STORIES OF FREEDOM: WHEN MOTHER FREEDOM RINGS THE LIBERTY BELL
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STORIES OF FREEDOM: WHEN MOTHER FREEDOM RINGS THE LIBERTY BELL
280 Letters. Two Responses. Red Tape Breached. One Coffee Roaster Freed.
There are times when freedom looks like a flag waving in the wind.
Sometimes it looks like a Marine standing on foreign soil.
Sometimes it looks like a citizen casting a ballot.
And sometimes?
Sometimes freedom looks like a retired Marine Gunnery Sergeant sitting down and sending 280 physical letters to members of Congress and the United States Senate because he refuses to let government red tape kill his dream of starting a coffee company.
This is one of those stories.
This is a Story of Freedom.
THE MISSION
Before Freedom MF Coffee Company became bags of freshly roasted coffee, Gunny's Roast House, and a skull-and-KA-BAR logo, there was an idea.
Jason Hayden wanted to build a coffee company.
After serving 20 years in the United States Marine Corps, Jason eventually found himself pursuing a very different mission:
Build something of his own.
An important part of making that happen was obtaining the equipment necessary to roast coffee commercially.
That led Jason to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Veteran Readiness & Employment program — VR&E, Chapter 31.
VR&E is designed to help eligible veterans prepare for, obtain, and maintain suitable employment. For Jason, his path through the program involved self-employment and one very important piece of equipment:
A commercial coffee roaster.
There was just one problem.
Getting it through the system wasn't going to be easy.
NO PLAYBOOK. NO PRECEDENT.
During the process, Jason was told that what he was attempting had not previously been accomplished by another veteran in Arkansas through the program.
There wasn't a well-worn path to follow.
No simple checklist saying:
STEP 1: Veteran wants to start coffee company.
STEP 2: Approve commercial coffee roaster.
STEP 3: Start roasting.
Instead, Jason found himself pushing through a system that wasn't accustomed to what he was asking it to do.
And when you're trying to accomplish something outside the normal bureaucratic routine, you quickly become familiar with phrases like:
We're waiting.
It's being reviewed.
Someone needs to approve it.
We're waiting on a signature.
Different words.
Same result.
The mission isn't moving.
280 PHYSICAL LETTERS.
So Jason decided to make some noise.
Not with a social-media post.
Not with an online petition.
Not with 280 emails disappearing into 280 inboxes.
Actual letters.
Paper.
Envelopes.
Postage.
One after another.
Jason sent approximately 280 physical letters to members of Congress and the United States Senate, trying to find someone willing to listen and help him navigate the roadblock.
Two responded.
TWO.
One congressional office from Alaska called back.
Another from Tennessee called back.
Out of roughly 280 letters, those were the two members' offices that responded.
And despite Jason's effort to reach those involved with veterans' affairs at the congressional level, he received no response from the congressional veterans' affairs committee members he had contacted.
Think about that for a moment.
A veteran trying to use a program created to help veterans become employable and self-sufficient sent roughly 280 physical letters asking elected officials for help navigating that very system.
Two called back.
Neither was from Arkansas.
Jason could have taken the hint.
He didn't.
Because Marines tend to have a complicated relationship with unfinished missions.
280 LETTERS.
TWO RESPONSES.
ZERO QUIT.
The coffee roaster wasn't simply a piece of equipment.
It represented an opportunity.
Nobody was promising Jason customers.
Nobody was guaranteeing Freedom MF Coffee Company would succeed.
Nobody was offering to roast the beans.
Nobody was going to build the website.
Nobody was going to package the coffee.
Nobody was going to stand behind a table and convince someone to buy that first bag.
Jason wasn't asking the government to build a successful business for him.
He was fighting for the opportunity to build one himself.
There's a difference.
A big one.
THEN CAME THE CLOSED DOOR
After 280 letters, Jason eventually decided that paper wasn't getting the mission accomplished.
It was time to put a face behind the story.
That brought him to the office of Arkansas Congressman Bruce Westerman.
There was one problem.
The office was closed.
For most people, that's where the day's mission ends.
Closed means closed.
Turn around.
Go home.
Try again tomorrow.
Jason had already tried doing things the conventional way.
Two hundred and eighty times.
An opportunity presented itself for Jason to get inside and seek assistance in person.
He took it.
And after all those letters, calls, delays and waiting, Jason finally had an opportunity to put the problem in front of another human being.
The message was simple:
I need help getting my coffee roaster through this process.
No lobbyist.
No political consultant.
No team of attorneys.
Just a veteran trying to navigate the system and get the equipment he needed to go to work.
THE MISSION: GET THE ROASTER.
THE OBSTACLE: RED TAPE.
THE RESPONSE: BREACH IT.
Not the physical door.
The bureaucratic one.
Because that was the door standing between an idea and the opportunity to pursue it.
FREEDOM DOESN'T GUARANTEE SUCCESS
This is where the story becomes bigger than coffee.
Freedom doesn't guarantee that you'll win.
It doesn't guarantee your business will succeed.
It doesn't guarantee you'll make money.
It doesn't guarantee everyone will believe in your idea.
And it certainly doesn't guarantee that the road will be comfortable.
Freedom gives us something much more valuable:
THE OPPORTUNITY TO TRY.
What you do with that opportunity is your responsibility.
Mother Freedom might open some doors.
Others you're going to have to knock on.
Repeatedly.
Some might take 280 letters.
And occasionally you're going to encounter a bureaucratic door that simply refuses to move.
Then you have a decision to make.
Walk away.
Or keep working the problem.
CITIZENS STILL HAVE A VOICE
There's another lesson here.
Americans don't have to quietly disappear into bureaucracy.
Citizens have the right to contact their elected representatives.
We have the right to petition our government.
We have the right to ask questions.
We have the right to say:
Something isn't working. Who can help me fix it?
You don't need to be wealthy to do that.
You don't need a lobbyist.
You don't need political connections.
You need a voice.
And sometimes you need the persistence to keep using it after seemingly nobody is listening.
Jason sent approximately 280 letters.
Only two congressional offices called back.
So he kept going.
That's part of freedom too.
MOTHER FREEDOM DOESN'T ALWAYS WRITE BACK
Maybe that's one of the lessons Jason learned.
Mother Freedom doesn't promise convenience.
She doesn't promise letter number one gets answered.
Or letter number 100.
Or letter number 200.
Apparently, she doesn't promise letter number 280 gets the mission accomplished either.
Sometimes she hands you another obstacle.
And asks:
How badly do you want it?
Jason wanted that roaster.
But more importantly, he wanted what it represented:
The opportunity to work.
The opportunity to build.
The opportunity to create something of his own.
And the opportunity to take responsibility for whether that idea succeeded or failed.
Eventually, the process moved.
The roaster was approved.
The equipment arrived.
But that wasn't the finish line.
That was when the real work started.
ONE ROASTER FREED.
A government program can provide equipment.
It cannot build a business.
A congressman can't create loyal customers.
A VA program can't make someone come back and buy another bag of coffee.
That's on the entrepreneur.
Once the roaster arrived, there were beans to roast.
Roasts to develop.
Mistakes to make.
Customers to find.
Bags to fill.
Orders to ship.
Problems to solve.
And another mission to accomplish.
That's where another Freedom MF philosophy comes into play:
NOBODY CARES. GRIND HARDER.
Freedom provides the opportunity.
Work determines what you do with it.
WHEN MOTHER FREEDOM RINGS THE LIBERTY BELL
We call these Stories of Freedom because freedom isn't merely something written in a history book.
It's something Americans exercise every day.
When somebody starts a business.
When somebody speaks up.
When somebody petitions their government.
When somebody refuses to accept bureaucracy as an excuse for giving up.
When somebody takes responsibility for building something better.
That's freedom in action.
Jason didn't have a lobbyist.
He didn't have a shortcut.
He had a problem.
He had a voice.
He had 280 envelopes.
And he had an unwillingness to quit.
Two hundred and eighty letters.
Two congressional responses.
And when correspondence wasn't accomplishing the mission, he showed up.
Sometimes that's what it takes to make Mother Freedom's Liberty Bell ring.
280 LETTERS.
TWO RESPONSES.
RED TAPE BREACHED.
ONE COFFEE ROASTER FREED.
And from that roaster came something much bigger than another piece of equipment.
It helped launch Freedom MF Coffee Company.
That's Mother Freedom.
That's the MF.
And this is one of her stories.
FREEDOM MF.
DO YOU DRINK IT?