I make friends with Hot Ass Wood

Let me tell you an interesting story about a man I met when I first moved to Dutchess County. I needed to buy some wood chips for our back lawn. We had a good section of near the back our property that was almost unusable due to the quality of the soil. Our decision was to acquire a mass quantity of wood chips and spread them around. This led me on my journey to acquire wood chips and meet one of the more interesting people I have ever met in my life. The man that answered the telephone when I called the ad for Hot Ass Wood is Big D. He is a unique character. Over the last couple of years, we continued to buy wood chips from him and learn more about his journey. His story is rather interesting so I thought I would share it.

Big D does more than wood chips. He has probably a dozen or more businesses. I think he adds a new line of business probably every week. In short, Big D is an idea machine. In addition to wood chips, he sells firewood, picnic tables, burn barrels, light/heavy equipment, laser engraved cutting boards, engraved wooden business cards. topsoil and a boatload of other stuff. I'm probably missing a dozen other things. I might add that he is wildly successful. As a journalist I was curious about how he got into the wood business. The story that followed was a lot more interesting than wood chips.

Dmitry was born in Russia. When I say Russia, I really mean the United Soviet Socialist Republic or USSR. These were the bad old days of Russia. Think about that movie called Red Dawn and how we all thought Russia was going to invade us. Yes, that is the Russia we're talking about. At the time, for a family of Jews, this was not an optimal time to be in Russia. Discrimination was rampant. The Jews were a class of citizens that were frowned upon and that is an understatement. Big D’s family had a plan to escape.   Leaving Russia was no easy task. Whenever the KGB and other Russian agencies get involved, it's not going to be fun. First, they try to confiscate every dollar and every physical possession that you own. The rationale is that you owe the government everything that Mother Russia gave to you. This led Big D’s mother to sew the names and phone numbers of all their friends and relatives into a jacket that little boy wore as his family prepared to leave. The lining of the jacket was opened carefully. The small paper with the names of the families and relatives and their phone numbers, was all placed carefully inside the lining. To finish the job his mother stitched the jacket back together by hand. Big D still has this jacket to this day. It is one of his most prized possessions.

After darting across Europe for a short period of time, the family ended up in the Bronx. Imagine a little Russian boy who talks little English, and dresses extremely funny, trying to make friends. Co-op city was a rough area back then. Outsiders weren't necessarily welcome. Russian outsiders even more so.

At a young age, Big D did not have many friends in the Co-Op City section of the Bronx. In high school, he had a job scooping ice cream that he put his heart and soul into. It gave him a sense of purpose where his school tried to make him feel like a failure. Not grasping the language means that the lessons they were teaching in class would not be absorbed by this young man. Big D credits his problems with school, as the secret to his success. He knew he could not be successful following the conventional path. That "normal path" might be to study hard at school and work for someone else after graduation.  Big D knew that if he were to amount to anything in this world, he would have to do it on his own. After leaving the ice cream business at a young age, Big D would go on start several businesses. There was a deli in the Bronx. The used car business also had a pretty good run. He would start different businesses that would eventually run their due course. Eventually he started Hot Ass Wood in Dutchess County and his success began to skyrocket. The business was driven by both Big D’s ambition and some macroeconomic trends, namely the population growth in Dutchess County and a surge in demand for firewood.  

Obviously, this is a very brief summary of someone's life. I'm missing a number of details and a few of the stories that I was told. Maybe now is a good time to take a step back and look at what this all means. Why was Big D so successful? What made him different from anyone else?  I can only give you, my opinion. I believe Big D's success comes from three things. First, he has an idea machine. Where others see nothing, he sees opportunity. For example, he had some weeds growing next to the pond on the property he owns. The weeds were getting high. Now most people would call a gardener and have someone clean that out. Instead, Dmitri offered these for free to anyone who wanted to come pick them. These were marketed as greens that could be fed to chickens. Greens that are fully organic and contain no pesticides. Come pick as many as you want and it is all absolutely free. Best of all people came. I was there. People picked the weeds and thanked him profusely. I was both shocked and amazed.

The second key to his success could be a lesson for all of us. Big D is never afraid to fail. He only risked what he could afford to lose. He never doubts that any new ventures will be successful. Still, the last and most important thing is that he's incredibly enthusiastic. I never knew I needed a burn barrel until he showed me how they were made and what they could be used for. (No, they are not for getting rid of dead bodies.). His son is a welder, and he cuts holes in the barrels so that everything burns cleanly and there's no risk of burning your house down. All of your cardboard that comes from Amazon boxes, can be put in the burn barrel. All of your yard waste can be put in the burn barrel. You can invite your friends and neighbors over and have them put things in the burn barrel. You can burn things together! This is super cool.  I had to have one. 

As I get ready to sign off, please remember this.  If something is important to you, try as hard as you can. Don't be afraid of failure. Failure is only temporary. A failing attitude is permanent. If you have a crazy idea, don't be afraid to give it a try. Don't sell your house and bet the farm on it. Start small and see if the idea gets traction. The world has always been a scary and dangerous place filled with obstacles. Success comes to those who never give up. So never give up and don’t be afraid to try!