Andy and Missy

Building Texas - Episode 40

Andy and Missy - Final Podcast

[00:00:00] Welcome to Building Texas with Justin McKenzie and Somer Baburek, sponsored by the Boerne Kendall County Economic Development Corporation and Das Greenhaus. And now here's your host, Justin McKenzie.

Welcome to Building Texas, a show where we dive into what life is like in rural Texas and uncover the real story behind the business leaders who see the future in our region. I'm Justin McKenzie, and today we're talking. And visiting with an entrepreneurial couple, Andy and Missy Ivankovich. We were just talking about Ivankovich, Ivankovich.

We hear the name all over town. So lots of people have different ways to say it. Andy will correct us here in a minute. It means Johnson. Is that what it is? Son of John. Ivan. That's incredible. You know them today as the owners of Singing Water Vineyards, but in this discussion, I'm certain you'll hear the ups and downs of building your own company, life, everything that [00:01:00] y'all have built together, and I've enjoyed hearing the story, so I look forward to sharing that with everyone else.

But Andy and Missy, welcome to the show. Hello. Thank you. Let's start. You were not from Texas originally. How did you end up in San Antonio, Texas? I guess I can go first if you want, honey. Yeah. So I grew up in the sticks of Florida, not the pretty beaches or Disney world or anything like that. I grew up in central small town called Mulberry, Florida.

Maybe, I don't know. 2000 people in a traffic light and maybe that's it. It's in between Tampa and Orlando and rural kind of country. As you say that that's my upbringing and I didn't really have any options graduating high school. You know, my father had passed away when I was 10 years old and so our economic means were just not there.

Two pennies rubbed together and my mother. The only real option was joining the military. My brother had done it a couple of years [00:02:00] before in the Navy. He called me up and said, whatever you do, join the air force. And so, uh, it was my first entrance. And so I, I joined up when I was 18, became a C 130 crew chief, went through Texas, both Lackland and Shepard, which is up north, ended up getting stationed.

In Alaska. And what was funny about that is that we always used to joke that, you know, And, uh, you know, Randolph air force base for air force guys that know it, it does all the personnel assignments. And some guy was probably having fun with the idea of sending a kid from Florida to Alaska. A lot of people fall in love with that Alaska assignment though.

I've known some people that that was really what introduced them to everything and anything that Alaska is. Yeah. I think that for Alaska it's, if you like the outdoors, you're going to love it. If you don't like the outdoors, you're going to hate it. So if you've got that kind of bug, which I had, you end up loving it.

And I think Missy and I, we've been up there multiple times. We took our kids up. We go up hiking with friends and try to make it back as much as we can. Cause there's [00:03:00] just nothing to compare, but love that journey. And then obviously coming out, I have the GI Bill behind me and trying to figure out what to do.

My father was. In business. And so my brothers were in quote unquote business. And so I thought that, gosh, you know, I'd love to go to a major city. Always fell in love with Boston, love the Red Sox and ended up going there to go to school, a small school called Eastern Nazarene where I met Missy and. Yep.

I'm from that area. My dad was a professor at the college and so I grew up there just South of Boston, six miles South of Boston. So Eastern Nazarene College was a great experience for us. We met there, we got married there and we stayed in the Boston area. Andy took a position in financial services and I was fulfilling my dream of being an elementary school teacher.

So I was a fifth grade teacher for three years there, but Andy was not so happy with the weather situation in Boston. I can relate to that. I would actually [00:04:00] tell you that Boston is colder than Alaska, or at least it feels colder than Alaska. Yeah. So I was going back and forth. I worked for a great company out of college.

Actually, while I was in college too, it was a British owned company called Aviva life insurance, and it was right during the. com bust. And so all these companies were trying to figure out how to make this digital divide or gap. And it's one of these things one day that you. And you're saying, how'd I end up in financial services?

It's not normally what you grow up as a kid working for a life insurance company. That's what I'm going to do. But, uh, I had been in the military and I had told Missy, we're having a conversation one day. And I said, gosh, if I'm in financial services. Why not go ahead and be with the, the best of the best.

And that happens to be in Texas at USAA. And I was sitting there, maybe I'll apply. Maybe we'll, we'll see what happens. And I did. I think you [00:05:00] applied for every position at USAA throughout the course of several months. Well, I get a phone call, so I ended up flying down and I still remember that day calling Missy.

San Ham and San Antonio. This place is beautiful. And she was wondering if there's tumbleweeds going through. That was my sticking point. If I saw one tumbleweed, we were out. Yeah. I think just getting used to the dryness and that the vegetation is smaller and Browner than I was used to. But overall, it did not take us long to realize that this was home and that this is where we wanted to be and needed to be.

We got engaged in church and we got engaged with our neighborhood and the people that are attracted to this area. We just found we're very like minded with us, you know, on all points. Now, Missy was an elementary school teacher. So coming out of the Boston environment, I think was [00:06:00] a, Big deal. And then coming in and, uh, teaching at any ISD, which is on the north side, obviously of San Antonio.

But I think the first thing we fell in love with was housing, at least back then compared to what we were paying in Boston. And then, uh, the size of the house, we, we hadn't had kids yet at that point. I think that put her over the top too. That is true. That is true. So all four of our kids were born at Methodist Hospital here in San Antonio.

So it was a little interesting to give birth to Texans and they've lived up to it. Texans and proud ROTC, Air Force ROTC students. I know that's something that you support and do you look forward to your kids pursuing an Air Force career? Absolutely. I think that, you know, number one service right to our country.

I think you can put that as top of the list for anybody out there. And yeah, two of our children. Definitely are bent that way and pursuing some options through college. And we're excited about that. So, well, as an entrepreneurial story, yours is [00:07:00] very relatable. Many entrepreneurs, particularly in this region of the country, have come out of the military with that background and with the tools that they're afforded, they have a lot more independence and a lot more direction to say, now I know what I want to do in life.

That's right. And here are my other options. It's not just this. Yep. So I applaud what you're doing there and how you lean into the ROTC in general, uh, giving lots of kids that direction. Yeah. So after your Air Force career, you came back to San Antonio through USAA and then launched into your banking career.

Island X, where does that come from? How did we get to what that became? Yeah. And where is it today? Well, kind of started back if I would take people back before iPhones and all the other fun stuff. USAA, which had a credit card bank, decided in those early 2000s to move. Fully into banking and it was probably [00:08:00] more set up for it because it was remote, had one branch, did not have branches throughout the United States, but had a pretty good call center process, be able to sign up for people and then transact banking through mail.

You know, we were accepting checks and deposits back then through the mail. Um, And so being a digital bank was, I think, in the ethos of USA to begin, I was part of that first technology group that started to develop capabilities. And the reality is, is that a lot of the banks like Chase and others, they didn't quite need it because they had such a large footprint for retail banking.

A lot of them were slow to adopt. As I left USAA in 2010, The demand for doing digital banking reached an all time high because everybody wanted to jump into it. I mean, the iPhone had been out, I think three years at that point, this idea of doing experiences and banking was kind of my forte from developing out the lending capabilities.

[00:09:00] And so it was just a natural launch to say, Hey, I want to start a company. But I started a company because both Missy and I, we were both We wanted to stay in San Antonio area. And unfortunately, if you're not with USAA or Frost, uh, your options to being in technology and banking are quite limited by virtue of starting a business.

We got to stay here with our kiddos. We were able to start a FinTech before they were calling it FinTech. Back in, uh, that 2010, 2011 timeframe. I appreciate the reminder that that is why you started the company. When you look around, it's why we do the work that we do at Doss Greenhouse and the Boerne Kendall County Angel Network is to really try and create those opportunities for people to stay in the Hill country or live and work in the Hill country.

I met you both when Ford motor company came to town and launched the F 150 lightning at your vineyard. How did we end up there? I don't know. You kind of have certain things [00:10:00] obviously missing our faith base. And so a lot of that we can explain easily, but probably to listeners, it's, it's more around the process of good things happen sometimes to, to people.

And that was probably one that just happened. By circumstance of folks looking at billboards and looking at places to host a national launch, they came across our vineyard and property, which is in my opinion, one of the most beautiful places on the planet in the hill country here, it's singing water vineyard.

You know, we have a mile stretch of a beautiful property along with a Creek that runs through it called Bruins Creek and hills that top off at 13, 1400 So when you're Ford motor, that backdrop of. You know, Texas is a huge market for them and to be able to be in the true Texas Hill Country. I think, uh, we had a lot going for us at that time.

You were able to exit your company, your software startup and afforded you the opportunity, I believe, to really go out and acquire Singing Water. And I [00:11:00] think what you and Missy have done in the team, you took a gem and continued to polish it until now it is so much bigger. And then the media attention that you got from Ford and other events that you do out there.

Just continue to shine a bright light on comfort. Yeah, no, we've definitely been enjoying the journey. I think for us, Missy and I both, when you kind of look at the pathway of running companies and being entrepreneurs for better part of 10, 12 years, it's easy to kind of look back for some to say, Hey, you did started a company, exited, and then you buy this.

Winery and vineyard, right? The reality is the road of starting a company is very difficult. It's very long, very challenging. You give up a lot during those years, especially if you have peers that are being promoted left and right. You're sitting there trying to figure out how to make payroll and also a company that may have promised a check in the mail.

You never got the check for a couple of weeks. And when you kind of look at that, [00:12:00] I think for Missy and I, I had spent, you know, majority of my time on the road and we had four little kiddos, I thought that, gosh, when we exit, it would be nice to get something that we as the family could do together. And I grew up, like I mentioned before in the sticks and I've always loved land property, love Texas.

And so the idea of getting essentially a farm or a ranch. It was really a unique way to get back to bonding, get back to something tangible. You know, we deal with software and that was my background and everything's in ones and zeros. As my mom used to say, uh, you talk into a box, a laptop, most of your life.

And this was getting out and getting in into the wild and doing something fun. I appreciate a lot of people that. don't know your journey to Singing Water know you at Singing Water. And quite often they know you as just running around, working, you've got your hat on, you've you've got your shirt sleeves rolled up and you're [00:13:00] moving dirt somewhere more often than not.

So it's a testament to your doing what you love to do. And it's a full contact sport. Yeah, I know we enjoy it. I think one of the big things, Well, number one, farmers in Texas are entrepreneurs by nature. Bread and Bourne. And we do joke that there's more work to be done on the farm and there's always going to be more work to be done on the farm.

And so I've been able to enjoy this time period where, you know, it used to be behind a desk or in a boardroom with a bank. And this is kind of neat to be able to kind of roll up your sleeves and get rained on, get dusted on, get snowed on. All the things that you can imagine can happen out in a, on a farm in the middle of nowhere.

As we lead into the break, I appreciate the reference of a farm because it is an agricultural business that you're running today. 100%. And in the few years that we've worked together, I've seen the language shift and people are starting to say, well, what is this business? How does this [00:14:00] work? And you're having to educate our leaders around what is an ag business and what is a farm today.

So when we come back, we're going to talk more about your local engagement and ways that we can continue to drive that conversation forward. This is Justin McKenzie from Building, Texas. Today's segment is brought to you by Das Greenhaus. Das Greenhaus is a business incubator launched here in Boerne to serve our local community.

Dusk Greenhouse is a place where you can come to grow your idea. Our goal is to make Boerne accessible to people who are looking to grow a business. expand a business or learn more about what's out there in their community and get involved. Visit us at DasGreenhouse. org or come visit us at 7 Upper Balcones Road, Boerne, Texas.

Das Greenhouse. So Andy[00:15:00]

and Missy, we've talked a lot about the veteran side and, and I want to close that story loop around your freedom line at Singing Water. I mean, I've enjoyed learning the history of Comfort, Texas through Singing Water's lens. Because you attract so many people in and you hear those stories of who is it that's out here.

I mean, we know some Air Force folks that have done tremendous things in their career. And they're leaders in this small, it's not even a town, of Comfort, Texas. But who have you found in your community around you through Singing Water? And how does that tie into the Air Force connection? Yeah, well, I think first is just to give a highlight of the vineyard, you know, started before us.

We acquired Singing Water in 2019, but it was there since 1997. What's kind of fascinating, Justin, is a lot of people that I know will be shocked that there's vineyards and wineries in Texas. And the reality is, is that we're number three. Number four, we trade places with Washington [00:16:00] every once in a while on grape production in the United States.

And that kind of really started back in those, uh, I'd say Texas wine got to start about nineties, mid nineties. It's been around forever. I mean, there's wineries that date back a hundred years. The particular is that grapes grow well and pretty much every climate. And here in San Antonio and the Hill country, we have bleachy limestone rock.

As we kind of look at that, it. You know, the grape doesn't like sitting in water, the rootstock doesn't. And so if you've got a good filtering process, they're going to do well. So it was discovered, now there's hundreds upon hundreds of wineries. You look at 290 in between Fredericksburg and Johnson City, that's where the big hubbub is.

But for us, we're a real Hill country destination because we're in the middle of the Hill Valley. And what's unique about that is that we're in direct proximity to San Antonio, Boerne, Kerrville, and this surrounding area that has a massive population of veterans who end [00:17:00] up retiring here. And what's fascinating about it is that we attract a lot.

And I think back in. 14 years ago, the original owners called the Holmbergs, Dick and Julie, they were sitting around with some good friends, including Dick Cole, who was co pilot Jimmy Doolittle on the Doolittle raids. We bombed Tokyo and still alive, hanging out in that area. They said, Hey, let's take a wine.

Let's go ahead and create a label for it called freedom. And let's give 10 percent back to veteran causes causes like the USO or the Fisher house, which is essentially the Ronald McDonald house for veterans that are injured and their family get to stay at a place. And so they've did all these celebrations, started attracting a lot of veterans, especially those that like wine and built a following.

So when we come up to it, 2019. You immediately fall in love with something like that. A cause we're service minded and a veteran myself. And so it was just naturally, we fell into it and kept going with it pretty significantly. But when you kind of look at our winery, [00:18:00] we were blessed to have some really good folks all the way from.

Senior officers in the military down to guys are just turning wrenches like me. We recently got to know a four star general of the air force that retired in the area. And he was the last chief of staff, a couple staffs back. And it's been kind of fun to get to know some of these folks. That really is the beauty of what you've curated there because it is a meeting place.

You don't go to singing water for a. 20 minute tasting and go. You're there to visit with your friends, to visit with the community that's come in to hang out for the Saturday afternoon and enjoy some great food, live music. I'm excited about your cover bands coming out and the music that we're going to start hearing.

So it's created a fun spot, but it's also generated a business conversation around that part of our county. It's very different, Kendall County, for those that aren't from the area. There's a highly dense southern half of the county, and then as you go north to Comfort, and where we're talking about today, it's still very [00:19:00] rural.

It's farmland, and that's an adjustment for our leadership to think about how do we balance the needs of singing water while also balancing this urban side of Burnie today. You've been a big voice in that because you've had to help them understand kind of the business problem that it's presenting for you.

And then how they could really make it a positive for the area, attract more or create more energy and activity around it. Where does that sit with you today? How do you have that conversation? Well, I think first off, you know, we live in and reason called Kendall County, right? And we border, Curville or Kerr County, and then we've got Gillespie, Fredericksburg.

And by far, we were an ag community first, all the way back to the 1800s. When we kind of look at the availability of land and also water use, water rights, I think there's been a lot of challenges that side, especially more recent. And you're getting into more and more areas now where. We'll say that you have a hundred acres and the [00:20:00] ability to run cattle, the thought that, Hey, I can run 10, 20, 30 heads takes a lot to maintain them.

It takes a lot to feed them. It takes a lot to water them. And I believe today we're running into a lot of issues where generational families have been on the. Properties for say three or four generations back are struggling with trying to make their property still be able to produce Something off the property so that leads them to evaluate other options It's one thing if they're working in san antonio at a company and they're doing Farming and ranching on the side.

'cause it can offset some of those expenses with some income. But the reality is most of these folks begin to look at other places to possibly sell their property to developers, which is a huge issue within this region. They're exercising their right, which we totally support, but then there's the flip side of it is we're losing these ranches and farms, especially in these areas here, and that really is because they can't cashflow the property.

That's right. They can't find a way [00:21:00] that fits their lifestyle and what they want to do that's going to cover their tax bill, their property tax bill, and then just the cost of doing business. That's right. Which, in a lot of ways, our tax is set up so that you can offset the cost of doing business. That's right.

But you have to have a balanced conversation. Yeah, I think that's right. I think that when you kind of look at different things, when it comes to farming, especially in our area, There's not very many options that farmers have, right? If you're doing hay, right, that's one option, but land in this particular area, let's just say you don't have water running on it.

It's per acre spot, 14, 000 to 17, 000 an acre is typical what it's going for. Right? So if you're a family who literally is making 30, 000 to 100, 000 a year, Selling crops, beef, cattle, whatever. And you have to take a step back when someone comes in and offers you 5 million for your track of land. That's generational change for them, even if they farm for the next five, [00:22:00] 10, 20 years or two generations down, someone has to look at that, right?

And we actually, in many cases, when we kind of look at our County, we're growing like, like a weed, right. And at the end of the day, and so when you kind of take a look back at what is happening in farming in Kendall County, you've got what we call cash crops, right? The reality is when you look at wine and vines, hill country vines produce.

Do some significant fruit juice that tastes pretty good in a bottle. And those are varietals like Tempranillo, which is very close to a cab. It's a Spanish grape. You have others like sweet wines, you know, Muscat is a white grape. In particular, you can sell a ton of grapes for 5, 000. And so when you're looking at acreages of vineyards, which still a lot to produce, it becomes something that can actually now present.

Some type of cashflow for a family versus selling a head of cattle for a few hundred bucks margin. You've both always been very supportive of the journey here with dusk [00:23:00] greenhouse and building the entrepreneurial culture around Kendall County. And I think for the reasons that you've just outlined, we want to create a place where somebody coming out of comfort ISD that has a hundred acres of farmland can say, I can grow enough grapes to make a living, or I've got a technology idea that I can go and do it.

I can cash flow my property that way. I'm very optimistic that ag tech is going to be an impactful industry here in Kendall County. Gillespie as well. I mean, we look at Renew Robotics. We look at a number of companies that are very innovative around servicing ag and farm. And I enjoy that you get to be very visible in that because of the success of Singing Water.

And hopefully motivating, encouraging other families to say, here's what we can do. Absolutely. I think in particular for us, right, I think that we owe it to our friends and neighbors. We share what one of the beautiful things about the wine industry is that We don't view ourselves as competitors. We have a winery right around the corner from us.

We're sharing [00:24:00] ideas, concepts. Bending Branch is gosh, probably five minutes away, Missy, right? And when you kind of look at them, they're a much bigger operation than we are. But we'll get our glass bottles because they're bringing in a large truck. And we're able to just get a pallet here, pallet there at some pretty good rates.

And so it's kind of like helping out each other, right? So I think that ultimately that's how we'll succeed in places like Kendall County. Let me just add to that too, because owning the vineyard has changed who we are and how we operate as a family. So we have four children. Three of them are currently in high school, an 18 year old and twin boys that are 17.

And we've spent a lot more time because of the vineyard Talking to them about the things that you're talking about, ag tech as a potential career field, going into agribusiness and why that's so important. And it's a vital thing that we as a society have to embrace. Where does our food come from? Where does it come from [00:25:00] today?

How are we gonna get it tomorrow? And what is the impact of the environmental changes that we're seeing? And how can we better utilize water? If you go out to our property, you'll see that we have huge tanks. We are renewing and reusable energy sources wherever possible because number one, we want to leave this place to the next generation.

In a way that they can work with it and utilize all those things, but also that our kids would think, hopefully, entrepreneurially about the new world that we're handing to them and that they have to now lead and grow and figure out. And they're smart kids. They're all smart kids and they will figure it out.

But these are the tools that we can provide to them, you know, to give them success in the future. Our greatest export today in Kendall County is our talent, our kids and workforce that leave and don't see a pathway back. So I appreciate what you, Andy and Missy, are both doing [00:26:00] with Singing Water and with your work around Singing Water to really promote this idea of building your own, the idea that you can roll up your sleeves.

and make an impact. So, thank you both for being here today and thank you for the way you're building Texas. This is Justin McKenzie from Building Texas. Today's segment is brought to you by Dusk Greenhouse. Dusk Greenhouse is a business incubator launched here in Boerne to serve our local community.

Dusk Greenhouse is a place where you can come to grow your idea. Our goal is to make Boerne accessible to people who are looking to grow a business, expand a business, and make a difference. or learn more about what's out there in their community and get involved. Visit us at DasGreenhouse. org or come visit us at 7 Upper Balcones Road, Birney, Texas.

Das Greenhouse.