Episode 62 – Chris Hinckley

That was the first thing we physically built. And like I said, it didn’t make sense how we had it or how it happened, but it was there because of our hard work, determination, and relentlessness. Mm-hmm. We live by a quote, “Be the copy, not the paste. “It’s true, man. I mean, we can’t do anything normal. And it’s a blessing and a curse at the same time because when you’re literally reinventing the wheel sometimes, it’s hard, and you don’t know what the outcome’s gonna be. You just gotta know that you’ll figure it out. Quite popular. I didn’t have to talk to have friends. Right. I just had status. Okay. In high school. In- in high school. We understand that, like, not every day is gonna be 100%. That’s not the point here. Mm-hmm. But are you doing things intentionally every day that you- Yeah. know make you happy- Mm-hmm. to keep you with that fulfillment? Yeah. Right? So you may be going for, like, impact on a million humans and you may be working 16-hour days, you might not be getting to spend the time with your family you want to, you may not be making the money you want to because you’re giving back, but you’re going for a bigger picture. Mm-hmm. Right? You’re going for that fulfillment and people miss that that’s- that’s what you’re really going for. It’s not success, it’s fulfillment. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to The Blueprint. Today I’ve got Chris Hinckley, structural design engineer, worked at a defense company, certified yoga teacher, certified marathon runner, body double for somebody with muscles, stand in when Troy Polamalu can’t be there for Head & Shoulders. This guy is known as Thor, aka IT specialist, ITa- aka, uh, co-founder, akaMan, this- this dude just does everything. Super humble, super cool cat. Stay tuned. And if you guys can do me a favor, hit that subscribe button at the bottom. It’s gonna help me bring more of these stories out there. I really appreciate you guys and all the support you’ve given me. So, stay tuned. Chris, thanks for coming. I really appreciate it. Thanks for having me, brother. I appreciate you taking the time to sit down and have a nice chat, man. Yeah. You know, it’s funny. We- we met just a short time ago. When I say short time ago, months ago. Yeah. Um, and man, we’ve really just kinda hit it off, like kindred spirits, man. Um, uh, it was really great to meet you guys and to see how driven you are and everything else, but, umSo, uh, again, in- in the short term, we’ve kinda made a really good friendship and- and I appreciate you jumping on the podcast. Yeah, absolutely man. I mean, when we got linked up with, uh, Cody, I think was the original contact. Mm-hmm. He’s the guy that shoots with us a lot. Um, you know, it’s just awesome how, like, when you meet certain people, you know right away, like, where this relationship’s going, um, and it’s either going left where, you know, you kinda leave them in the path or it goes right and, like, you guys do some cool stuff together. And it’s like, when you came to us, you weren’t looking for anything except for a connection. And that’s pretty rare these days ’cause people are always wanting something in return, right? Mm-hmm. And with you, man, it’s just like you live freely, you live at peace and in the present, and we saw that when we first met. And outside of that, you do a lot of really cool shit. Uh, I mean, like this artwork right here, this whole shop you just put up in, like, a month, which is insane, and, like, all the other cool shit inside of your warehouse, man. Um, so just grateful that we got to link up and, like,really grateful that you’re, like, so close. I mean, we’re like 15, 20 minutes down the road. Yeah, just real close to each other, 100%. So, yeah. That’s- that’s pretty rare too, ’cause we’re out here- Yeah. in the middle of nowhere. Yep. Well, the cool thing about that is- is that people, you know, introduce you to people they think you might be, uh, you know, compatible with, right? Yeah. And, uh, I’ve had a few people just kind of reach out and, like, “Check this guy out,” or “Do this. “And- and I’d put it off for almost a year and a half, I think, of going out to see you guys and- and the place- Oh, really? that you guys are building and everything. Yeah. And so- Wow. um, just one day on a whim, I was like, “You know what? I’m going to check that place out. I might need to do something for a podcast or, uh, or something like”Tell- tell a little bit about what you guys do out there really quickly. Yeah. So, um, place he’s talking about is XV Studios. Yeah. We’ve got a 2acre plot of land right now and what we call our headquarters right now. So it’s 5,000 square feet, 2 story. Um, it’s kind of like dual-purpose or multi-purpose use for if- if we need to do some events or some of our clients want to have an event there, they can host it. Um, if we have to have some people come stay, they can do it. We’ve got a podcast studio, we’ve got a photography bay, we’ve got, like, a full storage equipment area for all of the shit that we have. Um, and then, you know, we used to live there. Um, Weston’s still there at the time, but I moved out with my girlfriend, but- Yeah. um, it’s a- it’s a beautiful, beautiful creation we’ve made and it doesn’t make sense how it’s there- Yeah. but it’s there now- Yeah. which is really cool ’cause, like, doing what we do is really digital. We don’t- Mm-hmm. really have many tangible things that we create. Mm-hmm. And so this was the first thing, for one, we’ve had in our brains since we started this business together. Mm-hmm. Me and Weston, my business partner, amazing human brother. Long story behind that. But, um, it’s cool because that was the first thing we physically built. Mm-hmm. And like I said, it didn’t make sense how we had it or how it happened, but it was there because of our hard work, determination, and relentlessness. Mm-hmm. And so when that thing went up, it’s still hard to believe that that’s still, like, our studio- Mm-hmm. if that makes sense. Like- Yeah, yeah. sometimes it still just doesn’t make sense when- Mm-hmm. I walk in the door. Um, but it’s, like, a real testament to just not giving up and- Mm-hmm. like, continuing to move on because when we started, we were just 2 guys with a camera, freelance entrepreneurs in the- Yeah. in the media space. Mm-hmm. So we were doing the photo video work together and, you know, it was just us 2. Now we have a team of, like, 8 to ten guys. Mm-hmm. Um, we’ve trained internally, guys we’ve connected with that are professionals in the shooting space. Um, and now having the studio, we’re a full-blown media agency after- Mm-hmm. you know, 5 years working together, about 15 years combined experience. Right. Um, so it’s just really cool to look back and know where we started. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, at times we were working at the same desk and our computers lined up beside each other and just cranking out the hours, 10, 15 hours a day just getting work done, man. Yeah. That’s how it started. And so now to have this- this bigger operation, uh, a team of guys that are really behind us, not only for what we’re doing in production, but just life in general. Mm-hmm. Um, and just feeding off each other and just growing as humans, man, is- Mm-hmm. is the best part of what we do. Yeah, super cool, man. When I went over there, I saw everything youAnd the passion you guys have, I mean, the aesthetics that are at that placeit’s attention to the details. And, and I’m a big fan of that. You know, you can tell what-you can tell what someone is, um, what their makeup is about when they go and you start looking, they, they point out the details in the room to you. What did you, like, like, after walking into the studio, what kind of realizations did you have, or what did you notice the most? I noticed the most, uh, like I said, the details in the room, like, uh- Yeah. even Weston pointing out, like, the lighting in the walls, or- Mm-hmm. um, kinda how the f- He’s proud of that one. Yeah, he’s, yeah, 100%. Like, even, like, the flow of the room, um, and how you guys have set things up inside the room to get from one space to another to make them all kinda work together, I thought that was really cool, you know? You, the, it was very thought provoking. Um, and then there was a speaker in the room. I think it was the exact same speaker I had, which I was like, “All right. “The JBL? Yeah, yeah. The Party Box? That thing’s crazy, right? Hey, shout out to JBL, man. Most- JBL, you killed that Party Box. Awesome. I ain’t gonna lie about that. That thing is ridiculous. Send us a few free ones while you’re at it too. Yeah, 100%. Um, but, uh, but it was really cool to see that, you know, you could tell what kind of people were involved in this, and that you guys wanted not just to be in a room that was a box or whatever. You guys wanted to, uh, make yourself reflect into the room. And there’s one thing I know about Weston, um, is that nothing can be the same as anyone else. Mm-hmm. And we live by a quote, “Be the copy, not the paste,” which I’m sure he said- Mm-hmm. on this last podcast, but it’s true, man. I mean, we can’t do anything normal. And it’s a blessing and a curse at the same time, because when you’re literally reinventing the wheel sometimes, uh, it’s hard. And you don’t know what the outcome’s gonna be, you just gotta know that you’ll figure it out. Yeah. But that’s what we’ve worked on for so many years together to where we have a very unique product. Mm-hmm. We have a very unique experience, which is really what we provide. Yeah. Um, and now we have a very unique space that we’re building. Mm-hmm. So, all those combined have really just allowed us to be copy, not the paste, so to say. And, um, yeah, it’s really important to us. That’s awesome. Sometimes it’s like I’m pulling my hair out like, “Weston, we just need to do some normal shit. “Like, “We just gotta get some normal shit done, then we can focus on the creative stuff. “Yeah, yeah, 100%. ‘Cause that’s, that’s how we come together. Give me the bill pays- Yes. and then let’s move on. Exactly. Yeah. Let’s get the bills paid and move on from there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But no, it’s, it’s literally what makes us us, and I love- Yeah. I love that. Yeah. Well, here’s what I wanna do. Now that we’ve given everybody just a little bit of a synopsis of what you guys work on-I’m gonna rewind. Yeah, let’s go back. There’s a long story behind it. Yeah. Let’s find out how we got there, right? Yeah. Um, where, where are you from? Where, where’d you grow up? Um, I’m from here, locally, the DFW area, specifically East Dallas. Mm-hmm. So, if anyone watching this familiar with White Rock, I grew up in a little, little neighborhood, uh, named actually Little Forest Hills. Mm-hmm. So, um, there’s big mansions next to it, that’s Big Forest Hills, that is not where I grew up. The small houses down the street, that’s where I’m from. Nice. Um, very humble beginning, working class family, um, parents divorced when I was about 8 years old, and then me and my mom and my brother moved to Rockwall. My dad stayed in Dallas. Um, so that’s kinda how we got out towards this way- Mm-hmm. which is a little bit closer to where we’re at, but still- Mm-hmm. 30 minutes, uh, west. Mm-hmm. Um, and that’s where I started going to school, and from then to the end of high school is where I spent my time. You were a Yellow Jacket? I was a Yellow Jacket- Mm-hmm. which doesn’t make any sense ’cause our colors are orange. Mm-hmm. Right? Yeah. It’s always screwed me up. Yeah, what’s up with that? But that was us, you know, JFND, whatever you wanna call it. That’s what, that was our saying back in the day. Yeah. But I was a football player. Um, believe it or not, I was this size when I was, uh- 12. What? 12 would be crazy, 12 would be absurd. Yeah. But no, 18, I was this size, 230 pounds, um, I was working out a lot, so I did have the same amount of muscle. I was pretty fast, you know? I was looked at as Chris the football player. Uh-huh. That was my identity, man. Yeah. Um, and that’s what I leaned into, you know, going into high school and middle school, I just, I just leaned into sports and didn’t care about anything else. Mm-hmm. So, when it comes to school, I, it was easy to me, so I just got it done. Yeah. Um, relationships, I was popular because I was on the football team, and, you know, I was lucky enough, uh, grateful enough to join the varsity team when I was a sophomore, which in Texas, 5A, 6A football is a pretty big deal. Yeah, 100%. Um, so I came up at the very beginning of my sophomore year. They pulled me out of JV practice day one and threw me on the team, and then the starting linebacker of the varsity football team tore his ACL that practice, and then I was a starting guy that day. Man. So, got pulled up, head guy got hurt, then I was the starter in a position I had never played before in my life. Hmm. And so I gained a lot of attention through that. And I didn’t, you knowI was a very, very shy kid. Hmm. So for me, getting that much attention, I didn’t do much with it. Mm-hmm. I just kind of, like, brushed it off and I didn’t speak much and I didn’t reallyI wasn’t very verbal on the team. I was just, you saw my actions, you saw how I trained, how I moved- Mm-hmm. how I played, and that’s why people followed me as a leader, right? Mm-hmm, yeah. In some, some sort of way. going through school, I just focused on football and so- Mm-hmm. in summer times, I was training, going to camps. And then when it came to my senior year, I was getting pulled out of class all the time, talking to coaches, going on visits, like, that was gonna be my future. It was my ticket to college and then maybe further on after that, right? Mm-hmm. Let’s, let’s, let’s pause for just one second for you to process that. Yeah, yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. Um, you said you were a very shy guy. I was, I was an introvert. Okay. By definition, to a T. You also said you were very popular. Yeah. And so you were saying that physically you were an imposing figure and people saw you as the guy, and because you succeeded on the field- Yeah. that superseded the outgoing personality that it needed to be quite popular. I didn’t have to talk to have friends. Right. I just had status- Okay. And so-in high schoolIn- in high school. Which is cool because l- and then you said school came very easy to you. Yes. Has it always been that way? Have you always been, like, theWould you say you were a nerd? Yeah, I’d definitely call myself a nerd. Okay. I mean, you can’t be a mechanical engineer and not be a nerd. Yeah. Facts. You do- Yeah. too much math. Yeah. But I would say school always came pretty easily to me in a sense that I didn’t have to study much to really understand the lessons and, like, get by. Mm-hmm. Um, it’s funny, I never failed a class, but I failed my 6th grade math class because I straight up just did not try whatsoever. Yeah. Didn’t put any effort into it. Um, but every other class, it was like a A or a B. Mm-hmm. Without any sort of effort, just, just getting the job done. So you said you didn’t put any effort into that whatsoever? No. What, what year was that, 6th grade? 6th grade, yeah. What year did you move to Rockwall? That was 3 or 4 years after I moved to Rockwall. Okay. But, uh, that whole period of, like, elementary school- Mm-hmm. like, I didn’t, I kind of brushed over it, but, like, that was a really tough period for me. Uh-huh. Um, when my- Was that when your parents were splitting up and stuff? Yeah, when my parents divorced, it was like my whole world shattered. Like- Mm-hmm. the one truth that I had in my life was that your parents are married and they stay married forever. And that was what I believed. Yeah. And so I would, you knowThey fought a lot, they bickered, and they would scream at each other, and I would go in my room at night and just cover my ears and just tell myself, like, “They’re not gonna get a divorce. They would never do that. It’s gonna be okay. “Mm-hmm. And lo and behold, when I was 8, they finally got divorced. Yeah. So at that point I was like, “Everything’s a lie. “Yeah. “Nothing is true. Everyone’s full of shit. “Yeah. And so I became a rebellious kid. Yeah. And I was quiet, I was introverted, but I would, you know- Mild. be very, like, going against the grain. I had a problem with authority. Um, my father, I, I don’t wanna speak ill of him ’cause he is gone at this point, um, but he was notThe, the, the best way I could put it is he was the perfect example of the man and the father and the husband that I did not want to be. Mm-hmm. So, you know, on his deathbed was 15 years since he’d had a job. Uh, he was overweight his entire life. He had bad habits. He, um, you know, had bad relationships. He was very narcissist, very negative, and never took accountability for anything in his life. Mm-hmm. Um, and so I saw that after I started to grow up a little bit and why my mom just had to distance herself from that relationship- Mm-hmm. in order to protect us and herself. Um, but at the time, I didn’t understand, and so I just, I, I screwed up a lot, and, like, I made bad friends and we made bad decisions, and I would just get in a lot of trouble. Um, and that was the, you know, 4 years of m- of elementary school that, like, really just drove a wedge between me and my father’s relationship. Mm-hmm. And that’s where a lot of my problems came from, i- internally in my, in, in my brain. Mm-hmm. Um, and it, it was hard to get over that because when someone around you is like, so negative so often, it’s hard to n- let it, it’s hard to keep it from rubbing off on you. Mm-hmm. And so as a, at a young age, being around that all the time, it really, like, trained me to be that way. Mm-hmm. And so as I got older and started becoming more of, like, myself and stepping into who I wanted to be, it was really hard to leave that negativity and narcissism behind. Mm-hmm. Because that was the first thing I res- resorted to every single time something happened or emotional, like- Mm-hmm. it was always negative. It was always someone else’s problem, like, it wasn’t because of me. And so these are things that, like, really held me back, in my opinion, from growing as a human. Mm-hmm. Um, and, you know, we can go deeper into that story, but I think it, you really get the gist of where I come from in terms of my mom. She did everything she could to provide for us on a teacher salary. Right. She worked with blind and visually impaired students, and that was her career. Somehow she took care of the 2 of us and provided for us for like the last, you know, from 8 to 18 and so on, you know. Mm-hmm. She paid for our college, took care of our cars, she did everything. I don’t know how she did it. Amazing human, angel. My dad, the complete opposite. Yeah. So, like, all the good, maybe not all the good, but most of the good comes from my mom. Mm-hmm. All of the, the good habits, the discipline, um, you know, good heart, all that stuff comes from my mom. I have good things that come from my dad too. Like, he steps into a room, everybody loves him. You get to know him, you’re not gonna like him. Yeah. I have the good side of that. Mm-hmm. And I can continue to have a good relationship with people, further on. Mm-hmm. But a lot of what I learned of what not to do came from him. Mm-hmm. And that was an identity itself- Mm-hmm. of like becoming something that I’m not that I had to ditch. Yeah. Because at a certain point you have to realize you’re not this person. Yeah. And I never really was this person. Yeah. And th- these beliefs that I’m just, need to do the opposite of what he did is a limiting belief because I can go so much further than that. Yeah. Um, so that gives you a little background on like me, my relationship with my father and my mother. Um, like I said, I, I lost my dad about 3 years ago due to health, um, problems. And you know, he’s definitely more comfortable, in a better place ’cause he was significantly unhealthy and bedridden at that time. But, um, you know, I was able to mend the relationship with my father- Yeah. before he passed, which is the best thing I could have done. And if anyone has like a relationship they’re struggling with, especially a parent- Mm-hmm. um, you never know how much time you have. Yeah. And even if there’s just this big wedge between you guys and it’s been years, ’cause like it was 3 years before I talked to him when he told me he was dying. And, um, it’s really important to remember that no matter what, that’s your family and that’s your dad and he made you and you would not be here unless it were for him. Regardless of what he did after I was born, I would not be here if he was n- if he didn’t have me, right? If we didn’t, like have a relationship bl- like it’s because of him that I’m here. Yeah. So I’m forever indebted to him, whether I like it or not. Regardless. Regardless. And he’s my dad. I won’t get another one. Yeah. So I gotta love him because what does God tell us to do? Love everyone. Wow. That’s impossible on our own. Yeah. Through Him, it’s possible. Yeah. So I had to learn that and I’m so glad that I was able to drop my ego at the door- Mm-hmm. and my pride- Yeah. and just, this is my dad. Like I just want him to be comfortable and I wanna spend some time with him and mend what we have, the relationship we have left before it’s too late because if I don’t, I’ll forever question, um, why I didn’t do that. Did you get to a point when you were having those conversations that you were able to open up like that? S- Not necessarily. You know, I’d like there’s, there’s a relationship with my father in my head that I wish I would’ve always had. Hm. It was never going to be that and I knew that. I had to let go of it. So when it came to those conversations where I’d go speak to him, I had to really mitigate the topics I got into because I know he’s, he knows how to push my buttons. Mm-hmm. He’s got 30 years of experience doing it. Mm-hmm. And he knows how to press them. Mm-hmm. So I had to be careful of the things that I brought up and then when they did get brought up, I had to quickly move over them because I know where it would be taken, right? Mm-hmm. Because I’m not a person that can hold back my opinion. He’s not a person that can hold back his opinion and he has no filter- Yeah. which is very like aggressive. Mm-hmm. So yeah. I had to navigate him, but th- I had to learn how to do that over long periods of time. So did he ever get to know the, um, well, the football superhero- Yeah. that you were? Did he come to your games? Yeah. Did he get to see any of that stuff? So he showed up. He was always late. Mm-hmm. Um, he lived in Dallas and refused to move to Rockwall so that created a lot of like barriers between like spending time with us and showing up for things. When we were with him, we weren’t allowed to spend time with our friends from Rockwall or in Rockwall. And, you know, he had us in some not best places. Like we stayed in some random old lady’s house in the ghetto in Dallas one time. Mm-hmm. We stayed in Pleasant Grove in a house. We stayed in Oak Cliff in a house. And these aren’t like the most comfortable areas. So I go from like suburbia protected Rockwall to like the hood in Dallas- Mm-hmm. like twice a week. Mm-hmm. And like so I’m torn between this like, “Why am I having to be in poverty for no reason? “But yet I come back to here and this is my real life. Yeah. And I have to like, like my life is split from 8 years old and on. Mm-hmm. It’s, it unlocked this new chapter of like no one’s gonna take care of you except for you. Mm-hmm. Because when you’re traveling in between your parents, you have to get your homework done, you gotta stay on top of your, your training, on top of your, um, eating, on top of your sleeping. Like all this stuff is on your own because when you go with dad, he doesn’t know everything you’ve just done for the last week. When you go with your mom, she doesn’t know everything you’ve just done for the last week. Mm-hmm. So you have to keep up with your own schedule- Mm-hmm. with your own everything from a very young age. And so it taught me how to grow up really fast. Mm-hmm. And I had a under- I had a real understanding of the world from like a younger age I feel like- Mm-hmm. ’cause I saw it for what it was and my bubble was burst. Yeah. And so financially speaking, I understand how hard it was to make money and I really respected the dollar and especially- Mm-hmm. when my mom would give me money because- Mm-hmm. I knew how hard she worked for it. Mm-hmm. And I knew my dad didn’t have any. Mm-hmm. And so understanding that from a young age allowed me to save money, allowed me to get jobs. Like I was very much independent. And so when it came to that transition after high school, it was really easy because I was already living like that. Mm-hmm. Like, people have issues going to college and then they have, like, no boundaries, right? Like- Yeah, yeah. I had to set my own boundaries, like, 10 years before that. Mm-hmm. So I was used to just being an adult in a way. Yeah. You know, it’s so funny when you talk about the difference in living in 2 different worlds like that. Um, I guess that can be very eye-opening too to understand what society is all about, right? And, and meaning like- Yeah. people put on a persona of who they are based upon where they live, what they have, what they dress like, whatever, right? Mm-hmm. You were in a good and, and a not so good by the week. You had your foot in both worlds. Yeah. You were defined by both depending on the week where you were at, right? Mm-hmm. So literally you were both sides of the coin. Mm-hmm. You know, which really means, like- Means I didn’t-it’s the situation, not the person. Right. And that’s, but that’s what I placed my identity on those 2 things. Mm-hmm. So I had, like, Chris the football player, suburbia, rock wall, yellow jacket, and then I had Chris, like, Dallas guy, which, like, my dad would put us to work when we go out there. We would just, like, take care of the house. We would do chores. We’d go to Home Depot all the time. We’d go after these bus- business ventures with him. Like, it was just, like I was an adult over here and I was kid over here. Mm-hmm. And there was no overlap because he wouldn’t allow it. Yeah. So, like, being barred from your friends or, like, not even able to have your friends over, like, it’s, it’s just weird as a kid to have to deal with that, um, for me specifically ’cause, like, you go fromM- my girlfriend in, in middle school, she h- had a lot of money. So they had, you know, $2 million mansion on the lake, boat, jet ski, big Hummer, all the nice cars. She had a, a closet that was a room and it was, like this high with clothes and they all had tags on ’em. So, like, I go from that to my father’s shack, which he doesn’t even own and someone else, and we’re living in one room together. And there’s, like, bunk beds that I slept on ’til I was 18 and then my dad’s bed. And, like, that was, I go from here to there. And, like, it just fucks with you as a kid. Yeah. You, you just don’t understand. It does good, it did good things for me because I saw the perspective of poverty and I saw the perspective of wealth, and then I had my mom in the middle class, right? And so I had a broad understanding of life, like I was saying, that most people that I grew up around in high school didn’t even understand. Hm. Yeah, that’s tough. Yeah. I mean, you know, especially, you know, when you start stepping from world to world to world, that can, that can spin you out of control and I can see where you could be mad through a lot of situations all the way around, so. Makes you money hungry. Yeah. Greedy. Going after all the wrong things ’cause when you’re poor, all you want is money. Yeah. And when you’re, when you have money, all you want is peace. Did you find yourself pointing blame more when you were in a worse situation? Yeah. When I was a younger kid, absolutely. Because, well, for one, you’re a child, you’re still developing these skills. And, like, what I’ve had to learn now and what really helps me keep moving forward without a bunch of stress is that there are certain things I can control and certain things I can’t. Yeah. And if I focus on the things I can control, then I lose a lot of stress, I lose a lot of worries, and things actually begin to change. Hm. I didn’t think that way as a kid. Mm-hmm. So if I had a struggle, it was because usually my father or because, like, the situation I’m in. I didn’t understand that no matter where I was at, I have this. Mm-hmm. And I control this. Mm-hmm. I wasn’t that mentally strong as a kid. Hm. I mean, you’re still developing, right? But it’s, like, I had a lot of trauma that was unLike, I didn’t talk about this shit with anybody. Yeah. I didn’t talk about it with my mom. Definitely didn’t talk about it with my dad. Mm-hmm. And my brother didn’t understand me ’cause he was just like- Yeah. “That’s Dad. Just listen to what he says. “Mm-hmm. And it’s like he’s living the life that I don’t want to live, so why would I take his advice as a father? Yeah. And I’m 8 years old saying this shit. Right, yeah. So, like, if your 8yearold told you that- Yeah. like, what would you say to their face? Well- It wouldn’t be good. Yeah, it would not, not be good. And so that was the relationship- Yeah. I had with my father because I grew up really fast and so I saw him for who he really was. Yeah. And he tried to just control me for no apparent reason because- Yeah. he had no control in his life. Yeah. And I saw these things and I pointed them out to him, which obviously, like, that’s gonna piss him off. Yeah. And so we just butted heads. Yeah. Every single time. You were pokin’ at him and he was pokin’ at you. And he’d try to take my phone for no reason. I’d tell him he didn’t pay for it so he couldn’t do it. And, like, you know, just little stuff like that. Yeah. Um,That’s my dad. Yeah, that’s awesome. I’m just envisioning this, um, 6’4″, 230 pound 8yearold covering his ears and, and yelling in his room. I wasn’t that big then. I was a little more-chubby and I was a little bit shorter, but-yeah, I had the anger behind me, that’s for sure. Yeah. I was the stubborn son of a bitch. You were always a big kid though, huh? I was always the chubby kid. Um, it’s funny, my mom, she just told me, she always told me I was a tenpound baby. Mm-hmm. Turns out I was not a tenpound baby. Yeah. I was an 8. 9-pound baby. Ah. And 22 inches long. Yeah. So I was long and skinny as a kid, um, right whenever I was, like, 8 to ten years old, I, like, hit a growth spurt and I got chunky. Hm. And I wasn’t doing anything different. I wasn’t eating different. I was actually more active. But man, I got chunky. Yeah. And, like, I could find a picture and show it to you. I was a chubby kid. Um- Isn’t that crazy? I was a 9pound baby when I was born. You were? And look at the, look at the 2 of us now. It’s crazy. It’sYou never know. Like, I know girls that are, like, 5’4”- Yeah. and they were tenpound babies. Yeah. So they just got- Yeah. cooked a little bit too long. I had a- I had a, um, uh, the coach from Baylor came down and gave me a gift certificate for, uh, a free tryout to his football team when I turned 18 years old. No way. Came down and gave them to every baby that was over 9 pounds. Oh, wow. And so my birth certificate has, like, a Baylor football player on it or whatever. That’s hilarious. So. That’s so funny. Yeah, kind of crazy. I was like, “Well, you missed on that one, dog. “Like, maybe I was a kicker. I don’t know. Yeah, exactly. No, but I was always a chubby kid. I, like, from in middle school, I lengthened. Mm-hmm. So I lost a lot of the chubbiness, and then I was, like, the 6’2″ guy. Not that I am now, but, like, I wasn’t chubby anymore. Hmm. So that was really my stepping out. From 6th grade to 7th grade, I grew a few inches, and I went from chubby to, like, slender- Mm. and more athletic. Um, and I was 170. I remember this, ’cause it’s the last weight I remember. I was 170 pounds. That was the only time I was under 200 pounds for the next likeWhat grade was this? 10 years of my life. 7th grade? 7th grade. 170 pounds, 6’1″ or 6’2”, and then it just kept going up from there. Just dump trucking kids at that age. Just- Literally. So I played every position. I couldn’t carry the ball ’cause I was still too heavy. They had that rule, you know, you have like the Xs on your helmet. Oh, man. Um, so I played lineman, I played, you know, all the special teams. And, you know, that’s, I actually started football only a year before middle school. So like I started late. Yeah. I didn’t play that sport for long. Yeah. I was just a big body, and then when I got to high school is really when I, like, stepped up. On my varsity, I got big, you know, that was cool. Whatever, butSo then you started getting into, like, getting a lot of people take notice of, you know, what your skillset was on the, on the football field, right? Yeah, I mean, I don’t even know how gifted I really was in football, to be honest. Yeah. Like, from the beginning, I had no s- I just was big. Yeah. I think that’s really where it starts in that sport. Um, later on, I got a lot better and mentally trained how to actually play the, the position and sport, but I moved around so much that I never really got to be an expert in any position. Mm-hmm. I started as a lineman ’cause I was big, and then I moved to linebacker because they needed me, and I fit a linebacker position the way I looked. And mold, yeah. And then everyone started getting hurt on the defense the next year, so I played safety, I played stand up DN, I played, like, H-back at 1 point. And so I never really, like, got super good at one position, um, and never had enough film, and that’s kinda what killed me when it came to college recruiting. Like, go- like, on paper, 235, 4. 5. Yeah. Bench 350, squat 475, hang clean 315, like, varsity since sophomore year. Yeah. And they’re like, “You just don’t have enough film as, as a linebacker. “Yeah. So my senior year was my senior year to really put myself on the map. Yeah. And 5 games in, I broke my arm. Hmm. And then 2 weeks later, um, after going from a full arm cast to a half arm cast the same day, I played football that night after 2 weeks of no practice, no nothing. And so that became the standard of every week, I wouldn’t practice all week, and I just played the game Friday night, both sides with a cast, until I couldn’t play anymore. And I would rebreak my arm every single week. Wow. Every single game. ‘Cause I played f- I didn’t come off the field. I played offense and defense with a broken arm, didn’t practice throughout the week, and didn’t drop a pass. I had incredible stats, like, until I just couldn’t play anymore, ’cause like, 5, 3, 4 or 5 games went by, and I kept breaking it every week. And the doctor was like, “You have to get surgery or it’s never gonna heal. “And that’s when I had to stop. And at that point, all the coaches stopped calling me, uh, they stopped responding to me, I had no one taking me out of class anymore. And all the hype that I’d been building for 3 years just died. Wow, ’cause of one injury. ‘Cause I broke my arm. Very- I see the scar on your arm, so I guess you got the surgery? I got the surgery. I had to. So I got a plate and 6 screws in there now. Um, what’s funny, it was actually the second time I’ve broke my arm. Yeah. So the first time, when I was 6, I fell out of a tree, and I landed on my head but I caught myself in my arm and snapped it in half. Um, they put a pin in and then took it out later, so then I, I still have this, like, massive divot in there. It’s like- Yeah. this arm’s just kind of messed up. Yeah. You can, you can see, it’s not, it’s not all put together, but it works. Yeah, same, same. Yeah, you get it, you get it, yeah. Yeah. So this one’s been through theBut I, I can still do handstands on it, I can still do everything I need to. Yeah. It’s not as flexible, but like, it’s a blessing that it’s- Is it tender at all? Certain weather will make it a little more sore. Yeah. And like s- when I was, uh, you know, becoming a yoga teacher- Mm-hmm. which is a whole nother story, um, that was really challenging. Yeah. ‘Cause I was doing all these, like- Yeah. wrist bends and, like, crazy stuff- Yep, mm-hmm. that was basically rehab. Yeah. And so I had all this cartilage built up from, um’Cause I had f- a cast for 6 months- Yeah. at the end of th- uh, you know, from the beginning to the end with surgery and everything. Mm-hmm. So it got really bad. And I had no physical therapy. Yeah. That’s, that’s terrible. Yeah. What’s crazy is, like, I don’t have no ill will towards the coaches or anything, like, in my situation, but it’s wild that when I actually broke this thing, I went to the training staff that night, and they told me I had a popped blood vessel. So I actually went on an official visit the next day to- Yeah. the University of Arkansas, and that whole weekend just went around with a broken arm, like to the game, the parties, met the coaches, the players. Went on the field, all that stuff. And so in the middle of the game, I look at my arm. It’s like wrapped in an ACE bandage and it’s like, it’s like you just, like blew it up. Blew it up. Yeah. It’s, like, that swollen. And so next Monday, I went back and was in a full-arm cast. That’s how it happened. Yeah. And then 2 weeks later, they were like, “Do you wanna play? “And I’m like, “Is it smart to play? “Mm-hmm. And they were like, “Do you wanna play? “And I was like, “Yeah, of course I wanna play. I need film. “And so they let me play. Mm-hmm. And then it just created this bigger issue that if I would have waited 2 more weeks, man, I would have been fine. Yeah. And it became this 5, 6month ordeal, this whole mental battle. Like, started abusing drugs, alcohol. Like, just not giving a shit. And like, I took a D2 offer ’cause it was the only thing I had. Mm-hmm. So I, I went down a bad path that I feel like I could have been advised a little bit better on. Mm-hmm. But like, obviously everyone has their own agenda. Mm-hmm. And like, coaches wanted to win. I was a big player and they wanted me back on the field. Mm-hmm. So, I mean, looking back, best decision I ever made ’cause it took me down the right path- Mm-hmm. even though it was a brutal one. Yeah. But, you know, I feel like a lot of that could have been avoided with just somebody logical talking to me. Yeah. You know? Yeah, when, I mean especially for, you know, a mechanical engineer, you know, for it to be swayed emotionally on something instead of thinking of, like, these are the steps it takes to, to get right or whatever. Yeah. You know what I mean? So just 2 sides of every coin. You know, when you see a, when you see a person, they emotionally get involved in something else and, or don’t know what to believe in, right? Yeah. Um- Yeah. so there’s a long path that shows how you kinda got to some of those, some of those answers you came out with. Yeah. Right? I mean, like, I played football my first semester in college, and then I got into alcohol really bad. I was drinking, like, Thursday to Monday- Mm-hmm. every week. What was the drink of choice, by the way? Anything with alcohol in it. Is this hard liquor? Is this beer? What are we talking about? Liquor, beer, punches, you name it. Like, this is West Texas. Ever-, Everclear. Everclear. Whatever, dude. It didn’t matter. Like, if it got me drunk, I was drinking it. Yeah. So one night I woke up, or one morning I woke up in my dormitory, like, common room, and I was just passed out on the couch. I had like 25 beer tabs in my pocket from the night before. ‘Cause I was, I remembered I was, like, gonna count them. Yeah. ‘Cause I was curious. Yeah. I had 25 beer tabs, and that was on top of shots, on top of punch, on top of- Yeah. And I was like, “Whoa, this is out of control. “Yeah. And I was already, like, I had gotten 3 MIC tickets- Yeah. in 2 months. Wow. My first semester in college ’cause this was a dry county. Mm-hmm. It was West Texas. It was, like, a very small campus and there was 4 different police departments patrolling it. What is MIC? Minor- Minor-consumption. Income. So under the age of 21 and drinking. Yeah. Or just having alcohol in your system. Oh, MIP is what we called it back in the day. MIP- Yeah. Minor possession. Yeah. Minor consumption. Yeah. Same thing, same ticket. So yeah, I got in a bit of trouble. Thankfully, you know, my mom helped me get a lawyer. Got a couple tickets off under, you know. I got them off my record finally, but I had to leave that school. Yeah. Because I was like, “I’m done with football. I’m done with this. This is not good for me. “I gotta move on some sort of way. Yeah. So I left the school in December, and then just went to like, uh, Texas A&M Commerce to keep, like, classes going. Mm-hmm. And then eventually ended up at the University of Arkansas the next year. Okay. And then I spent 3 years there, and that’s really where I, like, found myself. Mm-hmm. Because no longer was I Chris the football player. No longer was I, like, any of that stuff, which was my only identity. And I finally was able to figure out, okay, as a civilian, that’s what I call myself-um, you know, what do I wanna do with my time? ‘Cause I have so much now. Like as a football player in college, you have no time. Mm-hmm. It’s school, it’s sleep, it’s working out, practice, and it’s film. Mm-hmm. And it’s eating. That’s it. So now I have all this time, what do I do with it? Well, I found really good friends, thankfully. The first people I found were good friends. Um, and they taught me that for one, you don’t have to be fucked up- Yeah. every time you go do something, which I thought was- Odd. odd. Mm-hmm. You don’t have to be drunk every time you go to a function or do anything outside that’s, like, social. Um, you can be vulnerable and not be judged. Mm-hmm. Um, you can have fun and be goofy and like, you can get outside in nature, which like, I think is the best thing anyone can do. Mm-hmm. And explore it- Yeah. because there’s a lot to explore. Yeah. And so I found a love for that, so I started hiking. I started rock climbing. Um, I went on a canoe trip with our friends. I did a lot of backpacking. Um, went and did like a 2week backpacking trip in college. And so I just got around some really good people, and like, it’s so underrated the circle of humans that are around you. Mm-hmm. Um, and we live by a quote, “If a circle doesn’t inspire you, it’s, it’s not a circle, it’s a cage. “Mm-hmm. And it’s, it’s so true because who you are in proximity is like who you become. So if you have a bunch of people around you and you’re a good human, you’re gonna lean into those things. You’re just tempted, naturally. So like, when I got out of that space and I got around really good humans, I started to grow- Mm-hmm. instead of just, remaining stationary almost. Mm-hmm. And then with school, I just decided to become a mechanical engineer because that was what my brother did. And I knew anything he could do, I could do because we came out of the same woman. So I went after that. It was a good, you know, job demand at the time. Is he, he’s an older brother? He’s an older brother. Okay. He’s 2 years older. Okay. And he was already at Arkansas too. Okay. So I knew the school was good, I had visited him, I knew s- some of his friends, which is the first people I met, and then he had a place to stay, so it was like a really good- Landing spot, yeah. landing ground, yeah, landing spot for me, especially after all that mess. Yeah. My mom was happy about it. It was a cheap school. I got in-state. They had a good e- uh, mechanical engineering program, and it was an amazing campus. Mm-hmm. Like, Northwest Arkansas is beautiful, bro. Wh- how did you get in-state? Um, so bordering states of Arkansas, um, they used to get 100% depending on your SAT, ACT scores. Okay. Um, when I went through, it was like up to 80% depending on your scores. Now it might be different, but they were trying to incentivize bordering states to send their students over to Arkansas. Mm-hmm. Um, so they gave, they offered in-state tuition. And so, um, we were able to hop on that train. My brother got 100% in-state, I got 80%. So I got my degree for like $40 something 1000. Nice. Which is really cheap. Yeah, 100%. Really cheap for 4 years. So, um, so yeah, no anyways, Arkansas was amazing for me. Changed my life. So you went from, uh, a football player, uh, defined by physical abilities- Mm-hmm. ran that truck straight off the road- Mm-hmm. 25 beer tabs in your pocket- Yeah. trying to find out how many beers it took to get Thor drunk- Yeah, a lot. you know, crash and burn, just going back to school. When you went back to A&M Commerce you decided that you were gonna be a mechanical engineer or you were just getting basics out of the way? Sorry, no. I made that decision when I started, um, college, but as most people know that went through it, like it’s not really important that you have your majors set until- Yeah. like maybe a year after- Yep. you start. Mm-hmm. So I did general engineering, um, because that was what the school offered. They didn’t have a mechanical route where I was. Yeah. And then the next school, same thing, they only had construction. Yeah. But most of those classes carried over. So like I was just general engineering, construction engineering, and then I was mechanical because they had a full-blown program for them. Mm-hmm. So that was when I was like, yep, this is what I’m doing basically- Yeah. as far as engineering, ’cause there’s biomedical, there’s construction science- Yeah. there’s all kinds of different stuff. So you said school came pretty easily to you. The ACT scores and SATs were up there? SATs, ACTs, the hardest tests I’ve ever taken. I don’t understand it. I sucked at those. I did decent, and decent enough. I was super cracked out on Adderall and Vyvanse at the time- Mm-hmm. which I did not know how to control. Yeah. I took way too much and I was just likeI almost had a heart attack I felt like. So that probably didn’t help me, but I got good enough scores to get in, soYeah. And at the time like, as a football player, it didn’t matter what my scores were. Mm-hmm. They were just gonna get me in no matter what, soMm-hmm. Those didn’t mean anything especially after I had a semester under my belt ’cause they were only- Mm-hmm. looking at college credits, ’cause they don’t care about high school after you start college. SoYeah. Um, I had good grades even with starting football and doing all that craziness, which is wild. Like, I had- Yeah. straight As. There was only one, or one class I had a B in, but it was my English teacher, and she was like, failed everyone. Yeah. Um, but yeah, no, I found I was really, really good at school and I was really gifted in math. Yeah. Because I got thrown Chemistry 1, Chemistry 2, Physics 1, Physics 2, Cal 1, 2, and 3, Linear Algebra, um, Statics, Dynamics. Like, these are all super, super heavy math courses. Mm-hmm. And they involve, doing the math as well as real life application and understanding how they come together. Mm-hmm. So it’s like this rocket takes off from Earth and goes around the Moon and comes back. How long does it take? How long is the path? What, how much fuel needs to be in the engine? Like that type of shit. Mm-hmm. Which is crazy. Yeah. So it’s like one answer is 3 pages of math. Yeah. And that was easy to me. Yeah. There was one professor that failed just about everyone, and he had the hardest class. He was this 95-year-old Asian man that barely spoke English. He literally wrote the textbook on the class- Hm. this is for statics and dynamics. And all of his tests were 3 questions, handwritten, no equation sheet, no calculator. 3 questions, you have an hour and a half to complete it. Each answer is two and a half to 3 pages long depending on how well you show your work. Mm-hmm. So I made damn near 100 on every single one of those tests. killed the curve for everybody and I-barely studied. I didn’t show up to class. Yeah. I had people take the quizzes for me, I got the homeworks, but when it came to test time, I knew how to study. I knew how to read the books, I knew how to learn. Mm-hmm. That’s what I learned in college. I learned how to learn. And I learned that I was really, really good at learning a mass amount of things in a short period of time. Because college is a system, and these teachers, they operate on internal systems. So when they give you homeworks and they give you quizzes, what they’ll do is they’ll just reverse the problem on the test. Mm-hmm. So the variable they give you is the variable they won’t give you on the test. And they’ll flip-flop it and ask you to reverse to find the question the opposite way. So what I do, I take all the questions on the homeworks and the quizzes and in the books, and I would reverse them, versus I’d do them correct and then I’d reverse them and solve the other way around. And so when it came to the test, exactly what happened every single time, minus some unit changes, and then I figured it out. The Da Vinci Code. Uh, it was simple, right? Well, well, we have, well, we have, we just found out you’re a new person. You’re now Good Will Hunting. I don’t know about that one. You know, and like- I wasn’t that gifted. I couldn’t just do math on the wall. And at this point- Uh-huh. it’s all gone. It’s all gone. Y- you like apples? I love apples. How about them apples? Amen, brother. Amen. Yeah, that’s awesome, man. Um, and so you just got to where you were, you were breaking down the system and really trying to find out exactly what was going down for, uh, how the tests were beingAnd you just deciphered it, really. Yeah, I just realized I was much more gifted in my brain than I had thought, or that I had tried. Yeah. And so I started leaning into that. I started actually, like, I guess growing as a human in, in terms of like, okay, I have a brain inside of me. How do I best use it? So for me, it was a lot of just, like, chilling in college. Mm-hmm. I’m not gonna lie. Like, I worked hard. I did construction. I poured concrete in the summers. I worked in an office and did, like, some drone surveying and stuff like that, and on top of my schedule and everything. I worked out at 5:30 in the mornings. I did my lifting in the afternoons. I, I was structured. Mm-hmm. But, like, I was chilling in college, ’cause I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I didn’t care. Yeah. I was smoking weed, I was hanging out, and, um, yeah, I was having fun for the first time. Like I said, I was being a civilian again. So you went from, from alcohol to, to marijuana? Uh, I had always done marijuana. Okay. I had always had certainAlcohol took way too far, and it was horrible for my depression, which I’ve, I’ve, I was born with depression. Yeah. Um, that was holding me back so much. I kind of stopped alcohol for a while, got back into it in college, obviously, ’cause it’s still very present. Um, but it was doing it in a way where it wasn’t suppressing my feelings, or it wasn’t, like, my route to get out of my, um, little shell, right? ‘Cause, like, as an introvert, and most people could probably agree with this, is, like, when you drink and you get drunk, you become more extrovert. Yep. Right? And so I thought for me, in order to be social, I always had to be- Crack the code, yeah. a little bit tipsy, right? And so I learned with them how to be like that without being drunk. Hm. So my friends allowed me to have even more fun when I was drinking with them, versus, like, resort to that for having a good time. Yeah. So my relationship with alcohol changed. Um, and I never really had much of an issue with, like, marijuana, to be honest. Mm-hmm. And, like, I’ll be transparent. Like, I s- I still smoke. Mm-hmm. Um, but it just, it’s like with anything. I mean, if you have a couple sips of alcohol here and there, and, like, you have it to enjoy the moment versus, like, suppress something, then- Mm-hmm. like, you know, it’s, it’s okay, right? Mm-hmm. It’s not gonna help you in any way- Mm-hmm. but it really might not hurt you that much. Mm-hmm. Um, for me, like, I’ve been on depression medication, I’ve been on all kinds of shit that’s mind-altering, and I would rather smoke weed than any of those things to just calm down at the end of the day. Mm-hmm. You know? Do you feel like you’re, um, dealing with, still dealing with the anger from an early age? Mm-hmm. Because you talk about the things you need to do to solve. And, and that’s what I’m hearing basically out of you on, on quite a few of these- Yeah, solutions. solutions, right? This solved this, this solved this, this did this. And it’s like you feel like you need to put two and two together to get this, right? Yeah. It’s, it’s not always a math problem, you know? It’s not always straightforward. Yeah. That’s what I had to learn, ’cause, like, I’m super structured. Mm-hmm. And when it comes to business and personal life, like, especially the personal side of things, it’s not gonna be as logic-based. Mm-hmm. A lot of things happenLike, anything that involves a personal relationship or love is not gonna make much logical sense. Right. That’s not the point of that. Mm-hmm. And that’s hard for me to sometimes sit on one side or the other, or not let one bleed into the other, if that makes sense. Okay. Because my brain naturally goes to logic. “This doesn’t make sense, or this does make sense, so it’s not a problem to me. “Like, a lot of people struggle with death in different ways. For me, like, it made sense why my father died. He didn’t take care of himself. Yeah. It was not that hard to accept. And that maybe sound a little bit brutal to some people. Yeah. for me, like, it was logical. It made sense. Like, he didn’t take care of himself for so long, and it ended up catching up to him. Yeah. It’s sad that he lived that way. I wish it wasn’t that way, and I wish we had a better relationship. But it makes sense. But the, it wasn’t a shocker that he passed. It wasn’t like, “Oh my God. “Like when- I can’t believe this. like when your grandparent dies. Like, they died from old age. Yeah. Like, they lived a beautiful life. Yeah. It’s not sad. I’m kind of the same way when it goes to that. Like, I really, umYou know you’re gonna die. I’ve had some, some very, very close people to me pass- Mm-hmm. and I didn’t shed a tear. Yeah. And I’m talking, like, very close people. And I was almost upset with myself, thinking like, “Am I broken? Am I this? “Yes. And I start- Well, you’re not, but- Yeah, right? I, I resonate. Yeah, but I’m like, “Why don’t”I see all these other people broke down and doing all this other stuff, and I’m like, “Why am I not experiencing what they’re experiencing right now? “Hm. And I, and I, in my mind, it’s likeWell, I’ve kinda dealt with this piece by piece slowly over the last years, months, days, knowing this was coming, right? Like, if you just process things ahead of time, it’s easier if you take them in small chunks as opposed to just wait and wait and wait and then boom, deal with it all at once, and it really tears you down. Right. For me, that’s kinda how I saw it was like, “Oh, I see the end is coming. I’m preparing myself mentally for that moment, and I see where it’s at, and it’s, it’s old age or it’s these things that happen or whatever. “Like, it’s just part of the process of- Yeah. of what’s gonna happen with every single human that walks into this place, right? Well, it’s all perspective, right? Because we all have a different perspective of death depending on our past experiences. Yeah. So like for me, I’ve dealt with it. So when it happens, and God forbid it happens, you know, sooner than later, I know how to deal with it. And I, like, I’ve lost my father. I could deal with just about anything, I feel like, at this point- Yeah. to be honest. And I have not feltIt, it feels like he justI haven’t seen him in 3 years. Yeah. You know? Like, it doesn’t feel like they’re gone because we didn’t have that close relationship. Yeah. So it’s not like, you know, maybe in ten years it’ll really hit me, but like, I still haven’t had that moment where it’s like, my dad is gone. Mm-hmm. It just hasn’t hit me. It’s the weirdest feeling. Mm-hmm. And it, like you said, it makes you feel like, am I wrong for this? Yeah. Like, why am I not feeling what other people feel? Yeah. Like, I want to feel it, but I just don’t. Um- I remember, I remember sitting in my studio one time and picking up an object that I had that was one of theirs, right? Mm-hmm. And at that point, I just remember thinking, “I miss this person. “Mm-hmm. You know? And then just tears started going down my face. That’s it. And I was like,Maybe it was months or years to parse how I really felt about something, or, you know, you go through these walks where you, you think you understand yourself and you really don’t. Or you go through periods of time where your, your mental, uh, perspective on certain situations changes, right? Um, and you think you have something handled a certain age, and then the next thing you know, 10 years later, it’s like, uh, I wouldMaybe I did, but I would do it differently now. Or I would do it differently at this point. And so holding one of those objects, I was like, remembering the good times, remembering the s- the good things about the both of us, and then just tears started. And I, I haven’t cried in 10 years, and that also makes me feel like maybe there’s something broken. But at the end of the day too, it’s like, that moment was very cool for me, you know? Yeah, I get you. And I think really where the emotion comes in, excuse me, especially with loss, is when you, like you said, uh, you remember the happy memories. Yeah. And I think I haven’t felt a lot of that emotion, um, because unfortunately I don’t have a lot of happy memories of my father. Yeah. You know, we have good moments here and there- Mm-hmm. but it’s not enough to really, like, tearjerk me. Yeah. Um, it’s like when I’m backing up a trailer, I remember that he’s the one who taught me how to do that when I was 10. Mm-hmm. You know, and like when I’m coming into a room for the first time and having to meet a lot of people and be social, like, I remember how I used to watch him do that everywhere we went together. Yeah. And so, like, those are the good things I remember about my father. Mm-hmm. And like, having a root beer float at a little drive-in diner called Daria in Dallas. Like, just little stuff like that that, you know, kinda gives me chills thinking about it. Yeah. Um, that’s w- You know, I’m starting to feel more emotional just talking about those things, right? Yeah. And that’s, that’s usually when you start to feel those things is when the happy memories, you may be reminded by a hat or, like, a drink or a piece of food. Like, you name it. It’s like that’s when we start to feel, and- Yeah. you know, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with us, bro. I think it’s just, that’s how we’re built. Yeah. And it protects us. It really does. Yeah. Um, ’cause people that don’t know how to deal with loss, um, they place a lot of their happiness in things that are so volatile. Mm-hmm. And that’s something me and Weston talk about a lot is, like, you have to make sure that your happiness is dependent upon things that you can actually control. Yeah. Because the things, like people or a product, can be taken away from you so fast. Mm-hmm. And if your happiness is that volatile, then you will be living a very sad life. Hmm. Because you’ll constantly be having your happiness taken and torn from you because you place it on these things that just can be gone away in a second. Do you think that you scale from both sides? If you take your happiness and you throttle it back to where things don’t really offend you, or your sadness doesn’t either, do you think you go from both sides? Like, “I’m kinda not really affected by either one of these and I’m able to kinda navigate without using emotion to kinda steer me,” versus someone who really experiences happiness on another level, they’re like, “Ah!”They also probably extremely feel sadness too on that other side when it comes, you know? And, and that’s the unshakable. That’s, you know, right in the middle where you’re not really here, you’re not here. Yeah. I wouldn’t say you’re emotionless, ’cause you still feel it- Yeah. but you control it. Yeah. And that’s when you become unshakable is, like, no one can really, like, just make you super, super happy except for you. Yeah. And that’s what you can control. And no one can really, really drag you down by anything they say or do to you, no matter what. Yeah. Because you stay in this, in this gap right here- Yeah. which is the unshakable gap. You’re at peace, you’re in the moment. Mm-hmm. You don’t have worries, you don’t have stress. That’s what I’m focusing on these days. Yeah. Because, I mean, people are gonna screw you over. Yeah. Like, people are gonna upset you with the expectations you have on their relationship, no matter if they’re family or they’re not. Yeah. Um, you’re gonna be disappointed a lot in life by things you can’t control. Mm-hmm. And you’re gonna be pissed off at traffic 95% of the time if you live in the city. Yeah. Right? Right? But you can’t control those things. Mm-hmm. What you can control is, like, how can I be useful with my time when I am stuck in traffic? Yeah. Who can I call? Mm-hmm. Who can I bless with happiness today? Mm-hmm. Like, who can II have time here that God’s given me to protect me from probably a wreck, probably something worse. Yeah. And he’s given me time to do something. Yeah. What do I need to do with it, right? What on my list can I check off? Exactly. And that’s a different perspective on life. Mm-hmm. It’s making the best out of everything, it’s focusing on what you can control, and being unshakable in any moment. Which is veryIt’s, it’s much easier to say than do. But I’m practicing that a lot now because protecting my energy. Yeah. As an introvert, naturally I have to really be careful with my energy. Mm-hmm. Where it goes into, who steals it, who gives me energy, which is hard to find. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But you’re one of those people, bro, so. Yeah. I appreciate you. You too, brother. Yeah. Honestly. Thank you, man. Um, I had a coach one time that told me, it was like, “Brandon, never too high, never too low. “Mm-hmm. “And if you can stay in there, like, don’t let, don’t let all your energy get pulled out of, like, an over celebration. “Right. “Like, you just did your job. “Yup. “You did what you were planning to do the entire time. And don’t act like it’s your first time ever to do it. So never too high-” True. ” never too low. If you’ve messed up, that doesn’t define you. You’re not at the bottom. You just had your worst moment and you’ve had your best moment. Don’t cry over this and scream and stomp your foot, and don’t celebrate like you’re the best thing in the world. Like, you’re probably somewhere in the middle because this is not every time and this has not every time. “Right. “So manage the gap,”How do you feel like you manage that gap? Uh, I try to keep perspective on it, to be quite honest. Um, I try to realize what role I play in the world. I put scope on it. So, um, uh, like you’re an ant on a anthill, right? Well, you look around and you’re, you’re, you’re going through and you can see the pathways and everything, everything that’s going on. But if you zoom up, you see 10 or 15 or 20 ants. You zoom up, you can see 1,000 ants. You zoom up, you see whatever. Like, at the end of the day, we’re all ants walking around this place and no one even knows what we’re doing. I try to just keepI try to keep a scope on it’s not that important. Yeah. Whatever it is, it’s not that important. Like, I’m trying to do the very best with everything that I have, absolutely every single time give out my best and be groundbreaking on everything, ’cause I don’t want to be a duplicate. Do not. But at the end of the day, no one really cares. Hm. I’m doing this for me. I’m not doing this for somebody else’s validation of it. So, in that mind, I can, I can be happy with my effort that I’ve put out, or I can be unhappy with the lack of effort or planning that I’ve put towards it. Right. What you can control. Yeah, the things that I can control on it. Yeah, and like a lot of people, they kinda miss that whenever they’re going after just, like, “I wanna be happy,” which they think you’re just going to be happy all the time. Mm-hmm. Like, we’ve asked a lot of people and they’ve been thrown off by the question, like, “Respectfully, are you happy? “Mm-hmm. And if you’re not, “Well, how can you always be happy? “And people that aren’t happy have r- they’re really frustrated when they answer that question because they’re like, “You can’t always be happy. Like, that’s not possible. “Yeah. “You, you’re gonna be upset majority of your life,” this, this, and that. Like, “Life’s hard,” blah, blah, blah. And we’re over here like, “Yeah, we understand that, like, not every day’s gonna be 100%. That’s not the point here. “Mm-hmm. “But are you doing things intentionally every day that you know-” Yeah. ” make you happy-” Mm-hmm. ” to keep you with that fulfillment? “Yeah. Right? So you may be going for, like, impact on a million humans, and you may be working 16-hour days, you might not be getting to spend the time with your family you want to, you may not be making the money you want to because you’re giving back, but you’re going for a bigger picture. Mm-hmm. Right? You’re going for that fulfillment. And people miss that that’s, that’s what you’re really going for. It’s not success, it’s fulfillment. Yeah. And, you know, if you have that, you’re gonna do something pretty cool. Yeah. And it will be profitable, or easily profitable- Yeah. with the right guidance. So. You canWell, there’s 2 things I wanna get to. You can see right there where that’s built into your company now. Like that perspective and that outlook, and use the term “we” a lot, which I wanna get into in a minute. Um, I wanna know how you got from, “I graduated with mechanical engineering. “to camera in your hand. Mm. Fair. What were the steps between that? How did- Yeah. how did you make that transition so we can make it to that we that I wanna talk about in a minute? Yeah, no, this is like the pinnacle, right, of my story and usually what I kinda skip to to grab people’s attention. But, um, after college, I graduated and, uh, well, I guess right before I graduated, I ended up getting an 8month internship with the company I, I worked with full time afterwards, L3 Harris- Yep. Technologies. They were L3, uh, Technologies at the time. Um, they’re that defense contractor, so their biggest client is the Air Force and they- Yep. do all kinds of, uh- Air Force One baby. Yeah, Air Force One, um, a lot of, you know, aircraft spanning from little Cessnas to wide-bodied 787s. Gold toilets. Triple sevens. No gold toilets on these. We’re talking government contracts, so- Ah. they barely put up panels on the wall. Okay. But they do have some executive- Yeah. guests that were pretty pimpin’- Yeah. I’m not gonna lie. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, um, so anyways, um, I went to work for them as a, an intern for 8 months. Mm-hmm. And so I basically was in the role I was gonna be as a full-time employee. And so when I went back for my last semester of college, it was like basically signing some papers. You know, taking 3 classes I never had to go to online. And then I just hopped into the job. Okay. So they paid me like an engineer whenever I worked there. So I saved up like 30 grand in the 8 months- Mm-hmm. just working there and it- Wow. paid off all my bills, took care of my living. Like I lived at home, so I didn’t have rent. Um, they gave me a signing bonus and then same thing 3 months later when I went back to work for ’em full time, I got a even bigger signing bonus and a bigger salary ’cause I already w- I already worked with them – Yeah. and like I already had a 401and all this stuff. It was just like easy, just easy to get into. Like I had no issues finding a job and it was- Mm-hmm. the best job for mechanical engineering. Yeah. Like it was either that or NASA was like the 2 best things you could go for. Yeah. Um, at least in what I wanted to do. So I went and worked for them for two and a half years. And if I could describe this job experience, um, you have to have a security clearance. Mm-hmm. So there’s different levels with that, but, you know, the government has to look down your back and all up in your ball sack and determine that you’re a good human. Mm-hmm. Um- They found that out? They found that out. They went deep. Man. They didn’t find- They went deep. anything bad. They went deep, let me tell you. It was- Yeah. thorough. Yeah, yeah. Uh, you know, they call your friends, call your family, your old neighbors, all- Yep. this crazy shit. Um, so I got that and then, um, you know, like I said the work experience, they’re very, very basic metal buildings, so storage facilities- Mm-hmm. almost like. Um, it’s a massive plant, so there’s a lot of ’em. They’re different sizes. Mm-hmm. The middle of nowhere, Greenville. Mm-hmm. It’s like 50 minutes east of Dallas. Um, there’s no cell service in the cubicles. And there’s a bunch of cubicles. There’s no windows. Mm-hmm. Um, and you’re pretty much confined to this 6 by 6 space- Yep. for the majority of your work day. Yeah. And you got 3 screens, 2 screens, and you’re working in CAD and then sometimes you’re going out to the manufacturing facility. Mm-hmm. Um, then when COVID hit around 2021, a couple years in, um, that was when things really shut down and, like you weren’t able to talk to people and you weren’t able to go to other desks and, like if your mask was down below your nose, they were firing people with full on pensions. Like 20 years of, of job experience, they were firing on the spot- Mm-hmm. and taking away their pensions- Hmm. because of that. Hmm. Absolutely insane. So you had to do like 5 screenings to get in the door. Like it was just a madness. Um, and right around the same time, um, actually right after I got outta college, I decided that I wanted to buy a camera for whatever reason. This is right after college, I was living with my brother and, uh, Weston- Mm-hmm. Moschino, um, was a friend of mine for I wanna say like 5 or 6 years at that point. Mm-hmm. So I met him when I was a sophomore in high school and he was my brother’s age. So that’s how we met, um, through sports and I would just go and hang out at his house every weekend, just go with my brother and we, you know, got to know each other that way. Um- Is your brother a big guy too? He’s a short guy. He’s 5’9”. He’s a little bit shorter. He’s, uh, darker hair. Um, we look very similar facial features- Mm-hmm. but obviously we’re built quite a bit different now these days. Mm-hmm. Um, if you listen to him talk, you’d be like, “Yeah, this is Chris’ brother. “Uh-huh. Um, but we’re very different. Very, very different. Yep. Um, so anyways, me and Weston get really close. Like after that, I’m sure you heard a story, like he had some issues at home. Um, when my brother went off to college, I was still in high school and he was still around Rockwall. So when he needed a place to stay, I was like, “Come on over. My brother’s room’s empty. You can stay there as long as you want. “And then from then on, like he was family. And we were that tight. Mm-hmm. And throughout all of my football, all of my engineering career, and so on, to today, he’s been consistent in my life. He’s the only person outside of my family that’s been that consistent throughout all different phases of my life, and actually cared to check in. Hmm. So for one, that’s the background we have. This is my business partner. My best friend, my brother. Fucking love that dude. Mm-hmm. Um, so anyways, I bought my first camera setup off of him, because I was just, for whatever reason, curious, and finding a challenge. And iPhone sucked at the time, terrible photos. I was planning on traveling, so I wanted to get something to capture some of those moments. Um, so I bought his old setup for like $400, and I played around with it for a year, and to be honest, it frustrated the shit out of me. I hated it. LikeAnd yeah, he’s laughing over here-’cause he knows, like everybody goes through it. So for a year, I picked it up, put it down, picked it up, put it down, and I was only messing with photos at the time. Um, and so I’ll never forget my first actual shoot. I had gotten pretty decent at photos, and I was hanging out with my friends from Colorado. They were getting engaged, or they’d just got engaged, and they had their engagement photos from a GoPro. They took it themselves. They were like literally 8 megapixels. You could see the squares. Mm-hmm. It was sad. Mm-hmm. They were terrible. So I told them that, and I was like, “Guys, if you guys can come down to Dallas, I can stage the shoot. I can get you some way better photos than this. “Like, I was confident that I could do something better. “And that’ll be like my little gift to you. “So, they came down to Dallas. Uh, went around White Rock Lake, staged ’em in all these different places, um, got some really cool stuff. Used Weston’s old computer to edit, ’cause we were living at- together at the time. Um, and then I was just like when I got their reaction. Mm. They were in tears, they were so happy. They’d never gotten images that were so beautiful of them shot like that before. Um, and it just, like I get butterflies thinking about it, because that was the moment where I knew this is what I wanted to do every single day forever, in some sort of way or fashion. I thought it was photos. It was a bigger thing than that, right? It was that taking an idea that you have, and conjuring up this product, which was digital at the time, and giving it to someone, and having a reaction from it. Mm. And seeing the emotion from something in your brain that you decided to put together. And like, that feeling was something that I’ve never lost a love for. Mm-hmm. Like the fire’s never gone out. Mm-hmm. And then it shifted to like video, and then it shifted to like building a team, and then it shifted to like all these other things in my life that I just like love to build. Mm-hmm. Um, anyway, so, that fulfillment was really what sparked it. And so, after that, I just dove in heavy. Yeah, every day, YouTube, searching gear, upgrading my camera equipment. Um, you know, eventually, Weston started trusting me enough to like send me to some shoots that he didn’t have time to, so I’d do some like family photo shoots or like some portraits or something simple like that. Um, and then I would actually take time off out of my work days, like paid time off, to go help him on set, you know, with anything he had, whenever he gave me an opportunity. So like, I wanted to help him as a friend, and I also wanted to learn, ’cause I wasn’t getting these opportunities. So, I was able to hop on like video sets, and we did some interviews. Mm-hmm. We did some like social media content. We did a commercial. Mm-hmm. We did a bunch of photography, and like I just got hands-on experience in everything. And so, I was full time in both areas. So like, when I wasn’t at work, I was at home on YouTube. And when I wasn’t on YouTube at home, I was going out and shooting anything I possibly could. Yeah. Yeah. Shooting my dogs, my girlfriend, my family. Like, you name it, I was shooting it. And so, I was just hooked, and I knew that this is what I needed to do. Mm-hmm. Like, if there was ever a time for a risk to be taken, it was now. And I didn’t know what that looked like. I didn’t know how it would happen, because, you know, I’d just spent 12 freaking years studying to be an engineer, and now I’m 2 years into it and I’m about to leave it behind. Like, that’s crazy, bro. Yeah. I spent so much money on this degree and all this stuff, and like, my mom, what is she gonna think? She sacrificed all this stuff for me. Um, and I just, it didn’t matter to me- Mm-hmm. as bad as it sounds. Mm-hmm. Um, I didn’t care. I knew that, like what I felt with this, this thing, whatever it was, was a feeling I’d never had. I didn’t have it for sports, for school, for people, for nothing. This is the only time where I just had a burning desire to create. Um, and I didn’t want to leave that. I didn’t want to let it go. Yeah. And so, you know, I just continued to do stuff on the side when I was at work, you know. I wasn’t always the best employee. My mind was going off, right? I was making calls and stuff. But like, it just stayed, I stayed hungry. And like I wasn’t even really getting paid much for it, but I didn’t care, and I kept buying stuff. I kept getting new equipment. I matched the same stuff that Weston had so that we could like actually, I could actually like help him, you know? Mm-hmm. And like be of some sort of value- Yeah. since I didn’t have the experience yet. Um, and then I got introduced to, you know, one of the biggest clients I had ever had individually, and also like someone that really like changed my life in a way. Um, his name’s Jake Roach. Mm-hmm. Uh, at the time, he was married, and his wife was really big on social media as like a fashion blogger, and they grew their page to a million followers. Were making racks, like building houses, buying land, having kids. Um, he had some personal stuff happen, and it kind of like, you know, was the same time that we got together. Um, him and his wife had a falling out, and so they split, and he wanted to become like a hunting influencer. ‘Cause he did all the backend stuff for her, so he knows how the business side of Instagram works. Mm-hmm. As far as how to grow it. Yeah. And he wanted to do the same thing for himself now- Mm-hmm. but as a, a hunting influencer. Yeah. So, we had done some bird game hunts in, in West Texas, and gone out and shot some, um, sandhill crane and some, field duck and stuff like that. And he loved what I did with him. And we did some, like, short little segments on cooking, on just, like, question, Q&A stuff. Mm-hmm. And he just, he liked my creative vision for things. So he- I’ll never forget, he called me up, uh, Christmas dinner. And I’m sitting there with my family, I’m going back to work in 4 days, and he’s like, “Hey man, I wanna, I wanna bring you on this year and do all this stuff together. I wanna go on 8 big game hunts all around the world, um, I wanna go to South Africa, Montana, New Mexico, um, a few other places. I wanna do a bunch of smaller hunts bird game in South Texas. I wanna do a hunting recipe series. “Like, he wanted to do all this stuff. He’s like, “I had this, this amount of money set aside for you. “And I was like, “Dude, this is awesome, sign me up. But here’s the thing, I gotta quit my job. “I was like, “I can’t do all this. I don’t have enough time to do it. I have to quit my job. So if you’re serious, I’ll be serious, I need half up front and I’ll go and quit my job in 4 days. “So I did. Yeah. I went in and put in my 2 weeks immediately, 2 weeks later I was out, never turned back. And that was the beginning of the next 5 years of chaos in my life. Um, which at the time, I took it on independently- Yeah. like me and Weston weren’t partners then. Because he was growing his thing and he was getting really, really busy. Mm-hmm. And I was, you know, starting my thing, and he was also helping me as a mentor tremendously, right? Mm-hmm. Um, in the creative space with people, sales and everything. Um, and so it just so happened that I continued, you know, to help him a lot. Um, I was staying busy in my own category with Jake, um, and then it came to 6 months later when we had our South Africa trip coming up. And I was like, “I’m not getting paid anything for these trips, right? “‘Cause they’re like 2 weeks long, a week long, and it’s like very small amount of money at the time- Mm-hmm. spread out. So I was like, “Look, hey man, this is what I’m getting paid for this job. If I can convince Jake to cover your travel expenses and split this money with you that I’m getting, like, would you want to go to Africa for 2 weeks? “Mm-hmm. And he was like, “Absolutely. “So I talked to Jake, and Jake was cool with it ’cause I propped it up like, like, “Weston’s a better shooter than me. You’ll have 2 guys shooting you the whole time, photo and video. “Mm-hmm. Like, “This is necessary if you can afford it. “Yeah. And so we both went on this trip together. Mm-hmm. And it was like the most insane trip we’d ever been on. I mean, this is in the heat of COVID. We spend 10 days in Cape Town, rent Harleys, drive the coast, great white shark diving, penguins on the beach, like 2 different villas at the, on the high and the low end, like insane stuff. And then we get sick with COVID going into the hunting section. And so we go out to the reserve and we’re b- we’re all just deathly ill with COVID. Mm-hmm. And, uh, our client, Jake and friend, he ended up having to go to the hospital for 5 days. Mm-hmm. Um, and he was in a room full of 40 people and like people were getting dragged out dying every single day. Like this was the heat of COVID, 2021, when you weren’t supposed to travel, you weren’t supposed to do anything, and we were doing all the things you weren’t supposed to do. Yep. Um, so we ended up getting stuck over there. I was the sickest I’d ever been. And like this is the same period when I found out my brother and his wife lost their baby at 15 weeks, uh, my dad told me he was dying of stage 4 cancer, and then my girlfriend of two and a half years at the same time that I was sick and curled up by a toilet broke up with me on the phone. We had a house, or we had an apartment together, 2 dogs, like full life together, it was kinda crazy. Mm-hmm. And all this happened in the same like 2, 3 days when I was stuck in South Africa, sick, I couldn’t eat or drink anything for 3 days, I was losing weight, I was coughing up blood, there was no doctors around. It was like hell. Mm. I was like, it was like paradise but it was hell, right? This was the tear down. This was the tear down. This was, I was up against the wall. Yeah. Like, you could not push me back any further. Yeah. Um, I was in debt. I had just lost my apartment lease ’cause we were moving into a new one when I got back with my girlfriend. She ditched me. I had no job, so I couldn’t use her to get into an apartment, so I- Mm-hmm. had no place to go. I was in debt like $12,000 to $14,000. Me and Weston were losing jobs together. We were supposed to film like Dak Prescott, and we had a big client, Monument Realty, who’s like the biggest- Mm-hmm. real estate agent company here in Dallas. Yep. Um, all this stuff, we’re just losing opportunities, we’re losing clients, losing money, and we were paying $1,500 a week to stay at this reserve. Mm-hmm. Like, it was just a bad situation. And then they told us we couldn’t go back home until we had negative COVID tests. And we kept testing and testing positive, positive, positive. And like we didn’t know when we were gonna get back, how we were gonna get back. And s- you know, you’ve read the stories of people getting stuck in Australia, or from Australia get stuck in the US for 2 years. And we, we didn’t know what it was gonna be like. Mm-hmm. ‘Cause COVID was just this big scary thing at the time. Yeah. So we got lucky enough that the guy who had us there just found a way to buy off a doctor to get us fake negative COVID tests to get us back in the country. Hmm. ‘Cause we, uh, at that time, it had been over a month we’d spent in South Africa. And we were only supposed to spend like 18 days. Mm-mm. So we were 12 days past when we were supposed to be there and burning money, really sick. Like honestly at the same time I’m still worried about my health because I’m not really improving. Like I had brain fog for the next 2 months. Yeah. Energy was shot. I can’t really taste things the same still. Yeah. Like everything was fucked. And so, you know, thankfully we got back, but that, that trip was really likeAnd I wish, you know, you asked me to bring something special today. Yeah. I wish I actually had something physical from that trip. Mm-hmm. Um, because that was a real big pivotal moment for me. Yeah. That was when my back was against the wall, there was only one way to go or I could just surrender and fall to my knees. And obviously I didn’t decide to do that, you know? Mm-hmm. Um, me and Weston had a lot of talks out there in South Africa and it was, all we could do was walk and talk and it was cool ’cause we had like, you know, giraffes and like wildebeests and like impala running around you and monkeys and stuff. So it was like, that was our life for like- Yeah. a month. It was crazy. And so we’re walking and talking and we’re just talking about the future and where we’re at. And we came to the realization is like he’s, he’s got an established business, he’s got a lot going on, and he’s, doesn’t have any more time. He’s burnt out almost. I’m just starting and I’m gaining a book of clients, right? And I’m getting somewhere. But at the same time, he’s kind of already to a place where he’s needing a team behind him. And I’m, if I grow my thing, I’m gonna get to a point where I need the same thing. Mm-hmm. And it’s like, brother, we have 2 very unique brains. We have trust behind each other. I have skills, you have skills, we both love the same thing. Let’s come together. Mm-mm. Let’s just build this thing with the 2 of us. Mm-mm. And from that day on, uh, we had the biggest year ever. Mm-hmm. Um, doubled the revenue that he had prior that year- Mm-hmm. um, even being gone a month, and then every year it just continued to kinda double, um- Mm-hmm. in work, in jobs, opportunities, budgets, um, and, and that’s how we, that’s how we started working together. And it wasn’t just that straightforward, to be honest. There’s a lot of little shit along the way. Mm-hmm. Um, and we had to learn how to communicate with each other, um, on a very, very detailed level. Mm-hmm. And it all comes down to approach, right? Yeah. ‘Cause in partnership you’re never 50/50. And I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a partnership with someone. Yep. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Okay. So it’s never 50/50 and you have to be okay with that. Yeah. Because there’s gonna be times where you might be at 80, they might be at 20, or you might be at 20, they might be at 80. Yeah. But as long as you have that trust behind the relationship and that loyalty- Right. then it works. Mm-hmm. Um, it’s like a marriage. I always say it’s just like a marriage. So when I get married it’ll be very easy. I know how this works. Maybe not. Good luck. Maybe not. Yeah. Um, but anyway, so, uh, we just decided to come together and put our brains together. And like I said, he’s an extreme creative, he’s a visionary. You know Weston. Mm-hmm. He’s going. Doesn’t matter where, he’s going. Um, our thing is like he’s the train, I’m the tracks. The like, we have a lot of similarities, but we also have natural strength. Mm-hmm. His natural strength is like ideas and seeing things in a bigger picture. My strength is like seeing how they get done and what’s realistic and time periods and stuff, right? Right. So those 2 combined is a pretty like dangerous competition. Mm-hmm. Uh, or not competition. Sorry. It’s- Combination. Combination. Mm-hmm. Um- Brain fog. Yeah, sorry. Brain fog. So that’s, that’s really where we operate. And you see that when, you know, you’ve probably first met us. Mm-hmm. You probably saw exactly how we fit. Um, a lot of people do. And what we have is rare. Mm-hmm. And we know that. And we protect it. Mm-hmm. And we make sure that no matter what, um, you know, he knows that I’m just looking out for his best interest and vice versa. He’s always looking out for me. Mm-hmm. And that’s how we operate. You know, he calls me every day, we talk every day, he checks in on me, I check on him. Um, that’s my brother. I mean, you guys get to the point too where, uh, in a, in a room together, you guys are there, uh, he has never met anybody that he didn’t see as their best friend, right? Yeah. At first. At first, right? Yeah. And then, uh- Heart on his sleeve. Say it again. He wears his heart on his sleeve. Yeah. Yeah. And I see you on the other side. You’re kind of back in the cut just judging and- Well-not judging, but looking and, you know, going through it and seeing what’s going on, right? Just locked up. I’m observing. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. You’re observing. So between the 2 of the heads, it’s, you can see where the balance is. Mm-hmm. You know? Um, and you can also see how you 2 guys can get along very well too because- Yeah. you’re not stepping on each other at any point in time. No. You know? No. And that’s, that’s a big thing for us is like leaving your ego at the door. Mm-hmm. There’s no place in our business internally for ego. Now when it comes to growing a business, um, and we’ve talked about this and gone back and forth, you kind of have to have some sort of an ego. Yeah. If you’re really, really humble, then you’re probably not gonna gain the attention you want. Yeah. That’s marketing, right? Um, but in the same sense, like with our internal team, no one is above anyone. Mm-hmm. When it comes to the guys that were interns that are now on our team, um, when it comes to us and them, like I really make sure that they understand like this doesn’t work without you guys. Yeah. So in the same sense, we’re on the same level, we just have different responsibilities. Right. Like obviously you may need guidance from us, and that’s where we come in, but at the same time, it’s like just ’cause we have more experience doesn’t mean that we’re better than you. Right. It just means that we’ve had longer time to do it. Yeah. And so if they understand that, then they can grow for one. Yeah. And then also like, like I said, it, it’s just an ego thing that really can drive anyone down long term. Like- Yeah. if me and Weston worried about that, we would’ve been broken up a long time ago. Mm-hmm. It wouldn’t have worked out year one. Yeah. And it, it, like I said, it comes back to approach. Yeah. Like you and your wife, how would you say you guys approach each other? You know, the funny thing is, is people always ask us that question. Like, “What is, uhHow do you guys deal”‘Cause they never see us fight. Like, we just don’t, right? Mm-hmm. And so they always ask us, like-“How are you guys compatible that way, where you guys aren’t pushing each other’s buttons? “And I said, “Well, we’re not pushing each other’s buttons,” right? Like, I know what my strengths are withAnd I know what hers are. And if I see something that’s there that, um, I know could, you know, raise her dander or whatever, I just don’t poke at it, right? Yeah. There’s no, no sense in it. I know she’s gonna be with me for a long time, and I’ll be with her for a long time. Why, why kick, right? And so, yeah, I mean, no, we’re there. We’re, we’re 28 years in- I’m just-and we’re locked up. So if she tries- 28 years, really? Yeah, 28 years. Dude. If she, if she, uh- Amazing. she decides to leave me, she’s gonna be inLocked up under the bed or something. You know, and just like, “Don’t worry about it. “She might like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, maybe. Um, but honestly, like, I’ve never said a cuss word to her in my life. Never? I’ve never, ever. 0, 0. Man, I’m not that strong. Um, you have to have one person that you respect above all that other stuff, you know? And if you can’t give them that, that amount, right? You can’t put your crap to the side- Hmm. swallow your stuff to go, “Okay, cool, like, I, I get where you’re at,” man, like, think about it for just one second. Like, you- Yeah. you know, who gets total respect? you know? From me? If not them, yeah, yeah. Like, you’re asking? I mean, Weston gets total respect for sure. Avery- You ever cussed him out? Um, don’t know. Funny. I don’t know. Look at that. See where I’m coming from? I don’t think so. This is what I’m talking about. Well, we’ve had, likeTha- that’s what I’mI struggle with the answer because we’ve had conversations where there’s cursing involved, but it’s not like- At you. “Fuck you. “Yeah. Right? It’s not like, “You’re a piece of shit. “It’s never been that. Yeah. It’s been, like, words and curse words inside of a very emotional, like, statement, if that makes sense. Yeah, yeah. But we are very, we’re very careful about, like, those derogatory, like, direct hurtful words. We, we are very careful about that. That’s what I’m talking about. I don’t think we ever even jokingly do it. That’s what I’m talking about. Yeah, and I don’t ever do that to my girlfriend either. But again, I don’t just neglect curse words. Sometimes when I’m very passionate and, um, um, really emotional, which is very rare, like, the curse words will start to fly because that’s how I’ve always expressed my intense emotion. Which is not very good. Right. I’m not saying it is, but that’s when it comes out. Just being honest. Yeah, yeah. I mean, just try, try that sometime. Yeah, no, I’d love to. Try to have that same type of conversation and leave the stuff that’s inflammatory out. Yeah, no, I, honestly, that’s been a big focus of mine in my personal relationship all year long. Um, it shoulda been from the beginning, right? But, like, as you go, you worry about different things, right? So that’s been really important to me, because I want my partner- Yeah. my business partner to feel like they can conquer the world- Yeah. and I should give that to them- Yeah. Right? Yeah. And if I’m not, then I’m not building my people up the way that I would want to be built up. Yeah. And who am I to treat someone the way that I wouldn’t want to be treated? Absolutely. It doesn’t make logical sense. Right. It kinda goes back to we understand that, that perspective in different walks of life. Um, for example, my coach, “Don’t get too high. Don’t get too low. “Yeah. Right? It’s good advice. In an argument, “Don’t get too high. “Hm. “Don’t get too low. “Like, don’t get outside of yourself where you feel like you need to, A, talk over you. I don’t need to elevateSo if I need to elevate to get a word in, that means I need to back up and let you get something out before I can put mine in, because you’re not gonna hear me anyways if I just elevate it. Yeah, no. Right? It’s just tit for tat. And if I, and if I elevate and then I go even cuss word on top of that, like, what are, what are we really doing, you know? All we’re doing now is just, it’s a measuring contest. Who’s gonna back down? We’re fluffing our feathers up and trying to act tough. Well, it’s like, it’s like, at the end of the, end of the day, like, what, what is the overall goal? What’s the goal? It’s like, we’re trying to build a business- Yes. that has a large impact on humans- Yeah. and is very successful. With my relationship, I want to grow a family together. So like in the heat of the argument, I really, really try to focus on like if this is someone I’m trying to build with, then I’m not going to bring them down. Exactly. And that’s not always obvious. Yeah. But this is what I’m saying. You also got to get to this point. Some people just want this, right? They say the heat of the argument. Mm-hmm. Why can’t it just be a disagreement? Why does it have to have words to amplify it? I think it’s because people push those buttons and maybe when they don’t really want to, their emotion gets the best of them, and like it takes a really strong person to not let it beyou know, affect you, right? Yeah. And so, I have certain things that if you came and poked me at, like you might see a side of me you’ve never seen before. Mm-hmm. Because I’m still struggling at controlling those feelings. Yep. That’s, that’s part of becoming unshakeable, right? Yep. Is having, not having one thing that can really get to you. I’m not there either. I’m not even trying to act like I’m-I’m past that point. Yeah. With that woman, I am. With that woman, I am calm. Mm-hmm. ‘Cause she makes me feel peace. That’s amazing. When I get around her, I don’t feel agitated. Like everybody’s like, “Oh, she comes up to work with you sometimes and does some stuff and whatever. Does that not, like kinda crowd the situation? “Like, like naw, man. Like I don’t feel guilty for not getting home soon enough. Like she’s there with me. Like it’s peaceful when she’s here. Like those are the things that I enjoy, because at the end of the day, like who am I doing this for? Yeah. Right? This is not a me versus you. This is a us. Yeah. You know? And so, getting to the point where, again, you want to see a different side of me? There, that guy’s there. He’s in my past. He’s there, though. You scratch the right spot or poke the right spot- Mm-hmm. and he’ll come back out. But I’m doing everything I can every day to throw dirt on top of that guy. Yep. Every single day. Yeah. It’s like when bad things happen, just keep moving on. Yeah. Like if you, if someone wrongs you, be grateful that they showed you their true colors now versus later- Yep. ’cause it’s always worse. Yep. And that’s really what I’m focusing on now these days, because there is a lot of that happening. As you grow- Yep. your circle gets smaller. It’s inevitable. Yep. And people will show their true colors over time, no matter how they’ve operated from the beginning or, you know, for long periods of time. Right. We’ve been screwed over. We’ve had people just get up and leave after years of working together, and like- Yeah. just ghosted us in all different ways. And it’s crazy when it happens, but it’s a blessing when it does, because like I said, it just, you know, it gets the shit out of the way for the, the real growth to happen. Yeah. 100%. Um, and it c- you know, learning problem now that’s maybe, you know, $10,000 could be the same problem later, it’d be $1 1000000. Yep. Rather learn that lesson with 10 grand. Yep. 100%. that’s the, that’s the mindset. Yeah. So as you guys are going through and you’re building your business up, you’re doing the things that you need to do, you’re working towards a direction, I know you guys have done things and, and some of the clients you guys have worked for are like really big. You guys have worked on some really big, you know, shoots. Yeah. You know? Yeah. We’ve done some cool stuff. I mean, we traveled all over the world, and that was actually something I always wanted as a kid, like my career to, uh, you know, allow me to travel. Yeah. And so like, doing what I love and having that combined into one thing was like really awesome. Yeah. Still is. Still is. Um, I’m learning how I can’t continue to do, to travel in the same capacity forever with the family. Yep. Um, so it’s like, okay, I gotta think about the future here. I can’t always just be on the go, even though I love it. Yeah. Um, but anyways, like I was saying, uh, we’ve done projects all over the world. Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Dubai, um, every state in the US, just about. Mm-hmm. Besides like probably some random ones. Um, and we’ve done everything from social media content to weddings, commercials, um, private equity companies we’ve served for like 4 or 5 years- Mm-hmm. marketing their entire business from 60 million to 800 1000000. Yeah. Um, we’ve worked with Celsius, 711, um, we’ve had an ESPN commercial we did this year for a client of ours. Um, it’s hard to remember, honestly, at times. I just saw you guys in a concert somewhere in like Cuba. Not Cuba. Puerto Rico, or? Yeah. We were at Bad Bunny concert in Puerto Rico. Um, we did the Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York with like five million people- Yeah. where our clients had a float. Um, we’ve been a part of some really cool experiences. One of the most memorable ones is in Saudi Arabia. Mm-hmm. Um, we, it’s crazy, we’ve never really talked about this on camera. I don’t know why. It’s just we have so many things to remember. Um, but we’re, we’re out in Saudi Arabia, and we’re with a client, his name’s Tristan Jass, he does like trick shots on YouTube. Mm-hmm. He’s really big. Um, anyways, really good dude, awesome team. But um, we’re out there with him because he got invited as like a social media guy to be their present. They paid him to be there and show face. And so we were there to market him. So we go show up to the weigh-ins the night before between Francis Ngannou and Tyson Fury. This is a fight- big boxing match in Saudi Arabia. Um, and so we go the night of the weigh-ins and we show up late, um, and then afterwards, everybody’s kind of mill- mingling around. There’s a guy just pulling people side to side. Mm-hmm. He sees us with our cameras and he’s like, “You guys want to go to the red carpet? “And we’re like, “Yeah, sure. Cool. Whatever. “And the, the kid that was with us, Tristan, was supposed to be at this dinner, but he didn’t have his suit or anything and he wasn’t gonna go ’cause his friends couldn’t get in. Yeah. And so, we realized, put two and two together, this red carpet was going to the dinner. And so if we had any chance of getting content in there of him, then we should go on this bus. So we pull him, go on this bus, and end up at the red carpet of this private dinner. Mm-hmm. We had no idea what this was gonna be like. Mm-hmm. But we show up, and there’s not a single person that majority of the US doesn’t know. which I’m talking, like- Yeah. big dogs. It was huge. Yeah. So, like, there’s Manny Pacquiao, Tyson Fury, Lil Baby, for instance, Ngannou, his entire family and his coaching staff, like- Kristen Weston. Tyson Fury- Yeah. like, the e- you know, the main announcer for the boxing matches? Mm-hmm. Like, “Let’s get ready. “Mm-mm. Like, that guy is there. Yeah. Um- Buffer. Yeah. Buffer? Yeah. Yeah, a bunch of rappers. Like, I mean, you name it, like, Eminem was there. Yeah. Eminem was 2 rows behind us, e- at a table. Like, and this is a very small room. Yeah. Um, Cristiano Ronaldo showed up- Huh. on the red carpet, and we’re th- I’m literally there with, like, 30 paparazzis around me just swarming him. Crazy. And he’s, like, from here to here. Yeah. And so, like, all these people are, like, in arm’s reach distance, and you’re, like, grabbing them, you’re talking to them, you’re taking photos, likeAnd, and we just walked right in. Mm-hmm. We had no credentials. We had T-shirt and jeans. There was no other media in the room. There was Turkish royalty there. Yeah. The guy that, like, runs all of the boxing matches and everything. You’ve seen him. His name’s Turkey. Yeah. You can go look him up. Um, and so we’re in this tiny little dinner, and we’re the only guys with cameras. Mm-hmm. We have no credentials and we’re not supposed to be there, and we just, like, networked our way in. We knew the ESPN guy on the red carpet, and that’s how we got in. Uh-huh. And so, um, we’re there filming and, like, I’m filming Tristan and I pan over and, like, the table behind us is, like, Eminem, and then Lil Baby taps me on the shoulder. He’s like, “What’s up, bro? Can I say hi to Tristan? “And, like- Yeah. dude, it was just insane the amount of people you run into shoulder to shoulder. And so I’m sitting there, and this is like 3 years into after I quit my job, and I’m like, right now, I’d be sitting in a cubicle in Greenville, Texas, but I’m actually in Saudi Arabia at a private dinner with Eminem, the guy that I listened to my entile- entire childhood growing up- Yeah. and half the boxing world that I know, even though I’m not involved in boxing. Yeah. And it’s just like, it was an aha moment of likeYou made the move. I made the move. Yeah. I made the r- I’m, I’m experiencing life. Like, I, I knew when I was sitting in the cubicle that I’m missing out on so many experiences. I didn’t care about the success at the time. I just knew that I wasn’t living life to the fullest, and if I continued to stay at that job 5 days a week, over 55% of my life, I calculated it, I’d be miserable- Mm-hmm. because I was going into work- Yeah. in a jail cell basically. Mm-hmm. And so when I was sitting in this room and I had my camera and I’m filming all these people, I, I, it’s just like, it’s a beautiful moment of, like you said, I made the right move, and I’m actually experiencing the things that I was meant to experience and I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing. Um, that, that was the moment for me. And I wish I had something from that trip that w- I could just put right there. Uh-huh. Um, but the reason, and I don’t know if you wanna get into this yet- Yeah. But like, the reason I brought this today is because it is just a hat. It was very cheap to make. It came from China. That’s not the point. The point is that logo on there. Yeah. That logo was designed, uh, like, eh, about 7 years ago. Mm-hmm. When I was still an engineer, I hadn’t picked up a camera, and I just had a desire to, to be creative. Mm-hmm. And my buddy Weston came and talked about a brand, um, he wanted to start named XCLUSIV. He didn’t know why, didn’t know what it would do. He was doing production, but it was like, Richie 214 Productions at the time. He’s like, “I want to start a brand named XCLUSIV. “And like, I always loved how the Joker in the movie Batman, when they checked his suit and everything when he got booked, that it was all custom, they couldn’t figure out who he was or where his suit came from. He’s like, “I wanna makeI think we should make clothes like that one day. “Mm-hmm. “And how cool would it be that all the clothes we wear are custom and made by us? “Mm-hmm. And he’s like, ah, he’s like, “I wanna do this thing called XCLUSIV. “And I was like, “Oh, that’s dope. “I had, like, no interest in joining at the time. I was an engineer. “Cool, I’ll help. “And I was like, “Hmm, well, what if I can make, like, a logo? “‘Cause I was messing around in Adobe Illustrator just getting creative- Mm-hmm. just having fun, and so I, I messed around with it and I made, like, a bunch of different renditions of like XCLUSIV with the Es- Mm-hmm. ’cause it was, I was, just had the idea of making it simple- Mm-hmm. like a Nike check or like, um, you know, adidas or like Reebok or New Balance. Mm-hmm. Like, just something very simple, yet people would love to see it on a hat or a T-shirt or a TV or something. And so I was like, okay, EE doesn’t work taking the Ns, but what if we drop the Es for trademark purposes ’cause we’re not gonna be able to trademark XCLUSIV? I love this. And we make it XCLUSIV without the Es on the end- Yeah. Mm-hmm. So that’s where the spelling came from. Yeah. And then I came up with that logo, um, and I showed it to Weston and he, he fucking loved it. Yeah. He loved it. And I was super, like, I was like, “I know this is simple. I know you wanna be, like, extra. “‘Cause like Weston loves the different, the crazy. Right? And I was like, “Hear me out. Like, simplicity longer term is always better. “Yeah. And I feel like this would look good on a hat, on a T-shirt, on a website, you name it. And this could be, like, brand forever. “Mm-hmm. And no one’s gonna have Xclusive spelled like this, so it’d be real easy to get too. Yeah. And so that was the beginning of everything, was just for no reason or another, making that logo that literally just came out of my brain. Mm-hmm. Like, the idea came out of my brain. And I was like, “I gotta make this. I gotta make this now. “And I took it to him. Um, and I wasn’t even involved with him at the time. I wasn’t, uh, hadn’t even picked up a camera. I was just getting creative in whatever muse I could find basically. Um, I, every time I look at a hat, I remember that moment, which was literally the beginning of everything. Mm-hmm. Was just creating that logo. And then you look on the inside of hat, and you can’t, probably can’t see it from this distance, but there’s like some wording and it’s the quote, um, our first quote from collection one. It says, “Don’t let your comfort zone kill you. “And that’s Weston’s quote. Um, and that’s something that we’ve lived by probably, I wanna say our whole lives without knowing it, but really leaned into it, um, you know, once we came together. Yeah. Because I was severely uncomfortable. I quit my job. I left my career. lost a relationship. I lost my dad. You know, I was financially struck, you know, not doing good. And, and Weston at a certain time, he lost all the equipment he had to do his job, and it was like a lot of money. Mm-hmm. And he got it stolen out of his car, and so that was his moment of uncomfortability. There was many other things, but that was a pivotal one. And so we truly live by that. And we did not stay in any sort of comfort, and we’re still not comfortable. And I think that’s the way to live because, um, with no challenge there’s no change. Mm-hmm. Right? And well, I go back to the quote inside of there because that was his handwriting. And I always told him, like, “I love your handwriting. It needs to be on something one day. “And he hated it. He thought it was so ugly. So I had him write the alphabet on a piece of paper, scanned it into the computer, threw it into like a font maker through Adobe Illustrator, and then I made like the custom font, uh, which is the Xclusive font these days. And so that quote inside the hat, on the T-shirts, um, on our website, and then some of the videos we make these days, um, was like us. Like, it was our thing. It’s custom. It’s what we made. You can’t find it anywhere. Like, we made that. Yeah. That, like, that was the first physical thing that we made before the studio. Mm-hmm. And that was cool. Yeah. I was like, “We can make something cool that people like, people attract to. “Because I’d never been, um, noticed for something that I wore. Mm-hmm. Like, “Hey, that’s a dope hat,” or like- Yeah. “Those are cool shoes,” or, “That’s a sick shirt. Where’d you get it? “Yeah. As soon as I put that hat on and wore it around, “Dude, where’d you get that hat? “”Who made that? “Like, “What brand is that? I feel like I’ve seen that before. “Like, “That’s a sick logo. “Yeah. Like, “Oh, I love the A-frame on that. “Like, I, and then same thing with the shirts. When we got the shirts made- Mm-hmm. with the quote on the back. “Bro, that’s the coolest thing ever. Like, can I take a photo and send it to my kid? Can I send it to my brother? “Like, “I love that. What’s your story? “Like, same thing with the hoodies. Like, I, we’d never been stopped like that before. And you know, I didn’t have style, so maybe that’s why. But Weston, he’s always had some sort of style. Yeah. And he even said he’s never been stopped like that in his entire life. Mm-hmm. And it’s something that we made. Yeah. And it’s like, it’s cool because when I, when I first saw the, the test that we had, the test model that we had for the hat, it was really ugly. Like, I, I shouldTried to bring it today. Couldn’t find it. Yeah. It’s somewhere in the studio. But, um, the first one we got, I was like all giddy inside. I was like, “Man, we built this. Like, we did this. “Yeah. And like, I, I don’t know. Something about it, like I’m f- I, I thrive on accomplishment. And it’s not accomplishment of like doing things at a certain way kind of, but it’s more so like building things and seeing the fruition, like, actually happen. Yeah. Like, we got to really work hard on designing that thing- Yeah. and putting the dots together and going to China and getting it shipped in and, like, making sure all the test samples were correct. And, like, seeing it happen finally and it physically being there was like a really fulfilling thing. And I knew that I wasI got my fulfillment based on building things. Mm-hmm. Whether it be physical, whether it be like a team, a business- Right. like a process. A system is really where I thrive these days. Um, I thrive on building it and then seeing it actually work. Yeah. Seeing it work is where I get my fulfillment. I’ll work for years on something, when it works is when I get my fulfillment, and then I move on. It’s that quick. Yeah. Like, “What’s the next thing? “So, I mean, I’m, I’m kind of at the point where I like to, um, y- you said I’m, um, I thrive on succ- uh, accomplishment or success, right? Yeah. But it’s like, for me, uh, if it’s a ch- I like to checkbox something. Yeah, it’s a checkbox. I did this, I did this. That’s done, that’s done, that’s done, that’s done. And then what else can I do to keep that thing going, right? Yeah. Is that kinda how you’re built? Is it- Yeah. Does it get to the point where you’re- Yes and no. where you’re just trying to accomplish things to, to say, “I’ve done them,” or, or to mark them off the list? No. Or are you like just exploring? No. Like, if it’s on my list it- it’s intentional. It’s got a reason behind it. Like, when I, you know, when I tell people I became a yoga teacher, it might sound really, really random- Mm-hmm. but how it happened wasn’t random at all. Mm-hmm. So, at the timeI, uh, well, being a football player, I just put my body through a lot of stress. And then- Mm-hmm. as I got out of football and just started taking care of myself and lost a bunch of weight- Mm-hmm. in a short period of time, um, I had a lot of knee pain, a lot of knee problems that rose up from football, but carried over into running and HIIT training and stuff like that. So- Yeah. it got so bad that me just sitting here in this chair, I’d be in, like, really debilitating pain. Mm-hmm. And it would hurt so bad that I’d have to stand up, walk around, move around for a bit. Mm-hmm. And then it got bad enough to where I couldn’t really film very well. I was hobbling around. At the end of shoot days, I felt like a 55-year-old man, like- Mm-hmm. knee, knee pain. Um, and so I got into yoga. Yeah. And all of the movements and, like, isolated muscles that you work and stretch really helped rehab my knee- Mm-hmm. naturally. And so I continued to do yoga because, 1, it was giving me a core like I never had. It was really good for my body in a workout. Excuse me. Physically. But it started to rehab my knee. Yeah. And so the more and more I got into it, the stronger it became. And I was able to get a lot of my strength back in 6 months from just doing that and some PT at the same time. Yeah. And so I forget, like, I was taking a class at this place I have, um, a free membership from for doing some video work, and, uh, the teacher was working at another studio, and she was gonna go through teacher training, and so she was like, “You gotta go to this other studio. It’s completely different from this, it’s a different style, it’s more hands-on, it’s more, like, traditional, and, like, you’ll actually go through and learn poses more versus, like, practice and workout. “And so I gave it a shot, went to class with her, and it was, like, super intense. It was, instead of 45 minutes, it was an hour and a half. Mm-hmm. And this was, like, people were putting their legs behind their head, they were going up in a handstand, they’re doing, like, one-arm balances, like, crazy yoga shit. Like, and I’m just sitting there and, like, it’s a smaller room, it’s really intense. Anyways, I meet the owner, and the owner is, uh, the old creative director for Neiman’s and Bloomingdale’s. Hm. He did all of the Christmas catalog from Neiman’s, um, and staged all the photography for the product shoots. So there’s the connection, right? Mm-hmm, yeah. And I was like, “What’s your story? “So we went to lunch a few times, got to know him, and funny enough, we moved into a townhome that was right around the corner from the studio. Mm-hmm. So we started developing a relationship, I started going to his class more often, and then he just offered me an opportunity to come and go through teacher training. Mm-hmm. And so it was so close to the time even though I was super busy, um, you know, it’s, it’s every single weekend, Saturday, Sunday, all day long, 7 hours a day. You have to come to at least 3 classes of practice on your own- Mm-hmm. and then you have, like, homework at home outside of that. Hm. So, you know, taking up 2 days of my week alone is a lot, especially when I’m just nonstop traveling, working, we’re growing the business, we’re focused on a lot of things. I’m full time editor at the time, so like- Yeah. most of the videos are coming to me, like, “I’m busy, bro. “Yeah. And so I take this on at the same time. I gotta do it. Mm-hmm. If something, I gotta do this. I gotta help people. If people come to me, I wanna be able to coach them, I wanna coach myself. I wanna learn this thing right. Yeah. And so that’s when I went through the teacher training, and it, like, really helped me understand how to work with humans. Mm-hmm. ‘Cause I’d never been in a position where I’m leading a group of people. Yeah. And also, they’re entrusting me a lot with their physical health- Hm. because whatever I suggest, they’re gonna try to do, and it may really hurt them, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it’s a powerful, it’s a, it’s a control position that I’d never had, it’s being the energy, it’s keeping people motivated, and making them feel safe all at the same time. Yeah. So it was really challenging i- in that way. Mm-hmm. Um, and then also, I really understood yoga and the movements and how healing it is for your body. So it changed my life and my perspective on that. So for one, I’ve been able to help people come my way with hip pain, with knee pain. Maybe they started to run and they’re having some issues with, like, getting further in their speed or their endurance, so I can help them stretch and certain techniques. Mm-hmm. So it’s like I’m able to, like, really help people and give them some healing, right? Yeah. It was cool. Took up too much of my time and I moved on. But, like, like I said, going back to your question, everything that’s on my list has an intention. My intention- Yeah. was to heal my knee- Mm-hmm. and to get a better understanding of yoga- Hm. so that I could help others if that, if they had some similar pain- Hm. because a lot of people go to surgeries, they go stem cell, whatever. Yeah. It’s very expensive. Like- Yeah. I fixed my knee- Mm-hmm. by just working on myself. Yeah. Nothing else. Yeah. And so I wanted to have the knowledge to be able to help other people with that too. So that’s why I did that. Yeah. It might not make sense to most people, but it helped me mentally because it was a challenge, for one, that I didn’t have time for, I made time for. And I crushed it, and I executed it, and I, I got it done. Mm-hmm. So, checked it off, I had the intention, and I executed. Like, those are the things that help me grow and keep me focused on all the other lanes. Mm-hmm. Like, for instance, last year, I ran a marathon. Yeah. Why did I run a marathon? Well, I’ve always wanted to run a marathon. And this one maybe was more like, can I do this, because it’s 26- Personal challenge. personal challenge. Yeah. 26. 2 miles. Yeah. Anyone that’s run at least a half marathon would understand how difficult that is. Mm-hmm. Because- Do you pee your, you pee yourself while you’re doing it? I did. Nice. I did. I peed myself, yeah. Nice. I was actually really proud of it, too. Congrats. That’s awesome. I was like, “I’m a real runner. “Yeah. “I just pissed my pants at mile 13. “Did you put the little nipple pads on and everything? Had to, man. Yeah. If you run with a shirt, your nipples are gonna be raw. Yeah. Like, even this morning, I ran 3 miles- Yeah. and I don’t normally run with a shirt. I didn’t ’cause it was cold. Yeah. And yeah, dude, it’s, it’s real. You gotta protect yourself. You had put, you had put the pads on this morning? You gotta put the pads on the nips this morning. Yeah, dog. You gotta take care of the nips, man. Well, I’ve heard these people that say that they just get, like, blood coming through their shirt and everything, and I’m like- Yeah. this is, that’s, that’s, that’s when you’re going a little too extra right there, you know what I mean? I mean, anything in the extreme is worth something, right? Because if y-I, I see, like, I wanna test my limits, and it’s more mentally than physically, because 26. 2 miles is moreAre we good, by the way? Yeah, we’re good. Okay. 26. 2 miles is more than a physical challenge. Mm-hmm. It is primarily a mental challenge, because you’re not gonna die. Yeah. Your legs aren’t gonna fall off. You will keep moving if you tell yourself to keep moving. Yeah. But everything in your body is gonna tell you to stop. Yeah. And I’d never been challenged in that way before, and so I wanted to step into that- Yeah. with the unknown of, like, do I have what it takes mentally to accomplish this? Because if I do, then I know for certain I can do a lot of other things. Right. And it’s almost like me just testing myself- Yeah. testing my limits in ways that, um, you know, really help me grow. Like I said, when I was training for my marathon, I spent a lot of time d-doing. Yeah. But I was the most locked in outside of it-because I was so focused on just crushing it. Hm. And it just bl- Maximizing your time- Yes. because you had other stuff that was taking up the auxiliary time you had, so you had to really- Discipline. dial it in, yeah. I had to get really disciplined, and it, you know, discipline doesn’t just come in one area. It comes all around- Right. whenever you apply it to your life. So, it forced me to become disciplined. My girlfriend will tell you, like, I had no time, which I didn’t, but that was the most locked in I’d ever been. Yeah. And I miss that, honestly, a lot, and I’m trying- Mm-hmm. to find something that’s not so intense- Yeah. to keep me in that mindset. Mm-hmm. Um, and really, it’s just consistency. Like, the battle that everyone struggles with is consistency- Yep. at the end of the day. It’s not how well you do for 2 months, 3 months. Yep. It’s how well you do for 5 years, 10 years. Yep. And- Here comes golf, baby. I’m gonna drop it in your lap. There it is. I can’t, I can’t do it right now. There’s not enough, there’s not enough time in my day for golf right now. But I, that is something I want to get into. Yeah. I’ve always talked about, like, if I did any sport when I was younger- Yeah. I, I wish it was golf. Yep. Missed that, but- Yep, 100%. I’m gonna bring up one more thing because, uh, we’re, we’re really close to the end of the show, but notice you got quite a bit of ink on you, and then, like, you got some new shiny dark black over here, you know, which- Yeah, it’s probably oozing pus a little bit here. Yeah. But yeah. Tell me about this. Like, um, first off, reasoning behind such large coverage of your body, and, and is that the plan? Are you done? Or are you eventually gonna roll this thing up? Um, I probably have limits, and that’s, you know, if I didn’t have a girlfriend who, like, had input, I’d probably just continue to go. Not that she controls me and my decisions, but she likes my skin. Yeah. And so, she wants to see more of my skin. And so-that’s why you see me starting my leg piece on one side, and then I have my full arm on the other, and just about nothing else- Yeah. because she wants to see an arm. She wants to see a leg. Yeah. She wants to seeShe really loves my back. Yep. She just loves me, like- Yeah. so anyways, I will continue to finish my leg. Yeah. Um, I’m done with this arm, probably some touch-ups. Um, this started actually whenever I was 18. I got the first one right there. Uh-huh. This cross? Yep. And you can kind of see it’s a little more faded. Yep. Um, and then I didn’t start anything again until, like, 2 years ago. Mm-hmm. Where Weston got me this one for Christmas, and then I did the second day on my own and got this one, and then that’s the way it was for 2 years, and I got poor and busy and didn’t decide to do anymore. Got poor and busy. But I mean, tattoos are expensive. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, I don’t know. Majority of people, it’s like 1,500 a day. And like, a day is like that. So you got one day, 2 day, 3 day, 4 day- Yeah. 5 days, 6 days to tie it all together. Yep. And so that’s, you know, 10 grand a limb right there. Yep. So, it takes a lot of money, takes a lot of time, a lot of pain. Mm-hmm. Usually a lot of trauma, too- Yeah. to deal with that pain. Yeah. But my tattoos are a story of my life. Yep. And they’re also things that mean the most to me. Yeah. So when you look at my arm, you’ve got, up here, the cross. Yeah. And the reason I got that is because I was born in a Christian family. That’s how I was raised, with Christian values. My mom always told me, “If you’re getting anything on your body, it’s gotta be Chri- you know. “Religious-based. Religious-based. So that’s why I got that. I was like, “Mom, got you. “Um, and then later on in life, I lost my faith. I really did, uh, especially when I went to college. Um, I was lost. I looked for other things for comfort. I really didn’t have a trust in God. I didn’t really believe, to be honest. I’ve said that out loud multiple times. Um, and yeah, I just lost my faith and really didn’t come back until, you know, a year and a half ago. Um, and that’s really when I started getting more tattoos on my body. It started with this one down here, like I said, and I’ve got a lion and a Spartan. And by definition, a Spartan is a person of extreme discipline. And so that, I feel like, is me. Like, I’m a very disciplined human, that’s how I thrive, that’s where I stay. Um, and the lion, um, is like kind of my spirit animal. It’s li- it symbolizes courage. Right, so courage to take a leap of faith and risk of just leaving something that you’ve, you know, worked on for so long in the promise of nothing- Mm-hmm. in the hopes to build something incredible, right? Yeah. That’s where that comes from. Yep. And then outside, I have my ever, you know, present reminder that time is fleeting. Yeah. And you’ve got the hourglass going to death- Yeah. which is this skull down here- Mm-hmm. because we do have limited time, and, you know- Yeah. our candles will go out one day. Yeah. And so co- coming back up here is when I have some of my m- most recent work. Um, I’ve got the cards, which are like cards of my life. So each one of these mean something to me. I got a 10 jack, queen, king, ace, and you know, I’ve got the plane that I worked on as a mechanical engineer is the King Air B300 on the king. Mm-hmm. I got my marathon last year symbolized by a longhorn from Fort Worth. Um, and then I’ve got the ace of spades, which is my ace in the hole, i- s- there’s an XCLUSIV logo on there. And then back here is the queen, I believe, is the symbol of Om. Yep. Which is related to yoga, right? Mm-hmm. ‘Cause it changed my life. It’s, it’s oneness, peace, center, closer to God actually, believe it or not. Yeah. Um, and then on the inside, I have this really detailed piece, which is probably the coolest one on my arm, which is a dove and like the skull in the middle. Mm-hmm. And this symbolizes rebirth. And this is what I was talking about, me coming back to my faith, is like, I lost myself and this is a symbol of me coming back and finding myself and finding my relationship with God again. Yeah. Um, so that’s kind of how all this ties together. And then I decided to put some rays in- Yep. as like a subtle attribute to my father, um, because I was always, grew up knowing, like if you see rays coming through the clouds, then that’s somebody going to heaven. Mm-hmm. And so that was kind of like my tribute to my dad without really putting something on me that’s like his name or something. No. You know what I mean? Um- On your leg? In my leg, so my leg ƒAll these actually got decided on the night before, but um-it’s how it happens in the creative world, right? Um, so my leg, you see, there’s like a big Jesus piece out here and then like 3 crosses below. Um, so like I said, faith is really big to me. Mm-hmm. And the only reason I am where I am today is because God’s looked out for me. Mm-hmm. I should not be here. I should be dead 10 times over. I should not be as, you know, where I’m at in life with all this peace and all these great people around me. Like, it’s all because of him, and I know that. And so I was like trying to figure out what to do with my leg and what the theme need to be and how I wanted it to look. And I was like, well, what’s one thing that I know is true to me and will always be true to me forever and ever? my relationship with God, it’s my religion, it’s my belief, it’s my faith. Yeah. And so what better thing to put on my leg to let everyone know and spark up conversations about it than things that symbolize my faith? Right. And so right here, obviously we have the ultimate sacrifice of God, or sorry, of Jesus giving his life on the cross. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, and then the depiction of, like, how much pain he actually went through to remind me and to remind others that he did give the ultimate sacrifice, right? Thorns on his head. Shit’s painful. Try putting thorns on your head, right? Yep. Carrying your own cross. Yep. Like, crazy, bro. And so like this- Scourged. Yeah. And then this over here is, uh, Saint Michael, which is like the warrior, um, he’s a warrior of God. And so, he’s missing the wings right now ’cause I got too big of a calf, ran outta time. But, um, there should be wings back here. And so he’s got a sword he’s got and he’s, he’s jacked with the abs, he’s got the hair like me. Um, and then I got Psalm 46:1 down here, which is a verse that says, uh, “God is our refuge and our strength, uh, an ever present help in, in troubled times. “And so, that’s to remind me that, like, I’m, I’m always this warrior, I’m always strong because I have him behind me. Um, and whenever I don’t feel like that, I, I’m always, you know, at 10 because I got him. Yeah. that’s, you know, the start of it. I don’t really know where it’s going, but it’s gonna stop, you know, right up around here underneath, or on top of the “never quit. “And then, to be honest, I’ll probably be done. I don’t know. I say that, but like, who knows? And then he goes, and then he goes, yeah. Who knows, man? Like, I, I want it to be a slow process though. Yeah. Like people, like I wanna fill my whole body. That’s not what I want. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I want meaningful things on me- Yeah. and I want it to be a slow process to where, like- Documentation. Yeah, like, a documentation of my life because- Mm-hmm. it’s art. And it’s art on my body- Yep. which I think is really cool and I’ve always wanted. Yep. So that’s, that’s where the tattoos come from. Um, they all kinda mean something to me, some deeper than others. Mm-hmm. And some are just gonna be cool one day, I’m not gonna lie. Like, if you get your whole body tattooed, you’re gonna run out of meaningful things to tattoo. Yeah. Some of it’s just gonna be cool. Yeah. Um, so, like, when I have my first kid, maybe they’ll have a footprint on my back. Mm-hmm. Or, like, if my mom dies one day, God forbid, you know, she’s gonna have a lily on my arm for her- Mm-hmm. ’cause it was her favorite flower. Mm-hmm. Like, stuff like that, you know? Just memories. Good memories is what I wanna have,What about you though? I feel like- Are you done? Um, I’m n- You know- You need to shave your arm, first of all, sir. You know, I shaved my arm for a long, long time. Um- Can’t even see the work. Yeah. And, and these are actually famous artists that have done a lot of work on me, to be quite honest. So- God. Son of a gun. Yeah. Um, I, I got Michael and the, and the seals, 7 seals, and the s- and the “Word” as well. I’m religious-based. And then I’ve got Jesus returning on the horse on this side, and then the- That’s a crazy detail. the, the ravens that pick the bones of the bodies that were left behind on, on up here. You got intense. And, you know, and, uh, you know, the devil over, uh, the king over the devil. Um, and then I’ve got my Texas here with the paint drips for-you know, everywhere I go across the world, and, and, uh, people really don’t like Americans until I tell them I’m from Texas. And so they love that, and it really changes their perspective of who, who I am when they see me. Yeah. So I make sure when I shake hands, I put Texas here for the first thing for them to see. And- I like that. and so, uh, people, people know who I am. So then people know that you, uh, mean business. Yep. Standing on business. Yep. And then I got a big heart in the middle of my chest with 2 daggers through the middle of it. Um, and then a cross hanging from that. But it really means, like, sacrifice for your passion. Mm-hmm. If you really believe in something, you have heart for it, people are gonna be stabbing it all over the place. But you gotta take those- Can you s- can you go further on that? Uh- ‘Cause like when you say sacrifice, like, people think of things first. Mm-hmm. Family, time, what- whatever. Like, what are those sacrifices that you mean by that? Everything’s a sacrifice, uh, when it comes down to how much time do you have left, how much time can you devote to something, what are you giving up in lieu of. “Go sit on the couch. “”Nah, go do this. “Um, you know, you wannaYou wanna put something out that you really believe, you could hold it close to yourself. Now I’m gonna sacrifice getting punched in the face by everybody that I put it out in front of when I’m over here, right? Like, it’s everything that goes into the desire to do something else- Mm-hmm. knowing everyone’s sitting here with a sword ready to just go at it- Yeah. ‘Cause that’s the nature of people is to tear you down versus lift you up. Yep. So I’m okay with that. I have passion for what I believe, and I have passion for the things in my life, um, that mean a lot to me. And so I’m gonna put that on my chest for- foremost. and then, uh, just expect the daggers to come with it, you know? So, um, yeah. You speak well, my friend. He’s an artist. He’s good with the hands. He’s good with the words too, man. Jeez. Thanks, brother. Do you speak at all on stage? No. Ever done any speaking? No, they don’t, they don’tThey can’t take this accent too long, so that’s the way it goes, butI don’t know. You go to the right place, they won’t get you off. That’s awesome. Well, I think we’re about to run out of time on the, on the cards actually. I don’tI think this may be the longest one we’ve ever had, to be quite honest. Yeah, sorry. I got, I get, I get into the details. I’m a details guy. I think it’s great. You did a, a amazing job. And, and everybody, you can see why I wanted to have Thor on today. Uh, he did a great job kind of explaining his story and who he is. But, um, do you wanna tell everybody where they can find you? Yeah, so, um, if you’re physically in the Rockwall area, you can find us at our studio, um, which is hidden, so you won’t find us, honestly. But you can find us online, xclusivproductions.com for, uh, business stuff. You can find me on Instagram, chrisHinckleyfilms, on Instagram for personal stuff, um, won’t give you my phone number ’cause I don’t know you yet, soWell, until then, everybody, that’s the blueprint. Appreciate y’all.