Description:
Welcome to Episode 116 of the Reel Turf Techs Podcast! We’re diving into the whirlwind journey of Brian Harper, Equipment Manager at Pendleton Golf Club in Fredericksburg, VA. Pendleton, an 18-hole public facility, serves as the backdrop for Brian’s unique story.
Get ready for a tale straight out of an 80s movie as Brian takes us from life on the road with a rock band to delivering furniture and mixing drinks in the Florida Keys. But Brian flipped the script, choosing early mornings and sunrises over late nights and neon lights.
Starting as an irrigation tech and assistant superintendent, Brian had his “aha” moment when he realized the mechanic avoided weekend work – a revelation that led him to his true calling and the freedom to spend more time with his wife, son and daughter and time to pursue his creative passions.
Join us for a lively discussion on managing parts budgets, the importance of the turf technician community, and the intriguing discoveries spotted on trail cams around the course.
In his downtime, Brian enjoys making music, fly fishing, and even squeezing in some bass fishing over his lunch break. And don’t miss his latest outlet – stand-up comedy!
Tune in as Brian shares insights into operator training and the secrets to his success in the turf industry. It’s an episode packed with laughter, connection, inspiration, and a touch of nostalgia.
Transcript:
Trent Manning: 0:05
welcome to the reel turf techs podcast for the technician that wants to get reel follow along. As we talk to industry professionals and address hot topics that we all face along the way we’ll learn tips and tricks. I’m your host, Trent. Manning let’s have some Welcome to the real turf text podcast episode one 16. Today, we’re talking to Brian Harper. Equipment manager at Pendleton golf club And Fredericksburg, Virginia. Pendleton golf clubs, the 19 hole public facility. Brown is typically the only tech in the shop. Sometimes he gets help from the crew. He’s all John Deere, except for one poor lonely. Procor 6 48. Let’s talk to Brian. Welcome Brian to the RealTurf Techs podcast. Thanks for coming on man.
Brian Harper: 0:58
Thanks for having me, Trent. It’s this is going to be a blast.
Trent Manning: 1:00
Yep. No, I’m looking forward to it And we’ll just hop right in there. Tell us how you got into the turf industry.
Brian Harper: 1:08
It’s a little unorthodox. I got in late. I was 28 years old when I got into the turf industry. I had, I had done a lot of things already at that point in my life. Um, quit high school when I was young and to join a rock band, thought I was going to be a musician for the rest of my life and that didn’t work out. And then That, that’s a hard living. And then I was a truck driver for a little while delivering furniture, driving 26 foot straight trucks and popping into your living room and giving you a new couch every now and then, and then I became a bartender and I moved to Florida and I hung out down at, you know, the, the, the Mecca for bartending. And I was in the keys for a while. I was in Miami for a while, Orlando. I was all over. And then I moved back home. My mom got sick and I was tired of being in a bar. I was tired of not getting home until four in the morning. I had all those things. And in order to be, for me to be with my mom, I had to change jobs. And my brother and I were brainstorming about what we would do if we weren’t bartending and my brother said, I always wanted to cut a golf course. And I said, you know, yeah, that’s a great idea. That’ll get me up early and get me home, you know, and I applied for a job that was just looking for a guy for a string trimmer and and I got it and I never looked back really, um, started a place called the gauntlet golf club and Stafford, Virginia, a guy named Pat Spillane hired me. And I enjoyed it. I thoroughly enjoyed everybody I worked with. It was just different. And I’ve been doing it ever since. Um, I was in the turf side for a long time. I stayed on the turf side worked my way up to assistant superintendent after irrigation tech and
Trent Manning: 2:50
Mm hmm.
Brian Harper: 2:51
or whatever foreman. But I realized that the mechanic went home every Friday and didn’t come back until Monday. Unless it was a holiday and then he didn’t come back till Tuesday.
Trent Manning: 3:03
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Brian Harper: 3:05
So I was like, you know what, I’m, I’m mechanically inclined and I like to, you know, and I come from that operator space. So I got that aspect to it. And then I just I applied for a job at a golf course as the mechanic and. The rest is history. That was a long time ago now. I mean, I’m 28 years in this, this summer,
Trent Manning: 3:28
Awesome. Well, congratulations
Brian Harper: 3:30
Yeah.
Trent Manning: 3:30
Yeah, yeah. So, so good. So, but I did, I got to know how did you and your brother decide I want to cut a golf course.
Brian Harper: 3:39
Well, we like, we both like playing golf. When I was in the Keys, we had a, we had a country club, Sombrero Country Club, which is right in my little island of Marathon in my little town. Otherwise, you had to go to Key West and play golf, or you had to go to the mainland, which we did, both of those things. But since we weren’t members, one of the waitresses that worked with me, her dad was the head pro. And he said, I need guys to hand rake greenside bunkers on Mondays if y’all want to play golf. And so that’s what me and the chef would do. We’d go hand rake greenside bunkers and play golf for free. Um, Yeah. So, so I I’ve liked golf always, you know, I’ve liked the game too. And I’m very good at it. You know, at one point I might’ve had an 18 handicap, but I’m, I’m still pretty bad at it. I don’t play often enough to be good at it.
Trent Manning: 4:29
That’s all good. You know, you know, if you enjoy it, you enjoy it. And that’s, that’s all it mattered.
Brian Harper: 4:34
It’s a good waste of time for four hours. Yeah.
Trent Manning: 4:36
it’s, it’s like fishing. Yeah. You don’t, you don’t have to be good at it. It’s something you enjoy. Yeah. Um, a lot, a lot of people probably enjoy driving a car and they’re really not good at it. Um, Right. So
Brian Harper: 4:50
That’s right.
Trent Manning: 4:51
yeah. So was you and your brother bartending together?
Brian Harper: 4:55
Yeah. My brother was a, I was a bar manager down in Florida and he was a bar manager here in Fredericksburg, Virginia. And,
Trent Manning: 5:03
Okay.
Brian Harper: 5:04
and he was, he’s a, he was a confirmed bachelor. He’s never been married. Jumped ship and went into golf. Yeah.
Trent Manning: 5:11
Okay. All right. Well, awesome. Well, what’s your least favorite part of working at the golf course?
Brian Harper: 5:17
I mean, there’s, there’s a lot of stuff that, that irritates us, I guess. Obviously the, the, the sand is no fun for the, for the equipment manager. That’s a necessary evil. We all know my, my greens love it every other week. They, they love it. Like top dressing, you know,
Trent Manning: 5:33
Can you, can your superintendent really do a lot of top dressing?
Brian Harper: 5:37
Yes. So yeah, he really does. And we also have. I don’t know, Dakota Turf Tender on a 2020 platform. And it has a, you know, it has a little computer now that saves all your settings. And so he can go in and dial up those settings. And, and the guy that does it is really, really good at it. He’s just, he’s really good at it. Yeah. Now if the super does it, it’s a hair heavy, but yeah.
Trent Manning: 6:05
Yeah, that’s the way it goes for
Brian Harper: 6:07
And then, you know, what I really hate is the gouging of the big three on the parts. I’ll give you an example, like, you know, the foamer cup on the end of a HD 200 or 300, it’s a piece of hard plastic and a screen. That’s it. It’s 186. I just had to buy one the other day. And I’m just like, I know this does not cost anywhere near this to produce. And that kind of stuff just gets me sometimes.
Trent Manning: 6:34
now I understand completely and The big three isn’t gonna like me, but I’m not here to you know to get pats on the back You you should check out Try I don’t know. I just went blank on their name. Oh, it’s Richmond Industries, I think they’re in Idaho maybe somewhere, you know out that way You Maybe they’re in Iowa. I don’t remember, but just Google them and you can get that same collector head for the foam marker, or they also sell a little smaller ones and they are much, much, much more cheaper.
Brian Harper: 7:15
okay. Thank you.
Trent Manning: 7:17
I shouldn’t say cheaper. I mean, it’s like the same thing and yeah, less expensive, much less expensive. And usually like all my sprayer parts, I usually go through Daltmire, which I think they are Iowa. Um, and they sell, I mean, anything from pumps and all that stuff. And then I’ve, actually, I just bought a Hypro pump from Sprayer Depot.
Brian Harper: 7:46
Right.
Trent Manning: 7:47
You know, cause
Brian Harper: 7:48
I have outsourced pumps. Yeah.
Trent Manning: 7:50
yeah, if you go even like nozzles and nozzle bodies and all those things, if you go OEM, I mean, it’s rough
Brian Harper: 7:58
It is.
Trent Manning: 8:00
and you know, it’s, I mean, it is a bummer. And I understand, you know, the companies in business to make money, but it does seem excessive at times.
Brian Harper: 8:10
Right. It seems like they’re holding a gun to your head sometimes and other times they got the welcome wagon. Yeah.
Trent Manning: 8:18
Right. And then, I mean, the other strange thing is if there’s competitive parts out there, you know, just like tapered roller baron, say a lot of times John Deere and Toro, they’ll be pretty competitive on those parts, you know, within a few cents, sometimes they’re even cheaper, you know, so you really gotta, you know, to manage your budget, you really have to do your due diligence and check around and see what these prices are. Same. You know, same way with oil filters and stuff like that, you know, Wix oil filter may be less expensive, but it may not be. And then, you know, the whole direct fit thing and all that stuff you run into same micron rating, same beta rating, all those things you can get in trouble too. But I’m glad you, you brought that up. And I mean, I think we all feel that pain.
Brian Harper: 9:14
right. And, and like those two companies you mentioned, I’d never heard of. I’m, I’m 28 years in. I’m like, what, what is he talking about? What are these
Trent Manning: 9:22
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. you know, and that’s just I mean, really networking word of mouth. A friend of mine told me about Dalton Meyer and the Richway industries. Pulled apart a John Deere. Foamer, and it had a Richway industry sticker inside of it. And I said, Ooh,
Brian Harper: 9:43
I’m writing them down
Trent Manning: 9:44
people out. Yeah. Yeah. Write them down, man. Um, if not, you got my number you text me anytime and I’ll be happy to help you out and turn you on to those companies.
Brian Harper: 9:54
Thank you.
Trent Manning: 9:55
Yes, sir. What’s your favorite tool?
Brian Harper: 9:58
Um, my 10 millimeter gear wrench. It usually goes in my pocket in the morning and it and I’ll use that thing all day long It seems like oh, that’s 10 millimeter. That’s 10 and then on top of that. It’s the whatsapp group I mean the whatsapp group is so so beneficial and useful and And and not just fixing things and not just Maybe getting a different Point of view on how to fix something, but just the, the release, the being able to joke around with each other, or, you know, let’s, let’s all talk about the trailer tongues on the Sousko roller trailers, you know, that kind of stuff makes me laugh. I’ll, you know, every time I pick it up, I’m like, I didn’t get a good chuckle out of it. But yeah, the, the, the, the WhatsApp group is really cool.
Trent Manning: 10:38
That’s awesome that you say that. Not, I mean, you know, I never dreamed when we started all this and doing a podcast and then starting the community. I mean, you know, I never dreamed it would turn into what it is, but I’m so happy about where it is and I mean, you know, it’s a good group of people in there and yeah, we cut up and joke around and. You know, I mean, that’s, I don’t, were you able to come to I’m sorry that I don’t remember, but were you at the EM round table and
Brian Harper: 11:07
Yes,
Trent Manning: 11:08
okay.
Brian Harper: 11:08
I was.
Trent Manning: 11:09
You know, I hosted that and I enjoyed that so much. And I know, I don’t know if anybody else enjoyed it, but I had a blast and.
Brian Harper: 11:20
format.
Trent Manning: 11:21
Well, and I mean, it’s just, you know, a good group of people that. You know, I, I like to call friends, you know, it’s, it’s awesome.
Brian Harper: 11:31
cool group of folks.
Trent Manning: 11:32
And, you know, out of everybody, I don’t know how many we had in there. We had 50 people and there was probably, you know, 15 of them that’s in the WhatsApp group and that’s how I know them is through the WhatsApp group. And then from being in Phoenix, I don’t know how many people we added. There’s, I mean, four or five. Seven, eight people got added in Phoenix. And just the other day, John Watson, he was the Toro. University school, whatever. And he added two more guys, you know what I mean? It just keeps growing
Brian Harper: 12:09
growing. Yeah. I saw today you were like, you know, we’re trying to keep it to text now. There’s so many people, but yeah.
Trent Manning: 12:14
well, yeah, and I’ve had quite a few maybe not quite a few, but I’ve had a, a couple superintendents, you know, reach out and I’ve had some texts asked me, you know, what about a superintendent joining? And. I don’t know. I mean, I don’t have anything against superintendents, obviously, you know, I’ve been working for him for however long I’ve been in this industry. Um, and they’re great guys and all that stuff, but I don’t want a superintendent to be in the group and a technician not be able to be himself, you know what I mean, you know, or, you know, and not that anybody looks bad and everything stays on the up and up in there. And I appreciate everybody in there. And. Everybody being positive and just trying to help people out and not, you know, giving anybody a hard time because they’re new to the industry because we all started somewhere. I think I’ve harped on that enough. But, um, yeah, I just don’t want to open that can of worms and if it’s a superintendent. Cause we have, I know there’s at least a couple in there that are superintendent slash mechanic slash irrigation tech, you know, if they’re doing, if they’re doing all that stuff, I’m fine with them being in there, but
Brian Harper: 13:33
and pop and they’re doing
Trent Manning: 13:35
yeah, yeah, because I mean, you know, They’re just as much a mechanic as they are a superintendent. It just depends on the day, you know, they’re changing hats all the time, whatever, you know, wherever I got to put out of this fire. Yeah, for sure. But yeah, so and if anybody listening, you know, i’ve had a lot of people dm or text me or you know, Send me an email like oh, I heard about this whatsapp group. Can I get in? You know, just send me an email or text me or send me a dm whatever And we’ll get you pointed in the right direction You And while I got you here, I want to ask, what do you think about the different groups in there now?
Brian Harper: 14:14
I love it. I love the, the, you, you have the, the BS group and then you have the now what’s going to be San Diego 2025, show group. I like bouncing back and forth in there. I don’t give as much time to look at it as I would like. Like, you know, Somehow my WhatsApp got frozen while I was on vacation. I don’t know. But when I came back, there was a million messages and I was just, well, I can’t go through all of them.
Trent Manning: 14:39
Yeah. Yeah.
Brian Harper: 14:40
But I do love going through all of them. Yeah. And I got lots of WhatsApp groups with other stuff too. Like my Melrose, my Melrose group has a WhatsApp group.
Trent Manning: 14:51
Okay. Awesome.
Brian Harper: 14:52
And, and all of us try to stay in touch. We’ve done a a a Zoom happy hour with each other before. Yeah. It’s kind of fun to work that out.
Trent Manning: 15:00
yeah, yeah. That’s cool. That’s awesome. Yeah. And I’m for the people listening, start a WhatsApp group in your area. You know, I, I know Jr had one and New York Ben Beards got one in Michigan. Brian started one in Nebraska. I’m pretty sure there’s one in Florida. You know, I mean, there’s, they’re popping up all over and I know the UK guys, Matthew Axton, he’s got some stuff going on for, you know, with them and
Brian Harper: 15:29
my guy, Chris Fogg.
Trent Manning: 15:31
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, and I do think, you know, it’s good to have your, your local group. Two, you know, I think there’s a need for, for both.
Brian Harper: 15:42
right,
Trent Manning: 15:42
So, yeah, and you know, just that network of, especially in your local region where, you know, maybe you run out of bed knives or this machine goes down during verification and you need this. And the guy down the roads got that, that he can let you borrow or whatever. I mean, that’s happens all the time. And Like John Patterson, he calls me one day and he says, you got a front tire for a 2020 pro gator. I’ve, you know, ordered 10 of them and they’re not going to be in for three days. You know, and I need one right now. I’m like, yeah, man, come on. You know, I mean, it’s no big deal. Um, cause yeah, we love helping out our neighbors. Well, I think I rambled enough on that. What do you do to relax or find your balance?
Brian Harper: 16:28
So there’s a lot to that for me. I’m all over the place. I played music most of my life, but playing drums isn’t very relaxing. It’s kind of kind of aerobic and blood pumping.
Trent Manning: 16:40
Mm.
Brian Harper: 16:40
I fish. I fish a lot. I like to fish. Specifically, I love to fly fish. I pick up spinning gear too. I got one hanging on my wall in my office and it’s moments ready for any, any bass pond on the golf course. That’s one of the best things about working in golf for me is all the different bass ponds that I’ve fished and how many, How many fish I have landed and, and kissed and loved on during lunch hour. Right. You know, it was like, I got, Oh man, it’s lunchtime. I’m going to go catch some fish, you know, and I’ll catch four or five in 30 minutes and I’m just like, Oh, what a productive lunch hour. But yeah, I like, I like fishing for all of it, man. I like smallies, big mouth, large mouth stripers and, and, and shad in the spring here in the rivers. I love ocean fishing. I got my bug when I was in the Keys fly fishing. So yeah, any saltwater it’s, I love all of it, man. For
Trent Manning: 17:34
That’s awesome. And I can definitely relate. I don’t know how many fish I’ve caught on the golf course. It’s been a bunch
Brian Harper: 17:40
Yeah, it’s been a bunch. And then we have. And then one more thing that I do that I’ve been doing for the past year is, is taking standup comedy classes. I’ve taken standup one on one and standup two on one. And for the past year I’ve been doing open mics and I’ve done a few showcases and I’ve done one book. gig and I wanted to be creative. I could I was bored with just going to work, doing my thing, coming home, you know, and I wanted to be creative somehow. And I always played music, but you got to get a group of people together and schedules and, um, it’s not quiet. It’s loud. You gotta have a spot. You gotta, you know, it’s expensive. I wish I could paint, but I can’t. And that’s, that’s also a very expensive hobby. And I landed on stand up comedy because all he needs a laptop or pen and a paper and and and, and use your brain. And so, I’ve had a lot of friends tell me over the time, Hey man, you ought to be a comedian. You’re funny. So one night last year, I just said, Oh, you know what? I’m going to give that a whirl Merle. And, and here I am. I love it. I’m, I’m, I’m a little more than a year in and it’s been a blast. I tried to look for open mics at Myrtle and at Phoenix and they didn’t have any, but yeah,
Trent Manning: 19:00
Yeah. Yeah. That’s awesome, man. That’s so cool. And I mean, it’s so funny, you know, I’ve interviewed, you know, well over a hundred people and, you know, everybody has their thing, you know, and you know, it’s just awesome how we all do the same thing, but, you know, we’re all so different also,
Brian Harper: 19:19
That’s, that’s the beauty of
Trent Manning: 19:20
tick and all that stuff. Yeah, I mean, it’s really, really cool.
Brian Harper: 19:23
Yeah.
Trent Manning: 19:25
What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Brian Harper: 19:28
Technology. Um, and just being blunt I’m not necessarily afraid of it. I just don’t necessarily get it immediately. It takes a while. I, you know, it has to be real repetitive for me in order for me to get technology.
Trent Manning: 19:45
Mm
Brian Harper: 19:47
I can fix things. I can figure things out. I understand why this works or why that work. And then sometimes when it comes to technology, I’m like, how come this isn’t working? I cannot figure it out, just like last night when I was trying to get on with you, but eventually I figured out, Oh, it’s just my terrible wifi.
Trent Manning: 20:04
hmm.
Brian Harper: 20:05
And then, you know, yeah, coming down the pike with the, with this industry and this business and this job, if you don’t stay up with the times, you’re going to be left behind and I’m not ready to retire yet, nor can I, you know, so,
Trent Manning: 20:18
Yeah. Yeah. One. I mean, there’s unfortunate that there’s a lot of good mechanics that yeah, are, are here with us anymore, mainly because of that, because they didn’t keep up with the times. And I mean, I get it, but you know, you gotta, gotta embrace it. It’s, it’s common, whether you want to. Do it or not.
Brian Harper: 20:38
exactly. So that’s probably my biggest challenge today.
Trent Manning: 20:41
Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, I relate and, you know, especially electricity, electronics and all that stuff, it’s so intimidating because you can’t see it. You know, and I mean, hydraulic fluid, you know, hopefully you’re not seeing it, but you know, you can at least think about the way it flows through, you know, the circuit and what’s doing
Brian Harper: 21:02
Right. You understand how that
Trent Manning: 21:04
yeah, you can, it’s easier to comprehend. And I mean, The few classes that I’ve had on, you know, electrical and that kind of stuff, they try to relate it back to hydraulics and how that works. Cause it’s easier to understand that. Well, what’s the strangest thing you’ve seen around the golf course?
Brian Harper: 21:24
This is, I’m gonna keep it PG 13 as much as I can, but there was this guy or who knows, there was this person who would have these, let’s say trysts on our fourth fairway at this old golf course I worked at. And you would see the evidence the next morning by, there would either be a sheet or towels laid down and surrounded by little tea lights, little candles. He had, his romance game was on point, right? And I can only imagine that they would get, you know, showered with irrigation at some point during the night, which is why the towel and the tea lights are still there and they didn’t collect them. Who knows, maybe it was part of the plan anyway. But
Trent Manning: 22:06
Right. Right.
Brian Harper: 22:07
we would find that that guy was prolific. I mean, I found four or five different nights where he was active. Other than that, you know, it’s a lot of, we had, we had a, a hole in one camera on one of our So if you pay a couple of bucks at the clubhouse and you get a hold of one and this camera sees it and you get paid out the jackpot. Well, what it did was catch all these kids riding dirt bikes, jumping our sixth degree
Trent Manning: 22:31
Yeah,
Brian Harper: 22:32
tearing it all up. And they posted it on YouTube and found out who the little crazy guys were. It was pretty funny. That worked out, yeah. Yes,
Trent Manning: 22:43
Yeah. I’ve heard about people putting trail cams up and all kind of stuff, you know, trying to find, yeah, people vandalizing or the coyotes chewing through the ropes.
Brian Harper: 22:56
we have a lot of coyotes up here.
Trent Manning: 22:58
Yeah, well, I mean, we definitely have them down here and our superintendent had convinced himself and everybody else on the crew that it was a member cutting the rope
Brian Harper: 23:09
Right.
Trent Manning: 23:10
until he got a picture on the trail camp.
Brian Harper: 23:13
That’s pretty
Trent Manning: 23:13
Yeah, it was pretty wild. Um, he’s like, look, it’s just a clean cut. You know, if if it was anything chewing on it, it would be frayed. And, you know, I mean, he had convinced everybody good stuff.
Brian Harper: 23:26
That’s funny.
Trent Manning: 23:27
Do you have a mentor in the industry?
Brian Harper: 23:30
So I do, I’ve worked with one guy a very long time. His name is Brian Radebush. He’s a class A superintendent. He was assistant superintendent when I got my first job at the Gauntlet. Um, and he and I have worked together. The whole time we’ve worked at three different golf courses together, and we even owned a lawn and landscape business together.
Trent Manning: 23:49
Okay.
Brian Harper: 23:50
yeah. So, he’s, he’s a real bright guy, really knows how to grow grass in a transitional zone here in the mid
Trent Manning: 23:57
Mm.
Brian Harper: 23:58
Um, and he’s working with us now. He’s not the super, he’s the assistant because his daughter is in her final year of high school playing softball and he likes to be able to lead. At
Trent Manning: 24:09
Oh, okay. Yeah.
Brian Harper: 24:11
or whenever, you know, so he’s looking for another superintendent’s job, but he’s, he’s, he’s working with me again right now. And I’m working with him and he’s he, he’s a big part of my golf life. We’ve, we’ve been, we’ve been around the block together. He started his career as an assistant and I started my career as a bunker puke. And, and we, we’ve been together for a very long time. There’s, um, There’s a few other guys that mean a lot to me too. Jeff McMacken with Rebels Tractor. Jeff was a super that I worked for at my very first mechanics job,
Trent Manning: 24:44
Okay.
Brian Harper: 24:45
job. Jeff and Jay Wade. He’s a certified golf course superintendent here at Magnolia Greens. He was the assistant at that course. A guy named John Dunker. Helped me out a lot. And George James was the first tech I ever worked with. And he that poor soul. He he hated to work. He hated work. He, he thought work was the, was the devil itself. And the day he retired, I’m telling you, Trenton is tragic. He got sick and he didn’t last a year before he passed He waited his whole life to retire. And but he, he was something else, man. He was, he was a good time. He came from the automotive world and that was his last job until he could retire, but he, he taught me how to work on Jacobson reels, you know, early on. Green’s King fours and all those machines. Yeah.
Trent Manning: 25:31
that’s awesome. Yeah, and I mean, it is such a shame and I mean, I’ve seen it, you know, I don’t think it matters, the industry, whatever, but yeah, these guys, and I’m sure gals too, but you know, we just here. About the guys, they retire, you know, they work their whole life and they’re talking about all these things they’re going to do in retirement. They retire. And then a year or two, they’re gone
Brian Harper: 25:53
Yeah. It’s
Trent Manning: 25:54
and it is terrible. And, but it tells me, and I hadn’t been this wise all the time, but it’s something I’ve put together recently.
Brian Harper: 26:05
Yeah.
Trent Manning: 26:05
should have some fun now, just in case,
Brian Harper: 26:09
Right.
Trent Manning: 26:09
you know, I hope I live a long time, but if I don’t, I want to have some fun now too.
Brian Harper: 26:14
Right. I want to enjoy my family. I want to enjoy. Yeah. Fishing. And I
Trent Manning: 26:19
right, right. All those things. Yeah, for sure. Well, what would be your dream job or opportunity?
Brian Harper: 26:26
So a million years ago, I thought I wanted to be a tractor tugboat captain. I wanted to push iron around a Harbor, you know,
Trent Manning: 26:33
Okay.
Brian Harper: 26:34
those boats. They, they, they’re so cool. And you would talk about technology. Those things are, you know, joystick driven and, and got props going in every direction. I would love to be a tugboat captain. I think when it comes to being in turf, I’d love to be the guy at any major league baseball park. I love baseball as well and I think managing a baseball park would be a major league baseball park would be awesome. And then in golf, I think St. Andrews managed to manage the turf that old Tom Morris managed.
Trent Manning: 27:05
Yeah. That’s that’d
Brian Harper: 27:07
Yeah, I want to sharpen those reels.
Trent Manning: 27:09
Yeah, yeah, that’s, yeah, crazy.
Brian Harper: 27:12
Yeah,
Trent Manning: 27:13
Yeah. And it’s funny. So, you know, I’ve asked so many people this same question, you know, what would be your dream job? And it’s so funny, you know, it’s across the board because some people read that question and they think, well, what is my dream job in turf? And then like, when I had Bob Smith. He’s in the witness protection. We gave him a hard time, but being in witness protection, Bob Smith from a PGA Frisco, he said he wanted to own a NFL team. That was his dream job. So, you know, I mean, that’s, that’s, what’s good about the question. You can take it any way you want to. And we get all these different answers. This is just great, but yeah, tugboat captain. I get on board with that. That’d be awesome. It would be.
Brian Harper: 28:00
I thought so. At least when I was young, if my mom didn’t get ill, who knows where my life would have taken me. I might have gone back down to Charleston and started my tugboat career, but you know, I came back over and I got into golf. Yeah,
Trent Manning: 28:14
We’re glad to have you. What I love about task tracker is they’re constantly innovating and listening to their users. They’ve added dozens of updates to make our job easier. One new feature is the ability to upload manuals to the equipment. All you have to do is scan the equipment. QR code. And you have the manual and all other information at the tip of your fingers. You can even create links to those manuals and the work orders. And it goes directly to the page that you need. Make your life a lot easier and check them out at AASB task. tracker.com. Let’s get back to the episode. What technician would you like to work with for a day?
Brian Harper: 28:52
so there’s a bunch of I would like to work with you. I don’t want to name drop. Paul McCartney told me to never name drop. Right.
Trent Manning: 28:59
Okay.
Brian Harper: 29:00
would like to work with you. I’d like to work with Mike Rollins and JP. Austin Wright, I’d love to work with Jordan Raw Brian Applin. Um, I’d like to work with all those cats. There’s a bunch of Chris Fogg, Kayla Kip. Kayla’s awesome. Um, and then oh, Chad Braun. I just want to see how all these people operate every day because they’re, they’re really, really awesome. And then lately when I went to Phoenix, I think the new person I want to work with would be J. R. Wilson and his son.
Trent Manning: 29:31
Yeah.
Brian Harper: 29:31
seemed like they could baby step me through technology to where I would get it, you know. His class with Corey was awesome, you know.
Trent Manning: 29:40
Okay. Yeah.
Brian Harper: 29:40
that. Yeah,
Trent Manning: 29:42
That’s awesome. Yeah. I don’t, I was bummed cause I don’t, I was doing something and couldn’t get in there when Jr and Corey were doing their thing. Um, Bob would love to be able to attend that class, but yeah, I mean Jr, he’s just one of those guys and yeah, he’s a New Yorker, but man, I love him to death. He’s
Brian Harper: 29:59
Man, he’s awesome.
Trent Manning: 30:00
He’s an awesome person. And if I called him out right now and said, Jr, I need you here tomorrow, he would hop in the car and drive down here. And it didn’t matter what it was. If I, if I said, I need you to hold my hand, he would just get in the car and come down here. I mean, that’s just the type of guy he is, you know. Yeah, he is very, very cool and that’s something else that come up in Phoenix. I met, um, and why I’d met him before, but Jason Fontana, I met him last year in Orlando and he’s the desert mountain. He’s been on the podcast before, and it’s just north of Phoenix, like 45 minutes north of Phoenix and. Luckily John Patterson had drove out there. JP that everybody knows him as JP. Um, so I called John and I said, you only go up to desert mountain on Sunday before the show started. And he’s like, Oh yeah, it’d be awesome. I was planning on hooking up with Jason anyway. So anyway, we go up to Jason. I’m making this story longer than it needs to be, but that’s what I do and why I have a podcast, I guess, but we go up to see Jason and just, you know, hanging around Jason for, you know, a short period of time. I’m like, we are all rednecks, like every mechanic I’ve met in the golf industry. We’re just rednecks and even, and, and I think of this because Jr. He’s on Long Island. He’s in the Hamptons, you know, and everybody talks about the Hamptons and all the money there. And don’t get me wrong. There’s a lot of money there.
Brian Harper: 31:28
Oh yeah.
Trent Manning: 31:28
JR’s a redneck, you know, it’s just like, no matter where you go, we’re all, we’re all rednecks.
Brian Harper: 31:35
Isn’t he like a firefighter too, or the captain of his local
Trent Manning: 31:38
Yeah. Yeah.
Brian Harper: 31:39
fire department?
Trent Manning: 31:39
Well, and that’s the other thing that I hadn’t figured. I mean, it’s great that they got volunteer fire, you know, I’m not bashing on that at all, but the amount of money On Long Island and they have a volunteer fire department.
Brian Harper: 31:54
funny. Yeah.
Trent Manning: 31:55
Yeah. You know, that kind of, um, they are very well funded and I don’t, I never asked Jr, I don’t know exactly where their money comes from. If you know, if it’s donations or if it comes from the state or the counties or, or whatever, but I mean, I forget. Well, he told me, I think last year they had, he ran like 150 calls. I mean, a lot of calls because, you know, I mean, it didn’t, you know, people say fire department, but if you don’t know, that’s, you know, automobile accidents, that’s, you know, grandma having
Brian Harper: 32:34
God bless him. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t see, you know, those kinds of things. Yeah.
Trent Manning: 32:39
Well, I’ve been a volunteer with our fire department here, um, for a long time, but I’m not a fireman. Um, I volunteered, we had a rope team. So as a technical rescue team and I volunteered for the search and rescue team and that all fall. Fail under the fire department. And so I got a bunch of buddies that was in the fire department. And I mean, I’ve been doing that for what, well, almost 20 years now. And you know, over the years, the guy’s like, man, why don’t you just come join the fire department? But the one thing that has kept me from doing that is I didn’t think I could handle working a vehicle accident with a child. In
Brian Harper: 33:24
exactly where I go to, too. I’m like, God bless them because I couldn’t do it.
Trent Manning: 33:28
Yeah, I don’t, I don’t think I could handle it. I mean, run, running into a house on fire. I think I could handle that, but not the
Brian Harper: 33:36
know if I’d want to, but yeah, I probably could. Yeah.
Trent Manning: 33:40
no, no way. So anyway,
Brian Harper: 33:43
That’s tough. That’s tough volunteering right there.
Trent Manning: 33:46
yes. Well, and that’s the thing. I mean, you know, and Jr and all the guy, I forget how many just at his station, there’s like 50 volunteers.
Brian Harper: 33:55
Wow.
Trent Manning: 33:56
And I mean, yeah, big shout out to those people that are volunteer, you know, cause they’re not getting paid for that. And they’re having to deal with all the stuff that the paid people are dealing with. Plus they have to have a normal job. You know, it’s,
Brian Harper: 34:12
they get woken up in the middle of the night to go.
Trent Manning: 34:14
Mm hmm. Yep. Yep. Well, what do you know now you wish you’d known on day one?
Brian Harper: 34:19
I wish I’d have known how rewarding the job would end up being in the end versus, well, not the end, but later,
Trent Manning: 34:25
Mm hmm.
Brian Harper: 34:26
versus being jaded early on, jaded by the, the guys that I was working with, you know, who were totally jaded. And even I got. Jaded and tried to leave the industry a couple of times. And, and it just didn’t work out. I just, I found my way right back into the industry. Um, was an equipment operator working for a major construction company, an industrial construction company when they were doing solar fields here in Virginia, and so I was, you know, running skid steer and doing things like that. Doing that. And they, they laid me off at Christmas. And, and my wife was like, Oh, this, this isn’t going to work. And I was like, no, no, it’s not. And and I went back into golf cause they never laid me off at Christmas. So, yeah.
Trent Manning: 35:10
And I mean, that is another good thing about golf is, I mean, not that times can’t be tough and you know, things happen. Yeah. But for the most part, you know, it’s a pretty stable job,
Brian Harper: 35:22
Right. Yeah. During the pandemic, I didn’t miss a day.
Trent Manning: 35:25
right? No, I
Brian Harper: 35:26
Golf was huge. Yeah,
Trent Manning: 35:29
We still had to maintain a golf course.
Brian Harper: 35:31
that’s right.
Trent Manning: 35:31
Well, how do you deal with that person on your crew? You got that person on your crew?
Brian Harper: 35:37
We all do, don’t we? And, and many different facets of that person over the years too. But I used to, I used to be a guy that would, you know, you know, call someone a moron or get mad at them or whatever I definitely, and even more so, even since I’ve found this group and listen to everybody else’s way, they deal with that person. I’ve certainly try to find out what, That person responds to positively. How, how am I going to get that person to respond positively or even just, you know, not be mad at each other. Right. Cause, cause we all know when we are just angry, nobody brings us what is broken. And we get more angry because we find it put away or whatever. But yeah, I, I’ve certainly in the last few years tried to slow my role and just Relax a little bit. I don’t want to be my, my guy, George James, that ends up, you know, having a heart attack the day he retires.
Trent Manning: 36:39
Right, right, right. Not very good. I like it.
36:44
Get ready for tips and tricks.
Trent Manning: 36:46
Let’s do some tips and tricks.
Brian Harper: 36:49
All
Trent Manning: 36:49
do you get? What do you got for us out of 28 years?
Brian Harper: 36:53
So, you know, a lot of them have already been done. That’s for sure. I don’t know if this is, has been mentioned, but I like to take a little piece of half inch round stock and weld that to a deep well, three H inch socket and then use that to use the to loosen the set screws or tighten the set screws on Procore 648 blocks, the little three H square set screws
Trent Manning: 37:17
Oh yeah, yeah,
Brian Harper: 37:18
That way it gets my fingers and knuckles out of the way of the tines. I used to just destroy my hands on the tines. Especially if they were side eject or, you know, trying to use a little 3 8 inch wrench to loosen those things. And so, that is the way that I foiled that, you know. I keep the skin on my fingers.
Trent Manning: 37:38
I love it. That’s awesome. No, that’s a good one. It’s a good one.
Brian Harper: 37:42
yeah,
Trent Manning: 37:43
Yeah. We all, we all like making making our own tools.
Brian Harper: 37:46
yeah, right, yeah, um, you know, and I, even though everybody’s got QR codes and everything, and we all keep track of our, well, either our inventory or, or our maintenance through our computers and all, I still write on my, Oil and oil filters, you know, the date and the hours on the machine. Just so I know when I get in there and I just peel back whatever dirt’s there, whatever, I know immediately how long it’s been since it’s been, you know, dealt with versus going to my computer and figuring that out.
Trent Manning: 38:17
I agree a hundred percent and yeah, I still do it too. And as long as I’m doing this, I’m not going to stop doing it just because it is so easy to see. And another thing, another thing I think about too, um, you know, cause people talk about synthetic oil and you can extend your, you know, your oil changes and all that stuff. And that’s great, but. We, you know, in my opinion and my experience, I don’t touch the equipment as much as I feel like I need to anyway. So if I extend my oil changes, that’s less time I got eyes on that equipment. Because a lot of times when I’m doing preventive maintenance, I’m looking all over that machine for hydraulic hoses, you know, chafed or, you know, I mean, just all that stuff that can happen over time. I’m trying to catch one of those. And if you catch one of those, how much is that worth? You know, I mean, you can’t put a price on it, but you know, if you save a hydraulic line from blowing out. You know, that’s, that’s worth a lot or,
Brian Harper: 39:32
And especially from blowing out somewhere where we don’t want it to. Yeah.
Trent Manning: 39:36
Well, yeah, I mean, I’ll never forget. And it was a GK five, it was late nineties and one of the rear hoses, it was three wheel drive. One of the rear hoses blew out on number three green. I mean, I still remember like it was yesterday and the operator was able to make a whole lap around the green before it ran out of oil and stopped moving, you know? And I mean, it just destroyed the collar. And yeah, I mean, just terrible. So, you know, if you could prevent that from happening, what is that worth? So, you know, if you want to run, If you want to run synthetic oil, by all means run synthetic oil, but I still want to touch that machine
Brian Harper: 40:18
I agree with you.
Trent Manning: 40:20
when I, I didn’t say all that for you to agree, but I appreciate, I appreciate you agreeing with me and I like, I really liked the one liner about Paul McCartney. That was a good
Brian Harper: 40:30
Paul McCartney told me to never name drugs.
Trent Manning: 40:32
Yep, yep. You you learned that in class, didn’t you? Was that 101 or 201?
Brian Harper: 40:38
Who said that? I don’t know. Dave Grohl or somebody said it.
Trent Manning: 40:40
Okay. Yeah, that was a good well, let’s talk about operator training. What’s some of the things that you’ve done there at your place?
Brian Harper: 40:49
So I, you know, as soon as I got there, I wanted that. I, anybody new that’s coming in, anybody that’s been working here, I’d like to retrain them or train them on all of this equipment because first and foremost, all of it can hurt you. And, and, and, and certainly it could kill you. I, unfortunately we had a death at a course that I worked at, you know, guys doing something. That he probably shouldn’t have been trying to do. First of all, he’s trying to save the equipment from going, you know, into the woods or whatever, and it killed it. And, you know, if he’d have just let it go, it’s okay. You know, I try to let people know that none of this stuff is worth your life or breaking your arm or even a finger. Let it go. We’ll get it out of the water. We’ll get it out of the trap. We’ll do whatever, but yeah, proper training, man. I mean, how much money does that save you? Can you put a price on that as far as, them operating the equipment the way it’s supposed to be operated, you’re going to have less breakdowns or less accidents or, you know, any of that stuff, operator as my super likes to say, operator headspace and error, you know, but yeah. So I think it’s, I think it’s key. For not just, I’ll give you an example. We we’ve had a person that at our course, that’s been mowing rough for 15 years, right?
Trent Manning: 42:08
Mm
Brian Harper: 42:08
I’d like to jump out a window and cut my throat on the way down. If I cut rough for 15 years, trust me, I would, but, but this person loves it. Okay. The problem is she had a hydraulic leak on the rear of her 9, 009. It’s the smallest hose on that machine. But it was, it was, it was blown apart and she drove in. I don’t know how far, more than a mile from where she was to the shop with that thing leaking away. And I’m just, I was. It that it didn’t lock up somewhere on her and Everyth and I, and I just, it was a teachable moment of you’ve been here 15 years, when you get a hydraulic leak, you need to get it to the cart path and let it sit. You know, call me, I’ll come out and determine what we should do about that.
Trent Manning: 42:54
Yeah. Yeah.
Brian Harper: 42:54
You know, but it, you know, just something like that. You, oh, I gotta a leak. I better go in. Not being. Properly trained and that’s on me, right? So she’d been there 15 and I’ve only been there three, but I’ve, if, if something happens where it was a train, a trainable moment or something they should have known or safety wise or operational wise. That’s on me now, right? I can’t blame anybody else, but me. So, and that’s the way I like it. I don’t want everybody kind of guessing around at what happened or, or whose fault it is, if, if that isn’t even important, whose fault it is, let’s just fix the problem and move on. And hopefully it’s a teachable moment, you
Trent Manning: 43:35
No. Yeah. I agree with all that. A hundred percent. And the other thing I think, um, I need to do a better job and I’m sure there’s a lot of others that could do a better job also is coaching. So when somebody is out on the course and they’re operating a piece of equipment, you know, don’t pull up to them and start yelling at them that they’re doing it wrong, but just, you know, try to coach them. Well, maybe get a little bit closer here, you know, don’t get so close to those tree roots. You know, I mean, just whatever it is, but just giving them a little coaching. And I think that goes a lot further than. Why are you doing this? And I can’t believe you’re mowing that. And, you know, I mean, all the things that I’m guilty of doing,
Brian Harper: 44:22
Right. Me
Trent Manning: 44:23
you know, I
Brian Harper: 44:24
But I do, I do like this. Like say we get a, a, um, a seasonal guy comes in, he’s going to mow fairways all summer, right? I mean, it’s basically what he’s going to do all summer long. I, I stay with that guy for 18 holes when
Trent Manning: 44:41
Oh, wow. Okay.
Brian Harper: 44:42
I let them know every little thing that’s coming, whether it’s drain inlets, whether it’s you know, sprinkler heads, what to look for with that. I stay with them that entire day. And then the next day I released them. And then, you know, Usually I don’t have too many problems with them if I stay with them. But yeah, yeah. No matter what it is, T’s or whatever, you know, cause every, you know, every T’s different, every green’s different, um, you know, where to turn three point turns, where not to turn, where are you going to tear up the collar? Are you going to tear up the rough? You know, you might have to move all the way down to the front of the green to turn around or the back of the green to turn around, but. Yeah, and they don’t know that right away. You know, you can teach them to drop the buckets and pick them up and, and to do a light bulb turn or whatever, but all the little idiosyncrasies in the, in the minutiae, that’s hard to train. So you have to be there with them to point that out, I think. And that’s what I like to do. Yeah.
Trent Manning: 45:40
That’s really, really good because I know, I mean, I’ve been doing this plenty long and most of the time they say, you know, basically this is the way you start it, you know, this is the gas, this is the break, enjoy your ride,
Brian Harper: 45:55
Yeah, yeah, right around in the shop yard for a minute. So you get used to it.
Trent Manning: 45:59
Right. Yeah. And yeah, we, we definitely, a lot of us could do a lot better job on training. And I think that’s awesome that you spend that much time with them. And I think that’s, you know, the other thing that I would think it would tell an employee is this must be really important. If they’re going to stay with me, the whole Four hours. I’m out here, however long it is to Mo fairways. Like, yeah, this must be pretty important.
Brian Harper: 46:30
And like you said, it’s coaching, you know, so I’m there for that four hours. I’m not talking to him the whole time. I’m not overcoaching him. But whenever I see something that either comes up or they look at me and they know something was weird about their, Turn or their line or whatever it may be. They’re doing, whether they’re running lines or whether they’re checkerboarding or doing a tuxedo cut or, you know, and I try to explain to them all of that. I try to explain to them why the grass has different colors and it’s rolled over and you’re seeing the top half and the underside, but, you know, the, you know, explain as much to them as I can so that they get it, you know, so that they understand why they’re doing what they’re doing, not just doing what they’re doing.
Trent Manning: 47:09
No, I think that’s really good. And yeah, I’ve tried, you know, over the years, like operators washing equipment and show them, you know, why. That we need it washed what we’re trying to do in the shop, you know, checking the cut and checking the hop. And if it’s packed full of grass, you can’t stick a piece of paper in there and see if it cuts, you know, it doesn’t work that way. So, you know, help us help you type thing. And I do think that goes further than just yelling at a person and saying, watch this better, you know, next time. So. And same thing, like if I put a fairway mower up on a lift and I see a bunch of, you know, Clippings up under there, I’ll bring the operator over and say, you know, next time when you’re out there washing, you know, I know you got to bend over a little bit, but try to spray up in here, you know, and try to relate to them and try to give them a little coaching. And I think, I think it’ll go a long way. We got anything else you want to add on that?
Brian Harper: 48:13
no, I think that’s about that. That’s about it for that.
Trent Manning: 48:17
Well, let’s do some rapid fire.
Brian Harper: 48:19
Okay. Yeah. All
Trent Manning: 48:22
Get ready. What’s your favorite movie?
Brian Harper: 48:27
Comedy is a caddyshack. Drama is Shawshank Redemption.
Trent Manning: 48:31
Oh, wow. Yeah. Both great, great movies, man. We could talk about, I could talk about Caddyshack all day for sure. It’s
Brian Harper: 48:39
usually do. Yeah.
Trent Manning: 48:40
Yeah. Well, yeah. How much, how many times does Caddyshack come out through the week at the golf course?
Brian Harper: 48:47
Oh, a bunch.
Trent Manning: 48:49
Yeah. Yeah. A bunch of it. Yeah. Always. Yeah. One liners from Caddyshack. I love it. What would be your last meal?
Brian Harper: 48:58
So I think I would, if it was going to be the last meal I was going to eat, I would have to get brisket, Dirty rice and cornbread from ZZQ Texas craft barbecue in Richmond, Virginia.
Trent Manning: 49:09
Oh,
Brian Harper: 49:10
Very specific. Yeah, it is. It’s, and a cold Modelo. It is, it’s a 30 lunch, but I don’t care. I pay it every time. Brisket’s so crazy expensive, but it’s so good. Yeah.
Trent Manning: 49:24
Well, if I ever get back through Richmond, I’m definitely going to check that out and I’ll give you a call. We’ll run over there together. That’d be
Brian Harper: 49:33
absolutely.
Trent Manning: 49:34
What are you most proud of beside your family?
Brian Harper: 49:37
Oh, wow. You took the words right out of my mouth then.
Trent Manning: 49:40
Well, and let’s talk, you know, I, I want to, I want to hear what you’re proud about. Other than your family, but I don’t want to leave family out of it. So tell me about your family.
Brian Harper: 49:54
So right. And thank you. And I think that’s important too because they live this life with us, right? My wife Patricia, we’ve been married 27 years
Trent Manning: 50:06
Congratulations. Awesome.
Brian Harper: 50:09
we have two kids. My son, Max, who’s 23 and my daughter, Lily, who’s 20. And Max is a baseball player. He’s in he’s in the great state of Kentucky playing for the University of the Cumberlands right now. And my, my daughter lives with us, but goes to school. She’s a community college, a local community college. And she works she works at Cheddar’s as a waitress. And,
Trent Manning: 50:31
Okay. Awesome.
Brian Harper: 50:32
she’s, she’s funny, man. That, that, that thing makes me laugh. My, my daughter, my daughter has the funny thing too. Yeah. Yeah.
Trent Manning: 50:42
good.
Brian Harper: 50:43
And then we got our dogs that we love Bo and, and, and Bell. But yeah. And then what I’m most proud of other than those people, I’m most proud of the employee I’ve become over time or the friend that I’ve become over time to people or the mentorship I’ve given several people. I’m proud of that. Um, I coached baseball for a long time with my kid playing as a youngster. And, and, and a lot of that was very rewarding to me. And I was proud of that.
Trent Manning: 51:12
No, that’s awesome. That’s so good. And I want to tell you that I want to apologize first off for waiting this long to have you on the podcast, because we’ve known each other, at least known of each other for quite some time. And I will never forget. Being in Myrtle beach, I don’t remember what year it was, but I remember where we were and you come up and introduced yourself and you told me how much the podcast meant to you
Brian Harper: 51:44
It does.
Trent Manning: 51:45
that has stuck with me so long and just, you know, that one experience meeting you, you tell me that made me say everything, every hour I’ve spent, um, every dollar I’ve spent. Was worth doing this because it helped Brian. I’m serious. That’s just the way it made me
Brian Harper: 52:10
right in the old ticker too. Thank you. And I appreciate that. And I’m telling you, when I found the podcast, I was like, Oh man, my people, they understand what I’m going through. And, and it’s been fun. I mean, the podcast is great. It’s in this whole community that you’ve created is just, Killer. I mean, on every level don’t know. What was I going to say about Eplin? Oh, Eplin kept saying, you’ve been on the podcast. And I was like, no, man, I said, that’s, that’s not really up to me. You can just ask him. That’s what I did. And, and, and, and, and I, and you, and you have put that out there for sure. It wasn’t like, you know, I was unaware, but I was just like, I don’t want to feel like I, I just, I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to, I don’t know. I felt like I’d be like, I want to be on your thing. But anyway, I’m very glad that we talked in Phoenix and I’m so glad that you hold me in that regard and, and that’s awesome now that’s what I’m most proud.
Trent Manning: 53:07
Oh, that’s awesome, man. No, that’s good. Good, good stuff. Yeah. And while we’re talking about that, anybody right now, listen to the podcast. If you want to do this, just reach out to me. And it’s as easy as that. I’ll send you the list of questions. If you got any questions you can ask me, I mean, I try to make it as painless as possible
Brian Harper: 53:31
It is very easy, even though I screwed it up last night. It’s very
Trent Manning: 53:34
Well, no, that was, you know, technical difficulties. Those are going to happen. That ain’t, that ain’t nobody’s fault. Um, But yeah, if you, if you’re interested and if you’re like Brian and you’re sitting there like, I don’t want to reach out, just do it, man. Get out of your comfort zone. I say it all the time in the classes and talks. I do get out of your comfort zone.
Brian Harper: 53:54
Yes. And that, and that is, that’s also why I did the comedy, the standup comedy. That’s, that is not a comfortable scenario to stand up and go, Hey, what I’m going to tell you right now, I think is hysterical. I sure hope you do. I mean, that is, that’s scary, you
Trent Manning: 54:09
Oh yeah. Yeah, no, that’s serious. Out of
Brian Harper: 54:11
but I loved it. I still love, I mean, I’m loving it. I’m trying to do at least one or two open mics every month, you know?
Trent Manning: 54:18
Awesome. That’s so cool. Yeah. And I mean, I know it’s probably harder than it is. To do it than to say it, but, you know, living outside your comfort zone. I don’t, I mean, if I hadn’t have done that, I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you today and just like you coming up and speaking to me and Myrtle beach that year. You know, if you hadn’t have done that, I ain’t saying I would have quit, but, you know, I mean, that really impacted me, you know, to say this is worth doing. And, you know, well, and honestly, it’s, you know, I don’t want to, Take all the credit away, but you know, that that’s happened several times with other people and you know, like when we, when we did the mental health episodes and, um, a guy in the WhatsApp group said he was going to go get mental health. Or I mean, you know, go seek help, professional help. And I’m like, man, everything we did is worth it. It’s worth every bit of it. If this one person goes and gets help.
Brian Harper: 55:22
The, yeah,
Trent Manning: 55:23
so yeah, this is
Brian Harper: 55:24
Phoenix show, the Pete grass and T Dunning and the the other lady, I can’t remember her name. I’m, I apologize for that, but they gave a mental health seminar. I was sitting with Kayla and Kayla told me, oh, these people are great. You’re going to love this. And, and at the end I did love it. Awesome. And I think all of us could use, you know, a little a little help in that area all the time. You know, it’s it’s, there’s nothing, you know, there’s nothing bad about talking to somebody and getting things off your chest and letting them maybe give you another point of view or another angle of attack on how you might want to deal with something. It’s, it’s a good thing. Yeah.
Trent Manning: 56:04
Oh yeah, for sure. And I mean, I don’t want to turn this into a mental health here and I’m ready as it’s going on to about an hour and it’s probably time to wrap it up, but I have to say this. So I started seeing a therapist over a year ago. And it took me a while. I think, I don’t remember if it was the third or fourth therapist that I went to before I found somebody that I kind of jived with
Brian Harper: 56:32
Right. That’s important. Yeah.
Trent Manning: 56:34
yeah, and you know, nothing against this one lady I saw, but I see her one time and. I don’t, she was, I don’t know, she’s probably late twenties ish or something like that. So, you know, immediately I’m like, okay, I don’t know about this. And so anyway, she said, it says here that you have a podcast. That’s not right. Is it? And I’m like, yeah, that’s right. So I kind of knew then like, okay, she doesn’t get me at all. Um, so anyway, if you are trying to You know, do some therapy. It might take you a minute to find one that you connect with. And then the other thing I want to warn you. Is your therapist will make you feel not very smart quite often. So I was talking to my therapist one day, because I do have a problem with a negative talk, personal negative talk. Like, you know, you idiot, you dummy, you know, why are you doing this? You know, better than that, you should be smarter. You know, I mean, all the things I heard from my dad, probably
Brian Harper: 57:43
same thing, yeah.
Trent Manning: 57:44
um, Is, is where I’m thinking of that about. But anyway, she said or I was telling her I wanted to work on not doing as much negative talk. And she says, have you ever thought of positive talk? And I’m like, what, what, what is going on here? There’s such thing as positive talk. No way you’re making this up. So anyway, I mean, it’s just, yeah, so good. Um, and it’s helped me so much because I mean, honestly, you know, I’m 45 years old. I’ll be 46 this year. And I didn’t really know what made me happy until, you know, six months ago or eight months ago or whenever it was within the last year, you know?
Brian Harper: 58:31
now you know.
Trent Manning: 58:32
Right. And now I know what, you know, and the people around me notice it, you know, my family notices it, my daughters and all that, you know, that I’m not the same old asshole I used to be. You know, and, and
Brian Harper: 58:48
good for you.
Trent Manning: 58:49
been great. And I’m saying all that to bring home, get out of your comfort zone.
Brian Harper: 58:55
Right.
Trent Manning: 58:56
And especially for men like us, it’s really hard to, you know, pour your feelings out there. You know, I mean, it’s, it’s tough and you know, the way we’re, you know, our culture or whatever, it’s, you know, all those things. But anyway, tell the listeners how they could get ahold of you.
Brian Harper: 59:20
So, on Twitter, or form, or X, formally known as Twitter, I don’t know how to say it. B. H. Jenkins. Right. At BH Jenkins. Um, that’s my nickname, bullet Head Jenkins. And so
Trent Manning: 59:31
Okay. Okay.
Brian Harper: 59:33
my, my nickname has a last name and it’s Jenkins yeah, And then I have an email if you wanna reach out to me, comedy wise bhj comedy@gmail.com.
Trent Manning: 59:43
Okay. Awesome. That’s so good. Well, thank you so much, Brian, for being on. And I’m sorry if I rambled too much there at the end,
Brian Harper: 59:52
I enjoyed the conversation.
Trent Manning: 59:54
you know, I, I do, I am really passionate about all those things and I am very thankful for you and what you did, um, early on when, you know, this was first started and I apologize again for not having you on sooner.
Brian Harper: 1:00:09
You don’t have to apologize. It’s all good. Thank you for those kind words. And, and, and likewise, because the podcast gave me another breath of fresh air, my man.
Trent Manning: 1:00:19
That’s awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for listening to the Reel turf techs podcast. I hope you learned something today. Don’t forget to subscribe. If you have any topics you’d like to discuss, or you’d like to be a guest, find us on Twitter at Reel turf techs.