Meet David Laird | Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with David Laird and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi David, what is the most important factor behind your success?
People. I am in the people business. People don’t always know what they want, what they need or how to get there. You have to be able to communicate effectively and see things from their prospective to help them find their path. The people I hire, I hire for their knowledge and experience, but most of all for their heart to serve others. I can teach them knowledge and skills but I can’t teach a desire to help others. To put others needs before their own. Be where you say you will be, deliver what’s promised on time even at a loss. If you genuinely care for your staff and your clients you will build relationships that will last a lifetime.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Dynamic Combative Solutions LLC is a wholistic self defense company. We employ roughly 15 firearms instructors with extensive backgrounds in their fields. We are Veteran/family owned and operated. The Firearms and self defense industry have a lot of Type A personalities. There is a stigma with many companies and their staff that they are the end all be all in everything. Their social media posts as well as their die hard fans can be aggressive to a lot of folks and few realize how uninviting that is to someone who just wants to learn a new skill regardless of it’s purpose. Not everyone that shoots or learns self defense wants to kick in doors for a living. Sometimes they will even make fun of potential customers because of gear choice, or bad mouth other brands. I would say this is what makes us very different from most others brands. We focus on the individual needs of our clients, whatever that is. We could be teaching a class of 10 students and all 10 will have a very different goal or ambition with what they intend to the use the information for. They are different sizes, weights, heights, with different size hands, guns, calibers, purpose. Even though we are teaching a precision pistol class, for example, each student may experience a different struggle and need attention somewhere different. We always explain the “why”. I want you to understand what we’re teaching, but also the “why” so that you understand it’s value. If you don’t know the “why” behind something, it looses meaning and purpose. You won’t give it the deliberate attention it needs. I, as well as my team, have worked together for over 8 years now perfecting our craft. Despite each of us having our backgrounds already, we push each other to be better by attending more classes nation wide, reading books, watching you tube, having discussions, quarterly meetings and training with each other. Sharing our customer experiences and challenges, explaining how we solved a problem or an issue, critiquing each other constantly. It hasn’t been easy. We have had to change our business plan, model, website, goals, everything with in the first year. Covid has set us back a year from launching our hand to hand defensive classes. Personal health for some of my team has had complications preventing them from teaching. Our successes and failures are shared together as a team. We’re more of a family than a business. Every member is a valuable contributor to our overall mission and they all share the burden to be the best at what we do financially. People are the most important thing. If you take care of your people, they will take care of your business and your customers. The same is true if you neglect your team. Each person has value. You invest a lot in getting them trained. If have to find what inspires them to be their best and enjoy working for you. There needs to be a promise of a future with your organization and they need a little control over what that destiny is. Make sure they always feel valued and appreciated. Don’t let good work go unappreciated. DCS Training understands the dangers that exist in the world and know that not everyone is comfortable with guns. We want to get to know YOU the individual and what you are comfortable with so that you have some means of self-defense at your disposal. No one should be ignorant or helpless when it comes to keeping yourself or your family safe. Most everyone I have ever met has no desire to ever be involved in a dangerous encounter, but we would like to know that if it happened we would know what to do. We’re here to help you on that journey.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Well……. Anyone coming to visit me brought guns and ammo so we’d be off to the range!! Most recently one of my older sons took a break from college to introduce me to his fiancé, and she was leaving for college in another state. So, we went to the range and did some basic mindset and awareness training combined with some basic firearms knowledge. I took them to a few gun stores around the valley so they could see some stuff that isn’t available to the general public. Then went out to dinner at longhorn steakhouse because they have amazing food. If we had more time, we’d likely do a lot more of that. My other son is currently serving in Hawaii and has plans to come home to visit for Christmas, so we’re going to build his first Custom AR-15 together and likely take him through some classes and visit many gun shops around the valley.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’ll start with God. “If he leads you to it, He’ll lead you through it!” One of my Wife’s favorite sayings. She is my rock. She holds me accountable in everything I do. I wouldn’t be the man I am today. I have many friends that are business owners. I have learned things from all of them. When I go to stores I want to know and speak with the owners directly. I only like dealing with the people on top. The place where the buck stops. If the store doesn’t have an owner to talk to, then you’re irrelevant. Something to keep in mind with your business. Never be so busy that you can’t answer phones, emails, texts, ect. Be Present! Lead by example.

Website: https://www.dcs.training/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/d_c_s_training/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DynamicCombativeSolutions
Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/dynamic-combative-solutions-mesa
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0HNeujc2xgvIVAaNjZhVdg