Why No Left Handed Holsters & More... - Interview Pt. 2

It is very important to me that you know as much as you can about us. I feel that when you spend you hard earned money, you'd like to know where it's going. This is us to the true meaning of the word "real" Hope you take something good from this. Our gun holster company has been around for about 8 years and has many insights. We touch on a few. In this interview we talk about the genesis of the company name, faking you and why no left handed holsters plus much more. Enjoy

Transcript:

Daniel: Aside from the product, what is your favorite thing about Bravo?

Rene: The challenges, man. The business side of it. Dude, that's, like, that's why I can wake up every morning tap dancing out of bed because I love to be tested. I even like failing because it allows me to learn something and then come back stronger than ever. You know, people kinda, like, run away from negativity. I like to try to understand negativity. It's a gauge. You know, when you fall or when you fail, it's a gauge letting you know that what you tried is wrong and that maybe you need to try something else. 

I've turned it into a full-blooded business, man. I mean, this is my passion and, yeah, you know, I like failing. I know it sounds weird. I know it goes against the grain but not that I like failing. I just, I like the challenges, again, and I like to go in there, and I like to dissect them and find out what's going on. You know, failure is part of success. I've said that on my Snapchats. I've said it on my Instagram stories.

Failure is a part of success, guys. Without failure, you cannot get to the top. In business, you have to bounce off the walls. You have to go out there and find out what works best for you. There's no one way in business. There isn't. Maybe there is one way in brain surgery. I don't know. I have no idea. I'm sure there isn't, but it's about going out there and trying to find what works for you. And when you're doing that, you're gonna fail. You're gonna eat dirt, man. 

But, man, I'm telling you, I love it when Bravo is doing great and when the sales are awesome. But I can tell you this, I am most dangerous when the sales aren't good because that's when I double down and triple down and I've got my guys in here, and we're breaking everything apart. I mean, from Facebook Ads to SEO on our website. I mean, guys, we're doing everything we can to get back up, and that's when you take it to the next level. 

You know, that's when you climb that next rung on the ladder. That's when you start scaling. To me, a goal is like, it's almost like a sin because it's, like, it boxes you in that and once you get there, it's, like, all right, now it's time to retire. No way, man. I wanna die working. That's just the way I see things so... Dude, I totally went off topic. What was your question again?

Daniel: Why the name, "Bravo"?

Rene: Yeah. So it was the security team name. I mean, it just came down to that. But I remember when we were sitting down, and we were, like, what about Tango? Tango sounds good. And it's, like, dude, Tango is a terrorist, man, and, like, all right, so forget Tango. Imagine Tango Concealment. And then Alpha. But Alpha was just too... I don't know. I don't know why we settled on Bravo. We just did. 

You know, a lot of people ask me, is that your last name? No, it's not my last name. There really is no... It doesn't tie to anything other than the security team, and I think it's a great tie because personal protection team, you know, personal protection... I think it's great. I think it ties into it very well, and it was that simple. It was, like, you know what? All right. You know, we're gonna call it, you know, our handle is Bravo and then from there, it's, like, what do we call the company? Just Bravo. It wasn't like we stood there or we sat there for days and days trying to figure out a name. It just came so naturally.

Daniel: So where do you see Bravo in 5 or 10 years?

Rene: I see it better than where it is today for sure. A whole lot better. I just don't know where. Where are we gonna be? Are we gonna own 30% of the market share? I don't...I have no idea. I have no idea. This is what I've said before, and I look at it this way, I want everybody to own a Bravo. I'm not gonna stop until everyone owns a Bravo Concealment holster. And I know that's not realistic, but that is my mindset, and so if that's not realistic to you, it holds some reality to me, and so I'm not gonna stop until then, so I may never stop.

Daniel: Would there ever be a chance of Bravo branching out from just holsters?

Rene: Yeah. No. I mean, there's always a chance to do different things. Yeah. We're looking at belts, and we're messing around with backpacks and stuff like that so, you know, there's always a chance of doing different things. The one thing though is that what you don't wanna do is you don't wanna hurt Bravo while you're doing these things. 

And a lot of people make the mistake of, you know, we manufacture pencils, and we sell pencils. Great. Let's manufacture telephones or let's manufacture pencil holsters or holders, you know, or stuff like... It's, like, that's fine, but people know you for one thing and one thing only. And it's okay that, you know, you can spread out and you can do certain things but just be careful that that other thing that you're doing doesn't really mess around with your bread and butter and what people know you for because then that can hurt your brand.

You know, a lot of people ask me, why do you do podcasts? Because we're out there trying to create attention. We're out there trying to get people to follow us in any which way that we can. It just comes down to the market. What do you want? Everybody out there on YouTube land or whatever, what do you want? What do you want from Bravo? Leave in the comments, but it's gotta be majority rules, man. It's democracy. It's market. It's just market. It's not even deep. It's just the market, and so you have to be in tune with the market if you want to be successful.

Daniel: So is there a divide between Rene Aguirre the person and Rene Aguirre host of "The Bravo Audio Show," owner of Bravo Concealment. Is there any sort of, like, divide between it? Is it what you see is what you get?

Rene: I'm like the predator, man. I'm a chameleon. No, I'm not, man. I am who I am. You can't... The guy you see on the pod, the guy you're seeing right now is the same guy that sits at home with his kids and watch "Star Wars." I mean, dude, you can't fake it. That's why I say dude, and I say, "Ay, man." I don't even say, "Hey, man." I say, "Ay, man." And does the market say, "Ay, man..."? I keep saying, "Ay."

Daniel: No, it's fine. Sorry, I'm gonna have to edit that.

Rene: I'm from South Texas, man. You know, it's, like, "Ay, man. Ay..." I mean, you can't... If you try to fake it, people are gonna figure it out. You gotta be yourself. You have to in anything that you do. People are smart out there, man, and, you know, if you're gonna put it out, be yourself. You can be yourself and talk about different things until you find the niche that you're good at. But be yourself, guys. Don't try to come across, you know, don't be pretentious. People are gonna see right through that. Be yourself, man. Go out there, do you. Do the best you that you can do.

Daniel: Being the owner and the face of a growing business out of, you know, a very small area, what are some of the headaches that come with that?

Rene: It's right here, man. It's right here. This thing is a miracle. A lot of people demonize it. You're wrong for demonizing it. A lot of people say, well, 20 years ago, Little Jimmy would sit down and talk to his parents. He wouldn't be on the phone. Little Jimmy, if he had a phone 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years ago like this, he'd be on the phone. All this does is it exposes us. It exposes us, guys, and it exposes us to who we really are, and it exposed me to the fact that I could build this company without having to be in a Metropolitan area. 

Bravo can run successfully in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico on an oil plant. I mean, guys, technology is where it's at. Technology will take you there, guys. It's awesome. And so to answer that question, yeah, it is tough. I mean, it's not like you can walk down the street and get, you know, a video editor in a rural area. I don't wanna call it rural, right? Because the valley is pretty big, man. There's...

Daniel: Yeah. [inaudible 00:08:25] valley is something.

Rene: Yeah. Yeah.

Daniel: So...

Rene: But at the same time, I understand we're pretty much far away from everybody else.

Daniel: Yeah. We're rural in the sense that we're very secluded.

Rene: Very secluded. I mean, it takes you, what? Nine, ten hours just to drive out of Texas, so we're just so far in the tip of Texas. When you need somebody there with you that needs to know something, yeah, for sure. But, you know, when we were looking for a video editor, we had people from New York. We had people from Boston. We had people from Florida. We had people from California willing to move over here, so I owe all that to just technology. Technology allows you to go out there and do the things that maybe, that I know for sure, you couldn't do 20 years, not 10 years ago. I mean, it's just crazy. It's changing.

Yeah. It was tough. But, you know, the other thing, I'd go on YouTube and I'd find out how to use Photoshop. I'd find out how to use, you know, Adobe Premier. So again, going back to technology, you know, I would sit in bed, and I'd use my iPad, and I'd figure out how to video edit, you know, a video and... But you gotta be willing to do it.
 
That's why I'm saying, like I said earlier, you have to have a passion for it. You have to have interest for it. It's just grinding it out, guys. It's, you know, a lot of people have this crazy fantasy that, all right eight-to-five and that's it. That's cool if that's what you wanna do. That wasn't me. You know, I wanted to learn and learn. There's 24 hours in a day. All I need is six hours of sleep so, you know, I got 18 hours, man, to learn something.

Daniel: Why no left-hand holsters?

Rene: Because I hate left handed people. When I was a kid, I got beat up by a left-handed bully. No joke. No. I'm just kidding, guys. Because of our process and we apologize, but we'll get to them. Yes. You know, our process, again, it takes a while. You know, we take about four to six weeks to bring up a new gun type, right? But do you know how many we have in queue? We have about five, right now, we have about seven in queue, and so we stay the course, man. 

Sometimes we have to bump stuff up and down because some things are more important than others as far... It's the market. I have it up there. It's the market, and so the market dictates. And I get it, man, there's a lot of left-handed people out there that want a Bravo Concealment holster. I apologize. It is our process, but we will get to them. I don't know when. It's been a while that I've been saying that.

We stop... Let me, and let me make something clear, we stopped making left-handed holsters, a lot of people say, oh, it's been three years. It's been two years. It hasn't been three years. It's hasn't been two years. It's been about 10 months that we stopped making left-handed holsters. We'll get to it, guys, but we just have so much in front of us, and a lot of this is not... Look, I have...I'm gonna blame this on Manny. No. I'm not gonna blame it on Manny. No. 

It's just... When we decide to make a certain gun type, we have to sit down, we need to look at the market, and we need to see what's out there. We need to kind of, you know, gauge and see how much it's gonna sell and it just comes down to that, guys. It really does come down to that. Bravo Concealment is a business, and it needs to be profitable so that it can continue to one day have a left-handed holster.

We do offer a left-handed Glock 43. That's the only left-handed Glock or that's the only left-handed holster that we offer right now is the Glock 43 Trojan. But other than that, you know, the next one is gonna be the Glock 19 for sure and then, you know, whatever is popular. But, you know, yeah, you know, hey, guys, I'm empathetic. I apologize for that. I don't wanna blame anybody. It comes down to me. 

I'm the owner, but I have to listen to other people as well, and we have to make an educated, you know, decision on this and... But they're out there, and we're gonna make them one day. I just can't give you a date so... So, yeah, that's it. Thanks, Daniel, for ruining this interview with that last question. I'm just kidding.

Daniel: All right. Well, I mean, that's pretty much it.

Rene Aguirre is the founder and owner of Bravo Concealment. Rene has been carrying concealed on a daily basis for over 8 years and has been a CHL (concealed handgun license) holder for more than 20 years. Finding a high interest in firearms for many years, Rene started Bravo because of the “lack of” a good concealed carry holster on the market.