Roads To Success 2.2

A Little Extra Cash

Boise, Idaho is a rural community in the western United States.  Several technology companies have headquarters or division offices here, but historically local business has been centered around agriculture and ranching.  Boise has been home to Jerry Caven for most of his life.

Jerry is literally the last of a dying breed, an honest-to-goodness cattle rancher.  But the trail leading to the ranch wasn't a straight one.  We shot most of Jerry’s Secrets Of Success interview at the home he built on a hillside overlooking Boise, and he told us how it all came to be.

At Northwest Nazarene University Jerry majored in biology with a minor in education.  In his freshman year at NNU he met a young lady named Muriel Parsons.  By his senior year, Jerry and Muriel were married.  Upon graduation Jerry began a career as a schoolteacher, and he and Muriel wasted no time in starting their family.  Actually, they took a super charged approach, having five children in five years. 

Jerry taught science and math, and coached the football and basketball teams at a local junior high school.  At age twenty-nine, in his sixth year of teaching he found that he was barely getting by financially.  “When I was teaching school in my sixth year in Boise I was making $4,600 a year.  And for a wife and five children that was not a sufficient amount,” Jerry told the camera.

Jerry began looking for a way to bring in a little extra cash to help his family.  A part time job seemed to be a logical solution.  “I went to the want ads in the paper and saw the name McDonald’s,” he recalled.

The name immediately registered with Jerry because his family often bought McDonald’s fast food.  Knowing that the restaurant was open in the evenings, Jerry reasoned that he might be able to teach during the day, and work for the fast food company in the evenings and weekends.  He decided to apply for a job.

Jerry was in for a disappointing surprise.  It turned out that McDonald’s was not looking for part time help.  They weren’t even looking for full time help.  Somehow the only McDonald’s restaurant in Boise had managed to go bankrupt.  McDonald’s had taken it back from the franchisee, and with no other McDonald’s units within 500 miles of Boise, the corporation was eager to sell it to a new operator.

Bernie Baxter, the McDonald’s representative charged with the task, encouraged Jerry to purchase the franchise.  In 1965 it was a bargain at only $60,000 dollars.  “Immediately I explained to him that I had no money and I wanted a job, not a franchise,” Jerry told us.  “You don’t understand, I explained to him, I don’t have six dollars let alone $60,000.”

Mr. Baxter returned to McDonald’s headquarters in Chicago and Jerry thought it was all over.  He continued his part time job hunt not realizing that a gift that could only come from heaven would soon change his life forever.

© 2012 Philip Kassel

Roads To Success 1.2

Jerry Caven

I first met Jerry Caven in his home town of Boise, Idaho, on a chilly February morning in 2000.  My assistant and I arrived at his office, a single story, unassuming building on Fairview Avenue near the outskirts of the city.  Neatly stenciled lettering on the glass door identified the business within as States Realty.

I’m fairly certain that Jerry didn’t know we were coming.  Perhaps it was a scheduling goof or maybe he just forgot, but in those first few minutes he was conspicuously quiet, a little distant, and behaved as if he didn’t quite know what he should do with us.

My initial thought was that this was going to be a tough interview.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  Within fifteen or twenty minutes Jerry wrapped up what he was doing when we first arrived and invited us into his office where we began chatting about his story.  What I originally viewed as aloofness disappeared, replaced by a quiet and gentle but strong demeanor.  His answers were thoughtful, honest and thorough.  As the day progressed he made us feel more and more welcome.

We would soon learn that his humble headquarters in the States Realty building was more than it seemed.  Real estate was certainly sold there, homes built by Jerry Caven’s construction company on land developed by his development company.  Oh, yeah, the place was also the center of operations for his chain of forty-seven restaurants.  And did I mention the cattle ranching business?

Over the next two days Jerry served as a gracious and generous host, chauffeuring us around so we could see his various business interests in Boise, taking us out to his ranch and giving us a tour of his home.  He did this all while answering my substantial amount of questions about his life.

At the time it was our practice in producing Secrets of Success for me to visit the subject of each episode on their home turf prior to actually shooting the show.  I would conduct a preliminary interview in order to get a sense of the story, do a little location scouting and meet anyone in their lives who might be able to contribute to the story.  After the initial interview, a few weeks to a couple of months later, I would return with a camera crew to actually shoot the show.

It would be more than two years before I returned to Boise with a camera crew to shoot Jerry Caven’s story.  There were several scheduling conflicts during that time, and then we wanted to wait until the spring months so we could shoot footage of the annual cattle drive that took place on Jerry’s ranch.

It was all worth the wait because Jerry Caven’s story turned out to be one in a million.  In a nutshell, it’s the story of a man who ended up with a sizable business empire just because, once upon a time, he needed a part time job and answered an ad in the local newspaper.

© 2012 Philip Kassel

Roads To Success 12

Epilogue:  Ron and Cristy Varela

The story just told was current as of 2006 when the Varela’s episode of Secrets Of Success completed production.  During an October 2011 telephone interview Ron and Cristy brought me up to date with their business and personal lives.

Following their litigation with the State of California over the Highway 71 landslide circumstances forced the Varelas to downsize their work force from one-hundred-fifty employees to eight.  They also liquidated their trucks and heavy equipment in order to satisfy the demands of their bank.

The economic downturn that began in 2008 and cascaded across the United States obliged the Varelas to cut back even more.  In recent years they have reduced their number of employees to three.  With their business smaller than ever, and with new construction jobs fewer in number, Ron and Cristy found themselves seriously discussing whether or not they should continue maintaining the company at all.

Ron makes the observation that, in the current economic environment, doing business is tougher and more frustrating than ever before.  Customer loyalty has eroded away to almost nothing, banks are increasingly inflexible, and ethics in general have been negatively altered.  Having experienced years of running a thriving company and doing business on a handshake, Ron finds it discouraging.

The Varelas were on the verge of closing down their operations when a small job came along, a dirt-hauling contract for a Temecula hospital project worth about $450,000.  It gave them hope and caused them to keep an expectant eye on the business landscape.  Ron says that he now sees new jobs on the horizon; now it’s just a matter of landing them for his company.

There is a great deal at stake.  The Varelas have employees whose futures depend on the solvency of their business, and their personal nest egg for retirement has been impacted as well.  Their beloved Rancho Diamante is also at risk; it is currently on the real estate market.

In spite of the impending circumstances, Ron and Cristy manage to attend to the problems at hand without actually focusing on them.  Their main and unwavering focus is on their faith in Christ.  Besides, this couple simply does not know how to give up.  They never have.

Just to clarify, the Varelas are mere mortals, just like the rest of us.  The problems and loss accumulating in their lives during these challenging times impinge on them just as they would anyone else.  “We’re not supposed to question the Lord about why these things happen but you still can’t help asking why,” Ron explained.  “We have to keep the faith because that’s just about all we have left.”

“I know beyond a shadow of a doubt the Lord’s plan is good,” Cristy added.  “Whatever it is it will be better than anything we can imagine.  Everyday I see signs that the Lord is near.  I praise him all the time.”

The Varelas’ desire to serve certainly hasn’t been impaired by the economy or other current circumstances.  They haven’t been able to contribute financially as they once could but they still find ways to give substantially.  Ron put it this way, “Even if you lose material things you can still give your time.”

Ron and Cristy currently donate generous portions of their time to the Military Ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ (CRU), Pinnacle Forum, the Prescott Annual Prayer Breakfast, Advocates for Faith and Freedom, and Big Brothers-Big Sisters of America.  Of course, their favorite service is still hosting a variety of ministries at Rancho Diamante.  “This year we didn’t host that many,” Cristy said.  “However, it is one of our greatest joys.”

So, as of October 2011, the Varelas are hanging in there and fighting the good fight, just as they always have.  They are working hard to regain a solid footing for their business, and they are still hopeful they can keep Rancho Diamante.  Most importantly, they daily live in and maintain an unshakable faith in God.

Ron offered up this parting comment to end our interview, “We’ve lost a lot of material stuff but we still have our family, and we’re a tight, tight family and that’s awesome.”

Thank you, Ron and Cristy, awesome, indeed.

© 2011 Philip Kassel

Roads To Success 11

Ron and Cristy Varela (continued)

New Horizons

Facing the daunting challenge of breast cancer, Ron and Cristy bonded together as they had through so many other crises in their lives.  Together they considered the options available to Cristy.  Together they researched, consulted with doctors and together they prayed for guidance. 

“It didn’t take very long but for some reason I had a peace about everything I decided to do that I can’t explain,” Cristy recounted.  “I know now that comes from God.”

Ron summed it all up with, “We made the decision together that she was going to have surgery and then just put our faith in the Lord.”

The surgery was successful, and through the ordeal, the Varela family had grown stronger because of it.  There was a new closeness, a greater openness and a tighter bond between not only Ron and Cristy, but the entire family.

“It really brought us to what was really important in life,” Ron stated ardently.  “It brought our family together even closer.”

“This is really all that matters, your family and your relationship with God,” added Jason.

Ron and Cristy’s walk of faith is obvious in them both; it rests easily on them, defines them and guides them.  As their faith matured they involved themselves in a small, Christian media radio station based in Prescott, Arizona, helping whenever and wherever they could.  At the time we taped the Varela interviews Carol Stensrud was the general manager of KGCB and I asked her on camera to give me her assessment of Ron and Cristy.  “What I see in them are two people who are so hungry to please God now,” Carol answered.  “They just want people to have the excitement and joy they have.”

“For both my mom and dad, I think they rely a lot more on prayer every day, all day, for all the decisions they make, big or small,” Jason told me during his interview.

“I think before it was how many toys you can have and how much money you can have in the bank,” Ron added.  “We changed our priority about material things.  Now we’ve had the opportunity to give back.”

Carole Stensrud confirmed Ron’s statement, “They’re generous in so many ways.  Not just here at KGCB but around the world.  I just can’t get my mind around all they do to bless other people.”

“We’ve been able to go to Ecuador, Bolivia, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic,” Ron explained enthusiastically.  “We’ve been able to share the Gospel and share with some of our finances to help out.”

“Now I see a new success in their lives,” Jennifer related.  “With being able to affect other people, and going to other countries, and reaching out to people, just being effected by it and caring.  They see people that are in need and they want to help.”

Today, Ron and Cristy have restructured their business into The Varela Companies.  Most of their business is in residential development and they operate a grading company as well.  The Varela Companies even encompass their Arizona ranch.  At the time of their television interviews in 2006 the companies were collectively generating annual revenues in the tens of millions.

Ron and Cristy have little doubt where their success comes from.  Cristy put it this way, “I know that our success is because God has given us the abilities, the opportunities, opened doors for us, and helped us grow strong.”

“From having a lot to losing just about everything, and then they got a second chance to grow,” reflected Jason.  “I think with all the things that happened in their lives with cancer, and losing companies and all the bad things, they got to say, ‘Okay how do we do it this time?’  It’s allowed the companies to grow and headed us in the right direction.”

Ron, having already acknowledged God’s grace and provision in his family’s life, added this, “With hard work and perseverance you can succeed.  Next month it’ll be thirty-eight years that we’ve been married.  We have two wonderful kids and five wonderful grandkids.”

“We don’t give up,” Cristy agreed.  “We have a reason not to give up, mostly because God has given us the courage to go forward.  We trust each other and we trust Him.”

© 2011 Philip Kassel

Roads To Success 10

Ron and Cristy Varela (continued)

Turning Point

Ron and Cristy found themselves in a challenging and often disappointing season of life.  The business they had worked so hard to build together no longer existed in the form they had known it; the business was there but on a much smaller scale.  No longer owning their own equipment, they would lease what they needed in order to complete the jobs that came their way.

Certainly not helping the situation, Ron was still drinking, and the drinking caused stress between him and Cristy.  There was tension and there were arguments, and the marriage frequently stumbled over rocky ground.  But the couple had been together since their teenage years and something kept them holding on.

The situation was about to grow worse, and it began at a party attended by Ron, Jason and Jennifer.  Ron, particularly, was enjoying the party.  “We’d have a drink, he’d have a double, or he’d have two doubles,” remembered Jason.

“I specifically said to him, dad give me the keys,” Jennifer added.  “Let me drive you home.  But he insisted on driving himself home.”

Ron wouldn’t listen, climbed into his car and headed home.  On the way he fell asleep at the wheel and struck another car.  Fortunately, no one was hurt but Ron ended up spending the night in jail.

The accident and the jail experience were traumatic for the entire family but it was also the beginning of an important course change.  “It was a tough moment but a good moment for us because I think it was a turning point,” Jason explained.

Ron realized that he could have been injured or killed, or even worse, he could have killed someone else.  The accident and jail experience became a giant wake up call.

Admitting that he did nothing in moderation in life, Ron decided he would stop drinking.  At the time of his interview in 2006 he had not had a drink in over ten years.  According to his family, the changes in him didn’t happen overnight but they did indeed happen.

Daughter Jennifer indirectly played a part in transformations that occurred in her father and her mother as well.  To help deal with some personal problems of her own, Jennifer had begun attending a local church.  Ron and Cristy accepted their daughter’s invitation to attend with her.  For Ron and Cristy, the experience would be dramatically life changing.

I asked Ron and Cristy what they gained from attending church.  “Well, we started to realize that we had to have faith and trust.  We just realized that we can’t do it all by ourselves,” was Ron’s response.

“It took us a while to understand what it meant to be saved,” Cristy told me in a recent correspondence.  “We first knew we had a relationship with the Lord in 1997.”

The Varela family took their initial exploration of Christianity seriously.  They asked questions, attended Bible studies and visited a variety of churches.  The effort fed their commitment, they grew to understand what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and their faith grew stronger.  That faith was soon tested when Cristy was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998.

“A lot of things go through your mind,” Cristy remembered.  “You wonder if you’ll live.  You wonder if you’ll see your family again.  You don’t know what’s next, what God has in mind for you.”

Jason Varela observed that the crisis caused his mother to truly rely on someone else.  “I think that’s when she started to turn to Him for support in her life,” he said during his interview.

“I just depended on my family and I depended on God and I really prayed a lot,” Cristy explained.

Jennifer saw the cancer crisis as a significant catalyst in Ron becoming a new person.  “My mom’s breast cancer was the breaking point for my dad, and I saw him really surrendering, and just wanting to be there for her, and just so desperately wanting her to be okay.”

Ron credited his growing faith in Christ to his transformation.  “When you start having faith you begin to realize that it’s not all about you,” Ron said.  “You start treating people the way you’d like to be treated.  You learn your priorities.  You put the Lord first, your wife and family second, and yourself third.  I had always put myself first.”

“He just has a softer way about him,” described Jennifer.  “That’s very big, because my dad wasn’t soft.”

Thinking back on those days of transformation Cristy recalled, “Over time he [Ron] became more patient, more tolerant, slower to react.  He was less angry, more giving, and more prayerful.”

There were decisions to be made, extremely critical decisions that would ultimately determine Cristy’s future health.  Ron and Cristy knew they would make these decisions together, and this time they were absolutely certain that God would guide them in the process.

© 2011 Philip Kassel

Roads To Success 9

Ron and Cristy Varela (continued)

Landslide

Ron & Cristy had built a successful business, and in spite of marrying at an early age their relationship had endured a number of challenges and even thrived.  But a hidden problem had slowly been creeping up on the young couple unnoticed, growing larger and stronger with time.  “We got to where we thought we were invincible,” Ron explained.  “I was staying out entertaining customers and drinking with my friends, and having too much fun.”

Ron would start the day early and come home late.  Cristy, reasonably so, was not happy with the situation.  She stayed at home with the children, often with dinner waiting for Ron.  And just as often, Ron would not return home until after midnight.  Not surprisingly, there were numerous fights between them during this troubled season in their lives.

“I hated his drinking,” Cristy recalled.  “I hated the change I saw in him, or how he’d be when he was drinking.”

Ron and Cristy’s children have lucid memories of that period in their family’s life.  Jennifer recalled that her father was frequently on edge and not particularly friendly.  She also noted that, as much as Ron loved Cristy, he wasn’t very respectful to her when drinking.

Jason Varela, now Vice President and General Manager of Diamond R, LLC, the Varela development company, graduated from college and began working for his father in 1992.  He looked back on his father’s drinking with this observation, “He was, to me, tough to work with but mainly tough to deal with outside of work.  He was a very functional alcoholic; a very functional drinker and most people I think looking back would say, yeah, he’s a fun guy but not necessarily an alcoholic.”

Ron’s drinking made family life difficult enough, but even greater trouble was looming in a large grading and excavating job.  The project was in Chino Hills, California, on a three-mile stretch of Highway 71.  The problems began with a landslide that dumped approximately 300,000 cubic yards of dirt onto the freeway.  The landslide brought work to an immediate halt while the state began a lengthy process to determine what should be done to resolve the problem.

“Working with government agencies really took us down,” recalled Jason Varela.  “At the time I think one of the projects was $700 million.  Well, that was huge to us.  To them it was nothing.  We were just another change order, just another contract on a billion dollar project, or whatever it might have been.  And they [the state government] don’t take into account that every time they don’t sign one of our change orders that somebody’s not going to get paid or a trucker’s not going to get his money to feed his family and pay his bills.  So, it really was a cash flow issue and a lack of accountability with the government agencies.”

Ron had little choice but to take his battle with the State of California to court.  Nothing about the experience was easy.  “It just seemed like almost every day there was a new issue that was not good, something to deal with,” Cristy explained.  “And so he would come home sometimes and just wonder how much more could he take.  Is it all worth it?”

After months of costly litigation the court determined that since the primary contractor had hired Ron’s company, it was the contractor and not the state that was liable.  Ron would have to begin again by filing a new lawsuit.  But by this time, beginning again was not an option.

“I saw that his fuse had gone out,” Jennifer said of her father.  “He was tired of fighting.”

Ron decided to settle out of court with the primary contractor and move forward if at all possible.  At the time it was really the only logical option, especially if the Varelas were to avoid the huge cost and relentless stress generated by additional litigation.  But it was also a costly decision.

“It just took a large, large amount of money out of our net worth,” Ron explained.  “To the scale we had been it closed down our construction company after twenty-seven years.”

The company dwindled from one-hundred-fifty employees down to eight.  It was also compelled to sell its trucks and other heavy equipment at a discount in order to repay bank debts incurred during the lengthy litigation.  For Ron and Cristy it was a deeply humbling experience.

If the demise of his company wasn’t enough there was even more disappointment, and more loss, heading Ron’s way.  The sandbag company Ron had started with a partner was doing well, generating approximately $2 million annually.  While Ron was distracted by the lengthy legal proceedings with the State of California his business partner disappeared with a large amount of company money, resulting in the end of the sandbag business.

“When that fell apart I think it was pretty devastating because it was a company based on trust between dad and his partner,” recalled Jason Varela.

Both Jason and Jennifer remembered that the betrayal their father experienced from the sandbag company incident disappointed him greatly.  There was a time he could do business on a handshake but those days were gone for good.

To Ron’s family and friends, it appeared that everything important in his world was falling apart.  Unfortunately, there were still greater challenges heading towards both Ron and Cristy.

© 2011 Philip Kassel

Roads To Success 8

Ron and Cristy Varela (continued)


New Territory

In its early stages the Ron E. Varela Company operated out of an office in the Varela family home.  It enabled Cristy to work alongside Ron managing office operations.  “We had always worked together well,” Cristy said.  “So I was able to work and take care of the kids.  When it became apparent that I wouldn’t be able to support him in all areas he hired other employees.”

“We ended up growing that company into, eventually, a $30 million a year company,” Ron added.  Still in their twenties, the Varela’s personal income was over $200,000 a year.

During that period of time the Ron E. Varela Company had up to 150 employees, an inventory of heavy, earth moving equipment and 75 hauling trucks.  In business, timing is often everything, and the timing for the Varelas was excellent considering the building boom in Orange County during that era.  Among the company’s multi-million dollar projects were the Century Freeway in Los Angeles and the Orange Crush freeway intersection in Orange County.

With the growth of their company, the Varelas enjoyment of life grew as well.  Cristy put it this way, “We bought another home; our tax man would tell us we had to invest in other things and so we invested in some properties.  We played a lot.  We travelled a lot.  We always travelled with our kids; we took them almost everywhere we went.”

Ron and Cristy’s daughter, Jennifer, now a real estate agent in Riverside County, California, recalled those family vacations.  “We’d be on vacation and my dad would be on the phone.”  And that’s kind of the vision I have of my dad,” she related.  “He’s always working; he’s one of those people who loves to work.”

Horseback riding was one of the recreational activities that Ron and Cristy grew to love.  While on a five-day camping trip with a men’s equestrian group in the hills of Temecula, California, Ron discovered what he believed was the perfect place for his family.  “When I got back I told Cristy I thought I’d found the place we should move to,” Ron recalled.  “It was nice, serene country and we could keep horses there, so we moved to Temecula.”

Ron and Cristy had overcome the numerous challenges they faced by marrying as teenagers.  They were successfully raising two children, and together they had built a multi-million dollar company.  Life was looking extremely good when they made Temecula their family home.

“A few years later everyone else heard about Temecula,” Ron explained.  “Our secret wasn’t a big secret anymore.”

The fact that Temecula was just beginning to grow and had yet to be developed made it ideal for a talent Ron had developed through his experience in excavating and grading.  Through his years in the earth moving business Ron had learned to visualize the end result for land requiring excavation or grading; he could clearly see the end result of the work.  “One of the projects we did was a two-hundred acre property we were able to purchase,” Ron told me during his interview.  “We subdivided it into five-acre ranchettes and put homes on them.”

The Varelas sold the five-acre parcels effectively creating a development division in the Varela companies.  They also partnered with a business associate to create a sandbag company during this period of growth.  Much of the sand came from their various excavation jobs, but they also acquired permission from owners to excavate sand from flood control districts, channels and a variety of other projects.

The Varelas were doing well and were ready for more.  Through their horse association friends they found a thirty-two-hundred acre ranch just outside of Prescott, Arizona.  The ranch’s current owner, a Canadian developer, was in the process of raising financing to develop the land with 3,000 homes and two golf courses.  He needed someone who could refinance the property and the Varelas took on the refinance. The agreement gave them 320 acres in collateral and stated that if the owner failed to pay back the loan within one year they could purchase the entire ranch at a fixed price.

When the developer was unable to raise the money to complete his project, Ron and Cristy ended up purchasing the ranch, naming it Rancho Diamante.  We shot most of their interview at the ranch, a peaceful, sprawling property cradled in the Prescott National Forest.  The main house, built in the 1920’s by Quaker Oats heir Jerome Eddy, is an expansive, hacienda-style home of brick, with wood vigas, covered porches and patios.  The interior is a warm blend of wood, ceramic tile and smooth, plaster walls.  Nearby, but not too nearby, is the bunkhouse, now often used for ministry guests.  And of course no self-respecting ranch would be complete without a barn, stables and corrals.

When Ron and Cristy took over Rancho Diamante, they immediately began transforming the property, making it truly their own.  The house, a rather cold structure when they first moved in, became more welcoming under Cristy’s care, and the property flourished under Ron’s management.  On the surface, everything was going well, but in reality trouble had been brewing for some time.

© 2011 Philip Kassel