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NO MORE CHASING
From scooping ice cream to starting his first business maintaining lawns at age 15, to racing cars and founding Dawson Manufacturing in 2016, Nick has worked hard to afford more than boxed mac and cheese dinners for himself. Through his NASCAR career, Nick picked up fabrication and other automotive maintenance skills
CHECKERED FLAGS Industry Leader | Nick Carlson’s Take on Perseverance & Entrepreneurship
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his is not the first time the name Nick Carlson has appeared in our magazine. In the fall, SYNKD highlighted Nick’s flagship invention, Mulch Mate, a revolutionary truck or trailer attachment designed to mechanically unload material like mulch, gravel and compost directly into wheelbarrows, saving landscapers time on the job and protecting employees from the risk of heat-related illnesses, compounded by the act of performing strenuous labor inside a metal box. Now, we want to explore the story behind Nick, an ingenious product developer and entrepreneur whose claim to fame is his propensity to do what’s right.
I have this love to give, a love to encourage & put positivity & gratitude first.
that he applied when fixing machinery for his lawn care business. According to Nick, these escapades introduced one of his greatest assets as an entrepreneur: his ability to tackle problems head-on without being held back by fear. “What I tell people is, if you’re feeling pain, anxiety or nervousness, that is your world, your body, telling you, ‘Hey, there’s a problem here, don’t ignore it,’” Nick says. “My fear of failure, my fear of the bottom, has led to many years of trial and error.” Today, Nick takes pride in cultivating relationships with his customers, leaving
Watching Nick speak at trade shows and conferences, it’s bewildering to think that this magnetic character was once a homeless second-grader sleeping under a stairwell. “I tend to be obsessive about things, and part of that is from my experience coming from nothing,” Nick says. “I know what the bottom looks like. I’ve swam with those fish, and it’s ugly. It’s not something I ever want to do again, and it’s not something I want anybody else to experience.”
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NICK CARLSON, FOUNDER & CEO OF MULCH MATE
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