Record details
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The year I graduated Robert E. Lee High School in Tyler, everything was coming together for our rock & roll band. Our record was sailing toward the top of the charts in East Texas, and we were booked in clubs and TV shows all over the region. College was the last thing on my mind.
It was not the last thing on the mind of my parents, however. They pushed me to check out TJC, thinking I could take courses with little disruption to my music career. What did I have to lose? I went to TJC and a wise academic advisor set me on the path I’m on today, almost 50 years later. I explained my goal to make it big in rock & roll, and we had the following conversation.
“Rusty, I’m sure your band has a great chance of making it big, but have you thought about what happens if your group doesn’t make it?” I was silent.
“I think you should give serious thought to Plan B if rock & roll doesn’t work out. Have you considered taking some of our excellent music programs and putting yourself in a position to earn a living doing what you love?”
I said, “Not really. I never learned to read music. I play by ear and it would be hard to catch up with other music students.”
“Okay, what else are you interested in?”
“Psychology? I have always been interested in what makes people think and behave the way they do. That might work, right?”
“Perhaps, but to get a good job in that field you would need a master’s or doctoral degree. Is your plan to spend six to eight years in college?”
“No way! What are my options for two to four years?”
“How about business? You can get a good job with a two-year degree and the opportunity for a very good job with a four-year degree. If music doesn’t work out, you’ll still have a solid Plan B.”
“Hmm, I’ll think about it.”
Soon, TJC’s business curriculum became my Plan B. With the encouragement of many TJC professors, I graduated two years later and went on to Stephen F. Austin earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business and finance. Our Tyler band broke up before I left TJC. For the next 15 years, I continued pursuing rock & roll while maintaining a Plan B day job working for an energy company. By the early 1980s, my wife Teresa and I had three kids and I was promoted into management at Texaco. Plan B became Plan A.
The new Plan A worked out well. I am president of Houston-based RBN Energy, which boasts over 20,000 clients. We are known for producing a daily blog on energy markets using a unique theme: rock & roll. I was finally able to stitch Plan A and Plan B together, and found that the energy world is made up of people who love music, especially rock & roll. Check out rbnenergy.com.
My advice is to have a Plan B. Pursue your dreams, but expect the unexpected. TJC helped me and can do the same for you. - Biography
- E. Russell (Rusty) Braziel is president and CEO of RBN Energy, a leading energy market consultancy and analytics company based in Houston, Texas, and is the author of The Domino Effect, bestseller book about energy markets. Braziel provides frequent analysis and commentary to national and international media outlets that include CNBC, Jim Cramer’s Mad Money, the Wall Street Journal, and Reuters. He spent 20 years with Texaco (Chevron), serving as vice president of Natural Gas Marketing and Trading and NGL Supply. Subsequently he was VP of Business Development for The Williams Companies and was a co-owner and senior executive at Bentek Energy, now part of S&P Global. Mr. Braziel holds an AA from Tyler Junior College and BBA/MBA degrees in Business and Finance from Stephen F. Austin State University. He was named SFA’s Distinguished Alumnus in 2014. Braziel resides in Lindale and is a member of the board of directors of Lillie Russell Memorial Library. Rusty and Teresa have three children and five grandchildren, all in Houston. The Tyler rock & roll band, Mystic Wind, recorded “For Love,” written by Dan Williams and Lynn Groom, at Robin Hood Studios in 1968. www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvP4m5maTsM.
