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.
Ladies and gentlemen, we’re on episode number 52. The guest today is a guy I really look up to for a lot of reasons, although we’ve not been really doing the same thing for a while, so we’ve just got reconnected. Kind of the big news since the recording of this conversation, Ryan has been named the CEO of Root and Roam Integrated Marketing Agency, which has been exciting for me and Stacey. But I think you’ll all really enjoy listening to him and hearing his journey and what he’s all about. I certainly enjoyed it, at least the conversation with Ryan and look forward to working with him. I’m glad y’all are going to get to hear a little bit about who he is. I really respect him. He’s one of those guys that teaches me something every time I talk to him. So, I won’t keep rambling. Let’s get to his story. Hope you enjoy.
Hey, everybody. Oh man, I don’t know. Almost every time I say hey everybody, I’m sure all the listeners have to think, geez, is he ever going to stop saying– starting the show like that? Well, maybe not. Anyways, I’m excited. I’ve been already talking to this guy for about 30 minutes about all kinds of cool stuff – things that have happened at Pederson’s, things he’s done, podcasts we’ve listened to, things we’ve learned. I have known him really my whole life. So, without further ado, Ryan Lofton, welcome to the show. Thanks for coming on the Cowboy Perspective. And I’m excited everybody is fixing to get some of your perspective.
Ryan Lofton: Yeah. I’m excited to be here, too.
Neil Dudley: And by the way, hey, Mickey and Patsy, thanks for listening. I’m sure y’all are going to pay attention.
Ryan Lofton: I guarantee they are going to be tuning in.
Neil Dudley: So, I’m going to tell them hi, too. That’s Ryan’s mom and dad. And for just everybody listening, I was in the same grade as Ryan’s sister, and Ryan’s a couple of years younger than me in school. Maybe one year?
Ryan Lofton: One year, yeah.
Neil Dudley: So, we went to church together. I have known his family, his family’s known my family for lots of years. So that’s kind of a fun piece of this, too, is coming back together and getting to talk about just the things you’ve done that I didn’t even know about, until recently we kind of got connected again. And I’m like, dang, Ryan’s got all kinds of cool stuff he’s done. So, I want to bring that to the TCP nation, those listeners, and maybe everybody can find some value in what Ryan’s done, and we’ll just start talking about those things. So, for everybody that doesn’t already know you so well, let’s just talk about, tell everybody where you came from, what your childhood was like, just a baseline understanding of where your perspective started.
Ryan Lofton: Yeah, growing up in Comanche, Texas – we always like to call that the heart of Texas, I know other people claim that to be true, but we know Comanche is the heart of Texas – growing up just outside of town, rural, we had like a little farm. Mom was a teacher, Dad was a banker, and then we also had a few head of cattle that we’d do. And that just, that gives you a whole perspective in general, coming from that. I remember going to college, my roommate, he was from Houston, Texas, and he flew into Lubbock, and he said, “Man, I thought I flew into a ghost town.” I was like, “Well, you took a jet like a real airport. You didn’t fly in on a Cessna and potentially go into a grass field.” And so, perspective is everything. And so, I think that that was probably one of the big things that kind of helped. Coming from that small town atmosphere, I thought Lubbock was the biggest city in the world at the time. And apparently it is not the biggest city.
Neil Dudley: Well, I went to Tech, too. I mean, did you go to school at Tech?
Ryan Lofton: Yeah.
Neil Dudley: Yeah, so okay, I thought so, but I just wanted to make sure. Lubbock was perfect for me. It was like a small town in a big town. And so, I loved it. One of my best friends still lives there; he’s a cotton farmer. I mean, just my experience in college was awesome. I don’t know that it even mattered anything what I learned in school either. It was all about the network, the learning to be kind of on your own, the responsibility of getting yourself up, going to class. Like, I think Dad kind of put it to me like this, “Show up at every class and walk from class to class like you’re John Wayne. That’s what you need to do to be successful, son.” And I took that attitude towards it. And I think people laughed at me at times, because I was serious, I was like, mmm, John Wayne mode, and then I would go and just be confident. That’s what he was trying to say to me is be confident, say hi to people, look them in the face, be involved, and that all really was great advice.
Ryan Lofton: Yeah, no doubt, Lubbock was a perfect place, coming from such a small town into that. I always thought the big city was a Walmart, a bowling alley, and a movie theater. And so, if they had those three, I was like, well, that’s the city.
Neil Dudley: Yeah, that’s right. Well, for the people that grew up in the city, they’re laughing right now – oh my gosh, you missed so much of it. But it’s the truth, right? That’s in Comanche, the town’s next door are Brownwood and Stephenville, and they had a Walmart, a bowling alley, and a movie theater, and that made them a city. Okay so, talk a little bit about what your parents instilled in you or did they?
Ryan Lofton: Yeah. Oh, definitely. Just a strong work ethic. Dad’s always, he just always worked really, really hard at the things he did and then would come home, and then we’d have to go out and mend a fence and do that. I think payment on Saturdays was usually a Sonic cheeseburger for working cattle during the day or going to the sale. So, the price of cheap labor is also a good idea.
Neil Dudley: I think for the listeners that have kids, use them, make them work. I try to think, I don’t make my girls work as much as I should. I feel like I’m dropping that ball a little bit. But I always try to keep that attitude that it’s never too late. I’m going to start doing better now. And sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. But I try to avoid this hammer on myself about failure, whatever. I think that’s what my Sunday school class helps me a lot with, just being with a bunch of guys and we talk about the imperfection of humanity. And the truth is like, look, if you think you’re going to be perfect, you’re in big trouble. You’re never going to make that. So, let’s just start thinking about small improvement.
Ryan Lofton: Yeah. And then, on my mom’s side, goodness, she’s just like the sweetest lady in the world. So being kind and being gracious, that’s definitely what she did. And my dad just kind of having a lean into it attitude – just because it’s hard doesn’t mean you need to step away, you got to step into it. And sometimes it feels like it’s a lot easier to run away from something that’s hard and that’s just not the- that’s never the best plan. Yeah, for kids, I try to make our son Levi, he’s eight, I try to make him do some things and maybe pay him a little money for doing those just little things. But it’s interesting, growing up now, for him to grow up in what’s a big city versus having acreage to go run around and take a 22 and go hang out with your dog and stuff, it’s just that’s not a possibility. So, trying to think through like, okay well, what can I get him to do? How can I help him figure out things that he needs to commit to? Like the other day we were just playing baseball, and he’s like, “Dad, I’m not sure I want to play baseball.” I’m like, oh, okay. I said, “Well, we committed to it.” I said, “Well, why don’t you want to do it?” He’s like, “Well, the name of the team is the Titans.” So, I was like, “Well, what’s wrong with that?” He was like, “I don’t like superheroes.” I said, “So that’s your reason?” I said, “Well, bud, we already committed to it. So, we’re in.” He’s like, “Well, you’re the coach so can’t you rename us?” I said, “That ship has sailed, buddy.”
Neil Dudley: That’s great. Isn’t it so funny what will be important to different generations, young kids, that kind of stuff? We were in a little softball game yesterday, playing De Leon – which for everybody listening that is from Comanche, you know De Leon and Comanche are kind of rivals, you know what I mean. Well, anyways, they kicked us into the ground. And it’s Justin Bates’ team actually. His little daughter is the pitcher.
Ryan Lofton: And there’s a lineage there, so.
Neil Dudley: That’s right. So, hi to Eugene and Pam and all the Bates family, Garrett and Justin, in case they happen to hear it. Which this makes it so fun to talk to you. It’s like man, we can talk about-
Ryan Lofton: Go Carpenters, I’ve still got a baseball pitcher with that on there.
Neil Dudley: Yeah, that’s right. Well, I mean, this is a huge rabbit, so for all the listeners, you might want to skip a few minutes ahead, but we’re going to chase this rabbit because it’s just fun for me. We’re talking about when we were playing, we showed up in Wranglers, you got a t-shirt, and Dad brought a bag of helmets and a couple of bats, and everybody hopefully had a glove. If not, there were a couple of extra gloves in that bag, and we played baseball. Now, every kid has a bag, two bats, a full uniform with fancy striped socks and cleats. My dad laughed, audibly, the first time I asked, “Can I get some cleats?” “Are you crazy? You got shoes!” And you were talking about paying your kids – I never got paid. He just kind of laughed. “Can I get a dollar or something for pulling the weeds in the driveway?” “No! I’m feeding you and giving you a place to live. What do you mean? Money? That’s not going to happen.” And those were valuable to me. It scares me that I’m not giving that same value to my kids. And then I have to get over it a little bit, hey, it’s a different world. Anyways, I just think, man, our whole society is so well off, generally. We don’t understand- I mean, there’s just, I’m scared there’s not understanding of what it really takes to get something. Anyways, that’s the rabbit.
Ryan Lofton: I agree.
Neil Dudley: Jeez, man. I could talk to you for hours.
Ryan Lofton: I know.
Neil Dudley: Okay so, we’ve talked about your family a little bit. Let’s get onto some business, some values, some things that the listeners can walk away with that’s not just us reminiscing about our childhood. So, your dad was in the banking industry. Did you just think, ooh, I want to be like Dad?
Ryan Lofton: No, I thought that’s the last thing I should ever do. I don’t even know why that was my thought. I was just like I’m not doing that. Probably just because I’m rebellious and was just like I’m just not going to do what he’s going to do. So got to do something else. Got to make my own way. So, I ended up going to Wells Fargo. That was my first job.
Neil Dudley: Paint that picture. How did that actually happen?
Ryan Lofton: So, it’s kind of interesting, at Tech, I started working for a screen printer, Red Raider Outfitter, and I started in the lowest, dirtiest position there is. I’m sure there was some things I shouldn’t have done. There are so many hazard chemicals.
Neil Dudley: I love that story. Guess where I worked in school – the lunch room. And my favorite job was washing dishes because everybody else hated that. And I knew, I would just raise my hand, “I’ll be the dishwasher!” and that guy managing us loved me. And I got anything I wanted because he knew I’d do the nastiest, dirtiest job and fast and well. So, I mean, that was valuable to me. I learned something, like, wow, if I do the crappiest job and love it and smile and just come skipping into work-
Ryan Lofton: And just enjoy it. It’s like there’s something about- and there’s something good about having a good, hard task and getting dirty and getting to finish that, and you’re like, ah, look what I did, that’s kind of nice. And so, from that, the turnover in colleges is pretty high. So, they had screen printers in there. And I started, I ended up being the head screen printer, and they’re like, “Hey, you want to do some sales?” I was like sure, why not? I mean, what do I have to lose? It’s like either I’m not good at it and you put me back on the screen printing. So, started doing that, started selling a bunch of shirts to sororities and attorneys and doing all that and basketball and Bobby Knight came in and screen-printed for 24 hours straight one night.
Neil Dudley: With Bobby Knight?
Ryan Lofton: Well no. That’d be great. Yeah, Bobby Knight just came in, he wanted to check the shirt. We were doing it because ESPN came in and like the whole reveal to get Bobby Knight in, they did it at the Spirit Arena. And so, we were up trying to do it for that. So, from that, just had some sales in there and went and did economics.
Neil Dudley: So that’s what you were studying in school was economics? In the business school?
Ryan Lofton: Yeah, I started engineering, and I got about three years in, and I was like, man, I just don’t think this is what I want to do. Some people would decide much earlier than that. I decided much later.
Neil Dudley: I think it’s okay though. It’s like you were smart enough to say – oh, people listen to that, I mean, yeehaw to that – when you just wake up and say this isn’t what I want to do, do something different. I mean, because you could be just grinding it out at an engineer job right now today-
Ryan Lofton: I’d be miserable.
Neil Dudley: And life’s got so much more to it. It’s not about the money, or like ope, now you had to probably go back and spend some more money on classes that you weren’t expecting. Did you leave school with a big loan to pay off?
Ryan Lofton: No, little bitty loan. A tiny one. Mom and Dad were great helping with that and then using the extra income.
Neil Dudley: You got to give a huge shout out to Mom and Dad. I got to shout out to my grandparents because they helped me get through school. All the wages I got washing dishes went to buy my first saddle. So, there was- and that drives me today to show gratitude for that. A lot of people didn’t get it. They don’t get that same luxury of having school paid for.
Ryan Lofton: Yeah, and it makes a big difference.
Neil Dudley: So, am I going to respect that and deliver on things today in my career that shows respect to that, or am I going to take it for granted? So anyways, how’d you end up at Wells Fargo? Geez, I keep interrupting.
Ryan Lofton: So just had a couple of interviews at some different places. And that was their big thing is like get in here and do some sales. There’s a bunch of young guys. It was actually to start in Cleburne, Texas, but I ended up actually right down here on Camp Bowie in Fort Worth. So that was the first gig out of college and did that for quite a while.
Neil Dudley: Okay. Hang on, I’m lost. So, you were screen printing shirts, and then you started selling for them. Then how does that parlay into selling for banks?
Ryan Lofton: Yeah, so, one, I kind of took off and went with another art guy to start another screen printing. And just because apparently, I like to start things. Like I think we’ve talked about this, like if I look back at my resume, it’s like, Ryan, what do you like to do? I like to get things and make them grow, I guess. So, I like to start stuff that are fun, new, different, and apparently, I like change. So, I’d kind of done that and I’m like, man, I just don’t think I’m going to be a screen printer. And I just don’t think that’s- that’s not going to be my route. And I had a bunch of friends back in the Mansfield Fort Worth area. And so, moving back over in this area was pretty enticing too as well. So, getting offered a job for that, it paid more and had the ability, the upside, to be higher as well then on the screen-printing side. Maybe not, I mean, you sell enough, you can sell a lot of t-shirts and you can own it- Yeah so, but it just was kind of one of those things like, man, I don’t think this is it.
Neil Dudley: So, what do you sell in a bank? I mean, were you loan officing? What were you selling?
Ryan Lofton: We were selling mortgages, car loans, anything, any sort of debt instrument for that. They set it up where in some form or fashion, they had a connection with Wells Fargo. And so, it was “a warm lead.” But you didn’t know the person at all, so it was still kind of cold, but there was some connection.
Neil Dudley: We’re going to hand you some warm leads, well, that doesn’t feel very warm to me, that’s pretty cold.
Ryan Lofton: Your definition of warm is interesting. So, I’m sure your listeners could all, if they’ve done sales, they’ll be like, oh yeah, I’ve heard that language before. So, we did that, got transferred around, ended up running a branch down in Waco, Texas, did that, and then got promoted back up into Arlington, Texas, to run another branch that was struggling. They thought we were doing really, really well in Waco. And so, there’s just some, oh okay, well let’s just go, let’s go do it. And that was right about ’08, ’09. So then, I was unemployed for nine months.
Neil Dudley: So, did you get the ax or was it just a massive layoff?
Ryan Lofton: No, I got the ax. I got the ax previous, and then it was, they just cleaned house and just shut that portion of Wells Fargo down. Then they assimilated into other parts of the bank, except for if you’re a manager, you’re out. So, I was out.
Neil Dudley: So, would you trade that if you could, or do you actually find that that was probably a great experience? Great is probably the wrong adjective.
Ryan Lofton: It depends- Yeah, that’s right. No, I mean, I think you look back on all of your experiences and think, I don’t think I would trade that in. For me that was probably one of the biggest times that God used in my life to just grow me and trust in him and knowledge of him, it just, I mean, it was exponential. And so, I could never replace that time. And it was brutal. I mean, I’d go out with just like a bucket of water and just try to like wash people’s windows. I mean, it’s like how do you make a buck right now? It’s like I can’t get a job in the financial industry when nobody was hiring.
Neil Dudley: Now, did you have the family yet?
Ryan Lofton: Yeah, there was some added pressure in that. So, it was just Beth and I at that point. So, there’s always pressure when it’s, you got the family involved and it is somebody else so there’s some responsibility. So, from that decided, during the worst financial crisis, why not go be a financial advisor and tell people to put their money in the stock market?
Neil Dudley: That’s crazy. Because my dad had a brain aneurism, kind of went out of the ranching thing, went into financial advising.
Ryan Lofton: I remember that.
Neil Dudley: It was prior to that, maybe a year or two before he started working. He was in the Comanche National Bank and had a little office in there, and Investment Centers of America was the bunch he was working with. And the funniest thing, one of the funniest things – that’s an oxymoron, I guess – but Dad was highlighted as the best salesperson based on their, they make you take a little test, are you inclined to be good at sales or something? And Dad scored off the chart. Like that seems a little counterintuitive just knowing him and how he is. I mean, he’s very trustworthy and that probably helps with the sales. But anyways, the whole thing crashed, and Dad starts looking around like, I don’t trust any of this crap I’m telling people to buy into, I’m out, I’m getting out of here. So, he went back to the ranch, and you were just getting into it. So, what a crazy, I guess, parallel.
Ryan Lofton: Yeah, that is kind of interesting. So yeah, I mean, that’s just, just enjoying relationships and just trying to help people figure it out. I mean, that’s, I feel like we’re all doing that in some form or fashion. I was reading somebody that talked about purpose, and it’s the intersection between like your desires, opportunities, and abilities is kind of where purpose aligns up. It’s like I still kind of ask what do I want to do when I grow up? And I was talking to a guy, he was about 80, 85. And he just came to me one day, he’s like, “You know what, Ryan, I’m trying to figure out what I should do in this season.” I was like, you know what, that’s actually a great encouragement to me, that I get to continue to ask that question the rest of my life. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Neil Dudley: I’ve found myself, at 43, getting a little more tentative. Even, and this is kind of crazy to say, but it’s true, like I’ve got to a good place and I’m like, ooh, I want to protect that instead of stay offensive. So, I’m kind of wanting to think about playing defense instead of offense. And then I have to slap myself a couple of times, like, no, we play off offense. So, I think it’s, like I am striving in my life, if I get the blessing to live to a hundred, whatever it is, to until the last day be thinking offence, and hey, I got another day tomorrow, what’s the big thing I can do tomorrow? So that’s kind of cool that you had that same similar experience with that guy.
Ryan Lofton: Yeah, sales is kind of interesting too, just I was thinking about that, that’s kind of been my line for a while. I think Daniel Pink wrote a book, I think it was To Sell is Human or something along those lines. And it’s like, you’ve got kids, what are they trying to sell you? They’re not very good at it because they’re really selfish in what they’re trying to get. But if they came over to you and said, “I just want to do this for my sister.” You’d probably be like, “Really? You bet. Let’s go do it. You want to go serve somebody else? All right. I’m all for that.”
Neil Dudley: I took a course in negotiation. I’ll have to give Johnny the info so he can put it in the show notes. But a lot of what that course talked about was you’re in negotiation 24/7 in every conversation, every relationship, everything. You’re negotiating with your kids. I mean, you want your kids to eat vegetables, are you going to be a good enough negotiator to accomplish that? So, it was valuable to me. I learned so much, and I still have a lot to learn. I’m not the greatest negotiator. I tend to be a little too- My personality is, I guess, a relationship kind of thing. So, I value the relationship so highly that I’ll make a deal that’s not really smart just so I feel like the other side’s happy. Then you have negotiators that are just type A personalities; like I’m going to nail this negotiation, I don’t care if you cry. And then, there’s people that want to know the details of it, like analytical – do the details of this thing make sense to me? So that’s been valuable to me to just know, oh, there’s way different ways. Cause I got in kind of a fake negotiation with one of those type A people and they just trash torched me, made me look like an idiot, but it was good. Everybody there was supportive, like man, Neil, you kind of, that wasn’t very good. She hammered you. And I was like, well, that’s right. I needed that experience. So, when it happens to me in real life-
Ryan Lofton: I just wanted them to say yes.
Neil Dudley: To me, it was just like, well, come on, we just want to be your friend, they just didn’t care. I think that is like my God’s gift is making friends. I think I can make friends with anybody. Geez, what a rabbit. Okay so back to, so tell us, so you went into the financial thing. How’d that go?
Ryan Lofton: Yeah, I did that for, gosh, probably another six years. I kind of had a history of six years and then something would happen. And so, six years later, got a call from South Texas Children’s Home Ministries down in, well, it was north of Beeville, Texas, and Pettus, Texas, to come be their CFO to help them run their funds, run their business office, and just help with that. So had kind of got- so the interesting thing about that, my wife and I, we’d gone through trying to do foster and adopt and kind of got turned into this world of orphan care, which is really fascinating. I had no clue. I just figured that there were kids out there who needed a home, and so that’s kind of what we were going to do. So, I’d been hooked up to several different places. So, I just starting to having a heart for those kids that just didn’t have a good place to go. And that opportunity came up and I was like, God, there’s no way I can say no to this. So, sold out of that and then just went all in to good old Beeville, Texas.
Neil Dudley: What was that experience like, selling that? Was it intricate or just kind of like, hmm, I’m just turning this over to somebody?
Ryan Lofton: I was kind of like you, I was so willing to just go down to South Texas Children’s Home, he probably could have bought it for a dollar, and I’d have been like that’s great, I’m going. The hardest part wasn’t trying to negotiate that out. It was the relationships that I’d really built, the families that had entrusted me with all of their stuff and to kind of walk them through like here’s why I’m making this decision. Like that, to me, that was the big part that I needed to make sure that they knew and get them into somebody who I trusted and could entrust like that family is going to be in a really good position. So, at that point, I wasn’t trying to negotiate for the highest bidder. I wanted somebody that’s going to just take care of them. So, a little bit different, but you always think back, like had I negotiated harder, that probably would have better.
Neil Dudley: Sure, right. But just like don’t look in the rear-view people. I mean, yeah, there’s some lessons there, but it’s not going to do any good to just dwell on it. Like look okay, yeah, you left five bucks on the table. Okay, go on. It’s like selling cattle. Me and Dad were just talking about this – selling cattle can be angst ridden because farmers and ranchers are just like, man, I need to eek every penny out of every animal so I can stay doing the thing I love. And we were just laughing about that. Isn’t that so stressful? Like we need to make sure we continue to do things so that when we sell cattle it is not, we don’t care if we get every penny out of it. Well, yeah, we want to make a fair deal and we want to have a good relationship with the buyer, these things, but if we left a couple of pennies on the table, that was the way God wanted that transaction to go. Okay so you went and did the ministry thing. Now, so I’m sitting here wondering, because I don’t know, we haven’t caught up this way, is your son adopted?
Ryan Lofton: He’s not. No, it’s funny, we went through a Buckner’s Children’s Home out here in in Fort Worth, got through everything to do the home study and it was in December. And so, in that ministry, so Christmas comes and so they’ve got all these families they are trying to take care of. So, it was like, well, let’s see what happens. We’ll give them a break. We’ll check back in January. And they’d been just on top. I mean, if they had a project manager, they would have been a very good project manager. I mean, they hit- just they were just moving and flying through the process. So, the last thing we had to do is just called a home inspection where they just look up and basically just get into all of your life’s saying are you really a good person to take care of a kid? And so, we get to that. The first week, January, didn’t hear anything from them. I call them, didn’t hear back, email them, didn’t hear back. I was like, man, what in the world? Around the third week, my wife comes in and she’s like, “I am pregnant.” And I’m like, “You’re what? You’re taking a test? I mean, where are we at?” And so that was Levi. So yeah, we’ve done that process four different times, and we’ve yet to adopt. Like our kid stories are actually-
Neil Dudley: Did you foster anybody?
Ryan Lofton: No, so, one of them, my wife’s brother died and so we just hit pause and just said, no, we’re not, I mean, we can’t do that. The next one was the move down to South Texas Children’s Home. It’s like, well, we were at a place here, it’s like so they don’t cover all of Texas so we were kind of out. We started that process again. And I was telling the executive team, I said, y’all just pray for us. I have no idea what’s going to happen. I guarantee it’ll be life changing, but I do not know what the story will be, but one is coming. And man, was it ever. So, we get all the way through, and we’re kind of there, Beth’s dad gets sick and has a hard time. It’s like we were just thinking, well, is that going to prevent us from, do we need to pull back? And a couple other things happened, and it turned out that Beth had this tumor and she had to have it removed. And so, we’re in a day surgery and IV in, and they come in and they’re like, “It turns out y’all are pregnant.” So, we get wheeled from like ready to go for the day surgery into the sonogram. And so, they’re like, well, that tumor’s probably going to be fighting against this kid. So, I said, “Well, Beth, we’re just going to need a little fighter.” So, we named her Finley, and Finley means like a pure fighter. So, we prayed for our little pure fighter. And now she is every bit of that. We’re just praying the Lord will put her zeal and focus it in a good direction. Because she’s got it all.
Neil Dudley: Awesome, man. See, I love that story. I think anybody listening can probably find a place in their life that parallels something similar. It’s like wow, how quick the tide can turn. So, did we end up getting the tumor dealt with later down the road?
Ryan Lofton: Yeah, later down the road, healthy baby and healthy mama and life’s good. So, everybody’s got their own journeys, and I was just kind of saying like, man, I would not take that back.
Neil Dudley: Totally. I empathize. I want to say I try to empathize with families that have a hard time getting pregnant or end up can’t, because it’s such a sensitive subject. It can make you feel inadequate. It can be a lot of things. And I don’t understand all those things because it wasn’t my reality. My best friend from Lubbock, he and his wife had real hard time having the first one, then they had two more. And their first one ended up having PKU, which is a blood, she’s basically allergic to protein. But still, awesome. I think it’s just their journey, right? We just spend a lot of time with them and enjoy them so much. And we don’t even talk about that, and I’m kind of like, dang, I could learn so much, just let’s talk about that a little bit. So, we talked about it on this podcast a little bit. Maybe somebody can educate me more. Maybe I can get a guest on here that’s willing to explore some of those things because I think it’s probably valuable, and I just don’t understand it. So, then you went to Beeville, you did this thing. That’s where your parents were at the time.
Ryan Lofton: Parent were there, yeah, that was kind of the connection in there. And man, that was great. Gosh, having your parents in the same town, on top of just having parents in the same town, just instant babysitting. I mean, if we’re really going to say where’s the value it’s like, hey, can y’all take the kids?
Neil Dudley: Newsflash grandparents, that’s what you’re worth – babysitting.
Ryan Lofton: And newsflash, they love it. So, there’s not a, there’s just not a grandparent I know that’s like, gosh, I wish I spent less time with my grandkids.
Neil Dudley: That’s totally right. All right. So, that’s been a fun journey for me. And now let’s talk about some of this current thing you’re doing with the startup, and we’ll see where that takes us.
Ryan Lofton: Yeah, so doing sales for Chariot Innovations, got hooked up to a place that there was Dr. Garner, he’s a mechanical engineer down in Baylor, Texas, and he got interested in the movement of humans and then got pushed into like equine assisted therapy or hippotherapy. So, therapy with a horse, whether that’s physical therapy utilizing the horse or occupational therapy, utilize the horse. And he was looking at it and as he was meeting with people, he said, hey, would it be helpful to have- because what’s really interesting is that it’s the movement- it’s partially the movement of the horse that has so much benefit for a lot of people. It is also the connection you have with the animal. But there’s a lot of research behind that movement of the horse and how that’s beneficial. So he said, hey, would it be helpful to have something, have a device that mimics that movement, like exactly and patterns that movement, but in a device that you could move around or put in a smaller facility? Because, from a safety aspect, they’re dealing with kids who can’t get up on the horse or there’s just, they can’t, they don’t have enough side walkers to make it a safe place for them or a person’s just afraid. You know horses. And so, how that horse reacts to each individual rider is a big deal. And so those horses are vetted and very specific to it. So, now he’s got a bomb-proof horse that never bucks, never goes anywhere. And so, these kids can get benefit.
Neil Dudley: I’ve always said that’s the thing about a horse, they don’t have an off button. Their brain is doing their thing and there is no off button. So interesting. Yeah, that’s really cool. I think it parallels a lot. I thought that was one great reason for us to get on the podcast together is talk about that a little bit, because it just kind of is the Cowboy Perspective. And we’re talking about a horse and how that can be therapy for people. And I’ve seen it work in a million ways. It is for me. It is for me. Riding a horse is therapy for me.
Ryan Lofton: Yeah, absolutely. And I’ve seen it, just that rhythmic movement. So, the device is called the MiraColt. And I saw a guy the other day, he’s a vet, just got back, and he’s just trying to assimilate back into society. And he got on the machine because he’s like I’ve never been on a horse. I don’t want to get on that horse. That’s a big horse. It wasn’t a Morgan. I can’t remember what it was. So, he got on our device, and you could just see him calm down and relaxed. And I was talking to the guy who leads that organization, and he came back to me and said, “Hey, I just want to give you just a story about the guy.” And he was just saying that he came back and said this is the first time he’s just actually felt normal. Just like, oh, I can actually do this again.
Neil Dudley: Now does the MiraColt move around or is it stationary? I’m trying to picture it in my head. So, let’s see if we could paint a picture for the listeners.
Ryan Lofton: So, it’s got a box frame and then walks down. It runs on a cam. And so, there’s a seat this on top of this frame that moves in that three-dimensional motion. And so, Dr. Garner took horses, these therapy horses, put a motion capture, and then they ran this motion capture through an arena. And so, the horse would go through it, and they would capture that movement specifically. And so, then he was able to map specifically that three-dimensional movement. I think there was three or four horses and they kind of combined them together off of a quarter horse-
Neil Dudley: Yeah, to make that machine move exactly like a horse feels.
Ryan Lofton: And so he mapped out-
Neil Dudley: Did you bring one? Damn, I want to ride it.
Ryan Lofton: I know, I didn’t bring one with me; I should have. Yeah, because it’s funny, people are always, and I would assume the same is true, anybody who is a horse person, they are like does it really move like a horse? Well, we’re in a lot of centers that have been on a lot of horses, and they’re like, yep, that’s definitely a horse. In fact, one of them said, like, “Is he a little lame in the back on the back right leg?”
Neil Dudley: Yeah, my experience is so tied to the smell and the visual of the horse and that kind of thing. So, I’m biased. But I think somebody that’s never experienced it, like this veteran you’re talking about, awesome. And even somebody that has, I mean, I’m just biased for no reason.
Ryan Lofton: Well, and you get these kids with cerebral palsy, and what is so beneficial is when a rider rides on a horse is they’re getting the- like they’re getting the normal human walking motion, which for you and I, that’s really not that big a deal. But for somebody who’s not able to walk, what that motion does neurologically, how that affects their core, which then affects their function of their hands and their feet. I was with a young boy the other day, he was sitting on it, his right foot turned in really hard, rode it for about seven minutes and his foot just straightened up. And so, their neurologist was like, “Okay, you go do that because if that can prevent you from having a surgery, do that as much as you need to.” And so, we’re just seeing that and there’s just story after story. And so we work with cerebral palsy and autism and stroke and Parkinson’s right now. That’s kind of the primary. There’s a lot of other functions.
Neil Dudley: Do you feel like this technology is being adapted at the rate it should be?
Ryan Lofton: No, because we’re seeing these benefits, like how come every PT and OT doesn’t have this in their office? How come every children’s hospital, pediatric rehab facility, how come every assisted living or nursing home doesn’t have that?
Neil Dudley: Are you just charging too much for it?
Ryan Lofton: Well, I think part of it is it’s pretty new. Dr. Garner, he was just kind of doing everything. And so we got a team in last year. It’s like, well, last year COVID hit, so you couldn’t go show it. There’s no conferences. Like virtually, you can’t- like, you’ve got to do the scratch and sniff test; you’ve got to get on it. The way PTs and OTs learn, they learn by utilizing their body and understanding how their mechanics work. And so, when they sit on it, you can just see light bulbs come on, and they are like, oh okay. And then I just start asking them questions – okay, who does that apply to? Who can you make that difference to? So yeah, I think the adoption rate will increase and will-
Neil Dudley: Are you limited by capacity for production or anything like that?
Ryan Lofton: No, that was one of the things that we came in and did, was create a manufacturing process to say, okay, if the trigger turns on and the spout goes, how are we able to keep up with this? And so created a process to the manufacturing that says, okay, we think we’ve got it down pretty good, and we’re going to create a really good product that’s going to last a really long time. And all we need to do is get people in and people in seats to train them up and do that. So, we can produce it, we can rapidly scale on that side.
Neil Dudley: Well, who knows, maybe the one person that needs to hear this is in the right spot and can make that difference. Maybe that happens, maybe it doesn’t, who knows. But I think, just from listening to you, I’m sold. I’m like why wouldn’t you, I mean, unless this thing is a $5 billion piece of equipment that you just flat can’t afford, what would be the risk to putting it in? I mean, okay, maybe nobody ever rides it, but-
Ryan Lofton: I’ll put your purchase order in tomorrow.
Neil Dudley: We’re going to have to negotiate. Cool story though. I mean, I think that’s for anybody listening, who may have an issue that you think riding a horse could help, I’ve heard it helps with autism and, I don’t know, lots of stuff, go check it out. What is it again? Or we’ll put it in the show notes.
Ryan Lofton: Chariotinnovations.com and MiraColt.
Neil Dudley: Tell me about faith and what role that plays, and just needling, just because I know you well, I know kind of that it is pretty important to you, but for the listeners or somebody that’s absolutely not interested. Like I’m going to interview a guy named Jason Wright in the near future, he’s atheist, he doesn’t- he just is. And I love him. We get along great, and we do business and talk about cool things he’s going to do and Pederson’s is going to do. So, this is not like pushing faith on somebody, but it’s an illustration of how it plays for you, and it plays for me in a big way. So, tell us a little bit, what role does it play for you?
Ryan Lofton: Man, it plays every role. From, I think, when we’re walking in here and you’re talking about the scripts that run through our head, so what you get told as a failure, you’re not worth anything or you just-
Neil Dudley: Or you dream that up. Maybe nobody even told you, you just inherently as a human start thinking that because you missed doing something that you thought you should or could.
Ryan Lofton: Yeah. So, there’s just a, there’s a ton of lies that kind of come into that, that play, and just knowing what Christ says you are, like who you are in Christ and that identity that you get and receive in that. Man, it just, to me, it’s a game changer. I’m still trying to learn and figure out, okay, well, what’s true, what isn’t, and how does that play a part? But for me, it’s knowing that he’s, like everything that I could possibly do, he satisfies all the needs that I actually ever have. And so, then that helps me pursue those desires and know that, hey, I’m a new creation. And so maybe my desires aren’t completely disordered and that he’s ordered me in a certain way. And he’s just calling me into like who I’m supposed to be. And so, calling these people into really greatness. It’s like you’re actually this, like you’re the epitome of his creation, like the highest, the highest piece and the highest value that he attributes to anything. The mountains are great. The oceans are amazing. But he says a human, that is the highest. And that’s just a, that’s an incredible thing.
Neil Dudley: Even if you can’t just put your faith in that, you just step back as a scientific study of the human, I mean, name something that’s close to that intricate and that dynamic.
Ryan Lofton: And then the function of psychology and all of that stuff. So, there’s just, there’s a lot of things happening in that. That’s the thing that guides me. And I’ve looked at a lot of other things and tried to chase a lot of other things, and they just don’t, they don’t work. And so, he just continues to prove himself that he’s good and he’s faithful. It doesn’t mean life doesn’t get really, really hard.
Neil Dudley: That’s the thing I’ve been talking about in Sunday school a lot is learning to embrace and love and appreciate the struggle, whatever that might be. Maybe it’s- Maybe you had a child die. Are you going to have enough strength to find God’s blessing in that? That one is tough. I mean, that’s a rabbit hole that gets dark and deep quick. And I hope I never have to come up against that one, but I’m actually pretty proud that I’m spending some time today just thinking about it. So, if some craziness happens to me, I’m not totally on the raw, just unprepared. I don’t know if you can get prepared, but I’m doing a little bit of work thinking about it. It might not be a kid dying. It could be my left leg got cut off. I mean, it could be a lot of things.
Ryan Lofton: A million things come in, and so everybody is going to be a little bit different. And I think, I had a pastor friend of mine just say, “Hey, what I’m trying to prepare y’all for is suffering.” And so, there’s a book called Shattered Dreams. If you want to have just a good, honest, and it’s a little bit brutal occasionally, look at what God’s up to in the midst of suffering, I think that book is phenomenal.
Neil Dudley: I would say, take note, go read it. I’m going to. I’ve got like five or six audible credits. Like I don’t read. I mean, that’s another kind of, probably most of the people that listen know, I, for whatever reason, I never picked up reading. And it’s sad because that means until the age of 40, I didn’t read, which I missed out on so much education, so much making myself better. Whatever, release that, quit beating myself up about it. I listen to books. So, I’m driving, I’ve got a commute, a lot of what I do for Pederson’s and in my life is going all over Texas or flying or something so I’m listening to books all the time and podcasts. Like podcasting is just the most brilliant form of communication. Like radio shows were great, but they just, you had to catch them at the right time. Are you going to be there? Was it going to be ready for you when you were ready for it? Where podcast, man, you can just take them in anytime. They’re always there just waiting for you. So, such a huge gamut of people, like I start talking about all the different podcasts I listen to with other people that listen to podcasts, and they’ve never heard of the podcasts I listened because-
Ryan Lofton: There’s so many out there. Yeah, it’s such a great educational tool. Like if you’re like, man, I kind of want to learn something about this, there’s a podcast out there and it’s probably pretty good.
Neil Dudley: Yeah. Well, or audible, like I’m going to get Shattered on audible, hopefully it’s there, and listen to it because I know it’s unlikely I’ll read it. I could try to read it, but my historical knowledge tells me I’ll fall asleep within about the first five minutes. And that’s just true. And you talk about suffering, I think another good example of suffering, it might not be as aligned with Christianity or faith as much, but it’s David Goggins book of Can’t Hurt Me. I mean, that’s another great, it is one still plays in my life of the suffering that he goes through and how you can’t hurt me. I think if you put God in your life, you can have that mental attitude a lot easier. What could happen in this world that really hurts me?
Ryan Lofton: Nothing. Like zero. Zero is it. Which also I think helps you say, well, what if I fail with this? Like it doesn’t matter. Well go, like you want to go do it, go do it. Like you don’t have to-
Neil Dudley: Learn to love that process and the pressure and all those things that come with it because that’s actually the thing. It’s not the billion dollars, or I say I want a private jet. I do want a private jet, but it’s not the thing. It’s really all of the stuff I’d have to do in order to make that possible. And I mean, it’d be kind of cool to just go wherever you want to, whenever you want to.
Ryan Lofton: Neil Dudley the jet setter.
Neil Dudley: Yeah, that’s right. All right cool. Thanks for that insight on where faith lies in your life. What about, so now let’s talk about the dollar and the Bitcoin. This is my canned question everybody gets. I’m always excited to just see- I wish the listeners could see the guests’ face. Most of the time when I ask this question, they kind of roll their eyes a little bit or like scrunch their nose, like what the heck are you talking about? So, what’s the value of a dollar and a Bitcoin?
Ryan Lofton: What’s the value of a dollar and a Bitcoin? It’s like Adam Smith and I think he just said basically, it’s the value that somebody’s willing to pay for it. And so even if you don’t understand all the intricacies of it, I was reading something about it the other day – when pioneers were going out west and they go try to drill a water well, they’d get this black, sulfuric, nasty sticky stuff on them called oil, had zero utility at the time. Zero.
Neil Dudley: It was just the next hole.
Ryan Lofton: It was just, it was like, gosh, this is the worst piece of land. And so, having an open mind and a perspective that says, well, does it have a utility or not I think is from the Bitcoin standpoint, and then even in the dollar, I think I’ve joked before is like the dollar’s value is because of the size of the army behind it.
Neil Dudley: Oh yeah. That’s the first time anybody put it like that, but maybe that’s true. I mean, the globe pays attention to the dollar. The dollar – I’ve said this about a million times, but there’s always new listeners so I just keep saying it. And if you’ve heard it before, you just skip forward a little bit. That’s the other great thing about the podcast. You just zip, zip, zip and done. I’ve heard Neil’s spiel on the dollar before, let’s get to the outro or the music. But it’s the leverage. That’s what, to me, a dollar is worth, the leverage it provides in the marketplace. I’m like, okay, cool, I can leverage that for a piece of chewing gum, or I could leverage it for ownership of a Bitcoin. So, that’s my take on it.
Ryan Lofton: Do I want to leverage it?
Neil Dudley: That’s right. Do you want to?
Ryan Lofton: Now that you’re playing it safe.
Neil Dudley: Right, now that I’m kind of playing it safe, maybe I better just, I want to make sure I see those dollars in the bank. I like that that dollar in the bank. Which to me, the banks are kind of a farce anyways because they could disappear. I mean, there’s really no security in a dollar. Like the security, the thing is what you can- your capabilities. That’s the thing nobody can take from you. They can take a dollar. Our government could crumble, the dollar could go to nothing. What can I now do with other humans that’s valuable to them in trade for the thing they can do that I can’t do?
Ryan Lofton: Yeah. Let’s go figure it out. That’s you’ll always be doing that.
Neil Dudley: Absolutely. Oh yeah, we should talk about your awesome sales email you sent me. Ryan actually sent me, I had to stop driving, pull over on the side of the road – I never do read emails when I’m driving, just so you people know. But I did have to stop driving, pull over on the side of the road, and call Ryan and say, man, this is the best email anybody’s ever sent because we were talking about doing some things together. Maybe we would employ Ryan and some of his counterparts or people that he works with to do some stuff for us, and in just a salesman fashion, he’s making sure I don’t forget that we’ve had this conversation, and he also bothered to look into the things that I’m up to. So, as I’m getting this email, I’m thinking, wow, Ryan cares about me. Like I want to- that is the best email. It makes me want to do something. That’s the trick and sales, right? How do you communicate in whatever form possible – maybe sometimes it’s a handshake, sometimes it’s an email, sometimes it’s a Zoom conference call, Google Meets, whatever, whatever platform you choose to use – but that inspires them to think this guy’s just not a barrier to my next lunch, which we talked about a little bit prior to this, this could be valuable to me. And you did such a great job of that. So yeah, tell us a little bit about how you got tweaked towards sales.
Ryan Lofton: Yeah. I just think it was always in me. Man, I would go get my baseball cards and I’d put prices on them and out there in H.R. Jefferies’ cafeteria, I’d be out there with a book of cards, and I’d come back home with like this sack full of quarters and pennies and nickels. I remember Mom and Dad would be like, “Where did you get all of that?” It’s like, oh, just sold a couple of cards here and there and got a couple cards I wanted. And so inherently, I was just doing things like that or just recall one time Dad said, “All right, I’ll give you-“ I don’t know if it was like a nickel or a dime for like that metal baling wire, it was just all through the pasture. And so, I don’t remember how much it was. It didn’t really matter. And so, I talked to Jason Day and I said, “Hey, do you want to make a little money?” I probably didn’t say it like that because, I mean, I probably was 9 or 10. And so I got Jason Day over and we just went in the pasture and I don’t know how many we collected, but it was a lot. I just remember Dad going, “Hey, next time I give you a job, that’s your job.” So, I was already saying, hey, it’s more fun to do it as a team, and you’ll be more productive, just haven’t no clue to it. I was laughing, I was thinking about that story the other day, just thinking through getting some baling wire with Jason Day. He probably didn’t remember that.
Neil Dudley: What I always thought, like so one of my guests is Ty Murray. But he’s just a friend of mine and he’s done big things in the rodeo arena, but he’s- They tell a story, or his mom or dad was telling me this story that Ty, they were going to pay him to mow the lawn. Well, the first thing he did was go hire somebody for half of what they were going to pay him to do it. I mean, that was just the entrepreneurial kind of thought processes. Like I’m not going to mow that lawn, and I bet I can find somebody to do it for less than they’re going to pay me. So, then I’ve got money to enter the rodeo, the thing that I really want to do.
Ryan Lofton: Right. And we call that margin.
Neil Dudley: There you go. I wonder, were you and Steven Lively friends, good friends? Because he is a lot like what you’re just talking about.
Ryan Lofton: That’s funny. No, I mean, we knew each other. I don’t think that we got to hang out that much. The only thing I remember about Steven Lively is that we built like a dirt bike course out by their house. And we’d ride bicycles. And then I recall some people doing some tricks and breaking their arm on that day with the [inaudible 56:25]. I won’t state the guy’s name, but I’m going to call him after this and tell him about it.
Neil Dudley: See, that’s fun conversation with people from your life like years ago. I love, I value that relationship so much because there’s only so many people that you know your whole life. It was just impossible to add very many into that realm of understanding – man, we came from the same place, we went to the school in the same years and that kind of thing.
Ryan Lofton: Yeah. I think I was talking to you the other day about just trying to be rooted. But we’ve kind of, we’ve bounced around a lot and God’s asked us to do a lot of different things, and it’s been great and fun, but there’s also something really wonderful about being in Comanche for 20 plus years and just having those roots. So, it’s my hope for that to be for my kids, too, to be rooted and have just some long-term friendships that, after 20 years you can go bump into a person and say, hey, here’s what I’ve done.
Neil Dudley: Wow, remember all that stuff, it just brings back those cool members. All right, man, thanks for your time. Everybody, thanks for listening. This is just another one of those fun conversations for me that I hope you all enjoy and find some value in. And luckily, in this particular one, I know our parents are going to love it.
Ryan Lofton: That’s right. We’ve got four good listeners.
Neil Dudley: That’s right. All right, that’s it. Johnny, wrap it up.
All righty then. Well, there’s Mr. Ryan Lofton, another episode of the Cowboy Perspective that I’m very proud of. I’m glad it’s going to be living out there in the world for people to pick up, take, use in their life however it seems most reasonable. I think Ryan would appreciate just the opportunity to share what he knows and his experience, and maybe even get some feedback back. I know for sure I’m interested in that. Well, anyways, thanks for listening. I’m glad you made it this far. Appreciate you. Now, go do your best thing. And if you loved it, subscribe, tell a friend. If you didn’t, tell me; I’m begging you to, I want to hear it. Y’all have a good one. Until the next episode, catch you around the corner.
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The Cowboy Perspective is produced by Neil Dudley and Straight Up podcasts. Graphics are done by Root and Roam Creative Studio, and the music is Byron Hill Music.