Meet Glen Stilson | Emergency Response Head Instructor

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

Hi Glen, how do you think about risk?
Self employment itself is a risk! Everything about it is risk-related. There are no sureties here, no guarantees. There’s not a single day that goes by where we aren’t putting everything we have at stake – there’s no big corporations or deep pockets to back up a local LLC. We risk financial future, security and possible liability, just to name a few things. However, that’s part of what makes self employment so rewarding – as they say, the greater the risk, the greater the reward. The larger the risks I’ve taken, the better the payout has been – and that’s not just financial payout. We are in the business of helping people be more confident in their self reliance, and the payouts that we have seen with that are truly life changing for some people. Big risks that I’ve taken to expand the business have equaled more opportunities for our clients to be safer and more secure, all around the country.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Independence Training is an emergency response training company, with programs designed to increase confidence in our students’ self reliance capabilities. We travel all over the U.S. with our programs, which focus heavily on field medicine, emergency preparedness and defensive firearms application. I am most proud of how the business was started: $400 in the bank account and an idea of how I might be able to help my fellow man. 14 years later we have 12 instructors, teach all over the country and have positively impacted thousands of lives through our programs.

Getting here wasn’t easy. There was a lot of sacrifice along the way – time, money, energy, sleep – and some losses, as well. You can’t win them all. Through tough times I kept my head up and my eyes forward, always working on the next solution. The closeness of my team was critical here, the culture that we created was absolutely vital to keep us all sane. Team events, family events and making sure that money never got in the way were some of the vital elements that have kept us going, and keep us moving forward today.

We do training for private citizens, private groups, corporations, military and law enforcement agencies, and other government organizations. Our team comes from vast and extensive background of trauma medicine, field craft, combat operations, emergency management and security. Our programs are like few others found around the U.S.

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?
Everywhere I travel in the U.S. I go to the local breweries. So we’d start there: everywhere we went, we’d hit the local brewery. First we’d go to northern Arizona – everyone needs to hike the San Francisco peaks (or at least see them!) in Flagstaff, and visit Historic Brewing. And everyone needs to hike the Grand Canyon (or, again, at least see a sunset there) and be sure to check out El Tovar Dining Room with lots of local drinks to choose from. A day to hike each one of those locations, and then we’d be off to Payson (hitting THAT Brewery in Pine) and the Mogollon Rim, to paddleboard the mountain lakes of Woods Canyon Lake and Willow Springs Lake for a day. Next stop would be Tucson, to explore two unique museums for day four: the Pima Air and Space Museum and the Titan Missile Museum, stopping off at Dragoon Brewing. The final day would be at the Kartchner Caverns State Park, with some relaxing time afterwards to debrief a very busy week of adventure at the Barrio Brewery.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My team – without them, I would be stagnate. That team includes my wife, my kids and the other instructors in the company, who are more like family than anything else. I say that you are the sum of the top 5 people that you spend the most time around, and in this case, I chose wisely. My team makes me want to be the best version of myself – to grow, to expand and to improve constantly. There’s never a day that I’m not looking to improve something, and that is largely thanks to my team, or that is to say, my family.

Website: https://independencetraining.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/independencetraining/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glen-stilson-95872147/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IndependenceTraining/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@IndependenceTraining/videos