Turning Scrap into Scale & Spotting Opportunity with Tyson Christiansen

Jeff: [00:00:07] Ever wonder what it really takes to build a business from the ground up? Welcome to Owner’s Roundtable, where successful business owners pull up a chair and swap stories and lessons from their own adventures in business. From surviving their first half baked business plan, the time they almost went broke, the time they got lucky, and the strategies and tactics they used along the way. This isn’t about a polished success story on the Company “About Us” page; it’s about the real story behind the business—the pain, the people, the setbacks, and the big break that changed everything. Each episode, you’ll sit down with the owners who’ve been in the trenches, built something meaningful, and lived to tell the tale. Whether you’re starting out, scaling up, or just curious what it takes to go the distance, there’s a seat at the Owner’s Roundtable for you. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. I’m Jeff McLarty, seasoned entrepreneur, executive coach, and business trainer, and I want you to have your own seat with us here at the Owner’s Roundtable. Real owners, real stories, real insights. Hello and welcome to Owners Roundtable. Today at the table is Tyson Christiansen, owner of Maverick Metal, Maverick Tubulars, and various other ventures. We talk some great stories, his approach to business, follow through and much, much more. So pull up a chair and let’s get chatting with Tyson at the owner’s roundtable. Alright, well, we’re here with Tyson on The Owner’s Roundtable. Tyson, welcome to the podcast. Thanks for coming on.

Tyson [00:01:28] Hello, Jeff. Nice to be here, I guess.

Jeff [00:01:29] Yeah. It’s good to see you again. It’s been a long time. We’ve known each other for how many years now? 2015.

Tyson [00:01:37] Probably 20. Yeah. 20 years or 20…

Jeff [00:01:37] Yeah. Going back in the wayback machine, you started out, I think, selling tires when we first met. Tell us a little bit about where you are now, and then we’ll go back to how we got here.

Tyson [00:01:49] I’m a long ways away from selling tires. Yeah. So I own a holding company is really what I do. So then, you know, that holding company is just a startup engine for other startups, I guess, in our circle. But we do like, well site cleanup and oil field cleanup, and we use that stuff to build livestock fencing. Simple. So actually, the well site cleanup is a different company than the livestock fencing and, and the livestock fencing, so now we have a company in Canada and a company in the United States. So to get from there to there is a long story, but I don’t know how much time we have, but…

Jeff [00:02:25] Well, we’ll definitely hit the high points because it’s been an interesting adventure for you. Started out in Lethbridge, now you’re in Nebraska, right?

Tyson [00:02:33] Technically, we live in in Canada. We’re just down here starting a branch, but we’re living in Nebraska right now. So getting this thing up and going and then we head back home probably within a year or so.

Jeff [00:02:40] So what was step one? How’d you go from being an employee to starting a company?

Tyson [00:02:47] Tire shop? I honestly just got a job offer to go work at a scrap yard.So I was like, working a front counter at a tire shop. I got offered to go work a front counter at a scrap yard. I would encourage any entrepreneur to do that. Like if you get a scrap job like it’s entrepreneur fuel. I was able to train… These people were just driving around cleaning up like job sites and businesses. They would grab the scrap and they would bring it in. So then I was educating them how to make their business better. Like, if I was you, I would get business cards and I would get a GST number and I would get… you know, so I was educating myself to train all these people. My best story is I took a lady who was homeless. Her and her husband were living in their truck. And when I left, they were making $130,000 a year, on my like, hey, “go do this, go do this, go do this.” And they did. And they and they grew it to being a company. No doubt they’re still doing it. But anyway, so then like, not unbeknownst to me, I was just teaching these people how to do that. And then on the flip side, I was learning how to do that oil field buy and sell with oil field tubing. So that was kind of the origins of Maverick Metal. Anyway, so I left knowing how to buy and sell tubing. I started doing that, which is just kind of a silly broker job that, you know basically doesn’t exist anymore, especially in Canada. So I started doing that, and then we realized that most of our products that we were buying were going into feedlots. So then we realized there was nobody building fencing kits for feedlots. So we started doing that, working with fencing companies, and it’s grown to being what it is today.

Jeff [00:04:33] That’s amazing. So tell us about the operation. Like you move a lot of metal around and you’re international now.

Tyson [00:04:40] Yeah, there’s never enough steel. We’re as big as or as big as we can find steel. Like, we could be ten times bigger if we could find ten times more pipe. But that’s our biggest hurdle, is trying to find access to end-of-life pipe in the oil field. So I spent a good portion of my life just trying to get access to more tubing. It’s not easy.

Jeff [00:05:01] I think the amazing part of what you do is you take what somebody else’s garbage and make it into an entire another product that somebody else really wants, and that you can sell as much as you can make of. That opportunity to identify a market is something I’ve always appreciated about you, is you see opportunity where other people just see garbage or something that they’ll just walk by. How do you pick out opportunity? So he’s like… I remember you ordered a bunch of tires one time and a sea can. Remember, the fish truck story is one of my favourite stories?

Tyson [00:05:37] Maverick Fish and Fence? Yeah, yeah. That’s why it started out that I own a holding company. So the holding company is like, your job is just to increase the value of it. So you’re just honestly looking for opportunities that are around. So the tires where I was at a fairly large farm and they were complaining that the tires were expensive, like, well, why don’t we just import some? So I have self-taught myself how to do all this importing and learn how to pay the taxes and duties and tariffs and all that stuff that, that are incorporated with that. So it was just a research project. I mean, this predates ChatGPT. It’d be pretty easy now to do this, but back then it was just, you just figured out how to do it. So then they agreed. I bought a container load or 2 or 3 or 4 tires and just shipped them directly to them. Made a few thousand dollars and off to the next thing. The fish story. That’s always a fun story. So maybe I shouldn’t because it’s older… with the statute of limitations on what we did. There was, I don’t know how the legality of it was. Technically it wasn’t… But I mean, this is all early stuff, so this is like like, I guess in my eyes, I had I got fired with, I had $6,000 in the bank account and I was let go. And I had two, one-year-old kids at home. So, like, you’re kind of staring down the barrel of going broke, getting a job, and trying to catch back up or make it happen. Make whatever happen. You know, in the first six months of us going, we had no idea what we were going to be. So anyways, the Hutterites had come to me and said, I don’t know where I could tell that story. So the Hutterites are an Amish group of people, basically same Bible, same language. They’ve just accepted modern technology for those people who don’t know who Hutterites are. But they said every November we do a fish fry. Part of their tradition. And he goes, right now, fish is $9 a pound. Like, well, I’m a commodities guy. So then I’m like, okay, well, if every Hutterite’s going to buy, every colony is going to buy salmon at $9 a pound, let’s go find somebody that sells it cheaper. So I found a guy that has a shipping company, and I called him and said, hey, like, like, what do you guys? He’s like, well, we sell salmon in Vancouver for $2.50 a pound. I’m like, okay, well, there’s a big spread here, right? So first year we went down, we got two boxes. They were really scared about doing this. So we went and got two boxes. Now these are like 4×4 boxes. We put them in the back of a truck. We drove it back. So, easy. Next year we went down with a 40-foot trailer. And we spent $90,000 on salmon and loaded up. So me and two Hutterites driving down the road in my truck and a 40-foot-trailer full of fish. We went a grocery store run. It worked out really good. Somebody can go run with that business. There you go. I made, I don’t know, $20,000 in one day. We pulled an all-nighter, drove 24 hours. Loaded up, drove away. I mean, there’s some big risks there. I don’t think I would do it again that way. I would probably hire a semi-truck. But I think that like, because next year they can call me. They went and took care of themselves. They just cut me out. And that’s kind of part of you’re going to broker things. It’s something that anybody listening that thinks that they could do stuff like that, know that you are on your way out unless you do massive investment. So anytime you’re just a middleman, people are just looking to cut you out. Always. I look at cutting middlemen out all day because I’m a fencing company like we are a fab shop, so we’re constantly looking to cut out all the brokers.

Jeff [00:08:51] I think that’s an interesting part about business is how do you stay in business? What’s your competitive, unique advantage that somebody else can’t duplicate? If you can find that in business, that’s what makes a long-term, sustainable business. I think you’re right with brokering, like as soon as you find out how somebody else, how that middleman supplier is getting you the product, there’s got to be a good reason not to start doing it yourself.

Tyson [00:09:19] Yeah, it was not a question. That wasn’t a question, Jeff. That was…

Jeff [00:09:21] I was about to ask the question. My question for you is, you’ve been really good at doing the homework and finding ways to, I guess, eliminate the middleman because you started your own fencing company, because you saw where the materials you were selling were going.

Tyson [00:09:39] I realized because I was started as a broker, that it was too scary to… basically as soon as somebody found your contacts, then you’re done. You’re out, you’re done. So like, it was better to go expand and become something. I mean, I’ve been guided by, I’ve got a handful of mentors. They’ve kind of taught me how to like what people think and how people work and just kind of followed them. I’ve just talked to everybody that I can. I’m pretty open about things. So I just.

Jeff [00:10:06] What would you say the best lesson you’ve learned from a mentor has been?

Tyson [00:10:08] Oh, boy, that’s a good question. There’s been quite a few.

Jeff [00:10:11] I’ll let you ruminate on that for a little bit.

Tyson [00:10:14] I have a funny one. I had this whole guy that worked for me, his name or worked with. He was the original pipe broker that we used to buy from the scrap yard. So when I left on my own, he and I would just chat on the phone. But he always, he always used to say a lot of funny stuff. But I mean, your time doesn’t mean —-. I remember him saying that, and it’s a line that’s always stuck with me. I’m like, you know, I remember going like, I’m doing all this work and I don’t know if it’s going to pay off. And that was his response was, you’re worth $0, just go to work. I don’t know, I don’t know, but…

Jeff [00:10:47] That’s kind of contra to what most people teach about.

Tyson [00:10:51] Yeah. Like people, I don’t know if this has value. Well, it doesn’t matter. You don’t have… I guess I come from a point of, like, none of this, like, my time doesn’t mean anything. So, like, I don’t know. I don’t know how to explain that. Maybe that’s a bad way of putting it. But that line always sticks with me when I’m like, oh, am I wasting my time? And then I always think my time doesn’t mean —-. You aren’t worth anything.

Jeff [00:11:12] Normally I’m telling people the opposite, but I think there’s merit. I think what you mean by that is like, don’t worry about whether you’re maximizing it. You have to try things out. Do the work.

Tyson [00:11:25] Yeah, I’ve done six month’s worth of work for $3 an hour. Like it doesn’t mean anything. It’s just as long as it’s going forward, I guess is kind of how to reward that.

Jeff [00:11:33] One of the things I really like about you is I like to call you Mr. Follow Through, because you just do it. You don’t worry about whether or not it’s like the perfect decision or wait, I have a problem with over-analysis, as some people do, but you just make sure it’s moving forward and kind of course correct as you go.

Tyson [00:11:49] Have you ever seen the ladder meme? I laughed when I saw the ladder meme the other day. Basically, it has two ladders. There’s a ladder on one side that’s rickety, like falling apart, but it’s over the fence. And then there’s another one that’s perfect. Everything’s perfectly square, and the line under it is “perfection is the enemy of completion.” So many guys are trying to make it perfect. Like I, once it’s perfect, I’ll go to work or I’ll, like, start this. And, like, perfection is the enemy of completion. You’ve just got to go do it and you’ll figure it out along the way.

Jeff [00:12:22] That’s good advice for many entrepreneurs, especially the ones that do want to have it perfect, because you’ll never get started if you wait for it to be perfect, right? I think that’s one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from you, is it can be perfect later. Like make it happen. Get started. I don’t know how many things you’ve thrown at me over the years. And you’re like, just go do it. Just go do it. Like, what’s the problem here? Just go. I’m like, I need to have a plan? Like, did we fill the car up with gas? But there’s a lesson to be learned for a lot of people, and not waiting to have all of the answers before you get started on something. How do you know when you’ve got enough of a plan to get started? Like you have an idea in your head. How do you know? Okay, now it’s time to move forward. The minute after you have the idea? Or do you make. I know you do quite a bit of homework, as much as you like to say, you just get started.

Tyson [00:13:11] It’s a gut feeling, but it’s more about like a market analysis is really what it is. It’s like, okay, like, am I moving into something that nine other people are doing? Like, I’ve always been good at sales. I mean, that’s been my whole background. So I guess if you’re good at sales, then nothing should scare you. Here’s a fun story. So when we started manufacturing fencing parts, like we had a competitor, another competitor that was a few miles away and we started building. Everything was twice as heavy and twice the price, and he laughed at us. He, like him, and I sat down and had coffee one day and he’s like, you guys are fools. And all I thought of was like, hang on. Because like, if I build exactly the same as you, this is this is suggestions for anybody manufacturing, if you build exactly the same as your competitor, the customer only has one thing to compare it to, and that’s price. So then if I’m $10 and you’re $9, the customer is going there. But then I have to make mine 8 to sell my product. And both of us are going broke, where if I make a better product for more money and you make a more… a valued product at a devalued price, now customer has to make a value assessment and neither of us have to change our margins. So my encouragement, if anybody’s getting into manufacturing of a product and you have competitors, is build something different so you can sell it and the best salesman will win whoever can sell the value. Customers don’t care about price, they care about value. And that’s something we’ve lived on. Like there are products we build now that are even worse yet, like they’re like lower quality. But it’s just because we see those holes. Down here, down in the States, it’s big because there’s a lot of a lot of competition. In Canada, there is limited competition.

Jeff [00:14:55] That’s fair enough. How do you know when you’ve found a market hole and you’re not just missing something that everybody else knows?

Tyson [00:15:02] I mean, that just comes with time. I mean, we’ve been in this business now ten years. We kind of know where the markets are going, follow your customers, that sort of thing. Yeah, you never know. There’s all different ways of seeing a hole.

Jeff [00:15:16] And when it comes to marketing something and finding out whether there’s a market for it, I’ve always been amazed by how many phone calls you can make in a short period of time. I remember I came to visit you one time and you said, oh, just got to make a couple of calls, and in about 30 minutes you called about 20 people just looking for pipe or something.

Tyson [00:15:36] That’s a sales thing, so I don’t know. It’s something that can’t be taught. I guess if you’re… if you want to be an entrepreneur, if you want to do anything, that sense of panic is not something that can be taught. And I obviously have had a sense of panic. Yeah. I mean, I can make 100 calls a day. I’ll probably make 40 today. It’s just part of it. It’s just like, if you’re not, you know, that’s part of being a good salesman is understanding that the chatting with people, getting in front of people is really the business here. So.

Jeff [00:16:07] Right. I think just doing the work, I think that’s where a lot of people fall down, is they wait for the phone to ring versus going out there and making the calls and making it happen.

Tyson [00:16:14] Yeah, there’s somebody else doing it. So if you’re not willing to make the calls or do all the work you’re losing.

Jeff [00:16:23] Just to wrap everything up here, what’s one piece you’d like to travel back in time and give Tyson from a few years ago? What’s that piece of advice you’d like to pass along?

Tyson [00:16:35] I also would tell him to not do anything. I would. I wouldn’t even give that advice. Our life is too awesome to try to… You know what I mean? Like, what could you give that wouldn’t —- it up? I mean, it’s… our lives are pretty cool. I think it would just be, like, I wouldn’t even want to tell him good job. Because, like, the sense of fear is the fuel. Like, what are you going to tell him? Like, oh. There’s maybe a few jobs like that have cost me some money that maybe I could have avoided. But those are life lessons too. So I mean, like, everything has kind of added up to getting here. So we live a pretty cool life to risk even talking to myself. I wouldn’t even want to.

Jeff [00:17:11] Don’t even want to mess with the timeline, hey?

Tyson [00:17:13] Nope, nope.

Jeff [00:17:15] Well, I appreciate it. Anything else you want to share with anybody or any piece of advice you want to leave out there in the world?

Tyson [00:17:19] Marry a wife. Yeah, marry a wife that is frugal and she’s sitting beside me here. She honestly is the everybody gives me the credit. But it’s like the fact that she’s, like, prudish and perfect for me. Like I’m off in la la land half the time. So having a wife that’s smart and better than I am helps. Good luck. Good luck trying to find one.

Jeff [00:17:46] That’s awesome. Hi, Kim.

Tyson [00:17:49] Yeah, Jeff says hi. Hi Jeff.

Jeff [00:17:52] Awesome. Well, thanks for taking the time. I know you’re a busy guy, so I won’t keep you anymore, but thanks for coming on the podcast and sharing some stories with us. We’ll have to have you share some more stories again another time.

Tyson [00:17:57] I’ve got lots, so yeah, yeah, we’ll do it again. Let me know. Thanks.

Jeff [00:17:59] Thanks. That’s all for us here at the Owner’s Roundtable. Thanks for joining. Don’t forget to subscribe so you can join us next time for more success stories, misadventures, lessons, and advice from real owners just like you.