The End of a Dream and the Beginning of a New One
A brief update and thoughts
We all have dreams and aspirations. Some good, some dumb even if we can’t admit it to ourselves. Seeing the end and adjusting to the new normal is key. Both for personal sanity and for true progress to take place.
I started this process thinking I had studied enough planes and tools to hammer a grand slam and bring the crowd to its feet. Instead I played a game of F around and Find Out.
I’m very happy with what I found out though. It aligns more with who I am and what I have done.
My original goal was to wash the market with tools I think are the best type of tools available and to do it in massive quantities. BUT…. That's been done and is still being done. It also requires something I can’t live with. Going for the easy win by doing the same thing everyone else does. It works for some, not me.
After last year's massive breach of trust internally, I had some real reflection and went back to the drawing board. I was chasing the wrong thing. I was chasing being prolific and known. Neither of which has ever been something that truly appealed to me. I’ve always just wanted to do the thing that is the most rewarding, making something someone TRULY loves. No crowds, no accolades, no bragging rights, nothing to prove to anyone other than the person receiving what I made and me. That’s my happy place.
Over Christmas and the long drive to South Carolina with Eva and the boys to visit my mother and father in law, Eva and I talked. Not the chat kind of talk, the DEEP kind. I’m lucky enough to be married to an incredible academic who has the concept of deep analytics nailed down to a science. We are an amazing team and she has the ability to make me really think things through down to the smallest detail.
That was the key… DETAILS. In the game of manufacturing details take time and are insanely expensive. If done right. They are also what makes an amzing tool.
So I decided I had two choices based on what I have seen and what I have been advised.
Play the standard play with companies that I couldn’t compete with (nor honestly want to) in my wildest dreams or do what I’ve always done throughout my career making things. Be the silent force that doesn’t follow the established path.
I choose option two. I’m going to lean into my design and tool knowledge background hard.
What does that mean?
Simple. I’ll make more tools. In lower numbers. Using what resources I actually have available.
If I wanted to do option one, I’d need more than just me in the shop to make tools, I’d need a building 10x what we have, I’d need a small mountain of money and most importantly I’d have to stop looking at Union as a mission. The last part kills my will to want to do what I do.
So going forward, things will be much simpler yet more complicated. My goals are going to be to lead in innovation and focus less on the noise of influencer and social media dribble and more on the tools which is the actual reason I go to work everyday. Social media doesn’t keep the shop open or solve my engineering issues. It’s just the noise that entertains me between tasks.
My communications will be here. Where they belong. Directly to you. Not through some person who wants $10k and 10% and asking for “support” for a 10 sec mention about a tool release (we aren’t the influencer favorite company as I’ve never been a fan of the approach honestly and I’m sure this post will turn into an influencer firebranding of Union. Which ironically hurts their own audience because Union is owned by shareholders, which are mostly the audience they prey on…. If I work with an “influencer" it's someone I personally follow and like their educational approach not the flash bang bulk of folks peddling products for a fee) or a social media company that is just using all of the free content being fed to it in the hopes of “making it big” to draw more people in to sell more junk to and cashing in on all aspects of the transaction. Union has not paid influencers in the past… If we did I’d have to do what every other company does…. Pass that cost along to the buyer. No thanks. The price of stuff is high enough these days without artificially adding to it.
It’s time for me to do what I started and got distracted from. TOOLS. I mean what else matters?
If you want to know what's going on at Union or you want to get on a list for a new tool release. It’s going to happen here. It won’t be on a tight schedule as I had first planned (working by myself has some drawbacks… the biggest is time) but it will always be here. I will also post on my personal page and Union’s Facebook groups (there are quite a few of them….)
Here’s the first update…
The last 30 or so X0As will be leaving the building in the next two weeks with VERY FEW being left unclaimed. I’ve made and shipped nearly 200 since December (all the preorders are in their owners hands!). When they are sold out it’ll cap off 7 years of dedication and put one hell of a smile on my face and the X0A will be a distant memory as I won't make them again.
The X4-1/4 is in full swing with knobs going into production next week (in-house by yours truly) after I finish with the new prototype. I’m using three new types of tech for this plane and I’m super hopeful it results in a faster production. That being said I will take some of the finishing techniques from the X0A and make the new smoother a lot nicer on the eyes.
I will also be getting back to the story of Union once the ball is going on the X4-1/4 as I prioritize tools over story time…
I’ll be working on the No 67 as time allows. I have most of the parts ready to go, however non-preorder planes take a back seat to a preorder plane unless I have no other choice.
Happy Easter ALL!
If my writing bores you (I understand why it would) and you want something more entertaining have a look at the video link below about the X0A release. Some of my favorite folks were on the call.
https://youtu.be/HuxkLk6MpYE?si=e0G1GUDEKBgzBt1b