17Twenty

E084 || Dan Bradley || Cleared Hot

April 04, 2022 Season 3 Episode 13
17Twenty
E084 || Dan Bradley || Cleared Hot
Show Notes Transcript

Dan Bradley joins the 17Twenty crew for an engaging in-studio interview where Dan tells his story from growing up in Colorado Springs as the son of two FBI agents, through his time at the United States Air Force Academy and his training-for and service-within the elite Tactical Air Control Party community within the Air Force Special Warfare unit, to his move to Dallas to join the construction industry, and the eventual telling of a 17Twenty story that's been in the making for over a year …

… culminating with the roll out of CATI Striping, LLC.

For 17Twenty this is a very special episode, with a very special guy, and the telling of a very special story that we're proud to be a small part of.  We think you're going to enjoy everything this story stands for, top to bottom.

// Show Notes //

CATI Striping, LLC
https://bit.ly/38oCMAA (LinkedIn)
https://bit.ly/37d5G6d (Website)

Roswell, New Mexico
https://bit.ly/3qBIgxW

United States Air Force Academy
https://bit.ly/3JLegav

Air Force Academy Lunch Time Formation
https://bit.ly/3utKTD9

United States Air Force Tactical Air Control Party
https://bit.ly/3ufM9tE

Talent War Group: Dan Bradley
https://bit.ly/3iMmcfH

Crabs in a Bucket
https://bit.ly/3tJoP8x

Come and Take It
https://bit.ly/36ByyVz

The Mission, the Men, and Me: Lessons from a Former Delta Force Commander by Pete Blaber 
https://amzn.to/3iMqKTj

|| Connect with Us ||

Check out all our episodes on all major streaming platforms, and further engagement with the 17Twenty crew on social media at:

https://17twenty.buzzsprout.com/
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https://www.instagram.com/17twentypodcast

Grab your copy of the Mountain Mover Manual: How to Live Intentionally, Lead with Purpose, and Achieve Your Greatest Potential, by Kevin Carey

Originally in print:
https://amzn.to/441OPeH

And now available on Audible:
https://adbl.co/45YIKB2

Bradley:

The culture in the tech community and in any of the high-performing communities I've ever seen is everything because culture is a product of the people. And, and if you have the right people from day one, then you are going to build a positive culture. You're going to be successful, especially if they're led well. Um, that's a huge asterisk Gladwell.

Shurtleff:

Every single individual has a story to tell, and they're great stories that need to be heard.

Carey:

I want every listener to note, they have the ability to change the world.

Shurtleff:

Welcome to the 1720 podcasts.

Carey:

What's up bond movers. Welcome back to the 1720. Man, this thing's a year in the making. We finally have one of our favorite people in the land. Dan Bradley joined us today. Thanks for coming on my man. Thanks

Bradley:

for having me, uh, favorite people. That's pretty generous. That's kind. I appreciate that. Okay.

Shurtleff:

I, so in classic Stuart form, I have not looked at this prep sheet until this exact second.

Bradley:

And

Shurtleff:

I just realized that the top you wrote D bristle for shizzle up for deep bread.

Carey:

The funny part is before air, we're trying to put a quota or what's the over-under on how many times we ditch this thing, because number one, we're in a mood. Number two, we're pretty close friends at this point. And we just like to have a lot of fun. So I'm wondering how many times. Just straight into ditch.

Bradley:

This is one we can't

Shurtleff:

even get Dan introduced without getting to the ditch. All right, let's do it, man. You know, you've listened to a couple episodes, you know, the bit who's Dan.

Bradley:

Uh, so that I've been dreading answering that question because it's changed so much in the last six months, just in terms of like the, I guess the words that you can tag to me, like used to be just, you know, husband, then you add veteran to it. Then you had entrepreneur CEO, uh, then you had. Which is the wildest new one. Um, but I think like at my core, what doesn't change regardless of the different tags is I'm always trying to be someone who's constantly searching for better and trying to push other people to do the same. I feel like that's, I feel like it's kinda, my purpose in, uh, in life is to try to push people towards being better. And that's, that's why I'm here.

Shurtleff:

Yeah. This is some themes we'll probably explore around that over the next hour or so here.

Carey:

Yeah. And what's cool is it's a year in the making because when we first started talking and I know we'll get into this later, it was like, I thought you dismissed it because you just weren't interested. And you're like, ah, I'm just not ready yet. My story's not ready. And I'm like, well, nobody's is, and now fast forward to today and I completely understand why. And we'll unpack all of that.

Shurtleff:

Yeah. Well we're in the business of storytelling, so there's a lots of stories to tell, but tell us, I mean, Colorado Springs is home. Yeah. It's also tell us the come up story.

Bradley:

Yeah, uh, born in, in Virginia, um, and moved out to Colorado Springs when I was really young. So like that's, that's where all the, uh, I guess the formative years happened. Um, I didn't understand until much later in life that, uh, I, I had kind of a unique upbringing and that's, that's not because I didn't have like, w we were very typical middle of the middle-class family. Like we had everything that we needed. We never really wanted for anything. I didn't realize it was weird to have both of your parents being FBI agents. And so far later in life, when I started to realize that all those things I thought I had gotten away with, like my entire upbringing, I never really had, you know, how hard it is to lie to two FBI agents, or just try to try to sneak away with even the littlest things. So I thought I was sneaky, uh, turns out that they were just like way too exhausted, too. Call me on, uh, all the BS that I was, I was trying to explore as a child chasing real criminals. I'm a genius.

Carey:

I'm pulling two FBI agents

Bradley:

right now, like coming up. Um, I don't know. I was a much different person than I am today. And like, I, I kind of pivoted right around college age to becoming more of like who Dan Bradley is right now. Looking back, like even looking at photos or looking at old family videos and stuff like that. I was a really shy kid, like super shy. Um, I just wasn't really, I didn't have the confidence to put myself out in any way. I had no assertiveness to me. So I'm kind of just like coming up in that family environment because I didn't really have to assert myself or didn't have to establish any kind of maybe credibility is the right word. Uh, things, things seem to come a little bit easier. It wasn't until later in life that I had this really kind of like massive and all at once transformation into, into becoming. Who I am today, which I'm very proud of. Like, I'm proud of who I am. It's just funny to look back to the upbringing and be like, man, that, that turned into what we have today. How

Shurtleff:

w what was that right? I mean, you're right. It is insanely unique. Your mom and your dad are both FBI agents, but what's that like growing up in that household? I mean, is it regimented, is it, do they leave that at work? Like, what's that feel like mean just as a kid?

Bradley:

Well, you know, like I said, it, it didn't really strike me as odd until well after the fact, um, cause I didn't know anything else. Right. And you know, both my parents were very dedicated to being family. People like, um, never had a baseball game or a boy scout meeting or a concert or anything that didn't have at least one, if not both parents at. So they were all about family and, and that's one of the things that they, uh, they really instilled in me from a young age is you've got one family. You gotta take care of it. Um, but you know, being service oriented, um, serving, not just, uh, not, not just each other, the people that, that you encounter every day, but serving the community, uh, doing things to serve, um, anyone that you crossed paths. It is something that they taught me. That again, I didn't really know was a unique upbringing thing or not something you see every day until I kind of got out into the big scary world and, and, uh, and saw that that was a little bit more unique than I thought

Shurtleff:

it is. The question is the teaching about service. I mean, is this a kitchen table? Talk about it. This is what we stand for. This is what our family does, or is this a, I see it all the time because mom and dad do X, Y,

Bradley:

Z a little bit of both. Um, you know, just, just watching how they went about their day to day. And obviously they, they walked the talk, which was great. Um, they, they still do all the time. They're fantastic role models, but, uh, just, just seeing what they will go out and do for other people, whether it was their coworkers, their neighbors, their family, uh, people that they had never encountered it in the community. Um, just the kindest people who want to go out and serve other people every day. Like that's, uh, if I'm just from an observing perspective, I think that that's why they're on the earth is to go out and positively contribute to others. So taking that away from my brain and that, that, that perspective on just like being, not just a member of the community, but being a leader in the community and, and being a contributor in any way that you can at any time, uh, that was such a, an important lesson. And I never realized how important it was until, you know, the last, last five, 10 years when, uh, when I didn't have that influence on me every single day, because, you know, new house, new places moving around the country all the time, um, having that impact at a young age and, and having it consistently through my upbringing was just the coolest.

Carey:

I think the humbling moment when you hear that, you know, FBI agents versus construction executive, you know, their, their job is much more important than mine in there in the grand scheme, but they have, uh, they have the discipline and their values on the right totem pole to value family and shut it down and, and show up at those games and, and be there for those critical moments. And that's just a good, humbling reminder in our journey to keep what's important, important.

Shurtleff:

It's sort of, because we say that all the time, right? It's a, it's a theme, like try to keep what's important, important focus on the things in your life that are the most, but it's man, like we talk about all the time and that. Y turn these mics off and step out the hall and bump into somebody. And they'll say, man, that's a real struggle for me. Like I struggled to turn her off. I struggled, you know, it's it's whether it's right or wrong, it is real. I

Carey:

need the reminder constantly. Yeah. Constantly.

Shurtleff:

Okay. So let me, let's, let's zoom forward in your life to leaving home, right. And I want to, I'm going to pinpoint that and then turn you back around and let you look backwards cross like the 18 years before you left home. What are some things that you remember about that, that you think that other than the service idea I've learned? I learned that from mom and dad, I've been being in this home, changed me in this way. It's it's Sarah, what's another lesson. Other

Bradley:

than that mint tea taking care of what's important and prioritizing, um, knowing that if you try to make everything important that. Automatically everything becomes less important. So, so that's a lesson that I didn't really realize I had been taught until, um, this, uh, this one event when I was at the air force academy, sorry to fast forward it again. But, um, you know, everything at the academy is always mandatory. Whether it's your classes, your meals, your marching, your meetings, whatever, it's always mandatory. So invariably, you're going to encounter situations where you have like three mandatory things at the same time. The first time I ran into that, um, I think I was just like a young, a young freshmen and I, I was still scared of the world at that point. Um, because it's, it's just a different kind of environment. And I, I was terrified of getting in trouble cause I didn't know what that meant of, uh, of missing a commitment. So I remember going to, uh, one of my commanding officers and saying, uh, Hey sir, I've got like three mandatory things, which one should I go to? And he goes, Dan, if everything's mandatory, Nothing's mandatory, which is, you know, if everything's super important right now, nothing's super important. You've got to prioritize. Um, my parents did a fantastic job of kind of explaining that because they had, they had a lot to balance. Um, I truly looking back, don't know how they did it, uh, as, as a new dad of a two month old, I'm trying to figure out how to balance diaper changes. And that's enough for me balancing, balancing two teenagers who are going through all the standard teenager stuff, balancing two jobs, balancing paying the bills, the mortgage, still being able to put money away for us to be taken care of and go make family memories. Um, I'm sure there were things that were super important to them or super important to someone else that was important to them that they just had to. Put off to the side for the sake of something that was more important in the moment. Um, so being able to, to take an overwhelming task list and prioritize it and knock certain things out one by one, even just taking the first small step on that thing, when you, you don't feel like you can, um, that's, that's something that, uh, I'm not even sure they realized they were teaching to me, but, uh, constantly thinking back on just examples of them doing things like that and, and trying to apply that in my own life today. Love

Shurtleff:

it. If everything's important, nothing's important. Absolutely. That is circle that back. That's good stuff. That's good. Okay.

Carey:

So you mentioned air force academy at some point, the military gets on your radar, how to get on your

Bradley:

radar. So growing up in Colorado Springs, you're, you're. Never in a spot in town where you can't look up at the mountain and see, you know, the cadet chapel or the buildings up on the hill. So it's just like, it dominates Colorado Springs. So growing up there, I always saw it.

Shurtleff:

Uh, stupid geography question is the academy in Colorado Springs.

Bradley:

It's just w Northwest of like actual downtown, Colorado Springs. It's literally on the mountain. So like, if you're driving, that pretty much splits Colorado north, south on the east side of the mountain range. Um, you just, it it's acres and acres, thousands of acres, uh, training areas and classroom areas, the football stadium, you can see it right from the highway. So no matter where you're going, what you're doing, you always always see the academy. Interesting. Um, my family was pretty involved with the air force academy. Anyways, even I. Yeah, I was in first grade when my family got our first what's called a sponsor cadet. So, you know, these cadets come from all over the country. They're put in a highly stressful environment and they, they really need like an outlet because you don't get that. Especially your freshman year. You do not get a day off or time off. You don't even get to close your door. So there's, there's no positive outlet for just like getting rid of that stress. So they had this program, I think they still do where cadets are assigned a family in the local area. Who's in some way related to the academy and can understand what they're going through, where they can just leave. So you submit a past, you leave, you go spend time with their family. You can stay the night, you can go grab dinner, you can do whatever. Um, when I was a first grader, we had our first sponsor cadet. We had sponsor cadets, at least one, sometimes two. I think the most we ever had at once was three, but all the way through the time I went to the academy and I became my family sponsor cadet. So I had this constant positive influence of these amazing kids, like showing me what right looks like or what you can accomplish. And they would come tell us stories of the awesome things they were doing at the academy and the cool training events, the stuff they were learning. Um, all that said I was never interested in it at all. In fact, up until my junior year of high school, I never wanted to be in the military at all. Still can't to this day, tell you what flipped that switch. Um, but when I started applying to the academies, the air force academy was my first choice. I wanted to go to the Naval academy. Part of that was rejecting the whole place I had been brought up and just getting out and exploring a little bit. Exactly. So I wanted to go to the Naval academy. I wanted to fly. Didn't get into Naval academy. That's a problem. Also didn't get into the air force academy. So I got sent on a program called the Falcon foundation, which is like a prep school scholarship to a school in Roswell, New Mexico, New Mexico military Institute for a year. You guys ever been to Roswell?

Shurtleff:

I've heard of it in that where the UFO's are there's

Bradley:

no, UFO's, there's just very strange people. So, um, I mean, if you've never been to Roswell, you're not missing out on much. There's like two stoplights and a military school. That was where I kind of had that pivot of not being assertive, not being, I mean, aggressive might be the wrong word, but I'm only if you take it the wrong way. Not, not kinda like being that confident person until I got to New Mexico military Institute, because part of me felt like. I was there because I had failed it. Wasn't where I wanted to be at that time. And that's not me saying that. I thought I was better than that school, or I thought I didn't deserve to be there, but it felt like I had left something in the tank. So I kind of, for the first time in my life had that chip on my shoulder and it kinda grew positively out of there, like a chip on your shoulder has kind of a bad connotation to it. But, um, that was where I kinda got my, I don't know my energy, my confidence, and decided that never again, am I going to leave anything in the tank? I don't want to leave anything to chance ever again, uh, because I saw that whatever I hadn't done the right way was one, it was purely on me and two, it was going to cost me a year of my life or at my time. And you know, at age 18 a year is it seems like forever looking back best year of my life. Um, not the most fun year of my life, but the most important year of my life. Just being able to experience everything that, that school had to offer, having my first introduction to leadership opportunities and, and discipline, and just kind of the, the basic rigors of military life and having that, that structure around you, which frankly I needed. Um, so I, it wasn't a place I want it to be, but it was the place I needed to be at that time.

Shurtleff:

And I have to, you gotta, you got some, no, go ahead. So I have two questions and they're actually two questions. The real issue is whether or not I can remember them both. No, bingo, no. I want to go back to the, um, I'm going to turn you around and look the other way again, the, um, the cadets and y'all's house. What's that program called? Uh, just

Bradley:

like the cadet sponsorship program, sponsorship

Shurtleff:

program, like how, how deeply entrenched those people just popping in and eating dinner or did y'all like really get to

Bradley:

know them? Oh man. They, they are to this day members of our family. So going through it as a cadet, I saw. A lot of people, because in some ways you're kind of randomly assigned to these families and unless you request a family or the family requests you, so you get some sponsor families that are just kind of passive about it. Like, yeah, stop by eat some dinner, use the car, whatever we made, all of these kids, part of our family. So the first cadet that came through when I was in elementary school, I think he's a major now, maybe I'm wrong. He's a Lieutenant Colonel. Now he's getting close to retirement. Um, he's had a fantastic career. We're involved with him and his wife and his kids. Uh, my parents are godparents to some of these cadets kids. Um, we stay in touch with every single one of them. We see them when they come down, uh, it, and it's cool to watch all these different careers go their own different ways. Some people stay in and do career. Some people get out and go do their own thing. So now my, my family made it a point to make sure that these guys, regardless of. Where they ended up going or what they ended up doing. They were always part of the family. In fact, we had some cadets that didn't make it to graduation. They were either, they, they either left on their own, um, under their own will or they were removed for certain reasons. And, uh, we still stay in touch with them all the time as well. So like it, it was a cool introduction to how to positively influence the lives of those around you. That, uh, that, that was kind of alluding to earlier, like serving people, um, It was just such a cool experience to see how, how, how my family welcomed those people into our

Shurtleff:

family. Well, that story, the other thing was, I can't remember exactly how you phrased it, but, but the gist of it was that you ended up in Roswell and that was the first time you had realized, like you hadn't, I forgot what you said, like hadn't prepared or planned or had done something. I left something in the tank. Yeah. What was it you left in the tank, like with the

Bradley:

benefit of hindsight? Um, I'm still not really sure. I think that, you know, I had, I think I had the grades in high school. I was academically accepted to the academy and I had the, the necessary, like congressional nominations past the physical, all that stuff. Um, so I I'm, I'm still not sure I can really put my finger on exactly what it was, but I can definitely remember the feeling of just. It doesn't, it didn't matter what it was. It mattered that there was something left out. So rather than say, I'm going to direct more energy on preparing physically, or I'm going to direct more energy on knowing chemistry or whatever it may have been. Um, I kind of just committed to myself that there is no section in my life that I want to leave anything in the tank on ever again. Cause I did not like that feeling. Yeah. I get that.

Carey:

No, I got two things. Do we?

Shurtleff:

Oh, hold on. Let me see if there are

Carey:

two, I'm going to keep it. It might be seven. I go reverse, uh, reverse funnel on that. I think you got a two for one special there. The first one was the, like the well-timed rejection and failure. Like those, those are very positive and impactful things like Aaron Rogers getting passed up, Tom Brady getting passed up right as they're entering their career. Right. And then same with you as you're flying the nest. And I've had so many conversations with people because I've experienced it firsthand. Obviously you have. There's just something about when you fly the nest of your comfort zone that knocks you out of your comfort zone and you put your put out on your own, it's like, what are you made of? So you had both of them combined. You had your flying the nest on the heels of a rejection that puts that chip on your shoulder and you have no one to turn to. So you're like, I got to turn to

Bradley:

me. Well, it was the first time in my life that I had really failed at something, or at least I perceived that it had been a failure and it was a hundred percent on me. Um, maybe that was just like the, the first, uh, steps of maturity kind of accepting that. But that, that gave me an opportunity to learn how to deal with failure in a constructive way. And to turn it into something positive, something that will always fascinate me. It was whether it was at the academy or a selection for TAC P or, um, just, just anything that was kind of highly selective. I've been to in my life. There were people who were far more qualified than me to succeed. A lot more than I did. And invariably, those people who are far more qualified than me who are smarter than me, frankly, who were fitter than me, who were faster than me, stronger than me, more personable than me, I kept seeing those people fall out of, out of maybe their own favor. Like they, they just didn't make it through the program for whatever reason. And it's not because they didn't have the capacity to do the tasks they were being asked to do is because they had never really encountered failure at a high level. So getting to deal with that failure for the first time they're in that safe environment, that was huge because then you get to something that really matters. And when you see people fail and you see them shut down mentally and just start eating away at themselves, man, that is it's, it's sad, but it's fascinating to watch someone who hasn't failed hasn't truly failed, fail for the first time and just watch them deal with it. Yeah. That was

Shurtleff:

thinking it's exactly to that point. I was thinking that as frustrating as I know, that probably was to 18 year old. That moment is such a blessing to have it rewind to that point. You sh you shook and nodded. I don't know what that was a shame. It's up 100%. I couldn't read that one. Yeah. I mean, just such a blessing to reset then. Cause like you said, better 17, 18, 19 year old than 60 five-year-old sort of

Bradley:

situation. Oh yeah. And that's not to say that I haven't failed a million times since then. I fail every single day. It is.

9:

58 AM. And I could probably write a book about the failures I've had already stay. Um, but it, it was just a really cool opportunity to learn how to deal with it and be supported through it. And just low threat environment to kind of come into that, I guess, that level of understanding of myself. So, no, you're a hundred percent, right. It was the greatest thing that could ever happen to me.

Shurtleff:

So I was just saying that

Carey:

if, if you need a crash course and failure and rejection, go take a sales role and plugs plow your way through that. Yeah. Which we'll kind of get into in a little bit.

Shurtleff:

The, um, so after you discovered the aliens in Roswell

Bradley:

yep.

Carey:

And the gift shops, mostly gift shops, very real.

Bradley:

It is like the entire Roswell industries, alien gift shops.

Shurtleff:

Is that true?

Bradley:

I'm not actually

Carey:

Ben and brown used to have a place in Ruidoso. And I think you

Bradley:

land Reynoso really

Carey:

nice. And we would golf it in at the mountain gods or something like that sounds

Bradley:

vaguely familiar

Shurtleff:

casino sounds very fancy.

Carey:

Yeah, it was pretty awesome. But you drive through Roswell to get there. It's certainly

Bradley:

interesting is a Walmart, a dairy queen, a military school and UFO shops.

Shurtleff:

Okay. So I don't need to go, but now, uh, so after you found all the aliens, then headed back to Colorado Springs, is that the plan?

Bradley:

Yeah. Headed back to Colorado Springs and you know, that year was in terms of like progress for what was next. It was a, it was a wash because it doesn't matter if you come out of a military prep school, it doesn't matter if you come out of another university. When you go into the academy, you are a freshman day, one, zero credit. So, um, went back up to Colorado Springs, entered basic training in, uh, 2011. And, uh, man, just like the. Th the experiences that I fit into the four years there were, it was a decades worth of learning and it was exhausting at times. But man, talk about like the, the, the most fun I've had in my life that I never want to have. Again, it was just a cool experience to do once. Um, but no, the, the academy set me off on a completely different trajectory in life than I even thought I was going to go on when I started there. And it's, it's been a really fun ride to end up where we're at, but man, just an absolute whirlwind of a four years.

Shurtleff:

Okay. So I don't know a whole lot about military academies other than I think David Robinson was at the Naval academy. Is that right? Yeah. Dad was a big time. David Robinson, the basketball player. He's

Bradley:

Navy grabbed

Shurtleff:

believe. I think he's a Navy guy. That's the only thing I know about any academy. That's just the only, just to say there's a basketball reference and I don't know anything,

Carey:

all to tether a bingo tie. Always there.

Bradley:

No, no, no. Only reason that got brought

Shurtleff:

up. That's not a hundred percent accurate, 98.7, but it's college, but I know that's a vast understatement right curriculum, but plus like what's at a very high level, what's it like being a

Bradley:

cadet? Yeah. So it is a college. Like you, you go to class, that's the vast majority of what you do, especially in your first year or two. Granted I was a history major and I'm sitting there taking classes in like, uh, air aeronautical engineering, same dude. So lost in the sauce, say lost in the sauce. So lost in the sauce. There, there were so many classes that were so. Like just beyond my comprehension that people can be this intelligent. Um, I loved my physics class so much that it's a good twice. Almost had to take it a third time. Um, no, it, it was, uh, a lot of academics, obviously. It's very challenging academically, but the what, what really sets it apart is it forces you out of your comfort zone every single day. So there's the kind of, kind of awkward like environment where you're always being watched, whether it's by your fellow cadets, whether it's by officers and permanent party, whether it's by tourists, do the air force academy is a huge tourist destination. Really huge. I think the cadet chapel is the largest, like in terms of the number of people go there, the largest man-made towards attraction, Colorado. So. Every day that this is where it gets weird. We called it the fishbowl because every day you go stand out on this giant square, basically pavement area, it is called the Toronto and you all stand there for 20 minutes while all the tourists lineup on the wall, that's elevated above it. And they watch you stand in a line and walk to lunch. It's see that look on your face, zoo animal. It's weird. Yeah,

Shurtleff:

it's

Bradley:

weird. So, but, but that's the thing is you do that so many times over the course of four years to every meal that at some point you're just like,

Shurtleff:

this is just what we do.

Bradley:

Yeah. It like you get, you get accustomed to very odd things. But in terms of like the academics, plus the military training, plus the physical training, plus the officer ship side of things and the leadership side of stuff, they try to teach you. Plus trying to fit a little bit of personal time in there, getting to know your friends. There's still a good amount of. And, you know, you would, you would find yourself getting into some interesting things that like, if you go to a normal school, like a normal person, then you would never think that these things are fun. Like it's not how you spend a Friday night. Like it will get super windy on the Toronto because it's right on the down slope of the front range of the Rocky mountains. So you get winds blown through there regularly that we're 80 miles an hour. Oh, wow. So you will go out there on a little like wheelie chair and hold your bed sheet above your head and zoom across. See, doesn't make a lot of sense. Not a lot of fun. It was wild. It was great. There were fountains there. I'm not sure why there were fountains, but there were fountains a lot of fun to get, to kind of pull people and carry them towards the fountains and Chuck them in the fountains, especially when they didn't want to be there. Yeah. Um, a lot of the things that happened kind of ended up. Like local news and not the best way. Um, that's what happens when you get bored, uh, boredom is the first step to relapse. So, um, things got a little bit tighter in the course of the four years that I was there in terms of what you could and couldn't do. But, um, now it, it was just like, it forced you out of your comfort zone every day to try new things, meeting new people. And the class size is so small that everybody knows everybody. I think we graduated 800 people. So, uh, you build up some pretty fantastic relationships with the people that you meet there. Um, one of them not being my wife, my wife also went to the academy. We actually roomed next to each other. She did. Like me, dude at all, granted I was kind of a, a loud mouth trying, trying as best as possible to get like closest to frat boy, why you can't be like, you never see a frat boy in ironed uniform, but as close as you could get. Um, yeah, she was on the receiving end of a lot of our antics and I'm sure that got old super fast, but, uh, that was your way of flirting, not at the time, but I guess maybe like that that's one for the therapist. Um, marital therapy. Yeah. Um, man, it, it was just like, it's the weirdest story of how we actually came together and got re-introduced to each other. Um, but that's, that's kinda there there's stories like that all over the place from the academy, just because it's that small of a community and everybody, even if, even if you don't necessarily know. Enjoy spending time with somebody you want there, you still have this really cool connection to them just because you went through the same stuff together, you went through the same trials and, uh, you, you kind of have an understanding with each other that like you are the, the quality of person, whether whether on a personal level, you, you might not get along. You're still the quality of person that I want to associate with. So you're,

Carey:

you're in a four-year academy. Is it, was it four years for you? And that's so there's no deployments intertwined with that. This is all just to get started on the next steps. Yep. Okay. Now I'm understanding more now.

Shurtleff:

Well, what are, so what are the next steps? So you make it through the air force academy and graduate as a

Bradley:

second, second Lieutenant. Okay. Um, so when you commissioned as an officer, everybody goes their own separate ways, right? So you go to your initial base for training or your initial assignment. Um, my path was a little bit different. So when I was a junior, I decided that I really wanted to get into the air force, special warfare community. I. Like I said, I initially thought I wanted to fly, tried flying once in a glider with no engine, which I thought was going to be lower threat, not lower threat. Uh, not a lot of fun, frankly, like being up there, looking down, being up there alone in a piece of fiberglass, looking down to the earth and realizing that it's all in your hands and there's no second dries because there's no engine strapped to this bad boy, not a good time. So I realized really, really quickly that maybe I need a new path. Um, but I had had some fantastic influences on me early in my years of the academy, uh, that were kind of pointing me in the direction of going towards the special warfare community and, uh, you know, the air force, special warfare community. Isn't very well known. Most people don't know that you have ground operators or that you have people who integrate with, uh, with other branches and other entities. Conduct some of the things of the air force does on a day-to-day basis. Um, but when I was a junior, I decided I wanted to apply for selection, went to moody air force base in Georgia for a week. Um, again, most fun. You never want to have a gun in your life, but, uh, got invited from that selection to enter training in the tactical air control party community. So from there, I, uh, I graduated, I went to my station in New York, which was my actual assignment, but pretty soon after that left to go down to San Antonio and train at the, uh, Medina training annex down there where all air force special warfare training is conducted out of. So spent a whole lot of time down there. And really for the first two years of my career, I was in a constant state of training, going all over the country, doing survival school, doing close air support training, doing liaison training, learning about joint fires and learning how the different services interact. And it was a. Really, really in-depth learning experience. Like the, the most, I learned more in those two years about real-world things that I learned in four years of the academy. Plus the year in New Mexico, it was just rapid fire all the time. And it was fun.

Carey:

Yeah. So you've got J tech TACP tactical air control

Bradley:

party, the

Carey:

Fort. So construction's three letter acronyms y'all must be four letter acronyms, fuller

Bradley:

four letter word sometimes. Um, we don't do those we're off this year. We're off this year. Yeah. Um, so yeah, T ACP or tack P is the tactical air control party. So that's one of the three career fields in air force, special warfare that, uh, this kind of a specialty. So the other would be combat rescue, which is your, your para rescue men. And you're a highly, highly trained medics. And the other would be special tactics. Now, my roommate from freshman year of the academy and the guy who was the best man at my wedding, uh, he is a special tactics officer and. And to some extent there's overlap between what the career fields are capable of. But, um, within TAC P the bread and butter is conducting close air support. So getting with the army, getting with the Marines, getting with your different, uh, special worker entities, what we do a lot of work with conventional as well. Um, just learning how they like to operate and being able to be the liaison between. The guy you're standing next to on the ground, who's asking for an effector, a weapon and the pilot in the sky, who's going to employ it. So you're, you're, you're the guy on the ground who is able to bring that, that firepower to bear in the most effective and expedited way. And the actual qualification to do that within the taxi community is the joint terminal attack control qualification, or J tech. So every branch of the military has their own J techs. We like to brag on ourselves a little bit because it's our bread and butter is all we do. And you do it from day one in that career field to the day you get out. Um, and in some other career fields, it's, it's like an extra duty or an extra certification or qualification, but, um, man, just learning about all the different capabilities we have getting to go out and employ them. Um, both, both in training and in a real-world scenario. And just like what an experience.

Shurtleff:

I have a really dumb question and I'm going to say it that's, it's going to sound so dumb. I'm not sure I'm using the right words.

Carey:

This might be a first boys and girls uncharted

Shurtleff:

territory. Is it only is your, is your interface among, between the pilots in the air and the feet on the ground army? Presumably is it extraction exercises too, or is it only, I don't know what the opposite is dropping bombs. I don't know what you want the technical word for drop. Is it only taking the firefight to the enemy? W w what's what are you

Bradley:

coordinating? So, so you can do certain things in terms of setting up landing zones and stuff like that. I had a really cool opportunity to, um, work with kind of the, the medical side of things and medevac in Iraq and being able to help control their landing zones at a, at a base that they had built up. So you, you still have the opportunity to learn some of those more niche responsibilities. It's, uh, you know, the, the commander, whoever they may be, whether it's, uh, you know, out on a patrol or sitting back in an operation center, uh, they identify a target. You go through the process of, uh, vetting that target, getting the targeting information, uh, figuring out the most effective way to employ a certain type of weapon on that target to get the effects that you're looking for. And, uh, being the guy who ultimately clears that weapon for employment. And that's the most, the most nervous I've ever been in my life. But at the same time, the most fun I've ever had was when I said cleared hot over the radio for the first time cleared hot is the two words that allows that jet to employ that weapon. So, you know, cleared hot, and then the jet comes back. Hey, weapon away. Let's see what happens. Um, I kind of got chill bones just then.

Shurtleff:

That sounds amazing. Homeboys

Carey:

flight commander, man. He's making the calls. That's

Bradley:

awesome. Yeah, it was just an incredible experience. And you know, what, what made. Everything in the special warfare community. So valuable and so much fun was the people, because I stepped in as like a 23 year old, still young kid. Um, I was immediately in charge of 18, 19 year olds who were the hardest working people I've ever met the most intelligent and driven people I'll ever meet and who were just ready to go compete with each other every single day. And I had the best time, not just having the opportunity to like lead them and be responsible for them and, and take care of them. But to learn from these guys, they are the. Most qualified people I've I've ever come across. And the people in that community work everything.

Carey:

Yeah. You're well aligned with a lot of people that have all that drive and gumption to take over the world kind of thing. You get to do life with them and bounce ideas off of, and eventually you meet some other folks, right? Like talent war. When do they come into the picture when you're kind of exiting out,

Bradley:

tell him we're really, I guess, popped up on my radar. Maybe more appropriately. I popped up on their radar, right? When I was making the decision to get out of the military. So that was again, a family decision. Um, my wife and I, when we started dating were stationed completely across the country from each other. So she was in California. I was in upstate New York. And, um, you know, when we started getting really serious, got engaged, um, I was slated for a deployment. So I said, let's get this marriage on paper so that the air force will recognize it so that when I come back. We can actually have an opportunity to be stationed together. We pulled a lot of favors to make sure that we were stationed together and we both ended up in Colorado Springs. She was stationed at Peterson air force base. I was stationed at Fort Carson. Uh, so once we pulled all those levers and got to Colorado together, I was told to no kidding. Within the first week of getting there before I had my email set up this new base, they said, basically enjoy the next two to three years because your next assignment, you are not getting it together. You just pulled every favor you had. So yeah, a little bit of a like real-world moment, like okay. Um, time to get out, time, time to start figuring out the exit plan. On one level really difficult because we both loved what we did, uh, even with all the, uh, assorted BS that you have to go through in that, cause the air force, it's a corporate culture. Um, being in the smaller communities, you kind of get away from that, but it's still, it's one of the largest companies in the world. So, um, even with all the ups and downs of being part of a culture that big and that slow moving, we loved what we did, but we also knew that we had to put roots down somewhere to, you know, accomplish our personal goals and our family goals. So they made a really difficult decision, really easy for us. Um, what complicated that decision was COVID so we decided we were getting out right before COVID really hit like early 20, 20, and everybody started freaking out and shutting down. Well, I want to say it was the night before my wife was getting on a plane. To go up to Minneapolis to sign a job offer. We were going to end up in Minneapolis. Uh, that was like, when COVID really hit, like they, it was a basketball game. I think. So. Yeah,

Shurtleff:

it was the, the Utah, the Utah jazz game had had, I don't know, they closed shut one down. It was an NBA game

Bradley:

and they were, we're getting ready to tip off. And they just were like, everybody off, everybody go home such a weird time, man. And then after that, like, I don't know why I'm, this is all like sports-related, but the next day spring training gets canceled. So, um,

Shurtleff:

well, and this is all just, I mean, at data episode drop, I mean, we're talking right at two years ago, almost exactly. Two years ago. Yeah.

Bradley:

So it was basically as she was getting ready to get on that plane. That all that happened. We were like, I don't think you're getting on that plane. So the, the company that she was going to sign with said, Hey, we're gonna put a pause on everything. We're going to re look at restructuring and figure out where we're going forward. Don't call us, we'll call you. Like you said, it's been two years. They have not called. Yeah. So we were like, okay, what is the plan? We didn't know. We had no idea. Um,

Shurtleff:

at this point I'm going to, I just bang the mic. Just, I was just making fun of care for banging the mic. And then I banged the mic it at this point, just for, um, like signposting purposes. Y'all are both retired from the military. Is that the right word you

Bradley:

use? Uh, no. So if you do your 20 years, you can get a retirement we're were both separated, separated. Yeah. Voluntarily separated. Okay. Yeah, that sounds

Shurtleff:

real weird. But so at this point, y'all are both voluntarily separated from the military kind of pursuing your careers privately at that point. So w

Bradley:

we were still on active duty. I'm sorry. I misunderstood the question when all this is going down. In the last stages of active duty in the process of separating. Okay. So when, when you say you're going to get out of the military, it's not like, Hey, I'm going to drop my two weeks. Notice, basically takes a year. So it was, it was a long arduous process, but we were, you know, pretty deep into that process. At that point, we were seven, eight months into that year and we were like, we don't have jobs. And we're about to leave stable, secure jobs in the middle of a global pandemic. Is this the right call? And we had a lot of talk about it. We prayed about it a lot. We kind of came to the conclusion that like, we need to start trusting ourselves a little bit. And that was our kind of burn the boats moment. Like, yeah, let's, let's do this. We're here. We're gonna, we're gonna pursue ourselves. Um, And long story short. That's how I got involved with Talon ward group. I, uh, I came across some information about them and, and the types of people that they work with and, um, kind of threw my name into the ring. So that's how I got linked up with, uh, Carly Walden, Mike Sorelli and their team. Um, I was one of their placements. They do executive placement in addition to the kind of consulting thing that you've seen them do. Um, so I had an opportunity to be placed by them with a company here in Dallas, in the construction industry. And that was kind of, uh, in a way it was our, our saving grace, because we didn't know what, what the process was going to look like in the thick of COVID with, uh, w with all the uncertainty that we were experiencing ourselves. Um, not even to mention society at large, but, um, that was the start of something fantastic. After I got placed at that company with, uh, with the talent work group, they invited me back to be kind of a, a contributor. Just talking about my experiences and in, uh, human capital and in talent development and in leadership as a whole, um, it was just, it's so humbling to be, to be invited back to work with that team. They're the most professional people I think I've ever encountered. And they just, every time I sit down with them, whether it's something that I'm contributing to or whether it's something that I'm sitting on the sidelines kinda kind of watching and learning, I'm always smarter. When I walk out of that room,

Shurtleff:

we had an experience with Mike. This is, I mean, the timeline of us recording and releasing and all of it gets a little jumbled, but I'll say a couple of weeks ago from the data release, we had a chance to sit down with Mike, for the Texas ADP surly is just kept at it a couple of times, he's a monster, but like, well, monster period. No, but he keeps a room full of. Hyperactive type a people like locked in and learning for hours. Yeah. It's just captivating. Uh, so that's, that's a cool group. Timestamp me on that. When is this? When do you come to Dallas?

Bradley:

Come to Dallas in August of 2020. Okay. So, um, you know, moved into the houses. First time home owners moved into the first job in private industry. It was just a, uh, an onslaught of changes. So it was fun looking back. It was a whole lot of fun, a whole lot of learning experiences, all piled into one. Um, and that's how, uh, that I, I would say that was the start of the second life, because coming out of the military, it is a completely different culture, a completely different society in a lot of ways. That's a good thing in a lot of ways. It's terrifying how much you don't know about being an adult? Uh, I had never had health issues. I had never paid a mortgage. There were a lot of things I had to figure out pretty quick to make sure the lights stayed on in the house. So, um, it was just like a really rapid learning experience, moving here and, and get involved with all the things that we did. And I heard a rumor I want to, I like, I want to

Carey:

see if it's true. It was here. So Carly told me that through the placement process, it was a sales role in sales was going to be new. And I heard you burned through like a book, maybe book and a half a day on sales. Like I just think of the matrix plugin, if you've ever seen that. Like I know karate after that plugin like last true damage

Bradley:

you busted out. It's true. Um, so when I heard that it was a, uh, sales director role that I was being considered for. I went on Amazon while I was on the phone with Carly and pot, basically the top 10 books on the, on the topic. And they all got delivered all at once and like an 80 pound package. Um, yeah,

Shurtleff:

but the benefit of hindsight, you could have audible those good.

Bradley:

Yeah. No, I'm the guy who needs like the paper in front of him to highlight and notate and stuff like that. Um, my, my books, like if you see them you'll know it's mine, it looks like a coloring book and I'm not good at staying inside the lines. Um, tattered and twisted.

Shurtleff:

Oh yeah. I'm all sorts of beat up.

Bradley:

I'm with you. So, uh, yeah, actually I read through some many of them that my wife started getting frustrated because we had other things to do, like the start of the rest of our lives, like move, you know? So, um, man, it was, it was awesome. I learned a lot. Uh that's that's the type of thing where you got to read it three or four times to retain it. So, you know, open it up, flip through it again, but yeah, burn through bookbook and a half a day trying to get my feet under me because I was keenly. That I didn't know a lot more than I knew. And you know, that goes back to the leaving, nothing to chance. The last thing I wanted was to go through this entire process and, and get to an interview and have them ask me something simple, like, like PNL, Hey, Dan was P and L stand for Proctor and gamble. I got half of it, but you know, I'm sitting there in my late twenties trying to figure out the most basic things about any business anywhere. I didn't know what PNL was. I had never seen a balance sheet, so just had to get the real basics out of the way. So I've had a little bit of confidence and that that's still that chip on her shoulder

Carey:

way back when I'm going to get 10 books, I ain't failing this test AK interview. Well, I'm going to be an assassin.

Bradley:

When I go into this interview, you say, don't feel that test my, my wife, who will listen to this as something. It's going to look at me and raise her eyes. She was like, you failed a lot of tests, especially in college. I'm like, yeah. But I didn't care about those things like priorities. Right. So, um, no, I, I was absolutely not missing that opportunity. You weren't mailing it in? No, not at all. When did,

Carey:

when did we meet then? Like timestamped. So it had to have been after January of 2021.

Bradley:

So it was the first time we ever talked. You and me was during that freeze, that winter storm. Oh, you remember that? February

Shurtleff:

of 21? Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. So calves, water, heaters exploding and

Carey:

all the things I got the full experience. My fish died. I had a transport, a juror bowl to our office because our office had power. It was a nightmare continued.

Bradley:

Oh man. Um, so I mean, just quick note on that. Lived in upstate New York, closer to Canada than Syracuse lived in Colorado. I'm used to snow. I'm used to cold is fine. I didn't understand that two inches of snow and single digit temperatures was going to be that big a deal. I learned a lot about Texas. I learned a lot about how the houses are built more than I ever wanted to know, but I just thought it was the weirdest thing, because the day before the storm hit, it was like maybe 50. We went to Dallas stars game. The night the storm rolled in and we were driving home highway was empty. It was crazy. So we were like, maybe there's something to this. Like we don't know. And we're about to get taught a lesson, but no, it was definitely eye-opening. And it had a lot of

Shurtleff:

conversations with some of our peers in our Northeast offices about the way their homes are constructed and why it didn't, those things don't affect them. I was like, huh, that's your point? I didn't realize that. Yeah. That's what a basements for stuff like that, you know?

Carey:

Yeah. All my stuff's outside the non heated garage. Right.

Shurtleff:

So. All right. So I don't know. I don't actually know this story, so I'd be curious. So y'all caught up, how did y'all meet?

Bradley:

I think we were introduced by someone who I had met through the talent work group, Dave, Dave, Dave. Um, so David's a great connector, big time. And he said, Hey, I got this guy named Kevin that you just, you got to know Kevin. So I'm obviously I'm going to take that opportunity. Um, and yeah, we're S I'm, I'm standing in my upstairs office talking on the phone to you, not knowing who you are, what you do at all, but very excited to be on the phone. Um, I remember that phone call now. Yeah. It's like, I vaguely remember the, you know, it's always the weird semi awkward cold intros, but, um, yeah, just kind of talking about who we are, what we did. I, that was the first time I heard about 1720, uh, Just learned a lot about you and what you do. And that was my introduction to TEXO as well, because though I was in the construction industry, I, uh, my company was not associated with textile at the time. So, um, I learned a lot from that phone call. And from there, I think we really just stayed in touch. Um, just, you know, a couple of touch points every, every few weeks checking in and seeing how things were and. Yeah, start a really long story.

Carey:

Well, being an outsider and taking the long way to build the relationships like, like you and I have Stewie, like, I always love an opportunity when a D Brad comes along and it's like, here's the starter pack, man. Like, you seem like a really good person. Here's the things that I would do to accelerate your curve here. Like get involved with, TEXO go meet Melanie. Uh, these are the types of people you should go and meet. And, and that was fun because he basically, it was one coffee with Dave and he said, you gotta meet this guy. You're going to love 'em buddies knew the industry. If you can help them, I'm like done. Yeah, let's do it. The rest is

Shurtleff:

history. I love a good starter pack. Really? Like what do you want to do? Well, you know what, what's your plan? What's your, okay. I know a guy let's, let's make a connection. Let's let's have coffee, let's have an introduction. And that's a pretty good prelude to kind of what's what's next for Deborah?

Bradley:

Yeah. That's like the best transition ever. Um, you know, it's, it's always just a note on like that networking in the starter pack. Like it, it's, it's been amazing to have people who are like so willing to, to, to make those intros and, and help you get your feet under you and, and, and just help you learn what right looks like and who the right people to be associated with are, um, the industry year is a lot smaller than I thought it would be. And the people who need to know each other and know each other, it is so fascinating to see how the networking, like, how, how quickly the networking works here. It's crazy.

Shurtleff:

Well, we've had an hour, I'm going to open parentheses here. Lots of 17, 20 connects. Right? We've doing that. We're doing those little series of videos. So this week will be Matt Fisher. And one of, you know, Matt Fisher, right?

Carey:

Well, will it be this week?

Shurtleff:

I think, oh, no, sorry. I got confused because of the recording. The lecture last week was Fisher. And on his video, he talks about how people have reached out to him, how he's just had, we're not involved necessarily, but like listen to a guest, they heard his name. They reached out to him like this sort of network of, uh, web, perhaps it's being woven behind the scenes by between and among, uh, guests and listeners and sort of the movers and shakers of the network being woven behind the scenes. And so that's a pretty good close parentheses to kick it back to you to complete complete the beginning of the story here.

Bradley:

Well, you know, the industry here had a lot, it had a steep learning curve for me. Uh, it was just not, not only being my first. Job out of the military or being my first exposure to, uh, how things work in business and private industry and personal relationships, stuff like that. Uh, I had a lot of catching up to do and the perspective that I carried out of the taxi community and into this industry, didn't it didn't mesh. Um, and that became evident pretty early on. Um, you know, this, this is an industry that right now I I've come to truly appreciate and love and, and I've seen how amazing it can be. My first introduction to, it was kind of shocking in that. I didn't see a lot of trust. I didn't see a lot of transparency. I didn't see a lot of honesty and some unfortunate cases. I saw a lot of ego. Um, it was, it was very opposite. What I had become accustomed to and what I knew to, to work. Um, so I, I got discouraged. I got really discouraged really quickly. Um, and that was one of the things that I, uh, I kind of brought up to a lot of mentors in a very private way, you know, wanting to do so professionally. Um, but wanting to also get some guidance on, is it me, or is it an issue with like, does this permeate the industry, or am I sitting on the wrong side of the table or am I just not seeing it right. And am I missing something? Um, I was discouraged to the point that I was ready to leave the industry as a whole. Yep.

Carey:

I think we lose a lot of people that, because what you described as many, I won't say most but many construction companies. That have all those traits that you mentioned, and I'm sure we lose some great people like you because they th they that's the first glimpse of the industry. Like, I don't want, I want no part of this. Yeah.

Shurtleff:

Old school. That's the old school industry.

Carey:

Yeah. Button seat, pump out your widget. No fun. Although, oh, and then the bigger things like trust and all that. Right.

Bradley:

Well, and you know, it's, it is still something I'm trying to become more familiar with is like culture in the TAC peak community. And in any of the high-performing communities I've ever seen is everything. Because culture is a product of the people. And if you have the right people from day one, then you are going to build a positive culture. You're going to be successful, especially if they're led well. Um, that's a huge asterisk Ledwell. Um, and you know, you brought up the buzz and seeds mentality, pump out your widget, go home. Um, really, really bugged me. So. I like the culture. I wasn't sure how widespread this was. I wasn't sure if it was some of the companies that I had, like, I, I was in sales, right. So I talked to different companies dozens of times a day, every single day. And I just saw it again and again and again. So moving into the conversations that I was starting to have with mentors, I was like, what do we do about this, Kevin? I think you were the first person who ever told me that we can change this. Like we can step in and make a difference because I approached you. I knew you to be somebody who takes a lot of fraud and culture, your company. I know somebody or excuse me, I know you to be somebody who just leads well leads humbly and make sacrifices for other people and opens doors for them. Not because it benefits you because it's part of who you are. And, uh, when, when you told me that I didn't. Uh, not, not because I've never seen you to, to not tell the truth on anything. I just didn't believe you. I thought that was like pie in the sky. Um, once we started really talking about it and really digging into it, uh, I was hook line and sinker. I was ready to go that the most excited there there've been two times in my entire life that I've gotten in my car after something and screened like out of excitement, like beaten on, on the steering wheel screaming, uh, after talking with you for the first time about that, that was one of those times. Yeah.

Carey:

Well it takes a monumental mindset shift to not let all the things that are broken in our industry, beat you down. If you're in a position of influence, which almost everybody is, whether you're at the top bottom or in between. You got to go do something about it or, or you're going to just be miserable in your existence and won out. But when I, I don't know when the light bulb went off, but there was a mindset shift for like, why don't, these are all low hanging fruit to, to make an impact to your purpose of impacting people and serving and all that. You tie your purpose to your daily job description. Oh my gosh. Now we're cooking with peanut oil. Now we're making a big difference and we are going to stand out for the right reasons. And so your after emotion to our launch was my promotion for lunch, because you came in to talk about maybe there's a role at dynamic. And I immediately, because I've been a huge D bread fan since the first time I met you. I appreciate that. And we've had a lot of offline conversations. I'm like this guy is going to be huge, huge, huge, huge. And, uh, so you, you, you kind of flirt with the idea, like maybe something that dynamic and, and just instantly in my head, I'm like, that's not. You're too good. There's there's not a role that I could produce for you. That would keep you satisfied. And so that's where that conversation went and it's like, I think you should give it a shot on your own man.

Bradley:

Uh,

Shurtleff:

well, as you say, which leads us to, um, it, it, I get, again, I get my release timelines jumbled up, but as I recall today, our release date is, or us show, it will be April 4, 20, 22. Is that right? Am I getting my timeline right? You're right. Which is a monumental day for D Brad,

Bradley:

because, because I am going to be listening to this podcast and my new office for my brand new company, Katie striping and coding. Boom. There it is. Boom. That was weird to say, man, it's

Carey:

freaking exciting. It's pretty

Shurtleff:

exciting. Transmute the had the idea to be planted and heart and grown and watered. And at this juncture sitting here, it's not yet, I mean, we're weeks out, but to, to be harvested. And it's just been really exciting journey for you, spill the beans for us to kind of all be involved with, uh, with you. And, and so let me, let me give you like open floor to say what in the world is Katie striping and what's it up

Bradley:

to? So Katie striping is a basically parking lot service company. So when you take one, when we leave this, this podcast studio today, and we get in our cars, we're going to see a parking lot. And every time that someone comes to your offices or your job site, the first thing they see is your parking lot. It's not because they're looking for your parking lot. Nobody, nobody wakes up in the morning and says, let's go check out a parking lot except us now. It's weird. Now, every time I walk in one, I'm like, Ooh, that line is just janky. It's just all over the place. Um, Everybody has to look at it. You park your car. It's the first thing you see. And I don't think anybody needs a gold-plated parking lot. That looks fantastic. And it's power clean six times a day. But when you pull into a, an office or a building or anything that has a parking lot, that just does not look like it's taken care of, it kind of gives you that initial thought of maybe not, maybe this, this company isn't as reputable as I thought they may be. Um, I remember when I was out just, you know, beaten pavement doing sales calls and stuff like that. Um, parking lots always kind of gave me that first indicator of what I'm about to get into. So, um, th this, this industry is by and large untapped because there's a lot of very small companies that are doing what I would call. The simple work. I think there's beauty in the fact that this work is super simple. We are, we are seal coating, parking lots. We are power cleaning, parking lots. We were putting paint on parking lots. We're just doing so really, really well. You know, we're, we're a new company, but we have people working for this company who have decades of experience, who we went out and sourced very intentionally because they matched our values because we knew that they were the type of talent and possess the type of mindset that they didn't want to just have a one, two truck operation and say, yeah, let's, let's go make our pay and go home for the day. We want to grow and want to grow fast. We want to grow the right way. And the people that we sourced to, to come be a part of this, this journey with us, By and large, what I think to be the best in this industry, the best this industry has to offer. So I'm super excited about our team. I'm super excited about the services we offer. Um, I'm, I'm more excited about what this company could do to, you know, like you said, the first time we got together change lives and that sounds wild parking lot company doesn't change lives, right? But we're not really a parking lot or a wine striping or a seal coating or a power cleaning company. We're a leadership company that happens to generate revenue by striping parking lots. And you're

Carey:

going to bring your military career, your bachelor degree, your master's in strategic leadership. And then most importantly, your heart for people to an industry that probably sorely needs it. Like I said, man, if you would have left were, were missing out on a gym in this industry and now you're in here to make an impact because the widgets, the widget right glass. Striping

Bradley:

like, Hey, Hey,

Carey:

come on. It's all the same. We got the same purpose, right? All three of us, regardless of the widget

Bradley:

man. But you know, a part of the story that we did gloss over because you know, we're talking about people we're talking about positively impacting people around us. Everybody on this podcast right now has contributed to what Katie is going to be as, as, and there's dozens of people who aren't in this room with us right now who have gone out of their way to open doors, to make introductions, to give mentorship, to give guidance, um, to, to say, Hey, here's the, the mistakes that I made or the missteps that I made when I was in your shoes. So how about you just listen to me and don't do the same thing. Um, just people being incredibly selfless and rooting for each other. You know, one of the things. And they left a sour taste in my mouth, leaving the military. Was that crabs in a bucket mentality? You guys familiar? No, no idea what you're talking about. Okay. 0.0%. Cool. Rather than glossing over that, let's, let's, let's dive into it. Um, if you have a bunch of crabs in a bucket and you're taking them to get boiled up, there's always one crab. That's trying to escape that bucket. You, this is an actual phenomenon. I'm not making this

Shurtleff:

crawfish crabs too. I'm

Bradley:

sure the other crabs reach up and they pull it back down. They're like, no, man, it's not me. It's not you. You're not getting out of here. So it's like, Hey man, I've never done that. What makes you think you could do that? That was actual conversations that I was having with people that I considered mentors that I cared about and that I believe cared about me when I was leaving. The military was I'm telling me like, dude, what are you doing? You, there is no way you're going to make it. That crabs in a bucket mentality. I, it really struck me the wrong way. And for a little while it left me with some stuff to like sort through and get over on my way out of the military and in private industry, what I've seen since I decided to make that jump and take part in this, this Katy journey is man, there, there are no, like all the crabs are working together to get out of the bucket. Like no one's pulling anybody back down. No one's saying you can't do that. No, one's saying that's a, that's just not possible. Or why are you trying to change the industry? It's it's so much support it's so, so many people pouring into each other and it's just been humbling to be.

Shurtleff:

Yeah, it's going to be an exciting journey. It has been an exciting journey and it will continue to be an exciting journey for a a hundred reasons because of

Carey:

who you are. You're going to exceed your own expectations market guaranteed. On-air market 57 minute mark. Yeah, it's going to happen, man. Well, all right,

Bradley:

Katie, C a T I C a ATI stands for come and take it. So let me, let me get this out there. I am. Uh, born Texan. I'm sorry. I wish I was

Shurtleff:

fold this thing up. Yeah. That's the part in the podcast where it's like,

Carey:

I'm out on deep bread. I liked your makeup podcast

Bradley:

please. Down sick. My favorite thing about Texas is the pride that Texans have in Texas. There were so many Texans that went to the academy that they had their own club. And I did not, I couldn't stand them because they would bring their blue bell ice cream and their smoke tri tips, and they would have their parties with other Texans. They would talk about how great Texas was. They'd have their Texas flag on the wall and you'd walk past and be like, I don't like that. Then I moved down here and within about before we even actually moved into our house while we were house hunting, the people that we interacted with the love for the culture here, just the genuine kindness and the passion for what I believe to be all the right things that a human can do. It was everywhere. We knew that this was going to be home forever and it's just, you know, I, I wish if I go back and change one thing about me, I wish I had a little bit of texting in my blood. Um, I've got cowboy boots now, so there's that. But, um, man, just being part of Texas culture and being able to learn about it and see how much it pops up in day-to-day life is, is awesome. There's there's no other place like I've lived in plenty of different states. I've never seen anything like this. So. I do take pride in it already. I love being a small part of it, even, even as a transplant. And one of the things I love about Texas culture is how it started with the, uh, the common taken flag. I'm pretty sure you can see this on. If you're listening to this, like driving down the road, look at the car in front of you. They might have a come and take a sticker. If not, they'd definitely have a license plate that's modeled off of the come and take it flag. Uh it's it's everywhere. It's on the back of your driver's license. I think you sent the picture of that. Yeah. Like they come and take a cannon is a, is, is on the back of your driver's license. So, uh, it's it, it just, it's the perfect example and the battle of Gonzales as a whole, where that comes from is the perfect example of what Texans stand for and the values that they carry with them. And that's something that I knew even before I knew that I wanted to do something like this, that I knew I wanted to take those values and make them a part of what we did every day. Whether the company was, uh, on under my leadership, my guidance or whether it was somebody else's. I wanted to find a way to drag that into it because it's it's special, man, Texas, Texas fricking. Cool.

Shurtleff:

Well, let me put you on the Texas history spot for a second. And if, if not, I think I can pick, pick up the mantle on it, but most of our listeners are in Texas, but not all of them are give us a 30,000 foot view of the Bella Gonzalez and why that flags

Bradley:

important battle of Gonzales. So, uh, Texas used to be part of Mexico, Texans were referred to as texting ans they were basically settlers. Um, there was no real infrastructure to get towns connected to other towns. So everybody was basically on the frontier on their own. And there were obviously threats on the frontier. You got a little bit of conflict going on. The, uh, the Mexican government basically donated cannons to several towns to help them defend themselves. The ones that they donated to Gonzalez, they donated without cannabis. And it was basically, it was described by one historian as basically big enough to start a horse race. That's it like, it's not, it's not, um, uh, an artillery piece. So, um, there, there started to be a little bit of friction between the Mexican government and the Texans. Um, the Mexican government basically decided it might not be a good idea to let them keep that Canon because we're not making them happy and we should go get it. Uh, we don't want them shooting it at us. So they did, they sent a couple of people up a very small contingent to go to Gonzales and say, Hey, can we have that Canon back? No, absolutely not. So the Mexicans went back to the government and said, they said, no. So then a much larger contingent of the army come, comes up to Gonzales and says Canon now. And, uh, on what I believe was an old wedding dress, just a, a white piece of fabric. They painted the lone star, Texas the cannon, and then underneath wrote, come and take it just like you do. Um, w we'll be here waiting to see what you want to do, but feel this cannon, uh, try it, find out, come find out. Um, it was really the, the, the powder keg that started the Texas revolution. You don't get the Alamo without the battle of Gonzales. And there were a lot of people who've fought at the battle of Gonzales who then went on to give their lives to the Elmo. Um, you don't get Texas as a nation or as a state without the battle of Gonzalez. It's, it's almost like the, the culture of the, the come and take a flag is huge. It's everywhere. But a lot of people just don't know the real basics of the story or how important that actually is. So, um, the entire history of Texas can be traced basically back down to people being asked to do something that, uh, there was going to be a net negative for them and saying no standing up for themselves. Absolutely not. So to be able to take the, and take a Canon and the star and the C a T I M. To, to involve it in our company. It's, it's honestly kind of an honor to, to be able to, to have that on my chest every day and, and say, this is what we're doing,

Carey:

what a great two things. Classic Sui, number one, you're a great storyteller,

Bradley:

like a school child. Like tell me more Mr. Bradley.

Carey:

And I just had the second thing. I just had a massive light bulb moment and you're like, Doug, have, how did you not put that together earlier? I don't know what it is yet. Katie equals PFAFFA, which I can't go into any further than just saying that for the Google. It's

Shurtleff:

the same thing. Katie does equal PFAFFA which a very generally as a, um, a moniker for. The, the, the suggestion that you, if you were to mess around, you may find out, you go and find out and mess around and find out, except it starts with a different letter. Love it. Yeah. Katie is FFO. Yeah,

Bradley:

that's right. By the way, pitch for the town of Gonzales, they have the cannon, they, they have what they believe to be the original Canon. You can go down and see it. So a corporate field trip make yourself a little day trip. Yeah. Oh, I'll be there. And, you know, that's, that's something that we can actually do. Like there, there are so many people who've been such a big part of this. Yeah. The, the people who I'm talking about right now are going to listen to this and be like, I don't think he's talking about me, but that's exactly the kind of people who go out of their way to open doors to help other people. We, we got to get everybody together. We got to go down to Gonzales and see what's what's up around there. Um, but you know, the, the, the community that has built around this project that started. Out of just not being happy has brought so much joy to me and to my family. I would, I don't want to speak out to her, but to you guys, um, for sure. It's, it's just been incredible watching, uh, the, the construction community and all the best players in it form around this new concept. So, um, you know, to, to everybody who's been a part of this journey, no matter how big or how small, uh, from, from the bottom of my heart and from the bottom of my team's heart. Thank you. Because none of this, none of this would be here without you guys.

Carey:

It just kinda dawned on me, you know? Cause you said it earlier, dozens of people willing to help, like how our mountain mover community just stepped up. We asked former guests, uh, listeners like, Hey, would you be willing to sit down with them? Did you get a no, no

Shurtleff:

experience, zero knows your nose, loved him to talk, love to see what he's up to love to chat, love to see how it can help.

Carey:

Pretty awesome. Thank you guys for sure.

Bradley:

Truly. Thank you for sure.

Shurtleff:

Um, all right, so I'm going to left-hand turn us out of that. Just left enter left-hand turn wife, kids, family stuff. This is, you know, we're kind of, I'm kind of morphing it into like a three-step process. Cause we do this at the end family stuff, book stuff, one big thing, stuff. So let's, let's go down that journey.

Bradley:

So, uh, kind of alluded to this story earlier, but my wife and I did not get along. When we first met in college, uh, we met under what I would say are less than fortunate circumstances later on in our career, it was, uh, associated with a, um, an airplane crashing. She was a maintenance officer, um, and airplane crashing at her base. Um, the loss. Um, the unfortunate loss of life and, uh, basically me reaching out at that point to make sure that she was okay because even though most of my interactions with her had been, uh, I don't think she likes me. I also knew she was a really happy person and I could tell she wasn't super happy at that point in time. Um, reached out to her. We started talking and, uh, we just never stopped talking. So, um, my wife, Lauren and I have been married since, uh, late 2017. We've been through the ringer a couple of different times between the military moves placement. Um, obviously the ups and downs of starting a business. So, um, you know, she's, she's fantastic. I always say that she is like, I'm playing so far out of my league with her. She's so much smarter than me. Um, July. She's a lot more attractive than me too. So there's that? Um, but no, it's, it's been an awesome journey, you know, going from newlyweds and spending the first year of our marriage, the first entire year of our marriage, we were in a different continent from each other. So that was a challenge in and of itself, but it's been such a fantastic journey, just, just coming to know each other better and coming to a really coming to be passionate about each other's wins and just being there as a team. It's the best team I ever want to be on. Yeah.

Carey:

Lauren's pretty awesome. And then here comes princess Myla. You're two months in a row,

Bradley:

two months in man. It's crazy. Ah, you're telling me, it's like, she's, she's drawn so fast. So I was always the guy who like everybody, when they have a kid, they want to show you the pictures and they want to be like, oh, she'd grown so fast, always so strong, whatever animal is like, it's a baby dude. Like chill out. I know you love your kid, but I'm not here to love your kid. Um, that said all, all good things. This girl, this girl is amazing. Um, she's, she's so happy all the time. Uh she's she's smart. You can start to see it as being a dad is like, even at this stage where being a dad is basically change diapers. Make sure she's fed, hopefully get her to sleep. Um, God, it's so much fun, so much fun watching her grow. Oh

Carey:

man, you're having fun now. Just wait, ramp up the smiles and the first data and just all those

Shurtleff:

moments. Ah, you're in. Yeah, you're in Fort man. I don't mean that. Like I came out here. I didn't mean like you're in for like a really fun ride and there's definitely ups and downs and blah, blah, blah. But man, it's the days that you're in right now that you love so much for the days I was not excited about it's the, the nowadays are way better than those days. At least from my perspective.

Bradley:

Well, everyone says like, as they grow, they get more and more, uh, interesting. You start getting like maybe return on investment. The wrong thing to say, but they start like giving back to you. They start smiling, giggling, moving around. Um, and it's just, it's cool to watch the whole process. Like I I'm, I'm already sad about how fast she's growing. Cause I'm like, dude, okay. 18 years just became a short amount of time and it's moving fast. The,

Shurtleff:

um, at the church, they talk about this a little bit and it's Lord talks about it more in like a long play of life. But he talks about like measuring the moments, you know, where you think like 18 years is a long time, but what 18 years really represents is only 18 summer vacations, only 18 Memorial days. And you're like, that's sort of like measuring time and those moments. And when you think about it through that lens, you're like, that is fast. Like those kids, all, you know, all of them for us and here in the room and all they click to listen listeners, they're growing up. They're gonna be gone. So it's, it's don't, don't waste it, man. Yes, sir. Texas two-step here we go. Books. And one big thing. What you got, man. I don't tell us the full list of all the sales books. She read

Bradley:

one and a half speed. Um, so I actually made a recommendation to this book earlier day two, you have, uh, the mission, the men and me, um, by people ever. He's a former Delta force commander, uh, fantastic book. Uh, I don't want to be the guy who's like, yeah, I was in the military and we've got all these military books. So learn the military lessons and you'll succeed in life because I don't believe that to be necessarily true. But, uh, this is a fantastic book with some great lessons that you can apply to pretty much anything. Um, outside of that, anything leadership wise w by a Simon Sinek is just he's on a different level, for sure. Um, so love reading about that. I think that was the most fun I had in the, uh, Strategic leadership program. I went to for my master's because the theory of leadership is far different from the practice. It's not an equation. It's, it's not two plus two equals four. Um, it's, it's always different, even if you have the same set of inputs. So, um, learning from books like, uh, leaders, the last start with why he does a really good job of taking the simple thing or the complicated things and turning them into simple things, which I think is the definition of genius. Um, so just talk about Myla. She's she's two months old. She is not understanding English, but I still read her books. So I read her one the other day, and I think this tell me if you've ever had a children's book as an answer. So the story about the starfish, you guys know this one, it's throwing the starfish back into, into the ocean when the tide's going on. And a guy saying, why are you doing that? There's there's all these starfish on the beach. You're not going to be able to save them all what you're doing doesn't matter. And the person who's throwing the starfish back goes mattered to that one. And yeah, I read that just the other day. And I was like, this, this is a masterclass in leadership. This is exactly what we're trying to do here with K striping. Like man, we w w when you say we're going to change the world, or we're going to change people's lives, it sounds incredibly complex. It sounds overwhelming. It's the little things that make that happen. So for on that one starfish back. So shout out, Milo, thanks for letting me read. Um, best book I've read in a long time. I'm

Shurtleff:

familiar with that one. That's a good one. I was thinking you're gonna say.

Bradley:

Pad the bunny not familiar. Goodnight, moon,

Carey:

goodnight. Nothing.

Shurtleff:

A few people come on. Goodnight, moons. Terrible also, but there are a few people, like maybe two people who have read pat the bunny, they just sort of up the road and died because that book is the worst it's and it's like British the worst too. And he was like, what in the world am I like,

Bradley:

well, now I know I gotta write it down because I got to go see what pat the bunny is about. Yeah.

Shurtleff:

Pat the bunny. Anyway, thanks for that instant ditch there. All right. What's your one big thing, man. This is how we've ended every episode for a long time. One big thing. Yeah.

Bradley:

You know, I keep bringing up this mantra in relation to Katie. It's the being a small business doesn't mean you have to have a small impact. And I think everybody has the opportunity to positively impact people around. Every day. Um, it really doesn't take that much. It doesn't have to be some dramatic gesture or some ridiculous act. It's just the little things like for on that little starfish back, it's not crazy to say that the right leader, the right organization, the right team, or just the right person at the right time can change lives and make things so much better for the people that they, they share their day in their lives with. So, uh, that's my thing. It's, uh, being a small business doesn't mean having a small impact. We're going to have a hell of a splash. Amen.

Carey:

I can't wait

Shurtleff:

to see it. My man, thankful to be in your orbit, dude. It's been fun hanging out. Thanks for spending a little bit of time with us today and looking forward to seeing what Katie's up to in the next few years.