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Entrepreneurial Spotlight - Dave Hill
Mid-America Bank was founded by Dave Hill in 1997. Hill has a long history in this area. His great grandparents moved to Baldwin in 1895. Hill’s father was the 2nd generation to graduate Baldwin High School in 1951 and then went on to Baker University, graduating in 1955. Dave Hill grew up in nearby Eudora and attended the University of Kansas. Hill started the first branch of Mid-America Bank in Baldwin in 1997. The bank has made a name for itself in the real estate loan market. Here is what we learned when we met with Dave Hill about the history of how Mid-America bank began and more about his entrepreneurial journey.
Hill began his career working in the banking industry for 13 years before getting into the mortgage business in 1995. At that time, he had started a business named Hilco Mortgage. The company wrote loans and was selling them on the secondary market. However, he said, “We were having a hard time getting other banks to do the construction loans in a timely manner. I saw a need.” Hill bought a central Kansas bank with eight million dollars in assets for $800,000, and Mid-America Bank was born! Currently, there are branches in Wellsville (purchased from Patriot’s Bank in 2012), Baldwin, Lawrence, Gardner and soon in Eudora, too. In 2022, the bank wrote 1,084 loans, making it the number one bank in Douglas County for real estate lending in the past 10 years running. Today, Mid-America Bank has grown to 350 million dollars in total assets and has increased the $800k capital position up to 37 million.
When asked about his family, Hill mentioned that his wife, Pamela, a nurse by trade, decided to help with managing the books at Mid-America Bank once they decided to start a family. Although she and Dave worked long hours building the bank into what it is today, this job allowed her to have a flexible job while raising their children. Hill said, “We were both able to make it to all our children’s activities as they were growing up. That was important to us.” They have three successful children, two of whom currently work for Mid-America Bank. The other is a dentist in Ottawa – Dr. Jessica Johnson.
We discussed how being an entrepreneur can have an impact on the family. Hill stated, “When your children see you work hard and tirelessly to build a business, they learn that is what is takes to be successful. One of my daughters is a successful owner of a dental practice. Dental school teaches you a lot about the practice of dentistry and nothing about the business aspect. Many people want the lifestyle afforded by a high income immediately. What they don’t realize is that it takes time to build that, especially if it’s your own business.”
When we were starting our business in 1995, our children came to our office after school rather than going home. They would get small tasks to do, and they learned from it. More importantly, they saw what we did every day to build a successful business and they learned from it. To my surprise and great pleasure, two of our three children are in our banking business working to build their careers in the banking industry. This makes for a great succession plan for me. We don’t plan to ever sell Mid-America Bank, and in fact, we plan to keep building and growing. Logically, the two children in our business have “ownership mentality” and this along with some other very key team players are what make our future business even brighter.”
When asked what motivates Hill to work as hard as he does, he told us, “I truly enjoy and love what I do. I don’t work for money; I work for pleasure, and the money has followed. We each must choose a career or job in which we make a living. A person is fortunate if they find one in which money is NOT the motivator. I told my son-in laws this, and I truly believe it. You must provide for your family one way or the other. To me, real life success is making a living at something you truly enjoy. You won’t worry about the hours you work if you love what you do. To this day, I still love going to work daily.” A typical day for Hill begins at 7:15AM and ends around 6PM. He even works most Saturdays. Then we talked a bit more about success and Hill said, “I feel that when people take on jobs or careers just for high earnings, they find it only leads to short term happiness. Long term happiness is loving your job and making a living at it.”
The next topic we discussed was goals. Hill had a strong opinion on this topic and shared, “Mid-American Bank is a goal driven business, and I very much believe in setting and striving to hit goals. People without goals tend to drift without direction and really go “nowhere”. All our staff knows we annually set goals and strive to reach them and the fun in it is that we have numerous factors, good and bad that effect this journey and make it challenging. Typically, we hit or exceed our goals as we have numerous great people on our team.”
This conversation turned more toward the actual topic of entrepreneurship during which Hill mentioned, “If you are committed to working hard and keeping your business in your mind every day, it can be a very rewarding experience. If you are worried about the hours you work, risks you take or not willing to be 110% committed to your business by being the best you can be, you’re better off working for someone else. To be a successful entrepreneur, you must be a true expert in your field, full of knowledge and yet hungry enough to keep learning and growing daily. I have been banking for 40 years now. My first 13 years in banking, I worked as hard as I could to learn and grow which laid a good foundation for what has become the last 27 years of working hard in an ever-changing market and industry.”
When asked what four things Dave Hill thought were the most crucial for anyone wanting to pursue being an entrepreneur, he said, “People, product, price, and process. To be successful as an entrepreneur, you must excel in these areas. The people part is YOU. You must ensure you are one of the best in your industry. When it comes to your product or service, make sure it’s relevant and essential and determine if you have a market for the service or item you want to sell. As for price, you need to ensure you can compete in your market from a pricing standpoint. This does not mean you have to be the cheapest product or service, but you must sell it for a good value to the consumer. Lastly, you have to have processes in place to make your consistently deliver the same product or service. Having nine out of 10 transactions go well is not acceptable. We must have 10 out of 10.”
We talked about what key activities an entrepreneur should invest their time in. Hill said, “You must constantly be training yourself and staff to know your business and keep current with the markets and industry. A lifetime of learning and growing is essential. In our world, being average does not work. We want to employ the best people and provide the best products and pricing we can. Our main objective is to provide the best solutions for our customers. Learning your business by watching peers and competitors to see what they do right and/or wrong. You can learn from both.”
When asked about his greatest inspiration, Dave talked about his dad. He told us, “My father was my greatest inspiration. He was raised by his grandparents who were not always gainfully employed. He made up his mind that he did not want to live like that, and he worked hard to do and be better. He made a lot of his life and had fun along the way. His claim was that he went to all his years of schooling, kindergarten through college, all within three blocks of his home. My dad was brought up in Baldwin City, so he graduated from BHS and went on to Baker University, being the first in his family to go to college. He changed our families trajectory and motivated all three of his children to work hard, be the best you could be, know how to make and save money, and live a good and balanced life. Family was very important to my dad. He was my role model. I had the great privilege of having him around for “mental” support throughout my life.”
Finally, we brought the conversation around to good books. Dave said, “For pleasure, I read about successful businesspeople and the one that comes to mind most is Warren Buffet. The thing about people like Warren Buffet is that their thoughts and life are really a lot simpler than people realize. The truth of the matter is that success can and will come to those who work hard, work smart and are “disciplined”. You cannot buy all the toys on day one. You must make the money first, then you can buy the toys if you so desire. Business life and financial success are not that difficult. One of the most important factors to business and financial success is “personal discipline”. Warren Buffet does NOT invest in items he does NOT fully understand or believe 100% in---minimal tech, no digital currency but yes, basic things like coca cola, DQ, Gillette, BNSF, etc.-----all things people need and consume daily.”
When we talked about hobbies, Dave informed me that he enjoys bicycling, yardwork, mowing, traveling about three times each year, and going to his and his wife’s “retreat home” in Norton, Kansas. Hill worked in Norton for 10 years, and his wife is from that area. He said, “We really enjoy the beauty and peacefulness that area provides. We go for an extended weekend once each month.”
If you’d like to learn more about Mid-America Bank, you visit their website at https://www.mid-americabank.com/ or stop by at 1008 Poplar Street in Wellsville, 802 Ames Street, Baldwin City, 4114 W. 6th Street in Lawrence, or 18365 S. Gardner Road in Gardner.
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