Mindset, Reinvention & Resilience with Dan Horgan

In this episode of The Asset Mindset Podcast, Daniel Fielding sits down with veteran and entrepreneur Dan Horgan to explore the power of mindset, community, and reinvention. Dan shares his journey from the Air Force to policing to marketing, highlighting the role of humor, resilience, and accountability in overcoming fear and procrastination. They discuss the therapeutic benefits of archery for veterans, the importance of surrounding yourself with positive people, and why embracing change is essential for personal growth. At its core, this episode is a message of never giving up and using mindset as your greatest asset.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Welcome to the Asset Mindset Podcast, where we don't wait for opportunities, we create them. I'm your host, Daniel Fielding, former Green Beret and author of the Asset Mindset. Each episode we dive deep into mindset, habits, and mission-driven thinking that turn everyday people into high performers and real life warriors. This isn't about motivation, it's about transformation. If you're ready to stop playing the victim, take ownership, and start building the life you were meant to lead, then let's gear up because your mindset is your greatest asset. So let's go and meet today's very special guest, Dan Horgan. U.S. Air Force, Baltimore Police, Black Rifle Coffee, now Arrow and Honor Company. So introduce yourself, Dan.

Air Force Honor Guard To AWACS

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Thanks, Dan. It's uh nice to meet you and then be on be on the show. Um yeah, actually, I was listening to just uh a couple episodes. I said I was telling Denny, right? We know he's behind the scenes. Uh I don't listen to too many podcasts, but I was listening. And uh it's I don't want to go back too far, but I feel old. So I joined the Air Force in '91. So yeah, like because you joined what you I think you said like 2004, 2003, right? Something like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Yes, but I I could have joined in 94. I turned 28 in basic training. Right. Okay. I'm I'm I'm gonna be 50 here in next month. Yeah, I'm 54. Okay.

9/11 Activation And Baltimore Policing

Becoming A TACP And Afghanistan

Transition To Black Rifle Coffee

Entrepreneurship And Arrow & Honor Co

SPEAKER_00 1:32

So you got me by four years. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's you're in your 50s. Anyway, I joined the Air Force uh in '91, active duty, um, was stationed in DC. I did the Presidential Honor Guard. So for two years, I did, yeah, funerals for the Air Force at Arlington National Cemetery and all that jazz, but it was a two-year controlled tour. Um, I was a cop for the Air Force, and so then got stationed in North Dakota. So I was in Minot, North Dakota for about two years, um, got out of there by cross-training, and then I flew on AWACS. So I was a scoped dope on AWACS. Yeah. So looking at the radar and IFF dots. Um, so yeah, so that was for another four years. So about 2,000 got off of active duty, went into the Air Force reserves. Um, a little thing like 9-11 happened, and I was security forces at Andrews Air Force Base when that happened. So got put back on active duty for a little over a year. Um, but that's kind of even then when we we talk about a civilian side. Uh I was working with a lot of people that were already cops in the reserves. Uh like I had friends that were DC cops, and then they were uh like because Virginia and New Jersey guys got activated and they were down on the Andrews. And so, yeah, so I was, and they were like state troopers. So I caught the bug while on those active duty orders, and I applied uh to be a Baltimore City cop during that time frame. Cars aligning, going through the process, my orders ended in what January of 03, and that's actually when I got picked, uh I got selected and I went to the police academy. So I literally came off my orders and then went right into the police academy. So stayed in the reserves a little bit for during that time frame. But then being a cop, especially in Baltimore, it was pretty uh high energy. I was doing some really good stuff, and I saw that there was this super cool job, TAC P, like JTACs up in Pennsylvania. Um, so I did the paperwork and I transferred up there, and I was the sixth guy into the 148th uh ASOS. That's the Pennsylvania uh TAC P unit. Yeah, so um we talk about being old. I was 35 when I went through TAC P school. Now it's not a Q course. I know tech Ps will be like, bro, don't. I mean, it's not the Q course or SEAL training or buds or anything. But I mean, we got a high washout rate, though, you know, for it. Um but I was 35 and went through and uh that's the best shape of my life. Was until I was about 45 when I started declining. But then attack P in 07, so yeah, so I was there and I went to Oklahoma, went to Afghanistan in 2011, supporting, and I think it was was it no, it wasn't you you had you had someone else on. They went with 10th Mountain. So I had my deployment as a JTEC was with 10th Mountain, even though I was a guard kid, I went on an active duty one. So I was down south in RC South with uh 10th Mountain, the 287 Catamount, Conquering Men in Mountains. Yeah, so I was with those guys uh doing some good things. Anyway, so as I draw draw out my my life, my wife is still in. I retired in 2016 from the Oklahoma Air Guard. I had about 14 years active duty time in the other like 10 or 8 or so or guard and reserves. Uh so now I get to be a military spouse because my wife is in, and so she got orders down here to San Antonio, and we moved down to San Antonio about 2018-ish. Um, and I got picked up with Black Rifle very early on in 2019 when they had a big, big thing here. Evan, Evan lived here as well during that time frame. And man, like you the the job description literally read they wanted a transitioning 03 that used to be a general's aide. Yeah, that's what the job on indeed. That's what it read. Wow. I did some LinkedIn magic, tagged an interview because I was like, hey, how about like a combat E7, right? Uh yeah, landed a job uh and and met Evan and Tom Davin and the whole crew, and I stayed there about almost three and a half, I mean close to four years-ish. Went to New York City, got to be on the stock exchange floor when they went public. So that was some pretty, yeah, some pretty cool stuff. But then I I I left shortly after BRCC went public and just wanted to kind of strike out of my own and and some marketing and branding world Green Berets. You guys are great teachers, right? So I learned a ton uh from Evan. And so, yeah, so struck it out, and that's what I've been doing really, like for these last like three, so years, was kind of marketing consultant. But then I just about four months ago, I started my own company selling something, but trying to be more, and it is a for-profit, uh, but I like to give back to a lot of nonprofits as much as I can again in these four months. But it's called Arrow and Honor Co. And it's really archery. Uh Evan got me in the archery uh and BRCC, and it's been something, so these past like five or so years been something fantastic for me. So I'm just really trying to recreate that healing effect for veterans in archery. Nice. And that's where I'm sitting. I live in San Antonio, so I'm in my my office here in San Antonio, working from home, trying to be an entrepreneur. Nice. I I feel your pain, brother. I feel your pain.

Ownership Over Victimhood

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Or pleasure or challenge or purpose or passion, whatever you want to call it, right? Yeah, it's all the things when you're doing the entrepreneur stuff. Yeah. And I know that was long, but I'm old though, too. So like old guys gonna have a long story. Yeah, yeah. No, a great story, though. Really cool. I I love how you know you you're the epitome of adapt, improvise, you know, make shit happen. Like that's what I try and teach people. That's what we do here with the asset mindset philosophy is like you got to figure shit out, okay? Don't be whiny, don't be complaining, don't be the victim, don't be poor me. Oh, I can't do this, or the system's against me, or I grew up. No, shut up, take ownership, and do it, you know. And that's why I bring guests like you that have done so many different things and can show people how it can be done, be an inspiration, explain to people because we have so many different backgrounds, you know, and it's incredible that no matter where you come from, you can do it. You can change your life. You can go after a goal, you can join the Air Force, you can join the Army, you can be a Navy, SEAL, you can do whatever. You know, you want to go be a professional athlete, start practicing, do it. A musician, you know, like you got to get out there and do it, though. You can't sit on the couch and just twiddle your thumbs and hope, or play video games, or scroll on the phone all day. Man, that's so cool. Well, take action, get out there. So I want to get into the root now of you. You're saying you're old and whatnot. Hey, I don't think 50s is old yet, okay? So that's not a 50's a new 40. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly. I still tell my son who's 18, I'm like, Yeah, you call me old, I'll still kick your ass.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

And he's like, Yeah, I have three boys, two are still here, right? So I got 21, 18, and 13. Oh, yeah. I always tell them, let me know when you want to start the title. Yeah. The old man's still, I might, right? Yeah. We might be older, but let's just bring it. I know some things. I'm gonna win that fight. Yeah.

Formative Years And Finding Drive

SPEAKER_01 8:40

But seriously, I want to get back to when you first started, you know, when you were younger and whatever challenge or struggle in life, or just even dream or goal. When did you realize that your mindset and your focus and like take ownership of your life? Like when did that happen? Or was it a slow problem? I mean, describe that to me.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

Yeah. Um, I'm an only child, so I I think that'll really answer it almost. And my mother raised me. My, you know, my my dad was in my life, but I only saw him on weekends, right? Um, but my mom worked two jobs to put me through a private all-boys high school, right? My mother did. My dad didn't do that. You know, I love my father to death. I mean, he's passed away, but I love my dad. But my mom worked two jobs, and and you know, my stepdad and at that point helped me put through, you know, again, it was a private school. So that was was great. But it was it's that, it was that being that only child. I kind of always had to, you know. So even in high school, I mean it was an all-boys sport coat and tie, it was it was very military in a sense, and like that was the friends. And so those friends started to form me and know that I could that I could do it. And then like I went away to college, right? Because it was a college prep high school. I mean, duh. So I went away to college, but I did, you know, a semester at a university, and I went to a community college, and then I was like, I'm gonna join. But I joined on my own. My mother would tell you, she's still around, she's 74. She would tell you, she's no, I mean, I I literally walked into the recruiter in Parkville, Maryland, and I joined the Air Force. And then came home and was like, I just joined the Air Force. Um, and that was all she wrote, and that's kind of how really then my you know, my life has been. Yeah.

Belonging, Therapy, And Connection

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Okay. So yeah, it's pretty much your environment you think you attribute. So how important is it to surround yourself with good people?

SPEAKER_00 10:35

100%. It it's part of um when I say my disability, um, my I've done therapy through like the Hedstrong Project. And they they do free sessions in Sevilla, Texas. I I've done therapy and we talk about suicide a lot, right? Uh um, I'm not, I've never tried, right? And I and it's not in my mindset. But you know what is though? It's it's the being institutionalized, like the Shaw Shank Redemption kind of mindset, a little bit of being institutionalized. And so for me, not assimilating in a group that doesn't get me is super difficult and then important, right? My my time at BRCC was right a unicorn, but there's more than one unicorn, right? So I never I don't I ever regret leaving or or doing anything, but there's more than one. Um, but it's where I've struggled, you know, and I don't think we put enough onto it, um right, really, to say, you know, about struggling with that and then do it. Again, not being a victim, you know, I I will make the most of it and do it, but it's you know, I don't do well when I'm sitting here by myself. Um so even though being old, I love right, Slack and FaceTime and communicating all day long with people.

Using Tech To Beat Isolation

SPEAKER_01 11:51

So if someone is feeling alone and they're struggling, or like they feel like they're a unicorn, they don't they don't fit in with where they're at. Well, if you've lived that, how would you you know mentor or teach somebody to cope with that?

SPEAKER_00 12:06

Yeah, with today's technology, uh embrace it in a sense. Uh right, so when I talk about FaceTime, right? So FaceTime somebody. Denny, Denny knows, um, right, I talked about a friend who she would she'll answer my phone if she's on the toilet, right? And I'll answer her phone call and her husband, right? She's married. Her husband too, right? Um, is embrace technology, right? Uh social media can be a bit draining. I get it. Um, but DMing someone, which is like a text message, is there. Um, I often have conversations with people um, you know, in the morning, like LinkedIn DMs, right? And you're just like, well, why don't you pick up the phone? Sure, we could, yeah. But it's just, you know, that's what we're doing currently. So embrace technology and and and get out there. In today's world, like even when you want to escape technology, but it what you what we're saying to not be isolated and connect with somebody, there is so much you can do. I mean, pick up the phone. And even if it's to pick up the phone to say, hey, then meet me at the coffee shop. You know, you really have to. Um those can be like in real life experiences, meetings. Sometimes that can be a bit much, because like trust me, like I get it. Like, like, I gotta get dressed, I gotta go out in public, and I gotta put that happy face on. Like, that can be difficult, but that's where it's just like, especially for veterans, you've done that. We all went to basic training. No one wanted to wake up at 5 or 4 a.m. and right and get the crap kicked out of blah, blah, blah. Especially you got like selection and even like my little tack pee world. You got your butt handed to you. No one really like wanting that. So you you've been through it. You just like you gotta do it. And and then you really do, I I think you reap the benefits, right? It's that uh that factor of like I'm I'm sad or I'm woe is me, or whatever is coming upon you, and then it's that phone call, it's that text, and it's that interaction with with with someone that really gets like the endorphins kicking and you feel better.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

No, I I agree. Yeah, interacting with people, especially positive people, you surround yourself with positive people and be in positive environments, that's a game changer because they rub off on you. We've all heard the saying, you know, look around you, the five people around you, that's who you are. You know, like you are who you surround yourself with. So that's very crucial.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

Uh I mean that's who I'm surrounding myself with. I don't know if that's not crucial who that guy, like what he's doing.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

I get that's right. On the asset mindset, to have that philosophy, you gotta be a little out there sometimes. You know, you have imaginary friends sitting in the corner. Yeah. No, guys wearing a skull mask and behind you.

Humor As Everyday Medicine

SPEAKER_00 14:56

The uh but no, right? Humor though. I would tell you that though, for people to mentor someone, humor. You talk about laughter is the best medicine, but that's where DMing someone, texting them, phone tall, FaceTime, if you can get that interaction and it is, and that positivity, right? I mean, most comedy shouldn't be so dark. Uh it should be fun, and and that's great. Yeah. Well, let's talk about that.

SPEAKER_01 15:21

You bringing up a great subject, how humor can really change the mood or change the environment. Can you share some stories on how that's worked for you and your your thoughts on it?

SPEAKER_00 15:32

Yeah, I mean, well, a black rifle, I really would. Uh, Evan uh was a great CEO, great boss to me, and you know, I I had a lot of liberties, but I think a lot of people in the company had liberties too. And so when I say that, like it's fun. Did I take it too far? Maybe. And when I say that, like, did I drive an electric bike around the hallways? Sure. But you know, other people could have too, but it but it was fun. And so you really like that, like that atmosphere, you know. I I would say too, like the whole corporate like I don't do well with corporate. Uh, I'm not saying I want to come in, you know, in in jorts and you know, cut off tank top or something like that, but you know, I I could wear multicam pants, I could wear my Karai precision pants if I wanted to wear them one day, right? Um, and so I I feel like that kind of environment, you know, especially in COVID, I mean COVID really changed like the world I I think that we live in. Um because it for certain aspects. Because you're gonna get people, uh if you work at a bank, sure, you shouldn't be wearing maybe just a t-shirt and and and your cries, right? Maybe it is a suit. You work in marketing or something that's partnership or sponsorship, blah, blah, blah. I mean, man, I tell you, a t-shirt and like jeans, or oh, yeah, like you have a nice sport coat over a v-neck, like that is great. Those can be comfortable clothes, those are that's fun, right? And Evan used to tell me like you know, when he even created Black Rifle, um, and it's uh it was you know philosophy for me that I loved, is like I want to come to work with people I authentically enjoy. Right. Um friends, yes. Uh, but I would tell you that's where I've seen successful units and I've seen unsuccessful units, right? And I'm sure you've seen them in your career, right? And I think that's a very secret sauce or magic sauce is when that was the that connection's there. And then you I look at the ones that I know that haven't been successful, and it's just like because I don't have any friends there. Like, am I still connected with them now? And you're like, nope. And you're like, nah, that's why. Yeah, no, it makes total sense.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

Yeah. All right, so share a funny story where humor came out. Because I'm sorry, riding the bike around and that's cool, but that's not funny, unless you were like in a speedo or something.

Procrastination And Accountability

SPEAKER_00 17:52

I don't know. I mean, it was just every day was though, you know, and when I when I say that, I mean, every day, like I mean, we had a we had a ranch. BRC used to lease a 1200 acre ranch out here, and that was part of mine, and we could go out there and I mean just I would tell you the stories, you know, out there. I mean, JT had a fake wedding, right? And you're you're involved with a fake wedding, uh, you know, and we we made a video where it was a real predator costume, right? And that was all in the office there in San Antonio when that one, if everyone remembers back in the day, um, or Bass Pro. God, like just the the night of like we literally took over Bass Pro here in San Antonio and filmed a commercial uh in the Bass Pro. And just being around that, like just the humor, it's because you can't be doing that stuff. I mean, I would tell you, like, even in the thick of battle and stuff, like I was making jokes. Like, I I can remember, you know, a firefight and we got done, and we had to we had to run like 800 meters or so back to a cop, right? Now it's not the Mogadishu mile, but we made jokes, right? And not that again, not that that was funny, but it was just very much like we were just getting shot at and the platoon sergeant actually did get hit, and you're all done, you're like, bro, was that like the Mogadishu mile? And you start laughing and joking, you're like, most people in their lives would be like, this is not something to laugh at, you know? Yeah. Jay, I would say, there's a buddy of mine, Jay Fain. Jay's uh an amputee hip dysplasia, so all the way up to the hip. Uh he sounds like the Terminator. And Jay used to work at Black Rifle, uh running the their nonprofit and you know, making jokes with that, like, bro, you gotta oil that thing. You sound like the Tin Man. Come on, dude. Right. That humor was just every day. So I don't think I have like one story. I mean, I I felt like like those three and a half years were just funny. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

But you you're carrying that on though. I see that, you know, today that in our interview, you're even laughing, joking, showing things like that whole element can be applied to anywhere in life. Now, granted, there's times to be serious, but who doesn't want to enjoy life? Laugh, no, yeah, smile. Like, so embrace that.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

Yeah, my 18-year-old, he's got some depression, and and I actually have like moderate depression. And you're like, and we were talking about it last night, and I'm like, yeah, this guy. Like, as I laugh and joke and we do that, yeah. Uh I would tell you actually, one of my symptoms of my depression though is procrastination. So if anyone ever, when you guys are listening, if I don't email you back right away and everything, it's not that I'm lazy and I don't forget it's really procrastination, which is a little bit of a side effect of my depression. Which I don't that I don't mind. Like, I didn't like procrastination can be annoying, but like I'll take that. It could be worse, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

Okay, so how do you combat procrastination? Because you are not alone in that. I mean, many people fight and deal with procrastination. So what do you have for tips and tricks?

Resilience, Bureaucracy, And VA Lessons

SPEAKER_00 20:48

Yeah, I try I try to make a task list, but I'm also, again, I think at 54, I'm different than when I was 35. And so 54-year-old Dan compared to 35-year-old Dan, right, having conversations will be different. Um, but I I I will make a list, right? Um, like, hey, you have to respond to this email that's three or four days old because it's important. Um, so there's a task list, right? The typical put it on your whiteboard or put it down and get it off. My wife is my other one, right? Which is if you don't have a wife, you know, like that I have and it's somebody, it's it's uh I actually was making the joke last night about I probably need like an executive assistant or project manager um to keep me on track, but it's talking through with her, even right. And while she's not my EA, right? And uh, she actually outranks me now. She made E8, so she's an E8. Um I retired as an E7. And so, but it's even talking through that because those conversations are just like a checklist or a task list, right? Like, okay, like I'm saying it, and then she's like, Yes, you need to do it. And it's like, okay. So I think those positive reaffirmations, uh whether it's on paper or whether it's communicating it, uh, and then someone acknowledging and do it. Like, I would like really tell you, after this, I'm gonna jump on the computer and I know I have two emails. Um, and one deals with my VA claim disability stuff that I've been sitting on for like a month. Like I already have a rating, but it's just you know it's some appeal stuff. But I've been sitting on it for a month, but I know I need to email them back to be like, hey, I don't know what I'm doing. Like, what the hell am I doing? Which is very important. And I I have a binder here with a bunch of stuff. I just been sitting on it for like literally a month.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Because you know why there wasn't a set date, right? There's no due date. It's on you. So like what's one more day?

SPEAKER_00 22:40

No, I would even your initial, my initial VA rating was the same way. I didn't, I retired in 16, but I didn't kick stuff off and do it until like 19 when I was in Black Rifle, and we had uh a VSO, the county VSO, come. And I was like, like they came to the office. And I was like, okay, like I have zero excuse. Like they are here. But that was just great, and I did, and you know, and and things like that. But yeah, I mean, I procrastinated for three years for that.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Well, I like how you also brought up about, you know, because a lot of people go to write a list, write a list, write a list. And a list is great. Absolutely. I use them, you know, I got a list over here, and I actually have another one on a yellow one. I do sticky tabs too. Like, but having someone that's an accountability partner. Yeah. Like you're using your wife. It doesn't have to be your wife. It could be a coworker, it can be a buddy, it could be your spouse. But whoever it is, find someone. We all have somebody, right, that we talk to probably on a regular basis, could be a coworker, whatever. Share those things that you want to do and have them be your accountability partner. They'll ask, hey, you were trying to learn the guitar. How's practice going? Or are you trying to write a book or whatever it is? Having that other person there is crucial and can make a world of difference because, like you, and I was the same way before with my appeal when I did my second one, you know, to try and find. I'm like, hey, you're not covering that like seriously? Yeah but uh it was like, oh, there's no, it's just me, you know. Oh, I'm gonna take care of my family first, my wife first. I even do that now. And my wife gets on me, you know, she's like, you need to take care of yourself.

SPEAKER_00 24:15

Yeah, well, it's stories, and I I mean, just to go on, uh, there's a buddy Trevor, so Trevor Thompson. So Trevor's a former Navy SEAL, right? Friend of friend of mine, you know, from BRCC days. I mean, um, but Trevor was on the jump team, like, whatever the frog team for the SEALs, right? For the Navy and stuff like that, and like has videos of him getting hurt like on a landing, which just says if Trevor listens to this, he's a shitty parachutes. No, he's not. No, Trevor's fantastic. But he did it, he did an Instagram, he did an Instagram story where he showed like the VA's like not service related, not service related, like for his ankle and his back, and you're like, He literally was on national TV, active duty, like jumping, and then like you see him get injured. And you this guy, right? You're your trident. I actually, I would tell you, I DM'd him and I was like, your trident alone should probably be like 50% disability, right? Same thing, you know, your the green brave, you know, flash the like that alone, I feel like is some kind of like, are you kidding me? And so but like a semi-normal guy, and then even if the little stuff that I did was cool, and then there's people who only did like say, you know, HR, but they got hurt, and they're like, this seal can't even get through. And you're like, oh my god, yeah. But don't do that. Like, you never know. Like, and I know Trevor won't give up, and then you know, so it's a again, it's a never give up mentality with them. It's bureaucratic stuff. Yeah, no, it's it happens, you know.

Reinvention Without Losing Your Core

SPEAKER_01 25:44

You gotta you gotta fight the good fight. And that's I want people to understand the struggle's real for everybody. You know, we're all gonna have challenges in life. It doesn't matter you're a SEAL, your Green Beret, your TAP, your Air Force, you're the HR person, you're gonna have trials. Like, wake up, stop being in the pity party, no matter who you are in life, you are gonna have struggle. You are gonna have obstacles. That's the way the human experience is. So, now how do you deal with it? Do you let it bring you down or let it bring you up? So I want to get into a little bit with you because you've obviously done so many things. You've transitioned a lot, you know, from National Guard to being a police officer to working, you know, corporate with black rifle. So share some things that you've learned as far as transitioning, because we got a lot of military listeners that will transition, or just people that are maybe transitioning jobs.

SPEAKER_00 26:43

Yeah, it's it's when and when you say that, like it there's like though I've worn a lot of hats, but even I I think something that was said about me is like I've reinvented myself numerous times. Uh staying true to my core and who I am, but reinventing just that though. You know, my wife would would make jokes, she's like, I married Bankor Dam. So when I say that, remember I got I so I got married in 2001, I got off of AWACS. So I was just an AWAX kid, right? I was wearing a flight suit, right? So I was true with a flight suit Air Force Dan. But I used I worked at uh a company called MBA and I was doing collections and then credit card application stuff. So that's when she's like, I married Bankerdam. So when it became cop and SWAT and narcotics and then TAC PJTAC Dan, she's just like, ugh, like who is this dude? So yeah, she'll tell that story. So and so reinventing yourself, but it is, um I didn't go to school for marketing. Um, and so learning marketing and branding and social media was like a lot of OJT. So again, it's reinventing yourself. I I feel like on those transitions for everybody, you know, it it that reinventing yourself is is key, but you're not gonna you're not when you when I say that and when I hear it like reinventing yourself, you're not changing. Like I'm not gonna be fake. Like I'm not I don't know, I'm not I'm not French. Like I'm not gonna fake that I'm French or something. Like I'm still me, but like literally, yeah, going from hey, I'm flying on AWACS to now you're a cop and now you're dropping bombs, and now that's all over, but now you're gonna you're working in marketing and like you get on social media every day and you have to build content, you're like, where? Where is any of that in it? And but I bring a lot of it with me. So even though when you reinvent yourself, you know, I I think you can you take parts. Um as a veteran and and law enforcement, I think it's easy because even though I've reinvented myself, like I'll take those parts with me. Um, so I'm very prow enforcement and first responder, same thing with military, and and we'll hit those communities um to artwork that I've done, right? Military is very skull focused, so that's that's that's one of mine. This is invader girl, that's one of hers. And so um, yeah, so I I think that is something that I would tell people is you're reinventing yourself, you know, you're not changing the core, your heart, your soul. You really just, you know, again, you have to adjust. I mean, again, even in my time with the Air Force, I had four AFSCs, so MOSs. Four, right? I mean, that's that's tech schools. So I had to go through tech schools and pass and then do the job. And yeah, I had four. So yeah, I say four, right? Special duty assignment, cop AWAX, yeah, floor.

SPEAKER_01 29:43

So you were SF too, we can just say it. I I'll never forget when I first learned that. I meet some Air Force guy, he's like, Yeah, I'm SF, and I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

SPEAKER_00 29:52

Well, here's my So that's my right, that's my security forces beret, and then there's my tech P beret.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

Yeah, but even an SF armband from Iraq. I've read SF guy and was like, you're not SF. He's like, yes, I am. And then like he brought the arm like, oh, security force, not special forces.

Confidence Built By Hard Things

SPEAKER_00 30:12

No, even Tag P, so I was conventional, right? I mean, I I could say I've trained, I, you know, I could have jumped in with you guys to assist, right? You know, types, but I didn't. I mean, again, my deployment, I worked my way down to a scout sniper platoon and was even doing some JTEC stuff with those guys just to make sure I was getting out and doing things, right? Um, but I I'm not Halo certified. I I don't have a scuba bubble. And not that that makes you special forces, but I mean, you know, I did go to SWAT school and was on SWAT in Baltimore, so that's special operations. Pretty much, yeah, man.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

That's KONUS special ops right there, and not O Konas. Yeah, right. In some ways, that might be harder because the ROE rules of engagement are a little different.

SPEAKER_00 30:56

Yeah, the Baltimore was tough. I would tell you, so I I went through SWAT, I went therundel county, so that's by Annapolis. So that's the county where Annapolis is in Maryland. I went through Anna Rundle County SWAT school, uh, just because we weren't putting one-on-one in Baltimore for our time. But I I made the team, but it was selection, but I was already a tag P. So doing that, it was it was talking about a mentality. I was like, bring it. Like I've already, I already earned that beret. Like, bring it SWAT, see what you got. And it was tough, make no, make no doubt, but already earning that and knowing, like, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:27

Well, once you do something hard and you realize you're able to push yourself further, you're like, all right, I've done that before. I can do hard stuff. You start building confidence. Yeah. So for anybody out there, like, you know, wherever you're at in life right now, whatever season or chapter you're at, and there's something hard in front of you, just look back for a brief, don't focus too much on the past, but look back and be like, look at these hard things I've done in the past. I can do this thing. Or things that you thought when you were in your 20s or 30s or whatever age you thought was going to be so horrible and miserable, and you made it through it. Yeah. You can make it through it, whatever it is now that you're facing.

SPEAKER_00 32:04

Oh, yeah. I still think about like if my wife actually, we don't fight too often now, which is fantastic. Uh, but we've been so March will be 25 years we've been married. But when I say that, like I I can even go back and remember 16-year-old Dan with all the girlfriends that you know I broke I broke up with or broke up with me and all the tears, right? That you know, back in the 80s that I had. And you're like, ah, like, you know, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

Yeah, it was the end of the world. My life is over. That's who I was gonna marry. Right?

SPEAKER_00 32:33

You're like, really? Oh my God. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:37

The love of my life. Um, well, I drew the show.

SPEAKER_00 32:41

My college story, I'll tell you. So if she ever heard this, her name is Tara. She's married, and but I mean, but she was my I left college because I missed her so much. I was uh at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. I did a semester up there. I missed her so bad, and I couldn't, I couldn't handle it. And so I came home and then we broke up. And then so I was going to community college in Maryland uh in Essex, and then there's the guard unit used to, well, A-10s, they had A10s, and I was watching A10 fly fly overhead, and I was like, I'm gonna join the Air Force.

SPEAKER_01 33:13

Well, that's cool, man. Hey, Lord works in mysterious ways. You never know the twists and the turns and where your life is gonna go.

SPEAKER_00 33:20

It could have been because I could have been a millionaire because I went to college because I wanted to write for Marble. So to see how Marble obviously blew up, because I used to read the comics and now to see the movies, I'm like, Man, I I could have been me, maybe. I could have been Tony Stark. Yeah, maybe, possibly. I love my life. I'm good. Yeah, that's fantastic.

Fear, Loyalty, And Leaving A Brotherhood

SPEAKER_01 33:38

Yeah. All right, so we've been talking about changes and different things happening and adapting. Let's focus on fear because jumping into a new career or a new environment that you've never done before, you had to have faced fear. So those fearful thoughts or whatever that you've had to deal with, how did you cope? What'd you do?

SPEAKER_00 33:59

Yeah, um I well and when I think I'm just trying to be, I mean, I'll talk about it. I I think one of the one of the biggest ones for me on a job side, just thinking about like job stuff, um, was actually resigning from Black Rifle. Um calling Evan Haifer, right? Green Beret, founder of the company, CEO, to to say, hey, I'm I'm gonna walk away and and and and start you know doing something what you taught me. Scary. Super scary. Um right, and then some people won't understand it. Um, but like again, I I think if you are in any small tactical unit like that, and you're looking at them and you're saying, hey man, I'm popping smoke. You're leaving the brotherhood. Right? I was watching the new the the Jack Carr, the Dark Wolf uh episode last night, it just came out and uh you know, with the the the seal thing that they uh that's in the show. And I actually don't know if it's real, I know a few seals, but long live the brotherhood. It was that though. And when I saw that when I was watching it last night, I thought that's why I actually when you asked me that question, that's what popped up um was but it's now then and I knew, right? It was the confidence. Like I was confident in my ability, I was confident on what the future might have held, right? Or at least I thought it was, because I would tell you when when I left BRCC, the company that I went to go be with, I only stayed with them for 67 days, and then I popped smoke. Yeah. Um that's kind of a long story. But uh I mean I didn't do anything wrong. It was, but it was it was me, but I was like, I'm out. And uh again, don't ever regret anything, but those discussions, like that discussion with with him, was pretty, I would tell you, uh, looking at just job stuff is was probably the most fearful. But it also set me up for a success in a sense when I say that. Again, part of my like depression and PTS is not being able to assimilate in the jobs that I've left over these last three years. No one has ever been at the level of him. So all the jobs that I've resigned for, while I love those bosses, and if they're ever listening, I love you. Uh, but they were no Evan Hayfer. Uh, and I was not fearful. So doing that actually really almost helped me resign from all the other jobs that I had because yeah, I didn't have that fear.

SPEAKER_01 36:29

So, how'd you overcome the fear? Or what would you do to deal with it?

Vision For Veterans Through Archery

SPEAKER_00 36:34

Yeah, well, I I I think it goes back, I was confident. Um, as in, like, I I the decision that I was making when when I look at the totality of it, and you get really in the weeds, I was making a little bit more money, the title would have been cool, but I was gonna get a chance to be a little bit more creative on my own. Um, it was a military tribute beer company that was what I was gonna go was doing. Right? And so that, and so I knew all that. Um it's still though, you know, it's like telling, I don't know, your dad or mom maybe some bad news, you know, maybe your first speeding ticket or something, right? Like you're walking home at 16, you gotta walk in the door and tell your dad you got a speeding ticket. But you know, it's just it's at that point, you know, it was again for me, it was just that confidence. Like, hey, like I know this is right, the good that's gonna come from it. Um and it was it wasn't personal, right? Um by any means. Um, right. I I still love him as a as a as a mentor, as a guy, so I mean he's doing great. So I think that's how I got over it. Like I just in my mind went through again a checklist of what I knew was gonna be positive, what I was doing, and was committed with it.

SPEAKER_01 37:53

So you were focused on the goal. You didn't get stuck looking back or in regrets. You were you were looking forward, which is very important for anybody that's facing anything. Yeah. You know, you want to look forward more than you look backwards.

SPEAKER_00 38:06

I mean, yeah, it's I mean, starting starting Arrow and Autorco is kind of the same thing. Like I had thought about this forever, you know, and uh so like the sign that if people are watching, but if they're not above me is a sign that says Total Archery Challenge, it's a 3D archery event, and you know, I've shot that forever, and I always wanted to, you know, get veterans and do the whole archery thing, and I wasn't sure if it would be a for-profit or a non-profit, but it was the same thing. It was finally just like what's what is it? Like what's holding your back? And it's like a fear, you know, like a fear of like, well, fear of what? I don't know, fear of being made fun of, like there's a shit ton of fears when you're starting a company. Um but at that point again, it just goes into the forward goal, right? I mean, money can be one, and I am like I'm bootstrapping stuff now, but it's okay enough that money is recycling. Now it's like, what does growth look like? So yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:02

So why don't we're on the topic tell us a little more about Arrow and um honor?

Events, Gear, And Growth Hurdles

SPEAKER_00 39:07

Yeah, Arrow and Honor Co. Again, if if they're watching and see the video. Arrow and honor co veterans and archery. I like I did a LinkedIn poll even when I wanted to start it, and I was like, should it be a nonprofit or a for-profit? Because I talk about veterans and healing. And as soon as you say that, like everyone's, oh, it's a nonprofit, right? You're trying to get veterans, you're trying to help veterans and heal them through archery. Yes. I chose a for-profit so I could give back just because of the nonprofit world. Uh like I mean, I love it and I've worked in it, just asking for donations, but I would tell you, asking for donations is this is like trying to pimp and try to sell my shirt. Um but I don't want to get really rich from it. What I want is eventually like a goal. Like I know I have goals, is I want to have a hundred acres where I want to have a hundred-yard indoor 3D course. And I want veterans to have a bow in their hand and be able to sling arrows at foam targets, which thing you know can go into hunting. Hunting's a separate part of it, but I just want to get veterans outdoors with bows in their hands slinging arrows because I know what it did for me, and it really did. Uh I I used to do a lot of shooting, and now I barely shoot. I mean, I still own a lot of guns, but I don't shoot a lot anymore because I archery is what I like to do, and I don't even shoot really as much as I should. Again, it's time, um, procrastination. But so I started it, and then so the premise was I'll do some t-shirts and hats, and like I just did a tumbler, and I'll be able to get back. And so I started it June 6th. Um, and so it's only been like four months, so it's been great. But I've already in that time frame, I did a collaboration with a organization called the Warrior Bonfire Program. They take Purple Heart uh guys and gals on like outdoor retreats. So I designed a shirt and did$10 for every shirt, it goes back to them, was able to write them a check for$1,200. So that was a goal, like Lil Dan Horgan, and it's not egotistical because when I say little Dan Horgan writing a check for$1,200, it's Arrow and Honor Co being able to do it. And then it's getting a shirt that you know has a Purple Heart logo and stuff on there. Um I'm gonna do one in October. October is breast cancer awareness. So I did an archery little theme one that's gonna go for the pink fund, um, which is very specific for breast cancer awareness. Um I'll do that. And so that's again, because it's talking the talk. Like I'm not saying, hey, I'm creating it and I'm not just trying to, you know, sham well you and throw it, throw a t-shirt and a hat down your throat and buy it. What it really does, it it allows, you know, you to wear, like, you know, I can make the whole it's armor and stuff, and which is true. Like even that poster. So I made this poster, like, if people are watch, like if they can see it or spotlight if they can't, it's a poster that's uh like a skeleton baseball cap, but he's got a bow in his hand, he's in the woods. And uh, but it's a you know a cool poster you can throw in your office, stuff like that, because it it's it is that thought, and so it's creating the community, right? I know the tribe and community can be very cliche or niche to say these days, but it's so true because again, what we talked when we first started, that atmosphere those people around you are, you know. Um I don't talk really about like, hey, I'm trying to solve veteran suicide with it, only because when I say that, like I don't it's a byproduct, but I'm not, and I say I'm not smart enough, like I'm not a therapist, I'm not a doctor and stuff like that. So I would never want that, but it is very much I would want someone, and and I did it at Black Rifle, Dan. So I I ran so Black Rifle, Evan had a beautiful idea, and then I just got to manage it. Um, but we did the veteran adaptive athlete shoot. So if you go on like YouTube and you type in veteran adaptive athlete shoot, we I I did we did three, you know, and in Salt Lake and then two here in San Antonio, and it was it was getting like amputees, and then we kind of even did open up a little bit more to the PTS side of stuff and getting veterans and bows in their hands, and you know, that's that I was like, I want to recreate that.

SPEAKER_01 43:26

Okay, so if a veteran reaches out, do they go shooting with you? How does it work?

SPEAKER_00 43:31

Yeah, so that's the part, yeah, and it's not that it's confusing, but it it's so the answer is yes. If any veteran reaches out, but I live here in San Antonio, so you'd have to be here in San Antonio. I don't have land yet. I I can't put on my event, but that's what I want to be able to do. I want to be able to have land for the company where I can throw 3D events, or I then can reach out to veteran nonprofits and say, could you use a fundraiser that's a 3D event? Because it's just like, you know, clay shoots. How many, right? Special Forces Association, uh, Green Beret Foundation, how many clay shoots you guys have, right? There's always clay shoots. You can do archery shoots that are fundraisers and things like that too. So I would love to do that. And then I'd love to have that property to say have some of these nonprofits come and do a retreat. And there's other nonprofits, and that's I always say there's other nonprofits. I'm not a nonprofit. There are nonprofits that already have land and they do things like that. I want to be able to do that as a company. Yeah, I mean, there's a price, but it's again, I'm not lining my pockets with gold. I just don't want to be eating ramen and ketchup packets every day, but I want to give back more, right? I want to be able just to not eat ramen, but I want to be able to give back because it really is a message, right? And right, and trust me, I I know people who'd be like, well, you you probably need to have a nonprofit arm of it. That sounds great too. Yeah. Other than maybe if you get there or whatnot. I'm curious. Me, right? And I don't know what the hell I'm doing, right? So I'm just trying to run a for-profit company.

Practical Expansion And Partnerships

SPEAKER_01 44:59

No, but here's just you. Here's what I'm gonna just share. We're we're doing the entrepreneur stuff and a little bit of brainstorming and sharing here. Have you thought about doing a package where you travel and go somewhere? Because there's events all over the place. You have your nice bow, you get a you know, whatever Connex, Pelican case, or whatever, maybe some collapsible stuff. You're gonna know bows better than me. Um, and put them together. And I mean, how many bows do you really need to run a course? Because people, it's like a firing line, you know, you get five people up at a time, rotate, you know. So there's four rotations, you got 20 people in an event.

SPEAKER_00 45:36

So a compound bow is no. So a compound bow has to be measured from your your two fingertips, um, and there's poundage, and then there's a sight. So it's almost like if I just threw you a sniper rifle and tell you to hit it, like you're gonna be able to shoot it. Like you can pull the trigger. You probably aren't gonna hit it if that scope isn't right dialed in for you and all that kind of jazz. Uh a compound bow is the same way. You just can't like a recurve bow. So you're just doing archery. Yes. So a recurve, yes, but this is when you do a lot of the three a little bit of the 3D stuff that I like to challenge, a recurve, and all of the recurve traditional bow guys will hate me. You can't reach out. Like you're not shooting a hundred-yard shot and and really hitting it. You're you're 20-40 um with a point because my bow's up here. Uh I mean, I'm egotistically, I won't shoot. I don't like to shoot shorter than 40. Like I want to go 40 to 80, and I I can do that all day. So, yes, I can. And but there's there are things though, and I I am very much so one of my mottos, it's not original by any means, but one of my mottos is collaboration over competition. So a guy, Sam, Sam Westfall, Sam uh created one called Valor Archery Challenge. It's very much like Total Archery Challenge, but Sam just does it in Colorado. So Total Archery Challenge is travels across the country. Sam just does his in Colorado, and it is a little bit more veteran-centric, but it's just in Colorado. But uh again, yeah, but he'll have recurve bows that you can come and do. To go back, oh yeah, I've what I've learned from Evan and them, it it's phenomenal, but it's part of capital. And I'm bootstrapping it, so I'm literally just circulating, and I'll be radically transparent. I'm circulating$20,000. That's my money to keep putting more shirts out and do do things. I'm gonna go to four total archery challenges next year as a vendor. Um, I did one this year up in Colorado, which is great. You know, like 80 shirts, but it was it was a bunch of FOMO. Right. Um, and so we went, but it was great. Super welcomed. So I'm gonna do four next year. Um, so I will do that. But I have thought of it is those other revenue streams when you say the word, it is like I've like I would love to have a trailer and I'd have 25 targets, and then I could go to XYZ nonprofit and say, if you have 20 acres somewhere, like I'll put together your fundraiser of the 3D shoot, right? Now I'm gonna charge you, but again, I'm not a maniac and I'm not gonna charge you a million dollars. I know you're a nonprofit, but again, I'm gonna be like, I gotta travel, so you gotta, it's gotta be something. Um, but then you'll hopefully you'll raise money. So again, it's partnering with them to raise money, and just even if it's to cover me to get out there. Yeah, I'd love that idea.

SPEAKER_01 48:36

Again, that's that's that's what I was envisioning, you know, the the military crawl, walk, run. You know, like you get out there, you expose them, you have a very basic whoever it is, whatever organization. It can be, you know, vets, it can be police, whatever fundraiser. Hey, I'll come to your event for this low cost fee, and then you guys can sell beyond tickets or whatnot, and you keep the money, you make money. It's win-win. And then, hey, guess what? I also do this other package, you know, if you want to get, you know, compound bows or whatever. I would I would just, I don't know. I you got me thinking.

SPEAKER_00 49:12

It's there, but that's the thing, thing. Like a trailer is money, right? Uh, right? And it's gotta be wrapped because again, in the black right, no, so I had everyone to make fun of, and Evan would kill me. Like, not that I had black rifle money, but like I had a really good budget. Uh, I was the director of marketing operations. I had a really good budget, okay? Um, I don't have that here. So, but just getting a trailer and then wrapping it, because I don't want to do it half-assed. So getting a trailer and wrapping it, like, that's some money. And it's just so that's where I was going back to capital or investing, angel investors. I need to really kick my own butt. That is one of my tasks. It doesn't mean that's the same.

SPEAKER_01 49:55

They like to sponsor people and do stuff. So maybe I I don't know. Just talk to them.

SPEAKER_00 50:00

I I need a promise to Evan that I would not call him and uh ask for anything like that. So no, just collaborate. It's not collaborate, yeah. No, I I get it. I totally get that though. Yeah, yeah. No, I mean it's the idea is like it's and it yeah, it's out there. That's the thing with like entrepreneurship. Like, it is, there's a lot because then you could trust me, no one has said it to me, but I've said it to myself. I'm like, am I trying to be the next grunt style or nine-line apparel? And I would tell you the answer is hell yeah. Because they're multi-million dollar companies. You hate them or love them, who cares? And not that I'm trying to be a multi-million dollar, but imagine I'm the nine-line apparel of just veterans in archery. Like, so yeah, like nine like nine-line, but I'm taking it and bringing it down. Like, um, and it's I don't even see here's the funny thing. I don't see dollar signs. I literally just see guys and gals walking on a trail, shooting foam targets, right? Having fun.

SPEAKER_01 51:07

Well, I love it. There's your dream, there's your passion, yeah, there's your purpose. You got your goal, and now it's just getting from point A to point B. Yeah, you might have to go C D E.

Final Principles And Call To Action

SPEAKER_00 51:19

Yeah. Well, I mean, it's it's been four months, it's not anything. And again, you look at, you know, again, an uh Evan story of Black Rifle. It it's it's the did it in his garage, right? You know, Grunstyle was the same way. I Dan, the founder for Grunstyle is not around anymore, but literally was selling crap out of his trunk. And which I almost feel like now, too, because I have some inventory here, and I'm like, all right, man, I guess I gotta get some sales. I'm gonna just start going. I'm gonna roll up to a VFW and just pop open the trunk and be like, There you go. Right. That's that's the hustle. That's the entrepreneur spirit. I know, I know. But it's part of that procrastination. I see to get off my ass and do it. But I know I need to do it. Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_01 51:59

I know. Hey, speaking of that, there's a really good book that might help you with that. You know, get that asset mindset going. You can do it, Dan. I know you can. Oh, for sure. Yeah, but yeah, hey, anybody out there listening, definitely pause right now, go in the link, check out Arrow and Honor Company, check out what Dan's doing, follow him, like him, and of course, follow, like, and subscribe the Asset Mindset podcast, please. It costs you nothing, it helps with the algorithm, it does amazing things, and especially share this with people that need to hear the stories and the inspiration that we have here. And Dan, I want to ask you one more thing before we go. What would you like for your message to be to all the audience and listeners right now about mindset and life? It's a deep one.

SPEAKER_00 52:48

Um I I think the first thing that just pops into my head is the never give up. It really is. And again, maybe that's cliche, maybe that's the cat hanging from the the branch meme, right? Like hang on there. But it is never give up. And when I say that though, it can go deep, right? Someone who's having some thoughts that they don't want to be here anymore, like don't give up. There are so many resources, right? There are so many people in this world who you might not even know that want you still around. And so that never give up mentality goes from someone's mental health to someone trying to start a new company, you know, to someone you know struggling in a job. It really is just never give up. Like there's this you were born, we are here, right? You don't know when it's gonna end. Just don't give up. Like, just I don't know. God, that sounds so corny, but it's just never give up and just keep driving. That's the truth. Yeah, it really is.

SPEAKER_01 53:53

Absolutely, you know, like people say, like, oh, that's corny, or even myself, when I was writing my book, I'm like, I'm saying a lot of the same stuff that other people say, but in a different way, and it's reaching people differently. Like, so but the truth is the truth, man. Yeah, like taking ownership of your life, surrounding yourself with good people in good environments, and be a good asset to other people. Whoa, right there, those three things, that's a recipe for success. You do that, it's not gonna happen overnight, you know. But you'll slowly start to see the ship turn and start sailing in the direction you want because you can do it. Yeah, so please, once again, make sure you check out Dan and what he's doing. Of course, follow, like, and subscribe the Asset Mindset podcast. And more than anything, don't ever forget own your power.