How did we get here from there????

How does one start a powder coating business from scratch do you ask???

Well that's an interesting question and the answer is pretty funny. From a homework assignment of course!

Back in 2016 I decided it was time for me to make myself more marketable in the professional arena so after 11 years of being out of engineering school, it was time to go back and get an MBA. I didn't want just any MBA like everyone else had, cause if I was going back to school, I wanted what knowledge I gained to not only help me in the corporate world, but give me building blocks to start my own business as that was my lifelong goal.

By chance, I had seen on Facebook where a friend from engineering school was attending this MBAe program at Clemson and after a few emails back and forth, he had me signed up for an info session within a few days. I stopped in, got the overview that the program was geared towards entrepreneurs and starting businesses and I was hooked. An application and essay later, I'm in to start classes within the next month.

I've also had all these different ideas floating in my head to bring to market, some really good ones that I was just beat bringing to market but the program requires you to bring an idea to flush through the process. I brought an idea for the Last Drop Wrench (www.lastdropwrench.com) to the program, but my thought was to work all these ideas at the same time to see what hit first.

Fast forward to 1st class, within the first 3 hours I'm sitting with a group of 18 other professionals in this program pitching our ideas and getting tough love from our profession Mr. Klein. When it was my turn, I had seen how other's ideas had been met, so instead of going with my original idea, I pitched the hybrid of about 3-4 other items I'd thought about doing for entrepreneurs just like myself. The teach just looked at me confused, took some notes asked a few questions, then on to the next person.

Skip to the end of the class, we each were given our directives on deliverables for the class to pass an everyone's were different backs on our idea. Some had to decided on their idea, some had to go ask 100 people about their idea, and yet some others were told to research their idea. When it got to me, the long and short of it I was told I just needed to pick on thing out of the mix-match of ideas and prove I could make money at it by December finals...

Two weeks went by after our cohort weekend and I'm still struggling how to provide a service to customers I don't have with equipment I can't afford in time I don't have... As luck would have it, a colleague at work came in my office with a newly powder coated Yeti cup and asked if I could fix it as it had some damage and wasn't really cured properly. Based on my previous painting skills I knew there was no hope for him, but it sparked an idea. Off to Youtube.com I went and a few short videos later I was sourcing equipment around town to start a small powder coating operation.

Fast forward to Christmas time, I'd done about 450 cups in 3 months, had $2,000 cash in my pocket and after showing the wad to my professor I passed the course. It was the best lesson in bootstrapping, starting a business and JFDI I'd every gotten. Four years later, we've grown to what we are now and I couldn't be more proud.

Moral of the story, always bet and invest in yourself, where there's a will there's a way, and JFDI. (Just Fucking Do It)