April 1, 2024 • 32 mins
Ever grappled with the weight of financial worries or felt the pressure of turning your passion into a profitable business? We've got Brandon May on board this week, who gets real about the highs and lows of entrepreneurship. Our candid conversation takes you through the nitty-gritty of managing finances both personally and professionally. Brandon, transitioning from a tattoo artist at established shops to the proud owner of Empire Tattoo, shares the raw emotions that come with such a bold move. He doesn't hold back in recounting the learning curve of budgeting for business, dealing with the tax beast, and the relentless pursuit of purchasing a home in California's daunting real estate market.
But we don't just talk shop; we delve into the heart of the tattoo industry's current evolution, challenging the status quo of traditional shops versus the rise of private studios. Brandon's perspective as a seasoned artist and business owner ignites a passionate debate about the importance of respecting diverse paths to success within the community. As he strips away the layers of negativity that often cloud the tattoo world, listen in for a potent mix of frustration and enlightenment. This episode isn't just for entrepreneurs or creatives; it's a raw look at the universal struggle to chase professional dreams against the odds. Join us for an eye-opening session that promises to leave you inspired to carve out your own empire, whatever that may be.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Good morning.
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Good morning.
Welcome to B to Z Podcast.
I'm going to be the host today,Zach, and with me, as always,
Brandon May.
How you doing, Brandon?
Speaker 3 (00:18):
I'm good.
How are you man?
I'm good, I want to.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Our last episode ended with some heavy topics.
I kind of want to keep goingwith the heavy topics.
What's something that bothersyou, what's something that
stresses you out, something thatstresses?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
me out.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah, what's something that's been bothering
you, bills.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Yeah, yeah, bills stress me out Financial,
financial yeah, that's beenbothering you.
Bills, yeah, yeah stress me out.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
So financial, financial, yeah, um, being in uh
california stresses me out,trying to buy a house stresses
me out a lot of those things.
What about yourself?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
uh, same financial I'm on.
I'm on a budget, going toschool, not currently employed
right now, which is reallydifferent for me, and not being
employed actually leads to mebeing more stressed out yeah, I
mean jobs are for jokes.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
You know what I'm saying, I'm just kidding.
I mean, yeah, it's tough timesright now.
We're out here facing a lot.
Interest rate is at an all-timehigh, it's hard to show for, to
buy things, it's hard to get ina position to buy things, and
that's pretty much my issuethese days is just trying to buy
(01:39):
a house, or budgeting,budgeting.
You said budgeting, budgetingmy business properly, so I can
uh have a lucrative year withoutgoing in too much in the
negatives, because taxes for mewas a huge thing my first year
within business and stuff likethat uh you're an entrepreneur.
Entrepreneur, business owneryeah, this is what my third year
(02:00):
um leaving the studio.
Everything else has been insomebody else's shop.
Empire tattoo I started, andthen elizabeth street, which I
learned a lot from both, uh youknow, sean workah and brian
foster.
I've always been really nosy asfar as the industry and how
businesses work.
(02:20):
I want to know everything youknow and it's uh it's allowed me
to open up doors, man.
Matter of fact, let me go ahead.
Uh, there was this podcast thatthere, or this other podcast
the other day they're calledhonest tattooers and they had a
post up that said you know,tattooers don't want to pay 40
(02:41):
percent for uh a shop, but theywant to pay 10 grand to go rent
a private studio.
And that shit right therereally bothered me.
The other day I asked my ladyif I should talk about it and
get on their Instagram.
She said no, so I didn't get aty'all, but I guess I couldn't.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
We're talking about now, yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
I guess I couldn't hold back, though, but I just
didn't agree with that shit, mebeing a private studio owner.
All the paperwork is the same,homie.
You know what I'm saying forthe, for the ones who you know
for, who put that out all thepaperwork is the same and the
work is the same as well.
What I do as a tattooer ispretty much the same thing you
do as a tattooer.
It just looks different, and itpisses me off that people feel
(03:22):
like they can create ripples,negative ripples, when it could
just be a positive thing.
And that's a big part of theproblem of tattooing is
everybody got an opinion on theway that it should be done, and
as long as you're doing yourthing in a respectable way, then
get out of other people's ways.
Man, this shit is going toevolve one more time.
(03:43):
Right now, it's private studios, but it'll be another thing one
day, and there's gonna be.
This shit is gonna evolve onemore time.
Right now, it's private studios, but what that?
It'll be another thing one day,and there's always someone
talking about oh, these peopledidn't get it this way and this,
it should be this way, and it'sjust like I'm really sick of
that.
You know I worked hard to get aprivate studio and it's
circumstances that put me in aprivate studio.
Um, having three kids, um,wanting to be in my kids' lives
(04:08):
and you know, pick up and dropoff and have freedom to leave is
important to me, you know,because my kids are only young
once and that's why you find mein a private studio is because I
want to spend that extra timearound my family rather than in
a shop, which you assholes, youfeel me so?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
but you also had a transitional period too, as I'm
sure a lot of artists did duringCOVID, where it was half in the
shop, half with masks.
I came, I got tattooed, withmasks on.
I know everybody wasn't willingto do that we was closed yeah,
exactly, and and that also, Iknow, transitioned a lot of
artists into doing it from homebecause it was legal to do it,
(04:52):
run that type of business athome.
At one point.
Correct, because luckily thegovernment made it flexible.
Uh, I know, for the, uh forfood and and also tattooing.
Uh, they, they kind of bent therules a little bit.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Yeah, I mean I don't.
I got tattooed at your house.
I don't know specifically ifyou were able to tattoo at home
ever.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yeah, California was.
Oh, okay.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yeah, so that's news to me.
That's cool.
You know, I can see how itcould become a problem just
because people ruin everything.
You know, you give them alittle bit of something and then
there's always somebody who'sdoing too much with it.
Tattoos are really bad withthat, I think.
Sometimes, you know, likeanother guy was posting about
the FDA and the inks and stufflike that, and another tattoo
(05:38):
artist was talking about oh man,now you got them looking at us,
man, like shut up and a part ofme agrees with that Like bro,
like just shut up.
You know, like the more we talkabout this stuff and the more
we put it out there, like theworse it's going to be.
Everybody wants to have afreaking tutorial.
You know what I mean.
It's like stop teachingeverybody this, you know, and I
(05:59):
was a victim of that stuff too.
I had apprentices.
You know, of that stuff too, Ihad apprentices.
You know, they all tried theirbest and stuff like that.
I don't have any apprenticesanymore.
Respect to them, though, andthe paths that they took and the
journeys that we had togetherlike, I still am on good terms
with most of them.
One I'm going to work on, youknow what I mean I will
definitely revisit thatrelationship, but I mean stop
(06:22):
teaching this stuff, you know,keep it a little bit more sacred
.
But also get off your highhorse.
Get off your fucking high horse.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
What's therapeutic to you?
What, what?
What helps you work out allthese stressors?
What's your what's?
What's your therapy nowadays?
Speaker 3 (06:43):
My therapy, it was boxing for a little bit, you
know.
But, man, you know, I havethings that a lot of people
don't have and, as kids, as soonas I walk in the house and I
have a responsibility to anotherlittle soul like that, that's
enough for me to kind of jostleme into the place where I have a
responsibility to anotherlittle soul.
That's enough for me to kind ofjostle me into the place where
I need to be.
I don't have to look far.
(07:03):
I also have a brother who'sincarcerated, who's always doing
worse than I, so that'ssomething I think about all the
time, so I don't look far.
For examples, mine are core andthey stay right close to me so
I can stay humble and groundedand not take this stuff for
granted.
What about you?
Speaker 2 (07:22):
well, so I look up to you for doing that, and some
people can.
They can do that.
They can.
They have that internal therapy.
They have that, that buttonthey can press.
That helps them, uh, de-stress,decompress.
That helps them, uh, de-stress,decompress and enjoy the rest
of the day.
For whatever reason, I stoppedhaving that my at one point in
(07:45):
my life.
How'd you regain it?
Like several years of therapy.
I've been in therapy now, uh,since 2018 okay.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
You want to shout out your therapist?
Is that something you do?
No, I'm not going to.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Because I've gone through a lot, you know who you
are.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
I will shout my therapist out for the fact that
this is one of the besttherapists I've had.
I've had many good ones, but Ithink there's a time and place.
Sometimes you come and meet theright people.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
And.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
I met the right therapist for me right now.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Okay, and what defines a good therapist and a
bad therapist for youspecifically?
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Believe it or not, someone that listens.
That sounded like a joke alittle bit it is because you can
have a therapist and theycannot listen to you.
And there are types of therapywhere you do it just like a
class.
You follow along, you do italmost like a book style.
You have homework, there arecertain steps you need to be
(08:54):
completing and sometimes it'snot.
Sometimes therapy is not cutand dry like that because
there's emotion into it andthere's and there's lots of
different layers you know I'venever taken any therapy.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Um, I've been involved in other people's
therapy and I know therapistswill exercise all different
types of exercises to get towhere they want to try and get
you to see in a different light.
What is it that your therapistsare doing with you?
Speaker 2 (09:24):
I'm glad you brought that up.
Yeah, because I'm going to.
I kind of want to ask you andfor all the listeners out there
too, there's a it's an oldschool type of type of way to
look at things.
I'm sure you've heard beforeThink about a good memory you
have when you're 10 years old.
(09:45):
So get yourself there.
Get yourself thinking you'reabout 10 years old or you know
anywhere in between.
There, get yourself a goodmemory of yourself, type of
clothes you wore, what you looklike, and then I want you to
meet that 10-year-old person asyou right now.
(10:06):
I want you to walk up on thatkid and I want you in that kid's
shoes.
That kid's shoes.
Would you be proud of theperson you are today, looking
through that 10-year-old's eyes?
Speaker 3 (10:25):
And those are the things that they're asking you.
This was something that came upin my recent therapy.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
And what was your answer?
I was.
I was proud of myself.
I was yeah, yeah.
When my 10-year-old self looksat me, I think he'd think I'm
cool as shit.
Yeah, yeah, to be completelyhonest, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
I mean, I've always thought like those questions are
like cheesy a little bit.
Oh yeah, but they do hit home.
As cheesy as it could be, likeit hits home and uh, I think
about that too.
Like am I where I should be?
In a different form, I'mdefinitely not speaking to the
(11:07):
kid, I mean, I'm talking to theadult.
You know, like bro, like youshould be in a different place
than you are in.
You know, usually from anegative standpoint.
Um, I as a kid, if I were tolook at myself and say, hey, are
you happy with where you are?
I'd be like yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
But I've definitely been proud of yourself.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Is that 10-year-old proud of you?
Yeah, I'm proud of myself.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Yeah, I'm proud of myself.
Obviously, I think there's thisunachievable goal that humans
have within their brains andtheir hearts to always want more
.
You know what I mean.
So I always want more, which issomething I'm working on as
well, is being content.
But I am happy with what it isthat I've achieved in my 40
(11:49):
years of life, and that's notbased off of achievements, but
it's more who it is that I amand my little generation that
I've created.
You know, and I know, anybodycan have babies, but it takes a
real man to really put a stampon their children, real, real
woman to put a stamp on theirchildren to kind of define who
(12:11):
it is that they are.
You know what I mean and I feellike I'm doing a really good
job with that as of right now.
You know what I mean.
Oh yeah, I feel like it takeswork and you have the ability to
suck too.
You know like you could do allthe good work and then at the
end you stumble.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
One thing.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
And it can send things off as rockers.
So I'm just trying to stay inpocket, stay in my lane and
stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
So you haven't had any of those times where that
one thing sent you off, or thatone bad thing.
Have you had any bad instancesthat you?
Speaker 3 (12:43):
can recall Instances within what?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Within parenting.
Within parenting, yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
I mean, you're teaching little humans who don't
know anything how to becivilized.
They're little savages and yougive them manners.
And so, yeah, you know, thismorning when I left, you know,
my three-year-old and myfive-year-old have just been at
it and I had to have one ofthose conversation type of
(13:12):
meetings where I sit them downon the couch and be like hey,
why?
And I tell my kids like hey,you guys are hurting my feelings
.
You know, I try and put it inkid terms.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
You guys are hurting my feelings when you act like
this.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
This is not cool.
It makes me feel different.
I had pulled out games we weregoing to be board games and they
were just acting like assholes.
But then I was like man, thisis a parenting moment and I
didn't even want to do it.
I didn't want to do it, I justwanted to fucking push it to the
side, Like fuck it, you guyswin.
But I was like, no, we're notplaying nothing, Y'all go sit on
the couch Time to have ameeting.
Like I need you to act right youknow I'm not just saying this
(13:46):
just because it's defaultverbiage for parents Like I
really need you to be solidindividuals and those, those are
down moments as well as highmoments, because the feeling
that comes with it because yougot to get on your kids, you got
to bring their demeanor down, alittle bit hurts you.
But the information, um, ispivotal.
(14:08):
It's vital that they receivethat because, no, they don't
know now.
Like they have no clue what thefuck I was talking about, Right
, they have no clue what thefuck I was talking about, right.
Two seconds later they're likeeh, da-da-da-da-da.
I finished the conversation.
And Luna's like oh, I want toplay with you.
You know what I mean, and thewhole conversation was about
playing alone for a little bitand being independent.
So they get it, but they don'tget it.
(14:28):
So it's just like you'regrooming them.
It's a muscle, your kids are amuscle.
If you're not doing push-upsmental push-ups with your kids
and putting them and challengingthem, then, yeah, they won't
have the proper resources.
So I try not to have badmoments I try not to, but I do,
and that's usually based off ofkids doing things that kids do,
(14:52):
like sending messages theyshouldn't send for my eldest or
for the youngest managingemotions and sitting down in
class because he's a busybodyFor my little girl.
Independence and having a littlebit of a chip on her shoulder I
want her to have a little chipon her shoulder just because,
you know, I feel like women ofcolor sometimes lose that chip
(15:15):
and I really want her to have ahigh level of thinking of
herself.
So that's one of the things Idefinitely groom for Luna and to
keep that toughness.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
She's tough, she is tough, yeah, she is tough.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
I parent the things that they're bad at.
I don't parent the things thatthey're good at.
We harness those things and alot of the time determine the
days and how we play and stufflike that.
But you know, I really focus onthe things that are lacking.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
I appreciate you sharing that.
I really like how you it seemslike you reflect on things
immediately to kind of analyzehow you acted in a certain
situation.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Yeah, you check situation.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Yeah, you check yourself.
Yeah, if I don't check myselffirst Before you fucking wreck
yourself, bro.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
I don't even need to say that that was perfect.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
That was perfect.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
If I don't check myself, I might not approach it
in the way that I want to.
This comes from reading booksand being around people who are
mindful, more mindful than I,that have taught me things that
will slow me down, to offer thebest person, to offer the best
of Brandon.
So my kids can like, becauseyou know one of my homies and
I'm going to bring him on Hisname is Johnny Arias.
(16:33):
He's dope.
He always tells me, you know,like if you're not good at B,
like your family's not going tobe good.
You know what I mean.
Like it all starts with you andthen it's infectious and he's
100 percent right, because thebetter I'm doing, it seems like
the better my family's doing.
And that doesn't mean like I gota stack of money in my pocket,
(16:54):
it's a mental wellness.
You know what I mean.
Obviously, that will help abrother out too, money.
But, um, because it issomething that just flies out of
my hand these days, I don't,you know.
I try not to focus on it somuch and just live life in a
manner where that is not alwaysthe focal point.
(17:14):
You feel me, my kids are thefocal point.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
You feel me.
My kids are the focal point.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
We all get it, especially being in California.
We all work, you know, you work, yeah, everyone has expenses.
Everybody out here grinding, youknow, and it's hard to get that
genuine feeling of family andslow down unless you already got
it.
For the ones who already got it, kudos to you.
But for the ones that are outhere struggling, I see you, man,
(17:38):
but make sure you spend thatextra time.
Don't just take time for avacation.
Take time to spend with yourgoddamn family.
You feel me Tap in.
Make sure your little ones areokay and as far as kids and
stuff like that, I know you takea big stance in your niece's
life.
What is it that you implementin her world from an uncle's
(18:02):
perspective?
Because my uncle was one of thecoldest people in my life
growing up and has some of thebest memories you know out there
that I hold.
My uncle was there for some ofmy best memories.
What?
And I know you take it serious.
So what are some of the?
Speaker 2 (18:19):
things that you you got me smiling because I tell
you a lot of the stories already.
I try to be that same thing youjust explained.
I try to be that tough butknowledgeable source that she
can reach out to that my sisterhasn't given her yet.
(18:39):
Because me and my sister have agood relationship.
You know my sister.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Jolene Jolene.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, we have a good relationship.
So that in itself opens herears a little more too and she
appreciates I can tell even as akid she appreciates my input,
even if it does come across alittle rough sometimes.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
She listens to it.
I did have a not kids, but oneof my fellow soldiers reached
out to me.
I'm going to give him a shoutout because you kind of remind
me of that story.
We were getting feedback fromour current episodes and one of
(19:25):
my gunners from one of mydeployments to Afghanistan he
hit me up.
He found me off the podcastpost.
He started listening to thepodcast.
He really liked it so far andhe.
His feedback for me was he wasso happy that I was doing well
(19:50):
and he remembered all the stuffthat I taught him, or I called
them all out on.
That's the stuff.
He remembered all the learningexperiences and I always, I
always, I always overthink and Igo.
Was I a good leader at thattime?
Was I not?
Because I don't talk to a lot ofthose guys anymore and I feel
like the military itself doesn'tset you up for that.
(20:11):
You can be the best of friends,the best of brothers and then
like that after thatdeployment's over or after you
leave that unit, you're not evena part of that person's life
anymore.
You're not part of that familyanymore.
So it was really nice to getthat feedback from him and to
know that I was a good influencein his life at one point.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
When you go to a therapy session.
I want to get back to that realquick.
When you go to a therapysession, is there a certain part
about every session that youlook forward to, or is there a
feeling going into the therapythat's like dang, I know you
found somebody that you like.
Do you get an excitement going?
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Yes, Honestly, it's just like these podcast episodes
.
I feel a sense of vulnerabilitybecause I'm putting myself out
there to somebody else.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
This is a much bigger someone else.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
This is a big audience.
We it's almost like thispodcast, where we try to stick
to the topic at hand and I tryto bring in to therapy the topic
either from the last episode orthe last session how I'm
(21:27):
feeling that day.
I actually haven't been there.
I have therapy coming out.
I haven't been in therapy sinceI started this podcast.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
I might have something new to talk about yeah
, during my session just likeyou asked yourself as a kid like
oh you know, what would youchange?
What do you think yourtherapist would say about you
putting yourself out there fromwhen she first saw you to where
you are now and the growth thatyou've had?
Like, what would she say aboutthis stuff?
What try and bring us into yournext therapy session and you
(21:55):
bring up the podcast to her andwhat is she going to say to you?
Speaker 2 (22:00):
So I'll give a little background.
Okay, you, since our you'veknown each other for a while,
about seven, seven, eight years.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Yeah, about seven, eight, and you've noticed
differences in me.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
She has already said she's noticed I've been going to
her since last July and she'salready noticed the different
changes in my life, uh, and howI've reacted so far to the
therapy.
Uh, we do a lot of emdr um emdryeah emdr, you know, yeah, yeah
, you heard that before.
I've never heard of it um so.
(22:34):
So EMDR therapy is an eyemovement, desensitization and
reprocessing.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
You can perform it either by tapping on your
temples, you can do it bytapping on your legs, what
Someone guides you through it,really yeah.
So you take a thought into thatperiod and then you start
tapping.
She touches you, you tapyourself, oh, you tap yourself.
(23:28):
And it's supposed the I guessthe Dr Francine Shapiro.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Also I'll give a shout out to I'm reading her
book right now.
It is.
Did I get that right?
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Yeah, don't the right title.
I don't want to.
The Body Keeps the Score andthen Excuse me, and that one,
the book I'm reading, was notwritten by her.
It actually was written byanother doctor, dr Bessel van
(24:12):
der Kolk.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
It's a good book so far.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
It's a good book so far and trying it out.
It's a good book so far.
It's a good book so far.
It's a good and, trying it out,it's a good way of therapy.
If you're going to therapyright now, you can bring it up
to your therapist and ask if youwant to try it.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
That's new to me.
I didn't know that they didlike things like that, yeah, and
it's, it helps, it works.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
It's newer it.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
It's newer, uh, but yeah, it helps a lot and I I dig
it.
What's the overall feelingcoming from therapy?
You go in on a high, do you?
Speaker 2 (24:43):
ever leave negative, or like uh, sometimes, very
sometimes relieved and sometimeswiped out.
After an hour therapy session,it can feel like six hours of
being tattooed.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Uh, my body and mind are just tired, and when you go
through these sessions like areyou getting the like the aha
moment immediately, or does itcome later?
Speaker 2 (25:05):
comes comes with time and I know obviously I'm not
going to call her out oranything.
I know she can attest to thisis I may not give her everything
at the beginning of the session.
I may say a couple things thatare bothering me and throughout
(25:29):
the hour or the process oftherapy, more comes out.
Yeah, oh yeah.
I relate it to our tattoobecause I'm very open with you.
I feel like sometimes I'll walkin and you and me will get
everything off right off the bat.
We'll get everything off.
That's on our mind.
Other times it's at the end ofthe session all of a sudden.
I have three or four things foryou.
(25:49):
You're like man, why were youholding back on me, right?
Speaker 1 (25:52):
right, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
It's like you forget things.
You forget what was botheringyou.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Right.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Yeah, until you bring it up again.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
So a therapist is like good weed, is what you're
saying.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Oh, yes, okay, yes, yeah, exactly like that.
Yeah, actually, yeah, verysimilar to that.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Yeah, I like that.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Are you ready for a roundup?
Yeah, I like that.
Are you ready for a roundup?
Speaker 3 (26:19):
No, I have one more thing to say before we switch
the topic.
You asked me if I had therapy.
No, I haven't had traditionaltherapy.
Yes, but I do things that Iconsider therapy.
I studied with this guy and Icall it study because I'm
learning His name is DaveKeneally and he was a Buddhist
(26:42):
monk and what we were focusingon was controlling my mental so
that I'm not so irrational withmy spikes going up and down, so
that when I'm like what I talkedabout with my kids earlier, I
could take a moment and bepresent and then make the right
decisions and stuff like that.
He was pivotal.
(27:03):
He was pivotal as far as my inmy journey to become a more
mindful individual and to justbe kind, be kind.
And then, johnny Arias, toshout out to him one more time
when I first apprenticed he'sbeen around since I apprenticed
it's like 12 years and stufflike that.
(27:24):
He would hit me things like yourego and he would, you know,
bring me into Buddhism and stufflike that and meditation, and
just give me little, littlelittle pieces of things to kind
of chew on.
You know what I mean he was.
He called it bones.
You know what I'm saying.
He'd give me little bones ofchew on.
You know what I mean.
He called it bones.
You know what I'm saying.
He'd give me little bones tochew on and it would inspire the
thought and those things Iconsider therapy.
(27:45):
You know, check out Sanga, dave.
He's out of San Diego.
He has a Patreon.
I don't know exactly what thePatreon is, but I'll get that
information for you guys andI'll post it on the um the
podcast, uh page.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Okay, make sure you're following too.
Yeah, I'll use that as a uh atb2z podcast on instagram and
facebook yeah, but you know allthe things.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
They all start at conversation, which is I'm
noticing I'm we're talking aboutthese things and all of the
forms of release or tryingfixing.
It's just a verbalcommunication with somebody to
release something.
So I guess a good thing wouldbe to say is just don't hold
that shit in, right, don't holdit in.
Holding it in is not going toallow you an opportunity to
(28:30):
release it.
You know, I guess that sounds alittle logical than what it is,
but don't hold anything inSounds a little logical than
what it's, but it don't holdanything in.
If you have a issue that youguys are struggling with, make
sure that you get an opportunityto drop that off on somebody
who's licensed for it, like atherapist or like good weed.
Yeah, hey, you know so.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
I feel like we dropped a lot of good nuggets.
If you're listening, if you'relistening since the beginning
and you think we're giving outsome better content now, just
stay tuned, Keep listening.
I like to keep incorporatingthe good nuggets, the good
wisdom stuff we've learnedBetween the two of us.
(29:13):
We've got over 70 years of life, so it's not something to turn
your back on For our roundup.
That's another good book.
I'm currently about threequarters of the way of it's
ex-president Barack Obama A.
(29:34):
Promised Land Good book so far.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
I got a quote from him Change, that's going to be
our next guest.
If we get our next guest,barack Obama, hey, close, that's
game over If we get someonelike that.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
I think it's, I'm ready.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
I don't even know if I want that Hold up.
Hey, nah, you can't come hereyet.
We have to prepare for that.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
They locked this place down.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
Right.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
So from him, so from President Barack Obama, change
will not come if we wait forsome other person or some other
time.
We are the ones we've beenwaiting for.
We are the change that we seek.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
That's a good one huh yeah, from one of the best
speakers out there.
Oh yeah, that man, he can speak, man.
I feel like that's how he gothimself into his presidency is
just his speeches and his publicspeaking is just unmatched, you
know.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
And, if you liked, how eloquent that was to
everybody listening to you.
I suggest looking into that.
The Promised Land book that heput out.
Definitely any notes on thatquote.
Any things you want to closeout with?
Speaker 3 (30:56):
no, I mean, I can't stress the fact.
You know, stress enough that wewant feedback from you guys.
We want feedback Good, bad,yeah, good or bad or indifferent
.
You know, if we said somethingwrong or if you have something
to add to the gumbo, please,please, bring it up All right
(31:18):
please please bring it upalright, this is Zach and
Brandon from B to Z Podcastsigning off.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Thanks for joining us , thank you.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Good morning.
Welcome to B to Z Podcast.
I'm going to be the host today,Zach, and with me, as always,
Brandon May.
How you doing, Brandon?
Speaker 3 (00:18):
I'm good.
How are you man?
I'm good, I want to.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Our last episode ended with some heavy topics.
I kind of want to keep goingwith the heavy topics.
What's something that bothersyou, what's something that
stresses you out, something thatstresses?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
me out.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah, what's something that's been bothering
you, bills.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Yeah, yeah, bills stress me out Financial,
financial yeah, that's beenbothering you.
Bills, yeah, yeah stress me out.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
So financial, financial, yeah, um, being in uh
california stresses me out,trying to buy a house stresses
me out a lot of those things.
What about yourself?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
uh, same financial I'm on.
I'm on a budget, going toschool, not currently employed
right now, which is reallydifferent for me, and not being
employed actually leads to mebeing more stressed out yeah, I
mean jobs are for jokes.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
You know what I'm saying, I'm just kidding.
I mean, yeah, it's tough timesright now.
We're out here facing a lot.
Interest rate is at an all-timehigh, it's hard to show for, to
buy things, it's hard to get ina position to buy things, and
that's pretty much my issuethese days is just trying to buy
(01:39):
a house, or budgeting,budgeting.
You said budgeting, budgetingmy business properly, so I can
uh have a lucrative year withoutgoing in too much in the
negatives, because taxes for mewas a huge thing my first year
within business and stuff likethat uh you're an entrepreneur.
Entrepreneur, business owneryeah, this is what my third year
(02:00):
um leaving the studio.
Everything else has been insomebody else's shop.
Empire tattoo I started, andthen elizabeth street, which I
learned a lot from both, uh youknow, sean workah and brian
foster.
I've always been really nosy asfar as the industry and how
businesses work.
(02:20):
I want to know everything youknow and it's uh it's allowed me
to open up doors, man.
Matter of fact, let me go ahead.
Uh, there was this podcast thatthere, or this other podcast
the other day they're calledhonest tattooers and they had a
post up that said you know,tattooers don't want to pay 40
(02:41):
percent for uh a shop, but theywant to pay 10 grand to go rent
a private studio.
And that shit right therereally bothered me.
The other day I asked my ladyif I should talk about it and
get on their Instagram.
She said no, so I didn't get aty'all, but I guess I couldn't.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
We're talking about now, yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
I guess I couldn't hold back, though, but I just
didn't agree with that shit, mebeing a private studio owner.
All the paperwork is the same,homie.
You know what I'm saying forthe, for the ones who you know
for, who put that out all thepaperwork is the same and the
work is the same as well.
What I do as a tattooer ispretty much the same thing you
do as a tattooer.
It just looks different, and itpisses me off that people feel
(03:22):
like they can create ripples,negative ripples, when it could
just be a positive thing.
And that's a big part of theproblem of tattooing is
everybody got an opinion on theway that it should be done, and
as long as you're doing yourthing in a respectable way, then
get out of other people's ways.
Man, this shit is going toevolve one more time.
(03:43):
Right now, it's private studios, but it'll be another thing one
day, and there's gonna be.
This shit is gonna evolve onemore time.
Right now, it's private studios, but what that?
It'll be another thing one day,and there's always someone
talking about oh, these peopledidn't get it this way and this,
it should be this way, and it'sjust like I'm really sick of
that.
You know I worked hard to get aprivate studio and it's
circumstances that put me in aprivate studio.
Um, having three kids, um,wanting to be in my kids' lives
(04:08):
and you know, pick up and dropoff and have freedom to leave is
important to me, you know,because my kids are only young
once and that's why you find mein a private studio is because I
want to spend that extra timearound my family rather than in
a shop, which you assholes, youfeel me so?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
but you also had a transitional period too, as I'm
sure a lot of artists did duringCOVID, where it was half in the
shop, half with masks.
I came, I got tattooed, withmasks on.
I know everybody wasn't willingto do that we was closed yeah,
exactly, and and that also, Iknow, transitioned a lot of
artists into doing it from homebecause it was legal to do it,
(04:52):
run that type of business athome.
At one point.
Correct, because luckily thegovernment made it flexible.
Uh, I know, for the, uh forfood and and also tattooing.
Uh, they, they kind of bent therules a little bit.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Yeah, I mean I don't.
I got tattooed at your house.
I don't know specifically ifyou were able to tattoo at home
ever.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yeah, California was.
Oh, okay.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yeah, so that's news to me.
That's cool.
You know, I can see how itcould become a problem just
because people ruin everything.
You know, you give them alittle bit of something and then
there's always somebody who'sdoing too much with it.
Tattoos are really bad withthat, I think.
Sometimes, you know, likeanother guy was posting about
the FDA and the inks and stufflike that, and another tattoo
(05:38):
artist was talking about oh man,now you got them looking at us,
man, like shut up and a part ofme agrees with that Like bro,
like just shut up.
You know, like the more we talkabout this stuff and the more
we put it out there, like theworse it's going to be.
Everybody wants to have afreaking tutorial.
You know what I mean.
It's like stop teachingeverybody this, you know, and I
(05:59):
was a victim of that stuff too.
I had apprentices.
You know, of that stuff too, Ihad apprentices.
You know, they all tried theirbest and stuff like that.
I don't have any apprenticesanymore.
Respect to them, though, andthe paths that they took and the
journeys that we had togetherlike, I still am on good terms
with most of them.
One I'm going to work on, youknow what I mean I will
definitely revisit thatrelationship, but I mean stop
(06:22):
teaching this stuff, you know,keep it a little bit more sacred
.
But also get off your highhorse.
Get off your fucking high horse.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
What's therapeutic to you?
What, what?
What helps you work out allthese stressors?
What's your what's?
What's your therapy nowadays?
Speaker 3 (06:43):
My therapy, it was boxing for a little bit, you
know.
But, man, you know, I havethings that a lot of people
don't have and, as kids, as soonas I walk in the house and I
have a responsibility to anotherlittle soul like that, that's
enough for me to kind of jostleme into the place where I have a
responsibility to anotherlittle soul.
That's enough for me to kind ofjostle me into the place where
I need to be.
I don't have to look far.
(07:03):
I also have a brother who'sincarcerated, who's always doing
worse than I, so that'ssomething I think about all the
time, so I don't look far.
For examples, mine are core andthey stay right close to me so
I can stay humble and groundedand not take this stuff for
granted.
What about you?
Speaker 2 (07:22):
well, so I look up to you for doing that, and some
people can.
They can do that.
They can.
They have that internal therapy.
They have that, that buttonthey can press.
That helps them, uh, de-stress,decompress.
That helps them, uh, de-stress,decompress and enjoy the rest
of the day.
For whatever reason, I stoppedhaving that my at one point in
(07:45):
my life.
How'd you regain it?
Like several years of therapy.
I've been in therapy now, uh,since 2018 okay.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
You want to shout out your therapist?
Is that something you do?
No, I'm not going to.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Because I've gone through a lot, you know who you
are.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
I will shout my therapist out for the fact that
this is one of the besttherapists I've had.
I've had many good ones, but Ithink there's a time and place.
Sometimes you come and meet theright people.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
And.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
I met the right therapist for me right now.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Okay, and what defines a good therapist and a
bad therapist for youspecifically?
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Believe it or not, someone that listens.
That sounded like a joke alittle bit it is because you can
have a therapist and theycannot listen to you.
And there are types of therapywhere you do it just like a
class.
You follow along, you do italmost like a book style.
You have homework, there arecertain steps you need to be
(08:54):
completing and sometimes it'snot.
Sometimes therapy is not cutand dry like that because
there's emotion into it andthere's and there's lots of
different layers you know I'venever taken any therapy.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Um, I've been involved in other people's
therapy and I know therapistswill exercise all different
types of exercises to get towhere they want to try and get
you to see in a different light.
What is it that your therapistsare doing with you?
Speaker 2 (09:24):
I'm glad you brought that up.
Yeah, because I'm going to.
I kind of want to ask you andfor all the listeners out there
too, there's a it's an oldschool type of type of way to
look at things.
I'm sure you've heard beforeThink about a good memory you
have when you're 10 years old.
(09:45):
So get yourself there.
Get yourself thinking you'reabout 10 years old or you know
anywhere in between.
There, get yourself a goodmemory of yourself, type of
clothes you wore, what you looklike, and then I want you to
meet that 10-year-old person asyou right now.
(10:06):
I want you to walk up on thatkid and I want you in that kid's
shoes.
That kid's shoes.
Would you be proud of theperson you are today, looking
through that 10-year-old's eyes?
Speaker 3 (10:25):
And those are the things that they're asking you.
This was something that came upin my recent therapy.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
And what was your answer?
I was.
I was proud of myself.
I was yeah, yeah.
When my 10-year-old self looksat me, I think he'd think I'm
cool as shit.
Yeah, yeah, to be completelyhonest, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
I mean, I've always thought like those questions are
like cheesy a little bit.
Oh yeah, but they do hit home.
As cheesy as it could be, likeit hits home and uh, I think
about that too.
Like am I where I should be?
In a different form, I'mdefinitely not speaking to the
(11:07):
kid, I mean, I'm talking to theadult.
You know, like bro, like youshould be in a different place
than you are in.
You know, usually from anegative standpoint.
Um, I as a kid, if I were tolook at myself and say, hey, are
you happy with where you are?
I'd be like yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
But I've definitely been proud of yourself.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Is that 10-year-old proud of you?
Yeah, I'm proud of myself.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Yeah, I'm proud of myself.
Obviously, I think there's thisunachievable goal that humans
have within their brains andtheir hearts to always want more
.
You know what I mean.
So I always want more, which issomething I'm working on as
well, is being content.
But I am happy with what it isthat I've achieved in my 40
(11:49):
years of life, and that's notbased off of achievements, but
it's more who it is that I amand my little generation that
I've created.
You know, and I know, anybodycan have babies, but it takes a
real man to really put a stampon their children, real, real
woman to put a stamp on theirchildren to kind of define who
(12:11):
it is that they are.
You know what I mean and I feellike I'm doing a really good
job with that as of right now.
You know what I mean.
Oh yeah, I feel like it takeswork and you have the ability to
suck too.
You know like you could do allthe good work and then at the
end you stumble.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
One thing.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
And it can send things off as rockers.
So I'm just trying to stay inpocket, stay in my lane and
stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
So you haven't had any of those times where that
one thing sent you off, or thatone bad thing.
Have you had any bad instancesthat you?
Speaker 3 (12:43):
can recall Instances within what?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Within parenting.
Within parenting, yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
I mean, you're teaching little humans who don't
know anything how to becivilized.
They're little savages and yougive them manners.
And so, yeah, you know, thismorning when I left, you know,
my three-year-old and myfive-year-old have just been at
it and I had to have one ofthose conversation type of
(13:12):
meetings where I sit them downon the couch and be like hey,
why?
And I tell my kids like hey,you guys are hurting my feelings
.
You know, I try and put it inkid terms.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
You guys are hurting my feelings when you act like
this.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
This is not cool.
It makes me feel different.
I had pulled out games we weregoing to be board games and they
were just acting like assholes.
But then I was like man, thisis a parenting moment and I
didn't even want to do it.
I didn't want to do it, I justwanted to fucking push it to the
side, Like fuck it, you guyswin.
But I was like, no, we're notplaying nothing, Y'all go sit on
the couch Time to have ameeting.
Like I need you to act right youknow I'm not just saying this
(13:46):
just because it's defaultverbiage for parents Like I
really need you to be solidindividuals and those, those are
down moments as well as highmoments, because the feeling
that comes with it because yougot to get on your kids, you got
to bring their demeanor down, alittle bit hurts you.
But the information, um, ispivotal.
(14:08):
It's vital that they receivethat because, no, they don't
know now.
Like they have no clue what thefuck I was talking about, Right
, they have no clue what thefuck I was talking about, right.
Two seconds later they're likeeh, da-da-da-da-da.
I finished the conversation.
And Luna's like oh, I want toplay with you.
You know what I mean, and thewhole conversation was about
playing alone for a little bitand being independent.
So they get it, but they don'tget it.
(14:28):
So it's just like you'regrooming them.
It's a muscle, your kids are amuscle.
If you're not doing push-upsmental push-ups with your kids
and putting them and challengingthem, then, yeah, they won't
have the proper resources.
So I try not to have badmoments I try not to, but I do,
and that's usually based off ofkids doing things that kids do,
(14:52):
like sending messages theyshouldn't send for my eldest or
for the youngest managingemotions and sitting down in
class because he's a busybodyFor my little girl.
Independence and having a littlebit of a chip on her shoulder I
want her to have a little chipon her shoulder just because,
you know, I feel like women ofcolor sometimes lose that chip
(15:15):
and I really want her to have ahigh level of thinking of
herself.
So that's one of the things Idefinitely groom for Luna and to
keep that toughness.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
She's tough, she is tough, yeah, she is tough.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
I parent the things that they're bad at.
I don't parent the things thatthey're good at.
We harness those things and alot of the time determine the
days and how we play and stufflike that.
But you know, I really focus onthe things that are lacking.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
I appreciate you sharing that.
I really like how you it seemslike you reflect on things
immediately to kind of analyzehow you acted in a certain
situation.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Yeah, you check situation.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Yeah, you check yourself.
Yeah, if I don't check myselffirst Before you fucking wreck
yourself, bro.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
I don't even need to say that that was perfect.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
That was perfect.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
If I don't check myself, I might not approach it
in the way that I want to.
This comes from reading booksand being around people who are
mindful, more mindful than I,that have taught me things that
will slow me down, to offer thebest person, to offer the best
of Brandon.
So my kids can like, becauseyou know one of my homies and
I'm going to bring him on Hisname is Johnny Arias.
(16:33):
He's dope.
He always tells me, you know,like if you're not good at B,
like your family's not going tobe good.
You know what I mean.
Like it all starts with you andthen it's infectious and he's
100 percent right, because thebetter I'm doing, it seems like
the better my family's doing.
And that doesn't mean like I gota stack of money in my pocket,
(16:54):
it's a mental wellness.
You know what I mean.
Obviously, that will help abrother out too, money.
But, um, because it issomething that just flies out of
my hand these days, I don't,you know.
I try not to focus on it somuch and just live life in a
manner where that is not alwaysthe focal point.
(17:14):
You feel me, my kids are thefocal point.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
You feel me.
My kids are the focal point.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
We all get it, especially being in California.
We all work, you know, you work, yeah, everyone has expenses.
Everybody out here grinding, youknow, and it's hard to get that
genuine feeling of family andslow down unless you already got
it.
For the ones who already got it, kudos to you.
But for the ones that are outhere struggling, I see you, man,
(17:38):
but make sure you spend thatextra time.
Don't just take time for avacation.
Take time to spend with yourgoddamn family.
You feel me Tap in.
Make sure your little ones areokay and as far as kids and
stuff like that, I know you takea big stance in your niece's
life.
What is it that you implementin her world from an uncle's
(18:02):
perspective?
Because my uncle was one of thecoldest people in my life
growing up and has some of thebest memories you know out there
that I hold.
My uncle was there for some ofmy best memories.
What?
And I know you take it serious.
So what are some of the?
Speaker 2 (18:19):
things that you you got me smiling because I tell
you a lot of the stories already.
I try to be that same thing youjust explained.
I try to be that tough butknowledgeable source that she
can reach out to that my sisterhasn't given her yet.
(18:39):
Because me and my sister have agood relationship.
You know my sister.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Jolene Jolene.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, we have a good relationship.
So that in itself opens herears a little more too and she
appreciates I can tell even as akid she appreciates my input,
even if it does come across alittle rough sometimes.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
She listens to it.
I did have a not kids, but oneof my fellow soldiers reached
out to me.
I'm going to give him a shoutout because you kind of remind
me of that story.
We were getting feedback fromour current episodes and one of
(19:25):
my gunners from one of mydeployments to Afghanistan he
hit me up.
He found me off the podcastpost.
He started listening to thepodcast.
He really liked it so far andhe.
His feedback for me was he wasso happy that I was doing well
(19:50):
and he remembered all the stuffthat I taught him, or I called
them all out on.
That's the stuff.
He remembered all the learningexperiences and I always, I
always, I always overthink and Igo.
Was I a good leader at thattime?
Was I not?
Because I don't talk to a lot ofthose guys anymore and I feel
like the military itself doesn'tset you up for that.
(20:11):
You can be the best of friends,the best of brothers and then
like that after thatdeployment's over or after you
leave that unit, you're not evena part of that person's life
anymore.
You're not part of that familyanymore.
So it was really nice to getthat feedback from him and to
know that I was a good influencein his life at one point.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
When you go to a therapy session.
I want to get back to that realquick.
When you go to a therapysession, is there a certain part
about every session that youlook forward to, or is there a
feeling going into the therapythat's like dang, I know you
found somebody that you like.
Do you get an excitement going?
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Yes, Honestly, it's just like these podcast episodes
.
I feel a sense of vulnerabilitybecause I'm putting myself out
there to somebody else.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
This is a much bigger someone else.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
This is a big audience.
We it's almost like thispodcast, where we try to stick
to the topic at hand and I tryto bring in to therapy the topic
either from the last episode orthe last session how I'm
(21:27):
feeling that day.
I actually haven't been there.
I have therapy coming out.
I haven't been in therapy sinceI started this podcast.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
I might have something new to talk about yeah
, during my session just likeyou asked yourself as a kid like
oh you know, what would youchange?
What do you think yourtherapist would say about you
putting yourself out there fromwhen she first saw you to where
you are now and the growth thatyou've had?
Like, what would she say aboutthis stuff?
What try and bring us into yournext therapy session and you
(21:55):
bring up the podcast to her andwhat is she going to say to you?
Speaker 2 (22:00):
So I'll give a little background.
Okay, you, since our you'veknown each other for a while,
about seven, seven, eight years.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Yeah, about seven, eight, and you've noticed
differences in me.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
She has already said she's noticed I've been going to
her since last July and she'salready noticed the different
changes in my life, uh, and howI've reacted so far to the
therapy.
Uh, we do a lot of emdr um emdryeah emdr, you know, yeah, yeah
, you heard that before.
I've never heard of it um so.
(22:34):
So EMDR therapy is an eyemovement, desensitization and
reprocessing.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
You can perform it either by tapping on your
temples, you can do it bytapping on your legs, what
Someone guides you through it,really yeah.
So you take a thought into thatperiod and then you start
tapping.
She touches you, you tapyourself, oh, you tap yourself.
(23:28):
And it's supposed the I guessthe Dr Francine Shapiro.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Also I'll give a shout out to I'm reading her
book right now.
It is.
Did I get that right?
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Yeah, don't the right title.
I don't want to.
The Body Keeps the Score andthen Excuse me, and that one,
the book I'm reading, was notwritten by her.
It actually was written byanother doctor, dr Bessel van
(24:12):
der Kolk.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
It's a good book so far.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
It's a good book so far and trying it out.
It's a good book so far.
It's a good book so far.
It's a good and, trying it out,it's a good way of therapy.
If you're going to therapyright now, you can bring it up
to your therapist and ask if youwant to try it.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
That's new to me.
I didn't know that they didlike things like that, yeah, and
it's, it helps, it works.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
It's newer it.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
It's newer, uh, but yeah, it helps a lot and I I dig
it.
What's the overall feelingcoming from therapy?
You go in on a high, do you?
Speaker 2 (24:43):
ever leave negative, or like uh, sometimes, very
sometimes relieved and sometimeswiped out.
After an hour therapy session,it can feel like six hours of
being tattooed.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Uh, my body and mind are just tired, and when you go
through these sessions like areyou getting the like the aha
moment immediately, or does itcome later?
Speaker 2 (25:05):
comes comes with time and I know obviously I'm not
going to call her out oranything.
I know she can attest to thisis I may not give her everything
at the beginning of the session.
I may say a couple things thatare bothering me and throughout
(25:29):
the hour or the process oftherapy, more comes out.
Yeah, oh yeah.
I relate it to our tattoobecause I'm very open with you.
I feel like sometimes I'll walkin and you and me will get
everything off right off the bat.
We'll get everything off.
That's on our mind.
Other times it's at the end ofthe session all of a sudden.
I have three or four things foryou.
(25:49):
You're like man, why were youholding back on me, right?
Speaker 1 (25:52):
right, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
It's like you forget things.
You forget what was botheringyou.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Right.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Yeah, until you bring it up again.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
So a therapist is like good weed, is what you're
saying.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Oh, yes, okay, yes, yeah, exactly like that.
Yeah, actually, yeah, verysimilar to that.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Yeah, I like that.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Are you ready for a roundup?
Yeah, I like that.
Are you ready for a roundup?
Speaker 3 (26:19):
No, I have one more thing to say before we switch
the topic.
You asked me if I had therapy.
No, I haven't had traditionaltherapy.
Yes, but I do things that Iconsider therapy.
I studied with this guy and Icall it study because I'm
learning His name is DaveKeneally and he was a Buddhist
(26:42):
monk and what we were focusingon was controlling my mental so
that I'm not so irrational withmy spikes going up and down, so
that when I'm like what I talkedabout with my kids earlier, I
could take a moment and bepresent and then make the right
decisions and stuff like that.
He was pivotal.
(27:03):
He was pivotal as far as my inmy journey to become a more
mindful individual and to justbe kind, be kind.
And then, johnny Arias, toshout out to him one more time
when I first apprenticed he'sbeen around since I apprenticed
it's like 12 years and stufflike that.
(27:24):
He would hit me things like yourego and he would, you know,
bring me into Buddhism and stufflike that and meditation, and
just give me little, littlelittle pieces of things to kind
of chew on.
You know what I mean he was.
He called it bones.
You know what I'm saying.
He'd give me little bones ofchew on.
You know what I mean.
He called it bones.
You know what I'm saying.
He'd give me little bones tochew on and it would inspire the
thought and those things Iconsider therapy.
(27:45):
You know, check out Sanga, dave.
He's out of San Diego.
He has a Patreon.
I don't know exactly what thePatreon is, but I'll get that
information for you guys andI'll post it on the um the
podcast, uh page.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Okay, make sure you're following too.
Yeah, I'll use that as a uh atb2z podcast on instagram and
facebook yeah, but you know allthe things.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
They all start at conversation, which is I'm
noticing I'm we're talking aboutthese things and all of the
forms of release or tryingfixing.
It's just a verbalcommunication with somebody to
release something.
So I guess a good thing wouldbe to say is just don't hold
that shit in, right, don't holdit in.
Holding it in is not going toallow you an opportunity to
(28:30):
release it.
You know, I guess that sounds alittle logical than what it is,
but don't hold anything inSounds a little logical than
what it's, but it don't holdanything in.
If you have a issue that youguys are struggling with, make
sure that you get an opportunityto drop that off on somebody
who's licensed for it, like atherapist or like good weed.
Yeah, hey, you know so.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
I feel like we dropped a lot of good nuggets.
If you're listening, if you'relistening since the beginning
and you think we're giving outsome better content now, just
stay tuned, Keep listening.
I like to keep incorporatingthe good nuggets, the good
wisdom stuff we've learnedBetween the two of us.
(29:13):
We've got over 70 years of life, so it's not something to turn
your back on For our roundup.
That's another good book.
I'm currently about threequarters of the way of it's
ex-president Barack Obama A.
(29:34):
Promised Land Good book so far.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
I got a quote from him Change, that's going to be
our next guest.
If we get our next guest,barack Obama, hey, close, that's
game over If we get someonelike that.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
I think it's, I'm ready.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
I don't even know if I want that Hold up.
Hey, nah, you can't come hereyet.
We have to prepare for that.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
They locked this place down.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
Right.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
So from him, so from President Barack Obama, change
will not come if we wait forsome other person or some other
time.
We are the ones we've beenwaiting for.
We are the change that we seek.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
That's a good one huh yeah, from one of the best
speakers out there.
Oh yeah, that man, he can speak, man.
I feel like that's how he gothimself into his presidency is
just his speeches and his publicspeaking is just unmatched, you
know.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
And, if you liked, how eloquent that was to
everybody listening to you.
I suggest looking into that.
The Promised Land book that heput out.
Definitely any notes on thatquote.
Any things you want to closeout with?
Speaker 3 (30:56):
no, I mean, I can't stress the fact.
You know, stress enough that wewant feedback from you guys.
We want feedback Good, bad,yeah, good or bad or indifferent
.
You know, if we said somethingwrong or if you have something
to add to the gumbo, please,please, bring it up All right
(31:18):
please please bring it upalright, this is Zach and
Brandon from B to Z Podcastsigning off.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Thanks for joining us , thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.