"Show me the problem and I'll find you a solution."
— My father
Most problems — in your home, your finances, your relationships, your health — already have a solution sitting in plain sight. The hard part was never finding it. It's being willing to look at it.
See how this works →The uncomfortable truth
The solution is almost never the mystery. What stops people is the willingness to face it honestly and do the work to fix it. That applies to everything.
"We just don't communicate well anymore."
You stopped being honest with each other. That's the answer.
"I can't figure out where my money goes."
You know where it goes. You just don't want to stop.
"This house needs so much work, I don't know where to start."
Start with the one thing you've been walking past for two years.
"I need a new car but I can't afford one."
Then you don't need a new car. You need a plan first.
"Why buy something when I could just build it?"
Exactly. Now you're asking the right question.
"I don't have the right tools or skills."
YouTube University is free. The first tool pays for itself on the first job.
The method
It doesn't matter if the problem is a leaking roof, a broken budget, a conversation you've been avoiding, or a machine part you can't source. The process is the same — and it works every time you're willing to use it.
Name the actual problem, not the symptoms around it. Be specific and be honest.
It's usually already visible. Most people just look away because the answer requires something from them.
A wrench, a spreadsheet, an honest conversation, YouTube University, or an AI. Whatever it takes.
No one else is going to do it for you. That's not a problem — that's freedom.
On spending money
There's a difference between not wanting to spend money and not wanting to waste it. I paid $1,300 for a Ducane grill in 2005 without blinking because it was worth it. I'll buy the right tool, the right steel, the right cut of brisket every single time. What I won't do is pay someone else to do something I can learn and do better myself — or keep paying a monthly subscription for something I can own outright.
Why pay a machinist when you can learn to run the lathe yourself?
The lathe pays for itself on the first job. Everything after that is free.
Why buy a $5,000 custom smoker?
Build one from a 1960's propane tank. Better steel, better cook, better story.
Why pay Adobe $99 a month forever?
Buy Affinity once. Own it. $1,188 a year back in your pocket. Done.
Why throw it away when it breaks?
Figure out why it broke. Fix it. It'll outlast the replacement you almost bought.
Why buy something imported when you have a shop?
Because building it yourself means it's exactly right, built to last, and you learned something in the process.
Why pay for hosting when Cloudflare is free?
Exactly. This site costs nothing to host. The savings go back into the shop.
The BBQ journey
Most people buy a smoker. I built mine from a tank that was already older than most of the people reading this. Every cooker in the lineup came from the same place — a problem that needed solving and a willingness to figure it out. The offset handles the long slow cooks. The direct heat cooker runs 3 to 4 times a week. The Anova precision oven in the shop holds the BBQ at exact temp from smoker to plate. It's a system that evolved one problem at a time over thirty years.
Where most people in Oklahoma start. Cooked on propane for years, including a Ducane — a Weber-owned brand, $1,300 in 2005, well built and cooked great. But it drank propane like it was free. Convenient, reliable, and completely missing the point of what fire can do to food.
Started as my wife's mother's grill. Taken elk hunting in Colorado in the early 90's, most recently fired up at Grand Lake Oklahoma last June. The lid blew off going down the highway once — straightened it out and kept cooking. Replaced the grate over the years, that's about it. She ain't pretty but she works perfect. The old ones were built right — heavy porcelain coating, solid design, nothing to fail. A 45 year old Weber kettle that's been to elk camp and back is a better argument for quality over convenience than anything I could write.
Not a Traeger — a less expensive Sam's brand. Constant problems. The pellet grill phase is a rite of passage almost every serious cook goes through before realizing that convenience and quality are fighting each other the whole time. Learned that lesson the hard way so you don't have to.
Stepped up to ceramic for better heat retention and longer cooks. Learned what stable temperature actually felt like and what real smoke flavor was supposed to be.
Built a smoker from scratch with zero knowledge of airflow or combustion geometry. Knew something was wrong but not why. Filed it away.
Went back to the 2000 smoker with 20 more years of experience. Made it work. Cooked on it for two years while studying what it really needed to be.
Sourced a thick-walled tank from the 1960's — better steel than anything made today. Designed the firebox, exhaust, and intake from scratch. First cook was spatchcock chicken in 40-degree misting rain with the wrong size wood. Brother-in-law and son called it the best chicken they'd ever had.
Spent a year studying Aaron Franklin before it finally made sense. The answer was wood size and bark. Small diameter splits, 12-14 inches, minimal bark. Clean fire every time. The pit was never the problem — the fuel was.
Based on Bradley Robinson's design from Chud's BBQ with my own modifications. This is the workhorse — fired up 3 to 4 times a week. Fast, hot, and honest. Bradley is one of the finest BBQ presenters on YouTube — technically sharp, genuinely entertaining, and the reason I learned to make sausage. His sausage recipes alone are a rabbit hole with no bottom, and I've gone deep. If you're serious about BBQ and you're not watching Chud's BBQ, fix that today. The other person who has taught me more than almost anyone else in the kitchen is Kent Rollins — cast iron, cowboy cooking, old school fundamentals, and a genuine human being on camera. And then there's That Dude Can Cook — polished video style, approachable delivery, the kind of content you can absorb while working in the shop without having to stop and rewind. His crispy oven potatoes alone are worth the subscription. Between Bradley, Kent, and That Dude, I've learned more from YouTube than from any cookbook ever written.
Built specifically for low and slow dehydration. Because if you're going to do something, you build the right tool for it.
Chud's BBQ opened the door to sausage and I walked straight through it. The recipes are endless — grind ratio, fat content, seasoning, smoke profile, casing. Every variable changes the result. It's part science, part instinct, and completely addictive. One of the most satisfying things you can pull off a smoker is something you ground, seasoned, and stuffed yourself.
The shop
Built over decades, one tool at a time, every acquisition driven by a problem that needed solving. Living in a town where half of what you need isn't available teaches you to make it yourself. The shop is the result of never accepting that something couldn't be done.
MIG, TIG, stick, and flux core. Different jobs call for different processes.
When the part doesn't exist, you machine it. Precision work that most shops send out.
Turning, threading, boring. The kind of work that keeps old equipment running.
Cutting and engraving across wood, acrylic, leather, and more.
Metal marking and cutting with precision most shops don't have in-house.
Rapid prototyping, custom brackets, one-off parts. Plastic first, then metal if it needs to last.
Table saws, miter saws, and everything else needed for wood fabrication and finish work.
If Dewalt makes it, it's probably in the shop. Tools are not the place to cut corners.
Oven, griddle, and burner — garage door down, climate controlled, no heat added to the house in Oklahoma summers, no grout to clean. Bread, fried rice, chicken fried steak — all of it happens out here.
Installed it myself. Heats and cools the shop year round. Cooking in July in Oklahoma with the garage door down and the mini split running is a completely different experience than fighting the heat.
Used 90% of the time over the double oven in the house. Also serves as the BBQ holding oven — brisket comes off the offset and goes straight into the Anova at exact holding temp until it's time to eat. No cooler, no towels, no guessing.
The first book
AI is just the latest tool for facing the answers you already have. This book teaches regular people how to use it — for Medicare letters, insurance denials, financial decisions, and the hard stuff nobody explains in plain English. I saw something that could help people and I wrote it. That's the whole story.
Get the book →Coming soon
The shop, the smokers, the builds, the cooks, the fixes, the philosophy — all of it on camera. Not polished. Not scripted. Just what it actually looks like when you sit down and figure something out. Shot on an Insta360 X5 and a couple of GoPros from a 3-car garage in Southwest Oklahoma.
The series starts with getting the 3-car shop into shape. Then the rotary cutter drag wheel fabrication. Then the fire. Subscribe and you won't miss it.