Monica Olson

Multi-venture entrepreneur. From the age of six until graduating high school Monica worked on our parents’ dairy farm. Monica learned early that her needs come second to an animal’s well-being. Protect the investments because the animals are a dairy farmer’s lifeline.

In farming, like other businesses, something needs to be fixed or not produced up to its potential. Innovative thinking is a requirement and a constant. Dairy farming requires your efforts 24-hours a day, 7 days a week. Luckily for Monica, she grew up on the farm, so her work ethic and schedule were normal. Not until later did she realize that not everyone worked like that. Hence, she developed a mindset of working hard, cognitive thinking, and mental fortitude.

Our father, Bernard J. Meyer, was not the easiest to work with, so Monica found comfort in being around animals. During this time, she realized she loved animals. After graduating high school, she enrolled at the Medical Institute of Minnesota and became a veterinary technician.

Her first job as a veterinary technician started at the Todd County Veterinary Clinic in Clarissa, Minnesota where she bought her first home for $4,000.00. The clinic’s focus was treating small animals (20%)  and large animals (80%). Clear communication was extremely important with clients to get their animals and pets back to health.

Monica’s responsibilities included: handling animals, doing lab work, and keeping the inventory of medicines up to date and in stock. Monica was also responsible for bookkeeping and predicting increases in inventory usage during peak seasons for four wonderful veterinarians she felt lucky to work for. Mona LaDue, an amazing, patient, and understanding coworker, offered Monica advice to get through the overwhelming pressure of completing many responsibilities. She said, “Pick one task and finish it. Then, go to the next one.” So simple, but it sure hit home with Monica! The advice she still uses today.

At the vet clinic, Monica met her first husband, Mark Patnode, a truck driver. They married when Monica was 22 years old. During the initial eight years of their marriage, Monica became a stay-at-home Mom raising three boys; Jared, Michael, and Isaac. Four years later, Rose, their daughter, and a dairy farm life arrived. They milked a 50-cow dairy herd, which Monica and her children took care of while Mark continued truck driving away from home five days a week. A massive challenge Monica succeeded in. She felt fortunate to be with their children all day every day.

Monica learned how each child responded to chores and added age-appropriate responsibilities over time. Farming was a source of surprising insight into their personalities and how they overcame challenges. Being a mom dairy farmer taught Monica that ‘her way’ wasn’t always the best. There is more than one path to goal achievement. Humility can be hard to swallow when a more efficient way of doing something comes from a 14-year-old boy.

Fortunately, her upbringing doing chores on a dairy farm was familiar. Co-owning a small business with her husband, Mark unleashed a new focus and energy where Monica could blossom. She had more control over where she focused her energy and learned how to streamline her workforce: her four children. Monica ensured milk production was up to standards, and each dollar was stretched to its capacity.

Being smart with money became her forte. Milk prices fluctuate. A skillset Monica learned on the job was navigating when the income drops and how to maintain cash flow until they rise again.

Their farming days continued as the three boys grew and graduated, but none of them wanted to continue in the dairy field so the cows were sold and they continued crop farming. Monica found part-time work at Jennie-O Turkey Farm. She got Rose through high school between seasonal crop farming and cleaning turkey barns. The job was labor intensive and low paying and introduced Monica to the workforce that is in this field. She describes them as colorful characters. Working for a company was doable, but with such little pay and work hours that took away from spending time with 11-year-old Rose, Monica knew it was time to find something else.

A bus driver’s hours fit with Rose’s school days. The pay was better than caring for turkeys, and Monica could keep up with her fieldwork. Driving tractors and other big motor vehicles gave Monica the confidence to learn how to drive a bus. This is where she found the best boss. Paul Cebulla had a knack for setting up a great work environment for an eclectic group of people. The beauty of bus driving is that Monica returned to being her own boss once she started that bus engine. She controlled the vehicle and influenced an optimistic atmosphere for the students on her route. Paul had some good advice for keeping student behavior on the bus in perspective. Paul said that the role of a bus driver is this. “You are the beginning of a student’s school day, and you are the end of their school day; it is important that it begins positively and ends positively.” Monica thrived on this clarity.

While in her fourth year of bus driving, Monica determined to end her 26-year marriage. During her marriage, she was reminded of a childhood lesson. She was instructed to put an animal’s well-being above her own. Being a good student, she took the lesson further and put everyone else’s needs above hers; her children’s and her husband’s. That ended once the divorce was final. She decided her needs are as important as everyone else’s.

This huge lifestyle change and Paul selling his bus company presented a new opportunity. Paul’s successor did not treat his bus drivers respectfully, nor were they appreciated, so Monica turned in her notice. While raising miniature Schnauzers and selling a few puppies a year, an idea for a hotel popped into her mind.

Once Monica did her due diligence, a three-room hotel looked feasible. Monica’s prior co-worker from her veterinary technician days, Mona LaDue, had become a realtor at East West Realty and found a building. As Monica renovated her newly purchased electrician’s shop into two small apartments on the second floor and one big room on the main floor, she renovated her soul at the same time.

The fact that win or lose this was all on her motivated Monica to excel and heal her soul. She loved the challenge of putting herself and her finances on the line. Little did she know then that the skills she had learned in prior work experiences would be utilized to make Morning Glory Inn successful. The town of Eagle Bend has a population of 641 people and had struggled through the closing of the school, which was a vital part of keeping the town vibrant. The townspeople realized that to survive, they needed to bring in new businesses in whatever form they came in, so even though her hotel was small and the first of its kind in town, they were there to help make it a success. As a result of that pro-business attitude and words of encouragement, the town of Eagle Bend and Morning Glory Inn did well. Word of mouth spread and soon thereafter a guest list accumulated.

It was a great feeling to know Monica’s crazy idea wasn’t crazy after all. Her new life was taking shape. Her retirement dream was to sell her farmhouse and land and live in the inn at some point, which could take care of her for the rest of her life. She and her family were okay.

Isaac, Jared, Rose, and Michael (Jared and Stephanie’s Wedding, 2015)

What happened next shifted her life view and became this empowering, unfolding fairy tale.  A friend she hadn’t seen for 15 years showed up at a surprise birthday party. Rick Olson, another truck driver, quickly jumped at Monica’s newly single status. They dated long enough for them and Monica’s adult children to get to know each other. 

 On July 4, 2021, Rick and Monica married. They decided to begin anew by selling their properties and buying a house together near Brandon, Minnesota. Monica got a great offer on Morning Glory Inn in 2020 and sold it. Her time is now devoted to raising miniature Schnauzer puppies for dog lovers, being a grandmother of her expanding family, enjoying married life again, and letting her obsession with flowers fully bloom every summer. A modern love story to savor.