#062 - Baker Leavitt | From Building Billion Dollar Brands to Chasing Eland in Africa

Our guest on this episode is a powerhouse in the outdoor and business space, he's also a master of cutting through the noise.

Joining me is Baker Levitt Director of Strategic Relations at Black Rifle Coffee Company. He’s helped shape one of America’s most influential lifestyle brands, connecting hunters, veterans, and freedom-loving folks through powerful storytelling, sharp strategy, and unapologetic culture. From real estate and media to political consulting and crisis PR, Baker’s got his boots in every arena and he’s not afraid to speak his mind.

In this episode, we go deep. We talk about building brand loyalty, why simplicity beats complexity in business, and how hunting shaped his journey from chasing elk in Utah to giant Eland in Africa. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a patriot, or just someone looking to live with purpose, this one’s going to hit home.

🔑 Key Takeaways from the Episode with Baker Levitt

Build Culture, Not Just Products - Black Rifle Coffee succeeded by creating a brand people wanted to belong to. It wasn’t just about selling coffee it was about building a tribe of like-minded patriots, hunters, and veterans.

Simplicity Wins in Business and Life - Whether it’s PR crisis management or elk hunting, Baker preaches one principle: keep it simple. Most problems are made worse by overthinking; the right answer is often the obvious one.

Brand Voice Matters - A brand isn’t just a logo it’s the way you speak, act, and show up. Black Rifle's unapologetic voice resonated deeply with its audience and helped shape a billion-dollar company.

The Power of Serving Veterans - Baker emphasized the responsibility not just the marketing value of supporting the veteran community. Real impact means real cash, real conversations, and real service.

Hard Work Meets Opportunity = Luck - Baker’s success in hunting and business didn’t come from luck alone. It came from preparation, consistency, and taking the shot when the moment was right.

New Hunters: Just Go Fail - His advice to beginners? Get off the couch, go make mistakes, and learn by doing. Don’t chase perfection chase experience. And when it’s hard, remember: “You can’t kill anything from the couch.”

Africa is a Hunter’s Paradise - Baker shares why hunting in Africa is unlike anywhere else diversity, freedom, and the sheer wildness of it all. It’s not about inches; it’s about the experience.

Execute or Get Out of the Way - In business, he values execution above everything else. Ideas are cheap. People who can get things done are irreplaceable.

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Transcript

Ryan Uffens (00:19)
I'm excited to be joined today by someone who's played a major role behind the scenes, one of the most influential lifestyle brands in the country. Baker Levitt is the director of strategic relations for Black Rifle Coffee Company, where he's helped to build a powerhouse that's reshaped how veterans and hunters connect through media, merch and mission.

He's also an entrepreneur who's worked across real estate, branding and political advocacy, leveraging storytelling and strategy at every level. Outside the boardroom, Baker's no stranger to back country hunts, rugged terrain and the grit that comes with it. But today we're gonna dive in a little bit deeper and talk about building culture through brand voice and navigating the intersection between business, politics, personal values, and again, hunting. So, Baker, thanks for joining me, brother.

Baker (01:05)
Yeah, man. And I have read that about myself on chat GBT as well. So good. It's so good. Yeah, man. So, ⁓ yeah, dude, I, I'm the director of strategic relations at black rifle. I've been with black rifle for a decade. ⁓ it is one of my greatest accomplishments in life. mean, you know, I've played an important role at the company, but what I like to do.

Ryan Uffens (01:09)
Hahaha!

Baker (01:34)
When I think about brands and companies like Apple or what, I'm not comparing Blackrock with Apple, but like you look at like an Apple, for example, and if you were to, and I look at businesses like a chess board, and if you remove pieces from the chess board, what would the company have, I how would the game have played out with the company have still done what it did? Like, for example, if you remove Wozniak or Steve Jobs from Apple, there is no Apple.

That's not the case with me at Black Rifle. Like I've been very helpful ⁓ in a lot of ways, but like the main people at Black Rifle were Evan, Matt, JT. ⁓ Without any of them, like we wouldn't have what we have today, but like, yeah, it's, to steal a saying from Evan Hafer, I've, you know, contributing ounces to pounds, you know, that swing the scale. So it's been awesome. It's been a lot of fun.

We've had our hiccups and our ups and downs and PR nightmares and all that crazy stuff. you know, it's really cool watching something go from a concept to a publicly traded billion dollar company. I mean, I think this year we'll do over $400 million in sales. That's an insane amount of money when you think about it. That's an insane amount of coffee too when you really think about it. So that's been a ton of fun, but you know.

Black rifle is ⁓ it's a brand. Like the coffee is great. I love the coffee. I drink it every morning. But what we did in the early days of black rifle was we created something that people wanted to be a part of and wanted to participate in. And everyone's looking for a tribe to join. And that's what we created a black rifle. I we have the largest coffee subscription service in the world. There are 267,000

coffee club subscribers that get coffee sent to their front door every single month. And it's been a wild ride. It's been a wild ride. So I also have a consulting company called Digital Mongoose that does social media and digital marketing and whatnot for companies in the firearms space and the outdoor space to a veteran community. And then I have a company out of DC called Canepole Media, that's political consulting.

We work with other big, massive companies in their government affairs departments. you know, that's really fun and rewarding work when you get approached with massive, know, a huge company will call you with a massive problem. And to them, we solved a problem this year for a company that saved them $400 million, $500 million in market cap. They were going to get the Bud Light treatment without question.

and in about an hour we were able to step in and just completely and totally solve the problem, which is super rewarding. But the thing that's funny,

Ryan Uffens (04:38)
And is that pivoting

like on PR like messaging like like what I mean, I'm sure some of it's confidential but

Baker (04:42)
It's hitting in what

the company. So Robbie Starbuck.

was like, is taking DEI scalps. And there was a company that reached out to us about some DEI stuff. ⁓ And we were able to kind of help them solve their problems, ⁓ which was basically getting rid of DEI stuff. But like you, have these mass and as I like kind of climb this ladder in life and I get older and wiser and my network expands.

I turned 15 in August. ⁓ You go one of two ways. You make things really complicated or you make things really simple. And I'm of the school of thought that the simpler the better. like Occam's razor, the obvious answer is normally the right one. So you have these massive complicated or what appear to be complicated problems and you're able to kind of just offer them a very simple solution.

in like 30, you talk five minutes and you're like, well, instead of doing all these crazy things, what if you just did this and this and this and you call this person, you get this person to say this publicly and that and that. And they're like, you think that'll work? It's like, of course it's going to work. But so what happens is like you have these, Oh my God, man. It's like baseball. If you can slow the game down, you're most likely going to win. Whoever can slow it down the most. but like, if you look at, um,

Ryan Uffens (06:06)
Things have been so overcomplicated.

Baker (06:18)
crisis PR firm, example. The longer your crisis drags along, the more money they make. That's what they do. So most crisis PR firms, their initial suggestion is something that will cause you more problems and cause more noise in the short term. And then they get to come in and say, thank God you called us. Otherwise you'd be screwed. These are the things you have to do. And it's never the right thing. It's just a way for them to, they're not, they don't give a.

shit about you. don't care about you. They just want to extract as much money as they possibly can from you. That's what they want to do. So the longer the crisis goes along, the more they can bill you. longer they have a monthly retainer extending itself. So ⁓ yeah, it's been a ton of fun, man. Every day it gets better and better. Like I just ⁓ have an amazing life living in tiny beach town in Florida. Very simple life.

⁓ and I just, don't know that my life could get better than it is. Like I think I'm the luckiest guy in the world. It's awesome. I get to do what I love. Very rewarding. I get to work every day for a company that's really making a difference, you know, ⁓ in the veteran space. And I wish we were better at talking about what we did for veterans, like veteran advocacy and the checks that we write to veterans organizations. I mean, we spend millions of dollars a year and I don't mean

a bunch of coffee I'm talking about in cash that we donate and Evan's like, ⁓ I don't want to come across as a braggart. It's our obligation. It's like, yeah, man, but

We're not bragging. We're showing people what's possible. So if Black Rifle can write a check to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation for $516,000, maybe we'll inspire someone to donate five bucks. Like we get, this is what we could give. What can you give? know? ⁓ And a lot of times, man, it's not even about money. It's like, pick up the phone, call someone, call a veteran. Just have a conversation. And that's one thing that I take great pride in, because I was never in the military. And like,

Ryan Uffens (08:13)
Hmm.

Baker (08:27)
I believe just because you didn't serve then doesn't mean you can't serve now, you know? And, ⁓ you know, I've got several friends that I did not know they were going through anything because, you know, those guys tend to keep stuff inside, soft guys. And they were just like, Hey dude, I want you to know that like, ⁓ I was in a really bad space and you called me out of the blue and we talked for an hour and I was having some gnarly thoughts. And I was like, I didn't, I couldn't tell you sounded normal to me. They're like, yeah, you know,

Ryan Uffens (08:31)
Hmm.

Yeah.

Baker (08:56)
So there's all kinds of stuff you can do. You can volunteer, you can write a check, can just pick up a telephone. Be nice.

Ryan Uffens (09:00)
Third... Yeah.

Yeah, there's a couple guys that I know that have, you know, that have been their seals and you know, they do, they carry over that silent professional into their new careers. And it's hard to kind of break from that. Like you're talking about like Evan not wanting to be like, I don't want to go be like a bragger. Look at what we're doing. But by the same token, like, I mean, I didn't serve in the military either, but I had family members that have, I've had family members that have given their life serving this country.

Baker (09:11)
Mm-hmm.

Right.

Ryan Uffens (09:33)
And so I always look at these individuals and veterans with like high esteem because it's, mean, it is some of them make the ultimate sacrifice and, and, ⁓ you know, putting up a ribbon and stuff like that is nice, but many of them have families and the ones that do come home. Like I just had Caleb Brewer on. I'm sure you're, you're aware of Caleb. And I mean, that dude is a fricking stud man. And he just came back and just like went to work and just was like, Hey, it's time to grind.

Baker (09:42)
yeah.

Yeah, great job.

Ryan Uffens (10:02)
right? Like, let's just figure out what we can do. So I think it's great what you guys are doing. And ⁓ yeah, I think you should should shout it from the rooftops and because it does inspire it does inspire people and businesses to hey, maybe we could do something to add a component to where we could give a little bit towards this foundation.

Baker (10:11)
Yeah, I agree with you.

You only

Yeah, or you know, I think a lot of those guys like, you know, weakness when you're in the teams, when you're on a team, you can't show weakness because there's always someone jockeying for your job. You know, you don't have to throw a no hitter every single day, but like you've got to pitch a, a winning game, you know, and like, Hey, I'm going through some bad stuff. You know, I'm having crazy thoughts and you got to go talk to a psychiatrist or see the doctor.

And all that stuff goes in your file. So those dudes will like self-medicate. They'll drink, they'll do whatever they have to do to stay on the team so they can continue to touch the magic every single day. Bring it. mentioned Caleb Brewer. Caleb's interesting. Caleb's a double, double amputee above the knees and one's above the knee. Okay. And the thing that's interesting about him is that like he has a, he found purpose, which is archery, you know?

Ryan Uffens (11:07)
One above the knee, one below. Yep.

Mm-hmm.

Baker (11:18)
And I think a lot of guys that come from that high tempo world, the special operations world, ⁓ you know, their career is getting during the GWOT was getting ready for deployment, going to schools, training, all that stuff. And there was an end goal, which was deploying and then coming back and there was a process and they get out and there's no end goal. There's no process. There's no, ⁓ workup. There's no training. It's just like, well, heck, what do I do now? I ran amongst wolves for.

five, 10, 15, 20 years, whatever the number is. And now I'm, where's my pack? I don't have a pack to join, you know? So, ⁓ yeah, I mean, think one of the best things, I think one of the best things the veteran community could lean on is civilians, which I think when veterans get out and they cross over from the military into the civilian world, they rely on other veterans. And I think it would benefit them tremendously if they were to reach out to civilians. Cause I mean, I think,

Even basic training or boot camp stories, I love listening to any story that they have to tell because they're always funny. know, like there's my brother was a, he was in the military and ⁓ he said the most creative, funny human beings he's ever met were his drill instructors at Paris Island. And he said, like the greatest ⁓ he's a, he's an MD now and he was a force recon Marine and he's been through a lot of tough schools and know, trials by fire.

Ryan Uffens (12:25)
yeah.

Baker (12:47)
He said the greatest amount of self-control and discipline he's ever exerted in his life was not laughing at drill instructors and keeping a straight face just based on how funny those guys are. So that's one thing I'd love to see.

Ryan Uffens (12:56)
Alright.

yeah,

well and they probably do. It's like they use it as like a stand-up routine. It's like, like laugh. Give me, you think that's funny?

Baker (13:04)
yeah.

Yeah,

yeah, you don't think I'm funny? Why are you not laughing? You know what mean? Just, I don't know, it's hilarious. yeah, so it's been a wild ride. ⁓ Hunt a ton, do a lot of stuff, stay active. I'm going to, Melissa and I are going to Zimbabwe in August. ⁓ I turned 50, I'm going after an elephant. ⁓ It'll be my, first time I went to Africa was in 2004.

Ryan Uffens (13:11)
Yeah.

Baker (13:35)
So it'll be like my 20, 21 year anniversary of going over there for the first time. I've been a bunch between, but. So going to South Africa first for a few days with my buddy. We're gonna do a spring buck coal hunt. And then we're gonna do some, some kudu out of a helicopter, which I've never heard of. That's gonna be insane. Which is what this thing is above my desk. It's a kudu, which a big spiral horn antelope species. And then we go.

Ryan Uffens (13:56)
Sounds like fun.

Yeah.

Baker (14:05)
Then on the second of August, we will go back to Johannesburg and then fly to Zimbabwe. And my birthday is August the 6th, I turned 50, so we'll be hunting elephants for, I it's like 12 days. Yeah, I'm gonna do a hippo as well, and then probably a few other things. So I don't know, I'm looking forward to it and can't wait. Super stoked.

Ryan Uffens (14:25)
Have you hunted your entire life?

Baker (14:28)
I taught my, so my dad died when I was five, 1981, and no one in my family hunted. And I taught myself to hunt when I was 15. And I've hunted my, I've hunted for, what is that, 35 years now? I've hunted on four continents.

Ryan Uffens (14:46)
No,

that's like 45 years. No, since 15. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you're right.

Baker (14:49)
No, 35 years. 35.

So yes, I've been hunting for 35 years, three and a half decades. hunted on four continents. hunted in Australia, Central America, South America, and Africa. And I absolutely, I think 24 states I've hunted in. Love elk hunting. I shoot one elk every fall. And then my passion.

Ryan Uffens (15:15)
Where do

you do your elk hunting? Like do you come up like Rocky Mountains?

Baker (15:19)
yeah, for sure. Yeah, so I've hunted elk in Washington, hunted and killed elk in Washington State, Idaho, three in Colorado, three in Utah, one in New Mexico.

There's one other I can't remember. I've killed nine bulls.

Ryan Uffens (15:38)
Okay, nice.

Baker (15:40)
to Deseret ⁓ with Aaron Blackreifel, which is in Utah. My first elk ever.

Ryan Uffens (15:46)
You

guys, is your headquarters in? Well, you're not headquarters, you're out of San Antonio, correct?

Baker (15:51)
No,

no, no. Headquarters is in Salt Lake City. Yeah.

Ryan Uffens (15:53)
Okay. So,

okay. I drive by your headquarters like every day then right there off 21st. Yep.

Baker (15:56)
Yeah, yeah, that's it. My first 1144

South 500 West, my first elk was in the East Canyon, over the counter, non-resident archery, any elk. And I shot a nice five by six on the first day. Of all the things in life that I had a golden horseshoe shoved directly up my butt, it is elk hunting. So I've killed nine bulls.

And I think seven of them were on the, six of them were on the first day.

Yeah, and I've killed a couple really, really good ones. I got one to my left that's 381 inches.

Ryan Uffens (16:40)
Wow. yeah, dang.

Baker (16:44)
It's got 23 inch thirds. It's huge. Huge bull. Most meaningless elk I've ever killed too. Shot him in 312 yards with a rifle laying prone. He was raking a tree, dropped him in his tracks, took us an hour and 45 to get over to him. And by that time, you know, it's like, I don't know, it just wasn't that big a deal. I mean, it wasn't. No, well, I couldn't kill. So.

Ryan Uffens (16:48)
That's insane.

is

Was it your first day on that one?

Baker (17:12)
I made a promise to my friends. said, my two buddies, I said, I am not going to shoot anything on the first day. I don't care what it is. And they said, yeah, BS. And I was like, yeah, you'll see. I could have killed that up with a ball peen hammer first morning. I'm dead serious. I could have killed him with a hammer. ⁓ He came in solo to a hoochie mama cow call, hot, hot. And the...

My guide was like shooting. said, no, man, I'm not shooting anything the first day. I don't care. I'm not going to do it. He goes, you don't understand what that is. I said, no, I can see it. It's right there. I'm not shooting it. But yeah, first elk was in East Canyon right there in Park City. ⁓ First afternoons. And I did. I'm from Georgia, man. I live in Florida, but I'm from Georgia. And like, you know, growing up in the south. Like elk hunting is something that's like super aspirational for southern hunters. You know, it's like.

Ryan Uffens (17:57)
Okay.

Baker (18:12)
We don't know what that is. We've never even seen one. And like, I have a theory, when you grow up in the South, you either want to hunt out West, or you want to hunt Africa. It's one of the two. And for me, was always Africa. I was always obsessed with Africa. I've been a dozen times. Dude, there's something about it, But there's also something about an elk bugling in your face. And if that doesn't grab ahold of you.

at a cellular level, something's wrong with you. So, yeah dude, I met a guy, a guy named Eli, who lived in Utah on a trip to Africa. he's like, yeah dude, come out here, I'll show you where to go. And so I went out there and he's like, let's go here. And so he's like, I'm gonna take my daughter this afternoon and we'll just sit you on a wallow. And I was like, all right, cool. So I had my bow and I was like, I'm just gonna pretend.

that if an elk walks in, it's just a big deer and I'm gonna shoot it like I would shoot a deer. And dude, like, I went to Georgia, I'm a diehard Georgia Bulldog fan and I cannot stand Notre Dame. This is 2015 and we were playing Notre Dame in South Bend and I had like one bar, my phone was like quasi roaming and the game kicked off and I was like, oh, I'm gonna be able to sit here and.

follow the game and, you know, waste time because I know no one else is not going to walk in. Like that's absurd. You're like, I don't know what I'm doing. And I had a hoochie mama cow call, you know, and the game started and I was getting intermittent text messages from my brother. Okay. And so like we, they scored first and we scored and like, of a sudden I hear this noise that I've never heard in my life. And I was like,

That sounds like an elk in a mud hole, like a wallow. And it's not the one I'm sitting on. So I knocked an arrow and started sneaking down this meadow. And the meadow kind of crested, kind of crested the meadow. And what I'm gonna tell you happened in like a split second. I looked to my right and there was a massive cow moose. I mean, huge. And I thought,

What a completely and totally ridiculous looking animal. That's obviously what was in that wallow. And then I was like, wait a that animal is completely dry. And then I looked in front of me and here came this elk, bull elk walking up the hill to me. And there was mud, clumps of mud falling off of his rack. I mean, like just a kid making a sand castle, a drip castle, like just.

globs, he was black, mud everywhere. And so there was a tree had fallen down at the base of the meadow and I was like, well, if he walks to my left and there's an opening over there, if he walks in that opening, I got a shot on him. And dude, he walked to that opening and not only did he stop, he turned five degrees away from me and opened up that shoulder. And I sent an arrow right through both lungs. And then,

He ran off and I went, my God, I just shot an L. ⁓ wow, I cannot believe this happened. So I pulled out my phone and recorded my leg shaking. And you can hear me go, what am I doing? This is stupid. So I was like, all right, I'm gonna wait like 30 minutes. So I wait 13 seconds. And I was like, I'm gonna walk over here and see if my arrow is there, okay? So I walk over there and I'm like, ⁓ man, I must have missed him. Because I don't see my arrow.

And I looked left, dude, and brother, let me tell you, a two-year-old could attract that elk. He cut a trail, it was like a haunted forest, just a circle through the woods. There was blood eight feet in the air. Ugh, like coming out of his nose. And so I followed the blood trail for about...

Ryan Uffens (22:17)
Just jumping.

Baker (22:27)
85 yards and um it came to like a kind of like a power line-esque clearing and I was like where's the blood the blood's gone I must have gutshot him I mean just totally irrational like like what like so I was like all right let me text Eli so I pulled up my phone and like I'm I was like I just shot an L

Ryan Uffens (22:42)
Right.

Baker (22:51)
And then I'm looking, following, catching up on like updates from my brother on the Georgia game and it's back and forth. And I was like, man, this we're losing. And I just gut shot an elk. Um, cause I found some super dark blood, but in hindsight, was mud that fell off his body. I was like, that's, that's gut blood. But like, if you could have seen the amount of blood and you were there, you'd have been like, dude, you are the most ridiculous human being I've ever met. Like this thing's dead somewhere within 20 yards of us.

Ryan Uffens (23:13)
You

Baker (23:20)
Anyway, so ⁓ lo and behold, he stopped running when he got to that clearing and then walked up 10 feet and then right 10 feet and fell over dead. So first elk man with a bow by myself, public land, Utah. And then I remember, man, I was like, you know, you don't pray and ask God for stuff that's frowned upon, you know, like you don't really ask for personal stuff. You ask him to help solve your problems. And I was like,

Ryan Uffens (23:31)
Well...

Baker (23:50)
Lord, I don't pray ever, but I shot this elk. I was like, man, if we could just win this game, this would be the best. I would never ask you for anything again. This would be the best day ever. So I'm hiking out like, I don't know, six, seven, eight miles with Eli and we're loaded to the gills and his little 12 year old daughter's with us. She's got like tenderloins around her neck and it's holding up, you know, neck meat in a backpack. ⁓

I just remember we got to the truck and I got a full signal and we're driving out, man. And I was just on cloud nine and I started getting texts like, congratulations, congratulations, way to go. Hell of a game. I was like, how do these people know I shot an elk? I haven't posted anything. Turns out we came back in one, like at the end of the game. And it was, I was just like, I shot my first elk. We beat Notre Dame. This is the best day ever. So, and then the next year I shot one in Idaho and then with a bow in public land, first morning, 7 15.

Then then hunted with my buddy for nine more days. not see or hear an elk. Did not see elk poop that was older than, know, younger than two months old. mean, so yeah, I've had a lot of good luck. but yeah, elk hunting every fall. And then we have a farm up in America's Georgia that I viciously hunt whitetail on. That's my favorite thing in the world to do, I shot a really nice whitetail in Texas last year. Shot a really nice whitetail buck at our place. ⁓

Yeah, that's my thing. That's my jam. And then turkey hunting too is another thing I'm obsessed with. Poor man's elk hunting, you know, which most Westerners say that's ridiculous, but you guys see flocks of 200 birds in the fall when you're out elk hunting, but you don't hunt them in the spring and they're all broken up. So I think you guys are missing out.

Ryan Uffens (25:34)
Yeah.

Yeah, well, we tried. got a buddy who ⁓ he does a ton of turkey hunting up here and ⁓ he's been trying to get me out. So but yeah, we

Baker (25:45)
dude,

it's like elk hunting. It's like elk hunting. It's awesome. It's so awesome. I mean, it's not an elk dude, but like it's just, you're interacting with an animal, they come and...

Ryan Uffens (25:53)
Yeah. Similarities,

I could call a band and yeah. ⁓

Baker (25:58)
Yeah, you know,

700 pounds less, you know, they don't weigh quite as much, they're a lot smaller. Oh yeah, dude, it's a lot of fun, I love it.

Ryan Uffens (26:04)
Yeah, yeah, a lot easier to haul out.

We're definitely going to have to look more into that. mean, he's diehard about it. He loves it. And there's some great places up here. I it's not too far either for us to get to, it yeah.

Baker (26:18)
Yeah, and it's mountain birds. It's totally different,

You guys got merriam's up there, man. They're awesome. Beautiful birds. It's an armor. Oh yeah, for sure.

Ryan Uffens (26:24)
Yeah, that's a lot of fun.

So tell me what's been your favorite hunt that you've done so far in Africa.

Baker (26:35)
So took Melissa two years ago and like her within two hours. So we left, we got there first morning. It was like 19 degrees. This is in July. It's like 19 degrees. She does not like the cold, but by 11 o'clock, you know, I'm putting on sunscreen because we're glassing and it's just the sun's out. But she, after two hours there on the ground, she goes, I now understand why this is your favorite place on Planet Earth.

So that was an awesome experience with her. She shot a couple animals and really loved it. That was great. ⁓

Ryan Uffens (27:15)
What what is it about Africa like if you were to try and like pinpoint like what the dry is for you like the allure like what

Baker (27:16)
But yes.

just wild

dude. It's a wild place man. Like so we so I took her to the East Cape which is very similar to Utah topography wise okay and you go hunting Utah and you see elk and deer and you'll do all right so imagine going out and seeing 20 different species of animals

Ryan Uffens (27:34)
Okay.

Baker (27:52)
and you have a tag in your pocket for every single one of them. And it's just wild, that's where the first man dates back to Africa. ⁓ Everything about it, it's hard to, that's a really, it's something about it, it just grabs a hold you and it doesn't let go. If you go once and it grabs you, you will work diligently to return because it's just, it's just, there's so much.

Like Kevin Brittingham, who owns Thick, impossibly Q, is over there now and just shot a forest elephant, like with massive tusks. It's like he's in either the Congo or Central African Republic, I don't remember which spot, or maybe he's in Cameroon or something. But like, there's just so much diversity of species, people, the food, the accommodations. ⁓

You know like when you go hunting you have bloodlust like am I gonna get this done? Is it gonna happen? Is it gonna work? I gonna kill an elk? Am I gonna kill a mule deer? Like okay I got three days left, but is it gonna happen? Africa, your first trip to Africa, being on the ground 20 minutes, that evaporates and there is no stress. There's no pressure. You're like ⁓ okay, I get it. It's gonna happen. I'm just waiting for the animal that I want.

Now, what's super cool about Africa is that I have a saying, take what Africa presents you. So like guys that, if you don't have a lot of experience in Africa, you don't hunt inches, you hunt character and like you hunt good quality gold medallion animals, know, versus like, it's gotta be a record, it's gotta be SCI book, blah, blah. You don't know what you're looking at. You have no idea. So if you're asking the guide, like, hey, is this a good one? You know, like blah, blah. ⁓

Ryan Uffens (29:41)
Yeah.

Baker (29:47)
You know like when you're hunting and you just reach for your bow or your rifle because you see the animal and you're like, that's it, that's the one. No hesitation. That's kind of how Africa is with the right mindset. Like I've got a 17 inch bush buck right here on my wall, ⁓ which is world class. The one I shot last year was 13 inches but had double the mass. Super awesome. ⁓ Okay, let me answer your question. My favorite hunt.

right now from Africa was my giant eland last summer or two summers ago with Melissa. So I shot him at six times at five hundred and sixty four yards. I shot him six times and he died at eighty six hundred foot elevation.

at sunset.

And we got to him and I looked at Dave, my pH, and I said, we made a mistake. He goes, we have made a tremendous mistake. I said, where's Melissa? He said, about a mile and a half over there. And I said, what? He goes, see that land rover coming down the mountain? I said, my God. And I said, how close are they going to be able to get to us? He said, about a mile and a half away. ⁓

Ryan Uffens (31:10)
So they were as

close as they were gonna be able to get to you.

Baker (31:13)
Yeah, they just came down the mountain and went down to the base of the one that we were on. And so, like, and the temperature was dropping and like dude covered in, when I say covered in sweat, I'm talking about you could ring it out. And so the temps dropping and then Hueboy who we were hunting the Cowie and Hueboy whose family owns that, that farm, working farm. He had skinners and trackers coming up this way. Melissa and Chris.

Ryan Uffens (31:18)
Okay.

Baker (31:43)
which isn't his real name, he's a Skinner, he's some Zimbabwean, they're coming up this way. And everyone's kinda yelling back and forth to let everyone know where we are. But there was three people yelling, three groups yelling, and everyone was confused. And dude, you wanna talk about walking through some knowledge stuff, man? Good God, everything in the after wants to kill you or hurt you or make you sore or sting.

when she finally, and my wife has owned a CrossFit gym for 15 years, she's about as in shape as anyone you're gonna meet. She doesn't get, mean, she gets tired like everyone else, but like she's just tough and has tremendous endurance. And she finally made it up to us and she goes, I'm going to kill you. And I went, look at this thing. She goes, but I'm not, cause I love you. And she handed me a dry hoodie. And I thought, this is a great woman. Anyway, so.

Ryan Uffens (32:37)
She

loves me.

Baker (32:38)
Yeah, she does. She loves me. So I am, I'm about as strong as anyone needs to be. competed in powerlifting, I would say probably the top 1 % in the world. Um, squat 600 pounds means can still squat five and haven't competed in powerlifting in seven years. Um, I was incapable of moving this animal, any part of his body for a photo. Like,

It was on a little bit of a slant or a little bit of a slight decline and just... You don't understand how big and heavy these things are, man. Like, it's crazy. So that was awesome. My... There's a giant eland. E-L-A-N-D. Giant eland. It looks like a six foot tall Brahma bull. They're huge.

Ryan Uffens (33:19)
And what was it again, you said?

Okay.

wow.

Baker (33:32)
Well, so actually my favorite favorite

kill in Africa was...

2016, 2017 and yep, there you go.

Ryan Uffens (33:51)
Sorry, just to like, like you see the picture of them like, yeah, they look big. But then when you see like this one right here, I don't know why it's not. because I'm not, I'm clicking on.

Baker (34:03)
Those are actually, those aren't huge, Elon. Would you, no, yeah, giant, no. Those are, I they're decent size. Like that one bedded down here, that's a decent size. Those aren't huge ones. Dude, they're monsters. This one with the red frock right here, second row come down, right here, to the left of that one, left, right there. That's a good one, that's a big boy. So you don't judge them by the horns, you judge them by the scruff. That's another good one right here, two to the right.

Ryan Uffens (34:08)
That one, those one, that's not.

yeah.

⁓ right there.

Baker (34:37)
No, go left one. Go right one. Left two. Nope, left two. That's a decent south one. Right here, that one, yeah. Yeah, that one. Yeah, that's a good one.

Ryan Uffens (34:41)
That one?

Yeah, okay, okay.

Yeah, they're large animal. You couldn't budget.

Baker (34:54)
No, God no, no, hell no. My favorite kill was dropping and killing a massive giraffe with one shot while he was running full speed. Just snapshotting, boom, dead, heart and lungs. And Vossy goes, I've been doing this for 30 years, I've never seen anything like that happen in my life. And I was like, I just got lucky. ⁓

Ryan Uffens (34:57)
That's bonkers.

You seem to get lucky a lot.

Baker (35:21)
Yeah, you put yourself in the right position, dude. Luck happens. Like, what is it? ⁓ Hard work and opportunity. That's what creates luck. ⁓ But I've also had, I mean, I've screwed up a bunch of shots over there and this stuff. And dude, I shot an Elan, not an Elan, an Impala, shot at an Impala who was walking to the water hole. He was four feet from the water trough and he was going to stop and drink there. And I shot while he was walking.

Ryan Uffens (35:28)
Yeah.

Baker (35:51)
I had to wait literally two seconds and he would have stopped and drank water. But my impatient self sent one and I've never seen an arrow shaft bounce off the brisket of an animal. He walked into the middle of the shaft and it bounced. The broadhead didn't touch him. The fletching didn't touch him. The shaft bounced off his chest. And my buddy Michael looked at me he goes, what are you doing? And I was like, I don't know. I screwed that up. He's like, yeah, man, get it together.

⁓ but yeah, dude, my favorite hunts over there by far are the ones that I've gone on where I took a group of friends that have never been. That is something, and you're talking to someone that has partied in their younger years and done recreational drugs for fun. And there is no drug on this planet that holds a candle to seeing people in Africa hunt, true hunters for the first time that are there.

You've been talking about it for six seven eight months leading up to the trip and you're on the ground and you're in a ground blind with them bow hunting or riding around and you just That you can't that high is you can't duplicate it because they're like day one What is that? That's an impala Can I shoot it? Well, yeah, but maybe we wait for a better impala to show up. They're like, all right

and then the next day they've seen 400 impala by now. You know what I mean? But like, you see them with the first time they've shot these, or the first time they're over there and they see these animals that they've never seen, they've only seen pictures of, and it's just like, ah, you can.

Ryan Uffens (37:31)
Well, I

can relate to that because like I'm new to hunting. I didn't grow up hunting. I mean, we grew up playing sports, spent the weekends at the lake, right? And the very first hunt that I went on with my son and his friend, we're up in the Timbers and it's the last day of the archery hunt and this massive bull comes in and 30 yards.

Well, they were down looking for these wallows we were trying to get down to. anyway, long story short, it just sounds like a freight train branches snapping. He wasn't bugling or anything, but I was just like, what on earth is this that's coming through this fricking timbers here? Anyway, I see him range him 30 yards. He goes to step into opening and I feel wind hit the back of my neck and he stops I mean,

big old massive rack and like he turns looks at me for a split second and it felt like 30 seconds but it was kind of like you said it was just like an instant and then he was gone but it hooked me man I was like I this is amazing so I like

Baker (38:44)
I

people all the time, like, your story, it's like, man, what a tragedy. It's like, no dude, that's not a tragedy. That's probably the best thing ever happened to you. like, so, you learn from, now, if you don't learn from them, from that, and the wind shifting is nothing, there's nothing you could do about that. But like, you step on a twig, you make noise, you move, you get impatient. Like, as long as you're learning from your mistakes, man, it makes,

Ryan Uffens (38:58)
yeah.

Baker (39:14)
everything better and like

Ryan Uffens (39:16)
Well, just seeing that animal in the wild at 30 yards with me like a full draw. I didn't have a shot on vitals. I had no shot on vitals because he was in scrub oak, right? But just like the primal man in me, I'm like, ⁓ this is what it must have been like. Like that.

Baker (39:26)
What?

Yeah, I've done it.

I've almost done it. If I can, I can, I've been 30 yards from one, a big one. I've been in a position to kill a big one. Minus a couple of things that I have no control over. And you just learn from that. Like, I think that builds confidence. And so the next time you're in that situation, you'll

hope the wind doesn't shift, but you know what I mean? you just, the fact that you didn't take the shot, that's a win, that's a victory. That's counting coup man, as far as I'm concerned. Yeah, I took a vow, I made a promise to myself like four years ago. I'm probably gonna do that this season too, but my goal that year was to make perfect decisions. I didn't care about...

anything else other than making perfect decisions. ⁓ And believe it or not, that's the most successful hunting season I've ever had, because I killed that big elk. I killed a really nice four by four in full velvet in Nebraska by making perfect decisions. ⁓ Killed my whitetail that's on the wall. My favorite white... Top two favorite whitetails. ⁓

over there on the wall by making a perfect decision. And that was not to shoot. And then the mule deer, the perfect decision was to back out. I didn't have a shot. I wasn't going to get any closer. He wasn't going to come any closer. And was like, all I'll do is spook him with my press. So I backed out there. I killed a 400 pound, the day after I shot that big elk, I killed a 400 pound color-based black bear in Colorado.

⁓ And that's the best thing you can do is like focus on what you can control, which is making really, really good decisions.

Ryan Uffens (41:35)
So Baker, let me ask you this. For somebody who's newer to hunting that might be listening to this, and we've had people that I've talked to that it's like, hey, you overanalyze things, right? And I do. Where do you find a way to strike that balance between making perfect decisions and overanalyzing the situation?

Baker (41:38)
Mm-hmm. Yep.

yeah.

Very,

very fantastic, wonderful question and I have an even better answer for you. Just be honest with yourself.

What, like, you have to remove what you want from the equation and just literally analyze, what do I, these are the ingredients I'm working with. Is this enough to bake this cake right now? Can I bake this cake if I have this, will this bake a cake? And nine times out of 10, you don't have all the ingredients to bake the cake. So what you have to do is opt not to bake the cake. If the conditions aren't right, you don't hunt. If the wind's wrong, you don't go after the animal.

⁓ Yeah, I don't overanalyze anything in life. Like I tend to underanalyze things. So I think the answer to your question is just be honest in your assessment of the ingredients you have. Do you have enough to bake your cake? Probably not. So put the stuff up and yeah, yeah. I mean, you don't want to mess things up. So.

Ryan Uffens (42:54)
Don't cook.

I think it goes back to kind of what you were talking about with what you do as far as your consulting that you do with businesses. I think a lot of times people look at all the multiple different scenarios and it's like, just keep it simple. Like what's the simple answer? Like you said, I have the ingredients to cook? And if so, then let's get after it. If we don't, then don't.

Baker (43:25)
The higher the level you go in business, the more educated and the more robust the resume is of the person that you're talking to, the more complicated they want to see things. And the reason they do that is because they want to justify the expense. So think about a YouTube thumbnail. Let's say you hire someone to make a YouTube thumbnail for you.

and they're charging you $1,000 per thump, you're gonna pay them a grand per thumbnail, because there's nothing more important than a thumbnail. And they make these complex, complicated thumbnails versus the most effective one, because they wanna justify the cost. So if I'm paying someone for something, I want the finished product as quickly as possible. So it's like real estate. I list your house for sale.

you're gonna pay me 6 % commission and I sell your house on the second day. And you're be like, well, you're gonna give me a discount on my commission? Of course not. I'm gonna ask you for a bonus because I sold it in two days. And most people, they don't really understand that. Like they need things to be complicated because simple things make people, hold on, hey, hey, stop wrestling. Some people just, the more complicated and complex, the more sophisticated it is to them.

and that way it justifies the cost. Like they don't understand that, I have a thing called the black box theory. So A plus B equals C. You're giving me A to work with, the desired outcome is C. What does success look like? Give me, if you deliver this, that's success. Okay, so C is success. A plus B, B is what I do.

You don't need to worry about what I do or how I do it or even try to understand it because I don't even know what I do half the time. I just know that if you give me a and you want me to deliver C, I'll get you C and I'm going to figure out inside that black box inside of B. And most people, they just can't comprehend that. And so they tend to overcomplicate things. They need things to seem complicated because they're a CEO of a multi-billion dollar company. And they went to Kellogg business school at Northwestern and their undergrad is at Yale and

They have this insane resume and they got to show their board and all this crazy stuff. And these people, they need things to be dressed up. can't handle... The beauty is in the simplicity as far as I'm concerned.

Ryan Uffens (45:53)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

I got a story I can share with you after the podcast in regards to it. Well, so so I've just ⁓ recently been asked to take over this company and they own Spanish radio stations in the Salt Lake market. And when I went in there, I knew that

Baker (46:01)
No, no, you can tell me now. No, we're just talking. What's your story? I want to hear it.

Mm-hmm.

Ryan Uffens (46:25)
because like I met my staff and there was only one person that spoke English and the rest didn't. And so I'm going, I have an issue. Anyway, what transpired over the weekend transpired with the riots in LA and stuff like that. And so the ownership calls me and they're like, Hey, do you think we have an issue? And I'm like, you know, we have an issue. I'm like, no, no one's told me who is and who isn't anyway. Long story short, we have some

people that are not here legally working on the staff and ⁓ good folks, but they're still here illegal. And ⁓ two of them are on air talent. the long and the short of it is, is we spend hours talking about like, hey, how do we address this? And with the management and I'm like, well, they're like, we're to talk to the attorneys and blah, blah, blah, blah. Well,

Baker (47:24)
Peace. ⁓

Ryan Uffens (47:27)
Two of them, they're just not gonna be, they're not employed anymore. I went in this morning, I was like, I need to know everybody's status. Well, I'm in a travel visa so you can't legally work here. No, I'm like, can you go back home?

and let us work on getting you a work visa because they are good employees. They don't have a criminal background. They don't have anything like that. They've been working with the company for eight years, but out of Mexico versus here in the United States. Anyway, so I pulled them in. I was like, can you go home? Yes. Okay. ⁓ Can you do this job remotely? Yes. Great. Go do that and let's work on getting you back in here legally.

Baker (47:43)
Thank

Ryan Uffens (48:12)
so that you don't have to walk around looking over your shoulder 24 seven. That way, like the company owner is holding up to their values and things that they want to instill. And anyway, like I said, there was a back and forth that went kind of on and on about like, hey, how do we approach it? And I was just like, I'm just gonna sit down and ask them what the status is. And like, let's get you like, set up right. So.

Baker (48:13)
Okay.

Set

up for success.

Ryan Uffens (48:40)
Yeah, it's just like it was it was just a simple question. Are you here legally? Do you have are you are you able to do the job legally or?

Baker (48:41)
So.

Ryan Uffens (48:53)
do we have a problem? The ones that are like, I'm not going back, I well, you can't be employed with us. And they're technically not employed. That's the thing is it's like we're

We were taking advantage of the system because according to my understandings, if they're a contract, they're not an employee, they're, you know, contract ITAN, like we're not paying them. They have to report their own taxes, yada, yada, yada. I'm not a brilliant guy. didn't go to, you know, I, I went to some college, but I'm also just, I'm scrappy. I've been in sales my entire life. Sold radio stations for eight years, you know, out here in Utah, rentksl.com.

the classified sections for eight years. ⁓ just work and get it done. Like that's kind of been my background. And anyway, so that's like kind of like my full time gig. it's just, it was this it was just simple. mean, we could have like, well, let's talk to the attorneys. like, let's just sit down and ask them what their status is.

Baker (49:55)
find a solution. Anyone can identify, anyone, a monkey can identify a problem. It takes talent to solve problems. And listen.

Ryan Uffens (50:03)
Yeah.

Baker (50:08)
Problem solvers, the two most valuable things a company can have. The most valuable thing in the world is a person that has the ability to execute on ideas. If you can get the ball across, if you can get the ball into the end zone, you cannot be replaced. Because the ability to execute is a God given talent. Most people in companies don't have a lot of those people. And then the other one is, like anyone can solve, can identify a problem. And in fact, there's probably...

Everyone on this planet has the ability to do that. And a lot of people do it as think that's their job is to talk about problems. But if you can't solve a problem, you have no value. So solving problems, and like you just said, to the layman, that sounds really, really complicated. Like, oh my God, an illegal alien. What's gonna happen? Are we gonna get raided? And you're like, well, let's just, rather than be a jerk about it, it's like, hey, what's your status?

Ryan Uffens (50:49)
Yeah.

Baker (51:08)
And you know what's interesting is most people that come here legally are very honest about their status. Yeah.

Ryan Uffens (51:13)
Yeah, they didn't even hesitate.

I'm like, they're like, no.

And it was like, oh, okay, well, that was easy. Are you on a travel visa? Yes. Has it expired? No. Go home. Like, we'll help you buy a plane ticket. You don't have to do the self-deportation. And then we're going to work through the proper legal channels to try and get you back here on a legitimate work visa to where you're not everywhere you go.

Baker (51:47)
Yeah.

Ryan Uffens (51:48)
Is the ice

team gonna come get me?

Baker (51:51)
Yeah, it's crazy. The whole thing about what's going on in LA is like those three, they were raiding like three cartel based businesses. It wasn't an illegal immigrant raid. That wasn't the original purpose. were literally looking at.

Ryan Uffens (52:02)
I know. But it's a narrative. It's a narrative

that, yeah.

Baker (52:07)
And people are saying like, it wasn't a... Hold on, let my wife in the house. One second. Sorry.

So, yeah, it's the narrative. That's all they want is a narrative. It's funny, it's like you hear about all this stuff with USAID, you hear about all those crazy stories, what it's... You know that's not what USAID is for, right? Making vegan yogurt in Burma with transgender people. That's not what that money goes to. That money's used to pay off a warlord or something. Some Zoomer just on that invoice put something cutesy.

Ryan Uffens (52:39)
Yeah.

yeah.

Yeah.

Baker (52:57)
And like foreign aid, like you hear a lot of people talking about foreign aid and like all this other crazy stuff is just not what it seems. And then you have, I have some talking points, hold on one second. International assistance, so America's safer when we lead abroad. Soft power prevents hard wars. Helping others fight their battles keeps our sons and daughters out of combat. So like when we pay off.

warlord in one country to go fight another you know evil tribe or tribe of bad guys like that's something we don't have to do. America first means showing up we don't lead China well. China and Russia are filling every void that we lead that we leave. ⁓ Like if we retreat they advance. International assistance is a strategic tool it's not a handout. ⁓ And when America invests smartly abroad it pays off here at home.

International assistance strengthens our economy. Farmers and manufacturers lose out when we step back. Stopping drugs and disease at the source protects American communities. And that is the beauty of foreign aid, which is something that you hear people talking about and they want to get rid of all of it. You can't do that. Like, you just, you can't. It doesn't work that way.

Ryan Uffens (54:17)
I it sounds nice.

Baker (54:19)
It sounds really nice, but like, ⁓ yeah, no, it's not the reality at all. ⁓

Ryan Uffens (54:22)
But it's not the reality.

And that's the thing is, but you have people that are out there and like, I don't have a political background, but I'm like a total news junkie. ⁓ And I mean, I can get into the weeds on some of this stuff, but I'm shocked at the amount of people.

that I don't even, they're just completely disconnected. They're still watching the mainstream news and thinking that they're like being fair and biased. And it's just, it's a joke. It's like, I think this is me personally, I could be completely wrong. But I think this whole Elon and Trump thing is like ⁓ charade to get the left to ask for, we want the list.

Baker (54:48)
you

Ryan Uffens (55:15)
We want like, it's, it's, it's a game. think, I think Trump.

Baker (55:19)
I

agree. The only thing, the only thing about that that I disagree with, I was saying the same thing you were. There's just one thing Elon said that's a no-no, is saying Trump was on the Epstein list and painting it, but he still said it. And that to me,

Ryan Uffens (55:37)
which she deleted that tweet.

I know.

Baker (55:44)
That, Trump is big time into like taking care of kids and stuff. Like he's really into that. ⁓ and Epstein was banned from any and all of Trump's clubs. But aside from that one thing, and then them pulling the nomination for Jared Isaacman, the guy to lead NASA on Friday night. That was not a charade. And that was a massive mistake by the Trump administration. That was an unforced error. Jared Isaacman is by far and away.

Ryan Uffens (55:49)
Yeah. Yeah.

Baker (56:12)
the most qualified person that has ever been pegged to lead NASA in the history of the organization. As a personal friend, know the man personally, he's the most qualified person that Trump has nominated in this administration. And then they pulled that, which really set Elon off. ⁓ And then the thing about the Epstein list, but I am with you on that though, about like if it came out tomorrow,

and they were like, fools, it was an act. But then again, Cash Patel was on Rogan saying that the Epstein, didn't have any video, any felonious videos, which...

Ryan Uffens (56:53)
Okay,

so that whole thing, he contradicted himself a couple times on

Baker (56:57)
Yep, but also that plays into your theory. Because if he says he hasn't seen anything, you know, then... ⁓

Ryan Uffens (57:05)
he says

he hasn't but he also says that he has because he's on there he's like of all the people that have been talking about this and out there pushing the narrative you'd think that if I didn't have evidence I wouldn't release it and then prior to that he goes look we're not going to re-victimize these people so that was the one thing that to me where he kind of did a little double talk on there and I'm look

Baker (57:29)
you

Ryan Uffens (57:31)
I'm not saying that he's not and Joe even pressed him on it. He's like, well, wait a second, like if you're not going to victimize him, but he also didn't press him too hard on it.

Baker (57:40)
Yeah, but if you don't want to victimize and black out their names, that's not modern technology. They've been doing that since the 60s. You just black out their name.

Ryan Uffens (57:48)
Right,

but then he goes like, maybe they're not miners, maybe it's just illicit activities.

Baker (57:56)
Yeah, but like

they're not going to release the videos. That's what everyone needs to understand. Like at no point ever where they're like, yeah, we're going to release a bunch of videos of Epstein getting it on with underage girls. That's never that like, what? No, we're not. So to your point, man, it is a bunch of just insane doublespeak, but we knew that Trump's name was in the Epstein files. ⁓ because I think he flew on his jet like once or twice, but he never went to the island and Trump.

Ryan Uffens (58:07)
Right. Right.

Dude's

a billionaire out of New York like

Baker (58:26)
Yeah. He socialized

with every, every high roller, but like he also outlawed Epstein from all of his clubs. So, ⁓ for sure. yeah. Yeah.

Ryan Uffens (58:34)
I had not heard that.

It doesn't surprise me, but yeah.

Baker (58:40)
So, ⁓ would it shock me if that was an op? No, no, not at all. No, wouldn't. I would be like, wow, I can't believe Elon. Now if it came out that like, know, Trump, all know Trump's names on the list, but like if they had dirt on the guy, the previous administration would have dumped that. ⁓

Ryan Uffens (58:57)
Mm.

⁓

100%. 100%. You think they're going to sit on that during an election period? Ain't no way.

Baker (59:10)
So everything.

No, no way.

Yeah. So, ⁓ definitely could have, definitely could be an op because like Tesla stocks pumping now, they both kind of trumps like I'm not selling my Tesla anymore. Like when's the last time Donald Trump drove a car anyway, you know? I would love to know the answer to that question. Like Mr. Trump, when is the last time you actually drove somewhere?

I bet you it's been decades. Decades. Yeah, I bet. He used to roll around in limos and stuff back in the day. ⁓

Ryan Uffens (59:45)
I'm sure. Like, four maybe?

Yeah. I

mean, back, back when he was in like, yeah, I mean, when he was like the bell of the ball with the apprentice and everything else like that guy, mean,

Baker (1:00:01)
It was

awesome. But yeah, so there's a bunch of crazy, like here's another, here's a good one. I got some more talking points. Let me go over these. So like the big, beautiful tax bill. So going back to Elon and Trump, like notice Elon has kind of changed his tune. He's like the one, because Adam Schiff endorsed the, ⁓ was against, came out against the bill. And

Elon said, there's no person on this planet that can convince me to change my mind. Like Adam shift agreeing with something I said. So, ⁓ so the big, beautiful bill does not raise taxes on carried interest, which is great news. President Trump deserves tremendous credit for knowing raising taxes on carried interest would be terrible idea for main street, despite what a few staffers around him were saying to the contrary. ⁓

Private equity investment is happening on Main Street in America. Private equity investment is a much more common occurrence in communities around America than people realize. Case in point, private equity industry employs over 13 million people across the country. Private equity was a big lifeline for small businesses during COVID. That is 100 % true. Private equity keeps a lot of businesses open, saving those jobs and keeping the community serving. So there's tons of small businesses out there.

across the country that would 100 % be shut down and go out of business if they weren't for private equity investing in their companies. One of my drink companies, one of my companies that started 2011, Kill Clip, we reached out to private equity when we hit a certain point and we needed more cash to go into retail. So you think about the people who built a business and wanted to retire and wouldn't have had anyone to keep it going, and all these employees just lose their job. Think about people who run through a tough patch or something like COVID comes along and you need money.

Then interest rates are through the roof. There's a lot of Americans with jobs today because private equity stepped in to support small businesses. So, carried interest loophole. Trump wanted to get rid of it. Then he realized how important private equity is. That was a very smart move on his part. That is not, they're not getting rid of that in the big, beautiful bill. There's some stuff in the bill that's not great, like increasing the debt, but listening to Scott Bissett talk about raising the debt.

ceiling, increasing debt, but I think that's short term and if they do, and in doing so they'll be able to pay down debt drastically in the latter two years. So yeah, it's all smoke and mirrors and one side talks out of this side of the mouth and the other side talks out of this side of the mouth and no one really knows what anybody's talking about or what's real.

Ryan Uffens (1:02:46)
I, I look, I think, I think that Trump is the ultimate gamesman.

Baker (1:02:57)
for sure.

Ryan Uffens (1:02:58)
I think that this goes back to the feud between him and Elon. I think Trump will make moves without bringing everybody into what's going on. ⁓ Because, and I think sometimes he tries to play the dummy. you know, because it's, who was it? Bill Maher, I was watching him. I don't know if you saw his monologue he did after he went and had dinner. He's like,

Baker (1:03:04)
Okay.

True. I agree with that.

Yep.

Absolutely.

Ryan Uffens (1:03:28)
He's like, who the hell is that guy? He goes, I do feel better. Like seeing the guy that I sat with, but I'm like, why does he never show that side to the public? I'm like, because he shows it to the people that need to see it, which is the other world leaders.

Baker (1:03:37)
Yeah, you said.

He said, guy that I, he goes, the guy

that I hate wasn't there.

Ryan Uffens (1:03:44)
Yeah.

Baker (1:03:45)
And I like how Bill Maher pulled out a list of all the horrible things Trump said about him and handed it to him and Trump signed it and gave it back to him.

Ryan Uffens (1:03:50)
Yeah.

Yeah, he's like and and they had and look and he insult I think he from from what I recall from the the interview or his monologue He even said like he insulted the president like he tried to get him to react and Trump's response was he just laughed because I think Trump's MO is hey Look, if I've got people in the public space talking about me like there's no bad PR And I think he genuinely believes that there's no bad PR

Baker (1:03:55)
So. ⁓

No, there's no such thing as bad. If you read the art of the deal, Donald Trump has been, Subop, get out of here. Donald Trump has been fighting with the media or fighting with celebrities and politicians in the media his entire life. He has used celebrities and the media, magazines, newspapers, and the news, talk shows, as a tool. He's, he was the master. Read the art, if anyone listening.

Ryan Uffens (1:04:23)
because

Baker (1:04:52)
Read the art of the deal, whether you like Trump or don't. If you read art of the deal, you will understand how he operates. You're not gonna learn anything about business. You're gonna learn how about how he works.

Ryan Uffens (1:04:59)
Well it's that pl-

Yeah, well, and it makes sense. It goes to your point of what he's been doing with people his entire professional career is because there was that there was I can't remember where it was. There was a plaza that was being built and it was already like four years overdue and he got into it with the mayor and they're like, you think you could do better? Come and take it over.

Baker (1:05:23)
you're talking about

the skating rink. You talking about in New York City? ⁓ Ed Koch, he fought with Ed Koch for three decades.

Ryan Uffens (1:05:26)
Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Exactly. Like, and then finally he's like, you think you can do it better? Come take it over. And I think he had, he said that he'd have it done in two years and it was like six months, I think his guy. Yeah. And under budget.

Baker (1:05:42)
and under budget.

the same thing can be said, was like a plaza that had the ice skating rink. And he looked at his window and could see it constantly, and was driving him crazy. He was like, I can do this in no time. And he kept hounding him and hounding him and hounding him and fighting with him in the media and insulting him. And finally, Ed Cox was like, all right, fine, you do it. And then they did it and had a lease on it for like 40 years or something where they ran, it's crazy.

Ryan Uffens (1:05:49)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Baker (1:06:11)
Yeah, he

did that as a favorite in New York. So, yeah, he's great.

Ryan Uffens (1:06:16)
Well, but also it got him publicity. mean him and Ed Koch going at it and then, but here's the other thing is he delivered on what he said he was gonna do. And he did it in a less amount of time than what he said he'd do it and under budget. And it's that type of mentality I think that people forget because I mean, I get it. There's times where I'm like, dude, just like, just do the job. But that's how he does the job. It's how he gets everything done that he wants done.

Baker (1:06:20)
What?

Ryan Uffens (1:06:49)
Anyway.

So, well, Baker, man, hey, I really appreciate you taking the time on the hunting side of things. For somebody that's new to hunting, outside of, you know, having the Midas touch like you seem to have had with the hard work and taking advantage of the opportunities, what advice would you leave to new hunters?

Baker (1:06:59)
you

You're never gonna kill anything sitting your fat ass on a couch.

Go get out in the field, shoot your bow. There's a ton of stuff you can do. ⁓ Just be active and if it's something that you want to do, you will find a way to do it. So just go make friends. Go hunt public land. Hunt WMAs. Read as much as you can. Educate yourself. But you know...

The greatest teacher is failure. So if you show me someone that has never failed at anything, I'll show you someone that I have zero interest in hanging out with, because you're not gonna learn anything from them. So just go get, spend time in the field, spend time in the archery shops, spend time at the gun range. Go meet people, go talk to people, don't be a noddle no log, and don't sit on the couch. You're never gonna kill anything, you're never gonna find success sitting on the couch when everyone else is out in the field. And if it's hard, it's wet, it's cold,

You know, just pretend like, you know, like, yeah, I can do this. Like, cause I'm sure everyone has friends that are seals and when I go do stuff and it's wet and rainy, I'm like, yeah, if so and so could do this, I could do it. I'm not having fun, but I'm not going to leave because I know that they wouldn't leave and by God, you know, I'm not going to quit. So yeah, just go out, go fail, make mistakes. That's how you learn, have fun. But now here's the thing. If you don't like it, don't do it.

Don't do something because out of sense of obligation or you feel that you should be doing something. Do things that you want to do. Life is too short. I don't, listen man, I don't do things I don't want to do. Like if I don't like something, I'm not doing it. Ask my wife. I will not. I don't care. I'm too old. I have done things my way my entire life and it has always worked out for me. And I'm not changing.

I'm gonna do things the way that I wanna do them and I'm gonna do what I wanna do because I've turned 50, what do I have? 20 more summers left, you know? Till I'm like 70, you know? 25 more summers. I'm in good shape. I'll continue to be in good shape, but like, I got 25 more summers, man. Like, I'm not gonna do something I don't wanna do. That's stupid, you know? Like, I don't like drinking anymore. I don't really drink much, you know? Like, I don't, like what I do when I travel for work and stuff, y'all have some drinks, but like,

I'm not going to a bar because I feel like shit the next day so I don't do those things, you know? Do what you want to do, have fun man. Go out and make mistakes and fail. And eventually, you'll get closer to success.

Ryan Uffens (1:09:52)
Yeah.

I think that's great advice. Well said, Baker. You guys, yeah, no, really appreciate you taking the time and coming on. You guys, hey, go give Baker a follow on Instagram. It's BlackBaker. We'll put a link in the show notes. Go out, support Black Rifle Coffee. Those guys are awesome. And you want to look at some good marketing, just follow their Instagram account. You'll never be short of a laugh.

Baker (1:10:04)
Yeah man, thanks for having me.

Ryan Uffens (1:10:27)
If you guys have learned anything and you feel that there's a message that you've heard in here that you could share with somebody, please share the podcast with them. YouTube, Spotify, Apple, anywhere the podcasters listen, or you can listen to them. But really appreciate the support stay safe and God bless.