SHOW NOTES

INTRODUCING AUSTIN NORDYKE!

The title for this episode has probably got you wondering.  Well, I do not write things like that without taking the statement seriously.  Our guest today, Austin Nordyke, has really done this.  I do not mean to say that he is wealthy or has an outrageous standard of living.  However, if he keeps at this pace he will be financially secure by age 25.

Austin is a finalist this year for the award of American Star in Agribusiness at the National FFA Convention.  He is currently studying at Wichita State University.  But the story for this podcast is how this young man knows how to work!

During high school Austin took over a lawn care business from his sister.  Then he started to grow it, and grow it and grow it.  Soon he found himself mowing 55-60 lawns per week, providing other services to his customers, purchasing more and more equipment and employing every member of his family.

If his business was not enough he needed somewhere to put the money he was making.  Instead of putting it all into a pickup, clothing or a big vacation he put it into two appreciating assets.  Austin bought two, rundown houses as rentals.  He and his family spent months fixing up these homes and he just got them on the market recently.

Austin is not even done with college yet.  However, he has a thriving business that he is running as an absentee while he is away.  He also owns two homes that have significant equity due to the low price they were purchased at and all the work he put into them.  And, he has rental income.

Once Austin graduates and gets that first, great job he will already have a nest egg that is will grow in value and cash flow over the next 10 to 20 to 30 years to the point in which he decides that working for somebody else no longer fits him.  At that point his financial security will be set!

SUPERVISED AGRICULTURAL EXPERIENCE: Turf-Grass Management

HIGH SCHOOL: Hugoton High School; Hugoton, Kansas

MASCOT: Eagles

FFA ADVISOR: Les McNally

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR AUSTIN NORDYKE: 

Click on the picture below to be taken to the Hugoton High School Ag. Department’s website:

Austin’s FFA Advisor’s Email Address: les.mcnally@usd210.org

Hugoton High School’s Telephone Number: 620.544.4311

FFA LINKS:

National FFA Organization

Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAE’s)

Support FFA 

Donate to FFA – One way that FFA students are able to start small businesses is through an FFA grant of $1,000.  In 2014, 141 FFA students received these grants.  With your donations, more students can get this head start – pay it forward.

REASONS TO DONATE TO FFA:

• Only 2% of Americans grow and raise most of the food and livestock consumed by the other 98% as well as the rest of the world.  FFA is providing the needed education, training and resources to Americans that will carry that torch forward and insure that America continues to have inexpensive, quality food.
• Rural Communities will rely on entrepreneurship in the future for population growth and job creation.  The FFA is a major catalyst to that entrepreneurial growth.
• Farmers, ranchers and those working in agriculture give the rest of America incredible amounts of freedom because the search for food is as simple as going to the grocery store:

“Because American farmers are able to provide for so many of us, they give more and more of us the freedom to pursue goals and livelihoods beyond growing the food we need to survive.”

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack 

Other Places You Can Listen To Us:

D&B Supply Show

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