The DoubleFlex Portable Gym from OYO Fitness

Paul Francis’s Most Successful Invention Might Surprise You
 
Anyone who thinks today’s ranchers fit a particular stereotype should meet Paul Francis, owner of the BlackHat Ranch, located in Northeastern Kansas, about an hour outside of Kansas City.
 
Paul, raised a city kid, is a phenomenal inventor, with more than 18 U.S. and 30 foreign patents under his belt.
 
One of his inventions is at the core of the Bowflex Revolution home gym ($200 million in sales), and NASA’s Resistive Exercise Device, which has been used by more than 50 astronauts to stay in shape aboard the International Space Station.
 
The consumer version of his NASA invention, known as the DoubleFlex Portable Gym, has been featured on QVC, HSN, and is now sold nationwide online and in Brookstone retail stores.
 
Paul, founder and CEO of OYO Fitness, rightfully, could be hobnobbing with the power elite of Kansas City, hanging out at exclusive country clubs, and dining at five-star restaurants.
 
Every chance Paul gets, however, he and his dogs jump in the SUV and head to his ranch, where he takes it upon himself to cut the grass and weeds, spray, tend to the gravel rock roads, walk the fence lines, and repair the fences as needed. Although at one time Paul ran 20 cows and a bull, these days he leases his land to a neighbor who runs his cattle on the BlackHat Ranch property.

Inventor and Rancher, Paul Francis

Paul Francis’s Most Successful Invention Might Surprise You
 
Anyone who thinks today’s ranchers fit a particular stereotype should meet Paul Francis, owner of the BlackHat Ranch, located in Northeastern Kansas, about an hour outside of Kansas City.
 
Paul, raised a city kid, is a phenomenal inventor, with more than 18 U.S. and 30 foreign patents under his belt.
 
One of his inventions is at the core of the Bowflex Revolution home gym ($200 million in sales), and NASA’s Resistive Exercise Device, which has been used by more than 50 astronauts to stay in shape aboard the International Space Station.
 
The consumer version of his NASA invention, known as the DoubleFlex Portable Gym, has been featured on QVC, HSN, and is now sold nationwide online and in Brookstone retail stores.
 
Paul, founder and CEO of OYO Fitness, rightfully, could be hobnobbing with the power elite of Kansas City, hanging out at exclusive country clubs, and dining at five-star restaurants.
 
Every chance Paul gets, however, he and his dogs jump in the SUV and head to his ranch, where he takes it upon himself to cut the grass and weeds, spray, tend to the gravel rock roads, walk the fence lines, and repair the fences as needed. Although at one time Paul ran 20 cows and a bull, these days he leases his land to a neighbor who runs his cattle on the BlackHat Ranch property.
 
A City Boy’s Dream Come True
 
“I’ve always wanted, if I could afford it, to have some land and live out in the countryside, and close the gate behind me, and just live a life without running into another human being for a number of days,” Paul explains. Paul, like so many other ranch buyers, never saw himself as a cattleman. The appeal of BlackHat Ranch, he recalls, was “just to have the land and the lifestyle, and to hike, and just to enjoy the environment.”
 
The BlackHat Ranch, itself, has been around more than 100 years – as long as the locals can remember. In August 2007, Paul acquired 360 acres of the original ranch, which at one time was roughly 3,000 acres in size.
 
Paul’s greatest invention – and the one that gives him the most pleasure in life – is actually a reinvention: taking a city kid and transforming him into a full-blooded, All-American rancher. 

Paul’s slice of the original ranch borders a state park on two sides and is surrounded by woods on three sides. From his property, Paul has a beautiful view of the Clinton Lake Reservoir, and a 1,000-yard stare across a hay meadow to the tree line, where he and his dogs regularly spot deer, coyote, turkey, and other wildlife.
 
Although Paul didn’t buy his ranch as a creative incubator, he does have an on-site workshop where he’s able to build prototypes of his inventions and test them.
 
Great Neighbors
 
Ranchers, as I know firsthand, are natural inventors; always trying to build something or find a better way to do the job.
 
Paul agrees.
 
“I see that in a lot of the folks that work around me,” he confirms. “They’re all mechanics, and they take care of all of their equipment.” One of his neighbors invented a type of hay baler, and Henry Ford, he notes, began tinkering with mechanical ideas working on his dad’s farm.
 
I asked Paul what most surprised him about the ranching lifestyle, and his answer was no surprise to me: the warm and helpful neighbors who quickly become friends.
 
“The people that live around here… [are] just great salt-of-the-earth people,” Paul says. Because he lacked the knowledge and skillset of life-long ranchers, his neighbors frequently pitched in and helped Paul accomplish what needed to be done. “I think the big thing is just the great people that live out in the country and work together and help each other.”
 
Paul Francis is impressive in so many ways. I especially admire how ranching has become part of his DNA, even though he came to ranching relatively late in life.
 
It has taken Paul, and his neighbors, many years to restore the BlackHat Ranch, which had been neglected prior to Paul acquiring it.
 
Leaving a Legacy
 
Now as he looks ahead, Paul – who does not have children or a wife – is planning to preserve his hard work by placing a portion of his property in a trust that will be established to care for the land and keep it in its natural state after he is gone. [Other portions of his property he intends to leave to some individuals.]
 
As I speak with Paul, from my ranch in Leakey, Texas, I gaze out the window and spot a red-tailed hawk sitting on the corner of the barn. “Pretty great view,” I tell Paul.
 
He knows what I mean, sharing his awe at regularly seeing “the moon come right up over the land and the sun. I mean, there’s no building or obstructions in the way, and you get to see the full view of nature unobstructed.”
 
Paul Francis has invented many things. One day, his technology is almost certain to be used on Mars, to keep voyagers there in shape.
 
But I think Paul’s greatest invention – and the one that gives him the most pleasure in life – is actually a reinvention: taking a city kid and transforming him into a full-blooded, All-American rancher. 
 
It can happen to you, too.

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My conversation with Paul Francis was conducted as part of my new RANCHCAST with LEM LEWIS podcast, which will have its formal debut later this month.
 
I designed RANCHCAST to showcase the vital contribution that America’s ranchers make to our nation’s economy, and to provide ranchers insights and practical advice available nowhere else.

You can hear the full RANCHCAST interview with Paul Francis now at http://tinyurl.com/RANCHCAST-02. And be sure to catch my full preview episode of RANCHCAST featuring Dr. Charles E. Gilliland, a noted economist with Texas A&M University’s Real Estate Center. Dr. Gilliland and I discuss what’s likely to happen to ranch land prices in 2017. Listen now at: http://tinyurl.com/RANCHCAST-01.

If you have questions about buying or selling a ranch, please don’t hesitate to contact me. The more you know, the greater your chance of acquiring the right property and maximizing both your investment and enjoyment.

I’ve designed a series of short videos, “Ask Lem,” that address common questions I hear from both ranch buyers and sellers. You’ll find them here [http://www.theranchbroker.com/ask-lem-faq.html]
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For more detailed answers, I’m always just a phone call away – 210-275-3551. It would be my pleasure to speak with you and share my experiences in buying and selling great Texas properties. Live water ranches and large acreage transactions are my specialties.