Brad Neathery, founder of the “Modern Huntsman” magazine, shared his story at CEO chapel last week.
Meredith Orr, senior marketing and business management major from North Richland Hills, said, “We are so excited that Brad was able to join us. ACU has such a great relationship with alum. They bring stuff we might not be able to learn in class.”
Neathery graduated in 2011 with a marketing degree before working a marketing job in Dallas, which he hated.
He said he felt the Lord calling him to do his own thing, but he couldn’t quite figure out what until a friend suggested that he start an agency. Neathery said he wasn’t sure this was the best idea because of his lack of knowledge, but it turned out that “nativity was (his) greatest asset.”
He began working with small local brands on marketing strategies. One of his first clients was a hunting business, in which the owner wanted to create a space for hunters to feel at home non-hunters to feel inspired and welcome.
Neathery said he was skeptical that such a thing could exist, since they were working with “two opposing communities with no way to bridge that gap.”
He said he had a negative view of hunting and that the public has such horrible pictures of hunters because of mainstream media.
He said he shared the negative view of hunting with much of the public, as a result of the mainstream media’s pictures
Once he got to know hunters better, Neathery changed his mind.
“Hunters make a positive impact. These guys are incredible artists, scientists and conservationists,” said Neathery.
He said he decided to start an Instagram page to show how incredible and good hunting actually is. Once an audience was established, Neathery said he realized they needed to take this offline and into print.
Neathery reached out to an editor, Tyler Sharp, on the exact same day that Sharp reached out to him. They ended up having the same vision for a hunting magazine.
“Modern Huntsman” prints once a year and is around 200 pages long. Neathery explained that it’s not a casual magazine, but more of a “coffee table book.”
“We didn’t want to be another grocery store magazine; we wanted to be more high-end and luxurious,” said Neathery.
They had some issues with the first print, losing half of the magazines in the mail and having to scramble to save their budding business reputation. Neathery admitted that it is hard work and incredibly time- and money-consuming to own a magazine, but in the end, it is worth it.
“The amount of love you have for it, the amount of passion you have for it, you just wouldn’t trade it,” Neathery said.
