He started working heavy equipment as a kid, built a side hustle in college just to pay for a dirt bike shop, and turned it into a nationwide manufacturing company. In this episode, Roggen Frick, co-owner of Bear Ironworks, shares how he built a family-run, American-made construction equipment brand that ships across the country—and what it really takes to grow and manage a lean, efficient business.

In this conversation, Adrienne sits down with Roggen Frick, vice president and co-owner of Bear Ironworks, a Colorado-based manufacturer of rock screens, snow pushers, tracking pads, and other excavation and construction equipment—sold primarily through e-commerce and shipped nationwide.

Roggen shares how growing up in the construction world, operating equipment from a young age, and learning to weld alongside his dad laid the foundation for his future as both an operator and entrepreneur. He talks about starting Bear Ironworks as a side business in college just to fund his dirt bike hobby, shutting it down to finish school, then relaunching it with his dad in the middle of COVID and scaling it into a full manufacturing operation.

He breaks down how they went from “one-off custom orders” to a true manufacturing system with inventory, logistics, and online marketing, and how he manages a Colorado factory while living in South Carolina. Roggen also opens up about challenges with being a young leader in a seasoned industry, navigating inflation and rising costs, and using lean principles and data to create efficiency so he can afford to provide solid wages and benefits for his team.

It’s a story of family, grit, and building something real and tangible—one piece of steel at a time.

“I’m not the expert in the situation—I’m just the director of the chaos trying to make something happen.”

• Family roots can fuel powerful businesses. Growing up in construction with a dad who owned companies gave Roggen not just skills, but a mindset for problem-solving, grit, and ownership.
• His first business goal? A dirt bike shop. Bear Ironworks originally started in college as a side hustle to pay rent on a shop where he could work on his dirt bike—proof that real businesses can grow from very simple, personal motivations.
• From custom jobs to true manufacturing. Roggen transformed Bear Ironworks from “someone calls, we build one” into a real manufacturing company with stock, systems, scheduling, and predictable output.
• Logistics can make or break a product business. Shipping large, heavy steel equipment nationwide was almost what killed the business early on—bringing in an operations/logistics expert was a turning point.
• Lean management + data = resilience. Roggen uses data and lean practices to continuously cut waste, increase efficiency, and free up resources to provide healthcare and retirement benefits without sacrificing the bottom line.
• Being young doesn’t mean pretending to know everything. Instead of fighting age bias in construction, he focused on listening, respecting experience, asking questions, and positioning himself as the one coordinating the work, not claiming to know more than veterans.
• Niche products thrive online when marketed smartly. Bear Ironworks relies heavily on SEO, Google ads, Google Shopping, and retargeting to reach contractors who are actively looking for specific equipment—not just casually scrolling.Visit the website at https://beariron.com/

When you’re building a business, the most expensive problems are often the ones you never saw coming. In this episode, Business Mistake Prevention Specialist William Holsten shares how a carnival game side hustle turned into a patented product, a $2M revenue run… and a painful $2.3M lesson. From broken dunk-tank alternatives to distraction, fatigue, and burnout, William shows entrepreneurs how to spot their personal risk patterns—and “uh-oh proof” their business before costly mistakes derail success.

In this conversation, William Holsten walks through his 38-year career in corporate marketing and innovation—and the family side business that taught him the high cost of preventable mistakes. He shares the story of inventing Pitch Burst, a “drought-proof dunk tank” that took off quickly but nearly destroyed the business when early versions weren’t built for heavy rental use.

William explains how those “uh-oh moments” led to a redesigned product, multiple patented games, and ultimately a $2M business that still lives on today—even though the journey ended in a net loss and a lot of hard-earned wisdom.

Now retired from corporate life, William mentors entrepreneurs through SCORE, wrote the book “Uh-Oh! How to Avoid Unintentional Blunders that Derail Entrepreneurial Success,” and created mistakeriskquiz.com. This free tool helps founders assess their personal risk of mistakes across six areas, including stress, fatigue, assumptions, and distractions. He explains why behavior—not age, gender, or background—drives mistake risk, and how simple habits and tools can dramatically reduce the likelihood of costly, painful missteps.

1. “Uh-oh moments” are inevitable—but preventable losses aren’t.
2. Your behavior is a bigger risk factor than your demographics.
3. Prototype thinking isn’t enough—you must design for real-world use.
4. Distraction and fatigue quietly fuel most everyday business errors.
5. Learning from others’ mistakes is a power move.

Connect with William: https://williamholsten.com/

In this episode of Adrienne Barker Speaks No Prep Needed, Adrienne sits down with Jon Morris, founder of Fiscal Advocate and the entrepreneur who grew Rise Interactive from a $10K business plan competition win into a nearly $40 million digital agency before selling it. Jon breaks down financial strategy in plain English, explaining how service-based businesses can use their numbers to grow faster, become more profitable, and stop making emotional decisions that quietly sabotage long-term success. From understanding why most companies get stuck at the same revenue level to knowing when growth requires spending less profit, not more hustle, this conversation is a masterclass in clarity, leadership, and financial truth-telling.

Six Key Takeaways

→ There are only three KPIs that truly matter: cash on hand, profit margin and revenue growth → Most service based businesses stall because gross margins are too low not because sales are too weak

→ Spending more money does not guarantee growth but reducing the right expenses always improves stability

→ People costs make up roughly 80 percent of service businesses so financial fixes require emotional leadership

→ Profitable companies often fail to grow because they under invest in sales marketing and innovation

→ A strong finance strategy removes emotion from decision-making and gives CEOs the confidence to act

Who This Episode Is For → Founders and CEOs of service based businesses earning between $5M and $50M → Business owners who feel stuck at the same revenue level year after year → Leaders who want clarity instead of guessing month to month → Entrepreneurs who want their financial data actually to guide growth decisions

How to Connect With Jon Morris Website →http://www.fiscaladvocate.com