Luke Dowler

Josh Smith is the CEO of The Montana Knife Company, and one of America’s premiere blade smiths. If you listen to The Way I Heard It, you’ve heard his incredible story - the story of a former lineman who decided to start making knives in Montana, and went on to build one of the most respected small businesses in America. Shortly after our podcast, which you can watch over here, bit.ly/TWIHI403JoshSmith, Josh called to thank me for having him on. “You have no idea how good this was for MKC,” he said. “We don’t do traditional advertising, and this kind of publicity goes a long way.” I was happy to hear this. I'm sympathetic to the many challenges that come with domestic manufacturing, and do what I can to highlight entrepreneurs committed to making excellent products in the USA. But Josh was not content with a simple “thank you.” “We’re big believers in what you guys are doing at mikeroweWORKS, and we'd would love to support your next scholarship program with a fundraiser.” “Tell me more,” I said. “Well, I was thinking about a custom knife just for MRW. I’d put your logo right on the blade. If you like it, I’ll make a couple hundred and sell them on my website. We’ll handle everything, and I’ll send your foundation a check for 100% of the revenue.” True to his word, Josh made 200 beautiful knives with an MRW logo, and I made a short video in which I showed off the blade, congratulated Josh for making a quality product in the USA, and encouraged people inclined to support MRW financially to buy a knife instead, so that they could get something special in return for their donation. Two hours later, all 200 knives were gone, $70,000 was raised for MRW, and The Montana Knife Company had a few hundred new customers. If you follow this page, you know that these kinds of fundraisers have happened here before, always with companies that make high-quality products in America. Last year, American Giant affixed the MRW logo to a few hundred of their legendary hoodies. They sold out immediately, and American Giant donated 100% of the proceeds back to us. Wolverine did the same thing, after I introduced a few hundred pair of custom-made MRW Thousand Milers. So did GORUCK, who sold a hundred MRW ruck sacks moments after I announced their existence. And of course, my friends at Sugarcreek built and donated a one-of-a-kind mikeroweWORKS custom work truck that was auctioned off for $1.5 million. That’ll be tough to top, but a few days ago, Josh Smith called me again. Given the success of the last fundraiser, he had decided to design "the ultimate blue-collar working knife," and make it a permanent addition to the MKC inventory. “I call it The Rocker,” he said. “It’s the toughest, most versatile utility knife we’ve ever created. It’s the perfect blade for anyone in the trades, and I want to donate 10% of every sale to mikeroweWORKS – in perpetuity.” Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to say. Josh believes The Rocker will become the #1 blade in the country for tradespeople, and if you want to know why, check out the video on his site. Roofers, linemen, electricians, plumbers, dry wallers…they’re all gonna love this knife, and Josh believes its popularity will generate hundreds of thousands of dollars over the next few years for my foundation. That’s fantastic, but beyond that, I can’t help but wonder what would happen if a few other other Made-in-America companies followed MKC’s example? What kind of impact would a series of ongoing fundraisers have on the number of people our scholarship program could assist? So far, mikeroweWORKS has helped 2,100 men and women get the training they need to start a career in the skilled trades. With more fundraisers like this one, we could train ten times that number. So please share this post, and if you know of a company that makes a high-quality product here in the USA, tell them what MKC is doing to help us close the skills gap. Perhaps they’ll be inspired to follow suit? Crazier things have happened. As for this year, I plan to award no less than $2.5 million in work ethic scholarships to hundreds of qualified applicants. The enrollment period just began, so you can apply right now at mikeroweWORKS.com/scholarshi…. DON’T WAIT. There’s going to be a lot of press this year, and a lot of qualified applications. Get yours in early. And if you know any tradespeople in need of a bad-ass blade, I heartily recommend The Rocker! If they're already sold out, (and they probably will be,) sign up to be notified for the next knife drop. These things fly off the shelves. montanaknifecompany.com/coll… Mike