Silvercore Podcast 157 Christian Schauf

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Travis Bader: [00:00:00] Before we get into today's episode, I want to take a moment to tell you about the Silver Court Clubs Private Members podcast. If you enjoy these longer conversations and want something a bit more personal, behind the scenes and practical, the private feed is where that happens. Every week. I share shorter reflections, sometimes lessons from past guests, sometimes gear insights, mindset shifts, or things I've learned the hard way out in the field or running a business.

It's raw, it's real, and it's only for Silver Court Club members. This episode with Christian Shaw is a great tie in his company. Uncharted Supply Code creates gear that's meant to actually work when accounts not just sit on a shelf. Like many companies right [00:01:00] now, they're navigating some heavy challenges with global tariffs.

If you appreciate quality kit and you like what Christian and his team stand for, I'd encourage you to check out their site and support a business that's committed to doing things the right way. If being prepared and capable resonates with you, whether that means deepening your connection with the natural world, building useful skills, or simply living a more intentional and purposeful life, consider joining the Silver Core Club.

Head to silver core.ca and check that out. Finally, while recording a podcast over the internet is an incredible tool for access, it can come with its own quirks. We had a small technical issue right at the end, and Christian's audio drops in quality just a little bit in the final minute. It's still understandable, but thank you for bearing with us and for your understanding.

Now. Without further ado, let's get on with the podcast. I'm joined today by someone whose life reads like an adventure [00:02:00] novel. He's recorded music with Prince. He's scuba dived with Richard Branson, toured war zones performing for US troops, and now leads one of North America's most trusted survival gear brands.

Uncharted Supply Co with a passion for preparedness and purposeful living. He's on a mission to help others face the unexpected with confidence. Welcome to the Silver Core Podcast, Christian Shaw. Wow, 

Christian Schauf: that was impressive. I'm, I'm a, I'm, 

Travis Bader: I wanna meet me. It's gonna be cool. 

Christian Schauf: I dunno. Thanks, man. 

Travis Bader: I always look at it like, I, I always hate it when people are like, oh, come on to the podcast.

Go ahead and introduce yourself. I mean, I. 

Christian Schauf: That's what I, I used to have a podcast and that's what I did. I said, tell me, tell me who you are, because I, I, I never knew how to like frame people up. But I, I'll, I'll take that intro all day long. Thank you. 

Travis Bader: Oh, I love it. Yeah. I've always looked at it like, if you're coming into my house, am I gonna say, oh, go introduce yourself to everybody, or am I gonna say, Hey, come on in, here's my buddy.

Show you around. And so I don't know if it's the right way or the wrong way, but I started that on day one and now I do it every single time. [00:03:00] 

Christian Schauf: I, I'm gonna learn from that man. I'm, you know, people come stay at my house. I'm like, here's the gate code. Uh, there's food in the fridge. Help yourself talk to you later, you know?

Yeah. Totally. 

Travis Bader: Totally. Well, you know, you first came on my radar. Two things, actually two things brought you on my radar. One, one was Andrew Abido, uh, half Face Blades. Your buddies with him. Yeah. Uh, he was past podcast guest here on the Silver Core Podcast. And the other thing that. I've been looking at for a long time and always just kind of drooling over is uh, your pack graphs.

Christian Schauf: Man, those are amazing. Yeah, they're cool. Yeah, they're very cool. It's funny when we launched that, um, so the backstory in that product, not to go on a tangent, but um, my buddy Seth Carl is an amazing product designer and he had developed that product based on a military request for rapid water crossings of irrigation canals in Afghanistan for the troops.

And they ended up going with a bridge system. So they all military contracts work. They didn't using it. Yeah. They're like, we need to get across water. And then they get all these ideas, right. I mean, that's where I [00:04:00] think like Harley-Davidson lost the contract to Jeep years ago. I mean, there's a lot of ways to skin a cat.

Um, but he had this, so this super cool raft that he showed me and the original prototype was like, like a Chipotle burrito it so small. And um, I was like, that's cool, but people are gonna pop those things, you know, if they use 'em a bunch of times, it's not a one and done. You're moving through a war zone.

And so we worked on developing a very proprietary material that was multiple times more tear resistant than the competitors. And it, it's a really, really cool product. We launched it at Outdoor Retail Show in Colorado. It won Best in Show at our first time ever showing there. Wow. And I'm like, man, this thing is gonna crush.

And then nobody, nobody bought it. And I think, I think nobody believed us. You know, we were a new brand. Right. And you're looking at this raft and people are like, oh, that'd be fun in the pool. I'm like, no, I don't think you understand. And now it's to the point where guys like you are like, oh, that, that is pretty awesome.

And it's funny, you know, during hunting season, I can't tell you how many videos I have of [00:05:00] guys hauling moose Quarters and stuff, you know, down those shallow rivers in the Yukon or, or Canada or la, wherever. Yeah. And, um, just, it's such a, such a cool product. Um, I'm really proud of it. I think it's got a big life ahead of it and, um, I appreciate that.

Travis Bader: Yeah. No, it's, it's pretty sweet. I mean like, just. On first glance looking at the thing, it's like, man, that thing's awesome. And yeah, first thing I thought of was like, how robust is it? And so I, you know, you analyze and you watch and I just see video after video review after review of people just doing amazing things with it.

I'm like, I'm gonna have to throw one of those in my kit, especially for like a moose hunt. You've moose hunted in BC right? 

Christian Schauf: I have, I have, yes. Where you've done your homework? Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Travis Bader: Whereabouts in BC was that? 

Christian Schauf: It was, um, on the border of British Columbia and the Yukon. Um, it was, man, I can't remember the exact name of the lake that we flew out of.

Skier Lake or something like that. Okay. Um, but yeah, it was, I can tell you this, it [00:06:00] was a 36 hour drive from Park City. I drove 'cause I'm like, I'm getting a moose and I dunno how I'm gonna get the meat back, but I better drive. So that was a long drive. That Alaskan highway was tedious and beautiful and amazing and it just, it.

It, it felt, I've been to a lot of interesting places that felt like I was really going somewhere. You know, it was like we were going to the edge of the world, like driving down that road and things get, the roads get smaller and the landscapes get bigger and the towns get a little odier. Mm-hmm. And, um, man, I, if I was independently wealthy someday I would, I would be chasing those types of adventures all the time.

It's super cool. 

Travis Bader: Yeah. I, you know, I'm pretty blessed to be living in British Columbia. We have, I mean, despite the politics and despite the how pricey it can be. Right. And everything else that goes along with it. Right. But I, man, the biodiversity here's amazing. The Yeah. And the, the landscape is just crazy.

It's, you are. So, I was talking to a friend in, [00:07:00] um, in Idaho and, uh, about Black Bear hunting. Uh, Brad Brooks, he owns a company called or galley, and, uh, yeah. Yeah. And I, I guess in Idaho, all they ever get is, um, these color phased bears. And in BC the majority of what we see out here are these jet black ones.

And everyone in BC says, man, I really want to get a color fla color phased bear. And everyone down in Idaho is like, oh man, I want to get a jet black bear. But I don't know, it, it just kind of brought to mind how we can take for granted what we have around us Sure. And be always looking elsewhere for something.

Christian Schauf: Yeah. I mean, I have, I have a big elk herd that lives almost in my yard, you know? Mm-hmm. I go, I drive through 'em every day and, um, I make it a point to just take it in every day and, and appreciate it. It's just, there were, there was a time in my life where I dreamed of seeing elk and, you know, getting on a hunt and just being in proximity to 'em.

And now I was hiking the other night and I bumped a moose and there were, you know, there's mule deer and there's [00:08:00] elk, and there's wolves and coyotes, and. Um, yeah, it's expensive living where we live, uh, but I love it. I love it and it's worth it, so 

Travis Bader: Well, when I first reach out to you, it, it's funny because sometimes I'll talk to people and they're really known for one thing, and so I'll do my research and I want to talk to 'em about the one thing that they're known for, thinking that's what they'd be passionate about, only to find out, I start getting into the conversation and they've talked about it so much.

They're bored of it. They like, they really want to talk about something else. So, uh, I'm like, so what are you passionate about right now? And like, but a bit about yourself. He said, you know, business, hunting, fitness and the one that really caught me was trying, trying to do something special with this short time that we have.

Christian Schauf: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I mean, look, I, uh, I think a lot about time. I don't know if that's like a morbid way to, I. To be, or if I just have fomo. But, um, I was [00:09:00] literally just 20 minutes ago having a conversation with a great friend of mine about how fast time is going and the things we're accomplishing and, um, how like, like how much I still want to accomplish.

Um, I don't know, you know, on one hand we're like this speck on this planet, in this solar system and, you know, you can feel pretty insignificant. And the other time it's like you got one life and, um, you know, the prefontaine quote, it's like to sacrifice anything but the best is, you know, to sacrifice the gift, right?

Like, yeah, I just, I don't know. I come from a long line of hustlers and I think it's in my DNA and, um, I, I've just always wanted to try to do something, something big, no matter if it's chasing the biggest game or trying to build a business or pushing myself, you know, past where I'm comfortable. It's just, that's, that's when I feel alive, I guess.

And I wanna feel alive as much as I can. Right. So. It ever feel that's down for 

Travis Bader: me. 

Christian Schauf: Does does 

Travis Bader: it ever 

Christian Schauf: feel overwhelming almost every [00:10:00] day? Yes. Okay, good. Good. Yeah. I mean, look man, I'm, I'm like, I'm 44 and single. I'd love to have a family. It's like, oh gosh, I need to really get on that. And then, you know, you're, you look back and it's, I building this business for seven, seven-ish years, eight years.

It's like, wow, that's a, that's a lot of time invested in that. And, um, am I doing this right? Am I investing time in the right spot? Should I be doing something else? Should I have done something? You know, you can go crazy thinking about all this stuff, but, um, I, you know, I'm a, I'm a man of faith and I just believe, like, you gotta, you gotta follow your path and trust kind of where life's leading you and, um, and give it your all every day.

You know? I think that's really what it comes down to. 

Travis Bader: So life's led you on some pretty cool adventures. I mean, a couple of them I mentioned just in the beginning here, I left out a ton and I didn't talk about hunting in Africa and, and adventures that you've had globally all over the world. But I mean, performing for the troops, was it 29 times that you did that?

Th 

Christian Schauf: 39 trips to Iraq, [00:11:00] 39, a minimum of two weeks at a time. Um, over the better part of a decade, maybe seven or eight years. Um, yeah, that's a wild story. You know, I, I played in a band for a long time. It, it's funny, I just, I had kind of a garage band with my buddies and my brother and I always said I'd stick with it as long as it kept growing.

And it just, it just kept growing. And, you know, we had, we had really interesting opportunities to be more famous, but at the end of the day, you know, we kind of business-minded and we really built a nice program playing in kind of the Midwest. And, I mean, we played in 30 some countries. We did a lot of cool stuff, but I.

Um, that was a fun chapter in life. I met some really interesting people. Got to play some really, I mean, I sang the National Anthem once at a NASCAR race. It was 176,000 people in attendance. Um, it was live on ESPN. Um, the Jets flew right over our head and firework fireworks shot up our ass, you know, by end.

And, uh, you know, like that, those are experiences not a lot of people get. So I'm very blessed to have experienced [00:12:00] those. Um, it's just, it's been a ride, man. But we, yeah, we did that. We, um, I was kind of, kind of getting to the point where I'm like, I wanna do something else. And the, the, the Pentagon Sauce play a show and at South by Southwest, which is like a music festival, and they asked us to go play for the troops and, um, it went really well.

Um. This, this is actually a funny story since we got time. Yeah. The first tour we go over and we play some shows in Kuwait, Kuwait bases, Eric, John, those places are, they're kind of like division three college campuses. You know, there's a swimming pool and a gym and a Baskin Robbins and Sure. Uh, library and it's, it's pretty casual.

And then we get on these ospreys and fly into this place called Camp Korean Village, and it was just a bunch of, it was all, almost all males Marines. Mm. Um, hadn't had any entertainment. Pretty hardened. Not a lot of, you know, fun out there. And I remember sitting in the dining facility thinking these guys just flew in five dudes to sing for like 200 sober dudes.

Like, [00:13:00] this is not only awkward, but this is not gonna go well. And, um, I look across the dining facility we're sitting in and there's these, you know, those coolers that they have, like cokes and stuff in, and there was a whole bunch of O'Doul's beers and I was like, can we get like 50 beers on the stage?

And I think the guy probably thought maybe we were alcoholics and we needed something. But we got on stage, we had a plan as a band, and we, we invited like the, the highest ranking officer up on the stage and we made him stage, dive into the crowd. And then we gave everybody beers. I'm like, we're gonna have a beer.

The biggest beer fight Iraq's ever seen. And uh, we really learned to make the shows about the troops, right? It wasn't about, Hey, listen to our music and these songs we wrote. Mm-hmm. Um, it was like, Hey, who can play guitar? Uh, what songs do you like who wants to sing? And we just made a party and. They said, Hey, come back as much as you want.

So on the second trip back, sorry it was a little long, but on the second trip back, um, I was meeting with the chief of programs [00:14:00] who was controlling all the entertainment. I was like, what's the hardest thing about your job? And he said, well, there's like 350 bases roughly, and I can't get bands to 300 of them.

I was like, well, that's most of them, why? And he said, well, you know, these speaker systems are so big, we have to put 'em into a C one 30 or a C 17, so we can only go with his landing strips. Mm. And at the time I'd been working, you know, our sound guy was Prince's sound guy, like our, you know, we, we were in with these guys that were the top of the game.

And so we went home after that trip and figured out how to fit a speaker system into a Black Hawk helicopter by like hot rotting speakers and using like digital amps and just making the footprint smaller. Mm. And we pitched it to them and that turned into years and years of not only, you know, our band did 150 shows, but we sent even more, you know, other bands, comedians.

We did a thing called Bikes Over Baghdad where we would build skate parks at the bases and do like a Nitro circus type thing with BMX riders. Um, and that was, that was my life for the better part of a decade, was just [00:15:00] going back and forth to Iraq and putting these shows on. So, um. That's crazy. I don't know where I'm going with that, but that, yeah, that was a crazy chapter in my life that I still sometimes have a hard time believing happened, but what an amazing trip.

Travis Bader: Well, how 

Christian Schauf: old 

Travis Bader: were you when you were doing this? 

Christian Schauf: Uh, late twenties, early thirties. Yeah, something like that. 

Travis Bader: So you realized that you cracked the code there, the code of, you know, if people will talk to me, we talk about business and I'm, I'm no business guru, but I, I have a, a couple things that I've looked at that I know to be true, and one of them is I don't chase the money.

I money is a natural byproduct of the hard work and effort that you put into whatever it is. You're, if you're passionate about it, the right people will also like it. And if they don't like it, hey, at least you're doing something you love. Right. But for, for sure, you, you crack the code in so far as. This isn't about me at all.

This [00:16:00] isn't about them listening to my music. This is about the consumer, the end users, the the folks boots on the ground going out there. What can I do to make this a best thing for them? And you reap the benefits of decade of, of, of doing that. 

Christian Schauf: Yeah. Our goal always, we'd get this comment all the time, and I think it was just the way people felt, but people would always say, man, for like two hours, I forgot I was here.

Oh, wow. And, uh, that was always our goal was to, to get them to unwind enough to forget about their situation. And there was a lot of studies around, you know, if, if these, if the guys in theater got X amount of entertainment, um, statistically like suicide, depression mm-hmm. Was massively reduced on the backend.

And so, you know, there was actually a lot of science and thought around what we were doing. We weren't just screwing around. But, um, it became a mission. You know, it was one of those things where. I never joined the military. Um, I sometimes I wish I would have a lot of my friends like [00:17:00] Beto and those guys have done great things in that space.

Um, but this was our way to give back. You know, it wasn't really about money ever. It was more about if we can solve this problem and provide this thing that's needed, we should do it as long as they want us to. And, um, and that was, that was what we did. We just, we just showed up and tried to make people laugh and have a good time.

Travis Bader: So after that wrapped up, after about 10 years of this, you just looked at it and said, okay, it's time to make a change. It's time to pivot. Would you do that? 

Christian Schauf: Well, the, the war ended is one thing. Sure. There's that. Yes. Would you still be doing it? Two things to that point. We, we still continue to do stuff in other places.

You know, there's troops all over the world. It, it never felt as dramatic and as powerful when you'd go to El Salvador, you know, and these guys were on a beachfront and you'd come, you know, they, Iraq was a hard environment. Mm-hmm. Um, and [00:18:00] so there was a little bit of like, eh, I mean, if you're not making a lot of money doing it and not as many people are showing up 'cause they're, they're fine going surfing or whatever.

Sure. Um, maybe I can do some other things. You know, that, that's one side of it. Um, the other side is it, what I learned in those trips was the show was like maybe half of it. Hmm. What was really important was like spending time with the troops and talking to them and letting them tell you stories and showing you where they worked.

And, you know, we'd sneak out at night and go blow up 20 pounds of C four in the desert and, um, excellent. And it was, it was awesome, right? Yeah. But like the, the personal touch and just having somebody new to talk to, to say, holy cow, what you're doing is so cool. That was really valuable, but it also took a massive.

Amount of energy, because we would do three or four shows a day. Um, you're setting up, you don't have a crew. You're setting up tearing down, playing shows, getting into a black hawk, going to the next one, [00:19:00] and then at night these guys want to go do something else. Mm. And I saw after a while, my, my guys more and more seeking out wifi and air conditioning versus like looking for some mayhem to get into.

Travis Bader: Right. And 

Christian Schauf: that was kind of a big moment where I was like, you know what, it's time to start sending other people. So they're coming into with fresh eyes and they can have that energy. So, you know, look, it was a beautiful thing. I think we, we did a great job with it. I'm so thankful that we had that experience.

Um, but you know, everything's got a season to it and that was ours. 

Travis Bader: Yeah. And that's, uh, you know, that's a sign of a good entrepreneur is knowing when to pivot, when to pull the plug and when to move towards something, uh, more desirable. Sure. 

Christian Schauf: Yeah. Absolutely. 

Travis Bader: So what'd you move to after that? 

Christian Schauf: Um, I. A lot of things.

Um, when I was, when I was home in between, like before we started going to Iraq, I had started with a guy named Joe Herron to build this hard apple cider company called Crispin Cider. Uh, Joe and I, you know, I was working in Joe's attic. It was his business, his money, but it was him and I and, [00:20:00] um, we built that thing up and then I kind of stepped away a little bit when we were doing the tours.

I was helping kind of part-time came back into a little bit at the end that ended up selling to MillerCoors, a subsidiary of them. Um, and then what was interesting is when we were doing these tours, we had so many brands that wanted to get involved and do things. So, um, GoPro, Harley Davidson, Fox Racing, um, Texas, Pete's Hot Sauce.

You know, we had these groups that were like, they just wanted to support the troops and do great things. And so we developed all these programs for 'em overseas and then when I came home, they started hiring my brother and I to do more things for them in the States. So for a while we started almost like a little agency where we were doing experiential stuff, marketing events.

Cool. Um, and then, and then that led me to taking a full-time position with a company in Southern California. And so I moved there for four years. Um, that wasn't a great experience. Um. I thought the product was amazing. Uh, the team was, I won't go into it, but it was, it was not what I thought [00:21:00] it was gonna be.

And so while I was working through that and maintaining my commitments, I was definitely in the head space of like, what do I really wanna do with my life? And, you know, going from a, growing up on a farm and being around military and then going to Southern California, it was such a drastic change in people and how they thought about taking care of each other and being prepared for things and being self-sufficient.

That's what really led me to starting Uncharted. 

Travis Bader: What were some of the hardest lessons that you learned through those, uh, business stages up to Uncharted? 

Christian Schauf: I think anytime you're doing something on your own, it's, it's the, the, the level of ownership and responsibility and how everything flows down to you.

And that's what I'm dealing with today, right? Like mm-hmm. That's always the hardest part. I've, I've had jobs, I'm not good at this, but I've had jobs working for other people where. You show up at eight, you leave at five, you get your weekends, you get a paycheck. Um, and there's a certain [00:22:00] calmness to that, but I didn't like it.

It didn't, I guess I like, I like the adventure of things and the, the ma massive upside and the massive downside, and you having so much control over where that goes. So, you know, I think that's the biggest thing is when you, you talked before about like, just doing what you love and, and not chasing the money.

Mm-hmm. You've gotta really love doing something when you start it on your own, because it's gonna get hard. And if you aren't fully committed and fully into it, you're gonna find a way to make it not work. Mm-hmm. You're gonna, you're gonna back out. So, you know, those are probably the big things I've learned.

I, you know, I would also say just people, the people around you. I've had many examples of people that I trusted that took massive advantage of that. And, um, you know. You know, when you're starting, you have a lot of money. You hire whoever's around Sure. You get whatever you can and getting really good people.

You know, we have a great team at Uncharted now, and I, you know, I'm leaving, I'm [00:23:00] actually going with Beto on Monday. We're going for a couple weeks hunting and, um, nice. Just, just knowing that like, there's a team that I can trust behind here is, is a massive thing. Right? It really comes down to having a strong team, having belief in what you're doing and then just really working your butt off as hard as you can.

Travis Bader: Yeah, I, I can relate to a few of those. Um, you know, the ends justify the means sort of mentality. Like, I'll look at other people and they'll, they'll do a new job and then they'll do a new another one and they'll start a different business and they keep swapping around. I found that if you keep plugging away in the one lane that you're passionate about, eventually you'll weather the tough points and you'll start being able to reap the benefits of what you have coming in.

I think anyways. And, and that's sort of my optimistic perspective, but maybe, maybe they're smarter, they're able to identify faster when things just aren't working and, and their effort can go into something else. 

Christian Schauf: I, I think it's a little of both. I, I, I think that, you know, you have to fail [00:24:00] fast. You have to go, okay, hey, this isn't working, let's pivot.

But also I think there's probably a lot of amazing ideas out there that have died on the vine because people gave up too early. Hmm. I, I, there's been countless times where I could have just said, this is too hard with uncharted, you know, we're outta money. Um, these products came in wrong. I think 99% of people would've said, Hey man, good try.

Um, yeah. And somehow we kept fighting through it. And the business is growing. And, you know, when I talk to other entrepreneurs, it's that same story all the time. It's like, you're gonna feel like you're dying all the time. Mm-hmm. You're gonna feel like it's over all the time. It's not. You're gonna be okay.

It's, it's a game of like triage, right? It's like, who, who can sustain the longest and who can keep making good decisions and keep getting a little better every day. And I think if you do that, your odds are really good. Mm-hmm. But it's, it is not easy. 

Travis Bader: Yeah. For me, it, it's been a management process of not just how [00:25:00] I kind of manage a company, but more how I manage myself on a day-to-day basis as emergent situations come up.

How I manage dealing with that and then having those trusted people around me. Because, like you, and probably like a lot of entrepreneurs, we've been burnt and we've been burnt hard by people that we love and people that we trust. And, uh, I, I had a, uh, good friend of mine, he's, uh, a retired analyst. He's in his eighties now, but he was a strategist for a CP Rail large company over here in Canada.

And, and, um. He says, you know, I've been watching you long enough, Travis. The problem with you is that people with ill intention will take advantage of your good intention. And I've watched you long enough to realize that you're not gonna change and you're gonna keep going out and do these things. So you have to implement some sort of a process to manage yourself in these situations so you don't keep finding yourself at the short [00:26:00] end of the stick.

So that, for me was a very difficult and long lesson to try and learn. Ho yeah, hopefully I've kind of got there. Some other people are smarter and not as pigheaded and they're able to get there faster. Yeah, I think a lot 

Christian Schauf: about, you know, speed when you're young, when you're starting. Time is your only, you know, you gotta work faster than the big guys.

Mm-hmm. You have to cover more ground than other people. And, um, yeah. You can't sit and make the same mistakes multiple times. Like, it's okay to make mistakes, but you gotta quickly change and pivot and move forward. And so, um, I'm with you there. A hundred percent man. It's, it's a rodeo for sure. I mean, with these tariff changes and everything going on, it we're, we're back in a spot I didn't think we were gonna be in, you know, but now it's another, another thing to fight through.

And I'm sure that someday I'll look back on these days and laugh at how easy it was compared to whatever problem I'm facing in two years from now. So, 

Travis Bader: yeah, 

Christian Schauf: you have to have that mindset and you have to just, I have a buddy who also has, he has a amazing, uh, road bike company and he was, this was a [00:27:00] couple years ago.

He was, I remember he was just stressing out and I went to hang out with him and I was like, dude. You gotta get comfortable with just the state. You have to be okay with the pressure because it's probably not gonna let off today or tomorrow, or next month. Um, but you have to like, reframe your brain that it's like you pull the bedsheets back and you stand up in the morning and, and you, you're kind of going into battle.

Mm-hmm. It's like you have a game to play. So that's how I think about it. Look, I'm, I'm not anywhere near the best entrepreneur out there. I'm just doing my best. But, um, you know, I take a lot more stock in somebody who's built businesses and struggled versus somebody with an MBA that tells you that it's about price, product placement, and promotion.

You know, it's, it's, right. 

Travis Bader: Yeah. That doesn't work. 

Christian Schauf: And it 

Travis Bader: never has. The school, 

Christian Schauf: the school of hard knocks is, I have a lot of respect for anybody that's been through that school with a graduate degree. 

Travis Bader: You know, I, I went, uh, I didn't do well in school. I got kicked out of a number of 'em going through. I was lucky to get into [00:28:00] university because.

I guess I'm smart enough to do stuff, but just too stubborn to actually kinda stick to a program that's not my own. Yeah. And, um, so I, I never had any business background. I, I didn't really have anyone, uh, mentors that, uh, I could, I could learn from on that. So there was a lot of, um, school of hard knocks and mm-hmm.

I remember there was a company in Vancouver here, and some guy says, you gotta go see 'em. They basically give you a master's degree in business, uh, without having to go to business school. And they set you up with these coaches and they analyze your business. And I went and I checked them out and they had two, three different people sit down and talk with me.

And each one said the same thing. It's like, you got no business. Like, I, I don't understand it. I don't get the business model. I'm like, yeah, right. Get it right. No one else will get this, but it's, it's a niche and we can work into this. Right. Yeah. And no, nobody gets it. And so when you talk about the. Yeah.

You know, the guys will sit down, they'll look at the spreadsheets and they'll tell you when it's time to pull a plug or what you should be pricing [00:29:00] thing things at. I've never found that work for me. I had a, our first bookkeeper said, oh, you can't afford to have me. Our first, uh, receptionist, we had come in, I'm like a man, I can't afford to have this person, but maybe part-time the couple days a week.

And by the end of the week I said, can we have you on full time? 'cause I can't afford not to have you. And it's those leaps of faith as an entrepreneur, I think that separate the successful businesses from just the sitting around at the bar and having a couple drinks and talking about the, the cool ideas, right?

Christian Schauf: Nobody believes you if you don't believe in yourself, right? Mm-hmm. And, and also, like, I think people, there's a lot of haters out there. Nobody's, nobody's gonna like. Nobody's gonna say, oh, I, I knew, I knew it when, you know, like, everybody waits, everybody waits for you to become a success and then say, oh, I, I yeah knew I had this, but when you're in it, they're probably going, that guy's so screwed.

You know? So, uh, how do, I don't know, man, it's, it's interesting. 

Travis Bader: How do you deal with that? Because I've always had such a hard time, like anybody who [00:30:00] comes up, like, if I have an idea or a direction I want to go, and they're like, no, that's stupid. It won't work. Right? I have a hard time with that. I much prefer someone say, okay, let me try and understand it from your perspective, and here's a couple of counterpoints.

Like, I'll listen to that all day long. But so many people are like, no, won't work. Can't see it. How, how do you deal with that? Do you just start finding different people to hang around or what, 

Christian Schauf: no, I mean, I've always said I don't want cheerleaders. I want people that are gonna poke holes because mm-hmm. I think if you can then address those holes, it, it, uh, makes you stronger, right?

Mm-hmm. You know, we, I was on Shark Tank one time and I watched hundreds and hundreds of episodes of Shark Tank because I wanted to know. What holes they were gonna try to find me. Mm-hmm. And have answers for those. It actually helped, before I even knew I was gonna be on Shark Tank, it helped me frame up this business because I'd watch those shows and when there was a question I couldn't answer for my own business, I'd be like, I need to figure that out.

'cause that's meaningful. So, you know, I, I don't know if you just ignore it or fix it. I think, I think any [00:31:00] feedback is good. Um, but you have to have some belief in yourself because you gotta trust your gut. Mm-hmm. Um, yeah. And, and not, not blindly. I've seen people start businesses where I'm like, well, you know, what's the market for that?

It's very small, right? Like mm-hmm. There's some certain things you wanna make sure, like, is there com competition? Is there demand, is there huge demand? You know, who, how do you target? Like, can you build a pro? There's just, there's some real, you know, there's some real strategic things to that to, to starting this.

But at the end of the day, it's, it's your gut. You gotta believe in it. I mean, like I said, I would've been done a dozen times by now if I listen to people I trust. Yeah. So, 

Travis Bader: you know, there's a lot of places out there that'll make survival kits and get you through X amount of time in time and time again.

They're filled with garbage, right? They're filled, they're filled with really, because in order to make it economical for them to put something out, it's gonna be just, uh, just barely good enough to maybe get the job [00:32:00] done. Pieces of kit inside this thing that's poorly put together, you took a completely different road and you put quality kits with quality equipment inside there.

Uh, was that hard to be competitive like that? 

Christian Schauf: It still is. Um, it margin and making everything work is still a challenge every day. But like we said earlier, you know, it's, it's about, it's about audience. It's about authenticity, and if I'm telling you this kit is going to make a difference in an emergency and it doesn't, then who am I?

Mm-hmm. Right? So. You know, I think a lot about other brands. You know, a classic example I like to use as an analogy to Uncharted is, is Yeti. I mean, we all went out and bought not to trash on Coleman or something, but you go out and buy a Coleman cooler and it was cheap and it maybe lasted three or four trips and I.

You know, it wasn't, you didn't really like buying it. It was kind of necessity and Yeah. And now you have people wearing Yeti baseball caps to country music concerts because it says something about who they are, and those things are five times as [00:33:00] much money. So I think a lot about that, and it takes a long time to build that trust and to build a brand where people go, okay, this is worth it, but if you can hang on, you can do it.

That's how good brands, in my opinion, come, come to life. Mm-hmm. Um, there's a lot of stuff, you know, there's a lot of flashes in the pan, a lot of DC brands that pop up and go away. I've seen so many survival kit companies come onto the market and disappear, and it was super cheap. So people rushed there and then, you know, then they come to us and say, man, that thing was, was a toy.

And, um, it, it's, it's fighting a battle. Not a war, or, sorry, fighting a war. Not a battle. Yeah. Um, and that's what we're trying to do. Yeah, 

Travis Bader: it's kinda like, uh, you, you've seen Simon Sinek talk on the Golden Circle and the y. Mm-hmm. Have you seen that one? 

Christian Schauf: Oh yeah. The Y Yep. 

Travis Bader: Right. And I mean, people don't buy what you do.

They buy why you do it, and because it, it says something about them. It says that they're prepared, they're ready, they've got the [00:34:00] confidence that they can go out with, and they're not the kind of person that's just gonna buy some, some cheapo garbage toy basically. And, and pretend so, uh, right. 

Christian Schauf: Yeah. We always say like, we want this to be like the superhero cape in the back of your car.

Right? Like, you can't wait to pull it out and put it on and save the day like that. That should be the feeling when you, when you use our products, like that's the goal. 

Travis Bader: Do you ever get stories back from people who've used them in emergencies? Oh, yes. 

Christian Schauf: Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's interesting. Um, a a lot of the stories are not that exciting because we cut the emergency off before it gets to be life or death.

Mm-hmm. Um, you know, we have these jumpstarters that. For a lot of reasons, they're a lot better than what's in the market. Um, but more than anything, they're just reliable and they work when you need it. And imagine somebody that was out hunting, you're down to your last calories, you get back to your truck, it's freezing out.

Um, you don't have cell service and now you left a dome light on your car doesn't start. Right. [00:35:00] So do you have to hike back up a mountain? Do you have to go like, pull that thing out 20 seconds, problem solved. So now you're not camping out overnight, you're not getting hypothermia, whatever, right? Mm-hmm. So a lot of times we cut things off that said, the world's been getting crazier and we get more and more stories.

Um, one of my favorite recent stories, a dad bought a kit for his daughter that went to college and she, um, kind of laughed at it a little bit, joked with her friends that her dad was, you know, worried about things. And then those hurricanes hit the Carolinas. Mm-hmm. And that one kit kept her whole floor.

Um, having fresh water. They were using the, the stuff in the kit to like charge their phones. Um, they used a bunch of stuff and it was like, it was transformative for them. And so, you know, that's, man, if we end tomorrow, and I know that I did that for a bunch of people, like, like it was, you know, that's what we're doing.

So 

Travis Bader: it's good. So it's always difficult to kind of balance when you're putting together a [00:36:00] survival kit. Too much or too little. Yeah. Too minimalistic or too much gear that it's gonna be so heavy a person won't pack it. But you've got a number of different tiers of what you have for like Basecamp or vehicle or individual or Yes.

A pair of people. Um, how did you research that? How did you look into what the need was and uh, is that a lot from your background or did you lean on other people? 

Christian Schauf: Both. Both. Um, I do have a lot of experience, but I always say I don't wanna be the expert. Mm-hmm. Um, so. In, in my life, I've come across just some of the most amazing people.

I, uh, Dr. Eric Meyer, he's in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. If you ever watched the movie, uh, the, the, the summit, I think it's called. Um, he was a part of a expedition of K two. There was the deadliest day in mountaineering history, and Eric saved a bunch of lives up there that day. I mean, he's a doctor. He is a, he's been up Everest a bunch.

Wow. Um, a high altitude medical expert. I counted on him a bunch. Hmm. I counted on a bunch of friends that are, are [00:37:00] seals and, you know, special forces guys and medics. Um, I talked to mountain guides that I trust, hunting guides that I trust, and I, I essentially started with an idea and I kept going back to them until they were like, this is pretty good.

You know, we kept adding, subtracting, and there's a lot of things, like you said, like some are big, some are small. People wanna have this like. Huge container of things, but if, if you've got a move, then you're burning calories, you're getting sweaty, and that creates other problems. So what's the right weight?

What's the right weight for a woman or for a larger frame, like on a man? Um, what do you really need to get through? Like, how long do you need to get through? These are all things that we kind of reverse engineered from the time of emergency to make sure that like, look, I'm. I'll say this, people think that like you need a bunker to survive things, right?

You need to like stockpile all this stuff. But there was one statistic that really stood out to me and that was that 95% of survival situations are resolved within 72 hours. So 95% of the time, you just gotta get through three days. [00:38:00] Okay, well what do you need in three days? You don't need food. I mean, we have food in there, but you're gonna be fine.

You need water, you need shelter, you need the ability to breathe. You might need some me, some first aid, maybe a way to charge some devices, some light. So it's really like when I, if I went to you and said, well, you can spend $20,000 on a bunker and you know, build a building or you know, for three or $400, this 11 pound kit is gonna get you through 95% of the things.

It's a pretty easy decision which way to go, I think, right? Yeah, it's a 

Travis Bader: no brainer. 

Christian Schauf: And so that was really the idea there. And then, and then, you know, it's not just the pieces, but if you've got a bunch of people that have, have never been in a situation like this before, they don't train for this, that, you know their adrenaline's gonna go through the roof, they might be compromised.

So how do you address that? Well, our kits are all color coordinated with these instructions. So like if you open up our, our insert with all the stuff, the first aid is bright red, everything you know, so you don't have to dig through your whole kit looking for first aid it like you eliminate 70% of the kit and just go to the [00:39:00] first aid.

And then on the back there's a red section that says First aid all the steps and what you should do so you can follow steps, it's paint by numbers and then you start making good decisions, your adrenaline starts going down, then you can make better decisions 'cause you're thinking more clearly. And that's really been our goal is like, how do you help people through a situation versus just give 'em a bunch of stuff that they don't know what to do with.

Travis Bader: Yeah, that's a brilliant point too. You get a pack full of stuff, people open it up and like I don't, I've never seen this before. How do I use it? And yeah, I mean, I, even when I'm out hunting, it's like, where, 

Christian Schauf: what pocket is my headlamp in? You know, it takes me five minutes when with our kits, it's like, you know exactly where it is, it's right there.

And those are really critical things when time is of the essence and you know, maybe somebody's bleeding out or maybe you are freezing and the sun's going down and you gotta get warm fast, or whatever it is, right? So it's, it's not just tools, it's the ability to use the tools and it's the ability to get somebody in the right mindset to continue to improve their [00:40:00] situation and get through things.

And, and that's how we try to frame everything up. 

Travis Bader: Do you offer training courses? 

Christian Schauf: Um, it's been a topic of discussion for a long time. Uh, the reality is at some point we will, uh, we do some things here and there. Training is hard because. Uh, we've really been a product company training as a whole. It's like propping up a whole other business.

And historically there've been other groups that do that, and it's kind of regional. It's something I wanna do, it's something I want to get to. Um, but as of today, we do our best to just offer great content online, great products and, and solve that part of the equation. 

Travis Bader: Smart. Well, maybe we'll talk off offline here.

I run a training company, so, uh, there you go. There you go. I might be able to lean on some of the mistakes I've made in the past and some of the things that I do well, and happy to share that with you, but, uh, I love that. Um, so what, out of all your products that you sell, what's proven to be the most popular?[00:41:00] 

Christian Schauf: Well, you know, the old 80 20 concept, if you look at like 80% of our sales go into, um, our jump packs, our first aid kits, and our survival kits. You know, you talked about the raft. We make the raft, we make a hip pack, we make some other things, but really, and customers tend to buy all those things from us.

So it, it oscillates throughout the year. What's going on like in the summer, it's more first aid kits, I think. 'cause people are going out camping, hiking, they want something for that. In the, you know, in the winter seasons where people are a little more worried about maybe like traveling survival kits, you know, jumpstarters seeing an uptick.

So everything kind of has its place and everything kind of moves throughout the year. But, you know, we're, we're getting to have a pretty solid product line now where no matter what your need, your need is and your use case, there's a, a really, you know, good solution for you. So it's somewhere in, in those products.

So I, I gotta 

Travis Bader: imagine it's gonna be a little like when you're building a product set out, you're gonna be trying to think of the widest array of kind of possibilities and the widest demographic of people who've [00:42:00] got lots of experience of people who have zero experience. So it might be a little bit different than what you would pack for yourself.

Let's say if you're going on a multi-day hunt, uh, or going on an adventure, what are some non-negotiables that you always want to have with you? 

Christian Schauf: Yeah. Well, to make one more point there to that, I, I always say that camping and survival are like brothers. You know, they're, they're very, very similar. It's just that when you're going camping or hunting, you usually know how many days you're going.

Mm. Uh, what the weather's gonna be, where you're gonna be. And you can really get specific on that. The thing about emergencies is you're driving home from work and boom, something happens. You don't know what that is. Mm-hmm. And so there's a very different mindset around camping and like, I know what I'm doing versus the unexpected.

And so that being said, um, the human body really just needs the, kind of the same things. No matter what you need, you need air, you need shelter, you need water, uh, you need a [00:43:00] constant temperature. Right. That kind of goes into the shelter thing. But if you can solve for those, um, to me that's like the biggest part of the game, right?

So, non-negotiables that I keep with me like. Personally for me, I think in concentric circles, my house is pretty well stocked. As you can imagine. My truck is very well stocked. Yep. Uh, if I'm going out to a campsite, I'll take, you know, some heavy stuff up to the campsite, and then when I'm going out by myself, I've got something smaller and lighter.

I always wanna make sure I have enough coverage to get me back to the next stage. Um, nobody wants to go out on a hunt and have 20 pounds of first aid in their backpack. That is just gonna ruin your day. It's gonna ruin your hunt. It's probably gonna make you more likely to be unsuccessful, but can you know that you're within two miles of, of, of more help?

And then two, maybe two or three miles from that, but you've got enough with you? I mean, we have, we have a little product called the triage kit. It's 130 grams. I wish I had one sitting here, but, um, I take that everywhere and, you know, a few years [00:44:00] ago, kinda a famous story, but I saved my dog's life with it.

He, he ran into a buddy of mine skiing, cut his leg, and was just hemorrhaging blood. Mm-hmm. Uh, all over the mountain and that kit. Has a zip tie, zip ties, duct tape gauze. I, I basically made a makeshift tourniquet shame on me for not having a tourniquet with that day. But, uh, I was able to MacGyver some things together, put 'em on my shoulders, skied him out, got him to a snowmobile, got him to a truck, got him to the vet, and we saved his life.

Where I think in any other situation, he wouldn't have made it. Um, we had minutes to spare. So, you know, John Barlow, who's a, a famous survival trainer and a good friend of mine, we talk about this a lot, and he said something once and he is like, you know, sometimes good enough is good enough. It doesn't have to be perfect.

Mm-hmm. And I, I really like that mindset, like, something's better than nothing and just, just make sure you've got enough to get to the next stage. And I think you're gonna take care of most problems. 

Travis Bader: Good enough is good enough. We're done. Is better than perfect, is the one I always heard. But, um, yeah. Yeah, I, I [00:45:00] agree with that.

So, I, I realize, I mean, you guys are dealing with tariffs, you guys are dealing with things that are coming up. Um. And maybe this isn't the right question to ask at the time, but what is the future of, uh, of the company look like? 

Christian Schauf: Yeah, we, well, we've been mostly a DDC brand, um, for most of our existence. We started get into wholesale the last year or two.

Um, this year has been really exciting. I, I feel like brands take 6, 7, 8 years to really get to that place where. You have kind of some, I'm not saying we're like a household name, but enough recognition to make wholesale work. I think a lot of people early on get a wholesale opportunity. It doesn't sell through it, it creates more problems.

Mm-hmm. Because you have to create that external demand where people know the brand, they trust that they come in and buy it, because you don't usually get a lot of opportunity to sell inside of a store. Right. You're kind of on your own. Mm-hmm. Um, we're dealing with a ton of the big box guys this year, getting orders going.

You brought up tariffs. We were, we were like on the six inch [00:46:00] line with several deals that are now, uh, it's not that they're not happening, it's just we're having to rework the economics on things. Mm-hmm. Um, like I'm, I'm always very transparent about this. Like, I'm, I've been to Iraq 39 times. I'm a proud American.

I, I do believe that, um, this change is good in general. I, I think that it's really important to have American manufacturing and do all those things. That said, the supply chains were built long before I started Uncharted. Mm-hmm. And that's the world we live in. We live in a, a, you know, a. A global economy where you get certain materials from certain countries and other countries do other things better.

And this is creating chaos for us for sure. Um, we're, we've been working for over a year on, on moving a lot of our supply chain closer to America, more favorable areas. We do get some stuff outta China. Um, there's only five, I think, or six FDA approved countries that, that make medical stuff. Mm-hmm. So it's not like you can just call somebody else [00:47:00] up and it's the same price.

I mean, there are, you know, I'm not sitting here defending China in any way, but there's a lot of amazing products that come out of those factories. Sure. Um, they're very skilled workers. They do it in a way that, um, is affordable. You know, when I started Uncharted, my goal was not to make a $10,000 kit that 10 people could afford.

I wanted to get products in everybody's hands. And if you're gonna do that and make the world a safer place, because everybody's more prepared, you have to have a price point that people can afford, right? And as you said, so you're looking at high quality gear, you're looking at a price that you can hit at scale.

Um, it really limits what your options are, given the way the world works. So that's the path we've been down for a long time. Now, we're gonna have to figure this out, uh, just like we figured out other problems in the past. We'll fight through it and I think we'll be stronger on the backend, but. It does bum me out that it felt like we were just getting to this place where things were really starting to rip [00:48:00] and uh, and now it's just another monster we gotta fight off.

So that's, you know, that's my life today. 

Travis Bader: I love that mindset though. And you mentioned it earlier as well, just like, you know, you look back in the future and say, well, this is just a speed bump and not the mountain that we, it looks like right now. And I remember, I try to keep that perspective all the time when I was first starting my business and I just had enough money to pay my half of the rent and a little bit of food and get some fuel in the vehicle.

And, and that was it. Every single month. But 

Christian Schauf: yeah. 

Travis Bader: Um, buddy's like, oh, you need a computer? I'm like, I can't afford a computer, right? And he's like, oh, no, no. I tell you what, I'll piece one, I got some parts, we'll put one together. 'cause you need to have a computer. And another one says, oh, you need a website.

Like, I can't afford to get a website and. But looking back on it now, if I was in the exact same place, those are all really simple things for me to overcome. 'cause I've gone down that road, I've had those hardships. I understand the process and the path and what took me x many years in order to build, I could rebuild in a, in a week or [00:49:00] two, um mm-hmm.

Just 'cause I've been there. But that mindset of when you're in it, it's so hard to see the forest or the trees when it's like, oh, this is the biggest emergency again, and all these things are coming in. Um, I, I, I think that's a really valuable thing that, uh, if, if people can. Take to heart what you said there and, and really kind of hold onto that.

'cause that applies in a lot of situations and not just business that'll apply in survival. This is the worst ever, right? Well, yeah. So far, 

Christian Schauf: right? You just used emergency as, you know, a business emergency, but it's, it's the same mindset, right? Yeah. Adrenaline spikes. You don't know your path out. All you can do is make the best decisions in front of you and keep chipping away at it and you know, it's, it's gonna work out.

You have to believe that. So it's, it's not dissimilar for sure. 

Travis Bader: So, uh, you got a hunt coming up. You and, uh, Buto are going out hunting. 

Christian Schauf: Yeah, we, uh, we've got like two hunts back to back, so we had one booked and then we got another opportunity [00:50:00] and, and then there's a little gap in between. So we're going on a epic adventure probably at the worst time ever.

But I, I do have a strong team here and I, you know, I'll, I've, I've got wifi and in a lot of the places, but we're starting in South Africa. We are going with a bunch of brands, um, Baku bikes, mountain Ops, all in, um, some of those guys, the, um, outfitter that we're going with, uh, funds five or six schools over there for like underprivileged kids in Africa.

Cool. And what we're actually going over to do is we're bow hunting, but we are basically doing a meat harvest to stock those schools up with meat for the year. Cool. Very cool. Um, and kind of share the story of, of what these guys are doing with these schools and, um, I think it's a, it's a beautiful program.

These are great people trying to, trying to improve the lives of, of Africans over there through hunting and conservation and, you know, trophy hunting gets a bad rap. Um, and I think we all know if you're, if you're in the industry, if you hunt, that's not the case at [00:51:00] all. But I thought this was a great story to tell.

It was a great thing to be a part of. And I love going hunting with Beto. We've been on a bunch and so, so that's step one. We're gonna go do that. And then, uh, then we go down to New Zealand and he and I both are ambassadors for Christiansen arms, uh, and PSE bows. And so we're doing a, a stag and tar hunt with a rifle and a bow down in New Zealand.

So. Sweet. That's kind of a trip of a lifetime. I'm, I'm, I'm nervous about leaving. I just started packing last night. I'm leaving in a couple days. Um, but it'll all work out and it's gonna be great. And I'm really excited. 

Travis Bader: Oh man, that's amazing. Well, I'm stoked to watch and see kind of the progression of that.

'cause I'm sure you'll post something up about it then. Yeah, 

Christian Schauf: we're pulling all of it too, so there's gonna be a lot of content coming out and, um, you know, I, I actually went to Christensen about a year ago and I said, guys like you, you make these lightweight mountain rifles and let's go show. I. This stuff in the mountains where you want a lightweight mountain [00:52:00] rifle.

Like, let's do something really hard. Mm-hmm. And Beto is always up for that. So, um, yeah, the idea was to find something challenging and, and that pushed us and pushed the gear. We've got some outfitters down there that, uh, have 80,000 acres they just acquired that they haven't hunted. And we're gonna go in there and see what we can find.

So I'm looking forward to it 

Travis Bader: does, uh, in Christensen, they make good guns. Um, do, do they make one with the safety? That'll lock the bolt closed. Um, 

Christian Schauf: no, I don't think that, I mean, maybe different models. I, I've shot the same 300 win Mag Ridge line for years. It's like, it's funny because you wanna collect a bunch of guns.

Mm-hmm. And I've got a safe full of guns and every time I go hunting, I reach for, for old faithful. Yeah. Um, and that one doesn't do that, but, um, I'm sure they've probably got some to do, but, um, the ridge line, I don't think, does 

Travis Bader: beware of the man with one gun. I, um, yeah. Right. Exactly. Yeah. Totally. Yeah. I, [00:53:00] I was hunting, hunting, uh, access deer, a Molokai, and, um, nice.

Yeah. And, uh, it was, it was a different experience. It was, I think that was my first out of country hunt that I did. And at the time there, and, um, of course there you, I realized afterwards everyone there is pretty damn friendly and everyone says, oh, we'll take you out hunting. But at the time, I, I booked in with this, uh, this group over there, super nice family, nice kid goes out and.

But the way they hunt was different. A couple days prior, I was hiking through the hills and trying to get an idea of where the animals are and just watching 'em and getting a lay for the land. And I didn't realize that they have this side by side. They'll take you around in and they're like, oh, they, they usually, they'll come up on the hillside.

You can wait for 'em. I'm like, that's not how I, I'm used to hunting, but I guess I'm learning something new. Okay, fair enough. And anyways, I said, well, nothing was coming up. And I said, I, I kinda want to walk through this, uh, this draw here. And I, I got a feeling there'll be some down there. And he is like, I don't know.

We never really do that. Anyways, we, we go on [00:54:00] down, we go through it and. Uh, sure enough, um, spot these, uh, these antlers, big antlers. And, uh, the guy's looking, he's like, you got one there? I'm like, yeah, I see it. Okay. He's like, well, you gonna shoot it? I'm like, well, I, I don't know what direction is. It's, it's all covered by Bush.

All we see is like the bit of the antlers coming out here. I I'm gonna wait to see what this is, and we're pretty close. He is like, I, I just pop one in there, you'll get it right. Like, no, I wanna see what I'm shooting at. Right. And so, uh, anyways, I was, uh, he'd let me a Christiansen and um. Uh, I, I'm used to using my SoCo, it seco SoCo, and of course, with the safety on the bolt locks on that one.

Oh, and, and the muscle memory on this one. Anyways, access deer, beautiful deer pops up. Yeah, not a problem. I got time. Here we go and click whoops, and a quickly rack the round to get it in, and I couldn't get back on it. And that guy was gone. I, I had had more opportunities, but I was like, damnit, I gotta always make [00:55:00] sure I got my bolt down on there.

Diff different platform. 

Christian Schauf: I, I'm very particular about taking equipment that I just am almost brain dead on, you know? Mm-hmm. I've used it so much. I, uh, I don't like when it's like, oh, you can just use our guns. Like, I'm sure your guns are great. Uh, I know my gun and I know my bow, and I just, I'm with you, man.

It's, it, I always say when you're going out of those hunts, there's so many uncontrollables that will happen. It's a disservice to you and the animal if you don't have all the controllables completely dialed in beforehand. You know, your fitness, knowing your equipment, knowing your dope, um, that stuff should be just like you don't think about it.

Yeah, I mean, we should shoot so much that it's just boom. And, um, you know, every year we do total archery challenges. We sponsor it as a brand and I probably, I probably shoot 10 or 15 of those courses throughout the summer. You know, I'll do one or two every day. We go to those events and by the time archery season rolls around it.

It's always funny, like when I pick up, [00:56:00] you know, I let the bow sit for a couple months, maybe in the winter, and I pick it up again. It's, it's so amazing to me how foreign it feels. It's a perishable skill. It is. It totally is. Because by the time I'm going out to hunt, I, I just, it's like my hands are doing things, checking things I'm not even thinking about because I'm just, you've done it so many times.

So, yeah. I mean, axi steer, you don't get much of a second chance with those guys. I hunted them a lot and, uh, that is a sketchy animal. They like to, they like to keep their head on a swivel and, and, and getting them is a little harder than you think so. 

Travis Bader: Well, I was, I was pretty, uh, stoked that we were able to get that close to it and get up on it.

It was easily within bow distance. Um, and yeah, I, I borrowed, um, um. I borrowed a rifle from him. My wife was there as well. She borrowed one from, from them as well. 'cause Canadian bringing guns in. But in hindsight mm-hmm. Like I brought the kestrel with me. I went through, I said, just gimme the what, what's your twist rate?

What kind of bullets were you using? What, what's the length? And like, 

Christian Schauf: yeah, [00:57:00] 

Travis Bader: just try and get my head wrapped around. So everything's just second nature as best as I can and went cited in the day before, but there's no substitute for beware the man with one gun. Beware the person who knows their kid intimately.

Christian Schauf: Absolutely. Absolutely. 

Travis Bader: So there's two things that you brought up that I thought would be interesting to kind of, uh, touch on right at the end. And that was, uh, faith and legacy. So you, you brought those two things up. You're talking about legacy and it'd be great to have a family. And you brought up faith.

Um, do you, do you talk much about, uh, either of those? 

Christian Schauf: Yeah. I mean, sure. I'm happy to talk about it. I, you know, my. My, uh, my perspective on faith is I heard a quote once that I really liked, and it's that you might be the only church that somebody gets, you know? Hmm. Um, and I think what that means is living a life that hopefully leads people to be interested in what you're doing and ask more questions.

I am, I'm [00:58:00] not a Bible beater. Maybe I should be. Um, I'm, I'm not shy about anything, but I just, I've always taken the most stock in people that, that lead by example and make you go, man, what, what is it about that guy that, that gives him that aura or that, that peace about him or makes people surround him?

And I, I want to, I wanna be one of those people. So that's what I think about a lot. Um. I am always happy to talk about it in depth. I just, I think, I think with the life I'm trying to lead, well, anybody, um, that should be, that should be your foundation. Um, I think there's a lot of things in life that don't make sense.

There's a lot of things you can't see how they're working out in your favor, and you just, for me, it's just a, it's a, a belief system that doing, doing the right work and working to be the best person you can be and doing things the way, you know, God wants you to, that, that your path is going to be. The best.

So, you know, that's how I do things. Uh, I'm definitely [00:59:00] not perfect. I don't think anybody is, but I, I strive to do that every day. And that's, you know, that's my goal. 

Travis Bader: Oh, it comes through and it's inspiring. Looking at all the different adventures that you go on and the, you know, we show me your friends, they'll show you who you are, you're associating with other people out there that are, uh, like-minded.

And I, and I think it, uh, it has an effect on other people who you interact with. And even those people, social media is wonderful that way. Even people you never get to see, they'll look at it and they say, man, that's a good idea. Or that's a, that's a neat path that he's kind of, uh, choosing. Maybe I should recalibrate mine.

Maybe that can help me. So I, I really do agree with that. Lead by example, uh, philosophy. 

Christian Schauf: Yeah, I think, I think, like I said, that's where I've always found the power in people. Um, you know, show me your friends. I've, I've actually cut people out is probably a rough term, but I in a small town here in Park City, you know, I, there's not a, there's not [01:00:00] a huge population of people.

And I've had a, a friend group I've hung out with a lot over the years. And in the last year, two, it just, it, it felt like, I, I don't wanna say I outgrew them. Maybe we changed, but our interests were definitely different. And what we took value in was definitely different. And I think a big part of that too was that I started to get more and more really good friends.

Guys like Beto. Uh, my buddy Kevin Miller, I don't know if you know who Kevin is. He was a hockey player for the Bruins. He's in the hunting space. Um, he just moved to Montana now. But, um, there's just a handful of guys like that. My buddy Brent Phillips, he's out on the East coast. I started hanging out with guys like that and I'm like, well, this is.

I don't feel like an alien anymore, you know? Right. I'd go out and I was always like, why don't I connect? I feel it doesn't, doesn't feel like I feel like friends on a sitcom feel, you know? Yeah. Then you get with these guys and it's like, oh, these are my, these are my people. Mm. And it really just made me reassess where I was spending my time and what I was investing in.

And admittedly, I spent a lot more time alone [01:01:00] now because I'm not going out with those crews. But, um, I definitely feel happier and more fulfilled. I, I, I just feel like you gotta make, make tough decisions to separate yourself from people, and I've admittedly more alone, probably some more time alone than I have in the past, but I feel happier, I feel more clear.

I, I value the time I spend with the right people. So I think, you know, I think. As you grow, you make decisions. And like you said, the friends you're around, um, dictate a lot about your life. And I think it's an important thing to think about. They do. 

Travis Bader: And you know, I I, there's a phrase that I think about often and it's, am I running away from something or am I running towards something that's more desirable?

And that little perspective shift, it's, I I think like when some people say, well, I gotta keep doing this, I gotta keep plugging away on this 'cause whatever. I don't wanna be a quitter, I don't wanna run away. Well, are, are you quitting [01:02:00] or are you choosing a, a more desirable path that you can move towards and like yourself?

Yeah, I don't know. Like, I don't know if the right words is for me is outgrowing or different direction or whatever it might be. But you start to learn more about what fuels you and Yeah. What you're truly capable of being able to provide to other people. And why would I want to, um. Waste time, which is my most precious commodity that I have, uh, going down roots that, that don't align with that.

And once you start finding your tribe, or finding those people who have the same drive and the same goals and aspirations and positivity, holy crow. It's a force multiplier. Yes. 

Christian Schauf: Yeah. It really is. And, and a life improvement too. You just, everything works better when you're around the right people. Um, it's a powerful thing.

Travis Bader: Is there anything that we haven't talked about that we should be talking about?

Boy, I don't 

Christian Schauf: [01:03:00] know. Um, I don't really have an agenda. When you ask, when you ask what I want to talk about, it's like, well, my life is, is uncharted. Mm-hmm. You know, and, and building this business. And I spend, um, too much time doing that. And then, you know, to keep, to keep my sanity, to keep focused. I, I do as much outside as I can.

I. Lift, run, hike, hunt. Um, that's like my balancing mechanism. Um, I feel like we've, we've talked quite a bit about that. I mean, open book here, but yeah. Nothing I'm trying to push on anybody though, for sure. 

Travis Bader: Well, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna push for you and I'm gonna make sure we put links in the description.

It'll be up on YouTube and on the podcast, uh, uncharted Supply go. And if people want to see more about what you're doing, I'll put links to the, your Instagram and social media in there so they can, they can find out more and have your, uh, your website so they can peruse through and see all the cool kit that you have in there and, uh, start stocking [01:04:00] up so that they're prepared should something go awry.

Christian Schauf: Yeah. Look, I mean, the message with that, I say it all the time, um, it feels expensive when you buy it, and it's priceless when you need it. You know, I, I, we're living in a world where I think if Covid is chapter one and a new book, we're all in. Mm-hmm. Uh, I don't think the world's getting any more calm anytime soon.

We don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow. We really don't. Uh, my goal, I'm, I'm not a fear-based guy. I'm not a, a prepper. I don't have a bunker. I just want to live, live like a big, healthy life. And, um, you know, the right tools and the right education can help you do that no matter what comes your way.

And I think that's always our message. Here's like, man, go live your life. Do the things you want to do, but live to live to see tomorrow too. Make sure you've got a plan for you, for those around you, your kids, your wife, your neighbors. You know, the world needs heroes. The world needs people that are helping.

Um, and I applaud anybody that takes a step to being one of those people [01:05:00] and however that looks in their life. 

Travis Bader: I think that's a beautiful way to wrap it up. Christian, thank you so much for being on the Silver Core Podcast. I really enjoyed this conversation. 

Christian Schauf: You bet, Travis. Appreciate it.