Sandy Hansen-Wolff grew up on a farm, but she was, by her own admission, not prepared when she took over AgVenture Feed & Seed in 2003, after her first husband passed away at 33 from cancer.
She had been working in insurance sales, but she inherited a struggling company that had sales in the low seven figures, but debt that put it on the brink of bankruptcy.
Early on, she spoke with her accountant, who gave her the green light to spend a short period of time lamenting the company’s struggles, then told her it was time to move forward, thinking of nothing more than what it was going to take to turn around the provider of feed and other agricultural services to farms across much of Central Minnesota.
They then continued monthly meetings she now describes as agonizing as they worked through what it would take to turn the business around. “That was a pivotal meeting,” she says.
By the time Hansen-Wolff participated in the Upsize Growth Challenge in 2012, AgVenture’s picture had improved immensely.
And, while she doesn’t reveal financials, she indicated that for the last several years AgVenture has regularly experienced double-digit annual growth, with a few years of more significant increases due to winning one-off contracts that provided spikes.
The business has changed significantly over the years, she says.
The industry is struggling through the fourth year of depressed milk prices, so it’s frequently in the midst of looking for new solutions.
“We’ve expanded our vendor networks to provide a wider range of product availability,” she says.
“That’s a big one — getting more professionals on our team and more access to professionals. That’s something that is ongoing.”
The company also has been paying attention to consumer-driven decisions in agribusiness. Consumers, she says, are becoming more savvy and demanding to know where their food comes from.
That’s a positive thing and the industry is having to respond accordingly by bringing new products to market or working more closely with consumers.
“It’s a whole new approach to traditional agribusiness. We see that a lot on the specialty seed side,” Hansen-Wolff says.
So far it has primarily affected hobby farms, but likely it will trickle into mainstream farming going forward, as well, she says.
“It has presented new products to bring to market,” she says. “I always believe in collaboration. Instead of working against what consumers are asking for, what can we do to respond and how does that make for a collaborative effort.
What we do traditionally will keep being good for this area — this is good beef and dairy country. However, this new market is interesting and one we can easily respond to with products and services that make our business more dynamic.”
Having been through struggles herself, she empathizes with the challenges faced by farmers right now. She’s seen a number exit the industry.
“If you have any level of compassion, we feel it for them and with them, as well,” she says.
AgVenture has four full-time employees and four part-time employees.
It also works with several contract workers, a strategy born of necessity in the early years when the company was struggling. She’s not averse to hiring when it makes sense, but she continues to work with contractors when possible because it worked out well during the turnaround.
That’s just one of the lessons she’s learned in steering AgVenture to solid and steady ground.
“You kind of take what’s dealt sometimes,” she says. “Sometimes when you are put in a situation the best you can do is just survive day by day. I really didn’t feel like I had a choice but to figure out a path. The situation we were in kind of presented itself. It was either figure it out or be left with a lot of debt if it didn’t work. Both were stressful options. I chose to stay in it and see if I could make a go of it.”
Beyond AgVenture, Hansen-Wolff has built a small-but-growing executive coaching and motivational speaking side business.
It started out with her being invited to speak as a cancer survivor and has grown into talking about a variety of business issues in leadership and entrepreneurial circles. She gives keynotes or leads workshops around five to 10 times a year, adds in a couple of pro bono presentations and facilitates a peer group discussion every month.
She also remarried four years ago. So, Hansen-Wolff is in a pretty good place — though life isn’t without its stressors.
“Every owner, no matter how good or bad things are going, has those sleepless nights,” she says, “where you are concerned about how do you make the next big thing happen to stay relevant or to stay in business for the next five years.”
Sandy Hansen-Wolff is owner of AgVenture Feed & Seed Inc. and SandyHansenWolff.com: 320.241.9910
sandy@sandyhansenwolff.com; www.sandyhansenwolff.com.
