Blue Line Pools opens in Jasper

When Nathan Kern was building a PVC fountain to help cool his mother-in-law’s swimming pool, he didn’t know he was stepping onto a path to becoming a business owner.

“It must have been super hot that July,” Nathan’s wife, Keegan, explained.

“Yeah, people were complaining that the pool water was so hot,” Nathan added.

Using the skills he learned while working with a local pool company as he attended VUJ, the 29-year-old Jasper resident built and installed a fountain he knew would help his mother-in-law out. Some folks that saw the work and experienced the subsequently cooler water mentioned he should build a couple more and sell them.

“I made a bunch and posted it on Facebook,” Nathan said. “I just said, ‘If anyone’s pool is hot, I’ll make one of these fountains and put it in for $20.'”

He ran through about 20 of the fountain kits and began to realize there was a demand for more pool service in the area.

The quote from entrepreneur and investor Reid Hoffman about entrepreneurs jumping off cliffs and building planes on the way down couldn’t be more applicable than for Nathan and Keegan’s journey since then.

As pool owners found out about him, he began getting calls for all kinds of work. He didn’t have any distribution contacts for supplies or equipment so he searched online and began purchasing stuff at retail and adding a service charge to the work he was performing.

He quickly ran into a wall when customers basically asked him if he offered complete pool services. Here he was just filling the gaps by fixing acute pool problems and advising customers to purchase certain chemicals, but they wanted him to take care of everything.

“We either do it all or we do nothing,” Nathan explained about the consideration of continuing in the business.

It was about that time that he made contact with a company supplying a line of pool chemicals he liked to use and recommend. A rep met with them and asked about his other suppliers. “I told him I just Googled it and bought it online,” Nathan laughed. “I had no clue.”

Josh, the rep, told them they had to get hooked up with some distributors and then helped them through the process of connecting with the suppliers they would need to become a full-service pool company.

This all occurred in the middle of the pandemic. However, with most people staying home, the pool business was booming. Blue Line Pools quickly outgrew the couple’s garage and shed and they began looking for a space to establish the new business.

They considered a few places before serendipitously meeting with Todd Fromme, the owner of The Vine. Fromme needed his pool taken care of and had reached out to Nathan. During the service call, Fromme told Nathan about the space he has available at the former factory on Jasper’s Vine Street that now houses multiple businesses.

They moved into a warehouse space in The Vine a couple of months ago and last week, the Jasper Chamber hosted a ribbon-cutting there. The part-time pool company now has a garage filled with pool supplies, toys and chemicals, a service truck and will be installing several pools this season.

Meanwhile, Nathan balances this with his duties as an Indiana State Trooper. He’s always wanted to be a police officer and has been a trooper for about five years now. While police officer pay is enough to take care of life’s bills and live a modest life, it isn’t going to build generational wealth.

Most officers balance their profession with other part-time jobs to fill in any gaps. For Nathan, Blue Line Pools is a way to secure his family’s future. Not that he had a passion for pool work from his experience when he was a student. Considering their future though, Nathan and Keegan examined what other skills they had and what demand there was for those skills.

Keegan has a degree in marketing and graphic design so they considered graphic design work but it seemed daunting and time-consuming to do as a side-hustle. So, she suggested Nathan start a pool business. “I was like, ‘No!’ I don’t want to do no pool stuff,” Nathan said.

She remembered how much Nathan hated the work when he was a student. “He came out of there saying we were never going to have a pool,” Keegan said. “He didn’t even enjoy swimming.”

“Hated it,” Nathan affirmed.

“Now, it’s like we need a pool,” she laughed.

His tune has changed.

“Oh yeah, here I am doing all these pools for everyone else and I don’t even have one,” Nathan said. “I can’t wait to get a pool.”

And he and Keegan are building a future for their children.

Blue Line Pools is located at 1280 Vine Street, Jasper. They can be reached by phone at 812-639-7107 and on Facebook here. They are open Mondays through Fridays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon.