My friends all have called me a maverick, rebel or renegade at least once and say I live by my own set of rules. Later in this section you will begin to see the relevance of this to the Outrider philosophy. As I was developing my new putter, a friend looked at it and said this is not a better mouse trap you invented; it’s totally new and the first of its kind. He went on to say my new club was just like me; it breaks all the rules and goes way outside the box. The next morning my friend calls me with a definite tone of excitement in his voice and says he needs to talk to me as soon as possible; he said my product was so far outside the box it made him remember a story told to him many years ago. He went on to say that he had come up with the perfect name for my new product. This brings me to the story told to me by this friend and my philosophy behind OUTRIDER, the BRAND. After listening to his story, I completely changed my business plan and marketing strategy as well as changed my company name to The Outrider Corporation.
The story, as it was told to him by a Native American friend about 30 years ago, and as it was told to me about 10 years ago, goes something like this. It starts with a North American Indian tribe in the North West that believed that the Raven, the bigger cousin to the crow created man. Within the Raven community there was a special group born into a society that lived by their own set of rules, non conformist (Sound familiar?). It was bigger, faster, better, smarter and had more powers than a standard Raven. We all know the legends of the Ravens un-earthly powers right? These Ravens lived alone on the fringe, out of sight from the rest of their community but always seemingly close by. According to the legend told to my friend 30 years ago by a member of this tribe, nothing of this world or the spirit world could compete or stand up to the powers of this Raven, the OUTRIDER, as the tribe called it and the creator of man and protector of all things. As I was listening to my friend tell this story, I knew before he even finished that I would change my company’s name to Outrider and change my plan to one that would take me in a direction towards creating one of the most respected and sought after lifestyle brands in the world, dedicated to all of us mavericks, rebels, and renegades. The non-conformist that lives life by their own set of rules. A brand for those very few of us that blaze trails even above the high road. Outrider, according to legend and in my mind as I listened to his story, is another word describing a maverick, rebel, or renegade; (minus all the un-earthly powers, or maybe?) someone that lives life outside the box so to speak.
I was an athlete in school and played every sport like it was a life and death event and started to see the Outriders in this same way. I started to see the Michel Jordan’s and Tiger Woods of the sports world, both dominating and destroying the competition with their own special powers as Outriders. After listening to the complete story, and having some marketing experience and some knowledge of branding, all I could think about for days and wanted to do was build the most sought after and desirable brand in the world built around a word and a story behind it that I was just exposed to; OUTRIDER. And some day, for those of us that fit the image to be called OUTRIDERS instead of mavericks, rebels or renegades by mainstream America and the world. And that is the story and philosophy of Outrider, the brand dedicated to us non-conformist, us OUTRIDERS.
This story and philosophy may seem silly and odd for a lone inventor trying to market the most lethal putter in the world to golfers and change the game; but, it had a profound effect on me. Maybe because I am an Outrider; maybe because I have always had a fondness and close connection to Native American culture, beliefs, and their forever green attitude towards Mother Nature and the planet earth. I’ve always regarded them as extremely wise people.
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