National Hardware Show 2023
This year is starting out with a BANG!
It’s only the beginning of February, and so much is happening already! Where will 2023 take NW Quik Pull? Well if the last five weeks are any indication, then NW Quik Pull is about to be launched into a new dimension!
Can You Dig It?
Just 2 weeks ago, we headed to Las Vegas to attend the California Rental Association (CRA) Rental Rally Show. This was our second year of exhibiting at this show, and we saw some familiar faces, in exhibitors, and in attendees. We did something a little different at the show this year. We participated in the “Dig This” outdoor event with Shane Ward from Titan Post Drivers. Shane talked with us before the show and shared that he would be driving posts and it would be great if we could join him to pull the posts he was driving. We immediately jumped in to that opportunity to show Quik Pull in action. That was a fun first day!
Before we arrived in Las Vegas, we had reached out to a new online friend, Brian Frederiksen who owns Las Vegas Fence and is a board member of the FWA (Fence Workers Association). Brian is also coordinating a new Fence show in Las Vegas in August 2023 which is appropriately called The Fence Show & Security Expo, and we are planning to exhibit at that show as well. Since we were going to be in Vegas, we called Brian and asked if he had time to meet us. That meeting has turned into so much more than meeting face to face. Brian is a guy who connects people and businesses together, and it really seems to be his passion.
After we met Brian, we invited him to join us at the Rental Rally Show. His objective was to meet other businesses who he could invite to exhibit at his August Fence Show. Once we understood that, we also invited him to join us at The National Hardware Show.
The Rental Rally Show was a little small in regards to the National Hardware Show! In fact, it’s really not even fair to compare the two shows. The CRA show was a great smaller show which put us in front of small Tool Rental stores in the region. The National Hardware Show(NHS) was a completely different experience! Home centers, independent retailers, online retailers, wholesalers, distributors, and everyone in between attend NHS to discover the newest products, innovations and trends that are shaping the future of the home improvement and DIY industry.
Shark Tank At The National Hardware Show
Because NW Quik Pull is an invention, and still a relatively new tool, we were invited to be part of the Habitat area. This is the area for new inventions, and where we would be meeting other entrepreneurs, and possibly even people who have experienced being on Shark Tank! Before we arrived, we received an email from the United Inventors Association inviting us to pitch our tool to a panel of previous Shark Tank winners. Of course we said yes to that opportunity! We had 5 minutes to pitch, and 2 minutes to answer their questions. We were told that we did well. In fact, we were invited to pitch the next day also.
Our second day seemed to go even better than the first day. We were given a standing ovation, and were encouraged to apply for the real Shark Tank season 15 which will be beginning soon. John Clark who invented a tandem boogie board, and now has other water sport products (tandmsurf.com) was one of people who encouraged us the most. He stated that he loved our tool, and our story behind it. He gave us the information we needed to apply, so we applied. Now we just wait to see what will happen!
Making Connections At The National Hardware Show
One of the people our new friend Brian introduced us to is Ron Heinz with Southwest Automated Security (SAS). Ron sees the vision of NW Quik Pull and is working closely with us to become a distributor of our tool. SAS has 19 locations across the US, and many connections with the fence industry. Ron is also on the board of directors of the FWA with Brian and is involved with The Fence Show and Security Expo. Ron was able to join us at The Hardware Show and see our pitch and meet with other perspective dealers. We look forward to working closely with Ron in the near future! We absolutely believe that he and SAS are going to be key in growing our business!
As I write this, we are making preparations to travel again. Our next show is the American Rental Association (ARA) show in Orlando Florida. We exhibited at this show in Las Vegas in October 2021, so this will be our first experience at this show on the East Coast. Because NW Quik Pull makes a great Rental Tool, we look forward to meeting new rental store partners. We will also be on the lookout for more dealers. So, if you are in the Orlando area, please stop by to see us!
We look forward to connecting with you at a show, here in our blog, or on our social media in the future! Get your NW Quik Pull tool today from our web store! Please like Us On Facebook and Follow Us On Instagram and YouTube!
