From Banker to Media Mogul: How Listening Changed Everything

When I kicked off the first Ames Ag Summit back in 2014, I had one goal: build my loan portfolio. As a banker new to central Iowa, I needed to establish myself, and hosting a conference seemed like a smart way to position myself as someone who knew the right experts.

Looking back, it’s almost embarrassing how self-serving it was. I wanted farmers to see me on stage with agronomists, accountants, and land specialists—basically anyone who could make me look credible. The first event drew maybe 35-45 people in a small hotel room. By year four, we had over 400 attendees.

But here’s what I didn’t expect: the conference would eventually become something much bigger than my banking career.

The Pivot to Podcasting

By 2019, the conference had grown to the point where it needed to become a two-day event. That meant coordinating hotels, venues, and a massive logistical undertaking. I was already listening to podcasts constantly—history shows, mostly—and it hit me: why not take these experts off the stage and interview them on a podcast instead?

In July 2019, Dave Whitaker (an auctioneer who’d been one of my first conference presenters) and I launched Farm4Profit. We recorded in his spare bedroom with blankets hung on the walls for sound dampening. We released episodes every other week, interviewing experts about profitability, land values, and business management.

The podcast was fine. But it wasn’t growing the way we’d hoped.

The Feedback That Changed Everything

Then came March 2020, and Corey Hillebo—a farmer who’d attended that very first conference in 2014—agreed to come on as a guest to discuss social media’s impact on farming. After we finished recording, Corey didn’t hold back.

“Your content’s good,” he said, “but your delivery sucks. You guys are trying to give lectures through your car radio.”

He was right. We were still in that banker/expert mode, delivering information rather than having conversations. Corey suggested we grab some beers and just talk—no outline, no script. We called it Farm4Fun, and it would alternate weeks with our Farm4Profit episodes.

Almost immediately, our audience doubled week after week. We went from 100 downloads to 200, then 400, then 800.

When It Stopped Being About Me

The real turning point came in August 2020, during the derecho that devastated Iowa. That 140-mile-wide storm destroyed crops, buildings, and livelihoods. We pivoted immediately, bringing on pastors, mental health experts, crop insurance adjusters, and grain storage specialists—anyone who could help farmers navigate the crisis.

That’s when I realized something fundamental had shifted: this was no longer about positioning myself as a banker. It was about serving the agricultural community.

We started listening to what farmers actually needed. They’d text us questions or reach out on social media asking us to explain complex topics. Our guest list grew into the hundreds. By July 2021, we made another jump—two shows a week, every week.

The Bigger the Audience, the Bigger the Responsibility

One of our most successful growth moments came from feeling like we’d failed. In 2021, the Travis Burkhart Foundation held a meetup in Indiana that we couldn’t attend. We had serious FOMO watching all the FarmTok community gather for such a great cause—the foundation helps farmers when insurance stops.

So we decided to host our own fundraiser. We organized an online auction, asking content creators to donate their merch and swag. Then the donations got bigger—someone gave us a vehicle, Cody Gayer donated a land plane. We ended up raising over $41,000 for the Travis Burkhart Foundation.

Every time we’ve experienced significant growth, I’ve realized in hindsight, it was because we were focusing on someone else. Not us, not our brand—but genuinely trying to help others.

The Lesson I Didn’t Know I Needed

When I entered banking, I wanted stable paychecks. I’d grown up on a farrow-to-finish hog farm in northwest Iowa and watched my parents navigate the ups and downs of commodity prices. I wanted predictability.

But here’s the irony: I left banking in September 2023 to run Farm4Profit Media full-time. I gave up that steady paycheck for something far less predictable but infinitely more rewarding.

We now have a team of 10—writers, video editors, audio editors, photographers, and social media experts. We’ve built a studio in Slater that other podcasters rent for their own shows (including a dog rescue podcast, where I occasionally get to correct misconceptions about agriculture). We produce over 400 episodes with more than 2 million downloads.

And the mission? It’s still the same one we started with in 2014: help farmers achieve higher levels of profitability and run their farms more like businesses. We’ve just gotten a lot better at doing it in an entertaining way.

What Actually Matters

If there’s one thing I’ve learned through this entire journey, it’s this: you can’t fake caring about people. We do 104 shows a year, plus all the episodes that don’t make it to air. If this were just a persona, it would be exhausting.

The podcast succeeded because we stopped trying to be the experts and started becoming connectors—bridges between farmers and the people who could actually help them. My role isn’t to have all the answers; it’s to find the people who do and share them with our audience.

I think back to that first conference in 2014, where I was desperately trying to build my loan portfolio, and I’m grateful for how wrong I was about what really matters. It was never about the loans or positioning myself as an expert.

It was always about the community. It just took me a while to figure that out.

We’re only as good as our audience. And our audience deserves better than lectures through their car radio—they deserve conversations that matter.