Podcasts about economic development council

Destination Canada Mobility Forum 2025, released by Manitoba on 04 February 2025   | Good day ladies and gentlemen, this is IRC news, I am Joy Stephen, a certified Canadian Immigration practitioner, and I bring to you this Provincial News Bulletin from the province of Manitoba. This recording originates from the Polinsys studios in Cambridge, Ontario. | The Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program, along with the Economic Development Council for Manitoba Bilingual Municipalities (CDEM) and Acceuil Francophone, will be participating in the upcoming Government of Canada's Destination Canada Mobility Forum, a recruitment fair for bilingual skilled workers in Paris, France on February 14 and 15, 2025 and in the virtual version from March 3rd to 5th. Every year, the Canadian government organizes this event to connect Canadian employers in predominantly anglophone provinces with skilled bilingual candidates from a variety of industries.  | You can always access past news from the Province of Manitoba by visiting this link: https://myar.me/tag/mb/. Furthermore, if you are interested in gaining comprehensive insights into the Provincial Express Entry Federal pool Canadian Permanent Residence Program or other Canadian Federal or Provincial Immigration programs, or if you require guidance after your selection, we cordially invite you to connect with us through https://myar.me/c. We highly recommend participating in our complimentary Zoom resource meetings, which take place every Thursday. We kindly request you to carefully review the available resources. Should any questions arise, our team of Canadian Authorized Representatives is readily available to address your concerns during the weekly AR's Q&A session held on Fridays. You can find the details for both of these meetings at https://myar.me/zoom. Our dedicated team is committed to providing you with professional assistance throughout the immigration process. Additionally, IRCNews offers valuable insights on selecting a qualified representative to advocate on your behalf with the Canadian Federal or Provincial governments, which can be accessed at https://ircnews.ca/consultant. 

In this episode, Dennis is joined by Dell Gines, Chief Innovation Officer, of the International Economic Development Council. Find out more about Dell's passion for economic development and his path to joining IEDC.  Dr. Dell Gines is a nonprofit executive and certified economic developer with over 15 years of experience in organizational transformation and economic development. As Chief Innovation Officer at the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), he oversees the professional development, research, conferences, and program functions for the organization. This includes managing the $30 million, EDA-funded Economic Recovery Corps program, a national initiative that places 65 fellows in host organizations across the nation to promote equitable development. Before joining IEDC, Dell led economic development programs at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Dell has authored six guides and one book on economic development ecosystem building, with a particular focus on equitable economic development in distressed urban and rural communities. His 2018 research report on Black women business startups has been cited by PBS, Forbes, Black Enterprise, CNN Business, and Entrepreneur magazine. He has spoken in over 26 states and 50 cities, often as a keynote speaker, advocating for equitable rural and urban economic development. He is among the 5,000 Certified Economic Developers (CEcD) and holds a Master of Business Administration, a Master of Finance, and a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska School of Public Administration. He has received numerous awards, including the TOYO award from the Omaha Jaycees in 2011 and the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's President's Award in 2014, 2019, and 2021. In 2020, he was inducted into the Kansas City Black Achievers Society.  

In this segment of The Annie Frey Show with Guest Host Mike Elam, he is joined by Scott Drachnik, the Executive Director of the Economic Development Council of St Charles County. He discusses St Charles' upcoming 5 year plan from the EDC.

In hour 3 of The Annie Frey Show with Guest Host Mike Elam, Zack Smith, a Senior Legal Fellow and Manager of the Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Program in Heritage's Meese Center joins and discusses Trump's documents case being dismissed over a special counsel appointment. He is then joined by Scott Drachnik, the Executive Director of the Economic Development Council of St Charles County. He discusses St Charles' upcoming 5 year plan from the EDC. To conclude the show, he discusses the results of the YouTube Live Chat poll which asks, "What are you most looking forward to at the RNC?"

On this edition of The Annie Frey Show with Guest Host Mike Elam, he recaps the monumental weekend that occurred in political history with Donald Trump's near assassination and Trump's documents case being dismissed over a special counsel appointment. He is then joined by Kurt Bahr, the St Charles County Election Authority Director. He discusses the information on voting in St Charles as well as how the voting process has changed in recent years. To wrap up the hour, they're joined by Ryan Schmelz, Fox News Radio's Capitol Hill and White House Correspondent. He discusses the historical significance of Donald Trump's near assassination, the active investigation, what Congress is doing to find out answers on the Secret Service's performance at the Trump rally. He is then joined by Steve Moore, a Distinguished Fellow in Economics at Heritage and Trump's Economic Advisor. They discuss Trump's near assassination, discuss who his VP choice could be, and the RNC's slogan, "Make America Wealthy Again". He is then joined by Mike Kehoe, the Missouri Lieutenant Governor and a Candidate for Missouri Governor Candidate. They discuss the near Trump assassination, the adversity the Former President has endured, the upcoming RNC, Kehoe's campaign for Missouri Governor, and more. He wraps up the hour discussing the importance of the decision of who the next Vice President will be. Zack Smith, a Senior Legal Fellow and Manager of the Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Program in Heritage's Meese Center joins and discusses Trump's documents case being dismissed over a special counsel appointment. He is then joined by Scott Drachnik, the Executive Director of the Economic Development Council of St Charles County. He discusses St Charles' upcoming 5 year plan from the EDC. To conclude the show, he discusses the results of the YouTube Live Chat poll which asks, "What are you most looking forward to at the RNC?"

Join GEDC President & CEO Nancy Norton and her Business Director Moncia Schild as they discuss the economic landscape in Grundy County and the City of Morris.  Learn more about how the GEDC serves as the primary resource for information when investors, site selectors, and industry leaders are looking to locate or expand their business.Subscribe to the podcast HERECity of Morris, ILHosted on Transistor.fm

Sarasota County Commissioner Mike Moran continues his crusade to end taxpayer funding for what he has called "Sarasota Socialism". His next target: The Economic Development Council, an entity created with the support of local cities and the Chamber of Commerce. Then: After the last Venice City Council elections swept two outsiders into office, the sitting commissioners want to change the election date to coincide with general elections. That prompted heated debate at a meeting yesterday, as Ramon Lopez reports.  Next: Although it is controversial in neighboring Newtown, Sarasota County Commissioners bulldozed ahead with a big mixed-use project called Midtown SRQ. Florence Fahringer has that story. Then: Members of the Black History Museum Task Force chose the top three choices for a future Black history museum in Florida. Sarasota narrowly missed out on the opportunity. Chris Young with partner station WMNF reports. Finally: Nearly half a year ago, a young Palmetto man died in police custody after suffering a mental health episode. His mother is now taking the cause of improving policing to the Manatee County Commission.

The Greg and Dan Show talks to Chris Setti and David Aduama of the Greater Peoria Economic Development Council about the upcoming Economic Development Forum on Wednesday, April 24th from 8:00 - 10:00 AM at the Gateway Building featuring Keynote Speaker Jay Garner. Setti and Aduama discuss the importance of being an ambassador for the community, and the idea behind Garner's book. Jay Garner is a respected economic development consultant and co-author of the Amazon bestseller “Economic Development Is [STILL] Not For Amateurs!” Visit greaterpeoriaedc.org for tickets and more information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm not a financial advisor; nothing I write in Superpowers for Good should be considered investment advice. You should seek appropriate counsel before making investment decisions.Remember, you can watch the Superpowers for Good show on e360tv. To watch the episode, download the #e360tv channel app to your streaming device–Roku, AppleTV or AmazonFireTV–or your mobile device. You can even watch it on the web or YouTube.When you purchase an item, launch a crowdfunding campaign or invest after clicking a link here, we may earn a commission. It's an easy way to support our work.Devin: What do you see as your superpower?Karl: I sometimes say that I'm a puzzle solver. I have the ability to connect the dots.Karl Dakin, the capital coach, helps small businesses raise capital–or even figure out how to get where they're going without it. A big fan of regulated investment crowdfunding, he led an effort to pass enabling legislation in Colorado. Then, he helped to launch a crowdfunding portal to take advantage of the rules.Investment crowdfunding has topped $2 billion cumulatively since it started but still represents a small part of the economy. When issuers and investors finish the courtship, the space could explode to multiples of this scale. Karl thinks he's figured out how that could happen. Keep reading!Seeing the vital role small businesses play in the local economy, he works with a wide range of companies.I work with all kinds of companies and all kinds of industries. Some people think I'm confused because of the diversity of things I work with. Right now, I'm working on a dinosaur theme park. I'm working with an international lottery gaming company. I'm working with a company that's using topical CBD products to reduce pain and inflammation. I'm also helping with the local crowdfunding platform that is working to set up a farm-to-table group of supporters for any small business that's looking for microfinancing here within the state of Colorado.He's also helping an LGBTQ woman-owned manufacturer of vegan protein bars raise capital. Greens Gone Wild, led by Laura Harris, is raising capital via Crowd Sprout, a crowdfunding portal operating under the Colorado State exemption. The campaign is open only to Colorado investors.I love this one. It hits so many notes for me. It's a small business that is scalable. A woman leads it. A member of the LGBTQ community leads it. It is vegan. The layers of impact inspire me. This is a moment when I wish I lived in Colorado so I could invest.Karl uses that offering as an example of what he suggests all consumer products companies should do with their campaigns. He explains the example:With Greens Gone Wild, if you make a $100 investment, you're also going to get $50 of free product. They'll ship to your door product, just like if you had ordered it on their online website–$50 value. Then we also give a $100 discount on future purchases. So, you get 20% off the list price on buying these products.The company also agrees to donate $25 per investor to a local nonprofit.The investor gets $150 in rewards–plus the satisfaction of enabling $25 of charitable giving. The company presumably has a good margin on the products, so it doesn't cost $50 to offer the $50 perk. The discounts are valuable to the consumer but still allow the company to make a narrow profit. The investors become long-term, repeat customers.Then, the investor gets equity, too. For small investors, the rewards essentially remove the risk. The company gets repeat customers with a permanent connection–ownership–to the business. Problem solved!That, Karl believes, is the key that will unlock crowdfunding success for small businesses.He reached this conclusion using his superpower, I'll call problem-solving.AI Episode Summary1. Devin introduces Karl Dakin, founder and CEO of Dakin Capital, who shares Devin's passion for investment crowdfunding.2. Karl Dakin's company, Dakin Capital, is a consultancy firm that assists small businesses in obtaining the necessary capital for starting or growing their ventures.3. Karl positions himself as a "capital coach," aiding businesses in designing capital campaigns, preparing to receive capital, and, in some cases, managing the entire campaign on behalf of the company.4. Karl believes that small businesses are vital in bringing innovation to the market, contributing to global impact by improving the quality of life through their products and services.5. He works with a diverse range of companies across different industries, such as a dinosaur theme park, an international lottery gaming company, a CBD product company, and a crowdfunding platform focused on microfinancing in Colorado.6. One of Karl's current projects involves working with Greens Gone Wild, a company producing vegan protein food bars, to help them navigate crowdfunding to reach a broader base of investors.7. Karl emphasizes targeting campaigns not just at wealthy individuals but also at customers and future patrons, integrating immediate value for investors through product discounts and immediate gratification.8. For the Greens Gone Wild crowdfunding campaign, with a $100 investment, investors receive $50 of product, $100 of future purchase discounts, and a $25 product donation to a local charity, creating a package with a retail value of $275.9. Karl believes in the potential of equity crowdfunding to allow non-wealthy individuals to invest and build wealth while supporting small business growth and innovation.10. Karl encourages reaching out to him through LinkedIn, where he recently started a daily newsletter called Instant Funding, his website Dakin Capital, and other platforms like SuperCrowd, expressing his dedication to helping small businesses raise capital.Share this post to start a discussion on X, LinkedIn or Facebook about adding rewards to investment crowdfunding campaigns.How to Develop Problem-Solving As a Superpower“People would say is I see dots that no one else sees,” Karl says of his problem-solving superpower. Like solving a puzzle, he connects the dots between disparate data points to draw fresh conclusions to test new solutions.Following the passage of the JOBS Act in 2012, Karl began working on implementing crowdfunding in Colorado. So, he's been thinking about optimizing fundraising for a decade, along the way, helping companies do it. He loves that under the new rules, “investments are not limited to wealthy people.” But, he sees a need to think differently about bringing in small, novice investors. He framed the question as, “How do you get a non-wealthy person to be able to make an investment where they can benefit enough that it makes sense to them at their income level, where they're at in their life?”His conclusion is to incorporate substantial consumer rewards, reflecting a genuine innovation in crowdfunding. He developed that strategy using his ability to solve problems.Karl offers some tips for strengthening your ability to solve problems.First, he suggests shaking off the fear by embracing the idea that much of what you try will fail–on your way to ultimate success. Second, he offers that it is important not to lock your focus on what has been done in the past. Start with a “blank canvas,” focusing on what you want to accomplish rather than how you'll get there.That kind of thinking, he says, allows you to conclude that you may be able to borrow or rent something rather than raise capital to buy it. You get where you're going without some of the cost and stress.By following Karl's example and advice, you can strengthen your ability to solve problems. With practice, you could make it a superpower that enables you to do more good in the world.Remember, however, that research into success suggests that building on your own superpowers is more important than creating new ones or overcoming weaknesses. You do you!Guest ProfileKarl Dakin (he/him):Founder / Owner, Dakin Capital LLCAbout Dakin Capital LLC: A specialty consulting company that provides coaching to small businesses in the design, staging and conduct of capital campaigns.Website: www.dakincapital.comX/Twitter Handle: @KarlDakinBiographical Information: Mr. Dakin is a professional entrepreneur, a leader of business startup projects, consultant on small business capital formation and an educator on entrepreneurship. He owns and operates Dakin Capital LLC, where he provides services as a capital coach to small businesses leveling up or just getting started. He serves as a business leader in several small businesses.Mr. Dakin is currently an Adjunct Faculty with the University of Denver and a member of a faculty team that teaches the BioEntrepreneurship program at University of Colorado, Anschutz Campus.He shares his knowledge of raising capital through his Instant Funding newsletter, media posts and guest appearances.Mr. Dakin is a member of the Economic Development Council of Colorado, National Coalition for Community Capital, SuperCrowd, and the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs.He is a licensed attorney in the State of Colorado with 45 years of experience in commercializing innovation. He holds a Juris Doctor degree from the Washburn University School of Law and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Washburn University School of Business in Topeka, Kansas.X/Twitter Handle: @KarlDakinPersonal Facebook Profile: fb.com/karl.dakinLinkedin: linkedin.com/in/karldakin/Upcoming SuperCrowd Event CalendarIf a location is not noted, the events below are virtual.* Impact Cherub Club Meeting hosted by The Super Crowd, Inc., a public benefit corporation, on February 20, 2024, at 1:00 PM Eastern. Each month, the Club meets to review new offerings for investment consideration and to conduct due diligence on previously screened deals. Everyone is welcome to join the free events.* SuperCrowdHour February with the CfPA Executive Committee: This free event on February 21, 2024, at 1:00 PM Eastern, features President Brian Christie, Vice President Jenny Kassan, Secretary Brian Belley and Chair Scott McIntyre. Learn how you can join and make a difference. Earn rewards!* SuperCrowdBaltimore, March 21, 2024: This in-person event at the B&O Rail Museum features some of Baltimore's prominent citizens and community leaders. Save 30 percent with the discount code “SuperCrowd.”* Superpowers for Good - Kinect Capital Live Pitch, March 28 at 9 PM Eastern/6 PM Pacific: Four companies currently raising via crowdfunding will pitch their offerings live via the Superpowers for Good streaming television show on e360tv. Kinect Capital will host the pitch. Applications to pitch will open soon! Save the date! More information is coming soon! * SuperCrowd24, April 17-18: This two-day virtual event is our biggest event of the year. Don't miss it. Save 50 percent with the discount code “SuperCrowd.”* SuperCrowdChicago, June 12, 2024. Save the date! More information is coming soon!SuperCrowd Community Event CalendarIf a location is not noted, the events below are virtual.* Successful Funding with Karl Dakin, Tuesdays at 10:00 AM ET * Leveraging Donor-Advised Funds for Climate Investing, Raise Green, February 15 at 11 AM ET* Strengthening Positive Peace to Create Hope in the World, February 24, Fredericksburg, VA* Neighborhood Economics, February 26-28 in San Antonio, Texas* Crowdfunding Professional Association Webinar Series - March 13, 2:00 PM ET* Investment Crowdfunding Demystified, Crowdfund Better, March 26 at 2:00 PM ETIf you would like to submit an event for inclusion on our community calendar, click here. Get full access to Superpowers for Good at www.superpowers4good.com/subscribe

These are unusual economic times for businesses, with some healthy indicators but also hurdles like persistent inflation, high interest rates, and workforce challenges. As president and CEO of the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council, Rick Sullivan recognizes those issues but also sees plenty of potential for the region to attract new business, grow promising industries, and continue to build on its strengths in education, innovation, and collaboration. On the next episode of BusinessTalk, Rick talks to BusinessWest Editor Joe Bednar about the current economic tides, what's happening in the development community, and why there's plenty of optimism out there, even amid the uncertainty. It's must listening, so tune in to BusinessTalk, a podcast presented by BusinessWest and sponsored by PeoplesBank.

These are unusual economic times for businesses, with some healthy indicators but also hurdles like persistent inflation, high interest rates, and workforce challenges. As president and CEO of the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council, Rick Sullivan recognizes those issues but also sees plenty of potential for the region to attract new business, grow promising industries, and continue to build on its strengths in education, innovation, and collaboration. On the next episode of BusinessTalk, Rick talks to BusinessWest Editor Joe Bednar about the current economic tides, what's happening in the development community, and why there's plenty of optimism out there, even amid the uncertainty. It's must listening, so tune in to BusinessTalk, a podcast presented by BusinessWest and sponsored by PeoplesBank.

The Greg and Dan Show speaks with the Greater Peoria Economic Development Council's Chris Setti for a year in review on the community's economy and development. Setti discusses the importance of talent and attraction to the area, the draw of the Choose Greater Peoria campaign, and how to keep the momentum in the new year.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Focus: 11/19/23 - Scott Martinez, Tyler Economic Development Council

David Slater, Executive Director Clay County Economic Development Council | 10-30-23See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Greg and Dan speak with the Greater Peoria Economic Development Council's Chris Setti about the story and purpose behind the GPEDC. Setti recalls the GPEDC's history, how the organization assists the community, and his outlook on the region's future. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hour 3: Mike Elam, in for Mark Reardon, welcomes Missouri Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe to discuss his candidacy for the Republican nomination for Missouri Governor, his visits across the state, and more. Then, President & CEO of the Economic Development Council of St. Charles County Scott Drachnik to discuss the economic development across the region. Later, Mike brings you the Audio Cut of the Day.

Good News Bay: Episode 32: Alex King"Our desire is for our Port to have the greatest impact it can have in our community and our region! The goal of the Port long term is more jobs, more cargo, higher impact!"In this episode of Good News Bay, Dr. Steve sits down with Port Panama City Executive Director Alex King. The two discuss general port information, recent expansions, and the future of the port. The best days are ahead and the best is yet to come!Podcast Resources:-Panama City Port Website: http://panamacityportauthority.com/?fbclid=IwAR2XhLQwU98T3frUIBE17VmFoDvCayoTMxSzmrRWzuV0pGCH-JaamNt-HOg-Bay County Chamber of Commerce & The Port: https://www.facebook.com/100064788995498/posts/pfbid0Vmr1RdWYuLqtRsP4PqUZeVQHEUnPS75agaXkJU227fua6qyHFfrLT33GLJEJfq6xl/?mibextid=cr9u03-New Dome: https://www.wjhg.com/2022/09/09/port-panama-city-florida-unveils-new-dome/?outputType=amp-Record Year for the Port: https://www.wjhg.com/2022/10/21/port-panama-city-has-record-year/?outputType=amp-Alex King & Economic Development Council: https://flaports.org/port-panama-city-executive-director-alex-king-to-chair-florida-seaport-transportation-and-economic-development-council/?fbclid=IwAR1papdG2b9ZTaFdDSJOpROw0SX9-QKzhBeeLt1yZ3pHQQ2HPaYKvReFIXc_aem_AZ8cPKqh3kvUDX_X8Uiw6sVsly5d1T37CBOatLEnDoc3SFd87TBenPdtezdET-l5yzMEpisode Timeline:-0:54: Introduction/ Bio-2:22: Picture of Modern Port Operation-6:30: How the Port Operates-7:45: Growth in Panama City-9:31: Wood Pellets: New Dome-12:00: Copper-13:15: Regional Impact of the Port-15:45: Jobs-24:00: Future of the Port-31:17: Lightening RoundAbout Dr. Steve TaylorSteve Taylor is the senior pastor at Emerald Coast Fellowship.  Steve and his wife, Christi, live in Panama City, Florida and have two children.  Steve has served at ECF since 2007.  He designed the Good News Podcast specifically to lift and change the conversation...to make it more positive related to our community.  It's his prayer through this podcast we can make Bay County brighter one conversation at a time! Learn more about Steve: https://www.emeraldcoastfellowship.com/our-staff/ Subscribe to the Good News Bay Podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, & YoutubeConnect with Good News Bay Podcast Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwr1Y9C9DUUxEVfV_Ce8AkA Subscribe on Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/good-news-bay/id1563958015Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/38aYHFhFNBBe9gUZv9TUq6?si=b2qyBvxnQ0en1h8cv1C9HQ&nd=1Subscribe on Google Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/u/3/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS8xNzQ3ODkzLnJzcw?sa=X&ved=0CAMQ4aUDahcKEwiQlLe22o3wAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ Connect with Emerald Coast Fellowship Website: https://www.emeraldcoastfellowship.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/myecfInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/emeraldcoastfellowship/Connect with Dr. Steve TaylorMore about Steve: https://www.emeraldcoastfellowship.com/our-staff/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrSteveTaylorInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevetaylorecf

So often we think that economic development is a local issue, and while that is true it is also an international effort.  Here you'll learn more about the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) and what their 4,300 members from around the world have in common with local, state and regional economic development goals. My guest is Claudia Bellony the Senior Manager of Programing for IEDC. We'll talk about training, supply chain issues, the recent warning about China, talent shortages and more. Plus, Claudia will make the invite to the Annual Conference being held in Dallas 17 - 20 September.  Thanks for listening! The award winning Insight on Business the News Hour with Michael Libbie is the only weekday business news podcast in the Midwest. The national, regional and some local business news along with long-form business interviews can be heard Monday - Friday. You can subscribe on  PlayerFM, Podbean, iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or TuneIn Radio. And you can catch The Business News Hour Week in Review each Sunday Noon on News/Talk 1540 KXEL. The Business News Hour is a production of Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications. You can follow us on Twitter @IoB_NewsHour...and on Threads @Insight_On_Business.

Greg and Dan welcome Kathie Brown of the Greater Peoria Economic Development Council to discuss the ongoing movement to expand broadband to rural parts of the community in Peoria, Tazewell, and Woodford Counties. Brown mentions the GPEDC's involvement in the process of expanding broadband, the necessity for easy access to internet, and how to fill out the Peoria County Broadband Survey. Visit greaterpeoriaedc.org for more information and to access the survey.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Slater, Clay County Economic Development Council | 5-23-23See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The primary purpose of small biz Florida is to highlight and create awareness for all of Florida's small business assistance and resource programs. One of the most effective ways to learn about, gather and share information on these resources is to attend and work at Florida's top small business and economic development conferences. One of these important business events was the recent Florida Economic Development Council's 2023 Annual Conference held in Orlando, Florida. Small biz Florida was on the scene during the conference, recording and producing segments. The Small Biz Florida crew wants to thank Beth Cicchetti, Jill Blackman, and the entire FEDC team for allowing the podcast to be part of the recent conference. The next 10 segments of Small Biz Florida were all produced and recorded at the conference-hopefully the segments will provide our listeners with valuable and beneficial information. Please like, rate, and share our show to continue supporting the podcast with your networks, family, and friends. To stay connected and up to date on our latest releases, follow our Instagram @SmallBizFlorida! We are so thankful for the growing and overwhelming support of our listeners. We hope our work is inspiring and helping all business owners in Florida and Nationwide! 

This episode of the Inside EcoDevo Podcast, features Shawna Searcy, Missouri Economic Development Council President, and Michelle Hataway, MEDC President-elect. Shawna and Michelle discuss MEDC's mission, benefits of its conferences and initiatives, and current and future happenings.

Dave Slater joins Pete Mundo to discuss the possibility of the Royals moving to the Northland. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this podcast, Sharon Sappington, the Executive Director of the Economic Development Council for Island County (EDC), talks about her diverse career in various industries and countries. The EDC is a nonprofit organization that helps businesses create more jobs and enhance the economic vitality of Island County.Sharon shares her experiences in working with different industries such as marketing, tourism, and technology, and how these experiences helped her in her current role as the Executive Director of the EDC. She also discusses the challenges that the EDC faces in helping local businesses, including limited resources and the need to balance economic growth with preserving the natural beauty of the region.Throughout the podcast, Sharon emphasizes the importance of collaboration and partnerships in promoting economic development. She discusses the various programs and initiatives that the EDC has implemented to support local businesses, including workshops, training programs, and funding opportunities.Overall, the podcast provides valuable insights into the work of the EDC in building a strong and sustainable economy for Island County, and the role of collaboration and partnerships in achieving this goal.Links to Things Mentioned in this Episode: EDC Island County ( https://www.iscoedc.com/ ) Sharon Email ( ssappington@edcislandcounty.org ) RAIN Catalysts Website ( https://www.raincatalysts.org/ )

Lenora Fisher, lfisher@greaterpeoriaedc.orgGreater Peoria Economic Development Council, https://greaterpeoriaedc.org/..SelectUSA Summit, 1-4 May 2023, Washington, DChttps://www.selectusasummit.us/--Feel free to contact us with any questionsBill Kenney, bill@meetroi.comMEET, http://meetroi.com/

In Focus: 2/12/23 - Scott Martinez, Tyler Economic Development Council

As 2023 begins, there are many question marks —as well as an abundance of cautious optimism — concerning the region and it's economy. On the next installment of BusinessTalk, BusinessWest Editor George O'Brien and his guest, Rick Sullivan, president and CEO of the Western Mass Economic Development Council, sort through it all, touching on everything from workforce issues to the prospects for needed growth and new jobs. It's all must listening, so tune in to BusinessTalk, a podcast presented by BusinessWest in partnership with Living Local 413 and sponsored by PeoplesBank.

As 2023 begins, there are many question marks —as well as an abundance of cautious optimism — concerning the region and it's economy. On the next installment of BusinessTalk, BusinessWest Editor George O'Brien and his guest, Rick Sullivan, president and CEO of the Western Mass Economic Development Council, sort through it all, touching on everything from workforce issues to the prospects for needed growth and new jobs. It's all must listening, so tune in to BusinessTalk, a podcast presented by BusinessWest in partnership with Living Local 413 and sponsored by PeoplesBank.

We are excited to kick off our fourth season of Research Uncensored with our good friend Matt Tackett. Matt is the President of the Southern Economic Development Council (SEDC), one of the largest professional associations for economic developers in North America, which covers 17 states and includes over 1,000 members.In this episode, Matt will be sharing his insights on what SEDC is prioritizing in 2023 and how they are working to advance their mission to grow strong economies that create jobs, opportunity, and prosperity in the American south.

Turning employees into employers. Turning consumers into producers. Those are two of the broad goals behind creation of the Latino Economic Development Council. For the next installment of BusinessTalk, BusinessWest editor George O'Brien talks with Andrew Melendez, director of Operations for this agency, about its unique model and mission and the many ways it will measure success. It's must listening, so join us for BusinessTalk, a podcast presented by BusinessWest  and sponsored by PeoplesBank.

With 5000 international economic development professionals, Michigan native Nathan Ohle, takes over the helm of this critical organization that helps guide the worlds future development!Join Nathan Ohle, President & CEO, International Economic Development Council (IEDC) and host Ed Clemente as they discuss his intriguing path to this important position.  The International Economic Development Council (IEDC) is a non-profit, non-partisan membership organization serving economic developers. With more than 5,000 members, IEDC is the largest organization of its kind. Economic developers promote economic well-being and quality of life for their communities, by creating, retaining and expanding jobs that facilitate growth, enhance wealth and provide a stable tax base. Here about Nathans path from Midland, MI to working with Energy Secretary Granholm when she was Governor of Michigan, to Senator Peters, MEDC as well as other unique positions at the State and US levels of economic development. You can also read the transcript from our conversation. 

Turning employees into employers. Turning consumers into producers. Those are two of the broad goals behind creation of the Latino Economic Development Council. For the next installment of BusinessTalk, BusinessWest editor George O'Brien talks with Andrew Melendez, director of Operations for this agency, about its unique model and mission and the many ways it will measure success. It's must listening, so join us for BusinessTalk, a podcast presented by BusinessWest and sponsored by PeoplesBank.

Normal Mayor Chris Koos would like to see the community develop guidelines for a shovel-ready industrial park, something the Economic Development Council has begun to talk about. But during a WGLT interview on Sound Ideas, he shied away from specifying what the town should provide to make it happen.

Paulette Risher is twice retired, once as a civilian Organizational Psychologist with the United States Air Force and once as a Major General (2-Star) in the United States Army. With 34-years of active and reserve service, Paulette was the first woman to serve in U.S. Special Operations Command as a flag-officer. Upon leaving active duty, Paulette joined Booz Allen Hamilton and led their Organization, Strategy, and Learning team in Huntsville for three years. Additionally, Paulette served as the Principal Director for DigiFlight, Inc. Today, Paulette serves as the President/CEO of Still Serving Veterans (SSV), a Huntsville-based non-profit. SSV's mission is to serve and honor Veterans and their families by empowering them to build meaningful lives through connections to fulfilling careers, benefits and services; and to proactively strengthen Veteran communities through leadership and collaboration. Prior to assuming the position of President/CEO, Paulette served as SSV's Chief Programs Officer for five years. Additionally, Paulette established Learning for the Journey, LLC in 2010 as a sole-practitioner consulting practice. Her specialization is designing and delivering customized workshops and seminars. Paulette is a lifelong learner. She holds a BS and MA in Psychology, as well as an MEd with a focus on workplace learning and educational technology. Paulette is a member of the American Psychological Association, the International Positive Psychology Association, the Society of Military Psychologist, the American Evaluation Association, the Women's Economic Development Council, the Association of the United States Army; the National Career Development Association, the American Legion, and the Disabled American Veterans (DAV). Paulette serves on the Alabama Veterans Executive Network (AlaVetNet), the Alabama Workforce Development Board, the Alabama Small Business Advisory Board and is Chair of the Alabama Veteran Suicide Task Force and co-lead of the Alabama Governors Challenge to Prevent Veteran Suicide.

The Florida Business Forum Podcast gets to break a little news in this episode with a groundbreaking for Stonemont Financial Group's newest Florida Venture -- a 1.3 million square-foot speculative industrial development on Orange Avenue at Kings Highway adjacent to an I-95 interchange.The Florida Business Forum Podcast host and anchor, Sam Yates, speaks with Pete Tesch of the Economic Development Council of Saint Lucie County and representatives from Stonemont Financial Group and JLL to get the advance word on what the industrial project means for the Treasure Coast Region and to eager tenants wanting warehouse and logistics immediately adjacent to I-95 and within hours of all the major markets in Florida. 

The primary purpose of small biz Florida is to highlight and create awareness for all of Florida's small business assistance and resource programs. One of the most effective ways to learn about, gather and share information on these resources is to attend and work at Florida's top small business and economic development conferences. One of these important business events was the recent Florida Economic Development Council's 2022 Annual Conference held in St. Petersburg, Florida. Small biz Florida was on the scene during the conference, recording and producing segments. The Small Biz Florida crew wants to thank Beth Cicchetti, Jill Blackman, and the entire FEDC team for allowing the podcast to be part of the recent conference. Also want to thank Indian River State College's school of business professor, Dr. Herbert Ricardo, for serving as podcast cohost during the conference. Attended by over 275 of Florida's economic development professionals, the conference was a huge success. The next 15 segments of small biz Florida were all produced and recorded at the conference-hopefully the segments will provide our listeners with valuable and beneficial information. Please like, rate, and share our show to continue supporting the podcast with your networks, family, and friends. To stay connected and up to date on our latest releases, follow our Instagram @SmallBizFlorida! We are so thankful for the growing and overwhelming support of our listeners. We hope our work is inspiring and helping all business owners in Florida and Nationwide! 

Jackie Reses, Chairman, Economic Development Council at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Former Head of Square Capital, and co-author of Self-Made Boss, joins Dan Loney to discuss the state of small business. Reses, a Wharton alumna, talks about how 2/3 of job growth is coming from small business and how the Great Resignation is contributing to the growth of entrepreneurship across the U.S. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On today's episode, you'll learn about an Economic Development Council study of the Bloomington-Normal housing shortage. Plus, an interview with ISU President Terri Goss Kinzy. And meet a Republican county treasurer who is running for the Illinois House from central Illinois.

Carlos F. Gaitan Ospina is the Founder and CEO of Benchmark Labs, which provides IoT-based weather forecasting solutions for the agriculture, energy, and insurance sectors worldwide using proprietary machine-learning software. Chad talks with Carlos about creating the company, the hardware they're producing and what it is doing, and where the machine learning comes into play. Benchmark Labs (https://www.benchmarklabs.com/) Follow Benchmark Labs on Twitter (https://twitter.com/labsbenchmark), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/benchmarklabs/), or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/benchmark-labs-inc/). Follow Carlos on Twitter (https://twitter.com/cfgaitan) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlos-felipe-gaitan-ospina-3765808/). Follow thoughtbot on Twitter (https://twitter.com/thoughtbot) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/). Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Giant Robots! Transcript: CHAD: This is the Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots Podcast, where we explore the design, development, and business of great products. I'm your host, Chad Pytel. And with me today is Carlos Gaitan, the Founder and CEO of Benchmark Labs, which provides IoT-based weather forecasting solutions for the agriculture, energy, and insurance sectors worldwide using proprietary machine-learning software. Carlos, thank you very much for joining me. CARLOS: Thank you for the invitation, Chad. It's a pleasure to join you here. CHAD: You work in a variety of different industries with weather forecasting solutions using machine learning. I'm really curious, at a high level, how did you get to where you created Benchmark Labs today? CARLOS: Oh, thank you, Chad. That's a great question. I think that in many ways, it's a combination of life experiences and lots of user feedback. As a background, my mum worked for 28 years in the National Federation of Coffee Growers in my native Columbia. And we experience basically the effects of weather, La Niña, El Niño, local conditions, pests on the coffee growers. I remember growing up looking at the price in The New York Stock Exchange if the pound of coffee was going to be more than $1 or not [laughs] and so on. So, you know, we had a very severe drought in Colombia, and Colombia was heavily dependent in hydropower at that time. And I remember that we even had to study with candlelight and move to a spring savings time for the first time in the country. The country is in the equator, so you can imagine moving the clock was unheard of. So since then, I was always passionate about hydrology, the water cycle, why this happened, how weather can affect the economy at that level that people have to change their working habits. I did civil engineering hydrology, then studied these new applications of machine learning technologies, hydroinformatics, did my studies there in Columbia, my bachelor's, my master's. Then I was fortunate to go to The University of British Columbia to study my Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences. And then, after I finished, I moved to The United States to work at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton with close collaboration with the NOAA, the USGS. And that gave that perspective also of understanding how weather climate models were done at the Department of Commerce level but also to understand the users on how they interact with weather data or climate data and what were the needs that they were expecting from the National Weather Service and the Department of Commerce and NOAA that not necessarily were fulfilled with the current information. So then I moved to the private sector, joined a hardware company, and met my co-founder of Benchmark Labs there then moved to California to work on consultancy of climate change assessments. But since the time at the Department of Commerce, it became very clear that what farmers and what users wanted was weather information that was more actionable, that was tailored to their specific location, especially for specialty crops. Think about wineries, or coffee growers, orchids, stone fruits; they depend heavily on weather, and the information from the National Weather Services was just too coarse for them. And sometimes, there are huge errors in terms of temperatures that were recorded from their farm versus what the National Weather Service was doing. And that's why we decided to create Benchmark Labs to basically solve that problem, correct those errors, and give the information that the users needed when they needed it. CHAD: Did you ever just consider becoming a TV weather person? CARLOS: [laughs] CHAD: It seems it may be easier. CARLOS: [laughs] Nah. That's a very good point. CHAD: [laughs] CARLOS: And I have great respect with my colleagues that went into forecast meteorology and TV persons. I remember some of my lab mates practicing in front of a green screen when we were doing the Ph.D. CHAD: [laughs] CARLOS: That was an interesting scenario. [laughs] However, growing up in Colombia, the weather forecasts were not very, let's say, accurate to a certain extent, and we did the opposite than the weatherman suggested. CHAD: [laughs] CARLOS: So I guess that steered me towards following that path. [laughs] CHAD: So it totally resonates with me this idea that, you know, especially for...I've been on the West Coast before where you go over a hill and the weather it's like 20 degrees hotter and sunny and on one side of the hill, it was cold and foggy. We went on a great company trip many years ago to visit some Napa vineyards, and I was surprised by that. So I can imagine how that local information just doesn't match the global information that farmers might be getting. So what is the hardware that you're actually producing, and what is it doing? What does it look like? CARLOS: [laughs] Great question. So I will go back to your story about Napa and Sonoma, and the reality is that's exactly a problem that growers face; national weather agencies give averages over a big region. They divide the world in boxes, and everybody inside of a box receives exactly the same forecast. And if you are especially in the coast or you're in specialty agriculture, you understand that weather changes with elevation. Depending on which side of the mountain you are, you could receive all the rain or no rain at all. If you are near the shores, you could also get more wind, different types of clouds, all of those situations affect the conditions at the farm. And going back to the situation of Napa and Sonoma, Burgundy or the Mediterranean Basin, they all believe in the value of what they call the terroir, that is what makes also unique their products. They're indigenous, and they understand at a very fundamental point how the local conditions from the soil, from the vegetation, makes their farm unique. So what we do is we use IoT sensors, basically hardware sensors that monitor environmental variables. We refer to them in the atmospheric science world as weather stations. I had a talk with some users when I said the term weather station. They imagined a big construction or a building with a TV station on a radar or something. But in this case, there are IoT devices that are totally portable, the size of a Wi-Fi modem in some cases. And we use those sensors as ground truth that will basically tell us the local conditions. We use the information from the National Weather Services and the information from those IoT sensors and correct the forecast as they come. CHAD: And is that where the machine learning comes in because it's actually correcting the forecast being received? CARLOS: Exactly, our machine learning aspect of it is fully operational, non-linear correction of weather data as it comes in from the National Weather Services to correct it to the conditions that are experienced at the farm level, at the sensor level. And a farm could be also an agricultural farm, or it could be a solar farm, a wind farm. Or, as we talk with some users in ski resorts that actually they consider as snow farmers, it's also affected by microclimates. So at the end, it is about providing value to all these areas affected by microclimates that are not being resolved correctly by the current generation of forecast from the National Weather Services. CHAD: Are most customers able to get the coverage that they need with one weather station, or are they deploying multiple ones? CARLOS: So that's a great question, and the answer probably is it depends. Our customers, original customers, have thousands of stations over multiple fields under management. For specialty crops, it's common to have multiple IoT sensors in one acre. For other scenarios, they might have only one station or one sensor every 10 acres or so on, so it depends on the condition. It depends on how technologically inclined are the users if they already invested in these IoT sensors or if they are looking into buying IoT sensors and then scaling up the number of sensors in their farms. CHAD: How do all the sensors report their data back? CARLOS: That is a very interesting question because they are, let's say, tens of hardware manufacturers globally. We also created kind of a Rosetta Stone that puts all the sensors to communicate to our back-end systems. We integrate different languages of each hardware manufacturer. It has its own ways of naming the variables. So we do the translation in our end. We receive the data via an API. These IoT devices are Internet of Things in many ways because they transmit data via Wi-Fi, satellite internet, you know, cellular. CHAD: Cell, yeah. So different manufacturers might have different ways of actual communication, not just the protocol, but one box might be using Wi-Fi, and another one might be using a satellite. CARLOS: Exactly. And sometimes, many manufacturers give you the options of connecting even using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth for IoT sensors that are near, let's say, a farm that has internet connectivity. If they are on the field farther away, they might need to get access to a data plan from a cellular carrier, 3G usually or 5G. In some areas, there is limited coverage so far. And if it's a very remote area, there are options to get satellite coverage. CHAD: Now, I'm asking somewhat naive questions based on my understanding. And so if I start butting up against proprietary information, just tell me, "No." That's totally fine. CARLOS: [laughs] CHAD: So when we're thinking about the amount of data coming in from all of these different weather stations that your customers have, is it a lot of data? Is it a lot of data points? CARLOS: [laughs] It's a great question. So in many ways, yeah, each weather station communicates at different frequency. Sometimes what we are offering now is hourly transmission rates, but we also have access to government stations that sometimes only refresh once per day. So yes, it's a lot of data coming in, most of the data from the weather stations. Fortunately, it can be transmitted as a txt file, or it's only for one location. So the files are not big, but they are many per day. And so, we have probably done millions of operations already to assimilate data and provide the forecast. While on the other hand, The National Weather Service provides one forecast for the globe, let's say every...some models are every hour, other models are every six hours, and so on. So that is more, let's say, a bigger data set because it's a global data set that then you have to query to extract the information locally that is relevant for your servers, for your users. CHAD: Yeah. And I think it's neat how this is all happening centrally from all the data coming in, right? CARLOS: Yeah, exactly. We get data coming in for each specific location. We do the corrections, and we provide the forecasts. So there are lots of operations involved in the data handling activities, pre-processing, post-processing, but it's very rewarding at the end to provide the forecasts that are tailored to specific locations. And we had seen users that they basically told us, "Okay, we are using provider B or C; can you beat them? Show us that you can beat them, and the contract will be yours." So we showed them, and then they are like, "Yeah, that's fantastic. This is exactly what we have been looking for, information that is more accurate for our farms," so yeah. CHAD: Now, does your system correct itself based on what actually happened in an area after the modified forecast goes out? CARLOS: That's not a very relevant question because some of the models are static. I used my experience when I did an internship in Environment Canada, and I found that they were adjusting their models, let's say four times per, at least the operational models they had, four times per year. They kind of tweaked them to the local, let's say, spring, summer, fall, winter conditions. In our case, we make our models to correct themselves as more data comes in so they can adjust to weather events and have short-term memory, let's say, of what they will wait heavily on and forget the distant past. CHAD: I mean, it seems obvious, not necessarily easy but obvious, that you've made a prediction about what the weather is going to be, and you have all the data coming in from the stations to confirm whether your prediction was correct or not. So I'm sure it's not easy to adjust the model based on that. CARLOS: [laughs] CHAD: That seems obvious to me. CARLOS: Yeah, it's just a different approach in many ways. As you said, it's obvious because the users usually care about a specific location, at least our users. We understand that for national security or aviation, they require a model that provides coverage over a wider area, like sometimes continents. But for agricultural users, they care about their farms, and the farms will not move in space. So -- CHAD: Well, technically, they are moving in space; it's just the weather goes along with it. CARLOS: [laughs] So yeah, I guess that it's just a different way of tackling the problem. We focus on doing these forecasts to each specific location instead of having a forecast done for the whole globe that could be used in many different locations or for many different industries, but it's not necessarily tailored to any industry-specific or location-specific. CHAD: Yeah, that's great. Mid-Roll Ad I wanted to tell you all about something I've been working on quietly for the past year or so, and that's AgencyU. AgencyU is a membership-based program where I work one-on-one with a small group of agency founders and leaders toward their business goals. We do one-on-one coaching sessions and also monthly group meetings. We start with goal setting, advice, and problem-solving based on my experiences over the last 18 years of running thoughtbot. As we progress as a group, we all get to know each other more. And many of the AgencyU members are now working on client projects together and even referring work to each other. Whether you're struggling to grow an agency, taking it to the next level and having growing pains, or a solo founder who just needs someone to talk to, in my 18 years of leading and growing thoughtbot, I've seen and learned from a lot of different situations, and I'd be happy to work with you. Learn more and sign up today at thoughtbot.com/agencyu. That's A-G-E-N-C-Y, the letter U. CHAD: So have you managed to bring it full circle now, and are there coffee growers in Colombia that are using your solution? CARLOS: [laughs] I hope so. We have talked with coffee growers for sure. They care about temperature gradients. And I really think that going to Colombia as we scale will make the whole platform easier to use. I think that we can go full circle soon, sooner rather than later, into Colombia. We got support from the World Trade Center here in San Diego to do commercialization assistance to translate our solution from English to other languages. So we will be tackling Spanish, French, Italian in the very near future because it's important to offer the forecast also in a way that they could interact natively without having to have the limitation of using an English language platform into their day-to-day life. But yeah, full circle probably we'll be going full circle soon. CHAD: So language is one barrier to scaling and to adoption. Are there other ones that are typical barriers of adoption for your customers? CARLOS: We are very competitive here in the North American market, the European markets. Our prices are in dollars. But that by itself is a problem for emerging economies; for example, you know, $100 here is not the same thing as $100 in other countries. We have to take into consideration exchange rates or the amount of disposable income that they will have for their operations. CHAD: And I'm not super educated about it, but I know that there are certain industries in agriculture where the growers are particularly pressed for margins, and coffee is one of them, right? CARLOS: Exactly. So, fortunately, in many ways, for the bigger crops, specialty crops they are traded, and the prices are linked to U.S. dollars so that can be translated, our services can be absorbed, let's say. For the smaller crops that are not traded or that just stay locally, the price is not linked to the U.S. exchange; then it's definitely a bigger barrier for them. But hopefully, we will get to a point if we have a sufficiently large adoption in North America and the developed world; these technologies could be subsidized or made more accessible in other economies. CHAD: What are some of the concerns that growers have? Take the specialty crops, for example, is it a matter of are they doing this because they want to make the best product possible, or is it because they want to prevent crop loss? CARLOS: It is both, actually. The uses of weather information in agriculture varies, as you said. There are many different applications; one is to get more actionable alerts. For example, we saw what happened in Burgundy last year where a substantial part of their region lost their crops, close to 80% maybe. I don't remember the number, but it was definitely substantial. And so, having more accurate forecasts and alerts gives them an opportunity to adapt better, to get cover, protect their fields to a certain extent. Weather information affects also pests and disease models, so application of fertilizer with spraying is also affected by local conditions. In many ways, for the operations that are very, let's say, sophisticated, some of them even link the sugar content on the fruit to weather conditions. And understanding how these weather conditions affect sugars could tell them when is the optimal time for them to, let's say, harvest? And the difference in the sugar content might determine the difference between higher margins or so-so margins [laughs] for their yield. So yeah, it's a combination of quality of the product. It's a combination of preventing loss of the product. And it's also labor scheduling and activities, for example, that are regulated by OSHA that prevent farm operations to maybe don't, let's say if they are like temperatures above 95 Fahrenheit or 100 Fahrenheit. So having that extra information in alerts will also help them with farm management operations. CHAD: So can you give me a sense of the stage you're at or the scale you're at now with the business and where you see your next stages of growth being? CARLOS: Thank you. Yeah, great. So we are fortunate to have scaled this solution beyond California. We are now a global platform. We are providing forecast to Spain. Recently, we got contacted by some growers in South America, so we are testing for avocado growers in Brazil and Colombia, for example. So I'm not serving yet coffee growers in Colombia, but the avocado growers in Colombia, it seems that they got a hold on what we do, [laughs] so it is getting there. And now we have the resources, the ability to go global and offer this anywhere in the world that is connected with an IoT device. So it's fully operational. And we are now in the midst of fundraising to scale the team, provide the customer success operations, and to support growers in different geographies, to support growers of different crops. And I think that if we are going to be successful globally, it starts with customer support, customer success, and understanding your users' needs, so they don't feel that, again, they will receive a one size fits all vanilla-like solution and that we really care about why specialty crops are special. CHAD: So when you were just starting out, who was the first team member that you added to the team? CARLOS: Oh, it was great. So in many ways, I thank the Economic Development Council of San Diego for funding a set of interns in data science, weather analytics, and business development. So our first hires, in many ways, were supported thanks to the Economic Development Council. We were the two founders, and then we got support in business development to understand which, for example, specialty crops really care about weather. Then some data science interns, data scientists that helped us with grants that we did for the National Science Foundation, and NASA that we got...we supported one of the grants. During COVID times, we participated in a very interesting opportunity to know the effect of COVID on forest fires, for example, and that was in collaboration with NASA. So first hires were interns, entry-level positions in data science, in back-end engineering, and then front-end business development. Now we are very excited to be expanding the team. We recently hired a Chief Product Officer with ten years of experience in Bloomberg, experience with visualizations, and talking to customers and users. So I think that for us, it's very important to, again, I reiterate, to have the ability to provide a great user experience, to provide meaningful information for specialty crops so they feel that they are special. CHAD: You mentioned that you got some business development help using those grants. But right now, is the actual sales work being done by the founding team? CARLOS: Yeah, at the beginning, as a founding team in a small startup, you have to wear multiple hats. So yeah, it's very common, and in many ways, I appreciate that we didn't rush to hire in terms of sales too early because it's important that the founding team understands the user perspectives, their needs, what they call the pain points to understand how to steer product into that direction. And then sales will follow once you have a solution that is highly needed, that users really like and that it can be shown that it can be scaled globally. So we are working on scaling, on accuracy of the forecasts. And yeah, next hires will be to get somebody that will help us in sales and can bring us to the next level. CHAD: What does the sales cycle look like for the kinds of customers you have now? Do they tend to be smaller, or do they tend to be larger enterprise customers? CARLOS: So, in the beginning, we worked with smaller enterprises to understand how to use the data, for example, connect the data from one or five sensors transmitted online. So dealing with smaller enterprises, farmers was optimal at that point as a company. And now, we are focusing more on businesses, farm managers, or management companies that have hundreds, sometimes thousands of sensors on their management. So we deal with more like business to business instead of going direct to grower at this stage because, as we were mentioning earlier, we're a small company, and going direct to grower requires lots of support and dedication in terms of dedicated agents and sales teams. CHAD: Do those companies tend to have long sales cycles? CARLOS: The bigger ones, yes. If you are talking about publicly traded companies, they will want to start with pilots then validate them. And you can move at different timescales with them that are not necessarily aligned with the startups at this stage. But there are some farm managers that have a way higher frequency of decision making. So their sale cycle could be one month, two months instead of having to build a relationship for years. CHAD: You mentioned the pilots, and you mentioned earlier telling the story about a customer that said, you know, "If you can provide us with better data," but I think companies as they scale or as they talk to potential customers, you also don't want to take on too much work that you should be charging for to be able to do that pilot. How do you strike that balance? CARLOS: It's a fascinating question. And I think that from a founding member perspective, let's say, it goes as a function of the stage of the company and what other, not necessarily monetary, benefits you can get from these pilots. We have been even recommended to not have unpaid pilots anymore, for example. I think that it's important at the beginning to get access to the information that you need to validate the technology with users that really care about what you're building. And sometimes, there are different ways that these pilots can be structured in a way that the final user might give you a reference or might spend time with you doing the quality control, quality check, saying what kind of features they like, so that's also very important as a young startup. As you grow, probably once you have that validation, there is no need necessarily to take into endeavors that will lead to unpaid pilots that you don't know if there's a clear end to that. And you can move to a more structured pilot program that has clear deliverables, and at the end of window, a decision will be made depending on the set of topics that were agreed between the companies. CHAD: You might even be able to get away without pilots if you can make a strong case by showing other case studies that are relevant to that potential customer or where you explain, oh, you know, these people had a similar situation to you and here's how it's solved, and here's the success that they had. CARLOS: Totally. You nailed it. It's in many ways to sometimes build credibility, find analogues in the sector, or a use case that can be comparable to the pain point that another user might have. And it could be, let's start with the avocado growers in Brazil, and they have probably the same pain points that they have with avocado growers in Colombia. Once we have that sorted out, then we probably can go and talk with avocado growers here in California or Mexico, Central America and tell them, "Hey, this is the value that we've unlocked in Brazil. Do you have a similar problem?" CHAD: What I have found is that this is one of the important reasons why you have to have a good product which is part of what you've been saying all along, you know, you really wanted to focus on making sure the product was working and that it was good. Because when you do, then you can also use referrals, you know, not referrals, but like, hey, you want to talk to this avocado grower, and they'll be happy to talk with another potential customer because they're excited about what you've done for them and been able to do with them. CARLOS: Totally, totally. And agriculture is always open to new technologies, but they are traditional in many ways. And it's a small circle, and I think that it is very important to build products right and really care about what you're doing and your end-users. Build together. Don't come necessarily with assumptions saying, "Hey, here agricultural grower A, I have a solution that will change your life," without knowing necessarily where are they coming from and their life experiences, and how they interact with products before. So yeah, I totally see the benefit of referrals. Word of mouth is very big, going to conferences with agricultural growers. There are big networking events that could help us more than just going and doing a Google ad campaign, for example, at this stage. CHAD: I think that's probably an important lesson that not only applies in agriculture but in a lot of industries. And I really appreciate you stopping by to share with us. And I really wish you the best of luck as you progress in your journey at Benchmark. CARLOS: Oh, thank you very much. I really appreciate it, and I hope that we can continue the conversation here. Just count with us anytime that you need to talk about weather, agriculture, IoT sensors. Happy to help the audience too, and always discuss what's out there to help the Giant Robots community. [laughs] CHAD: Carlos, if people want to get in touch with you or find out more about the company, where are the best places for them to do that? CARLOS: Go to benchmarklabs.com and then fill out a form there. And we will definitely be in touch with all of you. I will personally answer all the queries. I'm very, very happy to share our technology, share what we are building. And we are so excited because by having this technology, you can help save water, energy, and even pesticide use, and that's a huge contribution to the environment as we move forward. So yeah, thank you very much again for the invitation, and I'm here; count with me as a future resource. CHAD: Wonderful. And you can subscribe to the show and find notes and links along with an entire transcript for this episode at giantrobots.fm. If you have questions or comments, email us at hosts@giantrobots.fm. And you can find me on Twitter at @cpytel. This podcast is brought to you by thoughtbot and produced and edited by Mandy Moore. Thanks for listening, and see you next time. ANNOUNCER: This podcast was brought to you by thoughtbot. thoughtbot is your expert design and development partner. Let's make your product and team a success. Special Guest: Carlos F. Gaitan Ospina.

This time on the Thinking Bigger Podcast, Brad is joined by Kevin Jeffries, President and CEO at Leawood Chamber and Economic Development Council. In this episode, Kevin and Brad talk about Kevin's background and how it led him into his work for the Leawood community. They also discuss the climate for small business in Leawood as well as plans for the future of his favorite city.

BusinessWest Editor George O'Brien has a lively, wide-ranging discussion with Rick Sullivan, president and CEO of the Western Mass. Economic Development Council. The two talk about the year that was … and what the region might expect in 2022 when it comes to everything from the workforce crisis to supply chain issues to attracting individuals and businesses to Western Mass.  It's a compelling discussion and must listening, so join us on BusinessTalk, a podcast presented by BusinessWest in partnership with Living Local.

Hannibal, Missouri innkeepers share tales of renovating their historic stone home and opening as an Airbnb.

BusinessWest Editor George O'Brien has a lively, wide-ranging discussion with Rick Sullivan, president and CEO of the Western Mass. Economic Development Council. The two talk about the year that was ... and what the region might expect in 2022 when it comes to everything from the workforce crisis to supply chain issues to attracting individuals and businesses to Western Mass. It's a compelling discussion and must listening, so join us on BusinessTalk, a podcast presented by BusinessWest in partnership with Living Local.

The McLean County Nursing Home has lost $3.5 million in three years in spite of efforts to narrow the gap and has had three directors in that time. Yet, the new head of the nursing home is optimistic things can turn around. A prominent lawyer involved in high profile race and police cases is now part of the effort by the family of ISU graduate students Jelani Day to find out what happened to him. And the Economic Development Council thinks the BN Advantage marketing campaign needs a reboot. Hear how to choose which of the many faces of Bloomington Normal will emerge as THE brand.

Chris Setti of the Greater Peoria EDC joins Greg and Dan for a look at the organization's mission statement and how they strive to bring the community of Peoria together.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Focus: 10/24/21 - Scott Martinez, Tyler Economic Development Council

In this episode, Tommy talks with Maxim Chereshnev, Chairman of the Board of Russian Trade and Economic Development Council. Maxim is the mastermind of one of the few Russian venture capital tech funds, MAXCAPITAL. Before he set off on a mission to help digital companies in Russia accelerate their business growth, Maxim was already excelling in the fields of politics, real estate, and entrepreneurship.  Maxim attributes his success to finding his “true north”, which allowed him to find his passion and create a roadmap to reach his goals.  Tommy and Maxim talk about accelerating global expansion for new startups, Maxim's lifelong mission of helping Russian companies get funding, and how to build connections locally and abroad. "In Russia, it's kind of difficult to create a global startup—first of all, because of language, and then secondly, because of the mentality in the market. Only if you create a startup to be global, then it is going to be global.” ~ Maxim Chereshnev Main Takeaways  Regardless of your circumstances, when you find your “true north”, it's easy to position yourself in your niche and even help others fulfill their dreams. Going global can be daunting, but there is a big upside. It's easier to get direct suppliers abroad, to open international branches, and to find dealers and distributors for your products/services. Compartmentalizing and developing specific incubators for niche companies can help accelerate their growth by facilitating focus and establishing structure. Entrepreneurs should use downtime to improve their value proposition and refine what they bring to the table.  Links Maxim Chereshnev on LinkedIn MAXCAPITAL Harvard Business School Program for Leadership Development (HBS) Russian Trade and Economic Development Council (RTEDC) Rocky IV Procter and Gamble Zillow Abraham Lincoln State Duma Winston Churchill Bismarck Bill George Hong Kong Trade Development Council Connect with our host Mammoth Tommy on LinkedIn Subscribe and stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts

BusinessWest Editor George O'Brien has a lively, wide-ranging discussion with Rick Sullivan, president and CEO of the Western Mass. Economic Development Council. The two discuss everything from the ongoing workforce crisis, to the proposed data center project in Westfield, to the region's prospects for gaining population — and business opportunities — as a result of the pandemic and the accompanying changes in how people work. It's must listening so join us on BusinessTalk, a podcast presented by BusinessWest in partnership with Living Local. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

BusinessWest Editor George O'Brien has a lively, wide-ranging discussion with Rick Sullivan, president and CEO of the Western Mass. Economic Development Council. The two discuss everything from the ongoing workforce crisis, to the proposed data center project in Westfield, to the region's prospects for gaining population — and business opportunities — as a result of the pandemic and the accompanying changes in how people work. It's must listening so join us on BusinessTalk, a podcast presented by BusinessWest in partnership with Living Local.

What is the missing of the Economic Development Council? Chris Setti answers that question. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today we talk with Matt Crawford with the Montgomery Company in South Carolina about what is happening in the Columbia Market. We cover everything from the way he works, economic and employment trends, taxes, the current level of competition, and other things that make Columbia an investor's market.  --- Transcript Michael: Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of The Remote Real Estate Investor. I'm Michael Albaum and today I'm joined by my co hosts, Tom Schneider and Mark Woodling. And we have a very special guest with us today, Matt Crawford is an agent out of Columbia, South Carolina. And today Matt's gonna be giving us a market overview and talk about some of the things that he and his team are able to assist buyers and sellers in doing in that market. So let's get into it.     Awesome. So Matt Crawford, thank you so much for taking the time to join us today. Really appreciate you being on the show.   Matt: Excellent. Thank you, Mike. Glad to be here.   Michael: And so you're out in Columbia, South Carolina. Is that right?   Matt: Yeah, Sunny Columbia mass about 85 degrees, you know, beautiful state born and raised about an hour north of here. So fantastic market, man, it's a good place to be.   Michael: Awesome. And I'm curious, Matt, who are you an agent with.   Matt: So right now, my agency is hung under the Montgomery company, which is a pretty interesting story. And just to quickly unpack that, Matt Montgomery, he's a great friend of mine. He runs a massive construction business here in the southeast. And just for the conveniency of our partnership, I ended up creating a brokerage with him. And I'm really sort of the head of the firm, sole proprietor of that brokerage, which I moved my company under, which is technically not a capital in southern capital brothers, which is our investment brokerage underneath this umbrella.   Tom: That's a perfect segue, Matt, and, you know, before jumping into Columbia, South Carolina, I'd love to learn a little bit more about yourself and your background and how you got to where you're at today.   Matt: Yeah, 100% time, you know, it's a, it's been a journey, you know, as we all are inclined to take. And so, you know, I'm going to probably take this back five years, you know, I'm in Denver, Colorado, man, loving life, sort of so in the proverbial oats of a new broker. And I started really getting into cahoots with a lot of the investors out in Colorado, a lot of these guys were doing huge land acquisitions, building massive multifamily complexes, as well as doing something that I'd never heard of, which was institutional capital investing.   So they were piecing together these massive SFR, BTR portfolios, renting them out, stabilize them, and then doing the disposition strategy. And I was like, what a awesome niche within the real estate arena to start cutting my teeth on. And so we got licensed in Colorado started working with these guys, the barrier to entry there for a new young agent in his 20s was so massive, and like, man, it'd be great if I had $600,000 for my first rental, not the case.   So I look back to my roots back here in Columbia, South Carolina, where I can get that first rental for about 50,000. And so jumped over here about four years ago, and started building some institutional funds with a previous venture, we built that went to about 2200 homes deployed around 220 million over 24 months. I don't think I slept much. I probably lost a little bit of weight. But I learned a lot, you know, and, and from there, you know, there was a talk about destiny, talk about fate, you know, the pandemic arose, a created a little bit of space, to sort of see where I wanted to navigate. And, you know, I decided with a few of my other founders, Jordan, and Alex Fisher, to start our own company. And that's sort of how we got here today,   Tom: I had a boss who had a pretty funny joke. I was like, working a lot of hours. And he's like, Hey, good news. Tom, you're getting credit for two years of work, which is one year by working, you know, every day, 100 hour weeks, you know, yes.   Matt: It is a journey man is like, you know, you know, first and last out, but we had the, the gusto of, you know, being passionate and, and finding, you know, a purpose within the the jumble of real estate, not at one point, I thought it was so binary, you know, it's just traditional transactions between buyers and sellers, and then start unpacking that man, I'm like, oh, man, if you can sell one home, you could sell a portfolio of 1000 homes. And so that's what brought us here.   Tom: Let's, let's learn a little bit more about the practice today. Your guyses brokerage today.   Matt: Yep, yep. So, you know, we really have pivoted to fly a new banner. That banner is called Southern capital. It's a company that we've had for many years. And what that really does is it pieces together investment clients, like you guys have it Roofstock with really high profile properties here in the southeast. And if we can drill down even more granular, you know, Colombia has been our top market. And it's just so funny how it happened. You know, when I, when I ended here, I wasn't thinking, Oh, Colombia is going to be the most fantastic rental market ever. But it is just really happen that way, the average property value in ratio to the average rent rate is just so incredibly strong, that it's created a lot of attraction.   So at Southern capital, I have Jordan shots, he's just like our tech, no, not man, this guy is building these fantastic databases. He's bifurcating all these beautiful codes on the back end, that parallels the software that you guys have, you know, shout out to Andy, and Danielle, for Roofstock. And it's just played so well in our court. And then Alex Fisher, the guys basically like a pseudo General of the military. And he's just running fantastic operations, and allowing me to sort of be on the forefront, gaining knowledge, making really strategic connections, and providing the utmost service to the clientele.   And so Southern capital sort of walks that fine line of servicing large institutional clients. But I've really, really enjoyed the opportunity that mark and Matt and you all at rusak have provided us, which is working really intimately with people from all around the world. I mean, we've had, we've closed deals in India now, like doing five day meltaways. And I'm like, this is awesome, man. Because with the with the large institutional space, you know, with any kind of maybe corporate structure, you almost become a data point. You know, they're they're really looking hard at performance underwriting sheets, which I'm fine with. And I love the scalability of numbers. But there's something beautiful about that connection of getting on the phone with someone who's buying their first rental or their 10th rental, looking at looking at their projected rent rates. And that's sort of what we're doing in a nutshell, on the day to day here.   Mark: Let me kind of unpack it, as Matt Crawford would say, in a sense of connecting why Matt's here with us today, because, you know, Matt's one of our prized certified agents that Roofstock has partnered with, he's the one that's actually handpicking properties to bring over to Roofstock select. So we don't just treat Matt like he's a partner, but he is sitting in the same arena with us, he is there rolling up his sleeves every single day, and really bringing properties a Roofstock. So we want to give Matt a shout out bring him on the podcast because a he's an expert in Columbia, South Carolina, we want people to understand it, but he's the guy that's handpicking the properties for the Select program.   So if anybody likes what you're doing, they're going to see your work. It's almost like artwork that's going up on Roofstock. So great job, thanks for all your participation. And again, I would love to love to get into the market when when we do really unpack it for for the crowd, because there's a lot of things happening in South Carolina, but specifically your market.   Matt: I love it. I love it. Mark within let's uh, let me let me switch some gears real quick. Now you guys have started getting the creative juices flowing. So let's talk about the masterpiece, the artwork, and that breaks down to the underwriting that goes into these problems. So all that history that we just covered, taught us one thing, and that's how to underwrite really well to be the best underwriters, right? In South Carolina, you know, putting that out there into the universe. And so it is an art form. You know, we're looking at a ton of different data points. We're looking at so many different comps, whether it's purchase comps, rent comps, we're looking at outlier data that we're pulling off Airbnb, err, DNA that we're trying to figure out how many data points can I put on this one property to make it a sure bet for an investor.   And that really is what's given us the success with the Roofstock program, you know, as Mark mentioned, you know, we're looking at these properties every single day, manually underwriting them, you know, which is a huge, huge help from Jordan, my partner, you know, really appreciate you, Jordan when you see this, but we're getting on there, and everything is converting, because we've already done that heavy lifting upfront, you know, and I think that's sort of the secret sauce here, as well as being so intimate with the market here. And that's just the beauty of painting this piece for you guys.     Michael: Matt. So if we can peel back another layer of this proverbial onion here, what are you seeing? Are you able to get a finger on what makes great investment properties in Colombia?   Matt: 100%, like, you know, it's, it's gonna come down like the easiest way is my hot zones. You know, there's a, there's zip codes, no 29209, 29206, you know, 29203 I want to stay away from except if I'm on this one side of the street. And so just being able to speak on the micro locality. I think that's such an important word here is a huge service to these investors. And then, you know, like any, you know, skilled tradesmen of his craft, you get to a point where you can Almost looking at property, as long as sort of meets the actual locale checkbox, in my mind, I can tell you, this is going to be a great rental. And I can also tell you if the area is going to have a specific tenant demographic that's going to play in to the longevity of your asset. And that simply just comes from experience from data, you know, those probably now 25 different homes that we've managed to underwrite, put in a pipeline, put a tenant in there and have it stabilized. And so that really has allowed us to speak really clearly to the Rootstock clientele.   Michael: that's such a good point. Because like we've sent out other episodes, you know, the, the what the one thing you can never change about a property's location. So getting that right off the bat is so critical.   Matt: Oh, man. And and and, you know, I'm not gonna lie. It's sort of fun. Because you go across the bridge here in Colombia, you have you have greater Colombia, then you have West Columbia, which is a whole different municipality, and it's split by a huge river called the Congo. Five years ago, there was no one saying, hey, let's head across the river, it was almost like that was a less developed obtuse area. Well, now, these veterans just came in, they put $4 million dollars into a brand new brewery right on the river. And so I'm doing reconnaissance, hitting up the brewery, checking out all the properties around there and then actually sourcing data, you know, so it's, it's a lot of give and take, but you know, it's how creative can you get with your market? Know, your market in my eyes is a product, you know, how can you literally turn these widgets polish this product to make it presentable and digestible from somebody who's investing all the way from California? And that's what we do.   Tom: Would love to hear about some of the broader kind of like macro tailwind. So Colombia is the capital of the state. What other you know, how else would you describe this sort of, you know, general kind of tailwinds. Beyond, behind the Columbia, South Carolina market, like what are the major employers all that good stuff?     Matt: Yeah. Awesome, awesome question time. And it's, it's so just, to me, it's a beautiful thing, what's happening here, so an hour north of here you have Charlotte, North Carolina 2018, ranked the number one city for millennial retention in the US. You know, two and a half, two and a half hours east of here yet Charleston, South Carolina, ranked the number one best small town in the US of this several years in a row. If you go an hour and a half Northwest, you're in Greenville, South Carolina, which is also have gone through this huge development curve.   And then you have Little Columbia right in the smack middle of the state that has been like overseen for the last seven years as each one of these towns develops. And we're now starting to see this huge shift of people being priced out of assets and Charlotte green go in Charleston. And so all that wealth is coming right to the center of the state now, and this is super evident. And probably the last three to four years, like you know, call it serendipity or what may have you but right when I moved here, it was the first time institutional capital really got into this market.   And now it is just turning in two parallel that the big players are now coming to town, these huge multinational conglomerates, just to rattle a few law, we have Prisma health Prisma health basically aggregates massive hospital systems, puts them under the Prisma banner sort of puts a new culture and spin on the health care that has exploded here. They bone up everything and Columbia and Lexington and irmo. With that medical Lance now on Columbia, Nephron pharmaceuticals, one of the largest pharmaceutical manufacturers in the country, actually opened up their HQ here in Lexington. I think it brought around like 12,000 jobs to town. I mean, you cannot go out and meet somebody Now, that doesn't have a gig at nephron.   So those two players really showed that Columbia can get out of sort of the Capitol education scene, and now we're having huge entities pick up. So outside of the medical field, of course, you're gonna have education, you have the University of South Carolina, for all you awesome investors out there. This is a cash grab of amazing students as fantastic business program and a law program that sort of as you can sort of insinuate is going to feed into the rentals, especially if we're going to be plotting these five to 10 miles outside of downtown Columbia.   And I would say probably the third is going to be your, your political and your military industry. We have Fort Jackson right here. It's the largest trainee base in all of the US, I believe, for new recruits. So what we've done as well is we pivoted to the industry. So on my personal portfolios, we're actually doing a majority of short term rentals Airbnb models, which is something that you know if you guys are ever interested in I'd love to also unpack that to sort of look at the underwriting scales between a 12 month long term lease versus if we put this into a another tier of short term leases. But all those things just play perfectly together with the assets that are available in Colombia.   Mark: So Matt, I always like to play around with the Economic Development Council websites and like, really dig into what's happening, like, how are these? How is the local city trying to draw in outside business? Right. And so they're always putting a ton of numbers up there. So I see that there's a ton of renters, there's a young population. But tell me, one thing I didn't see on there is tech, what's happening in the tech scene out there? What kind of jobs do you think are being developed? And maybe are there a ton of startups moving in or Yeah, go into a little detail about that.   Matt: 100%. And I think that's also the beauty of a lot of people, especially in the startup world, you know, being a entrepreneur myself, you know, might not have that $50,000 liquid to plop down on a $220,000 starter home. Or, in fact, they might have used that liquid to actually inject into their business or building. And we're seeing an explosion of that community here. Maybe it's because FCRA is a huge grantee here in Columbia, South Carolina, they're getting everything from 20,000, up to $200,000 startup grants.   So people are just flooding this town, seeking those grants, you know, there's low, low barrier to entry. This is not Charlotte, this is not Atlanta. So you really can get great visibility into the market without having all the noise of similar competitors. Everything from five bubble five bubble was a fantastic tech startup here. Shout out to those guys. We meet with them all the time. And then even more so mark, to your point, because of that community, because of that influx that's now happening and putting this polish on this town, there's a massive tech, what would you call this, like a, like, tech village, man, it's probably like, I don't know, a million square feet total. But it's going to be housing. Tons and tons of startups that come in and basically have office space for   Mark: Basically like an incubator where everybody can come together, exchange ideas, and magic happens in those kinds of environments.   Matt: It's massive. And I think I can add one more layer to that as well is that at the key here, you know, Tom and Mike to fill you guys in this is a true tertiary market, right? You know, this is tertiary being that we have moderately low purchase prices, and comparative to the historical rent rates. And so in any kind of investors mind, you really want to be searching for that true tertiary market, but not only got a tertiary market, but a evolving tertiary market that's about to flip over into the secondary category, secondary, secondary, meaning you have a little bit more modernize commercial entities, we have a lot more retention of your population that is grown there, then you have just a average household income starting to rise and a gradual slope.   That literally is happening right now. And that's what's helping retain startups retain the young millennials that are getting out of their MBAs or college. And we're bout to flip into a true secondary market, whereas Charlotte, Charleston, Atlanta, I would say a primary, you know, they have massive, massive inventory, but also high purchase prices, we're bouncing the ball, which that secondary market, which I think is the perfect time to start planting some seeds and dollars here, because in three to five years, this, this city is going to have a total different culture, a different field. And as you guys would, you know, understand a totally different marketplace. And that's what makes it so healthy right now to invest in.     Michael: So Matt, let's let's unpack that a little bit further and talk about some specifics. So if somebody is just a first time investor looking at different markets, which is a question we get all the time, and the Roofstock Academy is, hey, what market should I be looking at? Can you give us an idea of what that entry purchase price looks like? And what someone could expect for rent, and maybe give us an idea of some different neighborhoods to look at at a different price point and rental amounts.   Matt: Oh, let's rock and roll. Michael, you know, for everyone out there watching, you know, my two senses. Let's get started. Right? Come on. Like, we will literally show you the ins and outs of this marketplace. But it's easy to have analysis paralysis, you know, especially or building a portfolio or investing, you know, hard earned capital or anything. I understand that there's this level of nervousness. How do I choose between San Antonio or do I look in California? I've never even heard of Columbia, South Carolina.   But I can tell you if you guys just give us the opportunity to show you the ins and outs. You'll see exactly why this is the number one market The Roofstock buyer program right now. And that's because you can come in, you can buy a house for $80,000. For 80k, if we have it in the bank account, collectively, I'm going to put this over in West Columbia, I'm going to literally draw you a circle that is probably around five minutes from the actual river front. And so the fact that we can get that close to a beautiful amenity, you're about to be 10 minutes from downtown for $80,000, it's going to run out conservatively probably 1200 to 1250. Now if we come in there, we slap granite, stainless steel appliances, maybe put some LVT on the flooring, that $80,000 property, literally now could probably fetch $1500 for a modest three bed two bath, and I am hard pressed to find a another market that can support such high rent rates with such low barrier to entry and the purchase price without maybe going to specific places in Birmingham, Alabama, or what have you. But that's the beauty of Columbia right now.   Tom: As we're talking I'm like looking over Zillow in the area. And man, I love how I love how self serving this podcast is. It was will definitely be talking after math like, I don't know, I'm gonna love the thesis on like this.   Matt: It's a beautiful thing.   Mark Well, what I love about it's a state capitol, right, and you have a major college there. I live in Dallas, near Austin, Texas. And it's like the two things I see with Austin are the same exact thing that you would see in Columbia, it's just it may be years behind. So people move to affordable areas and where they can stay young, right? You get out of college, you find a good job, you can stay hanging around your friends if you really wanted to. So there could be some really cool things I see in Colombia happening.   Matt: Massive and Mark, I can even add some two cents there. And that can parallel it to with your point, Mike about, you know, what are some micro neighborhoods to start really searching in and so if anybody's taking notes, Rosewood, you know, rosewood is where you want to be it's literally maybe what happened to Austin five years ago before Austin became keep Austin weird. Like, that's what's happening in Rosewood right now. We have world renowned graffiti artists, you know, tagging massive walls, like the coolest stuff that you know, really did not reflect in Colombia, even two years ago, even like pre pandemic like there was no, no justified culture.   There certainly wasn't an art area. You know, I think back to Denver, Colorado when the river North District, which is now this huge art conglomerate, that literally is happening here. So if you're ever searching for properties, massive, massive student population, it's going to be in the Rosewood neighborhood area. And it really is following that path like Austin is of creating its own personality, its own culture, and its own distinctive.   Tom: Where is rosewood? I'm looking at my map right now. And this is probably for helpful people pulling up their map where is rosewood relative to the center of Colombia, maybe like near a freeway or where is Yeah.   Matt: But I'm looking at the center of Columbia, like, literally pinpoint the very center actually is the state capitol. It is three miles to the right. So literally, if you just look to the right, I'm pretty sure the zip code is 29204. Nope, internet 206. But there is a main bang, there it is. It's literally called…   Tom: Inside of 77, just south of 378. Is that right? Cool.   Matt: Yep, that is 100%. Right. And it's just like, it's the coolest spot man. There's like a 19 hundred's airstrip that's been this like massive hangout spot on they actually converted the hangar into a state of the art brewery. And so using those like outlier data points, like, especially with something as commodity commoditized, as a brewery, I've been seeing values on these properties jumped up 10 to 13%, year after year, just because it was getting to attain more and more populations. And it's becoming hit, you know, for whatever arbitrary.   Tom: Looking at the great school ratings, I'm seeing an elementary school and an eight, which is incredibly high and middle school to five in Dre, her high school at a seven those are those are fantastic school scores. And that's one of my big criteria that I look at. So we might need to you know, hide this part of the podcast because     Mark: Or let's do the opposite. So after this, you have you have full control, go ahead and post some properties on a roof stock in the rosewood neighborhood. And let's let's see it through the roof stock lens. So I think we're onto something here.   Matt: Absolutely. And then, you know, Tom, now that you're sort of looking into the map, you know, I'm going to sort of drive us down. I 26. This head west probably about 13 minutes. I'm getting off at exit 103 B and I'm in Lexington, South Carolina. You know, so a lot of people, a lot of people will come in and say that tell me about Colombia. So the big four that you want to really start investing in, that's going to be Colombia proper. West Colombia, KC, which is right parallel to West Colombia, and Lexington man, Lexington is like Hotlanta, baby, but a lot smaller. And it's just fantastic. It's created its own culture. It's right beside Lake Murray, which for this area, you know, is literally as I'm sweating in my back, I'm glad you can always see my front right now is a beautiful thing to have. And these, you know, you're gonna have a little bit more competition, but anywhere in Lexington, especially centralized and looking East fantastic inventory.   Michael: So Matt, this is this is really great. And I love that delta between the purchase price and the rental amount. I mean, that sounds like it's really, really strong. Something that our investors see is either able to make or break these deals as an investment is often Pentagon property taxes. Can you talk to us a little bit about how property taxes work in the Columbia market?   Matt: Yes, 100%. And it may or Benjamin, you're watching this, please answer my emails, because the taxes are tough man, you know, it really is, it's the double edged sword. You know, with such a fantastic market such beautiful rent rates and purchase prices, of course, there has to be some catch. And that is going to be the non owner occupied property taxes, you know, and these are going to really come in roughly around 3% of your gross purchase price.   So, you know, on a four bed two and a half bath, beautiful new bill, that's, you know, 210,000, man, you're gonna get slapped with, like $5700 tax bill. So I mean, if your cash flowing, you know, a couple 100 bucks a month, that means you're probably only gonna net maybe four to five to 6k annually. It eats up a lot of the margin. So Mayor Benjamin, please, can we change that law and attract more beautiful investors in estate. But what we're doing to offset that is looking for those lower purchase price assets. Right.   So a lot of people they want the new builds, you know, they sound sexy on paper. But, you know, to win to win in this market, need to combat, that 3%, non owner occupied property tax, you know, let's play in the 120 to $150,000 range. So now your taxes are three grand, and we're going to get that thing rented at 1500 to 1800. That's how we can combat such a tax problem.   Michael: And just as a kind of a point of reference. So folks understand why people might be continuing to move to Colombia. What is the tax rate for an owner occupant? Matt: Oh, man, it's less than half man. It's like, you're not really paying much. You know, and there's a ton of grants out here as well, to incentivize people to move to Colombia. You know, and I can even go into a little bit of deeper history of why that is. So, you know, the 1980s, the sort of the war on drugs really hit Columbia hard, because this is this is historically a new labor force town, you know, we have a massive flour mill in the heart of downtown that now it's become sort of a legacy item, no, people have weddings on top of it now.   So that demographic really was affected by the 1980s pandemic itself. And a lot of the assets in the single family units sort of were deteriorated, especially in some zip codes, nobody would move there and develop them. And so now the state is giving tons of grants for people to come in and give more life to this city, as we're sort of pulling out of that prior, that prior culture that really stuck around really, until today, there's still pockets and 29203 that are, you know, less than desirable, because the demographic there has sort of been inundated with the ancestral baggage that came from a few years ago.   Tom: This is awesome. Michael, do you have any more questions or mark, anything else you want to touch on? I'm, this has been? Yeah, I'm, I'm a fan. I don't know. I've been looking at market for a while. And this kind of conversation really is drawing me in a little bit. A little bit closer for sure.   Michael: Yeah, I guess my only other question that would be kind of on that on the example you gave previously. Were you getting in for 80k? Putting in that granite countertops and stainless steel now that thing could rent is renting at 1500? Is there any type of reassessment that the county is going to do in any kind of regular frequency? Or is your property tax truly tied to the purchase price at acquisition?   Matt: Boom! So everybody, Let's get some house hacking skills ready? Because it's tied to that gross acquisition price. And so that's how you get to beat the market here is you can get by a distressed property for 60k You know, that's so 20 $25,000 into it, you know, Sue Paint windows flooring kitchen. And that thing's now gonna appreciate and appraise probably at 120 125k ran out for 1500. But now we're only tied to that $60,000 original purchase price, we're going to let it season we're going to refi our money, and we're going to keep it rolling.   And that's exactly what we did in tranches of 100 properties, every 100, we do that exact strategy, pull that cash out, recycle that it's your, your, your gilded, BRRRR strategy, and it works perfectly for this market. And so, actually, Mark is very well aware of this, that there are a few individuals that have come to this, this market space through you guys. And we're actually doing that right now. So, you know, Southern capital, we are a acquisition renovation management company. And so we have what I literally would crowned the best crew, because we have cycled through the last years of who guys can keep up with the scalability, that consistency and the sourcing of these renovations.   And that's where Matt Montgomery, who we mentioned at the very start of this cast, that company now supports all of our innovations. And so, guys, if you're interested in the Columbia market, you want to find a way to get around the property taxes, you know, my resources are your resources, I'm more than happy to have a scope built for you completely itemized with timelines. General rule of thumb is for every $1,000 renovation, it's about one day. So a $30,000 job should take us about a solid month to do. But that is one really great way to start cash flow and quickly here in Colombia.   Michael: That's great. And let's just kind of highlight that again, Matt. So if I'm an investor, I'm interested in doing some kind of value, add renovation, and then putting a long term tenant in place, I can do that all with you and southern capital, you'll take care of the acquisitions, you'll assist in the renovations, and then you'll manage the property once I've got it completed.   Matt: 100%. So that was the whole idea of creating a holistic turnkey investment centric brokerage. That is a mouthful, but basically, we're here to be your best friend. And not only that, but we have the opportunity and the blessings of working with people like Mark, yourself, Michael, yourself, Tom, the whole team at Rootstock. So their back office, our front office and operations literally have made such matrimony moving forward that we're here to help.   Michael: I love it. Tom, like you said, I got to make a couple phone calls over the over to Matt's office here after we hop off. Yeah.   Matt: Come on the ship is sailing, baby.   Mark: Got one last question. Now that I think about one last question for you, Matt. So buyers can really understand what you know, what the competition level is there? Are you seeing multiple offer situations on every property? Or is it less frequent, like we see in like Birmingham right now where almost every property has multiple offers?   Matt: Awesome, awesome. Question mark. And so Phil, you know, everybody tuning in, you know, it's, you know, we're almost 50% maybe the last that I checked, 48% less inventory, then last April of 2020. So every offer is almost I would say 95% a multiple offer situation. But this is what we're going to do. You know, we're going to get your offer, we're going to expedite it being built out signed by you. I literally pick up my call and just being a player here in Colombia. I know a lot of the brokers say Hey, man, this is one of my investment clients, you know, you know, I know you love your your buyers and sellers, but I really value these people and their trust, can you please put me at the top of the pile.   And so that's, that's me. I'm kissing babies and shaking hands. And so I really push it as far as I can. But if you guys are coming in, we really have, I would say one shot to get it right. But that's not the case. Because if I know that we're not the highest and best, I'm gonna allow us that window, you know, and a lot of times they say, hey, Matt, we're sorry, the sellers didn't even you know, want a call for highest and best but I'm pressing these people I'm following up. I'm texting them say Hey, man, before you accept, you got to give me some feedback.   So that's number one. So guys, if you come in know that we're going to be right at ask, you know, if not five to 7% over ask. But that's not the end of the story. There's a beautiful part. And this is really what I think makes us dangerous is our off market channel. So for the last several years, I've amassed this massive contacts through asset managers to different real estate lawyers from local investors portfolios, trust funds, and say, Hey, guys, like funnel your inventory through me and I can bring a really, really healthy productive investment base to buy these acquisitions. And so I think that's what makes Columbia stand out from the rest is that we're uploading exclusive off market properties every single day that are not publicly facing and not on Zillow. They're not on the MLS stay get the sort of forsee that wave of multiple offer situations and avoid it completely. And that's something that we've done tons of transactions With the Roofstock clientele as well.   Mark: And just to fill in on that, so you're doing that through our BYOB program, right the bring your own property, so you can send our private link, because otherwise we can't post those because they're not on the MLS. And we don't have the listing, which would be the ones that go on our exclusive marketplace. But there's still a way for buyers to get access to that inventory through you. So if they want to reach out, you can show them some of those properties, but still use the roof stock lens, so they can get the roof stock guarantees if if the properties are in the right condition.   Matt: 100% Mark, and you know, you know, Fred Haines, I hope you're watching this podcast, he just picked up four off markets from us here in Colombia. The guy is a champion, Fred, thank you so much pleasure to work with you. And we're going to get those things closed here in the month of May.   Michael: Oh, that's so exciting. So Matt, if folks do want to reach out to you or southern capital or have questions about you know, reaching out, purchasing properties, getting rehab or management services, what's the best way for folks to get in touch with you?   Matt: Man, I love the email. So MCrawford@roofstock.com shoot me an email, I'll shoot you a calendly link we'll get a phone call. I absolutely love that discovery phase, to sort of hear what your investment footprint is. What you are looking from this market that's gonna help me perform for you guys.   Michael: Alrighty, everybody that was our episode a big big big thank you to Matt for coming on the show a lot of fun. Kudos to you for crushing it out there with the roofstock select program as a certified agent. We definitely look forward to having you on again. If you'd like the episode, feel free to leave us a rating or review wherever it is your podcasts. And as always, we'd love to hear new episode ideas, topics feedback in the comment section. If you want to hear about a particular episode. Again, thank you all for watching. We look forward to seeing on the next one. Happy investing

“We have to serve our people, they are our greatest asset.” –Lenora Fisher Is conflict a consistent hurdle in your work life? While economic development works for the prosperity of all, we often-times find ourselves in the middle of political hot takes and polarizing viewpoints. Do you know how to best navigate these tensions? Join […]

                              Retirement Wisdom’s Joe Casey will be a special guest host at  Wade Pfau’s Retirement Researcher Webinar  April 8th at 2:00 PM Eastern | Register Today _________________________ What was your career plan when you were graduating from college? You probably didn't leave college equipped with the skills to make a career change midlife. So if you're considering a second career, a career change at 50 or a career change at 60, our guest today has valuable information you'll want to hear. If you have family members, colleagues, or neighbors who ask you for career advice, you'll find this conversation very helpful. _________________________ Bio Mark Herschberg is the author of The Career Toolkit, Essential Skills for Success That No One Taught You. From tracking criminals and terrorists on the dark web to creating marketplaces and new authentication systems, Mark has spent his career launching and developing new ventures at startups and Fortune 500s and in academia. He helped to start the Undergraduate Practice Opportunities Program, dubbed MIT's "career success accelerator," where he teaches annually. At MIT, he received a B.S. in physics, a B.S. in electrical engineering & computer science, and a M.Eng. in electrical engineering & computer science, focusing on cryptography. At Harvard Business School, Mark helped create a platform used to teach finance at prominent business schools. He also works with many non-profits, including Techie Youth and Plant A Million Corals. He was one of the top-ranked ballroom dancers in the country and now lives in New York City, where he is known for his social gatherings, including his annual Halloween party, as well as his diverse cufflink collection. _________________________ Wise Quotes On Career Changes Midlife "This is my third recession and I'm only mid-career. So I, I very much see and understand what they're going through. In fact, during the great recession, I helped teach at a program sponsored by New York's Economic Development Council, in which we were taking people who lost not simply their job, but their career. Their entire career was getting displaced and not coming back post-recession. And New York said to us: We can't have them sitting on the sidelines. These are capable people. How do we get them back to work? We looked at where the jobs were being created and the nature of those jobs, typically the people being displaced were coming from large corporations. So certainly coming out of 2008, 2009, lots of financial services, lots of big companies where you had multiple layers of bureaucracy. The jobs being created were in tiny companies in startups, in companies, less than 50 people, sometimes less than 20 people. The biggest change was trying to get people to see those jobs and feel comfortable in those jobs. It wasn't so much a domain skill challenge. It's not that. If you've been at big corporations, your whole life, look at these small companies and then recognize that cultural difference. So if you're in a big company of 30,000 people, you're used to having the pre-meeting to plan the meeting, to coordinate the meeting for the meeting to discuss something. So at six months later, decisions made when you're at these tiny 20 person startups, and you say, Hey, I have an idea. So you turn around in your chair and you're talking to the boss, who's sitting three feet from you in another chair because there are no offices here.  And the boss says, okay, that sounds great. Well, that was the meeting. Those were the six months condensed to a six-minute conversation and understanding these cultural differences, how the businesses operate, that you can move fast and break things, which is very different from these big traditional corporations. That was the biggest challenge. And so to people who are saying, I need to find something different. It's not just the same job with a different company.

“I’m very passionate and engaged in everything that I undertake and seek that same energy in those around me.” —Jill Marasa What is that one thing about economic development that gets your heart beating faster, that energizes you without the assistance of caffeine? Is it the thrill of landing a new big project? Is it […]

“The key to leadership is taking the time to listen and learn from others. It is not the easiest trait to learn and it takes time to develop the patience to absorb the information, decipher what is beneficial and implement best practices in day-to-day business activities.” —Tom Ryan When crisis hits or when the economy […]

From tracking criminals and terrorists on the dark web to creating marketplaces and new authentication systems, Mark Herschberg has spent his career launching and developing new ventures at startups and Fortune 500s and in academia. He helped to start the Undergraduate Practice Opportunities Program, dubbed MIT’s “career success accelerator,” where he teaches annually. At Harvard Business School, Mark helped create a platform used to teach finance at prominent business schools.  Mark attended MIT for six years. He earned a B.S. in physics, a B.S. in electrical engineering and computer science, and an M.Eng. in electrical engineering and computer science, focusing on cryptography. You might think that he was just a super focused, nerd. But Mark will be the first person to tell you that he was a poor student during his first three semesters, lacking a clear vision and organization. He thought he wanted to be a theoretical physicist and get a Ph.D., but his advisor sat him down early on and painted the stark picture of what he was aiming for. It was enough to make him reconsider his options. It was the mid-90s and computer science was growing while funding for physics was decreasing. After graduation, he stayed at MIT and worked doing research for a professor. He wasn’t sure what else he wanted to do. He looked at jobs and knew he didn’t want to work on Wall St. or in consulting. Microsoft was getting bigger but Mark was not attracted to large corporations. He wound up at a startup company, as he says, by default. Then he had to make some real decisions as the startup company split up and he had to choose which way to go. In this week’s Work From The Inside Out podcast, learn more about Mark’s journey: Mark wrote a comprehensive book, The Career Toolkit, Essential Skills For Success That No One Taught You, which shows you how to design and execute your personal plan to achieve the career you deserve. He also works with many non-profits, including Techie Youth and Plant A Million Corals. Mark helped the Economic Development Council in New York City with a program that helped people who lost their jobs after the 2008 financial crisis.  Learn more and connect with Mark here: https://www.instagram.com/thecareertoolkit/ https://www.facebook.com/TheCareerToolkitBook https://www.linkedin.com/in/hershey/ https://twitter.com/CareerToolkitBk https://www.thecareertoolkitbook.com Listen, subscribe and read show notes at www.tammygoolerloeb.com/podcasts/ - episode 114

Miguel Armaza sits down with Jackie Reses, former Head of Square Capital, current Chairman of the Economic Development Council of the Federal Reserve of San Francisco, board member of Affirm and Wish (Context Logic), and all-around business and fintech leader. Some of her past roles also include Chief Development Officer at Yahoo and Board member of Alibaba. She’s also a proud alum of our very own Wharton School. We talked about - Jackie’s upbringing and professional background - Why she describes Wharton and the University of Pennsylvania as a place that saved her life - The meaningful lessons she learned while working at Goldman Sachs, Apex Partners, and Yahoo - Key reflections from her experience as an Alibaba board-member and what we can all learn from Chinese entrepreneurs - What drove her decision to join Square and why she fell in love with its culture - The incredibly impactful experience of the Square Capital team navigating COVID and the complex dynamics of launching a PPP product in record-time - Her outlook of the road ahead and what’s next for Jackie - And a whole lot more! Jackie Reses Ms. Reses is the CEO of Post House Capital and Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. She previously led Square Capital, part of Square Inc., where she built the business and transformed the ability of small businesses in the US to access credit. She was also the Executive Chairman of Square Financial Services, an approved FDIC-insured bank owned by Square Inc. and the first industrial bank in the US started by a technology company. Prior to Square, Jackie was the Chief Development Officer for Yahoo and the head of the US media group at Apax Partners, one of the largest global private equity firms. Jackie also spent seven years at Goldman Sachs in mergers and acquisitions and the principal investment area. Jackie is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and serves on the Advisory Board of Wharton's Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance, its fintech center, which is chaired by Mr. Stevens. Jackie also serves on the boards of Affirm and Wish (Context Logic). Jackie received a bachelor's degree in economics with honors from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

BusinessWest Editor George O'Brien talks with Rick Sullivan, president and CEO of the Western Mass. Economic Development Council. The two discuss the state of the economy and the outlook for the balance of 2021. The two also discuss the pandemic, its impact on the local business community, and the possibility that it might provide some opportunities for the region in terms of attracting new businesses — and new residents — who might view Western Mass. as a viable option to higher-cost urban centers like Boston and New York. It's must listening, so join us on BusinessTalk, a podcast presented by BusinessWest in partnership with Living Local.

On this week's episode: -James Sly,  President/CEO of the East County Economic Development Council, dives deep on what the ECEDC is and how they're helping businesses in East County not only stay open during the pandemic, but also succeed in all aspects of business. -How the ECEDC is supporting and inspiring local students to find jobs in East County's diverse, healthy workforce. Learn more about the ECEDC HERE Contact James Sly: James.Sly@eastcountyedc.org

In this episode of The Professor Nick Show, Nick Norris of Ventura College is joined by two very special guests: M. Ryan Gorman, CEO of Coldwell Banker, and Dr. Michael Gorman, President of Salem Community College in New Jersey. The interview with the father and son duo is a follow up to the episode last month that featured Ariel Palmieri and further discusses the overlap between community college, real estate, and economic development. During their conversation, Professor Nick and the Gormans discuss the role that community colleges play in helping students achieve their goals, how real estate and economic development are connected, the importance of small businesses during a time of economic recovery, and how young, entrepreneurial students can leverage the resources provided by community college to pursue their dreams. M. Ryan Gorman is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC, the original Silicon Valley real estate startup founded in 1906 in San Francisco. He additionally serves as the president and CEO of Realogy Brokerage Group (formerly NRT, LLC) including the company-owned brokerage offices doing business as Coldwell Banker Realty. Prior to serving as President and CEO of Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC and Realogy Brokerage Group, Gorman served as NRT's Chief Strategy and Operating Officer and as its Senior Vice President, Strategic Operations where he brought a heightened focus on service delivery, defined a comprehensive integrated growth strategy and leveraged the resources of NRT and Realogy to drive a superior experience for affiliated agents, employees and consumers. Visit https://www.coldwellbanker.com/ for more information about Ryan and Coldwell Banker. Dr. Michael Gorman was unanimously selected to be the President of Salem Community College by the Salem Community College Board of Trustees in 2015, where he has worked to improve and expand programs and partnerships and supports several initiatives in Salem County including the Business Education Committee and the Economic Development Council. Previously, Gorman had served as the Pemberton superintendent since 2007. Visit https://www.salemcc.edu/ for more information about Dr. Gorman and Salem Community College. And as always, you can find Professor Nick Norris online, too... Podcast: https://anchor.fm/theprofessornickpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickjnorris/ Website: https://www.idmnd.com/

In this episode, Tom Speaks with Susan Davenport, the Chief Economic Officer for the Greater Houston Partnership, about the economic, educational and cultural aspects of the City of Houston.   --- Transcription   Tom: Greetings, and welcome to The Remote Real Estate Investor. On today's episode, we have Susan Davenport, who is the Chief Economic Officer for the Greater Houston Partnership. And on this episode, we're going to deep dive into Houston, talk about points of interest, talk about the economy, and all that good stuff. All right, let's do it.   Theme Song   Tom: Before we get going and talking about Houston, Susan, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, as well as the Greater Houston partnership?   Susan: Yeah, wonderful. Well, thank you again, Tom, for having me this afternoon. Again, my name is Susan Davenport. I'm the chief Economic Development Officer for the Greater Houston Partnership. And we are the region's lead business organization. We serve a 12 County Greater Houston region that represents our membership base represents more than 1000 businesses and institutions throughout Greater Houston in that regional effort. Our members, the member companies that are part of our organization account for about one fifth of Houston's workforce.   So we have many large corporations as well as small and medium sized enterprises as well. So we have three areas of focus. One is to promote economic development and trade. The second is to advocate for effective public policy. And then the third is that we convene regional businesses and Houstonians on key issues affecting our region. Now, the Greater Houston partnership is an organization that has its roots and founding actually from 1840. We were the Houston Chamber of Commerce, was founded again in 1840. And then in 1989, there was a merger with what was founded following the Chamber's initiation in 1840, there was the World Trade Center of Houston and international leadership entity in regard to international business and trade, and then the Economic Development Council of Houston.   And so all three of those entities in 1989, joined under one umbrella organization, the Greater Houston partnership, and that's very indicative of the type of activity you see within our organization, again, having about 1000 member businesses and institutions that speaks to our chamber side, right. And our chamber roots, my team, which does economic development, and international investment and trade that harkens back to both the Economic Development Council as well as the World Trade Center activities. And really from an international standpoint, the Greater Houston partnership is really the the region's front door for international investment and trade, and work in connection with the city and other entities throughout the region that undertake pieces of that both from the transportation side airports, ports, a movement of goods and services, all of those things, exporting would would fall under a network of entities. But we really are the largest business organization. And so we have access to all of those entities within our region.   Tom: Very cool. Very cool. So just kind of curious, like is a lot of the day to day like working with companies that are like looking to move into Houston or existing companies that are in that I'd love yeah. Susan: Yeah, my favorite question. We talk a lot about economic development. It's a multi faceted, a scope of work, as you can imagine. But we really look at new business recruitment. And we look at that globally. And I want to spend a little time to talk about global in just a moment. But we really are do global outreach, we do new business recruitment, we also work extensively with our regional businesses on the ground, focusing especially on our members, obviously, but really are working on behalf of the entire business community. And so entities could say business retention, and perhaps expansion opportunities there.   And then from the startup ecosystem, economic gardening, whatever it is term that you'd like to say new business starts, we look at small and medium sized enterprises, and we have a strategy and economic development that really embraces six target industry sectors. And so when we are looking at the startup world, we're focusing a good bit on these target sectors and what they're going to bring to our regional economy in the forms of diversification of that they're heavily laden into, or heavily weighted into next generation technologies that we believe will bring great opportunity to these incredible existing ecosystems of business clusters that we have here in Houston that we are so fortunate to have and have had for generations oftentimes. And so looking at that innovation play, they're very closely aligned with where we see the future of Houston growing and that's a whole area that I want to talk about, but innovation and technology and how fast it's growing and all of our interest and results to date in that area.   Tom: Very cool. I know traditionally, having thought about the economy in Houston, I think a lot of people probably think of energy, think of gas, thinking of oil, but like over the last, I don't know, decade or so, or maybe even longer, it's been really diversifying. Do you mind speaking to a little bit in the way maybe specific industries? And if there's any specific companies in the ways that people should think about the overarching economy in Houston?   Susan: Yeah, I'll give you some quick facts as we set this up. So we are the fourth largest US city right Houston is is quite a large city, our Metro population again, those nine counties actually make up the Metropolitan Statistical Area. Our organization oversees 12, because three other counties asked to be part of our territory. But our numbers and figures typically evolve around those nine counties, which is the official MSA there's a population now of 7.1 million people. And so again, this is quite a huge region. We again have about 3 million jobs within this region and that's up about 15% from 2010 to 2020.   I'll speak to COVID and a little bit more in a few minutes. But again, that's that's kind of where we are today. We were really the fastest growing Metro by rate of population growth among the 10 most populous us metros from 2010 to 2018 we talk about constantly as again what I mentioned to you on this international piece Greater Houston or Houston is America's most diverse city and one in four Houstonians are foreign born, we speak 145 languages, here we have a third of our population growth is made up of immigrants from 2010 to 2019. We truly are a diverse and international city. And you see it exemplified in absolutely everything we do and who we are, food culture celebrations, we have 90 roughly 85 to 90 foreign consulates here. That's the third largest consular core in the United States, we have not one but two international airports. And we're one of only just a few cities that have two international airports.   And then we really have this talent base in our institutions of higher education. And again, just our international flavor goes through all of these different things.   So I say all of that to kind of set up who we are, as far as our industry sectors, I'll say a quick minute about talent, we call it the currency of economic development, your talent base is really the strength of what you're able to undertake. And that's, I always highlight that because it's really the underpinning of what we have here. But we have 360,000 educated millennials here, we have the youngest major Metro and median age about 34.6. There are 235,000 people employed in the technology sector, and 700,000 or so corporate professionals. When you get down to the base of our educational system, we really got 40 institutions of higher education in this broad region.   Tom: Wow. Yeah.   Susan: 20 of those are two year and 20 of those are four year, but they collectively enroll about 444,000 students. So when I say we're a young region, we really are a young region, and we have three tier one universities here, Rice, University of Houston, and Texas a&m, also, affiliates with Houston it's sees itself as part of our region. And it's building more and more infrastructure directly in the city, while a campus major campus is about 80 miles from Houston, maybe from downtown, I guess.   Again, the industry sectors really have mirrored what we talk about a lot in our target sectors. And so traditional energy, you know, you mentioned immediately people that we are the energy capital of the world, undoubtedly, that is something that we're incredibly proud of. But we are also now even diversifying that base into what's the energy 2.0. Back to that technology I spoke about, you really have now this growing cluster of energy renewables clean tech, tech, digital technology that will fuel energy for its next iteration in many ways. But we see it as a whole continuum. We're not giving up that traditional energy, the world is not giving that up. We know that we're seeing diversification and how they deliver and what they're delivering. We're seeing added things on carbon capture, hydrogen, solar, wind, you name it, and then this digitization of energy and all components of this, we're really seeing a lot of our companies undertake those efforts. You know, there were research and development organizations for energy tucked into all of our major companies in different places.   What we tried to do with our technology play, bring them out. And we found a four mile corridor that goes through the middle of Houston called the innovation corridor. And we have our major energy companies all taking part in a common building, I call it called the Ion. It's in the middle of that it's called the district innovation district 16 acres right in the middle of the four miles, the four miles all being connected by a metro train. So you can hop on and off that connects the Texas Medical Center, Rice University, some of the university's research and development that Ion this building that they're putting 100 million dollars into, it will be finished the end of first quarter, it will be a place where all of the innovation efforts come together and connect in ways that will then bring this entire region together.   I'm talking NASA talking about the Medical Center. I'm talking about fortune 500 headquarters and research divisions for major energy companies, startup development organizations, you name it, this is the hub of innovation so that people can easily get it when they drop in to Greater Houston, there's a place for them to figure it out.   Tom: It's fantastic. I mean, so much to unpack there. I think, you know, I I love your point about kind of the nucleus that it all is these education centers and being such a young, educated population, just really great tailwinds. And a perfect transition to my next line of questions related to Houston, you talked about it makes me think of the Raleigh Research Triangle, talking about the different pockets within Houston, so I think that's a great place to start this super tech forward kind of almost think tank, a little mini city. When you think about Houston and the different pockets and regions, how would you categorize other parts? Or suburbs or little towns within it? It could be more kind of older industry, more workforce housing, more technology, more education? or How would you describe some of the different pockets within Houston?   Susan: Oh, well, there's so many, but I think some that many will recognize The Woodlands, you know, the northern part of our region, having a lot of headquarters and offices, as well as our downtown having those as well. But you've seen The Woodlands have some infrastructure there, some of our energy companies, major energy companies with campuses up there as well, you see the west side, what we call the energy corridor, and you see, energy companies of all types have been down some of the western side of Greater Houston, you see, kind of South Park, between Houston and Galveston I 45. You'll see obviously, NASA and some of the major parts of the infrastructure there. And the communities there that surrounded have been a big, big part of that. There's talent all up and down that area, right? Obviously Galveston and the coast and the coastal area, and the many assets that they bring to the region, I think they're really vast.   And then it's interesting, we look at the Texas Medical Center, which is again, in the kind of center focus, as I just mentioned, of this four mile innovation corridor, but people live again, in all of these communities that surround these areas. So there's multiple pockets of medical companies in different parts of the city. And I think one of the things we recognize is that we need to and I say us, we're working to really better articulate all the different pieces of this vast region. I think that's a piece of work we have to do. And you will see us do more and more in 2021. Because Houston is again, there's a lot of interest. And there's a lot of discussion ongoing now. And I think having that ability to articulate what you're asking which businesses in which part of town but then again, how that clear four mile area can bring together people as they they need to find some common kind of source of the innovation and the next iteration of our industry.   And again, when I say our industry, those six target sectors are big and broad, I say and they are aerospace and aviation commercial. We have been the home of Johnson Space Center. And we have this incredible one of the largest engineering talent bases in the country. And that's due in no small part to them, as well as our energy sector. But you'll see aerospace and aviation, you'll see the life science and the Industry and Energy 2.0 as I spoke about. Digital Tech has actually been a sector as we've been fortunate over the last 24 months to bring in, you know, Google office and Microsoft in a big way. And AWS is here now and those those folks weren't all here and 24 months ago, you know, these are, these are activities that are really coming to play now. So digital Tech has been an area headquarters. And we are seeing even a lot of us headquarters of international based companies really want to put their us office in Houston. And for obvious reasons, we're so international already there such connectivity, that makes perfect sense. So we see a lot of that.   And then advanced manufacturing. And this is one of the biggest manufacturing bases in the country, if not the world, and really that port, and all of the activity that is generated here, exporting and manufacturing, it's just, it's a huge part of who we are. We make things here make things and we, we like doing that. And we've got the talent to do it. They do it well.   Tom: Love it. Love it. You had alluded to it a little bit about airports. Let's talk a little bit more about just kind of general transportation within Houston, anything related to, you know, touch on the airports? Is there any type of kind of like light rail? Or how do people get around in Houston?   Susan: Yeah, it's still I think, you know, by car, we have Metro, and we do have a four mile train track, there's been some initiatives to expand that, obviously. And so some work will be done in those areas. And you'll see a lot of those initiatives kind of guarding the region as we work on that being such a big area. Now, of course, you're seeing some trends about post COVID, you know, people working in and out, but I think we're still committed, you know, obviously, looking at all the trends and watching that. But that innovation corridor, again, bringing people to some common spots will continue to start, you know, continuing our electronic work as we've been doing so successfully, actually. I'm a little bit surprised about that.   Tom: That's a great natural transition. I mean, obviously, with like restaurants and stuff, it's probably very difficult with COVID. But generally speaking, how do you think the economic climate in Houston as has been weathering the storm thus far?   Susan: Yeah, well, I can speak to it from a couple of places, and I'll pull out a little data for you. But you know, there's, obviously we've had some job loss. And back to what you were saying there's a natural group of small businesses that have been hurt. In addition to that, we were already seeing a little downclimb in energy. And so there was, there was some job shed shedding going on a COVID amplified a lot of that. And so it really accelerated some trends. But we lost, you know, in that immediate COVID moment, what in March, we saw probably 350,000 jobs lost. But we've already brought back about 150 of those. But net net, we're still working on about 200,000 jobs, and continuing to see each month some different pieces of that. And so we will finish the year, again, we think about 200,000 jobs that were down, it's about 4.2%, fewer than we started with that compares with about a 5.1% loss for the nation, and about a 4.1% loss for the state. So we're kind of in the middle there, we predict we're using some predictions from the periban group and they project next year will probably gain about 77,000 jobs about a two and a half percent job growth. And the US job growth is forecast about 2.6 or about 33 point 7 million jobs and Texas job growth predicted again by pyramid at about a two and a half percent increase in Texas.   So you know, I think we're kind of in the middle of that pack. That does tell us that we have further and diversified that economy because we remember and many Texans and Houstonians remember oil ups and downs over the years, it in years past it would be a much even deeper situation. And so I think that has shown us that we've diversified some we need to diversify more. And I would say again, not because we're shying away from our industry, but because we have such deep assets to grow these sectors and so much to give I think from an output side, it's such a rich place to do things like life sciences and and other types of manufacturing. And really looking at all of these pieces.   Houston's just quite fortunate to have the asset base that it has the students international peace, all of it. So so we're very committed to that. If you want to get into month by month, we can go into that.   Tom: Let's do it!   Susan: So in September, we added about 24,000 jobs. And again, that just brought the recovered jobs from April to about 142,600. Since COVID. began right since April, the deep cuts in March and April that we saw immediately. And so but again, we're still about 200,000 jobs short of where we were pre March, April, initial COVID moments I called them, but that put us you know, just shy of 3 million jobs back to what I said so So again, we had 3.2 million, probably this time last year or back in February even so that's the Delta that we're working from>   We'll see how 21 goes, I feel like we're well positioned. But we have to do our work just like everyone, right? This is a day to day economic development. And I have a team of 15 people right now and soon to be 17. And we get up every day. And we think about this. And we lead a team of regional chambers and organizations, probably in the smaller regions that surround us, we probably have 55 to 60, economic development specialists and executives, we live about 40 different organizations, and we meet monthly, we are connected, we are talking and working as closely in unison as we can. And I think that's the great part of our strength, right, we all are kind of getting very closely aligned and seeing what we need to do and what we want to do and how those two things kind of come together creating jobs and creating that future economy we all want to see.   Tom: It's great. And plus two on the job count just within your own org itself saying going from 15 to 17. I'm curious within the data that you have this is more just personal interest. Do you guys have like go granular with the growth in seeing what sectors the growth or recovering faster?   Susan: Yeah, I can try on September's and then I can pull all the different. So September gains, just using that as an example were concentrated in a couple of different sectors. Many of them they believe were tied to the students returning from summer break. So remember the timeframe we were talking about? So local education, school districts had about plus 19,000 jobs. Okay, so they're coming back online, right restaurants and bars at about 5,800 increased, right? state education, colleges and universities had about 4800 education services, select private schools, Test Prep tutoring, that was another 3,200. And then there were fabricated metal product manufacturing, which showed a gain of about 2,300. We were kind of looking at that when trying to kind of put that into context. And it may have just been considering drilling activity had decreased. You know, we were just trying to see is that when could that be, you know what it could be tied to and we didn't really know now, there were losses in other places that we had to look at. So but we typify as other services, we have about 5,400 jobs that were lost in other so just across an array, health care and social assistance were about 3,400, down financial lost about 2400 hosts wholesale trade about 2,200. And then arts and recreation about 1,700. Again, looking at probably effects of what we were still seeing and you know, different timing on monies that were coming down from shoring up, some of the businesses could have potentially affected these.   But you know, all the gains again, and all the plus and minus we're, you know, just shy of 3 million jobs. So for the region, you know.   Tom: Got a couple more questions. Well, while I have you today, I'd love for you to speak to sort of the culture of Houston. What makes Houston Houston as far as I don't know, just thinking about culture, wise things to do all that good stuff. And I bet it's extra fun being such a melting pot.   Susan: It really is. I have to say Houston is if people can think of one thing it is truly global. And that just gives it this kind of sophisticated, but very multi dimensional culture, right? We love food we love all kinds of, and we have some of the best in the world, right? Because all of these people live here. So it's I think we quantified our restaurants, right? So 10,600 restaurants, 650 bars, but here's the kicker they represent 70 different countries cuisine. So dining is a part of everything that we do. We're among the country's most visited and diverse cultural centers for the Houston museum department. I don't know how many people know the incredible art and and all of the different museums. Millions of dollars have just been even added to that again, we have world renowned Performing Arts in theater, dance, music, ballet, and we love that right? It's a really coveted part of what we do. And you know, we are a major league sports town. This is Houston. And so you know, all of our sports teams, from soccer, to basketball to football, baseball, we're in it all the way and you know, these are some ardent fans and so all the franchises are very important to us here.   And then I think what people don't know and this is probably the most misunderstood thing about Houston and again, you're going to see see and hear a whole lot more about this in 2021 but we are among the country's greenest cities and people would go Houston? You know we don't think of Houston like that. But they have been quietly putting in this infrastructure over the past probably decade. I've hundred miles of bikeways here 580 parks developed parks here and 170 open spaces. I would say our largest Park is called Memorial Park. It is twice the size of Central Park in New York, and they have just put millions of dollars into new green space the golf course. It'll be one of the most incredible public golf courses in the nation. Botanical Gardens, you name it, it's all there. So people are outdoorsy, sports minded, and they're International. And they just that's what makes Houston Houston I think.   Tom: I was in I was in Houston last year for a wedding up in the woodlands or like Lake conroe. And I was blown away just somehow it kind of beautiful and green and lovely as I highly recommend it. So this leads to a good good visiting Houston question. This will be my last one, then I'll let you cover anything else that we we may have failed to touch on. All right. So you get two meals in Houston. One of them is your fancy meal. You're getting dressed up and your other one is Oh, man, I need something kind of greasy kind of built, you know, yummy like that. So all right. What's your fancy meal? At what restaurant you getting it at? And then what's your down home meal?   Susan: There are literally too many. I will tell you chefs, we've worked a lot. And you'll different restaurants. But you probably know Chris shepherd.   Tom: Yeah. name drop away.   Susan: Yeah. Yeah. So from his kind of notoriety as a chef, obviously, and many others, the restaurant scene is highly acclaimed. And so literally, they really have such a diverse group that I try a different one all the time. Like, it's just interesting to me. And unfortunately for me, I've never not enjoy. Like, and I do go back. That's just the kind of place it is. But you can really find every kind of food and it's just it's incredible. Yeah.     Tom: Any shoutouts for a hole in the wall. Not the famous chef. Oh, man, I need something to fill me up. Any thoughts?   Susan: Oh, wow. It depends on like..   Tom: Tacos. Whatever you like.   Susan: Oh, no, that's that's always good. There's really a million that are fantastic. And then we've got some chefs that are true interior Mexican food. There's just really good ones. But you can find some awfully good tacos here. Breakfast tacos, lunch, dinner, you name it there. They're all fantastic.   Tom: All right. Any final thoughts on Houston's want to share with the audience? Before we close out today?   Susan: I think we've realized here the Greater Houston partnership, the incredible trajectory that the development of the innovation ecosystem has been on. And again, it was developed as part of our strategic direction several years ago, and intended to diversify the economy. But most importantly, feed the economy. And again, those sectors that have been here, there was a reason to make sure that they had the talent and the capabilities from a technology standpoint to move into the next generation. And we're always looking ahead right positioning this city. And so I think how much Houston has changed would surprise people. I don't think we've lost any of the great assets that made the city what it was. I moved here in the 90s and was gone for many years to grad school and to other places and hits. I've been back 24 months, and it's just an incredible city even more so than when I was here before I think and I really encourage people to look at it and see the differentiations in how it's progressed forward. And that's incumbent on us to get that message out. You're gonna hear it loud and clear in 2021 with a new brand and image to match who the city is now.   Tom: Love it. Susan, thank you so much for taking the time to join us.   Susan: Sure. My pleasure. Thanks for having me.   Tom: Susan, thank you so much again for jumping on and thank you everybody for listening to the Remote Real Estate Investor. If you enjoyed this episode, enjoyed the podcast, people we'd love it if you would subscribe and give us a review. All right. Happy investing.

Hear from one of the candidates for McLean County Coroner, Abby Sorrels. Incumbent Kathy Yoder didn't respond to requests for an interview. The economic recovery picture in Bloomington Normal has some bright colors and some dingy ones. Economic Development Council head Patrick Hoban paints the picture. And take a long strange trip inside your dog's mind. Hint: it's mainly the nose that counts.

Your Monday NewsLink for the week of September 28, 2020. This week's headlines include news and events from the City of Lee's Summit, Lee's Summit R-7 School District, Velocity Lee's Summit, Lee's Summit Chamber, Economic Development Council, Downtown Main Street, and Lee's Summit High School.

Dirk Draper is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Colorado Springs Chamber and Economic Development Council. The Chamber's mission is to serve and support the Colorado Springs business climate and military community by providing education, events, resources, and funding. In addition, they represent COS as a key voice in public policy. In this episode, Dirk details the very real disruption that COVID-19 had on the Colorado Springs area and in turn, the Chamber's operations, including a major focus on response efforts and the formation of a new partnership with public health. Listen to our conversation for a glimpse into the before and after-pandemic days in Colorado Springs, along with Dirk's vision for what the road ahead looks like for his beloved community. To enjoy the full miniseries of COS in COVID interviews, visit our podcast library.

Thom Fox interviews Rick Sullivan, President & CEO of the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts. Thom and Rick discuss the unique opportunities COVID presents for WesternMA's future, local employer's approach to the region's unemployed, and resources to support small business owners. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thom and Rick discuss the unique opportunities COVID presents for WesternMA's future, local employer's approach to the region's unemployed, and resources to support small business owners.

Thom Fox interviews Rick Sullivan, President & CEO of the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts. Thom and Rick discuss the unique opportunities COVID presents for WesternMA's future, local employer's approach to the region's unemployed, and resources to support small business owners. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

4-21: Matt Tapp, Platte County Economic Development Council by KCMO Talk Radio

Communities have a lot of people behind the scenes getting things done. Fortunately for our region, we have Andrew Mentzer, Executive Director for the West Central Mountains Economic Development Council. Andrew’s work ethos hinges on collaboration—having conversations with everyone: non-profits, the private sector, small businesses, and government. Then collect more information, acquire funding, and implement a course of action, all with an eye on ‘best practices.’We talk about Andrew and the Council’s work on regional broadband, housing, trail access, apprentice work programs, and how to reconcile those controversial notions of growth and development. Turns out our local version of an Economic Development Council is really something else, and that’s intentional.You may notice the recording sounds differently than the previous episodes—we did this one by phone, adhering to the best practice of social isolation during the pandemic. We talk about getting through that as individuals and a community before Andrew shares what he’s been doing, as usual, behind the scenes.Have a listen, and go read more for yourself at the WCMEDC website here.

Don Lane has served on the Santa Cruz City Council for eleven years and three years as Mayor. He also serves on the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission and the city's Economic Development Council. He is a UCSC graduate and is chairperson of the countywide organization Smart Solutions to Homelessness.

This episode is focused on what's new in the West Central Mountains Region of Idaho - everything from bike trails to opportunity zones. Andrew Mentzer, the executive director of the West Central Mountains Economic Development Council, talks with us about what's happened in 2019 and what's on the horizon on 2020.

In today’s episode of “Commercial Real Estate Investing with Don & Eden” we have guest John Casmon. He’s founded Casmon Capital Group where he primarily invests in Chicago & Cincinnati. Together, he and his business partner/wife have helped families invest in multifamily apartments to create a passive income stream and tax benefits without the hassles of becoming landlords.    In today’s episode, John discusses his partnership and business goals, his big deal in Texas, shares a variety of resources to learn your market & discusses important factors when analyzing a deal. He also explains why multifamily apartments are the main focus of his business strategy, his different types of value adds & views on the mobile home parks asset class.   Highlights:  Importance of Building Relationships How to Analyze Unfamiliar Markets Data Points to Focus On Knowing When to Scale Up   Connect with John: Website: casmoncapital.com Email: john@casmoncapital.com   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TRANSCRIPTION   00:00 Hey guys, this is Don and my guest today on the show is John Casmon. John is a real estate investor and he's investing primarily in Chicago and Cincinnati and he's in control of over 920 units, which is quite a lot of units. So I'm very excited to have him on the show today because he's one of the most experienced investors out there and I'm also, John was kind enough to share his resources with us. So at the end of the episode I'm going to read a few websites that you want to check out in case you want to do some research and find out some more information about the multifamily deal you're looking at. So we're always happy to give you guys that information. So stay tuned. 00:46 Welcome to the Commercial Real Estate Investing podcast with Don and Eden where we cover all aspects of real estate investing with special attention to off-market strategies. 01:03 Hey John, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me on. 01:07 Of course. I think you deserve it. I heard you own or in control of over 920 units. 01:14 Yeah. Were general partners of 920 units across the country, primarily in Texas, Florida, South Carolina and Cincinnati. And continue to grow that and working with investors. So excited about everything. 01:27 That's great. But I know when you started it wasn't always this way, so now you're a full time real estate investor, but when you started, you were doing that part time. I know you're investing since 2012 if my records are right. 01:41 Yeah, absolutely. We started off part time. I started with the house hack. We had a two unit property, lived in one unit, rented out the other and you know, from there we bought a three unit building. A couple of years later we bought an eight unit building the next year and just continued to build the portfolio. And eventually it got to the point where we were running out of our own money and we're talking to a lot of people who were interested in investing in real estate but didn't have the time to really learn everything that we had learned in the us on their own. And at that moment we kind of realized, Hey, there might be a great opportunity to partner with these people where we can bring them in along side of us on deals. They can be passive, they can, get all the, you know, the income that comes from being an investor without having to actually be the landlord and take care of the property themselves. So that kind of really opened us up to different ways of expanding and growing our portfolio. Yeah. So when you say we, who exactly are you talking about? Oh, my wife. You know, I don't make any decisions without checking in with the boss. 02:41 Yeah. Just checking in with the boss. That's, that's true. So when you, when you first made the transition to real estate, I know you were working in a different job, a day job and then how, how did your wife take it? So how, how was she with, with that idea? 02:57 Yeah, I mean it's the, it was truly a partnership thing. So it wasn't like I had to convince her or anything like that. I know some folks go to those situations, but you know, we were always aligned on the lifestyle we wanted to create a lifestyle, we wanted to live the environment we went to raise our kids in. So as we had conversations about how to create it, real estate was a big part of it. So that first property, I mean we lived in that property, lived in one unit. We lived in our property for seven years. So I mean we lived basically in an apartment for seven years in and built equity and continue to grow. So that was something we were always aligned on. And I think that's really important. If you're going to invest in real estate you want to make sure your partner is on board with that. 03:38 So she was completely aligned with it. We had our roles in the business, so she did certain things. I did certain things and we kind of use that to grow the portfolio. So we were both, you know, doing it kind of on the side and we have a smaller portfolio, you can do that. I think when you get to the point where you really want to scale and you want to start working with other people, that's where you start to have to shift roles, responsibilities and dedicate more time into the business. Yeah. So when did you feel that things are getting bigger and that you, you're, you just scaled up a little bit? You know, we bought the eight unit building and that was our first commercial property. We hired a professional management company to over see it and we're still pretty involved in the process from an asset management standpoint. 04:22 But going through that process gave me the confidence and, you know, the readiness to start moving forward into some of the larger properties. So I think for me, you know, cutting the teeth on something that was commercial but not overwhelming, that gave us a chance to learn to work with property management companies, understand the way they work, the way they underwrite, the way they manage and just really take that experience and they use that to kind of build and take the next step into kind of larger commercial properties. Okay. So yeah, let's talk about that. So when you're saying large commercial properties- I'm assuming you're talking about multifamily units over 80 units or 90 units, right? Apartment buildings. That's right. Yeah. So tell us about the first deal that you had of, of that scale. Yeah, so I mean, we were looking for properties for awhile and knew just like now the market's been kinda tight and we were looking for properties where we could deliver strong returns for our investors and we're having a hard time finding it. 05:23 So we ended up partnering with a friend, a gentleman that I had met and he was in a similar boat, but we just kinda had a conversation and I expressed that if he found something that made sense, wanting to love to review it, and if the deal looked good, we'd be interested in coming on as partners and maybe bringing some of our partners on as well. Because at that point point we had been talking to investors for a little bit of time and you know, they were kind of getting itchy and wanted to get in on a deal that all the great things we have been telling them about multifamily investing and we were struggling to find that deal. So we ended up partnering with that investor and that was 192 units out in San Antonio, Texas. Oh, that's a big, that's a big property. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So it was a win, win situation because that was the big property for them as well. Right. So that was their first very large apartment deal where they kind of word the, the leads. So we came in as general partners and we help them with you know, kind of some of the marketing from the investor relations and you know, that was kind of our foray into the larger commercial apartment space. 06:29 Okay. So do you feel like you got into the deal because your investors got itchy or did you actually spot the opportunity there? 06:37 Well, I mean I think it comes down to building relationships first of all. Right. So for us, we would not have done this with just anyone. This was an individual that we had gotten to know over the course of probably about nine months. And you know, we've met him in person, we've sat, we've had dinner with them. We've had various conversations at that time. I had just launched our podcast “Target Market Insights” and he was one of the early guests on this show and it actually came up while we were talking right after we recorded the episode. So, you know, he was someone that we respected, we, we understood how he was looking at deals. He had been a general partner and other deals as well. In a large space. So he had experienced that. He knew what he was doing from that perspective. So I think we, there was a level of comfort with with that individual that gave us comfort and moving forward and, and being a partner there that I don't think we would have had no matter what our investors were thinking or looking for. 07:33 Okay. So let's talk about the numbers for that deal. So what was the purchase price? Find my ask and, and what was the value at plan and everything there? 07:41 Yeah, 16 point $1 million purchase price. We invested a little more than a million bucks into renovations. Value adds a couple things. Interior innovations on that property. We changed up the exterior landscape changed out the siding. There was a who's that? There was a, a second area that was kind of like a hot tub at one point. I, I don't know why, but it was a hot tub and we actually fill that in and made a kind of a barbecue pit area. So looking at different amenities that we can add. We added in private fenced in yards for the first floor units and then we added some technology packages as well. 08:24 I see. Okay. So basically you focused on improving the lifestyle and the, comfortability and the feeling of, of the people that are going to live in that, 08:33 The apartment, right? Yeah, yeah. A combination of interior renovations too. You know, just have a more attractive home, a more premium home, and also adding amenities and improving the amenities of the property. And then also just the aesthetics. Right. So from the exterior, just improving the aesthetics with a scheme of brand colors that really popped in, allow the property to stand out and photos and in person and felt more warm. It felt like a great home environment. 09:01 Yeah. So when you guys bought the property at $16.1, what was the, the vacancy rate roughly? If you don't remember? That's fine. 09:11 Yeah. I mean, I believe it was 92% occupied, so we're on a 7% or 8% vacancy rate. 09:16 Okay. And so the, the rents where they, where they maxed up or there were still some space? 09:22 Well, I'll tell you, this is the great thing about our strategy. So we do value add investing, right? So I just talked about all the stuff we did to it, but the beauty is you can buy the property based on its current operations. So it was making money and it was doing okay for what it was and what we saw was an opportunity for the property to perform even better. So almost like a private equity firm coming into it, looking at the current operations, but knowing that if we inject this some capital into the right things, we could really drive the returns. And that's kind of what we did. So it was for the vintage of the property, it was achieving pretty good rinse, but there was an opportunity to improve those units and take it from being a 1983 product and actually upfitting the countertops and appliances and the flooring and the fixtures and updating all of these things where we could compete with some of the class A properties and some of the 2015 & 2016 builds. Now we have something that's a bit more attractive and because it is still a little bit of an older property it can't quite achieve the rents of those new construction projects. But it's certainly gonna stand above the properties that were its like a B-class class. 10:40 That's exactly it. That's exactly it. So it's a nice sweet spot for us to play in where it's a better property than the other, you know, 1980 construction properties that are there, but it's going to be more affordable than the new construction. So for a renter, what they really care about, they don't care about the year of property was built, they care about what my apartment looks like, you know, does it have nice countertops? Does it have a washer dryer in unit, does it have a stainless steel appliances? Those kinds of things is what they care about. And then also what other amenities are there. Right. So that's what we, that's what we did with our business plan and that's worked out really well for us. 11:15 Very interesting. So let, let me, let me dig a little bit deeper on that deal specifically. Cause it's, it's very interesting the things you were saying. So as far as the rents, the 1983 product that was out there in the market, what was it by the way, that deal, you said, where was it? Yeah, San Antonio. Oh, San Antonio Okay. So the, the, the other products are the B class, in that market at the time. How much were they renting for roughly? And so where did you put your property in comparison with the A class property? So you, you were right in the middle, you're saying, right? 11:48 Yeah, I mean, so I think what we'd like to do, right, and for your listeners here don't understand part, what you want to do is you never want to have the most expensive property out there. So we were very conscious to manage our renovation schedule and understanding what kind of rents we could get. So we looked at those class a project properties and said, okay, if they're charging, and I'm just going to throw rough numbers here, they're charging $1,300 in rent or $1,400 in rent. If we fit, have our property with similar finishes. If we do units with similar finishes to this class A property, then we can expect to get something a little less than that. Now again, because that's the class A they knew, bill knew everything. Maybe you get $1100, maybe you get $1200, but take a couple, take 100 bucks off to, you know, 10- 20%, something like that. 12:36 Take that off of the class, but you also have to compare that to class B because again, you want to make sure you're not above the market to the point where you're in no man's land. So you wanna make sure that you're providing something of value and that value is ‘Hey, if you can get a class a product at a class B price’, that's how you know you've hit the sweet spot. So you want to make sure that you're still able to compete with those other properties and it's okay to be at a premium to some of them as long as your renovations and the property itself is above is above kind of the offerings that those properties have.  13:12 What would you say the price of the other B properties was? The same price, like $1100, $1200 13:18 A more the, thousand dollar range rights. I mean they kind of depends on where you start your property. So in this scenario, let's say that they're all getting similar rents, but there are a couple of comp properties that I've seen some upgrades and those properties that have been upgraded are seeing rent premiums of a $100-$150. That lets you know that Hey, if we were to do certain renovations, we can improve the rents, we let them this property. 13:42 Yeah. And so when you got into the deal, what was the rent that was charged by the, by the previous owner? 13:48 I don't know. I'd have to look back on that one, man. 13:50 Yeah. Okay. Yeah, of course. You can't remember everything. But that's very interesting. So I think the, the ability to really look at a deal and see the small things you can do, but still looking at it objectively. Cause sometimes, you know, when I look at deals, I want them to work, you know, cause I want to close on the deal and I want the deal to work. So I'm not really looking at it objectively when I give it to somebody else that I know and I have them look at it then, you know, they look at it in a different way. And so I think looking at a deal and knowing that you could get what it is you're trying to get, you know, and add the extra value and still make good profit. I think it's great. And you guys really noticed that on that specific property. And I think that's, that's amazing. That's beautiful. 14:33 Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think ultimately when you talk about underwriting, right? And when you're looking at these numbers, I mean, you have to allow the numbers to tell the story, right? You can't get too fixated on, you know, what you want to happen on that deal in particular, you know, like th the numbers they made sense and sometimes you have to tweak it, right? I mean, it's not say that, ‘Hey, if you underwrite a deal and the numbers don't work, run away.’ I think what it means is you have to rethink your business plan. Sometimes you step back and say, okay, well what will happen if we did this? Or what will happen if we, if we didn't upgrade every unit, what if we only did these units? So I think you can play around with scenarios, but the numbers are the numbers that you don't want to force the numbers to work. That's where you get into a lot of trouble. So you definitely wanna make sure you stay diligent to the numbers. But you can stay somewhat open-minded in your business plan as long as the numbers are dictating the proof points of what your business plan actually is. 15:28 Definitely. Okay. So let's talk about your other deals that you've done since that big deal over there. So have you changed your strategies, you know, during the years with looking at properties differently and doing other things that, you know, you, you haven't done in that specific deal? 15:46 Ah, I mean I think generally speaking, value add is our approach. So we're always looking to buy a property that is cash flowing day one. That's, that's a core principle of ours. We like cash flowing assets day one. And what we want to do is want to find ways to add value. So that is a core principle of our business and the way we operate. So some of the things that have changed since then is we, we look at our loans. So the loan kind of is a deal by deal thing. So we're always balancing the loan product that we want to put on there and the exit strategy that we place. And we're always looking at the market, you know, the market dynamics, you know, how much room is there to improve rents you know, what can the market take, what will be too much, what's the story of the asset and how do we come up with the business plan that best matches the property itself, the community, and then what renters in the area are looking for. 16:39 Yeah. So when you're looking at a new market or a market that you don't know, where would you look or what is the data that you're trying to get? 16:46 Yeah, there's a ton of data that you're looking for, but ultimately the main thing that you're looking for is you want to understand where demand is, not just today, but tomorrow. You want to know how future demand compares to current demand and the, the more recent realities. So a lot of people will tell you, ‘Hey, you know, I'm, you know, this market saw 5% rent growth last year.’ That's great. It does not mean it's going to see 5% rent growth in the future, which is what you really care about. So we try to look at the different data points to figure out what's demand currently and what can we realistically expect it to be in the near future through life of our business plan. Now, none of us have a crystal ball, but we try to look at different data points to determine that. So what are some of those points? 17:31 Look at population. So you want to understand population population growth in particular. Are people leaving an area or are they moving into an area? Jobs, job growth. We're looking at, you know, what jobs are there, are they growing? Are there more jobs being added to an area or people, you know, more companies leaving the area. Job diversification. So, you know, I lived in Detroit for four and a half years and I worked in the automotive industry. So I can tell you how important it is to have a diverse industry from a, from a jobs perspective, you never want to have one city or one market solely dependent on one industry because if something happens to that industry, you know, obviously you can suffer the consequences of it. Outside of that, you are looking at the ease of doing business and you're looking at landlord, tenant friendliness. 18:20 So how easy is it to evict or to, you know, get a tenant out of if they're not paying their rent. So you want to understand those different components. So we look at all of that, but ultimately, you know, we're trying to figure out demand. So the last factor we look at there is more in the multifamily space. We'll look at as supply and demand. New construction is new construction coming on board. You know, what is the absorption rate for that? So absorption rate is essentially the, the frequency or the amount of demand for the new apartments that are coming on board. So you want to make sure that there's more demand than properties being built because there's more properties, more units being built, then demand, then that's going to force everyone's rent to go down. So you may not be able to actually implement your business plan if you are trying to raise rents. 19:09 Yeah. So where do you gather all the data on? I know that you, you probably gathered from many, many places like I know CoStar, you can look at things over there, you can look at things that Reonomy. You can look at best basis. There are so many, you know, things you could look at and report. So you could read. So for our listeners, people that are trying to get into real estate investing and they want to know where you gather the data, what would you say are the best places to do that? 19:33 Yeah, so there's a lot of different resources out there. I just did a presentation. I've put a whole list together. I'd be happy to email this to you or share with your audience as a download. But a handful that I'll go off the top of my head. You mentioned bus places. That's a great one. Best places done that is a, is a great resource there. The US census census.gov it's a great website, great forum for understanding both population and job growth. So it does have that information on there. On the jobs, it's more, I think it's a Bureau of Labor is the website to go check out for, for the jobs there. And yeah, I mean, unfortunately there's not like one site that's going to just give you all of those things in a pretty package. What I will say is that brokers to now this information available. 20:20 So if you're talking to brokers, that's something that you can ask them. Typically they'll, you'll see some of this information in their offering memorandum. The other places you know, talking to, to local officials, but also reach out to any kind of Economic Development Council. So if you're looking at a specific market, a great resource is going to be that Local Economic Development Council, Chamber Of Commerce. And you can just flat out ask them, Hey you know, trying to get some information in regards to population growth and job growth in this market, new construction and what developments are being planned and they can have some of that information available to you as well. Nice. These are some great tips. So what is your focus for the future? I know that multifamily market is kind of tight right now that, you know, the way you said it before. 21:11 So what are you doing in this type market? Are you still looking at multifamily deals or, you're looking at different asset classes? No, we stay focused on multifamily. You know, I know a lot of people are looking at other asset classes and there's certainly opportunities in different asset classes and I think that's the beauty of real estate is there's always going to be some opportunities, but multifamily from a fundamental standpoint is something we really like. And I'll tell you why. First of all, it's housing. So everyone's always going to need a place to live. That's something that technology can't replace. It's pretty straight forward. You know, you need a place to stay. Two- Affordable housing is getting tough in this country. You know, prices are going up, rents are going up, home ownership is going down. You know, they're trying to increase salaries and wages, but between the debt that most people have, whether it be called student loan debt or other debt, it's really difficult for, for your average person to come up with 20%- 25% down for a have to buy a new home. 22:09 So many people are saving. The other thing is people are getting married later in life. So young people are not getting married in their thirties. They're having children later in life and no one wants to own a ranch home when there's 24 years old live in by themselves. So most of them want to be in the city. They won't be downtown. They would be close to the action. So you're seeing more people choose to rent out a lifestyle. Same thing on the flip side of that equation, you have more older renters now where they don't want the burden of being a homeowner. They'd rather rent call the main has got it fixed, whatever they need, fixed, live, close to the city, close to colleges, universities, things like that. And they're happy to, to rent as opposed to owning a home. So I think the view of what home ownership means has changed significantly in this country where he used to be kind of a, the goal for many people. 22:58 Now it's almost a burden, you know, to, to be a homeowner. You can't move around the country, you can't take a new job, you can't do the different things. So people actually prefer a lot of people prefer to rent. So because of all those things, I still think multifamily is a strong place to be. The core for us is we, we buy based off our fundamentals. So if you're buying based off of fundamentals, you're a little less concerned with the economy. Because I could sell whenever I want to sell for the most part, as long as I put a loan product on the proper property, that gives me flexibility on the exit. We're buying cash flowing assets day one. So I'm not trying to flip a project or, you know, do all these other things to try to figure out how to make my money. 23:38 It's not new construction or development. You know, so we're going in and we are particularly investing capital into the property when and where it makes sense. We have the ability to slow down or rev up that process as we see fit. So I still think multifamily is a great place to be. You need to be smart and you need to be diligent as you're going through the process. But if you're buying cash flow that properties and you have proper reserves and you put the proper loan on it, that gives you flexibility and I think you'll still do fine even in an economic downturn. 24:11 Yeah, definitely. And I think a lot of things you discussed before are so interesting and so true because the people that rent today are primarily millennials. And then we were exposed to, and that's what happened to me. We were exposed to the purple book or, or you know, some other people call it ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’. I just call it the purple book because people just know what I'm talking about and then that book describes that owning a home in America and in general is more of a liability than, than an asset. And so you see the impact of, of Robert Kiyosaki's words, you know, to the people where you'd see that everybody would prefer to rent and not to own. And you're, you're so right about the things you said. Cause I had the same, the same concept right now when I was debating where I'm going to move if I was gonna move to another, a condo or an apartment or a, or a single family house in Miami, that's, that's where I'm from. 25:04 And then I was thinking the exact same thing I was thinking about. Do I? I'm single. So I, I'm, I'm not married, I don't have kids. So I was thinking, you know, the exact same thing even though I'm 30 I, I still don't want to, don't want to live in, in a, in a single family house, you know, when I can live downtown, close to everything and, and close to my friends and close to young people, you know. So, so the things you mentioned are, are very true. But despite that, I'm going to ask a question regarding what she said about the affordable housing. So since the crisis of affordable housing is not going anywhere anytime soon, what do you think about, I see a lot of, a lot of chatter on a mobile home parks and  the affordability of, of basically living in a mobile home in comparison to other things. And so a lot of investors and trust and funds are buying them right now. So what do you think about that asset class? So have you ever looked into it? 26:03 Yeah, I mean, you know, we, we interview a lot of people and we have talked to multiple people who are focused on mobile home parks and we know a lot of other city caters and operators and investors who, who are in that space. We get it, we understand it at a high level. It's just, you know, for us, when I think about mobile home parks I think that it makes sense for certain people. I just, I personally haven't seen a reason for us to pivot our strategy. You know I think that there are a couple of different types of people here and I'm not saying one is right, but we like to try to focus on one thing and really get great at it and spend a lot of time and energy to excel and get as great as we can be on something. 26:51 And at that point then we would consider other approaches, other asset classes or whatever. But for us, I just don't like I'm concerned about the shiny object syndrome for us. So we just prefer to focus in on what we're doing and not try to chase yields. Cause I think unless you truly want to be in a mobile home parks or you know, still a self storage or some of these other things, I think what's happening is people are chasing yields are chasing deals as opposed to really trying to lock in on what they do. And I'm not saying one is right or one is wrong. If you have the ability to do that, the great for us, you know, I think we prefer to just kind of focus in one asset class as opposed to trying to be a Jack of all trades. 27:35 Yeah. And that makes sense because you're already in that asset class and you have the connections, you have the knowledge and you've done it before the investors been brokers, everything is at your hand. So what would you, what would you think about a person who's trying to get into multifamily investing right now at this market at this point? Yeah, I will tell you the same thing I tell everybody. So if you want to get into it wonky clarity on what you want to do if you want to kind of buy large apartment buildings or things like that, then or if you just want to, you just heard of all commercial investing and you want to get into the space. What I would say is the best thing to do is find someone who's doing it and see if you can be a limited partner. 28:20 Because being a limited partner is going to allow you to learn more real time. You, you have money in the deal. So you've got skin in the game and you can ask the questions that come up and you can gain experience, confidence and credibility that's gonna make it much easier to grow. And that's something that will put you in position to be very successful. So we talk a lot about the kind of how to grow into the space and do it where you don't have so many things pushing against you with the learning curve is very high. And I think ultimately what will happen is, you know, people get into this, they read a book and they get excited and you know, it just becomes very tough. It's very difficult to go out and just buy a property in a very competitive market. 29:04 And you don't want to be the person who inadvertently overpays for something and you know, not be in a position to make that money back or implement your business plan. So I would say trying to find a deal where you can come in is a great way to start from there. You can become a general partner or become an operator yourself. But then also think about what you really want to do. Because for many people, they want to invest in real estate, especially commercial real estate because they want the benefits that come with it. You want the passive income, you want the tax benefits, you want to diversify your portfolio. What you don't want is a second job. You want to be chasing down tenants for rent. You don't want to be, you know, fixing toilets that are leaking in the night. So, you know, just make sure you're clear on what you're signing up for and what you're going to get out of it. The larger properties give you the ability to be an investor and the smaller properties, you know, give you a chance to be a landlord. 30:01 Yeah. But I guess a lot of people would say that you also learn a lot when you deal with the small properties. You learn what you don't want to do. 30:09 I think many people can learn from me telling you, you don't want to change toilets though. So you can, there's a lot of ways to learn, right? You can learn by getting punched in the face or you can learn from someone saying, Hey, that probably hurts. You just don't walk into it. Right. Yeah. It's up to you about how you want to learn. 30:23 Yeah, definitely. That's very smart. Okay. So John Casmon, what are the best ways to connect with you in case anybody wants to get in touch? 30:31 Yeah. So if you're interested in multifamily or you want to grow kind of from a marketing standpoint, whether it be finding deals or you want to learn more about how to find deals, how to analyze deals, how to learn more about markets or even just growing your personal brand, check out our podcast is called “Target Market Insights” and sites and it's available anywhere podcasts are, and you can also go to our website. We have a free download, you go to casmoncapital.com/sampledeal. We have a free sample deals to get a sense of what a deal package looks like. And then if you have any questions or you want to connect with me further, you can email me at john@casmoncapital.com. 31:10 Alright John, thank you very much. 31:13 Thank you. Appreciate you having me on the show. 31:15 Yup. Have a great day. Hey guys, so yes, as promised courtesy of John casmon. Here are some resources in case you want to check some critical information on multifamily deals or the market that you're looking into. So if you want to know more about economic trends in the market, you can check out the US Census. You could check out the Bureau of Labor statistics, the Local Economic Development Council, and there's a website called areavibes.com. So it's area vibes.com. Okay. So if you want to know more about multifamily trends check out Colliers International Marcus and Millichap, C. B. R. E. you can always use CoStar. You could use REI reports, ALN Data, Integra Realty resources, also known as IRR. WeAreApartments.org and justicemap.org. So these are all the resources that John shared with us. I hope this is very helpful to anybody who's trying to get into multifamily and learn more. It's always good to know as much as you can about the market. I hope that helps. So thank you very much and I hope you enjoy the episode. 32:30 Thanks for listening to the real estate investing podcast with Don and Eden. Stay tuned for more episodes till next time.

Louis Avallone and Stephen Parr analyze the agendas of the past and upcoming meetings of the Caddo Parish Economic Development Council. The only topic which appears on the agendas is giving away taxpayer money. What are they doing to grow the economic environment to encourage new businesses to want to move to Shreveport? Nothing?

Louis Avallone and Stephen Parr analyze the agendas of the past and upcoming meetings of the Caddo Parish Economic Development Council. The only topic which appears on the agendas is giving away taxpayer money. What are they doing to grow the economic environment to encourage new businesses to want to move to Shreveport? Nothing?

Roger Lee is the CEO of the Economic Development Council of Central Oregon (EDCO), which has been responsible for economic strategy for the area, recruitment of businesses, and the expansion of commercial air services and commercial parks. Jim Schell, a prominent community builder for Bend, rightfully called Roger “the architect for the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Bend.” Roger is considered by many to be the king pin of the Bend entrepreneurial world and the shining example of private and public collaboration at its best.

Zach Dietmeier is the Vice President of Marketing & Communication for the EDC. He explains the history the EDC, its goals, and its practices. We then dig into the details of Rivian and Brandt: two recent notable examples of EDC action. We wrap up with a discussion of how the council interacts with the other private and public organizations in the county. Find out more at: EDC website: bnbiz.org BN Advantage website: bnadvantage.com EDC on Facebook Visit their office at 200 W College Ave in Normal Call 309-452-8437   Thank you to our sponsors Play Normal E-Sports / Normal Gadgets Lil’ Beaver Brewery   Music: “Extremes” by The Lemming Shepherds, public domain

Mark Balmert, Executive Director of the San Diego Military Advisory Council (SDMAC), talks about the annual SDMAC Breakfast speakers in April, May and June; and the June 13 SDMAC Achievement Awards. Balmert is joined by Michael Bice, President of Vortex Engineering, a recipient of the San Diego Regional EDC’s “DIV” grant. Bice discusses how the “DIV” grant has advanced his company’s mission to modernize and upgrade U.S. Navy ships and submarines.

  In this episode, Sara talks with Colleen Kerr about her epic journey from being the "Erin Brockovich of Kentucky bluegrass stubble burning" to opening a restaurant called Sweetgrass Food Company, plus everything in between. Today, Colleen is Vice President for External Affairs and Government Relations and Chief Legislative Officer for Washington State University (WSU) and founder and co-owner of Sweetgrass Food Co. restaurant, which serves 100% Good Food in an intentionally designed space in downtown Seattle. Colleen delves into why career trajectory is illusion, how to get back up after "getting punched in the face" in one's career and life, and how success requires getting comfortable with discomfort.   Want to make your own career change? Download Sara's Seven Cs of Successful Career Change Chart.   Sara and Colleen Discuss: How they got connected  Colleen's four degrees Colleen working for a private, non-profit law firm Using her negotiating skills to earn joint degrees Doing a human rights fellowship in Ireland Working on the Bloody Sunday Inquiry Working as an attorney for Preston Gates and Ellis in Seattle Moving with her boyfriend to New Orleans Evacuating for Katrina Moving back to Seattle and working for the Washington State Dept. of Commerce in Olympia Realizing her career trajectory was an illusion Working many positions in the Washington state government Being recruited by Washington State University (WSU) What land grant universities are Getting her a$$ kicked at WSU Starting Sweetgrass Food Co. Convincing her husband to open the restaurant with her Sourcing locally and organically, supporting underrepresented population-owned companies, etc. The restaurant's three top values Getting into teaching astrology, energy, shamanic work, etc. Recalling and harnessing that part of ourselves that used to take risks because "we didn't know better" The myth that there's a "path" to be on and how freeing it can be to let go of those illusions Realizing that stepping off the edge of the cliff is actually exhilarating Orienting toward her purpose and values Messages that she got from her family about career and work when she was growing up Facing gender bias, sexual discrimination and ageism in her work Having a plan, "getting punched in the face," and building and strength, in advance, to get back up The impact of meditation on her life Learning to show up as her full self in all areas of her life Using work as a way to express oneself in the world Her mentor, Lisa Brown Being a mentor to others as an act of service and what's that's like Coming up with questions in advance of meeting with a mentor The importance of actually following the advice you're given Colleen's recommended resources: Books Fierce Conversations Difficult Conversations Brené Brown's TED Talks The Power of Vulnerability Listening to Shame Podcasts Ben Greenfield Fitness Design Matters with Debbie Millman Reid Hoffman's Masters of Scale The Tim Ferriss Show His episode with model Karlie Kloss Her primary piece of advice for people breaking into new and different kinds of work The things that will change your brain more than anything: gratitude, challenging yourself and cultivating personal relationships ...and more! Colleen's Full Bio: Colleen Kerr is Vice President for External Affairs and Government Relations and Chief Legislative Officer for Washington State University (WSU) and founder and co-owner of Sweetgrass Food Co. in Seattle.   In her position at WSU, Colleen serves on the senior administrative team for Washington State’s land-grant university, reporting directly to the President. She currently serves as the co-chair of WSU’s Economic Development Council, where she is leading the efforts around the Seattle Initiative, dedicated to connecting WSU’s research, academic and service mission to the greater Seattle region. She also sits on the Executive Committee of the Seattle Chamber and the Executive Roundtable for the Washington Global Health Alliance.   Colleen serves as an institutional leader in defining external strategic priorities and conducting outreach with multiple stakeholders from the public and private sectors. Her office had the leadership role in securing legislation that launched the WSU Everett campus, in securing the federal designation and funding for the Center of Excellence designation of ASCENT, the launch of the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, the second publicly funded medical school in Washington.   Colleen brings a wealth of experience to WSU and her role in advancing the public policy benefits of WSU’s extensive research and educational programs. Following a human rights fellowship with Queen’s University in Belfast, Ireland, she worked on the Bloody Sunday Inquiry for Madden and Finucane Solicitors, one of the premier legal firms in the European Union and located in Belfast. After coming back to the U.S., she was an attorney with Preston Gates and Ellis, LLP in Seattle and then was a special assistant on government accountability for the state’s Office of Economic Development in the Washington State Department of Commerce. She served as legislative director for State Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown and deputy chief of staff for the Senate Democratic Caucus in Washington State. Previous work for the legislature includes being tribal counsel for the Washington State House of Representatives.   In 2015 with her husband and best friend, she opened Sweetgrass Food Co. restaurant, which serves 100% Good Food in an intentionally designed space in downtown Seattle. Sweetgrass focuses on a premier cafe experience, catering, and offers a "creative space" for the neighborhood. Reflecting the owners' values, it participates in the local food economy by prioritizing organic, local producers and paying a living wage. The menu highlights "real" food and defaults to plant-based, inviting guests to make additions or changes to suits their tastes or dietary needs—making nutritionally dense food delicious, accessible, and even chic. Indeed, the food genre—from Buddha bowls and soaked oats to matcha lattes and celery juice—is most aptly categorized as "hippie-chic".   Colleen holds a JD degree from the University of Washington, an AM in Public Policy from the University of Chicago and a MA Hons in Modern History and a MLitt in International Security Studies, earned with distinction, from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.   In her spare time (?!?), Colleen is outdoors as many days as she can with Mike and Trixie and Molly, travels extensively at home and abroad, is a 20 year student of yoga, is an avid reader, baker, and a burgeoning astrologist.   Connect with Colleen and Sweetgrass Food Co.: Sweetgrass' website: www.sweetgrassfoodco.com  Sweetgrass' Instagram: www.instagram.com/sweetgrassfoodco Colleen's Instagram: www.instagram.com/colleenaelizabeth   Connect with Sara and Women Who Went for It: Facebook: www.facebook.com/womenwhowentforit  Website: www.womenwhowentforit.com  Nominate a Podcast Guest: www.saramcardle.com/podcast-guest  Email: womenwhowentforit@gmail.com  Phone: 503.893.2043   Want to make your own career change? Download Sara's Seven Cs of Successful Career Change Chart.  

We welcome the Vice National Director of Black Wall Street USA Economic Development Council Dr. Joseph Webb III to The TEAM DLW UNITY MOVEMENT. We'll discuss the increase of Black Businesses along with the following * 8 Steps to starting a BWS District * BWS Initiatives * BWS History * BWS Upcoming Events ** Keisha Forrester of Straight Black Talk Show / Straight Black Pride Movement.. ** Doris Ward will also join us to remind us of the NEW YEAR CELEBRATION GALA.. This is the show you don't want to miss!!..Call a friend & join us as we continue to EDUCATE ELEVATE & MOTIVATE our listeners to a higher level of consciousness & awareness in order to empower & uplift our communities around the World...  

Richard (“Ritt”) Carrano is Chief Executive Officer of Purchasing Power, LLC. He joined the company in 2001 within its first six months of operation. Ritt was promoted from Chief Financial Officer to President in 2007, and in 2011 became the CEO. Within his tenure, he has guided the company to achieve consistent, annual double-digit revenue growth, 95% client retention and more than $2.5 billion in processed orders. Initial results for Carrano’s leadership underscore the remarkable corporate culture he has built and advocated at Purchasing Power. Powering People to a Better LifeTM has become both a company tagline and corporate internal philosophy. Prior to launching Purchasing Power, he co-founded and served as CFO for eTour, Inc., an early consumer internet website discovery service that was acquired by Ask Jeeves in 2001. Ritt previously was a management research fellow assigned to new business development at SmithKline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline) and began his career with Deloitte & Touche in Washington, D.C. He received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (cum laude) in accounting from the University of Richmond’s Robins School of Business. Ritt also earned an MBA in finance from Emory University’s renowned Goizueta Business School in Atlanta. Among his accolades, Carrano was named the Atlanta Business Chronicle's CFO of the Year award for private, midsized businesses in 2008; and GeorgiaTrend magazine’s “40 Under 40: Georgia’s Best and Brightest.” An active volunteer within the community, Carrano serves numerous roles with Junior Achievement of Georgia, which inspires and prepares young people to succeed in a global economy. He also is heavily involved with Inter Atlanta FC (IAFC), a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and enhancing the culture of soccer in Atlanta. Additionally, Ritt serves on the Board of Advisors and the Economic Development Council for the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce (MAC), the Board of Councilors for The Carter Center and the Board of Directors for FinTech Atlanta. As a champion of corporate social responsibility efforts, Carrano empowers his employees to invest more than 3,300 combined volunteer hours annually to Non-profit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Atlanta Community Food Bank, Children’s Restoration Network, Families First, Partnership Against Domestic Violence, Open Hand, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Relay for Life (American Cancer Society) and Safehouse Outreach.

Tuesday, 10.02.2018: Special Guests Larry Barrett, Realtor, Businessman, Former President of the Tehachapi Economic Development Council and Craig Janssen, Business Owner of Bakersfield's Sculpt 365 and Tehachapi Fitness, also a Former Member of Tehachapi's Economic Development Council and Navy Veteran, Speak to the Possibility of Another Hefty Tax Hike in California - Hear Why a NO VOTE on Measure R, (see www.No43Bond.com) is Sought; Also, the Trump Administration, Together with the Cooperation of a Republican Majority in Congress, Have Now Achieved a New High in National Wage Growth; and, Consumer Confidence Hits 138.4 - An All-Time High Since 2000!

Know how to build your own dream team Learn the common mistakes leaders make when managing his own team Learn the counterintuitive reasons why so many partnerships and groups break down--and why some breakthrough.   Resources/Links: The Snow Report THE OPEN-MINDEDNESS TEST  Summary   Shane Snow is a New York City-based award-winning journalist and Web entrepreneur, bestselling author of Smartcuts and the forthcoming DREAM TEAMS, the co-founder, and CEO of the media technology company Contently. He holds a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University and is a fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts. He contributes regularly to Wired magazine and Fast Company and has written about innovation for numerous publications, including the New Yorker, the Washington Post, and Advertising Age. He is a sought-after speaker at technology and advertising summits. His work in technology entrepreneurship has been recognized by the United Nations, the New York Times, Inc., Forbes, Details, and New York City's Economic Development Council. In this episode of Marketing the Invisible, Shane shares how to build your dream team and work without falling apart. He reveals the counterintuitive reasons why so many partnerships and groups break down--and why some breakthrough. Check out these episode highlights: 00:53 – Shane Snow’s background as a journalist and as an entrepreneur 02:50 – describes his ideal clients 01:40 – group work problems that Shane solve for his clients 03:38 – symptoms a dream team experience within their organization 04:30 – common mistakes the team will jump to solve the team’s problems 07:46 – Shane’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): Have a high amount of intellectual humility or open-mindedness. 08:27 – Shane’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR):

David Petr is President and CEO of MCEDC, developing innovative strategies, strengthening partnerships and leading a team to promote Montgomery County as a great place to start, grow and expand business. With a wide spectrum of economic development, strategic business and marketing experience, David thrives on changing the culture of organizations to become more nimble, proactive and creative . David was named to Washington Business Journal's Power 100, Washington's most influential newsmakers of 2017, after just 13 months at the helm of the organization. He is raising the profile of Maryland's largest county, frequently out in the community meeting CEOs, entrepreneurs, startups and established companies. David's expertise has contributed to rapid growth in key sectors including BioHealth and Technology. Through his responsive approach to the business community, he is aligning business needs directly to MCEDC's strategic goals. His vision is more data driven, using analytics and GIS mapping strategies to measure business success. He has spearheaded forward-thinking digital video campaigns: a Think Success video series where David interviews CEOs and business leaders and MOCO 365, a campaign that explores the stories of leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators in the County.

This week we continue our tour of the commonwealth with hot takes from Suffolk County and western Massachusetts. The Dorchester Reporter's Jennifer Smith and MassLive's Gin Dumcius join us in the studio, and "West Mass" correspondent/MassINC Polling Group Research Director Rich Parr calls in to break down all the movement. PLUS, what animal is featured in former Governor Bill Weld's official state house portrait? Tune in next week to find out. **West Mass video and audio created by Steve Porter, PorterHouse Media (on behalf of The Greater Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts).

Today on Extraordinary Women Radio, I’m really honored to host another Colorado Women's Hall of Fame Inductee – Elinor Miller Greenberg. Elinor is an educational innovator, theorist, and writer who impacts education, civil rights, and women’s rights locally, nationally, and internationally. A visionary, Elinor believes that education is the key to social change and social justice. At 85 years young, Elinor shares lessons she’s learned over her change-impacting life. She shares the story of how she became an activist as a momma with a baby on her hip, and how she lived by the mantra, “Go where no one else will go. Do what no one else will do.” She loves being her current age and offers third-life wisdom. She’s got grit, she’s got grace, and she’s certainly made an impact on our world. I especially enjoy our conversation about how she has built friendships across political lines, with people she has been friends with for over 50 years. An important lesson for all of us in today’s modern age. Elinor has an impressive list of accomplishment in her lifetime. Here are some of the highlights! As a national leader in adult education and adult development, Elinor has worked with the major colleges and universities in Colorado and was also a guest faculty member of the Harvard University School of Education Institute for the Management of Lifelong Education. She has authored, co-authored, and edited nine books and more than 200 papers. Greenberg was one of the first to create learner-centered educational programs in Colorado, heading University Without Walls, an individualized bachelor’s degree program for adults utilizing resources from the community. She served as the national coordinator for the program and later was the regional coordinator for the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning and founding director of Project Leadership. She created the first BSN weekend college for rural nurses in Colorado, established a bachelor’s degree program in Colorado prisons, developed degree programs for Native American mental health workers, and founded a prepaid tuition program for US WEST employees in 14 states. At the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, she established the Mountain and Plains Partnership to provide access to online master’s degree programs for nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, and physician assistants in underserved areas of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Arizona. Greenberg came to Colorado in 1954 to work as a speech therapist and quickly became a community activist, finding ways to provide access to opportunity for women and minorities. She has been in the forefront of the fair housing effort for more than 40 years and served on numerous commissions and boards, including the Colorado Women’s Economic Development Council, the Colorado Women’s Leadership Coalition, Women’s Forum, State Board for Community Colleges and Occupational Education, the Anti-Defamation League, the Colorado Board of Continuing Legal and Judicial Education, the Colorado Judicial Institute, and MESA. As a nationally known public speaker, writer, and consultant, she founded Colorado-based EMG and Associates, a consulting and publishing firm specializing in adult education and distance learning. You will love this interview with Elinor’s deep wisdom. Let’s meet Elinor Miller Greenberg! *** The Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame mission is to inspire by celebrating and sharing the enduring contributions of Colorado’s distinctive women. To achieve this, the Hall educates the people of Colorado about the stories of the women who shaped our state and the nation’s history with courage, leadership, intelligence, compassion, and creativity. Their talents, skills, struggles, and contributions form a legacy that the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame is dedicated to protecting.

00:00 - With the flooding from Hurricane / Tropical Storm Harvey in Texas, that got us wondering: Do you have your affairs in order for a disaster situation, anticipated or otherwise? GUEST: Darren Peters, Insurance Brokers Association of Manitoba 18:05 - The POUTINE TRAIL! (Sentier de la Poutine): An event starting tomorrow, celebrating Manitoba's southeastern bilingual communities and their poutines, to help you discover the French flavour of our region. GUESTS: Roselle Turenne, Tourism Consultant with CDEM (the Economic Development Council for Bilingual Municipalities) and Brian Szklarczuk, St. Boniface man organizing cycling group to head out on to the Poutine Trail this weekend, putting on roughly 300 km on the bike to tackle the Trail! 37:23 - Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of Princess Diana's death GUEST: Redmond Shannon, European Correspondent for Global National, in London 56:07 - Revisiting our chat from yesterday about slowing down to 80 at intersections on highways, and why do we even HAVE intersections on highways? 74:48 - Update on Northern Manitoba fires and evacuation situation GUEST: Jason Small, Canadian Red Cross Manitoba 81:59 - Trailer fire Downtown sending up HUGE plumes of black smoke // WSO ABBA ticket giveaway 85:46 - More texts and feedback on highway traffic 93:39 - Richard Cloutier & Julie Buckingham tee up THE NEWS

This week, a political reporter’s history of the New Hampshire primary. Plus, we follow scientists who are recreating ancient forests, tracking the effects of climate change on moose, and fighting to keep funding for weird-sounding research. And we hear the story of a soccer team that’s leveling the playing field for kids of all backgrounds. You can stream the entire episode by clicking play on the embedded media player above or listen to the embedded SoundCloud files below for individual reports.  Give Me Primary, or Give Me Death New Hampshire’s near-religious devotion to the democratic process has surfaced on our show before – most recently last month when the state plowed forward with Town Meeting Day, despite the mid-march blizzard that swept the region. But the Granite State’s political fervor reaches it’s height during its first-in-the-nation presidential primary. Just take a look at this headline-making tweet from the 2016 race: Photo-@pgrossmith: A woman calmly eats breakfast at Blake’s in Manchester as @CarlyFiorina campaigned today. #fitn pic.twitter.com/LiakOK6oRI — UnionLeader.com (@UnionLeader) February 8, 2016 Our guest, long-time political reporter Scott Conroy, followed the often absurd 2016 campaign up and down New Hampshire for a year and a half leading up to the primary. His new book,  Vote First or Die chronicles the pancake breakfasts, ice cream socials and frigid walks to knock on doors – all hallmarks of the retail politics that presidential hopefuls still have to engage in during the primary season. Engineering Forests, Tracking Fading Moose In this area of Jericho Research Forest in Vermont, most trees are about 150 years old. This makes for a rather homogeneous forest with fewer opportunities for wildlife habitat. Photo by Kathleen Masterson for VPR. In the northeast U.S., there is less than 1 percent of old growth forest left. A new University of Vermont study finds that harvesting trees in a way that mimics ancient forests not only restore critical habitat but also stores a surprising amount of carbon. Researchers created this tip-up mound by pulling over this tree with a cable. A downed tree offers a number of habitat niches for small mammals, insects, and invertebrates. Photo by Kathleen Masterson for VPR For a forest to be considered “old growth,” it must grow largely undisturbed, usually for several centuries. These ancient forests help foster biodiversity of plants, animal, and even fungi — and can help mitigate flooding. University of Vermont ecologist Bill Keeton wanted to see if he could take a “middle-aged” New England forest and “nudge” the forest ecosystem into old-growth conditions. Vermont Public Radio reporter Kathleen Masterson went to take a look. The 1990s were a good time to be a moose in New Hampshire. The animals could take advantage of a perfect mix of young and mature forest, and plenty of food. At its peak, the statewide population reached 7,400. But given the lush habitat, scientists wondered why the moose population wasn't growing faster. Today, there are only about 3,400 moose in New Hampshire, and the same steep decline is being reported in neighboring Vermont and Maine. The culprit? A nasty tick whose proliferation is brought on by climate change. We speak with Kristine Rines, a wildlife biologist with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department. Rines is leading a four-year study to learn more about how weather changes and forest management practices affect the moose population. In Defense of Weird Science and Affordable Soccer The national March for Science on April 22, and the many satellite events around New England marked a departure for many scientists. Until recently, they didn't consider political activism a part of their jobs. But over the past few years, a growing number of researchers have faced political attacks about their work, and many say it’s time to come out swinging. New England Public Radio's Karen Brown visited one scientist who's urging colleagues to step up and make the case for continued federal funding, even when their research sounds strange. Cameron Rodrigues, 11, plays competitive soccer in Nashua, NH. Photo by Emily Corwin for NHPR Last year, Boston's Metro South Under-15 girls soccer team became champions in the New England Premiership Soccer League. Playing on club soccer teams like that can get attention from college recruiters. But those clubs also charge players’ families around $1500 per child, per year. New Hampshire Public Radio's Emily Corwin has a story about a soccer club in Nashua, New Hampshire, with a different approach to high-level sports – one that's all about leveling the playing field. Introducing: West Mass Here’s an update on what we’re calling the Connecticut River Valley region in Massachusetts. In February the Greater Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts announced a rebrand for the area formerly known as the Pioneer Valley. The new name, “West Mass,” was released with a promotional video. But “West Mass” took a beating on social media. One Youtube commenter put it this way: “It’s nice that even in these divisive times, we can all come together and agree that this is very bad.” So last week, the organizations behind the rebranding announced that they're putting “West Mass” on pause. They're asking for feedback from both inside and outside the region- in the form of an online survey where you can vote for “West Mass,” or “Western Mass.” (“Pioneer Valley” is not an option!) If you missed our segment where we analyzed “West Mass” and other New England branding campaigns with Connecticut state historian Walt Woodward, that's definitely worth a listen. Find it in Episode 31, or listen right here: About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Digital Content Manager/Editor: Heather Brandon Contributors to this episode: Kathleen Masterson, Karen Brown, Emily Corwin Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, story leads, and place branding ideas to next@wnpr.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we hear stories of very different places in battle with the sea. We consider a massive and expensive seawall plan that could save Boston, and coastal adaptation in New Hampshire. We speak with the author of a new book about Martha’s Vineyard — the island tourist hub that’s been slowly eroding for 20,000 years. And from the failed attempt to brand Rhode Island with the slogan “Cooler and Warmer,” to the enduring “Live Free or Die,” to the new “West Mass,” we look inside the marketing of New England. An example of the ecological diversity of Martha’s Vineyard. Adjacent a small pond and inlet on Chappaquiddick, vegetation transitions from salt marsh to shrub wetland and oak and pine forest. Photo by David R. Foster for Harvard Forest Archives, Harvard University Keeping the Ocean at Bay Sitting right at sea level, much of the city of Boston is threatened by any rise in the oceans. And with climate change fueling projections of routine flooding – and worse – over the next couple of decades, city officials have begun looking at what to do. David Abel covers the environment for the Boston Globe. He's been reporting on the city’s new plan, called Climate Ready Boston, which includes a number of strategies — including a proposal for a seawall that would extend across all of Boston Harbor. Barrier options being considered for Boston Harbor. Graphics by James Abundis for the Boston Globe On the New Hampshire Seacoast, planners are considering more subtle ways to prepare for rising seas, including tearing down a sea wall to allow nature to do the job of protecting the shore. From New Hampshire Public Radio, Jason Moon reports. No Island Is an Island Gay Head cliffs and lighthouse taken in 2011. In 2015, the Gay Head Light was moved back 129 feet due to erosion of the cliffs. Photo by David R. Foster for Harvard Forest Archives, Harvard University “Relentlessly and unavoidably, Martha's Vineyard is disappearing.” That's how Harvard ecologist David Foster begins his new book  A Meeting of Land and Sea, Nature and the Future of Martha's Vineyard. Foster’s referring there to the rapid rate of erosion on parts of the island, but he writes that a greater threat to the Vineyard's natural beauty is tourism and development. Yet he says the island's six towns have come up with a way to manage that growth, and can offer an example to other parts of New England. Sachem’s Path is an affordable housing development on Nantucket. Photo by Daniel Richards for the Transom Story Workshop About six miles southeast of the Vineyard lies Nantucket, an island also known for high-end tourism. On Nantucket, the average house costs $1.2 million. So is there a place for working people to make their homes on the island? From the Transom Story Workshop, Daniel Richards brings us this story of one woman’s hopes of becoming a homeowner on Nantucket. Brand Consciousness The video above is part of a new campaign launched by The Greater Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts to rebrand the region long known as the “Pioneer Valley” as “West Mass.” The video was released in February, and has become the target of social media mockery and an online petition to scrap the new brand. Our guest is Connecticut State Historian Walt Woodward. Before becoming a historian, Woodward worked in advertising from 1970 through 1998, creating place-branding campaigns for cities and states around the country. Woodward talks about the struggles and successes of recent branding campaigns in New England, as well as the New England brand itself, an attempt by colonist John Smith to sell this cold, rocky land to folks back home. NEXT’s home state of Connecticut has had nine different slogans since 1980. The ad below from 2014 riffs off the current state slogan “Still Revolutionary.” And while “Live Free or Die” has endured in New Hampshire, the state has built on it to create a more cheerful message, like in the video below, which encourages visitors to “Live Free and Climb.” Do you have thoughts about place-branding, or your own ideas? Tweet us @NextNewEngland. About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Digital Content Manager/Editor: Heather Brandon Contributors to this episode: Jason Moon, Daniel Richards Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, story leads, and complaints next@wnpr.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

PLANTING THE SEEDS FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH: ST. LOUIS COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL Hear business leaders from across St. Louis accept awards from the St. Louis County Economic Council and explain how amidst bad economic times, they continue to prosper.