Daily Inspiration: Meet Kirk Rogers

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kirk Rogers.

Hi Kirk, 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?
I’m an inventor. I’ve created more than 1,000 products over the years, and I learned most of what I know at the School of Hard Knocks.

There was no professor standing behind me saying, “Kirk, here is how you solve that problem.”

You look at the problem and think, “Well, how hard can it be?”

Then you build something.

It doesn’t work.

You change it.

It still doesn’t work.

You change it again.

Eventually, it works.

And that’s the great thing about having a creative mind. You don’t necessarily need someone to tell you the answer. You just need enough stubbornness to keep looking for it.

That’s also why I love handmade products.

When you buy something handmade, somebody actually cared about how it turned out. They picked up the material. They measured it. They cut it. They assembled it. They probably swore at it once or twice.

Then they made it right.

That’s different from something that has simply fallen off a conveyor belt.

I’ve spent decades inventing, building and selling products, and I’ve learned one very important lesson:

Once you go handmade, you’ll never go back.

Because when you’ve learned how satisfying it is to make something properly, it’s rather difficult to get excited about something that was made merely because a machine was available.

The funny thing about invention is that you never really know where the next idea is coming from.

It might be a problem in your garage.

Something that doesn’t fit.

Something that breaks.

Something that works perfectly well but could obviously be made better.

And then the little voice starts:

“Why don’t I just make one?”

That’s how it starts.

Before you know it, you’re measuring something, cutting something and wondering why you’ve spent half the day trying to solve a problem nobody else seems to have noticed.

But that’s what inventors do.

We notice things.

And once you start looking at the world that way, it’s difficult to stop.

The School of Hard Knocks has taught me plenty over the years. Mostly that failure isn’t failure if you learn something from it.

You try.

You screw it up.

You fix it.

You try again.

And eventually, you have something that works.

That’s invention.

And that’s handmade.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The School of Hard Knocks, a Creative Mind, and Figuring Things Out

There are two ways to make something.

You can press a button in a factory somewhere and have 10,000 identical things fall into a box.

Or you can actually make the bloody thing yourself.

I prefer the second.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I started with displaying guitars, vertically and horizontally. I needed more products to survive and make an income similar to what I was making working for someone else.

My administration plan was 2 new products a week. I did it.

I remember Kobe Bryant saying after a win in the Championship series, they were 3-1, and they had just beaten the Celtics nicely. The reporter asked yo don’t look happy? I am not. The job is not done yet!

That is what I followed. I was never happy until I was so busy I needed to hire other people and could afford it.

I have invented so many products that never sell. I do not take it personally; I am just happy for the sales I earned this day, this week, this year.

So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
Every customer has an idea, and my job is to communicate so well that we get it perfect. I have done this 1,000’s of times. I listen. I have Richard, my employee, and we work together and get it done to a very high quality. Everytime.

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