Ryan Tate served the US in Ramadi and Fallujah with the U.S. Marine Corps in some of the most intense fighting of the Iraq war. Ryan reached platoon sergeant status and received combat promotions and awards as an infantryman as well as being recognized as Marine of the year in 2005 and Non-Commissioned Officer of the year in 2006. He also trained Iraqi Police and Navy Corpsmen in infantry tactics. He earned a Naval Achievement Medal for his Combat Valor. Ryan has been with the Department of State for four years. He served on the Ambassador Susan Rice’s Protective Detail for three years and currently serves as a General Services Specialist. In addition to his service Ryan Tate has always been an animal lover. After returning from one of his tours in Iraq he was deeply affected by a program he watched on TV that showed an African rhino still alive and suffering greatly with half its face hacked off solely for its horn. Ryan, realizing that criminal poaching networks operate very much like the intricate terrorist networks in the Middle East, he then set out to repurpose his skills into an effort to stop the slaughter of these magnificent endangered animals. Many Post 9-11 U.S. veterans often have difficulty leveraging their combat skills in a conventional civilian vocation. Ryan realized these vets could benefit profoundly from the opportunity to utilize their valuable military skills in combat-related areas protecting endangered wildlife in Africa and saving lives. With Ryan’s military experience and savvy navigating of the tumultuous world of “boots on the ground” conservation, he’s able to speak directly to the unique skills that veterans can bring to anti-poaching efforts making a vital difference for endangered species and veterans that now have a renewed sense of purpose.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
- Anthony Bourdain
- Ryan’s Grandfather
When business started difficulties overcame:
“travelling internationally, time management, how to lead people who are not military… Because I was still when I started the organisation in Marine Corps mode. And if you know Marines the way I’m speaking to you know it’s not like I spoke people when I was in the Marine Corps or in what I call Marine Corps mode. We are very assertive, we are very blunt, upfront and we just like to get it done. I had to learn how to be diplomatic and how to be a people person. I am a natural introvert and I think that that is a challenge in itself. And it’s not necessarily a challenge once you get over it it’s something you embrace”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
- The Art of War Book by Sun Tzu
Also mentioned
Favourite Quote:
- “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs; who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt
- “if you don’t like what I am doing but you are obsessed with everything that I do then you are a fan”
Recommended Online Resources:
Podcasts
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“take negative criticism as just criticism or as just help. Don’t look over all look past negativity it’s happening for a reason and so it should be focused on but it shouldn’t be taken to heart. You have got to grow a thick-skinned, you have got to be able to take a punch, you have got to be able to take several punches to the mouth over and over and over again. But if you don’t get up you are not an entrepreneur – you are not. So be prepared to take a hit, grow thick skin, don’t let it alter your direction, let it improve your direction and the efficiency and the speed that you are headed in. And just take everything as a learning lesson. It’s all part of the journey. The Quicker that you can take criticism as a learning lesson instead of negativity the quicker that you are going to get your mission done and certainly the less years are going to be taken off of your life from the stress that comes with that negativity. So as negative as it is try to just take it in stride and build off of it.”…[Listen for More]
More About Ryan Tate:
Veterans Empowered to Protect African Wildlife (VETPAW)
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“It takes more than capital to swing business. You’ve got to have the A. I. D. degree to get by — Advertising, Initiative, and Dynamics.” Ren Mulford Jr.
Other Quotes From the Chat with Ryan Tate:
- “you have to search for multiple sources of revenue if you are going to succeed in life otherwise you are just going to be average”
- “absolutely you are going to fail but you learn from your mistakes”
- “location, location, location in real estate. Location to nonprofits is visibility, visibility, visibility, visibility… For any new company you have got to be visible obviously. If you are not visible you are not going to sell your product or your cause but you have to be on the backend and have the leadership to create a strategy to capitalise on those results otherwise it can get completely out of hand. With social media growing every day like it is, one false move, one wrong move and you can throw years of hard work down the drain. One wrong sentence or word or posting on social media or not posting on social media. It’s a strategy that you always have to continue to develop. Every day you have to take notes on communications, what works what doesn’t work, what’s growing what’s not going.”
- “Due diligence is everything. Researching and reading, not just reading but writing because you have this idea and if you don’t work in the industry that you are trying to get into, you might have this idea and the initial idea is a great idea but it’s not polished and you really have to focus on polishing that idea”
- “don’t take shortcuts. And that shortcuts not just for nonprofits… But even for for profits. In the beginning especially the struggle with budgets and things. The more you cut corners the more headaches that you have and the more money you end up spending later. So taking the time, doing it right, not cutting corners or anything like that, just doing what’s best”
- “there’s a ton of secrets to success you have just got to find out what works for you”
- “always at the end of the day no matter how great your day was, no matter how bad your day might have been because it is a rollercoaster, entrepreneurship… is taking a moment to block everything else out and remember why you are doing this. And that is the biggest secret for me. At the end of the day I’m doing this to make a difference, and I am doing this because I believe in it. And it’s just taking a moment to reconnect with the passion that got you started on your journey”
- “simplicity is everything to me. I’m a big believer in working smarter not harder. Not to say that I don’t work hard. The more efficient you can be the better”
- “view your critics more as your fans than your critics”
- “don’t be afraid to get bloody and sweaty, don’t be afraid to cry, don’t be afraid to be so emotionally invested that one simple critic could piss you off, they could put you down, but take that and take it as motivation which is easier said than done. But take that criticism and use it to make yourself better”
- “the critics are what make the victories that much sweeter. It’s Just like when someone tells you that you can’t do something. All entrepreneurs get that in the beginning I am sure and then they get it throughout their careers. And that’s what makes them entrepreneurs because they take what somebody says that they can’t do and they do it. So it just makes the victories so much sweeter. So use the critics as energy to make that victory that much better”
- “it’s so important to hear the struggles of other people in the victories of other people because it lets you know that you are not alone and it also those victories are what inspires you to keep driving”
- “we are ideas people that are also doers. That’s the difference between a creative person and an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is a creative person that does”
- “entrepreneurs lead the way in an ever-changing world”
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