From Digging Holes to Pay for Drivers Ed. to Nuclear-Grade Machining for Defense Weapons.

Kelly Denison's first job at Continental Machining Company was digging a hole for a crane to pay for driver's ed. Today he's the third owner of a 61yearold Albuquerque machine shop that builds tooling for federal bases, aerospace and defense primes, and yes...nuclear weapons work. In this episode of Business & Brews with Ben, Kelly walks through working every job in the building on his way up (janitorial, night shift, machinist, and eventually CFO with zero accounting background), starting his own side shop at night while still working full-time at Continental, and buying the family business from his dad in a process he calls harder than he expected, especially with the odds stacked against him as a second-generation, third-owner buyer. We also get into Kelly's faith, adopting his fourth child in under nine months, a motorcycle ride that raised over a million dollars for churches around the world, the skills gap in American manufacturing, how AI and automation are changing (not replacing) machinist jobs, and a defense program he works on that protects lives overseas...plus the weirdest thing he's ever machined. CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro & guest intro Kelly Denison, Continental Machining 0:50 Sponsor: Steel Bender Skull Bucket IPA 1:38 Growing up in the East Mountains, family land & dirt bikes 3:05 16 years married, family life 3:42 Third owner of a 61-year-old machine shop, how it started 4:14 Learning machining as a kid in his dad's garage 4:40 Racing roots: micro sprints with his dad and grandpa 7:12 UNM Formula SAE, then transferring to the CNM machine trade program 8:11 Working his way up — janitorial, sweeping floors, night shift 10:08 How Kelly and Ben actually met (a Manufacturing Day tour) 12:29 Learning to program from a night-shift foreman 14:09 What a machine shop "night shift" really looks like 14:41 The in-school + night-shift training formula for young machinists 16:53 Building a company culture around second chances 19:16 The skills gap and the career manufacturing offers instead 20:32 Becoming CFO in 2018 with zero accounting background 21:16 Becoming a top machinist within 6 months of graduating (and being terrified) 22:11 Running the night shift at just 20 years old 24:12 CrossFit, triathlons, and never shying from a challenge 24:58 Starting Denison Machine Works in 2015 nights in the garage 26:34 Building his own customers: a Sandia supplier gig, vape tips, and titanium rings 27:21 The moment his dad saw the entrepreneurial spark 28:07 "Denison with one N" (not the other guy) 28:47 The brutal odds of surviving to a second-generation business 29:57 Buying the business from his dad, harder than expected 30:59 The hardest part: watching his dad let go 32:00 What he'd tell anyone going through succession get a mediator 33:23 His four kids Lego master, future engineer, and a future coffee shop owner 34:17 His faith, and making it his own 35:32 Adopting his fourth child in under nine months 37:27 Trailhead International & Sagebrush Church 38:34 The motorcycle ride that raised over $1 million for churches worldwide 42:07 Defense & nuclear-adjacent tooling work (kept general, NDAs apply) 43:33 The Middle East missile defense program he's proud to build for 44:19 A stranger at the gym, a birthday video, and a life-saving intercept 46:00 Overhearing a sermon about the same program, next door 47:27 What Rio Rancho's Project Castellan could mean for local machine shops 50:05 New Mexico's melting-pot dynamics and its red-tape culture 52:14 Housing costs, government fees, and the case for building more 55:21 What Kelly wishes people understood about machining today 57:07 "Blue collar" becoming "blue tech" 58:22 AI, automation, and manufacturing's skills gap 59:57 How fatherhood and work-life balance have changed since his own childhood 1:02:03 Last Call segment begins 1:02:19 The weirdest thing he's ever machined (the "soup eggs" story) 1:03:53 His biggest mistake: acting too fast, and holding grudges 1:07:23 Letting his son off the hook after a costly accident 1:09:03 The gym, mastermind groups, and beating imposter syndrome 1:14:10 Where to find Kelly & Continental Machining 1:15:08 Sign off CONNECT WITH KELLY DENISON 🏭 Continental Machining Company: https://continentalmachiningco.com 👔 Kelly on LinkedIn:   / kelly-denison-76ba64a6   🏢 Continental Machining Company on LinkedIn:   / continental-machining-co-inc   👍 Continental Machining Company on Facebook:   / continental-machining-company-100057208970170   CONNECT WITH BEN NOLTE 🏢 Industrial & Commercial Real Estate, Albuquerque: https://www.bennoltecre.com 👔 Ben on LinkedIn:   / bennoltecre   🎙️ New episodes of Business & Brews with Ben regularly: subscribe so you don't miss one! #Albuquerque #Manufacturing #MachineShop #FamilyBusiness #NewMexico #Podcast #SmallBusiness #Entrepreneur #CommercialRealEstate #BusinessAndBrews #Defense #Aerospace