Forged in Idaho

This episode features Valar Atomics' Founder and CEO Isaiah Taylor. Isaiah is a self taught engineer with unique ties to American nuclear power through his great-grandfather who was part of the Manhattan Project. He and his team have recently built their first reactor, WARD ONE named after his great-grandfather - Ward Schaap. Their plan is to build small and learn fast as they seek to answer the great need for more and cheaper energy. Brad and Isaiah talk about everything from Valar's plans to why Christians should be in charge of building things to why your business should be like a video game. It's a great conversation that should leave you with a desire to build stuff. Enjoy.

In this episode of Forged in Idaho Brad sits in a crawl space with Jeff Ostlind to discuss the glory of work as followers of Christ.

Brad talks with Forged Project Manager Jonathan (Nate) True about how he began his career in construction, college vs. the trades, what he wishes people understood about the home building process, and more.

This episode Brad talks with Freedom Tires Mobile Sales & Service owner-operators Ryan and Kenny. They hit all sorts of topics applying to blue collar business including partnership, challenges, and systems. 

Brad speaks with CEO and Co-founder of Life Network, Caleb Applegate. Life Network is a free platform full of resources for the everday individual to learn about and improve their own health. Brad and Caleb discuss simple yet effective ways tradesmen can improve their health and how Life Network can help. 

This episode features a local autoshop owner, Jonthan Erber of Erber Auto. Brad and Jonathan discuss failure, what success actually looks like, God, family, entrepreneurship and more. 

As a local construction company we have built a great relationship with our local hardware store, Moscow Building Supply. Now that Home Depot is poised to open a store here in town we decided to speak with Moscow Building Supply's owner Tyler Garrett and salesman, Cris Quezada about what they offer contractors and DIYers that the big box store doesn't.

This episode Brad goes on site to speak with Colorado native, Sam Kane. They talk about having a team mindset when it comes to the independent trades, how banter is a part of blue collar life, the trades as sacrificial work, and more. 

This episode Brad meets up with a younger member of the crew, Simon Cummings. Simon has been growing in his knowledge of the crafts, applying his problems solving skills to the process of building homes. 

This episode, Brad sits down with YouTube strategist Matt Heisig and Forged's own content creator, Matt Bane to discuss the need for blue collar workers to take advantage of social media, how to approach YouTube specifically, and why we should give our most valuable knowledge away for free. Thanks for listening.