Same Preparation. Different Arena.
Most people know the eight seconds. Fewer know the part that mattered more, which was everything that happened before the gate opened. That habit is what turned into The Home Guru.
Ranch Life Does Not Come With a Maintenance Department
Growing up around livestock, you learn early that things break constantly and nobody is coming to fix them. Gates, fences, water lines, stalls, trailers, roofs. If you cannot frame it, wire it, weld it, patch it, or haul it, the work simply does not get done. That was never a hobby for me. It was the price of admission.
The rodeo years ran on the same logic. People assume the sport is about nerve. It is really about preparation. Equipment checked, rope worked, body conditioned, video studied, every variable you can control handled long before you climb down into the chute. Nobody ever got thrown because they were too prepared. That sentence has followed me into every part of my life since.
When the competing ended, the building did not. Friends started calling about their kitchens. Their friends called after that. Eventually people I had never met were sending me photos of contractor bids they could not make sense of, asking whether the number was fair. At some point it stopped being favors and started being the thing I looked forward to most.
What the Rodeo Years Actually Taught Me
The trophies are not the point here. The habits behind them are, because they are the same habits that decide whether a remodel goes well.
Nine world championships
Seven all-around titles plus two in bull riding. Consistency over a decade, not a single good year.
Co-founder of the PBR
Helping build a league from nothing taught me what it takes to construct something meant to outlast the people who made it.
Four decades of building
Barns, shops, fences, remodels, and a long list of repairs made because there was nobody else to make them.
Preparation over improvisation
The habit of handling every controllable variable ahead of time is the single most transferable skill I have.
Respect for equipment
Gear that fails hurts somebody. That mindset is why I care so much about the parts of a house nobody sees.
Straight talk
In rodeo nobody has patience for people who oversell themselves. Construction could use more of that attitude.
Five Opinions I Am Not Going to Soften
Every trade has its arguments. These are the hills I have decided to stand on, and they shape how every project I touch gets run.
- The invisible work matters more than the visible work, and the budget should reflect that.
- Permits are a free second opinion from somebody with no financial stake in your project.
- A contractor who will not put an exclusion in writing has already told you something important.
- Most homeowners can safely do more of the work than they think, and less than the internet tells them.
- Any remodel that requires somebody to undo finished work was planned badly, not built badly.
None of that is complicated. It is just unusual to say out loud when there is a proposal on the table.
Still Curious About the Rodeo Years?
That chapter has not gone anywhere. The biography and the old archive are still here for anybody who wants them, and I am proud of all of it.