Joshua Paulson
Austin
Summary
My whole life I have been an obsessive learner, hobbiest, & coach. I love building, hot sauces, fitness, and animals.
I believe that there are millions of paths to success, but they all can be boiled down to one thing, Improving yourself. I have carried this belief in everything I do throughout life.
I hunger for problems where I can analyze, and quickly come effective and efficient solutions. To me resourcefulness is paramount in all things and activities. I use my past experiences to connect unrelated knowledge to create unique ideas, and drive those ideas into actions. At a young age I worked on construction sites with my father and his adult friends, and when they encountered problems they could not solve, I a 12 year old, saw and communicated solutions rapidly. My core values are freedom, contribution, and perseverance. These traits are what have driven me to acheive all the things I have done in life.
Overview
13
13
years of professional experience
Work History
Owner Operator
Quality Cage
09.2015 - 09.2025
- Acquired Quality Cage in 2015 as it was failing and about to be closed down, learned the manufacturing systems quickly & achieved breakeven in 6 months. Scaled it from 250k/year to 1.3m/year over 10 years. Reduced cost of manufacturing by 50% over the first 5 years by utilizing lean principles and by vertically integrating all outsourced production (powder coating, wire bending, welding, box making, sheet metal stamping, and shipping).
- Designed & built new machines for automating or simplifying processes.
- Managed and built systems for its high mix low volume SKU day-to-day business operations for manufacturing, marketing, administration, & purchasing.
- Hired, Trained, and motivated nearly 100 employees over 11 years to perform daily business functions and taught them lean principles in direct application of our own processes.
- Migrated the businesses sales avenues from retail distribution & face to face to Direct to a consumer eCommerce system on Shopify, Amazon, Ebay, and Etsy, and drove traffic and sales through Social Media, SEO, and email marketing.
- Redesigned and designed around 400 products that all became profitable.
- Migrated the original hand drawn product designs to 3D CAD using Fusion360, implemented parametric design to enable rapid custom product design, and work instructions. Then using rendering software made 3D photography that could then be used for marketing and sales online.
Founder & CEO
Safe Haven Lab Cages
01.2024 - 09.2025
- Conducted target market research to scope out industry competition and identify advantageous trends.
- Created organization's mission and vision statements for use by employees.
- Created and monitored promotional approaches to increase sales and profit levels.
- Developed strong partnerships with other businesses to allow for collaboration and more significant opportunities for growth.
Owner/Operator
Lean Boxes
04.2017 - 03.2019
- Lean boxes was created out of a need for my other business, Quality Cage. We needed a way to get low-volume, high-size-range cardboard boxes. I partnered with Packsize to place a box manufacturing machine in my facility that could make custom sized cardboard boxes in seconds. Quality Cage did not do enough volume to justify the machine, so I started to presale boxes to local manufacturers in Boise, ID. Once I got enough commitments to purchase, Packsize agreed to lease us their machine.
- I oversaw the installation of the machine and electrical requirements.
- Built systems to manage the day to day operations as efficiently as possible. Hired employees to make and deliver the boxes.
- Created an e-Commerce website that allowed customers to enter custom box sizes and quantity, and it would automatically price the item and allow them to purchase.
- All sales were driven via word of mouth and me knocking on doors. I grew the business from $0 to $450,000 yearly revenue until I inevitably closed it down due to the difficulty of achieving profitable margins, and running two high mix low volume businesses simultaneously.
Cheese Maker
Muse Creamery
11.2013 - 01.2015
- I was the 2nd employee at the largest goat milk creamery in the State of Idaho at the time.
- Followed instructions and processes to maintain food and beverage integrity.
- Chose, inspected, weighed, and measured ingredients for each production run.
- Cleaned and sterilized factory equipment, processing containers, and work areas to keep foods safe.
- Created batches of cheese products with specified flavor, texture, clarity, bouquet and color profiles by following production recipes and procedures.
- Ran laboratory product testing to comply and worked in collaboration with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Assistant Winemaker
Periple Wines
09.2012 - 05.2014
- At Periple Wines, I worked as a direct assistant to the owner and Wine Maker.
- I performed many different tasks from grape harvest, wine production, facility and equipment maintenance, lab testing, cleanup and sterilization, Bottling & labeling, Tasting room sales, customer service, and wholesale sales and delivery.
- I learned all of this on the job very quickly and soon was working for 3 different small boutique wineries in the area, doing the same tasks at each.
Education
High School Diploma -
Capital High School
Boise, IDSkills
- Coaching and Teaching
- Lean principles
- Obsessive learning
- Strong and efficient communication
- Manufacturing & Design
- Systems and instructional design
- Empathy for others
- CAD Design
- Internet Marketing
- Management
Timeline
Founder & CEO
Safe Haven Lab Cages
01.2024 - 09.2025
Owner/Operator
Lean Boxes
04.2017 - 03.2019
Owner Operator
Quality Cage
09.2015 - 09.2025
Cheese Maker
Muse Creamery
11.2013 - 01.2015
Assistant Winemaker
Periple Wines
09.2012 - 05.2014
High School Diploma -
Capital High School
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