I Watched My Family Lose Everything — Here’s What I Did With It

Jared Flinn: Dej, thanks for joining. Jace Young: Hey. Thanks, man. I'm excited to be here, and I look forward to the conversation. Jared Flinn: Yeah. Well, you're a, fellow Barn Talk guest. That's where we made the connection when I was up there earlier this year. You were I think you were on last year. But after I recorded with Torque, he said, you need to meet this guy, or I need to introduce you to Jace. And I think that's how we got connected and had a conversation that we'll get into today. But, just kick it off with your story. That's what I that what drawn me and what really drew me in when you shared your story, which was very similar in a way to my story. Jared Flinn: But let's hear yours. Jace Young: Yeah. For sure, man. No. Doing the interview and everything with Torque and on Barn Talk was awesome. The only downside you know, I did it the December there. I I don't know when you went in and met with him, but when I went in there, it was about 26 degrees. And all the full heaters, everything was running in there. So he said to bundle up before he went in there, but it was overall good experience. Jace Young: But, yeah, man. So, you know, my background, my story is I I grew up on a big family farm operation and feed yard in Western Kansas, small town called Tribune. So if you're ever traveling out to, Denver or something like that, going on I 70, basically go through town called Goodland, Kansas. This is the last town in Kansas, essentially. And we're about an hour south of there. But yeah. So inside of our operation, my granddad started the entire thing back in the fifties. He did it with basically a handshake loan and from a banker in Denver and started from nothing. Jace Young: My granddad went through the dirty thirties in Kansas, and, you know, he tells stories and everything around that to where, you know, that, I think his childhood experience really sparked a massive level of motivation in him to try to go make something of himself and and do what needs to be done and and, you know, to be able to support his family and just just build a different life than what he, grew up with. But, yeah, so he started the operation back in the fifties. It was basically you know, when I was growing up, we had a 14,000 head feed yard. My dad grew up building that feed yard and building the bunk lines and and, you know, everything that went into that place. And then had a few thousand acres of ground, and then we also had a green elevator facility there as well. And so my granddaddy, you know, he built a big operation, you know, when and it's, finally went under in 02/2005. You know, it was due to 10 to 15,000,000 a year in revenue and had $6,000,000 operating line of credit. My granddad fed all of his own cattle and and everything like that. Jace Young: So, you know, that's kinda my story there. I grew up on the feed yard side of things. And, you know, not gonna say I enjoyed working cattle, every day because it definitely was that you get into the dog days of summer and everything is definitely not very fun out there. But, you know, the, life lessons and just work out the key pickup from growing up on the farm, like, that's, has obviously contributed to to where I'm at today and, you know, things that I hope to instill in my kids as they get older too. Jared Flinn: When you looked at that operation growing up, did you think of it as a big successful operation, or could you were there were there was the writing on the wall that it was gonna go wander? Jace Young: Yeah. No. No. Not at all. It was a big successful operation. Right? Or at least from every every side of things that I could look at in my perspective growing up and witnessing it all, you know. You know, and, again, you know, growing up as a kid on the operation and stuff like that, you know, you're kinda blinded. I was spoiled as a kid, meaning I got whatever I wanted at dirt bike and, you know, all that stuff that was important or whatever big to you when you're growing up and everything, not realizing that, hey. Jace Young: You know, there's some big dollar amounts floating around on the backside here, and my granddad was, you know, controlling a big operation, and there was a a lot of money at risk every year. But it was really like stepping into the 2 thousands when we started to enter, you know, the Internet age and everything started to take off there. Local markets became global markets overnight, essentially. Right? And and I remember my granddad, he just wasn't ready for it. I remember, you know, the operation officially. We had our farm sale in the February, if I remember correctly. So there were things that started in 2003 and 2004 where my granddad lost a lot of his own money because, again, 14,000 head feed yard. He fed all of his own cattle. Jace Young: And so lots of risk there, and there was a lot more volatility in the markets at that time than there was back in the seventies and and stuff like that there. So, you know, those all of those things contributed to him essentially going under. There was one year where he lost about $2,000,000, and then he tried to jump on the board the next year and started trading contracts and stuff like that and just swimming in a pool that he was not, was not fit for and did not understand, you know, the sharks that were lurking beneath the water and ended up losing another substantial amount of money there, the second year. And then, man, within the next twelve to eighteen months, we were having a farm sale and fifty plus years of hard work went, went under. Jared Flinn: What was going through your mind through all of this? Jace Young: Yeah. You know, it's it's my my perspective is interesting. Right? Because, obviously, I didn't have any financial ties into it. I was, you know, in high school at the time, so, obviously, I was focused on drinking beer and football and girls and stuff like that. Right? But, you know, I'm grateful that I went through the experience because I had to be with my parents when they filed chapter seven. I was with them when we had to move out of our house that I'd lived in my entire life. They raised their entire family in for thirty years. I was there the day that my dad was told that, hey. Jace Young: Everything's going under, and we're stopping everything, and it's it's done. You know, so I I didn't experience the financial stress that my parents felt, because that destroyed them. They they literally I remember my dad telling me, you know, shortly after the feed yard closed down because the bank locked up all the accounts. Right? They froze all the accounts and and couldn't get access to anything. And so my parents had saved up an nest egg over thirty, forty years of a few hundred grands, couldn't access any of it. They lost all that. And I remember my dad telling me, hey. We have $12,000 in a shoe box, and it's in the attic above our, you know, above our closet there. Jace Young: And, I'm not telling you that for any other reason than we need you to know where it's at in case we need you to get it, but that's literally all we have. You know? And so I got to experience and feel the weights and the emotion of my parents. You know, my my parents were married when they were 15 and 17, and so they were definitely, like, old school and that got pregnant with, their first child a couple months after they got married, and, you know, they literally never left the operation. You know, the reason my dad asked my mom to marry him is because she was gonna move to Oklahoma. And he he loved her inside of well, okay. I guess, yeah, let's just get married then. You'll you'll stay here. And, anyway, so they've been together for a long time. Jace Young: So, you know, witnessing them have to go through the emotional turmoil there, especially on my mom's side. Right? Because you think about all the opportunity costs and all the things they could have done with their life, and they chose to sacrifice all those options to stay stay back and try to build the operation there. I think all that came just barreling down on them. And and, you know, all those all those years got really heavy there because it all hit at one point. When you go through and you lose everything and there's really no explanation and you go through all the emotions of grief and blame and resentments and looking for answers and, you know, I got to witness them going through all that in the fights. And, you know, my mom cried basically every night for about two years as everything went under. So, anyways, I I look back at the experience. I'm grateful I went through it because that woke me up at a very young age to what really happens in life. Jace Young: And, I think that's obviously contributed a lot to why I've made the decisions that I've made once I became an adult and got a job and had a family and, you know, started ended up making the decision to try to start building legacy farmer. Jared Flinn: It's so eerie how similar this is to my story, and I shared with you. I mean, my parents, same deal. High school sweethearts, mom gets pregnant when she's 17. They end up having to get married. They move out to the farm. My dad's working for my my grandpa. But, this is your story, but I'm just like, oh my gosh. Like, I'm hearing, like, the same the same story. Jared Flinn: Is your grandpa still around? Is he still around? Jace Young: He he passed he passed away back in 2015. My grandma's still around, but, yeah, she's her her days are are coming up there. She's getting she's getting up there in years. Jared Flinn: Do you and your dad talk about those times ever? Jace Young: Oh, yeah. For sure. Yeah. You know, and what's interesting is, I did a a documentary. Had a guy come out that I know from California. I did a documentary back in 2020, and, we went we went down to the feed yard. Right? Because everything's still down there. Obviously, all the old processing barns and stuff like that, everything's everything's still there. Jace Young: It's just all deserted now, and has been for a long time. There there was a family that bought it, but they only used one small part of the feed yard. Everything else just kinda just just went to crap there a little bit. And we we, did a documentary and went down there and filmed. But what was interesting though too is I asked this person, the the guy doing the film, and I said, would you interview my parents? And, you know, my dad is very old school. You know, no emotions, no crying, that type of stuff there. And, you know, when he did that interview, man, it it'd been fifteen years since the operation went under, and it was like it happened yesterday to him. You know? And he starts talking about all this stuff, and he starts crying on the camera. Jace Young: And I I'd never seen my dad cry on, like, on camera before. It was super emotional for me too because you could just feel it. Right? And, to me, seeing the operation go under, it's like, you know, that was a blip in in my life. Right? In my in the timeline of my life for him, though, that was forty five years of his life, you know, that that he's talking about there and just feeling the weight and the emotion of it all. So, anyways, I I say all that because, yes, we do talk about it often. My parents still live in Tribune. And so my dad honestly has to drive by our feed yard, you know, at least a couple times a month there. And, you know, every now and then, we'll drive out there and and take a look at stuff and and, you know, just kinda relive the past there a little bit, drive by the old farmhouse, see what's going on there and and that type of stuff. Jace Young: Yeah. Jared Flinn: So you graduate from high school. What happens next? Jace Young: So I went, got typical, you know, four year college degree, that I don't use today. Probably same as same as a lot of people. And, then I got into ag banking after that. And so that was a a really important part of my story because, you know, growing up in the operation, I witnessed all the fighting. I witnessed all the resentment. I witnessed, you know, like, my my granddad and my dad, for example, you know, two guys that work together every day, but would go a month without speaking. You know? And, like, that's the type of stuff there that people don't understand unless you grew up on the operation and just like and just, again, looking back at it, you know, there's a lot of lot of things I learned about what not to do and how not to treat people for my granddad. But the older I've gotten, the more I've recognized why he was the way that he was, and I have to go back and really consider even his childhood. Jace Young: Right? And going through the dirty thirties, waking up with literally nothing, and, trying to figure out how you're gonna survive that day. I can see why he was the way that he was. But, anyways, going into the bank and stuff, that was a really important part of my journey because growing up in operation, I understood all the financial challenges or not the financial all the operational challenges from working with family and and, you know, trying to trying to do that type of stuff there as well. The working in the bank took me full circle, and I really tried to see the financial side of these operations and specifically even our operation. Because my granddad, the two banks that I worked at, my granddad had applied there to try to get refinancing done and and try to survive. So I saw pages and pages of the story and the outline of exactly what happened and and that type of stuff there. So that was eye opening for me. But, you know, the other side of this though too is, you know, with customers and stuff that I work with in the bank, man, there's just a massive disconnect between between what between farmer and banker, essentially, right, and farmer and finances and understanding the level of risk that they're taking in making these financial decisions. Jace Young: Right? And the thing is, like, we've even seen this with our customers. We've heard this multiple times. Like, well, it's just another zero, you know, added to the line. And it's like, man, that's that's tough. Like, when you get to the point where the zeros don't actually mean anything internally to you, it gives us the ability to be careless there. And so, anyways, being in the bank, you know, I had to go through that because I noticed the gap there between farmer and banker and farmer and finances. But also too, and I've said this to other people, like, I I was a bad banker. The reason I say that is because I knew finances very well. Jace Young: New finances just fine and everything from that side. But when I have two, you know, people sitting across from me at the table and we're walking through finances and they're gonna make a, you know, a million or $2,000,000 purchase decision, and I am needing to, one, protect the interest of the bank. But the problem with me, though, I was more inclined to protect the interest of the customer because to me, that was like talking to my parents right there. Jared Flinn: Mhmm. Jace Young: You know? And it's like, you don't understand the weights and the size of the decisions that you're making right now. And not only the, you know, consequences that can happen in the next twelve months, but literally five to ten years down the line, even further than that. Right? And then really thinking through this, not only from a financial consequence standpoint, but from a family consequence standpoint, operational. Like, there's all these different variables that come into play there. And so going through the bank and everything, I left the banking industry in August 2016. Did not have I you know, my wife and I had two babies at the time, literally a, like, a three month old and, yeah, a one year old. I had $5 in savings. I had no plan. Jace Young: I did not have my wife's permission up and left the bank because deep down, man, I I knew that that place I was never going to feel any purpose for what I was doing. I knew that I wasn't really solving the problem again because, yes, I needed to protect the interests of the bank, but I was more inclined to to kind of be the rebel a little bit. And I wanted to watch out for the customers on the other end. Jared Flinn: Feel like I'm looking in a mirror, man. This story. Jace Young: I I Jared Flinn: I don't think I'm gonna I I got so many questions. I wanna make sure that I give we get enough time to, to hash all this out. Back looking back now and even, like, when you were at the bank Mhmm. Did you often question and think about like the decisions that your grandpa made and even your dad, but maybe the decision you look back and like, if he just would have done this, Still have the business. If he just would have done that. Because that's where, like, I replay my mind. I look back now. You don't know what you don't know when you're there on the farm Yep. Jared Flinn: Seeing the operations. But then I think I look back now. I was like, if they just would have known these numbers or if they just would have made this decision Jace Young: Yeah. Or had this conversation. Jared Flinn: Or had this conversation. Yeah. Fantastic. So that's Jace Young: the thing. Jared Flinn: I think about the psychological. It's like, were they just too prideful at the time? Did they not realize that there was resources out there, teams of people that could probably help and gather around and have to make decisions? Jace Young: Well, and, you know, the thing is, like, with my with my granddad, for example. Right? So growing up in the in the thirties and then, you know, having nothing, building the operation from nothing, literally handshake deal, taking all the risk. Like, you know, I look back at his journey, and, I'm a little bit more graceful towards him now because, again, I just understand, like, I've started to experience things myself, and I had to start Legacy Farmer from nothing. I went into debt over the first two years of being an entrepreneur trying to figure out my pathway and all this type of stuff there. Mhmm. I have a deeper understanding of why he was the way that he was. But, because with him, though, there was this ego that was built over time. Right now he gets thirty years in the future. Jace Young: He's super successful. He wants to take a % ownership of that. So when it came to these big decisions, he he wasn't living in the world that we're living in now where it's like, hey. Let me go talk to these people. Let me go get some outside counseling on this, some people that I trust to to step in here and just lead me a little bit on this where he had been right up to that point for thirty or forty years. So imagine the ego and the love of confidence that that builds in somebody where it's like, no. I know what I'm doing. You go back and do your job. Jace Young: I don't need your help. I know exactly what I'm doing here. And, you know, you ask my dad what are some of the biggest lessons or takeaways from the operation going under. He would tell you, and he said it in the documentary, I wish I would have asked more financial questions. He goes, I trusted everybody in the office to be taking care of things. I trusted my dad. I trusted, you know, everybody else in there. And, he goes, I should have asked more questions and found out for myself there. Jace Young: And so, anyways, yeah, with my, with my granddad, again, I have a lot more understanding of why he was that it whether he was, but I also want to make sure that I maintain this level of reality and really what I'll call humbleness. I want, like, a smart to be super successful. I wanna be super successful, But I don't want to get an ego where I think I'm right because that's the exact time that God's gonna come slap me across the face and and give me the wake up call that I obviously need. You know what I mean? And so but, yeah, to to your original question there, my dad and I talk about that all the time on just different things that could've could've been done or conversations that could've been had to, that would dramatically shift that. But I I mean, I'll confidently say it was my granddad's ego and really his pride that blocked him from being even open to have conversations like that or looking for that type of advice or counsel. Jared Flinn: If I can share in so similar and I don't still today know the full picture of the context because I was when my grandpa's farming operation went under, I mean, we were two, three years old. Jace Young: Mhmm. But I Jared Flinn: can remember as a kid grandpa talking how much how bad the government was for farmers. And I just I for for me, then I grew up having this perception that the government is bad. And now we know that there's bad programs, stuff like that. But for me, it was just like, why did he think the government was so bad and blaming the government for the outcome of the farm? And, but I I have a little bit different perception now these days. But, again, that's he kept saying that. I'm like, why why was that? Jace Young: Yeah. And and too. Right? So one some of the the work and everything that I talk about with with a lot of the customers, you know, in Legacy Farm, but also to just our team and everybody that I I mean in general. You know, we've got we, everybody has a frame. Right? And through that frame is the way that they view the world. And if you think about a picture frame, right, on each side of it, you have different things there that make up your viewpoint of the world. So you have your laws, your rules, which lead to your beliefs, which ultimately you add all those three together drives your results, right, in the way that you see the world there. And that's where, like, when it comes to this type of situation, I have to look back at my granddad's experience. Jace Young: Okay. Well, what were his beliefs? Where did those spark from? What were the things that he was he was, you know, shown when he was young, just like your example right there, that he thought was just automatic truth. Right? And those beliefs turn into laws, and, rules and everything there that ultimately drive our results and our actions that we take because now we have this this set perception. Now with our you know, the world that we live in today, I feel like there's a lot more people that are working on self awareness and public awareness as well and and really challenging that frame on how we view the world. That's one thing. That's where I try to say I I want to be different than my granddad in that viewpoint and recognize the the fact that business is changing every single year. What it took to be successful last year is gonna be different this year. And I need in order to be able to navigate that and evolve with that, I need to be open to modifying my frame on how I see the world and myself in it to be able to make those adjustments accordingly. Jared Flinn: I wanna talk about Legacy Farmer, but I wanna talk one other thing, and I think this will spill into it. You talked about your dad and grandpa not having, like not having a conversation for a month or having any disagreements. And we see this all the time. People know, listen to this podcast. When you have a family business, I experienced it growing up. We had a conference we just hosted several weeks ago, but we had a gentleman that, at the end of the conference almost broke down, but he was talking about how, he was involved in this trucking business with his dad. And they've had these disagreements, and now they're not talking. And I I mean, that's a common thread you hear all the time. Jared Flinn: And, again, when you're dealing with these and farming operations, it's the same as these trucking operations we're dealing with that are tied to the farm, some of them, but you get these generational businesses where you have the the father saying one thing, the son disagreement disagreeing, and then in the middle of it's this business that could be failing because of that or because of the communication. Talk about that, and then we'll I I wanna really get talk about Legacy Farmer because I think it all relates together. Jace Young: Yeah. For sure. So, you know, like and and like I like I said, you know, my my dad and my granddad worked together every day but not talked for thirty days. Right? I I man, I remember some of those fights there. Like, they were the knockdown, screaming, yelling, go f yourself type of fights there, you know. And and it wasn't just, you you know, between my dad and my granddad. I was witnessed it between my dad and my brother because my brother's twelve years older than me, so he grew up, when my parents were still very young, you know, in their twenties, and they're raising the kid and working on the farm operation, trying to figure life out and everything. So, you know, what's, again, seeing those disagreements and everything there, you see the compounding effect of that. Jace Young: Right? So the problem with my dad and my granddad always arguing and stuff is my dad, when I was growing up, he was completely different than the man he is now. And what's interesting is once the feed yard went under, it was like a light switch for my dad. Completely different version of him. So I grew up with somebody who had high expectations. We were very much a sports driven family as most people are in in small towns and stuff like that. My dad had high expectations for us, you know, on and off basketball court. We were big basketball family and stuff like that. And, my dad, man, I just remember, you know, getting our asses ripped after games and and stuff like that for not doing well enough and everything. Jace Young: As I've gotten older though, and I've done awareness on myself and and, you know, work on self awareness and and why I think the way that I think, you know, I start talking about my granddad. Maybe start understanding where my dad came from as well. Right? And how, what was he experiencing. Right? Because I only saw him at the end of the night after a basketball game. I didn't see him from, you know, 02:30 to two 02:30 in the morning to 03:00 in the afternoon when he was working because he literally got up to 02:30 every day. Right? I didn't see those conversations that happened between him and my granddad there in the morning. So there was just trailing impacts there or effects from from that type of stuff where, again, I've had a lot more grace for my dad as well. Because, again, once the feet are under there, it was like this weight and stress was listed off of him. Jace Young: He could finally stop carrying the backpack there, and all of a sudden now he he didn't have all this stress and anxiety there. But, you know, back to your original point there, though, too, and this again carries into Legacy Farmer. Those fights and stuff, when they go unhandled, they can turn into years of resentment. But for war but worse than that are literally we had a community call yesterday with, some members on there, and we had two different ones share. One of them is in entering their seventh year of lawsuits with their family. Another one has entered year three. You know? And so, again, we talk about these fights and stuff. People like, oh, it'll it'll blow past and you won't have to worry about it or whatever. Jace Young: It'll, you know, it'll fizzle out over time. It's like, no. It doesn't work that way, guys. Like, there's a lot of things there. There's a lot of emotions. There's a lot of resentment. There's a lot of just, you know, things that people can't let go of. And Jared Flinn: This was asked, what's at the crux of that? Jace Young: I know. I know. But and I I think a lot of it too, again, has to do with people not not doing any work on self awareness. Like, you really think about it. They're so tied to their frame and how they view the world and their beliefs and their rules and their laws. Then everything else is BS, and it doesn't matter. Jared Flinn: Yeah. Jace Young: You know, it's actually Jared Flinn: Especially in a small, real arming community, that's probably even more prevalent than a business that might be in a city where there's multiple businesses Jace Young: and how they operate, Jared Flinn: where it's like, this is the way Jace Young: Yeah. And that's the thing too. Right? So with us, we had the feed yard. We had a few thousand acres of ground, but then my my granddad had a grain facility. Right? We had guys delivering grain to us as well. I had a grain elevator. And, man, when my granddad went under, it didn't just impact our family. Our name was tainted across the entire, you know, four county area there because there was multiple people that did business with my granddad. Jace Young: And, you know, there's people, like, to this day that have not gotten paid up to a million bucks, you know, because because of stuff that fell out during that time there. So, anyways, I I I say all the the fighting and stuff because those situations there, if people don't find a way to resolve or don't do enough personal work where they can now step in and have that conversation using, you know, our customers yesterday, one of them in a seven year lawsuit now with siblings and cousins and stuff like that. That person is literally $600,000 in lawyer fees at this point. Jared Flinn: Yeah. Jace Young: You know, over over what? A fight that, you know, a fight that obviously started ten, fifteen years ago, but that's what has turned into when those issues don't go, you know, go unhandled. Jared Flinn: So we say all this. Give us the elevator pitch. What is Legacy Farmer? Jace Young: Yeah. I mean, elevator pitch is we, you know, we we help you take your farm finances from a place of chaos and disorganization to a place of financial confidence and clarity. That's the elevator pitch. Now the And Jared Flinn: because most people know right now and still today, a lot of this these business decisions, a lot of this stuff is still pen and paper Jace Young: on Yes. Oh, yeah. Jared Flinn: Paper in the grain truck or in the tractor, not digitized. But I want you Jace Young: to speak Jared Flinn: on that. Jace Young: Well, so just, you know, giving you an example right now. So we had somebody come in to Legacy Farmer yesterday, and this is what our, enrollment advisor named Tristan said. His financial tracking system consists of him running numbers on a piece of paper but lacks consistency and visibility into the repercussions of decision making. Right? So think about this. This person also too has a massive farm operation, several millions of dollars a year in revenue, and they're making decisions by writing it on a piece of paper in their truck. That's just common name. I'm not talking down to anybody. That's just the world that we live in and where 90% of people are run running the business. Jace Young: And, again, the numbers are getting so big today. The cost of not having financial clarity or some level of certainty into those decisions there, you know as well as I do, it turns into gambling at some point. Yeah. Well, cool Jared Flinn: about this. I mean, you relate to the stall business, but, like, the similarities to this, our listeners that are that are very deep in farm in the farming community, some of them farmers. But when you what you just said, I think of trucking as the the same issues and problem. Not all. Not all. I know. But a lot of people we still hear about today, '22 or in 2025, still most of those decisions are being made on a piece of paper Jace Young: Yeah. Jared Flinn: Or by looking at how much cash is in the bank. Jace Young: Yeah. And it's not it's not a small decision as you know. It's a it for some of them, it's a multimillion dollar decision or a twenty year loan commitment. You know, people they're they're not giving these decisions the level of respect that they deserve. So anyways. But yeah. So Legacy Farm, that's that's kind of elevator pitch. Right? Because at the at the foundation of all these issues, my dad and my granddad or any family and farm and finances or all that type of stuff there, at the foundation of all the issues is the finances. Jace Young: That's the starting point. That's where all the emotions are started. That's where all the challenges start. That's where all the bad decision making happens. That's where all these problems start there. So that's why we've kept our focus where, hey. We want to help solve this foundation because now once we have that in place, now we can build off of it, and we can now start, you know, what maybe it's healing a family there with their their, family challenges and when working with each other or whatever. Because now we're making decisions or bringing facts to the table based on numbers versus just what somebody's opinion of of, hey. Jace Young: You cost me x amount of dollars. My granddad used to tell my mom when she'd go out and help him move cattle that, if she was making them run too fast, he would say, you're costing me hundreds of thousands of dollars by doing that. It's like, where are you getting that from, man? Where are you getting that from? You have no idea. So but, anyways, when I started Legacy Farmer, I left the banking industry in 2016. I struggled for two and a half years. Had no steady source of income, did some, life insurance, did some crop insurance trying to find, you know, my way and how I could really ultimately help out the industry. When I started Legacy Farmer, it began as really group coaching and consulting, and we talked about operational challenges. Right? Working with family, operational challenges outside. Jace Young: What I didn't understand though or recognize was that about twelve to eighteen months in, I started getting a lot more financial questions. I had no idea nor nor did I ever think I'd be using finances again or or, you know, build the product that we have today. Once I started getting all those things, I, hired a programmer, and we built the first version of our software called Farmer Metrics on Google Sheets. So I paid $6 to somebody. They built out, you know, bunch of these, you know, fancy formulas, and we started building out that way. And then once I got to where we had about a 50 people using it, I got tired of having to manually update everybody's sheets when I was, you know, making an update there. We hired our first, software team out of Wichita, Kansas and started building, you know, first version of our enterprise software. And now, you know, that was back in '21. Jace Young: And, now we're, you know, almost $2,000,000 into it, and it's five years later. And we've been slow and steady building it with our customers. That's been a huge point for me and something I'm actually really grateful has happened, because every every feature we have in there, every page is in there. There's intention behind it, and it's something that we know our customers are going to use. We're not launching something and then hoping that they use it. I'm I'm getting data on the back end before we ever even invest the money and say, okay. Based on where we're at right now, is this going to help bring more clarity and confidence and certainty into the financial picture of your operation? Yes or no? If it's yes, then we're gonna build it. If it's not, then we're gonna, you know, ease and or, you know, go different route there. Jared Flinn: And this can be used, obviously, for grain farmers in Kansas, but cotton farmer in Tennessee, a potato farmer out in Idaho. Jace Young: Yeah. For sure. And I mean, too, the Jared Flinn: install. Jace Young: Truckers as well. Because the majority of our customers have trucking operations. Right? They have no clarity into, you know, the finances or financial picture of the trucking operation. And so, we have a lot of different customers all with ag based businesses using it there. Now the benefit of our software, a lot of people, they're like, well, it's an accounting software. I always try to say I always tell them, no. You still need QuickBooks or whatever other accounting software because we're not going through and tagging or, you know, categorizing transactions and stuff like that. This is used in conjunction with that other software there. Jace Young: But the way that I explained it to customers so they can really wrap their heads around it, I said, okay. Let's say, you know, I take Jase's Farm Finances, and I put them in front of Jared, another business owner, a banker, and then an accountant. You're all three going to look at my finances and have a different idea of strengths and weaknesses and really what's going on in the business based on your incentives. Right? And ultimately to the frame that what you're looking through it. Right? So the accountant is gonna look at my finances through the frame of, hey. How can I save this customer as much money as possible on taxes? Right? Are they structured here correctly there? Right? Bankers are gonna look at it from a perspective of, okay. Do they have collateral for me to take or do they have assets for me to take as collateral so I can make them loans? But then do they have cash flow as well to pay the loans back? Jared stepping in as business owner is gonna look at it from, hopefully, the other two perspectives plus the business owner and day to day operations, cash balance, line of credit balance, all these types of things to make we can make sure we can run the operation. Farmer Metrics is built for the business owner and the banker. Jace Young: The accountants can still maintain QuickBooks, and you're still gonna use that over there because those books and and, those reports are giving us completely different information. Whereas, Farmer Metrics was built for the business owner and banker so that they know exactly where they're at on a day to day basis and know how, you know, buying a piece of ground or buying a new truck or something like that is going to impact their balance sheet. They already know how it's gonna impact, you know, their overall position with the bank. Our customers know what leverage they have with the bank and how they can negotiate interest rates, all those types of things there. Jared Flinn: Since you've created the software, what has been the most surprising thing people have found out about their arming businesses using it? Jace Young: Yeah. Biggest thing was so I'll I'll I'll share two different perspectives. I'll share from my perspective the biggest thing that I found out, but also two from our customers. From our customers' perspective, just getting some level of financial clarity into where they're at today. I mean and and I'm talking just something as simple as a balance sheet. Right? And this is it it's painful to say this, Jared, but the number one way to be in the top 1% of farmers and ranchers or ag business owners in this country today is have a detailed balance sheet and cash flow projection, month by month cash flow projection. That's literally all you have to do. It's to me and you, it's it's like that that simple. Jace Young: Right? I thought it was so elementary, and I didn't that's why I didn't think I'd ever use front of my financial background again. Finding out that, hey, man, that's that's the ace in the hole for me for really helping these people, and that's what's gonna be really valuable for them. Because just having those two things put together, one, it gives them ultimate clarity into the operation. They actually feel like they have a game plan. But two, we've seen it drop interest rates for people. You know, dropping a hundred to 200 basis points off their operating line of credits because they're structured and organized. Now they're, you know, a less riskier credit to the bank and that type of stuff there. So that that's from the customer's per set perspective. Jace Young: That's been the most eye opening for them. From my perspective, again, I go back to just the how simple this stuff is. Right? So from my perspective, I didn't think our tools really are simple, and I and I wanna make them that way, for a reason because otherwise, if it gets too complex or something like that, then people aren't going to use it. But it's just been mind blowing to me to see how something so simple can dramatically impact an operation, not just from a financial standpoint. But, man, we inside of Legacy Farm, where I talk about this concept that another mentor, taught me called core four. So core four covers core key areas of life, body being balanced in business. Right? So, obviously, everybody comes into Legacy Farm because they want help on the business side. But what we've seen over the years though too is once we get this financial foundation in place, man, we've seen it dramatically turn around marriages. Jace Young: Right? Now all of a sudden, husband and wife have a have a common ground to be able to have these conversations, and it's not just he said or she said or, you know, pulling numbers out of out of your rear end and hoping that they're right. It's we have we've established a good foundation there. But, also, too, you wanna talk about the real issues inside of the ag industry. Ag industry suicide rate is higher than every other industry by a significant portion there. And so you think about that. Right? Once these guys have some level of financial clarity, just the stress and anxiety that is now released off of them or or taken off their shoulders there, that's a fact. Jared Flinn: It. I mean, I mentioned it. Yeah. I mean For Jace Young: sure, man. It's it's a huge thing there, and those are the things that people don't really wanna talk about. And, you know, we've had people come into the group that were man, they were alcoholics, heavy alcoholics, like drinking a bottle of freaking Captain Morgan every single day or a bottle of whiskey every single day there, just to deal with level of stress or be able to go to sleep at night. You know? No. Because they just needed something simple that they could wrap their head around, structure, organize, and and stuff there. So that's where that's been the good side and the bad side of building the the software because there's a lot of things that we could do, but they would come at a cost of it making things too complex where maybe our customers wouldn't use it. Jared Flinn: I guess when I think of the lens of customers and I'm I can relate because I'm this way as a as a business owner. I don't I don't like to sit and concentrate and look at the numbers. Yep. But I know that's important. But for me, anytime I'm taking that time to sit back, it's like, that's the last time I'm talking to customer. I mean, from, I think of farmers, like all the farm work done. But for me, it's like interacting with customers, producing content, getting it out there. I mean, that's, that's I look at that as like not as important or something that will fix itself. Jace Young: Yep. If Jared Flinn: I as long as I keep performing Jace Young: We can outsource it. Right? The harder I work Yeah. The better you know, hard work means more money. And it's like, yeah. Well, in today's day and age, you and I both know it's it's combination of hard work plus working smart. Jared Flinn: Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. But I can see that as one with especially all these truckers and and farmers like, hey. I'm I'm too busy. Like, right now is planting season. Mhmm. You know, after this, we gotta fix this, fix this. Jared Flinn: I don't have time to sit in my office and look at these numbers. Jace Young: Yeah. And, you know, to talk about a couple customer stories there, we've had people you know, we've had over 3,000 phone calls with people over the years, since 2019 when I started the company. The number of people, Jared, that have come in a year or two after that first conversation, that they call us, they're ready to now join. Because when we had initially talked to them, it was in the middle of planting season. Like, we're in right now. Our guys are getting out and getting in the field, and they're, oh, I'm just too busy right now. Let's let's talk about this a couple months. K. Jace Young: Great. And then they come to us, say they say, well, literally nothing has changed, and we've lost more money in the past year or two years because we didn't do anything. And so now it's like, k. So that's where we're we're reshaping the focus on where farmers find value for themselves inside of their operation. Right? And one of the things that one of the pages that we have inside of our software, and this is for more of the bigger operations, is just a team chart. And the team chart isn't just an org chart. It's a roles and responsibilities chart, which again sounds like an org chart of there a little bit. But what we're doing is showing them and mapping out each seat inside of their operation so they can see and literally put a dollar value on the value of their time for each seat. Jace Young: Right? Because there's a lot of people like you and me. My my most valuable part inside of Legacy Farmer is in what what I would call the visionary seat, and then I'm also in the marketing seat as well. But the visionary seat yeah. So I'm more on strategic relationships. I'm more on casting the vision of the company. Now we have investors and everything, so I need to be managing that. We had a board meeting last week, all that type of stuff, their contracts and making sure that we're con yeah. Yeah. Jace Young: All that type of stuff there. For me now, my most valuable, you know, time for the company is not spent meeting one on one with customers, new customers coming in. Right? I'm not saying that's not viable. Obviously, it's a huge thing for what we do. But my role has evolved, and that's what we're trying to help these farmers too. Because some of them, they come in and they have a big they're doing 10,000,000 a year in revenue, but they're still spending their days doing $10 an hour work. It doesn't and they wonder why the operation hasn't grown or why they're losing money. It's because yeah. Jace Young: I I understand that the the their role has changed. And some of them, they don't like it because we're trying to kill off an old identity of them, which is used to going and just working cattle or driving a tractor or whatever, and having to get them refocused on, hey, my most you know, the best way that I can add value to this company is to actually be in this seat or be in the office looking at finances because there's all these people beneath me that are their futures and their livelihoods are dependent upon the decisions that I'm making in this office. You know, it's just it's just different. Jared Flinn: We're gonna talk a little bit how people learn more about you and Legacy Farmer. But I I want you to say this because I didn't want you to come on here and sell anything, and you haven't, actually. It's just talking about the principle. But at the very, very least and again, this is something I preach to our customers, our members, all of it. But, like, if someone's not gonna use Legacy Farmer, what is the most practical thing someone can be doing today as a farmer, trucking company, business owner? Like, just lay it out straight. Like, if you if you're if you're not gonna use a product like ours, this is what this is the thing you at least need to do. Jace Young: Yeah. So, for for those people, it's just get some structure and organization in your finances. And still, that's why we made the balance sheet and cash flow portion of our software free. So people can still go and do that, and they can at least have some structure and organization. I guarantee if they have a detailed balance sheet and cash flow, you go present that to your bank. Like, you know, we had a customer come in, two weeks ago, and he went, he did the free trial version of our software and filled out all information, took it to his bank, and the bank dropped his interest rate enough to compensate for the expense of actually investing in a software. That's the type of stuff that we want, man. Otherwise, use it for free. Jace Young: Just get some organization so you don't burn your entire life down because not only the business is gonna go under, but now we talk about body being balanced, which balance is gonna be your marriage and key relationships. That's the stuff and we have set our our divorce rate inside the industry is massively high. There's just a lot of these things that people just wanna pretend that, oh, if I just go work harder, it'll solve those problems. No. It won't. So get the foundation of your business structured, organized, have some clarity in where your finances are at, and then, you know, start taking baby steps from there. But, you know, the other side of of what we do and I'll kinda talk a little bit here just about Legacy Farm and kinda what's involved in them too. Yep. Jace Young: So we basically have two different, you know, options that people can come in. One, they can, you know, buy the software and just use the software on its own. I have a training program in there that I built out that shows them exactly how to use it. I think and, you know, my biggest issue with softwares nowadays is there's even inside the Agam Tree, there's a lot of great softwares. There's zero training program or actual help on how to use the information inside those software to drive actual decisions that you're making with that day. You know what I mean? And so inside of ours, I have a ton of case studies and real world examples of, hey. When the numbers look like this, this is what it means. This is how it's gonna change your decisions here, what you should be doing with the bank, or or how you should approach that conversation, that type of stuff. Jace Young: I want real world actual tangible things that people can do here with the information. So people can just buy buy FarmerMetrics, which is great, or they can use the free version if they just wanna use balance sheet and cash flow. I guarantee you that's gonna make a huge change in your life. It's gonna change the perception of the bank on your operation operation massively, because and this, again, it's it's painful to say it. But just by having that, you're gonna be in the top 1% of customers in that bank, guaranteed at this point. And I used to if you'd have told me that, you know, six years ago, I would have challenged you on a little bit. We've had 300 plus customers from across the country that have come in and and was so you can imagine number of banks and stuff that we've, you know, heard back from and everything. It's the same thing across the board. Jace Young: The, other option that people can come in with, which is where a majority of people do come in, is legacy farmer or option for legacy farmer, which consists of coaching consulting. So they get a coach that's gonna onboard them and consult with them and help them make sure they're really utilizing the software, answer questions, help lead them through and making big decisions, help help make sure that they're they're getting everything they need to from, from what we're doing here. But then we have the community piece of that as well. And so we had, you know, like, our our hot seat call yesterday. We had two people come on. We had two individual hot seats there on how yesterday's topic specifically was on succession planning, bringing kids into the operation, what things do we need to have structured, what conversations do we need to have ahead of time, you know, how am I gonna navigate daughter in laws or son in laws coming in, and how do I approach that conversation, that type of stuff there, which, you know, for you and me, we've been doing those calls since 2020. So we literally have over, you know, five hundred hours of those calls there, which, you know, when you think about it, one of the most impactful quotes that I remember, guy guy wrote a book. His name was Keith Cunningham. Jace Young: He wrote a book called The Road Less Stupid, where he basically talks about all his mistakes. And I love that book. He talks about all his mistakes in the real estate industry, and he built this big hundred million dollar portfolio, lost all that type of stuff there. But one of his quotes in there that's always stuck with me is that their, success is actually found in learning what not to do versus learning what to do. And that always stuck with me. Right? Because and that's why I said earlier, success in business today changes year after year. But I remember the mistakes that my granddad made. I remember the mistakes that my dad made, and those things stick with me and they shape my decisions today. Jace Young: You know what I mean? And so, anyways, with our with our group there in the community side, we have five hundred plus hours there of imagine being a young farmer or business owner coming in and having access to the mistakes of 40, 50, and 60 year olds and all the biggest financial mistakes they made, how it's impacted their marriage, how it led to alcoholism, how it led to all these different things there in their life, maybe no relationship with their kids or lawsuits with their family. That stuff is gold to people. So the community piece is really important there. And then also, you know, those people obviously get access to the software there. So that's that option right there is where a majority of people come in, just because it's it's more all inclusive there. Right? There is work. We're learning, training, and educating people. At the same time, they're, you know, mastering their numbers and and using software and things like that. Jared Flinn: Yeah. So so cool. I feel like we just got done with our conference, and I should have reached out to you months ago to see if you come out. And I mean, because this is what I mean, a lot of our members are demanding information like this on how to make these decisions, how to navigate growing, you know, growing these businesses up and as as you scale up, how to how to manage it. And I think there's just so many of us, people like us out there that started from ground zero and just trying to figure this out and having a group of people to surround yourself with, to teach you what to do or what not to do Yeah. In business, which is so cool. Jace Young: And that's the thing too is one one thing I've always you know, because, like, even with the podcast stuff, you know, I I've been told by, like, people on my team, like, oh, you need to pitch more and and do that type of stuff. Okay. I get that. But at the same time, though, I just wanna be open and honest with people and just talk about my experience. And and because most of the time when I when I talk about things, people can tell I'm being legitimate because the things that I'm talking about are painful in nature, right, or weren't good experiences and stuff like that. But, you know, for even, like, our call yesterday. Right? So just like these types of conversations, most of the people on that call, like, the two specific hot seats we had yesterday, deep down, the guys knew what they needed to do. But where people get stuck and where the benefit of having a community of people that are willing to help and wanna share and wanna, you know, share what worked and not worked and that type of stuff there, these these people, they know what to do, but they're looking for permission to be able to do it. Jace Young: And so, like, even yesterday's conversation around succession planning, it all ended with, hey, accepting and understanding that to some people and your family, you're gonna end up being the a hole. Doesn't matter what you do, you're gonna be the a hole. So you might as well set it up the way that you want to, and that's going to, you know, protect your life's work, and then we move forward that way. Right? But now we can get into specific legality issues and how you should have documents structured. People refer you know, talk about attorneys' AVs and that type of stuff. So it's all those things, man. That's gold. But just that general conversation, that is what we've noticed inside the industry. Jace Young: It just doesn't exist in a lot of places. And so yeah. Jared Flinn: Yeah. Well, Jace, I've thoroughly enjoyed this. We're gonna go ahead and put all your information down in the show notes. So if you listen to this, you'll find all the links to reach out, everything that, Jace puts out there, and, and direct links to his website. But brother, man, thank you so much for, just coming out and sharing your heart. I can tell, and again, I didn't want to steal your goal. Like, it's just so similar, like the past. And I I'm sure that's why twerk I said at the very beginning was like, you guys need to meet each other. Jared Flinn: You're all, your stories, so, so well. And again, just helping that, I think when you have a passion, I know you can speak of this, but having a passion for that small farmer, trucker, business owner, that person that's struggling. I think that's for me personally, that's why I found joy in life when I can lift them up and I can see, progress being made, families being touched, businesses succeeding, man, there's just no greater joy in the world. Jace Young: Yep. For sure. And that's the thing too is even with, what we do, it's definitely not easy. But the mission that we have here, that's why that's why it's it's so impactful what we do. And I'm so grateful again that we had to go through, you know, witnessing my family lose everything because that made the mission of what we do here that much more meaningful because it's real for for me. Jared Flinn: It's Jace Young: not not a game. It's not just like it's real. And I know what's gonna happen if we don't get these these, issues solved for for good people inside the industry. Jared Flinn: Yeah. James, thanks so much for coming on. Man, I'm I know our paths will continue to cross, so I'm sure of that. Thank you very much. God bless you. Jace Young: Yeah. Thanks, man. I appreciate appreciate it, and I enjoyed being here.