Introduction

In this episode of the BlueCollar Business Podcast, host Sai Kirby engages with Mike and Rogan Frick from Bear Iron Works, a company specializing in innovative construction solutions. The discussion revolves around their unique products, entrepreneurial journey, and insights into the blue-collar industry. The episode emphasizes the importance of identifying market needs and leveraging personal strengths to create successful business ventures.

Key Highlights

Bear Iron Works: A Unique Journey

• Founders: Mike and Rogan Frick, a father-son duo with extensive backgrounds in construction and welding.
• Products: They offer a range of construction solutions, including:
  • Rock Screens – Designed for various applications, from gardening to large-scale construction.
  • Bedding Boxes – Innovative solutions for material handling in tight spaces.
  • Concrete Washout Tubs – Addressing environmental concerns in construction.
  • Trackout Pads – Durable alternatives to plastic pads used in construction sites.

The Inspiration Behind Their Products

• Mike's Background: With a history in construction and mining, Mike's experience led to the creation of the rock screen after observing a need in the market.
• Rogan's Role: Initially a side hustle, Rogan developed the website and managed sales, demonstrating the demand for their products.

Market Demand and Product Development

• Identifying Needs: The duo recognized gaps in the market and focused on creating products that addressed specific challenges faced by contractors.
• Diverse Applications: Their products cater to a wide range of customers, from small landowners to large construction companies.

Product	Applications
Rock Screens	Gardening, construction, mining
Bedding Boxes	Material handling in tight spaces
Concrete Washout Tubs	Environmental compliance in construction
Trackout Pads	Preventing soil spillage at construction sites

Challenges and Triumphs

• Navigating COVID-19: The pandemic presented challenges, but the construction industry rebounded quickly, allowing Bear Iron Works to thrive.
• Product Expansion: They continuously refine their product line based on customer feedback and market trends.

Conclusion

The episode concludes with valuable advice for aspiring entrepreneurs in the blue-collar sector. Mike emphasizes the importance of recognizing personal strengths and weaknesses, building relationships, and maintaining honesty in business. The Fricks' journey illustrates that with determination and collaboration, success is achievable in the blue-collar industry.

Listeners are encouraged to explore Bear Iron Works' offerings and consider how innovative solutions can enhance their own projects. The episode serves as an inspiring reminder that the right idea, combined with hard work and a commitment to quality, can lead to significant achievements in the blue-collar world.

Transcript

00:09
Hey guys, welcome to the BlueCollar Business podcast where we discuss the realest, robust, most relevant stories and strategies behind building every corner of a bluecollar business. I'm your host Sai Kirby and I want to help you what it took me trial and error and a whole lot of money to learn the

00:25
information that no one in this industry is willing to share. Whether you're under that shade tree or have your hard hat on, let's expand your toolbox. Welcome back, guys, to another episode of the Bluecollar Business Podcasts, sponsored today by podcastvideos.com. I'm sitting in one of

00:41
their beautiful solo pod rooms here in their Rogers, Arkansas location here in Northwest Arkansas. Um, I'm absolutely thrilled to bring you guys a very unique story and the good guys do win sometimes and the experience on one end, the education on another and it's met in the

01:04
middle and these guys have got a very uh number one unique product and they found the niche in the market that we talk about on this show all the time. riches in the niches and these guys didn't just oh there's a problem here fix it they did it themselves so very unique story

01:21
hang in there for that um basically Bear Iron Works Mike and Rag and Frick correct yes I nailed it all right good um these guys uh have been reached out to the show I through podcast videos I just wanted to shine some light there for the PV team and they reached out through

01:47
bluecollarbuspodcast.com. You can get all of our episodes on there totally free audio or um a video or you can be following along on any of your platforms, podcast platforms total if you already have a subscription on there. Furthermore, thank you guys so much for joining me today for an

02:09
episode. Seriously. Yeah, thanks for having us on today. Yeah, exciting. All right, so I don't know who wants to take the floor first, but we've got Give us the intro of Baron Works. These guys have built bareirronworks.net. These guys have got construction entrance solution. I was

02:32
blown away when I saw that. I'm like, I don't know why nobody's thought of that. And uh concrete wash out tubs. I saw you guys do bedding boxes. So, from there, take it away, guys. Sounds good. Yeah, I'll let uh Mike, I think you should start because you're the one that kind of came up with the

02:49
idea. So, yeah, I've been in the construction business my pretty much my whole life. Um, and then I worked underground in a coal mine right off the bat out of high school basically and a large construction company. Grew up on a cattle ranch my dad had. He also had a

03:07
construction business at the same time he had the ranch to supplement the ranch basically. So we did oil oil field work at the time and of course my I think I told you my dad had a big background in construction back in the day back starting in n 1950s. So you got to share

03:26
the note you shared with me. Yeah. So he's got claim to fame to being the first guy to scratch ground on Eisenhower tunnel. I think it was 1952. I don't remember the name of the company he worked for, but back then he was in the labor union or the operators union.

03:41
So, he worked for companies like uh Kwit and uh HD Lauder Milk and uh big companies like that back in the day. And so, as time went on in my in my career, um working in mining and I started my own business and um I needed the I needed to screen rock. So, I made a rock screen and had a had

04:06
one laying around and all the time working on it and doing different things to it. And so, one day I was usually rock screens kind of a kind of an odd thing, but how we came up with our our idea was the they're called grizzlies. Okay. So back in the day, the the guys

04:26
back in way back in the 50s and prior to that, guys were just screening off the big rock to get the smaller rock with with what they called a grizzly. They weren't necessarily screening down to like small finer material. Like I don't think they hardly ever screen anything

04:41
under 4 in. So they're just called grizzlies back in the day. And that's kind of how they went along through the ages. Then one day I was playing golf uh at a golf tournament to a construction organization and and I seen the golf course had a small one for a skid steer

04:59
and I thought man that's a that's a super good idea because I mean really back when I got started skid steers weren't really up and I mean they were just barely up and coming at the time and everybody had back and bigger stuff and I thought well one of these days I'm going to make one because I had

05:14
a welding background. I went to welding school and in and um in high school and in a trade college. So I eventually made these skid steer uh size rock screen and so I sold some at Richie Brothers auctions. I put them on Craigslist. Uh Rogan went to school uh Colorado State University for

05:37
construction management. he needed a job and he um developed a website and he started building the rock screens in Fort Collins, Colorado. And he found out that there was a demand for it. And so um and then we developed I guess what we developed was we put the removable

05:58
screen on top so we can screen down to 8 inch or or less if you want. Oh. So we yeah we've done one just recently 8 inch Midas and it went to Kasa Grande National Ruins in Kasa Grande Arizona uh so they can make pottery. The the native the tribe there wants to make

06:19
pottery. So it's screening down find enough to make pottery. And then we also sold another one to them. So they're reconstructing some of the adobe ruins that are at the Kasa Grande National Ruin Site. So cool thing. Yeah. And y'all offered a solution from a gentleman from a

06:37
mindsight. Yeah, you can go ahead rock. When I when I started it, you know, I was just looking I ride motocross. It's my hobby. And so I was just looking to have a shop to have a my dirt bike in. And so I I rebuilt uh a buddy of mine, he blew up the engine in his. So I

06:55
bought it from him from a couple hundred bucks. I rebuilt the motor and sold it on Craigslist. And that was enough to pay for the first month's rent. And then some of my savings got me a welder. Um, and so I just I just needed to sell enough just to pay the month's rent is

07:09
the whole goal, right? And so I made the website and all of a sudden, you know, I'm sell I'm getting a lot of calls. I'm not doing any Google ads or anything like that. People are just finding me and I'm selling enough these rock screens that pretty soon I'm in another

07:21
facility. I have a forklift. I've hired a part two part-time welders from the college that I've taught how to weld and how to cut and I'm like running the whole business on my own. And it was just a lot to juggle, you know, trying to go to school, run a business, and

07:35
when it was supposed to just be kind of this little side job, you know, I was staying up. Sometimes we'd be welding until like 2:00, 3:00 in the morning, uh, to get the ordering done, and then I'd have to go to class the next day. And so, um, it kind of came down to a point where I had to like make a

07:50
decision. Do I want to go with the business or do I want to continue with school? And then I had a dirt bike injury and that kind of made the decision for me. So, I went to school, finished up school, um, and it wasn't I went to work for a general contractor for a while and did school remodels on

08:06
public schools. And, um, Mike was working for Kiwit and he was like, "What if we went all in on the on the rock screen business?" And because the demand seemed like it was there. And so, we joined our forces and um, you know, we've grown it now. We've expanded our product lines. We've got the rock

08:25
screens, we've got the bedding boxes, wash out tubs, tracking pads, and we're looking to expand our product lines a little bit more. We set up a good operational team. And then I've put in a lot of focus on making sure that the the buying process is clear, transparent,

08:40
honest to our customers, as well as a smooth process. You know, you can go onto our website and you can purchase a rock screen and it's gonna it shows you what's in inventory. it'll automatically put stuff onto our manufacturing schedule if it's not in inventory. Um,

08:55
and you can always call us and we're going to pick up the phone. A real human is going to pick up the phone and and talk to our customers. And uh, we just kind of kept improving as we've went along and, you know, we we really did find a niche in the market that needed

09:08
to be filled. Um, and it's been working really well for us. You know, I heard you you said I want to know, Mike, this may be a question for you before we go too much further. What is there a part of the process in mining material? Obviously, that needs to get rock screen, but for the folks that

09:29
ain't got any idea what the application would be, let's maybe start there before we go too far in depth on them. So, yeah, I mean it. So, what we did is um we took we've we've kind of invented the small rock screen. Although we make a large one for mining companies, we've

09:48
got um we've got large construction companies that buy them all the way down to uh people that have their own little garden. So, we have one small enough you can use a small garden cont uh tractor on so they can screen like if they're maybe making compost or screening their

10:09
own top soil or mixing it however they want or screening out rock to make their their top soil. So, you got that kind of customer. Then we kind of move up to a land owner that maybe he's like, "Hey, I got to improve my road and um and you know, I got to screen out the big rock

10:25
and or the dirt to, you know, to have rock for my road or whatever that may be." Um you know, land owners down in Texas, we sell a lot down there to get rock out of their ponds when they're building ponds. Uh so they, you know, won't leak. Um, so then then we move on

10:42
up to like the the big contractors that are maybe they're screening out the bigger rock before they throw it in their crusher. Um, we've got a company, CMX. I don't know if you ever heard of them. They supply one of the largest suppliers of cement in the United States

10:60
and of course Mexico. Um, they they screen off their their big stuff before they they run it through a crusher. um so they can get it down to size. Um another company that we sold to or was um all your shingles that come into the in the United States, probably Canada

11:21
too, is they use uh coal cinders. So after the coal is already burnt, they take these cinders that are from the coal, it's like the ash, but it's hard. They crush them up. So they screen off to a certain size, then they run it through the crusher and then they make

11:39
the shingles. So um yeah, we have a wide variety of customers that screen. It's just a static screen. Since I was in the business of, you know, construction, I was able to make something that was usable for everybody. And we even have a small one that we're about to bring

11:59
online. It's we can shovel it by hand. And I I've been testing it out here in Arizona. Just what a wide range of markets you just listed off there. Yeah, it's very interesting. I mean, it's like there's a lot of different industries that need it. You know, we thought that okay,

12:20
agriculture, construction, and mining would be the ones that would have a use for this, but then, you know, you get called all the time for different kinds of things. You know, glass recyclers, metal recyclers, firewood. They need to get Yeah, they need to get the dirt out of their

12:34
firewood cuz they can't sell the firewood if it's dirty. Like the stores won't take it. So, they just need to clean the dirt off the firewood. And a lot of different uses. And then, you know, the the most obvious use for them are like is when you're you have to do

12:48
construction and you can't import soil or it's expensive to import soil, right? If you can make it on site, it saves a lot of money. Um we even have one it got helicoptered into the bottom of the Grand Canyon. um so that they could do I think there's a water treatment facility

13:04
down there that's for the national park and it serves the national park. Um and they helicoptered it down there and then they were making their own soil on site, their own bedding material and everything. Um helicoptered it back out. Yeah, it's crazy the amount of uses there are for

13:20
these. No, I think it's I think it's cool that it just came from Mike just one I guess assuming it was just one day it just clicked and you were just like, "Yeah, I get it. This is, you know, getting the 4 inch material off, but then to start condensing and compacting

13:38
to smaller and midsize contractors to fit all these not Yeah, you're right. The agricultural uses firewood. That's crazy. Of course, why wouldn't it? anything to efficiently you can use a machine or whatever and speed up labor of course you're going to but and this

13:56
and so I I also want to shine some light here Robin did you build all the website yourself that's is that what I heard so yeah initially um I built the website myself and then I launched the e-commerce site that you see today um but since then I've hired out some help

14:11
with a marketing agency to help us improve upon it make it look better make it work better right is, you know, I went to school for construction. I'm by no means a web developer. So, I can only do so much. I did I did the exact same thing. But I just think it's so cool how

14:29
you guys both used your strengths and meshed them together and you tested the market, proved the concept. Here we are. Let's run with this. What year did you guys both kind of decide to go allin on this? 2020. So, right at the beginning of COVID is when we started.

14:52
I would assume it took off right away. Yeah. Surprisingly, you know, construction's a lag industry. So, you know, well, recession hits. Well, there's still open contracts for most people. So, it might be a year or two before those companies start to feel it. And, you know, I think CO, you know,

15:08
definitely took a dip, but then it came back pretty quick. I think that construction was able to weather that decently, at least certain sectors of it. You know, residential probably got hit hard, but um I agree with that. Uh just I think it's that interest rate drove things crazy more than anything.

15:26
Yes, of course, material rejection never came and material was all over the place up down and you couldn't get a consistent delivery date. You couldn't get a consistent price. It was always fluctuating. So uh so COVID hits and you guys now so you guys are five years in and now when

15:45
did did you guys start moving into various product lines because obviously the screens were working and so you're just looking for I'm assuming Robin you're kind of that product specialist trying to find what works what doesn't work kind of thing. So Mike always comes

16:02
up with the ideas for the products because he has so much experience in the construction industry. He knows, you know, what what's needed. I I just help refine them and, you know, try to help make them efficiently because we believe in lean management in our company and trying to cut away waste.

16:19
Yeah. I gota I got to tell you a little bit about Robin's background, though, too. He Yeah, I think you mentioned early before the podcast started about uh daddies giving them their stuff. never got anything from me. I'm g tell you that right off the bat. I mean, I helped him buy a pickup in the

16:34
beginning, but you bet. It was probably had 200,000 miles on it, too. And he he be he became a very good mechanic because of it. Uh but no, he when he was young, I let him I had my construction company and I had big excavators, big ones, and I would let him run. I strap him in the seat at like

16:55
three years old and let him run, you know, just idle it down, let him run it. Uh, he also, my dad also did the same thing with him. My dad always had a backhoe around and he'd let him run the backhoe and and uh at the same time he learned how to work too. I mean, he

17:09
could shovel and he learned how to weld right away. He when we when I was closing the abandoned mines, we had a lot of welding to do and and Robin, I mean, he he would come out middle of nowhere. I mean, we was out middle of nowhere, Colorado, and like, "Hey, man, can you go cut this

17:26
piece of iron and bring it back to us?" Cuz sometimes we had we couldn't set up everything right at the entry. So, he learned how to weld there. Um, along He did a lot. He learned a lot. I was teaching him. And then I I was glad that he went to college to learn, you know,

17:42
construction management and he has put all that together and it's helped so much because like I said, like you said, I kind of I kind of come up with the ideas, but then he kind of like looks at him and goes, "What about this or whatever?" And and you know, like on our

17:58
bedding boxes, we we started making bedding boxes for mini excavators. No one had ever done that before. And and then, you know, we got copied. Our competitors copied us and then we decided we're going to put a skid steer plate on them and and so you can carry them around with skid steer and take

18:13
them to the excavator and you can actually dump into a dump truck so you're not wasting any material whatsoever and then take it with a skid steer over there, drop it off to the excavator and, you know, use it. So, it's been a lot of help. Frogggin's been a lot of help because he knows how to

18:30
video everything and look at how to look at everything because he's worked at it, you know, and um it's helped tremendously. I think that's again playing to your strengths, you know. I think all of us guys in the field um that are out here, whether we're operating, swinging a

18:47
shovel, whatever it is, we always are sitting there trying to find a more efficient way to do something. It's like a daily check in our head. But then carrying it past that, that's where myself I lack because I'm like, "Oh, this would be such a good idea. Let's try this." And I don't hold myself

19:06
accountable or anybody else accountable and just dies. And so to have that teamwork is unbelievable. And uh kudos to you guys because I I'm sitting here I'm kind of my mouth is open because I'm like, "You guys got a bedding box that a miniacs can work on." And I'm like, I

19:23
can't tell you how many water distribution rehab, like you guys probably know better than I have. You're selling them, but I'm just thinking of all the smaller situations that a 308 or a 60siz machine that is tight in the backyards. We did uh a small rehab one.

19:42
We went from a 2 inch to an 8 inch in an easement between backyards. Like that thing right there could have saved us. And I I got to say I'm so glad I'm learning about you guys and then throwing it on a skid steer plate. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we have a lot of products,

19:57
you know, that a lot of the construction industry doesn't even necessarily know about, you know, that I've met a lot of guys that, you know, they know a little bit. Maybe a rock screen exists, but they don't exactly they haven't used one before. Um, there's still a lot of

20:10
contractors out there that are installing utilities and don't know about vetting boxes, which it saves you so much material when you can move it along in a box instead of scooping it along the way, you know. And um, yeah, that's why we want to make sure that everybody can learn about our products

20:26
and know about them because there's they're useful. That's why they exist. That's why the whole company exists is because they're a useful product. Gravel spillage is one of my worst nightmares being a utility contractor, underground contractor. Like that'll eat you away so quick in a job. And those

20:44
those tiny little, you know, footprints. Now, don't get me wrong, um, you be as conservative as you can, but we try not to use a bedding box, you know, if we're in an open area, but bedding boxes are essential sometimes to that's like the only way to move the rock in in those

21:03
condensed situations. So, no, I I I am intrigued to see them. Maybe I need to just uh come on out there and tour the facility and and do a video, man. Yeah, we'd love to have you come check it out. We can show you all the products we got and how our manufacturing process works.

21:20
I I definitely me and Will probably need to come out there and make a video uh for it for you know obviously it would lend more to the YouTube side of things than the podcast side of things. But man, I think, you know, leveraging your your construction background, not just

21:38
once, but then to continually keep pushing the market and keep because I understand pushing things to market. It's not all the time they work out. Has there been a product and this may be, you know, getting a little raw here, but has there been a product that, you know,

21:56
you were like, well, we thought this was going to, you know, do great. We were testing the concept and it and it just kind of didn't materialize, you know, the um this year we because we get slower in the winter because construction gets slower in the winter so it slows us down too, right? So we're

22:11
trying to figure out, okay, how can we supplement it? Well, a lot of contractors push snow in the winter. So we tried to fast track and launch a um snow pusher attachment for skid steers. We got I feel like we got a pretty good design. I feel like it works pretty good.

22:25
um we we hurried up and tried to get it to market and got it online marketing and I just I don't I don't know if it's like we're not established enough or if there's too many established brands out there or if we just missed the ball because we hit it in November and it

22:40
didn't take off, you know, like we had hoped so. So maybe next year it'll go a little bit better, but Well, no, for sure. And honestly though, you know, just sitting here 30,000 foot view being a contractor talking with you first time, I'm like, "Oh, bedding boxes,

22:54
these guys, anything with metal, these are the guys. They can put it together. I could probably call them up and make a Would you would you entertain if you know I called you up and said, "Hey, I'm looking for a certain size for this. Do you guys do some custom fab in the

23:10
manufacturing place?" Yep. And we even have different partners that we work with if we need to get something engineered or, you know, get something a little bit more technical. So, impressive, gentlemen. Absolutely impressive. And so, um, how, so you guys are more concentrated on the mid to

23:28
smaller contractor rather than dealing with the truml size or the big shaker or any any type of uh, screens in that regard. Correct. Yeah, we we've done I mean we you don't see that many of them out there. I mean we've built them. We've we just built two large ones for the Air Force. Is it

23:48
the Air Force? I think it was the Air Force. Yep, it was the Air Force. I mean they were 10 foot tall, 17 foot wide. They were huge. We had to rent equipment to move them. Oh my gosh. Yeah, we have one uh went to basically Area 51. supposed Area 51. Um, we have one at Supermax Prison in

24:16
Colorado and they're separate. They're separate products. I had to deliver it. It was funny because Raggin's the one that sold it when he was in college. He wasn't old enough to deliver it. He had provided delivery back in the day. So, you had to be 21 to deliver there and it

24:29
was quite the trip. I actually went in the facility with the gates locked behind me. It's crazy. Uh, I said, "What are you guys using this for?" Oh, we're going to have the prisoners stack rock. We're going to separate the rock from the small ones to the big ones. Like, really

24:47
cool. That is a little savage. But hey, it's it just goes to show how encouraging it should be for somebody out there sitting there listening with an idea. And you may not be and it goes to show that when two people get like-minded and have a goal about them, anything can be accomplished. And he may

25:10
be sitting there with a great idea, but he may not be the refined execution bring it to market guy. And and there's there's those connections need to be made. And luckily, you guys get to do it as as a father-son duo. I mean, that's that's incredible, guys. And I hope to

25:28
do it one day with my 8-year-old boy. He he grew up in my lap like they all have, you know, uh track and skid steers and dump trucks and and and that's the cool thing. And um but anyhow, so have you in the I'm just going to question on the manufacturing side. Welding wise, are

25:49
you still hand welding everything? I know technology in the manufacturing welding world is tend to lean to like the robotic side. Is that on the radar for you guys? Yeah, we just went to a show called Fabtech this past year and that's all about manufacturing automation um and and checked out

26:10
everything there and to get some ideas, you know. Um right now we're not using any robotic welding. We have a a CNC plasma table which is now pretty much standard for most welding shops. Um, and we we thought about getting into it, especially when it comes to like the

26:25
wash out tubs or the batting boxes because they got very long seams and have to be welded up watertight. Um, but it's something that, you know, we need a new facility for. We need a little bit more electricity. Uh, a little bit nicer spot to have it, but there there's

26:40
there's affordable ones out there. Um, and you know, you can get, you know, now you can have one welder manage four of these machines instead of just one welder welding. you know, all he has to do is tack it up and let the machine go. It takes a little bit of programming and

26:54
stuff like that. Um, which is something to learn, right? That's a learning curve. And we're we're we've looked at it, but haven't done it yet. I was just wondering, of course, uh, technology seems to be a reoccurring subject on the show because no matter what industry,

27:11
um, I'm sitting here speaking with, technology is just running rampant and it seems like we can't catch up. I know in the dirt and pipe world it's it's it's just running us over, but it's cool to hear that this is American handmade project. Yep. 100% American with

27:28
American steel and Yep. That is so cool. Domestically made, domestically supplied and uh that's a big deal with I know everything going on in the world right now. Um and wasn't going down that road, but I just wanted to highlight Americanmade, American supplied, guys.

27:46
That's that's I know there's probably other ways um you could have went about that but to hang your hat on that uh I hope we can show some support some way somehow through the show back to you guys for just for that. It's just so cool to hear. Um, what has been, we've

28:05
been talking about a lot of y'all's strengths and the product, but I want to know kind of the biggest challenges, maybe challenges and advantages of working together family because I've worked with family myself and I know it carries its challenges, but you guys seem so poised in your roles and how

28:24
defined they are. share maybe uh maybe both of you a little a few challenges and maybe some advantages you guys and maybe encourage another family to do it. So yeah, I tell you one that I kind of knew about was uh Henry Ford and his son Ethel I believe his name was. He he wanted to change the

28:43
Model T, the Model A, Model T, whatever. And he says, "Hey, the the Dodge brothers over there, they're doing this and they're putting headlights on and windshield wipers on." And oh, Henry was like, "No, man. Why would we want to do that?" I mean, you know, so he he kind

29:02
of stifled his son and I got it in my head. There's no way that I'm going to do that to rock it. I I don't do that. And and I also told Robin in the very beginning, don't worry that if you have to tell me, you know, something you don't like or whatever, don't worry. I I

29:22
understand. And we went into it with a business mind as if we're working for, you know, we're working for a company. This is what we're really doing. We have employees and they count on us. And and I think that we, you know, when we get together as father and son, we're we

29:37
have a good time, but it's b when we're business, we're business. And that's just the way it is. Yep. Yeah. I think being able to draw that line is important. And you know, not every relationship that you have is going to can stand up to have a you know, a business relationship and a family

29:54
relationship, you know, but um you know, if you're comfortable that your family relationship can survive business, then I think it's okay. But you definitely don't want to sacrifice what you got for family over business. And yeah, like like um my dad said there, you know,

30:09
it's when we go to work, we're working. And we have to be comfortable talking to each other as if we were co-workers. and calling each other out or whatever it might be um to make sure that we're getting everything done and that we're held accountable and I think coming into

30:26
it with a business mindset as well and structuring it, you know, and defining a role, you know, like if you're going to hire somebody to do something, you define a role and if you make the expectations clear in the beginning, then it's a little bit easier to hold

30:38
each other accountable and it's a little bit easier to say, you know, not point fingers and things like that and to take accountability as well on yourself. And I I think that's where we've done a good job is just being organized and well defined and being able to listen to each

30:52
other. Man, I uh I know exactly what you're talking about on the family prioritization over business relationship. And you know, I had a few of those relationships myself that couldn't handle the strain of both. And we chose family over business. And I'm I'm so glad we did. and my wife and

31:14
myself um have been in it the entire time. Um I don't suggest that to many either. Um and she wouldn't either to be honest with you sitting here and um she has anyways with weathered and been my I guess my checks and balances like it sounds like you guys have such a good

31:36
defined check balance. Hey, I'm feeling this. What are you guys thinking about, you know, this product design? Because you guys aren't just like going and running a set of running a project and constructing something, you know, you guys are like bringing ideiation from

31:55
nothing from a side hustle number one. I think that's just needs highlighted. But then into what it is today and you're just keep refining the process. I think I think the snow removal thing I think is 100% um a good avenue for yourself or maybe a new box blade design. I'd love to see

32:17
you guys have your own own u snow design from what you guys have already done with the other products like construction entrance. I know that sounds maybe where did that come from? Is it obviously we're just always replacing construction entrances, but um where did that idea come from? Well, I

32:37
was in Louisiana and you're talking about the rocks uh the um trackout pads, right? Yes, sir. Yeah, I worked for I worked for Kiwi down in Louisiana at the time just before this and we was on a uh liquid natural gas which is under the uh jurisdiction of FK which is the

32:58
federal energy regulatoratory commission I think. So it's the federal government and they're inspecting you because we're on the Gulf of what is now America, Gulf of America and the Kalashue River. Um, so we couldn't let anything get away from us. 300 and some acre site, six

33:14
billion dollars, and and we had some trackout pads that were they're they're plastic, believe it or not. You people a lot of people use them. Um, and they were getting beat up with the heavy equipment. And I mean, one day I was thinking, man, I could make that better.

33:29
And so we we have one that just like nobody's ever made before. It's a like a street pad with ribs on it. in it. So, that's how we came up with that. I I you know, I I got to hit one more here. We just launched a really cool product and it's a carrier for a mini excavator. So,

33:49
it just you just crawl right up there with your mini excavator and it's like a bucket for your blade on your mini excavator. And you can lift it up, you know, load it up with your bucket, your regular bucket, and then carry your material around, whatever it may be. And

34:03
then you can lift it. It'll detach and you can take your uh hoe bucket and lift it up in the air and dump it if you want. So, yeah, we just launched that clip on shovel dust pan for a mini. Hey, yeah, it's like a material handler like you can put, you know, fence posts like on

34:23
it. We got little flip up tabs and then you can stack your fence posts on there or pipe or whatever you might need and then you can carry it around with you and you know maybe it helps you stage out say fence post as you're doing a fencing project or something like that.

34:35
There's a bunch of different uses for it. Oh, early on in the resi days, what I would have give to have that clipped onto a blade where I could have went around and there's rough grade houses, final grade houses, you know, be able to set it aside, run a blade real quick,

34:52
throw it back on, get the roots picked up, set it a like, I would have handed you the money. That that is ingenious, guys. Yeah, I would be super pumped. But um the continue the where's where's the future holding for you guys? I know I know this has all just come about so

35:15
fast because it came from a a side hustle, but you c you guys aren't reinventing the wheels. You're you're you're making simple Americanmade designs and executing them very well obviously. Yeah. Yeah, I mean I think you know our principles of just trying to be a lean

35:33
manufacturer and just try to you know nobody was manufacturing these simple products and so you know if America wants to be back on its feet as the leading manufacturer of the world well we definitely got to start simply and we got to be able to understand the basic

35:49
processes first and so you know we're doing that in in our field you know I don't know exactly where the future will take us you know we might be launching a lot more products we might just be refining the process further It just kind of depends on, you know, kind of

36:02
what the market demand is and what's out there. But, you know, I I think that we've got a good thing going. I think that we can help out a lot of contractors and get good products in their hands. And, you know, we stand behind our products, too. And that's something that's unfortunate about a lot

36:15
of the products that come in from China. You know, you get it, it gets here, it breaks. Good luck with customer support, you know. Um, and so that's we just want to make sure that we're selling good products to American contractors or getting parts here in a timely manner that um I'm

36:35
Yeah, lead times are just awful when stuff's coming overseas if it's not stock in a warehouse here. And oh no, I I completely agree with you. Um, real quick, guys, I gotta I I gotta shine some light. I know. Well, I'd love to come out uh with Cyclon's YouTube channel and really shine some light on

36:58
all the products that you guys got going on. Um would love to come out and um I want to shine some light on Bluecollar Performance Marketing. He is uh another sponsor of the show today. they um have been not only helping with the show here, they help with our YouTube and the

37:20
value that guy and that team has been providing myself and uh my team behind the scenes guys check them out um bluecollar performance marketing I'm sorry bcperformancemarketing.com uh and if you let that team know that you heard heard it here on the bluecollar business podcast. You can get

37:44
a absolute free comp analytic review of your media and marketing in your company. Um, shout out to Ike and his team. Um, I I'm thoroughly impressed with the results I've had, but not only that, he's a partner. Um, so shining light there. But I've got one last question for I think Mike slipped out

38:11
there. Maybe a little connection which I might have dropped. H, no big deal. But one last question that I ask pretty much everybody on the show, my guy. um those bluecollar men and women that are sitting out there and nobody better to get the answer from than you that you

38:30
know say like Mike himself that's been in this industry 30 years or maybe somebody that's been in it five years, okay, but they're sitting out there and they just feel stuck and they're just going to the same old job and it may be mentally, maybe physically, emotionally,

38:45
but how just speak to them to those men and women that they're sitting out there listening to the show and they're just stuck and they're looking for the word of encouragement and maybe bring a product to market or start a business to get some of the success where you're at,

39:00
my guy. You know, I I would say that if you're out there and you want to kind of go out on your own and be your own entrepreneur and whether you're going to start your own service company or your own product company, the thing that I can say is that you need to identify

39:14
where your strengths are and where your weaknesses are. Um, and then really truly like put some good thought into where your weaknesses are because you're going to need help in those areas to be able to make it happen because, you know, not everybody's a manager. Not everybody can well, not

39:32
everybody can do everything, right? But to make a a business happen, you have to do everything. I mean that everything has to happen in business whether it's accounting, marketing, building the actual products, you know, um and so you're going to need help in those areas

39:46
and you need to find people that you can trust uh that can help you out. And so I would say, you know, find people like that that can help you build relationships because it's all a relationship game out there. Um, honesty goes a long ways because if people enjoy

40:01
working with you and they they'll come back for more and it doesn't matter if it's a product or a service, but you know, honesty is I think a big value, dude. And not only like you said earlier on in the show, it's if we want to call you guys, we can look up your website,

40:19
dial the number, and we're going to get uh may not be Mike or Rogan, but No, but you can ask for us. Yep. Uh, we've got Mike had a few connection issues. He he had a day out of the office. So, he jumped on here um probably on the top of a mountain somewhere out in Colorado

40:38
trying to get some signal. But, uh, Mr. Rogan is going to share Mike's answer and um, after being 30 years in the Keywid is a ginormous company. Number one, I I should have probably asked a little bit more about that because my grandfather as well was um he was in the

40:58
union in Canada, the construction union. Um anyways, I had an opportunity to get grandfathered there, but obviously I moved south and we're a non-union company. Now, don't get me wrong, not going into the benefits or non-benefits of that because that's an argument worth on both sides. But at the

41:17
same time, um, I literally recommended a guy not too long ago, um, on a highlight here, but guys wanting to go out on the road, but like Kwit, they do massive projects and they have, you know, a successful way. So to hear all the projects that he'd been on, that's too

41:36
cool, man. Yeah, that one that he was talking about in Louisiana, that one was a $6 billion liquid natural gas project and it was huge. It ran 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It did not stop for anything. And you know, if somebody wants to work for Keyway Definitely,

41:51
it's best if you're if you can travel because they're going to send you send you around. Yeah, it's not. This guy was a single guy just out of high school. Um he looked at me, he's like, "Man," he actually called me. He's looking for a job and I was like, he's like, "Man, I'm

42:06
looking for travel for PM. Sent me on the road." But I'm like, man, that's not really kind of our design here at SYON. And I'm more of family first. Um, want to make sure everybody's covered and uh their needs are met and hopefully some of their wants, but at the same time, I

42:24
I I really don't want to be running projects all across the nation. Not saying one day that it won't happen. Um, right. But we like our we like our local tri-state area that we take care of. And um I like keeping them guys at home. They're happier at home. Yeah. Yeah. You

42:43
know, and it's it's good to work within your bandwidth, too. You don't want to get too outside and try to juggle too much in too many places. Keep the main thing the main thing. Ain't that right, brother? Yep. I did get his answer here. All right. Let's hear it. So, so his answer

43:00
uh is is to stay focused. uh make sure that you are staying on task because the minute that you deviate away, you know, you're going to have a hard time coming back to it and making sure that you're accomplishing the goal that you set out to do. And then he also says that you

43:16
should learn every day um because there's always lessons to to learn and you know, everybody has a piece of advice um and something to learn from each person. So, uh, he says he really enjoyed the podcast and he's very sorry that the the cell service dropped, but no, I Hey, I hope he's uh getting to

43:36
enjoy the uh the day after a well-earned lifetime of working. Doesn't sound like he's slowing down at all, but um if he's getting the time out of the office, I'm so glad he took the time to jump on here. And and I appreciate you too, brother. seriously for carving out the

43:53
time. Um, out of the success, the amount of time you guys probably have is not much. So, I really really appreciate you guys. Number one, we got to highlight an Americanmade product. Um, what a story to to just, oh, you know, we we thought about making some rock screens in the

44:11
shop out back and boom, here you guys are and taking over the entire market. So, um really looking forward to continued um friendship and a relationship and you guys be looking forward for that video um about it's bear bare works and that covers they they can go to

44:35
baronironworks.com. Yep. You can go to bare iron baron.com's the new one. It's the short one, but if you hit baronirworks.com baron.net or sorry bareirron.com baronirworks.net, you'll hit all. Um, and we want to give out a discount to your to your viewers or your listeners

44:51
of this podcast. If you use code blue collar, you can get 5% off your entire order, no matter how much stuff you add to your cart. Can I use that because I need a bed box. Yeah, go ahead. Oh man, guys, I really appreciate your time and uh sounds like we might we might have to do a followup little

45:12
episode uh when we get out there at some point in the year. So, we'll be happy to have you out there. You guys be looking forward to that. Until next time, you guys be safe, be kind, be humble. If you've enjoyed this episode, be sure to give it a like, share it with the

45:28
fellas. Check out our website to send us any questions and comments about your experience in the blue collar business. Who do you want to hear from? Send them our way and we'll do our best to answer any questions you may have. Till next time, guys.