The Future of Gear and The Power Of Networking

Brian Hood (0:00)

This is the 6 Figure Home Studio Podcast, episode 66

SPEAKER_2 (0:07)

You're listening to the 6 Figure Home Studio Podcast, the number one resource for running a profitable home recording studio. Now your hosts, Brian Hood and Chris Graham.

Brian Hood (0:19)

Welcome back to another episode of the 6 Figure Home Studio Podcast. I am your host, Brian Hood, and I'm here with my amazingly beautiful but frozen co-host, Chris Graham. Chris, how are you doing, buddy?

Chris Graham (0:31)

I'm good, I have thawed all my joints work now.

Brian Hood (0:34)

Yeah, for those who don't know, we just came back from NAMM this week.

And Chris, just to paint the picture here, Chris, first time flying in like nine years.

Chris's flight out of Chicago on his way home is canceled due to this crazy vortex. Everyone's probably heard about it. This crazy Arctic vortex thing that came through the north, and it was like negative 20 degrees in Chicago. Negative 40 or 50 windchill. And Chris's flight was canceled. Chris, what did you do? Tell the audience what you had to do in your scrappiness.

Chris Graham (1:01)

I'm glad you asked, but if you're not interested in my story, just know we've got some great stuff for you guys. We're going to talk about NAMM, what we learned, what you can learn. It's awesome. But so I haven't flown since my first son was born. He's eight. This was like a little anxiety inducing for me to fly out to NAMM, my longest flight I'd ever been on. I used to fly all the time, a long time ago. And so flew out direct to LA on the way back and connected through Chicago.

Almost into Chicago, my cell phone starts getting notifications about canceled flights.

I land, and the forecast is that it's going to be negative 27 degrees.

Brian Hood (1:38)

And now for those of you who are in other countries, negative 27 degrees Fahrenheit is...

Chris Graham (1:44)

All you need to know, it's enough to kill you really fast.

Brian Hood (1:47)

It's negative 32 degrees Celsius, so it's actually pretty close.

Chris Graham (1:49)

Yeah, so like we land, everyone's freaking out. I sprint across the airport, which is a weird sight. Chubby little man like myself.

Brian Hood (1:59)

Chubby tall man.

Chris Graham (2:00)

Chubby tall man like myself. Yeah, I'm pretty tall. But anyway, so I get there, and there's like a flight that's been delayed that goes to Columbus, that's where I'm from.

I like wait for an hour with this sweet girl that's like a brand new employee of American Airlines, and she finally gets me first place on standby. So I'm like, all right, yes, I got to be home tonight. And then they've canceled that flight. We look at the weather, and everybody's like, hey, they closed Midway Airport, which is like right down the street from O'Hare where I was. So I was like, oh crap, this isn't going to work. I'm going to get trapped here because it's going to be negative 50 degrees windshield. So I rent a car. It's six hours drive.

Brian Hood (2:32)

How were all the cars not taken by this point?

Chris Graham (2:34)

Because I ran.

Brian Hood (2:36)

OK.

Chris Graham (2:36)

So I like sprinted. I think that most people weren't considering like, hey, no one's going to fly out of here for like three or four days.

And I think I was on the leading edge of that. So I run and get my car.

Brian Hood (2:47)

Thank God.

Chris Graham (2:47)

And it was the most terrifying drive I've ever done for the first hour and a half. It's like 25 mile, 30 mile an hour winds blowing 90 degrees across the highway. So I felt like my car was going to get blown off the highway quite a number of times. There's like semi trucks, jackknifed.

So I pull over and I'm like, I'm just going to take a nap in this rest area for like 10 minutes.

Brian Hood (3:07)

Was this after I texted you saying, if you get tired, take a nap? OK, good. I'm glad I potentially saved your life there with that text.

Chris Graham (3:13)

Well, you almost killed me. And let me explain that. So I get in and I'm like, I've got to go pee. And it's like, you know, a blizzard outside. And I didn't have my coat because I was like, oh, I'll just be in LA. No big deal. So I'm just like a hoodie. Oh, God. So the bathroom is like 100 yards away. So I get out of my car, I run in the bathroom. And as I open the door, this is two in the morning in the middle of Indiana, I open the door, I walk in, and this teeny tiny little hillbilly sprints out of the women's restroom, shaking his hands.