Outskirts Overland Podcast
Welcome to the Outskirts Overland Podcast, your go-to source for all things overlanding! Hosted by a seasoned adventurer with over 15 years of experience, this podcast offers a genuine and down-to-earth exploration of the overlanding lifestyle. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or just starting out, join us as we delve into the essentials of gear and equipment, share captivating stories from the road, and provide practical tips for your next adventure. Tune in for insightful interviews, expert advice, and a community of like-minded explorers who share a passion for discovering the world beyond the beaten path. Get ready to fuel your wanderlust and embark on unforgettable journeys with the Outskirts Overland Podcast!
Outskirts Overland Podcast
Trail Mix for the Soul: Real Talk on Community
What happens when a thriving community begins to lose its soul? In this heartfelt reflection, we journey back to the early days of vehicle-based adventure, before hashtags and affiliate links dominated the landscape. I share the transformative moment when, as a young gym trainer in Lake Tahoe, complete strangers took my stock Dodge Dakota and returned it lifted with new tires—simply because that's what the community did then.
This remarkable act of generosity shaped my entire approach to overlanding. While today's space has evolved into a sophisticated marketplace where partnerships and discount codes often replace hands-on help, I remain committed to the original spirit that drew me in: giving freely without expectation of return. From leaving Outskirts Overland stickers on rigs in Walmart parking lots to passing along gear to newcomers, these small acts of kindness represent what I believe keeps the community authentic.
The contrast between then and now raises important questions about what truly constitutes community. Is helping someone with a discount code the same as spending a day working on their truck together? As overlanding continues to grow in popularity, how do we maintain its soul while embracing evolution? Through personal stories and observations gathered over years of adventures, I examine the delicate balance between commercial growth and preserving the genuine connections that make this community special.
Whether you're a seasoned overlander who remembers the days before Instagram-worthy builds or someone just discovering the joy of vehicle-based adventure, this conversation invites you to consider what kind of community member you want to be. Because at the end of the day, what's better than good gear is good people—and that's something worth protecting.
Hey guys and welcome to Outskirts Overland. It's Friday Today is I gotta look, I don't know. Today's National Day is Sorry guys, sorry, sorry. This is my lack of National Applesauce Cake Day. Let's look down this list. Yo-yo Day. Donut Day is National Donut Day. National Donut Day. National Donut Day is the one. How in the world was the prioritized one here? National Applesauce Cake Day? I don't even know what applesauce cake is. Can applesauce even be cake? You know what kind is cake though Donuts. And it's National Donut Day, so we're going with that one. It's crazy.
Speaker 1:Yesterday I didn't put out a podcast because I finally did that dang video on retention in your winch, um, mostly because my winch needed retention, mostly, but also because I talk about it a lot and I did a quick little search and didn't really find a whole lot on it. So, and it's something that's, that's just a piece of maintenance you should be doing if you winch during a trip. It's it's something you should be doing. It's maintenance you should be doing If you winch during a trip. It's something you should be doing. It's something you should be doing after every trip where you use your winch, retensioning it. Now, that's a synthetic rope. I don't have a metal cable, which I do believe is a different thing altogether. So and I don't have experience with that, so'm not gonna speak on it my friend, benji does have a cable winch, so maybe we'll talk about what what it takes to maintain that I'm sure you have to spray the metal and like I'm sure there's other maintenance that that doesn't exist with a, uh, synthetic rope winch. There's a huge push lately on synthetic rope versus metal cable and that was a big deal and I don't know if it was a gimmick or not. I mean, I trust people but like also I don't know that I think one is better than the other. On a for a normal use standpoint, like when people have been pulling cars on trailers with cable winches, for I mean pretty much, since they've existed and stuff breaks, it does break, it is dangerous. I think appropriate techniques over cable material is probably the bigger deal. Um, so yeah, that's just what it is, unfortunately. So yeah, today, today my topic Okay, today.
Speaker 1:I had a long conversation with a friend yesterday and we both kind of started getting just getting into the weeds about things and trying to be trying to be positive and truthful, trying to be positive and truthful at the same time and I mean prior to that I had a conversation with another friend of mine Another good friend of mine Randomly yesterday and I said this to the guy I saw you do last night I was like man, I'm a popular conversation guy today, so I was on the phone a bunch Catching up Not catching up with two good friends of mine yesterday, which I probably you know not probably realistically had the time to do that because I wasn't doing this Making you guys a video. So there's still content for you. But yeah, I just you know positivity and truth. So there's a couple things like I'll tell. I'm first going to tell a story about when I was new to this and because this is a cool story and it relates, and those of you out there listening to this that fall underneath my umbrella of doing this for you, this might make some sense on that. So when I was new to this, I'd been doing it since 20. So I've told you guys this, like many times, numerous times, I've been doing this since like 20, 20, 26, 7, 8, something like that.
Speaker 1:I lived in California, southern California, joshua Tree. I moved up, I had a 2006 Dodge Dakota with a V8, four-wheel drive, extended cab, long bed, which I still talk about, how I think long beds the way to go all the time. Um, for a number of reasons, especially extended cab because it's not any longer a wheelbase that was a smart choice then. I still think it's smart choice now. Anyways, vehicles weren't made like they are now. Um, just technology, you know, like, not not like, I mean stuff's advanced in 20 years. It had like 30 ones on it, probably what it be if or whatever, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1:I was a trainer at a gym and my friends when I moved to Lake Tahoe, my friends all were real into snow wheeling. If you guys know anything about snow wheeling, um, and there's a big community of it in lake tahoe, I mean like the rubicon trails up there, like it's real big, like big wheeling is big up there. And at that point in time you would have called overlanding like daily driver. You know daily driver, wheel wheeling camp rig, you know what I mean. Like that's kind of how that would have been defined. Overlanding wasn't really a, wasn't really a well-known term, but there were people doing expeditions to different continents through vehicle-based travel and again, I'm still just a national explorer. I guess would be adventurer, vehicle advent, whatever.
Speaker 1:I'm not an international traveler by any means, but anyways, the story here is that I was a trainer at a gym in Lake Tahoe and I trained a woman, trained a woman who I trained and helped through cancer, and she's alive to this day and this was 2010,. Okay, so she's alive to this day. I don't know that I mean chemo probably had a lot to do with it, but I was a good support system for her and she had two children that were in the military. I had just gotten out of the military. She was just a beautiful human.
Speaker 1:Well, her husband was a Marine and he had a bunch of the geo trackers and Suzuki Samurais and they did a lot of rock crawling and I talked to her a lot about how I'd really enjoyed going out with my friends, cause I had friends that were like wildly and firefighters and, you know, linemen and loggers. I lived up that far north, that was a thing. So, like all of us had trucks and we'd go out and you know, at that point in time we'd go camping and mudding and trucking I don't know what else you would call it. Really, at that point in time, we kind of were just like let's go out in the woods and, you know, in the mud and camp and have a good time and go fishing, like a lot of what we do now. It's just it. Just it just wasn't nearly as defined or marketed like it is now. So that's, that's the preface to the story.
Speaker 1:This client of mine who again husband was a Marine and was very into the off-road community there she was like hey, can I borrow your truck? And I was like, abso-freaking-lutely, you can borrow my truck, borrow your truck. And I was like, abso-freaking-lutely, you can borrow my truck. And she was like, uh, she was like, cool, we need to move something. And I was like abso-freaking-lutely, like I don't know what's going on. She told me something I don't even recall and uh, so she took my truck that morning and left me her car, which was like a little, I don't even remember I think it was like a Nissan Juke, like it was a tiny little car, but I was at the gym all day, like it didn't matter. I was like, yeah, sure, I think you know. I was like Carol, you can take my truck. Like whatever, whatever you need to do, go pick something up, whatever. Like essentially, I was like do whatever you need to do with it, then I'll get it back.
Speaker 1:When I for it, my truck, and they lifted it and put wheels and tires on it for me, because I was always just going with what I had, because I was, you know, I was, I was making it guys, but like I was just a broke kid, I was 23. You know, I enjoyed being outside and I was just trying to help people. You know, I've always kind of had this genuine, this genuine, you know, personality, like I'm just trying to help folks. So like I think she just wanted to help me outside, like she was paying me to train her, but I think she really had a yearning to help me outside of. You know just what I was doing for her officially. So they took my Dakota and they I mean, they removed the sway bar, the end links, they lifted it and put some different tires on it. Um, and it was great, like it was so great and like probably the nicest thing ever. And I couldn't tell you what I thought something like that costed at the time. But it was front struts and springs and a block in the back. So I mean, and at the point that and that's not a problem at all At that point I didn't have a overbuilt rig but it was still something that somebody just did for me out of being a good person that had more experience in the hobby than me at that time because, you got to understand, I was two, three years in.
Speaker 1:At that time I didn't know a lot, I hadn't been off-roading and I moved up to a place like Tahoe where that was real prevalent, like there was a lot of knowledge, a lot of cool stuff, still friends up there with a lot of cool stuff like sick, like notched, short bedded old Toyota trucks on 42s and like crazy stuff, and at that time real crazy stuff, and we all just went camping. So she knew I liked to do this with my friends. I lived in a community that was relatively small in Northern California and, again, like I said, it was wildland firefighters, it was loggers, you know it was, it was, it was a very like, it was very North and it was just a big blue collar community. So they took me in pretty quickly because I came from, you know, redneck town, missouri. So I fit right in up there and they took my truck and they, they did that for me. They showed back up with my truck and they were like. They were like hey, I got your truck back. Not a word.
Speaker 1:I didn't know they did it until I left that day and went out to my truck and was like, oh my God, this is like. Oh my God, I was like this is sick. So that was my first introduction into more experienced people in the space, treating less experienced people in the space with extreme kindness. So I bring that type of kindness now. So that's where I get into the point where, like truth and positivity, really like if you're somebody that listens to this and I do have quite a few friends that listen to this and that's awesome I really do appreciate you guys even caring what I have to say, but I give away gear that I bought or was given or like all the time and probably, like, if you're new to the space or especially if you're younger, I just want to make sure that you, like I've made, like somebody helped me out, to like really get started and in, and at that time, what they did to my truck was like that was like built out, like that was so sick, like I was like this, like this is the best things that ever happened to me. You know, like I could like to this day. I'm sure you guys can hear in my voice like so, so much gratitude Like that is like that's like winning a contest, you know, like it was crazy and I loved it.
Speaker 1:It was so much freaking fun because like we always had telephone pulls down which were like real logs and I was always having to drive over them to get to work and stuff and I was doing it. You know like I was, I was much more of a minimal person at that point and I was like this thing does it, that's fine. You know I didn't. I had like frame sliders on the truck. You know, like steps that were. I had had side steps and naturally you guys can understand where they went, because I did go off-road it quite a bit and so I got metal steps put on it so I just grinded off those, go over these poles and get to work Like it was not even. It was just a way of life. You know, it was just, it was just how it was. So this was such a big deal to me. So now, when I find anybody in it and it's probably hard for them to even take, but because that was my initial experience to, to just people in the community, the off-road, the off-road outdoor community.
Speaker 1:Um, I try to like still embody that because it was. I want to pass that along. And I haven't paid for anybody's truck to get lifted. But there is three or four people out there that I and I'm not saying this to even put a monetary value on it. I have no idea and I don't care and I don't care, but I give them stuff a lot. I'm like hey man, do you like, do you need this? Like I have a friend.
Speaker 1:That was that that I hired him for his very first job as a trainer and even this morning he's like I'm getting ready to go on a trip for three weeks, like Kyle. What did he say? Let me even look. And he, he bought a Tacoma because I have a Tacoma. And he, he said he's going to Colorado, wyoming and Utah on his truck. I helped him work with Rome Adventure Co. I got him a returned Vagabond XL. He's got CBI bed rails, half rack bed rails on his truck. He has a Prince Uru frack. He has a tailgate table. He has a Overland Gear guy tailgate trash carrier. He has Nitto trail grappler tires. I've helped him with all this.
Speaker 1:I didn't necessarily give him all that. I gave him a lot of it. He has a moonshade awning and I'm going to let him borrow a power station because he doesn't have one and he's going on a two-week. They need to, they need to charge up their stuff. I do that because that's how it was for me, like that's how people were to me, and that's just one friend.
Speaker 1:And this is a friend that wasn't even into this. This is a friend that me and him had went through. You know, he's 10, 15 years younger than me, 10 years younger than me probably. He's married, no kids. But like we both kind of have the same, we have a similar mental past. I guess I would say that and we're always looking for for that kind of that kind of thing to help, you know, with mental health. And so he, him, and I, him and I, not even knowing, we both got into like endurance, like trail running, endurance, trail running.
Speaker 1:And I started building my truck and he just started asking me about it and I was like man, this is like the best thing ever, like this is your hotel, like your place to change, like it's everything. And he's like I want to do that and I was like, dude, let's do it. Like I have so much stuff I could do it. I mean, let's go Like, let's do it. I literally have bought new stuff to put on my truck to give them the old stuff. I have other friends that I've given stuff to A lot of them and it's not even a question Like at all, like at all. I mean I can't afford to give away the world, but I do what I can do and that's my experience, um, and that's my experience with the community. Like that's a fantastic first experience for me getting into space.
Speaker 1:Everyone on expedition portal at the time was with a big, big forum about this type of stuff. This was a real niche. So I was already kind of the weird guy that you know kind of just wanted like I traveled a long ways all the time, like even though I was near so much, I was always driving far away because I was like I just want to see what's there, like, what's there, like what's in Washington, what's in Utah, what's. Let's go back to Southern California, let's go out to the desert, you know, between, essentially, the Mojave desert and Las Vegas. I've been to through Las Vegas probably a hundred times and I've probably stayed in a hotel 20 and those 20 were due to the Marine Corps ball and stuff. Like I was always just driving past Las Vegas, like, while all my friends were like Vegas, let's go get drunk and party, I was like I got freaking desert to deal with, Like I got shit to do. So I was always doing that and that's, and that was a real niche at the time.
Speaker 1:But, long story short, I had just some people in these work. This woman was a friend of mine and she she took, you know, I think we helped each other out more. I think we helped each other out a lot more than what we were doing. Like she helped me out so much just in like regaining faith in humanity, and I think I really helped her, you know, have the inspiration to fight when she really needed it, um, and I think that we both needed. I think we both are very lucky to have had each other and she, she did that for me and she threw her husband. You know, he really actually did it, um, and that was just so awesome. So I try to do that now.
Speaker 1:Why I talk, tell that story now, is because everything is for sale and I, you know, and and and I don't want, like, guys, I have money, like I don't have a ton of it, but I have enough of it. Like, and I hope you all make it to a point in life where you're like, am I living a life that I like, that I dreamed of? No, but am I living a life that I can live? Yeah, am I living a life where I can afford? You know, my, I don't. I'm not a philanthropist, okay Like. But am I living in a scenario where I could help other people who maybe haven't made it to where I'm at in life? Yes, I am.
Speaker 1:And I, if I ever you know, I say this in my head and out loud so much if I ever became someone that was like very, very, very like I would just my friends would all have cool stuff, like I would just I wouldn't be wealthy alone, they'd be wealthy with me. You know, like I, I just am that guy, like I want to help everybody and that's why, quite honestly, that's why I even do this thing, so I could teach you guys, you know. So I was talking to my friend about that yesterday, where he's got somebody that's helping him out a little bit, and he was like, if this works out, what should I do with what I have? And I was like, man, we gotta pass it on, like we gotta give it to somebody, cause somebody like somebody's helping him. So I'm like dude, yeah, absolutely. We were talking about a scenario. He's in with a piece of equipment and I was like, hey, man, you should talk to this guy Like if you're going on a trip this weekend, he might just let you borrow his his like.
Speaker 1:This is the I don't like the term old OG, but we are people that have been doing this for a while and there's a real, real big like difference between like listening to somebody having issues and being like borrow mine, take mine, I have an extra one of those and people being like use my discount code for this product. You know that's a huge difference and where I come to like say the word truth and like positivity, like the community that I have been in and cultivated, it exists both ways now. Where, like, this person is doing it for a job and that was never the case in my earlier days they're doing this for a living, making movies about going off road. I mean, youtube was like brand freaking new in 08, like or 06 or whatever like, and it was brand new and it was like nothing. It was like whatever video you could take on a digital camera, like it wasn't a movie, there wasn't, like none of that existed. And that doesn't make it a different time, you know, but at the point in which we're at now, everything is like that's cool, where'd you it? And I almost wouldn't ask those questions in my previous time because people be like oh, here, like I'll get another one, or or they built a lot of stuff, and they're like I'll make you one, like don't worry about it, man, and it was like just it was. So that's a fun time.
Speaker 1:You know where you you kind of take somebody in and you're like we got you. You know like we got you. Like you know, again, nobody's gonna not be paying their bills to help people out, but we would, all you know, your trucks broke, all of you know, bring a case of beer, whiskey, whatever your choice of you know, mind-altering substance, and we're gonna go to somebody's shop or garage or carport and we're gonna handle it. Man, we'll put our minds together and everybody's helping everybody, and if you're not helping work on something, you're providing the laughs. You know like stuff like that and I think that exists still.
Speaker 1:But I think it's hard for me now because and I think it's I honestly I think the people I give all this stuff to you don't even know how to handle it. Like I think it's almost overwhelming to them because I think they're waiting for the day where I'm like trying to cash in a favor or something and in reality, like there's no favor to cash in, the favor is I'm helping them get out in a capacity that I think they will love this thing, because I love it, like and it doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to work and like I'm so happy to be helping them. And that's a lot of people. And I do tend to help younger people just because the older guys helped me when I was younger, still very much an adult, still very much a nice truck, a newer truck at that point, like, but they still help me out. Man at that time knew a lot more about that.
Speaker 1:I come from a car community of fast cars. This, this off-roading thing, came to me after adult, like in adult life, off-road travel, long distance, you know, carrying extra fuel, like all of that stuff is like I mean, really post first deployment to iraq, stuff. I mean, I even did overlanding with a dirt bike in the back for a hot minute and I'd go out to the middle of nowhere public land and just rip a dirt bike around and camp, you know, like in a tent and build a fire and like it's just. It's just what it was then, at least where I was. So the reason I bring that up is like the truth is like is it? Is it truthfully a community if it's not supportive? So, and why I say that is, and this is where I and this is, this is a discussion I'm having with you guys, with myself. But is it a community If, if we're not, if the help we're giving each other is a discount code, you know, is that community? I mean, we might be sharing stories sometimes, but are we even doing that often? Or are we all just kind of seeing who has what or the haves and have-nots? You know, is that what we're doing? Because I can think of just I think of of it now, with where I'm at now.
Speaker 1:And again, I said I don't like the term OG, but I am, I'm tenured in in, in at least camping, car camping and off roading. Ok, I've done it a long time, which is just a bunch of knowledge that people can't have until they do it a long time. But when I started, I mean it was a stock vehicle Like stock, stock, stock, like stock as stock gets. There was no CarPlay, there was no nav. I had a freaking Atlas and my truck, I mean I was wearing tires, bald like, and just going Like. I was just going Like like I can't explain how just ignorant, so just and not ignorant in a bad way, just like blissfully ignorant, and I was just going and my friends were always like you should do this and you should do that. And I was the guy at that point like why, like this, I'm doing it with this that looks cool and I like how it looks and that's real cool. But like my, your truck that looks real cool, is parked right next to mine. We both got here like and they were like, yeah, you just had to kind of give it a little. And I was like, man, that's totally cool, like I did give it a little, but like that's fun for me, which is why I don't have 35s on my truck.
Speaker 1:I'm like 33s are just a little more of a challenge sometimes and I just want to see if I can keep doing it, and to this point I've been doing it. So and I still again remember when I had 31s, like what were they? 255? Were they 255, 60 or 65, 17, like that's what I had, and they were good-year wranglers. And at that point they were just good-year wranglers. They weren't ETs, there was no RTs, and mud Ts were swampers, like people were cutting tires to make them mud tires. At that point it looked like a hot knife, which again they'd do for you too, with freaking some beers in a garage.
Speaker 1:There's just a lot of experience there. And there's now there's just now, it's just, it's just different, and that's where I struggle. I'm not in a bad place about the space at all, but I I just still don't see it for what it currently is and still see it for what it was for me earlier on, and that's what I try to provide. And there's a few other people that I know currently that are like that. But as I try to get brands on board here, like not Sponsorship's a different word, okay Like I don't know if sponsorship's a word, but what I have come to find is some products that aren't like extremely expensive at all and I'm trying to essentially get companies to either throw me some money for the podcast and throw me some stuff so I can give it away, so you guys can experience it. I don't. There is not a single thing that could sponsor me that I don't have. Like I've got it. I've probably just got it myself.
Speaker 1:I've been given some things Tires I was given the tires that are on my truck and grateful for that suspension on my truck. Um, and grateful for that suspension on my truck. But but don't get me wrong, I had tires on it. When I got given those tires, I had a different suspension on it. When I was given that suspension, I did change those things due to getting them, and I do really, actually, they were great upgrades that I was, not I.
Speaker 1:Again, those freaking Rough Country Shocks are just a lot better than they should be actually. And again, guys, I've been doing this a long time. I know how that company's reputation went there for a while, but they're good man, I think I've probably sold 10 sets of those just talking about them and it costs, yeah, whatever. And you should look at them. Are they icons? Are they what expedition overland is doing? No, they're not. Are you going to baja or across freaking finland? No, just, I mean I will. Pretty hard with mine. It does great. But anyways, those companies send me stuff.
Speaker 1:But I'm at a place now where I want to be given, given some stuff, like I want to give some stuff away, and companies are not getting behind it. I don't think people that are sponsored by companies aren't behind that method and and I don't want to do like everybody's doing a giveaway, like and comment and blah, like and that's fine, like again, that's your job, not throwing a shade of that. But I just want to be the random act of kindness. You know I'm always listening. So if you guys are ever around me, when I'm at any event or anything, and I hear somebody going, man, I'd really like I log that in my brain because if I get the opportunity to work with a company, or a company offers me something or whatever, I am 100% taking that for that person, like I'm not taking it for me, I don't. And again, I'll get the review or whatever that company wants from me, from my friend that I gave it to, or from that individual. That's getting started and and you know the companies can be mad.
Speaker 1:But I just said this to a friend the other day like I have a couple of companies that I have some contacts with and I think they would. I would never tell them I was looking at stuff for my friends. But I'd be like, hey, I'm needing X, y and Z and one of them, one of the guys that that I give stuff to he was like I just don't want to mooch off you. And I was like you're literally mooching off them, not me, and they can afford it. Like it's fine, like you will. You're, you're going to be a good steward of the freaking space, like you'll talk about this product and it won't be me just talking about the same stuff over and over again. You're a whole different person that's going to talk about how good or not good something is, and that's genuine, how good or not good something is, and that's genuine. But yeah, don't get me wrong Anybody that I'm giving stuff to, they're like I don't want to mooch and I'm like you're not Like.
Speaker 1:You're absolutely not Like. If you ask me a question, I am a confident enough male to if I can't help you, I'm going to say, man, I just don't, I just can't help with that, and say, man, I just don't, I just can't help with that. But if I can ever help you, I remember for sure, and you will just end up with some shit stuff. Sorry, sorry, I've been trying to not go. You'll just end up with some stuff. I mean, there's people that don't even know that I know they want stuff. No-transcript, then you won't know until you know. But it's just like to me, like the truth in community isn't to me.
Speaker 1:Okay, this is a complete and total opinion, and it's and it is. It is that, it is truly that. Don't take it any differently than that. It is an opinion. My opinion of community is helping each other, and helping each other me isn't with exchange of currency. So would it be helping your friend to buy a product with his discount code because he helped you get a discount and you helped him get a commission? Yes, by definition yes, and that is what is happening a lot now. But that's not, again, opinion. That's just not where I'm at.
Speaker 1:An opinion is like I'm increasing someone's happiness or experience by just giving them something or finding a way to get it for them, because naturally, due to the podcast, I do kind of have some more contacts sometimes I don't have big sponsors. I'm not sponsored by freaking Toyota or Prince or I don't know, icon or you know, but once in a while I'll, I'll, I'll, you know, I'll do some good things for a company and they'll, you know, and I'll. I'll ask them if my friend buys something, will they give them free shipping or they'll offer 10% off? And I'll ask them, if my friend buys something, will they give them free shipping or they'll offer 10% off? And I'll just say, hey, this is a good friend of mine, he'll be a good person to represent your product. He's 20% on the table. He's 25% on the table. And then I'll just take it to my friend and be like man. This is what I can do, but that's me giving.
Speaker 1:I'm writing those emails and taking the time to do those things. Emails and taking the time to do those things because I want everybody to like, just like this hobby and I'm not trying to me doing this is the is the win, okay, like. The end game to me is that I just continue to keep doing it and have sick friends to go with me to sick places and we all are psyched on what we're driving. Like if you were to look at Charlie's what Charlie wants for the future. I want my friends to have the stuff they want and like it and keep having an adventurous spirit. It has nothing to do with what literally that is or what that looks like, but I just want my. I just want everybody that I interact with to get the experience I've had, which is not going to be ever going to be me like, hey, buy this thing.
Speaker 1:I have a discount code right now and it's for Overland of America, which is a freaking event. I have a discount code for an experience. It's not a product There'll be products there but I have a discount code for an experience. I have a discount code for freaking and WeBoost and I'll be products there, but I have a discount code for an experience. I have a discount code for freaking and we boost and I'll be real honest with you guys, I do nothing for we boost. They just freaking love me and I don't know why, like I don't know why Nick wax sends me Nick wax, cause I love this stuff. I don't have a discount code there either, but you should buy it. I mean it's going to help you out, but I'm not. It doesn't help me out. You buying it doesn't help me. It to make sense, like I like it's just helping you.
Speaker 1:That's not that those aren't the arrangements that I make or have made and I don't know that I will make, because I I want to keep being who I am and that's helpful, not and that's helpful for free. I want to be helpful for free and that's where companies have a hard time wanting to work with me because they, you know it's all like here. You know here's an affiliate link and everybody that buys it. You can make X, y and I'm like I want you to believe in me because I believe in the community and I believe in these people and I want you to help me keep putting out free information so I can take the money that I'm not spending on this to do stuff for the community. You know, like somebody shot me 50 bucks for the podcast.
Speaker 1:Well, now I can buy two soft shackles and give them away to somebody, one a piece, and I'm not gonna do with some giveaway, I'm gonna carry them things in my truck and I'm gonna see somebody a freaking all these one day and go hey, man, I see you got a winch there on your freaking truck with the eye camper or whatever. I'm like, do you like, talk to him a little bit, probably give him a soft shackle like. Then then tell them about it Like that's what I'm doing. It's not somebody that's I am not, and I do that all the time. The amount of times I've left an Outskirts Overland sticker on somebody's car at a free Walmart parking lot? Tons and tons of time, and I'm not promoting my podcast.
Speaker 1:Everybody likes stickers and it's free and it's not a duck. Sorry, jeep. People like it's just people like sticking stickers on stuff. I tend to think my stickers look cool, like that's who I am, that's what I am and that's why I get to like. Is what? In my opinion, is the space truthful or is it all? It is because I'm here and I have friends here and I know that's their intention, but is everybody else? For lack of a better term, you know I'm going to cuss here, so just hear me out. Matt and Bentley, I'm sorry, but this is the best analogy I have. So I'm sorry, don't ever repeat this, but are they selling me chicken shit and calling it chicken salad, like? Is that what's happening? Cause I think that's happening and that is a lot of people.
Speaker 1:And then there's people in the community that don't know any better, that think those people are like the freaking pillars of the space and I'm going going. That guy is making a fortune off of you and you are struggling to afford the stuff that he's making a fortune on and it's a false idol. Like this is a false idol 100 and I'm not gonna sit here and name names. I'm not, I will not, I will not. But like, and I don't even know, I don't know that I want to see a change. I'd love, well, I'd love to see a change, but like everybody's got to do what everybody has to do to survive and that for everybody looks different, looks different, but I so in.
Speaker 1:The reason I bring this up is because I've been talking a lot about like the. The podcast is for sale. Like, not for somebody to buy it, but like I would love anybody to believe in the podcast and me and just good karma and doing good things will come back around. Like, if you're a brand that does good stuff for me, you don't even understand the amount that I will appreciate you and what I will do to get to like, make that well known, that like you're just good freaking people and we should support you as a community. Because of that, I don't care, literally that it's the best thing ever, because what's better than good gear is good people. And you can quote that and that's just where I'm at. And I had this talk and I was like, man, this is a topic, and it's a topic to teach you guys a little bit about me, teach you about my initial experience and why I am that way.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't say that I was giving stuff away, wouldn't say that I was giving stuff away, that you know, if my like this was three months, four months, six months after me living in Lake Tahoe, like not a long time, and they just were like I don't know if they, I don't know, I don't know if they pulled money together. I don't know if these guys got the tires Like I, they might've been takeoffs. I have no freaking clue. I don't know. I don't know like I don't know, I don't know. But also I didn't care. It was sick. Those could. That lift kit could have been off somebody else's truck. It looked new though, but it didn't matter. It was so awesome and that had nothing to do with those people gaining anything but my smile and just knowing that I'd use it and enjoy it and that's there's not much of that that I see anymore, and that's my opinion too. But that's where I stand and those are the things that I'm doing.
Speaker 1:And as I get discouraged and frustrated, I have been talking a lot about like man, I'd really like some companies to get behind me so I could, you know, grow with them and help them, but also help people. And those are the companies I want to work with and I continue to talk to my friends about like. I mean, my audio is not absolutely alien anymore. I got that fixed. I've tried to take this a little more seriously so that people take me more seriously about it, but my idea isn't to get a bunch of stuff to show it to you guys. My idea is to get a bunch of stuff to give it to you guys, whether that's they require me to put it on my truck and I give you what I took off, or they just give me something and I just give it to you. If a company today gave me a new set of tires, I would give it to somebody.
Speaker 1:Mine are so fine and I've learned enough about how to sign contracts with these companies to be like no, I'm not doing this. Yes, I will do this. Here's what you'll get from me. You know X, y and Z. Like I make sure to word it appropriately, I'll do a review on this product, not that I'll do a review on it on my vehicle. You know what I'm saying. I do that every freaking day and I've learned how to discuss these things with them. So I've got a leg up there. And, guys, the podcast the podcast is doing so good Again and I wanted to mention the audio was so bad in May and, guys, I'm so aware and I want to take it down.
Speaker 1:But also I've listened to it and there's some redeemables and you could patch some of it together, but by no means do I think it was good or okay, and the statistics on May are not indicative of how bad that audio was. So I've started to take this a little more seriously, just so people will take me more seriously, so I can get you guys some more stuff. And I say you guys, somebody a year from now may listen to this podcast that I just gave something to a year later. They might have found my podcast due to this action and find this episode later. That's totally cool too. This doesn't need to be something you all listen to today. You could listen to this in six years, seven years, whatever. It will live on as long as you, as long as apple podcast and spotify is there, so I it needs to be out there.
Speaker 1:So no real point to this, just a discussion to have, just kind of like giving you guys a little background to how, how I started in it and how the community or a community, was to me and how that's pretty much molded how I act and what I do and what my idea of sponsorship and partnership is with brands which they don't even understand they're always like, oh, we're not in need of any marketing help understand. Like they're always like, oh, we're not in need of any marketing help. And I'm like I'm not trying to mark, like I'm I got a successful, statistically successful podcast and I'm trying to get your product out Like that's it, like that's it, like that's it. Like I've already used it. I know it's decent. Like it's not that I'm going to review it and it's the first time I'm using it and giving you first impression. Like I already used it. I know it's decent. Like it's not that I'm going to review it and it's the first time I'm using it and giving you first impression. Like I already used it, I know it's good. I want all my friends to know it's good. I want them to experience it so that when they take their hard earned money and spend it, it's not, it's not just happenstance that it's good, like it's already. I know it's good, so I'm happy to give it to them so they can experience and go oh man, this is awesome. And then they can carry on with their own decisions from there, whether that's they use that gear or, and you know, a lot of times I've given away gear and done that and people have recommended that gear I gave away to other people who've bought it and I don't care Like I don't care the brand, whatever they made their money, I don't care. And I don't care Like I don't care the brand, whatever they made their money, I don't care. I helped out two people. That's what I care. I'm not. I just don't care. I'm not doing this for a living and I don't want to.
Speaker 1:I really enjoyed exercise and made it my job for 15 years. And guys, I haven't seen it. I have a gym membership and I haven't even walked in the place in two years. It just makes me sick because of just what that. Just it just became something else. You know, it's just a. It's a gym community, is a social construct now that I just don't like. It's not about betterment, it's about more clicks and I don't know.
Speaker 1:Insert whatever statement you want to, but and I, I really like this thing and it's not my job and I want it to stay good. I don't want it to get ruined and, uh, I mean, that's really it. That's all I got to say on it. I hope you guys have a good weekend, and if any of you guys find yourself in a place where you have some gear that you're not using or you think about selling, just one thing I always do is I'm like is it worth? Do I need the 20 bucks? That bad, or would that person be way happier about just me giving it to them? I put stuff on Facebook Marketplace that just give it to people too. They'd be like what's your bottom dollar? And I'm like you know I'll say stuff When's the next time you're going camping Saturday, come fucking get it. Like sorry again, sorry, I cussed it. I'm like come get it. Nothing. If you can come get it, I'm good with it. I'm not going to meet you but you can come get All the time Literally Heck.
Speaker 1:My ultra hook was a guy that's an older guy, that's in the overlaying group that I have and I saw he put his ultra hook on Facebook marketplace With some with like some winch plates and shackles and stuff and I was like, hey man, will you split that ultra hook out? And he's like for sure, he's like, make me an offer. So I made him an offer and he accepted it. I sent him an extra 10 bucks and asked him to ship it to me. Good people doing good stuff, and I mean an ultra hook is a 300 something, a lot of dollars and he did me a super solid like I'm appreciative of him. So what did I do? I took the one that was on my truck off and just shipped it to another friend for free because he just got a winch. I'm like, dude, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:That's the kind of stuff I want to make sure that I'm talking about so that it keeps happening. So that's what I got for you guys today. Go enjoy some camp and stay dry, you know. Keep it real and remember, like just remember what relationships are worth and remember what, like how good it feels to help somebody, because I think it feels a lot better to help somebody than to make money off of them. Again, that's my opinion, and that's not saying anybody else is wrong, and it's not saying I'm right. It's just where I am Versus some others. Again, it's their job. I'm about to walk into work right now and make money off of people buying houses. We all got our thing. This just isn't mine. So I'll catch you guys later. Have a good weekend, get out, have fun, be safe, and I'll talk to you guys Monday.
