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From Relationships to Purpose: A Life Built on Connection | John David Blagg
40 Plays4 days ago
John David Blagg is a duck hunter, husband, dad, incredible friend, and a man who lives life deeply connected to the people around him.
John David’s story isn’t marked by a single moment of rock-bottom, but by something just as powerful: a life shaped by relationships, joy, and a growing awareness of God’s presence in the everyday. From his upbringing in Arkansas to a turning point that made his faith real, you’ll hear how connection to family, friends, and ultimately Christ, has guided every step.
Whether it’s building a business, investing in his marriage, or hosting people at FowlCo Outfitters, everything flows from a genuine love for people. His story is a reminder that sometimes getting unstuck isn’t about climbing out of hardship, it’s about leaning into purpose, paying attention to what brings life, and following it with everything you’ve got.
Follow what John David and Falco Outfitters is up to in the links below!
fowlcooutfitters.com
@fowlco_outfitters
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction to John David Blagg
00:00:55
John David (Dumas)
Yeah.
00:00:56
toddpinkston
one All right, welcome back Unstuck and Alive. We're here with John David Blagg. He hails from Dumas, Arkansas. You'll notice as he talks, the the thicker the accent gets, the more passionate he is about a topic. So you can just put your your Southern accent Arkansas accent gauge on a high alert.
00:01:18
toddpinkston
JD's a dear friend. We spent lots of time in the duck blind together. He currently is running one of the finest duck hunting establishments in the country, Falco Outfitters in arc in Oklahoma.
00:01:31
toddpinkston
Lives in northwest Arkansas, played football at SMU, also spent some time in the contracting world, and and we'll get to hear all his story.
Purposeful Living and Spirituality
00:01:39
toddpinkston
and The thing I love about you, JD, is... is the way in which you live life with purpose and get after the things that you're doing, constantly bringing the Lord into every conversation. and So honored to have you on the show.
00:01:54
Steven J. Neuner
Yeah.
00:01:54
toddpinkston
Nooner, he loves to be interrupted along the way.
00:01:56
Steven J. Neuner
Welcome, man. I can't wait. I don't want to just interrupt you.
00:01:59
toddpinkston
and oh Hey,
00:01:59
Steven J. Neuner
I i don't want interrupt JD. i mean, he looks like he's double your size, man.
00:02:02
John David (Dumas)
No, please do. There's going to be a promise. There's going to moments where you're going to want to interrupt me.
00:02:09
toddpinkston
let's go.
00:02:09
John David (Dumas)
And
Childhood and Family Influence
00:02:10
John David (Dumas)
Todd, I feel like that's the that's the pot calling and the kettle black, all the stuff that you just said about me.
00:02:10
toddpinkston
hey you may not be able to tell it,
00:02:15
John David (Dumas)
So anyway, feelings mutual, bro.
00:02:18
toddpinkston
Come on.
00:02:20
John David (Dumas)
And I'm glad.
00:02:21
toddpinkston
in
00:02:21
John David (Dumas)
i love the Unstuck podcast.
00:02:22
toddpinkston
You may not be able to tell it by him sitting down.
00:02:24
John David (Dumas)
I love the podcast. And and so it's an honor to get to visit with you all today for sure.
00:02:26
toddpinkston
Come on.
00:02:30
Steven J. Neuner
Awesome, man.
00:02:30
toddpinkston
Let's do it.
00:02:31
John David (Dumas)
Yeah.
00:02:32
toddpinkston
All right, J.D., let's start out with your story, man. you know Tell us kind of yeah you know some of the some of the top moments that formed you into the man you are today and have have, you know, provided the lens in which you see life and has shaped, you know, the man that you are and and how you are fleshing out your God-given talents in your adult life.
00:02:53
John David (Dumas)
yeah man well all right let's see here let's start born in uh dumas arkansas yeah we're not when talking about dumas it comes out a little bit bub
00:03:04
toddpinkston
Amos.
00:03:05
John David (Dumas)
if my dad calls or, you know, I start talking about hunting, like the, we call it the LA, the lower Arkansas starts to come out.
00:03:11
toddpinkston
You... you
00:03:13
John David (Dumas)
But, uh, but anyway, uh, yeah, born in, in Dumas, Arkansas, my family farms, uh, my dad's side of the family. is from Warren, in Arkansas, which is another little town in Southeast Arkansas.
00:03:27
John David (Dumas)
and, uh, Yeah, my parents divorced when I was pretty young, ended up moving to Texarkana, where my mom married a a physician in Texarkana. So really my whole upbringing, childhood, and you know through high school, I was just back and forth between the lower part of Arkansas from the west side to the east side.
00:03:54
John David (Dumas)
had to be on the farm in the summers working.
00:03:54
toddpinkston
Thank you.
00:03:56
John David (Dumas)
And, you know, that was a huge part of my life just because that was, I mean, I was, was going to be the fourth generation farming. And so anyway, my dad also was a duck guide.
00:04:10
John David (Dumas)
So that was another big part of my life.
College Experiences and Friendships
00:04:12
John David (Dumas)
And, and, and the winners, you weren't farming, weren't, And so you're in an area that's the duck capital of the world. So you utilize your ground and everything to continue making money. And my dad was really, really good at that. And his buddies that he did it with, I got to really learn from the best and watch the best do it.
00:04:32
John David (Dumas)
You know, there's a lot that I took from that whenever we started Falco. There's a lot I did not take from that, that I left there, but there's a lot that I took from that that kind of,
00:04:44
John David (Dumas)
you know, we'll get there.
00:04:44
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:04:46
Steven J. Neuner
Hey,
00:04:46
John David (Dumas)
But anyway, so yeah, back from Dumas to Texarkana. And what was fun is growing up, which, you know, a lot of these guys, Todd, but growing up or, you know, oh, my brother-in-law, but you know, growing up, my friends from Dumas remained my friends and my friends from Texarkana remained my friends. And, and, eventually in college you know I went to SMU and played football but they all went to Arkansas together and were friends so it was like two worlds colliding and God I just see that like what could be you know a painful part in somebody's life their parents divorcing and growing up two different places you know
00:05:26
John David (Dumas)
I thought it was so cool that I had another line of friends in a different area. And then, you know, now they they're all together and best buddies. But anyway, yeah. So Texarkana and that's really where my faith grew. You know, my mom is the most amazing person on the planet and watching her really go through the divorce with my dad and where she could have been extremely bitter and she wasn't and she never talked bad
Spiritual Journey and Awakening
00:06:02
John David (Dumas)
about my dad. So I think back now, I'm like, how did you do? You were so strong. You know, how did you do that? I don't get it because I would have been I've got a loose mouth. So I'd have been running it and she didn't.
00:06:16
John David (Dumas)
And she allowed me to have a relationship with my dad, man, because she said, you know, the there's nobody's going to teach you how to be an earthly man like your dad. So like all the real manly stuff that you need to know, he's going to teach that to you.
00:06:31
John David (Dumas)
But really, you know, her focus was just my spiritual life and me getting to know my spiritual father. And so, you know, she was very,
00:06:43
John David (Dumas)
intentional in where we went to church, where, where was the best youth group, you know, where, where are the best kids plugged into church. And so I just am so thankful, uh, for my mom and her intentionality and through all the hard continually pointing us to Christ.
00:07:02
John David (Dumas)
and so anyway, so I came into faith and text Canada at first Baptist church. Uh, and we had a great youth group,
00:07:13
John David (Dumas)
But I would say that it was a real faith, but it was kind of a reputation-based faith. Like I was a good kid. i was being recruited to play football.
00:07:23
John David (Dumas)
and I didn't want to be the one drinking because I wanted to take football serious and I wanted to people to think I was a good kid, but i also wanted to be a good kid. it was But it was not because of what Jesus did for me.
00:07:36
Steven J. Neuner
Yeah.
00:07:36
John David (Dumas)
so much. it was it was a It was a concept in my life, not a reality yet, right? Does that make sense?
00:07:44
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:07:45
John David (Dumas)
And so anyway, go to college.
00:07:45
Steven J. Neuner
Yeah.
00:07:46
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:07:49
John David (Dumas)
Am I going too fast in this story here?
00:07:53
toddpinkston
Hey, brother, you never too fast.
00:07:56
John David (Dumas)
All right, so
00:07:59
Steven J. Neuner
i
00:07:59
John David (Dumas)
he four
00:07:59
toddpinkston
so yeah
00:08:01
Steven J. Neuner
had
00:08:01
John David (Dumas)
why so
00:08:03
Steven J. Neuner
I will circle back later, but I've got one, but you're good.
00:08:06
John David (Dumas)
Okay, good. Yeah, let me get through it. And then, because I'm extremely ADD and I did not take any Ritalin this morning.
00:08:08
Steven J. Neuner
Yeah.
00:08:09
toddpinkston
Come on.
00:08:12
John David (Dumas)
So let me let me get through it. so So anyway, i go to SMU and, you know,
00:08:23
John David (Dumas)
kind of backtrack a little bit. My mom's dad was an alcoholic. And so I think my mom was just like, we're not drinking, we're kind of drinking, you know, Bobby, isn't it Bobby Boucher and water boy, you know, football is the devil, like alcohol is the devil.
00:08:37
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:08:40
John David (Dumas)
And so it was always this big deal, right? Like where you cannot drink, you cannot get it away, hide it. You know, if she was around adults, don't let him see you drinking or, So anyway, that leads to me going to college and being on my own.
00:08:57
John David (Dumas)
And I was like, well, I mean, I'm going to see what that drinking is about a little bit. I mean, I'm going to test it. So that led into four years of me really leaning into to that life and and seeing what that was about.
00:09:09
toddpinkston
yeah if If you're going to
Transition from Music to Construction
00:09:14
toddpinkston
dabble, you better dabble hard.
00:09:14
John David (Dumas)
mean, you know, if you're going to fight a grizzly, if you're going to fight a bear, make it a grizzly.
00:09:15
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:09:18
Steven J. Neuner
Here's the
00:09:19
John David (Dumas)
And so I live my life by that pretty much. And so when, and the good things in the bad, I'm not half A in it, you know, I'm all in, we're going meet in the middle of the hole.
00:09:33
John David (Dumas)
Anyway, so I did that to kind of see what that was about because I wasn't allowed to praise God in high school. I mean, that's a good rule.
00:09:42
Steven J. Neuner
just
00:09:43
John David (Dumas)
But also nobody was there that I was trying to impress anymore. And so, uh, I learned pretty quickly that that is empty and there's nothing, it's full of death. And, uh, and it, there was, there was nothing there for me.
00:10:00
John David (Dumas)
And so, uh, I get done playing football, come back and I'm still kind of, I'm not walking with Jesus. I'm still partying and, and my mom is heartbroken and praying for me. And,
00:10:13
John David (Dumas)
My dad, I'm hanging out with my dad and drinking beers and stuff. And I'll never forget, I was at a party, an engagement party. And I had this like outer body experience, like a Dr.
00:10:27
toddpinkston
Thank you.
00:10:27
John David (Dumas)
Phil moment. This is crazy, but it'll make sense. I was high and drunk at this party and I knew all these people. I knew what they were going through. knew the hard things in their life and everybody was just drunk and it it was like the first time that I saw that all of this was fake. None of this was real.
00:10:48
John David (Dumas)
And I literally have this outer body experience and it could have been the weed and it could have been, you know, the beer whatever I was drinking. But I just felt, had this moment where I was like looking at everyone, like above everyone. And I could hear audibly God say to me, who are you living for and how's this working for you?
00:11:10
John David (Dumas)
And I just remember it was the moment that it went from being a concept to the reality of my life, to where I look back and that path had taken me and I was, I was pretty low, man.
00:11:11
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:11:18
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:11:22
John David (Dumas)
I was dating this girl that cheated on me and I didn't need to be dating her anyway. It was like what I just started looking at all these, where I was based off of the decisions I had made.
00:11:36
John David (Dumas)
And I was like, God, I'm sorry. Like I have whiffed on this. I've struck out. And so it was the moment where I remember saying this. I was high and drunk and drove back to my grandmother's house on the farm in Dumas.
00:11:52
John David (Dumas)
And not I would not advise that for anybody to do that.
00:11:55
Steven J. Neuner
Hmm.
00:11:56
John David (Dumas)
But I get there and I remember I just had this like, I was craving the word of God. like for the first time really in my life.
00:12:04
toddpinkston
Hmm.
00:12:07
John David (Dumas)
But all the truths that were implanted that my mom intentionally was like putting in my life, it was like, that is what I was clinging to in that moment, right?
00:12:17
toddpinkston
yeah.
00:12:18
John David (Dumas)
And I needed it to be true because I needed him to help me work my way out of this. cause i And then I realized I wasn't going to work out of it. he He ripped me out of And so, man, it was that moment. And I remember calling my mom and saying, mom, this what happened. This was going on.
00:12:36
John David (Dumas)
You know, I'm sorry. I've kind of been running, but I'm done. And y'all, it was that moment that Christ became real in my life. And I needed the... the death and resurrection to be true.
00:12:51
John David (Dumas)
And I needed the eternal hope that he gives us to be real because my life was going down to the point where when I was at the tail end of that, my brother-in-law, my best friend, Stephen Oaf, who's also been at Trail and Olivia works
00:12:55
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:12:58
toddpinkston
yeah
Founding of Falco Outfitters
00:13:09
John David (Dumas)
up there with you guys.
00:13:12
John David (Dumas)
I met my wife, Mindy, he married Whitney, which is my wife's older sister. Okay. So I was the best man in the, in the wedding. She was the maid of honor, my wife.
00:13:24
John David (Dumas)
And I remember at their wedding, I was like, dude, your sister-in-law's your new sister-in-law is kind of hot. Like, I think I want to, want holler. And, and Steven looked at me and said, you're not good enough for her.
00:13:40
John David (Dumas)
And I was like, I was waiting on the, I'm just kidding, you know,
00:13:41
toddpinkston
and that's why And that's why I like Stephen O.
00:13:45
John David (Dumas)
There's none that. It was like, you're not good enough for her. And I was like, yeah, you're right.
00:13:49
toddpinkston
who
00:13:50
John David (Dumas)
So it was, it was during that low point in my life, you know, before I say, i just talk, up the way I described it is it's like Jesus ripped out, grabbed my heart, ripped it out and put a new one in there.
00:13:52
toddpinkston
m
00:14:03
John David (Dumas)
And, anyway, it I remember thinking, Lord, if it if I don't ever find a girl, if I work at wherever you think of like the crummiest job is, and I have you, that's all I need. That's where I was. And and man, it's so cool. I know that God is not a slot machine, but buddy, when I finally, when when I flipped the light switch on,
00:14:35
John David (Dumas)
he started putting people in my life that needed to be in my life and brought my best friend back to me. That was kind of holding me at arms, arms, uh, length away from him because he, he didn't want to be involved in what I was wrapped up in.
00:14:52
John David (Dumas)
Uh, and, uh, yeah, man. So any questions to this point?
00:14:59
Steven J. Neuner
I mean, probably a hundred and I've taught, taught us money, but yeah yeah yeah, sure.
00:15:02
John David (Dumas)
Okay. You want me to finish and then we'll come back?
00:15:06
Steven J. Neuner
Sure. Keep going.
00:15:08
John David (Dumas)
Todd? Okay.
00:15:08
Steven J. Neuner
yeah
00:15:09
toddpinkston
Come on. Yeah.
00:15:10
John David (Dumas)
All right. So then these guys that I used to, so my mom is an unbelievable musician. And so she taught me how to play guitar when I was young. And these guys that I played in the youth band with,
00:15:25
John David (Dumas)
I played guitar. You know phenomenal. For some reason, we had phenomenal musicians in Texarkana, like one of my best friends was the lead guitarist for Chris Tomlin from senior year high school till last year, you know?
00:15:40
Steven J. Neuner
right.
00:15:41
John David (Dumas)
And we lived next door to each other and we learned, his dad was teaching us scales and rock licks and my mom was teaching James Taylor and finger picking and folk music.
00:15:41
toddpinkston
Absolutely.
00:15:51
John David (Dumas)
And it was just, it was really rad that we had two incredible musicians as parents teaching us how to play music. Well, I just remember praying that God would just put people in my life that I needed in my life. Well, here come all these guys that we played in the youth band together.
00:16:09
John David (Dumas)
So we start a band and we actually like signed a record deal and we toured for years. And, you know, during that time, Mindy, Stephen finally told Mindy, okay, John David's good enough for you now.
00:16:26
John David (Dumas)
And so I started burning her CDs. I would like, you know this is I was going to get her because I knew she loved music. So I would spend all this time making this playlist of burned CDs and I'd mail them to her. And then I'd mail her some more and we'd talk on the phone little bit. Then I finally going up started going to Fayetteville and visiting her. and We started dating actually and got serious and to the point where she started coming out on the road with our band when we were going on tour. She was the merch girl. She would set the merch table up and sell t-shirts and CDs. And anyway, it was a fun time in my life, man. Cause it was just like, I was, it was like free. I was free.
00:17:09
John David (Dumas)
And i was around people that were pointing me to Christ. I was doing something that I love to do. It's like God gave me this amazing opportunity to utilize this skill set that he gave me.
00:17:24
John David (Dumas)
And I was loving it. I was in it. Well, that ended up not fizzling out, but it's kind of a weird deal. We are we had an album that took too long to record and all the steam that we had, kind of we lost it. But we were opening it up for huge acts. I mean, like some of the biggest acts in the country and playing the biggest venues in the country. and So it was a dream to get to do that.
00:17:50
John David (Dumas)
So I'm trying to show you all the different points that brought me to Falco. So after Pilot Drift stopped,
00:18:01
John David (Dumas)
I didn't know what I wanted to do. And a buddy of mine said, hey man, let's do some, I'm starting a trim work, a trim carpent trim carpentry business. Come work with me.
00:18:12
John David (Dumas)
So I did and learned trim carpentry and we did really good. And that turned into me managing a couple, managing some jobs. And then I had another buddy that lived in Fayetteville that I grew up with from Southeast Arkansas.
00:18:28
John David (Dumas)
who had inherited a lot of money and had some commercial property up here in Fayetteville that I did not know about. But in the meantime, for some reason, God's, oh, Mindy and I got married. Forgot to tell you that.
00:18:44
John David (Dumas)
We got married in the middle of there somewhere.
00:18:46
Steven J. Neuner
That's the capital good enough.
00:18:46
John David (Dumas)
Unbelievable. nodd
00:18:47
Steven J. Neuner
That's the capital good enough.
00:18:48
John David (Dumas)
It was the music.
00:18:49
Steven J. Neuner
Well done. All right. Yeah.
00:18:50
John David (Dumas)
It was the music. She thought she'd
00:18:53
toddpinkston
was it the Was it the Burn CDs?
00:18:54
John David (Dumas)
It was, I think that she thought she was going to be on a tour bus for the rest of her life. I do. I think that I button hooked her.
00:19:02
toddpinkston
Oh.
00:19:03
John David (Dumas)
hu
00:19:05
toddpinkston
The button hooked me.
00:19:05
John David (Dumas)
Yeah. Yeah.
00:19:06
toddpinkston
You
00:19:08
John David (Dumas)
don't know what else you would call that. She thought we were going left and we went hard right. But anyway, so just also to that, like we get married. I know I skipped over that, but I'm trying to get through kind of what all I've done and i need to slow down and speak to that a little bit. Another just
00:19:31
John David (Dumas)
shows just God's kindness is the family that I got in Mindy.
00:19:33
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:19:35
John David (Dumas)
You know, her brother, John has gotten to be one of my best friends. Like he's somebody I'd call if I have something hard I'm going through. I need some advice. i mean, like I'm thankful that I could call any one of those family members and they would give me unbelievably Christ-centered, logical, sound advice.
00:19:57
Steven J. Neuner
Yeah. Rich.
00:19:58
John David (Dumas)
And anyway, I just, I love them to death.
00:19:59
Steven J. Neuner
rich
00:20:02
John David (Dumas)
I'm thankful for them. And it's it's crazy that I get to do life with my best friend. He's my actual brother-in-law. You know, that we were, been best friends since we were little and we married sisters and we go on family vacation. It's just,
00:20:17
John David (Dumas)
Again, God wink, another God wink. So we do music. We end music. Mindy and I are married. We're in Texarkana. We're wanting to move to Fayetteville just to get out of Texarkana. We want to do something on our own.
00:20:33
John David (Dumas)
And my buddy who lives in Fayetteville says, hey, this is crazy, but I want you to move to Fayetteville and build these commercial buildings for me. And I was like, you have no idea. We've been wanting to move to Fayetteville.
00:20:47
John David (Dumas)
so came up, interviewed, and I swear to you, three and a half weeks later, we were living in Fayetteville and I was starting the permit process on these construction, on these, uh, commercial buildings up here North West Arkansas.
00:21:04
John David (Dumas)
That kind of short story or long story short, that ended up turning into residential construction and that turned into a 16 year business where, uh,
00:21:15
John David (Dumas)
I did residential construction in Northwest Arkansas, a really booming economy. And it was, it was phenomenal. But in, at yeah let's see, in like 2016, I mean, we were rocking. It was, we were building a lot of houses, but I just felt this check in my gut. Like, this is not what I've created you to do.
00:21:41
John David (Dumas)
And i mean, I didn't, it was hard because we we were making good money and stuff and and the business was rocking, but
00:21:41
toddpinkston
Hmm.
00:21:50
John David (Dumas)
I just, I couldn't let it go. And I finally told Mindy one night, I said, I feel like God is telling me to do something different, like totally different. And, and I am tired of this rat race. Like I'm not good at construction. I'm not like the best organizational guy or systems guy, but I'm good relationally. And that's what got me through. Right? So,
00:22:13
John David (Dumas)
I was like, i'm kind of this is um'm I'm kind of good at it, but it's I don't feel like I'm able to lean all into it. And I want to do something I can lean all into. And I feel like that's where this is coming from.
00:22:26
John David (Dumas)
And, I mean, of course, Mindy, being like she is, she was like, well, let's do it. What do you want to do? And I I think I want to start a water fountain. I want to take people duck hunting.
00:22:37
John David (Dumas)
Because, I mean, that is... the whole purpose of that is the relational side of it. Right. So, anyway, I love to hunt and I love people and called a couple of friends and God's timing in their life was perfect.
00:22:54
John David (Dumas)
They were wanting to do it. And, uh, yeah, man, we formed Falco 2017, bought land, 2018, two thousand and seventeen bought the land two thousand and eighteen No, I'm sorry, we bought the we incorporated, bought the land in November of 2017, started construction April 18, and we're finished with the construction of everything September and fully booked year one.
00:23:19
John David (Dumas)
And we were just like, well, that was too easy. You know, like, mean, you know, a lot of times you ask for clarity from God and you ask him to show you what he wants you to do.
00:23:33
John David (Dumas)
But not all every time does he lay every step out and go, hey, dumb butt, now you're going to step right here because I know you're so dumb.
00:23:34
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:23:41
John David (Dumas)
I need to point and show you.
00:23:41
toddpinkston
Yeah. Yeah.
00:23:43
John David (Dumas)
You've got a step here. Okay, now we're going to go right here. Good. And I felt like that's what it was like all the way to the point where we were, the construction was finished and fully booked. And I just remember the three of us going, this, God's up to something here.
00:23:59
John David (Dumas)
He's up something here. So anyway, yeah, man, we've been going.
00:24:04
toddpinkston
Hey, Dive, JD, go a little deeper on that. I mean, what what are those conversations looking like? I mean, you know, you I won't say your age because I don't wanna embarrass you, but, you know, you're not 21.
00:24:17
toddpinkston
You guys, you know, you have, I mean, yeah, you used to have a little gray like me, and now you got a lot of gray.
00:24:21
John David (Dumas)
Oh, buddy.
00:24:23
toddpinkston
know.
00:24:23
John David (Dumas)
It's a waterfall now.
00:24:23
toddpinkston
Hey.
00:24:25
John David (Dumas)
It's like Bear the other day, we're on the beach and Bear comes up and he goes,
00:24:26
toddpinkston
know
00:24:30
John David (Dumas)
dad, your beard is getting white. And I was like, I know, dude. And he he just sat there and looked and he said, I liked it better when it was dark.
00:24:40
Steven J. Neuner
Sorry, dude.
00:24:42
toddpinkston
You're like, sorry, dude.
00:24:42
John David (Dumas)
You're out of the wheel.
00:24:45
toddpinkston
Yeah. So, you know, you guys, you're, you guys have families, you're established in your careers.
00:24:56
toddpinkston
To
Balancing Family and Career
00:24:56
toddpinkston
get three guys to leave what they're doing and jump in on something brand new is is huge.
00:25:02
John David (Dumas)
Yeah.
00:25:03
toddpinkston
And what what do those conversations look like? i mean, you talked a little bit about that you know that midlife grumbling discontentment of –
00:25:08
John David (Dumas)
Yeah.
00:25:14
toddpinkston
You are good at what you're doing. It's putting food on the table. You could have, you know, punched that clock for the rest of your life. You'd have done really well, you know, but you wanted something different and finding two other dudes that were good at, you know, good at what they do that wanted the same thing.
00:25:28
John David (Dumas)
Yeah.
00:25:31
toddpinkston
I mean, tell tell tell a little bit more kind of how that came together.
00:25:34
John David (Dumas)
Yeah, man, so so Aaron Seiferts is one of my partners, and we met, so he was guiding at a place called Wildlife Farms for 10 years, okay?
00:25:35
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:25:45
John David (Dumas)
His granddad was a famous game and fish commissioner in Arkansas. A lot of our WMAs in Arkansas are named after Casey Jones, his granddad. And his daddy was a dog trainer who trained all my dad's dogs.
00:25:58
John David (Dumas)
Oh, I knew that Aaron was a savage hunter. I know he's the real deal. he knew that, that, that I was a big hunter. cause he knew my dad. i mean, he knew, we knew a lot of the same people from the same area. He's from Pine Bluff.
00:26:13
John David (Dumas)
We're from Dumas. but I had never met Aaron. And so, and dude, I think, let's see, Lila was born 2009, 2010,
00:26:23
John David (Dumas)
I'm in Seaside on the beach with our family, and I'm holding Lila's hand on the beach, just her little finger, and we're sitting by the, you know, she's like a year and a half. I think she's a year and a half at this point, maybe two, so it might have been 2011.
00:26:38
John David (Dumas)
And I'm sitting there. I just remember she was so little, she was holding my pinky, and I was walking real slow, and she was taking baby steps in the ocean. And all of a sudden, this guy comes up to me, Aaron, and And he goes, hey man, I'm Aaron.
00:26:54
John David (Dumas)
I was like, hey man, I'm John David. And he said, how was your duck season? And I was like, what? What do you, I mean, it was good, but how did, how are you? He said, man, I was sitting over there and I was looking at you and I said, that's a rice farmer son right there if I've ever seen one. And I bet he's got some good duck hunting places. I need to go meet him.
00:27:16
John David (Dumas)
And so I swear to you, that's how he came up met me. So we get to talking and it turns, this is just like God.
00:27:19
toddpinkston
Huh.
00:27:22
John David (Dumas)
And it turns out he lives one street over from me in Fayetteville. Then we put it together.
00:27:27
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:27:27
John David (Dumas)
oh my gosh, your dad is Jerry Seiferts who trained my dad's dogs. Your dad's Kenny Black. Oh my gosh. I've heard about you. I've heard about you. So we end up just becoming, I mean, tight, right? Like we're we're good buddies. We hunt together.
00:27:43
John David (Dumas)
i would go down to wildlife farms and help them every now and then when they needed help. And we turkey hunted together. And I don't know you know how many people listening are turkey hunters, but Turkey hunting is something that you don't just do with anybody.
00:27:58
John David (Dumas)
Like you got your, you got your buddy that you know is going to make the right move when you got to make a right move and he's not going to dork it on a turkey.
00:27:59
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:28:06
John David (Dumas)
Like you don't just, you don't like take, i don't, i don't really, you know, I'll, I'll take like kids hunting, but like, you know, it's just something that's, that's my time.
00:28:18
John David (Dumas)
Right.
00:28:18
toddpinkston
a
00:28:19
John David (Dumas)
Well, we turkey hunted together and then we were like, all right, we can really be friends now. So,
00:28:25
toddpinkston
It was good chemistry.
00:28:25
John David (Dumas)
Oh yeah. The chemistry, there were fireworks.
00:28:27
toddpinkston
Let's go. Let's go.
00:28:28
John David (Dumas)
We killed two times. First time we went hunting, we're like, we'll do it again.
00:28:32
toddpinkston
Hey,
00:28:32
John David (Dumas)
Yeah, we'll do it again. So anyway, so Aaron had had stayed my, you know, we we were friends and I was doing construction and I reached out to Aaron was training dogs.
00:28:36
toddpinkston
Mindy better watch out.
00:28:45
John David (Dumas)
And so I, I called Aaron when I felt that, that night I said, dude,
00:28:50
toddpinkston
e
00:28:50
John David (Dumas)
you might tell me I'm crazy, but I think I'm, I want to start an outfitter. And Aaron said, dude, I do too. And I, I want to do it now.
00:29:00
toddpinkston
Let's go.
00:29:01
John David (Dumas)
Like I'm ready.
00:29:03
toddpinkston
Hmm.
00:29:04
John David (Dumas)
All right. So there's Aaron.
00:29:04
toddpinkston
hu
00:29:05
John David (Dumas)
So we're ready to do it. Right. All right. So let's back up a little bit, uh, before we actually, you know, form the group. Josh Teff is another partner of mine. We went to church together and, uh,
00:29:20
John David (Dumas)
Everybody always assumed that I knew Josh and that he knew me, that we were close friends, but we we weren't. But I would see him at church and I'd be like, God, that looks like somebody i'd be buddies with. And he would do the same thing with me.
00:29:32
John David (Dumas)
And people would always say like, I know you hunt with John David, right? And he'd be like, no, but everybody says it. And then people would ask me, what did you and Josh hunt together this year much? And was like, dude, I don't know the guy.
00:29:43
John David (Dumas)
So I'm taking Barry to get a haircut one day. And Josh is in there with his son. And I walk in and we like look at each other and he goes, John David Blagg. And I said, Josh Teff. And we started talking and boom, fast friends. This would have been probably in 2015.
00:30:03
John David (Dumas)
So pretty soon before, two years before we started Falco. And Josh was working at a place. He was running a waterfowl outfit for another person.
00:30:16
John David (Dumas)
I'm not going to say any names, but he was promised ownership and promised ownership and promised ownership and just was never given the opportunity. And it was frustrating because he built that side of the business.
00:30:26
toddpinkston
Hmm.
00:30:29
John David (Dumas)
So in his heart, he was ready to go, right? He had built that business for that guy and was just never really rewarded for it.
00:30:40
John David (Dumas)
Praise God he wasn't, right? And he would say that as well. Like, you know, God knew. And his timing is perfect in this deal. So yeah I had two guys that were ready to move.
00:30:48
toddpinkston
Hmm.
00:30:53
John David (Dumas)
They were ready to do something different. And so I'll never forget this. Aaron and I were turkey hunting and we had turkeys coming in. And Aaron is not real... he's not He's not as outspoken spiritually. You know, like he's not going to say like the Holy Spirit's telling me, so I feel like, you know, something's going on. I feel like God's telling me we got to do this.
00:31:17
John David (Dumas)
Well, turkeys are coming in. And that's like the moment you get your gun up and you get ready, right? And he leans around the tree and he goes, hey, we need to text Josh Teff right now. And we need to go have lunch on Monday and talk about this outfitter deal. And I was like, shut up.
00:31:33
John David (Dumas)
They're right here, you know, like these turkeys are gobbling coming in. And he was like, dude, I'm telling you, I've never, I hadn't felt this really before.
00:31:37
Steven J. Neuner
That's good.
00:31:43
John David (Dumas)
yeah I need you to text Josh Teff right now and tell him that we need to have lunch. And I was like, okay, my gosh, you know, so I texted Josh, put him on down.
00:31:50
toddpinkston
Okay. Hmm.
00:31:51
John David (Dumas)
We killed two turkeys. We go home. And that Monday we go have lunch and we leave the lunch with a name,
00:32:03
John David (Dumas)
with a rough design of our initial logo and where we wanted to do it.
00:32:08
toddpinkston
Hmm.
00:32:10
John David (Dumas)
So when you ask like the conversations with those guys, it was, it was easy because they were ready. With my wife, it was easy because she is just supportive to the end of the earth.
00:32:19
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:32:26
John David (Dumas)
Like, I could say right now, like, I feel like God's telling us to go to Africa. She'd be like, I'll pack a bag. I mean, she's just down for whatever. And that's, what's awesome.
00:32:37
John David (Dumas)
and i also think that she had the Holy spirit working in her heart. Like this is the direction that I was going to prepare for it. I think she knew.
00:32:48
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:32:49
John David (Dumas)
and so yeah, at this point it was gone.
00:32:49
Steven J. Neuner
She knew you weren't going to be a rock star.
00:32:49
toddpinkston
in yeah
00:32:53
John David (Dumas)
Like we were done with that, that,
00:32:54
Steven J. Neuner
a
00:32:56
toddpinkston
Did you burn her like a like a CD of duck songs to like tell her?
00:32:59
John David (Dumas)
Yes. Of me, it was it was two hours of just me blowing a duck call. It was amazing.
00:33:04
toddpinkston
Good, night good, good, good. Hey, hey i have I have heard that sound and it is like music to my ears.
00:33:10
John David (Dumas)
Yeah.
00:33:11
toddpinkston
I mean, if I was a mallard, I'd come in in a heartbeat.
00:33:14
John David (Dumas)
I mean, I think that all the time too, Todd. I don't know why they don't always do it. It confuses me.
00:33:19
toddpinkston
Let's go. hey so i'd love I'd love for you to get a little bit kind of deeper, maybe maybe a little more vulnerable on the marriage front.
00:33:28
John David (Dumas)
Yeah.
00:33:29
toddpinkston
You guys live you live an unorthodox lifestyle.
00:33:31
John David (Dumas)
Yeah.
00:33:32
toddpinkston
I mean, flat.
00:33:33
John David (Dumas)
Yeah. we dont
00:33:36
toddpinkston
Flat out. I mean, I can relate to some, but you've got a heavy season where you you're grinding and you're gone for a long time.
00:33:46
toddpinkston
And it's it's a lot.
00:33:47
John David (Dumas)
yeah
00:33:48
toddpinkston
And Mindy holds down the home front. And then you've got time where you're back. Like, what what does that look like for you? I mean, as as a man, as a husband, you know, you're living – you guys are –
00:33:55
John David (Dumas)
yeah
00:34:03
toddpinkston
And she's making sacrifices that that, you know, look different than yours. I'm sure some people don't understand. You know, what what does that look like? What are the conversations?
00:34:13
toddpinkston
How do you love on her in a way that, yeah, makes her feel treasured and valued, even though it looks different than some other marriages?
00:34:19
John David (Dumas)
Yeah, that's a great question. You know, we we talk about this a lot. it One of our guys that works for us is a former special forces guy and and was deployed a lot.
00:34:34
John David (Dumas)
He was a Green Beret. And he he says at the lodge, he said, we live a deployment life. And it's it's it really is like that because we get to Falco and we go to work.
00:34:44
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:34:49
John David (Dumas)
It is not like we're having drinks with buddies or we're, you know, just staying up late and having a good time.
00:34:54
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:34:56
John David (Dumas)
No, it's like from 4.30 in the morning until 10 o'clock at night, we're on every day from 1st of November until middle of February.
00:35:01
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:35:05
John David (Dumas)
Yeah.
00:35:06
toddpinkston
yeah
00:35:07
John David (Dumas)
And you know, at first, when kids were young, it was difficult. It was really difficult. And really, to be honest, that was before FaceTime was big. I mean, I don't know, was 2017?
00:35:22
John David (Dumas)
I mean, I don't even remember if you could FaceTime then. But communication was hard. Kids were young. Mindy was, has she does everything when I'm gone, obviously.
00:35:48
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:35:50
John David (Dumas)
I think
00:35:52
John David (Dumas)
it was really hard the first couple years because I would come home and still do construction. So I phased out of construction in 2020.
00:36:04
John David (Dumas)
twenty When did COVID happen? when did covid happen
00:36:08
Steven J. Neuner
What is Wayne?
00:36:09
Steven J. Neuner
Yep.
00:36:09
toddpinkston
twenty
00:36:09
John David (Dumas)
It was 20 is when I finally sold to my partner in construction and completely got out. So until then, i was coming home and then going right back to work in construction.
00:36:22
John David (Dumas)
But Mindy saw... I think this is what really made her willing to fight for it. as She saw the ministry, the organic ministry that was happening at Falco. that was happening at falco She saw it firsthand through people that were clients of ours that were going through some of the hardest stuff in their life. and They would just show up at my house for a weekend.
00:36:49
John David (Dumas)
They would call and say, dude, i need to just i'm I'm coming down there. I don't know what to do. And my kids would see it. My kids would see me and Mindy out praying next to our fire pit.
00:36:56
toddpinkston
Yeah. Yeah.
00:36:59
John David (Dumas)
And this client of ours that comes to hunt at Falco is sleeping in our guest bedroom and we're praying by the fire pit and, you know, having great conversation.
00:37:10
John David (Dumas)
I think like them seeing me feel alive and, and feeling like i have for sure found my purpose
00:37:20
toddpinkston
o
00:37:24
John David (Dumas)
I think was energizing for everyone. And so when Mindy saw that and she knew that our plan was to phase out of construction and me do Falco full time, she was ready to fight to get to that point where I was doing Falco full time. and And it's been a huge blessing because now when I get home, I'm home.
00:37:48
John David (Dumas)
You know, like I'm able to coach teams. I take kids to school in the morning. Mindy and I can day date during the day. You know, it's fantastic because they get all of me.
00:37:58
John David (Dumas)
And to be honest, what I would argue, and please know my heart in this, this is not a knock to anyone that has a five to nine or nine to five job or or whatever.
00:38:05
Steven J. Neuner
Thank you.
00:38:10
John David (Dumas)
I truly think that my kids see me more and certain friends that I have that have taxing jobs that are daily in the hometown where their kids live.
00:38:14
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:38:22
John David (Dumas)
And I think my kids would tell you that too.
00:38:22
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:38:27
John David (Dumas)
And it's really kind of all they know. So, but as far as Mindy and i it's been really cool.
00:38:30
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:38:37
John David (Dumas)
One of the things I loved about Mindy when we got married was the fact that she doesn't need me. Like she needs me for little stuff. Like she'll call me and say like, Hey, how do I turn the TV on? You know, that kind of like just bull crap.
00:38:54
John David (Dumas)
But like, she does not need me. She is so secure in who she is in Jesus. She doesn't need anyone. And that was super attractive to me that she is extremely independent, her personality anyway.
00:39:08
John David (Dumas)
I mean, we moved up here where no family is. So she was always one, she was gonna move to New Zealand when we were dating and I had to convince her not to, to keep dating me.
00:39:18
John David (Dumas)
You know, i was like, I'll go with you one day if we, you know, like we can do that together.
00:39:19
Steven J. Neuner
Thank you.
00:39:23
John David (Dumas)
She's just that personality type. So though it's been hard,
00:39:26
toddpinkston
Yeah. Hmm.
Operations and Growth of Falco Outfitters
00:39:30
John David (Dumas)
It's really cool to see we've gotten really, trying to find something wood to knock on.
00:39:36
toddpinkston
Hmm. Hmm.
00:39:38
John David (Dumas)
I feel like we've gotten really good at it. And our communication has had to be really, it our communication has grown because we had, it's all we had was just to communicate. I'm not there to help, but you know, I can learn how to listen instead of trying to tell her to fix it.
00:39:55
John David (Dumas)
Or I can learn how to just let her talk and know when to speak into something and know when to shut up. And, but, uh, I mean, dude, it's been, it's been great.
00:40:02
Steven J. Neuner
Hey,
00:40:09
John David (Dumas)
It's been awesome. I think the hardest part is when I reincorporate and into the home after a season. And she's like, Hey, I don't need you. We got this.
00:40:20
John David (Dumas)
I've got this dialed.
00:40:20
Steven J. Neuner
JD.
00:40:21
John David (Dumas)
Like you just sit back and then you slowly, you know, get back. We laugh all the time about that.
00:40:29
Steven J. Neuner
hey jy
00:40:29
John David (Dumas)
But yeah, we're closer now than we ever have been. And I say, I said that earlier, you know, today's our 20th wedding anniversary.
00:40:34
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:40:38
John David (Dumas)
And,
00:40:39
toddpinkston
Let's go.
00:40:39
Steven J. Neuner
Happy anniversary.
00:40:39
John David (Dumas)
I know, dude. That's a big deal.
00:40:42
toddpinkston
what you So you got married at 40 or 45? I mean, with all that gray.
00:40:50
John David (Dumas)
Yes.
00:40:50
toddpinkston
Come on. Hey, tell me. So go into, I want to i want to get into Falco. What you guys do is incredible. I mean,
00:40:58
John David (Dumas)
Thanks, man. Yeah.
00:41:01
toddpinkston
Duck hunting is a redneck sport, like just flat out, you know.
00:41:02
John David (Dumas)
Yeah.
00:41:06
toddpinkston
The John Marshalls of the world don't want to do it because your waders fill up with water and, you know, you're sitting there. It's uncomfortable. just sucks. But what you guys do is phenomenal.
00:41:18
John David (Dumas)
Yeah.
00:41:19
toddpinkston
and you are weaving in first class outfitting with incredible accommodations and food. And you're you're doing it for a purpose.
00:41:30
John David (Dumas)
Yeah.
00:41:30
toddpinkston
And and dude those things are hard. i mean, at the end of the day, something has to trump.
00:41:35
John David (Dumas)
Yeah.
00:41:36
toddpinkston
And you guys seem like you're holding attention really well and and, you know, having a huge impact on people's lives because you're intentional. And at the same time, you're, you know, you're providing them a great service.
00:41:48
toddpinkston
Like talk, talk about the DNA of that.
00:41:50
John David (Dumas)
Yeah, man.
00:41:50
toddpinkston
How do you do it?
00:41:52
John David (Dumas)
So another, another God thing, this is really awesome.
00:41:52
toddpinkston
Yeah. Yeah.
00:41:55
John David (Dumas)
Uh, is so we were really prayerful on the kind of the vibe that we wanted our lives to have. I'm a big proponent of, uh, and this is, this is in all of this, you just gotta, this is an experience that I've lived.
00:42:13
John David (Dumas)
So this is where this is coming from. But, I'm a big proponent of we need more men that are really good at what they do that are organically having ministry.
00:42:26
John David (Dumas)
Not like, I mean, like it could be somebody at a CPA cpa office. If they're amazing at their job, people are going to listen to them differently, right? And so I love that, that when some of my family just got home, speaking of 20 years, my smoking hot wife just walked in.
00:42:36
toddpinkston
Absolutely.
00:42:42
toddpinkston
Come on.
00:42:45
toddpinkston
Woo!
00:42:46
Steven J. Neuner
Mm-hmm.
00:42:47
John David (Dumas)
And my gorgeous daughter. Okay. So, you know, we were really prayerful about the vibe that we wanted Falco to have. And the there's a buddy of mine, of of ours, Reagan Renfro. He's a phenomenal photographer in the outdoor space. He does a lot of work for Under Armour and a lot of big outdoor brands.
00:43:10
John David (Dumas)
He had started the year before, like a men's group called The Purpose. And based out of Tulsa, but guys from all over were coming in. And and these are guys within the industry that work work, some of them work within the outdoor industry, the hunting industry, to be exact, that were maybe influencers or you know photographers.
00:43:34
John David (Dumas)
But at the end of the day, they they love Jesus. And that Reagan started this group to kind of have a reset before these people go off into their jobs in the and the hunting industry.
00:43:47
John David (Dumas)
This is what we're focused on. Our focus is Christ.
00:43:51
toddpinkston
Hmm.
00:43:51
John David (Dumas)
Let's be good at what we do. And anyway, it's an amazing group that... that that we still to this day donate, you know, three days of of our lodge to that group to come.
00:44:05
John David (Dumas)
They were the first group to ever come to Falco. So we opened in 2018.
00:44:09
toddpinkston
Hmm.
00:44:09
John David (Dumas)
The first group that comes is the purpose.
00:44:12
Steven J. Neuner
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:44:13
John David (Dumas)
And they didn't know what to expect.
00:44:13
toddpinkston
Hmm.
00:44:15
John David (Dumas)
There's this new hunt lodge in Oklahoma, you know, blah, blah. blah And some of these guys were guys that we would love to work with. You know what I mean? Like we've watched followed their stuff and watched it.
00:44:26
Steven J. Neuner
who
00:44:26
toddpinkston
Hmm.
00:44:27
John David (Dumas)
Anyway, we absolutely have the best two days of hunting and the best conversations and just the best time.
00:44:34
toddpinkston
Hmm.
00:44:37
John David (Dumas)
The lives was on point. Everything went well and people were blown away. Praise God. And they all started posting on social media about Falco and it just blew up.
00:44:51
John David (Dumas)
That was the first group to ever come.
00:44:52
toddpinkston
he
00:44:53
Steven J. Neuner
wow
00:44:53
John David (Dumas)
was Christ-centered group that we donated a couple days to to kind of let some of these people experience it. and and And the business really did take off from that. But, you know, we were prayerful.
00:45:07
John David (Dumas)
And the vibe that we that what I always tell people is if either of my daughters are there, if they were there and they were uncomfortable, then there's something in my life that I have to address right now.
00:45:21
John David (Dumas)
And that is how we've run that business from day one. We wanted to be a so place that companies or people could send guys to to entertain and know that it's gonna be classy, it's gonna be top tier, and there's not gonna be anything sketchy going on.
00:45:26
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:45:40
John David (Dumas)
And so we didn't realize
00:45:41
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:45:46
John David (Dumas)
the appetite there was for that environment. and And we stayed true to it. And there's been several groups that we've had to, you know, tell them you're not invited back.
00:45:58
John David (Dumas)
There's been one guy that I called next to out to the fire pit and told him to come, he can get his jet to come pick him up and aim it.
00:46:00
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:46:05
John David (Dumas)
And I'll take him to the airport and y'all can carry this on in Vegas if you'd like, but you're not going to be here anymore. And I really think that when you do that,
00:46:16
John David (Dumas)
the group of eight that is coming in with the group of eight, they don't know each other, they're gonna love each other because you know we were blessed to be in a position to where we could tell people you're not coming back, this is the type of people we want here. And then there's also been people that started out night one you know, a certain direction. And we had a conversation and they've been some of our most faithful clients and have come to Christ and, you know, real life changes happened.
00:46:46
John David (Dumas)
So, you know, we're not a Christian hunting lodge. We're a hunting lodge. we we are We are good at what we do, and and and you're going to have a great experience at Falco.
00:46:54
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:47:00
John David (Dumas)
But when the opportunity presents itself, we're absolutely going to talk about what matters, and that is what Jesus has done in our life.
00:47:10
toddpinkston
Let's go. I love that. JD, you're one of the most positive people that that I've ever been around. I mean, what whatever's in front of you is like the best ever.
00:47:22
toddpinkston
I mean, this is the best hamburger I've ever had in my entire life.
00:47:27
John David (Dumas)
We get that all the time.
00:47:28
toddpinkston
You know? i mean, oh come on.
00:47:30
John David (Dumas)
I get, I get, is this another one of your best friends, John David? Hmm.
00:47:34
Steven J. Neuner
yeah.
00:47:34
toddpinkston
Hey, dude. Hey.
00:47:35
John David (Dumas)
Hmm.
00:47:37
toddpinkston
So... But I do think i think, I think that's your spiritual gift. Like, I think you are, you make people feel cared for. You love on folks well. Like, man, I think contentment and joy in the Lord, it just matters. Like, we should never have a bad day. You know, the the if God's at work, it may not turn out the way we want. But I say that to say, most things in your life, you know, they seem up into the right. You got a positive attitude. But...
00:48:07
toddpinkston
The show's called Unstuck and Alive. And so I want to know, when you look back on your life, you know where do you feel like there were places you got stuck? Like just, you felt like you were you know hitting your head against a wall or you felt, you just felt like it wasn't working.
00:48:23
toddpinkston
And and what what helped you get through that? Like how how how did those moments provide catalytic opportunities for you to grow in the Lord and become the man
Overcoming Challenges through Faith
00:48:34
toddpinkston
you are today?
00:48:35
John David (Dumas)
Yeah, man, that's a great question. and And I think, you know, when I was talking about, I felt the Lord telling me to do something else.
00:48:45
John David (Dumas)
I really do think that in construction, I felt stuck. I felt like I was growing this business and I literally was stuck financially with loans, with certain things that like I had to see to fruition to get out of, right?
00:48:50
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:48:57
Steven J. Neuner
it
00:49:06
John David (Dumas)
but, I think that, uh, that every time I have started to feel stuck, like that is an example. And I was, I, I remember Mindy even saying to me, like hearing me talk to one of my subs one time who I loved. I I had great relationships with my subcontractors and i remember her saying like, do you talk to them like that all the time? Like who, who, what are you, who are you?
00:49:34
John David (Dumas)
And I was like, well, I'm not like dilly-dallying with it. Like we've got to get stuff done and this is what needs to happen. And they messed up and they need to fix it. And I started to just kind of see myself not like, I wasn't friendly anymore. I was i was starting to lose that.
00:49:51
John David (Dumas)
and and And I think that kind of like before I really came to Christ and I just saw myself going in a certain direction,
00:50:04
John David (Dumas)
I could kind of see that happening again. could see me, I was i was thinking about financially my gains, but I wasn't seeing my losses.
00:50:15
John David (Dumas)
I wasn't seeing where I was, where i was I was not John David Black.
00:50:18
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:50:21
John David (Dumas)
I was starting to be J.D.
00:50:21
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:50:23
John David (Dumas)
Black LLC. And that was not, I did not like that.
00:50:25
toddpinkston
Hmm.
00:50:27
John David (Dumas)
and And again, i think like he did when I came to Christ, the Holy Spirit,
00:50:27
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:50:34
John David (Dumas)
took me to the map over it. and And I do think that that is where the desire and the realization that I needed to do something different.
00:50:46
John David (Dumas)
And also think that that that was one of the things that got, that Mindy was on board for too.
00:50:47
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:50:53
John David (Dumas)
was like, yeah, I mean, like,
00:50:57
John David (Dumas)
we I can see where you might want to go a different direction.
00:51:00
Steven J. Neuner
Yeah.
00:51:01
John David (Dumas)
So that question, how do you get unstuck?
00:51:02
Steven J. Neuner
and JD?
00:51:04
John David (Dumas)
Every time, it's been Jesus. it's been It's been, I think i'm so I'm so dumb that he has to be so obvious with me that you've got to go this way.
00:51:07
Steven J. Neuner
Yeah.
00:51:17
John David (Dumas)
And I wish that I could go back and follow that nudge every time he gave it to me.
00:51:18
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:51:24
John David (Dumas)
But I'm thankful that I did with this one.
00:51:27
Steven J. Neuner
Yeah.
00:51:28
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:51:28
Steven J. Neuner
Hey, JD, I appreciate you sharing that.
00:51:30
John David (Dumas)
Yeah.
00:51:31
Steven J. Neuner
one One of the things that I'm curious about, just for people that are listening, when it when it was, I'm leaving this, I'm going to do this. Where did the duck hunt, like where did that come from? was it like Did you feel pulled towards that? Or it's like, I just got to do something so different than what I'm doing.
00:51:51
Steven J. Neuner
I think a lot of people, yeah, yeah please.
00:51:51
John David (Dumas)
No, I was. good for No, no, I'm sorry. Finish that. Finish your thought there.
00:51:56
Steven J. Neuner
No, I just, I think that that, like, that's a big departure. i mean, if you look at your life, you can see it's all the way all the way back to your dad. I mean, you've been around it your whole life, for it but is it like, what was it? Like, how did you discern that that was the thing?
00:52:13
John David (Dumas)
To be honest, kind of like I said, i was i was not the the best contractor. I was good because of my relational skills. I could get i could get through any conversation we needed to have.
00:52:23
Steven J. Neuner
Yeah.
00:52:23
toddpinkston
Hmm. Hmm.
00:52:25
John David (Dumas)
or I was good at dealing with the bank, but I was not the best contractor. and I think that I really started, what am really good at? What am I really good at?
00:52:37
John David (Dumas)
like what am i really good at And I was like, I'm a really good, I mean, this sound might sound arrogant, but in my head, I'm like, I'm a really good duck hunter.
00:52:46
John David (Dumas)
Duh.
00:52:47
Steven J. Neuner
OK.
00:52:48
John David (Dumas)
That's what I need to do. i mean, like that's my dad did it. Like it can be done.
00:52:51
Steven J. Neuner
Yeah.
00:52:53
John David (Dumas)
and I wanted to do it.
00:52:55
toddpinkston
But guiding is more than that.
00:52:56
John David (Dumas)
Oh yeah.
00:52:56
toddpinkston
What else are you really good at?
00:52:57
Steven J. Neuner
Yeah.
00:52:57
John David (Dumas)
Yeah. Right. Yeah. I mean, and and I, and I, and I did, uh, really kind of pick that a apart of like, what was I good at in construction? Again, I go back, it was the relational side of it.
00:53:08
John David (Dumas)
Like I was good at making friends.
00:53:09
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:53:11
John David (Dumas)
I was good at finding, I was good at being able to find common ground with people quickly.
00:53:11
toddpinkston
Yeah.
00:53:17
Steven J. Neuner
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:53:18
John David (Dumas)
Get, find the common ground quick, lean into it and build a real relationship. And you look back at all the stuff that I've done. I mean, from farming farming,
00:53:31
John David (Dumas)
music to college football to construction, you know, being into all kinds of weird music that like people at a duck lodge normally probably wouldn't
Future Aspirations for Falco
00:53:42
John David (Dumas)
be into. Like if we have a son, if a dad brings his son and his son's kind of like sulking in the corner and he's wanting to listen to Radiohead, I can talk to talk to him about Radiohead because I know every album.
00:53:53
John David (Dumas)
Like think that I'm thankful
00:53:54
Steven J. Neuner
Yeah.
00:53:58
John David (Dumas)
for the path that seemed confusing during the time. Like, where are we going with this?
00:54:03
Steven J. Neuner
Yeah.
00:54:05
John David (Dumas)
Like, I don't, I'm going over here. No, that's not, I'm going over here. That's not it. I'm going over here. That's not it. And I look back now and I go, that's why.
00:54:13
Steven J. Neuner
who
00:54:14
John David (Dumas)
Because anybody that comes into that lodge, I can find something that we have in common.
00:54:16
Steven J. Neuner
yeah
00:54:20
John David (Dumas)
And we're going to land on it quick. I'm going to find it. I'm gonna fill them out. And we're going land on it quick. And he's going to be my buddy. If he thinks, if he thought he was going to come to this lodge with his dad's friends or this other guy in a business that got drug along because the CEO wanted him to be there, he didn't want to be there. I want him to feel welcome. I want him to think, gosh, I'm surprised. That was a blast.
00:54:44
John David (Dumas)
I was going duck hunting. I didn't think I was going to like enjoy conversation.
00:54:45
toddpinkston
It's
00:54:48
John David (Dumas)
Like that's what I want people to feel when they come to Falco. don't care what your background is, where you come from. It doesn't matter. want you to feel love. We all do, not just me. We all do.
00:55:00
John David (Dumas)
And I do think that that is something that we've done well, is is love on people really well when they get there, no matter where they're at.
00:55:11
Steven J. Neuner
Say more.
00:55:11
John David (Dumas)
Okay.
00:55:11
toddpinkston
good.
00:55:14
toddpinkston
what are you guys What are you guys dreaming about? when you When you think about the future, you know, you guys got a wait list out the door. You're working on a second property. Like, what what do y'all sit around the fire and dream the crazy
00:55:26
John David (Dumas)
Well, man, the crazy what ifs are in motion right now.
00:55:33
toddpinkston
on.
00:55:34
John David (Dumas)
We brought a partner on, financial partner on last year and has gotten to be just not just a financial partner.
00:55:34
Steven J. Neuner
say more
00:55:42
John David (Dumas)
Like he's my age, just a dear friend to every one of us and a encourager. He's an incredible encourager and he's done extremely well in his career to the point where he sold it and he has a family office and he is passionate about recreational properties, specifically waterfowl properties.
00:56:07
John David (Dumas)
And so he partnered with us to utilize our brand, which is what we were praying for. Like the outfitter is enough. I'm thankful that's, but I also, I want to, the way I'm wired and the way Josh and Aaron are wired, we want to keep going.
00:56:23
John David (Dumas)
And anyway, so we are buying and developing waterfowl properties. We just are in the process of wrapping up our first one, Boggy Creek down in Southeast Oklahoma.
00:56:37
John David (Dumas)
And we have a couple more under contract right now. One really, Big one. I can't wait to talk about more at some point. Not this podcast right now.
00:56:48
Steven J. Neuner
you
00:56:49
John David (Dumas)
and But it's just really fun. A lot of fun stuff's happening. Our buddy that i was I alluded to earlier that was Green Beret, Holt, he works for us full-time now.
00:57:02
John David (Dumas)
Phenomenal human. Always dialed. and Randomly, we have several you know retired SEALs or, or, you know, SF guys that hunt with us. And they always said, y'all need to do a shooting facility here. Y'all need to do a shooting facility here.
00:57:22
John David (Dumas)
Well, that's not, I'm not like going to teach Green Berets how to shoot pistols. Are you kidding me? Like, you know, I'm not going to teach, I can shoot a pistol, but that's just not my lane. And Holt would come up and hunt when,
00:57:36
John David (Dumas)
when he was on dwell is what they call it, like in between deployments. And he was sleeping in my other bed in my room and we were about to go to sleep one night. And he said, we need to do a shooting facility here.
00:57:48
John David (Dumas)
And I said, hold on. You said we
00:57:53
toddpinkston
Pronouns matter.
00:57:53
John David (Dumas)
A hundred percent. He said, absolutely. Cause that's what I want to do when I get out. So he was able to med retire out, last March and we did all the infrastructure, the dirt work, last year we got it complete and, uh, we're developing, a state of the art shooting facility at Falco, uh, tactical and long range facility.
00:57:58
toddpinkston
Hmm.
00:58:15
John David (Dumas)
And, yeah, Holt's going to get to run that. And I'm thankful that he gets to do that because he's a special, special dude and he is going to absolutely crush it.
00:58:28
John David (Dumas)
Oh man.
00:58:28
toddpinkston
Come
00:58:28
Steven J. Neuner
Awesome.
00:58:29
John David (Dumas)
It's a, there's a lot of stuff happening and it's, it's awesome.
Reflections on JD's Journey
00:58:33
John David (Dumas)
And it's, you know, you said earlier when you were asking about Mindy and I, but, uh, and how we do it.
00:58:44
John David (Dumas)
and Oh gosh. Crap, I just lost my train and thought.
00:58:50
John David (Dumas)
Maybe it'll come back to me. Oh, it was so good too. It was going to be so good.
00:58:55
toddpinkston
It was great.
00:58:56
Steven J. Neuner
Mm-hmm.
00:58:57
toddpinkston
All right. I'm going to give you a rapid fire. You can get back there.
00:58:59
John David (Dumas)
i'll get We'll get back there.
00:59:01
toddpinkston
Best, uh, best hunt day you've ever had in your life. Rapid fire.
00:59:05
John David (Dumas)
best time they win that I've ever had
00:59:06
toddpinkston
You don't have like 10 minutes that you've ever had. Yeah. Just like what, what is the, what is one day in the world?
00:59:14
John David (Dumas)
Okay, easy, easy. Bear, it was youth hunt. Everybody could not come to Falco.
00:59:19
toddpinkston
Hmm.
00:59:21
John David (Dumas)
We were going to have a big youth hunt with all these kids. We had bad weather. My family had already come up. Me, and it's a youth and veteran hunt. So one of our guys that works for us, it runs our upland side.
00:59:34
John David (Dumas)
Oliver does all upland hunts. He's a former Marine. And so me and Craig and Bear were hunting on the levee down at the wetland, just the three of us, and Bear was six, and our goal was for him to get his first duck.
00:59:48
John David (Dumas)
This one pintail comes in perfect, right to left, Bear's laying right here next to me. I said, kill him right now, Bear. He gets up and shoots, and I hear another shot, and the duck falls.
00:59:59
John David (Dumas)
And I hear Craig go, great shot, Bear. And I look at him, I'm almost pissed off. I look at him and I go, Craig, you don't have to do that, dude. We're wanting him, he actually we want him to actually get his first duck. He said, he killed it.
01:00:13
John David (Dumas)
That's his duck. Mine's back here. And he walked back and got another pintail that he had shot and behind him, he said, Bear killed that Hands down, that was my favorite hunt at Falco today.
01:00:26
toddpinkston
Come on.
01:00:27
John David (Dumas)
Yeah.
01:00:27
toddpinkston
Come on. What's your dream hunt?
01:00:30
John David (Dumas)
My dream hunt is
01:00:33
John David (Dumas)
my dream hunt is on this new property that we'll talk about at some point.
01:00:38
Steven J. Neuner
Okay. sogra
01:00:39
John David (Dumas)
Can't wait.
01:00:39
toddpinkston
Come on. As long as I get an invite, that's all that matters.
01:00:45
John David (Dumas)
You'll get an invite.
01:00:47
toddpinkston
Let's go.
01:00:49
toddpinkston
You're laying in your casket and your family is over you, friends. What are three words that they're going to describe you as?
01:00:57
John David (Dumas)
Helpful, loving friend.
01:01:01
toddpinkston
Let's go. Hey, how can how can people find information about Falco, about what you guys are up to? i know you guys are are booked out and have a wait list, but if somebody wants to take a corporate group or if somebody's just looking to to get in on a one-off trip, how do they how do they stay up with you and in what y'all are up to at Falco?
01:01:22
John David (Dumas)
Yeah, man. Well, you know, our social media is pretty active. the All of the social medias, but Falco underscore Outfitters, I believe.
01:01:35
John David (Dumas)
I'll check that out. Make sure it's pretty sad. I don't know exactly what it is, but pretty sure that's what it is.
01:01:41
Steven J. Neuner
Just call Todd. We'll get you in.
01:01:44
John David (Dumas)
Huh?
01:01:45
Steven J. Neuner
Just call Todd.
01:01:46
John David (Dumas)
Falco underscore outfitters.
01:01:46
Steven J. Neuner
He'll get you in.
01:01:47
John David (Dumas)
Yeah. Falco underscore outfitters. Or you can go to www.falcooutfitters.com. Yeah, man.
01:01:57
toddpinkston
JD, seriously, i yeah I have tremendous respect for you. you are You're one of those guys that you could be good at a lot of things, like building homes and things like that. You're you're hardworking, but your superpower is the way you care for folks, relationships, uh, you make people's day. And, it's been really cool to see the Lord bring your passion for duck hunting.
01:02:23
toddpinkston
Uh, but it's not just that, like what you're doing now is you get to sit in duck blind and call ducks in and, uh, be a part of a first class outfitter, but you get to love on people that need to be loved on.
01:02:33
John David (Dumas)
yeah
01:02:35
toddpinkston
And, uh, man, we're cheering you on. It's a, it's great to see the Lord just bless it and, and just, yeah, create an open door for it. And I love you.
01:02:44
John David (Dumas)
Well, hey, I'm not going lie. You were a big inspiration for me with Way4. When I got to come experience that, dude, knew I knew I wanted to be in that space. When did y'all start? when When did I go on trail? I can't remember what year that was.
01:02:59
toddpinkston
I don't, you I was trying to, i was trying to remember when you were telling the story of the timeline we were We were walking down Rock Valley and you were talking about Falco, but but it didn't have a name.
01:03:13
toddpinkston
You were talking about doing duck hunting with some with some way forward flair on hospitality, but I almost feel like it was more in the dream stage.
01:03:18
John David (Dumas)
Yep.
01:03:23
John David (Dumas)
Yep.
01:03:24
toddpinkston
But you might have had a conversation or two with with the partners. I don't i mean i don't remember what a what year it was.
01:03:32
John David (Dumas)
It was, it was before we started. I know that it was, it was 16 or 17, 16 or 17.
01:03:35
toddpinkston
Okay. I know it was before you started, but I can't remember.
01:03:37
John David (Dumas)
Yeah. sixteen or seventeen
01:03:39
toddpinkston
Okay.
01:03:40
toddpinkston
Wow.
01:03:42
John David (Dumas)
Yeah.
01:03:43
toddpinkston
and you guys You guys do it well.
01:03:45
John David (Dumas)
well
01:03:46
toddpinkston
And anybody that can be holding on to a Yahoo email address, brother, I mean, I just commend you. You know, you are you are tech savvy.
01:03:55
John David (Dumas)
I'd have a flip phone if I could.
01:03:55
toddpinkston
No,
01:03:57
Steven J. Neuner
Yeah.
01:04:00
toddpinkston
you can do it for a month, but it's pretty tough after that, I can tell you that much.
01:04:04
toddpinkston
you
01:04:05
John David (Dumas)
Are you still rocking flip phone?
01:04:06
toddpinkston
what No, i went back. i it was It's a month experiment. I think I might do a month every year. It's too it's too good.
01:04:15
John David (Dumas)
Yeah.
01:04:16
toddpinkston
But it is it's miserable. Literally, when I opened up my phone, there was 250 text messages that came in on my iPhone that did not ever go to the flip. So I start responding to them, and one guy said, bro, that was a month ago.
01:04:30
Steven J. Neuner
thought tot anything anything anymore
01:04:30
toddpinkston
like
01:04:32
John David (Dumas)
it's but It's good for you, but it's not efficient, right?
01:04:33
toddpinkston
So I don't know.
01:04:36
toddpinkston
It is, yes. it Yeah, it's good for me, but but a lot of apologies, and I don't know that it's i don't know that is practical.
01:04:42
John David (Dumas)
Yeah.
01:04:43
toddpinkston
o
01:04:44
John David (Dumas)
Guys, thank you all so much.
01:04:44
Steven J. Neuner
J.D., thank you. Thanks for sharing your story, man.
01:04:46
toddpinkston
Dude, thanks.
01:04:47
toddpinkston
Hey.
01:04:47
John David (Dumas)
I love this.
01:04:47
Steven J. Neuner
It was, yeah, it was awesome, man. Thank you.
01:04:51
toddpinkston
Thanks for your time, brother.
01:04:51
John David (Dumas)
Dude, love you.
01:04:53
toddpinkston
Blessings to you.
01:04:53
John David (Dumas)
yeah
01:04:53
toddpinkston
Happy anniversary.
01:04:54
John David (Dumas)
Thank you, buddy. Bye.
01:04:56
toddpinkston
right, man. Take care.