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The Real Story We've Never Told - He Proposed on an Airplane! And the Risk that Started it All
Feb 15, 2026
Join us on our new podcast every Sunday afternoon as we take you behind the scenes into cowboy cooking, ranch life, faith, humor and wisdom. In this episode, we are detailing the little known story of how we met and how our business grew from making ends meet to a cowboy cooking empire.
Check out our BEST SELLING cookbooks. Get your copy here: https://www.kentrollins.com/shop
Also available at bookstores nationwide, and Amazon www.amazon.com/shop/cowboykentrollins
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Kent Rollins
Cowboy Cooking, Cast Iron, Outdoor Cooking, Grilling, Dutch Oven Cooking
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0:00
Hey, thank y'all for joining us and today we are going to answer some of our most requested questions that we get and
0:07
that is how did y'all meet? How did someone like you get someone like her? And how do y'all keep a business going?
0:14
We're going to answer all that today.
0:20
Howdy. My name is Kent Rollins. I've been a cowboy and a chuck wagon cook for over 30 years cooking for ranches all
0:27
across America. You might have seen me on the Food Network or alongside my beautiful wife Shannon on our YouTube
0:33
show where we share cowboy cooking from the trail. But now we're going to take you behind the scenes to real campfire
0:40
conversations. Join us as we share humor, cowboy wisdom, and stories full of history, heart, faith, and of course,
0:48
a little fire. So grab you a cup of coffee, pull up a chair, and welcome to the podcast.
0:58
Hey, thank y'all so much for taking time out of your busy day, whether you're watching or you got it in your ear. We
1:04
are so proud to welcome y'all to the podcast. I mean, this is a chance that's really like a vacation to me to where I
1:10
don't have to build a fire and cook something, but I get to visit with y'all and I get to visit with my beautiful
1:16
wife. We decided that this would be a fun new adventure for 2026 because can't you have so many good stories? We have a lot
1:22
of behind thes scenes adventures that we don't always get to share in our weekly cooking videos on YouTube. So, what
1:29
better way to do that than a podcast? That's right. I mean, visiting is good for the soul. It just sort of revives
1:35
everything in you. And why don't you tell people like what could they expect? Like what are the overall themes that we plan to have in
1:42
these podcasts? Well, first of all, I want you to know I want you to feel welcome because y'all are part of our family. That's what this
1:49
is about. But we're going to take you uh really through some some great ranch
1:54
cooking episodes in a way. What it was really like, what did mother nature throw at us? Uh how did we survive that?
2:02
but also some behind the scenes from different things we've been around. The people we've met, uh the thousands of
2:08
stories that old-timers have sat down beside me and told me in Brandon Pins when I was so little that I thought I
2:14
don't need to hear this, but I'm glad I did because it taught me so much about the value of God and country and family.
2:20
And uh that's what it's about to me to be able to express this to folks because we don't get to do that in a regular
2:27
cooking video so much. I think life lessons, a lot of faith, a lot of heart, and we want you to feel good
2:33
at the end of this um to get you on your day. So, right, but um one of our most requested
2:40
questions that we don't get to answer enough is kind of um how we met. Yeah. our relationship and
2:48
also kind of the business side of like how did we go or more like when it started with you, how did you go from
2:55
cooking on ranches to now this kind of more explosive social media presence and
3:00
cooking on TV and different things? And so we thought, hey, let's start this off
3:06
with um going a little behind the scenes with just the two of us. Hey, I like it. You know, it it all
3:12
started for me really when I was young, five, six, seven years old.
3:18
So, what was your family? What was what's the family structure? Start us there. You know, my mom and dad uh scratched
3:25
out a living down there close to the banks of the Red River. And uh and that is in So, you grew up in
3:31
southwest Oklahoma. Southwest Oklahoma. Very rural community. Yeah. A little farming, ranching. Yep. Little town called Hollis,
3:37
Oklahoma. And uh you knew everybody. sort of like Mayberry RFD, you know, you
3:43
knew everybody that's coming down the street and if you seen somebody that you didn't know, you knew you had company, but uh it was a place where I learned
3:51
the value of love, the value of God, but also you have to work to get it. You
3:59
know, my dad was big in three things which were perspiration
4:05
and perseverance brought about prosperity. Oh. uh dug a lot of post holes. Never
4:11
knew, you know, really what was going on sometimes, but they always told me if you wanted a job where you could start at the top every day, that was it. Start
4:17
at the top of the ground, dig down as far as you want to. But it was not just about cattle and horses and farming and
4:23
stuff like that. It was about being in the being able to be in the kitchen with my mother. Uh you know, when I was 8,
4:30
nine years old making the first chocolate cake I'd ever made in my life, thinking it was the grandest thing ever
4:35
until dishwashing started. And then I'm thinking the saddle look better. But I I learned so much from them times. I seen
4:44
a lot of old men, and I don't mean that in disrespectful, and old women. Um, and
4:51
I always look at it this way, and a man told me later on in this community, in this rural area, you won't see calloused
4:58
hearts, you'll see calloused hands. And that are hands that worked every day
5:03
whether it was a woman in the kitchen or a woman out in the garden or a woman horseback. Then they all worked and
5:09
that's what it took. So you went from mama's kitchen to elk guiding camp cook and then moved into
5:17
ranch cooking um in the spring and the fall primarily cooking for ranches when
5:22
they're working cattle. Well, first I think we need to back up just a little. There was a stint in there to where I thought it was a bull
5:28
rider for about 18 years. you know, 18 years. Yeah. You rode bulls for 18 years.
5:33
Yeah. I had a good time. Good Lord bless me. I didn't get hurt real bad. Made enough money to keep going, you know,
5:39
but uh as I got older, ground got really hard. Couldn't get up hit ground. Sort
5:45
of like a yard dart you just hit and you you just stayed. But you know, when I come out of the
5:52
Hila, I really didn't like the job I had. You know how so?
5:57
I had a full-time job. had insurance, retired. Oh, you mean that you didn't enjoy the the not not the cooking job, your actual
6:05
bring in money job. Have a 12-hour drive. There's a lot of things going on in your brain, especially when all you have is AM radio
6:12
back then. There ain't no station that time. Uh, so I got to thinking,
6:17
I just like to do something I want to do. What were you doing at the time? I was working for the county driving a
6:22
road grader, you know, and and I was good at it. Um, but I I remembered what my dad said,
6:30
"Find a job you love to do. Do it better than anybody else and you'll never have a job." And I'm thinking, "This just
6:35
feels like a job." Every day just getting up, going to that job, you know? And there's a lot of y'all out there
6:41
that are thinking, "I really I don't know if this is where I need to start or I don't know if this is where I need to
6:47
be." Don't be afraid to step out and try something, but it's got to be in your heart and pray about it. That's the
6:54
biggest thing, I think. Um, and I know when I bought that wagon in uh late '
7:01
91, um, I'm thinking, I love this. I think this
7:06
is my calling. I I prayed about, God, is this is this what you have in store for
7:12
me, you know, and I was still trying to work at the time and uh
7:18
cook too. And so you would do kind of like weekend Yeah. jobs. It'd have to be on the weekend, you know. And then there were people
7:24
call and say, "Hey, you know, uh, I need a ranch cook." Man, I just had the time to go and do
7:33
three weeks, four weeks, you know. So, I woke up one morning and I I was sitting
7:39
out there on the porch in the dark and I'm thinking, I'm not going to look back and say, should have, could have, would
7:44
have. I'm fixing to give my two weeks notice. And it that had to can you like that had to
7:50
have been extremely terrifying because you had a family that you needed to support.
7:56
So what was it that finally made you do that and think I can make this work?
8:02
I think most of all it was the passion that I had to want to do something that
8:08
I enjoyed because I'd been cooking with that wagon for about a year. And I'm
8:15
thinking, I'm not saying I'm better than anybody else, but I could cook. I knew what was
8:20
going on. And I'd worked on ranches. I knew what cowboys eat. I knew some of
8:26
the cooks that were really good, some of the cooks that were really bad. The one person that supported me through this at
8:32
that time was just my mother. Everybody else was thinking, "Hey, I I don't know. You know, this might not be a good
8:39
idea." Had people say, you know, you're stupid for turning down a job or quitting a job that has retirement
8:45
insurance benefits there every day, you know. But I I don't I don't want to not take
8:52
that step. You know, when my dad went through cancer, he always told us,
8:57
especially in the in the later end of the period, it ain't no step for a stepper. And and you got to if you don't
9:05
ever step out or you don't ever saddle that horse and you don't ever try to ride it,
9:10
you don't know what you could have missed. I have the greatest thing ever. Now, fear stops a lot of things.
9:16
Oh, yeah. Now, fear can be beneficial because it's kind of I think our response is like, "Hey, wait a minute. Stop here. Is this
9:22
okay?" But I think failure is really underrated.
9:27
Um it's something again it's something we try to stay away from. We're we're scared of it. But
9:34
failure is I think it's a it's a good thing in business. It's a good thing in life.
9:40
Um because when we fail, when we fall, it's how we get up that matters. And I'm
9:47
sure you had failures then after that. Um but you just kept going. I took every
9:52
job I could find. Yeah. Cooking for birthday parties. If I could go somewhere and clear $50, I thought it was a good day, you know, and there was
10:00
no internet. There was no website. There was no nothing. There was a phone that sit in there in the kitchen that I finally made enough money to get an
10:07
answering machine, you know. You're going places now. I'm going into old cotton now, you know.
10:13
And I remember coming home from a ranch one day. There was five calls from different ranches. the cowboy circle and
10:20
you know it now it's pretty tight even though it's great big place and they'd say hey we
10:25
we had some fellas tell us you was a pretty good cook can you come here and cook can you come here and cook and then
10:30
in between that people were saying hey can you cater for my wedding or could you feed 300 people you know and it it
10:36
started then I could see light at the end of the tunnel and is one of those things like you said
10:42
yes and then you figure it out later like yeah part of that I I remember first time I fed a group by myself that was
10:49
100 people you know um and sure there's shortcuts you take and it you have to on
10:54
them kind of deals I think I do brisket because I can smoke it at home can already slice it freeze it thaw it out
11:02
warm it up when I get there and then all I got to make is beans bread and cobbler and then when I'm setting up and I'm
11:08
looking down that line and it's just me I'm thinking I don't know if this is going to work
11:14
but it did well and part of that too is I feel you are an eternal optimist and that's just
11:21
one thing that's very that it is that a good thing it's a good thing that's why one of the things I love about you
11:26
because I remember when you talked about the phone ringing and there were times when we were together and I'm I'm more
11:32
like the numbers person and trying to be logistical about everything and I'm like we can't pay the bills I don't know
11:38
what's going to happen and you just looked at me and you said the phone will ring
11:43
and I just thought I don't know why that's making me emotional but Yeah,
11:48
I just needed to hear that. Yeah. And it was and you just have to have
11:54
that faith that the phone will ring. Keep working hard. Keep doing what you
12:00
love. Keep having a passion and that phone will ring. Yeah.
12:15
So tell me like when did I come into the picture in all of this? Wa one of the greatest pictures I ever
12:22
seen was when you come into it. I was on a ranch and I remember got my first ever
12:27
cell phone. It's big business then. One of them flip phones, you know.
12:32
Oh, it didn't come in the bag. No. Uh I graduated off them and them things cost too much. I mean them things
12:38
was they weighed 100 pounds get them in pickup you know hard on diesel but I
12:44
would tell my the reason I got it I would tell my mother I'll have that cell phone on at 6:00 in the morning till
12:50
7:00 and it was same at night because I need if she needed something or I needed to check in
12:56
but I got a call one day and uh it was from the Elco
13:03
Western Folk Life Center. Yes, that's a long word too. Now, what I want to tell some of you people that may
13:09
not know, not only Kent does Kent cook, but he is a fabulous entertainer and
13:15
storyteller. In fact, you have won numerous awards, cowboy humorist of the year, entertainer of the year, official
13:22
Oklahoma cook of um Chuck Wagen Cook. Um, and in kind of this cowboy circle
13:29
and this cowboy culture is a very prominent cowboy poetry, music,
13:36
um, storytelling aspect of the cowboy life. And so you had you traveled to
13:42
many different cowboy poetry gatherings? I've done quite a few gatherings, you know, and people were always saying,
13:47
"You need to go to Elco. If you ever want to be something, you know, you need you're going to have to go to that gathering at Elco." And it was an
13:53
application process. So, Elco, where I am from in northeastern Nevada, hosts
13:59
the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering and I think is probably still considered the
14:05
biggest um and most well-known gathering. So, people come once a year in January and February all over the
14:12
country to experience cowboy culture through music, um song, dance, poetry.
14:18
So, it's a really good it's a fun cultural experience. A lot of great workshops there, too. But I put in application before by mail, you
14:26
know, just mailed it in, they mail it back. No, you ain't going to come.
14:31
Let's answer the phone that day. And this guy said, "Hey, you know, we got your application here. We'd love for you
14:37
to come up here and uh do a little entertaining in a cooking class."
14:43
Cooking workshop. Yeah. And then I got past the file like from the guy and I was uh I was working temporarily for the
14:51
Western Folk Life Center coordinating workshops
14:56
and I had never really worked with them before. And so they said, "Okay, you need to contact this guy from Oklahoma.
15:04
He's going to put on a cooking workshop, figure out what he needs, all that stuff." And so I give you a call.
15:10
Yeah. sweetest little voice I ever heard in my life, you know, and she laughed all the time and I'm thinking, "This woman
15:16
thinks I'm funny." So, he starts talking in the phone and I'm thinking, mind you, I'm from Northern Nevada. I've never heard I
15:22
mean, we're so bland our accents out there. We have nothing. And I'm listening to this guy and I'm thinking,
15:28
where in the heck is Oklahoma? Because I cannot understand a thing you were saying with your
15:33
your thick accent. Oh, yeah. And especially on the phone. My ear has gotten better cuz now I It's
15:39
more mellow. But even my mom still cannot understand you. I have to translate a good thing. I have to translate for her what you're
15:44
saying. When I get really uncomfortable, I laugh a lot. And so this whole time I'm laughing on the phone. So Kent
15:51
thinks he's hilarious. I'm just I'm just super uncomfortable. And I remember you saying you were going
15:57
to do a sourdough Yep. workshop and you needed a bunch of croc jars for sourdough. Being me, I'm from
16:04
the north. I hate cooking. I don't know anything about cooking. and he's talking about these croc jars and I'm thinking,
16:11
"Oh, crockpots. Yeah, I can get a bunch of those." So, you show up and I have like 15 crockots plugged in for your
16:19
sourdough workshop. I mean, I was totally clueless. Yeah. But you made the effort,
16:25
you know, that was what it's about. You I remember you sitting down at this little table I was at and you said, "Do
16:30
you have an email address?" And I said, "Route 1, Box 318." She said,
16:36
"Yeah, that's not it. do you have a website? I said, "Nope, don't even own a computer. Don't even know how to turn one on." And
16:43
she said, "How do you advertise?" I said, "Word of mouth and a full stop."
16:49
And you know, I was all like zeroed in on that because I that was what my background was from college that I had
16:55
not used at that point. But I'm like, I'm going to be a marketer and I'm going to take this cowboy and I'm going to
17:01
market him. And but I just remember thinking like you were just so wholesome
17:06
and like a breath of fresh air. Well, thank and I just thought the whole world needs
17:12
to experience this. This is amazing. Like the way And if you've never met Kent in person, it's just like a moth to
17:21
light, you know? Oh my goodness. And you're just like I don't know. It just it's when you leave people and you
17:28
feel better. that's that's a talent you have. So anyway, I thought you know and
17:34
I didn't know anything about one marketing really or how to market western culture or food or anything but
17:42
I started with Yeah. You I started with a little website and Yeah. You come to cooking school to get some pictures for the website.
17:48
Yes. So back in the day you hosted a cooking school for gosh what 15 years. Yeah. And you'd come out on the wagon.
17:54
Everybody slept in teepee. And I thought, "Okay, I'll come out, take some pictures, make some brochures or
17:59
something." But you actually cooked, too. I did. I did actually participate in the class.
18:04
And uh I I admired you because I I knew
18:10
you were tough. You know, when you come, the wind blowed, tried to beat you to death in TP. It snowed. You know, then
18:16
it might be 80° the next day. But you you cooked in a Dutch oven. You didn't
18:22
mind getting your hands dirty. It was something that you thought, "Hey, I can do this." Now, you might have been
18:28
scared to death. I don't know. You didn't give off that vibe when you were doing it, but uh bake it till you make it.
18:34
I remember when you you left and I'm thinking that girl can make a Dutch oven cook, you know? She's tough. And uh I
18:43
still didn't own a computer even after you had a website, you know? Right. And then I mean, we just kind of
18:48
kept kept going on that. And then I came back to cooking school like a year or so later.
18:54
Yeah. And uh you you were going to take more pictures, but you I think you did
18:59
more cooking that time, too. Maybe. And there was just something about you that you you might have felt so out of
19:07
place, but to me, you felt so in place. You felt like I
19:13
thought this girl been around wagon all her life. You know, she ain't scared of a Dutch oven. not see her pick up a 16-in Dutch oven that was full of
19:19
biscuits that nearly weighed as much as she did and just take off with it. You know, sometimes you just got to, you know,
19:24
jump in. Yeah. But it I admired you greatly for your work ethic, too. Not not just about
19:33
how beautiful you was and how bright and your personality was,
19:38
but your work ethic. I think that stands out to me even today. I mean, I love you
19:44
with all my heart and soul. I do. But you were never afraid to get your hands dirty. Never afraid to just take a hold of
19:51
something. And uh that's really what it's about to me all the time. Don't be
19:57
afraid to jump in, lend a hand, you know, and you've always done that for me. And we were quote unquote work buddies
20:05
for a few years. And I remember I got a call one day
20:11
and you said, I don't know, we were talking about something. You're like, I like you. I'm like, "Yeah, I like you,
20:16
too, buddy." And you're like, "No, I really like you." I'm like, "I really like you,
20:22
too." And you're like, "No, no, you don't. You don't get it. I I like you."
20:27
And I remember I was walking with my phone and I was in front of Target and I sat down on one of those red balls of
20:36
and I was like, I have to I have to process this cuz it was I was it was clueless to me. Oh, I can remember when
20:43
I called you when I was moving from Hollis down to a ranch close to Witchto Falls. This guy wanted me to come down
20:50
there, guide hunters, cook while they was branding and stuff like that, you know. Said, "Well, got you a house."
20:56
Like, I'm just going to ask her if she wants to go. She can't do nothing to say no. I had moved to Denver. I was sleeping on
21:01
my sister's couch. Gosh, like life goals like living the dream. Couldn't My job
21:07
was they weren't paying me. It was horrible. And I remember you calling like, "Well, you know, summer's coming
21:13
up, catering and cooking is going to really pick up if you want to come down and help me for a little bit until you
21:18
figure things out." And I was like, "Okay, I don't know what I'm doing." Um, and I drove down to from Denver to
21:25
Oklahoma or Texas. You flew to Amarillo and I picked you up. Yep. And we went to a ranch and started cooking and I never went back.
21:32
Yeah. I don't think it surprised me. I was going to say it surprised me. It it did in a little bit of a way that you
21:38
said, "Yeah, I'll come down there and help you." But uh you I think at that
21:44
time you had a lot of faith in me just to get by to help us.
21:50
I think there was a there was a level of faith there and I didn't and you know
21:56
like I said I am very logistical and type A and everything has to have a plan
22:02
and so for me to do that it was kind of a little out of character but there was something where I just had a little bit
22:08
of leap of faith and I think that's what you need. Oh yeah. I mean, you have to trust your gut and um but be positive. And again,
22:17
you just have to like with your job, you know, um you have to make those big
22:23
jumps. Maybe you don't make it to the other side and you get up and figure something else out. Or maybe you do and
22:28
then look what happens. Yeah. And nobody said it was going to be easy. No. You know, if it was easy, everybody do
22:34
it. And uh I I firmly believe that if you don't put your heart in and you
22:39
don't work at it hard and you don't ask God to bless it, you don't deserve it. It it ain't just about getting something
22:45
for yourself. It's about what you can give to others and then you get the
22:51
richest blessing coming back from that. Now, one of like people love this story
22:56
how you proposed. Yes. And this is still kind of a blur to me. A blur? Yeah. Huh. We had sort of scratched out a
23:03
living in a in a in a place that was uh just hard to make a living at sometimes.
23:09
Working day and night, catering every weekend, cooking when it's 117 degrees.
23:15
And I'm thinking, "This girl tough. I'm going ask her if she wants to marry me." So, I saved up every money, every coin I
23:24
had from either a Brandon I was working or maybe a tip that we had got off a cooking deal that she didn't know about.
23:31
I just rat hole that money over out there and I went to town and went ring
23:37
shopping. I didn't ask her what kind of ring she might like. I thought I'm going to get something
23:43
that has meaning to me. And that was sort of a rope band that that carried
23:50
the diamond cuz a rope is something I'd always been around in my life. And I remember having to make
23:55
installments on it, you know, just pay a little here and there. I'd have to come in and tell her a little fee of I got to go down here to
24:02
Witchaw Falls just to pick up something for the wagon. You know, I'd go to the jewelry store. And some weeks I might
24:07
have took them $10. Yeah. So that's all I had. But I can remember in February going down there and paying
24:14
that rascal off and I'm Yeah, buddy. I have got her done now. And we were first
24:20
supposed to go to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. We did a cooking there every year. Yeah. And a guy was furnishing a wagon
24:26
over there. So, all we were going to do was drive to Oklahoma City and fly to Pigeon Forge. I thought that be a really
24:33
good place to propose to her on an airplane. Side note, I hate flying. So,
24:41
I don't know if that was a great idea, but it is a great idea. It's like pinning a wild cow. She ain't got nowhere to go.
24:46
You get her in that airplane and you think, "Yep, I got her in here. Maybe this will come true." But I called
24:52
Southwest Airlines on the phone. Good people. Good people. And I explained to them this situation, how much I love this
24:58
lady, and I needed it to be a surprise. And they said, "We'll help you do anything you want. We will get word to
25:03
the captain and them, you just board early." And I remember telling you that morning
25:09
cuz it was like early early flight. Had to leave like 6:30. And uh had that ring in my pocket. I remember going through
25:18
TSA. And Were you a nervous wreck? I was. It was bad. I'm telling you, scared to
25:24
death. But I got on early and I went in there and that captain leaned out from that
25:31
cockpit in there and he said, "You the cowboy fell going to propose to that woman today?" I said, "Yes, sir." And I
25:38
come to find out he was the co-pilot. He wasn't even the pilot. Oh, okay. And so he relayed the message to the
25:45
captain. So get my little beautiful thing there right in that seat right beside me. Take
25:51
off. This is your part. So I'm like, of course I'm nervous. I don't like to fly. So I'm just like sitting there and then
25:58
you know when you get up, then the captain makes a little announcement. Well, I'm tuning this out and kid's like, "Wow, Shannon, listen to this.
26:04
This is a really good captain. He's amazing." I'm like, "Whatever." So the captain gets on. He's like, "Hey
26:10
everybody, welcome to Southwest. Isn't this a great airline?" And when can you just fly with 250 of your closest
26:17
friends? And I'm like, "Okay, whatever." Um, and speaking of though, at this
26:23
point, the stewardesses had not shown up and it had been a little bit. And I'm
26:29
thinking, that's weird. We don't have drink service, nothing. I don't know what's going on. So, the captain
26:34
finishes off and he says, "There is there a Shannon Keller on board?" And
26:40
I'm still pretty zoned out. And I remember thinking, "That's weird." So, I raise my hand. And then at this point,
26:48
three stewartes jump out and they have cameras po right at me. And I'm
26:53
thinking, this is getting really strange. And then the captain says, there's a cowboy sitting next to you
27:00
that has something very important to ask you. And at this point, I black out. And
27:06
I only know this story because you've told me what happened. Told you. But I remember looking over at you and
27:12
everything's slow motion now. And I remember your mouth moving. I don't know
27:18
what you're saying. I remember looking over to the lady sitting next to me thinking like, "What's going on? Are you
27:24
listening to all this?" And then the ring comes out and I think this
27:32
is probably important. I need to listen to this. And you what? Didn't you have to ask me
27:39
a couple times? Yeah. I had this poem wrote, you know, and I was on one knee and you were not on one knee. Yes, ma'am.
27:45
You were on in the aisle? Yeah. I see. I had no idea. And uh I just kept asking you cuz it got
27:51
down there to you know this would make me happy if you would spend the rest of
27:57
your life being my companion, being my wife. And you just sit there like no clue. Yeah.
28:03
And I asked three times. Yeah. And then I remember think Okay. Okay. And then did I I mean I did I say yes or did I say like sure thanks buddy.
28:25
But that was kind of the like kickoff to um you know obviously our life together
28:31
and then also kind of the transition of the business aspect I guess right um
28:38
because you had cooked alone for so long I mean you would hire on help during
28:44
catering deals but now you got me you're stuck with me and now I'm your little sue chef
28:49
running around and um we we were continuing the tradition of working for ranches
28:54
in the spring and the fall. So, we would go out and sleep in the teepee and and cook for for the cowboys. But then also
29:00
the the more money maker and what really sustained the business because you ranch cooking is so seasonal was catering.
29:07
Y um and so we were catering. Um and I remember thinking though being the
29:12
marketer and trying to have the bigger plan, I thought, you know,
29:18
this isn't sustainable. Um because you know we would drive 500 miles, load
29:24
everything up and everything we have is heavy and we've got the ber big berth as our wood stove and the wagon and all the
29:31
things that go into cooking cuz we're a mobile restaurant and drive 500 miles
29:36
and then unload cook for somebody's birthday party and do it all again. And it's just like this is not long-term
29:43
sustainable was my thinking. Yeah, it I mean I'd done I'd catered for so long,
29:49
you know, by myself anyway. And we did it probably 10 more years after that when even when
29:56
we got together. Oh yeah. You know, you used to tell me this deal and it was hard for me to understand. Work smarter not harder. I come this
30:03
this gets back to that dust bowl mentality a little. You know, my glass is always half full, but I'd like to
30:10
continue keep pouring in it every once in a while. It was hard for me to turn down any job. Mhm. You know, that was the way I was raised.
30:16
You You're going to get up and you're going to work as hard as you can work today, and good Lord willing, you're going to work again tomorrow.
30:22
And you made me understand and showed me, hey, we don't have to drive 2,000
30:29
miles. We can stay at home and do something different called YouTube. We
30:35
had been approached at that point even uh well be a little bit before but then
30:40
after you had done Chopped Grill Masters by different networks by different producers wanting to do different TV
30:46
shows but it always got to the point where we had to turn it down because you
30:53
have always said what they wanted reality and what we want is real. And I
30:59
think when somebody sees a cowboy, they it turns into this hokey hitchy kind of
31:05
yee-haw thing. And that's not what what we've been about, what we've buil built
31:10
our business on. And so YouTube started really accidentally.
31:16
Um, I had put out I think a little teaser, maybe it was about cooking school or something and I thought I'll
31:23
just put this up cuz I think I was posting it somewhere else but YouTube was a great hosting platform and so put
31:29
that up, got a few views, I put something up, got a few more views and then I it was kind of building a little
31:36
bit without really doing much to it and this was still back when YouTube was kind of newer.
31:42
Um, and I'm watching this and I'm thinking I had this moment where I
31:48
thought, why are we relying o on other people to dictate where we go or what
31:54
success is? I said, let's put out our own show on
31:59
YouTube. We can say what we want. We can do what we want. And it's the only way
32:04
that I realized later we can connect with our audience so much better. If
32:10
you're on CBS, you can't directly contact your your fan
32:15
base. And with YouTube, I mean, you answer all the comments. We got a big family. We've got a huge family. And it feels
32:21
like that. It feels like family where you're not just on some screen. And I can't even ex describe
32:28
the level of honor and responsibility that
32:34
we feel that you are choosing to allow us into your homes. No,
32:40
like we never take that for granted and are so thankful for that. Um, but I do
32:45
think like that's where where that shift happened in our business. Oh yeah. as we continued to work at
32:51
YouTube and we got to reading comments about, hey,
32:58
you know, I I was watching you while I was going through chemo, you know, or my
33:03
dad died yesterday, but your videos come out on Wednesday, so tonight I'm doing
33:09
something that me and him did, and that was we watched your videos. And I told
33:14
Shen, I said, "We're making a difference to people and
33:19
we couldn't have done this on a TV show and we can do it on our on a platform that we created on YouTube to reach so
33:26
many people." And it's worldwide. I mean, we have fans from everywhere. But
33:33
people would ask me a lot of times cuz we'd be on like a shoot somewhere for somebody with different company,
33:39
production company, and they'd be Shann be talking about cameras. Do I need this? Do I need this? Do I need to get
33:45
this? You know, and we bought some of them fancy cameras and then it always went back to an iPhone.
33:50
Yep. That's what I shoot everything on. And people say, "Well, how many people's on y'all's crew?" And I'd say, and at
33:57
the time it was me and Shan and the Beagle at one time is all there was. And then there'll become more dogs. You
34:04
know, we'd have up to five. You always told me this, too. Um, people wanted to
34:09
see it be natural. That's what I I really liked about YouTube is that it's organic. Um, and that's how I think
34:16
social media should be. I think it's people take it to a lot of unauthentic places, but that's what it should be.
34:23
Um, and it and it's funny. I I get this question too um with people like
34:28
starting out either in with their business or maybe specifically in social media. Well, I don't know where to start
34:34
or I don't have the right equipment or I you know, it's just like so overwhelming. And I just say start where you're at because
34:41
uh done is better than perfect. And that's a really hard thing for me to get to a place to say that, but it is
34:48
absolutely true. Everything we do is on an iPhone.
34:53
Then we upgraded and I got some little microphones. Um you know, sometimes we have some lighting or it but it's still
35:00
very basic. So don't feel like you need to have this huge production to share
35:06
who you are and what your passion is because the most important thing that you share is your passion because all
35:14
that other glitz and glamour stuff that doesn't matter in the long run because people are going to know who you are.
35:20
They're going to see your authenticity and that's what's going to turn the dial in your business. Oh yeah. Don't be something you're not.
35:26
And persistence, whatever it is. You know, for us on YouTube, we post it every Wednesday. Just always do that.
35:33
Then you kind of build into what what is your next step. But just being consistent is is such an a simple thing,
35:40
but it it makes a huge difference. Yeah. Got to show up. Yeah. You know, uh what's that song?
35:48
Show out or show up smoother than a fresh jar. Skippy, you know, uh don't be
35:53
afraid. That's the number one thing. I mean, we talked about fear. Fear is a good thing, but don't be afraid to chase
36:00
the passion in your life. Yeah, it's better to what? To throw a loop and
36:05
miss than to never throw it at all. I think that um I hope that's what you all can kind of take away from this
36:12
episode, whether it's personally or professionally. Um I kind of say first
36:18
of all, find your passion and that will lead to good things. Make sure you're authentic and learn to pivot.
36:25
Yeah. Because life is constantly changing. Social media for us is it's constantly changing. So what's going to
36:31
define your success is how you pivot, how you change, and how you adapt. And
36:37
then as you said, perseverance. Yeah. You you got to you got to put forth that effort, but look out cuz when
36:44
we tell you to step out there, sometimes there's piles of stuff you might step in, you know, but just keep on going.
36:49
Wipe off your boot and keep on stepping. But we we hope y'all enjoyed this because we sure did. And uh I think the
36:57
biggest thing I want you to take away from it is is you're not alone. You you do matter to us. God is with you. Uh
37:05
your family to us. Don't be afraid to reach out. Um look out. We might show up
37:10
at your house and won't suffer, but it is very gratifying to know that uh we
37:16
have such loyal loving fans. Thank you all so much for joining us. And like we said, this is a new project
37:23
that we're starting. This new podcast we're going to have every week. It'll be on YouTube and then also your favorite
37:28
podcast platform like Spotify and Apple. We will still be doing our every Wednesday cooking videos as well. But
37:35
we'd love to hear from you. Leave us a comment, leave us a rating, and tell us what you want to hear next.
37:40
But as always, with pride, honor, and privilege that I tip my hat to all our servicemen and women and all the
37:45
veterans that have kept that old flag of flying. We commend you all. rest of you. God bless you. Hope you have a safe day
37:51
and we'll see you down the podcast trail.
38:03
Pioneer
#Cooking & Recipes
#Marriage