We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Derrek Brown. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Derrek below.
Alright, Derrek thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start big picture – what are some of biggest trends you are seeing in your industry?
In the hunting and fishing industry, the biggest trend that I’ve noticed is the use of electronics in the field. There used to be a saying that you had to have “time on the water” or “time in the woods” to gain the experience needed to become a seasoned outdoorsman. Electronics have shorten that “time on the water” and “time in the woods” to mere cameras and small computers screens. In the past, if you wanted to know what kind or size of animal was moving around on your hunting land, you would have to spend countless hours in the woods watching and waiting to see what moved. Now, all you have to do is purchase a cellular camera, link it to your phone and instantly, pictures of your quarry will appear on your phone while you are sitting in your office at work. If you wanted to locate fish for a bass tournament, it would take you a couple days to find out what part of the lake was holding fish in addition to confirming if they were the size you were after. Most boats nowadays have 2-3 sonar screens on the front that provide down scan, side imaging and live scope. You can literally cast your bait and watch it fall to the fish you’ve located. That’s not all, you can even watch the fish eat your bait on the screen while you attempt to reel it in. I guess I’m what you would consider “old school” and there just doesn’t seem to be much fun in that. I’ve always liked the mystery of trying to figure out how the animals were moving by using my hunting skills that were passed down to me from my dad and uncles. Same goes with fishing. Don’t get me wrong, I think electronics are great as they help us in many different ways in the outdoors but I feel that in some instances, it takes away from the actual skill set that is required which make these sports challenging.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m Derrek Brown and I am the owner of FHD, Fish Hunt or Die LLC. FHD is a lifestyle brand that was born from a fishing and hunting newsletter that I use to publish back in the early 2000s. The newsletter was titled “What’s Biting?” and was basically a platform that I created to showcase the fishing and hunting skills/accomplishments for the minority outdoorsman. The newsletter was fairly popular in the Southeastern United States but when the internet took flight, I had to think and brainstorm of other ways to complete the original task. The newsletter did well but it had its limitations. Growing up, my dream was to have my own fishing and hunting company but that couldn’t be accomplished with a newsletter. Although the newsletter planted the seed, the company or business couldn’t be called “What’s Biting”. For a couple of months I struggled with trying to figure out what the company would be called until one day, my childhood friend, Phillip Breech, and I were sitting around joking and we began to chant “Fish, Hunt or Die”, “Fish Hunt or Die”. After we chanted that a few times, I told him “that’s it”…..”Fish, Hunt or Die, that’s what I’m going to change the title of the newsletter to”. I eventually added the motto ….”it’s a way of life” as this embodied the culture and lifestyle we come from. The newsletter evolved into a small business and over the year’s we’ve made strides to become a household lifestyle brand for Fishing and Hunting. Its been a slow grind learning the fishing and hunting industry from a merchandising perspective but I wouldn’t have it any other way. And please know, FHD is not just me! There are quite a few people who have been in the trenches helping build this brand throughout the years. I’m only the background guy that’s tried to ensure that the brand stays relevant and keeps moving forward. This is a homegrown brand for the people and we do our best to provide a friendly and fun atmosphere for the novice and experienced outdoorsman. If you visit our social media platforms, you’ll see an array of outdoorsmen who have joined in to make FHD Fish Hunt or Die LLC a brand to be proud of; it’s a family. The biggest accomplishment of the brand so far is that we’ve brought people together of all cultures and backgrounds to share their outdoor experiences. To further support these endeavors, we have the FHD clothing line and other branded merchandise with the FHD logo and mantra that can be found on our website (www.fishhuntordie.com).
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
One of the lessons I had to learn is that your dream is “YOUR” dream. Just because someone is supporting you and people are happy for the success, you can’t expect them to put out the same effort as you do for your dream, remember, its “YOURS”. Its not to say that people, friends or family won’t help or promote the cause, you just have to understand that ultimately, as an entrepreneur, your business or company will only go as far as you are willing to go or sacrifice.
Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?
Being that I’m not a big social media person, I came into that world later than most business owners. Navigating FaceBook and Instagram was a challenge for me at first because in order to really make these platforms work, posting content consistently is key. Due to my low-key personality, I had to become innovative in my approach in how I could make social media work for FHD. First off, I vowed that I would never “buy” followers. I wanted the FHD audience to be “real” people that subscribed to our cause and believed in what we stand for. To ensure that our audience was legit, one of the marketing sales pitches I started is called “First Come, First Serve” Fridays. This is a marketing tool we use where on each Friday, we set a price drop on limited FHD gear or merchandise and the first patrons that DM us for the item are the first to purchase it at the reduced price as advertised. This has been successful in the fact is gives our audience a chance to get some cool FHD gear for a great price while also creating and building suspense in wondering what will be available the following week on “First Come, First Serve Friday”. Now there are risk associated with this marketing approach as there have been some Fridays that we didn’t do as good as others but it helps reduce inventory and keeps our audience connected with what we are doing week in and week out.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.fishhuntordie.com
- Instagram: @fhd4lyph
- Facebook: @fhd4lyph
Image Credits
Original pictures courtesy of FHD Fish Hunt or Die LLC