Check out my story
I busted out my thesaurus for this one…..
Rooted in community service
From an early age, I found that having a network and working with people to help others was my calling. Most of what I’ve done pales in comparison to the efforts of others. I never asked for anything in return, but always wanted to make sure I did something to help. Many people ask, “what’s in it for you?” The answer: the satisfaction of knowing someone has been helped. Being a Boy Scout, and achieving the rank of Eagle Scout helped me to learn valuable skills, such as working with a team, strategic planning, efficiency in work, individual goal-setting, as well as virtuous habits such as kindness, humility, and fortitude. While the Boy Scouts organization is wildly scandalizing today, the Boy Scouts Troop I was in during the 90’s was filled with honorable, God fearing Patriotic fathers who I am thankful for having as mentors. Here’s Pam Tillis and I at the Chesaning Showboat July 1999, the only thing I remember from that time is how blessed I felt to meet all those country music singers at Showboat all those years. If you want to see my Eagle Scout project, go to the Saginaw county fairgrounds in Chesaning, Michigan. My benches still stand today.
2. Reporting: Private Tick….nevermind, IYKYK
My time as a scout really helped solidify my choice to join the United States Army after high school. Maybe it was the way I felt wearing the scout uniform, or the glory of war movie heroes that led me to such a decision. Either way, I did it for myself and not for others at first, which is clearly not aligned with the selfless service I promoted early in my life. Uncle Sam decided I’d best serve our nation in the Military Intelligence field; insert oxymoron joke here…. Before i went to intel school I went to relaxin Jackson for basic training where I encountered a tick. More on that in later updates. I deployed to Baghdad two months after I graduated my training and celebrated Christmas a few hundred yards away from the crossed sabres monument in central Baghdad. Between tours I got married to a fiery red head Morgan, who I had known my entire childhood; fun story, I’ll expand on it in future updates.
3. “the greatest resistance of my life”
While I strived to do well as a 96B MI Analyst (later a 35F), I felt that during my second tour to Iraq I’d be more successful away from the base daily conducting patrols. I then angled my way into our battalion commander’s personal security detachment. Being the only non-combat soldier in the platoon, I met the greatest resistance of my life. Literally zero members of my new team respected me. From peers to subordinates, I was an outcast. I had to push myself farther, work longer, and fight more just to stay off of their radar, I never sought out to win their approval though. Even leadership such as my company first sergeants looked down their “combat” hardened noses. My lack of care for what they thought of me allowed me to grow and after a year of patrols, one horrible IED attack, and the loss of a very special peer I considered a dear friend; I connected with my section and gained the respect I never asked for. Today I love those guys, and I have a a feeling some of of them would reciprocate the notion.
4. Military Retirement
While the military was a great career and I planned on doing my full 20 years, my time in the Army was shortened just after my second tour to Iraq. I was medically retired, 100% service connected. I found myself without a job and no real “talents”. I decided to go to school to get my degree in biology. I worked in the scientific field for a year and found quickly that I had bigger dreams.
5. Recycled Talents:
My time in the military was formative. I learned to grow through my vast world experiences and pledged to leverage every opportunity to learn more, then apply my findings. I found that outside of a three letter agency, there was very little opportunity for me to apply my skill set. A few defense contractor positions later, I found my calling. You could say, I applied my findings.
eCommerce and digital marketing….
In fact, it’s a perfect space for a former intel analyst. Utilizing demographics based targeting, analyzing data sets, theorizing courses of action, testing hypothesis and presenting results for replicated success. In another life, maybe I would have started a training and placement agency for former intel guys and gals to learn advanced eCommerce and digital marketing. Below is a shot from the early days at Insights with my son Landry putting the final bind on the ratchet straps for a customer delivery.
Building a monster:
Marketing and sales were always in my “field of expertise”. My father, a salesman taught me one of many important life lessons that still apply today.
“You have two eyes, two ears and one mouth….Use them in that order”
I did that at Ecology / Insights. I moved the needle by working on a complex array of performance metrics tracking overall brand equity, placement, market share and sales. I focused on small details wins that added up quite rapidly to market share domination. Here is the first time you’ll see me mention Josh Dutton, a true ride or die type. A guy who will take the hit knowing how bad it’ll hurt, and still pick up the phone when he knows you need help again. Josh hooked us up with a Walmart vendor number through the distributor he was working for. I proceeded to visit every Walmart in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma (TALO for you sales reps out there) hucking my brand and trying to convince the sporting goods managers to buy our products. Dealers wouldn’t place us so I placed geotargeted ads around their stores to get consumers to ask our dealer friends why they didn’t stock our product. In 3 years we went from a brand that a few D2C folks really loved to a #1 best seller on Amazon with a website that was cranking, and the top archery pack on every writer’s gear guide. The funniest part? Our brand manager, marketing manager, sales rep, digital marketing specialist and eCommerce director were all the same guy… Me. I also met Monte Bennett (pictured above right, probably fixing pricing sheets last minute because I screwed them up). Monte had been at Pradco and moved to work for Insights. Monte was the first industry OG I met who was still defending titles in the hunting industry annually. His entrepreneurial spirit sparked mine and I began to see the horizon differently. Eventually this monster I built would be purchased by Frogg Toggs and is doing phenomenal today!
The E Myth:
My time with Insights exposed me to hundreds of start ups, entrepreneurs, professional sports players, and soooo much networking time. With Insights Owner Jason G. Monte and Josh, I networked 50% of the time, product dev’d 25% and focused on the business 25% of the time. I value nothing more during that period, than the paid time to network. To this day any person I report to, be it a board, or a client, all have a hard time understanding how I prioritize networking for networking’s sake. During this time in the early twenty teens, I spent hundreds of hours annually doing side work with brands I met on the tradeshow trail, most of the time in exchange for product or just to build my portfolio. Morgan and I founded GM HuntCo. in 2014 as a marketing, sales and management company. Our first initials combined to make the the “GM” then we added “HuntCo.” because I wanted to own my own hunting marketing company, so why not HuntCo? I tried to launch a digital magazine called “The Real Hunter’s Guide” but my lack of knowledge of business management, specifically cash flow management killed that department after only one edition. The fact was, I wasn’t quite good at owning a business yet.
Story telling starts paying off:
My graphics and marketing services stayed strong however , eventually I would pick up bigger contracts . We also opened up a land management division within the company. We own rentals, manage crops, manage livestock, and buy and sell real estate. The business ultimately moved to Michigan in 2016 and we established as LB Wolfgang, LLC. During that transition we reflected on what we wanted to do moving forward with the business. We both agreed that we wanted to change the name of the company when we came to Michigan, but more importantly we wanted the name to reflect why we do business and not what we do. The priest who celebrated the Sacrament of our Catholic Marriage was named Rev. Fr.Wolfgang Streichardt. Every time he signed his name, he’d sign off “your little brother, Wolfgang”. So after some deep thought, we arrived at LB Wolfgang. LB for little brother of course. I focused on story telling for my brands and found that the more vulnerable we made the brand the more empathetic consumers were to it. We’ve built a family of brands through story telling and are still to this day changing the status quo on marketing techniques. Above is Power Dinner an annual networking event I’ve been a part of for 6 years. In this picture are many of the greatest talents the hunting space has to offer.
The birth of the Blue Falcon:
I have had multiple people say over the years that I could fall into a pool of shit and come out smelling like a rose. I think its because I don’t mind being in the shit, and few around me know the shit I go through that allows the rosey fragrance they claim I bask in. Josh and Monte know. In fact, that’s were one of my latest companies starts. Josh and Monte have both been close enough to me to know the crazy hours I’ve put in. They also know that my intel background drives a tenacity to think five steps ahead. This is dangerous because often times I skip steps 1, 2 and sometimes even 3. Long story short, the process of me leaving resulted in the birth of the Blue Falcon persona a nickname Josh gave me. This gave me the idea to use it, and if you keep reading you will see I did.
Same dance, new partner:
In 2019, I moved Insights to a sales and marketing agency that I joined to be able to expand brand support and grow towards my next goals. I became the Director of eCommerce for Kelly Brand Management. I then went on to be promoted to Vice President of eCommerce and built a world class staff of digital experts where we were responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in online sales, product listings and more. While I still have a passion for outdoor and sporting goods, I have expanded my reach working with top brands such as Duracell, and help with non profits such as the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation. My many years answering directly to company ownership helped me to help others drive brand growth. I felt blessed to be a part of a faithful, patriotic and “family first” company.
While I was at KBM, I started thinking long term about our family’s legacy, and what opportunities I’d be able to prepare for my children if they wanted to be a part of LB Wolfgang. Because I was already retired, my focus would be on developing sustainable revenue over developing rapid revenue. As my long time buddy and owner of Rack Hub says “slow wins”.
Reich, party of 7…and counting?
From the time Morgan and I got married 17 years ago we’ve moved across country 4 times, lived in 1 apartment, 2 rental homes, and have 3 owned homes. We lived next door to an army airfield (zero restful nights), spent well over a year apart in our first two years of marriage, owned a large Boer goat ranch, owned a custom farming operation, owned a media company, and been partners in multiple start ups. None of these things have brought us as much joy and laughter as our 5 children. Landry, the oldest and self proclaimed leader of the pack shares his middle namesake with myself, my father and generations of Reichs and Ginderske’s. Jacob, our second son and the most curious of the bunch is our only introvert so far. He shares his middle name with Morgan’s grandfather Donovan. Eva C.L. Reich, our first daughter was thought to be the only girl we’d have and likely the last we’d have so we gave her three names in homage to the Matriarchs of our families. After 12 years of marriage, we thought we were as big a family as we would be and started looking at things like homeschool as an option. As our Lord would have it, we have been blessed with not one, but two more children since Eva. Cecilia, arguably the most outgoing of the group is Morgan’s “payback”. Fr. Libby states “the fourth one is always the most challenging.” Cecilia was born during the first few weeks of the covid lockdowns, we’d find later that was the case because Cecilia just has to be “extra”. A little over one year later, we had Thomas, our third son and fifth child. Thomas’ was named after our favorite Doctor of the Church, Saint Thomas Acquinas. It’s too early to determine what kind of nuances he’s blessed with, but the next update will likely carry some insight. If you are asking yourself, why so many? I really believe it comes down to our Faith. We’ve experienced how important order in the family is, as prescribed by our Faith. Having responsibilities based on our vocation makes us the best version of ourselves. This trust in God’s divine providence is what has led us to having a large family, and frankly the success we enjoy.
Eight is great.
2024 represented many changes for the Reich’s. Not only did I leave my position at KBM, but we also welcomed our 6th child to the world, Luke Vernon Reich. Everything grew in 2024, my family, my business and the opportunities to grow exciting brands. 2024 was also the year I grew our brand portfolio While I know there are many peaks and valleys on the road ahead, 2025 looks to be very promising. So much more to update, but that is all for now. As always, thank you for taking the time to read my backstory. Reach out to me if you have one of your own to share, would like to learn more, or are looking for sales or marketing guidance.