From side work to success: How Ron Bylo built a bustling business with Martin Equipment and FAE

Ron uses an FAE BL4/SSL skid steer mulcher mounted on a John Deere 335. We spoke with Ron about his business and his experience with his FAE mulcher.

Ron began by telling us how he started his business.

“I started this business kind of by accident. It was unplanned, but it worked out well. After I retired from the Air Force, we moved out to where we are now. We bought some land, and I was maintaining it with my farm tractor. One day, I wondered if I could make a little side money with my tractor, and that's where it all started.”

That was five years ago. Now, Ron has a thriving business. But it was a long journey.

“We started with nothing and worked our way up from the bottom. My wife and I didn't take a paycheck from the company until May of 2025. We worked for free just to get this thing going. I had full-time employees working for me during that time, so I was managing them and still working my full-time job. It was a lot.”

Despite the difficulties of running a business while working full time, Ron and his wife made sure to do things right from the start.

“Everything was legit. We weren't one of the under-the-table guys. We had insurance. We did it right from the get-go.”

By laying a strong foundation, Ron was able to move into mulching and grading full time. Now, Ron handles all operating himself. 

When it comes to equipment, Ron says that quality is key to his success. However, he didn’t always see it that way. When he started, he jumped at the chance to acquire cheap equipment. 

“My first skid steer was an old, used Bobcat. I bought it because that's all we could afford, and I bought a bunch of cheap, low-end implements from an auction. I thought, ‘Man, I can get a tree puller. I can get a brush hog. I can get all these things for so cheap.’ Well, they didn't last. The tree puller I bought literally broke on the first tree that I tried pulling. I bought all that stuff and learned not to waste time on cheap equipment. That's why I run John Deere and FAE mulchers now.”

Ron’s dealer is Martin Equipment out of Columbia, Missouri. It was Martin Equipment who recommended FAE to Ron, and it’s their support that keeps him coming back.

“I trust my John Deere dealer, Martin Equipment, 100%. If they tell me something, I believe it, and they're the ones who sold me the FAE mulcher. I’ve been using it for a couple of years now.”

Ron continued.

“I haven't had a single issue out of it. It just works. I have this saying: Buy once, cry once. Spend the money on a good product the first time and then you don't have to worry about it. For example, I like that, with the FAE Sonic, I can calibrate it with my phone and don't need any outside support for this mulching head. My dealer has teeth and anything else I might need. As a business owner, you’re so stressed out, worrying about everything else, that the last thing you want to worry about is a mulching head. I just want to be able to use it, and FAE provides that for me. It's that simple.”

Ron described one of his major challenges.

“One difficult thing about mulching is educating your customers on the importance of equipment. There are a lot of different brands of mulchers out there and a lot of different styles and carriers. You get customers that call and just want to know what you are charging per hour. Well, a guy with a John Deere 335 and an FAE mulcher, is going to have a very different production rate than a guy with a different piece of equipment. Getting the customer to be open to listen to that and even understand what you're trying to say has been a challenge for me.”

The hardest challenge?

“The biggest challenge of business is finding new work,” he says. “My wife is actually really awesome at that kind of thing. She manages all of our marketing. She built our website, started our LLC, got our insurance, set up all of our Facebook pages, and worked on all the SEO. Our first leads came from social media, but as we’ve grown, our best leads have started to come from Google. We focus a lot on customer service and really building relationships with our customers. Now, we are proud to be the top-rated excavation company in the entire state of Missouri on Google.” 

Ron left us with a final thought.

“Life's about people. It really is. And the longer I'm in business, I realize that all of us can run machines well. All of us can mulch. Having a successful business really comes down to connecting with people.” 

Ron’s story is a testament to the notion that hard work and a positive outlook can lead to great success. Through their combined effort and commitment, Ron and his wife turned a simple idea for side work into a thriving business. With a people-focused philosophy, and with reliable partners like Martin Equipment and FAE, the company has developed a reputation for quality and customer trust. We look forward to seeing their continued success in the years ahead.