#32 Life Out Loud with Chad Bourquin

If you ever considered chasing a dream…this is your sign to go for it. 

In the latest episode of The Possibility Mindset Podcast, Devin is joined by Chad Bourquin, a multi-hyphenate musician, entrepreneur and speaker whose keynote concerts inspire others to rock a life of purpose. 

Tune in as they explore defining moments that put them on parallel paths to extraordinary outcomes,  Chad’s secret to finding success (whether you’re a sound tech, CEO or somewhere in between), and how he uses the power of music to make positive changes…one show, one song, one possibility at a time. 

It’s the ultimate episode for fearless dreamers who believe in living at full volume. Available now, wherever you get your podcasts. 

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Guest website: www.chadbourquin.com
Book the Band: www.bigtimegrain.com
Book an Event: www.generationrelevant.com
Thompson Tees: https://thompsontee.com/?ref=154&_utm_campaign=affiliate 

For the full experience, check us out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DevinHendersonSpeaker 

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

Hey, what's going on everybody? Welcome to the Possibility Mindset Podcast. I am Devin Henderson, I'm your host and I believe that something greater is always possible for you. That is the truth, and I'm here with my friend, Chad. How you doing, Chad? Good how are you? Good, I'm excited to get into it with you. It's been quite a morning already. I threw a hat on so I could look more like you. I came in and I was like no, you're not going to out-cool me. So I put the hat on and he's still winning.

Speaker 2: 0:35

He's still winning the cool contest.

Speaker 1: 0:38

Oh man. Well, we're going to get into it with Chad, but first Chad. I told you this when I came in. This might be our last day using this venue. I know the listeners are super sad because they love this background, they love this atmosphere, they love the random workers from Minsky's Pizza passing through every once in a while. But this might be our last day. We do have two guests scheduled for today, so you get one more episode, so enjoy it while it lasts.

Speaker 1: 1:05

Just a quick note on our sponsor, et cetera. They were bought by a new breakfast franchise or restaurant I don't know if it's a franchise Rise and shine is now the name of the restaurant Minsky's used to own, et cetera and so they shared this event space. What happened there? We shared this event space. You're choked up? Yeah, I'm getting choked up. It was so bad, and so now Minsky's owns it, and so we kind of don't know for sure where that leaves us. Maybe Minsky's will let us have it if we schmooze enough with the boss, but anyway, so get used to possibly a different background coming up. None of this is of any. What's the word consequence to you?

Speaker 2: 1:45

But interesting.

Speaker 1: 1:46

But interesting. Yeah, you're glad you came now so you can get the background on this direction of this podcast. Anyway, et cetera, we thank you so much for your sponsorship over the months and yeah, and thank you today for Minsky's, for allowing us to have at least one last go at this. So this is great. Okay, chad, let's move past the sappy stuff. That's enough crying from you.

Speaker 1: 2:09

I want to let you know about Thompson tees. I am wearing a Thompson tease. Have you ever heard of this before? The Thompson t-shirts? No, basically, think of it like a t-shirt that has super padding in the armpit area for sweating.

Speaker 1: 2:23

You're a guy who plays music at concerts. Do you ever sweat profusely up there and you're nervous about what's showing? Or if the bus is going to start? Yeah, if the bus is going to start. Well, I know for me as an entertainer for so long. Do you remember those commercials when we were a kid, it was like are you sure the sure deodorant? And people couldn't lift their arms because of the sweat stain. Well, with Thompson tees, you don't. You are sure, and you don't even need the deodorant. All right, you can still wear deodorant, but anyway, this is like men's health says, that it is the best undershirts for men to control armpit sweat. So the reason I'm bringing it up is because, again, I'm wearing it today. I can wear any color now I don't have to worry about sweat bleeding through.

Speaker 1: 3:03

This is maybe TMI, but it's also maybe very valuable information if you also deal with the same thing. So go to the show notes, click on the link, buy a Thompson T. It will absolutely change your life. All right, chad, here we go. We're going to get into you now. Thanks for being here. Yeah, thank you, I'm going to do your intro, but then I want to talk about how we met. Okay, so now, if you've ever considered a backup plan, what you really needed was a better plan. My guest today is a musician and entrepreneur whose keynote concerts raise the frequency for sound techs, ceos and everyone in between. So each can rock a life of genius. Let's give it up for Chad Borkwin. That's it.

Speaker 2: 3:44

That was it Nice. I nailed it All right.

Speaker 1: 3:46

The multi-hyphenate owner of Generation Relevant Entertainment. It's an agency on a mission to make a difference and, using the power of music, is igniting positive change. One show, one song, one possibility at a time. So here he is, chad Borkwin. Now they're probably wondering Devin, why don't you do your homework a little better? And before you get the film rolling, why don't you at least ask him how to pronounce his last name? Well, I've actually known Chad for years now, but we've only met over Zoom. So I think in my mind that's how I always said it. But then I thought well, I've never actually asked him how do you say your name. So I'm glad that I got it. It's a cool name and it's rare that people get it right.

Speaker 2: 4:27

Is that right yeah?

Speaker 1: 4:28

What do they usually say?

Speaker 2: 4:29

Oh, Borkin Birkin, I don't know. There's been some really weird. I mean, I actually missed a race in high school because they were so far off I didn't know they were calling my name.

Speaker 1: 4:43

Oh, are you serious? Yeah, yeah, wow, that's crazy, man. Like you were in track, yeah, and it was like time to step up to the line. It was, and I wasn't there. Yeah, they're like Chad Baguette, let's go. And you're like, well, that's it is. I don't know about you.

Speaker 1: 5:05

And I was working on a mentalism show over Zoom, right, because this is the time where, during COVID once that hit all of my gigs, the calendar just disappeared. You probably experienced some of the same thing with your concerts, and so I thought, hey, I'm just going to grow my hair out, grow my beard out, and just hibernate for a year or two and take a break. Well, then I found out there's this thing like you can do over Zoom like entertainment, and so I decided how can I take my magic and do it over Zoom? So I started taking some of the tricks and thinking how can I do it where there's no one in the room with me? They're not hands-on, but we can do sort of like for lack of better words mind-reading stuff over the camera.

Speaker 1: 5:43

So I needed an audience, I needed a demo video for this, so I sort of needed like a pseudo audience to get on Zoom so they could watch me doing these tricks. And it was Preston Bowman, our mutual friend, that's what it was who I told him. Hey, preston, we need like a bunch, we need like a dozen people. Can you round up some people, some of your people, who like magic or like entertainment? Well, you were one of the people that he brought on, and so I met you that day and thought this guy's really cool and you were a great audience participant. And then, because of that connection, you hired me to do a show in a bar in Emporia, kansas, just like, a few months later, the Bourbon Cowboy yeah, what was it called?

Speaker 2: 6:22

Bourbon Cowboy.

Speaker 1: 6:23

Bourbon Cowboy. Yeah, and that was the first in-person event I did since COVID started, so I was so grateful to you for just landing me something where I could get out in the face of the public again and do what I love. So thank you for that. Never got to thank you in person. So when I'm thinking about what guests do I want, you were always in the back of my mind. I'm thinking about what guests do I want, you were always in the back of my mind. I'm so glad it worked out and glad that we're finally meeting face to face and I know you're an interesting guy. So when we talk about the possibility mindset, I know you've had a lot of sort of like challenges or opportunities in life to really ask what else is possible, right, things that could have gotten you down. So where do we want to start? Because I've kind of got a list of things here.

Speaker 1: 7:01

I know that you didn't finish college, but I was told that we should bring that up because that's a significant part of your story. I went to K-State too, so is that a good place to start, or should we even go back further with what exactly you do? You know what I'm going to pause myself. First of all, are you a keynote speaker? I am. I did not know that. I thought you were a musician and just did concerts and so when I was reading that, I was like he's a keynote speaker. You can tell I'm very well prepared today. Sometimes this is how podcasts go. Tell us what you do right now.

Speaker 2: 7:34

Well, I mean, I've been a musician way longer than a keynote, so that's probably where you got that A keynote is something that's come on later, but know it's something that's come on later, later, yeah, uh. But yeah, I've played music since I was a kid, um, and then I've had this agency, probably 13, 14 years now, okay, but we, the keynote part for me started well, really started in some of my backup plans okay, okay where I realized those were not good ideas. But I didn did learn a lot.

Speaker 2: 8:04

So we had this vitamin company that we were. It was a network marketing company, yeah, and I was the local guy to train everybody, okay, and so I just started doing it. I really enjoyed that part of it, yeah, you know, doing the training people, doing the talks, presentations, that sort of thing.

Speaker 1: 8:23

Did you have some success with the whole network marketing, like building your team and making some income.

Speaker 2: 8:30

We had a lot of success over five years, to the point where we sold our business. This is just for the part of the story because it's funny. It's funny now. We sold it for $1.2 million over an 18-year payout, contingent on which was $5,000 a month, contingent on the guy we sold it to, staying in business.

Speaker 1: 8:56

It's so funny you're saying this because we had Marty Fonke on here, who is an acquisition and what's the buyout or acquisitions? What's the other word that goes with that? Merger?

Speaker 2: 9:08

Acquisitions and merger like specialist.

Speaker 1: 9:11

And he talked about that exact thing, that, like when someone buys you out, there's that whole contingency aspect of it. So what's the rest of the story?

Speaker 2: 9:18

Well, it was a great two years and during that time it gave us the opportunity to start these keynote concerts okay um, which is this idea that it kind of developed over time from from seeing some things and just figuring out.

Speaker 2: 9:33

You know, I went to a, a career day one day. I got asked to speak on sales. Okay, and I'm to 300 kids who cared nothing about sales. I mean, you don't really get into sales unless you failed a number of other things a lot of times. You don't really get into sales unless you've failed a number of other things A lot of times. You don't just go into sales. And I could tell these kids were bored out of their minds because there was a finance guy and a banker. And I'm following all this and I'm like who wants to hear about sales? And like two hands out of 300. I had nothing prepared but I said, well, who wants to hear about a rock band? And they're like everybody went crazy. Well, I just like. So I told my story, yeah, and it went great and the principal invited us to come back like three weeks later and bring the whole band.

Speaker 1: 10:15

Wow, Was this high school?

Speaker 2: 10:18

Yes, it was. I think it was yeah, and then. So we ended up using that or I used that idea, with some advice from some other people who had done it before, to develop a keynote concert where we would go into these schools and do a full-scale concert, and then there was a character education keynote that I would do in the middle of that Nice. So we did probably 30 schools in like one semester almost. Wow, it was an insane schedule.

Speaker 1: 10:48

It was fun and that's what kicked off this whole transition from musician only to also keynote yeah and how long ago was that?

Speaker 2: 10:55

well, that was oh four, no five. Oh, that was way, yeah. Um, the group I was playing with broke up sort shortly after that, which is a whole story. It's probably not important there, but, uh, I'm sure, I'm sure we'd love to hear it again. Well, maybe you don't want to share it, it's, it's. It's not just my story, so I'll probably leave that one alone. Um the uh. But you know, at at that time I didn't have a you know a lot of other options, so I started an advertising company. Um, kind of started when I started working for an advertising company and was selling these these uh, big, long, two and a half foot door hangers to businesses that were getting delivered to the doors. Okay, well, they were supposed to get delivered to the doors, but I, I was selling and I, they were so easy to sell, it was going so great. Then I found out the owner of that was not delivering on what they said.

Speaker 1: 11:51

So I went back showing up. They just the product was not getting.

Speaker 2: 11:55

She just was not. She was underfunded and she wasn't getting things done. So I had to go back around to all those people I sold these door hangers to say, hey, listen, here's what went down. Okay, but if you give me, you know, three or four months, we're going to start our own company and we'll come back and honor this. And so we did that and had that company until, I guess it was. We went through the 08 crash and made it another year or so, but advertising just nosedived and our competition was like Val pack, okay, um, which they could load as many of those into an envelope as possible.

Speaker 1: 12:34

And so they just look keeps getting thicker, but then it got it started getting thinner too, I noticed, because, like, people aren't using that as much anymore. Yeah, so yeah.

Speaker 2: 12:43

So, anyway, we had a fixed number, we could do our. So, anyway, we had a fixed number we could do, so we couldn't compete price-wise. But it was at that point, at the end of that thing, that I was just like man, I am miserable, I didn't even want to be doing it, it was sinking. And that was the time I and this is where a lot of my keynote comes from is, I remember, thinking you know, I'm sinking. If I'm going to sink, I at least want to do something that I want to do. And I just said, I said to myself I'm just going back after music, I'm going to go all in on music. And that was right. About that time is when we had started big time grain company, my brother and I, okay, and uh, the agency kind of. There was an idea of an agency again, I'd booked before, but I had to run my own agency. Uh-huh, and I won't say it was easy, but it was the beginning of what's led us to where we're at today.

Speaker 1: 13:40

Yeah, and it was okay. It's called the. What was the grain?

Speaker 2: 13:44

Oh, big Time Grain Company, big Time Grain.

Speaker 1: 13:45

Company. It's called the grain. What was the grain? Oh, big time grain company. Yeah, that's our country band. Yeah, where are you from?

Speaker 2: 13:49

Colby Kansas.

Speaker 1: 13:50

You're from Colby, kansas. Okay, way out there.

Speaker 2: 13:53

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 13:53

Like really close to the Colorado border.

Speaker 2: 13:55

And Nebraska yeah.

Speaker 1: 13:56

Wow, um, and, and so that's the band. Oh, that's the band.

Speaker 2: 14:00

Yeah, okay, the agency is Generation Relevant Entertainment.

Speaker 1: 14:13

Oh, I see, Okay, okay, so you also booked other bands.

Speaker 2: 14:17

That's what the agency does. Yeah, right, right, okay.

Speaker 1: 14:19

Gotcha, wow, where's that leave you now? I mean you, is it still?

Speaker 2: 14:28

you're still with this band and then you give keynotes on your own or with the band. Still, uh, but either, or, yeah, we can do we've we've got, uh, the ability to go in the full band. I'm developing something now I have not actually done this just because I haven't put it together yet where I'm going to go in and do a keynote concert with just me, where I'm doing all these iconic clips of some of the most iconic guitar solos out there oh, nice, nice. And so it would be going from songs that you hear. The solo, you know it is Shook Me All Night Long. Acdc Everybody knows that solo. Guns N' Roses you go into that riff, everybody knows it. Yeah, kansas, whatever, and just kind of, I'm working that into the keynote. I you know I've done a lot of keynotes where it just goes speak, yeah, but I want to incorporate this in as well okay, you said kansas.

Speaker 1: 15:18

I had flashbacks right down the road, like about a mile shawna mission park. There's a theater in the park. I saw a kansas concert there. They came one time like my senior year of high school, so you know, a quarter of a century ago, and it was like this is one of the best concerts I've ever been to.

Speaker 2: 15:33

It was awesome, they were great and that's so cool, so wow.

Speaker 1: 15:37

So then, are you still focused on, then, that whole character development idea? Is that the crux of your message.

Speaker 2: 15:43

Yeah, I mean, that's evolved. You know, I started getting coaching probably 10, 11 years ago myself. Okay, still weekly coaching. I started reading a ton of just development books. Okay, when I say reading, listening, I'm an audio guy Totally.

Speaker 1: 16:03

I've been doing that too. Yeah, I don't know if it's cheating or not, but you still take in the book.

Speaker 2: 16:07

I do yeah. Multitasking and became hugely fascinated with just what makes people tick, and then when I did the podcast interviews in uh did start doing those during COVID as well. That developed even a more interest in what makes people tick Because you just, I mean, you know how it is If you blank out at all as a podcast host.

Speaker 1: 16:38

It's going to get awkward fast, right. I think I've done it 17 times today already.

Speaker 2: 16:44

I've been counting, but that caused something in me. Just it's like okay to even become a better listener. You know, it's a point where I like I think everybody should host a podcast for like a season, even if nobody ever listens to it because of what it does for your listening skills.

Speaker 1: 16:59

Yeah, yeah, that's, that's interesting. So who like? What would you say, your idea like, if you were to go out and go after a certain audience, what would that audience be?

Speaker 2: 17:09

For the keynote. For the keynote. Who can resonate most with your message or benefit most from it apply to everybody into music and concerts and living a lifestyle of on the road and what that's like and how. What I learned in all those avenues apply to personal growth, leadership, team developing, all those things.

Speaker 1: 17:43

So really for anyone.

Speaker 2: 17:44

It's for anyone.

Speaker 1: 17:45

The message is so broad that anyone that's like hey, this guy who niches with this emphasis of music are people who resonate with this that that's so great. So a couple fun questions. What's your most favorite guitar solo of all time?

Speaker 2: 17:58

so that evolves a lot. Every time I learn something new that's challenging to me, it becomes the most fun, like one of my most fun solos to play right now is liza jane by vince gill okay, nice.

Speaker 1: 18:14

Well, I was not expecting. I was expecting more something heavy metal or hard rock, so that's well, that's vince gill is amazing unbelievable like like really good also just at the improv.

Speaker 2: 18:24

Yeah, you know, yeah, brilliant I mean, like in country, a lot of times you you just get the highlights of the solo. You don't have to. I mean, as long as you're kind of there somewhere, in the general, nobody's gonna know. It's not like a yeah you know, vibe it out shook me all night long. You know people are gonna know. Liza jane, though, when I heard that solo was like I want to learn this note for note, because I want to learn everything he's doing in that.

Speaker 1: 18:49

Okay, yeah. Well, I think some of the best guitar solos are the simplest ones that you can like. Like, if you can sing it, you know what I mean. Yeah, like, if you go, oh yeah, and then sing that solo, it's good.

Speaker 2: 19:07

But if it's like of like, it's too much for me. Journey, people are talented. Yeah, journey, I mean they were. You know, neil Sean was brilliant at that.

Speaker 1: 19:10

Well, and it means they have chops, so it's impressive. But as far as listening, that's just like. I like the ones that I can sing back later. I think those are the best.

Speaker 2: 19:18

Yeah, you're right yeah yeah, that's incredible man.

Speaker 1: 19:21

I've never gotten to like that. So you're going to have to, we have to find a way to follow you and we'll, at the end, we'll get to that Like, how can we make sure we see you if you're in, you're in concert, or anything like that. So so in terms of your story, you know, let's go back a little bit, because you're a very I mean, you're a well-rounded guy, you're. You've got a lot of, a lot of parts to you. I feel like there's all these and just be surprised. So tell me about this whole college thing and how you didn't graduate and how you were able to say, well, I didn't graduate, what else is possible and what possibilities that opened up for you.

Speaker 2: 19:54

Yeah Well, I wanted to go to school for music, okay, but the advice I got at home was you can't make any money at that, and what are you going to do? Be a music teacher, okay. So I thought, all right, this is where my first backup plan.

Speaker 1: 20:13

Okay.

Speaker 2: 20:14

I'm understanding what people talk about backup plans, so I went for business.

Speaker 1: 20:17

Okay.

Speaker 2: 20:18

Which you know. I mean I use a lot of business today that I did not get there. You know a lot of business today that I did not get there, a lot of business skills. I went to a JUCO for a couple of years and went to K-State for six months before the group we were in said hey, we're going to go full-time and go on the road. It was not a stretch for me to say enough of this school, I'm going to go do what I really want to do. We did, we made this leap. We went and said what I really want to do, sure, and we did, we went. We, we made this leap. We went and said we're just gonna do.

Speaker 2: 20:50

We, our agent booked us up, you know, four to six nights a week for four or five years. This was back when you could do that in in regional groups or national. Before you hit the national stage we would go from like like I remember going just up i-29, you know we would start at like uh, nebraska, and then go to like sioux city, then sioux falls, and then uh, fargo, then grand forks, then winnipeg, canada, and like I was just, I didn't have a home, I didn't have a car, I didn't need any of that stuff, I was just just one place, the next plane. It was amazing, yeah, and that went on for a number of years until just the the singer decided one day he was done and walked out, and that was it.

Speaker 1: 21:36

Wow, so, so yeah. What would you say to people who you know are thinking about college, thinking about dropping out or taking a break, because there's this dream they want to pursue? You know, was it worth it for you? Was it the right move? Looking back, what can you offer now?

Speaker 2: 21:52

Well, I think, make sure that you're making the decision for the right reasons. You know, my daughter just graduated K-State and she's got a about to land a job with a big pharmaceutical tech company and she's doing exactly what she wants to do. She knew she wanted to go to K-State since she was eight years old. It was perfect for her. You know, my son, who's my older son, did not go to college. He is traveling around playing bass guitar in a country band and helping uh design or uh helping start a upstart video game designing company.

Speaker 1: 22:32

Wow, Like father, like son in terms of music, traveling around going rogue with the country band. That's great.

Speaker 2: 22:37

Then my youngest son is a junior at the mid American Nazarene and in business, and he's probably going to end up, uh, taking over our entertainment agency at some point. He's working with me right now. So so I think it's got to be right for the person and they got to make it for the right reasons. I think a lot of times people make it out of a decision, of what somebody else is trying to decide for them, and, and that's not the right reason. You know, I think the idea of a gap year for a lot of people is a good idea too. You know the ability to just, hey, let's, just let me, let me just see what happens for a year, take it easy, and I'm not saying don't do anything for a year.

Speaker 2: 23:18

You know your parents probably don't want you to just sit around playing video games in your house for a year. That's not the idea.

Speaker 1: 23:25

Yeah, but I think that's some serious wisdom there, just knowing your why and having the right intention, doing it for the right reasons. Because even with me right now there's some speaker software like an operating system that I'm thinking about buying into. So I've been asking several of the speakers who use this operating system how is this working for you? And I'm getting kind of a mix of feedback and how it benefits them and the weak areas of it, and so I have to really not just be like, well, everybody seems like they're doing it. I'll just jump in. I've got to really assess my current system and if this investment, this move, learning a whole new system and having my team learn it is really worth that move. You know what I mean.

Speaker 2: 24:01

So what does it do?

Speaker 1: 24:03

Yeah, yeah, yeah, without getting too into the weeds, it really takes a lot of the things that you, a lot of tools or apps that you use in your business, like your calendar, your QuickBooks, your CRM, your newsletters, your contracts, all that stuff, and kind of puts it all together. So it's sort of in sync initial inquiry. It just kind of helps it track it from initial inquiry to now there's interest, now they're going to book you all the way to contract and then thank you letters and then putting them into your long-term CRM, and so it just sounds like a really nice flow and everything just jives together and it's more cost-effectly once you get past the initial investment because everything is sort of lumped together. So, anyway, but that's what it does, and so from the outside it sounds like this could be really good, like, if it works the way it sounds like it does, it'd be great.

Speaker 1: 24:56

But I really do have to stop and think do we have, like what we have right now? Is it working really well? Because we've customized it for us, you know. So I don't want to do it back to that whole thing, what you know, doing it for the right reason. I don't want to do it just because other people seem to be doing it. I want to do it because I know for sure, I've researched it, and this is the right move for my business and for me. Right, that's it. It's important. So, man, both of us are getting the yeah throat tickles this morning.

Speaker 1: 25:21

We're both choking up this is meaningful stuff, uh, so I am just curious. Yet how'd you get into music in the first place? Like, when did you pick up a guitar for the first time?

Speaker 2: 25:31

well, uh, it was. I mean I, I just played around an acoustic guitar as a kid, but so I never got serious about it. But there was this. Uh, there was this keynote concert that came through my high school. It was not called that at the time okay they had this patriotic theme. I was a junior and they were playing Rat and Van Halen and this is the era we were in and my buddy, who played guitar, was sitting next to me and I'm thinking this is the most amazing thing I've ever seen, and he turns to me he goes hey, why don't you get a guitar and we'll start a band?

Speaker 2: 26:04

And I like, yes, I mean it was that quick that was. My answer was yes, and the decision was made because I was. I was emotionally in the moment of the concert this is, and I just so I went home, tried to figure out how to get a guitar and we started this band and learned a couple songs wow, played it.

Speaker 1: 26:21

How'd you learn?

Speaker 2: 26:22

just teach yourself, or uh, in the beginning I did which is I would. I would call that a mistake. Okay, because I eventually got replaced. They started a new band without me and the drummer, because we weren't any good. Okay, so then I had to. I realized like, okay, I got to get better, but there was nobody in Colby that could teach me Okay. So I had to drive to Hays.

Speaker 1: 26:47

What is that like three, four hours away?

Speaker 2: 26:49

No, about an hour and a half, yeah, but I mean it was uphill against the wind and the snow, right right. There was no YouTube, you know, to learn, yeah, totally, and that's where I went and corrected all the bad habits I learned on my own.

Speaker 1: 27:06

Okay. So, you know our story. I haven't mentioned this yet, but our stories are so similar.

Speaker 2: 27:11

Are they?

Speaker 1: 27:12

In the sense that I realized that keynote concert even though you said they didn't call it that then was that thing that planted that seed in your mind of look what's possible for you, look what you could be doing someday, and it inspired you.

Speaker 1: 27:23

And I was inspired at fifth grade by a magician who came to my school and brought me up on stage and got me involved and I was like, what, if I could do this, what else is possible? And then taught myself, you know, and I wasn't in a band so I couldn't really be fired, I just had you know so I could grow at my own pace, yeah, at the time. And then, um, I went to k state and while I I did graduate, I was going to get a master's in marriage and family therapy, so that was the plan, but I didn't continue pursuing that because of entrepreneurship yeah I wanted to do this other thing.

Speaker 1: 27:54

So it is so weird we just have and then, and then it was like I started with entertainment and then moved to keynote speaker so it's like we kind of have the same life in a sense. Yeah, um, but yours is music, mine's magic, so that's why this is a fascinating story, uh, so here it is. It's like oh, this is my story, just a little bit different version of it you know, one of my favorite shows when it was on was the Mentalist.

Speaker 2: 28:15

Oh yeah, but I got asked to be your guinea pig on the Zoom thing. I was like, yeah, yeah, that's funny, man, I still want to know what's behind the curtain on some of that. I don't know if that's available information or not. No, it's not.

Speaker 1: 28:31

If I tell you any of it, zach has to kill you. He is the man Right. Zach has to kill you.

Speaker 2: 28:34

He is the man Right, zach, all right, well, zach. Yeah, I would want to meet him at Dark Alley.

Speaker 1: 28:40

Yeah, no doubt. So there was something about a hotel fire I was told that I need to ask you about. So there's so many parts of your story I'd love to hear. But tell me about the hotel fire.

Speaker 2: 28:51

Yeah, it's funny. I tell this story in the keynote and I learned from comedians to watch listening to comedians on how to. Actually I used to tell the whole story one time at the end. Now I split it up and I'll tell you where I stop it as we go through it and then save the rest until the end. It's like the cliffhanger.

Speaker 1: 29:13

Okay.

Speaker 2: 29:13

So we were playing in Glen Elder Kansas, this lumberyard thing, and it was opening pheasant hunting season weekend, and so we had not gotten hotel rooms ahead of time because we weren't thinking we go to Beloit. No hotel rooms available. It's 2 am, except for this old Porter Hotel, yeah, and it's kind of a half hotel, half residence in. So we get rooms there, our manager from wichita gets his own room and the other seven of us pile into a room because it's your bed.

Speaker 2: 29:45

You're not there to pheasant hunt no you're just among we just, we just need to sleep. Yeah, yeah and uh. So, so, yeah that's. We're spread out on the floor, the beds everywhere, and about 4am I think, the uh, the alarms go off at a fire alarms and you're delirious. The sound guy runs out in the hall says man, we're under attack. He comes running back in the drummer, paul, he, he goes out in the hall. He just comes back and he goes man, there's a fire, we got to go. And so I, I grabbed my two guitars, I, I put on my pants with a Velcro fly and had to head it out.

Speaker 1: 30:30

Velcro fly.

Speaker 2: 30:32

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 30:32

Wow, I don't even know if they do that anymore. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 30:34

Well, I hope not. It's a bad idea. Whoever thought that was a good idea? My ZZ Top is the only one that really benefited from that. Yeah, so, um. So we're out there and and smoke's coming out of the windows and and our manager's window flies open and he's, he's out, he goes there's, there's like old ladies on my floor that can't get out.

Speaker 1: 30:56

Oh my gosh. Okay, sorry, I thought you were going to say it was a false alarm. It'd be, because I've been in so many hotel, false alarms.

Speaker 2: 31:03

You know what I mean.

Speaker 1: 31:04

But this is real fire. It's real fire. This just got real.

Speaker 2: 31:07

So Paul, craig and I Craig was the singer we go back in and we're going up and we're on the second floor and it's so smoky we have to crawl to get to the rooms. We get to the first room Unbelievable dude and Craig was able to pick up that lady and carry her out. And then we get to the next room and Paul's a big guy I'm not, but neither one of us could have gotten close to carrying this lady ourselves. So we decide we'll do it together. And she doesn't want to leave. Um, she's, she's, I don't know if she's got dementia or something, but she doesn't want to leave. And so we're having to lock arms like this underneath her to carry her out. And so we head towards the stairs and we get to hold on that position that you're holding.

Speaker 1: 31:55

If you're listening, your arms are just straight in front of you. How can you precariously balance a human being?

Speaker 2: 32:00

well, it was not easy and she was heavy. I felt like my arms were gonna fall off.

Speaker 1: 32:04

But was she sitting on?

Speaker 2: 32:05

your arm. Well, we were just kind of holding her, I, I think. So I don't quite remember that part. Okay, yeah, it's a little smoky. It's a little smoky and fuzzy, yes, yes. So we get to the uh, we get to the top of the stairs and we're getting ready to go down and I feel that Velcro, fly, go. And this, this is. This is where this is at the beginning of the keynote. This is where I stop and change subjects and so I go on to other subjects. But anyway, then I come back at the end of the keynote. I'm giving away my keynote.

Speaker 1: 32:37

This is the reprise. This is the velcro fly reprise yes and so.

Speaker 2: 32:42

So I'm sitting at the top of the stairs with my velcro fly popped in and uh, and we start going down the stairs and we get down the first first flight and my, my pants are now down, to, you know, around my legs.

Speaker 1: 32:55

I'm trying to hold lower Lower thighs, lower thighs yeah, just above the knees still. So you can kind of do the cowboy walk and kind of keep it at least a little bit of your dignity intact.

Speaker 2: 33:03

Yes. I'm visualizing this, it's exactly it.

Speaker 1: 33:06

I'm trying to picture it so vividly, but I am Because this is hilarious.

Speaker 2: 33:09

Yeah, this will never leave you now. And so we get to the bottom of the of at the stairwell and the door flies open and there's four firemen there and my pants are now down around my knees holding this this elderly lady and I look up and and they're looking at me and they're like what are you doing? I mean it's just wow and there was absolutely no good answer.

Speaker 1: 33:43

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 33:44

A good answer for that. So I just we set her down, I pull my pants up and we walked out and no more questions, no more questions asked. And it was years later. No more questions asked, and it was years later. I was just thinking about that story, you know, and how that lady didn't want to leave, and how much our lives, how much our lives could get to that point where we've so slowly just not gone after our dreams, not gone after what we wanted to do, not paid attention to the little things that can help us get there to the point where we end up in the Porter hotel on fire and we would rather stay there than than leave, have somebody help us leave, you know, and and uh, it was a really important lesson for me to figure out for myself at one point and I thought, well, this would be a good thing to incorporate in and share with other people.

Speaker 1: 34:39

It's a powerful. It's a powerful lesson and brilliant, brilliant that you pulled that out of it. Because, yeah, immediately my mind goes oh, what fire am I stuck in right now? And I'm sure all your audience members are thinking the same thing, and I'm sure that people listening like I'm in that room, the place that I thought was comfortable, a place.

Speaker 1: 34:58

I'd worked so hard to get to and poured my life. And then, all of a sudden, there's this unexpected moment of it might be time for a change. But kicking and screaming they. Can you know they're going to have to drag me out of here, but, uh, it might save your life.

Speaker 2: 35:09

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 35:10

That's, that's powerful man.

Speaker 2: 35:12

And it's caused me to just lean into change that as opposed to. You know, even if it's uncomfortable or or scary, or you know, I I'm saying yes to things quicker that will lead me to that and no to things quicker that will keep me from it.

Speaker 1: 35:35

You know, time suckersers, that sort of thing, yeah, yeah that that's a hard thing to do is to decide which things have an roi and which don't. You know um, do you have a? Do you have sort of a gauge for that? When something new comes your way, you're presented with some opportunity. Is there sort of a way to measure? How do you say yes or no? How do you know?

Speaker 2: 35:59

The tools I use for myself that are most effective is my first thing in the morning. I start every day slow, except it was a little harder today, sorry.

Speaker 1: 36:12

Yeah, we're here kind of early.

Speaker 2: 36:14

It's all good. No, I still did it, though. I just set my alarm a little earlier. And the? Are you familiar? Familiar with the alpha state?

Speaker 1: 36:22

alpha state?

Speaker 2: 36:23

yeah no it's that, it's that space between sleep and awake, where and it's usually first thing in the morning for most people, sometimes it's before bed, okay, mine's, mine's in the morning, where your mind has not jumped to all the things you have to do that day, all those things, and you're just kind of coming out of sleep. And if I will meditate during that time, if I will pray during that time, if I will do I do Wim Hof breathing, if you ever heard of him.

Speaker 1: 36:53

Okay.

Speaker 2: 36:54

Are you familiar?

Speaker 1: 36:56

with that I don't, is that the five in, or or is that the eight in four hold, and then uh seven out.

Speaker 2: 37:02

It's the. I did this when I got COVID first time to get rid of the cough, and that's where I learned it. Um, you, you breathe in 40 times really deep, and then you hold it for as long as you can Okay, cause I could not get rid of that cough. And um, I got rid of the cough in a week with this and within two and a half weeks I'm sorry I didn't finish how you do it. You breathe in that many times, then you hold it for as long as you can, then you do a recovery breath for 15 seconds and then you repeat as many times as you want, like three to five times. Wim Hof W W I M H O F. Yeah, I was able to hold my breath within two and a half weeks, up to four minutes and 15 seconds.

Speaker 1: 37:43

Wow, it's like David Blaine level stuff.

Speaker 2: 37:45

Yeah and it's. It wasn't just me. I've got friends that I've told us that can do the same thing. Now it's not Um and it's so. So that's the physical benefits.

Speaker 2: 37:54

But what I noticed is when I would start doing that first thing in the morning is when you even remove air from the from as a factor, you know you're not even breathing anymore, for for that you know two to four minutes. Then your mind even is more relaxed and more open for whatever comes in that day as a message. And normally I get one or two things that during that time that I should do that day. It might be just call somebody, might be, you know, some kind of task, but if I will follow and listen to that and apply those things, then it's effective. Now back to your question.

Speaker 2: 38:35

If I've got something that's been presented to me, I don't want to make those answers when I'm tired or come up or try to make. Come up with my what I'm gonna do when I'm tired. I wait until the morning and that's when I ask those questions, and then that's the first step. Then I'm going to start digging in and looking at facts and say, okay, is everything real here that I'm being presented? Is this a real opportunity and does it line up with my ultimate vision and goal?

Speaker 2: 39:08

Okay, because where I think I used to get hung up a lot and a lot of people get hung up on, is they get really wrapped up in the how of things and not the why and the end goal and and the house. What slows us down if we take too much control of that? If we release the how and just kind of let those messages come as they come, you know, pray about it, ask, ask for those answers and wait, then we can make the process so much easier on ourselves and a lot of times quicker too and with less pain. The pain I've had most of my life is because I was trying to manipulate things.

Speaker 1: 39:50

Sure, yeah, I feel you. Yeah. So the big thing it sounds like pause, wait, like don't make rash decisions, especially when you're tired or when you're hungry, right, or when you're stressed out or like weighed down with other things. Make sure you've got some mental clarity and space to actually think it through and then really consider does this align with my goals and the main thing, or is it just? Going to be a distraction, and then it's not going to serve me or anyone else around me.

Speaker 2: 40:13

Yeah, yeah, and, if any, if there's anything that's that's saying I shouldn't do that, if it's connected to fear, then I want to pay attention to that, because fear is the enemy of progress. So a lot of times I'll listen to that and say, okay, if that's the only thing stopping me, then I need to move forward.

Speaker 1: 40:30

Okay, yeah. So in other words, fear is like like I thought you were first. I thought you were saying if you're afraid, maybe it's like indicated you shouldn't, but you're saying that like, maybe that's a good, like that lady was afraid to leave that hotel room for some reason, even though we all know it was the right decision. But that's like if I'm afraid maybe that's a sign I'm supposed to do this.

Speaker 2: 40:50

Yeah, and it is, am I afraid, because of old tapes playing. You know, I mean, I've got 10 years of being coached and I have way more years of life before that that I want to sometimes regress back to if I'm not careful. So I need to pay attention to what's causing that Assess, that fear a little bit right, yeah, for sure, I like that.

Speaker 1: 41:13

Okay, last one important question your tattoos. I want to get a picture of this at some point, zach, and show this on the YouTube video. Can you just give us a quick rundown of what the Roman numerals and the uh, the hearts and the clubs are about?

Speaker 2: 41:24

Yeah, that's, that's well, that's my kid's birthdays. Oh, okay, Uh, there, Nice, Um. And then that was my wife life's idea of the king of hearts. Ah, nice.

Speaker 1: 41:35

That's great. So basically birthdays in Roman numeral form.

Speaker 2: 41:39

Yeah. What's funny is the first tattoo artist didn't want to do it. He's like I don't do this because everybody screws up Roman numerals, oh yeah, and then I put it on and then they're mad because it's not the right date or something.

Speaker 1: 41:53

Yeah, that's funny man, but I guess most people would never know They'd be like I yeah, I believe you.

Speaker 2: 41:58

That's right.

Speaker 1: 41:59

I'm not like wait a minute.

Speaker 2: 42:00

Yeah, nobody's doing the math.

Speaker 1: 42:02

Yeah, exactly man, all right, well, wow, well, hey, man, it's good to finally meet you in person.

Speaker 2: 42:07

Yeah, you too.

Speaker 1: 42:08

And catch some of your stories. Is there anything significant that we missed? That's like, oh, we should, we should hit this before we run. That you're feeling like you wanted to really share man, I'm just, I'm just grateful that you called.

Speaker 2: 42:22

I love these opportunities to to just talk about this stuff. Stuff's pretty random, but I mean it's just there's. There's so much in life that I think we can do to to get more out of it, and what you're doing here is you're bringing that out of people and and then you're you're you're giving it freely to anybody that will listen. I think that's awesome. So thank you.

Speaker 1: 42:44

Yeah, for sure. Well, thank you, and seriously, this is, this is good stuff. Maybe, maybe in your life you're afraid to move on to the next thing. Someone's trying to drag you out of the hotel room that's on fire and you're just like I don't want to go. Um, hopefully this has inspired you today. I'm sure it has. Share this um message with people you know, forward this on and um, yeah, thank you so much, chad. And and, by the way, how can, how can, they get ahold of you if they want to book a keynote concert?

Speaker 2: 43:09

Well, our agency site is just generation relevantcom. Okay.

Speaker 1: 43:14

Yeah, all right. So that's the best place to go to connect with you in every way, and then will your like any kind of schedule, like tour schedule or any appearances you're going to make. Will that be on there?

Speaker 2: 43:23

Yeah Well, no, that's our band site, which is bigtimegraincom. Okay, yeah, so if they go to there, they can see, do you travel much outside of Kansas? I do, yeah, you do. We do a lot, probably five to ten states a year.

Speaker 1: 43:38

Okay, all right, so he might be coming to you, so check it out, all right. Well, hey, once again, thanks, et cetera, just for your help and your support over the years, and Minsky's for letting us use this space this morning Give us a five-star review on Apple that would, on YouTube, subscribe, like, share the links. We appreciate it. Don't forget to check out Thompson Tees See Dry as a I don't know desert. There it is All right, y'all, we're going to sign off with our tagline. We're going to say what else is possible, which is really what your life has been so much about. So I'll say what else you say is possible.

Speaker 1: 44:12

All right here we go, All right. Thanks for joining us everyone, and remember to never stop asking the very important question what else is possible? We will see you next time.