The art and Science of grit, ambition, & betting on yourself

The art and Science of grit, ambition, & betting on yourself

Author: BKBT Productions February 23, 2026 Duration: 35:57
The voices telling you it won't work usually belong to people who never tried. Nobody gives you permission to take a chance. You just do it. Chris built a 50K MRR business without a formal education, a tech background, or a plan. As an actor, a car dealership paid him $400 to be in a commercial and he thought, "If I can pretend to do this, what happens if I just actually do it?" From there it was taking on teaching himself APIs, webhooks integrations, and enough failures to make most people quit. He's now responsible for 40% of some dealerships' bottom lines, working remotely from Ottawa, heading to Costa Rica. We talked about why people don't take that first step. Chris's take is it's mostly the room you're in. When you move somewhere nobody knows you, the risk calculus changes. The voices telling you you're going to look stupid usually belong to people who never left. We also got into social media, the throttled notification drip sequences designed to keep you coming back, the rage bait economy, the positive reinforcement loop that rewards the most outrageous behavior. His advice was simple: put your phone down and tackle your life goals head on. Chris also hosts Bad Hombres TV [https://www.youtube.com/@BADHOMBRESTV] on YouTube.

There’s a lot of noise in the world of technology talk, but Bare Knuckles and Brass Tacks cuts through it with a focus on the people behind the products and the societal currents shaping our digital landscape. Hosts George K and George A steer conversations that are less about specs and hype, and more about real-world consequences. You’ll hear them dig into topics like the messy rollout of new AI tools, the often-invisible backbone of digital infrastructure, and why communities adopt or reject certain technologies. This podcast regularly features guests from various fields who offer unvarnished opinions on what’s genuinely functional and what’s fundamentally flawed in our tech-saturated lives. The discussions move beyond simple commentary to challenge the standard narratives promoted by the tech industry, examining the cultural and social ripples of every new development. It’s a show for anyone who feels that technology coverage often misses the human element-the frustrations, the adaptations, and the ethical dilemmas. Tune in for a grounded, critical, and consistently engaging dialogue that connects the dots between code and culture. This production from BKBT Productions lives up to its name, getting down to the brass tacks of how technology is built and used, with a bare-knuckle honesty that’s increasingly rare.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Bare Knuckles and Brass Tacks
Podcast Episodes
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Duration: 38:09
A stalkerware economy is thriving on TikTok, and it's generating hundreds of thousands in sales. Journalist Rosie Thomas from 404 Media joins the show this week discuss her investigation into GPS trackers being sold as r…
Robot Brothels, AI Therapists, and the Future of Human Intimacy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:43
This week on the show: some seriously cutting-edge territory. George A talks about what he saw at the Love and Sex with Robots conference in Montreal. Then George K and George A discuss AI companions, embodied LLMs, and…
Building a Shield for Your Mind Against Digital Manipulation [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:39
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Life After the NFL: Lessons for Identity, Goals, and Team Leadership [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:28
Former NFL player Mark LeVoir joins us this week to talk about life after pro sports, and the lessons he took transitioning to a career in tech. George K and George A talk to Mark about: * The transition from professiona…
Sex & Tech: Privacy, Power, and Human Intimacy in an AI Future [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:16
This week Savannah Sly, dominatrix and sex worker rights advocate, joins the show to talk about privacy, power, and the nuances of human intimacy as generative AI takes hold. George K and George A talk to Savannah about:…
Season 4 is here! And with it, something new... [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 7:48
Season 4 is here! While George K and George A are in Las Vegas for Black Hat and DEFCON this week, here's a preview of some changes coming to the podcast. We're grateful for every listener. Thank you for being on this jo…
The Tech Industry and Being the Role Model You Needed as a Kid [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:23
Kendrick Trotter joins the show to talk about going from Uber driver to a major account executive at a public cybersecurity company, then founding his own business that created over $70 million in annualized salaries for…
Status Check: AI Hype, Practical Use, & Up-skilling for a New Economy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:09
George K and George A went completely off-script this week and recorded their first one-on-one episode in years. Fair warning: it gets heated about some industry trends that have been grinding their gears. George K and G…