Several weeks back I interviewed Greg Miller, a veteran hunter from Bloomer, Wisconsin. Miller is an author, speaker, outdoorsman, and co-hosts one of the best-rated hunting shows on TV with his son Jake. Miller was surprised to learn that he was one of the most inspirational people in my life. When I was in my late teens and early 20s attending Michigan State University, I was lost and really didn’t know myself. Similar to many college kids, I felt kind of asleep in life. I was a decent student, a decent athlete, a decent kid, and maybe a tad better than a decent hunter. Then one day I found a book called Rub-Line Secrets written by Greg Miller. From the moment I cracked the book I became obsessed!

Miller writes from an angle somewhere between storytelling and descriptive tactics for success, and it’s a lethal combo. The premise of the book is how Miller scouts out a buck he wants to hunt each season on state property in northern Wisconsin and he reveals a robust arsenal of tactics he deploys to decode the moves that deer is making and hopefully take him. A rub-line is a line of trees which a buck has rubbed his antlers on that eventually lead from that buck’s bedding area to the feeding areas and along his travel corridors.

Upon my first of several cover-to-cover reads of the book, I began to notice a raised awareness almost immediately. All of a sudden my ADD (who doesn’t have it) was subsiding and was replaced by a newfound heightened awareness, it was amazing. I began to pursue the mission of hunting mature animals as a way of life that was a passionate pursuit beyond any commitment or focus level I had achieved to that point of my life. While even then in my blurry college daze I was a highly visual and perceptive individual, this sort of disciplined commitment was something new entirely.

Within a few years I was hunting at a very high level and was finishing college and knew I wanted to accomplish big things with my career. Soon after realizing how much my hunting skills and senses had improved, I started asking myself how these same skill sets were not transferable to business, life, and personal relationships. All of these seemed like hunts to me even back in the mid 90s (man life moves fast). It did not take me long to see that hunting mature whitetail and hunting down career goals, even things like a first house, were totally interconnected–as life is a series of hunts.

Soon after this epiphany I put it to the test and it worked well, really well! Almost immediately I started experiencing business success. This was not by accident, rather by putting my rapidly developing super predator skills to the test and working hard, I’ll be damned if big bucks didn’t respond in the boardroom as they had in the field! I knew I was onto something big, and something I would have to further exploit later in my career in some change the world capacity. I can’t help it if I want to change the world, and I am going to do just that–and you can take that to the bank.

Let’s fast forward to 2013, and I begin to realize how much Greg Miller affected me. He provided me many of the secrets to goal pursuit. He armed me with many of the fundamentals that I have continued to tweak in the field and in the boardroom over the last 20 years or so. Today at 41 years of age I can say that I am proud to have founded the world-leading online outdoors media company in Outdoor Hub, built and sold several businesses, and continued to always learn in the pursuit of life, whether in the deep woods of northern Michigan or working the ad world in the streets of Manhattan, the commercial real estate industry across the Midwest, and now public speaking and even publishing a book in the spring of 2014 focused on business and hunting. Life is a series of hunts and when we learn to tap our inner hunter, our primal instincts of the predator that are in us all we begin to conquer more of what we are after in life!

Huge praise, respect, thanks, and love goes out to you Greg Miller. To me, you will always be one of my heroes in life, brother. Thanks for letting me in on some of life’s great “secrets”.

The predator has powerful vision and awareness. They have the ability to make moves and adjustments in real time while stalking and chasing down prey. This is the type of vision and awareness we are after as hunters in life and in the field.

Have you ever looked at a glass of water and wondered if it was half empty or half full? The real answer, the scientific answer to this question, may surprise you. After all, not everything is as it appears.

Make sure to watch this brief video below to be blown away!

Often what we are after in life is sitting there right in front of us, but if we can’t see it then it does not exist.

You may never think of a glass of water the same way again. In fact, when you see a glass of water it might just remind you about all of the things you may be missing in life.

Please let me know if you like this and if you learned anything. I encourage you to share this with others and tell me about any similar stories.

Over the last 3 weeks we have hit on 3 key action items that help move you towards becoming the Cheetah, the  true hunter you want to become in life. Screw being the prey! The world is there to be conquered, so let’s teach ourselves to become hunters that conquer whatever they want!

In this video I review these 3 surefire tactics and dial you into a new level of hunters knowledge for getting what we want out of life whether relationships, business, personal pursuits whatever. I am laying it all out there to help you kill it!

Make sure to check out this week’s video below and review any of the past few weeks or other blogs at davidfarbman.com, Facebook or Twitter.

After you watch this video please comment and let me know whether or not you are putting these tactics into play and how they have helped you conquer more. I need to know as this is how I refine my messaging to ensure I bring you value every week. To me giving is receiving! So let me know if you are becoming a hunter and ladies don’t be shy I REALLY want to know how this is working for you and of course I want any suggestions to make these messages more valuable.

Image courtesy David and Elise Schostak

What do a passionate hunter from Spearfish, South Dakota, a barber, Ali G, and the late great Fred Bear have in common? More than you might expect actually. A few weeks back, I had the pleasure of interviewing Nick Mundt for my upcoming book, which is being released in the spring of 2014 on hunting and business. Nick, who has become a close friend, is a relationship guru, a great guy, and an absolute bad ass with a bow, gun, and fishing rod–you name it. He combines the authenticity of a true sportsman with the on-screen talent of Sasha Baron Cohen and the passion of Fred Bear. He is all about building real relationships, constant entertainment, and hardcore hunting along the trail he blazes. Nick is a definite glue factor on the Bone Collector team, which he is a co-host of along with Michael Waddell and Travis “T-bone” Turner.

Mundt’s approach to life is held strong by coast-to-coast trust-based relationships. With movie star looks, incredible musical talent, and a lovable spirit, Mundt’s status as one of the most respected and recognizable hunters in the world shouldn’t be a surprise and is well deserved.

Despite Mundt’s status in the outdoor industry, there is not a greedy bone in his body. How can Mundt be a world-famous hunter and yet be humble, and not focused on greed? Well, either you are going to have to take my word for it or keep reading and then maybe meet him yourself someday.

Much of what has fundamentally developed his work ethic and ease of building authentic relationships happened in his initial career at the local barbershop in Spearfish, South Dakota. “The boss was a real stickler for rules and he demanded that I never missed work, was never late, and I treated his barbershop and the customers with total respect without exception,” Nick explained to me. “At times I was bummed that he never seemed to understand or support my dream to hunt professionally someday. However, looking back I know that was silly, because the work ethic and knack for relationships and making people feel good about themselves that I developed by his side in the barbershop have played a huge role in my success in the hunting industry.

“When you fix a guy up with a haircut, it’s all about helping him feel good about himself and making him comfortable while he’s in your chair,” Nick added. “Whether it’s guiding, running the camera for someone, or building relationships with advertisers that help support us at Bone Collector, it’s really all about trust-based relationships and taking care of people the way you would want to be taken care of. I know these traits have served me well.”

Mundt has worked hard to achieve what he has today and the path took a while to clearly reveal itself to him, but he always believed that if he put all he had into becoming the best hunter, guide, entertainer, friend, and trust-based relationship builder in and out of the outdoors, it would serve him well in the long run. As Mundt puts it, “I have almost never missed a morning hunt in my life and I don’t care how early we are leaving, I show up ready to hunt. Hunting is my life, my love–it’s everything really. Well, that and building meaningful relationships are what define me.

“I have known I wanted to hunt professionally for as long as I can remember,” he continued. “I always believed if I gave hunting everything I had, always showed up to guide, begged to simply run the camera, help with odds and ends at camps–you know, paid my dues–that one day I would get my day to shine and I would be ready when it came. Then I met Michael Waddell and it changed my life. Realtree had given me my shot at guiding and running the camera some, and when I met Waddell we really hit it off. I love that guy, he is the man and I am good with that and happy to be a part of what he and Travis have built and love that I add so much value to the brotherhood. I mean seriously dude, think about how cool my job is! Are you kidding me, man?”

“What’s it like to work with Michael and T-bone?” I asked.

“Farbz you know how we are, we’re brothers, they are my extended family and vice versa,” he replied. Nick is right–I do know how tight they are and I don’t want to be all shrink/rocket scientist on you, but it sounds a lot like “relationships” and relationship glue is the key. There is no better relationship glue factor for a team than a Nick Mundt. If Mundt was an NBA player, he’d be like Dwayne Wade: accepting of his role as a team player and focusing first on winning and second on himself.

Nick’s breakthrough moment came when he joined Waddell on a Realtree Road Trips hunt. Road Trips was the first break out reality TV-style hunting show and Waddell’s first show that he hosted for Realtree Outdoors. Waddell saw immediate chemistry with Nick and pushed hard for Nick to get camera time on the show. Not too long after that, Waddell was ready to create Bone Collector and he knew Nick was a key player to have on his team.

As Michael related it to me, “Man it was a natural relationship from the very beginning. Nick was like family right away and I loved our chemistry.” Waddell, who has been mentored by industry icon Bill Jordan and hunting in front of the camera since adolescence, has developed a brilliant eye for spotting talent or what it takes to make it big in the outdoor industry. These skills have made Michael one of the outdoors most successful people and I know that whenever I have a question as to where the industry will come out on an issue or what will work or won’t work in hunting, Michael is one of my first calls.

So how big might Mundt and Bone Collector become? Well, they have all the right talent, a world-class brand, and the glue factor of Nick Mundt. They also have world-class management representation with Jim Schiefelbein, who joined the team a couple of years ago to help lead them through growth. I don’t know about you, but I’m betting long on Nick Mundt and Bone Collector as they are the real deal!