Citizen Rebel

[00:00:00] Trevor Silva: that reel started going crazy, and we were getting a sale every 10 seconds.
We had a $43,000 day. everyone's looking for businesses that will just stand up, just say, this is bullshit. We're not doing this. And too many people are afraid to, and the even the big businesses are too afraid. And I think the second that we let fear become our guiding light is the second we let freedom democracy fall.

[00:00:25] Alaina: Hi, it's Alaina

[00:00:26] Chris: And Chris

[00:00:27] Alaina: from Citizen Rebel, the podcast for founders, small business owners and bold influencers who refuse to stay silent.

[00:00:34] Chris: and those of us who wanna do the same,

[00:00:36] Chris Vogel: Today we're gonna get real with Trevor. he's the co-founder of My Cluck Hut, an eco-friendly bath and body company based in Nashville.

Trevor Silva. Nice to meet you.

[00:00:46] Trevor Silva: Nice to meet y'all. Glad to be here. Thanks for having me.

[00:00:48] Alaina Shearer: yeah. How you doing today?

[00:00:50] Trevor Silva: Awesome. Every day's a great day when you're running a small business posting fascism. Right?

[00:00:53] Alaina Shearer: Right. That's what, so yeah, like in early March, was it early March when you and your wife, Jennifer, a co-owner of, My Cluck Hut, you decided to make, to post about maga it was early March, right?

[00:01:08] Trevor Silva: Yeah, it was March. It was March 1st, and it was, it wasn't that, it was the first time we'd posted about it. I had made a, a bunch of reels that. we're hinting that way, that we're, speaking out. But it was the first time that we looked at the camera and just outwardly said it without saying it as a direct opposition, saying that it was something that we didn't even want to connect with.

more along the lines of MAGA was anti us. We weren't anti maga. That you'd have to like, uh, if you watch the video that to hate something, you'd have to respect something. And that was the first time was, March 1st. That we just put it cleanly out there, I think as a couple, as a business in a more commercial style.

An advertisement style.

[00:01:50] Alaina Shearer: so is that the post that went viral first.

[00:01:54] Trevor Silva: It, isn't it? It was the one, according to our account, a smaller one went viral and then that one, the little bigger account was the major viral one. Yeah,

[00:02:02] Alaina Shearer: Okay. And that's the one that changed everything.

And we're gonna unpack that in a bit and deep dive into that post and how you have continued to create. Consistent content that is, having a huge impact on your business and just high level what has happened to your sales.

[00:02:19] Trevor Silva: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:02:20] Alaina Shearer: Yeah.

[00:02:21] Trevor Silva: I am excited.

[00:02:22] Alaina Shearer: So let's get into actually your founding story and how you started My clock cut.

[00:02:28] Trevor Silva: Sure. Yeah. Klu cut really started, there was this pandemic in 2020, if you've heard of it. And, my wife is the Director of Science and Steam for Metro Nashville Public Schools, and we had started kind of watching for this thing and staying home and. when the schools were told to go home, she was charged with, reinventing science education in real time.

And, uh, as an escape from virtual meetings. She needed something to, to do. She tried a few things. Paint by numbers was one of 'em. and I've never actually seen someone fail at paint by numbers and that it just. Wasn't her bag. so she decided to nerd out. I mean, she's the PhD in the family. She's the reason I'm a doctor by marriage.

she is a PhD. She's a chemist background, chemistry background. So she started using the time to, between meetings to create the perfect eco-friendly soap formula. I had been retired from touring for a couple years. I had a little different hyperfocus. Mine was mostly, alcoholism in the above ground pool.

we had just gotten chickens pre pandemic and, bad chicken jokes, low key depression, that everyone's terrible. by the way, it was white wine out of the box because again, there was this pandemic happening. and so I kept seeing everything just get worse and worse, and I had to watch this.

Clown show every day, tried to give us, updates on a pandemic. And, it really just came down to the point where I looked at my wife one day and I just said, it's either blow my brains out or, or change the world. These are the two options. I'm just over it. I hate everyone here. I just, and this is also the alcohol speaking, it's, which is also depressant.

And, she looked at me and she just said, we'll, change it. So she was making this amazing soap formula, and I realized that, as a white man in America, I have a seat at a table. A lot of people don't have a voice. A lot of people don't. I don't believe that the future is male. I really don't.

I think the Patriarchy's had its time. I feel like if I Trojan horse this thing, great. I think, you know, I don't care about money or power. So it's one of those places where it's like, I guess I'm the one that has to go get it because we can change the world. but we have to balance environmental, human, and financial capitalism.

And so this really started because everyone needed a laugh, hence why our masculine light, even though it has the pronouns, he, she, they on it is our cock line because roosters, we had to have a laugh at the same time that we're crying. And so we wanted to start something, especially, this is where my heart was.

I wanted to start a business that was the change in the world that we were looking, we were looking for, and started bitching about it on Facebook. Let's create it

[00:04:43] Alaina Shearer: take me from that point where you felt I have to fight or I can't live here, I can't be here, I need to do something, and how that turned into soap.

[00:04:52] Trevor Silva: It didn't, I mean, it honestly didn't. SOAP is the vehicle. It's just the vehicle for what we wanted to do. We wanted to build a company that prioritized people, that prioritized the environment, that was diverse, that was eco-friendly. and soap was just what was in front of me. It's the same reason the company's named my klu hut.

It's because chickens are what were in front of me and it's my fuck hu, but it's chickens. It's funny, but that's how it started. It's just You're inspired by your surroundings and it became the vehicle to be, to make effective change.

[00:05:20] Alaina Shearer: and let's talk about the, it's more than soap. It's a bath and body line, and I have put my order in, by the way. I'm really excited to get my stuff, but this is, it's more than a bar of soap. it's eco-friendly. Tell us about that, the science behind it as well, and why, why it's so special.

[00:05:37] Trevor Silva: Absolutely. Yeah. The, uh, the soap formula itself, what's so cool about, it's, it's most soaps that you use out there, soaps are actually detergent unless they go through ification. Cold processed soap making. They're not a soap. 'cause soap is actually a salt. And the problem with detergents and poorly made soaps is the pH balances off.

So it pulls moisture from your skin, it dries you out. So no soap actually moisturizes, none do. If they tell you it does, they're lying. It actually shouldn't pull moisture from your skin. Therefore, your skin can actually provide the natural oils of moisture that it does create,

You know.

[00:06:08] Chris Vogel: a commodified product, I would think like soap is one of those staples, right, that you would think that people wouldn't see special. I re remember the story of coolers and Yeti, right? Where it's, you take something conventional and make it unconventional.

[00:06:22] Trevor Silva: what's crazy. Some of the newer products we've come out with, some of the ones I've created since I've really gotten into that side of it,it's mind boggling what can be done and hasn't been done.

[00:06:31] Chris Vogel: Hmm.

[00:06:31] Trevor Silva: Some of the stuff that we've created that it's like, why is this not out there?

Why is this like some of the sensory friendly products like our elbow grease that I created? I spent eight months banging my head against the wall, creating a moisturizer from the ground up that's sensory friendly, greaseless scent free. you can't tell people like, this is amazing. Like, sure.

And then they try, they're like, wait, what is this? And it's really cool and it's all natural and it's plant-based. It's doable. you just, I guess, have to be autistic in a DDI don't know. It just,

[00:06:57] Alaina Shearer: And, and you have to care, you know, you have to actually care about, the planet and your environment and the people and the humans around you, so,

[00:07:05] Trevor Silva: the money. That's

[00:07:06] Alaina Shearer: right, exactly. So.

Now let's get into this, let's say the first viral post. But if you wanna tell us about how you, the two together. 'cause that makes sense that you had one that did pretty well and then another one that just whoosh and tell us about, let's back into the beginning of that and.

Again, for everyone listening, if you go to my clock cut on Instagram, you can watch all of these beautiful posts that you and Jennifer have been posting for years since you started the company, in favor of LGBT rights and you've been out there. However, I didn't see one that was blatantly like straightforward, we are anti, or MAGA is anti us, Tell us about that decision making process to post that original post and how you felt

[00:07:57] Trevor Silva: Yeah, this, I made a, reel before the election and then one on voting day that kind of alluded to it, one about voting to erase an orange stain, which was, I spilled some turmeric and, uh, you know, so I was starting to like test the waters of like, speaking up. Because one of the things I heard a lot from am, especially from MAGA, was, They love to say, you know, when Trump's president, you'll fall in line, which is a very, very clear thing to say. I've heard that in history before. it's a very authoritarian way to speak. And so when this term started, for the current president, I just, I. knew that there was one thing I never wanted to do.

I never wanted to be in the middle. This business wasn't started to be just stagnant in the middle. I really wanted to make sure that the people that love us, that we love are safe around us, that they know this company's a safe place. And it just turns out that by speaking out against the current administration that removes.

All the dickheads that are just mean to them really. And I was like, you know what? At the end of the day, I, that's, I don't want bullies hanging around. We don't deal. I don't condone bullying. I won't, I oppose it wholeheartedly. And so I, I tested a few of just like me talking to myself two characters me and myself just to get my thoughts out there.

But Jennifer is such a powerhouse of being a, 50-year-old strong. Intelligent, brave, awesome woman. she's the badass here and I wanted to bring her forward with the real that I really felt was that stood out there. And I wanted to pose our standpoint as it's not hate.

We get projected on that. We must hate MAGA all the time because they hate us. We get called libtard and cos and all these things. And so we, we must hate them, but we don't. We'd have to respect someone to hate them. And I wanted to make that point that we don't respect anybody who does any of the things Trump does.

He's not special. It's not like he's this, man and a horse. We're like, oh my God, that guy's who, no, nobody like that. And so putting that one out, it went insane. I dunno if you want me to go into how and saying it went, but. Um, yes. Okay. So that, that reel started going crazy, that we put it up about 5:00 PM at night.

The next day we were, had two events. One partner at one, Jennifer and I had another event, and it went, all of a sudden, it just started, our phone started blowing up, so it went up. It was about 50,000 likes at that point, you know, maybe 350,000 views. And our Shopify app started going off and we were getting a sale every 10 seconds.

For about four hours in there to the point where we had to look at each other and go, okay, if our app says we can't sell something at this event, we have to look at a customer and say, I know this is in my hand, but I cannot sell you this because we are sold out. Because I hadn't separated locations yet, to have a market in location and online.

So it was wild and that first day and this is not to brag, this is something that blew my mind too. We had a $43,000 day. And it was people that showed up because they are just, they're looking, everyone's looking for businesses that will just stand up, just say, this is bullshit. We're not doing this.

And too many people are afraid to, and the even the big businesses are too afraid. And I think the second that we let fear become our guiding light is the second we let freedom democracy fall. So the first reel was an inspiring, and I think it's at 178,000 likes now. It's like 1.7 million views. The very next one we did.

I called out some of the comments because the comments were very interesting. They were, I, I can't wait to watch you go bankrupt. I can't wait to watch you fail. a lot of pedophilia talk, which,

[00:11:38] Chris Vogel: Really?

[00:11:39] Trevor Silva: oh, they bring up a, they bring up pedophilia

[00:11:40] Chris Vogel: Yeah, they do.

[00:11:41] Trevor Silva: It's odd. they're very obsessed with other people's generals and pedophilia.

I made it reel about that as well. the next one, I just used some of their comments at the bottom and my thought process was. It's interesting that they know that we'll go bankrupt. They know that we'll fail because the only two ways that happens is that half of the population, which it's way, way less than half, that supports maga, but in their terms, way to alienate half your customers.

If half of the population that supports our view and the supports opposing this current president, the only way we go paying for it is all of a sudden they decide. that they like him, they all of a sudden they're like, you know what? He's a pretty good guy. Or they aren't in the market anymore.

they aren't in the, um, economy. that's the scariest part is to think, okay, those are the two options. Are you saying they're, they will be removed from the economy because the other one's not gonna happen? And so I wanted to point out that this is where their head's at.

The second reel we put out, I called him, I said, and we don't have time for whiny little bitches. I just said

[00:12:45] Alaina Shearer: Those are fighting words. Those are some big words.

[00:12:48] Trevor Silva: I've never had time for whiny little bitches. And they just came in our comments and whined and I, I was like, no. And we have to stop giving these people, and this is where I'm not even angry.

We have to. It's the bully in high school, bullies always want your energy. That's how they feed. And they feed by they say it out loud. I want your tears, your liberal tears.

[00:13:06] Alaina Shearer: They do say that, yes,

[00:13:08] Trevor Silva: That's projecting that they need your energy. What if we don't feed them? Take it away clown. Show 'em. Make sure people know like bullies.

I, we don't take 'em seriously. We don't respect them. And I think that is the mindset that changes this irrational fear we have of people that are just loud.

[00:13:26] Alaina Shearer: Two questions on the sales side, 42,000. Put that in perspective for our listeners of what your average Saturday would've been.

[00:13:33] Trevor Silva: So 43,000 was the end of the day, our average Saturday, if we have an event, we're probably talking about anywhere from 2000 to maybe 4,000 depending on the event.

[00:13:45] Alaina Shearer: Right. So just a staggering difference, and this has, the sales have continued

since this.

[00:13:50] Trevor Silva: we went from a December that was about 40,000, but our average month being about 20 to 25,000. And that's with no marketing, no, no advertising, marketing, but no advertising, paid advertising.

and then so far this month, and again, this is just to inspire, not to brag. This is blown my mind too. We're at 150,000 on the month to say, when I say that, remember that we were a business that we had specifically. had built it with processes and as standard operating procedures and stuff in place for this scale.

I didn't know it was gonna scale like this that fast, but it could have wrecked many businesses. It, it really put us on our heels and we were quasi prepared.

[00:14:33] Alaina Shearer: Because of the infrastructure You mean not

[00:14:35] Trevor Silva: yeah, correct.

[00:14:36] Alaina Shearer: Because the, the demand.

[00:14:37] Trevor Silva: the demand. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

[00:14:40] Alaina Shearer: And it's important to note too, that you're based in Nashville, which, you know, you're in Tennessee, you're in a state that voted far for Trump. And also it's interesting the perspective that we all have as business owners and just citizens of this country right now.

And Trump, of course. It's a delusion that he had an overwhelming majority. only about 30 some percent of Americans actually cast a vote for him. So that's really, really important for all of us to remember.

[00:15:11] Trevor Silva: Yeah. And they don't want you to know that.

[00:15:13] Alaina Shearer: They

[00:15:14] Trevor Silva: don't. They don't. That's why they're loud.

[00:15:16] Alaina Shearer: yeah. Yeah.

[00:15:17] Chris Vogel: Yeah. Well, I have, I have one question about the tone, which I think is so fascinating, especially in this world we're in right now where you wanna get the tone right. And you said, and this is the first time I've ever heard it, you wanna create a safe space for people so they don't get bullied. They don't get attacked, versus the way it's, I think, pictured a lot of times it's an aggressive. Position. But it's, it's not really, it's just like, look, we're just reasonable people here trying to sell soap and get along and you guys are nuts. I mean, that's kind of, that's how it reads to me. I don't know how you feel about that.

[00:15:51] Trevor Silva: Yeah, I, I feel like at the end of the day, I want to protect. I I always want to protect people, and no matter when bullies come after someone, I want to make sure that our home, our business is bigger than just being a business. It's a community. It's a clubhouse, if you will. And I honestly just don't want customers that we wouldn't want to hang out with.

I don't want customers that would harm anybody around us. And at the end of the day, the tone is. they tell us that we're gonna lose half of our customer base while simultaneously, promoting another company that they use. And it's interesting, one of the examples is Dr. Squatch they always say, well, I'll stick to my Dr.

Squatch And I'm like, they don't. Ironically, they don't see the fact that Dr. Squatch made an entire marketing campaign. Their entire brand is aimed at men, just men, not women, men. But yet somehow, when we say we prefer. People that are kind, accepting, loving. We don't, not in so many words, we don't really want maga.

All of a sudden we are doing something crazy unheard of. It's like, no, we're finding our people just like any other business would. We're finding our demographic.

[00:17:03] Alaina Shearer: s

o let's get into how you create this content,the process that you go about. So now we, here we are at the end of March. your sales are continuing, you're continuing to post frequently, and you've faced that fear and realize that hey, it's working.

There's a heck of a lot of people who want to be a part of this. How do you create the content? What's your process?

[00:17:27] Trevor Silva: A, I wanna point out that there wasn't fear. The only reservation I had. Was, I like to think of everything and 10,000 foot view. That's how I think I'm always thinking far ahead. It was how does this content, how does putting something out like this affect the people around us, the people in the business, the company itself.

Secondly, I like to rip on, MAGA because they need to be brought down a peg. But I also don't want to give them all of our time. they're not worth it. The, you know, bullies aren't worth our time. So I think moving forward as like, we're doing new content, yeah. There is some stuff that we have, we're gonna call out, just because it's basic human decency issues, not because it's political and creating the content creation really.

a lot of times it's, you know. Uh, three in the morning, I'll wake up and I'll have this idea and I'll just start typing it out. But really it's because I, I have this internal dialogue constantly, you know, it's, part for the course with a DD and that internal dialogue is always bickering.

And if I have an ID idea of a thought, I always have the other side of the argument. that's why I've never needed, an opposition in my life because I have it. I'm always, uh, it's there. I can argue my own points. I can argue back and forth and I. I used to make a lot of the videos, and I'll make more of them that are just me talking to myself because it is my internal dialogue.

that's me working through it. It's kind of my, my therapy is, verbal processor. And as a verbal processor, I really need to put it out there and I can watch the video back and be like, ah, that I can see my process. I can see the conversation in real time. And so when I write these and all the content, you know, as we move forward, it is a little difficult.

I think the fear is more, once something goes off is will they like the next thing I put out. Do we have to continue to be what they expect because they liked this? but I think the, that fear is a bit irrational because what we put out is just us organically. Authentically is who I am.

I didn't put anything out that was like, Mwahaha let's see how this marketing campaign goes. It was just, this is who we are. So I had to stop that fear. And I think a lot of people are gonna get into that fear if they have something like this happen, is that, oh, no. Well, if I, what I put out next is gonna be good enough, and that has to stop.

I, fight it too. It's just, what is it that's going through my heart, my mind right now? I'm gonna put it out there. The worst thing that can possibly happen is we lose some followers. The best thing that can possibly happen is we lose some followers. They weren't our followers.

[00:19:59] Alaina Shearer: Yeah. Tell us about how many did you lose when you posted this,

[00:20:03] Trevor Silva: Well, I, the, the one that had gone to about 34,000 likes before that, that was the me versus me, where I said, I guess we're gonna come out. We've gotta tell somebody we're gonna lose a lot of customers. I, I did a back and forth, and that one was the one that lost us. our first round we lost 243,

[00:20:18] Alaina Shearer: and how many did you gain?

[00:20:20] Trevor Silva: currently 75,000.

[00:20:23] Chris Vogel: Ah, ROI, by the way, on that is solid. The ROI on that is, is solid. If you're looking from a business So did that happen concurrently? Did you like lose and gain at the same time, or was there a delay?

What was the process?

[00:20:37] Trevor Silva: was a, there was that chunk at the beginning and then that was the one where we came out and just, I said it like, so we are, and I think that was the one that just re because we've always been the same. The thing is we've never. The ones that we might've gained that did not agree were ones that we'd met at farmer's markets or festivals that tapped our dot card and followed us.

they didn't know or they didn't see enough of our content. 'cause even if you follow a company, you don't see everything they put out. So I think that was the one that just stuck it to the wall. And so after that. It has been maybe one or two here and there, but nothing. And that's the beauty I think, of building your business on a foundation of rock, on something that is solid, consistent, is that you're gonna find loyal, caring, badass customers that are your people.

[00:21:27] Alaina Shearer: And you have a national audience, so. You have And, and Yes.

And, and the other thing too, speaking to now, this is my content strategist brain. 'cause I've been doing this for 20 years now and was there at the beginning of all of the social, content creation that the fear of. do. I have to stay in this bucket and continue to post this exact same thing.

I think my prediction is, as we all know, this is only gonna get worse. The Trump administration is only going to get worse and the things that are happening, the videos that were all gonna be witnessing, yesterday a TS University student was yanked off the street by plain closed officers. I mean, so businesses who are hiding from this right now, there is going to be a point where.

It will be so egregious and so uncomfortable that they aren't saying something to their customers. Especially again, these, small businesses who make up the fabric of our communities. So I think the content, I'm curious if you've thought about that, like the moment, when there will be.

Unfortunately, I think very many of these moments where the news cycle will present some horrific. Egregious violation of democracy. Are you going to be current and keep up with these things and keep calling them out?

[00:22:48] Trevor Silva: I think I'm

[00:22:48] Alaina Shearer: do you have a plan?

[00:22:49] Trevor Silva: yeah, absolutely.

I am always gonna follow my heart on that,But the way that I approach it, I don't know if you saw one of the reels I did where, we were hiring a, a new soap maker and I was gonna fire the current one, and it was back when he fired all the, air flight controllers or the.

it was FFAF, yeah. FFA anyways,and brought in, people that weren't as capable. And I made a reel and it was basically about, do I hire this guy Chad, this character Chad, who wears a MAGA hat? or do I hire, the person who is capable of doing the job and firing them to hire Chad because he's loyal to me.

And so the approach I took on it was. Making it look as ridiculous as it is, and I think that it's always been, I know that's always been the approach of our company from our cock line on down, is remembering that we have to laugh because what are our other options? Scream and cry. So if I can't use sarcasm and I can't use humor to, to approach these things,don't wanna be here.

This company started because of a very real moment in time where it was either blow my brains out or change the world. That gives you very little room for maneuverability. One ceases to exist, one does something, and I think that's maintained as my modus operandi for this business is that. We will do something because to not do something is death. So we will speak up. We're gonna use, I, I will always use my, you know, my sense of humor, my, my dry wit, my approach to not viewing them in this light of they are this great thing to be feared, but rather this tiny thing to be mocked. and, you know, I hate, I don't like mocking people, but don't be, don't be dicks.

Don't be mean to people, don't be hateful and don't for sure don't try to destroy my country. And that's what I feel like, you know, I'm watching that happen. So, no, I, I think at the end of the day, the content will remain inspired by and above. You'll notice in my content, I never attack, I never directly attack. I, I keep by Michelle Obama's, when they go low, we go high. But I have just thrown in a little seasoning of sarcastic asshole where when they go low, we go high and we clown them,

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[00:25:27] Chris Vogel: I mean, one of the things that was really notable to me was the fact that you got that sense of humor, right? Which is something the progressive movement in general has really struggled with, right? It's the. Very g glower and doom driven attitude that is typically portrayed and having something like this, which is, fresh and lighthearted and is really, like you said, just showing how ridiculous things are is so obvious and so clear.

Did you go to like school for that? Did you have take improv classes? Are you like a standup comedian? Where did you learn all this?

[00:25:58] Trevor Silva: again, uh, 80 Audi, DHD, but I was diagnosed DHD first autistic later. In itself is a blessing and a curse. I'm a college dropout. I went to one year of school, maybe 1.5, but I didn't really go to classes. The second one I got really frustrated with, with college, 'cause I realized it was the same, a lot of the same idiots I went to high school with, but now I'm paying for it to be with them.

and I say that because I can only, I can do the reading once. If we have to go over that same information two days in a row. My A DH D's checked out, so I didn't, I was in music, but I, I. I just finally let the inside voices be outside voices. That's really what happened is these voices have been talking and giving me this show for years, and I finally found a platform with our business, created a platform not found, created a platform to just let the inside voices be out.

I don't have any business. Experience per se, but otherwise, other than being a, 10 99 drummer musician. but that was running my own business. It was running me. But when it comes down to running business, it makes sense. It makes sense in my head.

And I also, I think about things, other people call it overthinking. I call it thinking, uh, about everything. And I think about every variable. I think about every strategic move and where it's, it's something with my team, I've had to be very. Clear about, like when you give me an idea and you see me just kind of freeze for a second, it's not because your idea is bad, just let, I'll let you know that.

Give me every idea, I might say something stupid that inspires your brilliance. And you might say stupid. That it's something stupid that inspires my brilliance. But at the end of the day, it's because immediately I'm thinking through every single variable that is caused by and would need to happen to create that idea to make that happen.

And so I've always had this. But I also was, came up in a system where A DHD wasn't quite understood enough. And so it was take these meds, shut up, pay attention, and this internal dialogue, this constant diatribe was shunned. It was even, not as much as it was in women. Women with a DHD even more so.

And then I, you know, kids, boys will be boys, but still, I just allowed it to be, And at at the end of the day, I think authenticity is something that if we don't strive for it, we are bound to fall for whatever influences us, that's around us. And I want to inspire. I want people to see authenticity.

I want them to see that their best self is their authentic self. It's one of those things I remind my team all the time, 'cause you know, it is hard as an empathetic person, as someone who experiences love and experiences, acceptance, experiences, protection, wanting to protect those who are vulnerable, that this time in history is, is hard to watch.

But I remind my team all the time that, you always hear love wins in the end, but I remind them that love wins in the end. And if love hasn't won, it's not the end. And That's what keeps us fighting forward because it will win better. Angels always prevail. We're just currently not a lot of people aren't seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

And I hope that through our content, through, our ideology, through who I am, through our, our partners in our business are that we can put out a call to arms. That's why we say, welcome to the Revolution. The welcome to the revolution is about being part, and that's why love is in the middle of it.

It's to remind us when you look in the mirror, this says Love. It reflects love. That's what you see. Everyone else reads, revolt. And it's our constant reminder that this revolt is based in loving each other. Hate is a very strong motivator, but love creates a stronger foundation. Love creates a longer lasting impact.

Hate can be driven with the wind, the ocean tides carry it wherever they want. And you've watched it with Maggie. What are you mad at today? Oh, they're eating animals. Well, they're not, but I'm mad about it. What are you mad at today? Have to keep them mad. That's how right winging pundits have made all their money.

Keep 'em upset, keep 'em guessing.

[00:29:52] Chris Vogel: need an enemy too.

[00:29:54] Trevor Silva: if you don't have self-worth, you need someone beneath you.

[00:29:56] Alaina Shearer: And they need to be scared too. They need them fearful. And your hat, just for the listeners, it says revolt and it is the R and the T are in white and love is in red in the center. And you can find this hat at Trevor's shop if you want to grab one. They're beautiful.

So yeah.

[00:30:12] Chris Vogel: I was curious, is that your, is that my clock cut specifically or is that part of a bigger kind of movement? That's cool.

[00:30:19] Trevor Silva: Yeah. We have the T-shirts that say, welcome to the revolution with love in it as well. revolt stickers. It honestly, I hate Hocking merch. It's not about that. the reason we put these items out and we design these items, I want people, if they see someone wearing claw cut, they know they're a safe person.

I want people to know, if you see this. That's a person you can go to. I had an experience at a farmer's market, last year where this woman, she walked up, she saw my shirt, and I think it was, uh, Nashville Is Love, or Nashville. I forget exactly what it said, but, uh, Nashville is love or something like that.

And she said, Hey, do you, oh, okay. And she saw my watch band and saw it was a rainbow. And she goes, oh, thank goodness. Do you think it's okay? And this is out in Nolansville, which is a little outta Nashville, uh, out in the sticks a little bit. And she goes, is, do you think it's okay if I hold hands with my wife? I go, motherfucker, you better hold hands with your wife and everyone, anyone says anything. You fucking come get me. Like, no, no, no. I, that pissed me off. That made me, I mean, I almost cried like anger, tears like that. She felt that way. And I want people to know when they see anyone wearing this, that they're, they are a person that has their back.

[00:31:24] Alaina Shearer: Whoever

[00:31:25] Trevor Silva: I mean, if they can have their MAGA hat fine, have your MAGA hat, that lets us know who not to hang out with. I wanna know who I do wanna hang out with. I wanna know who I can look to and say, Hey, you got my six,

[00:31:35] Alaina Shearer: You know, this is something that is really troubling and has been troubling me now from the beginning of this, from 2016 on is. I would like to know who you are. Show yourself to the MAGA supporters and it is so uncomfortable to me that they continue to, walk around without identifying themselves.

And occasionally you see someone wearing the hat, and depending on where they are, they'll choose to wear it or not, but that. the opposite of that is us, wearing something or marking something on ourselves. So I love this concept so much. It shows, I just love the idea that people can feel safe when they see whatever we are wearing.

So, and also for the people listening, Trevor is how you're like a six four tall dude. You're, you're definitely six, six. I mean, you're a big white male. You're there. And you're countering that stereotype and you have that protective like personality and physique just to point that out.

[00:32:32] Trevor Silva: Oh, and a side note, I just, I wanted, last night there was this gathering at this little park in East Nashville. Inside of the road, there was a stop sign. And it was maybe about 45, 50 of us and just holding up signs like hunt for democracy just to, get out there and just show some love.

And this guy comes raging out of his house and pretty big dude and he comes down calling us fts and all this awful whatever. And I step right out of this crowd and just step up and he just goes, look right up at me. And I didn't, I had hands on my pocket, but I was just like. You know what's up and it, it, it's unfortunate.

I think that's where my head goes is that I know that those same people will talk shit to my wife. They will talk shit to our L-G-B-T-Q family. They won't talk shit to me.

[00:33:21] Chris Vogel: Yeah, I'm the same camp. I'm six three and bald and white. So

[00:33:26] Trevor Silva: Yeah. I got the ball going too, buddy.

[00:33:28] Chris Vogel: Different world experience for

[00:33:30] Trevor Silva: Yeah. So we have to be the ones that stand up. We have to put ourselves in front of the line.

[00:33:33] Alaina Shearer: Mm-hmm.

[00:33:35] Chris Vogel: Yeah.

[00:33:35] Trevor Silva: chose to do it through a business. That's all

[00:33:37] Alaina Shearer: so let's segue into the business owners because, and we're speaking particularly to founders and business owners, but I also wanna keep in mind employees of corporations. You know, but let's focus at this moment on business owners and founders who have the most liberty and freedom right now to say and what they need to say and find that authentic voice right now.

Right now. 'cause now is the moment and we're only going to lose more and more, freedoms and liberties and yeah, sure it's scary, but by remaining silent. What is going to happen? Do you expect? So the fears, the common fears are, if I post this, I'm gonna lose customers. Right? That's a huge one. If I post this, maybe they're gonna come and get me, depending on who you are.

And also, that's not really out of the realm of reality right now for me, I think about the show that we're launching, and I think, I ran for Congress in 2020. They've got my name. They know I'm on a, I'm on a list. so there's that fear and. Maybe there's fear of, interpersonal relationships, if they have family members, whatever.

But what happens if we don't say anything? What happens if we are all, most of us collectively silent, we will lose the country we love. We will lose the businesses anyway. We will lose our economy. We we'll lose the vibrancy and diversity of our communities. At this point right now, we have been going through this since 2016.

It's a time to say something, but so many businesses are still being quiet. So our goal here is to inspire them and give them that courage. If someone is listening and they're on the fence, what would you say to them, Trevor?

[00:35:11] Trevor Silva: Look at the history of America. Look at every fight we've had from the beginning. The most American thing you can do is speak up against any power that wants to take a quality away or segregate or, harm. Your fellow Citizens America was built on sacrifice from the beginning. No matter what part of history you look at.

It wasn't perfect. America was horrifyingly bad. We did horrifying stuff. But if you look at the great, the better angels throughout history, you look at the people who stood up and said, nah, this is not okay. That's where movement started. that's where, change started. And I don't think that we ha we wanna look at ourselves as businesses.

You, you get to make a choice. At any point in your life, every day in your life, every second, you get to choose where you stand. And I think that we start worrying too much about this very small bubble, which is self. And the second we start focusing on self, we lose sight of community, we lose sight of the greater good and what can come of actually taking action.

And to me personally, everyone has to make their choice here. But for me. I again want to bring it back to the, either blow my brains out or change the world. Those are very real fucking things that happened. And in that moment, I realized that it does not matter what happens. I will never stand on the wrong side of history.

I will never stand on the side of history where someone is harmed or somebody feels dejected, put out demeaned, minimized. As a business is, is just people. We're not anything special. we start a thing that is made up of people. I'm gonna always protect my people in my business. I'm always gonna protect anyone that is surrounding my business.

Therefore, when I speak up, I look at the heroes throughout history. I look at the people throughout history, the Hamiltons, the, these people that. It might not have done everything. Right. the Abraham Lincolns but they did things right. They moved us in a direction, and then I always remember that there was a time in Germany in the thirties where there were people that stayed quiet and there were people that, I don't know how their life ended.

I don't know how they felt about that on their dying bed, that they didn't say anything, that he didn't oppose it. I'm not willing to find out.

[00:37:32] Chris Vogel: it's interesting 'cause I am, I grew up in Germany. I'm, I have German grandparents that were in that time

[00:37:38] Alaina Shearer: And, and it,

[00:37:39] Chris Vogel: say anything and they did, do, you know, and I never had a conversation with them about it. But it's a, it was a real thing that happened with real people and, and, people stuck their head in the sand and that didn't turn out so well.

[00:37:52] Alaina Shearer: I know that I would feel regret I couldn't live with myself, and that would be the rest of my life, is I would rather die fighting than live with something that I know I failed, where I, I know I just wasn't who I could have been.

[00:38:09] Trevor Silva: And at what point do you stop adventuring? Do you stop journeying? Do you stop taking on challenges? it's the second you stop believing that you can, and I'm just not willing to stop believing that, that I can. I'm gonna stand up. I'm gonna say it. And the takeaway from this is every time that you take on a new fight, every time that you take on something new, it.

It's a reminder that the next one, you look back and that one's so minimized in comparison that the next fight is easier to take on. And not always easier, it's still gonna be hard, but in comparison, it's given you that stepping stone to take it on. And I think if the immediate, original baseline fight is what's right and what's just, and what's good, you can take on any fight because that baseline moral concept. It doesn't matter what the fight is that will always present itself. those feelings, those you know, internal, that are internal ideology will always be a baseline foundation for choosing the right side. And you can never be wrong speaking up for what's right.

[00:39:12] Alaina Shearer: Thank you so much for joining us.

[00:39:14] Trevor Silva: Thank you for having me.

[00:39:16] Alaina Shearer: absolute. Yeah.

[00:39:17] Trevor Silva: You too guys.

[00:39:18] Alaina Shearer: Absolutely inspiring. You're an inspiration to everybody who's, fortunate enough to stumble across this podcast. And there will be more as this is just our first episode, but I think,I just wish you the best in all of this, and I want to check back in with you, in like three to four months.

Maybe we can have another interview and see how things are going, butkeep it up, man. Thank you for what you're doing.

[00:39:43] Trevor Silva: stop. Won't stop.

[00:39:44] Alaina Shearer: Yeah. Yeah, you gotta fight for what you believe

[00:39:48] Trevor Silva: Yep. Every day. I appreciate you guys and congratulations on the podcast. This is awesome. Thank

[00:39:53] Alaina Shearer: you.

so much. Thank

[00:39:54] Chris Vogel: meeting you.

[00:39:54] Alaina: Thanks for listening to Citizen Rebel. If you like this episode, subscribe to the show and share it with a friend.

[00:40:01] Chris: To connect with us and find more content like this visit Goodisnow.com