Small hurdle for big change!

Lesson learnt. It had to come eventually, a big hurdle that we had to face and one which humbled our entire team. Yes we are a small team but not for lack of MANY people wanting to join our team.

We promised to always keep our story open and to document our journey in as raw a fashion as possible as we hope to inspire others. 

Our lesson this week is about ego and how leaving your ego at the door when facing a decision like we had this past week.

On Tuesday we looked all set, 36 hours later we faced a literal barrage of issues relating to our brands being held up at 3 ports of entry and then of course that THE container which is a feature of our actual stages was not going to be delivered the following Tuesday but on the Friday of the event

Taking the above scenario, we had a choice to make

1. Change 4 full stages, do the event without just on half our brands not being there which changed the entire Expo component but more importantly changes how the production would be. 

We asked why we would do this? 

Pros 

a. We would be on time, always great obviously

b. We seen as reliable, in a way.

c. We would shut up the doubters. Quite sickening that there are chumps in this industry wanting us to fail. 

d. Our event would at least have some content to market. 

Cons 

a. Lower quality event stages 

b. Piss poor production 

c. Sub par Expo with half our brands missing 

d. Standard is set too low.

Most importantly: The pursuit of excellence is now a marketing slogan. Its not a central core belief of our entire brand, our entire portfolio, our vision.

The above is just a summary but the one most difficult to grapple with was the fact that we were playing into the hands of the chumps. 

There is nothing worse than an ego, its a devil's whisper in your ear and we are all human, it took some super reflection to put the feelings of "defeat' aside and to accept unequivocally that the strength lies in our Lord. 

So we headed for option two: 

2. Postpone 

Cons

1. Most importantly we disappoint 38 athletes

2. We feed into the trolls where we live rent free in their heads. ( Ego is what influences the decision where you put these insignificant people ahead of your goal, staff and clients)

3. Takes us a month longer to properly launch our brands

Pros 

1. Athletes get a professional arena to pursue their goals

2. Professional production with all the brands and products 

3. Set the standard where it should be: Excellent 

4. We join The African Precision Master and have a festival of shooting that covers an array of shooting disciplines. 

5. Trolls like a certain magazine editor with a rather large mouth will eat the very words she speaks.

6. Gives us time to take over more shops and bring our brands to the people in the face of resistance.

7. Our MD is able to shoot in the National PRS Match this weekend which makes him happy, which, in turn, means he is not as grumpy with the athletes asking questions about the rules. 

So yes we took the less glamorous choice, the hardest of them. As we said on Thursday, we may have lost the day but we will win the year. 

We may have fed the trolls, for now, but none of them play an important role other than to be nothing short of glorified bottom feeders asking for the scraps off the table. We have more brands in our portfolio than advertisers in a magazine. Go figure. 

We would like to express our gratitude to the athletes for being so understanding and for those vendors who made us feel better with their encouragement. 

We learnt over the last 12 months of this being planned that being prompt is not a firearms industry virtue. Patience is the ultimate skill. If you do not have patience then you going to lose your sense of humour on an hourly basis. 

We have already been rewarded for the decision with the addition of a further two brands to our portfolio and to our brand family. 

All the above is to ensure athletes, the customers, new and old, begin to receive true pricing, value and respect for their hard earned money and a choice of new innovative brands. 

We look forward to welcoming you all! 

Get Fit. Get Healthy. Stay Safe