Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] You. Hey, everybody in Frisco and beyond, welcome to hustle and pro. This is episode number 184. I'm your host, Kelly Walker. By my count, in 2023, we did 16 episodes. That's less than I have done in previous years. You don't get to 184 in six years or five years by only doing that many. But a couple things have changed in my schedule. I'm going to talk about that, too, but I want to just touch on who we had on last year because I like to look back and see who our guests were and what kind of stood out to me the most. First up is Katie Spud Floyd. Katie is the host and personality at the Frisco Rough Riders games. I have seen her for years and was excited to finally get to interview her. I loved learning about her love of music and actually recording at her job when she teaches music. So next up was Jesus Ferreira and Paul Areola of FC Dallas. They are us men's national team players and kind of the faces of FC Dallas. So it was really fun to have just a few minutes with them at one of the FC Dallas events where I got to kind of pull them aside and ask them a couple questions before the season started.
[00:01:16] Then we had another soccer episode, which was Addison Christian, and she is a high school soccer player following her mom's footsteps as a UNT legacy player. And I loved knowing that or seeing the pictures of her in her little UNT outfits when she was a baby and just knowing that that's her future. I just think it's a really cool connection with her and her mom.
[00:01:42] And then we had Kip Rogers on a repeat guest, and this was really about lies that athletes tell themselves. And this was like a hard episode because it was just about mental toughness and how we do sometimes accept lies that get us down. So we talked through some of the most common lies that she sees in her office from athletes.
[00:02:05] Then we had episode 172 was the most watched and most popular episode of the year, and one of my favorites, Bernard Kamungo. So this was an FC Dallas player who was really new on the scene. He was not a homegrown that had been here forever that we had been watching.
[00:02:27] You know, came here from Tanzania and didn't have his sight set on being a pro soccer player. He didn't know that was his path. Like some kids their whole lives living around here. He was so humble, so kind, so grateful just for his opportunities, which I loved. I felt like I walked away from that thinking he was so worthy of everything coming his way and he had a great season. He's still having call ups to national team and things like that. So Bernie is now one of our favorite players, and he's like a joy to watch, just his spirit. And so if you haven't seen episode 172, go back and find it on YouTube or Spotify or whatever. You listen and just hear Bernie's words and how humble and grateful he is to be in this position. Okay, then we had Matt Wixen on with FISD. We talked about sports. I have had Matt on before, but it was cool to get a recap of after the school year of some of the cool things that our school teams have done in Frisco ISD.
[00:03:36] We had a basketball episode with Lawrence Odiase. And, man, talk about another person that I've connected with online and really enjoyed following because.
[00:03:49] All right, two reasons. He's like the face of tech basketball to me, and he kind of knows it all, and I love him. He shares about it a lot online and kind of keeps me updated. But all the work he does in his mind, bully podcast about loss and life and just sort of uncovering some of that on my show was just really powerful to me. And I just like that he is not afraid to talk about everything from his personality to being accepted and rejected and grief and all the things that he has battled through in his life. All right, then we had a baseball episode celebrating the Rough Riders 20th anniversary. Scott Burcheck came on, and I love that. Getting to hang out in the office and talk about the rough Riders and ask him a couple of funny questions like the broken windows and the baseballs and things like that. Y'all know I love that ballpark. I love that team. And so getting to sit down with Scott and just chat about it was really fun. So then next up. Oh, another favorite, Trish holt. So I got to go out to the brand new PGA Frisco and sit down with Trish, who's the head golf pro. And I really learned a lot about what that even means, because golf's not my thing. And so most everything is new to me when somebody's educating me about the golf world. And so hearing her path on how she became the head golf pro was great. Then next up, we had Nicholas Lemieux. So he was with athlete studio, and his whole world is pro athlete brands. So it's not the team brands, it's the athletes and their brands, which is really cool and different. All right, another personal favorite was next. It was Chris Statzer, the Texas Rangers DJ. So Chris knew Katie from the Rough Riders. And that's how it came to be that I talked to him. And so sitting down and talking, know, having a cool baseball conversation was really fun. And then at the end, we joked about how we wish each other a World Series for each other's birthday, which is late October, and that if we joked, if we're playing near our birthdays, it's a good season. And sure enough, right after that interview, the season seemed to sort of tank. Josh Young, I think, broke his thumb. Then, I don't know, things just started looking not so great, and I was like, great. I jinxed us. But then, as we all should know by now, it turned around and this team made it happen and know through the playoffs and wins the World Series. So that was a really fun experience, talking to Chris and then being connected with him through the series and watching him and all the joy he has playing music there and experiencing the parade from his perspective. And all of that was just really special. In our third most popular episode, first was Bernie Kamongo. Second was Katie Spud Floyd. And third was the little guys on team Texas at the PGA junior league championship.
[00:07:05] The standouts there were Lincoln and Zach Rubis, and they're just, like, so well spoken for how old they are. And Lincoln's the one that everybody said reminds them of Jordan speeds, and he's adorable.
[00:07:20] And then we talked to Cooper also after that. And so when we went and watched them play in that tournament, I was so impressed with these kids poise and just how they held themselves on the golf course and watching Cooper tee off is, like, very impressive and very powerful, and these kids are amazing.
[00:07:40] Then we headed out to Fieldhouse USA in Frisco and talked to Gary Oliver. What I loved about that interview was not only, like, seeing the cool new stuff they have there with the basketball and the technology, but just knowing that it's a family business. I've lived in Frisco 13 years and didn't realize that it was a family business over there. Then I went next door and talked to Eddie Lewis with Toca, and not only did I get to interview him, which is a former pro soccer player, but I got to step into the little Toca training arena center, whatever it's called, and actually do some stuff. Then it was Legends media day, and I talked to Dexter Dennis, Jordan Jellywalker, Mike Miles Jr. And Maxime Careen, and it was just fun. I really like knowing a little about these guys'personality or where they're coming from, so that when we go watch Texas Legends games. I know who I'm cheering for. Then I rounded it out in December with one more soccer interview with Sydney Deckert. I knew Sydney when she was a high school athlete in Frisco, and then she went off to play in college. And I wanted to talk to her because of her resiliency and her experience through injury.
[00:09:00] All right, so I mentioned at the beginning that I didn't have as many episodes as I used to have. And I just want to talk about that, because when I see people out and about that know about hustle and pro, and they ask me, hey, are you still doing that? Or whatever their questions are.
[00:09:16] I feel like I explain this a lot, so I just wanted to put it out there here. So when I was working for lifestyle Frisco, I asked to start this podcast, and Scott and Wendy, the owners, were like, yeah, put a plan together, let us know what you have in mind, this and that. And said yes, ultimately. And it was part of our publishing calendar. It was content, sports content, and it was something I got paid for as if I was writing an article, but I was just getting paid for it as a podcast episode.
[00:09:48] And so I was expected to have one every week. I think it was Fridays that they published, and I think I had ten of those puppies ready to go before we even launched and this and that. So it was a lot of work, but I got paid for it each week. And I had a team of people helping, helping me edit, helping me while I had a podcast studio there, and Nicole, the editor, finalizing things and pushing them out the door. And I had a whole process going on. And so those days have passed. After Covid, when lifestyle Frisco stopped publishing new content, obviously, I switched gears professionally, and they let me keep hustle and pro. So I did, and I bounced around and had a partnership with a studio, and that was harder for both of us than we realized. And so that didn't continue very long. But I love being in that studio because I had some of the best great guests and interviews in there. But anywho, so things just keep evolving and changing, just adapting with how much time I have to spend on hustle and pro. And I thought maybe I could make it a full time job. But it's not easy to make something like this a full time job unless you're already a celebrity with a big following and you have thousands and thousands or millions of people that know who you are and can go listen to your content.
[00:11:13] Besides that, it's really just a hobby, like a little side gig. Side hobby. And I used to have time to sell advertising to do make some revenue, come in from it. But when my jobs have changed, it changed over the last two to three years. It's also shifted that time that I can focus on selling and being out and selling ads and making ad revenue for it.
[00:11:39] So let me back up and explain kind of that work path. So straight out of college, I went to the Wall Street Journal, resigned there in 2010 when Jack was born and went to work for one of my clients. I was selling advertising, went to work for one of my clients because they allowed me, being an Illinois company, to work from home full time. So I was able to know close to my family, not travel like I was selling advertising for the journal. And it was a good lifestyle shift for me.
[00:12:13] But I went from working for a global media company, very corporate, to a really small business, and six years later got laid off and then shifted gears to try my own business with a business partner, soccer friend. Shout out Eric and love Eric. But hated it. Hated too. We both hated it. It was just not for us. It was not for me. I was working more than I ever, ever had and I was not making a penny from it. Small business ownership was hard, and I know that, and I've seen it so many times, but anyway, that wasn't for me. So shifted over there and went to lifestyle Frisco. Thank goodness Wendy Ellis gave me that job and helped run her advertising client services. So like five years after that or after that ended, I worked for another startup, not just a small business, but a startup who needed help launching in this market. And so I did that to launch and for a year and then had to decide, am I going to stay on here or kind of go with a group of layoffs and this and that. Anyway, ultimately I realized, I took a look at everything and realized working for the 1234 small businesses, startup, entrepreneurial types of jobs was just not where I was flourishing. I wasn't making money, I was working too much because they ask a lot of you and can't usually pay you what you're working. And I just decided, all right, I've got a senior in high school or going to be a senior in high school and a 7th grader. What do I need to do at this point? And I decided my comfort zone really was corporate. And so that's where I set out. And one of them were consistent schedule, predictable pay, salary that I knew was coming, and it wasn't.
[00:14:25] Can this small business cut payroll and this and that? So I went back that was in March. So I started April 3 to a full time in office job with the city of Frisco at visit Frisco. And I've had relationship with visit Frisco for several years. I've had them on this show a couple times and have really loved that team for a long time and had been a contributing writer for them, for their sports stuff, blog posts and things. And so I basically just resumed a permanent role there and love it so much. Our job is really getting to talk about all of the amazing things in Frisco that would bring visitors here. So whether that's sports events, which is a lot of it, or our attractions, our restaurants, our hotels, our events, just all the things to do in Frisco. And so y'all know I love this town. So it was a natural fit to join that team full time.
[00:15:34] And it was a transition just like it was leaving the journal, being in an office, and then transitioning into a home office. For 13 years, it's been a transition back in being somewhere at 08:00 a.m. Every day and dressing up and meetings and some travel and all of that. But I'm figuring it out, my family's figuring it out. And ultimately it's all good.
[00:15:58] It's a good sort of stable pace for me. But the reason I'm blurring all this out there is because it definitely impacts hustle and pro and how much time I have to source guests and do research and do interviews and edit and publish and all the things and promote and socialize and sell advertising. I mean, most of that stuff has stopped just because I don't have time, because I'm trying to volunteer at Jack's middle school. I volunteer for Reese's senior stuff and working full time and just life. I don't have a lot of extra time for this podcast. Even though it's a passion I have. I just can't make a whole lot of free time for it at this point as I'm settling into my job. But I also know I don't want to stop doing it. People ask me that all the time, and that's a quick no, I don't want to stop doing it. I love talking about sports. I love meeting all these people that I get to interview in sports. That's just a thrill, a blessing, like the network I've built and that I love through this show. And so I do not plan on stopping. But it is why my pace has slowed down. And so I don't know what I'll get to do in 24.
[00:17:19] I'm hoping I still get to do as much as I did last year, but I don't know. And I thought maybe if it's only one a month, it's only one a month. I'm going to do what I can do without breaking my back and enjoy it and keep going and hope that people still listen.
[00:17:37] Thanks for joining me on this episode of hustle and pro. I'll see you next time.
