A question I get all the time is “what exactly do y’all do?” I love this question. Although it seems straight forward, this is pretty difficult to answer in the 30-60 seconds I have a small business owner on the phone.
On the surface it may seem as if we offer advertising, but that’s not quite the case. Our overall goal is to create a national, centralized database that first responders, active military, veterans, teachers and nurses (who will be collectively referred to as “the Brave” for the rest of this article) can access from any device to find businesses that offer them discounts. Being able to access that information is two-fold for the Brave: 1. They are able to save money. That in itself is what many businesses build their foundation on. 2. The Brave are able to find and support those businesses that are supporting them. The main difference between what we do and normal advertising is we don’t just expose them to the fact that your business exists, we give them a REASON to use your business over your competitors. Your discount is not only a financial win to the Brave, it’s a sign of support and that is something these groups desperately need right now.
Another goal of ours is to leave our communities better than we found them. That’s why 20% of our profits go right back into our community. We don’t donate to the local little league (although we are so thankful for those that do) or things like that. What we look for are true needs. Places where our money can make the most difference. We have purchased teacher’s entire school supply lists. We have called elementary school counselor’s and asked, “What do the kids need?” and proceeded to buy those items. We will be feeding some of the Brave when they have to work holidays. We want to find projects that improve the place we live. This isn’t just a company or just a job. This is a way we can make a huge impact in the place we call home and on the people we call friends.
If you’ve ever known any member of the Brave, you know that they have a ton of pride and work with a pack mentality. We want to use that pride to create relationships between our local businesses and the Brave. As a firefighter, I can tell you that if a business impresses a few firefighters with their work, there will soon be a whole lot more coming their way. That’s part of what it means to be part of the Brave. It’s a community inside a community and it’s one that feeds off of the recommendations and reviews of its fellow members. That works out great because we have built in reviews on our website! Our goal is to showcase businesses based on their discount and have them be seen by local, quality customers like the Brave. We give them a reason to choose you for the first time. After that, a business’s service and style will be responsible for giving them a reason to go back to the firehouse, the police station, the school, the hospital, the military base, or wherever they are and say, “You know, I really liked this place. They were awesome.”
The main thing we are here to do is help small businesses thrive! We can help with local SEO basics to make sure you are showing up in searches when you need to be. In a place like San Angelo, there are occupations with a lot of competition and some with very little. Either way, not taking care of your SEO is a surefire way to make sure customers find your competition. Did you know that 93% of all online experiences start with a search? Or that 75% of people never scroll past the first page when they search? Sometimes in the hustle of starting a business, we forget that the difference in surviving and thriving comes in doing the little things right.
The way that we help with these things is by getting every small business a full-page listing on our website. We want it to look great, offer useful services and be searchable by location, category, business name and each group that is included in the discount (hint hint: including all groups instead of just one gives you 6 more ways to be found). That is all well and good, but it is all for nothing if our businesses can’t afford to use the service we have for them. That’s why our plan is $9.99/mo or an average of $8.33/mo if paid annually. For the price of a double cheeseburger you can give your business a new set of customers.
For our members, we have more up our sleeve than just discounts. We also run Blog For the Brave, a blog that is written by the very same people that are in the trenches with you everyday. We have articles about workouts, occupational pride, skill sets and more. We also offer For the Brave Apparel, featuring clothing designed by the son of a 30-year Austin firefighter. If you can’t tell, we try to turn to our own for everything we can. And that is what this company is about. Supporting those that are supporting you. While it may be easy to turn on the news and think, wow, there’s no support for us anymore, that just isn’t the case. You’re surrounded by local businesses that want to show you they support you but have never had the means to do so. Insert For the Brave. It’s just like our tagline says, “We ask for discounts so you don’t have to.” We hold a lot of power when we do things in groups. If we choose to support, shop at and recommend these businesses that support us then we can, in some way, help change this culture back to where we want it to be!
All that was just to say this: when you ask, “What do y’all do?” the answer is…it’s complicated. But our goal is simple: Help small businesses. Help the Brave. Help better our world.
Get ready people…2021 is the year of the Brave!
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