Blue Collar Business Podcast
Welcome to the Blue Collar Business Podcast with Sy Kirby. Dive deep into the world of hands-on entrepreneurship and the gritty side of making things happen. Join us for actionable tips on scaling your blue-collar business, managing teams, and staying ahead in an ever-evolving market. We'll also discuss the latest industry trends and innovations that could impact your bottom line. If you're passionate about the blue-collar world and eager to learn from those who've thrived in it, this podcast is a must-listen. Stay tuned for engaging conversations and real-world advice that can take your blue-collar business to new heights.
Blue Collar Business Podcast
Ep. 31 - Turning Your Side Hustle into a Thriving Business: Bear Iron Works
The remarkable journey of Bear Iron Works exemplifies how practical innovation solves real-world construction challenges. Father-son team Mike and Roggen Frick transformed what began as a side hustle into a thriving American manufacturing enterprise by identifying crucial equipment gaps in the construction industry.
Mike's extensive background in construction and mining provided the technical expertise, while Roggen's business and marketing acumen created the foundation for their unique partnership. What started with rock screens—devices that separate materials by size—has evolved into a comprehensive product line serving contractors nationwide. Their equipment now ranges from screening devices that process materials from 4-inch rocks down to fine 1/8-inch particles, specialized bedding boxes for mini excavators in tight spaces, to innovative material handlers that revolutionize job site efficiency.
The success of Bear Iron Works stems from addressing problems most contractors face daily. Their products serve remarkably diverse applications: from major mining operations and construction giants like CEMEX, to National Park Service restoration projects, and even homeowners tackling garden projects. One of their rock screens was even helicoptered into the Grand Canyon for a water treatment facility project, highlighting the versatility of their American-made equipment.
What truly distinguishes Bear Iron Works is their commitment to quality, service, and transparency. While many competitors outsource manufacturing overseas, the Fricks maintain entirely domestic production using American steel. Their e-commerce platform provides clear information about inventory and manufacturing schedules, and they pride themselves on having real humans answer customer calls—an increasingly rare service in today's automated business environment.
Discover how this father-son team balances family dynamics with business growth, and how their lean manufacturing approach delivers solutions contractors can depend on. Use code "bluecollar" at bearironworks.net for 5% off your entire order and experience American-made quality that's revolutionizing construction equipment.
Click the link above for a free marketing audit with insights to boost your blue collar business!
PodcastVideos.com
Put your show in front of audiences that care with PodcastVideos.com's wide range of podcasts!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Follow and stay connected:
Website: bluecollarbusinesspodcast.com
YouTube: youtube.com/@BlueCollarBusinessPodcast
Instagram: @bluecollarbusinesspodcast
TikTok: @bluecollarbusinesspod
Facebook: Blue Collar Business Podcast
LinkedIn: Blue Collar Business Podcast
Never miss an update—follow, subscribe, and join the conversation!
Hey guys, welcome to the Blue Collar Business Podcast, where we discuss the realest, rawest, most relevant stories and strategies behind building every corner of a blue collar business. I'm your host, cy Kirby, and I want to help you in what it took me trial and error and a whole lot of money to learn the 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 Blue Collar Business Podcast, sponsored today by podcastvideoscom.
Speaker 1:I'm sitting in one of their beautiful solo pod rooms here in their Rogers Arkansas location here in northwest Arkansas. 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 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. Hang in there for that. Basically, bear Ironworks, mike and Rog and Frick, correct, yes.
Speaker 2:I nailed it, all right Good.
Speaker 1:These guys have been reached out to the show through podcast videos I just wanted to shine some light there for the PV team and they reached out through bluecollarbusinesspodcastcom. You can get all of our episodes on there, totally, free audio or 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 episode.
Speaker 2:Seriously, yeah, thanks for having us on today.
Speaker 1:Exciting. All right, so I don't know who wants to take the floor first, but we've got give us the intro of Bear Ironworks. These guys have built bearironworksnet. These guys have got construction entrance solution. I was blown away when I saw that. I'm like I don't know why nobody's thought of that. And uh, concrete washout hubs. I saw you guys do bedding boxes. So from there, take it away, guys.
Speaker 2:Sounds good, yeah, I'll let uh. Mike, you think you should start, because you're the one that kind of came up with the idea so, yeah, I've been in the construction business my pretty much my whole life, um.
Speaker 3:And then I worked underground a coal mine right off the bat, out of high school basically, in a large construction company, grew up on a cattle ranch my dad had. He also had a 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 1950s.
Speaker 1:So you got to share the note you shared with me.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so he's got a 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. So he worked for companies like Kiewit and Hd laudermilk 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 one laying around and all the time working on it and doing different things to it. So one day I was usually rock screens kind of an odd thing. How we came up with our idea was the. They're called Grizzlies. Okay, so back in the day the guys way back in the 50s and prior to that, guys were just screening off the big rock to get the smaller rock with what they called a grizzly. They weren't necessarily screening down to like small, finer material like I don't think they ever screen anything under four inches, so they're just called grizzlies back in the day. And that's kind of how they went along through the ages.
Speaker 3:And one day I was playing golf uh, at a golf tournament to a construction organization, and I seen the golf course had a small one for a skid steer 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 backhoes and bigger stuff. And I thought, well, one of these days I'm going to make one. Because I had a welding background, I went to welding school and high school and a trade college. So I eventually made the skid steer size rock screen and so I sold some at Ritchie Brothers Auctions. I put them on Craigslist.
Speaker 3:Rogan went to school at Colorado State University for construction management. He needed a job and he developed a website. He started building the rock screens in Fort Collins, colorado, and he found out that there was a demand for it and so, and then we developed. I guess what we developed was we put the removable screen on top so we can screen down to eighth inch or less, if you want. Oh wow, down to eighth inch or less, if you want. Oh, so we yeah, we've done one just recently, eighth inch minus and it went to casa grande national ruins in casa grande, arizona. Uh, so they can make pottery. The, the native, the tribe there, wants to make pottery, so it's screening down. Fine enough to make pottery. And then we also sold another one to, so they're reconstructing some of the adobe ruins that are at the Casa Grande National Ruins site.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, yeah, and y'all offered a solution from a gentleman from a mine site.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you can go ahead, roger, yeah.
Speaker 2:When I started it, you know, I was just looking. I ride motocross, it's my hobby, it I was just looking. I ride motocross, it's my hobby and so I was just looking to have a shop to have my dirt bike in. And so I rebuilt a buddy of mine. He blew up the engine in his. I 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 and so I just I just needed to sell enough just to pay the month's rent is the whole goal, right? And so I made the website and all of a sudden, you know I'm so. 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 of these rock screens that pretty soon I'm in another facility.
Speaker 3:I have a forklift.
Speaker 2:I've hired 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 when it was supposed to just be kind of this little side job, you know I was staying up.
Speaker 2:Sometimes we'd be welding until like two, three in the morning 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 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 public schools. And Mike was working for Kiewit and he was like what if we went all in on the rock screen business? Because the demand seemed like it was there. And so we joined our forces and we've grown it.
Speaker 2:Now We've expanded our product lines. We've got the rock screens, we've got the bedding boxes, washout 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, 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 going to. It shows you what's in inventory. It'll automatically put stuff onto our manufacturing schedule if it's not in inventory and you can always call us and we're going to pick up the phone. A real human's going to pick up the phone and and talk to our customers. And we just kind of kept improving as we went along. And you know we we really did find a niche in the market that needed to be filled and it's been working really well for us, you know.
Speaker 1:I heard you. You said yeah, 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 screened, but for the folks that ain't got any idea what the application would be, let's maybe start there before we go too far in depth.
Speaker 3:On it, yeah, I mean. 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 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.
Speaker 3:You can use a small garden, uh, tractor on so they can screen, like if they're maybe making compost or screening their own topsoil or mixing it however they want, or screening out rock to make their their topsoil. So you got that kind of customer. Then we kind of move up to a landowner that maybe he's like hey, I got to improve my road and you know, I got to screen out the big rock or the dirt you know to have rock for my road or whatever that may be. You know landowners down in Texas, we sell a lot down there to get rock out of their ponds when they're building ponds so they, you know, won't leak. So then we move on up to like the, the big contractors that are maybe they're screening out the bigger rock before they throw it in their crusher.
Speaker 3:Um, we've got a company, cmex I don't know if you've heard of them. They supply one of the largest suppliers of cement in the united States 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 United States probably Canada too is they use coal cinders.
Speaker 3:So after the coal's 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 the shingles and they run it through the crusher and then they make 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 online. We can shovel it by hand, and I've been testing it out here in Arizona.
Speaker 1:This is just what a wide range of markets you just listed off there.
Speaker 2: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, agriculture, construction and mining would be the ones that wouldn't 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 a lot of words.
Speaker 3:They need to get.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they need to get the dirt out of their firewood, because they can't sell the firewood if it's dirty. They're like the stores won't take it, so they just need to clean the dirt off the firewood. And there's a lot of different uses and then you know, the most obvious use for them are like is when you're you have to do 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. We even have one. It got helicoptered into the bottom of the Grand Canyon so that they could do. I think there's a water treatment facility down there that's for the national park and it serves the national park and they helicoptered it down there and then they were making their own soil and site, their own bedding material and everything. Helicoptered it back out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's crazy the amount of uses there are for these. No, I think it's cool that it just came from Mike, I guess, assuming it was just one day. It just clicked and you were just like, yeah, I get it, this is getting the four-inch material off. But then to start condensing and compacting to smaller and mid-sized contractors to fit all these, not? Yeah, you're right, the agricultural uses firewood. That's crazy. Of course. Why wouldn't it anything too efficiently? You can use a machine or whatever and speed up labor. Of course you're going to, but and this, and so I also want to shine some light here rogan did Did you build all the website yourself? Is that what?
Speaker 2:I heard. So yeah, initially I built the website myself and then I launched the e-commerce site that you see today, but since then I've hired out some help with a marketing agency to help us improve upon it, make it look better, make it work better. Right, Because 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.
Speaker 1:I did the exact same thing, but I just think it's so cool how you guys both used your strengths and meshed them together and you tested the market, proved the concept here are let's run with this. What year did you guys both kind of decide to go all in on this?
Speaker 2:2020. So right at the beginning of COVID is when we started.
Speaker 3:Super challenge. I would assume it took off right away.
Speaker 2:Yeah, surprisingly, you know construction's a lag industry, so you know when 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 COVID, you know, 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 I agree with that. But you know residential probably got hit hard.
Speaker 1:But I agree with that. Just I think it's that interest rate drove things crazy more than anything. Yes, of course, material rejection never came and material was all over the place, up down, and you couldn't get a consistent delivery day, you couldn't get an efficient price. It was always fluctuating. So COVID hits and you, you guys now. So you guys are five years in, and now when 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, rogan, you're kind of that product specialist, trying to find what works, what doesn't work, kind of thing.
Speaker 2:So Mike always comes 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 just help refine them and, you know, just try to help make them efficiently, because we believe in lean management in our company and trying to cut away waste.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I got to tell you a little bit about Rogan's background, though too he yeah I think you mentioned early before the podcast started about uh, daddy's giving them their stuff to rogan never got anything from me. I'm gonna tell you that right off the bat. I mean I helped him buy a pickup in the beginning, but you bet it was probably had 200 000 miles on it too. Yeah, he became a very good mechanic because uh, yeah but no, he, when he was young, I let him.
Speaker 3:I had my construction company and I had big excavators, big ones, and I would let him run. I strapped him in the seat, like three years old, and let him run. Right, you know, just idle it down, let him run it, uh, but 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.
Speaker 3:I mean, he could shovel and he learned how to weld right away when we, when I was closing the abandoned mines, we had a lot of welding to do. And rogan, I mean he would come out in the middle of nowhere. I mean we was out middle of nowhere color do. And Rogan, I mean he would come out in the middle of nowhere. I mean we was out middle of nowhere, colorado, and like, hey man, can you go cut this piece of iron and bring it back to us, cause sometimes we had, we couldn't set up everything right at the entry. So he learned how to weld there. Um, he did a lot, he learned a lot.
Speaker 3:I was teaching him and then I, I was glad that he went to college, did learn, you know, 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.
Speaker 3:But then he kind of like looks at him and goes, what about this or whatever? And and you know, like, on our bedding boxes, we, we started making bedding boxes for many excavators. No one had ever done that before. And and then you know, like, on our bedding boxes, we started making bedding boxes for many excavators. No one had ever done that before. 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 so you can carry them around with a skid steer and take 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 stirrer, drop it off to the excavator and, you know, use it. So it's been a lot of help.
Speaker 1:Rogan's been a lot of help because he knows how to 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 yeah, I think all of us guys in the field that are out here, whether we're operating'm like, oh, this would be such a good idea, let's try this and I don't hold myself accountable or anybody else accountable and just dies and so to have that teamwork is unbelievable and kudos to you guys.
Speaker 1:Because I'm sitting here I'm kind of my mouth is open because I'm like you guys got a bedding box that a mini X can work on and I'm like I 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 60 size machine that is tight in the backyards. We did a small rehab and we went from a two inch to an eight inch in an easement the backyards. We did a small rehab. We went from a two-inch to an eight-inch in an easement between backyards, like that thing right there could have saved us and I got to say I'm so glad I'm learning about you guys and then throwing it on a skid steer plate.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. I mean, we have a lot of products. 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 know exactly. They haven't used one before. There's still a lot of contractors out there that are installing utilities and don't know about bedding boxes, which it saves you so much material and you can move it along in a box instead of scooping it along the way. You know, and you can move it along in a box instead of scooping it along the way you know.
Speaker 2:And yeah, that's why we want to make sure that everybody can learn about our products and know about them because they're useful. That's why they exist. That's why the whole company exists is because they're a useful product.
Speaker 1: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, those tiny little you know footprints now don't get me wrong. Um, you'd be as conservative as you can, but we try not to use a betting box, you know, if we're in an open area. But betting boxes are essential sometimes to. It's like the only way to move the rock in in those condensed situations. So, no, I, I, I'm intrigued to see them. Maybe I need to just, uh, come on out there and tour the facility and and do a video, yeah, and yeah, we'd love to have you come check it out.
Speaker 2:We can show you all the products we got and how our manufacturing process works.
Speaker 1:I definitely me and Will probably need to come out there and make a video 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 construction background not just 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 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.
Speaker 2: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 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 pusher attachment for skid steers. I feel like we got a pretty good design. I feel like it works pretty good. We hurried up and tried to get it to market and got it online marketing. 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 didn't take off, you know, like we had hoped. So maybe next year it'll go a little bit better.
Speaker 1: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, 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 entertain?
Speaker 2: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 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.
Speaker 1:So impressive, gentlemen, absolutely impressive. And so, um how? So you guys are more concentrated on the mid to smaller contractor rather than dealing with the trommel size or the big shaker or any any type of uh screens in that regard, correct?
Speaker 3: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. Was it the Air Force?
Speaker 2:I think it was the Air Force. Yeah, I think it was the Air Force.
Speaker 1:I mean, they were 10-foot tall, 17-foot wide, they were huge.
Speaker 2:We had to rent equipment to move them.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we have one. We went to basically Area 51. Supposedly Area 51. We have one at Supermax Prison in Colorado and they're separate products. I had to deliver it. It was funny because Rogan's the one that sold it when he was in college. He wasn't old enough to deliver it. We kind of provided delivery back in the the day, so he had to be 21 to deliver there. It was quite the trip. I actually went in the facility with the gates locked behind me.
Speaker 1:It's crazy uh, so what are you?
Speaker 3:guys using this for, oh, we're gonna have the prisoners stack rock. We're gonna separate the rock from the small ones to the big ones.
Speaker 1:Like really 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. 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 be sitting there with a great idea but he may not be the refined execution, bring it to market guy. And those connections need to be made and luckily you guys get to do it as a father-son do. I mean. That's incredible, guys, and I hope to do it one day with my eight year old boy. He grew up in my lap like they all have. You know track've just got a question on the manufacturing side Welding wise, are you still hand welding? Everything I know technology in the manufacturing welding world is tends to lean to like the robotic side. Is that on the radar for you guys?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we just went to a show called Fab Tech this past year and that's all about manufacturing automation and checked out everything there and to get some ideas. You know, right now we're not using any robotic welding. We have a CNC plasma table, which is now pretty much standard for most welding shops, and we thought about getting into it, especially when it comes to, like the washout tubs or the batting boxes, because they got very long seams and have to be welded up watertight. But it's something that you know we need a new facility for. We need a little bit more electricity, a little bit nicer spot to have it. But there there's, there's affordable ones out there and you know you can get. You know, now you can have one welder manage four of these machines instead of 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 stuff like that, which is something to learn right. That's a learning curve and we've looked at it but haven't done it yet.
Speaker 1:We've looked at it but haven't done it yet. I was just wondering. Of course, technology seems to be a reoccurring subject on the show because, no matter what industry I'm sitting here speaking with, technology is just running rampant and it seems like we can't catch up.
Speaker 1:I know, in the dirt and pipe world it's just running us over, but it's cool to hear that this is american handmade project 100, american with 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 American made, american supplied guys. I know there's probably other ways you could have went about that, but to hang your hat on that, 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 what has been. We've 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 defined they are. Share maybe uh, maybe both of you a little a few challenges, maybe some advantages, you guys?
Speaker 1:maybe encourage another family to do it.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, I'll tell you, one that I kind of knew about was, uh, henry ford and his son, etzel, I believe his name was. He he wanted to change the Model T, the Model A, model T, whatever. And he says, hey, the Dodge brothers over there they're doing this and they're putting headlights on and windshield wipers on, and O Henry was like no man, why would we want to do that? I mean, you know. So he kind of stifled his son and I got it in my head there's no way that I'm going to do that to Rogan. I don't do that.
Speaker 3:And I also told Rogan 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 understand. 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 I think that we you know, when we get together as father and son, we have a good time, but when we're business, we're business and that's just the way it is.
Speaker 2:Yep, yeah, I think being able to draw that line is important and, you know, not every relationship that you have is gonna can stand up to have a, you know, a business relationship and a family relationship, you know.
Speaker 2:But, um, you know, if you're comfortable that your family relationship can survive business, and 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 it's when we go to work, we're working and we have to be comfortable talking to each other as if we were coworkers 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 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 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 as on yourself. And 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 other.
Speaker 1:Man, 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 so glad we did and my wife and myself have been in it the entire time. I don't suggest that to many either, and she wouldn't either, to be honest, with you sitting here, and she has anyways with weathered and been my, I guess my checks and balances like it sounds like you guys have such a good 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 uh running a project and constructing something you know. You guys are like bringing ideation from nothing, from a side hustle Number one, I think that's just needs highlighted but then into what it is today. You just keep refining the process.
Speaker 1:I think I think the snow removal thing, I think is a hundred percent um a good avenue for yourself. Or maybe a new box play design. I'd love to see you guys have your own own uh 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?
Speaker 3:well, I was in louise and you're talking about the rocks. Uh, the um chalk out pads, right? Yes, sir, yeah I worked for.
Speaker 3: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 FERC, which is the federal energy regulatory commission, I think. So it's the federal government. They're inspecting you because we're on the gulf of what is now america gulf, america and the calcasieu river, um. So we couldn't let anything get away from us 300 and some acres size six billion dollars and and we had some track out pads that were they're plastic, believe me, 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. 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 and it. So that's how we came up with that.
Speaker 3:I, you know I I gotta hit one here. We just launched a really cool product and it's a carrier for a mini excavator. So 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 can load it up with your bucket, your regular bucket and then carry your material around, whatever it may be, and then you can lift it. It'll detach and you can your uh whole bucket and lift it up in the air and dump it if you want. So yeah, we just launched that clip on shovel dustpan right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like a material handler like you can put. You know fence posts, like on 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 posts, as you're doing a fencing project or something like that, a bunch of different uses for it oh, early on in the resi days, what I would have given to have that clipped onto a blade where I could have went around.
Speaker 1:There's rough grade houses, final grade houses Be able to set it aside, run a blade real quick, throw it back on, get the roots picked up. I would have handed you the money. That is ingenious, guys. Yeah, I would be super pumped. But they continue. Where's the future holding for you guys? I know this has all just come about so fast because it came from a side hustle, but you guys aren't reinventing the wheels. You're making simple, american-made designs and executing them very well, obviously.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think, our principles of just trying to be a lean 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 processes first, and so you know we're doing that 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, what the market demand is and what's out there.
Speaker 2:But you know, 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 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, and so that's. We just want to make sure that we're selling good products to American contractors.
Speaker 1:Or getting parts here in a timely manner that I'm yeah, lead times.
Speaker 2:there's a thoughtful when stuff's coming overseas, if it's not stock in the warehouse here and oh no, I, I completely agree with you.
Speaker 1:um, real quick, guys, I gotta I, I gotta shine some light. I've no. Well, I'd love to come out with Sycon's YouTube channel and really shine some light on all the products that you guys got going on. Would love to come out. And I want to shine some light on Blue Collar Performance Marketing. He is another sponsor of the show today. They have been not only helping with the show here, they help with our YouTube and the value that guy and that team has been providing myself and my team behind the scenes. Guys, check them out Blue Collar Performance Marketing or, I'm sorry, bcperformancemarketingcom, and if you let that team know that you heard it here on the Blue Collar Business Podcast, you can get an absolute free, comped analytic review of your media and marketing in your company. Shout out to Ike and his team. I'm thoroughly impressed with the results I've had, but not only that. He's a partner, so shining light there.
Speaker 1:But I've got one last question, for I think Mike slipped out there, maybe a little connection. I think Mike's might've dropped no big deal. But one last question that I ask pretty much everybody on the show my guy, those blue-collar men and women that are sitting out there and nobody better to get the answer from than you that you know, say, like Mike himself that's'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, but how just speak to them, to those men and women that are 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.
Speaker 2:where you're at, my guy you know, 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 where your strengths are and where your weaknesses are 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.
Speaker 2:Because, you know, not everybody's a manager, not everybody can well, not everybody can do everything right, but to make a business happen, you have to do everything. That I mean 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 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. Honesty goes a long ways, because if people enjoy 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.
Speaker 1: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, dial the number and we're going to get. Uh, may not be mike rogan, but but you can ask for us.
Speaker 1: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 trying to get some signal. But Mr Roggin is going to share Mike's answer and, after being 30 years in the, keywid is a ginormous company.
Speaker 1:Number one I should have probably asked a little bit more about that, because my grandfather as well was, um, he was in the 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. Uh, going into the benefits or non-benefits of that, because that's an argument worth on both sides. But at the 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 key wit, 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 cool man yeah, that one that he was talking about in louisiana.
Speaker 2:That one was a six billion dollar liquid natural gas project and it was huge. It ran 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It did not stop for anything and you know, somebody wants to work for kiwi. Definitely it's best if you're, if you can travel, because they're going to send you, send with a. Definitely it's best if you're, if you can travel, cause they're going to send you, send you around.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not. This guy was a single guy just out of high school. 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 looking for travel, for DM sent me on the road. I'm like man. That's not really kind of our design here at PsyCon and I'm more of family first you want to make sure everybody's covered and their needs are met and hopefully some of their wants.
Speaker 1:But at the same time I really don't want to be running projects all across the nation, not saying one day that it won't happen, right, but we like our local tri-state area that we take care of and I like keeping them guys at home. They're happier at home.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and 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.
Speaker 1:Yep, keep the main thing. The main thing Ain't that right, brother?
Speaker 3:Yep, I did get his answer here.
Speaker 2:All right, let's hear it. So his answer is to stay focused, 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 should learn every day. Um, because there's always lessons to learn and you know, everybody has a piece of advice, um, and something to learn from each person.
Speaker 2:So uh, he says that he really enjoyed the podcast and he's very sorry that the the cell service dropped.
Speaker 1:But no, I hey, I hope he's uh getting to 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 I appreciate you too, brother, seriously for carving out of the time, 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 American made product. What a story to just, oh, you know, we thought about making some rock screens in the shop out back and boom, here you guys are and taking over the entire market. So I'm really looking forward to continued friendship and a relationship and you guys be looking forward for that video about it's Bear Bear Ironworks and that covers.
Speaker 2:They can go to bearironworkscom yep, you can go to bear iron. Bearironcom is the new one, it's the short one, but if you hit bearironworkscom, bearironnet or, sorry, bearironcom, bearironworksnet, you'll hit all. And we want to give out a discount to your, to your viewers or your listeners of this podcast. If you use code blue collar, you can get five percent 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 with that.
Speaker 1:Oh, man, guys, I really appreciate your time and, uh, sounds like we might. We might have to do a follow-up little episode when we get out there at some point in the year. Yeah, we'd 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 fellers. 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.