In 1978, Jeff Kelsey graduated from Wessington Springs High School. He confesses at that time he had no idea what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. Having two sisters in Oregon they encouraged him to come “to the land of opportunity,” so the young man headed west. He took the first job he was offered at a roofing company. Scared to death of heights, Jeff quickly decided that was not his calling and went to work in a lumber mill when the job became available. The loss of his dad in 1979 and the fact he was just plain homesick, brought Jeff back to the foothills of Wessington Springs.
Looking for a career that kept his feet on the ground, American State Bank quickly became a solid influence in Kelsey’s life as he made a 15–year career commitment to the banking industry. During that time, Jeff made two decisions that would prove to be a constant in his life. First, Kelsey sought out classes and became proficient in tax preparation. Next, he became a licensed insurance agent. “Little did I know then how important those two decisions would be to the course of my long–term career,” shared Kelsey. Another wise decision Jeff made took place in 1988 when he married his wife, Karen.
Jeff admits he was baptized by fire in the banking business. With no secondary education, he learned from the ground up working in the teller line, running a proof machine, typing up loans, doing taxes, selling insurance and eventually was named Vice President/Branch Manager. After leaving the banking industry late in 1994, Jeff took employment with Stan’s Feed & Grain in 1995, but stayed true to his bookkeeping, tax, and insurance talents. In 1996, Jeff’s wife, Karen, entered the insurance business, and they converted the front entry of their house into a home office. Eventually they moved to a building built on the same property as their home, to house the insurance and income tax/bookkeeping businesses. These businesses are known today as Kelsey Service Agency, Inc.
In early 1998, the Kelseys applied for a Pioneer Seed contract and in August were notified they had been approved for a Pioneer Seed Dealership. This was the beginning of Kelsey Seed & Ag Service, LLC. The dealership would require a warehouse and for the first time the Kelseys would need to hire staff. Kelsey had become a member of Dakotaland Federal Credit Union and pursued funding for his newest venture. “Looking back, this was a pivotal point in my career, which set several other wheels in motion,” relayed Jeff. Surprisingly, one of those wheels started to roll over a game of pool.
Yes, over a friendly game of billiards, Kelsey hired a young Lake Area Tech graduate, by the name of Jason Schley. Jeff claims there was just something about Jason. Schley was a local kid with a lot of ambition and that relationship proved to fuel many of the opportunities and growth Kelsey would take on over the next two decades, starting with Jason’s suggestion to add agricultural chemical sales to the already substantiated seed business. A ‘yes’ from Jeff raised the Alpena based company to a full–service chemical and seed retail status.
In the meantime, family joined the family businesses. Daughter, Shawn, stepped into an Office Manager position and later obtained her insurance license to eventually oversee the Kelsey Insurance Agency, which she still does today. Shawn’s husband, Dean, came into the fold in 2009, when an investment was made into spray application equipment expanding the chemical and seed business to include ground application services and K–O Custom Spray was born.
The business continued to grow over the next several years, but as it sometimes happens, family outgrows the family business structure. For the Kelseys that meant K–O Spray would eventually be sold off and Jeff relied on a third party to support his chemical application service. In 2014, once again Schley prompted Jeff with a business idea. Jason had always been passionate about plant and soil health and he had a vision for a soil and tissue laboratory. Kelsey was skeptical and struggled to see how a high–tech venture such as this would work in a small town like Alpena. His research took him as far away as Temple, Texas and to a wealth of knowledge coming to him out of South Dakota State University in Brookings through a retired business contact. With the purchase of a private residence in Alpena and some creative renovations, Jason narrowed his focus to the soil lab and together Next Level Ag LLC was created.
Moving forward a few more years, Jeff’s son–in–law, Travis Hohn, who had been involved in agricultural lines of business since 1998, took on a partner and approached the Kelseys about buying into Kelsey Seed and Ag Service, LLC. Starting in 2019, both Jeff and Karen had experienced some health concerns which led them to seriously consider their succession plan and along with that came the opportunity to place a lifetime of business development into the hands of the next generation.
It sounded like the final chapter, but for those who know Jeff Kelsey, they will affirm there are likely to be several additional chapters to this book. Case in point, in 2020 it was announced the Red Hog Pub & Casino in Alpena was scheduled to close. At first blush, Jeff thought it would be a good idea to purchase the establishment as he and Karen had been in the bar business at one time as owners of the Sunset Bar & Grill in Wessington, SD. Later he started to rethink the idea, but it was too late. Between the encouragement from his daughters, Shawn and Tara, and a partnership opportunity, the Kelseys re–entered the bar and casino business.
To date, Kelsey keeps his hands in the business where it all started, Kelsey Service Agency Inc. They have three office locations in Alpena, Wessington Springs and Woonsocket providing bookkeeping, tax preparation and insurance products. Jeff loves to keep busy, but when not at work, he and Karen can be found enjoying their family of four daughters, 14 grandchildren and five great–grandchildren, camping, fishing and winged sprint car racing.
When asked the key to his success, Jeff is quick to acknowledge he surrounded himself with good people and gives a lot of credit to his employees and family. He also believes slow growth was his saving grace. “I never got too far ahead of myself, which allowed me to stay independent and able to financially sustain our growth,” reported Kelsey.
