Bourbons And Blogging

Bourbons And Blogging One HVAC owners way of venting while drinking while building SEO all in one place, and all at one time

"Master Your Craft"

Tru North was founded in 2012 by a guy who got out of the Air Force and did his best to make a living working for local companies with the talents he acquired in the service regarding hvac. He worked for places in the Chester County area, and found a disparity between what he learned in the service and what he found in the private sector. Basically he found greed and corner cutting. And he found lots of it.

In the military we were always pushed to our brinks. Put in places as 18 and 19 year olds, that many kids in the civilian world never see or experience. Funny enough, if you look at the pay scale and see what these 18 year olds are making to be placed in these situations, you will find it is not very lucrative, well at least on paper it isn't.

Some paychecks do not help the pocket as much as they help the mind, and it's this conditioning the military excels at, forging us into people that are never really satisfied with our own output.

In many cases, expectations that were forced on us for many years combined with corruption and incompetence we were all powerless to overcome turned into disciplines and resiliency that we at first scorned, but now craved from the outside world. In some situations, we have a hard time once we get away from such a naturally demanding structure as the military. And it's in this pursuit to reestablish our old norms that the catalyst is created for places like Tru North.

While Chris (Original Owner) was going through his Air Force Experiences, I (Current Owner), another rambunctious Downingtown kid, was soon on my path to experience my trials in the Coast Guard. These same scenarios played out for both of us in our own ways. The disciplines that were lacking in our High school lives were thrust upon us and eventually ingrained in us till we became what we are now. People who are used to "a lot".

The Service creates people who have expectations that do not always match the norm, and that's not to say we are above it all….we just know what the consequences were when we fell short in the presence of a non empathetic command who ruled over us, and when we see that lack of immediate pain existing in the natural world, we finally recognize the truth… That this thing we longed to escape has now become the very thing that we needed to create what we were about to make. It was the trials of an imperfect system, or the fire if you will, that shaped us.

In all that we came out with the same goal, to build something not just for us but for others, knowing that it's something that could and would break us, but something worth being broken for. A breaking we were already familiar with, and we were definitely broken down to our humblest cores by this thing we built. Many times in fact.

So what does this have to do with Bourbon and Mastering your Craft? Well everything really. In some ways I tend to find the best products are made by people who have the most painful or demanding pasts. The greed we hated seeing, the way we were treated by so called leadership and the lack of ethics we endured- all required to inspire what we have today.

Build Something Different

Tonight's Bourbon is Widow Jane and it was started by a couple guys in New York. The main guy is unarguably Daniel Preston, who has just about the wildest, non bourbon type background you can imagine.

Daniel started his wild path by going to College at the age of 12 and dropping out out of sheer boredom. He then decided to make a career as a teen building a light bulb company that ended up putting lights in rockets for NASA. Sold that business for 7 figures and retired as a 20 something just to get into Skydiving of all things.

Apparently Daniel broke his neck at some point sky diving and decided that the parachutes were to blame for his issues. He then went to create another company that transformed the parachute industry. He essentially designed stuff that was so advanced that he now has a showcase in the Smithsonian right across from the Wright Brothers.

When I say this guy Masters His Craft, I'm saying this guy mastered every craft he touched!

After making what seems to be substantial changes in aerospace, he goes on to make 120 patents some of which are used by Governments all around the world, and organizations including freaking DARPA of all groups. From light weight bulletproof vests to flying cars, Dan had a patent for stuff that would make a real difference in the world.

So how does a guy who made it rich with tons of tech patents get into Bourbon?

With the sale of the aerospace company came a strict Non Compete agreement, so being a restless mind, Dan gets into working at his family's 100 year old Cocoa farm in the Dominican.

Of course he goes over there and starts changing things for the better. He watches the farmers as they take parts of the plant that they figured were unsellable and toss them away. Seeing the opportunity, he takes what the Cocoa business thought was waste and turned it into actual wine.

Coming back to the states he turns around and opens a chocolate factory in Red Hook NY and kills it making chocolate. Not only is the chocolate good, but he invents these machines that enhance the chocolate making business and are being used all over the world right now! Dan doesn't just stop with Chocolate making, he finds discoveries within the world of Cocoa Biotech where he developed a formula he claimed can combat hpv (yes the std) as well as personally developed strains of cocoa that have 1000x the antioxidants as green tea.

Have we gotten to the part where he makes bourbon yet? Well no… of course we haven't.

This guys backstory is so insane that theres no way I can write a blog about doing your best in everything you put your hands to without going into the deep dive of what makes Widow Jane not just a bourbon that neck beards on Reddit like to complain about, but a bourbon that holds within it a story we at Tru North can wrap our heads around.

Just like Tru North was founded in 2012, this bourbon, which is now on shelves all over the world, was founded the same year, around an idea of trying to take something already being done by an abundance of people and develop a specific way to make it stand out. Imagine the battle they were up against?! Trying to fight for shelf space against a sea of brands all owned by a few industry giants that hold all the strings.

In the case of Dan, he focused on the science, using the mineral rich water of the Widow Jane limestone mine in NY and mixing it with already aged whiskeys to get the exact flavor you would want, rich and bold, smooth and sweet, that now sits here on my desk all these years later.

And just like Tru North likes to go dig into our backstories to steal talented guys from the industry, Dan got linked up with a guy who ended up growing into the master distiller role early on named Vince Oleson who, interestingly enough, shares some of the same beliefs and frustrations I do regarding the corporate giants that like to destroy anything beautiful.

Hailing from NY as well, Vince got involved with Dan's Chocolate business early on, and as Vince had a deep background in Sommelier work in NY, his pallet and his understanding of booze making paired well with Dan's scientific Genius. But, just like anything awesome and new.. Investors start to get involved and that's where the story starts to change.

Sadly Dan passed away in 2023 due to cancer and Vince eventually stopped running all the day to day operations for Widow Jane roughly the same time. The company that bought Widow Jane in 2016, Samson & Surrey, did a great job blowing the brand up but was purchased in 2022 by a massive spirit company called Heaven Hill. Once Heaven Hill got involved, and Dan was gone…things started to change.

Next thing you know Vince is out, and the company moves in a different direction. And as I dive down these rabbit holes of bourbon trying to relate them to HVAC, I can't help but see the same recurring story of how I got into Tru North. Wildly intelligent people build up a brand, corporate giants take it over… it becomes all about money. And whatever was built starts to slowly turn into something it was never meant to be. In the meantime, just like Ed Foote (Read the Nov Blog) decided to take his ball and go home, guys like Vince end up doing what many of us in HVAC wish we could. Flee from Greed

I can't use better words than from Vince himself so I'll go on to quote him here:

"During my long journey in the spirits industry, bartending to distilling, I've experienced some of my fondest memories, so much camaraderie and love; it really is a people business, and that's what makes it so great. But recently I've been confronted with Spirits Company CEOs that treat people like numbers on a spreadsheet. I've experienced the corporate side of the industry where it feels like more and more of the money from every bottle that me and my teams have busted our butts to produce goes straight to the top. Distillers working highly specialized jobs, creating spirits they can't afford, and bottling teams barely making minimum wage. I know we can do better." * Vince Oleson

So here we are folks! Back to the same story we keep coming around to over and over. If you read any other blogs, you would know fully what I am finding. A recurring theme right?

And with that in mind, that truth of opposition and how deep it's permeating the country, what do we do about it? Like Vince said…

I know we can do better

Well at Tru North we have a code we live by. Those who do not accept such code, find themselves in a natural opposition to the majority in the company who have embraced these simple ideas. This code is Biblically based, but does not demand religious belief. It's simply our company philosophy and goes like this:

1. We Care for Each Other FIRST (John 13:34-35)

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Notice how he says it 3 times??? You can not accomplish much being that guy in the company that only cares about himself. It's just simply not productive. And when leadership takes that approach in a business, placing themselves first, the trickle down is always atrocious. However, even if you don't believe in Christ you will struggle to argue that it's a bad idea to love one another. And how do you do this? Well the Bible teaches love as long suffering. Simply put, whatever you are willing to suffer for you clearly care more about that thing than you do yourself right? Like me and Lione's Crispy Chicken Pizza. I clearly care about it more than my waist line, or my cholesterol levels, or my arteries even. It's why I eat it 3x a week. Think about your own life…what are you willing to suffer for? Even if you hate it, do you still do it?

2. We Serve our Community Always (1 Peter 4:10)

"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms."

So here we are with rule number two. Are you good at learning wiring diagrams? Got a knack for bending metal? Or are you good at making 120 patents? Either way, if you're taking your God given talents and not putting them to the work of helping others and you're just using them to help yourself, I promise you're missing out on a lot of the joy that life can bring. Many people have used their skills to make themselves wealthy. This is nothing new and we see it happen every single day. But trust me when I tell you, we meet these people all the time. We interact with them and we see how unfulfilled they are. How miserable they seem to be consistently, and how people with a fraction of the wealth they possess, smile brighter, forgive more often, and are generally better to work with in every way possible. Every one of those happier people share something in common. Ask them yourselves and you will find out. They typically do something well and they are doing it for others' benefit. Sometimes they don't even realise they are.

And sadly, of the 4 rules we have, this one is the one that in my opinion is the easiest to give up on. There are some times that I want to do just like many other owners before me have done. To take my ball and go home. To cash out and buy a Lake House on some remote nook in the Olympic National Forest where no one will find me..ever.

Fighting the keyboard warriors 1 starring you over a free estimate, then battling with the over charging manufacturers who are pushing their pointless price increases as far as they can. Pushing through the staffing challenges to weed out the unwilling or quietly corrupt as fast as we can to protect the culture and the integrity of the business, are all daunting tasks. Add in the product recalls, the government mandatory refrigerant changes, the equipment phase outs, all cause nothing but chaos and spiked prices.

There is ALWAYS a battle dude

ALWAYS a war, ALWAYS a new thing stopping the sun from shining. Sometimes seen but mostly unseen, that takes what is meant to be any form of accomplishment or joy in the monstrous growth Tru North has had over the past 5 years and turned the running of a simple business into a non stop ping pong match that utterly strips the fun from every possible corner. Like a game of tetris that keeps getting faster and has your entire livelihood on the line.

This is the reality. This is the part that Vince would probably agree with in the off chance he ever reads this blog that no one is promoting or probably reading, or SEO boosting ever lol. But this is where rule number two shines the brightest

What did Tom Hanks say in that baseball movie… It's the Hard that makes it Great? And it is, isn't it. So this is what long suffering looks like. This is what it means to love one another. To die to yourself and serve. This is why Paul said to live is Christ and to die is gain. He made the decision, and I know he would call me a giant wus, as no one has stoned me or scourged me for my blogs…. Not yet anyway lol.

My craft to master is embedded the hardest in this rule number 2. The challenges of this industry are not unlike any other. And there's no telling that I could wake up one day and wind up like Dan - gone. And what happens to Tru North then? Sucked up by some huge HVAC juggernaut? Turned into a churn and burn factory of profit? Or does it run strong on these principles forever? Who knows! What we do know is that nothing lasts forever, but there's also nothing new under the sun. So all we can do is follow the rules right??

3. We Own Our Results (Gal 6:3-10)

"For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden. Let him that is taught in the Word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith."

We have had many many people come into this company with lofty interview claims. Demanding premium salaries for all the years of talent they possess, and when they spend a week in a truck here.. And see how much stuff we actually fix as the "Fix it First" company of Chester county… They find out REAL QUICK that all that bragging about knowing boilers and knowing forced air and steam and ductwork was put to test in a way they never experienced before. And once they get train wrecked by some of our 21 year olds who started here as apprentices, out producing them by 200 and 300% they tend to get stuck in the ol "feels". So when we send out Sean or Glen to fix a 42 year old "Super Techs" call back, the same thing happens every single time. They never want to own it And then just as predictable the start, so the finish. The taking off early, or the calling out sick starts to pile up and we all turn to each other and shrug our shoulders. Wondering how many job interviews they are going on while calling out yet again. Eventually another one bites the dust. This business is hard, and if you are not built for going into crawl spaces filled with spiders and mouse poops, or able to handle 130 degree attics you are probably going to suffer here. Combine that with 500 pound boilers that need to go up 2 flights of steps and a ski slope of a wet icy front lawn, you got for yourself a test of the flesh. This is on top of all the husbands that ask our techs who just worked 11 days straight in 5 degree weather why the capacitor costs so much if they can see it on line for $20. Our best techs all share the same qualities. They put the cold no heat customers before their desires to sit in the warm truck. They find a way to keep it together in the blazing sun while standing on a ladder 30 feet up pulling a lineset through a wall. They put the flesh to the test to feed their spirits. And their spirit says-

I can do this

I can get this furnace turned back on despite it being sooted to shit cause someone skipped 6 years of oil furnace tune ups, and called 5 hvac companies that refused to clean it. And I can even endure the rejection I get when I ask them to buy a service plan.

This rule, rule number 3 is BAR NONE the most stressful rule we have when it comes to finding talent and adding staff to the company. We WILL NOT back down from an HVAC challenge, and everyone who's ever been somewhere else all state the same thing.

"Tru North does projects I've never had to do in my entire carrier"

Of course we do, why? Because we serve our community always. That's why. Someone has to do it. Let us care for each other first!

4. We Master Our Craft (Ex 31: 1-6)

"Then the Lord said to Moses, "See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts. Moreover, I have appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, to help him. Also I have given ability to all the skilled workers to make everything I have commanded you

And HERE WE ARE FINALLY! We have come to the Title of the Blog! I seriously doubt absolutely anyone is reading this far, but who knows! Maybe you are. Maybe Sophia will read this when I die and she wants to look back at crap her Dad cared about when he was building the company that paid for her house she's living in lol. Question for the 1 person who made it this far… Where did Bezalel get all his skills from? Who gave them to him? And for what purpose did he get these skills?

Well this is the time where God decided he was going to live amongst his people. You know the down trodden people who were slaves for 400 years. Slaves that were serving under a massive over-taxing and oppressing government riddled with an elite class that was worshiping fallen angels from pre flood times as if they were god's and making themselves look like gods. Same elites that ran the government like crap and watched it collapse under the stress they put its people through. Does it feel weirdly like a familiar story yet lol?

Do you feel like maybe… just maybe you have seen it before?? Or better worded, are you maybe seeing it now? Anyway

God decided that he was going to live amongst his people. Mostly because they were so far off from understanding God's desires for them that he could not live in their hardened hearts. So he had them build him a really nice tent. They would have to set it up and take it down and carry it all over the place for the next 40 years. To make this tent snappy, he gave skills to certain people. You can almost consider it like how Neo from the Matrix got downloaded understanding from a plug in his head. God gave skills to his people to make the work happen cause he doesn't want to watch us suffer more than we have to. Watching us fail and flounder in life till we give up or give in to shoddy results.

So what will we do with these skills we are freely given? These gifts that we have. Our first step is to recognize we have them. And in many cases, help others who can not see their own talents. We can help them see these gifts they have.

Look, If you're reading this far your prob is still interested right? So you don't have to have a belief in Jesus to agree that talents show up within people in ways that sometimes defy understanding. Just like the guy who went to college at 12 years old and made all kinds of advancements for mankind - started a liquor company and built a chocolate factory in a low rent district that changed the income levels of many a down trodden person. You know that guy now… the one named God is my judge..Daniel. Same name as Biblical Daniel from the tribe of Judah. The same tribe Bezalel was from. Both masters of their crafts!!!

Did I do a good job tying it all together?

At Tru North Rule #4 acknowledges that we ALL have talents. That these talents are given to us to do great things and that our only path to completing the other three rules…. To Care for each other first, and to serve our community always, and to own our results.. It is to do everything we can to master those talents. And in that way we can complete all 4 tasks.

If we are going to do HVAC or plumbing, or duct cleaning, or even if we decide to make parachutes… they need to work!

It needs to help someone else, and it needs to serve others. Otherwise we do the same thing that was always done to us.

Take

I thank you for being a customer, or a reader, or a competitor trying to destroy us every single day. Our growth depends on all of you. So may Jesus the living God bless you all, for He allows the sun to rise on his friends and His enemies- not because He has to but because He loves us.

Amen