8. Angie Klink

Matthew Nix, age twenty, yearns to grow Nix Welding, even though his grandfather, father, and aunt are content with the way things are. Small. Status quo. Good enough.

In 1902 in tiny Poseyville, Indiana, Matthew’s great-great-grandfather opened the blacksmith shop that became Nix Welding. He thwacked a cross peen hammer onto white-hot iron to shape it into submission on an anvil. Nearly 100 years later, despite family pushback, Matthew looks beyond the cornfields that his family thinks confine Nix Welding. He works his own kind of forge, to bend, mold, and expand the business, often finding himself in his own self-stoked fire as a trial-by-error entrepreneur.

Forging Ahead reveals how Matthew, now CEO, and the team he methodically curated leaned on small-town values and faith to transform humble Nix Welding into Nix Industrial, a revered custom manufacturing and industrial repair powerhouse. Today Nix Industrial is one of the fastest growing companies in America.

Author Angie Klink paints a vivid portrait of a business saga from America’s heartland. Forging Ahead is a family tale, a coming-of-age story, a business handbook, and a letter to future generations.