Introduction

In a captivating conversation, Mike Frick, the president of Bear Iron Works, shares his inspiring journey from the construction industry to creating a successful business centered around innovative rock screens and other equipment. His story is a testament to resilience, creativity, and the importance of family in entrepreneurship.

Early Beginnings

Mike's journey began in the construction business at the young age of 24, influenced by his father's background as a contractor. Here are some key points from his early experiences:

• Cattle Ranching: Raised on a cattle ranch in western Colorado, Mike learned the value of hard work.
• Heavy Equipment: Gained skills in operating heavy machinery, which would later serve him well in his ventures.
• Welding Education: Attended a small high school with a robust welding program, which he extended into college courses to become a proficient pipe welder.

The Birth of Bear Iron Works

The idea for Bear Iron Works emerged unexpectedly while Mike was golfing. Observing a small rock screen at a maintenance yard sparked his interest. Here’s how the concept evolved:

• Initial Inspiration: Mike envisioned creating a rock screen for personal use and potential sales.
• First Creation: After 20 years, he finally built a prototype with a young employee eager to learn welding.
• Successful Auction: The first units were sold at a Richie Brothers auction, validating the market potential.

Growth and Challenges

• Family Involvement: His son, a construction management student, became involved, building a website and managing sales.
• Balancing Education and Business: The business grew rapidly, leading to a decision to pause operations for his son to focus on his studies.
• COVID-19 Impact: During the pandemic, Mike saw an opportunity to scale the business, working from a small shed and leveraging online sales.

Expansion of Product Line

With renewed focus, Bear Iron Works expanded its product offerings significantly:

Product	Description
Rock Screens	Used for separating materials, now available in various sizes.
Bedding Boxes	Designed for mini and large excavators, filling a market gap.
Custom Solutions	Tailored products for specific customer needs, including backyard composting.

Vision and Motivation

• Self-Driven Work Ethic: Mike thrives on the freedom of entrepreneurship, preferring to work for himself rather than in corporate settings.
• Family Collaboration: Working alongside his son has been a rewarding experience, allowing them to automate and streamline operations.
• Continuous Learning: Mike emphasizes the importance of adaptability and learning in business, which has been crucial for their success.

Conclusion

Mike Frick' journey with Bear Iron Works exemplifies the power of vision, innovation, and family collaboration in entrepreneurship. His story serves as an inspiration for aspiring business owners, highlighting that even seemingly mundane industries can offer significant opportunities. As Mike continues to grow his business, he remains committed to his core values and the importance of hard work, creativity, and family ties. The future looks bright for Bear Iron Works, and Mike's journey is a reminder that with passion and perseverance, anything is possible.

Transcript

Mike Frick president of Bear Iron Works tell me about your vision man you've built something incredible and I want to I want to hear all about what it is where it's going yeah it's very interesting so I was in the construction business um since I was 24 years old I

00:16
had a construction business my dad was a contractor he kind of sold out and then bought a cattle ranch in western Colorado so I was on a cattle ranch raised there my dad um is everybody well knows that back in those days cattle ranching wasn't that great and then he

00:35
had the opportunity to do oil fill work building the pads for the drill locations and so at a young age I I learned how to run heavy equipment and so I went to a school in Rifle Colorado and during the 80s uh Rifle Colorado was known for oil shell it was a big deal yep and Exxon

00:58
Amo all the Heavy Hitters uh were trying to figure out how to get the oil out of the Rock and so meanwhile the high school that I went to was a very small high school until everybody started moving in and they had a really cool welding program that was in combination with the high school and the

01:15
college Colorado Mountain College and so I learned how to weld through that program and so I took part High School classes and then at night I would extend it into the college program because I wanted to learn how to be a pipe welder so anyways as time goes on going to

01:33
construction business and that's kind of what I did for a long time and these Rock screens were kind of unique they're something that nobody really knows about right the people that do know about them are like oh yeah they're for separating big rock and really the the reason they

01:51
were used back in the old days was to separate the finds out of big rock so they could use big rock for what they call Rip wrap it's rip rap rip wrap and what rip wrap is used for is um erosion control like around dams maybe spillways um Highway structures maybe or

02:14
whatever so that's kind of what they were used for nothing else really and one day I'm golfing at a golf course and I look over at the maintenance yard and they have a small one like a really like for a skid steer and I'm like man that's such a good idea one of these days I'm

02:33
going to build one and maybe I could sell them or something or just build one for myself and it was probably 20 years later I had a bunch of iron left over and and I had a kid that worked for me learn wanted to learn how to weld and I and I says hey we're going to make one

02:49
of these things and see what happens and so we made it and we made a few of them actually and we took them to an auction which is called Richie Brothers auctioneers they're um worldwide Auctioneer company one of the biggest in in the world and so we took it to Denver

03:06
sold sold it made some money and I thought this is a pretty good side gig so I started making them on the side and it was just for skid steers little skid steer loaders and um so I taught I was able to teach my son how to weld and we got of got going on that and I was just selling them on Craigslist

03:26
and taking them to auctions and just on the side is all yeah and so he went to college and he's kind of into motorcycles he's a motocross racer and he was going to Colorado uh State University Fort Collins Colorado for construction management and he he needed a job couldn't find a job and I say well

03:46
you should find some farmer and ask him if you could maybe use a old barn or whatever shop and and make some of these make a couple of month and you it'll fit your schedule it won't interrupt with your school and you can make them whenever you want and him and so he did

04:01
and he and he was really good at websites so he built a website and they started selling pretty good they started selling all over the nation as a matter of fact and wow he got so busy building them that it interrupted his school um because he was so busy he he was going to he was hiring

04:21
his buddies like engineers and want they matter or whatever in classes and like hey you want to learn how to weld I'll pay you and he was doing everything legit he had workers comp he was paying all the taxes all that kind of stuff and and he was busy he was delivering them

04:35
and and I delivered some but meanwhile I was working in Louisiana covid and I got sick with covid and and meanwhile he decided to shut the whole thing down because it um wasn't doing good with school he wanted to finish and get his degree in in that so wow I um kind of got done down there

04:56
and I says hey what what do you think I says how much time do you think you was put into that I mean compared to what if you did it fulltime how much time do you think he was putting into it and he goes I'm probably I was probably putting 10% into it and I said so if we did this

05:10
thing 100% we could go you know do it pretty big right and he's like yeah I think so so I did we right in covid about August of 2020 wow I I didn't have a shop I um came from Louisiana my mom and dad had a little shed that literally measured 16 ft by 20 ft and I was just

05:30
making them out of that tiny little shed basically and and we've got the website going back up and next thing you know people are going man I need it and we started shipping them and next thing you know he gets his education and he's um becomes part of the company and we we

05:48
started adding more products and designing more things and and I guess you know the other thing too is is uh in Louisiana when I when I work down there the bedding box is part of this um part of our products yeah we couldn't get them we was bringing them in a thousand miles away wow and so the

06:08
rental companies like United Rentals had to bring them in from like I said a thousand miles away and I thought man you know I could I could make them I know how to weld I know how to make these things and and uh so we added that line to it and we was the first ones to build um beding boxes for mini

06:27
excavators and then we've been done well with those and we make great big ones for large excavators and our screens now we make them Mega huge screens and our newest screen is one that you can just shovel and if you person in your backyard wanting to make compost or screen out your decorative rock or

06:44
whatever you can screen it out and oh that's cool all the way up to Mega machines wow oh my gosh down that is so cool okay Vision Pros um one of the things I'm going to do on behalf of all of you is I'm going to take this specific episode I'm gonna ask Chad gbt to create us a

07:05
guide of all the principles that we can learn from that one tiny story Mike that's freaking incredible um like everything that you've done with working with your son on this teaching him and empowering him to hire things out delegating um understanding you don't have to be 100% from day one like

07:23
there's so many principles about the story and about how you came to build this out that reminds me of you know mini version of Rockefeller um right that reminds me of the paths that I've seen and um for those of you who don't know I don't talk about this a lot

07:38
because we're usually talking technology stuff um my grandpa was the first man to drill a hor a successful horizontal oil well in the state of New Mexico no kiding and he ran a little company called the mcnut oil and gas tool rental company it was the largest T rental

07:55
company for oil and gas in the world I know that name ah yes you know herb mcnut well no the MN yep my grandpa was also known as the uh like the best Fisher in the business so back in the day for those of you listening and you know something fell into the well um you had to figure out

08:13
how to get that thing out um I didn't have all the technolog they have now and so he'd fly over all the World Panama specifically a lot to go down and and help out when something like that would happen and uh my dad when I was uh 18 and in college uh was on my way home and

08:29
he said Hey I'm I'm staying over in Rifle um and I work on an a well out here why don't you come by um so I hit Rifle Colorado on the way down so it's all this blue collar stuff and and again another secret Vision Pros the more boring your business is the more I get

08:46
excited all right the more legitimate the more like oh wow everybody's overlooking the needs associated with this um and so Mike's tapped into something absolutely incredible um with this process so um if your vision is something something that seems uh obsolete or seems unrelatable to what's

09:06
on mainstream Media or what's on the everyday news that does not make it an unimportant Vision in fact you might have a vision That's essential to helping us be able to enjoy the sports and enjoy the gossip or whatever else people are trying to enjoy on mainstream

09:22
news so Mike thanks so much for sharing this with me like this is so cool to see um we're going to close out fast on this particular episode I'd love to have you back though and I'd love to dive in deeper because there's just so much we can learn if if you're willing to honor

09:36
us with your time and come back we'd love that in the meantime um I want to know what's your why man what what drives you what get what gets you what gets you going you know I've always I I tried to work for other people I've been working for myself most of my career and I tried to go like I said I

09:56
work for one of the biggest construction companies in the world in Louisiana and uh as a manager and I still couldn't do it I still had a hard time and I I just love working for myself and you know getting up in the morning and this is what I got to do today and self-driven you know um

10:16
and it does it motivates me a lot and like when I work for somebody else it's like I don't want to get out of bed this morning to go to work there's some limitation there I was fired from almost every semi corporate job I ever had so no it just does not for me I need to be able to learn more

10:32
and control my day a bit more yeah so I I do it you know for that my my son being able to work with my son is really fun and and then he's come out you know he's done really well he's automated basically the whole company I mean it's in the business is in Grand Junction

10:49
Colorado I live in Phoenix he lives in Charleston South Carolina oh so we can watch it live all day long when the welders clock in on The Bu The the item that they have to build and we can sit there and see what's going on you know material ordering or shipping or whatever

11:08
maybe and you can go sailing in Charleston I did that a couple years ago right did you yeah we have there's a there's a new studio there um again all you Vision Pros are going to benefit from this there's a state-of-the-art um podcasting virtual conference Studio it's got one of those virtual media

11:24
rooms that's just out of this world um it's one of the few like it in the country um and so a company I was working with rented that out for their virtual event um you guys might pop in someday and just take a look and I'm sure if you look up virtual event podcasting Studio Charleston it's it's

11:43
easy to find um but I'll also provide that in the show notes for anybody interested and uh Mike we look forward to having you back on the show this was an absolute pleasure okay good deal I want to come back Vision Pros we'll see you guys next time thank you for being

11:56
here today I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros live I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward this is going to get more and more fun we'll have more and more engagement as well we'll invite people to participate

12:09
in the show and thank you for giving us your time and attention have an excellent time building out your vision and become a Vision Pro yourself