(upbeat music) - My name's Dan Wollack.

I'm the owner of Coalcracker Bushcraft in Appalachian Bushman School where we make outdoor merchandise.

And I also train individuals in wilderness living skills.

So growing up I spent a lot of time in the outdoors, specifically with my grandparents.

My grandfather always took me out hiking and fishing.

Every snow day I had every day throughout the summer of no school, I spent time up in the woods exploring and making my own adventures.

(upbeat music) So with all that time spending outside, I needed a way to finance all my exciting adventures.

And after graduating from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, I got a job in a juvenile justice field which I enjoyed at the beginning.

And then towards the end, I found myself just daydreaming all day at work about getting outside and doing more.

Ultimately, the facility that I worked at, it downsized and it closed and I was jobless, what am I gonna do?

And I always wanted to start my own business, but I really never had the guts to do it.

I don't know what I was so scared about but I was scared to do it.

And so I decided I'm gonna reformat my life and what am I gonna do?

I remember I got my first unemployment check and I was looking at other juvenile facilities to work at and I got a call from New York, New York, and I picked it up and it was the casting company for the show "Alone" on History Channel, which I ended up being on.

I spent 51 days by myself in the mountains of Patagonia.

And when I finished that, I realized that cubicle life and a nine to five is not for me.

(upbeat music) So at the beginning of my business, I had all these great dreams, these dreams of these awesome products and these cool products.

But then reality set in, how do I make these products?

I don't know the first thing about this, I don't even know how to put the product on a website to sell, let alone get a customer to buy any of these things.

So I started with what I knew.

I had a small selling kit and I had some weather and I started making small little pouches that I made before in the past for myself that looked nice and I made patterns and started to sell 'em all by hand.

And I'd sit for hours and my fingers would hurt and then I would look online some new products and I would research how to sew or how to blacksmith.

And I made myself a blacksmith forge and I started selling little fire starters that I would forge down at my in-law's house in their backyard.

And then it grew from there.

I got some fabric and I thought, "Hey we're gonna make some shelters."

So I started to try to sew.

On a little sewing machine, me and my mom, we would sit and we'd feed all this fabric through and it would be crooked, and we would miss stitches.

And then we'd go back to the drawing board and figure it out again.

(upbeat music) So one thing that I get asked all the time is why is it important?

Why is it so important to learn outdoor skills?

And I tell people, well, there's two things.

It's number one, if you're an outdoor goer it's like an insurance policy for the outdoors.

It's super important that you know if something bad does happen, that you know how to handle yourself, that you can spend one or two or three nights outdoors.

Or if you get injured and you have to wait for somebody to come and find you, do you have the skillset to be able to do that?

Secondly, I think that it also drives you to be a better person.

Going outside is one of the toughest things.

Mother nature is totally unforgiving.

So going out and spending time in the bad environment when you're not really sure if you're going to be able to make it and then actually persevering and making that trip of success, boosts your self-esteem, it boosts your confidence and it just makes you a more whole person.

(soft music) So when people come to our courses, we really get a mixed group of people.

We get very young individuals.

We've had some students as young as 13 and we've actually had some individuals as old as 70 come to our classes for a multitude of different reasons.

But there's always one thing that is very consistent with all the students, that unsure perspective when they first come of what to expect and are they gonna be able to actually make it through this course?

And it's the best part of being an instructor, is when we watch these people grow and they start to realize, "Hey, I can do this.

Hey, I overcome this."

They get excited and they make their first fire or they blow what we call a bird's nest, which is a ball of tinder with a little ember inside and you blow it, the flame, and you go and it just ignites.

And you just see that excitement in them, they're like kids again.

And they absolutely fall in love with the outdoors right then and there.

And when we see that as instructors, it makes us happy.

And those individuals just growing inside.

(upbeat music)