Dad's Wisdom with Mark Schaffer: Ohio farmer

Mark

Schaffer: I think everyone should look at life as opportunities with problems. I can honestly say that my best moments in life were always times when I was challenged or couldn't understand why things were happening the way they were happening.

Chris

Barron: Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ag View Pitch and a special series of Dad's Wisdom again. And we are getting closer to Christmas and heading into that holiday season, and we have a special guest with us today for Dad's Wisdom, Mark Schaefer, who is a producer in Ohio. Mark, go ahead and introduce yourself. We're excited to have you on here for Dad's Wisdom.

Mark

Schaffer: Well, thank you, Chris, and welcome everyone. Like Chris says, my name is Mark Schaefer. I'm from northern Ohio. If you was to draw from Cleveland to Toledo and look right in the middle, there's a little town there called Norwalk, about 15 miles south of Lake Erie, and that's where we farm and have an excavating company. So that's where we're at. Awesome.

Chris

Barron: Well, appreciate that. And, uh, I'd like to have you give us just a little bit of history of, of your, uh, family, kind of how, you know, talk a little bit about your dad and your family a little bit as it relates to Dad's Wisdom. And then I've obviously got a bunch of questions for you here, but, uh, have you give us just a little bit of history?

Mark

Schaffer: Well, Chris, you talk about Dad's Wisdom, and, uh, I don't I think that's so appropriate in my situation because it's just about a year ago that I lost my dad. In fact, it was December 8th, and he was my wisdom director and my mentor for everything in my life from the time I started excavating until— and he was actually one that coached me actually into agriculture also. So, Yeah, my father was a big inspiration and wisdom director, so to speak. He never was really forceful, just kind of planted the seeds, and then, you know, the Holy Spirit just took over and things went off from there.

Chris

Barron: That's awesome. Talk a little bit about your upbringing, kind of in that Norwalk area as you were growing up. Talk a little bit about your family life and what that looked like.

Mark

Schaffer: Well, my dad grew up on a farm too, but he, like most family farms, not everyone could work on the farm. So he went off and at a very young age, in fact, he never even graduated from high school and he quit school around the 10th grade, went to work for a large road building contractor here in Ohio. And then in the early In the early '60s, he bought a farm of his own and thought it would be a great place to have his sons. I come from a family of 12. I'm the oldest. And I think he bought it with the intention that it would give us boys a place to maybe learn some work ethics and learn a lot about life, which it did. And he went on and went into business himself in 1967. And actually, I was in my teens then and helped him alongside with his small backhoe business, which was a very localized contractor just to dig holes for contractors.

That was a whole different era back in the '60s. And when I graduated from high school, I was very disappointed that he would not hire me as an employee to his business. And he simply told me that, "Son, I can't start something I can't finish." And I was very hurt by that. But in the big picture, the greater scheme of things, it was probably the best decision he ever made. And I'm sure it was very difficult at the time. I, I give him a lot of respect for, for, uh, for doing that. So, uh, I, I went on to get into the excavating business just by him suggesting it to me, uh, that I should go and do something on my own, not, not follow him in his footsteps, but going the direction of my own. And, uh, therefore we built a wonderful relationship We were more comparing notes than he was telling me what to do, and it created a great relationship.

At that same time, I also met the love of my life, and she has been a big part of my life, giving me the moral support that I've needed over the years. So, um, so in 1977 I started my first business, which was excavating, and grew that through the '80s and '90s and got up to around 75 people and did mostly utility work for cities and counties and state and ODOTs. Um, but my son— I have 3 children also, um I have my oldest is Jason, who is my son, and two girls. Amy is in the middle and Julie is the youngest. And I saw where Jason showed an interest and, you know, he naturally, he was at my shirt sleeves all my life going through the business. And he got very interested in it. And I remembered back to what my dad did to me. I thought it was a great way that my dad and I had a relationship, so I thought I would follow suit on that and give him the opportunity to take over the excavating.

And so that's where it's at today. He runs, operates, does all the operations on the excavating side. And then in 1995, I I started to get into agriculture. And again, that seed was planted by my father because he was getting ready to retire and he was looking for something to do. And he mentioned the fact that, boy, it'd sure be nice to do a little farming. And that, like I said, I think that was the seed that was planted. And of course, I couldn't leave a small operation go and We grew our farming operation, uh, that we, we farm about 9,000 acres on 5,400 arable acres. So, um, that's kind of the story of how we, I got to be where I'm at today.

Chris

Barron: Well, it's interesting, you know, you mentioned growing up with 12, uh, siblings. I imagine that was interesting.

Mark

Schaffer: Oh, there was never a dull moment around the farm. I can tell you that.

Chris

Barron: I can imagine. Any, uh, anything interesting there between, uh, between growing up with the 12 kids or with your, with your, uh, 3 kids?

Mark

Schaffer: Uh, I, I don't think so. I mean, uh, you know, we're all born with gifts, um, and I think it's— I've always been a believer that it's our responsibility to, to figure out what those gifts are and what we love to do and and follow the dreams, I think, that we're set out to accomplish. So, I think it's different for everybody and I think that's what's unique about each and every individual in the family.

Chris

Barron: Mm-hmm. You know, we all are going through different seasons of life, especially, you know, it's been a wake-up call this year and we'll get to that here in a bit, but Talk a little bit about some— any pivotal moments in your life or anything during your life that really helped shape you that, you know, you talked about your dad and being hurt that, you know, he wanted you to have some experiences before you, you know, and kind of take some things on your own and probably backed you up. But, you know, talk a little bit about anything in life that you can look back on that really shaped you.

Mark

Schaffer: Well, Chris, I think everyone should look at life as opportunities with problems. I can honestly say that my best moments in life were always times when I was challenged or couldn't understand why things were happening the way they were happening. I think we have to learn that those are opportunities to meet new people, different situations, because it has 100% of our attention, because things sometimes aren't— seem— don't seem to be right. And I think we all need to learn to grasp those as opportunities and ways to improve us as we go through life.

Chris

Barron: When you went through some of those things, was there, was there, you know, was some of them economic or more family related, or what were— anything specific you can think of?

Mark

Schaffer: Well, I, I think, I think we have all the, all of the above. I mean, we have them economically, we have them with people we love that Sometimes things challenge us in life that challenges us, our responsibility with the people around us. And we hurt people that sometimes we don't realize that we hurt. And we need to move on to forgive those situations and work problems out. I think that's the key. Everyone being happy is, you know, showing your love for each and every person that you ever meet.

Chris

Barron: Yeah, one, one thing that's interesting, and, and I've had the privilege of getting to, to know you through a peer group that you're involved with, with our organization, and I've worked a little bit with you and your family and your operation and with Julie, who's involved on the farm. But having said that, one thing that I've always noticed whenever I've had the the pleasure of being at your operation to see, um, the number of employees you have on the construction side of things. As you said, you have quite a few employees there, and then you also have farming employees, and you're working with family, which is always interesting, and to say the least. But you've always done a really good job of kind of keeping unity there. My question to that though is, is, you know, how's— how has faith helped you through that?

Because I know you're You know, you're very focused on your faith, and that, I think, from a core value perspective, drives a lot of your decision-making. Talk a little bit about that and importance of that.

Mark

Schaffer: I think I'll relate to a little scripture that I read this morning and put it in perspective. What I read this morning is we never realize how close God is to us every— on a daily basis. If we only knew how close he was to us, it would, it would make us so much better of a person. So, so with that being said, is going through our daily activities, the more that we can take our time with making decisions and thinking things out rather than being reactive. You know, how is this problem or how is this situation going to help someone else besides myself? You know, everything in life is about having people around us that we feed off of each other and help each other. So, there's so much joy in that as life goes on.

Chris

Barron: Excellent, excellent comments. Um, so a couple of things that I want to follow up as that relates, you know, to the business decision making. You know, you, um, you started out with a backhoe and a truck and not really sure what you were going to do. Um, what advice do you have for producers and young producers that are kind of just getting going, or that have gotten going and have had some bumps along the way in the road, both from, from the financial side but also from the faith side, and from, you know, stepping back and, and rethinking what are my core values, what, you know, what's going to drive some decision-making here. Any advice for young producers with that respect?

Mark

Schaffer: I think for all young people, I think we live in a unique time that I think as I look back through history and what has been available for jobs in the past, a lot of people have been forced to do something maybe that they didn't really want to start out to do but just had to for financial reasons. That's completely different today. There's no reason if a person has a passion for any specific line of work they would like to do, whether it be a teacher or a veterinarian or a, you know, raise animals or raising crops, any one of those industries, if you have a heart to work, those are available today. There is no reason for any individual a young person today to not be involved in what they love to do because it's out there. All you have to do is look for it.

Chris

Barron: That's good advice because there's a lot of people that go to work every day and maybe don't really like what they do and we don't have to stay in that, do we? I mean, the interesting thing with you, and I'll lead this into a question, but You know, you started out with the construction side of things and you really didn't start farming until 1995, and you grew your business from, you know, a small operation with a couple of farms to 9,000 acres and have involved your family, having Jason run the, you know, the construction business and Julie, your youngest, right? She's your youngest, I think you said.

Mark

Schaffer: Yeah, yeah, Julie's our youngest.

Chris

Barron: She was a nurse and came back to the farm, and she's very intricately involved in the farm. So talk a little bit about that, but blend that into advice with some of the producers that are listening that have, you know, kids that are maybe in high school or college. And as you said, is there room for everybody? There's sometimes— there's not room for everybody, but Maybe down the road there is, because, you know, you, you weren't exactly fresh out of, out of school and becoming a farmer. You, you started farming after you had developed another career.

Mark

Schaffer: That's correct. I, in fact, I always tell everyone around our business that had I had never started Mark Shaffer Excavating, uh, there would have never been a Mark Shaffer Farms. And specifically to the magnitude that our family is working together because there's no question that the excavating business did me very, very well and was able to purchase some farm property so that I could go into that marketplace. So without the first one, the second one would have never happened. And that's a miracle of life and someone who, you know, I was born with a gift to be an entrepreneur, to start a business and to work with people to help me help them grow through experiences. I mean, every team player that work for Mark Shaper Excavating, They, they all learned that together.

Sure, I created the opportunity for them to learn, but I— my joy is to see young people come into our operation and, and not know very much about what they do and grow into someone who is really, really sharp at what they do. I look at some of my mechanics, some of my operators, and I see where they've never had experience to do that, but now they are professionals at what they do, and it's so rewarding to watch that happen. And that's what creates economic growth, is when you have team people that work around you that you can rely on so that you, you can go on and, and, and dream about, okay, what can I do now to take this to the next level. I'm not so busy trying to do the do things, everything that happens during the day. You've got that team around you that allows you to dream, continue dreaming what you want to do.

And when I go back to when I started my agriculture adventure, actually the thought process that got it going was I was trying to find a way that I could spend 20 years maybe with my father on his tail end of his life. And wow, what an experience. I look back at it and look at that as a miracle because I had 25 fantastic retirement years of my dad working beside me, getting my agricultural business started, and, and having him by my side through that whole process, not as a person that owned it, but as a person just to be there because he was my father. Mm-hmm.

Chris

Barron: And that's the wisdom of the whole thing, isn't it? Uh, you know, him, him being able to look into your operation and give you advice along the way. You may not have always taken it, but you know, is, is looking at, you know, what's some other perspective? Because sometimes when you're in the middle of the forest, it's hard to see it.

Mark

Schaffer: It's the little things that people say to you in life that make all the difference in the world with the decisions you make on a daily basis.

Chris

Barron: Exactly. Um, you, you mentioned, you know, the, the entrepreneurial spirit. You said it in a different format or different way of saying it, but, you know, when I have the pleasure of getting to work with, you know, really intelligent producers across the country. And, and I see this, and this inherently in everybody that we get the opportunity to work with, is that they're just entrepreneurial. They're looking for that next thing. They're looking for how do I improve, how do I, how do I, you know, get to that next level. And one of the, the things I think that is a challenge, and you can I'm sure relate to this and maybe have some advice, is It feels like for a lot of producers that maybe have one employee, or maybe they're on their own, and maybe they have two or three employees, but it's like, how do they get through that next level?

Because they need to be in the office, and they feel like they also, though, need to be the operations manager. What is some advice you would give to get to that next level when you're at that stage? Because I think you probably know what I'm talking about, and there almost needs to be some terminology for it, and it's that It's that pause of business in with respect to, you know, how do you break through to the next level? And any advice with that?

Mark

Schaffer: Well, when you say that, Chris, something does come to mind. When I first started the idea of farming, I wrote— I sat down and I wrote on a piece of paper, okay, I wanted to be I want to be this size of an operation by this period of time. And then maybe that was a 2-year period. Then I wrote out what I wanted to be in 5 years, and then, and so on. I wrote it out because it was part of the plan of my passion so that I had goals to reach for. Did I go and look at that every day? Absolutely not. But what it did is it helped me solidify in my mind what I was passionate about.

And I think it's so important with anything you do in life, whether you're building a deck off the back of your house or planning your next move in your business, is to physically take the time, not rush into it, but take some time and physically write it out in a, like, a business plan or a format so that, so that you can understand what your passion is trying to tell you.

Chris

Barron: Yeah, that's awesome. So, you know, that makes me think of wisdom I've heard from some other dads in the past, and my dad as well, is a, you know, a plan not written is just a wish, you know. So if you don't, if you don't write it down and create that target, have that strategic plan. You just kind of wish something can happen. And, and, uh, you know, sometimes people look at others, other operations that have been successful, and they feel like, well, maybe they were lucky. And my dad and I always used to have that conversation about luck. And, you know, luck is where preparation meets opportunity. And, and, you know, you have to prepare. Like you said, I think that's awesome advice. One toward, we're getting towards the end here, but one other question for you, you know, just in watching you, I know there's been a few times in your career that you've taken some risk as well.

And so, you know, sometimes as producers, other questions I get and thought processes that people have is, you know, well, I could go to this next level if I do this, but I'd really have to take on quite a bit of risk, whether it be debt or, you know, whatever type of risk it is to, uh, to make that next leap. Is there anything that you recommend there in managing that, both from a realistic standpoint but also from the mental side of that? Because sometimes when you take that risk, things aren't always going the way they should in the process of it, and you have to mentally manage that risk. Any advice there?

Mark

Schaffer: Well, I think, I think, uh, risk and passion are, are, are so much related because you can look at achieving something, but if you look at it as achieving it just to achieve it, um, a lot of times you'll fail. But if you, but if you have the passion behind the risk, no matter what happens, you're going to work to make that situation— it may not be the best situation you ever did, but I will guarantee you it will be the best lesson in life because your whole heart will be into your passion to achieve whatever risk you are trying to overcome. And And that's really truly how a lot of people really succeed fast is they do take risk and they understand that I could lose everything here, but I believe this. And all the consultants in the world may tell you, "Eh, I don't know if I would do that," but no one knows better the situation in that you're in than you do.

So you have to, you have to follow your heart and use common sense along the way.

Chris

Barron: So as we get towards wrapping up, I'd like to ask you one of these final questions here, and it revolves around just producers again, but any, any advice that you give to young producers in general as they grow, what general advice and wrapping this up and, and some wisdom would you give for them to stay focused on as they grow and look at their business?

Mark

Schaffer: I think the best advice I could give any young producer who is trying to achieve things in life is you have to learn patience. And, and I think about a situation Just recently, I had a young man join our team, and he wanted something quicker than it's available. And what I mean by that is you have to give yourself time to understand and learn the process and be patient to know that it takes time to achieve some of the things in life that you really are set out to do. It doesn't happen overnight. It takes days of sacrifice and discipline and love with life to make them happy— to make them happen.

Chris

Barron: Awesome. That's great advice. I think the patience thing, I used to hear that from my dad, that brings that up. As you know, things just don't happen fast enough, uh, it feels like. But then when you get a little older and look back, it's like, well, that happened faster than I thought. So it's a time perspective thing, isn't it?

Mark

Schaffer: Yeah, everything happens for a reason, Chris. There's, there's no question in my mind.

Chris

Barron: Okay, so my final question is, as, as we are recording this, we're coming off of COVID and 2020, you know, 2020, which has been a really challenging year for a lot of people. Almost everybody we work with has had, you know, not just one major challenge, but two or three challenges throughout the year. What final advice would you give for people as they look toward 2021 and try to understand why some things happened in '20 and, and maybe some things that we should be looking at as we, you know, not only go into the Christmas season, but go into a new year with respect to that? And that's going to be my final question.

Mark

Schaffer: I think the word hope is what comes to mind for me, and the fact that, yes, we, this country, and with the epidemic and everything that's gone on in this country this year, it has been challenging. But I will say at the same time, I think the country also has learned a lot. And it was a time where maybe a lot of us have stepped back and put things in perspective and found out maybe what's really important in family life. Maybe we're spending more time with our immediate families because we were forced to. That's kind of funny how that happened. And I think we need to embrace that and understand that that's the kind of things in life and some of the problems that create opportunities for us to make some changes in our lives to maybe make life better.

So I look at it as a time of growth and and discipline in ourselves to make the changes in life we make, what we need to make to make us happier and make us a better place to live.

Chris

Barron: More great advice from Mark Schaefer. Appreciate that last comment on the hope. I think as we go into 2021, there's going to be a— there's a lot of hope already there. And I think a lot of follow-through will occur. And Mark, you've got a huge amount of wisdom. We appreciate everything you've done to help us in our organization, and we look forward to continuing to work with you and your family. You've got a great family, and you've done a phenomenal job over your career, and we congratulate you on that and admire that and appreciate your, your advice and your help and your words of wisdom to everybody. Thank you very much.

Mark

Schaffer: Well, thank you, Chris. And I want to just extend to every one of the families out there listening to have a wonderful and joyous Christmas season. And remember, things are going to get a lot better.

Chris

Barron: That's right. And it's that time of season to be thankful. And we again, thank you, Mark. We appreciate everybody listening to Dad's wisdom, and we will catch you next time on the Ag View Pitch.