We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sean Cogan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Sean, appreciate you joining us today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

One of the best things that my parents did for me was to instill a love of learning and exploring at a very young age. I have very clear memories of sitting with my parents and siblings when we were children, working through various word problems that my parents came up with and asking and answering questions about anything. We were all encouraged to do our best in school, to read anything we could get our hands on, and to try new things and keep an open mind.

This mindset has been a huge blessing in my adult life, particularly when it comes to starting and running a small business as a crafter. There was a lot that I needed to learn and figure out when setting up Byte-Sized Ironworks, and having the ability and drive to gain the necessary knowledge and solve all of those little problems made it much easier than it might have been otherwise.

On top of that, having a drive to learn has been extremely important in developing my craft as a blacksmith. There are various groups and people around who are more than happy to show you the ropes and mentor you, but most of my experience has come down to teaching myself and trying new things. Sometimes they work, and sometimes they don’t – you take what works and run with it and you work to improve what doesn’t work. In my mind, it is absolutely vital to have a love for learning and an open mind when it comes to practicing a craft and turning that into a small business. That all goes back to how my parents raised me, and I am so grateful for that.

Sean, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’ve been interested in history for pretty much my entire life. There is something appealing to me about the hard work and ingenuity that people of the past used to survive and make a living for themselves. The crafts and trades of everyday people were particularly interesting to me, especially blacksmithing. There was something almost magical about the ability to heat and shape metal, and it was something that I kept in the back of my mind for a long time as I grew into adulthood.

When COVID was still in its early days, my wife and I had just moved into a new home with a decent amount of land, and I found myself with much more time, space, and energy than usual. I don’t remember when exactly I made the decision, but sometime during that summer I decided that I wanted to give blacksmithing a shot. It took a bit of time, effort, and the generosity of others to get what I needed, but before fall had set in I had all the tools that I needed to get started. The very first time I that I pulled a piece of steel from the fire, glowing red hot, and was able to shape it with a hammer and anvil, I was absolutely hooked.

It took many hours of learning and practice, but over the next couple years I got to a place where I felt comfortable selling my work. I signed up for a few local craft shows, made some sales, and realized there was some interest in what I was doing. From there, I decided to start Byte-Sized Ironworks and take things a little more seriously.

Now, I have my own small business making and selling hand-forged steel goods. I specialize in more decorative pieces over more practical things like blades and other tools. However, my pieces still can be functional! My products range from decorative hooks for your walls to bottle openers to fire pokers with many other offerings in between. I take pride in doing things by hand, the “old-fashioned” way. My forge is set up in a small shack in the woods towards the back of our property, and I use a coal forge that is powered by a hand-cranked fan.

For me, my real passion is in the creative process – coming up with a design for a new product or working with a customer to create a custom piece that fits their desires perfectly. I love watching people interact with my pieces, seeing the work and effort that went into them, and being able to talk about the process with them. I like to think that I’m not just creating art for people to enjoy – I’m keeping an important and historic trade alive.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

What I love most about being a maker is seeing a product go from raw materials to finished good, and then being able to share that finished good with others. I’m not making the steel myself, but I get to see it start as a piece of flat or round stock, then transform it into something beautiful and functional. And when I’m done with a piece, I don’t keep it to myself – I love to share my work! I take my work to craft shows or post about it on social media, and I love to interact and talk with people about what I’ve made. I think it’s important for people to know that there are those of us out there who are keeping these ancient trades alive, and sharing my work is a great way to get people more informed and interested.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson is a book that has really stuck with me throughout my adult and professional life. I am a software developer by trade, and I came across this book a number of years ago while working as a consultant. The authors wrote the book as a sort of “lessons learned” exercise after years of running 37signals, a web application development company.

While the content in Rework might be somewhat geared towards those in the technical world, I think a lot of the ideas that are discussed can be applied to any field. What the book boils down to is to stop wasting your time on “busywork” that might look good on paper, but that doesn’t actually achieve any real results. You only have so much time and energy available to you, so you must devote it to activities that really matter and generate real results.

I take these ideas particularly to heart with Byte-Sized Ironworks because it’s still a side project for me – software is my bread and butter, and I can only afford to do blacksmithing as a hobby. So when I do have free time to put towards my craft, I do my best to make sure that I’m spending that time wisely and getting the most out of that time that I can.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bytesizedironworks.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bytesizedironworks/
• Other: [email protected]