We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kawa Mawlayee. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kawa below.

Kawa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

After serving 23 years in the military, I knew I was ready to step away from working for others. My goal upon leaving was to work for myself and create my own schedule. However, one of the biggest challenges of owning a business is that you never truly “clock out.” When you build something from the ground up, you pour your heart and soul into it, investing both physically and mentally. It becomes all-consuming, often at the expense of personal time and well-being. There are definitely pros and cons to entrepreneurship versus traditional employment.

The only time I seriously considered going back to a regular job was during the second year of my business. I was trying to scale but didn’t know how. As a military training and consulting company, I quickly realized that many other veterans were attempting to do the same thing. I needed to differentiate myself. I had strong concepts that I believed could take off, but I lacked an effective marketing strategy. While the consulting side of my business was performing well, I needed to generate more passive income.

At one point, I even considered taking a regular job for additional financial stability while I built my passive income streams. However, I had to ask myself—did I have the time and bandwidth to manage a 9-to-5 while still growing my business? Ultimately, instead of focusing on expanding the training side, I shifted my attention to scaling my consulting work.

As I gained more consulting contracts, I noticed a recurring need—clients required high-quality content for their marketing efforts. This led me to explore content creation across platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. While fulfilling my consulting obligations, I also began creating and posting content more consistently. Eventually, I became monetized on these platforms, generating the passive income I had been striving for. It turned out to be a win-win scenario—I was getting paid for consulting, earning revenue from content creation, and helping businesses improve their products and services.

Now, my company focuses heavily on consulting and content creation, but we’ve also made time to return to firearms and tactics training. I’ve found a balance between teaching, consulting, and enjoying my personal time—something I didn’t have in the early days of business ownership.

Kawa, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

2Alpha Training Group is a veteran-owned and operated company committed to providing elite firearms and tactical training. Founded by Kawa Mawlayee, a 23-year U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret, the company brings extensive real-world experience to every aspect of training and consulting.

At 2Alpha Training Group, we deliver top-tier instruction in:

✔ Pistol & Rifle Marksmanship
✔ Low-Light Applications
✔ Close-Quarters Battle (CQB) Tactics
✔ Concealed Carry & Self-Defense Strategies
✔ Vehicle CQB Training
✔ Actor Training Packages – Specialized preparation for film, television, and video game projects
✔ Risk & Vulnerability Assessments – Expert analysis for security optimization

We also offer consulting services in research & development, product testing, and evaluation, helping companies refine their gear and equipment for real-world application.

At 2Alpha Training Group, our mission is to equip individuals and professionals with the skills, mindset, and confidence needed to operate effectively in any environment.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

My journey into social media started back in 2015 with Instagram—a time when the platform only allowed 15-second, square-format videos. Features we take for granted today, like hashtags and tagging, didn’t exist yet. Back then, Instagram wasn’t owned by Facebook, which meant there was little concern about posting firearms or shooting-related content. That’s changed over the years, and for the past four years, I’ve been shadow-banned due to my content but that doesn’t stop me by any means.

During my last few years in Special Forces, I served as an instructor at SFAUC (Special Forces Advanced Urban Combat), where I was one of six cadre responsible for training 40 Green Berets in pistol and rifle marksmanship, CQB (Close Quarters Battle), and mission planning…every 5 weeks.

I had developed a high level of proficiency in both shooting and instruction, but I wanted to analyze my own performance to refine my skills further. I started recording my shooting sessions, reviewing the footage to identify areas for improvement. Eventually, I ran out of storage on my iPhone, and a friend suggested I upload my videos to Instagram. At the time, I knew nothing about the platform, and because I was still an active-duty Green Beret, I kept my account private and simply used it as a place to store videos.

A year later, after leaving Special Forces, that same friend encouraged me to make my Instagram account public to share my knowledge and grow an audience. That decision changed everything. Almost immediately, my follower count began to grow—fast. I remember the excitement of hitting 500 followers, and before I knew it, I was in the tens of thousands.

As my audience expanded, firearms and tactical gear companies started reaching out, offering to send products in exchange for content and reviews. That was when I first recognized the potential of social media—and learned how to monetize my expertise.

Initially, I focused on shooting tips and techniques, but over time, my content evolved to include education on tactical gear, firearms systems, night vision, lasers, and other aspects of the defense industry. Today, social media is my full-time job—whether I’m creating content for consulting contracts and brand partnerships or engaging with my followers across multiple platforms.

The best part? I get to test cutting-edge equipment, shoot a lot of guns and a lot of ammunition, and work with an incredible community. Does it still feel like work? Not at all.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

In addition to training and consulting, we’ve built a unique apparel line and merchandise collection, available on our website. The journey started with graphic tees, where I collaborated with talented designers who could bring my vision to life. Initially, we used traditional screen printing, but I quickly realized the challenges—large upfront costs, excess inventory, and the risk of sitting on unsold designs or sizes for months. It wasn’t a sustainable approach.

About a year into our apparel line, I discovered Direct-to-Garment (DTG) printing and made the switch. While DTG has its own limitations, the flexibility and cost-efficiency outweighed the minor downsides, such as marginal profit loss and occasional printing errors.

Once we committed to DTG, we sought out top-tier printing partners—companies that could handle both production and fulfillment while maintaining high-quality standards. Today, we have a streamlined system that ensures our tees are printed on premium fabrics, shipped to customers within days, and backed by a quality guarantee, including free replacements for any printing issues.

Our apparel line is a natural extension of the shooting and tactical industry, blending pop culture, firearm enthusiasm, and subgenres of the shooting community into bold, eye-catching designs. With the right production partners and creative vision, the possibilities are endless.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.2alphatraininggroup.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kawa_m_official/
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/kawamofficial
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kawa-mawlayee/
• Twitter: https://x.com/kawa_m_official
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@2AlphaTrainingGroup

Image Credits

Kawa Mawlayee