With Hat and Cattle

Dani Raschel Chou
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Society & Culture

With Hat and Cattle is built on stories that are earned, not borrowed. We sit down with people who’ve put in the miles, learned the hard lessons, and kept showing up when it would’ve been easier to quit. This is a place for straight talk and quiet wisdom. You know, qualities that many Texans hold dear.  These are stories meant to be listened to slow, turned over, and carried with you. Because when you hear from people who truly walk the walk, you don’t just feel inspired. You leave better for it.

  1. 1d ago

    Chronic Pain, Fibromyalgia, and Four Joint Replacements He Refused I Dan Esposito, Former NFL Running Back

    What do you do when a surgeon tells you to schedule four joint replacements? Dan Esposito, a former NFL running back diagnosed with fibromyalgia and degenerative arthritis in his early forties, declined all four, spent the next four years reading studies, and is now a two-time USA Track and Field Masters National Champion at 54. This is how he got there. Dan Esposito did not play a down of football until his senior year of high school. He was a baseball catcher in Florida, third in line behind two prospects, one of whom was Jason Varitek. He moved to Philadelphia to live with his father, went out for the team, was told he was not a tailback, and walked on at Millersville University in Pennsylvania. Three days before his first game as a junior he was told he had won the starting job. On the morning of the game he was third on the depth chart. After two games without a carry he went to his position coach and said he needed the truth or he was done. The truth was that every coach wanted him starting and the head coach had vetoed it, because he was a walk-on and the two men ahead of him were on scholarship. His answer: "Well, I'm a man of my word." He stayed. The next season, the third game they finally played him, he ran for over 300 yards. He ran a 4.3 forty at 215 pounds, went undrafted, earned a contract at a free-agent tryout with Washington, and broke his jaw in two places on the first play of his NFL career — running down on the opening kickoff, against Rich Gannon's Kansas City Chiefs. He told nobody and played the rest of the half. He was later signed by the New Orleans Saints after a gumball machine full of mini helmets dropped their logo at a pizza place in 1996, a week before his agent called. A linebacker who could not cover him in practice broke the same jaw again, and that was the end of it. He turned down an offer from a team in Ancona, Italy at 24, and calls it his one regret. Then the second half of the story. He got into banking, then started an energy brokerage with no experience that became one of Philadelphia's hundred fastest-growing companies two years running, all while eating two pizzas a day, three days a week, in front of a computer. In his early forties came fibromyalgia, then degenerative arthritis. Surgeons told him he would need four joint replacements and that they could not begin until he turned 50, because the implants would degrade and he would have to do it all again. After seeing a skeleton with the hardware in it at a museum body exhibit, he decided against it. The turn comes three months before his second son was born. At 265 pounds, unable to lift his shoulders, he was standing in a gym thinking that his partner would leave him and he would not be a good father. Then he said out loud: "I'm going to figure this out." He says that saying it aloud is what made it real. What followed was four years of self-education: podcasts, then the studies behind them, then the biochemistry. He talks about cellular hydration, about sitting in front of near-infrared light and hearing his own body click for the first time, about fasting and enzymes, and about the day he decided that "biochemistry" and "mechanisms of action" were the two most useful phrases available to anyone trying to understand their own health. He now gives away a free Chronic Pain Playbook and a free World's Greatest Shopping List at undu.me, which is the playbook he compiled after his research, and consultants told him to charge $3,000 for it. Dan is not a doctor and says so in the episode. What he shares is his own experience and his own research, not medical advice. If you live with chronic pain, take it as encouragement to ask better questions and talk to your own physician before changing anything. Mentioned: Millersville University; Jason Varitek; Rob Thomas and Matchbox Twenty; Rich Gannon and the Kansas City Chiefs; the Washington and New Orleans franchises; the XFL; Ancona, Italy; Dr. Zach Bush; near-infrared light therapy; Undu and undu.me; the Undo Method Chronic Pain Playbook; the World's Greatest Shopping List; and Flexibility Fuel. CHAPTERS 0:00   "I said it out loud" 0:18   Welcome — who Dan Esposito is 1:05   A catcher in Florida, behind Jason Varitek 2:35   Three high schools, and no football until senior year 3:05   Walking on at Millersville 3:30   "You're the starter" — then third on the depth chart 3:55   The veto: because you're a walk-on 4:35   A role player, and the 300-yard game 5:20   A 4.3 forty and a free-agent tryout 6:05   Rich Gannon, and the first play of his NFL career 6:35   Finding faith halfway through 7:25   "Did the benching fuel you?" 8:15   "I was already fueled inside" 9:20   The half he finished with a broken jaw 10:50   After the injury: DJs, McDonald's, and a body starting to slip 11:25   The gumball machine that picked the Saints 12:20   A punch in practice, and the end of a career 13:55   The one regret: Ancona, Italy 14:25   The pivot — banking, and an energy brokerage 16:25   Two pizzas a day, and limping home 16:55   What we were told to eat, and who told us 18:00   Micros, macros, and being 54 19:20   Fibromyalgia and degenerative arthritis 19:45   Four joint replacements, starting at 50 20:15   The skeleton at the museum 20:35   265 pounds, and what it means to be useful 21:15   The gym, three months before his son was born 22:15   "There's the reel and the title" 22:25   Why he refused the surgeries 22:55   Super glue in the joints 24:10   "Did you have any help along the way?" 25:15   Hydration at the cellular level 25:45   Near-infrared light — and the first click 26:50   Fasting, enzymes, and building a supplement 27:45   "I have a brain and I can read" 28:50   Advice for anyone starting at ground zero 29:50   The playbook he was told to charge $3,000 for 31:55   The World's Greatest Shopping List 34:00   Rice Krispie treats and fat-free everything 34:45   Flexibility Fuel 35:40   A box of sweet potatoes 36:55   The line I'm keeping That's the With Hat and Cattle promise: Bringing you stories from people who walk the walk and leave you better off for listening. Connect with Dani Raschel Chou on Instagram @withhatandcattle or via email at dani@thehouseofchou.com.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more conversations that leave you better off for listening: With Hat and Cattle I Hosted by Dani Raschel Chou - YouTube!  Go to www.withhatandcattle.com to sign up for our mailing list so you don't miss weekly insights. Be sure to check out our affiliate links!

  2. Aug 20

    Vibe Coding, AI Agents, and the One Rule for Your Data — Dr. Yeshwant Muthusamy

    TL; DR: Is vibe coding safe to use in a business? Host Dani Raschel Chou asks Dr. Yeshwant Muthusamy, a thirty-year AI veteran with seven U.S. patents, and his answer is yes, with one condition: somebody has to read the code before it ships. Then he tells the story of what happened when nobody did. Dr. Yeshwant Muthusamy is the owner and principal of Yeshvik Solutions in Allen, Texas, and a fractional Chief AI Officer. He trained his first artificial neural network in 1989, spent thirty years across Texas Instruments, Nokia, Samsung and Immersion Corporation, holds seven U.S. patents, chairs an AI governance working group, and was named a 2025 Dallas Innovates AI 75 honoree. He is also, as it turns out, a gourmet chocolatier. This episode is part of the With Hat and Cattle AI Literacy Series, and it starts where the hype does not. Dr. Muthusamy has watched artificial intelligence go out of fashion and come back, so he is unusually hard to impress. The refrain he rejects outright is "AI is coming for your jobs." The version he accepts is sharper: the person who learns to use these tools well will take your job if you do not. The center of the conversation is vibe coding, which is describing what you want in plain English and letting a large language model build the code. He is completely comfortable with the model doing the heavy lifting. He is not comfortable with shipping code nobody has read. He reviews every line his own firm produces, because the client receives something with his company name on it and he knows whose head is on the line if it is wrong. Then he tells the story of the Tea app: an application built so women could share information about people they had dated, which required every user to upload a selfie holding their driver's license. It was built fast, it was a great advertisement for vibe coding, and the founders never checked the security on the database. Within a week those photographs and driver's licenses were on the dark web. His reaction: "nobody in your start-up company took the time to read the code?" is the argument of the whole episode. Dani takes it a step further, asking what it means for a woman on that platform who was hiding from someone. From there they get practical. Dr. Muthusamy walks through the EU AI Act and why he leans closer to Europe's approach than to the American appetite for unfettered innovation, covering deepfake labeling, algorithmic bias in hiring, and why model audits are onerous and necessary anyway. Dani asks the question most listeners actually have: if she downloads her health data from her Garmin, is it safe to paste into a chatbot? His rule of thumb is simple enough to use tomorrow: keep any information that can be traced back to a specific person out of the model. The back half of the episode is his life, or how he earned the right to have the hat and cattle. The Nokia years inside standards bodies, which he describes as a heady mix of politics and technology, learned by shutting up for the first few meetings and watching the room...and which involved far less sightseeing in Nice and Seoul than anyone assumes. The move from corporate to his own practice in 2012. Teaching more than a hundred non-technical business professionals, including a tax advisor in his seventies, fifty years into his career, who is now writing a book with AI. Why so few companies that adopted AI agents have dared to put them into production. And the phrase the episode turns on: humans at the helm, not just in the loop. It closes on the two things he built that nobody would predict from the résumé: The Blissful Gourmet, a small-batch chocolate business he is deliberately not scaling yet, and his favorite of seven patents, which is about keeping students safe in school parking lots. The following are mentioned in this episode: Texas Instruments, Nokia, the Khronos Group and the OpenMAX working groups, Samsung, the EU AI Act, the Anthropic fair use ruling, OpenAI and Hugging Face, Descript, Seedance, the Texas Cottage Food Law, UT Dallas, and Paul Byrne, previous guest and author. Be sure you're subscribed so you don't miss out on future episodes and conversations that help you level up your sucess! Links: •     Yeshvik Solutions — AI consulting and training: https://www.yeshvik.com/ •     The Blissful Gourmet — handcrafted chocolate: https://theblissfulgourmet.com/ •     Stop Prompting, Start Delegating: No-Code Agentic AI for Business — Friday, August 28, 2026, in person at The Meeting Place. Register: https://t.ly/sjVA0  CHAPTERS 0:00  Cold open: nobody read the code 0:25  Welcome, Dr. Yeshwant Muthusamy, Yeshvik Solutions 0:55  Thirty years in AI, and a working distrust of hype 2:55  The hype that makes him roll his eyes 3:05  "AI won't take your job — the person using it will" 4:20  Training a neural network in 1989 5:15  What to expect from a large language model 6:05  Be at the helm of everything you do with it 6:40  Are AI agents still the thing to learn? 7:00  Agents are cool. Do you have a governance framework? 7:15  Seedance, Descript, and an hour of work in seven seconds 9:15  So what is vibe coding, actually? 10:00  Where he has serious problems with it 10:10  Why he reads every line of code himself 12:00  "ChatGPT's a little liar" 12:10  Can you read the code it wrote? 12:20  "You can't build strategy on hope" 12:35  The Tea app: a selfie, a driver's license, and trust 13:40  Shipped fast. Great advertisement for vibe coding. 14:00  A week later, it was all on the dark web 15:00  "Nobody in your startup took the time to read the code?" 15:20  The Rainbow Bridge, and when it stops being abstract 16:15  Is AI governance moving fast enough? 16:40  The EU AI Act vs. the American wild west 18:10  Deepfake labeling and what has to be disclosed 19:00  Bias, audits, and why governance is onerous but needed 20:15  "Does my Garmin data put me at risk?" 20:35  The one rule: keep anything traceable out of the model 22:10  Inside the Nokia standards years 23:00  Khronos, OpenMAX, and who is really in the room 25:00  "A heady mix of politics and technology" 26:45  What IP actually stands for 27:15  Seven patents meets generative AI 28:00  Where the Anthropic fair use ruling landed 29:05  Leaving corporate to start Yeshvik Solutions 30:50  Teaching 100+ non-technical professionals 34:00  The question everyone asks now: "what next?" 34:35  Agentic AI, and why so few have shipped it 35:40  Humans at the helm, not just in the loop 37:00  When OpenAI's models escaped and reached Hugging Face 38:15  The chocolatier: The Blissful Gourmet 39:00  "Creating something from scratch — it's a high" 39:30  The ceiling built into a cottage food business 41:40  Why North Texas and not the Bay Area 42:35  His favorite of the seven patents 43:10  One office action, and Dani's trademark filing 44:20  Safe parking for students, explained 46:10  Thank you 46:45  Outro That's the With Hat and Cattle promise: Bringing you stories from people who walk the walk and leave you better off for listening. Connect with Dani Raschel Chou on Instagram @withhatandcattle or via email at dani@thehouseofchou.com.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more conversations that leave you better off for listening: With Hat and Cattle I Hosted by Dani Raschel Chou - YouTube!  Go to www.withhatandcattle.com to sign up for our mailing list so you don't miss weekly insights. Be sure to check out our affiliate links!

  3. Aug 13

    Networking Tips From the Trenches: What to Say, How to Exit, and Why Nobody Remembers with Return Guest Nicolle Ketcham

    Do networking events terrify you? And what do you actually say at a networking event when you don't know anyone? In this episode, host Dani Raschel Chou and Nicolle Ketcham walk through one start to finish what to bring, where your name tag goes, which question to open with instead of “What do you do?”, and how to leave a conversation without apologizing for it. Nicolle "Nicki" Ketcham, co-founder of Big Future Consulting, helps professional service firms look more polished and communicate their brand online. She is also Dani's best friend, a returning guest, and, by Dani's description, a top-tier connector. This episode came directly from listener response to Ely Delaney's conversation about networking as an introvert, so Dani and Nicki set the usual format aside and built a practical networking 101 out of their own wins and misfires. They start before you leave the house: what belongs on a business card, why you should print on stock you can write on, and why Nicki never goes anywhere without a pen. They cover the LinkedIn QR code workaround for the day your cards are still in the car, what to do when there's no cell service, and why scanning the guest list and finding the host in the first five minutes changes the whole evening. In the room, the advice gets specific. Your name tag goes on your right shoulder so the other person's eyes travel up your arm as you shake hands. Your drink goes in your left hand so your right one is dry. Approach the person standing alone — they will be relieved. And stop opening with “So, what do you do?” Nicki's alternatives include “What are you working on that you're excited about?” and her favorite, “Who would be a helpful person for you to meet?” Dani's, when the banter is already good, is “How did you fail this week?” The middle of the conversation is about listening: asking the follow-up question instead of pivoting to your own story, mirroring as a practiced technique, and Nicki's husband, who never tells anyone a thing about himself and still leaves every party as the most interesting man there. Dani shares a recent event where an introduction went badly enough that she went home, and what she would do differently. Nicki answers with Kacey Musgraves: "You are not everybody's cup of tea." They close on the exit and the follow-up. Three exit lines that don't require an apology, the 24–48 hour follow-up window, why an obviously AI-generated email undoes the entire evening, and Dani's “human first, AI forward” take on using it well anyway. Nicki's metric for a good event is deliberately small: three real conversations, one helpful introduction, or one person you genuinely want to follow up with. Items/topics specifically mentioned throughout the conversation: Ely Delaney's episode on networking as an introvert; the Rubin Brothers episode; The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann; Dallas Meetup; Chicks with Stix, a women's golf networking event at PGA Frisco; Big Bend; the AEC (architecture, engineering and construction? community in Dallas–Fort Worth; and the North Texas casting call for Frisco King that came out of one compliment at one event. Chapters 0:00   Cold open: you're already networking 0:15   Why we're doing a networking episode 1:52   There's no wrong way to start 2:26   Run clubs, Gen Z, and the pull toward community 3:34   Introducing yourself when you're brand new 4:11   Nobody remembers but you 4:40   Pre-work: what belongs on your business card 5:49   Carry a pen — and write on the card 7:01   Forgot your cards? The LinkedIn QR trick 7:55   No signal? The workaround 8:33   Scan the guest list, arrive early, find the host 10:02   Name tag on your right — and why 11:51   Drink in your left hand 12:21   Who to approach first 13:34   Working the drink station 14:05   Stop opening with “what do you do?” 15:03   Better questions — including the best one 15:40   “How did you fail this week?” 16:37   Ask the follow-up, don't make it about you 17:53   The best networkers are connectors 18:43   Mirroring — and the party trick 21:23   How to introduce two people 21:54   When someone doesn't want to meet you 23:48   Grace, and not being everybody's cup of tea 26:17   The trip question that opened a door 27:44   The elevator pitch: who do you help? 28:20   Names: using them, and forgetting them 30:32   Eye contact and what people notice 31:23   Three exit lines that don't feel rude 32:30   Follow up in 24–48 hours 33:40   Why AI-generated follow-ups fail 34:44   Three conversations, not thirty 35:12   A compliment, Dallas Meetup, and a casting call 37:57   When networking gives you “the ick” 38:30   Be a go-giver 39:15   Showing up bad at golf 41:28   Phone a friend, and shoot your shot 42:49   Thank you and close 43:35   The takeaways, all in one place  That's the With Hat and Cattle promise: Bringing you stories from people who walk the walk and leave you better off for listening. Connect with Dani Raschel Chou on Instagram @withhatandcattle or via email at dani@thehouseofchou.com.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more conversations that leave you better off for listening: With Hat and Cattle I Hosted by Dani Raschel Chou - YouTube!  Go to www.withhatandcattle.com to sign up for our mailing list so you don't miss weekly insights. Be sure to check out our affiliate links!

  4. Aug 6

    The Rubin Brothers: Radical Self-Trust, Vaudeville, and Building the Career With No Set Career Ladder

    Episode note: This episode includes a brief reference to sexual assault (~18:00). A content note is included in the audio. What happens when two brothers from Portland, Oregon decide to build a vaudeville career in the 21st century with no roadmap, no safety net, and "well-meaning" people telling them it won't work? AJ and Colescott Rubin, known as The Rubin Brothers, are Berklee College of Music alumni, circus musicians, and vaudeville entertainers who juggle, unicycle, and perform acrobatics while playing trumpet and upright bass. They've appeared on American Idol, shared the stage with John Legend, played 24 shows in 19 days in Thailand with one gig booked, and recorded an album on pre-1926 acoustic equipment at one of only two such studios still operating in the world! In fact, Colescott's great-grandfather played with Louis Armstrong in New Orleans on that same technology, 100 years ago. In this episode, Dani Raschel Chou and co-host Nicolle Ketcham sit down with AJ (23) and Colescott (nearly 30) for one of the most honest conversations With Hat and Cattle has recorded. And through it all, they discuss how to build something real when there's no career ladder to climb, what it looks like when the path breaks down, and how joy can be a discipline rather than a destination. What you'll take away from this episode: On radical self-trust: AJ describes the practice of trusting yourself when the path has no map: "It's radical self-trust, and that is a lesson and is a practice as well."On the long way being the short way: Colescott shares a Wayne Shorter quote he's lived by since he was 14: "The long way is the short way." Every time they've doubted their direction, this has been the reset.On the hardest chapter: Colescott details the tendonitis that cost him 9–12 months of playing while on a Berklee scholarship, and how being forced to stop led him to tap dance, improv comedy, songwriting, and the front of the stage for the first time. "I had to be just Colescott rather than Colescott the bassist. And it turns out there was a lot more to me than I thought."On building a career with no set of directions or blueprints and deciding what's important: AJ shares the Quincy Jones rule they live by: Follow the goosebumps. When Quincy was asked how he chose projects when he had more offers than days in the year, his answer was simple: Trust your intuition.On being a fish out of water: "If you feel like you don't fit into your industry, that's not a weakness. That's your leverage. That's your opportunity to bring something that isn't there otherwise." —ColescottOn nurturing the partnership: They hold monthly communication improvement meetings, and they don't discuss the act. They're discussing the partnership itself. "Make sure you leave time to talk about the partnership, not just what you're doing." This one habit, they say, is what makes collaboration sustainable.The episode closes with a question Dani and Nicolle crafted for the arc of the show: 100 years from now, when another pair of siblings decides to revive a lost art form, what do you hope they're borrowing from the Rubin Brothers? Colescott's answer says it all.  Have you been told that your path doesn't make sense? Or making you're taking the safe path and wondering if there's more? Give this a listen today. ─── GUEST LINKS ─── The Rubin Brothers on Instagram: @rubinbrothers Patreon: patreon.com/rubinbrothers  ─── WITH HAT AND CATTLE ─── Hosted by Dani Raschel Chou Co-hosted this episode by Nicolle Ketcham That's the With Hat and Cattle promise: Bringing you stories from people who walk the walk and leave you better off for listening. Connect with Dani Raschel Chou on Instagram @withhatandcattle or via email at dani@thehouseofchou.com.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more conversations that leave you better off for listening: With Hat and Cattle I Hosted by Dani Raschel Chou - YouTube!  Go to www.withhatandcattle.com to sign up for our mailing list so you don't miss weekly insights. Be sure to check out our affiliate links!

  5. Jul 30

    We Are Not Prisoners to Our Pasts: My Story of Moving from Addiction to Recovery

    Can you actually recover from sex and love addiction, and build a life you’re proud of? Host Dani Raschel Chou says yes, and this week she tells her own story of living as a high functioning addict. After years of asking guests to be honest about the hardest parts of their lives, Dani hands the microphone to friend of the show Jeff Mercier and takes the guest seat herself. Dani Raschel Chou is the host and producer of With Hat and Cattle, a Dallas–Fort Worth podcast built on honest conversations with people who’ve put in the miles. In this episode, she shares that she is a recovering sex and love addict, and explains why that experience is the reason the show exists. In this conversation: growing up in Freer, Texas, and the 1,200-calorie dieting trap of the ’90s; the high school hallway moment when attention got wired to weight loss; three marriages and the pattern underneath them; the 2012 journal entry that read, “If I don’t change my ways, I’m going to end up dead in a hotel room”, whick finally acknowledged the problem; the therapist who gave the addiction its name; seven years of the real, unglamorous work; co-parenting done right; meeting Bryan; and the bad cup of coffee that proved the work works.  Told without graphic detail and without a tidy bow. It’s for anyone who has been told they are “just a” something, anyone carrying a past they think disqualifies them, and anyone who needs to hear that where you have been is not the ceiling on where you can go. Resources:  Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous (S.L.A.A.) — free meetings worldwide, slaafws.org.  National Alliance for Eating Disorders — free therapist-staffed helpline, Mon–Fri 9am–7pm ET, 1-866-662-1235, allianceforeatingdisorders.com.  In crisis, call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. Chapters 00:00 — Cold open: the journal entry 00:30 — A note from Dani before we begin 01:20 — Jeff takes the host chair 04:00 — Freer, Texas: grass and central air 07:00 — Childhood wounds and numbing the void 13:30 — Dieting in the ’90s: the 1,200-calorie trap 15:00 — The hallway: when attention became a drug 16:30 — Married at 18 19:00 — Losing 100 pounds — and the first affair 21:30 — The second marriage and the chat rooms 23:30 — “Dead in a hotel room”: the journal entry, in context 26:00 — Six years, a separation, and a move to Dallas 29:00 — Getting the label: sex and love addiction 30:30 — Where was my kid? Co-parenting done right 32:00 — The third marriage: “I’m battle-tested” 35:00 — Women, shame, and double standards 38:00 — Trading one addiction for another 39:00 — “No, we’re not doing this” 40:30 — The relapse 42:00 — Seven years with the right therapist 43:00 — What I chose not to share 44:00 — 2021: running vs. DoorDash 45:00 — Breaking the pattern 48:00 — Meeting Bryan 48:45 — The knife tattoo: “It’s not your job, it’s mine” 49:30 — The three-minute reset 52:00 — Honest from the first date 53:30 — Faith, grace, and a kinder God 56:00 — We are not prisoners to our past 57:00 — When you can’t make amends 58:45 — The woman at the well 59:30 — Next week: the Rubin Brothers Guest Host Information Connect with motivational speaker and DTM Jeffery Mercier on LinkedIn and follow him on Instagram. Find his episodes on With Hat and Cattle and listen now! Building a Personal Brand on Buzzsprout and SpotifyFraming the Future on Buzzsprout and SpotifyThat's the With Hat and Cattle promise: Bringing you stories from people who walk the walk and leave you better off for listening. Connect with Dani Raschel Chou on Instagram @withhatandcattle or via email at dani@thehouseofchou.com.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more conversations that leave you better off for listening: With Hat and Cattle I Hosted by Dani Raschel Chou - YouTube!  Go to www.withhatandcattle.com to sign up for our mailing list so you don't miss weekly insights. Be sure to check out our affiliate links!

  6. Jul 23

    How to Network and Communicate the Bushido Way: Real Advice for Introverts, Extroverts, and Ambiverts — Ely Delaney (Part 2)

    What does an 800-year-old samurai code have to do with your inbox? More than you’d think. In Part 2 of this conversation, marketing strategist Ely Delaney explains how the seven virtues of Bushido shaped both his business and his life, and why respect and kindness are practical skills, not soft ones. If you're finding us on Part 2, start with Part 1 for networking as an introvert, archery as meditation, and going deep on one skill. And please note: This episode includes a brief discussion of suicide. If you’re struggling, or worried about someone who is, call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or chat at 988lifeline.org. Ely Delaney is a Dallas–Fort Worth email-nurture marketing strategist, the founder of Meet Cool People, and the author of The Seven Virtues of Email Marketing. In Part 2 of his conversation with host Dani Raschel Chou on With Hat and Cattle, the discussion moves from how to connect with people to why it matters. Ely explains how he found Bushido (the code of the samurai) in 2020, and how its seven virtues, including honesty, integrity, respect, kindness, and loyalty, became the framework for his book and his daily life. He calls it “ancient intelligence, or the other AI,” and argues that Buddhism, Stoicism, and Bushido are all answering the same question: how do you think, speak, and act well? Along the way he shares the three questions he asks before sending any email, why Stoicism teaches you how to react while Bushido teaches you how to act, and how to give someone hard feedback without becoming the jerk in the story. Dani shares the Google review she left years ago and still hasn’t deleted, and the moment at a World Cup match when someone told her to pick a side, and what she did instead of reacting. The episode closes on purpose, belonging, and Ely’s next project. Mentioned to help you find us: Bushido and the seven virtues, Stoicism, Dale Carnegie, T. Harv Eker’s Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, and Ely’s Seven Fold Projects.  This is the With Hat and Cattle Promise: Stories from people who walk the walk and leave you better off for listening. Chapters: 0:00 Cold open: kindness & respect 1:00 Bushido: the code of the samurai 2:00 You don't have to like someone to respect them 3:00 Ancient intelligence — "the other AI" 4:00 The seven virtues of email marketing 6:00 Why he finally wrote the book 8:00 Halloween announcement to April launch 10:00 The best feedback he's ever gotten 12:00 Which virtue matters most 13:00 Three questions before you hit send 14:00 The samurai's prayer on his wall 16:00 It was never really about email 17:00 The Google review she still hasn't deleted 18:00 Giving hard feedback without being a jerk 20:00 Stoicism reacts, Bushido acts 21:00 Trolls, hecklers, and disagreeing well 26:00 The pause: Dani's World Cup jersey story 29:00 Chaos energy and what stress costs you 32:00 The kitchen table 33:00 What's next: Seven Fold Projects 36:00 On men, belonging, and purpose 37:00 Thank you and close About the Guest Ely Delaney is the creator of the Follow Up Rockstar System, helping entrepreneurs build a 24/7 automated system and go from surviving to thriving in any economy. He’s a three-time Amazon bestseller, including his latest book, "The Follow Up Code: 7 Virtues for Building Trust Through Email" & his programs have over 1424 students globally.  Connect with him on LinkedIn. Learn more about him online here. That's the With Hat and Cattle promise: Bringing you stories from people who walk the walk and leave you better off for listening. Connect with Dani Raschel Chou on Instagram @withhatandcattle or via email at dani@thehouseofchou.com.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more conversations that leave you better off for listening: With Hat and Cattle I Hosted by Dani Raschel Chou - YouTube!  Go to www.withhatandcattle.com to sign up for our mailing list so you don't miss weekly insights. Be sure to check out our affiliate links!

  7. Jul 16

    Networking for Introverts, Mastery, and Real Connection — Ely Delaney (Part 1)

    Can introverts actually be great at networking? Marketing strategist Ely Delaney says yes and proves it. In Part 1 of this conversation, Ely joins Dani Raschel Chou to unpack how to build real business relationships without faking extroversion, why mastering one skill beats dabbling in ten, and how archery became his meditation. Ely Delaney is your Email Marketing Architect and is also known as "The People Whisperer. He's the creator of The Follow Up Rockstar System, teaching entrepreneurs how to go from surviving to thriving in any economy through the art and science of building strong relationships and following up for LIFE." He's an Amazon bestseller with his three books "Marketing Tidbits", "Networking Tidbits", and his latest book, "The Follow Up Code: 7 Virtues for Building Trust Through Email". With a passion for connecting people, his best-selling training course "Networking Like a Rockstar" has over 1,424 students registered globally. And in Part 1 of this two-part conversation on With Hat and Cattle, host Dani Raschel Chou and Ely dig into the quiet skills that actually build a business: showing up, connecting, and getting deeply good at one thing. Ely explains how an introvert can work a room by leading with "who can I help?" instead of "who can help me," why he'll spend hours at an event without stepping inside, and why a cold shoulder is never worth taking personally. He shares how archery became a form of meditation, and how becoming the #1 longbow archer in the Northwest mirrors the focus behind his work. Then he and Dani turn to mastery: Jim Rohn's rule to spend five years getting great at one thing, what ghostwriting really means (pulling out your stories, never inventing them), and why "know, like, and trust" only works when loyalty comes with it. Mentioned in this episode: Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People, Bob Burg's The Go-Giver, and marketing writers Bob Bly and Dan Kennedy. This is Part 1. Part 2 goes deep on the seven virtues Ely built his life and business around, and that's dropping next week. You can find Ely on LinkedIn and on his site. Listen to his podcast here: Meet Cool People. And you can also buy his book The Follow Up Code: Seven Virtues for Building Trust Through Email on Amazon today! With Hat and Cattle: Stories from people who walk the walk, and leave you better off for listening. That's the With Hat and Cattle promise: Bringing you stories from people who walk the walk and leave you better off for listening. Connect with Dani Raschel Chou on Instagram @withhatandcattle or via email at dani@thehouseofchou.com.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more conversations that leave you better off for listening: With Hat and Cattle I Hosted by Dani Raschel Chou - YouTube!  Go to www.withhatandcattle.com to sign up for our mailing list so you don't miss weekly insights. Be sure to check out our affiliate links!

  8. Jul 9

    Why AI Implementations Fail: It's Leadership, Not Technology l Conversation with AI Leader Amir Habib

    Amir Habib is a digital transformation and AI strategy executive with 25+ years of experience leading service delivery for some of the world's largest enterprise clients. In this conversation with host Dani Raschel Chou, Amir traces the entrepreneurial instincts that shaped his path: from a childhood dream of owning a chain of Buc-ee's, to selling phone cards and financial services, to a hard pivot into IT and, eventually, AI leadership. Amir and Dani get into why trust, not raw capability, is the real bottleneck for AI adoption: the truth-vs-trust gap in AI-assisted medical diagnosis, what actually happened when the U.S. government suspended access to Anthropic's Claude Fable 5 model, why AI implementations stall without leadership buy-in, and what AI means for executive assistants and other roles built on repeatable work. Amir also shares how he responds to AI phishing scams himself, and what it takes to stay grounded — in faith, family, and mentorship — while everything moves faster than ever. This is the With Hat and Cattle promise: stories from people who walk the walk, and leave you better off for listening. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 — Cold open: Meet Amir Habib 1:00 — Faith, family, and the entrepreneurial mindset 2:00 — From a Buc-ee's dream to falling in love with IT 4:00 — Family as your "why," and trusting your own pivots 7:00 — How to ask for mentorship (and handle rejection) 11:00 — Selling phone cards to selling yourself 16:00 — How Amir got intentional about learning AI 21:00 — What data centers actually do 25:00 — The truth vs. trust gap in AI 29:00 — Inside the Claude Fable 5 security story 31:00 — Protecting yourself from AI scams and phishing 34:00 — From "just an accountant" to trusted leader 35:00 — Why morning self-talk builds self-trust 36:00 — People over strategy: why AI needs buy-in to work 38:00 — AI, executive assistants, and the future of work 41:00 — Why critical thinking matters more, not less 42:00 — AI slop, LinkedIn, and trusting human creators 44:00 — Bad data in, bad AI out: building a successful AI journey 45:00 — Staying true to your true north CONNECT WITH AMIR HABIB LinkedIn: Amir Habib | LinkedIn Amir's appearance on Blackbelts and Boardrooms: S2.EP46 - Takes a Village of Leaders to Make a Leader w/ Amir Habib, Global Strategist at Stefanini ABOUT WITH HAT AND CATTLE With Hat and Cattle is a podcast built on one belief: the best lessons come from people who've actually lived them. Hosted by Dani Raschel Chou, this show features honest conversations with leaders, builders, and people who've learned through experience, not shortcuts. Stories from people who walk the walk, and leave you better off for listening.  If this episode helped you, the most useful thing you can do is leave a rating and review wherever you're listening — it's how new listeners find the show. That's the With Hat and Cattle promise: Bringing you stories from people who walk the walk and leave you better off for listening. Connect with Dani Raschel Chou on Instagram @withhatandcattle or via email at dani@thehouseofchou.com.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more conversations that leave you better off for listening: With Hat and Cattle I Hosted by Dani Raschel Chou - YouTube!  Go to www.withhatandcattle.com to sign up for our mailing list so you don't miss weekly insights. Be sure to check out our affiliate links!

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About

With Hat and Cattle is built on stories that are earned, not borrowed. We sit down with people who’ve put in the miles, learned the hard lessons, and kept showing up when it would’ve been easier to quit. This is a place for straight talk and quiet wisdom. You know, qualities that many Texans hold dear.  These are stories meant to be listened to slow, turned over, and carried with you. Because when you hear from people who truly walk the walk, you don’t just feel inspired. You leave better for it.

Information

  • Creator
    Dani Raschel Chou
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    37
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 With Hat and Cattle
  • Show Website
    With Hat and Cattle