SHOW NOTES

Introducing Macy Rankin! 

You can probably tell from the title that there was an inside joke in this episode.  Or maybe it is just obvious that one of my favorite parts of this interview was when I learned that my guest knew more about 1978 Ford pickups than I did.

Our guest today, Macy Rankin, decided that she wanted to start her own lawn business when she was ten years old.  Her dad did not want to discourage her, but he also did not want to send a 10 year old out into the business world on her own.  So, he said yes with conditions, and those conditions were that her brother would be there to help her and partner with her.  Macy agreed and “Rankin Yard Care” was born.

Macy and her brother started with humble beginnings, pushing their lawn mower down the street to service their neighbor’s yards.  Eventually they upgraded to an atv and a trailer.  Macy’s brother would drive the atv, and Macy would sit in the trailer with the mowers and other equipment so they could get to more customers in their beautiful hometown of Ashton, Idaho.

Eventually the business grew to the point that Macy was able to purchase a pickup.  She bought a 1978 Ford pickup to pull her trailer and haul her equipment around.  This just so happens to be one of my favorite years of this pickup, and I commented during the interview that this was the first year that they put square headlights on the Fords.  Macy then trumped me and told me that it was actually the late 1978’s when they started putting on the square headlights.

Macy has now grown Rankin Lawn Care into a significant business not just in Ashton but in her neighboring communities as well.  She is also seeing a lot of success in the FFA from her business enterprise which comes back full circle and helps her to market her business.  Her chapter used her business as an example for a statewide marketing competition in Idaho and won first place.  They then went on to compete at the national level.  On an individual level Macy has been a first place state proficiency winner and state star winner in Idaho for this business.

SUPERVISED AGRICULTURAL EXPERIENCE: Landscaping

HIGH SCHOOL: North Fremont High School

MASCOT: Huskies

FFA ADVISOR: Tom Jacobsen

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR MACY RANKIN:

Click on the picture below to be taken to the North Fremont High School Website:

Macy’s FFA Advisor’s Email Address:  tomj@sd215.net

North Fremont High School Telephone Number:  (208) 652-7468

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 

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