We’re looking forward to introducing you to Major Donald Pryor US Army Retired. Check out our conversation below.
Hi Donald, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What is a normal day like for you right now?
Normal day for me, its working on my ranch, chainsawing, cleaning up the ranch, and working around the place to better and look better. by remodeling my home.
Remodeling is something I love. I bought a ranch in Boerne, and it was sold as a teardown. Well ,the old ranch house built in 1945 became my mistress. I did not tear it down; instead, I rebuilt it from the studs of the house out and in. It took 10 years and it was a labor of love.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I have had a lot of companies in life. My brand came from a famous man. I came home from the war in Vietnam and this ole Cowboy headed straight to Dallas Tx to go to school.
Right after I got there I I knew I needed a job, and I had about 9 months before college started. I was sitting in a bar restaurant waiting on my girlfriend to get off work when a man sat down at the bar next to me. He was a much older man and we began talking. I mentioned I had just got back from Vietnam, and my first job interview did not work out. I sat in the boss’s office and the interview started and it barely got off the ground when he asked me if I was a Vietnam veteran. I said YES.
He wads up my resume and tells me he don’t hire drugged up baby killer and he threw my resume at me and said GET OUT of my office. I told the to man next to me and told him I was going to start my own company. He looked at me and said this: Son, I am going to give you some words of advice. He said this:
Be obsessed with Quality in your company and everything you do. Be obsessed with Customer Service. About that time I see my girlfriend coming. I bid him a thank you and walked up to my girlfriend. I told what this older guy told me. She asked if I got his name. Sure, his name was Stanley Marcus. She looks at me and says YOU KNOW WHO HE IS? NO! Then she says: That is the Chairman and founder of Neiman Marcus. WOW!
This occurred in 1968. Today, on my company website, you will find at the first page at the top:
We are obsessed with Quality in everything we do.
We are obsessed with Customer Service.
I have carried this with me ever since, Its my brand!
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
Major General George Patton.
I asked him a question about where his TOC (Tactical Operations Command) would be on the field at Ft Hood.
His reply was: Under my helmet!
I have lived that ever since, that was in 1977
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Over the years, I have looked back at High School, College etc. What I discovered is that getting all the answers right on a test does not make you smart in fact, it’s often just the opposite. Sure, you know the questions on the test and got them all right, but you don’t know the foundation or the implications of not knowing the foundation.
I often found that success is just a temporary thing. 6 months later, you don’t remember, because you never learned the foundation…they did not teach that!
This led me to look at both sides rather than just one as most do.
I really learned this when I studied Economics. My professor was a former President of the Futures Exchange. He spent a lot of time on Wall Street, and he was brilliant. I took all of his classes. I learned a lot from him but the one thing that has stood the test of time was what he said almost every week. “If you want to know Economics, then take my classes. If you. want to UNDERSTAND Economics, then start a business!”
He could not have been more right! This IMO is the reason for my success in business…Thank you, Dr Hankerson!
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
Honesty!
I have been told many times in life, I was too honest for my own good….
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
NOTHING!
I come from a ranching family going back to the 1830s. Ranching does not have a retirement program. My dad died working all of his life. My grandfather dropped dead behind 2 mules plowing a cotton field in 1968 at age 92.
Every morning, a rancher or farmer wakes to a rising sun, and he asks himself the same question every morning….What Broke?
Cows out of the pasture, horses out of the corral, cistern leaking again, water well pump not pumping…. yeah that is life!
Most likely I will die with a chainsaw in my hands or on my John Deere…
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.buddysbonz.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/don.pryor.18/
- Other: don@17oaks.com
