12/25/2025
Merry Christmas to you; Territory 18 Dacotah Paper Customers! I want to take a minute to reflect on the past years, and share some exciting news for 2026!
When I was recruited by Dacotah Paper Company from a car lot I was working at in Fargo in 2013, My wife Hannah and I had been together for 4 years and decided to roll the dice and go on an adventure to the Wild West in the middle of an oil boom! We left our families with open minds and minimal expectations. This quickly morphed into putting down permanent roots with the intention of staying forever! We assimilated into Western ND life almost immediately. We loved the faith and solid values of the hard-working, grounded people of the Bakken. People from anywhere and everywhere looking for something different, and something more in life. I remember riding the train in January of 2014 before we purchased our home and moved permanently. Each trip out west to work for a couple weeks was like a trip to San Francisco in the late forties. Hundreds of men piled into a train car to improve themselves and their families’ lives, risking traditional boring lifestyles and time with loved ones to have a chance at making it big!
I met each of the existing customers in the territory, learned the ropes of the business, and worked every day as hard as I could to provide big value to existing and new customers. I made so many friendships over the years with customers who helped me learn and grow. This gave me opportunities to solve problems for the first time, and I was able to help the next person because of those learned experiences. A couple of years in, I had become proficient in my position and have enjoyed the many referrals and opportunities this has afforded me. Our vast offering of products, combined with the hundreds of customers who continue to buy and give referrals, had created a need for me to evolve to help more people.
Challenges in the supply industry in 2020 required a shift in the way I needed to do business. If I wanted to reach more customers and help more people, I needed to get more efficient! I started to develop automated processes, utilizing technology and even hiring family and friends to try to help me stay organized and complete all of my necessary tasks. In late 2024 we hired a great sales assistant named Pam Clark. Many of you deal her with on a regular basis when I am not reachable (meetings, training, travel and repairs/installations). Even with Pam’s help, the reality is that the number of customers became unmanageable if I wish to provide the same level of customer service, I once provided pre-pandemic. Although sales have continued to grow, the lack of face-to-face customer interaction happening is something that has been keeping me awake night for the last several years.
This summer, I reached out to DPC ownership/management asking for help with a solution to provide all of my customers with better customer service, while continuing to do what I love to do - solve problems for customers! After several months of discussion, I am pleased to be able to roll out the plan for the customers in Eastern Montana and Western North Dakota.
Dacotah Paper has approved the hire of two additional territory representatives in the area; one for Eastern Montana accounts, and one for Western ND Accounts. We Hired Dan Nicholson (Culbertson, MT) as the representative for Eastern Montana and will start the hiring process for a Western ND representative January 15th, with a projected start date of March 1st. Dan has surpassed expectations the first weeks of his employment and I am reassured each day I train with him that he is the perfect fit for the NE MT Territory! We have more than one well-qualified candidate who will be interviewed for the NW ND position and I am confident we will have similar success there. Once these two are hired and trained initially, I will be turning over daily/weekly interactions with most of the current Territory 18 customers to them. I will continue to be present in the area regularly and continue to directly manage the accounts of a few multi-location and unique accounts in NW ND and NE MT.
The big change is that in June 2026, my family and I will be moving closer to DPC HQ in Fargo - to my wife’s hometown of Hawley, MN. This town is centrally located in the current Dacotah Paper service area. Along with managing the two new territory reps, and managing the select few accounts, I will begin my new position as Business Development Leader, with the task of connecting with multi-location and other unique opportunities to grow sales. In this job, I will be making connections, providing buying programs and support for these type of accounts, and then connecting them with the local DPC rep in their service area. This new level of support for the territory reps and the customers is a recipe for significant growth while providing an unmatched level of customer support. While other competitive national distributors are removing personal service, Dacotah Paper has chosen to double down, adding another level of in-person support, and launching a heavily tested and refined new website.
My family and I have purchased a home in Hawley, and will be doing some remodeling on long weekends and holiday weekends before we move in June. This also puts us closer to our aging parents and connects our children to their grandparents on a level they have not ever known. We are so sad to be leaving the home and city in which we raised our babies. We feel at home in Williston and will miss all of the customers, neighbors and friends as we make our move, but the decision to take this promotion, and turn the page to the next chapter in our life has been blessed since the day we made the decision. We know this is all part of an amazing story we will tell for years! I will still be traveling to Western ND and Eastern MT on a regular basis, as well as the entire state(s) of ND, MN and SD and parts of other states DPC services. The new job will utilize my strengths and talents more effectively, while allowing our local representatives to service the accounts the way they deserve to be, the way territory 18 was built by myself and the other salesman before me.
Please reach out to me if you have any questions regarding this or anything else. There are many months before I move. If you are one of the few I didn’t get to tell this to in person, I sincerely apologize! Until you hear from me or someone at Dacotah Paper, business should continue as usual. Texts, calls and emails should all still come through me and Pam until we are further along. Thank you again for over 12 years of smiling faces and great orders! I am confident each customer will be extremely satisfied with these changes!
Be Blessed this Christmas Season!
Joel Witthoeft
