LINCOLN, Neb. — Starting a business is often seen as a young person’s game. Len Dickinson and Jule Goeller proved otherwise.
After moving back to rural Nebraska as empty nesters, the couple found themselves asking a simple question: What are we going to do for a living?
“The question was, ‘What are we going to do for a living?’ The honest truth is, Len just said, ‘We’ll think of something,’” Jule Goeller said.
That leap of faith became Timberlyne, a northeast Nebraska company that designs and ships custom timber frame barns, homes and commercial buildings nationwide. The business officially launched in 2004, with the couple selling their first barn kits before they had ever built one.
Over the years, Timberlyne has expanded into custom homes, hunting cabins, wedding venues and commercial mass timber projects, but the company’s philosophy hasn’t changed.
“I’m convinced that market is everything,” Len Dickinson said. “If you have something that people like or want—or they don’t even know it—but if you can show them what it is and how it’s going to improve their property or their life… you can do anything you want.”
Now, more than two decades after taking that chance, Jule hopes their story encourages others who think they’ve missed their opportunity.
“It’s never too late. We were both older than 50 years old when we started this company,” she said.
Hear the full conversation with Len Dickinson and Jule Goeller on the Building Nebraska Podcast.
Building Nebraska is powered by the Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, highlighting the entrepreneurs who are building Nebraska through innovation, hard work and purpose-driven businesses.