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Brent, tell me about your vision.

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Well, Peyton, I took over for my father at Midwest

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laboratories and the vision I have when I took over was I want

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to make this the most innovative lab in the country.

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And what does that what does that mean?

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We want to do analysis in such a way that we are always

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constantly improving and using the latest technology and at the

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same time, just singing to the science.

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I really think there's a huge need to stay to the science and

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we can do that through on the chemistry side, on the biology

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side, and we're just doing a lot of fantastic things through

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developing new methods to serving a vast number of clients.

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And but my vision is always to be the most innovative lab

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in the world.

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OK, well, let's talk more about Midwest Laboratories.

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What exactly are you all diving into whenever you're talking

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about being the best, the best laboratory in the world?

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Where are we talking?

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Right. Most people hear that and they think research.

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We are a full scale production laboratory.

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So what does that mean? We're basically three industries, human

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health, animal health and agriculture and environmental.

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I love those two together.

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And those three industries serve a vast amount of clients and they

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really protect our food supply, both on the human side and on the

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animal side, as well as our water, our wastewater,

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our biofuels.

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So there's a sustainability piece there as well.

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And we do testing in a mass volume.

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And what does that look like?

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So for farmers and growers every fall after harvest, they will send

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their soil tests in to do one more application to their fields

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and we'll get anywhere from twenty thousand to forty thousand soil

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samples a day.

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We will do the analysis and we'll get the analysis back in three days

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so they can again manage their fields and manage the

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the applications that they need to add on the pet food side to give

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you some numbers. We get about a thousand to two thousand pet food

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samples alone every single day, every day of the year.

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So these are vast. You have to set up a lab in such a way that

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you can do the science and you can do it from an operational

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standpoint. And I think the bringing the two together is so cool.

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And there's so much opportunity and so just a lot of innovation

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is involved there.

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Absolutely. So what innovations are you implementing to make sure

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that you're on the cusp of technology?

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Yeah, we are. We have put some robotics in.

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We have added different type like maybe you did pH is in a lab,

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you know, or basic pH.

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We have one that has like 10 probes and we can we can stir the

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sample and the robot loads the probes in and read within seconds

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what the what one person what I used to do years ago by myself.

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So, I mean, you just look for those pro enhancements.

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We can also do it on the method side where you're continually

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looking at improvements to the method that give more consistent

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results and use fewer chemicals at the same time.

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So there's a lot of those types of innovations that we do as

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well. So again, it's bringing the two together.

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Operators and innovation with through science is such a cool area to be in.

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Absolutely. I agree.

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I mean, I have a little going into college.

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A lot of my closest friends were biology majors, so it's crazy to see them go

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into the field and they're like, yeah, we're testing just like how you were

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doing a million different samples of soils just to find out what bacteria

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are in this one or in that one and where the pH different balances and

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why this and why that.

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I'm like, you're sometimes they'll just go on and on.

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And I'm like, I zoned out right after you started talking about pH levels.

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I don't understand it at all.

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But I'm curious.

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What's your why?

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So I know at the beginning, whenever we first started talking, you had said

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you're it used to be your father that owned the company.

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Right. Right.

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And so did you just get handed a company or did you want to be in this business?

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So I came. Yeah.

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Back I worked through high school, college, different breaks.

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And then I went did my I went to my dad and I had a agreement right after college.

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I had to go work on my own to see if I could even make it on my own.

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So I had a professional career there.

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And then I came back in 2005 in the marketing area.

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And then by 2016, it was just my dad had two partners, the two partners retired.

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So then it was my dad and myself for five years till 2020 when he retired at the age of 80.

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And my why it's critical.

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I don't think I had a strong why going into it.

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I know I didn't because I was all over the place.

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So my why is I'm a person of faith who coaches people up and leads from the heart.

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Leadership is critical in a bit in any business, but especially as you're growing.

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To give you some stats from growth in 2020, we had 110 employees.

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Today we have almost 300.

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So when you have that, you've got to have strong leadership.

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You've got to have process in place and continue to improve with the technology.

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So my my phrase is always people process and technology in that order always.

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And that's how you're going to grow and sustain that people process and technology.

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I like it.

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So talking about leadership and why leadership is so important, the next two questions that

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I have are kind of back to back.

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And I like to put them that way on purpose.

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But starting off, it is why do you think leaders hide from funding their vision?

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And then a second part that I have to it is how do leaders lean into that funding of their

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vision?

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Yeah, that's those are great questions.

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I think they get scared.

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Obviously, you got it, I mean, you got to take a leap of faith and you got to see the

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vision through.

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Four years ago, we we know we are growing our current campus.

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We have 12 buildings and we bought a campus, a data center on 27 acres to and four years

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ago.

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And two years ago, we met with the construction people and they you know, that was the worst

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two years ago.

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You remember inflation just went through the roof.

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Yes, went way up.

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What we thought was a 50 million dollar project quickly turned into a 200 million dollar project.

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And we said, can't do this.

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So then you do some soul searching, you really have to do how strong is the vision?

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Well, I'll tell you today, we are working on that vision.

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We're not it.

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There's no give up.

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We're going to do it.

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We have to.

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I mean, we really have to to keep this business growing and moving.

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And you find the ways you find the determination.

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You have specific goals.

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You can break through.

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And that's what I would say on the funding side.

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You find ways to save money.

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You find ways to gain money and you just really look for the next opportunity.

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You keep looking for those opportunities to break through.

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But it is a change.

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I'll tell you, you have to change your mindset.

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You can't keep the same mindset.

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You can't necessarily play the rules that are out there in the industry, too.

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You got to think a lot differently.

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And that I work on that all the time.

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I'm not going to tell you.

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I have it solved.

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But again, if your passion is strong enough, you will see it through.

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You will see the end and you have to see the end.

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If you can't see the end like I couldn't two years ago, you'll stop and then you'll

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it'll stop you.

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But if you can see it, even a glimpse of it, you'll find a way to get there.

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And it's beautiful the way the process works.

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But you got to you got to really be stay true to your vision, as you say in this question.

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Thank you for being here today.

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I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.

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I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward.

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This is going to get more and more fun.

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We'll have more and more engagement as well.

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We'll invite people to participate in the show.

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And thank you for giving us your time and attention.

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Have an excellent time building out your vision and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.