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"We are the immovable number two. And it's okay being the immovable number two."
In this episode, Tim sits down with Dan Bonner (Vice President of Residential Sales, ICC Chimney) to unpack how a privately owned chimney company turned restraint into its sharpest competitive edge. Dan's spent the last six years steering through a pandemic boom, a workforce that doubled, and tariffs that erased two weeks of work overnight.
In this episode, Tim and Dan cover:
- Why chimney *should* be a commodity—and how ICC deliberately makes theirs anything but by refusing to sell through hardware stores or big box.
- The "boss versus leader" image Dan keeps in his head, and how he kept a frustrated team from walking out when every tariff solution got scrapped a day later.
- Twenty-plus years of distributor relationships built entirely on handshakes—zero written contracts, anywhere in North America.
Don't miss Dan's masterclass on the value wedge and the discipline of staying the "immovable number two"—a clear-eyed argument that constraints don't starve a business, they focus it, and that chasing every opportunity is how good companies die of indigestion.
——
Links from this episode:
Marketing Warfare: https://a.co/d/07Z9jdqN
Fire Time Podcast Q&A Episode: http://itsfiretime.com/ask
——
Watch this podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/y3-1wAHxxbA
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-fire-time-podcast/id1433804268
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4vHdzg48bE5qFf0KjMeMej?si=7b6cae3923d348f2
Read The Fire Time Magazine: https://www.itsfiretime.com/magazine
Subscribe to The Fire Time Magazine: https://itsfiretime.com/subscribe
Support The Fire Time Podcast financially: https://www.itsfiretime.com/join
By Tim Reed4.9
4343 ratings
"We are the immovable number two. And it's okay being the immovable number two."
In this episode, Tim sits down with Dan Bonner (Vice President of Residential Sales, ICC Chimney) to unpack how a privately owned chimney company turned restraint into its sharpest competitive edge. Dan's spent the last six years steering through a pandemic boom, a workforce that doubled, and tariffs that erased two weeks of work overnight.
In this episode, Tim and Dan cover:
- Why chimney *should* be a commodity—and how ICC deliberately makes theirs anything but by refusing to sell through hardware stores or big box.
- The "boss versus leader" image Dan keeps in his head, and how he kept a frustrated team from walking out when every tariff solution got scrapped a day later.
- Twenty-plus years of distributor relationships built entirely on handshakes—zero written contracts, anywhere in North America.
Don't miss Dan's masterclass on the value wedge and the discipline of staying the "immovable number two"—a clear-eyed argument that constraints don't starve a business, they focus it, and that chasing every opportunity is how good companies die of indigestion.
——
Links from this episode:
Marketing Warfare: https://a.co/d/07Z9jdqN
Fire Time Podcast Q&A Episode: http://itsfiretime.com/ask
——
Watch this podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/y3-1wAHxxbA
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-fire-time-podcast/id1433804268
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4vHdzg48bE5qFf0KjMeMej?si=7b6cae3923d348f2
Read The Fire Time Magazine: https://www.itsfiretime.com/magazine
Subscribe to The Fire Time Magazine: https://itsfiretime.com/subscribe
Support The Fire Time Podcast financially: https://www.itsfiretime.com/join

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