It all started with a problem on the farm. It’s that problem that then sparked an idea, as Blake Chance, a Kansas State University student, started to study a solution.
“The main reason I made it was if your baler caught on fire,” says Chance. “If you got all that pressure on your pin, you can’t pull it out from the top. Then, you take the top sleeve off, and then release the pressure and then it’ll drop out.”
Chance is now a junior at Kansas State, but being raised on a farm, he had a problem he didn’t want to repeat.
“One day, the baler got a little hot when the bearing went out, and the mechanic said we were pretty lucky it didn’t burn up,” says Chance. “I don’t really want to lose my tractor.”
Seeing that problem, Chance’s freshman year he wasted no time, and immediately got to work and created a quick release hitch pin.
“My freshman year, I took an entrepreneurship class,” says Chance “I wrote up the business plan, and I ended up getting third place in a contest. So, I took that money and got a patent pending on it.”
Deciding to invest in his idea, it took him six months of searching to finally find someone willing to not only make the product but make only a small quantity. That didn’t stop Chance, and despite the pandemic, he decided to give his “Quick Pin” idea a shot.
“I’ve sold almost 600 now, and I started selling them in April,” he says.
The success in sales came despite a global pandemic, but success Chance chalks up to an American born and made idea.
“The ‘Made in America’ has been to my advantage, because people want to buy products made here in America,” he says. “And because of COVID-19, I think that’s really helping me and my business thrive better because people want these products coming from America, not from overseas.”
From farm stores in northeast Kansas, to now a booming business online, support is blossoming from a thriving social media presence and a Kansas State community that cares.
“Through the entrepreneurship classes, it’s helped me network with people who are in the industry and know who to talk to and know what to do because they’ve been through it,” says Chance.
A Kansas farm kid didn’t just take a chance, he created quick pin, an American born and made solution which sprouted from a simple idea.
