A Recollection of What I’ve Been Up To

The past three weeks have flown by, and I haven’t been able to update the blog. Life has been busy with several projects running at once, so this week’s post won’t focus on just one topic. Instead, I’ll cover the different things I’ve been working on in the business—some behind the scenes, some you’ll see roll out soon.

Inventory Software Is Finally Live

As the last blog post mentioned, I’ve been working on getting inventory management software in place. After a lot of hard work, it’s done. Well, mostly done. There was a steep learning curve, and not everything is perfect yet. But I decided to move forward and fix the small mistakes along the way instead of waiting for perfection before implementation. It’s easy to get stuck trying to make something flawless before you even start.

A few weeks in now, and it’s already making a difference. There are still a few bugs to work out, but the benefits for tracking inventory coming in and packages going out are clear. The main issue that will be solved is connecting tracking information to packages inside the software. This lets me know once a package has been shipped if it has been delivered or not. It’s one of those projects that feels messy in the middle but pays off once you push through.

International Distributors Coming Soon

A lot of orders come from international customers—Canada, Australia, and Europe. One of the biggest challenges for people outside the U.S. is the cost of shipping. It’s not uncommon for shipping to run upwards of $400 for remote areas, and that’s before customs and duties. Import duties can hit 25% or more, which adds up fast on a $2,000+ fuel system.

So here’s what’s coming: we’re going to start assigning distributors in those countries. This means you’ll be able to buy the Ultimate Force System locally, which bypasses the additional customs and duties and saves you money. In the coming weeks, more details will be shared, and we’ll begin taking applications for distributors.

If you’re interested in becoming a distributor, you’d have your own brand and company selling the Ultimate Force System in your area or country. The details still need to be worked out, but as your business grows and more systems are sold, the more units you order in bulk, the better pricing you’ll receive. It works out for both of us. If a customer reaches out from your area, I’ll refer them to you so they save money buying locally and you’re supported in building your small business.

Black Friday Sale Results: 45 Systems Sold

This past week, I ran the Black Friday sale—the best deal of the year on the Ultimate Force Fuel System. My goal with PA Biodiesel Supply is to help 1,000 people produce fuel at home, and this week made a lot of progress toward that goal. About 45 systems were sold, which took me by surprise.

If you got an SMS text message during the week, that’s why. In the past, promotions were shared by email only, which has a few issues. Emails sometimes go to the promotions tab, and most of us guys working in the shop don’t want to check our email regularly. So not many people knew we had something going on. This week was different—since it was the first time we used text messages, everyone on our contact list knew about the sale. There are a few things that’ll be tweaked and refined in the future, but as I said earlier, I’m focusing on progress, not perfection.

This upcoming week is going to be busy building all these Ultimate Force Fuel Systems. I was anticipating maybe 15 orders at most, and we did four times that amount. The cold zero-degree weather up here in North Dakota isn’t helping one bit, but a kerosene heater in the workshop provides a little warmth. As these systems ship out, you’ll be notified by email with the tracking number if you’re a customer.

The Wednesday Before Thanksgiving Truck Incident

As some of you may know, the day before Thanksgiving (Wednesday, in the middle of the Black Friday promo), I was driving to my workshop to put orders together and mail them out. I figured driving in the afternoon would be safest so the city could clear the roads off. Well, they didn’t clean the roads off. They were still covered in ice.

On the way to the workshop, going only 30 mph in a 50 zone in town, the road became slick with water sitting on top of frozen ice. My two-wheel-drive 1995 F250 (which I had not yet put snow tires on) did not like that one bit. I ended up fishtailing and hit the only light pole within 500 feet. Good grief.

After I reported the wreck, they came through and cleaned the roads up while I waited for a tow truck to arrive.

It got towed since the battery disconnected and I wasn’t able to open the hood. I was fine, though it prevented me from being able to build packages that week with Thanksgiving the next day. On Friday, the day after, I was able to pop the hood, check the radiator, and drive it to my workshop.

The front end will need to be rebuilt, and the frame will need to be bent back in place since the crumple zone pigeon-toed the frame. A project for a couple of weeks from now after sending out all the packages from Black Friday. On a side note, oil results came back from the lab for the COF kit, which will be shared in a video of an oil change I did before the wreck.

Testing an American-Made Timer Controller for the Ultimate Force Centrifuge

Lastly, we’ve been using the Ultimate Force Centrifuge as it is for 15 years now. It’s commonly been asked about recently—whether a timer or controller could be added to automatically turn the centrifuge on and off and implement a purge cycle. A purge cycle results in cleaner oil by draining the bowl at set intervals.

Turning to American-made products, I found a company that hand-builds controllers, and we’re going to potentially be working with them. First, some testing has to be done. We need to determine if a single timer can be used, or if cascading timers are needed to turn off components at different times, or if everything can be shut down at once. More on this coming soon.

What’s Next

That’s the sum of the updates from the past three weeks. Between inventory software, distributor planning, Black Friday orders, truck repairs, and testing new controllers, there’s been a lot happening. The next few weeks will be focused on building and shipping systems, finalizing distributor details, and continuing testing on the timer controller.

If you find any of these projects interesting and want to share them with your friends and family, feel free to forward this along. More updates coming soon.

It’s Oil Filtration Made Simple,
— Michael Wheeler