Today we’d like to introduce you to Marshall Day.

Hi Marshall, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?

How I started and where I am today are what feels like 2 separate lifetimes.
When this process started I was doing video production full time and simply had an idea for a tool after seeing what I was thinking of didn’t exist
A few years went by and a good friend pushed me to go make a sample of what I was talking about so I did.
I looked at the original prototype for a few years while thinking of ways to simplify it. At that point it was just something in the garage I would mess with when I was hanging out out there.
As time went by I sat down with my grandpa and he helped take it from an idea that was 2 tools ip tied and taped together to an actual prototype. it was just a piece of pic with JB weld that held it together but it worked and allowed me to move forward.
I took that to fresno state where I sat down with the head of the engineering department and he helped me measure it and put it in a cad program that would allow me to take it to 3D print.
Once I had a working prototype that was really dialed in I was sitting at my kitchen table when a good friend of mine stopped by and saw what I had. He was super excited and asked what is this?! I told him it’s called the RAK-O, it’s an idea ive been playing with. He said “I need to introduce you to Kevin” and set up a meeting with us.
Once Kevin and I had met we hit it off great, he is someone I get along very well with and his background is in manufacturing.
Him and I worked on a few more versions until we came up with what we have today in which we couldn’t be more proud of.
Today is actually 1 year since we started selling the RAK-O, our first outing was at the Fresno Home and Garden show and it was a hit! We followed ups that show with taking the RAK-O to the National Hardware show in Las Vegas a few weeks later.
it was at that show where we were in the new invention category a wonderful company called The Modern Inventor had put on. We were doing the Pitch the Pros with Christopher Guerrera while my daughter was watching our booth and happened to show the RAK-O to Tractor Supply Co.
It was at that show we met a ton of people, we got to see the interest from people all over the world but it was Tractor Supply Co who took that chance on us and took this tool from a trade show and select store option to a product that’s in EVERY Tractor Supply Co store Nationwide.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?

lol. I wouldn’t call it a smooth road! It’s been a very educational journey, it was like going through 4 years of collage in 6 months and the last thing you want to do is not be able to fulfill an order in time.
The amount we learned is incredible, from financing options and what financing options are available to being shocked by our bank when we walked in with a PO from TSC and they dont do PO financing. Learning about shipping, shipping costs, shipping logistics to customs fees, tariff fees and the worry of a tariff hitting us while we had a container on the water.
There are so many elements of this the best thing you can do is place yourself around people who have done it and can help guide you, mentor you and help insure you dont make a bad deal or decision.
Keeping the ultimate goal of seeing your product in stores while going through the tough times for us was key, not allowing simple mistakes to break you and understand you will make mistakes but learn from them.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?

My background is in video production,
I grew ups doing video production with my dad and as I grew I took what I had learned and started to apply it to things I was more interested in. I went from shooting commercials and TV shows to shooting concerts all over the United States for some of the biggest artists at that time.
I still do enjoy shooting concerts but I also started doing a lot of music videos and really enjoyed that. Hearing a song, thinking about what you see then brig that vision to life is something I very much enjoy so it wasn’t a surprise taking the vision I had forth RAK-O and making it a reality was just second nature to me

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?

My Drive and endless quest to always do more

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rak-o.com
• Instagram: @rakogardentool
• Facebook: @rakogardentool
• Twitter: @rakogardentool
• Youtube: @rakogardentool
• Other: https://www.tractorsupply.com