On, July 10, 1856, in Smiljan, Croatia a boy was born that changed the world with visions and inventions, and today many of his inventions are still in use. This great man dedicated his life to making the world a greater and happier place to live for all. Some men stood in front of his progress fueled by greed and egos to utilize this man's great ideas and inventions only to obtain greater power and wealth for themselves. One bitter man in particular would create smear campaigns to distort this great man's image and his campaigns were so ruthless, even going so far as electrocuting animals till they seized to live any longer, only to prove this great man was wrong. Even though this legendary man helped so many people, including me, and all of my fellow readers he died in a lonely forgotten hotel room, penniless and alone.
If we look into the past with an open mind and full heart, we as people have the ability to see into the future. One hundred and twenty-five (125) years later, to the exact hour I was born after the Great Nikola Tesla. When I came to this realization as a young boy I instinctively felt it was only necessary to follow the great work and life of this great man. I am inspired by Nikola Tesla and his inventions. For over twenty (20) years, I have dedicated my time and energies to having a greater understanding of how and what makes all “things” work, being it be electricity, movement and flow, love or life itself.
In April of 2015, while walking through the mountains in Colorado a thunderstorm came through and I had a choice, to either hightail it back to my truck or to sit there in the rain and watch the magnificent beauty of what Mother Nature had in store for me. For some reason on that particular day, I chose to sit on a rock near a tree and listen and watch what nature was creating right before my eyes. Amazing! The peace, tranquility and serenity that day is indescribable. While sitting on that rock, a bolt of energy came through me, inspiring an idea to re-create a Jeep camper that I thankfully had the great honor of building so many years prior. Many questions ran through my head, my thoughts running ramped.
How will I do this?
I don't have a penny to invest in such a large undertaking.
I don't have a shop to work in.
I don't have any friends or the support in the city I had just moved to.
What about my wife and kids, how will I support them while building this dream of mine?
Immediately, I knew the odds were stacked against me, yet I had an overwhelming force within me that it can and would be possible somehow and someway.
A few days later, I visited a former employer to see how their business was doing, and in the middle of a conversation a question came out of me, even though my vocal chords made the sounds, I was not the driving force that let the question come out of my mouth. How would you feel about me continuing the Jeep camper line? Immediately, that question invoked a smile and I had a great sense of many gears turning in both of our heads. Although, I left without a solid “yes” or “no” I felt as if the course had been plotted and the sails have been set for a great new adventure.
Some days later, unexpectedly I received an email correspondence from a new person in my life, Mike Hiscox. Wow! I thought my dream is starting to come to life! How great is this life? Someone I have never met is willing to support MY ideas.
Through countless phone calls and e-mails between Mike and myself, a plan was made to pick up the Jeep and a check for $10,000 and a sendoff of “go build your prototype, Dion.” Overwhelmed with joy, excitement and happiness, I accepted the plan that I knew was full of potential problems, but so willing to work through each one of them. For example, how was I going to completely redesign and manufacture a prototype with such limited funds and no support? Why is this man completely okay with me dismantling a completely fine vehicle? How am I going to do this?
Unbolt this, cut that, design that, measure this. This continued for days and days working long hours upon hours. Reluctant to what my instincts were telling me, I began the process and aspiration of building a Jeep, I now call the Darien.
Then one day it happened the first of many fallouts. You aren't calling me enough, why are you not emailing me more? Whoa, I thought, I am just getting started on building MY company along with a brand new prototype design. Why is this man getting upset so early on? Then it hit me like a ton of bricks, all of my ideas and actions do not support this man's personal interests. Wow, Dion, what have you got yourself into? Why didn't you listen to your instincts and pass on this deal? Then the answer came to me “LOVE”, I love what I do, my passion is my driving force. When you love something or someone you tend to let your guard down and expose yourself, you lay it all on the line for that one shot at glory.
Mike has said many things in his post about my company, only to gain exactly what all the readers have given him. It's not about the love or the passion of the great outdoors or the vehicle that has driven him to make all these decisions WITH me. It's all for you guys. He just wants an audience to pump up his ego. He paints a glorious picture of him being the supporter of a young entrepreneur that couldn't pull it together. Now let's all be honest with ourselves, what startup company with little capital builds such a large scale prototype including all the research and development run purely on volunteers (including myself) have a profitable outcome in eight (8) months? Mike being the senior player in this game has known this all along!
Even though, I admit that I am not equal to the great Nikola Tesla, I cannot help but point out some subtle similarities we share. Just like Tesla, my love and passion is what motivates me to wake up every morning and go to my lab. After everyone leaves at the end of every day, I am still here working until my body cannot go any further. And all for what? To develop a product that would give the people that share in my love and passion for what the great outdoors offers. If I could make Jeep campers every day and give them away, I would, that is how passionate I am. Just like Tesla, I have big powerful man/men (financially anyway) standing in my way of creating something great. All because it does not serve his and/or their ego driven motives.
Now here is how the past can change the future. I chose a while back that I will be the captain of this ship. For all the many thousands of hours and dollars I have put into Mike's Jeep it was and always will be Mike's Jeep. Not my company's prototype that we can learn, earn and grow from. Or perhaps build a vehicle that I could outfit in a fashion that I see fit for the best interest of my company and future expeditioners. I chose a path that I will not let the man with the bigger checkbook dictate how I will be persuaded into ideas that were not of my own. Although I may or may not die alone and penniless in a hotel room like Tesla, I now know I have a choice here and now to either go out standing up and fighting rather than being scared into submission.
What will become of my company who knows? I never started this journey to become famous on the Expedition Portal or be the newest or greatest builder of the decade. I did this so I could follow my dreams and create something so radically different than what is being produced today.
Who knows if I will find the right person with the right amount of tenacity and a bit of capital to help see my dreams to fruition? Or maybe the dream dies here and now and we all wonder for days or weeks or maybe even years what was he “Dion Kranz” trying to accomplish? Who knows?
This will be the one and only response I have on the matter. I respect the fact that this is not my build thread for myself nor my company.
