Brent, tell me about your vision.
Well, Peyton, I took over for my father at Midwest
laboratories and the vision I have when I took over was I want
to make this the most innovative lab in the country.
And what does that what does that mean?
We want to do analysis in such a way that we are always
constantly improving and using the latest technology and at the
same time, just singing to the science.
I really think there's a huge need to stay to the science and
we can do that through on the chemistry side, on the biology
side, and we're just doing a lot of fantastic things through
developing new methods to serving a vast number of clients.
And but my vision is always to be the most innovative lab
in the world.
OK, well, let's talk more about Midwest Laboratories.
What exactly are you all diving into whenever you're talking
about being the best, the best laboratory in the world?
Where are we talking?
Right. Most people hear that and they think research.
We are a full scale production laboratory.
So what does that mean? We're basically three industries, human
health, animal health and agriculture and environmental.
I love those two together.
And those three industries serve a vast amount of clients and they
really protect our food supply, both on the human side and on the
animal side, as well as our water, our wastewater,
our biofuels.
So there's a sustainability piece there as well.
And we do testing in a mass volume.
And what does that look like?
So for farmers and growers every fall after harvest, they will send
their soil tests in to do one more application to their fields
and we'll get anywhere from twenty thousand to forty thousand soil
samples a day.
We will do the analysis and we'll get the analysis back in three days
so they can again manage their fields and manage the
the applications that they need to add on the pet food side to give
you some numbers. We get about a thousand to two thousand pet food
samples alone every single day, every day of the year.
So these are vast. You have to set up a lab in such a way that
you can do the science and you can do it from an operational
standpoint. And I think the bringing the two together is so cool.
And there's so much opportunity and so just a lot of innovation
is involved there.
Absolutely. So what innovations are you implementing to make sure
that you're on the cusp of technology?
Yeah, we are. We have put some robotics in.
We have added different type like maybe you did pH is in a lab,
you know, or basic pH.
We have one that has like 10 probes and we can we can stir the
sample and the robot loads the probes in and read within seconds
what the what one person what I used to do years ago by myself.
So, I mean, you just look for those pro enhancements.
We can also do it on the method side where you're continually
looking at improvements to the method that give more consistent
results and use fewer chemicals at the same time.
So there's a lot of those types of innovations that we do as
well. So again, it's bringing the two together.
Operators and innovation with through science is such a cool area to be in.
Absolutely. I agree.
I mean, I have a little going into college.
A lot of my closest friends were biology majors, so it's crazy to see them go
into the field and they're like, yeah, we're testing just like how you were
doing a million different samples of soils just to find out what bacteria
are in this one or in that one and where the pH different balances and
why this and why that.
I'm like, you're sometimes they'll just go on and on.
And I'm like, I zoned out right after you started talking about pH levels.
I don't understand it at all.
But I'm curious.
What's your why?
So I know at the beginning, whenever we first started talking, you had said
you're it used to be your father that owned the company.
Right. Right.
And so did you just get handed a company or did you want to be in this business?
So I came. Yeah.
Back I worked through high school, college, different breaks.
And then I went did my I went to my dad and I had a agreement right after college.
I had to go work on my own to see if I could even make it on my own.
So I had a professional career there.
And then I came back in 2005 in the marketing area.
And then by 2016, it was just my dad had two partners, the two partners retired.
So then it was my dad and myself for five years till 2020 when he retired at the age of 80.
And my why it's critical.
I don't think I had a strong why going into it.
I know I didn't because I was all over the place.
So my why is I'm a person of faith who coaches people up and leads from the heart.
Leadership is critical in a bit in any business, but especially as you're growing.
To give you some stats from growth in 2020, we had 110 employees.
Today we have almost 300.
So when you have that, you've got to have strong leadership.
You've got to have process in place and continue to improve with the technology.
So my my phrase is always people process and technology in that order always.
And that's how you're going to grow and sustain that people process and technology.
I like it.
So talking about leadership and why leadership is so important, the next two questions that
I have are kind of back to back.
And I like to put them that way on purpose.
But starting off, it is why do you think leaders hide from funding their vision?
And then a second part that I have to it is how do leaders lean into that funding of their
vision?
Yeah, that's those are great questions.
I think they get scared.
Obviously, you got it, I mean, you got to take a leap of faith and you got to see the
vision through.
Four years ago, we we know we are growing our current campus.
We have 12 buildings and we bought a campus, a data center on 27 acres to and four years
ago.
And two years ago, we met with the construction people and they you know, that was the worst
two years ago.
You remember inflation just went through the roof.
Yes, went way up.
What we thought was a 50 million dollar project quickly turned into a 200 million dollar project.
And we said, can't do this.
So then you do some soul searching, you really have to do how strong is the vision?
Well, I'll tell you today, we are working on that vision.
We're not it.
There's no give up.
We're going to do it.
We have to.
I mean, we really have to to keep this business growing and moving.
And you find the ways you find the determination.
You have specific goals.
You can break through.
And that's what I would say on the funding side.
You find ways to save money.
You find ways to gain money and you just really look for the next opportunity.
You keep looking for those opportunities to break through.
But it is a change.
I'll tell you, you have to change your mindset.
You can't keep the same mindset.
You can't necessarily play the rules that are out there in the industry, too.
You got to think a lot differently.
And that I work on that all the time.
I'm not going to tell you.
I have it solved.
But again, if your passion is strong enough, you will see it through.
You will see the end and you have to see the end.
If you can't see the end like I couldn't two years ago, you'll stop and then you'll
it'll stop you.
But if you can see it, even a glimpse of it, you'll find a way to get there.
And it's beautiful the way the process works.
But you got to you got to really be stay true to your vision, as you say in this question.
Thank you for being here today.
I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward.
This is going to get more and more fun.
We'll have more and more engagement as well.
We'll invite people to participate in the show.
And thank you for giving us your time and attention.
Have an excellent time building out your vision and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.