Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Pake McNally. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Pake thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I was playing around making found object metal artwork, doing decorative blacksmithing and training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, when one of my friends asked me to make him a “workout mace”. I’d never heard of such a thing and quickly forgot about it and moved on with other projects.

Fast forward three years, I’m newly married, in the middle of Army basic training ( I enlisted at 29 in the U.S. Army Reserve) and working full time in my mentors Blacksmith Shop. He had passed away not long before I shipped out and I knew his family would most likely not let me continue to work in his shop.

That’s when I remembered this slightly drunken conversation I’d had about making a workout mace. When I got back home in the spring of 2017. I no longer had a blacksmith shop to work in. So with minimal tools in an old roundtop barn on my wife’s farm I got started working on the design and fabrication of maces! I sent a few to some friends to let them try out took there critiques and improved the design.

My wife and I built a website and I started promoting them on Instagram and Facebook. I’ve sold maces in 8 different countries and 47 states. Business is tough but I feel like I’m maturing into this role and am hopeful I’ll be able to turn Become Stronger Industries into something big!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Pake McNally and I am the owner and sole employee of Become Stronger Industries, I fabricate steel workout maces, clubs and hammers to help people improve their shoulder mobility and strength. One of the unique things I do for customers is to stamp their favorite quote or saying onto the heads of the maces. Words have power and we can all find strength and motivation in a simple phrase that means something to the individual.

I take my blacksmithing skills and create on of a kind pieces for folks who are looking for something unique or just keep it simple with my basic style of mace. I build these things to work and not sit in the corner collecting dust so I put my heart into each one I make in hopes that it will help the customer improve their overall health and fitness.

Through my twenties I worked a variety of jobs and had to be as strong and as fit as I could be to keep myself and my crewmembers safe. I built hiking trails on the Continental Divide, Fought wildfires for the U.S. Forest Service all over the West, Worked in the back of Ambulances on patients as an EMT, trained Jiu Jitsu and fought in some Amateur MMA bouts. Each one of these jobs required me to be at my very best. This mentality has stuck with me as a Combat Engineer in the Army Reserve and most importantly as a husband and father to two little boys.

I’m working hard to build a fitness brand that can be customized to the individual. To help every single customer improve their quality of life and in turn those around them.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

There have been many times that I’ve thought about quitting this business. I think an easy trap that people who build their own products fall into is that WE know our product is good, the best on the market even…..so if WE know that then everyone else will just know that as well and customers will flock to us and we’ll sell a ton of stuff and life will be fantastic!

My struggle has been getting the word out about my equipment and I’m actually in the process of taking a step back to focus on marketing and just letting people know that there is an option for affordable American Made pieces of custom workout equipment available.

I’m very excited to see what the next few months bring!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I answer every single message personally and if someone is interested in a quote plate or custom piece I try to get to know them a bit. I also let people know that I’m a real person with a very busy life outside my shop. It helps me relate to the potential customer. People work hard for their money and when they give up some of that to make a purchase from me I take that very seriously.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.become-stronger.com
• Instagram: @becomestronger_1
• Facebook: Become Stronger Industries
• Youtube: Become Stronger

Image Credits
Lacey Chance