At 22 years old, Shane followed in his dad's footsteps and enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Unlike his father however, Shane enlisted as an Aviation Electrician's Mate. After basic training he was off to Jacksonville, FL. His first command was HSL-60 where they specialized in SH-60 Seahawk helicopters. In 2007 he deployed on board the USS DeWert. The next several months were spent in the Pacific Ocean in support of counter narcotics. Basically, they hunted down small boats that were running drugs from South America to the United States. While on deployment, Shane spent time exploring the foreign countries whenever the ship would pull into port for fuel and ship maintenance. This really gave Shane a look into how foreign cultures were very different from what he was used to in the US. It was in El Salvador where he learned the hard way that when people say not to drink the water in Central and South America, they mean that literally. Not that he deliberately drank the water, but after a few too many Cuba Libres he started to eat the ice. BIG MISTAKE. They pulled back out to sea the next morning and he had never been more sick in his life than he was for the next 4 days, all because of a few ice cubes. After deployment, his life took on some dramatic changes. He met a lovely woman, Khala, who would eventually become his wife. Technically, he met her before his deployment but their story didn’t really start until afterwards. In 2008, she gave birth to their first child, a boy that they named Luke. Having a child seemed like the perfect time for Shane to pick up a dangerous hobby, so he bought his first motorcycle. As crazy as that idea was, it proved to be a real blessing that we will get into in just a little bit. Fast-forward to 2010. Shane and Khala had their second child, a beautiful little girl named Adrianna. Almost immediately after Adrianna was born, the young family of 4 got stationed in New Orleans. I know what you’re thinking. “That sounds like an awesome place to live.” Wrong. New Orleans is a great place to visit, but it is a terrible place to live. It’s extremely humid, nobody knows how to drive, the roads are in terrible shape, and there are insects there that you could not imagine. Nevertheless, they made the best of it. Shane found some relief through photography, where he found that he was a natural with digital editing.

In 2013, they decided that the best option for their family was for Shane to end his naval career and for them to relocate back to where Shane grew up in Tennessee. This would be short-lived however. Shane got a job working in furniture sales where he excelled to the point where he was promoted within 6 months to be an assistant manager of a store in Sherman, Texas. They lived there for about a year before Shane realized that while he was good at his job, he did not want to spend his life working in furniture. It just so happened that they had some friends from Shane’s time in the Navy that owned a house in Jacksonville, Florida that they needed to rent out. So back to Jacksonville they went. Shane had no clue what he was going to do for work, but he knew he would figure something out. After a couple of months of applying to jobs, desperation started to kick in and he started training to work at a car dealership as a salesman. On the second day of his training, however, he got a phone call that would eventually change his life. It was the sales manager with the local Harley-Davidson dealership and they wanted him to come in immediately. Knowing that he couldn’t pass this opportunity up, he left in the middle of the training and rode his motorcycle right over to Adamec Harley-Davidson.

His new career started a whirlwind that would rapidly lead him to where he is today. He immersed himself in the motorcycle community and after about 2 years he took his first long distance trip on his Softail Slim. Shane and 2 of his co-workers left work on a Sunday at 5p.m. and headed towards his hometown in Tennessee to ride around the mountains. Shane filmed the entire trip on a GoPro Session that was given to him by his mother-in-law. They returned to Jacksonville 3 days later after a 1300 mile round trip and Shane quickly started going through his video footage. His mind was racing with ideas for editing a video together of their trip. He had zero experience with video editing, but he had always picked up similar skills rather quickly. He had a subscription to the Adobe Creative Cloud for the sole purpose of using Photoshop and Lightroom, so he had access to Premiere Pro. He opened up the program and was immediately confused and had no clue how to use any of the features, so he started looking into other video editing programs. He finally decided to use Wondershare Filmora and he put together a phenomenal video for a first-time editor that he shared on a new social media page that he started called Band of Idiots. It was good enough that the dealership he worked for shared the video on their own social media pages. In fact, they started asking Shane to film and edit other videos for the dealership. He knew that Wondershare Filmora was not going to cut it forever, so he sat down and took the time to learn how to use Premiere Pro. He also knew that the rapid success of the Band of Idiots page meant that he needed to put some more focus on that and that he needed to develop a logo. So he also needed to start learning how to use Adobe Illustrator. Much like the other Adobe programs, he was a natural with learning this one as well. After he had a logo designed, he was going through the videos he had edited up to that point and realized he needed some kind of intro clip that featured the new logo. Back to the learning board as he now needed to familiarize himself with Adobe After Effects. It was around this time that Adam Sandoval of Scootin’ America came through the dealership. You can read all about Adam and the phenomenal things that he has done for veterans here. But in short, Adam had been traveling all over the US on his motorcycle with his chihuahua, Scooter. He had been putting out videos on social media the whole time and had built a huge following. He noticed the Band of Idiots stickers that we had on several of our bikes and he loved it. He wanted to go out riding with us the next day and he filmed the ride for his channel. Naturally this gained more of a following for the Band of Idiots, but this was only the beginning of Adam and Shane’s friendship. Shane started sending the videos he edited over to Adam before he made them public to get some feedback. After the first one he sent, Adam spent 45 minutes on the phone with Shane giving him pointers based on the things he noticed that kept people engaged when he put his own videos out. He took the advice that Adam had given him and the videos he produced immediately improved. It didn’t take long for one of Adam’s sponsors, Epoch Eyewear, to take notice. The owner, Rebecca, reached out to Shane and she wanted to have some Band of Idiots sunglasses made. Together, they designed a pair and a few months later they were available on the Epoch Eyewear website. This started another friendship that led Shane to offering his help to Epoch Eyewear wherever they needed it. In addition to actively referring everyone he knows to Epoch Eyewear, he flew out to help work their booth at the American International Motorcycle Expo in Las Vegas.

Shane had an idea in his head for an apparel company that would specialize in apparel designed for active lifestyles. The idea was for the clothing to be tough enough for motorcyclists and outdoorsmen(women), but comfortable and stylish enough to be worn for a night out with friends. He would call it Stubborn Apparel Company. Up to this point, it was simply an idea. While he was in Vegas, however, he came in contact with several fabric suppliers and this really kickstarted everything for him. He immediately started working on a business plan and ordering samples of different materials that would be needed. Shane quickly learned that he would not have the reach or the resources that he would need to properly get the company off of the ground. Rebecca told Adam about what Shane was trying to do and Adam was immediately interested. He called Shane and after some talk, they partnered up. Adam would take care of the areas where Shane was lacking.

Remember that Shane had still been working as a salesman for Adamec Harley-Davidson up to this point. In light of everything that had happened over the past few years, Shane finally knew for the first time in his life what he wanted to do for a living. So he activated his G.I. Bill and enrolled in school studying Media Communications. He parted ways with Adamec Harley-Davidson and he and his family made one final move so that Shane could focus on school and starting Temple Creative, a graphic design and marketing company. Shane, Khala, Luke, and Adrianna currently reside in Johnson City, TN with their two German Shepherds, Miller and Sierra.