Some day you will be sitting on the front porch in your rocking chair as an old man or woman and you may ask yourself, “Did I make an impact on something or someone in my life?”. Maybe you will ask yourself if you followed your dreams and pushed yourself to do something extraordinary. This could be a Navy SEAL or school teacher, doesn’t really matter just that you did what you set out to do.
I do not want to look back and realize that I accepted the norm and just went with the flow. One of my old bosses at GM told me, “ If you always do what you have always done, you always get what you always got.” We are going to make things and they will most likely be Matte Black, in fact I would paint my kitchen table matte black if my wife would let me. From the first set of rings we made to the ones coming off the table now, the end user will see the American craftsmanship.
My rocking chair test is – How will people view our Rogue Team? Did we hold up our end of the deal and bring back American jobs?
In 2011 we are going to tip the scales further and bring more work to the US. We will be exporting American Made equipment to Canada, Europe and Australia. We have our challenges with shoes, jump ropes and solid bumper plates but I assure you we are working on it.
We have all watched while factories shut down, now Rogue has a factory. Our factory will make strength and conditioning equipment the way people are telling us they want it made. We are not worried about automating processes or outsourcing our products overseas. Everyday I watch my team create something new and I am damn proud.
I can’t wait to tell my grand kids about this venture.
Bill Henniger