Brad Harrell aka Texas Beard Adventures Joins The Herd Has Spoken Podcast

Enjoy the conversation between Texas Beard Adventures and Brad

 

Brad

All right, Brad (Texas Beard Adventures), excited to chat with you here. And I got a I got to first start by asking you a question. And that's something that I may have been tipped off by some friends of yours in the suburban San Antonio town of Bernie, that you happen to reside and that is what joy do you get from driving down Main Street in Bernie and and Hawking an air horn extremely loud, just just need to know what you get from the air horn? Well, you know, especially when people don't expect it, and they jump three feet up in the air.

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

It gets me giddy like a 10 year old boy getting ready to unwrap Christmas presents. It is one of the most spectacular things to witness, especially if you're in control of the button. And you're in the security of your vehicle, because it's extremely loud. So yeah, I am. I've gotten I've gotten several people Well, probably at least 100 people with it. And it's a lot of fun. A lot of fun. How did it start? I mean, where did the air horn come from? The very first time. Mmm hmm. I've been wanting to get one for a while a buddy of mine sent me a link to like offer up something and this guy had one. It was a horn blasters. And it was just a good deal. It was like a $300 train horn you know, it's a quote unquote train or and it's not really a train or but it's an airport. And, and I picked it up for like 45 bucks. Of course it didn't have the compressor and everything with it. But I was able to piece everything together for relatively inexpensive. And I drive a lot and I drive all over Bernie San Antonio. And, you know, to and from. So. It just it was something that I wanted to do. I am kind of a prankster. So

yeah,

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

I put it in there. And away we went. And when I pull up to construction sites, or even the supply house, I've kind of gotten a name for myself now. Which is what some people expect. But some people don't even don't even expect it. And that's when it's a lot of fun.

 

Brad  

You gotta live up to those expectations now, right? You got to have better and better pranks.

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

Exactly. Exactly. So I've gotten probably every one of my family members with it. The only person I haven't gotten with it is my wife because I had to sleep at night. You know? I don't I don't enjoy sleeping with one eye open. So you know, that's why I I don't tread too close to home.

 

Brad  

Yeah, that's, that's smart. Plus, you can always you can always leave that dangling out there. Like you've got the you've got the imminent threat of being able to do it at any time and there's power in your back pocket for sure.

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

100%

 

Brad  

All right. So I see you got the hat. You've got the guns in the background. You guys antlers. So I want to hear from you though. How country are you

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

now, I was voted class redneck. And I don't I don't know whether I took that as a compliment or, you know, a negative thing. I guess I took it as a compliment. I don't know I'm pretty country. I gotta feed the cows in the morning. I don't know, does that? How does that sound?

 

Brad  

That sounds good. To me. That sounds good to me. Well, maybe maybe a better question is how do you know when someone's country? Because San Antonio and Bernie, that's an interesting area, right? Because San Antonio has a pretty big downtown, there's, there's a lot happening. But then Bernie is, you know, a fairly distant suburb of San Antonio. So you got them, you've got the main street air. So you kind of have this interesting cross section of sort of rural and country. So

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

I, I mean, I don't put a I don't want to like you know, toot my own horn or anything like that. I'm not a very

 

Brad  

bright it's an air horn.

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

Yeah, right. Correct. I'm not I'm not a real braggadocious kind of guy. But I, I do what needs to be done around the house and around the property? Oui, oui, oui, oui. You and I spoke a couple weeks ago, and I was telling you that we just acquired 50 acres. And it's I grew up actually in San Antonio at my mother's house, but I I always enjoyed being outdoors, and go into we had a family ranch when I was growing up, that just recently got sold. So I've always tried to figure stuff out and be one with, quote unquote, the land, right?

 

Brad  

Yeah, absolutely.

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

So yeah, I, I have the hat. My It was my grandfather's hat. When he passed away, it just sat at our office. And I asked my father, because my father's got a rather large head. Me and my grandfather share the same size head. And so it was just sitting there. And I was like, Hey, you mind if I take grandpa's hat? I mean, I've got a definitely have other hats. But this is probably by far my favorite. And it has a lot of character, you know?

 

Brad  

Yeah, it's seen a lot of things right. If hats, good hats could talk. But if that's good talk, and I understand you've got you've got quite a bit in common with your dad and your grandfather. Correct. So you are a third generation? Master plumber, correct? Yes. Yes. My,

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

my father actually got his master's first. And then my grandfather got his master's. Because my grandfather worked in the plumbing supply industry, his whole career. And extremely smart man went to law school, passed the bar exam, and wanted to become a politician. But then, had had got gotten my grandmother pregnant with my father and his twin brother. So he did not go into politics. That's why I was going to law school at St. Mary's and San Antonio, and then kept continued work in at the plumbing supply house. My grandfather or sorry, my father was working as like a stock boy would do stuff around the plumbing supply house and ended up starting to do little side jobs and one got his journeyman license, then went and got his master license. And then my grandfather retired from the plumbing supply house, when got his master's, and then along the road, I've got my journeymen I've been working for the company for right essentially my whole life because every summer and holiday, thing, Thanksgiving, Christmas, all that stuff we would go me and my brother would go down to the office in go to job sites as a kid So I, I grew up doing it. So yeah, but I am, right third generation master plumber.

 

Brad  

How do you think that's, that's enhanced the relationship that you've had with your father and your grandfather, the fact that you guys have the same profession.

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

It's it's a double edged sword, because we share the passion of plumbing. But family business is complicated. And it can be extremely stressful at times. But we do, we love plumbing, and it is runs very deep in our blood. So I would say it's, it's, I have shared some some very fun moments with with my brother, my father and my grandfather accomplishing stuff that probably a lot of people don't get to accomplish tangible things that that you can put your hands on, you know, driving down the highway and say, you know, pointing out to a building and said, I did the plumbing on that building and that building in that building, so it's, it's a, it's a Yeah, it's, it's very rewarding in that aspect.

 

Brad  

Yeah, it's, it's super satisfying to have something tangible that you can, you can point to, I remember, growing up my, my parents had our roof redone by a gentleman who was a minister, and he did roofing sort of on the side. And he did it because he could actually point to something he did that was really satisfying. Because, as a minister, I mean, it's is never ending, right, you're supporting the congregation, you're doing whatever you need to do. But with a roof, there is a very defined start and end. And that's, that's powerful, right. And it sounds like that's, that's something that you you and your family have found satisfying as well. I'm interested to hear a little bit more about some of the some of the challenges that y'all have had in terms of working together as a family. So it sounds like, like, the pros far outweigh the cons. And it sounds like you guys have enjoyed so many good good moments to together. But I know that's, that's, that's really hard, right? I mean, people say don't shit where you eat people say don't work with family. Right? And so what are some of the things that you've you've noticed that are troubled spots? And maybe if someone who's listening, that they're thinking about getting into the business with their, with their family? What what are some of the things that they need to be aware of? Or what are some of the experiences that you've had? Where I can get a little bit tricky?

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

I would say that when when you work with family, there has to be boundaries that have to be established. You have to know what what is acceptable and what isn't acceptable. to, to say, because when, when, so Missy, what am I trying to say? Somebody does isn't pulling their weight, it's really easy when that person isn't a family member, to just say, you know what, that's it, you're done. Adios. You know, have a good life, right? Well, when that's your brother, or sister or cousin or uncle or whatever, you still got to see him Thanksgiving and Christmas. So it's not like you can just cut ties and never have to worry about that person again. So I would say, from the from the beginning, you need to be able to set some type of standard or agreement like, Hey, you know, or in that aspect, it's also easier. I say that, to pull them aside and be like, you know, what's going on? Because you're you're not present? What you know, right? And so that that's what I would say to anybody that's thinking about going into business with a relative that they need to make sure that there's some boundary lines set in the beginning. Yeah, boundaries and guidelines. Those are two things that you mentioned that I think are super important. And in all honesty, I probably applies to relationships outside of family and work as well. Because it feels like if you can agree to those boundaries, if you can agree to how you're going to make a decision if you can agree to what good looks like and how you're going to address it. If good doesn't happen. You can do that upfront, man that makes things a lot easier down down the tracks, for sure. And so I think that's it, that's a really important thing when you're starting to sort of mix mix swim lanes a little bit, right? Whether it's working, working together, or going into business with with family, or, you know, going on vacation with with another couple or something like that. I mean, even small things, right. It's really helpful to try to align on to those things up front. Yeah. I got to ask, though, you did mention that you've gotten everyone except your wife with some good pranks. Did working with family also set yourself up to really, really get some good iron against your boss? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I, I tend to put those on my Instagram. And I did a little collage of me getting my sister and it wasn't even all of them because I've got several more videos on there on my Instagram that, you know, date back years, but I've gotten I don't even get my brother anymore. Because he has gotten to the point to where he saw that I don't even get it my because when I first got the train horn, um, I would I would set it up and they tried to get me back with like, uh, you know, they sell the little cans of like a like a boat, air horn, you know, like you would put in a skiff or something to warn off or maybe try to call for some help or whatever. They they tried to rig it up to where they got me and they didn't even get me. But it's, uh, yeah, that that is probably the problem with being such a prankster is that paybacks, paybacks, or paybacks, and you got it? You can't be upset when somebody gets you. And I wasn't I wasn't upset when they did try to get me but it didn't. It didn't work...

 

Brad  

Something to aspire to for sure. You mentioned your Instagram account. Right. So you've you've you've posted some some good stuff there, you get near sister. So this is a good transition into talking a little bit about some of your work in terms of social media. But before before we do important question, how can people track you down on on social media?

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

So YouTube is Texas beard adventures. Instagram is Texas beard adventures, everything is Texas beard adventures. Facebook is the same. And yeah, I would say I really enjoy. I really enjoy both avenues. I enjoy the simplicity of Instagram, because you could pop a video up. And it takes very little effort to do so. But I have I have enjoyed more of the YouTube well, both really looking back. But YouTube, being able to see my kids grow up over since I've started that it's been very, I've been able to appreciate that. Looking back on it now, whereas I don't think I would have had as much video and or photos of them. Otherwise if I wouldn't have started it. Because before I started my YouTube channel I did not have I started YouTube. I didn't have Facebook, I didn't have Instagram, I didn't have I don't do much on Twitter, but I have a LinkedIn account. And but I didn't have any of that. Because I didn't put much stock in it. And I I didn't have a lot of time. I still don't have a lot of time, but I just didn't. I didn't. I didn't want to go down that avenue. But now I'm all in love because you know, I don't think the average person would think third generation master plumber in suburban rural Texas. be someone that would aspire to be on YouTube and on Instagram on Twitter and Facebook. So what was it that that got you interested to begin with and what is it about your channel that that that you want people to get excited about or why you want people to tune in.

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

So it it's it stems back to a trip that I took with several of my buddies out to West Texas. We went to, like 75,000 acre ranch in West Texas right on the Mexican Texas border. buddy of mine, Dustin Scott, he is extremely talented in VR videography. He's a graphic arts designer. And he, he took all of his camera gear like this is probably, I don't know, about five years ago, four or five years ago, something like that. Went out there, he took drone GoPros nice cameras, all that. And he just, we just did what we what we do. Right, right. And having a good time outside. Yeah, we went, we went, we're driving around on this huge ranch. Carrying on drinking some adult beverages, doing some some hunting. And just hanging out having a good time. He, it took him a while to be able to put that footage together. Probably, I would say three to four months, he finally got it, got it. Put in a video format, like about a 10 minute video. And it was just there wasn't really like, it wasn't a YouTube video, it was just clips of all of probably about 10 of my buddies throughout the trip over like three days. And that was the video that got me to thinking like, you know, what we do is special and unique and fun. And people should be able to see it. So that was the kind of thing that had the light bulb over my head. And then, of course, Matt character lives not far from from me, and I saw his success with it. And I was training for a half marathon that I did a couple years ago. And and I just was like five o'clock in the morning. Like, you know, I should I should start a YouTube channel.

 

Brad  

This is I love it.

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

This is this is what people should should see, you know, because we do me and my friends we do some stuff that probably your normal guy doesn't get to do or experience. So that's what that's what kind of started it. And that's what I've been trying to I've been all over the map on left handed. And I've heard that left handers kind of are, I don't know add, so to speak. But so I do a mixed bag of a bunch of stuff on my YouTube channel and Instagram. I'm into guns, I'm into cars, I'm into family. outdoors, I I'm all in I'm also a plumber. So I do Can I throw construction projects in there too. So that's I think that's why I haven't grown maybe as quickly as I could on YouTube. Because I I am just one when one week I'll be putting out a video about hunting the next week. It'll be about plumbing the next week. It'll be about fishing. It's so I don't do it on purpose. I mean, I

 

Brad  

mean I do do it on purpose, right but it's your life you're not conscious about

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

Yeah, exactly. And and I make videos about what I care about and I care about a lot of stuff so that's the problem is that it's hard for me to make a video down one lane is the problem.

 

Brad  

Mm hmm yeah, I can see that. And so you mentioned Matt character who lives down the street from you more or less Andy Rawls is the same thing great guy for those you guys can go back and check out the episodes with actually both of those gentlemen so but so those guys are bigger I mean that's one of the biggest stars on on YouTube full stop cross across every every genre so he's a bit of an outlier and in AD to doing well continue to grow his channel steady Eddie, like a lot of people ups and ups and downs but but I think those guys are pretty established and they've they've climbed mountains and from talking with those guys very regular basis, I know that there's, there's mountains that they're still trying to climb, right? What happens when you climb a mountain? You see, there's other peaks to climb. And for you, you're kind of climbing that that first mountain, right when it comes to YouTube. So, you know, talk to me a little bit about, like, What What is that like for you? Because obviously, you'd like you, you aspire to have a greater following, but yet, your following is increasing. Not an hour you'd like it to be yet. So what what is that like for you?

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

It's a love hate relationship. I, I, sometimes I, I tell myself, you know, just forget about it. Just don't mess with it anymore. It's not worth it. But it is worth it. Because I'm not. I'm not looking at the short term. I'm looking at the long term and the relationships that I build over time. And it's, it's a struggle, because everybody wants viral videos, when it comes to YouTubers, social media, in general. And I have I, in my opinion, I have yet to have a quote unquote, viral video. It is, it's a lot of fun. It's a lot of work. But anything that is worth it is a lot of work. I mean, it if it was easy, if I didn't have to wake up at three or 330 in the morning, to edit video while the rest of my family is sleeping, then then I don't think that I would be doing my my time, you know, putting in putting in the long hours that's that's required to be at the level of success that Matt and Andy and Cletus McFarland or lunkers and all those guys that did their time in the trenches, is the way that I look at it. Because I mean, I'm, I'm, I've got like, 4700 subscribers right now on YouTube. Every day it goes up, you know, some days it goes up more some days, it doesn't go up at all. It's just, it's a it's that mountain that we're trying to get to the top of. And yeah, so I I look at it as I'm putting in my time. And that I want it. I want it bad enough to where I'm willing to sacrifice the the hours of sleep to get it done.

 

Brad  

Yeah, it's it's interesting to hear you talk because I can relate to a lot of that right now with with MuskOx. It's funny because, you know, I work a lot. And for the last probably month and a half, I feel like I've been working every every waking hour. And as we record this, we're about a week away from biggest shopping weekend, the year between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. And I spent a great deal of time today at the store lugging boxes around. Long story short, we decided to open a retail location here in Detroit area that we weren't planning on, but we could negotiate a good deal that we've got a main warehouse down in in Bernie, Texas, and we're mostly MuskOx closer or stored. And so we're still small enough where we it's not easy to move inventory, we couldn't ship things from the factory, to both our retail store and our warehouse. So anyways, long story short, I'm doing a lot of heavy heavy lifting here by literally and figuratively. And I've been thinking about it a lot. And and what I'm trying to decide is if is if I actually enjoy the grind for the sake of the grind, or if I enjoy it for the potential of a return in the future. And I honestly I don't know where I stand on that. It's just the stuff that I've been processing. And I'm curious if if you if you enjoy getting up at 330 or you enjoy thinking about what could happen as a result of your efforts and continuing to to grind. I'd be curious if you've thought about that question at all.

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

I have I don't I don't necessarily enjoy waking up in the wee hours of the morning. But I do enjoy the pursuit of it. And and the at the end of a video that I've edited myself. And then I realized that don't get upset with yourself at not What is it, it's a the instant reward from a video that you put up. So because you see guys like Andy or Matt or lunkers. And they're, they're well established, they have a huge following. And so they put a video up, and it goes, you know, a couple hours or a couple days, it's it's 100,000, or a million or whatever views, right. And so a small guy like me puts a video up and a day, it's got 100 views, two days, it's got 150 or something like that. And you're like, well, I'm a failure, because, you know, my videos aren't doing what their videos are doing. But what I've been able to realize, doing this long enough now for probably two and a half, three years, is that you don't need to be so concerned about right now, like the video performance, or just in general, the performance of your channel, and videos on it is that as people discover the videos, they're going to do better, the longer they're on YouTube, or they're going to get more views. So you kind of have to just step back and realize that just give it time with it. Everybody. Everybody, not everybody. A lot of people want to be YouTubers. But it's not easy. And, and it, it takes a lot of time and energy and everything. I mean, it's it. It's a lot of planning and logistics and all that. And I mean, that's why there's very few that succeed at it. I mean, I've seen people that channels that I started out with at the same time, and they gave it up. I don't I don't plan on doing that I plan on I'm in it for the long haul.

 

Brad  

When all else fails, persistence prevails. That's one of my favorite sayings. Right? So absolutely, you know, and I got it, I give you give you a ton of credit. Because, you know, from, from my perspective, you know, one of the most important things in life is to try to make yourself better. And that's not that's not a destination, that's a journey. And Lord knows I got a lot of ways I can I can get better. And I don't think I'm probably talking out of turn here saying I'm sure you feel the same way. That's that's just kind of the nature of things. But what I think is, is the most noble is being willing to put yourself out there to try to find ways to make your life and to make yourself better. And so it's sort of just by definition, you you continue to put out these videos every for two and a half years, three years, whatever it is, I think that's great, because I think that it, it just shows that you respect yourself and you have that want to which is going to in turn make you a better person, whether or not you know your videos ultimately take off on YouTube or not. I think there's just like so much inherent value in just just figuring something that you want and going after it.

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

Sure. Yeah. Yeah, I had a really good conversation with Eric at Texas barndominiums I don't know if you've ever spoken to him. And he's done some some really cool stuff with Matt. And he builds. he's a he's a builder, right? And he was telling me, you need to make more videos about plumbing. Like man, nobody wants to see videos about plumbing. And he goes it's a I wish I wish I knew that. It's a it's a phrase or it's a it's a it's a like a syndrome almost that people

 

Brad  

imposter syndrome. Is that by channel.

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

It's a it's a dang it. Dunning Dunning. I wish I knew it. I was thinking about it earlier and I should have wrote some notes down but it is essentially smart. People think that everybody knows what they know. And dumb people think

that

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

nobody what dumb people think that nobody knows anything, essentially. So I'm like, I'm a plumber. I'm a master plumber. So I think that Well, everybody knows how to put a toilet in. Everybody knows how to paint out a garbage disposal by No, not everybody does. And so I, I have always shied away from in my earlier YouTube career, putting out plumbing and construction related videos. Going back to my being left handed, that I, I have more embrace that as of lately. So I'm starting to do a little bit more of that, because that not everybody knows what I know. A lot of people don't know what I know. Well, nobody knows what I know. Really. Because I know what I know.

 

Brad  

Yeah, right. Which might be a good thing. Yeah, over.

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

If you were up in this end of mind, boy, we go for a rollercoaster ride. Well,

 

Brad  

okay, let's let's go there, then I want to know, so your people talk about the year 2020 being crazy, but I want to talk about the year 20 00 because it was the year 20 00 where you decided to chase a woman across Texas, out to College Station. And and so I want to hear about what was going through that that brain of yours in year 2000 when you when you chase the woman across Texas?

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

Yeah, so go back to my freshman year rottweil right after graduating high school freshman year of college, my brother and sister lived in College Station, where a&m is that they were going to school up there. My girlfriend, her best friend and her boyfriend they were going to move to College Station. I convinced my parents to allow me to go up there in pursuit of my Finn girlfriend. And then so I did and that the stipulation was that I had to live with my brother and sister which was fine So fast forward a year so go to 2001 she breaks up with me put crushes my heart into a million pieces and I pleaded with her numerous times please just Why are you doing this to me? Don't you know? Come on, we're meant to be together. And that was the best thing that ever ever happened to me because I moved back to San Antonio started going to school here in what I say here in San Antonio living with my mother started working for the company full time and then I met my wife now Robin and she was in nursing school with some friends of mine and yeah then we ended up starting dating and got married and had kids and the rest is history

 

Brad  

is the same everything except the the prank with the air horn which which is still which is still coming you just don't don't know Robin

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

just doesn't know when no I don't know if I'll ever go there with her.

 

Brad  

Don't tell her that don't tell her that it's not coming she hasn't had it yet.

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

right

 

Brad  

but but I mean look that story is so common for so many guys and I don't know I don't know who needs to hear it but you know when when you get your you're heartbroken like that you said you know smashed into 1000 pieces but it is crazy how many times that's the best thing that they wind up happening to someone and it sounds like that's indeed the case with with you as well. Where you're you're in a you're in a much better position now. And you've got a great family and great life and making things happen. down in Texas.

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

Yeah, yeah, it's um, she she's a amazing woman. Great Mother, great wife. If it wasn't For her, things would not be the way they are for me, she allows me to do the things that I love, and go on the crazy adventures down to the coast or going hunting with my buddies and stuff like that, that that I enjoy doing. And with my boys too. That's, that's since we've had kids I, I tried to incorporate them into, into as much of the videos as I can. And also try to teach them as much as possible, the stuff that I know. Because it's important to pass that on to the generations. You know, especially the the the hunting and the fishing aspect of it and the plumbing, too. I want them to grow up to be great contributors of society and great men.

 

Brad  

Yeah, for sure. Well, speaking of passing things on, from generation to generation, what is the greatest greatest piece of advice that you've ever you've ever received from someone?

Oh, geez.

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

That's deep bread. Oh, man. Greatest piece of advice.

 

Brad  

In your business, a royal flush pizza full house. I mean, that's, that's an important piece of advice.

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

I would say. Just well, going back to my boy scout days. Just be honest, even when it hurts, even when it's not popular to do my watchers come home. Yeah, just be be be honest, and be truthful. Because lies, lying is never going to get you ahead.

 

Brad  

And most of us aren't smart enough to be able to remember when you when you said something other than the truth. So you should try to do that. It's a bad strategy. One final question. Just a fun question here for you, Brad. Before before we let you go. That's what is your biggest pet peeve?

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

I would probably say liars. Lying is I yeah, I don't I do not tolerate liars. In any aspect of my life. So I would have to say probably that.

 

Brad  

Very. Yep. Yeah. I think that's a good thing to have no, no patience for. Well, listen, we we appreciate you carving out time today. We appreciate getting to have a little bit of your grandfather, together with us here on the podcast with your with your hat and with really your whole family because I know everything you do something you put your heart into. And it's something that you know plumbing, something that you connect with your family. And we wish you all the success with your your YouTube and social media adventures. Go ahead and give Brad a follow at Texas beard adventures and follow all the crazy shenanigans he's got going on. But yeah, thanks. Thanks again, Brad. We appreciate you joining us.

 

Texas Beard Adventures  

Thank you, Brad. Thank you very much.