11/07/2025
We forget how and where things start.
In 2018, I was at an Ag Show in Minot, North Dakota, helping represent DeKoning Innovations, a Canadian-built telescoping conveyor for grain, fertilizer, and seed.
A farmer stopped by our booth and said something like this:
“We used to joke that when Canadian farmers couldn’t farm in winter, they went to their shops and built things.”
When you start looking into it, that’s not far from the truth. Many of Canada’s, and possibly even the world’s, best-known equipment brands got their start in prairie shops and small-town workshops — built by farmers, welders, and mechanics who saw a problem and decided to fix it.
Here are 10 examples of that ingenuity:
Read more here https://mailchi.mp/ironcoent/built-in-the-north
Even if you make it to Shark Tank, most businesses still start the way these ten did: with grit, hard work, optimism, and determination. Regardless of scholarships and degrees, people see a problem that needs solving, or a service they want to provide. The next steps often involve years of exhausting effort, whether you’re in a service van, a small shop, or an office in the back closet of your home.
And I think at the end of the day, whether you make it big or not, it really doesn’t matter. Patience, the right mentors and good friends will make your journey a little easier and a little more exciting.