GRANGER SMITH ｜ Leading and Living Well in the Face of Extreme Adversity
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Summary
Granger Smith Jr. is a country music artist and co-creator of his alter ego, Earl Dibbles Jr. He is also the spokesperson for the clothing apparel company, Yigi, and is the father of four. In this episode, we talk about the tragic loss of his son and how he continues to lead his family through one of the most difficult situations imaginable.
Transcript
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Gentlemen, there is so much negativity and hostility and vitriol in the world today.
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And it's unfortunate because even in the most difficult of circumstances, there is so much
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to be positive about and grateful for. And as we look for and embrace those factors,
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life just becomes so much more rewarding and fulfilling. Today I'm joined by country music
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artist, Granger Smith. Yes. We also talk about his alter ego, Earl Dibbles Jr. We talk about
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gratitude, juggling all of the duties and responsibilities of life and attaching the
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right and empowering meaning to events and circumstances from life. We also get into
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and talk about the tragic loss of Granger's son and how he continues to lead his family through
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one of the most difficult situations imaginable, losing a child. You're a man of action. You live
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life to the fullest, embrace your fears and boldly charge your own path. When life knocks you down,
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you get back up one more time. Every time. You are not easily deterred or defeated. Rugged,
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resilient, strong. This is your life. This is who you are. This is who you will become.
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At the end of the day, and after all is said and done, you can call yourself a man.
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Gentlemen, what is going on today? My name is Ryan Mickler. I am the host and founder of the Order
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of Man podcast and movement. I've got a powerhouse conversation lined up, one that I've been working
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on getting to you for a while now. We were finally able to make it happen. So I'm going to introduce
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you to Granger Smith here in a minute. Before I do, I just want to mention and tell you, thank you.
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All right, guys, with that said, let me introduce you to my guest. His name is Granger Smith.
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He's an absolutely incredible man. Our conversation was so powerful. You're going to hear that in a
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minute. He's an extremely successful country music artist. He's the host of the Granger Smith podcast
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and co-creator of his alter ego, Earl Dibbles Jr. A lot of you guys know Earl. He happens to be the
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spokesperson for the clothing apparel company, Yigi apparel guys. I've been following Granger for years
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now and I'd always been impressed with his positivity and outlook on life. And after our
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conversation today, I am even more. So we talk about so much, uh, his positivity and energy and
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excitement for life is infectious. And it makes me want to be a better man myself. And I think it will
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for you too. Granger, what's up brother. Thanks for joining me on the podcast, man. Thanks for having
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me. Thanks for the, uh, the package too. You sent me some new, uh, Yigi gear and I appreciate you guys
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sending that out my way. It sounds like you guys have a, uh, a new launch coming up here in a,
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in a week or two, uh, March 19th. I think it is. Yeah. Do you like it? I love it, man. I love it.
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Yeah. I love it. And my boy loves it too. He's, uh, my oldest, I've got four kids, but my, uh, my oldest
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is like, Oh, can I have this? I'm like, well, yeah, but it won't fit you, but it'll probably be a year
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or two before all of my stuff fits him. He's already wearing my shoe size. He steals my hats. He steals my
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geese. Yeah. It's, uh, it's kind of interesting how it's working out with him getting as big as I
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am already. Love it, man. Yeah. Well, if you don't, if you don't like the stuff on this launch,
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then, uh, there's always a next launch. So we'll just, we'll just keep on sending stuff to you.
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I thought you were going to say, if you don't like the stuff on this launch, screw off. That's
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what I thought you were going to say, but no, it's a, it's good, man. I like what you guys are doing.
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I really appreciate not just obviously the brand, but what you guys stand for and what you're all
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about. So it's pretty cool to be able to have a conversation. Thank you, brother. Very much.
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And you got a new, uh, you got a new, uh, music video. I think that just came out yesterday as
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well. I just, I watched it, uh, just this morning. Turned out really good. Thanks, man. Yeah, this is,
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you know, I've done a lot of music videos, but this was unique in a lot of ways. Uh, it was the first,
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first of all, it was the first all night shoot. So we, we started shooting it, you know, as soon as
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the sun went down and, uh, we finished up about 4 a.m. So that was my first time to do that. I know a lot
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of people have done that before. Yeah. It's popular in movie making, you know, when you got
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to shoot a night scene and it's crazy that the music video is only two and a half minutes
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and it went all night all night. That actually, that actually seems pretty quick. When you said
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it was in one night, that actually seems pretty quick. But with the, with the set that you guys
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had on the road and the truck and everything else, it seems like, all right, we got a limited
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time to be able to do this. We can't spread this out over a couple of nights. And that all
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falls really on the producer and the director because that a director like this, this guy,
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TK, we've worked with him several times before and man, he has his shot list created before
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we start. And it has the song written out lyrically and each minute and each second that each word
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is said is highlighted. And then underneath the, the second, the minute, the second, and the,
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the lyric, it has the shot that he needs. And so he literally goes through that shot list
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and he has to plan it. So you don't shoot in order, right? Shoot in order of how your
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scenes are set up. So, and I'm sure movies are, I've never shot a movie. I'm sure it's
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the same way though. You're going to shoot, you might shoot the last scene first, just
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right. It's not chronologically. You need the setup that you need. And so a good producer
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will, will know while the director is filming one shot, he's prepping the secondary crew
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on the next shot coming up, lighting it, getting it ready, getting the, the environment set
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so that then you could, you could literally finish that first shot. And then the director
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goes, all right, where's my second shot? And the producer goes right over here. Okay. We
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have this set up. The director gives a few yes or nos according to the environment. And, uh,
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that way you could literally go shot, shot, shot, go down the list and accomplish everything
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you need in one day. And it's a money thing too. I mean, you, you gotta have a crew, you
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gotta pay them. Right. And you can't go for another day. I mean, that, that would double
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your budget. Yeah. At least, you know, it's, it's interesting too. Cause I think what a lot
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of people, even if you're, as you're explaining this for a two and a half minute video, you know,
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you've got, you're shooting all night, then you've got production, then you've got all
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the camera equipment and the lighting and the props and everything else. And the amount
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of investment that goes into it. And it's really interesting because what most people
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will see and only acknowledge is, you know, two and a half minutes and they won't see
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everything. I think about this with fighters too. You know, you see a guy get into the
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ring. I watch UFC quite a bit and you see these guys get millions and millions of dollars
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of payouts. Like Amanda Nunes, for example, I don't know what she made, but millions of
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dollars on that fight. And she was in the fight for what a minute and a half. And so
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people will say, she just made, you know, $10 million an hour or something or whatever
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it comes, whatever that waits to you. And it's like, no, no, no, no, no. You, you don't
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understand how this works. Cause she's put in years and years and years, same thing with
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you performing, you know, people probably look at you and a performance and think, oh yeah,
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you know, anybody can do that. And they negate the two or three decades of work to get you
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Absolutely. And then, and even so in my world and in the fighters world,
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similarly, similarly, you, you look at a fight that, that lasted, you know, four minutes
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in a knockout. Well, he had to, he or she had to travel to that location. They had to get
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the hotel. They had to, to do all the preliminary check-ins and, and so, you know, the minimal
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fight is going to take what you can tell me what 48 hours at minimum of, uh, just getting
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there and getting ready. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Do you get that a lot? Do you get discounted
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a lot with the amount of work that you've put forth? Cause I think, um, from, from my
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perspective, I imagine people will look at you and think, all right, well, here's a guy
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who's extremely successful. He's got the, the, the music career he's doing really well
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with. He's got his, his brand and his apparel company, and he's got this YouTube channel.
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Do you find that people are discounting and dismissing what it's taken to get there? And
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I mean, is that, is that something that I don't want to say bothers you, but how do you address
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that with people? Yeah, I would say, I would say it's 1% of, of a hundred. We'll, we'll address
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that and talk about it. The 1%, as we know, as most things in life, the 1% is pretty loud.
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Yes. They're always the loudest for sure. They make themselves heard. Um, but most people,
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99% of people realize that there is no such thing as overnight success. There's no such
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thing as, is really even a flash in the pan. It takes, it takes an army, not, not just that
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one person. If you're speaking in terms of a singer, it takes an army of, of booking and
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management and band and crew to, to pull this off consistently over years and decades to
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create something that's called a successful career. Right. Yeah. And it's probably interesting
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for you because how early, how young were you when you get, when you got started in, we'll
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just say professionally performing, singing, et cetera. Yeah. I guess the, the best starting
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point for me is when, when I could say this is paying the bills, you know, like I'm not
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doing, I don't have another job that's, that's making more money than what I'm doing. I, I
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had supplemental jobs a lot through that process. But when I would say this is my main gig, I
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was 20 years old. Okay. Yeah. And I'm, I'm about to turn 42 this fall. Yeah. So that's
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what, that's what I'm talking about. Over two decades of work to get you to the point where
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you are now, when you started, I imagine it was, it was just you, maybe your, your family,
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your bro. I know you're, you're really engaged with your brothers, your brothers there today.
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It looks like, but it was probably just you, what singing at bars, trying to get gigs, doing
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some things with your family. I mean, there probably wasn't a promotion team or a crew or
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anything else going on. No, it's a great point because when I see people that are wanting to
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get into the industry, usually your first reaction is to look for, I got to find a manager. I got to,
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I got to find a booking agent. When I find a booking agent, things are really going to take
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off or they'll say, I got to get a record deal. As soon as I get that record deal, man, it's just
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going to fall in place. And I always try to dismiss that as quickly as possible, because
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if you can't establish yourself just from you and you alone at the beginning, if you can't do that,
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there's no way you're going to be able to manage it at a larger level. All those things really have
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to come exactly at the time that you need them the most. And so in terms of a booking agent,
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I always tell people, they say, man, if I could just get a booking agent, or some people say,
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if I could just get away from the current booking agent and get with a better one.
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Yeah. And I always say, man, Tyler and I, at the very beginning, we were just cold calling venues
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by ourselves way before we wanted to trust a booking agency. When you're the low man on the
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totem pole there, we were cold calling venues and saying, Hey, you never heard of us. We'd like to come
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house Saturday night, the 15th work for your schedule. And they'd say, man, we don't, we don't
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know who you are. Well, listen, you don't have to pay us anything. Just pay us, pay us the door.
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Give us a hundred percent of your door and we'll charge $5 a ticket. I don't know. My Saturday
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nights are pretty booked. Then give us a Thursday, give us a Thursday night. How does that look for
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you? So it really starts with like any other sales job, cold calling. Yeah. I remember when I
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started this organization, this movement here, I reached out to an organization that was putting
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on an event for men and I reached out and I had no business doing this, but it sounds very similar.
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I said, Hey, I want to come speak at your event. And the guy was like, who are you? I said, I'm just
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a guy that wants to talk at your event. I've got, I've got some things to share. And they're like,
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no, you're not coming to, but come to the event and introduce yourself. And so I did, you know,
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I bought the ticket. I went out there, I spent some time and I ended up speaking at that event for
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four years following, but it took me having the balls to go say, Hey, I want to go speak at your
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event. When I actually had no business speaking at this guy's event. That's man. That's awesome. If
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you don't hear enough times, someone say, who are you? Then you're not doing the right things at the
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beginning. You need people to say, who are you? And then your answer is, let me show you. Right.
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Yeah. Yeah. I like that. You know, it's I don't want to say it's easier now. I mean,
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it might, it might be just because you have name recognition and people know who you are, but
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the other facet of that is you have this incredible tool called social media that you guys have tapped
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into so well with your company, with your brand, with Earl, you've got everything going on. And that's
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probably been just a tremendous blessing for you when, you know, 20 years ago, you know, we didn't,
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we didn't have that. We didn't have social media 20 years ago to be able to tap into the
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leverage of reaching people across the planet in a blink of an eye.
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Man, I think there's a good argument that if it wasn't for social media, I wouldn't have made it
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in the traditional route, you know? And so, so yeah, it's, it's been a huge blessing. We realized
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quickly that through trying to get gigs and play a show on a Saturday night and playing to a bartender
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and a couple of random people that just accidentally walked in the bar, we would have better success
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really thinking about a really viral Facebook posts that we could do, or some really catchy
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video we could put on YouTube. And we would have better success or better odds of reaching more people
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through really good contemplation on a Facebook post. Then we would going into a random bar
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and just trying to, you know, put a notch in the belt and say, there's another gig.
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There's another gig for the books that probably meant nothing to anyone or including your career.
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Right. Right. Yeah. You guys have harnessed it so well. How, how have you developed that
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over time? You know, what are some things that maybe you ran into some pitfalls or how has that
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evolved? I know my messaging has certainly evolved over a period of, you know, six years and I think it's
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gotten better. You know, we become more efficient. We figure out what people are interested in. We,
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we, we, we communicate in a way that resonates with people. How has that changed for you over the past?
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Yeah. I think trying to always keep a pulse on what people are needing, what people are, how,
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how people are connecting and what style it's usually the same message you're getting out.
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It's just how are you relaying that message? So, you know, at the beginning it was my space and
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my space operated a certain way. And I remember we were, Tyler and I were going to these big country
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music accounts and going to their fans and then adding them as our friends. Like that was a good
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way to start, you know? Yeah, for sure. It, it, it leads back to the question, like you said earlier,
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who are you? Well, come and find out at least to get you the opportunity. So as that, as that evolved,
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as social media evolved, we tried to always keep it in-house as authentic as possible,
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never sending out, we kind of made it a rule to never send out a message that's, that after the
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sentence we posted would say, dash Granger team, as if some big team is making, trying to make
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yourself bigger than you are. No one wants to, no one cares about your team and what your team has to
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say about you. So we tried to always keep it, um, in very conversational terms as if, as if we had 10
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fans and we're speaking directly to them all the time. Yeah. That's actually one thing that among
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others that I've seen you do very well. It seems to me like anybody who would connect with you,
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either something like this via zoom or one-to-one would already feel like they're your friend because
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it is you. It doesn't seem like it's manipulated. It doesn't seem like it's overly curated or produced
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because you talk about what works and you talk about what doesn't. You've talked about personal
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issues and hard times. And I think that's what really resonates with people. Why they, why they
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want to be connected with you in some way. I think we try to always keep in mind who's listening
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and that's, that goes to what you're saying. For instance, on, you know, in the early days of
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Twitter, I knew that we had followers, we didn't have a lot, but I knew we had followers that were
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sprinkled all over. And so for me to go on Twitter and say, doors open at six drink specials, 10% off
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well drinks, um, first 30 people in the door get, and we're talking about San Angelo, Texas. When our
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followers on Twitter, we might have 47 followers that are around San Angelo and the rest of them
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were not. And, and that it just, it starts to look like spam and it becomes not interesting to everyone.
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So I tried to always keep in mind who's listening when I post something. And is this going to be
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relative to all the people listening? And, and we, we would always hit these stumbling blocks with
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say a venue that would say, can you get Granger to post? And we still get this today.
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Oh, I bet. Can you get Granger to post one more time about the show Saturday night?
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And it's like, well, you're, you're in Columbus, Ohio. And if we hit them, if we hit all of our
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followers too hard about Columbus, Ohio, they're not going to want to follow us anymore because
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they're not there. And that's, yeah, I'm in Maine. I'm like, I don't care what's happening in Ohio.
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It doesn't matter to me. How does that apply to me? Right. Exactly. Yeah.
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So when you say who's listening, who, who, who is listening? Like, who is it that you want to serve?
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What, what kind of individual does that look like? What kind of values are you trying to
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communicate and portray to them? Cause I look, man, I look at you more as more than just a country
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music, music artists. Like there there's more behind it. You're not just singing songs. There's
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messages, there's values. Who is it that you're trying to resonate with?
00:19:43.240
Yeah. It's that's, that question has evolved over the last couple of decades for sure on who's,
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who's listening and why do I want them listening to me? And, um, that's evolved. It started as a
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pretty wide, a wide brush stroke. You know, we want to get, we want people to pay attention to us. That
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was the ultimate goal at the very beginning. Sure. Pay attention to us. Here we are. And this is,
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you know, this is, this is funnier. This is really dynamic, or this is, this is crazy. Watch this or
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listen to this. And then as the years went by and we realized as Tyler says, who are, who our tribe is
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and we would speak more directly to the tribe, you know, to the people that want to,
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that want to be pulled in and hear a deeper thought from me. Or, you know, if I'm out on a
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morning walk and I'm thinking about something and, and I think, and I think I want to share this with
00:20:41.000
my followers. I want to, and, and I wouldn't probably have done that 15 years ago. I would just
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have said new album coming April 17th, get excited. You know, I would have said that. So, um, and as I
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get older, I think the, the message I want to send, uh, gets a little bit more intimate and less about
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how many retweets or followers or repost or comments or likes I get and more about spreading a message of
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hope and, and integrity, positivity, um, things that, uh, an anxious world probably needs to hear.
00:21:26.460
Yeah. Yeah. I definitely agree. Do you ever, uh, do you ever get concerned about sharing too much
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personally or even your wife, you know, does she get concerned about what you put out there and
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how connected and, and, and how, how much you're sharing about your own personal lives?
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Yeah, I do. I do. And, uh, I can't speak for Amber, my wife. Um, she's, she kind of operates
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differently on social media and she does share a lot and she has just unbelievable engagement on her
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socials. I don't have that, that level of engagement, the intimacy she has with her followers.
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I don't have that. I have more followers that are less intimate and that's okay. I'm totally fine with
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that. Um, and there's times when either things are really down for me or things are really, really
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good for me. And both of those scenarios, I'm always careful when I share it because not everyone
00:22:26.040
is going through a joyful time and not everyone is going through a dark time. And so I have to,
00:22:33.360
I have to kind of play it where I want everyone to listen to this, to this message, whether you're
00:22:39.740
in a good time or a bad time. And I'm not going to brag about my good times, man. Life is good.
00:22:46.260
Yeah. Sun is shining. I'm out here, man. I'm out here on the lake. This is life doesn't get any
00:22:51.880
better than this. It's okay to do that. But I always have to realize as I'm posting that,
00:22:56.920
that somebody reading that is going through hell right now. Hmm. And it's not going to help them at all
00:23:02.540
to listen to my message. And, uh, the same as, is with the opposite. So I always try to keep that
00:23:09.540
in mind. And I, I don't, I don't ever really go, um, too deep in, in what I'm feeling, uh, because
00:23:17.560
that's, that's, that's, I have to save some stuff for, for personal. Yeah. Yeah. I get that. And,
00:23:23.960
and it's an interesting perspective when you say that I'm not going to share, like you said,
00:23:28.880
you're careful about when the highs and lows are, that's different actually than what a lot of
00:23:34.600
people do. Cause I think what we see more often is the zero F's mentality, right? Like I don't give a
00:23:39.460
shit what you're dealing with. And, you know, this is my life. And, and I can see that, that level of,
00:23:45.260
um, maybe just a little bit more empathy or understanding how that actually is a, is a pretty
00:23:51.620
good approach in a world that seems to be increasingly selfish, you know? Sure. Sure.
00:23:57.580
I try to always, always paint things with the, with the level of gratefulness with everything,
00:24:03.580
whether it's highs or lows, you could be grateful when you're low, you could be grateful when you're
00:24:06.940
high. And I think if you kind of paint with, with gratefulness as an undertone and everything that
00:24:12.060
you're saying, um, then it, it, it means more. So for instance, I love snow skiing. I love it.
00:24:18.340
So if I'm up on top of a mountain and I like skiing by myself, I get up on top of a mountain
00:24:23.940
and there's always a lift that'll take you to the very top. And I'll look around.
00:24:28.840
And my first instinct is always pull out the phone and give a big old, awesome Instagram post,
00:24:34.120
you know, beautiful panorama. And I always try to, when I do that, I always try to paint that with
00:24:40.840
a good hint of gratefulness. Like, man, I'm up on this mountain perspective,
00:24:47.840
tomorrow I'm going to be back in the grind. I'm going to be working again. You know, I'm going to
00:24:51.900
be grinding something out down and, you know, wherever I'm going to be tomorrow, uh, no going
00:24:57.760
on no sleep, but right now I'm going to soak in this moment, knowing that I don't get these that
00:25:03.560
often. And I'm going to, I'm going to take in this beauty. I'm going to take in this, this clean
00:25:08.020
air that I'm breathing and I'm going to love it so much for what it is. And I'm grateful for this
00:25:13.200
moment. So anyway, I just always try to paint it that way. So then if, if you're down or if
00:25:18.220
you're down and you read that, you could think there's hope, right? If you're up and you read
00:25:22.660
that, you could be reminded that you got to be grateful too. I think there's in what I hear you
00:25:27.580
say too, is there's an element of being present in the moment too, uh, where you're just, you're
00:25:32.180
sitting there, you're at the top of this mountain, you're looking at the beauty. You're grateful you
00:25:36.460
get to do this thing that not everybody gets to do. And that makes you more present in the
00:25:40.220
moment. It seems to me, and this is a weird dichotomy because you're obviously you're public
00:25:44.700
facing. You have to promote yourself. You have to put yourself out there as part of your career
00:25:49.120
and your, your choices. Um, but there's this push to like, I got to show everything to everybody.
00:25:55.920
And I'm working on a project right now with my son. And a lot of people know, cause I've shared
00:25:59.820
things about it. We're building a canoe and, and I've had a lot of people like, Oh, are you going to
00:26:04.940
post a video and you're going to like break this down for him? And like, actually, no, I'm not going to do
00:26:09.860
that. Like, I'll show you some pictures of the progress and things, but I am grateful that I get
00:26:14.900
to do this with my son. And I actually just really want to be present. I don't want to curate any
00:26:19.000
content around doing this project together because that's not the purpose of it, but it seems like
00:26:24.320
in society, we've got so wrapped up in, you know, how, how can I, what kind of angle can I take with
00:26:30.280
this? And what kind of content can I curate from this so that people can think I'm maybe more important
00:26:35.380
than I actually am. And then we lose the presence of being there and the, and the benefits of being
00:26:39.460
there in the moments guys, let me hit the pause button on the conversation real quick. I want
00:26:45.080
to tell you something, having men in your corner cannot be overstated. You know, too many men have
00:26:49.860
decided to walk through life alone. And oftentimes they're left feeling frustrated and overwhelmed with
00:26:56.920
all that they have to deal with. But banding with other men doesn't make you weak or inferior.
00:27:01.400
Some people seem to think that if anything, it gives you access to the tools and accountability
00:27:05.340
needed to make you a stronger man. And with over 800 men inside of our exclusive brotherhood,
00:27:11.340
the iron council, you're going to find the type of men you need to thrive inside the walls of your
00:27:16.440
home, your business, and also in your community. Now, I know a lot of you have been sitting on the
00:27:21.600
fence about and joining the iron council. So I would tell you this, get off the fence and give it a
00:27:27.140
try. Just give it a try. Worst case scenario, you don't find any value and you leave, but I think
00:27:31.960
you'll find that when you band with us, every facet of your life is going to improve because you have
00:27:37.120
other men you're accountable for and two, and you have the frameworks needed to succeed. And you'll
00:27:43.040
probably be asking why you just didn't join us sooner. So guys, if you're interested, head to
00:27:48.120
order, a man.com slash iron council, again, order, a man.com slash iron council to join us in our
00:27:54.400
exclusive brotherhood. Do that after the conversation for now, we'll get back to it with Granger.
00:27:58.260
If you could master both levels of what you said and be, be present and be in the moment and enjoy
00:28:07.920
that moment and then slice out a little bit of time to create content, to share that gratefulness and
00:28:14.700
that presence with other people, then I think you could, you could kind of accomplish the best of both
00:28:19.540
worlds, but it has to start with what you said. It has to start with you being in that moment and
00:28:26.140
seeing that yourself with your own eyeballs or not through the, the iPhone camera and truly soaking
00:28:32.520
that in. How do you, how do you personally deal with that as your demand for time and attention and
00:28:39.500
your energy increases and will only continue to increase as, as we progress? Yeah, it's,
00:28:46.780
it's, it's not as hard. I know you know this, but just speaking out loud, it's not as hard as,
00:28:54.640
as everyone wants to think because we have so much trash time in our lives. Um, you know, I've read,
00:29:02.920
I've read it in terms of unconscious time and that is you think, how could you be so busy and still
00:29:09.220
carve out time for yourself? No one is that busy. We get sidetracked so easily. We get, I mean, how
00:29:16.560
many times have we looked at a YouTube video and then seen the one pop up below it and you get
00:29:20.760
sucked down this rabbit hole. And then 20 minutes later, you're, you're still staring at your app,
00:29:26.060
your YouTube app. And that happens to all of us. And so to be aware of that, that you're,
00:29:31.160
that you're, you just trapped yourself in a rabbit hole and there's ways to, there's ways to get
00:29:36.780
around that. One, I never, I never wake up and look at my phone. I have a set time when I could
00:29:42.980
finally, I haven't, there's not really a time, but there's, there's a sequence of events I have to do
00:29:47.560
in my morning before I get to my phone. And then at night I don't sleep with my phone in my room.
00:29:52.920
So there's a sequence of events I do before bedtime when the phone is now put away, it's on the charger
00:29:59.720
in the other room. And then, and that's usually about, about nine o'clock. And so after nine o'clock
00:30:05.900
and that, that, that could change, but about nine o'clock at and on it's, it's wind down time,
00:30:12.280
it's routine, it's me and Amber, the kids are down and I'm not, so that becomes my being in the present
00:30:21.220
moment, that, that time I need for myself. And then at the same time, then you can carve out times in the
00:30:26.840
day and go, all right, from, from 10 AM to 3 PM, it's, it's all go, it's all work time. And in that work
00:30:34.620
time, I still have to be aware of falling unconscious to the phone or getting sidetracked
00:30:40.740
by, you know, this and that. And, and then all of a sudden, when you start realizing that
00:30:46.480
you realize I had a lot more time than I thought I did during the day.
00:30:50.200
Yeah. It's amazing how much time we waste, but those boundaries that you're talking about
00:30:53.800
are crucial, but it also takes some intentionality. You know, I don't think anybody's going to be able
00:30:58.480
to create those boundaries that you're talking about or putting these little systems in place
00:31:01.900
if they aren't deliberate and intentional about their day, it just seems like most people are
00:31:06.820
just going with a flow, wherever it takes you, the current's going that way. Okay. I'll go that way.
00:31:10.840
And they never carve out that time you're talking about to think about, is this activity helping me?
00:31:16.100
Is it serving me? Is it hindering me? What can I do more efficiently or effectively? Or do I need to
00:31:20.760
get rid of this? They just don't have the time. I should say it this way. They don't take the time to do that.
00:31:25.400
Yeah. Yeah. They want to say they don't have the time. Right. Hey, I get it. I'm human just like
00:31:30.740
anyone else. And I'm no better than anybody else when it comes to managing time. If I leave myself
00:31:36.420
to my own device, then I'm going to fall victim of that unconscious time constantly. So like you said,
00:31:44.880
it's if, if you want to stop, for instance, if you want to say, I don't, I want to really cut back
00:31:49.640
on eating chocolate chip cookies. I love them. I really cut that out of my life. You can't leave
00:31:55.860
a big jar on your, on your counter in the kitchen when you walk past it. You leave yourself to your
00:32:01.600
own device. You're going to reach into the jar. We're not strong enough as humans to, to avoid that
00:32:07.900
kind of temptation. So the best thing to do is get the jar out of the house so that when you're,
00:32:14.320
when you go through a week or time, you're not going to stick your hand in the jar. It's the same
00:32:18.180
thing with the phone, same thing with carving out family time, same thing with really having some
00:32:22.180
deep work focus time when it, whenever you are working on, on your career and not falling into
00:32:28.860
that kind of temptation. It's like you said, you have to be deliberate about first understanding
00:32:34.080
that you're human. You're going to fall victim to it unless you actually set some true tangible
00:32:39.080
guidelines for yourself. Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. How do you view your, your career
00:32:45.180
aspirations and your desire to be a family man? Cause I know you have both and I have both and
00:32:50.740
most guys listening have both. Do you view those as conflicting pursuits, complimentary pursuits?
00:32:58.800
What does that look like for you? Yeah. I heard it put like this one time. It's cause you're right.
00:33:05.580
We have to have both. You gotta have both. You can't say I'm, I'm a family man. First and foremost,
00:33:11.060
that's all that matters. It's not really true because then you're not following the pursuit
00:33:15.880
of your heart that that's put inside you, the desire to, to, to chase your dreams and follow
00:33:22.980
your aspirator. You gotta have that because if you don't have that, you're not going to be a good
00:33:27.500
family man. You're going to be, you're going to be lonely and depressed and, and static. You know,
00:33:33.320
you can't, you can't be a good family man unless you have an adventure. There's a great book
00:33:38.180
called wild at heart. I love John Eldridge. Yeah. John Eldridge, you know, and then that speaks
00:33:42.660
to that. You gotta, you gotta have your adventure. And as a wife, you can't take that adventure away
00:33:48.540
from your man. So I've heard it put like this before. It's what it's like juggling balls. We all
00:33:54.340
have to juggle. You got your rubber balls and you got your glass balls. So when you're juggling your
00:34:01.020
families, your glass, you know, don't ever drop that. You could occasionally miss one of the rubber
00:34:07.800
ones. It could hit the ground. It bounces. You can pick it back up. You could enter it back into
00:34:12.280
the juggling, but never let go of the glass. That's going to break. You cannot let go. And so
00:34:17.860
I think of it that way. It's, it's a juggle. It's a juggle and you got to have it both going at the
00:34:21.820
same time, but it's okay to accidentally miss the career and let it bounce. Yeah. Pick it back up.
00:34:28.140
That's an interesting way to look at it. I've never considered it like that. The glass and the rubber
00:34:32.140
balls, you know, you, you had an, and, and I asked you about this out of respect for you, but you had
00:34:37.360
a very traumatic life event several years ago with the loss of your son river. Yeah. And I think that
00:34:45.120
was probably one of those glass ball moments where you thought, okay, this stuff out here needs to be
00:34:50.840
put on hold and I need to re-engage here. Cause I don't, I don't want to let that go. Can you talk
00:34:55.520
about that? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And, um, there's moments we all have these moments and
00:35:03.660
if you haven't had it yet, then it's coming because it's just, that's what we do as humans.
00:35:11.400
We, we suffer, we suffer well. People don't like to hear that. You know, they, they, people want to
00:35:18.040
think that they could try to make their life, um, free of suffering and nothing but happiness.
00:35:24.160
But, uh, the reality is that the cemeteries are full of people that ended up suffering at some
00:35:32.400
level. And that's just, that's, that's our human nature. Um, we, as a family, we did, we had a,
00:35:38.960
we had this event that was kind of the, the unthinkable event that happened two years ago to us.
00:35:45.080
Um, and I had to drop everything really, I had to drop everything. I had to not only deal with
00:35:53.080
my own grief and loss, which was just unthinkable and the darkest of times. I not only had to do
00:36:01.700
that, but I also had to realize that I'm still a husband, a father to two beautiful kids that need
00:36:10.680
my support that need me to lead and guide them in the right way. And, um, um, early on, I, I had to,
00:36:24.180
I didn't decide to, I had to, I had to make it a priority to, to balance my own grief and loss
00:36:31.700
with still moving forward with the family, uh, in, in a positive direction so that the other two kids
00:36:39.680
saw strengths through that and were able to have a, a somewhat normal life when they went back to
00:36:49.020
school that fall, for instance. Um, and, and that's, that's still a challenge to this day. I don't think
00:36:55.660
I'll ever master it, but, uh, it's, it goes back to that word being deliberate and making that intention
00:37:02.660
to, to continue to lead them and guide them while I'm dealing with my own trouble.
00:37:09.280
How, how much of your, your grief and your sorrow that I can't even imagine you must've experienced.
00:37:17.400
Did you allow your children to see, did, did, did they see that? Did you have conversations about that?
00:37:23.560
Or did you try to take a more stoic approach with them? What did that look like?
00:37:29.760
Yeah. Yeah. I, uh, I, I let them see it and I didn't let them see all of it. I let them see
00:37:37.420
what I thought they were capable of understanding and seeing meaning I didn't want to walk around.
00:37:45.240
You know, I was, I was, I wanted to be a zombie and I wanted to walk around and just
00:37:50.260
head to the ground, kicking dirt, tears in my eyes, shouting at God, you know, I wanted to be that
00:37:57.460
guy at the same time. Um, I needed them also. I needed them to, to see strength and see a smile
00:38:09.280
and see, to see me tell them it's going to be okay. And then I had to balance that with
00:38:16.120
guys. It's okay. Whatever you're feeling right now is okay. If you're sad right now,
00:38:23.060
you should be, it's okay. If you feel happy, that's okay too. If you want to smile right now,
00:38:29.700
that's okay. That's up. That's completely up to you. There's no wrong emotion you could have
00:38:34.620
during a crazy time like this. I'm not, I'm not talking about 24 hours in, I'm talking months,
00:38:39.560
months after, you know, if you, if you see a, something the dog does, that's funny laugh and
00:38:46.440
don't feel guilty about laughing because river's not here anymore. And I wanted them to see that
00:38:50.480
for me and kind of show them that example. So I had to balance the, what I wanted to do,
00:38:56.960
be a zombie. And then what I knew I needed to do, I needed to be strong. I need to show them tears
00:39:02.460
when they needed to see it, that dad is, dad is vulnerable, just like you dad goes through highs
00:39:09.740
and lows, just like you, but dad's also going to always be here to protect you and to, to, to show
00:39:16.060
you what's best through all of this. Yeah, man, that's, that's very powerful. You, you guys created
00:39:21.720
a foundation in, in his name were the kids part of that. And was that part of the, the grieving
00:39:29.700
process, but also part of the healing process for you guys too, is trying to turn this into
00:39:34.640
a situation where some good would come of the event itself? Absolutely. Yeah. Like, you know,
00:39:40.440
river is a part of our daily conversation. He's, he's part of our lives daily. Uh, we talk about him.
00:39:48.000
Um, we're at a point now, two years later where there's a lot of laughing that happens when we
00:39:54.680
think about riff, we, we smile, we laugh. Remember when river was dancing on the table and he said
00:40:00.700
this and we laugh, that's, that's really good that, but, but there, there's sad moments too,
00:40:07.680
of course. And the good thing is he's a part of our daily conversations, our daily lives. He's a part
00:40:14.020
of our family and always will be. And I expect the kids to, to be grown adults thinking of stories
00:40:22.140
of river and including them in conversations with their friends and many people that never got to
00:40:26.660
meet him. And so creating the foundation, um, was an important way for us to continue that legacy for
00:40:33.680
people that never knew him or never met him. And to continue the thought that we believe as
00:40:41.760
Christians, that there's no accidents that, that God has a plan. He, he's, he has a sovereign plan.
00:40:48.120
Although sometimes we don't understand it and we might not want to believe it, but we, we, we tell
00:40:55.640
the kids that everything happens for a reason and, and we could find meaning and purpose through
00:41:01.740
river's little legacy through this foundation, knowing that as we see other lives affected and
00:41:07.840
other people helped through, whether that's a financial donation through the foundation or it's
00:41:13.780
us actually, like we did with this ice storm, get out with the kids and actually try to feed those
00:41:19.520
that didn't have water or food. And we try to, we try to instill that purpose with them. Like
00:41:24.620
there, see there there's meaning behind all this. Nothing is for nothing. It's not, nothing is an
00:41:29.820
accident. And I think it really helps the kids move forward like that.
00:41:35.480
Yeah. I imagine, you know, it's, it's interesting as you talk about with your kids,
00:41:39.220
giving them permission in a way to experience and deal with a situation on their own and then tell
00:41:47.140
them that it's okay to laugh and it's okay to smile. I imagine there's a lot of guilt that comes
00:41:51.520
with that, but what about for you? Like, how did you give, I don't know if permission is the right
00:41:56.600
word necessarily, but at what point did you realize, you know, it's, it's okay. I can, I can get back to
00:42:02.680
my career pursuits. I can chase my other endeavors that are important to me. How did you come to terms
00:42:08.820
with that? The only way I came to terms with it was just facing it head on. I wanted to just, I
00:42:16.180
wanted to just hide. I wanted to disappear. There was a good amount of time when I wanted to just
00:42:20.900
disappear and never be seen or heard. You'll never hear from Granger Smith ever again. That was my
00:42:27.100
first real inclination. Let's do that. I want to do that. I want to disappear. I want to go and just
00:42:33.780
bury my head somewhere and pulling out and going back into life, you know, going back on tour.
00:42:43.000
We, we did, we went back on tour about a month after the accident and I brought the whole family
00:42:46.980
with me and going on stage for the first time was a terrifying experience for me going back on stage,
00:42:55.460
facing fans. When in my mind, I'm thinking, I'm, I'm thinking that all of them are looking at me
00:43:02.440
going, there's the guy that lost his son. Yeah. Very judgmental. Oh man, poor guy. Or, or even worse,
00:43:10.380
poor, irresponsible man lost his son. He failed. And the one thing that you have to do, get, get them,
00:43:18.480
get them to 18 and get them out of the house. That's what everyone says. Get your kids out of the
00:43:21.760
house at 18. So there's the guy that failed at the one thing you're supposed to do in my mind.
00:43:26.940
That's what they're thinking. Right. And that's probably what you're thinking about yourself too.
00:43:30.720
Is it? Absolutely. Absolutely. So then I, I went to the show the next day and it was the same,
00:43:38.180
not as bad. And every show after that was a little bit less. And as I, as I faced the world
00:43:45.360
and I went head on into that, I, I found that now I started looking at the crowd, looking out
00:43:53.520
at the people individually and looking into their eyes and thinking, there's a person that has pain.
00:44:00.100
There's a person that's suffering in some way. And it could be anything. We, everything is relative
00:44:06.340
when it comes to suffering. I mean, someone could have lost their dog yesterday. That's terrible.
00:44:10.720
Losing a dog is terrible. It's relatively speaking to what, what you're doing and who you are in your
00:44:17.060
life. And I look into their eyes and it's, instead of them, instead of feeling some kind of weird
00:44:22.200
judgment back at me, I started feeling a connection. Like there's a guy on stage that suffering just
00:44:28.560
like me. He's been, I lost my grandmother last month and it's hard. And that guy lost his son and we
00:44:34.680
could have this moment as humans. And then I started, I said, I want to feed on that feeling
00:44:41.020
instead of the judgment guilt feeling. I want to feed on that. I want to, I want to, I want to focus on
00:44:47.040
the people that need to hear or need to see that guy lost his son and he's out here doing this. He's
00:44:53.580
out here playing music. He's doing it. I could do it now. I've been struggling with the loss of my
00:45:00.820
grandmother and I can't, can't, can't even imagine going back to work, but that guy's doing it and I
00:45:07.140
could do it. And so I started feeding on that and that slowly day by day mattered more and more.
00:45:16.660
I, I, when you're saying that I hear, I hear almost a sense of, of, I don't know, duty or
00:45:24.260
responsibility in you showing up for the people that want to be connected, whether it's just to
00:45:30.740
listen to your music or laugh at one of your memes or what, in whatever way, I feel like as you're
00:45:36.580
saying that there's, that you might have some sort of sense of duty or obligation is, is that right?
00:45:41.440
Do you feel like there's a huge sense of that? And, and I believe as a musician, when we started
00:45:47.900
finding success, I realized quickly, this is not on my own merit. The success is happening because
00:45:54.500
the community is supporting this artwork that we're putting out there. And, and so my responsibility
00:46:01.600
back to that community, that's allowing me to, to do something as crazy as, is getting paid for playing
00:46:09.060
music. Then my responsibility, responsibility back was the words that you said, to show up,
00:46:15.060
show up for them because, because music has this power of, of helping people erase what they're
00:46:24.080
thinking about or be present in the moment, or maybe remember something they hadn't thought about
00:46:29.060
in a while, or be hopeful for something they don't have yet in coming in the future. Music could do all
00:46:34.520
those kinds of things. And if I disappear from that, then I'm missing the obligation that the community
00:46:40.320
has given to me from this platform. Hmm. That's interesting. Do you ever feel like that could go
00:46:46.700
too far where you start living your entire life for the people who want to be connected with you?
00:46:54.460
And how do you keep yourself grounded? The people that want to be connected to me are still the rubber
00:46:58.720
balls. Hmm. They're still the rubber balls. And, and when we lost rib, I had to drop it all.
00:47:03.920
So I understand, and I've learned, especially from that, that they do bounce and I can pick it back
00:47:10.240
up again. As long as I continue to show back up, as long as I don't just give it up forever and it's
00:47:15.720
done, you know, as long as I could pick it back up, then they're still going to be there. And so
00:47:22.520
I don't feel, I've heard some artists say to me that they've given up meet and greets because
00:47:29.460
they're tired of hearing people's depressing stories right before they go on stage. Oh,
00:47:34.060
interesting. Okay. And, and I completely reject that idea because the reason you have a meet and
00:47:40.280
greet, the reason people even care to meet you is because of some kind of respect that you,
00:47:45.400
that you have earned. Of course. Through, through their connection with you and to, to, to ignore that
00:47:53.300
and to not want to engage in that is missing a huge part of why we're musicians in the first place.
00:48:01.060
I think that's a good point. I think it goes back to what you were saying earlier about meaning,
00:48:05.120
you know, you could take somebody's story, a depressing story, quote unquote, depressing story.
00:48:10.080
And the meaning that you could assign to it is this is a downer. This is not energizing me. I don't want
00:48:15.160
to hear this. Or alternatively, you could say, this is exactly why I need to perform tonight.
00:48:20.340
Like, this is exactly why I need to show up. And it's the same circumstance,
00:48:24.480
but you've just assigned different, whether you're right or wrong, actually,
00:48:28.700
you've just assigned different meaning that's actually going to be serving you and the people
00:48:32.540
you want to serve. Man, that's, that's so right. And I learned too, that it doesn't,
00:48:36.980
it could be a funny song. It could be a serious, it doesn't matter the content you're connecting in
00:48:42.700
some way. And if you don't assign that kind of meaning to it, you don't do that. It's just another 90
00:48:48.560
minute set, you get paid, you go, you go back on the bus and go to another town.
00:48:52.360
Right. Eventually that energy is going to run out. Eventually you're going to go,
00:48:56.820
I'm good. I don't need to go do another gig. Why would you, unless you've assigned that kind of
00:49:02.060
meaning that's more important than just another job? Yeah. Yeah, definitely. So you're talking about
00:49:08.420
humor a little bit, whether it's funny or serious or whatever. Talk to me about, uh, about Earl
00:49:12.580
and, and where Earl came from. I got to know. Yeah. Earl did to go back to, uh, early in our
00:49:19.120
conversation when we were just kind of doing everything we could on social media to get
00:49:22.980
people's attention. Look at me. Look, this is funny. Look at this. Yeah. We did that before Earl,
00:49:28.680
who's kind of a, just a ultra country boy, alter egos, lack of a better term. Yeah. We were
00:49:36.300
trying to promote music coming out. An album is in 2012, this around this time. So 2011, we were
00:49:46.720
trying to think of some viral videos to kind of get us out there to kind of get something, some kind
00:49:51.020
of buzz on social media. So we were trying different videos to just see if something, something
00:49:57.660
lasted. And Earl wasn't any more than that kind of idea. It wasn't some big grand idea, some big,
00:50:03.740
this will become an apparel company one day when we say, you had nothing to do with any of that.
00:50:08.700
Just another video. My brother, Tyler was working with me and I had that voice, this country voice.
00:50:14.460
And he said, let's go to the country guy. And so we, we, we took a little camera and we're out at mom
00:50:20.320
and dad's place. And, and Tyler says, I think this guy's name is Earl Dibbles Jr. As we literally,
00:50:25.940
as we're driving to film it. And I said, I like it, but why do you say that? And he said, well,
00:50:30.680
he said, I went to college with a guy named Dibbles. I think it's just a great name.
00:50:35.160
He said, Earl is pretty much the country's name. It's classic. It has to be junior. And I was like,
00:50:45.260
No, it's so funny, man, to see that and to see how that, that character's developed.
00:50:50.420
Do you, do you notice people being offended about anything that you share or do they take it in the
00:50:54.860
nature that it's intended, which is just lighten up, have some fun, let's joke around.
00:50:58.680
What's crazy is the very, the very beginning, there's some people in the industry, the music
00:51:05.640
industry. They're like, Oh, you guys are just putting a nail in the coffin on your career.
00:51:10.760
Put you're putting stuff out. That's making fun of country people. That's the last thing you'll ever
00:51:14.780
do. And, and I just had a, had a strong feeling against that thought. Cause I was like, man,
00:51:21.520
we're not making fun. This is a celebration of it.
00:51:24.200
Yeah. You're, this represents aunts and uncles and cousins and friends and people,
00:51:28.880
people we work with. I mean, I'm, there's a lot of Earl inside me. So to say that would be to say,
00:51:33.720
I'm making fun of myself. And Earl is so vulnerable. You know, he, he's just, it's like,
00:51:39.500
you want to give him a hug. You almost feel sorry for him. And, and, and since we launched him and
00:51:45.560
since he came into the world, uh, people seem to really embrace it no matter what their thoughts
00:51:52.900
I love it, man. I think it's hilarious. Like it's, and, and, and you got to make fun of
00:51:57.320
yourself. You said, make fun of yourself. Like, that's actually the point. Like if you take yourself
00:52:00.880
too seriously about everything, like how miserable would your life be? Like you should make fun of your
00:52:05.660
weird quirks in your culture and you know, the things that are funny, it's funny, but we just,
00:52:11.160
people just don't want to laugh anymore. It seems like sometimes it's just lighten up and relax.
00:52:17.380
You said it, man. Can't take yourself too seriously. That's what it's all about. And
00:52:21.280
there was other artists that were like, man, you can't put yourself out there like that.
00:52:25.280
That just ruins the integrity of your art. You're not a professional anymore, right?
00:52:30.200
Yeah. Like, I don't think, I don't take my art that seriously.
00:52:33.680
Did you, did you imagine, I think I read some somewhere that, did you start playing the guitar
00:52:39.160
when you were, you must've been a teenager, maybe if I remember right.
00:52:43.600
14. Okay. And did you know you wanted to be a country music artist at that point? Or was it,
00:52:50.080
Hey, you know, this'll, this'll get me the girls and that's about it.
00:52:54.040
No, I had no idea. It only started because I wanted to, my girlfriend to like me a little bit
00:52:59.720
It was your girlfriend. Got it. I knew it had to be something with girls, right?
00:53:03.200
That was it, man. I mean, I just, I had to start. Like if I start now because girls obviously
00:53:08.300
like the guitar players in junior high where I was, there's a couple of people that play
00:53:12.720
guitar girls like them more. I don't know why that's like the mystery of the universe.
00:53:16.920
I don't know why. So I just thought, man, I need an edge. Like I'm, I don't, I don't
00:53:21.460
have that much going for me. I need some kind of edge. So I started, I was an old guitar
00:53:26.660
in the closet that my grandmother had tried to play. And I just, one day I pulled it out
00:53:31.660
on a mission. And there was a book in there that said where to put your fingers on the fretboard.
00:53:38.400
So I just literally looked at the book, mimicked where the dots were on the frets,
00:53:44.060
would strum and strum and strum until, until my fingers were sore, until it sounded like an actual
00:53:50.860
Did you ever imagine in your wildest dreams, you'd, you'd be exactly where you are today with all of
00:53:56.660
this crazy stuff and millions of people engaged with you and want to connect with you and be part
00:54:04.020
Absolutely not. There's yeah. Without, without, without question. Absolutely not. I didn't,
00:54:09.900
didn't have any of that planned at all. So yeah, no way I thought guitar. I've said this for 20 years.
00:54:17.640
I've said the sentence, how did music get me here?
00:54:22.600
Yeah. Have you ever been able to answer that question for yourself?
00:54:25.580
Well, it's interesting because kind of what we've, we've talked about on this podcast about
00:54:31.000
assigning meaning to something like this, right? It it's, then I start to think as I get older,
00:54:37.220
like, man, maybe, maybe this is all for something. Like maybe the whole guitar thing and trying to get
00:54:43.200
a girl and then trying to come up with the funny video. Like maybe there was an actual design to all
00:54:49.020
this that actually matters. And I didn't realize that when I was a kid, but, uh, but now I look at it and
00:54:55.320
go, this is my calling, you know? Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. Well, Granger, I know you're on a
00:55:01.100
time crunch. You're a busy man and I want to be respectful of that. Do you want to, um, tell the
00:55:05.040
guys about the, uh, the spring lineup coming out really quickly and maybe even the, the music video
00:55:10.280
that we referenced earlier in the conversation? Yeah, absolutely. You could find me on all things
00:55:15.400
social Granger Smith, no underscores, no nothing, just Granger Smith. That's the same as YouTube,
00:55:20.440
Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, all of it. And we have an apparel company called Yee Yee Apparel
00:55:27.820
and you can get that through GrangerSmith.com. You could also get it yee yee.com. A lot of people
00:55:33.680
think that's the easiest way, yee yee.com. And, uh, we come up with new spring launches from here in
00:55:39.440
central Texas. Me and my two brothers work on this. It's just like a passion project. It's an
00:55:45.640
extension of the music extension of the, the ideas. And, uh, we love it. And people ask, what does
00:55:51.340
yee yee mean? I always say it means live life to the fullest. There it is. I dig it. I dig it,
00:55:56.300
man. Well, I appreciate you. Uh, man, I love how you show up. Um, I appreciate also you sharing some
00:56:02.300
of the rawness of the highs and the lows and the extreme lows. And, um, you know, as you shared your
00:56:08.080
story about river and I saw that several years ago, that hit me deep because I've got four children
00:56:12.480
of my own. And, um, I just, I admire you and I respect for you for the way that you handled that
00:56:18.660
and the, the positive that's come from it. So I appreciate you taking some time with us, man.
00:56:23.620
I know the guys are going to dig the conversation. So thanks for joining us.
00:56:27.140
Brother, the respect is mutual, man. I love what you do. Keep doing it. And, uh, I'm grateful to be on
00:56:32.460
the show. Right on brother. We'll stay in touch.
00:56:34.300
Gentlemen, there you go. My conversation with one and only Granger Smith. I hope you enjoyed that
00:56:40.300
one. I did. That was one of my favorite conversations. And like I said earlier, his
00:56:45.420
outlook, even in the wake of just unimaginable difficulty and hardship. Uh, and that was,
00:56:53.600
that was hard for me actually to get, to get through that conversation as he talked about his son,
00:56:58.220
because it hit so close to home. So I can't even begin to imagine what, what he must be experiencing,
00:57:03.860
but, uh, such an incredible human, his ability to continue to lead his family well and, uh, and,
00:57:09.520
and pursue his noble ambitions with his, his career aspirations. It's a pretty incredible.
00:57:14.760
So make sure you connect with, uh, Granger. He had the new, uh, music video release. He's got
00:57:20.440
the apparel and their spring lineup is coming out. I believe on the 19th of March, uh, he's got a lot
00:57:26.180
going on and, uh, you need to connect with them because we're always, well, at least I, I, I suggest
00:57:33.740
that we find the best men out there that we learn from them, that we grow from them, that we use their
00:57:40.360
experiences and their lessons, apply them in their lives. And that's the whole point of this podcast
00:57:45.100
and the conversations we're having. And so connect with him, shoot him a message, let him know you
00:57:48.840
heard him on the order of man podcast, what you liked, what went well, how you're going to improve
00:57:53.400
your life. He likes to hear that stuff. Uh, make sure you do that with me as well. And then one
00:57:57.440
other thing, just take a screenshot of this conversation. Maybe it's, uh, even a video of,
00:58:03.040
of the conversation or a specific moment of the, the discussion that you enjoyed or that really
00:58:08.780
resonated with you. And then just share it on Instagram. I'm very active over there and tag me
00:58:12.780
and Granger also, uh, at Ryan Mickler and tag Ranger. And, uh, yeah, it's a great way to promote
00:58:19.100
what we're doing here. And it's a nice way to say, thank you. I look at all those and I continue
00:58:23.380
am impressed and inspired by how much this is seems to be helping you guys. So appreciate you
00:58:28.760
being on the battlefield with me in this mission to reclaim and restore masculinity. And, uh, we'll
00:58:33.920
keep going, subscribe, leave a rating review, check out your apparel and Granger and what he's up to.
00:58:38.440
And, uh, we'll see you guys tomorrow for our, ask me anything until then go out there, take action
00:58:43.660
and become the man you are meant to be. Thank you for listening to the order of man podcast.
00:58:48.680
You're ready to take charge of your life and be more of the man you were meant to be.
00:58:52.480
We invite you to join the order at order of man.com.