Real Talk with Benny T

Well, my friends, as the late, great Dicky Fox once said, roll with the punches, tomorrow’s another day.

Uber Stories: Chicago was amazing in that I got to spend time in one of my favorite cities in the world, got to meet some really cool people, learn about their businesses, and become a collaborator with them while I was in town.

However, the thing that I came up to do – meet the people of Chicago and share their stories – was not possible.

How?!?! you say. Illinois is an approved state within your region, Benny T!

You’re right, my friends. You’re right. Technically.

You see, none of the 4-5 different customer service reps I spoke with at Uber ever bothered to specify this pertinent little detail: while yes, Illinois is an approved state within a Kentucky driver’s region, only *certain cities* are approved.

They are: Champaign, Carbondale, and Quad Cities. Sadly, Chicago is not. I got up there only to run into the same problem I ran into in Atlanta. Mood upon learning this? Quite enraged. You’d think someone would have had the common sense to point this out to me, but that’s life.

In spite of this, I decided I was going to have a great three days in the Windy City, so that’s exactly what I did. I enjoyed getting to go visit my new friends at My Pi Pizza, Devil Dawgs, and Fit Results, connecting with their owners, learning about their stories, eating some of the best food Chicago has to offer, and then burning it all off at the gym.

So, my friends, I hope you enjoy this recap of the abbreviated week that I had, and if you’re in the Chicago area, you’ll stop by one of these businesses and tell ‘em hey, I RIDE WITH BENNY T!!

Credit statement: Intro music is Outside by Ikson. Outro music is As It Sets by Ikson. Check out his other tracks here ➡️ https://www.iksonmusic.com

🎶 And I’m only getting older, somebody shoulda told ya, I’m on one 🎶

That’s right baby, I’m a year older, a year wiser, and even though I’m now 29, who could tell with this baby face I’m rocking 👶🏻

Uber Stories: Chicago Pts. I & II are gonna be dropping over the next couple weeks, but today is the birthday special. And when you hear the story of how what was supposed to be a great day hiking with my little brudder Greggy turned into a literal shit show, you’re gonna laugh 🤣

Enjoy, my friends, and please drop a rating and a review on the Apple Podcast and/or Facebook page!! 🙏🏼

Credit statement: Intro music is Outside by Ikson. Outro music is As It Sets by Ikson. Check out his other tracks here ➡️ https://www.iksonmusic.com

And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming. I present to you, Uber Stories Pt. 30 🥳

After introducing the stories with quick descriptions at the top of the episode, I share a goal I hit this week that I set a while back and felt really awesome to finally achieve it, before transitioning into the stories, which include:

Cocaine Cowboy (27:34) – A man recalls his involvement with a scandal so infamous in Kentucky, they’ve written books about it, and it’s even getting its own movie. Drugs. Murder. Conspiracy. Corruption. And that’s just the beginning.

Later, he recounts how him and a few others got their start in the smuggling business, often disguising themselves as catholic priests or horse trainers to get black tar heroin across the border, and even going as far as posing as a federal agent and enlisting the help of two unsuspecting narcotics officers to rob the DEA 👮🏻‍♀️

Feel It (54:14) – A rider mourning the sudden death of his girlfriend gets some real talk on why having healthy ways to cope with our emotions is key, and why even as hard as we try to avoid it, at some point, we’re just gonna have to feel it 💗

Good v. Bad Influences (1:02:21) – A rider down on his luck gets a dose of real talk when it comes to identifying good influences vs. bad influences in life 🙅🏻‍♂️

Leaving California (1:13:09) – Revisiting the promises I made to myself in an article I wrote 3 years ago when I announced I was moving back to Kentucky 🥲

Pah-LEASE drop a rating and a review on the Apple Podcasts page! It really helps me out and I appreciate each and every one I get 🙏🏼

Credit statement: Intro music is Outside by Ikson. Outro music is As It Sets by Ikson. Check out his other tracks here ➡️ https://www.iksonmusic.com

Hello, my friends, and welcome to the Memorial Day Special 🥳

Memorial Day is about honoring the brave men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice fighting for this country, and I couldn’t think of a better way to pay my respects than to dedicate this episode to them 🇺🇸

Today’s episode also marks the one-year anniversary of this show in its current format and me beginning on this path, so I spend the first part of the show reflecting on everything that’s happened from then until now and with a sincere thank you (1:51) to my day ones and everyone else who has helped me grow this show to the point we’re at today 🙏🏼

Transitioning then into the bulk of today’s episode (12:18), I share what Memorial Day means to me, how I spent my time during the long weekend, recap the annual Murph WOD, and breakdown who Michael Murphy is and why Crossfitters do the WOD Memorial Day 💪🏼

And of course, Memorial Day Weekend wouldn’t be complete without spending at least a little bit of time on the water, so a quick recap of taking the boat out on the Ohio River (32:56) 🛥

The final big chunk of today’s episode is me opening up on some real shit regarding what these types of holiday weekends look like sometimes when you finally speak up and create boundaries for yourself and let go of old relationships (36:41)… spoiler alert, it’s kinda lonely! 👤

So I use the last segment of the show to speak on the nostalgia and vibes I was feeling this weekend, plus, a couple little updates on the show, including what’s next (59:17) 🔮

Hey! If you enjoyed today’s episode or if something I touched on resonated with you, share it! Either with me, on social media, with a friend or someone you think would also benefit from hearing it, please share it and help me continue growing this show 📲

Please take two seconds and drop me a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts, follow along on social media @bennytomp18 or @realtalkwbennyt, and send me your Uber stories! Email them to [email protected] and I would love to begin building out that part of the show 📥

Thanks again to everyone who’s been along for the ride until this point, I hope you’ll keep on riding ✊🏼

Credit statement: Intro music is Outside by Ikson. Outro music is As It Sets by Ikson. Check out his other tracks here ➡️ https://www.iksonmusic.com

Nashville. The music city. The Las Vegas of the South.

A city so bustling with people and content that for the first time ever, I was forced to split the episode into a two-parter.

If you haven't heard Pt. I yet, I quickly recap some of the highlights from that episode (12:36) before picking back up where we left off last week, which was bankrupting a couple bums in Monopoly (15:22) and a line in the sand moment during the game that problematic.

After that, some stories from Saturday (45:21), including a man at a crossroads in his career trying to decide on which way to go, plus some TikTok from my riders and the moment a movement was born.

Later, my collaboration and review of Big Shake's Hot Chicken and Fish (1:21:53), and wrapping up the episode are some big picture takeaways and things I learned from the trip (1:33:10).

Be well my friends, I'll talk to you next week, thanks for coming along this ride with me ✊🏼

Credit statement: Intro music is Outside by Ikson. Outro music is As It Sets by Ikson. Check out his other tracks here ➡️ https://www.iksonmusic.com

Nashville. The music city. The Las Vegas of the South.

People come from all over the county to stand in honkey tonk bars on Broadway and comb the streets on a thirsty peddler. Because of this, it makes it a prime city for an Uber Stories episode. So, I did it.

This will have to be a two-parter, there's no other way. So today’s episode will cover the first half of the trip up until Friday night, including two of the gyms that I got to collab with while I was in town, and stories ranging from a woman who tells me what discovered about herself when she decided to drop everything and move to Idaho to live on a ranch, a man who singlehandedly shutdown a quarter of the Amarillo power grid with his body, sending 72,000 volts of electricity through his body and lived to sit in my back seat and tell that tale.

Also, here's something that's new, I make an announcement that I've never made before, as well as featuring some funny clips from the weekend.

Then Part II, which will drop next Wednesday, will consist of the weekend’s events, driving Saturday and some of those stories, plus getting some awesome TikToks with some of my riders, as well as a chance encounter with some boys that I literally walked into a garage and started chopping it up wit these fellas.

Enjoy!

Credit statement: Intro music is Outside by Ikson. Outro music is As It Sets by Ikson. Check out his other tracks here ➡️ https://www.iksonmusic.com

Welcome to the Mother's Day Special, a chance to try and find the words to even come close to the magnitude of the thank you that we owe these strong and resilient women. On behalf of all of us, thank you. Thank you so much. We love you, and no one could ever replace the things you do for us. Thank you 🙏🏼

Also on today's episode, a glance ahead at Uber Stories: Nashville (6:22) and the notion of being an influencer, plus, I gave my very first pitch on Clubhouse, find out how it went! (14:00) 👍🏼

Don't forget to submit YOUR Uber Stories or life advice submissions to [email protected] for a chance to be featured on the show 📥

Be well my friends, I'll talk to you next week, thanks for coming along this ride with me ✊🏼

Credit statement: Intro music is Outside by Ikson. Outro music is As It Sets by Ikson. Check out his other tracks here ➡️ https://www.iksonmusic.com

83 trips and 1,200 miles later, I proudly present to you Uber Stories: Kentucky Derby 🐎

I had a great week, hit my incentives, got invited to Clubhouse, and got to meet some awesome people, including a trio of people that I felt I was definitely supposed to meet for a reason (25:47) 🔮

Join me as I weave a linear series of short stories and one-liners from a rowdy Thurby crowd (31:41), to the Kentucky Oaks (1:33:42)and Survivor Games '21, to a new entry to the Midnight Sessions (1:39:28), and finally, the Derby Day '21 (2:13:10), home of the greatest two minutes in sports 🐎

Don't forget to submit YOUR Uber Stories or life advice submissions to [email protected] for a chance to be featured on the show 📥

Be well my friends, I'll talk to you next week, thanks for coming along this ride with me ✊🏼

Credit statement: Intro music is Outside by Ikson. Outro music is As It Sets by Ikson. Check out his other tracks here ➡️ https://www.iksonmusic.com

My friends, the stories on this week's episode are heavy. There's no way to sugar coat it, some of these stories are pretty tough. But they're good, and they're real, and this is what the people had for me this week. I wish every story could be funny or every ending to be happy, but we all know that ain't real life 😔

So hang in there, enjoy, and know that brighter days are ahead ☀️

By the way, the doctor is NOT in this week as we didn't have any submissions, but email me if you need some advice and would like to have your submission featured on the show (anonymously, of course). Hit me up, [email protected], or send me a DM on social media @bennytomp18 ⁶𓅓

Okay! Stories on this week's episode include:

Cautionary Tale (17:10) – a stripper shares the biggest regret of her life 🙇🏻‍♀️

Amber Alert (52:06) – Kidnapped at 13, married at 14, pregnant at 15. The story of a survivor 😤

Clucker (1:01:53) – A man and a woman high off their asses gets in and confusion and confrontation ensues 💊

Trans in KY (1:33:48) – A rider shares her experience with coming out as a black transgender woman in Kentucky ⚧

Stay Up (2:01:44) – A rider mourning the murder of her husband struggles to cope with her existence beyond the 18 years they spent together ✊🏼

Please subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts, hit me on social media @bennytomp18, check out the Facebook and IG pages for the show @realtalkwbennyt, and always, I hope you enjoy the ride 🥳

Shane Stewart (@Sunday_Stew) joins me in the studio to share stories about making moves in business, life, and what he's learned along the way 💯

Shane's been living in New York for the last 5 years now (plus a quick cameo in Dallas), but he's originally from Louisville, Kentucky. How difficult was it to make that jump, especially when he didn't know anyone in NYC heading into it? How did he find roommates? What's it been like living in a post-COVID world?

He also shares the business insights he's gained along the way, including how things he picked up in previous roles continue to serve him in his current position, what it was like getting fired for the first time in his career, and best pieces of business advice he's ever given or received.

Enjoy, my friends, check out Shane on LinkedIn, Twitter, and IG, hit him up if you have questions about payroll services, HR or operations and finance, and please drop a rating and a review if you enjoy this episode!