Working with family in the dairy industry is both common and uniquely rewarding, though it comes with its own set of challenges. In this episode of Ruminate This, Mary Taylor, Administrative Assistant, and her daughter, Kelbi Veenstra, Office Manager at Agrarian Solutions, share their experiences balancing personal and professional relationships while supporting the business.
They discuss the unique advantages of working with family—like trust and shared values—while tackling common challenges, such as managing time off and maintaining boundaries. Mary and Kelbi also discuss the critical role of support, ensuring that everything in the business runs smoothly.
Learn how The 6 Types of Working Genius by Patrick Lencioni has helped Agrarian Solutions build a stronger, more productive team and how a family-like culture can drive success in any team.
🎧 Listen now to set your herd up for lifelong success!
Scott Zehr
All right. Hey, welcome everybody back to another episode of Ruminante This with Agrarian Solutions. I’m your host, Scott Zare. And I am excited today to get to talk to two of my colleagues here at agrarian solutions Kelbi Veenstra and Mary Taylor. And we’re going to be visiting with them about an array of different things in this meet the team episode. I think there’s two really cool things I want to touch on.
And one of those is working with family. And the other thing is just working within the office at Agrarian and the high level of success, if you would, that we see at the office level at Agrarian. Everything from just getting orders out on time and making stuff happen.
So I think it could be a very interesting call here. I’m really interested to dive in with Mary and Kelby on the family aspect of things, something I have experience with. So with that, I’m going to ask Mary and Kelbi to introduce themselves, starting with Mary. And just tell us a little bit about who you are and how long you’ve been with Agrarian.
Mary Taylor
Okay. I am Mary Taylor and I have been with Agrarian since September of 22, I believe. Yes. So almost two and a half years, and I am Kelbi’s mom.
Scott Zehr
All right. And you’re from right around Napanee area, Mary?
Mary Taylor
Yes. Yes. I live in Napanee about three minutes away, depending on traffic. So.
Scott Zehr
Yeah, and just to remind the audience, I guess I didn’t make that clear. So our corporate office is located in Napanee, Indiana. So as as where Mary resides. And Kelbi, I’ll kick it over to you. Same questions.
Kelbi Veenstra
Yeah, hi, I’m Kelby Veenstra. I’m the office manager here at Agrarian. I’ve been here since September of 2021, and I do live in the Napanee area. I reside here with my husband and we have two little girls.
And so it’s really nice because when I first got hired for Agrarian, we were working in Middlebury, which is about 40 minutes away. And now my commute is four minutes. So, love living so close to where I work and we love raising our family here in Northern Indiana. So.
Scott Zehr
Oh, that’s awesome. That’s awesome. How old are your girls?
Kelbi Veenstra
Charlotte is going to be four next month and Caroline is 20 months. So she’ll be two in June.
Scott Zehr
Oh, wow. Yeah. Oh, similar, similar shake out here. My daughter, Brooke, is five. She turns six, so a little bit older. And my son, Cooper I just discovered yesterday is only two. I had a dad moment, thought he was three. He corrected me.
And then he squealed on me to mommy and mommy had to laugh at me and tell me she didn’t see how I could think Cooper was going to be four in April. You know? Yeah. A dad problem that happens.
Kelbi Veenstra
Yes. Yeah.
Scott Zehr
Well, the viewers on YouTube have seen this picture behind me for a while. Vince Lombardi famous football coach, the Green Bay Packers back in the sixties and seventies. And I keep this up there to remind me of how important the fundamentals are. Lombardi was once quoted as saying that if you don’t have the fundamentals, you don’t have anything.
And I think it’s fitting to use that idea as a baseline for the start of our conversation. You know, every business doesn’t matter what business it is, like there’s a certain set of fundamental things that have to happen on a day to day basis. And I think sometimes from our end on the sales side of the equation for us, it’s like return phone calls, return some emails, get our expense reports in on time.
And beyond that, we don’t really see a lot of stuff. I’m not actively taking the orders from say a feed mill or whatever that goes direct to you, you ladies at the office. So give us a little idea of what the fundamentals look like in the really the background at Agrarian. Either one want to take the question.
Mary Taylor
Go ahead, Kelb.
Kelbi Veenstra
Okay. Yeah, it’s always a hodgepodge, which I actually really like that aspect about our job. It keeps me busy. And we do spend a lot of plates at one time. And sometimes it gets overwhelming, but I’m so grateful that I do have a coworker who helps balance it out. Because for a while after I got trained for this job, the person who trained me did retire.
And it was me for just a couple of years. And then thankfully with adding Mary, there’s a lot of job sharing now, which is so nice because, at any point in any day, you know, we’re answering the phones, we’re shipping out special product for people. We are taking the orders. We’re problem solving.
If somebody’s ordered didn’t get to them on time or maybe we invoice their own product. Yes, we do make errors. And then, you know, there’s the admin stuff internally, as far as any differences and changes on people’s payrolls or retirement contributions. Or, if someone needs to add someone to their health insurance, Nick will also help alongside with that.
But then there’s the payroll. There’s emails that we’re answering all day. Just all sorts of different things. And again, I really liked that part of my job. But it can get to be a lot of plates to spin. And so it’s really nice that we can job share now that we’ve both been working together a little over two years, I think we’ve found a good rhythm of, these are just the things that kind of suck the life out of me and my mom kind of likes them.
And so we are able then to just be like, “Hey, what works a little better in my wheelhouse or your wheelhouse? And how can we divvy them up accordingly?” So,
Scott Zehr
Mary, from your perspective, having come in in 2022, what’s it been like having a working relationship with your daughter, Kelbi? And how has that been rewarding and or challenging?
Mary Taylor
Well, first of all, it’s been great, which, you know, when you go into a situation like that, you kind of really don’t know how it’s going to work out. But yeah, so far it’s been great. I will say the biggest downfall she probably knows what I’m going to say is when we want to take a vacation together, that that’s like the biggest downfall.
But, other than that, it is great. I mean, and she’s trained me very, very well. And Mark and Nic, they trained me well too. I feel like a lot of patients, I’m, you know, older, so it’s a little bit slower for me to catch on. But yeah, it’s just, it’s been great. Kelbi was gone a couple weeks ago and I just said, you know, work’s just a whole lot more funner when you’re there.
Scott Zehr
No offense.
Mary Taylor
Nick.
Scott Zehr
I love that.
Kelbi Veenstra
I said no offense, Nick.
Mary Taylor
Yeah, no offense, Nick, really. It’s not you, but…
Kelbi Veenstra
And I will say, to my mom’s credit, we usually say, between us, I’m the speed, but she is the details. I mean, she talks about being old and not moving as quickly, like, through work. But it’s a good thing, because my mom catches a lot.
And it’s because she is so detail oriented. Whereas, you know, we’ve had to have lots of conversations. I need to slow down at times because I get a little ahead of myself or like my brain isn’t all there because I’m thinking of the next thing. And, that makes me prone to make mistakes. And so, my mom is very detail oriented and catches a lot of my mistakes, which is good.
Mary Taylor
You don’t have a lot of mistakes, but.
Scott Zehr
I definitely resonate with that, Kelbi. Because yeah, I’m not the detail oriented person. You know, we recently talked to Kelly Bristley on this platform who has been nothing short of a godsend for me and helping bring attention to detail to the forefront of putting on this podcast, of doing our training for our distributors, all of those things.
So I definitely can understand the value of having that person working alongside of you. So, you know, we don’t run a very heavy office staff. You mentioned all the different hats, all the different plates that are spinning at any one time. It’s you, you two and Nick. Right? At the office. most of the time. So talk to me about what it’s like to work on such a small team and how the personal relationships with each other come into play there as a positive aspect to the job? Mary, you can start.
Mary Taylor
Well, I just think it’s great. It’s great that we all get along. I worked in an office where it wasn’t that way. So this has just been wonderful. And it’s, I guess I really don’t feel like it’s just because there’s just three of us, it’s not a good thing. I think it’s a really good thing. There’s not that office backbiting or any negative thing like that. It really is such a positive place. And the smallness doesn’t, I like, it a lot.
Scott Zehr
You do have anything to add to that, Kelbi?
Kelbi Veenstra
I definitely agree. Nothing a whole lot more to say, but I came from just a different industry locally, and lots of like, tons of people that work there, big offices, and what I experience at Agrarian is I just would be hard pressed to find, I think, something that’s as positive and as uplifting as the culture at Agrarian. And even it’s been such a blessing to our family.
Even my husband is so grateful for it just because I feel very supported here professionally and personally. And having three of us you know, even my mom had made a comment about the only downfall of working together is when we want to go on a vacation together. And to Nic’s credit, he does cover for us. But we do know that there’s a lot on his plate as well.
However, like even with that, like it’s a big sacrifice for him to do that and he very willingly does do it. And so I am so grateful for the way that Agrarian supports their employees. Like I said, both professionally and personally.
Scott Zehr
I would second and third that all day long. I’ve been here since September of 2020. And I’ve had more personal development that was based on things we were doing at Agrarian. Whether it be installing the entrepreneurial operating system, find your why. The why workshops and Nic has worked us through the Six types of working genius.
Those things have helped me grow more as I think just as a human being. And done more for my personal relationships, whether it be my wife, whether it be my business partners outside of Agrarian. Then, probably any single thing throughout my professional career, the last 10, 11 years.
It truly is a great place to hang our hats, I think, and just take it in. I think the, cool thing about Agrarian, right? We’re a big little company, right? We have a big footprint all over the globe. But there’s, not a lot of people, you know, what do we have, you can answer this question better than I can, but 12, 13 people total. Is there…
Kelbi Veenstra
You are in the right neighborhood, I can’t answer that better than you can.
Scott Zehr
We should know this. I mean, no, but, you know, in a lot of ways I look at Agrarian and I can draw parallels and I know neither one of you have maybe like a dairy background, but I can draw parallels to challenges that I think customers that we serve go through on a day to day basis where you are working with family every day, or you’re working on a small operation, maybe there’s only a handful of people between owners and employees.
And I think there’s times when you’re on that farm level, you know, the people that we serve, it can drain the life out of you if you let it to just, you know, the annoyances of another human being, sometimes, it comes into factor there. But I really liked the fact that you guys really see the positive out of not only working together as mother daughter, but also just the three of you, with Nic included in the office. It can be a good, supportive thing. Now, how has working genius, the six types of working genius, how has that helped the team at Agrarian in the office kind of gel?
Kelbi Veenstra
I’m laughing only because we actually when we were doing the working genius as a team, my husband was doing it with his work at the same time. And, so we were talking about it at home. And I just don’t feel like I tested right. And he does agree with me. So I have a fraught relationship with the working genius, but…
Scott Zehr
Fair enough.
Kelbi Veenstra
…for everyone else it’s helpful. It’s almost like when you can see what people’s strengths are, it’s almost helpful to see like their value and their role. Not that you can’t, you know, prior to having that information, but when you know that these are Nic’s strong points, these are the things that just don’t give Mary life.
It does kind of help you redistribute, especially between her and I, redistribute things so that we are functioning and in our strengths as opposed to our weaknesses. And there, like I said earlier, too, there are some things that my mom doesn’t like to do that I love to do, or I don’t like to do that she really likes to do.
And so, that is so helpful in a team setting where we can take on things and work out of our strengths. And the same thing goes with Nic. There have been certain things where I’ve said like, Hey, I will take this on. And it’s sometimes it’s not even that he doesn’t like those things. It’s just, he does have a lot on his plate.
So it is helpful when there’s three of us in the office, because there is a shared camaraderie. And Nic does a lot of stuff that we don’t even do, but there are some things that we can help him out with and vice versa. Like when he covers for us, you know, if we’re on at the same time. So.
Scott Zehr
For those of you listening, if you’re not familiar with Patrick Lencioni’s book, Six Types of Working Genius, I would highly recommend it. And I would also say that if you’re interested in learning more about it, you can always email us, [email protected], and just reach out, ask some questions about it, and I’ll get right back to you on that.
Yeah, I would say it’s definitely been a big help for me. My wife wasn’t surprised at all. She’s like, “Oh yeah, you lack discernment. Sure. You have a lot of good ideas, but you’re not going to spend any time on trying to decide if they’re good or not. You’re just going to roll with it. Whatever your gut tells you.” I always like to joke with her that I must have pretty good discernment because I did marry her. So,
Kelbi Veenstra
There you go.
Scott Zehr
I take that one. So your background, Kelby didn’t come from a dairy farm. Didn’t come from agriculture. Mary, that’s the same with you. Right?
Mary Taylor
Right.
Scott Zehr
So how would you perceive on a scale of one to 10, your level of, I guess, knowledge of agriculture or dairy beef farming?
Mary Taylor
Go ahead. Shoot. Mine’s probably, I don’t know. It’s low. It’s way low. You know, we had a little dog at home. That’s about it. So.
Scott Zehr
No, it. I think that’s a great thing. And Kelby’s trying to keep it all in here.
Kelbi Veenstra
I’m so sorry. I do want to say for myself, I was a 10 year, four age swine club member. So I do have some knowledge, but I will say it was mostly a social situation. I was like, who can I make friends with surrounding schools and make a little cash.
Mary Taylor
The pigs were not at our house. They were like at a farm
Kelbi Veenstra
And we would go help take care of them. And who owned the farmer in 4H2. So it was like a shared thing, but anyways, I would say, I’m constantly asking questions to Nic, really about livestock. There are certain times where as someone who’s had a couple kids, like things do make sense to me. When they talk about cows and feeding and all that stuff, milking, I’m like, okay, that, that all tracks. But, there are so many things that I am still learning. I would put my knowledge at like maybe a three or four. I constantly have to ask questions because I just, I don’t know.
Scott Zehr
Well, I think the reason I bring that up isn’t to, you know determine, where you’re at necessarily on that scale. But I think it’s important for our listeners to realize that, the outside perspective that you two bring to the business and Nic too, right? Of not having any preconceived biases. I see a lot of value in that. I saw value in it with just integrating within this company and Nic not having really a dairy background.
I mean, I grew up on 80 cow dairy. It’s been in my blood my entire life. But I really truly saw the value in that about November. So my own business that I own outside of Agrarian, we hired our first full time salesperson for our maple business. The only thing Jeff knew about maple is that he was pretty sure it came from a maple tree and it tastes good on pancakes.
Kelbi Veenstra
Where’s the lie.
Scott Zehr
That’s what he knew. And the outside perspective he has given me as a business owner, and he’s able to see things and create social media content and so on for people out there in the world, I never would have thought, as somebody that’s been making maple syrup for 30 plus years, just wouldn’t even have crossed my mind.
So I think there’s a lot of value in having a diversity of perspective within an organization. And I think you, you three, including Nic do a great job of probably bringing that to us. But as an agricultural company, I will say that if Mary, I think you had some yogurt that you’re about to eat this morning.
Mary Taylor
Yes.
Scott Zehr
So Kelby, you probably ate breakfast this morning and the old, I can remember my uncle used to have a bumper sticker on his back window, it said, “if you ate food today, thank a farmer. If you ate in peace, thank a soldier.” And so I think sometimes, we may be whether it’s you Kelbi or you Mary, maybe have this feeling of, well, I didn’t grow up in agriculture. There’s things I don’t know. Yeah, you’re going to ask a lot of questions because you’re curious. You want to learn.
But keep in mind, you have been since the day you were born as much of an important piece of agriculture as anybody that’s out there actually making the product, making the food, growing the swine, growing the chickens, milking cows, whatever have you. Because if we don’t have consumers, it doesn’t matter how much milk we make or how much beef we create. It’s not going to happen.
So, for your part in that, thank you from all of us that have ever been in dairy our entire life or whatever livestock sector you’re in. A couple of things I wanted to dive into yet with you is we’ve talked a little bit about the family aspect of it. As I mentioned, you know, we have a lot of family farms across the U.S. and Canada.
And really the rest of the world, too. Whether it be a dairy operation, whether it be a beef operation, what are some pieces of advice, and I’ll start with you, Mary. What’s a piece of advice you would give a family farm that maybe today they’re, four or five people all from the same family working on the farm together.
And yeah, you wake up in the morning, you spend all day with your family. In some cases you might go home at night and spend more time with that same family member. But yeah, what’s some advice you would give them that would maybe encourage them to look at the opportunity to work with family as something that can be a blessing.
Mary Taylor
Yeah, I definitely do think it’s a blessing. I mean, what a gift to be able to work with my daughter. And I would think that as a mother, I would love to have my kids with me all day long and my grandbabies. But yeah, I really do think it’s a gift and I, you know, everybody’s different. Kelbi and I aren’t the same in every area and it is hard. But if I feel like if you just talk your problems through, I know that probably sounds really easy.
A lot of people like want to not talk things through. Who does really like to do that? But yeah, so I would just be thankful. Every day I’d wake up and be, oh my word, I get to be with my family all day. So, I don’t know, Kelb, do you have anything?
Kelbi Veenstra
I would definitely agree on the talking things through. If there’s any weirdness, tension, disagreements, it’s just going to fester. And this is not just for work life. This is your whole life. I mean, the longer you hang on to things, it does fester. I really hate that word.
But I don’t know what else to say, because if you do not talk about things, you hold it in it, you need somewhere for all of that to go. I also just feel like life is way too short to hold a grudge. So, not that, you know, we’re experiencing that. It’s just we talk about things at work, you know, this, that, whatever, get it out of the way.
I also do think some advice with working with family is boundaries, only because a lot of times, you know, I might visit, I don’t work in the office on Wednesdays or Fridays. And so I might visit my mom or text her on a Wednesday or Friday and say, how is work? But sometimes I don’t, because I just want to put up the boundary of I am off the clock today. I’m locked in with my family. I don’t want to be in any mindset of work. And that doesn’t mean that I don’t care how her day is going or how things are going at Agrarian in that specific day. It’s just, I want to set a boundary so I can be more present at home.
And so sometimes it is important to set a boundary in conversation so that you have that separation because my mom and I are also mother and daughter. We’re not just co-workers. And so I do like to sometimes set a boundary of like, this is mom and daughter time. This is not a co-worker is at Agrarian time.
Scott Zehr
I think that’s so huge. I had a mentor when I worked in my previous company. He said, do your best to leave work at work and leave home at home, and try not to take work home with you.
He wasn’t telling me like, don’t go home and run a sort to look up bowls to serve a customer, but don’t take the emotional baggage from work, whatever feelings you have and let it ruin your home life. You know? It’s one thing if I need to come home after a day even to today to to just you know, ask Summer to give me ten minutes to decompress, right?
That’s one thing. But if you’re gonna let it to use your word Kelbi fester, and sit there and smolder and turn into a fire that just really damages the home. Happy home, happy work. And I think that’s a fundamental as I’ll reference Lombardi here again. That I, think is challenging on a, family dairy farm.
I, know from my own personal experience, having lived at home, worked at home, go back in the house and have dinner with my parents after I just spent 16 hours working with them. It’s like, can we talk about anything else? I guess, is that even possible anymore at this point? But I think like, as you pointed out, Kelbi, it is possible, right?
And, try to have that personal relationship away from the work relationship. And I think it can be very beneficial. And I would also just second the business I have outside of Agrarian and the Maple business. My cousin is a business partner. And my extended family, we’re not a super close family per se.
And there’s a lot of years between Aaron and I. Aaron, I think is 26. I’m pushing 40. But about four or five years ago, he started kind of helping us out a little bit and I was like, “Holy cow, I have a pretty cool cousin.” Like he’s 18 years old at that time or whatever it was, but this kid’s all right. He’s got some promise.
And then low and behold, a few years later, we’re going into business together. And as he has a young family of four we have a young family of two. And now seeing the uniqueness in the, what a cool thing it is for us to be able to like, have our families be part of this together, to where my previous generation we used to have great big family gatherings.
And then once my grandparents passed away, we kind of lost that connection, that glue that binds. And just through our maple business, I see as an opportunity for Aaron and I to be the examples of bringing family back in and having a closer working relationship with family. And I just think it’s so special.
And I think to parallel that to Agrarian, we don’t get to be in person very often. I still don’t think I’ve met either one of you in person. I’ve never been to the corporate office, I know that. But our Friday staff meetings, I think when you guys were able to join, I think that’s been a big part of kind of bringing us together as a team.
So if you guys could each from your perspective as a company that’s spread out all over the country, how is it that we’ve been able to achieve kind of this closeness as an organization when there’s, you know, clients out there that we serve that work together every single day, family or not, but sometimes aren’t able to achieve this level of closeness?
Kelbi Veenstra
To me, I do think a lot of it lies in the core values, our RISE core values. Really, because it’s not at all something that Agrarian came up with and just kind of pawns. It’s a lifestyle when you work here. And that was new for me, because again, i’ve worked at other places that have mottos or whatever.
And it’s just not a part of the culture. Whereas like RISE here, especially the relational aspect of it, is very much a part of the culture. And again, I had said earlier in the podcast that we are supported professionally and personally, and you don’t always get that in your workplace. And so, I do think when you feel valued as a person, not just as an employee, that really helps build morale.
I think our inner working relationships with each other as far as, you know, when salesmen call in, for the most part, it is very positive, you know? And if it’s not, we’ll say something. But because someone might be in a hurry and we’re like, Hey, you need to say, please, but There is a standard and it’s, in my experience, it does seem like it’s really held to, and I do feel like we do treat each other with respect.
We are treated with respect. And that just to me is such a big part of the building block of having a successful team is when you really value people outside of their role. They’re not just valued as an employee. They’re valued as a person. And to discredit Agrarian, that is expanding to all of our customers as well.
We really try to be so customer forward facing, kind, when we are interacting with customers, especially from an office standpoint. And again, I just think like, when you feel valued, you also want to value other people. And that’s just a big part of like how basically we were raised and Agrarian is to be that way. And we’re treated that way as well. And I just, I think that’s a big part of Agrarian’s success is simply the way that people are treated within and outside of Agrarian.
Mary Taylor
I would agree.
Scott Zehr
You know, Kelbi in response that, your comment there. I think you, I think you really summarized kind of the way I feel about what I see from my perspective within the organization. And I’m going to throw a little credit out to Nic Bradley. Cause I think Nic probably, his role is an operations manager.
I tease Nic sometimes that having been an assistant operations manager in a previous life, I learned that really, that’s just a nice title to say that I do a lot of stuff and nobody really says anything about it. But Nic has, I think taken, what you described as like being supportive, personally, professionally, being kind, extending grace, extending empathy.
You can’t call Nic Bradley on the phone, at least I’m sure it’s not just me, but if I call up Nic Bradley and I say, Hey Nic, he’ll answer the phone. Hey Scott, how’s it going today? Good, Nic, how are you? it’s like a cordial exchange at first, right?
Kelbi Veenstra
Yeah.
Scott Zehr
And Nic never lets it stop there. And it’s a good lesson for all of us. It’s something that I try to do now more often, cause it’s not that I don’t want to hear about like what’s going on. It’s just, you have so many things going through your head and Nic understands that, you know, after that cordial exchange, right, he’ll have a followup question for you. So what’s going on in your life today, Scott, or better yet, he’ll start off by saying, how’s Summer and the kids doing?
Kelbi Veenstra
Yeah.
Scott Zehr
And he’s not doing it just to make you feel good. Like the dude preaches what he, you know, or I guess…
Kelbi Veenstra
Practices what he preaches.
Scott Zehr
Practices what he preaches. Thank you. Thank you.
Kelbi Veenstra
He does. And usually he’s the one on a Monday when he comes in, you know, and gets all settled and, and whatnot. He’s usually the one that asks us “how was everybody’s weekend.” And one thing I do notice about Nic too, is he like turns away from his computer to converse with you. A lot of the times I’m guilty of like finishing out an email and kind of like responding. And Nick legitimately, like turns his body away from his work to have a conversation. It’s insane. I’ve learned a lot from Nic.
Scott Zehr
So, Kelbi, Mary, as, the people at the office, you’re the people that actually a lot of our customers especially on the feed mill side of the business, interact with the most. I may interact with a particular nutritionist, but I have no idea who the order placers or sometimes the formulation people that reach out to you, I have no idea their names.
But my role is with the nutritionist or with the tech team. So give us a description of like, customer service practices at Agrarian. I can just imagine as a business owner, myself, as somebody that’s been in the professional space a while, there’s an old saying that says “the customer’s always right.” And I would like to probably push back on that and say, well, the customer’s not always right, but, and I’ll let Kelbi, if you want to kind of answer that from there.
Kelbi Veenstra
I actually have learned a ton about customer service from Nic. He is so great at interactions with customers and it’s really helped me grow professionally in that way. I will start by saying, I’m very, very grateful. Most of our customer interactions are nothing but positive. We do have incredible customers here at Agrarian. And so we’re very, very thankful for them. We’re very thankful for the way, again, we are treated by our customers. It’s usually nothing but positive.
At times there are frustrations that do come up, whether it’s something, you know, we may have dropped the ball or the shipping company may have dropped the ball, or there was a miscommunication between us and the customer. So there are those frustrations. That’s just part of life. But, usually I have a strong opinion about it, and I always run it by Nic. And he’s usually the one that says, no, we’re going to handle it this way because at the end of the day, it’s so important to keep a positive relationship with the customer.
And I appreciate that he words it that way, or in some such way like that, because it’s not about the customer always being right. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Nic say that. It’s more like we value their relationship. And so we are going to fall on our sword as the saying goes. And we are going to prioritize this relationship and handle it in this way which is the most beneficial for the customer. So.
Scott Zehr
Mary, I saw you kind of smiled a little bit there. Do you have anything you’d like to add to that as well?
Mary Taylor
Yeah, I totally agree with Kelby. He, he is very kind. And I feel like even I’ve learned a lot as far as dealing with people. Cause, you know, my first response is are you kidding me? Seriously? And anyways, he’s just very good.
He’s a good example. I mean, I’ve even said to my husband, I feel like I’m a better person because I work here. Just because, you know, not that I was bad before, but just the patients, the patient level and, of just by watching Nic and, yeah.
Kelbi Veenstra
Yeah. When that’s a part of like your job, I mean, you spend a lot of time at your job. So when that’s a part of your job, it really does filter into your personal life. Yes.
Scott Zehr
It does. And I think the overarching thing that I’m hearing is, and we’ll wrap this up here, but the overarching theme that I’m hearing is culture, right? And as an organization, you can either have a good culture or you can have a bad culture.
And we talk about this on dairy farms to the point where, and I only single out dairies cause that’s where I spend most of my time, but we talk about it on farms to the point where culture has almost become a buzzword. You can go to nutrition conferences, reproductive conferences, and somewhere, somewhere within the agenda there’ll be somebody doing a workshop, how to improve culture on a farm.
And what I just heard you, you ladies describe is that it’s not, we put a motto up on the wall and we walk by it every day. It’s actually living it, practicing it. And you’re right, Kelbi, it does filter down and you and Mary get the opportunity to work side by side with Nic, who I, credit I’m sure it wasn’t just him, but I give Nic a lot of credit on facilitating the implementation of a new culture at Agrarian over the last few years.
Whereas those of us that work remotely, me being in New York, we have people in Ohio, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Florida, Iowa…
Kelbi Veenstra
South Carolina.
Scott Zehr
Yes. Yes. Tennessee. And we still feel it. I mean, I got to share recently with a farm that I visited on like the difference between Agrarian and September of 2020 when I came, to now. The difference is palpable. it’s real. It’s touchable. You can feel it. You can see it. And I think that’s pretty special.
And I, I just want to encourage listeners, you know, whether you’re a farming operation, whether you’re a consultant that’s working on a farm and you’re talking about planting, it’s one thing to talk about changing the culture. It’s another thing to start implementing culture, but if you really want to change the culture of an organization, the people at the top have to live it. They have to demonstrate it. They have to prove that if I do it this way and I go about it the right way every day there’s a trickle down effect, right?
Kelbi Veenstra
Yeah. Nic would probably say it’s still trickling down to us. But we’re getting better.
Scott Zehr
And you know that, I think that’s what we all need to aim for, right? Is how do we get better today? I know I definitely, sometimes I just don’t really want to work at it today. I’m getting better, but then I’m remembering that other people are. And in the moment you stop getting better every day you might as well just walk away.
Kelbi Veenstra
Well, even I think in our situation, like if we don’t choose the high road of kindness and we fire off some email, which we never have, but if we did, like, what do you gain from that? Because chances are maybe not even an hour later, you’re going to feel pretty poorly about not choosing to value somebody and treat them kindly. You know? It’s just, what do you really gain by being a jerk?
Scott Zehr
I, I think that’s, I think that’s a great point. And I think it’s super easy to, well, it is, it’s the easy way out, right? it’s me first, you second. And if there’s anything I’ve learned about customer service, it’s customer first, company second, yourself third. And I think you’re right, Mary and Kelbi too, it’s not about, the customer being right. It’s about the customer being valued. The person on the other side of the conversation being valued.
I think we’ve done a good job of that internally. And I think that’s probably a great takeaway to wrap the show on, that if, you’re one of these folks listening to this podcast, think about the person on the other side of the conversation, are they being valued in what the exchange is? With that, any final words you want to leave with our audience, Kelbi or Mary?
Mary Taylor
I will just say it is a really great place to work. I know that sounds like, oh yeah, it really is.
Kelbi Veenstra
Yeah.
Scott Zehr
Yeah.
Mary Taylor
Kelby and I both worked in other places that, you know, it wasn’t the greatest.
Kelbi Veenstra
It is really funny because the way that I got this job is from Agrarian’s insurance guy. He’s a good family friend of ours. And he told me about Agrarian when I was like, I had just had a baby and I was taking six months leave from my old job and then reassessing. And he told me that Agrarian was looking to hire an office manager. And I was like, I’ve never heard of that. I’m not interested in livestock, like, no way.
And I had interviewed at a couple other places and just felt like they weren’t the right fit. And I was like, you know what? I’m, whatever, I’m going to do my due diligence. I’ll go interview at Agrarian. And just even the way they handled the interview process, they let me job shadow somebody for a morning.
So I would have some sort of idea of what I was getting into where I was working. Once they hired me, they’re like, you know, we don’t, this was like maybe in June or July. They’re like, we don’t really need you to start until September, which I was glad. Cause I wanted to stay home with my daughter until then.
And, just, yeah, it’s just crazy how I was led to Agrarian because I’m like, honestly, I do tell Nic this too, but this is like one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. And I just can’t imagine my life like if I wasn’t working here. I literally love waking up. I love going to work. I never thought that I would say that.
I always said I wanted to be the trophy wife of a Senator, but here I am at a job that I love. So I’m really, really grateful. And a lot of that is just because of the culture that they create truly.
Scott Zehr
Yeah, I, can’t, tell you how much I resonate with that. I don’t need to go into detail of it right now, but I would agree. I too was led to Agrarian unexpectedly. Best decision I’ve made.
Kelbi Veenstra
Yep.
Scott Zehr
Yeah. Second to marrying my wife, Summer, who, if you’re listening to this…No, I, I want to thank both of you taking time out of your day today. Hopefully I didn’t mess anything up as far as us getting out orders on time, which I understand is something that we excel at and to that credit goes to Mary and Kelbi.
So hopefully me taking an hour of your time today didn’t mess any of that up and we have to retract that statement. So yes, thank you both for being on here today and demonstrating for our audience that you can have fun, and it can be rewarding, and it can be a blessing to work alongside another family member.
And keep up the great work in the office. I know the longer I’ve been in my professional space of sales, the more I have come to truly, truly appreciate the fact there’s people that are able to support our sales efforts and, and do the things that salesmen don’t like doing like paperwork and taking orders and placing orders.
So I, I definitely appreciate that from my perspective. And I think probably the entire team would have that same sentiment. So, well, we will see you all in another week with another episode of Ruminate This with Agrarian Solutions, and we hope you have a great week.
