Benjamin Shrader shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Good morning Benjamin, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What’s more important to you—intelligence, energy, or integrity?
In my experience, integrity is by far the most important characteristic. Many people can be
energetic or intelligent, but if one does not have integrity, you will always be wondering if they took a shortcut, if they lied, or if they cheated. Adjacent to integrity is loyalty. Loyalty is everything. I’m able to have long term partners and associates because they know they can trust me and I know I can trust them. Loyalty is a two way street, especially between employer and employee, business and client. If someone who works for me messes up, I am going to go to bat for them out of loyalty. If I mess up, I would expect the same in return. In life, there are few short cuts and they are usually not worth taking. As my father once told me, “There is the easy road and the hard road. Benjamin, you always take the hard road but you get there eventually”.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My company, Shrader Promotions LLC, is based out of Austin, Texas and operates as a full service event production company, catering to a corporate clientele. We specialize in concerts and music festivals. We are about to celebrate nine years of operation. In that time, I have had the privilege of working with artists such as G-Eazy, Koe Wetzel, Whiz Khalifa, and Parker McCollum and many more.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: Who taught you the most about work?
Without a doubt, the people who taught me the most about work and instilled in me the importance of working hard are my parents, Ted and Mary Shrader. When I was young, I was diagnosed with very severe dyslexia. My parents shared with me the words that have defined my life: “On some things, you will have to work twice as hard as other kids to get to where they are. But you’re good at talking, become the best at that. That’s how you will survive a reader’s world. We know you are capable of it”. Their unshakable faith in me and seeing their inspirational work ethic- my father as an engineer and my mother running her popular youtube channel, “Mary’s Nest”.
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
The greatest defining wound of my life is etched on the back of my skull. I have a scar from the base of my neck to the top of my right ear-61 stitches in total. At the height of my business’s success, I was struck down by a golf ball sized brain tumor growing off my auditory nerve and pushing dangerously on my brain stem. The doctor told me at 23that if I did not get it out, I would be dead in two years from a massive stroke. As you can imagine, this was an incredibly hard time. The two things that got me through were my family and stoicism. I would always tell myself, “It could always be worse”. I did what needed to be done. The tumor was removed in a twelve hour surgery. I went deaf in my right ear and lost a balance nerve. I spent a year learning to walk right again. The day I returned to running my business in perfect health was one of the happiest days of my life.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
Many people go into the music industry or the night life industry to party. I have always seen this as a huge mistake. And I have always recognized that I am not there, in any way shape or form, to party. I am there to offer a service and provide value to my clients, my sponsors, and my event attendees. This is why you will always see me in a suit. I bring an air of professionalism. I think the best advice I could give someone in the night life is “don’t drink, don’t do drugs, and be professional above all else”. Another one of the great myths is that ANYONE can be a DJ. I have over 100 DJ contacts on my phone. 7 of them are good and only 5 of those 7 get consistent bookings. The night life is not an easy industry to break into by any means, because it is based almost entirely on personal relationships. I have spent years building a reputation of being easy to work with while doing a good job. I often joke that “Kindness is the new currency. It won’t pay the bills but it will help you make the money to pay them”. I cannot emphasize enough the importance enough of being polite, cordial, and deferential. You can have an ego on social media but never in person.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
One day, even Alexander the Great will be forgotten when the stars die out. The average person is only remember for 3 generations, or 75-100 years after their death. The Ancient Egyptians believe that we die twice. Once when our bodies dies, and then again when your name is spoken for the last time. I do not believe that legacy matters beyond how your offspring or those aligned with your values can use your memory. you are gone, hopefully off to a better place. Our actions will be forgotten, so I believe it is a mistake to build things for the sole purpose of legacy. So many times a day, we drive down a street or enter a building named for someone, and you have no idea who they are. What matter is the NOW. Our impermanence is no excuse for heathenism or self indulgence, Life is about making the world better, doing what you can, when you can. This is why my end game has always been politics, as it is how I feel I can do the most good. Not so that I can be remembered a thousand years from now but so I can make a few lives better today. So, take joy in life. Do your absolute best.
Image Credits
Mary Shrader-Mary’s Nest
Courtney Reed-photos
