A Coffee with Mr. Mike Myshak Sr. Owner of the Myshak Group of Companies

Join us for a coffee and chat with Mr. Mike Myshak Sr. Owner of the Myshak Group of Companies.

At 89 years old, Mr. Mike Myshak Sr. is a pioneering figure in the heavy equipment and transportation industry. We had the privilege of hosting him on the ABA Coffee in the Park podcast, where he shared the remarkable journey of establishing the Myshak Group of Companies in Acheson.  Mr. Myshak Sr. highlighted the significance of family values and the virtue of humility. The podcast was made even more special with three generations of the Myshak family joining us.

Transcript

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Well, good morning, everybody, and welcome to another edition of the ABA Coffee In The Park. My name is Cam Milliken, and I am here with my co-host extraordinaire, Jennifer Herrick, the Executive Director of the Acheson Business Association. Hi, Jennifer. Hi, Cam, how are you this morning? If I was any better, it's a Friday. We're here with some great guests. Looking forward to the weekend. It's a little bit fallish out there, but it's okay. It's okay. Yeah, I think winter's coming, but not for a while yet. Anything new and exciting you want to tell us about before we get started today? You know what, Cam? I am just so excited about our guest today. I think we should just get right into it. Okay, but before we do that, we better talk about our sponsors. So can we do that before and then we'll jump into it. We would like to thank our gold corporate sponsors, which includes Genics, Parkland County, and the Myshak Group. That's right. They are gold corporate sponsors and we thank them profusely for all of the support of the Acheson Business Association. And without them, we would not be able to do what we do. And this is an exciting episode. So Jennifer, you get the privilege this morning of introducing our guests. Well, Cam, before, actually we do that. We should tell people where we're coming. Ah, that's right. We always do our podcast at The Wall Coffee Roasters in beautiful downtown Acheson. That's right, we're here. And so if you hear some noise in the background, some coffee whirring, some people talking, it's because we're live right here in the coffee shop. So yeah, that's it. It's great. It's beautiful. beautiful downtown Acheson. You'll hear more about that in the future. Anyway, introduce our guests this morning. Well, Cam, I don't know about you, but this for me is such an honor to have these three gentlemen join us this morning for this podcast. So it is my absolute pleasure to introduce Mr. Mike Myshak Sr. His son, Jim Myshak, and grandson, Mike Jr. So welcome. Good morning, everybody. Thank you for taking the time to do this. We really do appreciate it. So like Coffee In The Park is all about, we just want to have some conversation this morning. And here, I think what I think is a really great story because I know a little bit of the story. But hopefully this morning we'll hear a little bit more of the story. So we're going to start off really easy. And we're going to turn it over to you, Mr. Myshak. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where did you grow up? In Derwent, Alberta. 1935. Born July of 26. And then we were on a, I don't know what we were on. I was too small to know what we even lived in. But anyways, we moved to Vermilion, and we stayed there for a couple of years. And then my dad got a quarter section, a land from the government, and he built a house. And that was in Chalee, Alberta. It's about, I think it was about 12 or 15 miles north of Manville. And that's where I grew up mostly. I was there till I was in 1951, is when we moved to Edmonton. But I went to school in Chalee from grade one to grade eight. I passed into grade nine, and we moved to Edmonton in 51. And I missed some school, because my dad wanted me to stay and do, finish the harvest on the land. And so I missed three, four weeks of school. But anyways, I went to school that year, and when I got my report card, I failed. Uh-oh. So there was nine of us in the family, and I know that mom couldn't afford for me to go to school, so I decided that I have to go and find a job. Right. So. Wow, can I ask a question? Were your parents born here, or where were your parents born? My dad was born in Poland. Okay. And my mom was born here. Okay. My mom was Ukrainian, my dad was Polish. Right. Wow. Okay. So your dad came to Canada, met your mom. Yep. And here you are. Here I am. Yeah. So. And I think that was quite common, right? That kids had to go help with the harvest and do that sort of thing. I mean, that was a big thing, right? To do that. So. Okay. So you didn't pass school, and you had to go to work. Yeah. Where did you go? Well, I, we kind of, when I went to school here in Ed, and actually it was in Jasper Place. Oh, okay. It was where we moved to. Yeah. So I went to Jasper Place School, and I met a couple of boys there that were in my same grade. And we got together, and we thought we could frame a house. And so we, we spent the summer trying to frame a house. Neither, any one of us knew how, what to do, really. But then we got it framed, and then we went to get paid, and the guy wouldn't pay us right away. So, but finally, we did get our money, and by that time, it was, I was, well, I was in 52 at the, I went and worked for the CN in the round house. Okay, yeah. And I cleaned the engine out, the coal burner. I had to clean the burner out at night, and I'd come home when it was dark. I didn't know whether I was... Night or day, yeah. Night or day, it was terrible, because we didn't have a washroom in the house that we were in. So, Josh replaced, there was no water and sewer at the time. So we had to get the water hauled in. So, but anyways, we made it. So, nine of us lived in that 960 square foot home. Nine people in a 960 square foot home. Really? Yeah. Wow. But anyways, we got by and, so when I worked with the CN in the Roundhouse, I wanted to go breaking. So, but I couldn't go to work, by the way, until I was 18 on the road. So, I went and took my test before I was 18 years old. So, when the day I turned 18, I went to work for the CN. And it was a perfect timing of the year, because most of the engineers and the breakies, the older one, people were taking their holidays, so they were short of help. So, I was, they kept me pretty busy, till the end of November, and then they laid me off, because all the older fellas come back. Yeah, we used to, like I say, go to Wabamun and back and get $17, and we thought we were in heaven.$17 for the day. Not an hour$17 a day. I love it. Wow, was that a lot of money? Was that... Well, it was big money for us. For me, it was, anyways. For sure, yeah. Yeah, and I don't know, I remember paying mom and dad $40 a month for a board and a room. Yeah, wow. But that was fine. And, you know, mom, she tried to go and work, too, at a cafe, but it was just too much to do at home. Yeah. Yeah. So how long were you with CN, then? That was it. That was it. I went to work. Then I was in January. When I got laid off November, in January, my brother worked for a guy that had some gravel trucks. So I ended up going by Bluffton, Alberta. I don't know if you know where that is. No, I've never heard of Bluffton. No, it's just south of Kelmar. Okay, yeah. On 22. And we were stockpiling gravel for the road. So I worked there. I was doing that in January. And then my brother worked for a company called Pre-Brent Construction. And they were in road building, lease building, and seismic and bridge building. So they needed a pickup driver. So I got hired to go to work for them to do pickup and deliveries with my pickup that I had. And yeah, I was making $200 a month. They paid me for my pickup a month.$200 a month. Wow, all you young ones out there listening to this. Listen to this story. This is a good story.$200 a month, wow, okay. Yeah. So that stayed there with the company for, that was in 1954 that I went to work for them. And I stayed there till 19, yeah, that was, I stayed there till 1962. Okay, yeah. And then in 62, you... And then the company was owned by Brown and Root at the time, and they decided to sell that company so they were getting rid of all the equipment. So, I had to find something else to do. So, when I was with that company, I bought, I was doing purchasing after I've been there a few years, and looked after the shop. But anyways, they were taking the, they were selling off all the equipment. So, I at that time bought a truck and trailer, and Brown Root took it over, because they had a branch, they were building and selling these plants. So, they kept the truck and trailer. But when I left Brent Construction, I went to Brown Root and asked them if they still had that truck. I heard it was for sale, or they didn't need it anymore. So, the fellow there said, sure, we'll sell it. And I said, I don't have any money. And he said, well, why don't you just take and rent it? And I, I think a truck and trailer said, why don't you just take and rent it till you make some payments and then finance it. So then I ended up getting a job with Square M Construction. They were building a railroad up at Manning that was going to Hay River. So sent the truck up there with two drivers that worked night and day to haul ties and rails up there. And it lasted for just a month and made really good money. I thought, we either got to get into trucking now. So that's how I ended up starting Premay. And the name Premay become a name with a few guys I knew that helped me get going and give me some of their work. I worked with them at Brent Construction. And I thought they would give them a partnership deal in it. And they said, sure. So the guys' names were one guy was Pemberton, one guy was Roeder, and then Myshak. So that's how it become Premay. Premay. Wow. And anyways. And they're still around today, aren't they? Premay is still. Premay is. because they see their yellow trucks, their big yellow trucks driving around. Yeah. Yeah. They're dirty, but they're yellow. because you're not in charge anymore. That's why. I love it. That's good. So, how long? I shouldn't say that. It's okay. It's okay. Don't worry. Don't worry. It's all good. It's all good. We'll take that out. I think we'll leave that in. I like that. That's good. That's good. No, it's just trying to... But, anyways, what happened was that we were together. We were going to go into the rental business, scrapers and cats, and do some trucking. Well, those two gentlemen had a construction company, and they had the opportunity to buy Ed Miller Construction, which was an equipment outfit. And they bought and sold equipment. So John and Walter, and Mary Roeder, they said, well, we can't be in partners with me because we'd be direct competition to the company they're just buying. Right. So they just said, well, why don't you just take the company over and get the shares transferred to me, and carry on? We'll still be friends. So that's how I ended up with that. And, but anyways, that's, that was in 64, so we went along till 71, 72, and the economy went for a real dip. Yes, Alberta was terrible. Yeah. Tanked, yeah. And I had, we had, I think, three or four, we had a couple of our own trucks, three or four trucks of our own. But we had a bunch of leased operators. And we were holding a lot of equipment for everybody around Alberta, because we were pretty active at that time. Yeah, yeah. So, when the downturn come, I had like 90 some thousand dollars receivables, but I, it was 50 some thousand I couldn't get paid for, because everybody went broke. They couldn't pay me because there was no work. Right. And that's the way it went. So, I ended up selling 70% of the company to another fellow that used to work for Brent Construction before I got there. And one of the guys that I knew well was a mechanic for Walter Staley, so when I was in trouble, I went and talked to my friend, and he said, well, why don't you go see Walter Staley? And I said, okay. So I went over there, and I said, we'll offer 70% of the company, you know? Yeah. But I need some money to continue. So he said, how much do you need? And I said, well, I need it. I need $30,000 for 30%, which wasn't very much money, but in those days, it was quite a bit. Yeah, I see. The rates weren't that great, $11 an hour truck and trailer and the driver. Oh, for the good old days again. Yeah. But anyways, walter said, well, how much money do you need right now? And I said, well, anything to pay the least operators. So he called his secretary. He says, Goldie was her name. And he said, Goldie, get me my checkbook. So he wrote out a check for $20,000, handed it to me. He said, go pay your bills. He says, go see your lawyer, go see your banker or whatever. But he said, when you get the paperwork, come back and I'll give you the balance.$10,000. So this was in 72. So we went along and we had money. Walter was very wealthy. He was a very good business guy, a good guy. So we went along and bought a couple of trucks in East of Fleet and still kept the leased operators, and we were busy. So from there on in, he had a fellow there that I didn't get along with. And I just didn't feel comfortable with that situation. So this was after Walter signed and owned 70% of it. And I said, you know, this is not going to work for me. It's either him or I. And he said, let me think about it for a couple of days. And anyways, he thought about it and come back. And in the meantime, in the background, I was trying to find somebody to buy that 70% share. Right, right. So Walter said, well, what do you want for that 75% share? And I said, well, we had the bookkeepers there look at it. And I said, well, it looks like we have to give you about $150,000. So he said, fine. Well, I said, good, I'll take that. He said, go ahead to the bank and make a deal. And so in the meantime, I had taken on a partner, Jim Sinclair, and made a deal with the bank and paid Walter off and continued working with Walter and stuff. And we moved to another shop. Actually, Walter built a shop and we moved in to that one. Paid him for the rent on that one, so he was happy that way. So that's how we ended up back. And then in the meantime, in those few years, we also took on four more of our key people and give them some shares in that company. So, right, it was going well. We got in to the big, moving, heavy vessels and stuff. And then in 1994 decided I was going to retire. Thought I had enough money to retire on. So we offered it to Mullins. The Mullins bought the company. Murray was very good about the deal. We all liked to get a little more, but he was fair. And from there on in, we sold the company in 94. We had three companies we sold them. We had Pre-May Equipment. We had Pre-May Sales and Rentals, and we had Pre-May Pipeline hauling. Okay. So Pre-May Equipment was the trucking company. Pre-May Sales and Rentals was a company that had equipment rentals. And pipelines strictly, string and pipe and haul and pipe. And we had separate prices for each company when we sold out. And Murray come by one day. Actually, I was on the board, on the mullin board for two years. But I didn't really like that position. I had not, I wasn't where I wanted to be. But anyways, I thought, well, shit, I'll just retire. But found out there wasn't enough money in retirement. So, anyways, Murray come by, and he said, well, we don't want to be in the rental business. Mullins didn't want to be in the rental business. They'd rather sell the rental end of it off, because they did a lot of hauling for different people. Sure. He said, well, do you want to buy it back? And I said, sure. I got ahold of Jimmy here, my son, and I got with him, and he said, by all means, why don't we buy it back? And we bought it back for just about the same amount of money I paid for it. And started Myshak Sales and Rentals. And I went home that night and told my wife about it. I said, well, I don't know what the hell we're going to call this company. And we had different names and shit. And she says, well, why don't you just say Myshak Sales and Rentals or something? And she said, that's, that's would be good. So that's how we ended up calling it Myshak Sales and Rentals, was because of my wife. And... So, so, so let's, can I interrupt you there for a minute? Tell us about your wife. Yes. I'm, I'm curious. You, you, you haven't gotten all day. No, because, because I know, and I think we all know around the table, well, we'll say it publicly anyway, that behind any great man, there's a great wife. And so tell us a little bit about her. Where did you meet her? How did that all happen? I don't really want to go there. How long have you been married? How long? Yeah. I think 67 years. 67 years. Incredible. Yeah. And obviously, she was behind you and supported you. Oh still is. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. That's for sure. Couldn't be without her. Yeah. Got to get in trouble. Yeah. How many children do you have? We had two. Okay. Jimmy and the daughter, Elaine. Right. They have nine grandchildren. They have nine grandchildren. We got, we have 31. Well, actually, all together, we got 46 great grandchildren. Yeah. And we're on the fifth generation. Yes. Wow. We've already got five kids on our fifth generation. And one more in the oven. What a legacy. What a fantastic legacy. That's incredible. So, now you've started Myshak, which is a good name. Easy to remember for your company. What happened? Take us there. What happened? Well, yeah, like I said, I gotta give Jimmy credit, because he's been the big push on, keep me straight. I'm not selling the company. But anyway, no, it's been great. And I, you know, I really gotta say that the success of us is no doubt the family, but the employees. The employees have been the most effective for us. We've been very fortunate to have the employees. We have. I don't think we'd be where we're at without them. Well, I know we wouldn't be. So, no. It's been, no, it's been really good in there. And we hoped that we were doing the right thing by putting something in their genes, too. So, it seems to be working all right. I know when we had Pre-may, we tried to start Company P32, which we had 32 employees. We tried to say that we'll buy shares in that and stuff. But let's face it, things were tough. I had to ask somebody that had a struggling with to ask them for $50 a month. It just wasn't there. But we started something different with that. And, you know, I think, we've done the right thing by taking on more shareholders in our company. Sure. So tell us a little bit about family, working with family. How is that? Do we have to go there? Well, Jim has just stepped away from the table for a minute. He'll be back, I know. Mike's still sitting here. because I think people are curious how it all works. So here comes Jim. So we'll maybe pose that question to Jim. Yeah, exactly. Jim. Yes We just asked and your dad didn't really want to answer that question. What's it like working as a family business? I don't know. He's not there anymore. That's not what I heard. I heard he's still around. Yeah, that is a good question. But it's hard to... I don't know anything different, so... Right. That's what it's all... Is it difficult at times? What kind of relationship do you have with your dad in order to move forward? He talks and I listen. Pretty easy. You're a good son. You're a good son. Yeah. That's good. How involved is he still in the business? Are you going to... Very influential. Are you... Yeah. For sure. I mean, you know, he comes around the office and visits everybody for where he can get to. Yeah. But a lot of people... I mean, it's open door. They come up and visit. No, it's... I think that's the culture, and yeah, that's what makes everybody want to stay there, you know? Yeah. And then you have the third generation, your son now. Mike's grandson. Your grandson, yeah. So how's that all work? How is... I mean, I think people are just curious how the Myshak name just keeps carrying on in business. Mike, what's it like working for the family? You know, it's good. It's... You know, you have your good days and your bad days, right? You know, some days, it's, you know, tough love, and the next day, it's a wealth of information and knowledge that, you know, is getting passed down. So, you know, same as Jim, you sit there and you listen and you try to absorb as much as you can like a sponge because, you know, they went through that school of hard knocks and they've learned their lessons and trying to get me not to make the same ones they have. Yeah. Yeah. But it's good. And the company has grown exponentially over the years. How many employees now? 400 and some. 400 and some employees. Wow. 400. 410, it might be a little more right now. Yeah, depending on the projects, we're probably either 500 or just a little over today. All over Canada? All over? Mostly Western Canada. Western Canada. Yeah. Yeah. But we've been north to Alaska, we're currently supplying gear there. We've been as far south as Texas, Cuba, and as far east as PEI. Wow. Yeah. All over. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, I think anybody who's driven down Highway 16A, if you're coming through Acheson, the thing that sticks out more than anything else, is the Myshak Cranes are sitting there. And it's impressive. It's very, very impressive. And what you guys have done is incredible. And then you drive, for me anyway, drive around the city, I see all the construction happening, the LRTs and those kinds of things. I see your equipment sitting there, and I got to be honest with you. I'm going to be totally honest. I drive by and I see a Myshak Crane and I go, I know them. I think that's pretty incredible. I just think it's awesome. So well, in the city, when you see a Myshak Crane, you know who is the cheapest, bidder. We will get into that. We'll save that for another show. So maybe talk a little bit about how you think business has changed over the years. Maybe from when you first started to now. Have you seen a big shift in the way people do business? Oh, yeah, there's a big shift in people, trying to get good people, but you know, there's definitely in the regulations now are really getting to be horrible. You know, there's one thing I think we're very fortunate. We have, I don't know whether we should even mention, but we have a union shop and a non-union shop, they're working together. Right. Right. Which is, I don't know. Not always the case sometimes. I've actually never heard of that. That's pretty incredible, actually. Well, we had our non-union transportation group renting. Well, they both rent from the parent company, but we had union operators and non-union teamsters, which is unheard of to run together. Yeah, that's incredible. Wow. Well, you're doing something right then, because that's not always a great synergy together. So, that's pretty incredible. Yeah, I remember hearing you one time, you, I'm not sure where I heard you say it, but you said in the early days, a lot of it was done by a handshake. Yep. And that was your word, and your word was your word. Well, that's what, like, I told you, Walter Staley there, was just, never had no paperwork. Yeah. Just a handshake. Yeah. Probably couldn't get away with that today. No. No. But I've always remembered when you said that. I thought that's pretty incredible. Just because it's big business, you know. In the day, it was big business. So, Mike, where you see yourself going here? Good question. You know, we always look to, you know, keep growing and expanding and offering our services, partnerships, you know. So, you know, just keep providing a good service. And as long as we keep doing a good job, hopefully, we can keep going forward. Yeah, it's great. It's good. So, we are in beautiful downtown Acheson, and if anybody has driven along Acheson Road, you will see that there is a sign at the start of Acheson Road, and an honorary road name of Mike Myshak Way. And we at the Acheson Business Association, we're really proud to have put that forward to be able to name Acheson Road after Mr. Myshak. So, if you haven't been to Acheson, take a drive through and take a look at his son and his wonderful story. Oh yeah, I mean, if you're coming to beautiful downtown Acheson, you'll have to drive right through Myshak Way, so that's pretty incredible. And Cam, Mr. Myshak was also our first inaugural recipient of our Acheson Business Lifetime Achievement Award. Yes, and that was really special, having you as the first recipient of that, that award's carried on. Now, this year, Wes Wall is our Lifetime Achievement Award winner. And I remember when we told Wes, and I talked to him after, and we were talking about it, Jennifer told him he had won, and or not won, but he was chosen. And he said, these were his words to me after when we were kind of alone, he said, he said, I can't be in the same category as Mr. Myshak. He said, how do you live up to that? So you have a great, great reputation, and people admire you greatly. So this has been fantastic. Yeah, it's been a great session with all three. And we have a final question that we ask each of our guests. And we're going to ask all of you this question. So yeah. So Jim, we were just Jennifer asked me, we asked this to every one of our guests as we wrap up. And the question is, what's the best piece of advice you've been given, either personally or professionally, that you carry with you to this day? From Mike? From anyone. Oh, yeah. I'd say be humble. You know, be honest. I like that. Be humble, be honest. And then over to you. The best piece of advice you've been given. Don't work with your son. I'm trying to get him to retire, but I won't. You notice he didn't ask me where I was going to go. I was worried to ask that question. So, what's the best piece of advice you've been given? Well, like I said, it's... You know, he's taken the words right out of my mouth, to be upfront and honest, and, you know... That's the bottom line. Yeah. Wow. That's great. Don't stop working. Don't stop working. And I can, I've known, well, I've known, I've gotten to know Mike a little bit better, and really appreciate working with him, and have hung around you guys a little bit here and there. And I can say that you are, truly, you are humble people. You are caring people. We see that in you. And you are great business people, that's for sure. But you do it with humility and humbleness. And that's just, that's his wife calling. Saying, it's getting close to lunch. Where are you? No, just kidding. So, I just want to say, we just want to say thank you so much for doing this. So, this is episode 13. When Mike told me that you, Grandpa, when you agreed, when you and Jim agreed to do this, I phoned Jennifer, I ran out onto the thing over there, and I phoned Jennifer and I said, you won't believe it, they agreed to do it. I'm so excited. And so, thank you. Yeah, absolutely. We really appreciate you sharing your story with us. And I think our listeners are going to love it. But thank you, everybody. Thank you, Myshaks, for joining us. Hey, everybody, really appreciate it. And remember, wherever you get your podcasts, just download, tell your friends, tell your family, tell your business partners, tell your enemies. Tell everybody about ABA Coffee In The Park podcast. We really appreciate you listening. Thanks, everybody. See you next week.