Taylor Hayden started and runs Blackstone Shooting Sports, a shooting range and firearms retailer in Charlotte. In this interview he talks about leaving a great corporate job to go out on his own. He learned a lot through bumps and bruises along the way and shares a lot of wisdom gained along the way.
Taylor
Time: 5:15-9:48
-Taylor's lessons learned and challenges from Blackstone
-Taylor's quote, "When running a company on paper thin margins, if you don't
run it well you aren't staying in business."
-Taylor's background as an attorney
-Taylor cites his father's passing as his inspiration for Blackstone
https://www.blackstoneshooting.com/
Time: 13:00-17:59
-Taylor explains how Blackstone came to be
-Target customers: "People who want to have an amazing experience."
-Niche: "We're here to deliver amazing moments that make you smile."
Time: 21:35-24:23
-Taylor on revenue growth (adding new customers vs. selling more to existing customers)
-Blackstone's niche: Being able to build your own customized AR
Time: 30:30-35:55
-Taylor addresses how revenue is diversified across the company into 4 primary categories:
1. Merchandise
2. Membership
3. Entertainment
4. Random other things
"Revenue is vanity and cash is king."
-GMROI (Gross Margin Return on Investment)
-Do you show everyone in the company your revenue and profits?
Time: 37:15-37:29
-Book reference 'The Great Game of Business'
-Link: https://www.greatgame.com/
"If you don't give people information, they are just going to make up information."
Time: 47:25
-John references Ben Simon from Windsor Jewelers and their discussion on advertising
when Ben was on the show.
Time: 50:38-54:08
-Taylor explains where the Blackstone name came from and how it was his wife's idea
-References William Blackstone
-Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blackstone
-Blackstone URL reference: https://www.blackstoneshooting.com/
-Taylor announces launch of their new eCommerce components within the website
-Linke: https://www.blackstoneshooting.com/shop
Time: 59:14-1:01:59
-Taylor talks about opening another location
-John references when the point came that he needed metrics during Levvel's growth
-Taylor quotes, "Big focus for us now is financial management with solid documented processes."
Time: 1:05:14-1:08:09
-Taylor's explanation on their consultative selling approach: Taylor's team is trained to
find out what the customer likes in order to sell them the right gun
-John's background with guns and shooting ranges
-Taylor's viewpoint on why Blackstone is successful
-Taylor's question alot of businesses should ask themselves, "Do you pursue solely the
path that is the most profitable or the path that you're the best at? Or do you find a way
to marry the two, like we are."
Time: 1:10:40
-References awesome Blackstone Firearm Instructor: Don Bryant
Time: 1:24:41-1:27:37
-Taylor provides insights in his investment strategy
-John references his, Austin Rosenfeld and Greg Brown's viewpoint on selecting the
right investments: "You bet on the jockey."
