#015 - Don Hanes

Don Hanes is the owner of Haines Mechanical, an HVAC company serving Lancaster, York, and Harrisburg, and he also happens to be the other half of our previous guest Kate Storm. In this episode, Don sits down with Lonnie to talk about what it really looks like to build something from the ground up, and how every decision along the way connects back to the kind of man he was trying to become. Don grew up watching his father and three uncles in the trades and the military. Those campfire stories and hunting trips planted a seed early, and at 17 he joined the Army through the delayed entry program looking for one thing: structure. He served as a communication specialist in a field artillery unit, built lifelong friendships across every background and corner of the country, and came home with a foundation that would carry him through everything that followed. From there it was HVAC, entrepreneurship, a first marriage, five years of therapy, and eventually a business that now runs eight people strong with his 19 year old son LD working full time and planning to take it over someday. Don talks honestly about the years he was just going through the motions in the business, what finally snapped him into building something real, and why he never takes a deposit until the job is done right. They also get into therapy and why Don thinks every person could benefit from it, the mindset behind his company motto QTE (quality through excellence), how Lonnie and New York Fitness Clubs quietly became the go to spot for military enlistees to get body fat testing done before they ship out, and a member mixer coming up on April 23rd at the Eaton location. Don leaves it all on the table with his personal philosophy: he refuses to be the guy who ends up looking back saying he wishes he had done something. Time is the one thing you can never buy back.