LAUREL NELSON

Co-owner and General Manager

Nelson Auto Center and Abra Collision Center

Fergus Falls, Minn.

Laurel Nelson’s business career might have ended before it really started if it weren’t for grasshoppers. A love of flying had tempted her and her husband, both just few years out of high school, to launch a crop spraying business in 1979 in Huron, S.D., called Dakota Air Spray, but the pair was deep in debt after financing their first plane in an economy that was less than business friendly. “It was a terrible time to start a business,” she says. “Interest rates were terrible. I think we were floating at 21-22 percent interest.”

The couple’s saving grace came in the form of a devastating pest. Drought brought on grasshoppers that plagued farmers throughout the region, and they need aerial sprayers to fight back. “Fields were disappearing literally in days because of grasshoppers, so that put the airplane to work,” Nelson says. “What was a real catastrophe for all the farmers at that time ended up being what was the blessing to get us out of debt and on our feet.”

The Nelsons operated the crop spraying business until 1991 when they sold it to another operator. Eager for another business adventure, they then purchased a struggling car dealership in Fergus Falls and set out to turn the business around. They succeeded and continue to operate Nelson Auto Center to this day. Over the last two decades they have also bought, improved and sold several other dealerships in the area, including one which they developed from the ground up.

While managing the business side of the family’s crop spraying business, Nelson was also a registered nurse for 14 years and worked in intensive care units at hospitals in Fargo and Huron before teaching the profession at the University of North Dakota and Huron University. She says she will always identify as a nurse, but she also has a clear passion and knack for business, particularly the startup side of entrepreneurialism. “Getting something started or buying something that’s troubled that you believe you can fix is very exciting,” she says. “Definitely stressful … but if you can tolerate some insecurity and you’re not real risk-adverse, it’s just such an exciting thing to do.”

One of the more exciting business ventures the Nelsons have been a part of in recent years was the startup and operation of Red Rock Transportation, a Watford City, N.D.-based oilfield services trucking firm. The business launched in 2007 during the early days of the energy boom with four trucks and a plan to grow the business to a fleet of about 20 trucks. Before long, the company was operating nearly 50 trucks and shuttling drivers from Minnesota to Watford City to overcome worker shortages. The company was acquired last year by Crestwood Inc. Nelson says the experience of doing business in North Dakota was a great one, and it may not be her last. “To have something like the Bakken oilfields in your backyard, that’s just kind of a dream come true if you’re an entrepreneur at all,” she says.

Having been raised on a farm in North Dakota, Nelson believes the entrepreneurial spirit is an inherited trait that has helped her to persist in difficult times and navigate her way through new business experiences, despite the unknown. “I’m afraid a lot, but I do things anyway,” she says.

In 2001, the Nelsons had the opportunity to return to their agricultural roots with the purchase of a cattle ranch in South Dakota’s Black Hills. The 275-head cow-calf operation is a dream come true for Nelson, who says it was also “an expensive hobby” until beef prices came on strong recently. Nelson is a seasoned horsewoman (the family also owns quarter horses and competed in timed cattle events throughout North America for nearly 20 years) and the couple spends as much time as possible at the ranch, participating in all of the annual rituals associated with running a livestock operation. “When you’re young and you think about the cost of [owning a cattle ranch] you think you’re probably never going to be able to do that,” she says. “So to be able to do it — it’s better than I ever thought it could be.”