Think Different, Be A Pioneer - The Bravo Audio Show Podcast

Pioneers usually take in the arrows. That's OK though because blazing a new trail is one of the best ways to get somewhere no one has ever been. It's easy to follow conventional wisdom. But when what you are doing isn't conventional and it's working, that's when you know you've got something special.

Transcript:
You're gonna be ridiculed. And so people are gonna laugh at you and say, "This guy's crazy, he's bonkers, he's out of his mind. Why is he doing that?" The way to get there is to go out there and blaze the trail sometimes. Pioneers take in all the arrows.
 
Thank you for joining The Bravo Show. My name is Rene Aguirre. I'm the owner of Bravo Concealment. Guys, thank you. It means the world to me. You guys have spent some time with me here at The Bravo Audio Show podcast. Today, I'm gonna talk about being a pioneer or things that may work for you, may not work for somebody else. I know they are kind of like two separate things, but you're gonna see they're gonna tie together very well.
 
You know, a lot of times, we look at conventional wisdom, and we think, you know, if that works for everyone, it's gonna work for me, but that's not the case all the time. It's the case sometimes, and I'm not dismissing conventional wisdom because there's a lot of stuff out there that's just…you know, it's just so binary. It's like it works or it doesn't. But there's a lot of stuff out there that you don't know if it works, or if it doesn't for you unless you go out there and try it out. I've said before on the podcast, I say it, I say, "Guys, go and try it out. If it works, great, if it doesn't, then drop it and go do something else. But don't go through life thinking that everybody does it this way, so this is the way I'm supposed to do it."
 
When I say pioneer, that's what I'm talking about. You have to be a pioneer in the way you do things, and you're going to fail, and it's okay. I've also said it before. You guys that have been listening to the podcast, I also talk about failure, and I talk about how it's a very important process in success. So, what may work for somebody else, what may work for John Doe, it may not work for you, or vice versa. But you got to go out there and try it, guys. You have to. Pioneers take in all the arrows, they do. You know, historically, and figuratively, they do. They take in all the arrows. They're gonna get hurt. They may even get killed, men. You know, you may even get killed and scalped. Look, but listen, it's just the way it is. If you wanna take it to the next level, certain areas would have never been discovered if it wasn't for pioneers. You're gonna be ridiculed, and so people are going to laugh at you and say, "This guy is crazy, he's bonkers, he's out of his mind, why is he doing that?"
 
But listen, guys, I'm telling you, the way to get there is to go out there and blaze the trail sometimes. Now again, it may not work and it's okay. So, what do you do? You know, you stop, and you come back, and then you do something else. We had a meeting with a marketing company, and they told us, "You don't wanna be sending more than, you know, three, four emails a month because you're gonna spam people." Guys, there's no such thing as spamming anymore on emails. You know why? Because of Gmail. Gmail, it takes all your emails, it puts them all in one place, and you're not spammed anymore, but guess what? When you're looking for that sale, let's say you wanna go out there and, you know, you want some new Nikes or something, you go out there, you check out your emails, they're all saved in one area, and you just search for Nike and then you're gonna get the best deal that's going on right now at Nike. 
 
Now, an email that was sent out two months ago, it's not gonna do anything for you. But an email that was just sent out yesterday or today, you're gonna find a coupon code on there. You're gonna go and you're gonna buy your Nikes, and you're going to get a good deal. Email is part of marketing, guys. There's ads on email, on Gmail, guys. So don't sit there and tell me that, "You know, I don't wanna spam my customers." Guys, everybody is doing it already, and it's not spamming. You're just putting your content out there. You're trying to create attention. That's all you're doing. But we did it when people were telling us not to do it, and it worked for us. It does. That's what I'm talking about. 
 
And not only that, look at this, we're making a podcast. We sell gun holsters, and we're making a podcast. We're doing a podcast, guys. And I don't even have any guests. It's just me and I talk about what I think, and it's been working great. You guys have been killing it. I've said it before. I'll continue to say it again. Give honor when honor is due. I'm honoring you guys for making this podcast such an awesome podcast. Thank you very much. So guys, go out there and try it. If it works, great, if it doesn't, what do you have to lose? You've got nothing to lose. Now, make sure that it doesn't hurt your branding, so don't go out there and do something crazy that's gonna hurt your branding. Guys, even pioneers had a plan. They didn't just go out there blindly, right?
 
We understand they have plans. You have to have a certain plan. You have to know the risks involved. You need to know all that, but don't be afraid to go out there and blaze a new trail. You know, I've also talked about how you don't have to be the first in selling a product. You don't have to be the first. As a matter of fact, you're probably better off being the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh, you really are. Facebook wasn't the first. There was Friendster, there was Myspace. Guys, you don't always have to be the first. But be the first in maybe the way you sell your product. That will help you immensely. So be a pioneer in that. Be a pioneer in marketing. Go out there and do something like that. Go out there and do something that nobody else is doing. And who knows? You may find a niche that's perfect for what you're selling. 
 
Again, it may not work for somebody else, or what somebody else does may not work for you. You need to understand the market. And that's probably one of the most important things. You need to understand the market. If the market doesn't like that, then you need to back off. I was on Instagram and I saw a post that said…and it was a meme, but it said, "You can't get fired if you're the boss." And it's a guy, you know, kinda looking very interesting and kinda like pointing at his brain, kinda like, you know, "I know things." But even the owner of a company has to answer to someone, and that is the market. You have to. The market's gonna dictate where you need to go. But how do you get to the market? How do you get to the market? That's when you try certain things and you start experimenting with certain things. 
 
If you really want to take it to the next level, if you really wanna scale your business, then you have to be a pioneer. You have to be a pioneer. Again, even pioneers had plans, like I said before. Don't get this mistaken with just go out there and do whatever you want, no. You got to have a plan, you got to know the risk of failure, guys, you have to. You know, people talk about the one-percenters, and I did some research. One-percenters, people that make over 400,000 a year, that's, you know, after tax, are the one-percenters. I think it's after-tax or maybe it doesn't matter. But they are the one-percenters. I guarantee those one-percenters, they think outside the box. They don't do what everybody else is doing. They don't do conventional wisdom. They're one-percenters. They're not part of the big picture. They are the one percent. They are part of the big picture, but they think differently, and they do differently, that's why they're the one-percenters. 
 
But I guarantee you, these guys, they don't think the way all other people think, they don't. They go out there and they do something different. They try something different. Whether they're making 400,000 or they're making $400 million a year, these guys go out there and try something different. That is one of the best ways to get somewhere, that nobody is ever been to, is to think outside the box and try it out, and if it works, continue it. Double down, triple down on it, grind it out, go out there, and continue to do it. I don't know what's gonna work for you, guys, I have no idea. I know what works for Bravo, and on a daily basis, consistently, we're trying new things. And some things fail. Some things fail. Some things don't work. But man, when you hit something, and it works great, and it's gold, it's awesome. It's awesome. It's a great feeling. 
 
You know, I get a lot of people saying, "Man, you're giving out...why are you making a podcast? Why are you making videos on YouTube and giving out these ideas?" Because 99% of the people won't do anything with what I'm saying. Nothing, none whatsoever. But the one-percenters will go out there and do it. And guess what? The one-percenters, they would have figured it out anyways. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. When we started our arm process, yeah, we got some little ideas here and there. We went out there and we did it on our own, guys. We went out there. We invested in machines, heavy machinery. We invested in engineers as well. Guys, we went out there and we spent some money. But it was almost do or die, guys. It was do or die because we knew what was on the other side. We knew that if we could do this, that we could bring a better holster at a better price to everybody out there. Offer free shipping, 30-day money back guarantee. Guys, unlimited lifetime warranty, we knew that that was going to be the price. We just needed to get there. So how do you get there? 
 
Well, we calculated things, right? We didn't just go in there blindly and started spending money foolishly, but we calculated things and we said, "Look, if we lose, this is what we're gonna lose, but if we win, man, it's gonna be awesome." And thank God for that. That we got through it and now we have an arm process. And it's great. And it benefits not only us, but it benefits our customers way more. But why, guys, why? Because we pioneered that. Now, were we the first company to ever do something like this? No. But maybe our way, our process, which is maybe faster, right? Those things are important because now you're talking about maximum output. What's the volume that you can put out on a daily basis? Maybe we're a little bit faster than some of the other companies. And that gives you the edge. That and everything else around it. Social media marketing, knowing your numbers. Guys, it's the balance sheet. It's the profit and loss report. I mean, guys, it's all connected. It's all together. 
 
But for us to sit here and read one book and say, "Okay, this is the way we should run Bravo Concealment," no, man. It was a bunch of back and forth bouncing off the walls. Guys, I am not used to walking a straight line down a narrow path. I need to bounce off a little bit. Now, granted, I will walk that narrow path because I know that's the path to greatness. But nobody says that it's a tight rope. You know, you can take big steps back and forth, and you can bounce off the walls, man. Look, I'm telling you, guys, that's the way Bravo got towards that. By experimenting, by doing out there and being pioneers, by being laughed at, and then by ultimately winning. But we had to go out there and we had to put a dent on some walls. 
 
Guys, I'm telling you, go out there, take the arrows, and fail because that's how you're going to get to a place that no one has ever been to. That's how you're going to get to a place that nobody wants to go. But then you blaze that trail and people start following you, little by little. I'm telling you guys. Look, guys, go out there, be pioneers, don't be afraid to try something new, take the arrows, learn how to fail, learn how to get back up, and learn how to go out there, and go out in the wilderness and blaze a new path. 
 
Guys, thanks for listening. Means the world to me. Make sure that you share this podcast, five-star it. You can one-star it. Guys, I always say this, I'm not dictating you to five-star it, but you can one-star it if you want. Leave a comment, and make sure that you follow us on Snapchat and on Twitter, we're under Bravo Holsters. Facebook and Instagram, we're under Bravo Concealment. Go to our YouTube page, we're gonna be uploading these podcasts. We're actually filming them. So we're gonna be making some vlogs. And so go to our YouTube page and go follow us as well. Go subscribe to our YouTube channel. Go to bravoconcealment.com, go check out the great deals that are going on right now, and make sure that you subscribe to our newsletter as well, guys. Thank again for your time, man. Means the world to me. Talk to you soon.