We were lucky to catch up with Bonnie Kraus recently and have shared our conversation below.

Bonnie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

When I got caught in a snowstorm in Hobble Creek canyon, with no cell service, dark and with below freezing temps rolling in, I have to admit I didn’t have the best gut feeling. The backroad I was on had become slick and despite my best efforts and new tires I found my Honda CRV sliding off the road and into an embankment. I tried everything to gain traction and get back on the road. Floor mats, manually digging out snow and ice, even gathering sticks and rocks and placing under my tires. “Why is this happening to me?” Some hours later, after finally getting out of the situation, I realized this happened FOR me. I built a prototype for a product meant to be placed underneath tires to help get out of snow and ice. I waited for the next snowstorm and went to the same canyon, this time intentionally trying to get stuck. The prototype, made of rubber mats, metal and foam worked great! From there it was a journey to refine the idea into something manufacturable, compact, and easy to install. This process resulted in the Traxion Pro vehicle extraction tool available to the public today. A moment of frustration and fear turned into inspiration and innovation! Breakthroughs happen when we stop asking “why me?” and start asking “how does this serve me?” Timing is never off, but our perception is! That’s why I love what I do, taking obstacles and turning them into success stories.

Bonnie, 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?

Prior to launching my company I worked professionally in the packaging industry. Consulting with customers and discovering what they needed inspired me to look at life through a lens of material reality and working within those limitations. It opened up an exciting world of innovation and creativity. Traxion Pro is the first in line of products released by my company Bonrock LLC but we have more innovations in the pipeline and plan to keep releasing new innovations to help customers and their communities live their best lives.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

I am very lucky to work alongside my spouse, Nathan Rock in all things innovation and he has been an integral part of Traxion Pro and Bonrock LLC. We met in 2019 while at a fourth of July gathering. My husband loves acroyoga and wanted someone to do an improptu session with him. With fireworks blazing all around, I let him guide me into some basic poses. Needless to say the sparks flew in all directions and we dated afterwards, ultimately resulting in our engagement and marriage. What we really bond over is innovation. My strong, hands on inspiration and desire coupled with my husbands amazing expertise (he has a bachelors in physics and is currently receiving his doctorate from University of Utah!) has been a recipe for new ideas. Together we are innovating the world! We also made a new person, my daughter. Family is extremely important and it is amazing to be both business and life partners.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

The manufacturing process of Traxion Pro has been an amazing journey. While working in packaging I eventually found my way into the manufacturing process via a project management position. This gave me a little more insight into the process of what it takes to build a product from start to finish, which has been really invaluable. All the design work for Traxion Pro has been done in house, something we are proud of and has allowed our overhead cost to remain low. Currently Traxion Pro is 3d printed. Because 3d printing is a newer technology compared to injection molding, some customers are skeptical of the strength and resilience of the product. That objection can be overcome, as ultimately there’s benefits to printing a product compared to injection molding, both from a company and consumer standpoint. The main lessons learned from the manufacturing process have been to uphold quality at all costs! Sometimes we have to switch materials due to supplier issues. This was especially true during the tariffs negotiations. Many suppliers raised costs substantially or stopped shipping to the US altogether, meaning we had to find new suppliers. The slightest change can mean big differences in outcome, so we remaind diligent in performing the necessary quality checks and tests to ensure customer satisfaction. Traxion Pro has a lifetime warranty. If the product ever breaks we will exchange the broken parts for new ones! We have high quality expectations and these are tied into the manufacturing process.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.traxionpro.net
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/go.with.traxion.pro/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552038723418
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonnie-kraus-847679310/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TraxionPro/featured

Image Credits

Bonnie Kraus