Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul Mata.
Hi Paul, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Growing up, my mom would always tell me, “Trabaja con ganas mijo” which translates to “Work like you mean it, son” and I do. This whole story probably started back in 1998 when I was able to enroll into an elective class in high school…that was Welding 101. Between that time and the start of our business earlier this year 2022, I’ve had the opportunity to hone my fabricating skills as well as my professional skills. I spent a good part of my life in the blue-collar segment as a welder/fabricator building beams for railroad bridges and large cylindrical piping to protect welders working on subterranean pipelines and I’ve spent another part in the white-collar industry as an insurance agent, but my passion has always been in working with my hands. I honestly never stopped working with my hands even while being in a professional setting so transitioning back to my roots was natural. But I did not do this alone. I attribute the start of this company to my business partner Slade Dinn who had the foresight to start a smoker building company and along with our other business partner Glen Henderson, we put our minds together and started this business. I have a great team that has backed me from day one allowing me to grow this company organically and by real-world experience and betterment. Despite only just coming up to our one-year anniversary in January 2023 it feels like we’ve come a long way and it almost feels like it was forever ago that we started. We’ve sold smoker pits coast to coast now from Georgia to California and as far North as Ohio and Indiana and just recently, we’ve been able to quote some folks across the pond in Ireland and the U.K. In this short span, I’ve further honed my personal skills, even learning to how to do basic drawings on CAD to use those files to cut our steel on our CNC plasma table, which in itself is a whole other story on how that machine has helped us scale our business to the speed that we can churn out the smokers. At the end of each day I’m grateful to have this opportunity to build a company from the ground up. Everyday.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s not always been smooth and we definitely didn’t come into this industry with the best prices on material and at some points not even enough material to go around. Supply chain has been a somewhat struggle especially at the beginning stages since we really didn’t have any connections but we’ve just had to get on the phone and find the answers. Our location, while good, isn’t the most ideal but I really like a quote from Winston Churchill and he said once, “Perfection is the enemy of progress”. This resonated with me greatly and if it wasn’t for adopting the “imperfect circumstance” there probably would be no HDM Smokers or at the very least we would be this much more behind in building this company. “In every challenge lives a greater opportunity” Jeffrey Benjamin. We have taken those challenges and learned from them.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
This is a tough question for me because I consider myself a man of many hats but one thing I’ve always loved doing is designing and then executing said design. This is mainly why I love doing what I do and why it was a no brainer for me to come back to it. Right now, I specialize in designing our smoker pits and running operations of HDM Smokers. Just recently, I’m now known as Paul, a BBQ smoker builder. It kind of comes with the territory when all you post about on your social media is building smoker pits but one other thing I’m known for is being a motorcycle junkie and adventurer. I actually started my social media presence doing motorcycle related product reviews, trips, and how-to’s. I’ve traveled over 150,000 miles (small miles compared to many others) on my motorcycle and documented those travels. Even though a large focus of my time now is fabricating smoker pits, I still get asked about my motorcycle trips. What am I most proud of? Being known as a hard worker and making strangers my friends. It’s what my dad did and I feel like I am continuing his legacy. What set’s us apart? I’ve mentioned often that we build smoker pits but I’ve never said we “sell” smoker pits…because while we fabricate them what we really sell is “Time”. We have low lead times compared to many builders and that could be because we are very new but I have processes in order for when that demand comes we are prepared and continue to keep those low lead times. Why is this important? Because the pitmasters are counting on us to deliver their smoker pits in a timely manner so they can get to making money. Every day they can’t use that smoker is another day they can’t make money. Also, our smokers are designed to be very efficient which converts to less time being spent hovering over the firebox and we also help by reducing fuel costs. We sell time but we fabricate smokers.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Yes, as I quoted earlier, don’t wait for the perfect moment to make a move because it will never come. Just start doing what you love and “trabaja con ganas” (Work like you mean it).
Contact Info:
- Website: www.hdmsmokers.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hdmsmokers/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100073130182129
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/hdmsmokers
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFws3H2AcCkCC01jkDev_XQ
Image Credits
Randy Duncan | Daddy Duncan’s BBQ (main photo only)
