Auctioneer Shane Ophus told me, "I wanted to do something that nobody else was doing. There were already lots of farmers and ranchers. I didn't have any place to go farming or ranching. I didn't want to go to college. So I had to pick another option.
His son, Blaine, said, "I grew up in it every Saturday, and even during school or after school, we go to help set up everything. I don't know; being an auctioneer is more of a passion than anything else." And just like that, we got into the real reason I wanted to interview them. I asked, "Why is it a passion?"
Shane said, "You find that you can help people out. Okay, it took me about ten years to realize it, but we had a widow lady, and her husband had passed away. She was left with all these items and didn't really know where to start. She didn't even know what machinery was in the place. And so, after we had her auction, she was so relieved and so thankful. So then I realize there's kind of a, I don't know, a blessing or something that we were providing. We were helping somebody out, that would have their back up against the wall and never knew where to go."
"It's part of the life cycle. You know, somebody's in financial trouble, and there's no way out. It's better for us to do the option than for the bank to tell them they must do the auction. There's still some chance of redemption for coming out of it on top."
"All auctioneers have their own unique way of bid calling. Everybody is different, I guarantee. Everybody has their own style, their own chant, or however, you want to call it."
"When we have a big all-day auction, we try to change auctioneers every half hour because it's like listening to the same song on the radio; you become numb. So yeah, if you look at your favorite song, if you listen to it 1000 times, it's not your favorite song anymore. But we found out that by changing auctioneers, we can increase our prices by having a fresh voice on the microphone."
Besides son Blaine, sons Taylor, and Mason also help in the Ophus Auction Company. Gwen Ophus, wife and mother, "She's the boss. She takes care of all the clerking and checking." This is a small family business. Shane corrects me, saying, "I'd say small with big world results. I mean, now, with the internet, we reach out and sell stuff all over the world. At first, I thought the freight by hauling something clear from here to Pennsylvania would be prohibitive. But it doesn't bother people when it's the widget they want. Then they don't care. They just buy it. The farthest thing, I guess, we sold was the swather in Uruguay in the middle of December. Or the middle of winter here. So Wow. The internet's made it a whole lot different."
Shane said, "I have great satisfaction, and my sons are following in my footsteps. I was a first-generation auction company, and everybody laughed at me. Jim Rettig, the old owner and publisher of the Mountaineer told me, 'You don't know it, but when you first started auctioning and placed your first ad in the paper,' he said, 'I went to the coffee shop, and everybody laughed at you and said, 'Well, this won't even last five minutes. And he said, but I want you to know they said the same thing about me. When I came from North Dakota and started the newspaper in Big Sandy, they said well, Jim Rettig won't last for five minutes either. And he said, 'So we're kind of in the same boat' He said, 'We've proven them wrong.' "
Blaine said, "If you go to a job you don't like every day, it's not a passion, but if you do something you love, it's not really work. I mean, all auctions are basically the same, you know, the setup or whatever you go there and take inventory of it and clean it and wash it", but if it's something you love to do, it isn't drudgery."
Shane said, "I think another cool thing that we do is, I mean, we serve rich people, poor people, short people, tall people. Hutterites. Mennonites. We've done auctions for all types. Okay. Everybody."
I asked him if there were enough chances for auctions, and he said, "I always just say the Lord provides. He does. And we would go to the bank and say, well..the Lord provides." It's that way with every self-employed or small business owner and farmer too."
Shane mentioned how important it is that his son has returned to the business. "Blaine is coming back after he went out into the world and after he did his own thing. He is a huge asset because he's a certified welder and can fix anything. Taylor's branching out to the western side of Auction Company now, where he's living in a home he built.
I mentioned the many times I have seen him donate hours. God uses him to help others. He said, "It's important. That's a vital part of me."
When I asked him what was the most important thing he wanted in this article, Shane said, "You only have one reputation, and you can't jeopardize that. You have to protect it viciously because you only have one chance. People are smart, and you don't have to lie to them. One time and they get you figured out. So lie or misrepresent. And now, with the internet auctions, your integrity is the most important thing."
