Why Luck Never Beats Preparation

Brandon: Your heart will never believe that you’re going to accomplish what your mind tells you you’re going to accomplish. It’s not possible, but once you do the work and the opportunity presents itself, you’re going to succeed.

Bryce: That’s kind of indicative of the way our parents raised us.

Coby: Hey, Brandon. Bryce, want to go get nachos? All right, let’s go.

Nicole: Hi. I’m producer Nicole Denson, and today we’re talking with Bryce and Brandon Doman, two former BYU football players turned business partners. One is a product builder obsessed with engineering things that last. The other is a former NFL quarterback who understands performance at the highest level. Together, they’re the co-founders of Dominator, a premium basketball and pickleball brand focused on bringing a professional level experience into your own backyard. Bryce played wide receiver for BYU before becoming the entrepreneur and innovator behind brands like Way Safe. Known for turning practical problems into well-designed, durable products. Brandon spent his career in and around elite competition, quarterbacking BYU, playing in the NFL, and eventually returning to coach in his alma mater. Driven by what it really takes to perform. Today we talk about brand building, brotherhood, the people who shape them, and why focusing on serving others matters more than chasing self validation. Back to the show.

Coby: Brothers Doman. Or can I call you brethren? I just want to call you brethren. Where are we going today?

Brandon: We’re going to go just up the street a little ways to a restaurant that we love called Milagros.

Coby: Milagros.

Brandon: And it is a Spanish word that means miracles.

Coby: Miracles. Okay.

Brandon: And, the owner of the restaurant, Dave, is a dear friend of ours. Dave holds the down markers at the BYU football games and has done that forever. I have known Dave for a long time, and his Mexican food is second to none. Right. And we’re going to go in there and get some. We’re gonna get some nachos.

Coby: Alright!

Brandon: We’re gonna get some horchata. But he’s a great friend. But we go when we’re needing a miracle, we go to Milagros.

Bryce: That’s right.

Coby: I can’t think of a better endorsement. When’s the first time you went to Milagros? And what did you get? You remember? You remember?

Brandon: Well, I can tell you, we’ve been going there for probably 15 to probably 12 or 15 years, but we started going there right after on a regular basis, right after I got let go from BYU. Okay. So I was a football coach there. I got to know David at Milagros during that time. And then I got let go. We were exploring the option of going into business together, and we were going there on the regular.

Coby: Yeah.

Brandon: And Dave one day came out and gave us this special dish of nachos. He was like, hey, let me get you. Let me really do you guys right.

Coby: You know, nachos is my favorite food of all time.

Brandon: So you wait till you try this again. Amazing. So he brings them out. It’s not on the menu. He brings these nachos out and we’re like, oh my gosh, pork nachos. So good. So we come back the next time we’re like, Dave, can you make us those nachos? Then we’d bring friends. Yeah. Dave, will you bring us some nachos?

Brandon: Then our friends would come without us and they’d say, hey, Dave, can you make us those Doman nachos? Yeah. Well it got so regular that he put it on the menu. It’s called the B Doman nachos. So when you go to Milagros, you have to get the Bryce Doman.

Bryce: He was kind enough to call them be. So, just in case a friend of mine, which happens periodically, they’ll go there and I’ll say, hey, look at this, you got a dish named after you. and I always just embrace it.

Brandon: Your own nachos.

Coby: Of course, this is going to be awesome. I’m super excited. All right, let’s do it.

Brandon: Listen, we’re to eat some dang good food right now. You’re not just going to get some nachos okay. All right. Let’s do it.

Coby: Look at this.

Brandon: I told you, you’re going to have an experience right now. All right? I’m going to get you guys some horchata. You need to try this, about as good as it gets.

Coby: So do you- I got to ask, I mean. You’re a celebrity. Do you, do you you’re just. You bring this stuff all the time. No, no. There you back. I don’t have food named after me.

Coby: I don’t even know how to pop that open. I got to tell you.

Brandon: I got to tell you, Coby I, I am the beneficiary, and I acknowledge it, and I recognize it. And it’s been one of the greatest blessings in my life. But I’m the beneficiary of being able to be a quarterback at BYU in this valley, in this community. And there’s unbelievable people.

Coby: You know why they made coke zero? Because there were too many men embarrassed to order Diet Coke.

Brandon: You know being able to be a part of that fraternity of quarterbacks around here and I don’t take that for granted. And I take it seriously and recognize that, these people in this community, family and friends and those around and just been an unbelievable blessing to my life and, and this kind of stuff was hopefully, hopefully, you know, the byproduct of years of just relationships and building up, you know, those relationships, the trust with people that that I love and Dave is one of them.

Brandon: And but the community as a whole has just been unbelievable to me. And I’m super grateful for it.

Coby: Oh my. You know, I’m a natural, right? All right. Ceviche.

Coby: Oh my gosh.

Brandon: Oh I told you you’re going to have an experience. There’s only one guy I know that does it quite like this guy.

Coby: You know who we need here to help us with this. That whoever with that he can take about halfway. And pound it. Back for us. So I love how you guys talk about your family, especially your Dad. Yeah, I love that. I mean, that’s what I aspire to. Is at some point the future for my kids. When they stop bickering and fighting, they’re sitting around something. They’re going, you know who we need to have here? Dad because he’d eat all this food and wouldn’t give any of it to us.

Brandon: It sounds like you, you build those moments for them. So I would bet they’ll do that for sure.

Coby: I’m hoping. Is there a downside to it?

Brandon: Yeah, great question. As far as I’m concerned, there has been nothing but unbelievable blessings from it. I can’t think of one downside unless you. You know, unless you didn’t want to be recognized or, you know, if you’re shy or you just didn’t think that was- you didn’t enjoy that. But it’s not like I’m trying to figure out if people are recognizing me because that’s diminishing by the day. Yeah. But on occasion, you know, I’ll notice if someone’s looking over and whispering to their family that, hey, that’s Brandon and, and I consider that a, an opportunity and a blessing to, to one be acknowledged. But two: am I representing what I’m supposed to represent? And so I think it has caused me to have to really self-reflect on am I representing the ideals of this university and just the experience. And LaVell Edwards and all these people have had an impact on my life, my representing that appropriately. And I, I think it’s probably helped me try to rise to the occasion and stay the course. So I haven’t seen any negatives from that.

Bryce: It lessens as you get away from this place.

Coby: Sure. It’s. Yeah.

Bryce: Unless you’re at the airport on the Salt Lake City flight on Delta then you have a pretty good chance you’re gonna have the same reaction.

Coby: Or maybe Southern California and certain pockets

Brandon: Yeah. It’s been awesome

Bryce: I have to tell you though a little bit, one comment about that. Brandon. We just came back from a and so is more of a part of that, right? Yeah. Like, you know, you’re off in the middle of nowhere and meeting with people that you’ve never met or any of these business owners. And it really doesn’t take very long for them to recognize Brandon. You know, talking about you know, and I think that I think that that kind comes with having had that experience. So I’m very grateful for the fact that he’s had. Yeah. You know that whatever it is, same, I guess you got the

Coby: Exposure to a pretty big stage. Yeah. Right. And the ability to keep you cool in that state. Yeah, yeah. I think it forces him to be on his best game. You know, I don’t feel that. I’m just gonna say that he does feel that. I’m not sure. You know, we walk into a setting like that, you just. You just automatically on his A game. And that’s been a great asset to me being a businessman. The folks that are running this program in any in person, but especially, I would imagine, especially at BYU being the LDS church funded program, right, that there is a lifelong expectation of ambassadorship. Do they set that expectation, especially as the quarterback of the football? Do they set an expectation in any way that explicitly.

Brandon: LaVell Edwards set the stage for this? He cemented the legacy of quarterback play at BYU. He wasn’t a quarterback guru. He just knew how to create a culture to foster thriving quarterback play. And how do you do that? Well, you have to create an environment where that particular individual has enough simple successes along the way. In the weight room outside, working out in the classroom, on the on campus, in the community, standing in front of people in a devotional setting, whatever it might be, giving that person enough opportunities to to really rise to the occasion. But ultimately, you’re now going to create a practice and gameday experience for that, for that one spot. And he knew that as goes the quarterback so goes to the team. Yeah. And I’m just the beneficiary of going into a factory that knew what they were doing. And he surrounded himself with coaches and mentors and strength and conditioning people. And I mean, I look back and maybe the most influential guy of them all was the athletic trainer. I He was the guy that taped my ankles every day and fixed my shoulder. George Curtis was his name.

Dave: That’s just the warm up. We’re just getting started.

Brandon: Anyways, I just, I just I’m I’m grateful for that. But let me, let me, let me just turn the page.I’m the beneficiary of being the youngest of four boys in my family. And I’ve said this time and time again, I’m the luckiest younger brother. I’m the luckiest little brother in the world as far as I’m concerned. I’ve got three older brothers that have championed the heck out of me, and I don’t know why. How do you create that culture? I don’t know, I don’t know what my mom and dad did. I don’t know what my oldest brother Kevin did. I don’t know what happened, but these guys, they decided they were going to champion their little brother and have his back and root him, root him on. And I don’t know that I could fail. I don’t know that it was even possible that I was going to fail because I had all these, these flippin cheerleaders and champions providing me an opportunity and showing me the way. And everybody should have a big brother like I have, you know, I have an unbelievable big brother and I get to go to work with him every day, and I respect him so much. Not only do I respect him as a human being, as a big brother, but I respect him in business. I respect the way that he thinks, the way that he develops relationships. And he said some nice things about me, but he’s a pretty unbelievable human being. And I’m the beneficiary of Bryce Doman, Cliff Doman and Kevin Doman and so on and so forth. And I just don’t want to. I don’t want to forget that ever in my life. This isn’t about me. This is I’m just the lucky one, I really feel that way. This is our go to lunch, right here, this is the Chicken mango salad right here. And my friend, my best friend texted me right on our way over here. And he said,

Bryce: Oh, hey, let’s go to milagros

Brandon: Are we doing Milagros with our wives tomorrow night? We’re on our way here, so I will be back here doing this.

Coby: What I’m hearing you say I’ve heard this before. In how it came out in our workshop. Right. So I would like you to talk to your experience receiving all of this goodwill and not being able to fail. And your experiences being the one that maybe set up that direction for your family or participate in but I want that in terms of what you doing now at Dominator, because clearly coming through and in the work that we do and I’ve seen that

Bryce: Mind if I take that.

Brandon: Yeah. Run with it

Bryce: I think it’s positive reinforcement. I think it will help you get to that stage you have been plagued with. Like the feeling of deflection of the other night and taken from the river bed about two weeks ago. Silver House work just being down there home from it and being built so long. So I’m not coming here with matters that came when you’ve been there, whatever the periphery matter of the flash.

Bryce: And it was all built on PVC pipes and wood panels and every kind of fastener that I had knocked.

Brandon: Thanks Dave

Coby: Thank you. Okay. So positive reinforcement.

Bryce: All right. So to do that we have anyway, I was just thinking about my dad knocking down those contraptions that he built. The storage contraption you could go with spare parts like Lambda. And as I was doing it and just started to laugh out loud, it’s not just going to happen. As I was thinking about him and his wife, I just thought I’d stop thinking about my mom and dad.

Bryce: their essence and parenting was positive and it was all about, you know, how you where do you go? Report card. Look

Bryce: You know, and you got a good grade at school or whatever. And it was just crazy. We can’t both be constantly praising you. I’m so happy. You could see I didn’t know the difference. But now that I know the pattern of it and look at other corners, you can see how much joy they were experiencing minimal successes and it was an ongoing thing.

Coby: You totally felt seen?

Bryce: Totally felt seen, that is a perfect way to say it. I mean, as I sat there kind of reflecting on that, I just knew that the class counselor was so grateful for that, not so grateful for my own sake. I’m.

Bryce: For them. Right. Yeah. I think you’re trying to achieve that. Yes. We have people there. They’re going to come to spend eight hours a day on this.

Bryce: You have to say, which one of the plans for the see, and they can be seen, and they can be a point building something great. I’m sure everybody feels this way, but we definitely do that. We and.

Bryce: I think we’re trying to.

Bryce: Recognize positive things and really more trying to praise them, to create an atmosphere of positivity. I think that that’s one thing that can be upgraded is a.

Coby: I feel like I get more excited about beans.

Brandon: We’re good

Brandon: Well I think you said it spot on. Our dad used to always say it’s really important in parenting to stay on the same side of the fence as your child. Yeah. And I have played. I have made my mistakes as a parent or I’ve unfortunately gotten on the other side of the fence at times

Coby: I’m sure he knew that because he did too. Yeah, yeah.

Brandon: So you like my goodness Brandon get back, you know, climb over that ladder and get back on the other side of the fence with your child. Yeah. And that’s the same in employment, you know, working with your people that are working with you to to stay on the same side of the fence and really work cohesively that way, but also breeds into the products that we make.

Brandon: I mean, we want to make products like that.

Brandon: Give people.

Brandon: Moments to be seen. Right? Moments of greatness. We’ve talked about it. Yeah. Do we providing an experience for our customer, their family, whatever it might be to be in an environment where they can now have the home court advantage of my I’ve been seen and I’ve had this moment of greatness. That’s why we love pickleball. We love basketball.

Brandon: So we love recreating at the house or in an environment where friends and neighbors, 75 year olds, you know, senior citizens can be out there doing it and and be seen together and having such a great experience. It’s just.

Coby: An opportunity for positive reinforcement.

Coby: That’s what it always is, an opportunity for positive for other people to throw into you, pushing anyone. You didn’t get the benefit of that and the benefit of giving it as well.

Brandon: To be to be built now, to have enough positive reinforcement surround you where you’re being built up. Right. And we’re the beneficiaries of parents and, and, and an infrastructure of family and community that built us up.

Bryce: But how ironic for me. No, ironically, was that as I’m sitting there literally knocking down my dad and Bill with the podium and he’s been building me.

Coby: That’s a really good analogy you should put that into an article

Brandon: I love that I love the idea. And you know, we’re vetting through this and spending more time as a company trying to figure out how to create that mindset through every facet of the business. Right? Especially through sales and marketing, branding and product development. Are we developing a business that truly captures that mindset of building self-confidence in every aspect of running?

Coby: So skip ahead five years. Let’s wave the magic wand. Maybe we had five years. Let’s assume. And I don’t think it’s I don’t think it’s an unfair assumption that you guys have made the decisions according to the brand you’ve built and this ethos that you established, you stayed true to make the decisions over the next five years state, you know, that it’s guided you, directed you where you want to go.

Coby: What does it look like in five years? What does dominator look like?

Brandon: This weekend we’re taking our upper management team away for a couple nights, and we feel like the last many, many years have been let me state it this way.

Brandon: Let me state it this way every Friday morning. Today’s Friday, my wife and I are going to hike together and over the years we started to do the same hike. Every time feels and it starts off gradual first, first, maybe half a mile. It’s a pretty gradual, easy incline and all of the sudden we hit this 200 yard, maybe a 100 yard hill.

Brandon: And it’s no good. Mid is really a challenging hill. And every time we hit it we’re thinking, man, if we can just get to the top of this hill, we’re going to really enjoy this hike. And we have to ask ourselves, Friday morning we wake up, do we want to do that hill today? So there’s times when we don’t do it.

Brandon: We’re like, nah, let’s just do the neighborhood walk today. But most of the time we hit that hill and we climb it. I feel like Bryce and I have been on this hill for what’s called 12 years, where there was a group of years prior to that where Bryce and my dad went through probably some of their own big hills, but I think he and I have climbed that hill.

Brandon: The beauty of it is that you get to the top of that hill. You still got three miles of hike left in the majority of the rest of that three mile hike. While it’s uphill, you get the most beautiful views. You get to experience the beauty of the journey, right? But you don’t get to experience that unless you climb that, you know?

Brandon: I feel like Bryce and I have climbed that hill, and now we’re just coming over that crest to start the hike. Oh, and the view, the most beautiful views that we’re about to experience are here, and they’re just right in front of us over the next five years. And that’s profitable, sustainable business. Right. It’s developing not just competitive advantage but a brand that can endure the test of time.

Brandon: We don’t have an exit strategy. We’re not planning on walking away from this business and trying to get, you know, some wealthy exit someday. We’ve got children.

Coby: You’re doing it for the love of the game

Brandon: We love what we’re doing. And we have children that love what they’re doing and they’re part of it with them. People that work with us, that love what they’re doing. And if we can leave a legacy and we can hit five years from now, and that business truly is providing a sustainable opportunities for many people.

Brandon: And the vistas we’re now starting to see, are of the most beautiful views. That’s really what we hope happens. But it’s been a grind. It has been a grind to get to this point. But I feel differently today than I did six months ago. And that’s what I feel. That’s the exact same feeling I’ve had. Once I get to the top of that crest of that, that really tough hill.

Brandon: And also and I’m like, oh man, I’m starting to feel different. And then I was really enjoying it. We were still climbing that we were still right now in the hunt.

Coby: I guess maybe I sense a little bit of a differentiation. I think there is a little bit more of a sense of ease.

Brandon: Oh no question. Especially for me right now.

Coby: I had a question.

Coby: What advice would you give to a business? That’s at the beginning of that climb. Right now maybe doesn’t have a foundation. I mean, I don’t want to put in words. What advice would you give? Yeah.

Brandon: Thank you.

Coby: Who was at the beginning about the bottom of that 200 yards and, you know, wants to do it. And you don’t know if they do know how to get it. What do you say?

Brandon: I think grit

Coby: Is that what’s hanging up in your office?

Brandon: I think grit really comes from this individual toughness that you have to have. And whether you have it innately or naturally or you acquired it over time. You know, we talked about knuckling down and just being willing to embrace this fight like mad. He really means that. I think you make it. I think you have to really.

Brandon: Choose to have that kind of persona about you too.

Coby: Do it. Okay.

Coby: He’s serving us. I know this is amazing.

Brandon: So I would say that just like life is not easy, it’s not going to be easy and nobody is going to hand you anything. And just stick to business. An unconquerable spirit is part of this gritty desire that we have to have innately. And I think it’s in every one of us. I think we all have it.

Coby: How do you unlock it?

Brandon: Sometimes you need someone to help you. Okay.

Coby: So people you trust.

Coby: That see you, you’re willing to see.

Brandon: Surround surround yourself with Chad Lewis would say surround yourself with greatness. Find people that are going to help you find mentors. Find people that believe in you. And if it’s not mom and dad, then it might be a teacher in school. And hallelujah, thank you teachers. It might be a coach. It might be somebody that is going to believe in you and give you a chance.

Brandon: Go find that person. And if you have an opportunity to be a mentor to somebody, do it. For heaven’s sake, make a difference in someone’s life. When I left coaching, Bryce and I were trying to figure this thing out. I started reaching out to just people in the community that I knew had been successful business owners

Brandon: I said, out, I’m Brandon, football coach, football player. We’re starting a business. I don’t know how to do supply chain, overseas supply chain. Right? I don’t know this whole warehouse situation that we’re trying to resolve. Can you help me? You should have seen some of these people in this community role. Just roll out the red carpet for us and.

Brandon: Bring us in and help us out and show us what to do. I could name several people that have just really been great. Dave. Dave to a list. One of them here at Milagros is some people that say, hey, listen, you can do this.

Coby: It’s like that. A question. So push back. But it’s, because I be watching and go

Coby: Yeah, sure. I mean, I go, you know, like it’s the Domans. Yeah. Yeah, of course the red carpets can be rolled out. You guys are good, right? The Bushes aren’t royalty, especially in Utah county. We got kicked out, right two years ago. They don’t want to say, like.

Coby: And so you know, that’s a cop out. You’re right. It is not necessarily an apples to oranges, apples to apples. So like any other way to speak to that at all.

Coby: I want to nip it in the butt because I know that’s kind of a response and it’s not a balance.

Brandon: It’s an awesome question. Spot on question.

Bryce: I got asked that very question. Okay, I got you here. You got it.

Coby: A good question came from a student at the University of Utah. Oh and cheers. Oh UVU. Oh, yeah.

Bryce: So cheers. You mean it could have been Utah? It could have been somewhere there weren’t. Maybe you asked me that exact question and I said, know I. I think you should know what you create and you should really know what you bring up. And I asked him, what are you doing that we want to bottom out? He told me two things about that.

Coby: I also have zero in on unique combinations. And I said, man, you just totally made my problems. So if you have a team from you and I have no issue on that issue, that should be the essence of what you’re going to go build and that you have. And he mentioned, I have the ability to rally people to you, but I thought that was an amazing job of salt.

Bryce: And you are going in my experience. But he’s from somewhere and he’s building products.

Bryce: That requires these two skill sets. And so I think Brandon mentioned everybody has been building up on you. Maybe they do not like you. I mean, he’s got great ideas. But you do have a game.

Bryce: You have a little emotions like I, I wish I had that. Yeah. What a great game. Thank you. Go. So I would see so much more. You only got one more starting job and I’m double down on a really good amount and balance.

Bryce: And I think that that’s actually what we’re trying to do.

Bryce: Yeah. Well I don’t know. Let’s just focus on it.

Coby: I mean that’s a great question. I would like to know, go ahead.

Brandon: Yeah. Once you identify that I do think I do think you have to have dreams. I do think you have to have goals. I do think you have to have a vision of what you want to accomplish. If your mind can conceive it and your heart can believe it and you can achieve it. The hardest thing is to get your heart to believe it.

Brandon: We can all conceive it in our mind, but how in the world will I get my heart to arrive? So how do I do it?

Coby: You get your heart from other people believing in going, looping back to feeling that energy into and seeing something? And maybe you don’t see yourself?

Brandon: I think so, yeah, absolutely. I mean, those are those that are surrounding you and helping you have a big impact on me, for sure. But I also have learned over the years and partly and largely due to probably just again, how I was raised. But I’m going to say another phrase: preparation plus opportunity equals success. And I learned at a young age if the preparation exceeded the opportunity, then the success was far better than you would have ever imagined possible.

Brandon: If the preparation was less than the opportunity it was 100% of the time. Failure. Yeah it does. You don’t. Luck doesn’t supersede lack of preparation. You have to at least prepare equal to the opportunity in order to have success. And I think oftentimes we believe that, well, if I just am lucky, if I just am lucky, then then this opportunity that I’m really shooting for, I’m going to get it.

Brandon: It’s not going to work like that.

Brandon: You really do have to put your time in and you really have to.

Brandon: To do the work.

Coby: You have to go up to 200 yards. You have to really be successful.

Brandon: Your heart will never believe in your heart will never believe that you’re going to accomplish what your mind tells you you accomplish. It’s not possible, physically possible. But once you do the work and the opportunity presents itself, you’re going to succeed.

Coby: Yes, really.

Brandon: But I mean, it’s just that that’s something I’ve learned. And also and now at my age, I realize it’s ten for ten. The opportunities aren’t always what you expect them to be. And that’s also a true fear, is that the opportunities might be different than what you thought you were preparing for, but they’re equally as great.

Coby: Yeah.

Brandon: They’re equally as great. And you just didn’t know you’re prepared for opportunity B.

Coby: So the takeaway is to always be preparing. Yeah. Always be. Yes.

Coby: Always be working. Yes. Always be striving. Yeah. And

Coby: Our vision of what we’re preparing for, climate change. In fact, it’s likely going to. Yes. Right. Because that’s just the nature. That’s right. But, you’re not pushing the rock up for no reason up the hill. You know, if it’s for no reason, no way. I like that. So what’s one thing, though, that you used to believe that you know, the strong.

Coby: If you don’t believe that life has taught me something different, better, different, whatever. And I’d like you both to answer. And that’ll be will wrap here because you are.

Bryce: Not just not. And so that is you know, I think that this is very this is me be very home I love it. No.

Coby: Okay. Cheers. Diet Coke today.

Bryce: I’m wondering one of the downsides to living in an environment that constantly telling you how great you are. Yeah. For you to find out that that’s not always what everyone else thinks.

Coby: I love where you’re taking this.

Coby: I think one of the things I used to think is true is that people watch, you know, hoping for my success and they would probably be happy if I got a touch down. If I had success in business my friends and neighbors.

Bryce: Wonderful for him. I don’t know that I, speaking there consciously, I think subconsciously, maybe because I was raised in Miami, is constantly being raised on my own. Maybe it’s all the time I’ve recognized.

Bryce: That it is. For me. It’s not thinking about me right now.

Bryce: And my neighbors aren’t thinking about me. My friends aren’t thinking about me. They’re thinking about themselves. Yeah. And maybe comparing themselves to others and valuing their own success compared to me so powerfully for me. That’s why I think your recent years of my life are too.

Bryce: With praise or that. Yeah. Validation. Validation from others and so on and to do it for the love of other people to do what I’m doing for the love of what I’m doing. If I actually love the making of basketball, that’s my name. Right? So it’s become it’s for people. But at the same time and, and when I’m, when I’m realizing as I look at this thing and it’s a principle we all know and understand most true picture if I’m thinking about them, I’m literally trying to make it that.

Bryce: The thing that I don’t think exists for me, if I’m trying to, consciously find joy and successes and find happiness and I’m happier, I’m so much happier. That’s a true principle.

Coby: That’s my personal opinion. So, you know, the ideology, my personal opinion.

Coby: Conviction. I can.

Brandon: For made yourself.

Coby: Is like, you know, my personal life is, I can’t get where I truly want to be in my head up instead of what it cost anyway. So, yeah, you’re right. You’re all there.

Coby: Next to me, I thank you. Yeah, that’s to me, that’s the biggest thing. And yeah, that’s honestly, this is this is doing for me. It’s, No one’s grazing in there. I don’t walk in the Milky Way right here.

Coby: Well, he’s doing a pretty good job doing that. Any of it other than that? Yeah.

Coby: Anyway, it’s, I’m trying to get out of proving it’s proven. The principle of that is where you feel bad karma hits. It’s. That’s the most kind of jump on the page.

Coby: Yeah. Isn’t it amazing that when everybody’s looking for how they can have without money and without Christ, they just got to stop trying to get themselves and start giving each other’s time? Whatever it is that you can only own, that what you truly given up, that’s that’s it. Right?

Brandon: I don’t think we can learn that without going through life. Mine’s not a whole lot different. I mean, we’re being vulnerable and and I think because of that cultural environment that I was raised in, it took a long, a long time for me to realize that it wasn’t about me. And I’m talking to an adult grown man. And I think I could have said to you it wasn’t about me, but I don’t think internally I really believed it or understood it.

Brandon: It was largely was about me. And I kept getting in my own way and and fortunately, along the way.

Coby: And, and honestly.

Brandon: I think in the last 14 years of my life, more, more so I even look back, it was still way ahead.

Coby: It still has 14 days.

Coby: Until I started to get to know you learn.

Brandon: And you trust me, I’m learning. But you know, and I, I got I was in a university place where I had been attending sporting events for 30 years. I was the youngest of four brothers. We had been in the hallways of that athletic department for like 30 straight years, and I was packing a box up and I was walking out the door, having just been fired with really not very much communication from very many people.

Brandon: So I was mad. Yeah, I was ticked off.

Coby: I kind of felt abandoned.

Brandon: I was just frankly mad and there were a lot of emotions around that. But, but my goodness, that stretch of time provided the greatest growth in my life. And what it was, was brand innocent about you? It’s never been about you. It’s not going to be about you, and it isn’t about you today. So you got to stop thinking about you and just everything you said.

Brandon: If it’s if I if we can all get there. But it’s not worth getting there.

Coby: Right.

Brandon: And if you’re going to choose to now involve many other people in this journey with you, it’s not about you. And I think that makes it which, you know, provides me an opportunity now to just get out of my own way. I mean, if I’m if I’m having a conflict, it’s because I’m running into me. I think that that belief and the recognition,

Coby: Feedback.

Brandon: Gosh, has made all the difference for me. And I’m so grateful for that. And I keep running into that problem. There’s no doubt I, I still keep running into that.

Coby: Thank you very much for sharing. All right.

Coby: Okay. So I want to know why you decided to go into business with your brother, because lots of times that kind of stuff doesn’t work out okay.

Bryce: When I had my first catch at BYU as a freshman, okay, my freshman year, I just barely turned 18. And I was maybe 165 pounds. And, my oldest brother, Kevin, who had played at BYU, okay, was now living in New York. Okay. And he and his wife were watching the game. You know, they had no idea I was going to play as kind of a late minute.

Bryce: Hey, Brandon, give me a minute.

Coby: Hey,

Bryce: Right now, this is about me.

Coby: Not you.

Bryce: You hang out over there for me. So I’m so kind of late in the week. They said they’re going to play me on the first play of the game. Okay? It was not decided. My brother had no idea. Or maybe he knew, but I mean, it was he wasn’t expecting what happened to happen. So he’s watching the game with his with his wife.

Bryce: They’re living in, Scarsdale, New York. Okay. The first offensive play of the game against Texas was an 80 yard post pattern to me. Okay? And I scored my guy actually fell down. We faked a reverse. So the safety came flying up thinking that we were running a reverse. No one was out there. Just me. Yeah, my guy fell because I probably made a great move.

Coby: You know.

Coby: I’m sure because you made a great move.

Bryce: Yeah, because now I’m 55 years old, so I get better every year.

Brandon: And, did.

Coby: You do a backflip? Is that what the great move was? We’ll wait 260 for it to be evacuated.

Bryce: By foot later. Yeah. For sure. Anyway, I get I, I catch this ball and and run across the goal line. It’s, you know, it’s like a dream come true. I find out later that my brother Kevin is watching this game eat his wife. He gets so excited, he jumps up in the air and lands back down, down on the chair and busts.

Coby: I love.

Bryce: It, the chair’s in shambles on the ground and that’s kind of a typical thing for us, you know? Yeah. To know that that made him that happy.

Coby: Yeah.

Bryce: And I remember when Brandon was drafted, he was drafted in the fifth round and I was two years ago fifth, you know, first round. Yeah. Because I thought he was the best quarterback of all time. Of all time. Yeah. And it went all the way to the fifth round. I’m pissed off church. It started I even had some responsibilities there. I believe that I’m watching the TV screen and sure enough, they get to Brandon. And then now San Francisco picks Brandon and I literally I mean, I, I had probably the greatest sense of joy more than anything I’d ever. Yeah. I was so happy. So proud. Oh, that’s like so, so happy that he was going to go play there. Yes. And that was a team we liked.

Bryce: And he’s going to go to San Francisco. So I remember going outside my house and dressed in a suit. You know I’m in church is down and I’m sprinting down the road in Cedar Hill. Shoot. They’re just sprinting down the road. And I’m screaming out loud. I was so happy for him. And I think that that’s kind of indicative of the way our parents raised us.

Bryce: We just feel, I think, naturally feel happy for the successes of our.

Coby: So if you’re going to do something big, it goes without question. You’re going to do it with your people. You’re going to do it with your brother.

Bryce: Yeah, absolutely.

Coby: That’s really cool. Thank you. So. So, I’d like to get Brandon in here. I’d like to ask him the same question. So question that you didn’t hear before this question. You doing big things, having a great time. Why go into business with your brother?

Brandon: Oh, man. This guy, this guy is six years older than me, Bryce. And just the perfect age difference. I’ve got a brother between me and I.

Coby: We won’t even mention him. I’m just kidding.

Brandon: I’m telling you, it’s. You know, there’s a competitive juice between the brother that’s right next to him. We grew up boxing each other and one on one all the time, and he was just enough removed that he could, you know, be my idol.

Coby: So he’s a mentor to you?

Brandon: I was just young enough that everything that he did was such was so big. I mean, everything he did was just made life bigger than big. And so I really looked up to him. He was a mentor and and somebody that I have a great respect for. And when the possibility was, was given to me to go into business and it was a no brainer, super easy decision.

Coby: That’s cool. I, you know, I would I hope I’m solving for my boys to have the same kind of relationship. Yeah, right. And there’s that same six year difference, but really. All right. All it is right now is just lots of bullying and screaming. So maybe it’ll get better as they get older.

Coby: I don’t know, but.

Coby: What scares you? Yeah.

Bryce: I think what scares me more than anything else is doing something that negatively affects those that have that believe in us. Okay. I don’t know if scares the right word, but it’s a threat. You know, it’s something that concerns me and it motivates me, to, to be a little bit, a little more measured than I’m normally not sure.

Bryce: I’m very instinctive. I mean, I just, I just I’m not as measured as I should be. I know what it means to be measured even when I’m talking. I can do that. I can be careful about what I say, and I can be careful about what I do. It’s just not my nature. Yeah. My nature is to be much more impulsive or impulsive.

Bryce: Reactive. So one of the things that I feel like is a threat is that, I, I’m in a moment of being reactive. It negatively impacts the business or the people I’m around. So I’m, I’m really trying as we’re building an organization that’s more and more people to, be more measured, you know, be more, more careful.

Coby: I’m really excited about where you guys are at, by the way, just at the bottom of this hockey stick. I can feel it in my bones right? I know, I know it. Okay, Brandon. Your turn.

Brandon: I worry sometimes that in an effort to get ahead or in an effort to win, we lose touch with the goodness of humankind. And, in our experiences of doing business, both, inside our building, outsourcing with other people that’s going down, outsourcing with other companies. Gosh, we’ve crossed the border into Mexico. We’ve gone overseas.

Brandon: We just it’s been such a unique experience to get to know so many people in my heart, I feel like my heart goes out to everybody. And I love that piece of humankind. And I. I just hope that as we continue that we can maintain the dignity of humankind. And, I think as business leaders, I think it’s up to us to continue to not just to establish, but to maintain, that type of mindset of, of and, and responsibility to maintain the dignity of, of just doing good, solid business, and, upholding, upholding the goodness and the dignity of humankind.

Brandon: And I worry sometimes that the world we live in today, we’re just we’re just it’s deteriorating by the minute. And I feel a responsibility at times to not allow that to deteriorate, but to have to but to keep that, keep that moving in the right direction. And, and that worries me sometimes as I look at the world we’re living in, that somehow we’re going to lose that.

Coby: I feel, very, very much the same way. With both of your sentiments. I mean, Bryce, I, I, I live with one foot in my mouth constantly, so I instead of editing myself. Now, I just have resigned that I have to deal with the fallout on a daily basis. So I need to do it better too.

Coby: But, one of my favorite sentiments is that private enterprise is the greatest force for good on the planet. Now, and I don’t think that’s by accident. Right. And, I think you guys are going about it the right way for sure. Absolutely. Thanks for the time.

Brandon: You’ve been really, really great.

Coby: Thank you. I appreciate this.

Coby: Look.

Nicole: Thanks for coming along for the ride. If you enjoy Sweet Takes, be sure to subscribe and leave us a review. Join us next time. There’s more sweetness ahead.