Tyler Meany is an entrepreneur and the host of another local podcast, Stories From a Mountain Town. Originally from Minnesota, he and his partner moved to Jackson 4 years ago to immerse themselves in nature and the ski town culture.

In this episode, Tyler shares the bold step he took to help his girlfriend land a job at St. John's, which was crucial in enabling them to settle in Jackson. He and Stephan also discuss the power of podcasting to connect with locals and discover fascinating individuals. Beyond podcasting, they chat about topics ranging from their favorite cocktails to the importance of living in the moment and disconnecting from social media. They also explore the surprising parallels between parenting and being an influencer.

Listen and subscribe to the Stories From a Mountain Town podcast in Apple Podcasts 

This week's episode is supported in part by Teton County Solid Waste and Recycling, reminding businesses of Teton County’s “Curb to Compost” Program for food waste collection; an important next step in your restaurant’s recycling program. More at TetonCountyWY.gov or at @RoadToZeroWaste.JH on Instagram.

Support also comes from The Jackson Hole Marketplace. The Deli at Jackson Hole Marketplace offers ready-made soups, sandwiches, breakfast burritos, and hot lunch specials. More at JHMarketplace.com

Want to be a guest on The Jackson Hole Connection? Email us at connect@thejacksonholeconnection.com. Marketing and editing support by Michael Moeri (michaelmoeri.com)

You are tuned into the Jackson hole, connection, sharing, fascinating stories

of people connected to Jackson Hole.

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Enjoy beginning these episodes with a happy thought, you can use throughout

your day or your week, and here it goes.

An original by me, but not an original thought.

You've probably heard stuff like this before.

Folks hug someone and tell them you love them, and also tell 'em why you love them.

Share a smile.

Bringing happiness into the life of another person will in turn

bring happiness into your life.

I learned something several years ago.

If you're having a bad day, go to three different people and share with them

something which is nice and uplifting, and that can help you lift yourself

up out of heaven, a not so happy.

So you go try it out today.

Let me know what you think.

And you are listening to episode number 230.

And my guest today is another local podcaster, Tyler Menini.

Tyler is the host of stories from a mountain town, which can be

found on all of the, or most of the usual podcast hosting platforms.

I'm honored to have Tyler as another individual who is in the

world of podcasts, and you might.

Or you might not ask yourself, or who knows?

Uh, why am I gonna have another podcast guest host on my show?

What's, uh, what's the meaning of that?

Well, I feel that Tyler and I share a lot of the same mission,

which is to speak with people.

and it allows us to learn about other people through their stories, what their.

Path has been through life, and that's why I think you're gonna enjoy

listening and learning from Tyler.

And Tyler's gonna share his story of how transitioning to moving to Jackson

Hole, Wyoming, and how the podcast that he started Stories from a mountain town

helped him to be more connected to this c.

Tyler, thank you for joining me here today at the Jackson Hole Connection.

Delighted to have another podcaster on as a guest.

Yeah.

Thank you for having me.

We were just saying it's, it's kind of weird, but on being on this side

of things, not prepping the same way, but having to think about like, okay,

what are we gonna go over today?

Well, this interview today is all about you, so it gives you the

opportunity to talk, um, rather than you asking the question.

So, um, flipping the script in some ways, um, which has been done to me before.

a friend of mine, Jim, did that to me.

Yeah definitely

Which was a lot of fun.

And Tyler, I do start every episode with the guests sharing how they're

connected to Jackson, what their story is and background of landing here.

So tell us where did you grow up or where were you raised?

Cuz you might not have grown up yet.

I don't know Um, we just met

I try not to grow up, but,

was, born and raised in, a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota

called Bino Lakes, Minnesota.

and, first came to Jackson when I was about like 10 or 11.

my dad and my stepmom, both of their, both of their kids were with the

other parents for a weekend, so they had a nice little weekend getaway.

Bought a paper atlas and they were just looking around America like, where

we want to go on this weekend trip?

Like, whatever.

And they randomly closed their eyes and their finger on a spot in America.

And it landed on here.

Did it really?

Yeah.

um, my dad didn't grow up skiing at all and my stepmom had grown up skiing.

So she like knew that there was skiing here, but they had

never really heard of Jackson.

And they saw like, okay, it's by Grand Teton National.

by Yellowstone and my, my dad has a motorcycle license, so he, to

come out, hang out and get a mo, run a motorcycle and ride around

the parks and, and whatever.

And then immediately blown away by it.

And they, you know, had to ride around Buffalo that were in the road and

they saw the animals and all the great things that we know about Jackson.

And then, they were staying at the Teton.

Mm

or for the weekend.

And it was still, the Teton Club was really young, so they had,

real estate agents like there trying to sell the weeks still.

Um, and I don't know if you know Fred Harness, but he might be the greatest real

estate agent of all time because in one night, he sold some weeks to my parents

at the Teton Club and got my dad to go paragliding, who is afraid of heights,

so . So that's how we got into Jackson.

And then shortly after that we started coming.

In the winter and in the summer, for ski vacations with the family.

So that's, pretty spectacular way to be able to be introduced to Jackson

and phenomenal opportunity to know that your, your dad bought those.

Would he buy two weeks outta the year or,

I think originally he bought like two summer and one winter, or maybe

even just the summers because.

They were way cheaper back then.

And, and he had read somewhere that like three times as many people come here

in the summer that as do in the winter.

so for a rental opportunity, he seemed like that was the better way to go.

It was cheaper and, uh, way more people are here.

Yeah.

He, he read the right article,

Yeah, he did.

Yeah

and so.

, when did you land here?

in Jackson.

What brought you out here?

Full-time?

it'll be, four years in March since I moved here.

my fiance Knight were living in the Twin Cities of Minnesota.

the last, uh, The three years before that, every single vacation I took

was to come here summer and winter.

And I knew I'd always been drawn to Jackson when I was growing up.

Coming here, it always felt like these are the kind of people that I wanna be around.

Like this is this crazy culture of a town where, you know, you have ski bums

and skiers, professional snowboarders and cowboys and you know, all these

things blended together in this one town.

And it's the beauty and everything and like, People always hate, like my

friends who are not really into it, hate when I say this, but there's like

an energy, like a buzz to the area.

And I don't know if that's me being a weirdo or just like, know, the woo

woo of the natural forces that are going on in Jackson, but I always

knew that I needed to spend time here.

I needed to move here at some point.

we were looking around different mountain towns or you know, salt

Lake City, Denver, we went to.

we checked out Ogden, Utah and Park City and it wasn't really feeling it there.

And luckily for me, they had like their worst winter ever when I was there.

So I got really turned off by it we, we cut that trip short and drove straight

up here actually because it was snowing.

a friend, when I was, when I was here, that trip just said, why

don't you guys just move here?

for, for the longest time, the expensiveness of living in Jackson was

so built up in my head that I was like, I never really considered it cuz I just

wasn't sure how, if I can make it work.

But my fiance is a nurse and I've been in FinTech sales my whole career.

So something finally clicked and I said, well, if you know people can

do it, you know, being, you know, bartenders, servers part-time at a ski

shop, I, I bet I could figure it out.

So, it took a while to, to get her a job at St.

John's cuz she's a labor and delivery nurse.

and she hates this story.

But,

Huh

single day at the job postings, cause I knew what she wanted.

She's an rn, you know, night shift, OB floor, like whatever.

And then one day there I saw a link that said, send us your resume if you don't.

I'll position open yet, and we'll talk, we'll maybe we'll talk

open one and we'll talk about it.

So I sent her a resume in because she's using my computer for all of it.

so she wakes up from night shift emails saying like, thank you

Taylor for sending your resume.

We'll reach out with, we need more information.

like, Tyler, what the hell did you do?

And I'm like, I just sent it in.

That's like, it was her current resume.

Like we, she had just like, she was using it actively then they loved her

so much cuz she's super qualified and they opened up a position for her and

hired her and then within like a month or something and, so that was it.

And then, then we, you know, made the plans to move out and, and came out here.

That's awesome.

. Yeah

I love how you sent in her resume.

I, I don't know if I could get away with that with my wife or I'd even attempt

that and even when we were engaged.

So, were you guys engaged when you moved here?

No, we just got engaged.

Congrats.

be a year, actually, well, a year ago, pretty soon here,

in a couple weeks.

Um, but yeah, we're, we're getting married, um, in July at, uh,

Jackson Hole Golf and Tennis.

That's fabulous.

Congratulations.

Very happy for you.

Yeah.

we were dating, we were just dating, um, when we moved out here.

And that was kind of, uh, that was one big step in me deciding that like, yeah,

I'm probably gonna propose to her when she, when she decided that she would

move across the country to a place where really I was pulling us out and she

Uh

skier.

Now she's a skis a lot, but she didn't really ski that much when we moved here.

and she stuck with you after you sending in a resume for her

Yeah, exactly.

And what has it been like transitioning life from Minneapolis, Minnesota to become

and, and build and create your own life and social network here in in Jackson?

What has that been like for you?

Well in probably more the case of just like living in

a kind of where you grew up.

Your, your friends, your network, your people are there already.

whether it's the family that you just have around you or the friends,

you've kind of been forced, not forced, but you have them for so long

from elementary school and whatever.

They're there already.

When you move somewhere new and you have to actively go find your new people,

your new, your new family, right?

And for here, most people don't have actual family here.

So you create a friend group that is your new family.

Mm-hmm.

in Jackson, there's, there's a lot of people that are trying to ski a

hundred days a year and they're, you know, and they're gonna go do hut

trips and they're gonna, every day that they're not working, they're gonna

be doing something crazy activity.

All activities we have here.

And they're more focused on that than they are like really

maybe growing a career, right?

They're just u using jobs as a way to pay to do their activities.

There's a lot of those.

And then there's a lot of, you know, rich kids of really, really rich people.

And, and so they have a different outlook on life too, and that's fine.

and then Taylor and I find ourselves kind of somewhere in the middle

where we have really good jobs, we wanna focus on our career.

but we're not millionaires or kids of billionaires or whatever, right?

So we, so we are having to actually work and focus and it's not, you know,

a handful of people here who like their parents sold their business and gave them

2 million for a house, which is great.

That'd be the dream, but we're not in that situation.

So have to find your way around those two different groups, and you

eventually do, and you find your people and that we have formed here.

I find them to be extremely special because we are just family.

The family we chose at that point,

Mm-hmm

have kids, but I imagine like the group of parents, you start to raise your

kids with, it's like, it's not, drop 'em off at aunt and uncle's house.

You drop 'em off at your neighbor's house, your friend's house, and they

become that support group for you.

So true, Tyler.

So true.

that's your Jackson Hole family right there.

Mm-hmm.

I have some folks that I rented from when I first moved here to

live with my brother, and they now refer to me as their Wyoming son.

exactly

it's, I couldn't imagine life without them.

And, and then at the same time, there's just friends that you have

and we've all had kids together.

And you and, your future wife will do that together, then it starts

building even a, a bigger bond as well.

And with those kids, and you even start meeting other people as well.

the, the people we're closest with here.

they're also engaged too.

And then my, uh, I'm different in this way, but my brother Mo just moved

out here in August and him and his.

are engaged.

So like there's three couples and we hang out every single weekend and we

go skiing together and we're probably, you know, gonna have be having kids

in the next 5, 3, 4 years, whatever.

Right?

And so that's, I can see that being the wave of like, that's

the, that's the core right there,

it most likely will be.

And for people who are listening in, I have, uh, a disruptor

with me today who is home sick.

And as we're recording, is crawling around my office.

So if somebody hears a little bit of background noise or whatever,

it's my youngest William.

Playing around with stuff in my office as I'm talking to you, so

my apologies, Tyler, everybody else for the small distraction there.

My apologies.

I

appreciate

I've had, I've had episodes where we had to pause the interview, because

we let my guest's dog out the door and it was a German Shepherd, and

he was like, looking in the window, freaking out, like jumping on the window

like, mom, let me in there, you know?

So we've had to pause for that noise too.

I've had to rerecord episodes, uh, get people in, you know, twice to do it.

I've lost episodes where it wasn't able to be published.

And then there was one episode because I say, Hey, we're gonna take a quick break

to get a word from one of our sponsors.

And I asked the guest, I was like, well, do you want, do you need to take a break?

It's somebody who has had some medical issues.

And he said, sure, why not ? And he went and ate a bowl of cereal,

And I'm sitting here, I find something else to do, and he comes back.

Okay, I'm ready to go.

Oh,

And that was all cut out.

No.

Well, the listeners now know what happened, but it's just

funny what is edited out at times

. yeah sure

And, and so you have your own podcast.

It's called, Stories from a mountain town.

Yes.

Stories from a mountain town.

And is this your first podcast to do?

How did you get.

doing my own.

Yeah.

Yeah.

it is the first attempt at a podcast.

Yes.

I got into it early when I moved here, um, because I was meeting so many people.

and they would have really interesting stories about their

lives that brought them here.

And that I just thought that people would find interesting.

And the example I always use is, my first guest ever was my friend Jeff Moberg.

And he used to work for Steel when he was here.

And but he is, had his career in like product design, clothing

design, kind of stuff like that.

Mm-hmm.

he's not, you know, he's just, he's just a guy.

He's not famous by any means, but he has this really interesting story of like, he.

Really early in the, in the company at like Under Armor, right?

The guy who in started Under Armor, like asked him to join the company

and he worked at Oakley when they sponsored Rory McElroy for golf.

So he got to like, build stuff for Rory for to, to wear, right?

And then he worked at Fanatics, which is, they do like a lot of peril

for the, to the pro sports leagues.

And he has these great stories of.

You know, when a Super Bowl happens, they, the players all have the, the hat with

their logo saying like, chief Super Bowl

Yeah.

Within seconds,

Yeah.

so they make enough of both logo for the players, right?

Directly.

Uhhuh

both, then everybody else, what everybody else in the public gets,

people in the factory, like they're ready, the hats are ready to go.

Everything but the logo.

. And then once the whistle blows, they start to go in overdrive and make all the

winning teams gear and then ship 'em out.

And like he has a story where he was at a factory, like do like putting

the logos on himself and putting them in boxes and putting them in a truck.

night, all night after a Super Bowl because they had to get done cuz

they had orders coming in for that.

They had to get out the next day.

Mm-hmm.

I

Hmm

people like Jeff and be like, this is a really interesting story and, and

you can't, there's so many people that I've interviewed where I couldn't just

message them on Instagram and say, Hey.

you wanna get coffee?

Because you seem interesting so I can, I can I talk to you?

I learn more about you.

you can't say that , you know, like

You can, you might not get a response.

Yeah, you people I've been blessed with in interviewing, like there's

no way they would respond to that.

And especially like if it's a girl, like they just think I'm trying

to take 'em on a date , and I'm like, I don't, I don't do that.

But if you say, can we do that?

And at the beginning of my podcast, I had.

More of like a cocktail spin to it where it was like, okay,

guest, what's your favorite?

Alcohol or beer or whatever.

I'll bring it for you.

And you know, that can be a part of it.

We can talk about the cocktail we made or the beer we're drinking, right?

Mm-hmm

so I couldn't just be like, Hey, uh, the idea that comes

to mind is Haley Baden Hop.

Actually Hailey Leer, a, a painter here, but Owen Leaper's wife, I

couldn't just message her and be like, Hey, do you wanna go get a beer?

And we can talk about what it's like being a painter here.

That doesn't work,

So you say, let's do that, but I'll record it and we can do a podcast

and it'll help your brand, it'll help my brand, and everybody likes that.

that's kind of how it start, how it started to kick off.

And then once you do enough episodes, Even though I have, I don't have a big

following by any means on the podcast account or any of my accounts, but on

the podcast, you see people just see that the episode's out there and you can

ask bigger and bigger names to do it.

And they see like, okay, this is legit.

And it's not hard to put every, put anything on Spotify or Apple

Podcast and, and they go with it.

So I inter, I interviewed, um, Ian Munk, the country singer.

Two

Hmm

ago, because I loved his music.

He's from Wyoming.

He talks about, you know, being and living in Wyoming and it was

just like a shot in the dark.

Like I've messaged all my favorite people, you know, Travis Rice,

Jimmy Chin, they don't respond obviously, but cuz what if they did?

And Ian was one of those and it was so crazy to interview him.

like to sit across the screen from my favorite country artist.

That's awesome.

Good for you.

Good for you to just get out there and do it.

I have met over time a few different podcasters here in town and, and

through the rest of the state and it's, I, I love that you just want

to meet people and tell, tell their story and, and learn more about 'em,

and, and that's why I do it as well.

Yeah.

it's a little bit of a, a combination of the different aspects of my life and kind

of my professional skills of like, you know, Cold emailing, messaging, that's

the, that I, I can do that all day.

That's the sales side of, of Tyler, right?

That comes very easy to me.

and then the branding, the, the, the marketing part of like, Hey,

this is good for your brand.

I'll make clips content out of it.

I'll drive the conversation in a way that sounds organic so that we can cover

the points of like, here's your brand, here's your business, what do you do?

Why is it special?

And then also we're just gonna bullshit and talk about.

And you could blend it into a conversation and make it seem really organic.

yeah, it's, like I said, it's a combination of these different, kind of

more professional skills that acquired.

Well, I'm gonna pull a thread out of your, your game, uh, game plan there

and say what is your favorite cocktail?

Because being in the liquor industry,

Yeah.

This

is

I'm very curious to know Tyler.

feeling

a lot of pressure right now, cuz as shared guest that we have, Chaz and Trav

from Jackson Hole still works friends.

I actually live right by Chaz, if you know, he lives in, um, Dr.

J Right.

I live in the same development.

I really,

before you answer, before you answer, Chaz and Travis would love

for you to mention their product.

No doubt about but they would also love to know that you give the answer that's.

What is really, we didn't say that you had to mention the product that goes in it.

We just need to know the cocktail.

okay.

If we're saying like, branding ambiguous

yeah.

Yep.

Okay.

is mine.

Yeah.

And then, Um, I don't order these as much as I should because they're really

strong when I'm friends with the bartenders, they make 'em extra strong.

But an Absorica Old fashioned, is one of my favorites right now.

And I know what an abor old fashioned is because I'm in the

industry and I know Travis and Chaz.

but why don't you share with people what an abor old fashioned is?

Yeah, so Ab Zorka is a barrel aged gin from Jackson Hole steelworks.

and so it, it brings the, the barrel aging of the gin brings a little bit of like

the, whiskey esque flavor to the gin.

So

Mm-hmm

sweetness.

And you also get the, juniper flavor that you would get in any normal gin.

But it, it's this really interesting liquor that you can do in gin cocktails

or in whiskey cocktails cuz it has both.

And then the rest of an old fashioned is,

Well, it has characteristics of both.

It doesn't have whiskey and gin in it both.

It is a gin.

It is a gin aged in the whiskey barrels.

yeah.

Yeah.

And then, uh, the rest of the old fashioned is bitters.

is it?

Muddled sugar.

And an orange peel.

what was the last one that you said?

Or an orange peel.

Yeah, and at times they might muddle the sugar with like a, some sort of cherry,

Right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I guess, I don't know the difference.

in between like an old fashioned and a Manhattan.

Cause isn't the Manhattan with the

cherry

Yeah.

No, I'm not a bartender.

I'm just in the industry.

I just sell it.

? Yeah.

sure.

Either way.

But that's my

Yeah

if I'm like, you know, at a cocktail bar.

Mm-hmm.

I'm at like bi bin 22.

Makes a really, really good absorb old fashion.

Cool.

Okay.

Awesome.

Yeah.

And.

, you know, with considering you like to have a good cocktail,

what is your best me memory of scenery of where you've had a cocktail?

Scenery.

So Taylor and I, Taylor's, my fiance's name

Mm-hmm

Taylor and I lived up on Saddle Butte for the first year that we were here.

Hmm.

Beautiful.

we got super lucky with a rental up there.

But, we would, the, the very top of it is an open.

And so we would go up there and do like charcuterie boards and

bring cocktails and wine and stuff like that at the very top of it.

And it's the only place in the valley where you have a 360 view of everything

cuz it's taller than um, west Grava Butte.

, Is that the name of the other one?

But, so

Mm-hmm

that.

So you stand up there you can look and see Snow King, and you can look and see,

um, sleeping Indian, um, Jackson Peak.

You can see the grand, you can see the resort or the J H M R, you can see the

pass and obviously the sunset's up there.

Incredible.

So that would be, that it's sitting up there as the sun is setting,

like the whole sky is, it's, it's orange and pink and purple.

360 around you.

Like you're in a orange and pink and purple globe

mm-hmm.

that, and there's a day that stands out.

that's the most incredible view I've ever had.

That's beautiful.

And for the people that have visited here, to be able to, or,

or, and all the people that live here, to have that understanding,

is quite amazing to, to know.

the views are breathtaking and memorable, which is, I know I

can say that I appreciate seeing the sunrise in the morning

Mm-hmm.

and then seeing the sunset, and I hope you and, your fiance get to experience that

together many, many years in the future.

Right now we're living north of town.

We're in the place where actually I lived 23 years ago when I first

moved here cuz we're the in the process of building a new house.

And, uh, thank you.

and the mornings are just phenomenal.

When we take the kids to the school bus, they get picked up at 7 0 3 in

the morning and it's north of town.

It's right across the street from the fish hatchery and elk refuge.

And you have fan.

Remarkable just.

Breathtaking view of the Sleeping Indian, but you have some of those

mornings where the sun's rising.

You, you get that new light that's coming out.

And then also at the same time, the, the fog might be over the valley,

so you don't see the elk refuge.

You can just see that fog line, top of the mountains and

the sun coming up over there.

And the colors that get dispersed.

From the, what's going on in, in the climate and the

weather pattern right there.

it's sometimes you, yes, do I need to take a picture?

But other times it's just breathe in and absorb it and holding the boys'

hands, walking 'em to the school bus and appreciating what's there

at that moment is far greater to me.

Totally.

Yeah, that's a, that's been a process.

for me as someone that creates a lot of content, a lot of pictures

and videos where I've moved away from like personal stuff per like

my personal Instagram a little bit because I found myself not being as

present as I wanted to be because it

Hmm

the moment was always only as good as content I got from it.

It is been a personal move of mine to just to do more of what you said and just

like I could, this would, this could be a beautiful picture, but I'd rather just be

present and enjoy it and look around and have it for my own memory, or even take a

picture just to not do anything with it.

To look back on it.

I have so many in the last year, I have so many great pictures that I just,

I just look back on 'em sometimes.

Sometimes and be like, wow, that was a beautiful moment, but it's

for me or the people that I'm.

in the moment, right?

Something my wife did when with both of our kids, the first year of

their life, she took a picture every

Hmm.

Of

and after that, She put it together in a book and sent it to her, her

parents as well, and then bought us a copy also during that publication.

So when you have kids, for you and your wife to take a picture of

your child every day, and it is.

Just so breathtaking to see how that child changes every day and to

be able to see it, is so much fun.

And now with the kids, she'll look at picture roles and you

just see when they're so young and they're, it's a lot of fun.

Totally.

So to you, taking the pictures is great and it helps you to remember

it, but also being, just being in the moment is, is important as well.

There's obvious value in like using content for different purposes.

Like using it for that book is great or using it to frame it as great.

And then, but also just saving some just for yourself,

Mm-hmm.

up some of those moments.

I think I, I found, That's probably more important than the moments to

share with the public or the following.

Now being somebody who's in in marketing and you've been in

sales for your entire career,

Mm-hmm.

Explain that a little bit more.

Why?

Why do you feel that way?

about the moments, like for myself,

Yeah.

There's some that you just need to say for

yourself

Because I think in digital era, there's so much of what we're doing of

pushing ideas, pushing ourself, pushing content outwards, and it's we're,

we're looking at them at these moments, pieces of information, of ourselves.

as how the outside world will react to it, right?

That could be how many likes am I gonna get?

Um, that could be, you know, a sales email.

How are they gonna buy the thing?

Are they gonna respond?

Are they gonna set up a meeting, whatever, or, you know, stuff like that.

And, you just feel like you're always just pushing, pushing,

pushing your everything outwards.

there's not as much coming in.

There's a, there's a lot of, there's a lot of data coming in cuz we have the entire

knowledge of humanity at our fingertips.

But there's not, we're not just, we're not just holding onto things

and just saying, that's okay.

Being in my brain as a memory or a picture on my phone that I don't show anybody.

That's just for me.

And that was a special moment.

Nobody else will know how special that moment was except

for me and the people around.

. me, of those moments are me with my dogs touring.

We do a lot of splitboarding with my dogs.

We, we have two huskies.

and I've taken the, I've gotten into the habit of just like on the top of what

I'm about to snowboard down and just like sitting there and being with them and

them be in nature and, and not needing to take a picture, not needing to take

a video, not needing to show anybody.

Right.

I, I really could show all, all my friends and family like,

Hey, look at this beautiful

Hmm

but I, I just really enjoy, like that's, that's a special moment for me.

And, the dogs, they don't, the dogs don't get it.

But , I like it.

I, I bet your dogs do get it.

Well

maybe

and,

They, maybe they get it for like a, an instinctual reason cuz

mm-hmm.

you know, they're in the woods, they're in the territory that they feel they

should be, they're in the snow, right.

So they're like, they just are like, this is how life should.

where when they're in the car, one of my dogs hates the car . You

know, they don't like that.

Right?

That's, that's not how life should be for them.

Thank you for, for sharing how you feel.

And I take away from that that it's a very mindfully, it's

very mindful and, thoughtful and grounded reason and and purpose.

And us all to have something that.

Allows us to reset and, uh, be mindful of where we are and what we're doing

versus as you said, it's for you.

yeah, you could share it with everybody else, but it's just

absorbing it in the moment, which is so important and that's something

that you will be able to remember.

Um, there's so many other things that you can share with other

people that, that mindfulness.

Helps us reset every day.

Mm-hmm.

. Yeah.

That's, that's definitely been an acquired thought.

, like three years ago did not think that way.

It was a

Hmm

you know, do the hike, get to the top, take a picture, go down,

mm-hmm.

And I would be, you know, I'd be doing these hikes or skinning

and, you know, you're, all I think about is the, the peak, right?

You're like thinking about that as your goal, and then you get to the goal and

then you don't spend any time at the goal.

And then you're like, all right, let's go.

We gotta.

know, sometimes I compare, like hiking or touring to my journey As a

salesperson, you're climbing every day, taking another step towards meeting

your quota, and then you get to your quota end of the year, and then your

man management is like, okay, great job.

Now you're at zero.

Get your ass going, . Get your butt going.

I don't know if we can swear on this with the kiddo in here.

but, you know, and, and.

and it's kind of like, let's, let's get to this place we've been trying to

get to and hang out here a little bit.

Whether it's a sales quota, a goal in your business, a goal at the podcast, you know,

or a hike or a destination on an adventure outside, or, you know, a golf a lot, uh,

remembers that Jackson Golf and Tennis.

So like you're just being, being in the moment is something that I've

been more focused as I get older

Detective

you said earlier, I don't know if you've actually grown up.

That might be the one thing where I would say like that's a

major focus I've had as maturing.

Just to be like, what are we doing?

Pushing around to these points to not enjoy the point or the moment at all.

Mm-hmm.

. Well said.

Well said.

Tyler.

Thank you.

I want to get back into the conversation about how you said.

three years ago, four years ago, it would've been the Tyler who hiked

up the mountain, took the shot, get down, to share it to where now you

are more the person who stops at the top to appreciate and absorb

where you are and what you're doing.

shifted for you?

the past when I was doing more content for my personal brand,

it was always a focus of.

the, the top of the hike or whatever is the, is only as good as the

picture that I could take there.

And I still love taking phenomenal pictures and I, and whatever,

that's still fun for me.

and, and, and how that picture will work or video will work for social media for

my own personal brand, cuz that was like, it's still really hot, but like, really

extremely hot like three years ago.

oh, you wanna live this beautiful, fun life, like become an influencer.

So everyone's trying to be a fricking influencer.

And I've, I've had the opportunity to have a couple sponsorships with

the small audience that I have, and it just feels so inauthentic to like,

chasing, chasing the potential money that could come out of it, or the free

stuff that could come out of it, or, then I had, I've had a couple tos that.

not gonna use the word viral, but they, they had like 50,000, 60,000 views,

you know, out of, out of nowhere.

And while that was going on, it was like, oh, this is exciting.

I'm getting a lot of views.

And then it, and then it kind of stopped and it was a little bit of like, oh

wait, that isn't actually as fun or as fulfilling as I thought it would be.

Right.

I thought it would be a great combination of like, I like

making content, being in nature.

Cool.

Doing cool things.

Then I can get to a life where I'm making money off of it and

that's how I make my living.

then you, I got there and it wasn't enriching at all.

It wasn't fulfilling what I thought it would be.

So it's kind of like, okay, now I'm not really seeking the result from my

content for my own personal content.

I still seek results from my content, from my clients.

And that's a total different thing.

that's the start of where it changed.

It was like this, the idea of being an influencer wasn't, I didn't see it as an

something that I really wanted to do, and I never was an influencer for that matter.

I just, like, could get, you could get random brand deals from Like, you

could be like, Hey, like I had a dog collar and leash company that like

sponsored me and I got my own, you know, Tyler Mei 20 code, Like bullshit.

You know, it was anybody who creates content in a way of like,

okay, how, how big could this go?

How could I, you know, be seen?

How many, how could I get on other platforms?

Mm-hmm.

. Well, when you have kids, you'll be an influencer.

Yeah.

And the best type of influencer,

totally.

the, i, I guess the, the original influencer type of

influencer is being a parent.

because your kids, you're.

Wholly influencing their lives.

Yeah.

My, my best friend Alex had a, had his first kid in July.

And it's, um, the way, it's, it's rethought, it's made me rethink,

like how you do everything as a parent because you're not just,

it's not in a vacuum, I guess is what I'm trying to say.

Like the, your actions as a parent is not in a vacuum because you are

affecting how look back on their early life and how they grow and

what kind of person they're gonna be.

It's not just like, oh, I don't like that thing, so I'm gonna discipline that thing.

But what if that thing is like their favorite thing in the world?

if they, you know, maybe they play your kid plays too much video games,

but maybe that's, maybe they're gonna be the next great video game creator

or you know, pro video game player.

Right.

That's a great example that probably generationally it's hard to see as a

parent who didn't grow up with like the world of huge money in video games.

it changes the way like everything is forming them and

Mm-hmm

really say everyth.

and realize what everything means.

Does that

true.

Yeah, it, it does.

And you know, getting down to even the basic of what you're

talking about, I'm not aware of our kids playing any video games.

, Yeah

they have, it hasn't been on our, our watch.

Um, we don't have any.

And

are your kids?

nine and seven to where now, I mean, a lot of kids have been

playing things on people's phones.

For ages, our

right like that.

A lot of parents use the screen, the phones as a means

to an end of peace quiet.

Their focus being there,

mm-hmm.

And.

Maybe that's a good thing.

Maybe I don't really, I'm not, you know, a child psychologist, so I don't know.

But maybe that's a good thing.

Maybe it's not.

Maybe it starts them being, you know, really excited about, you

know, wanting to design video games.

Right.

You, you know, it's just like when you open it up to the word everything, you,

it just, you have to really envision that.

That means every.

Mm-hmm.

, that's, that's well said.

And I wanna go back to the influencer side of things.

One of the original side of influence of being an influencer as well

is just building a friendship.

about kids or as kids, you're building friendships, doing whatever, riding

bikes around the neighborhood and playing games and sports and hanging out.

Even playing Atari, donkey Kong Jr.

And uh, those things.

you're, you're influencing each other and, and it's just not

on a digital type of thing.

Side of it.

Because I remember we used to ride bikes around town where,

where I grew up and we'd ride in some woods and make jumps, and

Mm-hmm.

it was the instant replay that you could talk about, but there

was no other way to capture it.

Yeah.

exactly.

Totally.

And, and I hope that more kids can get back to that because,

it, it helps the creativity.

Mm-hmm.

and, and the kids use their, their skills that they, they are born with

rather than relying on that device.

Mm-hmm.

. That's something I've been thinking about.

we , recently because we're engaged and we, we just bought our house in August.

, but the, the conversation of not just where do we wanna live, Taylor

and Tyler and the dogs, it's where do I wanna raise my children?

You know?

So when we're going through the process, it's obvious to look in, you know, Victor

Driggs or Alpine, cuz it's cheaper, but you're still around the beautiful nature.

And you know, obviously there's the option of going back to Minnesota or

you know, a bigger city is always.

But I think the idea of giving children a childhood here, where like they

get to go, we all played in the woods as kids, but they get to go play

in the most beautiful woods in the

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

me.

And like, you know, I grew up going to these little ski hills

in Minnesota all the time and.

How much fun I had there, but they get to do it at, you know, J H M R and Snow King.

excites me.

And to say, you know, be just being generally here in the west, we have

a lot of, you know, little road trip destinations we could go to, to see of

those beautiful country in the world.

And, and it's not tw, you know, 20 hours.

You know, from Minnesota, we have, we have beautiful country in the

north, in the northern Minnesota, a lot of beautiful forests and

lakes and like superiors amazing.

But to fr from here we have access to, you know, anything in the

Rockies, all the national parks we, we can, we can dream of.

that excites me to be able bring my future children to all those and

teach them about all that stuff.

That's, very insightful.

Well, well said, well said, Tyler.

I appreciate that.

For sure.

Thank

you

now what channels is, can people find?

What channels can people find your podcast on?

Apple Podcast, Spotify, it's hosted by anchor.fm, so like nobody really

listens to stuff on there, but, um, you can listen to it there.

apple and Spotify.

And what's the frequency that you release?

A podcast.

An episode.

not enough.

Okay.

I, I, used do, I'm at about almost 70 episodes.

I used to try to do like record like one a week, but just like work

got busier, you know, whatever.

Life got busier.

And the hardest part I found with the podcast is the scheduling.

Because I could come up with, you know, 15 people right now that I want to

interview, then it's reaching out to them, managing schedules, stuff changes,

you know, gotta be here, gotta be there.

And that was, I found that to be difficult.

And I, I, I prefer doing in-person interviews.

I, this is now I've done a couple up in here, but I've always had a dedicated

space in the houses I've lived in since doing it that I like doing it in person.

. Cause that was the whole idea for the podcast, is just like, I wanna

sit and just chat with this person.

And so it worked well to do it person, and Covid made that harder.

But now it's just like the scheduling.

It's a bad excuse, but

Yeah, I give it to Michael for managing my schedule on the podcast world and

working with what my schedule is.

each week big kudos and shout out to Michael

That was seamless.

You guys have a good, a good system.

It was like a couple messages, click this link and then go in and we're all good.

And then it wasn't until like, I, I had to move the, the appointment, but

yeah, everything was super seamless.

It just popped right in my Google calendar.

It was perfect.

That's, that's fabulous.

the beautiful part about technology and having a great person to manage

it like Michael, and he helps people.

Do podcasts, uh, put on edit and market and perform podcasts as well.

so he's, he's a man of many talents and, I might be the host and of the

podcasts and talking to the people, but he's the man that makes it

happen in the background for sure.

couldn't do it without him.

Yeah.

And I, yeah, I have, I need to just tell one of my guys, cause

I have, content creators that I hire for my marketing agency.

So they have all to shoot and edit and do all that stuff.

I just need to get them hopped in and be, have my own.

Um, I'm a big Rogan listener, but have my own young Jamie.

there you go.

Yeah.

So what's the web, do you have a website as well, Tyler, for your podcast?

not real, not a real one.

I think Anchor

okay

with it because of the, um,

is it?

The RSS feed has to be

hosted somehow

it's not one that I like get built.

Okay

for it at Stories from Mountain Town.

see

when I post new episodes, I do, you know, a little screenshot from it.

I have this app called Wave that creates.

And I totally recommend it for, for anything, for you guys too.

You take just a, a picture and it loads into this thing, and then you

put a, an audio clip in up to a minute, and then it does this little like

squiggly line over the picture, like it, like it's the sound waves bouncing.

And so it's a great content tool for, for podcast because you could do it in real

formm in the R E E L form for Instagram, which is the hottest content form right?

um, you find really good pictures.

You see, you can see the face of the, of the guest, which is what I usually do.

Uh, but they get to hear a little bit of the podcast and

I found it gets people excited.

You cut it off right in the middle of a point and they want to hear of it . So

they go and listen to the podcast.

That's awesome.

Strong, strong marketing strategy there, Tyler.

That's

Yeah.

it works out.

It works out pretty well.

Nice.

I so appreciate you taking the time to reach out to me.

Do you wanna share an email address if people wanted to connect

with you and be on your podcast?

If they're listening?

yeah, let's do, well you can message, message one, any of my Instagram accounts.

I'm at Teton Tyler is my personal account.

at Stories from a mountain town.

It's for the podcast, and then you can email, Tini 10 gmail.com

if you're not on Instagram, but

why don't you spell that out?

what you just said,

t e a n y 10

Okay.

The number 10.

10.

Yeah.

Okay,

cool

Gmails.

It's, I'm lucky.

It's not like, know, everybody, everybody, my generation has like their first email

address that their mom made and it.

was LH Pitcher 1 2 34 I'm left-handed and I played baseball You know,

we all millennials bond over

Your, your parents made that email address for you.

Like when I you know, eight and then my brother had R Hockey, his name is Ryan.

You know, everybody has it.

Millennials bond over stuff like that.

I, I never knew it.

I did buy the email or, or capture the email address for

my boys with their full name.

Um, I got those

Yeah.

and, and I think I bought the U R L with their full name as well.

I can't remember.

brilliant.

So when they're, when they're both pro professional skiers, you know,

doing the grand three times in a day, they'll have their their,

own website ready for them for go

When they are, whoever and whatever they're destined to

be, they will have that stuff.

So yes.

W whatever that may be,

Totally.

For sure.

Well, Tyler, it's been a pleasure getting to talk with you today.

I need to go back and take care of this young man who is not feeling

well and, I so appreciate you taking the time outta your busy day to talk

with me and share your story and.

Sharing people's stories as well here in Jackson, and build up the

repertoire that book of episodes for stories of mountain town.

Good work

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thanks for having me.

and welcome Tyler.

look forward to meeting you in person.

Yeah, totally.

Take care.

Thanks.

To learn more about Tyler Mii and stories from a mountain town, visit the Jackson

hole connection.com, episode number 230.

Folks, get off your Tookie and share this podcast.

You, oh, you could sit on your Tookie while you're sharing this podcast,

using your device, Instagram, Facebook, whatever you want.

Thank you to my wife Laura, who supports me every day to keep this podcast going.

And of course to my boys Lewis and William, who love helping out as well.

Thank you, Michael, for doing the editing, marketing directing of this

podcast of the Jackson Hole Connection.

And folks, if you want to have your own podcast, reach out to Michael.

You can find his information in the show notes, and I look forward to

seeing you back here for the next episode of the Jackson Hole Connection.

Thank you for sharing your time with me today.

I am truly grateful to have your attention today.

Go with somebody that you love.

Tell 'em you love 'em, and tell 'em why.

Take care folks.