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What's going on here?

Started by The Wolfhound, April 13, 2018, 12:58:43 PM

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The Wolfhound

All of a sudden, the shooting lines are filling up.  Sites that have had trouble being viable are selling out. Even our Ladyseeds are filling up. In my mind there are several factors for this: Ammo is back (for now) to cheap and available.  The "New Sherriff" in town on Pennsylvania Ave? The recovering economy? The current rabid anti-gun sentiment in the media?  People waking up to the need to know how to run their guns?  The real threat to semi-auto rifles?  All of the above and more?
What are you seeing?

SteelThunder

Same in Michigan.  After an abysmal year last year, all April shoots are sold out

1) Ammo is back (for now) to cheap and available - yes but it was available last year also (1/2nd half)
2) The "New Sherriff" in town on Pennsylvania Ave? -- was in place last year also
3) The recovering economy? -- maybe, but we still get the same complaints from people that they can't afford the shoot
4) The current rabid anti-gun sentiment in the media?  -- I'd posit that this is our driver -- saw a spike in attendance 2 years ago with same spin going on in media
5) People waking up to the need to know how to run their guns?  -- see number 4
6) The real threat to semi-auto rifles?    -- see number 4

And I'll add...when people see a country divided, they seek an anchor.  We're pretty divided...
NRA Patron Member, SAF Life Member
NRA Certified Rifle Instructor, RSO
Warlord of the West

Ultima vox civis
"Learning occurs only after repetitive, demoralizing failures." - Pat Rogers
"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil; God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart." - Tecumseh
"Never attribute to treachery, that which can adequately be explained by incompetence" - Bonaparte, Hanlon, et al

hogfamily

Every time there is a threat to our 2A all firearm training venues fill up.

The other thing that happens is folks that have never owned a firearm will get them, "while they still can".

I am a volunteer RSO at a local range. We see many new gun owners there. The numbers always increase in "these times".  I almost always ask why they decided to get a firearm. The most common answer is, (or a variation of), "I thought I should get one while I still can". Most often the new firearms that they are buying are AR15 style with semi-auto handguns being second.

And what SteelThunder said...





Anchorage Suburbanites, part time Willowbillies, Appleseeds, and Weekend Warrior Turquoise Miners.

"Move that fat ass Henry!"
"Don't swing your balls or you'll swamp the boat!"

Laredo

I am seeing the same thing in Illinois.  ...been wondering the same thing...  why?
April 21-22, 2012 - 1st
Oct      6-7, 2012 - 2nd
April 20-21, 2013 - 3rd
Sept     7-8, 2013 - 4th - Rifleman!!

"The cost of a thing is the amount of life required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run. When one has obtained those essentials necessary for well-being â€" food, shelter, warmth, and clothing, there is an alternative to struggling through steel jungles for the luxuries. That's to adventure on life itself, one's vacation from humble toil having commenced." -Townsend Whelen

Maximum Ordinate

Quote from: SteelThunder on April 13, 2018, 01:24:32 PM
Same in Michigan.  After an abysmal year last year, all April shoots are sold out
4) The current rabid anti-gun sentiment in the media?  -- I'd posit that this is our driver -- saw a spike in attendance 2 years ago with same spin going on in media

This observation has lots of merit.

Alabama has two Pat's Day shoots.  Due to some huge efforts 7th stepping they are oversold.

Lots of people got complacent when they thought the new occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania was on their side.  They are seeing it might not be the case.

But I'll take the increased interest, no matter where it comes from.

-MO
"... the most valuable of all talents, that of never using two words where one will do."
-Thomas Jefferson


We're in the Liberty business.  Stay on Mission - Stay on Message.

Want to be a more effective Instructor?  Visit Appleseed Academy.

DrRichP

#5
Friends,

I am not the type to look a gift-horse in the mouth. I think the renewed interest may have something to do with the current state of affairs, where politicians are now listening to people who were eating Tide pods a couple of weeks ago, attacking the NRA, and threatening our 2A rights. When prompted with a reason, Americans get off the couch and act; but not until then.

I learned at SHOT Show after meeting with friends from the NRA, NSSF, Front Sight Academy, and others who offer educational programs, we are all experiencing a 25-35% drop in attendance - Across the Board. Some are calling it "The Trump Slump". Gone was the sense of urgency seen in the Obama years. Appleseed is no different here and we too are feeling it. The NRA has massively deep pockets and they are feeling it. How can Appleseed defy the trend that grips our industry, especially those with substantially more robust resources?

As a strategy, other organizations are exploiting alternate sources of revenue (e.g., NRA with Carry Guard). These alternate revenue streams also funnel back into training and education. Your AOC is doing the same in an effort to sustain the resources needed to support the mission. We are forging new partnerships to benefit Appleseed (the program, the instructors, AND the participants [See USCCA partnership]), working with the Well-Armed Woman, the USMC Scout Sniper Association, (further establishes our credibility) and more. We are also close to finalizing a partnership with Primary Arms. This week the USCCA is sending a notice of our partnership to all their members along with a discount for their members to come to an Appleseed (filling our lines). We help our partners and they in turn help us.

You'll see our store being updated and expanded. Thank you, Thaddeus and Scuzzy. We now carry Rapid Rods at a great price. Soon you'll see Appleseed branded shooting mats, and cheek risers (no more pipe foam & vet wrap). Shooting mats; like Midway's- but smaller than the big Midway (which is too big in my opinion), larger than the small Midway, and on sale for $24.99 with our name, logo, and web address inside and out. Soon (I hope) you should also see Appleseed branded scopes, eyes, and ears (all in the works but slow). While it is not prudent or appropriate to make everything we're working on behind the scenes public knowledge; as soon as we (the AOC) can inform you, we will. For right now I am comfortable with divulging these things. The AOC entire, Thaddeus, and Scuzzy along with your Regional Coordinators (i.e., the national staff) is working hard on behalf of you and our mission. Don't think because you're not hearing about it, we're not doing anything. WE ARE!! We probably just can't make it public yet. It never hurts to send a PM to ask first.

Regarding the lines filling, I would say, CAPITALIZE on this momentum we're seeing!!

Here are some realities. We are all low on staff. We all fight to find 1) Folks to fill the lines and 2) Instructors to cover shoots. You only get new Orange hats by minting new Rifleman. New Red hats from Orange hats, new Green hats from Red hats. Those are the facts. No matter what we (or anyone else [NRA, Front Sight Academy, NSSF, etc.]) tries, word of mouth and deals remain the primary attractors of people to events.

Be a ROCK STAR! When an attendee comes to an Appleseed if the Shoot boss is tired and uninspired, how many people will they attract to come back and bring friends? To join the mission?  We are in the customer service business. Excited, happy attendees will return and bring friends (see above - word of mouth). That excitement STARTS WITH YOU! While we have this momentum, Seize it!!

On my signature line I have a quote: "You never know how far reaching something you think, say or do today will affect the lives of millions tomorrow" - B.J. Palmer. Think about that as you go to work the next Appleseed! You're in an amazing position right now. Think of the lives you can touch and the impact you can have. It's inconceivable!

Want to know what haunts me? We had a sold-out shoot in Oregon, WI. Small range, 10 people max, sold out weeks in advance. Couldn't fit more. A woman called me, her son was coming home from the Marine Corps for a week before he deployed to Afghanistan, and she wanted to get her family of 5 into the shoot. Perhaps their last family event for a long time. Couldn't get them in, no how, no way. We offered them free attendance at another location. They didn't have reliable transportation. Despite our best efforts, we couldn't accommodate them. Most nights I go to sleep wondering if that kid came back from Afghanistan. Wondering if what we teach could have made the difference for him or one of his fellow Marines. Remember that quote, "You never know how far reaching something you think, say or do today will affect the lives of millions tomorrow". That's the ghost I carry. My failure to serve this young marine, to share with him what we teach at Appleseed. Praying to God he made it back despite my failures. Please don't find yourself in my position!

Each of you have an amazing opportunity to make a difference in someone's life. Don't miss it! Make the most of it. Get out there exploding with enthusiasm and let it be infectious. I try to live by these words "Work like a slave, Command like a king, Create like a God!"

Here's what that means to me:

Work as if life depended on it. Like the weight of the world is on your shoulders alone and it's your job to correct it all. (See my failure to serve that young Marine getting ready to deploy).

Command as if you'll be heard. With authority. Raise your chest up, inhale, and speak your commandments so clear that it seems the whole world can hear you.

Create like a God. Create as if your work will live on and grow without you. Thus, create with the intention of your work to be good for more than just you.

If only 10% of us could get on board with that, think of where we'd be.
DrRichP

"You never know how far reaching something you think, say or do today will affect the lives of millions tomorrow" - B.J. Palmer
   Think about that as you go to work the next Appleseed!

"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new." Socrates

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."-Benjamin Franklin

"What makes an insurrection here always more formidable than in other places is that there is a law of this province wh[ich] obligates every inhabitant to be furnished with a firelock, bayonet, and pretty considerable quantity of ammunition."  - Gen. Lord Hugh Percy

SteelThunder

 That was a pretty darn good motivational talk
NRA Patron Member, SAF Life Member
NRA Certified Rifle Instructor, RSO
Warlord of the West

Ultima vox civis
"Learning occurs only after repetitive, demoralizing failures." - Pat Rogers
"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil; God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart." - Tecumseh
"Never attribute to treachery, that which can adequately be explained by incompetence" - Bonaparte, Hanlon, et al

Texas T

Agreed. This is a great way to kick off a new year.   O0 O0 :F
"In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot."  Mark Twain


First Appleseed, September 26-27, 2015;   First Rifleman, September 27, 2015;   First Redcoat, September 27, 2015;   Second Rifleman, September 27, 2015

Thanks Corvette, great instruction!!!

MI IBC, February 2017

Monkey

Quote
Be a ROCK STAR! When an attendee comes to an Appleseed if the Shoot boss is tired and uninspired, how many people will they attract to come back and bring friends? To join the mission?  We are in the customer service business. Excited, happy attendees will return and bring friends (see above - word of mouth). That excitement STARTS WITH YOU! While we have this momentum, Seize it!!

I don't believe that this point can be overstated.  We are all volunteers in the sales business.  Our products are the ideas that our Founding Fathers held dear.  None of us decided to enter this program because the instructors we taught us were a herd of Eyeores going through the motions.  We saw instructors that deeply cared and truly believed that they were trying to save the country.  A big part of this is telling a PASSIONATE story through the Three Strikes, DOM, etc. 

The most successful businesses and organizations have team members with a heart to serve.  Serve your customer well by telling a compassionate, incredible story of April 19, 1775.  By having a heart to serve instead of a heart to sell, our customers will keep coming.

"5 minutes for this stage - that's like a week in people years!"

"Responsibility is a unique concept... You may share it with others, but your portion is not diminished. You may delegate it, but it is still with you... If responsibility is rightfully yours, no evasion, or ignorance or passing the blame can shift the burden to someone else. Unless you can point your finger at the man who is responsible when something goes wrong, then you have never had anyone really responsible."
― Hyman G. Rickover

"Scoring is a function of great execution, and winning Is the result, but thinking about winning can pull your focus off of proper execution in a competition. Thinking about process is the answer."- Lanny Bassham

PartyHardyMarty

Hey guys thought I'd give you a little feedback on this old thread.  While the political landscape certainly breeds a patriotic resistance/response, I find myself looking to attend your events from recently hearing about the appleseed events on the "Primary and Secondary" podcast. It's been mentioned in several episodes, most recently the precision rifle episode, and several times by firearms trainer Steve Fisher.

So some of it is still word of mouth and your hard work paying off.

Thank you for what you guys are doing, cant wait to meet some of you on a range!

AF5US

Thank you for letting us know, Marty.  Now I have a new podcast to check out.  Based on your listed city I don't know that you and I will meet in the near future (I'm Texas based), but the people that volunteer here are some of the best people I know.  The proof is in the pudding, as they say - and this is the program that took me from not growing up with firearms, to making Texan friends jealous and shooting pretty little ragged holes.  More importantly though is the history and heritage - building on the sense of "something's not right" so many people in our nation have, "waking up the sleeping Americans" and encouraging others to become active in the defense of our natural rights.  :F

Get to an event soon - you'll spend a weekend on the gun range; how can that POSSIBLY be a bad weekend?  ;)

Jason
AF5US

Quote from: PartyHardyMarty on July 11, 2018, 09:31:33 AM
Hey guys thought I'd give you a little feedback on this old thread.  While the political landscape certainly breeds a patriotic resistance/response, I find myself looking to attend your events from recently hearing about the appleseed events on the "Primary and Secondary" podcast. It's been mentioned in several episodes, most recently the precision rifle episode, and several times by firearms trainer Steve Fisher.

So some of it is still word of mouth and your hard work paying off.

Thank you for what you guys are doing, cant wait to meet some of you on a range!
Rifleman:                          04/2016
Known Distance Rifleman:  10/2018
Pistoleer™:                          08/2019
Distinguished Rifleman:      07/2020
Morgan's Shingle:              12/2021
Standing Morgan's Shingle: 11/2022
Member: GOA (Gun Owners of America)
Member: FPC (Firearms Policy Coalition)
Life Member: NRA (National Rifle Association)

Monkey

Quote from: PartyHardyMarty on July 11, 2018, 09:31:33 AM
Hey guys thought I'd give you a little feedback on this old thread.  While the political landscape certainly breeds a patriotic resistance/response, I find myself looking to attend your events from recently hearing about the appleseed events on the "Primary and Secondary" podcast. It's been mentioned in several episodes, most recently the precision rifle episode, and several times by firearms trainer Steve Fisher.

So some of it is still word of mouth and your hard work paying off.

Thank you for what you guys are doing, cant wait to meet some of you on a range!

Fantastic feedback, Marty. 

As I tell everbody at our events - If you like what you experienced during the Project Appleseed event, the best way to thank us is to tell others, and to come back with somebody new.
"5 minutes for this stage - that's like a week in people years!"

"Responsibility is a unique concept... You may share it with others, but your portion is not diminished. You may delegate it, but it is still with you... If responsibility is rightfully yours, no evasion, or ignorance or passing the blame can shift the burden to someone else. Unless you can point your finger at the man who is responsible when something goes wrong, then you have never had anyone really responsible."
― Hyman G. Rickover

"Scoring is a function of great execution, and winning Is the result, but thinking about winning can pull your focus off of proper execution in a competition. Thinking about process is the answer."- Lanny Bassham

PartyHardyMarty

Quote from: AF5US on July 11, 2018, 11:29:16 AM
Thank you for letting us know, Marty.  Now I have a new podcast to check out.  Based on your listed city I don't know that you and I will meet in the near future (I'm Texas based), but the people that volunteer here are some of the best people I know.  The proof is in the pudding, as they say - and this is the program that took me from not growing up with firearms, to making Texan friends jealous and shooting pretty little ragged holes.  More importantly though is the history and heritage - building on the sense of "something's not right" so many people in our nation have, "waking up the sleeping Americans" and encouraging others to become active in the defense of our natural rights.  :F

Get to an event soon - you'll spend a weekend on the gun range; how can that POSSIBLY be a bad weekend?  ;)

Jason
AF5US

Thanks Jason it will be a great weekend, looks like there are 2 about two hours away so if your in va in Sept or Nov maybe haha. Have your heard of Appomattox court house? Lee surrendered there.

Primary and secondary has some incredible (and good) information, which can be a little hard to find on the internet, I hope you enjoy it!

Also after posting yesterday i found a speech on YouTube by someone from rwva, wow what a great story! And to know it's our own!
https://youtu.be/1k6zq_Y_IzA

  :F

PartyHardyMarty

Quote from: Monkey on July 11, 2018, 11:53:19 AM
Fantastic feedback, Marty. 

As I tell everbody at our events - If you like what you experienced during the Project Appleseed event, the best way to thank us is to tell others, and to come back with somebody new.

Sounds like they are listening! Thanks guys. You are really walking a line between instructor and freedoms advocate. I love how you guys are making a difference, and not just getting angry on Facebook.

Monkey

Quote from: MartyYou are really walking a line between instructor and freedoms advocate.

Personally, it's what keeps me coming back.  Helping people keeps me going.  Being an advocate for the freedom that we enjoy also moves me.  Best part is, I don't necessarily think there's a line between the two. 

Two sides of the same coin, perhaps - if done right, you don't have to choose between one or the other, as a line suggests - you can, and should do both!

"5 minutes for this stage - that's like a week in people years!"

"Responsibility is a unique concept... You may share it with others, but your portion is not diminished. You may delegate it, but it is still with you... If responsibility is rightfully yours, no evasion, or ignorance or passing the blame can shift the burden to someone else. Unless you can point your finger at the man who is responsible when something goes wrong, then you have never had anyone really responsible."
― Hyman G. Rickover

"Scoring is a function of great execution, and winning Is the result, but thinking about winning can pull your focus off of proper execution in a competition. Thinking about process is the answer."- Lanny Bassham

PHenry

Para ser Libre, un Hombre debe tener tres cosas. La Tierra, una Educacion, y un Fusil. Siempre, un Fusil!  Emiliano Zapata

Ragnar Delta

#16
Marty,

I'm on P&S, as well, and proselytize as much as possible to Matt, Ash, Steve, Bill B, Petty, Pressburg, et all as much as possible to get the word out.

Appleseed truly is a great program and even the best of shooters come away with new knowledge and skills after an AS event. And the history presented comes alive and inspires young and old alike.

So glad to hear you are planning to make an event!

PartyHardyMarty

Awesome guys, keep it up! Really looking forward to it, and hoping my wife will accompany me.

RD -  P&S is definitely getting the word out in general, keep on em :)