Rally Point 76

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Rally Pointers fall In. Good morning everybody. It's your hosts
of the Rally Point radio show, Amanda Machiato Malcanu, our
co host Justin Ledford.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Good morning everyone.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Jay the Sarge, Him and Way and our unofficial booking
agent and dear friend Paul Palshi.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
So glad to be here. Good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
We're just going to jump right into the show. So
today we have the founder and CEO of Official Patriot Gear.
They are a clothing brand that you might be able
to recognize from social media, and we have a founder
and CEO, mister Ian went here on the show. Welcome
to the show.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
Ian, Yeah, thanks for having me, guys. Happy to be.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Here, absolutely. So let's talk about Official Patriot Gear. So
I'm not gonna lie I'm a shameless advocate for your brand.
I'm actually wearing your shirt right now, the green one
that says Patriot across the front of it.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
And for those listening, it is very well made. So
you know, if you go on the site or on
social media and look at the products, they're absolutely worth
it because they are really good quality. So let's just.

Speaker 3 (01:06):
Well I appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Thank you absolutely. Yeah. So let's talk about How did
you come to find this? Because your story is on
social media, but I want to hear you tell it
for our listeners.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
I live here in Idaho and Eastern Idaho, wife, two
kids three and five. They're about to be four and six.
Good inspirations help me. It goes fast, Yeah, I know,
it's crazy. For about a little over a decade, I
was in sales and marketing a knocked door to door
I sold. I sold a satellite TV door to door

(01:38):
for about ten years. Well, I sold for about six
managed some teams, and then after like my sixth year,
I decided I wanted to stay in that industry because
there was a lot of really cool opportunities and I
had a lot of friends and things like that, and
so I just kind of figured out a way to,
you know, work my way up, and eventually I actually
was in charge of all the sales, training and marketing

(01:59):
of the entire company. I was in charge of building
up their training platform and kind of teaching all the
reps as well as the manager's nationwide how to most
effectively sell the product. And then also I got involved
with the rebrand of the company itself and all their
social media. So I've been in sales and marketing for
a really, really long time, and I've always been what
I've called a closet conspiracy theorist, which obviously is we're

(02:22):
bad in a thousand nowadays. But it was never something
that I was really loud about, like it was kind
of just something that was It would come out with
family and friends and just they just knew. It was
kind of like Ian's weird quirk that he just knew
all this random, weird stuff that's not so random and
weird anymore. I grew up in upstate New York. I
witnessed nine to eleven in a different way that I
think that most people had. I had friends and family

(02:44):
that were involved lots of different things, and so it
just kind of opened my eyes to the world. That
along with the fact that I've always been very patriotic
as well. A big reason for that is actually I'm
not a veteran. I never served, but I did spend
a little over two years in Nicaragua, and so I
had a firsthand experience of what it's like to not

(03:04):
have what we have here in America. I experienced it
in a way that most people will never and have
ever and it was very eye opening, and it made
me very very grateful for to be born in America
to be able to have everything we have, and also
it actually ignited that spirit of patriotism and gratitude for
our veterans and for the people that are fighting to

(03:24):
make it so that we don't become something like in Nicaragua. Right,
So that's kind of where that whole patriotic spirit came
from in twenty twenty when everything kind of started to
go down with COVID, but specifically it was more about
the riots and the media frenzy that everybody was in
and how it just Yeah, I just felt like everybody
was all of a sudden under the impression that we

(03:46):
all hated each other, and it was like, what in
the world. I knew what that was, just again because
I've always been your closet conspiracy there. So I'm like, no,
this is very very manufactured, Like the media is spinning
this to make it seem like we are all each
other's enemies, so that we're taking our eye off of
really going on. And I had just had my boy

(04:07):
and for over ten years I had built a pretty
decent social media platform and it's nothing like it is today.
It was decent. I mean, I was pretty well known
in the business space and in the sales space, and
I had done a lot. I had been very, very
consistent and very active on social media for over a decade.
When everything started happening, I told my wife, I was like,
I gotta say something. I just I feel like it's
just like if I don't say something, what am I

(04:29):
going to tell my boy? You know, ten years from now?
When I knew I should have said something, and I
didn't speak up, what am I going to tell him?
And also it just kind of burned inside me, and
I was like, I got to speak up. And she
was like, you are going to burn everything you've built
to the ground. You're an idiot, Like what are you thinking?

Speaker 1 (04:45):
And the Devil's advocate a little bit?

Speaker 3 (04:49):
Okay, Yeah, yeah, it's true, and I am grateful for that.
She's the best in that way. It was the same
thing said, I said, what am I going to tell Miles?
And I felt like it was just time, and so
I decided to get loud and I did, and I
made a couple videos that went super viral of just
kind of talking about that, just talking about the manufactured
divide and what would come for the next few years,

(05:10):
and instead of burning everything to the ground, it was
the exact opposite. It exploded. And what I realized was
so not only did all of these people not know
all of this right, I just didn't realize that people
literally had no clue. Everybody considered the mainstream media one
hundred percent the truth. No one really understood how to dig.
And I think everybody can relate to this, because in

(05:30):
twenty twenty, I feel like there was mass I hate
saying this because it's so cliche, but it is the truth.
It was kind of this mass awakening to the truth
about the media and about how they have lied to
us for so long, and how so much of this
has been manufactured to ultimately pit us against each other
as human beings and as Americans. And so I didn't
realize how many people didn't understand all of this. So

(05:53):
to me, it was like, wait a second, you guys
really don't know, and that's why it went viral. And
then the other thing was I realized a lot more
people felt the way that I did, and I was
not as alone as I thought I was. And I
think a lot of people can relate to that, and
especially back then in those days, if you spoke out
against any of that stuff, you were shamed and mocked
and called names. And I realized that that wasn't the case.
I wasn't alone, and so I decided to continue to

(06:16):
get louder and louder and louder, and so then I
started making these I've always been one of my biggest
bucket list items is one day I want to be
able to direct an actual film, a documentary, and because
I've always been very like interested in that, so I
started making these little mini films, almost on Instagram, and
they were just these super long videos of kind of
exposing all these different quote unquote conspiracy theories, like everything

(06:39):
from you know whatever. And it got to a point
where my following was growing so fast and people were
so engaged. They would literally have date night on Friday nights.
They would wait till I dropped that story and they
would watch it together as a couple. It just kept
going and going going. But I got to a point
where I did not want to be another political talking head,
and I didn't not want to be the Instagram conspiracy theories.

(07:02):
We have a lot of those, that's not I had
worked so long to build a platform to actually make
a positive impact that I didn't want to just become
this gimmicky like talking head, and I wanted to really
take advantage of this platform that I was now given.
And so the COVID lockdown specifically, I got really loud
about helping people, and I rallied my following together to

(07:25):
raise money to help businesses from having to close their
doors because they couldn't keep going, right. We ended up
raising like several hundred thousand dollars for these businesses. In
addition to that, we also raised money for veteran organizations,
different anti child trafficking organizations and things like that. And
just all these people came together to do all these
amazing things. I realized that most of them didn't want

(07:49):
to talk about it, and I was trying to get
people to talk about it and be really loud about it,
but they wouldn't because they're afraid of being canceled, losing
their family, you know, losing their job, which is crazy
right to be afraid to say, I raised money for
this business so that they didn't have to lose their
livelihood and close their doors. After twenty years, thirty years,
forty years, one hundred years just because of this crazy

(08:12):
that the world is in right now for who knows
what reason. At that point, right they would not talk
about it because they're so afraid of it. And so
I said, you know what, let's give them a way
to do it without being loud. Let's do Let's give
them a way to do it without saying anything. And
so one day I just I made that T shirt
that you're wearing right now, literally that T shirt, and
I said, you know what, let's give them this thing

(08:32):
and let's see, you know, if we can sell fifty
of these. Cool And keep in mind, I still have
my career. I was still at this point. I was
actually I had moved up even farther and I was
actually the CMO of the medical sales branch of this
same company, and so I had a full time job
and I was just kind of doing this on the
side at night and stuff. So this was really it
wasn't about money. It wasn't about like, hey, let's let's

(08:54):
make T shirts and get rich off of this, right.
It was just like, let's give them a way to represent.
Let's give them a way to repornant what they stand
for and what they're doing and show people what they believe.
And so it made that Patriot T shirt. It just
it took off. I mean the first we sold like
three hundred in the first couple days. Luckily I had
a buddy here in town here in Idaho that he

(09:15):
had a whole fulfillment center and so it was really
kind of turnkey and he was able to order print
fulfilled ship and that's been It's been that way since
to this day.

Speaker 1 (09:24):
See, when something's meant to be, everything will kind of
flow together. I've come to find that, like you, this
was definitely meant to be because everything just kind of
naturally flowed in that direction. And it's funny that you
mentioned something about not being so loud, because I talk
a lot, but I'm not necessarily a loud person. Like
I'm definitely not someone I would consider an activist on

(09:45):
any level per se, But yes, but I do. I
loved the Teddy Roosevelt quote about walking softly and carrying
a big stick, and I feel it's a great one
being patriotic, like wearing this shirt. For me, that's my
way of walking softly and carrying a big stack.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
Yes, yes, because it says exactly where you stand right,
and yeah, and I love that. That's basically what we
wanted to create, and so it just it took off
and to your point of it was meant to be.
So I continue to do that because of the last
ten years of social media and being so consistent and
understanding everything about the marketing and really like being kind
of a social media expert. At that point, I understood

(10:23):
what to do with that once it was given to
me right on, once all these followers came in, and
once this community was kind of given to me, I
understood how to cultivate it and how to build it
into something that was more than just a bunch of
people commenting on videos and posts, and I started something
called Patriot Friday. The biggest thing about creating a community
is making people feel like they're a part of it.
Every single Friday, literally to this day, anybody that buys

(10:46):
official Patriot gear will they'll take a picture of themselves
or a video themselves or whatever, and they'll post it
on social media and tag us on a Friday. And
it's been like that literally since I started it back
in twenty twenty. And that kind of made everybody really
feel like it was something bigger than us, not just
a T shirt, right, And that went on for a
few months and then I don't remember exactly what it was,

(11:08):
but a few months later, I came home one night
and I'm not going to mention a platform or anything
because I don't want to, you know, stir anything up.
But long story short, I came home and the platform
we were on prior to the to shopify and everything
they're on now, we got I got a notification that
said that our store had been shut down for violent,
dangerous organizations and hate what Yeah, yeah, well no.

Speaker 1 (11:33):
It's interesting you say that because I read something a
couple of years back that said people were starting to
try to group patriotic or patriot into some form of extremism.
And I was like, hold on a minute, this is America, Yes,
what is happening. So I definitely understand why you got
that notification, but totally disagree with it.

Speaker 3 (11:54):
Yes, and here's the crazy thing at that time, so
I've never made super inflammatory clothes. We don't. We are
not a political merch company. I don't I don't take
slogans from people and throw them on a T shirt.
I don't make it purposely out like outrage. If that
makes sense. I don't. I don't try to create outrage
with things, and so it wasn't that. There were a
lot of other companies that were straight up just creating

(12:16):
outrage on both sides, right and left. And at that time,
all that was on that store was the T shirt
you're wearing, a green hat that said Patriot on it,
and a hoodie that said Patreon on it. All of
them were green flag on the sleeves. Nothing crazy. I
was like, well, I guess you know, that was fun.
But again, I still had my career, so I was
kind of just like, well, I guess that's it. I
didn't know a whole lot about e commerce at this point.

(12:38):
We had literally just kind of created this thing out
of nothing. I got on my phone that night and
I said, hey, guys, that was fun, but and I'm
so glad and thank you for the support, but like
it's done. I don't know, you know, I don't know
what to do. And everybody was like no, no, no,
set up another store and we're going to support you.
And I was like, I wish I knew how. And
then my buddy again who's who does our fulfillment, was like,

(12:58):
I can set you up a shop and we can
we can roll tonight. I was like, Okay, cool, good
to do it. So I did. We when he put
that store up in the next three and a half days,
we did about twenty seven thousand dollars. I was floored.
This is so much bigger than us. This is not
just a T shirt thing like this is. People want
this because this is their voice that they don't have.

(13:20):
It was only about a month later that I literally
one day, I just I left my job for a
lot of different reasons, but I will never forget, so
to your point of feeling you know of it being
meant to be, I will never forget the day I
left my job. Because I had such a fun and
a solid career in my previous career, I could have

(13:43):
had the most opportunity I ever needed for the rest
of my life. I was never going to go anywhere.
I had created so much value that I would have
had a place in that company and in that organization forever.
And we were traveling multiple times a year, I was
making great money, and it was so comfortable and it
was so good. I remember leaving that day and instead
of feeling just like complete anxiety and just feeling like,

(14:05):
oh my gosh, what am I doing? I was more calm,
and I felt more at peace than I had in
so long. And I remember leaving the building and driving
to Walmart because my wife was there with the kids.
I remember going down the aisle and meeting with her
and I told her I said I just left, and
she's like, wait, what what'd you do? I was like,
I was like, I just left. I just left. And

(14:27):
she was like, why are you so calm? And I
just said, I don't know, like I just I feel
like this is something I'm meant to do. That was it,
and I went all in and then became a company.
But to what you were saying about how it became
a hate speech and extremism and everything. When I was
starting to think about, okay, now this is a company.

(14:47):
This isn't just me selling T shirts on Instagram while
I'm building, oh, you know, while I'm working in this
other company, like this is this is it? Like this
is this is my family legacy, this is my business.
This is what we're trying to build. Now. When I that,
I thought about what I wanted it to represent, and
it's exactly what you said. At that point, it was
so polarizing to say that you were a patriot. On

(15:08):
the left, you were considered a domestic terrorist, and you
were considered an extremist, and you were considered dangerous. And
on the right, you had to support a certain political party,
you had to support a certain political group, and if
you didn't then you were basically just fake right. And
it was it was to me, it was just such
a weird thing to feel like, all of a sudden,

(15:31):
patriotism has become political because it because my entire life,
patriotism had always just been such a badge of honor,
and it didn't matter what party you supported, It didn't
matter what color you were, it didn't matter what religion
you were. Now all of a sudden, you had to
be a certain religion, you had to be If you
weren't this color, then you were this if you weren't
this supporting this political party or this political this presidential candidate.

(15:53):
Like it was just so weird to me. And so
I decided that when I when I decided to make
it a company, I decided that the whole mission and
the whole message and the whole purpose of it was
going to be to remind people that patriotism is not partisan,
and it is not exclusive to any person or group.

(16:14):
And if you love your country and you love the people,
and you want the best for it, and you want
it to grow and thrive and be free, and you're
willing to defend it, whether it's verbally or whatever, that
makes you a patriot. I don't care where you stand.
As long as you're not wishing communism on this country,
and as long as you're not doing the things that
damage this country and our people, you are a patriot.

(16:35):
I have a lot of friends that, quite frankly, don't
agree with me politically. We agree on nothing politically, and
they are actually in the service currently, and so who
am I to tell them that they're not patriots just
because they don't align with me politically correct when they're
over there putting their life on the line every single
day so that I can sell T shirts in America,

(16:57):
be a father, be a husband, and live a life
that's free from danger and having to you know, relatively
free from danger and having to worry about whether or
not I'm going to live or die the next day.
They're over there doing that, and meanwhile there's people here saying, well,
that person's not a patriot because they don't believe this,
or they don't stand here, they don't align with this,

(17:18):
and it's like it's the most asinine thing that I
have ever heard. And at that point I was like,
we have to change that. And it sounds crazy. When
I tell people this, they're like, you are nuts, Like
how you can't change that because the media is so loud,
and you know, the truth is, it has been a
very uphill battle. It's not easy to not you know,
they say the riches are in the niches. That's the

(17:39):
whole marketing play, right, And the truth is, I chose
to go against the green.

Speaker 1 (17:43):
Honestly, I think that's your benefit because when I was
checking out your brand and I don't even know how
it popped up on my Instagram, the metaverse put it
in the algorithm and shoved it in my lie when
I saw your brand, Right when I saw your brand
and I saw your video, I think it might have
been in my reels. Anyways, that line that said patriotism

(18:05):
is not partisan. That is what locked me in and
I was like, yes, this, I will spend my money
on this because I wholeheartedly agree with that, and I
think you're right. I think a lot of people in
our country, if we really peel back that onion, I
think a lot of us are like that. It's like
I have friends the same thing that don't agree with

(18:26):
me politically at all. I don't agree. I don't agree
with ninety nine percent of people politically. But the way
I look at is, I'm like, if you're a good person,
if you're you know, a decent person, if you have
the right kinds of morals and values. And I don't
think that fits any one particular construct but if you're
a good person, I could care less how you vote.
You know what. Thank god, we're free enough to vote

(18:46):
how we want to vote, that we're not being told
who to vote for, that we're not being thrust upon us.
But it's a beautiful conversation that you can be patriotic.
But like you said, you don't have to fit a
certain mold, you don't have to fit into a certain box.
So it's nice to you've kind of blown up the
box and done it through a really powerful brand. There's shirts,

(19:08):
there's hats, there's you know, so much different merchandise on
your site that are ways that people can support that
cause of patriotism, not being partisan.

Speaker 2 (19:17):
It seems like such a simple concept though, patriotism like
basically just love of country. I'm sure you've dealt with
it in the small time since I dip my toe
into doing videos, radio and starting a nonprofit. Politics creeps
up pretty fast, and like, oh, I support you if
you support this, you know, and you start getting sucked

(19:41):
in to try to stay in the middle. You start
getting sucked into other people's agendas, and it can spiral.

Speaker 3 (19:46):
If you let it.

Speaker 1 (19:47):
Yeah, absolutely, And there's always those people that want to
try to turn it political when it's not.

Speaker 3 (19:52):
That's right. You know, It's been rough sometimes because it
would have been a lot easier for me to take
one side. It would have been I'll just tell you
that right now. And a lot of the companies that
did are doing really, really well, and honestly, like we
could have done that. But I looked at it more like,
if this is a legacy for my kids and for
my future, you know, from my family and for the

(20:14):
people around me, I don't want it to be based
on one belief system. I don't want it to be
based on something that doesn't define us ultimately as human
beings and as people. You know, we've been fed this
pack of lies that we can't exist together if we
don't agree. And that's the craziest thing ever, because imagine
if we actually lived in a world where everybody agreed

(20:34):
on the same thing.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
Do you remember being told that as a kid. Do
you remember that when we were kids, we all got
told can you imagine how boring the world would be
if we were all the same. And now we're in
a time where people act like, oh, you don't think
the same as me, I can't be your friend, And
I'm like, I constantly think of those older adults in
my elementary school that used to say that to me

(20:57):
a lot, because I would complain and whine about you know,
or other kids would about, well, so and so does
it blah blah blah, and they're like, can you imagine
how boring it would be if we were all the same.
And we've gotten so far away from that that we
need to get back to it.

Speaker 2 (21:10):
I think they called mitocracies when people think that the
same thing supposedly the same thing, the same thing.

Speaker 1 (21:16):
Yeah, group ideally dangerous. I mean they taught us at
the military that group think is dangerous.

Speaker 3 (21:21):
You know, that's it's not only dangerous. It's the key
to true control and manipulation and real power in bad places.
I mean, there's a reason why the slogan we the
People exist. There's a reason why I think a lot
of people forget that this country was literally founded by
men who did not agree with each other. They were

(21:42):
not only completely separate in a lot of ways of
their beliefs and their belief system and how they thought
things should be run. It got to the point where
some of them literally dueled and tried to kill each other. Right,
and yet this beautiful country and the first real free
country blossomed out of this because a bunch of dudes
who didn't agree on hardly anything came together and said,

(22:04):
you know what, we don't agree on this, this, this, this, this,
and this. We don't agree on hardly anything. But at
the end of the day, we agree on one thing,
and that is we don't want to be ruled. We
want to be free. And the only way we can
make that is if we come together, if we compromise,
if we ultimately make it about us and not a
government and not a governing power. It has to be

(22:26):
the people. And there there has been such an agenda
and they've done such a good job, and this is
not a conspiracy thing like that. They have done such
a good job of putting their thumb on us as
a people and keeping us down by making us think
that it's us who hate each other and that we
are divided, and that we don't want to grow and

(22:49):
thrive and be free together, and that we have to
constantly be at odds. It's just not the case. I
used to say this, and I mean I still say it.
But they quote unquote, you know, the the powers of
be whoever you want to think that is. And if
it's a combination of whatever, the two percent seems like
the ninety eight percent. In other words, it's such a
small percentage of people that are actually so hateful in

(23:10):
this world and to the point where they really are
kind of that evil. But ninety eight percent of this
world is so good. If you just turn the news off,
the media off, and get away from that, you realize
that it's just been They've done such a good job
of pitting the good against the good, when in fact,
this battle is a battle of good and evil, and

(23:31):
evil is not us in the good. There's everybody, there's white, black, brown, green, Democrat, Republican, Christian, atheist.
I mean every single person that just is a good
human being. That's all of us. And at the end
of the day, what we need to do is unite
the good so that we can actually see the true
evil and realize, oh wait a second, that's evil, it's

(23:55):
not us, and we can fight that together, but we
can't fight it alone. That's what I believe. The ultimate
agenda is here. And believe it or not, and this
is why, you know, sometimes people call me crazy, but
believe it or not, I believe that the T shirt
you're wearing right now, Amanda, I believe that that T shirt,
this symbol of patriotism, or this title of patriotism, it

(24:15):
actually has the ability to unite the good because again,
if you can just realize, hey, we don't agree on
a whole lot, but we do agree that we love
America and that we love our lives, and we love
our families, and we want this country to stay the
way that it's always been, that we can come together
on no matter what.

Speaker 1 (24:32):
Absolutely, And I get a lot of comments on this
shirt when I'm out in public. Some people mistake it
for the New England Patriots, which I think it's funny
because my husband's from Boston. But I'm like that, No, No,
I'm like this shirt says I am a Patriot, I
love this country. And then people are like, oh, okay, cool.
So it creates conversations and it does give an opportunity

(24:56):
to kind of interface with other people. So kind of
turning to that at that side of things, as far
as outreach goes, tell us about the outreach that Official Patriot.

Speaker 3 (25:06):
Gear does, as far as like community outreach and everything.
So we have an ambassador group. We're actually about to
open applications again. At the end of the day, it's
not about following, it's not about engagement. I don't care
if you have two followers. I don't care if you
have two million followers going to say, I'm.

Speaker 1 (25:19):
Like, plut me on the list because I'm a fan,
but I don't have I don't have a million followers
like you do.

Speaker 3 (25:25):
No, It's it's not about that. It's literally just about
whether or not you know. It's about who you are,
where you stand and what and whether or not you
represent the brand. And so we do. We have Ambassador
group and we try to do like service projects as
much as we can everybody kind of just doing their
own thing in their communities. A couple of days ago,
we just got done helping at our local soup kitchen.

(25:46):
Those are the little things. And then of course we
also have you know, I try my best to get
really involved in making the difference in a bigger way.
So on my personal social media, I try to raise
money and different things, Like we just when the thing
happened North Carolina with Hurricane Helen, I was able to
raise a little over two hundred grand, and then over
the space of two trips, we were actually able to

(26:08):
go down and give checks to these business owners that
just lost everything and kind of give them some hope of,
you know, being able to rebuild. And my biggest goal
was to not just give it to an organization. I'm
sure they have the best intentions or whatever, but it's
hard when people donate their hard earned money and it's
thousands of people. It's not just like these you know,

(26:28):
one person donating ten grand or whatever. It's like all
these people donating five dollars, twenty dollars, one hundred dollars, whatever.
And then they're like, well, that's cool, and I appreciate that,
but like, what was done. So my biggest goal going
down there was I want to show them where every
single penny is being spent. And we were able to
do that and it was really really cool. And that's

(26:49):
just one example. We also are, you know, my a
veteran organization called High Flight Heroes, and we we give
back country experiences to veterans and first response to kind
of help them cope with PTSD and just kind of
get them out in nature. And we do different like
snowmobile rides and side by side stuff and all different

(27:09):
things like that, and we are constantly trying to grow
that and build that as well, and so we donate
to that frequently. We create you know, we give people
the ability to donate to that. And then I'm also
involved in just kind of I just try to help
wherever I can. You know, we different veteran organizations will
reach out. One that we've worked with too is Hunter seven.
They're awesome, they do some really cool things. Chelsea the

(27:31):
owners is such a good person and we were able
to work with them actually down in North Carolina as
well as Save our Allies. Like I said, we've also
been involved in antat child trafficking. I've been a big
advocate for that and really trying to get involved in that.

Speaker 1 (27:46):
There's a group that I'll send you after we're done reporting,
We'll send you some information for a group that we're
aware of that also does anti human trafficking and we do. Yeah,
they have an incredible mission. I know you would probably
be highly interested in partnering with them.

Speaker 3 (28:03):
Awesome, I love it. Yes, please do that's that sounds great.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
So with outreach, you do a lot of outreach, and
your brand is definitely getting out there. I recently went
to a comedy show and one of the people performing
is a brand ambassador for you. So that was really cool.
And I was wearing this shirt when I went and
when he saw me, he was like, oh my gosh,
He's like, we have to meet. So I was like, yes,
so it was it does it brings this This product

(28:28):
brings people together. I will absolutely tell you that is
a fact. So so with that, what does the future
of official Patriot Gear look like? Like? What is your
vision for you know, the platform you've been given for
your you know, social media presence for for the brand itself.

Speaker 3 (28:48):
What is it's It's a great question. I really really
want this brand to be like I said something that is,
you know, when people think of official patriot gear, I
want the first thing that comes to their mind to
be service and the next thing to be leadership. Recently,
I kind of added another little slogan in which is
leadership is not selective. You know, we all have the

(29:08):
ability to stand up and be a leader, and I
think a lot of people don't think they have that ability.
You know, whether it's because I don't have that many
followers on social media or whatever it is. I mean,
it's we have the ability to stand up and make
a difference in lead. We just have to make the
decision to do it. And I think that that's what
this country really needs right now. And so when people
think of this brand, I want them to immediately think

(29:31):
service to their fellow men, regardless of who they are,
where they stand, what political background they have, what color,
what religion, whatever, and also just you know, the ability
to be a leader in their family and their community,
in the country in general. Like, you know, you don't
have to have a political position to be a leader.
As a matter of fact, I think the best leaders

(29:51):
are not political figures, the ones that I've met, at least,
I think that that's you know, that's the fabric of
our country, and that's true patriotism. That's what being a
patriot is really about, is about being an example of
what America is and should be. There's a cool story
that I'll never forget this story, and I didn't even

(30:11):
experience it, but I had. I had somebody come to
me one time and said they had never heard of
the brand, They had never heard of any of that,
but they they were at a home depot and they
were looking I can't even remember what it was. They
were looking for something, some tool or something for like
a home project they were doing, and somebody came by
and helped them for like twenty straight minutes to find

(30:32):
this thing and took all that time out of the
day and the entire time this person thought that that
was an employee of home Depot, and at the end
of the when when they finally found the tool, when
they finally figured this out, he said, oh, thanks so much.
You know, how long have you been working here? You're
You're amazing. I've never been helped like this before. And
it actually wasn't an employee, it was just one of

(30:53):
our ambassadors. And he literally just said, I'm not I'm
not an employee. I just I'm an ambassador for a
fish patriotear and you know, I'm one of the core
beliefs is is service and leadership, and I just I
wanted to take the you know, the time to help
you because you seem like you needed it. Nobody else
was and it was just really cool to hear that.

(31:13):
It's such a small thing, but like that was one
of the more impactful story. I mean, I've heard a
lot of stories like that with our brand, but that
was one of the most recent ones and the one
that kind of has really stuck with me because I'm like,
that's what I want people to do when it comes
to this brand. If you're wearing that T shirt, if
you're wearing any of our clothing, I want that to

(31:34):
be your mindset of how can I help and not
thinking who is this person and what do they believe
before I help them. That's that's what we really really need.
And as far as the company and the brand itself,
like just you know, from just come like a sales
and marketing perspective, because I know you guys also like
to talk about just kind of the you know, the

(31:56):
actual marketing perspective of the company and kind of how
I'm building it. The way I look at this is,
you know, there's a lot of I'll just use I'm
trying to think of a brand. Let's just use Nike
for example. Nike is a huge brand. If you're reaching
into a bag and you're grabbing a customer out for Nike,
you know who is that customer? What is that avatar?

(32:17):
Most people are going to say it's an athlete, right,
You're grabbing an athlete out or an aspiring athlete. That's
your target demographic with Nike. One thing that I'm trying
to or the thing that I'm trying to build with
this brand and this company. And this is another reason
why people just call me crazy because it's like, how
can you do that? It's never been done. I want
this to be for everyone. And the reason why I

(32:40):
feel like it is is because when I reach into
a bag and I'm grabbing out a customer for official
Patriot here, that customer is not just an athlete. They
could be an athlete. They could also be a mechanic.
They could also be a veteran. They could also be
a single mom. They could be a stay at home mom.
They could be a blue collar worker. They could be
a you know, a race car driver, they could be

(33:03):
it could be anything. The only thing that has to be,
you know, the common denominator between all of those people
is the fact that they love their country and they
love their people. And that's it.

Speaker 1 (33:14):
And so.

Speaker 3 (33:16):
I'm trying to build a brand, a household name, right,
something that people can be really proud of. That's not
just another political merch company that people wear to out
to make people mad or to be outraged. It's something
that symbolizes what I believe our country is really built
on and what we need in order to really be free.

(33:40):
You know, I always say this, this, this whole movement
started with truth and freedom, and ultimately that's what it's
going to Maybe that's what's going to make it grow
are people that appreciate truth and freedom and are willing
to defend those two things.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
Right, Well, it's just about it's just about being a
decent human, you know, just like, yeah, just doing the
right thing. And it's that's right, you know, and it
just takes a little bit of effort to help somebody
else out, you know, that's right. You don't have to
be you know, left right or whatever. It's just no,
just be a decent human.

Speaker 1 (34:21):
Absolutely. I feel like your product stands for kind of
cultivating unity and a sense of pride and not so
much confrontation because I agree with you. There are clothing brands,
apparel brands, if you will, that that kind of seem
to be trying to find that button to push with
somebody that sees their product, and it will spark a conversation,

(34:43):
but probably not a pleasant one where you know, the patriot.
The word patriot for most people is a positive word.
Love that You've posted something recently where you said, like
you've gotten orders from like different several like I think
forty different countries or something like that, And so you're
starting to make patriot here that's not just American patriot Like,

(35:05):
patriotism comes in all forms. Every country has people who
are proud to be citizens of that country. And so
you're starting to make products that are pride in different
countries you know, they're patriots as well, which I thought
was pretty cool.

Speaker 3 (35:19):
Yeah, so ever since we start, yes, it's forty nine countries,
we have a there's a patriote in forty nine countries
at least at this I'm not sure if it's more
at this point, but that's what it was last time
I checked, and every single state. And yeah, my wife
is actually you know, she was born and she was
technically born in USAW, but she's lived in Canada and
Calgary with her family ever since she was like five

(35:40):
years old, so she's you know, she's technically Canadian and
her whole family they're just as patriotic, if not a
lot in a lot of ways, even more patriotic sometimes absolutely.

Speaker 1 (35:52):
Too. And they're very proud to be Canadian.

Speaker 3 (35:55):
Absolute very Yeah, and that's just one example. But you know,
we also have Irish Patriot because I'm I'm Irish and
so you know us Irish are pretty proud. Yeah, yeah,
so we made so yeah. So it's technically our Saint
Patti's Day Patriot, right, the limited edition one, but it's

(36:15):
it's an Irish Patriot. You has the Irish flag and
the Patriot letters on the front. And we also have
a Mexican Patriote that we put out for Cinco de
Mayo and it's actually it's funny because it's actually one
of our best sellers and it has an a Mexican
flag on the front and it has an American flag
on the sleeve, and the amount of people that are
proud to be citizens of this country having lived in

(36:38):
Mexico at one point and being able to come here
and actually become a citizen and have the freedoms and
have the opportunity that they have now. We just did
a video. We interviewed a local guy who literally just
became a citizen, and the amount of happiness and pride
in his face is something that I think even Americans

(36:58):
could learn from. He is so proud, like so proud
to be an American and to have his little computer
repair business here in town and to be able to
live the life that he does and lead and you know,
lead his family to more opportunity than he ever would
have been able to. That's that's what it's all about.

(37:18):
It's that That's the other thing too, right. Patriotism is
not an American thing, And I think it's another narrative
that's been spun where it's like if you're not American,
you're you can't be patriotic, or if you're if you're
patriotic but you're not pushing only American agendas, then you're not.
It's it's just that's not how it is right. It's
just about the love of the people, the love of

(37:41):
your country, and and wanting to be free and sovereign,
and that is That's something that we've also tried to
put out. And so that's another another thing that I
want this brand to eventually. I want this to be
a worldwide brand. I don't want it to just be
a nationally recognized brand. I want it to be worldwide.
I want it to be something that everybody can be
out of and that means something to everybody from every

(38:03):
walk of life.

Speaker 1 (38:04):
Absolutely. And so with that, like do you have it?
You did tell us a cool story about the guy
that helps somebody out in home depot. But in your
start here video you meet a lot of people, you know,
do you have any memorable stories from meeting people out
and about It looked like you were maybe at like
some kind of like a music festival or some kind

(38:25):
of like local outreach opportunity where you had like a
merch table set up and stuff like that.

Speaker 3 (38:32):
Oh yeah, yeah. We do a lot of events. We
do a lot of like trade shows. We just you know,
it's kind of In twenty twenty one, we got hit
with some really, really bad and heavy censorship and we
had to pivot and we and it's been that It's
been that way ever since. You know, I I tell

(38:55):
people this and it's kind of like everybody thinks it's
just kind of an excuse. But I mean, I went
from nine million impressions a week to about one if
I'm lucky, just because I was talking about patriotism. The
word patriot in twenty twenty one created a censorship storm
for me and my company that most people will never understand.

(39:18):
And so we had to get we had to pivot,
and we had to get really creative, and we had
to kind of get back to you know, guerrilla marketing
where it's just like you're you're really just getting into
the community. And so we started doing events. We started
showing up at different trade shows, different state fairs, county fairs,
just all kinds of stuff to really get out and

(39:39):
talk to people face to face, which has been one
of the coolest experiences for sure. As far as like
a specific experience with that goes, man, I don't know,
because there's so many there's so many cool ones where
we talked to people and they already knew about the
brand or they've learned about it and they love it.
One cool one that just comes to mind. This was

(40:02):
two years ago. We we had somebody come up and
buy some gear and this was at a state fair,
and they loved the brand and they were you know,
they were so bought in. And this happens very frequently
where they'll come, they'll buy some and then they'll come
back two hours later and they'll buy more, and then
they'll send their family and it's it's really really cool.

(40:23):
This time, specifically, though, this person actually came back and said,
how do I how do I be a part of this?
And I told them about the ambassador program and things
like that, and that's usually kind of where the conversation ends.
It's like, okay, awesome, I'll sign up and you know,
we'll see if we can make it happen. They stayed
actually and worked with us for free. They the whole day,

(40:45):
and then they actually ended up working with us for
the next six days at this fair for free, just
just kind of jumping in and helping to you know,
sell the gear and set up the booth and just everything.
And that was years ago, and to this day, every
single fair that we do that specific fair, every time
we go to it. They are, they're they're working the

(41:08):
fair the entire ten days, and they've been one of
the most successful, or not successful, but one of the
most supportive ambassadors for us. And it's all because of
how much they believed it when they when they first
saw it and when they when they kind of experienced
it for the first time. And that's that's to me,
is another testament of just like people want to feel

(41:31):
like they're a part of something bigger than them, especially
when it's something like this that means so much to
them because they have felt like they didn't have a
voice and they didn't have a community for so long.
So that's that's kind of a cool story. That's the
first one that comes to mind, But there's been so
many different stories like that, and and so many cool
experiences that we've had that I've had. Specifically being a

(41:53):
part of this and being you know, lucky enough to
have been able to build it and been honestly given it.
I feel like this has been a huge blessing and
it's been something that's been given to me quite frankly,
and it's been a gift. And uh, it's it's kind
of impossible to come up with just you know, one
specific experience. I guess, I don't know. It's hard, it's been,

(42:14):
it's been really cool.

Speaker 2 (42:16):
So the people make the assumption that you're a veteran
when when you talk to them.

Speaker 3 (42:22):
Every single time, every single time, because I also kind
of looked the part like I'm not you know, I'm
not a I'm not a.

Speaker 1 (42:30):
Like it's well believable.

Speaker 3 (42:36):
Definitely look the part. Yeah, but no I And I
always tell them, I always say, no, I'm not you know,
but I'm just a civilian. But uh, I you know.
One of the reasons why I do this every single
day because it is not easy. I mean, anybody that
has built a business like this, it is not easy.

(42:56):
It is the hardest thing I've ever done. I cannot
tell you how many times I have tried to quit
or or wanted to quit, and ultimately it just always
comes back to this is bigger than me. It's about
the people. It's about the experiences, like I'm telling you,
and it just I can. I always have these things
that happen where it's like in the times that I'm

(43:18):
so low and I'm like, man, it's so hard. I
don't know if I can continue to do this, like
I could. I could make so much more money if
I did this or whatever else, or I could have
this opportunity, or it'd be so much easier. Something happens.
That's just like God saying no, you're not allowed to quit.
I know that sounds like crazy for some people. I
don't believe a good or whatever. But like I cannot
tell you how many times that has happened. And so

(43:41):
we just, you know, we keep going. But I always
tell people it's I'm not a veteran, but that's I'm
so grateful for the people who have served, because you
make it possible for me to do what I do.
And you know, I'm I'm trying my best to build
something and to create something and to live a life

(44:03):
and inspire others to live a life that's worthy of
the sacrifice that those people make, you know, because I
think that ultimately that at least the friends that I
have that are veterans, that's what they're always telling me
is they appreciate official patriotear because it's it makes their
sacrifice worth it. It makes all the hard times that
they go through worth it to see somebody embracing the

(44:27):
freedom and the liberties and the sense of patriotism in
our country that they fight for every single day. So
that's kind of that's kind of what I tell everybody.
But no, I'm not a veteran. I'm not, and quite frankly,
I don't want to be. I don't want to. I
want to be a father, I want to be a husband.
I don't want to have to leave my family and

(44:48):
go and fight in a war like I just don't
want to. I want to be free and live a
life of you know, of fulfillment and have my family
and have my kids and not have them worry about
whether or not their dad's going to come home. And
I'm getting kind of emotional because I have a lot
of friends that I've lost who are veterans, and it's

(45:15):
not you know, sometimes I'm like, it's not fair, right,
Like why them? And then I just have to remind
myself they are playing a part that is making it
possible for me to live my life the way that
I do. And that's why I'm so grateful, and that's
why I try my best to, you know, always give

(45:36):
back to that community because quite frankly, they've been forgotten
by most and the lot you know, to do what
they do and then to come back and be met
with you know, here's a handful of drugs that'll keep
you at least feeling like you can survive in this environment.

(45:57):
And we can't guarantee that you're going to be treated
for invisible and visible wounds that you've you know, you've gotten.
But you know, that's just kind of how it is.
That's just the life. And so many of them end
up without homes and without family and without friends and
without hope. And it's it's so sad to hear their

(46:17):
stories because they should be getting more opportunity and more
money and more of everything that you can think of
for what they do, and yet they're they're some of
the most forgotten people in this world. And it's just
it's really really especially in this country, and it's really
really sad.

Speaker 2 (46:34):
Well, I can tell you as a veteran, Yeah, I mean,
I could see where a lot of people would assume
that you were a veteran, since since a lot of
your clientele would would be veterans. But as a veteran,
it's equally important to know that there's somebody out there
supporting you as absolutely you know that, Yeah, because You're right, veterans,

(46:56):
it is a sometimes it is a lonely, lonely road.
So it is good to know that they're that there
are people out there supporting you well.

Speaker 3 (47:06):
And dude, Vetter, I mean, you know, we don't have
to go too much in this. I'm sure you guys
touch a lot, but the veteran suicide rate, it's just
insane to me, Like I I never realized it, but
even in the five years that I've been building this business,
I have lost one, two, four friends, four veteran friends
that I knew at one point, I met them amazing people,

(47:30):
we became friends, and in five years they're gone and
and and they're gone for the same reason that all
of them are gone. They get to a point where
they feel hopeless, they feel like there's nothing they can
do to feel normal, and to they lose there's no purpose.
And watching that happen is so hard because it's like

(47:55):
they should feel like they have h I mean, I
just it's so hard to even put in words. I
just it's it's been really tough to watch good, good
people that have families. You know, the one of my buddies,
it just they literally hung himself and he was. If
there was anybody that I never would have thought that

(48:17):
would happen with, it was him, and he he was
so he seemed like he was so fulfilled and so happy.
He had a business, he had a family, had kids,
and then all of a sudden, one day the next
he was gone. And it was like it just it's
such a shock because you're like, what, And then when

(48:37):
you learn about all of the all of the battles
that he was actually fighting with nobody to see or
nobody to hear, you know, it really puts it in
perspective and you finally understand, like, Okay, that's that's why
that happened, right. And I always tell my friends, especially
my friends that are veterans, I I have gotten to
a point where as long as as long as my

(48:59):
kids and my wife, for not an immediate need, I
tell every single one of them. You send me a
text that says, hey, man, I need I need to
talk to somebody, and I will drop everything. I don't
care what I'm doing, I will drop it all just
to get on the phone and talk to you. So
that that doesn't happen again. And so the hopefully we
could I can say something that just helps you feel

(49:20):
like you're you know, there's it's not hopeless and and
someone actually wants you to be in this world and
you make it a better place, and like, you know,
because it's it's crazy to me, I'm not a veteran,
and yet I've lost four friends in the space of
five years to suicide and I've never experienced anything like
that before.

Speaker 2 (49:41):
Well, we shut down and we live inside there in
our heads. And that's one of the things that I
try to focus on, is you know, getting veterans, you know,
out of the out of the shell, and you get
a move and get a mobile and just you know,
because right you do, you start to withdraw and then

(50:01):
and then you know, all of a sudden, something happens
and you're and everybody's like, oh, well, I didn't even
see that coming. Well that's because they were completely withdrawn
and there were two different people.

Speaker 1 (50:12):
Yeah, I was gonna say, we put on a brave
face externally, but it's usually the people that you would
never ever imagine based on what you can see from
the outside. But those are usually the ones that think
about it the most. If they don't end up actually
carrying it through, it hits very close. We're all veterans,

(50:32):
and we've I think we've all been I know for
a fact we've all been touched by it, either firsthand
or you know, close friends, family, whatever the case might be.
So yeah, absolutely, that's I'm glad you touched on it.
I mean, it's not easy to talk about, but it's necessary.
It's a conversation that we definitely need to have more often.

(50:55):
But in closing, we want to be able to help
people follow your journey. So what are your like, what
social media platforms are you on? What's your website? I
know you have a podcast as well, yes.

Speaker 3 (51:10):
So, yes, So the main platform we're on is Instagram.
It's the official Patriot Gear, but our fate we also
have a Facebook which is just Patriot Gear, and our
website is official patriot Gear dot com and that's that's
kind of where you can follow the company. And and

(51:33):
then my personal Instagram and my my uh my podcast
it's it's my personal instagram is Iwinster I W E
N D T S T E R. And then my
podcast is the Ian Wentz Show. You know, my podcast
is not about having the celebrities and the people that
are like, oh I know this, like I don't. I

(51:53):
want to have everybody and any anybody on to just
have a conversation that's real and that people can relate
to and that can help change lives. And it doesn't
you know, it can be about anything. I really am
just trying to create a space where we can have
these conversations that really make an impact on people's lives.
So The Ian Wentz Show. Subscribe to the YouTube channel

(52:15):
as well as you can listen to it on the
Apple and Spotify. Yeah, that's that's kind of every that's
that's how you can follow our journey and kind of
be a part of the community. This is something that's
veteran specific. So we have our annual Remember t It's
it's a it's a special Patriot T shirt has a
Patriot logo on the front and then on the back
it has a drawing that I actually came up with

(52:38):
to represent veterans and for Veteran Day, and that'll be
that'll be dropping. Actually I think that's already live right now.
So that's something that we that we also have. And
we're also right now running a kind of a giveaway
with our Veteran organization. So if you donate to our
veteran organization, or you grab some gear, you have a

(52:58):
chance to win a Polarius Ranger, so side by side,
which is pretty cool. And yeah, so we're always just
trying to build the community grow any way we can.
You know, like I said, it's been a really uphill
battle as far as the censorship and everything else goes.
So all we ask is that you come be a
part of the community and help us to continue to

(53:18):
spread this message and you know, make this about more
than a T shirt and that's what Official Patriot Gear
is all about.

Speaker 1 (53:24):
Absolutely well, Founder and CEO of Official Patriot Gear, Ian went,
thanks so much for being on show today. We really
appreciate you. And with that, Rally Pointers fall out