(upbeat music) (upbeat music fading) - Welcome to "A Shot of Ag."

My name is Rob Sharkey.

I'm a fifth generation farmer from just outside of Bradford, Illinois.

They say that being an entrepreneur is something that you're born with.

Well, we're gonna find out, we're gonna be talking with Mary Faber.

How you doing, Mary?

- I'm good.

How are you?

- Good.

You're from Pontiac?

- I am.

- Just in case anybody from Peoria doesn't know where that's at.

Where is it?

- It is east, right along Interstate 55.

So, Interstate 55 actually cuts my home dairy in half.

Mile marker 203.

- I didn't know that was your dairy.

- That would be my family's dairy operation.

I am also the fifth generation.

But the home dairy is run, owned, managed by my dad, Don, my uncle, Roy and my brother, Matt.

- Yeah.

What was your maiden name?

- Mackinson.

So Mackinson Dairy Farm.

- You know what's so funny, is I've gone past that, I've never put two and two together.

Because we've known each other for, well we met, I don't know, 10, 20, 50 years ago.

- Well.

(Mary Laughing) - Long time ago, right?

- Yes.

- But yeah, I never put that together.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- That is, that is where I grew up.

Like I said, I grew up on a dairy and grain farm.

Went to school in Pontiac and vowed to myself that I would never return back to my hometown.

- Oh, you didn't want to?

- No.

- Why is that?

- I wanted to get out, I wanted to go somewhere else and.

- [Rob] Off to the big city?

- I don't know necessarily big city.

I love Bloomington-Normal.

But I said to myself, I was not going back to Pontiac and well, there were other plans.

- [Rob] Here we are.

- Here we are.

- You, you went to school at ISU, right?

- Correct.

Illinois State.

- Okay.

What'd you study?

- You know, in high school, Pontiac High School didn't have FFA, kinda.

- [Rob] You're kidding me.

- No.

- [Rob] Really?

- So back when I was going through high school, there wasn't FFA in Pontiac.

So I was really active in 4-H and I knew I wanted agriculture and I had taken an accounting class in high school and I loved that.

(Rob chortling) - Wow, wow.

- So I'm like- - Hold up, you took an accounting class and you loved it.

- I did.

- You and I have different brains.

- We do.

- Okay.

You just love what the organization or what?

- Organization, numbers, detail.

- It's so dumb, because when you put a journal entry, it's gotta be something.

Everything's gotta be something, you just can't put down "I spent 20 bucks.

None of your damn business."

- Correct.

And that's what love about it.

It's so black and white.

- [Rob] Okay.

Alright.

- So I combined the two and majored in agriculture business at Illinois State.

- [Rob] Gotcha.

Oh, ISU (bell ringing) go Redbirds - Go Redbirds.

And then did what everybody thought, kinda told me I should do, joined the corporate world.

- [Rob] Okay.

- Got a job.

Yeah.

- [Rob] Where?

- Right outa college.

I was a national bank examiner for the comptroller of the currency.

- (Rob scoffing) The what?

- I was a bank examiner.

- So you were, if people, ne'er-do-wells, like I would've, or if they were embezzling is that's what you were trying to?

- Every bank has to go through an audit.

And so I was on the team that examined national banks.

- That seems like something you do later in your career.

- No, (Mary chortling) I was 21.

- Not you, huh?

- I mean, is it usual though?

Because it seems like you'd have to learn stuff before you'd be able to catch people.

- It was a training program and so yeah it was a great experience and I did that.

- (Rob) Are you smart?

- Well, depends.

(Mary chuckling) - [Rob] You ain't dumb, right?

- Well, - Okay.

- I don't think so, but I have my moments.

- Well, you have to have that kind of mind to do that.

- Hm-mm.

So did that and then I underwrote operating loans for farmers.

So I was a person that - [Rob] So you you crushed dreams.

- I did.

(Rob laughing) - I added joint checks.

Took your crop insurance.

- Wait, wait.

Before, when you were doing the bank thing, did you ever catch anybody?

- No.

We really never had, I mean, no.

- [Rob] Really?

- And they were taking a team of four recent college grads out to a bank.

So they were taking you to pretty conservative, well run banks.

- Or maybe just ones that they want to be able to get away with.

You ever think about that?

- I had not, but maybe that was, but we were around based outa the St. Louis office.

- [Rob] Gotcha.

- So, lots of small towns.

(both chuckling) - So, then when you were doing the loans, were you farm credit?

- It was with the Growmark system, FS Agri-Finance.

Yep, then I jumped over to country and worked in farm insurance.

Was an underwriter for insurance.

And then got the opportunity to go up to Northern Illinois at a co-op up there that needed help with some credit.

And so I established a credit program and worked in their credit for a few years.

And in the meantime I met my now husband.

- [Rob] Where'd you meet him at?

- (Mary laughing) Oh, you'll appreciate this one.

He was, is the Ag teacher at Pontiac High School, so my hometown.

So he had the opportunity to meet, - [Rob] He wasn't your teacher?

- No, I'm actually older than him, so.

(laughing) - Oh, you're a cougar.

- I am, yes.

(Rob purring) - Oh yeah.

I got it, okay.

- You know, those were probably the longest six weeks ever, from July to September.

- What was?

- Because that's how much older I am than him.

Those six weeks.

- Oh, it's only six weeks.

- It's six weeks.

- You're a cougar cub.

- Yeah, but he forgets the six weeks and just goes with the cougar part, so.

(Rob laughing) Yeah, he was teaching at Pontiac.

He is their Ag teacher, FFA advisor.

And my brother was like, you need to meet this guy.

And I'm like, no.

I'm, no.

I don't, no.

Blind dates, no.

And I met him at a high school basketball game and that was several, several years ago.

- Love at first sight?

- Pretty quick.

I mean we were, yeah.

Yeah and here we are.

- Yeah.

He's up from my home county.

- He is?

Yes.

So he grew up on a grain and beef farm just outside of Sublette.

Was very, very active in the FFA world, former Illinois State, FFA officer.

- [Rob] Which office?

- Treasure, maybe?

- [Rob] You should probably know that.

- I should know that, yeah.

Whoops.

(Rob chuckling) But yeah, he's a former state officer and which I think is kind of number one funny that I was not involved in FFA.

- No, funny.

I thought you were gonna say sexy.

(both laughing) - Funny that- - It's the jacket.

- Sure.

- There's something about it.

(both laughing) I knew nothing, I knew very little about FFA.

And yeah, I've learned a lot over the last- - But you said you didn't have FFA when you went there.

- Correct.

It was rechartered.

They actually just celebrated their 20 years of rechartering for the Pontiac FFA.

Parker Bain was the teacher that brought Ag back to Pontiac, and then Jesse joined him two years later.

And Jesse's there today.

- And he's currently still, - Yep.

Yep.

- Okay.

Are you still involved with your family's dairy?

- Well, I don't get to help out as much as I once did.

Due to my business, the time constraints of my business and then our kids, and then we have cattle at our house that are my responsibility.

- Okay, let's get to your business, 'cause I'm fascinated by entrepreneurs.

Generally, and I guess I already know this, but I ask if your parents were entrepreneurs.

'cause I try to figure out, because it seems like some people are chronic entrepreneurs.

They just can't work for other people.

And then there are people that would never, ever think about running their own.

And there's nothing wrong with either one.

Why do you think you're an entrepreneur?

- I never had the dream of running my own business.

- [Rob] Really?

- No.

- [Rob] Okay.

- I never did.

At a young age, I was installed, I was go to get a corporate job, you need health insurance, right?

- [Rob] Yeah.

- So that's what I always did.

And I was working at a co-op close to Pontiac.

I was their controller.

So I managed everything numbers related: bill pay, receivables, patronage, month end, fiscal year end audits.

Those were all under my umbrella.

And then that little thing called COVID hit.

- [Rob] Never heard of her.

- No, yeah.

And I got sent home to work from home.

So all I needed to do my job was internet and a computer.

So I worked from home and really fell in love with that working-from-home gig.

- [Rob] Yeah?

- And, oh yes.

I'd never done it before and it was awesome.

- [Rob] Some people can't.

- Correct.

I was the opposite.

- You thrived.

- I did.

- I mean, did you just like it or did you actually, did your work pick up or did you do better at work?

- Both.

- Okay.

- Both, because I was able to, I didn't have that distraction and I was able to get sit down- - How could you not have a distraction at home?

Literally, I haven't heard half of what you said, 'cause I have flowers sitting here.

(Mary laughing) - But for me, I could, it was- - It worked.

- It worked and my employer, it was in end of September, said, "We want you back in the office "Monday through Friday, seven to five," and I was like, deer in a headlight.

Like, uh, no.

- [Rob] Didn't want to go back?

- No.

- [Rob] Okay.

- And I quit.

Like that.

- You're an introvert?

- Very much.

- Okay.

- Yes.

- Are you a proud one?

- Oh, absolutely.

I mean my, yeah.

People that knew me, Enneagram one.

- [Rob] What does that mean?

- I like structure.

I like order, I like everything organized.

I like a plan.

- What the hell are you doing on this show then?

(Rob laughing) - And the funny part is, literally I was told that on a Friday that I needed to be in the office five days a week.

And I turned in my two weeks on Monday.

- [Rob] Okay.

- I had no plan.

- That hadda be scary, right?

- Oh yes.

(laughing) Yeah, I had no idea.

I got my substitute teaching license and kudos to my husband, 'cause he's like, "I had a feeling you'd come up with something.

"I didn't think you'd stay at home.

"But I didn't know what it was gonna be."

- But, background, in the meantime, I started a cut flower farm.

Which is why I brought you flowers.

- [Rob] What are these?

- Those are daffodils.

- They're beautiful.

- So as an escape from my- - How do they taste?

- I don't know.

But they should smell.

Some of 'em should smell.

How is it?

You are getting hungry.

(chuckling) Hopefully they're not poisonous.

That'd be weird.

- That was a mistake.

(Mary laughing breathlessly) - But while still at the co-op, I was like, you know what, my cousins started to cut flower farm.

I'm like, "I think I can do that."

And I did.

And everybody laughed at me.

'cause they're like, you're gonna do what?

I'm like, I'm gonna take- - Are they grown outside?

- Hm-mm.

- Okay.

- I took a 4,000 square foot chunk of my yard, tilled it up and planted flowers.

And you know, there's a lot more to growing flowers as you know about corn and soybeans than just putting it in the ground and hoping it grows.

- Are these Roundup ready?

- No.

(Rob laughing) But, when I was growing flowers, obviously perennials come back year after year.

I invested a lot of money in tulips and daffodils.

And while I am not actively growing flowers for a cut flower farm, this time of year I can still reap those benefits, because I have a ton of beautiful daffodils around my yard.

- [Rob] Oh, I bet.

Now how were you selling 'em?

- I was selling them at our local farmer's market.

And then online people would wanna pick up a bouquet or stuff like that.

- [Rob] It's really bad.

(Mary laughing) - So I did, I grew cut flowers for two years.

(Rob gargling) Invested in my business and actually was profitable.

- I'm glad, because they don't taste very good.

- No, I think there are some flowers you can eat, but.

- Not these.

- Not these, noted.

(Rob chuckling) - So what does that mean?

You say that meant a lot that you started this cut flower business.

What'd you learn from it?

- That I can do hard things.

That I can take an idea, an idea that a lot of people laughed at me that you're gonna do what?

And do what?

But I started thousands of seedlings in our basement, learning how to soil block and grow them and the timing to get everything to harvest different times so you have a full bouquet.

The different components of a bouquet, making sure you have your focal flowers, all of that good stuff.

And I built a business from nothing.

- [Rob] Yeah, it feels good - Looking back.

Yeah.

It still does.

I'm incredibly proud of it.

And the only reason I'm not doing it today is I closed that chapter and started a different chapter - And there's nothing wrong with that.

People get caught up on that, because we're gonna get into your second business here.

- Yep.

- And people think, oh, I'm not doing the flower thing anymore, it's a failure.

No, it's really not.

It basically got you to where you are today.

- Correct.

- So yeah, just, you all relax.

You're doing fine.

(both chuckling) Tell me about the bookkeeping.

- So it was October 1st of 2020 and it was a Monday and everybody in my house was going to school.

And I was like, I got a few more weeks of flowers left.

No.

Hard frost.

And I'm sitting outside.

I don't have a job and my flowers are dead.

(both laughing) It was like- - And your dog's sick, and... - Well, I mean, if you wanted to finish with the full country song, it would've been.

♪ Mom got run over by a big old train ♪ - Only thing I needed was to crack open a beer and it would've been perfect.

(Rob laughing) And I'm sitting there and I'm like, "What have I done?"

And a few weeks pass and I really started thinking, what do I miss?

And I missed the numbers and I knew I wanted to work from home.

I'm also from Illinois, I saw the writing on the wall.

My kids were gonna go remote at some point, and I don't know, but somehow I stumbled across The Virtual Bookkeeper and I was like, "I think I can do that."

And talked to a few people and I was like, "I think I can.

What the heck," right?

So I do what all smart people do.

I made a social media post.

(Rob laughing) I did it and I acquired some courage in the form of Busch Light, obviously.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- And I posted it - That saying what?

I want to work with you?

- Yes.

I love bookkeeping.

I am looking for entrepreneurs that do not like bookkeeping.

And I'll do your bookkeeping for you.

And that was where it started.

- Where'd you post it?

- Facebook.

- And people answered?

- Yes.

I signed two clients from that post.

- Really?

- Mm-hm.

- And how'd you continue to grow?

- You know I kinda got my foot wet.

One client led it two, two to four, four to eight.

And a lot- - [Rob] Word of word of mouth?

- Word of mouth has been- - It's the best advertising.

- Correct.

Working with people.

And social media has brought me a fair number, but a lot of it has been word of mouth.

- So, okay, I'm a farmer, so that's all I know, right?

I buy stuff.

What I just, like literally, I don't wanna do anything with it.

So I throw you the receipts and say, "put this in whatever you accountants do, "your little boxes and all that stuff."

- Yep.

- And that's what, you figure all that out.

- Yes.

- Okay.

- I work with small businesses, entrepreneurs from coast to coast.

Common thread, they're all somewhat tied to agriculture.

So some are farmers, corn and soybeans, some grow cotton.

But I also have cattle ranchers in New Mexico.

I've got cattle in California.

I've got photographers in upstate New York.

- Do any of that mob stuff?

The mob money?

- No, none.

- That's where the- - The real money?

- Yeah.

- I do work with influencers.

- [Rob] Oh, there's no money in that.

- Oh.

(both laughing) But I had the opportunity to work with entrepreneurs like yourself and I do their bookkeeping.

So each business is different, but the big is that I provide my customers with their bookkeeping.

They don't have to do it.

And they have accurate and timely books.

- See, I'm curious, do you work with people that you know?

- No.

- Okay.

- Not necessarily.

- Yeah, that yeah, I'm not so sure I would want to.

- Correct.

I understand that.

No, some of my clients are local, I would say somewhat local within an hour of my house.

But I'd say a majority of my clients are not local.

Like I said, I work with over 50 clients ongoing as their bookkeeper each and every month.

So right now I'm finishing up the prior month's books, and so they all have 'em.

So for those people that maybe throw everything in a box and wait till they schedule that tax appointment in November, December.

(tongue clicking) - Well, you don't, it's changed, right?

You don't have to be close, right?

- No.

- You never meet 'em, right?

- Just on the phone or over video, yeah.

- [Rob] You do the Zoom stuff?

- Mm-hm, I do that.

If anything COVID has kind of helped bring out my business.

But I do everything virtual.

I do work with QuickBooks Online, that is a program I work with.

So all of my clients are on that program.

- And this has been very successful.

- Correct.

- Yeah, how many do you see you deal with?

- I work with over 50 clients ongoing every month.

- That sounds like way too many.

I mean, literally for time-wise, can you do more?

- Well, I grew up on a farm and- (both laughing) - You're not gonna say no.

- Correct.

(both laughing) You know, having done this, I know the businesses that I can do really, really well.

That are right.

My ideal client and I won't probably say no.

Should I?

Absolutely.

- How old are your kids?

- Ava is 12 and will be going into sixth grade and Eli is 10 and will be going into fifth grade.

And you know after I started the business, probably six months in, I invested and went to a conference and it was a conference that it was put on by a social media influencer and it was geared towards rural women and rural entrepreneurs.

And so I went and at that conference, "Rural Rooted," they really focused on your why.

Why do you get up?

Why do you work?

What is my why?

And they helped me focus in, it was on the kids, because I wanted the flexibility to be there for the kids' activities, whether it be on a random school day or over the summer for sports.

So I needed a job that has flexibility.

And I have been able to build my business around the kids' schedules so I can take 'em to a 7:30 swim practice.

And I can either work before or after.

- Well even the swim meets you can work during, 'cause they're so boring.

(Mary laughing) - I usually time at swim meets, but when they're at practice, I take my laptop and I sit there and I work.

That's the beauty about my job is I can do it anywhere there's internet.

Somebody laughed, and they're like, "Well, you're probably on a beach somewhere."

And I said, "No, I'm just really "in my basement in central Illinois."

(Both laughing) - Well, what advice would you give to that person out there that wants to not work in an office.

Wants to start their own business?

What would you tell 'em?

- You know what, if you have that feeling, that urge or that urge of you wanting something to change, take a chance.

Somebody very near to me asked me the question, we were a few months into my business, "Mary, what are you gonna do when this fails?"

- [Rob] (scoffing) Wow.

- I know, right?

(Rob chuckling) And at that time somebody's like, "Gosh, that's harsh."

But I really thought about that question.

You know what, what would I have done?

I would've gone back to the corporate world and got a job.

And when I looked at it like that, is that really so bad?

- [Rob] No.

- No.

And I am not saying at some point I might go back to the corporate world.

- I don't see that happening.

- But is that the worst?

That was the worst thing that could've happened That I could come up with.

So it didn't make, okay.

- Yeah, well people do get, like we talked about with this the flower thing, they get so caught up on if I'm gonna start my own business, if I'm going to do my own thing, then if I don't do that for the next 50 years it's a failure.

- Correct.

- Where a lot of these things, I look back at my life and a lot of the stuff that I no longer do still got me to the point of where I am today.

It's like, even though you failed, you learn something and you just keep failing, but you learn something.

And then you're able to build off that.

- You know, I have the ability to take a very messy set of books and fix it pretty quick.

And somebody's like, "How did you do that?"

And it's exactly what you said, I've learned.

And over the course of being an entrepreneur, I'm so new in that journey.

I have learned so much and it's from things that didn't necessarily go my way or a business decision that didn't work.

You know, I need to preference, that when I started out on this journey I had savings so I was okay, and my husband had health insurance.

(both chuckling) And so we were okay financially for a short period of time.

And it worked.

- Yeah.

If people wanna find you, social media, where do they go?

- The best place to find me is on Instagram under Mary T Faber.

I am on Facebook and I do have a website for my business.

My business name is Mary T Faber Solutions.

So I'm not too creative.

- [Rob] It's clever.

- I know.

- [Rob] I was joking.

- Yeah.

(Rob laughing) Hey, it's perfect for everything black and white.

- No, it is perfect.

You oughta be very, very, very proud of what you've done.

Not everybody can do it.

Not everybody can be their own boss.

Not everybody can work from home, which is just fine.

But yeah, as you sit back, you oughta be very proud of what you've done.

- Thank you.

- And the business you're not just building for yourself, but for your family too.

You are setting an example for your kids that I don't think, maybe you don't even realize, but it's pretty amazing.

- Thank you.

- Yeah.

All right, Mary.

Mary T Faber though, online?

- Correct.

- Okay.

- I don't think there's a- - We can come up with a better name for your company, like No Screwing Around Accounting, something like that.

- Something like that.

But you let me know.

- For right now, we'll stick - For right now, we'll stick with my name.

(both laughing) - Mary Faber from Pontiac, Illinois.

Yeah, go check her out.

Especially if you are a horrible bookkeeper - Or just don't like doing it, or you're better at something else.

Like, I don't know, doing this.

- [Rob] Your time is valuable.

- It is.

- Yeah.

So it's like- - Trade off.

- Trade off.

- Pick what you're really good at and what you aren't really good at or what you don't like, you outsource.

- Okay.

Yeah.

Do you have a pocket protector?

- No.

I don't.

- Okay.

(laughing) Mary, it's fun seeing you again.

It's been way too long.

- It has been.

- So yeah.

Again, congratulations on everything you're doing, Mary Faber.

Everybody else, we'll catch you next one.

(upbeat rock music)