One of the co-founders of Rigid Lighting, Taylor Anderson, shares life in the off-road lighting industry and what has come after. Company culture, offroad racing, and lights are part of Episode 148. Tune in on your favorite podcast app.
5:53 – the cool pines of Arizona
12:21 – who rolled one first?
17:16 – Christensen invited us in so the Anderson brothers joined up and became partners
24:07 – the three-inch pod, little Rubik’s Cube, you could fit it anywhere
27:26 – I was the gatekeeper for culture, how we treated our employees
30:29 – I had the most fun I’ve ever had in my life
39:41 – “you sold your right to complain.”
51:07 – my latest obsession is vintage axes
We want to thank our sponsors Maxxis Tires and 4Low Magazine.
TRANSCRIPT
[00:01:47.640] – Big Rich Klein
on today’s episode of Conversations with Big Rich, we have Taylor Anderson. Taylor is an offroad racer, offroad business owner. He was, I believe, one of the startup guys with Rigid Industries, the lighting company. I know he was VP and he is a designer and won some awards for some of the stuff that they designed. Taylor, it’s really good to have you on board and haven’t talked to you in a while, so it’s good to do this.
[00:02:20.720] – Taylor Anderson
Yeah, thanks for calling, Rich. It’s exciting to do and it’s good to rehash the past a little bit. I’ve been out of it for a little bit here on the business side, so it’ll be fun.
[00:02:31.970] – Big Rich Klein
Right. So let’s start off right away. And where were you born and raised?
[00:02:37.080] – Taylor Anderson
I was born in Mesa, Arizona. Raised in Arizona. I never left, so I am literally about 5 miles from the hospital I was born at.
[00:02:46.920] – Big Rich Klein
Okay.
[00:02:47.500] – Taylor Anderson
And a mile away from my high school. And I’m still here. I just I like Arizona enough to where we never felt the need to leave.
[00:02:55.950] – Big Rich Klein
Right, I get it. I love Arizona, but I love Arizona more in the wintertime yes.
[00:03:04.500] – Taylor Anderson
Than I do in the desirable everybody does, by the way. So we just got back from running some errands and I think everybody is here in Arizona right now on the roads.
[00:03:16.280] – Big Rich Klein
Yes, that’s true. Every car, you can imagine it’ll be that way until the beginning of March and then the snowbirds leave.
[00:03:25.940] – Taylor Anderson
Yeah, exactly. And then we leave once it starts to get hot. We actually do head up north to a cabin that we have up there.
[00:03:32.950] – Big Rich Klein
Oh, very good. Still in Arizona?
[00:03:35.260] – Taylor Anderson
Yes, about 2 hours from our home.
[00:03:38.490] – Big Rich Klein
Okay, cool or cooler?
[00:03:42.040] – Taylor Anderson
Yes, much cooler and much less in the population. And it’s a nice little escape for us and we really enjoy it.
[00:03:55.250] – Big Rich Klein
So growing up in Mesa at that point when you first started, when you were just a little kid, it was a lot more rural than it is now, correct?
[00:04:07.300] – Taylor Anderson
Yeah. We had dirt roads everywhere and the edge of town dropped off about 500ft from my house and it just turned into orange groves. And that was our playground. That’s where we were with our first I think we had a Honda 110. ATC was the first one. And then after we wore that thing out, I ended up somehow with a 250 R. And of course I tried to kill myself many times on that, but that’s was my mode of transportation.
[00:04:40.640] – Big Rich Klein
And growing up in that area, was your family involved in like hunting or fishing or offroading at that time?
[00:04:49.280] – Taylor Anderson
Not so much offroading. I grew up in a camping family. So we go camping every few weeks and then I think I joined Scouts at probably aged eleven or twelve and I was in a Scout troop that camped once a month okay. All over Arizona. So I got to see the parts of Arizona that I didn’t when I was younger and learned just a lot about the state, the history and had a really good time doing it.
[00:05:18.170] – Big Rich Klein
That’s cool.
[00:05:19.090] – Taylor Anderson
More importantly, got out of the heat of the summer. We used to go up north. You always go up north. We rarely went south.
[00:05:26.230] – Big Rich Klein
Okay. I can understand that. The more trees up north, pine trees, baby.
[00:05:33.920] – Taylor Anderson
The cool pines of Arizona. A lot of people think it’s just a big desert here, but it’s actually about half desert and about half pine.
[00:05:41.940] – Big Rich Klein
Right. But it’s really desert and then it’s really piny that transitionary, like happens instantly.
[00:05:52.200] – Taylor Anderson
It does. Our cabin is almost 8000ft and I think our home down in Mesa is 2000ft. So there’s quite a swing when you get going, head up the highway. READ MORE
