HausLab Begins

Welcome!

My name is Jason, and I’ve been performing chemistry demonstration shows for more than twenty years. In that amount of time, I’ve amassed quite a collection of equipment, supplies, and chemicals that have been sitting on shelves collecting dust for many of the last twenty years! I enjoy exploring chemical reactions, but more than that, I enjoy sharing what I’ve learned with other people.

I went back to university later in life to finally get a degree that says I know chemistry. I haven’t done any demonstration shows or really had the chance to experiment much on my own during my studies. I graduated in December 2017, and I’ve spent the last 10 months working out how to turn my interest in chemistry into something I could explore and share with the world.

Chemistry is major interest of mine, and is the foundation of HausLab. The “amateur” chemists out there will certainly enjoy many of the topics I plan to explore in this blog and on my YouTube channel. But I’m a curious fellow. I love learning about lots of different things, and I will explore many of my other interests here, too.

Before HausLab was fully conceptualized, I spent a lot of time trying to squeeze everything I wanted to do into a chemistry-based business. It was going to be huge! It was also overwhelming. Imagine trying to combine a wide variety of interests together, then scale each one to an enterprise level. It’s totally unsustainable; I was basically giving myself five or six full-time careers simultaneously!

I have found great joy in sharing chemistry with audiences at my demonstration shows, so YouTube was going to be an integral part of whatever I was going to do. The problem is that I have no experience with video editing and I’m terrified of how that’s going to turn out. If I had a “big business” I could simply hire video editors to do the work for me. But that’s certainly not an expense I can handle on my own.

If this is going to be a successful business, I have to bring in enough revenue to support and grow it. To do that, I was planning on selling laboratory equipment, supplies, and chemicals in the national market. I don’t have the means to finance something like that, and it’s not really innovative enough to attract investors. Sure, I came up with a decent business model, but it’s not at all revolutionary.

After lots and lots of thinking, I’ve come up with something I can do on my own for minimal investment. I have a room full of lab supplies and chemicals. I have a decent camera. I have video editing software that I have no clue how to use. I have the capacity to learn new things, and the will to follow my interests. I also don’t want to be tied to any one thing, but all the experts say I need a “niche”. So where do I start?

The place to start is right here, right now. Most people, myself included, imagine that whatever they start has to be perfect or it’s not worth starting. Yet, how on earth can anyone be good at something they’ve never tried?! This blog post is not even close to perfect. I’m very particular about my writing, and I’m struggling to just say “Good enough” even now as I edit this. But it’s going to be posted, and I’m not going to like it. It’s uncomfortable.

Then I’m going to film my first video. Poorly. Then I’m going to edit it. Terribly. Then I’m going to post it and reassure myself that nobody will ever watch it, so it doesn’t matter that it sucks! Then I’ll call my buddy to have him watch it and tell me how it sucks so I can do better next time. Then, I’ll do better next time.

I’ll write a blog post about what I’m doing. Why? Because I’ve learned a lot in the last several years from well-written blogs. I’m hoping that someone, someday, might find something useful to help them in their own journey.

So, as I start this, how do I envision HausLab?

The main focus is going to be on chemistry. I’m going to multitask and do some housekeeping while I practice filming and editing videos. The first “series” of videos is going to be terrible, but it doesn’t matter. The point is to learn and practice, AND clean up my lab and storage room! Then, the second “series” of videos, which is going to take at least a year of regular filming to complete, is going to help me actually use the chemicals I already have. I’ll talk about my idea for doing that in a later post. At the same time, I’ll build up a little store on the main website and on ebay so I can start to support my “hobby” financially. Finally, for now, I’ll resume my marketing efforts for local chemical services. None of these things are going to start out perfect, and that’s okay.

But chemistry is not my only interest! I want to start and run a business that is going to meet my needs and make me do what I enjoy doing. Focus has always been an issue for me, so I’m designing my business to encourage focus. I often struggle with “what do I do now?” and often indecision leads to inaction. Now it’s my job to do something interesting and share it with you. Maybe it’s a new recipe or something I enjoy cooking already. Maybe it’s a craft project I’ve been wanting to do for years and now I have to do it to make new content. Perhaps I would like to explore a philosophical problem. I can write an essay, and we can have a chat about it. The possibilities are endless when the self-imposed boundaries go away.

So I invite you to come along for the ride. Amateur chemists will feel right at home here. Amateur philosophers will cozy up for some good arguments. Crafty types might enjoy some of my project ideas. You might not be interested in everything, but if you like to explore the world around you, something will catch your fancy! Eventually. I have to make some content first!

How that content looks is still up in the air. I know there will be a YouTube channel, a blog with several different kinds of posts, a web store, eBay store, and etsy.com store, and who knows what else! Blog posts will range from lab notes, start-to-finish projects, general updates, philosophical essays, product reviews, and companions to each video released. I plan to have downloadable pdf’s for the experiments I feature. I also plan for the store to have materials for competent viewers to repeat experiments or projects for themselves. A lot of the “homemade” projects will be made available on my etsy.com store. This might include homemade soap, massage oil blends, craft projects, art pieces, etc. Full-scale production probably won’t happen because that would take up too much time, but there are going to be times when project products will be sold. Product reviews might include lab equipment or nutritional supplements; anything I use and would recommend. In those cases, if I don’t sell the item myself, I’ll use an affiliate link. Every little bit helps! And finally, I’ll eventually set up a Patreon account so that people who might find my work worthwhile can contribute to its continued production.

This is the start of my journey. I’ve been standing at the gate for far too long, and it’s time to head out onto the track. Walking, not sprinting. Each step will be deliberate, unrushed, and imperfect. I hope you’ll join me, and I sincerely hope that each reader or viewer’s life is positively touched by my work in some way.

Let’s explore!

–Jason

By the way, in case you’re wondering where the name HausLab comes from… Haus is the German word for house, interestingly enough. My ancestry is about half German, and my last name is German and starts with H-A-U-S. So the full meaning is multi-faceted. It’s my lab, and my last name starts with Haus. I also work from a lab at my Haus. There is decidedly nothing about chemistry in the name, because my exploration of the world is not limited to just atoms and the movement of electrons. There are all kinds of labs in all kinds of topical disciplines, and so my lab, at my house, will allow me to practically experiment with any of my myriad interests!