Latest / The Scene Projects / Brian P. Swift on Resilience, Positivity, and Empowering Communities

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Brian P. Swift on Resilience, Positivity, and Empowering Communities · The Scene Projects

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This program is part of the Scene Projects podcast network.
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Scene Project features interviews with independent musicians, comedians, and artists
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from across the Midwest.
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Become part of our community and support local art wherever you are.
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Welcome into this very exciting episode of Real Biz.
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I am your host, Bubba Starts, and with me today is the quad father, Brian Swift.
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Brian, welcome to the show.
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Thank you, Bubba.
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I am honored to be here.
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The honor is all mine, sir.
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You have quite a harrowing story, and what you do to help people in their lives now is no less
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harrowing.
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So, would love to just get a little bit of your background off the top, and then we can pick it
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up with everything that you're doing now.
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Absolutely.
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So, I mean, to to go back to the story, you're gonna have to go back to 1979, which a lot of
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people probably weren't even around then.
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But I mean, it was the day after Christmas.
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I was out at a park playing football with, you know, about a dozen of my friends, and I just
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got tackled.
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I got tackled from behind.
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I was cursed with the last name of Swift, and, I wasn't very swift.
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So I was always being caught from behind, and I just got tackled.
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I nobody landed on my head.
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I didn't fall on my neck.
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Nobody and I brought and I ended up breaking my neck and becoming a c six quadriplegic.
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Back in 1979, being a quadriplegic, just don't forget, no cell phones, no technology, no
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computers.
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This was compared to now is slightly in the dark ages compared to today.
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And, the outcome for quadriplegic read a lot like a Stephen King novel.
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So, you know, you you were told all the things I mean, your life was was not a pretty picture.
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And I was blessed with a very strong faith, very strong family.
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And, you know, there's no going to college online.
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Back then, there wasn't even you know, going to college wasn't a big option for somebody who
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was a quadriplegic, but I ended up, you know, finishing high school.
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I was a senior.
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Finished high school.
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That summer, my, you know, my parents said, you know, you gotta go to junior college.
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This is your road out education.
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That is gonna be your ticket out and therapy.
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So, man, my my mom and dad set up a gym in the garage where I worked out every day.
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A, I I ended up going to junior college and finishing in two years.
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Two years later, I went to Saint Xavier University.
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In the meantime, I learned how to drive a car, which, you know, wasn't another thing quads
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could do just because our lack of, trunk balance, having no real hand movement and,
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finishing at Saint Xavier.
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In the meantime, I I kept my I love competing.
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So in the meantime, I started playing wheelchair sports, quad rugby, which is a
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combination of, let's call it, hockey and basketball on a basketball court and, because I
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love competing.
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So I played wheelchair sports.
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I started swimming.
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And after loss after, college, I went on to law school and, then finished law school, met a met
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a beautiful woman, been married thirty six years.
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I have three amazing kids, and I am one of the blessed I'm just blessed beyond what I could
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even imagine.
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Yeah.
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I think very few of us that would have gone through what you would, whatever, describe
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themselves as blessed, but you never stopped fighting.
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At any point, you took everything as just another challenge.
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I I mean, a quadriplegic diagnosis in 1979 had to have felt to most like a certain death
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sentence.
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Right?
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As close as you could get while still breathing.
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You know?
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Back then, it's hard for people my age.
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I was born in '86.
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So we don't remember a time really prior to, you know, the American with Disabilities Act
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and all of the, you know, the accessibility that we have now for handicapped people, that
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wasn't around at all in 1979.
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No.
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You had to grid it out.
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I mean, like and there was no complaining.
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There you know, you just you just saw something, and you either let it beat you or
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you beat it.
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And I was blessed to have very strong faith.
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And people people I have never asked god to to to help me walk.
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Never.
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If I ever request that, all I have asked is to give me the strength to deal with whatever life
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throws at me.
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And I have been given that in such amazing ways.
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And the walking was just kind of would it be awesome?
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Sure it would.
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It well, you know, would to gain your bladder control, your bowel control, to have balance,
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you know, trunk control.
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But, like, if you rest your happiness on that, you're gonna be unhappy.
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So I rested my happiness on achieving other things.
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So I I you know, that that's what really helped was, and I tell people, you know, because they
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asked, how did you deal with it?
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How do you deal with things now?
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And and and it's not in letting things go.
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It's hard to let things go, but you have to learn to just let it be.
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And then letting things be, what you're basically doing is not denying what you are,
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but you're accepting it, and you're allowing yourself to focus beyond that on other things.
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That's that's kinda how I have moved forward with doing what I do.
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And I think that's a great point that everyone can take away is if you don't accept where
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you're at and that that isn't going to change, you're never going to learn, you're never going
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to adapt, and you're never going to be able to overcome it.
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And that is really what I think is most that's the most gritty thing that you have to do is to
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accept it, that this is going to be the challenge, in general.
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Right?
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You know?
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You're going to have to deal with a much harder life.
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Okay.
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I understand that now.
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What are these small challenges that I can overcome?
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What can I do instead of focusing on all the things that you can't?
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Well, one of the sayings I use in coaching, people or or groups is now what?
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Now what?
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I mean, that that, you know, things happen to all of us.
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You, me, I mean, nobody promised.
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I and I don't know, maybe, if they did to you.
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Nobody said life was gonna be easy.
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Nobody said life was gonna be fair.
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So now what?
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Comes down to choices.
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You every morning, you Bubba, you got a choice every morning to get up miserable or to get up
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happy, to get up grateful or to get to to get up resentful, to get up with a smile, to get up
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with a frown.
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We all do.
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I do as a quad.
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I just chose to get up excited for life every day, whether I felt good, whether I was sore,
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whether I had a bladder infection, whether I had a UTI.
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I just chose that, and I and I refuse to do it any other way because it affects the people
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around you too.
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Who wants to be in your life?
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I want people in my life that I can rise up you know, raise up to be to want to be in my life.
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O'Brien, I get up to feed my cat because he won't leave me alone in the morning.
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But, I I also do it with a a grateful heart that I'm waking up a free man.
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A little bit about me, Brian.
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I did two years in a prison cell for, selling marijuana, right, because of poor choices that
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I made.
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And I could have very much at that point decided, woe is me.
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I'm a felon now, and I'm never going to have a future.
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Or I could realize that I didn't have a future before, and now I have an opportunity to make a
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whole new life for myself, which is exactly what I did.
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I learned to trade.
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I learned how to weld while I was in prison.
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I found therapy.
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I found sobriety.
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And I found a different version of myself than what was ever previously there because of my
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drug and alcohol abuse and a story that I was telling myself that I couldn't overcome
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something.
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Even though I had spent a year in Mexico on the run from the law the law and, overcame that.
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And I think in some ways, that year spent in a foreign country as an illegal alien and
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surviving, definitely not thriving by any means, But that gave me the confidence, if you
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will, to go back and to deal with whatever it was because I knew that that prison cell was
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going to be an easier life than what I had just done for the previous year with a wife and a
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family in Mexico surviving Wow.
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In in, you know, houses with dirt floors and living a very hand to mouth in a third world
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living a very third world life.
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I mean, we were poor compared to the poor people.
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And it was it was humbling in every single way.
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And it was also the moment where I decided that I was not going to do to my children what I
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felt like had been done to me and make continue to make choices that were going to affect their
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lives.
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And I was fortunate enough to, you know, kind of come back, and and none of my children
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really remember those years that I spent or being in Mexico at all.
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They know that it they were a part of it, but it wasn't necessarily their story to tell.
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And I committed myself every day since then, including doing my time and getting out early
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because of modified sentences and good time and all of these things to, you know, exacerbate
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that time.
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When you're given a life sentence, the same as you, not that mine was for life, but that you
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have a choice you could make.
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You could have very much just accepted that it was the way that people had told you it was
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going to be and that your life was over, and you probably wouldn't be here now, to be
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perfectly honest, or you could have chosen to overcome the circumstances that you found
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yourself in.
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Your your story is is so incredible because what you went through and what you did is
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probably what, you know, 20% of our country is going through.
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And I talk about resources.
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K?
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You know, some people weren't given the the the beauty of having all the resources.
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You might not have had a good example in your life.
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You might not have had education.
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You might not have financial.
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You might not have, you know, support or, you know, other support.
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Maybe you don't have technology in your life.
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You took all of the negative in your life.
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And when you went to prison, you decided even though you didn't have resources and how come
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oh, I'm gonna step back.
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How come people who have all those things fail?
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Can you imagine having love, having support, having the money, having technology, having
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time, and still failing.
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Now I'm I'm guessing you probably didn't have all those things.
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But what you did, and this is something I talk about quite a bit, is I would you became
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resourceful.
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And that's why people with all the resources commonly fail when people like you who don't
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have resources succeed because you become resourceful.
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And when you went to prison, you decided to change some of your choices, but you came
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became resourceful.
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You took on a trade.
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That's being resourceful.
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You could've went to prison, laid in bed, did your time, worked out, done your stuff, but you
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decided at some point, I've gotta be resourceful with what I have.
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I could learn a trade.
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I could probably educate myself.
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I could, you know, make sure that I'm I'm the right line because that gets me out here
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earlier.
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And you became resourceful, and that is gonna lead to yours continue to lead you to success.
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So congratulations.
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I appreciate that, Brian.
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Yeah.
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And and unlike you, all you decided to do was play football that day.
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I I had decided to live a life that really only had two outcomes.
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It was prison or death more than likely.
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Right?
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So I kinda got off easy.
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Right?
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I I did my time, but I saw so many guys while I was in just that, like, a revolving door.
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They'd get out and they'd be right back.
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And even the ones that you thought were going to do good, I ended up right back, and I was
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very committed to not being one of those statistics.
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And to beyond that, you know, getting off of parole, I mean, as soon as I could.
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Right?
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I I fast forwarded, you know, two years.
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I think I was supposed to be on parole for maybe, like, five.
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And because they're, you know, a crammed system, guys who are doing very well and
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following all the rules, you have an opportunity to apply for an early release from
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parole.
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And I was very fortunate to have pretty much gotten off as fast as I could have.
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But beyond that, to be then an inspiration to others to say, hey.
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You can do this.
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A man like Jelly Roll is a huge inspiration to me too.
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Now I know he didn't do an extended amount of time in a prison cell, but in and out of jails
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and a very similar story to me.
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And that's what kinda led me back into music.
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And granted, I'm not playing as many shows on stage now.
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I have this platform that we've built that connects me to the entertainment industry and
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now to a much wider world of business and coaches and inspiring individuals.
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I think that's all that I want in my life.
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And like you kind of alluded to is that I don't wanna be surrounded by losers.
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I don't wanna be surrounded by people who have a loser's mentality, a woe is me mentality, and
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there's nothing that that frustrates me and aggravates me more than that.
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And I'm really trying to just raise my children to be not only resourceful, but to realize that
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they are in control of their own lives and and not just in a career path, but in their own
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happiness.
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And wake up with gratitude because you saw poorer than poor.
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You lived poorer than poor.
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And I tell peep and and people ask me if I have a lot of people with dis friends with people
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with disabilities, and I don't have a lot of friends with disabilities.
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Most of my friends are able-bodied because I don't like hanging around victims.
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I just can't I I don't have that energy anymore to waste hanging around victims.
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I wanna I never wanna be the smartest guy in the room, and I'm okay with that because I
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can't grow and learn if I'm the smartest guy in the room.
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So I like you, I surround myself with people way better than me, way smarter than me, way
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because now I can grow, and I'm okay with not being the smartest guy in the room.
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I don't wanna be that guy.
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I can't imagine being that guy.
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So you sound, you know, very similar that, you know, you wake up with gratitude, I'm sure, and
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you wake up knowing that what you have now, you you you had to work crazy hard for.
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You paid a price for.
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We all pay a price all differently in what we have.
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But I'm sure you would agree this too.
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That price, I would pay a million times over to be where I'm at today, and I'm sure you feel
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the same way where you're at today versus poor the poor.
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Let me ask you.
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Did anybody ever say anything to you that just, like, really just, like, it hit home and it
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stuck with you that helped you change your mindset?
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Well, you know what?
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It it was the look in people's eyes when I was in Mexico that were like, we would kill for an
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opportunity to be in The United States, and you are down here kind of disrespecting your
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birthright.
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You're American.
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What are you doing here?
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And some I mean, people were very nice to us down there.
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They were so good to us.
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I mean, I made a living, Brian, playing my guitar in the square down there, singing
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American songs that they've never heard at the top of my lung to make, you know, $15 a day.
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Right?
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And, you know, we were living on pesos.
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Now granted the cost of living down there is much different because it couldn't be much
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higher.
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Mexico is a a world of abundance, at least on the food side.
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So to feed my family, but to have nice things down there is much different.
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And and everyone always asked me kind of what the culture of The United States was, and all I
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could come up with was, you know, a culture of debt.
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Right?
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And I didn't want to live that life.
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But these people would have nothing, and they were some of the most happy individuals and
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loving individuals that I've ever met in my life.
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And it really taught me a lot about, how lucky we are to live where and when we do as well
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with all of these advantages.
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And like I said, it humbled me and my children and knowing that I was gonna grow up and have
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to explain to them why their life was shit, if I kept making poor choices and I kept putting
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them in that position.
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And then most recently in my life, something that spurred me on was another podcaster, Andy
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Frisella, who is someone else who does not enjoy a pity party one bit.
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He's built an entire brand off it called First Form.
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And now with his, you know, pollen podcast network, Real AF, and I was working at a
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welding factory.
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I was absolutely miserable, Brian.
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I wasn't being creative.
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I was looking around at guys that were twice my age still waiting for that day they could
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retire because they were in debt up to their eyeballs and missing fingers or limbs and
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bodies completely broken by the industry and cast away and told you're gonna work sixty
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hours a week, and I don't care about your kid's ball game on Saturday.
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You're coming into work.
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And I said, I'm not doing this.
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I have no future here.
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I cannot see myself here in five months, much less five years, much less three decades.
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So without seeing a path for myself, drinking too much of the time because I was, you know,
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depressed, maybe not outwardly, but not happy in where my where I was in life, understanding
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full well that my own decisions had got me there.
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I never had a trade.
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I didn't learn and really start entering the workforce until I was in my thirties.
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I was well behind the curve.
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No retirement plan.
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No any no.
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I've never planned for a future.
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I thought I'd probably be dead by then.
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Right?
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And I wasn't respecting the life that I was given.
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And it was something that he said, that, you know, I was probably a little overweight,
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drinking too much, and it was, you know, you don't like the life that you're living and how
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you look.
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Stop putting shit in your mouth.
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And it was just like, woah.
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And me being the oldest of the boys and maybe not having a lot of role models around me in a
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positive way, that it was the first time that somebody was like a big brother.
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Right?
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It it felt so striking to me that I was just like, oh, okay.
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I need to quit drinking.
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Like, I just need to stop.
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And then it was, you know, do you want to continue continue to you know what this path
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is.
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I can see it.
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I can look around me.
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I can see exactly where this path leads.
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I don't see any future for me.
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I don't ever see being able to live the life that I want to live.
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What's your way out?
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And, I thought I was quitting my job to be a rock star, Brian.
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I had a bunch of gigs booked and I was you know?
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And then I quickly got on the road all summer playing five, six nights a week away from home
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when my kids were you know, I was available to spend time with them, and I was miserable.
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Right?
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You know, I wasn't drinking and I wasn't doing, you know, anything that I shouldn't have been,
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but the job and the I just didn't want it bad enough.
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And in the meantime, I had found podcasting and realizing that I could build a platform and
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apply the communication skills that I have with the drive that I have to work on something so
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hard.
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Because I did the same way with my music career.
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It was just very limited in what I could do.
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I couldn't access all of the different skills that I have in networking.
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I I still needed a venue at the end of the day, or I needed a studio, or I needed all these
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other things.
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And I just wasn't, I just didn't see an avenue to build up fast enough to get where I wanted
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to be, because I had squandered a lot of that good time.
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Right?
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I had squandered fifteen years of time I could have been working towards that.
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So finding podcasting, realizing that the world was in a massive shift in the media landscape
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as we diverge from the major corporations into attention being very divided into smaller
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platforms, I realized that I have a chance to take out my slice of the pie.
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And will I ever own a majority share of the attention in the world?
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No.
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But there's 8,000,000,000 people on the planet.
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If I can get about a half a percent of those people to pay attention to me, I can find a way
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to make a very, you know, successful career for myself and a great many other people around me,
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whether they be hosts or producers or the musicians that are on our platform.
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And I can build something that will be a legacy that my children's children will be proud of.
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Absolutely.
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I love it.
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Let me ask you.
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Have you written a book?
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I I did.
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I wrote a short book called building your scene last year over the winter break, and it just
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kinda poured out of me.
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And now I I'm kind of in the process after getting that out, which was a little bit of how
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to, but some of my backstory inside of that, I don't know how to not tell a narrative story.
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Right?
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So I can do some education, but I'm not gonna write you an educational book.
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I can tell you what I've done.
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I can't necessarily tell you what to do that you need to do, and it's gonna make you the
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best.
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But I can tell you what I've done, and I can show you where it's gotten me.
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And now I'm back in that living phase of it where I I have a few things to accomplish right
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now, but maybe this summer I'll have a chance after a few of these things that are on the
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calendar right now are over to say, hey.
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Now this is what we did.
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We took this to another level of content creation and podcasting.
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And, you know, I wrote that book when I had one show and a couple of fledgling networks.
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Now we have four networks, 13 shows on that network that that is growing every day.
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I host over half of them and just kind of occupying the space first and then starting to
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fill them in.
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It's the reason that I created this show, Real Biz, because my, music interviews are scheduled
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out until October.
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Right?
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I'm ten months ahead on content on that channel doing a regular once a week podcast.
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So what else?
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Right?
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What now?
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No.
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I'm you sound like me.
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I have so much on my plate, but I love that because I love the variety.
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If I if I'm not challenged, if I if I have too much free time, I start to get my own mind.
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And I love being outdoors.
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That's why we started our nonprofit twelve years ago to help people with disabilities get
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back outdoors because insurance is a bugger.
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They are they're horrible.
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If it's not a medical necessity, which is very little, they don't pay for it.
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And if some and if you wanna get back outdoors and do the things you love, fishing, hunting,
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biking, triking, therapeutic trike golfing, you need certain wheelchair attachments or devices,
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and insurance doesn't pay for that.
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Life is about being out.
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Like, I mean, I'd be I couldn't imagine not being able to be outdoors doing some of the
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things I'd love, and that's where we come in and we help people get this equipment.
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Or I've got collaboration with somebody in the Florida Keys.
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You wanna go snorkeling?
24:53
You wanna go deep sea fishing in a wheelchair?
24:56
I can do that.
24:57
You wanna go skiing out in Colorado?
24:59
I've got connections.
25:00
You wanna go horseback riding?
25:01
I've got connections.
25:02
And we get just get people outdoors because I believe that's where you heal.
25:08
You know, you get that vitamin d.
25:10
You can you can ground yourself.
25:13
You it's just a special place, so that's why we started that.
25:17
And so between that and and and the things, you know, writing, coaching, speaking, unlike you,
25:24
it's kinda like now now what?
25:26
You know, which which which one do I keep pushing on?
25:29
But I kinda like juggling them.
25:33
No.
25:33
And, honestly, I I love spinning the plates.
25:36
I'm a starter.
25:37
Right?
25:37
I can get the plates going.
25:39
And when it comes time to have to pass them off, that's why the networking and, you know,
25:45
bringing in and building teams is so important because there's going to be someone else that I
25:50
can see a talent for doing interviews in and be like, hey.
25:54
I'm looking to move on from this show or that show.
25:57
I'm not personally attached to any of these.
25:59
To me, all the brands are built to stand on their own.
26:02
It's about our guests.
26:03
It's about serving the people that are coming on our show.
26:06
It's not about myself.
26:07
I can start something tomorrow.
26:09
I could start another new one.
26:11
So it's about kind of being the spark plug.
26:13
Right?
26:14
Being that spark, building these things, creating that, creating the brand, which is
26:18
what a lot of people struggle with, right, is just getting a few of these ideas out,
26:23
obviously, being able to help with production and those kind of things in the podcasting
26:26
realm.
26:27
On the songwriter side, we're doing a big songwriter showcase tour where we kinda bring
26:32
it all to you instead of you having to figure out how to film and who to call and to do all
26:37
these things to get some good content or what podcast to go on.
26:41
I'm out here shopping my services around in major markets throughout The US now.
26:46
And I see that being something that we do for a long time and coupled with those performances
26:52
and that capture of content, we're also doing creator conferences where we're able to educate
26:57
these people and to say, hey.
26:58
Nice.
26:59
Do you have your back end prepared in case you do go viral or you have a hit or you have
27:04
someone approach you about a sync license or one of these things?
27:08
Are you do you have your shit together?
27:11
And that's kind of where it starts out at.
27:14
And I love the work that you're doing, with the, you know, with the nonprofit to get people
27:19
outdoors.
27:20
We actually work with a couple of, veteran organizations, Operation Combating Veteran
27:26
Suicide, obviously being one.
27:28
I'm the marketing and PR director for that organization, but another one called Op One
27:33
Vet, helps get, disabled veterans into track chairs or now we've seen some of these quads
27:40
that they have that are absolutely amazing pieces of equipment.
27:44
I gotta shout out friends in service, a heroes fish down in Kansas City area, Paul Choppa, a a
27:50
wonderful man himself.
27:51
They've been donating almost a track chair a year to disabled veterans around their people.
27:57
And, I mean, these machines aren't cheap, but it it's incredible the the quality of life that
28:04
can get given back to someone when they're finally able to get back out into the woods or
28:08
around the lake and can do the things that make them happy.
28:13
Absolutely.
28:13
And that's what we do.
28:14
We'll collaborate because attract chairs around $16,000.
28:18
I mean, the average person, even if they were six even if they had a a were successful before
28:24
they got injured, you don't have that kind of money laying around to put 16,000 into a track
28:30
chair, maybe 20,000 into a ramp system to get back into your house.
28:34
I mean, the money just keeps pouring out.
28:37
Insurance doesn't pay for all this stuff.
28:39
I don't know if people think it does, but we work a lot with veterans.
28:43
I do a hunt out of North Carolina.
28:45
Not that I I do it.
28:46
I do enjoy hunting.
28:47
I shoot a crossbow, but we sponsor hunts for veterans.
28:53
Our my my buddy out in The Keys, we sponsor fishing trips for veterans.
28:59
There's nothing better than getting the photos back or video back and seeing you know, this
29:06
last year, we got two veterans out hunting with their sons, and they all they they both got
29:11
deers.
29:12
And just the like, you can't put a price on that because we're not providing equipment.
29:19
We're providing hope.
29:21
We're providing purpose.
29:23
We're providing accessibility.
29:25
We're providing life.
29:27
Those experiences that we're providing help you through the dark times.
29:34
When you can look back and think that ex think about that experience and realize there's more
29:39
of that possibly in your life, you can get over those humps.
29:43
You can get through the dark times.
29:45
So I look at it.
29:46
It's less about the equipment, and it's more about providing a feeling and then an emotion
29:53
of hope, of opportunity, of experience.
29:56
That's what you're providing.
29:58
So that's that's that's awesome.
30:02
Maybe we could collaborate.
30:03
I'd love you know, because I can't I I like I'm here in Illinois.
30:07
So there there's certain you know, if you wanna go, you know, in an ocean, it ain't gonna
30:11
happen around the Midwest.
30:12
Right?
30:13
Hunting's not bad around the Midwest, but there's certain things that, you know, that I
30:17
have to collaborate with other organizations, which I'm fine with and say, okay.
30:22
Here's $2,500.
30:23
Take two veterans out and, do a two or three day accessible hunt.
30:28
You know?
30:29
Here's here's a couple of handicap accessible blinds.
30:32
If they need a crossbow or whatever, we'll get that for you.
30:37
And, there is no better feeling than seeing the results of that.
30:41
It's selfish.
30:43
It's it's selfish, the feeling I get.
30:47
Yeah.
30:47
Exactly.
30:48
And I feel like that's where I'm at in my career, in just the arc of my life that I have
30:55
achieved enough in my life.
30:57
I have lived enough experiences and experienced that joy that now I wanna give it to others,
31:02
and I wanna live vicariously through that joy.
31:05
And not that I won't celebrate my own wins.
31:07
Last year, we were fortunate enough to be awarded the content creator of the year award
31:12
for the Midwest Country Music Organization.
31:15
They did their nomination, reveal last night.
31:18
We will not be repeating, but I'm working with the Midwest Talent Awards, another award show
31:23
now very closely where we have 94 of our own nominees.
31:28
Right?
31:28
And I realized that in a very short amount of time, I took myself from someone who maybe
31:33
needed that as a separator to now being the one who can turn around and give that gift to
31:39
someone else.
31:40
And to me, I find it so much more rewarding, to do that rather than doing it for the awards.
31:46
I've never done a single thing in my life for an award anyway.
31:49
I do know how important they are in the scope of things for others, though.
31:55
Right?
31:55
I've seen the doors that have opened by being able to say, hi.
31:58
I'm Bubba Starts.
31:59
I have an award winning podcast, and nobody really asked any questions about what that is
32:04
or when it happened or the fact that you had been recognized once is enough.
32:09
You don't have to be a 13 time Grammy winner to really you know?
32:13
It it it doesn't matter to that point.
32:15
So realizing that, was there a sting, to not see my name on the nomination list a little
32:21
bit?
32:21
Yeah.
32:21
It was human, but it took me about ninety seconds to be like, you know what?
32:26
It's okay.
32:27
It's okay.
32:28
It's not a slight to me in any way.
32:31
It's not a it's not to disparage what I had done.
32:35
Because in many ways, I had done way more in 2025 than I ever did in 2024.
32:41
Right?
32:41
So a little bit, I kinda had to laugh about it, but, it's not for the awards.
32:47
It's about the feeling that we can give in the power
32:49
Yes.
32:49
That we can
32:50
give to other human beings, those memories, like you said, that carry you through the dark
32:55
times.
32:56
I I am big on, not repeating experiences.
33:00
It's kinda why my music career had done it, had kinda taken me to the place where I was
33:06
performing, you know, as the opening act on our local amphitheater stage for 3,500 individuals.
33:12
Wow.
33:12
And it was like, oh, that was amazing.
33:14
But it would take a monumental, you know, work for me to get from playing bars and grills to
33:19
be the headlining act on that stage.
33:22
Right.
33:22
Right?
33:22
I was very fortunate to get picked for that space, and I got to live that experience.
33:28
Now how do I turn that around and give that to someone else?
33:31
How do I find myself in a position to give that out?
33:34
And it's not that I don't apply for it again, but I want something different.
33:39
Because to me, the the difference now in scope, it has to go from, like, 3,000 to 30.
33:45
You know?
33:47
Like, it has to be exponential.
33:49
Right?
33:49
It is.
33:50
Like, well, that's gonna take a lot more work.
33:51
And I would much rather change other lives in the process of that ten years that it might
33:56
take doing what I'm doing than to just selfishly kind of, you know, toot my own horn
34:02
with my own music career when I could fill a need in this media landscape to be a source for
34:09
discovery of other musicians.
34:12
And the way you feel is no different than anybody.
34:14
It's like going out with somebody, and I see a, like, a 6 point buck go by.
34:18
And I'm like, oh, man.
34:20
Johnny has a perfect shot at it.
34:23
At the end of the night, I'm like, how come you didn't shoot it?
34:25
I've got 6 point bucks.
34:26
I I I don't need to get another one.
34:28
I'm waiting for an 8 point buck or a 10 point buck.
34:31
I'd be like, dude, I woulda dropped that thing because I've never gotten it.
34:34
Yo.
34:35
So like you said, he's waiting.
34:37
He he doesn't want that.
34:38
He's already been there.
34:39
He's done that.
34:40
And keep this in mind.
34:41
Maybe you weren't, nominated, and that it then this is all about how you perceive things.
34:48
Maybe we're sending you on a divine direction.
34:51
Maybe it was it was telling you know, saying something like, this isn't the direction that
34:57
you're supposed to be on now.
34:59
You know?
34:59
Maybe there's that something else, which is that that thing that's higher.
35:03
So, you know, I I what before I got on, I see that you do a lot with singers and and and, I'm
35:10
guessing songwriters and and comics.
35:12
And two years ago, I did my first on I first on stage, comedian, opportunity came to me at at a
35:22
venue called CD and Me, and I got to open for somebody maybe before your time.
35:29
Do you know who JJ Walker is?
35:32
Name's not familiar to me.
35:34
I figured that.
35:35
Well, I'm showing my age.
35:36
So I got to open for him, and I got to do fifteen minutes.
35:41
And you know what?
35:42
There's a big difference from you know, I I can be funny around the dinner table, sitting out
35:46
by a bonfire, having a few beverages, you know, joking around.
35:50
Man, when you're on stage, I realized, holy shit.
35:54
It is way different.
35:55
Thank god.
35:57
I I was it was I I I've given speeches in corporate.
36:01
I have been that funny guy in corporate or in other things.
36:05
But being on stage, oh, man, that's where the rubber meets the road.
36:09
And, I mean, I really enjoyed it.
36:12
So I did some comedy last year, and this year, I I wanna try to expand my comedy.
36:17
So I I really enjoyed that.
36:18
And I wrote a quad father song.
36:22
Now I I I I can't sing it.
36:23
I mean, I don't even know what my voice sounds like to other people.
36:26
I'm sure I'm sure it's not pleasant, but, I wrote a a a quadfather song.
36:33
I'm gonna have to send it to you to see what you think about it.
36:35
But I would
36:36
love that.
36:37
No.
36:38
And something you touched on.
36:39
Right?
36:39
It's easy to be funny in a corporate setting where nobody's expecting you to be funny.
36:45
Yes.
36:45
It's a lot different to step into a spotlight now where the expectation is that you are
36:50
funny.
36:52
It's a different thing.
36:54
Right?
36:54
It's the difference between playing the guitar around the campfire when people are like, oh my
36:59
god.
36:59
You're so good because they're not expecting anything out of you and stepping onto a massive
37:04
stage where people are like, you better this better be good.
37:08
You know?
37:09
And I guess that's something to the effect of of what I had on that stage.
37:13
It wasn't necessarily the people at all.
37:15
It was getting off the stage and having a national act called armchair boogie from the
37:20
Madison area.
37:21
They're kind of a new grass, they say it.
37:23
So they're blue grass with a drummer.
37:25
Right?
37:25
And they kinda jam, and it's that's my kind of music ish.
37:30
Right?
37:30
I grew up on the Grateful Dead and and bands of that nature.
37:34
So to open for them was great and getting off and having them be like, yeah.
37:38
Nice set.
37:39
And I was like, that was all the validation that I needed.
37:42
I was like, oh, we can hang.
37:43
Right?
37:43
That was forty five minutes of my original music that I had written and and played for
37:48
this crowd.
37:49
The crowd really enjoyed it.
37:50
The band sounded amazing.
37:52
The other band who's done this a thousand times, you know, gave me that validation and
37:58
kinda walking out of there was just like, okay.
38:00
We don't have to do that again.
38:01
I had already booked myself for two shows in Minneapolis the next day where we were playing
38:05
for almost no one.
38:07
Right?
38:07
Where we were going into a new market, nobody knew us.
38:09
It was gonna be empty rooms.
38:11
And, I mean, Larry, the the deck that we played on during the day, where there was my wife and
38:17
kids and, like, two other people.
38:19
Right?
38:20
So going from the very top of the mountain and coming back and and humbling myself in that
38:26
with a, purposely, right, where I was like, no.
38:28
We're gonna go out right afterwards, but that entire weekend was great.
38:31
We went to a twins game.
38:33
We got to be, you know, out in the outfield, almost had a ball hit right to me off of Carlos
38:38
Correa's bat and then, you know, got one thrown to us up out of the dugout.
38:44
My Nice.
38:44
My high school baseball coach's kid is in the Oakland A's farm system right now.
38:49
So they I I booked the show and the date around the Oakland A's playing in there.
38:55
It happened to be Father's Day weekend as well.
38:58
And so at the end of the game, the guys are in the bullpen kinda cleaning out.
39:01
I was like, hey.
39:02
Like, I know Cooper.
39:04
And he's
39:04
like, oh, Cooper's great.
39:05
Here's the ball.
39:06
You know?
39:07
So it was it was an amazing experience.
39:10
And yeah.
39:11
But I I'm always very conscious of where I came from, not just my upbringing, but my history,
39:18
my path.
39:19
Always very grateful just to wake up and and walk outside, right, especially.
39:25
And to have I mean, I'm very grateful for the Internet, for the ability to connect with
39:29
people that are smarter than me because it's very easy in a small town to look around and to
39:34
feel like the smartest guy in the room even if you're not.
39:37
There's just not enough competition sometimes.
39:39
So Gotcha.
39:40
Now especially reaching out through LinkedIn, being around guys like John Morris who just
39:44
will introduce you to some of the most amazing people in the world, him being an amazing
39:49
person, in his own right.
39:51
I had a blast working with him on his pilot episode of his golf show, Golf with J Mo.
39:55
Okay.
39:56
Yeah.
39:56
Being out on the course and getting to meet his boys and just, being around good people and and
40:03
doing content or whatever the hell we're doing.
40:05
I'm just trying to live my life.
40:07
I just do it on camera now.
40:09
Well, Bubba, I I would like to get you on my podcast.
40:13
It's called Soar Breaking Barriers, and it's about breaking barriers.
40:17
And, man, you have broke so many barriers that we could talk about, physical, mental,
40:23
emotional, and and that those are the barriers we all face, you know, from barriers for making
40:30
bad choices to good choices.
40:32
So many barriers.
40:33
I would I I I wanna get you on my podcast.
40:36
And I find in men, something you talked about earlier, that that you were either humble or
40:41
you're being humbled.
40:43
That is our lives.
40:45
So I I think it's good to be cognizant of being grateful and understanding, you know, that
40:51
humble part because I think sometimes the biggest thing that gets in our way as men is
40:56
our egos.
40:58
And that's something we've gotta keep in check, by being humble, which is something you have to
41:04
be very conscious of and present of.
41:07
And and I don't think enough people are because life is so great out there, and we all could
41:13
win.
41:13
Like you said, if you got one half or 1% of the population, I don't need I don't need a big
41:20
slice of pie to be successful.
41:22
I need a I I don't even need to have a I don't even need a sliver.
41:25
I need I need a piece of a sliver.
41:28
And you know what?
41:29
I will affect you know, my goal this year is to to to affect a million people in a positive way
41:36
and to give them inspiration and and to help them fan their flames of what they wanna do.
41:43
That's nothing.
41:44
I mean, that that that's that's doable.
41:47
You just gotta have that mindset, and then I I've been blessed to always feel like my
41:52
leadership style has been a servant leader.
41:55
So I believe you get what you want out of life by helping others get what they want, and
41:58
everybody wins then.
42:01
Well, Brian, you fan some flames here today with me.
42:05
I I'm completely inspired by you.
42:08
I I am driven to do more for myself and to help others more in this year and well beyond.
42:14
I would love to collaborate you and and have you help us out with operation combating
42:18
veteran suicide.
42:19
We would love to find a way to help some veterans here in South Dakota or in the Midwest
42:25
and maybe bring it out from Illinois out to South Dakota to hunt some West River mule deer
42:30
sometime.
42:31
Maybe we can organize some really incredible experiences for other people, and, to get some
42:37
vicarious joy out of that would be wonderful.
42:40
I would also, be honored to join your podcast anytime, Brian.
42:44
So we'll we'll arrange that, and, I I would just absolutely love sharing my story with your
42:50
audience.
42:50
And any chance I get to have more chats with you, I'm gonna take full advantage of.
42:55
So, before I let you go today, plug everything, where people can find you and, how they can get
43:01
involved with your nonprofit and everything else.
43:05
Sure.
43:05
Absolutely.
43:05
Thank you.
43:06
So the nonprofit you could find, it's SOAR, s o a r, soarnonprofit.com.
43:14
It's it's an acronym that stands for Swift Outdoor Accessible Recreation.
43:19
So you just go to soarnonprofit.com.
43:21
You find me on Facebook under Brian Swift.
43:24
You could find me on LinkedIn under Brian Swift.
43:27
On on I am the quadfather on Instagram.
43:36
So I do a little quadfather sky, and the quadfather is basically about tough love,
43:42
honest, raw.
43:44
Like, I grew up with a with you know, there was no mixing words with parents of my you know,
43:50
the in my generation.
43:51
Like, dad dad talks straight at you.
43:53
There was no watching your feelings, seeing if it was too tough.
43:57
So that's who the quadfather is.
43:59
It's honest.
44:00
It's real.
44:01
It's raw love, tough love, and that's on Instagram.
44:06
Reach out to me, if I can help you in any way.
44:09
I'm truly here to serve.
44:11
I've been blessed to, you know, open the doors to do things that I've loved to do, and now
44:17
it's my turn to serve.
44:19
So
44:21
Can't wait to get you back to talk some comedy and music too and put you on the scene
44:26
projects.
44:27
I would.
44:28
I I'd loved either one.
44:30
I mean, the comedy, I've done more of than the music, but I I I enjoyed the writing of the
44:36
music.
44:37
I mean, I I mean, obviously, I I just I'm still trying to figure out ways.
44:40
Is there a way to play a guitar when you don't have these digits that can really move?
44:44
And I'll figure it out.
44:48
Well, you can get yourself one of these, Brian.
44:51
Shout out to Aeroband Guitars.
44:53
This is like a MIDI, machine.
44:56
So the strings on it are not metal strings.
45:00
They are a, composite material that you just press on, and it senses your fingertips on
45:07
there.
45:07
Oh.
45:08
I'm gonna send you a link.
45:09
And, actually, if you wanna hang out for a little bit, I'll pull it out, and I'll, put it
45:13
together for you and show you what it's capable of.
45:16
I'm here.
45:17
Awesome.
45:17
Well, bye bye.
45:18
Everyone.
45:19
Yeah.
45:20
So much.
45:21
I'm honored to be here.
45:22
You've got an amazing story.
45:24
You're making such a big difference out there more than you probably even realize.
45:29
And I can't wait to share your story and and let people know who I was able to spend some
45:36
time within.
45:37
This is not our last get together.
45:39
No.
45:40
Not by any means.
45:41
That's my favorite part about doing this is that all this content is evergreen.
45:46
We're not covering current events.
45:48
We're just telling the stories of our lives.
45:51
And I'm trying to build an archive for my children to go back and to know exactly who
45:56
their father is and sharing parts of my life that, you know, I'm not gonna have a
46:01
conversation with my 10 year old about, but I want them to be able to know.
46:05
And maybe they don't need to hear it from me, and maybe they can hear it from me on tape
46:10
years down the road when they're ready to feel comfortable with that.
46:14
But, it was really, kind of a selfish endeavor that's just turned into a way to be wholly
46:20
selfless as well and to give other people that opportunity to leave a legacy.
46:25
Well, you're doing it.
46:27
Keep doing it.
46:28
Keep expanding.
46:29
Keep doing this with the things you wanna do because in doing that, you're showing your kids
46:35
that, like, you can get to here.
46:38
And there's nothing wrong.
46:39
You can get to here.
46:41
And you can get to here and you and but it this is what it takes.
46:44
You're you are the best living example to show your kids what it takes to live a good
46:52
thriving, not surviving, good thriving life by by having this inner desire to be resourceful,
47:02
to give back, to be humble, and to be thankful.
47:06
So god bless.
47:08
I'm very thankful for you, Brian.
47:10
Thank you for spending some time with me today, and thank you for being part of the scene.
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