, it's crazy nuts, uh. But yeah, a lot of ladies, a lot, of, a lot of canadians. You're right, you're not. Somebody asked me the other day is what is this? Nix angels? And I'm like what? I guess I didn't really notice how many ladies there were, but maybe they're the ones. They're more vocal, they reach out more, I guess. Yeah, the guys are just like a little. They're not as quick to reach out about, I guess I don't know.
Speaker 1:No, but man, those day, the canadians man, I tell you what when I had live peters on I did, the number skyrocketed. I was like, what is this?
Speaker 2:that's right. Live was on there too, I totally forgot about that.
Speaker 1:They roll deep, man, and it is crazy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, liv's on the team too. It was awesome actually.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, she yeah, she's, she's BA, she has a. She has a couple people underneath her wing that's younger than her and they're up and coming. I told them I was like, hey, I'll keep an eye on yeah, and you know they were asking for pointers. They're like what should I put on?
Speaker 2:there. I was like more rides, please put. I want to see more rides. Once I see more rides, I'll have you on, man, even if you're hitting the ground in 0.5 seconds.
Speaker 1:Post it right.
Speaker 2:You know all of them especially the ones where you, you eat it hard. You know, yeah, oh yeah. We don't want to see eight seconds every time. It's not the real world, but actually live is one of the ones that pushes it. You know, kind of the most. She likes everything, she, you know she's like she's super active and and we you know, we have tons of conversations she's, she's awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she's in it to win it, man. She gets them walled up too, so that's a good, good pick. I love to hear that. I love to hear that.
Speaker 2:I didn't even know that you interviewed her. How many? How many people are?
Speaker 1:on the podcast team, I guess.
Speaker 2:So I got to go through that list, cause when I asked you which one Elaine was on, you're like 150, number one 57. I'm like dude, how many, how many episodes are?
Speaker 1:there on here.
Speaker 2:Yes, you got to be at like 250 or something, man, this will be.
Speaker 1:I'm sitting on one. I'll be sitting on this one. Sunday will be 50 250. That's awesome. Congratulations, I love. Thanks, I love it. Thanks, man. Um, speaking of entourage, you need to get the boys from Colville, you need to get the boys from Northeastern Washington.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And look in and I tell you I've had a few of these kids on, boys. That is from Southeast Georgia, bama, florida.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Hey, those boys ran deep, and if you get one, you're going to get many men.
Speaker 2:So shoot me some, shoot me some names or just you know one message back and forth, but yeah, no.
Speaker 1:I'm into it. Yeah, I got you. I got you, man, I love it. All right, so in goal, end goal, man, what's your end goal?
Speaker 2:uh, end goal is to. Well, I want to be the uh, want to be the senior event producer for the nfr. That'd be cool, you know. Wow, a little high stress, a little high stress, lofty goal there, um, but no, with with the company, I think, end goal. So there's two passes this could take, take right, and one is, I guess, the standard American dream path, which would be to grow this thing big enough to where we're approached by an area or a wrangler or somebody who wants to purchase it and back it, and leave us in place to do what we do and still spread the message that we spread. And leave us in place to do what we do and still spread the message that we spread. Probably unlikely, just because you know that heavy faith stuff doesn't work in every market and a lot of these really big brands are too scared to, you know, really go that heavy on the faith side Again, hold fast.
Speaker 2:So the other direction that that would take is to independently become as big. As you know, we watched just the other day we saw the interview with the Kimes family right and saw him and his wife talk about how they were traveling with their young kids in a trailer rodeo to rodeo and were just super stoked.
Speaker 2:Every single pair of pants that they sold and it was just this small club of people like they'd walk by and I go oh, they have a pair of our jeans or oh, you know, and it was just a few people. That was five years ago, dude. Yeah, that was five years ago. Look at kimes right now. And they did it on their own, independently, and so that would be the. The big goal is to, you know, grow to a kime size company, stay independent, keep at least controlling interest of the company so that we have enough. Say that we can turn this into a platform to minister, to the world man, I mean at least to the Western people out there, and that's really the main goal. I don't care as much about the money, obviously, anymore I would have taken that corporate job. But money is good in a way because it enables us to have that platform.
Speaker 2:And so if we're, going to reach all the people we gotta. We gotta pay for it somehow, so yeah, Okay, besides hoodies, what, what's?
Speaker 1:what are you aiming for, man? Are you going to be getting into jeans? Are you going to be getting into boots?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Interesting that you asked. So I've got a little pet project right now that Peyton and I are working on, Got a couple of the other bull guys that are going to be doing some testing for me on and we'll debut this to the public with you here. Uh, it's called eight second sticky and it's going to be a bull rope rosin uh my own formula here, kind of a backyard formula that, uh, we'll be able to replicate.
Speaker 2:I can't tell you what's in it, it might smell might smell good you know it might might smell good, you know it might might have its own vibe, um, but yeah, so we're. We're working on our own bull rope, rosin. It's things like that that are industry specific and sports specific that we don't see a whole lot of people doing. I mean, we'd love to do our own vests at some point, our own protective gear, our own gloves and just rodeo specific gear, like you know, solid, but jeans would be, you know, could be part of that too. I want to do it all. You know, um, too many people doing hats. There are a lot of people doing jeans, but I think, like the protective gear, maybe boots, um stuff like that. You know just kind of these little untapped markets where we can kind of get our foot in the door and play with that stuff.
Speaker 1:What's your biggest seller?
Speaker 2:right now. Uh, it is the hold fast hoodie with the cross on it. Yep, Okay, yeah, People love that that. And we've got stainless steel. They look like solo cups but, they're stainless steel and they're Sarah, coated in red, just like a solo cup, okay. And then they're laser etched with uh. Probably our second bestseller is one of those cups that says try that in a small town, like they had them. Uh and then these hats that say try that. In a small town People love those hats, man Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's all the denim with the leather work. Who does the leather work, man you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's Josh's company. So Wild Kiger, that's our brother company. He's really trying to move to cater more toward the Queens, like the Rodeo Queens and ranching families, and so that's just another underserved part of rodeo. I feel like that is kind of untapped. And so you know the Queens, they love their flashy jackets and you know the fancy boots and the cool hat lots of turquoise. Uh, if you ever meet me at a show, you'll see all eight of my main fingers have got rings on them. I'm a big ring guy.
Speaker 1:Really I wouldn't okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I wouldn't have thought I wouldn't have ringed out man totally ringed out yeah, um, and so, yeah, he's doing those jackets. They're, they're a hot ticket. When we were down at the red bluff bowl and gelding sale he had two prototypes hanging in his booth. And the second night I think that we were down there someone snuck in in the middle of the night and just robbed his booth blind man. They took his two prototype jackets before he could show them off and get good pictures of them. They took a ton of his product out of there and just robbed him, man, like full NorCal style robbery. It was a tough gig. The night after that we had a huge windstorm that just decimated his whole tent, broke all of his displays, shattered, everything. I mean like it was a rough show for Josh. But he's back now.
Speaker 2:He's got a few of those jackets made up that we were able to take to Yakima as Josh came and set his booth up the Yakima too and, um, he's got some really cool shirt designs. He flasks and then another thing that he's doing is the wild rags that he custom designed, real silk wild rags, and they're a hot seller. They're super nice. So, but yeah, you can get a. You can get a custom denim jacket or you can get, like he does, the office style blazers for the queens too. Okay, the lapel has leather that's etched with whatever you want on it and stuff. So we're getting pretty good use out of the the laser he's got at home.
Speaker 1:So yeah, that comes in handy, man I've been thinking about getting that, getting something like that, that's fun.
Speaker 2:It's stinky, though, so make sure it's a well ventilated area yeah, yeah, probably the garage or something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay. Is there anything you would like to add? Did I miss?
Speaker 2:anything? I don't think so. I mean I got some notes here. I think we pretty much went over everything else. I mean we do have just one more iron in the fire, which is well lots of irons in the fire, it seems like it's just going, man, it's like the wheel is spinning as we're talking. I'm sorry if I'm just going off, but no, it's great man, it's great a billion things in my head every day at any given moment.
Speaker 2:So I mean just keeping up with the instagram alone throughout the day. It's like a full-time job, man, it's. That is true. It's crazy, um, it's true, but we are, uh, we got with, uh, one of our writers you guys will find out which one here pretty soon um, but we are going to start a new campaign for a design on some shirts and hoodies.
Speaker 2:Uh, that is called a o, one which stands for audience of one. I'll have a cool scripture behind it, but basically, you know, the premise of that is do it like God is watching. You know, instead of doing it for your friends, your family or mankind at all, you know, do it, do it like you're doing it for him. And that's how we're approaching this company. Not only we feel like we're just stewards of his company, but everything that we're doing we're trying to do to impress and to please him and not people. So, ao1, watch for that Audience of one. I think it's going to be huge. I think it's going to take off. People are going to love that, other than that, no, I mean just grinding man, the daily grind. Yeah, you are grinding man, the daily grind. Yeah, you are gosh, I figure out how to pay for all this and keep it all rolling and keep up with the website and the instagram and the applying for shows.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah with with the time that you've uh, you know, been in business and everything else till now, man, it's all been positive. I know, you probably know, have ups and downs, just like every other place, you know, and person that's trying to, you know, start something, but it seems like it's working out, man, to your advantage. I mean just starting and you have 43, maybe 45 after this conversation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, probably keep going, yeah.
Speaker 1:I got a few patches left.
Speaker 2:So you know, whoever wants to rock one, I've got to get one. Oh, I think I got one sent out to elaine. Elaine wants a patch too, so elaine wants one? Okay, lane's officially on the team. Man. We've got two official photographers riding with us too, now so, and that just happened on your show yeah, and then uh, you know like bella bella was on your show um oh yeah, dig through.
Speaker 1:I want to see how many people we have if, if, a, if you need any scouts, I'm I'm here for you. I a I work for free. It's, it's cool I, I, I'm gonna tell you a couple names that will, I believe will um lead by example.
Speaker 2:So yeah, that's later. Yeah, that's a big thing.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, if you want to become the official eight second strong talent scout man, let's, uh, let's circle back on that after this, hey that I dropped my wife nuts, because every time I went to a baseball game, every time I go to a football game, every time I go to a sporting event or concert, I don't leave, I don't leave my seat, I stand, you know, I that's as much as moving. I will do and I drive her. Nuts man, I can sit through a whole rodeo and not use the bathroom that's dedication, my friend.
Speaker 1:I love that and then she's like what are you doing? Oh, I know this person, I know this person, I'm here to see them, you know. So, if you need that, I got you for free, man.
Speaker 2:No, no I've heard you talk about that. I've heard you talk about taking more time to, like you know, actually follow specific people and watch the scores and watch oh, yeah, like I follow the people on my team, but that's about it.
Speaker 2:So I don't start doing that anymore. But I never. Certain rodeos we get to set up to where I get to watch the whole rodeo from my booth, uh, you know previously, so that was another thing. In the corporate world. Um, I got to pick all of the shows that we set up our booth at and so like, say, the columbia river circuit finals. They don't really do like corporate booths, they've done two ever, both years they were mine.
Speaker 2:So because I begged and pleaded to get into that road, you know, and the higher-ups are like what are we doing at a rodeo again? Nick like no, you know, rodeo people got money. Man like I'm picking up excuses to be at the rodeo. So I know it's like to be set up at the rodeos. Uh, because I inserted myself in whatever way I could. Yeah, I love the rodeo man, but we usually don't get to watch like yakima. I was way behind the bleachers, I didn't get to see anything, dude.
Speaker 1:So I think I don't get to follow these guys check out, uh, john day man, check out john day's npr or ica they that's a joint ICA and NPRA oh, that's cool yeah, it's pretty cool, man, the John Day. It's small town but man it is, it is good, it is fun and I think you can. You will be able to watch it from the side.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's why I like Redmond. I love that fairgrounds first of all, one of my favorite fairgrounds but yeah, to set up all the vendors along the top edge there in Redmond. I'm sure you've been to Redmond the fairgrounds. But yeah, to set up all the vendors along the top edge there in redmond. I'm sure you've been to redmond the fairgrounds oh yeah, awesome oh yeah, that's a fun one for us well, we can talk all night.
Speaker 1:I would love to talk all night, you know, and I know you would. You would too.
Speaker 2:You probably have dinner, you probably don't know so okay, getting the stink guy yet, but I better go say hi, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So but no, let's uh carry this conversation. You know, later on instagram and whatnot. I got a couple names for you and uh, yeah, man, anything you need from me, dude, I'd do it free of charge. I, I have fun doing this. My wife knows my kids know my, yeah, so yeah, yeah and dude, till next time. Please stay in touch.
Speaker 2:A hundred percent. Yeah, Anything you need for me to you know, holler at me and I'll send you the schedule too. If you're going to be at any of these things, I'd love to have you come by the booth and hang out.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We'll do something live. Maybe that'd be fun. Let's do it. Let's do it All right, nick, I'm game. All right, nick, I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on, man.
Speaker 1:Give me up, we'll see you next time.