The Poultry Leadership Podcast
"Welcome to 'The Poultry Leadership Podcast,' where we dive deep into the world of poultry leadership to help you soar to new heights in your career. Join us as we sit down with some of the industry's most accomplished leaders, farm owners, and allied professionals. Gain valuable insights, strategies, and personal stories that reveal the secrets behind their success. Discover what makes these poultry visionaries the outstanding leaders they are. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting out, our show is your go-to resource for unlocking your full leadership potential. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the journey to becoming the poultry leader you aspire to be."
This podcast is brought to you by Prism Controls, the leader in Environmental Controls for the past 45 years! Check them out at http://www.prismcontrols.com
The Poultry Leadership Podcast
Balancing Personal and Professional in Poultry: Insights from Brandon and Emily Mulnix on Leadership, Family, and Community Ties
How did a spontaneous idea during a high-altitude hike lead to an insightful conversation on The Poultry Leadership Podcast? Join me, Brandon Mulnix, and my incredible wife, Emily Mulnix, as we kick off Season 2 with a heartfelt dialogue that crosses the boundaries of personal and professional life. Emily gives us a glimpse into her fascinating journey from dairy farm roots to her vital role as a registered nurse, while we share amusing anecdotes from our life in a small Michigan town. As we chat, you'll learn about my diverse career path, from firefighting to photography, and now, podcasting, as we discuss finding the right balance in our professional lives while raising our two kids.
Our episode takes a deep dive into the intertwining of personal and professional connections within the poultry industry, emphasizing the profound impact of family involvement and genuine relationships. We shed light on industry events that nurture bonds beyond mere business dealings, and the role of vulnerability and shared experiences in strengthening these ties. Together, Emily and I reflect on our personal growth, celebrating the supportive and enriching nature of the poultry community that has become an extended family to us.
Looking further into the episode, we explore the power of impactful connections in healthcare and farming, inspired by Brian Fretwell's transformative coaching insights. By shifting our focus from routine inquiries to questions that foster empathy and understanding, we discuss how professionals can improve performance by recognizing employees as whole individuals. Additionally, the conversation expands into collaboration and innovation strategies, highlighting the benefits of learning from industry experts and adopting cutting-edge technologies. By embracing continuous learning and innovative practices, we uncover how professionals can ensure long-term success and improvement in their operations.
Sponsored by Prism Controls
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
Welcome to the Poultry Leadership Podcast. We are kicking off Season 2 with style. It was a year ago when the Poultry Leadership Podcast kicked off. Man. It's been a great year. I am so looking forward to Season 2, as I take in everything that you have all shared with me. So, without further ado, let's get this interview underway. Our guest host today volunteered to interview me. I thought she might be crazy or oxygen deprived, because we were on a hike and the altitude was about 10,000 feet higher than where we live at in Michigan. I also must have been struggling to breathe because I agreed to the interview. What a great hike. If you're still confused, who is the guest host on the podcast? It's none other than my amazing wife, emily Molnix. Emily, welcome to the show.
Emily Mulnix:Hello Brandon, it is so good to be here.
Brandon Mulnix:I am so surprised you're sitting across from me right now. You are the most quiet, introverted person I even know, and yet you're volunteering to interview me on the podcast. This is crazy. So what was going through your head at that moment?
Emily Mulnix:In that moment was probably don't fall again. In that moment was probably don't fall again. But also, who better to be on the podcast for season two kickoff than the host of the podcast, who everybody knows? But do they really know? So I figured it was a good plan.
Brandon Mulnix:Well, I appreciate the offer. So I would like to at least introduce to the audience who you are. Let you speak a little bit about who you know, your background just a little bit, so they can understand who this amazing guest host is. Someone will probably put me out of work, I'm sure.
Emily Mulnix:I don't think so.
Brandon Mulnix:All right. So, emily, tell the audience a little bit about who Emily Molnix is.
Emily Mulnix:Where do I start? I'm Emily Mulnix, I guess, if I go way back to way back. I grew up on a dairy farm in Ionia County, michigan. I milked cows. Before and after school I drove tractors in the fields raking hay. While those years of my life were certainly difficult, I did learn a lot about hard work and work ethic. I would give anything to have my children have that experience in the positive aspect of it. I met Brandon. Well, I guess Brandon and I met college and career Bible study group. I remember one night at Bible study we were staying up all night long having a competition. I just want to formally say that I won. Brandon had his sunglasses on and he fell asleep, and I definitely did not fall asleep. So that's my championship right there. We got married in September of 2000. We have a daughter who is 21 and a son who is 16. I was a stay-at-home mom for 14 years.
Emily Mulnix:My main goal was to be a stay-at-home mom home mom for 14 years. My main goal was to be a stay-at-home mom and thankfully God allowed us to be able to do that, with saving a ton of money and living a very, very humble lifestyle. Then God called me to change everything about myself and become a nurse. So I went to nursing school and I am a registered nurse. I work at the level one trauma center here in Michigan and Grand Rapids, corwell Health, butterworth, in a med surge unit where we see everything from anything and all sorts of patients and all sorts of fantastic stories that I bring home.
Brandon Mulnix:Yeah, it's a pretty good introduction of yourself.
Emily Mulnix:Thank you.
Brandon Mulnix:I mean, you took one for the team and married me, took me out of the pool. Appreciate that.
Emily Mulnix:I kind of like you.
Brandon Mulnix:Yeah, usually when I interview I get to ask all these amazing questions about career and other things. But I'm leaving the questions up to you because, as we prepared for this, the questions I had were pretty boring and you just basically said you know you felt sorry for the audience if that's all you asked.
Emily Mulnix:I did not. You're such a liar.
Brandon Mulnix:So, Emily, go ahead. You're now the host of the Poultry Leadership Podcast. Emily, go ahead, you're now the host of the Poultry Leadership Podcast.
Emily Mulnix:Please, Brandon, tell us about yourself and maybe your family and maybe upbringing in your life.
Brandon Mulnix:Wow.
Emily Mulnix:That's a tough question, Emily, since you covered most of the topic with your introduction. I did not.
Brandon Mulnix:I told it from my side. I'm Brandon Mulnix. I happen to host a podcast. If you hadn't heard of it, it's called the Poultry Leadership Podcast. It's kind of a big deal, kind of a big deal, kind of a big deal.
Emily Mulnix:Kind of a big deal.
Brandon Mulnix:I'm married to this lovely lady, Emily Mulnix, for coming up on 25 years, and we've been blessed to have two amazing kids in a very small, tiny house I always bring that up in my story just a small, tiny house. Been able to raise them in that little community that I grew up in, just outside of Grand Rapids, Michigan, called Saranac, Michigan. I always dreamed of doing big things in my life and became a photographer and a firefighter right outside of high school, went to school, became an EMT paramedic, and spent most of my life doing that, struggling with my identity, how I was going to champion the world, and one day decided I wanted to check another box at career day. And that's when I got into project management, which then led me to PMSI at the time and now Prism Controls. And while at Prism Controls, yeah, started the podcast.
Emily Mulnix:You really skimmed over that whole life story there.
Brandon Mulnix:Yeah, it's a long life story. I don't spend a lot of time on that.
Emily Mulnix:How many careers have you had?
Brandon Mulnix:Well, I'm on my second career. I say because I've had a lot of titles. I've had firefighter, coast guard photographer, paramedic, project manager and now director of commercial accounts.
Emily Mulnix:You were also a lawnmower man and a lifeguard. Yes, so yes, man and a lifeguard.
Brandon Mulnix:Yes. So yes, I was a lifeguard. I've done a lot of different things in my life. I don't really count those as careers.
Emily Mulnix:Right, well, you, I mean, those are things that lawnmower, you did lawnmowing for a long time.
Brandon Mulnix:I did it, paid the bills while I was in school before I became an EMT, and once I became an EMT I could work on an ambulance and you know that changed the world Been able to go save people's lives, that's pretty awesome.
Brandon Mulnix:And then the Coast Guard thing. Well, that happened because I was trying to become a full-time fireman and I found out that in order to become a full-time fireman in our area it was good to have military background. And I was running up a hill one day and some Marine recruiter pulled up next to me and goes hey, have you ever thought about joining the Marines? I might have said I was too smart for that. But then I realized to all my Marine Corps listeners, that's not true. I respect you. But then I joined the Coast Guard, spent my four years. At no time did Wisconsin attack Michigan during that time, so we didn't have to protect the Michigan coast too much. Got to enjoy Station Grand Haven, beautiful Coast Guard City, usa. It wasn't a bad branch of the military to be in. And then, yeah, just continued on in my career, mid-time, full-time fireman, decided that wasn't the thing for me. After I had to stand up for a few things, realized my morals were more important than a job. At the same time, oh, the economy Didn't know what was going on with that. So I left being a full-time fireman, became a photographer, owned a studio in downtown Lowell, michigan, called Modern Photographics. And then 2009 happened and I had no idea that GM was going to lay off 50 photographers and they would join my community with the same time digital was coming out. So I continued on that until I sold the business in 2012.
Brandon Mulnix:And while also going back very quickly to become a paramedic, where I became a supervisor and spent time really developing my craft, becoming as good of a paramedic as I could be Before, at one point, just realizing that promotion wasn't an option there. I just didn't feel like God was calling me to promote there and I wanted more, more for my family. Different lifestyle Left there. A friend of mine gave me an opportunity at his company in research and development as a project manager, gave me an opportunity at his company in research and development as a project manager and a little before COVID, that job was cut. And the guy who my wife and I met, who started the Bible study, my wife and I met 25 years ago. We ran into each other at a project management conference and he kept hey, you got to check out this job at my company. I'm like I'm good, I'm happy where I'm at. Little did I know two days later I'd be looking at his business card saying, hey, you still got that job open and came here to work.
Emily Mulnix:It's so fun to hear how God was intertwined in all of the different spots.
Brandon Mulnix:Yeah, not every time did I see God in it, but now I look back and he was definitely definitely there. He was definitely there. He was always there, he was always there.
Emily Mulnix:So, brandon, with all your careers and talents that you've had throughout the past, I sometimes get questions from others at work when I tell stories of what you're doing today or where you are today, and they ask me what you do and I pull up this handy photo on my phone that says what you do, which you typed out for me saying Director of Commercial Accounts. Automation Technology for Egg Producers. Market Development for Fire Detection and Mitigation System for Animal Barns. Badass Podcast Host. Host. Please tell me in the audience what these all mean wow, great question, emily.
Brandon Mulnix:So, yeah, uh, my title director of commercial accounts um, yeah, titles are it's not really that important, in this case it's. I have a great team and I get to facilitate and lead and provide for them, so that way, prism Controls can continue to produce products for the United States and the world. Anything customer focused, such as marketing, sales, project management that falls into my preview. I'm not perfect at all of it. In fact, I get to learn every day in this role because I have no background in most of that. It's all acquired through different things that I've done. But I have a great team that for some reason, follows the directions and follows the goals that we have. So I couldn't do anything without them. But, yeah, I get to meet with customers which are amazing farmers across the United States and make sure that we, as Prism Controls, get to meet their needs and solve their problems on a technology level.
Brandon Mulnix:So we provide computers to chickens. Oh wow, they're great typers. They peck away at the keyboard. No, we automate things away at the keyboard.
Brandon Mulnix:Now we we automate things, things that they do on a daily basis in their farms, such as feeding the chickens, ventilation in the barns, making sure that it's nice and comfortable for the birds and as well, as you know, gathering all that information about the birds and providing good information back to the farmers that they can make decisions on, such as how much water was used that day, how much feed they they ate, how much do they weigh all those little details but helps gauge the health of the flock. And then, when it comes to the fire mitigation stuff, my background in firefighting gave me a little edge in the fact that fires are a big deal in our industry, and so I have a passion for making sure that chicken houses don't burn down, because there's so many problems with that. The business interruption piece, the fact that the supply chain, the eggs, aren't getting out to the people that's a huge problem when they're already dealing with other problems like avian influenza and other challenges of raising animals in today's world. And then mediocre podcaster.
Emily Mulnix:It's not what it says on my thing.
Brandon Mulnix:All right, badass podcaster, just my passion for making sure that future leaders have resources available to them and in our industry. When getting things started, there weren't a lot of options for people just to grow. There's not a lot of YouTube videos for commercial farming. There's not a lot of options for people just to grow. There's not a lot of YouTube videos for commercial farming. There's not a lot of trainings for them, and so just to be able to connect them with resources is a huge piece of my story. I just want people to be able to grow so they're better tomorrow than they were today. Grow 1%, and to be able to provide that for them is a real blessing for me. So if you consider that badass, then that's okay. Forum is a real blessing for me.
Emily Mulnix:So if you consider that bad-ass, then that's okay. Can you talk about how this business is quite family oriented and how that affects you and the business itself and how much different that is compared to other places that you've been?
Brandon Mulnix:oh yeah, when you're in the emergency medical world, I mean, family is backseat. You're saving people's lives, you're dealing with stress, you're dealing with chaos and you try to protect your family from what you do. You don't want them to have to be burdened down. Where in this industry, family farms are the core of it. Yes, there's some bigger commercial farms, but the family is still important All the way the way they have events, the way they work together, the way they big community, and so when these conferences happen and farmers or executives are bringing their wives and their families to some of these nice places, it's their time to relax, their time to enjoy, but their family's still there. They're invited to dinner, they're not a distraction and it's just such a blessing because I rather do business with families than to do business with folks that are just isolated and you know and don't combine the two.
Brandon Mulnix:When your personal life and your professional life are separated, I think there's so much stress for people. But when they're able to can be combined and and people are just able to see that you know what they do matters to their family and they're able to bless their families with some of these nice places where we stay and things like that. It's just such a blessing and also helps us all connect. We all have families at home. We all have kids. It's just really cool to see those kids get to interact with all kinds of different people at different levels, and I think it actually helps grow the kids because they're able to see what it's like that their mom and dad do. I think that really shows your kids a lot and just such a great thing about this industry.
Emily Mulnix:I think it's great. I mean, as someone who's been to conferences before the poultry industry, nothing is like going to these conferences as a wife to support my husband and seeing all the other wives' husbands supporting their spouse just how it's so family oriented. When it comes down to the basis of everything, it's about the families. It's about feeding families and providing for families and having families involved from the groundwork of all these things and it was just an amazing experience to go to these conferences. It's so cool to see Brandon working and talking to people and getting to know them on a personal basis, hearing about their stories and going from there to business. Talk is really cool in this, especially this last one that we were at in Colorado where they formed the band with the chicken industry people, which was so amazing to see the crossover and how they showed off the secret talent they had, just how everything is intertwined in everything. It was just so cool.
Brandon Mulnix:Yeah, it is so crazy to see we connect as an industry on what we do. But when you've got people that are the guitarist in their worship band at church and they kind of compartmentalize that off to the side and don't really bring that out, and then at you know this event, all of a sudden they're, they're singing, they're they're dancing, they're playing oldies, it was just incredible. From CEOs to managers it didn't matter. There was no titles up there other than rock stars having a ball, just living out their best life.
Brandon Mulnix:And I think that's as an industry, the more we do that, the better we are, because we're all people, we're not just business people but it matters, it really does when we're vulnerable and have that fun, have fun it. It really helps us connect and work together and find common things that we wouldn't realize were common. Because if you're stuck at the business level and we talk about the normal business stuff, it's pretty transactional. But when you're talking about music, you're talking about sports you're talking about. When you're talking about music, you're talking about sports, you're talking about kids you're talking about. We all have, we all have a common bond and it's just easier to find that 99% that we have in common. So that way, when we're talking about that little 1% that we don't, it just just makes sense.
Emily Mulnix:I think one of the other cool things was you know we're become friends on Facebook here and there and to have people from the industry come up and ask me how is your health, how are you doing?
Emily Mulnix:Like, oh, I'm going to get teary it just meant a lot to know that they are people who may have really big jobs in the poultry industry, but they're humans who care about other humans. And the fact that like, yes, it's family-oriented and yes, it's family oriented and yes, it's it's a business, but at the same time, you're doing your lives with these people and in their lives, they have real health things and and real family things going on and you can connect with those, whether it's, you know, in person, at these conferences or just checking in on them. You know calling them and saying, hey, how are you doing? I might have you know this thing I want to help you solve for your business, but but really, how are you doing with this other thing in your life? I think that's that speaks a lot to what this industry is and how different it is from perhaps other industries that we have out there.
Emily Mulnix:I think it's really cool.
Brandon Mulnix:It's interesting that we're even talking about this because you know we kind of come in from the outside. You know it's been five years and we come from different backgrounds than a lot of our. You know the people that we're doing life with. You know we talk about that at church all the time. Are we doing life with these people? I get to do life with some amazing people in the industry. That's not work. At that point there's no work. It's a huge pleasure to be able to serve, but just five years in and looking at the industry, going, wow, man, I wish I could have been part of this 20 years ago, man. But you know what? That's what God's got got planned.
Emily Mulnix:He prepared me to come here with my tools and and I'm so blessed to get to hopefully spend the rest of my career in this industry so, uh, speaking of vulnerabilities, let's say over the last two years, can you speak to something that you have overcome and can look at from the other side and how you've grown through it?
Brandon Mulnix:one of my biggest things when I first, you know, even got into this was trying to figure out my place. You know, I came in as a project manager and I got to, you know, kind of sit on the sidelines a little bit and watch help develop a process. I didn't know anything about the industry, according to those around me, and that was okay because it was a. It was good to just sit back and watch. I was humbled by that, and so for me, one of the things that I had to overcome was self-confidence and having enough confidence that I brought value, and I didn't need to prove that value to anybody, I just brought it. And once I've started gaining that confidence in myself and you can call that emotional maturity it really started to. I mean, I grew so much over this last five years it's crazy. But once I got that confidence I didn't have to prove myself to anybody, I just let what I did do the talking. I didn't have to tell anybody what I did, I just did it, and if it showed up, great. But I had enough confidence in myself that I didn't have to tell everybody everything I was doing and that once I got to that point in my career, I realized I don't have anything to prove. It's okay. People value me for what I bring to the table. I don't have to share that with anybody, and you know and you of course, have the front seat of that because of our everyday walks and getting to see the difference in the last five years, or, heck, in the last 25 years of my growth you know there was a huge part of me back years ago where it was all about the title. It was all about I'm a paramedic, I'm a hero, and now it's like. You know, I could barely explain what I do most days other than I help farmers. I don't need any really big, more descriptive words and it's okay. It's okay. I still like the idea of being a chicken tender, though that's still one of my favorite titles that you gave me when I first started this. But no, that's probably one of the biggest things I've been able to grow in.
Brandon Mulnix:And then, with that confidence in myself, just being able to start to give back to others, cause a lot of it was trying to figure out purpose and how do I share that purpose with the rest of the world, because I found a huge gap coming into this industry of knowledge. Where do I find this stuff? When I started looking around and realizing that I wasn't alone, it's like I really like to watch people grow. I love hearing about people's successes. I love when that light bulb clicks in people, that they just get something, and it's like how can I help provide that for them? How can I connect the manager at the farm who doesn't go to conferences with the same resources that I have, that my company sends me there, not for the education, which is so valuable. They send me there for business and I pick up all of those little things. That's where I've probably grown the most in the last couple years and that's how I try to share it with people. Just keep sharing that education, that confidence, with others.
Emily Mulnix:Being someone who characteristically maintains a positive outlook. What positive things have you personally noticed that have come out of this podcast itself, specifically being recognized in an airplane by someone. Wait, are you brandon malnix?
Brandon Mulnix:I guess that meant more to my wife than it meant to me. But yes, um, that first time that I was on an airplane and someone's like, are you brandon malnix? I'm like, yeah, who are time that I was on an airplane? And someone's like, are you Brandon Malnix? I'm like, yeah, who are you? My girlfriend was on your podcast, ah, okay, so that was pretty cool.
Brandon Mulnix:Ask questions. I'm a positive person but I love, love, love, love, love, love, love to talk, and this has really caused me to slow down and just be able to ask people questions and really start to value stories. I love people's stories, but if I'm talking, I can't hear theirs. So that's the one thing about this podcast that's really helped me in that. And, of course, there's a lot of positivities.
Brandon Mulnix:I've watched people grow. There's people that have written out and communicated to me what the podcast meant to them, and that's huge. That just means I'm doing something. It only takes one person that their story of growth, of what they learned, that they're in a better position, they're more confident in themselves. They picked up something to make this podcast worth it. They're more confident in themselves. They picked up something to make this podcast worth it. You know, I don't know how many more people that I'm going to affect, but until I feel otherwise, god's going to continue to have me do this podcast, because I really enjoy just helping others and sharing that positivity in this sometimes not so positive world.
Emily Mulnix:I really like that, and I really like when you tell me about the books that you've read recently.
Brandon Mulnix:Well, I mean there's been a number of books and people that have had influence. I mean I go all the way back to a book called Flash Foresight by Daniel Burris, and that one just taught me how to solve problems differently, and once it clicked in my mind about problem solving, I got to see the world in a completely different way. Lately it's been a lot about purpose. I've been reading the book the Purpose Factor, and that book has solidified some of the thoughts I'd had and put it in writing in a way, and I can relate to it.
Brandon Mulnix:You know, I remember trying to figure out what my purpose was. I always wanted to share my purpose, but I didn't know really where how to do that. So the purpose factor was huge. It really challenged me to share my purpose with the world, then ask questions to really truly identify my purpose, because it's not about my title, it's not about what I do, it's not about where I live. It's ultimately about what I was blessed to do on this earth and how do I not keep that to myself and how do I help others through that purpose, and so that's been a big book, but there's been a lot of people that have really had a lot of effect on me over the years and I try to share them all with you. So if they've had a big effect on my life, I try to bring them on as guests or just share what they're doing, so that way you guys as an audience can grow from that, because they've had a big impact on me.
Emily Mulnix:I know some of the questions on our walks have changed through the time. It's been less what did you do today? And it's been more how did you affect someone's life today? I think that in the nursing world I can come home some days and feel really extremely defeated, but the fact that I was able to change someone's life give them, you know, the boost that they may have needed to make their day more positive. It definitely helped to change that mindset, for me at least me at least.
Brandon Mulnix:Yeah, that's Brian Fretwell's work, that he you know, his relationship that I've had and been able to be coached through him and just understand the value of connection. Asking the questions I wished I would have been asked years and years ago by people instead of asking you know what's the worst call you were ever on? No, how did you affect someone's life today? Because there were so many gray days, dark days, that it it's like in that moment there was one positive thing and if I could have brought that out, it probably would have changed my career.
Emily Mulnix:I know one of the things that I say at work often is there is always something to be thankful for. There is always, no matter what chaos is going on around me, there's always something to be thankful for, and if I can just remember to focus on that, it helps a lot.
Brandon Mulnix:I'm glad I got the positive side of things, because I definitely know that I was not the most positive for most of my career.
Emily Mulnix:Speaking of that, if you could go back into your career to redo something better with the knowledge that you have today, into your career to redo something better with the knowledge that you have today, not changing what trajectory of your life would be? Or, you know, shifting things completely. Just one small thing, what?
Brandon Mulnix:would it be and how do you think it would have changed things going forward? It goes back to the idea that every person I ever worked at I should have had a positive effect on. Every person had a family at home. Every person had the same struggles, witnessed the same things I did. Instead of asking them first, why didn't you fill out your paperwork? Why'd you drive like an idiot If I would have just asked them hey, how you doing? No, no, really, how have you had a positive effect on somebody this week? Whose life did you change because you decided to come to work? That would have had a much.
Brandon Mulnix:I mean I can't go back, but because of that experience I've been able to grow and understand that. You know we we deal with families in this industry. We deal with people. People that you know have all the health issues. I mean they could be the owner of a company, they could be the owner of a farm and they still. You know they care about their workers. You know they care about feeding their workers. You know I get the blessing of working with a farmer outside of the industry that is willing to do whatever it takes to feed his workforce and that means a lot to me, like when I see owners like that that will start daycares so that way they're good daycares, not just cheap daycares, but the daycares that they would send their kids to because they realize the value of education and good, solid things. That's asking that question of no, how are you really? What can I do to help you?
Brandon Mulnix:As a person before worried about the stupid paperwork, what I find is, you know, and this is out to the audience is when your employees come to work, they've got personal lives, they've got crap that they're dealing with. It's so, you know, we always talk about just keeping personal and workplace separate, and I think that's the biggest mistake, because I think if the people can come to work and know that people care about them, they will produce much better work than if they'd come there and they're just doing the job. And for years I wish I would have been able to make have that positive impact on people and been more positive. Being a paramedic Because I had it as a photographer I was always really positive there. There was nothing that was a problem there. But as a paramedic, when we were dealing with chaos, it seemed like that's. All we wanted to do was compartmentalize it.
Emily Mulnix:I think that's a good quality to have, for you know any business, not just farming or anywhere. It's because all the people you encounter do have lives. No matter where you are, no matter what you're doing, they all do have lives. They all do have their struggles, their you know joys in their life, the things that they want to share with other people, no matter where they are, how exciting it is. And if we could just look at everybody and say what's one thing you're proud of today, what's one way you change something today, how much more positive just literally everywhere would be.
Brandon Mulnix:It's something fun to practice because I love asking different questions. Now I usually try them on my way, first on our walks, and then I work on them with the kids, and then I might even ask the most random person at Starbucks, hey, what's the coolest cup of coffee made today? Or what's the coolest person you've met? And watch them just light up that they're a human being and they have connection and want to share their story, and that's a great way to start your day. Versus I gotta go to work today, man, gotta go to the gym today. No, I get to go to the gym today, you get to have a positive impact.
Emily Mulnix:I think it's fun.
Emily Mulnix:Just the people that I meet at work I would obviously never meet otherwise, because it's a hospital and you meet all sorts of people there.
Emily Mulnix:But just you never know who you're going to meet and how much of an impact they're going to have on you, at the same time as how much your interaction with them could have an impact on them, from the homeless person to the 95 year old. You know they all have such interesting stories and just having that connection with random people and this is coming from an introvert, a full-onvert but if I get somebody one-on-one, we have some amazing conversations and I get to meet some cool people. So having these other questions that I can ask them, I just appreciate that I'm getting to know my patients a little bit more and being able to be more positive with them and my coworkers and just the people I meet along the way, and having the confidence to not say, hey, how are you doing today? It's more like a more personal question that they have to think about. That just speaks more to positivity. I think it's a great tool. What advice do you have for farm owners as they plan for future projects?
Brandon Mulnix:Wow, when you say it that way, it's a pretty boring question.
Emily Mulnix:It sure is.
Brandon Mulnix:What's interesting about that question, though, is it is one of those things where, as I get to work with farms on all kinds of really cool commercial or capital projects, most of farms, as they get bigger and bigger and bigger, they try you know, boss has to do it because nobody else is on their team to do it. A lot of times they'll have, you know, they'll be in charge of things that maybe they're not the best at being in charge of, and it's hard because they want to make good decisions, they want to be good with their money. One of the things from the industry side that I've seen is it's okay to ask for help from your vendors when you're planning a project by asking the simple question what's worked in the industry to make me better, to make the process better? You know there's a lot of vendors that are out there that have worked across the entire industry and have so many interesting stories about what's worked and what's not worked Mostly lessons learned from what didn't work, and I encourage that, as farmers start to start their project, ask their vendors hey, what's working right now?
Brandon Mulnix:The farmer may not know everything that's going on, but just ask the question to their vendors what could I be doing different. That would make this project a lot better, because the vendors have experienced a lot. Sometimes that might be putting a capital projects manager in charge. If you have the resources to do it, it's probably going to save you a lot of money in the end to have somebody that's available to manage the project. That's not necessarily the farmer, even though they're a great stakeholder. They're a great executive. Construction projects can get a little tedious. Construction projects can get a little tedious. And when it's not your main job and you're trying to do it because that's what you've always done, sometimes it's good to turn over those reins. But again along the way, ask your vendors hey, what could I be doing different? What's worked across the industry, even if it's not with their product? They'll give you an answer what's working? What's working in electrical, what's working in technology, what are the new things? And it's amazing what you'll learn.
Emily Mulnix:I think that's really important. Just because you do your job and you know how things have worked in the past doesn't mean that you yourself are a professional in all of the things. So just go ask the professionals. It's not going to cost anything to ask questions and there might be something new out there, something that's been done, something that's better, that no one has ever thought of before or that somebody has thought of and it's working fantastic in their farm or their industry Pretty much anything.
Emily Mulnix:If you're, say, doing a house project, like we may be doing at our house, it doesn't hurt to get the heating and cooling guy over to say, hey, what can we do better here, now that we have drywall and we're not quite done with the drywall, what can we do better to do this part of the project? So I think that's great to maybe ask the professionals what's working somewhere and what's not and how can we do this better, whether it's utilizing you as a resource or utilizing you as the whole part. Are there any tips for the industry that you may have or best practices as it relates to equipment or building that you know of right now?
Brandon Mulnix:Technology is advancing at such a fast rate. There's so many new tools out there. We look at BI, business intelligence, artificial intelligence. It's tools that make processing all of the available data, because everybody wants sensors on everything, which is great. But how do you take all that information and turn it into usable stuff? And that's where really grasping technology.
Brandon Mulnix:There's a lot of great things out there. If you're doing something manual over and over and over again every day, there's probably a solution out there that would free you up to be able to utilize your thinking skills compared to just your doing skills. And you may love, love, love going out and adjusting the temperature in the house, but there's technology that will do that for you and keep it, keep it within reach. And then also just there's cool ways of future-proofing technology getting vendors on board that you know have a future-proof mentality, not just a one-time buy it. It's not buying the the tractor anymore and hoping it lasts 30 years. It's like a lot's going to change in the next 30 years in technology and it's just finding a partner that can walk alongside you and making sure that they are your partner in looking out for advances and moving that forward. Because again, it goes back to just what we talked about with farmers. You know asking for help when it comes to doing projects.
Brandon Mulnix:If you don't look outside your industry at least 5 to 10% of the time, you're always going to be stuck at what you learned, the way we've always done it. And it's hard to progress when, even if you don't have somebody looking out and saying, hey, what's working? Hey, they've got these cameras out there counting stuff. Why can't we use those for eggs? Hey, we've got.
Brandon Mulnix:You know houses are burning down and you know how are we going to keep these houses are burning down and you know how are we going to keep these houses from burning down, because the barns were built the same way they were 20 years ago, but the birds aren't raised the same as they were 20 years ago and the amount of electronics that are there and the motors and everything that has to do with it. So, as things continue to change, just making sure you have a piece you're part of your team that's looking out and trying to find ways to continue to advance the farm. Even you know looking at amazon and what they do, they do some amazing things and how could you apply some of the lessons learned and some of the cool advances of technology that are working in other spaces, because they'll get to the poultry space. They really will and it's just a matter of time. So it's exciting times because it's continually evolving.
Emily Mulnix:So do you look out? Are you the looker outer?
Brandon Mulnix:Oh, I definitely look out. I mean, that's part of me reading as many books as I read. I encourage my team you know, as we build, as we work on different projects around our company, to say, hey, we could build a help desk, we could build a customer service, but what's working in those other industries? We don't need to recreate the wheel. We may need to adapt what's working in other industries because that's the expectations, that's what people, that's what our customers see. So how can I encourage my team to explore, look, see what else is out there? Because that's what will make us better. Because we're only going to get as good as what we have the knowledge inside to do and over time we need outside influence to make that better. So I'll ask you this, emily what's your favorite part of the industry?
Emily Mulnix:Oh, my favorite part is definitely the travel. I do appreciate that we are at a point in our life that I can coordinate my schedule and travel. Just get out of Michigan when it's cold to somewhere where it's warm and spend time, you know, enjoying different areas of the country. Have not yet been out of the country, although I did offer in recent trips that I was available. I was denied. Um, um. What is one goal that you have in the next five years, brandon?
Brandon Mulnix:Yeah, one of my next goals in the next five years is to figure out how to continue to share, or to share my, my passions and my purpose with you know, a greater audience. Um, I think part of that is just being obedient and following the direction I'm being led through my good Lord. Um, whether that's in country, out of country, figuring out how to feed more people Um, you know, we're in a good place where we can be able to give, share our talents, and that's been a huge blessing to go down to Guatemala and just see the need there and be able to support the local ministry that's there. Feed more people, because by myself I really can't do much, but using the skills that I've been gifted and the passion and energy, it really helps you live out your purpose in another country. One of my five-year goals is definitely to help expand those opportunities for others to be able to give more.
Emily Mulnix:So throughout this podcast recording, we've talked about faith several times. Can you share more about your faith?
Brandon Mulnix:Well, it's pretty intertwined in my life.
Brandon Mulnix:I mean, been through a lot, lots of different things throughout life and it always comes back to faith, you know, from early on, and knowing I had, you know, had a relationship to the point where, you know, had to test that relationship a little bit and maybe my 20s, and just kind of take it for granted and not really live it out, and then the more challenges that we've overcome together, it just kind of deepens your faith because you realize that you really can't just do it with a spouse, you really can't do it by yourself, so you kind of need God in that.
Brandon Mulnix:And so, yeah, we've had some amazing challenges. We've been through a lot in 25 years and so through that, god's been there, god's answered a lot of prayers and when you look for God, see what God's doing around you, it's pretty amazing, pretty amazing, from our adoption to Guatemala, to other things that he's been able to do, you know, show himself in. It's easy to have faith when you're looking for it, it's when you're trying to deny it, it's when it's not as prevalent. So I've been blessed, been very, very blessed. It's a huge part of my life and now it's continual to share it with others.
Emily Mulnix:I really like that. He is always, has always been and will always be part of our lives and everything that we do, and always. I think that's important to share, just like I don't know, not share, but like, yeah, share. I think it's important that that's who we are, as Brandon and Emily Molnix and the Molnix family, and we believe in a great creator and someone who is always, will always be with us.
Brandon Mulnix:So we definitely did not get here on our own.
Brandon Mulnix:Not at all. It's every trial. I mean, looking back in my, you know, younger years, probably teenage 20s, I would say you know, when I get old, I want to. I want an amazing story, I want an amazing journey and I didn't know what that was going to entail. Journey and I didn't know what that was going to entail. And now that I look back, it's man. I hope the amazing journey and the amazing tales continue because, even though there's trials, it's like it's how it deepens my faith. All right.
Brandon Mulnix:So throw that last question at me.
Emily Mulnix:Yes, Last last, but certainly not least Now, Brandon, sometimes you're quiet and I ask you what are you thinking about? And you say nothing. Is that true? Or are you really trying to take over the world?
Brandon Mulnix:well, I'll give you an honest answer. There are times I'm literally thinking of nothing, and then there are other times where my brain is off in some other place, thinking about solving the biggest world challenges, biggest world problems, and it's just too much for that walker on the block to share. So I kind of get to put that one back in there and hope that maybe it'll come out one day, or maybe by the time we were on the corner that you know, the thought has passed me because it was a fleeting thought and my ADD got caught in the way. Well, thank you, emily, for going way outside of your comfort zone, but it's amazing watching you talking to the mic. You're a lot more comfortable than you think you might have a future.
Emily Mulnix:I'm not starting a podcast. I'm not going to be a podcast host.
Brandon Mulnix:All right, podcast listeners, let's thank my wife for doing this. It's been amazing. It's been incredible. I'm so proud of her for doing this. The questions that she came up with were great, and I just hope that you all gain something from this, and if you didn't, that's fine. I got to have this amazing experience with my wife. It doesn't always have to be about you, wow. So, on that note, thank you podcast listeners for being here. I really appreciate it. No-transcript, but maybe you share your story with them. So I think that could be even more valuable than this podcast, because our stories are what bind us, our stories are what helps us grow, and when we just hold those stories back, it doesn't bring out our true value. So please share this with the world. Thank you and look forward to future episodes. And, as always, thank you, prism Controls for sponsoring this podcast and allowing me to do this.
Emily Mulnix:Yes, thank you, prism Controls.
Brandon Mulnix:Have a good day.
