The Independent Landman Handbook

The Broken System – Time to Burn it Down

The other day when I was contemplating the idea of a broken system I had the random thought that…the system works for the prior generation. They set it up. We’re just stuck with it. When you can’t even speak honestly amongst your friends, or let them know who you’re meeting with, we have a fucking […]

The Broken System – Time to Burn it Down Read More »

How to Find Your Voice in a Broken System

Make sure you check out some of our most recent posts below to catch up on the new direction we’re headed: Finding Your Voice It’s taken me well over a decade to find my voice here. A majority of that time I was voicing my dissent under the veil of secrecy. Screaming into the void,

How to Find Your Voice in a Broken System Read More »

The Circle of Landman Life – How Landmen Are Made

This is a story about how landmen are made. Back when I was in college/just out of college, we watched True Blood on HBO. It came on after Entourage. I guess vampires and werewolves were all the rage back then. Anyways, sometime in the first or second season there was a scene where a new

The Circle of Landman Life – How Landmen Are Made Read More »

The Value of a Professional Image

Everybody’s Doing It When the Shale Boom started, most landmen were required to join AAPL so brokers could say “all our contractors adhere to the ethical standards set forth by AAPL.” It was a marketing gimick. Then we were all required to have our own LLCs. That was a liability gimick. We’re still doing those

The Value of a Professional Image Read More »

Developing Curiosity – Thinking Like a Landman Can Change Your Life

One of the most important aspects of being a landman (an actual landman, not one of the cold callers for a mineral buying company that just calls themselves a landman) is our problem-solving approach. The analytical way in which a landman learns to gather information is similar to the now-defunct profession of investigative journalism. When

Developing Curiosity – Thinking Like a Landman Can Change Your Life Read More »

Scratching the Surface – Working as a Surface Landman

In the pie chart of different landmen, most of the pie is taken up by field landmen. The guys out there buying leases, building runsheets, and generally keeping things moving have always been the greatest proportion of landmen. Next up you’ve got your in house landmen. They think they’re “the only landmen” a lot of

Scratching the Surface – Working as a Surface Landman Read More »

On the Road to Becoming an Independent Landman

It’s not all Shiner Bocks and rosé all day Being an independent landman is a lot of hard work. Not only are you trying to focus on projects for the clients you have at the moment, but you are also trying to continue developing new clients to keep that work steady. Balancing between the two

On the Road to Becoming an Independent Landman Read More »

flashlight, blackout, power failure-7481941.jpg

The Challenges of Becoming an Independent Landman

Your Main Challenges: Becoming an independent landman is an exciting career choice, but it also brings with it a unique set of challenges. Here are five of the biggest hurdles you’ll need to tackle as you establish your own business. 1. Breaking Out on Your Own Breaking out on your own can be a tough

The Challenges of Becoming an Independent Landman Read More »

“You’re a businessman first and a Landman second.”

Time: Summer of 2014 Location: the offices of an undisclosed E&P, somewhere in Oklahoma City During my last internship in college, oil was over $100 a barrel (which didn’t last very long, you can read more about the crash here) and I remember hearing those words as I was sitting in my mentors office at

“You’re a businessman first and a Landman second.” Read More »

Scroll to Top