#25 Living with Intention with Brad Ellis

Join Devin with Brad Ellis of Jean Shorts Comedy and co-host of the Ghostrunners Podcast as they discuss pursing greater possibilities in fatherhood, woodworking, and – you guessed it – water births. This humorous episode is rich with matters of faith, being present with others and why communicating expectations is crucial for healthy relationships. But best of all – you'll learn what a “Dadurday” is. A guaranteed fun and insightful listen!

Join Brad and Jake in Gulf Shores: https://www.ghostrunners.life/travel

Need a giant table? https://elliscustomcreations.com/

Thompson Tees: https://thompsontee.com/?ref=154&_utm_campaign=affiliate

A special thanks to our sponsor Eggtc. Shawnee! https://eggtckc.com/eggtc-shawnee

Transcript

Conversation

Speaker 1 0:05

Hey , what's up everybody . Welcome to the possibility mindset podcast . I'm Devon Henderson , I'm your host and I believe that something greater is always possible for you .

Speaker 2 0:16

All right , let's jump in .

Speaker 1 0:18

I'm going to introduce Brad here in just a minute . Question do you sweat profusely from your armpits ? That's not a question for you , that's a question for them . Sorry , I should have prefaced that .

Speaker 2 0:31

Brad , this is not for you . Let's get into it .

Speaker 1 0:33

Can you never wear light colors because you know you'll have a huge wet spot ? Once you start doing anything vigorous , like clapping your hands or texting someone , you start sweating . That's me , and I'm going somewhere with this , I promise you . When you wear black , does it have to be the right black even to not show sweat ? Okay , all right , maybe you can relate to these questions . These are all personal questions for me . Well , here's what you need to know about . You need to know about Thompson T's , the sweat proof undershirts . This has been a game changer . Have I told you about ?

Speaker 1 1:01

this no Game changer for me , dude . They're not a sponsor , I'm an affiliate , I so believe in this product . I started wearing them on stage everywhere I go . Men's Health called them the best undershirts for men , trying to control armpit sweat . I'm telling you , now I can wear light blue , watch out and jog . Yeah , and no stains , man , really yeah . So if you have felt like hyper hydrosis or you sweat heavily , you've probably tried everything you know to try to hide it and everything . Some people there's even like over the counter , like drugs and whatnot . So they have like this .

Speaker 1 1:33

I'm wearing one right now . It's like a lightweight layering system that like traps heat and moisture and allows them to evaporate , meaning like wet marks , sweat stains , colors don't sweep like seep through your clothes . That's the one part that I'm going to read word for word from the website that I'm like . But it's legit , they're machine washable , they're tag free , they're super comfortable . We're going to put a link in the show notes because it's like , since I'm an affiliate and they're not a sponsor , the website is like Thompson Tcom , backslash question mark REF , equals sign 1548% , underscore UTM , and it just keeps going . So you'll just have to go to the show notes to link . But if you do purchase , it does help us with what we're trying to do here and in the cause of the cause of the podcast .

Speaker 1 2:15

I say cause like we're saving puppies . You know we're on the college fund for my daughter . So , anyway , try Thompson T's . I'm telling you , if you have the armpit sweat problem , it's the solution . So , anyway , that's Thompson T's . I love freaking you out with that first question . Like he's going to start with that , let's go for it .

Speaker 1 2:32

I'm ready for anything . Yeah , you're like . I listed that as the last question . Why is he starting ? He's he flip the flip the script here . So anyway , also just a huge thank you to , et cetera , shawnee for providing the space , and they typically provide breakfast . We didn't eat today because all of us have to be somewhere .

Speaker 2 2:46

We're on the run , but you were saying how good the coffee is oh , the coffee's the best and I feel like I'm a breakfast aficionado . Et cetera is the best in town .

Speaker 1 2:55

You've been here .

Speaker 2 2:55

Oh yeah , wow , oh yeah . My wife is , I don't know , 100 pounds . She's so skinny , but she'll go . She'll or two plates here , she'll get the eggs benedict and something else and she'll just go to town . That's awesome , that's awesome .

Speaker 1 3:08

But again like this sometimes these guests just pop up perfectly and he's like endorsing our sponsor . So I didn't even know , so that's great . And then after you took a drink of coffee and he's like oh , that's so good . He's like oh sorry , devon , because you know I'm 100 plus days off coffee , but but it's all , good man we're , we're getting through it . So hey , brad , good to have you here .

Speaker 2 3:26

Hey man , good to have , good to be here .

Speaker 1 3:27

Everybody , brad Ellis , my new found friend . So Brad , christian husband , father of three , cohost of the ghost runners podcast . You've seen his sketch comedy skits on YouTube . You know it is Gene shorts comedy . And then let's flip on what he does . He also does , ellis , custom creations for custom made furniture . It's like YouTuber , podcaster , woodworker .

Speaker 1 3:51

That's right , that's I was like , I mean , everyone was expecting oh , woodworkers next , after , after this , gene shorts . You know he is passionate about his faith , his family , his sports , music , woodworking and comedy , and so we're going to have fun talking about this today . I mean , we have some . We have a lot of things in common . We found out after we had our first coffee . It was like what , and so so we have some things to talk about we're going to , but you know , obviously we're going to talk about possibilities for for you and we want to hear about what's next .

Speaker 1 4:20

What are you excited about ? How are you able to , like , maintain everything that's going on while pursuing the greater possibilities ? So so let's , let's start with this . We had a mutual friend , my daughter , who , like , works at Chick-fil-A . It was a fan of gene shorts comedy . By the way , if you don't follow them already on YouTube , go to gene shorts comedy , hilarious skits and then also the ghost runners podcast . So you guys really have it going on . I mean , you , you have retreats and stuff for your podcast fans , people fly in , right , and you , in fact , you even have some upcoming event this summer , like at a resort or something where people are coming .

Speaker 2 5:00

Yeah , yeah , you know , beach House Resort , sounds resort is generous for it yeah . Well , you know we , we basically , yeah , we're we're hosting a vacation for our fans . It's awesome . Yeah , it's like basically we found the biggest beach house we could find , biggest , nicest beach house in Gulf Shores , alabama . And yeah , there's like I think it we're doing two different sessions , but there's going to be like 70 people total coming , yeah , to have fun and just vacation with us on the beach .

Speaker 1 5:22

Man , is it sold out yet ?

Speaker 2 5:24

It's not quite sold out , so there you go , there you go .

Speaker 1 5:26

I don't know when . This is coming out in like maybe a month , so I don't know when is the retreat ?

Speaker 2 5:30

It'll be the end of April . April into May , so April 27th through the fourth of May .

Speaker 1 5:36

So maybe too late at this point to get tickets by the time you're hearing this , but that'd be incredible . Yeah , try it . Where could they get tickets if they ?

Speaker 2 5:41

Ghostrunnerslife is our website , becausecom was taken by some other people . Who knows ? But Ghostrunners is life . You know Ghostrunnerslife . All right , man , there , it is All right .

Speaker 1 5:50

We'll link to that too in the show notes , so appreciate that , okay . So so , claire , my daughter you know was already a fan of yours was working in Chick-fil-A and who should come through the drive-thru ? But Brad Ellis , right , do it like shooting a video for Gene Shorts right .

Speaker 2 6:07

It was like , yeah , every parent with a minivan or something like that , okay .

Speaker 1 6:11

Okay , yeah , and so she was featured , kind of it , you know , I don't know , giving you the food or something at the drive-thru and then at the end I think made some of the outtakes or something , yeah .

Speaker 2 6:19

Well , because I mean , our channel is big-ish , but not that big in the grand scheme of the world , and so we're not used to being recognized . And then all of a sudden we go through the drive-thru , this Chick-fil-A , thinking oh , we're going to be kind of uncomfortable filming this thing . And she's like , hey , I know you guys , you guys have Gene Shorts coming . I was like , yeah , we are , thank you for knowing us .

Speaker 1 6:39

That is , that is awesome , man . Well , and what she told me earlier that day I think we talked about this when I had her on the podcast was she was thinking that day about wouldn't that be weird if the Gene Shorts people came here to Chick-fil-A ? And then you came that day and the world just works like that sometimes , where when you're kind of like following something , you're into something you think about . Could this like become part of my life in some way ?

Speaker 2 7:00

And there it was very , very weird . Just wild , yeah , just just see . And . And then , of course , she started coming to church with us and then you guys started coming . It is awesome , I know I know .

Speaker 1 7:08

So then I I you know finally meet Brad at church and he's taking care of one of our kids , because he's a , he's that kind of guy , he's just gonna , you know , take care of babies with his wife he and Catherine , which was awesome .

Speaker 1 7:17

And so I'm like , oh , this , this guy's neat . And then it . Then it turns out I'm like , oh , he , he does the podcast thing , he's a YouTuber . I'm kind of transitioning . Well , I'm not transitioning , I'm adding more of a trying to add more to my YouTube channel , have a bit greater impact . Started the podcast recently , so I was like we have things to learn . And then it turns out you might want to do more speaking . So I was like we have things to talk about .

Speaker 2 7:38

So , yeah , it was so funny , we hung out or hung out , we talked probably 10 times every you know when I would see you in the hallway , but it was always like how's it going ? Hey , good to see you . Oh , you have 15 kids . Okay , go 10 to your 50 , you know whatever . And so it's just , it's just chaos . Yeah , as you're transitioning , you know getting all these you know kids picked up and everything , and so I didn't even get to know you at all . And all of a sudden I get to know you and I'm like , oh , we're like one the same , I mean our circles , like we just found out .

Speaker 1 8:04

You know Tyler Hilker , who was on the podcast once before , from a connection in Oregon where they're from , and your sister happened to go up there and do some missions .

Speaker 2 8:11

Yeah , they work together .

Speaker 1 8:13

I mean the circles overlap , it's crazy . And then then it turns out that your sister and my wife were sorority sisters . We put this together while we were having coffee and it was like such a mind blowing moment .

Speaker 2 8:25

It was like what ?

Speaker 1 8:26

Yeah , so just a small world thing , and and then you know , it turns out you had a water birth or a home birth for your you know one of yours and we had started home births

Epic Water Birth Story

Speaker 1 8:37

at 1.2 . It turns out you're like a huge fan of the office , which I mean , who is ? I know it's like what ? You love the office , yeah , oh my gosh , that's insane . But I mean you and Jake , your your co-host , and you know what's Jake's last name ? Triplet , triplet .

Speaker 2 8:50

Let me know .

Speaker 1 8:50

Jake , it's . It's crazy . You guys are fans of the office . I don't know if you're like me , but I will drop office quotes around people who have no idea what I'm talking about . I'll be like . I'll be back .

Speaker 2 9:00

I am back and I'm just kind of like what ? But I'm just kind of like right , Right , yeah .

Speaker 1 9:04

And I mean Lynn and I have so many just all the time , uh , quotes from the office , so I really appreciated that about you and Jake , that that's like one of the things you know .

Speaker 2 9:12

I want there to be like an office fan quiz that like sets your status as far as how deep of an office is . I think everyone's a fan of the office quote , unquote but I feel like I'm like really deep into like Uber fan yeah . And it was like I liked them . I mean I started watching right when it came out in high school . Okay , uh and just yeah , just a big high school .

Speaker 1 9:35

You're aging me , dude . I already had like what ? 10 kids . At that point , man , I didn't have time to watch the office . I had to watch , you know reruns .

Speaker 2 9:44

I'm using the word reruns , he's using Netflix .

Speaker 1 9:49

You're like what's a rerun ?

Speaker 2 9:50

Yeah , exactly Name that movie . What's a rerun ? Yeah , what the heck is a rerun .

Speaker 1 9:54

I don't know . It goes back to the future . Oh yeah , that's all right man .

Speaker 2 9:57

I've only seen that like twice in my life .

Speaker 1 9:59

See , that used to be my favorite movie , so I was just obsessed . But that was back in my day , I mean , that came out way before you were born .

Speaker 2 10:04

I remember back when we went and saw the pictures Friday night . The picture show my dad called him the picture show .

Speaker 1 10:10

Oh man , that's great dude . So we had , yeah , the office and then um . So then you had this , uh , this water birth thing . Was it a water birth or just a home birth ?

Speaker 2 10:19

Technically it was not a water birth . I mean you can listen to the whole story on Ghost Runners podcast .

Speaker 1 10:23

But I mean I have a , so 4,560 . I think it's called like the craziest birth story of all time .

Speaker 2 10:28

It's the name of the episode , but I mean , yeah , the long story short . The , the , the tub that you're supposed to , you know , have this delivery in or whatever have it as an option uh , was leaking out all over my brand new hardwood floors and so , as my wife is in like excruciating labor , battling through it , I am like literally bailing water out of my house out into the backyard from this tub . That's just getting all over my you know , $1,000 hardwood floors .

Speaker 1 10:57

Did you lay these floors ? No , I didn't .

Speaker 2 10:58

I hired somebody to do it . I've learned that if I can hire somebody with house projects , just sure . Okay , all right , don't cause the stress , so anyway , but just yeah yeah , and so of course , I was like frustrated , but I'm like this is not the real thing . That's crazy and stressful right now , right , but in my head I'm like , hey , this is a problem , we got to do something about it .

Speaker 1 11:18

You're talking about . The birth wasn't the big problem , it was the floors that was come on .

Speaker 2 11:23

The water is going to mess up the wood here .

Speaker 1 11:25

Yeah , if you could just put a hold on that and help me bail some water .

Speaker 2 11:29

Do you mind ? Just helping out earlier .

Speaker 1 11:31

You're just going to lay there , grab a buck , come on .

Speaker 2 11:33

So I mean it's a long story , but yeah long story short is that happened and then the midwife is supposed to get there and help out . She didn't get there in time .

Speaker 1 11:45

So literally birth .

Speaker 2 11:46

Yeah , I was , I was , I caught the baby .

Speaker 1 11:50

No way , it was wild . Okay , your story is better than mine , cause we have . I mean , I used to do a comedy bit about our first water birth and thought it was pretty good . But wow , dude , that's insane it was .

Speaker 2 12:01

It was something to behold . I mean , it was one of those like God is real , this is wild , this is , I mean , a miracle , I don't know . And I and before that that was our third child and before that the other two babies I was so nervous about anything birth related , like they're like you want to cut the cord and I'm like no , thank you .

Speaker 1 12:18

I'm not , I'm not . I have to be in the house . Well , yeah , what if I ?

Speaker 2 12:21

mess up on you know , and and this time they're like do you want to cut the cord ? I was like give me those , I'll do . I'll do anything you want me to do At this point . I'm just an MD , okay .

Speaker 1 12:31

So I have to know , just because I know the details of not that I'm going to get , but the baby comes out . I've always worried about when to cut the envelope or when to tie it off . Did you just then hold the baby and wait till the midwife got there to do all that ?

Speaker 2 12:43

other yes .

Speaker 1 12:43

How long did the midwife get there after the birth ?

Speaker 2 12:46

That's been . It's up for speculation . Catherine , my wife , who doesn't have a watch on her , thinks it was like 30 seconds . I think it was seven minutes .

Speaker 1 12:56

Okay .

Speaker 2 12:56

It was very , it felt very fast .

Speaker 1 12:58

What's the midwife say .

Speaker 2 13:00

She was just . I mean , so we like FaceTime the midwife as she's like going 90 miles an hour down the road and , to be fair to the midwife , my wife was like so considerate and so kind , like yeah , it's okay . I mean I don't think I'm that far into labor yet .

Speaker 1 13:14

Because there's so many false alarms you hate putting them through . That Totally .

Speaker 2 13:17

And this midwife had another appointment down south and we're you know , up Northern Johnson County , whatever like 30 minutes away .

Speaker 1 13:24

Yeah , the rich part of town . Yeah , we're doing just fine .

Speaker 2 13:26

No , yeah , and our three bed , two bath , you know . But you know , so she's like FaceTiming me going very fast down the highway and so , which I can't imagine what that FaceTime would look like to her , oh right , and the people driving next to her like what is ? Mommy , I don't think you're allowed to look at that , yeah .

Speaker 1 13:45

So no , but how long did the midway ? You said seven minutes .

Speaker 2 13:48

I think it was seven minutes or so , but the midway thought what did she have a time to ?

Speaker 1 13:53

I don't know . I didn't know if it was like we should ask her about it . Yeah , you should ask her . Yeah , I'm curious .

Speaker 2 13:57

Next , time I was yeah , but like I mean she got there , yeah , to answer your question , though it was just we just held that thing and just you know , just put her close to mom and just waited , just like don't , don't screw anything up , like just just sit here .

Speaker 1 14:11

So it was a wild time , I have not heard this story . Oh yeah , and there's more there's more to it . I want to hear and I want to go listen to it , because , between the water , and the midwife not being there . I'm like what ? Is that just the tip of the iceberg ? Then , yeah there's okay , I won't make you get into it now , but the inside joke for it is called .

Speaker 2 14:28

They call it puddle city with the , with the all the water .

Speaker 1 14:31

Oh , the floor's okay .

Speaker 2 14:32

The floors are okay . If I pointed out , you'd notice it a little- I'd see it , but not terrible . I mean , but if you like kind of run your feet across it , you'd be like oh yeah , it's not quite as smooth as the rest of the floor .

Speaker 1 14:42

But Do you ever like rub it in with your wife ? Oh man , this is the spot . You ever call that with an argument I was hoping to have some kind of a discount from this midwife place ? Oh right .

Speaker 2 14:50

Listen , you gave me a faulty tongue and you didn't get there on time . Like we spent money on this , you know whatever , but they did a great job yeah .

Speaker 1 14:59

I ultimately it comes down to . In a situation like that , I'm like man if everything turned out healthy , I'll pay whatever money , 100% . You know the fact that it went okay 100% . It's like you don't even care after that and I was I mean I was so anti all that stuff .

Speaker 2 15:13

I was like as go to the hospital for every single thing ever . And now I've definitely shifted my mindset of like hey , I like , I mean there's so many benefits to the home birth thing . Yeah , oh , for sure , but yeah , for the longest time I was like that is the weirdest thing anybody could ever do .

Speaker 1 15:26

I know , I know I'm we're never doing that .

Speaker 2 15:29

I think , I told my wife that we're never doing that .

Speaker 1 15:30

I've said that about so many things in my life . And look at me now . I was doing all these weird things Exactly Re-evaluate . So well , man , as much as I would love to just back up and find out about Brad from , just you know , kindergarten on , we don't have time for that today . But man , I was telling Lynn , I told , I told her I was like man , I feel like I could have Brad on here all day . Come on , you know , with with as much as we have in common and as cool as you are .

Starting a Woodworking Business and Passion

Speaker 1 15:51

But tell me about the woodworking business . How did you get started in that ?

Speaker 2 15:54

What's that like ? So yeah , I got started literally right when we got married . I had like 13 days before my real job , like we got married . I got married right out of high , high school , not , I'm not that wild Right out of college and you're an orthodox , but come on .

Speaker 1 16:11

Yeah , I mean come on , we're having homebursts , but we're not that great .

Speaker 2 16:13

No , we're homeschooling our kids . We're not that weird , no . But yeah , I got married shortly after graduating college , got my first job that I was starting like 13 days after marriage and so was just so bored for those 13 days and my wife was working and I was just so and she's like you just need to have some kind of hobby and she's like maybe this coffee table , we need a coffee table for our house . And we went to Nebraska for Intermar wherever and it was so expensive to buy a coffee table and it was crappy materials . So I was like I guess I can learn how to make one of those and literally had never . I mean , my dad is the best man in the world , but he is not a handy guy at all . Like I couldn't . I did not grow up knowing the difference between a two by four and a two by six and whatever Like didn't grow up using the drill .

Speaker 1 17:01

You guys didn't even own a ruler . I mean right that was about .

Speaker 2 17:05

yeah , we had a protractor for geometry class and that was about it .

Speaker 1 17:07

And by the way , pause real quick . That was the other thing your dad and my mom have worked together at Johnson County Community College for like 80 years or something I mean yeah , I got lunch right after I met with you , with my dad .

Speaker 2 17:18

He's like I know , devin , I'm like , of course you do , I know , I mean this that's what that coffee was like .

Speaker 1 17:22

It was like all these discoveries . So I had to pause there because I forgot that .

Speaker 2 17:25

Oh yeah , okay , so here you are .

Speaker 1 17:27

You have to make this coffee table . You've never done this , that's . That's then what ?

Speaker 2 17:30

And and yeah , just just . I just YouTubeed a lot of videos , watched some people tell me how to cut wood with a saw . I mean I did . I literally had to like look up , like how do you make a straight cut on a saw ? Like I was that amateur .

Speaker 1 17:43

How do you reattach a finger ?

Speaker 2 17:45

Yeah , genuine . And so somehow , you know , miraculously , this first coffee table turned out okay and I was so proud of it because I'd never done anything like that . And then you know , six months later or so , I was in the market , or the desire , I guess , to just buy a new guitar . But I didn't have . We were newlyweds , I didn't have any money . And so I was like , well , maybe if I just made a little extra , spending money by selling another table or two .

Speaker 1 18:08

Oh , I thought you were going to say you made a guitar . No , I was like what ?

Speaker 2 18:11

That would be incredible . Oh , yeah , yeah , I needed new cars . I just built one real quick , no , so yeah , just I was like maybe I could make enough money on the side doing this , this woodworking thing . And so I remember the first coffee table I ever sold . I think I made like $40 . And that I felt like a king . Sure , I was like I can't believe I just made $40 doing something very fun .

Speaker 1 18:33

I think that's more money than I've profited from this podcast . It made me All of today . Yeah , exactly .

Speaker 2 18:37

It's like what yeah ?

Speaker 1 18:40

Who am I working for ?

Speaker 2 18:41

Yeah and so , yeah , it was like it was awesome . And so I was working corporate job and doing this little woodworking thing on the side and I got so busy with both of them that eventually I was like , well , I got to quit one or the other . Ah , I was working like 18 hours a day .

Speaker 1 18:56

And I missed it . What was , what was the real job at that point ?

Speaker 2 18:59

Oh yeah , Cerner .

Speaker 1 19:00

Oh , it was Cerner .

Speaker 2 19:00

Okay , okay , IT pharmacy IT tech company for hospitals . So , yeah , yeah , Healthcare IT , I guess , is what they call it . So not a fun job by any means , kind of a soul sucking classic like first job out of college , like no one really cares about you , kind of thing .

Speaker 1 19:15

Yeah yeah .

Speaker 2 19:16

But yeah , did it and was fine , didn't hate it , but it was not fulfilling to me like this woodworking thing was . And so yeah , quit about two years into working at Cerner , and I've been doing that woodworking thing now like almost eight years , so yeah .

Speaker 1 19:31

That's what , and it's funny . It wasn't like a dream , it was like you know what I mean from a kit . It was like your wife's , like this needs to be done .

Speaker 2 19:38

Yeah . Boom Well it was all I always had like , I think , desires growing up to be an entrepreneur of something . I always liked sales . I liked the idea of like somehow being persuasive or selling things to people and enjoying that aspect of business . But I never wanted to just do sales for something I didn't care about . Like I never wanted to like . I remember I interviewed for a job at a freight company that was like you would sell freight and I'm like I don't even know what freight is .

Speaker 2 20:05

I'm not passionate about freight , you know , whereas , like tables and stuff , like tables to me represent , you know , turning a house into a home . I grew up around the dinner table with my family . Okay , you know , we would tell the best stories , have great memories , have great , you know whatever , bible studies , game nights , all these different things with friends , and so to me , I'm like , if I can build things that can cultivate a deeper meaning than just a beautiful piece of furniture , that's what I get excited about . So that's I love that that's the whole .

Speaker 1 20:32

Why I mean that's what everyone's searching out . Why am I doing this ? You know it's so so important it's like , what else is possible ? You know , selling freight , yeah , but what if I ? What if ? What's possible , if I like ? Impassioned about what I do and I'm transforming lives , cultivating values for other people that I have found value in myself growing up , so I love how that really became a passion . That's . That's cool .

Speaker 2 20:53

Because people care about the wood and the way it looks to an extent , but really people care about what . Can I get out of this thing ? What are the benefits . Who cares about how you joined the wood together and what finish you use ? Some people might like some dorky like woodworking guys like me would like that , but most of the people are like I just want a beautiful table for my family to grow around , kind of thing .

Speaker 1 21:12

So yeah , Anyway that's what you're making me think of , as I've been like putting some new illusions , illusions , magic tricks into my keynote , and so whenever I do that , I have like a magic friend that I jam with and we care about all the behind the scenes aspects of magic and like we geek out about it . I'm like this is cool , this is awesome and it's part of what you do , but the audience just sees the , the result .

Speaker 2 21:34

Yeah , the end product , kind of with you .

Speaker 1 21:36

Like , like you know , a lot of people don't know how you glue wood together and how long that takes , but it's like this is a beautiful table and you're kind of like man . You enjoy the behind the scenes aspect of that Totally . There's something , something fun about it .

Speaker 2 21:46

Yes , they're , yeah , they're . It's cool . It is fun to , yeah , worry about those things , but at the end of the day , if it doesn't work as a functional table , who cares how you put it together ? If the trick doesn't awesome , buddy , who cares how you know what you did to get there , or whatever ?

Speaker 1 22:01

So so just curious now , before we move on to all things podcasting and everything else you do what is the wood weekend working business look like today ? Is it just Kansas City ? Do you ship things , do you ? Go to their home and measure like table space . What's that look like ?

Speaker 2 22:15

Yes to all . All of the above , yeah .

Speaker 2 22:16

So I mean because of the podcast . We've had people obviously listening to us from

Woodworking Business and Podcast Journey

Speaker 2 22:21

all over the place . I talked about my woodworking business on there and the stories that I , you know , have from that , and so , mainly because of the podcast , I've started selling all over the United States , but I prefer to do it locally , just because then I can , yeah , go to their house , measure and everything , but yeah , I'll ship it out . I've shipped it to all . I mean probably I don't know 25 different States at this point yeah .

Speaker 2 22:42

So , which is always a little bit nerve-wracking , because if it gets shipped and they don't like something , or you know- the ship the people that ship it mess up . It's like I don't know what to tell you .

Speaker 1 22:54

I have to hire somebody out there or something , so but yeah mainly local , but I'll do anything and everything .

Speaker 2 23:00

Okay .

Speaker 1 23:01

That's why I say everything from tape , custom tables to chairs , to shelving , to you name it .

Speaker 2 23:06

Yeah , I obviously , like I said , kind of prefer the dining table . You know aspect of all this stuff , but I'll build almost anything . I don't love cabinets people ask me about cabinets . I'm like I'm not gonna do cabinets I don't want to like install Into somebody's house that that I don't know . I'm not there yet .

Speaker 1 23:23

I'm not comfortable with . The dining room table is kind of like your niche . That's my favorite thing .

Speaker 2 23:28

Yeah , that's the thing I get most pumped about , because then I can meet these families who then like , for example , zach is friends with Oliver , one of his best friends , oliver's dad , is ordering a table biggest table I think I'll ever make . I mean it's 13 , 14 feet long . I mean gonna hold 20 people on it because they're just like we like to host people . We like to have that as many people as we can around this table , so that I get excited about that kind of thing more than I get excited about yeah , I built some floating shelves for some plates to go on you know , yeah , yeah , wow .

Speaker 1 23:59

So so father of three starts a woodworking business and decides you know what ? I'm not busy enough . Right , let's start a podcast and start a YouTube channel . That's just gonna like crush it . So talk to me about that . How did that come up ? How did you and Jake say it ? Let's do this .

Speaker 2 24:12

Yeah , on accident basically I mean . So Jake and I have been friends for a long time . He actually worked in ministry with my wife and so We've done a few like fun things like the podcast or like these videos on the side , just for fun . Probably seven or eight years ago we kind of started doing some different things like that . But he got into podcasts before I ever did I'd never really listened to podcasts before and he's like we should start one . I was like , yeah , okay , that sounds cool . What , why not ? I'll do whatever you want me to do , man .

Speaker 1 24:40

But that's what you're doing . Someone's your best friend . You just say , hey , it's just trust , doing it together .

Speaker 2 24:43

Yeah , that's what it was was just like let's just spend time recording our conversations . It wasn't like this oh , this is gonna be this magic formula that we're gonna make money from and so were you not even thinking money , no monetizing at all . I don't know if I was thinking period . I don't know I honestly , I don't know if I had any aspirations for this thing initially . I think I will say so . Jake used to live in . Jake took like a year to live in Dallas and worked for this youtuber juggling Josh , what's his name ?

Speaker 1 25:12

Okay , fun guy .

Speaker 2 25:13

Would probably be right up there , aligned with , you know , magicians and junkers right there .

Speaker 2 25:18

Anyway , did some fun videos with him and he would come and visit Kansas City and I would . He would stay with me , I would drive him to the airport and then the car on the way to the airport We'd have these funny conversations . And that was right when the comedians and cars getting coffee Jerry Seinfeld show Was getting so popular and I was like I'm not trying to say that we're like Jerry Seinfeld , but like this is kind of similar to comedians , the cars getting coffee , like these conversations are just fun and whatever . And so he's like we should start a podcast . So we move back to Kansas City and we started this podcast and it's , it's truly about nothing . I mean we just we just talk about our lives . I mean that's what it's about is our lives . It's not about like we're not interviewing people to make them better in leadership or life or anything , we're just talking about our lives .

Speaker 1 26:00

Well , it's one of those podcasts that I love , where , like not that it puts me to sleep , but if I'm going to sleep , yeah , it's not gonna make me like like emotionally charged around politics or news or current events , kind of like just fun , so that you can like relax and it's an enjoyable list , or even on a road trip . I'll be like , I just feel like chilling , yeah . Yeah , turn your brain off a little bit and just just have some fun .

Speaker 2 26:22

Yeah , I mean we keep it clean . Maybe ever once while we'll have an innuendo in there because Jake just got married or something .

Speaker 2 26:30

But like I mean it's okay to listen to it front of your kids . You know , like we keep it clean . We were very positive and that first it was kind of just that's who we are . And then we realized the more that we've got feedback from people they don't care as much about how funny we are . I mean they like that aspect of it , but I think they really just enjoy Listening to two guys who are positive . Yeah , we talked highly about their wives .

Speaker 1 26:50

Yeah like .

Speaker 2 26:51

As crazy as that sounds , these days it's . It's less and less common to find people that are just enjoying life and not complaining about everything and whatever . So it's been a fun , fun journey to see how it's progressed and how we've got fans .

Speaker 1 27:05

It's , it's weird that it's crazy man . Yeah , it's the part that I'm trying to more just like think okay , I have an impact from the stage . How can I impact a bigger , you know , following online ? Because I feel like the message is something that gives people hope . So it's like okay . So I'm kind of watching you guys saying how do I take what I'm doing and turn it into more of that where I just reach more ? You can just reach more people you know , and so .

Speaker 1 27:27

So just curious what year did you start the podcast and why'd you call it ghost runners ? Yeah but Lynn asked me at the other day she goes what is this ghost runners thing ?

Speaker 2 27:34

I was like I I think if you ask Jake , he would say I , we should have called it anything , but I loved the ghost runners day , but we started in 2019 .

Speaker 2 27:44

So when I only had one kid at that time , so I wasn't that okay , add one more thing , start in 2019 . And we call it ghost runners because we were like what should we name this podcast ? And I said as a kid , you know , I don't know about you , but I always wanted to have a band . Growing up , I was one of the band , like to be in a band , and my favorite band growing up was death cab for cutie and they all they nicknamed death cab for cutie death cab . And so I was like I want my band to be called ghost runner .

Speaker 2 28:10

On second , which is like you know , yeah , the wiffle ball term , or when you don't have enough people to run the bases , and you're like , all right , ghost runs . And I want , I want people to nickname us ghost runner . And so I was like what if we just name our podcast ghost runners and it's wait ? So , literally , that was about as much thought as we put into it . Jake was like , sure , yeah , I don't care , I'm not gonna do this for more than five episodes probably , so why not ?

Speaker 1 28:31

I never tied it to that ghost runner the other ghost runner , for we used to say that all the time playing kickball and a wiffle ball , and I was always thinking ghost , but ghost bussers , or like ghost hunters or something .

Speaker 2 28:40

But that makes so much more sense , yeah so so many people are like , oh , it must be some , you know , spiritual , like talking about ghosts , and I'm like it's not about ghosts .

Speaker 1 28:49

And that's why .

Speaker 2 28:49

Jake doesn't like it . He's like oh , I see , whereas I still like it because it's it's so different and memorable .

Speaker 1 28:54

That's the thing is so catchy and I mean marketing people will try to , like you know , always talking theory about . Well , here's why you should , man . If it's working , it's working .

Speaker 2 29:02

If you're here , ghost runners once and you're not gonna forget , yeah , yeah so then also Jean shorts .

Speaker 1 29:08

Yeah , you know but is that there ?

Speaker 2 29:13

was another , yeah , just super random . Jake had like for a while Done different like videos where he just wore Jean shorts in his videos , like he would go off of you know ramp at a water park wearing change and you know doing all these goofy things , and I thought it was like it's one of those things where you're just gonna remember Jean shorts . It kind of had a little bit of a second you know meaning behind the shorts aspect of you know YouTube shorts or whatever . But we threw around a few different ideas . One of them that I liked that we didn't end up doing was rectangle pizza , because do you remember ?

Speaker 1 29:43

Yes , with corn , yeah , like the old-school lunch rectangle pizza , or we talk about good pizza you know , just super nonsensical .

Speaker 2 29:52

Yeah , I don't know why they call it rectangle pizza , but it's funny and they're gonna remember it . So went with Jean shorts and but yeah , people are always like , oh , you guys , are the the blue jeans guys ? Right , I'm like pretty close , almost Jean shorts . So Another one that just . Yeah , I think originally Trey Kennedy , who we started the channel with , one to call it do less , god bless shorts , or something like that , and I was like let's just call it Jean shorts .

Speaker 1 30:17

Yeah , what you said made me look . I looked up a comedian he was . I think he was from here in Kansas City . No , charlotte , north Carolina . Mike Spienberg , okay , he featured here one time at the Kansas City Improv and talked about the rectangle pizza . Oh yeah , all about generational things from kids from like the 80s and 90s . He was talking about that . You know who would roll up their corn right in their rectangle pizza . Look him up , mike Spienberg .

Speaker 2 30:40

It was like a little burrito .

Speaker 1 30:42

Yes , he talked about rat tails , he talked about big wheels and once you start like it loses the traction .

Speaker 2 30:48

Yeah , so he's awesome and that's kind of my mindset is like Listening some kind of nostalgia behind ghost writer on second , you know , you said like oh , we used to say that all the time . You know , like we have a football like little , like alternate podcast , so we do every once in a while called all-time quarterback . So the same kind of idea like when you're a kid , you don't have enough people to play both sides . I'll be the all-time quarterback .

Speaker 1 31:10

So yes .

Speaker 2 31:11

Anyway , gene shorts , kind of the same idea .

Speaker 1 31:13

So so you're into sports like what is football then ? Like the big , I know you guys have done some football . You know skits and that kind of thing with gene shorts . Yeah , did you play football , drew up ?

Speaker 2 31:21

playing football . Yeah , high school is pretty big deal in high school for me to play and but I I like basketball the most , I like playing basketball the most , but I Don't look like a basketball player , look like a football player . So therefore I was better at football . But I I get really passionate about the chiefs . Obviously , anybody in Kansas City right now is so into it , but we've done a few different gene shorts , chiefs parade videos actually , where we just go and interview people at the parade and Just get so into that .

Speaker 2 31:48

Um , and yeah , just love , love basketball . Grew up a huge ku Basketball fan . Even though I went to k-state , I still maintain a huge k ? U fandom with my dad and so get really into that as well . So , yeah , just I love , love sports , I love what it can like , what it taught me as far as you know , just leaning on somebody else as a team , learning how to fail together , learning how to you know individually fail , but somebody else picks you up and then you can still succeed , kind of thing , and so it's just , it's special to me , it's something I'm excited for hopefully my kids to experience someday , to play in some sports . So , yeah , it's my daughter .

Speaker 1 32:24

Right now she's six and she just started her first year of cheerleading , which is not sports but it was yeah , I just wanted to do cheerleading next year , and upward too , and it's kind of like all right , I mean it is a sport . Yeah , it's just one of the things where it's uh , it's a different vibe , right when you're going to watch and be a spectator and you know so it's . We're trying to wrap our minds around . Is this really what they want to do , and is it the best thing ?

Speaker 2 32:49

now I just sound like some anti cheerleader , like no , I don't do cheerleading every , every cheer . I'm clapping at the end of it , like you know , I don't know what else . Kind of , just it's cheerly , just kind of over on the side . And when she she gets done with that cheer I clap . I wave to she's still at the age where she's not embarrassed by me .

Speaker 1 33:04

She's waving every time . It's . It's awesome , though . By the way , you know we've mentioned your family . Shout out to your sister , dana . I mentioned your sister . I don't know actually said her name when I said she and linda would , but Dana , awesome , I knew her from case .

Speaker 2 33:15

Oh yeah , my sisters are the best . I'm the baby of art family my Dana's , 10 years older than me , julie's , eight years older than me , and they're they're awesome role models . It was like I had three moms in a good way like growing up .

Speaker 1 33:26

So yeah , hey , I was a surprise too . So yeah I was , I was the third .

Speaker 2 33:30

And yeah , my mom says no , no , no , brad , we just , we stopped at perfection , we stopped at perfection .

Speaker 1 33:35

I was like yeah , that's good life , and then had you .

Speaker 2 33:39

Yeah , then . Yeah , julie was great , then we have yeah , no , that's fine .

Speaker 1 33:42

Well , my , my dad was older . He was like 49 when I was born , and so he's . You know . I used to say he's always like you are surprised . I was like , so were you gramps . I was not expecting 49 I know , I know man .

Speaker 1 33:52

So oh , brother

Fatherhood and Future Goals

Speaker 1 33:54

, anyway , okay . So I mean , when I look at your life and I'm sure when a lot of people look at your life they're like what else is possible ? Things are already going so great . But when you have a possibility mindset , I mean you're young , you know , and you're still thinking like what else could I do ? Well , what else is possible at this point , even though things are going well right . So so what else is possible for you at this point , brad , concerning , you know , career , um , how to support your family ? Moving forward , what's , what's this look like right now ?

Speaker 2 34:20

for you . Yeah , I mean , I think I , as as as I'm getting further into life uh , you know , I'm 33 . I'm I'm wise at this point , you know . No , but the the more and more I get into family life , the more I become a dad , the more passionate I am about family , about assault , like what it means to be a good dad .

Speaker 2 34:41

I think I think we have a huge fatherhood problem in America . I think I think dads are not good . A lot , uh , or a lot of the things that are issues in America come back to dads not being great , and so I get more and more passionate about being a strong family man , teaching other people what it looks like to be a better family man , what , what we can do better in that regard , and and then obviously , marriage as well , because I think there's a lot of single moms because the dads aren't there , and and how , how big of a deal that is . So I think in my head , I'm like that's , that's what I'm excited to talk to you and get to you , to know you more about Is like the speaking aspect of things . I would love to obviously make people laugh , but at the end of the day , I also want to make people , you know , think differently and and view this world differently and find your identity and something deeper than just whatever your job or whatever .

Speaker 2 35:29

So Because I think I think , as , as men , we have a responsibility , as godly men especially , we have a responsibility to be great dads , to to , you know , cultivate the next generation of leaders , and and so I get excited thinking about that , and so , yeah , I think Maybe someday down the line I'll be doing speaking of some sort Um . If not that , then some kind of video speaking or whatever , maybe a different podcast that's more centered around that . I don't know , we'll see Um , but right now it's just an interesting like we'll just see what God gives us and see how we want to pivot , you know , along the way , cause obviously I didn't ever think I was going to be a woodworker and then from there I didn't think I was going to stop doing a lot of woodworking to do more podcasting and video stuff , and so it's just a matter of how do I continue to see what is in front of me , considering you , to see the opportunities and try to lean into those as best I can .

Speaker 1 36:19

So yeah . So , from what you're seeing , what could dads be doing better ? Like what would it take for to be like okay , now we've , now we've got it going , the dads are doing their job . What would that look like ?

Speaker 2 36:28

I mean , I think just intentionality , um , and just just being there , you know , I think that's I , that's so simple , but it's something that I think we're becoming less and less present , whether it's physically or it's literally , like you're looking at a screen the entire time . You're with your child , Right , you know , I mean I , I'm , I'm guilty of that all the time where I'm just like they're going to grow up , I mean , my kids are growing up in a culture where they've never seen me not looking at my screen , every single day in front of it , you know , and so , um , I think so often it's , it's especially as a young parent .

Speaker 2 37:02

it's how do I get through the day , rather than how do I win the day with my kid ? You know , how do I , how do I , how do I just get to bedtime , and then it's . I don't know , I feel like you probably resonate with this maybe not , you know , with as many kids as you have , but , like so often , it's like how do we get to bedtime , how do we get to the time where it's just me and my wife ? And then , when it's you and your wife , you're like scrolling through your phone looking at pictures of your kids and it's like I missed them .

Speaker 2 37:24

It's like , well , if you miss them so much in the moment or you know afterwards , like understand the moment , and so I mean I'm not perfect . I'm . I'm still learning so much about all this stuff . But one of the things I'm intentional with is we call it dadder days on Saturday morning .

Speaker 2 37:40

Just taking the kids out to breakfast , just me and them . And right now I mean my oldest daughter . She's six years old , and so we're not having like deep conversations , but I try to we have these like conversation starter questions . We call them uncommon questions . Got this like box of , like this deck of cards , and usually I try to like pick out a few like pretty simple ones , like how do you describe yourself or what's your favorite movie , and then it's like get a little more of a deep one , like you know , what does it mean ?

Speaker 2 38:04

to follow Jesus or something ? Like that so um , you know , just just trying to cultivate memories with them , trying to um , just , yeah , just be intentional

Finding Balance With Technology and Family

Speaker 2 38:14

. I think is the the main answer there . That's how my dad was . My dad , you know , took me on trips , just him and me . You know , him and I whatever , the just me and my father .

Speaker 2 38:26

So , uh , you know , and just , and , and yeah , I don't remember every conversation , I don't remember many conversations by dad had , but I remember the intent behind it and and it just it's impactful to me today . It's , it makes me want to be a better man for my kids .

Speaker 1 38:41

So yeah , do you have like hard and fast rules for your phone and like cause ? I don't .

Speaker 2 38:48

I'll be honest .

Speaker 1 38:49

Um , but sometimes I'm like , okay , five o'clock it goes away , yeah . But then it's like , well , what if I go on a random walk with two kids and I need my phone to be able to text Lynn and let her know hey , we've left , don't worry about these two kids , I have them . Or I need to take this picture , or you can always justify , I need to check where my 16 year old is on three Like three .

Speaker 1 39:06

We can always justify it . I think it comes . Someone told me it comes down to control . You just want to control everything and , I guess in unhealthy way . I want to be able to know where everyone is , communicate perfectly , and it's like , if you're just willing to give up control , could you just leave the phone in a drawer and go out and play basketball and not feel like you need it with you , Right , you know ?

Speaker 2 39:25

100% , I think . I mean I've tried . No , I don't even know if I've really truly tried . That's probably too extreme of a word . But I've had intentions of like I'm going to turn my phone into a house phone where it just sits right here and I it makes a noise if I need to get to it . Or I'm going to put my phone at six o'clock every every night or five o'clock in this area and , and you know , put it on airplane mode or something Right . But I have not been intentional with that . Like I want to um , but yeah , but because because of the justification of it , because of oh well , you know , sometimes people might call me or whatever . And what if ? What if my mom needs me ? What if ?

Speaker 2 40:01

my dad you know is in the hospital or something Well that's never happened once , uh , and you know if it , I don't know . So we've thought about all these different things and we've even thought about like turning my wife's old phone like I mean six year old phone into like a , have it on Wi-Fi or something and have a different number and it's like our emergency number .

Speaker 1 40:20

Yeah , but see , with Claire we tried to do that . It was like , um , this would have been about three years ago , right at the beginning of the COVID , and we thought we'll have a family phone because I was getting a new phone , It'll be a family phone , We'll became Claire's phone . So it's really hard to create that community phone with now . Now someone has claimed it . Uh . So I mean you can like all these and we've had so many intentions over the years . I'm not saying don't have intentions , but it's like it really does like , uh , the screens just like start to infiltrate and then everybody wants it , and then it just finds its way . It just works its way slowly into the , the , just the fabric of your home . And you're all of a sudden you're like , how did you get a phone ? Cause I had the number . I didn't put Claire , I put Henderson family , just to remind me this is a family phone .

Speaker 2 41:06

And I it still says Henderson family like three years later she's like why is it still saying ?

Speaker 1 41:10

Henderson , I was like I'm holding out hope man .

Speaker 2 41:12

It's a family phone . Well , I mean , like growing up yeah , we were , I was , I was watching TV , a lot Like whatever . I played video . But like now it's like the screens are getting smaller and smaller and everyone's got their individualized screens . And that's what I think is the issue , like we have , Friday night movie night every every week and it's like a fun tradition that we do , but we all sit together watch one screen it's not like it's different .

Speaker 1 41:32

you know , it's just everyone's getting on Tik Tok or whatever . Right yeah .

Speaker 2 41:36

Everyone's in their own room , everyone's secluded . Now it's like , no , we're coming together to watch this , yeah , so we get into that for a long time . But I'm sure , uh , cause I , yeah , I'm , I'm scared of , yeah , giving my kids a phone and what that's going to be like for them , and all that stuff . So I'm sure you've you've learned lessons on that too .

Speaker 1 41:50

Oh yeah , Well , I'm excited for the next leg of your journey , for your life or what I think , mainly because , like when we talked well , we have so much in common with homeschooling and you know multiple children and then you talked about possibly wanting to speak and speaking a humorous way that delivers a serious message , and so during coffee we taught , I was like , man , that's kind of what I do and I've I've . The comedy has taken more and more of a backseat , just because the message is the main thing . You know , um , but it's it . There's a world of humorous speakers , and so I see someone like you just being a total natural , being able to , just like you know , play with the crowd and and and you know all that do the crowd work thing , and so that that got me excited A few , and I noticed that Jake and Alex Demchick just came out with a speaker reel .

Speaker 2 42:34

Yeah so .

Speaker 1 42:34

I texted Alex . I was like dude , killer reel . I didn't know Jake was also thinking about speaking . Yeah , you know , I knew Alex was . I didn't know that they were um conjoining to be a speaker . Alex Demchick , by the way , is the co-founder of Streamline books . The one their Will Severins is the other co . -founder . They're writing my book anyway , just for some context for the listeners . But so Jake is doing it , I didn't . So are you and Jake . I mean , do you talk about this ? A lot Is it

Business Ventures and Effective Communication

Speaker 1 42:58

.

Speaker 2 42:58

Uh , Jake does like 20 things .

Speaker 1 43:00

So we don't , yeah , we don't , I mean he's .

Speaker 2 43:02

he's starting to actually starting a business with Alex doing , uh , acai bowls , and so he's he's all over the place .

Speaker 1 43:08

That's right , you're talking about that .

Speaker 2 43:09

So I don't think we scheme as much as we could if he if he were , you know a little more like focused on one thing . He's got all these different things and I want to make sure he's got time to do that . But we have talked about some . We're actually in the middle of April doing a , a church event like a marriage event together , where we're kind of just double MCing this marriage event , where we'll show some videos , we'll do some stand-up comedy kind of tandem and do some games with the crowd and stuff . So we and we've , we've , we're excited about stuff like that . We've talked about like it'd be so fun to do more things for churches where the churches hire us out or you know big events like that , and so I I do think we have that desire to an extent , but we haven't talked about it in depth too much .

Speaker 1 43:50

Yeah , yeah , yeah . So what ? Just in terms of ? Can you tell I'm fixated on the speaking aspect .

Speaker 2 43:55

I'm like let's talk more about the thing that I love most , you know .

Speaker 1 43:59

Let's say you had to get on stage right now . You know it's like oh Brad , be funny for this at 9am crowd who's ? Like sleepy Right . They're like no one's sitting at the front tables because , you know , and they're kind of spread throughout the room . We need them to laugh . This is usually a really boring meeting , but I just want you to like be a little bit motivational , something they can take back to do their jobs better . But make this fun , oh wow , and you had to like do it right now .

Speaker 1 44:26

What would you get up and say ?

Speaker 2 44:27

Man , I don't that's a good question . I mean , first of all , I would Very tactfully probably make fun of like half the people there .

Speaker 1 44:34

Okay , you know like I would call out the guy that looks bored you know , like the way Michael Scott names the people with the different features oh yeah , baldy , yeah .

Speaker 2 44:44

Oh yeah , I love that yeah you are fat , you like pizza , you like pepperoni , pepperoni toning , yeah , yeah , all those things . No , I think .

Speaker 1 44:52

Okay , you definitely took the cake on the office fan Like you're more of like a nine or a 10 .

Speaker 2 44:56

I'm kind of like you .

Speaker 1 44:57

Just I didn't know all the details of that bit , so yeah .

Speaker 2 45:00

I don't know if I nailed that . Yeah , it's like . I love the idea of like . I mean , if you're in a corporate setting , you know , Bob from human resources is kind of a wet blanket , so if I then like , I'm like hey , what's up , what are you doing over here ? Like I don't know .

Speaker 2 45:15

I think in a very tactful way don't like offend the guy , but like get into a little bit . I think other people would be like that's pretty good , Bob . Bob is like that , he needs to , you know whatever , and I don't know how I would motivate him . That's a good question , I think . Maybe more just , I'm a big believer in expectations , like communicating expectations as much as you can . And so that's to me , that's the answer to so , so many issues in life , whether it's corporate , whether it's your marriage whether it's kids like just being like I .

Speaker 2 45:42

I didn't realize that's what you wanted from me . You know like so often that's I feel like the conversation I have when I'm in tension with somebody is . I didn't know . I didn't know that's what you want , so I was probably talking about that , I don't .

Speaker 1 45:52

I mean , if you're putting me on the spot , I put you on the spot Like I've never asked anyone that question . I didn't plan that question . I just thought this would be fun to riff . But I love that whole communicating expectations thing because , like I , set you a long list of what to expect today right . And I didn't know this about you . So I'm like well , now I know you probably appreciate , you know when to show up where to come , what it all looks like .

Speaker 2 46:12

That spoke to me . That was my love link .

Speaker 1 46:14

I mean yeah , right on , right on .

Speaker 2 46:17

But I mean like , even if you were just like no , the expectation has just come and we're just going to , you know , talk . And like , great , at least we communicated that , so that if we come and we don't talk , I'd be like , hey , the expectation was that we're going to talk , yeah .

Speaker 1 46:28

Well , I mean , even if you like , so recently people have asked me like out to a coffee or like they've been like hey , can I have a call about this ? And it's like , can you just give me a little bit of a snippet of what you ? Because it's like I need to make sure that I'm in the right state of mind and I have the right energy to talk about that thing .

Speaker 1 46:43

So if we're going to get coffee , I kind of want to know where that conversation is going , so that once we get into it I'm like , okay , this is why we're here . Now I'm really focused and now I know that I can kind of leave after this part of the conversation If I have to . Rather , than just like what are we doing ?

Speaker 2 46:55

Yeah , yeah , yeah .

Speaker 1 46:57

And in corporate America , I mean , holy cow . That's which is where you'd be speaking If you were , you know , speaking a lot like yeah , what , what do people want from you ? Cause that's huge , you know , yeah .

Speaker 2 47:08

I think there is an answer or there is a yeah , there's , there's a solution there . I think that is the the answer to so many issues . So I don't know , I mean that's off the top , that I don't know if that's their their big tension point in this community , whatever , but like to me , I'm like it's never a bad thing to hear again like hey , communicate better with people .

Speaker 1 47:24

So Well and I okay . So I think about like one of the best things that I've seen speakers do over time . I know that I do this is I just talk . I talk from a place of my experiences . So I think with you , not that you asked for a coach you know I'm starting a speaking business today , but but I'm like more excited about this than you are in terms of come on , brad , let's get a website going yeah let's go .

Speaker 1 47:45

But you know like I mean just from your woodworking , like if you don't know the expectations and you just build a table and you get them . They're like it's the wrong size , it's the wrong height , it's the wrong color .

Speaker 2 47:53

I mean , yeah , I didn't know it was going to be . Yeah , I didn't know they were going to have those round edges . I wanted it to be straight . It's like yeah , that was something that was very easy to for me to ask the question .

Speaker 1 48:02

for sure , yeah , and so I'm sure you have like , and I do too like before an event . I have a customization questionnaire and a logistics questionnaire . When's the sound check ? You know what kind of mics to are we working with . Is there going to be a projection , live feed on the screen ? I'm going to have all these things . You know , what are the challenges been lately in your company ? What have been the things that you've succeeded at ? What are you trying to overcome ? And without that , I'm just giving a cookie cutter speech that they're kind of like that was fine and all , but that didn't really resonate with us , you know .

Speaker 2 48:27

And if they don't answer those questions very well , you can at least say like well , if you weren't completely satisfied , at least you didn't . Like you know , you didn't give me that much to go off , yeah , you know , whereas , like , you can't expect too much if you're not . You know . Communicating that well , totally .

Speaker 1 48:42

And I always give them a second chance , because not everyone likes to fill out forms , so they might just be like I'm just the event planner just fill in the blanks , and so we always have a focused phone call a couple of weeks before the event to be like hey , you know , thanks for filling out the answers , but you know , can we go a little bit deeper ?

Speaker 2 48:54

just , to make sure , because sometimes the person at the , you know , the top .

Speaker 1 48:58

Maybe the CEO wasn't part of the planning process and they're like they could be , like we missed the mark , we didn't , you know , because I want to make that event planner look like a rock star for hiring me . So it's like how can we make you look good so that it's a win-win all the way around , you know ? So that whole I love that expectations thing , I think you got something there . I think just off the top of your head is like sometimes . It's like just trust your gut instinct , just go with it , man .

Speaker 2 49:18

So , anyway , anyway , yeah , let's go . Marriott courtroom ballroom scene , that's right , I'm ready for it . Let's go .

Speaker 1 49:23

That's my life man .

Speaker 2 49:25

Give me the double tree right now .

Speaker 1 49:26

I'm ready to go . Just spoken the double tree , you get it . Yeah , dude , yeah man , it's it , it . What is funny ? Because sometimes with the speaking gigs , like you'll , you know , you'll go into like more of an event center and there's a backstage and there's someone putting the wire through your shirt to mic you up and you're like that's right .

Speaker 2 49:44

Where's the makeup artist ? You know you .

Speaker 1 49:46

Thompson T undershirt . That's right . I was like , watch it , don't go under the Thompson T , stay on top of the Thompson seat . There's two undershirts , just shables , but , but man , but then you just feel like kind of like a rock star in those settings and then you go to the double tree where it's like tiered seating and you know and it , but it's just the group that they are and I'm you know , now I'm back pedaling , like , but it was really fun , guys , we had a good time , didn't we ? But but it honestly it keeps you humble and it makes you really appreciate the times where , like the technology and the sort of like the fanfare built around the event and they're putting out LinkedIn posts like a year ahead of time , you're just kind of like , you feel like a rock star . But you know , then the little gigs quote unquote little gigs make you feel normal , remind you that , stay humble .

Speaker 1 50:31

And ultimately it's not about me , I'm not , I'm not up there , I'm not . You know , taylor Swift getting up putting on a concert . I'm Devin Henderson here to like impart wisdom and , you know , help other people . So it's . It's a weird thing because when you come from an entertainer background transitioning to speaker , which is kind of like what you'd be doing . It's hard to get out of your ego and think this is not about me , like I mean I want to pause and I want laughter . That's what the magician , comedian and me wanted . But now it's like I want head nods , like yeah , I want people taking notes , like that means I'm making an impact , you know . And so it's a different ball game . Once you transition into speaker , it's a totally different thing .

Speaker 2 51:09

The way that I do magic tricks , the way I do comedy , it all changes you know , well , in my experience , like with entertainment or whatever you would call it like so often the thing that I think people are going to enjoy the most about the podcast , or the thing that I think , oh , people are going to die laughing at that Like I've never , you know , I don't hear feedback like that was great . And then I hear feedback about like oh , I remember that one time you said that one line or that one thing you said about parenting and I'm like that's that's , and so it's very humbling in that way of like I don't .

Speaker 2 51:36

I think I know what's funny , I think I know what's most entertaining , but it's like , hey , humble yourself and just just trust that , however , you know the Lord's going to use you . That's great , like you know , like I don't know if they're going to take this thing away , or they're going to take that away , or you know what this podcast is going to mean to somebody . But even if it's just a one line , quick little thing , like great , that's it . You know , and I thought I was going to provide all this value or all this entertainment , but really it's just that one thing you know , yeah , man , yeah , I mean , and it's just fun to get creative with all of the talents and gifts you have .

Speaker 1 52:07

So I'm curious I want to jump back into the YouTube thing real quick how do you and Jake spark your creativity for like these skits ? Cause I mean , you are generating these things just like bang , bang bang .

Speaker 2 52:18

What are ?

Speaker 1 52:18

these ideas ? I mean , do you guys let's , let's go for a walk in the park , that's what does it for us , or you know ?

Speaker 2 52:23

I mean it's a lot of times it's just riffing off each other . Sometimes it's it's because of the podcast , Like we did a video recently , just a little like one off video about it problems where you try to call the IT guy and really just need to unplug it and plug it back in , but the guys like trying to make it way more complicated

Comedy and Relatability in Entertainment

Speaker 2 52:40

or something .

Speaker 2 52:40

Yeah , but for the most part it's just like , hey , I kind of have . I don't know if this is a whole idea , but what do you think about ? You know , I don't know what it like guys who like to ride their bicycle . It's like , yeah , let me , let let's riff off that for a little bit , and every once in a while we can kind of both tell like , yeah , this isn't good enough for a video . Sometimes it's like no , this is perfect , like we're laughing at each other .

Speaker 2 53:00

That means it's probably pretty , you know , but for the most part it's just a lot of real life experiences . You know , like one video that we've had , that I feel like our most successful videos are the ones that are hit closest to home for us , Like we literally did one that was one month of marriage versus 10 years of marriage which is literally our lives .

Speaker 2 53:16

I mean like Jake got married , you know , in May and I've been married for 10 years , and so it's just the juxtaposition of oh , yeah , we go out every night for date , or oh , our weekends are farmers market and you know , walk into the coffee shop and I'm like our weekend started at four AM and they don't know .

Speaker 1 53:32

It's the weekend .

Speaker 2 53:32

You know all these different , like kind of fun things . So , yeah , there's not like a . I don't think either of us are like this is our process , this is how we do it . It just feels like I think we're both , I mean , in the most humble way possible . I think we're both naturally gifted at things like this , and so it's not that hard for us to try to figure out some kind of angle for almost anything . So it can be like hey , let's find we want to do a video about cyclists . Okay , let's make a video about cyclists and try to make it fun . You know , like , even though it's not always Funny thing , it's like let's , we can turn into something funny kind of thing .

Speaker 1 54:06

so well , all those videos , all the ones I've watched , are just super relatable . That's what's so funny about you know when you're , when you're watching a comedian and people like oh , that's so true . I mean when people all of a sudden can feel like , oh , I'm normal , I feel no this is a little . I can now laugh yes about all the things that have stressed me out , because it happens to everyone and so I'm normal . I'm gonna be okay , they're okay , we're all okay .

Speaker 1 54:28

And I think your videos like bring that healing quality to people as much as you just might . It time seems like entertaining fun . Sure you're , you're actually helping people .

Speaker 2 54:37

Yeah , which is like a cool way to think about it . You know , think about yeah , people have message like I've had a really hard week and this video really brought my spirits up and I'm like this video is about , you know , dave Ramsey . I didn't think I was gonna All these small things , so , but it is really sweet to hear stuff like that . So , yeah , it's , it's a yeah , it's , it's a fun , fun life to have fun , fun thing to try to make people laugh . And the relatability thing is definitely something that we lean into a lot , because it's hard to be like a funny character , but it's , it's easier to be like . Oh , my husband said that exact same thing two days ago . Right , okay .

Speaker 1 55:10

I know , when I used to , I kind of got into like a stand-up comedy phase where I was like that's all I want to do on a split speaking , and this was , like you know , six or seven years ago that I started that it lasted for , I don't know , three or four years .

Speaker 1 55:21

It's way too long but I remember I was always trying to invent funny things like or or greatly exaggerate , like more than they should be Exaggerated , and it was like I was just trying too hard where I just wish I would have stuck more . To like True story , which you know , I would say they're based on true stories , but it was like anchorman , based on actual events .

Speaker 1 55:39

The only things have been changed the people and the places and the events that happen , or Whatever , but I was like trying too hard to add funny where I just would forget real life is funny , because you ever just tell someone a story and you're just telling the true story and they just bust up laughing and you're like what's so funny about that ? Well , it was true . Yes , you know and it resonated with them .

Speaker 2 55:55

So yeah , I mean , my favorite comedian is Nate Barghetti , yeah yeah yeah , I believe every single story he's yes you know , I believe that that's his true personality .

Speaker 1 56:04

He's not like some act , you know right .

Speaker 2 56:06

He might put it on a little bit one way or the other , but like for the most part , it's like no , that really happened to him . He ordered that iced coffee .

Speaker 1 56:12

Yes , yes , yeah , make that up .

Speaker 2 56:14

Yeah , it's just like that is so relatable because that could happen to anybody you know for sure .

Speaker 1 56:19

So do that , man . I wish we could go all day . Hey Zach , could you just change your schedule ? We're gonna hang out all day .

Speaker 2 56:24

I just need you to stick around .

Speaker 1 56:26

No , but man , I would love seriously to have you back to some point . I thought it'd be fun at some point to just like hijack you and just like you know , Do like a guest co-host thing and just come on , Just talk about whatever , you know whatever . They just just have some fun .

Speaker 2 56:37

So I I could talk all day . I mean , this is my job , that was just right , yeah , well , thanks , man , thanks for being here , and I do .

Speaker 1 56:43

I do have two final questions for you , but let me just say , hey , check out Thompson tees . Go to the link in the show notes . Seriously , game changer , totally change your life . Also , thank you to a set of a Shawnee who Brad endorses as the best breakfast place in Kansas City .

Speaker 2 56:58

And I know breakfast . Yeah , this he's breakfast . This guy's eating breakfast in his life .

Speaker 1 57:03

Is that the word you used ?

Speaker 2 57:04

I was . I was gonna say connoisseur , but a fish , you know , I would work as well , okay , I don't really know the difference . I'm gonna tell you there's a difference .

Speaker 1 57:10

No , I'm not a I'm not a wordsmithing connoisseur , whatever so but anyway okay last thing . I want to make sure we get all the ways they can connect with you . So there's comedy YouTube channel gene shorts comedy get on there , subscribe , like , like the videos , check it out . Ghost runners podcast get on there , check it out . And and the retreat again what was the ? You're like , devin , why are you pushing this reach ? Yeah ?

Speaker 2 57:36

so , yeah , the website , our website for ghost runners is ghost runners dot life , so ghost runners dot life slash travel . You can see all the information . You can get our merch ghost runners dot life Slash shop . You can buy a t-shirt that says ghost runners on it . So , yeah , those are kind of the main ways . And then , obviously , my woodworking business is Ellis , my last name , like Ellis Island , ellis custom creations Dot com or Instagram , facebook , all the things .

Speaker 1 57:59

So okay , fun , there you go , check it out . Follow Brad . Yeah , just a great dude . I remember even , like you , asking my mom about your dad . Yeah , lynn had met your parents and just they're like , oh nice , just people in the world .

Speaker 2 58:10

I mean , hey , that's why I'm passionate about families . Yeah that's a good one , and I think that makes a big difference . Yeah , yeah , awesome .

Speaker 1 58:17

So that was my first question how can they get a hold of you ? Last question here it is just one piece of advice for my daughters .

Speaker 2 58:23

Oh , again , putting you on the spot , one piece of advice for your daughters Whoo , don't settle for a bad man I don't know , or just just just go for a . Yeah , I think , yeah , that's not the best advice , but just like I don't know man , I'm passionate with my daughter every . I don't know if this happens to you , but every wedding I go to now and the dad's walking the daughter down the aisle and I'm just , I'm just waterworks man , I'm just like oh , that's gonna be me someday , that's my princess , that's that I'm like .

Speaker 1 58:50

I can't go there , yeah , you can't get there , man . I mean , I'm a lot closer than you are to , so you've been a few years away , so I'm like all right .

Speaker 2 58:59

Yeah .

Speaker 2 58:59

I'll be good I mean , I think , like I said , I think there's a lot of value in a good man and a good godly man , on a family , on a marriage , and Don't you ? You are , you are a child of God and so therefore do not , you know , settle for anything less than somebody who's going to treat you well . I mean , obviously , no man is perfect . No , I've grown a lot in my marriage . I wasn't perfect when I started this thing by itty-beats , I was a knucklehead who was selfish and whatever . I still am , by the way . But I think , yeah , just just know your worth , know your value .

Speaker 2 59:31

I think so many girls these days can just lose that or have insecurities . It's amazing , like my wife , most beautiful girl in the world , and she still has insecurities towards the way she looks or whatever all these things . I'm like , wow , if you're feeling this way , I can't imagine all these girls and what they're going through and you know , and so just Recognizing that you are Wonderful and that you need them , that if you are gonna go for a man , first of all , I don't think you should date in high . So well , I was gonna say that's too blanket of a statement , but it's alright , man Say it .

Speaker 2 1:00:01

Your personality . Develop what you like , have friends in high school , but don't be fixated on a boyfriend in high school , because I think a lot of people do that and then there they miss out on all the other memories of high school . But Zach , you hear that , don't ? Don't .

Speaker 1 1:00:15

He's on his phone over there .

Speaker 2 1:00:20

I don't know , I'll just rambling at this point , but yeah , at the end of the day , I think I just impassioned about girls . Yeah , just and be it . Be it . Agree , I'm passionate about girls . Whoo baby .

Speaker 1 1:00:31

Can we clip it out into a short ?

Speaker 2 1:00:32

I'm passionate about girls and I'm passionate about high school girls .

Speaker 1 1:00:40

Yeah , just just like pause .

Speaker 2 1:00:42

No , but it's funny , I , yeah , I think . And Same thing for guys like , hey , be the kind of girl you want Girls , be the kind of girl you want it your you know to eventually have , as what's the word ? Be the kind of girl that your dream guy should pursue someday and vice versa , be the kind of guy that would be worthy of your dream girl , kind of like , pursue the Lord , pursue Humility and all that , but also understand that you are loved and you're valued . Don't , don't be insecure .

Speaker 1 1:01:11

That's great . I know it's a lot , of lot of rambling , but it's okay . Yeah , it's it , man , the truth came out of that . So thank you , man . That's , that's great stuff . I appreciate that .

Speaker 2 1:01:19

I'll . One thing I say I say it mostly the guys , so , zach , I guess , listen to this for you . But but in general , I think as a high school guy , I went through a phase , especially like my senior year at high school , where I was like not as nice as I should have been to my mom and so like almost every time I ever talked to high school boys , I'm like be nice to your mom . My mom was so sweet to me and I just wasn't . I wasn't a terrible kid by any means , but there was times where I was like , why are we clashing ? Yeah , I just wasn't nice to my mom . So just I'm like , hey , be nice to your mom .

Speaker 1 1:01:49

Yeah , and not to draw this podcast out into tomorrow . But I have a question about that , like , do you think and I'm really asking , I'm not taking a stand on this that you just popped a spark to question in my mind when we have friction with our parents , we're not nice to our mom , we're not nice for dad , even our siblings or whatever it is ? Is that just part of the growth , like , does that kind of have to happen for you to have that Recognition and then the breakthrough to be like an incredible son today ? Like I don't know maybe necessary or is it not necessary ?

Speaker 2 1:02:17

At one point in my life I had to , I had to believe and I don't know . I'm still trying to learn , but as , like a 21 year old kid , I was like there's something biological about like , hey , you're turning 17 , 18 years old , and so you're having friction with your parents so that you can leave the house .

Speaker 1 1:02:34

They make it a little bit easier , like or like , just start chopping away . I'm just like .

Speaker 2 1:02:38

I'm about to yeah , I'm about to leave the house , but then again I'm like I think a successful family is not a You're , you leave the house and you never see me again kind of family . The successful family it's not like Claire has to , you know , move out for three years and then move back in with you for ten years . That's not their goal necessarily , but like to have , like you know , generational , multi-generational . You know , success in your family is not one that's like , okay , 18 years old , you're out of here , and the biggest success of my life is that you moved a five , you know , hundred miles away and I don't see you , besides holidays .

Speaker 2 1:03:10

It's like no , yeah , yeah so I don't know the answer that , but I think maybe to an extent , yeah , there's , there's healthy friction of yeah . Yeah okay , you're growing up , you're , you're , you're becoming independent , but I'm your parents , so I I'm not used to that . Yeah , I don't . I don't know you could answer that better .

Speaker 1 1:03:25

Oh man Well , so many possibilities with the way things could turn out in the end . So thankfully it's the possibility . Mindset podcast that we are exploring . We don't have all the answers but hey , man , but hey , thanks for being here . We're gonna leave our listeners thinking about the question what else is possible ? All right , so I'm gonna say what else you say is possible , and then we're gonna call it good .

Speaker 2 1:03:45

Let's you need that written down . Uh , no , I know .

Speaker 1 1:03:50

Kind of store . All right , here we go . Hey , thank you so much for joining us , thanks to Brad , our guest , and remember to never stop asking the question what else is possible ? We will see you next time , you .