Most of us in the machining world have thought about it at least once. What if I stopped quoting other people's parts and built something of my own? For a lot of shop owners that idea stays stuck in the someday pile, because the path from a good idea to a product people actually buy feels impossible to map. This episode is about someone who mapped it.
I sat down with Josiah Fallaise of FDF Race Shop, and I'll be honest, this one went a different direction than I expected, in the best way. Josiah has built a following of hundreds of thousands of people who watch him design and make racing suspension and other components, and that audience does something remarkable for his business. It creates organic demand for his products and an almost unlimited supply of people who want to come work for him.
We get into the whole arc. How he started with eight products on an $8 a month website, why his early outsourcing decisions taught him expensive lessons, and how he thinks about buying machines when you're making your own products instead of quoting jobs. If you've ever wondered whether to option out a machine or buy the base model, his answer is clear and it's worth hearing.
The part I keep coming back to is how openly he shares his work. He isn't chasing hooks or hacks. He posts what he's genuinely excited about, every single day, and the following takes care of itself. For any shop owner who's told themselves that content isn't for them, Josiah makes a strong case that you're sitting on some of the most watchable material there is.
We also get honest about the hard parts, the restructuring, the bottlenecks, and the mountain of documentation it takes to scale past a handful of skilled people. If you're building a brand around what you make, or you want to, this one's a bit of a master class.
What's Covered in this Episode
- (0:00) Josiah's simplest way to start making content: answer questions on camera
- (1:24) Meet Josiah Fallaise of FDF Race Shop and hear his origin story
- (4:01) Inside FDF: race products, a racing school, and the industrial side
- (6:14) The "I Designed It" T-shirt giveaway and flying the winner to the shop
- (8:36) CAD seminars: 3D scanning, reverse engineering, and low-cost tech
- (10:12) How DN Solutions can take your shop high-end
- (11:22) The origin story: engineering tech by day, wing brackets on Big Cartel by night
- (13:50) Early bad calls with a water jet company (and why laser wins)
- (16:02) Why outsourced quality falls as volume climbs, so he brought it in-house
- (17:15) Product shop vs job shop: buying fully-optioned machines for output
- (20:14) Creating demand by posting the work, not the product
- (22:49) Verdant Commercial Capital makes the financing process smooth
- (23:28) 3D-printed suspension teaching models and Formula SAE memories
- (26:36) The full product line (and where product ideas come from)
- (30:35) Team and culture, interviews, and hiring at FDF
- (36:39) Sponsor: Hire MFG Leaders (Paul)
- (37:08) Building a personal brand alongside the business (and sponsorship leverage)
- (41:47) Getting started: a $15 tripod, slow-mo chips, no mic, minimal editing
- (48:18) The real challenge: restructuring, bottlenecks, and 170 orders behind
- (51:49) 25 to 30 pages of docs per product, version control, and three sign-offs
- (54:45) The E-Myth, robotics, laser welding, and the billet vs welded math
Resources Mentioned
Connect with Josiah Fallaise
