Behind the Garage Door: 30+ Years of Family, Springs, and Surprisingly Deep Philosophy With Ponderosa's Ken Fielding
If you had told me a few months ago that a blown-up garage-door motor would turn into one of the most life-affirming conversations I've ever recorded, I would have invited you to the medical exam because clearly something was rattling around your skull. And yet, here we are.
A fried opener, seven takes into a commercial shoot, led me straight to Ponderosa Garage Doors … and eventually to a 90-minute deep dive with founder Ken Fielding, who has somehow kept a family-run, blue-collar company thriving for 31 years without decapitating anyone or throttling his own children. (More on the springs—and the children—later.)
I hit the red "record" button expecting tips on door maintenance; I left with a pocketful of business strategy, parenting hacks, and a reminder that nobody looks good in a puff-of-smoke exit. Below is the condensed, caffeinated, and slightly-sarcastic tour.
Photo taken from Ponderosa Garage Doors website.
From Rib-Eyes to Roll-Ups: Ken's Accidental Origin Story
1994, Southern Utah. Ken—middle child of TEN siblings—needs to feed a young family and decides door-to-door meat sales are the ticket. Nine months and approximately 4,000 chuck roasts later he realizes, "This can't be it."
Enter older brother #1: "Come learn garage doors." Ken spends six months on installs, graduates to outside sales, then moves to the Pacific Northwest, still convinced garage doors are merely a pit stop on his road to Real Success™ (a theme you'll notice). A $1,500 loan, a battered Mitsubishi pickup, and a Home Depot shopping spree later, Ponderosa Garage Doors is born.
For 20 years Ken tries to escape—insurance, real estate, daydreams of something classier—but every time he strays, another juicy account drops in his lap. Eventually the lightbulb flicks on: maybe the "acres of diamonds" are literally hanging on hinges in people's garages.
Fast-Forward to the 5-Year Glow-Up
2019 becomes the inflection point. Ken's sons Teal and Brock, nephew-in-law Nick, plus wife Tracie all pile onto the payroll. Translation: Christmas dinner is now a staff meeting with yams. The new crew talks him into three terrifying but critical moves:
1. Hang up the phone – Ken (finally) stops answering every call from inside random garages.
2. Go paperless – Goodbye carbon copy invoices, hello iPads.
3. Rebrand everything – New fleet, new logo, uniforms so clean they make Apple Store employees look unkempt.
Ken's terrified. Revenue takes off.
The Five Spokes That Keep the Wheel Round
During that makeover the family locked themselves in a room, ordered caffeine, and extracted the now-famous Ponderosa Core Values. I scribbled them down because honestly they double as parenting commandments:
1. Be Green – When you're green you grow; when you're ripe you rot. (Tattoo that on your ego.)
2. Be Nimble – Flat tires, crooked headers, toddlers with markers—pivot gracefully.
3. Protect People – Employees, customers, three-year-olds walking under 300-lb doors. Safety or bust.
4. Address Everything – No festering. Drag the awkward conversation into daylight and get on with life.
5. Fail Forward – Mistakes are tuition; pay up and apply the lesson.
Notice what's missing? "Sell more doors." Funny how profits follow when humans like working—and living—together.
Springs, Fear, and Other Things Under Tension
Pop quiz: can a torsion spring decapitate you? Probably not, Ken says, but it can eject a screwdriver through your skull. (Google at your own risk.) The bigger danger, though, is the silent kind—fear of delegating, fear of spending, fear of looking small-time.
Ken's personal Greatest Hits of Terror:
• Handing the phone to Brock.
• Paying real money for a wrap that turned the work vans into rolling billboards.
• Trusting Teal to swap the clunky overhead openers for slick wall mounts in my own garage (10/10 would recommend).
Each leap felt like stepping off that invisible bridge in Indiana Jones. Every leap landed on solid rock. Funny pattern, that.
Family Business Without the Therapy Bills (Mostly)
"So… Dad or boss?" Ken gets this a lot. The solution: crystal-clear org chart, well-defined seats, and one rule at Sunday dinner—talk about literally anything except cycle times on spring replacements. Does tension creep in? Sure. That's why God invented river days and Costco pizza.
Prediction: by 2030 Tate—the only Fielding child currently not on payroll because he's busy flying airplanes—will be shuttling rush orders across the Pacific Northwest. Sky-Door Service™ has a nice ring, no?
What Cancer, Stomach Flu, and a Blown Motor All Teach
Ken's dad, Ken's brother, my own in-laws—cancer has punched holes in both our families. You learn fast that nobody on a deathbed asks to see Q4 numbers; they want hand-holds, ice water, and the people they love inside arm's reach.
So why wait for tragedy to refocus? Daily cadences matter: prayer, kettlebells, bad dad jokes—whatever restores perspective. A fit mind, fit body, fit business. In that order.
Takeaways You Can Actually Use (Even If You've Never Touched a Garage Door)
• Your "means to an end" might be the end. Dig the diamonds in your backyard before you book a flight to someone else's mine.
• "Nice guy" leadership still needs boundaries. Fences make good neighbors; org charts make good families.
• Hire for values, train for skills. Springs can be taught; humility is harder.
• Paperless beats paper—unless you're gift-wrapping the very last checkbook for museum display.
• Fear keeps you broke (and tired). Pick one bottleneck this week and hand it to someone else.
Closing the Door (But Not Locking It)
I started this adventure wanting a quieter garage; I ended up with a master class on growth, gratitude, and the physics of wound-up steel. If you're anywhere near Portland or Southwest Washington and your door squeaks, drops, or outright explodes mid-take, you already know who I'm calling.
Mention "Anthony Thomas” or “Dynamic Daddy" or just flash a screenshot of this article—Ken promised 10 percent off and I recorded the confession.
More importantly, steal the Fielding playbook: stay green, stay nimble, protect your people, address the hard stuff, and fail forward. Whether you're raising toddlers, P&L statements, or 16-foot panels, that's the kind of spring tension that lifts, not kills.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have a brand-new opener begging to be opened and closed purely for the joy of it—maybe five times. Seven felt risky last time.
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