A Tapestry of Southern Life and Timeless Values

Picture this: you're in the middle of the ocean, connected through the wonders of technology, having a candid chat with Triston, a proud Gen Z native of Alabama. This episode is a colorful tapestry of personal stories and life lessons, featuring college football rivalries, thrilling hunting experiences, and the joy of skilled trades. Tristan's journey is one of unwavering passion and resilience, from his deep roots in Alabama to the challenges and triumphs of his career path. As we share our banter and insights, you'll find yourself inspired by the vibrant tales of Southern life and the enduring values of hard work and community.

Our conversation is a treasure trove of wisdom on the art of setting goals, the significance of humility, and the power of mentorship. Listen as Tristan and I unravel the secrets of personal and professional growth that transcend generational boundaries. You'll hear firsthand accounts of career adventures, from working night shifts at Waffle House to discovering a fulfilling career in the skilled trades. With humor and sincerity, we explore the evolving dynamics of intergenerational respect, the importance of time management, and the intrinsic rewards of perseverance and adaptability in today's fast-paced world.

Get ready for an auditory journey through the heart of the South as we celebrate the essence of real people living real lives. Immerse yourself in the stories of bow versus rifle hunting excursions and the communal spirit of rural Tennessee. As we wrap up this engaging exchange, Tristan shares his love for Alabama's charm and offers a heartfelt invitation to experience its unique culture. Join us as we extend our gratitude to our listeners and encourage you to stay connected via Twitter and YouTube for more enriching stories. This episode is not just a conversation—it's an invitation to embrace life's richness, one story at a time.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Real People, real Life, where
everyday conversations lead toextraordinary insights.
We're all about digging intothe lives of regular people
who've achieved success on theirown terms.
From business andentrepreneurship to fitness,
politics, education and beyondwe cover it all.

(00:24):
This is Real People, real Life.
And now your host, ryan Sherow.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Tristan, that's me Welcome, thank you.
Thank you for having me.
No, absolutely so.
I have my podcast.
We broadcast Let me take myglasses off.
We broadcast out of San Diego,california.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
Yeah, but we're actually the Sunshine State.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
We're actually out in the middle of the ocean, yeah,
out in the middle of nowhere.
So I got a first.
You got two firsts with me.
Okay, number one first time Idone a podcast out in the middle
of the ocean, out in the ocean.
And number two the first guythat's ever been from Alabama,
that's me.
That's me Now.
I know we talked earlier beforethe podcast and you're not a

(01:14):
big football guy, but I just gotto let you know I do watch it I
do watch it.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
I got to let you know up front though.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, I'm a Tennessee guy.
I like the Vols.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
I know, I know we had a good run.
Y'all got us the other week.
Yeah, well, we did.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
I'll hand you that one, but no, just that sport
hate.
But listen, I'm happy to haveyou here.
Yes, I'm happy to be here.
So I met your girlfriend fiancé, girlfriend Fiancé.
Fiancé about five years ago andshe's adorable.
She is, she is, she's anabsolutely sweetheart and it's
funny, we met her, I met her, mywife and I met her

(01:52):
approximately about her birthday.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
She was about 18.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Now it was her birthday.
She's 23.
Yes, sir, celebrating it in theWestern Caribbean.
Western Caribbean, that's wherewe're at, the Western Caribbean
, western caribbean.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
That's where we're at the western.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah now here's my question, and I'm
sure the audience is asking howthe hell does it.
Did you ever figure out how toget a girl like that?

Speaker 3 (02:12):
it's being sweet being funny, that's it.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
You might not have the looks, but as long as you
funny, you're good looking, allright, we'll let the audience.
You gotta have those jokes.
That's it in your back pocket.
Pull those out every now andthen They'll help you out a lot.
I love it.
So did you grow up in Alabama?

Speaker 3 (02:28):
Yes, sir, yes sir, my whole life.
I was born in Montgomery, wasraised in Selma for a little bit
, then moved to Prattville andbasically, yeah, okay, went to
Coleman for a little bit andthen I lived with my brother in
North Carolina because we had alittle bit of a family issue my
mom.
But other than that, I justkeep coming back to Alabama.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
It's a great state it's a great state, okay, your
whole life.
So how old are you?
I'm 23.
So you are a Gen.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
Z-er, I wouldn't say Gen Z.
Well, yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Gen Z.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
You're definitely Gen Z, definitely Gen Z, not a
millennial as they say.
No, you're not a millennial.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
No no, my son is 25.
He's a Gen Z.
You're Gen Z.
I'm actually real proud of theGen Zers.

Speaker 3 (03:11):
I am too.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
I am too, but I mean, I'm not really in a position to
say that, but I feel like Gen Zis a good spot.
Well, I'm in business.
I've been in business foralmost 30 years.
I've hired and worked with allsorts of generations and I've
seen some real promising withmillennials and Gen Zers.

(03:32):
I know that every generation,especially like I'm, Gen X we'll
talk crap about kids just likethe baby boomers did about us.
But you know, from a businessstandpoint and when I look at
what actually matters thenumbers and are they willing to
put in the work.

(03:53):
I'm seeing some good things fromthe Gen Zers.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
Well, see the way I was raised.
You know, just get to work,make your money.
And I've seen a lot of peoplelike that in my generation that
are hard work Not really hardworkers, but want to work.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Well, we can define that right.
What is hard work Are we goingto talk about just out there
being the guy busting his ass?

Speaker 1 (04:17):
sweating or consistency, so in life.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
I believe in consistency.
A lot of people can come outthe gate real fast, but are they
going to be able to?

Speaker 3 (04:28):
make it to the finish line.
Well, they say where I work at,or every job I've ever been in
showing up is 90 of.
You know, it is the work justgot to show up.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
You show up and you work hard, and that's what we
talk about, tristan.
We try to talk about what ittakes to be successful in life,
however you define it, and we'renot talking about the dollars
in the bank account per se.
The interesting thing, thoughand I've pointed this out is
that the harder you work in life, the more you show up, the more

(04:56):
that you're dedicated, the moreyou're present.
It's interesting how the bankaccount starts to reflect that,
yes, sir.
How the bank account starts toreflect that, yes, sir, when you
drive towards increasing thebalance in the bank account as
your main driver.

Speaker 3 (05:08):
That's a pretty crappy life to live, yeah I mean
, uh, my, I think it was mysecond or third job.
I uh took it seriously and Ihad goals.
Is number one number one thing,or you know top five thing
thing to have set a goal?
And I had a goal when I was Ithink I was 18.
And that goal was to have mydream truck, not necessarily a

(05:33):
dream truck, but a truck I like,which is my Tahoe and I put in.
Every time I woke up for workin the mornings, first thing on
my mind was that goal and thatmade me get to work.
So, and then I, I got it and Ieventually got the truck and, uh
, I love it I still have it asan 18 year old who's setting

(05:54):
goals.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
Now, this is rare, yeah.
Yeah, I know people my age andI'm 52 that don't understand the
concept of visualization, ofgoal setting, setting and
putting an action plan.
Who instilled that in you at 18?
Now, most 18-year-olds are notgoal-oriented, they're more.

(06:17):
Hey, I want it now and I'm justgoing to go get it.
What was it that instilled thisconcept to set, set a goal,
come up with a plan and achieveit?
Because you did say you went towork every day, which means you
didn't just run out and getyourself alone immediately.
You either filled yeah well,talk me, talk me through that so

(06:40):
, uh, one one person I could saywas my mom.

Speaker 3 (06:43):
Uh, I've seen her go through a lot of struggles and
you know, I never really knew mydad.
But the main people who showedme how to do what I did for the
goal setting is just looking ateverybody's you know position
that they're in in life, becauseyou'd go to work and I'd always

(07:04):
go to work with older folks andI'd see their struggles and
listen to them and I'd try toset myself in their shoes a
little bit in my mind and then Iwould just not go the route
that they took, try to find abetter route, just bringing it
all in and then.
So that's how I set my goalsand learned from life.

Speaker 2 (07:26):
I guess you could say being present in the moment and
observing those.
Yes, observing, that's the wordI was looking for, yeah but
observing those that have beenthere before, I believe strongly
in humility.

Speaker 3 (07:42):
Yes, Failing, failing , failing, failing that's one
thing that will make you learn alot is failing.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
Well, we talked about this on many podcasts, about
failure, and society likes toput failure diametrically
opposed against success.
Yes, sir, the bottom line isand I believe it's 100% true is
that failure is a function ofsuccess, but you need humility.
Is that failure is a functionof success, but you need
humility.
And I think that a lot ofpeople, when described as humble

(08:14):
, tristan is weak.
Humility isn't weakness, no,it's not.
It's actually a very strongattribute Because through
humility, you have what's calledintrospection.
So introspection is I've failed, yes, what can?

Speaker 3 (08:32):
I do to to do it differently the next time it
comes around ownership right yes, sir.

Speaker 2 (08:38):
So I I want to go back to your goal setting.
Walk me through the actualprocess in your mind.
As an 18 year old, youobviously want this truck.
When I was 18, I wanted a truck.
What was your process to go?
Okay, I'm gonna get this truck.
These are the goals I'm gonnaset.

(08:59):
How did you visualize it?
Did you put it?
Put it in writing?
What did you do?

Speaker 3 (09:04):
well, take it back a few more years, about when I was
16.
I worked at waffle house and Iwas the uh shut the grill
operator and, um, it was myfirst car and it wasn't.
It wasn't that much, and my momactually helped me out about
500.
She gave me about 500 tocomplete what was in my bank
account at the time and it was avery small car.
It was a 1996 mazda miata, verysmall, very small, and I wasn't

(09:29):
, like you said, humility, Iwasn't very smart with the car
you're you're, you're a big boytoo, that's a little car
it was a little little car and,uh, I wasn't very smart with uh
driving the car and all that Iwas was still young and actually
wrecked the car and I hit adeer standing in the middle of

(09:49):
the highway, surprisingly, and Ihit that and I tried to keep it
up, maintain it and fix it, andevery time I tried to touch it
it just went downhill evenfurther, eventually just
scrapped it and gave it to thescrapyard for $200.
And I could have just parted itout.

(10:11):
And this is like years after Igave away for $200.
And I thought to myself I couldhave got a little bit more out
of that Before I even bought thecar, wanted a talk, always
wanted a tahoe, um.
So.
But after that I failed with myfirst car.
So that set me up to make itbigger and better and just go

(10:34):
harder, you know.
And I, finally I, I went tofound a new job.
It was working for asplund andit was cutting trees around uh
power lines and I told my, Itold my uh, foreman, like the
first day I'm, I'm gonna worklike crazy because I want my, I
want my truck.
And I never missed a day ofwork, never, just every time,

(10:56):
like I say, every time I woke upin the morning I wanted that
truck.
That's what got me out of bedin the morning and then
eventually came around gettingthat truck and uh it, I still
have it to this day and I loveit.
It paid off, like hard workpays off, it really does it does
.

Speaker 2 (11:11):
And and when you, you know, everyone is, you know,
looks at what.
What's the quickest way to makea million right?

Speaker 3 (11:19):
or how do I?
Get successful tomorroweverybody wants it so quick, the
secret.
What's the?

Speaker 2 (11:23):
secret and people sell it.
You can get on late night.
TV all day long, there's all thebooks and this and that and
this is the way to make it fast,and ultimately it comes down to
showing up working your ass offthat's correct and being the
best that you can in whateveryou're doing at that point in

(11:46):
your life.
And what a lot of people needto understand out there is that
that's what you do now.
That's not forever.
It's not forever.
No, it's a stepping stone tothe next thing, and it's a huge
stepping stone also.
So your mom, so you were prettymuch raised by your mom.

Speaker 3 (12:04):
Yes, sir, and every now and then a boyfriend would
show up.
That's about as yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:12):
So let's talk about your mom, if you don't mind,
yeah that's fine.
There's a lot of single momsout there and.
I think one of the mostdifficult things a single mother
does is try to raise a boy.

Speaker 3 (12:24):
I have three of them too.
Three.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
You have two other brothers.

Speaker 3 (12:27):
I have two.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
I'm the youngest so you have two older brothers, all
right.
So a single mother trying toraise boys into men without a
good man around.
There's bad men, and they'renot necessarily the best for
young boys.
Yes, sir.
However, it seems like your momdid a damn good job, yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:48):
What was?

Speaker 2 (12:49):
her foundation.
How did she keep you guys inline?

Speaker 3 (12:52):
Well, you know, every now and then you get in trouble
.
You got to have spanking,that's one thing.
And just the observation ofseeing someone who's trying to
raise me struggle so much, youknow, having multiple jobs
working here and there, and uh,that's what gave me my drive was

(13:13):
seeing her wake up everymorning and, uh, putting me
through school as much as shecould.
And you know me being little, Iwouldn't want to go to school
some days and she'd, she'd pushme to go to school and all that,
just really seeing her drive.
It made me want to stand outamongst others.
How did you do in school?

(13:33):
To be honest, I did drop out inthe 11th grade.
I still do not have a GED, butI'm doing fine without it right
now.
In the future, would I like toget my GED.
Yes, you don't have your GEDyet.
No, sir.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
So you're raised by a single mom.
You've got two older brothers.
Are you close with your olderbrothers?
Oh, yes, sir.

Speaker 3 (13:56):
We'll play the video games on weekends you know, play
a little Call of Duty and allthat.
Yeah, we're very close,excellent.
Because, what brought us closetogether is our mom, Because you
know seeing, we both all seeshe demanded you guys to stay
close.
That and you know we care forour mom.
You know seeing her struggleall the times we were little and

(14:17):
all that I've had and they hadan abusive father and we've had
to deal with that, but luckilythat's no problem anymore.

Speaker 2 (14:31):
So yeah, and you seem wise enough to look at that
situation and break that cycle.

Speaker 3 (14:42):
I've had multiple occasions where I've seen one of
the ex-boyfriends of my momabuse my mom, and that made me
want to treat the woman in mylife with the utmost respect.
Yeah, women should be.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
they should feel safe around them.
Yes, yes, yes, you know, lasttime I checked I'm not a woman,
but I have a good woman in mylife.
And one of the things that mywife would tell me is it's a
vulnerable place out there for awoman Every day and to have a

(15:19):
good, strong, real good man outthere and you know society has
gone really far out of their wayin the last 20 years to really
degrade men uh, yeah, that'sokay and well, you know, toxic
masculinity and all this kind ofnonsense and, uh, you know,
they're taking a small, smallpercentage of these uh evil men

(15:39):
and I loved I'll use the wordevil uh men who, and then they
project that on people likeyourself who have seen the evil.
Yes, and have stepped up and arewilling to do what men should
do yes, and protect.

Speaker 3 (15:54):
Yes, sir, and provide .
I mean because when you have achildhood, when you see your mom
get beat around, know, beataround like that it changes
everything.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
Now let me ask you this how long did that kind of
behavior last when the boys gotto become men?

Speaker 3 (16:13):
I bet them boyfriends started acting strange.
Well, no, she moved on to adifferent boyfriend, and that's
another thing too is thedifferent men that my mom came
to want like, though?
We got one that was abusive andone that really knew how to
treat a woman.
So you get like both sides ofthe story.

(16:34):
So in my head I'm, you know,I'm observing, I'm always
observing, and I know how to.
Really, the one boyfriend thatshe had, that was nice, lasted a
good long time, but you know,everybody has their falling out
every now and then.
They didn't really work it outas good as they should have, and
seeing those observing thosedifferent sides of the story

(16:56):
really helps me grow as a man.

Speaker 2 (16:59):
Well, I think that the fact that you understand the
concept of observation, theconcept of why not learn from
people around you?
It's free, it's a freeeducation.

Speaker 3 (17:15):
That's what I was talking about.
Usually, every job you go to isyou're going to have the older
folks and I always want to getin with them.
I want to be around them.
I want to folks and I alwayswant to get in with them.
I want to be around them, Iwant to hear their stories, I
want to hear everything so I canobserve and fill my head with
their knowledge, and that's ablessing.
That really is a blessingbecause, like you said, it's

(17:37):
like a free college course aboutany subject.

Speaker 2 (17:40):
Yeah it really is.
There used to be mentorships.
The unions were very proud ofthat.
The young boys, the young womenwould mentor with more mature,
more educated, wise.
Wisdom is very important.
I like to define wisdom fromeducation.

(18:01):
A lot of educated peoplewithout wisdom out there, and it
used to be in society that forthousands of years that the
elders would take the young andand and these days, uh, it feels
like nobody's respecting eldersanymore.

Speaker 3 (18:18):
You know, because I, I I work with young, young
people who were like 18 and uh,they, they got way different
opinions than somebody has beendoing this for since we were,
before we were born, and uh,it's just like there's no
respect.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
Well, there's always been a generational gap of
respect.
But well, I don't know if it'sa generational gap of respect,
more a difference of opinion.
However, I think that themillennials, the Gen Zers, have

(18:57):
lost social skills with theadvent of social media.
Everyone walks around tied intotheir phones.
Yes, they don't know how to sitand have a conversation.

Speaker 3 (19:11):
I always think about, back to before technology.
We had so much, so much time tojust.
You see old people all the timesit on their porch and just
look out, and they had so muchtime to think, to do anything.
And me, I go to sleep.

(19:31):
I'm stuck on my phone onTikTokok, and that's the only
way I could go to sleep.
It's just.
I wish I, I want to put it, Iwant to put it away.
I want to have more free time,but we're like you said, we're
stuck to our phone, like well,you know time.

Speaker 2 (19:44):
It's interesting because you're a goal setter.
So one of the things thatyou'll find when you set bigger
and bigger goals in your life isthat the one variable to
achieve those goals, tristan, isthe one thing you can't control
, and that's time.
Yes, sir, okay, so your time isfixed, and the problem with

(20:04):
that is that God doesn't tell usthe expiration date.
But every single day you take abreath, there's one last breath
you're gonna take and you justdon't know when it's gonna
happen.
So one of the ways to get off ofyou know that kind of in my
opinion, addiction I, I was.
It is an addiction yeah, I wasscrolling, flipping, doing all

(20:27):
that kind of stuff, but I alsoI'm a goal setter and one of the
things that I do is we my wifeand I we have what we used to
call a uh, a goal board we youknow board a vision board people
call it.
Well, we changed the name of itand we change it to an action
board action.
So this board it's just a whiteboard it, just it hangs in our

(20:50):
hallway and we have to walk byit every day and at the
beginning of the year we writeyou know, the goals for the year
2024.
And I have my personal for me,her personal for her, our joint
goals, our business goals,financial, spiritual.
We go right on down the listand we walk by it and we look at

(21:13):
it and it's a reminder of, okay, what are we doing to achieve
these particular goals.

Speaker 3 (21:19):
It's a good guideline to have and then, like you said
, you walk past it every day.
It's in the back of your head.
When you don't set goals, likeofficially, you're lost
throughout the year.

Speaker 2 (21:33):
You're not steady forward to it every day, every
to it, every day, every day.
Well, look what you achievedwhen you set a goal to get to
tahoe yeah, I got, I got it, andI got it in less than six
months.
Well, and you set a goal, soright.
So every single day you woke upthat was your focus.
Now think about if you take thesame concept, put a board in
for 2025 and say, okay, I, I gotmy Tahoe, check, yeah.
Now you put let's say, you hadone goal that year to get that

(21:57):
Tahoe.
Let's put five right.
Maybe, it's save X amount ofdollars.
Yes, you know, let let's saynow we'll talk more about your
career, because I'm reallyexcited about that.
We do talk.
I people that listen to thepodcast know that I'm in the
trades.
I'm in HVAC.
I'm a big proponent towards theskilled trades.

(22:19):
We'll get into that in a minute.
But if you put down more thanjust one goal at the beginning
of the year, all of a suddenyou're going to have to time
manage and you're going to say,well, how do I achieve this?
So, in order to achieve a goal,you're going to have to time

(22:40):
manage and you say, well, how doI achieve this?
So, in order to achieve a goal,you have to always ask yourself
one thing what am I willing togive up in order to achieve the
goal?
So, weight loss am I?
Do I want to lose some weight?
I had to lose weight this year.
What am I willing to give up?
Okay, so I have to put next tomy goal.
I can't do this, this, this,this.
Am I willing to give thosethings up?
Okay, I want to save X amountof dollars into my retirement.

(23:01):
What am I willing to give up?
All right.
Well, let's look at my budget.

Speaker 3 (23:06):
What are the things what are we?

Speaker 2 (23:07):
spending Exactly.
I want to get more educated inthis subject.
Well, what am I willing to giveup the time I spend on
scrolling?
On whatever yeah so, when youstart doing these things and
these goals become embedded inyour heart and your mind, just
like that tahoe, just like thetahoe.
Yeah, you get pretty damncreative about how to manage

(23:30):
your time.

Speaker 3 (23:30):
Like you said, some people have the goals to budget
and what am I spending?
Where's all the spending going?
With that Tahoe that one year Iput in, I said what do I need
to do?
And I ate.
I'm talking about everybodywould go to lunch.
They'd go out to Jack'sMcDonald's.
Everybody would go to lunch.

(23:51):
They'd go out to Jack'sMcDonald's.
Me.
I'd go to the gas station andget like a 98 cent of vina
sausages and that was it.
That was it for six monthsstraight and I finally got to
that goal.
Well, do that.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
Start expanding.
You've got to make sacrifices.
Well, start expanding thataction board and I like to use
action board instead of goal orvision.
Goal is great, but goals meannothing unless you put action
behind it correct, correct.

Speaker 3 (24:16):
You gotta gotta make action to get to your goal.

Speaker 2 (24:20):
So there you go so when I grew up, I'm a I'm a gen
xer, right, I grew up in the 80sand one of the things that we
heard that was a time to bealive too, huh in my opinion,
amazing.
Yes, uh, you know, your momkicked you out of the house by
uh 8 am and said don't come backuntil the street lights come on

(24:42):
that's how my mom was too.

Speaker 3 (24:43):
She didn't care me, and my best, best buddy, would
ride, uh, our bikes, and we'dride miles away from home, and
as long as you make it back by 1, 12 o'clock, then it's no
problem.
It's the first taste of freedomfor young people.
Yes, it really is.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
We were talking about it with a guy I grew up with on
a podcast and talked aboutgetting our first bikes and how
the world opens up a little bitmore and then you get your
mountain bike, and then you getyour first car and it keeps
opening up.
I see people today, teenagersthey're just buried in social

(25:25):
media.
They're buried.
The problem.

Speaker 3 (25:27):
here's the problem, and I'm not trying to bag on
social media, but we have thehighest levels of depression and
and um, suicide and mentaldisorders I feel like it's
because everybody wants a goodimage for themselves, and when
you go on social media, you seeeverybody living their life up

(25:49):
doing way better than you couldbe doing, and it just sets up in
your mind that this is where Ishould be.
You understand?
It's fake, though it's all fake.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yes, see I live in California, just a stone's throw
away from Hollywood.
99% of that stuff, I mean wecould have done this in San
Diego and said, hey, I'll tellyou what, tristan.
We could have done this in SanDiego and said, hey, I'll tell
you what, tristan, we're goingto go ahead and say we're flying
to Dubai in a G5.

Speaker 1 (26:18):
Oh gosh.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
And they'd print us tickets up and you know, we'd
rent the plane hangar for twohours.
They'd videotape us and thenmake us look like that's really
the life we're living.
The fact is is that's allbullshit.

Speaker 3 (26:32):
That isn't real life it's not, it's not, and and ever
since I've been with my fiance,I used to be on snapchat and
all that instagram.

Speaker 2 (26:41):
You got a ring in the date I do, we do have.

Speaker 3 (26:44):
I don't have my ring on because it's rubber and I
lost it in uh at work the otherday.

Speaker 2 (26:48):
I mean she wants a date, though you got to make
sure we're planning on trying toget married in the court next
year, okay, so?
This is something you put onyour board.
Yes, expect that, and she doesthe uh?

Speaker 3 (26:59):
well, we do monthly.
She has her monthly uhchalkboard because it's set.
It's like a small little thing,you got a smart fiance yes, yes
, yes sir but like I was, sayingever, ever since I've been with
her and I met her and we tookthings serious, I haven't been
on social media at all.
I used to post on Instagramtrying to keep that image up for

(27:19):
me, but ever since I found her,I don't really care for that.
All I text is my best buddy andI don't really care about
social media.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
Well, there's plenty of ways to use it positively to
achieve your goals.
I mean, obviously we're goingto post all of this on social
media and things, but we want topush out their positive
Positivity.
Positivity, let people know,hey, the American dream's not
dead.
As you said at the verybeginning, work hard, yes, work

(27:51):
hard, that's the only secret andbe willing to get your butt
beat.

Speaker 3 (27:55):
And also find what you love to do.
Okay, well, we'll talk aboutthat.
Yes, sir.

Speaker 2 (28:02):
So finding what you love to do is really, really
important, and you'll hear thepeople selling dreams.
Yeah Say, follow your passion.
Right, follow your passion andstart a business, or follow your
passion, and that's what youshould do and that's great.
And I believe that.
Identify what you love to do.

(28:23):
Here's the problem they forgetto tell you of the hedonic
roller coaster that's the ideaOf finding where you want to be.

Speaker 3 (28:34):
No, oh sorry.
No, that's fine.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
Passion is fantastic when you first met your fiancé
the passion was hot and heavyand things are great.
It still is and it is.
It still is.
But what will happen in lifewith everything is, things will
normalize.
Yes sir, yes sir, and so whatdo you do when things normalize

(29:01):
in passion?
So let's say you start abusiness and you're all
passionate about it, but thereality of business kicks in and
things quote unquotenormalizeize.
Now the challenges kick in.
Well, people give up.
Well, I don't feel the passionanymore, so maybe I wasn't

(29:25):
passionate about it.
Here's.
Here's.
The problem with that is thatyou've defined passion wrong yes
, you still enjoy the process.
You still love the woman.
You still love the job.
You still love the goal.
You still want to achievesuccess in whatever you're doing
.
That's right, but inevitablyhard times will hit.

(29:49):
Yes, are you willing?

Speaker 3 (29:51):
there will always be hardships.
Are you willing to do the?
work necessary and that jumpsback to hard work and you just
got to put, put in as long asyou put.
I feel like I can't talk becauseI don't have the experience.
I don't know how it goes, but inmy head, being young, if
something like that was tohappen, like starting my own

(30:11):
business, and when hard timescome, you got to persevere and
hopefully I don't know how itgoes, but in the end, when
you're older and you know it'llwork itself out sort of kind of
I don't know how to explain itright there because I don't have
experience, I'm still young.

(30:32):
I don't know how to explain itright there, but because I don't
have experience, I'm stillyoung.
But if I have my own businessand I kept going through with it
, kept going through with it, Ithink you'll finally make that
breakthrough and then you'llstart.
It'll start coming, you know,and all the all the good, all
the good things will startcoming Because because, like God
, god will test you, he willtest you like crazy, and as long

(30:54):
as you go through those testsand it's going to be like hell,
but as long as you get throughthose tests and you do what you
got to do, I feel like there's alight at the end of that road.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
And you just defined.
You say you're young, you sayyou haven't been there.
You actually defined exactlywhat it takes to win in life.

Speaker 1 (31:12):
And we talk about.

Speaker 2 (31:13):
What does it take to win in life?
Perseverance it does, and thatmeans in your relationships,
that means in your business,that means in any of the goals
that you set for yourself.
People set goals becausethey're exciting.

Speaker 3 (31:29):
That's how it was when I taught him.
I was excited about having atruck.

Speaker 2 (31:33):
But the question is what did you have to give up to
meet your goal?
A lot Marriage.
People get really excited aboutgetting married.
What do you have to give up?
In order to achieve success inmarriage.
There's a lot that you have totell yourself that when things

(31:54):
get tough, I gotta put in thehard work.
Yeah, because it will pay offthat's how it is right now.
This is everything in life, yeah, and every aspect of it too and
you've kind of figured you, youknow, and you should not
degrade.
You're not degradingingyourself, but what you're saying
is well, I'm young, I don'tknow.

(32:14):
Actually, I'm pretty impressedwith the fact that you are
willing to stop, listen, observe, create a goal, go after it,
understand you had to give up alot to meet it.
Now you just go ahead and whatwe call in business scale scale
that out to other things thatyou want to achieve in life.

(32:35):
So you worked at Waffle House.

Speaker 3 (32:38):
Yep, my very first.
Well, yes, my very first job.

Speaker 2 (32:41):
Pretty, pretty, pretty common place there in the
South.

Speaker 3 (32:46):
Yeah, that's a staple restaurant in the South.
That's where you go there,you'll understand why.

Speaker 2 (32:51):
Well, I love the hash browns.

Speaker 3 (32:53):
I'll tell you that they're everywhere.

Speaker 2 (32:55):
We have a place in Tennessee and the Waffle House
is you know, you always get thegreat meal, yep.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
Good price, good service, a little bit of a good
service.

Speaker 2 (33:05):
Expected service.

Speaker 3 (33:06):
Expected service, because it was crazy.
Because it was crazy Becauseit's open 24-7.
So I think it's third shift, 9to 8 or 7 or something like that
.
I can't remember.
That is where the crazy happens.
All through the night you gotpeople coming in drunk, you got
people coming in wasted throwingup, and it was just crazy.

(33:30):
It was crazy.
I don't think I got a couplehours into a third shift,
because I usually work thesecond shift, which was two to
nine so, and then sometimes yourgrill wouldn't show up and you
have to work the extra couplehours until he shows up and, uh,
getting a little taste of itwas.
It was wild.
You had them drunk peoplecoming in and don't get me wrong

(33:51):
, they're having fun.
But you gotta think like, well,didn't you guys just drive here
and you're wasted?
How are you doing?

Speaker 2 (33:56):
Waffle House sounds pretty good when it's late at
night and you got a couple beersin.
It was fun, though.
So you're 23.
You're going to be gettingmarried.
Have you started thinking abouta career?

Speaker 3 (34:12):
That was always a problem with me.
I remember being in, likekindergarten, first grade or
however they.
They give you pieces of paperand they'll ask you questions
and one of the questions was uh,what do you want to do in life?
Never knew, I still don't knowto this day.
But after going through so manyjobs, you've kind of find.

(34:34):
You kind of find where you wantto be.
And I just started thiselectrician job about three
months ago and, uh, it's fun,it's.
It's once you see your workbeing put up in a building, once
you see that you're buildingthis building and you make this
building run, it is quiteinteresting.

(34:55):
And I've been through a lot ofphysical, hard jobs.
I've done roofing, I've donetree work.
I've done.
There was a mobile home plantcalled Clayton Build mobile
homes.
We built like six mobile homesin one day.
It was a plant full of go, go,go and I've done a lot of
physical jobs and, uh, so theelectrician job is right, right

(35:20):
there, it's like a sweet spot.
You know you don't have to beas physical and it's a good pay.
And also, I've never had thisat a job where they pay for you
to go to school, to be anelectrician and to come out as a
journeyman and be able to havethere's always, there's always
going to be a job for electricalwork and to have that

(35:42):
journeyman certificate aftergoing through school for four
years, is it's a nice grab, it'sa nice have it's a nice have.
What steers you in the directionfrom miscellaneous unrelated
jobs to, all of a sudden, a veryspecific career in a very
specific trade oh man, it'sreally hard, it's just going

(36:06):
through because waffle I went towaffle house done, had to go to
Clayton to build mobile homes.
And it's just when you'reworking in an environment like
that, where there's multiplecontractors in the same spot,
you look around and you're likebecause in my head I'm thinking

(36:28):
what do I really want to do whenI'm 30?
What do I really want to dowhen I'm 30?
What do I really want to do?
So every job I go to I look atwhat he's doing, what they're
doing.
How's it going for them?
Is it harder than me?
And just jumping around fromjob to job to job to figure out
what I really want to do?
And I finally move up toWatumka and I called my brother

(36:55):
up because he does hvac and hewent to the same, uh, the school
that I'm going to and he wentto the same company and he, I
called him and he was able toget me a job and let me go
through school.
And uh, he said he was makingsome good money and, yeah, I'd
show up to his house and see histruck and all that.
and you know, I'm like okay, allright, you, you got it.

(37:15):
You got it and uh, so I waslike, let me just follow that
career and if there I'm gonna gothrough with the four years,
I'm gonna do it because I seemto love it so far.
But in past jobs I would.
I would work the job, but inthe back of my head a year down
the road or two years down theroad if I didn't like it.
Still, we're going to have togo somewhere else.

(37:37):
You know what I'm saying Findsomewhere else, explore.

Speaker 2 (37:41):
Well, the interesting thing.
So I told you earlier, I'm inthe trades.
I've been in HVAC for over 30years.
Been in business for 28.
What's interesting when I tryto tell new guys like yourself
that get into it is it's alifetime of learning, but you'll

(38:03):
learn 95% of it in the firstfour years If you're present, if
you show up and if you'repassionate and willing to do the
hard work to learn.
So the four-year apprenticeshipto journeyman status Tristan is

(38:24):
going to be full of newexperiences and new ideas and be
able to challenge you mentally,physically.
If you like it now, there's adamn good chance you're going to
like it even more.

Speaker 3 (38:43):
And backing up what you say is all the other jobs
I've had cutting trees, buildinga mobile home and the assembly
line for Clayton and wafflehouse.
I would learn what I'm doing inthe first week and then after
that it'd be repetitive, justrepetitive, repetitive.
And with this electrician jobit's like you got to use your

(39:07):
brain.
You really got to use yourbrain Math, you know, bending
conduit and colored wires andthen even bringing your own
tools.
I never had a job like that,where you got to go buy a bag
full of tools and bring them,and it made me feel responsible
you know it does and you knowwith the guys that we hire,

(39:29):
which is a sister trade toelectricians.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
I call them the skilled trades.
This is the backbone of America.

Speaker 1 (39:39):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (39:41):
The world enjoys this wonderful, comfortable, cushy
life of air-conditionedbuildings, secure buildings,
lighting electricity.
It's an expectation that itworks.
They don't see behind thescenes that there are skilled
tradesmen out there bustingtheir ass to make this stuff a

(40:02):
reality behind the curtain.
But with skilled trades it isnot a Waffle House job.

Speaker 1 (40:13):
And no, not downplaying the hard workers in
service industry.

Speaker 2 (40:17):
Trust me when I was a teenager, I was a waiter.

Speaker 3 (40:21):
It was one of the hardest, mentally challenging,
frustrating anxiety andsometimes you've got those
people that come in and just.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
Well yeah, there's so much out of your control and
you get blamed for everything.
But what's interesting aboutthe skilled trades is it's
needed.
It's needed Number one, numbertwo, in order to be exceptional.
It doesn't take a two-weektraining program, it takes four
to six years.

Speaker 3 (40:46):
That's what blew my mind too.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
That's almost like going to college for your
bachelor's degree correct andwhat one of the things that I
try to explain to the youngpeople that come to my company
is look, you have two choices.
Well, you have three you can bein a government ward and live
on welfare the rest of your lifeand be a loser.
Um, you can get a dead-end jobthat you get trained up in
literally two weeks, and thenyou have peaked.

Speaker 3 (41:13):
That's repetitive, you are now the lead whatever
and guess what?

Speaker 2 (41:17):
You're replaceable because they can hire and train
somebody in two weeks.
Two weeks In the trades everyyear.
You get through the trainingand you do the hard work and you
learn the new skills.
You can't be replaced If you'redoing those things.
That's important you have tounderstand.
It's not about seniority, it'sabout doing the work, doing the

(41:41):
hard work, showing up, learningthe skills.
Well, somebody walking intomorrow doesn't have what you
have.
I describe it this way and I'mgoing to segue on exactly what
you said.
You said it's really cool.
Having my own tool bag Makes mefeel important or responsible.
Well, you have two tool bags.
What's that?
Okay, you have the tool bagthat you own in those tools that

(42:06):
, when they get old, you'll haveto replace them.
You'll probably have some toolsthat the company will
eventually tell you that they'regoing to have.
You use some expensive thingsthat everyone uses.
Perhaps when you become ajourneyman, you have your own
truck, yeah, and it's fullystocked out with things.

Speaker 3 (42:20):
The company provides, and that's one of the goals
like we were talking aboutbefore.
I would love to.
That's how I set a goal in theback of my head.
I ain't really set it yet, butto have my own truck, that's a
huge goal for me.

Speaker 2 (42:32):
And it is because, as you get to the point where you
become responsible, you knowenough to where a supervisor can
put you on a job to operate anddo the skills you've learned.
But the other tool bag thatnobody can ever take away from
you is the one that you'refilling every single day with
knowledge.

(42:53):
Yes, yes, Okay, and this is whatthe great thing about your
apprenticeship program andwhat's great about the skills.
Now, this is also true for youknow college degrees and things.
If you invest in the rightcollege degree and this is
something that I talk aboutwhere in my generation they told

(43:14):
us that if you don't get acollege degree without actually
telling you which collegedegrees pay, yeah, you are going
to be working at waffle housethe rest of your life and we'll.
We're not picking on WaffleHouse.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
It's just that you had worked there.

Speaker 2 (43:30):
But in my they'd say you'd be working at McDonald's
or you'd be flipping burgers therest of your life.
In other words, it was binaryyou had either you were going to
be a failure, barely making itin life, or you're going to have
a college degree and beperfectly fine.
Well, the problem now is thatwe have more people out there on

(43:52):
the unemployment line workingat McDonald's and.
Waffle House with collegedegrees that actually have
degrees that are useless.
And they got $50,000, $70,000,$100,000, $150,000 worth of
student loan debt, because thegovernment is perfectly fine
giving an 18-year-old $100,000worth of debt, a grant.

(44:12):
Yeah, no, not a grant, a loan.
They got to pay back whenthey're 65, they're.

Speaker 3 (44:17):
Sometimes you'd be lucky to get a grant.

Speaker 2 (44:19):
Well, yeah, maybe if you're lucky, but go back to
something that we were told.
So in my generation theyactually started taking the
trades and what we calledvocational classes out of the
schools.

Speaker 3 (44:36):
The school I went to for the couple of years.
The high school I went to forthe couple of years I was there
had a trade school and they'llload you up on the bus and then
they'll drive you to the tradeschool had a trade school and
they'll load you up on the busand then they'll drive you to
the trade school and you canlearn like carpentry, uh,
electricity and all that.
Sometimes I don't think they dowelding anymore, but yeah, that
that was uh when I was leavingschool they were talking about

(45:01):
leaving that alone.
You know which is a bad thing.
I don't think that's a goodidea.

Speaker 2 (45:05):
Well, the infrastructure of the world is
built on the backs of thetradespeople and there is a
serious deficiency in skilledtradespeople out there.
It is very difficult to findpeople who actually know what
they're doing.
There's also a big complaint Ihear it from peers of my own oh,

(45:30):
there's nobody out there thatknows what they're doing.
I can't find good employees.
Well, we solve that problemwhere I work, because what we've
done is created a mentorshipprogram.
We've been bringing youngpeople like yourself who says,
OK, I'm willing to put in thefour years.
The biggest problem is that alot of these young people have
been told that they're alreadysuccessful, they're entitled,

(45:55):
they want to come in and hey, bythe way, in three weeks you're
going to be at the top.
No, it's four years.
Now.
We also do refrigeration.
The refrigeration mentorship issix years.
Okay, because it's extremely ittakes.

Speaker 3 (46:11):
It's a lot of knowledge to have to take.
It take in and learn and ittakes a lot to get to well
that'll give you just enoughinformation to be dangerous out
there.

Speaker 2 (46:20):
Yeah, not really, but a six-year journey man knows
what to do.

Speaker 3 (46:24):
Yeah, but it's a lifetime learning process and
I'm glad you guys do theapprenticeship, because when I
was looking, I did roofing withher family for about two months
and I was like you know, itain't working out.
And uh, I started lookingonline on, indeed, and every
time you would find somethingthat seemed interesting, like

(46:44):
electrician or, uh, what's itcalled?
Pipe, the uh helper, I can't.
I can't remember the word, butanyways, uh, when you go to the
job application they'll say fouryears you need to have.
You need to have four years ofdoing this and this and that.
And with an apprenticeshipprogram you take in the people

(47:09):
that don't know what it is andyou teach them.
That's a very good thing.

Speaker 2 (47:13):
Well, and today's here's the problem and I ran
into it too that you have totake a step back and take a look
at where society is at the timethat you're trying to build
your company.
So there's a lot of work outthere and a lot of companies,
including myself, want to scale.

Speaker 3 (47:34):
We want to build, we want to get bigger.

Speaker 2 (47:37):
And so we're trying to see people that are already
skilled to come in and help usscale.
The problem is that they're farand few between and, generally
speaking, they're alreadyembedded in other companies.
There are a few out therebecause there are bad companies
out there where people want toleave.

(47:57):
You need to reevaluate yourgrowth process as a business
person and say, okay, let's growslower and start building a new
workforce, and that's kind ofthe balance that we've chosen.
As an 18-year-old 17,18-year-old you set a goal to

(48:19):
buy this Tahoe.
You achieved the goal yousacrificed.
Now you're in the trades.
I think it's a great decision.
You've been in there for threeweeks.
You're brand new brand new stillgreen we've discussed, there is
a four-year growth process, andare you willing to commit to

(48:42):
that four-year growth process,even when you hit a peak
somewhere in the middle?

Speaker 3 (48:47):
well, see, out of all , out of every job I've had, you
you like, even when you hit apeak somewhere in the middle.
Well, see, out of all, out ofevery job I've had, like you
said, you hit that peak thefirst month you know what I'm
saying.
And to have an opportunitywhere you get four years of
trying to hit that peak, thatlets me know.
Oh, this is serious.
You know, I'm going to have toput in some work.
And then, on top of that, mybrother, who went through the

(49:09):
school and he's getting paid.
Good, it's like another, it'slike a double.
This is, this is this is a goodidea.
So I'm gonna go through with itand I'm gonna give it my 100.

Speaker 2 (49:19):
Yeah, trades people, skilled trades people are making
more money in four years thanmost of the college degrees out
there, without the college debt.
They're being paid the wholetime as they move towards it.

Speaker 3 (49:33):
They're being challenged both physically and
intellectually and also sorry tocut you off.
The company pays for the school, which is like a bonus Right,
you're getting through itwithout any debt.

Speaker 2 (49:46):
It's nice You're getting through it without any
debt.

Speaker 1 (49:47):
It's nice.
It's a blessing You're beingpaid to go through it.

Speaker 2 (49:50):
So what I try to tell young people is look, you're
not going to get paid journeymanwages today, no, but during the
process you're going to getpaid for the skills that you
learn.
That tool bag that I can't takeaway, see, I may hire you and I
may take your truck away, yeah,but I can't take that extra

(50:11):
tool bag away and you'll carrythat the rest of your life and
the internet.
The nice thing about that toolbag is it doesn't take up any
room and it can be filledforever, forever.
You never have to upgrade thatbag.
It just keeps getting fullerand fuller.

Speaker 3 (50:27):
That's what I always say to her.
Old people still learnsomething new every day.
You can always.
Every day you can learnsomething new.
There's not one person on thisearth that knows everything.

Speaker 2 (50:43):
Every single thing.
Speak for yourself, man.
What are you doing?
This is my podcast.
I mean, wait a minute.
Everything, every single thing.
Speak for yourself, man.
What are you doing?

Speaker 1 (50:48):
This is my podcast.
I mean, wait a minute.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
Yeah, I think that's for a 23,.
That's very wise.

Speaker 3 (50:56):
Yes, well, I mean, I don't know.
I'm still young, I'm stilllearning.

Speaker 2 (51:00):
Yeah, I appreciate the humility, but where you're
at in life as a 23-year-old isreally important to understand
the importance of that.
Yes, sir, so where you're at asa 23-year-old, with the kind of
mindset you have, you can andshould be a mentor to people
your age.
So when we were talking earlierabout the older generations

(51:26):
imparting wisdom on the younger,well, there's a younger
generation, tristan, that youcan't impart wisdom on too.

Speaker 3 (51:33):
I'm starting to see that come in.
I'm at the last two jobs Iworked.
At that I'm starting to seelike people who are younger than
me and I never thought thatwould be a thing.
I thought like I'd go alwaysworking with older folks and I'm
starting to see young peoplecome in like I'm working with a
guy who's 18 and, uh, it's quiteinteresting to see how younger

(51:55):
people think, even though you'vedone, not done this, but you've
been through life.
Maybe you know a few couplemore years, but it's just
interesting to see howeverybody's brain works let's
talk about the brain.

Speaker 2 (52:09):
So, um, physiologically, the frontal
cortex, that's the front part ofyour brain here, uh, it doesn't
fully develop until about 25years old.
Oh, really, yes, andspecifically in, typically in
males, 25 is the sweet spot andthis is what we could define as
logic, critical thinking, beingable to see the world a little

(52:35):
bit differently.
I had a rule with my son Not arule, but I would try to impose.
I'd say I don't want yougetting serious, I don't want
you making critical, hardcorelife decisions until you're 25
and then start making somelife-changing decisions.
Now, this is the average.

(52:56):
Some people mature sooner.
You seem to have a pretty goodgrasp on what it takes to
achieve some goals in your lifeand achieve Understand that
achieving goals requires somesacrifice.
Yes, sir, which is a sign ofmaturity.

(53:16):
Yes, sir, specifically whereyou came from yeah, you know,
not a traditional to parent homewith a, you know, successful
father, successful mom.
He had a struggling mom raisingthree boys, difficult situation
.
Now you're in the trades,you're from Alabama, you love

(53:39):
Alabama.
Let's get into Alabama.

Speaker 3 (53:42):
Alabama is Talk to me growing up.
Listen, I want to talk a littlebit of fun here now.
What's it like man, oh man.
Talk to me growing up.
Listen, I want to talk a littlebit of fun here now.
What's it like man, oh man.

Speaker 2 (53:48):
Because a lot of people in the country have their
opinions.
Now listen, I grew up inCalifornia.
I grew up in NorthernCalifornia, now half my life
Southern California.
They're like two differentstates They'll talk about.
You know, I had some friendswhen we bought a place in
Tennessee.

Speaker 1 (54:06):
Why are you?

Speaker 2 (54:07):
buying a place in Tennessee.
That place is all backwards.
I said those are some goodpeople in Tennessee.

Speaker 3 (54:12):
The main misconception about Alabama and
you always hear you'll meetsomebody from way out of town
and they'll say, oh, you're fromAlabama.
And they'll say, oh, you musthave married your cousin.
And it's not.
That is I mean unless, unlessit's not that, unless it's some

(54:33):
redneck hillbilly deep down,deep, deep, deep woods, crazy
down in the holler down in theholler.
But it's not like that.
Even that far it's not likethat.
It's a big misconception andthat's the only misconception
about alabama.
Alabama is like it's fun, man,you, you go hunting.
I love hunting.
You could go mud riding, getyour truck, go dirt roads.

(54:57):
You can live on a dirt road.
I mean, I don't, I don't saydrink and drive, but you know,
me and my buddies load up in atruck, go on a dirt road.
Nobody's on a dirt road,nobody's there, none of that.
Have a few beers, listen tosome music, it's just a fun.
I feel like it's a fun state.
There's not always something todo, but you can make the best

(55:17):
out of what we got.
We extreme that.
We make the best out of whatAlabama is.
100%.
You want to go hunting.
Hunting is fun.
Hunting ain't for everybody,but no, you know what?

Speaker 2 (55:31):
Most people don't like hunting.
They're upset about it becausethey buy their meat in the store
and that's okay.

Speaker 3 (55:37):
That's okay, but once you really get your first
experience of hunting.
They don't realize it's not likewe're out there killing
everything that moves.
No there, it's not like we'reout there killing everything
that moves.
There's people out there thattake it so serious where they'll
find their buck and they won'thunt it but they'll feed it for

(55:59):
years and years and let it growand make sure it's mature.
It's like their own pet.
But when it comes time to sayyou got a buck and you've been
following it for four years,you've been feeding it corn,
making it come back, you keepcoming back, you keep coming
back and it starts to get.
It's starting to get a littleold.
You know what I mean.
It's starting to get a littlegray around the mouth.
Then we'll take our shot, youknow, and then we'll.

(56:22):
We're not like savages, wedon't just go crazy over it, we.
It's almost like, uh, we, we'revery peaceful.
It's like, I don't know.
It's like almost like, in anindian type of way where we
respect the animal and we havemuch respect for what we're
hunting we're not killing andleaving it there.

Speaker 2 (56:43):
It's no, it's just, it's a respect, but I feel like
alabama.

Speaker 3 (56:47):
Most people think, oh , you're going hunting, you're
going to kill that and justleave, and well there's.

Speaker 2 (56:52):
There's so many people out there that are
anti-hunt while they sit and eattheir steak and their chickens
that's because well hang on,they don't just understand the
process yeah, there's a longprocess to go well.
The fact that that thatparticular state came from an
overcrowded corral.

Speaker 3 (57:09):
And here's another thing too I have nothing against
rifle hunting, but I like bows,I like compound bows and
getting up close and reallyhunting a deer instead of just
sitting in a box 100 yards away.

Speaker 1 (57:24):
So you track.

Speaker 3 (57:25):
Yeah, love it.
You got to make sure yourscent's right.
You got to make sure.
Well, usually when you'resitting up in a tree your scent
don't really matter because thewind and you're so up above, but
you never know.
So I like to keep that, alwayskeep your scent.
It's a whole lot.
It's a whole lot that goes inand it gives you a lot of
knowledge into like if shit wasto hit the fan with America or

(57:50):
whatever, but you get a lot ofexperience of being out in the
woods, survival, yes, survival,you understand that Survival.
Country boy will survive.

Speaker 2 (58:00):
I think, somebody said that.
I'm not going to coin thatbecause I'm pretty sure that's
famous.
I love the idea that you saidrifle hunting is great.

Speaker 3 (58:12):
Yeah, it's great, but I like bow hunting.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
Why do you like bow hunting over?

Speaker 3 (58:17):
Well, I feel like because you sit in a box, like I
said, about 100 yards away, andyou don't really have to worry
about scent, you're just sittingin a box, you're in a confined
area and but with bow huntingit's like it's a lot different
and and when rifle hunting it'sa lot it it takes a it takes a
lot to aim down the scope andget a perfect shot right right

(58:40):
on that shoulder where the heartis.
But you're up in a tree with abow in there a bow and you got
to be like 30 yards right up onthem and you got to aim down and
get a perfect shot.
And with a bow it's kind ofhard to get a good shot, but
usually you got a good pullbackon the pounds, you send it

(59:01):
straight.

Speaker 2 (59:03):
Are you using a compound or a crossbow Compound?
Using a compound Skill, atotally different skill set.

Speaker 3 (59:13):
I'm not one to say agree with that, but I could say
, yeah, it's not a differentskill set but a different
experience.

Speaker 2 (59:22):
Okay, and you prefer that over rifle hunting.
Yeah, do you rifle hunt?
No, not at hunt.
No, not at all.
No, you are strictly bow whenwe plus bows, they open earlier.
We, uh, we, we bought our placein tennessee.
I grew up in california, so I'mnot a hunter, but very

(59:42):
interested.
Love to fish, oh, I love fishyeah, loved to fish.

Speaker 3 (59:46):
Oh, I love fishing, yeah, loved to fish, loved
fishing, but we had a neighbor80 years old See and that's
another thing too when you gotolder people you can't really
pull back a bow.
And then that's when you wouldwant a rifle, in my opinion,
because you know, being 80 yearsold and trying to pull back
like 60, 80 pounds full of boat,it's a little hard.

(01:00:08):
Let me tell you the story.
And climbing up a deer.
Let me tell you the story.

Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
My wife.
We're here in Tennessee, we'refresh out of California.
We're sitting in our cabinenjoying a glass of wine.
It's probably about 7 dusk InTennessee, tennessee, spoky
Mountains.
Okay, yeah, we got a neighbor.
He's Gerald, amazing man, 80years old.
I get the phone starts ringing.

(01:00:35):
Ryan, I got me a buck.
He needs your help huh, I needyour help.
Oh man, it's a runner.
Oh man, it's a runner and I'mlike well I, I look at my wife,
I jump up I said what?

Speaker 3 (01:00:51):
what's a runner?

Speaker 2 (01:00:51):
gerald, I said I got him with my bow.
Now he uses a crossbow at 80.
Oh, the crossbow, yeah he's acrossbow at 80 he does it all,
but uh, so I'm like all right,gerald, I'm on my way.
Uh, what do I do?
Get your butt over you so youknow he's, he's up the road.
So so we jump in our, ourlittle car and we we cruise up
the dirt road and we get on upthere.

(01:01:11):
And so I saw gerald's down bythe blind, go down down there,
and I'm we go down there.
I said gerald's going.

Speaker 1 (01:01:17):
He says I got him with my boat.
I got a clean shot, but he's arunner.

Speaker 2 (01:01:21):
I said all right, gerald, let's go.
So.
So he shows me where he gotthem and uh, we, we hiking down.
Now this is, these are somesteep mountains and we're up in
the Smokies.
In the holler oh, yeah and um,so he's looking.
Oh, we found the blood, so westart tracking the blood Right
and we tracked.
Now remember it was already dusk, so so 20 minutes into this is

(01:01:50):
dark.
Yeah, all right, now he's gothimself a good old mountain dog.
That dog's on the trail lookingand we're we're following the
the blood trail and and lookingand we're just nothing but going
downhill and we're just keepgoing downhill and we go
probably eighth of a mile.
I mean it must have been 800meters downhill and we find the

(01:02:15):
deer and he got a good shot, buthe got a good was he laying up
on the tree uh no it was justjust.
I don't remember if it was on atree but it was down and the dog
was sitting there.
Oh, man, dog was sitting thereand we, we, uh, we heard the dog
and we, we, we actuallyfollowed, followed the blood
trail mostly, but the dog foundit first, got there and I said

(01:02:37):
okay, and then gerald goes, okay, we're gonna field dress this
thing because we gotta get it up, back up the hill and then he
goes to look.
He goes oh damn, I left my gearin the SUV.
He has one of those.
What is it?
Suv UTV in his UTV.
I said, well, what does that?

Speaker 1 (01:02:55):
mean.
Gerald Well Ryan, we got tohaul this bitch up to up to the
I said what are you talkingabout?

Speaker 2 (01:03:02):
I Now, I was about 55 , 60 pounds heavier than I am
today.
Now remember, this is an80-year-old man.
He says what do I do, gerald?
He goes grab a leg, oh man.
I said all right, that's itright there, and so I grab a leg
and I had to keep up, get tomoving.
I had to keep up with this guy.
So we're coming on up and we'regoing.
I'm breathing, I couldn'tbelieve it.

(01:03:23):
And we're dragging this deer,dragging, dragging.
He's just coming along laughing, the guy's 80 years old,
laughing the whole time.
Are you all right there,california?
You all right, california.
And I said, gerald, shut up,I'm all right and I think I'm
going to have a heart attack.
So where the UTV was sat was upon a cut-in road.

(01:03:44):
Well, you know what happenswhen they cut a road in they cut
it down, it dips down.
So I'm like okay, I'm looking atthat and there's like six foot
where it's almost straight up.
And I looked at Gerald and hegoes we got to get it up there.
He says you ready?
I said okay.
So he says you grab the frontlegs and I'll grab the back legs

(01:04:05):
.
And I grab the front legs andI'll grab the back legs and I
start going I get about threefeet up the, the bank, I trip, I
fall over.

Speaker 1 (01:04:13):
No, the deer comes rolling on top of me I knocked
the 80 year old man over.

Speaker 2 (01:04:19):
Oh no, he goes rolling down the mountain.
I thought I killed him.
I'm full of blood and I, I, Ipop up now.

Speaker 3 (01:04:28):
Remember we're brand new we're not even in tennessee
for a month this is your firstexperience and I just think I
killed I.

Speaker 2 (01:04:34):
First of all, I didn't know what I did.
I'm full of blood, I've got an80 year old man ass over tea
kettle and I'm thinking I'mgoing to prison.

Speaker 3 (01:04:43):
They're gonna think I killed this old man.
He take a fall.
It sounds like he's laughing.
Yeah, and he's next thing.
You know I'm getting up.

Speaker 2 (01:04:50):
I got the deer on me.
He's pulling the deer off meand he's looking down me.
California, y'all right, youall full of blood gerald sounds
like a tough man, he says youready to go?
Let's get this, let's get this,so we get it up on on top.
We'll get on the.
I'm being, I'm covered, he's,and he's just laughing.
It was a book, right?

Speaker 3 (01:05:11):
oh yeah how many points was uh, it was a small
buck.

Speaker 2 (01:05:14):
I think it was probably eight or ten, no, maybe
ten.
It was a smaller buck, tenpoints, I don't remember.

Speaker 1 (01:05:19):
No, I don't know I was brand new from california.
I got video.
You know what?

Speaker 2 (01:05:24):
I'll do is I look for the video and I'll see if I
can't post it on the podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:05:27):
That'd be nice, so I can count it for you.
I'd love to see that dude.

Speaker 2 (01:05:31):
So we go on back to his house, which you know, up
the road, and his wife's alreadythere.
She's got the garage open,she's got the hook, Yep ready to
skin it.
You know people yeah and I saidwell, what are we gonna?

Speaker 3 (01:05:44):
do?
They are a different breed.

Speaker 2 (01:05:46):
No, he goes what do you mean?
What we're gonna do?
We're gonna prep this thingright now yeah, I said, well,
how long is that gonna take?
Give me 20 minutes.
Yeah, he had that thingquartered up.
He had it skinned quartered upand she had it in the freezer.

Speaker 3 (01:05:59):
Yeah, in literally 40 minutes they don't play, they
don't play, and then and then,and I almost and I, I almost up.
Did you watch?

Speaker 2 (01:06:07):
the whole thing.
No, it wasn't skinny, but heactually.
He got a.
His shot wasn't very good, sohe got the gut.

Speaker 3 (01:06:16):
Oh man, yeah, that was pretty messy.

Speaker 2 (01:06:18):
And I'm like when we were pulling it up, when it fell
on top of me, I got a bunch ofguts in my face.

Speaker 3 (01:06:22):
That's probably why he ran.
So far is the gut shot he ran.
That's probably why he ran sofar is the gut shot.
Well, I don't know yeahsomething like that he goes.

Speaker 2 (01:06:28):
he just laughed at me when I got a smell of that
Sometimes.

Speaker 3 (01:06:31):
I'll get the pee, the sack of pee, oh man.

Speaker 2 (01:06:39):
You got to be careful when you get skinned.
I tell you you don't take an80-year-old man that's been in
the mountains of Tennessee witha California guy on the first
run and to this day I know hecalled California because he
just wanted to see what it waslike to see me and I thought I
killed the guy.

Speaker 3 (01:06:58):
Oh yeah, I would have probably been scared too, the
fact of the matter is that hethought he killed me.
Those older folks, especiallyfrom Alabama, you know, know
them, older folks that hunt andfarm, they, they are tough, they
are really tough.

Speaker 2 (01:07:14):
You know, what's amazing is we we're, we have a
in a small little town, uh, upin uh, tennessee, and um, you
know, one neighbor has you knowtwo or three acres, where
they're.
They got all their crops andthey just put it in the churches
and say, hey, we're donecanning, come on down and get
whatever you want.

(01:07:34):
Another guy's got firewood.
Come on down, you pay him forhis time but it's ridiculously
cheap because they get what theyneed and then what the excess
is To give back, to give back tothe community.
I know, gerald, again, you knowthere ain't no calling to see
if you're home, they just showup yeah, hey you're knocking on

(01:07:56):
the door and, uh, you, you,hungry.
I said, gerald, it's nineo'clock in the morning.
I know lunch is in three hours.
You gotta go catch us some fish.
They're on such a tight routine.
Oh it's like we go.
What do you mean?
Catch some fish goes well they,you know, they just stocked a
river up about 10 miles up theup the head about three days ago
it should be just chasing them.

Speaker 3 (01:08:14):
The uh trucks that stock he knows he goes it's
three days ago.

Speaker 2 (01:08:18):
10 miles up it should be hitting my hole.
You know he's got his fishinghole.
Yeah, we go there.

Speaker 3 (01:08:23):
Bam, bam, yeah, they bam bam, because when they stock
it on certain days, if you'vegot the day right, sometimes
people even follow the truck.
Well, they know exactly.
They know exactly, you cancatch as many as you want.
Oh, he says right there.

Speaker 2 (01:08:36):
Well, he's just like right there.
Two hours later, or an hour anda half later, I come home to my
wife.
I say here you go, here's fivetrout, here's lunch.
Trout is good too.
Well, trout's one of myfavorites, especially when you
just caught it 20 minutes ago,mm-hmm Especially when you know
how to skin them and stuff, didyou?
Guys do that.
He would take the fish off myhook, skin it hand me over some

(01:08:59):
of the guts and say now use this, catch the next one.

Speaker 3 (01:09:06):
He knew exactly what to put on the hook and be the
bait for the next one.
That's a smart man right theretoo.

Speaker 2 (01:09:09):
Well, 80 years old, and here's the thing, a bunch of
fooling knowledge, fivefreezers full of meat.
So he hunts deer turkey fish,obviously hunting fish.

Speaker 3 (01:09:21):
And never had to go to Walmart.
No, they don't buy it.
Never had to do that.
No, they don't.

Speaker 2 (01:09:26):
All from the land.
No to walmart.
No, he don't.
They don't never have to dothat.
No, they all.

Speaker 1 (01:09:29):
All from the land no, they don't buy it they never go
.

Speaker 2 (01:09:30):
He's got more food than he knows what to do with.

Speaker 3 (01:09:32):
Then they also hunt bear so he's part of the bear
club.

Speaker 2 (01:09:35):
Yeah, he's part of the bear club I've never got the
experience that.
No, they hunt black bear upthere and they have a whole uh
in that community.
They have a whole uh club wherethey um, they'll go out as a
team.
You'll see them where.
This is another thing I learned.
We're out there.
You're driving around talkingabout trucks, right, they got

(01:09:55):
these trucks that are designedfor hunting and they have dog
cages oh, gators, think they'recalled.
I don't even know what they'recalled, but what's interesting,
tristan, is they drive thesetrucks slow up the mountain
roads until these dogs catchscents.
I think it's a gator, was itgreen?
I don't know, but they'realuminum cages and these dogs

(01:10:19):
start going crazy and theyrelease them.
Now they got these dogs on GPS.

Speaker 1 (01:10:24):
They send them out.

Speaker 2 (01:10:25):
Oh yeah, and they go on to hunt tree bears during
bear season.
You see them everywhere.

Speaker 3 (01:10:32):
You got to be careful right there.
Them bears might catch on oneof them dogs and just go crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:10:39):
I don't know.
I'm not a bear hunter.

Speaker 3 (01:10:40):
Unless they had a whole pack of them.

Speaker 2 (01:10:42):
They got a whole pack of them.
They work, they work as acommunity.
They get their limit.
Then they share with a wholepack of them and they, they,
they work.
But uh, yeah, they, they workas a community and then they,
they uh get their you know theirlimit and then they uh share
with the community.
Uh, all the meat and that.
That was the interesting thing.
This this guy was 80 years old,but at 60 he buys 15 acres in

(01:11:03):
the tennessee appalachianmountains and he hand builds his
own house, which is awesome andhe cooked by and he hunts his.
He's got all the meat he wants.

Speaker 3 (01:11:14):
Never, they never buy meat never have to worry about
nothing yeah, the only thingthey buy is medicine, if they
need it and an occasional thingover at the at the local, uh,
general dollar.

Speaker 2 (01:11:24):
They're all excited because they but you can.

Speaker 3 (01:11:26):
You can hunt, grow your own garden and that's
basically all you need well, thecommunity supports everybody
yeah, they're so closely knittedtight.
You know good community andthat's how it is in the south.
You can make good friends withyour neighbor and the neighbor's
neighbors, and it goes a longway because they're always there
when something happens.

Speaker 2 (01:11:47):
That's how it is in the south, yeah we, we love it,
we call it getting thecalifornia stink office of us,
we, we, we try to get out totennessee and uh and and brush
off that california stink.
You don't realize how regulatedyou are in the california.
Well, when you're in it andyou're living it day to day and
then all of a sudden, you go onout to, you know, alabama or any

(01:12:10):
of these southern states wherefreedom still exists.
Yeah, and you're able to.
We bought our house and ourproperty, but the one thing that
my house didn't have was agarage, really, and I need to
get me a garage, right.

Speaker 3 (01:12:27):
Every man needs a garage really, and I need to get
me a garage right.

Speaker 2 (01:12:28):
Every man needs a garage, sure so one of the very
first things we did is we wenton down to city hall and I said
hey look, you know, we, we havethis property.
I want to get my, get a garageand um you know, I just want to
know where your, your permitdepartment is.
Oh, man and uh.
She just kind of looked at mesideways and she says well, you

(01:12:49):
you putting septic in?
That are you.
Are you putting septic in?
that thing in that garage.
I said no, we already haveseptic on the property.
She goes oh, you run a newelectrical out there.

Speaker 1 (01:13:00):
I said no, we got a 200 amp panel I'm just gonna,
you know, throw a little subpanel she goes uh, why the hell
you think you need a buildingpermit, then we don't give a
shit.

Speaker 2 (01:13:10):
Well, she didn't say shit.
They don't say that aroundthere, but so we don't care if
that thing fall down on yourhead, it's your property, it's
your building, the only, theonly, the only thing something
like that will come into play iswe do have what's called the,
you know, the hoa homeownersassociation.

Speaker 3 (01:13:25):
Oh boy, I wouldn't do that.
I wouldn't, I would.
I don't like this because youknow, if you buy your own house,
who's to tell you what to dowith it?
And that's how it is.

Speaker 2 (01:13:32):
In the south there's pros and cons to it.
You know, yeah, you got yourneighbor who don't know how to
build a garage and that thing'sabout ready to fall over I've
watched.

Speaker 3 (01:13:40):
I've lived with my grandma and my grandpa for a
couple years and I've literallywatched.
My grandpa was just like uhgerald, and I've seen, I've
watched him come home fromschool off the bus every day and
I've watched him built a nicelittle shed.
He built two of them.
He built actually, he built thewhole.
He has his own tire businessbut it's like out in the back of

(01:14:02):
his house and it's not not likean official tire business where
, like pet boys and all that.

Speaker 2 (01:14:07):
But I've watched him build things with his own bare
hands and, uh, it's, it'samazing well, let me tell you
something about the gerald's outthere, your grandpa out there
and you.
You all have one thing incommon, and they all had a tool
bag that nobody can take away.
Gerald filled that thing up for80 years.
Yes, he probably.

Speaker 3 (01:14:26):
He probably knows more.
I forgot how it goes, but heprobably knows more things than
he's forgotten, or you know heprobably taught.
He probably taught hisgrandsons more things than he's
forgotten.
But tristan.

Speaker 2 (01:14:39):
take a look at these people and we'll.
We'll finish up the podcastwith this.
But you, you have your tool bag, yes, sir, and you can be that
80-year-old guy, but you canalso be the 23-year-old guy.
You have tools in that23-year-old tool bag that the
18-year-old doesn't have, yes,sir, and you continue to build

(01:15:01):
it, you continue to grow it.
There's no degrees attached toit, nothing.
There's no, you know, but it'sup in your head and you're able
to share that knowledge.
You're able to build your ownlife, you'll be able to survive
and, at the end of the day, whenthe curtains go down, you lived
a damn good life.
That's right.
More importantly, you're ableto share that knowledge from

(01:15:23):
that tool bag to the oldCalifornia with the deer guts on
him, yeah, and, and and you'redoing it now.
So, yes, are you young?
Damn straight.
You're young and guess what?
Be proud of that, becauseyou're only going to get older.
Yeah, do you have something tocontribute?
Yes, you do, but pay attention,do not lose.

(01:15:46):
Focus on that tool bag that youare filling.
Yes, because I can't take itaway.
Society can't take it away.
Nobody.
Uh, your boss can't take itaway.
Uh, protect it, grow it and youwill be that 80 year old guy
who has more wisdom andknowledge and yes, sir.

(01:16:06):
And that's living a good life,man.
It's a damn good life too, andstick to the trades man.
I promise you it will challengeyou and you said something at
the very beginning, steppingback and looking at that
building, going wow.

Speaker 3 (01:16:19):
Yeah, seeing what you did.

Speaker 2 (01:16:21):
I actually did that.
And here's the neat thing aboutthe trades For generations
they're going to benefit fromthat eight-hour day that you put
in.
That's correct.
That project, that electricity,they're going to take it for
granted.

Speaker 3 (01:16:37):
Oh, don't get me wrong.

Speaker 2 (01:16:38):
But you will always have the and here's the neat
thing, and I do it to this day.

Speaker 1 (01:16:44):
I'll drive by and we might have installed the air
conditioning on this massivebuilding right there but I'll
just say see that building rightthere that's me you know I'll
take credit for the whole damnbuilding.

Speaker 2 (01:16:54):
But uh, at the end of the day, there's a significant
portion of that building thatwould not exist if tristan with
his tool bag didn't show up it'salmost like artist painting the
journey of painting.

Speaker 3 (01:17:09):
it looks like you're not doing it right, but once you
get done with the whole thing,it's nice to sit back and look
at.

Speaker 2 (01:17:16):
Learn to take the paycheck as only a function of
why you do stuff.
You're doing stuff to helppeople to live a better life.
Yes, just happen to get paidfor it.
Yes, sir, but if you approachif you approach things with the
idea, the bigger picture of yeah, I'm bending that conduit, just

(01:17:39):
right so that when I pull mywire I'm not.
I'm not uh, you know, fightingit, fighting it, and I ain't
stripping it and I'm not goingto have any shorts in there.
They're not going to know what Idid, but I know what I did.
Yes, yes.

Speaker 3 (01:17:55):
That's what I love about myself.

Speaker 2 (01:17:56):
That's called integrity, and that's what will
put a smile, and that's whatwill make your life
significantly worth living.
Better than my past jobs,that's for sure.
I'm going to finish with thisbecause I'd love to have you
back, yes, sir, but I want youto describe, at 23 years old,
what you would describe success,for you would be in the next

(01:18:16):
five years, um I honestlyalready feel like I'm at that
point.

Speaker 3 (01:18:22):
I mean, I nothing, I I'm really easy to satisfy, but
success-wise for me in the nextfive years, what would you
define as success?
Having my own land, a place tocall mine, that's about it.
I mean, yeah, that's about it.
I'm really easy to satisfy,like I said, but some land, I

(01:18:45):
want some land, I want a placeto call mine, a fishing.
Well, there's a song out therethat says buy dirt.

Speaker 2 (01:18:52):
Who sings that?
Don't ask me that question.
I can't name an artist?

Speaker 3 (01:18:56):
Yeah me neither.

Speaker 1 (01:18:56):
I always forget, but it's a great song Well listen,
tristan.

Speaker 2 (01:18:59):
Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day
.

Speaker 3 (01:19:08):
Thank you for having me.
I know you're on vacation, Iknow I dragged you in here, but
this was a blast.
This has been an experience.
The vacation has been a firstand this podcast right here has
been an excellent first.

Speaker 2 (01:19:15):
I hope people get a chance to visit Alabama.
Oh yeah, please, please, wedon't push nobody away, but
don't move there if you don'tthink like Alabama.

Speaker 3 (01:19:25):
Yeah, take a vacation .

Speaker 2 (01:19:27):
All right guys.
Well, appreciate it, tristan.

Speaker 3 (01:19:28):
Thank you so much, thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:19:30):
All right, thanks guys.
Have a blessed day.

Speaker 1 (01:19:34):
You've been listening to Real People, real Life.
Our passion is to have realconversations with real people
who've made it.
Real people who've made it whodid it on their own terms.
We'll be back soon, but in themeantime, catch us on Twitter or
X at RPRL Podcast and onYouTube at Real People, real

(01:19:57):
Talk.