Collaboration for an Ever Evolving Product Ft. Ryan Cochrane

August 9, 2022

Collaboration for an Ever Evolving Product Ft. Ryan Cochrane

“I wasn’t a good athlete because I was a talented athlete. I was a good athlete because I put everything into that. Exactly that. And I focused on it.”

Ryan Cochrane

Welcome back to a brand new episode of the Epoxy Business Podcast. Today your hosts, Steve Larosiliere and Jake Latvala, sit down with Ryan Cochrane. Ryan is a former Olympian, a Woodpreneur Podcast alumni, a good friend of Jake and Steve’s, and this past year has become an essential partner with Ol Loggin Epoxy.

“Epoxy is something that I used before but in a different way, because I was using it more in kayaks because I was as a kayaker as an athlete. So it was more for boat-building processes and things like that. But I watched many people make these river tables and do stuff like that, which made me want to see if I could do that.

Alan, a friend of ours, reached out to me on Instagram and said, ‘Hey, do you want some product?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’d love to give it a go.’ I worked with epoxy a little bit when I started working for the company I’m currently working for, which I ended up buying into with some partners. It all just snowballed from there.

My style is that if I do something, I do it. There’s no halfway; I’m going to go all into it. I’m going to figure everything out, and I’m going to learn everything about that product and everything I can do with that product. So it became an obsession, and from there, it kept rolling. I mean, it’s been years now, and it feels like it was yesterday.”

Ryan Cochrane

Making a Career out of Epoxy

Despite being in an entirely different working environment, Ryan’s career as a professional athlete and Olympian helped ensure he had the right mindset for going into this new line of work. His dedication, focus, and willingness to continuously learn and hone his craft have ensured that he is always ready for the next challenge.

“After my athletic career, I decided to apply for some jobs, and one popped up involving making tables. I was really excited, and that guy was like, ‘Boom, come on, work for me.’ He was all excited. It’s funny he’s like, ‘Oh, an Olympian wants to work for me and me!’ But I’m like, ‘Oh, a guy that wants me to build tables for him!’ So it was a good relationship.

He’s like, ‘When can you start? Now?’ So we had a good relationship for about two years, and then he told me he wanted to sell the company, and he wanted me to be included in that. So I became a key employee and a shareholder in the business. Currently, my title would be Director of Production. I control all the manufacturing, shipping, warehousing, packaging, everything.

We do quite a bit of business online now since COVID. But it’s been really fun, and it was this interesting journey. Really, I got there because of that personality trait to keep working hard and always trying to be better than I was the day before.”