Justin Hamilton · Bardstown, Kentucky

Most of my work starts somewhere that isn't work.

A bourbon night in Bardstown. A festival. A beer.

Justin at a festival, stage behind himJustin with a pour on a brick patio at sunsetJustin on the river, kayakers behind himJustin on the beachJustin on a plant floor in safety glassesJustin downtown in ChicagoJustin with a pour on a brick porchJustin by a brick wall in the evening sunJustin on the deckJustin in a blazer at an eventJustin with a cigar outside an old barnJustin on a boatJustin with a drink among the flowersJustin in red sunglasses and a bow tieJustin under the flag on a shipJustin on the water, Chicago behind himJustin in a Hamilton Development Company hoodieJustin in a leather chairJustin at the Lincoln MemorialJustin in front of a Cheers muralJustin at his desk
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I'm Justin Hamilton. I run a few businesses: tech.

Then I turn it around. Tell me what you do, and the hard part of it, and I'll tell you what we'd do about it.

Almost every time, that conversation turns into something. With them, or with someone they know.

Justin with a pour on a brick patio

One night, many connections.

Every time I go somewhere, one thing leads to another and something new comes out of it. A bourbon night, a festival, a table with too many people at it. Here's one of those nights.

  1. I met Roy on a good bourbon night here in Bardstown.

  2. That turned into marketing work together, including the Metal Hall of Fame.

  3. Roy introduced me to Gerald. With Gerald I started on Native Blue and NovemAstra.

  4. Gerald is how I met Pure Home 365. I built them something simple. It turned into a full distribution platform, and now BerryBloom runs their website and SEO.

  5. And Roy and I are building Timey Wimey together. That was one night, and that's just how it happens.

The hard part is never the first thing they say.

An excavation contractor told me over a beer that his website looked old. That's the easy part. Anybody can fix that.

So I asked who the site was really for. Most owners can't answer that. They just know they need one. I asked where his money comes from. General contractors. He figured he couldn't reach them online, because GCs buy by phone or in person.

We put him where they already look, on the words they search. Now people call his company because they think it's the expert in the area.

He asked a lot of questions that night. I could answer every one. That's usually how it starts.

Friends talking around a table at a barA cleared dirt site with excavators in the distanceAn excavator working a city build siteJustin and a friend talking over a beer

September is bourbon. Then Louisville turns the volume up.

The festival in town, tastings, a distillery or two, and Bardstown at night, because the weather's finally right. Then Bourbon & Beyond and Louder Than Life.

Start with one thing. Nail it.

When they see how good it is, they want more. It has gone that way everywhere I've worked, and with every client since.

Justin on a plant floor in safety glasses
An empty new plant floor before the lines went in
A long warehouse corridor through open doors
2005201020152020Now

Where I worked

On my own

2005

Trim Masters

I started here in 2005. Toyota Boshoku bought it out, and I stayed.

through 2014

Toyota Boshoku

Nine years in all, counting Trim Masters. Seats, door panels, headliners, a lot of assembly. That's where I learned the TB Way, Toyota's problem-solving method. I still run every project on it.

2014–2020

Magna

IT and automation engineering for a seating plant doing about a billion dollars a year. Two Ford launches back to back, for Kentucky Truck and Louisville Assembly, with a new ERP going live in the middle of the second. Ford told us those were among the best seating launches it had seen.

client since about 2018

OpenSecrets

A client since about 2018. It started with one Ruby job. I did it fast and I was easy to work with, so they sent another, and another, until they put me on retainer. Since then the work has grown from a few Ruby jobs to the main site, to everything that feeds it, to major projects.

since 2020

Hamilton Development Co.

Custom software, integrations and AI automation. Same pattern every time: one specific job, nailed, then more. Beneke has been a client for years, and we've built a lot of manufacturing systems together. Pure Home 365 started with something simple and grew into a full distribution platform. Ridgerunner came back when they needed someone they could trust.

Visit the site →

since 2023

BerryBloom

Web and marketing. For Pure Home 365, that's their website and SEO.

Visit the site →

with Roy, since 2026

Timey Wimey

A brand incubator, with Roy. Someone wants their own bourbon, wine or beer brand. We help take it from the idea to bottles on a shelf.

Visit the site →

Video we make.

Commercials, product ads, and one canoe trip that never happened.

The canoeMade, not filmed
CCS MechanicalCommercial
WhiskMe TransportationBourbon trail spot
Product adCooler on the river
Product adOn the water
Product adStreet-legal cart
StowlaneIn the room
More on YouTube →

So what do you do?

And what's the hard part of it? Tell me, and I'll tell you what we'd do about it.

Tell me the hard partLinkedIn

Writing

The Yoke Is Light

A weekend conversation about salvation, and the reading I could not get away from. The old account is closed. The yoke is light. The requirement is love.

The Green Ribbon

Software has two outcomes on the whiteboard and three in real life. The third one is a room nobody drew, and it's where money goes to stand still.

The Trees

White oak trees in Eastern Kentucky are failing to regenerate. Bourbon barrels require new charred American white oak by law. This is a slow-motion supply crisis that almost nobody is covering yet — and the clock has been running for decades.

Read everything →

Sunday Dispatch

One take. When it's worth sending.

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