Episode 26 - All About Austin Jones

[00:00:00] Speaker A: This was for the home team. [00:00:11] Speaker B: Hey, welcome to Tailgate Beers. Here we've got Austin and Ryan. Hey, we've got a special edition of Tailgate Beers. Tonight we are recording an episode. We thought it would be good for you guys to get to know us individually a little bit. You know, we, we've been doing this 20 some episodes we've got released at this point, four or five months and Austin and I have done a lot of work, a lot of behind the scenes stuff and we thought it would be good for you to get to get to know us individually. So tonight it's all about Austin Jones. [00:00:44] Speaker A: All about me, all about Austin. [00:00:46] Speaker B: So we're, we're just gonna, gonna jump right into things and you know, first before we do that, let's give a couple shout outs. We've got, we've got our main top title sponsor here, Surfside. [00:00:58] Speaker A: Yeah, the official drink of our podcast and Cruisin's presenting sponsor. And again the side stage sponsor at Tailgate and Tall Boys. [00:01:06] Speaker B: Surfside Stage. [00:01:08] Speaker A: Surfside Stage. [00:01:09] Speaker B: Looking forward to that. We've also got another new friend that we've gotten over the last week or so, White Oak Brewery, which is in Normal, Illinois, which is a stone's throw away from where Tailgate and Tallboys in Bloomington, Illinois will be. Yeah, looking forward to continuing our partnership with them. [00:01:28] Speaker A: Well, we drank like, I don't know, 10 different combination. 10. [00:01:34] Speaker B: I lost, I lost track at like seven. [00:01:36] Speaker A: Yeah, we drank a bunch of different mixtures over there and great people and great beer and they're, they're one. They provide us a whole goodie goodie basket or box of all their assortments. [00:01:49] Speaker B: So yeah, yeah, looking forward to giving some of those possibly to some of our guests as they come on. Maybe a little gift bag, a little Tailgate beers, walk away. Bag of different things that Surfside and White Oak have given us. Cruisins and ducks and until gating Tall Boys. So we are recording this. It's mid January, January 20th with lots of things happening today. We've got inauguration of our good friend and hopefully one of our podcast guests, Mr. President Donald Trump. [00:02:20] Speaker A: Future probably be in the, you know, maybe the next 50 episodes. I think our people are trying to get a hold of his people. He's a little busy to make that happen. [00:02:28] Speaker B: A little busy right now. But yeah, maybe once things settle down. [00:02:32] Speaker A: Yeah. And then we got Martin Luther King Day today. We've got the national championship. I don't know. Are you, are you rooting for anybody in? [00:02:43] Speaker B: I'm just kind of a Fan of the game. You know, I hope. I hope both teams have fun and they play hard. [00:02:48] Speaker A: Hope everybody has fun. [00:02:50] Speaker B: I just hope they have a good time. But, no, I am Buckeye. I have been a Buckeye fan for, I don't know, the better part of 10 years or so now living in Ohio, Columbus, Ohio, for a period of time, and this is not about me, but, yeah, no, I became a Buckeye fan. So rooting on the Buckeyes tonight. Hopefully this ages well. By the time this airs, they might be like, hey, you know, yeah, that didn't age well if Notre Dame really kicks us tonight. But I'm hoping that at the end of the day, we can be winners. [00:03:22] Speaker A: Oh, I agree. I think. I think Ohio State wins. [00:03:26] Speaker B: I do, too. We have some friends, Handsome Dan. Handsome Dan is a big Notre Dame guy, so looking forward to pushing his buttons a little bit later tonight as if he's out. [00:03:37] Speaker A: No, I agree. We have to dump some Lucky Charms on his driveway. [00:03:41] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. So let's get into to why we're here tonight. And again, this is all about Austin Jones. And this is kind of like the title of. Of the episode that. That we wrote, just because, again, we're going to have one here, Austin, that we're recording tonight. This will be released here in the next several weeks. We're going to record one all about Myself as well, you know, in the next week or two and get that out in the next month. But, you know, it's. It's certainly been a ride. You know, this. This Tailgate Beers podcast, and we're going to. We're going to go way back, you know, into some family and what brought you to where you're at today. But certainly from a Tailgate Beers, it's been a learning process. It's been fun. And I think you yourself have been challenged in a lot of different ways from professionally, from thinking about career and what you do in the future, going forward and looking forward to diving in all of that tonight. [00:04:44] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, I don't. I don't really like getting into my. My own background and my stuff, but, I mean, I don't know that you're any more comfortable, you know, going into yours. But I think this is part of being vulnerable and, you know, just saying where we're at as people. I think we sit here and interview all these artists and ask questions. And for me, I think anybody that is following us, you know, some, you know, are friends of ours. Some, you know, don't know us at all. So I think it's interesting to dive into our stuff. I think it's something we have to do. But yeah, I'm here to educate everybody on who I am. [00:05:19] Speaker B: So. All about Austin Jones. So where do we start? I mean, that's the question. Where do we start? In an attempt, and it probably won't go this way, but in an attempt to kind of go in chronological order. So Austin and I'll tell you a little bit of what I know and you can correct and jump in. Certainly. So a Metamora guy. Metamora is just a stone's throw away. So we live in Washington now. Austin and I both live in Washington. He's from Metamora, went to Metamora High School, Germantown Hills. Germantown Hills. So there we go. We went to Peoria Christian here in grade school, junior high, and then Metamora basketball player in high school, that kind of thing. And I know that your family history and your family business and all of that plays a huge part within what makes you. You. So, I mean, what, what. What do you want to share with. With the fans of. Of tailgate beers as far as what that upbringing, mom, dad, relationships, business. I mean, what. What makes Austin. Austin that he is today based upon that? [00:06:29] Speaker A: I mean, there. I think that's a much more complicated question. You know, I had two parents that, you know, ran. Ran businesses that showed hard work. You know, again, we, you know, we have our own dysfunctions as a family. And even at a young age, knowing that, like, we worked for, you know, our first car and you saved up your own money, you know, we're out there doing yard work all the time and everything we did, just still doing the work to, you know, clean, whether it was going and cleaning the cars or cleaning the boat or cleaning the house to, you know, those disciplines. I think as parent, I mean, they definitely, you know, instilled that in us. You know, we used to race, go karts and sprint cars and all that stuff, and having that discipline of, hey, you're going to show up here three days a week, get the car ready, clean them. It wasn't necessarily about having a clean car, clean trailer. It was about the discipline of, you know, take care of your stuff, we're going to do these things. And I think, you know, my parents, you know, instilling that in us was really important. And, you know, I learned a lot from it. I learned a lot about starting off in trades at a young age. Why would you sit and clean a machine all the time or take care of this? But it was also the mindset of having a Clean workspace, having a clean home. Just those little lessons, I think are really important. But again, I think seeing two parents, again, no matter what else goes on in the household, seeing two parents that work very hard for what they have is. Was really important to me. You know, growing up in Germantown and going to pure Christian, I mean, that had its own sort of lessons of, you know, private school things that, I mean, we get into. But yeah, that's kind of my, my overview on that. [00:08:57] Speaker B: So, I mean, it's kind of that work hard, play hard. You talk about, you know, the, the, the effort and the, the time you had to put in to earn what you had. But at the same time there was, you know, opportunities to go race golf carts or not golf carts, go karts and stuff like that. So it's that, that work hard to play hard type of mentality that, you know, you were kind of kind of born and raised on, so moving, moving forward from there. So there is a family business that shortly after, after high school, you got involved in and we're very involved with. [00:09:34] Speaker A: Yeah, so. So for me, being a basketball player, an adolescent boy, somebody that just rambunctious, I didn't really ever know what I really wanted to do. So my kind of story is I wanted to play college basketball. Never really knew a full career. Looked at going into the military. I looked at, you know, a couple different colleges, was really kind of battling that. And in high school, one of my. Probably not, probably the number one thing that I was the most interested in was wood shop. I, you know, at a young age in high school, I just, I loved it. I figured out that I was really good mechanically understanding everything that was going on, the machines. And you know, my wood shop teacher, Chuck park, he. He was really the biggest influence of going, you don't have to fucking be the smartest kid in the room. You don't have to get a perfect on your SATs. You don't have to go to college. Like, what about a trade? What about this? What about like he was always one that the moment you thought you were getting to this little big for your britches, he's a perfect guy to go, oh yeah, you're not that fucking smart kid. And he did that with everybody. But I think for me, I really found home in woodworking. I really had a passion for those types of things. And he also, again, made me really think, like, hey, Austin, like, you're not the smartest, like, book smart kid in here, but I'm telling you, you're really fucking smart. At this. And that kid who got a perfect on his acts, he's an idiot in this class. You realize there's two different types of kind of genius, if you will. And so anyways, he really pushed that. And I think that's when I really started to question what my next step was and what I wanted to do. And so as a 17 year old kid to go and visit a college and to think, I don't know if going and playing basketball here is really going to be my thing. To my mom one late night sitting up with me going, have you ever thought about joining the trade? Have you ever thought about working for the family business? Which the family business was a company called JH Benedict Company in East Peoria. Was around for 70, 60 years at the time. Now is actually probably 80 years, you know, been in business. And as a 17 year old kid, what's nuts is I'd been through that shop a billion times. We were in there when we were working on race cars and also, I mean we made a pinewood derby car. I mean that looked just like an Indy car. I mean this thing was the coolest fucking car. I mean it was slower than fuck. Yeah, very cool looking though. But I had been through. But really as a kid, I think you also know your parents do, but you just never really give a shit like what they really do or the full, the full scope of what they do. And so when all this kind of got started getting brought up, it was like, you know, me and my dad had our back and forth and our, you know, arguments about stuff, but to think of like going and working for the family business, I didn't even know that it was ever an option really. Never really thought about it. Seventeen, even two weeks out of high school, all my friends are partying or you know, getting ready to go to college and I enrolled at icc, the local college and I went to work two weeks out of high school, joined a trade, was, you know, 18 years old, became an apprentice at the shop learning, you know, CNC machines, welding, the whole nine yards. So that was, that was an eye opener to be 18 with a bunch of guys that were, you know, they'd been there for 20, 30, even 40 years and I'm 18 years old. Most of these guys had been there for twice my age. Yeah, very intimidating. [00:14:03] Speaker B: Oh I bet, I bet. And so you're, you're going to school a little bit too and, and learning the trade within the family business there, like you said, doing some, some CNC like manufacturing kind of stuff. Did you Enjoy that. I mean, is that something that you look back on now and be like, do you, do you miss it? I mean, so fast forward, you're, you're out of that now. You're, you're working, you know, in a different industry. But do you miss the, the Manuf? [00:14:32] Speaker A: Oh, dude, I loved it. I mean, like, loved it. It was one of those things that at the time, the Internet isn't what it is now. Yeah, there wasn't TikTok there really. Instagram hardly existed. And you know, YouTube wasn't even really what it is today. So going into this trade of the technology side of things, you know, the cnc, manufacturing, robotic automation, all that stuff was in a massive like transition, big transition. I was right there in the middle of it and working with these people that had been doing this for years and years and years. I'm kind of hearing this whole old school side of things, but then I'm hearing this new way of doing it, but there really isn't a lot of information out there. I obsessed over it. I obsessed over speeds and feeds. I obsessed over. And most people that know me right now don't truly know this side of it. Right. I don't even know that you fully know this side of it. But like I obsessed over what like a chip should look like when it comes off of a drill, to the different types of cutting tools and the coatings that were on them, to the materials used to, you know, making something really efficient and cutting down cycle times and all of it, like fast forward. My obsession with just process improvement, that type of stuff. And yeah, no, I. So long story short, like I, I loved it. I look back after I left that and I think I never worked. And I know we say, people say this, but I never worked a day in my life. Every day I went to work, never thought about what I was doing, never was like, can 3:30, can 4:00 just get here? And it wasn't that. It was because it was my family business. I just, I loved doing it. I loved it, especially when I was on the floor and it's just you and this machine, you and this piece of equipment and you're making art really is the way I always looked at it. And that was really my favorite time in my life of learning those things, being really good at something. You know, when I moved up and I ended up becoming, you know, the plant manager foreman and started doing a little bit more paperwork, a little bit more sales, a little bit more customer service again, I love that part too. It Just took a different role of what your day to day was. And pushing paperwork isn't anything any of us really love. But then I'd have a Saturday where I'd go and run a piece of equipment and man, I mean, that day just flew by because it was like kind of back to just, I don't know, you're just doing something that you love to do and you don't really think about it. [00:17:29] Speaker B: Yeah, so. So here you are. I mean, I'm guessing put, just putting it kind of a little bit of a timeline to it. You're probably, you know, early 20s. What's the next fork in the road that that kind of, kind of comes up that you want to share. [00:17:45] Speaker A: So when I was in my 20s, I was about 21 years old. I just gotten, just gotten married. And the foreman at the time had pretty much said he was going to take a step down and, and then it kind of came up as an option of like, who's going to be our next, who's going to be our next lead? Who's going to be the, you know, who's going to be the foreman? And I'll never forget the day that then, you know, they came out and was, you know, said, hey, you're going to, you're going to do this role. And I'm kind of like, what? But even then I, again, I look back and I don't know, man, I worked really hard to try to gain, you know, all those guys respect even that when we disagreed. I do feel like there are people that probably fucking hated my guts, but I do believe that they would still look and go, I mean, I can't fucking stand this kid. But if you need an answer or you want to get the best idea, I do believe, you know, you need to ask Austin. [00:18:53] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:18:53] Speaker A: And I mean, again, I full heartedly believe that I earned the respect because I would listen and I would put my best foot forward on learning every single inch and every single step of what something needed done. So again, young age also had a lot of drama, a lot of, you know, politics of, well, you know, your boss's kid and a lot of people trying to fuck with you a little bit. And it's just tough. And again, I also was full of a little bit of pissing vinegar, a little. I can see that I could stir the pot a little bit. So I probably, I probably instigated enough shit. And yeah, tough spot being at 20 some years old. Also even dealing with customers, dealing with people that, you know, you're talking to Somebody on the phone, they're like, yeah, I mean, can you put the, can you put the actual person that can tell me what to do is. Yeah, I mean, I'm it. Oh, no, no. I mean, can I talk to your dad? He's gonna come ask me, you know, what needs done. But yeah, so that was a lesson a lot of growing up really fast. [00:19:55] Speaker B: So a lot of your friends, peers that you grew up with, I mean, they're probably, some of them were in college at this point and you're already learning some major life lessons in business and leading people, all of that. I mean, so it was kind of like you said, growing up fast. It was a lot of fast learning to get yourself in that type of position quickly. [00:20:18] Speaker A: Yeah. And the fact that, I mean, I had a flip phone so there was no, like scrolling and I, I credit a lot of that to it, honestly. I. Even if I want to be distracted, which I'm a very, you know, adhd, you know, type person, there was no option to just sit and scroll on social media. I mean, the worst part was the text messages, let's say. But hell, even that I saw the limit at that point of, hey man, you're about to get to your limit for the month how many text messages you just sent. I mean, what a biggest crock of shit scam that was. But, but I would get the messages, hey, man, hey, what are you doing today? And it's like your dipshit friends that you went to high school with that are like, hey, we're all going to lake today to swim and do shit. You want to come out? I'm like, I have a job. I work from this time. Like, what don't you get about this? And you know, that's something that again, you know, kind of learn at a young age. Dude, you're 20 some years old. I mean, you're breaking up with girlfriends, you're, you know, finding another family life of, you know, I want to, you know, buy a house. I want to have, you know, fall into that cycle of, you know, the white picket fence. The whole dream you're trying to navigate, you know, your family life, you know, all of that. And for me, I felt the pressure of this is a 60 some year old business. Like my great grandfather worked his ass off to get it to where it's at. My dad has worked to do this. I mean, that was my dad's life. My dad didn't have hobbies, my dad didn't golf, my dad didn't hunt, my dad didn't do any of that shit. He just worked, that's what he did. And to me, there's this pressure of continuing on that legacy, continuing on. How am I ever, how are you ever gonna take this to that level? And at 20 some years old, you know, sometimes I look back and think, you know what? I shouldn't given a fuck about any of it. I shouldn't have overthought it. I shouldn't have been to that point. But there is that pressure of what are we doing? What are we doing as a company to be different? What am I doing to take this and improve this? It's a tough thing. And I think a lot of that comes from coaching from your parents or your mentor. And I think that there's times that as a parent you should see that with your children, like, hey, they're going to work in this business. We got to figure out how we can navigate this waters. I mean, I have an ambitious son who's determined to take this on, which is we'd all love to have. [00:23:02] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. [00:23:04] Speaker A: But there comes a point like, hey, pump the brakes a little bit. Here's kind of my thoughts on it. And you know, to this day I fully think that there is a certain complacency in where the business was at. It was, you know, it was making money, it was paid for, it was not hurting anything and we didn't have to take any risk, we didn't have to get a loan for anything, we didn't have to do anything. But then here we are sitting, just letting these things go on. And you know, something that was really inherent to me is that we were very short on training. We weren't training anybody like how we should be training. We weren't looking for that next generation of people. You know, with my dad, where, you know, we just didn't see eye to eye on maybe where we should go with that. I thought we should be riskier with, you know, investing in that and growing that group. But again, all the while I'm. I was just a 20 some year old kid that, you know, needed to kind of grow up and listen. And that's hard. And any family business, that's the other part is any family that tries to put generations of people together and, you know, have the same ideas and follow suit. It takes so much fucking effort on multiple parties, on the second generation and the third generation and you know, this succession plan. I mean, yeah, yeah, full respect for anybody that's been in business with their family. And you know, it's tough. [00:24:31] Speaker B: So, so Here you are, you are probably, you know, at this point in, in the conversation, you know, mid-20s, you know, you've had experience as far as leading people, you've had experience with, with dealing with the politics, family, you know, business. You mentioned it, you know, you had gotten married at some point and in that earlier stage of that start to thinking about kids and your family time and splitting up there. So kind of what's, what's next, what's, what's the next step within, within the story. [00:25:10] Speaker A: Somewhere in that story I had, I had kids and we had lost our first child. And I was 23. Shortly, you know, a year or so after that, you know, I have our son Luke. You know, he end up in the NICU for however long then, you know, a year and a half after that, I have our daughter Audrey. So our, our C sections were all planned, you know, like tomorrow at 7am like, you're like, I'm having a child. And so when Audrey was, you know, February 25th, tomorrow at 7:00am you know, I'm having a child. You know, me and my dad got into a big spat. He decided that, you know, the day before I had my daughter, he was going to fire me. And it's kind of fucked up to think about that. Like you can be fired and I don't know how you'd ever even do that to your kid. But that was probably the first, that was the first where I'm like, man, I don't know that this relationship, I don't know this is going to be the long term thing. I don't know if this is going to work out because that's just something that no one really needs in their life where, like, that's crazy, you know. So I spent the entire next day, you know, you know, in the waiting room here. I'm stressed out, thinking my daughter's gonna die or my, you know, wife at the time's gonna die. And I'm instead, you know, texting my old man like, hey man, you know, you need to get here and see your daughter or your granddaughter. Yeah, it's kind of fucked up. So there's that tension, just that build up, all of that. And then, you know, I ended up, you know, going back to work. But, you know, I wanted things to change. And you know, they do change for a while. And you know, what ended up ultimately happening was I saw writing on the wall, I don't care how much money you make, I don't care what is in store, dude, it's just not worth it. It's not worth my own sanity. It's not worth the drama of it all. And I don't know, I just. I wanted more than that. So at 30 years old and right before COVID I decided that I was going to step away and I need to do what's best for me. And we're already got a, you know, we already have a very complicated, you know, family business thing going. And the fact that we're gonna combine, you know, our business of, you know, County Line Tool, a tool manufacturer, and we're gonna combine it with our machine shop. So my mom, my dad and my brother and my sister all gonna be under one roof. I'm like, no fucking way. No fucking way. [00:27:53] Speaker B: So were they in the family business to begin with or they were in a different side of it during your mom's business or. [00:28:00] Speaker A: To even go back further? My mom, who again is an absolute saint when it comes to dealing with some of my shit and all the things we've been through, she ran her own business forever with her and my dad called Bogart Enterprises. And that was clear up in Wyoming, Illinois, which is probably an hour away from here. She drove every day, commuted all this stuff. And we started County Line Tool, which was a tool manufacturer. And then she pretty much took all of it over and made it a fully woman owned business, the whole nine yards. And they were. And then my brother, who was actually a youth pastor and in ministry, he, you know, speaking to her, I mean, he's probably a smarter. One of the two of us should have been the engineer, the one that did a lot of it. But he went into the ministry side of it. He was starting to get out of that. And he joined working for my mom over at County Line. And then my sister slowly started doing some books over there, doing some stuff at Benedict's, which then turned into more full time and all that. So then I saw that writing on the wall. I saw tension between my parents, you know, and here I sit as a 20 some year old kid going, you know, my late 20s with my own problems going, this is, this is not good. Like, this is. I love all of them, but I don't think that this is the route we want to go, guys. And yeah, so we merged companies. I decided to step away and I left the family business and they merged companies. May of 2020, which is already a pretty tough time. And then In September of 2020, my parents of what probably would have been 40 years got divorced. And you know, that then adds to the next chapter of my crazy Life of, you know, at 30, trying to understand, you know, how to have a relationship with my dad and how to have, you know, after us separating in business and then how to have a relationship with my mom and my other, you know, my siblings and, you know, even my own career of where do you want to work at? You know, we're in central Illinois. I accepted a job at Altor for Cat and my start date was March 16th. The day the world shut down. [00:30:34] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:35] Speaker A: And what's nuts is, so here I sit thinking I've got this job that I'm going to start, and it keeps getting pushed back, keeps getting pushed back. I ultimately never started it. And I mean, you got to kind of start becoming pretty humble of like, fuck, I mean, I might do just about anything at this point. And just by happenstance, talking to a guy who I coach his daughter on, you know, in house, rec league, you know, coach pitch, baseball, t ball. At that point he's like, we should talk. We should have a conversation about this and come to find out he owns a engineering firm that wants to get into robotic automation. They'd like, you know, somebody like myself to, you know, handle some business development and some other stuff. And he ended up taking a chance and they hired me and I worked for the two owners doing business development, became, you know, became a fanuc integrator and still to this day have a relationship with them and, you know, love the opportunity that I got. But, you know, at 30 some years old, that was really tough to swallow of like, man, what am I going to do during this time of COVID like, no one is hiring. [00:31:45] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [00:31:46] Speaker A: I just stepped away from a family business that, you know, I didn't even know what my next chapter was going to be before I left. I didn't go around looking for jobs and how to up my resume and my. I didn't. I didn't ever think about that. 2020 was 2019, 2020 were definitely the darkest, you know, years of my life. Now in that same time, Wayne and Tailgate and Tall Boys had, you know, kind of became an opportunity where Tailgate and Tall Boys had financial struggles. And Wayne really wanted to start a business to take over Tailgate and Tall Boys. I was like, hell, yeah. And this is even pre me leaving my family's business. I'm like, let's do it. And then, I mean, no sooner did that start marriage shit, family business shit, you know, the rest of the kind of my world kind of started to crumble a little bit and, and then even then we did tailgate and tall boys. And then 20, 20 happened. We're like, fuck, yeah, Concerts are fucked, right? Can't do tailgate and tall boys. I mean, literally 20. I mean, it was just. Everything was just horrible. And so, yeah, so then that goes. And what's crazy, a funny story, which I don't know if my mom will like me telling me this or not like me telling it, but I'll never forget. I mean, the day that I was like, driving. I was driving to work and my mom. My mom called me and said, hey, I. I need you to come over. It was like 8 in the morning, but just by the tone of her voice, and I'm like, like, are you okay, mom? Are you good? Yeah, I just need you to come here. I mean, I immediately hung that phone up and I called my sister. I was like, I think mom killed dad. Like, I. I'm not sure where I'm getting ready to walk into, because again, I just knew where they were at. I knew where they'd been at for years. I knew just all this other shit. And so even going over to there and then my mom, you know, coming out and telling me that, hey, you know, me and your dad are splitting. I'm. Again, I'm 31 years old at this point. I just had nothing but, like, bitterness towards, like, do you remember how you treated me, you know, when I left the family business, when I said this? And that moment kind of brought me and my mom a lot closer together in the fact that where I was at. And I think, you know, being honest with each other, like, hey, we're all struggling. I struggle. Like, it's okay to struggle. I think, you know, we kind of lived in a relationship, in a family where everything was perfect. You're supposed to be perfect, even if not, just try to act like it's. And I think that was really one of the first times where my mom and me both were kind of like, I'm upset. Like, I. I struggle. I'm, you know, I'm not okay. You're not okay. You know, and how are we going to get through this? So. [00:34:34] Speaker B: So certainly a lot of trauma. Certainly a lot of life lessons that you learned at a. At a pretty ripe early age of 31. And Wayne Klein, you mentioned Wayne, a friend of yours for a long period of time. And. And he's involved with. With cruis. Somewhere along the conversation, he's like, hey, you know, I got this opportunity, you know, tailgate and tall boys, you know, possibly kind of the birth of USA concerts and all of that. So how does that kind of, you know, reshape what you're going through? [00:35:10] Speaker A: Yeah, so he was a sponsor. So they were a big sponsor of Tailgate and Tall Boys. Because with Tailgate and Tall Boys being right here in Peoria, having people come back to cruise ins and you know, it made sense for him, but he loved music and he was booking bands here. So that was the early stage of Cruisins to the Tailgate and Tall Boys main stage. But again, he was just a sponsor. But when it kind of came up, I mean, this was like, hey guys, we have an opportunity to jump on here and see that growth. That was something where I didn't know what I was doing. I mean, I'd never done half of the shit. But then once we started the name, it was like, well, what should we call it? So, you know, we kind of came up with the name USA Concerts and Events. Got the domain. I'd never even, I'd never even got a domain before. Then it was like, well, let's create a landing. So I created a website and then it was, well, we gotta create this. And then that's how I just slowly started to do those nonchalant things that for me I was, I was learning myself. So I was just doing it. And then now getting to the point where I built the websites and I've done the ticketing to. I've done this. That early stage, I was, I was along for the ride to see where this could go and seeing it go from COVID to, you know, Louisville Sluggers in Peoria, to the Morgan Wallen saga to Morgan Wallen in Bloomington, to five festivals in one year, to you know, us back down to Clinton, Iowa to Bloomington and the Peach Tree. All of that. Like that journey was all been kind of self taught and learning and just trying to learn a whole new. Really a whole new. What do you want to call it? Trade? Yeah, man. Have never done some of that stuff. [00:37:00] Speaker B: But from a. So the, the opportunity side, so. So Wayne says, hey, you know, he's a sponsor of Tailgate and Tall Boys. You mentioned the startup of USA Concerts. You're involved in, you know, the procurement basically of the brand of Tailgate and Tall Boys. And so you kind of move forward from there. And I think that's where you and I, I mean, from my recollection anyway, where we start, we meet. So Austin and I meet on the baseball diamond. My younger boy and Luke, as he's mentioned, who's 11 years old, played baseball together in the very first year that we've moved to Washington, Illinois. We're on the same baseball team. [00:37:44] Speaker A: What year was that? [00:37:44] Speaker B: 22, though that would have been 21. That would have been 21. 20. Yeah, that'd been 21. We moved here in March. Time frame. [00:37:54] Speaker A: Okay, so you. So we met. [00:37:56] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:37:56] Speaker A: And I don't know if you guys went. If you. When you guys moved here, you had. You did not go to tailgate and tallboys at Peoria. [00:38:06] Speaker B: That was Peoria. That was. Who's the rappers. [00:38:08] Speaker A: You had gone to summer camp. Yes, I think that year, because we met and we started talking about you guys and your summer camp trip for. [00:38:18] Speaker B: Red Winning Blue, which is a big band that we really enjoyed. And they were at summer camp that year, so we went to watch them. [00:38:26] Speaker A: But then we were. That's where we kind of connected because we're like, oh, you guys loved. You went camping. Oh, I'm like, have you guys ever been to this? And so on and so forth. And just a quick update. It is Notre Dame 7, Ohio State 0. It's early five minutes ago in the first. [00:38:43] Speaker B: Lots of time. [00:38:44] Speaker A: I hadn't even seen this yet. So that's really where you and I kind of connected on the music thing and that you guys have done that. You guys have been camping. I've never even been to summer camp. It's very much more of a, you know, come out hippie. I call it a hippie fest. Yeah. And then 20, 22, you guys go to tailgate and tall boys in Bloomington, Morgan, one year. All that Stu. Yeah. That is right where my life is at. And throughout that time period, I think you guys have seen me go through transitions of my jobs, my dating life, the ups and downs of all of that stuff, and then also just being kind of a coach and being with my kids. I'd be lying if I said it was struggling again. I don't want this fucking podcast about me to be downer, because it's not. Again, I've had a great life and I've had. For me, I think I've learned so much. I've met so many different people. I mean, God, just even the chapters of my life, I always make comments and jokes where there are people now in my life that make comments about, man, do you even know, you know, do you even know how to, you know, turn a wrench? Do you know how to do this? And it's just comical to me because I know kind of now being in behind a computer and being more of that side of things. [00:40:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:40:07] Speaker A: There are people that have no idea really, even my background or skill and what I grew up doing. But I grew up my whole life racing, grinding on shit, you know, cleaning shit, all of it. Like, that's not. I didn't grow up my life like I was hands on, you know, only until I was older. And so, you know, my family and even the business, you know, they're all chapters that just get me to where I am today. [00:40:33] Speaker B: I agree. [00:40:34] Speaker A: And you know, there's a lot of opinions I have about what I could have done. There's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of emotions that come from, you know, family shit that, you know, I can't really even control. I think you're just kind of a product of that environment. And to me, I'm. I'm grateful for the whole thing. [00:40:58] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:40:58] Speaker A: As fucking fucked up as some of it is. And people would, people would be mind blown if I even said like some of the stories that, you know, I kind of grew up dealing with and shit. I look back on some of it and I just wonder and I shake my head like, why, why was it ever even to this point? How did it fucking get to that point? That as a family, as people that were together, that that even was a thing that, that even came about and we're, we're fighting over it. That's just my thing that it just, it's mind blowing to me like that. I think family, that's where my brain kind of got to a point of like, I thought family was supposed to like do anything for each other. I thought family was supposed to all this shit. And then I look and I'm like, God, there's so many rules and stipulations and like, you know, what do you want to call, like, unwritten, like, agree, like what I thought we were supposed to through thick and thin, through all this stuff. And that's where I really grew my friends, like, I think my friendships with people. You know, I've told you this before, man, I got friends that would like murder for me. I got friends I could call up today and be like, hey, I need you to beat me here. You know, I need whatever. And they would do anything. And that's where to me, that was a life lesson, you know, I've learned a lot. And also with my kids, just teaching them, like, dude, just be honest with yourself. I mean, more than anything. And at the end of the day, be honest with me and I'm here for you. I would go to bat for you. I would do anything you needed for me. And I think that was a big lesson in my, you know, in my life. You know, starting this podcast with you was the challenge of, you know, expressing my own emotions. How you talk to people, how you perceive yourself. I mean, fuck, just watching our podcast, God, why do I talk like that? Why do I say that? You know, why do I look like that? I need to fucking lose weight. I need to. I mean, there's a whole list of shit where I'm like, dude, this fucking podcast is, you know, something that I didn't even realize. Things I would kind of deal with of my own self judgment. [00:43:19] Speaker B: I think it's along the course, and I'm no different along the course. It's those life lessons. It's those takeaways. And we tell. So Austin and I have coached baseball together for several years, although he retired this year. He decided to retire. But we tell the boys the same thing, right? We tell them this is much more than just play on a baseball field. This is how you react, how you have a short memory to things, how you learn from mistakes. Those are life lessons. And all of what you've talked about are life lessons. Those are things that make you you. And I think that's where the important piece of all of it is. We all make mistakes. I make mistakes every day. But it's how I. And how you and everybody else reacts or what we do to change that. [00:44:15] Speaker A: Yeah, I, and, you know, I do try to put that in coaching even. And I think, dude, life is a. Anybody that says it's not like life is a. Life is tough. I mean, people even think with the festivals that, man, we're just, we're having, you know, we're living the best life. It's. It, it's. It sucks at times. And you, you get to see some of the things that we go through that. It's not all fucking roses, people. I mean, the things that go into doing this and the risk and the, the losses and all of that. And I think the same thing with having kids and trying to parent. People see my kids at times and even think, man, you know, you got, you know, you got some good kids, or, you know, aren't you blessed? And, you know, the comment was, you made a couple weeks ago where, you know, it's like, oh, we're very, you know, you're lucky or we're lucky. I think I was even talking to Emily, my ex, where it's like, hey, we're lucky. No, no, we're. We worked our asses off to get to this we're not lucky. You know, that's like saying, hey, you guys got so lucky to win the national championship. No, we worked our asses off to get to this point, and I think it takes all of us that have worked to get them to this point. You see all that behind the scenes. I see all the behind the scenes of what I've been through with my family, the business and my work. And it is hard sometimes to see the, you know, the rewards and the. What I have had success in. Because you're so staring. You're staring so much at the fucking shit you went through. Just like with the kids, it's hard to sometimes be like, you know what, actually sit back and pretty fucking fortunate because you're always staring at, like, God damn it, Luke didn't pick up his fucking room again today. And that little shit, you know, did something else. And you're just always staring at those things, you know, because you're always critical. But definitely with my past taking a step back and going, hey, man, I love you to death. Yeah, you annoy the out of me some days, but God damn it, like, I love the out of you and I'm gonna be here for you. And Luke came to the podcast. [00:46:24] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:46:24] Speaker A: You know, the other. The other night and saw much more. [00:46:28] Speaker B: Than he was bargaining for. [00:46:29] Speaker A: Seeing him, you know, I don't know, seeing that kid just kind of interact and how he carries himself and, you know, that's just shit I love. [00:46:39] Speaker B: I remember one of my first memories of. Of Austin and getting to know Austin. So the very first year I mentioned, we. We moved here, my family moved here, and the. The head coach was me. You and Adam Merrick were the assistant coaches. And I kind of got brought into it towards the end because nobody knew who I was. I just moved here that year. I mean, like, days before that season even started. [00:47:04] Speaker A: That was co. That was Coach Pitch. It was Brandon Stokes. [00:47:07] Speaker B: There you go. Yep. I wouldn't even remember that. [00:47:10] Speaker A: Me at Americ. [00:47:12] Speaker B: Yep. And so Brandon was gone. I think it was a championship game of whatever series that was, and he put Austin in charge. And Austin almost lost the game for us at like 8U because he, you know, was. Was, you know, making some. Some. Some questionable calls on the field. Yeah, this is like eight year old Coach Pitch. Not even eight year old. Probably seven year old because I think we played travel and. No, we played. Yeah, no, we'd played eight year old travel. [00:47:38] Speaker A: Yeah. I think I moved some kids around. [00:47:40] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:47:41] Speaker A: You know, trying to be equal, keep. [00:47:43] Speaker B: Everybody in but after that game, and we did end up winning, we, we did end up going to a championship game or whatever. We did. But me, you and Adam, who is a good friend of ours, Adam Merrick here, big real estate guy here in Peoria, Illinois, hope to have the podcast here soon. Went down to his basement and he's got a beautiful, beautiful place here in Washington and went down to his basement, his bar, and the three of us were just chit chatting for hours over a couple of beers. I'm sure. [00:48:14] Speaker A: I forgot that was the night we went down to his basement. [00:48:16] Speaker B: Yeah. But I mean, we haven't been invited back to his basement since then. [00:48:20] Speaker A: Never. We. Only to the garage. [00:48:22] Speaker B: He's got a shop too, that we frequent a little bit more than the basement. [00:48:25] Speaker A: But that was the same night that I was up pitching. Adam's like, just, hey, let me pitch. I mean, it's like the last inning and he ends up putting like, he ends up putting like 26 milligram whatever pouches in and he's already got like, whatever. I don't even know what he had already. And as far as like the Copenhagen or pouches and shit, I mean, he's up there throwing like Nolan Ryan to these, these eight year olds. Just. I'm like, oh my God. Yeah, we ended up pulling it off, but that was, I will always remember that one because I'm literally like, yeah, my head is spinning off of 16 and he's got like double deckers in just ripping them. [00:49:07] Speaker B: I can't put a 3 in without thinking I'm gonna puke. But either way. Yeah, no, that was, that was kind of the, the, the, the, the birth of, of Austin. I, you know, we, we start working together, we start doing some, some things here and there. And, and so, and I know we're, we're getting, you know, we're, we're over an hour on podcast here. But I, I do want to talk about, you know, your kind of role within Tailgate and Tall Boys. So eventually, you know, after a couple of, of manufacturing engineering jobs, you, you mentioned you end up working basically full time for Tailgate and Tall Boys USA concerts and certainly helping on the cruise inside the house as well. [00:49:52] Speaker A: Yeah. And going back real quick on all that to me, and there's a lot more to all this situation, but I love manufacturing. That was my dream. That was my whole life. I think I struggled with issues with all those different scenarios. And I think I also had lessons where man like, you can make all the money in the world, you can make Tons of money, have all this stuff, but if you're miserable, like none of it's gonna matter. And I think that was something at a young age that I just did not give a shit. I wanted to feel like I was building something. I wanted to feel like I was a part of something. So yeah, I kind of got just tired of the corporate grind and some of the other different, you know, jobs that I wasn't sure where they were headed. So yeah, January 2023, I quit my job. I knew that we couldn't take on really what I wanted to make or what I was making. But I knew where we could get to with full time help and me helping. So came on January 23rd. Since then I've brought on, I believe, three other people full time, kind of dividing up my role and things that we need to build on. So our team has grown. It's been fun and I love, I love doing this. This is, I am passionate, very passionate about this. Where working with Wayne and working with our whole group at cruisins and tailgate and tall boys, like our stories are endless. It is fun as fuck. It's just still a grind. It's a startup business. [00:51:24] Speaker B: And shout out to you mentioned the folks you brought it on. Tommy, Gabby, Jordan. Yeah, shout out to all of them because they do work here for tailgate beers and help us with some of our social media and, and editing and, and managing planning, all that kind of stuff too. So yeah, no, shout out to all three of them. They, they're awesome, awesome, awesome from a festival standpoint. So you know what I, what I know of Austin from a festival standpoint and I've been around him at festivals for a couple of years now, helping with tailgate and tall boys myself. You know, you're a busy, busy man when it comes to the festivals and helping put on the festivals. What are maybe a memory or some of your highlights of some of the festivals that you've been a part of that will stick with you forever. Anything come to mind? [00:52:23] Speaker A: I mean a highlight for me was having my kids at any of them. I mean, has always been fun as fuck. But having my kids in Michigan was probably one of my favorite things. You know, watching my daughter's face as she gets to watch Jessie Murph or having, you know, Luke and not to, you know, I think that festival is the best because I got to fulfill, you know, my daughter's dream of meeting Jessie Murph and watching her just glow. Watching that and be able to do all that to kind of take A moment where I took Luke and we watched Jelly Roll the following night in the front of house, just him and I with Wayne. Luke was going and grabbing us Coronas and just kind of being a guy's guy. All these people were up there, and he's just getting to watch everything and to kind of take it in. And I think those have been some of my best memories. I think also knowing the chaos of some of it, the no one gets to see until you're behind the scenes. But then seeing that it actually goes on, they're like, holy shit, I can't believe this actually all kind of fell into place. And then just getting to go stand up there and watch it all and be like, dude, we. We made this happen. Like, we did this. [00:53:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:53:45] Speaker A: That, to me, is just. Just absolutely crazy. When we watch, you know, 20,000 people stand around and none of them have a clue on what actually was an issue, you know, behind the scenes that we worked through and kind of just solving those kind of on the fly and putting teams together and meeting people and all the people that think it's just so amazing that what goes on to. God, what a. What a stressful weekend. But at the same time, it's so much fun to just finally stop for a minute. And I've been in the middle of the crowd. I've been in the coolest seat in the house. I've been backstage. I've been clear the fuck out at a box office. You know, when a headliner goes on and you just kind of take a moment to go, fuck, yeah, this is crazy. But early on stage, some of the glamorous things of meeting people and all that are. Are fun and exciting. But then I think as it goes on, you're like, dude, I don't give a fuck who walks up to meet me right now. Like, I don't give two about what happens right now. I just want to get through this and, like, that's what I care about. [00:54:58] Speaker B: So. So coming up on Tailgate and Tall Boys 2025, we've got Clinton, Iowa, first weekend of June. We've got Bloomington, second weekend of June. We've been doing this podcast for, like, we said, four or five months now, gaining followers. You know, people start to. To recognize and. And probably by that time, you know, it's going to be a little bit harder for you, I would assume, just to be able to. To freely get around the grounds of. Of Clinton and Bloomington without, you know, somebody say, oh, that's Austin, you know, from Tailgate Beers. You know, you Think this is where. [00:55:36] Speaker A: We need to hire own security. [00:55:38] Speaker B: So I'm just wondering if, like, we. Yeah. Some type of secret Service, some type of earbuds people. Yeah. You know, don't need to be driving in golf carts with us just to make sure that we're. [00:55:51] Speaker A: No, I agree. I think we need private security for sure. It's probably about that time. [00:55:55] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:55:56] Speaker A: By the. By the time this podcast rolls around or by the time we get to the festival, we should be looking into our own security for sure. It is funny, though, how many times. I mean, even. No matter what credentials I have and all that shit. I mean, and I love people that do their job because, hey, I'd rather have a security person be like, no. [00:56:13] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:56:14] Speaker A: And I have to like, hey, thank you for doing your job. But then there gets to the annoying part where like, somebody's like, I don't give a fuck. You're not coming. I'm like, all right, well, this is where we're gonna get weird because, like, I have to fucking get through here. [00:56:25] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:56:26] Speaker A: And like, I'm showing you this. I'd rather have that all day, every day. I always thank them, I always apologize. [00:56:32] Speaker B: But they're out there, do a job. And the ones that enjoy, not necessarily even enjoy, but the ones that take their job seriously, those are the ones that, you know, you want to apply. [00:56:42] Speaker A: You want to keep coming back. [00:56:43] Speaker B: Right. [00:56:44] Speaker A: Stuff. Yeah. [00:56:44] Speaker B: So, yeah. So kind of going along the family story here, two kids, you know, you're co parenting and doing all of that, you successfully ring in a beautiful young lady, and she is now basically part of the family. Part of my family. How does that go? [00:57:06] Speaker A: Who are you referring to? No, Macaulay's a huge part of the kids life, and she's a big part of my life. And thank God she's home from Arizona to reel us all back in. [00:57:20] Speaker B: We all missed her. [00:57:21] Speaker A: Yeah, it was a full train wreck without her. We didn't know how to turn light switches on, nothing. No one brushed their teeth for three days. [00:57:29] Speaker B: Showers, baths. [00:57:30] Speaker A: Showers. [00:57:31] Speaker B: Don't have any of those. [00:57:31] Speaker A: Yeah, we didn't do that. I didn't know water worked without her there. We just all struggled to survive. [00:57:35] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:57:36] Speaker A: All ate ramen noodles. [00:57:38] Speaker B: And it's the glue sometimes that. That holds us all. [00:57:41] Speaker A: It is. [00:57:42] Speaker B: Holds us all together. Nope. [00:57:43] Speaker A: She's been through a lot with me. All. Some. A lot of the stories I told through 2020 on. 2019 on. Well, Coley was. She was there through a lot of shit, so she. She doesn't get a lot of credit through the podcast, but she, she gets some shout outs here and there. Huh? [00:58:05] Speaker B: That was the one finger. I mean, it wasn't the middle. [00:58:08] Speaker A: You don't listen to enough of them because you get mentioned plenty. Have I not mentioned her more? I've mentioned her way more than I was gonna say. [00:58:15] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely. I mean, I would say at least. [00:58:16] Speaker A: 16 times she hasn't listened to him. But no, man, this is. The podcast has been something that has been a whole nother chapter that I think I've learned a lot about me and how we interview people, how I talk, how we express our own selves. I think both of us struggle with certain things on our own, of expressing ourselves. And I don't know, it's been. It's been a fun, fun journey for me and I don't know how many people really give a shit about my background and all that stuff, but I think us getting ourself out there of who we are and our passions and our love is something we got to do. Even, you know what, even if there's fucking two people that this whole thing, I think it's just good to just get it out there where this is kind of how I am, this is who I am, these are my feelings. And I don't mean I'm. I'm passionate as about the things that we do and you know, it, from dealing with the festival to this, that I want this to be successful. I want us to have fun. But I want people to realize, like, man, we struggle with shit too. I mean, I struggle all the time with, you know, what my purpose is, where I need to be in life. Are we doing a good enough job with this shit? I nitpick a lot of this stuff that we do. I nitpick stuff with the festival, I nitpick things in my own personal life. And I think we all go through it and it's normal and everybody thinks that you can have a perfect life. But the end day, man, my life been far from fucking perfect. And it's something that I think is normal. It's fucking beyond normal. And I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for all the fucked up shit that has gone on, you know. [00:59:58] Speaker B: No, I 100% agree. I mean, just listening to, to your story and the highs and the lows and the lessons that have been learned throughout your life, you know, again, I think that is what makes each of us, you know, the individual that we are, the learning that we have, the maturity that we go through, the life experiences. I think that's that's what it's all about. And we get messages. I mean, yeah, we don't have, you know, millions of followers, but we do get messages. And you know, people want to know, you know, about you or more about us and the podcast. And we've talked about how the podcast started so we don't need to get in all of that. But at the same time, I think people appreciate just that vulnerability of being able to open up and share that. So again, Tailgate Beers, Austin and Ryan today was was all about Austin Jones and and we want to thank our our title sponsors both Surfside Lemonade and vodka. Let's do a little cheers here. I've got an iced tea and vodka. [01:01:03] Speaker A: Thank you. Surfside. [01:01:04] Speaker B: Thanks. Surfside. They're heck of a partner. We've got all kinds of good stuff here. Glass sunglasses and and bottle openers and all kinds of stuff. And then our our new friends over here at at White Oak Brewery. Again, another good friend of ours that allows us to do what we do and have a little fun behind the scenes. Right? [01:01:30] Speaker A: Absolutely. And I'll give another shout out I mean to again to you for supporting us doing this podcast and to Wayne to USA Concerts allowing us to doing it Cruisins and ducks and yeah everybody else who follows us. So if you haven't follow us on YouTube, on Spotify, on Apple Music, whatever. [01:01:55] Speaker B: You'Re streaming, subscribe, follow, share, all of those certainly help. And we'll continue these episodes we've got. We had a friend of ours just just walk in the room as as we're sitting here on this podcast upcoming podcast with with Isaac Durst and and local local guy here out of Peoria that's at Place Cruisins and looking forward a lot of great shows coming up here in Cruising's Farmington Road here in the next several months. Again, all all capped off by Tailgate and tall boys, both in Clinton, Iowa and Bloomington, Illinois too. So looking forward to it. [01:02:29] Speaker A: Cheers, man. [01:02:30] Speaker B: Cheers. [01:02:30] Speaker A: Love you. [01:02:30] Speaker B: Love you. [01:02:31] Speaker A: Love all of you. Thank.