Behind the Scenes | Spotlighting Jake Farrant
Behind the Scenes with TK Business Magazine is a new podcast series hosted by Danielle J. Martin, delving into the innovation that fuels the growth of the Topeka community: local businesses. The beauty of this new podcast is that we travel to our subjects and interview them at their office or workspace.
This month, we go behind the scenes with Jake Farrant, the founder, owner and CEO of Mammoth Sports Construction. He represents a classic American entrepreneurial story, growing the company from its humble roots in his mother’s garage to a sports construction behemoth ranking #692 on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing, privately held companies. Jake leads the company with a competitive mindset he learned from his days on the athletic field as a collegiate player and high school coach. His leadership skills have earned Mammoth the trust of both NFL and collegiate teams for their facility construction needs.
Martin: Take me back to 2009 when you started the business.
Farrant: Most entrepreneurs know the phrase, “Take the leap.” Kysa, who’s now my wife, was still in college at K-State and we had $10 to our name when we were starting the business. We leaned on my parents and moved back into my mom’s house. I was pretty sure Kysa was going to leave me and I’d have to win her back. But to her credit, she never winced. People who know her know that she’s the backbone of everything we do. If you’re taking that leap and you’re just thinking about failure, don’t leap. Stay wherever you’re at because you won’t have the right mindset to navigate the waters.
Martin: Mammoth has this slogan, “Do something big.” Did you see Mammoth getting this big?
Farrant: I didn’t sketch out on a napkin Mammoth Sports Construction being a world leader, but I had big dreams and goals and aspirations that had to stay at the forefront of every decision we made.
Martin: What challenges did you encounter when trying to break through the market?
Farrant: What made the difference is the talent around us, including people exposed to different sectors. I think about Dr. Steve Noble, the (former) superintendent of Seamen school district, who knows every superintendent in the state of Kansas. Dave Devore is our architect and head of design. I didn’t know a single architect, but Dave knows them all and he’s designed collegiate stadiums like the Bill Snyder Family Stadium. When those people come to Mammoth, it enters Mammoth into that space. We’ll continue to be good recruiters. We need the best people at Mammoth. When we have the best, it doesn’t surprise me where the business goes.
Martin: How do you feel about the power of collaboration?
Farrant: Cody Foster [of Advisors Excel] said something a few years ago that still resonates with me: “People will be blown away when they just ask the questions.” He was talking about mentorship. At the time, I really looked up to the business leaders of Topeka. I was a sponge. Anything they said, I took it in. If Cody told me about a book, I read that book. If I ran into Ernest-Spencer’s owner Neal Spencer at the gas station and he said he was trying to meditate more, I got up 15 minutes earlier in the morning to meditate. Don’t be afraid to copy the people who’ve been successful — use them as inspiration.
Martin: Mammoth made the Inc. 5,000 list. How did you do it?
Farrant: When it comes to growth, you’re constantly juggling, gauging and taking calculated risks. We’ve never sat around a table and strategized for growth. Instead, we listen to our customers and the customer takes us where we need to go. We don’t tolerate second place. We don’t miss deadlines and we don’t miss budgets. There’s nothing better than when a team comes together and works hard for something and achieves it together.
Martin: What’s your favorite personal development book?
Farrant: It’s hard to narrow it down to just one. We have a David Goggins’ “Stay Hard” way about us when it comes to getting a competitive edge. I also think about Brené Brown because we believe in the power of vulnerability. Pick up any books by David Goggins and Brené Brown, and you’re off to the right start.
Martin: Talk about the significance of value proposition in your business. How do you stand out from the competition?
Farrant: There’s quite a bit of competition, but we’re just running our own race and don’t compare ourselves to the competition. I think that’s a dangerous thing to do. We’re constantly looking at ourselves in the mirror to figure out what we should improve and what we can do next. I would say keep your nose to the grindstone. Keep your blinders on and work hard, treat people well and run your own race.
Martin: You’ve spoken about eliminating dysfunction to foster growth. What does that mean to you?
Farrant: When you think about how a tree grows, you have to trim the branches of the tree to spur healthy growth, otherwise it can get too wide and heavy. When the tree feels too heavy, it stunts its own growth. Arborists trim trees so they can keep growing into what they’re supposed to become. Businesses are really, really similar to that. You’re going to have disruption or turnover. Sometimes a business needs to make difficult decisions about personnel for the company’s health. Bryce and I — and our amazing HR person, Melissa Smith — try to ask ourselves if we’re asking somebody to do something we wouldn’t do ourselves. We’re not. We’ve never asked anyone to do something we haven’t done ourselves or wouldn’t be willing to do. If I’m not willing to stay in a hotel room in Illinois for three nights, then I don’t want to ask one of our employees to do the same thing. Firing someone or seeing them quit always hurts, but then you turn around and reflect on it six days, six weeks or six months later, and you’re like, “Wow, that was the best thing for us. We really grew from that.” Sometimes you have to trust your gut and do it, and it hurts. But those people will appreciate the conversation. They might not be happy about it, but they will appreciate it. If you’re listening to this and are someone who runs a business with any amount of employees, you can already relate to me because the boss-employee relationship is a tough relationship to uphold.
Martin: Talk to me about the sacrifices you’ve had to make.
Farrant: The sacrifices I make today are different than the ones I made in years one and two, but it’s worth it. If I go back to those first couple years when my first daughter was born, I remember I came home for a couple days, and then I was gone for another six months. But in a strange way, I miss those days.
Martin: Why is that?
Farrant: Because at the end of the day I would shut off the dozer loader, turn around as the sun’s going down and think, “This is what I built today.” You get to touch it and feel it and see this progress. I would drive home and think, “I’m building something for my kids. I’m working hard.” Well, now I might spend my day in 13 meetings, so it’s harder for me to have that same feeling. My roots are in being hands on. As your business grows, you become less involved in the details, which can be difficult. What I miss is the journey, what it was all about, the process. I would do anything to go back to those days when we were in the boardroom fighting until midnight. That was passion.
Martin: Tell me about one of your more unforgettable construction projects.
Farrant: We interviewed for a division two project up in South Dakota. They called and said, “Hey, great news. We want to select you.” They had interviewed about 17 companies with two or three rounds of interviews, so this was a pretty big job. When I got the call, I pulled over immediately and had goosebumps, a rush of adrenaline. Then they said “But” — and there was a big but there — “we’re not familiar with your team or your products, but we trust you. So we need you to be on the job site every day.” This project was eight hours away in Aberdeen, South Dakota. I said “Got it” without hesitating. My wife had just had our third kid a few weeks earlier.
Martin: Oh my gosh. What did she say when you told her?
Farrant: I said, “Honey, you’re never going to believe it, but I bought an RV for us. It’s going to be great. We’re going to have the best summer ever.” She said, “I went camping as a kid. It’s going to be awesome.” Then I told her, “Yeah, we’re kind of going to camp, but we’re kind of going to live in it for the next four or five months, too.” We ended up taking the kids with us and lived in a camping park in Aberdeen while working every day. My family pulls up pictures of that summer all the time.
Martin: If you could give advice to your younger self, what would you say?
Farrant: Being able to talk to my younger self would have been very beneficial. I did a lot of dumb things and could have saved us a lot of money. The cloud of doubt and failure can be such a heavy weight on your chest. I remember that feeling like it was yesterday. I wish I could send a message in a bottle back to myself and say “You’re going to make it.” That’s all you care about. You just want to know that you’re going to make payroll next Friday. You want to know you’re not going to put your family out on the streets. And for entrepreneurs, they’re not just trying to make money for themselves but for their employees. That always weighed heavily on me. I hope that young entrepreneurs can believe in themselves enough and not let the doubt take over. You really need to believe that you can make it.
Martin: What’s next for Mammoth? What does your legacy look like?
Farrant: I never think about legacy. That’s not something I sit around and talk about or plan for naturally. I only have one job, and that’s to make sure that my wife and kids love Christ and go to Heaven. If I focus on that, everything else becomes clear and takes care of itself. Your priorities really start to make sense for you. That’s where I’m at on legacy. I highly doubt they’re going to make any statues of me.
Martin: Hey, you never know.
Farrant: But I think Mammoth’s projects change communities forever. Our talented design team and creative team help visions come to life. The part we’re most proud of is our foundation with Woolly Farms. We have a lot of people in Topeka who support and promote Woolly Farms, which is based around lifting up and providing a place of belonging for adults with special needs. That includes my brother, who has Down syndrome. When I think more about legacy, my heart goes to my kids, my wife and Woolly Farms.
