In this episode of Building Great Sales Teams, we are joined by Steve Schabacker. Steve is a marketing genius and tactical mastermind. We discuss marketing, slight politics and general business acumen. Enjoy!
Steve Schabacker is a seasoned entrepreneur and master strategist with experience spanning over a dozen startups across various industries. His road-tested knowledge and experience have kept his doors open and businesses in the black, even when the world delivered what could have been a crushing blow. Steve is committed to constantly growing, shifting, and learning to answer the question that propels him forward: What kind of success would I find if I never quit?
With expertise in cyber, electronic, and physical security, as well as security planning, Steve is an expert in many areas of security. He has authored a best-selling book for entrepreneurs and co-authored two best-selling books on cybersecurity. Steve is also the host of the top-rated Tactical Entrepreneur Podcast, where he shares insights and strategies to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses.
Steve is now focused on giving back by helping others succeed in business through his coaching programs at the Tactical Entrepreneur Academy. His online courses, group, and individual coaching provide entrepreneurs the help they need to excel in any industry.
Steve's current business holdings include Sheepdog Firearms Inc., a multi-location brick-and-mortar and online firearms retailer and training center, Valhalla Research, a custom firearms manufacturer specializing in built-to-order modern sporting rifles for all applications, We Secure Cybersecurity Inc., an MSP/MSSP focused on helping Physicians, Dentists, Lawyers, and Accountants secure and grow their business by leveraging technology, Naturalis Holdings, a supplement company in the human performance and pet spaces, and Far Behind Ventures, an investment firm focusing on the real estate and cryptocurrency spaces.
Steve's mission is to help entrepreneurs grow and protect their business without sacrificing their family, time, and marriage. To connect with Steve or learn more about his work, listeners can visit his podcast website at https://www.tacticalentrepreneurpodcast.com.
00:00:16:30 - 00:00:32:00
Speaker 1
Great experiences, build great leaders. Great leaders, build great teams. This is building great sales teams.
00:00:35:18 - 00:00:51:12
Speaker 2
Hi, guys. Welcome back to building great sales teams. We've got an explosive one for you guys today. I've got Steve Baker here in at the podcast. He's the CMO at Sheepdog Firearms, CEO of Hollow Research.
00:00:51:12 - 00:00:52:58
Speaker 3
And who who.
00:00:53:38 - 00:01:11:52
Speaker 2
Are who What at the Tactical Entrepreneur podcast, My friend Steve here has scaled multiple businesses from 0 to 8 figures in sales, and he just celebrated it back in January, his 20 year wedding anniversary. So congrats on that, brother.
00:01:12:49 - 00:01:17:09
Speaker 3
I thank you very much. There's actually a 25th 25.
00:01:17:56 - 00:01:21:45
Speaker 2
Oh, okay. I was looking it up on Facebook and I guess Facebook's wrong.
00:01:22:48 - 00:01:27:32
Speaker 3
Yeah, Facebook's probably the fifth the fifth anniversary of the 20th anniversary or you know how they do it.
00:01:27:32 - 00:01:37:31
Speaker 2
I got you. I got you, brother. No, that's awesome, man. So the first an obvious question I feel like is what is a I can't say it harder. What is that?
00:01:38:04 - 00:01:52:35
Speaker 3
I don't know where that came from, bro. I have no idea. That must. That must have been Siri. What? I was filling out your form or something because it sure wasn't me. If you figure it out, tell me. So I know it sounded that cool of like, Where is he going with this?
00:01:53:15 - 00:02:01:30
Speaker 2
It did. And then I looked it up and it was it was like a native old English word for thief. I was like.
00:02:02:06 - 00:02:05:47
Speaker 3
He was.
00:02:05:47 - 00:02:22:24
Speaker 2
Oh, that's hilarious. I guess. Yeah. Siri got it wrong on that one for sure. All right. Rather. Well, one of the things I love about you is your tagline on social media fact to nonverbal. Can you kind of walk us through what that means and and why you chose that to live by?
00:02:23:20 - 00:02:40:39
Speaker 3
Yeah, absolutely. So so I started using that fact. And then verb and in a nutshell means, you know, actions, not words. You know, in this in this day and age, we hear so many people about talk this game. Do this, do this, do this to this. And so many of them haven't even done they haven't walked it out, but they have no problems.
00:02:40:39 - 00:02:51:43
Speaker 3
Talk about it. So I love to say to people, well, you know what? Don't tell me about it. Show me about it. Show me what you're about. I'm going to learn way more from watching you than I will the words coming out of your mouth. Sadly, you know.
00:02:53:13 - 00:03:15:55
Speaker 2
Now, I couldn't agree more. And being in the space that you and I are in, where it's an in an intentional part of our business to build our social media, you know, and then we're in all these masterminds and there's different levels to them and everything. So we see we see a lot of that, right. And there will be a trend, you know, whether it be or values or whether it be Vas or whatever the case is.
00:03:15:55 - 00:03:35:42
Speaker 2
And then all of a sudden it becomes everybody's answer for everything. And a lot of people haven't even executed on these things, you know. And so it is it's it's it's it's hard for me to see that out of out of people sometimes it's like, well, tell me the story behind why you're convicted on that. You know, I mean, because usually that comes in that comes with the work that you did.
00:03:36:18 - 00:04:01:44
Speaker 3
Yeah. You know, it is for me, it's just like I think it just actually stemmed from a just a frustration in general. Fake people, you know, these days with this social media influencer thing and everybody, you know, being out there at just one day of what, you know, what are just so sick of just even hearing about this, you know, let's I just love the people that just just posts about things that are going on, you know, a lot like your stuff, man.
00:04:01:44 - 00:04:26:56
Speaker 3
You know, kind of walk them through your journey with you. So much respect for that compared to, you know, Woo, I did this, woo woo, I did that. Well, did you, you know, or is that just a picture? You know? I mean, to me it's like, what did you, you know, or did somebody do it for you? Or you just, you know, so like for me, I think it just I started using just just more as like a a frustration, even just to remind myself to try to keep myself in check and saying, hey, you know what?
00:04:27:45 - 00:04:44:02
Speaker 3
If you're talking about it, you better have already walked it and not vice versa. You know, I know we're the generation of you hear so many people say the fake it to you making stuff. Well, I don't know. I'm kind of averse to that. I just I'm just I'm more like, just keep quiet until you figure it out.
00:04:44:02 - 00:04:59:25
Speaker 3
Then when you figure it out, please share it with everybody. But, you know, don't don't act like you got it all together when you don't in any aspect of your life, you know, whether it be people talking about their relationships, don't know that one. Nobody has it all together, you know? I know. But but I mean, like, I haven't seen one yet.
00:04:59:58 - 00:05:14:56
Speaker 3
You know, I've seen some people that I've known actually, you know, be on the on Facebook talking about how great their wife are. And then as as they're coming out of a hotel with some of the check, you know, like really, really you know, just just stuff like that in general. You see it business. You see it personal.
00:05:15:43 - 00:05:28:10
Speaker 3
For me, just adapting the site to nonverbal was just just more of just a frustration and kind of like a battle cry for everybody to say, you know what, let's stop talking about it. Let's start doing it. Let's show people some action.
00:05:28:10 - 00:05:46:26
Speaker 2
I love that. Absolutely. And I couldn't agree more. And one of the things I like that you said is, you know, you kind of it's it's also a reminder for yourself. Right. And so I was at Easter past weekend and we were at my wife's family's little ranch that they have. And they all come together every Easter to the ranch.
00:05:46:26 - 00:06:04:28
Speaker 2
And one of the cousins asked me like, Hey, how come you're always posting about integrity? And what I told them was, is like, that's more for me than it is for you or for anybody looking at that because it's constant. If I'm posting about that, then I have to be accountable to that constantly. And it's just me holding myself accountable.
00:06:04:46 - 00:06:07:21
Speaker 2
A lot of times when I post on social media, it's me talking to myself.
00:06:08:36 - 00:06:26:25
Speaker 3
Yeah, I feel you there. I do the same thing. Just sometimes we need the reminder as much as anybody else. And it's funny how you'll get kind of two different sections of people. One section will be like, Yeah, I needed to hear that. Thank you. Well, sorry it wasn't really for you, but if you, if you, if you've got value from it, that's great too.
00:06:26:42 - 00:06:45:36
Speaker 3
But then on the other hand you'll, you'll get people that'll be just. So how can you even talk about that. That's, you know, that's not even true. That's. Yeah, you just, just, you just don't know. It's like, okay, well you're triggered much, I guess. You know something? There's something a little bit about something I've said to the case, you know, isn't it?
00:06:45:36 - 00:07:03:07
Speaker 3
You see sometimes what people get the most bent out of shape, You know, they're usually fighting with that particular thing, you know. Well, you know, when you when you make a post about lifting your sales team up and gathered together, the people that are getting the most mad about it are probably ones that haven't taken the time to do that.
00:07:03:16 - 00:07:05:34
Speaker 3
And they know that. So that's why they're reacting to it.
00:07:06:19 - 00:07:25:42
Speaker 2
Yeah, and you can take any statement or situation or whatever the case is and, and make a case for one way or the other. You know, and that's why I love, you know, the documentation strategy with social media. You're just documenting your journey, what's happening with you in that particular moment. And there is a million variables going on, you know what I mean?
00:07:25:42 - 00:07:40:17
Speaker 2
So I don't think anybody ever has the appeal answer, but it's more like, Hey, this is what I experienced. This is the, you know, maybe the few variables I have going on. And if you can learn from it, great. If not, then, you know, keep scrolling like everybody else. You know what I mean?
00:07:41:33 - 00:07:43:10
Speaker 3
All right. That was without a doubt.
00:07:44:04 - 00:08:02:40
Speaker 2
So when I first met you, I was like, okay, Steve's the gun guy. You know what I mean? He's the First Amendment guy. He's the the gun shop owner. You know what I mean? And then as I started talking to you and getting to know you a little more, and then we had a few marketing conversations, I was like, No, Steve's the marketing guy.
00:08:02:40 - 00:08:12:21
Speaker 2
I'm saying like, this dude is a bit of a marketing guru, I guess you could say. So when it comes to marketing, where did those skills come from?
00:08:13:51 - 00:08:44:06
Speaker 3
You know, that's just what I've always loved. It's been self-taught forever, you know, at times I did a great job at advertising, allows you to learn some lessons, but it's just been kind of been my passion forever. It's really interesting because now I really have had the view for many years that it doesn't matter what we're selling, we're all in the business of marketing, we're all in the business of getting our wares or our services communicated across any desirable way so that people want to do business with us, you know?
00:08:44:06 - 00:09:03:01
Speaker 3
And then when you add in the end and the sales aspect of it, it really, really creates the full circle. And just in just talks about that whole relationship with the customer. So I really love the beginning of it myself and just getting those customers interested and getting them to know our products and having those interactions and seeing things snowball and grow.
00:09:03:39 - 00:09:19:24
Speaker 3
And then and then I do like the sales side of it too. That's one of the parts that I loved about when we first started. The first gun shop was just going in, going into the store and having those conversations and figuring that out. See, the one thing that drew us to a lot of the industries that I've started companies in is they're all industries that are averse to change.
00:09:20:06 - 00:09:42:03
Speaker 3
I love disrupting things and creating a ruckus, and the gun industry was one that really needed it. You know, you'd go into most gun shops and they're all the same. You know, you've got a lot of glass cases and two grumpy guys behind the counter. And if you don't if it's true, if you don't speak to me, you have about 5 minutes before they're going to get to say something rude to you or just tell you to get out.
00:09:42:27 - 00:10:08:22
Speaker 3
And there's so many new people coming into that, you know, into a love for the Second Amendment, you know, whether it's like in Chicago and it's really buy need to be able to defend yourself in some other areas, it's hunting or sporting or a combination of all those things or just being prepared for in the event that we end up falling back to the days of George Washington and every tyrannical government, whatever the case is, people are all brought together by it and we're finding less and less.
00:10:08:22 - 00:10:29:42
Speaker 3
It doesn't matter anymore. Political affiliations. It seems like the Second Amendment is something that people are definitely rallying behind. So I just loved being able to start those conversations with people and be different to try to figure out what we have to do as a gun shop to do all the things that that none of the other ones were doing, like the gun industry.
00:10:29:42 - 00:10:47:58
Speaker 3
It's crazy, especially at the shop level. Is is so technology adverse? I mean, you can literally go into shops today and there's not hardly a computer in the place. Maybe they have one for running backgrounds. Well, they still do the forms on paper. You know, they don't have anything for special ordering. They're calling people up to see, hey, you got this in stock.
00:10:47:58 - 00:11:06:12
Speaker 3
You know, where they're not embracing any of the tech. And customers are seeing this. And like the even like the one thing we saw really widespread was the one thing I think that helped us grow the most was realizing that we have to talk to these customers how they want to talk to us. You know, you'll have some old school that wants to pick up the phone and call you.
00:11:06:13 - 00:11:25:13
Speaker 3
Fine. You got to answer the phone, have some people want to email you, but more and more are we. We found that when we embraced talking to people through messenger and through text, which is how they wanted to communicate one, they were shocked that we did it in and too that just made them customers. So I think you understand us.
00:11:25:13 - 00:11:43:58
Speaker 3
You get us in. Really. It was just kind of common sense of, okay, well, you want to talk to me through Messenger? And then I answered you. And then. And then you spent like the next 15 minutes thanking me and couldn't believe that I actually answered. Well, after the first few people did that, then I thought, okay, okay, this is just something no one just now is doing.
00:11:43:58 - 00:12:03:14
Speaker 3
So listening to the customer and really just letting them pick what they want and then finding the gap in between, you know, what's going on with these other companies in the industry and how can I do things better and different. So that's really what draws me to the whole marketing side of it, is just, you know, to do that is one thing, but to communicate that you're doing that, it's drawing new people.
00:12:03:14 - 00:12:06:46
Speaker 3
It is is entirely another. So I love bringing the two sides together.
00:12:07:55 - 00:12:31:01
Speaker 2
I think that rolls right into my next question, which is, you know, what are a lot of business owners doing wrong right now when it comes to their marketing? And it sounds like when you talk about the beginning of the customer journey on the front end, it's not properly qualifying that customer or giving them those options, like you just said, of different forms of communication, whether it be email, phone, social media, text, whatever the case is.
00:12:31:30 - 00:12:51:34
Speaker 2
And when you establish that that early on, I think that's huge because I do a training on buying the way or selling the way customers want to buy, and it's one of my favorite trainings to do and people love it. And it's because in the initial part of the conversation you are immediately customizing your intro and you're qualified to that customer.
00:12:52:10 - 00:13:16:57
Speaker 2
You know what I'm saying? Based on their tonality, their mannerisms, their stature and their handshake. So if it's in-person or if it's over Zoom or if it's over the phone, it doesn't really matter. You can identify a few key things that determine how you should talk to that person. You know what I'm saying? And so I think communication is so important.
00:13:16:57 - 00:13:37:48
Speaker 2
And then by starting it the right way on the front end of the customer journey, that makes the sales piece so much easier because they're already sold by you. You know what I mean? They're sold. They're sold about you, I should say, about your company, like the Oh, this is a company I want to work with. And if it's $10 more of is 20 bucks more does really matter?
00:13:37:48 - 00:13:53:58
Speaker 2
Because I like the experience that I'm having and I think that's that's massive on the front end. What are some other things that you see businesses doing right now in terms of legion that they're either missing the boat or they need to be doing more of this?
00:13:53:58 - 00:14:12:43
Speaker 3
Well, I think the one thing that people are really missing the boat on is just the first of all, just not being different. You know, we see so many new entrepreneurs just saying, well, all right, well, there's there's this this place in this place that does exactly what I want to do. I'm going to open up a store and do the exact same thing.
00:14:13:03 - 00:14:29:43
Speaker 3
Well, at that point, you're just a commodity that the only thing you have left to really to compete on is price. And then it's just going to be a race to the bottom and see who wants to go out of business first. I think the first thing that people really need to do in that aspect is take a look at the the marketplace in general and look at the unserved needs of the customer.
00:14:29:43 - 00:14:57:12
Speaker 3
You know, listen to the customer, you know, okay, what do they need? Is it okay you want to get into the restaurant business? Is is it somebody not doing delivery in your area? Is there a particular type of food that's not well represented? Is, you know what? What's not what's not great is the in service for, you know, dining in that greater you know, find a niche, find something and identify that before you spend your first dollar and nine times out of ten you're going to be more successful.
00:14:57:45 - 00:15:20:20
Speaker 3
You know it's so many of those things that people just don't think through. And that extends over definitely to the marketing thing, the marketing side of it, you know, really that coming up with a comprehensive plan, I think if I could give 111 piece of advice to any explorer out there saying, Hey, what can I do better marketing wise, I would tell you, make up a plan and work it, you know, plan out your month.
00:15:20:34 - 00:15:38:34
Speaker 3
You know, how many times are you going to be able to post to social media? Can you come up with your stuff ahead of time and schedule it out? That's fine too. You know, make sure you allow some time to answer and engage with those customers on those posts, too. But the key is, is to set some type of sighted plan for it and then actually execute that plan.
00:15:38:51 - 00:15:56:40
Speaker 3
But then add the next step of it is to go back and look at the data. Okay, What kind of posted my customers that I watched resonate with? What time did they not? Is it a next? Do they need a little bit of both? Like a lot of times people will either go too far off one side or too far off the other.
00:15:56:42 - 00:16:21:27
Speaker 3
Like, for example, a lot of the social media accounts for the business that I try to do. It really balanced. So I'll throw some memes out there and some funny stuff to get people engaged. I'll throw some questions out there to try to get really just to get engagement, to get people. Let's get real opinionated, real opinionated questions, you know, like I'll post something like, Hey, you know, Glock is better than any 1911 ever made.
00:16:21:41 - 00:16:48:10
Speaker 3
And then I just sit back and grab some popcorn and watch that post just take off. Because the fans argue or a lot of fans argue. And that just kind of goes back and forth. So any of those sorts of things. But then also then coming in, you know, one, one, one out of every five, one out of every six posts and posted a little something about one of our services or a new class or, you know, some new gun that came out or something and really try to mix it up in the way that they're not they're not getting the same thing.
00:16:48:10 - 00:17:05:11
Speaker 3
But at the same time, they know what to expect. They know, hey, there's going to be some funny stuff. There's going to be some some stuff we can argue about, and then there's going to be some some posts that are educational and project or new products or a sales ad. We throw that up, up once a week and that gets, you know, a lot of great reach.
00:17:05:11 - 00:17:12:00
Speaker 3
But they know what to expect because we made a plan and we worked it. And, you know, we just worked fine by the seat of our pants.
00:17:13:01 - 00:17:31:39
Speaker 2
You know, I love it. I mean, it's it's so true. And, you know, we work with some of the greats that do that, you know, like Jeremy Wilson and and his means, like, if you're not, you're not following Drew, We go follow him because you'll get a nice cadence there. It's like business like you, just like you just sit like every six posts or so.
00:17:31:39 - 00:17:52:06
Speaker 2
It's a little business. But then the second one is the family. The third one is a crazy meme and the fourth one is about is fitness journey, you know, So you get documentation, you get entertainment, you know what I mean? You get a little bit of business advice, you know? And so it always rotates so well. And it's by design, right?
00:17:52:13 - 00:18:12:16
Speaker 2
I know this dude spends like three or 4 hours on a Sunday playing out his whole week. You know what I mean? And whenever you're doing this, like you said by design, they're going to be a lot more effective when it comes to that. So what is your forecast? You know, we're going to pivot here a little bit because I this is just my curiosity now.
00:18:12:16 - 00:18:31:48
Speaker 2
What's your kind of forecast for the state of gun ownership in the US? You know, I get the NRA mailers and stuff like that, like, you know, gun ownership has been being attacked for the past ten years, according to the NRA. And, you know, the sky is falling. And if I don't join or if I don't re-up or whatever the case is, we're not going to beat them.
00:18:31:55 - 00:18:36:21
Speaker 2
You know, I'm saying. So I don't think it's quite that bad. But can you fill us in on that a little bit?
00:18:38:06 - 00:18:55:30
Speaker 3
Yeah. You know, as dramatic as that sounds, sounds, you know, realistically, in the last the last ten years ago, they were kind of eroding away at our rights. You know, I don't believe in the doom and gloom thing. I believe it's all cyclic. You know, it's like anything else, like politics or like, even like a lot of stuff in business.
00:18:55:30 - 00:19:17:29
Speaker 3
What we're seeing, what we're seeing now is so the this if you have your did you hear about the Supreme Court decision to do with concealed carry in New York or the other term, you might hear it's called the Bruin case or the Bruin decision. Well, that was that went all the way to the Supreme Court. And basically, in a nutshell, New York had this law against concealed carry.
00:19:17:29 - 00:19:40:46
Speaker 3
That said, here we have concealed carry because they say they'd have to. But it's but we are it may may if you state meaning that if you qualify you can plead your case for it. And if we think you deserve it, we may issue it. Well, once took long story short, that ended up into New York only issuing somewhere around six or 700 concealed carry permits out of millions of applications.
00:19:41:07 - 00:20:06:09
Speaker 3
So it sounds kind of wrong. Right. So it ended up going all the way to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court overturned that, said, no, that you can't do that. You have to if people should have the right and the right to bear arms extends out of their home into their public to defend themselves, which was key. But then it went on to explain some more key things, one, one of which was about how they could they could determine whether or not something could be banned.
00:20:06:09 - 00:20:24:34
Speaker 3
Right. For example, we'll take take what they call the modern semiautomatic rifle or I would call it a modern sporting rifle, but they call it assault rifles because it sounds scarier, you know, So take the assault rifle, for example. They said, well, if you're going to ban something, it has to be two tests, not just one. It has to be both of these or it's uncuffed, too.
00:20:24:34 - 00:20:42:55
Speaker 3
So the ban. Well, what is is that it has to be exceptionally dangerous. It has to be like cutting edge, more dangerous, super dangerous than anything else out there. Mm hmm. Yeah, some some some moderate sporting rifles. You know, they're. They're made to kill things. They're made to help with and do all kinds of other things and defend ourselves against tyranny.
00:20:43:10 - 00:21:10:30
Speaker 3
Well, okay, One one could we could possibly lose that argument. Well, the second one is they have to be uncovered. So there's millions and millions and millions and millions of semiautomatics, modern sporting rifles out there in the United States. So they are far from uncommon. So therefore, that particular ban, you know, fails the test. Same thing can be said about, you know, regular capacity magazines that hold 20 or 30 rounds and lots of other things.
00:21:10:30 - 00:21:43:46
Speaker 3
Well, because of the because most of the most the laws on the books like California's bans and a lot of those other bills were all before Bruin, and that wasn't factored in. So I think what we're going to see over the next couple of years is a lot of these bands that have been around for a little while being challenged and being overturned in Illinois really started out the started out kind of the whole thing of it with they enacted the worst semiautomatic rifle ban in the country, way worse than California's.
00:21:43:46 - 00:22:03:09
Speaker 3
It was it was probably all of about two or three models were all that I could find of of semiautomatic rifles that were that were legal because of how they broke the law. And the problem the problem with that is that there's so many millions of those guns out there and a lot of that a lot of the guns are specifically only used for sporting purposes.
00:22:03:09 - 00:22:22:19
Speaker 3
So they're really extended. But really, it's just to me, my opinion on that. That's J.B. Pritzker trying to make a name for himself before he tries to make a presidential run. But we'll see what happens with that. You know, hey, he'll bring the he'll bring the great the great communist agenda from that he did for Illinois. He'll do it for the country.
00:22:22:19 - 00:22:42:27
Speaker 3
That'll be what he runs on. But but anyway, I think I think we're going to see some tough times for the next year or two when it comes to gun rights and stuff being eroded. But once these cases start to progress and some get to the Supreme Court, there's going to be a lot of stuff overturned and then it's going to completely the pendulum is going to fall back, pull back the other direction.
00:22:42:45 - 00:23:01:31
Speaker 3
The other thing we're obviously seeing, too, is if you've heard about the ATF trying to ban pistol races and try to ban some triggers and whatnot just by their interpret of the law, I think we're going to see the Supreme Court shut the ATF down on a very severe note, too, based on some comments. Some of the justices have made.
00:23:01:31 - 00:23:26:56
Speaker 3
So I think the next year or so is going to be tough for the gun industry in general and people. But I think after that, it's going to open up. And I think the momentum it's going to gain by people realizing that, hey, they're trying to take these things away from us, they actually are. You know, the problem is you've had the NRA and some other some other groups crying wolf for a really long time when things weren't as bad as they are now.
00:23:27:18 - 00:23:49:04
Speaker 3
So people are getting kind of immune to it. But now I think people are starting to wake up and realize that, hey, you know what, post-COVID, they're realizing, hey, especially here in Chicago, you know, crime's at an all time high. It's mayhem on the streets. A lot of times there's carjackings in the middle of the day that even if you don't go into the bad neighborhoods, you know, people are getting robbed at gunpoint, getting gas.
00:23:49:19 - 00:24:11:52
Speaker 3
It's it's become kind of a the only thing we don't have here is a purge siren. That's the only thing that's missing. So it's getting rough. And people of all of all types are realizing, hey, I need to be able to defend myself. I am responsible for my family. And, you know, the police are great, but they're they're not they're not going to be here for five, seven, ten, 12 minutes, sometimes longer.
00:24:12:09 - 00:24:31:17
Speaker 3
A lot can happen in 5 minutes, you know, especially when there's firearms involved, when the bad guys got a gun. If you don't have one, you don't have any any hope. But then just do the other more stuff and hope I hope he doesn't shoot you, because the problem we're seeing now, too, is it used to be just robbery, you know, and they would just take your stuff and they'd go.
00:24:31:17 - 00:24:47:20
Speaker 3
Now it's they're getting cocky and shooting at people as they walk away or as they take your car and shoe that you or whatever. So it's kind of like remember remember before 911 when you did hear about hijackings and it was really no big deal. You know, you hear, okay, well, hey, they took over a plane. It landed.
00:24:47:33 - 00:25:16:28
Speaker 3
All right. Well, they'll sit on the tarmac for a couple hours. They'll either negotiate or send in Delta Force and go take the plane back over and everybody will be fine. And so as a passenger, you never really got worried about it. I mean, you worried about it, but not like now. Now, though, if you see any any sense of any hijacking going on, what's every passenger already or any body man going to do on that plane is, you know, we're we're if you're going to take us all down with the you know, we're not going to just let you take this place anymore.
00:25:16:40 - 00:25:37:33
Speaker 3
So it's I to see that whole mentality changing when it comes to just protecting one's family, you know, both protecting and then also for medical care, too. We see a lot of people we do a lot of classes on stop the bleeding, those sorts of things to teach people just a little bit of trauma, medical care. If something were to happen to a family member enough to get them to the hospital yourself or you have to sort of a thing.
00:25:37:33 - 00:25:46:24
Speaker 3
So I'm seeing personal responsibility taken from people, which has been a great thing. But there's been a whole lot of changes since COVID, you know, just really interesting times.
00:25:47:20 - 00:26:09:32
Speaker 2
Yeah, absolutely. And no, I appreciate the detailed explanation of that, too. I mean, it's it's good to hear that there is an end in sight, though, even though it's going to be a little rough for the next couple of years. But like you said, that pin the pendulum is swinging the other way, which is, you know, massive. I think there's a lot of correlation between entrepreneurship and gun rights.
00:26:09:32 - 00:26:32:33
Speaker 2
It's just one of those things. It's like if I have a choice between my livelihood or my safety being subject to myself or subject to the government, I think I'm gonna take myself every single time, you know what I'm saying? But like you said, we have to do that responsibly. Educate ourselves. And so I think he can be more right in the fact that, like I, you know, we all do it in our own way.
00:26:32:33 - 00:26:51:03
Speaker 2
You know, for me, it's raising chickens in my backyard and that's just beginning, right? We want to have a full on hobby farm someday that we can self-sustaining, you know, with solar and backup generators and everything else. And so we all have our own versions of that, you know, But gun ownership is definitely part of that, that formula.
00:26:51:03 - 00:27:01:53
Speaker 2
So I'm glad to hear that, you know, that it will swing the other way eventually and some of those and then that's where it really matters. Race, the Supreme Court and that's where it's happening right now.
00:27:01:53 - 00:27:25:44
Speaker 3
So, yeah, that's for sure. You know, the the one thing the one thing people have to realize, though, whether you're talking gun ownership or, you know, freedom of speech or anything, we're really just a generation away from, you know, from things going away. If we don't exercise these rights, if we don't exercise the rights we have of all types, and they're going to go away, they're going to be taken from us or forgotten or a combination of both.
00:27:26:04 - 00:27:44:18
Speaker 3
So that's why I always tell folks it's so important. You know, even if you don't, even if you don't need something, you know, whether it's guns or anything else, even if you don't need it, it's your right. Exercise it once in a while. Make sure that the next generation knows that this is this is a right. So things can't be twisted.
00:27:44:18 - 00:28:03:48
Speaker 3
I mean, you get like guns, for example. You know, you'll get people saying, well, why do you need these guns? Right? Do you really think the Constitution was written about hunting? Do you seriously think about it? Let's take a step back in time, what these guys were dealing with when they wrote this constitution? No, they were trying to write things in there to protect us from tyranny.
00:28:04:04 - 00:28:24:18
Speaker 3
You know, plain and simple. It's not it's not a discussion people want to have, you know, or even like the Joe Biden's famous quote of, you know, if you guys think that you're going to stand up against the government, you're going to need F-15s and nukes. If you're going to stand up against us, you know, you're like you're not going to be able to do it with any kind of, you know, handgun or rifle.
00:28:24:18 - 00:28:35:36
Speaker 3
Well, yeah, that was that was a one heck of a wake up call just with that statement, just that, you know, someone of the government would even think that way. But, you know, we have to exercise those rights or we're going to lose them.
00:28:36:40 - 00:28:41:45
Speaker 2
100%. Man, that was my blood. I didn't I hadn't heard that. Yeah, that's crazy.
00:28:42:36 - 00:28:59:38
Speaker 3
Oh, yeah, Yeah. Google that. What is great is they got them on video, things like, you know, you can't can't believe that, you know, cause somebody basically said to the statement to a but hey you know what's this these guns are for trade these guns are for keeping the government honest. These guns are for, you know, whatever. Oh, you think that you think they're going to do that?
00:28:59:38 - 00:29:02:45
Speaker 3
No, You need you need nukes and nukes and jet aircraft, you know.
00:29:03:46 - 00:29:35:13
Speaker 2
Well, and how massive was that and how much did it tell you that our founding fathers were like, hey, we could be the tyranny someday, so let's take, you know, our features, for instance, from us. You know, if we get too in our heads and too about ourselves, you know what I'm saying? And that's that's the thing when you're when you're starting something from something that's broken, you know, you do have to take a step back and say, Hey, how could I fuck this up to, you know, saying an and put in put in things to prevent that in the future.
00:29:35:13 - 00:29:51:30
Speaker 2
So no, I definitely appreciate that. Okay. So last question, our last couple of questions and ask us to all my podcast guests and it is what is legacy mean to you and what legacy do you want to leave behind?
00:29:51:30 - 00:30:03:32
Speaker 3
So for me, that's a great question. You know, for me, I it's funny, the older I get, the more I think about that. You know, you could ask me 20 years ago and I would have to say, you know, I really didn't think about it. I really didn't mind. It wasn't even it was just living living day to day.
00:30:03:32 - 00:30:31:55
Speaker 3
But now, now for me, legacy means is just just you know, what will what will be said of me when I'm gone? What will I leave behind? What did I change for the better? You know, both. Both within my family and outside my family. You know, of course, part of it is is man, if I if I knew the things I knew now at 49 when I was in my twenties, you know, I want to try to download as much of this information as I can with my with my to my kids nephews, nieces, you know, everybody I can.
00:30:31:55 - 00:30:54:16
Speaker 3
But for me, legacy is just leaving something behind that's going to outlast me. You know? And the interesting thing is, as entrepreneurs, we have a very unique opportunity. We have an opportunity to build something and leave something that will be around still or could put could potentially be making a difference in the world long after we're dust again.
00:30:54:37 - 00:31:21:23
Speaker 3
You know, So I think it's a huge responsibility, like, say, especially those of us in entrepreneurship, to try to make the best the make the best of that opportunity, make the best of of that legacy. For me, personally, you know, everybody is different, but for me, it's not necessarily accumulating things or stacking cash. It's trying to make a trade to make a positive difference in my community, you know, in the people around me.
00:31:21:23 - 00:31:26:25
Speaker 3
But that and also also my family, you know, just to leave something better than I found it, you know?
00:31:27:18 - 00:31:44:31
Speaker 2
Absolutely, brother. And I know I know you're doing that through your business and through your podcast and through being a guest on this podcast. You know, whether it's talking about the things that business owners need to get right in their marketing or, you know, gun ownership in general. We appreciate you coming on.
00:31:45:43 - 00:31:49:51
Speaker 3
Thanks, man. Thanks for having me. I enjoyed it a lot. And it was going to be new is going to be a lot of fun.
00:31:50:24 - 00:31:53:00
Speaker 2
Absolutely. I appreciate you, Steve. Let's get building.
00:31:59:58 - 00:32:24:12
Speaker 1
Thank you for joining us on this episode of the Building Gray Sales Teams podcast. We really do appreciate it. As you know, we believe that great leaders build great teams. How do you become a great leader? You learn from the greats. Join us at the Million Dollar Mastermind put on by Ryan Stillman in Frisco, Texas. And learn everything that you need to learn to be that great leader.
00:32:24:12 - 00:32:44:33
Speaker 1
The link will be in the description below. As always, we ask that you like, share and subscribe wherever you consume podcasts so you can stay up to date with the Build and Great Sales Teams podcast. Let's get building.