THE ONES WHO DARED

Leaving Amish Series: Ezra Smucker's Leap from Tradition to Entrepreneurship and Urban Renewal

• Svetka • Episode 67

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What does it take to leave behind everything you’ve ever known and build something entirely new? Ezra Smucker’s journey from growing up Amish to becoming a successful entrepreneur is a story of courage and transformation. Raised in an Amish community, Ezra stepped into the unknown during Rumspringa, trading tradition for entrepreneurship. By 17, he was running his own business, navigating construction, real estate, and the challenges of building a life outside the only world he had known.

Now, Ezra is building more than just a business—he’s restoring communities through real estate, proving that bold decisions and perseverance can reshape an entire neighborhood. 

In this episode, he shares the mindset shifts, faith, and relentless work ethic that fueled his journey—from restoring homes in Harrisburg to creating lasting change in his community. We talk about what it takes to succeed without a formal education, the power of perseverance, and the unexpected lessons from his Amish upbringing that still shape him today.

In this episode, Ezra shares:

  • What it was like growing up in an Amish community and the values that shaped him
  • The challenges of leaving behind his family and way of life
  • How Rumspringa influenced his decision to step away from tradition
  • Starting and growing a business in construction and real estate with no formal education
  • His passion for restoring distressed properties and revitalizing neighborhoods
  • Navigating family relationships and changing community ties after leaving
  • Learning to embrace joy, fun, and personal freedom after years of strict traditions

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Speaker 1:

Growing up Amish definitely helped me with my work ethic. If I wouldn't have grew up Amish, I would probably say I would not be where I'm at today. I probably wouldn't have a business. Most likely not, because throughout the process of starting a business there's many a times you want to give up.

Speaker 2:

Hey friends, welcome to the Ones who Dared podcast, where stories of courage are elevated. I'm your host, Becca, and every other week you'll hear interviews from inspiring people. My hope is that you will leave encouraged. I'm so glad you're here, Ezra Smucker. Welcome to the One City Hour Podcast.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, it's a pleasure being here.

Speaker 2:

All right, so we're going to dig into all things Amish what it was like for you to grow up in the Amish community, the process of leaving and essentially how that was and what you're up to today.

Speaker 1:

Yeah for sure. So I grew up Amish and I left the Amish when I was 17,. As you probably know, You've maybe heard my story before, I'm not sure, but yeah. So when I left I had other siblings that had already left the Amish, so it was a little easier for me, and I have three other siblings that had left the Amish and so my parents were kind of like used to it and also we weren't my parents weren't as like plain Amish or like as conservative as some Amish, so like it was a lot easier for us because I had like an iPod when I was like 15.

Speaker 2:

Really.

Speaker 1:

And we had Wi-Fi at the house, stuff like that. So it's like there's things like. There's like a different, like I mean, I heard other stories from you know, Mary and Jake's stories are probably a lot different in some ways, because they grew up in Lancaster and I grew up in Millersburg. But we had Wi-Fi, we had a business, I had you, you know, an ipod. My parents didn't really know about it, but I had cousins that weren't amish and so like that's how I was able to get that, and so it's just like we weren't as plain, but you know it was a lot easier to leave.

Speaker 2:

So when you say plain, can you describe that definition?

Speaker 1:

I would say more like plain, maybe more stricter like with stricter rules, and would not allow certain things. For example, the business we had. They probably wouldn't have been allowed to have Wi-Fi. We had an outlet in the house, we had electricity, but just one outlet. But then over the years we had like an outlet in the house, we had electricity, but just like one outlet. But then over the years we kept adding more and then, like now, my whole family isn't Amish anymore, including, like all my brothers and sisters, all my nieces and nephews, my parents and then my grandma, on both sides are still Amish. But on my mom's side, like there's only one Amish family left out of like seven siblings that she had. And then my dad's side, there's like maybe five or six that are Amish and like two or three that left. So like our family is like you know, no family is no longer Amish whatsoever, but I still have grandparents that are and some uncles and aunts.

Speaker 2:

I see that you have a mustache, and is that something that was really prohibited? Is that right?

Speaker 1:

It's not normal for them to have mustaches. I don't think I mean they would have beards, but I don't know. I mean I just I like my mustache and I wanted to grow one, and not that you know, I just yeah. So I think it's not normal for the Amish to have mustaches, but beards is common once you're married.

Speaker 2:

So what was it like for you to grow up? Like if you go back to your childhood, what was your experience like as an Amish and you say your family wasn't plain Amish, so your experience was probably a little bit different than some.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, definitely. Well, I grew up on a farm and my mom had a business a garden center, greenhouse and then we had a produce stand where we sold produce along the road. And then we had a produce stand where we sold produce along the road and as a kid we would get up early in the morning and go to work and we would work nonstop all the time. How early? Usually I would have to get up at like 5.30.

Speaker 1:

And then go to the barn do chores. I'd help milk the cows, help feed the calves and feed all the cows and all the animals and then school would start at 7.15, so I had to go into the house and get ready at 6.45 and eat breakfast and get ready and be out the door by 7. And then we would go to school and we'd get home around three o'clock in the afternoon and then we'd go back out to the barn do chores and then we would come in and eat dinner and then go back out and do chores again till like eight o'clock at night wow and then from there we would just like we would work and then go in, maybe play a game or two or do like a bedtime snack and then go to bed.

Speaker 1:

But all my life was just like work, work, like all summer long. If we had nothing to do. We were supposed to go out and like weed, whack the fence rows to make sure they're clean, and always do something or mow the grass or do this. But we had like again we grew up we had a nursery or a garden center and we had a produce stand and we would like plant like acres of peppers, plant acres of tomatoes, acres of watermelons. We had to pick watermelon too.

Speaker 1:

In the summer we were like picking watermelon peppers and we had pumpkin patch, mom patch, like all the, all the things that keep us busy. So we were always working. So that's why I, like you know today how I kind of got to where I'm at, and also like I think it was great to always be working, but still, I mean I I wouldn't really want to want my kids to work that much as a child, because we really never did any fun things Like we would. We really didn't take vacations growing up as a child, but until after most of the people left the Amish. Then we started to do vacations as a family.

Speaker 1:

Other than that, we would just work and would maybe take one day trip to Knoebel's Amusement Park. That was paid for. They would get us tickets. The company where we sent our milk Land O'L was like they would get us tickets. Um the, the company where we sent our milk land lakes. They would give us tickets. So we would do like one fun day, but we still do all the chores. We have to be back to do the chores again in the evening, so on that same day that you went to the park.

Speaker 2:

That is wild, so so it's like leisure free time. Recreation is not encouraged in the Amish community.

Speaker 1:

I guess not really. I mean not, I think it's back then not so much, but probably now it's a little more different, I would say Because I think as the time goes on, as like years pass and decades go by, like families shift and adapt to different cultures or different ways of doing life, and so I would say people now more so probably would take more vacations or not.

Speaker 1:

Every Amish person is a farmer. I grew up on a farm and some people were in construction, so their lifestyle was a little different. Versus a farmer's lifestyle, you can really not do much. You've got to always be around the farm, so that's probably why it was like that.

Speaker 2:

But yeah, and what age did you transition out of being an Amish?

Speaker 1:

So I left the Amish when I was 17. So I got in trouble with the law, but it was very minor, so I did Romspringa. You did yeah from 16 to 17.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker 1:

And then I got in trouble with the law very minor, but I was underage, drinking and my parents had to come pick me up. I was out of state and that was when I was like, okay, I don't want to do what I'm doing. But most of my life growing up I always told myself I wouldn't be Amish. When I grew up, so I don't know. I mean, because I had cousins and aunts and uncles that weren't Amish, I kind of could see there was a way out. But also my parents. We weren't as conservative or plain, we were more liberal in a sense.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, so you just felt like you knew that's not something that you wanted to be with the rest of your life.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I knew that I wouldn't stay in the Amish the rest of my life. I didn't know how, but I just knew I would eventually be out of it.

Speaker 2:

So I want to go back to the Rumpfspringer. That's a very fun topic for outsiders, so your parents actually allowed you to have that experience. Is that right At the Once a Year podcast? Giving back is part of our mission, which is why we proudly sponsor Midwest Food Bank. Here's why Midwest Food Bank Pennsylvania distributes over $25 million worth of food annually completely free of charge, to over 200 nonprofit partners across PA, new York and New Jersey, reaching more than 330,000 people in need. Through their volunteer-driven model and innovative food rescue programs, they turn every single dollar donated into $30 worth of food. Now that's amazing. Join us in supporting this cause To learn more or to give. Go to MidwestFoodBankorg.

Speaker 1:

Slash Pennsylvania To learn more or to give go to MidwestFoodBankorg slash Pennsylvania. Yeah, I mean, I think all teenagers have that experience Once you turn 16, you get to do Rumspringa and it can look different. I think a lot of people hear what it sounds like through Amish Mafia or different scenarios like that, but everyone has the opportunity to do rumspringa and there's different groups and different like more like planar groups, where you don't really drive a car, where you don't you know, you don't.

Speaker 1:

They probably don't party, but maybe they do, I don't know. But we partied and did like. But that I mean if I wasn't a party I wouldn't have probably ended up finding the Lord early on and probably wouldn't have left the Amish right away Depends, because I think a lot of it, like once I got in trouble with the law, a lot of that, like my interest shifted. I was like I don't want to be with the people I'm with anymore. I want to be around better, influential people and I don't want to go down the path of sin.

Speaker 2:

So your parents actually gave you the freedom to experience that? Yes, and then Rumpfspringer ends when you're how old?

Speaker 1:

Until you get married ends when you're how old, until you get married. Usually, usually whenever you get married, I mean, some people will do rumspringa for a long time, but it depends, like it kind of is up for up to that person, because I know some people would be doing rumspringa for 10-15 years, but once you're married it's over.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and so when you left at 17, were your parents still Amish at that time?

Speaker 1:

Yes, my parents were still Amish. They were fine with it. I left the Amish, I still lived at home, but I never joined the church. So it was pretty easy for me to leave. They were fine with it. Like I left the Amish, I still lived at home, but I never joined the church Okay.

Speaker 1:

So like it was pretty easy for me to leave, I just pretty much quit hanging out with the people I hung out with, Didn't go to a youth group or rumspring anymore, and I like I just changed the way I dressed and I still lived at home, Still did everything Like pretty much. I still had the same job, lived at home and parked my car out front, but my parents, like normally Amish people, wouldn't allow you to park your car out front. But my parents, again, weren't as like strict, so it was fine.

Speaker 1:

Like when my brothers first left the Amish and they were the first ones to leave they had to park their car way behind the barn and had to walk to it. Wow. So they kind of paved the way for me. It was a lot easier for me and so I didn't have to go through all that and my parents were a lot more upset with them than they were with me. But again my parents, they were okay with it after a while because they had spent four or five years trying to deal with my brothers leaving.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's interesting, isn't it? With the younger siblings, usually you don't have the same restrictions as the older siblings.

Speaker 1:

The older ones definitely had it harder and the younger ones had it easier.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so did they react a lot, were they a lot more disappointed and it was a really big deal when your older siblings left.

Speaker 1:

It was a little bit more of a bigger deal, yeah, but they still weren't too upset and only one of my sisters I think two of my sisters had joined the church and none of my brothers had joined the church and none of my brothers ever joined the church. So it's a little different when you join the church versus when you're not.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, then you become obligated to the rules and you have to get out or get excommunicated and all that. So you have to go through the excommunication process then.

Speaker 1:

No, because I never joined the church.

Speaker 2:

And was that intentional for you because you knew you weren't wanting to participate in the Amish lifestyle?

Speaker 1:

No, usually you don't. So the men in the Amish community didn't join the church until later on in life or get baptized with the church later on in life. But the women would get baptized early on. So the women would get baptized at 16, 17, or 18. The men would wait until 21, 16, 17, or 18. The men would wait to like 21, 22, 23, depending on, because once you got baptized or joined a church you couldn't drive a vehicle anymore.

Speaker 1:

And usually like it's weird, the women weren't allowed to drive, but the men were in Romspringa. I don't know why, but the women wouldn't get their driver's license, but the men would.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, what are some other kind of odd rules or rules that are different?

Speaker 1:

from your experience.

Speaker 1:

I mean they have like a lot of like. One of the biggest rules, like I think is like strange is you can drive a tractor on the road, but you can't drive the tractor in the field to use it to harvest crops. You've got to use horses but you can use the tractor as transportation on the road. That doesn't make any sense. But you can have an electric scooter, but you can't have an electric car. Make that make sense. You can have solar panels, but you can't have electric in your house straight from the grid, like straight from the, the power lines. But you can have solar panels and have outlets in your house and that's fine. Like that doesn't either make sense to me so is that what your parents had?

Speaker 1:

solar panels, without we had one solar panel but it was hooked up to the. That was like. Then it was like connected to the grid anyway, to the power, like Like. But the solar panel barely did anything but it was like we had on the roof. So they thought, oh, that's how they had electric.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so why did you decide that this was not something that you wanted to be part of the rest of your life?

Speaker 1:

Well, I knew there was more to life than like staying in an Amish community or staying Amish Like I don't think if you're Amish you don't get to experience what living life is all about really. I mean, I think there's like once you, like are saved and once you're like you have a relationship with the Lord, there's freedom to do a lot Like, yes, you can make mistakes and do wrong things, but like as far as traveling or getting to experience different things or different cultures, in life like amish people don't really get to experience different.

Speaker 1:

They don't really, I would say they don't get to experience the fullness in life, but they're always like. Some people are tied down by bondage or, you know, by fear or whatever it is, or what people like am Amish people think what people think about them a lot Like well we can't do this because then you know this person's going to think this and they're going to think we're a terrible family.

Speaker 1:

But so it's like I wanted to leave because I wanted to experience different things and I also around that time when I left, I got saved and I knew I didn't want to be in the Amish church. My first encounter with the Lord was I went to Threshold Church with my sister. Never really went to a church like that before, none of the national church. So I went to Threshold and that's where I experienced the love of God, and more so, just through the people, how they expressed and how they showed love. It was like.

Speaker 1:

Jesus' love. And then from there, I went to Life Center and, like, every Sunday I would go to Life Center. From that point on, that was probably like in 20 in this, in the, in January of 2018, and then I went to Life Center and then I kept going to Life Center and then in May of 2018, I got baptized at Life Center and then from and then from there, I decided to do YWAM Youth With A Mission.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker 1:

And I signed up for that. And then I went to Australia and went to Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka, all after like eight months of leaving the Amish.

Speaker 2:

Wow.

Speaker 1:

So I got to travel around the world and experience different cultures, and so that was like that was all. That was amazing to like go through that period of time, just like to get out of everything I ever knew. And I only knew one person over there in Australia that I went to the YWAM base, that I went to and everyone else was new to me, and so I made new friends and had a lot of healing and learned like grow in the Lord, grow in my relationship with the Lord and understand what living is all about and why we are here.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so that was such probably an eye-opening experience for you. For sure, coming from a closed group to traveling, and then I'm sure people who traveled with you or part of the group were from all over the place. It just is like a broad range of experiences put together and then exposure to such a new world.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, for sure I made friends. I have friends in the Netherlands and Fiji put together. And then exposure to such a new world yeah for sure I made friends. I have friends in the Netherlands and Fiji. I haven't talked to them in a while but we still stay connected here and there. I made some friends from Lancaster County that I didn't know before, and people from Texas and just all over the world. You know Florida, canada.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, yeah, and so right now you run a business Equitable Builds and you're an investor in real estate. You do a lot of that, so can you dig into? What does your life look like now?

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So when I got back from my DTS, I wasn't really sure what I was going to do and I wasn't really sure how I can serve the Lord. I wanted to follow my calling but when I got back I felt like I was called into business. So I started working as a subcontractor, with no real name or business name or doing business name, and that was in 2019. In the summer of 2019, I was only working like four days a week because when I got back I didn't really want to.

Speaker 1:

I all my life I just worked, worked, worked and I was like I'm just going to work four days a week and like Wednesday is my day off and I'm going to go to the city of Harrisburg and just hang out. So every like every week, wednesday, I would work Monday, tuesday, wednesday, I had off. Thursday, friday, I'd work Saturday, sunday at off and then I would go to the city. I'd go around, explore different coffee shops, different shops, and then I would look at the real estate and look at the city and look at kind of like that's kind of where I eventually was like okay, I want to start a business in construction and I want to do real estate, because over that period of time I was listening to a lot of books, podcasts, bigger pockets, and so I started my business at Quittable Builds in I think it was like the fall of 2019, but I started.

Speaker 1:

I started the LLC to be active for 1-1-2020, just to be easier for tax purposes. And then from there I bought my first house and I added value. So we bought it was distressed property and we added value and then we refinanced and then did another house, bought another house and then COVID happened and then it was a little interesting, but I was able to make things work and I was able to do work for other clients. I didn't sell a house until June or July of 2020. And so it was a little tough getting started.

Speaker 1:

But through COVID, people kept coming to us and wanting projects done, and so it just slowly built. I had slowly clients come to me and we slowly started the brand. And now I think you need to establish a brand. I think it's important, if you want to have a business or you know really any product or business or anything, that you should brand it well, and so because I think it draws attention to your service or your product and makes people want to buy that service or product. Yeah, and how old were you when you purchased your first home product? And makes people want to buy that service or product.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and how old were you when you purchased your first home?

Speaker 1:

I was 19. So I bought it in December 30th of 2019. So I was 19 years old. And then I ended up refinancing it like two months later and did a cash out refi. And that was my first property I bought. And I bought it with no money down because I just got back from YWAM and I didn't have any money saved up. So I bought it with no money down and was able to do a cash out refi for like five thousand dollars. So like that helped me out as well, because I did that and I was able to refi it right before COVID happened.

Speaker 2:

So and then COVID happened and yeah, Wow, and now you have how many doors.

Speaker 1:

Right now I have probably about 11 doors. I sold maybe like six or seven in the past, like year so and then, but I did have like I've had 17 or 18.

Speaker 2:

Then I sold a sold off a few, and are these currently used as a short rental?

Speaker 1:

No, they're all long-term.

Speaker 2:

Long-term.

Speaker 1:

I did have one short-term but I sold that property, so they're all long-term rentals.

Speaker 2:

And so where did you originate the name Equitable Builds? Where did that come from?

Speaker 1:

So when I was trying to figure out what I want to name my business, I was like, well, I don't want to use a generic name that everyone uses like their last name, and then whatever you do so equitable.

Speaker 1:

I was like, well, I want to be fair, I want to be just, and so I was like, well, what is a word that kind of has multiple meanings? And so I came up with equitable. And then builds came from one of the YouTube channels that I was watching a lot of. It's called the Build Shub, matt Rissinger, from Texas. He does these amazing builds and beautiful new construction homes, and so I was inspired by a show and I said I named uh, equity. I put builds behind that are behind equitable because of that. So yeah.

Speaker 2:

So what does your business do? I know you, you flip homes yourself and invest in real estate, but this is a whole separate thing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so we offer our services to other clients as well. We don't just do work for ourselves, but we do kitchen remodels, bathroom remodels. We'll do basement finishes. We generally like to work with investors and provide value to their investment so they can get the most return on their investment. We'll help landlords have distressed properties and update their properties so they can get top dollar rents or get the most value out of their property. So that's normally what we try to focus on. But we do offer our service to other clients.

Speaker 1:

But a lot of our clients right now have been out-of-state investors or investors that have an everyday job and don't have any time or effort and they don't want to put effort into picking out fixtures, picking out the finishes. So we do that. But we also do projects for other clients where we're like recently we replaced all the windows in someone's house basement finish. Wow, you know we had decks, build decks. We did big additions in the past. We built garages in the past. We also like we built a park in Harrisburg for the city once. So we do a lot of different types of projects but it really depends on who's on our team and how many people we have and what we're capable of handling so yeah, and you mentioned before that you have a vision to transform harrisburg yes can you speak on that, like where did that come from and what?

Speaker 2:

why? Is that one of your whys?

Speaker 1:

so during 2020 and 2021, I did a lot of projects in the city and it kind of started all because I started spending some time in the city back in 2019. And as I was buying distressed houses and adding value and selling them, a lot of the neighbors were like I was adding value to the neighbor's houses by fixing up the worst house in the block, yeah, and so I was transforming houses and we were transforming houses and then the neighbors were like, well, you should buy this house and buy this house and fix this house up and do this and do this. And I'm like, well, I can only do so much.

Speaker 1:

But then I was like, over a period period of time, it's just like it grew on me and like I have a passion to see like distressed homes or like really, it would be nice to see the city like flirt, like the city of Harrisburg, flourish and be like, have a lot of um shops and coffee shops, retail, uh like, and nice streets to walk down and a lot of like things to do for the residents yeah and but it's like there's so much, like there's so much distressed homes, so many people living in poverty, and it's like but then people are like, well, you're adding value to homes and you're increasing the rents, you're increasing everything, and all you're doing is like driving out the people that can't afford any, like can't afford to start with, um, but kind of where it came from, is just like being surrounded by a lot of distressed like homes and, uh, run down neighborhoods.

Speaker 1:

That's kind of where that all came from. Is like, well, I want to see transformation happen. So how can I do that? Well, I can purchase a distressed home, fix it up and make it livable so that you can do one house at a time and do one block at a time. But it's a lot harder than it's pretty hard to do a bunch of houses at a time.

Speaker 1:

Or a bunch of houses on one block. So that's kind of how I was like I want to renovate and restore homes throughout the city and that's kind of our tagline at Equitable is we are renovating and restoring homes in our city.

Speaker 2:

That's a pretty awesome mission to be on? Yeah, because it is. I mean when you take something, that's a pretty awesome mission to be on? Yeah, because it is. It's I mean when, when you have, when you take something that's ugly or that's not used to its potential and you make it into something that is flourishing it, it kind of can create that ripple effect and it sounds like that's what you're creating in harrisburg, which is pretty cool yeah, yeah, and it's a lot harder than than I mean.

Speaker 1:

It's very hard and sometimes I want to give. And it's a lot harder than than I mean it's. It's very hard and sometimes I want to give up because there's a lot of politics that go with it as well. Anytime you're transforming, like homes in the city, you know there's a lot of politics that go on with that. It's like with codes and with people, don't? Some people don't want to see change happen because it's been like that for so long. So it's hard and it's difficult and it's a mission that can last a long time and it won't happen in one year. It won't happen in two years. It can happen in 10 years.

Speaker 1:

But it'll take a long time until you actually see transformation. Until you see a transformed city, you can start seeing transformation one house at a time, but there's a lot of homes in the city, right yeah?

Speaker 2:

Do you feel like you growing up Amish, do you feel like that gave you the hard work, ethic and what are some values that you feel like that transferred over into your adulthood?

Speaker 1:

For sure. I mean I would definitely growing up Amish definitely helped me with my work ethic. If I wouldn't have grew up Amish, I would probably say I would not be where I'm at today. I probably wouldn't have a business. Most likely not, because throughout the process of starting a business there's many a times you want to give up.

Speaker 1:

There's times you work like when I first started I was working from six to 10 or six to nine, you know, every day except for Saturday and Sunday, and you know not just that. Then you have financial stress and there's a lot of other things that come along with running a business, and there's so many times I wanted to give up. But I mean I really was like giving up was not really an option because all my life I worked really hard and I could. So I was like I'm just going to work really hard and push my way through every scenario, every problem and never take no for an answer. So it's pretty much just like For sure growing up Amish has helped me out. If I wouldn't have had enough courage or drive to keep going, I would have probably started it, but I might have just gave up.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean, running a business is not for the faint of heart, right.

Speaker 1:

It's not no.

Speaker 2:

It looks a lot more essentially appealing than people think. It's easy and anybody can run a business. It's not that big of a deal. But for people who are in it, you know, there's days that it just feels like can you keep going?

Speaker 1:

There's a couple different sides of business. One's doing the work and one's managing people and one's managing your clients, making sure you have good service or products. So there's a lot of different sides of businesses or of the business that you have to be a part of. When you're starting it out, you have to almost wear all the hats, so it just causes some stuff. You don't know what you're doing. You've never done it, so it's all a learning experience and you're trying to figure it out.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean, and you started pretty young in your business, yeah, and you just continued to evolve and grow, right, it wasn't something that was taught to you, you just kind of learned as you went. Is that correct?

Speaker 1:

So, yeah, I mean, I went to eighth grade education, that was it. No high school, a degree, no diploma. And I well, I started working the construction field when I was like 14, so early on, and I was like the mud boy, so we would just go around and you know, take the take, pick up this, clean up this, grab this for this person, take this over there to that person. But then when I was 15, 16, when I was 17, I got promoted to a foreman and then I got in trouble with the law and then I decided to go to YWAM. So I left pretty much right after that.

Speaker 1:

But I grew up on the farm and then I started my construction career off pretty early on, so by the time I left. I'm a quick learner, so I had a decent amount of experience on that side. But I've never ran a business before in my life when I first started out. So anything to do, I could do the work, but anything to the system in the business, or the way to manage people, or the way to talk to people, or the way to sell a product or anything to run the business, I did not know and everything was a learning curve.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and what was the hardest part for you out of that?

Speaker 1:

Honestly, I don't really know what the hardest part was. I mean, there was well, I guess maybe it's like running probably the hardest part is managing people. But from when I started it, I didn't have any people working for me. But I would say, like, as time went on, it was like I was hiring people and managing people and that was the hardest part, especially as a young person, and you're managing people that are older than you most times. So it made it pretty hard and difficult for me Because I was also like I was still pretty hard and difficult for me because I was also like I was still pretty young and timid and didn't really know. You know, I probably got taken advantage of a little bit, but you know, at least I was able to get out of those situations and come out stronger. But it's like you have to. It's tough when you start off young. Yeah, because you're still like, especially growing up Amish and you had very minimal experience in the real world and so, yeah, it was definitely interesting.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean, and working with people is always a challenge, right, the hiring, the firing, and when you are young we were also really young in our business compared to our competitors and sometimes you just feel like people don't take you as seriously because of your age and you also, if you look young and you are young, it's like it's just there's that level of the age difference that people may not have the same respect for you as you're older and more experienced.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, for sure yeah.

Speaker 2:

I mean, I think too, managing people is always the hardest part because you're dealing with hiring and firing people, and if you don't know initially how to hire the right people, then you have to unfortunately let those people go because if they're not the right fit and for us, I mean, that was a process that took a while to also- teach yourself.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'd say that's the hardest thing about actually running a business, but there's also different sides of businesses. Like I was saying, if you're going to be the owner-operator and do everything, you can do that, but you're not going to scale a business that way.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, you can't do everything yourself. Yeah, Absolutely. I wanted to touch on some of these Amish rules too and just see if there's any myths on some of these. So with the Amish, they say that you are not allowed to, you can't really use photography.

Speaker 1:

They can't take pictures of people, can't take pictures of the Amish? No, normally not. They don't want, they don't really want their well, back in the day they didn't want to, they didn't want their pictures taken. But now people are a little more like, okay with it Because I mean, we're're in a different century almost, and so they've been okay with it. But it also depends on which community you live in If you're more of a plainer community or more conservative or more liberal community. We didn't care when our pictures got taken.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you're like hey, hey, let me pose here I mean I wish, I wish I'd have a picture.

Speaker 1:

I wish I have more pictures of our, my childhood, but that's one thing we don't have. I mean we have very few. I might have like a handful of photos, or two handfuls of photos of myself between zero and 13. Of myself between zero and 13.

Speaker 2:

So no one has a camera at home? You wouldn't get photographed? Where would you get those pictures?

Speaker 1:

Usually for us because we had two businesses. A lot of people, like the English people, came to our business and bought stuff and they would usually connect with my parents and sometimes they would come over and hang out with us and they would offer to take pictures or something like that.

Speaker 2:

That's usually how that happened. That's interesting. And then the buggies. They have to be black. Why do they have to be black?

Speaker 1:

I do not know. I only drove a buggy until I was like 16. And then I got my license. And I don't even know why the Amish have certain rules. I have no idea Some of those things. I'm like why did I do this? It doesn't make any sense, and yet I did it for 16 years of my life. But I was also a kid. But there's people that are Amish and they have no idea why they do certain things.

Speaker 2:

And they don't think to question it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, just like. Well, we did it for so many years and my grandparents did it, so why would you question it?

Speaker 2:

Like I don't know. So why I mean, or maybe not why is it true that you are not allowed to have musical instruments?

Speaker 1:

Not. No, I wouldn't say that you can have musical instruments like guitars. It's more common now, but probably like 30 years ago or 25 years ago it was not as common, but I think it's more common now so is it true that the amish don't pay taxes?

Speaker 2:

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Speaker 1:

That is not true. So they almost pay double tax, really, yeah, from what I know. So they send their kids to their own private school basically, they have to pay tax to that school. They also have to pay school taxes to the regular schools. So there's two school taxes they have to pay and they have to pay all the other taxes as well. Now the only one that you can get out of is social security, but you have to like that. I can't really discuss because that's kind of off limits.

Speaker 2:

I gotcha.

Speaker 1:

I don't know who's listening to this one we'll leave that alone.

Speaker 2:

When an Amish child is born, are they registered in the system, like do they have a social security number?

Speaker 1:

well where I grew up. Yes, all the amish have social security numbers, birth certificates, everything, yeah okay then, so do they pay taxes for the roads. Yeah, they pay the township tax, the state tax, everything.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, I mean real estate tax, which would cut towards repairs on the roads and stuff like that. Yes, and would you say the Amish people are fairly well off financially. Amish people are fairly well off financially, or where would you? Because there's some people that have this perception that the Amish are really wealthy and something completely opposite. So I just want to clear that up.

Speaker 1:

The Amish are well off because they work hard and they don't ever take a well, they don't really take a break and they just like they're over the top when it comes to like their work. They just like work, work, work, save, save, save. Barely spend any money, pack lunches for work, barely ever go out to eat. When I was growing up, we probably went out to eat maybe 20 times a year. That would be twice a month or maybe once a month, and the Amish barely go out to eat. Well, maybe it's different now, but when I was growing up that's how it was. So they save money, they save, save, save and they work hard.

Speaker 1:

And so a lot of the Amish are pretty well off because they're very frugal with their money and they don't just spend it on anything. I don't know how it is nowadays, but when I was growing up we didn't have Amazon. I mean, I guess Amazon wasn't really a thing either, but I don't even know if they would have Amazon now. I don't know how often they buy stuff on Amazon, but I would say they're well off, and most of them in certain communities, and that's because they're smart with their money.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and do they own a lot of real estate property as well, a lot of the farms.

Speaker 1:

They'll always buy the farms that they live on or the houses. It's very rare for them to be renting stuff. So yeah, they're they're. Usually they own a lot of real estate. Um, most times, you know, they invest their money into real estate as well, so they don't. I don't really know too many people. Well, when I was growing up, I really didn't. I never heard of the stock market when I was growing up or like crypto, which I guess crypto wasn't really a thing either. But I never heard of the stock market when I was growing up or crypto, which I guess crypto wasn't really a thing either. But I never heard of the stock market growing up. And so, growing up, I don't think the Amish really were dabbling in stock market and stuff like that, but I could be wrong.

Speaker 2:

Are they now?

Speaker 1:

I think they are more so now than they were back 20 years ago.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so essentially, the financial status of an Amish compared to an average American, which is more in debt. They spend more than they make the average American, right yeah, statistically Spend more than they make. They take vacations yeah, they overspend on Christmas time with money they don't have on credit card debt, right yeah. And versus, the Amish are not taking the vacations, they aren't spending, they aren't treating themselves to luxuries or exactly, um, all those things. So they and what are they really saving for, honestly?

Speaker 1:

I don't know. I mean usually, you know, I think it. What I've seen in the past is a lot of the older people, as they pass off or die, they're passing on their inheritance to their kids. But I also don't know how well they structure that, for when they die, your inheritance tax is tremendous nowadays and so I don't know how they structure that. But usually they pass their farms and stuff down to their kids and it seems like the more generations, the wealthier the kids get.

Speaker 1:

And the kids don't just like when they take an inheritance, they don't spend that money or splurge. They might buy investments or might buy another house, but they're usually wise with their money. They're not buying luxury cars, watches, jewelry, bags. They don't even go out to eat. Really they don't buy elaborate Christmas gifts.

Speaker 1:

So I don't know what they're saving their money for and honestly, I think it's important to enjoy life and I could save save all my life and not get to experience certain things in life. And why did you work so hard and why did you save all that money? Yes, to pass it on, but you've got to put a lot of trust in the kids or great-grandkids or whatever to steward that money well, or you've got to have the right lawyers and trust funds and all the things in place to make sure it gets used well. But I still think it's important to take the vacation If you can afford it. Buy elaborate gifts If you can afford it. It elaborate gifts if you can afford it. It's like get to enjoy life a little bit, get to enjoy the luxuries that life has to offer.

Speaker 2:

And are you enjoying your life now, Ezra? I definitely am yes, that's good to hear. So you're not just working, you're also taking time off, taking time to enjoy yourselves.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, for sure. I mean I do a lot of fun things and I think the past two years I made it more of a habit to do fun things. So I did a week's snowboarding trip to Wyoming recently, before Christmas, and I think it's important to, like I enjoy snowboarding and do things you enjoy and get out and about and hang out with friends, create memories, make memories with friends, because you know I could die tomorrow and or in two years. And why did I save all that money? For I don't have kids, you know. So like it goes back to my parents and like you know, so why not enjoy life while you can?

Speaker 2:

absolutely so. You mentioned that none of your siblings are Amish, right, yeah, and your parents are no longer Amish, just your grandparents correct and um. So are you in touch with a lot of ex-Amish people now? Do you have a community, or do you tend to kind of have a mixture of friends and people that you're associated with?

Speaker 1:

or in community with um, I don't really I'm not really in touch with many amish people at this point, but it's like when, like. So you can always tell when someone grew up amish almost almost, not quite, but and especially by their last name. If, for example, if someone would come up to me, they'd introduce themselves to me and I'd be like, what's your last name? And they would say Stolfus or Lap or King, I'd be like, oh so you grew up Amish. That's normally some generic Amish last names, but really I haven't talked to an Amish person in quite some time.

Speaker 1:

But also it's weird or funny how, like I can go to the market at Broad Street Market or like in Harrisburg or West Shore Farmers Market, and the Amish people have stands there and they'll be like, did you grow up Amish? Bish doon, shmokha? Like, are you a smoker? Like they can see it in my face and they just, I don't know, they kind of know, I don't know, they kind of can tell when you grew up Amish or like, if you're like, I guess, if your last name or your family was well-known in the area. So it's interesting that Amish people that I've never met, they would ask me if I grew up Amish.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that is interesting.

Speaker 1:

And then they're like oh, we know your parents, your grandparents, and they're like who are your parents? And so things like that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's pretty interesting. Is there anything else you want to add for people to kind of know about the Amish community that I haven't touched on?

Speaker 1:

Not necessarily. I mean everything is pretty accurate. I mean there's stuff out there that isn't like Amish mafia and there's certain things that aren't accurate. But I think it's important if people are curious is to ask questions to other people. If you see an Amish person walking down the street, ask them a question. The worst they're going to say is no. And I get asked. Every time someone finds out I grew up Amish. They are curious and everyone wants to know was it really true like this? And they always. You know because you hear things.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So do you think they would be receptive, like an Amish person in the street, to being asked a question, or are they more?

Speaker 1:

Some of them would enjoy it. Some of them would be like wouldn't answer your question. Some of them would gladly take an interview with you, you know, if you'd be walking down the street and you would, you know, gladly take an interview with you If you'd be walking down the street and you would want to interview somebody. Some of them might be like, no, put it out, but some of them would love the attention.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's really interesting, and what would you say is the bravest thing that Ezra's ever done.

Speaker 1:

Probably starting my business at 19 years old with no experience, no finance degree, no business degree, no, nothing, no degree whatsoever, with no money, starting a business and growing it from nothing to what it is now. On a brand, I would say, that's you know. I see the brand and I see the trucks go down the road. It brings me joy, like I see that and I'm like, oh, I started that when I was 19.

Speaker 1:

And you know, everything was like, I would say, the name, the logo, the brand was all inspired by God and like you know it, and he did it through me, and so I see that and I'm like it's like wow.

Speaker 2:

What would you say is the?

Speaker 1:

best advice that someone gave you that, I would say, is surround yourself with people that have accomplished a lot of amazing things. So you know how they say you become the top five people you spend the most time with. So I think that has been the most valuable. I don't know if someone told me this or if I heard it on a podcast, or if I read it in a book or where I heard it, but I think a lot of people say this, but you become the top five people you spend the most time with. Surround yourself with people that are achieving a lot in life or are very successful, and I think that will take you a long way just by surrounding yourself with people like that. Yeah, absolutely, I mean I've interviewed so many different people you a long way just just by surrounding yourself with people like that?

Speaker 2:

yeah, absolutely. I mean, I've interviewed so many different people and they a lot of the people who are successful, um say the same thing that's the fastest way to get to where you want to go is to be around the people who are already there. Right, exactly, and it's like you can. You can read a book, you can learn about stuff, but when you get around people who are where you're going or where you're striving to be, that can expedite your process so much quicker. And you never want to be the most successful, the smartest person in the room, because it just means you're probably in the wrong room. Then you know you're not learning if, if you capped out, yeah, of of your circle. So I love that and I think that you have a bright future ahead of you. I feel like like you're just getting started. You know you're still in your twenties, right?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'm 24.

Speaker 2:

Wow, okay, that's amazing. And what would you say are three pivotal books that you read that were transformative for you?

Speaker 1:

So my number one book would have been Rich Dad, poor Dad, because that was like book would have been Rich Dad, poor Dad, because that was really the first book I probably read when I first started my business and that concept I remember clear as day. I was working on the roof, I was listening to an audiobook. While I was on the roof working doing a roof job, it was like 100 degrees outside and we were on this 8-12 pitch roof, so it's kind of a steep roof. And I was like 100 degrees outside and we were on this 8-12 pitch roof, so it's kind of a steep roof, and I was roofing away and I was listening to this book and I'm like how can I implement this book in my life right now?

Speaker 2:

And I was like well.

Speaker 1:

I'm out here working my butt off. And so that was one Rich Dad, poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki, and then the other one is the Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. That was a really good book as well. And then the other one is Is your Thinking Keeping you Poor? By Douglas Kruger. I think it is. So those are my top three books that probably had a lot to do with kind of, I guess, giving me insight on business and just affecting my mind or having my mind shift or my mind changed into the compound effect and rich dad, poor dad, between.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, yeah, those are great books.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And what are you currently excited about? What is in the future that you're looking forward to working towards?

Speaker 1:

Right now. I mean there's a lot of. You know, every day is a good day, Every day is an exciting day and I love what I do and I wouldn't want to trade it for anything. Really, I don't think, I mean I I even if I would be like, if I could retire and be like I'm just gonna sit on the beach all day, I would get bored and tired and I would probably do something. Um. So, with that being said, I think it's just, you know the, I love the process of life and that's what I'm like, that's exciting. So, like you know, there's different steps in. You know, hopefully one day I have kids and so, like I look forward to that and, you know, just creating memories with other people.

Speaker 1:

And so yeah, I'd say, it's just just as long as you enjoy what you do, like you know, like, if you have maybe goals or things you look forward to, but you know life can change so quickly, though, and so I think you know I could have an idea of what I want, what I want to do in 10 years, or you know. So I think it's just enjoying the moment.

Speaker 2:

Being present enjoying the process?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, for sure enjoying the process.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I think. Also, retiring is something that statistically has been proven that when people retire they tend to die a lot quicker shortly after their retirement, because you lose your sense of purpose and meaning. And if the work that you've been doing has given you a sense of purpose, meaning joy, a reason to get up in the morning, when you lose that, people tend to just stop growing, they're stale and their health declines. So it's really interesting.

Speaker 1:

I will say there's days in business that you're like this day does suck or this. You don't look forward to this or this, but there's always something. There's always a bright side to that. One is you're going to grow in your character. You're going to learn something. If it's challenging or if it's like I don't like this, figure out how I can outsource this or have someone else do this that you don't enjoy. But yeah, that's it.

Speaker 2:

I love what Brittany Turner said. She's also an investor, she was in the podcast, she's got an island on Virgin Islands and does retreats there, and she said that an obstacle is an opportunity for expansion. So anytime you face a challenge, just look at it as this is giving you an opportunity to expand, Expand your worldview, expand, grow you in certain areas, like you said. So it's like, if we look at it like that, we don't look at a challenge as like man. This sucks.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, for sure. No, I mean the challenge will will develop or give you it will give you you know, build your character and you'll learn a lot and it'll be worth it at the end absolutely, and we also learn most from our failures than we do from successes.

Speaker 2:

So exactly well, ezra, thank you so much for being in the podcast. It's an honor to hear your story and I'm sure it's going to encourage people, and thank you so much for your time.

Speaker 1:

You're welcome, Sveka. Thank you for having me Appreciate it.

Speaker 2:

Thank you for listening to the Once we Dare podcast. It is an honor to share these encouraging stories with you. If you enjoy the show, I would love for you to tell your friends. Leave us a reviewer rating and subscribe to wherever you listen to podcasts, because this helps others discover the show. You can find me on my website, speckhopoffcom.