Scaling Success: Greg Schonefeld's Journey from Auditing Derivatives to Transforming Agricultural Leadership with Ag Installers and EOS Insights

Can you imagine making a successful leap from auditing derivatives at a big four accounting firm to running a thriving business in agricultural installation? That's exactly what Greg Schonefeld did, and we're excited to bring you his inspiring journey on the Poultry Leadership Podcast. Greg, the owner of Ag Installers and host of the Eggheads podcast, shares his story of transitioning into the agricultural sector, scaling his company to over a hundred employees in its first year, and overcoming challenges despite lacking a construction background. He also reveals how the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) became a cornerstone of his leadership strategy, helping him navigate his rapid business growth and plan for the future.

We also touch on a critical issue: shifting the perception of manual labor in America, particularly in agriculture. Greg emphasizes the need to professionalize and value these roles, sharing insights on building a leadership team and the transformative impact of adopting EOS. He discusses strategic shifts in business operations and offers practical advice for farmers looking to scale their operations, including starting with the book "Traction." Greg's insights demonstrate that success in agriculture involves more than just hard work; it's about strategic planning and leadership.

Greg's passion for agriculture and leadership extends to his role as the host of the Eggheads podcast. He shares the inspiration behind starting the podcast, its impact on educating and engaging consumers, and the camaraderie within the podcasting community. We also delve into the importance of embracing challenges like the 75 Hard program to foster personal growth and resilience. This episode is a treasure trove of insights on leadership, innovation, and the value of sharing knowledge to foster growth across all industries. Tune in and be inspired by Greg Schoenefeld's remarkable journey and the lessons he's learned along the way.

Listen to Greg's interview of Brandon - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/scaling-success-greg-schonefelds-journey-from-auditing/id1716410281?i=1000657776541

Hosted by Brandon Mulnix - Director of Commercial Accounts - Prism Controls
The Poultry Leadership Podcast is only possible because of its sponsor, Prism Controls
Find out more about them at www.prismcontrols.com

Transcript

Brandon Mulnix: 0:27

Welcome to the Poultry Leadership Podcast. I am your host, brandon Molnix, and on today's show I have Greg Schonefeld, owner of Ag Installers and host of the new podcast Eggheads. I am super excited to interview Greg today and I cannot wait for him to share his story with you all.

Greg Schonefeld: 0:47

Thanks, Branodn, I appreciate you having me.

Brandon Mulnix: 0:51

Greg, well, as I said, you know you're the new host of the podcast Eggheads, but before we dive into that, you are so much more than the shell that you present with Eggheads. So can you give the audience a little bit of background on who you are and what was your journey like to get into the industry?

Greg Schonefeld: 1:10

Sure, yeah, I guess everything kind of starts for me. I studied accounting and finance in school and went first to work for like a big four accounting firm where I was doing auditing. So where I started is very different from where I've ended up, and that really came about through leaving the big four accounting firm to go work for my dad who has a company that does construction in the ag world called Signet. And it wasn't really something I necessarily planned to go do but the way things lined up, it lined up great and I was kind of at a place where I was in accounting I kind of realized that wasn't the road for me and had some crazy ideas about oh well, I'll go consult, even though looking back, I probably didn't know that much at the time.

Greg Schonefeld: 1:56

But I started off looking at my dad's business and really saw some real opportunity there, so went and joined him and gave myself the title of CFO at the age of 27 and went into his office and, you know, worked with with his company for a few years and through that a big thing I learned is, you know, just some some leadership things learned, kind of working with the crews and and and and working as a leader and also learn how to operate some of the immigration programs he was using.

Greg Schonefeld: 2:30

And after doing that a few years, an opportunity opened up for me in the installation space where you know no one else was really using some of these immigration programs and the job really requires traveling all over the country and it's super hard to get people to kind of work these jobs in rural locations and moving all over the place and really thought there was an opportunity to utilize some of these immigration programs in the installation space. So that's how Ag Installers was born and got to start off with a really great opportunity out in Arizona on a huge project.

Brandon Mulnix: 3:12

Wow, that is an opportunity that you have really taken advantage of too. I mean, I've seen your growth in your company get to participate and work with you or your teams, cause you know, I I don't put cage equipment together, I'm not an electrician, I'm not on the site, but our teams are out there. But yeah, you and I have had a chance to work together and that's just incredible to see your growth in the industry and your reputation in the industry and it seems like you guys are the go-to company for ag equipment installing.

Greg Schonefeld: 3:37

I appreciate that, brandon, and it was a challenging road. I mean when I, you know, kind of looking back to how we started it was, you know it was a challenging road. I mean when I, you know, kind of looking back to how we started it was, you know it was a great opportunity. I mean we went from zero to a hundred people in the first year at Ag Installers and, you know, had some support from customers and all those kinds of things. But it was a real challenge to go from zero to over a hundred. And there were definitely moments along the way where you know we're trying to lead this project and you know I didn't have that construction background and there were days where I was asking myself what am I doing as an accounting and finance person trying to run these jobs? But just showed up every day and tackle one thing at a time and do your best.

Brandon Mulnix: 4:19

It is amazing how, whatever your background is, there is a place for everybody within the industry. That's a cool story. I mean, how are you with your dad now? I mean, do you still work alongside your dad?

Greg Schonefeld: 4:32

The way that worked out. I mean we had someone come in. The timing really worked out great, where we were able to bring someone in to handle some of the responsibilities I had been doing in his business, handle some of the responsibilities I had been doing in his business, and this was a great way for me to use some of the skills, the things I learned, as well as just my overall background and lifelong interest in business, to go do something that utilizes those skills but wasn't in competition. So Signet, the company my dad founded, puts up the buildings, works in the egg world, works in hog and dairy putting up buildings labor only as well, and so ag installers kind of let me focus on a different trade. That is almost like a complimentary business. And now things are coming full circle where I've taken the management of Signet and I'm in process of buying my data out of Signet as well.

Brandon Mulnix: 5:27

Oh, that's really super exciting. And, Greg, through some of our conversations you've mentioned that you've got a philosophy or you've bought into a philosophy of business. That's really helped you grow and organize and create a scalable process. Can you dive into that?

Greg Schonefeld: 5:48

Oh yeah, referring to EOS, that's been a big difference for me as a leader and for our business and a big reason why I think I can undertake the responsibilities that Signet will present as well. I guess what I would summarize with EOS is that it's really just a great comprehensive system for running your business and kind of stepping back to where how it presents presented value to me. You know where I came from. You know. First I was in this big four accounting firm. That's a huge company, 30,000 employees. I'm just someone who started off very entry level and my job was to audit derivatives at that time. So it's like someone would go out and actually do something, then someone else would account for that, then someone else would check their accounting and then I'd be there to check that. So I felt like I was four steps removed from the real world. And then moved over to working for my dad, where I felt like I was four steps removed from the real world. And then moved over to working for my dad where I felt like I was right in the real world solving practical problems every single day and I just love that.

Greg Schonefeld: 6:54

But very entrepreneurial kind of. You know atmosphere, environment at Cignet and you know it had kind of its own way of doing things that it had done for a long time, that that worked, but not a lot of necessarily documented systems and processes, those kind of things. And then I went and did started Agonsellers and we definitely don't have systems and processes and those kind of things established. So I've never really gotten a chance to see, hey, what a business of this size looks like, that really kind of has this system of running things. And that's really what EOS offers is kind of like a roadmap and including when you do your meetings and those kinds of things. And I'll say the first thing for EOS that really became clear. That sounds so simple in a way but wasn't for me, for whatever reason is like it is starting with an org chart and I guess my mindset for whatever reason is, you know, always thought, oh yeah, org chart, that's just kind of some corporate mumbo jumbo thing or something like that.

Greg Schonefeld: 8:02

Eos really helped me to see the value in that that you really, once you grow and you have a team, you know it needs to be clear to everybody what your role is. And then and they don't just call it an org chart, they call it an accountability chart, because everyone really truly needs to be accountable for that position. And maybe that sounds simple as well, but you know, so many times you kind of can look around and see, okay, this person really helps me. But it changes the expectation from hey, you're really helping me, but I'm still kind of covering this, that or the other, to no, you're really truly accountable for. This makes that simple thing. It's simple but difficult at the same time, but that simple thing just really changes everything. And there's other things on top of it, but I'll say, everything for me starts there.

Brandon Mulnix: 8:53

Yeah, the accountability chart. Being from a company that adopted EOS about four years ago, man, it helps simplify so many things. And when you look at that accountability chart and say, okay, so who owns this role? It's not about the person right off the bat, it's about the role, like okay, so sales and marketing, who is that? Well, I got assigned that. Okay, so what does that look like Underneath? That is the key takeaways from that, and it's so much, so simple for me to say, okay, where else in the company do we have this? And then you start looking through there and going, okay, who reports to who, which is more of your org chart kind of thing, but it's. It just really aligns with that. That's awesome. And I know you've mentioned your vision statement, your mission statement. Tell us about that.

Greg Schonefeld: 9:39

Yeah, I'll give, you know, eos credit there as well, because the they've got designed for you know, basically a two, two-page vision that includes eight different elements, and part of that is, yeah, the mission is is a big piece of that. So your mission and your values and if I could start with the values, because I kind of I kind of see that as a big, huge, maybe the biggest part of our vision, and some of that kind of happened naturally, really building this culture, these values, and it took time, but the time it was kind of instinct. I'd say year three or four for ag installers really started to become clear who were the people that really fit our program and who were the people that maybe didn't quite. And you just kind of make a few key decisions out of instinct. But looking back in this idea of having really truly defined values, and for us that's team first, work hard, continuous improvement. Everything we do is built around that, and so that was kind of the first thing to become clearer for us in terms of and so that was kind of the first thing to become clearer for us in terms of vision is once we just we put words to our values. I think everyone kind of had a feeling that, hey, we were really working on something that felt special to us on values. But once we put words to it it really helped us to build it that much stronger. And then the mission idea really came later and it came just over a year ago I'd say the beginning of last year where we you're going to see I wrote a hundred iterations or something of our mission, which is kind of crazy, but it just felt important and nothing quite seemed right.

Greg Schonefeld: 11:31

But then I read this book called this is Marketing by Seth Godin. It was a marketing book but it just had this little line in it that said what change are you trying to make? And because it said, if you're in business and you're trying to market, it's because you're trying to make change. And I had never thought of being in business as an idea to make change. I was just trying to build something that kind of served its purpose and its market, created a good life for the people who were a part of it. And I never thought that I started a business to go out and set about change. But I wrote it on the board because it just felt important for me it was on my whiteboard behind me to just keep looking at.

Greg Schonefeld: 12:13

And all of a sudden it hit me one day, maybe three weeks later, that you know the change that we need to make is around the kind of the perception of labor in America which I think I think a lot of people in the ag industry understand how important manual labor is, but I think a lot of people, maybe outside the industry you'll have a certain kind of look of it. I mean, if you grew up in a city and went to college and studied this or that, you don't have a lot of close contact with labor. And I guess that actually describes me. I mean, I guess through my dad's company and my upbringing I had some contact, but not really until I stepped into Ag Installers did I really immerse myself in it.

Greg Schonefeld: 12:56

And I think the thing I learned in that process is, man, how smart some of these guys are, how dedicated they are, how much they how much they're thinking about what they're doing, how much they're trying to improve things on their own, and it kind of made me realize, man, you know, I don't know how many people see this and what can we do to help people see that.

Greg Schonefeld: 13:18

So this idea of kind of really guiding a new light on labor is what inspired the mission and kind of putting that in different words, we want to create true professional and it's not. It's not just about the perception. I mean, we need to do things as a company as a reality to you know, to make that reality real. So that's kind of our mission there is, you know, we've got to be those true professionals and do all the things that it takes to be you know, to really truly make that a reality, but also to kind of be seen that way as well, the value you put into training and treating your people like professionals is so important, greg, and I'm so glad that you do that for your team.

Brandon Mulnix: 14:00

They're not just people, they're family to you guys and that's in your team and that's pretty cool.

Greg Schonefeld: 14:04

Man, I appreciate that and honestly it's kind of amazing because it's kind of been I would say, it's been this back and forth where I started with an idea of what we could do and then you go see somebody exceed your expectations and then you go change what you think you could do and then that motivates others to go raise the bar. I just feel like there's kind of been this back and forth raising of the bar.

Brandon Mulnix: 14:30

Well, and you're not doing this alone, you have a team now of leaders alongside you, and can you talk about the process of who you put alongside you and why they're important?

Greg Schonefeld: 14:41

Yeah, that's been a hugely impactful thing to our business over the last couple of years because, you know, in the beginning I mean, like I said, we started off big over a hundred people in the first year but you know, that made us or maybe me specifically feel pretty smart. And then it was all on one big job. But then when we had to go replace that job and got spread out among three sites, realized we had a lot left to learn. So we actually I mean, we were as high as 150 people in the early first couple of years and then down to 80 in our fourth year and really making a lot of mistakes across the board. So our first move was to really get ourselves shored up where we're performing on the job sites, and that was just kind of really trying to work through the people who were there. And and then, yeah, since you know, getting back to your question, brandon kind of got to a point where we really figured things out on the site. But it was really at a certain point it was difficult to think about growing beyond that because there's all the things that have to be handled off the site. I mean, you've got to go sell the work, hopefully do some marketing and you know, with the immigration processes we run, have a lot of lead time, we have to secure housing vehicles. You know all these kinds of things that have to be managed, that you have to build a team.

Greg Schonefeld: 16:04

For that aspect and I'll say I mean we went six years before.

Greg Schonefeld: 16:08

I mean we had a couple, let's say, heroes on our team at that time that even made it possible, because we were so understaffed, but then really made a conscious effort to go bring in and build an executive team and that was really inspired by EOS. And, like you said, your first move there is to really build out the structure. Like you said, sales and marketing and operations and finance are kind of the standard key pieces and to go out and define that and then go get it. Because you know my natural mode before that was okay, this has to be done. I look around and see who we have who can help me, and you're just taking the people you have and trying to get them to do this or that. I mean maybe like a basketball coach that needs to like redesign their offense for the players they have. That's kind of how we were doing things, where now the encouragement has been no. Go design exactly what you need and then go find the people that really truly have the match for that structure.

Brandon Mulnix: 17:11

So, greg, we talk about this for small business, we talk about this for non-farm. How can a farmer that's trying to grow and scale implement something like EOS in their farm?

Greg Schonefeld: 17:27

And that's a good question. I think there's the group of farms that have been around for decades that I would think probably have some semblance of this. They've built a leadership and those kinds of things, and there's probably probably those farmers of a certain size out there that I would guess there's quite a few that have the same mentality. I have that just hey, I've got this kind of limited pool of resources here that I just got to go show up to work every day and get the most out of it. And I think there's some level where you have to balance your ability to invest and build a team and just having to kind of get things done with maybe an idea of going out and really just taking a shot. And I think the best place to start would be maybe read the book Traction and kind of see some of these tools, see which ones make sense to you, see which ones you can implement.

Greg Schonefeld: 18:22

Yes, I do see quite a few farmers out there just kind of. I think it's that great farm hard work mentality which is a big reason why I'm attracted to this industry in the first place, and maybe some of what I have inside of me, some people kind of take that hard work and then they just go out and kind of make things happen with what they have. Where I think it's useful, if you can, to take a step back for a moment and really think about building out a structure and kind of a system for doing things that may sound impossible to do on top of your already hard job. But if you can give that little extra to get there, it makes your life easier later.

Brandon Mulnix: 18:59

Yeah, you said it there, putting in that work. What we call it is working on the business else to do, because any good leader knows that in order for them to pursue their passions and their purpose, they have to train others to do the work, to free them up to lead the company and make the decisions. You know, at the at the larger scale, and you know, and I know EOS did that for us it really focused us through their tools and their meeting cadences and all that to really be able to free up time to say, hey, as the leader, you know you need to take time out for yourself. You need to focus on the work that needs to be done this week, but also work that needs to be done this quarter or this year.

Greg Schonefeld: 20:05

Yeah, it's a great point and you said it perfectly that it's working on the business instead of only in the business and yeah, it's important to set aside that time. It's difficult to set aside that time, but important. And you know, I really like the method of setting out those 90 day objectives and of those done. But if you can sit down and really choose your best three and have a commitment that hey, no matter what the next 90 days we're going to knock out those three, first of all sitting down and thinking, you know, working on the business to develop what those three are, but then to be able to go out and set out to do it and get consistent at accomplishing that. Just moving the needle forward a little bit every 90 days makes the world a difference with time.

Brandon Mulnix: 21:02

Yeah, that's still a challenge for me and my planning, as I always take on way too much yeah.

Greg Schonefeld: 21:08

Here we are doing podcasts and not working any time right.

Brandon Mulnix: 21:11

Absolutely. It's like, yeah, what do you want to do this quarter? I want to start a podcast. This should be easy.

Greg Schonefeld: 21:18

I think we're both a glutton for punishment, Brandon.

Brandon Mulnix: 21:22

Oh well, you made a great transition. You're doing all this you just mentioned. You're in the process of purchasing Signet from your dad, which is an incredible opportunity for you signet from your dad, which is an incredible opportunity for you but you started a podcast, so you and I are like co-podcasters now in an industry that has you know. We're finding out that there's there's a few of them that have been tried in the past and and didn't go go as long as they hope. But, my gosh, greg, what tell me about your podcast?

Greg Schonefeld: 21:52

yeah, eggheads. Uh, you know, I guess I guess it was inspired first, uh, my brother-in-law, kyle Farmer, who does immigration, a lot of immigration work for agriculture. He has a podcast called the Immigration Guy and I went on as a guest with him and I'll say that. Really, kind of at the same time I guess I had a marketing firm saying, hey, think about this kind of thing. And really I guess those are probably some of my inspirations. But then my first thought was well, you know, what am I going to talk about? Installation labor? That's a pretty small world to listen to.

Greg Schonefeld: 22:28

But then I really realized that there are so many things in the egg industry that I'm just so interested in. So where where my first thoughts were well, I'm not an expert in anything, what am I going to be doing with a podcast? But then I realized, well, I want to learn more about the egg industry and this could be a great way to learn. At the same time I don't have to start off an expert. So I really thought I guess that was kind of the early thinking.

Greg Schonefeld: 22:53

And then last fall just kind of jumped in and started doing a little bit of recording. You know I've got to give Bill Snow at Lubing credit for being willing to sit down with me for a little bit. But then, second of all, I mean he said the words that you know you could do a real service with this thing, and that really kind of made me think that my first thought was I think he's right. I don't know how, but I think he's right. And then it just kind of really hit me that you know, I get questions from neighbors, from friends, about eggs. I think there's a whole world of consumers out there that are really interested in what goes on in the egg world and at the same time I think there's kind of a recognized need in the industry that, hey, how can we reach those consumers? We have some avenues today, but what else can we do to reach consumers? And that's what I'd really love to be able to do with Eggheads.

Brandon Mulnix: 23:48

It was interesting because your road and my road were literally parallel for the longest time and even my boss is like hey, have you talked to Greg? And so you and I chatted and it was so exciting to have this collaboration and to be able to really just have someone in the industry to talk to about what's holding you back, greg, because it's the same thing that was holding me back. You know, hey, what's what's. You know what's the challenges and just the fact that you're willing to step out and do this podcast and it's a fun podcast. I really enjoyed being a guest on your show there and that's a plug. So go back. I'll have a link to the Eggheads podcast in this podcast, because in this industry, even podcasts have to be like farmers. When we're supposed to be competitors, we're actually partners. I mean, greg and I are challenging each other to be better. We have different topics, we have different guests and it is so much fun to be able to just go. Hey, what's working for you man? Hey, you know it's kind of cool.

Brandon Mulnix: 24:52

So thank you, greg, and thank you for stepping out there and doing this.

Greg Schonefeld: 24:56

No, thank you as well. And no, and you're, you're, you're totally right, because I mean, it's, it's embarking on something new and and you know, I guess I've I've done that a couple of times in a different, in a couple of different ways, as have you, but this, you know, podcast is totally new territory. It's a new set of challenges and, like you said, you're feeling the same thing, so we can talk about those kind of things and also grow together, and I agree it couldn't have worked out better to be able to start this up at the same time.

Brandon Mulnix: 25:29

It's so much fun having a guy like you going alongside here, so appreciate that. We're going to get back to the topic, though. I mean starting a podcast is you know it is a leadership thing. It's going outside your comfort zone, but tell me about some of the things that you strive for in leadership.

Greg Schonefeld: 25:49

Oh, man, one thing I'll say is, I guess, you know, when it comes to leadership, I think it's it's been an iteration and I guess there's a certain period of time for me where I would say I just had something kind of maybe burning inside inside me that, you know, I didn't really know what it is, but it always just kind of kind of pushed me and it just, for some reason, I always kind of wanted to be in leadership kind of roles, and so it's been a total evolution, because there's a period of time where you follow your instincts. I mean, I've read well, I guess I've been a big reader really ever since I finished college I wasn't before then, but then have had the chance to take on different leadership roles and each one has created different challenges, and you're just responding every time and, honestly, I forgot your question now, Brandon.

Brandon Mulnix: 26:44

There are so many great things of that too.

Greg Schonefeld: 26:46

Yeah, no, we can, we can keep that, we can keep this whole thing. But that was leading somewhere. I knew my starting point. I knew my ending point that I forgot when I got to the middle.

Brandon Mulnix: 26:57

I'm going to leave this because I've been to show what you know. A couple of podcasts, oh, go through, absolutely. So where I was going was we've talked about hard things and be a leader. You talked about getting outside your comfort zone, and what does that look like for you?

Greg Schonefeld: 27:16

Oh sure, you know, what I would say is I haven't always kind of thought of it in that way. I've just kind of done what seemed necessary at the time. You know, I guess more and more recently and and this comes from following different people maybe on LinkedIn, podcasters, uh, different leaders out there and and I really feel like this idea of doing hard things has kind of hit me, you know, quite a bit in the last year, two years, and something I've started to embrace in my life and especially, the more experience you get, the more you see that you're going to have periods of hard roads, you're going to have periods where maybe it lightens up a, and I guess what I've really started to do there is, you know, form different habits in my life and kind of take on challenges proactively, and what I believe it does is it kind of builds up your endurance, your stamina. It's almost like a muscle that you have to strengthen, and you know some examples of that would be I mean, you do those ultra marathons. So you know as much as anybody inflicting pain on yourself that you didn't maybe need to, and I'm not sure if your reasons are on these lines, but I guess I really kind of first got inspired doing 75 hard last year and one of my friends put me on it. I was kind of feeling like I needed something and it just all came at the same time. Feeling like I needed something and it just all came at the same time and he described it to me and I was like man. I was mad at him for a minute because I knew I needed to do it once he explained it to me but then I did decide to do it.

Greg Schonefeld: 28:56

But it's something where you have to do two 45-minute workouts a day. One has to be outside. They've got to be three hours apart from each other at least, so you can't do like an hour and a half workout. You have to drink a gallon of water every day. You have to commit to a diet and there's some kind of flexibility in that, but definitely no desserts, definitely no alcohol. You have to take a progress photo every day, and that's like an easy thing to do, but it's also one that, if you forget it, you fail, because you've got to do this 75 days in a row. You can't miss any one of these items.

Greg Schonefeld: 29:31

You know that taught me a couple things. I mean for one thing I thought well, you know, I work out 20, 30 minutes, you know, probably five days a week. I'll just do 30 minutes two times a day. But the guy is very clear you don't modify this challenge. The guy's very clear. You don't modify this challenge. You either take it or you don't, because life doesn't throw at you a challenge that you get to modify. Life throws at you a challenge that you either say yes to or you say no to, and that's kind of the mantra with this thing.

Greg Schonefeld: 29:58

And I would say that it definitely taught me a lot. You know, the first thing it taught me is I had to re, totally rearrange my whole routine to make this happen and it kind of it showed me that I can. And just rearranging your routine, whatever routine you produce, dictates your results. So that applies to this, but it applies to everything, everything. I mean if you read 30 minutes a day as your routine and you're reading of a certain genre, that's going to dictate the things you know in life. So that's something that it taught me.

Greg Schonefeld: 30:34

And then the other thing I'll say is yeah, I lost weight doing 75 hard, and a lot of people kind of see it as like a weight loss kind of program the guy who designed it is very clear that it's not a weight loss, it's a mental toughness program. And so, yeah, I lost, I lost weight and got in better shape and there's certain confidence that comes, you know, associated with that. But more than anything, the confidence that it gave is kind of a trust and a belief in yourself, because you're first committing to this super hard thing that you don't know you can do and every day you have a win and you do what you set out to do. You not only get the results of that win but you get the confidence that it produces and it's almost like a trust in yourself that, hey, I told myself I was gonna do it and then I went and did it, I kept a promise to myself and it's just confidence building in that regard.

Greg Schonefeld: 31:32

And I'm not necessarily saying everyone should go out and do 75 hard. You could apply this probably in different ways of your life, but I will say that inspired me and has kind of inspired me in general to change my eating and diet routines not necessarily for my weight or those kind of things me in general to change my, you know, eating and diet routines, not not necessarily for my weight or those kinds of things, but but for producing a certain outcomes and and yeah. So I think, uh, kind of taking this I mean my wife jokes that now I've signed up for life hard instead of 75 hard, but I I do think, do think doing those kinds of things is difficult but it does, it does prepare you for life and kind of prepares you to, you know, be in a certain mode where you also just have the sense of confidence that, hey, I can take what life throws at me.

Brandon Mulnix: 32:18

Yeah, you just nailed it. Any type of program like that, whether it's a diet you know I've done diets in the past to get healthy and I've done, as you mentioned, ultra marathons what it does, it just gives you that mindset, and you said it it gives you that mindset. So when things are tough in business, when things are tough, tough personally, hey, I can get through that. I put myself in here 75 hard, I can get through this and you don't know what future challenges you're gonna have. But, man, you've prepared yourself and that's all.

Brandon Mulnix: 32:51

You can look back on any of those and even 10 years from now, you might gain a few pounds back and you might, you know, be less active than you were before. But you can always have that reserve to go back and say I did something really hard and I know that whatever worked for me back then will work for me again. Even if you're 10, 15 years away, you still have the confidence in yourself because you can go back and do it again. It's not that hard. I just I. You know I accomplished it and I think we minimize our accomplishments some ways. But 75 hard is that's a beast man, Congratulations, no, thank you, and no, we minimize our accomplishments some ways, but 75 hard is that's a beast man.

Greg Schonefeld: 33:32

Congratulations. No, thank you. And no, what you said is exactly right. I mean cause, yeah, you can think back to man, I'm on mile 23 of over 26 and even having four miles left to go is super daunting and yeah, whatever you're facing, you're kind of put yourself in that mindset of like man, can I do this?

Brandon Mulnix: 33:56

And you know you did so you start to believe you can do it again through implementing an EOS system, which stands for Entrepreneurial Operating System, and created a mission, created a vision, all for his company, so it could continue to grow. And then he starts buying his dad's business, which is going to be a huge challenge for him, upcoming, because I was going to ask him what's the next hard thing that he's going to do, and I know what that is. I try to run two companies, but while he's doing all of that, he also works on himself with 75 Heart, and that is what leaders do. You know there's a lot of things that we do that are work-related, there's a lot of new challenges that are mentally related, but what are you doing for that aspect of physical health? What are you doing for your spiritual health? No-transcript. Well, is there anything that I didn't cover? Greg?

Greg Schonefeld: 35:13

I was just going to say what you just said is super well said and I mean, I've been told recently that I am the ceiling of my business or any undertaking that I'm undertaking. I'm the ceiling. So if I don't get better, I'm holding down everybody with me and that's been. You know, that's a big motivator for me.

Brandon Mulnix: 35:34

Wow, that is an interesting way to look at it, for sure. So, greg, we've shared all of these things and I know there's people out there that really want to grow, but they just need someone to talk to or ask about EOS or ask about 75 hard. Is there a way for them to connect with you?

Greg Schonefeld: 35:55

Sure, I'd love for people to reach out to me. They can reach me by email at greg, at aginstallerscom that's aginstallers. Is H-E installers dot com that's aginstallerscom. And you can also find me at LinkedIn, greg Schoenefeld, and send me a message there. So, yeah, I'd love to have people reach out to me and help any way I can.

Brandon Mulnix: 36:17

Hey Poultry Leadership Podcast audience, please go check out Egghead's podcast. He's releasing episodes every two weeks. We're talking about maybe coordinating this a little bit, so that way he's one week, or Eggheads is one week and the Poultry Leadership Podcast is the next week. We're going to get on that schedule so that way you, as our audience, can be shared amongst both of us and every week, have valuable content from the egg industry, because guess what? That's what partners do, that's what people in this industry do together. So, greg, I so appreciate you being here. You've shared so many incredible things with our audience and I mean you nailed it, buddy.

Greg Schonefeld: 36:59

I appreciate it, brandon, and thanks a bunch for having me on and, yeah, I look forward to continuing to grow together and I think it's really cool the engagement you've already created and look forward to continue to build on that.

Brandon Mulnix: 37:12

Hey podcast listeners. One last thing like share get this episode out to your friends, family, whether they're in the egg industry or not. I'm sure this will be valuable for their leadership growth, because you know what You're holding someone else back because they need you to share this with them so that they can grow as a leader. That could be someone on your team, that could be someone from another company. So thank you for listening and also, last but not least, this podcast would not be possible without our sponsors, prism controls.

Brandon Mulnix: 37:41

Prism controls is the leader in providing technology to farmers in the egg industry. They believe in growing leaders so much. They sponsor this podcast by allowing me to do it. So thank you, listeners. I look forward to hearing back from you later this June May have to adjust my schedule a little bit due to the fact that I'm actually taking a family vacation, so we'll see how that goes, but I will be back with you later this June and this is what's going to line Greg and I to get our podcast in sync. So thank you and have a great day.