SharkFarmerXM's podcast
Mike Mehringer 8-9-24
- ♪ Unstoppable, unshakeable ♪ ♪ But it rolls off the town unfreakable ♪ ♪ It's unavoidable ♪ ♪ You saw a little bowry between the lines ♪ ♪ Start to loosen of your mind ♪ - Hey, welcome again to Shark Farmer Radio. Hey, I'm your host, Rob Sharkey. We are live in Effingham, Illinois at the Technology Days. Beautiful down here, isn't it? - Oh, it's absolutely gorgeous. - Yeah, we're not live either. - This was, what, Thursday? - Yes. (laughing) - The weather is beautiful, I will say. This is my second show this week, and the first one was over nine much happier to be out here with you today. I'll look a lot better on camera than I did then. - Well, we'll be the judge of that. Mike Marenchers, our guest today. You're from Atlanta, Indiana. - I do not live in Atlanta, Indiana. I live in the beautiful suburb of Carmel, Indiana. I don't like to tell people that. - But before the interview, when I say, hey, where are you from, you tell us Atlanta, Indiana, and then I say that, and now you're correcting. - Kate said these are easy days for you, and I should keep you on your toes more. (laughing) - I work in Atlanta, Indiana at the home plant for Beck's superior hybrid. - Honestly, I don't care. - Yes. - You are the Beck's senior events strategist. - Correct. - I've never even, what is that? - I work in marketing, under the marketing umbrella, but I travel around doing the best job I can to help our salespeople meet new customers or prospects. - Oh, I still don't know what you do. - I do events. This is, I come here the day before you come, and I set everything up. - You did this? - I brought this banner out, made them put the conduit through it. I didn't do it myself. - Yeah. - I give a lot of guidance. - I noticed that banner had a wrinkle in it. - It does. It was actually folded in half before it was rolled up, which is, I'm not a big banner. - Huh, one or two is in charge of the justice person, but it doesn't seem like it is the right way to do it. - I guess when you're the senior events strategist, pawn excuses off on anybody. - They will be fired. - Did you grow up an ag? - I did not. No ag background at all, until I started at Beck's. Very much a city boy, I've only lived in two places, which is Indianapolis, Indiana and Chicago, Illinois, twice, both when I was real young and kind of young compared to where I'm at now. So no, my only ag background started when I was doing other events and I got on doing some events for Beck's and then paid attention. I really had a respect for it and was kind of happy to move over here. So I've learned a lot in my eight and a half or nine years. - They said they read an event and they saw you like in the fetal position, gently weeping in a corner and they felt sorry for you and hired you. - That's possible. (laughing) - You went to school for physical therapy though? - I mean, yes, that's what I thought I was gonna do, right? I was very much a math and science guy growing up. That's what I'm best at until college took way more homework to do math and then it did to show up and give a speech or work on the radio station, things like that, you know, things that were more fun to me at the time. So I very quickly transitioned to just math communications, which meant I like to talk to people and give speeches and not do math homework. - So, speeches, not math. - Correct. That sounds like a bumper sticker. - It could be. - Trade mark, trade mark, trade mark. - Or getting a cat through it. - Correct, yes. What school up in Chicago? - I went to Columbia College, Chicago, but that's where I went. I went back to school there for marketing. So I originally went to DePaul University in Green Castle, Indiana. Got my bachelors in mass communications. But again, you'll see a theme here. I was more of a degenerate growing up than I look now, clearly. - That's kind of hard to do. I know it's radio, but. - Well, I had to do graduate college. I'm not like some of these great young kids that we have now that are doing internships, thinking about their career. I graduated from college, had no idea what I wanted to do. So I just started applying to other schools and decided to go back to school for marketing that next year in Chicago, which is the best decision I ever made. I got my marketing degree there. I was in Chicago and the best baseball team in the world, the Chicago White Sox, won the World Series. - Oh, good. - I met my wife there as well. - You met your wife at the game? - No, no, just in Chicago, in school. - Okay. - We did go to other games together. - I mean, where'd you meet her though? - Long story. - It's a bar. - All classes at Columbia College are three hour classes. So whether you're a smoke hitting me. - Whether you're a smoker or not, you take a smoke break in the middle, right? You're gonna go outside. So I met her on a smoke break out in the park. - So she was smoking? - Maybe. - Well, they're playing on words. - Oh, yeah. - Like she was smoking hot. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. Still is. Great save. - Good answer. Good answer. - How long you been married? - 10 years. Just 10 years at the NMA. - Okay, there's a honeymoon over. 'Cause we got a quote from her. Sounds like this. - The question is that. - I don't know. - It's the honeymoon over. - He said I could ask anything. - Well, I listened to the Beck's podcast as I was driving here, where they talked a lot about never stop wooing. She said that multiple times on the Beck's podcast. So it was a reminder to me that I should be a better woo. - Huh. - That's a verb, wooing, wooer. - Yeah. - I'm surprised you could listen to the Beck's podcast. It surprised you you aren't listening to ours. - Well, I spent a lot of time in the truck. So, but not as much as I would have to, to get down to where you're, I download yours. - Oh, okay. Well, that's, that's good. - That's all the time. - I don't care if you actually listened to it or not. As long as we get a download, that's, that's what we're about. - That's right. - From Atlanta, Indiana, to Effingham, Illinois. - Well, I was in Henderson doing the show before that. So I came up from Henderson. - It drew me the peace sign. - Apparently, it's a two hour drive. - Yeah, but I came from Henderson. - Better than I was doing the show. Henderson, Kentucky, it's a great little town just across the board. - So it took me about three hours to get here from there. - Okay, we do have to go to break. Today we're talking with Mike Maringer from, I don't know, somewhere in Indiana. - That's right. - Via Chicago. - Ohio, Ohio, Indiana. - Yeah, okay. - Yeah. - Oh, that, oh, we've been there. That's nice. - Yeah, thank you. - That's fantastic. - Wow. - I live and start our caramel. - Well, la di da. Okay, this interview changed. We're going to be back with Mike. All right, after the break. ♪ A ground shaker, a rule breaker ♪ ♪ Hold tight, he'll roll you through every acre ♪ - This segment is brought to you by Common Ground. Are you looking for an easy way to buy, sell, or lease your land? Well, check out Common Ground, where they connect landowners and farmers and hunters too, by the way. Go to commonground.io, that's commonground.io. (upbeat music) - And we're back at Effingham, Illinois. We're at, one of many. One of how many? Do you remember? There was like, they got them in Kentucky, Nebraska. We're gonna up to El Paso, Illinois next week. - That's right. - And then, - I know seven or eight. I mean, there's a lot. - There's gotta be some in Iowa. - There is one in Iowa yesterday, was in Colfax, Iowa. - Colfax? - Yes. - You were saying you didn't like the people in Iowa. - I did not go to that show. I'm not saying whether it was my decision. - Is that why I did look at that? - Or not. - Stir in the pot again. - Uh, but the main one is at the end of this month at Atlanta. - That's right. - And there are six total to answer your question next year. - All right, Mike Marriages, our guest today. He's the back senior events strategist. Emily, you have a pressing donut question. - Well, I had to go in and ask the boys, like, how many dozen donuts does it take to feed everybody that it's here today? And they said there's like five or six dozen per box, and there was at least eight boxes sitting there. - For our outside technology days, we order 50 dozen donuts. - You know the answer to that, 50 dozen donuts. - Which is how many? Mr. Math, 600. - Oh, okay. Were you looking at my phone? - No. - No, during the break, I thought I should figure that out. - Oh, see, you weren't good at your job, aren't you? - Yep. - All right, so you went to school? You got into video, how'd that happen? - My friend, again, like I said, I was a much different person when I was younger. My friend and I kind of liked making videos, and we somehow got the contract for the hip hop political convention in the year 2007. - Oh my God, hip hop was over by 2007. - Well, you may think so, but not in Chicago and thought of Chicago where we had this. So long story short, we got this, we enjoyed it. We had a bunch of fun doing it. We thought we'll make some more videos together and just keep doing this. He had better aspirations than me. He went for Teach for America, went and helped a bunch of people of the world, left me at home to try to run a business which did not go well. Business wise, I just wasn't ready to do it, and couldn't collect money, couldn't ask for money, couldn't do the money part as well as I should. I was great at video. - It always helps when you get paid. - It does, and you know, my worst time was I was trying to fight a little old lady with a bit of cooking wouldn't pay me, and I was like, I can't do this. So, like, physically fight her? - It was about to come to that, so I don't know what she's doing now, but if I saw her in here, to your knee, yes. - She's probably gone by now. - Probably. Does that make you feel better? - Does this lead into you losing power in your business? - It does, yes. I had no money. I was having trouble making money. I could pay to live, but I missed an electric payment, which puns right, if they actually shut you off. - I know, like six. - So, you come home powers off, so I go in the basement where I worked, and it had flooded because-- - In Indiana, we have a lot of sump puns, I don't know how you guys work, but battery backup didn't work. So, I went, that day, got cash, went and had to pay cash to get my power turned back on, and from the electric company, called my friend, that worked at an AV company and said, do you still have a job there for it? And started there, it was very much entry level, working in the warehouse and doing things like that, and they would let me sub in when we would do music as a video director, a live video director, that is. And I could feel the music well, there's some of it that's just talent that you must have and real quickly became a-- - Do you ever work with that Sheena Easton? - No. - Is this a joke what, I don't get it. - No, she's a beautiful voice. - That's when you say, I don't know who Sheena Easton is and you're like, I'm too young for that. - Anyway, so you can feel-- - I'm an all older than you, right? - I'm guessing. - You've been taking your sunglasses off yet, and that's a big thing to hide. Like, I saw Flava Flav on the Olympics the other day, he looks great with his sunglasses on, he takes those things off, and it's trouble. - That's Snoop Dogg, not flavor, Flav. He's the one who wears a clock. He flavor Flav sponsors the women's water pump, he should watch more Olympics. - He married the gal from Rocky II. The Russian's wife, Rocky III. - Rocky IV is the Russian. - The III, Rocky. - Yeah, you can change, you can change the speech at the end. - I must break you. - Yes. - Okay, all right. - Okay, too focused. - Sorry. - So one of the clients that are at your new job was Vex. - Yeah, as I did well there, people started to like me, so they let me handle clients a little bit more. One of the clients was Vex. So I started doing literally these field shows on the other side, as well as some of their ballroom shows. So I've been at Vex, almost not. This is either my 12th or 13th year doing field shows, which are now technology days, which you do so well at every break coming in and mentioning, so. - So what was the draw to work with someone like Vex or want to work with them? Was it the people, the personalities? - Yeah, 100% was the people. So these are, in some ways, like when you're a roadie, these are tough shows to work. You know, you're not in a ballroom, you're out in the sun, you're driving from place to place. They always fed us, they always took the best care of us, they were always nice to us, and people would want to be on the shows, even though they were harder shows to do work on. So it was very much the people, and then everybody that I was, you know, my contacts at the company were people that at the time I was a little bit younger, I was married, but no kids. But they were people that you could aspire to be, you know, good family man, or, you know, people that you would want to be more like. So I was happy to make, and also it's always flattering when somebody calls and says we would like to talk to you more about a job, right? So you had to listen and hear it out, and. - And they got you at the right time. (laughing) - What's that mean? I was cheap? - No, you needed a good job. - We didn't say it. - Yeah. (laughing) - Is that what you call yourself a roadie? - She's a roadie, you know, Alyssa. - I don't think she appreciated that. (laughing) - Very much at that time, it did a lot more traveling, and very much, you know, was a roadie, yes. - Okay. - Hey, could you think concert when you say that? - Yeah, I did a lot of concerts and music festivals at that time. So concerts, music festival, sports, and BEX. That's how we made our money at that place at that time. - Huh, and now you're just 100%. You actually work for BEX. - I work for BEX, scheduling their events, a lot of logistics, some warehouse work, and then a lot of travel. But I also still work a lot with the company that I used to work with, so I still see people and know people that didn't burn any bridges, and it's really been great relationship for both sides of it, you know, in getting more work and making more money for both of us. - Yeah, well, of all the people they work with at BEX, which one do you like the least? - Ooh, well, I don't know if I can say 'cause this person may actually be here today. - Yeah, yeah. - And you're on a loudspeaker. - Oh, yes, I forget. - So you have to answer that, you have to answer that. - No, I am a person there. There's people I like more, and-- - Why are you winking? - That's fantastic. - All right, we should go to break. Today we're talking with Mike Maringer from Atlanta, Indiana via Carmel. - Indiana, he is a back senior event strategist. When we come back, I wanna know what actually goes into getting ready for these shows, 'cause there's a lot going on here. - And it's gotta feel good to sit back and know what's going well. - Well, we'll find out. All right, after the break. ♪ You're relatable, we're between the lines ♪ ♪ Start to loosen up your mind ♪ - This segment is brought to you by Common Ground. Are you looking for an easy way to buy, sell, or lease your land? Well, check out Common Ground, where they connect landowners and farmers and hunters too, by the way. Go to commonground.io, that's commonground.io. (upbeat music) - All right, we're back here live, kind of, at Effingham, Illinois, at the technology days. Beautiful facility right off some interstate. Do you remember what it is? 50-- - This is 70. - That's 70? - In the state 70. - Yeah. - It's great through Indianapolis as well. Makes it easy to get home. - It's a little loud. - Treats you so well here though. You know, you park and they come and get you with the tractor or the golf cart. - The golf cart, yeah. - It's fantastic. You just take it right in here. - Are you a gas powered golf cart guy, or do you like the electrics? - Goodness gracious. - Are you questions you never know what are gonna come at this show? - I'm gonna go one step further on you. Myself and indirectly, your friend Kate's boss, we both just purchased electric vehicles, actual vehicles, which working at Bex and at an ad company. - The Tesla? - You catch a little bit of flack for, you know, as you pull in. - Yeah, it's a hippie thing to do. - It is very much a hippie thing. I do not think I'm thinking it's a lot of fun and very fast. It is not a Tesla, mine is not, no. - Okay, is it a hybrid or a purely electric? - It is purely electric. I plug it in. - Really? - Yes, to the grid. - So if you run out of power, for me to power my vehicle. - Sounds fascinating. - Thank you, thank you for having me. - Dude, today we're talking with Mike Barringer from Atlanta, Indiana via Carmel, Indiana. He is back senior events strategist, which I want to know what you do. You called yourself a roadie. I look at this show. Here we've got all the reward program stuff. You've got all the plots out there. You've got tents. You've got all this stuff. How much of this is you? - What you're looking at is solely me. No, I'm just kidding. Well, I want to go ahead and say one thing. As you introduce me every time, I am, you say, back senior event strategist or the senior event strategist at BEX, there are two of us. So I have a partner, Toby Rippberger, who is also a senior event strategist. - It says you're the best - The best senior event strategist. - Anyway, this process shortly after we finish this, shortly after we finish this year. There is a committee of people that work throughout the year, headed up by myself and Toby. We have commitment rewards, people we have sales, people from other regions that work in coming up with ideas and what we're going to do for each show throughout the year. As we get closer then, it becomes more logistics, right? I mean, I schedule every caterer at every show you go to, the potty guys, the golf cards, everything you can think, "Uggies, two in from each show, "these buggies don't live here, we bring them with us." - Oh, yeah, they're the special. - Yeah. - If you haven't been to a BEX event, they are nice. - That's right. So, then it becomes very much a logistical job. As we lead up closer to it, it becomes a warehouse job. Now we're prepping the stuff, we're getting everything together at home and getting it ready to go. And then we come here in a whirlwind, spend one day on site with 150 people and put this all together and before we know it. - Okay, 150, do you like them all that are here? - Most of them, it depends what state I'm in, - Do you like that guy right there? That ice cream cone looks good. Do you like her, ma'am? Unamused. (laughing) Okay, Emily, you were asking him about the relaxing part. - Well, I was because, you know, you come to an event like this and you go well and you get a chance to go around and find out what everybody's doing on their farm or what you could do better and it's inspiring, right? - So do you sit back and think, okay, we're doing this well, we've got this down, people are enjoying themselves, does that feel good? - It does, I think we do a great job at these shows that you're doing what BEC strives to do and that's helping farmers succeed. A very small part of this show is the products we sell and a lot more of it is to helping anybody that's here. From my perspective, I liken these, you know, kind of like a game day as if you're an athlete, right? Like this is what we prepare for the whole time and then you just play this one game and it goes by so fast and you get to see it all. You know, I have multiple of these that I do over the month so two wound up in every time when I finish but I will tell you at the end of the month or once we're starting to get done with them, I've been known to get a little emotional, right? You're tired of all this work, you get a little emotional, you may cry in the shower at night, happy, cries, you wouldn't know what that is. - That's how they found it, remember? - Yes, you know, you do get a little emotional about, we did it, you know, another year is done, we've helped all these people, we've traveled and done all this stuff and there is something to that, like the end of your game or the end of your season where you fully relax and you're tired and you're emotional and it feels good. - Nice, nice. By the way, did the roots travel here today, the whole root system? - Yes, we still are only doing the root stuff in Atlanta so we are bringing them with them. But it's a very big part of what we got going at these shows now and we're learning a lot with our roots and our root reveal that we have here. - They're very cool, I mean, optically, that's something that people really wanna see. - It is, and we're using them also in trade show booths, everywhere we go, it gets people to stop and look and ask questions. - Uh-huh, is there a place you wanna set up a show that Beck says not gone, you know, like, I don't know, Jamaica or somewhere like that? - Jamaica would be fantastic, I'm much more of a travel inside the person, there's so much here that we could see, but the states that we travel to and work in aren't the most elegant travel destinations. - It's America. - Yes, I have learned a lot from geography that I didn't know before I worked here. You know, there was some of like the Dakotas and things like that that I thought were way further away until I started working here, so. - Absolutely. - Sorry for my former geography teachers. - You also stay close to home somewhat too, because-- - Booch for your kids baseball? - Yeah, it works out, I do. I love coaching kids baseball, or I love baseball, I love hanging out with my kid and all of them. It just so happens to work out perfectly for me. My travel is the month of August, September and the winter time, and we play baseball in this bit, July 4th, so it just works out perfectly for me and it's something that Beck's has given me grace on and when you have to leave earlier go other places, it works out perfect and it's a, I thank them for letting me, do letting me be a better family man because of it. - So you're coaching third base, right? And a little brat comes up where he's on third. - Oh, yeah, okay. - Yes, and you want him to go home and he stops. Do you, A, scream your lungs, go home, B, push him home, or C, just quit? - I will not make contact with him because he will be out in the way we play. I am a very calm, cool, collected person and do yell. So I find that when you are that type of person and then you yell, they really listen, you know? I haven't made many people cry yet. I do have a funny baseball story for you. We are still in the kid's pitch age group, right? So I am actually the pitcher, I'm a pretty big deal, but I want them to hit. One weekend, one, it's two games back to back. - Yeah, I'm gonna work. - Okay, I hit, I hit, like, beaned five kids on my team. - Oh, he's one of those coaches. - What would you do that? - I did not do it. - We were just a laugh about that. - Yeah, it didn't hit one the whole rest of the season, just that day. I don't know what I was doing the night before or how, what happened to me that day, but-- - Do you have to apologize to all the parents? - Two of them should have gotten out of the way and I let them know. Three of them got a pretty great side. Yeah, yeah. One of them cried real hard while his brother on the side, like, in the stands was yelling, "Yeah, take it like a man." Yeah, like, he's just crying in the box. - Well, I hated that when you used to do like the, you could walk four people, right? And then you couldn't walk anymore than any. So if they got like four balls and had it come in a pitch, I would always start out my kid. Never failed. - Yeah. - Oh, anyway. All right, is there a place? I mean, you on social media or anything like that? - Yeah, I am on social media, Instagram, Twitter, mainly. - Do you have a handle for a family? - Yeah, you could follow me @slushringer. - Did you say slushringer? - That's correct, yeah. Those are my two nicknames combined. - Sounds okay. - Yeah. - All right, today we've been talking with Mike Maringer. You may know him as slushringer. Mike, thank you for talking with us. Really? - You have any. - Yep, everybody else? We'll catch you next time. (upbeat music) ♪ Get rid of old, then there should go ♪