How I Built a $60 Million Business From My Garage

Summary

Summary of "How I Built a $60 Million Business From My Garage" – The EntreLeadership Podcast

Podcast Information:

• Title: The EntreLeadership Podcast
• Host: Ramsey Network (Dave Ramsey)
• Episode: How I Built a $60 Million Business From My Garage
• Release Date: July 28, 2025
• Description: In this inspiring episode, Dave Ramsey sits down with Josh Smith, co-founder and president of the Montana Knife Company, to explore his remarkable journey from a passionate knife maker working out of his garage to leading a thriving $60 million business. Josh shares invaluable insights on entrepreneurship, maintaining a debt-free company, building a strong company culture, and upholding American manufacturing values.

---

Introduction: Welcoming Josh Smith

[01:10] Dave Ramsey:
"From the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is the EntreLeadership Podcast. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host... Today we got a special episode for you. Co-founder and president of the Montana Knife Company, Josh Smith joins me to share his incredible story that is proof that the American dream is alive and well."

Dave sets the stage by introducing Josh Smith and highlighting his dual role as a successful entrepreneur and a dedicated family man.

---

Josh Smith’s Early Journey in Knife Making

[03:16] Josh Smith:
"I was 11 years old... I ended up becoming the youngest journeyman knife maker in the world at 15 and the youngest master bladesmith at 19."

Josh recounts his humble beginnings, learning knife making from his little league baseball coach, and quickly advancing to become a master bladesmith by the age of 19.

[04:05] Josh Smith:
"They're tests you go through where performance blade test and master judges your knives."

He explains the rigorous process of earning his designations, emphasizing his dedication and passion from a young age.

---

Transitioning to Entrepreneurship: Founding Montana Knife Company

[04:27] Josh Smith:
"I had four kids real fast and I made custom knives all the way through like 2010... I just wasn't sure that this was maybe the best career for the long term, especially the stability for my family."

Faced with economic uncertainties during the 2008-2009 housing crisis, Josh decided to step away from making custom knives to seek more stable employment.

[05:10] Josh Smith:
"I registered the name when I was 19, but I didn't start it till I was 39... My wife was really the one that pushed that."

Despite registering the company name early, Josh only launched Montana Knife Company at 39, thanks to his wife's encouragement and a crucial $20,000 inheritance from her late father.

---

Navigating Challenges and Building the Business

[06:58] Josh Smith:
"I started a company in February of 2020, which was the beginning of COVID."

Launching during the pandemic posed significant challenges, but also opportunities as people sought quality, American-made products while working from home.

[07:35] Josh Smith:
"We made some prototypes and built a website in July of 2020... it took us a while to figure out how to start a production knife company."

Initial efforts were fraught with learning curves as Josh transitioned from handcrafted to production-level manufacturing.

---

Breaking Through: Rapid Growth and Reinvestment

[08:57] Josh Smith:
"In 2021, we told the insurance company our goal was $100,000 and we ended up doing $1.9 million."

The pivotal moment came when Josh fully committed to the business, rebasing his income from being a lineman to focusing solely on Montana Knife Company, which saw explosive growth.

[10:22] Josh Smith:
"We rolled a million dollars back into the company that year. I refused to borrow money because I already quit my job."

Josh emphasizes a debt-free growth strategy, reinvesting all profits to fuel expansion without incurring liabilities.

---

Scaling Up: From Garage to Manufacturing Facility

[11:04] Dave Ramsey:
"You're completely blown up. Today, you've got 80 folks."

Under Josh’s leadership, the company rapidly expanded from a two-car garage operation to employing 80 people.

[12:23] Josh Smith:
"We built a 10,000 square foot building in my horse pasture... Today we're building a 51,000 square foot facility on a piece of commercial property."

Demonstrating strategic growth, Josh invested in larger facilities to accommodate increasing production demands, ensuring sustainable expansion without overextending financially.

---

The Magic Behind Montana Knife Company's Success

Commitment to Quality and American Manufacturing

[14:14] Josh Smith:
"Knife makers are like, you have to bring it in from China... I think there's enough Americans selling this country that respect and understand the value of an American made product."

Josh underscores the importance of producing high-quality, American-made knives, catering to a market that values craftsmanship and national manufacturing.

[16:57] Josh Smith:
"We have a Speedgoat. It's the fastest, the most beautiful knife he's ever used."

The Speedgoat line exemplifies the company's commitment to excellence, blending aesthetic beauty with functional superiority.

Relationship-Driven Marketing

[15:30] Josh Smith:
"Our best form of marketing is friends or family referrals."

Instead of heavy advertising, Montana Knife Company relies on genuine relationships and word-of-mouth referrals, fostering a loyal customer base.

[14:02] Dave Ramsey:
"What is the magic of these knives? They're beautiful and functional."

Dave highlights the dual appeal of the products, which combine artistry with practicality, driving their popularity.

---

Operational Excellence and Company Culture

[21:51] Josh Smith:
"Our hiring process is hard. Culture is, you can be the greatest at your job. If you're not a culture fit, we're not hiring you."

Josh places significant emphasis on hiring for cultural fit, ensuring that every employee aligns with the company's values and mission.

[25:18] Josh Smith:
"We're starting a brand that should mean something... when you see that Montana Knife Company on someone walking down the street, that means they believe in American manufacturing."

Building a strong, values-driven brand has been pivotal, with a focus on community, conservation, and employee well-being.

[34:37] Josh Smith:
"We make all of our own content... Our team works their butt off."

By handling marketing in-house and fostering a dedicated team, Montana Knife Company maintains authenticity and efficiency.

---

Innovative Marketing Strategies: Creating Scarcity and Urgency

[29:17] Josh Smith:
"We drop our knives every Thursday night on our website... It drives people to our website and creates excitement around our brand."

The strategic release of new knives every Thursday creates a sense of urgency and anticipation, driving consistent traffic and sales.

[32:15] Josh Smith:
"We create all of our own content, make our own emails, and produce our own TV commercials... We're a national brand that resonates with everyone who shares our values."

Josh leverages creative, cost-effective marketing techniques to build and maintain brand visibility without heavy reliance on external agencies.

---

Future Plans and Vision for Montana Knife Company

[25:22] Josh Smith:
"Our future includes expanding into gear and accessories... We want our brand to represent American values, community support, and quality."

Looking ahead, Montana Knife Company plans to diversify its product line while reinforcing its brand ethos centered around American manufacturing and community engagement.

[23:15] Josh Smith:
"Our goal is to hit $60 million this year by reinvesting into the company and scaling responsibly."

With a clear financial target, Josh remains focused on sustainable growth through strategic reinvestment and operational excellence.

---

Lessons Learned and Advice for Entrepreneurs

[37:36] Josh Smith:
"You can take your hobbies and turn them into a full-fledged career, but you have to endure the hardships along the way."

Josh offers candid advice on the entrepreneurial journey, acknowledging the struggles but affirming the possibility of turning passion into success.

[37:36] Josh Smith:
"Sometimes you have to eat a lot of crap in the process to achieve your goals."

He emphasizes resilience and perseverance as critical components of building a successful business.

[38:57] Josh Smith:
"I'm trying to create a generational company... I want to grow this over five, seven, and fifteen years rather than blow it up quickly and sell it."

Josh’s long-term vision focuses on creating a sustainable, legacy-building enterprise rather than pursuing rapid, unsustainable growth.

---

Conclusion: Affirming the American Dream

[39:11] Josh Smith:
"The American dream is alive and real... Montana Knife Company is the evidence of it."

Josh concludes by reinforcing the belief that the American dream is attainable through hard work, dedication, and maintaining core values.

[43:08] Dave Ramsey:
"Thank you for putting out an incredible American-made, high-quality product."

Dave praises Josh’s achievements and the quality of Montana Knife Company's products, encapsulating the episode’s inspirational message.

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Josh Smith [03:16]: "I was the youngest journeyman knife maker in the world at 15 and the youngest master bladesmith at 19."

• Josh Smith [08:57]: "In 2021, we told the insurance company our goal was $100,000 and we ended up doing $1.9 million."

• Josh Smith [10:22]: "We rolled a million dollars back into the company that year. I refused to borrow money because I already quit my job."

• Josh Smith [14:14]: "Knife makers are like, you have to bring it in from China... I think there's enough Americans selling this country that respect and understand the value of an American-made product."

• Josh Smith [25:22]: "We're starting a brand that should mean something... when you see that Montana Knife Company on someone walking down the street, that means they believe in American manufacturing."

• Josh Smith [37:36]: "You can take your hobbies and turn them into a full-fledged career, but you have to endure the hardships along the way."

• Josh Smith [39:11]: "The American dream is alive and real... Montana Knife Company is the evidence of it."

---

Key Takeaways

1. Passion and Early Expertise: Josh’s lifelong passion and early mastery in knife making laid a strong foundation for his entrepreneurial journey.

2. Strategic Timing and Resilience: Launching during the COVID-19 pandemic presented unique challenges, but Josh leveraged the situation to tap into a market craving quality, American-made products.

3. Debt-Free Growth: Committing to a debt-free business model allowed for sustainable growth and minimized financial risks.

4. Strong Company Culture: Prioritizing cultural fit and employee well-being fostered a dedicated and motivated workforce, essential for scaling operations.

5. Innovative Marketing: Creating scarcity through product drops and handling marketing in-house built brand excitement and loyalty without heavy financial outlay.

6. Long-Term Vision: Focusing on building a generational company with a sustainable growth trajectory ensures lasting success and impact.

7. Affirmation of the American Dream: Josh’s story embodies the realization of the American dream through hard work, dedication, and upholding core values.

---

Conclusion: Josh Smith’s journey with Montana Knife Company is a testament to what passion, strategic planning, and unwavering commitment can achieve. From a humble garage setup to a thriving $60 million business, his story inspires entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams while maintaining financial prudence and fostering a strong, value-driven company culture. This episode serves as a powerful reminder that with the right mindset and dedication, the American dream is not only alive but flourishing.

Transcript

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[Josh Smith]

I quit my job January 1st of 2021 and we told the insurance company that year our goal is $100,000 and we ended up doing 1.9 million and.

[Dave Ramsey]

We'Re getting ready to hit 60 million.

[Josh Smith]

Well, that's, that's the goal today.

[Dave Ramsey]

You've got 80 folks.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah, we have 80 employees. We're building a 51,000 square foot facility on a piece of commercial property.

[Dave Ramsey]

What is the app? Why has it blown up?

[Josh Smith]

We are evidence that people still desire American made products and they want companies that are doing things the right way.

[Dave Ramsey]

From the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is the Entree Leadership Podcast. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. With over 30 years of experience in leading, just like you, I'm down in the trenches shoveling just like you are. I actually make payroll. Today we got a special episode for you. Co founder and president of the Montana Knife Company, Josh Smith joins me to share his incredible story that is proof that the American dream is alive and well. Today when he and I sat down, we intended for this to be one segment on one of these podcasts and it went so well that we just decided you needed to hear the whole thing non edited. So this guy's one of us. You're not gonna wanna miss this. Josh Smith, the president and co founder of the Montana Knife Company just dropped by. We're gonna hang out. He's got an incredible product, but he's also got an incredible success story. And he does stuff. He didn't even know it, but he does stuff the Ramsey way. The way he takes care of his folks and he runs the whole thing debt free and it's blown up, they're growing it. Unbelievable paces and have a fabulous product. But the business stuff behind the scenes of the product is also a lot of fun. Josh and I met at a Tucker Carlson thing. We did it my barn here a little while back and I reached out to him, I said hey, I want to tell your story here on the Entree Leadership Podcast. Welcome my friend.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah, thanks for having me on. This is, this is awesome.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, we're so glad to have you. So glad to have you. So for those that don't know the Montana Knife Company, I'm going to reach over here and get this knife is absolutely producing incredible product and this is all blown up in a fairly short period of time. And I mean you, you've, you're pretty cool, but you've been spitballing this thing pretty heavy. Yeah, I mean you've been getting it. Yeah, you've been stepping and fetching. So. But let's go back to the beginning. You started making knives how young?

[Josh Smith]

Yeah, I was 11 years old. That's the thing, it's blown up fast, but it's a 30, 30 year overnight success story. I, my little league baseball coach started teaching me to make knives when I was 11. I went up, made a knife at his shop and I think his way of getting rid of me was to tell me if you want to be a knife maker, you got to have your own shop. Well, I had a lawn mowing business and I also worked in my parents excavation business. So I went and bought a belt grinder, set up a grinder in my dad's shop and started doing stuff in there and made, made enough of a mess that he finally kicked me out and gave me a little, we enclosed a little lean to out in a different shed and I started making knives all the way through junior high and high school. And I ended up becoming the youngest journeyman knife maker in the world at 15 and the youngest master bladesmith at 19. So I was.

[Dave Ramsey]

So those are designations.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah, they're tests you go through and yet performance blade test and master masters judge your knives. And at the time there was about 80 masters in the world. Now there's about 150.

[Dave Ramsey]

So I, I definitely master bladesmith is the top.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah. And I definitely, you know, so point is I got pretty serious about as a kid. I was pretty driven for sure.

[Dave Ramsey]

And then life came along.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah, life came along. Got married, duck hunted my way right out of college after a year just didn't see the, the point. And this knife thing was pulling me. So I worked an excavation job all summer and as soon as I bought my home I quit that job. Went full time making knives and I made custom knives, had four kids real fast and I made custom knives all the way through like 2010. And during that 0809 time period the housing crisis started happening and, and the market started to kind of fall out. I mean I was making four or five thousand dollar knives, you know, per knife. They're very high end, very like collector pieces and it was kind of a starving artist situation, you know, and I had four kids, and I was kind of seeing what was going on with the economy, and I just wasn't sure that this was maybe the best career as far as making it for the. For the long term, especially the stability for my family. So I applied for a job, and I got a job at the power company and ended up getting an apprenticeship and became, over the next five years, five years, I became a journeyman lineman. And so I kind of stepped away from making custom knives. But I always had this dream of starting Montana Knife Co. And in fact, I registered the name when I was 19, but I didn't start it till I was 39. I didn't have the money, I didn't have the experience, the know how. But the whole time as alignment, I was talking to my buddies about this idea of this company. And I. I thought about it for, you know, 19 years a lot, like really did. And good friend of mine was a marketing guy. He kept telling me, you need to start this. And so ended up divorced that next year. My house burned down. I was a lineman. I had four kids. I was living in a camper. And that summer at the. At the end of that year, I met my new wife, Jessica. And what was really cool about that was I, you know, once we were married, I was telling her the idea of this company. And this was about 2019. She's like, well, I got the house and kids. Go do it. And so she was really the one that pushed that. And her dad passed away. We didn't have a lot of money, but her dad passed away and he left her about 20 grand. And she said, take that $20,000 and start your company. And so I went and bought steel and made some prototypes and happened to be decide to start my company in February of 2020, which was the beginning.

[Dave Ramsey]

Of COVID Well, your timing sucks.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Or it's genius. One of the two, because it probably turned out pretty good. People sitting at home and they're seeing this stuff and they're looking in their drawer at their cheap butt target knives that they need to throw in the trash, and instead they start seeing this stuff pop up on the Internet.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah. And I, you know, in 2010, I kind of ran from the breaking news on television. You know, I saw everything going on. The world's ending, recession, depression's coming. And in 2020, I was like, I'm gonna ignore the news. I'm gonna do my thing and ignore what's on television. I'm gonna Start this, you know. And so I made some prototypes. We built a website in July of 2020.

[Dave Ramsey]

You're still working as a lineman?

[Josh Smith]

I'm still alignment. This is before we're doing this in your garage? Yes, before work. After work, we're in my two car garage. And it's just me. And to be honest, my kids, you know, my four kids, they were still in junior high and high school and they were helping me put together knives. I was doing everything wrong. I didn't know how to make production knives. I'd been making $5,000 a piece knives and now I'm trying to figure out how to start a production knife company. And you can't just call the competition and ask them how. And so I was doing it all wrong through 2020. But trying to figure it out, I met a guy that I hired to build me a website and I realized I don't have enough money to pay this guy to, to do all my marketing. But he's really, really good. And so his name was Brandon. So I offered him a partnership in the company in the fall. And I was like, let's do this together. And he joined up. And that was the fall of 2020. And so he had built the website and we started kind of getting a little traction. And by the end of the year, my wife was like, you need to quit this lineman thing. Like, there's something here.

[Dave Ramsey]

So what kind of volume were you doing by then?

[Josh Smith]

You know, we were dropping a couple hundred knives every few weeks. So probably making in. In 2020, we probably made 350 knives total. And then.

[Dave Ramsey]

So your gross revs were.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah, in 2020 it was probably, you know, 40, 30,000. Like it was really low. In 2020. In 2021. Okay. I quit my job January 1st of 2021. And in 2021, that's when we started to push and we told the insurance company that year our goal is $100,000. And we ended up doing 1.9 million. And in 2021. So it really started to blow up. I started to hire some help and we just started bootstrapping it. And really the model was, I didn't have enough money in 2020 to, to just blow this thing up. And I'm in my garage. So we made 200 knives and we sold them. And then I made 200 knives again. And I was like, wow. I think. And they sold fast. And I thought, well, let's try 500. Made 500. And they sold. And we just kept taking any money we made and not Spending a dime. We just kept putting it into the company. And I refused to borrow money because I already quit my job, like in, you know, January 1st. I already felt like I was putting our family at risk. I had a great job, benefits, good salary, Job you retire from. And I was like, we are not going to borrow a dime if we can't do it on our savings. I had about six months of savings. We didn't take a paycheck until August of 2021. Worked that whole year and just burned through savings and just took any money we made and putting it back into the company.

[Dave Ramsey]

And so you rolled a million dollars back in that year?

[Josh Smith]

We did, yeah. We rolled a million dollars back into the company that year. My wife quit her teaching job that fall because they told her going back into the school year of 2021, she had to wear a mask coming back to school. I'm. I. She told me, you either hire me or I'm going to get another job because I will not wear a mask with this Covid stuff. She just didn't believe in that with kids. And I felt it was a little bit early. I'm like, man, I don't know. And we talked about it, put her on a real modest salary. We hired her. And about two months later, I was like, thank God we hired her because she started handling all the customer service fulfillment. To this day, she's in charge of that. Wow.

[Dave Ramsey]

Completely blown up. Today. You've got 80 folks.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah, we have 80 employees. And what's cool is they still report to work at my house. Like, they park in my driveway. It's right out my back. Right. It was in my horse pasture in 2022. We knew we needed more space beyond that two car garage. But I didn't want to go borrow money and buy commercial land and build a commercial building Because I was like, is this a fad? Like, is this going to pop up? I'm going to borrow a ton of money and that's going to fall right out. And so we built a 10,000 square foot building in my horse pasture. Tore down horse fence. I grew up in excavation, so I did all my own dirt work around it. And I hired a couple guys, I generaled the project, and we built that 10,000 square foot shop. And I thought, we'll either be in this forever or we'll grow through it. And by the time we grow out of this, we're going to know the right move is to go buy land and build. And we moved in January 1st of 23. And by January 1st of 24, that building was full. And that's when we got real serious about looking for property. And so today we're building a 51,000 square foot facility on a piece of commercial property right up at the exit. We'll have a retail store in that, a black rifle coffee in that, a gym for our employees, a bunch of really cool things. So it's, it's, it does not shock.

[Dave Ramsey]

Me that you know Evan.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah, Evan and I are friends.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. Spend a little time with him myself. That's good. He's a good guy.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah.

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[Dave Ramsey]

What is the magic of these knives? What is. Because this, I mean, the business story, the blow up doesn't happen without these things just being magic.

[Josh Smith]

Right.

[Dave Ramsey]

I mean, these things, they're beautiful.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

And they're obviously not only a work of art, but they're obviously quite a tool for somebody in the kitchen. But.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

What is the appeal? Why, why has it blown up?

[Josh Smith]

Yeah, I mean, it is, it's a high quality product and it was intended to be a tool. You know, we started as a hunting knife company, gone into chef's knives like this one. We're developing our folding knives for next year, but they were intended to use. That being said, I, I kept looking around in the, in the previous 20 years and seen less and less stuff being made in America, especially knives more and more being sourced from overseas and people Literally buying replaceable blade knives and just throwing the blades away. And as men, we've generally passed down knives and guns for generations and women. And, and I found it tragic. I mean I sharpened thousands of knives for people that brought them in and said, hey, my, my grandpa was in Vietnam and this was the knife he carried or whatever story it was. And this was my grandfather's knife, the only thing I've got from him. And we're throwing our heirlooms away. And also I also started seeing Americans started to desire American made products more and more and bringing back American manufacturing. And everybody told, told me that what I was about to build was impossible. Knife makers are like, you have to bring it in from China. You can't sell a 300 knife, they're 29.99 in a store. And I said, I think there's enough Americans selling this country that respect and understand the value of an American made product. Yes, the product is really, really good. But there we have also been documenting this really well all the way along and showing what we're building and that we're creating jobs we're giving back to our community. And so all of that together, including my business partners, marketing everything that he's done. But I built it through relationships. To be honest, those first two years we didn't buy a dollar. Three years we didn't buy a dollar of advertising, not a dollar. I built it by going to like Total Archery Challenge and developing relationships, developing a relationship with somebody that knew somebody. And we gave, we couldn't buy advertising so I gave product away, but with no ask, just like use it, you know, just take it and use it. Let me know what you think. And we started to develop real relationships and that panned out and it ended up working out that when you don't ask for something, it just somehow it just comes back to you. And people started spreading the word, telling people about us. And to this day our best form of like in our, in our customer surveys, post purchase, the number one thing about our company. How did you hear about it? Friends or family referral, you know, so.

[Dave Ramsey]

You'Re a buddy of mine that's a hunter, says he uses your. I guess it's probably your number one seller. What's it called?

[Josh Smith]

We have a speedgoat.

[Dave Ramsey]

Speedgoat. That one? Yeah, that's. He said, and he said field dressing a deer. It's the fastest. It's the most beautiful knife he's ever used. He's got probably, he's got, probably got a handful of them, more than A hand, a double handful of knives over the years, but that's his go to.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

And because he said, you're going to meet Josh, I was like, oh, you got, it's like I'm meeting, you know, freaking country music star or something for him.

[Josh Smith]

Well, you know, what's different about our company is I'm a hunter, I'm an end user of our product, and I'm also a master bladesmith. You can't name another knife company in America that's, that's large on any scale that the CEO makes a knife, he can't make a knife at all. Like, I'm a master bladesmith. When, when our guys are having trouble in the sharpening room with a new model we come up with and they, they're struggling to get them sharp or whatever, I go down and teach them and I work alongside of them. And that's what's different about us. Like, I, I can make the product.

[Dave Ramsey]

You know, well, and, you know, if you're, if you're hunting and you're trying to field dress a deer or whatever, whatever the task is with a speedgoat, then you can, that's, that's product. That's R D for you.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah. And I, I was saying that all these companies are making these hunting knives, but it's just because they need a hunting knife category. But they're in Portland or wherever they're at, they don't have any hunters working for them or any hunters that are in team or whatever, and they just make something that looks like a hunting knife. I'm a hunter. And so when I go out and make a chef's knife, I'm not a chef, so I go out and I, I, I look for chefs to get feedback from. And a knife maker, Marco Malmasi, helped us design these knives because he's a chef's knife maker. Our tactical line for the military. I'm not a veteran and I'm not going to pretend to know what those guys go through. So, you know, I lean on my relationships in that military community to help us build a product that they need first.

[Dave Ramsey]

And then the speed goats, the number one seller. And what's the price point on that?

[Josh Smith]

$225.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay.

[Josh Smith]

And then our Blackfoot's $300. And the thing is we, we sharpen these knives for life. Our, our generation's promise is that if you buy it, I don't care if you bought it off ebay or from a friend or you buy it from us. If it's our Knife, you send it to us, you pay to ship it to us. The day we receive it, we will sharpen it, clean it up, and we will send it back at the latest the next day. And that's for free. And we'll pay to ship it back to you. And so yeah, you buy a $300 knife, use it all season, maybe you're struggling to get it sharp, you send it in to us, we'll sharpen it all up. You now have a brand new knife and you use that knife for the next 10 years. Well, how much did you really pay for that knife? You know, and we have some people that use our knives a lot. They're guides or they may be chefs. They might send their knives to us every other month to dial them in. We sharpen them and we send them back, you know, and that's the thing. When you bought American made products back in the old days, you could send them in and they stood behind them, you know, and so that, that's the promise. That's how I found my director of operations. He was working at Amazon and I, I saw this was in 21, 2021, I saw a post that he commented on. I had one of those knives and my truck got broken into and it got stolen. I just looked him up in the system and I shipped him a new knife. He went home that day and told his wife, I'm going to work for that company someday. A year later I posted a director of operations job. He came and interviewed. I didn't know anything, frankly. As it turns out, he interviewed us. He asked us all kinds of questions I couldn't answer. I'm a lineman and a knife maker and tobacco operator. Like I don't know all this stuff. He asked us a pile of questions and it was very obvious, like this is the kind of experience we need. Offered him a job which he should not have taken at the time. And he worked with me in that two car garage. He set his laptop on my workbench and worked next to me. He was managing A store of 5,000 employees in Spokane and came to work in my shop with three of us, shoulder to shoulder and helped build the operations side of the company. And that's the thing when you hire. I think if I'd have started this company when I was 21, 22, I'd have probably had enough ego and arrogance to do all the marketing myself and not delegate anything and think that I can do it all. I think by the time I got to the point in my life where I was at. I realized what I don't know and I've gone and found the absolute best people. Our hiring process is hard. Culture is, you can be the greatest at your job. If you're not a culture fit, we're not hiring you. And, and these people that are working our company, all, all of them, they're a culture fit. They buy in, they treat it like they own it. And, and that's how you scale this fast. I didn't do this by myself. You know, I, I hire really great people. I'm like, do your job. Like, go, go do your job.

[Dave Ramsey]

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[Josh Smith]

Yeah, 1.9.

[Dave Ramsey]

And you're getting ready to hit 60 million.

[Josh Smith]

Well, that's, that's the goal. Yep, that's the goal this year. And you're, and the thing is, is that sounds like a lot of money and it is, but that's, it's not. We're, we're.

[Dave Ramsey]

Because not if you spend 59. And that's literally if you're building a, if you're building a new building, I mean, it's all gone.

[Josh Smith]

That's, I mean literally that, that's, it's, that's how it works actually. No exaggeration. And so yeah, we're still reinvesting into everything, into this thing.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's how we do it. It's the same way. It's like how do you run the debt free company with 600,000 square feet?

[Josh Smith]

Right?

[Dave Ramsey]

You know, you know, what are you doing with 300 million in revenue? It's like it's, you're sitting in it.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's not like I took it home and piled it in the garage. Oh my God.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah. And I've seen comments like MKC is getting so big or whatever and you know, this or that, whatever things you see on the Internet. And it's like we're still in my horse pasture at my house. Like, you know, we, we, we're building this building. We're going to move into a building that's pretty much empty. And over the next seven years is the plan, like we have to fill that. Oh, you know, you have to buy CNC machines and you have to hire people and you know there's a lot of, there's some processes that we don't do in house. You know, when I started my two car garage, I was sourcing these different parts out to shops around America machine shops. Right. And then as we started to grow, it's like, okay, now we can make our sheaths in house, right? Now we can start making our handles in house. And so I started looking at each process and where can you gain some margin or some time back in the process and okay, I can afford to do this. And we didn't know how to do in these processes so we also had to hire people and figure it out. And so this is, it's a model of basically starting as an assembly shop and then slowly turning it into a full on manufacturing facility. And we're half or three quarters of the way there. So it's, it's a really cool, cool process.

[Dave Ramsey]

So I hear gear and accessories are in the offing as well.

[Josh Smith]

Yep. Yeah, we from the very beginning and this is really brand with my business partner, we weren't starting just a knife company, we're starting a brand. And that brand should mean something like, like Evan with Black Rifle. You know, when they were coming up, the world didn't need another coffee company and the world doesn't need, need another knife company. But when you see that hat on somebody, when you see that Montana knife company on, on someone walking down the street, that means, oh, that guy believes in American manufacturing. He believes in, you know, taking care of his community, taking care of his employees, you know, giving back in conservation groups. Last week we just donated a bunch of employee time to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Yesterday we gave a home away to North Carolina flood victims where we raised a bunch of money through a fundraiser for them. So when you see that there's, there's, there's a, there's values attached to that brand. And we've seen, and this has become a big part of our business. People want to wear that apparel, they want to rep that. Because a knife is hard to rep. You know, you could be sitting right now and you're with a knife in your pocket of ours right now, no one would know. But if you're wearing our shirt, that helps us get the word out. And so for our, I can't express it enough for our customers. Wearing our hat, wearing our shirts, that's as important as buying one of our knives because it helps spread the word of what we're doing. Plus we have all kinds of other accessories. And those accessories, what's cool about it? Like our leather sheaths are made by Teton Leather in Idaho. She was in her basement as a sheath maker. She's now in a commercial space with nine employees just to serve our business. Montana Block in Billings, Montana, makes all our cutting boards and our stands and all that. He's hired four or five people. He was also part time. So when you support American Manufacturing, it's way bigger than just that company in that one location. It spreads all across the country.

[Dave Ramsey]

No, there's all these spin offs that, that are being, all these families are being fed.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Because of the hard work and, and the quality. The quality pretty incredible.

[Josh Smith]

I, what I want to point out too is I heard you ask Ben Shapiro on your show is American is the American dream dead? That was one of the questions you asked him. The American dream is alive and real. And Ben responded to you that you've got the supercomputer in your pocket. Right. And free marketing with social media. Any question you want to ask it in the world, you can, you can answer. I had to get up really early in the morning and I had to go to bed really late at night, you know, and I didn't quit my job. I kept working my job until I physically could not. And I had, I had to quit. Right. And you know, I'm just a regular guy. I think people need. What I think resonates a bit with our company. I grew up operating backhoes and excavators and I watched my parents go from $50 in an open cab backhoe in 1981 to, you know, four back was an excavator and you know, a couple dump trucks and grow a business.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Josh Smith]

And that, and I worked in that. I was A lineman. Right. I had to change my career and change the way I was going to do this and step back. You know, 11 years ago I, when I, when I tried to rebuild my house, I had to go borrow some money from a knife collector of mine to just get through that house burning down phase and then paid it back in about six months back to him. But I had, I had to really like figure it out. You know when you're living in a camper with four kids and you're in a pile of ashes right outside the door and you can't even afford. I had to buy an old truck from my foreman for fifteen hundred dollars and drive that with my four kids and things break down on me all the time. Point is, is there's a way to accomplish your goals. You can take your, your hobbies and you can turn them into a full on career. But sometimes you got to eat a lot of crap in the meat in the process to do it.

[Dave Ramsey]

I would say 100 of the time. Not just sometimes.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's just that there's a price to be paid to win.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

And the American dream is not dead. It's the is. And I knew that was an underhand pitch for Ben. You know, it's not one like he couldn't. But. Yeah, but the, but the. It's not dead at all. But what is harder to find than ever before is people willing to pay a price to get the dream.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

And so, but that's always been the case. That's why we've always looked up and said, hey, something successful, somebody's doing something different here. They're paying a price that no one else would pay. They're doing something nobody's done before. So I want to circle back on one thing because the marketing you guys are using, I mean it's a classic product marketing process where you're creating a sense of scarcity and urgency. But you and I were talking before we turned on the microphones, you kind of backed into it. But doing these drops has created like a constant cycle of product releases and it's driving demand probably more than if you just had them up there for sale all the time.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah, we definitely backed into that a little bit on accident. And it was more around. I didn't have the money to make enough product from day one. And then as the excitement for the brand grew and I made more product, it still was never enough. Right. And so we drop our knives every Thursday night on our website, you know, and we'll make as many basically as we can make. But we also have to have enough capital to make knives for next Thursday and the 50 Thursdays after that. And so it does. It drives people to our website. We people now go on our website and just watch a drop on a Thursday night, you know, just as a. As a viewing party, basically. But it did create. And I think a lot of people think that, like, oh, you just make two knives. And it's like, well, when you see my videos on my Instagram of the next day, because my other promise is when you buy something from us, we ship it the next day. No doubt. So if we sell a thousand knives on Thursday night, they all go out of the shop on Friday, and we do all of our own fulfillment, you know. And so it did create a lot of fervor for the brand. But that being said, we're also trying to get some knives in stock as well, because we were missing a lot of customers and people would write us the nastiest emails, which go to my wife chewing us out about a knife that they couldn't get on our website. It's like, do you not think, I want your money? I want all of your money? But, you know, we. It's like, we want to make more knives, but we're doing this in our garage. Right. And so we've scaled through some of that. We still definitely have, like, the knife we're doing this week will probably sell out in two minutes and there's, you know, a bunch of them. But that being said, it did create an excitement about our brand, for sure. There's no doubt about it.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. And it. Well, it's just constant new and improved every Thursday.

[Josh Smith]

And I have to highlight our marketing team on that. We don't use agencies outside. We create all of our own content. We make all of our own emails. We make our own. They quote us, like 150 grand to make our first TV commercial last year. And Brandon looked at our three video guys, and we're like, you guys can make a commercial just as good as that, right? Go make it. And we make. So we make our own TV commercials. Like, we, We.

[Dave Ramsey]

Where are you buying tv?

[Josh Smith]

My business partner, honestly, is handling some of that stuff. So we've. We've got some ads. We're trying to be frugal, so sometimes it's on, you know, like off network type, like smaller channels. And we're doing some testing and seeing if that works. You know, we try to maybe, I.

[Dave Ramsey]

Mean, like, hunting shows would be. Would be obvious.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah, some of that. But honestly, just just regular Television shows. Like, I think we're, we're a national brand and we're trying to be a brand that resonates with everyone. And I say everyone, everyone that has our values. You know, like, I, I at times post stuff and get a little on my soapbox about the way the country's running or politics and a little bit. And if, if you don't agree with what we're doing and you don't want to buy a knife, that's fine. But there's probably 150 million Americans that agree with me. So that's a good customer base.

[Dave Ramsey]

You know, I'm doing okay out of that.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah, I'm doing all right.

[Dave Ramsey]

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[Josh Smith]

But I have to highlight our guys, like every Friday morning. It's a brand new website. We, we. We have to promote next week's drop. And so all that work and I, I see guys that are running these companies and they're outsourcing to all these agencies and all this stuff, and it's like, no, hire really good people in your company and then make them work, work hard, you know, and our. Our team works their butt off.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, yeah.

[Josh Smith]

You know, and people talk bad about youth today. And obviously there's a lot of people that don't want to work. But if, if your culture's right and your hiring process is right, I think kids today are smarter than they've ever been.

[Dave Ramsey]

And There's. I got 400 Gen Zs in here. I love them.

[Josh Smith]

And there's more tools at their disposal today than there's ever been.

[Dave Ramsey]

No, they have a. They have a spirit of abundance.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Because they've had a magic wand in their hand and they think anything's possible.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

That you push a button, stuff shows up on your porch. Why wouldn't it be impossible?

[Josh Smith]

Right.

[Dave Ramsey]

Everything's possible.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

And so sometimes they don't know how hard it's going to be. But. But they're very possibility thinkers and they're not scarcity people.

[Josh Smith]

And we do meetings every week. We're very open with our employees and we want Them to feel like owners. And we probably more open than any business maybe should be, quote unquote. But I want them to be very proud. Like, we took them on a tour of our new manufacturing facility. We're putting in wiring right now in H Vac. And I walk them around, you know, it's a meeting on the clock, you know, on a Tuesday where we take them all 75 people up there and we walk them around the whole thing. Because I'm like, you guys are building this, not me. Like you guys and the Americans that are buying our knives are building this. And I want them to look back someday when that building's full of machines and things are going on and be like, I helped build this, you know, sense of pride.

[Dave Ramsey]

Amen. Well, there's a lot of pride and there's a lot of pride in the quality of the product. And that's, that makes a lot of, that makes all the difference. I mean it's, it's not a mission and it's not a crusade unless there's something quality.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Happening. And you really can't attract and keep talent unless you plug into that.

[Josh Smith]

Right.

[Dave Ramsey]

And that's what you guys have done. It was just your nature to go do it. And it's just blown up. I'm so proud of you. Congratulations.

[Josh Smith]

Well, thank you. No, I appreciate it. And thanks to Americans that we are evidence that people still desire American made products and they want companies that are doing things the right way. And we're still learning. I mean, we're still. I am, you know, I'm a quote unquote CEO. I, I look at myself more of a dad of four and a knife maker and, and a backhoe operator. And I'm, I'm figuring this out, but I'm just trying to treat my employees like I'd want my kids treated if they worked somewhere else.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Josh Smith]

You know, and, and I'm also trying to, to hopefully create something that proves that the American dream is alive and real and people can go, is the American dream alive? Yeah. Check out Montana Knife Company. They're the evidence of it. You know, but for those of those, those people that, you know, want to go off and start their own job like, or their own, their own company. It's 100% possible. But you have to shut the TV off. You have to start. Quit listening to the doomsday on the news. You know, it is actually possible. But.

[Dave Ramsey]

And you start in your garage. You don't have to go start in a 51,000 square foot with millions of dollars in debt just to get started. Because it's a barrier. It's not a barrier. Your barrier is you need to learn to crawl before you walk. You rabbit hunt before you go hunt for elephants. That way you don't starve to death while you're elephant hunting. And that's the barrier. We started this on a card table in my living room. And this is the seventh studio I built. And the first one wasn't even soundproof. We had to tell people not to walk down the hall while we were doing the show. I mean, it's like, hey, it's what you do, man.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

And. But you know what? We ain't going broke either, right? You don't go broke making a profit.

[Josh Smith]

Well, and we have been very resistant to drinking our own Kool Aid and listening to, you know, the people that are like, oh, Joe Rogan talked about you guys and you guys. We, we could, we could have easily gone out and, and leveraged everything and bought a ton of steel and tried, tried to meet the demand immediately. We have a very, very good thing going. And I'm going to be very careful. I owe it to my employees to not make bad decisions to kill it. And it's like, I would way rather grow this. I want to grow a generational company. I'm not trying to sell this. I'm good with growing this over five and seven and 15 years versus this isn't a blow it up in one or two and sell it, you know. So that's how we're doing it.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. That's. Congratulations. That's the way it should be done. And you make different decisions. Simon Sinek talks about that in his book Infinite Game, that when you're playing an infinite game, it's a different set of rules than if you have a game with an end date.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah. And I think a lot of these principles, some of these are lessons learned from when I was young and did a lot, made a lot of mistakes. When I was a custom knife maker, I sat in my shop a lot and listened to a lot of AM radio of this Dave guy telling me what I was doing wrong with my finances. And so, you know, those. I was in pretty bad debt at an early stage in my life. And, you know, now with growing this company, taking some of those lessons learned and like, I'm not going to run this business how I ran the first 10 years of my adulthood.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Josh Smith]

You know, yeah. If I'd run that better, I might not have. Have to have gone and been a lineman, but I had to go Dig out. And that's what I did.

[Dave Ramsey]

You didn't quit until you had, you know, volume enough to justify it.

[Josh Smith]

Right.

[Dave Ramsey]

And, you know, you couldn't. You know, you just work more, don't sleep less.

[Josh Smith]

Right.

[Dave Ramsey]

You know, you sleep when you're dead. So, you know, and you're not going to pass out. You're not going to burn out. There's. Because there's too much passion and too much fun involved.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

So you guys are having a good time. It's so fun to watch from the outside again. I've said 20 times, you probably don't care, but I love these kinds of stories, and I love guys like you that. Because we're cut from the same kind of cloth, and most of the audience for this is the same thing. It's entrepreneurs, and they're running. You know, they've got five team members. They got 50 team members, and, you know, they. They're gutting it out, and they're putting up with all the crap that you put up with and all the stuff, and you try stuff, and it doesn't work. You fall down, you get back up, and you just keep keep crashing, scratching, and clawing. And then some moron says you're lucky.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Luck had nothing to do with it.

[Josh Smith]

Exactly. No, I've been. I've been fortunate to have really great people in my life, fortunate to have great parents, a mentor in Rick Dunkerley, that was my little league baseball coach that I just got to give the speech to induct him into the hall of Fame this weekend. Wow. I've been fortunate to have good people in my life, but, yeah, we've. We've worked our asses off.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. Yeah, you did. You did. And it turns out it's a quality product. So this is one of the chef's set.

[Josh Smith]

Yep.

[Dave Ramsey]

And I keep bringing it up and featuring it, because it's probably making you nervous, the way I'm handling it.

[Josh Smith]

But they're very sharp.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, don't, don't, don't. Don't cut your hand off.

[Josh Smith]

Yeah. Our chef sets. We have three knives in that. They come in a bison leather roll Francesca Teton makes.

[Dave Ramsey]

And that's it right there.

[Josh Smith]

Yes, it is.

[Dave Ramsey]

Can we get a shot of it? Make sure we get it on there.

[Josh Smith]

Yes. Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

But this is. This is. But again, this is your. Your. The sweet spot in the center of your wheel is still the speedgoat.

[Josh Smith]

The speedgoat. And the. And.

[Dave Ramsey]

And really, in terms of the volume that it creates. Yeah, but these things are going. These Things have taken off too.

[Josh Smith]

They really are. I mean, well, they're beautiful. They really are. And, and people might go to our website and not see them there. And that's where it's like, sign up for our email list because we are still selling out, right? And so there will be months that go by, we won't have them available. And we are asking people to be patient, but then when they, we are making more and they'll come back around, you know, and it's, it's, it's something that I think what I've found is that when the people have those on a wood block displayed on their, on their kitchen counter, it's also a conversation starter. You know, they look different than everything else. And I think there's something not to be said too, for using, whether it's a honey knife or this chef's knife, you're using something in your kitchen. And you can go right to our YouTube page or Instagram and watch the videos that our guys make and see the hands that we're making those, you know, and know that you're using a tool that somebody, somebody real on the other end of just right up in Frenchtown, Montana made, you know, it's a cool connection.

[Dave Ramsey]

Very cool. Well, thanks for stopping by, my friend. Thank you one more time. I'm excited about all the good stuff that's happening for you. You deserve every bit of it. And thank you for putting out an incredible American made, high quality product.

[Josh Smith]

Thank you so much.

[Dave Ramsey]

Montana Knife company, Josh Smith. You guys be sure and check them out and you'll learn more about it on their site. All right, folks, remember, better a worry warrior than a quivering critic. This world needs more high quality leaders, so take courage and lead. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thanks for listening to the Entree leadership podcast.