Round two of: Questions I get asked as a stake tycoon.
Wood Stakes? How did you get into that? After dropping out of seminary (a totally different story and best saved for a different time), I began what I thought would be a short-term summer job with a stormwater company installing silt fence, wattle, etc. Rather quickly, this became a career, and I eventually spent time on the Colorado western slope during a really fun, busy time in the oil and gas industry.
Moving back to Denver and leaving the stormwater industry, I had a brief stint with a niche bicycle manufacturer and soon began to realize that, while I loved mountain biking and the idea of working in the industry, it wasn’t nearly as exciting and sexy as I thought it would be. I then started working for one of my old stormwater and reclamation suppliers. Because I had once been in their shoes, I enjoyed helping my customers develop viable solutions to their field problems.
While bidding a large project one day, I came to the line item of wood stakes. Historically, we (as well as all the other stormwater product suppliers) had issues with product quality and timely delivery from the main stake supplier at that time. Recognizing a potential business opportunity, I began to consider what it would take to produce the $40,000 of wood stakes myself. I quickly realized that, if I were to fully commit to becoming the preferred solution to the other companies that purchased stakes in Colorado and surrounding states, I could probably make it work.
About six months later, I left my position and began driving a 24’ flatbed truck with 450,000 miles around the country, picking up used lumber manufacturing and material handling equipment. It suddenly dawned on me that I didn’t know anything about either lumber or manufacturing. These facts plagued me for the first several years of operating Basic Industries. However, with the kindness and insight of some really, REALLY good people in the industry, I was able to learn from successful people who had been working in this space for years.
Many of you know my early struggles of operating Basic Industries. Daily driving from Denver to our plant in Ault, CO (over an hour away with no traffic). Having young kids at home. Experiencing major lumber suppliers shutting down. etc. etc. etc. However, there has been beauty in the struggle of starting from scratch; building something from nothing to fill a need in an industry I had become very familiar with. We have come such a long way from those early years and we have learned a lot of lessons that have me often think about how I would have started it differently from the beginning.
What have some of YOUR lessons learned been in the lumber and manufacturing world?
Founder & CEO, Peace by Piece International | Corporate Gifts for People and Planet / #secondchances
4moQuinn Litherland and Daniel Dart what a meaningful and memorable gift. Love this!