July 28, 2025 • 38 mins
In this powerful episode of The Asset Mindset Podcast, Daniel Fielding sits down with Scott “Scooter” Brown, a former Marine turned acclaimed musician and songwriter, to explore how music can be a tool for healing, growth, and purpose. Scott shares his inspiring journey from military service to building a successful music career, revealing how songwriting and creative expression became a form of therapy during his transition to civilian life.
The conversation dives deep into the importance of passion, discipline, and mindset in overcoming obstacles and breaking free from a victim mentality. Scott emphasizes the transformative power of setting goals, writing them down, and taking intentional action to create a life filled with meaning and success. This episode will inspire anyone seeking to turn pain into purpose and chase their dreams with unwavering determination.
Don’t forget to follow, share, like, and subscribe to The Asset Mindset Podcast on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcasts for more inspiring stories and practical mindset tips!
Get your copy of The Asset Mindset TODAY! Click the link below!
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Scooter Brown
01:45 The Healing Power of Music
04:32 Passion and Purpose in Life
08:46 Stepping Out of Comfort Zones
13:02 Overcoming Victim Mentality
17:03 Looking Forward: Finding Your Destination
21:40 Living the Dream: A Musician's Journey
29:29 The Grit Behind Success
32:16 Writing Down Your Goals
Connect with Daniel on social media!
LinkedIn: Daniel Fielding
Instagram: the_asset_mindset
Facebook: The Asset Mindset
Learn more at:
Follow Scooter on Social media and website today!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scooterbrownbnd?igshid=1z0ytbx3q788
Website: https://www.scooterbrownband.com/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to the Asset Mindset Podcast.
Today we have another veryspecial guest, my friend and
former Marine Scooter Brown, orScott as I like to call him.
We've connected on so manydifferent things.
I love your mindset, I loveyour positivity, I love that
you're a warrior, but you'realso a peaceful, loving father,
all the things.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
So please introduce yourself and let the Asset
Mindset crowd and listeners knowwho you are that you got going
on, obviously a fan of the bookand I think everything I've seen
from the podcast and is goinggreat, so I'm super happy for
(00:48):
you and I'm happy to be on here.
Uh, yeah, I'm a uh, first ofall, never form a marine.
You know that I'm a marine,always baby, um, uh, yeah, uh.
And then I turned into amusician by random chance.
I tripped over guitar while Iwas in the Marine Corps, learned
how to play it and decided toget out last minute and it's
(01:12):
been my full time job as asongwriter for since 2009.
It's been, I've been a fulltime musician, artist, touring,
touring, and so now I'm kind ofshifting paths a little bit,
just still doing music and doingall that stuff and getting into
writing books and trying to dosome keynote speaking.
So, you know, just checkingstuff off the life list as I go,
(01:33):
man.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Nice.
Can you share with us aboutmusic and how music has helped
you deal with stress orobstacles in life, or just like
the power of music, like whatattracted you to it?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
You know it's crazy because you know I didn't grow
up playing music but I grew uploving music.
I grew up in Colorado, out West, and I just fell in love with,
like Western culture in general.
I was doing rodeo.
I rode bulls and barebackhorses in high school, I was in
the high school rodeo team and,uh, I just spent a lot of time
(02:09):
up in the mountains andlistening to like the poetry of
Baxter Black and the music ofChris LeDoux and Charlie Daniels
and Travis Tritt and RandyTravis and it was all this
storytelling music and, um, Iactually started writing poetry,
poetry, western poetry.
I just didn't tell any of myfriends about it because I
(02:30):
didn't want them thinking I wasa weirdo or something and I
never really got into musicuntil the Marine Corps and when
I was writing poetry.
Obviously, once I learned howto play guitar it just kind of
fell in step with writing songs.
And the thing about music iseverybody has a soundtrack to
(02:54):
their life and music will takeyou back to a certain place, a
certain memory, a smell, justanything, and that's one of the
things I love about it.
But when you're talking aboutfor the music, for the mind, I
didn't even realize it untilyears later.
A couple of veteran buddies andI were sitting around talking
(03:16):
about stuff and PTS came up andsomebody said man, you seem like
you do pretty well, how do youdeal with things?
Like, you seem like you dopretty well.
Like, how do you deal withthings?
And I was like man, I justfigured that everybody's
different.
You know, like you line fivepeople up and slap them all in
the face, you're going to get adifferent result from probably
everybody.
And you know, I was justthinking.
(03:37):
I was kind of like you knowhardcore, I'm like dude, I sleep
good at night, I'm fine.
And then one of my buddies saidwell, you've had your music.
And I'm telling you I've neverhad a light bulb moment like a
light bulb moment when he saidthat and I realized that, oh my
gosh, I've been using music,I've been writing all this stuff
down and pouring it out as aform of therapy and I didn't
(04:09):
even realize it, you know.
So I think that the arts, music, everything is really important
for all people in general, butespecially in the veteran
community.
I think that you know writing,whether it's books or just
getting your stuff out, or youwant to get into poetry or
songwriting.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
I mean it's.
It's an amazing process for thebrain, awesome, no, I believe
that too, and there's so manydifferent programs out there.
I know you're a part of some ofthe programs that are helping
veterans by writing songs.
You want to speak on that alittle bit?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yeah, absolutely.
One of the main ones that I doa lot of work with is creative
vets and here in Nashville, aguy named richard casper he was
a marine, uh believe that.
He was uh blown up in 04.
Uh, purple heart.
Um, uh, I want to, I want tosay fallujah.
Sorry, richard, if I got thatone wrong.
(04:57):
Um, but he started it becausehe was.
He was into like sculpture andpainting and stuff like that,
which I also paint as well, andthen slowly moved into
songwriting.
And then he started thisorganization where they bring
veterans in with professionalsongwriters and they write songs
(05:18):
about their story, about theirpath, to help get stuff off of
the chest of the veteran thatwent through whatever they went
through.
It's a really cool organization, not only because of the
songwriting, but they also doarts, they do acting, they do
painting classes, photography.
This dude has just done someamazing work, man, I love
(05:44):
Richard, I love creative vets.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Oh, that's fantastic.
So I think what we're keying onhere, listeners, is that
passion and purpose are reallyimportant, and I think a lot of
veterans when they get out, orjust even people in general.
If you're just working yourday-to-day job and you're
feeling stuck or you'refrustrated or you're not happy
(06:08):
in life, do you have passion andpurpose?
Can you share with thelisteners how powerful you think
or feel passion and purpose isin life?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
It's everything I mean without passion and purpose
.
I mean what stops you fromsitting on the couch and
drinking a bottle of booze.
You know what I mean.
Like it's having something tolook forward to, something that
drives us especially like incommunities you know, marines,
green Berets Like we're drivenpeople, we went and did
(06:40):
something that not a lot ofother people can do or that have
the guts to do something thatnot a lot of other people can do
or that have have the guts todo.
Um, uh, but just in general,for for all people, passion and
purpose.
Like my passion in my purpose,my passion is storytelling.
I love storytelling.
I love making people feelsomething, whether it's, you
(07:00):
know, laughing, crying, you know, just looking back on a memory.
I just feel like I havesomething to say and I'm
passionate about it.
And my purpose really isbecause I want to do this for a
living, because I want to livemy life on my time.
(07:20):
My time is worth more than anydollar amount that you could
ever throw at me.
I want to be the one that says,yes, this is what I'm going to
do.
No, this is not what I'm goingto do, and so my purpose is to
live a life the way that I wantto live it, to chase and pursue
happiness to the best of myability, and that's what keeps
(07:41):
me going and drives me, and Ithink that it's really important
to find that in your soul.
I mean, we all have somethingthat we're passionate about, and
when you find that passion,that passion, I'll give you
purpose.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Absolutely, and when you find that you got to take
ownership, like, you have to ownit Absolutely.
You can't just say, oh, that'smy passion, you know I like that
.
No, it's not your passion Ifyou're not working on it every
week, every day, even thinkingabout it.
Get out there and pursue thepassion, take ownership.
If you have a dog, guess what?
(08:16):
You're going to feed and waterthat dog every day.
Make sure his water dish isfull.
That's ownership.
Do that with your dream and yourgoals, and I love that you do
that and you're constantlywriting.
You're working, you're doingthings, you're following your
passion.
You're working with other vets,you're giving back.
I know some of the other thingsyou're working on.
We'll keep on the back burner,but I think that's it's amazing
(08:39):
as far as like being a dad andthe stuff that you do.
Let's get into getting out ofthe comfort zone, though,
because I think a lot of people,when it has to do with taking
ownership of your life, well,sometimes you have to get
uncomfortable.
Or taking ownership of yourpassion, like going to the gym
and waking up early, that suckssometimes.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Maybe it sucks all the time for certain people, but
let's talk about that now yeah,you know, um, and one of the
first memories that I have ofmaking a decision of comfort and
getting out of the comfort zonewas, I mean, I wish I could
(09:22):
remember my exact.
I was probably eight or nine,maybe ten, and my parents were
divorced and so my dad hadcustody of us and we'd go to my
mom's on the weekends and, youknow, we weren't super wealthy,
um, people growing up and, uh,you know, in and out of trailer
parks and that kind of stuff,and, uh, I was visiting my mom
(09:47):
and she was living in a trailerpark at the time and we didn't
have any food in the trailer andI was asked her for some food
and she said she handed me somefood stamps and she said, walk
down the gas station and get yousome food.
And I, really reluctantly, tookthe food stamps and, um, I
walked it was probably aboutthree quarters of a mile down to
(10:07):
the gas station and there wasthis bridge that you, we had to
go up underneath, um, where oneof the overpasses was, and I sat
up underneath the bridge withthe food stamps and I just
looked at them and I was likeman, like it wasn't anything
against people having to usefood stamps because I understand
that people need, you know, ahand up every once in a while,
(10:32):
like that's why that thingexists and people need it and
they should use it when theyneed it.
But for me, I just kind oflooked around me and I was like
I don't, I don't want to usethese and I don't ever want to
use these because this isn't thelife that I want to fall into.
Like I felt like if, if I didit this one time, then the
(10:54):
second time becomes more normaland the third time becomes more
normal, and so I literally leftthe food stamps under the bridge
in case somebody else needed tofind them.
And I walked back to my houseand I completely lied to my mom
and said that I got food and Ididn't, and because I felt bad.
I didn't want to make her feelbad either, you know, but it was
just something that I hadinside me.
(11:15):
There wasn't anybody that evertold me that that was wrong.
Make her feel bad either, youknow, um, but it was just
something that I had inside me.
There wasn't anybody that evertold me that that was wrong.
There wasn't anybody who toldme that that was right.
Like it was just something inme that says this isn't the life
that I want to lead, movingforward, um, you know.
And so I went hungry that nightand, uh, that had that led to
(11:36):
different decisions anddifferent things in the way of,
like, the path that I startedwalking throughout life and
really the Marine Corps taughtme the most being uncomfortable,
you know, like just in general.
And so I look back on those daysand say, like I still have to
get out of my comfort zone, butI'm like'm like, dude,
(11:56):
everything's easy after that,like, everything's easy after.
Um, you know, people are alwayslike, oh, the music business is
it's got to be tough, like it'scutthroat.
I'm like, brother, I ain'tgetting shot at today.
I ain't, I ain't sleeping under.
Uh, you know, I ain't sleepingon a desert with carpet vipers
crawling up underneath my headand one MRE and one liter of
(12:22):
water rationed for the first twoweeks I was in Iraq in 2003.
Just all of it.
I look back whenever I'm in abad spot where I'm feeling down
about where I'm at or what I'mdoing, I look back on that stuff
and I go, dude, I've made itthrough way tougher things than
this.
Like, let's go.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
No, that's, that's good and that is so true.
I mean, I've had the same thing.
People say to me like, oh, yourjob can be stressful.
You know, when I was doingcelebrity bodyguard work or
different environments, like, ohmy God, your job's so hard.
And I'm like, well, at leastwhen I went to work today I
wasn't worried about my vehicleblowing up or getting shot.
You know well, I guess, some ofthe security things I have been
(13:03):
worried about getting shot.
But anyway, yeah, I digress,but I want to then also here.
We've talked about beingdiscomfort or having discomfort
and struggling through that.
But I also to some people havethat discomfort in life and they
feel uncomfortable.
Or, like you would say, youknow your parents got divorced
(13:24):
and you're living in the trailer.
People use that as an excuseand victim mentality.
How do we shake people up?
Or what can we plant for seedsin their head to get out of that
victim mentality that they dohave control?
Speaker 2 (13:39):
I tell you what man.
It is so easy to fall into thevictim mentality trap.
It's also really easy to getout of it and I think that you
know it's just making a decisionof like my past doesn't define
who I am.
There's nothing that we can doto go back and change anything
(14:01):
that we've ever done, whetherit's military talk.
We can't go back un-pull thetrigger.
We can't go un-make a decision.
I mean, it's already done andit happened, but it doesn't
exist anymore.
So the only thing that we havecontrol over we don't even have
really control over right now.
All we have control over is thethought of what the path ahead
of us, and so, like the victimmentality.
(14:27):
It's honestly, it's one of mybiggest pet peeves in the world
when somebody is like, oh well,I can't do this because of, like
you said, my, my folks split upand I had a rough childhood.
Well, okay, I mean, nobody cameand saved you, but and but here
you are, like, so like, whydon't you be your own superhero
(14:49):
and save yourself?
Like, as adults, there has tocome a time when you go.
I have to take responsibilityfor my life and for what I do.
Moving forward, I can't blameit on my ex-wife.
I can't blame it on my parents.
I can't blame it on the badexperience I had.
Even you know trauma.
Even though a lot of traumawill stick with you in your head
, I mean, there's still a lot ofways to get around that when
(15:14):
your mind starts reeling downthings.
To get around that, when yourmind starts reeling down things,
you know, one of the thingsthat I do that I'm I constantly,
every day, try to get out of,is like, if something bad
happened to me or I had a badexperience with an individual,
like my mind will go down.
This thing of like havingconversations that never
(15:38):
happened, like creating thesescenarios in my mind of like, oh
well, if I were to run intothis person, I'd say this and
then, if they said this, I wouldsay this.
And it's, the thing is is likelife is too hard already and too
short to borrow pain fromplaces that don't exist.
(16:00):
So, like, a lot of times we'lltake whatever our past trauma is
or whatever that pastexperience is, and we'll
constantly dig into where it'salmost not even the complete
truth.
It's almost like we add on tothat trauma.
We add on to that trauma, weadd on to that experience and
I'm telling you, the best thingyou can do is just don't go
(16:24):
there, don't borrow pain fromplaces that don't exist.
How much time are you wastingthinking about what could have
happened or what you should havedone or what you could have
done differently, when you canjust focus on moving forward and
be the person and theindividual that you want to be,
that you say that you want to be, and just be it.
Like it's pretty, it's thatsimple, like you say in your
(16:48):
head this is what I'm going todo, and then I go do it.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
No, you're absolutely right.
The old saying water under thebridge, all those bad things
that have happened to you, to me, our listeners right now,
that's behind us.
All right, we've learned somelessons and let's not minimize
certain tough things that happen.
But don't dwell there.
Don't live in the past.
You know, there's the greatsaying of you're driving your
life.
You're in your car of life.
Are you going to keep lookingin the rearview mirror or are
(17:13):
you going to look out thewindshield?
There's the great saying ofyou're driving your life.
You're in your car of life.
Are you going to keep lookingin the rearview mirror or are
you going to look out thewindshield?
Because if you're stuck lookingin the rearview mirror, you're
going to go off the road, you'regoing to crash, you're going to
get stuck in a ditch.
You need to be looking forward,and I think that's very powerful
.
What you're trying to sharewith people right now is you
need to look forward.
Share with people right now isyou need to look forward, and
(17:35):
when you're looking forward, youneed a destination.
So how would you suggest peoplefind a destination?
Like someone realized whoa, I'mliving in the past.
Now how do?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
I move forward, like, where do I go?
How do I figure out my passion?
I think that, um, small steps,you know, starting with small
steps, daily steps, because allwe have is the future.
You know what I mean.
Like, even this moment, rightnow, what just passed us, like
all I can think about is what'scoming next.
And so, like, if we startthinking about, you know,
(18:11):
something that we're lookingforward to or wanting to
accomplish at the end of the day, and then doing it at the end
of the week and at the end ofthe month, hey, by this time
next year I want to be doing X,y, z.
You know it's.
You said something earlier thatspurred something and I've
(18:33):
totally got a squirrel brain andI like go back and forth all
the time.
And then I just totally got asquirrel brain and I like go
back and forth all the time, um,and then I just totally lost it
.
But um, uh, no, it was the uhtalking about the uh looking in
the rear view mirror and lookingforward.
You know it's, it's small steps.
(18:57):
It's speaking like I'm I'm abig believer in manifestation.
It's like if you, um, I used tosay all the time like I'm
really bad at rememberingpeople's names.
And somebody told me one time,instead of saying that you're
really bad at rememberingremembering people's names, even
though you may not beremembering them, just say I'm
really good at rememberingpeople's names.
And I'm telling you, I startedsaying that like out loud in my
(19:20):
head, I'm good at rememberingpeople's names.
And then I started rememberingmore people's names and so like,
if, if you believe in it andyou can and I'm gonna get off
track for a second Do it, man,do it.
When I got into music, dude, Ihad no idea what the hell I was
(19:42):
doing.
I didn't know anybody that wasin music.
I didn't know people that wrotesongs.
I didn't know people that didit for a living.
And I started off of sayinglike one day, I just want to
play on a stage where my guitaris plugged in and with a
microphone.
And then I did it.
And then the next thing waslike I want to start a band,
(20:03):
like I want to get more peoplearound me and play music live on
a stage.
And then I did it.
And then I was like, well, Iwant to record songs, I want to
put music out, I want to make arecord.
And then I did it.
And then it was like I want toput these songs on the radio,
and then I did it.
And then it was just like Iwant to open for these people
(20:23):
and then I did it.
And it was just like there'salways going to be small doubts,
but I never believed that Icouldn't do it.
I knew it was going to be hardbut I knew that anything was
possible if I just put effortinto it and surrounded myself
with people that believed inwhat I was doing.
And you know, I think that likethat.
(20:48):
I think if more people took apositive approach to life in
general.
You know, going back to thehalf the glass is half full,
half empty scenario, like, ifit's half empty all the time,
you're going to have a halfempty life.
If it's half full, you're atleast going to have a half full
(21:08):
life.
You know what I mean.
Like, and if you think thatthere's, there's room in that
glass to put some more water init, there's going to be more
water that comes in that glassfor you at some point.
Mindset is a tricky thingbecause you can send yourself
(21:32):
spiraling in a negative mindsetand you can send yourself
spiraling in a positive mindsetand I'm totally know that I got
off track there, but uh, that'swhere that led me no, it's good
man and it's choice.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
That's what this is, man.
This is the asset, mindsetsharing.
And uh, speaking of that,please like, follow, subscribe
and share.
And if you want to know moreabout what scott's doing and see
where he's playing or what'sgoing on, go look in the bio and
there'll be all kinds of linksin the description for you to
check out scott's work and hissongs and his music.
(22:07):
So, speaking about songs andmusic, you obviously have a
passion for it.
When was that moment when youwere like I am doing it, I'm
living my dream Because I wantpeople to understand the
listeners.
You can live your dream.
It takes work, things that youthought were unattainable.
(22:28):
You didn't grow up in a familyof musicians and here you are.
You played the Grand Ole Opry,so you want to have that light
bulb moment and share that storywhen you're playing.
It was like surreal, yeah dude.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
So there's been so many of those moments because
you know you're constantlymoving on the path right and the
first time that you get likeyour first.
I remember my very first bigopening gig was in Houston,
texas, at the Racetrack, and Iopened for Cross Canadian
(23:03):
Ragweed and I think that therewas like 7,000 or 8,000 people
out in the audience and we justgot done and we crushed it and
it was the first time I'd everplayed in front of an audience
that big.
I crushed it and I was justfirst time I'd ever played in
front of an audience that big,and this was probably back in
2000, probably 2007-ish, eightor so and I just couldn't
(23:28):
believe that I went from myfirst like big show in Texas
like where people came to gettickets.
It was me and a guy named ifyou guys like country music Cody
Johnson.
Cody Johnson and I startedaround the same time, wrote some
songs together.
My wife booked and managed bothof us at the same time.
Cody and I played a show at aplace called Big Texas.
(23:50):
I want to say that we bothplayed and we had like 17
tickets sold and then, within amatter of a couple of years, we
were selling the place out andso, like, there's all these
moments where you're like, oh mygosh, I'm doing this for real.
But the real cool full circlemoment for me was my debut on
the Grand Ole Opry.
(24:13):
When I joined the Marine Corps,I had every intention on doing
20 years and retiring.
Obviously, like I said, Ilearned how to play in the
Marine Corps and I and I had metCharlie Daniels through a
friend and he kind of just tookme under his wing and so,
(24:37):
charlie, I was playing out.
I was actually playing in Japanat the Iwakuni Air Station the
Marine Corps Air Station inJapan for their Fourth of July
Festival, air station in Japan,for their 4th of July festival
and our manager at the time,david Corlew, who managed
Charlie and myself, he called meand he said hey, what are you
doing?
Um, on whatever date it was.
(24:58):
And he said, um, or I said,well, I'm in Japan, I'm actually
flying back that morning.
Um, you know what?
What you need, man?
And he goes well, charlie wantsto invite you out to come to
the Grand Ole Opry just to checkit out.
Have you ever been?
And I was like, no, I'd love to, you know.
And so I've called my wife andI'm like, hey, can you get your
(25:18):
sister to watch the kids?
I'm flying in from Japan, pickme up.
We're going to drive fromDallas to Nashville and try to
make the Opry that night.
You know like I couldn't affordto buy plane tickets on the fly
back then and you know like Iwas just like dude but I have to
do this.
And so she was like absolutely,picks me up.
We get out there like withinprobably an hour before the show
(25:41):
starts.
So I'm backstage at the Opry andCharlie is showing me around
the Opry and giving me a tourand I'm just like, oh my gosh,
charlie Daniels is giving me atour of the Grand Ole Opry.
And we walk out on the stageand in the circle of the Grand
Ole Opry where everybody stepsin, it's right in front of me,
(26:02):
and Charlie looks at it and hegoes son, this is why we all do
it right here, stepping in thecircle.
And he looked at me and said,well, you want to step in it?
See what it feels like.
And I looked at it for a secondand I looked it back up at
Charlie and I said no, sir, I'dlike to step in it when I've
earned it and he goes all right,son, and he turns off and he
walks off and I'm going damn it,dude, did I just miss my one
(26:25):
chance to step inside thiscircle?
You know, like and uh.
And so then it was about fouryears later after that that I
got a call from Charlie Danielssaying hey, son, just I'm just
wondering if you, uh, if youwant to come out on, uh, july,
oh my gosh July.
I want to say it was 19th in2019 and, uh, have your grand
(26:49):
Ole Opry on the date or haveyour debut on the Grand Ole Opry
.
And, dude, I was like, I mean,I had tears welling up, man, but
it was the craziest thing, Ididn't realize it.
So we do the show that evening.
That evening, and I realizedthat the date that I got off the
(27:16):
bus in San Diego and stepped onthe yellow footprints was
exactly the same date as thatthat I stepped into the grand
old Opry circle.
20 years later, wow, 20 yearsto the day, 20, 20 years.
And, like I said, I planned ondoing 20 years and retiring, and
then, 20 years later, I wasstepping inside that circle.
So my path has been.
(27:37):
I mean, I got out in 2003.
Last minute.
I had my reenlistment packagedone up, I was going to go to
Bridgeport, california, to be amountain survival instructor and
I literally pulled out at thelast minute and just thought,
man, can I do anything withmusic?
And you know.
(27:58):
So I got out and then, you know, I probably, like, legitimately
started doing music in 2005.
And then it became my full time.
It took me four years and duringthat four years, dude, I was
playing five to six nights aweek, and not like 90 minute
shows or 60 minute shows.
I was playing three to fourhour gigs every single night,
(28:20):
hosting open mic jams.
I would get home at one, twoo'clock in the morning.
I'd get up at five o'clock inthe morning because I had I
worked construction as well, andso I would drive for three
years hour and a half intoHouston to go do work on high
rises, doing electrical work.
I'd drive back home.
(28:41):
I couldn't afford a trailer, soI put all my gear in the back of
my pickup truck.
If it was raining, I put trashbags over all my stuff, loaded
it in, loaded it out everysingle night, come home
sometimes, get to eat dinnerwith the family, and then I'd go
do my gig, and then I'd go doit all over again.
I did it for like three yearsand I finally told my wife.
I was like, babe, I either needto do music full time or I just
(29:08):
need to back away from it anddo it for fun and focus on, you
know, getting my electricallicense and all this other stuff
.
And she made a deal with me.
She goes I tell you what, ifyou can book three months worth
of shows, that pays at leastwhat you are making with the
electrical company, you can quityour job.
But the minute that you don'tmake that quota, you go back to
(29:32):
work.
So I freaking had a fire litunder my ass man I've freaking
booked, we booked all theseshows and then it just kept like
snowballing and snowballing,but I just had to take a chance.
I had to take a risk, um, and Iknew that I just didn't want to
go back to punching a timeclock for somebody else.
That's what really drove me,besides my passion for wanting
to play and perform music.
(29:53):
Like I said, my time is worthmore to me than anything.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
No, that's a great story and thanks for sharing.
So many people believe successrequires talent or luck.
From an asset mindsetperspective, what is the real
difference between people whowin and people who lose?
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Uh, the, the guts to go out and get it and not quit.
I mean, you know the the musicbusiness.
I would say that there's threethings that you need to be
successful.
When you can get by with two ofthem, um, the three things are
talent, money to back you andrelationship building.
(30:38):
I think if you have two ofthose, you can be really
successful, been able to do alot of amazing things in my 44
years of life.
At one point I was speaking onsome college panels and I was up
(31:01):
there with doctors andengineers and lawyers.
I'm, over here, the musicianentrepreneur guy.
Every time the kids would askme the same question every class
Well, what kind of degree doyou have to get to where you're
at?
And I'm like brothers, sisters,I got me a GED and an honorable
(31:22):
discharge.
I'm like everything I've donecomes from having heart and the
guts to go out and do it andbelieve in myself and not quit,
and like that's the bottom line.
There's a lot of people outthere in the music business that
aren't the greatest singers inthe world, that aren't the
greatest this or this or that,but they are the biggest
(31:43):
hustlers in the world.
And success also is determinedon what you think success is.
I had an interviewer ask me onetime, like, okay, so you've
done all this stuff, but when doyou think you're going to like
make it?
And I was like, well, what doyou mean by that?
I'm like I get what you'resaying.
Like when am I going to beselling out stadiums and have
(32:05):
all these billboard number ones?
And I'm like, yeah, it's notlike I'm not shooting for that,
but board number ones.
And I'm like, yeah, it's notlike I'm not shooting for that,
but like this has been myfull-time job since 2009.
I've got a wife and four kidsand I've been able to provide
for them doing something that Ilove on my time.
Like, if I'm out touring, I'mout touring.
If I want to stay home and hangout with my kids and my family
(32:28):
by the pool, that's what I do.
No, do I have?
Am I a household name?
No, I get it.
A lot of people go man, I'venever heard of you before.
That's fine, that's cool.
But I've been able to make aliving doing something that I
love, because I made a choiceand I didn't give up on it.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
No, that's so good.
So what would you give foradvice to someone, whether it's
music, business, a dream or apassion that they have where
they're trying to go somewhere,a goal in life?
What advice and nuggets ofknowledge that you've learned
through your life would you belike here?
Speaker 2 (33:09):
here, you need to do this or share it um, I think the
general thing would be uh,write it down, like, write
everything down that you want todo, make a make, make a plan,
um, do a vision board.
(33:30):
Um, you know, almost likereligiously, go over like, what
you want to accomplish, whatyour goals are.
Um, you know even the thingsthat you want out of life or
want in life, whether it's, youknow, experiences or material.
(33:50):
Personally, I'm not a materialguy, I'm an experiences guy, um,
um, but I think it's soimportant to write it down, um,
I wish I would have starteddoing that stuff way earlier.
Um, there's something about tolike about taking an actual pen
or a pencil, and it's one thingto type on the keyboards and
(34:14):
everything like that.
But even when I write songs, Idon't ever type them out.
I write them with this becausethere's an energy that is from
your brain that goes into thatpencil.
That when you feel it writingon that piece of paper pencil,
that when you feel it writing onthat piece of paper, there's
something about that that Ithink is almost spiritual in a
sense.
(34:35):
But, like I write down my whenI'm writing a song, because
that's how I remember it better,if I type it out, I'll, it's 10
times harder for me to learnthat song.
When I write it, I've it's,like, it's in my brain.
I know the song and I thinkthat when you write it out, make
a plan, make a vision board,like, truly, like, see it happen
(35:00):
in front of your eyes, like Ienvision, um, you know, in front
of crowds, I envision, knoweverything from like what my,
what I want my house toeventually look.
Like I envision all thesethings that I've and I write it
down or I put a vision board oflike this is, this is what I'm
(35:20):
going for, you know, and it'sconstantly going back and
looking at that and it just Ican't explain.
I can't explain it.
(35:48):
It creates this energy and thisbond of you have a small
business and obviously we haveso many ways on social medias to
promote that business, to goout into the world.
I tell people all the time,especially in music, because
nobody truly I won't say nobody,nobody our age truly loves
(36:09):
doing social media.
We'd rather be out on the lake,we'd rather be out doing
something.
You know what I mean.
But this little thing righthere, what is there?
8 billion people on the planetand 6 billion of them have one
of these things.
I can't go play enough shows toever get in front of the amount
(36:29):
of people I can get in front ofwith this thing, and so if
there's anybody out there that'swanting to get into a business
for themselves, utilize thisplatform that has hundreds of
millions and billions of peopleon it to move your dream and
your goal.
It could take one post, onevideo.
Next thing you know you'requitting your full-time job and
(36:50):
off running, but if you don't doit, you'll never know.
Just put it out there.
You know what I mean.
Like, just go for it.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
I love it.
Yeah, jump into the fire.
Listeners, you got to do it.
And definitely, I think it'sfantastic advice to write things
down.
It is so powerful to write itdown.
You get it wired in your brainmore because you're not just
thinking it, you're thinking it,you're sending it, then you're
composing it and you're puttingit out there and then you can
reread it again and again.
(37:20):
So I'm a big fan of stickynotes.
Lists, vision boards Great.
I've made a few vision boardsin the past.
Maybe I need to make anotherone.
Check it out man.
I got to say thank you, scott,for coming on the show.
I appreciate having you here.
You're amazing.
Again, listeners, give a quickpause.
Go in the description, find thelinks to Scott and Scooter
(37:44):
Brown Band and everything he'sdoing.
He puts on a fantastic show andyou're going to feel his music,
not just hear his music.
And you're going to feel hismusic, not just hear his music,
and, of course, follow, like,subscribe and own your power
(38:06):
with the Asset Mindset.
Welcome to the Asset Mindset Podcast.
Today we have another veryspecial guest, my friend and
former Marine Scooter Brown, orScott as I like to call him.
We've connected on so manydifferent things.
I love your mindset, I loveyour positivity, I love that
you're a warrior, but you'realso a peaceful, loving father,
all the things.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
So please introduce yourself and let the Asset
Mindset crowd and listeners knowwho you are that you got going
on, obviously a fan of the bookand I think everything I've seen
from the podcast and is goinggreat, so I'm super happy for
(00:48):
you and I'm happy to be on here.
Uh, yeah, I'm a uh, first ofall, never form a marine.
You know that I'm a marine,always baby, um, uh, yeah, uh.
And then I turned into amusician by random chance.
I tripped over guitar while Iwas in the Marine Corps, learned
how to play it and decided toget out last minute and it's
(01:12):
been my full time job as asongwriter for since 2009.
It's been, I've been a fulltime musician, artist, touring,
touring, and so now I'm kind ofshifting paths a little bit,
just still doing music and doingall that stuff and getting into
writing books and trying to dosome keynote speaking.
So, you know, just checkingstuff off the life list as I go,
(01:33):
man.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Nice.
Can you share with us aboutmusic and how music has helped
you deal with stress orobstacles in life, or just like
the power of music, like whatattracted you to it?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
You know it's crazy because you know I didn't grow
up playing music but I grew uploving music.
I grew up in Colorado, out West, and I just fell in love with,
like Western culture in general.
I was doing rodeo.
I rode bulls and barebackhorses in high school, I was in
the high school rodeo team and,uh, I just spent a lot of time
(02:09):
up in the mountains andlistening to like the poetry of
Baxter Black and the music ofChris LeDoux and Charlie Daniels
and Travis Tritt and RandyTravis and it was all this
storytelling music and, um, Iactually started writing poetry,
poetry, western poetry.
I just didn't tell any of myfriends about it because I
(02:30):
didn't want them thinking I wasa weirdo or something and I
never really got into musicuntil the Marine Corps and when
I was writing poetry.
Obviously, once I learned howto play guitar it just kind of
fell in step with writing songs.
And the thing about music iseverybody has a soundtrack to
(02:54):
their life and music will takeyou back to a certain place, a
certain memory, a smell, justanything, and that's one of the
things I love about it.
But when you're talking aboutfor the music, for the mind, I
didn't even realize it untilyears later.
A couple of veteran buddies andI were sitting around talking
(03:16):
about stuff and PTS came up andsomebody said man, you seem like
you do pretty well, how do youdeal with things?
Like, you seem like you dopretty well.
Like, how do you deal withthings?
And I was like man, I justfigured that everybody's
different.
You know, like you line fivepeople up and slap them all in
the face, you're going to get adifferent result from probably
everybody.
And you know, I was justthinking.
(03:37):
I was kind of like you knowhardcore, I'm like dude, I sleep
good at night, I'm fine.
And then one of my buddies saidwell, you've had your music.
And I'm telling you I've neverhad a light bulb moment like a
light bulb moment when he saidthat and I realized that, oh my
gosh, I've been using music,I've been writing all this stuff
down and pouring it out as aform of therapy and I didn't
(04:09):
even realize it, you know.
So I think that the arts, music, everything is really important
for all people in general, butespecially in the veteran
community.
I think that you know writing,whether it's books or just
getting your stuff out, or youwant to get into poetry or
songwriting.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
I mean it's.
It's an amazing process for thebrain, awesome, no, I believe
that too, and there's so manydifferent programs out there.
I know you're a part of some ofthe programs that are helping
veterans by writing songs.
You want to speak on that alittle bit?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yeah, absolutely.
One of the main ones that I doa lot of work with is creative
vets and here in Nashville, aguy named richard casper he was
a marine, uh believe that.
He was uh blown up in 04.
Uh, purple heart.
Um, uh, I want to, I want tosay fallujah.
Sorry, richard, if I got thatone wrong.
(04:57):
Um, but he started it becausehe was.
He was into like sculpture andpainting and stuff like that,
which I also paint as well, andthen slowly moved into
songwriting.
And then he started thisorganization where they bring
veterans in with professionalsongwriters and they write songs
(05:18):
about their story, about theirpath, to help get stuff off of
the chest of the veteran thatwent through whatever they went
through.
It's a really cool organization, not only because of the
songwriting, but they also doarts, they do acting, they do
painting classes, photography.
This dude has just done someamazing work, man, I love
(05:44):
Richard, I love creative vets.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Oh, that's fantastic.
So I think what we're keying onhere, listeners, is that
passion and purpose are reallyimportant, and I think a lot of
veterans when they get out, orjust even people in general.
If you're just working yourday-to-day job and you're
feeling stuck or you'refrustrated or you're not happy
(06:08):
in life, do you have passion andpurpose?
Can you share with thelisteners how powerful you think
or feel passion and purpose isin life?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
It's everything I mean without passion and purpose
.
I mean what stops you fromsitting on the couch and
drinking a bottle of booze.
You know what I mean.
Like it's having something tolook forward to, something that
drives us especially like incommunities you know, marines,
green Berets Like we're drivenpeople, we went and did
(06:40):
something that not a lot ofother people can do or that have
the guts to do something thatnot a lot of other people can do
or that have have the guts todo.
Um, uh, but just in general,for for all people, passion and
purpose.
Like my passion in my purpose,my passion is storytelling.
I love storytelling.
I love making people feelsomething, whether it's, you
(07:00):
know, laughing, crying, you know, just looking back on a memory.
I just feel like I havesomething to say and I'm
passionate about it.
And my purpose really isbecause I want to do this for a
living, because I want to livemy life on my time.
(07:20):
My time is worth more than anydollar amount that you could
ever throw at me.
I want to be the one that says,yes, this is what I'm going to
do.
No, this is not what I'm goingto do, and so my purpose is to
live a life the way that I wantto live it, to chase and pursue
happiness to the best of myability, and that's what keeps
(07:41):
me going and drives me, and Ithink that it's really important
to find that in your soul.
I mean, we all have somethingthat we're passionate about, and
when you find that passion,that passion, I'll give you
purpose.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Absolutely, and when you find that you got to take
ownership, like, you have to ownit Absolutely.
You can't just say, oh, that'smy passion, you know I like that
.
No, it's not your passion Ifyou're not working on it every
week, every day, even thinkingabout it.
Get out there and pursue thepassion, take ownership.
If you have a dog, guess what?
(08:16):
You're going to feed and waterthat dog every day.
Make sure his water dish isfull.
That's ownership.
Do that with your dream and yourgoals, and I love that you do
that and you're constantlywriting.
You're working, you're doingthings, you're following your
passion.
You're working with other vets,you're giving back.
I know some of the other thingsyou're working on.
We'll keep on the back burner,but I think that's it's amazing
(08:39):
as far as like being a dad andthe stuff that you do.
Let's get into getting out ofthe comfort zone, though,
because I think a lot of people,when it has to do with taking
ownership of your life, well,sometimes you have to get
uncomfortable.
Or taking ownership of yourpassion, like going to the gym
and waking up early, that suckssometimes.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Maybe it sucks all the time for certain people, but
let's talk about that now yeah,you know, um, and one of the
first memories that I have ofmaking a decision of comfort and
getting out of the comfort zonewas, I mean, I wish I could
(09:22):
remember my exact.
I was probably eight or nine,maybe ten, and my parents were
divorced and so my dad hadcustody of us and we'd go to my
mom's on the weekends and, youknow, we weren't super wealthy,
um, people growing up and, uh,you know, in and out of trailer
parks and that kind of stuff,and, uh, I was visiting my mom
(09:47):
and she was living in a trailerpark at the time and we didn't
have any food in the trailer andI was asked her for some food
and she said she handed me somefood stamps and she said, walk
down the gas station and get yousome food.
And I, really reluctantly, tookthe food stamps and, um, I
walked it was probably aboutthree quarters of a mile down to
(10:07):
the gas station and there wasthis bridge that you, we had to
go up underneath, um, where oneof the overpasses was, and I sat
up underneath the bridge withthe food stamps and I just
looked at them and I was likeman, like it wasn't anything
against people having to usefood stamps because I understand
that people need, you know, ahand up every once in a while,
(10:32):
like that's why that thingexists and people need it and
they should use it when theyneed it.
But for me, I just kind oflooked around me and I was like
I don't, I don't want to usethese and I don't ever want to
use these because this isn't thelife that I want to fall into.
Like I felt like if, if I didit this one time, then the
(10:54):
second time becomes more normaland the third time becomes more
normal, and so I literally leftthe food stamps under the bridge
in case somebody else needed tofind them.
And I walked back to my houseand I completely lied to my mom
and said that I got food and Ididn't, and because I felt bad.
I didn't want to make her feelbad either, you know, but it was
just something that I hadinside me.
(11:15):
There wasn't anybody that evertold me that that was wrong.
Make her feel bad either, youknow, um, but it was just
something that I had inside me.
There wasn't anybody that evertold me that that was wrong.
There wasn't anybody who toldme that that was right.
Like it was just something inme that says this isn't the life
that I want to lead, movingforward, um, you know.
And so I went hungry that nightand, uh, that had that led to
(11:36):
different decisions anddifferent things in the way of,
like, the path that I startedwalking throughout life and
really the Marine Corps taughtme the most being uncomfortable,
you know, like just in general.
And so I look back on those daysand say, like I still have to
get out of my comfort zone, butI'm like'm like, dude,
(11:56):
everything's easy after that,like, everything's easy after.
Um, you know, people are alwayslike, oh, the music business is
it's got to be tough, like it'scutthroat.
I'm like, brother, I ain'tgetting shot at today.
I ain't, I ain't sleeping under.
Uh, you know, I ain't sleepingon a desert with carpet vipers
crawling up underneath my headand one MRE and one liter of
(12:22):
water rationed for the first twoweeks I was in Iraq in 2003.
Just all of it.
I look back whenever I'm in abad spot where I'm feeling down
about where I'm at or what I'mdoing, I look back on that stuff
and I go, dude, I've made itthrough way tougher things than
this.
Like, let's go.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
No, that's, that's good and that is so true.
I mean, I've had the same thing.
People say to me like, oh, yourjob can be stressful.
You know, when I was doingcelebrity bodyguard work or
different environments, like, ohmy God, your job's so hard.
And I'm like, well, at leastwhen I went to work today I
wasn't worried about my vehicleblowing up or getting shot.
You know well, I guess, some ofthe security things I have been
(13:03):
worried about getting shot.
But anyway, yeah, I digress,but I want to then also here.
We've talked about beingdiscomfort or having discomfort
and struggling through that.
But I also to some people havethat discomfort in life and they
feel uncomfortable.
Or, like you would say, youknow your parents got divorced
(13:24):
and you're living in the trailer.
People use that as an excuseand victim mentality.
How do we shake people up?
Or what can we plant for seedsin their head to get out of that
victim mentality that they dohave control?
Speaker 2 (13:39):
I tell you what man.
It is so easy to fall into thevictim mentality trap.
It's also really easy to getout of it and I think that you
know it's just making a decisionof like my past doesn't define
who I am.
There's nothing that we can doto go back and change anything
(14:01):
that we've ever done, whetherit's military talk.
We can't go back un-pull thetrigger.
We can't go un-make a decision.
I mean, it's already done andit happened, but it doesn't
exist anymore.
So the only thing that we havecontrol over we don't even have
really control over right now.
All we have control over is thethought of what the path ahead
of us, and so, like the victimmentality.
(14:27):
It's honestly, it's one of mybiggest pet peeves in the world
when somebody is like, oh well,I can't do this because of, like
you said, my, my folks split upand I had a rough childhood.
Well, okay, I mean, nobody cameand saved you, but and but here
you are, like, so like, whydon't you be your own superhero
(14:49):
and save yourself?
Like, as adults, there has tocome a time when you go.
I have to take responsibilityfor my life and for what I do.
Moving forward, I can't blameit on my ex-wife.
I can't blame it on my parents.
I can't blame it on the badexperience I had.
Even you know trauma.
Even though a lot of traumawill stick with you in your head
, I mean, there's still a lot ofways to get around that when
(15:14):
your mind starts reeling downthings.
To get around that, when yourmind starts reeling down things,
you know, one of the thingsthat I do that I'm I constantly,
every day, try to get out of,is like, if something bad
happened to me or I had a badexperience with an individual,
like my mind will go down.
This thing of like havingconversations that never
(15:38):
happened, like creating thesescenarios in my mind of like, oh
well, if I were to run intothis person, I'd say this and
then, if they said this, I wouldsay this.
And it's, the thing is is likelife is too hard already and too
short to borrow pain fromplaces that don't exist.
(16:00):
So, like, a lot of times we'lltake whatever our past trauma is
or whatever that pastexperience is, and we'll
constantly dig into where it'salmost not even the complete
truth.
It's almost like we add on tothat trauma.
We add on to that trauma, weadd on to that experience and
I'm telling you, the best thingyou can do is just don't go
(16:24):
there, don't borrow pain fromplaces that don't exist.
How much time are you wastingthinking about what could have
happened or what you should havedone or what you could have
done differently, when you canjust focus on moving forward and
be the person and theindividual that you want to be,
that you say that you want to be, and just be it.
Like it's pretty, it's thatsimple, like you say in your
(16:48):
head this is what I'm going todo, and then I go do it.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
No, you're absolutely right.
The old saying water under thebridge, all those bad things
that have happened to you, to me, our listeners right now,
that's behind us.
All right, we've learned somelessons and let's not minimize
certain tough things that happen.
But don't dwell there.
Don't live in the past.
You know, there's the greatsaying of you're driving your
life.
You're in your car of life.
Are you going to keep lookingin the rearview mirror or are
(17:13):
you going to look out thewindshield?
There's the great saying ofyou're driving your life.
You're in your car of life.
Are you going to keep lookingin the rearview mirror or are
you going to look out thewindshield?
Because if you're stuck lookingin the rearview mirror, you're
going to go off the road, you'regoing to crash, you're going to
get stuck in a ditch.
You need to be looking forward,and I think that's very powerful
.
What you're trying to sharewith people right now is you
need to look forward.
Share with people right now isyou need to look forward, and
(17:35):
when you're looking forward, youneed a destination.
So how would you suggest peoplefind a destination?
Like someone realized whoa, I'mliving in the past.
Now how do?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
I move forward, like, where do I go?
How do I figure out my passion?
I think that, um, small steps,you know, starting with small
steps, daily steps, because allwe have is the future.
You know what I mean.
Like, even this moment, rightnow, what just passed us, like
all I can think about is what'scoming next.
And so, like, if we startthinking about, you know,
(18:11):
something that we're lookingforward to or wanting to
accomplish at the end of the day, and then doing it at the end
of the week and at the end ofthe month, hey, by this time
next year I want to be doing X,y, z.
You know it's.
You said something earlier thatspurred something and I've
(18:33):
totally got a squirrel brain andI like go back and forth all
the time.
And then I just totally got asquirrel brain and I like go
back and forth all the time, um,and then I just totally lost it
.
But um, uh, no, it was the uhtalking about the uh looking in
the rear view mirror and lookingforward.
You know it's, it's small steps.
(18:57):
It's speaking like I'm I'm abig believer in manifestation.
It's like if you, um, I used tosay all the time like I'm
really bad at rememberingpeople's names.
And somebody told me one time,instead of saying that you're
really bad at rememberingremembering people's names, even
though you may not beremembering them, just say I'm
really good at rememberingpeople's names.
And I'm telling you, I startedsaying that like out loud in my
(19:20):
head, I'm good at rememberingpeople's names.
And then I started rememberingmore people's names and so like,
if, if you believe in it andyou can and I'm gonna get off
track for a second Do it, man,do it.
When I got into music, dude, Ihad no idea what the hell I was
(19:42):
doing.
I didn't know anybody that wasin music.
I didn't know people that wrotesongs.
I didn't know people that didit for a living.
And I started off of sayinglike one day, I just want to
play on a stage where my guitaris plugged in and with a
microphone.
And then I did it.
And then the next thing waslike I want to start a band,
(20:03):
like I want to get more peoplearound me and play music live on
a stage.
And then I did it.
And then I was like, well, Iwant to record songs, I want to
put music out, I want to make arecord.
And then I did it.
And then it was like I want toput these songs on the radio,
and then I did it.
And then it was just like Iwant to open for these people
(20:23):
and then I did it.
And it was just like there'salways going to be small doubts,
but I never believed that Icouldn't do it.
I knew it was going to be hardbut I knew that anything was
possible if I just put effortinto it and surrounded myself
with people that believed inwhat I was doing.
And you know, I think that likethat.
(20:48):
I think if more people took apositive approach to life in
general.
You know, going back to thehalf the glass is half full,
half empty scenario, like, ifit's half empty all the time,
you're going to have a halfempty life.
If it's half full, you're atleast going to have a half full
(21:08):
life.
You know what I mean.
Like, and if you think thatthere's, there's room in that
glass to put some more water init, there's going to be more
water that comes in that glassfor you at some point.
Mindset is a tricky thingbecause you can send yourself
(21:32):
spiraling in a negative mindsetand you can send yourself
spiraling in a positive mindsetand I'm totally know that I got
off track there, but uh, that'swhere that led me no, it's good
man and it's choice.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
That's what this is, man.
This is the asset, mindsetsharing.
And uh, speaking of that,please like, follow, subscribe
and share.
And if you want to know moreabout what scott's doing and see
where he's playing or what'sgoing on, go look in the bio and
there'll be all kinds of linksin the description for you to
check out scott's work and hissongs and his music.
(22:07):
So, speaking about songs andmusic, you obviously have a
passion for it.
When was that moment when youwere like I am doing it, I'm
living my dream Because I wantpeople to understand the
listeners.
You can live your dream.
It takes work, things that youthought were unattainable.
(22:28):
You didn't grow up in a familyof musicians and here you are.
You played the Grand Ole Opry,so you want to have that light
bulb moment and share that storywhen you're playing.
It was like surreal, yeah dude.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
So there's been so many of those moments because
you know you're constantlymoving on the path right and the
first time that you get likeyour first.
I remember my very first bigopening gig was in Houston,
texas, at the Racetrack, and Iopened for Cross Canadian
(23:03):
Ragweed and I think that therewas like 7,000 or 8,000 people
out in the audience and we justgot done and we crushed it and
it was the first time I'd everplayed in front of an audience
that big.
I crushed it and I was justfirst time I'd ever played in
front of an audience that big,and this was probably back in
2000, probably 2007-ish, eightor so and I just couldn't
(23:28):
believe that I went from myfirst like big show in Texas
like where people came to gettickets.
It was me and a guy named ifyou guys like country music Cody
Johnson.
Cody Johnson and I startedaround the same time, wrote some
songs together.
My wife booked and managed bothof us at the same time.
Cody and I played a show at aplace called Big Texas.
(23:50):
I want to say that we bothplayed and we had like 17
tickets sold and then, within amatter of a couple of years, we
were selling the place out andso, like, there's all these
moments where you're like, oh mygosh, I'm doing this for real.
But the real cool full circlemoment for me was my debut on
the Grand Ole Opry.
(24:13):
When I joined the Marine Corps,I had every intention on doing
20 years and retiring.
Obviously, like I said, Ilearned how to play in the
Marine Corps and I and I had metCharlie Daniels through a
friend and he kind of just tookme under his wing and so,
(24:37):
charlie, I was playing out.
I was actually playing in Japanat the Iwakuni Air Station the
Marine Corps Air Station inJapan for their Fourth of July
Festival, air station in Japan,for their 4th of July festival
and our manager at the time,david Corlew, who managed
Charlie and myself, he called meand he said hey, what are you
doing?
Um, on whatever date it was.
(24:58):
And he said, um, or I said,well, I'm in Japan, I'm actually
flying back that morning.
Um, you know what?
What you need, man?
And he goes well, charlie wantsto invite you out to come to
the Grand Ole Opry just to checkit out.
Have you ever been?
And I was like, no, I'd love to, you know.
And so I've called my wife andI'm like, hey, can you get your
(25:18):
sister to watch the kids?
I'm flying in from Japan, pickme up.
We're going to drive fromDallas to Nashville and try to
make the Opry that night.
You know like I couldn't affordto buy plane tickets on the fly
back then and you know like Iwas just like dude but I have to
do this.
And so she was like absolutely,picks me up.
We get out there like withinprobably an hour before the show
(25:41):
starts.
So I'm backstage at the Opry andCharlie is showing me around
the Opry and giving me a tourand I'm just like, oh my gosh,
charlie Daniels is giving me atour of the Grand Ole Opry.
And we walk out on the stageand in the circle of the Grand
Ole Opry where everybody stepsin, it's right in front of me,
(26:02):
and Charlie looks at it and hegoes son, this is why we all do
it right here, stepping in thecircle.
And he looked at me and said,well, you want to step in it?
See what it feels like.
And I looked at it for a secondand I looked it back up at
Charlie and I said no, sir, I'dlike to step in it when I've
earned it and he goes all right,son, and he turns off and he
walks off and I'm going damn it,dude, did I just miss my one
(26:25):
chance to step inside thiscircle?
You know, like and uh.
And so then it was about fouryears later after that that I
got a call from Charlie Danielssaying hey, son, just I'm just
wondering if you, uh, if youwant to come out on, uh, july,
oh my gosh July.
I want to say it was 19th in2019 and, uh, have your grand
(26:49):
Ole Opry on the date or haveyour debut on the Grand Ole Opry
.
And, dude, I was like, I mean,I had tears welling up, man, but
it was the craziest thing, Ididn't realize it.
So we do the show that evening.
That evening, and I realizedthat the date that I got off the
(27:16):
bus in San Diego and stepped onthe yellow footprints was
exactly the same date as thatthat I stepped into the grand
old Opry circle.
20 years later, wow, 20 yearsto the day, 20, 20 years.
And, like I said, I planned ondoing 20 years and retiring, and
then, 20 years later, I wasstepping inside that circle.
So my path has been.
(27:37):
I mean, I got out in 2003.
Last minute.
I had my reenlistment packagedone up, I was going to go to
Bridgeport, california, to be amountain survival instructor and
I literally pulled out at thelast minute and just thought,
man, can I do anything withmusic?
And you know.
(27:58):
So I got out and then, you know, I probably, like, legitimately
started doing music in 2005.
And then it became my full time.
It took me four years and duringthat four years, dude, I was
playing five to six nights aweek, and not like 90 minute
shows or 60 minute shows.
I was playing three to fourhour gigs every single night,
(28:20):
hosting open mic jams.
I would get home at one, twoo'clock in the morning.
I'd get up at five o'clock inthe morning because I had I
worked construction as well, andso I would drive for three
years hour and a half intoHouston to go do work on high
rises, doing electrical work.
I'd drive back home.
(28:41):
I couldn't afford a trailer, soI put all my gear in the back of
my pickup truck.
If it was raining, I put trashbags over all my stuff, loaded
it in, loaded it out everysingle night, come home
sometimes, get to eat dinnerwith the family, and then I'd go
do my gig, and then I'd go doit all over again.
I did it for like three yearsand I finally told my wife.
I was like, babe, I either needto do music full time or I just
(29:08):
need to back away from it anddo it for fun and focus on, you
know, getting my electricallicense and all this other stuff
.
And she made a deal with me.
She goes I tell you what, ifyou can book three months worth
of shows, that pays at leastwhat you are making with the
electrical company, you can quityour job.
But the minute that you don'tmake that quota, you go back to
(29:32):
work.
So I freaking had a fire litunder my ass man I've freaking
booked, we booked all theseshows and then it just kept like
snowballing and snowballing,but I just had to take a chance.
I had to take a risk, um, and Iknew that I just didn't want to
go back to punching a timeclock for somebody else.
That's what really drove me,besides my passion for wanting
to play and perform music.
(29:53):
Like I said, my time is worthmore to me than anything.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
No, that's a great story and thanks for sharing.
So many people believe successrequires talent or luck.
From an asset mindsetperspective, what is the real
difference between people whowin and people who lose?
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Uh, the, the guts to go out and get it and not quit.
I mean, you know the the musicbusiness.
I would say that there's threethings that you need to be
successful.
When you can get by with two ofthem, um, the three things are
talent, money to back you andrelationship building.
(30:38):
I think if you have two ofthose, you can be really
successful, been able to do alot of amazing things in my 44
years of life.
At one point I was speaking onsome college panels and I was up
(31:01):
there with doctors andengineers and lawyers.
I'm, over here, the musicianentrepreneur guy.
Every time the kids would askme the same question every class
Well, what kind of degree doyou have to get to where you're
at?
And I'm like brothers, sisters,I got me a GED and an honorable
(31:22):
discharge.
I'm like everything I've donecomes from having heart and the
guts to go out and do it andbelieve in myself and not quit,
and like that's the bottom line.
There's a lot of people outthere in the music business that
aren't the greatest singers inthe world, that aren't the
greatest this or this or that,but they are the biggest
(31:43):
hustlers in the world.
And success also is determinedon what you think success is.
I had an interviewer ask me onetime, like, okay, so you've
done all this stuff, but when doyou think you're going to like
make it?
And I was like, well, what doyou mean by that?
I'm like I get what you'resaying.
Like when am I going to beselling out stadiums and have
(32:05):
all these billboard number ones?
And I'm like, yeah, it's notlike I'm not shooting for that,
but board number ones.
And I'm like, yeah, it's notlike I'm not shooting for that,
but like this has been myfull-time job since 2009.
I've got a wife and four kidsand I've been able to provide
for them doing something that Ilove on my time.
Like, if I'm out touring, I'mout touring.
If I want to stay home and hangout with my kids and my family
(32:28):
by the pool, that's what I do.
No, do I have?
Am I a household name?
No, I get it.
A lot of people go man, I'venever heard of you before.
That's fine, that's cool.
But I've been able to make aliving doing something that I
love, because I made a choiceand I didn't give up on it.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
No, that's so good.
So what would you give foradvice to someone, whether it's
music, business, a dream or apassion that they have where
they're trying to go somewhere,a goal in life?
What advice and nuggets ofknowledge that you've learned
through your life would you belike here?
Speaker 2 (33:09):
here, you need to do this or share it um, I think the
general thing would be uh,write it down, like, write
everything down that you want todo, make a make, make a plan,
um, do a vision board.
(33:30):
Um, you know, almost likereligiously, go over like, what
you want to accomplish, whatyour goals are.
Um, you know even the thingsthat you want out of life or
want in life, whether it's, youknow, experiences or material.
(33:50):
Personally, I'm not a materialguy, I'm an experiences guy, um,
um, but I think it's soimportant to write it down, um,
I wish I would have starteddoing that stuff way earlier.
Um, there's something about tolike about taking an actual pen
or a pencil, and it's one thingto type on the keyboards and
(34:14):
everything like that.
But even when I write songs, Idon't ever type them out.
I write them with this becausethere's an energy that is from
your brain that goes into thatpencil.
That when you feel it writingon that piece of paper pencil,
that when you feel it writing onthat piece of paper, there's
something about that that Ithink is almost spiritual in a
sense.
(34:35):
But, like I write down my whenI'm writing a song, because
that's how I remember it better,if I type it out, I'll, it's 10
times harder for me to learnthat song.
When I write it, I've it's,like, it's in my brain.
I know the song and I thinkthat when you write it out, make
a plan, make a vision board,like, truly, like, see it happen
(35:00):
in front of your eyes, like Ienvision, um, you know, in front
of crowds, I envision, knoweverything from like what my,
what I want my house toeventually look.
Like I envision all thesethings that I've and I write it
down or I put a vision board oflike this is, this is what I'm
(35:20):
going for, you know, and it'sconstantly going back and
looking at that and it just Ican't explain.
I can't explain it.
(35:48):
It creates this energy and thisbond of you have a small
business and obviously we haveso many ways on social medias to
promote that business, to goout into the world.
I tell people all the time,especially in music, because
nobody truly I won't say nobody,nobody our age truly loves
(36:09):
doing social media.
We'd rather be out on the lake,we'd rather be out doing
something.
You know what I mean.
But this little thing righthere, what is there?
8 billion people on the planetand 6 billion of them have one
of these things.
I can't go play enough shows toever get in front of the amount
(36:29):
of people I can get in front ofwith this thing, and so if
there's anybody out there that'swanting to get into a business
for themselves, utilize thisplatform that has hundreds of
millions and billions of peopleon it to move your dream and
your goal.
It could take one post, onevideo.
Next thing you know you'requitting your full-time job and
(36:50):
off running, but if you don't doit, you'll never know.
Just put it out there.
You know what I mean.
Like, just go for it.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
I love it.
Yeah, jump into the fire.
Listeners, you got to do it.
And definitely, I think it'sfantastic advice to write things
down.
It is so powerful to write itdown.
You get it wired in your brainmore because you're not just
thinking it, you're thinking it,you're sending it, then you're
composing it and you're puttingit out there and then you can
reread it again and again.
(37:20):
So I'm a big fan of stickynotes.
Lists, vision boards Great.
I've made a few vision boardsin the past.
Maybe I need to make anotherone.
Check it out man.
I got to say thank you, scott,for coming on the show.
I appreciate having you here.
You're amazing.
Again, listeners, give a quickpause.
Go in the description, find thelinks to Scott and Scooter
(37:44):
Brown Band and everything he'sdoing.
He puts on a fantastic show andyou're going to feel his music,
not just hear his music.
And you're going to feel hismusic, not just hear his music,
and, of course, follow, like,subscribe and own your power
(38:06):
with the Asset Mindset.
Popular Podcasts
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.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.