Monday, August 26, 2013

It's almost Labor Day...

It's almost labor day, end of August.  I'm a year older, my youngest is 3 and my marriage has made 9;the rough part summer is beginning to get in the rear view...This time of the year signifies so much; most importantly it's the "pre-game" to the best time of the year.  For years I've relished in the September - Thanksgiving Holiday time of the year.  Football and fall weekends at the hunting camp; I even get to watch football on TV, and the newest seasons of the best hunting shows on various brand sponsored marathon style nights, most of the days in between.  Baseball season is over (for me anyways), the drag of summer is over...peace on earth comes Friday at lunch and last until sometime Sunday when I make the long drive from the camp back into town....reeling from all the food, football, and hunting I've experienced in a glorious 48-36 hour mini-vacation that happen every weekend.

This year takes on a new flare...THE SPORTSMAN OUTFITTERS (along with expansion of my many other ventures, but that's here nor there).  We've already been on the road a bit doing LA Outdoors Expo in Lafayette in July, Miss-Lou Outdoor Expo in Natchez in August...we will be attending the Lincoln County Wildlife Expo in Brookhaven, MS, I'll be at the LA State NWTF Turkey calling contest this weekend in West Monroe representing both Sportsman Outfitters and Talkin' The Talk.  On September 19 will be at the Highland Wildlife Expo in Natchez (which is free event so you should come)...On September 25th I'll be at the Delta Waterfowl Banquet in New Roads, LA.  In October we are efforting to be a part of a "Hunting with Hero's" hunt at Antlers Trophy Whitetails in Oklahoma where we will help a wounded veteran soldier on a whitetail hunt of a lifetime, then off for a hunt with 180 Outdoors in Kansas Nov 9-13.  I'm not even counting the work Red Stick and Extra Innings camps, workouts, and leagues I got on schedule until at least weekend before Thanksgiving...then mix in Brandt's high school football schedule on Friday nights and a full time family, baseball organization to run, and oh yeah that regular full time job I keep...maybe 2013 won't the relaxing sanctimonious time of the year I've always craved!

And then every Wednesday I watch this....and just because it makes the week better in general


Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Nothing ventured....nothing gained!

Does time really heal all wounds?  Interestingly enough this morning my sister posted the following on Facebook...


I have no clue what she was referring to in her life or if she just liked the quote but I tend to agree with the concept explored in this quote.  I believe wholeheartedly however, that this concept is not applicable for everyone; as I do believe some are more capable of not only suppressing but removing the hurt and resentment of an emotional would.  I'm not as capable, now I guess that was all just a digression from the point or at least my getting to it....but then again this is a blog!

So I was told a blog would be a great way to help grow traffic and spread the word about my newest venture: The Sportsman Outfitters.  Sportsman Outfitters is an everything outdoors online outfitter.  We've worked out relationships with hunting, fishing, and outdoor manufacturers and distributors to offer an "Amazon.com" of sorts to the hunter, fisher, or anyone that would find themselves shopping in a outdoors retail store for whatever reason.  One stop shopping with competitive prices and shipped right to your door.  Novel idea but not totally new...e-commerce is a driving force in today's economy.  The hunting and outdoors retail industry is certainly a part of that. Consider what it takes to visit an all inclusive "BIG BOX" retail store for an oudoorsman.  The largest and most diversely stocked stores are in congested and typically metropolitan areas.  They make up for the absolute headache with games, restaurants, etc. (if you have kids they only make it worse)  They aren't really easily accessible except for being centrally located to large populations, however it's my observation that many who call on the outdoors as a passion in life also call them HOME; and I mentioned congested areas already, daring to assume those that prefer a more subtle and less crowded way of life don't fancy that congestion or the distance.  All of this and much more encompasses the idea of buying your stuff online!  Why do you think Cabelas, Bass Pro, etc. have such in detailed web stores?



So what makes the Sportsman Outfitters any different from a distributor inventory uploaded, drop ship reliant, fully automated bunch of internet over achievers with a desire to collect volume sales for anything that can be dropped into a JAVA and flash enabled shopping cart?  Thanks for asking....I built a blog just to answer such questions!

Our desire at Sportsman Outfitters is to keep the latest and greatest on the outdoor market active on our site while also maintaining the relationships necessary to go get anything our customers are looking for and offering it all at competitive prices, fast shipping, and excellent customer service.  We want our internet shoppers to feel like they are in their trusted hometown outdoors shop while visiting our site, and know they can always pick up the phone to call us with any questions or concerns.  We aren't just a website, we never will be and in fact, you might just be able to visit our store in person one day in the future! I've spent the past 6 years working in different facets of the outdoor industry. I spent two years working in sales, warehousing, inventory, technology, and about every other aspect of a large retail outdoor outfitting retail store....I learned A LOT (let me re-emphasize...I learned A LOT and not just about retail stores).  I've sat through hours and hours of outdoor expos, banquets, and shows talking to hunters and fishersman.  Promoting, selling products, filming and guiding hunts...being filmed and guided by others...talked hunting on the radio, stood up in front of a crowd and gave a seminar, called in contest on stage....on and on...you get the point, my point is only to share that I've taken it all in like a sponge.  I spent my whole life being consumed by two things....baseball and the outdoors.  I always wanted to do business with both and not just recreate, and I didn't get drafted so here we are...This blog and the online outfitter store it represents are a representation of me and those experiences...it's not just a website committed to volume sales and gaining income through readily accessible and low overhead vehicle that is the internet.

"Time heals all wounds..."  I mentioned mine don't, and I'll tell you now I'm glad they don't.  The wounds I have that are applicable to this venture serve as motivation, knowledge, experience, and generally as fuel to ensure I know where we are going and why.  Time doesn't heal those wounds and I don't intend to ever let it, instead it gives me perspective...that perspective will drive everything we do and it's why I believe our customers will be glad they chose the Sportsman Outfitters