Joni Nash bet on herself.
And she won.
After her first year at Oklahoma State University, she told her father about the weird idea she had been hatching. She had been researching auction schools and wanted his advice.
“I was trying to get some counsel from him on how to choose, and he made a deal with me,” says Nash. “He said, ‘Joni, I’ll make you a deal. I’ll pay for your tuition to go to auction school, your room and board, your travel—whatever it takes for you to go get that done and come back. But you have to earn it back in that business in a year’s time. Whatever it costs you to do it, you’ve got to earn it back in the auction business. If you don’t earn it back, and this is just for fun, you owe me every penny of that. But if you earn it back, you don’t owe me anything.’”
Nash blinked for a moment, then told her dad, “I hope you take payments.”
Still, she packed her car and drove to Montana’s Western College of Auctioneering. Within just six months, she had made back her father’s investment.
Early Dreams
“When I was about 13 or 14, all I could dream about was living west of the Mississippi,” says Nash. “I would just stare at [maps] and study the western United States. And I told myself, ‘I’m going to live out West and own a ranch.’”
From her family’s farm in Georgia, Nash enjoyed team roping, cutting and horse shows. When she won Miss Rodeo Georgia, a part of the Miss Rodeo America program, she spent a year as a traveling ambassador.
Then came her education in Montana.
“I came back [to school at Oklahoma State], and it was the most bizarre thing,” says Nash. “Doors started opening. I didn’t even realize how hard it was to break into the auction business until I had a bunch of older men asking me how I was getting all those jobs. I was able to pay my way through college just by auctioneering.”
She had classes during the day, plus normal college jobs, then spent her weekends doing auctions.
“I didn’t want to fail and have to go back home,” she says. “So I took every job. Every job. I sold heavy equipment, I sold restaurant liquidations, I sold jewelry, estate sales—everything. I remember one time, I was working for a guy who had me go into a house that had been locked up for 20 years or more. He wanted me to clean it and get it boxed for the estate sale the next day.”
The locked-up home was full of dirt, rodent droppings, and the decay of two decades. It was July, and the heat and odor made the task unbearable.
“I called my mom crying,” says Nash. “I said, ‘What 23-year-old girl is having to clean out a house that has been locked up for 20 years?’ She said, ‘Joni, you’re not going to be doing this job the rest of your life. This is the price you have to pay, and if you want to be where other people aren’t, you have to do what other people aren’t doing. No one is going to be able to take this from you, and you’ll know where you came from.’”
That hard job and all the others helped Nash pay for two college degrees while working in the for-profit sector of auctioneering. After college, she began supporting nonprofits and their benefit auctions on weekends while working office jobs during the week.
“There’s not been a nonprofit that I’ve ever been a part of that I didn’t believe in the mission,” she said. “I can’t write a six-figure check [to a nonprofit], but because of my skills, I can help these organizations get to the six figures that they need to be at.”
Among her regular auctions is the Working Ranch Cowboys Association Foundation auction, which raises money to support ranch cowboys and their families during crises.
“Joni does an outstanding job at helping our foundation raise money through our auction at the World Championship Ranch Rodeo,” says Leman Wall, manager of the Working Ranch Cowboys Association. “She has a natural ability to connect with people and bring energy to the event. We are blessed to have her as part of our team.”
In 2015, the community of Pawhuska, Okla., asked Nash to lead an economic development push, and she agreed. Not long after that, she bought a ranch in Osage County, just outside of town. Before she was 40, she was a ranch owner through her own work. Her mother’s words had been prophetic.
Oklahoma Life
On a September morning just outside Pawhuska, when the air smells like fresh hay and the coming of autumn, Nash starts her day with prayer and coffee.
Public speaking is the newest part of her business portfolio.
“For years, I have pushed back from [public speaking] because of what people now refer to as imposter syndrome,” says Nash. “When people give you their time and their resources, you want to feel that you can come and bring value to that. That takes some gumption. More and more of those doors have opened, and I’ve learned to quit saying no and to start showing up.”
Nash’s daily planner is color-coded with pastel highlighters to keep track of all her business interests. It also reminds her when it’s time to put up hay from her pastures or change the sheets in the rental cabin on her property.
In Pawhuska, Nash can’t walk down the street without being recognized, either through the businesses she helped start or the Bible study she leads for women in their 20s.
“My heart is to encourage other women,” says Nash. “My heart is to set an example for younger girls. It’s very important to me to live above reproach and to walk with character and integrity.”
She does just that, according to longtime friend and mentor, Valerie Milholland.
“I’ve watched Joni mentor young women,” says Milholland. “I’ve been involved in Bible studies with her. She mentored my granddaughter, who’s 21, and she was so constant and encouraging and kind and gave such great life advice that it really broke through to my granddaughter.”
Nash’s home office is filled with large sheets of paper where boldly colored scribbles tick off the progress of her various projects. She’s writing a book that should be released at the end of 2023, and her eyes shine at the thought of inspiring other people with her writing.
“I get described as an entrepreneur, but I think that sounds really fancy for what I do,” says Nash with a laugh. “I consider myself self-employed.”
In 2021, Nash left behind the safety of a “town job” to bet on herself once more. Who would bet against her? She’s already an auctioneer, an economic developer, a public speaker, a role model, a rancher and a soon-to-be-published author. She’s on her way, working hard while also striving to help others.
To find out more about Joni Nash’s auctioneering and public speaking career, go to joninash.com.
This article about Joni Nash appeared in the Winter 2023 issue of Western Life Today magazine. Click here to subscribe!
