March 12, 2025 • 27 mins
Ian Reel from Kaw Valley Precision shares his non-traditional journey from industrial arts teacher to manufacturing entrepreneur, revealing how he strategically built his business while mitigating risks. As a former industrial arts teacher, he discusses the challenges facing industrial education programs in schools and the strategic approach he took in testing market demand before fully committing to manufacturing.
• Kaw Valley Precision specializes in aftermarket firearm parts with diversification into automotive, locks, oil and gas, electronics, injection molding, and food industries
• Ian's background includes growing up around his father's production woodworking business and earning a degree in industrial arts education
• Industrial arts programs in schools are facing challenges
• Ian identified underserved markets in the firearms industry
• He developed his first product by leveraging his network of manufacturing connections
• Rather than immediately investing in equipment, he subcontracted manufacturing for four years while teaching
• The business grew to approximately 15 products before Ian took the leap to purchase CNC equipment
• Ian emphasizes the importance of family support when starting a business, calling it a team decision
• His approach demonstrates how to test market acceptance before making major capital investments
• Now serving on the KCNTMA board, Ian is committed to addressing the manufacturing skills gap
Get involved with KCNTMA and the upcoming Bots KC event in late April to see students engaged in robotics competitions and help support the next generation of manufacturing talent.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Ian Reel from Call Valley Precision.
Welcome to the podcast.
Good to have you, man.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hey, thank you for taking the time to talk with me
and hopefully we can both learnsome things and give back a
little bit to this community.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I love it.
I love it.
So you and I have connected.
Once before I've had theopportunity just to talk with
you on the phone a little bit.
Catherine O'Toole from KCNTMAsaid you'd be a great
conversation, and so I'm reallylooking forward to this
conversation today.
And let's start by having youtell us about Call Valley
Precision.
(00:36):
What are you guys about?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Sure, so Call Valley Precision is essentially known
for our aftermarket firearmparts.
We do a fair amount of work inthe defense industry.
Doing various consumeraftermarket firearm parts is the
lion's share of our work, butthroughout the years have
(00:59):
diversified into otherindustries as well.
Anything from you know.
We do some things in automotivelocks, clocks, oil and gas,
electronics, some injectionmolding and even a little bit
into the foods industry as well.
So I've really tried todiversify outside of our normal
bread and butter, just becauseit's you know it's pretty
(01:21):
difficult to dig a well whenyou're thirsty.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
just because it's pretty difficult to dig a well
when you're thirsty.
Yeah, definitely appreciatethat, and so you have a
non-traditional pathway intothis manufacturing space.
So why don't you tell us whatyour career was looking like and
when it took a turn?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Sure a bit non-traditional.
I guess we can rewind all theway back to when I was a kid.
You know I grew up withmanufacturing in my blood.
My dad brought me up infull-blown production
woodworking, so think, kitchencabinetry at a massive scale.
So I was around that sort ofthing growing up and never
(02:03):
really got bit by thewoodworking aspect of things.
So I didn't really know what Iwanted to do with my career.
And once I got to the end of myhigh school career I go well,
you know, what am I going to dowith this?
So I was exploringopportunities and ended up
getting on an athleticscholarship at a Kansas
(02:25):
University and not KansasUniversity, fort Hays State
University.
But ended out at Fort HaysState doing track and field and
then they had a industrial artsprogram where I just really fit,
felt at home, got exposure toother areas of manufacturing and
industry that I had beenfamiliar with, and then
ultimately kind of chose my pathto go into secondary education
(02:48):
teaching.
So my degree was in industrialarts, with an emphasis in
secondary education.
So that's where I cut my teeth.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Let's talk a little bit, because industrial arts can
mean different things todifferent people.
So were you doing wood shop orwere you doing more metal
manufacturing?
What did that look like in yourcontext?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
So the neat thing out there, it was everything.
So I had introduction intoplastic processes, woods, metals
, foundry, cad, cam, someloosely CNC machining stuff
where I did some self-pop thingsthere, welding.
So it was just kind of we'llsay that I had a broad stroke of
(03:34):
a little bit of everything, butnot real deep knowledge in
anything, so kind of the perfectmix for being able to be put
into an industrial setting at aschool, you know whatever they
would call industrial arts.
I would have a littlesprinkling to be able to be
successful there.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
What's interesting is how that has changed.
I'm going to date myself alittle bit here, but when I was
in high school in the late 80s,early 90s, you could either take
I'm trying to think about thefourth one you could take home
economics.
There was a foods class, therewas woodworking and then there
was drafting.
(04:14):
So we're going way back.
When you get into drafting classwith protractors and stuff like
that Boy.
This niche of that line of workhas really expanded from what
it was decades, just a fewdecades ago.
So it's interesting to me tosee how there are pathways in
(04:36):
that high school level that areintroducing people to the
manufacturing space and otherproduction spaces.
Do you have any thoughts on whythat's changed and how
important that's been?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Well, I think there's all sorts of theories, but I
don't know why things havechanged.
But I can tell you fromexperience.
When I graduated college withmy degree, there was only eight
other students within my degreefield and they all had jobs.
I was the only one that didn'ttake a job and I continued on
(05:09):
and got my master's in educationas well and then by the time I
was finishing up and actuallylooking for my first teaching
job, there was only one newteacher available in the whole
state of Kansas that would teachindustrial arts.
So think wood shop or anythinglike that.
There was only one and it wasme.
So I had opportunities toreally just kind of pick a
(05:33):
school district if they, if theyhad a job available.
And unfortunately a lot of theschools were faced with either
finding a teacher or closing theprogram, and that's kind of
where a lot of the schools havekind of found themselves.
And then once those programsclose, they're so capital
(05:54):
intense they never come back, orcome back in the same capacity
that maybe you would rememberyour woodshop looking like at
that time when you went through.
maybe you would remember yourwoodshop looking like at that
time when you went through.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
I appreciate innovative programs, like some
of what KCNTMA is partneringwith to help to create
apprenticeship programs and tocollaborate with other awareness
and education programs andstuff, because we need our young
adults to be looking at thiscareer pathway.
A because we've got so manypeople leaving the industry and
(06:30):
B just we don't have a workforcethat's inclined towards this
type of labor because there'sstereotypes around it.
But it's a great career paththat many people are having
great success and it looks a lotdifferent than it did 30 years
ago.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Oh for sure, and I mean to this day.
I still remember taking takingstudents on field trips into
industrial facilities and theyhad no idea anything like that
existed, and to just see theirthe light bulb go off in their
head and and then see a realworld application to where, hey,
(07:05):
actually maybe I could make aliving doing something like this
, because it, you know, thetechnology that we would be able
to show them in school, eitherwith our technology, our
equipment or through theinternet or YouTube or whatever,
is only a small portion.
Once they actually can see,feel, smell, you know, get
(07:25):
immersed into a shop environmentthat is, you know, actually
generating income and providing,you know, value and lifestyles
for people, it completelychanged.
You know the way they looked atit.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Yeah, that's great and you know it's such a
different world and there's somany opportunities and whether
it's from the engineering sideor even sales side in
manufacturing or running robotsand doing all the production
itself and that type of thing,it's such a diverse opportunity
field and I'd be remiss if Ididn't mention this.
(07:59):
Kc NTMA is hosting Bots KCevent coming up in late April
and prior to that event we'regonna be having a joint session
with KCNTMA and St Louis chapterof NTMA and we're gonna spend a
couple of days together withthem and that'll flow right into
the Bots KC event.
And that Bots KC event isstudents who are learning
(08:22):
robotics and they're gonna bringtheir robots together to beat
each other up in the cage thatthey're building and stuff like
that.
So would encourage people tocheck in with Catherine, keep an
eye on the calendar, becausethat's gonna be an exciting
event to see students who areactively engaged in this stuff.
So let's talk about yourtransition, man.
How did you get from being in aum in a salaried position in a
(08:48):
school district to running yourown shop?
You initially didn't start withthat intent, from what I
understand nope.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
So Essentially it started with a part-time job.
I had a part-time job when Iwas in college in a gun shop and
I started to identify littlesectors of the firearm markets
that I thought were beingunderserved.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Did you do that?
By listening to customerscoming in saying do you have
something?
Or just you had time to thinkand you thought what if, what if
, what if.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
More of the what ifs.
It was borrowing ideas thatwere maybe used in the market
that weren't being executed in away I thought was as good or
could be done better.
So I took an idea and, with mybackground of being able to do
some design and CAD work 3Dmodeling, that sort of thing was
(09:42):
able to design out a competingproduct and then use some
resources that I had through youknow my dad and through the
college and through other peoplethat I had met in the
manufacturing sector, to say,hey, you know, is this part
manufacturable, can we make a goat this?
And the initial product.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
I want to just hit pause for a second here because
from what I know of your story,we're going to come back to this
again.
But you just pointed out theimportance of developing a
network of relationships to besuccessful in this industry.
And so you shared about it and,like I said, I think we're going
to come back to this later inour conversation but you shared
that when you had an idea, thenetwork around you was
(10:26):
critically important to bring itto life and I just I want
people not to miss that.
Are you naturally a networkeror did you just kind of stumble
into?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
that, not naturally, but always been like a garage
tinker.
So I've always had a buildingmindset.
I see something and couldprobably solve it, or I may not
know how it completely works,but I can probably figure it out
.
So I've always had that.
I think that probably comesfrom my father and then did a
(11:01):
lot of work on a farm growing up.
So you know you were you didn'thave access to the right parts
all the time, so you had to makethings work with what you had.
So there was some ingenuity andsome garage ingenuity that we'd
come up with.
So part of it was just askingthe right questions, the right
people and, for whatever reason,the right people happened to be
around me at the time.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
So that's great, so I love that.
Thanks for letting me hit pauseon that.
Continue.
So you had this idea, youstarted working your network and
you it all started with an idea.
For one part, is that correct?
Speaker 2 (11:34):
One, one product, yep .
And so then reached out and anddeveloped some shop drawings
and then had contract machineshops bid and then got lined up
with a machine shop to to goahead and make things was the
one of the scariest checks I'veever written.
So I, you know, withdrew somecash and was like, oh man, I'm
(11:57):
gonna make a go of this thing,am I making the right decision?
Speaker 1 (12:00):
And that was all in You're literally in that spot
where before you can startselling something, you have to
have that inventory.
And obviously we all know youcan pay for five of these things
, but it's not going to returnits investment if you just get
five of them.
So you have to get so many andit's all just on hoping that the
(12:22):
market will accept what you'rebringing to it.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Correct, that's right .
Speaker 1 (12:27):
So and that that's intimidating for any company.
But when you're a one man shopjust starting with an idea,
there's a massive element offear in that and I appreciate
your candidness with that.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Well, you know, and I look back on it hindsight being
2020,.
You know, and I look back on ithindsight being 2020, you know,
I was scared of losing quote,unquote, everything but.
I didn't have anything.
So what was what was thegreater?
What was the greater risk?
Not doing anything at all, oror giving it a shot.
And I was young and I go, man,I'm going to give this a shot.
I think I would regret nottrying over trying and failing.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
So I just gave it a shot and again, at this point,
you wouldn't consider yourselfbeing in manufacturing.
No At this point, you wouldconsider yourself a retail
person who now has a productthat they've deeply invested in.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Correct, okay.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
So let's connect that dot from.
Hey, this is starting to takeoff.
Hey, I need more order.
Can you guys hurry up a littlebit?
When did it shift for you that?
Speaker 2 (13:26):
hey, this should be a manufacturing move sell the
parts, I would reorder the partsand, you know, take all the
profits and loop it back intobuying more and having them
(13:47):
manufacture more, and it justnever seemed to keep up.
I was always out.
Sales were always outpacingwhat I could have manufactured.
And then I was bringing moreparts to market.
I was having more designs, moredesigns manufactured, and then
I had a dealer network thatstarted to get large enough that
(14:07):
new ideas.
I couldn't limp into the marketwith 50 parts.
I had to limp into the marketwith 250 or 350 or 500 parts,
150 or 500 parks.
Well, if the part was unprovenand it was still just a
prototype, it was hard to writethe checks to get 500 of those
(14:30):
in the hopes that that would begood.
So that became kind of adaunting task and I was doing
all this, you know, part-time,still, while teaching, and from
2013 to 2017.
So I did that for four yearscontinue to develop parts,
continue to essentiallysubcontract that everything, all
the machining work, and what Iwas doing was was customer
service, order fulfillment andand that sort of thing, and
(14:53):
continue to design parts in theevenings.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Were you literally inventorying all this in a spare
bedroom or something?
Or did you have a storage unit?
What did that look like?
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Basement of a rental is where I did a lot of the
distribution out of and thentowards the latter part, before
leaving teaching full-time anddoing this full-time, I did have
a space that I rented andactually had two employees, two
(15:25):
employees that were working inCall Valley Precision while I
was at school teaching Justdoing fulfillment services for
you, yeah, fulfillment billing,inventory, qc, that sort of
thing.
So fulfillment type stuff.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
All right.
So we're getting to the part ofthe story where you're like I'm
going to take the next leap andI'm going to invest in my own
thing and walk away fromteaching how many products were
you offering at that point inyour journey?
Speaker 2 (15:54):
So I was around 15 products, probably give or take
15 products.
And, and it really came down tothis crossroads I was in was
like, okay, I need, I need todiversify across more machine
shops, more people need to havetheir hand because I need more
(16:15):
volume.
And then it really came down towell, how much money do I need
to bring to the table to get allthese new inventory streams
flowing?
And you know, that's that couldbe one option.
The other option would be well,what would it look like to go
purchase a CNC machine, figureout how to run this thing and
(16:36):
then, you know, machine my owninventory Because I mean,
there's margin to be made theretoo.
So it was.
I asked a lot of questions,started getting RFQs on machines
, talking to machine builders,talking to people in the area
that had done this before, andthen, just I basically did a
(17:01):
math problem with my wife at thedinner table to zero and to see
how much I needed to bring inand what I was walking away from
, where she needed to pick upsome slack and in the budget,
and we ultimately decided, hey,let's give this a shot.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Yeah, and I think people need to understand that
when you go into business, it'snot just you going into business
, you're taking your family intobusiness with you and there's a
vulnerability there and itrequires that team participation
and I see people trying to doit on their own as if it's not a
team thing and a lot of timesthat's so taxing on the
(17:40):
relationship that either therelationship or the company has
to be sacrificed, and either ofthose scenarios is a healthy
scenario.
So I appreciate you bringing tolight that, hey, this was a
mutual conversation because therisk involved both of us and she
was willing to help providesome of that stability in case
it was a slow lead up to success.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
For sure, and I should also add my path to a CNC
machine shop, or my firstmachine wasn't.
I had an idea, bought a CNCmachine, then hope the market
liked it.
It was designed apart, subbedout everything, had four years
(18:22):
of sales data.
That said, hey, whatever you'redoing is good, keep doing that.
Then bought the machine to thensupport a business that was
already established with fouryears of sales data that were
all trending up.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
And you're just changing your sourcing from a
vendor to yourself.
And now you're changing yourfinancial model as a result of
that proven crack.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
That's great.
I love thanks for thatdistinction.
So you don't have to riskeverything without testing the
market.
It might be a slower build, butyou can have more certainty in
the process.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Well, and at the end of the day, I mean, a machine
tool is a risk and owning abusiness is a risk.
And if you can have otherpeople make good parts for you
and you can work on some of theother stuff, that's very
difficult to develop, like youknow, the market, a website,
employment, shipping,fulfillment, quality control you
know all those things that areburdened in a business.
(19:22):
You know there's a lot to it,so I wouldn't.
And I've had a lot ofentrepreneurs come through the
shop and have ideas and I say,well, you just might as well.
Let me make some of these partsat first.
Versus, you know, going andburdening yourself with, you
know whatever.
Tens of thousands of dollarsmanufacturing machine, all the
spend tens of thousand dollarsin inventory again, I mean
(19:43):
you're spending the money eitherway which one's going to lead
you with.
Leave you with less risk.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
So Love it.
So here's what I want to do.
I am going to we're going toget back to this whole
transition point of when theshop took to life, but I want to
talk a little bit.
You are currently on the boardof KCNTMA.
Is that correct, correct?
And is this your first year onthe board 2025?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
First year.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
All right.
So what prompted you to getinvolved at that next level of
being on the board for KCNTMA?
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Well, I was asked and it's kind of interesting, I
find myself with a little bitdifferent perspective.
I don't know if it was age orwhat, I don't know, but I start
to see the people that frequentthese events.
They're interconnected.
(20:37):
I needed a way to networkwithin the industry.
These individuals that are onthe board and regularly attend
the NTMA events are just peoplethat I found myself being drawn
to.
And then when they asked, hey,I think you have a skillset
where you could give back to thecommunity, I was all in.
(21:01):
I was like okay, let's do it.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
I love that You're saying the caliber of the people
on the board.
You recognize that it would begood to rub shoulders with that
caliber of people.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
That you know you start seeing some of the
outreach stuff they're doingwith the younger individuals
that are in high school and thatcan be kind of intimidating for
some other business people.
It's not intimidating to me, Imean I kind of get that age
group of kids pretty well and Ican speak their language.
I've been there.
So an opportunity to give backand also kind of give back to
(21:36):
the community.
We talk about the skills gap,we talk about all these things,
but then there is so at timesthe action falls short.
So it was something I felt likeI could join the board, I could
join the NTMA, I could, youknow, put into action some of
the things that people weresaying that the industry was
missing.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
You know I talk a lot about this principle of you're
the average of the five peopleyou spend the most time with,
and that's a principle Jim Rohnhad said it years ago and a lot
of people share that and I thinkjust being really intentional
about are you just acceptingwho's around you or are you
curating the people that youchoose to let into that inner
(22:17):
circle so that your thinking isaffected by people who are
thinking forward rather thanpeople who are stuck in what
they used to be?
And I don't know, that may notbe the sole driving factor of
why you did the board, but I dohear that, hey, you saw some
thinking that was heading in adirection you liked and you
wanted to be a part of that andyou wanted to bring something to
(22:39):
that.
And to me that's personalleadership when you're choosing
to put yourself around peoplethat are next level thinkers.
So thanks for that example andfor sharing so much of your
journey to that point.
So any other thoughts on thatbefore we move on?
Speaker 2 (22:58):
No, I mean we just have got so much stuff, so many
positive things, both workingand continue to work, that it's
going to be an amazing year withthe NTMA, so looking forward to
it.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Awesome.
So we're going to finish partone of our interview here, and
in the next part we're going tolearn more about how your shop
grew and what your journey hasbeen like since the time you
opened up and went full-time inmanufacturing.
So we'll look forward to havingpeople join us for that next
section.
Ian Reel from Call Valley Precision.
Welcome to the podcast.
Good to have you, man.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hey, thank you for taking the time to talk with me
and hopefully we can both learnsome things and give back a
little bit to this community.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I love it.
I love it.
So you and I have connected.
Once before I've had theopportunity just to talk with
you on the phone a little bit.
Catherine O'Toole from KCNTMAsaid you'd be a great
conversation, and so I'm reallylooking forward to this
conversation today.
And let's start by having youtell us about Call Valley
Precision.
(00:36):
What are you guys about?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Sure, so Call Valley Precision is essentially known
for our aftermarket firearmparts.
We do a fair amount of work inthe defense industry.
Doing various consumeraftermarket firearm parts is the
lion's share of our work, butthroughout the years have
(00:59):
diversified into otherindustries as well.
Anything from you know.
We do some things in automotivelocks, clocks, oil and gas,
electronics, some injectionmolding and even a little bit
into the foods industry as well.
So I've really tried todiversify outside of our normal
bread and butter, just becauseit's you know it's pretty
(01:21):
difficult to dig a well whenyou're thirsty.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
just because it's pretty difficult to dig a well
when you're thirsty.
Yeah, definitely appreciatethat, and so you have a
non-traditional pathway intothis manufacturing space.
So why don't you tell us whatyour career was looking like and
when it took a turn?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Sure a bit non-traditional.
I guess we can rewind all theway back to when I was a kid.
You know I grew up withmanufacturing in my blood.
My dad brought me up infull-blown production
woodworking, so think, kitchencabinetry at a massive scale.
So I was around that sort ofthing growing up and never
(02:03):
really got bit by thewoodworking aspect of things.
So I didn't really know what Iwanted to do with my career.
And once I got to the end of myhigh school career I go well,
you know, what am I going to dowith this?
So I was exploringopportunities and ended up
getting on an athleticscholarship at a Kansas
(02:25):
University and not KansasUniversity, fort Hays State
University.
But ended out at Fort HaysState doing track and field and
then they had a industrial artsprogram where I just really fit,
felt at home, got exposure toother areas of manufacturing and
industry that I had beenfamiliar with, and then
ultimately kind of chose my pathto go into secondary education
(02:48):
teaching.
So my degree was in industrialarts, with an emphasis in
secondary education.
So that's where I cut my teeth.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Let's talk a little bit, because industrial arts can
mean different things todifferent people.
So were you doing wood shop orwere you doing more metal
manufacturing?
What did that look like in yourcontext?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
So the neat thing out there, it was everything.
So I had introduction intoplastic processes, woods, metals
, foundry, cad, cam, someloosely CNC machining stuff
where I did some self-pop thingsthere, welding.
So it was just kind of we'llsay that I had a broad stroke of
(03:34):
a little bit of everything, butnot real deep knowledge in
anything, so kind of the perfectmix for being able to be put
into an industrial setting at aschool, you know whatever they
would call industrial arts.
I would have a littlesprinkling to be able to be
successful there.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
What's interesting is how that has changed.
I'm going to date myself alittle bit here, but when I was
in high school in the late 80s,early 90s, you could either take
I'm trying to think about thefourth one you could take home
economics.
There was a foods class, therewas woodworking and then there
was drafting.
(04:14):
So we're going way back.
When you get into drafting classwith protractors and stuff like
that Boy.
This niche of that line of workhas really expanded from what
it was decades, just a fewdecades ago.
So it's interesting to me tosee how there are pathways in
(04:36):
that high school level that areintroducing people to the
manufacturing space and otherproduction spaces.
Do you have any thoughts on whythat's changed and how
important that's been?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Well, I think there's all sorts of theories, but I
don't know why things havechanged.
But I can tell you fromexperience.
When I graduated college withmy degree, there was only eight
other students within my degreefield and they all had jobs.
I was the only one that didn'ttake a job and I continued on
(05:09):
and got my master's in educationas well and then by the time I
was finishing up and actuallylooking for my first teaching
job, there was only one newteacher available in the whole
state of Kansas that would teachindustrial arts.
So think wood shop or anythinglike that.
There was only one and it wasme.
So I had opportunities toreally just kind of pick a
(05:33):
school district if they, if theyhad a job available.
And unfortunately a lot of theschools were faced with either
finding a teacher or closing theprogram, and that's kind of
where a lot of the schools havekind of found themselves.
And then once those programsclose, they're so capital
(05:54):
intense they never come back, orcome back in the same capacity
that maybe you would rememberyour woodshop looking like at
that time when you went through.
maybe you would remember yourwoodshop looking like at that
time when you went through.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
I appreciate innovative programs, like some
of what KCNTMA is partneringwith to help to create
apprenticeship programs and tocollaborate with other awareness
and education programs andstuff, because we need our young
adults to be looking at thiscareer pathway.
A because we've got so manypeople leaving the industry and
(06:30):
B just we don't have a workforcethat's inclined towards this
type of labor because there'sstereotypes around it.
But it's a great career paththat many people are having
great success and it looks a lotdifferent than it did 30 years
ago.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Oh for sure, and I mean to this day.
I still remember taking takingstudents on field trips into
industrial facilities and theyhad no idea anything like that
existed, and to just see theirthe light bulb go off in their
head and and then see a realworld application to where, hey,
(07:05):
actually maybe I could make aliving doing something like this
, because it, you know, thetechnology that we would be able
to show them in school, eitherwith our technology, our
equipment or through theinternet or YouTube or whatever,
is only a small portion.
Once they actually can see,feel, smell, you know, get
(07:25):
immersed into a shop environmentthat is, you know, actually
generating income and providing,you know, value and lifestyles
for people, it completelychanged.
You know the way they looked atit.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Yeah, that's great and you know it's such a
different world and there's somany opportunities and whether
it's from the engineering sideor even sales side in
manufacturing or running robotsand doing all the production
itself and that type of thing,it's such a diverse opportunity
field and I'd be remiss if Ididn't mention this.
(07:59):
Kc NTMA is hosting Bots KCevent coming up in late April
and prior to that event we'regonna be having a joint session
with KCNTMA and St Louis chapterof NTMA and we're gonna spend a
couple of days together withthem and that'll flow right into
the Bots KC event.
And that Bots KC event isstudents who are learning
(08:22):
robotics and they're gonna bringtheir robots together to beat
each other up in the cage thatthey're building and stuff like
that.
So would encourage people tocheck in with Catherine, keep an
eye on the calendar, becausethat's gonna be an exciting
event to see students who areactively engaged in this stuff.
So let's talk about yourtransition, man.
How did you get from being in aum in a salaried position in a
(08:48):
school district to running yourown shop?
You initially didn't start withthat intent, from what I
understand nope.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
So Essentially it started with a part-time job.
I had a part-time job when Iwas in college in a gun shop and
I started to identify littlesectors of the firearm markets
that I thought were beingunderserved.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Did you do that?
By listening to customerscoming in saying do you have
something?
Or just you had time to thinkand you thought what if, what if
, what if.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
More of the what ifs.
It was borrowing ideas thatwere maybe used in the market
that weren't being executed in away I thought was as good or
could be done better.
So I took an idea and, with mybackground of being able to do
some design and CAD work 3Dmodeling, that sort of thing was
(09:42):
able to design out a competingproduct and then use some
resources that I had through youknow my dad and through the
college and through other peoplethat I had met in the
manufacturing sector, to say,hey, you know, is this part
manufacturable, can we make a goat this?
And the initial product.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
I want to just hit pause for a second here because
from what I know of your story,we're going to come back to this
again.
But you just pointed out theimportance of developing a
network of relationships to besuccessful in this industry.
And so you shared about it and,like I said, I think we're going
to come back to this later inour conversation but you shared
that when you had an idea, thenetwork around you was
(10:26):
critically important to bring itto life and I just I want
people not to miss that.
Are you naturally a networkeror did you just kind of stumble
into?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
that, not naturally, but always been like a garage
tinker.
So I've always had a buildingmindset.
I see something and couldprobably solve it, or I may not
know how it completely works,but I can probably figure it out
.
So I've always had that.
I think that probably comesfrom my father and then did a
(11:01):
lot of work on a farm growing up.
So you know you were you didn'thave access to the right parts
all the time, so you had to makethings work with what you had.
So there was some ingenuity andsome garage ingenuity that we'd
come up with.
So part of it was just askingthe right questions, the right
people and, for whatever reason,the right people happened to be
around me at the time.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
So that's great, so I love that.
Thanks for letting me hit pauseon that.
Continue.
So you had this idea, youstarted working your network and
you it all started with an idea.
For one part, is that correct?
Speaker 2 (11:34):
One, one product, yep .
And so then reached out and anddeveloped some shop drawings
and then had contract machineshops bid and then got lined up
with a machine shop to to goahead and make things was the
one of the scariest checks I'veever written.
So I, you know, withdrew somecash and was like, oh man, I'm
(11:57):
gonna make a go of this thing,am I making the right decision?
Speaker 1 (12:00):
And that was all in You're literally in that spot
where before you can startselling something, you have to
have that inventory.
And obviously we all know youcan pay for five of these things
, but it's not going to returnits investment if you just get
five of them.
So you have to get so many andit's all just on hoping that the
(12:22):
market will accept what you'rebringing to it.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Correct, that's right .
Speaker 1 (12:27):
So and that that's intimidating for any company.
But when you're a one man shopjust starting with an idea,
there's a massive element offear in that and I appreciate
your candidness with that.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Well, you know, and I look back on it hindsight being
2020,.
You know, and I look back on ithindsight being 2020, you know,
I was scared of losing quote,unquote, everything but.
I didn't have anything.
So what was what was thegreater?
What was the greater risk?
Not doing anything at all, oror giving it a shot.
And I was young and I go, man,I'm going to give this a shot.
I think I would regret nottrying over trying and failing.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
So I just gave it a shot and again, at this point,
you wouldn't consider yourselfbeing in manufacturing.
No At this point, you wouldconsider yourself a retail
person who now has a productthat they've deeply invested in.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Correct, okay.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
So let's connect that dot from.
Hey, this is starting to takeoff.
Hey, I need more order.
Can you guys hurry up a littlebit?
When did it shift for you that?
Speaker 2 (13:26):
hey, this should be a manufacturing move sell the
parts, I would reorder the partsand, you know, take all the
profits and loop it back intobuying more and having them
(13:47):
manufacture more, and it justnever seemed to keep up.
I was always out.
Sales were always outpacingwhat I could have manufactured.
And then I was bringing moreparts to market.
I was having more designs, moredesigns manufactured, and then
I had a dealer network thatstarted to get large enough that
(14:07):
new ideas.
I couldn't limp into the marketwith 50 parts.
I had to limp into the marketwith 250 or 350 or 500 parts,
150 or 500 parks.
Well, if the part was unprovenand it was still just a
prototype, it was hard to writethe checks to get 500 of those
(14:30):
in the hopes that that would begood.
So that became kind of adaunting task and I was doing
all this, you know, part-time,still, while teaching, and from
2013 to 2017.
So I did that for four yearscontinue to develop parts,
continue to essentiallysubcontract that everything, all
the machining work, and what Iwas doing was was customer
service, order fulfillment andand that sort of thing, and
(14:53):
continue to design parts in theevenings.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Were you literally inventorying all this in a spare
bedroom or something?
Or did you have a storage unit?
What did that look like?
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Basement of a rental is where I did a lot of the
distribution out of and thentowards the latter part, before
leaving teaching full-time anddoing this full-time, I did have
a space that I rented andactually had two employees, two
(15:25):
employees that were working inCall Valley Precision while I
was at school teaching Justdoing fulfillment services for
you, yeah, fulfillment billing,inventory, qc, that sort of
thing.
So fulfillment type stuff.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
All right.
So we're getting to the part ofthe story where you're like I'm
going to take the next leap andI'm going to invest in my own
thing and walk away fromteaching how many products were
you offering at that point inyour journey?
Speaker 2 (15:54):
So I was around 15 products, probably give or take
15 products.
And, and it really came down tothis crossroads I was in was
like, okay, I need, I need todiversify across more machine
shops, more people need to havetheir hand because I need more
(16:15):
volume.
And then it really came down towell, how much money do I need
to bring to the table to get allthese new inventory streams
flowing?
And you know, that's that couldbe one option.
The other option would be well,what would it look like to go
purchase a CNC machine, figureout how to run this thing and
(16:36):
then, you know, machine my owninventory Because I mean,
there's margin to be made theretoo.
So it was.
I asked a lot of questions,started getting RFQs on machines
, talking to machine builders,talking to people in the area
that had done this before, andthen, just I basically did a
(17:01):
math problem with my wife at thedinner table to zero and to see
how much I needed to bring inand what I was walking away from
, where she needed to pick upsome slack and in the budget,
and we ultimately decided, hey,let's give this a shot.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Yeah, and I think people need to understand that
when you go into business, it'snot just you going into business
, you're taking your family intobusiness with you and there's a
vulnerability there and itrequires that team participation
and I see people trying to doit on their own as if it's not a
team thing and a lot of timesthat's so taxing on the
(17:40):
relationship that either therelationship or the company has
to be sacrificed, and either ofthose scenarios is a healthy
scenario.
So I appreciate you bringing tolight that, hey, this was a
mutual conversation because therisk involved both of us and she
was willing to help providesome of that stability in case
it was a slow lead up to success.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
For sure, and I should also add my path to a CNC
machine shop, or my firstmachine wasn't.
I had an idea, bought a CNCmachine, then hope the market
liked it.
It was designed apart, subbedout everything, had four years
(18:22):
of sales data.
That said, hey, whatever you'redoing is good, keep doing that.
Then bought the machine to thensupport a business that was
already established with fouryears of sales data that were
all trending up.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
And you're just changing your sourcing from a
vendor to yourself.
And now you're changing yourfinancial model as a result of
that proven crack.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
That's great.
I love thanks for thatdistinction.
So you don't have to riskeverything without testing the
market.
It might be a slower build, butyou can have more certainty in
the process.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Well, and at the end of the day, I mean, a machine
tool is a risk and owning abusiness is a risk.
And if you can have otherpeople make good parts for you
and you can work on some of theother stuff, that's very
difficult to develop, like youknow, the market, a website,
employment, shipping,fulfillment, quality control you
know all those things that areburdened in a business.
(19:22):
You know there's a lot to it,so I wouldn't.
And I've had a lot ofentrepreneurs come through the
shop and have ideas and I say,well, you just might as well.
Let me make some of these partsat first.
Versus, you know, going andburdening yourself with, you
know whatever.
Tens of thousands of dollarsmanufacturing machine, all the
spend tens of thousand dollarsin inventory again, I mean
(19:43):
you're spending the money eitherway which one's going to lead
you with.
Leave you with less risk.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
So Love it.
So here's what I want to do.
I am going to we're going toget back to this whole
transition point of when theshop took to life, but I want to
talk a little bit.
You are currently on the boardof KCNTMA.
Is that correct, correct?
And is this your first year onthe board 2025?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
First year.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
All right.
So what prompted you to getinvolved at that next level of
being on the board for KCNTMA?
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Well, I was asked and it's kind of interesting, I
find myself with a little bitdifferent perspective.
I don't know if it was age orwhat, I don't know, but I start
to see the people that frequentthese events.
They're interconnected.
(20:37):
I needed a way to networkwithin the industry.
These individuals that are onthe board and regularly attend
the NTMA events are just peoplethat I found myself being drawn
to.
And then when they asked, hey,I think you have a skillset
where you could give back to thecommunity, I was all in.
(21:01):
I was like okay, let's do it.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
I love that You're saying the caliber of the people
on the board.
You recognize that it would begood to rub shoulders with that
caliber of people.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
That you know you start seeing some of the
outreach stuff they're doingwith the younger individuals
that are in high school and thatcan be kind of intimidating for
some other business people.
It's not intimidating to me, Imean I kind of get that age
group of kids pretty well and Ican speak their language.
I've been there.
So an opportunity to give backand also kind of give back to
(21:36):
the community.
We talk about the skills gap,we talk about all these things,
but then there is so at timesthe action falls short.
So it was something I felt likeI could join the board, I could
join the NTMA, I could, youknow, put into action some of
the things that people weresaying that the industry was
missing.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
You know I talk a lot about this principle of you're
the average of the five peopleyou spend the most time with,
and that's a principle Jim Rohnhad said it years ago and a lot
of people share that and I thinkjust being really intentional
about are you just acceptingwho's around you or are you
curating the people that youchoose to let into that inner
(22:17):
circle so that your thinking isaffected by people who are
thinking forward rather thanpeople who are stuck in what
they used to be?
And I don't know, that may notbe the sole driving factor of
why you did the board, but I dohear that, hey, you saw some
thinking that was heading in adirection you liked and you
wanted to be a part of that andyou wanted to bring something to
(22:39):
that.
And to me that's personalleadership when you're choosing
to put yourself around peoplethat are next level thinkers.
So thanks for that example andfor sharing so much of your
journey to that point.
So any other thoughts on thatbefore we move on?
Speaker 2 (22:58):
No, I mean we just have got so much stuff, so many
positive things, both workingand continue to work, that it's
going to be an amazing year withthe NTMA, so looking forward to
it.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Awesome.
So we're going to finish partone of our interview here, and
in the next part we're going tolearn more about how your shop
grew and what your journey hasbeen like since the time you
opened up and went full-time inmanufacturing.
So we'll look forward to havingpeople join us for that next
section.
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