GLENVILLE — What started out as an idea for an ice auger cover has since evolved into a full-time business for Dan Houg, a former resident of Glenville. Houg started his business, Cold Snap, in 2002 and worked out of his parents’ house before starting to grow.

“We had an idea for a snap-on ice auger cover and nobody had anything like it,” Houg said. “We started developing it and applied for a patent once we had it designed and prototyped. We started with one design, and little by little, each year we keep adding different products.”

Selling mainly ice fishing items, Houg said the business currently sells four different products it has designed, with many different models coming from each product.

Now a resident of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Houg recently purchased a building in Glenville to house the business that was previously run out of different garages and shops of people he knew in Glenville.

“We had all our operations in Glenville before, but it was spread out between a couple different places,” he said. “Between my uncle’s shop, my mom’s garage and another guy’s garage, we had everything spread out in different spots. When this building became available, we bought it and just consolidated everything into one spot.”

Apart from himself, Houg employs four part-time employees at his Glenville location. Houg was very appreciative to the city of Glenville and Mayor Wes Webb for being so accommodating during his move into the new building and making it easy for him to start his business.

Houg said the most challenging part of owning the business was keeping all the loose ends tied up. He said working from a remote location isn’t too hard anymore because of the internet, but there are still many things to take care of and there’s a steep learning curve that comes with the job.

However, the fact that he’s a part of a solution that makes people’s lives a little bit easier makes everything worth it.

“Just seeing how happy people are when they find something that is a solution to their problem and makes ice fishing a little bit easier for them,” he said.

“(Ice fishing) allows you to clear your head. I think most fisherman would tell you that no matter what happens during the week, when you go out fishing you forget about everything.”

 

By the Numbers:

4 – Part-time employees employed at the Cold Snap Glenville location

2002 – Year owner Dan Houg started the business with an idea

4 – Unique products that Cold Snap developed. All have branched off into different models