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Assa Gill didn't grow up dreaming about owning a machine shop. He came to Canada from a small village in Punjab, discovered CNC machining through a college course, and spent nearly nine years developing his skills on the shop floor. But the idea of building something of his own never went away.
That idea became real when Assa bought his first CNC mill—before he had a building, a customer, or even a registered business. He started running jobs during evenings and weekends, gradually built a reputation, and eventually left his full-time job to focus on Rise Machine Works. Today, the shop has four CNC machines, an automated saw, its first full-time employee, and more growth on the horizon.
But rapid growth came at a cost. After a year of long days and trying to handle everything himself, Assa realized that working harder wasn't going to build the company he wanted. Reading The E-Myth Revisited helped him begin documenting processes, defining roles, delegating work, and creating a business that wouldn't always depend entirely on him.
In this episode, Assa shares the realities of starting with limited resources, earning customers through relationships and quick turnarounds, protecting cash flow, and building systems early. We also discuss the major opportunity that could take Rise into its next stage—and why machining ability alone isn't enough to create a sustainable machine shop.
What's Covered in this Episode- (0:00) Why the cheapest quote never keeps a customer, and what does
- (1:39) Assa Gill's story: From a village in Punjab to rural Manitoba
- (5:50) Nine years at a local manufacturer, running programming and two departments
- (8:25) Learn how DN Solutions can take your shop to the next level
- (9:38) Starting his own shop: buying a machine and getting his first customers
- (14:24) Quitting the day job, going from one machine to five, and making his first hire
- (16:58) The MakingChips machine giveaway with DN Solutions and Kennametal
- (17:43) Finding customers in a town of 600, and the LinkedIn message that turned into a contract
- (19:49) Dropping everything when a customer's line is down: why relationships outlast price
- (22:21) Adding two DN Solutions lathes at six months, then an Okuma mill as a backup
- (25:37) Running four CNCs off a 400 amp phase converter and outgrowing the building
- (26:12) Ground Control: automated workflows for aerospace and defense manufacturers
- (26:53) Reading The E-Myth in year one, and building the franchise prototype early
- (29:40) Acquiring a 20 year old cylinder manufacturer with two business partners
- (30:54) Why 15,000 square feet at 25K a month didn't pencil out
- (33:25) The shop owner who told him to read The E-Myth—and the call three years later
- (37:10) How an org chart sets a vision instead of just a reporting structure
- (39:33) Strategies from my book: "Precision Manufacturing, Precision Business."
- (40:58) Managing growth, guarding cashflow, and the 20 hour days he doesn't want back
- (41:52) The biggest challenges that Assa's worked through and overcome
- (47:00) Assa's message to anyone sitting on the idea of starting a shop
- Rise Machine Works
- DN Solutions
- MakingChips Machine Giveaway
- Kennametal
- IMTS
- Ground Control
- The E-Myth
- Precision Manufacturing, Precision Business by Paul Van Metre
- Rise Machine Works
- assa.gill@risemachineworks.com
