You Don't Have to Leave to Do Something Big

I grew up in Andover, South Dakota. Population 91. I'm not exaggerating — that's the number. One of those small rural towns where everybody knows everybody, where the grain elevator is the tallest structure in sight, and where the idea of 'making it' usually meant leaving.

Recently, someone sent me a photo of a billboard nine miles down the road from my old high school. My face is on it. The message is aimed at the next generation — encouraging young people to build a career close to home, in the trades, in manufacturing, right here in South Dakota.

I'll be honest: that's a pretty humbling full-circle moment.

I Didn't Have a Perfect Plan

I dropped out of college and started portable welding out of my garage. I didn't have a perfect plan. I didn't have investors, a business degree, or a roadmap. I just knew I wanted to build something — and I believed I could do it right here in South Dakota. That belief, more than anything else, is what got me started.

The early years were not glamorous. Portable welding out of a garage means early mornings, late nights, cold weather, and a lot of uncertainty. But it also means you're building something that's yours — something real, something you can point to and say: I made that.

What Dakota Foundry Became

Today, Dakota Foundry, a division of Anderson Foundries, has been recognized as one of the Top 100 Small Businesses in America by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. That recognition matters. But what matters more to me is what it represents: real careers for real people who want to build a life without leaving the communities that raised them.

That's the thing about manufacturing — and about the skilled trades more broadly. These careers don't require you to move to a major city. They don't require a four-year degree. They require skill, discipline, and the willingness to show up and do the work. And they can be built right where you are.

The Best Opportunities Are Closer Than You Think

There's a narrative in this country that success means leaving. That if you're from a small town, from a rural community, from a place like Andover, South Dakota — you have to go somewhere else to become something. I don't believe that. I never believed that. And the billboard nine miles from my old high school is my answer to it.

You don't have to come from a big city to do something big. You don't have to leave the place that shaped you to build a career worth having. Sometimes the best opportunities are closer to home than you think — they just require you to be willing to build them from scratch.

We're Hiring

If you're in South Dakota and you're looking for a career in manufacturing — not a job, a career — Dakota Foundry is hiring. We're looking for people who want to build something that lasts, in a place worth staying.