1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,680 Well, hello ladies and gents, Robert Sykes, Keto savage.com 2 00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:05,720 and today I've got special guest Corey Anderson on the podcast. 3 00:00:06,080 --> 00:00:08,080 I'm not sure how exactly I found out about Corey. 4 00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:10,200 I think I found him on Instagram, but he's doing some 5 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:13,480 awesome, awesome stuff. He's very passionate about the 6 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:17,040 skills that have built our society, the metalworking 7 00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:20,280 skills, fabrication, the welding, He owns a foundry and 8 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:21,960 he just doing some awesome stuff. 9 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:28,240 He's rebuilt an old school steam fired tractor and he's he's got 10 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:31,200 an academy's taught people how to build these things and 11 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:35,040 develop these skills. He makes kettle bells, 12 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:36,760 dumbbells, things of that nature. 13 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:38,960 He started that business when COVID was going on and there was 14 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:41,840 a shortage of that very successful entrepreneur, very 15 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:43,840 cool individual doing some awesome, awesome things. 16 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:46,200 I just wanted to bring him on the podcast and talk about his 17 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:48,440 story, his passions and his skill set. 18 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:51,000 Got no doubt that you will take something from this so that 19 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:53,400 further delay. Sit back, relax and enjoy the 20 00:00:53,400 --> 00:01:06,400 conversation with Corey. We are live, Corey. 21 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:09,560 How are you, brother? Doing awesome man, how are you 22 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:10,440 doing? I'm good. 23 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:11,480 I'm excited to be chatting with you man. 24 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:13,840 I honestly don't know how we connect. 25 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:16,800 I know I sent you Adm on Instagram, but I don't remember 26 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:19,880 how I found your profile to begin with, but somebody 27 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:21,480 recommended I follow you, I think. 28 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:24,560 And like the first glance at your profile, you're just doing 29 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:26,520 all kinds of cool stuff. And I'm like, man, I got to get 30 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:28,320 this on the podcast and just dive into it. 31 00:01:28,320 --> 00:01:30,560 So that's what we're doing now. Nice. 32 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:32,520 Well, thank you. I appreciate the invite and 33 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:34,840 looking forward to talking with you here. 34 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:37,480 Yeah, 100% man. So give me some back. 35 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:40,040 So I know you make you've got multiple different business 36 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:41,880 outlets. You're you make like gym 37 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:45,240 equipment, but you've also got a lot of, you know, old school 38 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:48,440 machinery, like you've got a steam traction tractor, whatever 39 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:50,640 the official name for that is. It's super cool. 40 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:53,000 I've been like just doom scrolling, looking at all the, 41 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:55,000 the steam engine work you're doing. 42 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:57,320 So what, what is it you do exactly? 43 00:01:57,320 --> 00:01:59,720 Like give me some breakdown of your your history I guess. 44 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:03,360 Yeah. So a little background about 45 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:08,759 myself, I was raised kind of in, in a family where preservation 46 00:02:08,759 --> 00:02:13,440 of history and hard work was, was really a passion and I would 47 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:17,840 say like a core value. And so bit I've been around the 48 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:20,840 preservation of history my whole life, like growing up around 49 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:26,200 antique tractors, steam engines, cars, and as a young boy 50 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:30,200 listening, you know, really that environment allowed me to grow 51 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:35,040 up around a lot of old timers who were, you know, passionate 52 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:39,560 about preserving history. And so those guys kind of became 53 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:43,800 my influencers growing up as a little boy, You know, now we 54 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:48,000 have social media influencers nowadays, but even before social 55 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:50,800 media, we, we have influencers in our life, right? 56 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:53,640 And, and to me it was, it was those old timers and I just, I 57 00:02:53,640 --> 00:02:57,080 love to listen to their stories and was just inspired by them. 58 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:01,800 And, you know, all they talked about was working hard and, and 59 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:05,560 keeping history alive and, and doing good, you know, doing good 60 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:08,200 things and helping other people. And, and I just, you know, so 61 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:13,040 that that kind of became really a core of, of what I believed in 62 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,000 ever since, ever since I was really young boy. 63 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:21,160 And, and that that passion for preservation of history led me 64 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:24,920 to bring to life one of the largest steam tractors that was 65 00:03:24,920 --> 00:03:28,040 ever produced. And that became basically it was 66 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:31,320 a childhood dream of mine to bring the 150 case back to life 67 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:33,840 because it was the largest one ever produced. 68 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:36,640 And none of them survived the the test of time. 69 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:39,280 They were originally built in 19 O 5 and and none of them 70 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:40,680 survived. They all got scrapped. 71 00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:46,240 And so as a childhood dream like that became kind of my mission 72 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:50,000 is, Hey, I want to eventually have the resources, the, the 73 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:53,280 shop, the equipment and be able to do that one day and bring 74 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:59,160 this, this tractor back to life. And kind of that, that dream or 75 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:05,920 that vision is what propelled me onto an entrepreneurial journey. 76 00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:09,600 Because in order to take on a project like that, I had to 77 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:13,800 create a lot of resources. I had to, you know, basically 78 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:16,880 develop and build the means to be able to do a project like 79 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:21,320 that. And so I started 20, yeah, just 80 00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:23,800 about 20 years ago. And I started started in my 81 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:26,840 garage with a small manufacturing company just 82 00:04:26,840 --> 00:04:32,400 working by myself doing welding, machining and and started with 83 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:35,000 nothing. Took out a loan from Wells Fargo 84 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:39,160 for $11,000 and worked worked in my garage for a couple years. 85 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:42,520 Eventually started hiring some employees and moved out of my 86 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:47,880 garage into a existing factory that was empty and just started 87 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:51,360 growing, growing my business and in manufacturing, primarily 88 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:55,600 doing welding, engineering, machining, metal fabrication. 89 00:04:55,760 --> 00:05:01,480 And yeah, within the first eight years grew, grew to a couple 100 90 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:06,080 employees and about 50-60 million in revenue. 91 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:10,280 And, and at that point, then I, I kind of had developed the 92 00:05:10,280 --> 00:05:14,840 resources to be able to start on that big project of building 93 00:05:14,840 --> 00:05:19,000 that tractor. And, and so around 2016, my, my 94 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:22,600 shift kind of focused to focusing on bringing that 95 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:26,840 tractor back to life. And, and, and I worked on that 96 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:31,000 for like a year and a half pretty much as a full time, like 97 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:33,560 almost like a sabbatical. I mean, I still had to keep my 98 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:37,600 companies running, but I had had teams and people in place to, to 99 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:43,560 really help support that at that time and just worked 100% on 100 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:46,840 bringing this tractor back to life, designing all the parts, 101 00:05:46,840 --> 00:05:49,080 casting everything, machining them myself. 102 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:52,840 And with a, you know, I had a handful of friends that, that 103 00:05:52,840 --> 00:05:56,480 pretty much helped me ball as volunteers, just friends helping 104 00:05:56,480 --> 00:06:00,000 me along the way. And we built that big tractor 105 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:02,840 and in about a year and a half working on it full time. 106 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:07,640 And so that was a pretty, pretty amazing feat to, you know, make 107 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:12,600 up, make over 3-4 hundred parts, you know, and cast them, machine 108 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:15,160 them, bring everything back to life. 109 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:18,760 And this tractor weighs about £75,000. 110 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:23,320 And so there's a lot of a lot of lot of iron and steel to to make 111 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:24,840 and, and bringing that to life. I. 112 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:27,520 Love it man. Yeah. 113 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:31,200 And so that's kind of like my, my, you know, just a high level 114 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:34,240 journey in, in entrepreneurship and kind of my background and, 115 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:39,880 and history, the preservation of history and skilled trades, like 116 00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:42,800 the skilled trades. Obviously, I, I grew up in the 117 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:45,520 skilled trades passion, you know, had apprenticeship 118 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:47,960 programs who worked under masters of machining and 119 00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:49,760 welding. And, and that was kind of my 120 00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:53,360 journey. I would say from when I was like 121 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:58,160 16 until I started my business when I was 22. 122 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:02,680 There was like a six year period where my, my, my only focus was 123 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:06,680 on learning as much as possible from anyone who would, you know, 124 00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:11,160 let me work alongside of them and learn from them and 125 00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:14,960 developing skills to be able to do ultimately to build, to build 126 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:18,440 that tractor, but those skills ultimately, you know, be became 127 00:07:18,440 --> 00:07:20,840 valuable in business as well. Totally. 128 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:24,200 How old are you, Corey? I'm 41. 129 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:25,440 Nice. Yeah. 130 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:27,080 You feel like you were born in the wrong era. 131 00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:31,280 Yeah, yeah. Everyone always jokes that I was 132 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:38,440 born 100 years too late, but I, I, I have a unique, like, I, I, 133 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:41,520 I, I kind of love the time frame that I'm, that I'm born in. 134 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:45,480 And, and also I'm glad that I was born before technology had a 135 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:48,040 huge influence. Like, you know, I grew up going 136 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:50,240 through high school and we didn't really have cell phones 137 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:53,240 and, and you know, I graduated high school in O2, so kind of 138 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:56,440 before, really grew up without much technology. 139 00:07:56,640 --> 00:08:01,880 And I think one thing that being so passionate about the 140 00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:06,680 preservation of history gives me an advantage in, in my business 141 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:10,480 and how I've applied things is because what one of my mentors 142 00:08:10,480 --> 00:08:12,480 always said, you don't know where you're going unless you 143 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:16,640 know where you've been. And you know that passion and 144 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:20,920 my, my respect and wanting to learn from history helps me to 145 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:26,040 also be very for like foresighted in what it, what is 146 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:28,760 coming in the future. So like throughout my business, 147 00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:33,240 even throughout my personal life, like I'm my passion is 148 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:40,080 preserving history, but I'm extremely forward thinking when 149 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:43,120 it comes to using technologies like in our manufacturing 150 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:46,320 company, trying to trying to use the state-of-the-art software's 151 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:51,040 manufacturing equipment. You know, personally, I'm into 152 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:54,720 all the future things a lot we do, I do a lot with AI 153 00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:59,040 cryptocurrency, like a lot of just a lot of the future, you 154 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:04,640 know, so just kind of kind of being able to be the bridge in 155 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:09,160 in and my passion for that history to also learn from how 156 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:12,480 technology involved and the impacts it had throughout 157 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:16,880 history to what is coming out today and what potential impacts 158 00:09:16,880 --> 00:09:20,280 might that have. So even though, yeah, it would 159 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:23,080 have been, I would like to have seen a lot of the stuff 100 160 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:25,880 years ago and how they did it, it would have been a, it have 161 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:29,280 been a damn tough time to be alive, you know, compared to 162 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:31,320 what we're the way we get to Live Today. 163 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:34,040 Now the the preservation of history is cool though, man, 164 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:35,920 before I fell in love with bodybuilding and 165 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:38,960 entrepreneurship, my my passion, like my first real passion life 166 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:42,640 was Native American history. So after I graduated college, I 167 00:09:42,640 --> 00:09:47,640 was either going to start my own business or I was going to go to 168 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:49,880 Alaska and live as a mountain man. 169 00:09:49,880 --> 00:09:51,920 I probably watch way too many Jeremiah Johnson movies or 170 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:53,840 something, but that was my thing, man. 171 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:56,200 Like, I loved it. I'd, I would, I'd made bow, bow 172 00:09:56,200 --> 00:09:58,040 and arrows. I'd, I'd made my own buckskin 173 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:00,920 leggings, like all this traditional Native American, you 174 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:03,720 know, wisdom that I just wanted to bring back to life because 175 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:05,480 that's what I was all passionate about. 176 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:08,920 Like I just, I really appreciated how far we had come 177 00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:10,400 and what all things were like back then. 178 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:14,200 And I feel like we just as a society, I'm so far removed from 179 00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:17,360 it that we just lack the perspective that it brings, you 180 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:19,280 know? Right. 181 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:20,400 Exactly. Yep. 182 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:22,760 No, I I hear you. Exactly. 183 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:26,440 But not that's that's cool, man. So talk to me about the the 184 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:29,240 manufacturing business. Like what is that entail? 185 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:31,200 Exactly what what are y'all typically produce? 186 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:33,440 And I know you've got the, the kettle bells and everything, but 187 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:36,560 what, what is the what, what is the primary manufacturing you 188 00:10:36,560 --> 00:10:41,400 are doing? So our our core business is 189 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:48,320 really our largest, our largest business by revenue is, is the 190 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:52,400 iron foundry. So at the at Dakota foundry, we 191 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:59,480 we basically meltdown scrap iron and steel and we realloy it to 192 00:10:59,480 --> 00:11:03,440 make it a a good high quality either ductile or Gray iron. 193 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:06,920 And then we're pouring, you know, basically pouring molten 194 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:11,960 iron into, into sand molds and we, we are producing castings 195 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:16,720 for OEM manufacturers. So whether it be like 196 00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:21,880 construction equipment, power transmission gearboxes, you 197 00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:24,960 know, Department of Defense stuff, fitness equipment, 198 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:29,000 anything that's basically an iron casting, you know, we're, 199 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:32,440 we're producing for, for customers to their 200 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:35,720 specifications. And so that's, that's really our 201 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:41,080 core business. We also have, I also have like a 202 00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:44,480 number of products that I've designed and have patents on 203 00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:48,800 that are primarily in agricultural or oil and gas 204 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:53,480 industries. And so we actually manufacture 205 00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:57,080 like do the metal fabrication, do the welding and machining 206 00:11:57,200 --> 00:12:01,880 and, and build out and, and sell those products directly to 207 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:07,080 whether it's, you know, farmers or drilling rigs rental 208 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:10,040 companies. So we have kind of our own 209 00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:14,800 little product line stuff that we that we build those products. 210 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:18,000 I used to, so how I started in manufacturing as I used to do 211 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:21,160 just contract manufacturing, welding and machining. 212 00:12:21,440 --> 00:12:25,360 And we did that for about 12 years. 213 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:31,160 And I actually decided to focus all our contract manufacturing 214 00:12:31,560 --> 00:12:36,040 into iron foundry rather than welding and machining to just, 215 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:41,000 you know, grow 1 core business. And also there's a lot less iron 216 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:44,680 foundries than there are welding shops in, in the US And so 217 00:12:44,680 --> 00:12:47,760 there's a lot, lot higher demand and, and need for that. 218 00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:52,600 And so as far as welding and machining anymore, my my rule is 219 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:55,600 I only pretty much only build something that I've designed. 220 00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:58,160 So we only do our own products in that aspect. 221 00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:00,440 Nice. Is soup and then. 222 00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:02,920 Like metalworking fatification in general. 223 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:05,000 Like one of my best friends is a master blacksmith and I'll go 224 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:07,880 over there and he makes like these crazy ornate, you know, 225 00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:10,560 staircase cases. He just made this elevator for 226 00:13:10,560 --> 00:13:12,400 this multi gazillionaire's house. 227 00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:16,560 But like seeing what he can do with metal is just, it blows my 228 00:13:16,560 --> 00:13:17,840 mind. And it's so malleable. 229 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:21,360 You can create anything with it. And obviously it's pretty 230 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:23,440 robust. But I mean, like, I just got 231 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:26,400 much respect for the skill involved in creating something 232 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:29,800 of that caliber and being able to do so at scale. 233 00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:34,720 Yeah, yeah. And it's, you know, I, I grew up 234 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:37,440 with that passion as well. And, you know, even grew up 235 00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:40,800 around other blacksmiths and, and blacksmithing is, you know, 236 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:44,040 one of those things that is becoming a lost art. 237 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:48,520 You know, understanding how to form metal, how you know how to 238 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:52,840 how to treat it, how to hammer it, how to harden it, you know, 239 00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:55,640 anneal it and all that type of stuff is, is getting to be 240 00:13:55,840 --> 00:13:59,360 really a lost art. I mean, there's very few guys 241 00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:01,920 who understand that level of detail anymore. 242 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:06,680 And when it comes to metallurgy and, and working with steel and, 243 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:10,320 but yeah, I, you know, having that kind of passion growing up 244 00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:16,200 for growing up with that and then embracing the technology 245 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:19,960 is, is really what the technology is really critical 246 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:22,120 in, in scaling that type of business. 247 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:26,600 You know, like it's hard to scale if, if, if you're, you can 248 00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:30,000 be the best blacksmith in the world, but you, you, you only 249 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:32,360 have the capacity of your two hands, right? 250 00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:36,280 And, you know, it's hard to scale unless you started 251 00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:39,160 implementing some technology with, with that. 252 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:43,760 And it is kind of unique because the shortage of those skilled 253 00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:46,720 trades is creating a high demand. 254 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:50,600 So somebody who's a very talented blacksmith, I mean, 255 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:55,760 they can make, you know, multiple 6 figure incomes just 256 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:59,560 working by themselves in a, in a, in a garage, just because 257 00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:03,600 they have a talent that is very rare and people will pay, you 258 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:06,520 know, good money for that. Why do you think there's been 259 00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:10,240 this massive decline in that skill set? 260 00:15:10,240 --> 00:15:12,440 Obviously with technology, you got a lot of people, you know, 261 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:15,920 working, you know, desk jobs and working from a computer 262 00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:19,720 non-stop. But I mean, there's still the 263 00:15:19,720 --> 00:15:22,960 demand for the products that come from that skill. 264 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:27,360 So what what's happening on a macro level with just that trade 265 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:29,560 in general, like fabrication in general? 266 00:15:29,560 --> 00:15:32,240 Is it just all going the route of robotics and a lot of stamped 267 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:35,520 material? It's not, as you know, resilient 268 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:37,240 to time. Or what do you think's going on 269 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:43,240 there on a deeper level? Well, I mean, my kind of my 270 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:47,760 belief is that it, it kind of all stems back to the 1980s 271 00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:51,000 when, you know, a lot of a lot of college universities are 272 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:54,520 government funded, right, Land grant universities and stuff 273 00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:57,920 like that. During the 80s there was a, you 274 00:15:57,920 --> 00:16:00,320 know, the universities weren't doing very good. 275 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:03,400 So that's when they they kind of started coming out with these 276 00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:09,680 programs where it was like, you know, trying to appeal, trying 277 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:13,040 to motivate people to go to university rather than going 278 00:16:13,040 --> 00:16:15,840 into a skilled trade. So they had, you know, like 279 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:18,680 micro talks a lot about this, you know, those old posters 280 00:16:18,680 --> 00:16:22,200 where, you know, they have the guy in the lab coat who went to 281 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:24,720 university and he's got a big smile on. 282 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:27,280 And then they have the picture of the, you know, the, the blue 283 00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:30,600 collar guy with his lunch pail who looks sad and miserable. 284 00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:32,680 And they're like, well, if you don't go to college, you're 285 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:34,480 going to be this guy with the lunch pail. 286 00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:39,840 And so there was, there was a big over the last 30-40 years, 287 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:45,640 there was really, I don't know, kind of this war on getting 288 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:50,200 people, you know, moving people from skilled trades into getting 289 00:16:50,200 --> 00:16:53,520 them into universities. I mean, that's then there's a 290 00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:55,640 whole political debate about that, right? 291 00:16:56,520 --> 00:16:59,400 You can, I mean, how much money does it cost the average person 292 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:01,760 graduate with student debt nowadays, right? 293 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:05,280 So there's, there's obviously advantages to getting people to 294 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:09,280 go, go rack up $100,000 in student debt. 295 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:16,440 But aside from that political piece, you know, I think we just 296 00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:19,839 really made it and, and we, you know, over the last 20 years 297 00:17:19,839 --> 00:17:24,400 taking technology, the, the science and technology classes 298 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:28,400 out of high school. So basically, you know, telling 299 00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:33,320 probably 2 generations of kids like these jobs are so 300 00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:35,520 unimportant, we're not even going to show them to you 301 00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:39,160 anymore. And it wasn't until I would say, 302 00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:44,400 you know, the last five years that we've realized like we're 303 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:49,200 going to have a huge problem in the United States because the 304 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:53,280 baby boomer generation is really the last large generation who 305 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:56,840 are in the skilled trades. And for the last two or three 306 00:17:56,840 --> 00:18:00,000 generations, we haven't put kids, We we've been detouring 307 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:01,640 kids from going into skilled trades. 308 00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:07,120 So now there's now there's a huge shortage of supply, but the 309 00:18:07,120 --> 00:18:10,400 demand is still there. And so that's why it's like, you 310 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:12,920 know, if if you tried to build a house or try to do a 311 00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:15,880 construction project or anything, even try to hire a 312 00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:20,640 plumber nowadays, it's like 1, if you can get somebody to show 313 00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:24,280 up, that's one miracle. And two, they're just getting, 314 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:27,880 they can charge you whatever they want because there's such a 315 00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:33,280 shortage for capability in, in these, these trades nowadays. 316 00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:34,800 Yeah. And I would imagine from like a 317 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:37,640 manufacturing standpoint like we've outsourced so much of it 318 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:41,440 overseas, like there's not near the in house production that 319 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:43,200 there was either. Right. 320 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:47,480 And, and that was yeah, since since early 2000, we've 321 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:51,720 outsourced, you know, a lot of lot of the manufacturing got 322 00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:57,520 sent out to Mexico, to China, you know, and, and like if you, 323 00:18:57,560 --> 00:19:01,200 if you look at just iron boundaries, for example, we only 324 00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:07,000 have about 500 iron boundaries left in the United States and 325 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:10,080 compared to about 33,000 in China. 326 00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:14,240 So I mean, that just shows the demographics of, you know, 327 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:18,520 we've, we've spent so much of that work into other countries 328 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:22,040 and basically we've shut down those operations here. 329 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:28,360 Besides the ones who were able to adapt and withstand just, you 330 00:19:28,360 --> 00:19:31,120 know, the pressure from the cost pressure from over, you know, 331 00:19:31,120 --> 00:19:36,280 competing with overseas markets and the different and the 332 00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:40,160 regulations, right? The, the, the, you know, in, in 333 00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:43,520 the US to compete, you know, you've got the EPA, you've got 334 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:47,720 OSHA, you've got a lot of regulatory arms that cost a 335 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:51,640 business a lot more money than it does to operate in China or 336 00:19:51,640 --> 00:19:55,200 Mexico where, you know, they, they don't really care about how 337 00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:58,800 much pollution goes into the air or as much about the safety of 338 00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:01,520 their workers as, as we do mandate over here. 339 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:06,160 Right, And I feel like a lot of people over here, unlike you, 340 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:08,440 they they haven't really, or many of them haven't really 341 00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:10,560 embraced the technological component of it. 342 00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:14,360 So like the idea of having a website, marketing, social 343 00:20:14,360 --> 00:20:17,120 media, like that's all kind of foreign to a lot of these 344 00:20:17,120 --> 00:20:19,040 skilled workers. So like, I mean, if I was to, 345 00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:21,920 you know, restart like for my kids, for instance, like if they 346 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:24,560 want to get into, you know, mowing yards and chopping 347 00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:26,200 firewood like I did growing up for money. 348 00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:29,160 Like if I just come up, hook them up with like a website and 349 00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:32,000 like a social platform and like make it legit, I feel like they 350 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:35,800 would already be the light years above the competition who is 351 00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:39,160 still maybe handing out business cards if if they're even doing 352 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:42,320 that. Right, they're calling people on 353 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:44,000 the Rolodex. Yeah, yeah. 354 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:50,320 It's crazy, yeah. Talk to me about Iron Warrior. 355 00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:52,920 So you've got, so you've got the, the code of foundry. 356 00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:55,360 That's where you're basically melting all this down, putting 357 00:20:55,360 --> 00:20:57,240 into the molds, generating whatever you need to from a 358 00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:00,240 fabrication standpoint. But then you've got the Iron 359 00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:02,200 Warrior of the, the gym production. 360 00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:05,400 I guess that's primarily the the the dumbbells, the kettle bells, 361 00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:06,600 gym equipment, things of that nature. 362 00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:08,480 Right. Yep. 363 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:11,480 I'll, yeah, I'll give you a little background on how Iron 364 00:21:11,480 --> 00:21:16,920 Warrior came about. So the concept of Iron Warrior 365 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:23,880 started about 10 years ago in, in my head when I was, we were 366 00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:27,360 hiring a lot of people in the skilled for skilled trades jobs 367 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:31,240 who didn't have any experience in skilled trades because, you 368 00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:35,040 know, there, there's not a lot of kids going into tech colleges 369 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:37,520 or community colleges and learning skilled trades anymore. 370 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:40,840 But we, we still needed to grow our team. 371 00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:47,040 And so one thing I recognize is we were, we were having a pretty 372 00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:55,720 high success rate with just identifying a key character and 373 00:21:55,800 --> 00:22:01,240 value ideals that somebody had to align with and then bringing 374 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:05,120 that person in based on their character and their values and 375 00:22:05,120 --> 00:22:08,920 then training them on the job, basically on the job training 376 00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:13,720 for skilled trades. And we were able to basically 377 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:16,960 bring, you know, most skilled trades people in within a couple 378 00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:22,440 of months and get them from zero to 80% effective. 379 00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:27,040 And, you know, versus. So then why would you go to two 380 00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:30,600 years of tech college if you can get paid to do it in two months 381 00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:35,800 at a company, right. So, so that was this concept of 382 00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:38,880 Iron Warrior actually came about when when I was starting to 383 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:42,720 understand like, hey, there's a huge demand for skilled trades 384 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:46,040 and there's huge demand for people who have the right 385 00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:50,120 values, who have the right work ethic, who can be a team player, 386 00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:54,200 who have grit, mental toughness, resiliency, accountability, all 387 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:57,280 these things. And really that's the most 388 00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:00,280 important thing because the skills you can teach anybody who 389 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:02,720 has a lot of those the right values. 390 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:09,080 And so the Iron Warrior actually came about as a idea for an 391 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:14,120 apprenticeship program. And now now since it's evolved 392 00:23:14,120 --> 00:23:20,080 into a 5O1C3 nonprofit that, that we operate where where 393 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:23,600 basically that we do just that. We, we create opportunities for, 394 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:27,840 for younger kids who have an interest in the skilled trades 395 00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:32,640 and basically run them through. It's like a blend between a boot 396 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:36,880 camp for character development and and a skilled training 397 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:41,120 program like apprenticeship. And so that's where Iron Warrior 398 00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:45,440 comes comes about as iron skills warrior character. 399 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:50,640 I like and yeah. And during so that that had been 400 00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:52,920 kind of something that I've been brewing for, for an 401 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:56,360 apprenticeship system over the last 10 years. 402 00:23:56,400 --> 00:24:02,600 And then COVID happened and, you know, I'm personally have always 403 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:05,400 been into fitness and, and, you know, focusing on training 404 00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:09,200 myself and just always sharpening the axe, you know, 405 00:24:09,360 --> 00:24:13,600 and COVID happened. There's there, there's a huge 406 00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:16,440 shortage of fitness equipment. Gyms are shutting down. 407 00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:18,320 People aren't able to go work out at the gym. 408 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:22,120 A lot of people are trying to buy equipment to work out at 409 00:24:22,120 --> 00:24:28,920 home, but a lot of, you know, 90, like 98 and over 98% of the 410 00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:33,000 fitness equipment at the time of COVID was all produced in China 411 00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:39,440 and obviously China shut down. There was impact to logistics 412 00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:43,480 and getting product here. So they're just, I don't know if 413 00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:46,080 you remember you were trying to or you tried to buy anything at 414 00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:49,360 that time, but it was just almost impossible to get your 415 00:24:49,360 --> 00:24:51,200 hands on fitness equipment for a while. 416 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:54,920 Yeah I I remember buying I got a whole rack of dumbbells that I 417 00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:59,600 got for $0.79 a pound and then COVID happened and everything 418 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:01,920 was non existent or like 4 bucks a pound plus. 419 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:04,960 Right. Just crazy. 420 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:09,400 Yeah. So when that happened, you know, 421 00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:14,680 at at the same time, you know, COVID impacted all of our 422 00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:17,680 customers, a lot of lot of them manufact, big manufacturing 423 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:21,680 companies that had to, had to shut down for a while or 424 00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:23,360 whatever. You know, a lot of our customers 425 00:25:23,360 --> 00:25:26,840 ended up down, you know, 5060% that year. 426 00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:33,960 And so basically I thought, well, I either have to lay off 427 00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:37,560 my people or cut their hours back, you know, to kind of 428 00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:41,680 survive this, this downturn with, with the economy and, and, 429 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:43,320 and our customers being impacted. 430 00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:47,800 Or I can find something else that we can make and try to 431 00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:51,400 quickly invent a solution that's going to keep, keep my team busy 432 00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:55,120 and keep everybody going. And so recognizing there was an, 433 00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:58,360 a need for fitness equipment, that was one of the only things 434 00:25:58,360 --> 00:25:59,960 that there was a need for at that time. 435 00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:05,320 You know, I, I was like, hey, I mean, we, I can design and make 436 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:09,320 tooling for, for the patterns and gear up and start producing 437 00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:14,480 fitness equipment and, and basically, you know, supply a 438 00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:17,680 demand and a need out there in this current time. 439 00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:22,400 And, and then also keep my people, my team going through 440 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:24,040 throughout. And so that's what I did. 441 00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:26,400 And we started, started with kettle bells. 442 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:30,600 And then since so many people were working out at home, you 443 00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:34,560 know, not a lot of people have room at home for a big gym. 444 00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:38,720 And so I was trying to think of like, how could I come up with 445 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:41,480 something that's, you know, pretty multifunctional, 446 00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:44,720 basically a new innovative approach to a piece of fitness 447 00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:47,600 equipment. Like how can you use one, one or 448 00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:51,480 two pieces of equipment and do a lot of multifunctional movements 449 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:54,160 with it. And so that's when I actually 450 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:56,680 designed and invented the War Bell. 451 00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:59,120 And I'm not sure if you've seen that product on our. 452 00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:00,720 Yeah, I'm going to. I'm going to buy one. 453 00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:02,440 Man, that looks super sweet. I'm going to get one. 454 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:07,560 Yeah, yeah, it's, it's, it's and that that ended up really taking 455 00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:10,360 off too, because it's just, you know, so multifunctional, you 456 00:27:10,360 --> 00:27:13,120 don't need to have a lot of a lot of pieces of equipment. 457 00:27:14,360 --> 00:27:18,280 And so that really just helped us as a team, like overall as a 458 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:23,320 company and a team just ride out that challenge of COVID and, 459 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:28,000 and, and that economic downturn. But then as a result, we created 460 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:31,280 a whole whole nother product line and a whole nother business 461 00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:34,960 around that. And, you know, since the Iron 462 00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:39,400 Warrior concept I had in my mind from the from the Academy and 463 00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:42,480 the skilled training and, and there was kind of a lot of 464 00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:46,120 connection, you know, that just made sense that the brand 465 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:50,280 products with the Iron Warrior because it's, you know, they're 466 00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:53,600 iron products, they're made by people who have that Iron 467 00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:57,760 Warrior mindset. And, you know, we also support, 468 00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:01,560 do a lot of military support and supporting warriors with the 469 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:04,320 proceeds from that Iron Warrior business. 470 00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:08,080 And so, yeah, that's, that's just kind of how that came 471 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:10,160 about. And, and now we just, you know, 472 00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:14,800 we, we're still still making the Iron Warrior products and, and 473 00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:18,320 still continuing to grow that business as well is. 474 00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:21,600 It still growing pretty good now that COVID is totally over. 475 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:26,600 Well, the demand, I mean the demand is quite a bit different, 476 00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:29,920 you know, now with, with a lot of the supply now. 477 00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:33,520 Now it's more, you know, it's more price, price competitive. 478 00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:37,680 So you know, you can, and even some of the other companies like 479 00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:41,000 Rogue and some of them actually came out with, you know, 480 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:46,200 American made product lines as well to compete with the, the to 481 00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:49,800 not just sell China or, or offshore equip fitness 482 00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:53,000 equipment. But yeah, it's, it's more, it's 483 00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:56,520 more competitive based on price now than it is than it was 484 00:28:56,720 --> 00:29:01,200 obviously during COVID. But with the war bell and stuff 485 00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:04,320 that we stuff that we have that's unique, there's certainly 486 00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:06,840 a lot of, you know, just continued growth and interest in 487 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:08,920 that. So, So what all the Have you got 488 00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:10,400 the kettle bells? You got the war bell? 489 00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:12,040 What? What else does that leg of the 490 00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:16,000 business create? Well, we, we do have. 491 00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:18,760 So that's the main stuff that we that we sell. 492 00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:24,040 We do, we do have a line of plates and some other products 493 00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:26,640 that that we actually don't have on the website. 494 00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:32,520 We, we kind of use them mainly for, you know, sponsoring gyms 495 00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:36,400 like, you know, whether it's a high school gym or a, or a law 496 00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:38,920 enforcement gym or a military base or something. 497 00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:42,600 We'll, we'll make some products that we kind of more or less 498 00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:46,760 donate to applications like that, but we don't necessarily 499 00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:53,240 sell them because it's, you know, to be competitive with, 500 00:29:53,440 --> 00:29:56,840 you know, per pound basis with China and stuff like that, it 501 00:29:56,840 --> 00:30:00,960 gets to be pretty low margin. So it's, you know, it's, it's 502 00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:04,440 stuff that I'm passionate about, like doing, but it's, it's 503 00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:07,240 better in the right situation for us to almost, you know, give 504 00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:10,640 that away and support a good cause rather than to, to try to 505 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:13,440 compete at that on something like that. 506 00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:16,680 Yeah, totally. So with regards to The Academy, 507 00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:19,320 Is it like a specific age demographic you're primarily 508 00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:25,400 working with? I would say our target, our 509 00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:33,720 target age demographic is 18 to 24 is kind of kind of that 510 00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:35,680 target demographic that we're looking for. 511 00:30:35,680 --> 00:30:41,320 Just because that seems to be the right age where, where, you 512 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:45,480 know, the, the, the candidates are the most moldable yet. 513 00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:50,640 And also starting to be become hungry and, and wanting, you 514 00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:53,600 know, wanting to get a, a career, wanting to make money, 515 00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:57,480 wanting to, you know, get a life and, and, and stuff kind of 516 00:30:57,480 --> 00:31:00,440 planned out and set up and ready to set goals and that type of 517 00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:02,200 stuff. What do you? 518 00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:05,000 See, like with the people, that kind of our demographic. 519 00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:07,360 Oops, sorry. With with the people that are 520 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:10,640 going through that, like what are some what are some common 521 00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:14,200 denominators that you're seeing? Like, are you like impressed by 522 00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:16,680 the work ethic as a whole or is it kind of like, man, I got to 523 00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:19,480 really get these these young kids up to par? 524 00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:21,080 Like what? What's kind of just the overall 525 00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:23,920 vibe you're getting from the people coming in these days? 526 00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:31,520 Yeah, it's, I mean, my, my perspective is sometimes a 527 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:35,880 little bit biased just because I, you know, I was, I was raised 528 00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:42,040 almost two or three generations older, older than than even I am 529 00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:46,440 was just my mindset and how, you know, the, the work ethic, the 530 00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:54,240 drive, the attention spans, A lot of that is, is definitely 531 00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:57,920 challenging for sure. And, and that's, but that's also 532 00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:01,000 where we see the biggest opportunities, you know, and, 533 00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:05,400 and that's also where we see the biggest need in the workplace. 534 00:32:05,560 --> 00:32:10,960 If, if, if somebody, if somebody can come in with grit, mental 535 00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:16,040 toughness, integrity and accountability into any company 536 00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:22,040 nowadays, they're, they're in a, they're in a category of that's 537 00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:24,160 pretty rare now, you know what I'm saying? 538 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:28,600 Yeah, it's kind of crazy, man. Like we've had several employees 539 00:32:28,680 --> 00:32:32,320 at our operation and like now as it sits currently, like the vast 540 00:32:32,320 --> 00:32:36,400 majority of my workforce is twice my age because I've just 541 00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:39,240 been more impressed with the older than the the younger 542 00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:41,560 people. But it's like, you're absolutely 543 00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:42,840 right, man. If they come in, they've got 544 00:32:42,840 --> 00:32:46,480 those core fundamental values. It's like it's they're in a 545 00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:48,520 class all their own. Right. 546 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:53,600 And, and the opportunities for them, like when we, when we, you 547 00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:57,360 know, if we have a, a, a person like that, that joins our team 548 00:32:57,360 --> 00:32:59,880 or they went through the Iron Warrior program and then 549 00:32:59,880 --> 00:33:02,640 decided, Hey, we want to, I want to stay on for a longer term 550 00:33:02,640 --> 00:33:06,120 apprenticeship or, you know, stay on potentially permanently. 551 00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:12,000 Like when they have those values and, and, and that drive, I 552 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:15,320 mean, they're, they're the ones you invest everything into, you 553 00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:19,400 know, and that's, and that's just, you know, they get the 554 00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:22,040 most opportunities because they're showing the most 555 00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:24,040 interest and effort. Totally. 556 00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:27,200 You've got kids, right? I think I saw a picture on your 557 00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:29,080 Instagram with some family members there. 558 00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:34,440 Yep, I've got a 18 month old girl and then my wife and I have 559 00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:36,920 another one coming in May next year. 560 00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:39,920 Nice nice, I got a 2 1/2 year old and one on the way as well. 561 00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:43,840 Nice. How, how has your upbringing 562 00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:47,440 personally kind of be like this old soul, so to speak, But also 563 00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:49,800 with what you've experienced with technology nowadays and how 564 00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:52,440 you've been able to leverage that, coupled with just how 565 00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:55,000 you've, you know, seen your workforce, how you've seen 566 00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:59,080 people throughout the Academy, Like how has all of that shaped 567 00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:02,160 you from a parenting standpoint? It's kind of young now because 568 00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:05,000 18 months, you know, you, it's, it's weird because like you want 569 00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:08,360 to install these things, but at the same time at 18 months, 570 00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:11,679 they've only got, you know, so much bandwidth that you can put 571 00:34:11,679 --> 00:34:13,040 on them. But like. 572 00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:16,520 As they get older, how has what you've learned? 573 00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:18,760 How are you going to implement that into your parenting 574 00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:23,040 strategy I guess? I think one of the, probably one 575 00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:26,960 of the key elements that I've learned just through working 576 00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:32,360 with generations of different people is that is, is really, I 577 00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:36,760 would say that key element is the importance of discipline and 578 00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:42,040 raising, you know, and, and raising kids with, with the 579 00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:46,080 right amount of discipline to where, you know, they, they're 580 00:34:46,080 --> 00:34:52,000 respectful, they're, you know, they're accountable, they, they 581 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:55,560 understand what's, what's expected and they work hard to 582 00:34:55,560 --> 00:34:57,840 try to achieve that. I mean, I know it's discipline, 583 00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:02,080 the one word that covers a lot of things, but it kind of starts 584 00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:06,760 just by just by maintaining that discipline and setting those 585 00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:10,640 boundaries and, and, and holding accountability to that. 586 00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:13,560 And, and that's something, you know, my wife and I are, are 587 00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:18,320 both very much aligned on is, you know, trying to stay 588 00:35:18,320 --> 00:35:21,600 committed to maintaining a high level of, of discipline with, 589 00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:24,560 with how our, how our kids are raised. 590 00:35:24,720 --> 00:35:27,240 Not that, I mean, not that we're, and I don't mean that 591 00:35:27,240 --> 00:35:29,480 we're just, you know, spanking them every time they turn 592 00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:30,760 around. I don't mean that type of 593 00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:36,120 discipline, but just that they are raised discipline in in 594 00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:39,400 everything that they do. How do you think y'all will 595 00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:42,240 approach like like education for them? 596 00:35:42,240 --> 00:35:45,320 Like, you think you'll put them through the public school 597 00:35:45,320 --> 00:35:47,960 system, home school, college? I mean, what? 598 00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:52,680 What's your thoughts on that? I, that's a good question. 599 00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:57,000 I mean, I personally am not a huge fan of college. 600 00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:00,800 I, I, I ended up dropping out of college after three years. 601 00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:04,080 I was also work doing an apprenticeship in skilled trades 602 00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:08,280 at the same time. And I just college to me and, 603 00:36:08,280 --> 00:36:10,600 and I'm, I mean, there are certain areas, certain 604 00:36:10,600 --> 00:36:14,240 backgrounds where it is, I'm sure you know, necessary, but 605 00:36:15,080 --> 00:36:18,400 in, in kind of the line of work and where my, where my path 606 00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:23,840 fell, it was, it was so much better to learn from the people 607 00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:27,400 who were actually doing the work and learning, learning kind of 608 00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:32,440 on the job rather than learning like the theoretical behind 609 00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:34,800 everything. And especially when it comes to 610 00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:39,600 engineering and manufacturing. So I, I, I definitely would not 611 00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:46,880 be forcing them to go to college as far as public education, that 612 00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:50,040 that's a tough question, you know, because the alternative 613 00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:53,960 with homeschooling is creates other, you know, other 614 00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:58,280 challenges. You know, we're, we're as a 615 00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:01,280 family, very Christian based. And so, you know, I know 616 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:04,960 there's, there's also some where, where we're at in 617 00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:08,400 Montana, there's, you know, like Christian kind of private 618 00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:13,000 schools, which a lot of people around here have been pretty, 619 00:37:13,120 --> 00:37:14,800 pretty happy with and successful with. 620 00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:19,880 But I think, I think the future becomes a hybrid of 621 00:37:20,960 --> 00:37:25,920 homeschooling in a community format, because what I, what I 622 00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:29,080 would be afraid of was just strict homeschooling is losing 623 00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:33,240 that social interaction. And, you know, I look at my, I 624 00:37:33,240 --> 00:37:35,920 look, I, I, I reflect on my background growing up in high 625 00:37:35,920 --> 00:37:39,240 school. I was never, I was never really 626 00:37:39,240 --> 00:37:44,880 interested in school except for history and science, but I was 627 00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:46,120 never really interested in school. 628 00:37:46,120 --> 00:37:50,440 But I, I loved school because I loved the, you know, I loved 629 00:37:50,440 --> 00:37:54,240 sports because I loved the team. I loved the teamwork. 630 00:37:54,240 --> 00:37:56,720 I loved the, the competitiveness that it taught me. 631 00:37:57,240 --> 00:38:00,440 I loved the discipline that it required for training to, to be 632 00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:04,480 competitive. And then I just, you know, loved 633 00:38:04,480 --> 00:38:07,880 the social interaction of, you know, a lot of in high school, I 634 00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:12,400 was getting in trouble a lot, you know, doing, doing things 635 00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:14,880 that my parents probably would have, you know, had a heart 636 00:38:14,880 --> 00:38:17,080 attack if they knew that we were doing that stuff. 637 00:38:17,320 --> 00:38:23,280 But it just it created, created a lot of experience where, you 638 00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:27,160 know, you know, I learned to take risks. 639 00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:30,640 I learned to, you know, you learn to negotiate, you learn to 640 00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:36,400 sell, you learn, you learn a lot of skills through that social 641 00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:40,240 interaction and a lot of the intangible stuff that comes with 642 00:38:40,240 --> 00:38:43,800 going to a school with a group of people and having a 643 00:38:43,800 --> 00:38:48,040 community. So I don't know yet exactly what 644 00:38:48,040 --> 00:38:50,920 we're going to do. We're still kind of seeing how 645 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:55,160 how the options are shaking out, you know, over the next four or 646 00:38:55,160 --> 00:39:00,040 five years. But I think in general, it has 647 00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:05,360 to probably move to some sort of a hybrid approach where, you 648 00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:11,280 know, good, good programs are taught in a community based 649 00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:17,160 thing, but it doesn't require so many individual teachers to do 650 00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:20,240 it because it's, you know, basically using, using a 651 00:39:20,240 --> 00:39:22,680 platform. Or maybe it becomes AI. 652 00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:27,760 Maybe all the teachers become, you know, are, are AI and 653 00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:30,640 they're just the people are the kids are just learning that way. 654 00:39:30,720 --> 00:39:34,000 You know, I, I think it's going to significantly change though 655 00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:36,880 from the public school that you and I grew up with. 656 00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:40,400 Yeah, it's it's tough, man, because like when I was in 657 00:39:40,400 --> 00:39:42,280 school, I mean, we had like a shop class in school. 658 00:39:42,280 --> 00:39:45,200 So like my last period we were like, you know, welding and 659 00:39:45,200 --> 00:39:47,400 stuff in high school. And I don't think high schools 660 00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:50,360 even, they probably don't have liability insurance to do that 661 00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:51,040 anymore. I don't know. 662 00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:53,960 But now it's like the community component. 663 00:39:53,960 --> 00:39:56,120 I don't even think is there so much because people at school 664 00:39:56,120 --> 00:39:57,760 are just looking down their phones the whole time. 665 00:39:58,440 --> 00:39:59,440 Right. Yep. 666 00:40:00,880 --> 00:40:02,480 Yeah. And that's, you know, I mean 667 00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:05,600 that that piece of technology has certainly impacted the 668 00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:09,800 social skills and that community aspect and just connections and 669 00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:13,200 relationships and in a in a very negative way for sure. 670 00:40:13,280 --> 00:40:17,400 I mean, so that's where it comes down to that, you know, setting 671 00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:21,800 those boundaries and having, having discipline because you 672 00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:25,200 know, I think I think it's important not it's, it's 673 00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:27,960 important to understand how to utilize technology, but it can't 674 00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:30,880 become, you can't become the only thing that you have a 675 00:40:30,880 --> 00:40:34,160 relationship with. Yeah, I think the homeschooling, 676 00:40:34,160 --> 00:40:36,560 I mean, especially now with all the advancements in 677 00:40:36,560 --> 00:40:38,000 homeschooling, like back when you and I were kids, 678 00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:39,440 homeschoolers were the weird ones. 679 00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:42,880 But like now, in fact, there's just so many opportunities for. 680 00:40:42,880 --> 00:40:44,440 I mean, there's so many different homeschooling 681 00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:46,920 curriculums. They've got so much. 682 00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:49,000 They just have so many resources at their fingertips. 683 00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:52,640 And I feel like from an exposure and a community standpoint, like 684 00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:56,680 when you are just exposing them to people, which you would buy 685 00:40:56,880 --> 00:40:59,120 you would be doing by default, having employees, having the 686 00:40:59,120 --> 00:41:02,440 Academy, having people that your kids are constantly seen and 687 00:41:02,440 --> 00:41:04,440 interacting with, I feel like they would be able to kind of 688 00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:08,400 capitalize on that interaction standpoint kind of as a default. 689 00:41:09,080 --> 00:41:11,560 Oh, for sure, yeah. And I mean, that's, you know, 690 00:41:11,760 --> 00:41:14,960 that's how I grew up too, you know, growing up around the 691 00:41:14,960 --> 00:41:18,760 Steam shows and, you know, my parents, between my parents, 692 00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:22,480 friends and people that they were working with, I mean, those 693 00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:25,840 all of those interactions certainly shaped, you know, you 694 00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:28,640 learn from those conversations where you're just sitting at the 695 00:41:28,640 --> 00:41:32,680 dinner table and listening to people talk, you know, and, and 696 00:41:33,560 --> 00:41:37,720 having that exposure to all sorts of that type of stuff is 697 00:41:37,720 --> 00:41:40,320 certainly beneficial for them as well. 698 00:41:40,320 --> 00:41:42,080 Yeah. What do you think? 699 00:41:42,080 --> 00:41:43,360 It's kind of like a loaded question. 700 00:41:43,360 --> 00:41:46,040 Nobody knows the answer to it. But like with you having kids 701 00:41:46,040 --> 00:41:48,760 with you know what you know from the history, but then also 702 00:41:48,760 --> 00:41:51,000 leveraging everything that we have at our fingertips from a 703 00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:54,080 technological standpoint with AI, with your interest in 704 00:41:54,080 --> 00:41:57,600 crypto, with your background and you know, firm faith in your 705 00:41:57,760 --> 00:42:01,600 beliefs spiritually. Like, are you more or less 706 00:42:01,600 --> 00:42:03,640 optimistic about where things are headed? 707 00:42:04,920 --> 00:42:08,400 Like not to be doom and gloom, but are you you feeling positive 708 00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:12,040 about the the trajectory of our society as a whole or you feel 709 00:42:12,040 --> 00:42:19,920 like we got a lot of work to do? There's a lot of things that are 710 00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:22,360 very positive. I, I mean, I would say in 711 00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:28,560 general, I see the technology, the, the shifts and in all the 712 00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:32,480 technology, you know, with AI, with, with decentralized 713 00:42:32,480 --> 00:42:38,160 finance, which is cryptocurrency reducing a lot of government 714 00:42:38,160 --> 00:42:42,120 regulation type stuff through some of these opportunities. 715 00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:45,720 I, I, I see a lot of the technology aspect very positive. 716 00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:52,480 The biggest challenge I think is going to be as humans, how we 717 00:42:52,480 --> 00:42:58,440 adapt to such a massive shift in technology and how, how the 718 00:42:58,440 --> 00:43:02,000 world operates. And I think that's going to be 719 00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:06,080 very challenging. I think it's going to require, 720 00:43:08,360 --> 00:43:12,560 you know, a lot of the easy jobs are going to become AI or 721 00:43:12,560 --> 00:43:18,080 automated and it's going to require people if they want to 722 00:43:18,080 --> 00:43:22,960 become successful to have to put in the work. 723 00:43:23,080 --> 00:43:26,840 And, you know, either either going into skilled trades, going 724 00:43:26,840 --> 00:43:32,840 into going into some, some job where it requires innovation, it 725 00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:37,880 requires thought, it requires, you know, physical work, all the 726 00:43:37,880 --> 00:43:40,480 things that can't easily be automated. 727 00:43:42,080 --> 00:43:46,080 I think there's going to be huge opportunities and that's going 728 00:43:46,080 --> 00:43:50,760 to be where all the money is made because, you know, a lot of 729 00:43:50,760 --> 00:43:54,240 the other stuff is getting going to become very low cost, You 730 00:43:54,240 --> 00:43:58,800 know, when it comes to what you can do with AI versus, you know, 731 00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:01,320 paying, paying somebody to do that role. 732 00:44:02,640 --> 00:44:07,560 So I, I, I'm a little bit fearful how, how fast we can 733 00:44:07,560 --> 00:44:12,920 adapt as humans. And you know, we, we, we went, 734 00:44:12,920 --> 00:44:18,560 if you look at just the last century, you know, from start 735 00:44:18,560 --> 00:44:22,880 out, from 1920 or The Dirty thirties, 1930s, right? 736 00:44:22,880 --> 00:44:27,720 Like that was some of the hardest periods of time to live 737 00:44:27,720 --> 00:44:32,840 through with The Dirty 30s with World War 2 and it and it formed 738 00:44:32,840 --> 00:44:36,200 some of the hardest men and women who who survived those 739 00:44:36,200 --> 00:44:41,080 times. And then, you know, from the 740 00:44:41,080 --> 00:44:47,880 80's, the 90s and 2000 we have technology has advanced so 741 00:44:47,880 --> 00:44:55,280 rapidly that it's arguably really easy to live in in in the 742 00:44:55,280 --> 00:44:59,840 United States anyway. And you have pretty much every, 743 00:45:00,800 --> 00:45:04,800 every experience, every entertainment, anything, 744 00:45:04,800 --> 00:45:07,560 anything you could ever desire you, you almost have at your 745 00:45:07,560 --> 00:45:09,840 fingertips for a relatively low cost. 746 00:45:11,480 --> 00:45:17,000 And so just over the last 100 years, you know, we have had to 747 00:45:17,000 --> 00:45:23,120 transform from hardened, you know, very, very survivalistic 748 00:45:23,280 --> 00:45:28,640 mindset to, I mean, not many people today living in the US 749 00:45:28,640 --> 00:45:31,720 are waking up wondering if they're going to survive the 750 00:45:31,720 --> 00:45:37,600 day, right, from a, from a food, water and security standpoint. 751 00:45:37,960 --> 00:45:45,080 And the, the, the, the challenge with that is that, you know, 752 00:45:45,080 --> 00:45:47,840 we're, we're kind of at the interim period where technology 753 00:45:47,840 --> 00:45:49,440 has advanced to make things easy. 754 00:45:49,440 --> 00:45:52,360 But the problem is going to be technology is going to advance, 755 00:45:52,360 --> 00:45:57,360 continue to advance to take away a lot of opportunity for those 756 00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:02,080 things that are too easy. And yeah, I'm not sure how. 757 00:46:02,120 --> 00:46:03,640 I'm not sure how we adapt to that. 758 00:46:04,160 --> 00:46:06,120 Yeah. And you kind of want to, I mean, 759 00:46:06,120 --> 00:46:08,000 like, I don't know, like from a generational standpoint, like 760 00:46:08,000 --> 00:46:10,680 the old saying, you know, hard times create hard men, soft 761 00:46:10,680 --> 00:46:12,920 times create soft men. It's like it's skipsy a 762 00:46:12,920 --> 00:46:16,960 generation, so to speak. And you want to, you know, hedge 763 00:46:16,960 --> 00:46:19,120 against that. I feel like entrepreneurship, 764 00:46:19,120 --> 00:46:24,920 building a business and fitness are like 2 very practical, 765 00:46:25,320 --> 00:46:29,080 actionable things that kind of hedge against that natural 766 00:46:29,080 --> 00:46:33,840 tendency to just lean into, you know, convenience and comfort. 767 00:46:33,840 --> 00:46:37,640 Like if you're an entrepreneur, if you're pursuing fitness to 768 00:46:37,640 --> 00:46:41,040 some degree, like it's like a self-imposed hardship that keeps 769 00:46:41,040 --> 00:46:43,840 you sharp. Right, exactly. 770 00:46:44,720 --> 00:46:47,360 Yeah. And, and I think, I think the 771 00:46:47,360 --> 00:46:50,760 transition is going to be, you know, for the, for those who are 772 00:46:50,760 --> 00:46:54,680 willing to put in the work, there's going to be, it's going 773 00:46:54,680 --> 00:46:58,840 to become easier, easier and easier to become an entrepreneur 774 00:46:58,840 --> 00:47:02,400 because there's more, more tools at your disposal. 775 00:47:03,360 --> 00:47:06,400 They're at less cost. You know, I mean, you can have, 776 00:47:07,080 --> 00:47:11,960 you can have an AI executive assistant for very low cost, you 777 00:47:11,960 --> 00:47:15,960 know, just simple, like a lot of those things are going to help 778 00:47:15,960 --> 00:47:21,040 make an entrepreneur's life easier, You know, just allowing 779 00:47:21,040 --> 00:47:24,320 them to focus on more on the core business and to be more 780 00:47:24,720 --> 00:47:28,640 producing more value themselves. So I think there's going to be 781 00:47:29,560 --> 00:47:32,760 more opportunities for, for kind of that entrepreneurish 782 00:47:33,520 --> 00:47:38,560 approach, even though it will limit a lot of the, the other 783 00:47:38,840 --> 00:47:43,360 potentially other jobs, but it will be interesting. 784 00:47:43,360 --> 00:47:45,240 Yeah. And, and how many people are 785 00:47:45,240 --> 00:47:50,400 willing to take on like being an entrepreneur as, as you know is 786 00:47:51,720 --> 00:47:55,240 it's, it's extremely demanding. There's a lot of, there's a lot 787 00:47:55,240 --> 00:47:58,400 more effort that that goes in before the reward comes. 788 00:47:59,080 --> 00:48:02,760 So you have to have grit. You have to, you have to be 789 00:48:03,760 --> 00:48:07,200 willing to stay in the fight when a lot of people would just 790 00:48:07,200 --> 00:48:11,080 want to give up at that point. And you have to just have hope 791 00:48:11,080 --> 00:48:14,560 that everything you're doing is going to pay off in the future. 792 00:48:14,640 --> 00:48:22,920 And so there's a lot of deep rooted, you know, grit and 793 00:48:23,240 --> 00:48:27,040 resiliency that has to be a part of your makeup to be able to do 794 00:48:27,040 --> 00:48:29,640 that as well. Yeah, I think the the barrier to 795 00:48:29,640 --> 00:48:32,680 entry be so much lower, but as a result, there's going to be a 796 00:48:32,680 --> 00:48:35,560 lot more competition at that entry level. 797 00:48:35,840 --> 00:48:38,960 So which creates a lot of opportunity for those that are 798 00:48:39,040 --> 00:48:42,040 the cream of the cop, the crop to be noticed and just staying 799 00:48:42,040 --> 00:48:44,840 far above all that competition because they're no longer 800 00:48:44,840 --> 00:48:47,560 competition at that point. They're just, you know, beneath 801 00:48:47,560 --> 00:48:49,080 it. For sure. 802 00:48:50,760 --> 00:48:52,680 But it's interesting, man. From a societal standpoint, I 803 00:48:52,680 --> 00:48:55,480 feel like with all the technology, all the social 804 00:48:55,480 --> 00:49:00,400 media, all the entertainment, I feel like there's just this, you 805 00:49:00,400 --> 00:49:04,680 know, it's in our DNA to like kind of return to this very 806 00:49:05,040 --> 00:49:10,880 ancestral, deep rooted reality that is just ingrained in our 807 00:49:10,880 --> 00:49:13,040 system. So like there's all this 808 00:49:13,040 --> 00:49:14,880 technology, all this advancement, but I feel like 809 00:49:14,880 --> 00:49:20,440 people are starting to crave and yearn for this kind of old 810 00:49:20,440 --> 00:49:22,480 school approach to things like this nostalgia. 811 00:49:22,480 --> 00:49:24,120 Like just simply sitting around a campfire and have a 812 00:49:24,120 --> 00:49:27,160 conversation, looking at people in the eye as opposed to to an 813 00:49:27,160 --> 00:49:29,200 Instagram DM. I feel like people are craving 814 00:49:29,200 --> 00:49:31,640 that more than ever before right now. 815 00:49:32,920 --> 00:49:36,320 Yeah, I, I agree. And I think, you know, I think, 816 00:49:36,600 --> 00:49:40,240 I think COVID really threw a wrench in, in kind of the 817 00:49:40,240 --> 00:49:45,200 development of, of human progression in a way that like 818 00:49:45,200 --> 00:49:48,280 it, it, it almost forced that seclusion for a while and 819 00:49:48,280 --> 00:49:51,040 really, really rapidly changed a lot of habits. 820 00:49:52,400 --> 00:49:56,960 And I think, you know, we won't know for a while whether whether 821 00:49:56,960 --> 00:49:58,240 that was a good thing or a bad thing. 822 00:49:58,240 --> 00:50:02,840 But I, I definitely have seen more exactly what you're talking 823 00:50:02,840 --> 00:50:08,440 about, more of that, you know, yearning for connection or, you 824 00:50:08,440 --> 00:50:13,600 know, technology resets or, you know, just not having technology 825 00:50:13,600 --> 00:50:16,560 around for, you know, whether it's a half a day, a day or a 826 00:50:16,560 --> 00:50:19,640 couple days, you know, doing retreats out in nature. 827 00:50:20,280 --> 00:50:23,720 Just that that stuff like you, you mentioned is just really 828 00:50:23,720 --> 00:50:29,600 rooted in our ancestry and something that we've, we've, we 829 00:50:29,600 --> 00:50:32,360 aren't really exposed to much anymore. 830 00:50:32,960 --> 00:50:35,720 Yeah, yeah. There's going to be like a a 831 00:50:35,720 --> 00:50:38,160 reckoning at some point or another. 832 00:50:38,200 --> 00:50:41,840 Some whether it comes, you know, from an implosion from within of 833 00:50:41,840 --> 00:50:44,880 us just overcorrecting or or what now, but I feel like at 834 00:50:44,880 --> 00:50:47,640 some point in the law stabilize and we kind of figured out our, 835 00:50:48,920 --> 00:50:51,280 you know, the right path, but who knows what's going to happen 836 00:50:51,280 --> 00:50:54,800 for that catalyst to take place. It'd be interesting for sure. 837 00:50:55,640 --> 00:50:58,160 Yeah, and, and, and in the meantime, you know, the thing 838 00:50:58,160 --> 00:51:00,880 that I, the thing that I'm even though there's, you know, 839 00:51:00,880 --> 00:51:04,840 there's a lot of things that can be frustrating with, with the 840 00:51:04,840 --> 00:51:07,560 development of society today. But the thing that I'm most 841 00:51:07,560 --> 00:51:12,240 excited about is there's, I truly believe there's never been 842 00:51:12,280 --> 00:51:16,040 a better time with more opportunity for those who are 843 00:51:16,040 --> 00:51:19,640 willing to get up and put in the work than there is today. 844 00:51:20,080 --> 00:51:24,080 And you know, it's just those who are willing to work hard, 845 00:51:24,080 --> 00:51:27,920 those who are willing to not quit, who, who are interested in 846 00:51:27,920 --> 00:51:31,520 investing in themselves, whether that's it. 847 00:51:31,680 --> 00:51:34,120 And it really needs to be a combination of fitness, health, 848 00:51:34,840 --> 00:51:36,680 you know, learning skills and knowledge. 849 00:51:36,880 --> 00:51:40,480 If, if you're willing to invest in yourself, you know, outside 850 00:51:40,480 --> 00:51:44,560 of work and, and just growing yourself, there's, there's, 851 00:51:44,680 --> 00:51:46,840 there's so much opportunity out there. 852 00:51:46,880 --> 00:51:51,720 I mean, it's if you're focused on growing yourself and taking 853 00:51:51,720 --> 00:51:55,280 care of you, know yourself physically, mentally, 854 00:51:55,520 --> 00:51:59,920 spiritually like you, you almost can't not be successful 855 00:52:00,000 --> 00:52:02,200 nowadays. Yeah, no, I completely agree, 856 00:52:02,200 --> 00:52:03,720 man. I'm optimistic in that sense for 857 00:52:03,720 --> 00:52:04,760 sure. I mean, when opportunity 858 00:52:04,760 --> 00:52:08,200 abounds, then the the equalizer is just the effort you're 859 00:52:08,200 --> 00:52:10,000 willing to put in. Right. 860 00:52:10,520 --> 00:52:13,200 Yep. So 100% what are what are you 861 00:52:13,200 --> 00:52:15,680 personally excited about? What's what's coming in the 862 00:52:15,680 --> 00:52:18,160 pipeline that this gets you stoked for the future? 863 00:52:21,120 --> 00:52:25,520 So I am currently setting up a couple additional shops here in 864 00:52:25,520 --> 00:52:32,320 Montana and I'm actually going to be setting up and creating 865 00:52:33,080 --> 00:52:36,080 apprenticeship opportunities through the Iron Warrior Academy 866 00:52:36,080 --> 00:52:40,360 for some, for some young people to, to come and work with me. 867 00:52:40,360 --> 00:52:43,600 And, you know, we do training in the morning. 868 00:52:43,600 --> 00:52:46,560 We do like, you know, the physical mental training, but 869 00:52:46,560 --> 00:52:50,360 also just doing learning and doing some hands on skills work. 870 00:52:51,040 --> 00:52:55,320 I'm, I'm pretty excited for that because you know, I, I'm, I'm 871 00:52:55,320 --> 00:53:00,080 really focused on right now. What, what can I do to help pass 872 00:53:00,080 --> 00:53:04,280 on the skills that I have that have been taught to me from, you 873 00:53:04,280 --> 00:53:09,480 know, generations before me? And how do we keep, how do we 874 00:53:09,480 --> 00:53:14,080 keep transferring these skills and creating more people who are 875 00:53:14,080 --> 00:53:19,000 able to keep manufacturing and innovation and those things, you 876 00:53:19,000 --> 00:53:22,520 know, a really prominent force in in America. 877 00:53:22,760 --> 00:53:26,800 And so that's, you know, besides, besides, obviously, you 878 00:53:26,800 --> 00:53:30,800 know, being a new dad in May and, and you know, the family, 879 00:53:31,360 --> 00:53:34,240 the family aspect that, you know, that we're growing here. 880 00:53:34,240 --> 00:53:37,160 Like I would say that's probably one of the things that I'm most 881 00:53:37,160 --> 00:53:42,560 excited about is just getting, getting the opportunity and and 882 00:53:42,560 --> 00:53:46,280 having the, the resources and capacity to, to try to invest 883 00:53:46,280 --> 00:53:48,120 more in the in the future generations are. 884 00:53:48,600 --> 00:53:53,320 There like any like specific, you know, skills that like you 885 00:53:53,320 --> 00:53:56,360 will not allow your kids to leave the house without knowing 886 00:53:56,360 --> 00:53:59,080 like basic stuff like, Hey, you got to be able to change your 887 00:53:59,080 --> 00:54:02,120 own flex a tire before you can before you can drive or just 888 00:54:02,120 --> 00:54:05,920 something like that. Yeah, well, they're, they're 889 00:54:05,920 --> 00:54:09,280 going to probably all know how to Weld and some of these skills 890 00:54:09,280 --> 00:54:11,400 they might not ever know need to use, right. 891 00:54:11,400 --> 00:54:13,520 But I mean, I'm going to teach them how to Weld. 892 00:54:13,760 --> 00:54:17,720 I'm going to teach them machining and G code and and 3D 893 00:54:17,720 --> 00:54:20,160 CAD for engineering and designing. 894 00:54:20,160 --> 00:54:24,280 So, so basically, I mean, my, my goal would be that they would 895 00:54:24,280 --> 00:54:28,520 have the capability to build something that they that they 896 00:54:28,520 --> 00:54:34,200 would want in the future. Because I, I really believe, you 897 00:54:34,200 --> 00:54:38,120 know, I don't know if you've ever heard, heard that saying by 898 00:54:38,720 --> 00:54:44,680 Musashi, but where he says to no one thing to know one thing 899 00:54:44,720 --> 00:54:47,040 really well is to know 10,000 things. 900 00:54:47,640 --> 00:54:51,520 And, and he, you know, he, he was a, a master swordsman back 901 00:54:51,520 --> 00:54:53,520 in the, you know, hundreds of years ago. 902 00:54:54,200 --> 00:54:57,920 But basically he said that if you have, if you develop and 903 00:54:57,920 --> 00:55:02,640 become very good at one skill, the, the process that you've, 904 00:55:02,760 --> 00:55:07,600 the journey you went on and learning that skill and also 905 00:55:07,800 --> 00:55:10,840 that depth of knowledge and a skill set and understanding 906 00:55:10,960 --> 00:55:14,960 makes it very easy for you to learn other things. 907 00:55:14,960 --> 00:55:19,000 But also just naturally knowing and, and, and being able to 908 00:55:19,520 --> 00:55:24,000 apply that to other things. So I think even though, even 909 00:55:24,000 --> 00:55:28,440 though my kids may never go into skilled trades, my I will, I 910 00:55:28,440 --> 00:55:31,120 will be very passionate about making sure they are very 911 00:55:31,120 --> 00:55:35,600 skilled because I think that just helps apply to no matter 912 00:55:35,600 --> 00:55:39,200 what they do it it just multiple, it's a multiplier. 913 00:55:39,640 --> 00:55:41,080 Yeah. And if you're skilled at, if 914 00:55:41,080 --> 00:55:44,560 you're like truly skilled at any one thing, like the confidence 915 00:55:44,560 --> 00:55:48,200 that that brings with it that you can then apply to anything 916 00:55:48,680 --> 00:55:53,240 is is hard to argue. Right, so exactly. 917 00:55:53,680 --> 00:55:55,280 Where? Where in Montana are you in? 918 00:55:56,720 --> 00:56:01,880 We are in northwest Montana, Flathead lake nice so up by like 919 00:56:01,880 --> 00:56:04,840 Kalispell Whitefish Glacier National Park area. 920 00:56:05,080 --> 00:56:07,200 That must be how I stumbled on you in the 1st place. 921 00:56:07,200 --> 00:56:11,600 So I've I've been now I'm part of like Rob Bailey's flag nor 922 00:56:11,600 --> 00:56:16,840 fail mastermind group. And then I was following a path 923 00:56:16,840 --> 00:56:19,160 somewhere there I found Montana Knife company. 924 00:56:19,160 --> 00:56:21,680 I think that's probably how I wound up find out about. 925 00:56:21,800 --> 00:56:23,640 You. Yeah. 926 00:56:23,800 --> 00:56:25,400 Yeah, Rob. Yeah. 927 00:56:25,400 --> 00:56:30,480 Rob's only probably about 2525 miles from my place here. 928 00:56:30,880 --> 00:56:32,680 Very cool. Yeah, Montana's beautiful, man. 929 00:56:32,720 --> 00:56:34,960 I've not haunted there. I've haunted all around there. 930 00:56:35,560 --> 00:56:37,520 But I've been through there several times and Montana's like 931 00:56:37,520 --> 00:56:42,600 a whole different spot. Yeah, yeah, it's we, we 932 00:56:42,600 --> 00:56:45,360 certainly love, you know, I, I grew up in South Dakota, so I, I 933 00:56:45,360 --> 00:56:48,360 grew up in the flatlands. You know, we always joke that 934 00:56:48,360 --> 00:56:51,120 you could watch your dog run away for two weeks, you know, 935 00:56:52,240 --> 00:56:56,400 and like moving out to the mountains and, and being kind of 936 00:56:56,400 --> 00:57:00,160 in nature, in the trees, like was always a a dream of mine to 937 00:57:00,760 --> 00:57:03,600 my dream was to have a shop in the mountains where I could have 938 00:57:03,600 --> 00:57:06,800 a wood stove and a fire going in the shop and just be working on 939 00:57:06,800 --> 00:57:10,720 stuff and look outside and see mountains and trees and like 940 00:57:10,720 --> 00:57:13,960 that's that. That was a dream that I really 941 00:57:13,960 --> 00:57:17,320 aspired towards and, and finally, finally got out there. 942 00:57:17,320 --> 00:57:19,320 I. Love it, man, I love it. 943 00:57:19,960 --> 00:57:21,640 Well, you're a freaking inspiration, brother. 944 00:57:21,640 --> 00:57:25,120 I appreciate the fact that you're, you know, not deviating 945 00:57:25,120 --> 00:57:28,320 from our, our history. I think that is very important. 946 00:57:28,320 --> 00:57:30,680 I mean, I've, as, as you said in the very beginning, like you 947 00:57:30,680 --> 00:57:32,520 can't possibly know where you're going if you don't know where 948 00:57:32,520 --> 00:57:35,800 you've come from. And I, you know, having that 949 00:57:35,800 --> 00:57:38,680 passion for history as well. It's like that's what I want to 950 00:57:38,680 --> 00:57:42,080 double down on. So I admire the fact that you're 951 00:57:42,080 --> 00:57:45,240 instilling that in our youth. And I just think what you're 952 00:57:45,240 --> 00:57:47,360 doing super cool as well. So keep doing it man. 953 00:57:48,320 --> 00:57:50,480 Yeah, thank you. I appreciate it. 954 00:57:50,480 --> 00:57:54,440 I've really enjoyed our conversation and and appreciate 955 00:57:54,440 --> 00:57:55,680 the opportunity to visit with you. 956 00:57:55,680 --> 00:57:58,640 Yeah, A. 100% man. So where do people go to to dig 957 00:57:58,640 --> 00:58:04,120 deeper into your world? So you can go to Corey Anderson, 958 00:58:04,120 --> 00:58:08,640 KORY, anderson.com. That's, that's my kind of my 959 00:58:08,640 --> 00:58:12,240 personal website that has links to a lot of our other, other 960 00:58:12,240 --> 00:58:13,600 stuff. But it, you know, it takes you 961 00:58:13,600 --> 00:58:17,280 to either the 150 case project, which we have a, a different, 962 00:58:17,280 --> 00:58:21,000 different site and, and kind of a whole mission there where we 963 00:58:21,000 --> 00:58:24,000 actually take that engine around to different shows and do events 964 00:58:24,000 --> 00:58:26,720 and kind of, you know, bring awareness to the, to the 965 00:58:26,720 --> 00:58:29,560 preservation of history and American innovation and hard 966 00:58:29,560 --> 00:58:32,000 work. And then, you know, 967 00:58:32,520 --> 00:58:36,960 ironwarrior.com is where you can really go see like our fitness, 968 00:58:36,960 --> 00:58:39,120 the fitness side of our business. 969 00:58:39,120 --> 00:58:43,280 And then there's a link there to the Academy where if you have 970 00:58:43,280 --> 00:58:46,480 anybody who's interested in skilled trades, or they don't 971 00:58:46,480 --> 00:58:48,720 even have to be interested in the skilled trades. 972 00:58:48,800 --> 00:58:56,000 You know, in in particular, just a young person who wants to go 973 00:58:56,000 --> 00:58:59,360 through a character development program, learn some skills along 974 00:58:59,360 --> 00:59:03,600 the way and just, you know, have have a good opportunity to be 975 00:59:03,600 --> 00:59:06,040 successful in the future. And that's, I mean, that's what 976 00:59:06,040 --> 00:59:10,280 we're all about there. And so yeah, coreyanderson.com 977 00:59:10,480 --> 00:59:13,680 and ironwarrior.com would be the the two primary locations to 978 00:59:14,040 --> 00:59:15,800 check out some info. Awesome. 979 00:59:15,800 --> 00:59:17,880 I will definitely link out, make it easy for people to find you 980 00:59:17,880 --> 00:59:20,320 and I, I certainly encourage people to check out the case 981 00:59:20,320 --> 00:59:24,560 project that my, my 2 year old son is massively into tractors 982 00:59:24,840 --> 00:59:26,960 and coal-fired locomotive engines. 983 00:59:27,280 --> 00:59:29,040 So like it's a, it's a blend of A2. 984 00:59:29,040 --> 00:59:32,560 It's pretty awesome. Yeah, if he goes to my YouTube 985 00:59:32,560 --> 00:59:36,200 page, there's a lot of videos if he hasn't seen the the 150 case 986 00:59:36,200 --> 00:59:38,880 there yet. But yeah, on my YouTube at Corey 987 00:59:38,880 --> 00:59:43,040 Anderson, we've got a lot of a lot of cool steam steam stuff 988 00:59:43,040 --> 00:59:47,800 and rolling coal on that page. Very cool, very cool. 989 00:59:47,800 --> 00:59:48,880 Well, Corey, keep killing it, brother. 990 00:59:49,200 --> 00:59:50,200 Like I said, I'm out what you're doing. 991 00:59:50,200 --> 00:59:52,520 I appreciate what you're doing and definitely keep in touch 992 00:59:52,520 --> 00:59:54,080 man. All right. 993 00:59:54,080 --> 00:59:55,400 Sounds good. Well, thanks, Robert. 994 00:59:55,400 --> 00:59:57,080 Appreciate, appreciate having me on here. 995 00:59:57,200 --> 00:59:58,160 You bet. See you brother. 996 00:59:58,280 --> 01:00:01,000 Happy holidays. All right, Merry Christmas. 997 01:00:01,000 --> 01:00:02,000 Take care. Christmas bye bye. 998 01:00:02,840 --> 01:00:02,920 Bye.