Neil Dudley: The Cowboy Perspective, well, it might be hard to define, but I guarantee if you think about it, you’ve got one in mind. Whether you’re building a legacy, an empire, or a fan base, I bet when your friends look at you, they see some cowboy in your face. Y’all come along, let’s talk about this or that. Maybe when we’re done, you’ll go away with another perspective to put under your hat.
Here we go. Mr. Rocker Steiner is my guest. I just couldn’t even wait to get his name out. He’s a young guy that I look up to, I’ve learned from. I think he’s special. I think he’s got a good attitude or perspective about his life and what he wants to do with it and who he wants to have in his life. So, I just really appreciated that conversation he and I got to have about the things he’s doing in rodeo, the career he’s had in wakeboarding, his family, the people he lives around each and every day, and they’re high-performing people and what kind of influence they’ve had on him. So, without further ado, let’s get to talking to Rocker. Thanks for listening to the Cowboy Perspective. As always, if you enjoy it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, tell me.
Hey, everybody, here we are on the Cowboy Perspective again. I got a really cool, interesting cowboy to talk to today. His name is Rocker Steiner. You’ve probably heard of him. And if you haven’t, you need to get to following him, paying attention to what he’s up to, because he’s just got an awesome perspective. And I’m excited to talk about that and where it comes from and what he thinks about things. He’s a, well, I’ll just say he’s in a younger generation than me, and I think that’s going to just be awesome for the listeners that are going to relate to Rocker a lot better than they do me because I’m just kind of the old guy. Rocker’s going to know a lot more about what’s happening out there in the world of, I guess, guys between 15 and 30. Hey, Rocker, welcome to the show. Why don’t you tell everybody a little bit about who you are, where you come from, and what you’re up to these days. And then along the way I’ll ask you questions.
Rocker Steiner: Well, pretty much I’m a 17-year-old bareback rider and wakeboarder, and I come from a family of long, long time ago cowboys. And we’ve been involved in rodeo for over a hundred years, and my family was putting on rodeos, I mean, when rodeo was just coming around. And, heck, they kind of got out of it and they came back because my dad cracked out in bulldogging when he was- he started when he was 19. And my Baba was a world champion. My dad got to be a world champion. And we got out and we were kind of out until I’ve decided I want to ride bareback horses, and we just got back into it and it always comes back around. So that’s just kind of how I got into rodeo. And I was a wakeboarder from the time I was three until now. And that’s-
Neil Dudley: You were wakeboarding at three?
Rocker Steiner: Yeah, I got up on my first whiteboard at three years old.
Neil Dudley: Okay. So, I see you on social media some doing barefoot skiing with what do you call your granddad?
Rocker Steiner: Baba.
Neil Dudley: Baba. And your dad and Ty Murray and all these other people that you guys do stuff with. So where would somebody go follow you on social media to see some of this stuff we’re going to end up talking about?
Rocker Steiner: They can find me- I’m pretty much only on Instagram, I don’t do much Facebook, but they can find me at Rocker_Steiner.
Neil Dudley: All right, cool. Everybody go check out Rocker_Steiner. You can see some of his wakeboarding, bareback riding, stuff like that.
Rocker Steiner: We pretty much do it all.
Neil Dudley: Yeah, that’s right. And we’re in a room here with a bunch of his buddies and stuff. And they’re-
Rocker Steiner: Yeah, Clayton Sellars over here flexing his big nipples around.
Neil Dudley: But I tell you, I love this whole atmosphere because it was part of my life when I was rodeoing. Like your dad was somebody I watched when I was rodeoing. He always impressed me, just like, wow, Sid just won a world championship and went and did something else. That was his deal.
Rocker Steiner: Yeah. He always says rodeo was just a part of his life. It wasn’t his life.
Neil Dudley: So, you’ve been wakeboarding since you were three less. I’m sorry, I interrupted your story a little bit. So, what do you love about that wakeboarding or what have you done in the wakeboarding sport?
Rocker Steiner: I got up at three, and then I really didn’t think about wakeboarding until I was eight, like really get into it, because I saw some videos of some kids around my age doing it. And I was like, hey, I can do that. I can’t just ride a wakeboard, I can do that. So, I got into that, and I went to my first wakeboard competition at eight and it was worlds and I got stomped bad. And then I came back the next year and won it. And that kind of, as much as I thought that helped me, winning the World at such a young age and only wakeboarding for a year, it almost gave me too early of success to where I thought I had everything figured out. And that honestly held me back for a long time. It still does just because I didn’t learn as much as I should have at a young age. And I skipped a lot of steps. I didn’t crawl before I could walk, I just got up and started running.
Neil Dudley: Yeah, your athletic ability, just natural innate athletic ability gave you a chance to win the worlds. But you didn’t take each little step.
Rocker Steiner: I didn’t learn the basics of wakeboarding. Because I did a tangent, which is a back flip, before I could do an ollie 180. I can- like I just started- I didn’t learn the basics of wakeboarding, and I just didn’t crawl, I just hopped up and started running. And honestly that, then that held me back. Then winning the world at an early success was honestly- because I think, I say that a lot, I think early success, I mean, it can be really good if you can take it that way.
Neil Dudley: Has anybody told you that or is that something you’re figuring out on your own? See, that’s impressive at your age to understand that.
Rocker Steiner: Yeah. And that’s- like wakeboarding, it was funny because right when I got into wakeboarding or right when I got into bareback riding and I was like, wow, wakeboarding helped my bare back riding because I’m like I’m 17, and I haven’t gone to really any big rodeos, but like that’s kind of the only thing I’m putting through my brain is if you do start winning at an early start, there’s more to go. You’re not done. Because I’ve seen a lot of kids, and I’m not naming names, but they have, some bareback riders, like they’ve started winning a lot as a young kid and just kind of thought that they had it made and stopped listening and it hurts them.
Neil Dudley: Well, at my age, I need to keep listening. Like I need to learn from you. I think that’s a valuable thing for everybody to think about. Like you never actually have it made. There’s no finish line in life. You always have to be going towards- Okay so, I mean, that’s a little bit of a ramble, but I’m curious about a lot of things, you’re just making me think. So why would you pick bareback riding? Your dad did steer wrestling. Your granddad did bull riding if I’m right. And so, why bareback riding?
Rocker Steiner: I’ve always just kind of been the kid that had a lot of try for whatever he was doing, not to brag on myself.
Neil Dudley: Hey, it’s okay though, you can- like you should be proud of those things. It’s okay to own it and say, hey, I have a lot of try. I’ve been around you. We’ve been branded calves. You’re learning to flank calves. And I say this to people, cowboys will forgive almost anything if they see a lot of try. Like the worst thing you can do is not be trying. You can screw up and not try and they will never-
Rocker Steiner: If you go to a branding and there’s just some kid that’s just trying to bulldog a calf or tackle or something and just not giving up, getting kicked or whatever, like there’s not going to be anybody that’s like dude, what are you doing? It’s going to be like, dang that kid’s got a lot-
Neil Dudley: Sure, let me help you. Let me try to show you a little better way.
Rocker Steiner: That’s really kind of why I picked bareback riding. And honestly, like I didn’t even pick bareback riding. I didn’t even know what bareback I was, to be honest. Like when I was 13, I went to a wakeboard competition, I did good. I didn’t end up on the podium and it’s pretty much like, wow, these guys are better than me, this sucks. And it kind of put it into my mind maybe I’m just not competing enough. And my dad was like, well, maybe we just need to get you a horse and you can start team roping. Like there’s team ropings every weekend. And I was like, cool, I mean, I’ll start doing it. And then we told my granddad, my Baba, and he was like I think Rocker needs to ride bareback horses. He’s got a lot of try and that’s all that it is. He’s like that’s, for 10 seconds, it’s all try. It’s a fight. And I was like, hmm, I looked up a video, saw a video of a kid around my age getting on bareback horses. And he got slammed. It was a bad video for me to watch, but I was like, wow, that looks really fun. And so, we ordered some shoots, got some little bucking horses. And my Baba was like what if you don’t like it? Like we’re going to have to sell all this stuff. And I was like I know I like it. And he’s like you haven’t even been on yet. And I was like I don’t- I know. I already know I like it. And the first four months was really bad. I think I made one decent ride in four months. But the whole time it was like run another one and run another. I think I got on ten horses a week. I got on five horses, two times a week-
Neil Dudley: Like your body just takes a beating in bareback riding.
Rocker Steiner: And I was 13. When I was 13, like I’m still small to this day, but when I was 13, I was probably, I want to say I was 4’9, 60 pounds.
Neil Dudley: Those horses had quite the advantage.
Rocker Steiner: Oh yeah. But that’s why I picked bareback riding, because it’s a fight.
Neil Dudley: Cool. Now, okay. So that makes me want to ask have you ever got into boxing, MMA? Like have you- do you train that way? Like what makes you think a fight is fun?
Rocker Steiner: Well, I’m not going to say that fighting is fun, but it’s like I watched a movie the other day and it was like for three rounds, you’re going to show who you are. And that’s what a fight is – you can be getting hit, hitting them, boxing, whatever, and for however many rounds, however long it goes on, you’re showing who you are. And that’s what bareback riding is – for eight seconds, ten seconds, you’re going to show who you are.
Neil Dudley: Yeah. Sure. So, tell me this about you, do you look at any top bareback riders in the sport today and think, ooh, I want to ride like that? Or are you just like I’m Rocker, I’m going to ride like Rocker?
Rocker Steiner: Yeah, I kind of went through this in my brain the other day because I was watching some stuff of like old rock stars, and they were saying that they listen to a bunch of different music to create their genre of how they want to play. And I think that’s how bareback riding is. Cause I’m like, hm, love the way Kaycee Feild rides, love the way Tilden Hooper rides, Mason Clemis, Leighton Barry, Cole Reiner. I love the way all these guys ride. How are they different and how can I ride like every single one of them? And then you take little things like I want to have fast feet and set my feet and tuck my chin like Kaycee Feild. But I want to have the aggression of Tilden Hooper, and I want to have the- I want to stick my chest out like whoever. Like just stuff like that.
Neil Dudley: Yeah, the nuance of it is so crazy. Nobody understands the- I lived with a couple of bareback riders when I was in college, so I know like for whatever reason in the rough stock side of the arena, I know the most about bareback riding, just because I lived with those guys. I mean, they used to get my calf horses out there, let’s lead them around. Let me practice. But some horses are heavy and some guys shine on heavy horses. Some guys shine on quick bucking horses. So, you have to try to figure out how you can do that on all of them, be versatile.
Rocker Steiner: That’s the one thing that I’m trying. I’ve been on only very, very good bucking horses. Like I’ve been on some not-so-great ones and stuff that like kind of hurts, but like that’s kind of what I’m- like you got to ride the same every horse.
Neil Dudley: Yeah. When you say really good, what do you mean?
Rocker Steiner: Like I’ve never been on something that’s going to try to kill you.
Neil Dudley: What do you mean by that? Like just jerk you down, I call them heavy. Is that what you’re talking about?
Rocker Steiner: I’ve been on some horses that buck, but I need to learn to ride the horses that are like Craig at Midnight, that are bad to the bone.
Neil Dudley: Craig is Midnight. Y’all look that horse up, Google Craig at Midnight, and then you’ll know what Rocker’s talking about.
Rocker Steiner: But heck, I’m also pretty young.
Neil Dudley: Sure, you got time. See, I love- You’re so- you strike me as really mature for your age. Like you understand that.
Rocker Steiner: That is the first time anybody has ever said that to me.
Neil Dudley: Now I can see why that might be true. Like you got a brand on your chest, you do some things that maybe don’t come across as that mature, but your mind, your thought process, the way you are willing to accept. If I was 17, I’d have been like I should have it all right now. You’re smart enough to say I might not have it all now.
Rocker Steiner: Yeah, no, I look at myself like, I think it’s funny to look at myself like a year ago, like wow. Or like two years ago.
Neil Dudley: What’s the difference now?
Rocker Steiner: I look at myself a week ago, and I’m like, geez, you used to be-
Neil Dudley: Where do you think you get that from?
Rocker Steiner: I don’t know. I have no idea.
Neil Dudley: Yeah, you do. You got to get it from somewhere. Somebody has- I think you see it in your dad. I think you see it in your grandma. You mom, she’s pretty accomplished.
Rocker Steiner: My dad always says, he’s like Rocker, you’re going to be mesmerized by how much you change in one year. He’s like from now to 18, he’s like, it’s going to be a lot. And I was like, hm, what was I like a year ago? It’s a lot, a lot. Because like- so I met my buddies, Leighton and Cole Reiner. They moved in to the [Excess 14:29] Ranch a year ago. And I remember hanging out with them, and I was like, wow, I was a little kid.
Neil Dudley: What do those guys do? Like tell us all a little bit about their work ethic.
Rocker Steiner: That’s one thing that’s pretty crazy about our friendship is that me, Cole, Leighton and Clayton Sellers, I mean, we got all kind of the same work ethic. And we all like to, I mean, we wake up a little bit late. We probably wake up around 10, and then we hang out for 15, 20 minutes. Then we go to the gym. That’s what we do. And we all love it. And it’s not even like a- it’s not even like working at our craft is like a job. It’s like, we like to do it. So, we don’t even think that we’re working. It’s like I can’t wait to get in the gym and get on the bucking machine or get on the spur board or get on practice bulls or practice horses. We like to do this stuff. So, it’s not work. The saying pick a job that you love and you’ll never work a day in your life, that’s true. And we’re just thankful that we found that job.
Neil Dudley: Let’s just talk about your mom a little bit because from what I know, didn’t she run barrels or wasn’t she in the rodeo too? So, what’s her influence on you?
Rocker Steiner: Yeah, my grandmother and my mom both made the finals in the barrel racing. My mom made it in 2000, and I’m a terrible grandson because I cannot remember the year that my grandmother made it, but-
Neil Dudley: It doesn’t matter. We are talking about her, we’re proud of her for it.
Rocker Steiner: But you know, they got a big impact on me, too, because it’s a rough world out there in the rodeo world, and they pretty much all teach me that it’s you just got to keep going. If you do bad at one rodeo, you got to keep going. And my mom even said it the other day, she was like that’s one thing, if you do bad at a rodeo, you just got to forget about it.
Neil Dudley: Yeah, that is so key. I want everybody listening to really own that statement. I could never do that. When I was rodeoing, one the reason I was never successful, this is the main reason, it could have been a lot of things, but the biggest reason was I could not let go when I made bad runs. So, it was just always in my head so I could never succeed.
Rocker Steiner: Yeah. Ty Murray told me- So the first guy that I ever went to when I figured out I wanted to ride bareback horses was Ty Murray.
Neil Dudley: Well, that’s kind of straight to the top.
Rocker Steiner: Yeah, right at the top. And he said the other day, he was like Rocker, whenever I rode, I didn’t even listen to my score. He’s like if they sent me my check, I got a check. Like I just went on to the next rodeo. I didn’t- And I guarantee you, he didn’t look at the standings. And I talked to a lot of guys, and they don’t look at the standings. They don’t care. They’re just riding bucking horses.
Neil Dudley: See, that’s so beautiful. That’s, I think that plays in everything, business, whatever you’re doing, acting. You do some acting, like you are such an interesting– that’s right. Just do the thing the best you can do it. Music, it’s any kind of almost like art. Just put your art out there and then let the chips fall where they may.
Rocker Steiner: Yeah, I bet songwriters, they just write stuff down and if it turns into a hit, it’s a hit.
Neil Dudley: If it doesn’t, they loved, they wanted to put it down. So, what about your uncle? We haven’t talked about him. You have such an interesting family, man. It’s so cool.
Rocker Steiner: My uncle, he was never really into rodeo. And my granddad was a world champion bull rider. My dad kind of got into rodeo late, and my uncle Shane never showed interest. I think he rode- I think he wanted to ride bulls. I think he kind of wanted to ride bulls when he was, I think I’m going to say like he was like my age, 17, and my Baba put him on a ranch horse that bucks, and he got bucked off. And the next day he was like, man, I’m sore. And he was like, well, if you want to be a bull rider, get used to it. And then he was like maybe I don’t want to do this. So, but they were, my dad and him were heading to school one day and Shane was singing in the car. My dad went back to my granddad and was like, hey, Shane can sing. Shane went to a Garth Brooks concert and was like that’s badass. And he just kind of got into that and he played some shows and started playing guitar and got into that deal and hit the road and got pretty homesick after a while and came home, was done.
Neil Dudley: Yeah, cool. I mean, I love kind of making a study of the Steiner family because you guys are just a great group, a great family, a great way for somebody to watch and just say, hey, these guys, they just win at everything. Like most people can’t just look up and go have a music career. Your uncle did. Most people can’t just wake up and go be a world champion steer wrestler or start bareback riding.
Rocker Steiner: That’s one thing I look at is like, man, my whole family is successful, and not to say it in a bad way, but I mean like everything, I don’t know if it’s that we have good luck if we just got a lot of try or what, but that’s one thing I’m proud of is- and another thing that I have in my brain is, man, I can pick up a dirt bike and I could go race dirt bikes and be the best or I could pick up, I don’t know, I could throw rocks farther than anyone. I don’t know something, I’m like, man, I can do this.
Neil Dudley: You have, you just believe in yourself.
Rocker Steiner: Yeah. I don’t know if that’s what- I guess that’s what it is, but whatever it is, I’m thankful for my family for it.
Neil Dudley: Yeah, man. That’s awesome. I think it’s, like I don’t even feel like you feel pressure to do anything great or anything – maybe you do, you could correct me – but you’re just proud of your family.
Rocker Steiner: That’s one thing that people keep saying to me is, man, like your grandfather was a world champion, your dad’s a world champion, like you got pressure on you. I’m like no, I don’t. I have no pressure on me because my dad loved bulldogging. My grandfather loved riding bulls. I love riding bareback horses. I got no pressure on me. I’m not-
Neil Dudley: You don’t have to live up to anything. You’re just doing what you love.
Rocker Steiner: I’m just going out there riding bareback horses. It’s not like I’m like I have to win a world championship like right now. No, I’m just out here riding bucking horses, having fun, and hanging out with my buddies. I mean, if I do get one, one of these days, hell yeah.
Neil Dudley: Right. I think a lot of the way we tell stories in America kind of puts that pressure, it makes the pressure up. It’s like Ty, his story – I want to beat Larry Mahan’s seven-time world championship, all around world championships. Turned out he did that, or he wanted to beat Larry Mahan’s record. But when he was writing that, that definitely wasn’t his sole focus. He was just doing a thing he loved and that would have been a result of it. It’s like leading and lagging indicators; leading indicators are all the work you put in that nobody sees, the lagging indicators to go buck one.
Rocker Steiner: Yeah. Ty told a story the other day, he was like weird thing was I had a goal of winning how many world championships. And he was like when I won my first one, it was like, okay, we got one down, we have six to go.
Neil Dudley: It wasn’t that big of a deal. Yeah. I think you see a lot of successful people kind of doing it that way. They love the pursuit of it almost more than the actual winning of it.
Rocker Steiner: Yeah, no, it’s the journey. It’s the- Dad said it the other day too. He was like the fun thing about it was, about rodeoing, is getting to the rodeo. He’s like it’s the, okay, I have to go to this rodeo, this rodeo, I have to go to these five rodeos in two days to make the finals. Like I’m going to have to try my ass off to get here so I can live this dream of mine. And it’s the journey of getting there and working to get to your goal.
Neil Dudley: Yeah. For sure. It’s enjoying the process that makes the most successful people.
Rocker Steiner: If you go out hunting and a deer just walks up to you and you shoot it, it’s not as fun as sitting in a blind for a week.
Neil Dudley: Putting the work in.
Rocker Steiner: Yeah, putting the work in.
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Hey, TCP Nation, I got to tell you about Newton’s at the Cellar. I’m sitting here eating some appetizers right in front of the man himself, Mike Newton. Hey Mike, why don’t you tell everybody a little bit about these appetizers we have in front of us, and then I’ll tell them where to go to get them themselves.
Mike: Well, we got little crawfish bites. These are going to be lightly breaded crawfish tails we deep fry. We also serve them with a little bit of a Cajun aioli sherry sauce, basically a sherry mayonnaise, a little kick to it. Then we also have our deviled eggs. They’re going to be sweet bacon crusted from Pederson Farms. Deviled egg, it is pretty, pretty good.
Yeah. I got to be honest, I’ve already ate one and I can guarantee, verify, tell you for sure, they are very good. Everything they do here is really good. Mike, where’s the address or how does somebody get-? Matter of fact, there’s a young lady walking out the front door right now to this big fire pit, he parked right out in the front parking lot. She’s putting on some ribs. People, please come see Newtons at the Cellar here in Stephenville, just west of the square. What else should I tell them, Mike?
Mike: It’s at 230 West College Street. You can find it, it’ll have a big white old Ford truck with a smoker on the front of it, four days a week. You’ll see us Wednesday through Saturday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday lunch; Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday nights. Come in. If you want to make a reservation, go to our website at Newton’s Cellar, you can make a reservation from there. We do recommend the reservation. We will take walk-ins with no problem, but you’ll see our little open table on our website at newtonsceller.com.
And tell them the Cowboy Perspective sent you, just so I can feel good about it. Thanks for listening and really Newtons at the Cellar is one of a kind. Come see it.
I think you’ve got a unique perspective, which you just weren’t around. Do you understand how your dad changed the sport? Has anybody ever brought that up?
Rocker Steiner: I wasn’t there. He won the world in ’02 and quit in ’02, and I was born in ’03. So I wasn’t, I wish I was there, but I wasn’t. But I kind of feel like I know.
Neil Dudley: His personality changed the sport. I mean, he was at the finals wearing these shaggy shirts, cornrows in his hair, and just kicking everybody’s butt, riding a horse called Slim Shady. I mean, just everything he did was so unique. I think you’re going to be a lot that way. Like you just- even, you said it a second ago – well, I might just pick a dirt bike up and go do that. It’s like, in your mind, you’re not tied to any one thing. I think that’s so valuable for everybody out there to think about that. I think probably to be at the pinnacle of success, you’re going to have to focus on bareback riding and spin that work.
Rocker Steiner: Being great at anything is very hard. Yeah. If it’s, I mean, hitting golf balls, being great at golf is very, very hard. Being great at team roping is very, very hard. Being great at being a photographer is very hard. Anything being the best at is very, very hard. So, I mean, no matter what it is, nobody will just- if they’re great at something, they worked for it.
Neil Dudley: If it’s easy, there won’t be any value in it. At the end of the day, everybody could do it.
Rocker Steiner: But heck, on the other note, I hope I can change the sport like Dad did.
Neil Dudley: Yeah, cool. I think you can. I mean, I think you already are. You’re bringing another demographic, another age group. You’re showing up on Yellowstone. People have a chance to learn something just by watching Rocker Steiner.
Rocker Steiner: Yeah. Heck, that’s kind of what I’m all about too, is showing people that I was wakeboarder, I was pretty much a skating punk. If you want to do something, you can do it.
Neil Dudley: And you said it before we started recording that anybody can be a cowboy. It’s not about how you look. I was saying, man, first time I ever saw you, you had dreadlocks and, I mean, we’re at Ty’s branding, that’s really where I got to know you, and you just did not look the part of what somebody might think is a cowboy.
Rocker Steiner: That’s one thing about what’s cool about being a cowboy is you- I mean, I’m going to say 99% of the cowboys dress up like cowboy, but I mean, you don’t have to. You can dress however you want and act however- I mean, maybe not act however you want- Yeah, you can.
Neil Dudley: There’s a certain thing that comes with cowboying-
Rocker Steiner: I think what being a cowboy is, I think it’s never quitting. And if you look at any cowboy, and they get into anything, they’re never going to quit.
Neil Dudley: There’s you never fail as long as you’re trying.
Rocker Steiner: Yeah. No, you can’t fail if you’re still trying because when you quit, that’s when you fail.
Neil Dudley: That’s so true. Everybody listen to that. Johnny – Johnny is my guy that produces the show or helps me – like there’s a yeehaw, man, because that is so true. You never fail if you’re trying. You might not win, maybe nobody thinks-
Rocker Steiner: As long as you’re trying, you’re never done.
Neil Dudley: That plays in business, bareback riding, wakeboarding, anything, songwriting.
Rocker Steiner: If you’re still trying, you can’t fail.
Neil Dudley: Okay. I’m just looking around the room. I’ve seen these guitars over there. Do you play guitar?
Rocker Steiner: I’m going to say I barely play guitar. But I play a good bit of guitar just because I think it’s pretty cool to play guitar.
Neil Dudley: That’s right. Like I love that, your perspective on stuff is just so awesome. That’s pretty cool to play guitar, I’m going to play.
Rocker Steiner: Ever since I was little, I’ve always wanted to be really good at everything. And playing guitar, I’ve got drums downstairs, skateboards. I kind do a little bit of everything just because everybody always says jack of all trades and master of none. But I’ve always kind of wanted to be jack of all trades, master of them all.
Neil Dudley: That’s a great way to think about it. What’s something you’re not good at?
Rocker Steiner: Math.
Neil Dudley: Right. I figured that might be something where it wants to put you in a box, I think is probably something you’re not real inclined to embrace.
Rocker Steiner: Yeah. That’s one thing, I’ve never been real good at school. I mean, I was good at school, but I just never- I never cared too much to really get real good at it.
Neil Dudley: Well, you’re 17. Are you in school still or-?
Rocker Steiner: I’m homeschooled, but I don’t really do whole a lot of school. But I mean, technically I am.
Neil Dudley: Yeah. For anybody listening, Rocker does do all the work he’s supposed to.
Rocker Steiner: Oh yeah, I do all the work. Every bit of it.
Neil Dudley: Well, I think it’s also insightful for people to hear and understand that school isn’t the only thing in life. I mean, it is important. You need- you probably know how to read. You probably know how to do math, you know some things that you’re going to have to be able to know, but you’re learning a whole other very important group of things out there, which is just how to build a career, be aggressive, never quit, that kind of stuff.
Rocker Steiner: Yeah. If you listen to anybody that’s not a doctor or some- or like a lawyer or something, they’ll tell you that they learned nothing in college.
Neil Dudley: I would say that- No, actually, I couldn’t say I learned nothing, but I didn’t learn- what I did learn in college was networking, my friends, how to live on my own, but it wasn’t really the school that I learned from.
Rocker Steiner: But kind of what- I mean, if I was going to be a doctor or a lawyer or something, I’d have to. But I want to be a bareback rider and you don’t have to go to college for that or go to school for that.
Neil Dudley: What’s your perspective on money?
Rocker Steiner: If you’re always making money, you can’t go broke.
Neil Dudley: Right. Do you think about that? Like you’re probably not making money riding bareback horses right now.
Rocker Steiner: Mmm, no, I don’t think anybody is.
Neil Dudley: And at 17, almost everybody still relies on their parents some to help them. Is your goal, do you have a goal to make money or is money not a thing in your life?
Rocker Steiner: No, while I’m young, my dad said it to me when I was real little, he was like you got until you’re 28 to have some fun. And then after that, that’s kind of when you have to grow up. When you hit 30, you’re growing up. Like that’s, you’re a man now, now you got other things to worry about. So he’s like when you’re young, do what you want. And after that, then we’ll start doing some stuff.
Neil Dudley: Yeah, sure. No, well, that’s cool. I mean, that’s a good perspective. It’s a little different than some people’s.
Rocker Steiner: Yeah, you got your whole life to be old and to have a job. When you’re young, that’s when you’re having some fun.
Neil Dudley: Sure. Which I did. I mean, I pretty much did whatever I wanted to.
Rocker Steiner: Yeah. But my family is into real estate and that’s what my whole family does. So that’s what I’m planning on.
Neil Dudley: Cool. So, you like it? You like real estate or you’re like that’s a means to money?
Rocker Steiner: My dad’s real good at- My dad’s real good- He’s got a real good imagination for ranches. So, he can see a dusty old rock and polish it to something gold.
Neil Dudley: See, that’s- and that’s- when you add value, it pays you. So that’s cool. That’s a cool insight.
Rocker Steiner: Yeah. So, I kind of got, I got my dad to help me and I kind of got some dad in me, or my dad in me.
Neil Dudley: Is there anything you want to tell anybody out there that maybe I haven’t asked you about or thing you want to get out there?
Rocker Steiner: I don’t think so.
Neil Dudley: All right. Cool. Well, I want to say thanks for letting me come just explore your mind a little bit. It’s valuable to me. Like I learned something from you. I think people that listen to the Cowboy Perspective can learn something from you. I can’t be Rocker Steiner, but I can take a little piece of that and put it into what I do selling bacon or doing a podcast or whatever thing I do and say, oh yeah, I like that about Rocker, I’m going to try to use that in my life. So, I really appreciate you doing this with me and spending some time exploring what you’re up.
Rocker Steiner: Yes, sir. Thank you for having me. I’m always down to talk into a microphone. You can never be too good at interviews or podcasts.
Neil Dudley: There you go. I’m thinking also, so tell me about the experience of acting and that kind of thing. Like what’s that about?
Rocker Steiner: I wasn’t too much of an actor. I just had a mean mug face, but my dad was the actor. But I’ve always, something about talking into a camera is-
Neil Dudley: You’re not scared of it.
Rocker Steiner: No, but, I mean, sometimes I get nervous, and I’ve done some bad interviews, and always being good at interviews and being able to talk and speak fluently in any situation has always kind of been like I can’t get too good at this so I’m going to keep doing it.
Neil Dudley: It is so valuable to you really. Once you’re not afraid of the camera, you know can- see, like I didn’t provide you any questions. We just sat down on the spur of the moment. Like we weren’t even planning this until an hour ago.
Rocker Steiner: There will be some interviews where they’ll throw some stuff in, and like my ADHD kicks in and I’m like going in the conversation how I think they’re going to say it. And then they say something completely different and I’m like uhh, that wasn’t anything like what I thought you were going to say. Or they’ll tell you the questions that they’re going to ask and ask you different questions. You’re like you can’t do that. That was so different.
Neil Dudley: A lot of times I feel like the preparation kind of hurts the conversation because if you’re expecting this and you’ve got all these thoughts in your head of what you want to say, instead of just saying what you know, what you live, what you know. Anyways, thank you so much. Everybody out there in TCP Nation, go check Rocker Steiner out, Google him. What was your Instagram again?
Rocker Steiner: Rocker_Steiner.
Neil Dudley: Follow Rocker_Steiner and go do that thing that you love because if you do your passion, you won’t work a day in your life.
Rocker Steiner: That’s it.
Neil Dudley: Well, here’s the outro. We’re done. Wasn’t that fun? I’m telling you, I enjoyed it. I learned something. I hope you did. And Rocker, if you’re listening back to this and you bothered listening this whole way, I thank you so much for your time and spending it with me and shooting me straight, what you think. I think that’s such a cowboy thing to do, shoot people straight. Just tell them honestly and openly how you feel, what you think, what you’re going through. So, my hats off to you, señor, thank you for your time. Good luck with everything you do. And everybody listening, go check Rocker out, check him out on Instagram. Look him up. He’ll be a fun person to follow along with as he goes and builds the career he’s going to have. Until next time, see you later.
The Cowboy Perspective is produced by Neil Dudley and Straight Up Podcasts. Graphics are done by Root & Roam Creative Studio, and the music is Byron Hill Music.